flying on a jet plane

Holy crap. I’m listening to complete albums on a plane. This is the best flight experience I’ve ever had. I am insisting on Cathay Pacific every fucking time I leave and return to the country.

Anyway, to paraphrase a Questionable Content strip, “It’s either you like it or you don’t.” I don’t care if any of you gave these albums five-and-a-half thumbs up or something. It’s my opinion on the music I’ve always wanted to listen to, and it’s either you agree with me or not. I would like to discuss what people think, though, even if it won’t really change the way I see (or hear) things.

As I Am – Alicia Keys

The album is her latest, I think. Given that I’ve just as faithfully followed this soulful singer’s career as I have Heroes (which is to say, not at all), I can only compare based on the songs that I have heard from her previous albums.

If this is Alicia Keys as she is, then I don’t really wanna hear that much of her anymore. Half of the time, she seems to go for this breathy, twittery style that doesn’t really suit her well – try ‘Like You’ll Never See Me Again’ and you’ll see what I mean (that intro is fucking annoying). Alicia seems to depend on the little snags and shakes in her voice to give the impression that she’s giving an effort while singing songs. She sounds desperate and clinging on to something most of the time, not soulful, and quite a bit of her lyrics give that impression as well.

I liked her old, effortless sound, which you can still hear in tracks like ‘Go Ahead’ (oddly similar to ‘Karma’) and ‘I Need You.’ Her strength lies in her heavy strength (‘Tell You Something’ is good and heavy), not when she’s a simpering 16 year-old making breathy “touch me” sounds.

I also miss her piano, because Alicia now sings to some synthesized track or another. It’s the reason why ‘Prelude To A Kiss’ is my favorite. Deep and mellow, not airy and pop-like. The next album pulls that off way better.

Coco – Colbie Callait

I can’t believe I didn’t stay for her free Trinoma concert. It’s just about as stupid as not buying tickets to the Incubus concert, which I did as well, goddamnit.

The cover is white, light and airy. The album is white, light and airy. You can actually sway back and forth to her guitar/ukelele/whatever and her voice. Colbie Callait (pronounced call-ei) is the perfect listen-to for any summer vacation, whether on the islands of Alaminos or in a plane heading for Hong Kong airport; whether in a hammock hanging above fine beach sand or in a small. humid room with an electric fan.

Her love songs (yes, they’re love songs) don’t say “I love you so love me back or else” (*ahem*majorityofPinoyrock*ahem*). Tracks like ‘Feelings Show’ and ‘Oxygen’ subtly whisper in your ear “Hey. Love you, babe, hope you love me too” without the whining. She turns the cliché of unrequited love into a wonderfully light sensation, even with the more serious aspects of love – ‘Battle’ and ‘Tailor Made’ are sad and yet you somehow keep the smile she gives you with the rest of the album (including the radio hit ‘Bubbly’).

A bit of a special mention – ‘Realize,’ my favorite track off the CD and a beautiful song to sing to. Unrequited love done right.

Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace – Foo Fighters

It’s hard reviewing a band that I (for all practical purposes) have only heard of and never heard before. Thousands will probably lynch me and go “You don’t listen to the Foo Fighters?!” but hey, I neither had the time nor the resources. Now I do.

I find it odd that a lot of people only listen to the guitar, the bass, and the drums of a band, and hardly never to the vocalist. It’s the reason why I’m not that into heavy metal – I put it in the same category of music as rap and elevator tunes (Seriously, even spoken word is better; go go Radioactive Sago Project). But the Foo Fighters’ awesome exchange of lyrics and music allowed me to appreciate both the guitar cords and vocal strings in tracks such as ‘Let It Die’ and ‘Once And For All.’

Their lyrics aren’t that half bad, either. ‘Erase/Replace’ makes use of the assonance I’m so fond of in songs. ‘Stranger Things Have Happened’ lets me rest my ears a bit and gives me a bit of insight into what they’re saying instead of what they’re playing. This ‘07 album’s songs are also christened with titles that give you the feeling of “Hey, what’s this?”

For a new discovery, this band really got my blood running (which hey, is really important on a 10-hour flight from Heathrow – ‘Cheer Up Boys’ is a piece of win) and has me into their music. I’m proud to say that I like it and that I’m getting it when I get home. (And it doesn’t feel like it’s that mainstream, which is a step in the right direction for me.)

Riot! – Paramore

There’s such a big… riot over this group that I want to see what it’s all about – well, besides the cute vocalist. DR first introduced them to me like a month or two before they went mainstream (I think), but I never paid too much attention to them.

But hey, I can see why people like them. ‘That’s What You Get’ is a fun little track I’ve only listened to now, while ‘Crushcrushcrush’ and ‘Misery Business’ have long been some of my radio favorites. The band actually pulls the album off pretty awesomely, owing mostly to their awesome vocalist matching their music (or vice versa, although I think it’s the first). ‘Hallelujah’ is a perfect example of her kicking some high note ass. She reminds me of someone, and yet her sound has a flavor as original as these ‘Caramelised Onion and Sweet Balsamic Vinegar’ chips crisps I picked up before I left London. (Which taste great, by the way.)

Paramore’s percussion also gets me pumping. While many might consider the drums to be a bit repetitive (‘Miracle’ can get boring, for example), I quite like the solid pounding that my ears get. The drums seem to be the underpinning of the band’s performance, which is why ‘We Are Broken’ is droll and ‘Fences’ is engaging.

All in all, I’m glad I got to listen them. I can see why a lot of people like ‘em so much, and I’m proud to be one of those people who’d enjoy shaking my head (headbanging has gone out of style) to their great sound.

In Rainbows – Radiohead

This is another of those bands I know absolutely nothing about. Kevin mentioned this one somewhere, so it’s definitely unknown to me. Remember that I have absolutely no background with this band – or, with this kind of music in general – so don’t lynch me or anything.

There is only one word for me to describe the way the vocalist sounds – freaky. The high male falsetto convinces me that he’s drunk, stoned, or both. Well, that was my first impression, which never really goes away. But it actually sounds pretty good once you get to ‘Nude’ up to around ‘Faust Arp.’ They’re the kind of songs I want to look the lyrics up, because they sound good on a rainy day. Or to do schoolwork to. Stuff you can just keep in the background and yet can’t ignore.

Radiohead creates a different sound every track – ‘Bodysnatchers’ is starkly different from ‘Jigsaw Falling Into Place’ and dissimilar with each of the other tracks. But you can still feel a certain consistency that’s maintained throughout the album (it’s probably the freaky voice).

And I don’t know much about instruments but I think that the bass stands out, in a good way. It counters the lead lip’s eerie, echoes with the kind of fullness that serves as a good underpinning for practically everything else.

To sum it up, I think the band is a pretty good find. But for me, it’s not really one worth keeping on a 1 GB iPod shuffle.