Ceremonials

Currently Listening To: Florence + the Machine - What The Water Gave Me

31st October '11: Florence + the Machine's second album Ceremonials is released!

Sorry but I'm so skipping Kelly's Stronger, reviewing Ceremonials first.




Track Listing
1. Only If For A Night
2. Shake It Out
3. What The Water Gave Me
4. Never Let Me Go
5. Breaking Down
6. Lover To Lover
7. No Light, No Light
8. Seven Devils
9. Heartlines
10. Spectrum
11. All This And Heaven Too
12. Leave My Body

Bonus tracks:
13. Remain Nameless
14. Strangeness And Charm
15. Bedroom Hymns
16. What The Water Gave Me (Demo)
17. Landscape (Demo)
18. Heartlines (Acoustic)
19. Shake It Out (Acoustic)
20. Breaking Down (Acoustic)

Nice album cover, but not as interesting as Mylo Xyloto's cover design. The songs however, sound a lot better than Mylo Xyloto! Love love love her voice, definitely one of the more unique voices in the music industry now.

Ceremonials does not disappoint, Florence Welch has produced a very haunting album indeed, with some very well-crafted songs, but is it better than Lungs/Between Two Lungs? I really can't say that it is, mostly because I find the songs from both albums very ethereal and dramatic, which is something that I'm fond of.

To sum it up, I think she did a great job on her sophomore album, so all hail Florence Welch! *worships*

Overall: Must listen if you love indie-folk music! 9/10
Recommended: Shake It Out, What The Water Gave Me, Never Let Me Go, Spectrum, Leave My Body, Strangeness and Charm, Heartlines (Acoustic version)

Coming up (for real this time): Kelly Clarkson's Stronger

P.S: Oh i forgot - Happy Halloween y'all.

Mylo Xyloto

Currently Listening To: Coldplay - Princess of China

Newly released, Coldplay's 5th studio album Mylo Xyloto.



Track Listing
1. Mylo Xyloto
2. Hurts Like Heaven
3. Paradise
4. Charlie Brown
5. Us Against The World
6. M.M.I.X.
7. Every Teardrop is a Waterfall
8. Major Minus
9. UFO
10. Princess of China
11. Up in Flames
12. A Hopeful Transmission
13. Don't Let It Break Your Heart
14. Up With The Birds

Another cool album cover. The album has 14 tracks but it's only about 44 minutes long, with 3 songs lasting for like, only 30 seconds each. I see they took a leaf out of Linkin Park's odd intermissions from A Thousand Suns O.o

Anyway, who would have thunk it, I was pretty excited for Mylo Xyloto after listening to Paradise. Was really disappointed with their last album, so I had high hopes for this one.

So how do I feel after listening to all the 14 songs? Mixed feelings I guess. Mylo Xyloto is like Coldplay + Keane's synths. Every Teardrop is very cheesy but not too bad after a few listens, while Us Against the World (there's a Westlife song with the same title I believe) is just very tedious. It's the Fix You of this album, so naturally I can't stand the song. Some of the other songs have really strange beats, like Up In Flames, which btw, reminds me of one of Keane's B-sides...

Frankly speaking, I think this album has shades of Perfect Symmetry in it, you know, that sort of 80s synth feel. Only a few songs remind me of the typical Coldplay song, the rest of it is like a mixture of various different bands. It is more X&Y than Viva La Vida, don't know if that's a good direction or not, but I definitely dig Mylo more than Vida.

Overall: 7/10 (FINALLY a Coldplay album that doesn't leave a sour taste in my head)
Recommended: Paradise, Hurts Like Heaven, Major Minus, Princess of China, Don't Let It Break Your Heart.

Coming up: Kelly Clarkson's Stronger.

P.S: Keaneofficial.com is having this really weird contest right now. I'm super excited to see updates about the upcoming Keane album!

Evanescence (2011)

Currently Listening To: Evanescence - Whisper

Wow, their last album was released like, five years ago. I'll have to admit that I was pretty excited when I heard about this album. So glad to see them at the number 1 spot on the Billboard Charts!



01. What You Want
02. Made of Stone
03. The Change
04. My Heart is Broken
05. The Other Side
06. Erase This
07. Lost in Paradise
08. Sick
09. End of the Dream
10. Oceans
11. Never Go Back
12. Swimming Home

Love the album cover, it's so royaldarkness =P I think the songs are pretty solid, still very Evanescence-ish. The only problem is most of the songs sound the same. I guess they could have added a little more variety? Anyway, it's still a decent album so do listen to it if you're an Evanescence fan!

Overall: 8/10
Recommended: My Heart is Broken, Lost in Paradise, Made of Stone, End of the Dream

Waiting impatiently for Florence + the Machine's second album and Coldplay's Mylo Xyloto next. (Finally something for me to write about. Blog revival FTW!)

A to Z Reading Challenge

Currently Listening To: F.T. Island - Hello Hello

Saw this in another blog:

A to Z Reading Challenge

How does this reading challenge work? Choose the option that works best for you...

Authors -- Read alphabetically by author. Commit to 26 books.
Titles -- Read alphabetically by title. Commit to 26 books.
Authors & Titles -- Commit to reading 52 books

Challenge Accepted!

A: Amulet of Samarkand (Bartimaeus trilogy) by Jonathan Stroud - Perfect, I just finished reading that a few days ago. (Completed Oct-15)
B:
C: Children of Hurin by J.R.R. Tolkien (edited by Christopher Tolkien)
D: Drowned Ammet by Diana Wynne Jones (Completed Jan-30-12)
E:
F:
G: Golem's Eye (Bartimaeus trilogy) by Jonathan Stroud (Completed Dec-17)
H: The Harmony Silk Factory by Tash Aw
I:
J:
K:
L:
M: Moonshine by Christina Jones (Completed Dec-24)
N:
O:
P: Ptolemy's Gate (Bartimaeus trilogy) by Jonathan Stroud
Q:
R:
S:
T: Twenties Girl by Sophie Kinsella (Completed Dec-7)
U:
V: Virgin Earth by Phillipa Gregory
W:
X:
Y:
Z: