Recent CD Purchases - 7/12/05

[Ksyrup]

Since these types of threads seem to get more replies than my CD Review Thread, I think I'm going to let that thread stay buried. However, I'd like for this or future threads to be a periodic thing, where we can post new or old CDs we have recently purchased and maybe give a short blurb about each so that people know what kind of music it is. Ideally, I'd also like to incorporate song clips via YSI (one track from each CD), but I don't want to start a piracy argument, so I'll refrain (if interested in hearing anything I post about, PM me).

Clutch - Robot Hive/Exodus
This is interesting boogie/stoner rock that sounds like trucker/biker music with a blues feel, but it's overlayed with highbrow and poetic lyrics half sung, half spoken.

Avenged Sevenfold - City of Evil
What in the name of Iron Maiden and Judas Priest happened to this formerly hardcore/nu-metal screamfest band?! Wow. These guys have apparently been listening to a lot of NWOBHM stuff lately, and it shows in the music. Vocally, another drastic change, as largely absent are the screams, replaced by decent/mediiocre (but clean) lead vocals, and most impressively, a ton of harmonies in an emo vein all over the place. I still can't believe this is the same band. The lead vocals are stretched and whiny at times, but considering this guy did nothing but scream before, I'll cut him some slack.

Sufjan Stevens - Invites You to Come On Feel the Illinoise!
Not just a great album title, this is very mellow folk indie/chamber pop with a slew of brass and orchestra all over it. Illinois is the second state album Stevens has done (the first being his home state of Michigan), and he has suggested trying to do an album for every state (not likely, but...). Very much in the mold of Eric Matthews. The song titles are worth at least checking this CD out. I also recently purchase Michigan and Seven Swans, both great albums in their own right.


I'll post more tonight as I take stock in what I've purchased recently.

[Kodos]

I got Motley Crue's Red White and Crue recently.

[sovereignstar]

I'm waiting for Live Eight: Buy it if you care to come out.

[VPI97]

The last album I bought was Talking Heads - The Best of Talking Heads. I had somehow missed seeing it on the market the first 13 years it was available.

[Karlifornia]

Spoon-Gimme Fiction I like these guys' sound. I'm not terribly sure how to classify it. I guess it's regular pop/rock witha 60's edge to it. I am definitely going to pick up some their earlier work.

Death From Above 1979-You're a Woman, I'm a Machine this is some pretty intense stuff. The opening riff of the first song sounds like Slayer, but the record isn't metal. It's loud, fast rock that makes you want to dance. BTW, it's just a bassist and a drummer, and the drummer sings.

New Pornographers-Mass Romantic If you like the Shins, you'll like the indie-pop sounds of the New Pornographers. Some songs feature alt-country pinup Neko Case.

[timmae]

First off... I've heard amazing things about Sufjan Stevens. Thanks for the thread to remind me I have to go pick this one up, quick like...

What am I listening to? I just picked up the new Soviettes, LP III. I've been listening to it non-stop (well almost) since. Great CD packed into a tight 30 minutes, with most songs clocking in under 2:00. "Thinking of you" has been on play at least 100 times. Intested to know if their 2 previous releases are more of the same or if their sound has advanced to this point.

Next CD to track down... 'Clap your hands say yeah'.

[Ksyrup]

Stevens' Illinois album with Superman on the cover was the subject of a Cease & Desist letter from DC Comics, so try to get one if you can. I'm not sure if it'll be worth anything, but they definitely won't be making any more after this.

[HerRealName]

There were several people on here highly recommending Neutral Milk Honey - In The Aeroplane, Over The Sea. That was a great recommendation.

I also recently picked up The Hold Steady - Separation Sunday which I like a lot as well.

[Ksyrup]

A few others I've bought lately:

Presto Ballet - Peace Among the Ruins
If 70's prog rock is what you like, you've got to check this band out. This is Kurdt Vanderhoof of Metal Church's "other" band (one of several). It's not so much metal as it is 70's style prog rock in the vein of Kansas, Yes, Genesis, etc. This is a fantastic album.

Shadow Gallery - Room V
This is a prog rock/metal band somewhat in the vein of Dream Theater, except not as heavy. Similar style, though, especially in the vocals, although I actually prefer Mike Baker's voice and dramatic style over LaBrie's. This particular album is the 3rd and 4th chapters of a story started with 1998's Tyranny. Tremendous virtuoso skills on display, with some amazing heavy songs/instrumentals interwoven with softer, more dramatic pieces. You have to like this kind of stuff to enjoy it, but if you do, this is outstanding music.

Dredg - Catch Without Arms
Strange band, really. I'm not really sure how to even describe them. I guess if I had to compare them, it would be Incubus or At the Drive-In - something along those lines. I like thir sound, but many of the songs seem to sound too much alike. But I think that's probably because I haven't given them much of a listen. They seem like one of those bands you have to study to get the subtleties.

Devin Davis - Lonely People of the World, Unite!
Awesome! This is 60's tinged indie pop that is not just catchy, but also has some great lyrics. It's part Strokes-like guitar rock, part 60's pop, and part power/chamber pop. Reminds me a bit of Ben Kweller with the squeaky/cracking voice. I prefer my pop more polished, but this album is still great. Only downer is track 4, which is a dead ringer for Gimme Shelter by the Stones. It's almost embarassing, frankly. But otherwise, the rest of it is solid.

Jackdaw4 - Gramophone Logic
This one fell out of the sky. Never heard of these guys before, and then they come out of nowhere to produce one of my favorite pop albums of the year. Very much in the vein of Jellyfish and Brian Wilson, with traces of Elvis Costello and the Squeeze thrown in. Well worth digging to find.

Nightwish - Once
Great theatric, European symphonic metal. One of the best in the genre, proably even better than a personal favorite of mine, Therion, simply because they have an actual singer (a female) as opposed to using real choruses and opera singers as Therion does. This is great stuff.

Freak Kitchen - Organic
This is the latest album from the Swedish hard rock band that is fronted by an insane guitarist, IA Eklundh. The music is centered around heavy, heavy riffs, but the songs themselves are quite melodic. This is not FK's best album, but it's still very good. The biggest problem is that Eklundh's Swedish, and his lyrics can often seem pretty cheesy. But when he's on, he's on. This is basically Extreme on steroids.

[Neuqua]

I have not heard of a single band/song named in this thread.

Besides Motley Crue.

[timmynausea]

Originally Posted by HerRealName

There were several people on here highly recommending Neutral Milk Honey - In The Aeroplane, Over The Sea. That was a great recommendation.

I also recently picked up The Hold Steady - Separation Sunday which I like a lot as well.

It's Neutral Milk Hotel, right?

I bought a Negative Approach double LP and the double LP re-release of Jawbreaker - Dear you a couple days ago cause the record store in my town is going out of business and selling everything at cost.
The Negative Approach is unlistenably bad from what I've listened to so far. It is demos and live stuff.
The Jawbreaker album is pretty good.

[A-Husker-4-Life]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

Clutch - Robot Hive/Exodus
This is interesting boogie/stoner rock that sounds like trucker/biker music with a blues feel, but it's overlayed with highbrow and poetic lyrics half sung, half spoken.

I've heard alot about this band - could you tell me more about their music. I heard they sound alittle like Widespread Panic, is that true.??? If so, I'll have to buy it because anything that sounds like the Panic should kick some major ass..
BTW, I'm going to see WSP in Lincoln on the 20th. This should be a friggin great time, alittle dancing, drinking and other. See you there, cheers... AH4L

[Ksyrup]

I would not compare them to WSP at all, although they share some similar elements. That's not to say you won't like it, though. And certainly, coming from the WSP perspective, this new one is probably your best bet. Here's a good review of the new album that gives a bit of history as well:



CLUTCH
Robot Hive / Exodus
(DRT)
Rating: 8
US release date: 21 June 2005
UK release date: 27 June 2005 by Adrien Begrand

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Although Clutch emerged from the alt-metal scene dominated by Korn and the Deftones in the mid-to-late '90s, they approached things a bit differently than their peers. While lunkheaded fratboys were moshing to all the downtuned bass and white boy rage that was prevalent at the time, Clutch played the kind of metal that could move every once in a while. Equal parts stoner rock, Southern rock, funk, and blues, the Maryland band were one of the few bands at the time who dared to inject their aggressive music with a sense of fun. Their first four albums, while not huge mainstream successes by any stretch, did earn a rabid cult following, but it wasn't until they joined the DRT label that they began to truly reach their potential, as last year's Blast Tyrant was critically well-received, their riffs of Sabbath-esque doom mixed with a healthy dose of Southern twang, best exemplified by "The Mob Goes Wild" and "Cypress Grove".

While the blues-based jam "WYSIWYG" brought Blast Tyrant to a somewhat awkward close, its lackadaisical, organ-driven sound contrasting greatly from the rest of the album, little did we know it would serve as a hint as to just where this band would go on their next CD. Clutch has always been a band who throws in different sounds on their records, a bloated stoner riff here, a little acoustic country blues there, and in spite of the fact that Robot Hive / Exodus is musically hardly anything we haven't heard before, it's still their most radical departure to date, as the band have actually chosen a sound, and stuck with it. As a result, it's not only Clutch's most consistent album, it's also their best.

You might as well call these guys Bonnaroo metal now. With a full-time keyboardist in tow, the band has gone totally blues rock on us, combining the lithe, blues-based jam sounds of the Allman Brothers with the more muscular, Hammond organ-enhanced riffing of Deep Purple, performed with the maniacal energy of the North Mississippi Allstars. Instead of coming off as a stale Black Crowes imitation, Clutch approach a once-tired sound with audacious vigor. With a mad gleam in their collective eyes, they have dared to do the unthinkable: bring together be hippies and the metalheads for one nutty party.

Tim Sult's guitar work is much less heavy than in the past, and more lively, as he adds plenty of Lynyrd Skynyrd style flourishes instead of simple power chords. Also, singer Neil Fallon is gradually getting away from his lower-register bark, in favor of a more mid-range, yet still robust sound, making his vocals much more accessible to new listeners. However, that's not to say that Robot Hive / Exodus doesn't have any meat on its bones,; in fact, the album gets off to quite a muscular start. "The Incomparable Mr. Flannery" is nestled in a nimble groove, as Fallon howls about "Delaware Destroyers rockin' with Dokken." The ferocious "Mice and Gods" comes closest to equaling the heavier songs in the band's back catalog, but it's the brilliant "Burning Beard" that highlights the album's first half. Boasting a pummeling, stuttering riff and bassline, Fallon takes center stage; a dude who has an uncanny knack for combining hilariously surreal stoner poetry and cultural commentary, he is in rare form on this track, spewing such inspired lines as, "Shadow of the New Praetorian/ Tipping cows in fields Elysian."

It's when you hear Mick Schauer's Hammond stabs on "Never Be Moved" that the album starts to seriously head into blues rock territory. After the funky "10001110101" (probably the only song you'll ever hear that includes a chorus of shouted binary code), Clutch is in full-on jam band mode, as four tracks, the Booker T-meets-cowbell instrumental "Small Upsetters", the slinky "Circus Maximus" and "Tripping the Alarm", and the fiery testimonial "10,000 Witnesses" all segue into one another, making for a 12-minute suite, one with nary a dull moment. After the effective blend of mellow organ and swampy riffs on "Land of Pleasant Living", the album closes with two faithful blues covers, in the form of Mississippi Fred McDowell's "Gravel Road", and Howlin' Wolf's "Who's Been Talking", the latter bearing a close resemblance to late 1980s Tom Waits, with Fallon's hoarse vocals, and Sult's Marc Ribot-style guitar fills.

Boasting some of the coolest digipak artwork we'll see all year, Robot Hive / Exodus not only builds on the success of Blast Tyrant, it tops every album Clutch has released before, combining everything they've done in the past into one cohesive sound that is as fresh as it is comfortably familiar. It's not a musical direction that will make the mosh crowd happy, but with this music playing, they'll probably be too busy dancing to bother complaining. — 29 June 2005

[Gallifrey]

Check out my bands new CD;

http://www.towerrecords.com/product.aspx?pfid=3262665

[A-Husker-4-Life]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

I would not compare them to WSP at all, although they share some similar elements. That's not to say you won't like it, though. And certainly, coming from the WSP perspective, this new one is probably your best bet. Here's a good review of the new album that gives a bit of history as well:



CLUTCH
Robot Hive / Exodus
(DRT)
Rating: 8
US release date: 21 June 2005
UK release date: 27 June 2005 by Adrien Begrand



Although Clutch emerged from the alt-metal scene dominated by Korn and the Deftones in the mid-to-late '90s, they approached things a bit differently than their peers. While lunkheaded fratboys were moshing to all the downtuned bass and white boy rage that was prevalent at the time, Clutch played the kind of metal that could move every once in a while. Equal parts stoner rock, Southern rock, funk, and blues, the Maryland band were one of the few bands at the time who dared to inject their aggressive music with a sense of fun. Their first four albums, while not huge mainstream successes by any stretch, did earn a rabid cult following, but it wasn't until they joined the DRT label that they began to truly reach their potential, as last year's Blast Tyrant was critically well-received, their riffs of Sabbath-esque doom mixed with a healthy dose of Southern twang, best exemplified by "The Mob Goes Wild" and "Cypress Grove".

While the blues-based jam "WYSIWYG" brought Blast Tyrant to a somewhat awkward close, its lackadaisical, organ-driven sound contrasting greatly from the rest of the album, little did we know it would serve as a hint as to just where this band would go on their next CD. Clutch has always been a band who throws in different sounds on their records, a bloated stoner riff here, a little acoustic country blues there, and in spite of the fact that Robot Hive / Exodus is musically hardly anything we haven't heard before, it's still their most radical departure to date, as the band have actually chosen a sound, and stuck with it. As a result, it's not only Clutch's most consistent album, it's also their best.

You might as well call these guys Bonnaroo metal now. With a full-time keyboardist in tow, the band has gone totally blues rock on us, combining the lithe, blues-based jam sounds of the Allman Brothers with the more muscular, Hammond organ-enhanced riffing of Deep Purple, performed with the maniacal energy of the North Mississippi Allstars. Instead of coming off as a stale Black Crowes imitation, Clutch approach a once-tired sound with audacious vigor. With a mad gleam in their collective eyes, they have dared to do the unthinkable: bring together be hippies and the metalheads for one nutty party.

Tim Sult's guitar work is much less heavy than in the past, and more lively, as he adds plenty of Lynyrd Skynyrd style flourishes instead of simple power chords. Also, singer Neil Fallon is gradually getting away from his lower-register bark, in favor of a more mid-range, yet still robust sound, making his vocals much more accessible to new listeners. However, that's not to say that Robot Hive / Exodus doesn't have any meat on its bones,; in fact, the album gets off to quite a muscular start. "The Incomparable Mr. Flannery" is nestled in a nimble groove, as Fallon howls about "Delaware Destroyers rockin' with Dokken." The ferocious "Mice and Gods" comes closest to equaling the heavier songs in the band's back catalog, but it's the brilliant "Burning Beard" that highlights the album's first half. Boasting a pummeling, stuttering riff and bassline, Fallon takes center stage; a dude who has an uncanny knack for combining hilariously surreal stoner poetry and cultural commentary, he is in rare form on this track, spewing such inspired lines as, "Shadow of the New Praetorian/ Tipping cows in fields Elysian."

It's when you hear Mick Schauer's Hammond stabs on "Never Be Moved" that the album starts to seriously head into blues rock territory. After the funky "10001110101" (probably the only song you'll ever hear that includes a chorus of shouted binary code), Clutch is in full-on jam band mode, as four tracks, the Booker T-meets-cowbell instrumental "Small Upsetters", the slinky "Circus Maximus" and "Tripping the Alarm", and the fiery testimonial "10,000 Witnesses" all segue into one another, making for a 12-minute suite, one with nary a dull moment. After the effective blend of mellow organ and swampy riffs on "Land of Pleasant Living", the album closes with two faithful blues covers, in the form of Mississippi Fred McDowell's "Gravel Road", and Howlin' Wolf's "Who's Been Talking", the latter bearing a close resemblance to late 1980s Tom Waits, with Fallon's hoarse vocals, and Sult's Marc Ribot-style guitar fills.

Boasting some of the coolest digipak artwork we'll see all year, Robot Hive / Exodus not only builds on the success of Blast Tyrant, it tops every album Clutch has released before, combining everything they've done in the past into one cohesive sound that is as fresh as it is comfortably familiar. It's not a musical direction that will make the mosh crowd happy, but with this music playing, they'll probably be too busy dancing to bother complaining. — 29 June 2005

Thx man, I checked their sound out and yeah they don't sound like WSP. Clutch is alot darker & heavier riffs, plus the lead singer kinda raps alittle and has a monotone voice. They sound like Deftones Lite and about the only similarity this band has with WSP is the organ/piano.

[timmae]

Originally Posted by RadioFriendlyUnitShifter

Death From Above 1979-You're a Woman, I'm a Machine this is some pretty intense stuff. The opening riff of the first song sounds like Slayer, but the record isn't metal. It's loud, fast rock that makes you want to dance. BTW, it's just a bassist and a drummer, and the drummer sings.

Saw these guys at Intonation festival last weekend. One of the better live sets I have had the pleasure of seeing. So... I had to pick up the CD. Great stuff. the recorded tracks make the music seem deeper than their live show. Overall a great mix of energy in thier live setting and catchy songs as recorded music. Better with subsequent listens, which surprised. Pick it up now!

Also grabbed the arcade fire ep. Need to get more stuff by these guys....

[korme]

I can't wait til Kanye's new CD hits stores.