Artist: Grand Magus
Album: Triumph and Power
Source: http://www.classicrockmagazine.com/news/grand-magus-exclusive-triumph-and-power-in-full/
Pre-listening Notes: I honestly don't know much about this band. They are from Sweden, they are metal, and I think I vaguely remember reading a conversation on Facebook between two of the guys I trust most about metal. So, when I saw this pop up, I figured why not give this band a whirl. So, here goes.
Initial Reaction: Starts off with some stormy weather sounds (nice!), then some clean guitar and some low, epic singing, before it starts chugging a minute and a half in. The music is heavy, but not too heavy, and the vocals are clean. The vocals aren't quite in the power metal realm, but they are sung and strong. I dig this, so far.
Random Thoughts: This has some quality riffing. The vocals are still coming off almost hard rock based, not too metallish. I am pretty sure lyrically, thought it's got that metal love of fantasy. I heard a line about dragons. Somewhere about the middle of the second song, Steel versus Steel it all really just hit me that I really like this! With each song, I find myself digging the vocals more and more. That was the first thing that I wasn't completely sure on, but it really does fit the music more than I thought. I expected a more anthematic (is that even a word?), but the slightly subdued vocals seem to just match up right. The title track is pretty epic and my favorite track so far. The opening guitars of Dominator are pretty ripping. The album continues on in pretty much the same fashion on the second half.
Final Reaction: When the end of the album got there, I was confused and didn't want it to end. This was really good. I will definitely be going back and checking into this album again, as well as their earlier albums, since Spotify has the other ones. If I, in fact, remembered that Facebook conversation correctly, the two metal opinions I value most have done it again.
Final Grade: 8.0/10
Friday, January 31, 2014
Wednesday, January 29, 2014
Day 29: The Gaslight Anthem - B-Sides
Artist: The Gaslight Anthem
Album: B-Sides
Source: Spotify
Pre-listening Notes: The Gaslight Anthem is one of my favorite bands going right now. This is a collection of B-sides and outtakes from singles that were released between The '59 Sound and American Slang. If you aren't familiar, they are classic rock worshiping pop-punk dudes. If you are, then you already know and/or have already heard most of these songs.
Initial Reaction: It opens with She Loves You (not The Beatles song, Dad). A slower paced song, with epic sing-a-longs. It's a usual TGA ballad, this could easily have been on a record.
Random Thoughts: Acoustic version of The '59 Sound. It's not as good as the electric, original. But, it gets the job done. The next two songs are covers. A live version of the Pearl Jam song, State of Love and Trust followed by The Rolling Stones song Tumbling Dice from the Record Store Day single they did a few years back. The State of Love and Trust cover sort of does the original justice, but I just don't think has the same passion that Pearl Jam gives it. They fare better on the Stones cover. It could be the studio setting, instead of live. The Queen of Lower Chelsea is one of my favorite TGA songs. I like the different sound to the acoustic version. Again, generally acoustic versions will never replace the electric versions of songs I love, but it's nice to have different versions to listen to occasionally. Another cover, this one of a Fake Problems song. I am not familiar with the original, so I'm just going to say this version is better. Acoustic version of one of my favorites off of The '59 Sound, Great Expectations, is a much better song for this format. Another cover of a band I have never heard previously, so see my comment on the Fake Problems song. This song is actually really good (I raised my final grade by a half point for this song). Boxer is a better acoustic song than American Slang. And it ends with a final cover which is great.
Final Reaction: This is a great collection of songs, mostly the covers. My only real complaint would be that the acoustic versions don't quite live up to the zing of the originals. They mostly seem like showcases of Brian Fallon's voice. But, any fan would be perfectly happy with these songs alongside the originals.
Final Grade: 8.5/10
Album: B-Sides
Source: Spotify
Pre-listening Notes: The Gaslight Anthem is one of my favorite bands going right now. This is a collection of B-sides and outtakes from singles that were released between The '59 Sound and American Slang. If you aren't familiar, they are classic rock worshiping pop-punk dudes. If you are, then you already know and/or have already heard most of these songs.
Initial Reaction: It opens with She Loves You (not The Beatles song, Dad). A slower paced song, with epic sing-a-longs. It's a usual TGA ballad, this could easily have been on a record.
Random Thoughts: Acoustic version of The '59 Sound. It's not as good as the electric, original. But, it gets the job done. The next two songs are covers. A live version of the Pearl Jam song, State of Love and Trust followed by The Rolling Stones song Tumbling Dice from the Record Store Day single they did a few years back. The State of Love and Trust cover sort of does the original justice, but I just don't think has the same passion that Pearl Jam gives it. They fare better on the Stones cover. It could be the studio setting, instead of live. The Queen of Lower Chelsea is one of my favorite TGA songs. I like the different sound to the acoustic version. Again, generally acoustic versions will never replace the electric versions of songs I love, but it's nice to have different versions to listen to occasionally. Another cover, this one of a Fake Problems song. I am not familiar with the original, so I'm just going to say this version is better. Acoustic version of one of my favorites off of The '59 Sound, Great Expectations, is a much better song for this format. Another cover of a band I have never heard previously, so see my comment on the Fake Problems song. This song is actually really good (I raised my final grade by a half point for this song). Boxer is a better acoustic song than American Slang. And it ends with a final cover which is great.
Final Reaction: This is a great collection of songs, mostly the covers. My only real complaint would be that the acoustic versions don't quite live up to the zing of the originals. They mostly seem like showcases of Brian Fallon's voice. But, any fan would be perfectly happy with these songs alongside the originals.
Final Grade: 8.5/10
Tuesday, January 28, 2014
Day 28: Kid Ink - My Own Lane
Artist: Kid Ink
Album: My Own Lane
Source: Spotify
Pre-listening Notes: Hip Hop! I know nothing about Kid Ink, outside of Pusha T is on this album. So yeah, here goes!
Initial Reaction: Piano and poppy intro. Okay, poppy whole first song. The raps aren't bad, but the chorus sounds like mainstream radio pop. What did I get myself into? What did Pusha get himself into? If this first song is any indication, I'm going to hate this.
Random Thoughts: Okay, the second song is a lot different. It's better, but still not something I'm huge on and lyrically it's not doing much for me. Ugh, Chris Brown. Three songs in and nothing has stood out. I'm starting to think that Pusha did this record to add some street cred to this guy. Ugh, Chris Brown again. I don't really know most of these guests. The Pusha song starts off and the beat already is different than the rest of the album. King Push brings it, but the yeah all this listening for one verse? Alright, this dude is kind of lame. Nothing really hits me later on, either.
Final Reaction: Alright, this did nothing for me. Pusha's verse was cool and all, but this guy is lame. It's too poppy for me.
Final Grade: 2.0/10
Album: My Own Lane
Source: Spotify
Pre-listening Notes: Hip Hop! I know nothing about Kid Ink, outside of Pusha T is on this album. So yeah, here goes!
Initial Reaction: Piano and poppy intro. Okay, poppy whole first song. The raps aren't bad, but the chorus sounds like mainstream radio pop. What did I get myself into? What did Pusha get himself into? If this first song is any indication, I'm going to hate this.
Random Thoughts: Okay, the second song is a lot different. It's better, but still not something I'm huge on and lyrically it's not doing much for me. Ugh, Chris Brown. Three songs in and nothing has stood out. I'm starting to think that Pusha did this record to add some street cred to this guy. Ugh, Chris Brown again. I don't really know most of these guests. The Pusha song starts off and the beat already is different than the rest of the album. King Push brings it, but the yeah all this listening for one verse? Alright, this dude is kind of lame. Nothing really hits me later on, either.
Final Reaction: Alright, this did nothing for me. Pusha's verse was cool and all, but this guy is lame. It's too poppy for me.
Final Grade: 2.0/10
Monday, January 27, 2014
Day 27: Xiu Xiu - Angel Guts: Red Classroom
Artist: Xiu Xiu
Album: Angel Guts: Red Classroom
Source: http://pitchfork.com/advance/328-angel-guts-red-classroom/
Pre-listening Notes: All kinds of labels for this band, but going in I assumed it was a French electro-pop band. They (he) are from San Jose, California and I don't think they (he) are pop. I am not sure what to expect, it appears this album only has drums, a drum machine, and synthesizers. Analog synthesizers, which I guess is a distinction I should make, or something. So, here goes.
Initial Reaction: First reaction is my cat is interested in the sounds coming out of the speaker, which is not normally like her. It's just white noise with a quick synth hit for like 30 seconds. That was the entire three and a half minute song, basically white noise and 30 seconds of other noise. I have a feeling I'm not going to be into this.
Random Thoughts: Oh hey, drums. I can get behind a beat. And vocals, which I guess I wasn't expecting. I can't tell if the vocals remind me of David Bowie or the guy who was the Phantom of the Opera on the recording. No wait, it reminds me of Jason Segel doing the Dracula musical in Forgetting Sarah Marshall. There are lots of beeps and boops to this, and the vocals just sound kind of dramatic. This is weird, but I have to at least say it's interesting. Things kind of dulled down a bunch, but the second last song is heavy and probably the only one I'd really be interested in hearing again.
Final Reaction: Somewhat interesting, but not my thing.
Final Grade: 4.0/10
Album: Angel Guts: Red Classroom
Source: http://pitchfork.com/advance/328-angel-guts-red-classroom/
Pre-listening Notes: All kinds of labels for this band, but going in I assumed it was a French electro-pop band. They (he) are from San Jose, California and I don't think they (he) are pop. I am not sure what to expect, it appears this album only has drums, a drum machine, and synthesizers. Analog synthesizers, which I guess is a distinction I should make, or something. So, here goes.
Initial Reaction: First reaction is my cat is interested in the sounds coming out of the speaker, which is not normally like her. It's just white noise with a quick synth hit for like 30 seconds. That was the entire three and a half minute song, basically white noise and 30 seconds of other noise. I have a feeling I'm not going to be into this.
Random Thoughts: Oh hey, drums. I can get behind a beat. And vocals, which I guess I wasn't expecting. I can't tell if the vocals remind me of David Bowie or the guy who was the Phantom of the Opera on the recording. No wait, it reminds me of Jason Segel doing the Dracula musical in Forgetting Sarah Marshall. There are lots of beeps and boops to this, and the vocals just sound kind of dramatic. This is weird, but I have to at least say it's interesting. Things kind of dulled down a bunch, but the second last song is heavy and probably the only one I'd really be interested in hearing again.
Final Reaction: Somewhat interesting, but not my thing.
Final Grade: 4.0/10
Sunday, January 26, 2014
Day 26: Sleepy Sun - Maui Tears
Artist: Sleepy Sun
Album: Maui Tears
Source: http://www.spin.com/articles/sleepy-sun-maui-tears-album-stream/?utm_source=spintwitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=spintwitter
Pre-listening Notes: The internet tells me they are a psychedelic rock band that have put out three albums prior to this one. The bio at the link also uses the phrases space-rock and stoner-waltz so my interests are piqued. Here goes!
Initial Reaction: This has a cool feel to it. These guys are from a city just south of San Francisco, which I guess helps give them psychedelic cred. I get the genre tags, all of the above sound descriptions apply. I could totally see sitting on a beach with refreshments in hand with these songs ringing through the air.
Random Thoughts: This kind of reminds me of how I felt about the first Secret Machines album when I heard it for the first time. It kind of came out of nowhere, for me at least, and they have a similar vibe musically. The music is very mellow and spacey, with his vocals kind of reminding me of someone that I can't quite put my finger on. The third song alternates really nicely between quieter, mellower parts into more fuzzed out rock parts. I like this, a lot. Each of the songs are pretty great so far, but the song Thielbar has been the one I've liked the most. The song slowdown was a little too mellow for me, but the next song, Galaxy Punk picked it right back up. The last song is a 10 minute gem.
Final Reaction: This was another one of those surprise me out of left field type of albums. So far, there have been a few of these already and it's only the first month. If this keeps up, I may have to declare this whole project to be a success, although I'd have a hard time saying it wasn't even only one month into the year. This was a really good record, that I will revisit again, that is one of those things that I am not normally going to seek out, but once I hear stuff like this, it tends to stick with me. Cool stuff!
Final Grade: 8.0/10
Album: Maui Tears
Source: http://www.spin.com/articles/sleepy-sun-maui-tears-album-stream/?utm_source=spintwitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=spintwitter
Pre-listening Notes: The internet tells me they are a psychedelic rock band that have put out three albums prior to this one. The bio at the link also uses the phrases space-rock and stoner-waltz so my interests are piqued. Here goes!
Initial Reaction: This has a cool feel to it. These guys are from a city just south of San Francisco, which I guess helps give them psychedelic cred. I get the genre tags, all of the above sound descriptions apply. I could totally see sitting on a beach with refreshments in hand with these songs ringing through the air.
Random Thoughts: This kind of reminds me of how I felt about the first Secret Machines album when I heard it for the first time. It kind of came out of nowhere, for me at least, and they have a similar vibe musically. The music is very mellow and spacey, with his vocals kind of reminding me of someone that I can't quite put my finger on. The third song alternates really nicely between quieter, mellower parts into more fuzzed out rock parts. I like this, a lot. Each of the songs are pretty great so far, but the song Thielbar has been the one I've liked the most. The song slowdown was a little too mellow for me, but the next song, Galaxy Punk picked it right back up. The last song is a 10 minute gem.
Final Reaction: This was another one of those surprise me out of left field type of albums. So far, there have been a few of these already and it's only the first month. If this keeps up, I may have to declare this whole project to be a success, although I'd have a hard time saying it wasn't even only one month into the year. This was a really good record, that I will revisit again, that is one of those things that I am not normally going to seek out, but once I hear stuff like this, it tends to stick with me. Cool stuff!
Final Grade: 8.0/10
Saturday, January 25, 2014
Day 25: Warpaint - Warpaint
Artist: Warpaint
Album: Warpaint
Source: Spotify
Pre-listening Notes: They are labeled as an indie rock band, although I also see psychedelic, dream, and art pop/rock mixed in at times. The band is made up of all women. There were comparisons made in the Wikipedia page for this record to Radiohead's Kid A, which I love, so there is that.
Initial Reaction: The album starts off with an intro, titled intro. Bass and drums, along with what I assume is the drummer apologizing and starting over, and I already see the "dream pop" tag that I saw in my pre-listening internet research.
Random Thoughts: Okay, first thing I notice is that I like the vocals. It's not aggressive, but at the same time it's not super mellow. It has me paying closer attention than I thought I would based on the descriptions. The draw for me is the strength of the singer's voice. Musically it's exactly as I've read, indie rock or dream pop or any other labeled genre you can think to put on it. As the songs go on, I'm not picking specific things about each song that I like, but more so enjoying the flow of the album from song to song. A lot of the feel for this reminds me of the mid to late 90's Portishead, and Portishead clone, sound to it.
Final Reaction: The album felt more like one large piece of music to me, but that isn't a bad thing. It had the feel of something that I could see myself listening to as I worked on something that required more attention than what I was listening to. It was a pretty great release for a band I had never heard of prior to listening to this. This is exactly the type of album I expected to hear when I went in search of things to listen to on the off days when I wasn't listening to a band I was already familiar with. Will listen again.
Final Grade: 8.0/10
Album: Warpaint
Source: Spotify
Pre-listening Notes: They are labeled as an indie rock band, although I also see psychedelic, dream, and art pop/rock mixed in at times. The band is made up of all women. There were comparisons made in the Wikipedia page for this record to Radiohead's Kid A, which I love, so there is that.
Initial Reaction: The album starts off with an intro, titled intro. Bass and drums, along with what I assume is the drummer apologizing and starting over, and I already see the "dream pop" tag that I saw in my pre-listening internet research.
Random Thoughts: Okay, first thing I notice is that I like the vocals. It's not aggressive, but at the same time it's not super mellow. It has me paying closer attention than I thought I would based on the descriptions. The draw for me is the strength of the singer's voice. Musically it's exactly as I've read, indie rock or dream pop or any other labeled genre you can think to put on it. As the songs go on, I'm not picking specific things about each song that I like, but more so enjoying the flow of the album from song to song. A lot of the feel for this reminds me of the mid to late 90's Portishead, and Portishead clone, sound to it.
Final Reaction: The album felt more like one large piece of music to me, but that isn't a bad thing. It had the feel of something that I could see myself listening to as I worked on something that required more attention than what I was listening to. It was a pretty great release for a band I had never heard of prior to listening to this. This is exactly the type of album I expected to hear when I went in search of things to listen to on the off days when I wasn't listening to a band I was already familiar with. Will listen again.
Final Grade: 8.0/10
Day 24: Seahaven - Silhouette
Artist: Seahaven
Album: Silhouette
Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PLypI9myDIm7fcCBrw-2p8nEzTwmCHRImq&v=uFEouT53IMI
Pre-listening Notes: I've been seeing their name around for a little while now, but have never checked them out. I've seen them described as post-hardcore, post-punk, indie rock, and emo. So it could really sound like anything. I think I saw they once toured with Touche Amore, who I am not a fan of, so I was a little hesitant to go in. But, things have slowed down in terms of new stuff coming out, so I'll give it a whirl. This is a three song EP.
Initial Reaction: It starts out with very quiet, mellow guitars and a drumbeat with vocals. I could see this being played on the radio. It's got a "modern rock" vibe going on. I also picture seeing their name playing along with all the hip, new festival bands. Not that that is a horrible thing, there is always a handful of bands on everyone one of those band lists that I say I'd enjoy seeing, just not in that type of a setting. Or maybe his vocals remind me of Coldplay, I don't know, I'm terrible at comparisons.
Random Thoughts: So this is going to be on the mellower side. This song is a little more poppy than the first one. I like it better than the first song. The last song is a little more rocking. It's still nothing to write home about, but I think I like it the most of the three.
Final Reaction: This isn't the worst thing I've ever heard. On the flipside, this isn't something I'd buy a physical copy of, either. I'd rather listen to this than Touche Amore, that's for sure. There is nothing particularly offensive to my tastes going on here, but there is nothing to get me to want to keep listening either. I made it through the three songs, but a full length might have been a little harder.
Final Grade: 5.5/10
Album: Silhouette
Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PLypI9myDIm7fcCBrw-2p8nEzTwmCHRImq&v=uFEouT53IMI
Pre-listening Notes: I've been seeing their name around for a little while now, but have never checked them out. I've seen them described as post-hardcore, post-punk, indie rock, and emo. So it could really sound like anything. I think I saw they once toured with Touche Amore, who I am not a fan of, so I was a little hesitant to go in. But, things have slowed down in terms of new stuff coming out, so I'll give it a whirl. This is a three song EP.
Initial Reaction: It starts out with very quiet, mellow guitars and a drumbeat with vocals. I could see this being played on the radio. It's got a "modern rock" vibe going on. I also picture seeing their name playing along with all the hip, new festival bands. Not that that is a horrible thing, there is always a handful of bands on everyone one of those band lists that I say I'd enjoy seeing, just not in that type of a setting. Or maybe his vocals remind me of Coldplay, I don't know, I'm terrible at comparisons.
Random Thoughts: So this is going to be on the mellower side. This song is a little more poppy than the first one. I like it better than the first song. The last song is a little more rocking. It's still nothing to write home about, but I think I like it the most of the three.
Final Reaction: This isn't the worst thing I've ever heard. On the flipside, this isn't something I'd buy a physical copy of, either. I'd rather listen to this than Touche Amore, that's for sure. There is nothing particularly offensive to my tastes going on here, but there is nothing to get me to want to keep listening either. I made it through the three songs, but a full length might have been a little harder.
Final Grade: 5.5/10
Thursday, January 23, 2014
Day 23: Dossier Negro - The Pungent Stench of Witchcraft
Artist: Dossier Negro
Album: The Pungent Stench of Witchcraft
Source: http://www.terrorizer.com/news/streams/dossier-negro-stream-pungent-stench-witchcraft-exclusively-terrorizer/
Pre-listening Notes: Things I know about this release: They are a band called Dossier Negro. A google search tells me there is a Spanish comic with the same name (I think, it took me to a spanish wiki and I think I was able to piece that together from my limited knowledge of high school Spanish. Terrorizer informs me they are a gore grind trio. They appear to be Euros? It's five songs long. That's all I got.
Initial Reaction: It's heavy, but the recording isn't all the fantastic. Vocals are alright. Not really the fast part around the 2 minute mark.
Random Thoughts: The second song is better, but this doesn't have the punch that I was hoping it would. Third song is really just more of the same. I'm sort of regretting my decision to go with this today. It's kind of just falling flat.
Final Reaction: I guess today's is going to be kind of short, there really isn't much to say about this ep. I didn't really like it. Maybe someone who is more into this can listen and tell me what I'm getting wrong.
Final Grade: 3.0/10
Album: The Pungent Stench of Witchcraft
Source: http://www.terrorizer.com/news/streams/dossier-negro-stream-pungent-stench-witchcraft-exclusively-terrorizer/
Pre-listening Notes: Things I know about this release: They are a band called Dossier Negro. A google search tells me there is a Spanish comic with the same name (I think, it took me to a spanish wiki and I think I was able to piece that together from my limited knowledge of high school Spanish. Terrorizer informs me they are a gore grind trio. They appear to be Euros? It's five songs long. That's all I got.
Initial Reaction: It's heavy, but the recording isn't all the fantastic. Vocals are alright. Not really the fast part around the 2 minute mark.
Random Thoughts: The second song is better, but this doesn't have the punch that I was hoping it would. Third song is really just more of the same. I'm sort of regretting my decision to go with this today. It's kind of just falling flat.
Final Reaction: I guess today's is going to be kind of short, there really isn't much to say about this ep. I didn't really like it. Maybe someone who is more into this can listen and tell me what I'm getting wrong.
Final Grade: 3.0/10
Wednesday, January 22, 2014
Day 22: David Crosby - Croz
Artist: David Crosby
Album: Croz
Source: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/david-crosby-returns-from-20-year-hiatus-with-croz-album-premiere-20140121
Pre-listening Notes: David Crosby is a legend. Between his work with Crosby, Stills, Nash, and (somtimes) Young and then They Byrds, he's been involved in writing and/or performing on some classics that have stood the test of time. He's a classic "classic rock" songwriter, there really isn't much else to say here.
Initial Reaction: For a 72 year old man, his voice still sounds pretty great, this first song is a slower tune with what I think is piano in the background. Nice mellow beat, quality guitar work, and pretty decent vocals.
Random Thoughts: I have a feeling the vast majority of these songs are going to be pretty mellow. The highlight for these so far is how the vocals sound. When a lot of older musicians really lose that bite to their voice, it still sounds good and fits well with the sound he was going for. The Clearing finally picks up the pace a little. So far, this is the strongest song. Set That Baggage Down was a little more on the upbeat side before going real mellow again on If She Called, which is the first song that really does nothing for me. Dangerous Night is a longer song, but it seems to be another one of the stronger songs. It closes with Find a Heart which has a pretty cool sax running through it.
Final Reaction: This is a pretty okay album. I give David Crosby credit for putting out an album of all new, original songs in 2014 at the age of 72. I can get behind some of the songs, but ultimately, the album as a whole kind of sputters and doesn't really gain traction. There isn't anything to really grab at you and shake you up. It's not that there is anything wrong with any individual song, it's just listening through 11 songs, it just kind of gets stale in parts. These songs would fit very nicely in a mix or if they came up on shuffle.
Final Grade: 6.5/10
Album: Croz
Source: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/david-crosby-returns-from-20-year-hiatus-with-croz-album-premiere-20140121
Pre-listening Notes: David Crosby is a legend. Between his work with Crosby, Stills, Nash, and (somtimes) Young and then They Byrds, he's been involved in writing and/or performing on some classics that have stood the test of time. He's a classic "classic rock" songwriter, there really isn't much else to say here.
Initial Reaction: For a 72 year old man, his voice still sounds pretty great, this first song is a slower tune with what I think is piano in the background. Nice mellow beat, quality guitar work, and pretty decent vocals.
Random Thoughts: I have a feeling the vast majority of these songs are going to be pretty mellow. The highlight for these so far is how the vocals sound. When a lot of older musicians really lose that bite to their voice, it still sounds good and fits well with the sound he was going for. The Clearing finally picks up the pace a little. So far, this is the strongest song. Set That Baggage Down was a little more on the upbeat side before going real mellow again on If She Called, which is the first song that really does nothing for me. Dangerous Night is a longer song, but it seems to be another one of the stronger songs. It closes with Find a Heart which has a pretty cool sax running through it.
Final Reaction: This is a pretty okay album. I give David Crosby credit for putting out an album of all new, original songs in 2014 at the age of 72. I can get behind some of the songs, but ultimately, the album as a whole kind of sputters and doesn't really gain traction. There isn't anything to really grab at you and shake you up. It's not that there is anything wrong with any individual song, it's just listening through 11 songs, it just kind of gets stale in parts. These songs would fit very nicely in a mix or if they came up on shuffle.
Final Grade: 6.5/10
Tuesday, January 21, 2014
Day 21: The Lawrence Arms - Metropole
Artist: The Lawrence Arms
Album: Metropole
Source: http://www.avclub.com/article/stream-metropole-the-new-record-from-the-lawrence-107088
Pre-listening Notes: Here is another band, similar to Against Me!, where I am not super familiar with the catalog, even though it's fairly extensive. I am, however, a little more familiar with Brendan Kelly and Chris McCaughan's previous band The Broadways, and Kelly's ska-punk band Slapstick. I enjoyed both bands to different degrees wtih me being more into the straight forward punk sound of The Broadways. Then The Broadways played Buffalo once and they were kind of dicks, so I never really got into The Lawrence Arms when they first started. Over time, I have heard a couple songs and countless people talk about how much they love this band. This is their sixth album and their first for Epitaph Records, so they probably had a much better budget for recording than in the past. It's also their first album in almost eight years, so they have probably had time to really write songs they find interesting and fine tune them for this recording. And here we go.
Initial Reaction: It's melodic punk, with contrasting vocals, one fairly clean the other a little gruffer. The first song is a pretty short song, sort of introish. The recording sounds pretty awesome.
Random Thoughts: The clean vocals sound really polished. I can see why a lot of people like this. It's not the normal type of thing I listen to, but I am finding it pretty entertaining. The video for the second song was a lyric video, if that type of thing is your thing. The third song is a lot more up my alley, it's a faster song with some pretty great harmonies. This almost has a later era Dillinger Four sound to it. I like how the stream mixes in the video versions of the songs that already exist, rather than just putting the audio to a still image. The fourth song, Seventeener (17th and 37th) is one I had previously listened to, which is what had me sort of excited to listen to this, which is a song about nostalgia or about scene jumpers (at least from what I gather), and is an excellent mid paced melodic punk song that if had come out in the mid to late 90's would have probably blown this band up bigger than a lot of the other stuff that came out during that period. Acheron River is another faster song that reminds me of D4 and I am really digging. The title track is pretty mellow. Drunk Texts is a faster song with the childish vulgarity that a good pop punk record needs. The choruses on Never Fade Away are excellent, it reminds me of something, but I can't quite put my finger on it. Another faster song, Paradise Shitty, which is a great song name, but another stand out track. My only real complaint was the last song didn't have a "last song" feel to it. It was a pretty short song without that real "press play again" feeling to it.
Final Reaction: Okay, this is may be a case of right place, right time for me to really start discovering this band. But, this record kicks ass! It's a great blend of a lot of things I like about punk, and it varies enough to keep me interested the whole way through. It's not raw, which in the past would have bugged me, but as an older guy, I think the polished sound of things helped me to really get into these songs. I will definitely be listening to this again and looking into their back catalog.
Final Grade: 9.0/10
Album: Metropole
Source: http://www.avclub.com/article/stream-metropole-the-new-record-from-the-lawrence-107088
Pre-listening Notes: Here is another band, similar to Against Me!, where I am not super familiar with the catalog, even though it's fairly extensive. I am, however, a little more familiar with Brendan Kelly and Chris McCaughan's previous band The Broadways, and Kelly's ska-punk band Slapstick. I enjoyed both bands to different degrees wtih me being more into the straight forward punk sound of The Broadways. Then The Broadways played Buffalo once and they were kind of dicks, so I never really got into The Lawrence Arms when they first started. Over time, I have heard a couple songs and countless people talk about how much they love this band. This is their sixth album and their first for Epitaph Records, so they probably had a much better budget for recording than in the past. It's also their first album in almost eight years, so they have probably had time to really write songs they find interesting and fine tune them for this recording. And here we go.
Initial Reaction: It's melodic punk, with contrasting vocals, one fairly clean the other a little gruffer. The first song is a pretty short song, sort of introish. The recording sounds pretty awesome.
Random Thoughts: The clean vocals sound really polished. I can see why a lot of people like this. It's not the normal type of thing I listen to, but I am finding it pretty entertaining. The video for the second song was a lyric video, if that type of thing is your thing. The third song is a lot more up my alley, it's a faster song with some pretty great harmonies. This almost has a later era Dillinger Four sound to it. I like how the stream mixes in the video versions of the songs that already exist, rather than just putting the audio to a still image. The fourth song, Seventeener (17th and 37th) is one I had previously listened to, which is what had me sort of excited to listen to this, which is a song about nostalgia or about scene jumpers (at least from what I gather), and is an excellent mid paced melodic punk song that if had come out in the mid to late 90's would have probably blown this band up bigger than a lot of the other stuff that came out during that period. Acheron River is another faster song that reminds me of D4 and I am really digging. The title track is pretty mellow. Drunk Texts is a faster song with the childish vulgarity that a good pop punk record needs. The choruses on Never Fade Away are excellent, it reminds me of something, but I can't quite put my finger on it. Another faster song, Paradise Shitty, which is a great song name, but another stand out track. My only real complaint was the last song didn't have a "last song" feel to it. It was a pretty short song without that real "press play again" feeling to it.
Final Reaction: Okay, this is may be a case of right place, right time for me to really start discovering this band. But, this record kicks ass! It's a great blend of a lot of things I like about punk, and it varies enough to keep me interested the whole way through. It's not raw, which in the past would have bugged me, but as an older guy, I think the polished sound of things helped me to really get into these songs. I will definitely be listening to this again and looking into their back catalog.
Final Grade: 9.0/10
Monday, January 20, 2014
Day 20: Damon Albarn - Everyday Robots & Lily Allen - Air Balloon
Artist: Damon Albarn
Album: Everyday Robots
Source: http://exclaim.ca/MusicVideo/ClickHear/damon_albarn-everyday_robots_video
Pre-listening Notes: I'm going to cheat a little today. I'm only doing a couple of single songs, for upcoming albums. I don't have a ton of time and this is the first singles off what is going to be two things I'm fairly excited to listen to this year. First is Damon Albarn's single off his solo record that doesn't come out until April. Damon sings for Blur, who happens to be my favorite British alt-rock band and probably one of my favorite bands of the 90's, as well as the Gorillaz.
Initial Reaction: Skipping this, because it's just one song.
Random Thoughts: Gonna skip this section too, for the same reason.
Final Reaction: It's a mellow sound, very low key musically, that seems to be a little more geared to just letting him sing over some minimal musical parts. It's definitely sounds like it's going to be more. I listened to it twice and the second listen seemed to hit me a little better. Some of it is electronic, that's for sure. I like it a lot, but I really don't think that he has done much that I haven't like yet, so, yeah. His voice sounds great and I can't wait to hear more.
Final Grade: 8.5/10
Artist: Lily Allen
Album: Air Balloon
Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUGaXUwh-ak&pxtry=1
Pre-listening Notes: I came a little late to the Lily Allen game, just getting into here well after her second album released. Both of the albums are great, I listen to them pretty regularly. She released a song earlier this year that I wasn't really feeling, but this is what I think is the first actual single off her upcoming album.
Initial Reaction: Skipping this, because it's just one song.
Random Thoughts: Gonna skip this section too, for the same reason.
Final Reaction: I love this song, I listen to this every day. This single dropped like a week ago and I've been listening to it at least once a day since. I love the playful sound and lyrics of this song and pretty much everything she's put out. This song is so catchy. I have the na na na parts stuck in my head all night after listening to it. I'll bet she is a lot of fun to hang out with. Both of these songs get the same grade, but for totally different reasons.
Final Grade: 8.5/10
Album: Everyday Robots
Source: http://exclaim.ca/MusicVideo/ClickHear/damon_albarn-everyday_robots_video
Pre-listening Notes: I'm going to cheat a little today. I'm only doing a couple of single songs, for upcoming albums. I don't have a ton of time and this is the first singles off what is going to be two things I'm fairly excited to listen to this year. First is Damon Albarn's single off his solo record that doesn't come out until April. Damon sings for Blur, who happens to be my favorite British alt-rock band and probably one of my favorite bands of the 90's, as well as the Gorillaz.
Initial Reaction: Skipping this, because it's just one song.
Random Thoughts: Gonna skip this section too, for the same reason.
Final Reaction: It's a mellow sound, very low key musically, that seems to be a little more geared to just letting him sing over some minimal musical parts. It's definitely sounds like it's going to be more. I listened to it twice and the second listen seemed to hit me a little better. Some of it is electronic, that's for sure. I like it a lot, but I really don't think that he has done much that I haven't like yet, so, yeah. His voice sounds great and I can't wait to hear more.
Final Grade: 8.5/10
Artist: Lily Allen
Album: Air Balloon
Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUGaXUwh-ak&pxtry=1
Pre-listening Notes: I came a little late to the Lily Allen game, just getting into here well after her second album released. Both of the albums are great, I listen to them pretty regularly. She released a song earlier this year that I wasn't really feeling, but this is what I think is the first actual single off her upcoming album.
Initial Reaction: Skipping this, because it's just one song.
Random Thoughts: Gonna skip this section too, for the same reason.
Final Reaction: I love this song, I listen to this every day. This single dropped like a week ago and I've been listening to it at least once a day since. I love the playful sound and lyrics of this song and pretty much everything she's put out. This song is so catchy. I have the na na na parts stuck in my head all night after listening to it. I'll bet she is a lot of fun to hang out with. Both of these songs get the same grade, but for totally different reasons.
Final Grade: 8.5/10
Sunday, January 19, 2014
Day 19: Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra - Fuck Off Get Free We Pour Light on Everything
Artist: Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra
Album: Fuck Off Get Free We Pour Light on Everything
Source: http://pitchfork.com/advance/313-fuck-off-get-free-we-pour-light-on-everything/
Pre-listening Notes: Okay, this band has already infuriated me and I have not even hit play yet. They have released music with 5 different variations on their name. That's worse than then The Self Defense Family. Alright, so couple that with the fact this is streaming on Pitchfork, they are "experimental"-rock/post-rock, and are Canadian, I am going in with very low expectations. Those are pretty much all I know about this. Oh, also I think the album cover is two people on a couch, one may be naked, while the other one snaps a picture with flash so that most of it is drowned in light. At first, I thought they were having sex, but the more I looked at it, the less I thought this was what was going on.
Initial Reaction: Starts off with a sample of a kid talking. Then the music starts and it's kind of standard indie rock. I don't see what is experimental about this. It's not offensive in any way. I mean, there is a song, with structure, musicians who seem competent in their ability to make music, and vocals that aren't annoying or non-existent. I like the fuzzed out guitar part around the 7 minute mark of this opening song.
Random Thoughts: Song two starts out super mellow with some voices over the sound of someone strumming a guitar, it might be acoustic or it might just be an unplugged electric. Then some noise creeps it's way in and is overpower until the music starts just shy of 2 minutes in. The song really did nothing for me, there wasn't anything too interesting about it, like the fuzzed guitar part in the first song. It's even longer to, at 14 minutes long. The third song is a little more immediate than the first two. It reminds me of something, I can't seem to put my finger on it. The rest of the album just kind of blended together.
Final Reaction: This really isn't my thing. I suppose I can sort of see why I've heard people talk about how much they like this band, but it really does nothing for me. I suppose it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be going in, but that really isn't saying much considering my expectation level. Overall, it was a fairly average indie rock album.
Final Grade: 4.5/10
Album: Fuck Off Get Free We Pour Light on Everything
Source: http://pitchfork.com/advance/313-fuck-off-get-free-we-pour-light-on-everything/
Pre-listening Notes: Okay, this band has already infuriated me and I have not even hit play yet. They have released music with 5 different variations on their name. That's worse than then The Self Defense Family. Alright, so couple that with the fact this is streaming on Pitchfork, they are "experimental"-rock/post-rock, and are Canadian, I am going in with very low expectations. Those are pretty much all I know about this. Oh, also I think the album cover is two people on a couch, one may be naked, while the other one snaps a picture with flash so that most of it is drowned in light. At first, I thought they were having sex, but the more I looked at it, the less I thought this was what was going on.
Initial Reaction: Starts off with a sample of a kid talking. Then the music starts and it's kind of standard indie rock. I don't see what is experimental about this. It's not offensive in any way. I mean, there is a song, with structure, musicians who seem competent in their ability to make music, and vocals that aren't annoying or non-existent. I like the fuzzed out guitar part around the 7 minute mark of this opening song.
Random Thoughts: Song two starts out super mellow with some voices over the sound of someone strumming a guitar, it might be acoustic or it might just be an unplugged electric. Then some noise creeps it's way in and is overpower until the music starts just shy of 2 minutes in. The song really did nothing for me, there wasn't anything too interesting about it, like the fuzzed guitar part in the first song. It's even longer to, at 14 minutes long. The third song is a little more immediate than the first two. It reminds me of something, I can't seem to put my finger on it. The rest of the album just kind of blended together.
Final Reaction: This really isn't my thing. I suppose I can sort of see why I've heard people talk about how much they like this band, but it really does nothing for me. I suppose it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be going in, but that really isn't saying much considering my expectation level. Overall, it was a fairly average indie rock album.
Final Grade: 4.5/10
Saturday, January 18, 2014
Day 18: Throwdown - Intolerance
Artist: Throwdown
Album: Intolerance
Source: https://soundcloud.com/eone-music/sets/throwdown-intolerance
Pre-listening Notes: Sort of a confession, but I used to love Throwdown. From the early days with Keith Barney singing when it was all about the mosh part. Even up until the first album with current singer, Dave Peters singing where you could start to see the direction they were taking the band. Then, after I heard Vendetta, I kinda gave up on them. It felt like they were moving into a more Lamb of God type sound, and I liked Lamb of God well enough, but I didn't need to listen to bands that sounded like them. So, not only did I not know they put out two more albums after that, I was kind of surprised to find out they were still a band in 2014. I am giving it a shot, but I am going in with some serious hesitation.
Initial Reaction: It doesn't seem to be drastically different, maybe a little faster than what I remember Vendetta sounding like. Dave's vocals are not something I hate, they fit the music, but this really isn't doing anything new for me. Which yes, I realize above, I sort of indicated that the changes they were making sound wise is the reason I stopped listening to them. But, while I think they moved towards a sound I might have liked, there are other bands who sound like this that do it better.
Random Thoughts: The second song sounds like they were trying for a Merauder sound, they didn't succeed. I have never shied away from metalcore completely in the past. I am more than excited for the new Earth Crisis record coming out this year. Woah, song 3 is basically a Hatebreed song with lyrics about being straight edge, which I guess still singing straight edge songs 17 years later is something. Driven by Suffering, I mean Hardened by Consequence, the next song was kind of boring. Maybe more "OUGH!" would have helped this album. Suffer, Conquer makes me think of Suffer, Survive, which truthfully I like a whole lot better. Oh, another straight edge song. The last few songs sort of blended together as I was reading stuff on the internet, so there's that too.
Final Reaction: It's heavy, for sure. The vocals don't suck. It's short and to the point. These are all things I like about punk/hardcore/metal music. However, it just doesn't do it for me. While I feel like they dialed back a little on the Pantera/LoG, they upped the Hatebreed worship on this, but again I fall into the whole belief that I already have 3 Hatebreed albums, yes THREE, to listen to. Well, 4 if you count Under the Knife as an album. I don't need any more, as evidenced by the 4 Hatebreed albums I don't listen to.
Final Grade: 5.0/10
Album: Intolerance
Source: https://soundcloud.com/eone-music/sets/throwdown-intolerance
Pre-listening Notes: Sort of a confession, but I used to love Throwdown. From the early days with Keith Barney singing when it was all about the mosh part. Even up until the first album with current singer, Dave Peters singing where you could start to see the direction they were taking the band. Then, after I heard Vendetta, I kinda gave up on them. It felt like they were moving into a more Lamb of God type sound, and I liked Lamb of God well enough, but I didn't need to listen to bands that sounded like them. So, not only did I not know they put out two more albums after that, I was kind of surprised to find out they were still a band in 2014. I am giving it a shot, but I am going in with some serious hesitation.
Initial Reaction: It doesn't seem to be drastically different, maybe a little faster than what I remember Vendetta sounding like. Dave's vocals are not something I hate, they fit the music, but this really isn't doing anything new for me. Which yes, I realize above, I sort of indicated that the changes they were making sound wise is the reason I stopped listening to them. But, while I think they moved towards a sound I might have liked, there are other bands who sound like this that do it better.
Random Thoughts: The second song sounds like they were trying for a Merauder sound, they didn't succeed. I have never shied away from metalcore completely in the past. I am more than excited for the new Earth Crisis record coming out this year. Woah, song 3 is basically a Hatebreed song with lyrics about being straight edge, which I guess still singing straight edge songs 17 years later is something. Driven by Suffering, I mean Hardened by Consequence, the next song was kind of boring. Maybe more "OUGH!" would have helped this album. Suffer, Conquer makes me think of Suffer, Survive, which truthfully I like a whole lot better. Oh, another straight edge song. The last few songs sort of blended together as I was reading stuff on the internet, so there's that too.
Final Reaction: It's heavy, for sure. The vocals don't suck. It's short and to the point. These are all things I like about punk/hardcore/metal music. However, it just doesn't do it for me. While I feel like they dialed back a little on the Pantera/LoG, they upped the Hatebreed worship on this, but again I fall into the whole belief that I already have 3 Hatebreed albums, yes THREE, to listen to. Well, 4 if you count Under the Knife as an album. I don't need any more, as evidenced by the 4 Hatebreed albums I don't listen to.
Final Grade: 5.0/10
Friday, January 17, 2014
Day 17: Dain Bramage (Dave Grohl) - 1986 Laundry Room Demos
Artist: Dain Bramage
Album: 1986 Laundry Room Demos
Source: https://soundcloud.com/antiquiet/sets/dain-bramage-1986-laundry-room
Pre-listening Notes: Short lived mid 80's DC punk band with Dave Grohl on drums. That's pretty much all I can find out about this. It's only 8 songs, so we will see.
Initial Reaction: Recording isn't great. Kind of melodic. The vocals are quiet, the drums are loud. There are some weird noises going on around the song. They appear to be part of the song.
Random Thoughts: Well, the vocals aren't getting any louder. The tempo isn't speeding up much either. Okay, the ending of the second song had a weird change of piece to a faster tempo. This song has a cooler faster tempo part, but the recording is still kind of hard to get around. I see there is a Grand Funk cover coming up. Space Cat totally sounds like a high school punk band song. Bend does nothing for me, really.
Final Reaction: It's early Dave Grohl, so it's cool to see where he started, even before joining Scream. Okay, honestly, it's obvious this is a very young group and it's not the best, but yeah, I suppose there was a demand for this. It's nothing I'll probably ever listen to again, but I am okay with having heard it once.
Final Grade: 4.5/10
Album: 1986 Laundry Room Demos
Source: https://soundcloud.com/antiquiet/sets/dain-bramage-1986-laundry-room
Pre-listening Notes: Short lived mid 80's DC punk band with Dave Grohl on drums. That's pretty much all I can find out about this. It's only 8 songs, so we will see.
Initial Reaction: Recording isn't great. Kind of melodic. The vocals are quiet, the drums are loud. There are some weird noises going on around the song. They appear to be part of the song.
Random Thoughts: Well, the vocals aren't getting any louder. The tempo isn't speeding up much either. Okay, the ending of the second song had a weird change of piece to a faster tempo. This song has a cooler faster tempo part, but the recording is still kind of hard to get around. I see there is a Grand Funk cover coming up. Space Cat totally sounds like a high school punk band song. Bend does nothing for me, really.
Final Reaction: It's early Dave Grohl, so it's cool to see where he started, even before joining Scream. Okay, honestly, it's obvious this is a very young group and it's not the best, but yeah, I suppose there was a demand for this. It's nothing I'll probably ever listen to again, but I am okay with having heard it once.
Final Grade: 4.5/10
Thursday, January 16, 2014
Day 16: Alcest - Shelter
Artist: Alcest
Album: Shelter
Source: http://pitchfork.com/advance/312-shelter/
Pre-listening Notes: Things I know about Alcest. They are French. It used to be just one guy, he added a drummer for the last couple albums, and adds other instrumentalists for live shows. They used to be a black metal band, but are now a more chilled out, shoegaze band. The singer did spoken word on one of the tracks on Sunbather last year, by Deafheaven. Finally, this is being streamed on Pitchfork, so two days in a row, I'm a Topolski.
Initial Reaction: Opening track was a little light and atmospheric intro. Nothing crazy.
Random Thoughts: Second song opens up with a little more upbeat tempo and then some French vocals.
So, I won't be paying super close attention to the vocals, since I don't speak French. I like this a lot, even though I don't speak the language, this song is very interesting. Yeah, the song Opale was very impressive. The next song has started off a little mellower, although not that the last song was a rager. I like the things I'm hearing, the music is pretty rad to keep me engaged, so far through three songs. The vocals, while I don't quite get the content of the lyrics, fits the music very nicely. The songs are a sort of blendy togetherish. That is in no way a bad thing. Okay, so the second last song, Away, the lyrics are in English. So, I already like this song a lot. Great mellow ending.
Final Reaction: Honestly, outside of not understanding the lyrics, I would highly recommend this to anyone who wants to just mellow out and listen to some tunes. This is one quality release and one that I'll be coming back to for some music to listen to while doing other things on the computer.
Final Grade: 8.5/10
Album: Shelter
Source: http://pitchfork.com/advance/312-shelter/
Pre-listening Notes: Things I know about Alcest. They are French. It used to be just one guy, he added a drummer for the last couple albums, and adds other instrumentalists for live shows. They used to be a black metal band, but are now a more chilled out, shoegaze band. The singer did spoken word on one of the tracks on Sunbather last year, by Deafheaven. Finally, this is being streamed on Pitchfork, so two days in a row, I'm a Topolski.
Initial Reaction: Opening track was a little light and atmospheric intro. Nothing crazy.
Random Thoughts: Second song opens up with a little more upbeat tempo and then some French vocals.
So, I won't be paying super close attention to the vocals, since I don't speak French. I like this a lot, even though I don't speak the language, this song is very interesting. Yeah, the song Opale was very impressive. The next song has started off a little mellower, although not that the last song was a rager. I like the things I'm hearing, the music is pretty rad to keep me engaged, so far through three songs. The vocals, while I don't quite get the content of the lyrics, fits the music very nicely. The songs are a sort of blendy togetherish. That is in no way a bad thing. Okay, so the second last song, Away, the lyrics are in English. So, I already like this song a lot. Great mellow ending.
Final Reaction: Honestly, outside of not understanding the lyrics, I would highly recommend this to anyone who wants to just mellow out and listen to some tunes. This is one quality release and one that I'll be coming back to for some music to listen to while doing other things on the computer.
Final Grade: 8.5/10
Wednesday, January 15, 2014
Day 15: Indian - From All Purity
Artist: Indian
Album: From All Purity
Source: http://pitchfork.com/advance/316-from-all-purity/
Pre-listening Notes: Here is another one I know very little about. It's streaming on Pitchfork, which worries me a little. The bio says "Oh dear, this will pull your teeth out. Get a kick in the tummy by doomsters Indian from Chicago...." so there is that. Their Bandcamp page calls them blackened noise nihilists, so there is also that. Beyond that, I guess, I am only really expecting something heavy. Apparently they have been around for a decade and this is their fifth album. So, here goes!
Initial Reaction: The opening is noisy, for sure. Okay, now it just got a little doomy. Vocals are of the strained scream variety, which is fine by me. I like the heavier parts more than the noisier parts. Not a terrible sound, this could be alright.
Random Thoughts: Song two is starting out much more sludgy and doomy. I'm liking this song a lot more than the first one. It's heavy! Yeah, that one made my beer bottle rattle a little. The heavy continues, it's a little repetitive so far, but I'm into the basic premise of it. Alright, Rhetoric of No starts off with a little speed to it. It slowed down, though. Turned heavy, as well. Okay, so far halfway through the song Clarify, it's all noise. Not into straight noise tracks. Yeah, it's all noise. Last song is another heavy one, along with the second song, I think those were my two favorites on the album!
Final Reaction: I may not have felt like I got my teeth pulled out or kicked in the tummy, but overall five of the six tracks brought the heavy! I dug it, Spotify has 3 of the other 4 albums to check out, which I will. I'd be into seeing it live, so bring it on to Buffalo, Indian.
Final Grade: 7.0/10
Album: From All Purity
Source: http://pitchfork.com/advance/316-from-all-purity/
Pre-listening Notes: Here is another one I know very little about. It's streaming on Pitchfork, which worries me a little. The bio says "Oh dear, this will pull your teeth out. Get a kick in the tummy by doomsters Indian from Chicago...." so there is that. Their Bandcamp page calls them blackened noise nihilists, so there is also that. Beyond that, I guess, I am only really expecting something heavy. Apparently they have been around for a decade and this is their fifth album. So, here goes!
Initial Reaction: The opening is noisy, for sure. Okay, now it just got a little doomy. Vocals are of the strained scream variety, which is fine by me. I like the heavier parts more than the noisier parts. Not a terrible sound, this could be alright.
Random Thoughts: Song two is starting out much more sludgy and doomy. I'm liking this song a lot more than the first one. It's heavy! Yeah, that one made my beer bottle rattle a little. The heavy continues, it's a little repetitive so far, but I'm into the basic premise of it. Alright, Rhetoric of No starts off with a little speed to it. It slowed down, though. Turned heavy, as well. Okay, so far halfway through the song Clarify, it's all noise. Not into straight noise tracks. Yeah, it's all noise. Last song is another heavy one, along with the second song, I think those were my two favorites on the album!
Final Reaction: I may not have felt like I got my teeth pulled out or kicked in the tummy, but overall five of the six tracks brought the heavy! I dug it, Spotify has 3 of the other 4 albums to check out, which I will. I'd be into seeing it live, so bring it on to Buffalo, Indian.
Final Grade: 7.0/10
Tuesday, January 14, 2014
Day 14: Mogwai - Rave Tapes
Artist: Mogwai
Album: Rave Tapes
Source: https://soundcloud.com/rock-action-records/sets/mogwai-rave-tapes/s-Xg3A4
Pre-listening Notes: Mogwai gets a genre tag of post-rock, which I really never got, as they are still a rock band. They are also mostly instrumental, which is almost never my thing. I like about two total strictly instrumental bands, Tristeza and Tortoise, but I do like some of the stuff I've heard. A lot of people I know like this band a lot more than I do, but like I said, I do like some of it. Let's see what they do here.
Initial Reaction: This is starting off very much like they type of stuff that I can get into. With instrumental stuff, I generally need the music to be calm and atmospheric, but still keep my focus enough so that I don't forget it is there. This first song was pretty good and basically that hits it right on the head.
Random Thoughts: Song two starts off super synth heavy, and kept me entertained the whole way through. Song length for me is about what I can handle of this, 10 songs in about 50 minutes. This third song has a weird almost new wavish synth part in the middle. And then there was voice! Spoken word, that is. I like this song, even with the spoken word about Led Zeppelin's Stairway to Heaven going on. This song, Master Card, had a real cool driving guitar part throughout. And the song Blues Hour, has vocals, not spoken word, but soft, sung vocals. I liked that a lot! The ending had a nice flow to it, the last two tracks sealed it as I was reading people's suggestions to the most depressing/unhappy ending to science fiction or fantasy movies. The last song has some effects heavy vocals to it, as well.
Final Reaction: Honestly, I have never had anything negative to say about Mogwai before and really I don't have anything newly positive to say either. I like the music well enough, quite a bit actually. I just wonder what it would sound like with vocals over it. The thing is, the wrong vocals might actually make me like this less. This is something I could listen to again, but it's not something I would want to put on my iPod for repeated listening. It's awesome to have on when you want to pay attention about 60-75% of what is going on. But, I can't even downgrade my final grade on this, because musically I really, really do like it. This is better than I remember some of the other records being, except maybe Rock Action, and the inclusion of some sort of vocals in three of the tracks helped.
Final Grade: 7.5/10
Album: Rave Tapes
Source: https://soundcloud.com/rock-action-records/sets/mogwai-rave-tapes/s-Xg3A4
Pre-listening Notes: Mogwai gets a genre tag of post-rock, which I really never got, as they are still a rock band. They are also mostly instrumental, which is almost never my thing. I like about two total strictly instrumental bands, Tristeza and Tortoise, but I do like some of the stuff I've heard. A lot of people I know like this band a lot more than I do, but like I said, I do like some of it. Let's see what they do here.
Initial Reaction: This is starting off very much like they type of stuff that I can get into. With instrumental stuff, I generally need the music to be calm and atmospheric, but still keep my focus enough so that I don't forget it is there. This first song was pretty good and basically that hits it right on the head.
Random Thoughts: Song two starts off super synth heavy, and kept me entertained the whole way through. Song length for me is about what I can handle of this, 10 songs in about 50 minutes. This third song has a weird almost new wavish synth part in the middle. And then there was voice! Spoken word, that is. I like this song, even with the spoken word about Led Zeppelin's Stairway to Heaven going on. This song, Master Card, had a real cool driving guitar part throughout. And the song Blues Hour, has vocals, not spoken word, but soft, sung vocals. I liked that a lot! The ending had a nice flow to it, the last two tracks sealed it as I was reading people's suggestions to the most depressing/unhappy ending to science fiction or fantasy movies. The last song has some effects heavy vocals to it, as well.
Final Reaction: Honestly, I have never had anything negative to say about Mogwai before and really I don't have anything newly positive to say either. I like the music well enough, quite a bit actually. I just wonder what it would sound like with vocals over it. The thing is, the wrong vocals might actually make me like this less. This is something I could listen to again, but it's not something I would want to put on my iPod for repeated listening. It's awesome to have on when you want to pay attention about 60-75% of what is going on. But, I can't even downgrade my final grade on this, because musically I really, really do like it. This is better than I remember some of the other records being, except maybe Rock Action, and the inclusion of some sort of vocals in three of the tracks helped.
Final Grade: 7.5/10
Monday, January 13, 2014
Day 13: Against Me! - Transgender Dysphoria Blues
Artist: Against Me!
Album: Transgender Dysphoria Blues
Source: https://soundcloud.com/xtramilerecordings/sets/against-me-transgender/
Pre-listening Notes: I am giving in to the hype here. In case you live under a rock or just somehow managed to miss the hundreds of new articles, commentary posts, or Facebook posts both in support and the opposite of support towards Laura Jane Grace, I'll elaborate. Against Me! is a Florida punk band that started in the mid to late 90's. They released a few critically acclaimed albums and then in 2012, singer, songwriter, and only original member of the band, Tom Gabel, announced he was transgendered and would being his transition to living as a woman. Fast forward to today and the band is putting out their first major release since this announcement. Since that time, the band added Atom Willard, previously of my favorite rock and roll band, Rocket From The Crypt, as their drummer. They also recruited Fat Mike to play bass, although they have since added a guy from the (International) Noise Conspiracy. I've only really listened to a few songs here and there of theirs previously, so I know what to expect up to a point, but I'm sure they have matured as a band since the early days when they were on No Idea Records. So here goes!
Initial Reaction: First thing is the music is drastically more polished and the recording is much improved over anything I have heard before. This first song is pretty awesome musically. Vocally, Laura's voice is still as catchy as I remember and not that drastically different, maybe a little more clean than that first album. Lyrically it seems like this is going to deal with the last 2 years of her life, which is not a bad thing in any way.
Random Thoughts: I am liking this more than I anticipated. It's really catchy. Even in the songs I've heard before, they were never a straight up punk band, but this so far has really been more on the punk influenced alt-rock album. Again, that's not a complaint. Unconditional Love has a pirate song feel to it. The drumming is great, as I anticipated. Okay, Drinking With the Jocks ups the punk (no pun) a little. Osama Bin Laden as the Crucified Christ so far is my favorite tune on here. Okay, this stream is apparently missing a song, good news is they released it as a single last year and it's out there on Spotify.
Final Reaction: Overall, it's a real short album, not even clocking in at half an hour long. Honestly, take the hype out of this album and it's still a pretty good album. I came in not really knowing what to expect and honestly I liked the hell out of this. I'd have to really go back to the last couple records to be able to tell anyone if the last 2 years has changed much, but based on what I know from their early stuff and where I expect they went over the years, I have a feeling this is basically just an Against Me! record and I'm totally fine with that.
Final Grade: 8.0/10
Album: Transgender Dysphoria Blues
Source: https://soundcloud.com/xtramilerecordings/sets/against-me-transgender/
Pre-listening Notes: I am giving in to the hype here. In case you live under a rock or just somehow managed to miss the hundreds of new articles, commentary posts, or Facebook posts both in support and the opposite of support towards Laura Jane Grace, I'll elaborate. Against Me! is a Florida punk band that started in the mid to late 90's. They released a few critically acclaimed albums and then in 2012, singer, songwriter, and only original member of the band, Tom Gabel, announced he was transgendered and would being his transition to living as a woman. Fast forward to today and the band is putting out their first major release since this announcement. Since that time, the band added Atom Willard, previously of my favorite rock and roll band, Rocket From The Crypt, as their drummer. They also recruited Fat Mike to play bass, although they have since added a guy from the (International) Noise Conspiracy. I've only really listened to a few songs here and there of theirs previously, so I know what to expect up to a point, but I'm sure they have matured as a band since the early days when they were on No Idea Records. So here goes!
Initial Reaction: First thing is the music is drastically more polished and the recording is much improved over anything I have heard before. This first song is pretty awesome musically. Vocally, Laura's voice is still as catchy as I remember and not that drastically different, maybe a little more clean than that first album. Lyrically it seems like this is going to deal with the last 2 years of her life, which is not a bad thing in any way.
Random Thoughts: I am liking this more than I anticipated. It's really catchy. Even in the songs I've heard before, they were never a straight up punk band, but this so far has really been more on the punk influenced alt-rock album. Again, that's not a complaint. Unconditional Love has a pirate song feel to it. The drumming is great, as I anticipated. Okay, Drinking With the Jocks ups the punk (no pun) a little. Osama Bin Laden as the Crucified Christ so far is my favorite tune on here. Okay, this stream is apparently missing a song, good news is they released it as a single last year and it's out there on Spotify.
Final Reaction: Overall, it's a real short album, not even clocking in at half an hour long. Honestly, take the hype out of this album and it's still a pretty good album. I came in not really knowing what to expect and honestly I liked the hell out of this. I'd have to really go back to the last couple records to be able to tell anyone if the last 2 years has changed much, but based on what I know from their early stuff and where I expect they went over the years, I have a feeling this is basically just an Against Me! record and I'm totally fine with that.
Final Grade: 8.0/10
Sunday, January 12, 2014
Day 12: Iron Mind - Iron Mind
Artist: Iron Mind
Album: Iron Mind
Source: http://themusic.com.au/listen/all/2014/01/07/exclusive-stream-iron-mind-iron-mind/
Pre-listening Notes: All I know is they are apparently an Australian hardcore band. That's the extent of what I know going in. That and the Euros get me every time with their date structure. I thought at first this wasn't coming out until October 1st, but it was really January 10th. Also, I wonder if they took their name from the Righteous Jams song.
Initial Reaction: It's got some heaviness to it. I think I can hear his accent coming through in his yells and it seems kinda funny. But, it's got fast parts and some heaviness and I don't hate it so far. It's got a NYHC feel to it.
Random Thoughts: I could see being super into this about 5 years ago. Not that I'm not into it right now, but I would have gone nuts over this back then. I like this more than Backtrack that's for sure, which is becoming a theme for me. So far each song has me moving along in my seat as I listen to it, which is pretty good. Honestly, so far after 5 songs, the little tinges of his accent creeping is the only complaint I have.
Final Reaction: I really don't have many complaints about this, musically they do it well, vocally outside of his accent I really have no complaints. I don't have too much to say about this outside of the fact that it is a solid release.
Final Grade: 7.5/10
Album: Iron Mind
Source: http://themusic.com.au/listen/all/2014/01/07/exclusive-stream-iron-mind-iron-mind/
Pre-listening Notes: All I know is they are apparently an Australian hardcore band. That's the extent of what I know going in. That and the Euros get me every time with their date structure. I thought at first this wasn't coming out until October 1st, but it was really January 10th. Also, I wonder if they took their name from the Righteous Jams song.
Initial Reaction: It's got some heaviness to it. I think I can hear his accent coming through in his yells and it seems kinda funny. But, it's got fast parts and some heaviness and I don't hate it so far. It's got a NYHC feel to it.
Random Thoughts: I could see being super into this about 5 years ago. Not that I'm not into it right now, but I would have gone nuts over this back then. I like this more than Backtrack that's for sure, which is becoming a theme for me. So far each song has me moving along in my seat as I listen to it, which is pretty good. Honestly, so far after 5 songs, the little tinges of his accent creeping is the only complaint I have.
Final Reaction: I really don't have many complaints about this, musically they do it well, vocally outside of his accent I really have no complaints. I don't have too much to say about this outside of the fact that it is a solid release.
Final Grade: 7.5/10
Saturday, January 11, 2014
Day 11: The Vintage Caravan - Voyage
Artist: The Vintage Caravan
Album: Voyage
Source: http://classicrockmag.de/news_gross/the-vintage-caravan-voyage-jetzt-im-stream/
Pre-listening Notes: Switching gears a little, I had absolutely no idea what to expect with this. I chose it because the cover is two polar bears pulling a gypsy wagon through space. Seriously. A little internet research informs me that this band is from Iceland and is going to be some "classic rock". Which I feel like is a hard tag to put on a new band, but whatever, that's what the kids are calling it.
Initial Reaction: Okay, opens up with some riffing. Vocals came in and they are alright. Lyrics appear to be in English, which was nice of them. Or wait, do they speak English in Iceland? Dig the solo and the music so far, another iffy on the vocal release, though.
Random Thoughts: Second song is some more of the same of the first. Musically it's little more on the upbeat side of the rock spectrum. Okay, song 3 slows it down a little for a ballad. More riffing! I think this is going to come down to another vocal thing, but I like these more than I did the Iced Earth album. I am pretty sure most, if not all, of these songs are about drugs. I'm not too big on the ballads, I like the rippers. Midnight Meditation might be my favorite track, so far. The penultimate track is a nice 11 minute song that meanders from spacy to riffy and back again.
Final Reaction: I dig it, that's for sure. The vocals grew on me throughout the whole album and it gets spacy in some spots and driving in others. Also, based on the picture of these guys, I am pretty sure they are like 18 years old. Maybe I'm underestimating, but they are young, that is for sure. I will definitely be revisiting this in the future and looking forward to even more from these kids in the future.
Final Grade: 7.5/10
Album: Voyage
Source: http://classicrockmag.de/news_gross/the-vintage-caravan-voyage-jetzt-im-stream/
Pre-listening Notes: Switching gears a little, I had absolutely no idea what to expect with this. I chose it because the cover is two polar bears pulling a gypsy wagon through space. Seriously. A little internet research informs me that this band is from Iceland and is going to be some "classic rock". Which I feel like is a hard tag to put on a new band, but whatever, that's what the kids are calling it.
Initial Reaction: Okay, opens up with some riffing. Vocals came in and they are alright. Lyrics appear to be in English, which was nice of them. Or wait, do they speak English in Iceland? Dig the solo and the music so far, another iffy on the vocal release, though.
Random Thoughts: Second song is some more of the same of the first. Musically it's little more on the upbeat side of the rock spectrum. Okay, song 3 slows it down a little for a ballad. More riffing! I think this is going to come down to another vocal thing, but I like these more than I did the Iced Earth album. I am pretty sure most, if not all, of these songs are about drugs. I'm not too big on the ballads, I like the rippers. Midnight Meditation might be my favorite track, so far. The penultimate track is a nice 11 minute song that meanders from spacy to riffy and back again.
Final Reaction: I dig it, that's for sure. The vocals grew on me throughout the whole album and it gets spacy in some spots and driving in others. Also, based on the picture of these guys, I am pretty sure they are like 18 years old. Maybe I'm underestimating, but they are young, that is for sure. I will definitely be revisiting this in the future and looking forward to even more from these kids in the future.
Final Grade: 7.5/10
Day 10: Iced Earth - Plagues of Babylon
Artist: Iced Earth
Album: Plagues of Babylon
Source: Spotify
Pre-listening Notes: And the metal continues! American power metal masters, Iced Earth. To be completely truthful, I have never been a huge Iced Earth fans. Not so much in the sense that I've disliked them, but more so in the sense of I have never really given them a huge chance. On the flipside, the two Demons and Wizards albums, which is one of Jon Schaffer's, who basically is Iced Earth, other project with Hansi Kursch, from Blind Guardianwho guest vocals on one of the songs on this album. Iced Earth has been doing this for almost three decades and back in high school I remember a brother of a buddy of mine being huge into this band. But, I was getting into punk and hardcore at this point, so I couldn't be bothered with metal, let alone power metal. If it didn't have short, fast songs with barked vocals, I wanted nothing to do with it. So, over 20 years later, here I am about to sink my teeth into the first full (sort of, one song was left off the stream) Iced Earth record.
Initial Reaction: I expect any power metal record to start epically, and so far so good. Okay, so far not super feeling this vocalist, which is apparently their fifth. The chorus is a little better, but the verses are just not doing it for me. Musically, however, this is awesome.
Random Thoughts: Alright, so the vocals are still an issue for me. Apparently this guy also sang in Into Eternity for a while, although I'm not familiar with that band. I think his voice just isn't melodic enough for what I was expecting. There isn't a ton to say about each individual song on this, with the exception of Among the Living Dead, which is the song that features Hansi Kursch. They really need to do a third Demons and Wizards album, like they talked about like 3 years ago. Okay, the song Cthulhu is excellent! And maybe I'm starting to warm up to this guy's voice. The album kind of blended into the background of what I was doing towards the end, so the last few songs seemed a little unmemorable to me.
Final Reaction: Overall, I dug the music, quite a bit actually. But, the vocals still remained just average even as I started to not notice them as much, I never quite dug them when it was just the lead singer. When there was harmonies going on, it was much better. I think I'm going to have to go back and check out some of the older singers to see, maybe I will like those albums more.
Final Grade: 6.5/10
Album: Plagues of Babylon
Source: Spotify
Pre-listening Notes: And the metal continues! American power metal masters, Iced Earth. To be completely truthful, I have never been a huge Iced Earth fans. Not so much in the sense that I've disliked them, but more so in the sense of I have never really given them a huge chance. On the flipside, the two Demons and Wizards albums, which is one of Jon Schaffer's, who basically is Iced Earth, other project with Hansi Kursch, from Blind Guardianwho guest vocals on one of the songs on this album. Iced Earth has been doing this for almost three decades and back in high school I remember a brother of a buddy of mine being huge into this band. But, I was getting into punk and hardcore at this point, so I couldn't be bothered with metal, let alone power metal. If it didn't have short, fast songs with barked vocals, I wanted nothing to do with it. So, over 20 years later, here I am about to sink my teeth into the first full (sort of, one song was left off the stream) Iced Earth record.
Initial Reaction: I expect any power metal record to start epically, and so far so good. Okay, so far not super feeling this vocalist, which is apparently their fifth. The chorus is a little better, but the verses are just not doing it for me. Musically, however, this is awesome.
Random Thoughts: Alright, so the vocals are still an issue for me. Apparently this guy also sang in Into Eternity for a while, although I'm not familiar with that band. I think his voice just isn't melodic enough for what I was expecting. There isn't a ton to say about each individual song on this, with the exception of Among the Living Dead, which is the song that features Hansi Kursch. They really need to do a third Demons and Wizards album, like they talked about like 3 years ago. Okay, the song Cthulhu is excellent! And maybe I'm starting to warm up to this guy's voice. The album kind of blended into the background of what I was doing towards the end, so the last few songs seemed a little unmemorable to me.
Final Reaction: Overall, I dug the music, quite a bit actually. But, the vocals still remained just average even as I started to not notice them as much, I never quite dug them when it was just the lead singer. When there was harmonies going on, it was much better. I think I'm going to have to go back and check out some of the older singers to see, maybe I will like those albums more.
Final Grade: 6.5/10
Thursday, January 9, 2014
Day 9: Exhumed / Iron Reagan Split EP
Artist: Exhumed / Iron Reagan
Album: Split EP
Source: http://downloads.tankcrimes.com/album/split
Pre-listening Notes: Finally, some metal! Two bands, one who has been doing it for over 20 years and another who features members who have been doing it for a while but are still relatively new as a band. Exhumed, I have heard before and IR, I have not. Exhumed plays old school death metal/grind/gore metal (which I'm not even sure is a genre so much as the lyrical content). Iron Reagan, I am gathering is more on the thrashy side. 4 songs each, 12 minutes total! Here goes.
Initial Reaction: Exhumed is up first, saw this band prior to the hiatus, and they ruled! This rips! Iron Reagan is pretty ripping, almost like a more early DRI version of Municipal Waste. I dig it!
Random Thoughts: Great mixture of death growls and more "cleaner" vocals. I am not sure how it happened, but I seem to be getting more and more into death stuff as I get older, which I would think would be the opposite of what would be expected. Okay, so this is a Minor Threat cover and I love everything about this! And now a Negative Approach cover, yes! I have to admit, I don't know why I slept on Iron Reagan so much, it's somewhere in between Municipal Waste, early style DRI, and something more punk. Some of this wouldn't have surprised me to show up on some early Municipal Waste albums. Fast, intense, thrash! Into it!
Final Reaction: Overall both bands killed it. Exhumed keeping me as a fan and Iron Reagan making me a fan. My dad will hate it!
Final Grade: 9.0/10
Album: Split EP
Source: http://downloads.tankcrimes.com/album/split
Pre-listening Notes: Finally, some metal! Two bands, one who has been doing it for over 20 years and another who features members who have been doing it for a while but are still relatively new as a band. Exhumed, I have heard before and IR, I have not. Exhumed plays old school death metal/grind/gore metal (which I'm not even sure is a genre so much as the lyrical content). Iron Reagan, I am gathering is more on the thrashy side. 4 songs each, 12 minutes total! Here goes.
Initial Reaction: Exhumed is up first, saw this band prior to the hiatus, and they ruled! This rips! Iron Reagan is pretty ripping, almost like a more early DRI version of Municipal Waste. I dig it!
Random Thoughts: Great mixture of death growls and more "cleaner" vocals. I am not sure how it happened, but I seem to be getting more and more into death stuff as I get older, which I would think would be the opposite of what would be expected. Okay, so this is a Minor Threat cover and I love everything about this! And now a Negative Approach cover, yes! I have to admit, I don't know why I slept on Iron Reagan so much, it's somewhere in between Municipal Waste, early style DRI, and something more punk. Some of this wouldn't have surprised me to show up on some early Municipal Waste albums. Fast, intense, thrash! Into it!
Final Reaction: Overall both bands killed it. Exhumed keeping me as a fan and Iron Reagan making me a fan. My dad will hate it!
Final Grade: 9.0/10
Wednesday, January 8, 2014
Day 8: Unwed (Hot Water Music) - Made Of & Molly & The Zombies (The Gaslight Anthem) - 2 tracks
Artist: Unwed
Album: Made Of
Source: http://pitchfork.com/reviews/tracks/16489-made-of/ and http://www.altpress.com/features/entry/song_premiere_pope_by_hot_water_music_side_project_unwed?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=altpress
Pre-listening Notes: This is a new band featuring Jason Black of Hot Water Music the drummer of Small Brown Bike, and a couple of others. Hot Water Music has been one of my favorite bands for a long time, so I am pretty stoked to hear some stuff that isn't from the folk singer side of the solo/side projects.
Initial Reaction: I'm going to skip the initial reaction, since it's only 2 songs long anyway and just move to Random Thoughts.
Random Thoughts: Okay, it's a girl singer. The music is pretty cool, sort of post hardcore, but it borders on "modern rock" at points. I'm not hating this, but I'm also not loving this. Okay, song two is doing less to make me like this. I just don't think I care for her voice. Again, the music is decent, but just not the vocals. Oh well, could have been worse, I suppose.
Final Reaction: Not feeling it really, it's too bad too, because in theory I should have loved this. But, in practice it just fell flat.
Final Grade: 5.0/10
and
Artist: Molly & The Zombies
Album: 2 Tracks
Source: http://www.cbs.com/shows/the_good_wife/springsteen
Pre-listening Notes: This is a new Brian Fallon project. I have no shame in saying I love everything The Gaslight Anthem has done. Like there isn't a single song I don't enjoy and the time I saw them live I thought they were great. I also thoroughly enjoyed the record he did with his guitar tech as The Horrible Crowes. Brian Fallon loves his classic rock and New Jersey punk. I'm not sure where this will fall, but he's never failed me before.
Initial Reaction: Again, I'm going to skip the initial reaction, since it's only 2 songs long anyway and just move to Random Thoughts.
Random Thoughts: Okay, super mellow. The first song is called Sketchy and honestly he could have stuck this in on any of his other albums and it really wouldn't have surprised me. The second song is called Red Lights and it's a little more upbeat and band sounding and again is absolutely could still pass for one of the songs he wrote for either TGA or THC.
Final Reaction: I have no idea if these are for an official release, or not, but I would listen to this again. I like both of the songs. I wouldn't mind them to up the tempo a little. But, I suppose that is what he has his other projects for and maybe this is to satisfy his love of slower, more ballad type songs. Brian Fallon is a pretty great songwriter and I could listen to him all the time.
Final Grade: 8.0/10
Album: Made Of
Source: http://pitchfork.com/reviews/tracks/16489-made-of/ and http://www.altpress.com/features/entry/song_premiere_pope_by_hot_water_music_side_project_unwed?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=altpress
Pre-listening Notes: This is a new band featuring Jason Black of Hot Water Music the drummer of Small Brown Bike, and a couple of others. Hot Water Music has been one of my favorite bands for a long time, so I am pretty stoked to hear some stuff that isn't from the folk singer side of the solo/side projects.
Initial Reaction: I'm going to skip the initial reaction, since it's only 2 songs long anyway and just move to Random Thoughts.
Random Thoughts: Okay, it's a girl singer. The music is pretty cool, sort of post hardcore, but it borders on "modern rock" at points. I'm not hating this, but I'm also not loving this. Okay, song two is doing less to make me like this. I just don't think I care for her voice. Again, the music is decent, but just not the vocals. Oh well, could have been worse, I suppose.
Final Reaction: Not feeling it really, it's too bad too, because in theory I should have loved this. But, in practice it just fell flat.
Final Grade: 5.0/10
and
Artist: Molly & The Zombies
Album: 2 Tracks
Source: http://www.cbs.com/shows/the_good_wife/springsteen
Pre-listening Notes: This is a new Brian Fallon project. I have no shame in saying I love everything The Gaslight Anthem has done. Like there isn't a single song I don't enjoy and the time I saw them live I thought they were great. I also thoroughly enjoyed the record he did with his guitar tech as The Horrible Crowes. Brian Fallon loves his classic rock and New Jersey punk. I'm not sure where this will fall, but he's never failed me before.
Initial Reaction: Again, I'm going to skip the initial reaction, since it's only 2 songs long anyway and just move to Random Thoughts.
Random Thoughts: Okay, super mellow. The first song is called Sketchy and honestly he could have stuck this in on any of his other albums and it really wouldn't have surprised me. The second song is called Red Lights and it's a little more upbeat and band sounding and again is absolutely could still pass for one of the songs he wrote for either TGA or THC.
Final Reaction: I have no idea if these are for an official release, or not, but I would listen to this again. I like both of the songs. I wouldn't mind them to up the tempo a little. But, I suppose that is what he has his other projects for and maybe this is to satisfy his love of slower, more ballad type songs. Brian Fallon is a pretty great songwriter and I could listen to him all the time.
Final Grade: 8.0/10
Tuesday, January 7, 2014
Day 7: Bruce Sprinsteen - High Hopes
Artist: Bruce Springsteen
Album: High Hopes
Source: http://www.cbs.com/shows/the_good_wife/springsteen
Pre-listening Notes: I don't really have anything to say in here. It's Bruce Sprinsteen, he pretty much speaks for himself.
Initial Reaction: First song is pretty upbeat and a pretty decent rock song.
Random Thoughts: Second song is pretty okay too. So far, I think I'll be able to get behind this. Okay, the third song is 41 shots. This is an older song that I'm already familiar with. It doesn't seem to be much different, if at all. The next song is a cover, Just Like Fire Would by The Saints, and so far it's the best song of the first four. Seems like a pretty solid mix of more upbeat songs with an occasional ballad mixed in. This is Your Sword had almost an Irish feel to it. So far, I am enjoying most of this album. Okay, another one I have heard before, The Ghost of Tom Joad. The album closes out a little slow, but the songs are pretty okay.
Final Reaction: Overall I think this was a pretty good record. I'm not the biggest Springsteen fan, so it kind of almost made me a little surprised that I liked it as much as I did. I get why people love him so much, I just never really had that much for him myself. I think any true fan will probably love this album, though.
Final Grade: 7.0/10
Album: High Hopes
Source: http://www.cbs.com/shows/the_good_wife/springsteen
Pre-listening Notes: I don't really have anything to say in here. It's Bruce Sprinsteen, he pretty much speaks for himself.
Initial Reaction: First song is pretty upbeat and a pretty decent rock song.
Random Thoughts: Second song is pretty okay too. So far, I think I'll be able to get behind this. Okay, the third song is 41 shots. This is an older song that I'm already familiar with. It doesn't seem to be much different, if at all. The next song is a cover, Just Like Fire Would by The Saints, and so far it's the best song of the first four. Seems like a pretty solid mix of more upbeat songs with an occasional ballad mixed in. This is Your Sword had almost an Irish feel to it. So far, I am enjoying most of this album. Okay, another one I have heard before, The Ghost of Tom Joad. The album closes out a little slow, but the songs are pretty okay.
Final Reaction: Overall I think this was a pretty good record. I'm not the biggest Springsteen fan, so it kind of almost made me a little surprised that I liked it as much as I did. I get why people love him so much, I just never really had that much for him myself. I think any true fan will probably love this album, though.
Final Grade: 7.0/10
Monday, January 6, 2014
Day 6: Backtrack - Lost in Life
Artist: Backtrack
Album: Lost in Life
Source: http://www.absolutepunk.net/showthread.php?t=3622661
Pre-listening Notes: Prior to this listen, I was not a fan of Backtrack. We will see if this release does anything to change that. I've seen them a few times and I've never been impressed. They are a New York Hardcore band. I've seen comparisons to other NYHC bands, like Agnostic Front, Cro-Mags, and Madball. Some of my favorite hardcore bands for sure, but I have never heard that in this band. So, here goes.
Initial Reaction: First song does nothing for me. It's got things that I like, but there is just something about it that I can't seem to get into. I don't know if it's the whole polished sound of it or if I'm just tapped out on music of this style that I can take. This is just generic. When I hear something in this style, I want to either imagine, or know, that the singer could rip my face off.
Random Thoughts: Second song, same as the first. Breakdowns are nothing special, lyrics don't grab my attention. I can't put my finger on who this reminds me of, but maybe it's just too a little melodic for me. Similar to a Comeback Kid, who I could also never really get in to. All of the songs kind of blend together for me. I hear the breaks, so I know where one song begins and another ends. I really have nothing to say about this album.
Final Reaction: I mean, this isn't the worst thing ever, but this is not for me. In the grand scheme of things, I'd rather listen to this than that Self Defense Family album again, but that's really if those are my only two options. I also now think I gave that album too high of a rating, because I don't want to give this one lower. But, since I think only like 5 people read this a day, I'm just going to give this lower, and probably edit that one to lower.
Final Grade: 4.0 /10
Album: Lost in Life
Source: http://www.absolutepunk.net/showthread.php?t=3622661
Pre-listening Notes: Prior to this listen, I was not a fan of Backtrack. We will see if this release does anything to change that. I've seen them a few times and I've never been impressed. They are a New York Hardcore band. I've seen comparisons to other NYHC bands, like Agnostic Front, Cro-Mags, and Madball. Some of my favorite hardcore bands for sure, but I have never heard that in this band. So, here goes.
Initial Reaction: First song does nothing for me. It's got things that I like, but there is just something about it that I can't seem to get into. I don't know if it's the whole polished sound of it or if I'm just tapped out on music of this style that I can take. This is just generic. When I hear something in this style, I want to either imagine, or know, that the singer could rip my face off.
Random Thoughts: Second song, same as the first. Breakdowns are nothing special, lyrics don't grab my attention. I can't put my finger on who this reminds me of, but maybe it's just too a little melodic for me. Similar to a Comeback Kid, who I could also never really get in to. All of the songs kind of blend together for me. I hear the breaks, so I know where one song begins and another ends. I really have nothing to say about this album.
Final Reaction: I mean, this isn't the worst thing ever, but this is not for me. In the grand scheme of things, I'd rather listen to this than that Self Defense Family album again, but that's really if those are my only two options. I also now think I gave that album too high of a rating, because I don't want to give this one lower. But, since I think only like 5 people read this a day, I'm just going to give this lower, and probably edit that one to lower.
Final Grade: 4.0 /10
Sunday, January 5, 2014
Day 5: Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks - Wig Out at Jagbags
Artist: Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks
Album: Wig Out at Jagbags
Source: http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&docId=1001922841&tag=smarturl-20
Pre-listening Notes: For the rest of today and tomorrow, you can stream the new Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks album at amazon.com. Stephen Malkmus was the singer and primary songwriter behind Pavement who put out one of my favorite albums of the 1990's, Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain. I still listen to it probably four to six times a year and it is about to celebrate it's 20th anniversary. Since Pavement broke up in the late 1990's, this was where Malkmus went next. This is the sixth album he's put out with the Jicks and I have to admit that outside of a few passing listens to a track or two when each album releases, I have never really given a fair shake to. Considering how each of the previous five albums have been pretty well received, I don't know why I've never gone back and listened. This is exactly the reason I am doing this project, so I don't miss things that I will probably enjoy.
Initial Reaction: Alright, so far so good, this first song has a great upbeat, poppy indie rock vibe to it. If the whole album sounds like this, like they are just having a good time writing a record, I'm in to it.
Random Thoughts: This second song sounds like the sound I love from Stephen Malkmus. It's catchy, good mix of quality instrumentation and good vocals, and it almost sounds like he's smiling as he's singing. I really like the upbeat nature so far in the first third of this album. The first four songs are all great. Okay, J Smoov is the first mellower track, but it's still pretty catchy. This is a pretty quality half way point for the album. Okay, so even though the song pretty Rumble at the Rainbo makes fun of punk rock, it was still a really good song. The middle third is just as strong as the first and the first couple songs of this last third are pretty good. The album closes out with a couple of good tracks.
Final Reaction: Overall, this has made me think maybe I have been missing something by not exploring the whole Jicks catalog. I will be going back and checking them out in the near future. This is a really good indie rock record. I'm not sure how many more of these Malkmus has in him, considering he is rapidly approaching 50. But, for now, he still seems like he can write some catchy songs and it sounds like he enjoyed doing so in these songs.
Final Grade: 8.0/10
Album: Wig Out at Jagbags
Source: http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&docId=1001922841&tag=smarturl-20
Pre-listening Notes: For the rest of today and tomorrow, you can stream the new Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks album at amazon.com. Stephen Malkmus was the singer and primary songwriter behind Pavement who put out one of my favorite albums of the 1990's, Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain. I still listen to it probably four to six times a year and it is about to celebrate it's 20th anniversary. Since Pavement broke up in the late 1990's, this was where Malkmus went next. This is the sixth album he's put out with the Jicks and I have to admit that outside of a few passing listens to a track or two when each album releases, I have never really given a fair shake to. Considering how each of the previous five albums have been pretty well received, I don't know why I've never gone back and listened. This is exactly the reason I am doing this project, so I don't miss things that I will probably enjoy.
Initial Reaction: Alright, so far so good, this first song has a great upbeat, poppy indie rock vibe to it. If the whole album sounds like this, like they are just having a good time writing a record, I'm in to it.
Random Thoughts: This second song sounds like the sound I love from Stephen Malkmus. It's catchy, good mix of quality instrumentation and good vocals, and it almost sounds like he's smiling as he's singing. I really like the upbeat nature so far in the first third of this album. The first four songs are all great. Okay, J Smoov is the first mellower track, but it's still pretty catchy. This is a pretty quality half way point for the album. Okay, so even though the song pretty Rumble at the Rainbo makes fun of punk rock, it was still a really good song. The middle third is just as strong as the first and the first couple songs of this last third are pretty good. The album closes out with a couple of good tracks.
Final Reaction: Overall, this has made me think maybe I have been missing something by not exploring the whole Jicks catalog. I will be going back and checking them out in the near future. This is a really good indie rock record. I'm not sure how many more of these Malkmus has in him, considering he is rapidly approaching 50. But, for now, he still seems like he can write some catchy songs and it sounds like he enjoyed doing so in these songs.
Final Grade: 8.0/10
Saturday, January 4, 2014
Day 4: Various Artists - And I'll Scratch Yours
Artist: Various Artists
Album: And I'll Scratch Yours
Source: http://www.npr.org/2013/12/26/257385135/first-listen-peter-gabriel-scratch-my-back-and-i-ll-scratch-yours
Pre-listening Notes: In 2010, Peter Gabriel put out an album of cover songs. The bands he covered on this album were then invited to cover a Peter Gabriel song as a companion piece. It took a few years, due to some bands backing out and others providing their songs a little late, but it is finally coming out. There are a few artists on here that I have never heard, so this should be interesting. I'm just going to assume everyone has heard Peter Gabriel's solo stuff, at least at some point. I am a little upset nobody does Sledgehammer. Oh well, here goes.
Initial Reaction: David Byrne is up first. I love the Talking Heads, doing I don't Remember off of the third album. The original version of this song has Robert Fripp on it. Pretty alright cover, although not nearly as good as the original. Hopefully at least one of these tracks really wows me.
Random Thoughts: Bon Iver is one of the artists I have never heard before, doing Come Talk to Me off of Us, I am not entirely hating this. It's a pretty mellow song to begin with. I like Regina Spektor's voice. So far, her take on Blood of Eden is my favorite. I am not feeling this Stephin Merritt song. I have no idea who Joseph Arthur is, this is a very slowed down, mellowed version of Shock the Monkey. I'm not entirely sure if I like this or not. Oh great, Randy Newman. Not my thing. Arcade Fire, I'm still not entirely sure I've ever listened to a full Arcade Fire song, and if I was committed to listening to all of these albums in their entirety that streak would have continued. Okay, Elbow, who despite having been around for 16 years, I have never heard of, doing Mercy Street is easily the best track so far. Brian Eno's track does nothing for me. Feist, featuring Timber Timbre (dumb name) does alright on Don't Give Up and is a nice male/female vocal trade off song. And then there is Lou Reed doing Solsbury Hill, one of my favorite Peter Gabriel songs, even though it's the most played. I just feel like his voice isn't right for this song. And it rounds out with Paul Simon doing Biko. With what I am thinking is either the strongest or second best song on this.
Final Reaction: Cover albums are hard, there is usually so much hit or miss, then you add in the tribute album and it's twice as bad. I'd say about a quarter of this works well, another quarter is okay, and the rest I wouldn't give a second listen to. It's hard to do bad when the source material is great, so it's all relatively listenable, once through, but overall it's just alright. The Paul Simon and Elbow songs are the two standout tracks.
Final Grade: 6.0/10
Album: And I'll Scratch Yours
Source: http://www.npr.org/2013/12/26/257385135/first-listen-peter-gabriel-scratch-my-back-and-i-ll-scratch-yours
Pre-listening Notes: In 2010, Peter Gabriel put out an album of cover songs. The bands he covered on this album were then invited to cover a Peter Gabriel song as a companion piece. It took a few years, due to some bands backing out and others providing their songs a little late, but it is finally coming out. There are a few artists on here that I have never heard, so this should be interesting. I'm just going to assume everyone has heard Peter Gabriel's solo stuff, at least at some point. I am a little upset nobody does Sledgehammer. Oh well, here goes.
Initial Reaction: David Byrne is up first. I love the Talking Heads, doing I don't Remember off of the third album. The original version of this song has Robert Fripp on it. Pretty alright cover, although not nearly as good as the original. Hopefully at least one of these tracks really wows me.
Random Thoughts: Bon Iver is one of the artists I have never heard before, doing Come Talk to Me off of Us, I am not entirely hating this. It's a pretty mellow song to begin with. I like Regina Spektor's voice. So far, her take on Blood of Eden is my favorite. I am not feeling this Stephin Merritt song. I have no idea who Joseph Arthur is, this is a very slowed down, mellowed version of Shock the Monkey. I'm not entirely sure if I like this or not. Oh great, Randy Newman. Not my thing. Arcade Fire, I'm still not entirely sure I've ever listened to a full Arcade Fire song, and if I was committed to listening to all of these albums in their entirety that streak would have continued. Okay, Elbow, who despite having been around for 16 years, I have never heard of, doing Mercy Street is easily the best track so far. Brian Eno's track does nothing for me. Feist, featuring Timber Timbre (dumb name) does alright on Don't Give Up and is a nice male/female vocal trade off song. And then there is Lou Reed doing Solsbury Hill, one of my favorite Peter Gabriel songs, even though it's the most played. I just feel like his voice isn't right for this song. And it rounds out with Paul Simon doing Biko. With what I am thinking is either the strongest or second best song on this.
Final Reaction: Cover albums are hard, there is usually so much hit or miss, then you add in the tribute album and it's twice as bad. I'd say about a quarter of this works well, another quarter is okay, and the rest I wouldn't give a second listen to. It's hard to do bad when the source material is great, so it's all relatively listenable, once through, but overall it's just alright. The Paul Simon and Elbow songs are the two standout tracks.
Final Grade: 6.0/10
Day 3: Self Defense Family (End of a Year) - Try Me
This is cheating a little, since this album doesn't come out until next Tuesday, but finding things from the last little bit of December that I may not have heard yet is tough. So, let's get cracking on 2014's releases:
Artist: Self Defense Family (End of a Year)
Album: Try Me
Source: Spotify
Pre-listening Notes: Prior to this, I have heard only their second LP, Sincerely. I don't really remember too much of that album anymore, but if I think I remember liking it's whole mid 80's, DC post-hardcore, Revolution Summer, style they had going on. Since then, they have put out anther album, and a bunch of ep's and singles. They also changed their name somewhere in the middle of all those releases, from End of a Year to Self Defense Family. They are essentially a band that falls somewhere between post-hardcore, punk, post-punk, and indie rock, leaning more towards the first couple sounds mentioned. This seems to be on a ton of people's most anticipated albums of the year lists.
Initial Reaction: Vocals start off a little weak. Not a rager, a little slow, kind of reminds me of mewithoutyou, but with a raspier voice.
Random Thoughts: This is a much weaker sound than I remember the album, Sincerely, being. The production on this doesn't sound all that great either. This whole thing is kind of meh, it just seems to lack the passion that a lot of bands that make this style listenable have. Looking real quick at the track listing, there is a 20 minute song coming, and the last two are 10 and 17 minute songs respectively. This whole album seems to come in around 80 minutes total, so this is going to be a little broken up in the listening. Okay, so I had to leave my house for a few hours yesterday and this is getting finished up the next day. This song has a female singer, and I like her voice better. I think this guy's voice reminds me of Rob Pennington from Endpoint and By the Grace of God. Okay, nothing breaks down someone's focus on your record quite like a 21 minute spoken word track about your youth. Okay, that was pretty awful, back to music. This ends pretty horribly. I have no idea why they thought putting 38 minutes of spoken word was a good idea.
Final Reaction: This may end up on some people's end of the year lists, but it won't be on mine. This is not living up to the hype. I was going to give the music tracks of this album a 5.5, but the spoken word tracks really do this album a disservice so I'm dropping it down.
Final Grade: 3.5/10
Artist: Self Defense Family (End of a Year)
Album: Try Me
Source: Spotify
Pre-listening Notes: Prior to this, I have heard only their second LP, Sincerely. I don't really remember too much of that album anymore, but if I think I remember liking it's whole mid 80's, DC post-hardcore, Revolution Summer, style they had going on. Since then, they have put out anther album, and a bunch of ep's and singles. They also changed their name somewhere in the middle of all those releases, from End of a Year to Self Defense Family. They are essentially a band that falls somewhere between post-hardcore, punk, post-punk, and indie rock, leaning more towards the first couple sounds mentioned. This seems to be on a ton of people's most anticipated albums of the year lists.
Initial Reaction: Vocals start off a little weak. Not a rager, a little slow, kind of reminds me of mewithoutyou, but with a raspier voice.
Random Thoughts: This is a much weaker sound than I remember the album, Sincerely, being. The production on this doesn't sound all that great either. This whole thing is kind of meh, it just seems to lack the passion that a lot of bands that make this style listenable have. Looking real quick at the track listing, there is a 20 minute song coming, and the last two are 10 and 17 minute songs respectively. This whole album seems to come in around 80 minutes total, so this is going to be a little broken up in the listening. Okay, so I had to leave my house for a few hours yesterday and this is getting finished up the next day. This song has a female singer, and I like her voice better. I think this guy's voice reminds me of Rob Pennington from Endpoint and By the Grace of God. Okay, nothing breaks down someone's focus on your record quite like a 21 minute spoken word track about your youth. Okay, that was pretty awful, back to music. This ends pretty horribly. I have no idea why they thought putting 38 minutes of spoken word was a good idea.
Final Reaction: This may end up on some people's end of the year lists, but it won't be on mine. This is not living up to the hype. I was going to give the music tracks of this album a 5.5, but the spoken word tracks really do this album a disservice so I'm dropping it down.
Final Grade: 3.5/10
Thursday, January 2, 2014
Day 2: Del The Funky Homosapien - Iller Than Most
Artist: Del The Funky Homosapien
Album: Iller Than Most
Source: https://soundcloud.com/zartan-drednaught-cobra/sets/iller-than-most-lp
Pre-listening Notes: Here was a weird treat, I logged into Reddit today and one of the subreddits I subscribe to advised me that you can go and download a whole LP from Del. At first I thought someone was just sharing Deltron 3030 - Event II, but it's a whole new album he is releasing for free. You can stream or download each track individually. I remember listening to Del for the first time in like freshman year of high school, the first album was killer, and he's one of those guys that has put out solid music for over 2 decades. I was one of the people who loved the new Deltron LP, that just came out two months ago. If you aren't familiar with Del, he's a rapper that I see called "alternative" hip hop all the time, or underground, which I guess must stem from the fact that he isn't one of the most widely known rappers. But, I wish more people did. This is his 11th solo album, he's also collaborated with The Automator on two fantastic concept records, as Deltron 3030, part of The Hieroglyphics, and he's the rapper on the first Gorillaz record.
Initial Reaction: Solid opening, how many rappers have as solid of a flow as Del? This sounds good and I can get down with almost anything he puts out. He isn't really breaking any new ground here, but that isn't a bad thing.
Random Thoughts: It took until track 4 for me to not really dig on a track. The first three were solid, but that one fell a little flat. Track 5 got better, though. Del is one of the most intelligent emcees out. Wait, did he just diss Wu-Tang? Track 9, 10 Paces, might be the strongest track so far. Alright, so it didn't end very strong, I'm not feeling the hook on this last song.
Final Reaction: This is not one of Del's best albums, but it surely is better than so much of the stuff that passes for hip hop nowadays.
Final Grade: 7.0/10
Album: Iller Than Most
Source: https://soundcloud.com/zartan-drednaught-cobra/sets/iller-than-most-lp
Pre-listening Notes: Here was a weird treat, I logged into Reddit today and one of the subreddits I subscribe to advised me that you can go and download a whole LP from Del. At first I thought someone was just sharing Deltron 3030 - Event II, but it's a whole new album he is releasing for free. You can stream or download each track individually. I remember listening to Del for the first time in like freshman year of high school, the first album was killer, and he's one of those guys that has put out solid music for over 2 decades. I was one of the people who loved the new Deltron LP, that just came out two months ago. If you aren't familiar with Del, he's a rapper that I see called "alternative" hip hop all the time, or underground, which I guess must stem from the fact that he isn't one of the most widely known rappers. But, I wish more people did. This is his 11th solo album, he's also collaborated with The Automator on two fantastic concept records, as Deltron 3030, part of The Hieroglyphics, and he's the rapper on the first Gorillaz record.
Initial Reaction: Solid opening, how many rappers have as solid of a flow as Del? This sounds good and I can get down with almost anything he puts out. He isn't really breaking any new ground here, but that isn't a bad thing.
Random Thoughts: It took until track 4 for me to not really dig on a track. The first three were solid, but that one fell a little flat. Track 5 got better, though. Del is one of the most intelligent emcees out. Wait, did he just diss Wu-Tang? Track 9, 10 Paces, might be the strongest track so far. Alright, so it didn't end very strong, I'm not feeling the hook on this last song.
Final Reaction: This is not one of Del's best albums, but it surely is better than so much of the stuff that passes for hip hop nowadays.
Final Grade: 7.0/10
Wednesday, January 1, 2014
Day 1: Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Higgs Boson Blues Live KCRW
So, I have decided to start something new for 2014. I am going to listen to a new album every day for the entire year and review it. This will help me to accomplish 3 things:
1. I will be doing something with music and expressing my opinion on music, something that I like to do all the time.
2. I will be exposing myself to 365 new albums, some will undoubtedly come from artists that I would never have listened to otherwise.
3. I will make it much easier to keep track of the things I like and to go through the albums that came out in 2014, next December, when I am compiling my list of best albums.
My hope is to only review albums that have come out in 2014. However, since finding 365 proper releases from this year will be a difficult task, I am going to include reissues of previous albums, provided they are albums I have never heard before. And obviously since nothing has come out yet, I am going to have to start the year with a few albums from late in 2013 until the first new release day.
I don't know if anyone is actually going to read this or if I am just going to ultimately be doing this for my third reason.
So, to get things going, here is the first review:
Artist: Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds
Album: Higgs Boson Blues Live KCRW
Source: Spotify
Pre-listening Notes: I am a big fan of Nick Cave's work. Not just his output with The Bad Seeds, but also the two Grinderman records, and even his soundtrack work. This was a recording done at a radio station and was a 10 song set.
Initial Reaction: Man, Nick Cave has such a distinctive voice. Oh, and I thought this was an EP, at first, but it is actually a full LP. This is real stripped down. I really don't think I gave Push the Sky Away enough of a listen when it came out, because I really like the way this first song (Higgs Boson Blues) sounds.
Random Thoughts: Nice mix of songs here from throughout the catalog of albums. Stranger Than Kindness sounds great! Two more songs from the new album (Mermaids and Push The Sky Away) both sound awesome. I am definitely going to revisit the album in the near future.
Final Reaction: I'm not usually a big fan of live albums, but since this was done in a small studio setting, the sound is outstanding. This, along with the mix of songs from throughout the years, and the different sound to them makes this a pretty great release. It also has me rethinking how much I enjoyed the new album. Overall, this is a pretty great live album and it'll get some more listens from me.
Final Grade: 8.5/10
1. I will be doing something with music and expressing my opinion on music, something that I like to do all the time.
2. I will be exposing myself to 365 new albums, some will undoubtedly come from artists that I would never have listened to otherwise.
3. I will make it much easier to keep track of the things I like and to go through the albums that came out in 2014, next December, when I am compiling my list of best albums.
My hope is to only review albums that have come out in 2014. However, since finding 365 proper releases from this year will be a difficult task, I am going to include reissues of previous albums, provided they are albums I have never heard before. And obviously since nothing has come out yet, I am going to have to start the year with a few albums from late in 2013 until the first new release day.
I don't know if anyone is actually going to read this or if I am just going to ultimately be doing this for my third reason.
So, to get things going, here is the first review:
Artist: Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds
Album: Higgs Boson Blues Live KCRW
Source: Spotify
Pre-listening Notes: I am a big fan of Nick Cave's work. Not just his output with The Bad Seeds, but also the two Grinderman records, and even his soundtrack work. This was a recording done at a radio station and was a 10 song set.
Initial Reaction: Man, Nick Cave has such a distinctive voice. Oh, and I thought this was an EP, at first, but it is actually a full LP. This is real stripped down. I really don't think I gave Push the Sky Away enough of a listen when it came out, because I really like the way this first song (Higgs Boson Blues) sounds.
Random Thoughts: Nice mix of songs here from throughout the catalog of albums. Stranger Than Kindness sounds great! Two more songs from the new album (Mermaids and Push The Sky Away) both sound awesome. I am definitely going to revisit the album in the near future.
Final Reaction: I'm not usually a big fan of live albums, but since this was done in a small studio setting, the sound is outstanding. This, along with the mix of songs from throughout the years, and the different sound to them makes this a pretty great release. It also has me rethinking how much I enjoyed the new album. Overall, this is a pretty great live album and it'll get some more listens from me.
Final Grade: 8.5/10
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