Featured Album this Week (4/25/11): “Stories from the Border” by The Reads
I got a nice influx of e-mails this week from bands sending me their music. Unfortunately, most all of it was garbage (which is frequently the case). This week’s album, however, sucked me right in like any great pop/alt-rock album will do. It doesn’t help that I’m a total sap for British alt-rock, either…
The Reads are what I wish Coldplay sounded like. “Stories from the Border” is a bit more thoughtful, interesting, and creative than your average British alt-rock piece. Their website looks like something out of an 8-bit video game, riddled with funny commentary and vague biographies. The songs they have streaming on their website for free are the ones that intrigued me (Broken Backs, Chunky Truffle, Galaxy Egg) and got me asking for more.
Five songs on this twelve-track album are over five minutes long, which is definitely a risky move for this kind of an album in 2011. However, the songs mesh together so well that I don’t really notice it. No one song feels like it drags on or anything like that, the entire album just keeps moving along nicely. “Broken Backs” is a great track and definitely stands out to me as the only true “single” on the album. It sounds both new and nostalgic, which works great for me.
If so inclined, you can purchase “Stories from the Border” on iTunes or Amazon.
