music

First up, I got the new Scissor Sisters album. Normally when you review a sophomore success, you say that it either sucks or that they’re “coming into their own”. I don’t really think either applies to this. This album still sounds like their stuff, but they have really laid on the influences pretty thickly. It’s not derivative, though. Just heavy-handed. This album basically sounds like a mash of Elton John, BeeGees, Queen, and Abba. Except gayer. Anyways, it’s quite good, and if the “I Don’t Feel Like Dancin’” single doesn’t get you bopping around in your chair like an idiot, I don’t know what’s wrong with you:

“She’s My Man” is actually a much better song, and the video for it is pretty cute too. Looks like they got the pingpong guys – or at least reasonable facsimiles. It’s cute.

Next up is Sondre Lerche (pronounced: that norwegian guy). His new album (Phantom Punch) is, quite frankly, awesome. Sondre Lerche has been in the past more of the indie singer-songwriter type – talented guitarist, singer and yes, songwriter. This is best represented by the video I posted last month. His new album, though, is different. He learned how to rock. (Our baby’s all grownsed up!!) This is not the best song on the album (“Face the Blood” or “She’s Fantastic”, for the record.), but it’s representative:

So, there’s that. I’ve also been listening to Weezer’s Make Believe. Yes, the one that came out in 2005. I’m a little behind. No one told me that Weezer stopped sucking. Way to drop the ball, guys. See, I have a real soft spot for Weezer. The first two Weezer albums pretty much defined my existence in high school. I wanted my band to be Weezer. There’s still a not-insignificant portion of me deep down inside that wishes I were Rivers Cuomo. So, I was a bit dismayed at the various hiatuses and the roster changes. the Green Album and Maladroit weren’t bad, but they just weren’t as good, and I sorta lost interest. Skip forward half a decade and they’ve got Make Believe, this astounding album, and before that even, they’re making videos with the muppets?! Make Believe is more like the Weezer of the blue album and Pinkerton, without being rehashed material. I like it. I have this theory that “Perfect Situation” was intended to be the first song on the album originally. It just sounds like it. Anyways, “This is Such a Pity” might be the best pop song I’ve heard in a long time. There’s no video of it yet, so here’s some fan-made video for it, starring Alf:

I also got Hawksley Workman’s new album, (Last Night We Were) The Delicious Wolves (thank you, mr. workman, for the least unix-friendly album name ever. Well, at least it’s not unicode.). It’s pretty good. I don’t think the songwriting is as solid on this album, but it’s way poppier. I hated this song at first, but it’s grown on me:

So I guess the theme for this update is “artists I used to listen to that I’ve rediscovered.”

I also got a few Jens Lekman albums – another scandinavian rocker. I like it, but I don’t love it. It seems to be real hit or miss for me. There’s nothing overt that I can criticize, but on the whole, I find him a bit unsettling – and not necessarily in a good way. I do like this song a lot, though, and the video is fun:

Hm, what else? Oh yeah, I also got the new New Pornographers album. It’s .. uh.. zzzzzzzz *snort* what? where am I? Oh, sorry. I must have dozed off. Anyways, ah yes, their new album, Electric Version – no wait, Twin Cinema – er no, sorry – Challengers is uh… ah, well, it’s exactly the same as the rest. I can’t tell them apart. It’s not a bad album, it’s just .. I think the Vancouver super-group is super-cached out.