THE KING OF LIMBS!!!! (also, happy v-day)

  Happy Valentines day everyone!  Hopefully you're able to share this day with the one you love, but if you happen to be a 20-year-old single man like I am, there IS something to get excited for.

Front Cover

Back Cover

  Yes, this is the cover of the new Radiohead LP "The King of Limbs" that will be released for digital download this Saturday and the extravagant "newspaper album" will be released on May 9th.  What Is a newspaper album you say?  I have no clue at all.

  One thing I do know though is that It will consist of 8 songs as said on the Japanese website for the album, one of the songs being over 14 minutes long!

  Many people have been speculating this album to be post-rock influenced, which would be an interesting approach.  This is most likely due to the longer-than-normal song lengths for a few of the songs.

  If you want more information, you can check out the album's site here: http://www.thekingoflimbs.com/

  On another note, Arcade Fire just won the grammy for album of the year for their album "The Suburbs!"  It wasn't my personal album of the year for 2010, but when a band and album with actual musical merit obtain the grammy for AOTY, it's a big thing.  I myself am glad that indie music is getting more exposure.

                            A typical hipsters reaction to their secret little band winning a grammy

Anyway, have a great valentines day everyone.  Hope you find someone to spend it with.

A Recommended Album

Sorry for not updating for the past few days, I've been busy with school and what not.

Anyway,  since there seems to be many metal heads that follow me, I thought I would recommend a Metal albums that has helped change the way I listen to music and that album is Earth 2.

Earth is an American band known for their Experimental and Drone Metal music.

Yes, it's a drone album.  Yes, some songs do last longer than 30 minutes. Yes, it may be extremely inaccessible to the average music listener, but despite all these things it's a great album.

Not all great music is likable within the first minute or few listens, and that is especially the case with drone music with it's repetitious chords and what not, but intricacies can be found within that minimalism.

However, drone music such as Earth 2 tends to be far more enjoyable when you're not paying much attention to it as opposed to spending 20 minutes analyzing everything in a certain song. I highly suggest you put this on next time you're doing work, exercise, reading or whatever.

It may not be for everyone, but do suggest that you do at least give it a chance or two.

PS: If you want to try some darker drone metal, try Sunn O)))

Song Review

Destroyer - Kaputt

Kaputt is the title track from Destroyers' new LP.  This time around Destroyer took less of a rock approach with their new album and created an album based around late 70ish to early 80ish smooth jazz and slight soft rock elements.  The first thing that jumped out at me for some reason about this song were the lyrics.  I found lines such as "Wasting your days chasing some girls, alright Chasing cocaine through the backrooms of the world all night" to be really catchy.  I also loved the reverberation of the guitar riff about half way in and the horns all around.

9.0/10
I haven't listened to the album as of yet, but if the other songs are anywhere as good as this it may end up being my album of 2011.  The video is also rather entertaining.

Favorite Music Video (well, one of them)

  I though that I'd share one of my favorite music videos with you today instead of reviewing a song.  It's a rather humorous and slightly disturbing music video for Aphex Twin's song "Windowlicker"  directed by Chris Cunningham, the same person that directed the bjork music video "all is full of love."  You know, the one with the two lesbian robots making out.

Anyway, I present you with this:

  Aphex Twin's intention with this video was to make fun of most of the rap videos at the time.  It ended up turning into something pretty lulzy with surprisingly good production.

There's also this frightning image from the EP this song comes from.

Song Review

Smith Westerns - Weekend

In my opinion, this is the best song from Smith Westerns' new LP "Dye it Blonde." It's just a really fun indie rock song with a great guitar riff and great production.  It's so catchy that I keep coming back to it once or twice day.  Give it a listen.

8.5/10

Song Review

Braids - Lemonade

This song is from the groups new LP "Native Speaker."  Although I didn't listen to the entire album as of yet, this song caught my attention.  I loved the sort of echo that the song had and the voice of the lead singer. However, I sort of wish that the build up of the song was better and that the drums sounded better than they did.

I may do a review of the album in the future.

7.9/10

Review: James Blake - James Blake

  (Disclaimer: this is my first music review, ever.  So don't be too harsh... I also don't live in the UK.)

If you live in the UK and follow music quite a bit, then you might have already heard of James Blake.  This British musician, known for his use of dubstep by several, seemed to grab the attention of many people with his release of EPs such as "CMYK" and "Klavierwerke" back in 2010 and his success only seemed to skyrocket in the UK with the recent release of his new cover of the Feist song "Limit to your love." A song so dumbed down and minimalist to the point where it actually seems to outdo the original.

  With all the hype that seemed to surround the album, I highly believe that it lived up to it.  James Blake really is one of the few people that are pushing this type of minimalistic music at the moment.  Similar to what happened with Animal collective last decade, I believe his music may end up creating a surplus of clones by the end of this decade and has the potential to be the most influential as well.

  One thing I loved about this album is how the dubstep in the background of most songs is modified and formed into something completely different and indistinguishable than typical dubstep; However, I would not call James Blake dubstep artist  as much as I would a minimalistic artist.  In some songs such as "Lindesfarne 1" and "Limit to your love" there are intervals where there is no music or singing for more than 5 seconds, leaving you to anxiously anticipate the next sound untill it finally arrives.  As painful and mind numbing as it sounds, it's ends up being very rewarding and works greatly.

  Another thing I loved is how Blake's voice morphed in several songs as they build up from something monotonous yet enjoyable to extravagent.  That being said, his vocals alone are fantastic.  In songs such as "Wihelms Scream," the simple synth backed up by Blake's sultry vocals seems to work perfectly. 

 Right now, I would give this album an 8.8/10.  This album is addictive.  I've listened to it nearly 8 times already, and each time I listen to it I seem to discover something new that I enjoy about the album.  To some people, this review may dissuade them from listening to this album, but that's the exact opposite of my intention.  It may be an acquired taste, but a lot of great music is that way.  This album hasn't even released yet, and I'm already craving to hear more from James Blake.