1. We Are Trees’ Boyfriend EP

We Are Trees, made up of members James Nee (guitar, bass, and vocals), Rocky Capizzi (violin), Pearl McReynolds (cello!), and Josiah Schlater (percussion!), are a really cool band that fuse a lo-fi, garage-y sound with folk to create music that’s wonderful for a summer mixtape (in fact I made a mix with their song Sunrise, Sunset on it!).

Their new Boyfriend EP is short, but sweet; Sunrise, Sunset is really catchy and reminds me of a wonderful summer day where you are driving in the car with your friends and nothing seems to matter. (Sorry I’m being uber cheesy… their music is just really beautiful). We Are Trees definitely has a good thing going with the added violin and cello in their music.. Sunrise, Sunset sounds that much more epic with the added instruments, which make it sound almost like a symphony (also the lyrics, “So your heart beat will fall and I will cry until you wake up” really get me).

James Nee’s vocals are very pleasant, and sound a lot like Marcus Mumford of Mumford and Sons; he just has a really strong vocal that works well over the string sections of the music (you can especially notice this on the song Daniel). Besides Sunrise, Sunset, the song Final Round is great because of the drums and the catchy chorus (“Final round, everybody know, oh, oh oh ohs.”) This is definitely a great EP for the late, hazy summer days. Download here and you won’t be sorry! I give it a 8.1/10.

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2. The Crash Engine’s Beautiful Blood

Now, on to the second, very different band: The Crash Engine. Portland natives The Crash Engine (bassist/vocalist Alex Heller and guitarist/vocalist Tom Dawson) have paid their dues by touring with everyone from Gym Class Heroes to Gogol Bordello. Their second album Beautiful Blood will be released later this month, and for me, was a hodgepodge of grunge, pop, and… folk.

I liked more than half of the album: I really liked I Knew A Guy with its hazy guitars that reminded me of Smashing Pumpkins and Silversun Pickups, as well as the emotional and bittersweet Summer Ghosts (which still contained the band’s trademark heavy guitars, but was, to me, a little bit more intimate of a song), as well as Gravedigger, which contained kick-ass drumming, guitar solos, and bass lines. I also really enjoyed Canada which sounded kind of like Bon Iver or M. Ward, and really did not even sound like the same set of guys. However, I felt kind of like the album has a whole was missing something.

I felt very connected to Summer Ghosts but to me, the rest of the tracks didn’t really feel very personal; while the album was entertaining, when I listen to music, I like to feel moved, excited, emotional. And while I felt those emotions in about 2/3 of the album, I still felt like on the other tracks (like Apple Tree and Last Rites) the band was trying to play like their grunge idols and not like themselves. They are still definitely worth checking out and watching in the years to come. I give the album 7.4/10. If you’re interested in listening to the band’s new music, check out more on the Crash Engine here.

—–> The Crash Engine on Facebook and MySpace <—–