Yeah, so I know this isn’t a music album, but I can’t go on with out mentioning the latest comedy album from my favorite comedian, Jim Gaffigan. King Baby is classic Gaffigan with bits about sleep, laziness, and of course food. Its so refreshing to find a comedian who can be absolutely hilarious while remaining clean and without having to revert to low-brow comedy. It’s hard to really say if there’s a classic bit here such as his famous “Hot Pockets” material, but if there is it’s probably his 5 minute bits “Bacon” or “Catsup”, but his “Bowling”, “Camping”, and “Bed” material is fantastic as well. But man I just love hearing new stuff from the guy, and there’s plenty here that I’ll be quoting from here on out, so go ahead and get this album so you’ll know what I’m talking about when I drop a Gaffigan joke.
Reimold on a HR trot during Spring Training. Hopefully a sign of things to come.
The best Orioles position prospect not named Matt Wieters makes his major league debut tonight against the Royals in KC. Nolan Reimold has been one of the hottest hitters in all of the minor leagues so far this season batting .394 with 9 bombs and 27 RBIs sporting a ridiculous OPS of 1.228. Oh and AAA Norfolk plays in Harbor Park which is considered one of the best pitcher ballparks in the minors, so yeah, pretty impressive. I remember when Reimold (pronounced Rye-Mold) was drafted in the 2nd round of the 2005 draft out of Bowling Green and was thought of as an intriguing pick but possibly a reach that high in the draft. Well, he silenced the critics right away and has been considered one of the O’s top hitting prospects ever since. He’s struggled through some injuries setting his development back which is why he’s only making his debut now at age 25, but he’s never had an OPS lower than .834 in 5 minor league seasons and has been in and out of Baseball America’s top 100 prospects lists throughout his time in the minors. The O’s were probably hoping to keep him in AAA a little longer, but he forced their hand with those crazy stats (and the fact that in the past week 4 of the O’s 5 outfielders on the roster have gone down with injuries).
Nolan Reimold
The dude has power, a good arm and speed. I don’t see him being a superstar but if he can turn into a solid #6 or #7 hitter, that’d be pretty nice to go along with Adam Jones and Nick Markakis in the outfield. With the Felix Pie experiment likely coming to an end (although he did go 2-2 with a bomb last night replacing the injured Adam Jones) and Lou Montanez really not having the complete toolset that Reimold has, the LF job could be Reimold’s to lose…let’s hope he takes advantage of it, because Pie (pronounced Pee-Yay) and Montanez certainly haven’t. It wouldn’t surprise me to see him get sent down once Luke Scott, Jones, and Montanez all get healthy because the O’s would rather see Reimold playing everyday in Norfolk rather than platooning in LF in Baltimore, but if he puts up good numbers, it might be time to wave bye-bye to Mr. Pie (but most likely Montanez). It wouldn’t surprise me to see him struggle, but according to The Sun’s Roch Kubatko, the man just looks like a ball player and shows all the skills to be successful. That might not mean much, but it’s more that can be said about Pie. Go O’s.
It feels like it’s been a while since I’ve come upon an album that is sure to be one of the year’s best (I’m holding off on the Camera Obscura and St. Vincent releases for now until they hit eMusic), but that’s about to change with the upcoming release of Passion Pit’s debut full-length album Manners, set to drop on May 19th. The electronic pop group released their Chunk of Change EP last year that was well received and built the hype for these guys a bit. The first single, “The Reeling” is already streaming on their myspace page, but today Pitchfork featured another one of the tracks on the upcoming album and I just got even more excited for the album’s release.
[“Moth’s Wings” – Passion Pit :: Manners] – to be released on May 19th via Frenchkiss Records
I know I’m getting this up a little late, but it’s still Mother’s Day so it still counts. In honor of Mother’s Day, after a quick little search of “Mother”, “Mom”, or “Mama” these are a few of the tunes that show up in my itunes library. I didn’t go back and listen to any of them to see if they are actually appropriate songs for Mother’s Day, but whatever…enjoy!
[“You Get That From Your Mother” – Audio Learning Center :: Cope Park]
[“Mama, Won’t You Keep Them Castles In the Air Burning?” – Clap Your Hands Say Yeah :: Some Loud Thunder]
[“My Mother Was A Chinese Trapeze Artist” – The Decemberists :: 5 Songs EP]
[“Decatur, or, Round of Applause for Your Stepmother!” – Sufjan Stevens :: Illinois]
The cover of the latest release from the Conor Oberst catalog features a picture of himself along with his backing band, only Conor is wearing a blindfold as a way to symbolize his first album where he gives credit to a backing band and allows them to rise to the forefront. Well that’s all good and nice, and a fine gesture from Conor, but hopefully it’s nothing that we’ll have to get used to. Just 9 months after his self-titled album, his first released under his own name, Oberst returns with Outer South which features 16 songs, a handful of which Conor didn’t write and does not contribute vocals to. Predictably, the Oberst songs are the strength of the album (with a few exceptions). “Ten Women” and “White Shoes” are the kind of stripped down acoustic folk ballads that show Conor at his best, and along with free-wheelin’ rousers like “Slowly (oh so slowly)” these are the kind of songs that helped Conor earn the tag of the “New Bob Dylan”.
The seven songs led by members of The Mystic Valley Band aren’t nearly as strong (with a few exceptions) with “Difference in Time” and “Eagle on a Pole” being the highlight of those (both Jason Boesel led tracks). And a quick shout out to bass player and Birmingham, Alabama native (and fellow Homewood High School alum) Macey Taylor who sings lead vocals on “Worldwide” which is the lone Oberst penned track that Conor doesn’t sing himself. However, a song as bad as “Air Mattress”, a non-Oberst written song, should never find its way onto a Conor Oberst release. As a whole this album is exactly what it was meant to be: a collection of fun folk-rock songs that Conor and the band wrote while on tour supporting the self-titled release. However, that’s all it is…a collection of songs, which is why it’s nothing special. What Conor has always done so well, as his Bright Eyes releases can attest, is create an album that is more than just a bunch of songs thrown together. So kudos to Oberst for allowing his friends and back-up band to get a little credit, but when’s the next Bright Eyes album already?
This is a long one…but a good one (if you’re a baseball fan, not just an O’s fan). I definitely encourage a read.
Adam Loewen
Loyalty is a term that is thrown around a lot in sports, from a player’s loyalty to his hometown team or just a team that gave him a shot to hit it big, to a organization’s loyalty to a player that spent years of his career giving his all to win games for that team. Both sides want something from the other side because they feel their loyalty over the years should be repaid. However, sports is a business and more often than not loyalty is nothing more than a word that fans, organizations, and players can use to chastise the other side when they betray that trust. Thus is the case of former Oriole pitcher, Adam Loewen.
This is the first of what I plan to be a regular occurrence here on the blog. Every now and then, I’ll post a little playlist, or “A Round of Sound” (hey, that’s the name of the blog!) as I like to call it. Sometimes it’ll have a theme, other times it’ll just be random tunes. What all the songs will have in common though is that they’re all in my music library. So without further ado:
My post about Jimmy Eat World and their amazing album Clarity got me kind of on a late 90’s into the early 2000’s emo nostalgia kick. So here’s an emo playlist for your pleasure. Note that I left A LOT off of this list (I’m trying to limit these to about 10 songs). I’ll have to do a part 2 sometime in the future. Argue all you want about whether or not these are truly “emo”, but all of these were indeed at one time or another considered emo.
[“Forever Longing the Holden Sunsets” – The Appleseed Cast :: Mare Vitalis]
2009 marks the 10 year anniversary of Jimmy Eat World’s defining album, Clarity. It may come as a shock to many that I consider this one of my favorite albums of all time, but Clarity is one of those influential albums that helped shape a genre and not to mention my music tastes. It’s hard to say what makes Clarity so timeless. It’s not like Jimmy Eat World has done (or ever will do) anything this good since releasing this album back in ’99, but to this day many of the “emo” bands going list Clarity as one of their influences (even if you can’t really tell it in their music).
The late 90’s produced an explosion of bands that were placed into the rock subset of “emo”. Now, what truly defines emo is a controversy that is still argued to this day and it really has become more of a subculture rather than a music genre. However, Jimmy Eat World, and especially Clarity, has long since been considered a pioneer for the genre (whether you agree with it or not). What’s amazing about Clarity is that it was more of an underground hit. Only one of its songs, “Lucky Denver Mint”, was a single and the band was dropped from Capitol Records after this release. Maybe its lack of mainstream success is one of the reasons why it gained such a cult following, but whatever the case, 10 years later, there is no denying that this album still holds a strong place in the hearts of its fans and has gained many new fans just from word of mouth.
So it’s no wonder that Jimmy Eat World celebrated the 10 year anniversary by staging a 10 city tour in which they played the entire album start to finish. The last of those shows, from Tempe, was recorded and released as a live album exclusively on the JEW website. No one, not even Jimmy Eat World, could have predicted that 10 years after releasing their 2nd album, they would be on the road celebrating it’s anniversary. It speaks volumes to the album’s significance and the impact it has had on so many musical lives.
On its own, Clarity stands just fine, but isn’t necessarily mind blowing. It’s a good listen and is easily Jimmy Eat World’s Tour de Force. However, when put into context of the genre it helped build and define, Clarity is a monumental release that will continue to be celebrated many years past its 10 year anniversary.
Yeah, so I know this isn’t a music album, but I can’t go on with out mentioning the latest comedy album from my favorite comedian, Jim Gaffigan. King Baby is classic Gaffigan with bits about sleep, laziness, and of course food. Its so refreshing to find a comedian who can be absolutely hilarious while remaining clean and without having to revert to low-brow comedy. It’s hard to really say if there’s a classic bit here such as his famous “Hot Pockets” material, but if there is it’s probably his 5 minute bits “Bacon” or “Catsup”, but his “Bowling”, “Camping”, and “Bed” material is fantastic as well. But man I just love hearing new stuff from the guy, and there’s plenty here that I’ll be quoting from here on out, so go ahead and get this album so you’ll know what I’m talking about when I drop a Gaffigan joke.
Posted by Hawkins 
A Round of Sound 