The National's "High Violet" - Living Up to Expectations

So the new National album (due May 11th on 4AD Records) has had quite the buzz around it now for several months. Numerous tracks have been strategically leaked and the band played on Jimmy Fallon a few nights back, further building the anticipation for the album. Instead of waiting till the official release date, the full length album was streamed this weekend in concert with a New York Times feature article on the band. (Visit the NY Times to read the full length article)

Like the previous two National releases (Alligator and Boxer) this album has several outstanding tracks that will only continue to grow on you over time. The album keeps to the group's style with very dark, sorrowful lyrics amidst deep, layered instrumental rock. The rich drumming on this release really stands out from the previous albums, as the group is more apt to using lead singer Matt Berninger's classic baritone to augment the music this time around. Stand out tracks include Sorrow, Anyone's Ghost, Runaway and Afraid of Everyone, the latter featuring Sufjan Stevens on background vocals.

No doubt this album is going to find itself on numerous top ten lists at the end of the year. Highly highly recommended.

Johnny Cash's "American VI: Ain't No Grave" - A fantastic swan song

"American VI: Ain't No Grave" is the final release of Johnny Cash material from the much heralded American Recording Series produced by Rick Rubin. Each of the recordings has featured stripped down covers and a few originals which did an amazing job in reinventing Johnny Cash's career. While Cash didn't necessarily need to be reinvented, these new recordings did their purpose and served to reintroduce Cash to a new audience.

While this album is not as good as American II or American VI, there is a vibe in this album that makes it stand out completely differently. Perhaps the album's content, featuring very dark vocals on mortality and redemption, is amplified due to its posthumous release. The opening title track stands as arguably one of the best recordings of the entire series. The cover of the Hawaiian classic Aloha Oe, placed at the end of the album, is as fitting a finale to an album i've ever heard. Also standing out on the album is the cover of Sheryl Crow's Redemption Song and the cover of the Sons Of the Pioneers' cowboy classic Cool Water.

Unlike other posthumuous releases, which compile B-Sides and discarded material, this release truly represents the final recordings of the late great Johnny Cash. We should all be thankful to be able to hear one last set of recordings from him. Highly recommended!

Broken Bells - Darker that you think...

This is really a fantastic listen. James Mercer of The Shins and Danger Mouse have crafted an album of airy harmonies intermixed with psychedlic production. While the music itself is somewhat light, what might be missed at the first few listens is the relatively dark nature of the lyrics on the album centering on breaking up, moving on, etc. Unfortunately, Broken Bells is not nearly as good as any Shins' album or other Danger Mouse produced albums, but it has several good moments and you'll definitely find yourself enjoying the ride. Recommended.

The Flaming Lip's "Dark Side Of the Moon" - A Stellar Effort

First things first. I promised to blog more and beginning this week I will blog more. Expect weekly album reviews, sports rants and misc nonsense. I'm going to start this week by catching up with some albums already released this year.



Now I love Pink Floyd and DSOTM has always been one of my all time favorite albums. That being said, this effort by the Flaming Lips, arguably the only band "worthy" of remaking this seminal album, is quite good and well worth the listen. The album is a straight cover of the original album done not completely note for note, but in a very Flaming Lips psychedelic type of way

I particularly am fond of the use of Henry Rollins and Peaches. The guest appearances are not over-bearing and never take away from the original material. I think what makes this album so good is that it actually serves in many ways to remind you how good the original album is. For instance, after many years on classic rock radio, Money has become stale and boring; however the reworking on this album not only is well done, but it serves to refresh the original.

In the end, the original album is always going to be one of the most important albums of all time. Any reimagining/reworking of the album has to be done with nothing but the greatest of respect to the original material. This was the right group to do this. Well done.

Mew's "No More Stories Are Told Today, I'm Sorry They Washed Away; No More Stories, The World Is Grey; I'm Tired, Let's Wash Away"

Ok, Mew's second full length release, the insanely long album titled "No More Stories..." might catch your eye only due to the long album title. Title aside, this album is an amazing prog rock masterpiece by the Danish four piece which is at times rocking and at times mellow and appeasing. Prog rock is the forgotten rock genre which you never hear about "resurging". That's not necessarily a bad thing, as albums like these can still be released and get noticed.

The album might sound a bit chaotic and unorganized at first listen, but after several listens you see the complexly woven mesh that underlays this amazing release. Be sure to give it several listens, you won't be disappointed.

Health's "Get Color" - Dance Punk Hipness

Health is an interesting group creating an interesting sound. Health has managed to fuse digital elements with heavy rock/noise riffs and pounding drums to create a unique dance punk sound. "Get Color" is a noisy, distorted, loud, somewhat abrasive album that still manages to be catchy and totally danceable. It'll fit right in with your experimental indie rock playlist of The Boredoms, The Liars and Deerhoof.

The album will be released on September 8th on Secretly Canadian Records. I recommend it.

Jonsi & Alex's "Rice Boy Sleeps" - Very Pretty and Very Boring

Jonsi and Alex is the side project of Jonsi Birgisson of the fantastic Sigur Ros. Jonsi and Alex's vision is to release a minimal acoustic album of ambient music devoid of the characteristic vocals and rock bombast of a standard Sigur Ros album.

Make no mistake, this album is well crafted. Lush orchestration and sparsely intermixed choral arrangements are throughout this album. The album is very very pretty. Unfortunately, the album is also very very boring. Maybe i'm spoiled from the stellar Sigur Ros releases, but never throughout the course of this album do you feel yourself moved. The album strives to enthrall, but only succeeds in putting the listener to sleep.

Japandroids' "Post-Nothing" - Awesome!

Japandroids are two guys. One guitar, one drum set, two sets of vocals. Sounds small right? There is absolutely nothing "minimal" about these guys or this album. Loud, raucous, heavily distorted rock music that sounds like it's coming from a five piece band is what this is.

What really sells this album is that these two don't care that they are releasing what is seemingly self-indulgent guitar rock with a healthy dose of early-90's distortion. They just know you're going to turn up your stereos as loud as you can and just flat out rock out to the songs here. No one song sticks out over any other; but the album will leave you feeling very sated. Rock on!

The album was released on Poly-Vinyl Records on August 4, 2009. Pick it up.

Yacht's "See Mystery Lights" - Fantastic Futuristic Pop

Fantastic. Absolutely fantastic experimental Über-pop. Yacht takes an eclectic mix of electronic effects (digitized beats, spacey synths, vocoder effects, lasers) and makes it all sound fresh and different. It's bouncy, futuristic, poppy jam music, but it's also damn good. Not my normal style, but highly recommended nonetheless.

Blitzen Trapper's "Black River Killer" - Unnecessarily overproduced countrified rock

This is really unfortunate. Blitzen Trapper has a nice head of steam going for them, and are likely getting ready to "break through" as a big band. Their countrified pop rock is somewhat formulaic, but i'm not going to lie and tell you its bad. I'm generally a fan of the more folksie rock that is being released nowadays, but this album is just too poppy and overproduced for what its trying to be. A more genre friendly approach would have seen the group stick to the more minimally produced style they showcased with "Furr". "Black River Killer" (which is technically a long seven song EP, not a full length CD) is a disappointment (with the exception of the title track, which fittingly enough was on the first album), but that likely doesn't matter, as I think this album might be meant "for the masses", not the indie geek.

On a side note, apparently Sub Pop Records now releases all their CDs in the gatefold "LP-style" slipcases. Quite frankly, I like it. In my opinion this style actually helps to showcase album art better, which is a good thing.

Pissed Jeans - King Of Jeans Review

So below I posted the image of the cover art of Pissed Jeans' new release King Of Jeans, mainly to highlight the fact that the cover art is awful.

I did get around to reviewing the record and I must say that it is pretty damn rocking. Hard, brash punk rock with the pounding rhythms and fuzz soaked riffs. Ignore the cover art and check out the album, as its probably the best punk rock album released this year.

Fruit Bats' "The Ruminant Band" - A nice retro listen!

Just got done reviewing The Fruit Bats' new album The Ruminant Band (Sub Pop Records). A well crafted album of alt-country rock. A very 70's-esque vibe to it with a mix of dark lyrics amidst a cheery background. The high-pitched, twangy vocals compliment the album well. I'm giving it a 7 out of 10.

Think Fleetwood Mac or acoustic Shins. Try it.