Frightened Rabbit released their third album March 1st. I’ve listened to it through NPR’s first listen a few times, but not much of it stands out to me. What I really liked about my favorite songs on their last album, Midnight Organ Fight, was songs that build into epic climaxes with intricate and well developed melodies. This one is the closest the album gets to that in my opinion, but I think the melody is hard to find and confused. It’s close, just not quite what I want.

Source: http://songbytoad.com/

I heard a program on WKNC that is mostly a music appreciation show — last week’s episode was The Beach Boys. The guest on the show was explaining how much of an effort this one song required, being recorded separately across multiple locations and seventeen sessions. At it’s time it was the most amount of money spent on a single, totaling more than $50,000. The vibration phrase alludes to an explanation that Wilson’s mother gave him about dogs being able to feel the vibrations that people give off. The song ended up being pieced together from the separate recordings and became the Beach Boys third number one single. It’s interesting getting a more historical perspective on some of the music which I had an ingenuous liking of.

Source: http://musicforants.com/blog/?p=4085

It’s not really my thing to be topical or to eulogize, but I wanted to post a song by Sparklehorse just to provide some reflection. The most obscure band I knew while growing up was probably Green Day, so I didn’t really know anything by Sparklehorse until Dark Night of the Soul last year. So if you want an opinion about the band’s work from a real authority, there’s plenty of other blogs like my source. I just wanted to post one song that I liked as I was listening through some of the work of Mark Linkous.

Source: http://songssavelives.wordpress.com/2010/03/07/i-hate-that-i-knew-you-and-that-that-wasnt-enough/

Since our comments have gone quiescent I figured I’d spice things up with a less agreeable musician. This is Joanne Newsome’s third album and is an epic two hours long. Even if you find her voice intolerable, the depth and development of each piece is really quite impressive. Unfortunately the NPR stream is over but if you get a chance to listen to it I recommend it, if only for edification.

Source: http://tsururadio.com/

Tunng, who’s single Bullets we posted early last year, is releasing a new album this month. They are a folk group from the UK, but they have a sort of twist to their sound. They use unique sounding instruments, like the washboard in Bullets (or maybe its a wrench.) From what I’ve heard on the new album I’m a fan, though DrownedInSound quotes one of the band members as saying “We learned that you don’t always need structure!” That’s pretty much a warning to me, but this song does fine without much of it.

Source: http://drownedinsound.com/

Freelance Whales released this album (their first to my knowledge) in late December last year. They’re from Williamsburg in NYC which I’ve been to once but would like to check out more. I’m a sucker for good chord progressions but I also think the arrangement in this blends the various parts in a compelling way, especially the layered voices.

Source: http://jp917.blogspot.com/

The Gorillaz are coming out with another album on March 9th, and it’s available to stream through NPR’s first listen here. I listened to it today twice, back to back, and it is pretty awesome. There were about four songs on there I would have been happy to post, and I may post another later once the album is released and I have more access to the tracks. A lot of collaborators help to make the album very diverse, so the album is interesting all the way up to the end.

Eluvium is the name given to Matthew Cooper’s one man show. He is based in Portland Oregon and has done a few ambient records dating back to 2003 but this is the first featuring voice. It’s a style that many won’t find compelling but for a reason I can’t define I find this music engaging.

Source: http://saladdaysmusic.net/?p=4098

I have to say I like this better than all the New Pornographers stuff I’ve heard. I don’t know what it is about it exactly – maybe it’s less dominated by the vocals. They are from Vancouver, so this is sort of an (unintentional) nod to the Olympics. This album will be released May 4th on the same label as Shearwater, Matador records (or maybe 4AD, wikipedia page is confusing me.)

Source: http://www.weallwantsomeone.org/

You may recognize the lead singer here from the band Low. The bassist is also from Low. This song is a nice change from what he usually sings with Low, but the rest of their stuff is fairly angry. This is their second studio album.

Source: http://blog.kexp.org/