Ok, as promised, I'm gonna talk about some albums I got a hold of lately (most of them thanks to the nice collection at the local library). I might regret this later, but I'm gonna rate them on a 1 to 10 scale too. Here we go.
Emiliana Torrini - Me and Armini (8/10)
I liked the Fisherman's woman by Emiliana Torrini a lot, and also got to see her live at Pukkelpop sometime when that album had come out. A lot has changed for the Icelandic singer with Italian roots since then. After gaining some popularity with a song on the Lord of the Rings soundtrack and writing songs for other artists (most notably Slow by Kylie Minogue, which is a terribly annoying and overrated track imo), she broke into the mainstream with her own music with this album. Big Jumps and Jungle Drums made the soundtrack of some big American shows (Grey's Anatomy among others), and Jungle Drums even became a number 1 hit song in some European countries. She did some extensive touring for the album too. Now, about the album, I have to say I really like this. Whereas her previous effort was mostly standard slow-paced, acoustic, intimistic singer-songwriter material, here, she's also trying a lot of different things and gets away with it. "Big Jumps", "Jungle Drums" and the title track have a have a more up-tempo, poppy feel, there's the electric guitar on the repititive and driving "Gun" track, and some weird time signature in "Dead duck", but also some tracks that could've been on "Fisherman's women", like "Beggar's prayer" and "Fireheads". This album will grow on you, and there's no filler here. Good stuff.
New Young Pony Club - Fantastic Playroom (6.5/10)
Whatever happened to the whole post-punk revival of a couple years back? Franz Ferdinand are a shadow of what they used to be, and I haven't heard about The Rapture in a while. One of the bands that fits into that scene was the English New Young Pony Club, and I finally got around to listening to their "Fantastic Playroom" album. My expectations weren't really high, but this was a pleasant surprise. "Ice cream" was a really good single, and the rest of the album doesn't pale in comparison. This is just a set of fun, jumpy, danceable tracks. According to some live video's I checked on Youtube, they're (well, the singer anyway) pretty dreadful live though. They have a new album out now, which is more new wave and less post-punk apparently. I like "Hiding on the staircase" because it has a dynamic, latin-sounding percussion.
Wolfmother - Cosmic Egg (6.5/10)
I can be concise about this, even with the line-up changes, Wolfmother still sounds pretty the same, they still sound like classic rock seventies band with some stoner influences here and there, and the singer still varies between Ozzy O. and Robert P.-mode. As far as the songs on the album are concerned, I'd rate this about as high as their previous album. Good stuff if you're into the genre. "Phoenix" is one of my favourite tracks, has a nice bridge, and features the singer (+ studio production) doing a pretty sweet Ozzy.
Vampire Weekend - Contra (8/10)
The second effort by these New Yorkers is filled with fun, poppy tracks. They still have the afro music influence, but they experiment with some electronic stuff too on this album (mostly because the album was produced by the electronics guy in the band this time around). I can't say anything bad about this at all. "White Sky" is a more typical afro track with an electronic loop and has some nice falsetto action (which I would advise you not to attempt to sing along to in public), whereas "California English" is a really jumpy track that even uses some auto-tune.
Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes (6/10)
Because I knew My Morning Jacket and Band Of Horses on beforehand, I never really was a big Fleet Foxes enthousiast. I never really got what made them special (except maybe the slightly higher group vocals/campfire factor) in comparison to the aforementioned bands, that have played the style longer than them. After listening to the album, I still can't put my finger on what really made them that popular. Not saying it's a bad album, but it can't really grasp my attention for very long. "Ragged wood" is a good track though, even though the opening riff (here I go again, can't help it) sounds a little like the opening riff from this track.
These New Puritans - Hidden (7.5/10)
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And now for something special: one of the music press hypes of the last months was These New Puritans, an English band that tries to take indie rock a step further by mixing in elements from classical music and other genres. The album's pretty good, you should check it out sometime when you're in a really musically adventurous mood. I picked the song "Attack music", which demonstrates their musical style quite nicely and has some breakbeats and tribal drums.
The Big Pink - A brief history of love (9/10)
Hands down my favourite release of all the albums I'm reviewing here. Right from its inception, London-based The Big Pink got hyped a lot and I have to say I was a bit sceptical, but I have to admit their debut album is fantastic stuff. Genre-wise, they have the same clash between noise influences (The Jesus and Mary Chain) and sixties pop melodies like The Raveonettes, but this linked with slow, lament-styled songs like Glasvegas (but better). Apart from that, they also have a more electronic side and they use some samples and loops. This album is pretty much a concept album about love, the lyrics are pretty straightforward and simple, but heartfelt. Most songs are long but never really get boring, there's always a couple of good ideas in every song. Highly recommended listening material. The title track is a slow track with some female guest vocals, and "At war with the sun" is a more up-tempo track with a surfrock riff.
A Place To Bury Strangers - Exploding head (5.5/10)
Continuing with The Jesus and Mary Chain worship, A Place To Bury Strangers also goes for the noisy sound. One of the band members even has his own type/brand of distortion guitar pedal, so this record really sounds like it's supposed to. Unfortunately, unlike their debut album, they forgot to write real songs for this album so every track just sounds like the other and it's pretty hard to tell them apart. That's a shame, because "I lived my life to stand in the shadow of your heart" is a pretty damn cool song title.
Baroness - Blue Album (7/10)
This alternative metal band from Georgia gets compared to Mastodon a lot, although they have some non-metal tracks and more stoner rock influences. Their latest effort did well among music critics, it's a varied piece of work that's kind of hard to get into, but I guess you won't grow tired of it fast either. The pretty, colorful artwork was made by one of the band members.
Maxïmo Park - Quicken the heart (7/10)
Maxïmo Park blew me away with their 2005 Pukkelpop performance, and their excellent debut album "A certain trigger" spun around a lot in various music playing devices. The follow-up album however was a immense disappointment to me, and I pretty much had given up on the Park. I decided to give their third album one last try, and I think they're back on track with this one. They will probably never regain the sense of urgency that trademarked their first album, but they get pretty close here. Favourite "Roller disco dreams" with the melancholic guitar riff and synths reminds me of The Cure.
MSTRKRFT - Fist of God (6.5/10)
MSTRKRFT are a pretty hip DJ-duo, and this is their second album. The succesful single with John Legend isn't really representative for the whole album, they still have the Daft Punk influence, but I feel this one is even more an all-out party album then the previous one. Couple of filler tracks maybe, but most of the tracks on this could make me sprint to the nearest dancefloor, especially "Bounce".
Angels and Airwaves - Love (6.5/10)
I like the spacious A&A sound. No shame. Delonge will probably never reach his Blink level here, and lyrics aren't always his strong point, but I like listening to this. This album is very much comparable to "I-Empire" as far as the song material goes. And for an album that is titled "Love" and was released on Feb 14th, there's not that much corny songs featured.
Crowbar - Lifesblood for the downtrodden (7.5/10)
Crowbar are a metal band that pretty much created their own style and have been going since the nineties. They're working on a new album, but Lifesblood for the downtrodden from a couple years back is still an excellent effort. Fans of Pantera and Down probably checked this out already. The opening track "New Dawn" has a groovy Morbid Angel-style riff. Avoid if you like your music uplifting. Like this.
Deftones - Diamond Eyes (7.5/10)
Finally, the new Deftones album just came out, and there's no great departure in the sound so fans should like it. Sounds a bit harder than the more atmospheric "Saturday Night Wrist"-album. Overall I feel it's an album that is better listened to in its entirety than listening to individual songs. "CMD/CTRL" has a slight hip-hop feel, whereas the verse in "Prince" sounds a lot like some song on White Pony. Glad to see the guys are going strong even without their regular bass player.
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