By Chad Taylor
soundcheck@dmcityview.com

Kate Bush

‘50 Words for Snow’

Fish People

Sample tracks

Saying you like Kate Bush is like saying you appreciate the Beatles or Mozart or Nirvana. It shows you have a basic understanding of how music works, but you’re not really going to impress anyone with it. Kate has always made her albums joys to listen to, and “50 Words for Snow” is more than just an album for the completest or hard-core fans. This is Bush at her very best. Each song tells a tale, and she allows the music to develop and grow on its own. The album is languorous — tracks range in length from six minutes to more than 13 — but unlike some (Lou Reed, I’m looking in your direction), every note feels necessary. Tracks like the opener, “Snowflake,” and its 11-minute follow-up, “Lake Tahoe,” are decadent, operatic in scope and sublimely original. Which also pretty much sums up Bush herself. CV

Tegan and Sara

‘Get Along’

Warner Brothers

Sample tracks

Tegan and Sara are like that girl you dated in high school. No, the other one. The one who totally reminds you of Zooey Deschanel in “(500) Days of Summer.” The one who made you the mix tape with Rufus Wainwright on it and who got all her clothes from thrift shops, but it never seemed pretentious. That girl you thought you were going to spend the rest of your life with but now, with a few years behind you, you look back and see how it’s the best thing in the world for both of you that you didn’t. Maybe you see her at a party or find her on Facebook, and you think about saying “hi,” but you don’t because you kind of want to keep the perfect memory of that young, beautiful person you loved. Tegan and Sara are like that. Oh, and by the way, “Get Along” is great. CV

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