I can’t believe that I have not talked about this album yet. This is a two piece band that has just made magic wit this album. They enlisted the help of Danger Mouse for the production on this album. Just about anything that DM touches it seems turns to gold. The 2 members of the band play just drums and guitar. There are other instruments included on this album along with layered guitars. I think that his comes from the production work of DM. What ever, this album is so fantastic I don’t know why everyone does not have a copy.
I bought this album when it came out in 2008 on vinyl and it came with a CD. I have listened to this album so often that I had to take off the shrink wrap. The record was in and out of the shelf so often that I had to take the shrink wrap off. I brought this album over to my father-in-laws house a few times. He loved it as much as I did.
I have been previewing a few albums that I have been meaning to get recently. The following is a few that I have been really happy with and will be purchasing soon I think.
The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart – S/T
They are of the noise pop/shoe gazer genre. For the most part My Bloody Valentine is just loud and noise. This group seems to pull this off with out the loud part. The music is not all noise and mostly pop. It almost makes me happier to listen to this album than to the MBV stuff. There are more hooks in the TPOBPAH. I think that this makes it easier to listen to as well. I also found this album on vinyl for cheaper than the CD. How exciting is that! I am very excited to get my hands on that album.
Broken Bells – S/T
This is a project featuring Danger Mouse and James Mercer of The Shins. I was not sure that I was going to be interested in this pairing after listening to the NPR first listen a while back. I liked the first single that was put out from this album a lot. It was always nagging me in the back of my head that the single could be that good and the rest of the album not so much. So I searched out a preview copy. I have fallen in love with the sounds that are on this album. I guess that I knew that I was wrong the whole time. I just can’t say no to what DM is putting out right now. It is really good stuff.
The Arcade Fire – The Suburbs
This is their 3rd album. I really love the second album, Neon Bible, because that is where I first heard about them. This new effort is something special though. There are a couple instant hits but not as driving as those on Neon Bible though. This album is not as dark as the previous two have been. I think that the group is finally getting over their hard times and seeing a brighter light. I hope that they continue to write in a lighter vein because it is easier to listen to I think.
This is a concept album again. The previous two were as well. It seems to be about living life in the suburbs as the album title says. It is kind of a life cycle really. Moving from a youth to an adult and having kids to start the cycle over again. There are a couple of brighter spots that don’t seem to fit in the song order but these tracks actually help the album to move along and give the listener a jolt out of the lull that the band had created. I am still trying to get use to the album because of this. It keeps me coming back for more because of this too.
David Bowie – Low
This is the first of a trilogy of albums that Bowie collaborated on with Brian Eno. The other 2 were Heroes and Lodger. I don’t yet have the other 2 but there are quite a few albums that I don’t yet have from Bowie yet. I really like his work and am always looking for more from him.
This album is very experimental and, apparently, influential for many groups creating music at the moment. It is not my favorite album from him but I can defiantly see where a lot of current acts would site this as influential to them. It is not an album that I can really get into frequently but it is still an important album in the history of music today. Bowie was a recovering drug addict at the time so the songs deal with negative emotions that a person goes through during these times. The music relates to this as well with its haunting sounds.
That is all I got for now. Sorry for the delay.
Signing off
