Weekend Music Roundup

Spring arrived this week to the mountains. As the windows opened, I found the sounds from the fuzzy warble system becoming prettier and poppy. I'm very much a music of the season kind of person. In the winter and fall, I love dreary sounds. Spring tends to be my pop season. Easy grooves match the weather. Summer tends to evolve into sunshine psychedelic and clouds of hip hop...but thank god we have time before then. Here is the first of the spring 2010 collection.

Love & Jimi Hendrix - The Blue Thumb Acetate: A 12" bootleg featuring the talents of Arthur Lee and Jimi together. I'm not a huge Love fan, though I do enjoy them, but something magical happened in these sessions. There's only 2 songs along with a 10 minute jam on here, but it's full of rock and soul. Pretty fantastic stuff.

MGMT - Flash Delirium: The first single from the anticipated upcoming album. Now, I also gathered a listen of the title track from the album, Congratulations. I'm not quite sure if it's because I listened to that rather weak track first, but Flash Delirium seemed...interesting. Though, both songs left me worried for the new album, I'm sort of glad it doesn't sound the same as the last album. I'm all for change...but both tracks seem a little flat. Granted, I still have extremely high hopes.

Felix - You Are the One I Pick: An indie folk album from last Fall by a British outfit. Though decidedly a folk feel, the vocals aren't dour. There's a definite upbeat pop sensuality to the vocals which works nicely with the more somber mood of the music. A very enjoyable record.

Gorillaz - Plastic Beach: Admittedly, I'm a bigger Damon Albarn fan than I am a Gorillaz fan, but I do enjoy them very much. However, on their first album, I definitely feel there is a lot of skip-ability. Demon Days, I thought was pretty fantastic. There's some of weaker moments on this album, though I feel it's pretty even throughout. It's much more of a hip-hop album than Demon Days and I've been digging it more and more with each listen and definitely like it...though I think it's missing a really super stand-out track like Demon Days' "Feel Good Inc,"and "Kids With Guns" or even "Clint Eastwood" from the first album.

God Help the Girl - Stills: This is a newish project by Belle & Sebastian's Stuart Murdoch. It's very similar in feel as B&S but with less bark and less bite. It's a decent piece of dreamy indie pop and great for the springtime of birds twittering and flowers and all of that. Solid okay.

Charlotte Gainsbourg - Charlotte For Ever: Before she was making albums with Beck, Charlotte Gainsbourg was making albums with her father Serge. This piece of french pop was recorded when she around 14 years old. It's a must for fans of Serge Gainsbourg who wrote the music for the album. Personally, I'm not a huge fan of Serge and it's the music that detracts from the album for me. It's too '80s Miami Sound Machine mixed with french horns. But Charlotte's voice is as perfect as ever and sounds very much like it does now. Even as a teenager, there's a deep chain-smoking soul to it.

The Features - Exhibit A: Tennessee band doing it's best impression of a British pub rock band and succeeding at it. This 2004 album is a blast. Very much like the Fratellis and that lot. Turn up the volume and rock out.

The Runaways - The Runaways: Given the hype surrounding the movie, I thought it was worth checking out the teen rebs' debut album as I didn't know much about them. As a kid, I was a HUGE Joan Jett fan and this album was long overdue for some listening. I expected to like it, but was still surprised at how much it rocks. These girls bring it for real. Very much in the style of Alice Cooper's early glam albums, it's a must-have for fans of '70s hard rock.

The Future Sound of London - Lifeforms: This is one of those landmark albums that has come to define a genre. It came out in '94 and probably remains the most known "techno" album. I'd been meaning to check this out since it came out, but its release corresponded with the end of my rave days and I ignored if for 15 years. Luckily for me, it dates well. It's the kind of trance ambient music that I've always enjoyed...an album that attempts to create a musical world. Space out and let your mind drift music.

Cibo Matto - Super Relax: I've always enjoyed Cibo Matto's brand of chaotic indie rock when I've heard them but never sat down and listened to an album before this week. The Missus had this one on vinyl since before we were together and for whatever reason, it got lost in the shuffle. As I continue to work my way through our LP collection, I put this on and was thoroughly impressed. It definitley has the late '90s New York City vibe of endless possibility. I love the jazz elements mixed with electronic and noise rock. Sugar Water is damned amazing and manages to sound fresh over a decade later.