AWmusic

Queens of the Stone Age was one of my favorite rock bands before I went all indie-loving and their past two albums “Songs for the Deaf” and “Lullabies to Paralyze” were amazing.

This album had the style of Queens of the Stone Age but with less synthesizers and harder rock. However, I found this hard to listen to at first like the critics are saying. It does get better with each listen but I still couldn’t get myself to like as much as Songs for the Deaf and Lullabies to Paralyze.

It could be that my tastes are no longer aligned with QOTSA but I am not liking this album though there are some solid songs here. Some of them that stand out for me are “Sick, Sick, Sick”, “Run Pig Run” and “3’s & 7’s”. This album may not be for me but it’s much more easier to like and warm up to unlike the Battles album that I had to say I hated.

This album is probably heading to the trash folder on my computer but overall it is a decent album and if you are a QOTSA fan you’ll probably like it or interested in something slightly different. Overall rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Listen to “Run Pig Run” – my favorite song on the album:
Run Pig Run.mp3

All from an opening act performance but I really like their style and lyrically they are awesome. Some people have told me about them but I think I was at first turned off by the name of their band “Cold War Kids”. They are an indie band out of Fullerton, California and had some success on the UK Charts (seems like all the bands I like do).

Anyway, my friend and I really enjoyed the shaker they used in their performances, which alternated between band members. This small thing has turned me into a fan and I’m glad they opened for Muse so there’s another band I saw.

If you haven’t heard of Cold War Kids check them out or listen to these two songs and see what you think:
We Used To Vacation.mp3

Tell Me In The Morning.mp3

I personally anticipated “The Devil and God Rage Inside Me” due to Deja Entendu’s greatness and unfortunately I don’t think album lived up to it for me. There were some decent songs on there and it wasn’t annoying to listen to but I have to say that it’s not worthy to be on my computer.

Check out the two songs below:

Okay, I Believe You, But My Tommy Gun Don’t.mp3 (from Deja Entendu)

Sowing Season.WMA (from TDGRIM). (Couldn’t embed properly)This album by Brand New isn’t bad but it was a disappointing follow up for me. Both albums are similar in the sense there is nothing specific that stands out in my mind. Both albums is lyric based and doesn’t seem like “emo” at all.

I probably won’t be listening from TDGRIM from here on out but I will give it a 3 out of 5. I will always enjoy Deja Entendu though.

I think this album is awesome to listen to and has addictive tracks like “Fluorescent Adolescent” or “This is a circus”. I think the only issue if any with this album is that it wasn’t an instant hit when I started listening to it.

When I first listened to WPSIATWIAN, it was an instant hit and I loved it right from the start. YFWN doesn’t have many problems and it barely flawed. This is a very excellent album that many people could like and I give it a 4.5 out of 5. It is worth checking out but it may not be the “best” thing you ever heard but it’s damn good. Listen to Fluorescent Adolescent below:

Fluorescent Adolescent.mp3

I’ve downloaded this album for awhile and I just couldn’t get myself to like it. Battles is mainly an instrumental band and I can say that I am not a fan of it. I just didn’t think this really had be excited or really enjoyed it at all. There was a song I enjoyed which included vocals called Ddiamondd. I think if more songs were like this I would probably like them more.

Otherwise I can’t give this a good review regardless of what the critics or what other people think because on a personal level it’s not a good album and I even deleted the album from my computer as a result. Maybe it’s just my personal taste but this album gets a 1.5 out of 5 from me. Check out DdiamondD below:

Battles – Ddiamondd.mp3

The National has been releasing critically acclaimed stuff for a while and that’s pretty much how I was able hear about them and their album “Boxer”. I really didn’t know to what to think about this band at first as I downloaded this album in June and haven’t really warmed up to it. I really just needed to give this band a chance and that is why I do reviews about two months late. The National’s lead singer is hard to really like at first since it is so incredibly low but after long enough if you let it get to you, you will start liking it.

There are various songs on “Boxer” that are equally addicting, lyrically, musically and maybe even vocally. Some of my favorite songs include “Mistaken for Strangers” and “Start a war” which you can download/stream below if you want to sample what they sound like. I think the only problem the National may have is that it doesn’t seem to have that “single” potential anywhere to do well in the mainstream. I think it’s hard to find one song from them you want to play over and over again but the album in generally very good.

I give this an album a 4 out of 5. Not sure, I would buy this album but it is solid and much deserving of occupying space in my media library. With buying albums I usually have to like the band blindly or it has to be 5 (which is a must buy or I deserve to die).
Mistaken For Strangers.mp3

Start A War.mp3

Anyway their full length EP: Is Is was released on July 24th. I tried to listen to EP as it seemed harder then most of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs stuff.

I really didn’t enjoy the hard stuff so much and it just didn’t bring any catchiness nor anything I could really warm up to over time. I think I am reviewing it kind of early compared to albums but I could only go through 5 songs since it is just an EP and I can’t really give that much of a good review.

I have to give it a 2 out of 5 as it failed to produce one song I really liked, decent but nothing special. Listen/download the song Kiss Kiss below if you are interested if what the rest of the EP sounds like.

Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs- Kiss Kiss.mp3

This album has a few addictive tracks but for the most part it didn’t captivate me and listen to hours on end like “Antics” and “Turn On The Bright Lights”. This album is a bit disappointing though it does shine in some hits.

Particularly I love the track “No I in Threesome”. I also enjoyed some songs like Wrecking Ball but in general, I felt like I was forcing myself to listen to this album. I am going to have to give this album 2.5 out of 5.

Another thing that particularly upset me is that the good reviews came out first and then the bad started to fill out the reviews a week after I ordered the album. This has nothing to do with Interpol but enough to annoy me.

Listen/download No I in Threesome:
No I in Threesome.mp3
Listen here:

With moshpits and lots of people passing out it sure was unexpected to me that this would occur was a muse concert. I loved it more then the concerts I’ve seen with the Arcade Fire and the White Stripes as the crowd was way into it.

We had surprise near the end with about 10 big white balloons fills with confetti was launched into my area. The crowd was scrambling and it was just an amazing concert experience.

I’ll probably look to see more bands at Arrow Hall as it shouldn’t be able to fit 9000 people but it creates a hectic atmosphere due to it.

Otherwise I have nothing else to say but I’ll leave you with an older Muse song that I’ve come to like. I am surprised I have used up my monthly bandwidth with box.net (used 14 GB) so apparently a lot of people are playing these songs which is a great thing. Thanks to Jack Truong a got friend of mine for awhile for letting me host files with him.

Muse – Escape from Showbiz.