Work's been a bear, so let's cut the chit chat, shall we?
Travis The Boy With No Name It's been over seven years since Travis hit the big time with "Why Does It Always Rain on Me?" They haven't gotten much attention since then, but there's been plenty of other bands - like Starsailor and Snow Patrol - who have been more than willing to satisfy those brit-pop cravings of ours. Now Travis is back with an album that doesn't quite hit the high points that 2000's The Man Who hit, but is still a pleasant enough disc to have on in the background while you're stuck in your cubical and you think you might finally be able to cross a few things off your to-do list but no, here comes two other people dropping last-minute needed-yesterday projects on your desk. Sorry - did I mention work's been killer lately? Anyway, the band's streaming their whole new disc on their myspace page.
Björk Volta What's can I say about Ms. Guðmundsdóttir? She's the kind of artist that you either get and love, don't get and hate, or sort of get and kind of like. You can stick me in that last group. Sure, that little voice-cracking thing Bjork (it's too hard to keep putting that umlaut over the o in her name so I'm just going to stop doing it) always does can get annoying at times, but she usually provides a nice mix of catchy beats and affecting vocals that have you singing right along with her, cracking voice and all. Bjork's got one new song and a few samples on her extremely vivid myspace page.
The Clientele God Save the Clientele I guess you could try to use the Clientele's soft and melodic songs as background music at work, too, but it's kind of tough to get things done when so many of the songs are so good that you end up concentrating on them instead of your work (this might explain why I've been so far behind at the office lately). This London band writes some really great lyrics, but even more impressive than that is the way they put out music that's quiet and lush and seemingly unimposing but ends up pulling you in. The new disc is full of songs like that and has already become one of my favorite albums so far for 2007. They've got a couple new songs on their myspace page (as well an older song that I think is still their best, "Since K Got Over Me") or you could head over to their website and hear the whole disc, which I would highly recommend you do.
The Clientele - "Bedroom Casanova" [mp3]
Page France ...And the Family Telephone Last year I described this Baltimore band's last album as "Indie-folk that's cheery without being twee." I have no idea what I meant by that, but it fits this album as well. Maybe even more so. This band doesn't seem to take itself too seriously and likes to use a whole bunch of goofy instruments and offbeat beats, but they're also sounding a lot more cohesive on this disc than they did on their last. Only one song from their new album is on their myspace page, but I was able to find a couple free downloads.
Page France - "Hat and Rabbit" [mp3]
Page France - "Here's a Telephone" [mp3]Great Lake Swimmers Ongiara Great Lake Swimmers first caught my attention with their self-titled 2005 debut and the song "I Will Never See the Sun," which, like much of My Morning Jacket's stuff back then, had a strong Neil Young vibe to it. But while MMJ's Jim James howled, GLS's Tony Dekker's take on Young was more understated. Ongiara is even quieter than that debut disc (the comparisons the new disc is getting to Iron and Wine's sound are pretty dead-on), and while nothing from it has stood out for me like "I Will Never See the Sun" did, overall it's still a pretty solid album.
Great Lake Swimmers - "Your Rocky Spine" [mp3]
This week's list:
- PETER BJORN AND JOHN Writer's Block
- THE CLIENTELE God Save the Clientele
- FEIST The Reminder
- GREAT LAKE SWIMMERS Ongiara
- ROSIE THOMAS These Friends of Mine
- TRAVIS The Boy With No Name
- THE ROSEBUDS Night of the Furies
- WARREN ZEVON Preludes
- BRIGHT EYES Cassadaga
- MY MORNING JACKET Okonokos
- BJORK Volta
- PAGE FRANCE ...And the Family Telephone
- COWBOY JUNKIES At the End of Paths Taken
- FOUNTAINS OF WAYNE Traffic and Weather
- ANDREW BIRD Armchair Apocrypha
- KAISER CHIEFS Yours Truly, Angry Mob
- GRANT LEE PHILLIPS Strangelet
- PATTI SMITH Twelve
- TRACEY THORN Out of the Woods
- SON VOLT Search
- THE SHINS Wincing the Night Away
- THE POSTMARKS The Postmarks
- KRISTOFFER RAGNSTAM Sweet Bills
- GOLDEN SMOG Blood on the Slacks
- ARCTIC MONKEYS Favourite Worst Nightmare
- THE AUTUMN DEFENSE The Autumn Defense
- ERIN McKEOWN Sing You Sinners
- ALBERT HAMMOND, JR. Yours To Keep
- PATTY GRIFFIN Children Running Through
- THE DECEMBERISTS The Crane Wife
Dropping off the list this week:
- MODEST MOUSE We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank
- OVER THE RHINE Discount Fireworks
- JILL CUNNIFF City Beach
- MARK KNOPFLER & EMMYLOU HARRIS Real Live Roadrunning
- THE PERNICE BROTHERS Live a Little
I'm really loving the new Great Lake Swimmers CD. They're playing at Philly's Tin Angel in June, by the way....
Posted by: Jay | 2007.05.09 at 04:26 PM