KRLX Library

Review by Phil

The Streets are easily one of the most polarizing artists out there. I personally believe that Mike Skinner, who produces music under the name The Streets, is brilliant. There are, however, many who would tell you that his music is horrendous; a hodge-podge of obnoxious cockney talking, singing, and rapping all on top of bizarre sound effects, grating samples, and dissonant synth lines. But of course there’s no way to know what side of this debate you’ll be on until you listen to The Streets yourself. Luckily we’ve got two of his albums in the record library, ready and waiting for you to experience them.

First is The Hardest Way to Make an Easy Living, The Streets’ third album. Skinner’s emotions run the gamut from sadness, joy, anger, and compassion, all told with his sharp wit and knack for words (and British slang). As on the first two albums, we are treated to stories about life as a twenty-something in lower-middle class London, but THWTMAEL adds to this Mike’s struggles with his newfound celebrity. Some of The Streets’ funniest and most personal material can be found on this album with “Can’t Con an Honest John”, when Skinner explains how to con someone who is conning you and “All Goes Out the Window” in which Skinner contends with lying and trust in relationships.

Second is The Streets’ most recent album Everything is Borrowed. This album sees a change in The Streets’ sound, as Skinner perfects his pop songwriting form. Because of this it would be easy to say that The Streets have finally sold out and diluted their music, but it’s just as lyrically dense anything before it only in a more accessible guise. I view the album as a resolution and a maturing of Skinner as a songwriter and a person after three albums of drug abuse and selfish immaturity. The title track of the album gives an excellent picture of where Skinner has gone with the album, containing a catchy melody and more romanticized and introspective lyrics.

If these albums haven’t impressed you, then I suggest two things: give them some time and a few listens, Skinner’s music is so idiosyncratic that it can take some time to really appreciate it; and check out his debut Original Pirate Material and his story concept album A Grand Don’t Come for Free, both of which feature the artist at the peak of his abilities. Having done this I hope you’ve found The Streets to be as fun, challenging, and inspiring as I have.

Tracks for your enjoyment:
The Streets - Everything Is Borrowed
The Streets - All Goes Out The Window
The Streets - Can't Con An Honest John...

Review by Karl S.

I discovered Sainthood at the very end of last term, and now it is one of my favorite albums. It was, if you will, love at first listen.

I have always thought of this Canadian sister-duo as "pretty good indie pop", but this album changed my mind for the better. Their semi-desperate but confident vocal styles work together nicely, and there is no song on the album I ever want to skip. The way the songs are crafted is always satisfying: every song has some really nice keyboard parts and creative rhythms; every song has a catchy chorus and a thought-provoking bridge. One thing that sets Tegan and Sara apart from other indie pop duos is that their lyrics are so "excessively accessible". There are no mysterious metaphors; almost all of the words are conversational and refreshingly honest sentiments about love, relationships and the complex kinds of situations they create (e.g. "I know you feel it too / These words get overused"), and are sometimes linguistically clever (e.g. "Unnerved / The nerve! / You're nervous, nervous that I'm right" and "now you know you know it now"). Despite the nature of their lyrics, Tegan and Sara manage to avoid sounding whiney or trite because they have so much fun with the instrumentation.

The album starts with "Arrow", which has a contagious and quirky beat, setting the tone for the album. "On Directing Me" is one of catchiest songs on the whole album. The bridge of "The Cure" gives me chills, and the song in general expresses mixed feelings about being in love really well. "Northshore" is a self-indulgent rock-out anthem, almost as cathartic for the listener as it must be for the Quin sisters to perform; directly following it is "Night Watch", which is a cool-down song with some really interesting electronic bloops that escape from the usual straight-forward rhythm for a moment here and there. The lyrics in "The Ocean" are sad but, like I said before, refreshingly honest, and this makes it one of most musically satisfying songs on the album. "Sentimental Song" has some nice "ooohs" and "soooo's" in the background, and it leads into "Someday", a great ending track that talks about the future and self-confidence (or lack thereof).

So whether you want to vent about relationships, get your head-bob on, or hear a really well-crafted album, this is a really heavenly candidate.

In "Someday," one of the Quin sisters says "Mark my words, I might be something someday". But Sainthood makes it clear that she already is.

Tegan and Sara - The Ocean

Tegan and Sara - Northshore

Tegan and Sara - On Directing

For your convenience, the KRLX record library is open six days per week:

Welcome to the new website of the KRLX record library. This website is the first visible step in KRLX's year-long reinvestment in its record library. We have integrated our album data with Last.fm's to help you explore the music we have in our library, and revamped our database to do a better job of keeping track of what we have in the library.

Later this term, you will be able to listen to the albums in the library through this website. But for now, we hope you find the new interface to be an improvement.

With any website launch as major as this one, there are bound to be some bumps on the road. If you run into any problems, please let us know by emailing newlibrary@krlx.org, even if you think the issue you've found has probably already been reported.