Wednesday, November 18, 2009

On Maturity







Sometimes I anticipate an album by one of my favorite bands, and it lets me down, and even though I don't like it nearly as much as the band's earlier albums, I continue to listen to it bit by bit. I'm not quite sure why I do this; maybe it's hard for me to let a band go, that I'm not content to just ignore them.

In some cases, I continue to dislike the album, and eventually quit listening to it, or something else magical happens.

It grows on me, and (gasp) even becomes one of my favorite albums!

I wonder if (and I'm sure its a case-by-case basis) it has to do with my ears maturing to the point of enjoying the music, or my brain coming to the point of absorbing and eventually accepting the sounds coming from the stereo.

This year has surely had it's share of winners, duds, and growers.

Here is the list (including a few albums from late last year):

Winners

1. Tegan and Sara "Sainthood"
2. The Avett Brothers "I and Love and You"
3. Karen O and the Kids "Where The Wild Things Are (Soundtrack)"
4. Arctic Monkeys "Humbug"
5. Neko Case "Middle Cyclone"

Dissapointments

1. mewithoutYou "It's All Crazy! It's all False! It's All A Dream! It's Alright"
2. Yeah Yeah Yeahs "It's Blitz!"
3. Bruce Springsteen "Working On A Dream"
4. Bob Dylan "Together Through Life"
5. The Killers "Day And Age"

and....Growers!

1. The Dead Weather "Horehound"
2. Kings Of Leon "Only By The Night"
3. Wilco "Wilco (The Album)"
4. Black Lips "200 Million Thousand"
5. Ben Kweller "Changing Horses"

Though the monotony and lack of passionate screams on the mewithoutYou album, and the fuzz-charged garagey direction on the Josh Homme-produced Arctic Monkeys album came as a surprise, the biggest surprise of all these is the stark differences between Karen O's fun, charming, cute, and sentimental "Where The Wild Things Are" soundtrack, and the bland, slow, radio friendly Yeah Yeah Yeahs album.

Maybe in a year, I'll start loving it like I did lately with the newest Kings of Leon album. Or maybe I'm just a sucker for untrained childrens' choirs and Daniel Johnston covers.

Honorable (grower/winner) mentions:
1. Fucked Up "The Chemistry of Common Life"
2. Gasoline Heart "Nostalgia Ain't What It Used To Be"
3. Endless Mike and The Beagle Club "We Are Still At War".

1 comment:

  1. Sufjans stevens Enjoy your rabbit was definitely a grower for me.

    Its the only one I think I've had that experience with though.

    ReplyDelete