So here is some stuff I've been listening to - good, bad, and in between - lately and what I think of it. To make it easier, I'm gonna grade the stuff using the standard letter system, so you know what is truly worth it.
Here's my idea of a well-graded artist/album: I want to listen to it often, I want to listen to more of their stuff, the songs get stuck in my head, and it has lasting potential (will I listen to it in a month? A year?).
Not-so-well-graded music is the opposite of all that; basically, I can't really connect with it, I feel like I'm forcing myself to listen to it, I don't want to listen to it anymore, and a month from now it will live in iTunes obscurity.
So here goes - some stuff to chew on as the quarter comes to a close:
Band of Horses, Cease to Begin: Picked this up on a whim after reading positive stuff about it. I had some of their older stuff and liked it, but didn't intentionally listen to it much (except for their song 'The Funeral' - download now). I immediately liked this new record. It's very simple rock; they don't pull a lot of bells and whistles, they just lay it out there for you much like mainstream stuff typically does. This is far from mainstream though; it's intelligent without being cocky. Driving guitars, at times kind of heavy, with melodic vocals that sing beautiful lines like, "No one's gonna love you more than I do," and "When you smile the sun it peaks through the clouds." Very easy to listen to, nice background/mood setting. GRADE: B+
Jimmy Eat World, Chase This Light: Let me start by saying I was a big fan of their 2001 album 'Bleed American,' and I still have that in rotation. 'Futures,' which they released in 2004, was ok - I bought it out of respect for the band more or less. Now I've purchased 'Chase this Light,' which they released a few weeks ago; really, I bought it to familiarize myself with the music before I reviewed their concert for the Insider. And it's pretty bad. Honestly nothing stuck out to me; it all sounds the same, just basic pop-punk with few catchy melodies. Not even a good ballad in the mix. It's a shame - they used to be great. GRADE: D-
Sigur Ros, Hvarf/Heim: I've been a huge fan of Sigur Ros, an Icelandic atmospheric/prog band, since they released 'Takk' in 2005. Their music defines certain parts of my life - it's so moody and emotional, great for stressful quarters. And it's also incredibly beautiful, as the band uses violin bows on electric guitars, then adds actual violins and cellos to create soaring musical soundscapes. Last week they released a double EP of acoustic tracks and B-sides, which leads into their DVD release next week of concert footage from various areas in Iceland (it looks gorgeous.) The double EP is ok, but I guess I was expecting more - the acoustic tracks sound a lot like their normal, album counterparts, and the B-sides are B-sides for a reason. But it's still nice, chill stuff to relax to. GRADE: B-
Burial, Untrue: This is another album I picked up on a whim, mostly because I had tracks to spare on eMusic and this LP got a lot of love from Pitchfork. It's a genre called electronic/dub, which I'm still trying to figure out the definition of. Basically, it's electronic, but not in the annoying, nerdy sense of the word. I like it, but it's not groundbreaking to me; it reminds me a lot of Massive Attack. If you want some upbeat, mindless background music, this is a good pick-up; otherwise, I doubt it will stick in my rotation for long. GRADE: C+
I'll be adding some more stuff later, gotta go now. In the meantime, enjoy!
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