Monday's Leaky Faucet

Who: DiscoveryTitle: LP
Release Date: July 7th
Label: XL
Thoughts: Any band that merges two popular bands is bound to get a bit of attention and a lot of scrutiny, but when you combine bands like Ra Ra Riot and Vampire Weekend that are so heavily buzzed about and hated at the same time then you better prepare yourself for an internet shit storm. The amazing thing is that this Discovery project from Rostam Batmanglij (of Vampire Weekend) and Wes Miles (of Ra Ra Riot) is a really fun pairing of young, talented, and creative artists just trying to have a good time with the music they're making. You can of course hear it in their full time gigs but on this record they do a good job of playfully creating synth music for people to get down to or just chill to. I particularly love "Can You Discover" which takes my favorite Ra Ra Riot song, "Can You Tell", and turns it into a slightly more dancey club number. Obviously LP isn't trying to re-invent music or be some kind of too cool influential statement, instead these two dudes are just making some fun tunes so try not to hate on them too much just because of where they come from.
Listen: Discovery - "Orange Shirt"
Discovery - "Can You Discover"

Who: The Fiery Furnaces
Title: I'm Going Away
Release Date: July 1st
Label: Thrill Jockey
Thoughts: The Fiery Furnaces are certainly going to be in the discussion when talking about the best bands of the decade. They have been relentless in their deconstruction of the ideas of pop music all while producing some of the best music of the last ten years. Now for their 8th studio album the Friedbergers have gone and created something of a concept album with all of the songs meant to soundtrack and imaginary sitcom. The songs on I'm Going Away are generally a bit more piano driven then a lot of what we've heard from The Furnaces in the past, but of course we've all come to expect changes and twists with each and every Fiery Furnaces album. As good as I'm Going Away most certainly is it will always be met with the standard Fiery Furnaces criticism and that is that it doesn't come close to matching the expansive sound we heard on Blueberry Boat. Back then the band crammed everything in to every song and now songs are a bit more spread out, a bit more conventional, and though still more then solid they don't quite sparkle like they once did. It's a small criticism but it's one that comes along with each successive Fiery Furnaces album.
Listen: The Fiery Furnaces - "The End Is Near"

Who: The Most Serene Republic
Title: ...And the Ever Expanding Universe
Release Date: July14th
Label: Arts & Crafts
Thoughts: There is no doubting that The Most Serene Republic know how to play. The band are masters of their instruments, and with most members at only 24-years old their best years are probably still ahead of them. But let me be completely truthful here and admit to a certain boredom that stems from listening to The Most Serene Republic. As pretty and intricate as their music can be, it can also be dauntingly long and far too drawn out for my own personal tastes and each listen generally ends without me making it through the whole album. I've tried a couple of times to make it through the album and though there are tracks that get me going like "Bubble Reputation" and 'Don't Hold Back, Feel A Little" I spend most of the time thinking about what I'm going to listen to after this.
Listen: The Most Serene Republic - "Heavens to Purgatory"
The Most Serene Republic - "Phi"