A month or so ago, I posted about some music I was listening to at the time. Among other things, I mentioned that I was pretty excited about the new British Sea Power album, but that the Decemberists’ Picaresque was okay, but not great.
Funny what extended listening can do to initial reactions.
I lost interest in the British Sea Power record (Open Season) pretty quickly. Like so many other albums that sound good at first, it turns out to be the same thing I’ve heard from countless bands— there’s nothing particularly bad about it, but nothing particularly good, either. For that matter, there’s nothing to really set it apart from the rest of the post-rock, emo-ish field. “Hey, look at us! We threw some Joy Division in a pot with Radiohead and came up with a sound that you’ve heard before!”
Meanwhile, I keep listening to Picaresque, and find myself liking it more every time. Yes, there are parts that are more folk-y than I generally tend to like, but even the tracks that are the worst offenders in that regard get me singing along. There really isn’t a bad song on this album, and damn, but the good stuff is good.
Otherwise, it’s been pretty quiet on the acquisition front. I recently picked up the recent Sage Francis album after hearing “Dance Monkey” on KEXP. I like it—it’s got a good beat and he has some pretty interesting political and social points to make, but I don’t feel like I’m being hit over the head with them ala Rage Against the Machine. I’ve also been listening to The Secret Machines’ Now Here is Nowhere a lot. While I’ve had it for a while, I never really got around to checking it out. It ended up in my car CD player while he local NPR station was doing their summer fund drive, so I finally gave it a listen. Excellent, catchy songs, and they definitely don’t skimp on The Rock.