Top Of The Blogs – November 6, 2008
Each week (or whenever we have time) we take a listen to some of the top songs from elbows, review them and then give our selection of alternative tracks that we believe should be getting more recognition.
Sebastien Grainger-American Names
former drummer and singer of Death From Above 1979 puts out this solid energetic rocksong. He finds a good screaming/singing middle ground that lifts the song up from jsut being standard fare.
Crystal Stilts-Shatteredshine
Really liking what I have been hearing coming from this band. It’s fuzzy with a monotonous droney singer that works perfectly with the music. It has a little jingle & jangle that reminds me of a more affected Byrds, and has a timeless quality to it… the harmonica is a nice touch.
Designer Drugs-Zombies!
Gratuitous mid-90’s rave music.
Kanye West-Coldest Winter
Kanye West-Robocop
Two Kanye songs this week? What is this? 2007?. He has good beats but his lyrics get worse and worse. You used to have to read into his lyrics, now they are dumbed down and overly literal. But I guess still a good listen if you don’t feel like thinking that much.
Lily Allen-Everyones At It
More of the same from Lilly Allen, you might think with the opening astro-sounds that this might be a little different than her usual, but it doesn’t take it far. I feel like she uses the same vocal melody for every song, this is definitely standard pop music.
Mos Def – Life In Marvelous Times
I love how most people hate actors/actresses turned artists/musicians but musicians turned actors are usually ok. Mos Def is good on both fronts, but I must say that although this is a strong song, rap lyrics are pretty boring these days. I rarely am surprised by what comes out.
Of Montreal- Id Engager
Fun Fun album for the adult’s with ADD crowd. Very sexual and good party music.
Pallers-Humdrum
This starts out promising with some good downtempo night music, but it gets generic throughout. The electronic style is something you have heard many times before and the singing (although it fits the music) is somewhat monotonous.
Plus Minus-Snowblind
Caught these guys opening for the National a couple years ago in DC and they put on an excellent show. Since then I’ve grabbed a couple of their albums but haven’t put in much listening time. It’s a solid song with a little bit of that Postal Service minimalist electronica going on in the background (in the soft vocals as well). Once the drums kick in it gets a whole lot better.
Some songs that we think deserve some more attention:
Grails – Predestination Blues
The new Grails album Doomsdayer’s Holiday is outstanding and probably deserves a post to itself. If you enjoy your music with Indian guitar scales laced in psychedelic drone and grunge then you are going to love this. The places they take these songs are mind-blowing.
Wax – Ridiculous
Since there is a lot of hip-hop on TOTB this week I think it’s worth mentioning this up and comer. Hometown Baltimore, now living in L.A… with each album he gets exponentially better. Talented musician as well, used to play in the band McGregor.
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