(((withoutsound)))

Some albums are so fucking awesome, they just don’t sound as good out of order. But I’d wager that most albums sound better on shuffle. This isn’t a slight on most bands, although maybe it is a slight on whoever organizes the tracks on an album (producer?). It’s really just the way it is, and I think most of us are used to it. The nice thing about daps is that you can load multiple albums onto them and listen to an album in whole or as part of a huge random mix.

Really this is just my hope that if you don’t like my next suggestion, you’ll try listening to it in a couple of different ways.

So… anyway, Los Angeles-based band Irving recently released their 2nd full-length album Death in the Garden, Blood on the Flowers. I’m an Irving fan. They are currently one of the most pleasant-sounding producers of 60s-era almost-psych pop-rock, which is one of the most pleasant things I’ve found to listen to. If you were ever a fan of the Monkees or the Animals or the Kinks, or if you currently like the Essex Green or the Lilys, I think you’d like Irving, too. Their songs are poppy and dark, resigned and playful. If you listen to the new album you’ll hear song after song that’ll make you think: single, this’ll be the single; no wait, this song’ll be the single; no wait, this’ll be the single; no wait, Tom Waits isn’t single; or is he? Or you might get tired of listening to the album in full, in which case, you should switch to shuffle mode, because I gair-un-tee whenever one of these Irving songs comes up, you’ll look at your dap to see who’s playing and go: aw, yeah! I like these guys!

Try these three tracks to begin:

• “Jen, Nothing Matters to Me” from Death in the Garden, Blood on the Flowers
• “Turn of the Century” from 2002’s Good Morning, Beautiful
• “L-O-V-E” also from Good Morning, Beautiful

Then go to Sea Level Records in LA to buy the album (because they’ll include a limited edition Irving single) or go buy it at insound.