Fresh Cup of Music

New Death Cab

2011-05-23T16:27:00.001-07:00

Looks like the new Death Cab For Cutie album has leaked, check it out here:

http://nodata.tv/18273

I haven't listened to it yet, so I can't review it, but you should definitely go get it.

New Strokes - Under Cover of Darkness

2011-02-12T11:58:00.000-08:00

So I just downloaded the Strokes' new single and it is fucking awesome. It is the Strokes being the Strokes, and that is very very exciting news.
Go and check it out, its definitely worth a listen.

Dawes

2011-01-29T20:37:00.000-08:00

Dawes is a band out of North Hills, California. Their songs are meaningful and honest. The aesthetic that reminds you of a sunset on the west coast (which would make sense considering where they're from). Apart from their aesthetic I also just really love their lyrics. They use good metaphor, and have wonderfully honest, simple and beautiful songs about love and other things.
I know that Dawes isn't really music news, but that's not really the point of this blog, haha. Although its probably time to catch up if you haven't heard them already, because they have a new album coming out in May.

Here's the video for "When My Time Comes," which was the first song on the album that I heard and instantly fell in love with it. It's just so genuine and great that it's hard not to love.
Here's their myspace if you liked that song enough to listen to more. Really I enjoy all their music so I would definitely recommend checking them out. I'd listen to "Love is All I Am" from their myspace, it's simply stunning.

There was another incarnation of this band known as Simon Dawes, which had a much different sound, but was also much rougher.

Dawes is amazing, seriously, go and check them out. They have a new record coming out soon, and I am really looking forward to it.

The Return of your Favourite Bands

2010-06-05T10:23:00.000-07:00

So far this year there have been a number of releases from artists that just about everyone is excited about. So far we've had LCD Soundsystem, The National, Band of Horses, and She & Him. In addition, later this year bands like the Strokes and The Arcade Fire are releasing new records after a number of years and almost complete reclusiveness. These are bands that have a great deal of staying power, and huge sway in the music scene today. These are all releases that should move the bands' career forward and propel their music farther into the style and wonder that each of them possesses.
So far these releases have been less than satisfactory and down right bad in some cases. Let's go in order. LCD Soundsystem's first single off their latest album was a song called "Drunk Girls," which as I'm sure you can imagine possessed little to no worth. The rest of the album was perfectly adequate but this one flagship track took the album from fine to bad in a matter of minutes. The song, like most LCD Soundsystem tracks has a great deal of character and sonic enjoyment, but lacks any sort of lyrical substances. This track is no different.

The National's new record was actually pretty enjoyable and I rather liked some of the songs. There was nothing that stood out quite so immediately as off their previous record, but this new record held some real gems and overall is much darker than previous efforts, which at least means the band is moving in one direction or another, it is up to the listener to decide whether they like the change.

Band of Horses' new release just lacks luster. It has a lot of sheen and polish, but overall it has nothing that you would remember right off the bat. The one track "Dilly" that could have been a pretty solid single is performed too muted and slowly to be what you feel it should be. All the songs on this record are great, do not get me wrong, they are all good tracks, but it requires a lot of work to get into them. This is how the best albums usually are, but when its just another release of a band you only like sometimes, its hard to feel motivated to put that effort forth. I also feel that a band should have at least a few songs that are easy to "get" on an album in order to draw the listener in. All albums need an in.

She & Him's volume II was similar to the first album in style and execution, but not similar to the first album in lack of substance. The songs on the first album were written in what feels like a very intimate setting where the writer (Deschanel) seems to believe that they may never be heard. It gives them lots of emotional weight, and even the singing is more emotionally powerful. This album takes practically the same formula and tries to do it again, but it doesn't do it nearly as well or as enjoyably. It has a few stand out tracks like first single "In The Sun," which was a fun and fancy-free summer track to match any previous or forth coming summer song. The rest of the album sort of felt short of expectations, but I will continue to listen to it because I am truly in love with Zooey Deschanel's voice so I won't give up on it just yet.

Then there are those albums that are to come. We haven't heard anything off the new Strokes record yet, but it is likely to be a disappointment. I am keeping my fingers crossed, but not my hopes up.

Arcade Fire has already released a new EP/7" of songs off the new record, but they too left something to be desired. They were both about boring things like summer time, and the suburbs, and they just didn't have much to them. No variation, very little emotional connection, etc. Just sort of...there, without any reason to be. Again, fingers crossed, hopes not so high after hearing those songs.
All in all this year has been a year for really big releases and lots of really big let downs. It's not there isn't incredible music being released, like Josh Ritter's latest "So Runs the World Away" or Jonsi's "Go" both of which are phenomenal releases, so check them out if and when you can, you won't regret it, as for all these other ones...they're fine, if you're particularly interested in each of those bands, do yourself a favour and pick them up, but if you are just getting into them as bands, I'd recommend going to previous records to hear what everyone is talking about.
Peace.

*Mentioned in this post
LCD Soundsystem
The National
Band of Horses
She & Him
the Strokes
Arcade Fire
Josh Ritter
Jónsi

Bon Iver/Meaning

2009-02-01T08:44:00.000-08:00

Alright, I also really respect the lyrics of Bon Iver. Here is my problem with them, though, they are really cool, and have very cool imagery, but they seem to lack from the same flaw as most music: they don't make sense. This is a truly a problem in modern music. Maybe its just a personal preference, but I want the lyrics of a song to have meaning, I want them to be there for a purpose, because, if you're just singing lyrics for the sake of having a vocal melody, why even have lyrics? Back in the day there was this little band called Oasis (you may have heard of them...I don't know, though, they were pretty indie), and their songs were loved by many, and their lyrics were sung by all, because their songs were catchy as fuck. However, their songs don't make sense, its like they took one of those magnet word sets, and just picked ones out that rhymed and just kind of threw them together. Bon Iver suffers from a similar problem, take the chorus of Flume for instance:

"Only love is all maroon

Gluey feathers on a flume

Sky is womb and she's the moon"
These lines do not specifically mean anything, but I don't feel like they exist just to be words for a melody line, and yeah, there is an obvious (and proclaimed) focus on the melody lines as a therapuetic means of release for singer Justin Vernon, but I never feel like these words are meaningless, they just might not make sense all the time, haha.

When I listen to a song the most important part of the song is the lyrics. Yes, the music is obviously important, and shitty melody line, or crappy instrumental parts can kill any amount of good lyric writing, but for me, the lyrics are what make a song unique, its what truly sets this song apart from another song. Because, in music, there are only so many chords, and most people (including myself), use the same basic chords, in mildly different variations, to create "different" music. However, with words, there are thousands of possibilities for word choice, which means trillions of possibilities for word arrangement, which to me is far more unique than the variations you can have on a "G, C, D G" chord progresssion.
Again, if anyone knows of any bands that lyrics that are both poetic and meaningful, please let me know, I'm always looking for bands with good lyrics

Lyrics in music

2009-01-31T09:37:00.001-08:00

The only album that has lyrics that I really really respect is mewithoutyou's Brother, Sister, if you know of any bands that have really really good lyrics, please, let me know.

Bear Colony – We Came Here To Die: Review

2008-07-14T20:06:00.000-07:00

Bear Colony’s We Came Here to Die was released February 13th 2007 on Esperanza Records. As their myspace states, “The unfortunate inspiration behind this composition came from primary songwriter Vince Griffin’s troubled experiences of 2005”. He was misdiagnosed with Crohns Disease, which left him bedridden for a few months and caused him to start writing as an “outlet”.
For me this album is interesting, even though upon my first listen, I didn’t find anything that really stuck out to me, I found myself wanting to listen to the record over and over again. Now that I have listened to it plenty of times over the last week, I have begun to find the subtleties in each of the songs – as is true with most music with a little depth, it takes a little time to get into it (of course the best kind is the one that draws you in and has endless depths to discover, I can’t say this is one of those, though). This record is not necessarily something “incredible” but over all its pretty good. It makes use of a particular build-up style where they always go until the breaking point and then stop, there’s never the explosion of sound that you kind of wish they would get, but it makes you want to listen to the songs that much more, because you are perfectly unsatisfied – the perfect example is “I’m Not Brave”. Instead of taking the “big sound” approach, they choose to take the more subtle route and let the song just build and at its peak… just end – its an interesting stylistic choice, but it has a certain charm to it.
AMG calls this album “a pop-oriented version of Broken Social Scene” (which I found the link from Radiobutt), which I would say is pretty accurate, but what’s interesting is amidst those pop Broken Social Scene moments you find Griffin’s voice going to places that Radiohead’s Thom Yorke would go, not just with the way he sings those melody lines, but also with the melody lines themselves – its like a “Broken Social Scene presents… Thom Yorke” album, with a nice pop sheen.
Overall this album is good, the lyrics, from what I’ve got so far, are pretty good, nothing has really stuck out to me as brilliant, but the songs, with their electronica and rock elements, work well together and form together to be a “thing” rather than just individual tracks that happen to follow one another.

Do I recommend this album?
Yeah, I mean, not like highly recommend but if you’re looking for something that’s easy to get into, but still has some interesting elements, then I would say check this album out

*Music mentioned in this blog
Bear Colony
Radiohead

Music and its propriety

2008-07-12T12:04:00.000-07:00

So I am in a constant struggle as to the propriety of music downloading. Here is the issue as I see it: music is best when it is heard. Bluntly, unless I listen to an album, I do not want to buy it. Everytime I've ever bought an album on name/band alone, I have been sorely disappointed – switchfoot, death cab for cutie, dashboard confessional, etc (you may be saying to yourself "what the hell was he doing listening to those bands in the first place?", I will be the first to second that sentiment). I want to hear an album all the way through, because, bluntly, I am a consumer, I want to know that my hard earned money isn't being wasted on some piece of crap record that has no merit whatsoever. I want to rest assured that my music isn't good for the first couple songs, and then crap for the only 10 (or 8 as the trend has been recently) songs on the album. I will use my current favourite album (maybe of all time) as a perfect example why this system works: The new Islands record, I downloaded it on a whim, and listened to it once and was like "huh, this is interesting... very different from the Unicorns (the lead singer's previous band), and I think that's a good thing", but upon listening to it a very hundred more times since I got it back in april, I have fallen very deeply in love with, because, frankly, its an an awesome record, that has some of the creepiest and most perfectly whimsical lyrics around – "remember who was in my arms, remember when I had arms..." etc. However, I never would have just bought this record on a whim, having not really enjoyed the Islands' first record all that much, I wouldn't have relied on the band name alone to push me into buying this record. However, having been given the time to listen to this incredible record I love this thing to death, and might always love this record – we'll see.
Another perfect example is Bon Iver. An incredible artist who crafts sound like its nobody's business (because, in this case, that's actually true). I first listened to Bon Iver upon recommendation from my friend. She told me I should listen to this one song called "Skinny Love" ––which I highly recommend you check out, because its unlike anything you've heard before. Upon listening to the song via their virb/myspace I was like, "I want more", so I listened to the rest of the album online, and then when they came to town I had to see them, because I had so fallen in love with their sound. My question is: how is seeing a band live any different than downloading their album online? The music is freely given, and with anticipation and hope that you will like it, and want to come back time and time again. Okay, yeah, you have to pay for a concert, and most of the money goes directly to the artist via shows, unlike with record sales. However, my logic is if I hear a bunch of really good music I am more willing to buy it. Now, with Bon Iver I actually didn't hear the entire record, apart from live, until two days ago when I went to the record store and bought a brand new copy of "For Emma, Forever Ago", because I wanted to support an artist I like so much.
Which actually brings me to my final point, something that I thought of the other day when I was buying CDs, and actually became very perplexed and confused by, and a little worried, because I'm not sure where this fits into my schema... so I'm a little shaken up by it. So, if you download a CD an artist makes no money off that record sale and the way that you show your appreciation for an artist is to buy the record for yourself, and actually use your money to say what you cannot say in person – most of the time. Okay, well when you buy a used record it is exactly the same. True, the artist already received that money for the initial record sold, but they don't make anything off of your current purchase, so how is buying a used record any better than just illegally downloading the record? ––besides supporting your local record store, of course. That is why I bought a new copy of Bon Iver and not a used one. I did, however, by a used copy of Rabbit Fur Coat, by Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins, and that worried me a lot, because I love Jenny Lewis and I want to support her, but by buying that album used I have done nothing of the sort....I don't know.
So, in short, illegal downloading has led to my new favourite music, so I don't understand how it can be considered wrong... sure, I want to get paid as much as the next guy, but buying records doesn't always equate to financial stability to the artists themselves.
Peace.

*Music mentioned
Jenny Lewis
Bon Iver
Islands