Thirteen Senses has been picking up steam ever since their inception in 2002. The album The Invitation reached 14 on the UK Album Charts, and their second album, “Contact” launched the band into the UK Top 20. Their third album, slated for release sometime in 2009, should move the band even further away from their ‘beautiful’ and ‘wafty’ roots, to a full on British rock band.

“When we toured the songs,” says Will, “that’s when I actually did think ‘god these songs are a bit wafty aren’t they?’. You got sick of not being able to get into it that much because it’s a beautiful moment and whatever.” “At the beginning of the set we’d start on ‘Into The Fire’,” adds drummer Brendon James, “so we’d come on strong and end strong and it just dipped in the middle.”

For the reasons stated above, I don’t find myself returning to The Invitation very often. It starts strong, but makes a dip and never quite returns to the promising start of the first two tracks. Because the songs are fairly straight forward, they lose their replay-ability rather quickly. Nevertheless, their new preview “Crystal Sounds” sounds excellent! All these signs point towards a mature and rockin’ third album.

Their latest release, “Contact” seems more attractive than The Invitation and I’ll be picking that up soon. You can listen to a few of those tracks on the Thirteen Senses site and I recommend “Follow Me.”

But why not make up your own mind!

Listen to “Into the Fire” from “The Invitation”

[See post to listen to audio]

Listen to “Thru the Glass” from “The Invitation”

[See post to listen to audio]

If you like it, buy it!

Good friends with Sufjan Stevens and Denison Witmer; Rosie Thomas has one of the most beautiful female voices I’ve heard. Very chill — sometimes depressed — and filled with raw lyrics, Rosie Thomas is one of the most underestimated artists I’ve heard.

This song is taken from her “these friends of mine” album, featuring Rosie, Denison, and Sufjan. See if you can figure out who everyone is in this video.

So, I was hoping their new album would return a bit to those darker, off-beat, and anti-melodic style. It does in a few spots; but for the most part it maintains that downstrum guitar driven beats.

Here are a few of the more poppy (and still pretty good) songs:

Crack the Shutters:

[See post to listen to audio]

Set Down Your Glass:

[See post to listen to audio]

Here are a few of those “Final Straw-esque” tracks–a bit more anti-melodic (if you can use that term when describing Snow Patrol…)

Lightning Strikes:

[See post to listen to audio]

The Golden Floor:

[See post to listen to audio]

And by the way, these guys are really fun live.

If you’re interested in buying this album, or any of these tracks; buy them from my newly built Amazon MP3 store.

Whaddya think?

Overall, the album is pretty chill. Way more chill than Memory Man. It’s good; but it’s not great. If you’re in the mood for some intricate chill music, this is the album for you.

The Paul Simon cover “Slip-Sliding Away” is amazing! As is Good Goodnight — it’s Aqualung at it’s best.

Rather than writing it all up, have a listen.

Slip-Sliding Away
[See post to listen to audio]

Good Goodnight
[See post to listen to audio]

Check them out on the mixtape.

Original Post:

It doesn’t feel like it’s been that long since Aqualung’s latest album, “Memory Man” which you can hear a track from in my latest Aqualung post, or on the mixtape.

Aqualung’s new disc arrives on October 7, and is a compilation of new songs, old songs, and a Paul Simon cover. Music Remedy has a good summary for you to check out.

In the meantime, prepare thyselves for more piano, amazing mixes, and some crazy offbeats with “Cinderella” off “Memory Man”

[See post to listen to audio]

I also just found out they’re putting out a DVD with the new disc! You can pre-order it from that link as well. Here’s what they say about it:

This special edition includes a bonus DVD complete with an 11 song filmtrack, documentary about the band, and other unique footage all packaged within a deluxe box.

And, by the way, did you know that this disc was mixed by Michael Brauer (Coldplay, John Mayer, My Morning Jacket)? Nice! Their clean tone is so, so pretty.

Read more about You Are My Sunshine here — there are quite a few other links and info regarding the new album that’s worth reading.

P.S. Here is the track list:

1. Should You Return
2. The Grey Man
3. Chin Up
4. Good Morning Fire Eater
5. To Be Happy Now
6. The Day I Lost My Voice (The Suitcase Song)
7. On The Safest Ledge
8. Not Allowed
9. Strange and Unprepared
10. What Do I Know?
11. Not So Tough Found Out

Go pre-order it if you’d like. That is all.

So after purchasing the album, I think it lacks a bit of punch. I still like it, and it’s growing on me; but it’s not as good as the last few albums. They’ve chilled it out a bit–and while I like chill, this feels a bit more disheartened to me than it does chill. That being said, I would most certainly buy it again.

Check out a few tracks:

Grey Man:
[See post to listen to audio]

Good Morning Fire Eater:
[See post to listen to audio]

What Do I Know? (the Copeland I know and love):
[See post to listen to audio]

Go buy it!

Original Post (09.06.08):
Copeland news! Finally! Copeland has a new album arriving October 14th. Copeland is one of my favorite bands of all time–I love these guys. If you’re not familiar, you should be. Now on the label Tooth and Nail, their first and second albums “Beneath the Medicine Tree” and “In Motion” were released on The Militia Group. Their next disc, “Eat, Sleep, Repeat” was released on Columbia Records. Each album has gotten consecutively better, and I have loved them all.

Rather than tell you all the details, I’ve got quite a few links for you to check out:

A mysterious video of frontman Aaron Marsh playing a song in reverse.

A loyal fan who reversed the reverse song and is streaming it on his MySpace page — turns out it’s “You are My Sunshine.”

The official press release for their new album.

An “online maze” built by the band that contains song titles and (I’m guessing) lyric snippets — a bit over the top.

An announcement that they will be going on tour with Lovedrug. Yes please.

In case you’re not familiar with the band – a few other times I’ve blogged about Copeland.

I just added this track to the music is for lovers mixtape and you can also hear “Careful Now” on the mixtape as well.

“Eat, Sleep, Repeat” off “Eat, Sleep, Repeat”

[See post to listen to audio]

This is a really old side project of Jim Atkins from Jimmy Eat World. It’s interesting to note that the first track of “Chase this Light” is actually “Big Casino.” OOOoooo

Go Big Casino – Richmond Again

[See post to listen to audio]

Sigur Ros is one of my favorite bands in the world.

Three rows back, this was the best show I have ever seen in my life. It was probably the only show I would ever label as an “experience.” It visually amazing, and their gorgeous music was even better live. For those of you who don’t know much about Sigur Ros, read on. For those of you who just want to listen to their new album — the whole thing — it’s at the bottom of this post.

Sigur Ros is from Iceland. I first got turned on to them when living and working Mexico. I say that, because it was one of the most physically exhausting jobs I’ve ever had, and every night I would fall asleep to Sigur Ros’ “( )” album. That album enabled more rest — both physically and mentally — than anything else during that time. Track #3 is one of my favorite songs ever.

The “( )” album was written in Hoplandic–a variation of Icelandic that Sigur Ros decided to make up. Most every song that they play, their guitarist plays with a bow rather than a pick. Their drummer has the biggest cymbal’s I’ve ever seen in my life. And I’ve never heard a band more patient than these guys.

They recently created their first film entitled “Heima” which I’m dying to see.

‘heima’ is sigur rós’s first ever film, filmed over two weeks last summer when the band undertook a series of free, unannounced concerts in iceland. they hauled 40-plus people round 15 locations to the furthest flung corners of their homeland for their debut venture into live film, to create something, well, inspirational.

If you have never heard them, start with the ( ) album. Takk is also absolutely amazing, so that’s a good place to start as well. The new album, “Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust,” arrives in the US on June 24.

Have a listen to the whole album below. It’s really, really different than their old stuff. Including a few songs in English! It’s quite a bit more upbeat.

Last.FM hasn’t quite figured out their Widget yet, so you’ll have to click on each song individually rather than just click the big “Play” button. I recommend popping it out in a separate window for an un-interrupted playing experience.

table.lfmWidgetplaylist_391df77a4ff6011c36ad5f0a3c7db6a5 td {margin:0 !important;padding:0 !important;border:0 !important;}table.lfmWidgetplaylist_391df77a4ff6011c36ad5f0a3c7db6a5 tr.lfmHead a:hover {background:url(http://cdn.last.fm/widgets/images/en/header/playlist/regular_blue.png) no-repeat 0 0 !important;}table.lfmWidgetplaylist_391df77a4ff6011c36ad5f0a3c7db6a5 tr.lfmEmbed object {float:left;}table.lfmWidgetplaylist_391df77a4ff6011c36ad5f0a3c7db6a5 tr.lfmFoot td.lfmConfig a:hover {background:url(http://cdn.last.fm/widgets/images/en/footer/blue.png) no-repeat 0px 0 !important;;}table.lfmWidgetplaylist_391df77a4ff6011c36ad5f0a3c7db6a5 tr.lfmFoot td.lfmView a:hover {background:url(http://cdn.last.fm/widgets/images/en/footer/blue.png) no-repeat -85px 0 !important;}table.lfmWidgetplaylist_391df77a4ff6011c36ad5f0a3c7db6a5 tr.lfmFoot td.lfmPopup a:hover {background:url(http://cdn.last.fm/widgets/images/en/footer/blue.png) no-repeat -159px 0 !important;}

Amiina – Sexfaldur from the album Kurr:

[See post to listen to audio]

I’ve said before that Sigur Ros was the best show I’ve ever seen. When I saw them a few years ago, Amiina was their opening act and they were gorgeous. Four girls, also from Iceland, who make such pretty music. When I saw them, they only had their EP out, so I’ve been waiting anxiously for a few years for their first full length, and I finally picked it up the other day. You should download it for $7.99.

At their live show, they added layer upon layer as they each walked from one instrument to another and built music in front of my eyes. It’s absolutely captivating to watch them work together. They play everything from the xylophone, to violins and cellos, to glasses, to the saw.

I had seen a band play the saw before I saw Amiina, but not like this. Amiina actually made it add something to the music, rather than playing the saw just to play the saw.

One of my favorite parts of their show, was when they came on stage with Sigur Ros and played a quartet of strings through one song after another. It was just amazing!

I you like the sounds of the song above, and you’re not sure what it means to “play the saw,” check out this video of their song “Seoul.”

I can prove it…

Just click the play buttons, this is the full album in it’s proper order.

Life in Technicolor
[See post to listen to audio]
Cemeteries of London
[See post to listen to audio]
Lost!
[See post to listen to audio]
42
[See post to listen to audio]
Lovers in Japan
[See post to listen to audio]
Yes
[See post to listen to audio]
Viva La Vida
[See post to listen to audio]
Violet Hill
[See post to listen to audio]
Strawberry Swing
[See post to listen to audio]
Death And All His Friends
[See post to listen to audio]

Now go buy it from Amazon!

Also, check out my mixtape for other great bands and streaming tunes.

Whaddya think of the new disc people? Especially you, oh Coldplay hater.