The beginning and first review

So this is my very first post in what will be a daily and, I hope, an enjoyable read about all things music and whatever else I feel like riffing on. For someone to start a blog strictly about music there are a couple of things that can be taken for granted. For starters, yes, I am every much the music obsessive as you might think. My most favorite possession is my vinyl record player. My collection is consistently growing thanks to a local record shop that has a terrific selection of used LP's. I also am conflicted about the website pitchfork.com. As much as I hate reading the reviews and their idiotic system of rating albums, seriously who gives out tenths of points? I find myself looking at the news they post everyday. It's like their an ex that you don't want to see but you know they hang out in the same places, deep down you realize their cooler than you, and you have no other choice but to see them. (More on my feelings about pitchfork to come later on).

There was a time where I thought I knew everything about music and I felt like my tastes in music were the only thing that mattered. I know, I know that sounds a lot like pitchfork. It also was my early twenties and it was a weird time. After a few years of this elitist and know-it-all attitude I discovered to my great dismay that it was harder and harder to find music to listen to and enjoy. You may have had the same feeling but on a smaller scale. Have you ever found that you have been walking around a record store for hours and can't stop until you find something to buy? This is what it was like except all the time. So I made the decision to stop looking for reason

s to dismiss certain music and songs and rather find reasons to enjoy the music. This change of attitude was a revelation. No, I didn't become a top 40, clear channel loving brainless music fan. Instead I found a way to enjoy music 0n a deeper and more personal level. Why? I realized later that what I was trying to find in any song was a way I could relate to it on any personal level. Did this always work? Absolutely not. I still have strong opinions and a lot of dislikes in contemporary music but, my music collection grew and my appreciation of music that didn't fit into my tiny idea of good music was expanded.

Through this process of expanding my musical tastes I was able to find the best podcast I've heard. Sound Opinions. Please if you're a music fan go to soundopinions.org and listen for free to two of the most respected musical critics have a fun and thought provoking discussion on music, music news, reviews, and interviews with some of the most important people of music today. The one thing I love about Jim Derogatis and Greg Kot is their childlike enthusiasm for music they love today. In particular was their rule for end of year best of lists. Jim and Greg always say that this is a chance for them to shine the light on the albums they were most excited about and were eager for people to hear. As someone who was used to the pitchfork way, seriously who gives honorable mentions to their end of year best of lists anyway, this was a revelation. I was so excited to find professional people who shared the same excitement and joy for music as I did. I've been listening to anything I can get my hands on ever since.

So with that introduction here is my first review...

Youth Lagoon - The Year of Hibernation

Release Date: September 27th, 2011

Trevor Powers, a 22 year-old, multi-instrumentalist from Boise, Idaho is already on par with the likes of The National and Arcade Fire for the ability of writing an epic. The soft drum kit keeps the steady driving beats, as Powers adds keyboards, layering guitars, and his soft and sensitive voice keeps driving the songs. This could have been an overly earnest, sappy, and horrible attempt at sensitive bedroom rock. But where Youth Lagoon stand out is with the keen ability of how to build a song. Powers knows exactly where that fine line of too much and not quite enough exists. On Posters, the second half of the song is the lifting climax of the song, and instead of dragging that out for another minute or so of the soaring chorus, he knows exactly when to end it. As you listen to this song you instantly want to hear it again to relive the heart wrenching impact of this powerful ballad. This is the secret strength of The Year of Hibernation. Knowing exactly when to let go and when to pull back.

Powers also has the ability to have the reverse effect of a normal epic and turn those outer worldly melodies inside out and attempt to connect with the only one that matters. Himself. This is not to say that he is selfish or egotistical, rather the opposite. The Year of Hibernation comes across as a young man in his early twenties trying to make sense of his childhood and his place in the world. On the centerpiece of the album July, the narrator is reflecting of a hard break-up on the evening of a 4th of July celebration. The last line, "little did I know that real love had not quite yet found me," gently reminds us that childhood is of the moment and it's not tell later to we realize that what we thought we had wasn't completely real. That's a hard lesson to learn and it's one that we all eventually do. This is the type of connection that Powers has crafted all over this dazzling eight song length LP. It's a soft and quiet bedroom record that soars on emotion and powerful melodies about coming to terms with ones youth. Someone once wrote, "great art risks sentimentality without ever achieving it," Youth Lagoon bravely bare their soul and we're the better for it.

The Year of Hibernation - B+

Click here to hear Youth Lagoon's July!