New Music

It was a pretty weak week (homophones!) so this will probably be a brief brief (homonyms!) of new music.

Alabama Shakes - Boys and Girls

I'd been looking forward to this album for a while now. This is the debut album of a fantastic Southern band that mixes soul, R&B, and rock. Everybody should check this band out, if only to hear the lead singer's voice, which isn't like anything in music right now: capable of switching from Janis Joplin to Aretha Franklin, she's just got a ridiculously powerful voice. Critical response to the actual album seems a little muted, which may be a function of the ridiculously high expectations brought on by some really strong live performances the band has given. Some of the complaints are valid - the production on this album isn't the greatest - but I suspect after the initial slight letdown, this album will be viewed more favorably, as this band is just too good. Oh, and you heard it hear first, this band's inevitable horn section-accompanied album (I'm guessing it will be their third album) is going to be goddamn mind-blowing. These guys are definitely the winner of the week.

Selections

You Ain't Alone (this is actually one of those aforementioned superior live performances)

Hold On

Alex Winston - King Con

First off, despite sounding like a leadoff hitter for a Major League Baseball team in the 80's, Alex Winston is a woman, and a classically trained (this always seemed to be a term that means nothing, but everything I've read about her mentions this, so I figured I should too) woman from Detroit who writes some pretty interesting pop music at that. She's pretty young but gained a little bit of fame by being the opening act for Chuck Berry, who, shockingly, is not dead. Good on ya, Chuck. Anyway, I'm not entirely sure how to describe her music, but I do enjoy it. There's parts of Arcade Fire, parts of Tennis, parts of Matt & Kim, parts of Kimbra. It's good, varied pop music for a sunny day.

Selections

Velvet Elvis

Medicine

Sister Wife

M. Ward - A Wasteland Companion

M. Ward's never really been up my alley (although I did like Monsters of Folk, even if that was primarily a joke), so I had low expectations for this album. Surprisingly, I liked it, so maybe I had been listening to the wrong M. Ward songs. He does his usual introspective acoustic thing, but I think my favorite songs are the ones that rock a little bit more. Oh, and Zooey Deschanel appears on the album. Asked in the abstract, I think I would say I view her musical career as slightly annoying, but the two tracks she appears on happen to be my two favorite. This album gave me a lot of cognitive dissonance, but it's pretty decent.

Selections

Me and My Shadow

Sweetheart

Other Lives - Tamer Animals

This album actually came out a couple weeks ago, but I only heard it today. Also, I didn't have a lot of interesting albums to choose from this week. God, get off my back, ok: I never said I would only talk about albums that came out on the day of my writing. It's honestly impossible to please some of you. Anyway, I approached this band with some skepticism as well: they were described as similar to Fleet Foxes (not one of my favorite bands) and their music was described as atmospheric. Based on this, I was some kind of eat-your-vegetables music listening experience, a band that may be important for pushing the boundaries of music but weren't actually fun to listen to (see: every 21st century Radiohead album), but it actually is better than I expected. The music is moody but accessible, and the lead singer kinda sounds like the lead singer from Jethro Tull (who, I will remind you, was not actually named Jethro Tull). This one isn't going to stay in my listening rotation, but I don't regret listening to it (maybe "'I don't regret listening to it' - Brian Dolan" can appear as a sticker on the CD, if people still actually bought CDs).

Selections

Tamer Animals

Dust Bowl III

Alright, that's it. Not the greatest of selections this week. Everyone should check out Alabama Shakes though, and some of you will probably dig Alex Winston.