The top five CDs you should have heard this summer

Most anyone who watches MTV or listens to the radio can tell youthe big-name rock and rap albums of this past summer: Bad Boys 2soundtrack, the Neptunes, Metallica and Dashboard Confessional. Butwhat about the up-and-coming ones that the mass media does notacknowledge? These following five albums show that greatness is notalways relative to what the pop charts tell us.  

The Mars Volta

De-loused in the Comatorium

Why not start off with the best album of the year? After At theDrive-In split in 2000, three fifths of the members went to formthe semi-boring emo-core band of Sparta, while the other tworemained rather invisible for a short while. But after theTremulant EP put out last year, some heads were now turning theirway.

From the intro track of “Son et Lumiere” to the8-minute fiasco of “Take the Veil Cerpin Taxt”, CedricBixler-Zavala and Omar Rodriguez-Lopez weave a music so dense thatit drips with underlying melody, raging guitars, latin beats andlyrics wilder than any poetry Ginsberg could ever imagine. This isnot your typical rock and roll outfit consisting of the standardverse/chorus routine, but rather a handful of songs exploding in adizzying fashion, followed by minutes of ambient noises that tendto make the listeners forget which song they are in, and finallyanother burst into a cadenza of sound that wakes you up in ananosecond.

A guest appearance by Flea shows off his bass skills better onDe-loused than on any Red Hot Chili Peppers CD you might happen toown. The music is so experimental, so prog, so retro, so latin, soeverything; it makes you believe that music can be amazing again. 

Eisley

Laughing City

Have you ever wondered what happens when three sisters, theirbrother and their best friend get together to form a band? Well,Eisley is that band. From Tyler, Texas, they recently finished astint as the opening act for Coldplay, touring across America andgaining critical acclaim from everyone within earshot. What makesthem so different is their unique musical influences from Pedro theLion to the Beatles.

The five-song EP helps bring a breath of fresh air to thepresently stale rock scene by incorporating sometimes off butfantastic harmonies and lyrics that never detract, but rather addto the mix. And with roots in the Dallas area, any chance to seethis monstrosity of a band live should be taken.

Needless to say, Eisley is a unique blend of everythingyou’ve heard in a way you’ve never heard before. 

Mogwai

Happy Songs for Happy People

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then the latest releasefrom Scotland’s Mogwai deserves at least a million. Ambient,instrumental rockers combine catchy guitars with warming bass andstring sections to suck you into a world that Mogwai hasmasterfully spawned.

Their recent release tends to stray a bit from past albums byshortening songs and producing extraordinarily catchy melodies thatare as dark as only Mogwai could make them.

Taking cues from Godspeed You Black Emperor, the Scots cross thelines of what music should be and take you on a ride from barelyaudible harmonics to hyper-distorted noise in songs like”Killing All the Flies.”

If you were to put Happy Songs for Happy People on repeat,chances are you would never know when it starts and when it ends,but that is what makes this band Mogwai and makes this album beyondbrilliant.

Grandaddy

Sumday

Since their inception in 1993, Grandaddy has grown into apowerhouse of a super quiet, lo-fi band, touring across the worldand making songs that even your grandmother can love. To them,simplicity holds the key to success. Songwriter Jason Lytle has acertain touch, whether singing about fuzzy forest animals or theself-destructive modern-day computer generation, which can donothing but brighten up your day.

But after being out of the mainstream for two full-lengths andseveral EPs, Grandaddy has hit the big time recently with a smallbit of radio play and even a video for “Now It’sOn,” appearing late night on MTV2.

On Sumday, Grandaddy has mastered their lo-fi formula and hassent it in overdrive, propelling these indie-rockers into anewfound success.  

Nodes of Ranvier

Nodes of Ranvier

“Hello, this is Jimmy Page and I want to hear some rockand roll” so says the sound clip that begins Nodes ofRanvier’s self-titled sophomore effort. Put out by FacedownRecords, this group brings a new level to hardcore by not merelybelting out distorted guitars and vocals cranked up to 11, but alsoincorporating singing, handclaps and guitar licks reminiscent ofclassic rock a la Jimmy Page and Led Zeppelin. Coming out of SouthDakota, Nodes of Ranvier collides total chaos with sweet melody tocreate 10 songs that make up some of the best 30 minutes you couldspend in front of your stereo. As someone I know once put it,”it’s so good it makes me want to bang my head on thetable.”

The top five CDs you should have heard this summer

The top five CDs you should have heard this summer