Big Musical Catch-up

There was going to be a long, long, long post about music and the recent listens, but I'm going to keep it very concise and to the point.  Brevity is the soul of wit, right.

Sia - Color the Small One
A very mellow pop-soul record, the disc is enjoyable to listen to while working and especially heartfelt towards the end.  Grace reckons it sounded almost like Sheryl Crow, if she had been smoking for hours before recording.

Sufjan Stevens - Illinois
One of the most lauded albums of the last year or so, Sufjan Stevens' musical journey through the USA continues.  Although I'm not too familiar with his other work, this record reminds me of a high school wind ensemble performance.  Not that it's amateurish and unpracticed, but that it's an intimate record with a story to tell.  Easy to fall asleep to, but compelling.

Kraftwerk - Minimum/Maximum
The German trio delivers on this record combining some very simple vocals with some most stirring techno rhythms.  Similar to Illinois, this disc tends towards a narrative, but unlike Illinois, it's more about emotion than personality.  Their four-part tribute to the Tour de France gives the start-off record some energy and it's very easy to see why so many popular bands give them inspirational credit.

DangerDoom - The Mouse and the Mask
Before there was Gnarls Barkley and after there was a Gray Album, Danger Mouse collaborated with rapper/showman MF Doom on this somewhat alternative hip hop album.  It's an interesting mixture, seeing as the album was produced in concert with Cartoon Network's Adult Swim block.  While there are some notable cameos (Cee-lo, in a pre-Gnarls appearance and Talib Kweli) and some remarkably funky and folk beats, there also happens to be some sound bite contributions from Adult Swim staples.  It may sound bizarre (it is) but I actually liked it quite a bit. 

Metric - Live it Out
More of the same from this Canadian outfit.  Emily Haines' vocals are instantly familiar as they sound somewhat generic, but in the context of the band they work very well.  While there are only a few groups with female vocalists, Metric stands out for it's new wave melodies and unreliance on folk harmonies and instrumentation.  Having listened to two records of theirs, Metric is consistently good, but I'd like to see the music stretch a little more on the next effort.

The Mars Volta - Amputechture
The third full-length studio album from these guys strikes me as an oddity.  While they've expanded their sound quite a bit (with the addition of a saxophone) they seem stuck in a rut.  While the first album (De-Loused in the Comatorium) was a jigsaw of progressive rock and punk, this one dwells for way too long in the progressive direction.  It makes for a much more difficult listen than I would have liked, but I admire their ambition.  As a side-note, the majority of lead guitar is played by the Red Hot Chili Peppers John Frusciante. 

Nelly Furtado - Loose
As female pop vocalists go, Ms. Furtado is the least generic.  You have your Britneys and your Jessicas, but who could ever see them trying to integrate Reggaeton, Latin Pop, and Hip Hop into one record.  Granted, Gwen Stefani and Fergie have stretched the limits of pop music so far, but you could say that Nelly Furtado was toying with more diversity than the same old Rap and New Wave flavors.  Timbaland makes many an appearance on the album, but it's Ms. Furtado's unique vocal presentation that makes it listenable.  While there may be a few throwaway tunes at the end of the record, there are also some gems.  Personally, I like that there's more to each track than just sampling and a vocoder.  If all pop acts took their cues from the undersampled and underproduced vocals on Loose, music would be all the better for it.

Beck - The Information
A Los Angeles native, Beck always gleans the diverse musical spectrum of his imagination that undoubtedly springs from his upbringing in some East LA neighborhoods.  He's mentioned before how many critics like to describe his music as pastiche, but I think it's gone beyond that.  While there are many different layers of style on every track, there's a distinct sound that is so inherently "Beck" that you could recognize it within a few bars.  Much stronger than Guero and more upbeat than sea Change, The Information is better for his partnership with Radiohead uber-producer Nigel Goodrich.  Right now, this one is in strong rotation and is in strong competition for my favorite record of the year.  A must-listen.

OK, so it got very long at the end, but I can't help it!