She & Him - "Volume One": Saw these two live at First Avenue and agreed with J2 - they and their entourage were great live. The CD is not as much fun as the show was, but it's still good. It's an odd mix of alternative, pop, and retro (soul, surf, honky-tonk.) Makes me wonder if they are going to be as eclectic with the followup CD they are working on. Favorites: This is Not a Test, Change is Hard, I Thought I Saw Your Face Today, I Was Made For You.
Her Space Holiday - "The Young Machines": This is kind of nice. If electronic music can be chill, this seems to be it. You're not interacting with the lyrics much (with a couple of exceptions), the sounds and beats just cook along in the background. Even though the lyrics can be pretty transparent, there's not much to jar you, and quite a bit to soothe you - in a rhythmic way. The only criticism is that the beat patterns don't vary much song to song, nor do the vocals - the delivery is repetitive. Favorites: the title track, plus Girl Problem, Japanese Gum, The Luxury Of Loneliness.
The Whitest Boy Alive - "Dreams": I really like the instruments, the playing here. Kind of jazzy and funky, especially for an alternative band. In fact, I'm going to add it to my "jazz" playlist, as well as to contemporary. The lead singer's vocals are distinctive, too - an unusual combination of style and timbre. I'm not really sure how to describe it exactly, once in a while he reminds me of Al Stewart (Year of the Cat); regardless, this is another good chilling/background-y album. Nice. Favorites: Fireworks, Figures, Done With You, Golden Cage, Inflation, Burning. Really, they're all great. Love this CD. :)
Sufjan Stevens: "Come Feel The Illinoise", "The Avalanche", "A Sun Came", "Greetings From Michigan", "Seven Swans": My thanks to K for burning all these for me, resulting from a Three Track Party discussion. All told, 6 hours of Sufjan Stevens. So last weekend when I had the house to myself for a couple of days, it was a Sufjan marathon. :) Two passes through all 101 tracks was, um... a bit much. Eventually, I had to take a Pink Floyd break to recalibrate.
This guy apparently doesn't write music for popular consumption. I can't think of one track out of the whole business that I would classify as real chart hit material. Yet, he seems to get there. He certainly has a loyal following. And really, the music's not too bad, taken as a whole. Once in a while he goes "off somewhere" with instrumentation and song structure, but he comes back within a couple of songs.
I did enjoy the Seven Swans CD a lot. That seems the most approachable and least quirky of the bunch. Greetings From Michigan wasn't too bad either. So, yeah. I get the idea from his music that he's a decent guy inside. I want to like him. :) It will just be easier if he simply comes up now and then in the rotation, instead of listening to him 12 hours straight. Yikes!
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