Today’s Releases
First off, you saw right, my good friend Dylan has joined the elite team here at the Pelican’s Perch. Yes, that elite team before now included only me, but no one has to know that. I met Dylan randomly through his radio show, The Moody Indie Review as he linked to in his first post, and eventually we became online music friends that shared and talked about music nearly every day, but had never met each other. Well, since the blog’s starting to pick up, I thought another voice here at the Perch would add a lot not only to the content of the site, since I’m always pretty busy, but also gives another perspective on things. So, I welcome Dylan to my crew and I hope his addition will make my blog that much better. Feel free to comment giving him a hello and let’s get to today’s top releases shall we?
Arcade Fire
Neon Bible
I wasn’t too enthused about this one after the first listen. In fact, I wondered if that was it once I was done. It just felt empty compared to Funeral. I didn’t listen to it for a good week, then picked it back up. Well, about 20 listens through later I stand on the complete opposite end of my original thoughts. Not only is Neon Bible great, it has all the wonderful string arrangements and emotion you would expect from Arcade Fire. The point here is if for some reason the first few listens don’t grab your attention, keep listening and tell me it doesn’t grow on you. It’s Arcade Fire doing what they do best, and I couldn’t ask for more.
Keep the Car Running / Intervention (live on SNL)
Black Mirror (definately not my favorite, but only mp3 I could share)
Albert Hammond Jr.
Yours to Keep
That’s right! My #5 album of 2006 is released today. Wait…what?! Yep, my first big blunder of the new year happened when I realized all my praise towards this excellent album was hitting deaf ears because it hadn’t even been released in the US yet. Whoops. I had received the promo from their label and figured for some reason that the release date they were talking about was in the US, not only in the UK. Well, I was wrong and today is the official US release. Even though I’d put it on this year’s best of list too, I’m guessing there won’t be room from looking at all the great releases coming out later this year. You’ve heard all my praises for this album before, so support the curly haired guitarist from the Strokes and go pick up this album today.
Apostle of Hustle
National Anthem of Nowhere
If you enjoy Broken Social Scene’s latest album, with the messier, more jam band style of playing rather than You Forgot It In People, then chances are you’ll enjoy Andrew Whiteman’s (guitarist for Broken Social Scene) side project. There’s a few really good songs on here that would easily fit on You Forgot It In People, but the rest are a bit harder to digest. Not a bad album, but I’ll have to give it more time to sink in.
Air
Pocket Symphonies
“Pocket Symphony’ sure does drift over you like a duvet of mood-stabilising drugs.”
“Even with Nigel Godrich’s production it can’t but suffer from being just flat out uneventful”
“It’s certainly not exceptional, but it’s a consistent. pleasant listen that is pretty perfect for nondescript, rainy days.”
After reading reviews like the above, which there were numerous similar ones, as well as seeing it got an overall score of 56/100, I became quite sad. I love Air and Moon Safari is among the best albums I own so it was no surprise I was excited for a new release this year. Unfortunately, those reviews rained on my parade, but I still went ahead and listened to it. Sadly enough, most of the reviews were right and I hate to admit that. The sad thing is that none of the reviews were too cynical or downright mean for me to ever think, well they’re being a bit extreme. They all just stated how bland and downtempo the album was as a whole and I tend to agree with them. Sure Air are a downtempo electronic band in the first place, but they have plenty of upbeat songs on each album (Universal Traveler, Radio #1). But this album finds nothing of the sort. Maybe my mind will change soon since it is Air and I love pretty much everything they create, but I’m not going to bet on it. Let’s hope they find some energy next time around. For now, I’ll just save this new album for rainy days.
Once Upon a Time (my favorite song on the album)
Stream the album at their site
!!!
Myth Takes
Haven’t heard it yet. Any takers want to let me know how it is if you’ve heard it? I’m a big fan of Nic Offers’ old band Out Hud and never really got into !!!. But with all the reviews saying how they’re less out there this time around and this album is much more cohesive and accessible, I’m definately curious. If you see me walking to class with my iPod and dancing the whole way, chances are I’ve gotten a hold of this album.
So there you have it. Today’s a good day for music, so do yourself a favor and check all these albums out. There’s something there for everyone and I’m sure you’ll find that you really enjoy at least one of these albums.
