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Art Brut – It’s a Bit Complicated
This is the second album from the band. It came out in 2007. This was one of the many albums that I purchased that year. I had just found the local public radio station that plays the new indie music and I loved it. They opened my eyes to the music that was just under the radar. I started searching for new music rabidly. I think I spent 600 bucks in one shot in that spring. It was a great time for me. There was so much new music that I wanted and had just learned about. I liked this group because the music is super punk and the singer is not your regular singer. He talks more than sings. It was a different approach to vocals. Not many can get away with that style of vocals. The single from the album is called Direct Hit. The song was played on the radio, 89.3 The Current. I bought the album based on that one song. I ended up liking the album so much that I got the previous album as well. There isn’t much to say about the album except that the music is up beat and doesn’t have that negative feel. It is positive with nostalgic look backs in the lyrics. It is a good listen.
Beck - Sea Change
This is the eighth album from beck. It was released in the fall of 2002. Nigel Godrich, the famed Radiohead producer, also produced this record. This record has a more serious tone than his past records. It lacks the trademark samples and ironic lyrics. Instead he chose to use live instruments and sincere/simpler lyrics. The main reason for this is that Beck had just ended his nine year relationship with his girlfriend. There are four different covers digitally created for this album all created by Jeremy Blake. I like beck and the music that he creates. I bought this album when it cam out. I went through all four covers and decided which one that I liked best. I couldn’t bring myself to get all four. Four of the same album, that would be ridiculous. When I listened to the album for the first time I had no interest. It was not what I expected at all. I wanted the classic sample based albums that he had put together in the past. I wanted the super pop based sound that he was famous for. It was not until some years later that I gained some appreciation for the album. It is a sad album and deserves time in everyone’s play at some time. There are three singles that came off this album. The first single is called Lost Cause. This is my favorite song from the album. It features beck playing an acoustic guitar with slack jawed vocals. There are actually two different acoustic guitars being played at the same time. There are added sounds in the background that sound like a xylophone, some synth and reversed sounds. All of these sounds add drama to the song. There is something special about the chorus of the song. This is what really gets me into the song. I think it is that Beck has a doubled vocal in the chorus. The second single is Guess I’m Doing Fine. The song is about just what the title states. After the breakup he is doing fine. There was a video shot for the song but it was not anything special. The video shows beck playing the guitar and walking around the city. The third single is It’s All In Your Mind. This is the only song on the album that was not written after his breakup. It was originally written during the time of the album One Foot In The Grave. It is still a good song and fits in with the album. It is also good enough to be a single, so keep that in mind too. The album is emotionally draining but also warm and comforting. If you are already depressed it will not sink you any further. If you are not depressed it will take you down. It is a great album to fall asleep to though. There are a lot of people who would put this album in their top whatever lists. It is a great album but it will drag you down if you are not ready for it.
Oingo Boingo – Nothing To Fear
This is the second album from the group. It was released in 1982. The first song that I remember hearing from the album was the song Insects. It was a midi version of the song. I had to set the sounds my self. I guessed at what needed to be set. I was very wrong. I found a copy of the song to listen to after I had found the midi version. The sounded very different compared to what I thought. I like it much better with the original recording sounds. I really liked the buzzing insect sounds that the band came up with. This was the second Oingo Boingo album that I purchased. I found the album used on vinyl at a local record store. I thought that the graphic was really funny. I played this album a lot on my old turntable. There is a skip in one of the tracks though. When I got my new turntable it seemed to disappear. I fell in love with the album again after that. I always hated having to get up at the same point in the album to push through the skip and missing a couple seconds of the song. There was only a couple singles from this album. I remember hearing the big single on the radio. That song is called Private Life. The song did not get much radio play but just enough that I remember hearing it. The lyrics did not get through my head at that young age. Now that I hear it being at an age where I can understand what is being said the song has new meaning. He is singing about things that he has hidden in his life and that he doesn’t want to have them in his life any more. I can understand that but at the same time I would not give up or change anything that I have done in my life. The other single is Wild Sex (In The Working Class). It was not as much a single as it was a song that was used in the John Hughes film Sixteen Candles. It was during a scene in the dance sequence. I did not realize it when I saw the movie the first time, I did not see it when I was a kid, I was too young. I did buy the movie in the mid 00s. It was then that I realized that the song was theirs. I came to love the movies that John Hughes made though. At one point I thought that they were singing, “Want sex in the working class.” This was when I did not know the song or the band. When I found out what the title of the song was it made more sense but was still just as bad. There is one other song that I think should have been a single from this album though. That song is Running On A Treadmill. The song is about chasing after someone who is walking away. This person is making zero headway to catch up because they are running on a treadmill, i.e. running in the same place. I can totally picture this in my head, needing someone that has moved on. It sucks but I have been in that situation before. The album is a great picture of what the early 80s are in the fresh ska/New wave genre. I always thought to myself that if this is what ska is then why isn’t it more popular. Then, in the 90s, ska turned into something to pure and I couldn’t stand it. I still love Oingo Boingo but don’t like the 90s ska sound at all.
Family Force 5 – Business Up Front/Party In The Back
This is a funky hardcore Christian rock band. This was their first album released in 2007. They claim that their genre is Christian crunk Rock. The music is really a mix of genres including but not limited to punk, rap, R&B, funk, electronica and metal. I purchased the diamond edition of this album giving me a few extra tracks and an alternate cover. The big single form the album is Love Addict. It was an instant hit on the Christian radio stations. I liked it a lot. What made me buy the album was one of the songs that is included on the Diamond Edition. That song is called I Love You To Death. It has that heavy agro metal sound but it is totally a Christian sound. It makes me want to sing along with the song. It also makes me want to write music. I guess you could say that it is inspiration for me to write music. It has a great drum beat and some basic music but it makes me want to write something just as good or better. It would be easy enough. I guess that is what gets me. It is so simple and so complex at the same time. I actually found out about this album through a friend that I was really close to at one point in the mid 2000s. I listened to both of these songs and after hearing the later of the two songs the album was instantly on my list of albums to buy. The rest of the album has its points. It is a high energy “crunk rock” album after all. You can get the three tracks that are included in the diamond edition as a separate EP for just under three bucks. You can also get the regular album for just under 10 bucks. You can also just buy the two tracks that I mentioned buy them selves. I would at least recommend the two tracks if not getting the whole album. It is that good. I don’t think that it is for everyone but I do think that everyone should hear the album at least once.
Linkin Park – Meteora
This is the second album from Linkin Park. It was released in 2003. I find it really sad that this band has only put out four albums in a decade. The music that they put out is really fantastic but I want more. This album is a great piece of work but Radiohead makes great pieces of work along with putting out tons of b-sides. I am complaining a little but it may just be my lack of knowledge on the Linkin Park b-sides. There are five singles that came from this album. All five went to number one in the charts. The first is called Somewhere I Belong. I remember the video being so bizarre. There was fire, anime figures and water. It all fit together but was just flashes of this or that. The music is great. The guitars are just on the edge of that really cool distortion, sharp and edgy but nice at the same time. The next single, Faint, starts out with synth violin sounds. They are used through out the song with stabs of distorted guitar. The chorus is all distorted guitar. It was a fresh look at the use of strings in hard rock music. I was just starting to get the feeling that my relationship with my wife was going down hill. This song was the antithesis of how I felt about her. The lines that really spoke to me went like this:
I can't feel the way I did before
Don't turn your back on me
I won't be ignored
Time won't heal this damage anymore
Don't turn your back on me
I won't be ignored
The third single is Numb. My x-wife had mentioned that this was her song about how she felt about our relationship. I guess that I could see it. She was numb to the relationship. She wanted out so badly that she did not want anything to do with me any more. As much as I pushed for us to work it out she just didn’t want anything to do with me anymore. It really hurt me that she could just turn off the love like that. The next song was From The Inside. This song apparently did not chart very high. It is the slow song from the album. The fans wanted the hard edge heavy rock songs. This song was just a little bit slower than what the fans wanted. The next single is Lying From You. This is the song that brought me to the realization that the relationship between my x-wife and I was going to end. The chorus really hit the nail on the head. It reads like this:
Lying my way from you
I wanna be pushed aside so let me go
Let me take back my life, I'd rather be all alone
Anywhere on my own cause I can see
The very worst part of you is me
The last single from the album is called Breaking The Habit. The video for this one was animated in a similar style to the animation secne in Kill Bill the movie and Directed by Joe Hahn. The style of the animation is a form of anime. There are lots of floating pensile lines and huge city scapes. It is a really cool video. This album is an important one and holds a lot of memories that I don’t want to go back to. I am glad that I have the album but because of the memories I choose not to listen to it very often.
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