Well I tried to get this week’s Graboid up on it’s usual Wednesday but ezarchive was pretty much down most of the night. As I was about to give up and just call it a night, voilà! it starts to work again. So here I am still awake at 5 a.m. finishing up on it. I’m starting to get back into the swing of things here and starting to listen to a lot of the music that has been piling in my email and at home. During my little on/off hiatus I managed to go back and listen to a lot of albums that I hadn’t given much attention to here so for now i’ll just be writing a little about those. Next week I have something different planned in what I want to cover here. It’s nice to have a change of direction, and it’s the kind of thing to get me motivated to start writing again. So be on the look out for what’s in store.
A lot of the albums this week I haven’t really listened to at all, so I can’t really tell you anything about the majority of them. I tried to sample as many as I could to include in here so maybe you’ll find something interesting – which is the whole point of doing these every week. But, that’s not to say everything here is completely unknown to me. A couple of these I can actually provide some kind of information that you’ll find useful, hopefully. As usual, I wouldn’t be able to even think about finding all this stuff without the weekly lists from Largehearted Boy. So definitely check out the full listing of the week’s releases here.
Cold War Kids, who we’ve talked about here several times, have finally released their first full length. It’s great and all and if you don’t own the last two EPs than this is probably worth picking up. But for those who’ve had these and played those to death, it’s not really bringing anything new to the table besides a few new tracks. The only other album that i’ve actually listened to more than a few songs is The Awkward Stage’s Heaven is for Easy Girls. Interesting note about the band is songwriter Shane Nelken was previously part of A.C. Newman’s (also of The New Pornographers) band. You can definitely see the similarities in the music as it’s some of that damn good Canadian pop that we’ve all come to know and love. Sadly, I can’t say much more about the rest of the releases, though i’m really liking what i’ve heard from Portastatic. Anything that catches your eye? I should listen to that Blood Brothers album as i’ve always read about them but never sat down to listen to anything. Anyways, hope you find something you like and come back next week for more new releases.
The Awkward Stage | Heaven is for Easy Girls
The Awkward Stage | “The Morons are Winning”
Chin Up Chin Up | This Harness Can’t Ride Anything
Chin Up Chin Up | “This Harness Can’t Ride Anything
Cold War Kids | Robbers and Cowards
Cold War Kids | “We Used To Vacation”
Damien Jurado | And Now That I’m In Your Shadow
Damien Jurado | “What Were The Chances”
Micah P. Hinson | Micah P. Hinson and the Opera Circuit
Micah P. Hinson | “Jackeyed”
Oxford Collapse | Remember the Night Parties
Oxford Collapse | “Please Visit Your National Parks”
Pit Er Pat | Pyramids
Pit Er Pat | “Brain Monster”
Portastatic | Be Still Please
Portastatic | “Sour Shores”
Robert Pollard | Normal Happiness
Robert Pollard | “Serious Bird Woman (You Turn Me On)”
Additional posts you may be interested in:
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Here’s my ranking of these that I’ve heard the whole album…
-Chin Up Chin Up (One of my favorite albums of the year)
-Cold War Kids (I know the album doesn’t have new songs, but it’s still great and a whole lot better now that they re-worked it)
-Portastatic (This is the album I have listened to the most the past couple of days)
-Pit Er Pat (I absolutely love this bands last album and this one is up to par)
-Oxford Collapse (a Sub Pop release that hasn’t impressed me yet, but I’ll be at their showcase for CMJ so maybe I’ll change my mind after that)
-Damien Jurado (Not as great as PASTE made it out to be)
Now that is a post. I love a good portion of these new records and it’s nice to see Chin Up Chin Up finally getting a bit more recognition. I’d like to see them with Oxford Collapse but when they come through, it’s with Cursive and the Thermals. Either way, thanks for the songs. I’m excited about the Cold War Kids one.
cheers, baby
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