So I’ve been meaning to post some reviews of CDs I’ve recently purchased, but there’s enough of them now that I figured I’d just combine them all into one big post.  I’ll go from worst rating to best.

Elbow - The Seldom Seen Kid - 3 1/2 stars

Elbow to me always sounded like if Peter Gabriel started an indie rock band, and their latest album continues to reflect that.  While it’s not an astounding album (I still like Leaders of the Free World better), it is still well worth a purchase.  The opening track has the most jarring/fun brass part I think I’ve ever heard in a song.

Coldplay - Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends - 4 stars

Had I written this review a week ago, I would have probably given this album 3 or 3 1/2 stars at best, but the more I listen to this, the more I like it.  The thing that jumps out at me the most is the rhythmic work throughout this whole album.  It is just fascinating.  There are African sounding beats at times, electronica at others, and several steps in between.  If you’re a fan of interesting rhythms, this album is certainly worth a listen.  The highlights of the album for me are “Violet Hill” and “Death and All His Friends.”

This World Fair - This World Fair - 4 stars

This CD may have been the one I personally anticipated more than any other for the last year.  I randomly saw these guys without having ever heard them at Schuba’s in Chicago, and fell in love with them immediately.  They were slated to come out with this self-titled album about a year ago, but due to label difficulties, the album fell through, and was left to toil in obscurity.  The band suffered even more turmoil later, as everyone but the lead singer left the band, and I thought for sure this album was lost forever, which would have been a real shame.  Luckily they decided to self-release this album anyhow, and the world is a little better for it.  While the songwriting may not be life changing, the melodies and hooks in the songs never quit with their poppy-rocky wonderfulness.  If they ever come to your town, check them out and pick up this CD.  It is well worth it.  I also feel very privileged to not only be a fan of this band, but a friend as well.

Frightened Rabbit - The Midnight Organ Fight - 5 stars
Saw these guys completely randomly at the Empty Bottle in Chicago, and I cannot express how glad I am that I saw them.  This album is not only hands down my favorite album of this year so far, it might be my favorite of the last two or three years.  It is just that solid.  There is not a bad track on the album, and the poetic emotion in all the lyrics is rivaled by very few out there.  Most reading this I’m assuming have never heard of them (I had not either), but if you are a fan of almost anything, you should buy this album.  I’ve owned it for all of three weeks, and already it’s a desert island disc for me.

Apologies for the awful title; I’m not feeling all that clever right now. I just feel the need to point out that the Coen Brothers (Joel and Ethan have wrapped shooting on their upcoming movie Burn After Reading. Who’s got two thumbs and is really excited for this movie? This guy, right here.

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Via mefi, check out the Reel Geezers. Two 80-something movie professionals reviewing current movies. All the reviews have a ton of spoilers, so I’d probably watch only if you’ve seen the movies in question, or don’t care about spoilers. They hit all the best picture nominees from ‘07:

• Michael Clayton
• Juno
• There Will Be Blood
• No Country For Old Men
• Atonement

And there are plenty more at their youtube channel.

I love the way they interact—lots of interrupting and telling each other the other one is wrong—but their reviews aren’t just cranky old-person rants. They’ve each got at least 40 years of movie- and TV-making experience, and base a lot of their criticisms and praise from that perspective. They discuss the narrative, character motivations, music choices, and acting (all the stuff you’d expect a critic to hit on, I suppose) really intelligently… and often crankily.

I love it.

I have committed to reading all books published by Michael Crichton and John Grisham. When John published The Innocent Man, a non-fiction story of a fellow framed for murder, I once again committed to read it but expected that it would not have much tension and grip.

During the first half of the book I was delighted to find that, even though it was a retelling of history it still had the interesting feel of a fictional Grisham novel. I assume the second half will also be a good read.

My only issue comes with the few pages in the middle … those fancy photo pages where they show photos of the people referenced in the book … those neato pages that put faces with the people you have been reading about … those glossy pages which give away the rest of the book in the captions. Seriously, just because it is not made up doesn’t mean I don’t want to wait to see how it plays out.

Grr!

I enjoyed Juno more than I figured I would. It had some fun ingredients including a unique soundtrack, simple characters, jaded humor, and plenty of quotable quotes (favorite being “prom is for wienises”).

Appreciation value is likely higher for folks who have kids, are in the process of having kids, or are planning to have kids.

Everybody has theories about Lost. Here are mine. If they turn out to be right (which seems unlikely), I guess they’d be spoilers, now, wouldn’t they?
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I also purchased Narrow Stairs, and while I shared Two Yutes’ opinion on the first and even the second listen through, like some of the best albums out there, it grew on me, and the third listen was what solidified it for me.

I do find it an odd if not altogether annoying choice to have the first single on the album be eight and a half minutes, with the “actual” song not kicking in until four and a half minutes. The song is great, and even the repetition of the intro is listenable, however, I do often skip the track when it comes up, as I don’t really feel like waiting for four and a half minutes.

Also, while I love the lyrics to No Sunshine, the music is relatively uninteresting, and my only other complaint is that I feel the metaphor of “The Ice is Getting Thinner” is a pretty obvious metaphor, and if it wasn’t Ben Gibbard, I would probably let him get away with it, but he’s just such a better songwriter than that. That said, I still love the song.

Apart from those three complaints, I feel the rest of the album is not only incredibly solid, but shows a real maturity to not only their sound but their songwriting as well. When I read the lyrics to most of the songs on the album (much like every other Death Cab album I’ve purchased), my response was almost always “I don’t know if I’ve ever heard a song written about that.” “You Can Do Better than Me” has a Beach Boys-y sound, and has a tongue in cheek attitude, while at the same time being something we can all relate too. “Grapevine Fires” definitely falls into the typical Death Cab category of “heartbreakingly beautiful” and “Your New Twin Sized Bed” and “Long Division” both reflect Gibbard’s amazing way of lyrically encapsulating the often futile and hopeless feeling of being human.

However, the two true gems of the album are definitely Cath and Bixby Canyon Bridge. Cath is a song about a girl who marries someone without truly being in love, and it is both heartbreaking, beautiful, and very unique. Also the guitar riff can get stuck in your head for days.

Moving on, though, to my favorite song on the album is Bixby Canyon Bridge, and while at first seeming to be a pretty decent song from a Death Cab perspective, it grows with such significance when knowing the circumstances in the lyrics. I’m somewhat speculating here, as I’ve not given Gibbard a call to verify this, but from what I’ve read, the Bixby Canyon Bridge is a rather scenic bridge in California, where supposedly several different infamous artists went for inspiration (most notably Langston Hughes and Jack Kerouac). Knowing that, the song takes on an incredibly deep meaning, as the lyrics describe Ben himself going to the bridge for inspiration, and not receiving it. I find it so interesting and refreshing to hear a band at this point in their careers (basically transitioning from being a “big” band, to being a “huge” band) to still have this kind of honesty in their songwriting. I think of lines in particular like:

“And I want to know my fate if I keep up this way”

which seems like Ben himself is wondering what his musical legacy will eventually be, which makes fans of his (like myself) feel part of his journey.

And he ends the song in a somewhat pessimistic yet empathetic way:

“And then it started getting dark
I trudged back to where the car was parked
No closer to any kind of truth
As I must assume was the case with you”

I really want to know who the “you” is in that statement. I’m filling in the blanks that it’s Langston Hughes, but who knows.

It’s heartbreaking, it’s beautiful, it’s delicately and enjoyably human. It’s another Death Cab for Cutie album.

I continue my tradition of not really posting original content by linking to the greatest movie poster ever, found (as always) via I Watch Stuff!.

Awesome.

Anyone else get this one yet? (I’m looking at you, exoder) It debuted at #1 on Billboard, got glowing reviews across the board (except from Pitchfork, but you know … they’re Pitchfork), but after having listened to it straight through yesterday in one sitting, I was decidedly underwhelmed. It’s not a terrible album by any means, but for about 75% of the album, the melodies and many of the lyrics seem, well, phoned in. And while they’re certainly not known for being happy, this release finds them growing even more hopeless and pessimistic about finding happiness.

The first single, “I Will Possess Your Heart,” clocks in at a studly 8.26, but that’s mostly due to its four-and-a-half minute instrumental intro. The meat of the song is the final 3+ minutes, which includes my favorite moment on the album: a bridge-that-seems-like-it-should-be-a-chorus that contains the melodies and lush orchestration Death Cab has hung their hat on for much of the the past decade.

“Cath…” is a pleasant song as well, and I also like “Pity and Fear” despite its shockingly abrupt gimmick ending.

Other than those three songs … meh. I’ll definitely listen to it again, especially if they decide to announce a GR gig.