A Round of Sound

I’ve been criticized (I won’t name names) for having music tastes that are often devoid of any feel good, singing with the windows rolled down, rockin’, happy tunes, but rather focuses on being different from the norm and usually less rockin’ or poppy than what most would consider instantly gratifying tunes…aka “weird”. This is, of course, a criticism I vehimately deny. I will admit, however, that when it comes to picking my best albums, they are usually albums that do not fit into the mainstream or pop music crowd. This isn’t to say that I don’t like some bands like that, it’s just that I do not consider those albums to be the best albums of whatever year. This is one reason why I always differentiate my year end list by calling it the best albums of the year, rather than my favorite…because those are two different things, however, I will say, oftentimes they are one and the same.

You can think of it in terms of movies. For example, a couple years ago a movie like Transformers was an insanely entertaining and very fun movie to watch and was probably one of my favorite movie going experiences of the year. However, that movie has no business even being uttered in the same sentence as The Academy Awards (unless it’s for a technical category), and this is something that can be said for most Summer blockbusters (Transformers 2 this Summer!!!) and thus I rarely consider to be the best movies of the year however enjoyable they may be.  Music is the same way. There are many catchy, fun to listen to albums, but ultimately they lack substance and really are just cheap thrills…and that is something I don’t find much artistic value in. However, every now and then an album comes along that merges both sides of this spectrum. Manners is one of those albums.

Ever since last year’s out of nowhere Chunk of Change EP, Passion Pit’s debut album has been highly anticipated.  They are just another one of these electronica/dance indie pop bands to rise to the forefront in the last couple years.  Last year it was MGMT, but where that album suffered from having a few great tracks but the rest suffering from inconsistency, Manners does no such thing.  For many, the falsetto and feminine lead vocals of Michael Angelakos can be a dealbreaker (That’s a dealbreaker ladies!…30 rock?  Any fans out there?…moving on), but Angelakos holds nothing back on the fantastic opening track “Make Light” which features that high shriek more than any other, basically telling the listener this is how it’s going to be.  Well, by the time the second track rolls around, the voice is a mere afterthought and compliments the backing music perfectly.  And that second track, “Little Secrets” is one of the (many) highlights full of synth based grooves and one of the finest choruses of the year complete with an elementary school choir that you can’t help but sing along with.  The choir is also featured on “Let Your Love Grow Tall” and first single “The Reeling”.The 3rd track “Moth’s Wings”, which I featured in an earlier post, is easily the most straight forward track on the album and could go down as one of the most epic and anthemic songs of the year.  The mid-section of the album drops off a bit, but hey they can’t all be homeruns…however, that’s not to say they’re not great songs…so, let’s call them triples.  But things pick up (and boy do they), with the instantly catchy and accessible “To Kingdom Come” which epitomizes the sugary sweet feel of Manners.  The only track that was carried over from Chunk of Change is last year’s blogosphere mega hit “Sleepyhead”, a track you should be ashamed of if you haven’t heard yet (where have you been???) and in all honesty is still probably the best song on the album, but by no means overshadows the rest of the songs.

All in all Manners is 11 tracks of pure saccharine delight that is a joy to listen to and keep on repeat as one of the soundtracks for the upcoming summer.  It is the first great release of the summer, but unlike many of it’s movie counterparts this one has some staying power and substance that will make it one of the year’s best…quite an impressive feat indeed.

[“Little Secrets” – Manners]

[“To Kingdom Come” – Manners]

[“Sleepyhead” – Manners]

This entry was posted on Friday, May 22nd, 2009 at 6:16 pm and is filed under Album Reviews, All, Music. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.