New Music

Rolling Stone had a nice review of a new band's debut album. Whenever they give an album 3.5 stars or more, I hop onto iTunes or YouTube to preview it. Mumford & Sons' Sigh No More got 3.5 and I fell in love with what I heard and promptly downloaded it.

Mumford & Sons are categorized as a folk band, but I'd argue they have an edge to them that doesn't let you pigeon-hole them into that genre. They are four 20-somethings from London, and in their interviews, they look like they're having the time of their lives.

They appeared on The Letterman Show a little while ago, and are starting to sell out their venues. The Middle East in Boston is a smaller-sized club, and I discovered them too late to get tickets to their May 14 show there. Craigslist is loaded with "I need Mumford tickets!" and eBay has one auction to the show for $80 a ticket. Face value is $25. So, I have a feeling they will be booking larger venues as their tour progresses.

Two of the highlights from Sigh No More are below.





In other music news, one of my old obsessions, Nada Surf, is coming to town and Colleen and I are going to take in the Saturday, April 3 show at the Paradise Rock Club in Boston. The Dise, as it's called locally, holds about 800 people, all standing room, and its claim to fame is that U2 played their first U.S. show at The Dise in 1981.

My favorite song from Nada Surf:



These two bands may lead you to believe I'm all about acoustic folksy stuff, but that's not the case. Some of my other favorites: M.I.A, Green Day, Kings of Leon, The Clash, Japandroids, The Kooks, Modest Mouse, among others.

If you didn't click on The Kooks, here is the fun video. Makes me hope so much that my son, Liam, really pursues his love of music. How great would it be to get this kind of reaction just walking down the street?