Music is the Blood of Life, Part One

I hope you've noticed this widget off to the side. ->

Call it the soundtrack, or the jukebox, or the playlist. Whatever. This is basically my shorthand for sharing music with anyone who's curious. If you haven't tried it yet, don't be scared - all you have to do is press play. It doesn't want your money or your email and it will not give you a virus. You can skip to any song at any time, and it'll play the entirety of each song as many times as you want. It's a fun little gadget (if legally dubious, currently), and I update it with new songs regularly, even if I'm not posting written entries as often.

But it is a Playlist, the shaping of which I (of course) take way too seriously. As in: there can never be more than one track from an artist on there; keep it short and simple; nothing sticks around forever. I appreciate the medium of the Playlist for what it is, but I'm still at heart the kind of old-fashioned music listener who generally purchases and listens to his music by entire album or not at all, who can't opine on one song without relating it to the other tracks before and after it. So, if I want to share my thoughts on albums as a whole, the Playlist on the right is not exactly the best way to do it. But I guess that's why God gave us writin' hands.

With my 3-day Coachella experience just a week away, I've been doing a LOT of listening lately. Trying to familiarize myself with bands who I've always heard about but never heard, etc. And I'll post something about the Coachella Bands to Watch For next week (since nobody else seems to be doing it!), but in the meantime I wanted to talk a little bit about some bands I won't be able to see there, though I really wish I could, and their new or upcoming material. Four albums worth your time:

Dan Deacon - Bromst
The subtitle to this album could be called "Jams Grow Up"; though there's plenty of party still on Deacon's follow-up to 2007 freak-riot Spiderman of the Rings, his sound has clearly matured in interesting and unpredictable ways. Now sporting live instrumentation (with marimbas!) and further musical diversity, this guy has hit the blogosphere sweet spot with a seemingly limitless unspooling of positive reviews and goodwill. You'll probably agree once you give a listen to some of his new album on his myspace page - start with "Red F" and "Get Older".

Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
Instantly fell in love with these guys when they premiered pseudo-first-single "1901", so far the Most Perfect Pop Song of 2009. Seriously, there are so many hooks and payoffs in these three minutes alone that you wonder what they could have possibly saved for the rest of the album. Well, actually, plenty: the nine tracks of Wolfgang are similarly chock-full of exciting gems, from opener and maybe-actual-first single "Lisztomania" through "Lasso" to extended jam "Love Like a Sunset". If you missed their appearance on SNL last week, you can see most of their (three!) performances here.

Metric - Fantasies
Hard to believe It's been four years since the last album from these guys - their debut reissue and 2006's solo album from Emily Haines don't count. It hits stores next week, though it's already available for legal download and you can stream the whole album for free on their site. (I love that artists are doing this now, by the way - it shows a solid amount of faith in their own product, as well as the fans who are eager to support the band but are even more eager to hear new music.) The album has really grown on me over the last few weeks. Metric's sound isn't exactly going to revolutionize the scene, but it's definitely more fun and immediate than most of the other big releases this year. I'm also a bit biased, because I think Haines has one of the sexiest voices in rock and roll right now; she doesn't have the range of, say, Neko Case or Leslie Feist, but she sings with such a confidence and mastery of her own limitations that it becomes its own unique experience. My favorites right now are "Satellite Mind", "Gimme Sympathy" and "Collect Call", but check out the whole thing at the link above.

Cymbals Eat Guitars - Why There are Mountains
I'm a sucker for great cover art, fine - but the debut album from these shamble-rockers has enough glorious freakouts and intricacies to please any Pavement or Broken Social Scene fan. This has already been pegged as the great indie road trip album of 2009, and I hope to be able to verify that for myself in the coming months. Check out opener "And the Hazy Sea" or lead single "Wind Phoenix" (among other songs) on their myspace page.

There are also lots of other albums I've barely had time to digest: Doves' Kingdom of Rust; Japandroids' Post-Nothing; Peter Bjorn and John's Living Thing; The Decemberists' The Hazards of Love (OK, not so hot on the last two yet). And that's not even counting Coachella bands! It's been a great year for music so far, and there's no reason to think it won't keep on keepin' on. To be continued...