New Music

This may be old news to some people, but there is a lot of exciting music coming out or which has come out recently, and I thought I would mention it here. Since I haven't mentioned my musical tastes anywhere on this blog before, let me just say I listen to a great many things: electronica, pop, pop-ish folk, rock, indy, classical, hardcore, metal. My tastes tend to be broad, and I tend to pick only a few things of each genre.

My tastes tend to run in phases; for example, I'll listen to all electronica for 2 weeks, then move on and listen to a bunch of my old emocore stuff. Lately, I've been listening to a lot of more popular music in the pop/rock/alternative genres, and that's definitely going to be reflected in this list. Here are some new albums that I think are worth noting, and my first impressions of them:

Keane - Perfect Symmetry:
First Impression: 5/10
After Keane's first two albums, you would think that you knew what to expect. In this case, you would definitely be wrong! This album utilizes a lot more electronics and is much more synthy. It gives it an 80s feel, and the songs are catchy, but I don't know how I will feel about it in the long run.
If you have not ever heard of Keane, they were generally considered 'piano-rock' and their music was generally characterized by pop-structured songs, with prominent use of the piano and the singer's strong voice, and glossy, clean production. This album is much different though. I would recommend starting at their first (and still, arguably, best) album, Hopes and Fears.

Aside:
Some may view my ratings as rather harsh, mostly because I believe people are too free with their 8's 9's and 10's when they rate things. It is also a first impression; sometimes these are the albums that really grow on you over time. Also, since I believe you can't remove context from the rating of an album, Perfect Symmetry suffers from the much stronger (IMHO) first two albums by Keane. Now, back to the main event...

Kings of Leon - Only by the Night:
First Impression: 7/10
I am a relative newcomer to Kings of Leon. I only just heard of them soon after Because of the Times came out. A lot of people really liked Because of the Times, and so did I. Only by the Night is a very worthy follow-up to that album. The singer has improved on his unique but strong voice. It also has very clean production, which I thought worked well. If you liked Because of the Times I can almost guarantee you will like this album.
The band combines mostly minimal rockin' with very front and center vocals and some electronic effects. The singer is one of my favourites these days; he has a very high energy voice that sometimes borders on a screech... but in a good way.

Snow Patrol - A Hundred Million Suns:
First Impression: 8.5/10
Let's get one thing clear here. Snow Patrol is not really doing anything new to them. They play sappy pop-rock with a heavy emphasis on relationship/love themes. However, this is exactly why I love them, so I don't mind. The album is so overwhelmingly catchy (not unlike their first two) that you just can't but let it help you feel good. They do enough differently that it doesn't sound exactly like Eyes Open/Final Straw. So far there are no big stand-out songs, but only because the whole album is very strong. This is another one where the production is clean. I'm noticing a theme here... Oh well, like I said, my music habits tend to run in phases.


I am interested in production mostly because Liam despises overproduction. It's when he started mentioning it that I started to notice it at all. As much as Liam decries overproduction, I don't find the production over-done on any of these 3 albums. I think it makes it easy to appreciate these bands' ability. All three use traditional rock-song structure, and the music here is more about appreciating the quality of pop/rock songwriting and vocal talent than doing anything that much differently.


I will also be giving these short 'first impressions' reviews on Bloc Party's new album and Of Montreal's. I was going to do them now, but I don't think I've listened to them even enough for a first impression review. I suppose that sounds counterintuitive, but I was so distracted when listening to them, I didn't really absorb any of the music.