Review: WZRD

It doesn't surprise me that Kid Cudi would choose for his next project to be an "alternative rock" album.  His last album, Man on the Moon II:  Kid Cudi and the Chamber of Secrets* was definitely leaning pretty hard on rock, and let's not forget that MGMT and Ratatat both showed up for the first MatM album.  In fact, in listening to WZRD (and, yes, that is pronounced Double-You Zee Are Dee), I'm curious as to why Cudi even felt the need to separate this from his solo material, except for perhaps the prominent contributions of producer Dot Da Genius.

Trouble in the Fortress

Deciding that it would be a good idea to finally organize all the music I have on my PC into one folder (a system that should've been in place from the very beginning, yet was not), I began the process of moving files around.  Unfortunately, due to a few mistakes/errors/magical-curses, I ended up losing a very very large percentage of my music.  With data recovery software only giving me bits and pieces, its safe to say at this point that a lot of the music is gone.  It's not so bad, as I have a lot of it backed up, but most of what I've lost permanently are albums from this year. 

So, what I'm saying is, forgive any delays that may come in updating the blog.  Either I'll straighten things out sooner than I think and I'll be back to offering new content here, or I'll there will be a week or so where there's not much going on here while I try to rebuild my library.

On the positive side, this was an awfully good means of getting rid of a ton of music that I don't listen to anymore.  For example, I like Asobi Seksu, but I certainly was never going to listen to three hours of live recordings from them.  Sheesh.

A Positive Spin

As I may have hinted at in earlier ramblings in this blog, the resources available to the teenaged version of myself for finding new music were a little limited. FM Radio and MTV could only go so far before I tired of the latest Everclear single or hearing "Champagne Supernova" yet again. In this pre-Internet world, there was at least one consistent resource on my side; one that I could probably credit for helping to make me the music-loving human being I am today: SPIN Magazine.

Listen to This: Robin Pecknold - "Olivia, in a Seperate Bed"

In the aftermath of Helplessness Blues, a great album that far exceeded my high expectations, here's a new self-released track from frontman Robin Pecknold. It's a beautiful song and I'd love to see if there is any further development from this song with the rest of this band.

Listen to This: Bruce Springsteen

It's been 10 years since The Rising, my most favorite of Bruce Springsteen's discography in about the same amount of time (seeing as how Bruce's 00s have been much more action packed than his 90s). I remain slightly apprehensive towards new Bruce albums, seeing as how both Magic and Working on a Dream fell below par for me. Still, after the goodwill brought by the exceptional release of The Promise (despite it being older material), I'm more than willing to give Bruce's new album Wrecking Ball a chance.

First single, "We Take Care of Our Own" sounds exactly like what you'd expect a Bruce Springsteen song to sound like: big, inspiring and...big. It's unfortunate, then, that this song doesn't offer much that we haven't heard before. Still, in his defense, at this stage in the game, Bruce certainly doesn't need to reinvent the wheel. Even a familiar sounding Bruce single goes a long way.

Wrecking Ball will be released March 6, 2012.

Listen to This: Islands - "Hallways"

For his forth album under the Islands moniker, Nicholas Thorburn seems to progress further down the path started in the last album, Vapours.  While I'm still digesting his latest, A Sleep & A Forgetting, "Hallways" is a definite highlight of the album.  Where most of the album is Thorburn channeling lost love and charming self-conscious MOR rock, "Hallways" has a bit of pep in its step thanks to the hammering piano. 

A Sleep & A Forgetting is out in stores now.

Review: Sleigh Bells' Reign of Terror

Sleigh Bells was one of those bands that instantly clicked with me the first time I heard them.  The concept of making music so catchy and, at times, fun out of components that were so loud and abrasive was something that shouldn't have worked as well as it did.  Yet, Treats succeeded and it succeeded wildly.  Even in hindsight, I find very few flaws with the album.

And so comes the popular sophomore album question:  What now?

Listen to This: Summer Twins - "I Will Love You"

On Valentine's Day, especially, some syrupy-sweet lovey dove pop doesn't seem as guilty of a pleasure as it may seem on most other days. For your listening Valentine's Day pleasure (or, perhaps, your terrible Valentine's Day Mix CD), I present to you this gem by the Summer Twins. It's bright, cheerful and saturated in so much sweetness that you're going to need to brush your teeth afterwards.

Honestly, you probably needed to brush your teeth anyways. You're welcome.


Summer Twins - "I Will Love You"

Some Notes on the Reviews on This Blog

To comment on the nature of reviews on this blog in general:  I realize that the reviews I've posted here thus far have all been positive.  This is mostly a result of the fact that I only want to review an album that I've invested enough time into to critique fairly...yet I'm only going to invest time into an album that I either enjoy or want to enjoy.  Thus, reviews here will - most often - be albums that I'm just enjoying a lot more than others at the moment.

There are exceptions, of course.  For example, last year I spent an awful lot of time with the Cold War Kids' album Mine is Yours, but ultimately just didn't like it at all.

So there you have it: an explanation in case the question ever comes up.

Review: Django Django's "Django Django"

That's a lot of "Django"s in a row in that title....

Chimes of Change Commentary, Part 3

And so we know the drill by now.  I listen to folks cover Bob Dylan and I talk about it.  Sometimes I like it and sometimes I don't.  In almost every case, though, I'm saying:  "Somebody get me a Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits CD."

Chimes of Change Commentary Part 2

If there is one thing I can take away from the first disc (besides the fact that Mariachi El Bronx is far better than the concept is on paper), it's that I desperately need to get my hands on Bob Dylan's proper back catalog.  The best part of all the songs are the songs themselves, regardless of who is covering them and how.

2012 Mix Series, Volume 1

As I explore new bands, albums, singles, underpants, etc, I like to keep some running playlists in order to help remind myself of the songs and bands that I really enjoyed and want to listen to more.  Now, with this handy-dandy blogamajic, there's the added bonus of having a place to talk about the music that I liked more than other music (whether or not you are paying attention is completely unimportant.)

With that said, this is the first in what will be a series of posts throughout the years of the songs that I'm really enjoying at the moment.  This isn't an all-inclusive list, its simply a smattering of the songs that I either have something I'd like to talk about or I just want other people to listen to them.  Or, even, both.  Note the absence of Miss Del Rey, who I figured you might want a reprieve from hearing about.

Review: Lana Del Rey's Born to Die

I spent a good amount of time defending Lana already, so there's really no need to re-hash that.  There's an actual album of music in our hands now and it's time, as hard as that may seem to be, to review the music for what is - as opposed to what the music should or should not be, as based on your preconceptions of Lana Del Rey. 

Review: Of Montreal's Paralytic Stalks

Of Montreal has a lot of baggage associated with it.  I mean that in two ways.  First, and most obviously, Kevin Barnes has infused of Montreal with an intense amount of emotion and personal reflection over the last few albums; this album being no exception.  Secondly, however, the band of Montreal, itself, has gone through such an evolution over the years that it is almost impossible to write about the band without calling attention to the fact that today's of Montreal is almost a completely different band than the of Montreal of yore.

Beck Week, Day 5

Wrapping it up with Beck week, I thought I'd talk about an album that I didn't truly appreciate until more recently:  One Foot in the Grave.

Beck Week, Day 4

I was going to write some Beck-related entry yesterday, but just didn't find the time for it.  We could pretend that this blog was protesting SOPA, but I'm not sure that'd fly.  Which is fine, because I'll just say that I was building up energy for today's topic:  My favorite Beck album.

Let's talk about Odelay.

Beck Week, Day 2

Let's talk about Mutations.

Beck Week, Day 1

For, really, no other reason than the fact that I like him (alot), I've deemed this:  Beck Week.  And, just because I can, I'm going to talk about a Beck album everyday this week.  The albums I've picked are not picked because they are my favorites nor are they to be presented in any particular order.  I've just picked 5 Beck albums that I feel like talking about. 

And so, on day 1, let's talk about Midnite Vultures.

Stuff I Forgot to Listen to in 2011

The following is a list of albums from 2011 (some may be from earlier) that I still haven't listened to yet and intend to.  This list mostly exists so that 6 months from now I can read this again and kick myself for still not getting around to listening to them.