Rilo Kiley -- The Execution of All Things

I mentioned this album in my review of The Appleseed Cast's show about a week ago, and I'm not kidding when I say that it is one of my favorite albums. Call me lame all you want, but this album is definitely the standard that I hold all female vocalists to. Jenny Lewis has a great voice, and I think it really shines on this album, more than her solo work or other Rilo Kiley albums, because she offers such a varied range. She fits the slower acoustic songs while still being able to shout her way above the din in the louder songs. This brings me to another bit I love about this record. The instruments work. The drums work. The guitars work. The bass works. Every instrument knows its place and is perfectly happy to be there and not steal the show. This causes the album to, quite simply, work. Sing-along songs like 'With Arms Outstretched' (this song is one of my favorite songs ever, by the way) contrast well with the moments in songs like 'Spectacular Views' where the band goes into full rock-out mode. All in all, while not a perfect album (the sequences about Jenny's childhood in Alaska at the end of some tracks can be annoying), The Execution of All Things comes pretty close and provides a good standard for female vocalists, instrumental cohesion, and indie-alt-country-rock hyphenated genre albums in general.