my life//in medias res*

joe’s recent awesome musical purchases

November 17th, 2006 at 7:20 pm by sillyjoe (Music)

So here’s what’s been rolling around my cd player as of late.

mewithoutYou - Brother, Sister - I’ve never been that huge of a harder/alternative music guy…I have my moments. Most people that know me know I’m a folk guy. If it’s acoustic and not modern pop country, I’ll probably like it. mewithoutYou is one of those bands that just grabs you. The vocals of Aaron Weiss are very peculiar, leaning more towards spoken word than actual singing…but it has a charm to it. And I MUST give Weiss props as a lyricist. Here’s my personal favorite lyrical moment in the album, found in the song “In A Market Dimly Lit”:

I wrote a little song for you with a melody I’d borrowed put to words that didn’t rhyme to repeat what you already knew as the stones thrown at your window tapped a syncopated time you kept a distance out of fear you’d break but what good’s a single windchime, hanging quiet all alone? the music our collisions would make is a sound that turns the road-that-leads-us-back-home into Home.

The band isn’t a slouch musically either…with interesting melodies, some sparse arrangements, and just…a great range of sound. I dig it.

Ray Lamontagne - Till The Sun Turns Black - Ahhh, Ray. I’ve been slightly obsessed with Ray Lamontagne for some time now. Something in his voice just takes me to a place that I wish I could stay. A step up musically from his first album…the string arrangements on this album are stellar, and the addition of horns on some of the songs give it a killer jazz feel. Plus…there’s Ray’s voice. It’s pretty much the best ever.

Damien Rice - 9 - This is one of two VERY recent musical purchases, that I haven’t had all that much time to let sink in. We’re all familiar with Damien’s first album, O, as it was a huge success. This one is not all that different…the musical arrangements are a little larger…with some more electricity added in, which has a great affect. The opener, “9 Crimes,” just draws me in….and I want to listen to it again when it’s over. I’ll have to ruminate on this one more as I listen more.

The Format - Dog Problems - JUST got this one today. And I’ve already listened to it all the way through three times. I love this album. I had a love affair with the Format’s debut Interventions and Lullabies last year, in particular the track “Give It Up.” I’ve said that Nate Ruess has a way of capturing a moment, an emotion that you remember, in a song and allowing you to come back to that moment again and again. With this album, he does that with breakups. Strangely, it’s a musically “happy” album. It was even dubbed “the feel-good album of the summer” by Relevant Magazine. The lyrical content, however, is a bit sadder…it’s about breaking up after a long relationship. Here’s another artist that has grown musically since their last album. The arrangements on this album…plainly…are just fun. I give it eleventy billion stars.