Things and stuff

Week 8

Foals - Antidotes
It might be a good idea to stop buying CDs based on listening to five second samples on Last.fm. I find it incredible how quickly I discovered, fell in love with and then subsequently got very sick of dance-punk in such a short period of time.

Jaymay - Autumn Fallin’
This one was bought after I read an interview in which Jamie said her literary equivalent was Midori from Norwegian Wood. I am of the opinion that the world needs more people like Midori. Not knowing what to expect when I got the CD itself, I was very surprised when I got it. Her voice is very clear and it just jumps off the track. The music is all right as well, and I especially like the jazz/lounge interlude “Hard To Say”.

Week 7

Colin Meloy - Colin Meloy Sings Live!
There is a live Colin Meloy show which is virtually the same as this album and available to stream on the NPR All Songs Considered site, so if you want to save $10 go ahead and listen to that. You will not get the aborted song “Dracula’s Daughter” and a mixed bag of banter but nothing tastes quite like value. That said, the music here (that song excepted) is really great and the solo acoustic guitar really brings out the melodies in the songs. The banter is okay, though I feel as if Meloy is trying too hard to get the crowd to break out of their shells and play along. My favorite moment is when the crowd picks up the last refrain in “The Engine Driver,” I was truly surprised when I first heard it and it felt more genuine than any other point on the album. Also the version of “California One/Youth and Beauty Brigade” is probably the best I have heard.

Heroes Original Soundtrack
Reading the liner notes for this album makes it sound much less like a real soundtrack and more of a compilation of songs the people who work on Heroes really like. This is fine, I like a lot of the songs, though overall the album feels like there is no cohesion to it at all. And the Bowie inclusion is both cheesy and left a bad taste in my mouth when the album was over.

The Raveonettes - Lust Lust Lust
After a few listens I am not sure what to think of this album as a whole. Some songs really grab me and get stuck in my head, others just go by as the washed out fuzzy blur that they are. Another review suggested this was an album to be played loud so I tried that, and it does help but not to a great degree.