Music For Your Ears

I thought I would break theme a little bit and post a few short music reviews on this fine afternoon. I was talking to Joe a couple weeks ago about the lack of great new music. I have really been revisiting my old albums lately, mostly due to the fact that I got a new iPod for Christmas...and I've been meticulously moving everything onto it because I am so incredibly anal and have to have the artwork and everything else formatted perfect. All that aside, I picked up a few records last week that I feel are worth some quality time. While they may not be completely new to you....they are new to me.

The first one is Hard-Fi's "Stars of CCTV". I picked this one up after hearing a few tracks off the album on KEXP. I think this is what The Streets might sound like if they could all play guitars and rock the house. (Although, The Streets do put on a great, great show that I highly recommend.) Every track has it's own character here. I've heard a few people complaining about how all of these tracks run together in their particular sound and everything ends up sounding the same, and I just don't see it. The song Cash Machine has been getting too much airplay, and is getting a little annoying...but still very listenable. The track that sticks out the most for me is the second, Middle Eastern Holiday. Not to be confused with Holiday In Cambodia, but definitely similar.....the scene shifts to an all-inclusive vacation in Iraq where homes are being burned, etc. and it is undeniably catchy. This album is in solid rotation at the moment, we'll see where it is in a few more months I guess. For now, it's nice to see another story of some working class guys that wrote, recorded and produced their own music only to see it take off like a rocket and get picked up by a major label. Here's to hoping that Atlantic doesn't eff these guys....I always have such mixed feelings when a great band gets signed to a big deal. One one hand I'm excited for the chance to see a band live that may never go on a complete tour otherwise, and on the other hand I dread the inevitable overexposure associated with said success. Such trying times......which leads me to the next record.....

Another group that has skyrocketed to the top of the UK charts......Arctic Monkeys, "Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I Am Not". This band is a distant, twice removed cousin to Kathleen Turner Overdrive, formerly Sonic Death Monkey.....but they are at least 10X better. This album is the result of some grassroots-internet-demo-spreading action across the UK. This is the first full-length attempt by this band, and it is a little repetitive at times. The big cut here is the second one again I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor...although, I also like When The Sun Goes Down equally as much. This band reminds me a little of Flogging Molly if they didn't sing about being drunk and patriotic all of the time. (Side note: If you don't know Flogging Molly, just imagine what you might feel like doing if you were a native of Ireland that's hopped up on Guiness and whiskey that just watched the national soccer team lose in the World Cup Finals to a pansy ass team from Canada that proceeded to burn and piss on the Irish flag when the game was over...then imagine what you might sound like if you picked up a guitar and started belting out some punk at that very moment.....). The Monkeys have some good potential, but I'm not sure that they are as good as FM in the long-run. Once again, time will tell.

Either way, I would recommend both of these albums depending on your musical tastes.....they are a nice change of pace.

I also just procured an advanced copy of the Flaming Lips new album At War With The Mystics.....stay tuned for a full review on that album early next week. I haven't spent enough time with it yet to accurately convey much. I can already tell you that it is a departure from their most recent, conceptual album Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots....but that can only be expected. Mystics has more of a rock sound. Robots should definitely be mentioned in the top 10 albums of all time discussion in my book....but we can get to that next week.