The Path of Totality

Korn

Korn is a band on a mission. Just 15 months ago, the nu-metal rockers released Korn III: Remember Who You Are. Yet here they are now with their tenth studio album, The Path of Totality. Whereas last year’s LP took the band back to their nu-metal roots, here Korn takes a step into new territory by boldly fusing nu-metal with dubstep – two of music’s most polarizing genres – into one album. The result will no doubt lead an equally polarizing reception.

For The Path of Totality, Korn wrangled up a plethora of dubstep producers like the increasingly popular Skrillex, Noisia, Excision, Downlink, and 12^th Planet to produce individual songs. The problem with this is that too many of the songs sound the same, despite the numerous producers. I’ll admit I’m a little biased. For the most part I hate dubstep. I can only listen to a few tracks it before I get bored and it all sounds the same: just a guy on his laptop making reverb noises and bass distortions.

Another admission I’ll make today is that Korn has always been a guilty pleasure for me. The real draw for me here was the curiosity factor on how dubstep sound’s fusion with Jonathan Davis’s mostly dark, but occasionally uplifting lyrics would work. It turns out hey blend really well with the dubstep genre. Same goes for the powerful guitar riffs and bass lines - though the latter has been more toned down in Korn's last few albums. It allows tracks like “Chaos Lives in Everything” and “Narcissistic Cannibal” to reach their full potential.

Unfortunately about one-third of the way through the album, I had lost interest like I do with most dubstep music. Every song started to sound the same. In fact, it was solely Davis’ lyrics that kept me hooked. I’m not saying that this is what will happen to everyone who listens to it. I expect some people to really enjoy the fusing of these two genres. And I expect some people to really loathe it, especially purists of both dubstep and nu-metal.

Jonathan Davis has gone on record saying that this is the future of metal. A bold statement, but it’s much too early to tell whether or not this is how metal reinvents itself. Nevertheless, I admire Korn’s creativity here and their desire to experiment with new sounds. Time will tell whether or not we’ve stepped into the future of metal.

Recommended Tracks: “Chaos Lives in Everything”, “Narcissistic Cannibal”, “Let’s Go”

El Camino

The Black Keys

It’s hard to believe that only 19 months ago The Black Keys, as talented as they were, was just another band that you’d read in the small print on a festival poster. They were one of those bands you always enjoyed, but were never quite blown away by. The mainstream music world felt the same way. They were entertaining, but after 5 studio albums they hadn’t yet made it big and it looked as though (as with most musical acts) that this far into their careers they had reached their peak.

Along came Brothers, last year’s mega-hit album that launched Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney into rock superstardom. Radio hits, Grammy Awards, headlining festival gigs, SNL performances, and commercials soon followed.

A mere 19 months later the duo have released their seventh LP, El Camino. And they haven’t missed a beat. Where Brothers gave us a good crop of blues-rock anthems and slow burners, El Camino is a 38-minute, balls-to-the-walls, rip-roaring album that never lets up. Every last song is bursting with pure rock and roll energy all the way through, beginning with the brash and fierce “Lonely Boy”, and finishing with the smooth guitars of “Mind Eraser.” Other stand out tracks include the glam-tastic “Gold on the Ceiling”(which channels its inner “Howlin’ for You”), the acoustic “Little Black Submarines” with a power finish, the seductive “Run Right Back”, and the terrific “Stop Stop”, which sounds like Deep Purple in their prime.

I give a lot of credit to producer Danger Mouse who took the sound The Black Keys captured on Brothers and perfected it here. He’s been working with the duo since 2008, having produced their album Attack & Release and 2010’s breakthrough single “Tighten Up.” Danger Mouse knows what The Black Keys are capable of and he utilizes their sound perfectly.

For the majority of their early years the crux of The Black Keys’ sound has been Auerbach on guitar and vocals and Carney behind the drum kit. All others were secondary. At the end of the day that’s what their sound will always boil down to, but here they expand more on that sound with some solid bass lines, flashy keyboards, and beautiful backing vocals. This adds so much versatility to a stellar album that wouldn’t sound out of place at a 1970s record store or a 2003 hipster club.

I’m often very skeptical about bands releasing new material so soon after a hit album, especially when it’s their breakthrough album like Brothers was for The Black Keys. Needless to say, Dan and Pat did not let their fans down with El Camino. It’s every bit as good as Brothers and should be played as loud as possible to get the full affect of one of the years best albums.

Recommended tracks: “Lonely Boy”, “Gold on the Ceiling”, “Run Right Back” 

Site Update

Ok so in the last week I've really been lagging. But, the good news is I have a whole week off of work so I can put more effort into Suburban Sound. Tonight I'll be posting my reviews of the new albums by The Black Keys and Korn. This week I'll also be reviewing new albums by Guided By Voices and Common. Finally, since 2011 is coming to a close I'll be listing my top albums and songs of the year.

50 Words for Snow

Kate Bush

Kate Bush is having quite a comeback in 2011. Earlier this year she released Director’s Cut, which was a re-recording of select songs from her 1989 album The Sensual World and her 1993 album The Red Shoes. However, 50 Words For Snow – an album dedicated to the winter season - is Bush’s first new material since 2005’s Aerial.

50 Words For Snow is best viewed as poetry. Each poem tells a different story more than anything. The album also generally adheres to a slow tempo with one formula: acoustic piano complimented by light drums in the background for most of the tracks. This adds to the poetry effect that Bush creates. The album’s opener, “Snowflake” mostly sticks to the piano while we hear the tale of a snowflake as it falls from the sky toward the Earth. Next is “Lake Tahoe,” an eerie piece about a woman who drowns in the titular lake and is calling for her dog to join her. Not in a morbid sense. From there we move on to “Misty,” which is a heartbreaking story of a woman who has a romantic one-night encounter with a snowman, only to find that he has melted next to her the following morning. What seems like a corny premise ends up being quite moving. I give full credit to Bush for making the listener feel her pain and sorrow of losing him.

“Wild Man” provides the first uptempo track of the album in which Bush recounts various sightings of the abominable snowman and urges him to remain on the run from villagers’ wrath. From there, we go back into the heartache that is “Snowed in at Wheeler Street.” Here Bush sings a duet with Elton John (hell yeah!) about an two people in love who meet up throughout history, but lose each other shortly after they reconnect. Their story is tragic and is painfully relatable. The album closes on a lackluster note with “50 Words for Snow” and “Among Angels.” The titular track picks up the tempo again, but is more of a spoken-word poem than a song in which guest vocalist Stephen Fry describes snow 50 times in multiple languages. “Among Angels” ends the album on an inspiring note, but it isn’t as powerful as some of the more grim tracks on the album.

Bush is able to really grab the listener and tell compelling stories through her minimal yet powerful 7 tracks (though the album does clock in at a little over 1 hour). She is best when she’s evoking sorrow and heartache and that’s where the album really shines. After a six-year hiatus, it’s good to see her back in the fold.

Recommended tracks: “Snowflake”, “Misty”, “Snowed in at Wheeler Street”

Lulu

Lou Reed and Metallica

I like chocolate. It’s got a nice sweet flavor that I rarely crave, but am rarely disappointed by it. I love bacon. It’s salty, but not too salty. It’s not always perfect, especially when it’ either undercooked or when it’s too crispy. But, when it’s good it really hits the spot. However, that doesn’t mean if you combine them, they’ll form some super delicious breakfast dessert. Quite the opposite in fact: chocolate-covered bacon has to be one of the worst things I’ve ever tasted. Ever.

Here, Lou Reed is chocolate. He’s a good artist. I never really feel like listening to him, but I’m not disappointed by his music because I know what I’m getting into when I listen to him. Metallica is bacon. It can be disappointing at times (specifically the last 20 years in Metallica’s case), but when they hit their stride they've made some of the best metal music of all time!

Lulu is chocolate-covered bacon. It’s awful. It’s more than awful; it’s horrendous. After listening to the whole mind-blowingly exhausting 87 minutes of it I felt I needed to wash it down with something better. Which wasn’t hard because I have over 4,600 songs in my iTunes library and all of them are better than anything on Lulu. After listening to the opening lyrics on “Brandenburg Gate” (I would cut my legs and tits off / when I think of Boris Karloff and Kinski / in the dark of the moon”), I couldn’t wait for the song to end. It’s such a dud that I don’t think I need to say any more about it.

Unfortunately, Lulu rarely gets better than that. I was hoping it would but no song on this album was redeemable. By the time the final song, “Junior Dad”, rolled around I couldn’t wait to be done with the album and never listen to it again. But no. Lou Reed and Metallica felt that I needed a 19 ½ minute finale to get the most out of my ear torture session. By the way, the second half of “Junior Dad” is just meandering, pointless, droning noise that goes nowhere.

I get what Lou Reed was going for. He wanted to evoke a sense of anger in his poetry and saw Metallica as the perfect backing band to evoke this anger. Yes, I’m calling it poetry because the majority of the songs on Lulu are spoken word, with James Hetfield occasionally on backing vocals. In theory this was a ballsy, unique idea. Lulu is a success in that it succeeds in representing Reed’s anger and frustration that is depicted in his lyrics. If you factor out the lyrics, Metallica sounds as good as ever. However, as a combined effort Lulu is a sonically miserable, failure of an album. Listen at your own risk.

Recommended Tracks: None of them.

Replica

Oneohtrix Point Never

Noise. Ambient, droning noise. That was my first reaction to Replica, Daniel Lopatin’s (a.k.a. Oneohtrix Point Never) latest album. After a couple listens through, I finally gained a little perspective on the album. The truth is it’s a tough album to listen to unless ambient music is your scene. Unfortunately, it’s not mine. I’m not the kind of person that can listen to ambient music and have a good time or really enjoy it for what it is. Here, Lopatin gives us 10 tracks using only vintage synthesizers and drew much of his sounds from a plethora of commercials from 1985-1993.

The album wasn’t a total bust for me though. In fact, when imagining Replica as a soundtrack to a dark indie movie, it works a lot better. So that’s what I did on my second listen to the album and I found myself enjoying it more. The swirling piano loops on “Power of Persuasion” pull you into a haunted haze of uncertainty and the eerie keyboard note sequences, exhalations, and ominous voice on “Sleep Dealer” only adds to the uncertainty, making it more interesting and slightly creepy.

While Replica as an album was not my cup of tea, it also wasn’t the worst thing I’ve ever heard. I won’t be rushing back to listen to it any time soon, but I also wouldn’t discourage anyone from giving it a chance. If ambient, droning synthesizers are your thing then Replica deserves your attention.

Recommended Tracks: “Power of Persuasion”, “Sleep Dealer”

Parallax

Atlas Sound

If last year’s Halcyon Digest was Deerhunter’s dreamy album, consider lead singer Bradford Cox’s third solo LP under the Atlas Sound moniker to be REM sleep. As the album began I immediately felt I was in familiar territory, right where Halcyon Digest left off. By the time “Amplifiers” kicked into gear, the reverbs already had me drifting into an altered mindset (no, I was not on drugs).

What separates Parallax from previous Atlas Sound and Deerhunter albums in that Cox focuses more on tightening up the lyrics to hit the listener with more emotion (though the background music and lush sound loops are as good as they’ve ever been). Which is not a bad thing because it allows the songs that do have powerful lyrics to shine even brighter, like the supremely catchy “Mona Lisa” – with MGMT’s Andrew VanWyngarden on keyboards and backing vocals – and the depressing “Terra Incognita.” It’s here that Cox is really able to make his voice heard and really puts the listener in his shoes. The album does end on a hopeful and more cheerful note with “Lightworks” with its uplifting guitar strumming complimented by a soulful harmonica.

While it doesn’t revolutionize Atlas Sound’s style, Parallax is more like a further step down the rabbit hole that is Bradford Cox’s mind. Simply put, Parallax is the one of the best indie rock albums of the year. It makes great background music, while at the same time it’s an album that really envelops the listener in deep thought and builds Cox’s credibility as a songwriter.

Recommended Tracks: “Amplifiers”, “Mona Lisa”, “Terra Incognita”, “Lightworks”

Concerts Galore!

Today was a pretty big day if you're an alternative music fan in the Los Angeles area! Five shows by some of today's hottest bands were announced today, all of which will take place over the next few months.

First we have Red Hot Chili Peppers, who were recently inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, making their much anticipated return to their hometown on Sunday, February 26th at Staples Center. Tickets go on sale Friday, December 16th at 10 am.











Next we have Smokeout Festival, which will take place on Saturday, March 3rd at the NOS Events Center in San Bernardino. Sublime With Rome will be headlining this year's 2-stage festival with Korn, Wiz Khalifa, Cypress Hill, The Dirty Heads, and Cafe Tacuba also set to perform. More artists will be announced in the coming weeks. The festival will also feature such attractions as a Medical Marijuana Expo that will showcase various exhibits by leaders in the hemp industry, expert discussion panels, a Patient Consumption Area that allows patrons with a registered medical marijuana license to "medicate,"and various food vendors. Tickets go on sale Saturday, December 17th at 4:20 pm.

Next up, The Naked and Famous have announced they will be playing on Wednesday March 21st at The Wiltern. These guys have become one of the hottest bands in alternative music in 2011 after they made their excellent LP debut with  Passive Me, Aggressive You in 2010. Their current single "Young Blood" is quickly becoming the one most played songs on alternative radio. Tickets go on sale Friday, December 16th at 10 am.

Angels & Airwaves have announced a set of SoCal shows next month in support of their new album Love: Part 2. They'll be playing their first one Sunday, January 22nd at the House of Blues Anaheim. Tickets for that show go on-sale Friday December 16th at 10am. A Live Nation page has not yet been created for their second show, which will supposedly take place on Thursday, January 26th at The Music Box in Hollywood.

And finally, after touring for a few months with Incubus, Young the Giant will be returning home to perform their own headlining show a The Wiltern on Thursday, February 12th. Tickets go on-sale Friday, December 16th at 10am.

I know i will for sure be going to see Red Hot Chili Peppers in February, though I would recommend seeing any of these bands live as each show is sure to deliver quality performances and a lot of thrills.

Four the Record

Miranda Lambert

Country music is not my forte. In fact it is probably the genre of music I know the least about. I don’t own a single country album. My iPod is sprinkled here and there with just a few songs. I don’t necessarily hate country music, but there is a lot of it that I don’t like. I find that it can be kind of corny and too much like pop music (which I also dislike), in that the person singing isn’t writing their own lyrics. And they are generally shallow and ridiculous.

The purpose of this blog is to review a diverse selection of new music and country music is no exception. Four the Record is, you guessed it, Miranda Lambert’s fourth album in the last six years. As it turns out she normally does most of the writing for her albums, but only contributed on 6 of the 14 songs for this album. My understanding is that she was busy writing for her side project Pistol Annies (who’s album was released in August during the writing process for this album. So Lambert’s had a pretty busy year. I’ll give her a pass because I can’t write one song for the life of me and I’m 22 years old.

I went into this listening experience with low expectations and I must say that I was pleasantly surprised. Four the Record got off to a strong start with “All Kinds of Kinds,” a slow-tempo song about diversity followed by the bluesy, lust driven “Fine Tune.” From there, the album settles down and unleashes the fury (as much as possible for a country album) with “Mama’s Broken Heart” – an angst filled ballad about an overbearing mother trying to help her daughter with her relationship woes. “Same Old You” gives Lambert a chance to really show her vocal range while being fed up with her boyfriend and his slacking and drinking ways. The album then slows down for a few songs, but picks up again with “Nobody’s Fool” and closes out with the wistful and dreary “Oklahoma Sky.”

One of the songs I couldn’t get behind was the single (written by Lambert) “Baggage Claim,” whose metaphor for emotional baggage is a stretch for me. Her duet with husband Blake Shelton on “Better in the Long Run” felt clunky and didn’t hold my interest for very long.

Ironically, most of the songs that I liked were not written by Lambert. That isn’t to say she isn’t talented because she definitely is. She’s vocally on point in every song and has tremendous range. In fact, she may have the best voice of any female country singer today. However, coming from me that’s not saying very much. She sings what’s given to her perfectly and her writing team really gave her some good material. This album didn’t turn me into a country fan, but it made me appreciate the genre a little more.

Recommended Tracks: “Fine Tune”, “Mama’s Broken Heart”, “Same Old You”

Coachella Rumor Season!

Well it's that time of year again. We have a little over a month until the lineup for Coachella 2012 is announced. This year the lineup was announced January 19th and in the past the official lineup announcement has usually occurred mid-January so I'm assuming it will be no different for the 2012 lineup announcement.

Before 2011 I had never been to Coachella before, but I had always wanted to. After waiting too late to purchase a ticket for the 2010 festival, I promised myself I wouldn't make the same mistake in 2011. And I can proudly say that Coachella 2011 was one of the best experiences of my life.

This past year I jumped on the Coachella lineup announcement hype-train and I had a lot of fun following the speculation every day, viewing fake lineup posters that "leaked" and sorting out the likely performers from the unlikely performers. It was frustrating at times, but also really exciting, especially when mid-January arrived and I was frantically checking Coachella's website every hour to see if the lineup was announced. It wasn't until I was driving home from eating dinner with my girlfriend on the night of the 19th that we both heard the lineup announcement on the radio and naturally began to flip out. Naturally, I proceeded to book it home to ogle the lineup poster for hours.

This year I'm gonna bring the Coachella hype machine to SuburbanSound and post lineup updates, rumored artists, fake posters, etc. until the real lineup is actually released.

So without further ado, here is the first "leaked" lineup poster of the season:

The poster was leaked by Starz Uncut a couple weeks ago. They claim that they received this from an inside source at Goldenvoice, but that the a few artists are not 100% confirmed yet. This would be a superb lineup, but unfortunately that's why I'm not convinced that this is the legitimate one. It's almost too good. The real give-away that it's a fake is that Daft Punk doesn't even share a top line with Foo Fighters on the Saturday night shows. If anything Daft Punk would be the top-billed act. Fans have been pleading for Goldenvoice to bring back the French electronic duo ever since they blew the lid off of the main stage in 2006. If this were the year for it to happen, they'd at least share a line with Foo Fighters. And LMFAO at Coachella? Get that shit out of here!

Since the print gets pretty small, here's a full list of the performers on the poster: 

No Doubt, The Shins, The Roots, Florence + Machine, Armin Van Burren , Mos Def, Hieroglyphics, Bassnectar, Underworld, Beirut, Lykke Li, Ingrid Michaelson, Roots Manuva, Refused, Dirty South, Dillon Francis, Young Galaxy, Morning Parade, Wolfgang Gartner, the Naked and Famous, Dom, the Japanese Pop Stars, Miguel Migs, the Sleepy Jackson, Felix Da Housecat, Mazzy Star, Metric, Mark Farina, Ryan Adams, NEED TO BREATHE, Holy Ghost!, Midlake, the Night Marchers, Perry Farrell, Zeds Dead, Active Child, Alan Braxe, Porter, the Coup, the Sword, Grace Jones, Fatima, Future Islands, Souls Of Mischief, Doc Martin, Fairview, Whirlwind Heat, Binary Star, Craft Spells, Feed Me, Wild Nothing, Giant Drag, S.T.U.N., DB, Mr Lif, Ima Robot, Gratitude, Bikini, Sleep Salva, Calibre, Tomahawk, Tha Liks, Erase Errata, Celebration, EMA, Guitar Wolf, Nicolas Jaar, Seba, Lukid

Foo Fighters, Daft Punk, Chris Cornell, LMFAO, Wilco, Snow Patrol, Swedish House Mafia, Peter and John Bjorn, Derrick Carter, the Heavy, Kelis, Calvin Harris, MF Doom, Sleep Tinariwen, Big Sean, the Decemberists, the Bisd & the Bee, Bobby Burns, MUTEMATH, Bon Iver, Girls, 12th Planet, Owl City, Tiga, Switch, Soulwax, Noel Gallegher’s High Flying Birds, the Dirty Heads, Bag Raiders, An21, Kings Of Convenience, Classixx, Keep Shelly In Athens, Death Grips, Dawes, ASAP Rocky, Friendly Fires, Ricardo Villalobos, Abandoned Pools, Band of Skulls, SmokeStacks, Mando Diao, the Soft Pack, Youth Group, Nada Surf, the Civil Wars, Anna Calvi, Ducktails, No Age, Shackleton, Junkie XL, Vas DeFrans, Mylo, Murs, 22-20s, Aceyalone, iamamwhoami, Quivver, Headhunter, Huoratron, Paparazzi, 120 Days, Dredg, Jesse Murphy, Brett Dennen, Summer Camp, Suuns, the Coathangers, Dak, Pandit, Plastiscines, Spy Mob, the Sexy Magazines

Radiohead, Feist, Moby, Death Cab For Cutie, Modest Mouse, Justice, AVICII, Kasabian, Tom Waits, Roger Sanchez, VHS Or Beta, Digitalism, M83, American Mars, Joy Formidable, Nero, Martin Solveig, Fiona Apple, AWOL NATION, the Gaslamp Killer, the Glitch Mob, Casting Krowns, Kraddy, ST Vincent, Young The Giant, Thomas Gold, Childish Gambino, Yoav, Wild Flag, Maverick Sable, the Head And the Heart, Four Tet, k-os, Christopher Lawrence, Gold Panda, Slow Club, Torches in Trees, the Sleepy Jackson, Rogue Wave, Pablo Hassan, Doctor P, First Aid Kit, Battles Best Coast, Mona, Chilly Gonzales, Fred Falke, Medusa, Mindless Self Indulgence, Treelight for Sunlight, dios, Radio 4, Dave Armstrong, dBridge & Instra:mental

Your thoughts on the lineup? Does it look legit? Who do you want to see most?

Ceremonials

Florence + the Machine

Florence + the Machine

Bigger = better. That’s the formula that Ceremonials, Florence + the Machine’s sophomore effort, implemented. And it works beautifully. For those of you who enjoyed their terrific debut Lungs, you’re in for a real treat. If Lungs didn’t take your breath away (see what I did there?), chances are Ceremonials won’t win you over.

As the album’s second song, “Shake It Out” kicks into gear, vocalist Florence Welch exorcizes her demons and, well, shakes them out. The song is catchy and makes you want to join her in her bodily contortions that can best be described as dancing. Anyone that has seen her perform live or in any music video knows how that goes. The following track, “What the Water Gave Me,” is the album’s strongest. It’s a slow build-up of Welch’s haunting voice, a backing choir, and the rest of the band on a crash course that meets up at the roughly the 3 ½ minute mark and make perfect harmony in their collision, while at the same time each one tries to achieve dominance. It’s the kind of song that I can see being used in various movie trailers. And that’s definitely a good thing.

The rest of the album is pretty much what you’d expect from the band (Welch belting out the vocals while her backing band progressively builds up to an epic climax), which is definitely a good thing. The bad part is there isn’t much diversity between the tracks, save for the drum-heavy Afro-beat of “Spectrum.” “Leave My Body” is the perfect closer for the album with the return of the gospel choir providing backup vocals as Welch’s energy propels her to the heavens. With help from a backing choir, it takes a good band and ascends it status to a great band.

Ceremonials adheres to a formula that started with Lungs, but it’s a winning formula nonetheless and it is further perfected here. This is the rare case where bigger really is better. I can’t wait to see where this band goes from here.

Recommended Tracks: “Shake It Out”, “What the Water Gave Me”, “Leave My Body”

Almost Acoustic Christmas

For the last few years I've dreamed of going to at least one night of KROQ's annual Almost Acoustic Christmas concert. Year after year KROQ puts together a fantastic lineup of bands over two nights (which takes place this weekend, December 10th & 11th). Tickets end up costing about $92(!) each after Ticketmaster fees, but it's hard to argue the price for what you're getting in return. Plus, the fact that tickets literally sell out in minutes each for each night speaks for itself.

Almost every year it's taken place at the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City, which only contains 6,189 for concerts. So you not only get to see an all-star lineup of bands, but also get to do so in a relatively intimate venue where there's hardly any bad seats.

If I had to pick between either night this year, though it is a tough choice, I would have to go with Night 2, though it is a hard choice. In the end, I just can't pass up seeing The Black Keys. They're always so much fun to watch.

Mylo Xyloto

Coldplay

What the hell is “Mylo Xyloto?” Millions of die-hard Coldplay fans were asking this question when the band first announced the title of their 5th LP on August 12th via their website. Surely since it’s the name of the first track on the disc we’ll get our answer!

Nope (and don’t call me Shirley). As it turns out the opening track is nothing but a 42 second intro track, much like the “Life in Technicolor” was on their previous LP Viva La Vida. However “Mylo Xyloto” is not so much an opening track as it is a prelude of noise to the album’s second song “Hurts Like Heaven.” Yes this will frustrate people a little bit, but I think it could just be the band’s idea of a good joke, giving fans something to talk about for a couple months and then providing no answers. At the end of the day, what’s in a name?

As “Hurts Like Heaven” kicks into gear, I completely forgot about any questions related to the album’s title. It’s a fast paced song that’s just perfect for an album opener. It pulled me in like an opening track should, making me appreciate the band’s energy and songwriting ability. I could definitely imagine them playing this song live and watching the crowd become absorbed into the falsetto wonder that is Chris Martin and his endless stockpile of energy. Next comes “Paradise,” the band’s current single. This is definitely my least favorite Coldplay single to date by a longshot. The song is just annoying and the repetitive chorus could be stripped from a Rihanna track (more on this later).

As the album continues I found myself flip-flopping back and forth on how much I liked this album. High points include the album’s first single, “Every Teardrop is a Waterfall,” which is not as pretentious of a song as it sounds. Johnny Buckland showcases his guitar riffing skills like never before. Combine this with the rave synths and the thudding bass, and you’ve got one hell of a dance party. Immediately following that is the trippy-acoustic “Major Minus” that begs to be played at a music festival. As far as slow ballads go, it’s definitely mandatory that Coldplay writes one per album. Here we get “Up in Flames,” a falsetto-layered ballad depicting a broken relationship gone awry. Sound familiar?

The album does have quite a few lowlights in addition to the highlights. I personally found “Us Against the World” take me out of the experience as it sludged along. “Princess of China” sounds catchy and synthy at first, but to put it in the words of one of my good friends: “who cares?” Rihanna showcases her vocal talent (anyone that says she has none is kidding themselves), but as far as lyrics go, the song did nothing for me, which is important whenever you start a song off with the lyrics “once upon a time…” This song sounds like a terrible b-side that never should have made it onto the album. Aside from “Up in Flames,” the whole second half of the album really did nothing for me. The last three songs in particular felt forced and uninteresting.

Coldplay has definitely come a long way over the years, starting as more of an acoustic band and pushing that sound further with each album. Calling them a U2 knockoff would be inaccurate because unlike the boys from Ireland, Coldplay doesn’t take themselves too seriously and they don’t try to save the world with their lyrics. Mylo Xyloto is a much more cheerful album whose themes suits the band much better, but at times it feels like they want to do too much. I’ve accepted that Coldplay will most likely never recapture the magic that made their first two albums so great. It’s best to just appreciate their subsequent albums for what they are. While Mylo Xyloto is not even near their best album, I wouldn’t call it their worst. I’d prefer to say it’s my least favorite.

Recommended tracks: “Hurts Like Heaven”, “Charlie Brown”, “Every Teardrop is a Waterfall”, “Major Minus”

2012 Grammy Nominations

Earlier this week, the nominees for the 2012 Grammy Awards were announced. Normally, I would dismiss the Grammy Awards. In recent history, Grammy voters have been extremely out of touch with popular music. Year 2000: Steely Dan trumps  Eminem' The Marshall Mathers LP  and Radiohead's Kid A for Album of the Year. In 2009, Robert Plant & Alison Krauss teamed up to record Raising Sand which inexcusably beat Radiohead's In Rainbows for Album of the Year (in case you hadn't noticed, I love Radiohead). But the main point is, the Grammy's have a long history of terrible snubs and tend to be out of sync with the current trends in music.

Fortunately, I'm not the only person with this opinion and it seems to be getting back to the voters because the past couple years' nominees are starting to make more sense.

This year, Kanye West leads all artists with 7 nominations (however, did not pick up a nod for Album of the Year). Adele, Bruno Mars, and Foo Fighters each picked up 6 noms. Lil Wayne and Skrillex (not a typo) picked up 5. Bon Iver, Cee Lo Green, Drake, Mumford & Sons, Nicki Minaj, Radiohead, and Rhianna all received 4 nods. Oh, and Lady Gaga got a mere 3.

Here are the nominees in some of the more prominent categories:

Album of the Year

Adele, 21

Bruno Mars, Doo-Wops & Hooligans

Foo Fighters, Wasting Light

Lady Gaga, Born This Way

Rhianna, Loud

Record of the Year

Adele, "Rolling in the Deep"

Bon Iver, "Holocene"

Bruno Mars, "Grenade"

Mumford & Sons, "The Cave"

Katy Perry, "Firework"

Song of the Year

Kanye West, "All of the Lights"

Mumford & Sons, "The Cave"

Bruno Mars, "Grenade"

Bon Iver, "Holocene"

Adele, "Rolling in the Deep"

Best New Artist

The Band Perry

Bon Iver

J. Cole

Nicki Minaj

Skrillex

For a complete list of the other nominees head over to www.grammy.com/nominees

Quick Reactions

- Let's just give Adele the awards for Record of the Year, Album of the Year, and Song of the Year already and move on. No possible way she doesn't clean house on those categories.

- I'm a little bittersweet on how the Grammy voters treated Kanye West. While I'm glad he garnered the most nominations, it is very perplexing on why he was snubbed for Album of the Year. Love him or hate him, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy was one of the best albums of all time! OF ALL TIME!! Seriously though, it was a masterpiece. Nearly every track is flawless, with insanely catchy beats and excellent songwriting.

- I can't wrap my head around Bruno Mars and his music. I get how he's nominated for all those categories, but I don't agree with it. His music is way too simple and generic for my tastes. His songs sound like a 5th grader wrote them for poetry week.

- Glad that Foster the People got a little love for Torches by scoring nods for Best Alternative Album and Best Pop Duo/Group Performance for "Pumped Up Kicks," but they got a big FUCK YOU from Grammy voters for not getting more love for "Pumped Up Kids" on Record of the Year and Song of the Year, not to mention getting snubbed for a Best New Artist nod. Speaking of which...

- Skrillex being nominated for Best New Artist had to be one of the biggest shocks. I didn't think Grammy voters would know who he was. I respect Skrillex for what he does as a producer, but dubstep as a genre is pretty awful. Other oddities in this category are The Band Perry (there's always someone or some band you've never heard of that gets nominated) and Bon Iver (who released his SECOND studio album this year, but was still somehow eligible for a nomination).

- Glad that "Barbra Streisand" by Duck Sauce got a nod for Best Dance Recording. That song has been everywhere this year from Vitamin Water commercials to becoming the official song of the Coachella 2011 campgrounds (as decided by me). Seriously, people were chanting that song all weekend. I look back on it with fond memories.

- Foo Fighters delivered one of the best albums of the year in Wasting Light and should win every award it was nominated for. It probably will clean up in the Rock categories, but has no shot at Album of the Year.

Cole World: The Sideline Story

J. Cole

For my first album review, I really wanted to challenge myself. I wanted to pick an artist in a genre I am not as well versed in and really open my mind in terms what it has to offer. I’ve never been the biggest fan of hip-hop or rap, but I must admit, the genre as a whole is very appealing. However, I’m also not the kind of person to go out and purchase a hip-hop album. In fact I only own 7 hip-hop albums to date. Naturally, this is one of the genres I want to explore. And what better way to delve deeper into the rhymes than reviewing one of the genre’s rising stars?

So I decided on J. Cole’s major label debut, Cole World: The Sideline Story. Around 1 year ago, J. Cole performed at my alma mater’s opening weekend Block Party. I ended up not going to the event, but after giving Cole World a couple of spins I regret my decision. In his debut J. Cole isn’t afraid to step up to the plate and swing for the fences. His decision to produce the album himself is admirable in itself, and his use of minimal guest artists is even more ambitious. If anything I have to give props to Cole for making this album his own.

The album opens with an intro followed by “Dollar and a Dream III.” So far the album hadn’t wowed me with its rags to riches opener, but maybe I would’ve enjoyed the song more had I heard the first two installments (which are on Cole’s earlier mix tapes). It was when the first single “Lights Please” began that I started to get really into the album. It’s no coincidence that this track gives off the vibe of a low-key Jay-Z (Cole is signed to Jay-Z’s Roc Nation label). Speaking of which, I particularly enjoyed “Mr. Nice Watch,” which featured Jay-Z on guest vocals (if you couldn’t tell, I’m a Jay-Z fan. The Blueprint is one of the 7 hip-hop albums I actually own). The beat here is catchy with a subtle hint of dubstep (which, on the whole I hate as a genre, but works here), the lyrics contagious, and Jay-Z is as good as ever.

Immediately afterward is “Cole Word.” The song is fast, brash and yet confident enough to win me over. The album takes a serious turn with “Lost Ones,” which paints a realistic picture about the conflicts of abortion and presents the theme of daddy issues, which recurs throughout the album. This is one of the more fresh themes I’ve heard in a while. Too many rappers go on about fucking women and fucking people up (*cough* Lil Wayne *cough*), which is why many people I know are turned off by hip-hop. Though these themes are addressed in some of J. Cole’s songs, I’m glad to see it didn’t take over the whole album.

All in all, this is a solid debut for J. Cole. His DIY approach earned my respect on its own and he delivered a fine album. It does have its flaws (“Rise and Shine” didn’t do anything for me and “In the Morning” was predictable and annoying), but my expectations weren’t that high to begin with. Now that his sideline story has been told, I can’t wait to see what J. Cole can follow up with now that he’s been put into the game.

Recommended Tracks: "Lights Please", "Mr. Nice Watch", "Cole World"

Welcome

Hello everyone and welcome to SuburbanSound! One of the reasons I'm starting SuburbanSound is because I want to expand my taste and knowledge of all genres of music. Here, I will be writing reviews of new albums spanning all genres and occasionally post some music news as well as concert/festival updates.

I've already written a few reviews and will be posting them daily until I'm caught up to the current week in music. From then on I'll post as frequently as possible.