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june 2010
6.1.10
LCD Soundsystem's leadoff track on their new album, "Dance Yrself Clean", is easily the catchiest song they've ever written——not the best, but the catchiest. It has a weakness though, and surprisingly for me, it's not the nearly nine minute song length; it's actually the three minute prelude of bongo drums and quiet singing before we get to the song proper.
I don't mind it when this is repeated for a few seconds in the middle of the song, and I don't really mind it for another minute or so at the end of the song, but it just goes on too long at the beginning——45 seconds would have been about right, and then the other two plus minutes could have been repurposed to make the main body of the song longer.
Fortunately, this band is pretty big on remixes, and I have no doubt that they will eventually release a dancefloor friendly version of this song that will cut or dramatically shorten the prelude while dwelling longer on the real song. And the iTunes store will get another 99 cents from me the day that version is released. |
6.2.10
Now that I've made the decision to order all of my CDs from Amazon and abandon my often fruitless patronage of local record stores, I've also decided to give Amazon Prime a try. In case you don't know what this is, it's a service where you pay $80 a year and get all of your orders shipped with two day shipping for free. It also allows you to get anything shipped overnight for only $3.99.
Now instead of waiting for a bunch of albums to be announced/released and ordering them all at once to consolidate some of the shipping costs, I can order them whenever I want and get them two days later. And for preorders, they guarantee delivery on the day of release, which means as long as I stay on top of upcoming albums, I'll have them waiting for me at home the day they come out.
The first 30 days are free, so we could still cancel if we feel like we're not getting our money's worth, but I think for music alone, it will more than be worth it. And we've talked to other couples who use it to order most of their baby supplies (like diapers), since you can consistently find them cheaper on Amazon than in stores. Now that we're not worried about shipping costs any longer, it greatly expands
the types of items we'll consider ordering on Amazon. |
6.3.10
Can we as a culture agree that Justin Bieber is just another disposable teen fad whose start will burn out sometime in the next 18 months,
and move on now? I'm fucking sick of that haircut. I never thought I'd long for the days when Hanson was the toast of the preteen bubblegum set. |
6.4.10
A few new CDs came in the mail yesterday: Sleigh Bells' Treats, Male Bonding's Nothing Hurts, and the Radio Dept.'s Clinging to a Scheme. I'm most excited about Radio Dept. based on the the limited clips I've heard from each band, but I think the other two will be pretty good too. |
6.7.10
Sleigh Bells' Treats is amazing. Can't. Stop. Listening. |
6.8.10
I've been able to work in one listen to Male Bonding's Nothing Hurts so far, and I think I'm going to end up liking it pretty well. But I'm addicted to Treats, and I have no idea when I'll be able to take that out of the rotation for a little while so I can give this album and the Radio Dept.'s Clinging to a Scheme their due time. |
6.9.10
My first preorder since signing up for Amazon Prime was Tokyo Police Club's latest, Champ, and it arrived right on schedule yesterday, the first day of release. I'm already addicted to this service and wondering why I didn't sign up years ago. |
6.10.10
The National's High Violet is definitely growing on me, but it's not going to overtake Boxer. It doesn't have near as many 5 star tracks as Boxer, but like Boxer, it doesn't have any real clunkers, and a lot of the tracks that I rated at 3 stars after the first couple of listens have been upgraded to 4. It took awhile for Boxer to grow on me, too, and this kind of gradual warming suits the band's signature majestic but subdued anthems. |
6.11.10
I was hoping that the Radio Dept.'s Clinging to a Scheme would be the quirky European pop record that Peter Bjorn and John's follow up to Writer's Block should have been, and while it does have a few great moments ("Heaven's on Fire" is the standout), overall it's a little blander and plainer than I had hoped. Granted, it's trying to compete for airtime with the addictive, dynamic Sleigh Bells record, so it might be deserving of a serious relisten in a few months when I'm likely to be more receptive, but Scheme is not looking like a lock for this year's top 10 at this point. |
6.14.10
A couple of months ago, I was about ready to post my top 50 singles of the last decade (2000-2009), and then life got really hectic and I got off track. I actually had the list made up and broken into 10 song segments, but I just hadn't done the formatting and the write-up's for each track. I'm not sure that I'll post them all this week, but I at least want to get started. Here, then, are tracks 50 through 41:
- "The Start of Something"
Voxtrot
Raised By Wolves EP
2005
These guys tanked on their first full-length debut, and their future remains uncertain, but on Raised By Wolves and their other two pre-album EPs, they seemed unstoppable. "The Start of Something" immediately recalls the Smiths' "This Charming Man", but since that's one of the greatest songs ever recorded, that's not a bad thing.
- "Testament To Youth In Verse"
New Pornographers
Electric Version
2003
My favorite song off my favorite New Pornographers album so far. The first half is a nice little tune, but it's the second half that gets me: layered, building harmonies that you wouldn't think a pop band would be able to pull off, which makes it all the more rewarding when they do.
- "Modern Girl"
Sleater-Kinney
The Woods
2005
It seems every year brings new rumors of a Sleater-Kinney reunion, but for now, The Woods remains their swan song. This song isn't really typical of the band's catalog, and it's certainly not typical of the songs on the rest of the album, but like "Buy Her Candy" and "The Size of Our Love" from earlier in their career, its unexpected sweetness makes it more memorable.
- "We've Been Had"
The Walkmen
Everyone Who Pretended To Like Me Is Gone
2002
I don't really like too much on this album——the band's follow up, Bows and Arrows, is still their quintessential work——but this is undeniably their catchiest song.
- "All Your Kayfabe Friends"
Los Campesinos!
We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed
2008
This band is so consistently good that it's hard to pick a single song to represent them, but on the day I made this list, "All Your Kayfabe Friends" won after an extensive selection process that would likely produce an entirely different result if I went through the exact same steps today.
- "I Was A Kaleidoscope"
Death Cab For Cutie
The Photo Album
2001
The Photo Album is the record where Death Cab found that fine balance between mature production that sounded clean without sounding slick and mature songwriting that maintained enough quirkiness to be lovable. This is the record that made me fall in love with them, and it's the record I keep hoping they'll find some way to make again. About half the songs here are worthy of this list, but this one is probably the one that's easiest to get caught up in the first time you hear it.
- "Amsterdam"
Peter Bjorn and John
Writer's Block
2007
Easily my favorite song from this record. If there had been a single song of this caliber on the dreadful follow up LP, it would give me hope for the future of the band.
- "Time To Pretend"
MGMT
Oracular Spectacular
2007
Is there anyone who doesn't love this song? Really?
- "The District Sleeps Alone Tonight"
The Postal Service
Give Up
2002
As much as I'd like to see another Postal Service album, part of me recognizes that this was lightning in a bottle that is unlikely to be repeated, and Ben Gibbard and Jimmy Tamborello have probably done the right thing by not pursuing a sequel too intently.
- "Meet Me In The Dollar Bin"
Les Savy Fav
Inches
2004
It's somehow appropriate that this unpredictable punk band's best record is a collection of singles that were released over many years and many labels, and none of which were ever featured on their proper albums. Although there were definitely a lot of choices from this album for this list,
"Meet Me In The Dollar Bin" remains, for me, the band's signature song. As if a band like this could have such a thing...
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6.15.10
I know it won't last, because the obvious singles from Broken Social Scene are never the songs that end up being my favorites over time, but "Art House Director" is my current number one track from Forgiveness Rock Record. |
6.16.10
Well that new Arcade Fire single is just awful, isn't it? Neon Bible was massively overhyped, but it was still generally worthwhile. I'm not so sure that's going to be the case with The Suburbs after hearing the tracks that have leaked so far. |
6.17.10
I was thinking about picking up Janelle Monáe's The ArchAndroid anyway, but now that I know that of Montreal guest on a track and that they're going to be touring with her this fall, I don't know that I really have a choice. False Priest is only three months away, but it seems like forever. |
6.18.10
It is baffling to me that Tokyo Police Club aren't more popular than they are. Give them another album or two, and they could pull off an American version of Phoenix's Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix. It's hard for me to accept that a major revenue stream for most of the indie bands I like is placement on television shows and ad campaigns for cars, but if that's how the game works now, Tokyo Police Club should be raking in the cash from those sources. |
6.21.10
I'm not sure what the point of How to Destroy Angels is. I mean, other than for Trent Reznor to give his new wife a chance to sort of be in the spotlight for a while. But none of the songs on their debut EP is demonstrably different or better than they would be if they had come out under the name Nine Inch Nails with Reznor handling vocal duties. |
6.22.10
Huh. So James Murphy is saying This Is Happening will be the last LCD Soundsystem record. That seems a little premature. |
6.23.10
I predict that the next Sleigh Bells album will feature a lot more songs like "Rill Rill" and a lot fewer like "Tell 'Em", which is typical of the bombastic style of their debut. If there's a lesson to be learned from The Go Team, it's that your second record after debuting a unique style shouldn't be a near-copy of the
first; a breath of fresh air gets stale once it's in your lungs.
As much as I love this first record, I'd love for this band to be around for more than two or three albums, and that means taking one of the standout tangents from their debut and using that to build a new variation on their signature sound. |
6.24.10
I miss you, Jens Lekman. Come back to us as soon as you can. Maybe this year? |
6.25.10
of Montreal has announced September 14 as the release date for their Jon Brion co-produced
new album, False Priest, and they're letting you download the first single, "Coquet Coquette", from their web site for free. So, you know, go do that. Now. |
6.28.10
I don't know how long it's been since I listened to an album I mostly like four times and haven't bothered to rate a single track. But that's where I am with Male Bonding's Nothing Hurts right now. |
6.29.10
I've hesitated to press the button on the preorder of Wolf Parade's Expo 86 because I couldn't decide if I also wanted to preorder Stars' The Five Ghosts. I like most of Set Yourself on Fire, but I was less impressed with In Our Bedroom After the War. The clips I've heard so far sound a lot more like the former than the latter, so I'm very tempted to throw it in my cart, especially because we've entered a dead zone in the new release schedule.
At any rate, neither of these will be preorders anymore, since they both come out today. Now I just need to make a decision on Janelle Monáe, which I have a feeling I'm going to end up ordering at some point simply because of the of Montreal track. |
6.30.10
For a record that Kevin Barnes has said is going to feature predominantly R&B and funk influences, False Priest's first single, "Coquet Coquette", sure does have an awful lot of guitar. Not that I mind this——it's actually pretty in keeping with the guitar-heavy show that I saw back in January——but I'm curious to see if it's going to be a real outlier or if Kevin Barnes perception of the album as its creator is going to differ from what the rest of us here.
I also don't hear much Jon Brion influence on this track. I love his work, and I loved the EP where he did remixes and rerecordings of some of the tracks from Skeletal Lamping, so I'm really looking forward to how he and Kevin Barnes meld their styles, but there's just not much evidence of that collaboration on this song.
My favorite moment comes about 36 seconds in——there's a very subtle rolling drum that sneaks in out of nowhere and sounds like thunder. This element is used more extensively in what I can only describe as the repeating bridge (normally it's where the chorus would go, but it doesn't really sound like a chorus), but when it's first introduced in the song proper, it's one of those "holy shit" moments that Kevin has said he tries to sneak into every song. |
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