New Music the Week of 8/24/2010

Ra Ra Riot's The Orchard -  This New York band's sophomore release follows it critically praised first album The Rhumb Line. Their music, falling somewhere between Alt Pop and Chamber Pop, is reminiscent of bands like The Shins, New Pornographers and Snow Patrol.  I saw the band live last year when they were touring with Death Cab for Cutie and they put on a decent if unspectacular show.

Their new album starts with the very gentle and somber sound of violin strings as the intro to the albums first song, "The Orchard."  Fans of the first album will instantly recognize the feel and tone of the band from that first song.  After the good but melancholy opening song, you start to get a new feel for Ra Ra Riot with the more uptempo "Boy."  This new feeling continues on the catchy rant "Too Dramatic," which, along with the first song, is one of my favorites from this album because of its catchy pop hooks.

Overall, I would say its a very good album and the type I would play as background music when working or reading.  The album is catchy enough where it never loses your attention but there aren't any mind-blowing songs on it either.

Score: 8/10
Song(s) to Sample:  "The Orchard" and "Boy" are two great, polar examples of what to expect from this album. 

The Eels' Tomorrow Morning -  I should point out that I've been a huge fan of the Mark Everett band since I was in college in the 90's.  Beautiful Freak and Electro-Shock Blues were two of the CDs that got regular play on my trek to-and-fro campus (yes kids, there was a time before iPods where we had to carry around actual CD players if we wanted to listen to music while on the go).  Even if you're not familiar with the Eels' more famous songs like "Novocaine for the Soul" or "Your Lucky Day in Hell," you might be unknowingly familiar with the band due to their extensive work in film soundtracks like American Beauty, Knocked Up, Hot Fuzz, and the first three Shrek movies, among others.  This is the final album of a planned "concept album trilogy" that began with Hombre Lobo. 

I'm glad to report that this is the best of the three albums that compose their concept album trilogy.   Although the album starts on a very mellow note, by the time you get to the heart of the album you get into some vintage Mark Everett song writing.  "Spectacular Girl" is your prototypical Eels song that, sadly, I hadn't heard on an Eels album in a while.  "After the Earthquake" is a heartbreaking song light on lyrics but heavy on moody piano playing that reminds me of some of their best work from albums released over a decade ago.  "Looking Up" has a very catchy blues-y feel to it that may seem out of place but works really well with the band's style and fits well in the album as a whole. 

Overall, it saddens me to report that while this is their best album in years, it still ranks below their all-time best.  That's not to say this is a bad album by any means and long-time fans like myself are sure to get a lot of enjoyment out of it.  One thing I do appreciate about the new albums is that there is a ton more depth to their slow songs (as evidenced by "That's Not Her Way"). 

Score: 7/10
Song(s) to Sample: "Spectacular Girl"

 Young Man's Boy - I knew nothing of this musician prior to listening to the album but according to Spinner Magazine, Young Man is a "master YouTube cover artist."  (Whatever you do, don't try a Google search for "Young Man" and "Boy" because, unless you're a member of NAMBLA, you're not going to like the results...)  Being a ginormous fan of cover songs, I thought I'd give the album a try. 

Much to my chagrin, this album had absolutely no cover songs.  WTF is up with that?!?  If you are a "master YouTube cover artist" throw a friggin' cover song or two on your album!  The music has a very alt-folksy Rock vibe to it with very Jack Johnson inspired bongo drumming at times and subdued bass and guitar playing. "Just a Growin'" has the catchiest melody and was my favorite song from the album.

Overall, this album was a huge disappointment.  Besides having no cover songs, the entire album sounded under-produced with overly simplistic melodies.  The vocal levels I thought were especially bad, with his voice sounding tinny and distant throughout the entire album.  I went in hoping for a something like Rasputina's excellent Lost & Found album but instead what I got sounded like a very, very, very early Simon & Garfunkel album but without the musical sensibilities of Paul Simon.  For example, a song called "Playtime" should be upbeat and full of energy.  Instead, the intro to that song nearly put me to sleep.

Score: 2/10
Song(s) to Sample: "Just a Growin'"


More still to come this week.  I'm hoping to listen to the new Usher album.  Sorry, no plans on listening to the new Katy Perry.