New Music
jamie on June 28th, 2005
It’s been a heckuva long weekend, and I’m almost too tired to write blogs, but I figured I should either do real work, or write a blog entry. You know the outcome of that decision…
A few new releases this week:
First, The Ying Yang Twins - U.S.A. (United States of Atlanta)
Being that I live in the ATL, it’s always cool to have local talent tearing up the airwaves with sick singles like Wait (The Whisper Song). The sotto-voce crunk (ha! can I actually combine italian music terms with the word “crunk”? Guess I just did) piece is a great taste of the best of what USA has to offer. What it doesn’t display, however, is how the album misses. A proliferation of “skits” appear on the album, most of which are poorly written sociopolitcal bits that are poorly executed. The music tracks are a little hit-n-miss as well. With great tracks like Wait, Long Time and Badd (ft. Mike Jones), you also get crap like Bedroom Boom and Hoes which are weakly produced and not even entertaining. Tossed into the list, presumably just to add another guest to the list, is the very out-of-place Adam Levine of Moroon 5 (admitedly, the combination sorta works, but truly anyone could have done Levine’s part on this track). Anyways, it’s the new digital age, and we have the power to pick-and-choose the tracks we want, so I’ll do just that, and leave the rest.
Pat McGee Band - Save Me (Bonus Tracks)
Save Me is probably the strongest release (commercially) for the Virginia natives. Maybe that’s why it’s been re-issued with bonus acoustic versions of some of the album tracks (not a terribly original marketing scheme if you ask me). Tracks are mostly upbeat and positive, but the melodies and hooks tend to blend away into anonymity. The same seems to go for McGee’s vocals. The band’s live shows have created forthem an enormous fan base that keeps them in record contracts, but can’t seem to break them into the true mainstream. I liked Annabel (both versions), but mostly because it’s my neice’s name too.
David Meade - Whever You Are
Mead had a single on R&R’s “Going for Ads” last week, so I checked it out, and was pleasently surprised. Wherever You Are is called a mini-album on Mead’s website, and might be considered an EP, but it’s 6 tracks that have their beginings before Mead’s previous release Indiana, but got shelved during another record-label-mega-conglomerate merger. The result is a subtly different side to the singer/songrwriter than presented in Indiana. Hold On stands out as the more radio-friendly of the 6 tracks, but a consistency of melodic lines and interesting lyrics populate the album in whole.
NEW SINGLES:
The Coral - In The Morning: Almost unbearably catchy, the the progression of this song is quick to fix itself in your head. The steel-drum riff might get to your nerves after hearing a few dozen times, but the catchy hook is so easy to sing along with, and the pleasant up tempo feel of the rhythm guitar and drums are almost sure to give you at least a little warm-fuzzy glow listening to it.
Disturbed - Guarded: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” doesn’t apply to music- Disturbed emo-filled rapcore seems not to have changed even the slightest in five years. Guarded is basically action movie soundtrack fodder, or The Sickness, part II.
Kano - Nite Nite: Saving the best for last- Brit rapper Kano dropped his debut album Home Sweet Home last week in the UK (hopefully, it will appear on import shelves the US soon, if not on the mainstream shelves). While not an official single, Zane Lowe has been playing the late addition Nite Nite on his show since Kano himself dropped by the BBC Radio 1 studios mid-week last week. As if the latin beat Remember Me wasn’t enough, Kano has teamed up with Mike Skinner to produce (and appear on) the track. While Skinner’s vocal style may have turned off most US listeners, his production work is unmistakably incredible- with Kano spitting, this track is just amazing!
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