Quarterlifeparty

Ryan Adams & The Cardinals – Cardinology
This keeps bothering me, but I keep wanting to spell this album title “Cardinalogy”. Wouldn’t that be correct? It’s Cardinal, not Cardinol…anyway I’m sure If I am wrong our usual grammar/spelling correcting comments will have their say. As for the quality of the album, I was a little worried after hearing the clips we posted last week, it sounded like another Easy Tiger, maybe worse. There are some really great songs on Easy Tiger, but overall, the album as a whole doesn’t hold up compared to some of his others. This is a step in a better direction, it’s no Cold Roses, or Heartbreaker, or Demolition, or even Gold, but it has a lot of good songs on it.

The problem and plus, with Ryan Adams is that he has no filter…so you pretty much hear the good with the bad. The good side to this is that you get to hear everything…the bad news is that you get to hear EVERYTHING. The bad on this album would be “Magick”, a song that sounds like a Matchbox 20 song. But when it’s followed by the beautiful song “Cobwebs” it’s hard to complain. This album is like a dysfunctional relationship: “I love you, I hate you, I love you, I hate You” (which is apropos considering his songs are all about this). The album starts out with “Born into the Light”, sounding a little like a Jacksonville City Nights track with the twangy, saloon infused guitar. On first listen, the first half of the album doesn’t hit me right away, it’s the second half that is the strongest and actually takes the band in a little bit of a new direction. The songs are more dense and maybe Ryan Adams might not be on his lyrical game with this one (in fact i don’t think i have heard such literal/non-poetic lyrics from him), but his delivery is still there and the Cardinals keep getting better.

Oasis – Dig Out Your Soul
This is the first time Oasis have sounded like their own band since Cigarettes and Alcohol. They get away from trying to write perfect little Beatles pop/rock songs on this one and put out a cohesive album. The Beatles toss-ups are still there, but this is more like a Beatles inspired brit-rock. Oasis have always bugged me because they seem to never live up to their potential, Noel, imo, should have out a ton of more music than he has. Maybe in their older years they will begin to get away from their influences more and start putting out more of their own brand. Not saying this album is in groundbreaking territory, but I haven’t enjoyed an Oasis album like this in a long time.

Secret Machines – The Secret Machines
This one took a few listens to begin to enjoy. “Atomic Heels” sounds like a cheap first song compared to the rest of the album that is pretty heavy-handed.. like it was just thrown on there as the single. But with more listens “Atomic Heels” sinks in and is a great song even if it doesn’t really fit in with the rest.

The Pink Floyd influence shines through on this album but more in a way that is an obvious homage to the band than just an attempt to mimic, considering that the Secret Machines add their own unique elements. The album is full of Prog-goodness, “Have I run Out ” channels a bit of Gabriel in his hayday of genesis ( ala “The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway”),”The Walls Are Starting To Crack” channels Waters in Floyd, “I Never Thought To Ask” is like a hair band ballad in space, and album closer “the fire is waiting” might be their most epic song yet, coming in at just over 11 minutes. Overall, the Machines still remain one of my favorite bands with this album.

Misc.

Here are some other albums I have really been into lately:

Emiliana Torrini – Me and Armini: Quite a varied album, at times sounding like Feist, other times sounding like Lykke Li, and other times something entirely different.

Emiliana Torrini – Me and Armini (MP3)

Dungen – 4: This album is WAY better than the 7.8 it received from P4k, imo. I think I listened to it on repeat all last week. It reminds of the jazz piano music you hear on Charlie Brown only with a crazy psychedelic guitar player thrown in.

Dungen – Satt Att Se (MP3)

Tags: , albums , dungen , emiliana torrini , oasis , review , ryan adams , secret machines