So at first I was underwhelmed by the New Pornographers' latest album, "Challengers." And lots of critics agreed...this album just wasn't what we were expecting, in fact it seemed to be missing something.
Last weekend I gave it another shot and absolutely fell in love with it. It's less immediate, less hook-filled, less in-your-face catchy, but dare I say it's actually more captivating and more rewarding than any of their releases to date? My first impression was that their manic creative energy seemed a bit played out, that maybe they weren't all interested in playing with this toy anymore since their personal side projects have all grown to fruition themselves. But on second inspection, I find more depth and richness and meaning than seemed to be there before. More measured brilliance rather than spontaneous brilliance. More Roxy Music than The Jam. More Smiths than Oasis (the early, good Oasis anyway).
I think the reason I missed it the first time is I tried it on a perfectly sunny day...this album needs a little bit of cloud cover and a bit of a cool, autumn breeze with some color in the leaves to bring out its full aroma. This album needs some atmosphere. It's the first perfect album of the fall. And will be sure to keep us warm all winter.
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Second Impressions
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5 comments:
We will have yo see if I have a similar experience. I just downloaded the new Shout Out Louds album (Very Cure-ish... in a good way) and the new Rogue Wave album (still deciding on that one). Also, I've already pimped it, but the new Super Furry Animals album is pretty boss.
And that is my list for the week.
Just got the new Josh Ritter yesterday. L-O-V-I-N-G it. Deserves its own full-blown post but for today it's the shizzle. Also got the new Band of Bees last week and really enjoying it. Both albums have a very eclectic sound, with tons of styles and genres and instruments making their way into the albums, with an overall fun circusy feel to them. In a good way.
I'll put SOL and RW and SFA next in the qeue for a deep listen...once I'm tired of TNP...which I think will be in a while. It's still getting better and better with each listen.
Dang music is COOL.
Isn't it, though? I seriously am having a hard time keeping up. Which is a good thing.
My boss gave me a copy of the new Shout Out Louds. Funny, Jesse, I hadn't read these comments before calling you earlier today. I guess it really is Cure-ish (that was the exact thing I said, Dyl). It's happy-Cure-ish, though. I've listened through it twice now and am digging it.
I'm still looking for depth in the new Josh Ritter album, and I think I should stop, and just enjoy the ride.
Yeah it's not "deep" and "introspective" and "moving" and "intense" like "Thin Blue Flame" was...but it's like a parade of musical references, from Bob Dylan (of course...at its best Thin Blue Flame made you think: this could be as good as Dylan) to Tom Petty to Spoon to Wilco. You just have to skip song #3 (The Right Moves) because it's horrible 70's hair band lite FM. It's every bit as sappy as the title...maybe that was the point. Ugh. But other than that it's a great album.
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