The Dodos - Time to Die

Artist: The Dodos
Record: Time to die
Label: Frenchkiss Records
Release Date: September 15, 2009
Skippable Tracks: 0
Stars: 3.5

Even though the album has yet to be released, a digital copy has leaked on the Internet. According to the all knowing Wikipedia, the album leaked on July 8Th, 2009 and is produced by Phil Ek who has produced other amazing albums by The Shins, Fleet Foxes, Band of Horses, and Built to Spill. So you can imagine that I was expecting a different sound from the Dodos on this release. I was wrong. It was not that much different.

The sound can probably be described as a tame folk rock sound with a high concentration of drumming beats. While concentrating on drum beats more than any other instruments the band makes the songs sound a little repetitive. This can be too much at times, for I can not imagine listening to more than one album at a time. I currently only own the album Beware of Manics and I believe I might keep it that way for now. I feel like owning one album is like owning them all.

I SHOULD say some positive things about the album, since it is quite a pleasant listening experience and has some great tracks such as Acorn Factory, and Fables. I believe I'll just be using a few credits on this album and downloading only select tracks (If its made available on Emusic). I do recommend you listen to it and pick out the tracks that you enjoy the most.

Not too complicated of an album since the band only consists of a couple of dudes, and at times 3. Enjoy the tune below!

The Kickdrums - Just a game

Album: Just a Game
Released: March 22, 2009
Label: Kickdrums Musik/ Tune Core
Stars: 3.5
Skippable Tracks: 2

Kickdrums...who are the Kickdrums?! They are producer/songwriters from Cleveland that recently released their debut album It's Just a Game. These guys have experience producing for some big shots like 50 Cent, Kid Cudi, Talib Kweli, Kanye, Jay-Z, and others.

Knowing very little about their previously produced music, I dove into "It's Just a Game". To my surprise, these tracks where very different from what I was expecting. There weren't any shotguns being fired in the background, or some idiot saying "Ehhh...ehhh, shyeeeah!", or two bars of music repeating on forever. The songs were very melodic and with different approaches than typically heard on mainstream radio.

The album starts strong with Impatient and continues this way for a few tracks, but quickly gets a little weak. I must admit that it took a couple of listens for me to get into it but slowly I found myself wanting to hear specific tracks a few more times. This was especially true for the tracks called Out to Get me, as well as Slipping away. These are the sixth and seventh track respectively, and are dubbed the catchiest tracks. After these two tracks I loose interest…and it needed a strong finish.

This definitely worth a listen, you can pick which tracks interest you the most. The album left me wishing that there was more content, and less filler.