Cubicle Tunes - Week of June 17, 2008

Music is constant, even if my writing isn't, and though I wasn't able to blog over the last few weeks, I was able to listen, and as always, you - the reader - are the beneficiary.

Big news! The bitchin' Saturn ION 3 is now reloaded with XM Radio. I told myself back in May of 2007 that I couldn't justify the expense. Then I told myself that I was a complete tool, and things got pretty heated until my sensible self just up and bitch slapped my frugal self with a stinging backhand. You should have seen it. It was textbook technique, employing the obliques and turning with my torso to generate power, and the next thing I know, I was telling myself "I got knocked the #@&* out!".

So, allow me to pontificate with these:

1. Viva la Vida – Coldplay (2008)

Teaming up with Brian Eno, Coldplay is back with their fourth album, and I think it’s just swell. “Life in Technicolor” is a great opener – I like the idea of starting a record with an instrumental track. Other favorites include “Viva la Vida”, which generated substantial anticipation through the iTunes teaser spots, and the album’s closer, “Death and All His Friends”.

On a related note, I still hate the song “Yellow” from the Parachutes album. I can’t fathom how such a crappy song could come from an otherwise pretty cool band. I mean, every band has a few misses in their discography, but rarely are they so far off the pace.

2. Narrow Stairs – Death Cab for Cutie (2008)

This album is tremendous. The opener, “Bixby Canyon Bridge”, starts calmly and builds pressure and explodes into noise and chaos before settling back into serenity. “I Will Possess Your Heart” is a sublimely creepy account of a distant infatuation turned obsession: “you reject my advances and desperate pleas; I won’t let you let me down so easily”. Damn – call the cops!

“Pity and Fear” must be listened to at ridiculous decibel levels. The distortion stops so abruptly that I went back and checked iTunes to make sure I had the whole song.

And finally, “Your New Twin Sized Bed” is my new Death Cab favorite, and is the first song to be guaranteed a spot on the Vox Acerbus Best of 2008.

3. The Seldom Seen Kid – Elbow (2008)

The return of XM makes an immediate impact with the discovery of this band. I was scanning stations and chanced upon XM 45 as they were playing the magnificent track “One Day Like This”, punctuated by a blend of sweeping and staccato string arrangements. Other favorites include “Mirrorball” and “Grounds for Divorce”, where the album title is taken from the lyric “Mondays are for drinking to the seldom seen kid”. They also have one of the coolest websites out there. Check it out here and make sure your volume is up at the intro screen – you can play piano by scrolling over the different letters! Their extensive discography will certainly warrant further listening.

4. Gavin DeGraw – Gavin DeGraw (2008)

I was hooked on Gavin DeGraw the night I saw him open for Barenaked Ladies back in 2004. I had no idea who he was before then, but he put on one of the best live performances I’ve ever seen. The single “In Love with a Girl” picks up right where the material from Chariot left off. Other favorites include “Next to Me (Wait A Minute Sister”, “Untamed”, “We Belong Together” and “Cheated on Me” (I love a song that I can relate to on such a personal level).

So what if it took him 5 years to release another album? I love it, even if he does look like a dead ringer for Mike Damone from Fast Times at Ridgemont High on the album cover.


5. Gattaca – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1997)

Michael Nyman’s score is gorgeous. This is a film where the score holds critical importance; the surrealism and depth of the movie could not have been attained without this music behind it. Try this one on your iPod some time when you retire for the evening – a dark room with no distractions would take this up a notch, methinks.

I’m out-
KWass

Cubicle Tunes - Week of April 1, 2008

It’s time for the biweekly submission of my weekly feature. Believe it, boys and girls; it’s just below this paragraph. I used letters and words and everything.

Looking back at my New Year’s Resolutions, posting regularly isn’t the only goal where I have failed miserably. That head of steam was quickly doused, wasn’t it? I guess there’s still time, but the fact remains that I wasted a full ¼ of the year. The only April Fool here is the author.

There has been enough great stuff released already this year to assure that the Vox Acerbus Best of 2008 will be a multi-volume offering. So, if nothing else, at least you have that going for you.

Did anyone notice that The B-52's released a new album last week? No? Neither did I.

1. Accelerate – R.E.M. (2008)

R.E.M.’s valiant return – a boisterous, angry album with great lyrics such as “if the storm doesn’t kill me, the government will”. I can now forgive them for the Reveal debacle. I may adopt “Living Well is the Best Revenge” as one of my personal theme songs. Welcome back.

2. “I Will Possess Your Heart” – Death Cab for Cutie (2008)

This is the first single from the forthcoming release Narrow Stairs slated for May 13. Clocking in at an epic 8+ minutes, the musical tone is set well before Ben Gibbard’s vocals begin halfway into the song. If this single is any indication, then another brilliant Death Cab for Cutie album is upon us.

3. “In Love With A Girl” – Gavin De Graw (2008)

This is the first single from the forthcoming self-titled second album from Gavin De Graw, which has been pushed back to a May 6 release. He retains and expands the pop sensibilities of 2003’s Chariot album, which by my account (and who else’s account really matters?) was a great record. He also puts on a very high energy show, so I hope his tour passes near my neighborhood.

4. Winterpills – Winterpills (2005)

A recent e-mail from a friend reminded me of this band, which unfortunately, for some unknown and inexplicable reason, had been relegated to iPod obscurity. My favorite song is “Portrait”, where they eschew the typical elegant and hollow professions of undying love and devotion for the simple phrase “I can’t pose for this portrait without you”, and the all too true "there's honey in the chemicals".

5. Synchronicity – The Police (1983)

Raise your hand if you can believe this landmark album was released 25 years ago. Yes – you are old like me. The album yielded timeless classics like “Every Breath You Take”, “King of Pain”, and “Wrapped Around Your Finger”. A lot of people fault Sting for being pretentious, but they’re just pissed that he wrote a lyric about Scylla and Charybdis and they didn’t know what it meant. Ignorance, while rampant, is no defense. Sting has knowledge, and you are a dumbass. Deal with it.

I'm out-
KWass