Author Archives: Timothy Hudson

Albert Hammond Jr. Most of you know him for his rivetingly playful guitar solos, his delightful line of suits, and him being a principle member to The Strokes, but you probably aren’t too familiar with his solo work. Seeing as the summer months are soon (and for some, now) upon us, his warm guitar work and relaxing sound seem perfectly fit for the time.

From the very first track of Yours to Keep—Hammond’s first solo album—you can tell that this isn’t going to be another Strokes album. While the familiar playful guitar riffs are present on all of the tracks, the general tone and mood of the album is far less aggressive and more relaxed than his previous outings. The closet he comes to returning to the style is on “In Transit”—a track so delightfully catchy and playful that it practically demands to be played on repeat over summer.

More demonstrative of the more relaxed style found on Yours to Keep is “Call An Ambulance.” With a slow, deliberate beat throughout, the track feels less like rock and more like pop. The guitar work—paired with bridges of whistling and vocal harmonies—evokes memories of warm days by the poolside.

The sunny-pop continues on album bonus-track (for the U.S. and Canadian releases, anyways) “Well…All Right.” The track begins with some playful percussion which builds into some relaxed guitar strumming and vocal harmonies. It’s truly a fantastic track, and much like every track on the album—it feels perfect for a sunny day at the beach.

Yours to Keep can be purchased from iTunes, Amazon, or (hopefully) wherever music is sold.

Albert Hammond, Jr. – In Transit

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Albert Hammond Jr. – Call An Ambulance

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Albert Hammond Jr. – Well…All Right

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[via ThisBonusTrack.com]

Hailing from Salt Lake City, The Devil Whale have lived a rather silent existence since their first album dropped in 2008, but it seems like they are trying to break their new album Teeth.

Their track “Barracudas” off the aforementioned album sounds like a more classic rock inspired version of Band of Horses, while never sounding derivative or trite. And drawing from such influences as The Animals, and The Kinks, it’s hard not to see the echoes of classic-rock on the track—a track which seems nearly impossible to place in time.

Teeth, the band’s sophomore album, is available on the band’s Bandcamp.

The Devil Whale – Barracudas

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Arcade Fire, the indie-rockers from Montreal have released three albums—all worthy of the critical acclaim they have received. They’ve won Grammy’s, topped charts, reached a level of success rarely associated with indie acts these days, and they aren’t looking stop any time soon. Alongside the announcement of acclaimed filmmaker Spike Jonze making a film based around their latest album, The Suburbs, came the announcement of a Deluxe Edition of the Grammy award winning album, which will include two all new tracks produced by the band.

The first of which, “Speaking in Tongues” is a collaboration between the band and David Byrne of Talking Heads fame. Sounding like a mixture between album standouts “We Used to Wait” and “The Suburbs,” the track exhibits nearly every great sound found on The Suburbs, and does so without requiring the rest of the album to guide it. Likewise, “Culture War”—the second new song found on the deluxe edition—stands so well on its own, that is almost hard to imagine the track getting even better when paired with the masterpiece to which is in addition to.

The Suburbs (Deluxe Edition), which features these two masterful tracks will drop on August 22nd via Merge Records.

Arcade Fire – Speaking in Tongues

Arcade Fire – Culture War

[via Pretty Much Amazing]