While the lead of Mumford & Sons is named Marcus Mumford, I checked; and the other members aren’t, in fact, his sons. Despite that fib, the folk rock group out of London definitely deserves a listen. Usually, I tend to be a little leery of these Irish-sounding sort of bands, since after Flogging Molly’s fame there there has been a great quantity of them at very low quality. But someone else had to get it right again eventually, and I think that Mumford & Sons just may be those someones.
The album is mostly Irish folk rock, with a very good vocalist, who is very fitting to the tone and style of the music he’s singing. The instrumentals also shine, all of these musicians are clearly very skilled (and apparently they will switch instruments according to a whim at concerts, because they can all play each other’s instruments and know each other’s parts) and really make the whole thing sound very finished, with that little hint of chaos that a good folk band needs. The first half is sort of coy and slow, and then the second half picks up into this wonderful rock sound that is both somber and powerful.
To be honest though, while all the songs on the album are quite good, in my mind they’re all totally overshadowed by the track Little Lion Man. The track finds this lovely balance between folk and rock, with the Irish accents adding the perfect touch to make the song feel complete. This is a song that finds the correct way to do an instrumental interlude, and the band understands that a song has to rise and fall, that rising to a crescendo will make a song better than going straight for the punch.
So, a solid album, with an absolute gem set in its center. Would I recommend buying the album? Yes, definitely. But if you only have a dollar to spend and you need one song to spend it on? Little Lion Man.
Tags: little lion man, Mumford & sons, mumford and sons, sigh no more
Category Album, Credible, Reviews |
Passion Pit got its start as a guy writing music for his girlfriend on his laptop. From these somewhat lowly origins, the band has enjoyed a rise to quite a bit of prominence in the music scene lately, a position that I think they deserve.
Most of the album is lively, upbeat synthpop reminiscent of MGMT; odd, often sad lyrics juxtaposed with the high-pitched, fast-paced vocals and synth, which is in turn laid over a quick, driving drum beat. Little Secrets is a great example of this. Meanwhile, a few of the songs really take you by surprise and jump into a much more synth and loop heavy sound, which, if I’m honest, reminded me quite a bit of Pogo. I think that the jumps into the different style gives the album the variety of sound that a winning album needs, and that so many other electronic-focused artists miss entirely.
All-in-all then, I would recommend Passion Pit. I don’t think the album is really going to go into anyone’s top ten, or even top twenty five, but it’s a good listen, and several of the songs really get into your head and your blood.
Category Album, Credible, Reviews |
Just to be clear, no, it’s not The Muppets “Mah Na Mah Na“, the band intended it to be a cross between “Men” and “Phenomena”.
It took me most of the day to really get into this album; I think it was because at first I didn’t really “get” the sound. So after going from “this album only has one good song”, to, “this could be all instrumental”: I finally realized that the album is already really good.
While “Mines” would fall pretty hard into the “Indie Rock” genre, you need to also have the thought that this band’s sound is essentially softcore Gorillaz. The lead singer (one of them) sounds like Daemon Albarn (Blur, Gorillaz) and they use an array of instruments that are all skillfully handled. Something I’ve never really seen before is that Menomena frequently swaps instruments throughout the album, and they all share singing duties. This makes for a new sound on each track, given different styles of playing.
Now if you’ll keep that in mind, I’ll give you my favorite “Five Little Rooms” and.. “Queen Black Acid“, this track will give you an idea of how awesome the instrumentals can be; they almost sound movie soundtrack-esque.
Category Album, Reviews, Sherwood |
A Silent Film has been around for a while, they got together in ’05 and their self titled debut album came out in 2008. Despite this, I’ve just recently heard of them. Wikipedia calls them ‘Piano Rock’, which is pretty descriptive. They have a soft sound, with very prominent vocals, and as the name suggests, a very heavy infusion of piano. The piano gives it a really smooth, low-key feel, and the guitar and drums fill it out into a well rounded, full, sound. They have also figured out how to hit that soft rock sweet-spot, finding a driving tune that really gets into your head without breaking the soft feel. You Will Leave a Mark is both invigorating and peaceful; focused, but with a hint of depression and antipathy. Also, I absolutely cannot get that piano line out of my head.
I don’t think that A Silent Film has necessarily developed a new sound, but they’re definitely a great example of soft rock, and a lovely alternative to Coldplay.
P.S. I know this review is a bit shorter than most of mine so far, but I really feel like I’ve said all that I can say about this particular band without repeating myself, I’ll try to make the next one a bit more involved.
Category Album, Credible, Reviews |
He is responsible for providing the roots of an entirely new genre of music. Dubbed Atmospheric Slowpop, his newest contribution will undoubtedly revolutionize music. (Yes, there is a real review coming, if only so Sherwood doesn’t shoot me when he finds out I posted this)
Category Credible |
Bringing the term “super group” to call, Them Crooked Vultures sport some band members that, if you’ve never heard their music before (at least of it), you were probably born yesterday. A three man collaboration; this self titled album sees origins from Nirvana, Led Zeppelin, Foo Fighters, Queens of the Stoneage, Artic Monkeys and more.
Coming straight from the Hard Rock genre, its a good mesh of all the above with that old fashion “Bad ass guitar rift here” twinge they had; that said, I wouldn’t guess this album came out in late 2009. Many of their songs are reminiscent and comparable to their ancestors, but I can’t see this band stamping history the same way the former did (Stairway to Heaven, Smells like teen spirit, etc).
In the end, this band is lacking some magic; and with many of the members still tied to other bands, their future is speculative to say the least. With that in mind, they’re still worth the listen: for your consideration “Gunman“.
Category Album, Reviews, Sherwood |
I think I’m going to start a new series of posts I’m going to call Impressions. Simply put, I don’t have the money to go buy every new headphone and mp3 player I’d like to test. However, there’s a good chance that if I look around, there’s a place to demo it. So, these impressions reviews are going to be just that: first impressions. You can count on me to to test it long enough to get dirty looks from Apple Store and Best Buy employees, but they won’t be in-depth, long term assessments of the product (you can also count on me to be able to determine the difference between a bad product and a product that has been damaged in its like as a demo model).
So the first of these mini-reviews is of the over-ear (circumaural, if you want to sound really fancy) Studio model Beats by Dr. Dre. As much as I was inclined to think that these would be mass-produced crap, I have to say I was impressed. They were comfortable, the foam on the inside felt both soft and supportive, and it also seemed durable enough to not go flat within a few weeks. The sound that comes out of these headphones is, to be perfectly honest, a little astounding. They really are very crisp and responsive, and they block outside noise competently as well. I think, though, that the really surprising thing about these is the AMOUNT of sound that they produce, though. It’s hard to describe, but they really surround you with music in a way not many headphones can (though, maybe that’s just the over-ear seal at work, since the smaller model Beats didn’t do the same thing for me. I’m inclined to think it’s a relatively unique feature though, because Bose over-ears sure don’t have sound like that). It’s worth noting that on the model I tried, the plastic of the band had snapped. That’s not necessarily indicative of fragility, since demo models take a lot of abuse, but it’s something that might be worth a thought. Even with the snapped plastic though, the band had a metal substructure that held them together just fine.
Would I buy these? at $350, these are some capital-E Expensive headphones, and you’d still have to get over the fact that they’re made by Dr. Dre. If you don’t mind the press or the price, I have to say that I thought these were some very nice headphones.
Category Credible, Impressions, Reviews |
- Emma got to do her art after all...
Last week I reviewed an album I wasn’t terribly fond of. So, this week I’m reviewing the debut album of a band that I love. Band of Skulls is a garage rock band, they met in college and actually had to convince Emma Richardson (the bassist and female singer) to quit her art school program to get the band started. The effort seems to have paid off, since they’re featured in everything from ford commercials to the twilight soundtrack (they’re even opening for Muse later this year, which I would kill to see).
Their debut album “Baby Darling Doll Face Honey” has both a familiar and unique sound that make it a joy to listen to. On the one hand, it’s reminiscent of dozens of other classic and garage rock bands and albums; it has familiar power chords and vocal arrangements. On the other, even if it reminds you of other music, at no point do they sound like they’re copying any other band. They have distilled rock, really concentrated a lot of good styles and ideas into a really solid and unique sound. I think one of the most important parts of their sound is the interplay between the male and female vocals. All of their songs have a great dynamic between Emma and Russell Marsden (who is also their guitar player), but I Know What I Am is especially well done, with Russel doing intricate, fast, melodic vocals, and Emma trading in with hard, punchy vocals in time with her bass line.
My extensive praise aside, it is a debut album, and it feels that way. You get the feeling that this band has a lot of potential, and they’re working hard towards it, but they’re not quite in sync with each other yet. It doesn’t detract from the sound for me, but I think there’s a good chance that their second album will be more unified. On the subject of unification, it’s worth noting that this album meanders (and at times, just jumps) through a few different sounds. None of them are bad, but you definitely get a feel that this is a group that is still exploring its range, experimenting with different sounds and techniques. Not to say that variety is a bad thing, and they make all of the different styles sound good, but the transition from the upbeat rock sound of Death by Diamonds and Pearls to the slow, quite (and I think, hauntingly beautiful) Honest, is a bit unexpected.
Would I recommend buying the album? In no uncertain terms, yes. I think that this is a solid album by a band that will be putting out quite a bit of great music in the future. (Of course, I would have said the same thing about GnR after Appetite for Destruction, and look how that went…)
Category Album, Credible, Reviews |
Taking a break from the rock music; I’ve got a dubstep addition, so turn that bass up. Tonight we’ve got Bassnectar’s album “Timestretch” released this last spring. I’ll start by saying it’s got some dirty drops, and it’s exactly what I’ve come to expect from Bassnectar: being a massive climax towards the beginning of the track, with a gradual take down that feels smooth and flowing; like white water rapids. The only thing I found I don’t really like about the new album is some of the tracks use samples from previous albums, looking for fresh; but can appreciate the flashback.
For those of you not familiar with Bassnectar, it’s a project created by Lorin Ashton who describes the sound as “Omni-tempo maximalism” . It’s pretty much a shorthand way of saying the music is influenced by everything: film scores, punk rock, ska, blues, death metal, beatboxing, etc.
Check out the track “Bass Head” off Timestretch,
for a treat off Cozza Frenzy, here’s “Teleport Massive“
Category Album, Reviews, Sherwood |
Sleigh Bells is an up-and-coming noise pop duo, who were formed when Alexis Krauss (formerly of the pop group Rubyblue) was volunteered by her mother to help Derek Miller (from the post-hardcore group Poison the Well) with his new project. Their new album “Treats” is… well, interesting. The genre certainly is descriptive, the album is mostly pop overlaid with noise. In fact, it’s mostly distorted guitar, aggravating synth, and sharp vocal noise. Listening to this, more than once I just tuned it out despite listening to it being literally all I was trying to do at the time. That being said, the tracks “Tell ‘Em” and “Rill Rill” are both very nice, and are getting quite a bit of play on the radio at present. Back to criticism though, those two tracks feel almost like tracks from another album that’ve been stuck into this one. Each time I listened to this album (three so far, to of which were specifically to give it another chance before this review) I nearly quit after “Rill Rill”. The first half of the album is decent, the two I’ve mentioned carrying along five tracks that are alright, but somewhat unremarkable, I feel like they really show off Alexis’ pop roots, which could be good or bad depending on your taste. The last four tracks are, well, noisy. I think someone, or several someones, will get some decent remixes and mashups out of them but as they are they’re not brilliant. In fact several times the synth is so atonal and overdriven I switched speakers just to make sure I hadn’t accidentally blown mine.
I realize this review is a bit all over the place, but that’s really the way Treats is. It’s a strange chaotic sound; I wouldn’t play it on a date, or even chilling with a friend, but if you’re trying to make an airport’s worth of noise go away, this might do the trick.
Tags: Rill Rill, Sleigh Bells, Tell 'Em, Treats
Category Album, Credible |
