New music purchased thread

[TooLiveBrew]

Don't know if this has been mentioned yet, as I'm too lazy to check, http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif , but I just bought Pete Yorn's new CD, and it's fantastic.

 

I'm admittedly a big Yorn fan, as I knew of him and was thrilled prior to his official musicforthemorningafter release (an acquaintance of mine was a campus music rep/distributor for Sony, and had dozens of copies to pass out to local businesses to 'generate buzz' or whatever). Sorry, I don't wanna sound like "that guy"

 

But I've been a fan of both his prior, and felt he improved upon a very good debut with 2003's Day I Forgot. He did so again with Nightcrawler, another impressive entry by the now consistent, no-longer-newcomer.

 

 

Same day I picked up Mos Def's newest, True Magic. I don't know what was in the air that day, but honest to goodness, IMO, this is as good (if not better) than any hip-hop album I've ever heard. Ever - not exagerrating. Usually it takes a listen or five for me to feel comfortable thinking or stating something like that, but True Magic had me at "Hello"

 

These are two must-haves, you can trust me on that!

[Bikeage77]

Pogo, I can help ya out!!! Lemme know what you think, and you can inbox me if you want more stuff, I can probably give you bands all day you might not have heard of, and I don't wanna take up too much of the boards space, hah

 

Most of these aren't straight up punk rock like Rancid, but I'm not 15 anymore and either are you, so I'm sure you'll appreciate em all the same

 

Right now, I'm all about (with links so you can check em on myspace!)

 

The Marked Men

 

Thomas Function

 

The Epoxies

 

Toys That Kill

 

The Briefs

 

Scared Of Chaka

 

This Is My Fist!

 

The Ergs!

 

Some GREAT Wisconin bands

 

The Leghounds

 

Chinese Telephones

 

Catholic Boys

 

FINALLY, check out my band, these are rough mixes, but we have a 7" due out by the end of February...

 

Louis Tully

[pogokat]

bikeage---

 

as always its appreciated...i'm still digging the plimsouls reccomendation from last week...one of the main problems i have is that my record player is broken, so no 7's at the moment...but i'll get back on that when i get it fixed/buy a new one..

[brettac1]

of Montreal - "Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer"

 

It comes out on Tuesday, I believe. It is terrific. This is going to be an exceptional year for music. Already a few really good albums I have heard, and I haven't heard the new Lucinda Williams, Son Volt, Gillian Welch, Ryan Adams (of course), and others that I have been anticipating. The Arcade Fire album is generating a lot of heat (pun), but I'm not that excited about it after hearing most of it.

 

Tops on that list is Wilco's "Sky Blue Sky", which is coming out on 5/15.

[pogokat]

Quote:

---

of Montreal

---

athens rocks YOU

[pogokat]

bumping it up to the first page and wondering if anyone got "the good, the bad and the queen"

[pogokat]

three posts in a row by me---

 

Bikeage---

 

thanks for the recs...i really like the ergs and the marked men...your band is fun too...if you guys make it south, i'll find you

 

check out:

 

Tracer Metula

 

The singer/guitarist here has been one of my best friends since grade school...and he's rockin it pixies styles..

 

I Married my High School Sweetheart

 

Is another old friend...he's solo with a laptop, but it makes for fun times

 

Reeve Hunter

 

More synth pop, but somewhere deep in there, he really likes pedro the lion and pavement

 

Two Week Notice

 

...is long gone...but all their stupid friends got rich (copeland, cartel, taking back saturday, norma jean)...cheer up hudson and maybe he'll write more songs..

 

The Hillary Step

 

Is apparently something the two week notice guys are doing postal service style...

 

 

well---i'll send these guys a bill for the plugs later...but check 'em out...because they all deserve better treatment than the industry gave them

[And That]

The Velvet Underground - White Light/White Heat

 

Six tracks, two days of recording, and a lot of drugs. In some places, it's too drugged out for my tastes, and the recording quality is intentionally pretty bad. John Cale did his thing really well, but Lou Reed got sort of lost in it. "The Gift" and "Sister Ray" were my faves, but the album lacks the flair of The VU and Nico IMO. The S/T VU album is next on my list of things to buy, and I have high expectations for it. I'd give White Light/White Heat 2.5/5 stars.

 

Amélie - Original Soundtrack

 

Yann Tiersen composed most of the material here, and if you close your eyes and listen, you can picture the movie. Lots of cool instrumentation and catchy (albeit brief) hooks. Almost makes me want to visit the French countryside. As it has a high dose of ethereality, I can't recommend it for intense listening, but it's pretty good for what intends to be - really awesome background music for a happy day. 3/5 stars.

 

Medicine - Shot Forth Self Living

 

I've continued my quest into shoegaze, and stumbled upon this beauty by accident. Put out by L.A.-based Medicine in 1992, it is in many ways a mirror of the timeless and arch-shoegaze album "Loveless" by My Bloody Valentine. While it lacks the consistent brilliance of Loveless (few albums do), its high points are nearly as high. Opening track "One More" is a 9+ minute ride of squall and even a little funk. "A Short Happy Like," "5ive" and "Christmas Song are other standouts. I also get the feeling this album will grow on me even more. A hearty 4.5/5 stars.

[And That]

bumping it up to the first page and wondering if anyone got "the good, the bad and the queen"

 

They've been playing it a lot on the radio here in the Twin Cities, and it sounds like a Gorillaz hangover, which isn't a bad thing at all. Lots of dense, not-terribly-poppy music.

[filthyfrog]

Asobi Seksu - Citrus

 

I really wasn't expecting this to be very good, but it's awesome. The My Bloody Valentine comparisons are inescapable, but I also hear a touch of The Cure. But with a female Japanese singer.

 

The Twilight Sad - EP

 

Scottish rockers who can't help but implode all their songs with crashing guitars. Wonderfully grandiose. If their forthcoming full length release lives up to this potential, 2007 will be a great year for music indeed.

 

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Some Loud Thunder

 

I'm not sure if this is better than their incredible debut album, but if you liked that, you'll like this. It's a little slower overall, but still really catchy and full of Alec's unmistakable vocals and quirky instrumentation.

[And That]

Asobi Seksu - Citrus

 

I got their eponymous debut album, and I was sort of dissapointed by it. I've heard lots of good stuff about Citrus, tho, so I'll have to check it out.

[homer]

I just bought Gomez's latest. Good stuff.

[And That]

Not quite done with it yet (I'm through 4 of the 5 discs), but:

 

Sufjan Stevens - Songs for Christmas

 

If you like Sufjan and you like Christmas, you'll like this box set of collected Christmas EPs from previous years, along with a new one for 2006 (which is the one I haven't got to yet). The title "box set" is a bit of a misnomer here - the total running time of all the discs is just around 2 hours, with one or two clocking in at under 20 minutes. Typical Sufjan sound, and nothing that really stands out. Good music for the holiday season, but I doubt I'll dust it off again until December '07. It is what it is - 2.5/5 stars.

[berniebrewer4life]

Muddy Waters - Chess Box

 

This three disc set covers Muddy's career from 1947- 1972. I absolutely love this set. It captures the blues great perfectly.

 

Rating: *****

[filthyfrog]

Sufjan Stevens - Songs for Christmas

 

I don't think you can rank this without hearing the last disc. Sister Winter is probably my favorite Christmas song ever. In fact, I think most of the originals are really good, like That Was The Worst Christmas Ever, Hey Guys! It's Christmas Time!, and Did I Make You Cry On Christmas. The covers mostly don't add anything to previous versions, though. The best strategy is to queue up all the originals and leave off the covers. That would probably make a pretty good album, Christmas or not.

 

So while I just said you can't rank this without hearing the last disc, 2.5 is probably accurate since half the songs (the originals) are good and half (the covers) are just fluff.

[brettac1]

I'd give White Light/White Heat 2.5/5 stars.

 

Ouch.

 

IMO, the thing that gets lost with this album (which is really a love/hate album) is that it was the first of it's kind. Now that we're basically 40 years removed from it, and have heard 10 Sonic Youth albums and whatnot, it's not as jarring as it was. It's still a great album, I think it's an album that requires multiple listens - but, it was intentionally rough, and it's an album that I think a lot of VU fans only listened to a handful of times.

[And That]

Bob Dylan - John Wesley Harding

 

JWH is Dylan's opening foray into country music, largely spurning the electric instruments of his previous "Bringing It All Back Home" period. I hadn't listened to this album all the way through since I was about 6 or 7, so I had fresh ears listening to this. This immediately struck me as a quasi-alt-country, sort of a forerunner to what would eventually be the harder, punk influenced sound of Uncle Tupelo and The Jayhawks. It also reminded me a lot of same period Waylon Jennings and those other immediately pre-honky country albums. With all that said, and noting that JWH is widely regarded as one of the essential music recordings of all time, and enjoying the fact it sounds so much like The Band at time, it personally didn't hit home for me as much as his other albums have. The songs are all remarkably short by Dylan standards, and I frankly got sort of lost in the second half of the album. "All Along The Watchtower," "I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine" and "As I Went Out One Morning" were my favorites. I'm glad I listened to it again after all these years, but it won't be at the very top of my playlist for a bit. I'll give it 3.5/5 stars, whilst realizing most people would have it higher.

 

Lush - Spooky

 

After listening to the first couple tracks, I thought I had mistakenly put in a Cocteau Twins album. Turns out that Robin Guthrie, Cocteau Twin himself, had produced the album. Lush has been in the second tier of shoegaze bands for me, and I was conflicted after hearing this album. This sounds better than other things I have heard from them, but it doesn't sound exactly like they should. If I didn't know who Robin Guthrie was, this would receive much more (blind) praise from me. As it is, it is a solid album, with more solid moments in the second half than the first. I'll give it 3/5 stars.

[Blazer25]

I'm glad I found this bad boy...that new Google search thing is cool!

 

I might get skewered for this but...

 

Just got and gave a good listen to John Mayer's "new" album Continuum and I have to say it's awesome!

 

I always liked Mayer's sound a little but thought he was trying too hard to fit the "pop-radio" tag.

 

I think this album shows a little more of what he's really about, a bluesy and soulful artist who could fit in with the best of Memphis. Not many of these songs are real "radio friendly" but a bunch of them are super bluesy and super cool.

 

Mayer almost reminds me of a less edgy Joe Bonamassa or Ryan Adams minus the large doses of chemicals and taking himself a lot less seriously.

 

Either way it's one of my new favorite albums.

 

Songs to check out:

Gravity

Bold as Love

Dreaming with a Broken Heart

In Repair

Waiting On The World To Change

[burniebrewer]

I might get skewered for this but...

 

Nah, to each their own. Who cares if others don't like your tunes?

 

I'm just happy to read a name I've finally heard of on this thread.

[brettac1]

Heck, I mentioned buying that Mayer album in September in this thread and no one said a thing.

[Blazer25]

What do you think of it Brett?

[berniebrewer4life]

Blazer, i felt the same way. Didn't really like JM's first few albums, because they sounded too poppy. My Girlfriend bought the new one, and after listening to it, i love it. I hope his next few are like this also.

[brettac1]

What do you think of it Brett?

 

I liked it. I used to be kind of a bigger Mayer fan a few years ago. I was really into "Inside Wants Out" when I was in HS for some reason (I remember hearing about it on Audiogalaxy - blast from the past). I can't say I've listened to "Continuum" more than 5 times or so, but it's pretty good. I actually liked "Heavier Things" quite a bit, personally. I do think he gets a bum rap from people who listen to the kind of stuff I normally do. The way I look at it, he could have been singing about candy lips and bubblegum tongues for 10 years and kept selling, but he chose to go the complete opposite direction. Stagnation is something that will turn me off on an artist quickly.

[burniebrewer]

Heck, I mentioned buying that Mayer album in September in this thread and no one said a thing.

 

Blazer thought he'd get "skewered" and you stated you may "catch some flak" for mentioning John Mayer. It's funny you both had similar thoughts on the reaction of the board.

[diomedeh2]

I'm enjoying the new Of Montreal album. A worthwhile investment.

 

I also like the Klaxons so far.