I went music shopping this weekend and got the following albums which I will review in two sentences or less below:
1. Interpol: Our love to admire – Duran Duran used to be this cool in the 80′s, but faded away like an old printer cartridge. Interpol picked up where they left off and shook that printer to squeeze out some more delightfully rocking toner. (4 out of 5)
2. Tomahawk: Anonymous – This album is inspired by late 19th century Native American chants and drumming and is preformed by avant-garde metal-head and experimental noise-meister, Mike Patton. It sounds like Hunter S. Thompson doing peyote with Stone Cold Steve Austin…except much much weirder. (3 out of 5)
3. Spoon: Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga – The indie darlings of Austin, Texas made a left turn at Albuquerque and ended up wandering around in Popsville on this album. They are a few Dragons and Mathematical Minds away from a great album this time around, but it’s still groovy. (3 out of 5)
4. The White Stripes: Icky Thump – Like Dr. Who’s tardis, Jack White and the bubblegum-chewing drum machine known as Meg White sound larger than they really are on Icky Thump. Frankly this is a greater album than they have a right to make this early in their career; and if you don’t believe me, listen to Catch Hell Blues – that riff could chop a mountain down. (5 out of 5)
5. Queens of the Stone Age: Era Vulgaris – Was there some gruesome teleportation accident between Josh Homme, Brian Wilson, Gibby Haynes, Gary Newman and Bjork that left their bodies squirming as a bloody mass of guitars, ugly swan dresses and surfboards sticking out of the steaming pile of rock-n-roll goo? No? Hmmm…I’m pretty sure I would have heard about it on Fox News. (Still, I give it 3 and a half out of 5)
6. John Lee Hooker: The very best of John Lee Hooker – If the hiss from the original recording doesn’t bug you then this is a pretty good selection of his work. Boom, boom, boom. (4 out of 5)
7. The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets: The Shadow out of Tim – They rhyme words like “bathyscaphe” and “peer-reviewed journal” in their song “Marine Biologist” and sing about H.P. Lovecraft in Egyptian (sometimes). I happen to think they are one of the greatest nerd rock bands ever. (5 out of 5)
What have you listened to lately?
-Dave
