Carl Sandburg Visits Me In A Dream

Athlete will follow up their #1 UK chart-topper, Tourist, with Beyond the Neighbourhood on September 3, 2007. Beyond the Neighbourhood is sure to be met with similar acclaim in the UK and surely will gain significant buzz in the US indie rock scene. Indeed, ‘the Neighbourhood is a fantastic collection of psychedelic pop-rock tunes that are masterfully arranged and painfully catchy. Athlete certainly has their own sound, refining and expanding it with each album.

The first single off the new album is “Hurricane,” a signature Athlete blend of emotive lyrics and a catchy guitar riff, completed by guitar and keyboard ornamentations, and a drum machine backed bridge. What I love so much about Athlete is that nothing sounds forced or contrived–every song sounds as though the band is having fun and pouring their hearts out. Athlete records never have throwaway songs or songs that don’t quite seem up to par. For my sake, I’m just hoping for some US tour dates in the near future!

Pre-order Beyond the Neighbourhood
Indulge in the first single, “Hurricane” (4.879/5)

With Ryan Adams’ latest album, Easy Tiger, he picks up right where he left off with 2005′s Jacksonville City Nights, his second album with The Cardinals, and arguably his best since his solo debut in 2000. Easy Tiger is Ryan and the band at their best, mixing just enough rock, just enough bluegrass / country, and just enough ‘average joe’ lyricism to put a smile on your face. The album contrasts plugged-in, guitar driven rockers nicely with stripped-down, acoustic melodies. “Haloweenhead” is reminiscent of “Do Miss America” and a few other of the better tracks on Rock N Roll–a textbook rock song, with a crunching riff and a short but tasty guitar solo. “Oh my God, Whatever, Etc,” which barely clocks in at over two and a half minutes, is a beautiful arrangement of acoustic guitar, piano, and vocals. The song, like many of Ryan’s best, is a simple vignette focusing on personal, specific details that carry over easily into out own lives. Adams is still cranking the albums out like ipod Nanos, but luckily quality has not been sacrificed for quality. Easy Tiger doesn’t quite match up to Cold Roses or Jacksonville City Nights in terms of the overall mood it creates, but it is one of his strongest releases as well as a pleasant reminder that the Ryan Adams vault is still full (and may even be gaining some interest).

Check out the famous “Look Who Got a Website,” (-5/5) by NYC’s toughest rapper, Ryan Adams. Technically it’s not a “live” track, so here’s one of the best live versions of “Firecracker.” (4.7/5)

Check out a recent NPR feature (article and audio stream) on Feist. I’ve yet to listen to it, but your standard life sums up the topics discussed: “indie crowd vs Starbucks crowd, starting out in a punkrock band, damaged vocal chords, the birds in downtownToronto, learning guitar.”

I’ve been listening to Blair (via herspace), “the musical meeting of Dolly Parton and Radiohead,” non-stop since I heard about her and just ordered her EP. She’s got one of those voices that draws you in and doesn’t let go. Plus, she’s a fantastic song writer.

I wanted to do this post as the resident ryanadamsaholic here at CSV to prove that (1) I’m not disillusioned and am still fit to make discerning musical judgments, and (2) Ryan Adams, or let’s just say The Label, has made a few bad musical decisions.

5. “Tennessee Sucks” – Tennessee may suck “in the summer,” but this tune off Demolition sucks any season. I know a lot of people like this song–at the last RA show I went to the guy behind me kept saying, “Boy, I sure hope he plays ‘Tennessee Sucks’”! Good for me, bad for that guy, the song was not played. I will say, however, that this live version aint too bad. .

4. “Enemy Fire” – Despite a great guitar solo at the end of this song, the first three minutes are so bad you can never get to it without skipping ahead. This song has drunken mistake written all over it and could probably be used as enemy fire by playing it over and over.

3. “The Sadness” – This song is just too long–it would certainly work as background music in a Clint Eastwood western movie, but I almost always skip over it when I listen to 29.

2. “Nuclear” – This song is plagued by unoriginal writing, both musically and lyrically. Perhaps the lyrics are just too deep for me to understand–all I pick up on is something about buring Porches and the Yankees losing to the Braves. It is nice the Yankees lost, though.

1. “1974″ – This is hands down my least favorite Adams song, complete with a dreadfully uncreative chorus. On the bright side, we will never forget the “[year] he was born.”

I had a hard time writing this post, mostly because any less than stellar RA songs are easily overshadowed by his exhaustive library of alt-country classics. On that note, keep checking back this week for more RA features leading up to the June 26th release of Easy Tiger.

We were trying to think of how one would spell the sound that plays when you start up a mac. We’re thinking it’s “zwhoon”? Anyone have a different idea?