Quick hits
Thought I'd post my initial impressions (= 1 or 2 plays at most) of some CDs I've picked up over the past couple of weeks and have just gotten around to listening to.
Beck // Guero
I'm a big fan of Beck, and yeah, I'm loving this CD so far. Much has been made of Beck's reuniting with the Dust Brothers, and how much this collection of songs is a return to the playful sounds of Odelay and yeah, that's merited, but I've been loving the tangents Beck has gone off on since then, so it really isn't such a big deal to me. Odelay isn't even my favorite Beck album; that distinction goes to Sea Change and Mutations. Heck, I even rate Midnite Vultures higher. That said, this is a damn strong album, one of my favorites this year, and totally brings back old vibes of going to Mexican parties in the Valley, with its Latin rhythms, trumpets and Spanish lingo. Just like Odelay, Guero mixes up the influences however, and we get some awesome guitar tracks and 70s grooves among other things. This one will be in the CD changer of my car for a while.
Got the companion DVD but haven't had a chance to watch it. It'll be interesting to see how it changes the way I feel about the album since the music has conjured strong images, all of which have, so far, been made up in my own head.
Standout tracks: E-Pro, Earthquake Weather, Hell Yes, Que' Onda Guero. (ah, hell. all of them are good.)
Gorillaz // Demon Days
Gorillaz are another favorite band of mine - being a fan of animation, Blur, and electronic music made this a foregone conclusion from the get-go. Add to this the co-creator of the band is awesome illustrator "Tank Girl" Jamie Hewlett and that the music is inventive and unique, and, well, you can see why I like them so much. Anyway, so far, this album's solid. It's more laid back and more atmospheric than their debut outing, probably due to replacing Dan "the Automator" Nakamura with Danger Mouse, so it's going to take some time before I can declare which one I like the most. Demon Days' less immediately-catchy tunes are making this album harder to get into than their self-titled one, but could possibly make it more rewarding in the long run.
I got the limited ed. DVD package with this one also, but haven't had time to check it out. Have seen the video for Feel Good Inc. though, which hopefully bodes well for it.
Standout tracks: Feel Good Inc., Kids With Guns, Fire Coming Out of the Monkey's Head
The White Stripes // Get Behind Me Satan
I've only listened to this one a couple of times and it could already best Guero as my album-of-the-year-so-far. Just amazing. Sometimes very spare and sometimes lavishly produced, the songs on this disc go from blues-y to rock-y to (surprisingly) disco-y. I liked their album, White Blood Cells but this album goes way beyond it. Man, and the single, Blue Orchid, a metal-ish, rocking number, is probably my favorite song-of-the-year-so-far. I skipped their last album, Elephant and from all indications, I missed out, so it's back to Best Buy for me.
Standout tracks: Blue Orchid (obviously), Little Ghost. (Actually, like Beck's tracks, they're all good.)
Coldplay // X&Y
Meh. I'm not a huge Coldplay fan but I did enjoy their last album, A Rush of Blood to the Head, so I picked this one up. Unfortunately, I could've passed as this one is just sort of okay. It retreads a lot of their old music, (Speed of Sound = Clocks) and some of the songs are just too lightweight and forgettable. I'll give it another few listens to see if it grows on me. Parachutes took a while to get into so maybe the same will happen with this one. Funny, Keane owns the #1 spot in my CD changer at the moment, a band I had once dismissed as Coldplay-lite, but who put out a more enjoyable disc than the actual Coldplay this time around with Hopes and Fears.
Standout tracks: Fix You, Twisted Logic
Car Changer 10:
Not really a good barometer of my favorite CDs as I don't put all my favorites in the changer and they're in no particular order except for the #1 slot - I always put the CD that's stayed in the changer the longest in that slot. Anyway, this is what I'm listening to during my morning and evening drives to and from work, and the number of weeks they've managed to stick around (estimated):
1. Keane // Hopes and Dreams (48 weeks)
2. Jack Johnson // In Between Dreams (14 weeks)
3. Arcade Fire // Funeral (32 weeks)
4. Gorillaz // Demon Days (1 week)
5. Beck // Guero (2 weeks)
6. The White Stripes // Get Behind Me Satan (1 week)
7. Prince // Musicology (24 weeks)
8. Toby Keith // Honkeytonk University (2 weeks)
9. Audiobook // The Restaurant at the End of the Universe (1 week)
10. Coldplay // X&Y (1 week)
1 Comments:
I so know SexyPimpFunk will be in your upcoming reviews - right? right! =)
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