Strange Bird. Really nice 4.5 star review at AMG if you click on the cover below....



I've only heard the three songs on the spinART site but it sounds kind of cool. Along the same lines as the Arcade Fire album, but maybe leaning more toward the older sound of someone like Robert Wyatt, especially on the "Little Wonder" song. Just checked around some and it looks like Stylus even named it album of the week just recently. I guess it's been out for over a year in their native Australia.

i d/l the album before i saw them open up for wilco last month. it is good, but i wouldn't say great (that's just from 2 or 3 spins i gave it a while ago). from what i remember, it felt really long, and didn't keep my interest. they were really great live though, lot of energy, chatty. musically, the reminded me of clem snide maybe. a little twangy pop?

yea its quite good ..

i've been a moderate fan of them from the begining (since they are from here, i.e. melbourne). i think their previous album (sunset studies) edges out this one by a hair. check out the songs "hole in the roof" and "here comes the night"

Sunset Studies is better than Strange Bird, and theyve been around for a while now.

i really liked that record. dug it more than arcade fire really. i think i reviewed it for cmj, but it's all a blur.

it's another discussion entirely, but i honestly am completely missing the arcade fire boat. i thought the record was nice enough, but didn't really make me want to listen again. are they one of those bands where i'll really get it if i see em live?

i'ma go listen to the augie record right now, thanks for the reminder.

anyone read the book?

KPH

also, they sound NOTHING like the arcade fire.
(not all bands in the world sound like the arcade fire, OK? )

the music here (the spreading of the instrumentation and vocals) is really delicate and restrained. i'd say they sound like a cross between nick drake and the decemberists (altho not so annoying like the latter, you know what i am sayin?) and you'd even think they originate from a more serene time in the past...

and the lyrics are poetry, really

(if that's a good thing or a bad thing, you decide)


"the hole in your roof" is still their best track tho. its builds from a delicate nothing to a sweet sweeping climax. lol.

i wish i could find a mp3 of that track somewhere on the web. damn.

Hehehe, whatever you say. But that noisy "Song In The Key Of Chance" available for listening at their label site does sound kind of like the Arcade Fire to me. Sure, not exactly like them, but similar. The other two songs don't sound nearly as much like them, but is the same type of orchestrated pop/rock with what I would call a heavy Kinks influence, thinking mainly Arthur era. In fact, I think Arthur would be a very good touchstone for the songs at the site, but you could toss in some Sgt. Pepper's and maybe some early Bowie. But one thing is for sure, they sound NOTHING like Nick Drake

http://www.spinartrecords.com/media/augie/player.html

Just kidding around some Aimaa, and it does sound like a cool album - thanks for the feedback and I'm gonna have to pick up the real thing.

Just got it yesterday at the silly Tower "sale" that I mentioned in my post about Autolux and I gotta say that I love this album! Only on my second listen plus change but I'm sure it's gonna be in heavy rotation in the coming months. Those songs online can't really do it justice. Way too much scope to capture in two or three streaming songs on a crappy computer sound system. This is strange, far reaching, but instantly engaging pop music. Thanks all for encouraging me to pick it up!

I'm not digging this so much after a few listens. Any new opinions?

Amazon recommended me this album -- those of you who know my taste, would I like it?

Don't really know your taste well enough, but there are 3 songs available on the link in one of my posts above. Just listened to it a few weeks ago and still seems like a very nice CD. Lots of depth in the music and words. That opening "The Vineyard" has always reminded me a little of "Golden Slumbers" from Abbey Road. But when that ornate opener finishes, they launch with a running start right into "This Train Will Be Taking No Passengers" and really set the hook in me. Some of that nice old Split Enz sound along the way, and some Kinks, and a few other familiar signposts, but it all makes for a pretty nice trip. It's kind of a personal album though. Probably not something you can share with many people, even if you really like it. Just pulled it out after reading your post and I'm listening again to it right now, and really liking it. Very classy.