DOOM’s motley crew of music aficionados are back to give you the rundown of what they’re digging this past month. This month is contributed by Katie Delz, Michael Harris, and Aaron Poole.

Katie:

This month’s recommendation does not come guilt-free. I confess to throwing my will-power out the window when leaks are involved. Such is the case of Beach House’s new album Bloom.

The official release for this album is May 15th, but I’m sure some people can understand the heartbeat-skipping joy I felt when I discovered the leak.

Beach House is a consistently good band, and their last album ‘Teen Dream’ was released 2 years ago. So it’s an understatement to say that I was anxious to hear what they put out.

Result? Nothing short of amazing. It helps that they used the same producer that they had on Teen Dream.

If you aren’t a super evil, leak-downloading person and want to have a taste of their new album, they did release the first track, ‘Myth’, as a teaser.

Michael:

Good Old War – Come Back As Rain (Released March 6, 2012)

Indie Folk. An ever growing corner of the musical world where I’m going to build a nice summer home. In fact, some days I feel as though I might not ever leave. Good Old War makes me feel like hanging out by the crick and reading poetry books to my best gal, bringing to mind images of tire swings and other such quaint nonsense, but slightly more modern, so possibly images of an iPad with a picture of a tire swing. With Come Back As Rain, the band only continues a wonderful tradition of making great music and giving me something wonderfully happy to listen to.

Standout Track: “Loud Love” (which we couldn’t find so here is a different one -Ed.)

The Shins – Port of Morrow (Released March 19, 2012)

Chutes Too Narrow firmly established this band in the realm of “Shut up and take my money” territory for me, and while Wincing the Night Away had its imperfections and just things that I didn’t enjoy, I was throroughly excited for Port of Morrow. Morrow, though not the Shins lineup that I have come to love and a very different one at that, is a lovely mix of new ideas. Frontman James Mercer and his new crew refined their sound to near perfection. New voices, both instrumentally and vocally make for a very new sound and a fantastic little album.

Standout Track: “For A Fool”

Dr. Dog – Be The Void (Released February 7, 2012)

I know that this came out last month and technically shouldn’t count, but I’m the one who’s writing this review and you can technically shut your face. That being said, I love me some Dr. Dog. This effort by the band is more pop oriented, a bit more…fun, than previous records like Shame, Shame or even Fate which were more subdued with key exceptions. Be The Void is a wonderful bit of freedom from the band, with some great experiments and some great new sounds.

Standout Track: “Heavy Light”

Aaron:

I don’t know at what point everyone started hating Coldplay but they do. It’s strange to me as the first time I heard “Shiver” when it was released, just over 10 years ago now, I was instantly smitten. Their debut album Parachutes was a moody, indie bombshell of awesome and they went stratospheric not long after that. But at that time, they were the cool indie band your mates hadn’t heard of. It seems, Coldplay’s biggest problem is that they got popular.

Now sneered at by the same musical elite who used to champion them, it’s weird how that effects you as a fan. I’ve been to a few Coldplay gigs and they’re incredibly tight live, in fact almost eerily so. They’re so polished that I start to see what people are moaning about. They’re the tidiest band in rock. So when the new album came out… I started to side with the nay sayers.

Well, after a few singles got released I got over myself and realised that no matter what people say, they’re one of the biggest bands in the world for a reason. They make solid records. Mylo Xyloto is their most Pop album to date, it even has a guest appearance from Rihanna on one of the tracks. The album as a whole is coehesive and incredibly listenable with some real sonic moments to grab your attention along the way. It’s not their best, but it’s still worth having in the collection.

If Florence + The Machine released this, the hipsters would shit themselves over how good it is.

The year is almost over but Aaron Poole, Katie Delz and Michael Harris have come together to recommend some music to see you out. So check out our picks below and click here to read/listen to our previous lists.

Katie:

For this month, I’ve decided to recommend some music that I feel is the type of stuff one should listen to as the year closes out. Maybe you had a really nice year and all your wildest dreams came true. Maybe your year was as uneventful as watching paint dry. But listen, a ‘paint-drying’ year is just as important as one that was successful, and you need some tunes to calm you down and soothe your weary soul.

That is why I chose Beach House‘s self-titled debut album as my pick this month. This dream-pop goodness came into the world in 2006, and is adorned with a calm simplicity of organs, programmed drums, and Victoria Legrand‘s voice that is guaranteed to subdue even the most anxious of people.

So here is what you do, dear DOOM! reader; Acquire this album, make a hot drink of your choice, and take a loving (or hatred-filled) look at your myriad 2011 memories.

Michael:

The Roots – Undun (Released December 2, 2011)
On their eleventh studio album since 1993, The Roots continually impress with their ability to move beyond the limitations that are generally imposed on Hip-Hop. Bringing in lyrics that are relevant, poetic, and accessible while testing their own musical boundaries with far reaching influences and stripped down beats. Notable tracks are “Tip the Scale (feat. Dice Raw)” and “Make My (feat. K.R.I.T. and Dice Raw)”

The Black Keys – El Camino (Released December 6, 2011)
The Black Keys haven’t done bad forthemselves over the past 10 years, releasing 6 studio albums, two EPs and one hell of a collaboration record in Blakroc. With El Camino, their seventh record, The Ohio duo continue to impress with a sound that no other band is doing quite so consistently or quite so well. If you’re a fan of The Black Keys already, you’ll find the familiar chugging beats and soulful guitar but their sound is definitely evolving further away from their strictly blues-rock roots. Standout track include “Little Black Submarines” and “Stop Stop“

Aaron:

The idea of a comedy band can be both positive and negative. Cheesy examples can be found at Open Mic Nights across the world but Flight of the Conchords, Paul & Storm, Tenacious D (at least for one album) are good examples of novelty bands making great music. I won’t include parody musicians because, well, that’s a different kettle of fish. Ireland now has an act that can compete in this genre, The Rubberbandits.

With their almost incomprehensible Limerick City accents and catchy hip-hop tunes these YouTube heroes got themselves a number 1 hit last christmas but it has taken them a year to release the debut album this month, Serious About Men. It’s a double album with a mix of both their songs and some prank phone calls they featured on their YouTube channel.

While I like the album and I’m perfectly happy to recommend it to everyone I must say that I’m slightly dissapointed there aren’t more songs. The vast majority of the album has been online for a long time now and I was hoping to unearth some new stuff but this is pretty much a direct copying of the YouTube material and it feels like too long a wait for just that.

Anyway, enjoy the song that kicked off their crazy ride just over a year ago. (NSFW)