What We’re Listening To: January Edition

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31 January 2008, 2:49 am No Comments

Music: What We’re Listening To: January Edition

Rodney Crowell’s Fate’s Right Hand, The Persepolis Motion Picture Soundtrack, Hot Chip’s The Warning and Ulrich Schnauss’s Goodbye. Details below the fold.

Rodney Crowell — Fate’s Right Hand

It took me three years to listen to this album (It was given to me) because I have such a low opinion of modern country music, but when I finally did, I was hooked. Unknown to me prior, this is the artist’s 17th album. Crowell is a masterful songwriter, and introspective songs like “Time to Go Inward”, “The Man in Me”, and “This too Shall Pass” (which made me misty on the way to work this morning) makes him not only a favored artist, but a friend.-Ben

Persepolis — Motion Picture Soundtrack

I saw the film this weekend, and fell in love with everything about it. The music is whimsical and charming, and it’s perfect background music for when I’m writing. Most of the songs are composed by Olivier Bernet, but there’s a fantastic rendition of “Eye of the Tiger” — a high point of the film as well — sung by Chiara Mastroianni. -Amy

Hot Chip — The Warning

Hot Chip’s new album came out this week, but I haven’t bought it yet. To kill time until I can burn it from somebody, I’ve been listening to their awesome last album, The Warning (2006). The albums two best known songs, “Over and Over” and “Boy From School” reflect the bands biggest strength, which is to go comfortably from maddeningly catchy dance songs to sweeter, mellower pop. -Zack

Ulrich Schnauss — Goodbye

Who said dream-pop was dead? Fans of the Cocteau Twins, My Bloody Valentine, Lush or even early Aphex Twin should definitely check out Ulrich Schnauss’s new album, Gooodbye. The album’s 10 tracks provide a unique and complex soundtrack, coursing rhythms, gentle, synthetic voices and rich textures. I started detecting similarities between Ulrich’s style and Heaven-or-Las-Vegas-era Cocteau Twins, only to discover that Robin Guthrie remixed two of his tracks on a recent EP Quicksand Memory. Either Guthrie was involved with influencing Schnauss’s sound, or he is a fan himself. Either way, Ulrich paints rich, textured soundscapes that will color your dreams. -Michael

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Parker said:

i’m liking the yeasayer record, a place to bury strangers, mgmt, and – this was a surprise to me – the newest kanye west. i also heard appetite for destruction in a bar in brooklyn and it sounded awesome.

31 January 2008 at 4:43 am

adam isn't here said: