:: My Divided Soul ::

I picked up three new releases last week, all of which are excellent and highly recommended. The first one is Live’s new release Songs from Black Mountain. This album represents some of Live’s best work to date, and that is saying a lot given how amazing their albums consistently are. Some have been complaining that the band have become too much pop and not enough rock. However, I think they are maturing as band and writing some happy tunes, some of which echo back to the acoustic-drive Mental Jewelry days. While listening to them in my cubicle, I can’t help but sway back and forth to the music. Standout tracks include “The River,” “Show,” “Sofia,” and “Where Do We Go From Here?”.

The next album is Holly Brook’s debut album Like Blood Like Honey. This girl can write some very emotional songs. You have probably already heard her on the song “Where’d You Go” by Fort Minor. I was completely taken by her voice when I first heard that song and was eager to get her album when it came out. The album does not disappoint, offering songs with deep lyrics delivered by a hauntingly beautiful voice. Highlights include “Giving It Up For You,” “Curious,” and “Saturdays.”

The final album concerns me that my music tastes are becoming more accommodating of emo. I used to dislike emo immensely. I still do dislike crappy emo a great deal (which describes about 95% of it). However, my recent acquisition of The All-American Rejects album has now been complemented with AFI’s Decemberunderground. Hardcore AFI fans are up in arms that the band has sold out, mellowed, become too commercial, embraced too much goth and new wave, and generally lowered themselves to the level of other punk/pop/emo bands. Apparently, the band used to be a hardcore punk band or something like that. Before buying this album, I decided to check out some of the older stuff. I was not impressed. However, I could not get their new single, “Miss Murder,” out of my head for three days straight. Originally, I was just going to buy this single on iTunes, but then decided to give the rest of the album a listen. I went out and bought it immediately. Yes, this album does embrace new wave and has some emo tendencies, which scares me to some extent. I generally dislike 80s-new-wave-inspired music and emo, but this album captivates me. The album is a well produced work with very diverse influences. The songs range from emo to new wave to straight-up punk. (hmmm…is that really diversity?) In any event, I’d say AFI’s new album represents some of the best music in this genre. Favorite tracks of mine are “Kill Caustic,” “Summer Shudder,” “Love Like Winter,” and “37mm.”

So those are my music recommendations for you!