Music Library: Animal Collective, Archers of Loaf, Darcy James Argue's Secret Society, Bats, Beaux Animaux, Andrew Bird, Blue Oyster Cult, Boris, James Brown, Can, Nick Cave

I've reviewed almost all of these artists before, but we have to catch up sometime.

Animal Collective - Centipede Hz (2012). I've covered this band so many damn times. But I like this one much more than the last.



Archers of Loaf - Vee Vee (1995). This is the two-disc remaster from last year, which sounds fantastic. One of my favorite Chapel Hill bands to see back in the 90s.



Darcy James Argue's Secret Society - Brooklyn Babylon (2013). Powerful, beautiful, brilliant avant big-band music from one of the best jazz composers around.



The Bats - Thousands of Tiny Luminous Spheres (compilation, 2000), Don't You Rise EP (2009), Spill The Beans EP (2010). I have most of the Bats' releases, but this gathers up some of the odds and ends I missed. There's only two tracks from the compilation here. As always, the Bats are excellent.

Beaux Animaux - Beautiful Animals (2010). My pal Michael's last band. He's an amazing songwriter, and these are killer pop songs.

Andrew Bird - Hands of Glory (2012). Although endlessly innovative, Bird is also the indie rock guy most likely to turn into a folkie singing Townes Van Zandt songs on Letterman.



Blue Oyster Cult - On Your Feet Or On Your Knees (1975) and Spectres (1977). The former is live BOC, which is always awesome, but the latter is fairly tepid other than "Godzilla."

James Brown - Revolution Of The Mind: Live At The Apollo, Vol. III (1971). Hell yeahs.

Can - Tago Mago (40th Anniversary Edition) (1971). I don't know how many times I've bought this now. The remastered original album is the same as the 2004 re-release, an astonishingly clear version,  and the live album sounds fantastic, too.

Nick Cave - Your Funeral... My Trial (1986) and Push The Sky Away (2013). Some critics have complained about the new Cave album, but I like it. Don't love it yet, but that takes some time occasionally. The earlier one works about the same for me.