these stories don’t mean anything
when you’ve got no one to tell them to
(or: fare thee well, summer 2008)
posted at 12:33 am by brandon in now hear this
(Editor’s note: I handwrote this post two full weeks ago, back when the topic was considerably more timely. All apologies for the delay.)
Fall has been in full swing for several weeks now, and to here, its slate of new music has been uniformly stellar: the New Kids on the Block have executed one of the most brilliantly maneuvered comebacks in recent pop memory with their startlingly fine (and fun) new record The Block (keep an eye out for this set’s second “Single,” a terrific duet with the white-hot Ne-Yo); led by Caleb Followill’s achingly vulnerable drawl, the Kings of Leon have delivered an intoxicating masterpiece with their superlative fourth album Only By the Night; and top-notch singles from Ray LaMontagne, Brandy, Jon McLaughlin, The Killers (whose latest, the strangely alluring “Human,” is marked by dopey-even-for-them lyrical content — the chorus, swear to Jesus, opens with the line “Are we human / or are we dancer?” — but a brilliant beat that splits the blissful difference betwixt “Somebody Told Me” and “When You Were Young”) and others, which would only indicate that more greatness is imminent.
