Photo of The Beaches by Meg Moon
Hi all, Jason Green here, founder and Editor-in-Chief of The Arts STL. I listen to a ton of music, but I don’t find myself writing about it as much as I’d like to. Every year when I do my best-of-the-year list, I churn out a mountain of short reviews of my favorite albums of the year and I think to myself “Each of those was pretty quick to write, I should do that more often.” I figure today is the day to make true on that promise/threat.
Each one of these First Thought Friday articles will be my first impressions of albums that released this week. This will be after only a first listen so they will be fairly surface level analyses, but hopefully you find them insightful and they help you find some new tunes worth checking out. Will I do this every single week? Probably not, but I’ll try to do it more often than not. Will I get them posted on Fridays? Well, I’m posting this on Saturday so that seems unlikely too. But the idea is to be quick and informal: first impressions, favorite or least favorite songs, and whether I’ll check it out again or not.
Here are my thoughts on a few albums that dropped yesterday, in the order in which I listened to them.
Sabrina Carpenter, Man’s Best Friend: Wild to me that someone born in 1999 would make an album that sounds exactly like it was recorded in 1989, but considering I was born in 1979, I’m kind of into it. Sonically it’s right up my alley, but other than “Manchild,” none of the songs grabbed ahold of me as immediately as “Espresso” or “Taste” or “Feather.” Will I listen again?: Definitely.
The Beths, Straight Line Was a Lie: Not what I was expecting! The Beths usually offer up diary entries set to sugar-rush power pop but this album is a little more quiet and introspective. This is not a bad thing; on the contrary, I’m excited to spend more time with it and get to know it better. Will I listen again?: Absolutely.
The Hives, The Hives Forever Forever The Hives: The Hives, doing what they do best, which means they aren’t reinventing the wheel here (though there is a song hardcore enough that it could’ve been on an early Hüsker Dü record) but they sound livelier and more dialed in than on last year’s comeback record, The Death of Randy Fitzsimmons, which I liked but which kind of evaporated from my mind right after it stopped playing. Not their best, but a solid addition to their discography. Will I listen again?: Probably.
The Beaches, No Hard Feelings: That title is a lie, this album has SO many hard feelings! This was my first Beaches record but it sounded exactly like I would’ve expected an LP by the band that did “Blame Brett” to sound like. Probably the album that grabbed me the most immediately of these first five, though I suspect the Beths will stick with me more over time. Will I listen again?: Definitely.
Nova Twins, Parasites & Butterflies: I don’t really listen to The Point anymore…do they play Nova Twins? If not, they should! This duo was not on my radar at all until our Krista Spies turned in this glowing review, but her praise made me give it a spin and color me impressed. Booming drums, huge industrial guitar/synth riffs, symphonic touches, and vocals that slide between the cool of Rihanna, the sass of Gwen Stefani, and the theatrical ethereality of Evanescence’s Amy Lee. The end result kinda reminds me of Sleigh Bells crossed with Lucia-era KMFDM or a less horny Lords of Acid, and I mean all that in a good way. Will I listen again?: Definitely. | Jason Green
