I finally decided to put 311 and all of its ska-rock-whatever jams in my past. 3 concerts and 6 CDs (approx.) later and I am finished with that band. So I sold all of my 311 CDs and some other CDs to Bull Moose Music in Portland yesterday. For 20 or so CDs (forgot the actual number) I managed to get $50 in store credit. This was my lucky day! I haven’t gone on a CD shopping spree in a while so I was happy to buy 4 CDs guilt-free and enjoy them on my Harmon/Kardon stereo in my dorm.

I bought The Cambiata’s self-titled release from this month, Fleet Foxes’ much acclaimed self-titled from last year, Honey Clouds’ Earl Grey Demos and Grizzly Bear’s Friend EP.

I already have the Sun Giant EP from my dad and I downloaded the Fleet Foxes Daytrotter sessions awhile ago, but after listening through their first full-length, I can now understand why Fleet Foxes got so much hype and praise from bloggers and journalists alike in 2008. The reverb in their harmonious vocals are wonderful; they create this angelic feeling from another time, perhaps the medieval times. I’m not too big on medieval music history, but my friend Nick was remarking on the Baroque-style artwork the band used and later today he was noticing similarities between their sound and the album’s cover.

Listening to Deerhunter’s Microcastles right now. Another great album from 2008 that I just discovered. This band also got a lot of hype last year. I don’t understand why the hype reached an obsessive level (for any band as well), but this album does have a great dreamy aesthetic. Listened to Bradford’s Cox’s solo project, Atlas Sound. He has a cover of Grizzly Bear’s “Knife” on their Friend EP, and I like it a lot. You can download a lot of free Atlas Sound mp3s from Bradford’s blog here. I’ll get to those pretty soon.

I listened through the new Cambiata CD once, and to be honest, I wasn’t as impressed as I thought I would be. I thought the song “Hell’s Kitchen” held a lot of promise for the rest of the album, and the other songs haven’t done much for me so far. This isn’t a fair review of the entire album though. I need to give it quite a few more spins before I can say anymore. Who knows? Maybe I’ll fine a few subtle surprises.

In other news…my band, Tony Smokes & The Ladykillers, has finally released their eponynous debut full-length album. It’s available at Strange Maine on the corner of Forest Ave. and Congress St. in Portland for the mere price of $6. We’ve set up a new blog for the band on WordPress. You can get more info about the CD there.

I have some other cool developments going on but I can’t divulge the details right now. Have to wait a little longer.

Have a good day everyone.