Music Theory: A Faint Fasciinatiion

-The Faint albums Blank Wave Arcade, Danse Macabre, Danse Macabre Remixes, and Wet From Birth are the soundtrack of almost every great party memory I have from high school. Those memories, coupled with one of the most amazing live shows I've ever seen, have cemented The Faint as one of my all-time favorite bands. Not to mention the huge influence they've had on my own music.
-So when I heard that the band was releasing a new album, Fasciinatiion, I was predictably excited. The album was released on the band's own label, Blank .wav. Records. This marks the first time the band has released an album away from the Omaha based indie powerhouse Saddle Creek. I've listened to it a few times through now and I've got mixed feelings. The composition is more complex and admirable then ever, but there isn't a track with a ultra-catchy driving hook like "Southern Belles in London," or "Worked Up So Sexual." Also, the overall tone of songs seems to be more reliant on bassier synth lines.
-The album will assuredly be an major part of my danse-party playlist this upcoming party season, but because of the memories and history I have with the band's prior albums, this one just isn't resonating with me in that o.g. Faint way.
-The album's best moments come on the decidedly darker sounding "Fulcrum and Lever," and the uncharacteristically poppy "Fish in a Womb."
-Overall this is a great disc, I give it an A. Video for the song "The Geeks Were Right," on the bands Web site. more

Music Theory: Paper Route

-I''ve got music A.D.D. I'm always looking for new, genre bending tunes. I flip through reviews in Filter, check Pitchfork, MySpace Music, and Purevolume at least once a week looking for bands to cure my voracious musical appetites. I get bored quickly, and I don't listen to something unless I love it, I can't listen to music that I am indifferent about.
-I usually don't throw up quick music recommendations on here, probably because I take the professionalism of this blog more seriously than I should, but today I stumbled upon a band I feel is worthy of dedicating a post to. They're called Paper Route.
-Those of you who know me may be surprised, I don't usually like tunes that could possibly be described as "sleepy." Maybe it's just today, but Paper Route is really appealing to me. Their genre is listed as indie/ambient/electronica, which doesn't do justice to the depth of their sound. It's folky, but not the kind of folky I usually detest - college hippie folky. It's big, the production is full, but in an unpretentious, understated way. Not big in a Coldplay, overstated/overproduced because we can sort of way; Each element seems both wisely chosen and necessary. I imagine Paper Route's sound as what might have happened if Thom Yorke had grown up in the Midwest and signed with Saddle-Creek. But anyway, the band's latest E.P. Are We All Forgotten is available now on iTunes.
photo by Tec Petaja more