A Fine Frenzy: Bomb in a Birdcage

Artist: A Fine Frenzy
Title: Bomb in a Birdcage
Genre: Alternative Rock

Track List:

1. "What I Wouldn't Do" - 2:57
2. "New Heights" - 4:12
3. "Electric Twist" - 4:31
4. "Blow Away" - 4:09
5. "Happier" - 3:30
6. "Swan Song" - 3:43
7. "Elements" - 3:24
8. "The World Without" - 4:15
9. "Bird of the Summer" - 3:18
10. "Stood Up" - 4:48
11. "The Beacon" - 3:22

Alison Sudol is an American singer-songwriter who performs under the name A Fine Frenzy. On Bomb in a Birdcage, and her first album One Cell in The Sea, Alison is in complete control, playing the drums, guitar, and piano that back up her vocals. A relatively young artist (she's 24), Alison gained momentum in her professional career at a perfect time as artists like Sara Bareilles brought popular attention to solo female musicians. Bareilles' hit "Love Song" was featured as iTunes' Free Single of the Week in May of 2007 and A Fine Frenzy's "You Picked Me" was featured two months later. On Bomb in a Birdcage Alison's voice is light and sometimes sublte, sometimes soaring. Most tracks have an upbeat percussion serving as a base layer beneath gentle piano chord progressions and Alison's flowing lyrics. The album is great at producing a calming effect without stripping away any energy, an essential for background music while working or just relaxing. I don't have One Cell in The Sea so try this album and if you want more Frenzy post a comment.

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Royworld: Man in the Machine

Artist: Royworld
Title: Man in the Machine
Genre: Rock

Track List:

1. Elasticity
2. Dust
   
3. Wish Ourselves Away
4. Brakes
5. Back of My Mind
6. Science
7. Transmission
8. Man in the Machine
9. Astronaut
10. Same Sun
11. Brother
12. Tinman
    

Royworld, a British rock band started by four college students in 2006, state that their musical influences include the Talking Heads, Queen, Peter Gabriel, and Fleetwood Mac. While Royworld may have found inspiration from these sources, the music they produce is very much their own. Even with the basic components of a standard rock band--guitar, drums, keys, and vocals--the band manages to output a surprisingly unique sound. Perhaps this is typical British pop rock and the cultural separation leads me to think I'm hearing something new and different, but regardless, the music is good. Man in the Machine is Royworld only album to date; the song Dust was released initially as a single and worked its way up the UK charts. The album has a lot of high energy tracks like Back of My Mind, Brakes and the title track, Man in the Machine. However, most of the songs have an undulating intensity that builds either slowly or suddenly, only to drop off and rise again later. I tend to forget about Royworld when it's competing for space among seven thousand other songs, but when I return to this album I'm always happy to be back. It's got enough power to sound great blasting out of the speakers, but thanks to the ups and downs it also works really well as background music while I'm working.

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The Killers: Sawdust

Artist: The Killers
Title: Sawdust
Genre: Rock

Track List:

1. Tranquilize
2. Shadowplay
3. All The Pretty Faces
4. Leave The Bourbon On The Shelf
5. Sweet Talk
6. Under The Gun
7. Where The White Boys Dance
8. Show You How
9. Move Away
10. Glamorous Indie Rock and Roll
11. Who Let You Go?
12. The Ballad of Michael Valentine
13. Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love To Town
14. Daddy’s Eyes
15. Sam’s Town (Abbey Road Version)
16. Romeo and Juliet
17. Mr. Brightside (Jacques Lu Cont’s Thin White Duke Remix)

After the release of Hot Fuss in 2004 The Killers achieved popular success, with big hits such as Mr. Brightside and Somebody Told Me getting a lot of radio play. Sawdust is a compilation album of "b-sides, rarities, covers, and remixes" that have not received the same mainstream attention as some of the band's other songs. A few tracks, like Sweet Talk and Leave the Bourbon on the Shelf, are unreleased songs from previous album recording sessions. Others are re-recordings or extended versions of tracks found on Hot Fuss and Sam's Town. Shadowplay, Ruby, and Romeo and Juliet are covers of other bands' work. This collection makes for a long (17 tracks is definitely above normal now) and eclectic album, with a wide range of styles and sounds. The Mr. Brightside remix sounds like a techno song, while Ruby is closer to a country ballad. It plays like a mix tape, with the vocals of lead singer Brandon Flowers as the only unifying ingredient between the songs. Despite the variation each track displays outstanding lyrical craftsmanship, making Sawdust my favorite Killers album as of yet, (they're currently working on an all-covers album).

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Boyce Avenue: Acoustic Sessions

Artist: Boyce Avenue
Title: Acoustic Sessions 1-4
Genre: Pop/Hip-Hop Covers

Track List: (Too many to list, click Preview below)

Boyce Avenue is an acoustic rock band made up of three brothers from Florida. They established themselves with the release of a debut album, "All You Were Meant To Be," featuring all original works. The sound on that album is rather generic; standard rock rhythms back up great lyrics in a final result that's pleasing but not particularly novel. Luckily, Boyce Avenue then proceeded to create a succession of four albums made up entirely of acoustic covers. While this concept is nothing new, the song selections, vocals, and subtle additions introduced by the band are brilliant. Looking through the track lists it appears that the brothers tuned into a few popular radio stations, wrote down the names of the first 40 songs they heard, and decided to play everything on an acoustic guitar. The resulting albums included hits like Umbrella (Rihanna), Bleeding Love (Leona Lewis), Viva La Vida (Coldplay), and No Air (Jordin Sparks). Some songs lend themselves immediately to acoustic variations. But stripping down chart topping hip-hop songs to a single set of vocals and strings leaves a very bare product. Most tracks work--a few such as Usher's, Love In This Club, simply sound ridiculous when you have no background beats to distract from the actual words. With four albums you're bound to find somethings you like, somethings you don't, and somethings you never imagined you'd hear on acoustic guitar.

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fun. : Aim and Ignite

Artist: fun.
Title: Aim and Ignite
Genre: Indie Pop

Track List:

1. "Be Calm" - 4:10
2. "Benson Hedges" - 4:00
3. "All the Pretty Girls (On a Saturday Night)" - 3:23
4. "I Wanna Be the One (BaBaBa)" - 3:36
5. "At Least I'm Not as Sad (As I Used to Be)" - 4:07
6. "Light a Roman Candle with Me" - 3:05
7. "Walking the Dog" - 3:40
8. "Barlights" - 4:17
9. "The Gambler" - 4:11
10. "Take Your Time (Coming Home)" - 7:51

fun. (yes the lowercase "f" and period are intentional) was started in 2008 by lead singer Nate Ruess, formerly of The Format. Aim and Ignite was self-released in August 2009 after a couple demos and singles from the album were made available on iTunes. Ruess' raw vocals have a tone of desperation that works suprisingly well when paired with pop instrumentals and synthesizers in the background. The album's first track, Be Calm, has become my current song of choice. It's lyrical message of, well, being calm, is contrasted sharply by intense builds in momentum as the song progresses. The other songs are an assortment of energetic alternative pop tunes, plus a few calmer tracks like I Wanna Be The One, and Light a Roman Candle With Me. fun.'s sound is unique and may take some getting used to (try listening with the lyrics on hand) but the album is certainly worth previewing.

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The Hush Sound: Goodbye Blues

Artist: The Hush Sound
Title: Goodbye Blues
Genre: Indie Pop

Track List:

1. "Intro" - 1:29
2. "Honey" - 3:39
3. "Medicine Man" - 3:23
4. "The Boys Are Too Refined" - 3:17
5. "Hurricane" - 3:12
6. "As You Cry" - 3:25
7. "Six" (Interlude) - 2:23
8. "Molasses" - 3:51
9. "That's Okay" - 3:18
10. "Not Your Concern" - 2:57
11. "Love You Much Better" - 3:17
12. "Hospital Bed Crawl" - 2:37
13. "Break the Sky" - 3:19

The Hush Sound is an indie quartet from Illinois consisting of a drummer, pianist, guitarist, and bassist. All four members contribute to the vocals, with pianist Greta Salpeter providing the lead voice for most of the tracks on "Goodbye Blues." The album unites influences of blues, folk, swing, and a touch of pop to produce a blend that is a little out of the ordinary at some times and simply perfect at others. It may be artistic to include an intro piece as the first track to albums (or just another example of alternative artists fighting conformity by conforming to a new standard) but either way, skip track one and dive right into Honey. (You may want to skip Six(Interlude) while you're at it too, but that's just preference.) For Greta's distinctive and assertive vocals, plus some pop-song-like kick try The Boys Are Too Refined or Break the Sky. Hurricane slows things down with light piano chords and a lullaby sound that is sad but soothing. Then to get the energy back up and get a taste of the male voices that should not be overlooked check out Not Your Concern.

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Kevin Rudolf: In The City

Artist: Kevin Rudolf
Title: In The City
Genre: Rap Rock/Hip-Hop

Kevin Rudolf is a New York native singer-songwriter and hip-hop artist. He has produced hits with other artists in the industry including Timbaland, Black Eyed Peas, Ludacris, and Nelly Furtado. "In The City" is Rudolf's first solo release and while tracks feature Nos, Lil Wayne and Rick Ross, Rudolf wrote and produced every song. The single "Let It Rock" reached #5 on Billboard's Hot 100 list and was overplayed by many radio stations in 2008. But moving beyond the songs you've probably already heard, the other tracks on "In The City" manage to keep up intense amounts of energy without becoming repetitive or abusing tired beats. There is a solid integration of rapping and lyrics that makes the album perfect for keeping intensity up, whether its blaring through earbuds during a workout or pumping out of speakers at a dance party. Check out N.Y.C. and She Can Get It for great beats, or Great Escape for something on the softer side.

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