Josh Ritter on a recent Daytrotter Session with songs from his great new LP, So Runs the World Away.
Josh Ritter – Daytrotter Session
Pure Folky
Pure Hip
bpue, May 11th 2010 |Pure Beauty
“King of Spain” – The Wild Hunt, The Tallest Man on Earth
Via TunnelVision on Pitchfork.tv
Every time I go to the pool this happens to me, every time
I, of course, am the T-Rex in this video. The ladies, well its a bit of a mix of exes and nextes, and some exes that will be nextes again soon.
“Next Girl” – Brother by The Black Keys
Mowton Queen, Singstress Galore
I Learned the Hard Way – Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings
This album will make any traditionalist happy and the new age should be taking notes. Born of the Detroit heyday, these songs aren’t just simple bubble gum poppers, they are well written lyrically and back by a stellar band, and yeah, that Sharon Jones lady, she can wail and croon and wrench a heart with the best of ‘em. The songs embody everything great of American music’s past and makes it contemporary. This album is a rare feat and Sharon Jones is fast making a legend of herself.
Listen to: “I Learned the Hard Way”, “Money”, “Momma Don’t Like My Man”
Rating: 4.0 Ears
Damon’s Legacy Continues
Plastic Beach – Gorillaz
Not as immediate or as deep as Demon Days, the guest heavy Plastic Beach plays light at times, but you have to keep working with it to reveal the layers beneath. The album runs long, too long and some of the songs don’t feel up the task, but when they hit its pretty awesome. Most of the material doesn’t hold up beyond the context of the album, which is a common fault with albums this epic in appraoch. Where “Stylo” is proving to be a favorite LTME track of the spring, the quirky “Superfast Jellyfish”, seems awkward outside of the flow of the album. Its spotty at best for us, but we recognize why it ahs garnered the attention it has.
Listen to: “Welcome to the World of the Plastic Beach”, “Stylo”, “Broken”
Rating: 3.5 Ears
Roar on Night, Roar
The Besnard Lakes Are The Roaring Night – The Besnard Lakes
An evoking, cinematic album that is as bold and evolving as Explosions in the Sky but with a Do Make Say Think creative vein that plays heavy on the darker sides of Black Mountain. In other words, its a moody, dark, rocker that will appeal to Black Angels fans for its stoned aggression.Â
Listen to: “Like the Ocean, Like the Innocent Pt. 2 – The Innocent”
Rating: 3.0 Ears
The Exploration Continues Onward
(Measure) – Field Music
Electronica kings of soundscapes and sonic exploration meets folk-rock crossroads much to the listener’s delight. Beautifully arranged and intriguing as heck, this album plays stronger for LTME than previous works, namely for the guitar and driving, digging rhythms. (Measure)has an organic, real sound, giving a fuller and broader spectrum to the music. Think LCD Soundsystem with acoustic guitars.
Listen to: “Them That Do Nothing”, “Each Time Is A New Time”
Rating: 4.0 Ears
Glam Rock, May It Never Be Pastche
Stuck on Nothing – Free Energy
I am a devout fan of Bowie, Queen, the sounds of T-Rex and the rocking sides of Iggy and The Velvet Underground…so are Free Energy. Although they embody all of this cliches on their sleeve, they take the high road of embracing their influences, reinventing the sounds with a modern twist rather than running a likely path of pretenders. Its ambitious in this era of music, and it pays off in miles of open sounds perfect to hit the road to or maybe even hit up that field party over by the moontower.
Listen to: “All I Know”, “Bang Pop”, “Young Hearts”
Rating: 3.5 Ears
Weak Hearts and Big Dreams
Sigh No More – Mumford & Sons
Almost a spiting image of Frightened Rabbit with a bit of the Frames tossed in over waves of strings and banjos make this folksy, Scottish rocker a catchy but ultimately shortcoming collection. Its anthemic, melodic and vocally driven, but the Brit Twang doesn’t lend itself in enough innovative/imaginative ways to keep the listener coming back. Its a good album in a lot of ways, just nothing too special.
Listen to: “Little Lion Man”, “Awake My Soul”, “I Gave You All”
Rating: 3.0 Ears
The Heavy Pulse of a Nation
The Monitor- Titus Andronicus
It’s a walloping album, story laden and angst ridden with enough might of guitars to make any Drive By-Truckers fan happy…if he was from New England. Lyrically this album embodies the small town, middle man tales of fate that modern heroes like DBT and The Hold Steady have mastered, but here they take on more of a historical relevance, as if The Boss and Dylan were sharing the history of our nations average Joe, with amp turned way up. In the end I am more often turned off by the early Bright Eyes sounding art school punkish sounds that are more prevalent than needed.
Listen to: “A More Perfect Union”, “The Battle of Hampton Roads”
Rating: 3.0 Ears
LCD SOUNDSYSTEMING
Rock out to the new album (This is Happening)Â like right the F now.
http://www.lcdsoundsystem.com/thisishappening/
Can’t wait to fully get into this album, excited from what I’ve heard so far on my crappy work comp speakers.
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Far more of a rewarding experiece than streaming that MGMT stuff.
LTME is excited to see the battle royale ensue once this and the National drop. We are also pretty dang excited about the recent annoucement of a 3rd Wolf Parade album!
Catch that Theif…He Stole the Funk
One Armed Bandit – Jaga Jazzist
Descirbed as a 10 piece outfit from Norway, these acid jazz-funk master purveyors deliver on the band’s name. If you like Galactic, MMW and Jon Scofield you can relate to this easily. There are mixed performances among the tracks, but overall a quality output. Do not be turned off by the before mentioned bands, they are not a jam band, they keep it tight, more acid jazz than jam funk. Think Frank Fappa and Stanton Moore making babies that listen to Sigur Ros.
Check them Out: JAGA JAZZIST
Rating: 3 ears
The Scenes From the Back of Your Mind Set to Music
Eyelid Movies – Phantogram
They fuse electronica, dub, hip-hop, pop and equal amounts of underspoken elements of The xx and the zeal of Thom Yorke to create an errie and complex sound that is highly rewarding. This is great work music or gym music for that matter. Moving in measured mathematical ways, the music is never organic sounding, but powerful and real all the same.
Rating: 3 1/2 ears
Running From the Cops
