By: Nadia Kurtz, News Editor
To be honest, when I looked at last week's list of album releases, nothing jumped out at me. Sure,
The Strokes are a familiar name, but I just figured that the band probably couldn't top "Under Cover of Darkness." My first thought when I saw
Depeche Mode was that I wasn't interested in revisiting the eighties. And other than that, everything else just looked meh.
But nevertheless, I decided to play some albums. The Strokes really took me by surprise. I've never been a huge fan, and I can't even begin to pretend that I've listened to all their music, and maybe I'm just garnering a greater appreciation for different music, but the very first guitar riff of the album just captured me. The rest of the first song, "Tap Out," is catchy, and the funky guitar riffs made me really want to listen to the whole album. And it turned out my desires were not in vain, as
Comedown Machine proved me wrong in assuming that The Strokes were over.
Okay, so I don't know if "machines" are trending, but Depeche Mode's album is called
Delta Machine. Does anyone else find this amusing? No? Okay, well I guess I'll talk about the album then. So I was wrong again in assuming that Depeche Mode is beyond its heyday. I still admit that some of Depeche's '80s stuff is much better than it is today, partly because then it was innovative and now it just sounds kind of like any average electronic album. But what does make Depeche Mode stand out is Dave Gahan's grisly vocals.
And finally, I decided to close my eyes and spin my finger and see which album it landed on. The fortunate contester happened to be
Phosphorescent's new album,
Muchacho. After I said the album name aloud to myself a few too many times and got over it (except I actually didn't because I'm still saying it), I decided to give it a listen. And boy was I lucky I chose this album because I just found some of my new go-to jams. I've never been a huge fan of country, but I wouldn't categorize
Muchacho as that. The eclectic mix of melodic piano, electronics and the singer's subtle twang give the music a soft and pleasant folksy sound.
So I lucked out with albums this week, and I learned a valuable lesson in the process: never judge an album until you listen to it! So next week I might actually listen to the new
Lil Wayne album. Or I won't. I'll get back to you on that.
