10/22/09 - Refusing to slow down - Relient K - Forget and Not Slow Down

10/26/09 - Bellingham's best - Death Cab for Cutie - Meet Me On The Equinox

11/03/09 - The midlife crisis continues - Weezer - Raditude

11/24/09 - Going back to get back - Julian Casablancas - Phrazes for the Young

12/09/09 - 30,000 more troops won't help this war - 30 Seconds to Mars - This Is War

02/04/10 - Peter Gabriel's "Scratch My Back" - Peter Gabriel - Scratch My Back

02/11/10 - Shout Out Loud's "Work" - Shout Out Louds - Work

02/25/10…

Julian Casablancas
Phrazes for the Young
RCA
2009

Grand Theft Auto III was an awesome video game, complete with an attitude nothing else on the market could mess with. After racking up so many hours playing, it became clear that the game could use a change of scenery. Raunchy Liberty City got old. When Grand Theft Auto: Vice City was released, complete with a 1980’s setting and shiny new weapons and cars, the results were electric. The swagger was back.

You might be able to guess where this is going.

The Strokes were an awesome band. But the New York…

30 Seconds to Mars
This Is War
Virgin/EMI
2009

“War is only a cowardly escape from the problems of peace.”

- Thomas Mann

After the incredible success of 30 Seconds to Mars’ sophomore album, A Beautiful Lie, actor/musician Jared Leto could have easily been at peace. Recognizable actor, millions of records sold — what’s not to like?

Instead, he and his band turn to songs about religion and war. Maybe it’s because 30 Seconds to Mars went through a lengthy, ugly battle with their label (ultimately settling and re-signing). Or maybe what really set them off was that A Beautiful…

1. Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix

The results of the French pop-rockers finally living up to their potential? The best album of the year. 2000’s United was something worth listening to. 2004’s Alphabetical was much improved. 2006’s It’s Never Been Like That was the best Strokes album ever made. Who could’ve guessed Phoenix’s fourth studio album would be a masterpiece?

It kicks off with two easy contenders for song of the year. “Liztomania,” referencing composer and virtuoso pianist Franz Liszt, immediately has the listener hooked. During the bridge, a soft piano bounces in the background as vocalist Thomas…

Relient K
Forget and Not Slow Down
Mono Vs Stereo/Jive
2009

After 2008’s double-EP cleverly titled (sort of) “The Birds and the Bee Sides,” every Relient K fan out there knew it wouldn’t be long until a new full-length album. “Forget and Not Slow Down” arrives following the somewhat Christian rock-pop-punk-whatever group’s most successful two albums. 2004’s “Mmhmm” reached 15 on the charts and went gold while 2007’s “Five Score and Seven Years Ago” reached a surprising number six. As with those two albums, there aren’t any vintage Relient K pop culture songs here. Instead, they release their…

Weezer
Raditude
Geffen
2009

“Here, it’s clear, that I’m not getting better,” sings Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo on “Put Me Back Together,” the best track from the band’s seventh studio album. You have to wonder if Cuomo knew how true that line was when he wrote it. If the “Red Album” was the band in a midlife crisis, then “Raditude” (named by actor Rainn Wilson, go figure) is the sound of a band needing therapy, stat.

Okay, that might sound overly negative. This is the best Weezer album since 2001’s “Green Album.” But it’s far from what fans…

Passion Pit - After getting Ra Ra Riot's single Can You Tell, which featured a remix by Passion Pit, I checked them out and was blown away by their EP Chunk of Change and debut album Manners. It's as if Owl City and MGMT got together and did cocaine (that's a compliment). Every song is spectacular, but the real standouts so far have to be Moth's Wings, The Reeling, and Sleepyhead.

Voxtrot - The modern-day The Smiths if you ask me. Melodies that dance in my head all day with lyrics delivered like Morrissey…

Wed 22 Apr – The Killers
Doors open at six, everyone gets past the less than polite WaMu security. Only then does everyone walk in and find out that the event is not seated (except the very back of the auditorium), which makes one wonder why there was a presale in the first place, and why there are rows and sections listed on the tickets.

The mass of people that stood to watch the performance in front were great all the up until The Killers were about to come out, when older, obnoxious drunk people would try to push their…

1. Fleet Foxes - Mykonos
Simply beautiful and haunting.
2. Jimmy Eat World - Always Be
Really describes how I've felt this month.
3. Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers - Runnin' Down a Dream
Classic.
4. Stereophonics - Just Looking
Getting into them a lot lately.
5. The Killers - Why Do I Keep Counting?
Underrated track from an epic album.
6. The Fray - You Found Me
Great comeback single.
7. Travis - The Humpty Dumpty Love Song
Crept up on me… in a good way.

A song that got me through a rough patch this month… I'm glad you're okay, mom.

I'm Outta Time

Here's a song
It reminds me of when we were young
Looking back at all the things we've done
You gotta keep on, keepin' on
Out to sea, it's the only place
I Honestly
Can get myself some piece of mind
You know it's gettin' hard to fly
If I'm to fall
Would you be there to applaud?
Or would you hide behind them all?
'Cause if I have to go,
In my heart you'll grow
And that's where you belong……