I Wanna Destroy You.... Grammys

Boy oh boy. How terrible does the music scene look each year once the Grammy's come along? This is what you are supposed to believe is strong in music. What a travisshamockery. The categories get filled with the lamest excuse for mail it in rock an roll. Metallica gets a nomination for it's work on The Unforgiven 3? Wow. Green Day is so insanely non essential yet get's blown each year at this thing for whatever rubbish they've forced out. The winners were correct for the most part this year. Happy the Kings of Leon have made the ripple they have, 'cause that's a great album. Lady Gaga is relevant and fairly interesting despite her unfortunate looks. What sucked again about the Grammy's is that the bar is sooo low, and the competition is really poor. I'll leave my frustrated view of the Grammy's at that, and just say it was a night that is just not aimed to appease this music fan.

Some new material that is worth checking out... With caution. Slim pickin's over last couple weeks.

Well, the two albums I have as most anticipated, are pretty much duds.

Magnetic Fields has a nice track on it I picked up called "You Must Be Out of Your Mind", but the album has not the strength I was looking for as it has none of the delightful dissonance that fueled the previous album.

Midlake's album which came out Tuesday was one I also looked forward to, that has been a swing and a miss. Very low key and some nice songs, but nothing as memorable as their song "roscoe"

A song I ran across last week is the Jangly and off kilter track by a band called Good Shoes. The song "The Way My Heart Beats" has a very frenetic start and pace much like the Arctic Monkeys, but has a bit of a more artistic and satisfying chorus than the Monkey's could pull off. This song is 4 out of 6. Only 2 on the accessible scale though, so stay away if you are wimpy.

The best album out right now from the last two weeks if from a band called "Beach House" The artistic and subtle, duo from Baltimore? has a pretty album led by the tracks "Norway" and "Zebra"

A couple other things I have absorbed heavily this week are tracks by "Broken Bells", which is lead singer James Mercer of The Shins with DJ Danger Mouse, who is one half of Gnarls Barkley. The song "The High Road" has a really cool blend of Mercer's singing beauty mixed in with an awesome nostalgic keyboard underlayment by the eclectic DJ Danger Mouse. Great track and I bet it will be a great album. 5 of 6 score on this track. Many folks will be okay with this sound.

One other song that has big time rotation this week for me is actually from late 2009. A band called "Avi Buffalo" has knocked my socks off with a rather twangy number called "What's it in For?" This is brilliantly executed Country Alternative Rock. Sirius XMU has this song playing quite a bit, and I recommend taking it in. If you don't dig Indie Folk or Alt Country, not for you though. I think 5 out of 6.



Randy's Album Hall of Fame inductee

The Soft Boys- Underwater Moonlight

When things get lame on the new tunes front I will introduce my audience of 3 people to an album that I feel cannot be ignored. Tonight, we have the finest of underground Jangle Pop by a quirky fella by the name of Robyn Hitchcock. He blazes a trail with the captivating angst of the first track "I Wanna Destroy You" This anti war song has really come full circle into a time and place that works for it's message to be heard clear. Strong and bizarre tracks abound here will slink and slither into one another. "Insanely Jealous" is another cool example of the disjointed yet tunable sound that is the brilliant Hitchcock. This track is then followed up with one of those tracks I must put on an island getaway mix. The song "Tonight" displays an uncanny Crescendo of alt rock greatness. The "Queen of Eyes" is a juicy number as well. This then is followed by the delightful track this fine album was named for. "Underwater Moonlight" weaves and bobs all over for a Jangle Pop classic. This album has brought it's best at this point and slows down a bit on the memorable tunes, but uncovers a couple more tracks that test the boundaries and senses of our captivated music adeventurers.

To me, this is RAHOF and is 6 of 6 stars. It is a 3 of 5 on the accessible scale so it could be borderline TBFB for some.

Please explore this album if you are daring, and let me know what you think of this bizarre fella names Hitchcock.

That is all for tonight.

Randy