Forbidden love, espionage, lost lovers, protest and of course, revenge. No, I’m not talking a high schools musical, but rather, The Decemberists 3rd, and most theatric album Picaresque.

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It’s no coincidence that I decided to write feature this classic album on its soon to be 3-year-anniversary of its release (March 22nd). Picaresque is one of the few albums that I can consider flawless, delivering countless dramatic themes over the course of nearly an hour.

Perhaps the album’s best attribute is Colin Meloy’s clever song writing, which consistently throughout the album. Whether he is talking about a spanish princess (“The Infanta”), star-crossed lovers (“We Both Go Down Together”), male prostitutes (“On The Bus Mall”), or even a tale of revenge (“The Mariners Revenge Song”), each song offers a gripping and engaging story.

What’s more, the use of clever rhyming (“Meet me on my vast veranda, my sweet untouched Miranda”), intense and complex vocabulary (“I feel on the playing field, the work of an errant heel”), and beautiful imagery (“Four score years, living down in this rain swept town, sea salt tears, swimming round as the rain comes down”), complements the album’s story in such a way that it often leaves listeners humming and singing lyrics throughout the day.

Of course,  like the two albums prior, the rich, epic ballads make their way into Picaresque as well, most notably seen in “The Bagmans Gambit,” a tale of espionage and love and “The Mariners Revenge Song,” a 9 minute song about love, loss, and revenge. There is also no absence of stunning indie pop either. “We Both Go Down Together,” being their “star crossed lovers” song, “16 Military Wives,” a protest song stating “If America does, it so, its so” and also it slams the media (“And the anchorperson on TV goes ‘la-di-da-di-da-di-di-di-da’ “), and “The Engine Driver,” another song that touches on the subject love, and the doubts that come with it (“and if you don’t love me, let me go”).

And for these attributes, people fall in love with The Decemeberists. Picaresque is essentially a giant, musical storybook. Each song is its own story, exhibiting the ability to almost come to life in such a way that the album could translate into a perfect on stage performance, if someone wanted to take on the taske.

Overall, The Decemberists’ Picaresque can be described by many words, but is most easily defined as being “remarkable”. Never before has an album made me really imagine the songs being acted out, and make me feel remorse for the characters that Colin illustrates so perfectly. Since I first heard the album, it truly has consistently been on repeat in my mind.

Check Out:
“We Both Go Down Together”
“Military Wives”

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We are only 3 months into 2008, and we’ve already seen a plethora of great music (Los Campesinos’s Hold on Now, Youngster…, Radiohead’s In Rainbows [gets it’s in-store release], Mountain Goat’s Heretic Pride, and of course, the holy Vampire Weekend self-titled album), and Man Man manages to continue the trend (how’s that for alliteration!) with their new, highly anticipated album Rabbit Habits, a follow up to their sophomore release Six Demon Bag.

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In typical Man Man fashion, all the songs have weird, psychopathic gypsy-like chants, notably the opening track “Mister Jung Stuffed,” a 2 minute 30 second long ride through what I’ve always pictured as a crazy ride through hell (think “Robot Hell” from Futurama). Mass chaos occurs throughout the whole track. Honus-Honus’s (Ryan Kattner’s, Man Man alter ego) vocals, as usual, are gritty, raw, and powerful. His voice cracks a multitude of times through this song, and of course throughout the whole album.

Things get interesting around ¼ of the way through the album, when “The Ballad of Butter Beans,” kicks in. The instrumentation is perfect. The tracks opens with the sound of wind chimes, but slowly but surely a driving drum-beat kicks in, working the snare drums, and suddenly! We encounter a gong smash, and xylophones come flying through, setting a chase-like tempo to the song. I’m freaking out. Honus Honus yelps “Butterbeans, I’m gonna get you!” and then the xylophones kick back in. Briefly, all the instruments step back, and we are left with the sound of the drums alone, holding the beat, and we are left to our imagination, what frantic sound what we want to put in. Man Man songs are, in my eyes, perfect for “imagining” things while listening to them and this song promotes this perfectly. The listener is given a blank canvas, and is told to imagine something, anything. A ridiculous guitar solo, the same xylophone riff as we heard before, or even a synthesizer solo, if you so wish.

I’m outside your window, throwing bricks at the moon!

At this point, everything is standard Man Man. Songs are wild, crazy, and just fun. Instruments are being played frantically, and everything feels like a state of panic. A 10 second interlude called “Mysteries of the Universe Unraveled” comes on, and we are tossed into a whole new world. “Doo Right” and “Rabbits Habits,” have odd, almost romantic lyrics (specifically “I wanna hold you, till the mountains turn into sand”, in Doo Right). Both songs are piano-driven, obscure love songs. While some things remain unchanged (high pitched chants), in these songs, it shows that Man Man can successfully write other styles of music, besides their “typical” affair.

To put it simply, Man Man’s Rabbit Habits, is a solid album. A very, very solid album. Lovers of the band, have nothing to fear, as the typical Man Man sound exists in nearly every track (high pitched voices, cracking vocals, frantic drums, intense instrumentation, etc.), but they will be pleasantly surprised to hear the new music-styles that can be heard in the second half of the album. New comers will be pleasantly surprised to hear unique, demonic, and just fun new music, that they will never forget. So kick back, close your eyes, and let each song paint itself, in your mind.

Check Out:
“Top Drawer”