It's that time again..... For your listening pleasure!
With every Tuesday i can't help but get excited. It's like Christmas without all the Jesus crap, but with the presents. I'm talking about music new releases.
Here are my picks this week:
Lights- The Listening
She's home grown, from Timmins, but living here in Toronto,Lights ( Valerie Poxleitner) has finally released her full length studio album The Listening. Her self titled EP did very well amongst Canadian audiences, and the little girl has a real voice, even if she does often downplay it with girlie tonality.
This synth-pop album has much the same to offer as the EP did, but the mixing is a little broader. That's not to say it's bad, I just knew what was coming. It's very piano driven which adds a nice undertone to the electronics used throughout the songs.
Her lyrics and quaint and cute. The album is toned and cute. Lights herself is just plain cute too :P
Mentionable songs are 'Quiet' and 'Pretend'
Next on the docket,
David Gray- Draw The Line
With a few records under his belt with notable mentions, and more than a few tv and movie soundtracks that give his credit, i really really wanted this album to blow me out of the water, but even forth listen through, i'm only getting ripples really. :(
Gray, whose trademark alternative folk-rock is straight up my alley for musical tastes has produced a record that falls just below my radar on this one. The kind of stuff that seems pivotal when your drunk and stumbling home to the soundtrack on the earbuds, but when you come to, there is little memorable about it. *sorry :(
And don't me wrong, I love David Gray! White Ladder was one of those records that gave me great moments of faith and hope in some gloomy passageways in life. Life In Slow Motion, though not as popular, I found to be my favorite album of his, but I think maybe it's just that i'm Gray-ed out. I love his style, but i don't think forever.
On a plus note, Gray gets HUGE points for ending the album with probably my favorite female vocalist for her longevity - Annie Lennox. The track 'Full Steam' is something i would love to see live, both artists have this wonderful grounded quality and rawness about their voices. Loved that track!
All and all, the album is good for a listen or two. Put it on the random if you like. Probably not his best work though.
Finally, we get to an band whose got enough pressure on them for this sophomore record to power a stream train, it's Paramore with Brand New Eyes.
I was a fan of this band's very first release in '05 called All We Know Is Falling, but kind of got a lot tired- quickly- of their second release.
I can give them props for being a well-known girl-fronted band though. There are a real shortage of those in mainstream rock right now. I wish we had a lot more.
The album starts out with a weak punch though. 'Careful' kind of picks up where the last album left off, but is for lack of better words; a weak song. 'Ignorance' (their current single) is a tightly bound guitar and drum combo song which is super catchy, the problem is that the lyrics take a huge backseat in the song. Basically you don't pay attention to them all amongst the clambering of the guitar riffs. It could probably be about happy bunnies gnawing on infants and it would probably be just as popular amongst the 13- 19 demo. For those who like bunnies and carnage, maybe it would tap into that demo too :P
'Paying God' has got a wonderful change to that. The lyrics you can actually hear ( though not terribly great for content), and the guitar riff is awesome at the beginning ( very early Used sounding) then melts into the traditional Paramore pop/angst progression. I do have a hard time visualizing little Hayley taking that pointed finger and 'breaking it, breaking it off' :P
I actually really like 'Brick By Boring Brick'. If I was to choose a single for radio, it would have been this one. It's got it's message right in the front of the song, and the musical arrangement builds around that. The guitar and bass riffs actually put 'brick building' visualizations in my head. I can see some form of caged being ( lyrics say female) being walled in Rapunzel-style. * I would do the video like that*. Of,course since the chorus speaks of digging, and burying the castle for this girl, she'll have to be walled up underground to look up at the world instead. Props for using the xelophone!!!
I'm pretty sure ' Turn It Off' had it's chorus written first and the rest of the song built around it.
'The Only Exception' is a heart-stringy song about the effects of divorce on a child. It's acoustic, it's at the middle of the album and has sleigh-bells! The lyrics are very honest, and i love the way the percussion compliments but doesn't override the song. Mind you, the whole piece bleeds cliche. Visuals of a wounded teen listening to a sad pop song on the headphones during a lonely lunch at school whist lamenting about love from afar come to mind;but given the right mood- anyone i think can enjoy it.It gives me the warm and fuzzies listening to it :P
The next song is not worth mentioning. 'Looking Up' is your typical Don't Give Up anthem, it's got a very nice musicality during the chorus with certain atypical note dips. 'Where The Lines Overlap' Hayley sort-of shares the vocal spotlight with another band member ( there is actually back up ) haha.
'All I wanted' feels very wind & water inspired musically, *sway slowly when listening and you'll see*. I see a lot of slow motion camera shots for a music video ( if it gets done); it feels single-worthy, and lets Hayley's vocal chops do some work.
Tacked on at the end, as if no one would notice, is the title song from the Twilight soundtrack 'Decode'. The song was written for the movie and doesn't feel like it fits with the rest of the album ('hense the tacking on at the end). It's a good song, don't get my wrong, I'm trying to suppress the rage i feel for when I couldn't go anywhere without hearing it though- *stupid Twilight*.
Not a bad album for a sophomore disc, but it wasn't that though I don't think i would have been so kind :P
Here are my picks this week:
Lights- The Listening
She's home grown, from Timmins, but living here in Toronto,Lights ( Valerie Poxleitner) has finally released her full length studio album The Listening. Her self titled EP did very well amongst Canadian audiences, and the little girl has a real voice, even if she does often downplay it with girlie tonality.
This synth-pop album has much the same to offer as the EP did, but the mixing is a little broader. That's not to say it's bad, I just knew what was coming. It's very piano driven which adds a nice undertone to the electronics used throughout the songs.
Her lyrics and quaint and cute. The album is toned and cute. Lights herself is just plain cute too :P
Mentionable songs are 'Quiet' and 'Pretend'
Next on the docket,
David Gray- Draw The Line
With a few records under his belt with notable mentions, and more than a few tv and movie soundtracks that give his credit, i really really wanted this album to blow me out of the water, but even forth listen through, i'm only getting ripples really. :(
Gray, whose trademark alternative folk-rock is straight up my alley for musical tastes has produced a record that falls just below my radar on this one. The kind of stuff that seems pivotal when your drunk and stumbling home to the soundtrack on the earbuds, but when you come to, there is little memorable about it. *sorry :(
And don't me wrong, I love David Gray! White Ladder was one of those records that gave me great moments of faith and hope in some gloomy passageways in life. Life In Slow Motion, though not as popular, I found to be my favorite album of his, but I think maybe it's just that i'm Gray-ed out. I love his style, but i don't think forever.
On a plus note, Gray gets HUGE points for ending the album with probably my favorite female vocalist for her longevity - Annie Lennox. The track 'Full Steam' is something i would love to see live, both artists have this wonderful grounded quality and rawness about their voices. Loved that track!
All and all, the album is good for a listen or two. Put it on the random if you like. Probably not his best work though.
Finally, we get to an band whose got enough pressure on them for this sophomore record to power a stream train, it's Paramore with Brand New Eyes.
I was a fan of this band's very first release in '05 called All We Know Is Falling, but kind of got a lot tired- quickly- of their second release.
I can give them props for being a well-known girl-fronted band though. There are a real shortage of those in mainstream rock right now. I wish we had a lot more.
The album starts out with a weak punch though. 'Careful' kind of picks up where the last album left off, but is for lack of better words; a weak song. 'Ignorance' (their current single) is a tightly bound guitar and drum combo song which is super catchy, the problem is that the lyrics take a huge backseat in the song. Basically you don't pay attention to them all amongst the clambering of the guitar riffs. It could probably be about happy bunnies gnawing on infants and it would probably be just as popular amongst the 13- 19 demo. For those who like bunnies and carnage, maybe it would tap into that demo too :P
'Paying God' has got a wonderful change to that. The lyrics you can actually hear ( though not terribly great for content), and the guitar riff is awesome at the beginning ( very early Used sounding) then melts into the traditional Paramore pop/angst progression. I do have a hard time visualizing little Hayley taking that pointed finger and 'breaking it, breaking it off' :P
I actually really like 'Brick By Boring Brick'. If I was to choose a single for radio, it would have been this one. It's got it's message right in the front of the song, and the musical arrangement builds around that. The guitar and bass riffs actually put 'brick building' visualizations in my head. I can see some form of caged being ( lyrics say female) being walled in Rapunzel-style. * I would do the video like that*. Of,course since the chorus speaks of digging, and burying the castle for this girl, she'll have to be walled up underground to look up at the world instead. Props for using the xelophone!!!
I'm pretty sure ' Turn It Off' had it's chorus written first and the rest of the song built around it.
'The Only Exception' is a heart-stringy song about the effects of divorce on a child. It's acoustic, it's at the middle of the album and has sleigh-bells! The lyrics are very honest, and i love the way the percussion compliments but doesn't override the song. Mind you, the whole piece bleeds cliche. Visuals of a wounded teen listening to a sad pop song on the headphones during a lonely lunch at school whist lamenting about love from afar come to mind;but given the right mood- anyone i think can enjoy it.It gives me the warm and fuzzies listening to it :P
The next song is not worth mentioning. 'Looking Up' is your typical Don't Give Up anthem, it's got a very nice musicality during the chorus with certain atypical note dips. 'Where The Lines Overlap' Hayley sort-of shares the vocal spotlight with another band member ( there is actually back up ) haha.
'All I wanted' feels very wind & water inspired musically, *sway slowly when listening and you'll see*. I see a lot of slow motion camera shots for a music video ( if it gets done); it feels single-worthy, and lets Hayley's vocal chops do some work.
Tacked on at the end, as if no one would notice, is the title song from the Twilight soundtrack 'Decode'. The song was written for the movie and doesn't feel like it fits with the rest of the album ('hense the tacking on at the end). It's a good song, don't get my wrong, I'm trying to suppress the rage i feel for when I couldn't go anywhere without hearing it though- *stupid Twilight*.
Not a bad album for a sophomore disc, but it wasn't that though I don't think i would have been so kind :P