"First Impression" Music Reviews

TV on the Radio - Dear Science A-
This albums has hooks! Almost every song has an undeniable appeal that pulls you in with diverse instrumentation and interesting lyrics. Dear Science reminds me of many of the great albums of the late 80's and early 90's in which each song stands on its own and any track could be a single.

I like this album much more than Return to Cookie Mountain (which wasn't a bad album at all), and although Diddlefinger loves the album's first track - Halfway Home, my "repeat" track (at least right now) is Dancing Choose which reminds me of a sweat trenched Tunde Adebimpe (nothing gay about that).



Ryan Adams & the Cardinals - Cardinology B-
When Easy Tiger came out last year I was quick to claim it as one of the best albums of the year. But shortly thereafter I shelved the album because of premature burnout on the album.

When I first listened to Cardinology I thought it was more of the same... Easy Tiger 2. But after a few repeated listens this album is growing on me more and more and I think it might have the opposite effect that Easy Tiger had. The more I listen to this one the more certain songs stand out. Magick is easily the first track that jumps out at you, but some of the deeper cuts are real heartbreakers and seem to be slowly burning into my soul (like the last track on the album called Stop).


Tracy Chapman - Our Bright Future C+
Tracy Chapman is one of my all time favorite musical artist. Her second album, Crossroads still has the ability to make me weep like a 4 year girl (and that's a good thing). But Tracy's latest starts strong and then fades into a safe, warm, and comfortable place.

The first half of the album is fairly strong, Tracy has always sang with such sincerity and her music always feels very organic. But what's missing here is the spice. Those adventurous moments that encapsulates her best works. I almost feel like she might have phoned it in on some of these tracks.

But nevertheless it's still a very listenable album that I hope well grow on me more with additional listening.