[xrr rating=4.0/5]Right about this time two years ago, I sat down to listen to the self-titled debut of a Brooklyn band named Hospitality. I was immediately struck by the quality of craftsmanship in its songs and equally struck by the thought “how am I going to write about this?” Hospitality’s music didn’t fall neatly into genres; it didn’t follow rules …

20. Cat Power Sun [Matador] Cat Power’s ninth studio album is filled with unexpected studio flourishes—overdubs, synthesizers, electronic beats—and yet retains all the lyric edge and raw, minor-key emotion that distinguish the best of her work. Sun has moments as introspective as anything in Chan Marshall’s catalog, notably the hangover ruminations of “3,6,9” or the understated rage of “Always on …

(Photo: John McNicholas) The self-titled debut LP of Brooklyn indie-pop group Hospitality was released earlier this year. It’s a consistently fun and intermittently profound record, one that could easily be forgotten when it comes time for end-of-year lists because of its January release date. This potential oversight is a shame because the album rather impressively explores the problems of post-college …

Four years after their self-titled EP was released, Brooklyn band Hospitality has put out a full length album and it sounds fantastic. The trio of singer/guitarist Amber Papini, multi-instrumentalist Nathan Michel and bassist Brian Betancourt create songs that defy genre, working through shades of acoustic rock, crunchy pop and even some jazz thrown in, often sounding as delighted as they …

[xrr rating=4.5/5]It’s a bit early in 2012 to be calling anything “best” of well, pretty much anything, but since I’m a music critic, that’s kind of my job. And if I had to call out the best debut album of the year so far, it’d be New York-based band Hospitality’s eponymous album. After an EP last year and a trickle …