Crystal Castles, (III), November 5th 2012

On their third album, appropriately titled (III), Crystals Castles seem to have simultaneously produced something that is different and the same all in one album. It's as if they have somehow generified their sound, that you can have different productions - but it's still the basically an equivalent output.  All of that despite the fact that the band got all new pedals and instruments for recording this album so they could have an original sound. Really?

That being said, it's a good same-same. I like this album. It creates the typical beautiful, melodic and sometimes cacophonous, all with a cool beat, sound of Crystal Castles. I guess I just haven't been in the mood for it. Next time my heart aches, or I don't want to feel like I am becoming an old lady, I will turn on this epic hipster elctronica album and rage away the pain of heartache and fear of growing old.

For now, I am going to keep listening to Bat For Lashes' new album that I blogged about previously. At least her sound matured, rather than merely morphed by a change in drum pedals.

Silver and Gold by Sufjan Stevens

So you hate Christmas music. Or do you really?

Maybe you are just too cool for a little bit of, yes, cheesy tunes. But Sufjan Stevens isn't. In fact, he takes the classic, albeit cheesy Christmas tunes and makes a hipster twist. Sound like an oxymoron? Sufjan Stevens' five disc album "Silver and Gold" is all over the map. From melancholic to upbeat, from folky to electronic, from cheesy to hipster, there is something for everyone. While many attempts in life to achieve so much may utterly fail at achieving anything at all, this album seems to work out just fine. I believe that anyone could listen to this album, and like it.

Not only does Sufjan make some interesting versions of the world's most well known Christmas songs, sometimes mixing them with other random tracks (such as Joy Division's Love Will Tear Us Apart), but he also has some tracks I am pretty sure are completely original. Songs such as Christmas Unicorn and and Happy Karma Christmas just sound too goofy to come from anyone but this Christmas hipster mix master. Sound like he's trying to hard? Well, these are actually quite good songs.

Search for it on Spotify, download it, buy it on vinyl, I don't care. If you are a typical bah humbugger, I whole heartedly encourage you to check out this album. It just might get you in some sort of semi-hipster-ish Christmas spirit.

Would that really be so bad? I don't think so!