July 2012 Pick of the Month: OF MONSTERS AND MEN "My Head is an Animal"

P.O.D. (Payable On Death) - Murdered Love

I go way back with P.O.D. The first album of theirs I bought was Satellite. It's their most popular album and I would guess has outsold all their other albums combined.  That album is great and a solid place to start if you're not familiar with their work.  Since that time I've continued to follow what they have produced and delved into the music that came out prior to Satellite. If you were to do the same you'd find that their earlier music definitely is much heavier and has a niche crowd. The more music the band produced, the more introspective the music became. This maybe culminated with the self titled album, Payable On Death. The album itself marked a change in guitar as well the music as guitarist Jason Truby joined the band when Marcos Curiel left. (He left because he has lost his faith in Christ. He has since returned to the band although I haven't read anything about where he stands in aspect to his faith.)  Jason brought lots of soul to the band, and I'm not talking R&B soul, more of the getting lost in your inner thoughts almost ethereal at times. He remained for a second album with the band, Testify, before Marcos returned to his spot for the record When Angels and Serpents Dance.  There is an obvious difference in the sound of the whole band with each guitarist.

P.O.D. has for the most part remained consistent with the elements of what you will find in their music.  Even from the early days you will here reggae, rap, and even ska undertones in their music (that I would characterize as hard rock although some of their songs on their first album Snuff the Punk may breach the border of heavy metal). This album has Marcos' handiwork all over it. I'm not the biggest Marcos fan, but I did enjoy some of his earlier work in the band and he approaches that sound here.

All in all Murdered Love is a quasi-return to form for the band. It's nothing terribly exciting, but if your a fan of the band, especially their earlier stuff, then you'll enjoy the album. For me I listen to it every once in a while when I'm feeling nostalgic but it probably won't get any more play than that.  If you want to check out P.O.D. your best bet is Satellite, although I would also suggest Payable on Death.

PHANTOGRAM - Nightlife EP

I heard of them and this album courtesy of Relevant Magazine. Their debut album, Eyelid Movies, came out a couple of years ago, but I'm just hearing them for the first time.  The group is a duet with Sarah Barthel on vocals/keys/synth and Josh Carter on guitar.   From what I could find there aren't any super interesting stories about them except that they are from Saratoga Springs, New York and apparently Saratoga Springs is a tourist town. (I had no idea) Either way the music is what it's all about anyway, so let's get to it.

The EP is aptly named as Barthel describes the groups sound as "Beat-heavy pop with kind of dreamy, swelling guitars, spacey synths and emotional lyrics; honest lyrics." The product of this is not for everyone, but if you are open to electro-pop I believe you enjoy the album. The EP has only 6 songs on it, but it makes the most of each song. The single, Don't Move, takes a simple and catchy beat and puts you in a comfortable place where you don't feel like doing anything to exciting, but you also don't feel like being home. This is very much the mood for the whole album. Another way of putting it might be walking down the street at night and feeling safer under the street lamps, this EP puts you into the light of the street lamps. It's dark, but not. That is, all except the last track, Dark Tunnel, which takes a step into the darkness with some hope of making into the next street lamps.

RANDY WALDMAN - Wigged Out

This album is great. I heard one of the tracks, Beethoven's 5th Symphony, on the radio on the way home  a couple of weeks ago and spent the next 2 days trying to find out who it was. After I finally figured it out I got the album and have been extremely happy with it. The album came out in 1998 and is a different type of Third Stream Jazz. Waldman takes a number of famous classical and arranging them for a jazz ensemble. For the most part the group consists of a trio: piano, bass, and drums. However there are tracks where a sax or a trumpet join the group, and the aforementioned Beethoven's 5th Symphony incorporates strings and big band (I'm guessing there). John Patitucci is on bass, and Vinnie Colaiuta on drums.  The guest artists include Freddie Hubbard, Arturo Sandoval, Michael Brecker, and Bob Berg. It's a star studded list that produce awesome performances on the album. I love how they take the classical songs and use them in solos, and then as a sort of joke every once in a while you'll here them quote a traditional jazz tune like Now's the Time.

Here's what you need to know, the ensemble is tight, the arrangements are well done, and the solos are solid.  This was a very surprising album for me to find and I HIGHLY recommend it.

Pick of the Month: OF MONSTERS AND MEN - My Head is An Animal

I was going to have Wigged Out be my pick of the month, but I find myself playing this album on repeat. The album came out last year in Europe, but made it's American debut this past April. The band is a sextet with a female lead singer (Nanna Bryndís Hilmarsdóttir), an overweight male counterpart ( Ragnar “Raggi” Þórhallsson) to the female lead, and occasionally features a female trumpet player. I'm all about female empowerment and the promotion of overweight individuals in pop culture.

Anyway, the band hales from Iceland which makes me think that if you ever hear of a band coming out of Iceland you must check them out.  I'm actually not super knowledgable about the subject, but I do know that Bjork, Sigur Ros, and now Of Monsters and Men have come from Iceland and they are all very good.

Now to the music. Their sound is very much playing off of the success of Mumford and Sons last year. Much of the album has a driving folk beat behind it. It's upbeat poppy folk music and you can't help but  feel a little more peppy as you listen to it.  As I mentioned the lead singer, , is a female and she's solid. She doesn't have a dominate or over powering voice, but it will draw you in. Another nice feature reminiscent of Mumford and Sons is how the full ensemble will join in to provide deep and full harmonies that are not too common in pop music.

The single off of this album is Little Talks and for good reason. The trumpet I mentioned makes an appearance on the track and the back and forth between Nanna and guitarist/singer Raggi. The song itself tells the story of a woman having a conversation with her departed lover. This is common in their music as they'll admit they enjoy telling stories with their music and it comes more natural to to them. The best songs come on the first half of the album, highlighted by King and Lionheart, Mountain Sound, and Little Talks. That's not to say the second half of the album is a slouch, it just doesn't carry the same energy and force as the first half.  There are some very nice moments in the second half, maybe my favorite coming in the chorus of Sloom.

It's a very good album and really enjoyable to listen to. If it tickles your fancy you'll find yourself listening to repeatedly and that's not a bad thing.

That will do it for this post. Let me know what you think and please feel free to recommend music of your own!

Take care and God bless.