PT Bruiser

5. Monsters of Folk by Monsters of Folk

Perhaps you noticed that there no MOF songs on my top 25 singles. It’s true, no one song of theirs has caught my affection as much as the various other tracks I listed there. But this whole album is very good, through and through, and I cannot deny that I enjoy listening to it every time. Conor Oberst, Jim James, Mike Mogis, and M. Ward (clockwise, starting from upper-left, in the album cover) have put together a work of art that not only captures their own unique sounds, but blends them together to produce music that can be jangly and uplifting, dark and thoughtful, poppy, rockin’, and folky. Emma and James got to see their shows in Chicago and Louisville, respectively, and I’m completely jealous. There’s pretty much not a song I don’t like, and several that I really enjoy (“Man Named Truth,” “Goodway,” “Temazcal,” and I’d better stop here before I name off the rest of the album). Plus, I got it for $5 off Amazon mp3. What a steal.