Okkervil River

[ChuckDickens]

I'm kind of surprised to see that these guys haven't been mentioned on the board yet. I just got my grubby mitts on Black Sheep Boy (2005) and the recently leaked copy of their forthcoming album, The Stage Names. Black Sheep Boy got a lot of praise from tubby guys on the Internet whose job it is to give praise to records like these, but I like it for the most part. However, I like the new release even more. BSB sounded like a clash of two completely different styles (maybe how Elliott Smith being backed by the Hold Steadywould sound). The Stage Names seems to find a nice medium between those two.

According to Last.fm, these are 15 similar bands:

Code:

The Mountain Goats    100
Neutral Milk Hotel 94
The Decemberists 92
Band of Horses 91
Shearwater 90
Sufjan Stevens 89
M. Ward 89
Wilco 88
Andrew Bird 84
Wolf Parade 82
Iron & Wine 81
My Morning Jacket 79
Yo La Tengo 76
Silver Jews 76
Spoon 75

Incidentally, Jim Eno (Spoon's drummer) did a lot of the production on The Stage Names.

Anyway, I suck at reviewing music, but give them a spin.

[Slaky!]

I have BSB, it was a good album...a little dramatic at times. I'll certainly check out the new one.

[Blee]

I got Black Sheep Boy when they re-released it with the Appendix, and I really, really liked it.

I haven't listened to the leak yet, but I heard the first track. My hopes are very, very high.

[R-V]

Just discovered these guys. Really like The Stage Names, will have to check out Black Sheep Boys.

I also ended up enjoying these albums based on my Okkervil likeage:

Midlake - The Trials of Van Occupanther
Local Natives - Gorilla Manor