Album Review: The Fleet Foxes - Self-Titled

Describing The Fleet Foxes is difficult at best. Gospel choir, folk, pop, the Foxes dabble in them all. On their debut album, The Fleet Foxes, rich layered harmonies fill your ears with a sweet mountain country on a summer afternoon. They create a mood so visceral you can almost smell the nature.

Keep one thing in mind going into this album. The Fleet Foxes are weird. Very weird. Not Animal Collective weird, but still weird. Mandolins, harps, toms, even forest sounds are normal fare. These guys sound like an indie barber shop quartet in the vocal area. All of this may sound like a discordant mess, but in nearly every song there is striking beauty. The group knows how to put together a tune. Tracks like Ragged Wood will have you on the edge of your seat fighting the urge to chase after the gigantic crescendoing melodies while Tiger Mountain Peasant Song and Meadowlarks will slow things down and charm things up a bit.

Final Thoughts: Great album by some newcomers. Charm, beauty, harmonies and an eclectic mix of instruments are all in this recipe for success. Highly recommended for something good and "different."

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Indie News - The Decemberists' New Single "The Rake's Song"

Mr. Meloy and those grandiloquent nuts The Decemberists are nearing the release of their new album The Hazards of Love and to appease our frustrated appetites they have release a new single titled The Rake's Song. For a song about the marriage of an aforementioned rake and the rather violent and morbid consequences of said marriage, the single is as bizarre in its upbeat sounds as you have come to expect from the band. The track is superb and I can only hope the rest of the album is as good. Very excited for this release. Make sure you check it out on March 24.

Get your copy of the new single here, from The Decemberists' website.

Album Review: ...And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Our Dead - The Century of Self

Those crazy kids from ...And You Will Know Us From the Trail of Our Dead are back with one less label (goodbye Interscope) and one new album. Number six, The Century of Self, takes us away from the shininess that was Worlds Apart and back to the raw days of Source Tags & Codes. Recorded using a live to tape (that's correct, bet you did not know they still did that these days), The Century of Self has a more original Trail feel to it. Make no mistake however, these songs are just as vast, epic and impressive as you have come to expect from the band.

This album sees the group attempt very little in the new directions department. Good for long-time fans but can also be interpreted as a generally apathetic status. Even the violent musical outbursts in the songs have gotten predictable. But band development is an argument for another day. The usual formula of aggressive, driving melodies giving way to less hard but also less clear bridges is still intact. If something is working, why rock the boat? As stated before, the progressive feelings you got from albums like Worlds Apart and So Divided are largely gone. This is rough, rockin' TOD.

Final Thoughts: The surging, violent rhythms still make fans go wild, but the band's noise rock sound has gotten a little too monotonous after all this time. A solid album from a great group, but no new ground here.

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Album Review: The Kings of Leon - Only by the Night

The fourth go-around for the Kings of Leon, Only by the Night, has received an overwhelming wave of harsh criticism for the overly polished sound that kicks in right off the bat. The rough sounds that characterized the early Tennessee family's work are long gone, traded for more "radio-friendly" tracks. But regardless of how much you (or I) dislike the album as a whole, you'll still be tapping your foot to its songs long after they're gone.

You gotta give it to them, Leon's sons (and one nephew) do know how to create effective songs. This is rock songwriting 101. The album starts out very strong with tracks like Sex on Fire and Use Somebody. These are some of the catchiest of the Kings' repertoire to date. The ballads are definitely aimed at a wider audience than the classic Kings of Leon (i.e. the radio crowd). Bad news for us who can't even remember the last time we switched on a radio.

Unfortunately the record quickly degrades in real quality on the latter half of the tracklist. Most of the songs just sound rushed. It's as if they took the left-overs from Because of the Times, spruced them up a bit in post-recording and slapped an album cover on them. The veneer is still there, but there's no substance underneath.

Final Thoughts: The Kings of Leon have achieved a sex-god sound with Only by the Night and have created some of their catchiest songs yet, but I almost gag on the sugar of it all. I miss Youth and Young Manhood...

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