A music enthusiast's thoughts on any and all music in the realms of rock, folk, indie, metal, and electronic.
Click album covers for links. Feel free to share your opinions on these albums and keep in mind that what I write are merely my thoughts and feelings and I do not expect them to be shared.
This album is one 49 and a half minute song, which is not atypical of this type of music, but can be a bit exhausting. It shifts seamlessly between somber ambient parts and droning guitars with vocals every now and then. Overall it's a relatively depressing listen, but is quite interesting. I don't see myself listening to this in its entirety very often, but in parts it's great. I think this is the musical equivalent of a scene like that on the album cover. His last album "Conqueror" (2007) is a bit more accessible, mainly due to length, but musically they seem very similar.
Until I can catch up, here's something I've enjoyed recently. Finals are almost over and I'll get back into this for new releases that come out in the new year.
This is kinda like Mates of State's Rearrange Us (2008). Female fronted, catchy-as-hell pop music. This isn't quite that sweet and sugary though. I think it's comparable in quality. The lyrics seem a bit more intelligent, and the vocals are somewhere in the middle ground between Tegan & Sara's style and the super sweet vocals of the likes of Camera Obscura. The singer (apologies, dont know her name) doesn't seem to be trying to make her voice sound all that "good." She sounds great, but not as though she's trying too hard, which is good. Musically, this is pretty basic. Mid-tempo backdrops for the vocals, which are the main focus of the album, and it works.
The Duke and the King, not to be confused with The Duchess and the Duke (who released a very good album two months ago) are the side project of Simone Felice, from The Felice Brothers. Simone is The Felice Brothers’ drummer, who sings lead on a few tracks, and has a soulful tenor that pales in comparison to his brother’s gritty, Bob Dylan-esque croon. The Felice Brothers are more suited to that style, so when Simone sings lead, it often sounds a bit less inspired. On this project, he really steps up though, in my opinion. I think this is because he has more lively music backing him, and shares vocal duties with his band members. Check out “Still Remember Love” for some great vocal harmonies. This is still very much grounded in the folk aesthetic, but it actually sounds nothing like The Felice Brothers. Whereas The Felice Brothers sound like they’re coming right out of the small Catskill Mountain town where they formed, The Duke and the King are a bit closer to your local coffee shops. It still has that folk feel to the music, in the lyrics, instrumentation, and general attitude and presentation. Compared to Simone’s day job, I think this is a bit more accessible, even to folks who may not gravitate towards rural sounding music. On their myspace they describe themselves as a glam-soul-folk quartet. Indeed, elements of soul can be heard, mainly in the vocals, but I have no idea where the glam comes from.
This is a good instrumental post-rock album. It’s their only album so far, and it does have a couple of flaws. For one, it’s a lot of loud-quiet-loud, which isn’t a terrible thing, but coupled with their relative lack of variety, the music does wind up sound a bit formulaic. That doesn’t mean it isn’t an enjoyable listen; most post-rock bands, as long as they can stretch some pretty notes out for seven-plus minutes, manage to at least be pleasant, if not mind blowing. Fossil is worth a listen if you like instrumental music, but don’t expect to hear anything you haven’t heard many times before. Potential is there.
This came out a while ago, but I'm posting it now because I didn't like it the first time I heard it and only listened to it again in the past few days. I don't think it's quite as good as their last two, and I still haven't heard their debut, but this is good enough. I think the main attraction here is the vocals, which strike a nice balance between sounding pretty, but so pretty that they become comical. Stylistically, I really don't think this is all that different from past work, other than the fact that this batch of songs isn't as immediately affecting as the past two.
It’s interesting that they’ve released two well-received full-length albums over the past two years, and have also released two short EPs of songs that would probably have fit on either of those albums. Maybe there are some subtleties that I am not getting, or some aspect of their artistic vision that makes the first sentence of this paragraph incredibly stupid, but from what I’m hearing these are along the lines of their recent work. “Graze” has some pretty, echoing vocal harmonies over fluttering synth and what sounds like flute. It’s sunny, cheerful, a bit abstract, and very beautiful. In other words, it would have sounded great on the latter half of Merriweather Post Pavillion. “Bleeding” isolated their vocal harmonies, lending an echo to both voices, which sound like they are in conversation with each other over droning synths. Both tracks are similar in quality to the best they've released over the past couple of years.
I read the pitchfork review of this EP, anxious to find out what I’m missing. Were these songs not complete on time for MPP’s release in January? Did they simply not make the cut because something had to be cut and these were it? Were they artistically uncompatible? Certainly, these 27-minutes of music would have made MPP way too long and turned a perfectly satisfying album into a pleasant, yet complex, exhausting affair. Pitchfork was no help, as is the case 50% of the time. They launched into descriptions of Animal Collective’s perfect use of tension, their departure from typical hipster-approved indie stylistic choices. They did not know why these songs were isolated onto this EP, but indicated that they were written around the same time.
Anyway, the music here can be described with any adjective used to describe any of the last 4 Animal Collective albums. Of course it’s good. They’re a good band. They have so much going on, layered electronics, multitracked vocals, songs that seem to change direction at the drop of the hat, and others that shift subtly over five-plus minutes. And, they manage to make all of this sound good. The highlight isn’t their adventurousness, or their status as extremely influential and respected, it’s that this sounds really pretty. I know that’s a simplistic assessment, and one that most of their fans would turn their nose up at. But this EP stays interesting throughout and has a nice, dreamy, psychedelic sound that barely masks their pop sensibilities, which are part of what make them a good band. For the longest time, I resisted liking this band, but with MPP, I really couldn’t do that anymore, and this EP is almost as good.
Condo Fucks are really Yo La Tengo, and this is a cover album of short, punchy garage-rock songs, as opposed to Yo La Tengo's typical drawn-out jam sessions. Though the shortness is appropriate, it's an enjoyable album of fun music and is a welcome break for those who may appreciate the band's aesthetic but lack patience for their indulgence.
Maybeshewill is a post-rock band from the UK who sample spoken word passages over their music to lend a lyrical effect. These speeches are invariably political in theme and, while meaningful, do not really add all that much to the music. It works best on the last track (title track) on the album. While this doesn't feel all that cohesive, it quite good musically, with arrangements that aren't among the best of the genre, but are passable. They are similar to French Teen Idol, another post-rock group that pulls this off a bit better. Despite this, Maybeshewill have released an album worth its runtime, and if nothing else, they provide a nice break from all the pop/rock music I listen to, especially when I feel tired of those same Mogwai and Sigur Ros albums.
I'm very pleased with this album. Built to Spill have a great sound, but have not always been able to make great albums. I love their messy, dreamy guitar sounds, and similar vocal style, but they haven't always combined them with great songwriting. Instead, there have been some very good albums, that were plenty enjoyable, but seemed a bit aimless at times. I tend to find myself revisiting the standout tracks, jumping between albums, rarely letting one play all the way through. I really love this band, but there are only so many times I can play "Goin' Against Your Mind," or "Carry the Zero" without wishing I had an entire album of similarly awesome songs.So, I was pleased to find There is No Enemy more cohesive than anything they've released in at least ten years, if not ever. It has their typical hazy guitar sound, but it also has some of their strongest songwriting in a long time, and is among the best releases I've heard this year. The guitar work in "Aisle 13" is a treat. The country/bluesy feel of "Hindsight" is similarly glorious. The horns in "Life's a Dream" are a nice touch. The last track on the album is also among their best, with a bass heavy guitar melody. It's little things like this that give the album more flavor than some of their past ones have had. To me, this album has the band at their best, and although they have not released an album I don't like, this could become my favorite.
The Cribs' fourth album features a notably cleaner, more streamlined sound than their popular Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever (2007), but it isn't necessarily worse off. The songs are still punchy, catchy, and full of energy, with solid lyrics. Even though nothing is quite as great as "I'm a Realist," "Men's Needs," or "Be Safe" from two years ago, this really shouldn't lose them any fans.
2010: The National - High Violet 2009: Metric - Fantasies 2008: The Gaslight Anthem - The 59 Sound 2007: Against Me! - New Wave 2006: Band of Horses - Everything All the Time 2005: The Decemberists - Picaresque
