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Wednesday, June 06, 2007

a list to bore you - and entice you... to be more bored

So, in recent months, the search has been ON to find new and exciting music for me. Mostly, this hasn't been a very bountiful crop. However, some gems have surfaced. Here's like 5 CD's I've picked up recently (some of them aren't so recent discs, but recent to me) that should be considered.

1) Owen - At Home With. Acoustic/Indie/Singer-Songwriter

While I don't think this is the most spectacular record, I do applaud Mike Kinsella's (he's owen) ability to construct songs and play all his instruments. That's not easy to do. Songs like Bad News and A Bird In Hand stand out over the others.

2) Maritime - We, the Vehicles (and their other album, Glass Floor). Indie Rock/Alternative

We, The Vehicles presents a nearly perfect album and sound for these guys. Rarely do I immediately like 75% or more of an album. It typically starts with like 3 or 4 songs, and then when I get sick of those, I move on to the rest of the album. This album is chock full of awesome songs that people I would never think to like this band love. Tearing Up The Oxygen (a song I can't stop listening to), Calm and Don't Say You Don't are the real gems of this record.

Glass Floor was their first venture, and it rang of their last band WAY too much. Not a refined sound and seemingly rushed. It was also way too mellow. While songs like Someone Has To Die and The Window Is The Door (one of the most beautiful songs I've heard in years) are true gems, the album is nowhere close to We, The Vehicles.

3) Minus The Bear - Planet Of Ice. Alternative/Rock/Digital Rock

Don't ask me how I've heard this record, which doesn't come out until 8/21. lol.

BUT - Minus The Bear for me wasn't a great band. I saw them numerous times on the Braid Reunion tour, and didn't like their stuff much. The drummer always had a similar beat, it seemed like they were trying to hard to use odd timing, and the singer was never really great to me. I heard the 2 EP's and 1 album they had at that point, and was quite underimpressed (and still am).

Then their album Menos El Oso came out. This record is awesome. They refined their sound, they got rid of the monotonous drum beat, they gave every player thier own chance to shine in the spotlight, and they made some pretty rockin songs.

Bringing us to Planet of Ice... Ummm... Not as great. The focus is on avant-garde here. Like "well, people like us when we get into odd timing and weird switches, so let's do that, but add more digital effect and whatnot." The digital delay is overused (though sometimes quite successfully). The mood is way dark. The songs are not that accessible. Everything just seems very over the top - like it's trying too hard to move someplace. However, songs like Knights, Dr. L'ling and Burying Luck are still pretty cool songs.

4) Oh My God - Fools Want Noise. Rock/Alternative

This band is an all-time favorite of mine now. Their best work by far is The Action! Album. Since then, they've moved from more art rock to heavy pop. Each album becoming louder, simpler and adding more bass and (now, with Fools Want Noise) guitars.

When this band rocks out, they do it right - Houston, Better Than That, Ancient Sanskrit Proverb, Two-Hand Touch and Facewash are like... just rocking ROCKIN songs. But 3 of those songs have been available to me since last summer on a sampler disc, and the other 2 (Sanskrit and Two-Hand) aren't as powerful as the others. It's hard for me to like this album as much given that fact - and they did a no-no by recording an old favorite (Everything is Good) in a new way for the new album.

I recommend the album, but buyer beware that it's a new sound - heavier and darker than before.

5) Pinback - Summer In Abaddon. Alternative/Indie Rock

This band was not very good up until this album, I'll be straight-up about that. However, this album represents a turning point, and a refinement that will now act as the bands signature sound. Beautifully layered guitars, but recorded in almost a low-fi manner and so simple sounding. They make it seem so simple to write songs and play them. Highlights include Non-photo Blue, Sender and AFK.

While most of my readers have heard of these bands, they can be found on myspace:

myspace.com/mybandowen
myspace.com/maritimesongs
myspace.com/minusthebear
myspace.com/ohmygod
myspace.com/pinback

Good times.

posted by grey as mike @ 10:28 AM

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