New Music 03-08-09

This week we have:
K'Naan's "Troubadour" 14 tracks
Not exactly new, but I finally got around to taking notes on it.  This is now my frontrunner for album of the year (besting "Home" from Gavin Castleton, which still has the best liner notes I have ever seen).  When I took notes I made mention of 10 out of the 14 tracks. Yeah its that good.  I even like the song featuring Adam Levine from Maroon 5 and the one with the dude from Metallica.  That  is a fucking achievement. Also he raps in Somali, which is just beautiful. Sometime a language lends itself to a style of music and they are perfect together.

MGMT's "Time to Pretend EP" 6 tracks
This one is actually OLD, 2005. But I found it at Record Collector (along with Carla Bruni). Do these people just buy CDs to rip them, then sell them? It feautres two of my favs from Oracular: Kids and Time to Pretend, the former when mashed up with Bowie's "Ziggy Stardust" is my favorite song right now.  "Love Always Remains" has echos of Postal Service, and the chant chorus at the end is genius. "Indie Rokkers" is great, but with "Destrokk" they have severe over used Ks. Boogie Down is not great at all, but the others make up for it.  Personally I can't wait for Congratulations to drop around late August

Tom Gabel's "Heart Burns EP" 7(9?) tracks
How did I miss this last summer? In fairness I was still "Powerpop Adam" so it might have been lost on me. As stated in a recent status, I regard this more highly than any Against Me!, except maybe New Wave (not the Ben Lee cover version). More personal and emotive than AM! but keeping that production from New Wave.  "Harsh Realms" and "Conceptual Paths" are good, but the stand outs are both Bonus Tracks. Sure the regular version of "Random Hearts" is good, but the acoustic version is miles above. Style matters dude, and a song that drenched in meaning needs an acoustic guitar. I don't make the rules I just enforce them. "I Can't See You, But I Know You're There" is also acoustic and the line "I got my new favorite record today, My favorites change every single day, except you" rivals anything Max Bemis can pen, being both self referential and romantic. But he gets props for having an EP clock in over 25 minutes and 9 tracks. Ballsy.

Superbus' "Lova Lova" 13 tracks
Just got this today, and it is on the 4th listen. As great as Metric is (see below), being French Canadian, they are bested by actual French singing in French.  Sounds like a better version of Paramore (as I told Kirsten, classier since they are French) or old No Doubt., but with more synths. What do you expect, they ARE European.  I am pretty sure there are laws about that (Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée, maybe?) "Keyhole" reminds me of the sex appeal of the Faint or Blaqk Audio, but "Call Girl" is a little too europop for my tastes. The standouts here are the English-sung "Just like the Old Days" and its mention of the 1980s groove and "Gogo Dance Show" and its spell-chanting of G-O-G-O-. They really shine with the French sung "Addictions" (see posted link), "A La Verticale", "Lova Lova", and"Apprendre Moi" the latter two being the best on the album.

Cursive's "Mama, I'm Swollen 10(15?) tracks
Classic Cursive, and nothing much more.  Something about his style rarely leads to stand outs, but "From the Hips" is amazing especially the opening lines of the verses (which are ruined when typed). I have gotten to listen to the bonus tracks, which promise something special-- alternate lyrics for 3 songs, with one having an extra verse. "Going to Hell" is also pretty good by itself.

The Decemberist's "Hazards of Love" 17 tracks
You read that right, 17 songs. Total time is just under an hour, bravo Colin Meloy! I love the cross fade outros in the first half. I just kind of wish the 4 parts of "Hazards Of Love" were in succession, something feels lost as is.  "The Wanting Comes in Waves/Repaid" blew my mind. I resumed my listen with it and it is so different form their usual style I thought I had my player on shuffle. I don't want to ruin this since I bet most all of you will get it in a couple weeks, so all I'll say for individual songs is that "Hazards of Love 1" is my favorite. Also it is nice to be able to write about this...finally.

Metric's "Fantasies" 10(13?) tracks
Not really as great as the pre-order bundle lead me to believe, but still good and new stuff from Emily Haines' angel voice is always appreciated (speaking of which I should grab some Soft Skeleton soon). "Gimme Sympathy" is "Fant"astic, though I kind of prefer the acoustic version (I can't help my acoustical mood). "Help, I'm Alive" might be their best single since "Combat Baby", maybe I'm just hoping for a return to Static Anonymity sound... "Stadium Love" has the most going in the background and is the most fun, easily the best to hear live, even if it sounds like she is saying "Steel Love". Oh and how did "Waves" not make the album? That is just silliness...And who decided to limit that version to 500 copies???? FOR SHAME!!!