5 CDs a Week, week 8

The randomly generated list o'the week:
1. The Frames, Set List
2. Blur, 13
3. Joe Logic presents: We Run Philly
4. Gavin DeGraw, Chariot
5. The Bird and the Bee Ray Guns Are Not Just the Future

So, this is the late late late post, one that I hope to not repeat if I can help it! There are lots of crazy and exciting things going on at work, and it sucked me in with the load of things that are now on my plate. I'm hoping to never have to take a week hiatus like that again, at least not for work's sake! It was a well-needed rest for me, and I'm glad to be back again, listening to things that needed to be listened to. My batteries survived week 8, amazingly! Will the story change with week 9? We shall see!

Time for the music? YES, YES IT IS!

I first heard of The Frames in 2004. I saw them open for Damien Rice at the Tower Theater, and I was blown away by their performance. They have this way of crafting their live show so they can flow seamlessly from their songs into a a verse or verse and a chorus of a cover, then right back to their songs. It's not something they do for every song in a live show, of course--that would get gimmicky way too fast, but it does make for an enjoyable surprise here or there in their set. Set List was recorded at a live performance in Dublin in 2002, and it captures the quintessential Frames show: great music, songs interspersed with moments of covers, and some fantastic stories and talk sets. There are so many great tracks on the CD--if I had to pick three, I'd go with "Star Star', "Lay Me Down", and "Fitzcarraldo". The first I love for the brilliant break in of "Pure Imagination", the second for a couple reasons: the crowd is really into the song, which I think adds a lot to the performance, and secondly for the effortless way they transition in and out of "Ring of Fire". And, well, "Fitzcarraldo" is just a beautiful, beautiful song. Something I always loved about the band was that they incorporate the violin into their music with great success, and I think "Fitzcarraldo" is a prime example of that merger. Listening to this CD reminds me, once again, how much I love their live shows, and I'm practically kicking myself for missing them while they were in Philadelphia only a couple weeks ago. D'oh!

Blur's 13 is an album that I can say I may have not given enough credit to. Then again, after another listen, I'm still not sure exactly how much credit I can give. Some people say this is a masterpiece by Blur. I say, "I bought it because I really liked 'Tender' and 'Coffee & TV', which also had a really cool and adorable video." Does that make me a horrible person? I doubt it. Even as I listened to the CD, I couldn't quite get "into" it. Maybe I'm missing something. Maybe if I give it another listen and really take it in, I'll get it. What it is, who knows? I may try to give the album another spin. It was just so-so this time around, but I know that sometimes there are CDs that don't seem as awesome as they are on the first, second, or even third listen. Sometimes it takes a while to begin to get into the intricacies of the songs and how they're crafted. Then again, maybe the only thing I could come away with is the fact that I just don't get why other people love it so much. Time will tell.

Gavin DeGraw's Chariot is a finely-crafted album of 11 pop songs. I got this CD not long after I started interning at the studio, aka, "the time when I used a majority of my small disposable income on CDs". Listening to it again, I was reminded how much I remembered of most of the songs on the CD. They had good enough hooks, good enough sounds, and easy-enough to remember lyrics that I found myself singing along with most of the CD while I listened to it at work. I was trying to remember how many of the songs actually came out as singles. It feels like they all could have, although I'm sure that's not the case. I remember that many of the songs were showcased on various tv shows that either used them over a scene or with him playing the song as part of a scene. Whoever was handling his publicity for his first album did a pretty good job on getting him out there. Since then, he's floated into my "where are they now?" pile. Seems like in addition to putting out more music, he's gotten very much into philanthropy. Not too bad. If you're in need of a solid album of pop-rock songs to coast you through an afternoon, pop in Chariot and go along for the ride.

My good friend Joe Logic worked his butt off on the We Run Philly Project, and boy, does it show! The collection of songs he produced is incredibly danceable! Right from the get-go, the track with artist Aime comes out swinging with a great beat that samples from the Jackson 5--hard to go wrong there. The track that I can't stop listening to is "Get Down", the collaboration with Teff that really does make me want to get down. I heard the song while the album was being worked on (because, yeah, I also work with Joe), and I kept telling him I wanted to play it for my friends for when we're getting ready to go out dancing. Hell, I'd probably try to get it in the hand of some DJs too. The rest of the CD is stacked with tracks from Chill Moody, 5 Grand, and Schooly D, among others. The project was started to raise awareness for Students Run Philly Style, a mentoring program designed to help students in Philadelphia develop goals, discipline, and diligence through distance and marathon training. It's a great cause, and now it has a great soundtrack! For a full listen, check out the We Run Philly site yourself!

Ray Guns Are Not Just the Future by The Bird and the Bee is just an overall great pop album. While O and I were listening to this in the car over the weekend I realized that a great concert pairing would be The Bird and the Bee and The Cardigans. They have very similar brands of pop, and Inara George's vocals have a light airy quality to them, something that in my mind seems comparable to Nina Persson's singing. My favorite song on the album is the one that caused me to pick it up in the first place, "Love letter to Japan". I can thank Chuck for turning me on to them in the first place, although when I brought that up a while back he told me he forgot about that, and thought that I told him about them. Then I found out that they covered Hall & Oates for an entire album and had their own version of "How Deep Is Your Love" by the Bee Gees. That sealed the deal for me with this group--YES, in the good way! I just love what they do! Most of their songs are rather relaxing in tempo, but it's perfect to put on to enjoy some good pop music while you unwind. I picked this up sometime within the past year, making it one of the most recent CD purchases I've made, and I'm definitely satisfied with it.

That wraps up week 8! Due to everything being so late (again, a thousand apologies), I'm going to be working on getting week 9 up in the next two days. It's another good week of music, I swear! Until then, happy listening!

Battery tally: still 4 sets, but for how much longer?!?!?