Two things that most informed my listening this month were The Grammys and a semi-related renewed interest in rock. There was good, bad, and mediocre, but lets just talk about the good, shall we? Here were a few records I found worth getting to know in February.
Foo Fighters - Wasting LightGenre: Garage rock n roll! Little grungy, alternative with a 90s feel
First Impressions: My friend Lindsay is borderline obsessed with them and they got quite a few Grammy nods. My goal was to listen to all the major nominees before the show, and this one caught and held my attention more than any other Album of the Year contender. (well, besides Adele, but everybody loves Adele, right?) Organic, passionate, and straight up fun rock with melodic tendencies. I can't remember the last time I had this much fun listening to a rock album. It was also the final push I needed to finally give Nirvana a listen.
Source: Spotify, then bought it on iTunes
Sleigh Bells - Reign of TerrorGenre: Like a bunch of cheerleaders started a thrash metal dance punk band. But it's only two people.
First Impressions: It doesn't give me a headache like their last record does (every time.) I don't know if that's a good thing or not. While big loud distortion noise was the norm on Treats, this one turns down the fuzz for something more accessible and even melodic. Huge shredding guitars and thundering drums juxtaposed with sweet, girly vocals are still the defining mark of Sleigh Bells, but this time around things seem darker, more serious. They even dare to work in a couple of introspective almost-ballads. In spite of/because of the differences, I'm really liking it. Nice to see this New York duo stretching their sound and proving they're not a fluke.
Source: iTunes
Dave Barnes - Stories to TellGenre: Songwriter pop with a soulful twist
First Impressions: It's not rock at all in my month of rock, but I do love me some Dave Barnes. His music just makes me happy. It's understated and not too flashy, but his musicality and blending of R&B-ish grooves with heartfelt acoustic-based songwriting is always an interesting and fun listen. At the same time, I had it on background repeat all day, so I may have missed something. But then again, music that always leaves something to discover is the best kind, isn't it? It's a fine, smart melodic pop record, and one to check out when it releases next week.
Source: Pre-release (Releases March 13th. Pre-order on iTunes or Dave's website)
Total new albums for February: 9, plus maybe 2 I didn't finish. Mostly on Spotify as Grammy studying, therefore a few were kind of "meh" or not my style.
What have you been listening to this month? Drop a comment and share!
I hope this doesn't make you faint with shock, but I must not be everyone. I don't get Adele. Strike that. Let me start over. I only get Adele to a certain level, and beyond that my understanding falls short of that of seemingly most of the world. Yes, she knows how to sing and does it well. Yes, it is cool that she doesn't and refuses to look like most other women in her industry, and build her career on gimmicks. But musically, what she has written and recorded hasn't been my favorite. I get tired of hearing her rather quickly, even on rare occasions when I hear a song of hers I don't know well. I still know it's her voice, and most of the time I'm just not in the mood. It's hard for me to tell if I really just don't have a thing for her voice, or if I just associate it with songs that I don't like, and that's why I'm not often in the mood to hear her. The only way I'd be able to tell if she recorded some songs that I thought were great.
ReplyDeleteBut more power to her. Truly, it has been neat to watch her succeed, and I wish her the best. But when it comes to musical preferences, I'm not going to be one of the millions putting her on repeat.
Enough about that. After such dissent, I wish I had something else to contribute, but my world has been sadly lacking in music for a while. That's what happens when your computer is your only real access to finding and playing music, and then it becomes lame and will only function for you in the most basic of ways.
No fainting! You make some good points, and we're probably closer to the same page than you think. :)
DeleteFor me, my fascination with Adele is her voice, the simplicity of her music, and how she is so counter-cultural to the mainstream pop industry and still enjoys crazy success. And recently, I read an interview with her and found her story very interesting. (she's from a rough part of London... She exudes all this class and vulnerability, but she's tough and fierce and I kind of like that about her.)
That said... No, I didn't get into her album right away. I liked a few songs, but having never really been in a "rubbish relationship," it was hard to connect. I only revisited it while I was doing my Grammy homework, (yeah, i'm weirdly into the whole spectacle), and then I was able to better appreciate it on a technical and emotional level. And that's it. I think the album as a whole plus knowing more about her taught me to appreciate her.
It's still not a favorite go-to record though. I do get a little tired listening to her. But hey, if an artist with real talent and no gimmicks is bringing serious music into the public conversation, more power to her.
Thank you for bringing up this conversation! It's a good one. :) can you install Spotify on your computer? I use the free service, and it works pretty well for streaming. Lots of albums available. You have to deal with ads, but it's a good discovery service. (besides... If not for Spotify, there's no way I would've listened to some of those album of the year Noms. :p)
I've thought about Spotify. The last time I was over at my best friend's house, she was raving about it and I did some exploring on her computer. But I think my computer would crash if I tried to use it. It really is pitiful. If I'm not careful with it, or even sometimes when I am careful with it, it crashes when I'm just surfing the web. I routinely get interrupted when I'm in the middle of doing something. So, no Spotify for me. I can't even run iTunes anymore, so I removed all of my music files to free up my hard drive and hopefully help it run better.
DeleteI like Adele for all the reasons you mentioned. I watched an interview with her before the Grammys, and it helped me appreciate her more while I was watching her. I was especially intrigued by the fact that she's still so nervous when she performs. I've lost most of my jitters over the years, but I often wonder if that would still be true if I was singing in front of massive audiences. Also, this Grammy performance was a return to the stage after regaining her voice, and at the time, I had just regained my voice after it being gone for six weeks. So my heart went out to her, and I completely understood how happy she must be.
Out of all the nominees, I'm glad she won as much as she did. And the point you made about having never been in a "rubbish relationship" could also be a hang up for me, too. I don't really understand anything she's talking about! And with all hope, maybe I never will. At least not that intimately.
Aww... yeah, computer problems will do that. :( I understand. My last computer despised iTunes for some reason, and I basically could run Word and a web browser. You don't need much else... but still...
DeleteI thought that part about her being nervous was interesting too! Makes her more real, more human, and I suppose that's the connecting part for so many people. I remember Jill Phillips saying at Hutchmoot (I think she was quoting someone else, but I'll credit her) that the difference between the BIG pop stars and the songwriters like her was that they're whole image is designed to show how different they are from us, but artists like Jill are trying to show us that they're just the same. Adele seems to do both.
Yes, I hope the same. I don't want to go through that. Then again... it does lend itself to more writing material. ;)