| 5.0 classic |
| Elliott Smith Either/Or |
| Elliott Smith Elliott Smith |
| Eminem The Marshall Mathers LP |
| Empire! Empire! (I Was a Lonely Estate) What It Takes to Move Forward |
| Fucked Up David Comes to Life |
| This album has more going on than most discogs. Just an absolute song-writing masterpiece. Cohesive, thrilling, butt-kicking, genre-surpassing, best album of the first half of 2011. |
| Janelle Monae The ArchAndroid |
An impressive display of Monae's incredible music ability. With each track comes a new style, and yet the album is cohesive and smooth, if a bit long. She impresses throughout with her skill, passion, and the trippy story she has created.
With this album, Monae has seized the title of queen of pop. Forget about Lady Gaga and any other lesser artist; Janelle Monae is the most talented artist in pop. She has crafted the best pop album of 2010, and if she keeps her head in the right place she will become one of the best artists we have ever seen. |
| Julia Holter Ekstasis |
| mewithoutYou Catch For Us the Foxes |
| mewithoutYou Brother, Sister |
| Modest Mouse The Moon & Antarctica |
| There is no way for me to completely capture my feelings for this album, for the personal meaning it has with me is immeasurable. While The Lonesome Crowded West may be somehow better, this more melodic turn has created an even stronger, deeper emotional attachment. This is a true masterpiece. This is true beauty. |
| Modest Mouse The Lonesome Crowded West |
| Propagandhi Today's Empires, Tomorrow's Ashes |
| Propagandhi Supporting Caste |
| Refused The Shape Of Punk To Come |
| Sparklehorse It's a Wonderful Life |
| I miss Mark so much. The music of Sparklehorse is all beautiful. |
| Titus Andronicus The Monitor |
| 4.5 superb |
| Akron/Family S/T II: The Cosmic Birth and Journey of Shinju TNT |
| Araabmuzik Electronic Dream |
| Atmosphere God Loves Ugly |
| Atmosphere When Life Gives You Lemons... |
| Beau Navire Hours |
| City of Caterpillar City of Caterpillar |
| Cursive The Ugly Organ |
| Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse Dark Night of the Soul |
| Elliott Smith XO |
| Frodus And We Washed Our Weapons In The Sea |
| Frodus Soundlab 1 |
| Fucked Up The Chemistry of Common Life |
| Fucked Up Year of the Ox |
| Two songs, twenty four minutes, Zola Jesus, saxophone... a clusterfuck of excellence. |
| Janelle Monae Metropolis: The Chase Suite |
| La Dispute Somewhere at the Bottom of the River Between Vega and Altair |
| Le Pre Ou Je Suis Mort Le Pre Ou Je Suis Mort |
| Manchester Orchestra Mean Everything to Nothing |
| Maserati Pyramid of the Sun |
Pyramid of the Sun is not just a dedication to late drummer Jerry Fuchs. It is a monument, a monolith, an absolute monster of an album. Painstakingly perfected over the last year, it spans psychedelic rock, post-rock, space-rock, trance, and many other genres in creating an almost flawless album with wide appeal.
Fuchs final recordings behind the kit are absolutely spot-on, driving an album that is a non-stop masterpiece; an instrumental album that is succinct, yet enthralling. It is impossible to pick out a single standout track, as the passion and skill encompassed in one is equally as present in the next. From the sludgy "Ruins" to the never-ending memento "Bye M'Friend, Goodbye," the quality never slips. This is one of the best albums of 2010. |
| Menomena Mines |
| mewithoutYou A to B: Life |
| Modest Mouse Building Nothing Out of Something |
| Modest Mouse This Is a Long Drive for Someone with Nothing to Think About |
| Mugstar Lime |
| Mugstar ...Sun, Broken... |
| Nas Illmatic |
| OFF! First Four EPs |
| Pinback Summer in Abaddon |
| Portrait Discography |
| Propagandhi Potemkin City Limits |
| Propagandhi Less Talk, More Rock |
| Sed Non Satiata Sed Non Satiata |
| Shabazz Palaces Black Up |
| Sleigh Bells Treats |
| Slint Spiderland |
| Sparklehorse Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot |
| Sparklehorse Good Morning Spider |
| Sparklehorse Dreamt for Light Years in the Belly of a Mountain |
| Spokes Everyone I Ever Met |
| Spoon Kill the Moonlight |
| System of a Down System of a Down |
| System of a Down Toxicity |
| Ten Grand The Comprehensive List |
| The Dear Hunter Act III: Life and Death |
| The Dillinger Escape Plan Calculating Infinity |
| The Mountain Goats The Sunset Tree |
| The National Boxer |
| The National High Violet |
| The Notorious B.I.G. Ready to Die |
| The Number Twelve Looks Like You Mongrel |
| The Number Twelve Looks Like You Worse Than Alone |
| These Arms Are Snakes Easter |
| Thrice Vheissu |
| Thrice The Alchemy Index Vols. I & II |
| Thursday Full Collapse |
| True Widow As High As The Highest Heavens And From The Center |
| tUnE-yArDs w h o k i l l |
| TV on the Radio Dear Science |
| TV on the Radio Nine Types of Light |
| Youth Lagoon The Year of Hibernation |
| 3.0 good |
| ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead Tao of the Dead |
| Atmosphere The Family Sign |
| B.o.B The Adventures of Bobby Ray |
| Bright Eyes The People's Key |
| Ceremony (USA-CA) Zoo |
| Danielson Best of Gloucester County |
| Drop Dead, Gorgeous Worse Than A Fairy Tale |
| Duck Duck Goose Noise, Noise and More Noise |
| Eminem The Eminem Show |
| Every Time I Die Gutter Phenomenon |
| Fucked Up Litany |
| Heaven In Her Arms Paraselene |
| Interpol Interpol |
| Killing The Dream Lucky Me |
| M.I.A. Maya |
| Modest Mouse Sad Sappy Sucker |
| Modest Mouse We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank |
While Good News did an excellent job of combining the new Modest Mouse accessibilty with the old Modest Mouse grate and charm, We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank is too much accessibility and not enough wit and charm.
The album has most of the things that should make it work, but they don't work like they used to. The craziness of the music and the vocals falls flat rather than impressing more than ever before, and some songs just have little value at all (We've Got Everything, Fire It Up).
Fortunately, Modest Mouse is too talented to mess things up too much. Parting of the Sensory succeeds where Spitting Venom fails, with length and emotion that completely enrapture the listener. March to the Sea and Little Motel also provide a good amount of redeeming value.
Overall, the album is much more hit-or-miss than any previous full lenght, and very disappointing coming from a band of Modest Mouse's pedigree. Most fans will enjoy some of the songs on this album, but hopefully we will see another style change in the next album, and this time for the better. |
| Modest Mouse No One's First, and You're Next |
| Okkervil River I Am Very Far |
| Serj Tankian Elect the Dead |
| System of a Down Mezmerize |
| System of a Down Hypnotize |
| Take One Car When The Ceiling Meets The Floor |
| The 1900's Return of the Century |
| The Number Twelve Looks Like You Here at the End of All Things |
| Thousands The Sound of Everything |
| Thursday Waiting |
