Generally, I like old music. Queen are my favourite. However, I do like some new music too. Sometimes I feel torn - stuck wanting to live in the past as present reality is never quite satisfactory (strictly speaking of music of course...). Anyway, I always used to love buying CDs. Near our house in London was a CD store so I would buy a couple of CDs a month. Now however, I'm down to buying 2 or 3 a year. Two of the last albums I have bought - by new artists - I have found not only satisfactory but really really awesome. Here are my reviews;
Sounds Like This - Eric Hutchinson
The first time I heard the song Rock & Roll, I instantly fell in love. The song is so....whats the word...catchy - but in a very marvellous way. (I really hate songs that are so catchy you love them, but they are actually bad quality songs). This song speaks to me. It reminds me of the person I would like to be and helps me get to know the person I will hopefully one day become. In this song, he talks about a person/people who just go with the flow and just "roll with the punches". I also love how Eric is just wearing jeans and a flanny in the music video. My mum says she doesn't like the video as he is "bopping around too much" but I love it as I imagine he is just himself in it. I got the album - Sounds Like This - for my birthday. It was the first album I uploaded on my new laptop so I listened to it quite a lot. Like Rock & Roll - I instantly fell in love. I had heard OK, Its Alright With Me once before and felt a connection. This chilled out mellow song has beautiful piano. Another song I listened to a lot was It Hasn't Been Long Enough, as at the time I was having trouble with some friends. I thought they rushed into everything and maybe if I had more time to accept it, then it wouldn't have ended up like it has. I felt like this song represented it especially the lines "I think I've been wrong enough to know when I'm right so put up a fight if you must, but we know that our trust is undone. It hasn't been long enough." Infact, a lot of songs on this album remind me of previous mistakes I've made and realise that other people have made the mistakes too. "I would've known better if I was on the outside..." from the song Food Chain - probably my second or third favourite song on the album. Excellent lyrics and music. Probably my favourite song is Outside Villanova. Not that this song speaks to me so or I even know what this song is about!, but it is a lovely song. Another stand-out that needs special mention is the song All Over Now. This song once again describes feelings of mine and is also catchy. After I had listened to every song on this album, I actually thought Rock & Roll was one of my least favourites, even though I still really love it! I guess Rock & Roll is an awesome song but to be blunt - is just too radio friendly! Excellent album I highly recommend (if my opinion means anything...hmmm)
Day & Age - The Killers
I bought this album earlier in the year after barely knowing one song. I was deciding between this or the latest Kings of Leon album and decided on this and man I am glad I did! At the time, my ipod was broken so I took my discman with this CD in it to school - sure I got made fun of for not keeping up with the times but I found an album because of this that I truly love. The only song I knew at the time was Human. I have no idea what this song is about - something to do with not fitting in and learning who you are (??) - but I love it. There is this one note Brandon Flowers hits in the chorus when he sings "or are..." that I melted inside the first time I heard it. This is actually a fairly slow song but can also be sped up and used in clubs etc. Overall a great song which I think many people wonder about the meaning. The second single Spaceman took a while to grow on me. I mean, sure it was catchy and the music video had awesome costumes but something was missing. Now, my dad says that I love little weird musical lines in songs that stand out to me which I had never noticed until he said anything. One example is in this song where the lyrics are nothing special but the music I just love - the simple six words "...and the zipping white light beams...". Losing Touch is another great song with big instrumentals in the background. A Crippling Blow talks to me with the line "I can get by in the meantime by myself" because that is SO someone that I want to be. I have never be able to get over things fast or by myself. But that song makes me feel confident that one day I will do things on my own and not care so much. Goodnight, Travel Well is a dark depressing song where my interpretation is describing a person who keeps stuffing up and people pays attention to them as they stuff up, basically...waiting for them not to stuff up anymore! A Dustland Fairytale, Neon Tiger and I Can't Stay get mention for being great songs - but not great enough to have their own write-ups about them. My absolute favourite song on this album is This Is Your Life. I feel that this song speaks to me and lots of people can relate - even though word on the street is that this song is about a prostitute. The weird musical line I love is "take a number Jacqui where the blood just barely dries". I just think so many people can relate with the lines "wait for something better", "you've got to be stronger than the story" and "the sky is full of dreams but you dont know how to fly". Its about knowing what you are worth, and keeping your expectations high and not stopping until you live up to your potential and get what you know you are worth (I believe anyway...). The beginning of this song reminds me of the dwarves in Snow White as they are walking with their shovels...I dont know why....Apparently in this album, Flowers style was a combination of the Killers previous two albums. In Hot Fuss, Flowers wore eye liner and black clothes, in Sam's Town, he grew a moustache and wore cowboy jackets with fringe down the sleeves. In Day & Age, he lost the moustache (thank goodness!) kept the jacket but also the eye liner.A fantastic album which I highly recommend. However - low point on the album is The World We Live In. The lowest point on the album is Joy Ride...terrible song, not catchy, not clever, I always picture a gangster singing it, I'm not sure why...Anyway, I always just skip those two songs.
Enjoy!
Finished the ice cream! yay - I get $1.00 =)
