Biirdie - Catherine Avenue Folky, poppy, and
hella humorous, these kiddos are just here to have a little fun, sing a song or two that will make you a little uneasy, and warm your heart.
Biirdie - Who Were You Thinking Of?Eisley - CombinationsSweet an innocent on the outside, burned on the inside, Eisley's new album has
a knife with your name on it, sadly enough you'll never know, because it's coming for you in the night. That, my friends is what I think of when I hear Eisley's newest effort. Soothing vocals juxtaposed with twisted lyrics, things which are usually more common in the Metal circles, not so much in the hip kid circles. Way to branch out Eisley.
Eisley - InvasionThe Bishops - The BishopsA throw back to a sound long (mostly) dead sound ... and it's
mostly okay.
The Bishops - I Can't Stand It AnymoreThe Academy Is... - SantiGood.
Great even. But I just couldn't get myself to listen to it until about 4 months after it came out and, even though I liked it when I finally did listen to it, I couldn't get myself to listen to it again. Maybe I was looking for something more, even though the boys seemed to have put everything they could into it. A solid effort.
The Academy Is... - LAX to O'HareMother Mother - Touch UpGood,
until you hit the 2/3rds mark of every song, and then you're just sick of it. Those 2/3rds of a song are good though.
Mother Mother - Train of ThoughtPanthers - The TrickGrungy,
chug-along alt. rock more than ten years late. Pearl Jam would approve.
Panthers - Hey CreepModest Mouse - We Were Dead Before The Ship Even SankFirst listen had me hooked, but upon further listens, I found myself skipping to the 3 or 4 tracks that I really liked, and not even listening to the ones that didn't hold my attention. Still, there were some tracks that really stood out well.
Modest Mouse - Spitting VenomJosh Ritter - The Historical Conquests Of Josh RitterYou know, I just can't seem to get into
Josh Ritter's studio stuff... I don't know what it is. But all the live sets I've heard by him where he performs the songs off of this album are amazing ... but when I listen to the album, it just doesn't seem to hold my interest. But the songs are undeniably good.
Josh Ritter - Empty HeartsPJ Harvey - White ChalkLarge sounding, but not memorable for me. This may be an example of how the sheer magnitude of the amount of music being released these days doesn't allow us to focus on an album and really get into it, something I'm currently wrapped up in. I liked it, but had no desire to re-listen.
PJ Harvey - Grow Grow GrowOld Time Relijun - Catharsis in CrisisSuch an odd band.
Best experienced live, these characters never really translated well onto an album (for me), but it's still a good supplement when they don't happen to be performing in your town that night. Evil Zombie Caveman Folk Jazz Rock.
Old Time Relijun - Dark MatterBlack Rebel Motorcycle Club - Baby 81Undeniably talented, but, in truth, the album didn't hold my interest for very long. I think they're only big because, live, they rip your brain out and beat it to 4/4 time, which does have it's attractive qualities.
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Took Out a LoanThe Pipettes - We Are The PipettesThrowback Phil Spector style 50's sweatheart pop. The songs are fun the first time through, but get a little stale the second or third time. The singles never really get old, but with 16 tracks on an album, and only 3 that you want to hear ... well you see where I'm going with this.
The Pipettes - Your Kisses Are Wasted On MeSupermayer - Save the WorldNot the best
electronic/folk album ever, but definitely one of the weirder ones. Odd little Jazz bass lines here and there, odd lyrics, and a rather upbeat feeling give this album a certain charm I can't seem to put my finger on.
Supermayer - The Lonesome KingImada - Wild Tapes From Bahia & Playground Do Brazil Mixing Electronic, Jazz, and worldly Drum and Bass, Imada has created one heck of a groovy chill out album.
Imada - Playground Do BrazilDntel - Dumb LuckHis work with Ben Gibbard is the best stuff he's done so far, but this shows that he doesn't need Mr. Gibbard to make good music.
Dntel - To a Fault
Next came Mr. Josh Ritter and his band, who ever since I heard an acoustic live set on a German radio show I knew I had to see at least once. One thing can be said about Josh Ritter, and that is that he was probably one of the most jovial performers at the Mile High Music Festival.
He was laughing and smiling and wouldn't stop talking about how much of an honor it was to play the MHMF. They played a few songs before I realized I really wasn't having the greatest time. It occured to me that his music was a little bit to "pop country" for me. Maybe I should have listened to his newest album more than once or twice before I saw him, but ... I don't know ... maybe his music has changed since I was really into it. The last stuff I really liked was the stuff off of The Animal Years, and the stuff he performed on Saturday only held onto that sound by a few threads. My faith was restored with a spectacularly titilating performance of Girl in the War, but, admitedly, that may just have been because of the fact that I adore that song (along with half the indie-rock world I imagine).
Josh Ritter - Harrisburg (Live)
