My summer music project is on hiatus. Permanent hiatus. Cancelled, more like.
I'm still listening to a decent (for me) amount of new music, but it's not exclusively stuff that's in the original list. Sometimes I like a particular band and decide to check out more of their stuff, sometimes I get turned on to another band.
So rather than constrain myself to certain albums, I'm just going to listen to whatever the heck I want and then share it with you every five albums in mind.
In that spirit, here we go!
Kensington Heights - Constantines
The Constantines are an indie rock/pseudo-pop outfit out of Toronto. You may have heard of them, as I believe they are one of the more mainstream indie bands in the country. At any rate, I definitely recognized 'New King' and perhaps 'Hateful Song' as songs that I think I'd heard before, even though I went into the album believing myself unfamiliar with the band. All in all, it was about what I expected - but I expected good things, so the lack of disappointment was in itself a positive sign. Catchy tunes, quite accessible, and all around fun. Nothing particularly awesome, but nothing offensive either.
Grade: B+
Recommended Tracks: Shower of Stars; New King; Do What You Can Do
Return To The Sea - Islands
This one's a different story. After being told by a number of people over a period of at least four years that they like the Islands, that I would probably like the Islands, my expectations were very high. I tried to keep them realistic, and I think I did, but this album didn't come anywhere close to meeting them. It's not that it's bad per se, it's just...not good. Aside from a couple of tracks, it's not all that catchy or memorable, the songwriting isn't particularly astounding...I just don't see why they are/were such a big deal. It's definitely not that they're too out there (see below)...I dunno. I've listened to it a few times now, and this album just doesn't do it for me.
Grade: C
Recommended Tracks: Don't Call Me Whitney, Bobby; Rough Gem; If
Merriweather Post Pavillion - Animal Collective
Listening to this album was what made me realize just how much my music tastes had changed. A year ago, if you'd have told classic-rock-and-New-Pornographers me that I'd like this sort of thing, I'd have said that future-me deserved a punch in the throat. Maybe I still do. Animal Collective are...out there. Their music is 'produced' (code for 'digitally enhanced') to the point where I have absolutely zero interest in ever seeing them live, but I can see why they're gaining as much popularity (although not mainstream) as they are. There is an odd catchiness to the music, and I suspect certain substances might enhance one's enjoyment even further.
Grade: A-
Recommended Tracks: My Girls; Summertime Clothes; Bluish
Destroyer's Rubies - Destroyer
I like Destroyer. They're good for when I'm looking for something a little more low-key, a little more jazzy, but still undeniably indie. Dan Bejar is very good at writing that sort of thing, and I much prefer him in Destroyer to any of his other projects. Rubies is an album of firsts - '3000 Flowers' was the first Destroyer song I ever heard, and while it gave me an extremely distorted impression of the band, it remains my favourite - and this is the first Destroyer album I've listened to all the way through. The opening track is nine minutes of Bejar insanity, and it gets slightly calmer from then on out. Only real drawback is that I need to be in a certain mood to enjoy it.
Grade: A-
Recommended Tracks: Rubies; Painter In Your Pocket; 3000 Flowers
III - Billy Talent
And now we come to the 'holy crap Ryan's talking about something popular!' portion of this post. (Teaser of the next installment: I bought the new Our Lady Peace CD today.) I've never been a huge fan of Billy Talent, but I had a ten-week love affair with the song 'Surrender' when it became a hit two summers ago, and have a slight like for 'Devil In A Midnight Mass', 'This Suffering', and maybe a couple of others. Billy Talent's third offering is...well, I know some reviews have called the group out for losing quality at the expense of sounding more commercial, but I don't think that's quite right. It's just...'watered-down' is the best way I can describe it. Like somebody gave them Prozac. It's still a long way from being bad, certainly, it's solid pop punk. It's just not on the level of the first two albums in my opinion.
Grade: B
Recommended Tracks: Rusted From The Rain; Tears Into Wine; Sudden Movements
And a note...
...on a couple of the bands I mentioned last time.
The Gaslight Anthem, who I gave a great score and tremendous praise. I still consider this my top album of the year, and one of my all-time top ten, but I want to dial back the rhetoric a bit. It's not 'everybody should listen to this album'. It's 'everybody who likes classic rock, at least a little bit, should listen to this album'. It's Bruce Springsteen/Tom Petty-style rock that's just a little too hard for you to be comfortable defining it as 'singer-songwriter'. It would not sound out of place on a classic rock radio station - but unlike a lot of current rock, it won't sound dated by next year. From what I've seen of magazines and Twitter, they're on the cusp of hitting it big - so when that happens, I'll be here to say I told you so.
And Sunset Rubdown, who got more middle-of-the-road marks. I'm giving them a retroactive bump up for Shut Up I Am Dreaming, which I'm currently feeling like I'll never get tired of listening to. Even though that album doesn't contain either of my favourite songs of theirs ('Paper Lace', probably their most accessible tune, and 'The Men Are Called Horsemen There', possibly their least) it's a great mix of slightly-esoteric indie rock that will stick in your head longer than you think it deserves to.
Now it's time for a vacation. Let's see if I can come back in August and blog with a vengeance.
--Ryan
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