British indie singer Birdy released her third album last week. Beautiful Lies features her January single “Keeping Your Head Up,” and follows The Fire Within and her self-titled debut album Birdy.
Quilt, the band, not the blanket, released their third studio album Plaza last month. Along with their new album, this quirky trio released a commentary album, which you can find on Spotify. Bandmembers Anna Fox Rochinski, Shane Butler and John Andrews talk about the meaning/influences of each song on Plaza, giving a rare insight into their creative processes. So far, “Roller” is my favorite track of the album. The music video (see above), like Quilt’s music, is both fascinating and puzzling.
Driving back to Nashville from Lafayette, Indiana this weekend, I decided to revisit the Decemberists’ entire discography on the way down, to listen to each record and then to rank them in a hierarchy. The result was a list ordered as such:
- Picaresque (2005)
- Castaways and Cutouts (2002)
- The Hazards of Love (2009)
- The King is Dead (2011)
- The Crane Wife (2006)
- Her Majesty the Decemberists (2003)
- What a Terrible World, What a Beautiful World (2015)
You may notice that their most recent release, What a Terrible World, is at the bottom. What you can’t see is how strikingly large the gap between albums six and seven actually is. Make no mistake — WATW is still a decent album by any standard. But it does stand as the Decemberists’ biggest disappointment, especially given the bands remarkable consistency and excellence. I want to reexamine What a Terrible World a year after its release, unpack its problems, and see if they can be fixed.
(Written by Corey McCloud and Linzy Scott)
Nobody will ever imitate Kanye West. Not even Kanye himself. With the release of his most recent effort, Life of Pablo, the eclectic rapper-producer megastar proved once again that he isn’t afraid to change his style and push rap forward with every release. So against the cries of his fans demanding old Kanye, against people saying he was getting too artsy, or too egoistic with Yeezus, and against everybody who thought he might actually be losing his mind, Kanye dropped the a-bomb with Pablo. The album’s sonic range alone is impressive and the first six tracks are among the best stretches of tracks in hip-hop history. I hate to sound like a fanboy, but at this point we are 2 weeks removed from the release of the album. It’s been a week and a half since I first bit the bullet and got a Tidal trial account to try it out, and yet I somehow find myself going back to this album multiple times a day.
Carson Cox of Merchandise recently formed Death Index, a side project that seems to unleash the musician’s inner hardcore sensibilities. The project’s debut album, released on February 26th, uses a post-punk template that one would expect from Cox, but adds plenty of hardcore punk elements to the music. With all of the vocals done by Cox, the album certainly reminds listeners of modern post-punk outfits such as Viet Cong, but several of the tracks contain hardcore and noise-rock tendencies that I embrace with open arms.
A summer album released in the middle of winter, the bright tones and short song constructions present the band’s most accessible album to date. Animal Collective’s tenth studio album, Painting With, is the ‘punchy’ pop album my girlfriend still wouldn’t listen to.
Snarky Puppy earned their second Grammy on Sunday for their ninth album “Sylva,” an instrumental masterpiece of composition. Michael League, bassist, bandleader, and the group’s main composer has been aiding in the redefinition of big band jazz-fusion on a mainstream level for over 10 years. An art form that has been slowly escaping the public’s ears, Snarky Puppy is successfully bringing big band music back into the spotlight.
The creative lyricism of Tom Petty was thrust upon me at a young age. My mother used to sing “Free Fallin” as she reminisced about living in California in the 80s. When I was about 15, I imported all eight CDs of the complete Tom Petty collection onto my iPod. But, not all Tom Petty albums were created equal. For me, Full Moon Fever takes the cake. Released in 1989, Full Moon Fever was Tom Petty’s first official solo album – he previously performed with a band as “Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.” This album is about love, break-ups, loneliness and achieving international stardom. Most of these we can all relate to. The point is, no matter where you are in your personal life, Tom Petty’s got you covered.
1. Free Fallin’
This is the #1 song to play at max volume while you’re driving down a deserted highway. It arouses feelings of nostalgia and the lyrics are perfect for a sloppy sing-along. Watch out for the awesome guitar solo at 3:19.
Heads up, the John Mayer version sucks. This is a prime example of a cover that should never have been attempted. Stick to the original.
“All the vampires walkin’ through the valley, move west down Ventura Blvd. And all the bad boys are standing in the shadows and the good girls are home with broken hearts”
In Galaxie 500’s incredible On Fire, the opener “Blue Thunder” immediately places the album—and the listener—into a state of motion. The iconic refrain of “I’ll drive so far away” never really addresses the place from which the speaker is so intent on leaving, letting the focus rest on the act of departure and the imagined “elsewhere” to which we’re going and being taken. Money’s sophomore album Suicide Songs is at times thematically and sonically reminiscent (with singer Jamie Lee even belting “I’m on fire” in “Night Came”), positing suicidal ideation as an act of departure from the self, offering a framework through which to explore and complicate the notion of identity formation as simultaneously oppressive and liberating.
Allow me to introduce you to The Oh Hellos. Siblings Tyler and Maggie Heath (center) formed a folk rock duo in 2011 and have since released three albums. Today, as you can see, they are supported by an army of musicians. The Oh Hellos are an independent band, meaning they are self-funded and do not belong to a record label.
Before you say “oh no, not another indie folk band,” hold your judgment and watch their NPR Tiny Desk Concert from December.
Possibly one of the most notable things about Death of a Bachelor is that it is the first time Panic! at the Disco wrote an album with only one member. After the departure of drummer Spencer Smith in April 2015, Brendon Urie was left to carry on and write what actually may be the band’s best album yet. Already, it has done much better than the previous four. In its debut week, it sold more than 190,000 album units and scored a spot as number one on the US Billboard 200, the first album by the band to accomplish such a feat.
As always when we find ourselves awaiting a new soon-to-be-released Young Thug album/mixtape/symphony, we are living in a historic time. Slime Season 3 (SS3) is coming (Feb. 5th) and all we have to do is make it until then, which is easier said than done.
There is a possibility that Monastic Living won’t make you angry, of course, but I’m willing to bet to the contrary. Angry, hurt, or—at the very least—a little cheated.
March 25, 2015 was a tumultuous time in music history—it was the day Zayn Malik left One Direction.
Whether you’ve been a One Directioner since the inception of the band, a casual listener, indifferent towards the group, or a staunch opponent of all things good in life, you probably remember the uproar on the Internet in reaction to the news that Zayn was headed in a different direction. Fans lamented the loss of one of the more favored members, and worried about the future of One Direction. How could the group of boys who had been through the X-Factor, four albums, and world tours suddenly be splitting apart? How could the band possibly go on without arguably one of their strongest singers?
At just 19, Julien Baker exudes a maturity beyond her years. This singer-songwriter has created a unique debut album, with tracks that are not quite sad nor joyful but something in between – accurately portraying the ups and downs of life itself. Above all else, Sprained Ankle is raw. The album is essentially nothing more Baker and her guitar. This simplicity is refreshing; it allows each lyric and tremor of Baker’s voice to be heard. Her musical style can be described as a quiet introspection scattered with bursts of emotion. These songs are so revealing, so confessional, that listening feels almost like an intrusion. It’s as if the lyrics have come straight out of private diary.
It’s hard to put my finger on it, but something’s just not quite right with EL VY’s debut, Return to the Moon. A side project of Brent Knopf of Menomena and Matt Berninger of the National, EL VY carries quite a heavy set of expectations. While I’m not familiar with the work of Knopf, The National has long been one of my favorite bands, in large part thanks to Berninger’s dry, imagist lyrics and dolorous vocal delivery. And while it’s perhaps unfair to compare the two bands, it is nonetheless telling that the moments where this collaboration works best are when EL VY sounds the most like The National.
As a way of celebrating the fact that Japanese post-rock band, Mono, have recently signed to Pelagic Records, the record label owned by The Ocean brainchild Robin Staps, the two groups released a split EP. The EP, entitled Transcendental, was released on October 23rd, and it features one extended track from each band.
Beach House is one of those bands that has a “brand.” Not in the consumerist sense, per se, but in an artistic one. In other words, if there’s one thing you can expect from Beach House, it’s good-old-friend reliability.
I’ll start by saying that I like Deerhunter. And while Monomania may have felt a bit overlong and undercooked, I’m reasonably convinced that their 2010 album Halcyon Digest is one of the best albums of the 2000s. I say this to give some context to lavish praise I’m about to heap onto their new album, Fading Frontier.
To start: Fading Frontier is better than Halcyon Digest, which is saying quite a lot. Fading Frontier a carefully crafted 36-minute masterpiece, filled with inventive songwriting, melodies that surprise you at every turn, and the best, most striking set of lyrics Bradford Cox has ever written.
Alex Giannascoli—Alex G, as he is known—has been particularly prolific this year, releasing Rules earlier this year, and then, satisfying the anticipation of his small but loyal fan base, Beach Music last Friday. Beach Music does far more than just satisfy, though: in typical Alex G fashion, it will take you on an introspective journey that is far from kitschy and saccharine, and yet remains surprisingly accessible.
In fact, I’d even go so far as to say that Wavves loves the letter “V”. If Wavves loves the letter “V” so much, why don’t they just marry it? They probably can’t marry it as I imagine it would be pretty difficult to marry a letter. Just think of all the paperwork and legal issues. However, they can still name their latest studio album after the letter.