Listened: Friday June 18
My coworker Jim loaned me El Kilo, but I hadn’t listened to it until this project. I really liked it upon first listen. It’s super-catchy and energetic rap-en-espanol over Cuban-influenced music. I’m definitely going to listen to this more!
Listened: Friday June 18
Audio Bullys are an odd mixture – I would say they are a more rappy, more direct Underworld. Like Underworld, they are dance music oriented, but with a lot of interesting sounds and structure. They have beefiness in their tunes, not minimalism. Unlike Underworld though, their lyrics are less free-association and more of a story.
Ego War has good energy and a soccer-chant-like quality to the songs that makes me sing along as I’m working, especially to the naughty bits like “What the faaaaaaaaaak!” I had forgotten about this album and I definitely need to play it more.
Listened: Friday June 18
I really didn’t want to like Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros. They seemed like a big group of silly annoying hippies if you judge them on their looks (and don’t lie, we all do it). I didn’t even recognize Alex, the lead singer, who used to be in Ima Robot and used to look like this (guy to the left). Now, in Edward Sharpe, he looks like this.
I figured he had turned into some insufferable crunchy hippie. It actually sounds like he might have been insufferable before and now he’s much happier, so maybe it was a good thing that he changed.
The album is like a mix between Arcade Fire and Ennio Morricone-Sergio Leone western soundtracks (the album cover is apt and Sergio gets a shoutout in one of the songs), plus a big helping of hippie. In a good way. It’s quite positive in tone, begs you to sing along, and every song sounds different. The standout to me is Home, the fifties-style duet between Alex and Jade. It’s so endearing because you can hear the smiles on their faces as they sing and you can feel the chemistry between them.
Their live show is powerful too – at Coachella their set reminded me of Arcade Fire’s rousing performances of years past. So far, they have lived up to the indie hype.
Listened: Friday June 18
Explosions in the Sky is a great name for this band Woody introduced me to. That’s what their music sounds like – beautiful explosions in the sky.
EITS is very dreamy, ambient, and dramatic rock music with no lyrics. They’re reasonably famous for being used as mood music on TV shows like Friday Night Lights. It’s also great driving music.
Hearing this reminds me of when Woody and I first were going out, since it was one of the first CDs he shared with me, so it elicits very positive feelings when I hear it.
Emily's Albums A to Z 
