The Sounds - Crossing The Rubicon

The Sounds are a Swedish New Wave band that are making an impact on the US.  At first listen, you might recognize, singer, Maja Ivarsson's voice.  She was featured in Cobra Starship's song "Snakes On A Plane (Bring It)".  Aside from that single, they recently toured with No Doubt and Paramore.  As you might have noticed, they're becoming a name to notice.  They released their third album, Crossing The Rubicon, in June of 2009 and have released two singles from it.

I'm a little late in discovering them.  Crossing The Rubicon is actually the bands third album, and my first.  The song "Dorchester Hotel" (featured on this album) was my first exposure to them.  Their music is filled with enough keyboards and synths to make the leading New Wave acts of the eighties jealous.  Almost every song has a solid synth line.

After a couple listens, there are definitely some stand-out tracks.  The first single "No One Sleeps When I'm Awake" is one of them.  The title track is also one of the best songs.  It starts with a very haunting piano which then evolves into a full blown epic, and then creeps back down again.  Although the song is short, that doesn't hold it back at all.  All together, some of the songs can be forgettable.  The second single, Beatbox, is actually one of my least favorite songs on the album.  It's just not as solid as it could be, they have great potential.

My favorite tracks at the moment include:

No One Sleeps When I'm Awake
Dorchester Hotel
Crossing The Rubicon
My Lover

You should check out The Sounds if you like No Doubt or Paramore.  I can definitely see why they teamed up for the tour.  Also listen if you want a throw-back to the New Wave genre.  Artists such as Blondie, Talking Heads, Cyndi Lauper, Berlin, and a-ha can be seen as influences.

The Miracle Of iTunes Home Sharing

If you're like me, you love your music library.  I organize every single song down to its genre, date of release, track listing, etc.  Example: "That song isn't rock, it's alternative.  This one isn't punk, it's ska."  I freak out if a song doesn't have its correct album artwork.  Some people say I have "Music OCD", maybe I do.  Either way, when I got my new MacBook, one of my biggest worries was transferring my iTunes library.

First I tried connecting an ethernet cable between the two computers.  That didn't work.  The computers said it worked, but it didn't.  What the heck.  Next, I tried external hard drive.  Here's a little hint, if you have over 1GB of music, don't transfer it with a 1GB hard drive.  That would have taken several more hours than I had already spent on this seemingly impossible task.  I was fuming by this point because I followed several step-by-step tutorials on this task, they failed.  I started getting mad at people and it all went downhill.

Finally, I discovered my savior, iTunes Home Sharing.  I was able to use Home Sharing to copy every single song from one computer to another over a wireless network.  This practically saved my life.  If you ever get a new computer, you need this.  If I had known about this before, well let's just say I wish I had.  Anyways, follow these words of wisdom if you ever need to transfer a lot of music.

Post-Christmas

It's the day after Christmas and everyone has opened their presents.  Everybody had that one thing they really wanted.  Wether it be a Christmas sweater or something, well, better.  What did you get?  Me?  Lots of music...and a MacBook.  First post from a Mac, time to celebrate!  Anyways, there will be a lot of new music being played around the house.  Here's a list of it all.  Take note that it's not all mine, some my brother's and some my sister's. But still, you know I'll hear all of it in the end.

Muse - Absolution
Weezer - Raditude
Norah Jones - The Fall
Kelly Clarkson - All I Ever Wanted
The Black Keys - Attack & Release
Lady GaGa - The Fame Monster

So far I've listened to Muse, Weezer, Lady GaGa, and part of Kelly Clarkson.  I have to say, they're all really good.  I already had the two most recent Muse albums.  This one is a little more piano based.  I think I prefer that.  The Weezer album is interesting.  I really like older Weezer music (Hash Pipe, Buddy Holly).  This album is kind of random.  None of the songs really flow into each other.  They're still good separately, though.  Lady GaGa's album was solid dance-pop.  Extremely catchy.  What surprised me the most was that there was zero filler.  Every song was strong on its own.

I still need to hear the rest of the albums to make my final assumptions.  I hope everyone got whatever music they wanted.  I still have plenty of gift cards to spend on what else... but music.

"Best Of '09"

Okay, so I've been looking at several "Best Of '09" lists that are posted on various websites, everyone makes one.  They're the popular thing to do at the end of any year, you know that.  It's very strange because, after seeing them, I've determined that I either...

A. Don't listen to any "good" music

B. Noticed that every list focuses on unknown hip "indie" stuff

C. Read bad "Best Of '09" lists

D. Need to expand my musical horizons

E. Am obviously the one who listens to good music, they just don't know it

...or a mix of several of those answers.  I read over these lists with a confused look on my face.  What is this stuff?  Some of the lists I've read are Amazon, Pitchfork, and Rolling Stone.  I'll show you some of my thoughts on each list.

Amazon

Out of all the albums I've heard 5 of them in their entirety.

Muse - The Resistance

Lily Allen - It's Not Me, It's You
Silversun Pickups - Swoon
Imogen Heap - Ellipse

Yeah Yeah Yeah's  - It's Blitz!

 

Not too impressive.  I've also heard bits and pieces from plenty of the others.

Song list score: 23 out of 100...

Playlist - Alicia Keys, Band Of Skulls

Alicia Keys - The Element Of Freedom

Alicia Keys' fourth album was released this week.  I've been a listener since The Diary Of Alicia Keys, and this album is just as good.  The album includes a duet with Beyoncé and an alternate version of Jay-Z's song Empire State Of Mind, which already featured Keys.  The single, Try Sleeping With A Broken Heart, is one of the standout tracks along with Empire State Of Mind (Part II) Broken Down.  The version that I purchased included two bonus tracks (Through It All, Pray For Forgiveness) and a bonus DVD.

Band Of Skulls - Baby Darling Doll Face Honey

This is the debut album from Band Of Skulls, an upcoming alt-rock band.  It's been out since April of this year, but I'm just now getting around to listening to it.  I already had the songs I Know What I Am and Blood, and now have the complete album.  They're sound is quite similar to The White Stripes, yet it doesn't sound like they're copying them.  Overall, a great album.

Plus a few singles...

Vampire Weekend - Horchata
Paramore - Where The Lines Overlap
Flyleaf - Swept Away