round 2 mercury prize edition Posted by poolboyjames on August 11, 2009 at 3:33 AM comments (0)ok a few blogs ago i did 'round 1' which was round 1 of my new music search.. this entry is a continuation of that
let me 1st give some background: i am a big fan of music, however i noticed for the past few years i have been listening to artists i know and no new artists some people get to a certain time or point and they say "music's not good anymore like it used to be in (insert old era here)" i think that is just false period, however even tho i think its false, like i said, i wasn't really finding any new artists, so i decided to begin looking for new peeps hence round 1 and now ROUND 2 (please note this entry is long.. it is the biggest, most ambitiousblog i have ever done tho, so i hope someone enjoys it on somelevel) -------- ok this time around i wasn't exactly sure where to start last time i just imagined who i wanted to hear and downloaded their album this time however, i got the idea to use all of the 2009 nominees for the mercury prize the mercury prize is a music award given to artists in the uk.. when i first heard about the mercury prize years ago, i respected it for what it stood for and also because of the artists it nominated.. sometimes awards are a popularity contest but the mercury prize always seemed deeper than that -------- so basically i downloaded all the albums of the 2009 mercury prize and listened to them so that i could #1. be exposed to new music #2. share my findings with you the only thing you should know about this before u read on is that i was unable to download every single album on the list.. there were 12 nominees and i was unable to find downloads for a few of the albums the albums i did not get to listen to were: Led Bib - Sensible Shoes Speech Debelle - Speech Therapy Sweet Billy Pilgrim - Twice Born Men The Invisible - The Invisible so obviously, i listened to 8 of the nominees ------- i listened to: Bat for Lashes - Two Suns Florence & The Machine - Lungs Friendly Fires - Friendly Fires Glasvegas - Glasvegas Kasabian - West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum La Roux - La Roux Lisa Hannigan - Sea Sew The Horrors - Primary Colours ------- my goal is to first talk about the ones i didn't like so much and then get into the ones i enjoyed.. please note, that is the only order.. they are not ordered like, "least fave to most fave" or "best to worst" .. its just the group of the few i didn't like, then the group of the ones i did like.. i didn't want to pit the bad against the bad, or pit the good against the good so much.. i just wanted to separate the two -------- The Horrors - Primary Colours this album sounded like ambient horror music under wailing (non-aggressive) guitars everything had quite a bit of reverb in it.. i didn't like this album at all.. i didn't even finish listening to it.. i like a good beat but all the beats were drowned out on this cd.. however, still, even though i know this sort of thing isn't my cup of tea, i still have a hard time seeing this band being successful.. i found it to be a bit spooky and unappealing sometimes i see a band and think "i don't like it but someone will" but this band i couldn't figure out who would like it --------- Lisa Hannigan - Sea Sew i must admit i didn't finish this one either.. i didn't give it much of a chance, i was just repelled by it a bit personally, let me explain why ok i listened, and i thought it may have some good melodies, however my patience was wearing thin.. everything seemed like overly soft and slow for me and again, back to the beat issue like with "the horrors".. there was like no beat to any of the songs so then i peeped the genre and it said "pop-folk" so i was just totally out of my element.. i couldn't relate or enjoy this cd at all i imagine this album's audience would be like, meek teen girls who like love songs, or maybe someone 'earthy' like maybe a hippie, or like.. women who don't wear makeup maybe? ---------- Glasvegas - Glasvegas this album was like.. again with the reverb, kinda wailing guitars, songs about relationships i felt like this cd was like a no-frills modern rock cd.. to me that's kindof the problem its like if u bought a rap cd and it lived up to all the cliches of rap, you would say its boring and not special this is kinda how i see this band.. just rather bland.. i didn't enjoy it at all on any level i don't know what kind of people would listen to this --------- OK!! now those were the ones i didn't care for now its time for the ones i enjoyed!!!! --------- La Roux - La Roux ok.. i had been seeing this chick's album cover around but i thought the album cover was horrendous because i couldn't tell if it was a guy or a chick on the cover.. all i knew was whoever it was, had a terrible haircut (the cd cover was like inspired by the 1920s and junk) so had it not been for her being nominated for the mercury prize, i probably never would have listened to her just because the album cover was kinda like.. it made me not want to hear the music so anyway i listened and i had somewhat of a mixed review about this one i think this album kinda has a large audience it can reach because of its poppy appeal, which should work out good for sales and exposure, but sometimes i felt it was a bit overly poppy.. i suppose what i mean by that is like.. lacking soul, maybe the vocals being processed a bit much or just too 'modern' when i say too modern i kinda mean like typical behavior of today.. this cd reminds me of kelly osbourne's music.. its similar to kelly's album "sleeping in the nothing" however i thinksleeping in the nothing was better (not an insult, that album was great) .. and her voice in many of the songs has that airy feel to them when she proves on some other songs she can ditch the airy feel and belt it out.. any of the songs where she has the airy thing kinda wear on me examples of airy and non-airy on the album (1st 4 songs in order) #1 in for the kill (airy) #2 tigerlilly (not airy) #3 quicksand (airy) #4 bulletproof (not airy) my main example of a song where she just ditches the airy thing and belts it is "bulletproof" .. which is definitely one of my favorite songs from the album so basically, the album gains a very large audience due to its poppy appeal, but the poppy aspect also tends to hurt the album's chances of being a classic with timeless soul and feeling i do think there can be a perfect marriage of them, but i don't think this is it.. its like a british britney spears album if that makes any sense (this comparison comes mostly from the airy songs) don't get me wrong tho, it succeeds on some levels too.. like for example the beats are quite creative and danceable.. and this is what i wanted to say the most... THE BEATS SOUND LIKE OLD SONIC THE HEDGEHOG MUSIC i promise i'm not exaggerating!!! but its great too!!! LOL what i mainly want to show in my la roux review is that there is some good and some bad ---------- Friendly Fires - Friendly Fires this album is pretty dope this is more of a good mix of pop and depth.. the songs can be played like probably anywhere for anything (pop) .. however at the same time it has that element of maturity, great instrumentation, soul, vocals not too processed etc etc this is a happy album, great beats if i had to explain what it is, i'd say disco/rock or rock disco.. u can dance to it but it has madd rock elements, they do a great job, u can tell its not forced, this is just what they do.. some of the album also has a hint of 80s mixed in.. "white diamonds" is one example one of the standouts of the album for me was "skeleton boy" but what i mostly want to say is this album is great straight up and down i totally reccommend it to everyone these guys cover a lot of ground in musical genres and they seem do it effortlessly.. very talented and natural! ---------- Kasabian - West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum i want u to peep the title of the album again.. see this album has a sort of western theme throughout.. so when u listen to it then the title makes sense how they followed this western theme so well is rather amazing this album is rock however a surprising number of songs are softer and void of electric guitars.. this isn't necessarily bad, but when u listen to it, the first few songs are like actual rock whereas a number of the later songs veer off into a softer territory this kinda made me think perhaps they should've worked on the tracklist more to mix it up more, because its like u get geared up for the album to be all rock but then its like the last half isn't in the same vein as the first half my main view of the album tho is that its great the direction of the album obviously takes some getting used to, however once u accept that its kindof a western sort of concept album as opposed to a normal rock album then it becomes more acceptable, enjoyable i didn't enjoy every single song, for example the last song "happiness" i wasn't into it.. but honestly this album as a whole totally shines.. great vocals, great instrumentation, great melodies, the western theme is a total curveball, and beyond all that this album straight up is made up of solid material.. i thoroughly enjoyed almost every song and here's what i wanted to say the most about this cd THE SONG FAST FUSE KICKS MAJOR ASS flat-out that is one of the dopest songs like EVER.. i promise that song is absolutely 100% incredible kasabian great job! --------- Bat for Lashes - Two Suns ok.. this album is off the hook totally reminds me of kate bush (who i love by the way) this album is like, very melodic, has a very worldly feel to it, the album is mellow and soothing, however NOT BORING AT ALL.. it also has some creative beats to it the words i'd use to describe the album are mellow, spooky, inviting, and beautiful its like going into a new world of magic or something this album has a depth to it, the vocalist has a sort of mature elegance she covers a lot of musical ground, like she can have a great creative beat but still be mellow, she can have depth but still have a sing-a-long chorus example of great sing-a-long chorus: "pearl's dream" example of great melody: "siren song" here's another thing about this album.. when u play it on repeat and it ends, the ending of the album goes back into the beginning of the album seamlessly that should tell u something about the attention to detail here great album.. no negatives at all.. this chick gets madd respect from me ---------- Florence & The Machine - Lungs this one is another album that reminded me of kate bush, however a bit less of the kate bush signature weirdness i'm just gonna tell u right now.. this album is amazing and incredible on every level i'm just gonna talk about a few things in it this album is more than just music, it has true feeling, depth, and soul throughout the whole thing.. this album transcends just being modern.. it reaches for that higher plateau, people will be able to listen to it for a very very long time without it feeling dated this vocalist seems like she has been through some things and it seems to come out in her vocal inflections, the power/strength she exudes when singing, and also her lyrics "a kiss with a fist is better than none" this album is a very ambitious, and strong effort, in a lot of ways it totally represents what music should be this album has a general atmospheric, and worldly feel... the singer is full of versaitlity, range, power, i mean this album is just great and whats more is that I HAVENT EVEN LISTENED TO THE SECOND DISC YET the first cd is THAT GOOD that no matter what is on the second disc, the cd is still worth every penny of the price of admission this chick gets madd respect ----------- FINAL THOUGHTS: my favorite ones were: (in no particular order because they were all great) Bat for Lashes - Two Suns Florence & The Machine - Lungs Friendly Fires - Friendly Fires Kasabian - West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum i would reccommend all 4 of these albums let me do some awards for each of them: ------------ most ambitious - Florence & The Machine - Lungs most danceable - Friendly Fires - Friendly Fires most continuity - Bat for Lashes - Two Suns most energetic and fun single song - Kasabian for "fast fuse" ------------- i think the winner of the award will either be florence and the machine or bat for lashes its a tough one between those two no joke but i'm totally certain it will be one of those two ... i kinda lean toward florence and the machine to take it home tho because its so ambitious, covers so much ground, so many diff emotions, and is a double album ------------ winner will be announced september 8th
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JaimsThese are my blogs from 2009. I started them in May of that year when I couldn't work on music but still needed a way to express myself. Archives
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