Ten years is a long time in any regard. Ten years is even longer when you’re waiting for a band to finally live up their full potential. But looking back ten years isn’t all that long to wait for an album as good as Nada Surf’s latest, Lucky (amazon) (itunes). After string of efforts that at best produced two great songs, and in the case of their last album only one brilliant song, it’s refreshing to finally hear these three guys live up to their obvious talent song after song. Unfortunately it was their startling lack of skill at bottling this magic for an entire album that kept me away from their latest disc for so long.
mp3 : Nada Surf - Whose Authority
mp3 : Nada Surf - The Film Did Not Go ‘Round
From start to finish the album if full of songs that relay both the band’s maturity as well as musical style. It’s also good to hear that the boys seem to have finally grown comfortable with their eclectic all inclusive style of modern pop. At times they stray slightly psychedelic into the realm of The Flaming Lips, other songs seem to bend toward the northwest pop sensibilities akin to The Long Winters, and on other tracks there’s hints of a country twang background similar to Uncle Tupelo and an earlier Wilco. What I like is this diversity and the effortless way Nada Surf spins from song to song without ever feeling as if they’re forcing the issue. At last we can all rest assured that Nada Surf have created one album that from start to finish lives up to their enormous potential.
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Published by billy at November 1, 2007
in feist, best of the month, bishop allen, bright eyes, nada surf, jeff tweedy, botm, cover, remix, sufjan stevens, radiohead, mix, arcade fire and mp3.
I did this style of mix a couple of times in the past but now they’ll hopefully become a regular part of the lineup here on The World Forgot. So welcome to the first of many Best of the Month compilations. Basically I do a lot of random reading, listening, searching, finding, digesting, etc. of all the music that I can possibly get my hands on. And let’s be honest, I probably have a bit more free time than you do. Judging from the fact that I’m writing this extensive explanation and you’re simply skimming through it looking for the mp3 links I would say that’s a fair assessment of our relative free time to work time ratios. But in this case when I win, with more free time than you suckas, you end up winning with more good music.
Here listed below are tunes I randomly sampled and loved from across the interwebs this past great month of October. By no means is it a conclusive list of who’s who and what’s what, but it is a small smattering of great music that you might have missed as you carried on with your fascinatingly involved thing some people call a “real life.” Seeing as how I haven’t had one of those since I graduated from college and failed to find a “real job” I guess it’s only fair.
As with all future BOTM volumes I recommend each and every track listed here below. They’re all worth a moment of your time. Cheers, and enjoy the first volume of BOTM.
mp3 : Arcade Fire - Poupee de Cire, Poupee de Son (Serge Gainsbourg Cover)
mp3 : Bishop Allen - You Ain’t No Picaso
mp3 : Bright Eyes - Southern State
mp3 : Feist - Mushaboom (Postal Service Remix)
mp3 : Jeff Tweedy - Simple Twist of Fate
mp3 : Nada Surf - See These Bones
mp3 : Radiohead - Faithless the Wonder Boy
mp3 : Sufjan Stevens - Ring My Bells
Is it just me or does Jeff Tweedy sound like a young Bob Dylan on this track. And I might be reaching here but this Radiohead track I swear would fit in perfect as a b-side for Weezer’s Pinkerton. Maybe I’m crazy, you be the judge. And for once can Nada Surf make an entire album that lives up to their full potential for a full length? Please.
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