The International House of Bacon

I can’t remember the last time I’ve done a post like this. Probably because I haven’t bought much in the way of music lately.

* Kate Nash - Made of Bricks: In a way, Nash completes the trifecta of female British singers that started with Amy Winehouse and Lily Allen. Winehouse’s life choices aside, she’s probably the most talented of the three, and I’m wondering what happens to Allen now that Kate Nash has come along. The disc is really fun - even though it’s very angry and bitter in places, it has a very down-to-earth, conversational tone to it, and the kiss-offs in some songs are much more biting than “Smile” is, in retrospect. “Foundations” is still haunting me, though.

* Robert Plant/Alison Krauss - Raising Sand: I know I raved about this plenty when I did my top CDs of 2007 list, but I’ve gotten more time with it lately and found it to be really endearing in a lot of ways. It has a very subtle existence to it that comes unexpected, and to think of Robert Plant as subtle for any reason is bizarre enough. “Gone, Gone, Gone” is what attracted me to the record, and it turns out that it’s the song that’s most out of place.

* Calvin Harris - I Created Disco: “Acceptable in the 80s” hooked me in, but the rest of the album is just bad electropop that tries to hide its gimmick with equally gimmicky oddball lyrics. Maybe I’m over irony? I dunno. I still like Art Brut…

* Chris Walla - Field Manual: I’ll put it this way - had this album come out a month earlier, I think it may have made a serious run at album of the year for me. It’s equal parts what I know Death Cab for Cutie to be, what I expected DCFC to sound like when I first heard of them, and something completely different. It’s really quite a nice album, and I’m pleasantly surprised by the whole thing. I’ve already listened twice since picking it up yesterday, and I can’t imagine it getting shelved anytime soon.

* Vampire Weekend - s/t: It’s hard to make a snap judgement on them, hearing the single a few times and the album all the way through once. I definitely get the whole “Paul-Simon-doing-Graceland” thing I keep hearing, but it honestly feels more like what you’d expect twentysomethings who love Talking Heads and the Arcade Fire at the same time to put out. I’ve never responded well to world music or world music influences, so it’ll be interesting to see how I feel about this album later, but it’s more interesting than a lot of stuff I’ve heard lately.

* Future of the Left - Curses: McLusky is possibly my favorite “loud” band. They broke up and that made me sad. Future of the Left is McLusky with a new bassist and the purchase of a keyboard that no one knows how to play. It’s harder to take as a result, but it’s an interesting record in the way that it goes from a lot of difficult noise to some pretty awesome melodic passages. I would have never expected this had it been the follow-up to The Difference Between You and Me is That I’m Not on Fire, but being a new album/band…