Snow Patrol- Final Straw

Snow Patrol
Final Straw
Label: A&M
Produced By: Garrett Lee
Release Date: March 30, 2004
Listen to a few songs here
And more samples here
Buy it here

Boy:

I don’t really know what “British pedal rock” is, but if Snow Patrol is a shining example then count me as a fan of the genre. These fellas have been making it happen across the pond since ’98 but I have only recently been made aware via their album “Final Straw”. I like this very much, not because it’s extraordinary, but because there isn’t anything not to like. Gary Lightbody’s voice is so easy to listen to over the just-grungier-than-brit-pop guitar rifs that it has an almost Tom Petty like infectiousness on tunes like “Chocolate” and “Run” – my two favorites. They round out the album with more resonant and melancholy pieces like “Same” and “Grazed Knees” that show strength in lyric and measure. This is good music that speaks for itself in every bar of every song. Cracking. I dig it.

Girl:

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this album after my initial introduction. “How To Be Dead” leads off Snow Patrol’s Final Straw, which plays like lyrical journal entry written by an angst ridden twenty something. Although this sort of theme is carried out through most of the lyrics of the album, it is driven by spongy vocals that soak up wistful harmonies that leave me tapping repeat time and again. I found myself getting lost in the surprising crossing of influences and just enjoying finding the nuances in Snow Patrol’s combined strong vocals and sturdy guitar riffs. All in all it was a beyond pleasant ride that left me feeling satisfied and ready for another course of Final Straw. The lyric, “All these places feel like home”, falls right into place with how I felt about each track. Way to totally not suck Snow Patrol!

What others are saying: "now Patrol has brushed off the softness of their Belle & Sebastian-style past for Final Straw, their major label debut. It’s survival of the fittest, or survival of the hardest, or maybe it’s just creative evolution. Either way, it’s a record that’s hard to resist." - Slant Magazine

If you are only going buy one song it should be:
Run
iTunes

Trail of Dead-Worlds Apart

Trail of Dead
Worlds Apart
Label: Interscope Records
Produced By: Michael McCarthy
Release Date (US): January 25, 2005
Listen here
And here
Buy it.

Boy:

It’s been a long time since I actually heard something that I could really consider original. …And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead offers up track after track of poetic surrealism influenced by a herd of diverse artists – even the jewel case has a rendering of Beethoven and an all-together baroque feel. Don’t get me wrong, these guys rock. I have never seen such a magical live show as when I caught them at the Roxie for their new album release. Throughout the show the lead singer will take over guitar while the drummer comes up to the microphone as the guitarist takes his turn at the drums. It’s a trip because their identity is maintained whilst the feeling of the music shifts somewhere else. Masterful. Not to mention the random on-stage destruction of instrument after instrument. Production on this album is terrific - the music shifts seamlessly from track to track with creative and odd, though never un-appropriate, sound effect sequences. Lyrically you could not ask for more, …Trail Of Dead is at once poetic and explicit. “Let It Dive” is my favorite tune on the album followed by “Will You Smile Again”, but recommending one song on this album is like showing you just a corner of an Van Gogh and expecting you to appreciate it. Give it a shot.

cat·er·waul ()
intr.v. cat·er·wauled, cat·er·waul·ing, cat·er·wauls

1. To cry or screech like a cat in heat.
2. To make a shrill, discordant sound.
3. To have a noisy argument.
   
   

n. A shrill, discordant sound.

Girl:

I first heard about Trail this past winter when our friend Bryan invited us to their show at the Roxy. I anticipated a decent show, as Bryan had never let us down before but what I hadn’t anticipated was a completely rock experience. You know it was a good show when the set ends early because the band has run out of instruments to smash and the roadies are in the audience gathering cymbals in a last attempt to put a drum set back together. That, my friend, was a great introduction to the band. But as you will find on this album is the beauty behind the debauchery. With strings and horns backing and at times driving a solid melody, you can’t help but get lost in track after track of lyrical cotton candy* and heavy harmonies. The thing I love about this album is that it can’t really be smushed into a genre box. You can hear influences of Britpop and early nineties grunge bands but it all comes back around to their own sound, a sound that I will have around in my collection for years to come and hopefully you will too.

*Dude, I love cotton candy. I do not mean that the lyrics are fluffy but instead that I devoured them with earnest anticipation.

What others are saying: "It is very nearly a perfect album. It will kick your ass, and then it will make you cry. It will make you pull over while driving to listen to it more closely... The melody and songwriting are both here, all wrapped up in a tight ball of carnage and fury." - Filter Magazine

If you are only going buy one song it should be:
Worlds Apart
iTunes

Haloscan commenting and trackback have been added to this blog.

The High Speed Scene

thehighspeedscene.com
Self Titled
Label: Interscope Records
Release Date (US): It is set for March 22, 2005.
Listen to one song here.
Buy it: When the album is released we will post an update with all of the information to buy. In the meantime, get excited and ready to spend the cash for the whole album because it is that good.

Girl:

There is something familiar to the songs on this album. It may seem as though they were written about someone you know or experiences you have had. Songs like The Iroc-Z Song will make the teenager inside you want to toss on your converse or lace up your Doc Martens and freestyle walk all the way to your best friend's house to drink her dad's tequila and dance the free spirited day away. The infectious beats and fast stops leave me wishing I could play the drums or at the very least shake a tambourine. You can listen to it on the way to the beach with your girlfriends or crank it up when it is time to clean the toilet and you plan on singing loud while dancing around in your skivvies. Either way, you will have the CD on repeat for days and you really should stop two or three times on my favorite song Assingear. This, my friends is a great way to debut.


Boy:

What a nice surprise. I caught these guys live as the opening act for the opening act for the Futureheads. Having never heard of either High Speed Scene or Futureheads I didn’t expect much. I was most certainly wrong – they put on a great show with all the charm of an 80’s hair band but with the artistic purity of a three-person garage band. This CD is full of gems. It kicks off a little uneasy with “For The Kids” – their anthem as artists, and then hits you with a slew of great music. From the feel good AssInGear to the fake-out ballad “All Swans” you get dose after dose of clever and original lyrics and catchy without being kitschy rock progressions. The Iroc-Z Song is my favorite tune on the album along with Hottie mostly because I remember their live performances, but I’m finding myself hitting repeat on a different track every time I listen. High marks for The High Speed Scene for combining a pure rock sound with the youthful angst of punk and the clever lyrical styling of Brit-pop. I dig it.

What others are saying:
These guys are one tight little unit...playing flawless tunes with relentless energy and enthusiasm. Anyone who ever loved Redd Kross and early Cheap Trick will surely appreciate this band's sound. Hooks and catchy choruses abound throughout this wonderfully uplifting album. The guitars are loud and fuzzed out...the bass solid and tight...and the drums resound with thumpy coolness. Tired of thinking about music all the time...? These guys provide tunes that just make you want to dance and sing along. -www.babysue.com

If you are only going buy one song it should be:
Assingear

iTunes