Just when I thought Mark Erveritt (or “E” as he is better known) had lost his touch, he comes back from the rock undertow and releases this double album of soft lullabies and bloops and bleeps. Similar in tone to the Eels first two albums more then the last two, Blinking Lights is the best they’ve put out to date. For a band that could never really put together a fully consistant 12 track album, it’s weird that they’ve been able to accomplish that feat with a 33 track one. I haven’t enjoyed a double album this much since Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. If Brit Daniels is my messiah, then “E” is my Lazurus.

While I know there’s been a supposed New York rock revival going on the past couple years, Alligator is the only album from New York (Brooklyn specifically) that to me has any sort of flavor. Bands like the Strokes and the Star Spangles had always sounded fairly fabricated and trite, where this opener from The National comes in tow with some serious energy. Sure, it’s pretty basic rock and roll, but it’s consitant and of great quality. “Mr. November” is likely my favorite song of the year even though it sounds like something the Foo Fighters would have done in the late 90s. It’s the least ambitious and most conservative pick on my list but I dig it all the same.

Ah Spoon, I heart you so. There’s not much to say about this one, it’s a Spoon record and sounds like every other Spoon record: fabulous and full of wit. “The Two Sides of Monsieur Valentine” did what I thought would never happen and became my new favorite Spoon song. A title previously held by the drasticly catchy “The Way We Get By”. Brit Daniels is, as far as I’m concerned, the only rock messiah left that hasn’t become absolute rubbish yet. This is album five for Spoon folks, think about that. By this time they should have been experimenting with electronica or some “new” sound that other epic bands mistakingly get into. Cheers to Spoon for sticking to their roots and crafting another damned catchy album.

Please note that this review is very specifically tied to the Jon Brion helmed “bootleg” version of Extradinary Machine and not the recent commericially released album produced by Mike Elizondo. The Difference? The bootleg is brutally angry, bitter and full of hate where the new version is toned down and layered. The first version also contains and opens with Fiona’s greatest accomplishment, “Not About Love”, a track so bare and spitefull it assaults the listener like a cannon shot from a broken heart. The stark contrast between the two albums confirms something I had previously suspected but never accepted: Jon Brion is the reason I like Fiona Apple records, not Fiona Apple.

I’ll be honest, I didn’t think BSP had more then one album in them. Their first was polished and epic in a way we haven’t seen from a British Rock band since the Stone Roses. Like I somehow suspect of Arcade Fire’s Funeral now (my fav album from last year) BSP was too good to have a decent followup. Yet somehow Open Season got released in a timely fashion and dare I say it, destroys their self titled debut. There’s not one track on the disc, from “It Ended On an Oily Stage” to “True Adventures”, that I don’t absolutely adore. This compliment is coming from a guy who hates when members in a band wear scarves, BSP’s favorite fashion accessory next to foliage and stuffed owls.