dimecres, de març 28, 2007
Music Machete Making Up For Lost Time
A new album titled “Because of the Times” by the Kings of Leon is set to release next week, on April 3rd so I feel compelled to provide my two cents on the matter. At the time of this post the entire album is available for preview on their myspace page.
Full disclosure- I own the previous Kings of Leon album, but hate the first release. You may know this band from by their song “Molly’s Chambers” which is an ok song if you don’t care much for music. I think it was in a VW commercial where white people dance, which I think doesn’t narrow it down by much. Fortunately the Kings have gotten much better, and there are no ads featuring them in case you are a snob like that.
The Kings’ last album made me feel they were tapping into some of what the strokes were doing. I will go as far as to call them anoint them the Southern Strokes, which given the quality of “First Impressions of Earth” is definite praise. There are stark differences between what the NYC rich kids are doing and what the Nashville Leons are up to. They both just like the same things about the Velvet Underground and it shows. The consistent, bouncing backbeat and guitar interplay are always welcome in my book.
KoL carve their niche by being extra smooth though. And I think this is attributed to their southern roots. They and My Morning Jacket are living proof of how “American” a band can sound while still being progressive. If country music had stuck with Cash instead of following Brooks and not gone pop the Kings of Leon would be Nashville Royalty.
OK, enough set up. The album is bouncy-smooth for the first 3rd, then gets raunchy, until completely mellowing out for the last few songs. The songs seem to be grouped in this fashion purposefully as certain instruments are contained to the aforementioned sections.
You can see this band playing at a dive bar where shirt & shoes are not required. I don’t mean in the same sense as a beach bar but more like a bar in a town that is still building up to its first stop light.
The lead singer’s twangy voice will sound completely out of place, much like you don’t expect Ian Anderson’s over Jethro Tull. But it’s there and once you drop your hang-up you understand how it fits perfectly. It doesn’t distract the way Geddy Lee’s always will.
Kings of Leon have always been good at throwing down an upbeat track that begs to have some bourbon poured over it but on this album they seem to make an effort to show they can be so much more. The first few songs seem to be come first just to prove a point. There is also a lot more Stones influence here.
The slower songs are a tad dull, if I have to say something bad about the album. Yet there are still some good noise/fuzz rocking moments, if you enjoy that. Then again there is a reason Sonic Youth’s following is relatively small given their fervor.
“Because of the Times” isn’t going to change the world. It is the first Kings of Leon I can listen through completely with no problem, which suits me just fine since I’m too old to buy my songs piecemeal on iTunes. This is another anti-teeniemobop album that won’t inspire a phone full of ringtones.
Key Tracks:
On Call
Knocked Up
Ragoo
Trunk
Fans
Black Thumbnail
Next 5 albums I want to buy/illegally download:
Because of the Times – Kings of Leon
We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank – Modest Mouse
Friend Opportunity – Deerhoof
Sound of Silver – LCD Soundsystem
New Magnetic Wonder – The Apples In Stereo
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Full disclosure- I own the previous Kings of Leon album, but hate the first release. You may know this band from by their song “Molly’s Chambers” which is an ok song if you don’t care much for music. I think it was in a VW commercial where white people dance, which I think doesn’t narrow it down by much. Fortunately the Kings have gotten much better, and there are no ads featuring them in case you are a snob like that.The Kings’ last album made me feel they were tapping into some of what the strokes were doing. I will go as far as to call them anoint them the Southern Strokes, which given the quality of “First Impressions of Earth” is definite praise. There are stark differences between what the NYC rich kids are doing and what the Nashville Leons are up to. They both just like the same things about the Velvet Underground and it shows. The consistent, bouncing backbeat and guitar interplay are always welcome in my book.
KoL carve their niche by being extra smooth though. And I think this is attributed to their southern roots. They and My Morning Jacket are living proof of how “American” a band can sound while still being progressive. If country music had stuck with Cash instead of following Brooks and not gone pop the Kings of Leon would be Nashville Royalty.
OK, enough set up. The album is bouncy-smooth for the first 3rd, then gets raunchy, until completely mellowing out for the last few songs. The songs seem to be grouped in this fashion purposefully as certain instruments are contained to the aforementioned sections.
You can see this band playing at a dive bar where shirt & shoes are not required. I don’t mean in the same sense as a beach bar but more like a bar in a town that is still building up to its first stop light.
The lead singer’s twangy voice will sound completely out of place, much like you don’t expect Ian Anderson’s over Jethro Tull. But it’s there and once you drop your hang-up you understand how it fits perfectly. It doesn’t distract the way Geddy Lee’s always will.
Kings of Leon have always been good at throwing down an upbeat track that begs to have some bourbon poured over it but on this album they seem to make an effort to show they can be so much more. The first few songs seem to be come first just to prove a point. There is also a lot more Stones influence here.
The slower songs are a tad dull, if I have to say something bad about the album. Yet there are still some good noise/fuzz rocking moments, if you enjoy that. Then again there is a reason Sonic Youth’s following is relatively small given their fervor.
“Because of the Times” isn’t going to change the world. It is the first Kings of Leon I can listen through completely with no problem, which suits me just fine since I’m too old to buy my songs piecemeal on iTunes. This is another anti-teeniemobop album that won’t inspire a phone full of ringtones.
Key Tracks:On Call
Knocked Up
Ragoo
Trunk
Fans
Black Thumbnail
Next 5 albums I want to buy/illegally download:
Because of the Times – Kings of Leon
We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank – Modest Mouse
Friend Opportunity – Deerhoof
Sound of Silver – LCD Soundsystem
New Magnetic Wonder – The Apples In Stereo
Publica un comentari a l'entrada