Mates of State are a married indie-pop duo, originally haling from Lawrence, Kan. The new album contains some gems (see below) that offer honest, lyrical storytelling glued together with interesting, cinematic musical arrangements. The songs are mostly uplifting with strong choruses and bridges, even if they don’t sound like it at first. Their music connects. If you’re an indie-pop fan, I highly recommend. Check for yourself.
Quarters for the songs: Blue and Gold Print; Great Dane; Lullaby Haze; The Re-arranger; You are Free; Get Better.
Worth listening, if you like: Matt Pond PA; The Weepies; Belle and Sebastian; Tina Dico; The Shins; Death Cab for Cutie; Palomar; Goldfrapp (kind of).
In the jukebox for this week (based off what’s new; arranged alphabetically by artist name):
Adele—Chasing Pavements: Admittedly, this came out in January, but it’s new to me. She’s been labeled “the next Amy Winehouse” and BBC tagged her as the top new music talent for 2008. Her voice is good and smoky, but the song is a slow burner.
Al Green—Lay it Down: Celebration of Al Green’s music produced by The Roots’ ?uestlove and James Poyser, imposed with duets by breathing artists such as John Legend, Anthony Hamilton and Corinne Bailey Rae.
Band of Heathens—The Band of Heathens: Americana rock out of Austin. The group is the joining of three former solo acts: Ed Jurdi, Colin Brooks and Gordy Quist.
Chris Sligh—Running Back to You: The portly guy with a bushel of hair from American Idol’s sixth season releases his first solo album, an offering of Christian pop-rock. His voice sounds waaaaay better (with professional production) than I remembered it.
Cyndi Lauper—Bring Ya to the Brink: Cyndi pretends she’s Madonna.
Death Cab for Cutie—Narrow Stairs: Poetic “nerd rock,” and a pretty solid album.
Ice Cube—It Takes a Nation: After listening to this single, it’s hard to picture him in a third rendition of “Are We There Yet?”
Pork and Beans is the first single for Weezer’s upcoming “Red Album” (available June 3, 2008), and the video is flipping amazing. It pulls the resources of virtually every famous (or infamous) YouTube clip. Quite simply, it’s one the best music videos I’ve seen in awhile (and the song is pretty good too).
What’s new and in the jukebox for this week (alphabetically sorted by artist):
3 Doors Down—3 Doors Down: More blue collar rock appropriate for radio play.
AM—Side by Side - Duets EP: Came out about a month ago; male singer/songwriter AM sings soft, simple duets with Meiko, Tina Dico, Julianna Raye, Buddy, Susie Suh and Rick Garcia. Listening to it has prompted me to download AM’s previous albums … happy, Leanna?
Filter—Anthems for the Damned:The band who brought you “Hey Man Nice Shot” and “Take a Picture” is back with an album after a six year absence … “Cold” (which has hints of “Take a Picture”) and/or “Kill the Day” (or its remix) could have some potential as singles.
Foxboro Hot Tubs—Stop Drop and Roll!!!: Neurotic, frenetic, old-school-feel rock ‘n’ roll.
Jesse McCartney—Departure:Not that I’m listening, but I feel obligated to say it’s out (it’s his “I’m grown up and have street credibility even though I used to sing and dance for cartoon music videos and now want to be Robin Thicke” album). The production sounds good (for the couple of songs I’ve heard); it will be interesting to see how mainstream play takes to it.
Mariah Carey—E=MC²: What does Einstein and relativity have to do with Mariah Carey? I don’t know … other than the brief sharing of initials. Either way, expect to hear clips of songs on “YouTube, YouTube … .”
