Music Recommendations Week 25/07/2005

Acceptance - Phantoms
Their major full-length debut from Columbia Records, Acceptance have come a long way since their signing to indie label, Militia Group. Phantoms is gorgeous pop rock; reminds me of old Something Corporate (the piano riffs have reminiscence to Leaving Through The Window) with one of the best male vocals around. Their single, Different, is on high radio rotation in the US but is probably one of the weaker tracks compared to others in the album. With the catchy, strong opener Take Cover (available for download below), cutting to the beautiful ballad, So Contagious and the more up-beat track, In Too Far (download below); the record starts off strong and finishes off strong. One of my favourite pop records in a long time.
Official Website
Download Track #1: Take Cover (2MB).
Download Track #3: In Too Far (2.1MB).
Download Track #11: Permanent (3.1MB) via PureVolume.


Boys Night Out - Trainwreck
The follow-up to their 2003 release, Make Yourself Sick, Boys Night Out are now a six-piece (which includes new female member, Kara Dupuy on synths and vocals) and their new album, Trainwreck is no more of that "scream-o", one-guitar sound but more of the catchy pop-punk rock approach as can be heard on their new single, Medicating (you can download the single here and check out the video for that song here [Quicktime Video]). It's catchy pop-punk with both male and female vocals and a lot of hand-claps so that all sounds good to me.
Official Website
Download Track #5: Medicating (4.6MB)*.
Download Track #9: Composing (5.1MB)*.
*Via Ferret Records.


The National - Alligator
One of my favourite finds from InSound. When I finally got the album, Alligator, it was 13 strong tracks from their third release from the beautiful ballad, Baby We'll Be Fine, to the single All The Wine (available for download below) and the amazing closer, Mr. November. It's Bowie-esque vocals for Interpol fans.
Official Website
Download Track #9: All The Wine (3.9MB) via InSound.


Feist - Let It Die
Leslie Feist is one of coolest female singers right now. Hailing from Canada, her album, Let It Die, is finally getting noticed and who could ignore the cool sounds and sweet vocals especially with the folky opening tracks, Gatekeeper and the popular single, Mushaboom (even Bright Eyes' Conor Oberst agrees and covers it here via Brooklyn Vegan), and the soulful dance / jazz number, Inside And Out. For more Feist, go check out her awesome official website.
Official Website
Download Track #2: Mushaboom (2.6MB).
Download Track #10: Inside And Out (3MB).