Average Rating: 3.62 Rating Variance: 0.54 Objectivity Score: 71% (Fairly Balanced)
Sort by: Rating | Release Date | Rating Date | Name2010 Flying Lotus Cosmogramma2.5Jonsi Go3.5Wait What the notorious xx4.5Broken Bells Broken Bells3.5Hot Chip One Life Stand4.0Vampire Weekend Contra3.52009 The xx xx3.52008 Kanye West 808s and Heartbreak1.56) 808's & Heartbreaks: Kanye West Ok so I got around to listening to this and it is awful I find it bewildering that so many reviewers gave it good to decent marks. The only think I can think of is that they were so taken aback by differences between this and his previous work that they felt intimidated enough to give it critical praise ("I don't wanna look like I don't 'get it' so i'll pretend that I do. I mean, if its like, different, then it must be good, right?"). Let me break it down for them. i) The production is NOT groundbreaking! It is well within the limits of what many electronic producers have been doing for a very long time. Just because Kanye just discovered the minimal techno sound doesn't make it trailblazing. A lot of it sounds like Kanye just adapted some Junior Boys and Slam beats, threw in a few soul sounds, and called it a day. It's lazy, unconvincing, and disingenuous ii) For once, 50 Cent was right about something. This does sound like a T-Pain album. Kanye makes the baffling decision to sing rather than rap throughout 90% of the album. Of course the trouble with that is that he can't really sing to save his life. Even the 'ahem' liberal use of Auto Tune can't disguise how below par his singing is. In a sense, it actually makes this worse than a T-Pain album, because at least T-Pain can hold a note. Auto-Tune pitch distortions are ok if they are used sparingly for effect, but throughout the entire album? It doesn't sound 'futuristic' unless your perception of futuristic is Cher circa 1999. It comes as little surprise the the two bearable songs on the album include some rapping by Kanye or Weezy ('Heartless' and 'Tell Everybody That you Know') iii) The lyrics will make you vomit unless you are an adolescent cretin. I'm not lovin you, the way I wanted to What I had to do, had to run from you I'm in love with you, but the vibe is wrong And that haunted me, all the way home So ya never know, never never know Never know enough, til it's over love Til we lose control, system overload Screamin no no no, no no - Love Lockdown Do we really deserve to endure this garbage? We can only hope that Kanye's neurons have been overloaded with post breakup chemicals which have only temporarily rendered his musical ability null and void.Black Milk Tronic4.5I felt strangely embarrassed and stupid after listening to Black Milk's Tronic last week. How was it possible that I could be caught completely unawares by an artist who has quietly managed to make the best Hip Hop album of the year? How is it possible that I had not even heard of him until recently? I'm not a hip hop expert, but this was a terrible lapse....unforgivable! Tronic is everything we want from a Hip Hop album. It boasts fantastic, fist pumping production, thoughtful, well delivered rhymes, and a sense of hunger and earnestness that sadly tends to get lost once artists reach a certain level of stardom. The other reason for my high review is that the album has consistent quality throughout. We are not subjected to pointless skits or vapid 'filler' songs. I get the sense that Black Milk believes in quality control and probably has a fair amount of material that he deemed not worthy for this release. From a production standpoint, I hear echoes of so many producers who must have influenced Black Milk. RZA, DJ Premier, Kanye, DJ Muggs are all easily discernable in the production, but Black Milk has also definitely been listening to UK grime artists (I definitely heard echoes of Dizzee Rascal’s ‘Brand New Day’ on ‘Hell Yeah’), old Jazz and Blues records, and Electro/Minimal, displaying that he has an appetite for music which transcends traditional Hip Hop influences. From a delivery standpoint, Black Milk gets his stylistic cues from Eminem. While he does not yet possess the vocal acrobatics and emotive ability of his Detroit colleague, there is no doubt that Black Milk is more than a producer who raps from time to time. Get this one. Trust.Ryan Adams Cardinology3.0Oasis Dig Out Your Soul3.0The Streets Everything is Borrowed2.0Kings of Leon Only By The Night4.5Metallica Death Magnetic3.5The Game LAX3.0Ida Maria Fortress Round My Heart3.5Nas Untitled4.0The Bug London Zoo3.0Sigur Ros Med Sud i Eyrum vid Spilum Endalaust4.0Flying Lotus Los Angeles3.5Nine Inch Nails The Slip3.0The Roots Rising Down3.0The Black Keys Attack & Release3.5Guilty Simpson Ode to the Ghetto2.0Foals Antidotes3.0Lykke Li Youth Novels3.52007 Lupe Fiasco The Cool3.5Wu-Tang Clan 8 Diagrams3.0Faker Be The Twilight3.0Jay-Z American Gangster3.0Burial Untrue4.5Pinch Underwater Dancehall3.5Saul Williams The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of Niggy Tardust4.0Radiohead In Rainbows4.5Radiohead are truly in fine form with In Rainbows. I had 'All I need' on rotation for ages....love that reverbIan Brown The World is Yours3.0Eddie Vedder Into the Wild4.0M.I.A. Kala3.0The Smashing Pumpkins Zeitgeist2.0Ryan Adams Easy Tiger4.0The White Stripes Icky Thump4.0Silverchair Young Modern2.5Kings of Leon Because Of The Times4.0The Field From Here We Go Sublime3.0Jesse Malin Glitter in the gutter3.5LCD Soundsystem Sound of Silver3.0Arcade Fire Neon Bible2.5Lily Allen Alright, Still3.0The Good, The Bad and The Queen The Good, The Bad & The Queen2.52006 Nas Hip Hop Is Dead3.5Clipse Hell Hath No Fury4.0IMO one of the best Hip Hop releases in 2006 and possibly since. The material is hard edged but diverse enough to be interesting, and the guys definitely have the ability to delve beyond the basic brag and brawl raps that many in the hardcore hip hop scene seem to be unable to transcend. The production is sparse yet well done, props to Pharrell and co. The Game Doctor's Advocate3.5Amy Winehouse Back to Black4.0Lupe Fiasco Food & Liquor3.5Kasabian Empire2.5Junior Boys So This Is Goodbye4.0Citizen Cope Every Waking Moment3.0The Black Keys Magic Potion4.0The Roots Game Theory4.5Silversun Pickups Carnavas3.0Muse Black Holes & Revelations3.0Regina Spektor Begin To Hope3.5Burial Burial3.5Pearl Jam Pearl Jam3.0Gnarls Barkley St. Elsewhere2.5The Streets The Hardest Way To Make An Easy Living2.52005 Blackalicious The Craft3.0Damian Marley Welcome To Jamrock3.5The White Stripes Get Behind Me Satan3.5Faker Addicted Romantic3.0Oasis Don't Believe the Truth3.0Sleater-Kinney The Woods2.5M.I.A. Arular4.0Nine Inch Nails With Teeth3.5The Game The Documentary4.02004 Eminem Encore2.0Kasabian Kasabian3.5Kings of Leon Aha Shake Heartbreak3.0Junior Boys Last Exit4.0Green Day American Idiot4.0Citizen Cope The Clarence Greewood Recordings4.0Bjork Medulla2.5Diplo Florida2.5Sasha Involver4.0The Killers Hot Fuss3.0Zero 7 When It Falls3.5M.I.A. Piracy Funds Terrorism, Vol. 13.0The Streets A Grand Don't Come For Free4.52003 Jay-Z The Black Album4.5Joe Strummer and The Mescaleros Streetcore4.0The Police Every Breath You Take: The Classics4.0Infected Mushroom Converting Vegetarians3.5Radiohead Hail to the Thief3.5The White Stripes Elephant4.0Jesse Malin The Fine Art Of Self Destruction3.52002 Sasha Airdrawndagger4.5Truly a benchmark for progressive EDM. Sasha's ability to mix melody with cathartic peaks and complex yet very danceable beats is second to none. Silverchair Diorama4.5The Streets Original Pirate Material4.0Oasis Heathen Chemistry3.52001 Wu-Tang Clan Iron Flag3.5Nas STILLmatic3.5Oasis Familiar To Millions3.5Radiohead Amnesiac3.0The White Stripes White Blood Cells3.5Ben Harper Live From Mars3.52000 Snoop Dogg Dead Man Walkin'2.5Green Day Warning2.5Radiohead Kid A4.0The Clash The Story of the Clash4.5Eminem The Marshall Mathers LP4.0Rage Against the Machine Renegades4.0Oasis Standing on the Shoulder of Giants4.0Pearl Jam Binaural2.5Jurassic 5 Quality Control3.51999 Nas Nastradamus2.0Nine Inch Nails The Fragile3.0Red Hot Chili Peppers Californication3.5Snoop Dogg No Limit Top Dogg3.0Nas I Am...3.5Eminem The Slim Shady LP4.0Rage Against the Machine The Battle of Los Angeles3.51998 Pearl Jam Live On Two Legs4.5Oasis The Masterplan4.5Manu Chao Clandestino4.0The Smashing Pumpkins Adore4.5Lou Reed Perfect Night: Live In London4.0Public Enemy He Got Game2.5Pearl Jam Yield3.0Sigur Ros Live at the Icelandic Opera House4.01997 Green Day Nimrod2.5Buena Vista Social Club Buena Vista Social Club3.5Oasis Be Here Now4.5Twista Adrenaline Rush2.5Wyclef Jean The Carnival3.0Radiohead OK Computer5.0Wu-Tang Clan Wu-Tang Forever4.01996 Snoop Dogg Tha Doggfather3.5Ghostface Killah Ironman3.5Nirvana From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah3.5Pearl Jam No Code4.5Mobb Deep Hell on Earth4.5Pantera The Great Southern Trendkill3.0Rage Against the Machine Evil Empire4.0DJ Shadow Endtroducing.....4.5Jay-Z Reasonable Doubt4.0Nas It Was Written4.01995 The Smashing Pumpkins Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness4.0Green Day Insomniac3.0Red Hot Chili Peppers One Hot Minute3.0Silverchair Frogstomp4.0Pink Floyd Pulse4.5Oasis (What's the Story) Morning Glory?4.0Mobb Deep The Infamous4.5Radiohead The Bends5.0Brotha Lynch Hung Season of da Siccness3.5Nine Inch Nails Further Down the Spiral (US)3.51994 Pearl Jam Vitalogy4.5Method Man Tical3.0Nirvana MTV Unplugged in New York5.0Oasis Definitely Maybe4.5Nas Illmatic5.0Pink Floyd The Division Bell4.5Pantera Far Beyond Driven3.0Nine Inch Nails The Downward Spiral5.0Aphex Twin Selected Ambient Works Volume II4.5The Notorious B.I.G. Ready to Die5.0Green Day Dookie3.01993 Snoop Dogg Doggystyle5.0Wu-Tang Clan Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)4.5Pearl Jam Vs.4.5Nirvana In Utero3.5The Smashing Pumpkins Siamese Dream5.0About as perfect as an album can be. It's all there. Angst, earnestness, artistic vision, catharsis, melody, ballads, all out rockers, soaring vocals, and on and on. What I really love is how the music mimics the lyrical content. At times its angry, over the top, almost violent. Other times, its quiet, almost sweet, and introspective. Yet throughout it is engaging and melodic. There isn't a dud track on the album and although Corgan was said to have been disappointed with the final production, I think that few albums have been produced as expertly as Butch Vig produced this one. It is and always will be one of my favorites. Radiohead Pablo Honey3.0Tool Undertow4.01992 Nirvana Incesticide3.0Rage Against the Machine Rage Against the Machine4.5R.E.M. Automatic for the People4.0Nine Inch Nails Broken2.5Stone Temple Pilots Core3.5Pantera Vulgar Display of Power3.5Aphex Twin Selected Ambient Works 85-924.51991 Nirvana Nevermind5.0Red Hot Chili Peppers Blood Sugar Sex Magik4.5Pearl Jam Ten4.5The Smashing Pumpkins Gish3.51990 Pantera Cowboys from Hell4.01989 Nine Inch Nails Pretty Hate Machine4.0Nirvana Bleach3.51988 The Beatles Past Masters, Vol. 24.0Muddy Waters Hoochie Coochie Man4.0Public Enemy It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back3.51987 R.E.M. Document3.51984 Dire Straits Alchemy: Dire Straits Live4.51983 The Police Synchronicity4.01979 The Clash London Calling5.0Pink Floyd The Wall5.01976 Creedence Clearwater Revival Chronicle, Vol. 14.51975 Pink Floyd Wish You Were Here4.01971 Pink Floyd Relics3.5Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young 4 Way Street4.01970 The Beatles Let It Be5.01969 Pink Floyd Ummagumma2.5Pink Floyd More2.5The Who Tommy4.01967 The Who The Who Sell Out3.5The Beatles Magical Mystery Tour4.0
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