Long Over Due Reviews

ONE-SENTENCE REVIEWS:

The Black Keys - Brothers

Rating: 83/100

Enjoyable from start to finish, Brothers is the Black Keys doing work.

High Point Tracks: "Next Girl", "Tighten Up", "Sinister Kid"

Drake - Thank Me Later

Rating: 71/100

After the incredible So Far Gone mixtape and a handful of promising singles, Drake delivers a somewhat disappointing major label debut that reveals the young rappers fatal flaw: he just doesn't have much to say.

High Point Tracks: "Over", "Up All Night ft. Nicki Minaj"

Crystal Castles - Crystal Castles (II)

Rating: 80/100

While somewhat repetitive and noisy, a healthy number of strange and satisfying tracks redeem Crystal Castles' self titled sophomore album.

High Point Tracks: "Baptism", "Suffocation", "Not In Love"

Sleigh Bells - Treats

Rating: 94/100

Treats is unabashedly loud, inventive, fun and easily one of the best albums of the year.

High Point Tracks: "Kids", Infinity Guitars", "Rill Rill", "Crown On The Ground"

Eminem - Recovery

Rating: 84/100

Relapse was only ok; Recovery is much better.

High Point Tracks: "Won't Back Down ft. P!nk", "No Love ft. Lil Wayne", "Almost Famous" "Havoc"

Big Boi - Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty

Rating: 89/100

Big Boi's hip-hop epic is fresh and flawlessly executed.

High Point Tracks: "Daddy Fat Sax", "Shutterbug", "Fo Yo Sorrows", "Shine Blockas"

Arcade Fire - The Suburbs

Rating: 98/100

The Suburbs is another remarkable release from one of the best bands of the past decade; I believe there is no stopping them now.

High Point Tracks: "Half Light II (No Celebration)", "We Used To Wait", "Month of May", "Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)"

Sufjan Stevens - All Delighted People EP

Rating: 83/100

The title track which is more than 11 minutes long makes two appearances on the EP and they're both different, and uniquely enjoyable in a way only Sufjan Stevens can deliver; as is everything else in between.

High Point Tracks: "All Delighted People (Original Version)", "Enchanting Ghost", "Djohariah"

M.I.A. - Maya

Rating: 73/100

The chaotic splashes of noise and sound effects over deeply effected pop melodies sometimes seem more like a schtick than an artistic choice here, however they still seem work for her most of the time.

High Point Tracks: "Steppin Up", "XXO", "Meds and Feds"

I have a few more to do. Stay tuned.

Two, Count 'Em, TWO new Arcade Fire Singles

No introduction needed, just listen and be excited.

ScatterPoints: Mid/Late May

Heres some cool stuff I've found over the past few weeks. Enjoy!

MidPoints Top 5: Start of Summer Songs

If you don't like 'em, comment with your own!

5. "Summer Girls" - LFO

4. "Summer of '69" - Bryan Adams

3. "Deadbeat Summer" - Neon Indian

2. "Summer Babe (Winter Version) - Pavement

1. "Constructive Summer" - The Hold Steady

TRACKS

"Gold Skull" - Miniature Tigers

So my friend Kristie has been telling me about Miniature Tigers for a while but I was foolish and never really gave them a chance until I saw that Neon Indian has started producing their stuff. They have a new album, F O R T R E S S, dropping later this summer and you can download the Neon Indian produced first single "Gold Skull" right here.

Wolf Parade - Expo 86 preview

A pair of new tracks from the band's forthcoming third album were recently released and fans of the bands previous material won't be dissapointed with either. You can download them both for free right here:

"Ghost Pressure" - Wolf Parade

"What Did My Lover Say? (It Always Had To Go This Way)" - Wolf Parade

VIDEO

"Afraid of Everyone" - The National w/Sufjan Stevens on Letterman

"Higher Than The Stars" - The Pains of Being Pure At Heart

"Next Girl" - The Black Keys

"Zebra" - Beach House

ONE-SENTENCE REVIEWS

Note: This has easily been the best month of new music releases that has happened since I started this blog. This stuff is really good, I'm just sayin'.

LCD Soundsystem - This Is Happening

Rating: 90/100

By drawing heavily from many of the most innovative artists of the past half-century, James Murphy aka LCD Soundsystem has once again synthesized countless familiar sounds and textures together with his own dance-production prowess to create a profoundly emotive, ridiculously danceable and brilliantly constructed album experience.

High Point Tracks: "Dance Yerself Clean", "All I Want", "I Can Change"

The Hold Steady - Heaven Is Whenever

Rating: 72/100

With out any of the urgency, heart, nostalgia or drunken poetics of their previous releases, The Hold Steady have disappointed me for the first time with a very average and unfortunately forgettable record.

High Point Tracks: "Hurricane J", "The Weekenders", "We Can Get Together"

The Dead Weather - Sea of Cowards

Rating: 87/100

Everything I said about their debut album holds true with their sophomore effort but more so; its grittier, scarier, bluesier, more distorted and it flat out rocks harder.

High Point Tracks: "The Difference Between Us", "Die By The Drop", "Gasoline"

MIDPOINT OF INTEREST

The National - High Violet

Rating: 98/100

With four consecutive nearly flawless albums under their belt, The National continue to take strides towards being one of the greatest bands of this generation and High Violet proves that they can remain true to their core sound while wildly expanding their scope with a batch of 11 songs that dig deeper and soar higher than just about anything the band has previously released. This album delivers their loudest, most distorted guitar-rock anthems as well as their softest most desperate, heartbroken orchestral ballads; the crazy thing is that they are often the same song. Frontman and songwriter Matt Berninger isn't quite as mumbly as he was on Boxer and he doesn't yell as much as he did on Alligator or Sad Songs For Dirty Lovers, but the middle ground of High Violet translates to what is probably the most direct and melodic National record yet. With each release, he seems to expand his nuanced lyrical honesty and in my opinion, this album proves that he is more than just a great modern songwriter but a great modern poet. However, the quality of a record or a band isn't determined simply by lyrics or guitars or melodies, but in their ability to weave all of these elements together to create something innovative, moving and transcendent and that, above all else, is what makes High Violet more than just a great rock record, its the closest thing to perfection I've heard in years.

High Point Tracks: "Terrible Love", "Afraid of Everyone", "Lemonworld", "England"

ScatterPoints: Early May

Here is some cool stuff I've found over the past week. Enjoy!

MidPoints Top 5: Mom Songs

I'm going to start posting more of these Top 5 countdowns so feel free to comment with your own Top 5s. Happy Mothers Day!

5. Chromeo - Momma's Boy

4. 2Pac - Dear Mama

3. Scissor Sisters - Take Your Mama

2. Sufjan Stevens - Decatur, Or, Round Of Applause For Your Stepmother!

1. Kanye West - Hey Mama

VIDEO

The National - Terrible Love

ONE SENTENCE REVIEWS

The Hold Steady - Separation Sunday

Rating: 90/100

Garage rock and drunken nostalgia have been perfected over the past decade by The Hold Steady, and Separation Sunday is the one that kicked off their hot-streak of great albums back in 2005.

High Point Tracks: "Your Little Hoodrat Friend", "Banging Camp", "Stevie Nix"

Broken Social Scene - Forgiveness Rock Record

Rating: 81/100

When a phenomenal band like BSS releases a mildly disappointing record like this one, the result is sometimes still a very enjoyable and engaging album.

High Point Track: "World Sick", "All to All", "Water in Hell"

The Dead Weather - Horehound

Rating: 86/100

Its loud, dirty, and a little frightening but its also one of the most raw and powerful rock albums in recent memory.

High Point Tracks: "60 Feet Tall", "Treat Me Like Your Mother", "Hang You From The Heavens"

David Guetta - One Love

Rating: 68/100

European producer/DJ David Guetta delivers a hit or miss collection of up-tempo club jams, all of which feature at least one relevant name from the hip-hop/r&b scene.

High Point Tracks: "Sexy Bitch ft. Akon", "When Love Takes Over ft. Kelly Rowland"

The White Stripes - Under Great White Northern Lights

Rating: 93/100

This live album from 2007 features the lo-fi rock duo at their loudest, sloppiest and absolute finest while giving new life to both deep cuts and hits alike.

High Point Tracks: "Blue Orchid", "I'm Slowly Turning Into You", "Jolene" (Dolly Party cover), "Seven Nation Army"

New Interpol - "Lights"

No real info about an album or anything, but the band's website seems to indicate that they've got something up their sleeve. The song is pretty good, and very Interpol so if you like dark sounding guitars, and big helpings of reverb, you might want to give this track a download.

Some Crazy-Ass Stuff for a Wednesday

M.I.A. - "Born Free"

New super-super-NSFW and extremely violent music video

M.I.A, Born Free from ROMAIN-GAVRAS on Vimeo.

Also, this is cool and weird:

EMINEM - DESPICABLE (FREESTYLE)

REGINA SPEKTOR - "NO SURPRISES (RADIOHEAD COVER)"

SOUNDS OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM

Have you ever wondered what the solar system sounds like? Some dude made a scale-music box thingy that lets you hear the music of the planets. Its crazy. Check it out here.

LCD SOUNDSYSTEM - DRUNK GIRLS MUSIC VIDEO

BRAND NEW STARS SINGLE - "FIXED"

Download the MP3 for free right here.

MGMT vs SNL

(SPOILER ALERT: MGMT wins)

"Flash Delerium"

"Brian Eno"

T.I.'s Back!

T.I. - "I'm Back"