The Lion The Beast The Beat - Grace Potter & the Nocturnals

It's been a big year for Grace Potter and the Nocturnals.  The red-hot blonde and her band released their fourth studio album, The Lion the Beast the Beat online this week.

They've also been on tour with Kenny Chensey and are continually featured on VH1 as an Artist You Should Know and as a New Artist; Grace wrote a song for the Disney movie "Tangled," and also released a few tracks from Sun Studios that had an infectious and solid Southern flavor.

I was immediately hooked on the energetic, blues-tinged, and danceable songs on this album.  All of the songs seem much more complex, musically and lyrically, than her last eponymous album (which, for the record, I also loved and remains in my current rotation of music).

The title track and first song, The Lion the Beast the Beat serves as an introduction to the album.  The track begins with a powerful solo drumbeat and builds with violins, and of course, Grace.  After she sings "the beat," it's like she pressed the play button - fast-paced guitar riff accompanied by a steady drumbeat and well-placed power chords emulate a rock epic and set up a sound for the rest of the album.

One of my favorite songs on the album is Turntable, a sweetly syncopated groove that deposits a dose of rock and roll energy like it's nobody's business.

Never Go Back, which has its very own music video exclusively featured on VH1 bring a retro sound to undeniably catchy new heights.


Some of my other favorite tracks are The Divide and Lonliest Soul.

If you've "liked" their Facebook page, you can listen to the full album fo' free!  Of course, I'm still buying it the minute it's available on CD format.  It's funny how free music makes you want to buy it, huh?

Trampled by Turtles: Stars and Satellites

I've had a bad case of cabin fever this winter.  I itch to set out on the road with some hiking boots, my acoustic guitar, and a friend or two.  A week of adventure and meditation sounds like a far better idea than taking my upcoming final exams.

These are thoughts of the girl who has been trapped in science labs all semester.

Lucky for me, Stars and Satellites, the new album from the progressive bluegrass group Trampled by Turtles, provides me a brief mental getaway from the drudgery fun that is memorizing dozens of chemical reactions.

But seriously.  Stars and Satellites can whisk you away from the sidewalk and bring you deep into the mountains.  There is an artful blend of a quiet, intimate dynamic and an energetic, orchestral quality to the music, sometimes even in the same track.

The second track on the album, Alone, exemplifies this quality.  The elevation and transformation of sound that the music undergoes in this track is both uplifting and beautiful.

And exquisite, delicate beauty, while not always closely associated with bluegrass genre, is thoroughly present in this album.

Trampled by Turtles is an expert in evocation.  The opening track, Midnight on the Interstate, has a country charm that suggests a starry and cool summer night, while other tracks such as Beautiful, evoke intimate, personal sentiments.

There is also a fair share of energized, bouncy bluegrass tracks that will have you bobbing your head along to the banjo.  Risk, an instrumental, and Sorry, a song that has a nice juxtaposition between sassy lyrics about a muddled and morbid love affair and a fun, bouncy tune.  Other tracks of note are Walt Whitman and Widower's Heart.

Although I am becoming a scientist, listening to this album makes me want to trade in my Bunson Burner for a banjo.

Elizabeth