Split Personalities by 12 Rods

Pros: Melodic and engaging, well-balanced.
Cons: It's only 50 minutes long.

Last fall, a friend made a mixtape for me by way of getting to know me better. The final song on Side B of this tape was "Girl Sun", by a semi-local (Minneapolis) band called 12Rods. That song was dreampop at its *finest* -- gooey sentiments...

Pros: beautifully written songs, talented vocalists and instrumentalists
Cons: none that I can see

12 Rods is the greatest thing to EVER come out of Minneapolis. Simply put. It only took ONE song of theirs to convince me I needed this album, that song being "Split Personality", the first track on this album.

Brothers Ryan and Ev...

Pros: progressive, humble, uplifting, complex
Cons: embarrassing, awkward, naked

This is the dorky version of a Mars Volta album in my book. The instrumentation is extremely complex and the hooks are undeniably good. Yet the subject matter is very boy-hits-puberty at times. Ultimately, what is so frustrating is that the music plays tug-of-war with the awkward and very self conscious lyrics. I go back and forth on this album all the time, but overall, I would have to say that this is a pretty satisfying listen.