Tuesday May 18, 2010 New Music

Band Of Horses "Infinite Arms"

I first heard Band Of Horses on Sirius back in 2006. Their song "The Funeral" kept coming up on the indie rock station and after hearing it for the 5th or 6th time, I finally looked to see who the band was. I wound up buying their debut Everything All The Time and was instantly hooked. The follow up, Cease To Begin was just as catchy and enjoyable and then the band disappeared for well over a year. Now they have returned with their third album Infinite Arms. They gave away a track from it for free a few weeks ago. It was good, but not as instantly catchy as their other stuff. Today, Pitchfork released a review of the album and gave it a 5.3 on a scale of 1 to 10. Like a lot of people, I think Pitchfork are a bit full of themselves and that their opinion doesn't count for much, but my gut is saying that maybe they are right on this one. I don't know why, it just is. I'm hoping to be proven wrong when I am able to hear the album after Amazon decides to get around to shipping it to me...which they haven't yet even though I ordered it weeks ago. Bastards.

The Black Keys "Brothers"

I've already heard The Black Keys new album Brothers in it's entirety thanks to NPR putting up a stream of it last week. I have to say that the album sounded pretty damn good and I'm looking forward to spending more time with it once Amazon decides to ship it to me along with the aforementioned Band Of Horses record. Bastards. I'm a fan of all The Black Keys previous work and from the one listen I had to this album, it sounds like they have made some minor changes to keep things fresh, but haven't really abandoned the formula that's been working so well for them.

Exodus "Exhibit B: The Human Condition"

If you are into metal and more specifically, thrash metal, then you know exactly who Exodus are. In the metal world, their name is mentioned in the same breath as other Bay Area titans like Metallica and Testament. Their debut album Bonded By Blood and third album Fabulous Disaster are classics that have gone on to influence a whole new wave of retro-thrash bands that are kicking around today. They've endured a number of line-up changes over the years and only guitarist Gary Holt and drummer Tom Hunting remain from the original line-up, but unlike their peers in Anthrax who have had similar problems, Exodus has soldiered on and continued to put out albums that have been fairly well received. I'll admit to not being terribly familiar with the last two records, Shovel Headed Kill Machine (what a terrible title) and The Atrocity Exhibition - Exhibit A, but the songs I heard from them were tremendously heavy and sounded like the work of a much younger band. My only complaint would be that I'm not a huge fan of the new vocalist, but then again, Exodus was never known for their great vocals. These guys are clearly not slowing down and the metal press is drooling over their latest album, Exhibit B: The Human Condition, so I figure I might give it a shot and make sure I'm not missing out an old dog who has learned some new tricks.

LCD Soundsystem "This Is Happening"

I don't know much about LCD Soundsystem except that indie rock geeks seem to love them. While Pitchfork was busy taking a poop on the new Band Of Horses, they were also busy giving the new LCD Soundsystem record This Is Happeninga 9.2 out of 10. Again, I take Pitchfork reviews with a grain of salt because 9 times out of 10 I disagree with them, but sometimes they are right and when they are right, they are right. I did hear the first single from this album, "Drunk Girls" a month or two ago and thought it was pretty fantastic, so my curiosity is piqued and I'll be checking this out to see what all the hype is about.