OK, so I haven’t been here in awhile. I’m sorry. As I wrote over on eri-chan*eats awhile ago, at this point I’ve pretty much accepted that I’m never going to be one of those awesome bloggers who’s putting up new material constantly and getting tons of hits and comments and what-not. I just don’t have the self-discipline. So, I’m gonna stop making myself feel guilty over it and just let myself write when I feel like writing, and leave it alone when I don’t. Cool? Cool.

That being said, I’ve got a post planned with my favorites list from 2011 (yeah yeah its been 2012 for a month already, I know) but right now I have GOT to tell you about this 2011 release that I only just discovered yesterday thanks to a weirdly late First Listen feature on NPR: Gotye’s Making Mirrors.

Gotye (pronounced “go-tee-yay”, according to NPR) is a Belgian-Australian singer/songwriter with one of the clearest, cleanest singing voices I’ve heard on a man in quite some time, and apparently a hell of an ear for insanely catchy, vaguely retro pop music.

Making Mirrors is chock full of awesome melodies, creative arrangements, danceable rhythms, and clever lyrics, all tied together with Gotye’s gorgeous vocals. His work on this album has been appropriately compared to artists like Peter Gabriel and George Michael in the late 80s/early 90s, and I often hear bits of Sting and Seal as well. But despite the obvious fondness and respect with which he’s looking back to that era and that style, the music doesn’t live in the past. There’s a real modern sensibility about these tracks, with enough electronic flourishes, subtle samples, synthesized atmospherics, and technological trickery to anchor it squarely in the present day.

What’s really gotten me hooked on this album is the fact that I can’t remember the last time music made me feel so GOOD. Standout tracks “I Feel Better” and “In Your Light” are almost impossibly catchy with infectious rhythms that make the prospect of sitting still while listening to them a seriously difficult proposition. Other tracks, like the penultimate “Save Me” and the frankly-not-long-enough “Somebody That I Used to Know” (check out the video below) featuring a brilliant appearance by New Zealand songbird Kimbra dig their claws in with soaring vocal harmonies and arresting lyrics.

Basically I put this album on and I end up smiling pretty much through its duration. That’s a seriously rare thing in today’s music world, where it seems like themes of anger, melancholy, detachment, and debauchery are practically a prerequisite to get any sort of attention. And that isn’t to say every song on the album is sunshine-and-rainbows – that’s not the case at all – but Gotye approaches even the hard themes (see the aforementioned “Somebody That I Used to Know”, or “Smoke and Mirrors”) with a certain upbeat attitude that keeps things from ever feeling too heavy. It makes for a refreshing and genuinely enjoyable listen.

Its not a perfect album, unfortunately. There’s a bit of genre-hopping going on which may put some listeners off – as good as the funky soul-stomper “I Feel Better” is, its a pretty big left turn from the slinky groove of “Smoke and Mirrors” immediately beforehand, and the ambient blink-and-you’ll-miss-it opener “Making Mirrors” doesn’t quite mesh with the fast-driving Beck-ish “Easy Way Out”. Even weirder is the way the best song pair on the album is immediately followed by the worst. The fakey-futuristic pitch-shifted vocals and island beat of “State of the Art” might make for an intriguing song on its own, but when taken in context with the rest of the album, it just doesn’t fit. The hushed creepiness of “Don’t Worry, We’ll Be Watching You” is perhaps less of a stylistic leap, but comes way out of left field in terms of tone: its just too dark for this album. Both of these are throwaways as far as I’m concerned.

But 10 solid tracks out of 12 is still pretty impressive, and when those 10 tracks are AWESOME, its hard to be disappointed.

Now if you’ll pardon me, I’m gonna go replay the album again and try to dance in my chair without anyone noticing.

More on Gotye:
Official Website: www.gotye.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/gotye
YouTube: www.youtube.com/gotyemusic
Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/gotye

Buy the album on Amazon (CD or MP3)

The hardest thing about writing anything about Yes, or about Jon Anderson, is that there is so much I could say, but it would never be enough. My words, no matter how deeply considered or how well composed, would never do justice to the overwhelming experience of listening to this music or being in the presence of these musical masterminds. I will never be able to do them, or him, justice. But still I feel compelled to write, and so I shall.

This past Saturday, I was blessed and overjoyed to be in the audience as Jon Anderson took the stage at B.B. King Blues Club in  New York City during this year’s solo tour. In the last few years he’s performed there several times, and I’ve been lucky enough to  see him there twice – once on a similar solo tour, and once with the immensely talented kids from the School of Rock. Both shows were wonderful and magical in their own way, but there was something special about this weekend’s performance.

For one, I went alone, which is something I’ve never done. The last two times he performed in the area, I had tickets, but ultimately was forced to miss the show due to unavoidable, unforeseen circumstances. So this time I bought tickets the day they went on sale nearly 6 months ago, and promised myself that, hell or high water, I would be there or I’d give up trying. And that determination stayed strong when my intended fellow attendee was unable to accompany me, and, lacking interest from any of my other friends and acquaintances, I was left with no option but to go alone or to miss him again. Being someone who is generally shy and a bit socially awkward, and knowing the strict general-admission, first come-first serve seating model employed by B.B.King’s for these shows, I was understandably nervous as I entered the venue. But after 5 years of waiting and two failed attempts, I wasn’t about to let a nervous stomach ache keep me from seeing and hearing my hero perform.

And in the end, I needn’t have worried. I was lucky enough to be seated at a table with half a dozen fellow Yes-geeks and Jon-devotees, and after some initial silent awkwardness, we soon introduced ourselves and launched into an impassioned discussion of our history with Jon and the band, our favorite albums and songs, and our experiences (nonexistent on my end – sadface) of meeting the band members themselves. I may have been the youngest person and newest Yesfan at the table, but it didn’t matter; there is a certain communal, almost family-like connection among fans of this band that transcends age, experience, and history. Our small group amongst the greater throng formed a quick bond, one united by mutual admiration, respect, and love for the man who would soon be taking the stage. By the end of the show, we were holding hands and hugging as if we were old, fast friends, and my memory of this show will be that much more precious because of the wonderful people I was able to share it with; people I’d only just met, but with whom I shared a deep, common bond that is rare outside of these events.

The nature of the seating arrangement at B.B. King’s necessitates early arrival in order to get a seat at all, never mind a good one. Even getting to the venue more than 90 minutes before showtime, I ended up in a corner table off of the main floor, though my seat had a surprisingly clear, direct view of the stage. The first time I went to see Jon there, I managed to score a front row seat, so being so far away was mildly disappointing.

Jon Anderson, B.B. King Blues Club, NYC, 4/30/11 (Photo by Rich Lynch, courtesy of kweevak.com)

But when 8pm rolled around and the house lights dimmed, the suboptimal view became less important; Jon arrived on stage and the crowd rose to their feet, and even at a distance I could feel how the energy in the room changed. I know this must sound like the ravings of someone obsessed, but there is just something about him that engenders a feeling of peace, joy, and deep, spiritual contentment. Being in the same room with him, something changes; something greater than just simple appreciation for the music. His gentle, joyful presence brings a light into even a darkened room.

I would be hard-pressed to recount every song that he sang, and in looking back at the show as a whole, it hardly seems to matter. I can tell you that he performed a pretty equal mix of Yes songs and solo material, giving his own unique spin to the band’s work with nothing but his voice and an acoustic guitar, a piano, or one of a number of exotic instruments which I doubt I could identify to give life and body to the music. His singing voice sounded wonderful – perhaps occasionally a bit more gravelly than it once was, but with the same angelic otherworldly quality that has always been uniquely his. He was also clearly in rare-form as he bantered with the crowd between songs, his good humor practically spilling over into the humorous anecdotes and inspirational stories behind the music.

There are moments that stand out, certainly: a beautiful song titled “Unbroken Spirit”, inspired by his brush with serious illness a few years ago that brought him perilously close to death, and so deeply emotional that it moved me to tears despite having never heard the song before; a sweetly romantic song titled “Marry Me Again” (I think) about a love lasting through multiple lifetimes, obviously sung to his wife and soulmate Jane; beautiful renditions of several songs from his first solo album and masterpiece Olias of Sunhillow (still praying that one day he’ll put together a tour and perform the whole album with a backing band); a surprisingly gorgeous, minimal arrangement of “I’ll Find My Way Home” (originally recorded with Vangelis); a creatively bouncy re-imagining of the classic Yes track “Time and a Word”; and a particularly moving rendition of “Soon”, the quietly beautiful climax of the Yes masterwork “Gates of Delirium” from the album Relayer.

Taken from my less-than-perfect seat with my Blackberry - should've brought a real camera.

And from the first song to the last, the audience sang along, clapped and swayed, stood and cheered and applauded. It was really quite remarkable – having seen Yes and Jon solo a combined total of 10 times since 2001, I have never experienced anything quite like the general camaraderie in evidence at this show. (Well, with one exception, but I’ll write about that another time.)

As always, Jon seemed to absorb and reflect all of this positive energy as the show progressed; he, more so than almost anyone else I’ve ever seen perform on stage, truly seems to thrive on audience feedback, and the whole loop of emotion becomes something healing and cathartic, almost religious in its intensity. For many of us, Jon occupies a plateau we strive for, a level of spiritual and emotional peace and enlightenment which I, at least, can only hope to achieve in my lifetime. And he expresses that enlightenment through his music, allowing us all a chance to experience and absorb it, and hopefully become something better, something more, as a result.

That the music is uniquely stirring and beautiful is, at times, almost an afterthought. But lets face it – if the music wasn’t so good, we wouldn’t all keep coming back.

There have been times in my life when I’ve lost touch with Yes and with Jon; when I’ve turned my sights elsewhere and, on occasion, found myself someplace dark and unforgiving. But as always, when enveloped in his presence and his music, I find myself today, three days later, in a happier and more peaceful place.

Despite his advanced age and occasionally troubling health, Jon Anderson shows no signs of stopping or even slowing down in his musical career. He may have split with the rest of Yes, yet he continues to work on solo and collaborative projects, continues to tour, and continues to release new material. And everytime he comes to town, he plays to a full house. It seems safe to say that Jon will be around for a long while yet, and that there will be more opportunities in the future to hear him sing and see him play. And as long as he keeps coming back, I intend to be there to soak up his music, bask in his spirit, and experience the warmth and fulfillment of being among kindred spirits who know just how wonderful and special he is.

This has been a pretty prog-tastic couple of weeks: first, we learned that Yes would be releasing their newest studio album in July of this year; now, contemporary prog-rockers Mars Hollow are streaming a preview track from their upcoming sophomore album World in Front of Me on Soundcloud.

“Voices” was apparently written in honor of the Royal Wedding, which seems odd, but I can’t say I care too much about that (I’ve just been informed by the band that this was a Facebook goof – whoops!) ; what I do care about is that this is a solid track evoking the sound of both Yes and Rush in equal parts, very much in the same vein as the material on their debut. If this single track is indicative of the rest of the album, then my hopes are high for a quality sophomore effort.

You can check out the track on Facebook, or on Mars Hollow’s Soundcloud page. While you’re there, I highly recommend giving their debut self-titled album a listen, which is also available for streaming. I really think Mars Hollow is one of the better contemporary prog-rock albums I’ve come across, with a consistently melodic, semi-symphonic 70′s-esque sound that I find endlessly appealing. “Wait for Me”, “Midnight”, and “Dawn of Creation” are standout tracks, but they’re all solid.

More on Mars Hollow
Official Website: www.marshollow.com
Facebook: facebook.com/MarsHollow
MySpace: myspace.com/marshollow
Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/mars-hollow

Once again NPR comes to the rescue with their First Listen series, giving us a taste of the new Fleet Foxes release Helplessness Blues over a week in advance of the album’s May 3 drop date. (Was I the only one starting to feel like the 3rd would never actually get here?)

Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues

I’m writing this as I’m only about 1/3 of the way through my first listen, and my immediate first impression is one of jaw-dropped, speechless awe at the beauty of the thing, but I probably shouldn’t get too ahead of myself.

The rest of you ought to get your virtual butts over to NPR right now and give the album a listen, then come back here and tell me what you think – how does it live up to your expectations? Is it better than/worse than/equal to their self-titled debut? Let me hear it!

The Antlers - Burst Apart

Unrelated, but if you’re curious and/or a fan, NPR is also streaming the new, highly anticipated release from indie post-rock superstars The Antlers this week, Burst Apart. I’ve never really listened to The Antlers but have to admit to being a bit caught up in the hype, so I expect I’ll be giving it a listen at some point this week as well.

The stream and brief review are here, if you’re so inclined to join me.

You’ll permit me to geek out for a moment, won’t you? Good. Because I’m gonna do it anyway.

See, Yes – the progressive rock giants who landed on the U.S. music scene in 1969 and have been recording and performing ever since (though with many personnel and style changes along the way) – are my favorite band, to the exclusion of all others. I have seen them live 7 times since 2001. I have listened to every studio album more times than I can count. I’m pretty sure I could sing the lyrics to “Close to the Edge” , “Starship Trooper”, and “Awaken” from memory, and if you know anything about Yes, you know that’s no easy feat.

And I am not exaggerating when I say that their music has saved my life, twice. In my darkest moments, in the most difficult times of my life, their music has shown me a bright point of light to cling to and strive for. And they are the only band that I can say, without any qualification or hesitation, that I genuinely, deeply love.

To put it simply, Yes changed my life. And not just once, but over and over again.

Today I’ve learned that finally, after 10 years, they are releasing a new studio album. And this isn’t just another vague rumor. There’s actually a release date. And its coming out in July! Be still my heart.

Current lineup: Alan White (drums), Steve Howe (guitar), Chris Squire (bass), Geoff Downes (keyboards), Benoit David (vocals). Photo from yesworld.com.

Now, a  part of me is rebelling against the fact that this album won’t include Jon Anderson. The band has been touring without him for the last two years, after he was forced to abandon performing for a while due to some pretty serious medical issues, so its not exactly surprising. And their new vocalist, Benoit David, is a perfectly fine fit with the band; he brings a ton of passion and youthful energy to their performances, and his own band Mystery has released some fine original music in their own right.

Photo from jonanderson.com

But, I’ve seen the band twice since Benoit came on board, and while the shows have been great, I miss Jon’s presence desperately. I can’t help but feel that the spiritual core of the band is lacking without him in the lineup, that there’s some sort of void in the music’s soul as long as he’s not singing. Yes is certainly more than the sum of its parts, and the other guys in the band are every bit as important as Jon is/was. But I miss him. I miss his gentle, comforting presence; his attitude of universal love and acceptance; I miss his angelic, almost otherworldly voice; I miss his smile, his mannerisms, his open-armed embrace of the audience before him and the world beyond his sight. However musically talented Benoit may be, and however dedicated he may be to the band, neither he nor anyone else will ever really replace Jon.

I’m going to try to put those feelings aside though, because Fly From Here is scheduled to be released on July 12 in the U.S., almost exactly a decade after I went to my first Yes concert with my parents and had my entire world rocked. The timing is particularly poignant for me, considering the song that really made me into a Yesfan for life came off their last studio album, Magnification, which was released just before I saw them live. It feels both fitting and deeply significant to me that they are finally releasing a new album now, when I seem to have come full circle and have reached another point in my life when I truly need them.

I set a goal for myself as part of my Eleven in 2011 to write a series of blog posts about Yes and their music, and now I’ve got a tangible deadline to hit. So, in the weeks leading up to the release of Fly From Home, I’ll be looking back and rhapsodizing about Yes’s career, my favorite albums and songs, and the incredible experiences I’ve had seeing the band and its members perform live.

And hopefully, this will all lead up to the new album release and a brilliant new addition to the Yes canon.

I don’t think I’ve ever been so excited about an album release in my life.

So, yesterday was Record Store Day, an annual event designed to bring awareness (and business) to independent music stores around the world. Many stores welcome customers on RSD with special in-store concerts and sales, but the real backbone of the event is the multitude of limited edition record releases that are sold ONLY in stores and ONLY on that day.

Radiohead participated this year by releasing a limited edition 7″ vinyl with two exclusive new tracks, “Supercollider” and “The Butcher”. Of course, they weren’t selling the record in the U.S. (damn!) but luckily we can all at least listen to the new tracks over on Listen Before You Buy.

EDIT 4/22: If you ordered The King of Limbs before April 18, you can now download the tracks for free! Click on over to the album website for the download link (you’ll need to log in with the info you used to make your original purchase.)

I would argue that the originality and experimentation that we all hoped for from The King of Limbs is very much in evidence on these tracks. Neither is a huge departure from what the band has been working on over the last few years, but they also don’t quite fit the mold.

“Supercollider” is marked by some really rich, warm synths that are rather unlike anything I’ve heard on any past Radiohead tracks, and Thom Yorke’s soaring falsetto is perhaps a bit more demure here, though no less striking. The track as a whole leaves me with an overall impression of light and open-air, almost celestial in scope.

“The Butcher”, as implied by the name, is an altogether darker piece of work, with a syncopated, rattling drum beat, richly layered samples and atmospheric waves of sound. Yorke employs a more varied vocal style, singing the verses in a lower register reminiscent of the band’s earlier recordings, then layering his own voice in harmonic falsetto to create an almost choral effect in the background. The track flirts with both sparseness and richness, seamlessly transitioning from one sound to the other and back again to create a distinctly wave-like effect. Its a very natural-sounding track, at times haunting and at times brooding.

Neither track has the sort of soul-crushing climax that I still desperately miss from the band’s In Rainbows era, but I also think that both are better than almost anything on The King of Limbs. They hint at a Radiohead that is still exploring, experimenting, and pushing their boundaries, if perhaps a bit less aggressively than they used to.

The downside is that these tracks are apparently the last new material that will be released from The King of Limbs recording sessions, so it would seem my hopes for a second disc in the still to-be-released Newspaper Album in May were unfounded. And it absolutely kills me that I couldn’t get ahold of the vinyl – I’m sure there’ll be copies on Ebay in a day or two (or already are) but I can’t quite allow myself to buy one that way. Seems somehow like cheating.

Bottom line, this will probably be the last new music we’ll be hearing from this band for now, so I guess we just have to hope that it won’t be another 4 years before we get another album.

Here’s a quick recap of this week’s listening, based on the running Listening List that I’m keeping over here. Think there’s something I should add to the list? Want to know my thoughts on any of the albums below? Drop me a comment and let me know!

Listening List Recap 4/2-4/10

Stone Sour: Audio Secrecy – So here’s the thing. I know full well that there is nothing particularly special about this music. I know there are probably dozens of other bands out there who have produced practically this same album. But because I’m a total sucker for melodic, relatively hard pop-metal, Audio Secrecy is a total winner for me: plenty of angry, heavy rockers mixed in with epic pseudo-ballads (“Hesitate” = OMG), with a fairly wide range of influences on display. Stone Sour is routinely compared with Slipknot, particularly in the earlier parts of their career, and I’d say that’s still fair; but I also hear bits and pieces of bands like Killswitch Engage and Fuel popping up here and there.

Truthfully, I don’t think there’s a weak track on this album. I’ve gone back to it many itmes over the last week, and I suspect I will continue to do so for a long time – it feels like it’ll have the same kind of staying power as some of my favorite alt-rock albums from the 90s.  (4/4)

Ra Ra Riot: The Orchard – I heard the second half of “Too Dramatic” on the radio one day, and immediately got hooked even before I’d had a chance to listen to the rest of the song, never mind the album. The next day I went and downloaded it, and at this point I’d call myself half-satisfied with my purchase. Of the ten tracks on the album, there are 5 which I really, really like: the opening triplet of “The Orchard”, “Boy”, and “Too Dramatic”, followed by “Shadowcasting” and “Do You Remember” from the album’s second half. On these tracks the band seems to have found their post-rock stride, combining orchestral strings and really quite lovely vocals with some fairly traditional rock band instrumentation to create a sound that sits somewhere between The Temper Trap and perhaps a band like Efterklang. I particularly enjoy Wes Miles’ vocals on these tracks, who reminds me a bit of Darren Hayes (from Savage Garden.. remember them?) at times. The rest, as far as I’m concerned, are throwaways. I’d still like to give their debut album The Rhumb Line a shot, though. (4/6)

tUnE-yArDs: w h o k i l l – I never would have expected I’d be so excited for this album a month ago, but all the coverage around Merril Garbus’ SXSW performance and all the advance song releases really got me chomping at the bit. Thankfully, the album absolutely lives up to expectations. Its totally wacky and I don’t think I can begin to describe her sound, so I’d really just recommend that everyone head over to NPR this week and give the album a listen (its not officially out until the 19th, but NPR’s excellent “First Listen” series has made the album available as a web stream) and decide for yourself whether or not you like it. I, for one, love it; with the exception of the second half of “Gangsta”, which as far as I’m concerned just dissolves into unlistenable noise, the whole album is exciting, refreshing, energetic and occasionally really beautiful. Favorites (aside from the obvious “Bizness”) are album opener “My Country”, “Powa”, and “You Yes You”, with “Doorbell” a very close runner-up. But seriously, its all good. (4/10)

Here’s another example, I think, of the hype machine blowing something waaaay out of proportion. The Weeknd have been blowing up the blogosphere for the last week or so after releasing their debut mixtape House of Balloons (for free – gotta give kudos there) and are being called something akin to the heralds of a new age in R&B thanks to a frankly impressive amount of internet chatter leading up to the release. And anytime I start to see the raving masses virtually fellating an artist almost before the album is out, I have to believe there’s something wrong. And in this case I think my instincts were pretty close to being correct.

Yes, The Weeknd’s style is rather unique when taken beside your typical R&B – dark, haunting, less concerned with beats and vocal gymnastics than with an overall mood and sonic  atmosphere. But with the exception of three tracks, I find the whole thing really heavy-handed both lyrically and in terms of delivery.

I mean, I get it. Really I do. They’re trying to use their music to evoke the feel of the seedy, melancholy underbelly of the stereotypical hip hop party scene, and they bring that impression across rather admirably, but also without much subtlety. 2/3 of the album feels like being hit over the head with the self-loathing stick, with vocals that often border on the whiny-side (and occasionally cross the line – by the time “Loft Music” ended I nearly gave up on the album) and lyrics that stop JUST short of saying straight out “I’m worthless and I hate myself and this empty party lifestyle I’m addicted to”.

All the drugs and sex and general debauchery that are central to the lyrics are less impactful to me for the same reason that so many other bloggers and reviewers seem to love these guys – its blatant and literal, no allusions or metaphors. Maybe its just me, but in this day and age its hard to be shocked or surprised by songs about drinking too much, doing drugs, and having sex with prostitutes when you say right out that that’s what you’re doing. But on House of Balloons, if they’re talking about smokin’ crack and bangin’ hoes, they’re pretty damn clear about it, and I think that perhaps a finer touch would be welcome.

And every song is about smokin’ crack and bangin’ hoes. Half the time, the lyrics are even the same from one song to the next. (I counted two songs with references to high heels, two with references to “rolling on the floor”, and more repetitions than I can count of the phrase “I got what you need” in various forms.) A little originality from track to track would go a long way toward making this album a better piece of work, as would a little variation in the delivery. I understand that the whole point of this album is, ostensibly, to portray a man so buried in his own emotional filth that he can’t feel anything at all, but the fact that he can’t muster even the tiniest amount of anger or vitriol in the second verse of “The Morning” is both frustrating and, frankly, boring.

The songs that are really successful, at least from where I sit, are the ones that employ a little mystery, a little vaguery, and a little audio trickery to get their message across.

“Coming Down” paints a pretty unsettling image of a man who’s so wacked out of his head that he’s not even sure what he’s done, but he knows its going to hurt the one he loves and that he needs to apologize, yet he also knows full well he’ll do it again. The heartbreak of addiction, of not being in control of your own actions and of knowing that you won’t do anything to stop them in the end, is incredible palpable here. The cellphone ring sample and ghostly whispers, chatters, and laughter that are layered and looped at the end of the song as he practically pleads with his girl to “pick up the phone” are striking, effective, and devastatingly sad.

“The Knowing” is heartbreaking in a whole different way, because this time its his girl who’s the guilty party. We still don’t know what she’s guilty of, but by implication (and there’s the magic word) its something bad; bad enough that he knows he should leave, but he apparently has so little respect for himself or his worth, and is so little-affected by whatever it is, that all he can say is “You probably thought that you’d break my heart / You probably thought that you’d make me cry / But baby its ok / I swear its ok / Because I know everything“. As an album closer, its pretty damn poignant, because I think it really gets to the heart of the matter – that eventually, things go so far over the top that you wind up at rock bottom, and even the worst things imaginable don’t touch you.

But album opener “High for This” is my #1 track, without question; it was the first track from the album that I listened to before downloading the whole thing, and its haunted me ever since, for the last 4 days straight. The instrumentals on this track are dark and just plain creepy, and when paired with vaguely ominous lyrics sung in a smooth, almost soothing falsetto (“You don’t know what’s in store / but you know what you’re here for“; “Its ok girl, I feel it too / Let it be, baby, breathe / I swear I’m right here“; “Don’t be scared, I’m right here / Even though you don’t know / Trust me girl / You wanna be high for this“) the overall effect is surprisingly threatening, treacherous, and disturbing. Its actually not something I think I can fairly say that I enjoy listening to  – its an intense, emotionally challenging track. But its also brilliant and evokes a very real, visceral reaction in the listener, and I believe that it does this so effectively because you just don’t know exactly what is going on in the song. The innately human fear of the unknown is artfully played upon here, and its pretty rare that I come across anything that does so as well as The Weeknd have done with this track.

To make a long story short, I think there’s a certain amount of unique vision and intelligent skill in evidence here, but honestly, I just think that The Weeknd are trying too hard most of the time. If they could harness everything they did right in that very first track and spin it out over a full album, I think they’d have a real winner on their hands. As it is, I think I’ll hang on to my three favorites and toss the rest into the ether.

If you’d like to hear the whole album yourself, its streaming in several places, and is free to download at The Weeknd’s website.

More on The Weeknd
Official website: www.the-weeknd.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/theweeknd
YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/xoxxxoooxo
Tumblr: the-weekndxo.tumblr.com/

Here’s a quick recap of this week’s listening, based on the running Listening List that I’m keeping over here. Think there’s something I should add to the list? Want to know my thoughts on any of the albums below? Drop me a comment and let me know!

Decided to try a new format for my recaps to make them a little more interesting – I’ll be going back and changing past entries over the next week or so.

Listening List Recap 3/28-4/1

All Tiny Creatures: Harbors – Disappointed in this. I really liked the single “Glass Bubbles” when I heard it, but the rest of the album frankly seems boring and repetitive. Its pretty inoffensive though, and does make good background music for when I’m working. (3/31)

The Weeknd: House of Balloons – Dark, almost gothic R&B that is by turns unsettling, heartbreaking, painful, and flatly dull. I think I have a real love-hate relationship with this album that I can’t sum up in just a few sentences. Full review coming soon. (4/1)

Body Language: Social Studies EP – First two tracks = awesome. Really fun, catchy, dancey modern disco/soul that makes me wish more bands would take this route with the whole retro thing instead of always getting caught up in 70s folk and 80s dance-pop. “You Can” is my favorite and is groovy as hell. I’m less impressed by tracks 3 and 4 – mostly because track 3 “Social Studies” sounds like another The Go Team clone, and track 4 “Tempoture” feels a little shallow and flat with somewhat juvenile instrumentation – but the thing is, they’re still well-built songs, so I can’t hold it against them too much. Would certainly be interested in their other material. (4/1)

May 3rd just can’t come soon enough.

My beloved Fleet Foxes have released a second track from their upcoming sophomore album Helplessness Blues, this time in video form, and I swear that everything I hear from this album makes me more and more excited for its release.

Just like the first single, the title track “Helplessness Blues”, “Grown Ocean” seems to me to display a significantly more mature musical aesthetic and a grander, more orchestral sound. The vocal harmonies are, as always lush and gorgeous. And the accompanying video, though stylistically very derivative of a lot of other video material being put out by indie bands (am I the only one who’s getting sick of the faux-70s polaroid look?) it does provide a rather fascinating glimpse into the behind-the-scenes world of the band’s recording sessions.

Check out the video below, or visit the band’s website for a nice full-screen view.

There’s a lot of good neo-folk being made right now, but I truly think that Fleet Foxes are continuing to make some of the best – they are real standard-bearers for the genre. And I expect that in just over a month we’ll all be laying in the grass, soaking up the springtime sunshine, and reveling in our second jaunt into Fleet Foxes’ world. Helplessness Blues will, I think, be a joy.

EDIT: Oh goodness, I’ve just discovered that I somehow missed not one, but TWO additional track releases in the last few weeks: “Bedouin Dress” and “Battery Kinzie“. Both are lovely and only serve to support everything I’ve already said, so I won’t repeat myself. Now go! Get thee to Pretty Much Amazing and listen!

More Fleet Foxes
Official Website: www.fleetfoxes.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Fleet-Foxes/24709128407
MySpace: www.myspace.com/fleetfoxes