New Music Tuesday: Pick of the Week

Perhaps I have been a little over-zealous in my endeavor to review a bunch of albums each week, released every Tuesday. We'll see how this goes in the future, but for this week, I just have a single album recommendation: Ivan & Alyosha's All the Time We Had.

Buy it on iTunes:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/all-the-times-we-had/id580389245

I first heard about Ivan & Alyosha through Noisetrade, back in May of 2011. I downloaded their EP Father's Be Kind and have really liked it. eI&A's sound is folk/alt-country, and their newest album reminds me of an interesting combination of Simon and Garfunkel, Elvis, The Beach Boys, Chicago, and some other classic country-twanger, whose name eludes me at the moment.

I haven't had a chance to really dig into the lyrics. I've focused more on the music and melodies. The album features several gems, in my opinion: "Running for Cover" and "Easy to Love". Even better, these two songs are featured on iTunes and at Starbucks. "RFC" is iTunes' Single of the Week *now* and "ETL" was Starbucks' most recent Pick of the Week. Whoever is doing marketing for these fellows seems to know what he's doing.

So go check it out.

Top 25 Albums of All Time - #8

Relient K - Five Score and Seven Years Ago

I just can't get enough of it. Packaged pop-punk? Yes. But is it well done? Absolutely. Maybe the best. Certainly in the best-in-class category. Lyrically, this stuff packs a serious punch, too. Don't believe me on the lyrics? Listen to the *epic* "Deathbed" and decide for yourself. It's awesome. It's a songwriter's song - a story-song. Love it.

Spotify link here: open.spotify.com/album/2i7lUD7JpgyVd2KhuzMp6O

Buy it on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/five-score-and-seven-years-ago/id215485112

FYI: The album cover image I've used is from the original album release cardboard sleeve. It's fairly rare and unknown, but I prefer it to the "updated" cover.