When I got in on this rainy Tuesday morning, logged on to my favourite personal music provider and checked out the new releases, I wasn’t initially blown away. Nothing really too creative or ‘new’ to speak of.. a lot of same old, same old… That was until I heard about…
The Budos Band | Burnt Offering
To be clear, this is not the first time I’ve heard of The Budos Band – as a matter of fact, one of the best concerts I’ve even been to was a Budos show. Driving, funky, dark, brooding, this is road music. This is the kind of stuff that you listen to while you and your crack team are cruising away from a bank robbery. There’s something about this Brooklyn incarnation of Afro-Beat music, it’s danceable and almost introspective at the same time, while still remaining increasingly creative.
Cold War Kids | Hold My Home
This is how my Tuesday started. A little bit of, “.. *sigh*…okay”. I mean, don’t get me wrong the Cold War Kids are (or were) a great act. But as they start wearing the years a little less fashionably and more and more founding members fall by the wayside, this band starts trending downwards. It almost feels that this band is just going through the motions and not offering anything more except something else for their labels to push out under their name. All this being said, the long-dormant teenager in me loves a few of these songs – without a doubt, if this came on my first generation iPod on shuffle when I was in the 9th grade I wouldn’t start skipping it for at least a few months. The only problem with this is, unfortunately, that’s exactly what happened with their first couple records.
Hey Rosetta! | Second Sight
Here’s another band that, at least to me, doesn’t seem to stray too far from their roots. There’s a joke about East Coasters moving away from home but never shutting up about Whyte Ave. somewhere in there – but I’ll digress, I’ll admit my love for my upbringing on the mainland any chance I get, as well. This album should be extremely familiar to the fans of the Newfoundland indie-rockers who haven’t heard a new record in 4 years. And although they’ve toured extensively in addition to releasing a few EP’s here and there, a new long-player has been wanted. And here she be! They’ve renewed their focus on texture and production value, but when it comes to a songwriting structure and timbre, nary have they strayed far from home.
