June 7, 2010: Say Hi

Artist: Say Hi
Album: Oohs And Aahs
Year: 2010

Despite Eric Elbogen's great band name (originally "Say Hi To Your Mom"), I wasn't all too impressed with this album. Opener "Elouise" takes a little too much time to get of the ground, though it's good in full stride. Unfortunately, the album doesn't pick up and remains somewhat bland until the stellar single "One, Two ... One" which might be more interesting than the rest of the album combined. The album's second half is actually much stronger than the first: "Audrey" is a highlight, as well as "The Stars Blink Just For Us". Can't really recommend this in good faith, but do check out the great single.

Hear it for yourself: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ry6dBOsiwAQ

June 6, 2010: The Apathy Eulogy

Artist: The Apathy Eulogy
Album: Resolved To Dream
Year: 2009

Resolved To Dream is a gauntlet thrown down. On their sophomore LP, indie-pop act The Apathy Eulogy drifts away from the sap that has clogged their genre and adventures outside of it. Opener "Hold The Ones You Love Close" is rhythmic, with little electronic blips, but it's the vocals that make this album so convincing. Even more so, this album is as fun as it is genuine, and nothing seems to share the staleness you'd expect form an acoustic/indie/pop act. The album is remarkably creative and melodic, highlights being the jagged "I'd Rather Kiss A Tarantula", the sing-along "Summer's Eyes", "Dove Serpent", "Play Nice" and wonderful closer "Looking In The Wrong Place". An incredibly solid and honest album. Highly recommended.

Hear it for yourself: http://www.myspace.com/theapathyeulogy
["Summer's Eyes"]

June 5, 2010: Joanna Newsom

Artist: Joanna Newsom
Album: Have One On Me
Year: 2010

Yeah, time to write about the harp chick. While I know I have a tendency to spew hyperbole, it is only with completely genuineness that I would call "Have One On Me" my favorite album(s) of all time, which is equally ridiculous due to the fact that I've only owned it for around four months. Regardless, I've played the hell out of it's 2+ hour length, each time stunned by some new lyrical stinger or connection I hadn't noticed the first time; the album has the depth of an ocean, a depth shared by Newsom's talent as a vocalist and harpist. Whereas her voice was sometimes unlistenable (in my opinion) on some of her previous work, she has changed her vocal stylings since her The Milk Eyed Mender era and this is her most accessible piece, which is a wonder to say considering it's a triple album with an average song length of seven minutes or so. I've been working on how to do this review and do justice to this unbelievably incomparable masterpiece, but I don't think it's possible without writing a book. Opener "Easy" is a masterpiece about a one-sided relationship, "Have One Of Me" is a sprawling epic about Lola Montez, "'81" is a clever and exceptionally pretty escapist ballad, "Good Intentions Paving Co." is a piano romp... Highlights just continue. "No Provenance", "Baby Birch", "Jackrabbits", "Go Long", "In Calfornia", "Does Not Suffice", "Soft As Chalk", "Esme" and the incredible "Kingfisher". There is not a moment of filler in these two-and-some hours, it is both achingly beautiful and mesmerizingly poignant. Highly, highly reccomended.

Hear it for yourself: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_47_CHdzHI

June 4, 2010: BLK JKS

Artist: BLK JKS
Album: After Robots
Year: 2009

My first reaction to opening track "Molalatladi" was as follows: "Holy crap, this is awesome!". South Africa's version of The Mars Volta, BLK JKS create epic soundscapes of progressive, experimental rock. The blaring horns on the opening track call to mind the middle-to-later periods of the Volta themselves (one of my favorite bands for sure), but the band itself has more in like with a lost-in-the-jungle King Crimson than anyone else, with epic guitar solos and crescendos jumping into shifting polyrhythms and dark, unsettling vocals. "Banna Ba Modimo" is a armageddon in a song, "Standby" is a straight-up Moody Blues ballad, while "Skeletons" dives into a brilliant pool of dub and never resurfaces. The instrumental breaks on this album are absolutely wonderful and the songwriting is as refreshing as it is unpredictable. The album is at times completely incoherent and at others startlingly lucid. The album is full of highlights, including all aforementioned, the jumpy "Lakeside", the translucent and morphing "Taxidermy"... There's really nothing I don't like about this band. It's unfocused and raw, but shows a great band with incredible talent showing us what they can do. An absolutely wonderful debut and starting point. Progressive rockers, unite!

Hear it for yourself: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNM9_N3VhlE

Wonderful pick, Brian.

June 3, 2010: Carole King

Artist: Carole King
Album: Tapestry
Year: 1971

One of the major players in the pop rock movement of the sixties and seventies, Carole King was a songwriter ready to start playing her own material rather than letting others. She is not a particularly strong vocalist, but this a collection of songs that could be considered standards nowadays. You've probably heard the majority of songs on this album, and King proves to be a masterful songwriter. Not a bad choice if you're into those songs your parents played on the radio when you were a kid, blues piano or well-written pop rock by one of the masters herself. Highlights are "I Feel The Earth Move", "So Far Away", "It's Too Late" and my personal favorite "Tapestry".

Hear it for yourself: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JYkQo1Qxt0

June 2, 2010: Fun.

Artist: Fun.
Album: Aim And Ignite
Year: 2009

Stylized as fun., Nate Ruess' new band leads right were the Format left off. Opener "Be Calm" would have fit fine on Dog Problems, but in general the entirety of the album remains just as theatrical whereas The Format had more rock tendencies. The result is a strong album that doesn't quite live up to Dog Problems but also isn't at all a disappointment. "Benson Hedges" and "All The Pretty Girls" are both jubilant romps, "At Least I'm Not As Sad (As I Used To Be)" is a fun patchwork of pop genius, and the album ends strong with the touching "The Gambler" and the rollicking finale of "Take Your Time (Coming Home)". The closer is as hopefully a ditty as Ruess has ever written with some great lines, one of my favorite being "Love is a beautiful thing when you somebody / and I love somebody", perhaps Ruess making a tribute to the biting lines he's written over the years. If you like clever pop, give this a chance.

Hear it for yourself: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dY4oE8Rap0

For the record, if you have Interventions and Lullabies but never got around to Dog Problems, this album will not make any sense to you in terms of progression. Dog Problems is an absolute masterpiece, go get it immediately.

June 1, 2010: Ludo

Artist: Ludo
Album: You're Awful, I Love You
Year: 2008

At their worst, Ludo are an above average pop-punk band. At their best, Ludo are awkwardly hilarious, incredibly clever pioneers that are guaranteed to to brighten your day with a front man guaranteed to give you nightmares. The highlights of the album are incendiary, compelling and obvious: lead single "Love Me Dead", "Drunken Lament", "Lake Pontchartrain", "Go-Getter Greg". There are more good tracks littering the album, including "Topeka" and "The Horror Of Our Love"; however, the band is inconsistent, and some tracks in the album meander off into forgettable territory. The highlights easily make up for this, and for that I highly recommend giving it a spin.

Hear it for yourself: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XH3oMNKApI