some people get the urge to buy clothes, or cars, or electronics, movies, shoes, etc. when i get the urge to shop, it is almost always for music and the urge came upon me yesterday. after finishing with a party function yesterday afternoon, i ventured to borders to pick out some great new cds to take home with me.

granted, i didn’t actually end up getting anything i had on my list when i went in, but the outing was nonetheless successful. after some deliberation, i picked out four albums:

boxer, by the national
big whiskey and the googrux king, by dave matthews band
funeral, by arcade fire
every second counts, by the plain white t’s

so far, i’m pretty excited about all of them, except maybe for the plain white t’s album. admittedly, i haven’t spent really any time listening to the album, absorbing it. processing it. boxer is awesome, though. i can tell already. i have alligator by them, which is also a great album, but i’m pretty sure boxer is going to be even better. i wonder which was released first….? well, according to amazon.com, alligator was released a year earlier. its seems to show, to me anyway, a good follow up. i still need to spend a lot more time listening to it, but boxer seems to have a softer tone than its predecessor. i’m quite looking forward to the hours i’ll spend with boxer.

funeral i had heard previously; i already had a number of the songs on the album, but thought it was time to buy the actual cd. it is good and i know it will make an excellent addition to the collection.

finally, big whiskey and the googrux king. it is the first album from dave matthews in several years. i’ve spent the most time, so far, listening to this one. admittedly, i’m a bit disappointed. there are hints of the old DMB within the album, but it nonetheless seems to be missing that little ‘something’ that made the first few DMB albums (remember two things, crash, under the table and dreaming) so fantastic. i have found (so far) at least one jewel on the album: baby blue. it sounds like the old DMB i know and love. the vocals and guitar rifts are simple, melodic, heartfelt. fantastic. if the rest of the album turns out to be a mediocre disappointment, this song alone will make the purchase worth while (i’ve been listening to it on repeat for hours now, i love the guitar on this one).

hurrah for new music!!