A Valentine’s Day No One Will Forget
Posted: 02.14.2011 Filed under: 2011, first listen, new release, Radiohead, The Low Anthem Leave a comment »What a fun and exciting day Valentine’s Day has been so far!
In anticipation of The Low Anthem’s concert at the First Unitarian Church on February 25th, I’ve been feverishly checking out information on their new album, Smart Flesh, due out next Tuesday. Frustratingly, no info – cover, track list, etc. – has been released… until today: NPR to the rescue! Starting today, and for a full week until its release, Smart Flesh is being streamed in full on their All Songs Considered site. Naturally, I’m at work right now, and this was the one day I forgot to bring my headphones in, so I’ll have to give this a listen tomorrow night.
- Ghost Woman Blues
- Apothecary Love
- Boeing 737
- Love And Altar
- Matter Of Time
- Wire
- Burn
- Hey, All You Hippies!
- I’ll Take Out Your Ashes
- Golden Cattle
- Smart Flesh
In other news, Radiohead has announced today a new album for release… in five days. (The physical release will be on May 9th.) No track list yet, and I’m kind of hoping it’ll remain quiet until the album has been released. As always, my bank account is dwindling, so I went with the cheap option of the MP3 download.
Newspaper Album ($48.00 MP3, $53.00 WAV)
- Two clear 10″ vinyl records in a purpose-built record sleeve.
- A compact disc.
- Many large sheets of artwork, 625 tiny pieces of artwork and a full-colour piece of oxo-degradeable plastic to hold it all together.
- The Newspaper Album comes with a digital download that is compatible with all good digital media players.
- The Newspaper Album will be shipped on Monday 9th May 2011 you can, however, enjoy the download on Saturday 19th February 2011.
- Shipping is included in the prices shown.
- One lucky owner of the digital version of The King Of Limbs, purchased from this website, will receive a signed 2 track 12″ vinyl.
Digital Only ($9.99 MP3, $14.00 WAV)
- MP3 version is a 320K constant bit rate file.
- WAV version is a full CD quality uncompressed digital audio file.
- One lucky owner of the digital version of The King Of Limbs, purchased from this website, will receive a signed 2 track 12″ vinyl.
Have I mentioned how much I love Valentine’s Day?
She & Him: Still Grammatically Incorrect Yet Toe-Tappingly Catchy
Posted: 03.17.2010 Filed under: 2010, first listen, new release, She and Him 2 Comments »A week before the release of Volume 2, the unimaginatively titled follow-up to the equally unimaginatively titled Volume 1, NPR has once again proved its merit by streaming the entire album on its website. And as someone who enjoyed the candyfloss sweetness of the first album, I was overjoyed to learn that the unusual yet successful duo of M. Ward and Zooey Deschanel was working on a new album together. As you may recall from my review of Volume 1 from 2008, I was highly complimentary of the album, and placed it at #3 on my year-end “Best Of” list.
I expect you’re waiting for the shoe to drop, right? It might have been my use of “unimaginatively titled” in the first sentence, but I can assure you that this isn’t a slam review. As I’m writing this, I’m giving the album a first listen and am enjoying it immensely; it’s not as immediately accessible as the first album, but it does give Ward more of a “voice” in that there seems to be more electric guitar work on the album, and he gets a few more vocal spotlights. But it’s clear that this is supposed to be Deschanel’s album: she’s written all of the songs, except for ‘Ridin’ In My Car’ and ‘Gonna Get Along Fine Without You’, covers by NRBQ and Skeeter Davis, respectively. She sounds more confident this time, though she still sings in a conversational tone, neither reaching any ear-shattering notes nor attempting to show how extremely gifted she is as a vocalist.
The production is a peach. Ward gives the tunes a retro feel, as if they had been recorded in the 1960s by any of the many brilliant Motown girl groups – the Supremes, the Shirelles, the Cookies, the Ronettes – with clattering drums, lilting strings, and a vague Spectoresque “Wall of Sound”. However, none of it is obtrusive or overbearing; these songs are meant to be subtle, with only hints toward their inspiration, instead of hammering the listener over the head. There’s a distinct summery feel to the album, with most of the songs focusing on falling in love and remembering past summer romances. I predict this album will be a pretty big summer listen, at least for me: I look forward to ridin’ in my car (hey now!), windows down, summer air whipping around the cabin, and these catchy tunes blasting from my speakers.
As an added bonus, here’s the video for ‘In The Sun’, a wholesome ‘Hit Me Baby One More Time’, with a decided late 50s/early 60s twist to it.
