I wasn’t expecting to like this at all.  My opinion of Third Eye Blind was not a pleasant one after hearing, “Do-do-do, do-d-do-doo!” thousands of times.  Ursa Major has lifted my opinion of 3EB in a big way, though.  I found myself liking every single track, which is pretty rare.  The album is great – if you’re in the mood for some good, well-written pop/rock, check this out.

Brutal.  It’s an overused metal cliche… but isn’t everything about Metalocalypse?  This second album of music directly from and inspired by the series is pretty brutal, though.   Brenden Small amps up everything for this second go-round.   The vocals are a tad bit different this time – his Nathan Explosion is a little more snarly – and the songs in general are bigger.  Way fuller-sounding.  I’d go so far as “epic”.

My friend Mike was talking about Daisy, and his one-line review read, “It’s Brand New, so of course the new album sounds completely different.”  He’s kind of right, but kind of not.  For one, Jesse’s lyrics have gotten better over the years; but if you listen to the last three albums – the sound of “Daisy” really isn’t that far removed from the sound of “Deja”. It’s the same Brand New, only more raw and visceral.

So I had heard the name DJ Shadow before, but I can’t for the life of me remember where.  I figured it was just another hip-hop mixtape-type release, and I was only a little right.  The Outsider spans a surprising number of genres in its relatively short length, and each different genre is insanely well-done.  Shadow definitely shows you that his production spans far and wide – it’s very impressive.

When I heard “Kind of a Girl” – it gave me high hopes.  One would assume that getting together an amazing group of rock musicians (James Iha, Adam Schlesinger, Bun E. Carlos) and Taylor Hanson would produce some pretty amazing results, right?  Instead, it sounds like a serious attempt to fit as many pop stereotypes onto one album as possible.  I expected so much more.

This entire album is fun… almost too much fun.  (It’s kind of an pop-electro-funk hybrid.)  The sound is SUPER polished for a local act, and… I wouldn’t be surprised to see them get picked up by a major label sometime soon.  The only thing I disliked is that the album ends with a ballad… such an upbeat, danceable (and again, fun) experience ending on a down note leaves a little bit of a sour taste in my mouth.

There are many things that can be said about Jack White, good and bad.  It blows my mind how he’s able to give everything he does a style that’s recognizably his – without sounding like anything else he’s done.  ”Horehound” is an extremely good listen; it’s one of the very few albums lately where I want to go back and listen a few more times just to catch all the subtleties.

I really dislike when albums are semi-decent… except for one glaring thing that ruins the whole experience for you.  “Ocean Eyes” is actually a pretty interesting listen… it sounds like the bastard sound child of Hellogoodbye and The Postal Service.  So what ruins it?  There isn’t a single moment on the album where Adam Young’s voice isn’t pulled through auto-tune.  *sigh*  Kids and their technology these days.

So, it’s been a good five years since this Minneapolis (represent!) duo released “E&A“, one of my favorite hip-hop albums ever.  They took the time off to experiment some – and I think it pays off.  The writing here is a bit more serious than on “E&A“, but it doesn’t detract from the duo’s style at all.  Eyedea is still amazing on the mic, and DJ Abilities’ production is definitely on another level.

Chrisette Michele has done some fantastic guest work - I’m a little ashamed to admit this, but I picked up this CD solely based on her work with other artists.  That said, I’m not very impressed by this album.  Her vocals are solid, but R&B (IMO) needs to have some soul… I need to hear some genuine feeling for it to wow me.  This didn’t.  I don’t know if it was the writing or the performance, but it all fell flat.