Music Madness

How chill is too chill? The indie band Real Estate has the answer. Perfect for that playlist as you drive to the beach in your Jeep with your best bud riding shotgun and some honeys in the backseat, their sound is clarity. The dream-like vocals of frontman Martin Courtney combine with pearly guitar melodies and a light, stepping rhythm to create a silky smooth listening experience that’ll lift you up while allowing you to sink into your favorite chair.The band released their first album in 2008, and the fairly underground foursome has found its place as one of my favorite bands of 2014. Their most recent album, “Atlas” (2014), includes a couple of my favorite songs to buckle down and get some work done to. Beginning with the promising “Had to Hear,” before moving to their most popular song, “Talking Backwards,” and then to my favorite, “The Bend,” the entire album is commendable from start to finish. Their sound is, without a doubt, unique; they open with crisp, cleanly strummed chords, and later introduce chugging drums followed by hazy vocals. Courtney’s sedated vocals allow Real Estate’s light instrumentals to cascade over the listener, providing not so much a song as an easy experience. Real Estate won’t be your traditional homework music, but they may just become your favorite. -WillOne of the more high-profile releases as of late has been alt-J’s “This is All Yours,” the group’s second album and a highly anticipated follow-up to their critically-acclaimed debut “An Awesome Wave.” The album follows a much more experimental and esoteric path than their first, which was successful in making the album interesting at times and at othertimes made the album a little bit alienating, at least upon a first listen. The band released three singles for the album—“Hunger of the Pine,” “Left Hand Free” and “Every Other Freckle”—which were fairly well-received and ended up being some of the strongest tracks on the album. Two other standout tracks that were not released as singles are “Nara,” a dark and moody piece with a driving, hip-hop inspired beat and “Warm Foothills,” a laid-back ballad that builds in intensity, incorporating a plucked acoustic guitar and a unique and complex vocal melody that almost borders on yodeling.Experimental hip-hop and electronic producer Steven Ellison AKA Flying Lotus has recently released two singles for his upcoming October 7th release “You’re Dead!,” and both have been nothing short of exceptional. The first one is titled “Never Catch Me,” a fast-paced hip-hop song with a jazzy beat and introspective lyrics by none other than arguably the most prominent and influential rapper of the last two years, Kendrick Lamar. The second is a dreamy and ethereal electronic piece titled “Coronus, the Terminator.” -JeffSticking with his indie roots, Bright Eyes singer Conor Oberst released his sixth and most notable solo album back in May, but “Upside Down Mountain” is sure to have a permanence that extends far beyond the summer of 2014. While Oberst kept to his melancholic and woeful lyrics, the new album represents a token of a truly successful solo career. On the surface, it is far brighter and more pop-centered than any of the artist's solo work of the past, making this album especially accessible. Deeper, however, Oberst pleased his long term fans by sticking to his general folk-introspective theme and producing yet another slew of thought-provoking lyrics.The precocious singer self-released his first album at thirteen and joined and headed Bright Eyes at fifteen, leading him to mainstream, broader success and acclaim in the indie-folk community. Somewhat surprisingly, Oberst has yet to burn out. After nearly twenty years as a prominent musician, he is a reliable source for easy-listening music with a twang of something deeper and truer that keeps fans coming back, decades after first attracting them. Perhaps Oberst put it best himself. In an interview on the new album, he said, "For me, language is a huge part of why I make music... If I can come up with melodies I like that are fused with poetry I’m proud of, then that’s what I bring to the table." -Henrietta