Tuesday, August 29, 2006

They Might Be Giants -- Mink Car



It's taken me a long time to try out They Might Be Giants, it wasn't until my brother got really into them and picked up just about every album they'd done that I decided to give them another chance. Bascially I wanted a different album then Flood which is the one that every would listen to. One that actually caught my attention was the album Mink Car. This is a delightful album with some meat to it that I hadn't expected. I actually like every song on this album with one exception being Cyclops Rock. This album doesn't seem as childish as a lot of their other stuff, it has the same feel but yet each song has a bit more to it then I expected. I've actually found myself coming back to this album when I want to listen to TMBG. There are a lot of different kinds of music on this album, from Mink Car to Another First Kiss and Man It's So Loud In Here. Each song just continued to surprise me how much I liked it.

After listening to this entire album, I'd have to give it high nods. As definatly my favorite TMBG album to date, and for being able to surprise me a lot. I still would have a hard time recommending it as you either like or dislike TMBG, but if you do dislike them but haven't listened to this album, give it a try, let yourself listen to it by yourself and you might just like it. I'm going to give this one 4 out of 4 stars for being such a surprising album for me, and showing me that TMBG actually have some good musical talent.

Weezer -- The Green Album



Weezer is a tough band for me to swallow, originally liking them a little bit back in high school, I have since not been able to keep up with most of their stuff. Due to my need to have music that will take twists and turns and Weezer is very stable in their own brand of music that it doesn't quite sit well with me. There are exceptions even with this band, but this album doesn't fit in that catergory. The thing that irritates me about this album is how much they embrace their staying in one genre, as they have ten songs, all fit around 3 minutes and clock the album in at around 30 minutes, hardly worth calling it a full album as I know of EPs that are that long. The one song I feel that sort of makes its mark on the album and saves it from totally mediocrity is the song "Hash Pipe", though it has the same cord progression through the song, it does have a little bit of an edge to it that makes it a little different. Now I know there will be a lot of disagreements but let me put this forth, I liked the first album, then the second album blew me away so I figured a third album would be even better, but it feels like they decided that normalcy was good enough for them. Sure there are some catchy pop songs, but who now a days can't make a catchy pop song.

I'm just not a big fan of this album, I don't hate it as much as it seems, it just doesn't do anything for me, but because of this I also just don't like listening to it in leisure, I've taken them off my iPod so that people won't choose it as I don't really want to listen to it. I'm not going to recommend this to anyone but if you do like the kind of music I would recommend checking out Pinkerton. As this has basically one saving grace this one is getting 1 out of 4 stars.

30 Seconds To Mars -- A Beautiful Lie



I first found out about 30 Seconds to Mars shortly after their first album was released, I had heard about 2 songs and wasn't impressed at all, so 4 years later, it was surprise to me to see that they had made a music video for their new album, I really hadn't expected them to make it past that first album. But when I heard the song "Attack" I actually liked it, then about a month later when I heard the song "The Kill" from the same album, and really liked it I thought I should give the band a second chance. Upon hearing this album I find a lot of good singles but not an overall good album. The thing that bugged me the most is the tenth track is incredibly repetetive and then they drop out to give you a hidden track after ten minutes of nothing, but what was worse was that after that there are two more tracks. When going to wikipedia I found that apparently the actual album ended there but they added the next two tracks as bonus tracks. But still, even doing that, to have a ten minute pause in the middle of an album is just downright dumb and obnoxious.

The songs onthe album are actually pretty good, sometimes though he goes into his screaming voice and it doesn't work as well. But I really do like the radio friendly hits like Attack and The Kill. Their music is much like a hard pop band, radio friendly songs with a hard edge. So overall, not many recommendations around the board. I give this album 2 and 1/2 stars as it's got some good songs on it, but some of the obnoxious things just made me angry.

Wednesday, August 23, 2006

We Are Scientists -- With Love and Squalor



I first found out about these guys when I saw their music video for "Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt" which featured the band being chased by a man in a bear costume. I found the song to be so catchy that in the days following I couldn't stop thinking about the song and had to eventually buy the cd. This breakout album for the surprisinly witty band is a very good one. They are an indie rock band for those that don't know yet. My biggest problem with the album is it has a lot of good singles but as an album I rarely listen to the whole thing, I'll often skip tracks to others. But the singles how they score, they are well played on my iPod.

If you like the way music is currently going in this era then you should check out We Are Scientists. My hope is that they don't just end up getting lost in all of those types of bands coming out right now, that they'll be able to make a name for themselves. Overall it's not an album that I love, I like it, but don't love it. Thus I'm going to give it 3 out of 4 stars.

Sasha -- Airdrawndagger



Sasha is a Welsh DJ that plays mostly dance trance music. Trance is a form of techno which can be described as more psychadelic then other forms of techno. This is a very weird cd for me to own as I personally only scratch the surface of techno with quite mainstream groups, and so to have something like this is very odd. I got this off of a recommendation and saw it pretty cheap so I decided to pick it up. This is very hard for me to judge as it's so different then anything else i've had to judge. It's a lot of hard beats with a dance element and weird audio effects. I do admit, so far in the times I've listened to it, I've enjoyed it the most as I listened to it with headphones. I especially like the last song titled Wavy Gravy. Overall I really like this one with headphones on, but haven't enjoyed it other times.

I really have no idea where to start on recommending this one. I guess I can say if you like trance then pick this one up, but then I think if you already like trance then you already know about this cd. Overall as I like it, but don't really think I'll listen to it much more then every once in a while, I'm going to give this one 2.5 out of 4 stars. It's good as I listen to it, but I really doubt I'll put it in all that much.

Wednesday, August 16, 2006

The Mars Volta -- "Frances The Mute"



The Mars Volta is a very interesting band, as wikipedia explains, "They are generally considered progressive rock, with heavy punk and Latin influences. They are known for their wild and energetic live shows, cryptic lyrics, and experimentation in and use of ambient music to help establish mood." Now when they say Latin, they mean the language. Frances The Mute is their second album and it follows this description quite well. I personally think this album is completely brilliant. Stocked to the brim and coming in at about 72 minutes, this album gives some amazing pounding musical moments and really good lyrics from English to Latin. The thing about this album is it has sparked debate in the fact that this album is an extreme album, they take things to the extreme in this one. Thus, if you don't like the extremes you will hate this album, if you do, you will love this album. There aren't many people that are on the fence when it comes to this album. This album gives lots of long ballads and amazing ambient sounds. Overall I just love this album.

Now because of the fact that this is such an extreme album, it's hard for me to recommend it to anyone. It has such a style that most people I know wouldn't like it. But then I could be wrong. If you want to give it a try then go for it, but don't blame me if you don't like it. But if you do, let's be friends. 4 out of 4 stars.

Ozomatli -- "Ozomatli"



Imagine taking a ten piece latin group that sings in spanish, add in a bunch of english rappers, stir it together and add in a whole lot of Funkiness and you have Ozomatli. This the first album by Ozomatli was the first one I ever heard and I was as blown away then as I am today by how awesome of a sound this is. You won't find a band like Ozomatli anywhere else. This particular cd has the band accompanied by Chali 2na of Jurassic 5 and Cut Chemist on the turntables. This cd excels so much in creating and defining new sounds, there are just so many things that go on and it all mixes into good music.

Those that are willing to try new things might want to try this group. Also those that like salsa, latin or spanish music, plus those that enjoy musical rap should check this one out. If you haven't heard Ozomatli yet, give them a try. 4 out of 4 stars staight up.

Tuesday, August 15, 2006

De-Phazz -- "Godsdog"



Now here's an interesting cd. I first heard De-Phazz on last.fm, and after hearing a couple songs I decided to pick this album up to see how it all is. It's basically what you would get if you were to mix a jazz band obsessed with dance and techno. It's basically a cool electronic dance cd where they take most of their style from 50s and 60s dance music and electronisize it. It gives it a really interesting and very groovy style. It's this kind of thing that makes me excited to see what new things I can find. There are also some more jazz influenced tunes which honestly aren't as good. The best songs are "Mambo Craze", "Jazz Music", Happiness", "Godsdog" and "Next Message".

Overall this is a really cool and inventive cd, and very enjoyable. Because of this I think I can recommend it to almost anyone as it's so interesting. I'm also going to give this one 4 out of 4 stars because this. Very good cd.

Chubb Rock -- "I Gotta Get Mine Yo!"



Now here's an interesting cd. Chubb Rock is a really fat rapper from the early 90s. I first got this cd due to the fact that I'd never heard of the guy but it looked funny and it was one dollar. The first half of the cd is just weird, it has songs such as "The Milk is Spoiled" which has the weirdest lyrics in the world. So I first thought this was just an odd one in my collection, but the second half actually is quite decent, and showcases some good old school rapping. But overall it's just a silly album with not much to it. But for one dollar it was good buy.

Unless you really like old school rap you probably won't like this one. So don't worry about it. Because most of the album is pretty lame but it still has some good songs, I'm going to give this one 2 out of 4 stars.

Fatboy Slim -- "Palookaville"



Fatboy Slim is a Big Beat Techno master. This is his fourth album Palookaville which unlike his other albums relies more on actual instruments. This album is just a complete treat to listen to. Even though it's a techno album it uses a lot of actual instuments and features a lot of differing and amazing sounds. Two of the best examples of this are firstly the song "Wonderful Night" which is a rap and techno collaboration featuring Lateef of Quannum Productions. The thing that is really cool about it though is that it has a 50s style beat with lots of instumentation as well as melodious rapping. The other song of mention is a cover on the Steve Miller Band song "The Joker" which features former Parliment band member Bootsy Collins in vocals. It gives the song a very funk laden sound and makes it definatly it's own song and not just a similar sounding cover.

This cd is just brilliant and I think everyone should give it a try. It redifines the things you can hear in a techno album. This one recieves a definate 4 out of 4 stars.

moe. -- "Dither"



moe. Another Jam band, but this one is more funky then the others. This cd in particular is much more mellow then the other albums they've put out, which is nice. I really like the song "Tambourine" as it combines early 40s sounds with the sounds of today. The problem with this cd however is it's not really all that memorable. When I get songs on random I don't remember what it's from. And I always forget about this cd. It's very nice and mellow, but it doesn't make much of an impression. You listen to it, think, oh this is nice and then forget about it. It has a lot of songs though that are very universal and easily anyone could get into such as, "Faker", "New York City", and "In a Big Country". All of the songs on this album were in their rotation for a year or two before they put it on an album.

I see a lot of potential in this cd for me to listen to it again and again, if only I could remember it. It's got some great singles and I think that's it's draw. I'd recoemmend it to just about anyone if you wanna give it a try, I think it's quite universal that just about anyone could get into some of the songs on the album. So as such I'm going to give this one 3 out of 4 stars, as it is quite good, but not really lasting.

Modest Mouse -- "The Moon and Antarctica"



Modest Mouse is a very interesting band, you've probably heard of them as they've had a big radio hit with the song "Float On". This particular cd came about 3 years before that song came out. I really like this album, it's got some great songs, both soothing and exciting. So far it's my favorite Modest Mouse album. When thinking of songs to write down for exceptional I can think of almost every song for ones to write about. So the only one I will write about is my personal favorite, "Tiny Cities Made Of Ashes", which has a really good base line to loud screaming weirdity that is so incredibly unique. Ending the cd with the song "What People Are Made Of" gives it a punk sounding sign off which really helps out the album as a whole.

The people that I won't recommend this to are those that don't like swearing in their music, this cd is laden with swearing and so if you don't like it, find a different cd. A couple of the songs don't have swearing but most of the good ones do. Modest Mouse is also a band in which it's hard to find who likes them and who doesn't, they have a very distinctive sound. I'm not even sure myself if I'm a big fan of Modest Mouse as this is the only album so far that I've really gotten into. But what a good one it is. This is a definate 4 star album. 4 out of 4. Good work.

Monday, August 14, 2006

Widespread Panic -- "Don't Tell The Band"



This is the 7th studio album from the southern rock jam band Widespread Panic. If you could give each jam band a different classification, these guys would be the southern sound, as they have a similar sound to bands such as Lynyrd Skynyrd and the like. From Athens Georgia, the same town the REM is from, these guys are very loyal to their sound, they will experiment and what not, but very southern rooted. This album is very fan friendly and can easily be one of their best albums. They also have songs on the album such as Big Wooly Mammoth in which they've been playing for years just never had it on an album. They also take a decent stab at latin music with the song "Casa Del Grillo".

This is a good album that I can recommend to anyone that likes Southern Rock, it's not very Jammy so it's more friendly to regular listeners. Overall it's a pretty good album, I have a bit of hesitancy in my voice as you can probably see. Though it's a good album, it doesn't become one that you think, ah I should get out this album. It's not very lasting in that manner. So I'm going to give it 3.5 out of 4 stars.

Soul Coughing -- "Irresistible Bliss"



Soul Coughing is an interesting band that I got into big in high school. This is their first cd I ever picked up of theirs, but it's actually their second album. The band didn't go on for too long as big differences in the band caused them to break up shortly after their third album came out. Which makes sense when you read up about it because M. Doughty, the front man was very controlling. Now though I was into this band in high school, it was mostly for the songs as they have some good singles but the other songs aren't all that great as is evident on this cd. The first song Super Bon Bon is awesome, as is Soundtrack to Mary and my personal favorite Disseminated. Besides that I don't really find much substance to the rest of the album. The music is pretty good as it's about the same as the other stuff, but the lyrics are just jibberish and nonsense. Or as in the case of "4 of 5" basic addition problems. They seem to have wanted to capatilize on the success and raw energy of their first album, but didn't quite do it right. On listening to it again, I have found there is one other song I really enjoy that I'd forgotten called "Collapse".

I'm not gonna recommend this one to anyone, as Soul Coughing is quite hard to get into, and if you did want to get into them I'd recommend a different album. I'm not as impressed with this album as I once was, but even then I wasn't all that impressed. I do like some of the songs quite a bit and for that and for it being one of my favorite bands back in high school I'm giving this album 2.5 stars out of 4.

Thursday, August 10, 2006

Blackalicious -- "A2G"



As I've said before I'm completely addicted to everything that Quannum Productions has to offer. Blackalicious which is a mix of rappers Gift of Gab and Chief Xcel. This album is their first EP which came before their first album Nia. So as such being an EP it only has 7 tracks. I don't like it as much as their other stuff but that doesn't mean I don't like this one as I really do. The knockout of this album however is called "Alphabet Aerobics" where Blackalicious raps about each letter of the alphabet. They do this song in 2 and a half minutes and hear are the words of that song as well just to give you a little understanding about what's going on.

(Now it's time for our wrap up
Let's give it everything we've got
Ready? Begin)

Artificial amateurs, aren't at all amazing
Analytically, I assault, animate things
Broken barriers bounded by the bomb beat
Buildings are broken, basically I'm bombarding
Casually create catastrophes, casualties
Cancelling cats got their canopies collapsing
Detonate a dime of dank daily doin dough
Demonstrations, Don Dada on the down low
Eatin other editors with each and every energetic
Epileptic episode, elevated etiquette
Furious fat fabulous fantastic
Flurries of funk felt feeding the fanatics
Gift got great global goods gone glorious
Gettin godly in his game with the goriest
Hit em high, hella height, historical
Hey holocaust hints hear 'em holler at your homeboy
Imitators idolize, I intimidate
In a instant, I'll rise in a irate state
Juiced on my jams like jheri curls jockin joints
Justly, it's just me, writin my journals
Kindly I'm kindling all kinds of ink on
Karate kick type brits in my kingdom
Let me live a long life, lyrically lessons is
Learned lame louses just lose to my livery
My mind makes marvelous moves, masses
Marvel and move, many mock what I've mastered
Niggas nap knowin I'm nice naturally
Knack, never lack, make noise nationally
Operation, opposition, off, not optional
Out of sight, out of mind, wide beaming opticals
Perfected poem, powerful punchlines
Pummelling petty powder puffs in my prime
Quite quaint quotes keep quiet it's Quannum
Quarrelers ain't got a quarter of what we got uh
Really raw raps, risin up rapidly
Riding the rushing radioactivity
Super scientifical sound search sought
Silencing super fire saps that are soft
Tales ten times talented, too tough
Take that, challengers, get a tune up
Universal, unique untouched
Unadulterated, the raw uncut
Verb vice lord victorious valid
Violate vibes that are vain make em vanished
? well would a wise wordsmith just
Weaving up words weeded up, I'm a workshift
Xerox, my X-ray-diation holes extra large
X-height letters, and xylophone tones
Yellow back, yak mouth, young ones yaws
Yesterday's lawn yards sell our (yawn?)
Zig zag zombies, zoomin to the zenith
Zero in zen thoughts, overzealous rhyme ZEA-LOTS!....

(good....can you say it faster?)

It's really good. You oughta listen to it sometime. Now as rap goes this is some seriously awesome stuff, but if you've given it a chance and still don't like it I can totally understand, but don't just say you don't like rap so you won't like this stuff, as it is different then everything you're used to. I like most of the stuff on here but some of it just doesn't hit the spot like I thought it would, as such it's going to get 3.5 out of 4 stars. It's understandable as it's their first stuff, but believe me when I say it's probably the lowest rating Blackalicious will be getting. :)

Foo Fighters -- "Colour and Shape"



This is the third cd I ever bought. After seeing the Monkey Wrench music video on tv I instantly fell in love with the Foo Fighters. Being in 8th grade and experiencing such good rock, I was so new to the genre as a whole but I started on a really good cd. For those that don't know, The Foo Fighters was started by front man Dave Grohl who was the drummer for Nirvana and when Cobain died he wanted to go on in music and created the Foo Fighters. This is their second cd and though no my favorite of all their cds it is still an amazing cd. This cd shows what 90s alternative music was all about. It also has just about the coolest effect ever created, if you have headphones on during "Enough Space" it'll make your head spin. Really.

This is one of the best 90s rock albums ever. If you want to find out about mid 90s rock this one can sum it up pretty well. It had three hit singles from "Monkey Wrench", "Hero", and "Everlong" which has one of the coolest music videos ever, directed by Michel Gondry. I recommend this cd to anyone that likes alternative music. It won't dissappoint. Easy 4 out of 4 stars.

The Urge -- "Master of Styles"



Imagine hard rock band Distrubed had a child with ska group Mighty Mighty Bosstones and you'd have The Urge. A very energetic band that combines hard rock with ska for a very distinct sound all their own. This their second album expands on all the good things they did on the first album but also lands some maturity as well as guest vocals by the band's good buddies 311. Unfortunatly for having such a cool sound it only lasted 3 albums before the band broke up over musical differences. This album is definatly the band's most mature album as they knew what they were doing in this one. They're able to flow from song to song with very fluid movement. They were able to take the raw energy from the first album and really define it in this one. If you're looking for an interesting cd then this one is one you should check out.

The Urge is not for everyone, and it's also slim pickins as there are only three cds. But if you like ska or hard rock or both and you're looking for something interesting you might want to check out this album particularly. Back in high school I couldn't get enough of this cd, now I like it when I listen to it. It's not as lasting as most cds, but it's still quite good. Because of this I'm giving it 3 stars out of 4. If it was a little more lasting then it could hop up to 3.5. But it'll be at 3.

Wednesday, August 09, 2006

Medeski, Martin and Wood -- "Notes From The Underground"


John Medeski on keyboards, Billy Martin on Drums and Chris Woods on Double Bass and Bass Guitar make up this jazz trio Medeski, Martin and Wood also refered to as MMW. MMW formed in 1991 then shortly after that released their first album, this album, Notes From the Underground. This is one of the few albums of theirs that is all acoustic as Medeski found it hard to lug a piano around everywhere. The thing that sets MMW apart from most Jazz bands is their ties to freeform Jazz. This being their first album is a lot more based in actual Jazz and is a very soothing as well as exciting album. But it does delve into freeform jazz as well. Mark had asked why MMW is considered in the Jam Band catergory as most Jam Band enthusiasts also like MMW. Well apparently they opened for Phish a couple times and Trey of Phish gave them the moniker of being a Jam Band.

MMW is very much a listen to with headphones on type of band. They're best played in that context. If you like Jazz you might want to give them a try. Though some jazz enthusiasts really don't like them all that much. Everytime I listen to this album I really like it, but then I forget about it, and don't listen to it until a couple months later. It's a good album, but it isn't extraordinary. So I'm going to give it 3.5 out of 4 stars.

Tuesday, August 08, 2006

Muse -- "Absolution"



Muse is a band from the UK which to me personally sounds like Radiohead with a little more of an edge. I really like this band, and I think they have a lot of potential to get a really large fan base. The song "Stockholm Syndrome" is a myriad of sounds which all blend together to make a really kickin' song. This was the song that sold me on buying the album. With the lead singers really high voice and the crunching guitars, as well as the electronic element, this band really has a lot of potential. Just about every song on the cd also has potential to be a hit single which is really good for an album.

Muse comes highly recommended. They're not too hard that you'll consider them hard rock, but they're not pansies either. I'd recommend them to just about everyone, and think this is a good cd to start with. It's the only one I have so far, but I plan on owning more. 4 of 4 stars straight up.

Phish -- "Junta"



Phish is my personal favorite band of all time. So I'm quite biased when it comes to their music. I decided though to first do my favorite album so I wouldn't start them off on the wrong foot. Junta is a two disc album which is the band's first marketed album. Phish is a Jamband, and for a slight explanation on that if you don't know check out String Cheese Incident's Outside Inside album. This album is my favorite as it has most of my favorite jams in it. It also has probably my favorite song of all time being "Divided Sky", which is twelve minute very mellow jam which just makes me feel all bubbly inside. Though I don't think this is a nessicarily a good album to start off with, it has most of my all time favorites.

So as for recommendations, if you like Phish you should already own this one. It's hard when recommending Jambands to anyone because most people just can't handle 12-15 minute songs, but if you think that that is your idea of a really good song, then you should be into jambands. As this is my favorite album by my favorite band with my favorite song on it, there's no way I wouldn't give it 4 out of 4 stars, which is what it's getting obviously.

Monday, August 07, 2006

String Cheese Incident -- "Outside Inside"



Taking a more rock style for their third studio album, the bluegrass influenced jam band String Cheese Incident, tries to showcase their talent to a larger audience. For those that don't know much about Jam Bands, it's a movement of bands which focus on improvisation more then form in their songs. Having live concerts where a song which may sound one way on an album sounds much differently when they play it. This style is something I really like as I enjoy being surprised and finding new ways for things to be done. I enjoy improvisation quite a bit and String Cheese Incident (SCI for short) is one of the best. Now the strength of most Jam Bands is in their live performace which means that their albums are usually a lot less desired. Jam Bands usually feed off of the energy of the audience and with no such thing in a studio they are out of their element, and you can definatly tell the difference when you listen to it. However for this album I think String Cheese really wanted to put together a good album, and though it's still not as good as their live stuff it is their best album I've heard thus far. The song "Latinissmo" especially which relies heavily on light salsa music is very good. One thing about SCI that is interesting is there is no front man, each of the members of the band have written about as many songs as the rest of the members. So you find lots of different tastes in each song.

Overall I'd say this is a good starting point into the world of Jambands, and also just a really good cd in which many people could probably like, even if you're not a big fan of Jambands. It's probably one of the most universal albums in the genre. Overall I'm going to give this one a 3.5 out of 4 stas as it is really close to getting high honors but not quite there. Still it comes highly recommended.

Led Zeppelin -- IV



Many consider this band to be the greatest rock band of all time. I personally wouldn't go that far but they're definatly up there. I've definatly had my Led Zeppelin moments and I do own quite a number of their cds. Overall I really do like this band, and this cd showcases some of their best stuff including the greatest rock song of all time "Stairway To Heaven". If you want to get into Led Zeppelin this is probably the best starting point, with great lengthy rock songs and mellow soothing ballads this one is sure to please. My favorite song on the album is actually "The Battle Of Evermore", it is a nice melodious ballad that makes you feel good as you listen.

If you like rock you'll probably like this cd. Usually I don't tell people to buy albums without listening but I think anyone can safely buy this one and not be dissappointed. Though this isn't my favorite Led Zeppelin album it is in the top 3 and it deserves four stars.

Flogging Molly -- "Drunken Lullabies"



If you haven't heard of Flogging Molly you might want to check them out. For those that don't know the kind of music they play, they're a seven piece Irish-American Celtic Punk Band. Imagine Irish drinking songs combined with Punk music and you have Flogging Molly. Drunken Lullabies is the first album of theirs I heard, and it's their second studio album. The first song is a great way to kcik off the cd, just pure unadulterated awesomeness. They showcase everything in this song, being as it's the title track "Drunken Lullabies". After that they give a lot of good singles.

I'm really bad at preidcting a Flogging Molly fan, and thus, I don't quite know who to recommend it to, it'll have to be on a person to person basis. Overall this cd is quite good, but it fails to keep my attention for too long. I like all of the songs when I hear them randomly, but due to the very similar sounding nature of all the songs it fails to keep me hooked through an entire album. Though I do like just about every song on the album. So because of these factors it still gets a high rating but not too high. 3 out of 4 stars.

Saturday, August 05, 2006

Jimmy Eat World -- "Bleed American"


From the album that brought you the huge radio hit "The Middle" comes the band Jimmy Eat World. I decided to try and give this album a chance, and as I started with the title track I was actually quite surprised, it was a really rockin' song and I thought, well maybe I was wrong about Jimmy Eat World, they might be a harder band then I thought. But then I got to the second song and it sounded a lot like the Middle. And sure enough, so did the rest of the album. The song which really killed the album for me though is called "Authority Song". Here's a sample of the lyrics sung to a high poppy voice, "It's how the hustle goes, see what the jukebox knows. Put my last quarter on, I play "Authority Song". Honesty or mystery? Tell me I'm not scared anymore. I got no secret purpose, I don't seem obvious do I? I don't seem obvious do I? The DJ never has it, J A M C Automatic. If those were Roy's headphones, you bet he'd play "What Goes On"."

Oh Gosh, this cd really just didn't do anything for me. It's a bunch of poppy songs that sound the same, and when I listen to a band, I need to be surprised once in a while. Though the first song actually did surprise me and I think I'll listen to it again, it was the only song that did so and can not save this album. I really don't recommend this one to anyone. I'm giving this one a whopping 1 out of 4 stars.

Lyrics Born -- "Same !@#$ Different Day"


I'm currently in love with all things that come from Quannum Productions. Lyrics Born is the Japanese-American of Quannum Productions and my favorite of their rappers. Quannum Productions altogether as a whole just blow me away with the kinds of lyrics mixed with music that they're able to come up with. This is his second solo album and has new songs as well as remixes of old songs which are really good. Unlike Rap now a days Lyrics Born raps about more then just the typical things you hear. Also the things he uses for background are well thought out and aren't the usual beat skip beat skip gunshot type beat. In his song "Do That There" he is able to rap faster and use cooler rhymes then any other songs I've heard before. The lyrics in his song "The Bay" help to describe what I think of his stuff, (Note I could not find his lyrics off hand so I'm doing this by what I hear, when I find them it will be updated correctly) "Where the people are intelligent, articulate, eloquent, artistic, hard working and diligent, pro progressive and politically spirited, definatly in possesion of the electant element we hella independent, more then a little bit critical of the politcal system, ain't no body bullshit in the Bay, that ain't the way we livin, women got their smart ass charm, so uninhibited, they always catch us men off gaurd, but cool to kick it with..." And so on.

Overall I love this cd, and I'm not a big fan of most rap, so I'd say if you'd like you should give it a try sometime when you're feeling like listening to something new. I recommend it to anyone willing to give it a chance, and I give it 4 out of 4.

Friday, August 04, 2006

Ween -- The Mollusk



Imagine They Might Be Giants and Frank Zappa had a child tripping on acid and you'd have Ween. Ween's music is hard to pinpoint as it's all over the spectrum. Ween does just about every genre of music with an air of psychoticness. This particular album is among my favorites and is the most listener friendly. The Mollusk is Ween's concept album as most of the songs are nautical in nature. But overall most of the album was inspired by multiple acid trips that the band had while on the beach. Most of the songs are between 2 and 4 minutes and are very poppy. If you haven't heard Ween then this would be the one to start with.

Ween is definatly an aquired taste. I didn't like them that much when I first heard them, but now I can't get enough of them. Because of the fact that I can never expect something out of their new cds I always am brought in a different direction. I'd recommend finding someone with one of their cds and borrowing it before you buy. But because I love this cd so much I have to give it a definate 4 out of 4 stars.

Thursday, August 03, 2006

Ben Folds Five -- "Whatever and Ever Amen"



This by far and wide my favorite of Ben Folds Five's albums. It was my first introduction to Ben Folds Five, and it still blows me away how good it is. If you still haven't heard any Ben Folds Five, get out from under a rock and listen to some, as it is really quite good. It's a 3 piece band with Ben Folds on the Piano, Robert Sledge on the Bass and Darren Jessee on the drums. I originally found out about the band after hearing the song Battle of Who Could Care Less. A good fusing of rock with jazz and as Folds likes to say, their music is, "punk rock for sissies". This album in my opinion showcases all of the things this great band could do in their prime. Folds comes out with some kickin' piano solos such as in "One Angry Dwarf and 200 Solemn Faces", and "Steven's Last Night In Town", but he is also able to give us some really good mellow songs that take you on journeys such as "Smoke" and "Selfless, Cold and Composed". He also gives the anthem for those that have been dumped in, "Song For The Dumped."

If you haven't listened to this album in it's entirety yet, go out and find a copy and listen to it. It won't dissappoint. 4 out of 4 stars.

Queens of the Stoneage -- "Songs For The Deaf"



I found out about Queens of the Stoneage about a year ago when I saw them do a song off of their album Lullabies to Paralyze with Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top. I downloaded some of their songs and then ended up getting Songs For The Deaf a short while later. Queens of the Stoneage are an interesting band and are defined quite well by their front man Josh Homme when he said, "...we wanted to create a heavy sound based on a solid jam, and just pound it into your head". Queens of the Stoneage are basically a hard rock band based on riffs. The quote really sums it up, in the first song they give you a small interlude into a riff that pounds into your head harder then you thought it would. They follow that up with a radio friendly hit in "No One Knows." It's funny but as I listen to this album, I like just about every song, and yet, I never go to pick up this cd as I think I don't like the songs. But overall I do like it.

The interesting thing about this album in particular is they got Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters to play the drums. Now as for recommendations, this is a hard rock album through and through, it's not particularly trying to go into any other genre. This band feels like a hard ZZ Top. So to those that like hard guitar riffs you'll like this album. To those that do like hard rock this is one of the better albums in the genre and I'd recommend it to them as well. But if you either don't like hard rock or haven't gotten into the genre yet, then start with a different album. Now though I do like a lot of the songs individually, it suffers when it comes to the album as a whole, because there's something that just doesn't feel right and that I think is the flow from one track to another. Overall, I do like this album but it's not quite universal and so I'm going to give it 3 out of 4 stars.

311 -- "311"



311 is pretty much the first rap rock band to come around. From Omaha Nebraska these guys use both rock and rap as well as variations of raggae and punk. This cd is actually my first rock album I ever personally purchased. And interestingly enough it's my runner up for least favorite 311 album. I felt like I needed to actually give a bad review and this one is a good one. I actually really like 311 overall, and they're in the running for the band that I own the most albums of as I own 7 of their 8 albums. I'll also probably give some really good reviews for the others (I know at least one of them will be getting a 4 out of 4), but not this one. All this cd really has is two hit singles. "Down" and "All Mixed Up", now granted, both of these songs are pretty decent songs, and they were the songs that got me into the band as well as for many of 311's fans. But two songs can not save a crappy album. When I first got the cd I would listen to about the first four tracks and then I'd be done as really that's the climax of the cd. Still to this day it still doesn't impress me much. The album feels like they were sort of in a lull after making two really good debut albums and just happened to get lucky on the two singles. The cd really gets dumb when the song "Guns Are For Pussies" comes up. It just feels like an 8th grader trying to be a liberal even though he doesn't really know what that is.

Overall I'm definatly not a fan of this album though a fan of the band. I do not recommend this album to anyone, besides of course hardcore 311 fans. If you love 311, you'll probably like this album. So overall because it really only has 2 good songs, I'm giving this one 1.5 out of 4 stars.

Wednesday, August 02, 2006

k-os -- "Joyful Rebellion"



For those that have not heard of k-os you are in for a treat. I was very happy to have found this rapper. His stuff is described as jazz and raggae hip hop. He is also know for using lots of orchestra instruments in his songs. Some have compared him to Lauryn Hill due to his ability to harmonize and also the overall feel of his songs. His songs are very musically oriented, and have a lot of different ways they can go, k-os himself also plays the guitar and piano in many of his songs.

"Joyful Rebellion" which is k-os' second album capatalizes on what he was able to do in the first and improves just about everything. The tracks blend together so well and make it an overall masterpiece of music. As singles his songs work well too, from the Michael Jackson tribute "Man I Used to Be" to the ultra jazzy "Crabbuckit" and into the powerfully drive lyrics of "Love Song" he's able to amaze and show a side of hip hop that few have tread. This album came out in 2004, and I'd put it in my top 5 of that year if not my personal overall top 10. Obviously I'm giving it 4 out 4 stars, and I think everyone should give this one a chance as it may surprise you how much you like it.

Primus -- "Frizzle Fry"


Primus is a tough band to define. Probably the best way I've heard them described is as a Funk Metal band. With Les Claypool being the front man in both vocals and bass guitar he lends an interesting sound to Primus. He definatly plays slap bass, yet he's in a hard rock band. "Frizzle Fry" is the band's first album and in my opinion it's their overall best album. It has the perfect blend of singles to get you hooked and good anthems to keep you listening. The interesting thing about Primus is the fact that there really isn't any other band that sounds like Primus. That in itself is somewhat of the appeal Primus has. In most people I've encountered, you either love or hate Primus, due to that fact that they are their own sound. You can't find it anywhere else.

This cd is better played on a dvd version where they do it live, but it's still good on the album. Primus was able to score many singles off of this album including John The Fisherman, Too Many Puppies and Mr. Know It All. An interesting note is that Les Claypool says this is the best album he's made with Primus and among Primus fans it's considered one of the best if not the best. Despite this, it may be a hard album to get into if it's your first Primus album. If you have not experienced Primus, I think you should give this one a try. I'm giving this one a solid 4 out of 4 stars and the best album by Primus.

Propellerheads -- "Decksandrumsandrockandroll"



The Propellerheads for those that do not know are a British "Big Beat" (Electronic) band. They've only put out on full length album to date and that is this album "Decksandrumsandrockandroll." They put out this album back in 1998 and the two members of the band are still active in the music helping in other side projects, they have said a couple times that they have an album waiting on the backburner but still nothing has really come out of it. As an album it doesn't do as well, being as how this is more so an album to showcase their singles. The singles however do not dissappoint, the big tracks on the album are the jazz influenced "History Repeating" which uses Jazz Singer "Shirley Bassey" on the vocals. Also a remake of the James Bond theme called "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" can be found, and one of the first mix collaborations of rap and techno as the Propellerheads combine with The Jungle Brothers to give "You Want It Back" an incredibly infections and addicting song which stays in your head long after you've played it. The song "Take California" which is the first song on the album introduces you to the big beat rythmns of the Propellerheads, it has such a tune that it makes you feel like you're playing a racing game of some sort. It was also the first song ever to be played in an iPod commercial.

If it weren't for these singles this album would be lacking quite a bit. Now mind you there are some good songs that aren't of the singles previously mentioned. But overall it wouldn't have much behind it. The songs "History Repeating" and "You Want It Back" are really good singles however and make it still a good purchase. I'd recommend this album to those that already like "Big Beat" music (Bands that follow in this genre include The Chemcial Brothers, Fatboy Slim and Prodigy). If you're not a big fan of that genre then I'd skip this one. Though I think just about anyone would like "History Repeating." Overall I give this album 3 out of 4 stars.

Tuesday, August 01, 2006

Radiohead -- "The Bends"



"The Bends", the second studio album of the band "Radiohead" is the next album I'm reviewing. This album has long been a favorite of mine, it's a journey through the beginings of such an eclectic band. With such mellow favorites as Street Spirit, Fake Plastic Trees, and High and Dry, the band is able to give you a lasting impression on Thom Yorke's vocals as well as the bands light airy sound. But it doesn't stop there, they also hit you with some edgier rock songs such My Iron Lung and Just. The overall flow of this album is what I'm most impressed with, they're able to use their music efficiently to give you an overall excellent album. You can hear the beginings of what you expect from Radiohead now a days, but it's a much more universal album then their newer stuff. It has the feeling of a band who wants to prove to themselves and everyone else that they have what it takes to be a great band, and they're going to put out the best album they can.

Though this album does not have my favorite Radiohead song, it's overall my favorite Radiohead album as well as being in my Top Ten favorite albums of all time. It so perfectly encompasses what a good rock album should be, it's has smooth transitions through good songs and every song on the album I will listen to when it comes up. It doesn't have a single song that you just skip over to get to the next song. If you want an album that plays perfect as an album and offers you some good rock songs then this is the album for you. If you haven't gotten into Radiohead but have wanted to this is the one I recommend starting with. Overall 4 out of 4 stars.