PJH Studios

Category: Music

Pop, rock, alternative, classical, indie, folk, lo-fi, any thing with a tempo and a beat and some rhythm

  • Mumford & Sons – Sigh No More

    Mumford & Sons Sigh No More paces a contemporary blend of folk, Americana, blue grass and rock across 48 minutes of diverse instrumentation.  Starting slowly with the title track, Sigh No More, the song builds into a foot stomping jam.  The lead vocals seem raw at time, but powerful and emotive with four part harmonies adding coolness to tracks such as The Cave, Winter Winds and Roll Away Your Stone.  Little Lion Man is a rocking, angry song, and Dust Bowl Dance tells a story straight out of Dorthea Lange’s Depression era photos.

    If there’s a comparison, Mumford & Sons could be an edgier Fleet Foxes but with a banjo and darker lyrics.

  • Bob Dylan – Christmas in the Heart

    Christmas In the Heart, by Bob Dylan, is at times reverent (Little Drummer Boy, O’ Come All Ye Faithful, O’ Little Town of Bethlehem), fun (Here Comes Santa Claus) and comical in a lounge act, what the hell kind of way (The Christmas Blues, Must be Santa, Christmas Island). Sure, Christmas in the Heart contains a diverse set of songs and arrangements, but… as a whole comes across as a very skilled granpa playing songs for the grandkids.

  • The Black Keys – Brothers

    Brothers by The Black Keys is a dirty blues rock album. You can hear The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin and Jimi Hendrix coming from two guys. With bass and drums leading the way on what seems like every song, it gets a bit repetitive. There’s enough diversity in the arrangements that you can tell the difference between songs but only after a few listens. The Only One, Ten Cent Pistol and I’m Not the One are stand out tracks.

  • Peter Gabriel – Scratch My Back

    Peter Gabriel’s Scratch My Back continues the trend of cover albums. However, Gabriel covers both his peers and those who may have been inspired by him.

    The album begins softly with David Bowie’s Heroes that builds into an aching crescendo. All the songs have a lush, symphonic, orchestral arrangements–strings, pianos, horns–and often to a repetitive degree. Sometimes this works, in covering the Magnetic Fields’ Book of Love, it becomes a tender ballad despite the odd lyrics. Paul Simon’s The Boy in The Bubble and Arcade Fire’s My Body is a Cage become soulless. He closes with Radiohead’s Street Spirit which goes out in a baritone drone.

    Covering songs is always risky, and there are risks on Scratch My Back. They’re interesting choices, but none will reach the level of Johnny Cash remaking Nine Inch Nails’ Hurt.

  • Sleigh Bells – Treats

    Sleigh Bells, creators of my summer album pick, consists of rip roaring guitars and bass heavy beats intertwined with cooing vocals. Treats spans for a few minutes over a half hour, and on first listen, can be overwhelming. It’s loud. Bone rattling loud. Indie kids in their Prius can go head to head with the dude blasting Eminem in their Impala. After the third listen, you can begin to tell the songs about and discover that they’re catchy. I suppose they could be best described as indie-electronic-noise-pop.

    Tell ‘Em sets the tone for what to expect, and Rachel, Rill Rill and Crown on the Ground provide the most accessible and pleasing stretch to play for your friends.