Tuesday, June 06, 2006

The new sound of summer....

In the abscence of a new New Order album I have been in desperate search for that summer album. That album that you just have the windows down in your car and play loudly as you are going through downtown. Some of my favorite bands have returned with new albums, but for instance Pearl Jam just doesn't scream summer. Asobi Seksu's Citrus was definitely a frontrunner and will likely remain in very heavy rotation. But the gem of the bunch to date must be the new album from Mojave 3. (but a little work on the website, c'mon guys.)

Mojave 3 has been around for a while. They have had their good albums. Out of Tune was phenomenal. Excuses for Travelers and Spoon and Rafter both had their moments, but weren't nearly as consistent as Out of Tune and worse yet, they just were boring in places. Then, suddenly comes the new one Puzzles Like You. Right away it get's off with what for Mojave 3 is a pretty rocking song. Jangly guitars louder vocals than normal. There still are moments of pedal steel on the album and still 2-3 ballads that recall some of the more beautiful moments on Excuses for Travellers. But what you are really getting here is a bucketload of jangly guitars, handclaps, some theramin and typical Neil Halstead lyrics. "Everyone I have loved has been some sort of fuck up." or "Jenny, I've been thinking things over, I know thinking never got me far. The bottle gets me further. Some come stand a little closer, now. We'll try breaking the ice again." (I apologize for the overwhelming depth of those lyrics. I'll try to keep things less serious in the upcoming days.) But, with the music these lyrics work perfectly. And more Rachel on backing vocals? Yes? Alright, phenomenal.

I haven't been this overwhelmed and suprised by an album in a long time. My only complaint is it's too short (41 minutes) so I feel sorta goofy when I listen to it 4 times in a row. But that's okay. It's summer, and I deserve to be happy.