The Best $7 You'll Spend This Week

That's right, you heard me. Seven dollars. Well, $6.99 plus a 7% sales tax which comes out to $7.48, but stop it with all the damn semantics. Anyway, before you rudely interrupted me with a rant about tax brackets and income inequality, I was telling you that Courtney Barnett has a new album this week and Doctor McNinja (Or Alex when you're looking for his employee pick box in the store) himself recommends it. It's called Sometimes I Sit and Think and Sometimes I Just Sit, which may describe Doctor McNinja's work ethic a little too well.

"But hey, who the hell is Courtney Barnett anyway?" Well, other than being an overly charming Australian goddess and a person of undetermined age according to wikipedia, Courtney Barnett is what would occur if Lou Reed and Mitch Hedberg had a child that then mated with Patti Smith. And that bizarre love affair produces sloppy guitar blending with clever spiraling lyrics and moods ranging from sarcastic shouting to sentimental shoegazing. She's put out three EPs through her company, Milk! Records. Sometimes I Sit serves as her debut album.

"And why should I care?"  

Did Bjork put out a video like that this week? Nope.

Can Toto's new album turn a mundane house hunt into social commentary about a dilapidated suburb of Melbourne? Didn't think so.

Did Modest Mou–wait never mind, that one did kind of rock. But it is $3 dollars more expensive and it's in Rabbit's pick box so you should definitely pick up Courtney Barnett instead, Indie Australian music is depending on you.

Delaware Synth Crunch

   

 My initial thoughts of this album were, "man they should really clarify on the name." This thought stemmed from the fact that the album cover, with its art on the minimum, makes you think that Mean Lady Love Now was the band's full name. Say the whole thing all at once and you'll get it. While it would be a catchy name the band's actual name is Mean Lady and the album's is Love Now.
     Mean Lady is an Electro-Pop duo out of Delaware and Love Now is their debut album, released under Fat Possum Records. This album is chock full of upbeat little ditties about romances past and maybe even future being sung out to the lofty vocals of Katie Dill--whose voice, along with the catchy crunch of finely tuned beats, is enough to make a teenage boy swoon, but no really.....it's good. As Rabbit put it, it makes me tingly in my toes.
     With the upbeat melodies driving the songs Love Now quickly becomes one giant funfest of songs blending from one to another. The album does this because it's kept simple in the best way possible. By that I mean the lyrics aren't anything seismic that will shake your cerebrum while the instruments in the back lull you into a happy place and then do just enough to change and always keep you interested. One song can sound highly remnant of the last one if you let the music play without any true attention being paid to it, except when they toss in some reggae like vibes. A fine example of its lyrical simplicity and compactness is that Mean Lady fit the lyrics to all the songs inside of the front panel of the CD case.
     These observations could appear to be slightly negative, but these characteristics are really why this is one of my favorite more recent albums. The fun it evokes and simple but lovely song complexions are what make this an album that I would be glad to listen to again and really enjoy listening to now. I give this album 4 discoing shrimp out of 5.