Puscifer - "C" is for (Please insert Sophmoric Genitailia Reference HERE)

If it wasn't enough to be the front man two two popular rock bands he feels the need to have a side project, Puscifer. Maynard James Keenan announced in May 2009 through his Twitter page that there is "new music coming soon from Puscifer". This "new music" was then confirmed to be a new(digital-only) EP due for release in early November 2009. This new EP is substantially different from any other releases from Puscifer. While Puscifer's earlier work was more post-industrial and Puscifer's new EP "C" is for (Please insert Sophomoric Genitalia Reference HERE) puts more emphasis on on the trip-hop aspect with some industrial. The first track of the new EP is a never heard before track Polar Bear, a track a little reminiscent of something by Portishead only with male vocals http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QL7z_q-68o . However Keenan makes this track all his own with his vocals which are the star of the track. With the lyrics about loneliness and isolation it is clear that this track is meant to have a chill to it and it does. Prior to the it's release The Mission was released as a single. The Mission (M is for Milla Mix) is the second track, which is a duet between Keenan and Milla Jovovich who plays Alice in the Resident Evil film series. It is difficult to understand what the lyrics mean, which is a change from the previous track. The next two tracks are live versions of tracks preformed in the Club Nokia from Puscifer's first album "V" Is for Vagina. Being live versions of songs by Maynard James Keenan the two tracks are drastically different from their original form. This is definitely a positive as the first one a reborn version of Momma Sed keeps the mood of the original and taking it lower and a little more depressing(in a good way). The second, Vagina Mine also has duet vocals with Keenan and Juliette Commagere. Potions (Deliverance Mix), the fifth track sounds more like it should be part of an A Perfect Circle EP, but nonetheless and good track which is a song about what seems to be a lost love. "C" is for (Please insert Sophomoric Genitalia Reference HERE)'s final track and one of the best is The Humbling River. Which is has Keenan's silky smooth vocals with some female harmonization, a satisfying way to end which is already a great EP. 

 9.3

Arcade Fire - The Suburbs

Arcade Fire has had their share of acclaim in the past with Meteors 2008 Best International Album award as well as the Juno Awards 2008 Alternative Album of the Year award for Neon Bible. With The Suburbs they humbly up the ante. Released in August 3, The Suburbs topped the U.S. Billboard 200 just eight days later. The album begins with the self-titled track, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAitZuh4ueg and this has to be one of the greatest opening tracks of all time. This just is about as addictive as heroine, and with a track as exceptional as The Suburbs, track two Ready To Go keeps the tempo however less catchy than the self-titled track. With the lyrical content of this album it is obvious what the concept is. According to Win Butler the lead vocalist, the album "is neither a love letter to, nor an indictment of, the suburbs - it's a letter from the suburbs." The third track is not as impressive as the first two nonetheless the fourth track Rococo keeps the album progressing. The problem with this album start to surface with most of the rest of the album, and that problem is that some of the tracks are just sub-par, this really holds the album back. Tracks five and six are a good example, The Suburbs bounces back with Half Light a two part song. Both parts are good with the second half being slightly better. Suburban War, the ninth track starts the second half of this album off a more somber tone and this really puts the second half in perspective. Tracks like Wasted Hours and Deep Blue keep the serious tone but it's not to the second two part song Sprawl does the true definition of this album show itself with the first half being so cold and isolating, while the second half is more up beat. To put this in perspective Sprawl I is the cold of a long night and Sprawl II is the sunrise. Concluding with The Suburbs (continued), an eighty-seven second homage to the opening track adding a little bit of female vocals to the chorus as it fades away.

7.9