Indie Music Chatter

After a full day of seriously thinking of what CDs I’m going to order this month in Amazon, I finally decided to get the last two albums from Snow Patrol. As you may notice it had been years since Final Straw and Eyes Open was released. I purposefully did not order those two albums simply because the band became too popular for my taste. I’ve been a big Gary Lightbody fan since the release of Songs for Polar Bears. I can honestly say that I got on the Snow Patrol bandwagon from their debut.  I knew that Lightbody is a music genius as evidenced by two superb albums (the aforementioned Songs… and  When It’s All Over We Still Have to Clean Up) and his  equally awesome side project Reindeer Section  (I’ll blog about them soon).

However, the breakthrough success of Final Straw left me reeling. I was hearing Snow Patrol being uttered by people who I I describe as music lemmings — blindly following music fads just because it makes them “cool.” Here was a band that I am so in love and their songs are being sung by people with questionable music tastes! It was just a bit too much for me.

Ironically enough though, what made me change my attitude towards Snow Patrol was the song they contributed to the Spider-man 3 movie. Okay, nothing defines being a corporate whore more than giving your song to a summer movie. But it made me think that popularity should not — and does not — affect how the band makes their music. They are still making awesome songs that are still consistently a cut above whatever pop crap other bands are churning out there.

It made me realize that being popular is not a good reason for hating on a band. It’s quite idiotic, really.

Snow Patrol, Final Straw, Eyes Open

The new Interpol album Our Love to Admire, is set to be released in a few days. I am quite excited to get my hands on this, their third album. The band has impressed me enough with their first two albums that I have come to look at them as artists whose releases should be anticipated.

Actually, I’ve heard the album couple of days ago and although I have yet to form any solid opinions about it without listening to it some more, I can already glean that there are a few gems inside the album that Interpol fans will definitely love.

Interpol, Our Love to Admire

Every end of the month, after I have assessed how much money is due me from my various jobs and projects, I prepare a list of CDs that I will buy online. Call it my monthly reward for being a good boy and for working my butt off. The number of CDs I buy usually fluctuate from one (it’s been a bad month) to four (yey for me!). This month I am planning to buy two CDs along with a couple of reference books that I need for my new job as an editor. Now here’s the problem, what two CDs should I buy?

Ask any music collector and you’ll surely hear the same problem. There are just so many good albums out there that narrowing down your purchase to such a low number is damn near impossible. Do I get that new Art Brut album, do I get the Manos so I can finally complete my Spinanes discography, or do I just preorder the new Tegan & Sara that’s about to be released in a couple of weeks? There are just so many choices that more often than not my mind would overload and I wouldn’t even be able to remember that album that I promised myself I will get the next time I order online.

Here I am wracking my brains out and I still haven’t decided on anything. Who would’ve thought collecting CDs could be such a chore?

Spinanes, Tegan & Sara, Art Brut

I am having a lot of fun listening to The Rumble Strips. The band’s sound evokes nostalgia because they sound like Dexy’s Midnight Runners with a very unmistakeable 2 Tone influence. It’s fun to hear a band that sounds like they are just having fun and not taking themselves too seriously (hear that Interpol? But I still love you guys).

I don’t know what it is about the Brits but they do make ska sound so much more enjoyable and fun when compared to their American counterparts. I remember the time when No Doubt first became popular and they were being called ska band. I’m sorry, but No Doubt are dreadful. The Rumble Strips, on the other hand, has taken the ska formula and really ran away with it. The songs in their album Girls and Weather may have very strong Ska influences but they have managed to inject their own personalities into their songs, which actually made their sound develop into something that is distinctly unique. The album may not be that strong but anyone who listens to Girls and Weather will definitely hear a group that is having a lot of fun doing what they love.

I highly recommend this album.

The Rumble Strips, Girls and Weather, Interpol, No Doubt

In what could probably be one of the more inspired marketing gimmicks in recent years, The White Stripes are offering Jack and Meg thumb drives at their online store.

The 512 megabyte thumb drives, that has a funky graphic depicting either Meg or Jack, contain an electronic copy of the band’s new album Icky Thump in Apple Lossless format. This merchandise is very limited with only 3,333 of each drive variant available for sale.

I’m thinking of getting one myself.

The White Stripes, Icky Thump, Apple Lossless Format