James Blake's new album Overgrown

I don't post consistently, but at times I'm a little surprised to realize I neglected to write about something. One of those somethings is musician James Blake's self-titled debut album.

I had gotten into Blake after seeing and clicking on an advertisement for his music video "The Wilhelm Scream" on youtube. I'm a big fan of movies and of sound designer Ben Burtt, so I knew what the Wilhelm scream sound effect was, and the title of the song intrigued me. It might be the only time I've ever clicked on one of those ads on youtube. I didn't even know if I liked the song at first, but it made an impression (maybe that's too weak a word... impact?) on me, and I ended up getting the album. I found it to be really weird, thought provoking, and even confusing, which is strange to me because I've heard so much weird, experimental music. It became one of my favorite albums of the past few years though. The electronic manipulation of more traditional music sounds like piano and voice are really interesting, and a lot of the songs have very strange arrangements and structures. It has influenced me a lot as a musician.

The other day, Blake announced that he's releasing a new album called Overgrown on April 8th. The first single is called "Retrograde", and it's available today. You can watch the music video below. I really like the song and the video, and am excited to hear more.

I heard Beyonce beat Football at the Super Bowl.

I'm not surprised. It looks like she had one hell of a defensive line.

"The Loop Closes" and "How Long?" by How To Destroy Angels

Last month the band How To Destroy Angels released a third music video from their recent EP An Omen. The video was for the song "The Loop Closes".



I like An Omen, but I don't love it. Nothing on it really jumps out at me that much I guess, and it's not as fun to listen to as their first EP. I also really like when EP's are like mini albums, and I'm not sure why, but An Omen doesn't quite feel like one to me. That's just my personal taste though when it comes to EP's. A few of the songs on the EP will be on the band's first full length album, Welcome Oblivion, which will be released on March 5th. I've been hoping I'll like the songs more in the context of the full album.

Although I've been looking forward to Welcome Oblivion, I wouldn't describe it as excitement. That changed yesterday when the band released a new music video, which is for a new song from the album called "How Long?". The video is directed by Shynola.



Besides it just being a really great looking video, I really love the song. In my opinion, it's a lot cooler than anything on the EP, and I love how catchy it is. I'm officially excited for Welcome Oblivion.