Ryan's Top 10: Let's Finish This Shiz Up

#4 Okkervil River - The Stage Names

To be perfectly honest, when I first put this list together I was surprised at the fact that this album wasn’t ranked higher. In my head I seriously considered it a top 3 album of the year. But then, when I put it up against all the other albums of the year, there were in fact three albums I enjoyed more. So, once again I find myself mathematically limited by the number of albums I could include…thus Okkervil River’s The Stage Names finds itself at Number 4. I know Bryan mentioned that he finds this album too “happy” in tone, and honestly I don’t really get that. The standout tracks on this albums are the ones that tend to be or sound a bit depressing. The opening track, “Our Life is Not a Movie or Maybe”, begins by saying exactly what the title states, that our life never works out as great or as bad as things tend to in movies. There’s not ultimate climax, no new boundaries being broken. It’s just life. Seems very ho-hum to me. In fact, I find quite a pessimistic tone throughout the rest of the album. Whether its lamenting a number of women or settling themselves on their own mid-level band status, there’s an overall pessimistic feel. This is none-to-evident on the highlight of the album (and quite possibly the entire year) on the albums closing “John Allyn Smith Sails”. If I was to list my favorite songs of 2007 (which I will certainly not bore you with, this list was long enough) there’s an exceptional chance this would find itself at the very top of that list. Regardless, “John Allyn Smith Sails” finds itself a suicide attempt story of based on former poet John Berryman. The song breaks into a rewritten form of the Beach Boys “Sloop John B” at the 2:30 point that just blows me away. Its great. To add to the fantasticness that is this album is the inclusion of an extra song when purchasing the album from eMusic. The trumpet-laced breakup lament “Love to a Monster” is a slow moving “tribute” to a former lover that includes lines like “I hope you get angry and hurt and have the hardest of landings” and “I hope your new man thinks of me when he sees what a number I did on you.” For some reason, I have a feeling that most of us have probably thought this way about a person at one point or another.


Okkervil River - John Allyn Smith Sails

Okkervil River - A Girl in Port

#3 The National - Boxer

I first discovered The National for myself this year after rummaging through a used CD box at Grimey’s Record Store in Nashville this past summer. There I stumbled upon a used copy of The National’s Alligator which I had remembered reading somewhere might be a decent album. So, unlike many other, more hip, music listeners I was not anxiously awaiting the appearance of the Boxer this year. In fact, because I had just purchased Alligator, I held off on purchasing Boxer until much later in the year than I probably should. That being said, the amount of The National I have listened to this year has been tremendous. So, this review may come off as more of a review of The National’s style than about Boxer itself. Someone, somewhere (maybe it was Bryan, I can’t remember) described The National’s music as being melancholy rock…and I think that’s an excellent description. The National is everything I want in a band from their rolling drums that are often brought to the forefront of the song (see “Squalor Victoria”) to the melancholy reverberating guitars. I typically find myself paying far more attention to the music of a band as opposed to the lyrics, and not to take anything away from the lyrics found on Boxer, The National is a band where one can be completely immersed in the music and sound of the album while not caring at all about the lyrics, and still enjoy the album. So, I very glad I finally worked my way around to getting this album. I’ve listened to both Alligator and Boxer an awful lot this year and either one is a great place to get started if you haven’t experienced The National before.

The National - Squalor Victoria

The National - Fake Empire

#2 Ola Podrida - Ola Podrida

I’ve always thought that if I were a movie director, there wouldn’t be a more enjoyable job than selecting songs for the soundtrack to my movie. Deciding what songs could create a particular feeling in someone when watching something happen to complete strangers is an art, but it’s an art that I like to think I’d be good at. Now, this is most likely completely false. I would probably suck at it, but seeing as how I doubt I’ll ever get the opportunity to prove my chops, I’m going to continue thinking that I’d do a decent job. Regardless, some people are particularly good at it, and supposedly (from what I’ve read at least) one of those individuals is David Wingo. Wingo has written music for movie soundtracks for a while, and Ola Podrida is his first attempt at band-dom. Let me be the 1000^th to say it, I think the transition would quite well. Ola Podrida’s self-titled debut was critically-acclaimed in a few circles, but finds itself absent from many of the Top 10 lists I’ve been reading over the past month. I really find that hard to believe. In fact, Paste even omitted it from their Top 100 list!! Bullshit, I say!! I have dug on this album since my first listen of the song “Cindy”, which came courtesy of everyone’s favorite ubiquitous review site Pitchfork. “Cindy” is the arpeggio-ed story of a girl that decides to burn up everything she owns in a magnificent house fire. Everything proceeds perfectly as planned only until she comes to the realization that she’s got some overdue library books she left in the house that she needs to return. So, I suppose, her thinking that since she was already going to have at least one charge of arson heading her way in the near future, she needed to attempt to make piece with the public servants down at the Biblioteca. That being the case, she entered the partially destroyed, burning house to retrieve the books, never to be heard from again. It’s quite a lovely story, and I was hypnotized the first time I heard it (and subsequently the next 20-30 times). Stories are a common theme throughout the album. There’s the country-twinged ode to a bar singer in “Jordanna” and the lackadaisical vacation-turned-breakup story of “Day at the Beach” that find themselves both at top of my favorite songs of 2007. In fact, I would argue there’s not a better collection of three songs on any of the other albums in my top 10. Maybe the storytelling is an extension of his previous soundtrack writing, but Wingo does an excellent job of eliciting a number of emotions over the course of the album. And from the way I understand it, emotions are a good thing. So, Cheers to Dave Wingo and his band Ola Podrida for creating my second favorite album of 2007.

Ola Podrida - Cindy

Ola Podrida - A Day at the Beach

#1 Radiohead - In Rainbows

Ten years from now will be 2017. That seems ridiculous. Honestly. Two thousand and seventeen. I mean, we should have like flying cars, and everyone should be eating space ice cream all the time by then. We’ll most likely have populated Mars, transitioned to a completely cashless society, and we’ll be approaching 109 years of Chicago Cubs-free World Series. It sounds as if it truly will be the future. But we all know that won’t be the case. 2017 sounds like forever away, but is it really all that far? Another interesting question is what will I be listening to in ten years? Of all the albums that came out in 2007, do any have the a chance of remaining in my rotation in 2017. Well, before I answer that, let’s look back ten years ago…all the way back to 1997. In 1997 my favorite album of ALL-TIME came out. Radiohead’s OK Computer. My first listens to this album were like entering a new universe. Nothing before or it, or since in my humble opinion, had achieved close to the musical perfection that I thought OK Computer was (minus one ridiculous Macintosh-voice ridden “Fitter Happier”). Now, an entire decade later, I still feel basically the same way. My musical tastes haven’t changed much, and the album I thought was the best of all time, I still believe is the best album of all time. So, best I can gather, in another ten years, my musical tastes will most likely remain fairly constant. I mean, they’ve survived the past ten high school/college/grad school/getting married years, I cannot fathom what could happen over the next ten years (aside from getting a job, finally getting paid a real salary, buying a house, having kids, and going to PTA meetings) to cause my fully implanted musical tastes to change. So, being that is it may, I’m announcing Radiohead’s In Rainbows as my Best Album of 2007. No other album came close in creating an excitement in me than In Rainbows. And the amazing thing is….it only had like 6 days to do that. I honestly enjoy everything about the album. There’s something to love about each and every song. I enjoy the “try to learn how to clap to this song, Americans” of “15 Step”. The crunch that “Bodysnatchers” employs, and the fact that once it ends that crunch is over for the rest of the album. The airy lustfulness of “Nude”. The repetitive, crispness of “Weird Fish/Arpeggi”. The brutal, bass-ridden honesty of “All I Need”. The perfect mesh of acoustic guitar and strings in “Faust Arp”. The cymbal tapping, subtleness of “The Reckoner”. The bouncy, carefulness of “House of Cards”. The mind-erasing bridge at the 2:54 point in “Jigsaw Falling Into Place” that practically sums up the entire album for me. The going nowhere, eeriness of “Videotape”. I love each song and believe that regardless of my situation ten years from now, In Rainbows will be up there with OK Computer as one of my favorites of all time. So, the pressure’s on Radiohead…..if I’m interpreting the pattern correctly, then in 2017 we should be in for quite a new album. I’m already counting down the days.

Radiohead - All I Need

Radiohead - Reckoner

RR

The National at the Madison Theater

Last Sunday, I stepped out on the town for a night of indie rock goodness supplied by The National. These guys made their second stop in the Cincinnati area in the last two months, playing a show at the 20th Century Theater back in June. Since I had to miss that get together, I made it a priority not to make the same mistake twice.

The Madison Theater's website described The National as melancholy rock. This assessment isn't entirely off base as The National does deliver the mellow, laid back rock AT TIMES. However, these guys can also ROCK in the parlance of rock music, whatever that means. On some of their songs, such as Mistaken For Strangers, Abel, Mr November, the ROCK translates to their albums. The great thing about seeing these guys live is that they ROCK on lots of their songs, often extending songs past their studio points. We're not talking hippy extension with a boatload of musical masterbation. Instead, we're talking short, intense bursts of music that give the songs more bite than you might get on the CD. For me, I was pleasantly surprised to hear the opening Start A War that played mellow but ended with an extended rock outro that got the crowd hyped. I really didn't expect to head bang at a National show, but there I was, doing just that within the first few minutes.

The show continued this way as The National navigated through a variety of songs from their last two albums, Alligator and Boxer. Below is the setlist and be sure to check out Abel, one of the songs that does rock on their 2005 release, Alligator and Start A War, from 2007's Boxer:

Start A War
Mistaken For Strangers
Secret Meeting
Brainy
Baby, We'll Be Fine
Slow Show
Squalor Victoria
Abel
All the Wine
Racing Like A Pro
Ada
Apartment Story
Daughters of the Soho Riots
Fake Empire
About Today

E:
Green Gloves
Mr. November

BK

Shot IN The Arm

Thank you to Mr Rutledge for the shot in the arm. Laziness and football have mostly distracted me from providing you with fantastic tunes. Like Rutledge said, it's not that I haven't been listening to music. In fact, as this six pack will show, I've listened to some older favorites, some new bands, and some not so old favorites.

Ryan Adams -- New York New York from Gold :: I meant to post this on Sept. 11, but see above. Bad excuse, I know, but still good music from the wayback machine that deserves to be played.
[Buy Gold here]

moe. -- New York City from Dither :: See above. This is a good song for a hippy band.
[Buy Dither here]

Earlimart -- Answers & Questions from Mentor Tormentor :: I don't know shit about these guys (and girl) but I love this album. I actually got this through an Itunes recommendation and came away pleasantly surprised. This is pop music, but I don't mind.
[Buy Mentor Tormentor here]

Magnolia Electric Company -- Hammer Down from Sojourner :: From the Nashville Moon disc of MEC's box set, Sojourner, the prolific Jason Molina (think Ryan Adams prolific) gives us some stripped down versions of previous released songs. These guys are good, I just never realized how good until this album.
[Buy Sojourner here]

Teenage Fanclub -- Ain't That Enough from Songs From Northern Britain :: Power pop at its finest from these three Scots. These guys can rock grungy (Cobain was a fan) but also sing the harmonies with the best of them. This song falls in the latter.
[Buy Songs From Northern Britain here]

The National -- Karen from Alligator :: I've been pimping these guys for a while thanks to their newest release, Boxer. The above is from their 2005 record, Alligator. Also, I'm finally seeing them this SUnday in Covington, so I've been spinning this alot. They know how to write songs with female names as titles (see Ada from Boxer).
[Buy Alligator here]

Enjoy!

BK

Bandwidth exceeded...

Doh! Due to some excessive downloading, I have officially run out of bandwidth, which means I can't host your favorite mp3s for the next couple of days. I figured this would be a great time to stroll over to YouTube and see what kinds of great music videos they are hiding over there. Here is some great stuff that I've been listening to lately in a form that will satisfy you both audibly and visually.

Teenage Fanclub -- Ain't That Enough :: Power pop, led by these guys, Guided By Voices, Buffalo Tom, and many others, have been high on my list for the last few weeks. Check out the ringing guitars (although a bit mellowed here), lush harmonies, and engaging hooks of Teenage Fanclub.



Spoon -- The Underdog :: Seriously, bands make music videos still? I suppose they just make them to post on You Tube. I enjoy Spoon's new album immensely and this is one of my favorite tracks off the disc.



The National -- Mistaken For Strangers :: I think this is the video for a song I've posted on here before. I can't get enough of The National and their latest release, Boxer. This song, along with Ada, battle it out for my favorite on this disc.



BK

Back from Hiatus

And by hiatus....i actually mean Boston. I was lucky enough to make my first trip to Boston this past week, which was also lucky enough to include my first trip to Fenway Park. It was magnificant....the most beautiful baseball park I have ever seen, plus we got to see a Red Sox win and a Big Papi grand slam. But unfortunately, the trip was work related, so there was actually quite a bit of "working" going on and internet access was at a premium.

Beautiful, huh?

So, I apologize for the brief stint of inactivity around here at Radio KGB. But, sometimes work does find a way to get in the way of life.

But I did manage to listen to some tuneage whilst on my trip. See, my birthday also passed by us last week, and my wife surprised me with Wilco's latest CD, Sky Blue Sky (which i have no excuse for not having previously purchased, other than sheer laziness). But it was a pleasant surprise, and I spent the majority of my trip taking it in. You can purchase Wilco here.

I also used the trip to catch up on a few other albums that you've been reading a lot about around here, but I, myself, had never taken the time to purchase. I downloaded both Spoon's Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga (buy here) and The National's Boxer (buy here) and gave them listens. I'm extremely happy to say that none of the three were let downs. They were what I thought they were.

So, with all that being said, I apologize for my lengthy absence here and promise to back into regular posts (some of which may even be worthwhile and inciteful) and maybe even a damn Webcast which i've put off since about April. I'll leave you with a few songs I enjoyed on my trip, which by now you all probably have......

Wilco - Either Way

Spoon - Don't Make Me a Target

The National - Fake Empire

I actually just realized that all three of these are the first songs on their respective albums. Hmm, I promised I listened to the whole albums....I promise i did!!

RR

Six Pack

It's been real slow 'round here these last few days. Reckon everyone is busy with school and things much less important than music. The dog days of August are almost upon us, meaning that we have passed the midpoint for the year. Since I love making lists, I figured this Six Pack would include my favorite 6 songs of the year thus far. Yes, some of them are songs I've previously posted but that's why they're up again -- they rock.

1. Spoon -- Black Like Me from Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga :: I've really been digging the new Spoon album and I probably could pick three songs from it that would be in contention. For the moment, this is the song. Love the intro with the weaving piano!
[Buy Spoon here]

2. Wilco -- You Are My Face from Sky Blue Sky :: Still not sure about this album, but You Are My Face is crunchy guitar goodness. This shows the power that is Nels on guitar -- see around 1:28.
[Buy Wilco here]

3. Centro-matic -- Atlanta from Operation Motorcide :: I've posted about this song already. Will Johnson is the man and this song is catchy as hell. I'm constantly humming this song throughout the day.
[Buy Centro-matic here]

4. John Doe -- Hotel Ghost from A Year In The Wilderness :: Built on a soaring guitar rift, this song is. It starts a little soft, but as we hear about caressing skeletons, guitar takes off and is oh so good. Me fail english thats unpossible.
[Buy John Doe here]

5. Dinosaur Jr -- Back To Your Heart from Beyond :: Another repost -- a love song only as Dino Jr can write. Of course the guitar hook is nice, but I dig the subtle harmonies late in the song just as much. Go figure?
[Buy Dino Jr here]

6. The National -- Ada from The Boxer :: Yet another repost. The Boxer is probably in my top 3 for albums at the moment and this is my favorite on the disc. I like the story in the song and how the instruments contribute to that story, especially the bittersweet piano throughout.
[Buy The National here]

Welp, that's it for now. Just like a preseason college football poll, this shit is useless until we reach the end of the season. Please feel free to pimp songs for me.

BK

Pink Is My Favorite Color

This KGB site is a nucular.

Well dammit...Rutledge went and done it. He introduced the Daytrotter website to me and now I am checking it pretty damn frequently -- another way to waste time at work. Anyway, two bands I am very interested in have been featured as of late. The latest is The National, which I've mentioned before. I can't stop listening to Boxer, their newest album. Check out their cover of the Psychedelic Furs, Pretty In Pink here. The site also features some other tunes from Boxer, which you can access from here. The second guy is Will Johnson, the head honcho of Centr0-matic. This cat is always writing and this Daytrotter session features a few tunes, including the previously unreleased Emma Jane. Check it out, along with three other song, here. After reading the article, I love this guy even more -- he's a bigtime Cardinals' guy!

BK

"I was there, I blogged the whole thing...."

Hello Syberworld. Last Thursday night, I caught Wilco at the Aronoff Theater in downtown Cincinnati. It was my first summer show and, on the heels of their new album, I was anxious to see these guys again. It,s not unusual for me to anticipate a show from a band I really enjoy, especially in my backyard. However, this was a different feeling. As I,ve mentioned in previous posts, I wasn,t feeling Sky Blue Sky that much. Frankly, other than a handful of songs, I found much of it boring. This was the first time I have felt that way about a Wilco album, including the much criticized A Ghost Is Born.

Here is the setlist:

Shake It Off
You Are My Face
I Am Trying to Break Your Heart
Shot In the Arm
Side with the Seeds
Handshake Drugs
Impossible Germany
Sky Blue Sky
Pot Kettle Black
Via Chicago
War On War
Jesus, etc.
Walken
I'm the Man Who Loves You
Hummingbird
---------------
Hate It Here
Poor Places/Spiders (Kidsmoke)
----------------------
What Light
Heavy Metal Drummer

As the setlist shows, we got 8 SBS songs. The overall impression: a great show, but no real change on my stance on SBS songs. Of the 8 that were played, my favorites on the album were Impossible Germany, What Light, and Walken. Live, these songs are plain kickass and simply fantastic. After Thursday, you can add Side With Seeds to that list. The other 4 have their moments. I can,t really complain about Nels lap steel work in the self titled track or his soloing in parts of You Are My Face. Simply put, I can find great sections in all the songs, but I haven,t been able to embrace the entirety like so many other Wilco albums and songs. Oh well, so it goes...perhaps I need more time?


Despite this realization concerning the SBS songs, I can,t complain about anything else. This band is tight, ya,ll. They,ve had a couple years now to gel and they play well and with lots of energy. Other great highlights from the show included Pot Kettle Black, a song I always considered the most underrated on YHF and, for the jamband fan in me that won,t die, a long, played out Spiders with some great Nels moments and a very cool stop start ending. Finally, I realized how much I love Jesus, Etc. I know it,s one of the trendy picks, but I can,t help but drool all over it. I love that song...I loved it so much that I didn,t even realize how much I loved it. I love every aspect of this song, from Tweedy,s lyrics to Nels lap steel to the groove set by Stirrat and Kotche to the soundtrack it played and still plays in my life. Sweet sweetness!

Check out these two Wilco tracks from their 2006 live release, Kicking Television, for a morsel of what you,ll hear at a live show:

Wilco -- Handshake Drugs
Wilco -- Shot In The Arm

[Buy Wilco here]

In other ramblings,

+ Dumbass of the week award goes to me for skipping out on The National in Cincinnati on Friday night. This includes my inability to make the 5 minute trip to Shake It Records to see their in-store performance. I am enjoying the hell out of Boxer and from all the indications, they did not disappoint with their "hometown" show. The excuse of being too tired/still hungover and trying to save some money for Italy is really pretty lame.

+ There's an article over at the NY Times concerning Ryan Adams and his new album Easy Tiger. You can check it out here, in addition to downloading some mp3s and seeing some clips of live performances.

+ Motorcycles are my favorite car. They are fast and dangerous.

BK

Sunday Six Pack

Six tasty ones for that Sunday night bender you've been planning.

1. Paul Duncan -- Country Witch from Above The Trees :: This guy is one ambient muthefucker, but I love that pedal steel guitar. It's akin to crack for me and luckily very prominent on this 2007 release.
[Buy Paul Duncan here]

Come on Duncan, how about a smile? You released a damn good record.

2. Mark Kozelek -- Around & Around from Take Me Home: A Tribute to John Denver :: I've talked about this guy before and he continues to hit me in the right spot. This John Denver cover is enhanced by the sweet harmonies of Rachel Goswell.
[Buy Mark Kozelek here]

3. Great Lake Swimmers -- I Am Part of A Large Family from Ongiara :: Another mellow one, I've talked about these Canadians before. This is probably my favorite from another 2007 release.
[Buy GLS here]

4. The National -- Mistaken For Strangers from The White Sessions :: This song is featured on their newest, Boxer, but this version is from a live performance in France in late May. This entire set is featured in various interweb spots. I recommend Google, perhaps you've heard of it?
[Buy The National here]

5. Blue Mountain -- Blue Canoe from Dog Days :: As I continue to explore the bands of "alt-country," I continue to find gems that I kick myself for not hearing before. File these guys under that category. Quissessential alt-country, Cary Hudson, Laurie Stirrat, and Frank Coutch are planning a summer reunion tour, although they're currently not planning to head my way. Check them out at myspace, brah.
[Buy Blue Mountain here]

6. Johnny Cash & Merle Haggard -- I'm Leaving Now from Hag: The Best of Merle Haggard :: I've seen Walk The Line about 5 times this week on Cinemax, so I've had Cash on my brain. Doesn't get much better than two country legends trading lines about leaving a no-good woman.
[Buy Cash & Haggard here and here]

Coolest. Picture. Ever.

I'm Leaving Now, Adiooooooooooos

BK

The National

Not only a great album but also a hella cool cover.

Wow, it's been a while. Between the craziness of trips, work, and *gasp* a social life, I haven't had much time for the posting. Fear not all, my schedule looks considerably less hectic over the next few months. Maybe I'll begin posting twice a day to make up for lost time? Do not fear, I would never do that to all 5 readers.

In all the craziness of the last week, I did have time to pick up the newest release from The National entitled Boxer. Here is my thing about The National: I feel like I'm one of the few who did not think Alligator was the shit of 2005. Don't get me wrong, it's not what I'd consider a bad record. It just didn't hit me as hard as it did many people. However, that did not stop me from trying this band again -- alot of people I respect really enjoy these guys and they do have Cincinnati roots. Well, while conducting my bizniz over the last week, Boxer was my background music. Funny thing happened though along the way -- the music was good and became more than just background noise -- it grabbed me, at least more than I expected. Ada, the second of the mp3s below, is maybe my favorite song of the year. I can completely relate to a frustrated narrator tired of hearing "reasons why you don't want to talk about reasons." Then again, I love the arrangements, from the well-placed trumpet and the strings. Anyway, check it out below:

The National -- Start A War
The National -- Ada

[Buy The National here and here]


In other news.

Lost Highway and Ryan Adams have released two song previews from his upcoming album Easy Tiger, due out in June. Check out the links below to take a listen. I am just taking my first listen and although these two tracks are not produced in the country drenched stylings of Cold Roses and Jacksonville City Nights (although Two is getting there), it's hard to argue with how this guy writes songs. Count me as intrigued.

Ryan Adams -- Two
Ryan Adams -- Everybody Knows

[Buy Adams here]

Enough for now -- we'll come back with the Saturday Six in a few hours.

BK

Cinco de Buyo?!?!?

HA!! See what I did there.....I changed Mayo to Buyo!! And soon after hilarity ensued.

But Ryan, why did you change Mayo (pronounced Mye-Oh, for the Spanish impaired) to Buyo??

Well, this weekend I was fortunate to experience a sale of epic proportions....ok, epic might be overstating the fact, but it was a pretty damn good sale if you ask me.

Ever heard of Grimey's?? Its Nashville's premier indie record store, that Bryan even managed to both visit and write about after a recent visit to Nashvegas. (Read Bryan's Grimey's post here.)

Well, this past Saturday (May 5 for the calendar impaired) Grimey's had an "everything in the store is on sale" sale. All new CD's were 20% off, used CD's were 15%, or something like that, off, and they had a awe-inspiring number of CD's at the all-time fantastic price of $2. And when you consider how cheap everything is there on a normal day, all of those are pretty good deals.

Being on the Grimey's mailing list, I caught wind of this debauchery and decided to give the sale the ol' look-see, and boy am I glad I did. I came up outta that bitch with 4 CDs!! Reminded me of the BMG days where they'd send me like 8 CD's and I'd have no idea which to listen to first. Here was my catch:

Ola Podrida's self-titled debut (just came out last Tuesday)
the new Bright Eyes CD Cassadega
an old Pedro the Lion CD Achilles Heel
and The National's album Alligator for $2!!!

So, I haven't given these CD's thorough listens yet, due to my weekend spent ripping up our carpet and installing hardwood floors (hence the lack of post this weekend). But all four of these were basically playing on repeat from Saturday afternoon on whilst working. So, whereas I feel I'm in no position to offer up final opinions on any of these tasty morsals, i do feel up to handing out some first impressions. Here's what I think.

Ola Podrida - Ola Podrida: I played their song Cindy in my last webcast and have been excited about getting this CD since I first heard it. I've listened to this one more than the other four, and it certainly hasn't disappointed. You can actually hear the streaming of four of the songs (including Cindy) on their myspace page.

Bright Eyes - Cassadega: Not sure about this one yet. My initial response for this is the same as it was for every other Bright Eyes CDs...."Hmm, that was weird. I think I'm going to have to give it another listen." I've gone on to like the other Bright Eyes albums, so I'm sure I'll come around to this one too.

Pedro the Lion - Achilles Heel: I actually first heard about this band (which is really only one dude, David Bazan) a couple years ago when they opened for Death Cab, but I didn't pay too much attention to them, and therefore never thought to buy one of their albums. Now, I'm going to see a solo Ben Gibbard this Sunday and David Bazan is playing with him again, so I decided to adequately prepare myself, and give Pedro a listen. To be honest, his voice sounds a bit too monotonous for my personal tastes, but maybe after I see him this weekend I'll have more of an appreciation for his musical stylings.....we'll see.

The National - Alligator: They have a new CD coming out in a month or so from which I've heard one song, so I figured I'd give them a try....especially for only $2. I've listened to this the least so far, but methinks I like. I like the very "light" sounding guitars so far, but that's really all i remember from my first listen.

So, i'll give these a little more in depth attention this week. If you have these albums or any opinions on any of these bands, let me hear them.....i'm curious to know what you think.

RR