Songs I’m Considering

Metacritic is a bit too meta, and the Pitchfork reviewers are a bit too caught up in their own cleverness. So for music recommendations, I am lately all about All Songs Considered, the unfortunately titled weekly music show on NPR.

ASC is just indie-nerdy enough and just mainstream enough to avoid being annoying most of the time. Host Bob Boilen is obviously aware that most of his listeners are a little older, a little whiter, a little less hip than the general population, but he’s not afraid to push his demographic with some music that is new and exciting.

Thus, I must give ASC much credit for my most recent music binge. The following are my first and generally superficial impressions of what came for me in the mail today:

Sound of Silver – LCD Soundsystem

This is my first album by LCD Soundsystem. No objections here—it’s New Wave-funky and chill at once. If I owned a boutique of some kind, I would play this album over the speakers on Thursdays.

Kala – M.I.A.

The international vibe of the album is pretty inspiring, but the huge ad for ringtones and cell phone wallpapers that fell out when I opened the jewel case wasn’t particularly inspiring. Maybe it’s just way postmodern like that.

Famous Blue Raincoat – Jennifer Warnes / Leonard Cohen

The 20th Anniversary edition of this album was recently released, so I figured it was time for me to purchase the original recording, which is slightly more expensive from Amazon, for some reason.

Being Leonard Cohen songs, they are great, of course, but you have to be entirely not squeamish about the mid-’80s sound (i.e. echoey drums and synth) to really enjoy it.

Strawberry Jam – Animal Collective