Catching Up on Unfinished Business: Winter Quarter Music Roundup

Wow, time really does fly, especially for a new college student. I just finished the final week of my pledge process, and I'm now a full member of my fraternity, which is pretty great. The end of winter quarter, spring break, and now the start of spring quarter has gone by incredibly quickly. I've got two English classes and two Film classes now, which is awesome, so I'm really looking forward to the next couple months.

I never really did a round-up of the music I've been listening to lately, so here's a last-ditch attempt.

Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks - Cold Son
When I first listened to the Pavement frontman's solo songs, I didn't really like them. This is the first Malkmus record I have really enjoyed. The songs are a little bit too long, stretching the ideas a bit thin, but a lot of them are still great.


Tokyo Police Club - Centennial
Tokyo Police Club's first full LP is pretty much my album of the year right now. In less than half an hour, the band bangs out solid track after solid track that leaves you wanting to immediately play the entire thing over again. I choose the first track only because I couldn't decide which of about 8 or 9 favorites to put up here.

Gnarls Barkley - Surprise
My favorite song off of there very strong but not spectacular sophomore effort. Danger Mouse's production is fantastic as always. He never fails at making me want to pick apart the background of a GB song.


Tapes N' Tapes - Hang Them All
I loved their debut, but Tapes were essentially last year's Vampire Weekend, a band hyped to the extreme on the internet that delivered a very good first album that just wasn't the second coming. Their sophomore effort Walk It Off is another solid effort, and "Hang Them All" is definitely the best song on the album to me.

Vampire Weekend - A-Punk
Despite the backlash due to the web hype for this young band of Columbia grads, this song clears the air for me and is a dreamlike few minutes to escape into sonic heaven. The keyboards over the end of the chorus make me feel like floating.

Nada Surf - Ice on the Wing
If Tokyo Police Club is my album of the year candidate, here's my very close #2. I was astounded at the quality of Lucky, Nada Surf's March release. It has great track pacing, and great energy that was really lacking from everything else I'd ever heard by them. Take a listen, because this is a wonderfully catchy track.


The Raveonettes - Blush
I never really listened to the Raveonettes before their newest album Lust Lust Lust, but I really like it. It has a certain spaced-out feel to it that I really liked when listening to bands like New Order, so they've become my go-to band for just reclining and listening to music.


So yeah, that's the music I was listening to for a lot of the past couple months. Give it a listen, and I'll be getting some more stuff up soon. Some new music, some summer movie previews, and some articles from my other job reviewing concerts and such.