In which Mrs. Dude eats her words

Disclaimer: This isn't a proper review of either the new Decemberists album(The King is Dead) or the new Bright Eyes album (The People's Key).

I've had pretty clear views on both The Decemberists and Bright Eyes for a while now. Which is to say, I don't really dig on either of them.

I'm a simple girl with simple tastes in music. I like bands who play really good, really fun music. My favorite bands right now are The Hold Steady and Drive-By Truckers. And though both are making awesome music, neither is doing much to reinvent the proverbial rock-n-roll wheel.

I have never liked bands who created music that struck me as both too concept-y and not very well executed. Do something weird with style and I'll give you mad props even if I don't really like you--after all, Kanye West's newest release made my Best of 2010 list.

On first listen, new releases from both The Decemberists and Bright Eyes have really resonated with me. I think the reason that I'm enjoying both of these is that, at their core, they're both really good rock records.

The moral of the story, I think, is that you have to be open to being surprised by music or risk missing really good stuff.