Music Old, Music New, Lots of Borrowed, And Some Blues

Over the last two weekends, thanks to some friends here at school, I got ridiculous amounts of music new and old (Yes, I played nice and shared and all that fun stuff). I'm still sorting through a lot of it, but I'm gonna post and talk about a small helping of it here.

My attitudes toward bluegrass and roots-type music waver pretty regularly. Some of it can be really chill and interesting to listen to, and sometimes it just gets boring very quickly. That ambivalence is what kept me from taking a look at Robert Plant & Alison Krauss's Raising Sand until someone put it on my thumb drive and ordered me to listen. Good call. Plant and Krauss blend together beautifully, and the album keeps the pace going with quick, fun tracks like "Gone Gone Gone (Done Moved On)" and the lovely album closer "Your Long Journey". Front to back, Raising Sand is a terrific listen.

Robert Plant & Alison Krauss - Gone Gone Gone (Done Moved On) [iTunes ]

Two friends of mine told me I need to listen to more Three Days Grace. Were it not for the fact that I trust their music taste 9 times out of 10, I would have ignored this. So I picked up 3DG's newest record One-X just to see if maybe I was missing something. One-X shows that Three Days Grace are probably a bit better than I give them credit for, but at the end of the day, I pretty much forgot the album shortly after listening to it. I don't regret taking time to listen to it, but I also don't expect to add it to any constant rotation anytime soon.

Three Days Grace - Animal I Have Become [iTunes ]

Those same two friends plus one more also told me I need to hear more AFI. I own and generally like Decemberunderground , but it doesn't get huge amounts of play. I've been playing through that record and its predecessor Sing the Sorrow . While certainly neither are fantastic, life-changing albums, I enjoyed both, especially Sing the Sorrow much more than I thought I would. AFI is one of those bands that gets a lot of flak for being in a much-maligned genre. AFI dip far more into the straight alternative rock or even glam rock areas than they let on. But everyone takes one look at Davey Havok and says "Hairstyle = emo...emo=crap". Like my friend Justin put it last night when we discussed Fall Out Boy (of which Justin is not a fan), "Even being great at something crappy, means you're still doing something crappy".

AFI - Silver and Cold [iTunes]

Speaking of Fall Out Boy, the band released a second single from Folie A Deux to iTunes, and it was subsequently picked up by Pretty Much Amazing, and now right here. On title alone "Headfirst Slide Into Cooperstown on a Bad Bet" sounds like either a) a Bob Dylan song, or b) a throwback to FOB's early days. The track is neither. I've noticed on both this new track and "I Don't Care" that the sharp hooks that made From Under The Cork Tree and Infinity on High so memorable are hidden here; not gone, just hidden. Again, hints of glam rock on the new record. I have a sinking feeling the core FOB fans are gonna eviscerate the new record because it actually carries some intelligence musically, but "Headfirst Slide Into Cooperstown on a Bad Bet" is alluring enough that I want to hear what else the band has lined up (collabo's with Lil Wayne? Why yes, yes I am interested)

Fall Out Boy - Headfirst Slide Into Cooperstown on a Bad Bet [iTunes ]

My buddy Wags (real name Garey Wagner) gave me damn near every song ever featured in a Guitar Hero game, which worked out well because now this song is playing at a regular interval

Living Colour - Cult of Personality [iTunes ]

Somebody needs to convince me that picking up Katy Perry's album is a terrible idea. Because I'm running out of reasons to hold out.

Katy Perry - Hot N Cold [iTunes ]

And that's just the tip of the iceberg. I still have stuff from Led Zeppelin, Dropkick Murphys, Apocalyptica, and then some to tear through. Expect more posts like this in the coming days and weeks.

==TJ==