Music Worth Buying: Episode 1
Posted by drocolate on June 1st, 2010Waaaaaay back in January, I made an ITE-related New Year’s resolution. I decided that I needed to start writing more positive reviews of things from time to time.
If you were to go back and look at my contributions to the ITE universe you’d think I hated most everything, when in truth I really only hate a lot of things. I have a lot of love to hand out so that’s what I’m going to do.
Starting now.
(Oh, but don’t worry, I’m not going to stop being nasty… just look at the Karate Kid piece I wrote this morning.)
SO, MUSIC! YEAH!
Here’s some music I’ve been listening to lately.
Sleigh Bells — Treats
Where to begin? Hmmm… Well, I’ll just start with the stuff that everyone on the InterblogoWebosphere has already said. This album is insanely loud, has a unique sound and has a few summer jams in waiting hiding inside its 32 minute span.
But beyond that, this Brooklyn duo brings something to the table that is much harder to muster than you’d think, and that something is what I like to call the happy factor.
What is the happy factor? It’s the name that I just created (and yeah, it needs work) for that feeling you get when you’re listening to something and you’re just overcome with joy. It’s like you’re listening to it, and all of a sudden you just want to yell out to your friend that they need to hear it. Typically for me, the happy factor occurs mid-song when it’s least expected. All of a sudden something changes in a song and you feel something that resembles a mental goosebump, and your conscience screams out to the rest of your mind: “This shit is AWESOME!”
You guys know what I’m talking about? Yeah? Excellent.
I encountered the happy factor three separate times on Treats, which is pretty remarkable.
- The first time is when the last 35ish seconds of “Infinity Guitars” explodes and adds what seem like a million layers of glorious noise onto what was already there (which was a lot).
- The second came in “Crown on the Ground,” when you hear a dissonant “Hey!!!” in the background for the first time in between the overblown rhythm section that will make you question your car stereo’s integrity. It’s a small thing, yes, but for me it’s stuff like that that takes this album to another level of cool.
- Oh, and the third one is on “A/B Machines” near the end, just when you think the song can’t find another gear it cuts out and gives way to a female scream for about a second.
It makes me happy just thinking about it. Seriously.
Buy this album (on iTunes) and play it loud. By the pool. You will not be sorry.
Frightened Rabbit — The Winter of Mixed Drinks
And now for something completely different.
I’m a big Frightened Rabbit fan. I love the sloppy, sad, Scottish dude routine that they have made into their trademark and while I didn’t love this album quite as much as their last, I would still highly recommend it (though you may as well get both).
With each new album FR has taken their sound a little further out while still keeping it planted in what makes them great. The Winter of Mixed Drinks finds the bare bones, heart on your sleeve approach that reverberated through their first two records being buoyed by excellent string arrangements and other grandiose touches. Most of the time it works to perfection, like on “Swim Until You Can’t See Land” and “Not Miserable.”
One of the major criticisms of this album when it first came out was that it was “too happy.” Basically what that means is that the once pathetic frontman was now only “Not Miserable” and that rubbed some people wrong. While I can’t completely disagree with the sentiment that this band’s awesomeness is directly related to this poor dude’s sadness, I can say that this album’s version of him is not all roses. Even when he’s feeling better about himself he’s still got some issues, which for the listener, is kind of a good thing.
All in all, it’s another solid effort from one of the most consistent bands out right now.
Buy this album (here) now. Do it.
Crystal Castles — Crystal Castles
Crystal Castles are assholes. Seriously. There is evidence to back this up.
- They gave their new album the same name as their last album, which just reeks havoc on an otherwise organized iTunes library. Assholes.
- They canceled their one and only Dallas show last year because the sound system supposedly wasn’t up to snuff. I was waiting in line to see that show. Crystal Cancels = assholes.
- THIS. Yep, assholes.
But here’s the crazy thing. Even though they are assholes whose assholeishness has personally affected me, I still love them, and this new album is no exception. They took a lot of the really beautiful elements from the last album (which is called the same thing as this one… ASSHOLES!) and dialed them up. There is less screech and more swoon. Songs like “Celestica” and “Vietnam” fill the headphones with a wall-to-wall sound that I would best describe as shimmering. It’s great stuff.
The other thing that is worth noting about this new album is that it’s like a gateway drug. Because CC borrows stylistically from lots of different styles (and that’s not a knock… it’s a good thing), you’ll find yourself being reminded of other music while listening to Crystal Castles. Just try getting through “Not in Love” without thinking about M83, or “Year of Silence” without feeling the need to pop in some Ladytron. This album will (in my case) rekindle some possibly dormant musical relationships, which is awesome.
Oh, and one more thing, “Baptisim” is one of the best songs of the year. For reals.
Buy this album (here) and play it loud. Yep.
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So there you have it. Three albums that I’ve been loving lately. If you want to hear some of these songs I’ve mentioned, I’d recommend checking out the hype machine and doing a search.
I hope you all enjoyed this, and if you’ve got some music recommendations, PLEASE drop them in the comments.
YEAH! MUSIC! YEAH!
Tags: music, Music Worth Buying