Lately I've been pimping the soundtrack to New Moon. I am completely aware of the fact that pimping this album might make me some kind of teenage girl, but hear me out. I haven't seen the movie yet, so my judgment is based completely on the collection of songs themselves. Hopefully the movie doesn't waste such good music, but we'll see. Anywho, what follows is my breakdown of the album. Set faces for stunned.
STANDOUTS (The Ones You Need to Own):
1. Meet Me At the Equinox by Death Cab For Cutie: Few bands can express such acute thoughts about both love and nihilism in just one song. Forgoing the typical, "we're in love and everything's gonna be great" motif, Death Cab punctuates every mention of bodies intertwining with the foreboding reminder that "everything ends." It's beautiful and depressing as hell all at once.
2. Friends by Band of Skulls: I recently purchased a pretty decent album by this band (Baby Darling Doll Face Honey). They kinda sound like a British version of The White Stripes. But I digress. This song is a drunk and disorderly tribute to being irresponsible on the weekends. It's going to the top of the playlist that I'm making for my unit on The Outsiders.
3. Hearing Damage by Thom Yorke: I'm not really gonna get into how intricate and complex Thom Yorke/Radiohead's music is, because to be honest, I don't have the cognitive capacity to even go there. All I know is that Yorke makes music like nobody else, and this song is no exception.
4. Done All Wrong by Black Rebel Motorcycle Club: This is a tune in the vein of All You Do Is Talk; a blues-y slow song that drifts into your mind like a cold wind and leaves you slightly more melancholy that you were before.
5. The Violet Hour by Sea Wolf: I've never heard of this band before, but this catchy tune is definitely like the mari ju wanna (you know, like a gateway drug? Heh). I'd describe it as a punchy little number inspired by Belle and Sebastian mixed with a little bit of David Byrne. Coupled with its liberal use of body/nature metaphors, I was caught off guard by how often it pops up in my head when I'm not thinking about anything.
6. Shooting the Moon by OK Go: OK Go sets up some gnarly quirk-rock and bangs it out by beating a big ass drum. This is one I like to crank up in the car to the point where my fillings start to vibrate along with the drum beats.
7. Slow Life by Grizzly Bear: I've decided that Grizzly Bear is a band that you've got to dedicate some time and effort to. Once you've agreed to suspend your disbelief and step into their world, you find something pretty intriguing. On this track, the vocals belong to Victoria Legrand (Yeah, I don't know who that is either), and they compliment Ed Droste's (thanks, Google!) own style. It's slow, pretty, and the more you listen to it, the different musical nuances come into focus.
8. Nothing But the Wind by the Editors: At first, this song was kind of unsettling for me. It's hard to get used to the vocals. But, I gave it some heavy rotation, and it slowly became one of the coolest songs in the world. It's just a dude and his piano busting out some intensely operatic lyrics that make a person want to reinvest themselves in the fight for love!
9: All I Believe In by The Magic Numbers: This song is actually super cheesy. I mean, it even goes off on a Native American-influenced tangent! But, something about this song is charming, and I couldn't help but dig it.
FORGETTABLE (Songs One Would Expect From a Twilight Soundtrack):
I'm not gonna really go into too much detail here. This stuff is the obligatory filler between the awesome songs listed above. If the whole album was as good as the above songs, the fault lines would crack, and humanity would be pulled into a fiery maw of awesome. Or a mawesome, if you will.
1. Possibility by Lykke Li: Six-year-old, chain-smoking depressed girl song part 1.
2. A White Demon Love Song by The Killers: If this song was on "Hot Fuss," it'd be so good! Why? BECAUSE THAT WAS BEFORE THE KILLERS DECIDED TO START SUCKING!!!!
3. Satellite Heart by Anya Marina: Six-year-old, chain-smoking depressed girl song part 2.
4. I Belong to You by Muse: Muse is kind of starting to follow The Killers on their short bus to Suckville.
5. Roslyn by Bon Iver and St. Vincent: I was so very disappointed with this song. Everything on "For Emma, Forever Ago" is ten times better than this dirge.
6. Monsters by Hurricane Bells: Sheree noted that this song sounded like a Muse song. It does. They play it on a loop at a truck stop called The Suckery in a place known as Suckville.
7. Solar Midnite by Lupe Fiasco: Crap! Crappiest piece of crap that ever made its way out of Crapville, sister city to Suckville.
Even though there are seven mediocre songs (which is about half the album), the nine standouts are extremely good. That's why I'm pimping this album. At the very least, illegally download the nine good songs and pat yourself on the back for maintaining an open mind.
