What? That came out last year?!

Even the biggest music connoisseurs miss things, and I will be the first to admit that there are a few bands/albums/songs from 2008 that I have only stumbled across so far in 2009. I'm as shocked as you are that I hadn't heard some of this stuff until now, but it's never too late to discover the music, and I hope you find something of your own to discover in this list of Things Dana Didn't Hear Until 2009 (and is now in love with). (Part 1)

Department of Eagles.
This video for "No One Does It Like You" is the first for the sophomore release from Daniel Rossen's (Grizzly Bear) side project.



The album In Ear Park came out on October 7, 2008, but it didn't grace my ears until late January 2009. I owe this discovery in large part to my Metromix Columbus producer, Justin Powell, who tried and tried to talk me into seeing DOE when they passed through Cbus in January, but I thought the name of the band sounded contrived so I resisted giving it the time of day. And then I was bored and thought I'd check it out, some MySpacing happened, and I fell in love. Hard. Seriously--I only have one DoE album in my library and already the band has shot up to my 4th most listened to band slot on Last.fm, out of 31572 songs played. Yikes.

The music is a lot like Grizzly Bear, but for me it seems to be what I most love about GB times one million. All of my favorite parts from Yellow House, like Rossen's soothing voice on "On a Neck, On a Spit," are found in an amplified fashion on In Ear Park, especially in songs like my favorite, "Phantom Other."

Passion Pit
I heard about Passion Pit for the first time from Paper Magazine's new blogger spotlight sometime in January or February 2009 and then somehow the band name kept popping up EVERYWHERE. This was in large part due to the fact that Passion Pit was playing an upcoming show in Columbus with Paper Route, and Metromix did a nice front page display of both bands, where I discovered that Passion Pit started originally with one guy's project to make a Valentine's Day gift for his girlfriend. I had a listen and, damn--if I got this EP as a Valentine's Day gift, the guy would get so lucky.

Well, Michael Angelakos (lead singer/keyboardist, aka "the guy who gifted uniquely") sure did fall into some luck, as he was signed to French Kiss and the original gift was released as the Chunk of Change EP on Sept. 16, 2008. The album is full of what might be considered ballads, hidden under a disguise of good dance grooves, electronic beats and Angelakos' falceto, that apparently has no limit as to how high it can go. "Sleepyhead" is the peak of the album, closing it out as the last track, and is the one that I continue to listen to on repeat a few months after I first heard it. Passion Pit was just announced as a part of the Lollapalooza line up for 2009, and there is a full-length set to be released May 19, 2009- this time I'll be waiting for it.



Los Campesinos!
I feel like I really did myself a great disservice by not knowing about Los Campesinos! at all in 2008, when they had a busy year releasing two full-lengths: the debut Hold on Now, Youngster... in February 2008 and their second album, We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed, on October 27, 2008. That's a lot of music to put out, and the best part is that both albums are extremely solid.

Hold On Now, Youngster... has a slightly more upbeat sense to it lyrically than We Are Beautiful... does, but both albums have at heart a disillusioned perception of reality that I equally respect and identify with. They follow the guide of their band name, which means "The Peasants," and have a shitload of people on the stage (7 members), with as many instruments as people, including a fiddle in true peasant style. The product is anthem rock for the indie kids, and it rocks. Compare: "You! Me! Dancing!" from Hold On Now Youngster... to "We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed" from album of same name:

You! Me! Dancing!


We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed


That's all for now, but I'll probably have a "Part 2" to this series coming soon...stay tuned, and happy listening!