New World Fleet Foxes

Selected: Dvoark's Symphony No. 9 "From the New World" This disc represents my first ever classical music purchase. At the time, in college, it was a completely random action. This piece is one of the most performed works of classical music. Each of the four movements has distinctly memorable themes that will be familiar to most people as they have been used in radio shows, as bumper music on NPR, and have been closely quoted by other composers. I can think of no other work with so many memorable themes. The piece features dynamic swings from soft string work (a little muddy in this performance) to boisterous brass themes which flow in counterpoint to the strings. Having heard this performance so many times over the years it has become my reference point for future comparisons. The first movement has a couple of memorable themes, both soft and loud. The second movement plays principally from the softer strings, while the third and forth movements return to intermittent contrasts of brass and strings. The third movement has a descending brass run that is particularly pronounced here and has become one of my favorites.

Random: I'll have one of these... hold the reverb. While it's nice to see a pop band which features strong vocal harmonies, this disc from Fleet Foxes beats the ears to numbness with unending, surreal, almost comical, reverb. The sparse and creative (mostly acoustic) instrumental parts are completely swamped out by the heavy compression and reverb. The style is a refreshing retro 60-70's pop folk, but by the end of the disc the vocal reverb has made all the tunes indistinct. The vocals sound like they were recorded in a cavernous cathedral which can be nice, but the rest of the instruments don't have that much reverb which results in a comical, artificial sound. I'd love to see these guys in a bar with no PA system.