Albums of the Week

These are in heavy rotation at my house and in my car:

• Snow Patrol, Eyes Open. I bought this for my wife, but I’m liking it a lot, too. She calls them Coldplay without the whining, but I hear Smashing Pumpkins and Buffalo Springfield, among others.
• Army of Anyone, Army of Anyone. This is the DeLeo brothers of Stone Temple Pilots fame. Some good hooks and nice textures, as you might imagine. There’s plenty of hard-driving material, but also more “moody” stuff than I’d expected — tunes that call to mind Yes, Pink Floyd, and even the Cocteau Twins. Of course, the Beatles and Zeppelin influences remain present. I always enjoy Dean DeLeo’s guitar tones and lead phrasing, but wish his solos were a little further up front in the mix; they sometimes get buried.

Oh, and I’m still digging Neko Case’s Fox Confessor Brings The Flood as well. That is some tasty stuff.

On this day…

• 2006: Beginner’s Mind — I read a book some years ago called Zen Guitar. Written by a gentleman named Philip Toshio Sudo, who I’ve [...]