Fiona Apple – The Idler Wheel Is Wiser Than the Driver of the Screw and Whipping Cords Will Serve You More Than Ropes Will Ever Do [2012]

Title: The Idler Wheel Is Wiser Than the Driver of the Screw and Whipping Cords Will Serve You More Than Ropes Will Ever Do

Artist: Fiona Apple

Year of Release: 2012

I have to admit I was never a fan of Fiona Apple before I listened to this album. Not because I didn’t like her music, I just never bothered to listen to any of her songs. Forgive me, music contains just so many artists for me to listen to that I end up neglecting the vast thousands out there that deserve to be heard. A downside of the Internet I guess (not that it necessarily isn’t a bad thing). Anyway, with her new release The Idler Wheel… gaining much fanfare (partly due to the return of a long album title), I thought it was due time I listen to her material.

Lana Del Rey – Born to Die [2012]

Title: Born to Die

Artist: Lana Del Rey

Year of Release: 2012

Born to Die is the major label debut album of new pop artist Lana Del Rey, who has proven to be an incredibly divisive figure in the music scene ever since her first single ‘Video Games’ came out mid-2011.

The single signaled a promise of a new singer who although not innovative or original, was refreshingly different with a compelling aura of mystique. This was due in part to her fashionably retro image and the production of her music, which combines orchestral instrumentation and pulsing hip-hop beats. Now that her album is here, chock-full of 15 tracks (including three bonus tracks), does it live up to the hype following ‘Video Games’?

Iron & Wine – Kiss Each Other Clean [2011]

Title: Kiss Each Other Clean

Artist: Iron & Wine

Year of Release: 2011

I’m surprised at how this album flew under the radar so quickly. I mean, Iron & Wine (real name Samuel Beam) had his biggest hit yet with the album The Shepard’s Dog, but more specifically with the single ‘Flightless Bird, American Mouth’. I guess many didn’t like the direction he took with this album, but I like it, even if it isn’t the most original.

Thundercat – The Golden Age of Apocalypse [2011]

Title: The Golden Age of Apocalypse

Artist: Thundercat

Year of Release: 2011

If you enjoyed Underneath the Pine by Toro Y Moi, you’ll definitely enjoy this outing by new artist Thundercat, who is actually Stephen Bruner, the bass player for crossover thrash legends Suicidal Tendencies.

Toro Y Moi – Underneath the Pine [2011]

Title: Underneath the Pine

Artist: Toro Y Moi

Year of Release: 2011

In 2010, a musician named Chazwick Bundick released a record titled Causers of This under the moniker Toro Y Moi. Little did he know, it would spark a movement along with other artists promoting the newly-mint genre ‘chillwave’. Wanting to move away from such a label, he decided to expand his sound on his second album, Underneath the Pine.