New Music Experiment

The past few weeks, I had been realizing that the "new" music I had been getting wasn't really so new at all. The last four CD's I've downloaded have been by (in order) Green Day, Steve Earle, Rob Thomas, and Pearl Jam. Great music, no doubt; anyone who's read my tweets or Facebook statuses recently knows how much I've enjoyed listening to these albums, especially Green Day's 21st Century Breakdown, (an INSTANT classic, in my opinion) and Pearl Jam's Backspacer, by far their best studio effort since 1998's Yield. But the problem was that I realized I hadn't really heard or purchased any music by a newer band in the last three or four years.

The last round of "new" bands I really got into was a few years ago, when I went crazy on nu-metal and the last vestiges of grunge clone bands like Seether, Three Days Grace, Saliva, Breaking Benjamin and Disturbed. This bothered me, mainly because I always swore that I would never, ever, turn into one of those old farts that stopped exploring new music. The problem is, MTV doesn't play videos at all anymore, Nashville has very few choices in rock radio, and I had virtually stopped reading music publications. The only place I ever hear any newer music is on late-nite TV, and to be honest I hadn't heard much lately that was memorable enough to really etch itself into my psyche. Was I now doomed to repeat the sins of the generations that came before, who one day decided that all music that came out after a certain era was crap? I was determined NOT to make this so!

So via the web, mostly from suggestions and mentions by friends on Twitter, I went in search of new music. I pulled together samples of friends' mp3 collections, listened to samples on iTunes and Amazon, and searched playlist.com and blip.fm. I scoured every available source for some new music that would move me the way Led Zeppelin, Kiss, Motley Crue, Metallica and Pearl Jam (along with countless other bands) had done before. What I found was interesting, to say the least. Here are the bands I checked out, and my resulting opinions of each:

Kings of Leon: I had heard these guys a few times on the radio. They are a local Nashville band, so they do get love on radio here a little bit. Though not my favorite out of the bands I checked out, I do like them. "California Waiting" is a freaking AWESOME song. The rest of the stuff I heard was hit-and-miss, the lazy vocal style not really appealing to me on a consistent basis, but definitely worth getting on iTunes and downloading some selected songs. Overall: good, decent, listenable rock and roll.

Silversun Pickups: this band took some getting used to. The way a lot of their songs start out, it kind of sounds like they are going to start rocking the fuck out at any moment, but it rarely happens. Kind of a letdown, but as I listened to it more, I warmed up. Not bad. I'll keep listening and see what happens, I still haven't made up my mind completely.

Franz Ferdinand: I heard this band perform "No You Girls" on Letterman, and I liked it, so I decided to investigate further. Then I found out they had done the song "Take Me Out," which I had heard on pop radio, and I liked that one too, so I went even deeper. The verdict? Those are really the only two songs I could find that I liked. They remind me too much of an 80's New Wave band, and I never liked that kind of music much. I got those two songs, and for now, that's enough.

Animal Collective: I read about this band in Rolling Stone, as I recall in a glowing album review. Words can't express my disappointment with this group. Really, I've been listening to rock and pop music since I was four or five years old, and this is some of the most unappealing, boring crap I've ever heard. I'm not sure what this is supposed to be. Music to slit your wrists by?? Total and complete garbage. I'm sorry, if you like this band that's your right, but I don't get this at all!

Cage the Elephant: YAHTZEE! Finally, some good, driving, noisy rock and roll! That's what I'm talking about! I saw this band on Letterman too, and I had already downloaded their hit "There Ain't No Rest For The Wicked" a couple of months ago, and I remember the frantic, siezure-like stage antics of their lead singer, so I really wasn't sure what to expect from hearing more tracks. I'm pleased to announce that just about the entire CD is just as good! These guys are a nice blend of 60's blues-rock with just a bit of hip-hop and New Wave wierdness sprinkled in, and I fell totally in love with their sound. Bottom line? They ROCK, dude!! And that, to me, is what it's really all about!

So goes my new music experiment..so far. I plan on checking out some more new tunes in the very near future, I'll post my thoughts on those as time allows. I'm out for now.