Favorites - Week of April 25, 2011

A lot of great music this past weeks and plenty of awesome albums due out in May. These are some songs I've had on repeat all week.

5. "Sail" by Awolnation
This song is infectious and I love it. Fearless Fred of 102.1 The Edge thinks it sounds like the Last of the Mohicans soundtrack, but you can decide for yourself.

4. "White Limo" by the Foo Fighters
This and the number one song have been on my favorites list for several weeks now, except for last week when I shared some old favourites.

3. "Fragile Bird" by City and Colour
The first single off Dallas Green's third solo effort, Little Hell (available June 7), is a little more rock than past City and Colour albums. The song is great and sounds almost as if you were in the studio listening to him play it live and raw.

2. "Make Some Noise" by Beastie Boys
The Beastie Boys album is one of the big albums out in May and you can listen to more than "Make Some Noise" under this post. In fact, the entire album is streaming below! Oh, and this week we actually have the "Make Some Noise" video (P.S. in the boys usual style it's awesome and hilarious)!

1. "N/A OK" by Ubiquitous Synergy Seeker
Maybe not on everyone's list of big albums coming out, but it is on mine and I'm super excited for its release.

Hot Sauce Committee Part II

Posting this late, but I was without internet for a week and want to share it anyways.  The entire new album from the Beastie Boys is streaming.  It is wicked, as expected.

If the stream isn't good enough quality for you, the album is available on mp3 download, CD, and vinyl in all its glory!

Favorites - Week of April 11, 2011

A couple new tracks made it onto my list this week.  Here are my latest favorites.

5. "Make Some Noise" by The Beastie Boys
The latest single from the long awaited Hot Sauce Committee album from the Beastie Boys brings up some great reminders of old school Beastie Boys.

4. "Rolling In The Deep" by Adele
Beautiful, soulful vocals and a dark blues-rock beat make for one excellent track.

3. "Two Against One" Danger Mouse, Daniele Luppi, and Jack White
The White Stripes are gone, but Jack White is still here.  Together with producer-extraordinaire Danger Mouse, Daniele Luppi, and Norah Jones, he is creating an album called ROME.  This is one of my favorites from their project.

2. "White Limo" by Foo Fighters
Back again this week is the extra heavy Foo Fighters with "White Limo".  If for some reason you haven't already bought their album, do it now!

1. "N/A OK" by Ubiquitous Synergy Seeker

A lot of amazing albums are scheduled for release May 3, but USS' EP Approved is the one I'm most amped for.  "N/A OK" is an awesome song, and I'm sure only a taste of things to come from Approved.

Comeback/Hiatus/Gap Albums

I don't know what you would actually call them, but it seems 2011 is the year for artists who have been off the grid for a while to release an album. The Strokes just released Angles (which I reviewed) after 5 years without a new album and the most recent album I reviewed, Screaming Bloody Murder, comes from Sum 41, whose last album released in 2007. And plenty more albums are expected later in the year from bands that haven't been in the studio for quite some time. The Foo Fighters album should be out in April and their last also came out in 2007, and the same for the Beastie Boys. The Red Hot Chili Pepper's new album, currently titled Dr. Johnny Skinz’s Disproportionately Rambunctious Polar Express Machine-head, is expected this year and Stadium Arcadium released in 2006. Radiohead gapped from 2007 to 2011 for The King of Limbs and Blink 182's album if released this year will gap from 2003 to now. I could go on and on with examples of this. At first, I thought it must have been due to 2009 and 2010 being a big period of reunions and reformations. But so many of these bands and those not listed here, never broke up officially. I can't explain why this is, but based on the records released thus far in 2011, I think I don't mind bands spending the time to create a solid album. So long as bands stagger their release years. That way we don't go years without new music and as an added bonus that makes it easier to win awards with less bands competing simultaneously.