New Video: Minus the Bear's "My Time"

Well, "My Time" now has a video, and it's a bit odd, to say the least. To be fair, these guys have always been a bit squirrelly, but lately they've been crossing the border and touring the land of confusion. I can live with the bad dancing. But Jake Snider masquerading as a skinnier version of early 80s Brian Wilson? That's just creepy. And we certainly cannot overlook the greatest atrocity of all: Dave Knudson has been relegated to the role of "backup singer"! And if you've heard the new album, you know this isn't just an anomaly. That being said, don't get it twisted; there are much worse things out there a person could be listening to, that's for sure. I just hope this is only a phase:

Minus The Bear - New Music - More Music Videos

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New Music; AKA: Completely Overwhelmed

Life has been busy as of late, and so have some of the best bands that are out there. I literally can't keep up with all the music that's been released recently, and I'm experiencing some anxiety over making sure all these albums get a fair shake. Thought I'd share some very vague first impressions from this carnival of musical awesomeness:

• The National High Violet - Probably my frontrunner for album of the year at this point. Great album, and it gets better with every single listen. In other words, it's the balls.

• Gorillaz Plastic Beach - You might recall me expressing my boredom with this album back in early March. You've probably also seen this thing get nearly universal acclaim everywhere else. Well, there's an easy explanation for that: I'm an idiot, and I got a hold of the fake leak with a bunch of remixes of b-sides, etc. Forgive me. This thing is legit.

• Medications Completely Removed - It's a little more poppy than you might expect, but it's probably the best thing yet from the guys who used to be in Faraquet.

• Minus the Bear Omni - I think this is a pretty solid bunch of songs, but it's definitely not what you expect (or maybe want) from a MTB album. The synth/guitar-shredding ratio is just way out of whack. Not sure what they were shooting for here, but I'm not giving up on it yet.

• Band of Horses Infinite Arms - I'll go ahead and say it. I was about 90% sure this album was going to totally suck. And you know what, I think I was absolutely wrong. These guys are definitely in a different place than they were back in 2006, but aren't we all? Besides, I'm a sucker for those Beach Boys-ish harmonies and Ben Bridwell's voice.

• Broken Social Scene Forgiveness Rock Record - I think the consensus on this one is that nobody knows what the crap is going on with BSS. But, at the same time, nobody ever really knows what's going on with these guys, and that's kinda what makes them awesome. I'm reserving judgement until a later date.

• Jonsi Go - This has been out for a few weeks, but I haven't had a chance to say much about it. So here you go: It's really friggin' good. Get it. The end.

• The New Pornographers Together - Just got a hold of this, but it sounds like it's right on par with everything else these guys have done, which is saying a lot.

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New Music: Minus the Bear's "My Time"

We've already discussed how much potential there is for 2010 to be great musically. The first 1/4 of the year has seen some solid releases, but I'm guessing when we look back in December, May is going to be the month when the first year in this new decade either blew the doors off the place or revealed itself as a boring disappointment. On the 4th alone, Minus the Bear, New Pornographers, and Broken Social Scene all release records (sorry, the new Papa Roach record isn't a contributing factor). Later that month we'll also get new releases from Band of Horses, Tokyo Police Club, and The National. In other words, May is going to be stupid, so get your headphones ready. MTB just released the opening track from Omni, "My Time", for download, and it's definitely not doing anything to temper my excitement or anticipation. Check it out, and if you dig it, you can go here and swap your email for a legal download.

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New (and Semi-New) Music Roundup 3/6/10

The Weekend = get caught up on new music. Gonna keep this short and sweet:

• New Rogue Wave album Permalight was released this week. After extensive listening, I find it to be a pretty solid pop/rock record all the way through, even the semi-cheesy tracks ("Permalight" & "Good Morning"). Favorite track, so far, "Right With You":

• Peter Gabriel's indie cover album, Scratch My Back, is mostly just kinda weird, but his cover of Bon Iver's "Flume" is really, really cool:

• Really looking forward to Broken Social Scene's Forgiveness Rock Record (out May 4). Check out the first released track, "World Sick":

• Broken Bells self-titled album hits stores next week, and they've released the second best song on the album, "Vaporize", as a single since the last time I mentioned them:

New album confirmations: The National (High Violet, May 11), Minus the Bear (Omni, May 4), Band of Horses (Infinite Arms, May 18).

Gorillaz' (?) new album Plastic Beach is out there floating around in cyberspace. Gotta say the initial listen left me unimpressed. The first single, "Stylo", sounds like it was ripped straight from my favorite Super Nintendo game Top Gear 3000, which is cool, but it doesn't have much else going on. That being said, the video is really cool, if you're into that sort of thing:

• Last but not least, Spoon were on Letterman recently. "Got Nuffin'":

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Top 25 Albums of 2008

I spent most of 2008 thinking this was a weak year for music.  Putting this list together definitely forced me to rethink my position on that.  Definitely some tough picks to make this year...

25. Nada Surf Lucky

24. Dodos Visiter

23. Sun Kil Moon April

22. Cut Copy In Ghost Colours

21. Helio Sequence Keep Your Eyes Ahead 

20. The Sea & Cake Car Alarm

19. Broken Social Scene Presents: Kevin Drew/Brendan Canning 

      Spirit If.../Something For All Of Us...

18. Girl Talk Feed The Animals

17. The Killers Day & Age

16. Headlights Some Racing, Some Stopping

15. Grand Archives Grand Archives

14. MGMT Oracular Spectacular

13. KanYe West 808s & Heartbreak

12. Vampire Weekend Vampire Weekend

11. Ben Folds Way To Normal

10. Beck Modern Guilt

  9. Coldplay Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends

  8. Ratatat LP3

  7. Fleet Foxes Fleet Foxes

  6. French Kicks Swimming

  5. Sigur Rós Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust

  4. Minus The Bear Acoustics

  3. M83 Saturdays = Youth

  2. Bon Iver For Emma, Forever Ago

  1. TV On The Radio Dear Science

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Stuff I'm Really Digging Right Now: Pandora, MTB, KanYe, & Dexter

*Check this out; it's unbelievable.

First and foremost, if you've never heard of Minus the Bear, you really should check them out as soon as possible.  They're immaculate musicians, they sound like nothing else out there, and they put on a great show. Consequently, I've come to believe over the past few years that just about everyone would start liking MTB eventually, if only they gave the band a sincere chance. 

That being said, if you are already a fan of these guys, you may not even know that this little jewel exists.  They're only selling it at their upcoming shows, which is a bit of a shame.  This 7 song cdep, entitled Acoustics, is absolutely one of the sickest things I've heard in quite some time.

It begins with the only brand new song included, and it's fantastic.  The other 6 songs, which are, as the title implies, acoustic vesions of previously recorded tracks, would no doubt make this ep worthwhile on their own.  But the first track, entitled "Guns & Ammo" was clearly written to be performed acoustically;  it has an attitude and feel unlike anything the band has ever produced. According to my iTunes, I've listened to this song almost 20 times already, and 60% of the time, it rocks every time .  

According to this guy, the new versions of the older songs (1 from ultimate MTB album Highly Refined Pirates, 1 from Menos el Oso, and the remaining 4 from their most recent, Planet Of Ice) don't really offer anything new, but I disagree wholeheartedly.  It may be because Minus The Bear are one of my all-time favorite bands, but to me these acoustic reincarnations are not only completely satisfying on their own, they also somehow manage to refresh the original versions and help me to appreciate them even more.  In short, I simply cannot stop listening to this right now.

KanYe West (yeah, I think you're actually supposed to capitalize the "Y") has been one of my favorite hip-hop artists since he released his first album, College Dropout in 2004 (which, by the way, is still one of my favorite albums of all time).  He's never been the greatest lyricist, and the lack of flow in his rapping has been well-documented, but those two things have never been determining factors in whether or not I enjoy a hip-hop song.  West's two subsequent albums, Late Registration (2005) & Graduation (2007), were much more sophisticated efforts, and, like their predecessor, very successful both in terms of sales and critical acclaim. 

Honestly, though, I never found either of those two albums as rewarding as the simple pleasures offered by Dropout.  So my anticipation wasn't through the roof for his new release, 808s & Heartbreak.  Admittedly, this could probably be partly attributed to the lack of promotion and hype surrounding the December release, but, nonetheless, it's here, and I'm really enjoying it.  808s probably won't attain the critical or, for that matter, commercial success that Graduation or Registration did, but West has, at least for the time being, done away with the bells and whistles,  gotten back to basics, and produced a nice little album. 

Make no mistake about it, though;  this is not a return to KanYe's Dropout days.  808s contains very little actual rapping, and it's not even really a hip-hop record.  What it is, though, is a grower, which is something that I never really thought I'd say about a KanYe West album.  But this doesn't change the fact that the guy has some tremendous pop sensibilities, and he can produce a hook with the best of them.  There are some immediately catchy moments, like standout track "Welcome to Heartbreak" and "Love Lockdown".  There are even some really fun, upbeat moments, like "Paranoid", complete with 80s synthesizers, and "RoboCop" (this despite the fact that the album is supposedly inspired by the death of his mother and a broken engagement).  But slow burners like album opener "Say You Will" and "Street Lights" are a big part of what rounds this album out so nicely.  It's here that West has taken what I considered to be the weakest moments of his previous albums and turned them into a strength.  On top of that, there are only 11 tracks here, which is much more digestible to a person who was raised on the traditional rock record, such as myself.  All in all, there isn't really any fat to trim from this album.

Much has been made of the fact that KanYe sings more than anything else on this record, and that he does quite a bit of his singing through an auto-tuner.  To me, though, the bigger story is that this guy, despite knowing what his fans expected from him, just went out and made a record for himself.  And although he isn't the first artist to do so successfully (the names Jeremy Enigk and Andre Benjamin come to mind), it doesn't happen all the time, and I definitely think he deserves some positive attention for that.

By the way:  As I'm writing this, my daughter is sitting next to me quietly, seemingly content and happy to be listening to the aforementioned album.  Then again,  there's also a strong possibility she's just happy that her little chair is set to "vibrate".

Finally, if you don't know who Dexter Morgan is, I strongly suggest that you get familiar with him.  I don't claim to be an expert on everything that exists within the infinite galaxy of television, but if you can introduce me to a better program than Showtime's Dexter, I'll certainly thank you for it.  

I often find it difficult and intimidating to get into new tv shows, but with resources like this one, the process has become much less painful.  I started watching Dexter this summer while my wife was teaching swimming lessons, and by the end of the 4th episode I was absolutely fascinated with this show centered around a serial killer who preys on serial killers.  31 hour-long episodes later, and I'm counting the days until the season 3 finale.  

After spending most of my college years watching nothing but movies and sports-related television, I've discovered a seemingly endless catalogue of great programming, mostly as a result of the ease that comes with complete season dvd sets, DVRs, and the internet television revolution (Lost and 24 being two favorites in my house).  But all of those shows  have hit lulls from time to time - sometimes for an episode or two, and sometimes, as in the case of 24, for an entire season.  This just hasn't happened with Dexter, at least not for me.  Why? Simply put, I don't think this show can be pigeonholed.  It's super-smart, unpredictable, extremely funny, and completely original.  In fact, it's so good that CBS tried to broadcast it in prime time, despite the fact that it's loaded with profanity, violence, and nudity (sorry, it's not really a family show), and they actually got it done.  I'm still not sure how they managed to pull that off, or if they'll be broadcasting subsequent seasons, but I think their efforts speak volumes about how good the core ideas of this show actually are.  So go rent/buy it on dvd, order Showtime, or look it up on the internet.  You won't be disappointed.

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