"The people when rightly and fully trusted will return the trust." --Abraham Lincoln

Hey everybody, sorry it's been awhile since my last update. Summer is in full swing now, so I've been pretty busy with work, not to mention the fact that for a full weekend my internet connection was down (I've also begun to get distracted by NPR while in the car--I really missed it!). Anyway, I'm going to attempt to start to catch up here, so the next couple of posts are going to be pretty short and with multiple albums. Here goes:

Batman Begins (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
This offering from Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard is a pretty straightforward movie score. It contains nothing too adventurous in terms of musicality, but it does provide an exciting, percussive, and attention-holding theme to the background of a pretty good movie.

Because of the Times
This is my second Kings of Leon album review, and I have to say I was excited when I saw it come up on the list. Because of the Times is a later work by the quartet, and it really shows. The musical ideas are more developed on this album, leading to an overall more satisfying work than Aha Shake Heartbreak.

The Bedlam in Gotham
The Mars Volta have an interesting sound in general, but definitely on this album. Granted, there are much weirder-sounding groups and genres out there, but for a somewhat mainstream group, The Mars Volta offer a window into the odder side of music.

Begin to Hope
I'm not typically a big fan of piano/voice music, but Regina Spektor makes it interesting for me. She does have the pop "hook" on a couple of tracks, earning her a record deal, but overall, her music is much deeper and richer than those two or three songs. Her piano lines on the rest of the album are somewhat off kilter, with interesting harmonies. I really like this album, which comes as a pleasant surprise.

The Bends
This is Radiohead's second album, and among their best, in my humble opinion. Following Pablo Honey chronologically, the style is very similar, but the listener can hear the band developing more of their own sound, leaning toward more eclectic style and instrumentation. Although Radiohead's sound will eventually become something much different from this album's, this remains among the top offerings from the group, and just one step in their multialbum, multidecade evolution.

Whew...there we go. I'll be back with more tomorrow!