1. Rise
2. Beauty Queen **
3. Let Me Out **
4. Carry On **
5. Find Me An Angel
6. I Am Who I Am
7. Home
8. Bad Dream **
9. Live
10. God By Another Name **
11. Harmonica In F (Interlude) **
12. Time **

**Clear Favorites

The whole album is very mellow, and I could almost class it as an ‘easy-listening’ but it doesn’t quite fit. The songs all feature a slightly slower beat, and there is emphases on strong musical usage. The singing is put almost as a second thought, much like the way that The Strokes perform their music. The music comes before the singing, but they don’t conflict. There is heavy usage of the piano, which stands out as the major player within most of the tracks. The lyrics are well-written and executed, and anyone can find meaning in them. The singing reminds me a lot of Coldplay or Snow Patrol, as they are a little grainy, and full of emotion.

The whole album has a near-sad feel to it, mainly due to contributions from certain tracks (Bad Dream and I Am Who I Am come to mind). As a result I don’t suggest listening to “Beta Male Fairytales” if you’re in a low, unless you feel like throwing yourself further into despair. It’s not even the lyrics that really do it, but the mood of the songs

One problem I have with the album (which is a problem with many albums of a similar nature) is that I can only listen to it once through before I start to get sick of it. This is not a CD that you can leave on repeat in the background, as it will start to feel very repetitive. Every track does start to feel like every other on the CD as you continue to listen to it. It’s definitely an album where favorites will be picked, and the other tracks skipped for the rest if their existence.

Overall, a very calm, almost sad album with heavy piano use and wonderful lyrics. It’s worth a listen to, even if you only come away with three songs that you like. In the end you’ll love those tracks dearly.

7/10

Another helpful tidbit: if you are tired enough, you can actually sleep on a cement floor! I proved this by passing out in our conference room for nearly two hours. I say passed out because it wasn’t sleep in any sense. I actually felt worse when I was roused. Ah well, such is my work-life.

Onto the random paragraphs that summarize my life in the past little while!

I’ve been obsessed with the newest season of Sam & Max by Telltale Games. This season (with the exception of one episode) blows the first season out of the water. I’m not saying that the first season is bad, far from in actuality, but this seasons writing and direction are much tighter than the last season, and I’m rather looking forward to the last installment. I pray that they continue making more seasons.

There’s a new Dentyne commercial out that I’m in love with, and thanks to a little investigation Theresa and I found the band that made the song. Ben’s Brother is the culprit, and after listening to their myspace page, I went and tracked down their 2007 album: “Beta Male Fairytales”. It turns out that though ‘Stuttering’ will be a super hit single, the rest of their music is pretty much top-end awesome. I’ve officially become a fanboy of them and pray that they visit Canada at some point in the future. I’ll make sure to do a review of the album this week. For those looking for a copy of the track (which cannot be downloaded from the bands MySpace page there is another MySpace page that features the download. How long it’ll be up I don’t know so I suggest getting it while it’s ‘hot’.

So a new Panic! At The Disco album came out. Considering how hyped up the first CD was, I’m a little shocked that this went so under the radar. I’ll admit I liked them when I first heard of them (I was visitor 63 on their MySpace way back in the day.. and I still have their original 3 track releases). Then they got huge and over-played. Then they disappeared. I was expecting them to burn hot and then fizzle out after the first album. Then I heard about “Pretty. Odd.” two days before the release date. I got my hands on a copy recently and I’ve gotta say that it’s a drastic departure from their last album. “A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out” was all about being bouncy and energetic and borderline insane. “Fairly Odd” is toned down and dare I say, a more matured sound than before. I don’t know whether I like it or not. I’ll try and review their newest album this week as well.

I was recently recommended an artist called Matt McIntosh on Last.Fm and I have to say that I’m at least a little impressed. Very haunting, toned down, with a weird-hollow voiced sound to it. I’ll try and review this one when I get the chance. Apparently he’s made a lot of music in the past.

Last thing to note, I’ve been getting more into Twitter, though I’m not entirely sure why.

Until next time folks.

So kiss me again
Cause only you can stop this stut-stut-stut-stuttering
Kiss me again
And ease my su-su su-su su-su s-su-s-suffering

Ben’s Brother – Stuttering

Corey signing off