Mariam’s still on vacation this week, but she made sure to send me an AOTW pick anyway, just in case. Check out our love for rootsy, melodic, rock n’ roll below!
Mariam:
Jet – Get Born (2003)
I received Jet’s Get Born for my thirteenth birthday. A few days later, I left for Iran, taking a copy of the CD, despite owning the actual CD, with me. There’s a story behind that, but it’s long and involves the entire backstory of my childhood. Regardless of the reasons I took it, the summer heat was stifling, and my grandmother overprotective. Needless to say, I spent a lot of time over the next month cooped up listening to music while writing in my journal. And because of that, Get Born left an impression on me in a weird “oh, hi summer of 2004″ sort of way. I’m not sure what it is about the record that I liked so much. “Are You Gonna Be My Girl” had been all over iPod commercials and the radio in the precious year, and it’s an incredibly catchy song. But the album had 12 other songs, so clearly, there was more to it than just that. My friend really liked “Cold Hard Bitch,” and introduced me to the song after hearing it on the radio, though its title and chorus made me a bit uncomfortable. Maybe it was the odd feeling of being old enough to listen to a band like Jet that captivated me about the Australian group with the catchy mid-tempo classic-sounding rock. I eventually even started to like “Look What You’ve Done” despite finding it too slow and sad for my liking initially. And I always thought it would be funny if “Radio Song” was released as a single (to my knowledge, it wasn’t).
So why am I suggesting Get Born to you now? Well, for one, it’s still just as catchy in that simple “take what’s been done and combine it” sort of way, with aggressive choruses and Beatles-esque tracks. I suppose I enjoy it overall more than I did when I first heard it, and being in Iran, I feel like I owe it to the 2004 version of me to listen to it again. And I’m glad I did.
Evan:
The Gaslight Anthem – American Slang (2010)
I used to think I didn’t like American Slang. For that I blame The ’59 Sound. The Gaslight Anthem’s landmark second album is the very definition of “modern classic,” and I stand guilty as charged of coming into their 2010 follow-up, American Slang, with unreasonable expectations. After lots and lots of time, maybe I was too hard on it. Sure, it’s no ’59 Sound. Hell, it’s no Elsie, the debut album from lead singer Brian Fallon’s side project, The Horrible Crowes. But tunes like “Bring It On,” “Old Haunts,” and “Boxer” have a subtlety that I missed the first ten times around. “The Diamond Church Street Choir” is still my favorite song here, though – the swinging groove, Fallon’s voice… it’s the kind of perfect feeling that brought me to Gaslight in the first place. It’s not their best album, but it’s a more than worthy addition to their discography, and I’m pretty glad that I came around. Check it out. To quote a song NOT on this album, “no retreat, no regrets.” Just listen, because these guys are still one of the best groups around, and if their follow-up is at least this good, then there’s no question in my mind they’re here to reign for a while.
Tags: AOTW
Evan
Mariam
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