3,000 Views - Thank You!

Hey all,

I just wanted to thank everyone who's been reading and checking back in every few days. We've reached 3,000 views in just a little over three months. Not bad, not bad at all!

But I'd love to have even more, who knows, maybe even get noticed on a larger scale (pipe dream, sure, but pipe dreams are all the rage). So please, tell your friends, share it on Facebook, invite people to like the Facebook page for the site. I'd appreciate it a ton.

In the meantime, I'll keep writing about music :)

Thanks always,
Andrew

"Early in the Morning" by James Vincent McMorrow

I had been behaving. I wasn't buying any new music off iTunes, I was just listening to what I had (I used to have a little bit of an obsession with buying new music). I've gotten a lot better, but when I heard the samples of this music on iTunes, I had to make an exception.

"Early in the Morning" is the perfect album to listen to while you're laying under a tree in a meadow somewhere. Don't know where one is? FIND ONE. :).

The album is about 50 minutes of absolutely wonderful, soulful acoustic folk. There's acoustic guitar, piano, and if my instincts are right.... wait for it.... I DO BELIEVE THERE'S SOME BANJO IN THERE.

The music is expertly executed; it sounds effortless, just an easy groove to sing along to in many places. In others, however, McMorrow pulls out the stops and jams in some great instrumental sections.

As great as the music is, however, the lyrics are even better. In almost each and every of his songs, McMorrow tells what sounds like a story somewhat based on his life - the songs just sound that personal and honest. They are really impossible not to invest in. Some of these songs are metaphorical (example: I think "Sparrow and the Wolf" is), and almost all of them pulse with a "small town, reflecting on the porch" feel. McMorrow might as well be in your living room with you.

Even more spectacular than the lyrics and the music is the McMorrow's voice. It's haunting, smokey awesomeness. There's not a whole lot else to say. The man's voice grabs you and doesn't let go. If I were to draw a comparison to someone else in the music world, I would say the other artist his voice resembles the most is Bon Iver, but it's smokier and more intimate, less etherial and more earthy. It's what sets this album apart. The man's also from Ireland. Just a side note, ten bonus points.

So, if you're in the mood for some good, old fashioned folksy music that will stick with you long after the last track has ended, check out this album.

My three favorite tracks are: "Sparrow and the Wolf," "We Don't Eat," and "And If My Heart Should Somehow Stop."

Here's a link to his Myspace!

http://www.myspace.com/jamesvmcmorrow

Until next time, please spread word of the blog and enjoy the music!

Andrew

"My Private Nation" by Train

Let it be said right here, before y'all go making fun of me for being a fan of Train. I was a fan years before "Hey Soul Sister" catapulted them into the public eye. The song is great, to be sure, but it's not what Train is to me.

"My Private Nation" was one of the first CDs I owned myself, and I've had a soft spot in my musical heart for it ever since. It's Train's best album in my opinion. Yes, I'll say that "Drops of Jupiter" was better than any individual song on MPR, but MPR is a better album on the whole.

It's a collection of 11 songs and 45 minutes of catchy alternative rock. Pat Monahan, the lead vocalist for the band (and really the essence of Train's sound), sings of love, loss, and hope with such raw emotion that it's impossible not to invest yourself in the songs.

Train's lyrics are not groundbreaking in their content, but they are original, heartfelt and sometimes quirky in the line to line writing of each song. From "All American Girl," which tells the funny story of a girl who is clearly out of the narrator's league ("And I know I'm just here to amuse you"), to "I'm About to Come Alive," which tells the heartbreaking story of a couple that married too young and is now stuck in a situation that drains them both--even though the man wants his wife to keep faith in him ("Don't let them be right after all that we've been through"), each song is perfect to sing along to.

As an interesting little side note, any Angels Baseball fans will recognize Train's "Calling All Angels," a song off this album that serves as the music for the Angels video montage before every game.

The verses are all well written, but what makes Train so amazing is their ability to bust out with some of the best and most consistently catchy choruses of any band I've listened to.

If you're still not convinced that they're the real deal, see them live. Monahan has a commanding stage presence and his voice soars, sounding exactly the same live as it does on a recording.

Train has released a wealth of music over the years, blending alternative rock with some funk and southern, almost country-esque rock/soul grooves. Give them a shot, and maybe you'll jump on the bandwagon that existed before it got painted all shiny with "Hey Soul Sister."

My three favorite songs on the album are "Get to Me," "Your Every Color," and "I'm About to Come Alive."

Here's a link to their Myspace.

http://www.myspace.com/train

Until next time, tell your friends to check out the blog cuz I'd love some more readers! And, enjoy all the music out there :)

P.S. Look for my most promising albums of January post, coming soon!

"Science & Faith" by The Script

Yes, I know this just come out today, and yes, I'm sure it's going to be one of the most popular releases of the month. But I wanna review it, so there! I guess this can be some great music that you haven't heard yet.


The Script has for years been one of my go-to bands for an extraordinarily catchy, melancholy song. They're fun to sing along to, and the musical instrumentation that the band uses results in some of the most emotionally powerful music of any music group I've heard. The amazing vocal harmonies and falsetto of the band's frontman doesn't hurt either.

"Science & Faith" is another exercise in The Script's constant catchiness. In The Script's self-titled debut album, all the songs were very good, but there were about four powerhouses with choruses that just flat out rocked your socks. On this album, there are about eight. The choruses that these boys rock out on are infectious and impossible to skip over; they just grab on to you and don't let go.

That being said, these are not happy songs. The lyrics, though wonderfully written in my opinion, channel pain, disappointment, and loneliness. However, there is hope in this album, a faint whisper of the possibility that we are not alone in our journey through life.

The album can be interpreted as a prolonged journal entry, a sort of crying out for fellow men and women to hear you and understand what you're going through.

All I can say is, I wish there were more of this album. If they had come out with two new albums at the same time, I'd be thrilled. There is not one boring song. Every single one screams: "We are The Script, and this is why you love us." I also give them fifty points for being Irish, but that's just my own personal bias haha.

In my residence hall, people sing songs off The Script's first album all the time. Thanks to this new album, we all now have an abundance of new material to belt out to our heart's content.

My three favorite songs on the album are: "Nothing," "If You Ever Come Back," and "Exit Wounds," with the honorable mention going to "This = Love."

Here's a link to their Myspace.

http://www.myspace.com/thescript

Until next time, enjoy the new music :)

Andrew

"Razia's Shadow: A Musical" by Forgive Durden

Like some other albums I put on this blog, this CD is definitely an acquired taste. The album artwork, though freakin' awesome in my opinion, should serve as a little warning of that.

Why? It's a musical, plot, narrator and all.

If you're still here, let's get to it. "Razia's Shadow" is brilliant. It's a full scale musical in terms of instrumentation, orchestra and cinematic music fills every song. That, and the songs are all incredibly diverse. Have I said it's brilliant yet?

Most notably, not one song has traditional "rock band" instrumentation. This may be surprising and a bad thing for some, but in my opinion it was extremely well done, as well as being very refreshing. The music is at times light, at times twisted, and at times majestic to the umpteenth degree.

The story is solid as well. A plethora of characters (played by various guest artists) play out a complex, sweeping plot line that takes place over the span of more than one hundred years in about an hour. It is a story of love, finding yourself, dealing with your heritage, and, ultimately, deciding who you really are and dealing with the consequences of that choice.

The plot is well thought out, and all the songs combine to make one emotional roller-coaster. The final song may very well put an apple in your throat.

If you're in the mood for a theatrical musical experience without having to spend sixty bucks on theater tickets, this is the perfect album for you. You can also listen in your pj's, something frowned upon at most theater houses, last time I checked.

This album is one of my all-time favorites. Yes, it may be partially because I'm a sucker for musicals and symphonic orchestration, but it's also because this is a bold, incredibly original and incredibly well done set of songs.

My three favorite songs on the album are: "The Missing Piece," "The Exit," and "The End and the Beginning." Honorable mention goes to "Life Is Looking Up."

A side note is that there is also a purely instrumental version of the album available for download, something I highly recommend.

Here's a link to Forgive Durden's Myspace.

http://www.myspace.com/forgivedurden

Until next time, enjoy some music, try something new :)

Andrew

"Wish You Were Here" by Pink Floyd

Yes, most of the posts on this blog are about contemporary artists. But, that doesn't mean I don't have a soft spot in my heart for the classics.

This next album has no doubt been heard by a huge amount of people, but I'm betting that there's a large amount of college students who haven't heard it. So, if you're a person who has heard this album, I hope you think the review does it justice and if you haven't, well by golly I do believe that's the point! Moments of geek-dom aside, here we go.

The album is "Wish You Were Here," by Pink Floyd. Now, by far the most commercially popular of PF's albums is "Dark Side of the Moon." Here's a shocker: I like that album, yes, but I like this album more, and I ALSO like "Animals" more. I haven't had a chance to listen to "The Wall" yet.

"WYWH" is an airy, mournful tribute to the band's recently (at the time) deceased guitarist. The first track on the album, "Shine On You Crazy Diamond, Parts 1-5" bookends the album with "Shine On You Crazy Diamond, Parts 6-9" which is the final song on the album. It is a tribute to the fallen bandmate, with the band's new lead guitarist soloing for a huge portion of the 26 total minutes the two songs take up. The album artwork reinforces this idea, with one man in flames (I assume the dead guitarist) shaking the hand of another man, as if he is handing over the guitarist reins to the new guitarist.

You'd think that would get boring, especially since the solo essentially serves as a dirge. Wrong-o. The songs are beautiful, and they soar with a sort of otherworldly sadness that is completely captivating.

The other three tracks on the album are outstanding as well, with "Welcome to the Machine" serving as a brilliant dystopian social commentary that reminds me of George Orwell's 1984: "Welcome my son, welcome to the machine." "Have a Cigar" is the lightest song on the album (if you can call it that), and "Wish You Were Here" is a sad song meant for the deceased lead guitarist. It's mournful and touching.

The lyrics are outstandingly written, the music is in top form. But, in my opinion, the two songs that take the day are the two simplest. The two-part series of "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" is the album in a nutshell. It captures all the emotions that the other members of the band are feeling with minimal need for lyrics. It's a testament to the emotional power of one instrument.

I'm sure I'll review "Animals" at some point (it revolves around the themes in Orwell's Animal Farm), but, for now, give this album a shot. It was my first Pink Floyd album, and I immediately went out and bought two more.

Here's a link to the band's Myspace.

http://www.myspace.com/pinkfloyd

Until next time, tell your friends about the blog and enjoy all the music out there.

Andrew

"Birds & Cages" by Deas Vail

Well, it's before noon on a Saturday morning, which means I'm the only person within three miles that's awake. So, what better to do than write another review.

Deas Vail certainly got this one right. "Birds & Cages" is a sweeping work of amazing melodies and beautiful vocal work, both male and female. Piano work and string work are everywhere to be heard, which, as we all know, is a quick way into my musical heart. Not just that, but there are several amazing musical builds that occur over the course of this CD that get my music senses tingling.

However, before I get into the music of the album, let's talk about the album artwork. Did you see it? It's a bird. Standing on a cage. In a vest. With a bow tie. And a top hat. The bird is in a top hat. Have you ever seen a more awesome album cover? I think not.

Melody is king in this album. Every single song soars on electric guitar and piano that can be in one moment delicate and beautiful and as energetic and rockin' as can be in the next. The frontman's vocal work is so versatile, that it could almost be thought of as an instrument in itself.

Along with his outstanding vocal range, the guy sings some downright powerful lyrics. Several of the songs are loosely spiritual, but this is by no means an album that only lovers of religious music can enjoy.  In fact, many of the lyrics are questioning the big, wide world people find themselves in and just how small we sometimes feel.

This album would be the perfect one to listen to either driving along at night while you're thinking some things out, or walking along a country road (of course, there aren't many country roads at UCLA so I suppose I'll listen to it walking along Bruin Walk). The album is beautiful - that's the biggest adjective I can throw at you about it. It's just a beautiful 50 minutes of music.

My three favorite songs on the album are "Birds," "Dance In Perfect Time," and "Atlantis."

Here's a link to their Myspace!

http://www.myspace.com/deasvail

I hope all your New Years are going well and, until next time, enjoy!

Andrew

"Zuni" by Sam Bradley

It was winter break, and I was in the mood for new music. Now that I think about it, I'm always in the mood for new music. It just happened to be winter break at the time.

Enter one of my cousins and her husband! They introduced me to this album, "Zuni," by Sam Bradley. A note right off the bat. You need to have an album named "Zuni" in your library... are there many cooler words around? I dont think so. On to the music!

Bradley uses acoustic guitar, piano, bass, some string work and some sparse drums to create simple musical landscapes that sound warm and intimate. This is not an arena sound. Instead, this music is perfect to listen to in a small room--just you, your thoughts, and maybe a fire, depending on the weather.

In essence, he creates warm beds of sound on top of which his soulful voice can soar and cavort on top of.

Though a couple of the songs on this short album are light and frivolous ("Passport" is a joyful, morally shady, honky-tonk piano-filled three minutes of absolute fun), most of these songs course with a lot of raw emotion. There's some accusation, some questioning, and plenty of self-reflection. Yes, the album is short, but it most certainly isn't lacking thoughtful lyrics.

This album isn't a super light listen, nor is it like "The Age of Adz," an album which takes the listener and flings him or her out of their comfort zone. It's right in the middle, a hearty listen that won't force you to study it for six hours.

He definitely deserves more attention than he's been getting! Download the album and you definitely will be glad you did.

My favorite three songs are "Wide Open," "Passport," and "Sea Blue."

Here's a link to his Myspace!

http://www.myspace.com/sambradley

Until next time, enjoy some new music!

Andrew

"The Age of Adz" by Sufjan Stevens

This album's a weird one.

You've been warned.

Sufjan Stevens took this album, entitled "The Age of Adz," and ran in a completely different direction than his previous releases. He ran on down to Florida, boarded a spaceship, and went off to a planet of sound that was in a completely different galaxy than the one he had occupied previously.

I loved that previous planet, but, if it's possible, I might grow to love this one more. This album is a rough listen, you can't really do anything else while you're listening to it because, quite frankly, this CD takes a whole lot of energy and concentration to listen to. The first track, "Futile Devices," is the closest to the sound of Stevens' old work. The similarities stop there. From that point on, the songs are choppy, riddled with electronic sounds, swirling woodwind sounds, and, at some points, just obnoxious noises.

However, as with all of Sufjan Stevens' work, there is a melodic element hiding in this music, resting way under all the landmines on the surface. I would even call the album beautiful, in it's own sort of Pablo Picasso, cut and paste kinda way.

Aside from the music, the lyrics of this album are extremely interesting. They take you back to the past, into "the age of adz," which I could only assume is a wild world in the subregions of Sufjan's imagination. Still, it makes every track extremely interesting to listen to.

Chances are, you won't be a huge fan of this album after the first listen. It took me two listens to love the different-ness of it (yes, I just made up a word, thank you for noticing), and it's still growing on me several listens later. I wish I had listened to it more earlier than I did, because this album would have been in the middle of my Top 10 Albums of the Year post.

So, all I can say for this album is, give it a shot. If you're new to Sufjan Stevens, well, there ya go. You got a brand new Sufjan right off the bat. If you loved his previous stuff as I did, give this album a chance. There's a reason we loved him from the get-go, and those reasons are still in this album, just disguised under a different style.

My three favorite tracks are "Too Soon," "Age of Adz," and "Vesuvius."

Here's a link to his Myspace.

http://www.myspace.com/sufjanstevens

I hope you enjoy and, until next time, enjoy all the new music out there!

Andrew