From the Salmon

• sixteen
  

  The Decemberists - Picaresque

  Palanquins! Tamaracks! Roustabouts! The Decemberists are back with another set of anachronistic shanty pop.... [ Full Review ]

  Website | Amazon | iTunes

• seventeen
  

  José González - Veneer

  When you're planning to drop a quarter of a million superballs and you need some background music, who better to turn to than an Argentinian Swede? Quiet is indeed the new loud.

  Website | Amazon | iTunes

• eighteen
  

  Headphones - S/T

  Pedro goes Postal? Sort of. While uneven in parts, Bazan is still spinning bleak tales of brokenness, which is reason enough for joy.

  Website | Amazon | iTunes

• nineteen
  

  Summer at Shatter Creek - All the Answers

  One-man show Craig Gurwich's latest is a wistful treasure of achingly fragile beauty, each track just dripping with layers of forlorn falsetto.

  Website | Amazon | iTunes

• twenty
  

  Erin McKeown - We Will Become Like Birds

  Forget for a moment that "Through adversity to the stars" is the Kansas state motto. McKeown lifts her sights high and delivers a soaring set of summery pop that leaves her folk days far below.

  Website | Amazon | iTunes

(This list has been a little flaky in Internet Explorer. I didn't have time to fix that before we left. Use Firefox, already.)