Band of the Month: The National

"I used to be carried in the arms of cheerleaders... I'm the new blue blood, I'm the great white hope. I won't fuck us over. I'm Mr. November!"

It seems like every month I have a band that I can just not stop listening too. I will listen to them at work, in my car, on the eliptical and doing chores. When I'm not listening to them, I'm singing some of my favorite passages, like the one above, from the band off key. This month's Big Sexy Band of the Month is The National.

The National have been around for several years. They were critically acclaimed and when their latest release came out a couple years ago, I gave it a cursory listen and then dismissed it. But the more you listen to them, the more they etch into your soul. Matt Berninger sings with a very soulful baritone, that is not immediately appreciable. However, he is a strong poet. The meloncholy yet catchy rhythms of their songs highlight the emotions in the songs. I am a big sucker for excellent lyrics and it seems like every song has a line or two that lands somewhere between cool and brilliant.

Check them out!

Previous Big Sexy Bands of the Month...

January - Kings of Leon
February - Lifter Puller
March - Radiohead
April - Kings of Leon
May - Green Day

CD Review: Green Day - 21st Century Breakdown

I admit it. I was apprehensive about the release of the new Green Day album. I have loved them for so many years... There was a good long stretch where they disappeared from my musical radar. They fell into the cracks of so many excellent bands of the 90's that I wished would just stop making new music and let me remember them for who they were. Then Green Day knocked my socks off. American Idiot won the Big Sexy award for album of the year two straight years! Some may say that's impossible. Mrs. Sexy says it cheapens the integrity of the BS Awards. But I say "Nay!" It was my favorite and most listed to album for that long of a span.

Green Day took a while to put together 21st Century Breakdown. How could they follow the powerful and wonderfully constructed album that was American Idiot? Well, I don't know how they can do it or I'd be rockin' a Fender right now. What I do know is they did. Like AI, 21st Century is a flowing album that is better than the sum of it's parts. However, the album in not just American Idiot 2. I can't quite follow the story lines as I will be able to after the 50th time I listen to it. That's why this album is a lock for BS Album of 2009. For now, I am still emotionally manipulated by the music. I can't imagine how powerful it would be if I was a disenchanted 17 year old boy.

This album helps me bust it on the eliptical, mow lawns, go on a long bike ride or just rock out in Olive the Highlander. It's angry, it's remorseful, it's celebratory, it's defiant, but most of all it is a great rock album. I have my tickets purchased for their concert that promises to be most excellent. Check out that review in 3 months.

5 Leather spike bracelets (out of 5) held high just below my fist.