Sync

Music is one of the most powerful tools created. It helps one speak when words can’t at times. It amplifies the intensity of a scene, it can take you on a personal journey where you feel a million emotions at once, but most importantly, it has the power to unite people. Thousands of random strangers in a room will synchronize for the same reason: the music. No matter what genre or style, music speaks to us in our own sense.

For the inaugural edition of this column, I’ll be focusing on the top three recent album releases that are worth taking a moment out of your daily life to give a listen.

 ODESZA – A Moment Apart (Electronic)

 The Seattle-based duo consisting of Harrison Mills, and Clayton Knight, released their third studio album three years after the release of the highly praised “In Return.” Odesza is back, more vibrant and more mature than ever before. “A Moment Apart” feels like a nostalgic-sounding roller coaster that naturally blends different aspects of other genres together that aren’t normally within the realm of electronic music. Together, these blends don’t sound forced or rushed. Tracks like “Across the Room” with soul-singer Leon Bridges, blend both artist’s respective sounds into a track that deals with heartbreak. “Everything at You’re Feet” with The Charmanas, a Mexican indie-pop group, unexpectedly features storytelling in Spanish. Other tracks, such as the title track “Moment Apart,” and “Late Night,” are instrumental and showcase the duo’s signature uplifting, feel-good sound, that naturally deliver the right vibe.

Foo Fighters – Concrete and Gold (Rock)

For Dave Grohl and Co., they strictly want to make it clear that Rock is not dead. After touring (with Grohl having a broken leg) for their last ambitious album “Sonic Highways,” and mini EP “Saint Cecilia,” the band took a hiatus to focus on solo projects. Many speculated the band may have broken up; this lead the band to make a satirical announcement that that wasn’t the case. The Foo Fighters returned with their ninth album to prove that they haven’t lost their grip as a group.  “Concrete and Gold” sounds a lot heavier than the Foo’s past recent projects, carrying influences from their past-rock predecessors such as Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd, and even recruiting Justin Timberlake and Paul McCartney to make cameos on their project. In the over saturated music market that is currently dominated by Hip-Hop, Pop and Electronic Music, the Foo Fighters are still carrying the torch of Rock, and keeping it alive and well.

LCD Soundsystem – American Dream (Alternative, Electronic)

After a huge farewell concert in Madison Square Garden in 2011 that was later sold as a live album, James Murphy’s LCD Soundsystem was disbanded. Yet, in 2016, they suddenly reunited to become one of the headlining acts at Coachella and every other major music festival in the U.S that same year. Which lead to the question, “Great, they reunited, but where’s the new music?” Six years after they initially broke up, LCD came back, modernized to the sound and as well as the world we are in today. With themes such as struggling, heartbreak, endings and new beginnings being displayed throughout the record, Murphy and Co. try to lyrically capture the nature of the album title, the “American Dream.” James Murphy’s production carries the heart and soul of the album and LCD’s signature sound. The band had never really had a bad album before the breakup, this fourth studio album/comeback carries that streak.