Staff Recommendations: August 5th, 2012
 

Well it was a big to-do.

Blake

I got into a weird and oddly philosophical (for me, at least) conversation about Weezer the other day, and have been spinning them non-stop. The Blue Album, Pinkerton, Raditude and Maladroit, to be exact. Lots of great stuff, and "Trampoline" from Death to False Metal is also a gem. Never been a big fan, but I'm digging now, especially after engrossing myself in lots of backstory. Love it when that happens.

Ryan Gardner

Sleeping With Sirens, The Moon Is Down obviously, Handwritten, and The American Scene. Oh and I'm super late on this, but seriously, go listen to The Front Bottoms now.

Adam Pfleider

cloakroom consists of three factory workers from the Region.

Craig Manning

I'm still spending a lot of time with Handwritten, but beyond that, my listening has been dominated by a mix of both new or upcoming releases (the new Jens Lekman is heartbreaking, Joshua Radin's Underwater is terrific, Passion Pit's Gossamer just gets better and better) and records from 2010 (Chad Perrone's Release, Arcade Fire's The Suburbs, The National's High Violet) for a retrospective piece I'm doing on my blog. Oh, and always Will Hoge.

Jason Gardner

Been on a heavy kick lately, namely Loma Prieta and Gaza. My car rides have been dominated by Protest the Hero's Fortress though.

REUBEN'S ACCOMPLICE

jamming this one too

Guess I need to actually check out Weezer's discog now. I've really only ever spent time with their "hits" :-(


Oh and I'm super late on this, but seriously, go listen to The Front Bottoms now

I was first introduced to Weezer back when my parents bought a Packard-Bell PC with Windows 95 on it. The video for 'Buddy Holly' (arguably one of the best music videos ever made) was preloaded on the machine. Ever since then Weezer has been a favorite.

That said, I haven't really liked any of their albums post Maladroit (an underrated album which hopefully anytime now will gain a cult following, similar to the way Pinkerton did years after it was released). There are a few jams here and there on Make Believe and the rest that I dig... particularly the video edit of the song 'Perfect Situation.'

Can never get over how underrated Make Believe it, haha.

People seem to really hate that album, but, off the top of my head, Perfect Situation and Hold Me are really good Weezer songs. I don't think any of the other songs on there are super terrible for what they are. They don't really compare to any of the first couple of albums, but I've made my peace with it.

And my recommendation is watching women's handball in the Olympics and rooting for Norway.

Haha, I totally had that Windows Backup CD-ROM with that video and the game Hover. Great stuff.

If anyone hasn't heard the entirety of Weezer's first album, please get on that shit. It's perfection.

Skinny Puppy (RIYL: Bands that have ripped off Skinny Puppy like Nine Inch Nails)

Pinkerton is such a great album.

Joshua Radin - Underwater
Passion Pit - Gossamer
Fang Island - S/T

Make Believe has some terrible lyrics.

Anchor & Braille - The Quiet Life
Cat Power - Sun
Desaparecidos - "MariKKKopa" / "Backsell"
The Fresh & Onlys - Long Slow Dance
Ice Choir - Afar
Jens Lekman - I Know What Love Isn't
Mount Eerie - Ocean Roar
Paper Route - The Peace of Wild Things
Yeasayer - Fragrant World

Leaks this week were amazing.

Raditude and Make Believe and underrated horribley. While The Blue Album and Pinkerton are their best albums these two are in the second tier of great albums. I never cared for The Red Album or Hurley too much though