tuneage : everyone deserves good music

Interpol - “Summer Well”

I didn’t know what to expect with Interpol’s new, self-titled album, due out next week (Sept 7th), but it seems like the band is trying to return to its Turn on the Bright Lights roots and the album’s title is a subtle homage to that fact.

I find the sounds on Interpol, from track to track, to be less diverse than in previous albums, Antics especially. Paul Banks’ vocals guide the songs, as usual, but the instrumentation is heavier, more pronounced, and less immediately catchy. I found the electric guitars to often almost drown out Banks. But in typical Interpol fashion, the lyrics are minimalistic and beautiful—an interwoven (love) story—and there are some great harmonies featured throughout the album.

Much like Arcade Fire’s The Suburbs, Interpol is a “grower” album: you need to concentrate on the lyrics, the eclectic mixture of sounds (the ocean, whistling, bongos, etc) to fully appreciate it.

The Joy Formidable - “The Greatest Light Is The Greatest Shade”

I recently got my hands on The Joy Formidable’s 2009 release, A Balloon Called Moaning. This is the opening track off the album and does a great job at setting the tone for the rest of the songs that follow. Consisting of atmospheric, yet slightly fuzzy indie pop, each track on this album is filled with ear-catching hooks that balance the right amount of grit and polish. Other favorites include “Cradle”, “Whirring”, and “The Last Drop.”

Midi & The Modern Dance - “Eleanor’s Song”

I was introduced to the band after bonding with the bassist in his dorm room over his Spinto Band poster (Midi has toured with them in the past).

Split across the country while going to college, this indie-rock-pop band reunites for shows across the country, year-round. They’ve just released their second album, Make It Easy on Yourself. This song, however, is from their 2008/2009 album, Twilight, How Sweet You Are.

From their album production, band-art, myspace, everything, Midi is very do-it-your-damn-self band.

Some of their songs edge towards a rougher, more rock sound but there are noticeable influences such as Bright Eyes and Beirut. Personally, I think their style shines when they keep it simple. Beautiful lyrics, intricate drum beats, lead by a singer with an enchanting (almost haunting) voice, it’s all tied together with an assortment of eclectic instruments (is that an accordion I hear?).

Ed. note: full disclosure, one of the member of this band is friends with the post author, but if we couldn’t bring you good music because we knew people, then, well, that would suck.

Midtown - “Waiting for the News”

This song is so, totally old you guys, it’s from 2004…and the band broke up in 2005! So why am I posting it? I have a thing for songs which totally alienate themselves from the rest of a band’s repertoire. Midtown is some sort of pop-punk band who had some mild success in the early 2000’s with songs like Let Go and Like the Movies, which are alright but by no means unique.

I don’t know how I got this song, Waiting for the News, off of their “experimental” album. All their other songs sound like the bastard lovechild of Fall Out Boy, Sugar Ray, and maybe a pop punk band, but this song is something really great. It’s sweet and sad, then passionate. It’s a notch above acoustic, with a dominating piano sound at first, and then gradually builds into something grittier. Great lyrics accompanied by rolling drumming (is that even a real term? I feel it’s apt) and rockin’ guitars.

The Orchid - “New Mexico”

Fridays are strange days for me. I’m either crazy-go-nuts and in the mood for upbeat, dance-in-your-chair-while-pretending-to-work music, or I’m feeling more mellow because the last few days have been hectic and exhausting. This week it’s the latter, and when I find myself on the tail end of this kind of Friday, I reach for music that’s mellow, but hopeful, with enough rock to keep from falling asleep. Basically, I reach for post-rock.

Thanks to a blog post by Jon Hicks, I recently added a new band to my library: The Orchid, “an instrumental post-rock band from Washington, D.C”. If you’re familiar with the genre, then you know what to expect, but for those who aren’t: think big, think lush, think hopeful, think perfect for a more laid back Friday afternoon.

The Orchid’s debut EP, New Mexico, is now available digitally from their BandCamp page for the “I’ve paid more than this for coffee” price of $4.

Raekwon ft. Inspectah Deck, GZA, & Thea - “Rockstars”

Rae’s Only Built For Cuban Linx… Pt. II was one of those rare follow-up albums that actually lived up to its billing. Better than the first one? Well, no. That’s damn near impossible. But in 2009, a scant 14 years after Raekwon dropped the classic, he put out what was easily one of the top hip-hop albums of the past few years.

Well, it’s 2010, and the “Gold Deluxe Verison” re-release of OB4CL II just dropped. It features an additional six tracks, mostly remixes, but also this little ditty, “Rockstars.”

It’s a bluesy affair produced by RZA (think more Black Keys than Black Milk) with some horns and Dutch singer Thea’s smokey vocals. But the killer part of the song is Inspectah Deck’s verse. He comes in and leaves in a blaze, fitting his 16 into 8 before you can blink, much less think.

Beck - “Lost Cause”

It’s far too easy for me to sit around my house and get stuck in a rut of playing the same dozen whoever’s-hot-right-now artists over and over again. So as strange as it may seem, one of my favorite things about going out is not being in control of what music gets played. This past weekend, as some friends and I were waiting to be seated at a local bar, an album that’s all too neglected in my library was playing, and I’ve played it almost half-dozen times since.

Beck’s Sea Change isn’t the artist’s most well-known, eclectic, or happiest record, but I think it’s one of his best. Written and recorded after a bad breakup with a long-time girlfriend, the album has an unapologetically somber, sad-sack tone, and more simple, straightfroward lyrics than on Beck’s previous works. However, it’s rare for an album as out of the blue and unlike anything an artist did before or after to be as good, captivating, and cathartic as this. If you haven’t heard Sea Change, you’re missing out.