review time #6

The New Year - The New Year

In a lot of ways, this album is a blend of earlier efforts by The New Year and the Kadane brothers’ previous band Bedhead. It’s often more upbeat than the latter and far less slit-your-wrists than the former. In fact, it rocks more than The New Year fans might expect. I’ve liked both bands for a long time, so what can I say? The New Year is a pretty good album - I especially appreciate the more dynamic tempos and brighter themes.






Musee Mecanique - Hold This Ghost

The obvious comparison here is Sufjan Stevens or Beirut. This will undoubtedly make some people’s eyes roll and if this were just some other knock-off band I’d be on your side. But Musee Mecanique pass the bullshit test with flying colors – I never once had to suppress my “this is too sappy” gag reflex. Each track is layered with cool instrumentation, but still manages to sound sparse. No single artist is ripped off by this band and I’m happy to have found another brand new sound I can put on heavy ipod rotation now.






The Broken West - Now Or Heaven

The Broken West are a pop band that obviously have high [insert teen drama tv show/movie] soundtrack ambitions. BUT... they are on Merge Records, so I gave this album a shot. Honestly, I couldn’t get into it at first, but after a couple tries I’ve decided this is actually pretty good pop music. Occasionally they delve into potentially embarrassing territory and they do lose originality points for randomly toying with long-since-played-out synth pop sounds. Despite these flaws, Now Or Heaven may be catchy enough to make it worth your while.





These United States - Crimes

The prolific These United States are at it again with their second full-length release this year. The entire album sounds like the band set up a make-shift studio in an beat-up dive bar, drank a lot of whiskey, and pressed “record”. In my book, that’s a very good thing. Vocally, Conor Oberst comparisons are probably fair. The wordy lyrics and shifting pace of the songs definitely keep you interested, too.