New Music Tuesday aftermath

One of my favorite things ever to do is listening to new albums. Therefore, I always keep half an eye on the weekly iTunes email of new music. This week, there were two new releases that interested me enough to buy.

Ladytron - Velocifero

Now, I've never really been able to get into Ladytron. They're one of those bands that I've always kind of felt like I should like, but in the end they never really managed to wow me. For the most part, the vocals are what annoy me. They don't really try to make real songs, so much as throwing half-spoken, repetitive vocals over the synths. However much I love synths (and I LOVE them), I can't really put up with this for too long

This album had me really excited for the first few tracks. It really seemed like they were writing real songs, with actual lyrics and melodies, but still with their old attitude. However, as the album winded down after the few tracks, they seemed to devolve into their old habits of throwing some sort of half-assed vocals over the instrumentals. Over all, it was a bit disappointing, although there are some seriously awesome songs in the first half of the album. And if you like Ladytron already, then this album is pretty awesome.


Islands - The Arm

Islands was a pretty big deal when they came out (was it last year, or 2006? I can't remember now). The big thing is that the lead singer used to be the singer for the Unicorns, a low-fi indie-pop band that was pretty big in the early 2000s. And basically, yeah, they're Unicorns 2.0. I was really into them for about 2 weeks, before I got kind of sick of the whole sound. They were pretty awesome live, though.

To be honest, I haven't listened to the whole album yet. However, I think I already have a pretty well-formed opinion. It's fun, but it's not pushing any boundaries or winning any awards. It's mostly more of the same, and sort of meanders through. The songs have no real drive to them; they just sort of go on for a while, then they stop. You can only do so much with quirky vocals and catchy instrumentals if you don't try to push it anywhere.

Once again, as with Ladytron, they have a certain image and sound. If this is the sort of thing you like, then you'll probably like the album. It's pretty appealing, but I'm a little underwhelmed.

Now I'm just waiting for the next Wolf Parade album. I loves me some Wolf Parade.