indie music without an agenda

Angels & Airwaves

Angels & Airwaves second disc, I-Empire, makes the February pick of the month. I’ve had this disc for a few months but it keeps getting better, making me quite confident I will have more than a few walks–and hopefully quite a few rides on my board–smiling along with the hopeful beats of I-Empire.

I’m featuring “Call to Arms,” the first track on their disc–and it’s a really great way to start things off. Fading in with a cool little melody that cuases anticipation, the song picks up a bit on the second round. Finally, the third time through it all comes together and, unexpectedly, Tom DeLonge’s voice comes in with fast paced lyrics that make you stop and listen. You just wouldn’t expect the singing pattern they put together.

The lyrics are hopeful. The whole album is hopeful. It’s inspiring.

Frontman, Tom DeLonge, is most popularly known from the band Blink-182 and Boxcar Racer; but A&A is my favorite project so far. The lyrical content is designed to give hope, and I think it works. Blink-182 gained some clout with people in this generation as they sang about things that pissed them off, and it resonated with people. It’s awesome to see Tom taking that same momentum to a project that offers more positive reinforcement.

And then there’s their website.

Go check it out, it’s freaking awesome. The opening video is one of the few video’s auto-start video’s that I haven’t scrambled to hit mute on–let alone that I’ve actually sat through. It kept my attention, and I really enjoyed it. I personally enjoy it when a band takes themselves seriously and attempts to use art to encourage and celebrate beauty. The only bad thing I will say, is that you have to pay to get into some sections of their site…which is pretty lame considering their first disc went gold and hit #4 on Billboard, so they can’t be doing that bad. Oh well. I’ll ignore that.

The whole disc is worth the purchase, as it has the ability to make a good mood better, or a bad mood good. I can’t listen to it over and over as it can get repetitive; but it’s perfect for what it’s supposed to do.

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