Weekly Reviews: Hometowns - The Rural Alberta Advantage

Overall Ranking - 5.0

Okay, since this is the first one in what I hope to be a series of many, when I am ranking these albums, I am going to do it on a scale from 0 to 5, 0 being unlistenable and 5 causing you to be upset when you are not listening to it.

The first time you hear the Rural Alberta Advantage, you will probably think that you are listening to some long lost Neutral Milk Hotel record. Their debut LP, Hometowns, came out in the middle of last year and I have been spinning it almost non-stop since then. The lead singer has a very distinctive voice and in my opinion, the drummer is quite amazing. Not suprisingly, the lead singer hails from Alberta and the band is currently based out of Toronto. Each song on this album stands on its own and it is really the perfect album for this time of year because it is very summery (that's right, i said summery, and no i don't care if it is not a word). This record probably ranks as one of my top 3 from 2009 and if you don't know these guys, i highly encourage you to check them out. Two of my favorite songs from this ablum are linked below.

One last note, if you've never heard these guys and are wondering what kinds of bands they sound like, I would compare them favorably to Neutral Milk Hotel, the Antlers, Sunset Rubdown and Ra Ra Riot.

The Ballad of the RAA

Don't Haunt This Place