The Rundown

Ok, so I haven't posted in weeks and I've been listening to a lot of different music since my last post. I couldn't decide on a single artist to focus on for one of two reasons: 1) The artist has released numerous albums and I've only really listened to one of them or 2) I really only like one CD the artist has produced and don't think the others are as great. Instead, I'm going to list some of the albums that have been in heavy rotation over the last month or so.



Artist: Justice
Album: † (Cross) (2007)
Genre(s): French house, dance
Like Daft Punk did years ago, Justice is gaining much international acclaim through the French house scene. Unlike most dance music though, the rock influence makes this album both dance-worthy and not annoying to listen to when doing everyday things. If you're looking for something upbeat and a little different, check this album out.


Justice - "DVNO"

Artist: Crystal Castles
Album: Crystal Castles (2008)
Genre(s): Electronic, well done old-school Nintendo music
This CD rocks my world. I've always been a fan of the classic video game type sounds and soundtracks (the music for Mega Man II was ahead of its time). Crystal Castles takes the 8-bit sound effects (like an Atari 5200 sound chip), throws some drum machine in, adds a little vocals, and creates something completely new and amazing. Highly recommended for children of the 80's that played lots of video games.

Artist: Magnetic Fields
Album: 69 Love Songs (1999)
Genre(s): Indie laced with tons of other genres
69 Love Songs is exactly what it sounds like: 69 songs spread over 3 CDs. This epic collection is old but I've come back to it recently after finding a whole wiki devoted to these songs. Stephin Merritt wanted to initially write 100 songs but then decided that was too much and settled on 69. What's unique about 69 Love Songs though is that it's not about love, it's about the love song. Though love is the common subject of each song, the music and songwriting varies greatly with each track. If you already have this, I highly recommend listening to it while following the wiki companion piece for some very interesting insights on the album and Merritt.

Artist: !!!
Album: Myth Takes (2007)
Genre(s): Funk, indie, disco, maybe a little punk
!!! (pronounced Chk Chk Chk) has a unique and hard-to-describe sound. It's upbeat and percussive but it also has a subtle dark side to it with rock influences, kind of like Nine Inch Nails. Very catchy and easy to groove to, especially the tribal sounding "Heart of Hearts" and laid back "Yadnus".


!!! - "Must Be the Moon"

That should be enough to tide anyone who's still reading this blog over until someone else posts something. We promise we'll get better about updating this, especially when two of us get out of grad school in about a month or two. Promise.