This week in music (Week of 6/12/2012)

Due to a busy schedule some weeks and nothing jumping out at me other weeks, it has been about a month since I've done one of these posts. I'm going to see if I can make this one quick because I'm hitting the road in about an hour to head to the Twin Cities for the Twins-Brewers game tonight, but short and quick posts aren't my forte.

I'm always a fan of labels and artists finding new ways to get people to hear their music, and it seems like Domino Records has done just that. Sometime within the last couple weeks, they announced a monthly subscription program called Drip.fm. For $10 a month, they guarantee two albums (usually at least one new release) and various other bonus material here and there. I signed up a few days ago and was immediately able to download Wild Beasts' 2011 album "Smother," Lower Dens' "Nootropics" album from earlier this year, and Hot Chip's album "In Our Heads," which just came out on Tuesday. I can't say I'm a regular listener of any of these artists (although I've heard at least some stuff by each), but I just loved the concept too much not to give it a try for at least a while. I've listened to each of the albums since I got them, and while they aren't my normal fare, they were all enjoyable, and I'm sure I'll spend a good chunk of time listening to them just because I love the idea so much. The label also has a Dirty Projectors album coming out in July and the much anticipated new Animal Collective album coming out in September. Anyhow, on to the regular "This week in music post."

New release of the week - There's No Leaving Now by The Tallest Man On Earth

I'm a huge Tallest Man On Earth fan, so this was one of my most anticipated albums of the year. This album has really tough shoes to fill because "The Wild Hunt" was my favorite album of 2010. Upon my first several listens, it doesn't quite live up to that incredibly lofty standard, but I don't think just a few listens is enough to know how I'll end up feeling about it. I loved "Shallow Grave" from 2008 and was actually kind of disappointed the first few times I listened to "The Wild Hunt," which is now one of my favorite records, so I think I'll give this one some time. Even just a few listens in, I can tell it is growing on me more and more each time I hear it, and I already like it quite a bit. I already wrote about the track "1904" when he released it a month or so ago and posted a live video of "Little Brother". So for the sake of not being redundant, here's the title track from the album. In it, he strays from his typical guitar for piano instead. Just listening to it now is already making me fall more in love with the album. I fully expect it to end right up near the top of my favorite albums of the year list just like every other time he releases new music.




Other notable releases

I haven't spent a ton of time with the other albums released this week, but Metric's "Synthetica" is the one that I imagine will get the most plays from me in the future. I was a big fan of their last album "Fantasies," and while I'm not sure I hear anything as immediately catchy as "Gimme Sympathy" or "Help, I'm Alive," I'm sure I'll enjoy the album. It actually looks like you can stream almost all of their stuff including the new album here on Soundcloud. For a taste of the new album, here's the video for "Youth Without Youth."

Get More: Metric, Youth Without Youth, Music, More Music Videos

Miscellaneous Links, News, and Notes

* Apparently Explosions in the Sky are set to score an upcoming film that will star Paul Rudd. This is something I will definitely see.

* Field Report, who I previously wrote about, announced a release date for their debut album along with some tour dates.

* And last but not least, I can't really describe how much I love this video of Of Monsters and Men performing a stripped down version of "Mountain Sound" in front of the gorge backstage at Sasquatch.

Who would you rather be, The Beatles or The Rolling Stones?

I meant to write this post a couple days ago, but between a massive snow storm and our internet cutting in and out the whole time, I didn't get around to it until now.

I was listening to my iTunes on shuffle when Gimme Sympathy by Metric came on a couple days ago. Wow. I hadn't heard the song in a long time, and I had managed to forget how catchy it is and how much I love it. I immediately switched from shuffle and listened to the entire album. Looking back, I rated the album Fantasies #8 on my year end list for 2009, right in between excellent albums by The Antlers and Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band. I never posted a list of my favorite songs from 2009 online, but I found one in my iTunes that had Gimme Sympathy rated as my 4th favorite song of the year.

Enough about where I ranked the song/album though. As seems to be a trend for some of these artists I have talked about, I hadn't listened to Metric's previous releases too much until Fantasies. I was aware of Metric due to them being a part of the indie rock scene from Canada that had produced artists like Stars, Tegan and Sara, and The New Pornographers. What I had heard from Metric never really interested me too much though. When I first heard the album Fantasies, it didn't seem like my style and I ignored it too. I can't remember for certain what made me reconsider back then, but I think it was likely hearing the song on The Current and realizing I was enjoying it even if it wasn't something I might normally listen to. The new album is a little more poppy and radio friendly than their old albums, but it is a heck of an end product, so who cares.

Here's the music video for Gimme Sympathy, which was the third single released from Fantasies. It shows the band performing in what looks like an empty basement of a club or something. Throughout the video, the musicians trade places despite everything still sounding the same. Kinda weird seeing a male as the vocalist while lead singer Emily Haines' voice comes out.



You can currently pick up Gimme Sympathy for free from Amazon here.

Also, the band is giving away an acoustic version of the song if you sign up for their mailing list at www.ilovemetric.com.

I highly recommend picking up the whole album somewhere (or at the very least the song "Help, I'm Alive").