Robyn Hithcock, Badly Drawn Boy, Bright Eyes, Garden State, Ray Lamontagne, and They Might Be Giants

I always think of stuff to write about the things you see in the column to the right, but I rarely take the time to actually type them out. I have let a lot of stuff slip lately and here is a quick wrap-up of the music I’ve been enjoying over the past month.

Moss Elixir & I Often Dream of Trains – Robyn Hitchcock
Scott has been giving me Robyn stuff for about 3 years now and I never really got excited about any of it until I saw Robyn live last year. I always hoped for the best, but never came away really loving any of the solo stuff. After seeing the concert and after fully enjoying Spooked, I have been anxious to hear some more of Robyn’s albums. I have enjoyed both Moss Elixir & I Often Dream of Trains, but Moss Elixir is exceptionally good. My favorite song is probably Devil’s Radio. (A line from that song has been featured at the top of this blog for a while now.) I Often Dream of Trains is a fun listen, but it's nothing I have put on to enjoy from start to finish. I have read very good things about IODOT through the years so maybe I had built it up a bit much. [IODOT: 2.5/5, ME: 3.5/5]

One Plus One Is One – Badly Drawn Boy
My friend Jon first brought Badly Drawn Boy to my attention with the soundtrack to the movie About a Boy (based on a novel by Nick Hornby – ah, the circle of life). I loved that and have since listened to his first album, The Hour of Bewilderbeast, and 2002’s Have You Fed the Fish? OPOIO was a surprising pleasure to listen to. For my taste, it lacks focus and is too long to be a great album, but it reminded me of what I liked about Badly Drawn Boy in the first place (I kind of lost track with that after HYFTF?). [3/5]

I’m Wide Awake It’s Morning – Bright Eyes
I heard plenty about Bright Eyes, but had never actually heard any of the music until I got a Lost Highway compilation. I wasn’t blown away by the song on there, but I was definitely intrigued. Any interest that was piqued by that song was quickly squashed when I heard Lifted. I never could get into that album and was kind of put off by the whole thing. IWAIM is a whole other story though. There are great songs, the good things about Conor Oberst are front and center while the pretension and theatrics are mainly put aside, and it’s good from start to finish too. (Okay, I could do without the minute plus spoken word intro on the very first track, but other than that…) [3/5]

Garden State Soundtrack
I love this movie. When watching this movie at the theatre I thought the music worked really well and I made a note to pick up the soundtrack. Well, the soundtrack doesn’t work for me without the movie, despite having some good songs by some artists that I normally like. It’s the anti-Vanilla Sky, which I think has a brilliant soundtrack that runs circles around the actual movie. The movie is funny and for the most part puts you in a good mood; the soundtrack, however, is anything but jovial. [2/5]

Trouble – Ray Lamontagne
I knew nothing about this going into it, but I liked it the few times I listened to it. His voice has a Van Morrison thing working and the overall feel is very singer-songwritery. I’m going to keep my eye out for any future releases and maybe go back and listen to this one some more at another time. [2.5/5...for now]

Here Come the ABCs – They Might Be Giants
This is TMBG’s second album for kids, or as I see it, their second album for the kids of geeky parents. This one is geared more to the preschool set. When I say it’s geared to the preschool set, I actually mean it was made specifically for my son, Aden. To be fair, TMBG probably didn’t have Aden specifically in mind, but I can’t imagine anything being created that Aden would love more. There is a DVD as well as the CD and they have both been on a pretty steady loop at our house. My wife and I have enjoyed it too. It’s funny, clever, educational, and it also has Aden using the word gyroscope as well as Zimbabwe. At this rate my son will be able to kick my ass in Scrabble by the age of four. [4/5]