 | The Crane Wife by The Decemberists
Buy new: $14.99 / Used from: $4.99 'O Valencia!' and 'The Perfect Crime #2' tell wonderful disturbing stories, and 'Yankee Bayonet (I Will Be Home Then)' is a ghostly love song, but 'Shankill Butchers' boasts the most chilling lyrics of all:
"'Cause everybody knows
If you don't mind your mother's words
A wicked wind will blow
Your ribbons from your curls
Everybody moan everybody shake
The Shankill butchers wanna catch you
Awake."
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 | Picaresque by The Decemberists
Buy new: $13.99 / Used from: $8.48 This is a truly wonderful CD, and all of the songs are beautifully written, but I think my favorite of all is 'We Both Go Down Together,' which has such lyrics as
"I laid you down in the grass of a clearing
You wept but your soul was willing"
and
"Meet me on my vast verandah
My sweet untouched Miranda."
'The Mariner's Revenge Song' is also notably epic.
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 | Castaways and Cutouts by The Decemberists
Buy new: $13.99 / Used from: $8.75 I guess I just really like creepy songs, but 'Leslie Anne Levine' and 'A Cautionary Song' are the most lyrically interesting stories of all on this CD. Again, all of them are amazing.
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 | Her Majesty by The Decemberists
Buy new: $14.99 / Used from: $9.74 Okay, I just really love the Decemberists. But between the epic 'Shanty for the Arethusa,' the poignant 'Red Right Ankle,' and the wistful 'I Was Meant for the Stage,' this is not only a wonderfully well-written CD but probably one of my favorites. Ever.
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 | Begin to Hope by Regina Spektor
Buy new: $18.99 / Used from: $10.98 I really, really love her lyrics. 'Samson' begins so simply:
"You are my sweetest downfall
I loved you first."
She weaves such poetry... but what gets me is when she starts singing in Russian. That's just really, really cool.
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 | Plans by Death Cab for Cutie
Buy new: $10.97 / Used from: $6.50 Worth it just for 'I Will Follow You Into the Dark.' That is a truly, truly beautiful song.
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 | The Execution of All Things by Rilo Kiley
Buy new: $11.99 / Used from: $8.21 'My Slumbering Heart' is whimsical and wonderful; 'Hail to Whatever You Found in the Sunlight That Surrounds You' is a little chilling but eloquent; all of these songs are rocking and yet lyrical.
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 | Old World Underground, Where Are You Now? by Metric
Buy new: $13.99 / Used from: $9.88 Funny, sexy and blunt... between the 'Blue Skies'-referential 'Love is a Place' to the slightly Orwellian but upbeat 'Succexy' this is a fun find. Cool lyrics set to a techno-pop-alternative beat.
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 | Chrominance Decoder by April March
Buy used from: $3.55 So fun! Half of it is in French, which I love even though I don't understand it, but her English songs are great little-girl pop with an adult sensibility... 'Sugar' especially exemplifies this:
"I wanted to smile
But your grip was unkind."
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 | Hang on Little Tomato by Pink Martini
Buy new: $14.99 / Used from: $7.99 I love how multilingual they are. 'Veronique' is an excellent, film noir-esque song, and 'Lilly' is flip and sexy. All of the songs are wonderful, though.
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