Thursday, April 05, 2007

Summary of March

With the month like we had thus far in music, it's time to reflect back on the releases that unveiled in March this year. Here are my mini-reviews of each.

Modest Mouse - We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank
Absolutely incredible album. Starting off with the torque drenched, "March Into the Sea," this is Modest Meat at its finest and is one of the harder tracks on the album, which is followed by radio-friendly "Dashboard," which is also a top track on the album. Stoner anthem "Fire It Up" is incredible. I could keep going but it would be too thorough. James Mercer adds great touches to favorites like "Missed the Boat" and "Florida" Basically 1-7 are amazing...add "Little Motel" and "Spitting Venom" (an epic which I have ran into the ground) and you have a classic album. The only songs I am not just going crazy over is "Fly Trapped in a Jar" and "Invisible," however they are growing on me. Grade - A

Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
Arcade Fire sophomore effort is a slower tempo-ed even darker album than Funeral. However, it is an amazing album. Highlights include, "Keep the Car Running," "Anti-Christ Television Blues," "Intervention." Weaknesses of the album include "My Body is a Cage" (which is growing on me). Although I love the album, I still feel they could have done better...see "Power Out" and "Rebellions(Lies)" While I know it is like comparing apples to oranges, I don't find myself oohing and ahhing over it like I did with Funeral. This might be because I enjoy upbeat music more. I do love the album, I just wish there were more faster tracks that seem to make me keep coming back for more, and craving certain songs. Grade B+

Andrew Bird - Armchair Apocrypha
The Bird comes through in the clutch. This album is Andrew Bird at his finest, and is very up-tempo combining whistling, violins, mandolins, guitars and Martin Dosh's drums and effects. Highlights include "Dark Matter" "Fiery Crash" "Heretics" "Simple X" and "Plasticities" All highly recommended.
Grade A-

Son Volt - The Search
As I have nearly given up hope for my oldest obsession, Jay Farrar comes back with a pretty solid album. Although the album starts off with the weakest song on the cd, the rest of the album is non-comparison. The album is very diverse. It is mixed with poppy upbeat rock tunes ("The Picture"), Slow country steel guitar ballads ("Highway and Cigarettes")and middle of the road rock songs. "Adrenaline and Heresy" somehow points to Death Cab's "Different Names for the Same Thing" or "Transatlantacism." Highlights include "Circadian Rhythm," "Adrenaline and Heresy," "Beacon Soul," and "Methamphetamine" Grade B-

Panda Bear - Person Pitch
Although I do think this album is brilliant and unique, I feel it loses its luster after a while. I do enjoy popping it in every now and then but it is not something you can just put in anytime. In accord with the theme of this post.....it is a little slow for me. Highlights, "Bros," "Comfy in Nautica" I also think sometimes critics just decide on an album that they are going to rave about, which leads me to the next album..... Grade - C+

LCD Soundsystem - Sounds of Silver
This album is not as good as the critics say. Although I do LOVE "Someone Great" and "All My Friends" the rest of the songs are just pretty good...not great.
Grade - C

I know no one leaves comments but I would love to hear opinions.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm speechless.
1. Slow Hearse is one of the best on the album.
2. Methamphetamine is one of the best songs i've heard in a long time.
3.March in to the sea: terrible
4 fire it up: terrible
5. little motel: worse
6. i bet you like steam genius, which by the way is terrible too.
7. these two cd's don't even compare. One is real music and the other is a drunk that writes crap lyrics that sounds like a cross between alien ant farm, weezer, and a fred durst acustic performance.
8. by the way, What light from sky blue sky is the only song i've heard this year better than methamphetamine.

Unknown said...

um... wow
1. Methamphetamine is a very good song
2. Slow Hearse sucks... i got 20 seconds into that song and thought "oh crap"... glad the rest of the album was a little better.
3. i can not say a bad thing about before we were dead... some songs are better than others but incredible job following up 2 previous albums.

as for "the search" its not bad but i would definitely give it a C+ at best... whole lotta songs on there that are easily forgettable... and considering the guy has written about half a dozen albums better than this one... im pretty disappointed

Neon Bible is not Funeral, but what is?... i love the title track, keep the car running, and a number of others

David McPhail said...

1. Slow hearse, though not my favorite, is a good song.
2. Modest Mouse album is the only one this year to live up to my expectations.
3. Neon Bible is overrated. 3 or 4 great songs do not make a great album. Though it is really not fair to Arcade Fire because Funeral created unreachable expectations for a follow up.
4.Let's not go sucking each others #$@@% just yet. The Son Volt album is a great improvement from the last one, but still not a great album. I do like it though.
5.Andrew Bird is great, though like Arcade Fire, the last album cannot be topped.
6. The Hold Steady is still the best album of the year.

DMAC

ADC said...

Hello Lollapalooza early lineup announced today. Went last year, going this year.