Cold War Kids: Deep, heavy, beautiful

The Cold War Kids definitely have a unique sound driven by some strong gut feelings that can only escape through their music, and when they do, it is a gorgeous thing.  Composed of four guys, these California musicians create weighty songs that draw you in by their sheer gravitational pull.  And I haven’t even mentioned the beautiful vocals lead by Nathan Willett which bounce between falsetto and crooning or maybe howling, clean and smooth, going down like sticky syrup.  Deep concepts nagging the human psyche are belted in the simple lyrics of this album over droning bass and an occasional egg shaker.  Loyalty to Loyalty is Cold War Kids’ second album following their debut Robbers And Cowards.  This song is off of Loyalty to Loyalty, and really represents their feel in one shot, so if you like this, you’ll likely like it all.  But this is not a band for the faint of heart, so be warned.

Cold War Kids – Relief

The Streets: A wise and hopeful state borrowed

So to begin, The Streets aka Mike Skinner is from the good ol’ motherland, and belts his beautiful little raps for a living.  At first, it’s obvious that he is no music school grad.  His style on his slower songs could be best be described as the song your boyfriend wrote and sang for you in high school that you knew would never go platinum but still made you extremely happy and walk around with butterflies for the rest of the day.  The Streets recent album Everything is Borrowed really goes back to his older sound like on A Grand Don’t Come For Free, so if you liked some of his older stuff, you’ll totally appreciate this.  It really is a solid album, and by solid I mean that you can actually listen to the whole thing without wanting to press the skip button, a rarity in a lot of albums.  Full of wisdom and hope, it really is a different man and message behind this album, but who couldn’t use more wisdom and hope?

Oh, something else fabulous about Mike Skinner was how he introduced this album to the world.  He put a few songs on his myspace, and then put the rest of his songs off this album interspersed on other artists myspace pages.  So it was this mad scavenger hunt to find all the songs.  Pretty cool concept if you ask me.  It makes every song seem even more like a jewel.

This is a slower little love diddy and beautiful at that:

The Streets – The Strongest Person I Know

Los Campesinos! – Like dancing in sunshine puddles after a storm

I picked this album up at Pop Apocalypse not expecting too much.  I had heard about their last album Hold On Now, Youngster… getting some mixed reviews and never followed up thoroughly, but decided to give them a second chance since Anna would.  Let me first point out that this last album was released to the US in April of this year 2008, and they already have a completely new second album out just a few months later!  Applause.

So this new album We are Beautiful, We are Doomed almost seems like a response to any criticism about their last, kind of like a do-over.  And a good do-over it is.  It’s hard to get bored with this album, because with every second something else pokes itself out as awesome, it almost becomes tough to keep up with the pace.  Energetic, fun, carefree, and still Brit.  An eccletic mix of musical elements (hand-claps, cheers, too-artsy breakdowns, shout lyrics, duos) and cool Welsh accents, you really don’t need much more.  And did I mention that the lyrics are totally interesting.  Here’s my current fave, and seriously, every song on this album is just as interesting.

Los Campesinos! – We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed

And I can’t help myself, here is another one I’m repeating…

Los Campesinos! – Miserabilia

Conor Oberst: Goes Folk (and does it well)

So Conor Oberst (of Bright Eyes) has been shedding the hype of his younger years and stepped out of it all as a true musician, and his most recent self-titled album Conor Oberst is no deviation from that.  In high school I could never fully get on board the Bright Eyes train (though I tried numerous times my heart beat more punk than emo).  However, his new album has really surprised me!  His style shares most commonalities with Ben Kweller with both doing an indie-folk-country thing, and let me just say, it’s great.  I also happen to have a small soft spot for the folk.  Folk music is beautiful in its storytelling and plucking of the heartstrings in the process.  Conor is quite familiar with both these techniques, so his younger essence is hardly lost.  He also does a great job of giving his album the raw feel of being on the road.  All in all, it’s great, and I will definitely be spinning this record for a while.  These are some of my current faves from him, but to be honest it was difficult which to choose with such a solid album from which to glean.

Conor Oberst – NYC Gone, Gone
(Short and fun, it’s hard not to stomp your feet)

Conor Oberst – Souled Out!
(The single off the album, you check out the video here)

Haitus Over: Thanks, Menomena

Well, I have once again moved across the country, and this time it wasn’t for my education but for the big L.  The band that brought me out of my haitus accompanied me across the country was my Menomena album Friend and Foe.  It was given to me by my dad for Christmas, and I gave it some listens and found my favorite song, but never really discovered the album as a whole.  But the album as a whole is beautiful.  Every song is hand crafted and fine tuned into perfection while being laced with wonderful nuances.  I’m in Love.

Menomena – My My