Of course, if the record was all ball-breaking, that’d be one hell of an assault on the ears. Thankfully, Black Joe Lewis knows how to mix things up and tracks like Come to My Party, a rock track with a groove if I’ve ever heard one, keep things interesting. Really, that’s revealing of the diversity of Black Joe Lewis’ influences. One minute, he’s shredding through back-breaking rock ‘n’ roll, and the next, he’s proving he listened to more than his fair share of The Ramones growing up on The Hipster (which I think is better than most of the stuff The Ramones put out).

Arguably, the second half of the album is better than first. Standouts like Make Dat Money and Mammas Queen are worth coming back to again and again. This is 2013 rock music done right.

The post Black Joe Lewis: Electric Slave appeared first on Unsung Sundays.

Avicii does the same thing. I know everybody’s listening to him right now and this is hardly an unknown recommendation, but I actually have something to say about him so too bad. His album is very danceable, but he’s also succeeded in making a dance album that tells an actual story. This isn’t a concept album or anything like that, but songs like Hey Brother and Wake Me Up actually give the listener something to munch on beyond a good beat. Dear Boy delivers on something that’s more traditional without eschewing what makes Avicii an interesting artist. Liar Liar is a great track, but the moneymaker on the record — the one I’m surprised I haven’t heard more people talk about — is Shame On Me. This delivers the same fun the classic Mambo Number Five delivers, but with a more modern vibe. Love it.

The post Avicii: True appeared first on Unsung Sundays.

Every track on this album is great, and I’d love to talk about each one individually, but in the interest of brevity, I want to let you know Man is the single. It’s clever, but not my favourite track on the record. When it comes to favourites, I dare you to listen to Nearly Midnight, Honolulu without your jaw dropping, with these lyrics delivered a cappella:

Hey, little kid that I saw at the bus stop one day. It was nearly midnight in Honolulu. We were waiting for the shuttle to take us to the aeroplane, when your mother said, like I couldn’t hear her, she said: “Get the fuck away from me! Why don’t you ever shut up? Get the fuck away from me!” … They won’t believe you when you say, “My mother, she did not love me.”

I could go on a little longer about this record, but there’s no point. It’s just amazing from start to finish. If you want more, check out City Swan and Where Did I Leave That Fire, but do yourself a favour and listen to the album all the way through. Simply remarkable.

The post Neko Case: The Worse Things Get, The Harder I Fight, The Harder I Fight, The More I Love You appeared first on Unsung Sundays.

The River and Lost Dogfights are also great songs, with Lost Dogfights being particularly beautiful. There’s a choir in the background and a piano that has the same sort of bounce-y vibe Trent Reznor would record for a film soundtrack (actually, it reminds me a lot of piano lines from The Social Network Soundtrack). Despite taking influence from so many different places, one thing The Darcys isn’t short on is identity — and that’s a great thing. Rdio has an exclusive bonus track (they also had an early release), at least in Canada, called Ultra Violet. That track, along with the rest of the album, is worth a listen if you can find it (it’s not available on Youtube). Great stuff.

The post The Darcys: Warring appeared first on Unsung Sundays.

The Barr Brothers have released an album that does all of those things. I can’t explain what their music does to me. It’s tremendously powerful. Beggar In The Morning transfixes me. Old Mythologies captures the same sort of vibe that most of the songs from the Juno soundtrack managed to get. It’s cute, but magical. Give the Devil Back His Heart is just an example of the band showing off: The Barr Brothers can do a lot more than folk. These guys can be pure rock and roll. There’s an element of Zeppelin here, but it gets even stronger in The Devil’s Harp. Now that’s a Zeppelin-inspired rock song. You don’t even have to listen to Zeppelin to recognize it. But if you want to talk about rock music should sound, go no further than Lord, I Just Can’t Keep From Crying. Wow. That’s how you do a rock and roll song. The Barr Brothers are simply phenomenal. This is one of the best undiscovered gems of 2011.

The post The Barr Brothers: The Barr Brothers appeared first on Unsung Sundays.