Born to Die

If you had not heard of Lana Del Rey before her now infamous Saturday Night Live performance, chances are you had heard about her after the show.  Critics stated that the performance may have been the worst ever on the sketch show and the 25 year old singer also drew fire from celebrities.  That said, Lana Del Rey shows promise for the future despite her lackluster performance and with the release of her major label debut, Born to Die, that promise is a little more fleshed out.

Born to Die is front loaded with some of Del Rey’s strongest tracks including “Video Games” and “Born to Die”, the artist’s two most recognizable songs.  This presents a problem in pacing the rest of the 12 track, 50 minute long LP.  The back half does not carry the weight that the first five songs drop upon the album.  Two of the concluding seven songs could conceivably be dropped to help tighten the album overall as it begins to drag near the end.  This is not to say that the backend of Born to Die is devoid of worthwhile tracks.  “Summertime Sadness” carries the surrounding songs and would be right at home amongst the heavyweights on this album.

Lyrically Lana Del Rey is significantly stronger than the majority of pop artists out there right now.  To her detriment, however, Del Rey too often relies on sultry, sexy lyrics to prop up her songs and it becomes tiring over the course of the whole album.  Her proclivity to reference her hometown of New York can also get stale and sometimes distances the listener.  Despite these criticisms, lyrics like Del Rey’s are much more worthwhile and valuable than many of the female singers one is likely to find today.

I also cannot tell if I find her attractive or not.

After listening to Born to Die three complete times, it is unclear to me if I truly like it or not.  What makes my decision difficult is the manner in which Del Rey sings many of her songs.  My favorite song on the album is “Off to the Races” which sounds like three or four different songs being welded together to form a single track.  Del Rey uses differing voices (including a baby voice) throughout the album and this can become a bit jarring.  Once Lana Del Rey is able to hone her craft and improve upon the base that she has created with Born to Die, we will begin to see something great take root.  This album may not be anything spectacular, but over time, Del Rey will grow as an artist and has the potential to make some landmark records.

 6 out of 10 Stars

Video Games:

Blue Jeans:

Born to Die:

Hurry Up and Comeback Kid

Much to my delight I have news regarding Sleigh Bells and the release of a new LP.  The band’s adrenaline filled debut album was one of my favorites from 2010 and after wearing that record out I find myself pining for the next installment.  Luckily for all of the Sleigh Bells fans out there, the wait will be coming to an end very soon.  In preparation for the release of the follow up to Treats, Reign of Terror, the band has released two tracks and an official video.

How could I not love Alexis Krauss when she makes a customized Chicago Bulls/Sleigh Bells jersey?

The first track, “Born to Lose”, is somewhat subdued when compared to many of the songs that made Sleigh Bells so popular.  While still containing a wealth of loud guitar courtesy of Derek Miller, singer Alexis Krauss does not obliterate eardrums with her melodic screeching, as is her wont.  “Born to Lose” is catchy but it lacks the punch that plagues the duo’s catalog.

Alexis Krauss is a beautiful example of what happens when you mix an indie/hipster sensibility with the “fuck-it-all” personality of punk.  She is beautiful and dangerous all at the same time.  The video for “Comeback Kid” is a perfect example of this juxtaposition.  We get to see a montage of Alexis in a blonde wig (looking gorgeous by the way), striking imagery of the singer’s childlike demeanor in a pink bathrobe while holding a hunting rifle, followed by several shots of Alexis dancing on the blocks of the suburbs in a studded leather jacket.  The song fits with this video well in that it contains heavy bass and venomous guitar licks mixed with some of Krauss’ less harsh vocals.  Much like one of the previous album’s standouts, “Rill Rill”, Sleigh Bells creates a noise-rock balled with “Comeback Kid”.  It also leaves my mouth watering for the day when I can finally purchase the full LP and proceed to blast it until my ears bleed.

Listen and watch the songs here:

“Born to Lose”

“Comeback Kid”

I’m Back…….

I started this blog almost two years ago and have really let it go.  I pushed it aside because I did not really know if I could maintain a site in which I exclusively talked about music.  This was a mistake.  I realize now that even if nobody reads my musings, the experience that I gain from simply writing entries will come in handy when I decide to attempt a career in writing.  So I’m back.  I will mostly be writing reviews of new albums with an occasional older album sprinkled in.  I could also include some entries that deal with other forms of media.  That is just something that my loyal followers will have to deal with.  Enough of this introduction, let me get to the first review:

First Aid Kit – The Lion’s Roar

First Aid Kit is a Swedish folk act comprised of sisters Johanna and Klara Söderberg.  As far as the sound that the band has nailed down there is nothing inherently unique about what the listener will hear.  The sisters do not lean too heavily on a gimmick or specific style to make their point or leave an impact on the audience.  However, where First Aid Kit excels is in how polished their tracks sound when compared to some of their contemporaries. Mike Mogis (Bright Eyes) expertly crafts this album not only into a pleasurable listen but into a stepping stone for the band to reach the next tier of acts.  FAK’s sophomore release, The Lion’s Roar, comes out of the gate ready to enchant and enthrall with a childlike nature that makes the subject matter seem light.  This is not to imply that there are any especially heady songs on the album.

Where the album lacks a sense of true seriousness it triumphs in its jovial manner.  One of the albums two singles, “Emmylou”, is probably the most countrified song out of the ten included on the track list.  The song’s chorus is exciting and begs the listener to immediately sing along with the sisters.  Each song fits into its own respective place on the record, an admirable quality that has its upside and its downside.  The album does not contain a track that is out of place or unjustifiably included, but it can start to wear on after a few repeat listens.  This is a minor criticism as FAK is able to power through and ultimately leave one thirsting for more.

While the title track may not be the standout from the album, an honor that I bestow upon “Blue”, the lyrics serve to send a memo to the music scene, “I can only guess what’s coming next”.   From start to finish The Lion’s Roar seems to do exactly what its title suggests and announces the presence of something that could soon become the king of the folk jungle.

8 out of 10 Stars

“The Lion’s Roar”

         

“Emmylou”

“Blue” – Live Version

The Kanye Conundrum

This year’s MTV Video Music Awards were predictably agonizing.  Chelsea Handler bombed, Cher was terrifying, Justin Bieber won best new artist (gag), and Kanye West bored me with his show closing performance.  In the midst of all the crap the VMA’s produced, Kanye’s performance was the part of the show that stood out to me the most.  Even though I am by no means a fan, I still expected Kanye to be entertaining.  His newest song lacked depth, was shallow and was the least pleasing single out of all his tracks.  The performance wasn’t aesthetically pleasing either, with its bare set and three random ballerinas dancing around the stage.  I immediately began a twitter debate that bled into a face to face debate with one of my friends that happens to be a Kanye fan.  He made an argument that because I am not a Kanye fan, I didn’t understand certain aspects of his performance.  At the time I dismissed this but while lying in bed I realized that he had a point.  I cannot seriously debate about it if I have not completely immersed my self in Kanye’s music.  So I have decided to start an experiment.  I’m going to listen to all four of Kanye West’s albums: College Dropout, Late Registration, Graduation, and 808′s and Heartbreak.  This will help me to decide how I really feel about him and will also help me fine-tune my argument against the musician if my opinion remains the same.  Naturally I will be writing about my experience with each album.

College Dropout

I have decided to do this chronologically, so by nature this experiment will start with 2004′s College Dropout.  After several listens, Kanye’s 21 track debut revealed itself to be a bloated mess of an album.  This disappoints me because there are several songs on the album that are a joy to listen to including “School Spirit”, “Spaceship”, “All Falls Down”, “We Don’t Care”, and standout track, “Jesus Walks”.  What bogs College Dropout down is 12 minute album closer “Last Call”, as well as the skits that are in between the tracks.  At one point  on this album Kanye has a couple of skits that, essentially, make it seem like getting an education or a degree is for nerds, virgins, and fools.  It is entirely possible that I am missing something with those skits but I about eighty percent sure that I’m not.  I have a feeling that College Dropout will be my least favorite of Kanye’s discography and I am eager to tackle the next three records. 

I feel like this is enough Kanye West for one day, so I’ll pick up the next three albums next time.  Experiment aside, I have another artist that I’d like to talk about before I depart.

The Acorn

With 2010′s No Ghost, The Acorn should leap forward into the forefront of indie music.  Whether or not that happens remains to be seen.  It might take more than one listen for No Ghost to take root in your subconscious but eventually it will happen.  I could talk about any number of tracks that are worth your time but I feel that the most gripping is “Bobcat Goldwraith”.  The reference to the comedian is most likely lost on the majority of my generation but resonates with me.  The song itself is quite possibly my favorite of the year and I would argue that it rivals any off of Arcade Fire’s The Suburbs, which is, in my book, a tremendous compliment.  It is the type of track that grabs hold of you and doesn’t let go.  I would love to leave a link for everyone to hear it but I can’t seem to find it.  As you can see, their MySpace page is linked at the bottom of this page, so give them a try.  It could very well make your day.

http://www.myspace.com/theacorn

A First Time For Everything…

Hi everybody!  Its been a while since last I spoke to you and a lot has happened in these last couple months. Before I get into the meat of this post though, I want to tell you guys about a podcast that I’ve started listening to called WTF with Marc Maron.  Marc Maron is a comedian and in WTF, he invites fellow comedians to join him for an interview.  I am by no means a trendsetter in telling you about this because he has put out 96 podcasts already and has been doing it for a year and a couple of months but it is never too late to start listening.  Obviously, this has nothing to do with music but I wanted to tell you guys about it anyways, so get off my freaking case.

Quick change of subject…

Recently I went to two pretty good shows in Austin, one being a New Pornographers show at Stubb’s and the other one a Here We Go Magic show at Emo’s.  The Here We Go Magic show was extra special because my sister came with me and it was her first show (which is why my blog is titled as is).  My favorite performance of the night was Here We Go Magic themselves but they were almost upstaged by one of their opening bands, a local Austin based group called Oh No Oh My.  They are a four-piece band that shifted who played what instrument and sang vocals which led to a very interesting performance.  Oh No Oh My was the first band to perform and they came on at 10:00 to an audience that was very small but they didn’t let that affect their set.  The band has put out two EPs and a self-titled debut that is definitely worth a listen.  The second band to perform was a Brooklyn band named Beach Fossils, who seemed a little more polished but lacked some of the depth that Oh No Oh My and Here We Go Magic played with.  Beach Fossils played short, fast-paced songs that the other two bands didn’t play as much of and this culminated in an exciting closing song that ended with the throwing of a bass and kicking of the drums.  I feel obligated to mention that this was my sister’s favorite band of the night.  The highlights of the Here We Go Magic show for me were the closing song, “Collector”, and Jen Turner the bassist for the band.  They alone made it well worth the 10 dollars I paid to get into the show.  When I asked my sister to rank the night on a scale of 1-10, she replied with a 9 because the people in front of us were smoking pot and it gave her a headache.  Assholes.

About a week and a half earlier I got to see one of my favorite bands live at Stubb’s, the New Pornographers.  They were supported by two bands, Imaad Wasif and the Dodos.  There was definitely a gap in talent and experience between these two bands.  Even though Imaad Wasif’s songs weren’t easy to get into, I generally liked them a little bit but they ended on a bad note by choosing a song that didn’t seem to fit.  Sadly, that is how I will remember them.  The Dodo’s on the other hand played an amazing show which was helped by the fact that I already really liked them and was excited to see their live performance.  I was sad that they didn’t play my favorite song of theirs, “The Park Song”, but it is sort of gimmicky kind of song that doesn’t really fit into a live performance very well.  This was one of the more rare cases when I wanted an opening band to play longer than their set allowed.  I was extremely excited when the New Pornographers letters that adorned the stage lit up and I knew that I was in for a top-notch show.  I was not disappointed.  The ten-piece band played a great mix of their old hits with some of the songs off the newest album, Together, with the song “Use It” ending up as my favorite of the night.  My only complaint about the show was that the vocals were a little too quiet and that they didn’t play as many songs off my favorite album, Electric Version, but I don’t really feel right complaining about that, seeing as how amazing their performance was.  Two toe-thumbs up (If you aren’t familiar with me, I have toe-thumbs)!

I don’t know if you guys are familiar with this fact but Arcade Fire just released their first record in 3 years.  I’ve never been as excited about an album release as I was with The Suburbs; I refused to listen to any of the songs before I bought the album.  I also wanted to buy a physical copy of the album, so I ran out to Best Buy on August 2nd only to realize that it wasn’t being released until the 3rd, making me wait one more painful day.  The next day I got out of my Racquetball class and ran back to the store.  When I ripped off the plastic wrap and pushed it into the CD player in my car, I just listened to the opening and stand-out track, “The Suburbs”, and I just felt comfortable.  When I got home I listened to the 65 minute album four times that first day and it filled me with a desire to do something creative.  I had this irresistable urge to paint something and no other band can make me feel this way more than Arcade Fire (sadly, I did not paint anything).  The Suburbs is one of those elusive albums that makes it hard for me to listen to just one song without then listening to a couple of others.  Its like being able to eat just one chip; it can’t be done.  In the debate over my favorite album of 2010, The Suburbs has set itself well ahead of previous front-runners, Sleigh Bells’ Treats and Local Natives’ Gorilla Manor.  That being said, this album is the only album of this year that I can, right now, see as being a possible contender for the best album of this upcoming decade.  There is truthfully not enough that I can say about Arcade Fire’s The Suburbs. 

Some songs to listen to:

Oh No Oh My – Walk In The Park

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPxUMzcI2XU

Here We Go Magic – Collector

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KtrX6ft1HQ

The New Pornographers – Use It

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpvqU2cmK8I

The Dodos – Fools

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhLRxui7vXU

Arcade Fire – The Suburbs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cH_M4ZPpZuM&feature=related

In with the new…

It has been awhile since last I posted my musical findings.  This break has allowed me to find some interesting new bands to report about, four to be exact.  I’ve spent a lot of time listening to these albums and feel like I can make a concise judgement about these four albums, two of which are most likely going to be placed on my top 10 albums of 2010 list at the end of the year.  Am I a nerd for having one of these lists?  Most likely.  But I don’t give a damn.  Onto my discoveries.

Sleigh Bells - Treats                                                                                                                                                                                                         

I found this band while reading Entertainment Weekly one day and was somewhat skeptical.  I love finding new bands but when I hear about them from a source that mainstream I usually just write them off.  Chalk that up to my desire to be more “indie”.  However, I decided to give this band a shot and I am immensely happy that I did.  I would categorize Sleigh Bells as a very electronic, noise-rock group and they remind me of M.I.A. which is a very good thing.  lyrically, Sleigh Bells isn’t on par with some of my favorite bands but they make up for it with music that is incredibly hard for me to get out of my head.  Every time that I listen to their debut album, Treats, I become obsessed with one of a different song.  It isn’t tough for me to see that this album will be one of my favorites for the year, if not topping that list.

Broken Bells – Broken Bells

The first time that I heard about this band was on a trip to 6th Street for my friend’s 21st birthday party around the beginning of SXSW.  Towards the end of the night, an old high-school friend and I started talking about some of the bands that were going to be playing at the festival.  She told me that she was extremely excited about this new band that consisted of DangerMouse of Gnarls Barkley (as well as several producing projects)  and James Mercer from The Shins.  Immediately I was intrigued but as I said earlier, I was on 6th Street and would need some time to recover.  Sadly, while recovering I forgot about this interaction until about a week ago when I read about them in a magazine.  So after listening to their debut album while I read a book, I determined that this was an amazing album and needed to be talked about in my blog for all three of you to read.  The intial draw to me was how layered it was.  After listening to Sleigh Bells for such a solid amount of time, it was refreshing to follow them up with such a different band like Broken Bells.  Yet another album that will be hard to displace as one of my favorites for 2010.

Two Door Cinema Club – Tourist History

My friend, Hawna, told me about this band a day before I read about them in Under the Radar, so she gets credit for bringing them to my attention.  They are generally likable and I have nothing bad to say about their music.  While their music is likable, I just don’t think that it is strong enough to stay with me after a long time unlike the first two bands that I’ve talked about.  None of their songs are a drag to listen to but only about two really stand out to me, “Something Good Can Work” and “I Can Talk”.  The former being, by far, my favorite off of Tourist History.  This is their debut album, so I will be looking forward to seeing if they can take the positives from this album and emphasize them on the next one.

Brazilian Girls – New York City

I don’t know if you’ve seen the new commercial for Amstel Light beer but the commercial uses one of the songs off of Brazilian Girls 2008 album New York City.  The song that they use is called “Good Time” and while intially I fought the urge to like this song, it proved to strong and I caved.  New York City is the band’s third full length album but I decided that I would rather start listening to the new stuff and transition to the old.  There are only two songs on New York City that I truly like and that is the main problem with this album for me.  I like listening to it but I feel like it is just one of those albums that will drift into the depths of my iPod, only to be heard when it is on shuffle.  Again, I want to say that I liked it just not enough for me to go back further into Brazilian Girls discography.

One of the other important musical happenings of the last couple of weeks for me revolves around the 2010 Stanley Cup playoffs.  I know, that is kind of an odd thing.  The Chicago Blackhawks play one of my favorite songs everytime the score a goal: The Fratellis’ “Chelsea Dagger”.  So from now on, whenever I hear that song It will automatically remind me of the Hawks’ run to the Stanley Cup Finals, which, I am sure all of you are rooting for them to win.

A step back in time…

Yesterday I went to Waterloo records in downtown Austin.  This is, by far, my favorite store on the face of the planet and a place that I frequent quite often.  However, the stipulation today was that I was broke and couldn’t buy anything.  I thought that this was still going to be a fun outing because I was going with a friend that I hadn’t seen in a while and the temptation to buy something wouldn’t be too great.  I was dead wrong.  As soon as I walked in I was hit in the face by all the new releases.  One stood out to me above the others: The Kissaway Trail’s Sleep Mountain.  I wanted it so bad!  I decided to move away from that album as soon as possible and I gravitated towards the book section where I found a compilation of photos from the magazine Vice.  Great photos but not tempting enough for me to impulsively buy them, so I looked at those for a while.  After a couple of minutes, I made my fatal mistake.  I decided to just look at the used records that had just come in.  You see, I collect records and hunt for some specific ones.  Well, wouldn’t you know it, I found some of those specific ones right away.  AC/DC’s Back In Black, Highway to Hell, and Let There Be Rock; The Beatles’ Rubber Soul and Magical Mystery Tour; Crosby Stills and Nash’s self-titled album, just to name a few.  It was torture.  Needless to say, I vacated the store immediately and I won’t be going back until I have money.

Now, onto the newest music discovery.  I’ve heard things over time about a musician/actor known as Tom Waits, but I had never heard his stuff.  I had seen him in films before but that is where my exposure to him ends.  To remedy that situation, I pulled up his 1974 debut album, The Heart of Saturday Night, and gave it a listen.  It was tremendous.  The whole album felt layered and deeper than most of the albums that I’m used to hearing from the same era and genre.  Two of the tracks that I connected with most were the opening track, “New Coat of Paint”, and the closing track, “The Ghosts of Saturday Night”.  On the latter, Tom Waits doesn’t sing as much as speaks over some light music but I was still drawn to it.  After listening to his debut album, I wondered why more kids my age, 21, hadn’t bothered to listen to Tom Waits before.  They are truly missing out on an amazingly talented song writer and story-teller.  I can’t wait to dive deeper into this man’s musical catalog.

In closing, if anybody actually reads this, send me some recommendations for what artists I should look up next.  Anything will do, so long as I’ve never heard it before.

The Beginning of the Journey

Tonight, 5/13/10 at 12:52 am central time, I decided that I wanted to join the masses of people putting their thoughts and lives on the interweb.  So, naturally, I needed to find a somewhat unique idea to talk about.  The idea that I decided upon was to set out on a musical journey full of discovery that will compare to Homer’s Odyssey in magnitude.  Well, maybe a tad smaller.  Enough introduction, let’s depart from my comfort zone.

I’m a pretty eclectic person when it comes to music so getting out of my comfort zone is something that is difficult to do.  The first band that I’m going to log in this diary of sorts, is the Swedish duo Club 8.  They have been making music together since the mid-nineties so I’m a little behind the times when it comes to them but better late than never.  Their seventh album, The People’s Record, came out earlier today, so I gave one of the songs a listen.  Immediately upon starting the track, “Western Hospitality”, I was hooked.  It was upbeat, unique, and had a female lead vocalist which, according to my friend Hawna, is pretty much kryptonite to my musical superman.  After reading more about the band in my favorite magazine, Under the Radar, I found out that this new album was a departure from their previous recordings.  I’ll admit that I was somewhat disappointed to hear this, but was still hooked enough to try the earlier songs.  The connection was still there for me, but it was a different kind.  This earlier Club 8 was more mellow and pensive; dancing was definitely not something I thought of doing, unlike when I heard “Western Hospitality”.  None the less, I enjoyed them very much and would recommend their album, The Boy Who Couldn’t Stop Dreaming, to pretty much anyone. 

So far my odyssey has started out swimmingly but I guarantee that it will not always turnout this way.