Obscure Band Update
Here's alittle pop culture to smooth the transition into the weekend: assorted comments on some recent iTunes purchases:
Eels, Blinking Lights and Other Revelations. I really enjoyed Shootenany, their last album, so when I heard the new single "Old Shit/ New Shit" on the radio, I added this to the iTunes list immediately. I didn't realize that it was a double album, and mostly in a much mopier style than the previous record. Some of the songs ("Son of a Bitch," now playing) sound basically like second-rate Tom Waits.
There are some good tunes here, but they're buried in a lot of undistinguished other material. I like "Railroad Man," "Going Fetal," and "Hey Man (Now You're Really Living)" quite a bit.
Ryan Adams and the Cardinals, Cold Roses. Another slightly uneven double album, with some good stuff mixed in. "Meadowlake Street," "If I Am a Stranger," "Dance All Night," and "Life Is Beautiful" rank with his very best stuff. It's much more country than the last couple of albums, though.
Stereophonics, Language, Sex, Violence, Other?. This is another case of "I liked their last album a lot, so I'll grab this one right away." It's decent, but not great. The standout track is the single, "Dakota," which you get in two different versions if you buy the album from iTunes.
Weezer, Make Believe. On the one hand, it's Weezer-style power pop, and it's pretty hard to screw that up. On the other hand, "We Are All On Drugs" may be the stupidest song they've ever recorded, and yes, that includes the idiotic sweater tune that was their first novelty hit. Then again, "Beverly Hills" is a great song.
Rilo Kiley, More Adventurous. Not really a new record, any more, but somehow I never got around to buying it before now. I assume "Portions for Foxes" must've been used in some silly teen drama on Fox, or something, because it's all over the radio all of a sudden. It's a pretty solid album top to bottom, though.
Fruit Bats, Mouthfuls. This has kind of gotten buried in the new music shuffle-play (thanks to those double CD's mentioned above). I bought it because of the song "When U Love Somebody" (which, spelling aside, does not appear to have been written by Prince), which is a wonderfully catchy little song. The guitar line reminds me of "Stuck in the Middle with You," but not so much that I see Michael Madsen dancing with a straight razor, so that's a good thing.
Nic Armstrong and the Thieves, The Greatest White Liar. I bought this becuase I heard "Broken Mouth Blues" on the radio and said, "Ah-hah! Here's a song to go with 'Hotel Yorba.'" And while that tune does indeed sound a lot like the White Stripes (their good songs, anyway), most of the rest of the album sounds like a lost recording by some brilliant but forgotten British Invasion band-- Herman and the Animal Pacemakers, or something. That's not a bad thing, by the way.
The Libertines, The Libertines. Prior to buying this, all I really knew about this band was that critics really like them, and that one of the main guys is trying to be Iggy Pop-- he's on drugs, he's off drugs, he's in jail, he's out of jail, he's in the band, he's out of the band.. Given that, I expected the sound to be more punk rock and less Pulp. And, well, they sound a lot like Pulp to me. That's not terrible, or anything, but it was unexpected.
The Mountain Goats, The Sunset Tree. The first pass through this, I was badly disappointed, but it's really grown on me since. I guess I'm just a sucker for weird pop-culture references (the chorus to "You or Your Memory" goes, "St. Joseph's Baby Aspirin, Bartles and Jaymes, and you, or your memory"), and oddball classical references (the chorus of "Up the Wolves" is: "Our mother has been absent, ever since we founded Rome, but there's gonna be a party when the wolf comes home."), and how can I not like an album with a song titled "Hast Thou Considered the Tetrapod"?
I've got another list of singles from KEXP to go looking for, but I also just acquired the Anthology of American Folk Music (borrowed from a co-worker), so I may be on an O Brother, Where Art Thou sort of kick for the next few weeks. Tough to say.
Posted at 8:55 PM | link | follow-ups |