But I have a couple I can start with.
Jonsi - Go: This album is fabulous. Beautiful and smooth. If you like Sigur Ros, you're probably going to like this, which makes sense since he's their guitarist/vocalist. Sometimes when people sing in falsetto too much, it becomes grating, but Jonsi's falsetto never does. I would say that this album is more "accessible" than older Sigur Ros stuff. Some people will take that to mean that it's a sell-out pop album. I disagree. This is rich and layered - but he does so in a way that will appeal to more people. That's not selling out - it's just making good music. Airy vocals, strings, percussion... There are flavors of The Postal Service at times (like on Around Us), as well as some of the recent orchestral pop albums that seem to be coming out from all different places lately (Lady & Bird and Noah and the Whale recently released orchestra-heavy albums). But this album is more emotional than any of those. And I say that in a good way. As I said, I have a lot of new music to listen to lately, and despite having albums just sitting here waiting to be heard, I find myself wanting to go back to Jonsi again before I can move on. This album currently suits my needs quite well for putting me in a good mood to do work and also as a pre-bedtime soundtrack. (Update: You can stream the album here)
MGMT - Congratulations: It took me 3 listens to like this. First listen, I was disappointed that there were no big standouts like Kids or Electric Feels or Time to Pretend. Second time, I was too busy trying to figure out who each song sounded like because I wasn't so sure. It didn't sound like the MGMT that I knew from Oracular Spectacular. The opener on the album, It's Working, starts out with the same chord progression that comes up throughout The Decemberists' Hazards of Love, which I hated. So maybe I was set up with a negative bias? And at times the songs had too much of a 1960s beach party feel to them. It just didn't fit. It didn't fit with the strong electronic, dancey vibe I loved about the last album. It didn't fit with the hip and progressive category I had previously placed this band. And that categorization was part of why I loved them. So then listen #3. Maybe it was simple familiarity that made it more appealing this time? Or maybe I just had to give up on my expectations - because by the time listen #3 happened, I had certainly given up hope for an album that would arouse my excitement as Oracular Spectacular had. This is a pop album. Peppy, sometimes cheesy. Almost always happy. It is full of vocal harmonies, but not in a smooth, full, rich sort of way - instead it feels like a 1950s or 1960s high school musical. Andrew VanWyndarden's falsetto (I must be into falsetto's lately...) doesn't show up as often as I would have liked, and when it does, it feels almost BeeGees-ish. Siberian Breaks could fit in with the soundtrack to Hair. Lady Dada's Nightmare is an instrumental that I couldn't even get through on listen #2. Ha, it might even have lyrics and I just have no idea because I tried to tune it out so much. And then it ends with Congratulations. Which is a song I actually really like. I sort of want it to keep going instead of having the album end. That said, it reminds me of Dionne Warwick's I Say A Little Prayer. It's slower and not so cheesy, but for some reason that song keeps popping into my head when I listen to Congratulations. So at this point, you may be wondering, "Didn't she say it took 3 listens to like it? But it doesn't seem like she likes it." And that's sort of true. I don't like the fact that this is MGMT, but feels like music from 40-50 years ago. MGMT is progressive and new, not some copycat band. But the thing is, I actually like music from the 50s, 60s, and 70s. I like the musical Hair. I like Dionne Warwick's I Say A Little Prayer, no matter how cheesy it is. And so I guess you could see this as an album that updates a genre. Brings the good parts of the past into the present. Is it what I expected? No. Is it what I hoped for? No. And for that, I'm still disappointed. I wanted a new Kids to fall in love with again. But will I listen to this? Sure. At least when I'm not going back to listen to Jonsi again. (Note: You can listen to the album from their website: http://www.whoismgmt.com/)
Update: And in an interesting connection between my two album choices for this post...Jonsi covers MGMT's Time to Pretend and streams it online here.
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