Choir of Young Believers is led by 26-year-old Danish singer Jannis Noya Makrigiannis, who works with a rotating cast of supporting players. This Is For The White In Your Eyes is their debut album. It’s rare these days to get to listen to something new without any preconceptions, hype or other factory distorting your viewpoint. So lets see how it worked out. Continue reading “Album Review: Choir of Young Believers — This Is For The White In Your Eyes”
Category: Album Reviews
Spinning Platters album reviews category. Click here to see all album reviews from the Bay Area Music Nerds.
Album Review: Brendan Benson – My Old, Familiar Friend
I’m a big Brendan Benson fan. I was a fan before The Raconteurs. Lapalco being one of my all time favorite albums but I was not overly happy with his last album, The Alternative To Love, which had its moments but was, overall, somewhat inconsistent. So how does his new one My Old, Familiar Friend stack up. Keep in mind that this review is all based on a first listen and of course songs may grow or otherwise on me given time. So what has spending his time with Jack White done for Brendan? Continue reading “Album Review: Brendan Benson — My Old, Familiar Friend”
Album Review: Arctic Monkeys – Humbug
Arctic Monkeys – Humbug
Retail Release Date: August 25th, 2009
Leaky Faucet Acquisition Date: July 30th, 2009
The negative of listening to an early leaked version of an album is the possibility of subpar sound quality. I really hope that this is what’s going on with the new Arctic Monkeys album Humbug and not that this is the way they meant it to sound. Continue reading “Album Review: Arctic Monkeys — Humbug”
Album Review: The Sounds – Crossing The Rubicon
What do you get if you take a sampling of the Scandinavian delights of Abba and the rock-based Backyard Babies or Hellacopters ? Add in some Max Martin style production and maybe even some A-Ha and you have The Sounds new album, Crossing The Rubicon.
Continue reading “Album Review: The Sounds — Crossing The Rubicon”
Album Review: God Help the Girl
God Help the Girl is supposed to be the soundtrack for a musical that has yet to be scripted and filmed. It is the brainchild of Stuart Murdoch from Belle & Sebastian. Murdoch said the project was born from material he couldn’t use for for Belle & Sebastian because the songs should be sung by three female characters. The outcome? A Belle & Sebastian record with female vocals and a light sprinkling of musical theater.
I first discovered God Help the Girl because of a message from a friend. “Stuart Murdoch is having an open call for singers! You should try out.” Upon further investigation I discovered it was true; if you logged into imeem.com you could download instrumental versions of two songs: a Belle & Sebastian favourite “Funny Little Frog” and a new song called “The Psychiatrist is In.” The instructions were to choose one and post it up on an imeem message board. I promptly downloaded the songs and started calling around to find someone to help me record them. In the end my friend Cynthia and I, with the help of her husband Russell, spent a fun weekend recording and submitting the songs. Then the obsession really began. I listened to everyone’s entry and made lists of favourites. Weeks later three finalists for each song were chosen to submit a second song (Cynthia and I did not make the cut; we were robbed!) and when the winners were announced I at least took solace in the fact that one of the winners,Brittany Stallings, had been my favourite singer.
I was excited to hear the final product after so much time and obsession, but I was bound to be overly critical of the singing.
Album Review: Jarvis Cocker – Further Complications
Further Complications sounds more like a midlife crisis than a record. There are a couple of great classic Jarvis songs, some really good lyrics, and some really awful hard rock music. I was nervous to hear that Jarvis Cocker was working with producer Steve Albini and my nervousness was founded. There is some Jarvis left in there somewhere, but on some songs the vocals are mixed so low you can barely make out the lyrics; and what is the point of that when you are listening to a record from one of the world’s greatest lyricists!?!
Further Complications indeed. Continue reading “Album Review: Jarvis Cocker — Further Complications”
The Leaky Faucet: Mika – Songs For Sorrow
Retail Release Date: June 8th, 2009 (only available on mikasounds.com)
Leaky Faucet Acquisition Date: May 15h, 2009
Mika is a singer-songwriter from Lebanon via England. He released a record in 2007 called Life In Cartoon Motion, a glorious pop record that was equal parts Donna Summer, Queen, Rufus Wainwright, and Erasure. He also writes songs that tell stories so vividly that one could call him the Bruce Springsteen of disco.
On May 15th, he’s releasing an EP of acoustic songs to tide people over until his next full length record, due out next year. He also enlisted some of his favorite artists to make original works to help tell the stories on this EP. Continue reading “The Leaky Faucet: Mika — Songs For Sorrow”
The Leaky Faucet: Dredg – The Pariah, The Parrot, The Delusion
Retail Release Date: June 9, 2009
Leaky Faucet Acquisition Date: May 6, 2009
Dredg really never had a shot on the major labels. They’re a prog rock band, first and foremost. This is, of course, why I like them. For their last album, Catch Without Arms, they teamed up with a big name producer (Terry Date) and had songwriting help from Queensyche’s Chris Degarmo. That’s a high powered team, and the album that came out of it had a lot of polish and shine, but also lacked some of the musical innovation found on the band’s older releases. In a lot of ways, it made their earlier albums sound like demos.
So now Dredg is off of the major label, yet they’ve maintained the polished sound, but–and this is exciting–they’ve also thrown caution to the wind in a lot of ways. No longer worried about trying to sound like the band the majors want them to sound like, they go back to the more experimental sounds of their earlier albums, Lietmotif and El Cielo. And it’s almost a complete success. Continue reading “The Leaky Faucet: Dredg — The Pariah, The Parrot, The Delusion”
The Leaky Faucet: Patrick Wolf – The Bachelor
Retail Release Date: June 2, 2009 (digital only)
Leaky Faucet Acquision Date: May 3, 2009
I’ll start with the album cover. Patrick Wolf is posed here as an alien who’s landed in an oddly shaped spaceship tent, in some crazy cyberpunk outfit with a purple glow behind his hand, and some ancient instruments at his campsite. What is Patrick Wolf saying about this album before you even listen to it? He’s saying, “please don’t take me too seriously. I’m an utter goofball.” Continue reading “The Leaky Faucet: Patrick Wolf — The Bachelor”
The Leaky Faucet: Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
Retail Release Date: May 25, 2009
Leaky Faucet Acquisition Date: March 11, 2009
Phoenix is a French pop band that plays music that can only be described as Britpop. What does French Britpop sound like? It sounds like the band Phoenix. Perhaps I should explain. Continue reading “The Leaky Faucet: Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix”