top (five)

In many respects, I'm a computer in need of constant re-booting. Or at least frequent software updates. I'm itching for new all the time, or at least old-as-new (you know what I mean, I hope). It's especially true with music. So for this week's Tuesday Top Five (which is really four, this week), I've listed the album's I've newly discovered, and which you, too, should check out.
- Beach House, Devotion (pictured above)
This is a dreamy album, low key yet haunting, and one that only gets better with time. The band has a light, gauzy sound, the aural equivalent of a soft-focused, sun-drenched photograph. The song "Holy Dances" resonates most with me, but there's not a bum track to be found.

- M83, Saturdays=Youth (pictured at right)
I've always been fond of French electronica band M83. There previous albums, Before the Dawn Heals Us and Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts, hit the right balance of techno beat, dreamscape and substance for my tastes, and helped turn me into a long distance runner in college.
This new album is a thrilling 80s pastiche that displays a broad swath of influences including Vangelis' iconic Blade Runner soundtrack and the opening title music from Twin Peaks. The band has managed this slight departure while still retaining their signature approach, which results in their most distinct, appealing effort yet. I've had the single-ready "Kim & Jessie" on a loop for weeks.

- Cat Power, Jukebox (pictured below)
I've had a thing for Chan Marshall (Cat Power) for quite a while. Her last album before this collection of covers, The Greatest, drifted a tad too far into bluegrass and folk for me, and upon first listen this album left me lukewarm.

I rediscovered it in Paris, and have found myself totally captivated. Don't let the odd, poorly selected opener, a distant, echoing rendition of "New York, New York" throw you. Yes, it's the music equivalent of a miscast starlet, but the rest are gems. She does her best covering herself, with "Naked, If I Wanted To" carrying the bonus disc.
On a side note, I'm all for the cleaned-up Chan (she used to be a notorious, show-ruining boozer). On the plane ride back I caught Wong Kar-Wai's helplessly mediocre My Blueberry Nights, his first English-language feature. It stars songbird Norah Jones (talk about a miscast starlet) as a lovelorn waitress who falls for a cafe owner (Jude Law, showing his age and late nights) over blueberry pie. She then sets out on a cross-country road trip (why, I'm not entirely sure) and meets a cast of misbegotten, craven characters (the most intriguing being Rachel Weisz' reckless, hard-living Sheriff's wife). Chan's songs from The Greatest fill the soundtrack, and she appears in an all-too-brief cameo as Law's ex-girlfriend. It's a film filled with odd casting choices (Natalie Portman as a peroxide-blond card shark? Please.), but this is the one that works.

- Emily Haines & The Soft Skeleton, Knives Don't Have Your Back (pictured at right)
If you're not familiar with Haines, you totally should be. She's part of my favorite band, the sprawling Canadian indie rock collective Broken Social Scene, providing lead vocals on a number of dreamy tracks, including the much-loved "Anthems for a Seventeen-Year-Old Girl". She was there when I saw the band live promoting Kevin Drew's album Spirit If ... (another one you should check out). A radiant wisp of a girl, with crimson hair and a come hither smirk, I was totally taken.
She also heads the totally fun band Metric, which was memorably featured in the opening scenes of Oliver Assayas' underrated rock drama Clean (with Maggie Cheung as a Courtney Love-esque rock widow).
Haines' smooth, fragile voice carries this solo effort, which consciously sheds both Broken Social Scene and Metric's frenetic, most often upbeat sound. These are luxuriant, ruminative ballads that drift, float and linger. It takes a little bit more time to jump into than the other recommendations, but is just as rewarding.