Get Moving!

Artist: Crash Kings
Album: Crash Kings
Rating: 4.5 of 5

Linda Perry is a pretty smart lady. Say what you will, the woman has an eye for talent. This is proved by this cd and many others. Sure we have all heard the #1 single Mountain Man, but how is the rest of the album?

Pretty darn good actually. The cd keeps the music upbeat and lively. Each song flows nicly into the next and keeps your foot tapping. It is piano driven and a little like The Fray, but has more rock injection in my opinion. How do the songs break down? Let's do the 1 to 5 scale (5 is the best).

Mountain Man - 4.8
Song speaks for itself. It's upbeat and will get you up and moving every time.

1985 - 4.2
Another upbeat song. This one could be a single as well.

It's only Wednesday - 4.4
This song is pretty cool for 2 reasons. One it shows off Tony Beliveau's vocal range nicely. And second, Ben Folds Five are back together! That's who they remind me of on this track.

Come Away - 4.0
You know, I am not a Crash Kings fanboy or anything. This album is just solid. Songs like this one are in the upper range because they are just that darn good!

Non Believer - 3.2
The third single from the cd. Good but nothing special in my opinion.

14 Arms - 4.8
Possibly the most rocking song on the whole cd. Listen to this and try not start bobbing to this one! I found this one of the most exciting songs on the whole cd.

Raincoat - 3.4
Another song that could have easily been a single.

You Got Me - 4.3
The second single. By this point in the record I decided I wanted to see them live. The energy is amazing.

Saving Grace - 3.6
It strikes me on this song how they are not just good songwriters, but also good musicians as well. Kudos!

My Love - 4.8
You might think the last song on the album would be filler, but it's honestly one of the best songs on the whole cd.


Total 41.5 / 50.0. Not too shabby! This cd is completely worth your hard earned money. No need to just buy single songs off amazon.com. Just fork the cash over for this great record.

Indie Never Sounded So Good

Artist:  MGMT   Album: Oracular Spectacular


Take a base of alternative quirkiness. Add a slight techno beat. Then some high pitched vocals. Next mix with a dash of funk. And top it off with some power pop, and viola! You have MGMT. I cannot reccomend this album highly enough. This New York based indie rock band is set to hit the big time.
The cd starts off with a bang hiting hard with the great track "Time to Pretend." And this is could be argued for as the highlight of the disc. But if you stop there, you are selling yourself short. "Electric Feel" almost reminds of you of a 70s disco. And "Pieces of What" is a perfect merge of radio hooks and rock n roll. Also not to be overlooked would be "The Handshake" and "Kids."
Some people compare them to Muse, and you can see the influence there. But the more you listen you realize MGMT are striking out into a style all their own. Great, great cd. Do yourself a favor. Pick it up. You'll be glad you did....

Rating 4.3 of 5

All That Road Going

Book:  All That Road Going: A Novel  Author:  A. G. Mojtabai

I will admit it. I'm more of a straight up "popcorn" book reader. While I do enjoy the classics as well ( Jane Austen, Henry James, Walt Whitman, etc.), I in general love a good action book. Or a good horror novel. Something with a lot of excitement, but not really deep.
Now, this book is not like the books I have mentioned. But it has to be one of the most interesting books I have read in a long time. Mojtabai does a splendid job of carefully crafting out character after character. And then fleshing them out completely. Each one is absorbing and interesting. This is accomplished as quite a character study.

What makes this even more impressive is the fact that some of the characters almost seem to cliched to be interesting. The 15 year old mother who gives her baby up for adoption. The old man fleeing from his now senile lover.  Really, any of these could be boring or trite. But they are not. Each one is flawed, but mesmerizing as well.

All in all, a decent read and worth picking up.

Rating 3.5 out of 5

Lush - Spooky (Music)

Welcome back to the Opinion Company.  Yes I'm well aware no one at all is probably following this anymore.  Oh well, I'm going to start sticking new reviews on here.  And by reviews I mean they can be anything at all.  Hopefully you guys will enjoy it.  So let's start it all up again.

Lush - Spooky (Music)

The debut album of Lush. The cd was weird for it's time. And it still sounds weird and out of place now. But I'm not actually in any way demeaning the cd. That's actually one of the things I love about it. It's in many ways a timeless album. Think about how much music you can easily class which decade it came from. Or figure out what style it is. Lush worked hard to defy that. Oh sure, you know it's pop. But not Britney Spears pop. It's rock, but not Guns N Roses rock. It stuck between genres. And now has come to be called "Shoegazing."

And in case you're wondering, Shoegazing means bands who came from the late eighties, and reached it's height in the mid nineties. They played a brand of alternative pop rock. It was heavily effects laden. Lush were at the forefront of the movement. While the style has mostly died out, it's not done yet with a new crop of "nu-gaze" bands like Autolux. But anyway, what about this album?

Solid cd. Lush were still growing into their sound like wearing a shirt a bit too big. So sometimes the sound gets away from them. A good example would be the song Tiny Smiles in my opinion. But other songs they were able to nail, such as Covert, For Love, Superblast!, and my personal favorite Untogether.
Yes the shoegazing era is gone. But Lush left us with some very memorable records. Such as this moody gem.

RATING: 3.8 of 5.

Pleasure For Your Ears

Artist: Rilo Kiley.  Album: More Adventurous.  Rating: (1 to 5 stars) 5

http://www.amazon.com/More-Adventurous-Rilo-Kiley/dp/B0002M5T7A/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top


It has been a long time for me. A long time since I popped a cd in my computer or car and was blown away. I have a lot of artists I like, but not necessarily in love with. My record was taken away by this cd. I put it in and listened to it three times straight. Yes, it's that good.
I won't add much to the biography of the band in this review. If you're familiar with Rilo Kiley or Jenny Lewis at all, then you know all about them, hers and Sennett's acting careers, their relationship, her solo career, etc. So let's just focus on the music. Probably the majority of people who were exposed to the band heard the song "Portions For Foxes" on Grey's Anatomy. But their music was used on The O.C. and Dawson's Creek as well. Uh oh, TV music. How good could it be?

Well, please don't let that throw you. This is a very talented band. Jenny Lewis' voice is amazing. She can belt it out, or croon. Either way she catches your attention and keeps you enthralled. Also Sennett's guitar work is fun as well. He's a talented musician and a good song writer to boot. The album moves along at a nice pace. The first song, "It's a Hit" is rocking and the second song, "Does He Love You" is truly heartbreaking. The third song "Portions For Foxes" is fun too.
Is this a perfect record? Not perfect. But pretty amazing for how it avoids duds. I mean there is not a weak track on it. Maybe "Ripcord"? And that's not even bad, just sticks out because the production sounds different. The music ranges from indie rock to a country sound. And by country sound, I don't mean Taylor Swift pop country. And I also don't mean bluegrass. More like the country sound Wilco Yankee Hotel Foxtrot has attained. This album would never be mistaken for mainstream radio music. But maybe that's a shame all in itself.

 So there you go. If you've never had the chance to hear Rilo Kiley, now's the time. The music and production are great and the lyrics and musicianship are all top notch. I will go out on a limb and say this cd is going to be on my list of my favorite top 25 albums of all time. And this will be in the top 5 of that. Highly recommended!