Album Reviews #1

Okay, here's the first chunk. It might look like a lot but it'll go quickly, I promise. As you will see, I've actually already written about some/ most of them. I might throw the links on there to the respective posts but this is mainly a quick review. 

Here's a Playlist of my favorites from these albums to listen to whilst you scroll.

Remember: Skip it= maybe one song but altogether not really worth the time. Track it= a few songs (2-5 ish) are worth listening to/ buying but not the entire album. Buy it= well, buy it... kinda... self explanatory. Typically, if I like/ want to own over half the tracks, I'll buy it just because it's cheaper as an album than buying the individual tracks on that curs-ed iTunes... 


Sondre Lerche- Duper Sessions-- Buy It; Love Sondre. Love smooth jazz. Sondre+Jazz= Epic.

Sondre Lerche- Two Way Monologue-- Skip it; Sadly not his greatest. Title track's alright.  

Regina Spektor- What We Saw from the Cheapseats--BUY IT BUY IT BUY IT!!! Buy 50 COPIES!!! Not necessarily because it's that good. I still like "Far" better but she's so friggin' incredible. But definitely a Buy It.

Jukebox the Ghost- Live & Let Ghost--Track It; Love them but there's some swearing on this. Better yet, Buy It but then edit it. Then it's perfect.

Jukebox the Ghost- Everything Under the Sun--BUY IT BUY IT BUY IT!!! Buy 50 COPIES!!! (This might become a pattern...)

Jukebox the Ghost- Safe Travels--BUY IT BUY IT BUY IT!!! Buy 50 COPIES!!! (yup, it's a thing now)

Switchfoot- Oh! Gravity--Track it; Title track, American Dream, Awakening, maybe Head over heels?

Switchfoot- Beautiful Letdown-- Track it. Meant to Live, Dare you to Move, Gone?, Adding to the Noise. Ammunition is good but a little screamy toward the end...

Sara Bareilles- Little Voice-- Track It. Vegas, Bottle It Up (edited), Love Song and maybe Morningside?

Gaslight Anthem- Handwritten-- Skip it. For as amazing as "45" is, the rest of the album is pretty boring.

Sondre Lerche- Faces Down-- Skip It. It's got Modern Nature on it but you can get that on the Dan in Real Life soundtrack too.

Regina Spektor- Far-- Buy 50 MILLION copies!!!! (See? This one's different!...) SUCH an amazing album. BUY. IT. Period.

Presidents of the United States of America- Presidents of the United States of America-- If you can, edit Kitty and Kick Out the Jams then it's a definite Buy It. Otherwise, Track It because there's some language...

Presidents of the United States of America- II-- Track It; Ladies & Gentlemen, Volcano, Mach 5 & Toob Amplifier are my favorites. There are others that are fun but don't stick (or that have language).

Switchfoot- Legend of Chin-- Track It; Chem 6a, You, Underwater

Amos Lee- Amos Lee-- Buy It! Not a bad song on the whole album. Smooth. Just plain smooth.



Amos Lee- Supply & Demand-- Buy It; Not as awesome as his first but still awesome.

Sara Bareilles- Kaleidoscope Heart-- Track It; Uncharted, King of Anything, Gonna Get Over You, Let the Rain?

Switchfoot- Learning to Breathe-- Unfortunately, this is a Skip It for me. You Already Take Me There is great but that's pretty much it on this one. 

And that's it! We'll do this again but not right away. Don't know if you got anything out of this but it was a fun recap for me. Enjoy! 

Rival Sons

*Note* I wrote this on Monday but this one required some additional tweaking. Although I like some ROCK every once in a while, I also believe in not getting heavy and some songs were a little too heavy and I had to think twice about what I pass on to y'all. So, hopefully we're good to go now...

So here's the PLAYLIST

So, after my initial encounter with the Rival Sons, I decided I might need to give them a more in-depth listening. I listened to their newest album, Head Down, their EP, Rival Sons and their first album, Before the Fire. Here's my take on them: Awesome-ish.

The general, overall feel of their music is awesome but after the song is over, you can't really remember why. The solos aren't very crafted/composed/memorable, the lyrics aren't terribly meaningful or even cool (sometimes even a little silly). It comes off as impressive but upon further inspection there's not really much there that makes them amazing or better than the others. It's kinda easy to get side-tracked during some of their songs and you forget you're listening... Don't get me wrong, they're good. I'd even say very good (bold statement, I know ;) I'd listen to them over Miley or T-Swizzle but I don't know if I'd actively seek them out and listen to them by myself.

Perhaps better explained through an analogy? They're kinda like that summer blockbuster that's trying to mimic or reboot a more famous series and does an adequate job of capturing the essence of the original but has some flaws upon closer inspection. Sort of like what the Phantom Menace was to the original Star Wars or MIB 3 to MIB. Had homages and nods to the original, even some original stuff of its own. It wasn't the original but you were still excited in the theater and came out saying, WOW, that was fun! (At least I did) but when you really look at it, the acting was less than stellar, too much reliance on CG, not a strong plot and lots of elements that contradict/ go against the original. Okay, maybe that was too nerdy. Led Zeppelin! How 'bout that? It's been said they're like Zeppelin. That sums it up... they're like Zeppelin. Similar grooves and feel but nothing really STICKS is all. I'd classify them as 1/2 Awesome. Maybe even 3/4? I guess that makes them "aweso." Yes, they are Aweso.

That being said, there are elements that are full blown awesome! The BASS is frikkin' inCREDible!!! Mind blowing at times. Some ridiculously fun licks & runs that make me giggle like a little girl... and the vocals are nothing to sneeze at. He's kind of a mix between Jack White & Robert Plant. Not nearly as iconic as Plant but a bit more polished than White/ less weird, with a bit more range (although I don't think Jack is exactly going for polished...). But pretty awesome. Give 'em a listen.

Run from Revelation is pretty nitty-gritty, down & dirty, raw rock-on power. Keep on Swingin', of course is incredible. All the Way is kinda silly but it kind of reminded me of George Thorogood's One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer but not about drinking so it's better? Face of light is a little slower and more melodically focused and the rest are just plain fun. Enjoy!

Listening List!

So, I've mentioned several times before that I have been doing music-ey things even if the posts have been scarce. Therefore, here today, for all those of you who may have doubted the validity of said claims, is PROOF! It's not like I ain't been doin' nothin'. And as we all know, "a double negative is proof positive!" (Sorry if you don't get that. Watch the movie Clue. Couldn't find a clip of it.)

Here's some recent favs. PLAYLIST

So last night I went through last.fm and wrote down all the albums I have listened to in the past year or so, bringing the (rough) grand total to 129 Albums! I say rough because this is just according to last.fm which tracks anything I listened to on our laptop at home but not on any other computer. I've since rectified this and have Grooveshark & Spotify "scrobbling" everything I listen to. However, this is just a list of Albums, not all the random, individual tracks and it also doesn't represent how many times I've listened to some of them. I have had to go back a re-listen to quite a few because I forgot to take notes and mark which ones I'd already listened to and which songs I liked or simply because I REALLY like some of them.

I think what I'll do in the next few posts is go over the list in sections and write my rating of the album next to it (along with some tunes, have no fear of that). But that's definitely too long a list to go through at once. But for now, take a look. Feast your eyes, O ye disbelievers (and all ye believers too, because it's a long list and took a while to make so that'd be cool if at least someone looked at it...)

June 2013

Catherine Feeny- People in the Hole

Catherine Feeny- Hurricane Glass

Frank Turner- Tape Deck Heart

Tally Hall- Good & Evil

Tally Hall- Marvin’s Marvelous Mechanical Museum

Sherwood- QU

Rival Sons- Rival Sons EP

Rival Sons- Head Down

Rival Sons- Before the Fire

Lenka- Shadows

May 2013—15

The Kooks- Junk of the Heart

The Script- Science & Faith

Coldplay- Mylo Xyloto

Corinne Bailey Rae- The Sea

OK Go- Of the Blue Colour of the Sky

Chris Thile- Jam Sessions

Ingrid Michaelson- Everbody

Ingrid Michaelson- Human Again

Various- The Reel Thing

Chris Thile & Mike Marshall- Into the Cauldron

Fictionist- Invisible hand

Motion City Soundtrack- Go

Cartel- Ransom EP

Relient K- Is for Karaoke 1

Relient K- Is for Karaoke 2

April 2013—8

Presidents of the United States of America- Pure Frosting

Matisyahu- Light

Motion City Soundtrack- My Dinosaur Life

Chris Rice- What a Heart is Beating For

Corinne Bailey Rae- The Love EP

Dispatch- Circles Around the Sun

Jeremy Fisher- Mint Juleps

Jack White- Blunderbuss

March 2013—1

The Kooks- Inside In Inside Out

February 2013—5

James Morrison- The Awakening

Matisyahu- Spark Seeker

Fountains of Wayne- Welcome Interstate Managers

Guster- Easy Wonderful

Ingrid Michaelson- Girls & Boys

January 2013—26

Spoon- Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga

Sixpence None the Richer- Dawn of Grace

Intercept- Symphony For Somebody Else

Jack Penate- Matinee

Neon Trees- Habits

Jeremy Fisher- Goodbye Blue Monday

Sean Watkins- 26 Miles

Chris Rice- Amusing

Christina Perri- Lovestrong

BNL- Barenaked for the Holidays

Damien Rice- O

Jimmy Eat World- Bleed American

Gaslight Anthem- Handwritten

Zee Avi- Zee Avi

Matisyahu- Youth

Matt Costa- Mobile Chateau

April Smith & the Great Picture Show- Songs for a Sinking Ship

Neon Trees- Picture Show

OK Go- OK Go

OK Go- Oh No

mae- (a)fternoon

Jeremy Fisher- Flood

Andy Grammer- Andy Grammer

The Daylights- The Daylights

The Fratellis- Costello Music

The Script-The Script

December 2012—28

BNL- Maroon

Imagine Dragons- Night Visions

Jonsi- We Bought a Zoo Soundtrack

BNL- Maybe You Should Drive

Holly Brook- Like Blood Like Honey

The Aquabats- Hi-Five Soup

Amos Lee- Mission Bell

Blues Traveler- Bridge

Jamie Cullum- Pointless Nostalgic

Young the Giant- Young the Giant

Matchbox Twenty- Mad Season

Matchbox Twenty- North

Mae- Destination: Beautiful

Keane- Under the Iron Sea

Kelly Sweet- We Are One

Owl City- Ocean Eyes

KT Tunstall- Drastic Fantastic

Avril Lavigne- Best Dang Thing

Ben Harper- Both Sides of the Gun

Ben Harper- Burn to Shine

Catch 22- Permanent Revolution

BNL- Snacktime!

Ian Axel- This is the New Year

The Idea of North- Feels Like Spring

Ingrid Michaelson- Be Ok

Intercept- Magnolia Road

Keane- Hopes & Fears

KT Tunstall- Have Yourself a very KT Christmas

November 2012—14

Punch Brothers- Punch

Punch Brothers- Antifogmatic

Punch Brothers- Who’s Feeling Young Now?

Natasha Bedingfield- Unwritten

Natasha Bedingfield- Pocketful of Sunshine

Barefoot Truth- Threads

Natasha Bedingfield- Strip Me

The Kooks- Konk

Blues Traveler- Blues Traveler

BNL- Gordon

Sondre Lerche- Sondre Lerche

Amos Lee- Last Days at the Lodge

James Morrison- Discovered

Fiction Family- Holiday EP

October 2012—3

Sondre Lerche- Phantom Punch

Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds- Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds

John Mayer- Born & Raised

September 2012—1

Sondre Lerche- Duper Sessions

August 2012—2

Sondre Lerche- Two Way Monologue

Regina Spektor- What We Saw from the Cheapseats

July 2012—8

Jukebox the Ghost- Live & Let Ghost

Jukebox the Ghost- Everything Under the Sun

Jukebox the Ghost- Safe Travels

Switchfoot- Oh! Gravity

Switchfoot- Beautiful Letdown

Sara Bareilles- Little Voice

Gaslight Anthem- Handwritten

Sondre Lerche- Faces Down

December 2011—1

Regina Spektor- Far

November 2011—5

Presidents of the United States of America- Presidents of the United States of America

Presidents of the United States of America- II

Switchfoot- Legend of Chin

Amos Lee- Amos Lee

Amos Lee- Supply & Demand

September 2011—2

Sara Bareilles- Kaleidoscope Heart

Switchfoot- Learning to Breathe

Random Song

Hey all! Sorry for going "radio silent" as my dad would say. I have been doing music-ey things. Just haven't been writing about them. More on that later. Just a quick post to share this song I just heard on the Billbaord top 200 playlist on Spotify. It's not even alternative rock which proves that that's not all I listen to an post about. I'm at least semi-diverse. At any rate. It's great. Here's the link. It's also on the Songs from the blog list.

Nothing's Real but Love- Rebecca Ferguson