Filed under: indie rock, music | Tags: Arcade Fire, Boss, Bruce Springsteen, Built to Spill, Constantines, Dears, Dinosaur Jr., Hard Feelings, Kensington Heights, Klaxons, Modest Mouse, music, review, Shine a Light, Spoon, Springsteen, The Arcade Fire, The Constantines, The Dears, The Walkmen, Tournament of Hearts, TV on the Radio, Walkmen
The Constantines produce a range of sounds on their fourth full length album, Kensington Heights. The group’s vocals are gravelly, but later soften to a tender tone in the album. The instrumentation is a hybrid rock—with hints of backcountry, traditional, dub-punk, blues and experimental. The first single, “Hard Feelings,” probably isn’t the most accessible track available, but the album offers a surprising range of sounds within its rock confines. Speaking of accessible, this album is definitely not as hard as their previous Shine a Light album, but nonetheless, is full of solid songs. Check for yourself.
Quarters for the songs: Do What You Can Do; Hard Feelings; I Will Not Sing a Song; Life or Death; New King; Our Age; Time Can Be Overcome.
Worth listening, if you like: Dinosaur Jr.; Klaxons; The Dears; Spoon; The Arcade Fire; The Walkmen; TV on the Radio; Modest Mouse; Built to Spill; Bruce Springsteen.
Filed under: music, punk, rock | Tags: AFI, Bassassins, Big Blue Monkey, Coheed & Cambria, Deftones, Epitaph, Fightstar, Hell is For Heroes, John Feeldmann, Lostprophets, music, New Empire, One Minute Silence, Page Avenue, review, Rise Against, Saves the Day, St. Louis, Story of the Year, The Antidote, Thrice, Used, Wake Up
Story of the Year makes a run at staying socially relevant after slumping with their sophomore album, In the Wake of Determination. The anthemic emo-ish-post-grunge group keeps an edgier sound to a point, but adds a bit more melody and pop influences than their last album. The lyrics are also more politically focused, along with some dissertations on humans’ “delusions” of “a privileged position” in the universe.
Several of the songs are structured similarly with the “opening big riff, drop-off for singing, back to loud chords, scream a bit, get quiet, big finish” format. The album is constantly moving from screaming to piano solos to pounding drums to wind blowing to reverb to emo to power chords (often all within a three minute span). This balancing of differences (rock/pop, sing/scream, loud/soft) should attract fans of Page Avenue back to the band, with the potential of a return to radio play garnering some new attention as well. We will just have to wait and see if this particular breed of the genre has any legs left to it in mainstream play. One thing is for certain though—when they head out on tour—bring back New Empire! Also, props for the marketing and graphic design. Check for yourself.
Quarters for the songs: Wake Up; The Antidote; We’re Not Gonna Make It.
Worth listening, if you like: Rise Against; Hell is For Heroes; Fightstar; Lostprophets; New Empire; One Minute Silence; Coheed & Cambria; Deftones; Thrice; Used; AFI; Saves the Day.
Filed under: music, overview | Tags: 50 Cent, Amelia, Anthony David, April, Big Blue Monkey, Billy Bragg, Black Swan, Blind Melon, Body Snatchers, comedy, Days of the New, Diddy, Dov Davidoff, Flight of the Conchords, G-Unit, Joey Green, Lyle Lovett, Mochipet, music, P. Diddy, Return of the Body Snatchers, Story of the Year, Tantric, The Black Swan, Whoo Kid, Willie Stradlin
In the jukebox this week (for reasons of appreciation or amusement):
- G-Unit (single): I Like the Way She Do It. Ayo! This is much better than singing about technology.
- Flight of the Conchords (album): Flight of the Conchords. “You’re the most beautiful girl … in the room.”
- Story of the Year (album): The Black Swan. Heavy-handed “emo-inflected-post-grunge.”
- Billy Bragg (album): Mr. Love & Justice. Compilation album of hits. If you don’t know Bragg, think of a more political, British version of Lyle Lovett.
- 50 Cent, G-Unit and Whoo Kid (album): Return of the Body Snatchers. I’ll review — first few songs sound better than 50’s last album … plenty of beats fused with gun shot sound effects and lyrics about money and dissing Diddy. (more…)
Filed under: dance, indie rock, music | Tags: album, Antidotes, Baby Shambles, Bloc Party, dance, England, Foals, Futureheads, Hummer, Kenna, Long Blondes, math rock, Mathletics, music, music review, Oxford, pop, punk, quarters, Razorlight, review, The Futureheads, The Long Blondes, The Rapture, TV on the Radio, Wolf Parade, Youthmovies
Foals are a twitch party band from Oxford, England. The music is poppy electric dance-punk (with roots in math rock) that moves from murky to move-inducing to mixing the two together. The album was recorded in June 2007, but had to be remixed to fit the band’s desired sound. The American version has two extra tracks — “Hummer” and “Mathletics” — compared to the earlier U.K album. Check for yourself.
Quarters for the songs: Heavy Water; Big Big Love; Mathletics;
Worth listening, if you like: Bloc Party; The Rapture; Youthmovies; TV on the Radio; Baby Shambles; Razorlight; The Futureheads; Wolf Parade; The Long Blondes; Kenna.
