Decemberist

Album: The Hazards of Love
Label: Capitol Records
Release Date: March 17, 2009
Stars: 5
Skippable Tracks: Zero

This album is a perfect example of why I love to listen to an album from start to finish with no breaks. It was love at first listen, and I think it feels the same way towards me too; so that’s awesome.
The album was released March 17th, and I have listened to it straight through about ten times by now. I believe the band’s original plan was to make this album into a musical, but later decided that it was not going to work out. This amazingly artistic masterpiece is arranged in a way that a love story develops from the first track to the last, taking the listener through many different genres of music. Even the tracks become characters, re-appearing throughout the story.
There are probably only a couple of tracks that can be played on their own, so I’m posting the complete album below. Put aside one hour to listen to the tracks and try to follow the story. It begins with a short interlude that sets the mood; it’s dark, mysterious, and intriguing. After the interlude a folkie song begins to play introducing the main characters William and Margaret. They toss in some power cords on the next track, followed by some baroque music, some riffs right out of Black Mountain, and so on.
I can only imagine how much work it took the band to put together something like this, so it is being labeled a masterpiece on my part. William and Margaret’s relationship develops throughout the album, and the music perfectly compliments this.
The best Album released this year, and may possibly be one of the top 5 albums of 2009 according to Smigs Reviews.

The Hazards of Love

Animal or Not Animal ?

Album: Animal/Not Animal
Label: Merge Records
Release Date: December 17, 2008
Stars: 4.5
Skippable Tracks: Zero (Animal) One (Not Animal)

Margot & the Nuclear So and So’s may have not picked the best name for their band, but they sure know how to pick tracks for their albums. The band and the record label could not come to an agreement on which tracks to release on the upcoming album; so two versions were released. The band’s arrangement was released under the name Animal, and Merge Records’ arrangement was given the name Not Animal. I was completely oblivious to this when I first heard about the release of the new album, and ended up listening to Not Animal first. The albums are almost 50% different from each other and are quite a bit of a different experience. Animal is pretty mellow from track one through twelve, while Not Animal takes you through a rockier route. The label’s arrangement would have scored a 3.5, but this album receives a whole star more.
So how can you tell if you have purchased Animal or Not Animal? That’s easy! If you see an Animal on the cover…you’ve got Animal. No animal? Then…yeah, you get the idea.
If you like Arcade Fire, this would be a nice addition to your collection. Although I would put their sound more on the mellow side of the scale. I’m including a link to a track as usual.

North America only

Album: Spirit of Apollo
Label: Anti-
Release Date: February 17, 2009
Stars: 3.5
Skippable tracks: 4 of 17

I was unable to find the rap CD that I was going to review, but I did listen to the N.A.S.A. album released earlier last month. I went into this with an open mind, and found myself enjoying a lot of the tracks on this album. As always, I do have a few issues with it. One: N.A.S.A, in this case, does not stand for National Aeronautics and Space Administration, but rather North America South America. So what..? All you have to do is listen to the CD to realize that there is VERY little to do with South America or North America. It’s mostly a sound that has already been heard, using funk tracks as well as some Brazilian song samples. My understanding of the album was that it was going to be a fusion of all kinds of music from all of the Americas; what came out was a CD for The United States of America. Two: They tossed in as many names as possible into the mix to try and attract as many people as possible into buying the album. Three: They played it too safe.
That’s my only beef.

As mentioned above there are a whole lot of really funky tracks that make this a very enjoyable listen. There is also a rock-based song with John Frusciante, an incredibly weird song with Tom Waits, and a song that sounds exactly like anything M.I.A. would put out on her own. Instead of commenting on all the collaborators, I’ll just post them below. Maybe one of the names will attract you into listening to the album. Peace! I’m out! ...Yo!

N.A.S.A. Feat:
David Byrne,Chali 2na, Gift Of Gab & Z-Trip, David Byrne, Chuck D, Ras Congo, Seu Jorge & Z-Trip, Method Man, E-40 & DJ Swamp, RZA, Barbie Hatch & John Frusciante, KRS-One, Fatlip, Slim Kid Tre, Karen O, Ol' Dirty Bastard, Tom Waits & Kool Keith, Kanye West, Santogold & Lykke L, Sizzla, Amanda Blank & Lovefoxxx, George Clinton, Spank Rock, M.I.A., Nick Zinne, Kool Kojak & DJ Babao, Del Tha Funkee Homosapien & DJ Qbert, The Cool Kids, Ghostface Killah, Scarface & DJ AM.

NOTE: If you like Hip-Hop this would be a 4/5.


Sweet song with KRS-One! My favorite.

Cool NES hack

Album: Dawn Metropolis
Label: 8BitPeoples
Release Date: March 3, 2009
Stars: 3
Skippable tracks: Zero


Something that I've started to see more and more is the practice of using samples from Nintendo games as well as hacking Nintendo or Atari systems to make retro-cool music. By far the best band that I have come across has been Anamanaguchi.
Personally I don’t really like electronic music that much, but for some reason this band really got my attention right away. Think of the greatest NES song you can think of, now jack up the tempo, throw some guitar and base; you now have an Anamanaguchi song.
Even if you only listen to the CD once, you'll be glad you did. Have fun!


Note: I’m gonna review a rap CD next. That’ll be interesting…

This one's for the slupree kids

Album: Grand
Record Label: Fader Label
Release date: January 20, 2009
Stars: 2.5
Skippable Tracks : ?

This band has been causing a whole lot of hype in the past year, so I decided to chcek them out. Matt and Kim "sold-out" even before the release of their second album. Their song "Yea Yeah" was the theme for a Virgin Mobile commercial in 2008, and was also used to promote the movie Juno in the US. I must admit that the commercial was what initially got me interested in checking out the band, and I can’t say I was all that disappointed with what I heard since it was exactly what I expected it to be: Very simple, very energetic college pop. Like the title of the post suggests, it may be an album that you may want to listen to if you are having some younger people over at your place or if you are just young at heart.
The whole album is under half an hour, so it really doesn't really give you a chance to even skip a song, since by the time you realize the track is repetitive, the song is over.
I'm including one new track, and one old track below. Check out the whole album if you are interested. It's really not that bad and is fun to listen to if you are in the mood to feel young.



Matt & Kim loading up on sugar before a big show

I love...shark!

Record labels might be getting really angry, or might be praising the new website Grrooveshark. I've decided that I would share the new acquired knowledge before some corporate fat-cat decides to shut it down. As far as I'm concerned it’s about time the music industry realizes that the Internet has forever changed the way people share music and should start selling it as a service instead; much like cable TV. Another option is to develop something like Grooveshark.

One of my friends introduced me to Grooveshark this weekend, and I’ve been a huge fan of it ever since. This website will allow you to stream any kind of music you might want to hear. No! Its not like imeem, or lastfm, it’s a whole lot less lame. Nobody likes going to a separate web page every time you want to listen to a different song or band, so Grooveshark incorporated it all into one interface. There is no need to install any fancy software or give out you junk e-mail address. It will also allow to search for music by genre, artist, song name, you name it! Other features include customized playlists, and the use an auto play feature much like the genius feature on iTunes.

These 21-year-old programing sharks have a good idea: Allow people to listen to a whole album before deciding to purchase it. Songs can be purchased through Grooveshark, and everyone gets a piece. The artists, record label, and Grooveshark. We'll see how it goes.

http://grooveshark.com/

M. Ward - Hold Time (2009)

Record: M. Ward Hold Time
Label: Merge Records
Release Date: February 17th, 2009
Stars: 4.5

I'll start by saying that I really enjoyed listening to this album, and the only reason why it did not get a higher rating was because I've enjoyed his previous work a bit more. I always listen to an album from start to finish, none of that shuffling business, and will try to listen to it at least three times.

If you are unfamiliar with M. Ward I'll go ahead and describe it as a Blues-Country-Rock (You may have a different classification if you're a hipster or music snob). Ward does not write that that kind of annoying pop country you constantly hear on the radio, or that type of rock country that's written by old farts trying to rock-out country-style. This is bluesy rock with country feel. Absolutely noteworthy!

Ward decided to include some covers in this album: "Rave On" featuring Zooey Deschanel as well as "Oh Lonesome Me" featuring Lucinda Williams. If you like Rave on, you may be interested in checking out the full length album by Ward and Zooey. You may remember Zooey from the classic Christmas movie Elf singing Baby It's Cold Outside with Will Ferrell. The other cover is with Lucinda Williams, who has quite the following. Sorry to say that I'm not a big fan of her or the collaboration of Zooey and Ward. I know they have their following, and if you like Lucinda you will probably like M. Ward.

I found myself listening to the whole album only skipping one track on the third listen. That's pretty amazing since the album contains fourteen tracks in total. I would probably say that my favorite track on this album is Fisher of Men. It’s got a bit of a honky-tonk feel to it, and has some pretty catchy riffs to it. But hey! Don’t just take my word for it, and check out for yourself.

Rave on from the new album:

Why am I blogging

So I'm not sure why I'm blogging...I think I just want to test it out and see if it's something I'll be interested in. I've never been big into writing what I'm thinking about...because I'm usually not thinking much. I'm a simple man, with a simple plan. Minus the plan part.
I do have a short term plan: To review as many albums as possible and let you (if anyone reads this) know what is worth listening to. I have access to an amazing library and plan to make good use of it. In the future, I might even post some clips of the music I am reviewing. At this time, I'm not even sure how to change the color of the background.
Please stop by soon, I'll be reviewing the new M. Ward album.

The smigs