week of february 16th
Local Natives
You have to pick up the Local Natives’ album, Gorilla Manor. A fun rock/indie album coming out of southern California. And it’s a great deal on iTunes right now as well, so no excuses! It’s exciting to see these guys doing well, who were formerly known as Cavil at Rest, and they include a brother of a good college friend.
Scott Lanaway
Another great electro-pop artist hailing from the maple leaf nation, Scott has a fun album with funny titles. Check out Mergers and Acquisitions.
Lightspeed Champion
A very interesting album by Devonte Hynes, this release has a mix of pop, power choruses, and classical influence. Produced by Ben Allen, who also produced Animal Collective, there are fun guitar and electro sounds making an appearance. You have to give this one a listen.
Ben Rector
Into the Morning, a great pop album by Nashville artist Ben Rector has some great appeal for all those top 40 fans. Not to say that as a negative, because it is a fun and easy listen.
Chris Page
I have to admit, this album didn’t quite appeal to me at first. It is completely acoustic, and while I appreciate the effort, I feel brought back to the Dashboard years of early Y2K. There are some great moments on A Date with a Smoke Machine, and I’m sure there are many of you who will have an appreciation for what Chris has done.
www.myspace.com/chrispagemusic
Tom McRae
Tom’s fifth album has many different and strange sounds. I do appreciate that he doesn’t always fall in the singer/songwriter cliche as he so easily could. With a mix of slow builds, uses of clarinet, and rough sounding vocals, McRae gives an album that didn’t blow me away, but definitely kept me interested. I do appreciate the creativity he has put on display for us to hear.
