New Music Roundup 5/29

A lot of quantity this week, although I'm less certain on the quality.

The Walkmen - Heaven

For quite a while, the Walkmen had one song I liked - the truly enjoyable "The Rat" from 2004's album Bows + Arrows - and a lot of stuff I had zero interest in.  Then in 2010 they released Lisbon, which was a big departure for the band.  Whereas once the band was overbearingly jittery, Lisbon had a mellow minimalism, which made the entire album a much more listenable affair, even if it was a little too low energy for my tastes.  In other words, it was a bit of a hangover album, but a little too much so.  Their new album Heaven manages to split the difference between the band's earlier work and their last album quite nicely: it's still passes by easy enough, but there's a little more rock inserted into it than their last album.  This results in quite a few songs I would consider catchy, particularly the jangly title track.  I could see this album growing on me a bit.

Selections

Heaven

Nightingales

Heartbreaker

New Music Roundup 5/22

First off, for those who use spotify, I have started a Drunk on New Music playlist there.  This is going to be an ongoing rolling list of my favorite [number to be determined; right now it's 21] songs.  It won't be an entirely new list of songs each week, but I think I'm going to stick to a set number, so that when I add a new song I'll be taking off an old one.  If you subscribe to the list, I believe it will automatically update the playlist for you every time I change it. 

Along those lines, not an album, but The Gaslight Anthem have released a new single called 45, and it's on this week's spotify list.  It's about what you would expect from the band, which works perfectly fine with me.  I suspect it will not be my favorite track on their upcoming album (due out sometime in July), but it's another catchy rocking song, and having listened to it several dozen times since finding out about it, I have to say it grows on me.

New Music 5/15

Pretty interesting week, I have to say.

Tenacious D - Rize of the Fenix

As I said before, the D is fucking back.  I'm not sure how funny I find the band's relatively unchanged schtick, but when the actual music is this good, who cares?  This collections of songs is easily the best they've had since their self-titled album back almost a decade ago, and this is just great rock music, made by comedians or not.  The genres they dabble in are a little more varied here, with a pretty awesome Springsteen/Tom Waits impression on "39" and a flute-filled English folk take on "The Ballad of Hollywood Jack and the Rage Cage."  If I have any complaint, it is that a couple of their songs are a little too short, as if they're afraid that the joke is too one-note.  Still, this is one of the best old-school rock albums I've heard this year.

Selections

Rize of the Fenix

Roadie

39

The Ballad of Hollywood Jack and the Rage Kage

New Music 5/8/12

Animal Kingdom - The Looking Away

This indie band's from the UK and this is their sophomore album, although it's the first I've ever heard of them before, and I have to say, I like what I hear.  Since "indie" is essentially useless as a signifier, I guess I'd say these guys leans more towards an orchestral, melodic area.  It's a pretty full sound, like something like the Editors, but unlike that group there's more of a variety to how they sound: at different times, Animal Kingdom can sound moody, bright, chill, or driving.  Front to back, this is a solid indie release.  

Selection (Unfortunately, the album is only out on iTunes, so I can't link spotify, and youtube only has one of the songs.  If it's any consolation, it's a pretty fucking great song)

Strange Attractor

Get Away with It (Update: YouTube finally added some more Animal Kingdom songs)

The Art of Tuning Out

New Music.  A day late.  A dollar short.


The Lumineers - The Lumineers

First, a step back (warning: this will be a digression.  Any "just tell me what the band sounds like" proponents should skip this paragraph).  One thing that is becoming increasingly clear to me as I continue to listen to a half dozen new albums each week is how hard it is to actually determine what is good and bad.  The myth of the internet is that a lack of borders should create a meritocracy.  However, what really happens is that the infinitude of choices only muddies the water.  There are more bands than ever due to less barriers to entry in music creation, and the technology means that these bands are only a couple clicks away.  This means you can hear a lot of music that sounds incredibly alike.  If it's a sound you like, but only in moderation (variety being the spice of life and all), how do you determine which of these similar sounding bands is worth your time and which aren't?

This brings us to the Lumineers, who are either going to be the Next Big Thing in indie-folk, or yet another thing in indie-folk.  This debut album contains some very strong songs, but it's another in a long line of indie-folk groups.  Unlike someone like Of Monsters and Men, the Lumineers are pretty firmly on the folk side of the indie-folk spectrum, and as such they pretty strongly recall groups like The Head and the Heart and the Avett Brothers (and Mumford; you can't have a -folk group and not compare them to Mumford).  There's also a couple tracks (the strongest, in my opinion) that sound very similar to Heartbreaker-era Ryan Adams (one of the stronger Ryan Adams eras, in my opinion).  As I said before, I really like a lot of these songs, and I think their lead singer has a strong, confident voice, but I'm a little indie-folk fatigued.  Should I hold that against these guys?  Anyway, if you're a big folk fan, or at least a fan still riding the wave, you should definitely check out this group.

Selections

Slow It Down

The Lumineers – Slow It Down

Ho Hey

Big Parade