The National - Boxer
Listen here.
Wow! I bought only one new album this month, but if you were to buy only one album for a month make it this one. I have been listening to this non-stop and it is great for those late night warm summer walks. How to describe it? Hmm... haunting, beautiful melancholy, moody, layered, diversity of insturments/sounds. What I really love about this record is the 'sound' of it. The singer has a great baritone voice. I think the band is a five piece but I have seen pictures of them with six members. They do a really good job of not introducing to much to soon and to fast. These songs really build and there is always that moody distorted guitar just providing background texture. And Sufjan plans some piano on these songs.
After listening to this album, I sort of cringe when I think of the new Arcade Fire and I am a little fearful of the new Interpol. (Brian you need to get this.)
Other music related activies for June:
- Brian my 'concert buddy' now lives in Portland, but came back for a visit. The best show going at the time was Bloc Party, so we went to that. We were both unfamiliar with a majority of their work. They were okay and a bit more rock than what I was expecting. If he came a week later we could have seen Travis.
- Being a big fan, I decided to order the Starflyer 59 "Ghost of the Future" 7" box set record club thing, whatever it is. I'll post pictures once they start coming in the mail.
- I got a record player from my mother-in-law's basement and set it up in my art studio. I got out a bunch of old records from the 70's that we inherited and have been having a good time with it. I see the alure of vinyl. It is all about the process. Although, I don't care to much for '70's rock.
9 comments:
As always, thanks for the music recommendation. I'll give them a listen when I get home. Is there anything rare on unreleased in the SF 59 boxset? I used to have a lot of vinyl, so I understand the attraction. I used to collect vinyl for the b-sides before maxi cd singles came out.
Yes, the SF59 is all new and unreleased. I think the A-side is a demo version of a new song for the new album and the B-side is new song specifically for the "ghost" series.
In "Fake Empire" it sounds like they are saying "bake a pie."
I really like "Mistaken for Strangers." The other songs are so-so.
Had I known that Bloc Party was going to lean more rock I may have found a way to go. I just visited the Bloc Party MySpace site they don't sound too bad.
Your ears do not deceive you, indeed "bake a pie" is part of the lyric.
I think the other songs are from a previous album which I do not have and I don't think that I have listened to them on their myspace.
BB misses his concert buddy too. He's starting to mention alot of concerts he wants to go to, saying Portland has more opportunities for shows.
I have to seriously challenge that thought of Portland having more opportunities for shows.
It is true that Portland will get some of the unique shows where a big artist doing a 10 city US tour will skip the KC area and hit Portland. I'll give Portland that.
But Kansas City/Lawrence has a good reputation of being a music town and pretty much every artist touring that I want to see will come through.
It's rough when you have to decide between Coldplay and Sufjan Stevens on the same night.
I have had to miss a lot of good shows lately because Brian is now in Portland. Oh well.
I think between KC and Lawerence, you get a majority of the good acts that come through. Portland has had a couple visits from Joy E recently, but KC has Travis in town.
Thumbs up with the National. At first it reminded me of "Pulp", but I'm over that now. I really dig it.
You don't like 70s rock? C'mon!? What can I say I'm a child of the 70s!
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