Cloud Cult: LightChasers vs Wilco: Summerteeth

This was my first experience of Cloud Cult. A wide variety of sounds on this album, and it's highs are thoroughly enjoyable.

Lovely instrumental intro.

Second song has solid cord progressions. Fun.

The lead singer often sounds distressed, but I can't tell why.

I listened to this album a few weeks ago, and now listening to it again, many songs are now familiar, and I want to hear them through.

This was not my first experience of Wilco. I have been trying to like them for years. I even put 2 songs on a mix CD years ago before the time of iPods. I could tell they were good songs. And for a while I thought I might like them. Never did. So this time I gave it a real shot.

I started listening to this album over a dozen times. Only got through it twice?

Wilco is jangly yet tight. Polished yet laid back. Never offensive, always professional. But the whole album holds almost no highlights for me.

A Shot in the Arm being the one exception. It is more complex and enjoyable on close listening, with a lot going on in the lower register. The lower register being something that is absent in almost all other Wilco songs. But even this, my favorite song on the album has a chorus that repeats the song title 6 strained times!? After the 4th time I almost hit the skip button.

Most songs don't have a hook or a destination. Nothing to sing along with.

Decision: Cloud Cult: Light Chasers

updated bracket

Eric Everman, are you still out there reading this? Current assignments are given in blue.

Since Anne, DAG, and Steg were one album behind, I've updated this list with new assignments for them. Look for your assignment in the upper right of the bracket (I'll elaborate when I get the chance).

Rob and Sara will get their assignments after we have a few more people finish their current assignments.

Two really great albums

I just can't make time for fancy write up... but I've definitely been able to listen to both of these a great deal while I work.

Ben Folds Five: The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner vs. Regina Spektor: Begin to Hope

Two great albums... thanks for the folks who submitted. I loved listening to these, both being ones that I'd only ever browsed.

Ben Folds: great album. Inventive and creative. Listening to it was interesting and enjoyable. Drawback: I don't think Ben's voice is all that, but the group more than makes up for it in diversity of sound. Additionally, I think that this was a 1999 album, which might punk it out of the competition?

Spektor: Also creative and new. I feel like she is doing a 'best of' album early in her career. Her light airy soprano voice might grate on some folks but it really grew on me. There is an element of risk in this album that I really liked. The kind of emotional commitment that I've heard in beginning albums of other artists that makes me fall in love with them. I look forward to hearing more from her.

Victor: Regina Spektor: Begin to Hope.

USA vs Canada v2 - the results are in

This round we have a band's major label debut (The Decemberists - The Crane Wife) and another band's, well, debut (The Arcade Fire - Funeral). Both are lauded by indie lovers, critics and even those hipsters in Portlandia.

To be honest, I didn't care to listen to either band when they first came out as I grew tired of consistently hearing day in and day out about "the next big thing" ever since bands like The Strokes and The Thrills were selling out small music venues even when they only had an EP out to the public. Remember those bands? Yeah, there you go.

In any case, The Decemberists sparked my interest with their classical approach to songwriting. Ok, they dress in funky old-school outfits which can be a little over the top, but overall, their music is very mature and reminded me of The Waterboys with a dash of R.E.M. and Donovan. The songs are deep and wide and I'm punching myself for not catching on sooner.

As for The Arcade Fire, I love how they take the depth that The Decemberists started and then take even greater risks with making the sound become, just, well, bigger. Win Butler and company are amazingly talented all around. Maybe this is because Canada subsidizes artists well and produces some amazing acts (listen to The Dears when you have the chance by the way). This is alternative music in the next realm. Wake up folks, this is music.

My choice - The Arcade Fire (sorry USA, Canada gets this one)

For your enjoyment, Who is Arcade Fire?

the philistine says...

Dear Eastman Wind Ensemble,

I can't even pretend that I am capable of evaluating your work. I'm sure you have created outstanding music and are well respected across the globe. I fully believe that many discerning people play Danzante while they cook dinner, drive to work, and perform any manner of tasks--both inspired and mundane.

It's not you, it's me. I can't enjoy music or performances that do not include words. My imagination is not robust enough to create my own interpretation or story for the product of your instruments. I am, simply put, bored.

To top it off, you have to compete with Kanye--a man who's words and actions could inspire endless psychology dissertations. I get a voyeuristic glimpse of what it's like to lose your mother in a tummy tuck accident. To be dumped by a super model.

I get to learn about the 808 drum machine. And read passages like this on wikipedia:

"West himself openly stated that he loves using Auto-Tune and is dismayed that the term has been commonly associated with being "wack".^[15] He considers the technology "the funnest thing to use" and compared the situation to when he was a child and thought the color pink was cool until someone told him "it was gay", producing an analogy of how the views of society can rob people of their confidence and self-esteem."

I appreciate Kanye and hope that he continues to seek and explore the color pink, whatever form it takes.

It's wack of me, but you didn't stand a chance.

Sincerely,

Sara

Winner: Kanye West, 808s & Heartbreak

Friendly Fires vs. Wolf Parade

The name of the band “Friendly Fires” seemed so familiar to me I thought sure that I must have known them. I think I’ve been avoiding writing this review for so long because I’ve been searching for something not too biting to say about them. But here it is: I don’t get this band. They’re supposedly hailed as a great “party band” but everything I hear is recycled 80s – and I mean bad eighties. “Paris” seems to have a sound somewhere in between Duran Duran and Depeche Mode, but not as good as either of them. At first, I thought “Skeleton Boy” was a little more interesting – but it soon grew too poppy and repetitive. Once I hit “Jump in the Pool” and “Kiss of Life” the repetitiveness was out of hand. It sticks in your head the same way that a praise song sticks in your head.

I hadn’t heard of Wolf Parade, and it wasn’t immediately palatable, but I soon grew to like it. I had the same sense of “Who do they sound like?” as I did with Friendly Fires. But rather than deciding that it merely sounded like a generic 80s band, I figured out (ok – by looking it up, I admit) that it was because one of the members, Isaac Brock, used to play with Modest Mouse. That makes sense now. Unlike Friendly Fires, Wolf Parade gets more interesting every time I listen to it. Favorites including “Sons and Daughters of a Hungry Ghost” and the strangely-titled “Grounds for Divorce.” Plus, they’re from Montreal, home of another great band “Stars” who was callously struck down by Steve TenElsof. (not that I hold a grudge or anything) I was sad to read that they’re currently on hiatus – I hope that’s temporary.

Choice? No question – Wolf Parade moves forward.