The noble art of musical review

Music has always been a massive thing in my life. Like, seriously big. Recently I've been all over the place with my musical tastes and purchases but I've realised that that is not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, I take pride in my range of music tastes and collection of random shit. Recently I've actually been buying a lot of music rather than just downloading it illegally (mostly because the uni network doesn't allow access to file sharing sites) so I thought I'd give a little insight into my current world of music.

7 recent CD purchases (and why I enjoy them)

7. Fyfe Dangerfield - Fly Yellow Moon

Despite having the single greatest name of all time (except maybe Happy Adjustable Spanners) this is the lead singer from the band The Guillemots, who I absolutely love. Their first album Through the Window Pane took me so long to get into, and for months I kind of hated it. Then one day I took another listen and suddenly something clicked and ever since they've been one of my favourite bands. So naturally when I heard that their lead singer was starting a solo career, I got really excited.
To be honest, I haven't given this album too many listens yet, but what I've got from it so far is good. It's very similar in style to The Guillemots music, but with a hint of something a little odd. In a way it sounds very amateur - a little unpracticed at parts, with melodies and rythms not quite seeming up to scratch - but then you realise actually this is what this guy is about. Extremely off beat and sometimes very weird, this is an experimental first album that really does show personality and an individual style that I actually really like.

6. Passion Pit - Chunk of Change

I fucking love Passion Pit. I found them originally through my old blog 'Something of an End' and I'm so happy that I did. Their debut album Manners is an eclectic, bright, happy, fun and just downright enjoyable record from start to finish. Honeslty there is not one song in the entire album that will not make you want to get up and celebrate life. 
Chunk of Change is an EP consisting of only 6 songs that lie somewhere between recording and the final production. All of these songs sound unpolished and unfinished, but actually that's not a bad thing. The lead singer of the band originally wrote these songs for his girlfriend at the time, and knowing that, I'm kind of glad these songs aren't completely perfect. There's something about a love songs that requires that raw feeling and emotion and doesn't need to rely on perfect production to be appreciated. That said a couple of these tracks aren't all that great, I'm not gonna lie. In fact if I had bought this EP before their full album, I'd probably hate them. But knowing they're an amazing band, then listening to a kind of stripped down version of their music is actually really nice.

5. Mew - No More Stories Are Told Today, I'm Sorry They Washed Away, No More Stories the World is Grey, I'm Tired Let's Wash Away

Despite the really fucking long title and creepy album art, this is a great album. I have no idea how I first heard of this band - they just suddenly turned up on my computer, but I'm glad they did. The album I had was called Frengers and was a really nice mix of rock/pop/electronica and all kinds of styles. They have a real knack for slow dreamy melodies in some tracks, then lively upbeat rythms with really memorable melodies. I absolutely adore that album so I thought I'd give their 2009 release a try. 
The nice thing about this album is that they're trying out new styles without changing too radically and keeping a lot of what made them so great in previous albums. This album is definately more quick paced than Frengers - there are only a couple of songs on this album that have that nice, slow feel - but that is definately not a bad thing. It's good to pick up the pace a bit from time to time.

 4. Owl City - Ocean Eyes

A while ago the video for their debut single Fireflies was circulating the internet like god knows what, so of course I gave it a listen and fell in love. There's a certain childlike innocence to that track that is so refreshing in music these days. It's kind of the musical equivalent a toddler. Bad metaphor but there you go. With lines like 'I'd get a thousand hugs from ten thousand lightning bugs' what do you expect.
The album continues this childish fun and is filled with cute little synth melodies and sing songy lyrics that, while maybe not the best in the world, are certainly pretty fun: 'Alcohol and golf don't mix, that's why I don't drink and drive' Occassionally they can be annoying with this, but mostly you just have to take this album as fun and lively, with that innocence that is pretty much unheard of on music these days.


3. Daniel Merriweather - Love and War

Ok so I actually bought this a while ago now, but since it's sitting right here in front of me with all these other CDs, I might as well give this a go. I first heard of Daniel Merriweather when he did that cover of 'Don't Stop Me' with Mark Ronson, which I really really liked but pretty much forgot about him because as far as I knew he didn't have any other music out. Then a few months later I heard the debut single from this album 'Red' and again, I loved it. So I thought what the hell and bought the album. It's quite a nice mix of various elements of r+b, pop, rock and jazz and it fits together really well. A couple of tracks are pretty self righteous and sometimes he annoys me with lyrics, but mostly this is a pretty solid album. His voice and style suit both the slow, more soulful tracks and the upbeat ones pretty equally, which is always nice to know and means that most tracks sound polished and natural, because in my experience artists often force themselves to sound deep and soulful and it really doesn't work

2. Muse - The Resistance

There has been very many varying opinions on this album. Some people consider it Muse's next masterpiece and are praising every fibre of its being. Other think actually this is a poor release from an otherwise fantastic band. I'm kind of sitting on the fence with this one. I was very late to the Muse party, and got into them far later than everyone else so I've spent the last couple of years catching up. And I do love this band. Now in my opinion this album is split into two halves. The first 6 songs are pure, unadulterated Muse gold. Afterward though things start to get a little weird. While I appreciate that three part symphony at the end of the album really fantastic musically, it just doesn't seem to fit with the rest of the album. If they had released an entire album of that kind of material, I think it would have been incredibly well recieved, since it's not unusual for Muse to go all artsy and instrumental. However the beginning tracks set the album up as a solid rock piece and the transition from that to  symphony is a little too abrupt for me. Still I generally do really like this album. And Undisclosed Desires will always be an amazing song.

1. Noisettes - Wild Young Hearts

I was seriously shocked when I bought the Noisettes debut album a few months ago. Because jesus christ that album is incredible. I kind of dismissed them as another generic indie band when people first started noticing them but what really makes them stand out from the croud is their lead singer. Because man, can she sing. With an incredible voice like that it's no wonder they garnered so much attention. I therefore leapt straight for the second album when it was released, and despite quite a change from the debut, I really like it.
What I didn't realise was that the title song Wild Young Hearts was used in that yoghurt advert a while ago. I always like the song but had no idea who it was by until buying this album and that made me happy. The next single Don't Upset the Rythm is again incredible and a really good song to get you in the mood for partying. The rest of the album again is really strong, but they seem to have deviated from the hard hitting, totally upbeat style of the first album. Not a bad thing but sometimes I wish there were more songs like Don't Upset the Rythm on there.