Fleet Foxes – Helplessness Blues

>

Fleet Foxes have returned with the fruits of their long recording labors, and they are incredibly sweet.  “Helplessness Blues” is the title track from the bands forthcoming album of the same name.  The song tip-toes in with light acoustic guitar with Robin Pecknold reminiscing of the times when our parent would reassure us as children that we are special, like “A snowflake distinct among snowflakes unique in each way you can see.”  The chorus rises into the beautiful harmonies that Fleet Foxes are so masterful in performing, something this reviewer has missed for the passed few years.  A little past the halfway point, their baroque folk style reemerges and is just as refreshing and fulfilling as it was on the “Sun Giant” EP.

“Helplessness Blues” is one of the more energetic songs from the band and deals with themes more relevant to our times.  We give up our uniqueness to end up becoming “A functioning cog in some great machinery, serving something beyond (us)”.  Pecknold dreams of owning an orchard where he would “Work till (he’s) sore”.  Happiness in our jobs and lives is our goal and Fleet Foxes are back to show us the way.

Available for Free Download at http://www.fleetfoxes.com/helplessness-blues.html

9.5 out of 10

The Fall – Gorillaz

>

‘The Fall’ is the next step in the evolution of the ever changing sound of Gorillaz.  Recorded over 32 days while on the road, during the American leg of their Plastic Beach World Tour, with an iPad, ‘The Fall’ is a prime example of an album that opts for style over substance.  The America inspired album is nothing more than a collection of blipped out soundscapes that front man Damon Albarn crafted in his spare time.  The tracks ‘Phoner To Arizona’, a funky electo introduction to the album, and ‘Bobby In Phoenix’, featuring flowing synth bursts with Bobby Womack urging the listener to talk about their feelings, are the standouts of the 15 track album.  With track names like ‘The Parish of Space Dust’ and ‘California And The Slipping Of The Sun’, one would think that ‘The Fall’ is Albarn’s most manically inspired album yet, but disappointingly falls short of the standards Albarn had previously set with ‘Plastic Beach’.

4.0 out of 10

>Arcade Fire – The Suburbs (Single)

>Arcade Fire – The Suburbs

“The Suburbs” is the title track from Arcade Fire’s third studio album of the same name.  The release is only a few days away and I am giddy with excitement.  “The Suburbs” is a breezy piano ballad with front man Win Butler reminiscing on the teenage years of the cul-de-sac.

He looks back at the time with fascination and longing: “In my dreams we’re still screaming/Running through the yard/And all the walls that they built in the 70’s   fall.” Butler looks at the rows of houses not as homes, but as a war zone.  But now that he has grown up, he is realizing that he wants a daughter and wants to show her beauty in the world, before the world does its damage.

9.0 out of 10

The Suburbs LP drops Tuesday, August 3rd