Hello again, citizens of Giant Bomb.

In January, I did a music roundup post, and had fun with it, so I want to try and do it every month.  Unluckily, February was rather barren, so I've combined it with March, which was an overload.  A whole bunch of stuff came out this month, and this is only what I personally found…

[first off, you can listen to a samples from all of these albums HERE!]

 Peter Bjorn And John - Gimme Some

This Swedish trio already had a good reputation for having indie pop talent, but it wasn't until their last album that I felt they really proved themselves.  This new album isn't as wacky as Living Thing, but it's just as crazy good catchy.  Just straight up guitar rock partying.

I'm doubt I need to explain Radiohead to anyone here.  If not for its surprise announcement, this is a pretty unremarkable album.  There isn't much of a central motif or flow found in every other release.  It feels just 8 b-sides.  A couple damn good b-sides, but not so much meat as I expect from these guys.

Parts & Labor - Constant Future

This group was on to something by breaking up their typical noise rock with a few power ballads on their last album, Mapmaker.  They took that idea and went way too far with it here.  The songs sound epic at first, but get repetitive and tiring fast.  They don't have as much range with this genre as they did with noise rock.

 Polysics - Oh! No! It's Heavy Polysick!!!

Alright, this is my favorite band, so I may be slightly biased; but this album kicks ass.  They are short one synth player now, and have thrown a robot army of sequencers into the mix to fill the void.  This is their most innovative album in years, and works all three members of the band into the songs in very clever ways.  The whole album is an electric shock, start to finish.  

The Go! Team - Rolling Blackouts

This may be my favorite album of the year so far.  This album sounds like the punk rock episode of Schoolhouse Rock, or a high energy Jackson Five.  It's nothing new for the third album, it's just all done better.  Lots of range.  Every song is unique, positive, and fun.

 Elbow - Build A Rocket Boys!

This is a slow moody band from Manchester.  Not to the liking of most of GB, I'd imagine.  Still, I thought I'd give it a mention because they do what they do really well.  Their singer has an amazing strong voice, and they know how to craft a tune with swells and epic moments without dragging.

Again, a bit biased, because Rick Froberg is one of my idols.  Strong second effort by this garage rock band.  They tightened up their songwriting process.  The songs are sharp and to the point now.  This is just no frills smoky bar rock and roll, which is my favorite kind of music.

 Bit.Trip Flux Soundtrack

The music of these games is a huge reason why I love them so much.  I bought the soundtracks to all six games.  Since this is the finale, the music is longer and more euphoric, with lots of clever medleys of previous songs.  Also, a brand new track by chiptune artist, Bit Shifter.

Ancient Astronauts - Into Bass And Time

I hated Plastic Beach.  Grolliaz just aren't that good anymore.  Ancient Astronauts take their place handily.  Same thing as Gorillaz here.  Damn good beats, and lots of guest performances.  It takes a lot for me to get into a hip-hop album, and I love this, if that means anything.

tsushimamire - GIVING BLOOD

Crazy absolutely bonkers relentless all girl punk trio.  Their usual shtick is to coat their songs with a overload of cute and pop then trap you with an all out noise attack.  This album just guns straight for the noise.  If you like distortion, you'll love this.

The Pains of Being Pure At Heart - Belong

I've only listened to this twice, and am not digging it.  I thought their debut was alright.  It was like No Age, but good!  This on the other hand, makes me feel like I'm listening to a John Hughes film.  It's too coated with sappy teenage love.  A lot of the songs feel hammy and overproduced… I don't know… maybe it's a grower.

Welp, that's all I got.  You guys get anything this month?

I picked up four albums, none of which are brand new, but all are excellent! Not sure if you would like them all since you seem pretty heavily into indie rock, but here is what I got: 
 
Flying Lotus - Cosmogramma  
 
Wow what an incredible album, and one of the most out there / experimental albums I have bought in my life. Very jazzy combination of live and sampled music with a few random electronic sounds thrown in.  
 
Corinne Bailey Rae - The Sea 
 
More rock influenced than I expected. I love her jazzy voice on the recently released Love E.P. but she doesn't quite sound the same here. Some of her vocals seem a bit drowned out by the instruments as well. Still, a great album though.  
 
Esperanza Spalding - Chamber Music Society 
 
Didn't realize that the majority of the songs on the album are quite traditional jazz with no singing. Still, excellent! 
 
Beach House - Teen Dream 
 
Great album that comes with an awful DVD of music of weird / druggy / artsy/ bizzare / stupid / nonsensical music videos for each song.  Each song has a different sound, but all naturally flow together. Reminds me of Radiohead's "In Rainbows" in some ways. 

Seriously, that Radiohead was so disappointing...It makes me really sad. And not in a good way.
 
I just started listening to the Black Keys. They're pretty cool, if a bit samey.

Music? I like this. 
 
I picked up: 
 
Lasers - Lupe Fiasco: Was rather let down with this, I was expecting it to be as good as his past two albums and it was not even close.  
 
Shaolin vs Wutang - Raekwon: Again another let down from a hip hop artist in March, this album just didn't click with me and I loved his previous album. 
 
Angles  - The Strokes: Fully expected to dislike this album, but I ended up enjoy it. Sure the tracks don't really flow together, but they are enjoyable. 
  
Queens of the Stone Age - Queens of the Stone Age: Remastered of their long out of print debut, I like this album a good deal. As old as it is, it still holds up and I think is better than their past two albums. 
 
Scurrilous - Protest the Hero: Probably my most anticipated album of March and it delivered in spades. These guys continue to get better each album. 
 
Just started listening to The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Band of Skulls, Cage the Elephant and Malachai and am enjoying all of them.

• Yellowcard - When You're Through Thinking, Say Yes 
• The Strokes - Angles 
• Avril Lavgine - Goodbye Lullaby 
• Panic! At The Disco - Vices & Virtues  
• Destruction - Day of Reckoning 
• Children of Bodom - Relentless Reckless Forever 

There are 2 new albums and 2 older albums that I've really been listening to a lot recently:
 
The new Rise Against album, "Endgame", which was kind of a let down. It feels like they really half arsed it and just did what they do. Nothing special and nothing they didn't do 2 albums ago. Their best album by far is still "Siren song of the counter culture".
 
The new Funeral For A Friend album which I'm having mixed feelings about. People keep saying they have gone back to what they were good at but this is too upbeat for any of that,  I want it to be like Hours or Casually Dressed and Deep in conversation but it's just not. It's not bad though. Got some memorable tunes and I'm sure I'll be listening to it for a while.
 
Underoath's album "They're only chasing safety" which is pretty good. I've been listening to Thursday (only the good albums) for a while now and Underoath is always on the spotify related artists list, so I gave them a chance and they're a lot like Thursday, but seem to have less of the classic post hardcore abrupt scream/slow contrast than Thursday. It's just scream. 
 
The last thing I've started listening to over the last couple of months is Bring Me The Horizon's last album, mostly just to piss off my flatmates, but it is actually a decent album. "Fuck" is my favorite track, the transition half way through that song is amazing. I've never listened to any deathcore or anything this heavy but I am really into this. The album fizzles out a bit half way through IMO but not to the point where it's unlistenable. 
  
Oh, I almost forgot, I downloaded the Minecraft soundtrack. Because it's amazing.

ooh forgot one more release. 
  
    

i remember seeing Rise Against a few times like ten years ago, when they were opening for bands like Rx Bandits.  Never left an impression on me, but never bugged me either.  Though I was surprised to hear them now referred to as a billboard chart topping band that plays arenas and shit.  I was like "those guys?  really?"

Got a few new things! 
 
The Kills - Blood Pressures: It sounds like No Wow meets Midnight Boom, which isn't a bad thing. I think the album is solid the entire way through and has some pretty catchy songs on it. 
  
Mini Mansions - Mini Mansions: These guys are a little relaxed compared to what I usually listen to, but they have a sound that has me hooked, kind of psychedelic and very mellow. 
 
Band of Skulls - Baby Darling Doll Face Honey: Blue rock that I picked up on a recommendation, is pretty catchy and the whole album is great.

Pharoah Monch came out with a new album. The whole thing is available in one 50-minute video on YouTube. It's pretty good.