Reviews I May Have Missed - July

Another month, another group of CDs I didn’t write about (but should have!). There’s just so much going on that I find myself writing about the bigger releases and missing out completely on the lesse-known artists. Just because someone isn’t famous, doesn’t mean the music they are making isn’t any less awesome!

So, here are a few reviews of CDs you should hear, but that didn’t get the attention they deserved.

Oh, and this time I’m only going to write one sentence per album. Let’s me squeeze in as many people as I can (funny, your mother says the same thing).

Boys Like Girls – ‘Crazy World EP’

After trashing the lead single, I will say that the other two songs are better, bringing a bit more rock into their poppiest effort yet.

Listen to: “The First Time”

William Beckett – ‘Winds Will Change EP’

The former lead singer of pop-punk band The Academy Is… releases his second EP of the year, four songs that are catchy and different enough from one another to make us excited for a full solo album.

Listen to: everything except “Great Night”

Here’s a fun thing where you can listen to the entire EP, even clicking on the video to skip to other songs.

Jesse Harris – ‘Sub Rosa’

The singer-songwriter is best known for writing Norah Jones’ “Don’t Know Why” (and thus winning the 2003 Grammy for Song of the Year), and Norah steps in to guest on three of the fourteen tracks on this easy-going, mellow, almost elevator music-esque guitar-pop album.

Listen to:  “Rocking Chairs (ft. Norah Jones)”, “I Won’t Wait” (ft. Conor Oberst)”, “Waltz of the Rain”

We The Kings – ‘Sunshine State of Mind’

‘Sunshine State of Mind’ is happier than the sunniest of spring days and shows off just how inoffensive and Disney Radio-friendly the pop-punkers (if you can actually use the word “punk” here) can be.

Listen to: Every song if this is your sort of thing.

Bravestation – ‘Giants and Dreamers’

Phil Collins and Vampire Weekend had a baby, and it was Bravestation’s ‘Giants and Dreamers’ (and then at other times it sounds absolutely nothing like any of that).

Listen to: “Signs of the Civilized”, “Tides of the Summit”, “Western Thrills”