{"id":6476,"date":"2017-10-11T01:55:48","date_gmt":"2017-10-11T09:55:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wou.edu\/westernjournal\/?p=6476"},"modified":"2017-10-10T19:07:55","modified_gmt":"2017-10-11T03:07:55","slug":"catch-release-album-reviews","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/catch-release-album-reviews\/","title":{"rendered":"Catch and Release: Album Reviews"},"content":{"rendered":"

Discovering newly released music before the masses are aware of it used to be a pastime for some. Knowing all the lyrics, mastering the air guitar and making sure that everyone around knows who found it first were all very important parts of being the coolest. Here a few albums that have been released recently. They aren\u2019t for everyone, but at least it\u2019s something other than listening to the same songs you jammed out to in high school. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHalf Light\u201d by Rostam, a former group member of Vampire Weekend, is an album that\u2019s almost perfect for studying or sleeping. Having listened to Vampire Weekend in high school, I find that there are all the elements of Rostam\u2019s previous group, but there\u2019s a finesse to \u201cHalf Light\u201d that sets it apart. Perhaps it was taking a page out of Bon Iver\u2019s book for the cinematography of his music video or the minimalism that, ironically, makes you want to go buy the album. It\u2019s his solo debut and, while it reflects his previous group, it is anything but typical. <\/span><\/p>\n

Open Mike Eagle recently released \u201cBrick Body Day Kids Still Dream.\u201d After listening to the first few songs, I felt like I had listened to the same song on repeat. Each tone story made me feel the same feelings, see the same images. In an attempt to interpret this album, I noticed that it mainly focuses on the past, but also dreams of the future <\/span>\u2014 <\/span>an all too common theme. Some of the songs are so erratic that it actually made me physically frustrated. But maybe there is a level of musicality that I have yet to unearth in myself. <\/span><\/p>\n

After listening to music for hours on end, trying to write this article, I stumbled across the album \u201cI Tell a Fly\u201d by Benjamin Clementine. Just as I was hoping and praying for something different, or an eye-opening album to listen to, I got this. Though it wasn\u2019t exactly what I was searching for, it\u2019s just fine. If you can imagine Death Grips and Timber Timbre having a little music-baby on a rebellious streak, it would be Benjamin Clementine. Similar to past albums, each song carries a similar weight with it and, after having seen Clementine on an NPR Tiny Desk Concert, I was more than a little disappointed. \u201cI Tell a Fly\u201d is jazzy, avant garde, electronic and modern. Frankly, it\u2019s all over the place.<\/span><\/p>\n

Finally, \u201cWonderful, Wonderful\u201d by the one and only, The Killers. Perhaps my review of this album is a bit biased, being that I think The Killers are pretty amazing. Imbibing a bit and singing loudly and off-key to \u201cMr. Brightside\u201d still sounds like a good time to me. This album \u2014 however high my hopes were \u2014 was not so much of a letdown, as it was a surprise. After disappearing off the scene, The Killers haven\u2019t really lost their touch. \u201cWonderful, Wonderful\u201d retains the same light and delicate instrumentals that were on previous albums, but with darker emotions. Sure, it is no \u201cHot Fuss,\u201d but it\u2019s better than a kick in the pants. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Contact the author at journalentertainment@wou.edu<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Discovering newly released music before the masses are aware of it used to be a pastime for some. Knowing all the lyrics, mastering the air guitar and making sure that everyone around knows who found it first were all very important parts of being the coolest. Here a few albums that have been released recently. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1017,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6476","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-entertainment"],"modified_by":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6476","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1017"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6476"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6476\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6476"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6476"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6476"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}