Some years are not as good as others.

I have a laundry list of three hundred different yes or no questions that help me decide whether or not it will be a good year. Are the Phillies going to win some baseball games? Am I going to be able to add to my savings account? Will the Breeders be coming out with a new album? Will we elect a better president?

So far 2008 is looking like a good year. The Deal sisters are on the scene with Mountain Battles, their latest collection of pile-driving slow jams and smooth seductive rock jams. And once again we will all have another reason to get stoned and listen to music.

The best parts of a Breeders’ album for me are the different tones and sounds heard through your stereo speakers. It is as if they are calling out to the young listeners, “Please young ones, listen on a set of speakers that are not referred to as buds… Please hear our music uncompressed and alive with your parents warning you to turn down that stereo or they will ground you for the rest of your young lives! Is that too much to ask?” The sounds produced on Mountain Battles don’t leave you confused — yes, that’s a guitar and a bass and a drum kit and another awesome guitar and some people singing — there aren’t too many didgeridoos or Theremins or other obscure instruments, but the album manages to get these fundamental rock instruments to sound so engaged in what they are attempting to accomplish it makes my ears perk up a bit. I don’t pay attention to tone too often, but to tackle it to a tee is too terrific to toss aside. I imagine the sisters Deal in the studio as if they were furniture makers attempting to craft a throne for the new queen of Ohio — master craftsmen whittling each detail as if it were the keystone of the project. It becomes quite engrossing.

Besides all that jazz about tone and detailing the throne, Mountain Battles rocks as well. You can throw up the ol’ devil horns and bang your head around for a good bit of it, but as we all know, those sorts of actions are best accomplished in a time machine — which isn’t such a bad metaphor for this record. Mountain Battles is to a time machine as Ray Allen in a Celtics jersey is to Shawn Kemp in NBA Jam. Makes sense to me.

So besides all that jazz about rockin’ out and nostalgia and then that other jazz about tone and whittling, I recommend the new Breeders CD to most of you. I do not recommend the new Breeders CD to squares, stiffs, or anyone who disliked their previous albums.

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