Songs from Yes and No

• Artist: Andy Ditzler
  
• Album: Songs from Yes and No
  
• Year: 2005
  
• Why I picked it up: The cover was a pretty interesting simple drawing of a map, leading me to believe it might be more arty than your typical album.

This is not a music album in the traditional sense. To quote the liner notes, "Yes and No is a multimedia theater work which includes the songs on this album." Ok, so I picked up a soundtrack by mistake. No big deal, right? Wrong. While I'm not making any comment on Yes and No as a theater work, the music itself is simply not tolerable as a stand-alone work. After fifty minutes of listening to Andy Ditzler crone on about what's strange about American culture and economics and such, you'll be itching to put on something else. Don't get me wrong, as far as a musical achievement, it's certainly well-done, with good composition, instrumentation, and even good if too-clear lyrics. The problem is one of cheesiness and lack of context.

Don't get this unless you saw the theater work and liked it. (Based on the album itself, I wouldn't be surprised if that's a null set, but hey, you never know.)

• Standout track: Citizens
  
• MySpace: Andy Ditzler
  
• How much I would've paid: $0
  
• Rating: 1/5

"It's like a bubble"

• Artist: Dinosau
  
• Album: A Little Crime
  
• Year: 2007
  
• Why I picked it up: The album art was really sparse--with merely a picture of the band--but the real draw for me was the band's name. I truly wondered how the band who could't afford the last letter of their name would sound like.

This European (Sweden is my guess from their names) electronica pop band really knows what they're doing, even if they can't finish spelling dinosaur. With a great variety of instruments--the three piece band boasts a wide range of winds and woodwinds, various percussion instruments, guitars and synths, and even rare instruments like the xaphoon (look it up, it's quite cool)--their specific brand of electronic sound is very unique, which is a great positive to all that they offer. The first song has a completely addictive upbeat tune to it, and the other tracks which keep a happy, cheerful feel are just as amazing. The simple, pure lyrics are very well done and the vocalist, Lena Nymark, can certainly sing them as they need to be sung. The only draw back I felt in the album were the slower songs, since they either lacked the full power possible from their repertoire of instruments, or the softer vocals and instruments were overpowered by the strong beats of the songs. This would be a very slight negative, but there are quite a few songs which miss because of this fact. What this equates to is an album of a some very catchy upbeat songs, mixed with a few which will be skipped or forgotten until another upbeat one is reached.

I like a cute girl with an accent.

• Standout track: Pärris
  
• MySpace: Dinosau
  
• How much I would've paid: $5
  
• Rating: 3/5