New and Notable This Week

• Tegan and Sara: The Con
  I’ve been waiting several years for this one. Despite being identical twins, they are always original. None of the songs rise to the level of “Walking with a Ghost” but they are all great. I can’t decide if it’s their melodies, harmonies or timber of their voices that I find so enticing. If you haven’t heard them, I’d call them a less bombastic version of the Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs or TV on the Radio. (iTunes lables it “sugary electro-pop”.) I’m sure it’s an odd reference point that not everyone will relate to but Tegan and Sara remind me of the things I loved about Sinead O’Connor’s first album, The Lion and the Cobra. I think that musical territory has gone largely unexplored since then and I’m glad to see Tegan and Sara mapping it out for us.
• Unkle: War Stories
  A line-up of guest vocalists as you’d expect, but more of a rock depature from Unkle’s previous work. It’s less DJ Shadow/Radiohead and more Queens of the Stone Age. The critics are largely unimpressed, and I see their point that it becomes a bit monotonous in places, but overall I think I’m still on board and recommend it.
• Portugal the Man: Church Mouth
  They draw heavily on 70’s guitar rock but combine it with more modern sensibilities. They remind me of The Raconteurs, Franz Ferdinand and (one of my recent favorites) El Presidente. Thumbs up.
• Garbage: Absolute Garbage (Special Edition)
  A repackaged greatest hits album. The original greatest hits came out 10 years ago and is still $10 on iTunes. This one is $15 and adds 13 remixes from the likes of Crystal Method, Massive Attack, U.N.K.L.E., Rabbit In the Moon, Felix Da Housecat and more. If remixes are your thing then you’ll want it, but if not, since Garbage only had four albums and 48 songs total, you might prefer to splurge and buy them all.
• Silverchair: Young Modern
  Notable because I had written these guys off as Pearl Jam imitators. This album is experimental and sounds completely different (young and modern). Some of the tracks are rather catchy. Too bad they’ll have to drag those old songs around with them…
• Sum 41: Underclass Hero
  One of the few pop-punk bands I like. Certainly they aren’t pushing any musically boundaries, and sure it’s a little watered-down at times, but there’s still something to it.
• John Vanderslice: Emerald City
  Singer-songwriter, in the Elliot Smith style but without as much angst.
• Wir Sind Helden: Soundso
  I don’t speak German, but if I did I’d probably have to buy this catchy bit of German pop.

This entry was posted on Saturday, July 28th, 2007 at 10:20 am and is filed under Culture. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.