October 2004

Grandpa's New CD's

I hit the jackpot in a recent trip to olde New York City. There was this tiny record store in the Village with not only a good selection of new and used CDs, but very rad low prices. These six CDc, all new, costed me $44. No foolin'. That place is for real. And, this guy is no street vendor, he operates in an honest to goodness building.

This place officially kicks Princeton RE's ass. If you give me some tacos, I'll tell you it's name and location. Until then, it's my secret.

Interpol - Antics
I was late on the Interpol bandwagon. Back in January 2003, all I knew was that they were touring the UK with the Polyphonic Spree (no kidding!) and Godzilla thought they were the best rock band around. Eventually I got "Turn on the Bright Lights"

BBC's started playing Interpol's first single "Slow Hands" six or eight weeks ago. It sounded pretty kick-ass, but that was to be expected. Thankfully, it may be the only purely radio-friendly song on the album.

I have terrible luck with sophomore releases. They usually let me down, but this one doesn't. Not by a long shot. It's a damn good rock album, pure and simple. The lyrics are delivered in a laid back and deliberate fashion, and are carried on the back of an awesome rhythm section. (These guys could be converted into a power dance-rock outfit in no time.)

You should own this CD. If you don't, it means that you are a moron.

Snow Patrol - Final Straw
Just because I don't love this album doesn't mean I don't like it.

How about that sentence? Snow Patrol's new album "Final Straw" is built on that exact sentence structure. The lyrics in this album are so fresh you'd think you were hearing one side of a live argument. What you end up with is a very emotional album that does not wallow in self pity. There will be time for moping on the next record. For the time being, they've got something to prove.

I enjoy this, but I don't know if it's a lifer. As good as it may be, I'm not entirely convinced by their argument. But, just because I won't force anyone to but this doesn't mean I'm not enjoying it for the time being.

Beta Band - Heroes to Zeros
This here's another band which Godzilla's yammered on about from time to time. "Heroes" is their third and (possibly) final album together, which is a shame because I like their sound.

Unlike many American and UK bands, Beta Band is not imitating early 80's alternative rock. These guys scare the crap out of me because they sound like the Moody Blues at times - without the mythic-adventure prog-rock oddities, of course. The result is a very relaxed and smooth, but still groovy and expansive sound.

Kings of Convenience - Riot on an Empty Street
Back in 2001, their fist album "Quiet is the New Loud" took me by surprise, and then they dropped off the planet for a while. In the meantime, Erland Âye became a producer, and released a pretty tight album, "Unrest." Thankfully, the KOC has at least one more album in them, and it's a good one.

Nothing on this album will surprise you. Their voices blend together beautifully, they play acoustic guitar, and their songs are about love and relationships (with mystery people, and each other.) However, this is a step forward for the band. They've added some more instrumentation, and back-up singers. I'd be curious to hear remixes of many of these tracks (especially "Know-How") on another version of "Versus."

The Concretes - The Concretes
When historians look back on 2004, they will note that it was the year when Grandpa bought far too many pop albums. It's yet to be seen if this is a bad thing, but it's certainly worth noting.

The Concretes are from Sweeden, and there are about 15 of them, I think. They are a bigger version of Camera Obscura, and with a tendency to make dance music. I'm in love with this album. You should buy this album for anyone you love.

While this album never gets loud, the dozens of band members create a huge sound to backup lead singer Victoria Bergsman. When alone in the sea of music, she sounds somewhat lost, which adds to the effect of some of the songs. It's a terribly good listen, one of my favorite from this year so far.

Blur - Modern Life is Rubbish
I never bought this one back in the day, and shame on me for that. This album is awesome.