My Morning Jacket, Circuital

My Morning Jacket released their new album Circuital yesterday and it is yet another good showing from the band. This album is very subdued but you really do get the sense of how many different genres My Morning Jacket gets their inspiration from. It's nice to see a band not afraid of showing that they have influence from stuff that happened between 30-40 years ago. This album is good from start to finish but major standouts are the title track "Circuital", "Victory Dance", and "You Wanna Freak Out".  While it may be different from their previous albums, MMJ has always been constantly experimenting. I think that if you give this album a chance you really will be pleasantly surprised.  On NPR's first Listen you can hear the album in its entirety Here! enjoy.

Manchester Orchestra Releases Their New Album

Manchester Orchestra released their new album Simple Math recently and it had me thinking about what people say about "great expectations". Well, it was less about what people actually say about great expectations and more about how my great expectations for this album were not disappointed. If you have heard Orchestra's previous albums I'm Like a Virgin Losing a Child, and Mean Everything to Nothing, then you know what I'm talking about. After making their debut Manchester Orchestra and lead singer Andy Hull have consistently put out great music with powerful vocals, meaningful lyrics, and the right amount of instrumentation behind it. Simple Math simply continues that tradition. With songs like their first official single the title track "Simple Math" dealing with being able to go through life and actually question inconsistencies instead of accepting them, and the song "Virgin" which deals with the sometimes unrewarding practice of hard work, this album not only is great to listen to it will get you thinking about things in your own life as well. As Manchester Orchestra is seemingly ignoring obnoxious commercial success with lack luster and meaningless music, actually getting listeners of their album to think about something is most likely exactly what they wanted all along.