New Albums - Vol.2
BY BURAK ŞAHİN (IR/III)
burak_s@ug.bilkent.edu.tr
As I mentioned in last week's issue, 2011 started with lots of good albums and singles. I wanted to add some really good records to that list this week. PJ Harvey and Bright Eyes released their successful albums and The Strokes announced their forthcoming album with a single. Here are the details about them;
PJ Harvey - Let England Shake
41 year-old, British singer PJ Harvey released her 8th studio album this week. Let England Shake was awarded a 10 out of 10 by many reviewers. This album is really one of her masterpieces. There are 12 tracks on it, and the recording was done in an unexpected place: a church. PJ Harvey explained that 
she was influenced by The Doors, The Pogues, and The Velvet Underground in the process of song-writing. Her lyrics included some criticism of UK government and military issues, but generally her message is against war. This album is not overrated and really should be listened to.
Key Songs: "Let England Shake," "Written On the Forehand"
Bright Eyes - The People's Key
Nebraska based indie-folk band has released their new album after 4 years: The People's Key. They released the album today, February 15, which is also vocalist Conor Oberst's birthday. This album shows us the band looked for something new. Oberst plays folk music in his other projects, and it seems that he wanted to change the direction to digital music. There are 10 songs on the album, and its genre can be called synth. I want to indicate that for who remembered Bright Eyes from lyrics such as, "I wanna lover I don't have to love / I wanna girl who's too sad to give a f**k," the band has changed since those days, but I believe that new Bright Eyes' new direction is a good one,
Key Songs: "One For You One For Me," "Shell Games"
The Strokes - "Under Cover of Darkness" (Single)
The Strokes have finally announced that they are back. Since 2006, we were waiting for their new album, and Angles will be released on March 21. The Strokes became a legend when they recorded their debut album, Is This It? Now they say that the new album will be very similar to their first album. They let us to listen to first single from the album, "Under Cover of Darkness," for 30 seconds last week. After that, they announced that the single can be downloaded from their website free for 48 hours, but because of too much traffic the website crashed. I finally listened to entire song and am looking forward to the release date.