My Head Is An Animal by Of Monsters and Men

With Mumford and Sons breaking the way we are now seeing a great influx of bands with the Mumford sound. For those of us who like this sort of music this is a very good thing. One of the best bands to surface in the last year is Of Monsters and Men.

This band features the same type of backbeat, orchestration and such but also features a female singer which adds a different dimension. Their success has been significant with a single that went large in the the Top 40, and as to alternative radio, college radio, and even AOR radion they have had even greater success with many of their songs from the album being featured.

The first song on the album is called Dirty Paws and it is one of the more original things you will hear. " And once there was an animal, it had a son that mowed the lawn, the son was on Ok guy, they had a pet dragonfly." That, if nothing else, is one of the more original lyrics you will hear. And it works.

Lionheart and Mountain Song are the next two tracks on the album. The latter has been quite successful but for me the former is the better song. Mountain Song is very catchy though, you have to tap your foot, and the call and response between the female singer and the band is certainly effective.

This band with both female and male co singers, coming from Iceland, is certainly one of the great new sounds I have heard recently. Their first single Little Talks was an international hit and first gained them all the notice that has followed. With an enormously catchy beat, with a driving backing track and then we hear the call and response singing of both the singers the song is about as catchy a single as you will hear these days. Even a little big band sound behind the normal rock guitars.

I liked this album very much. I do not know what the shelf life is. With this sound now moving into the overexposed zone one has to wonder how long it will last. The Lumineers are fun, for example, but one has to assume that when the music business moves onto the next new sound that only a few will survive. This band might not be one of those that do. For now though this is a very good album.

Babel by Mumford and Sons

Continuing this very fruitful fall in new books and music Mumford and Sons released their followup album to last years breakthrough effort. Babel promised to stay true to the original sound with perhaps just a little more fire and rock in some songs, to make them more friendly to the arenas that Mumford's popularity is bringing them to.

I cannot listen to Mumford and Sons without thinking of The Avett Brothers. I suppose just as forty years ago The Beatles and The Stones had separate fan bases one gets the sense that for this new popular sect of music who you prefer of these groups defines you.

Certainly The Avett's have been releasing albums longer than the Mumford Boys. Building a fan base through constant touring and incredible live shows as opposed to having a singularly, surprisingly, breakthrough album probably gives a band more street cred but what is obviously clear is that the quick success of Mumford and Sons can only help The Avett's and the now slew of bands replicating their sound.

The Babel album and The Carpenter albums being released within two weeks of each other gives us a rare chance to critique the leaders of this music as they mirror each other. The Avett album which I reviewed previously was strong and in truth when I reviewed it I think I might not have praised it enough. It's variety of styles and lyrics even in the last two weeks have aged well on me.

The Babel album is also strong. What is clear is that the best songs on the Mumford album have a commercial element, a bigness about them, that the songs on The Avett album do not.

The album debuts with Babel and then two songs later we get the first single I Will Wait. This song is the best song that Mumford has written thus far and with it's demanding guitar work and hallowing choruses is a song that might well top the charts and bring even more fans to this type of music. Lover of the Light is another strong song but the truth is that I have listened to this album at least seven times in the last three days trying to get a sense of it. Much of the time from one listening to the next I do not even remember the songs and their distinctions.

This album is in no way as diverse as what the Avett's are doing and a good number of the songs should be considered no better than filler. Near the end of the album we do hear another very strong song called Below My Feet which will also earn much deserved praise. For me as much as I love I Will Wait and, as I have been singing it all week my kid will attest that it is captured my attention, the most remember-able song on the album is Broken Crown. The song is strong with the violent guitar strumming that Mumford is well known for, their signature sound as it is, and in it they make good use of the f word. They did this on a song in the first album and certainly they are aware that a good segment of their target audience will enjoy hearing a song with the singer frustrated with f-ing things up. The Avett's to my knowledge have not yet made a habit of this strategy. I do not have an opinion either way, it is a difference between them.

This is a very good album, it will easily and deservedly appear on many Top !0 lists later this year. For me, however, the verdict is clear, in any so called competition between Mumford and The Avett's I fall into the Avett camp. With them you get a much stronger sense of who they are and quite sure that success or not they will be who they are. Perhaps it is unfair but I do not know the life expectancy of Mumford and Sons in comparison with the Avett's. Love them both and this is a great album that you should enjoy but my position is clear.

Hero by Edward Sharpe and the Magnificent Zeroes

Over the last month or so I have been seeing quite a few references to this band. Rolling Stone raves about them which does not always mean I will like them, but at least it means that it might be worth seeing what all the fuss is about.

Today I gave a full listen to both albums thus far released by Edward Sharpe and The Magnificent Zeroes. They should be given an award for a name hard to forget. Certainly Magnificent Zeroes is one you will not forget easily.

This band makes some very interesting music. Often referenced as a throwback band with a lot of sixties vibe I found, on certain songs, to see that. A female singer is featured prominently on many of the tracks and I found that the songs that featured her most prominently were the ones that would have felt at home with the Woodstock Generation. Much of the time though I heard a lot of the same things that can be found in today's folk revival from the likes of The Avett Brothers and Mumford and Sons.

On their second album Here, Man on Fire is the first song and is a hit in the making. Well, perhaps not a hit, but a popular song on Alt Radio which is the bands home. On One Love to Another we hear the significant influences of Bob Marley and reggae music. Certainly One Love in the title and the accompanying sound makes it clear that the band knows full well who they are being influenced by in this song. Another standout track is a song called Child that is simply one of the best new songs I have heard this year. Sounding like a cross between a southern twang and early acoustic White Stripes this song is one that will get in your head. Also strong is I Don't Wanna Pray which sounds like it belonged on the soundtrack to O Brother Where Art Thou, a hand-clapping beat and one that again will be an earwig in your head. My foot is tapping as I listen to it again as I write this.

When Spotify then played me their first album which was self titled, the first thing I noticed is that the featured song on that album is one that I, that we all most likely , have heard already. Home is a nice, rhythmic song, that is pretty much irresistible, and has been featured on a commercial that we all have heard on NFL Commercials. Another strong song on the album called Janglin' has been used on Ford Fiesta commercials. It used to be that selling out by putting your song in commercials was frowned on, now it has become one of the easiest paths to success. Also strong is the song Jade, which one can again here the White Stripes influence but in this song the most relevant influence I hear is Ray Davies and the Kinks.

Certainly a band that one can hear this many influences from is a band that can be varied and broad in their musical choices. I think this music was interesting, but more than interesting they are actually not just musically, but also lyrically strong. The music is often music that gets your feet tapping and certainly is far and above much that one can hear these days.

Edward Sharpe gets and A plus from me, nothing close to a zero. Strong music, gives one hope that good music is still being made. Of course the influences for the most part going back a generation or two it seems even The Zeroes know that you have to look backward to make good music.

Fleet Foxes, Helplessness Blues

This album was released today. If you would like to hear it to see what all the fuss is about you can go to Rolling Stone.com and stream the whole album. This is surely one of those albums that you need to hear a few times. Amazon also has a one day special today making it available for just $3.99

As I write this I am on my second listen and it is a very good album. Music for me at this time in my life has a pretty high threshold between I like it and I will buy it. I have too much music now to listen to what I have properly. Still, the more I listened to this the more I liked it.

Clearly the folk, alt rock wave continues to rise. The harmonies on this album are wonderful. The influences are everywhere. At first I thought Crosby Stills and Nash and that is true but one also can hear the Beach Boys but for me I hear alot of Simon and Garfunkel though the instrumentation is a little trippier, in places it is like S & G were being backed by a little bit of Pink Floyd.

To compare it with something current you might call it a more etheraal Mumford and Sons. Listening to the title song and the harmonies makes your heart skip and soar and makes you want to hug someone you love. At least it does me. The rest of the album is just as intersting.

Great music. Buy it today

The Avett Brothers/ Four Theives Gone -The Robbinsville Sessions

The Avett Brothers continues to work toward becoming my new favorite band of the moment. This album for a few years ago has many more great songs such as Sixteen in July, Pretend Love, Left on Laura, A Lover Like You, Denouncing November Blue and many others.

The Avetts have a rather unique talent in that the ballads are beautiful and then the can rock out ( as much as you can rock out with banjo's and mandolins ) and have more fun than apparently any other band going today.

Mostly a college town and Southeastern phenomenon the Avett's are growing in buzz everyday. They are the band I would most like to see. This music will capture you. Often times the trendsetter does not have the commercial success of those that come behind and Mumford and Sons being second on the album charts right now might prove this point but few once hearing The Avett's will not recognize them as being the best at what they do right now.

Don't just listen to this. Listen to anything Avett you can.

Mumford and Sons, Sigh No More

In the last year I discovered The Avett Brothers and consider them one of the best bands I have heard in quite sometime. Tuning into the Grammy Awards a few weeks ago we were looking forward to the set with Bob Dylan and The Avetts and were just as interested in our first exposure to Mumford and Sons.

When Amazon cooperated and had this album as a feature bargain album this past weekend and have listened to it several times.

It is wonderful. A sure similarity to The Avett Brothers in style is apparent but the voice of the lead singer actually reminds me on some notes of the lead singer of Blue October. It is clearly very interesting.

Songs such as Little Lion Man, The Cave, and Awake my Soul are clear and accessible. Most of the songs on the album use melodies and lyrics that are strong to make the point.

It is hard to describe. If you are looking for Top 40 music, rap music, or something to dance to you are in the wrong place.

If you want something special and that will never become stale this is it.