If you haven’t been paying attention (and I know I wasn’t) a proverbial TON of music from a great many artistes (yes, I spelled it with a snooty stereotypical faux-french accent. Do something.) has dropped forth like an anvil upon the heads of our beloved Sham-Boot. Now, as I see compact disc cases with wings flying about covorting with black and yellow striped iPods making what can only be considered an ungodly monstrosity, I thought I’d take the time to start reviewing some of the massive releases that I feel (at least in my opinion [as I tend to see it{I’ve formed several hypotheses arround}]) largely went under the radar.Let’s start off with a list. Lists are good. Trust me.

The Arcade Fire – Neon Bible

Bloc Party – A Weekend in the City

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah – Some Loud Thunder

Decemberists – The Crane Wife

Of Montreal – Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?

The Shins – Wincing the Night Away

There are several other albums that I have not named of bands that I have recently found while pillaging the KRUI studio, such as Beirut (an oddly delightful mixture of Sufjan Stevens, Devotchka, and the Magnetic Fields) but we’ll discuss those on a seperate day. For now, my endeavor is to give a photo review of one of these albums for the next few weeks, and tell you what I can, knowing full well that we are busy children.
What’s first? Bloc Party.

I want to be fully honest here. I was late on the train to enjoy Silent Alarm. Only in the last 3 months have I actually taken the time to embrace the entire album, as opposed to rocking out to Helicopter and Banquet and then switching to something else. Silent Alarm is an amazing album, and I can think of only a few songs that I would actually skip. When Steven told me he’d obtained a copy of Weekend in the City, I was ecstatic. Two listens through later, I’m half ready to delete it. I’m not joking. Here’s my photo review:

Sam fell asleep listening to the album while we were driving and talking. The percussion, which I always felt was the defining feature of the band has taken a back seat to slower songs and odd ballads that while important for making Silent Alarm well rounded, define Weekend in the City as a slower, less pulse pumping follow up. It’s not that it’s bad. There’s plenty to like about it, some good hooks are still to be found, and the vocals are still quite solid. It’s just terribly bland in comparison. Such is the curse of making a great album, I suppose.

Up next, Of Montreal!