As part of our continuing year-end coverage, we're going to feature some of the great shorter releases this year that were categorically excluded from our top 25.
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Is Is
Karen, Brian, and Nick have really perfected their formula. The two sides of the YYYs coin are the frenetic stomper and icy ballad, best exemplified by "Rockers to Swallow" and "Down Boy". The three seem to pull together as a unit more tightly than on Show Your Bones, regaining more of the garage rock aesthetic from Fever to Tell.
Black Kids - Wizard of Ahhhs
The other important self-release this year after In Rainbows. If Tokyo Police Club (and Voxtrot and Arctic Monkeys before them) hadn't done the "darling of the blogger based on less than 20 minutes of recorded material" thing last year, I'd say Black Kids were doing something extraordinary. Still, the catchiest four songs of the year. Seriously.
Grizzly Bear - Friend
The brooding melancholy of 2006's Yellow House returns here but with more verve, more urgency, and energy than that still excellent LP delivered. The psych-folk virtuosi still speak softly, but carry a slightly bigger stick this time around. Their cover of The Crystals' "He Hit Me" is a standout. The covers by CSS, Band of Horses, and Atlas Sound are nothing to write home about, but they don't detract substantially from the quality of the EP as a whole.
Tokyo Police Club - Smith
A super short set from an already short-winded band, Smith showcases the slower, less overdriven side of TPC, even more so than side 2 of A Lesson in Crime.
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