Ramble On: November 8

 My best posts usually come when I'm right on the verge of big thesis progress and I want nothing more than to pretend hablo espanol and don't even know what the word thesis means. I'm in that kind of mood today. It doesn't help at all that I'm coming out of a new-music drought that I've been in for a while as so many new albums are either dropping or streaming this week. Plus, as if I needed one more factor to contribute to my complete and total lack of focus, I am in Lexington with no car and no job. What this should mean: I have limitless time to write. What this actually means: I am absolutely losing my ever-loving mind, evident most by the fact that I am at this moment eating cheese and crackers and drinking a Mountain Dew. (If you know me at all, you know this clearly indicates I've fallen apart more than just a little bit. It's not even a diet Dew. It's that bad.) I am a bird that is not meant to be caged and I am losing it.

So while I was trying to make the minutes pass more quickly today by playing stay at home roommate and swiffering the floor and washing the dishes after I ran a few miles (I call this my trophy wife training program) I had new music playing. And here is what I discovered to share with you:

Soundgarden-- King Animal 

Official release date: Nov. 13, streaming now on iTunes: http://bit.ly/KingAnimaliTunes

It's hard for me to really tell how I feel about an album by just streaming it on iTunes, and my expectations were high because it's freakin' Soundgarden and I want need a new "Black Hole Sun" or "Outshined" or "Spoonman." The entire album is good, but I had to wait until the very last track to find a song that reallllyyyyy impressed me. "Rowing" gives me chills every single time I listen to it. Next Tuesday, King Animal will be mine, if for nothing other than "Rowing."

Stone Sour-- House of Gold and Bones, Part 1


My expectations for this album were medial. I like the majority of the Stone Sour songs that I've heard, but they have never really been a band that I've put effort into hearing past what was on the radio. I saw them at Rupp a while back with Avenged Sevenfold and loved their live show (which didn't surprise me because it's mother f'ing Corey Taylor, what do you expect?!). Last week they had their cd release show for House of Gold and Bones, Part 1 in their hometown of Des Moines literally right across the street from where I was with Fifth on the Floor and I was curios to listen to what so many people seemed to be going crazy about. 

I would go so far as to say that this is one of my favorite new albums of 2012. It is heavy as hell, but balanced with enough of actual singing from Taylor (the reason I am a fan of Stone Sour but not Slipknot). It is serious good music. My top three picks from the album: 

Stone Sour-- "Rumor of Skin"

Stone Sour--"Tired"

Stone Sour--"Taciturn"

This is my favorite song from the album, and this acoustic version makes me like it even more.

 
Deftones-- Koi No Yokan

The Deftones are also streaming their new album Koi No Yokan on Revolver's website. It's available Nov. 13, but my suggestions for you to stream: "Entombed." And here's the lyric video already out for "Tempest."

Deftones-- "Tempest"

 
.......And a few other suggested songs, that either I have been into lately or that my "the state of rock music today is so sad" wannabe-hipster friend suggested. Enjoy!

The Airborne Toxic Event-- "Sometime Around Midnight" 

I feel like this song would be perfect in the soundtrack for my life at some epic moment. 

Dawes-- "If I Wanted Someone" 

This has been stuck in my head for a couple of weeks now. I thought it was an older song until I looked it up and saw that it was actually Dawes and just came out last year. The 'when' isn't what matters at all, though- all that I care about is how damn good it is. 

Civil Wars-- "Barton Hollow"

And finally this one, because even though they canceled the remaining dates of their current tour, I hope hope hope they stay together to make more music like this.