It’s been about two months since I’ve written a music review. It isn’t that I haven’t been picking up new music, it’s just that I haven’t 
been inspired to write about any of the albums I’ve been listening to. I may try to sneak in a general summary of the albums I’ve had on rotation lately next week, but I finally found some inspiration in the new Mumford album.
It’s no secret I enjoyed the last album. I listened to it fairly regularly up until I got tired of hearing it consistently on the radio. I even saw them live at one of the most frightening concert going experiences I’ve ever had. This includes being punched in the head at a metal show in college. Whatever the case may be, I have enjoyed their emotional brand of banjo laden folk rock. Perhaps that is why I’m surprised at how conflicted I am over the new album and any subsequent albums moving forward.
Generally speaking the last album was met with praise. It seemed like Mumford was filling a void in the music realm that many thought was lacking. Sure there were other acts out there more deserving of the honor of being the pioneers of the folk genre, but they were the band that many locked onto. So, when they went back to the studio to work on their next album, did they think of how they could push the limits and reinvent the genre? No, they went out and produced an album that the masses would buy. Not every band is looking be Radiohead or produce St. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Some bands are just happy to have fans and keep playing the style of music that got them famous. There has to be a reason Nickleback is one of the biggest bands on the planet right now. Regardless, they stuck to their formula.
If you’ve never noticed the Mumford formula you need to put on one of their songs right now. Most likely it started kind of slow, there are a few that get that banjo going right away, but most likely it started slow. Some where along the way, most likely before the chorus, there was a big build up of the tempo of the music, the introduction of the banjo, and the song took off at a frantic 
pace. If the song started slow you thought, “Wow, that was a big emotional build-up. I feel so alive!” However, they aren’t done with the emotional roller coaster that is their music just yet. Somewhere half way through the song, they get quiet again and reenact their previous build-up. The song may end upbeat or quiet. Either way, they have taken you through a range of emotions. The problem there is if you notice the pattern. Instead of enjoying the ride, you feel the monotony of the pattern.
Sorry I didn’t mean to get off on a rant here. I did actually intend to review the new album.
The album starts off with the title track off the album: “Babel”. Although it is certainly a prototypical Mumford song that follows the exact formula I just spoke of, I do like the ferocious beginning. Perhaps it was taking a break from Mumford for a while, but I found it to be a really fun song. I do laugh when I hear lead singer Marcus Mumford pronounce babel like table. I’m not sure if that is a foreigner thing or not. The next two songs certainly keep moving right on along with the typical Mumford formula. The banjo line in “Whispers in the Dark” makes me smile for sure. I like the harmonizing and quick pace of the song, but the banjo makes me think the banjo player should be jumping around barefoot with his overalls on at a hoedown somewhere. Of course, “I Will Wait” has a pretty similar effect with the banjo as well.
“Ghosts That We Knew” is probably the first song on the album that has me thinking Mumford can vary it up slightly. The song starts off low-key and pretty much stays there most of the time. It has a much more quiet and powerful feel to it. I think “Lover of the Light” is probably my favorite song on the album. The tone and tempo seem different from some of the other things Mumford has tried. I actually listened to this album while running the other day and this song reminded me of some of the material on the 
“Into the Wild” Soundtrack. It has that exploration and west ward expansion feel. I do get a little disappointed by Mumford throwing their formula into it, but I still really like it.
I think “Hopeless Wanderer” may be the most frustrating song on the album for me. I want to like it; however, it feels like they try to employ the formula over and over and over again in it. I do like that is has three different tempos to it, but it seems somewhat disjointed in how they set them up. It starts quiet, gets somewhat frantic and emotional, breaks into a steady strumming of melody, drops back into a harmonized quiet part, and then breaks into the real breakdown with the inclusion of the quick banjo line. I can’t help but feel like this song was a cut and paste job. They wanted to do their formula, but they liked two different emotional pick up parts, so they just used both.
I understand I sound like I’m somewhat bashing Mumford and their ways, and I probably am to some degrees. I think they produced an album with a lot of good songs on it, I just wish it wasn’t so predictable. If you think I’m making this up, put on the first three songs on the album. Each one of them has a part in the middle where they get quiet just to bring it back up to the emotional breakdown. If you’re like me, you may actual become frustrated when you come to realize that every song follows a similar pattern.
I’m sure I’ll continue listening to this album for a few weeks. I may even listen to a few songs longer than that, but I just don’t think Mumford can go out there and assume their fans won’t notice this pattern in each of their songs.
Teacher Grade: C (because I’m still a sucker for the pattern at times)
a whole lot more effort into reviewing an album than a beer. Not sitting in front of a computer or working in a place where I could really listen to an album for review makes it difficult for me to fully listen to and appreciate what I’ve picked up recently. Then an album comes out that I have been looking forward to for months, and I can’t help but find time to listen to it. Last week, while sitting on the beach, I listened to a few albums nearly every day. So here comes the first music review in months.
seems like something of the very distant past. Being a school teacher it is certainly a bit of a different time in schools when it comes to distractions. Kids come into school with their headphones on, they complain when you ask them to take them out or turn it off, they lie that it isn’t plugged in or turned on, and they want to wear the headphones around their neck as a fashion statement. If that isn’t enough, I have to tell kids to put them away, and I have to watch out for sweatshirts that disguise the headphones in the actual hood drawstrings. It’s a crazy time period. Thinking of my other job, I watch kids come in with their parents totally ignoring family time to listen to their music. I’ve had kids put on their pandora app at the table so they have music they want to hear, and I’ve watched families sit through entire meals without speaking to each other. It’s a strange new world we’re moving into and, while I may sound really annoyed at the state of the world, I’m loving this new technology.
crazy advance in the portable music industry. I didn’t need the binder anymore, now I could carry hundreds of albums in this compact device. Of course, with the advance in technology came a different type of responsibility. Now I had to be much more careful with the device. I managed to only purchase one Walkman and one discman in my life, but in the span of 8 years, I have gone through 4 different Ipods.
Jack White was right at the top of that list. I certainly think he has to be considered one of those musical geniuses of our time period. It’s strange looking at musicians who I have actually seen from their inception to current time becoming hall of famers. These rock gods are supposed to be people that my parents listened to. It’s almost like how I hate knowing that half of the best athletes out there now a days are younger than I am. When did all the cool people stop being people I could also look up to as my senior. Anyway, I’m amazed at the ability of Jack White to achieve greatness in so many different styles. The White Stripes was his rock group, the Raconteurs are his folk group, and the Dead Weathers are his punk band. With him finding so many different niches already, I was really excited for his solo release. I was quite curious what style it would be in at least.
too much of the same thing over and over again. Thankfully White’s voice alone keeps things extremely interesting. ”Missing Pieces” is a great song to start the entire album off with. Once again the music is somewhat subdued and plays second fiddle to White’s voice, but it complements it extremely well. Jack’s twangy voice and ample story telling will really rope the listener in. There is a quick little guitar solo in the middle that leads to a nice little musical breakdown; however, the rest of the song is heavy on organ, keyboard, and drums. Once again it seems like White could be dealing with the break up as he sings about someone taking pieces of him and leaving.
Trampled by Turtles – 
hold my attention. I would like to predict that this one will manage to do just that, but I do wonder if that is true or not. I really like this album, but I’m not sure if it has staying power. This is probably the least folk style album in this post, but it can almost be described as rock that has been influenced by punk and country. You can definitely get a little bit more enthusiasm and attitude out of the lead singer, Ben Nichols’s, voice. They start this album off with a rock and roll powerhouse song “On My Way Downtown”. This song has a lot of the blusey rock sensibilities to it, but it also could be used for a killer line dance as well. ”Women & Work” has a slightly more old school rock and roll feel to it; however, the word honkey-tonk does come out in this song, so it also features a heavy dose of country as well. I’ve said it before on here; I really like albums that are made for driving. I can put down the windows for this one and enjoy a nice long drive. Unfortunately it would be straight into traffic around here, but I’ll be keeping this one on rotation all summer.
Good Old War -
When it comes to Alabama Shakes I, and many others, saw them coming from miles away. Different places I go for my music news have been talking about Alabama Shakes for well over a year now. Even though they have only been a band since 2009, they managed to get together and hone their sound fairly quickly. Completely blowing up a few festivals here and there, their very first full length album could be considered one of the most anticipated albums of the year. I think you should open up Spotify, or click on their video at the bottom of this post, and give a listen to them as you read through the rest of this little review. You’ll be a fan by the end of reading this post.
The best place to start with Alabama Shakes is their first single/song on the album: “Hold On”. This is the song that they are performing on late night talk shows, and they have a video for it as well. As I said earlier, Howard pours herself into many of these different songs, and it definitely comes out in full force on this song. The song starts off simple enough. The beat the drums keep, the pretty simple melody the guitars have, and the steady bass don’t deviate much until near the end of the song. It is really Howard’s voice that stands out here. She has the ability to sing, “scream”, and put emphasis on things so you can see her passion here. The lyrics of the song are pretty simple as well, but the power lies in how she sings it. She seems to be singing about struggling to make it out of some kind of difficulty. Her lyrics, “Bless my heart, Bless my soul / Didn’t think I’d make it t0 22 years old / Must be someone, up above / Saying come on Britney, you gotta come on up / You gotta hold on”, seem really personal. I especially like how she throws her own name in there as well. It’s like she wants you to know she is struggling to hold on. The emotion she contains in her voice only continues to come out even more as the song breaks into organized pandemonium near the end of the song. Watch the video below!
mind some type of 50′s sock hop song. I always manage to get the dance scene from the first Back to the Future movie in my head when I listen to this song. It’s a much more laid back song, and it’s message is simply to take it easy and have fun. It’s real catchy and much more relaxed than some of the other material. ”Goin’ To The Party” is one of the stranger songs on the album for me. It has more of a narrative to it about heading to a party. They warn or entice you to go because there is going to be dancing and a fight as well. The tempo of the song is definitely different from anything else on the album, and I do have to be in the mood for it. I can’t help but think this is a slightly comedic song. Britney warbles, “Gotta take me home now, know you ain’t drinking water / Gotta take me back, cause I’m still somebody’s daughter”. The lyrical content and delivery are just so much different from anything else on the album.
listening to his music. In college, my friend and I started to hunt down different vinyl we thought we would enjoy. It was at that time I ended up picking up a bunch of different classic Springsteen records and ultimately loving his stuff. Therefore, when this one came out, I had to jump on it right away. Bruce’s music always sounds like Bruce, but he manages to put a different spin on it in different ways. I don’t know if he has ever had so many songs that have such an Irish country feel to it; however, I like it. His voice works really well with the style. The title song, “Wrecking Ball”, is one of my favorite songs on the album. It has some great NJ references to it that give me some pride that Jersey Shore took from me. There are, unfortunately, a few songs I’m not really all that into. ”Rocky Ground” is a somewhat boring song, and it has a little R&B breakdown in it that I find rather annoying as well. Bruce needs to stick to what he’s good at. Additionally, I can’t help but think “Swallowed Up (In The Belly of The Whale)” is too boring as well. Thankfully there is enough good real Springsteen material for me to still enjoy this record on the whole.
Justin Townes Earle – 
talking about them for months, then I caught the video randomly on TV a few times, and I finally saw a favorable review on another resource. I figured I needed to give them a chance. This band comes from Iceland who has also given us great acts like Bjork and Sigur Ros, so I was even more interested in them for that reason. Good music seems to come out of this strange little country. They provide a really big full sound on all of their songs, which I really like about what they do. I also appreciate the fact that they have both a male and female lead for the band. They tend to lean more on their female lead, but it gives them a lot of ability to harmonize on nearly every song. Of course, every member seems to get in on the chants which they seem to include on a whole lot of songs. I’m not sure how I feel about that, but I think it adds to that full sound. ”Little Talks” is the lead single off the album, and it may be slightly misleading to someone new to the band how uptempo most of their material may actually be. ”Little Talks” is definitely the fastest song on the entire album. The other songs provide some really full, slightly ambient music with some great harmonized singing. They kind of remind me of The Head and The Heart with less folk influence.
The Decemberists – 
doesn’t mean I can’t still do a review of something. If you know the name Colin Meloy, you may be thinking this has to be some kind of solo album he put out that you didn’t notice. You my friend would be wrong. Colin Meloy tested some of that writing ability that we have only seen in Decemberists’ songs by putting out a novel. I saw something about this book shortly before Christmas this year, and it managed to make it on to my list of desirable gifts. Thankfully my parents got it for me, and I managed to finally get around to reading it on this vacation. I’m a reading teacher, but I rarely get to read things I want to read. I am rereading material I give the kids, grading papers, and getting my posts up here. So, I was really happy to finally find the time to get around to doing a little reading of my own.
neighborhood. A hipster child, she rides to the library on her bike which tows a wagon containing her little brother. Later she rides to the park where she allows her brother to play while she draws wildlife. While distracted, she doesn’t notice the murder of crows that comes in until it’s too late. There is a bike chase scene all over Portland, but the crows eventually fly over this mysterious Impassable Forest. The forest is an interesting component of the story. It resides on the side of the little town, but no one goes there or even talks about it. Prue has been very interested in it for years; however, she now has to go in after her brother.
interested in reading it; however, once inside the forest the story begins to take the real fantasy twist. The Impassable Forrest is divided into 3 areas. There is Southwood where all of the government and intellectuals live. There is Northwood where all of the farmers and free thinkers live, and then there is Wildwood in-between the two civilized areas. Wildwood has coyotes, bandits, crows, and all other sorts of feared wildlife that makes Wildwood the scary part of their community. Curtis and Prue manage to get separated once inside the forest. They encounter talking animals, birds, and an evil Governess as well. A long and crazy journey occurs where Curtis and Prue must find each other, find Prue’s lost little brother, and defeat the evil Governess that is looking to take over the forest.
time, I wanted to get one music review in this week. So I rolled the mental dice and decided I would go with The Shins. Are you actually interested in what the other album is? Well it is Bruce Springsteen’s new one. I love that one too, but I had to pick one and The Shins won. I’m downloading about 4 new albums as we speak, so there is a chance I’ll have another new one ready to go soon, but I still might have to do Bruce. I’m originally from NJ, and I love the Boss!
Going back and listening to the older Shins’ albums helps to show that Mercer’s voice is perhaps the most important component of the band. There are plenty of bands that are reliant on the sound they achieve with their lead singer. If they came back as the same band, but the voice sounds different, people talk about how their older stuff was better. People connect with the tones and inflection of a great voice, and Mercer has that great voice. It is somewhat iconic. When you heard him sing on Broken Bells, you knew you were still listening to the lead singer of The Shins. Thankfully, despite the rest of the band changing around, Mercer’s voice hasn’t. He can accomplish such depth and variety with his voice as well. His voice works with poppy songs like “Simple Song”, slower reflective songs like “It’s only Life”, and slightly more ambient songs like the title song “Port of Morrow”.
drums, and occasional ambient keyboard fill. Once again they manage to fill it back out during the chorus, but the slower tempo really allows you to focus even more on the melodic pop abilities of Mercer’s voice. ”September” starts with just Mercer and an acoustic guitar. Once again, I think these slower songs really manage to have you focus on the vocals more than the music. You almost miss all the ambient guitar and keyboard material that enters in later in the song. The only song I’m not a very big fan of is the title song “Port of Morrow”. It closes out the album and is the closest thing to the Broken Bells material Mercer has been working on for the past couple years. I like how clear and clean the entire album is, and I feel like this song may be slightly overproduced. There is a lot of electronics and effects on the vocals. I would have preferred one that is slightly more Shins and slightly less Broken Bells.
Therefore, part of being a good blogger is to consistently look at everything as an idea for writing a post. The very first time I was able to put this into action was at the DC Brau release of their Corruption Ale at Lil Miss Whiskeys. While there, I found myself in a conversation with Jeff, one of the head brewers at DC Brau. Although a little nervous of looking dorky, I asked him if I could send him a few interview questions to place up on my blog. Although it took an entire summer for him to get back to me, I finally received 
