March Music 2008

2008 is going to be a great year for new music, unfortunately it won't start 'till April. I think over the last 3 months all of my new music has been from last year or later.

Here are the albums I picked up this month. I had some help from Paste Magazine. They were selling their entire inventory for $5 a cd. They will no longer be selling music. I picked up these first two albums from them. I had always intended on picking them up, but time got away from me. The price was more than right; I had no excuse.


The Choir - O How the Mighty Have Fallen
Listen here.

O why did I wait so long to get this album. It is a few years old. I am a longtime Choir fan from way back to my casette days, back when there were decent bands in the christian music scene. I admit I was a bit disappointed with their last album "Flap your Wings" which came out around 2000/2001??? But this album captures everything that is perfect about the Choir - swirling dreamy guitars, inteligent/literate/poetic christian verse, rightly placed woodwinds, harmonies, more dreamy guitars, and intricate percussion. Without the help of a label, I believe this was and internet order only cd and I just lost track of getting it. My mistake.


All Things Bright and Beautiful - Love and Affection
Listen here.

This is Lee Bozeman's (Luxury) solo project. He lives in Kansas City now and I have seen a few shows around town, but I don't think he has performed in a while. Wow this album is beautiful in an artistic way. It is all art. It is all concept. This is probably one of the most christian centered albums you will ever hear, that would probably be banned from most Christian bookstores. On one somber song the singer confesses his sin and his hypocrisy and the song ends with a laugh track as if the audience is laughing at his confession. It is real powerful. I wonder if this is a real fear that most christians have when confessing their sins to one another.

Kate York - ep
Listen here.

A singer/songwriter in the folk/americana tradition. She has a great cover of Boys Don't Cry by the Cure.
The Swell Season - by Glen Hansard and Market Irglova
Listen here.

I loved the movie ONCE and the soundtrack that followed. ONCE is about the meeting and friendship of an Irish guy and Chech girl over music and making music together. These are real musicians. Glen Hansard is in the band the Frames and I saw them open for Damien Rice a few years ago. The Swell Season is the album that paired these two musicians together before the movie. It has some of the songs in the movie. It is good, real good. If you like acoustic music with guitar, piano, cellos, lots of mood, male and female vocals, aching lyrics, walking through leaves on the ground, etc., than this album is for you.


A Place to Bury Strangers - Self-titled
Listen here.

I picked this up when I saw them live at the Record Bar. This is a shoegazer band that more noisepop than dreampop. Loud, loud, loud, noisy guitars. They are more like the Jesus and Mary Chain than Slowdive.


Foxtail Somersault - Fathom ep
Listen here.

This band seems real promising. 5 songs on their first ep are dreampop goodness with airy female vocals. I look forward to a full album.