MIKE AND JESSIE’S SPECIAL “NOT ON THE LIST” UPDATE
Genre: Folk Rock
Track List
1. Don’t Carry It All
2. Calamity Song
3. Rise to Me
4. Rox in the Box
5. January Hymn
6. Down By the Water
7. All Arise!
8. June Hymn
9. This Is Why We Fight
10. Dear Avery
http://www.last.fm/music/The%2520Decemberists/The%2520King%2520Is%2520Dead?ac=The%20King%20is%20Dead
Mike’s Brief Thoughts:
So, if you remember my last Decemberists review, I like these guys a lot. And like the last one, I was very familiar with a couple of these tracks because of my girlfriend’s (Rainy) ipod. So Don’t Carry It All, Rise to Me, Rox in the Box, Down By the Water and This is Why We Fight are all songs I was able to sing along to. Which is good, because I like to sing. This album rocks out quite a bit, while still maintaining that folk feel. The lyrics are interesting and memorable, and the music and vocal harmonies are as beautiful as ever. Fantastic album, highly recommended.
Jessie’s Less-Brief Thoughts:
I do not know how to review things. This is mostly because I don’t necessarily think about music or feel music as most other people do. Whether or not I love music can heavily depend on where I was when I heard it, if it makes me think of a certain person, if it reminds me of a fandom, etc. I don’t sit there and think THIS MUSIC IS UNIVERSALLY GOOD. For instance-I LOVE The Decemberists Hazards of Love album. Apparently, this is not a common opinion. Apparently a lot of people think it’s their worst. I think they heard a different album than I did. So…this being said, I think this album is fantastic. I think it’s tied right up there with Hazards of Love for me! It reminds me of the country music I grew up with. Certain parts of it remind me of Neil Young’s Harvest Moon album, which I’ve loved since I was little. I think one of my favorite things about this album is every time I listen to it the full way through a different song or two jumps out at me. When I first started it was “Rox in the Box” and “Down By the Water”. There was something so mournful about them. “Rox” reminded me a bit of my friend Leo and the show Firefly (both are connected in my mind). “Down by the Water” reminded me of sunset on the ocean, the boardwalk when it’s still warm enough to be open, but it’s not quite tourist season anymore-the sad time, but not the dead time that it is in winter. Over the summer the songs “Rise to Me” and “This is Why We Fight” and “Don’t Carry it All” jumped out. “Rise to Me” reminded me of the forests at home, “This is Why” reminded me of when I was working on this awesome version of Peter Pan and it would play on the radio every day during the build. And “Don’t Carry it All” was on my soundtrack of songs for the end of this summer, when I left a bad place for a better one, just as the seasons turned. Whenever I listen to it I remember the good things about the awful place, and think about the place I’m in now. The images it conjures are wonderful. So this time? “January Hymn” and “Calamity Song”. Perhaps it is because of the time of year and the fact that I want snow, perhaps because of that country Neil Young-ish sound. Perhaps because they too, sort of have the sound that reminds me of the good parts of that bad place. Perhaps I won’t know the actual reason for another few weeks as I continue to listen to it and let it sink in. So on this album of ten songs, I’ve just named seven to be stand out tracks. I can’t wait to be listening in the correct state of mind for the last three to pop out :)
Genre: Electronic/Dance
Genre: Alternative Rock/ Folk-ish?