I’m a big fan of the Raconteurs. Their 2006 release, Broken Boy Soldiers, might be one of my all-time ‘pick up a cd on a whim and have it blow my mind’ finds. So it was with a whole bunch of little boy excitement that I picked up “Consolers of the Lonely.” So far, not a disappointment to be found.
Sometimes ’supergroups’ are awesome (see Mad Season, The Bens), and sometimes they waste my time (see Audioslave. Yep, I said it). I’m not sure many would consider The Raconteurs as a supergroup- but anytime you put Jack White and Brendan Benson together- I call that super. If you aren’t familiar w/ Brendan- go educate yourself now. Add the ridiculous rhythm section of Little Jack and Keeler… and what you have are some incredibly talents musicians making catchy, complex and crushing rock & roll. Seriously- no one other than this group of guys can pull of songs like these- blues standards, time signature bending romps, and straight forward distortion come together to blow your miiiinddds. Am I gushing?
This is some of the dirtiest, prettiest, most inspired & inspiring rock music out there today. Buy it. Now.
So, Vampire Weekend. All the cool kids like them these days. My entire goal in life is to be on of the cool kids- therefore, I must listen to Vampire Weekend. Seriously, most of the hip and well-versed are already whining about the attention this band is getting- so get on now (like me) before they’re on every 12 year old girl’s ipod. Heck- their single “A-Punk” is on MTV about as often as America’s Next Top Model, which is tough to do.
But, in all seriousness, this cd is infectious. We’ve had it a week, and Sarah and I are already singing all the songs constantly- usually accompanied by awesome dance moves. These songs get you moving and make you happy- the perfect cd in my life right now coming out of 5 months of nothing buy snow in my life. This album begs to be played on a sunny day with the windows rolled down.
Drawing from obvious influences like the Talking Heads, Paul Simon and, dare I say, a little Sublime- Vampire Weekend has created a album of 11 songs that melds together different sounds to create accessible pop in a vein that is all their own right now. Seriously- these lyrics and melodies will not get out of my brain, my feet will not stop tapping and my head will not stop bobbing. I’ve bought 4 albums in the past 2 weeks, and this one is just dominating my playlist.
If you are looking for some “summer tunes’ to help you welcome spring to your life- get this album now. Heck- I got my for $9 at Target- how can you resist?!
