patrickfannon's Ratings

patrickfannon

User

Soundoffs 152
Album Ratings 907
Objectivity 66%

Last Active 01-03-12 11:04 pm
Joined 12-31-08

Review Comments 892

Average Rating: 3.85
Rating Variance: 0.70
Objectivity Score: 66%
(Fairly Balanced)

Chart.

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2016
Radiohead A Moon Shaped Pool	4.5

2015
Joanna Newsom Divers	5.0
Beach House Depression Cherry	4.0
Wavves and Cloud Nothings No Life For Me	3.5
Jenny Hval Apocalypse, girl	4.0
Girlpool Before the World Was Big	3.5
Tenement Predatory Headlights	4.0
Donnie Trumpet and The Social Experiment Surf	3.5
Sweet John Bloom Weird Prayer	4.0
Hop Along Painted Shut	4.0
Turnover Peripheral Vision	4.0
Currensy Pilot Talk III	3.5
Sufjan Stevens Carrie and Lowell	4.5
Earl Sweatshirt I Don't Like Shit, I Don't Go Outside	3.5
Downfall of Nur Umbras de Barbagia	4.0
Kendrick Lamar To Pimp a Butterfly	5.0
Colleen Green I Want to Grow Up	3.5
Twerps Range Anxiety	4.0
Upbeat, melodic, bright and nice. Very cool record. Nice to hear a jangly, guitar album in 2015. Winter is real on these streets, but the sun still shines.
Aphex Twin Computer Controlled Acoustic Instruments Pt 2	3.5
The Sidekicks Runners in the Nerved World	4.0
Cloakroom Further Out	4.5
Panda Bear Panda Bear Meets the Grim Reaper	3.5

2014
Thom Yorke Tomorrow's Modern Boxes	4.0
Aphex Twin Syro	4.0
Spoon They Want My Soul	4.5
Late Bloomer Things Change	4.0
Musk Ox Woodfall	4.0
The Antlers Familiars	4.5
Cloud Nothings Here and Nowhere Else	4.0
The War On Drugs Lost in the Dream	4.5
Real Estate Atlas	4.5
Sun Kil Moon Benji	4.5

2013
Metome Objet	3.0
Kool A.D. Not O.K.	3.0
Way Through Clapper Is Still	4.0
Your pale arm moves purposefully through the damp, dank air, the meadow singing about you with the strings of lilac and cow-shit lapping up at your nostrils, as you salivate quietly in anticipation of the piping-hot cup of Earl Grey. Sitting upon a low-wall composed of bitter grey stone, you peer out across the dull dawn and make out the shape of a hooded figure moving quickly and eerily against the horizon. Stirred, your heart expands and deflates, whisking blood to your ears. A tear separates from the base of your eyelids and the thud of a guillotine blade lands. "Oh, sweet Mother, I'm coming home to you. Dear, girl," you weep, "I'm coming home, I'm coming home."
The Stranger Watching Dead Empires in Decay	3.5
Yuna Nocturnal	4.5
Lucius Wildewoman	4.0
Tim Hecker Virgins	4.0
Fuzz Fuzz	4.0
Bill Callahan Dream River	4.0
Arctic Monkeys AM	3.5
Willis Earl Beal Nobody Knows	3.5
The Dodos Carrier	4.5
Mark Kozelek and Desertshore Mark Kozelek and Desertshore	3.5
Pure Bathing Culture Moon Tides	3.5
Causa Sui Euporie Tide	4.5
DJ Smokey Kush Alienz	3.0
Surfer Blood Pythons	4.0
While the hooks are slightly less crunchy this time around, the dudes of Surfer Blood have rcertainly not exchanged excitement for quality on their sophomore album, Pythons. rPolished, jaunty, and beautiful, the music on Pythons is well-built and seductive. rCohesion and clarity of vision shine through. Standout tracks include singles "Demon Dance" rand "Weird Shapes," as well as the stunning closer to the non-deluxe version, "Prom Song." rJohn Paul Pitts' vocals have improved, though, for my taste, they are a bit lacking in the runhinged lunacy which gave them such bite and danger on Astro Coast. However, I have ra distinct suspicion that the more mature, refined indie pop sound contained herein will, in rtime, slowly unravel itself to reveal something far grander than I can hear from here. (!) rThis is summer music, through and through, and it's easily one of my favorite records of r2013 thus far. Lie back, let the chill sound of this serpent constrict itself about your rnucleus accumbens, and ride the tasty buzz straight through the dog days.
Dirty Beaches Drifters/Love Is The Devil	4.0
The National Trouble Will Find Me	4.0
Daft Punk Random Access Memories	3.5
Dirty Beaches Hotel	4.0
Vampire Weekend Modern Vampires of the City	4.5
Mark Kozelek & Jimmy Lavalle Perils from the Sea	4.5
Easily the best thing Kozelek has released since April.
Phoenix (FRA) Bankrupt!	3.0
Ghostface Killah Twelve Reasons to Die	4.0
Sulk Graceless	4.0
Kurt Vile Wakin on a Pretty Daze	4.5
James Blake Overgrown	4.0
Mystic 100s Cruise Your Illusion	3.5
The Strokes Comedown Machine	2.5
Wavves Afraid of Heights	3.5
Colleen Green Sock It To Me	3.5
dreamy bedroom grunge soaked in kush // streaming here: http://stereogum.com/1285392/stream-colleen-green-sock-it-to-me-stereogum-premiere/album-stream/
William Tyler Impossible Truth	4.5
Eloquent, charming, warm, and worn-in, like a late afternoon when the sun has just dipped over the apex of the sky and casts burnt-out orange and spectacular lavender all about the trees and bellies of clouds. Tyler's fingers croon with ebulient poise, crafting gently-shaped smoke balloons, enveloping and complete. Stunning in its immediacy and power to comfort.
Justin Timberlake The 20/20 Experience	1.0
BOAT (USA-WA) Pretend to be Brave	3.5
Youth Lagoon Wondrous Bughouse	3.0
The Men New Moon	3.5
Waxahatchee Cerulean Salt	3.5
Atoms for Peace Amok	4.0
Lady Lamb Ripely Pine	4.5
Shugo Tokumaru In Focus?	3.5
Yo La Tengo Fade	4.0

2012
Mean Knowing	3.5
Jincallo Beacons Of Light	4.0
slippery sunshine hazy beats, smooth and mellow, flowing through drops of fog and shimmering / / the sound of calm peering through stoned eyes
OVERWERK After Hours	2.5
Clean, robotic, and violet. Thunderous in electric waves.
From Indian Lakes Able Bodies	3.5
Apollo Brown and Guilty Simpson Dice Game	2.5
Get these beats in the hands of a master lyricist, now.
Crystal Castles Crystal Castles III	4.0
Tom Day Crossroads (EP)	3.5
Andy Stott Luxury Problems	4.0
Each Other Heavily Spaced	3.5
Basement Colourmeinkindness	3.5
Cemeteries The Wilderness	4.0
Godspeed You! Black Emperor 'Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend!	4.5
Coheed and Cambria The Afterman: Ascension	1.5
SELA. W	3.5
Between the Buried and Me The Parallax II: Future Sequence	4.5
Flying Lotus Until the Quiet Comes	4.5
Dinosaur Jr. I Bet on Sky	4.0
Not nearly as good as 2009's Farm, but still fantastic nonetheless. Jay, Lou, and Murph seem to have relaxed a bit on I Bet on Sky, with far less riffing than your average Dinosaur Jr. album and some surprisingly down-tempo tracks. I was hoping for a more rocking, energetic album, but it's hard to deny that Dinosaur Jr. are still one of the best indie bands around and they've been at it on and off for nearly 30 years.
The xx Coexist	2.5
The Avett Brothers The Carpenter	3.0
I'm torn with this album. It's pretty. It's weak. I fell in love with The Avetts on Emotionalism and I've had to compare every subsequent album with that one, which is rather unfair, but unfortunately true. So, listening to this album, I feel soothed and comforted and I think most of the melodies are really nice, but the whole thing lacks the drama that made Emotionalism so great. The songs here are rather bouyant and charming, and that's not really something I should fault them for, but after one listen, I thought to myself, "That was nice, but it's sort of hollow." None of the songs, save for "February Seven," really impacted me emotioanlly, and that's telling for a band that created an album just four years ago on which every song resonated with me in some way. Perhaps I'll change my mind in time, but as it stands, this is a very forgettable, if pleasant, folk-rock record from the Bros. Avett.
Mount Eerie Ocean Roar	3.5
Minus the Bear Infinity Overhead	2.5
Four Tet Pink	4.0
Jincallo The First, The Last	4.0
the path to enlightenment travels through the center of your mind, the depths of which you can scarecely conceive. sometimes, yesterday is the future, you just can't see it yet.
Fang Island Major	4.0
Om Advaitic Songs	4.0
The Antlers Undersea	4.0
Frank Ocean channel ORANGE	4.0
Aesop Rock Skelethon	4.0
Dirty Projectors Swing Lo Magellan	4.0
Ty Segall Band Slaughterhouse	4.0
Fiona Apple The Idler Wheel...	4.5
Onra Deep in the Night	3.0
The Tallest Man on Earth There's No Leaving Now	4.5
Ne Obliviscaris Portal of I	3.0
Hot Chip In Our Heads	4.5
Japandroids Celebration Rock	4.0
Swearin' Swearin'	4.0
Sun Kil Moon Among the Leaves	4.0
alt-J An Awesome Wave	4.0
There's an intangible quality to this record, a sinewy, distant feeling, that attracts me to it. A groovy, at times shimmeringly beautiful and radiant, torrent of music, An Awesome Wave is really just that. Harmonies are ghostly and creepy in the best way, drum beats are utilized in service of moving bodies, and the synth-coated texture assures that the whole affair is thoroughly modern. A brilliant debut album, which I suspect may mark the beginning of a rather unique career for this young, aloof band. Listen to it loud and make sure you can feel the bass in your chest.
Sigur Ros Valtari	4.5
Gimu A Silent Stroll On Sombre St	3.5
Mount Eerie Clear Moon	4.5
Phil hits an elegant, beautiful stride on Clear Moon. The album is graceful and sleek, yet still wonderfully fuzzy and hazed out. After going into the wilderness at night on Black Wooden Ceiling Opening and Wind's Poem, the sun seems to be peeking over the horizon, as Dawn approaches. This record feels like a long, lonesome, wintry summer dusk in Alaska; all delirious and flowing, at once pristine as spring water and velvety as rich, humid air. Absolutely gorgeous from start to finish, and surely one of the most unique, enjoyable releases of the year.
Beach House Bloom	4.0
Death Grips The Money Store	1.0
James Blackshaw Love is the Plan, the Plan is Death	4.5
Maps and Atlases Beware and Be Grateful	4.0
Lush, rich, textured, and simply overflowing with beautiful noises from every which direction, Beware and Be Grateful sounds like Maps & Atlases finally breaking free from any constraints of identity and simply allowing themselves the space to let their songs breathe. More mature and restrained than Perch Patchwork in many ways, the record still finds a measure of wildness, expanding horizontally instead of reaching for those vertical peaks of dizzying math riffs. In many ways, this record reminds me of Death Cab for Cutie's Transatlanticism, not least of which is the astounding quality and coherence as an album, flowing serenely, intuitively, and gorgeously through to the bittersweet end. Beware and Be Grateful is not an album to be missed in 2012.
Willis Earl Beal Acousmatic Sorcery	3.0
Daughn Gibson All Hell	2.0
This is about as authentic as a pair of cowboy boots from the clearance rack at your local Wal-Mart and just about as appealing. Contrived, phony, and gimmicky, this record reeks of tounge-in-cheek, winking irony, and I HATE that.
Shakey Graves Roll The Bones	3.5
Chromatics Kill for Love	4.5
Fuck me slowly in the technicolor nighttime. This is the music of reckless abandon and the most beautiful, spiritual release. Dive in and get lost in the glamorous, hazy glory of youth and fleeting significance.
The Shins Port of Morrow	2.5
Say Anything Anarchy, My Dear	2.0
Anarchy, My Dear, on which Max Bemis topples headlong into that which has threatened him, and kept him so interesting, for so long: insipidness. Save for "So Good," "Sheep," and "Peace Out," the latter of which represents one of the best songs in Bemis' entire catalogue, the record meanders around, bleating and baying wildly, awash in tinny, shallow production and heartless, overbearing, uninspired lyrics. Say Anything's fans deserve better. And, more importantly, Max Bemis deserves better from himself.
Hands Like Houses Ground Dweller	3.0
Yellow Ostrich Strange Land	4.0
The Men Open Your Heart	4.5
Perfume Genius Put Your Back N 2 It	3.5
Cursive I Am Gemini	3.5
Sleigh Bells Reign of Terror	3.5
Farewell Republic Burn the Boats	4.0
Burial Kindred	3.5
John Talabot Fin	4.0
The Flashbulb Opus At The End Of Everything	4.0
of Montreal Paralytic Stalks	2.5
Grimes Visions	2.5
SELA. Ghost Reporter	3.5
Lana Del Rey Born to Die	3.0
Canyons of Static Farewell Shadows	3.0
Rodrigo y Gabriela Area 52	2.5
John K. Samson Provincial	4.0
Cloud Nothings Attack on Memory	4.5
Tom Day The Things We Leave Behind (EP)	3.0
Loma Prieta I.V.	2.0
Himuro Yoshiteru Our Turn Anytime	3.5
PONYO LOVES HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAM!
The Big Pink Future This	1.5
Keepaway Black Flute	2.0
The poor man's Animal Collective with horrible lyrics and shoddy, bubble-gum beats.
Gabrielle Aplin Home	3.5
What a refreshing, clean, nostalgic little EP. Gabrielle's voice is pristine, emotive, and beautiful, and she's got a hell of a knack for penning a melody. I cannot wait for her first LP after hearing this.
Blue Gene Tyranny Detours	4.0
Alcest Les Voyages De L'Âme	3.0
Observer Drift Corridors	3.5
Dreamy bedroom lo-fi indie pop rock. Very endearing, gentle listen.
Guided by Voices Let's Go Eat The Factory	2.0

2011
Mac Lethal Irish Goodbye	2.0
Skrillex Bangarang	1.0
Les Doux Dialects	3.5
The Weeknd Echoes of Silence	4.5
Symmetry Themes For An Imaginary Film	4.5
Epic in scope and textured by the finest, most elegant moonlight production, Symmetry's Themes For An Imaginary Film is a work of geunine immersion, full of the nuance and subtlety that make the best film scores so memorable. Spanning two discs, each containing 18 tracks, the music ranges from thumping, pulse-pounding action sequences to rather down-tempo elctronic ballads to sinister, ominous laments to pure seratonin candy. The imagination is engaged at all times throughout, and, given the right setting, the feet may feel equally compelled to express their pleasure. Sublime sounds for a sanguine ride into the sunset.
Metallica Beyond Magnetic	3.5
Gucci Mane and V-Nasty BAYTL	1.0
James Blake Love What Happened Here	3.0
Korn The Path of Totality	1.0
The Black Keys El Camino	3.5
The Roots undun	4.0
Nujabes Spiritual State	4.5
Samurai meets jazz meets textural hip-hop. FUCK YES.
Olafur Arnalds Living Room Songs	4.0
Jet Life Jet World Order	3.5
Kate Bush 50 Words for Snow	3.5
Nate Young Stay Asleep (Regression Vol. 2)	1.5
If the drone genre is supposed to be analogous with boring, simplistic, and lazy, then this a phenomenal. Otherwise, it is terrible. The occasional spooky noise kept this from a 1.
Los Campesinos! Hello Sadness	4.0
Mac Miller Blue Slide Park	1.5
Hubble Hubble Drums	2.5
Jennifer O'Conner I Want What You Want	3.0
David Lynch Crazy Clown Time	4.0
I'll be honest: I love David Lynch like he's family. The man can do nearly no wrong in my eyes. That being said, however, Crazy Clown Time is an astoundingly interesting, thoughtful, fantastically odd and eclectic pop album. Lynch exhibits his mastery of the dialectical nature of dreams and nightmares, life and death, love and hate; and modern society's civil, shining exterior, which he has built a career dismantling, tarnishing, and illuminating, is ripped wide open and displayed through the stark filter of Lynch's mind. Though some will loathe this record for its somewhat obtuse posturing, I think most will find a lot of substance and fun amidst the bramble of David Lynch's Crazy Clown Time. PS - Do not miss "Strange and Unproductive Thinking," the shining star of the album, even if you choose not to listen to the whole thing.
Oneohtrix Point Never Replica	3.0
Animals As Leaders Weightless	4.0
Lou Reed and Metallica Lulu	3.0
Rich Aucoin We're All Dying To Live	4.0
Simply stunning; brimming to the point of overflowing with vivacity, electricity, and life. Rich Aucoin, who, in a seemingly knowing nod to forebarer and foundation-layer Sufjan Stevens chose to use a young boy in a rough-shod Superman outfit amongst a choatic urban scape as his album art, has crafted one of the best rock/electronic records of 2011. The gang vocals, the rippling, rhythmic, often hypnotically gorgeous bass, the bells and whistles and horns and chimes and every manner of pretty noise; it all coalesces under Aucoin's hand and ear into something truly magnificent, leaving the listener stunned and in a half-stupor. Clocking in at close to an hour, We're All Dying To Live is a lofty, trascendent romp in the clouds that never seems long-in-the-tooth, and invites everyone and anyone to join in the fun. Don't miss out on this record.
ASAP Rocky Live.Love.A$AP.	3.5
The Field Looping State of Mind	4.0
Justice Audio, Video, Disco	3.0
Russian Circles Empros	4.0
Surfer Blood Tarot Classics	4.0
Massive Attack vs. Burial Four Walls/Paradise Circus	3.5
Coldplay Mylo Xyloto	4.5
After hearing the EP, I was underwhelmed and disapppointed. Mylo Xyloto, however, is a fantastic Coldplay album; a near perfect fusion of the two distinct styles that marked X & Y and Viva La Vida. Coldplay have not done anything revolutionary or groundbreaking here, but then again, the band sounds so pleasant and naturally charming that it's quite hard to begrudge them for playing to their strengths.
Sandro Perri Impossible Spaces	4.0
Beautifully recorded, elegantly constructed retro-pop music. Sandro Perri's Impossible Spaces is short, sweet, and incredibley infectious. Layers of twitchy synths are sewed and strung together by intricate, yet loose guitar lines and vocals that are smoother than silk and reminiscent of Andrew Bird. Fantastic noises abound on this minor gem of a record.
M83 Hurry Up, We're Dreaming	4.5
Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds	3.5
Real Estate Days	4.5
Yann Tiersen Skyline	3.0
Andy Stott We Stay Together	2.5
James Blake Enough Thunder	4.0
Feist Metals	3.5
La Dispute Wildlife	4.5
Nearly flawless follow-up to Somewhere At The Bottom Of The River Between Vega And Altair, La Dipsute have really found their footing on Wildlife. At turns brutal, brilliant, beautiful, and bold, the record moves at its own pace and leaves everything on the table. Dreyer's vocals have vastly improved, as has the songwriting and sonic cohesion. Absolutely fantastic.
blink-182 Neighborhoods	3.0
Youth Lagoon The Year of Hibernation	3.5
Wilco The Whole Love	4.0
A cool, restrospective-feeling record that encompasses many of the disparate styles and sonic textures of Wilco over the years. The Whole Love also harkens back to A Ghost Is Born in its freak out guitar solos and eclectic, roiling instrumentation and experimentation. Jeff Tweedy delivers, yet again.
Dan Mangan Oh Fortune	4.0
Mastodon The Hunter	3.0
AJJ Knife Man	4.5
A brilliant, savage, funny, sad record about the American Nightmare. Andrew Jackson Jihad is performed and sung to the key of heartbreak and dissolution. Absurd and rebellious all at once.
SuperHeavy SuperHeavy	1.0
Fuuuuuck me. What in the living fucking hell were these assholes thinking? I mean, literally nothing works on this record. At all. There are no saving graces, and today, I felt myself die a little inside whilst listening to Mick Jagger sing over 17 fucking reggae beats. What a bloated, sugary piece of fucking shit. I need to go lie down.
The Jezabels Prisoner	4.0
Wolves in the Throne Room Celestial Lineage	3.0
Wild Flag Wild Flag	3.0
St. Vincent Strange Mercy	3.5
Cymbals Eat Guitars Lenses Alien	5.0
Girls Father, Son, Holy Ghost	3.5
A Winged Victory for the Sullen A Winged Victory for the Sullen	4.5
This is simply stunning. It captures the majesty of a snow-blown winter morning; every detail, every contour and curve, every angle and jagged edge, and the glint of the snowflakes in the sunshine. The ethereal, timelessness and transcendence, flow through this music, permeating its every surface and hoisting it up; the softness of it loftily floating above the abyss, fragily, fleetingly. In a word, this record is tragic. The human heart and Universe have so little in common, yet, seemingly so much as well. I wept, but for what, I cannot tell you, for I know not myself.
Elder (USA-MA) Dead Roots Stirring	4.0
"Wait until those little Eichmanns get a taste of this crunchy groove!"
Thrice Major/Minor	4.5
Beautifully muddy and brilliantly clean, madly dark and wildly, endlessly hopeful, powerful yet understated, Major/Minor is a dense, forecfully emotive record that finds Thrice striding gracefully and heroically into the next decade. Though not as exploratory or ground-breaking as previous albums such as Vheissu and Beggars, the album is simply magnifecent to behold, a joy to listen to, and a real gift in times when such goodness is scarce.
FareWell Poetry Hoping for the Invisible to Ignite	4.0
Leyland Kirby Eager To Tear Apart The Stars	4.5
Count Oak Cream Catalogue	3.0
Red Hot Chili Peppers I'm With You	2.0
Sub-par lyricist and singer + average drummer + excellent bassist - John Frusciante + someone who is not John Frusciante playing guitar = An album unbecoming of the former kings of California Alt-Funk. This may be the death knell of the Peppers, though there are a few keepers on the album, for those inclined to see silver linings.
Lil Wayne Tha Carter IV	3.0
Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks Mirror Traffic	4.5
Easily one of the top 5 albums of the year, Mirror Traffic is 50 minutes of exuberant, radiant, elegantly restrained shades of Malkmus. The Jicks have never sounded so in control of their sound; so assured of direction, yet so loose as to allow for a genuinely profound enjoyment of the journey. This is a fantastic record, one that never lags for a moment and feels as vital and alive as any of Malkmus' work with Pavement. I can't wait to wind down and affirm the splendor of life with this record by the ocean, as September slowly evaporates the summer. Such a beautiful, simple lifestyle always demands a soundtrack, and I've found it in Mirror Traffic.
The Weeknd Thursday	3.0
The War On Drugs Slave Ambient	4.5
Slave Ambient is nearly flawless, from start to glorious, breathtaking finish. This is lush indie-rock, in the vein of The Velvet Underground, complete with drips and drabs of Lou Reed-style vocals. Dense, yet at times melodically lofty as a cloud, The War On Drugs have crafted something truly special which lingers in one's mind for days. Hell, some of the songs outright resemble memories; hazy, nostalgiac, and nearly always more beautiful and meaningful than the actual experience.
Beirut The Rip Tide	3.0
Jay-Z and Kanye West Watch the Throne	3.0
Viva Brother Famous First Words	1.0
Bomb the Music Industry! Vacation	4.5
Radiohead The King of Limbs: From the Basement	5.0
Rodrigo y Gabriela Live in France	3.5
They Might Be Giants Join Us	3.5
Still goofy, but this time around They Might Be Giants sound a little more groovy, heavy, and confident. Even the tongue-in-cheek moments are often cool without any need for irony. Another great record from a reliably odd, catchy alternative band. Join Us would be a really cool album to become a "Dad rock" hit.
Trophy Scars Never Born, Never Dead	4.5
Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks Tigers - Single	3.0
A solid, albeit obligatorily loopy, Stephen Malkmus alternative rock song. Clever, witty wordplay is on hand, as well as some lovely accompanying vocals, and an ever-so-slightly Midwestern, gently sweeping twang emenates effortlessly from the Jicks. I think I may also hear some spoons being softly brushed over a washboard and the cover art is beautiful, which both contribute to the quality of the song. Good track, but not nearly as fun as "Senator."
Lil Wayne Sorry 4 The Wait	1.5
Sorry 4 The Wait. Huh... Well, apology accepted, Weezy, granted The Carter IV sounds absolutely nothing like this lethargic piece of shit. Maybe hit the syrup a little harder or smoke a few more blunts, pal, because you, sir, are losing your weirdness. Here's hoping to a return to form for the F-Man.
Washed Out Within and Without	3.0
Fair to Midland Arrows and Anchors	3.5
Basement I Wish I Could Stay Here	3.5
Beyonce 4	1.5
Limp Bizkit Gold Cobra	1.5
Not much to say about this one. Another Limp Bizkit album, but with less youthful vigor, angst, and fun. At this point, it's rather pathetic and sad for Fred Durst and crew to be recording this kind of "music." I cannot like this band ironically or straightforwardly; they are objectively awful.
Taking Back Sunday Taking Back Sunday	2.0
What the fuck happened to the dude who used to shriek "And will you tell all your friends, you've got your gun to my head?" Who is this asshole asking me now, "Can you imagine Christ hitting a child?" What the fuck? This feels way too much like a grab for the arenas, and all traces of emotion have been drained from this once-vital "emo" band.
John Maus We Must Become the Pitiless Censors of Ourselves	3.0
Coldplay Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall	3.0
*shels Plains Of The Purple Buffalo	3.5
Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks Senator - Single	4.0
"I know what the Senator wants. What the Senator wants is a blow job!" Malky has not sounded this energetic since 2008's "Gardenia." Tossing off odd ball lines about smoking weed in his truck and being invisible, the music builds in paranoic tension until it releases into a final verse and chorus. Carrying the momentum of the entire song through a soft, swift, bridge in which he chants repeatedly, "You are fading fast... You are gone..." Stephen Malkmus explodes elegantly into one of the best, to-the-point, yet exuberantly emotive guitar solos of his entire brilliant career. Hopefully this an indicator of what's in store for us Jicks fans on Mirror Traffic.
The Dear Hunter Violet	2.5
Unknown Mortal Orchestra Unknown Mortal Orchestra	4.0
A walk in the clouds is somtimes preferable to an evening by the fire.
Bon Iver Bon Iver, Bon Iver	4.5
Justin Vernon takes a bold, confident step forward, and a humble, glancing step to the side, on his band's eponymous sophmore record, "Bon Iver." Gone is the lo-fi, rustic sound of 2008/2009's reclusive hermit masterpiece, "For Emma, Forever Ago," here replaced by a dense, lush, electronic, symphonically jazzy sound. Beauty abounds here. Vernon's vocals dazzle and shine. The acoustic guitar passages mesmerize. The descending piano and sax melodies endear. This is an instant classic, through and through. Do not allow the hype to cloud your judgement, for the music shall speak for itself quite plainly. By far the best album of the year, "Bon Iver" makes me happy to be alive, drawing breath, and experiencing the agonizingly wonderful music echoing in my heart. Sublime.
The Caretaker An Empty Bliss Beyond This World	4.5
The Dear Hunter Indigo	2.5
This is so fucking boring. I'm sorry, but I've listened to it five times through, both stoned and sober, and I just do not understand the fuss over this. Neither this particular EP, nor the compilation as a whole. It's all so bland and average; epic in scope, true, but the music is not nearly interesting or powerful enough to bare the burden of the record's length. I tried. I really did.
Ty Segall Goodbye Bread	3.0
Warm, fuzzy, and jam-packed with delicious lo-fi melodies. Meandering, almost ghostly, washed out vocals and chunky power chords set the rustic tone of the record pitch perfectly. Finally, though I cannot explain exactly why, the album art for Goodbye Bread might be the most apropos of the year, this side of Bon Iver, Bon Iver and Burst Apart. Clocking in at just over half an hour, this album is certainly worth a spin or two for any fan of indie garage rock or lo-fi.
The Dear Hunter Blue	2.5
The Dear Hunter Green	3.0
The Dear Hunter Yellow	2.5
The Dear Hunter Orange	3.5
The Dear Hunter Red	3.0
Marissa Nadler Marissa Nadler	3.0
The Dear Hunter Black	3.0
Vetiver The Errant Charm	3.0
WU LYF Go Tell Fire to the Mountain	4.0
This record is fucking thrilling. It sounds, awesomely enough, like the resulting album from studio sessions with Isaac Brock bleating out vocals over an Explosions In The Sky soundscape. I really am at a loss for words; it's often breathtaking. An incredibly inspiring record which has restored a modicum of hope to me that the direction of music in the near future is not doomed. Fantastic, bros.
Skrillex More Monsters and Sprites	1.0
Sharon Marsh captured it best when she said of this brand of dubstep, and I quote, "It sounds like shit."
Battles Gloss Drop	2.0
Eccentricity and monotony coalesce perfectly to create one hell of a boring, at times downright annoying album. The only thing which saves the album from a lower rating is the technical proficiency of the bassist and drummer; they keep things interesting from time to time.
Touche Amore Parting The Sea Between Brightness And Me	4.0
Remember Sum 41's "Half Hour of Power?" Yeah, neither do I, but the point is, Touche Amore take twenty minutes and infuse them with raw, seething, passionate intensity that sounds all the more epic and vital as is speeds on through the record, toward the continually inevitably near closer. This is a fleeting burst of lightning; magnificent for a flash, and then gone to whence it came, as GOB would say.
Tech N9ne All 6's and 7's	4.0
Arctic Monkeys Suck It and See	4.0
A sneakily heavy, British 60's pop-rock album, Suck It And See is brash and sneering, but it's all been toned down to a thick, heavy smolder. The occasional eruptions into full blown "dogshit rock n' roll", as Turner puts it on "Library Pictures", are exhilarating. This bunch of tunes is melodically beyond solid; Turner is a brilliant wordsmith, and The Monkeys are masters of atmosphere. Initially, I found this album boring and uninspired, but the more I listen, the more I hear, and the more I understand what the band has done in recording a record of this style and stature. I think the lads will fare well in years to come, and may, in time, prove themselves to be among the greatest British rock bands of all time.
Frank Turner England Keep My Bones	4.5
Unexpect Fables of the Sleepless Empire	2.0
Every awful thing people acuse Between The Buried and Me of being guilty of is true of this album. Truly a noodling, spastic, though admittedtly an occasionally thrilling, block of "avant garde metal." No thank you. I'll stick with Colors.
Death Cab for Cutie Codes and Keys	2.5
Ben Gibbard has exchanged detail for universality; humanity and imperfection for a washed out, distant, synthy haze of distance and comfort. Death Cab, here, sound outright lazy and complacent--a word which I never, ever thought I would associate with a band that was once as special as Death Cab for Cutie were. Very sad, indeed, as this band is very dear to my heart, but every band is entitled to a few bumps along the road they traverse. Hopefully, Codes and Keys will remain an unfortunate sidestep, not blossom into Death Cab's new style, because when Ben sang, "When you need direction, then I'll be the guide," on "In The Passenger Seat," I took him at his word.
Algernon Cadwallader Parrot Flies	4.0
The Men Leave Home	4.0
King Creosote and Jon Hopkins Diamond Mine	4.5
Danger Mouse and Daniele Luppi Rome	3.0
An astoundingly pretty, bass-driven score with touches of acoustic guiatar and swaths of strings. Danger Mouse and Luppi create a masterful mindscape, but, inexplacably, allow Jack White and Norah Jones to ruin the continuity of the music itself. This should have been a score, not a score/soundtrack hybrid.
Lowercase Noises Migratory Patterns	3.5
Mark McGuire A Young Person's Guide	4.0
If you have two and a half hours and a joint on you, spark up, lay back, end enjoy this journey through the astral planes of your mind. A Young Person's Guide is an absolutely stunning, understated post-rock album.
Liturgy Aesthethica	2.0
Man Man Life Fantastic	2.0
Man Man's "Life Fantastic" strikes a curious pose: calypso, rumba-ing screamo indie rock, piano honky-tonk, acoustic minimalism all share space on this odd, somewhat ingratiating, record. The vocals of Honus Honus sound like a more spastic, castrated Black Francis. As you might guess, this works in very rare moments, and tests the limit of the human conception of melody for the rest. This is another sad example of weird for the sake of weird, and I hate that shit.
Tyler, the Creator Goblin	2.0
Gang Gang Dance Eye Contact	2.5
Listenable dance rock/electronica mixed with odd dubstep style beats and percussion. The vocals are a bit offputting as well; tinny female robot vocals surrounded by bubbling, glitchy synths. Not something I'd listen to unless I was high on opium or mushrooms.
Wild Beasts Smother	3.5
There are worse things in life than being smothered by beauty.
The Antlers Burst Apart	4.0
The Sea And Cake The Moonlight Butterfly	4.0
A great album made excellent by the mere presence of the ten minute epic, "Inn Keeping." This record sounds precisely what one would imagine The Sea and Cake would sound like in 2011; a slightly more relaxed, mature, subtly electronic version of their younger selves. Ultimately, The Moonlight Butterfly is a six track testament to the power of a band sticking to what it does best and doing it extremely well with each and every release.
Manchester Orchestra Simple Math	4.0
A beautiful, sprawling, Indie-rock stunner. Epic, anthemic, and heartfelt to ground it all. Excellent record.
Snowman Absence	3.0
Odd, spacey, and somewhat relaxing album. I would not, however, classify this band's sound as post-rock; they more closely resemble a restrained, more organized Animal Collective. Worth a listen, if for no other reason than this is the band's last album and, in some ways, oddly resembles a suicide note to music.
La Dispute/Koji Never Come Undone	3.5
Fleet Foxes Helplessness Blues	4.0
Giles Corey Giles Corey	4.5
Laura Stevenson Sit Resist	4.5
Album of the year contender. This could be the masterpiece of 2011, and it's only May. Take a listen as Stevenson tears through your entire emotional range as a human being in less than 2 minutes on the stunning track, "Final Piece." Or seduces you gently into her silken web and then devestates you with beauty across both parts of "Halloween." Or just fall in love with her amidst the bells and accordians of "The Healthy One." Either way, don't miss the final track, "I See Dark." You'll never be sightless at night again. And don't miss this album if you have any appreciation at all for independent folk, rock, or pop music.
tUnE-yArDs w h o k i l l	1.0
There is absolutely nothing enjoyable about this black hole of agreeableness; it sucks from the moment it begins until the moment it mercifully, beautifully ends. Everything about the record is annoying, overdone, and just plain wrong. Fuck this shit.
Explosions in the Sky Take Care, Take Care, Take Care	4.5
Simply stunning. I sat and stared through the dancing, colorful movements sweeping across the screen as the music transported me through time; both physically and poetically. Memories. Memories of love lost, of happy days under the sun, of my mother and father holding my hand, of my first experience of the absurd, of longing for union with the expansive truths of the universe. Memories of things which have yet to occur. Visions of the past unspooled before me like great chasms; my heart swelled and sank, ebbed and flowed. I cried, softly, happily, gratefully, humbly, as "Postcard From 1952" stole me away to a particular place in history, situated somewhere between my imagination and infinity. A place of purity, innocence, and warmth. This is, without a doubt, the best album of the year. Explosions In The Sky have truly outdone themselves, and created the best album of their career. Listen to this alone. If you have any affection for the beauty, wonder, sublimity, and sheer awe that is life itself, you shall love this record. A man can be rich, if he has love in his heart. Take care, take care, take care.
TV on the Radio Nine Types of Light	3.0
Beyond Creation The Aura	4.0
Panda Bear Tomboy	4.0
Causa Sui Pewt'r Sessions 1	4.0
Between the Buried and Me The Parallax: Hypersleep Dialogues	4.5
The most thrilling fucking thirty minutes of innovative, tight, and downright terrifyingly awesome metal music I have ever been brutalized by. This EP, combined with the forthcoming, connected LP, could turn out to be the best metal record of all time. I will never stop loving this band so long as they continue to shatter the air with such beauty and monstrous grace.
Grouper A I A	4.5
The Middle East I Want That You Are Always Happy	4.0
I Want That You Are Always Happy is a stunning depature from The Middle East's often lofty, ethereal debut, Recordings of The Middle East. Imbued with a very profound, heavy sense of melancholy and pure American nostalgia, the record smolders, emitting a steady plume of gray smoke casually and elegantly. A truly superb independent folk album.
Bill Callahan Apocalypse	3.5
J.Rocc Some Cold Rock Stuf	3.5
Broken Bells Meyrin Fields	3.0
The Mountain Goats All Eternals Deck	4.0
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart Belong	4.0
Burial Street Halo	3.5
Swarms Old Raves End	4.0
Undulating, pourous synths wash gently, ebbing and flowing, atop softly picked, subued, reverberating guitar lines. Patient, mellow flashes of bass and swells of volume permeate the record, as do the ghostly, ethereal vocal samples that round out the mix. This album is incredibly soothing, and one of the prettiest of 2011.
Britney Spears Femme Fatale	2.5
Beardfish Mammoth	2.0
Born of Osiris The Discovery	1.5
The Sheepdogs Learn and Burn	3.0
TesseracT One	3.5
The Strokes Angles	3.5
"The Strokes return to form!" "Back to the basics!" Hardly. After hearing the single, 'Under Cover of Darkness,' I was stoked (no pun intended) to hear this album. It contained all the jagged, angular (get it?) riffs that made "Is This It?" and "Room On Fire" such undisputable classics, as well as a superb vocal turn by Julian Casablancas. One can imagine my immediate dissapointment upon hearing the rest of the album. While I cannot say this record is bad, I can certainly not bring myself to say it is good. Hopefully the backlash will not deter The Strokes from making music, nor send them into relative obscurity for the next five years, but rather spur them on to return the reigns to Julian. Ahhh, fuck it. "I just can't think, cause I'm just way to tired. Is this it?"rAfter a few listens, this album is growing on me. There's more than meets the ear, but I stand by my intitial assessment; this is not The Strokes of old. This record, released 10 years after their debut, sounds very much like the progression of culture itself; from focused, if a bit fuzzy, to intensely distracted and disjointed. Great album, but not up to par with my expectations.
Protest the Hero Scurrilous	4.5
BOAT (USA-WA) Dress Like Your Idols	3.0
A perfectly blanced off-kilteredness keeps this album bright, funny, occasionally joyful, and playful. "Dress Like Your Idols," unsurprisingly, is full of allusions to 90s indie-rock giants like Pavement, Modest Mouse, and Built To Spill. There's nothing new, noteworthy, or special on this record; just some good, mostly straightforward retro whimsy-rock. Check this out if you like any of the aforementioned bands, but be warned; this album is much cleaner than anything any of those bands ever released. If this does not deter you, dive on in for 37 minutes of nostalgic toe-tapping.
The Weeknd House of Balloons	4.5
This is the sound of lust coming gloriously alive. A thrilling, sultry, vibrantly grimy R&B record for the ages. Fantastic.
Burial and Four Tet Ego/Mirror	4.0
J Mascis Several Shades of Why	3.5
Alex Turner Submarine OST	3.0
The Flashbulb Love As A Dark Hallway	4.0
Avant garde jazz at its joyously exuberant finest, Love As a Dark Hallway carves a uniquely modern soundscape through use of wriggling, bubbly basslines, creeping piano melodies, and gorgoeous swaths of angular, swooping synths. One of the best records of 2011.
The Dodos No Color	5.0
Defeater Empty Days and Sleepless Nights	4.0
Raekwon Shaolin vs. Wu-Tang	4.0
Kurt Vile Smoke Ring For My Halo	3.5
Some fuzzy, intricate, wonderfully-worded, primarily acoustic impressions flesh out this somewhat lo-fi, warm affair. Smoke Ring For My Halo is listenable almost to a fault, and contains some passages of sheer slacker transcendence and beauty. Great album from a fellow Philadelphian and all-around cool guy.
Apollo Brown Clouds	4.0
Scale the Summit The Collective	4.5
This album is fantastic. It contains some of the most technically beautiful, well-arranged post-metal that I have ever heard. Inititially, the darkness inherent in the sound of this album drove me from it, but now it stands as the primary reason for my affection for it. Sprawling, immense, and filled with diversions through murky clouds of dissonant melody, The Collective is an immensely impressive piece of music.
Lykke Li Wounded Rhymes	3.5
Toro Y Moi Underneath The Pine	3.5
Amazingly soothing, deceptively-intricate electronica laced with some smooth vocals, easy-going acoustic guitar fills, and plenty of ambience. Great record for a chill night iin.
Colin Stetson New History Warfare Vol 2: Judges	4.5
Max Bemis and The Painful Splits Max Bemis and The Painful Splits 2	3.0
Radiohead The King of Limbs	4.5
In true Radiohead fashion, The King of Limbs blossoms slowly and kingly; unfolding its lotus bloom with care, dilligence, and patience. This is an adult rock album, and it is meant to be enjoyed by adults who think and feel deeply. Thom sings with the conviction and passion of a man who has experienced much; created much with his hands of which he is proud and for which millions of people adore him. At this point in their career, Radiohead are confident, and dangerously so for every other band in the world. From the otherworldy, underwater electro-balled opener "Bloom," to the heartbreakingly gorgeous, piano-backlight "Codex", to the stunningly groovy jam of "Lotus Flower," King lives up to its royal billing. I am so grateful I took the time to give this a second chance, as I always am with Radiohead, and I know have another album on the list of those which I must give to my children, should they find themselves here one day.
Frank Ocean Nostalgia, Ultra.	3.5
Yuck Yuck	4.0
Tim Hecker Ravedeath, 1972	4.0
Nicolas Jaar Space Is Only Noise	4.5
Glassjaw Coloring Book	2.0
...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead Tao of the Dead	3.5
The Streets Computers And Blues	1.5
I think Mike Skinner has been listening to a bit too much Owl City these days. Holy shit, what a corny, saccharine, terribly produced, bloated sack of human excrament. Skinner should have quit while he was ahead and stopped after A Grand Don't Come For Free. Another disappointment from a formerly great artist.
James Blake James Blake	4.5
The best electronic album I've heard in a long time, James Blake is subtle, sultry, and undeniably moving. Outstanding record.
Ulcerate The Destroyers of All	2.0
Cloud Nothings Cloud Nothings	4.5
Adele 21	3.5
Talib Kweli Gutter Rainbows	2.5
Braids Native Speaker	3.5
Joyce Manor Joyce Manor	4.0
Iceage New Brigade	2.5
Anyone else think this sounds about as average and underwhelming as music gets these days? Am I missing something? This record is not bad, it is just suffocatingly repetitve and, thus, boring as watching paint dry.
Beth Ditto EP	2.0
Disasterpeace Rise of the Obsidian Interstellar	3.0
A neat little glitchy piece of work, this album calls to mind the experience of playing Super Mario Brothers on acid; not that I've ever done such a thing, but this album sounds what I imagine that experience would be like. Interesting, but at times grating and irritating.

2010
Ghostface Killah Apollo Kids	4.0
Grimy, undulating groovy soul beats slink through this record whilst Ghost and crew flow and fly over them with force, grace, and angular swordplay. Ghost is on top of his game--lyirically and stylistically--and his Wu-Tang roots have not been this exposed, this raw, for quite some time. Terrific hip-hop album.
Amia Venera Landscape The Long Procession	4.0
The sound of the end of the world in the key of Green.
Circa Survive Appendage	3.0
Kanye West My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy	4.0
Currensy Pilot Talk II	4.0
William Tyler Behold the Spirit	4.5
Cee Lo Green The Lady Killer	4.0
Max Bemis and The Painful Splits Max Bemis and The Painful Splits	3.0
TesseracT Concealing Fate	3.0
Clean, technically brutal and epic, and just the right tone in the screaming/growling. Perfect balance of melody and pure driving rhythm. This contains moments of stunning brilliance and force, but sometimes feels a bit unfocused. Overall, excellent record.
Cloud Nothings Turning On	4.0
Sufjan Stevens The Age of Adz	4.5
James Blake Klavierwerke	3.5
The Tallest Man on Earth Sometimes The Blues Is Just A Passing Bird	4.5
Philip Selway Familial	3.5
S. Carey All We Grow	4.0
The perfect, soft, warm summer evening album. The cover art for this record could not be more fitting or apropos. Swaying, smooth, and elegantly stated. One of my favorite releases from 2010.
Sufjan Stevens All Delighted People	4.5
Wale More About Nothing	3.5
Arcade Fire The Suburbs	4.5
Called to Arms Peril and the Patient	4.0
Touche Amore/La Dispute Searching for a Pulse/The Worth of the World	4.5
Strand of Oaks Pope Killdragon	4.0
Sun Kil Moon Admiral Fell Promises	3.5
Currensy Pilot Talk	4.0
Maps and Atlases Perch Patchwork	4.5
The Flashbulb Arboreal	3.5
The Dodos The Dodos Live From Akropolis, Prague	4.0
Meric and Logan sound tight, slightly off-kilter, and deranged as they tear through the majority of their 2008 near-masterpiece, "Visiter," live in Prague. Most of the songs contain a minimal bit of improvisation; just enough to make the album interesting and fresh, but they remain faithful enough to the songs that the listener is able to readily identify with the wonderful emotions that endeared him or her to the band to begin with. Definitely worth a listen for the way they shred through "Joe's Waltz" and "Jodi" alone. Also, this may contain the best version of "Fools" the band has ever recorded. Heres' hoping these Dodos do not go extinct any time soon.
James Blake CMYK	3.5
Band of Horses Infinite Arms	3.0
The Black Keys Brothers	3.5
LCD Soundsystem This Is Happening	4.5
An elegant swan song from the old-scruffy dancemaster himself, James Murphy and his LCD Soundstytem. Superbly arranged and executed dance rock that is sure to get any white people party grooving as hard as they can try. Farewell and adieu, James. Thanks for the tunes.
Future Islands In Evening Air	4.0
Flying Lotus Cosmogramma	4.5
65daysofstatic We Were Exploding Anyway	3.0
The Radio Dept. Clinging to a Scheme	3.0
Fuzzed-out, sparse, sporadically-electronic lo-fi indie pop album that never really rises above a pleasant, distant hazy pleasantness. I expected more, due to Pitchfork's nomination of this record as part of its "Best New Music" series. Oh well. It's nice enough.
Periphery Periphery	1.0
"Somone please turn that shit off and put Barry Manilow or Kenny G on, for Christ's sake! I'm serious! Now! Anything at all would be preferable to this noise! Quick, someone turn on the blender or give me one of those sharp knives so I can jam it way the fuck into my eardrum.! Pleaseeeee! Just. Make. It. Stop..."
Caribou Swim	4.0
Circa Survive Blue Sky Noise	4.5
Coheed and Cambria Year of the Black Rainbow	1.0
I'm sorry, Coheed, I love you guys, but this is seriously pure fucking garbage. I expected something epic, not moody and whiney. As fans, we deserve better. As a band, you should be ashamed. Might want to officially apologize and record a new album that does not suck this terribly. It's like Indiana Jones 4... but worse.
MGMT Congratulations	2.5
The Tallest Man on Earth The Wild Hunt	5.0
Redneck Manifesto Friendship	4.0
Built to Spill The Electronic Anthology Project	4.0
This EP contains seven songs, each plucked from one of Built To Spill's studio albums, reworked into synth and drum-machine laden, early 80's New Wave dance tracks. This album is a must-have for any serious fan of Built To Spill and Doug Martsch's side projects. Hilarious, fun, and gnarly. Long live Built To Spill!
James Blake The Bells Sketch	3.5
Broken Bells Broken Bells	3.5
Titus Andronicus The Monitor	4.5
Frightened Rabbit The Winter of Mixed Drinks	3.0
Fang Island Fang Island	5.0
Gil Scott-Heron I'm New Here	4.0
Listening to this early this morning upon hearing news of Heron's untimely death was quite moving and, at times, breath taking. It is hard to remain objective at this moment, but prior to all of my old ratings beingd, I had this album at a 3.5. I rate it a 4 now because, whether it is fair or not, this record now sounds eerily prophetic, self-aware, and, ultimately, cathartic. I hope they send a limousene from heaven to take him to God, if there is one.
Lil Wayne Rebirth	1.0
Beach House Teen Dream	4.0
Four Tet There is Love in You	4.5
Surfer Blood Astro Coast	4.5
Spoon Transference	4.5
It took three years for Transference to make sense to me, but when at last it revealed itself one mournfully slow and still spring sundown, I was transformed. Spoon is a religious band for me. They are composed and comprised of particles which flow in my soul and their melodies share a currency with the stuff of transcendence. There's something dark and weird and just-slightly-disconcerting at the heart of this record, something glowing and rare and mythical. I can't explain it and that's basically the whole point. Out go the lights.
Owen Pallett Heartland	3.5
Vampire Weekend Contra	3.5
Forest Swords Dagger Paths	4.0
Mystic 100s Beyond Living	4.0

2009
Tyler, the Creator Bastard	2.0
This album really bums me out, and Tyler, The Creator is a black hole, consuming all joy and common decency.
La Dispute Here, Hear. III	3.5
Mount Eerie Black Wooden	4.0
Phil Phil Phil, yeah yeah yeah, strum strum strumming his guitar in the living world.
Pixies Doolittle 20th Anniversary Live Sampler	3.5
Julian Casablancas Phrazes for the Young	3.5
Say Anything Say Anything	4.0
Nirvana Live at Reading	4.0
Local Natives Gorilla Manor	4.0
Lil Wayne No Ceilings	3.5
Between the Buried and Me The Great Misdirect	4.5
Sufjan Stevens The BQE	3.0
Fuck Buttons Tarot Sport	3.5
Carter Burwell Where the Wild Things Are	3.5
Thrice Beggars	4.5
Built to Spill There Is No Enemy	4.0
Girls Album	3.0
Volcano Choir Unmap	3.5
Protest the Hero Gallop Meets the Earth	3.0
Taken By Trees East of Eden	3.0
Rodrigo y Gabriela 11:11	4.0
The Dodos Time to Die	4.0
Washed Out Life of Leisure	4.0
Liturgy Renihilation	1.5
Not too much going on here. Pretty boring black metal. Monotonous, droning, and devoid of the smoldering rage that marks the best black metal albums.
Arctic Monkeys Humbug	3.0
The xx xx	4.5
"And we, we live half in the day time. And we, we live half at night." This sparse, sultry album, filled with lustful hushed vocal interplay and icicle guitar picking, is one of my favorite albums of 2009. I saw The xx once live, and it was almost counter-productive; the allure of this record lies in its obscurity, its intentional aura of intimacy through anonymity, and its refusal to recognize or address the listener. Listening to xx is both a vouyeristic and vicarious endeavour, and one which begs to be undertaken quite frequntly. "I am yours now, so now I don't ever have to leave. I've been found out, so I'll never explore."
Dan Mangan Nice, Nice, Very Nice	4.5
One of the most sincere, vulnerable albums I've ever heard, Nice, Nice, Very Nice is a stunning array of beautiful, rich, endearing tunes, which, with the brushstrokes of a genius, Mangan has crafted into a near masterpiece.
Modest Mouse No One's First, and You're Next	4.0
Wild Beasts Two Dancers	3.5
Owl City Ocean Eyes	1.0
Just listen to one track, at random, and you've heard the entire album. In all fairness, this is one of the most worthless pieces of shit I have ever had to the displeasure to hear. This kid and his "music" are fucking insufferable. Let's hope he stops before this makes any other kids favor surface over substance in music.
Mount Eerie Wind's Poem	4.5
Dinosaur Jr. Farm	4.5
James Blackshaw The Glass Bead Game	4.5
Moderat Moderat	4.0
Japandroids Post-Nothing	4.0
Animals As Leaders Animals as Leaders	4.0
ISIS Wavering Radiant	4.0
Manchester Orchestra Fourteen Years Of Excellence	3.5
Bill Callahan Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle	4.0
Death Cab for Cutie The Open Door	3.0
Coheed and Cambria Neverender	4.0
Mastodon Crack the Skye	4.5
Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds The Dreams We Have As Children: Live At The Royal	4.0
The Antlers Hospice	5.0
Hospice is an album that simply radiates beauty. It is suffused in darkness, yet it glows brilliantly and, betraying its lyrical, thematic content, somehow winds up leaving its listener heaving sobs of joy, so thoroughly exhausted and ravaged by the delerious sadness that there's simply no other way out. Peter Silberman's angelic voice devestates whilst at once uplifting, the synths, guitars, and ambient sounds surging subtly, powerfully, and organically behind, wrapping the delicate falsetto in a merlot warmth, which softly confides a quiet reserve of strength. A rare, unique, truly haunting--in every shade of the word--modern masterpiece. Someday, it will sit in a museum, posterity looking back in wonder at the way human beings emoted in the distant past, and marveling at the sublime beauty; timeless, elegant, and sharp.
Scale the Summit Carving Desert Canyons	4.5
Strand of Oaks Leave Ruin	4.0
Andrew Bird Noble Beast	4.0
Cymbals Eat Guitars Why There Are Mountains	4.5
Bon Iver Blood Bank	4.5
J. Tillman Year In The Kingdom	3.5
J. Tillman Vacilando Territory Blues	4.0

2008
Thrice Live At The House Of Blues	4.0
The Killers Day & Age	1.0
Kanye West 808s and Heartbreak	2.5
La Dispute Somewhere at the Bottom of the River Between Vega and Altair	4.5
Little Joy Little Joy	4.0
The Strokes if you filtered them through the Amazon Jungle, a 1950's Doo-Wop lounge, and added a beautiful female counterpart to play the Girl from Ipanema. What a fantastically interesting, relaxing record.
Mount Eerie Dawn	5.0
One of the best albums of all time. Phil's epic chronicle of self-loss and reckoning with the infinite and absurd is a resonating brass bell. A journey worth taking over, and over again. This album is just as good, if not better, than Neutral Milk Hotel's legendary "In The Aeroplane Over The Sea." Please, get this album, put on a pair of headphones, and take the plunge.
Lady Gaga The Fame	1.5
What can I say? I went into the record with the express intent of giving it a 1 to bring my objectivity score up, and I ended enjoying almost the entire album. Though I certainly could not listen to The Fame on a regular basis, it's refreshing to know that I am still human and can relate to something that so many both love and loathe with such odd fervor. Whatever one may think of her, the music stands out as a stark testament to the powerful minimalism of truly great pop music. The profundity here is in the profound lack thereof; as the lead singer instruscts, don't think, just fuckin' dance, bitch.
Between the Buried and Me Colors_Live	4.5
Oasis Dig Out Your Soul	3.0
Fucked Up The Chemistry of Common Life	3.5
Minus the Bear Acoustics	4.0
Mount Eerie Lost Wisdom	4.0
Kings of Leon Only By The Night	2.5
I Am Robot and Proud Uphill City	3.5
Metallica Death Magnetic	4.0
Fang Island Sky Gardens EP	4.0
Benn Jordan Pale Blue Dot	4.0
Shugo Tokumaru Exit	3.0
Bloc Party Intimacy	2.5
The Walkmen You & Me	4.0
Maps and Atlases You and Me and the Mountain	4.0
Uyama Hiroto A Son of the Sun	4.0
Ratatat LP3	3.5
Sigur Ros Med Sud i Eyrum vid Spilum Endalaust	3.5
Coldplay Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends	4.5
James Blackshaw Litany of Echoes	4.5
Lil Wayne Tha Carter III	2.5
Fleet Foxes Fleet Foxes	4.0
Radiohead In Rainbows: From the Basement	4.5
Wale Mixtape About Nothing	4.0
Death Cab for Cutie Narrow Stairs	4.0
La Dispute Untitled	3.5
Portishead Third	4.5
Thrice The Alchemy Index Vols. III & IV	4.0
Frightened Rabbit The Midnight Organ Fight	4.0
Fleet Foxes Sun Giant	4.0
The Microphones The Glow Pt. 2 (Re-release)	5.0
The Black Keys Attack & Release	3.5
Sun Kil Moon April	4.5
The Middle East The Recordings of the Middle East	4.5
The Dodos Visiter	4.5
The Tallest Man on Earth Shallow Grave	4.5
Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks Real Emotional Trash	4.0
Mount Eerie Black Wooden Ceiling Opening	4.0
Phil gets his quasi-black metal on with fantastically dissonant, yet melodically stunning tunes culled from the darkest of forests on a moonless night.
Vampire Weekend Vampire Weekend	4.0
The Flashbulb Soundtrack to a Vacant Life	4.0
Protest the Hero Fortress (Instrumental)	4.0
Protest the Hero Fortress	4.5
The Antlers Cold War	3.0
The Antlers New York Hospitals	3.0
Jeff Mangum Sign The Dotted Line (Single)	3.5

2007
Nirvana MTV Unplugged in New York (DVD)	5.0
Sigur Ros Hvarf/Heim	4.0
Burial Untrue	4.5
Elliott Smith Live at Largo	4.5
Coheed and Cambria No World for Tomorrow	3.5
Say Anything In Defense of the Genre	3.5
Thrice The Alchemy Index Vols. I & II	4.0
Radiohead In Rainbows	4.0
Between the Buried and Me Colors	4.5
The best progressive metal album ever made. Ever. Pure brilliance.
Kanye West Graduation	4.5
The Avett Brothers Emotionalism	5.0
The Avett Brother deliver a stunning set of country-twinged folk-rock on Emotionalism, masterfully balancing a bevy of influences and genres, and sculpting them into authentic, honest, ocassionaly downright heartbreaking, record filled with equal parts nostalgia and resentment.
Minus the Bear Planet of Ice	4.0
Interpol Our Love to Admire	3.0
Against Me! New Wave	3.5
Seemingly standard, straightfoward rock n' roll reveals it's pop/punk/blues roots with repeated listens. This record sounds heavier than the average FM rock, but really aims at hitting one in the gut with the brute force of its catchiness and anthemic choruses. This feels like some sort of protest record. Against what, I couldn't tell you, but the elements of revolt are present in the DNA of most of the tunes on this album. Great rock record, but not one I'd listen to very frequently.
Spoon Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga	4.5
Arctic Monkeys Fluorescent Adolescent	3.5
Bon Iver For Emma, Forever Ago	5.0
Ratatat Ratatat Remixes Vol.II	4.0
James Blackshaw The Cloud of Unknowing	4.5
Circa Survive On Letting Go	3.5
Scale the Summit Monument	4.0
Black Moth Super Rainbow Dandelion Gum	3.5
The National Boxer	4.5
Wilco Sky Blue Sky	4.0
Elliott Smith New Moon	4.5
Dinosaur Jr. Beyond	4.5
Arctic Monkeys Favourite Worst Nightmare	4.5
Arctic Monkeys Brianstorm	3.5
Kings of Leon Because Of The Times	3.5
Modest Mouse We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank	4.0
Between the Buried and Me Alaska (Instrumental)	4.0
Arcade Fire Neon Bible	4.0
Radical Face Ghost	3.5
Explosions in the Sky All of a Sudden, I Miss Everyone	4.5
Bloc Party A Weekend in the City	3.0
The Shins Wincing the Night Away	4.0
Maps and Atlases Tree, Swallows, Houses	4.0
Lil Wayne Da Drought 3	4.0
Jay Electronica Act I: Eternal Sunshine (The Pledge)	4.5

2006
The Tallest Man on Earth The Tallest Man on Earth	4.5
Babyshambles The Blinding	3.0
Sufjan Stevens Songs For Christmas	3.0
The Antlers Uprooted	3.5
Derek Paravicini Echoes Of The Sounds To Be	4.0
He's blind and he's a Super Hero. Listen to him play and try not to love it.
Manchester Orchestra I'm Like a Virgin Losing a Child	3.5
The Killers Sam's Town	1.5
Mastodon Blood Mountain	4.0
Yo La Tengo I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass	4.0
Mono / World's End Girlfriend Palmless Prayer / Mass Murder Refrain	5.0
Say Anything ...Is A Real Boy (re-release)	5.0
Ratatat Classics	4.0
Arctic Monkeys Leave Before The Lights Come On	3.5
Another solid set of early, non-album Monkey's tracks. Check out the soft, doo-wop number, "Baby I'm Yours." It sounds like Buddy Holly could have written it. Cheers lads!
Earl Greyhound Soft Targets	4.0
Soft Targets is the undisputed love child of Led Zeppelin and The Black Keys. It's fucking cool and is best served loud.
Lil Wayne Dedication 2	4.0
William Elliott Whitmore Song Of The Blackbird	4.0
Sufjan Stevens The Avalanche: Outtakes and Extras	4.0
Rodrigo y Gabriela Rodrigo y Gabriela	3.5
Between the Buried and Me The Anatomy Of	3.0
The Dodos Beware of the Maniacs	3.5
Fang Island Day of the Great Leap	4.0
Frightened Rabbit Sing The Greys	3.0
Arctic Monkeys Who The Fuck Are Arctic Monkeys?	4.0
Built to Spill You in Reverse	4.0
Mono You Are There	4.5
Arctic Monkeys I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor	4.0
Check out this EP for the two non-album tracks. Bigger Boys and Stolen Sweethearts is a rather melodic, poppy track for the Monkeys, and Chun Li Flying Bird Kick finds them in full on, non-vocal, heavy rythmic lock-step grooviness. [Side note: I cannot seem to find a way to edit the information, but this EP was released in 2005. I forgot to enter the release date and it automatically assigned it to 2011.]
Death Cab for Cutie The John Byrd EP	3.0
Bernhard Fleischmann The Humbucking Coil	4.5
Arctic Monkeys Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not	4.5
Arctic Monkeys When The Sun Goes Down	4.0
An EP containing three non-album tracks, "Settle For A Draw," "Stickin' To The Floor," and "7." Each track is clasic, vintage 2005/2006 Arctic Monkeys. Brilliant British phrasings, prickly, post-punkish guitar lines, a thick, semi-bluesy rhythm section, and some goddamn stunning songwriting mark this EP as a "can't miss" in the band's catologue. This is band I knew and fell in love with, playing as they do best, long before they had aspirations of putting people to sleep with their albums.
The Strokes First Impressions of Earth	4.0
Justin Vernon Hazeltons	3.5

2005
Lil Wayne Tha Carter II	3.5
Babyshambles Down In Albion	4.5
Sun Kil Moon Tiny Cities	3.5
Animal Collective Feels	3.0
Decent album, but I'm still not convinced by these wackos; I seem to lack that intangible, unique connection that most true fans of the band possess.
Thrice Vheissu	4.0
Boards of Canada The Campfire Headphase	4.0
Explosions in the Sky The Rescue	4.0
Fiona Apple Extraordinary Machine	4.0
My Morning Jacket Z	4.5
Mount Eerie No Flashlight	4.0
Coheed and Cambria From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness	4.0
Sigur Ros Takk...	4.5
Justin Vernon Self Record	4.5
Between the Buried and Me Alaska	4.0
Death Cab for Cutie Plans	3.5
Kanye West Late Registration	3.5
Protest the Hero Kezia	4.5
A truly groundbreaking, unique, viscerally rich album steeped in its own unique, brutal, gothic mythology. One of the best metal albums of all time, and the band made it when most of its members were 19 years-old. KEZIIIIAAAAA!
Minus the Bear Menos El Oso	3.5
Sufjan Stevens Illinois	5.0
Four Tet Everything Ecstatic	2.0
Oasis Don't Believe the Truth	3.5
Stephen Malkmus Face the Truth	4.0
Days Away Mapping An Invisible World	3.5
Spoon Gimme Fiction	4.0
Circa Survive Juturna	4.0
The National Alligator	4.5
Daft Punk Human After All	3.5
The Mountain Goats The Sunset Tree	5.0
Bloc Party Silent Alarm	3.0

2004
Kings of Leon Aha Shake Heartbreak	3.5
John Lennon Acoustic	4.0
Elliott Smith From a Basement on the Hill	4.5
"I'm already down, I got no fight." I love and miss you, Elliott.
ISIS Panopticon	4.5
Explosions in the Sky Friday Night Lights	3.0
Pinback Summer in Abaddon	4.0
Interpol Antics	4.0
Arcade Fire Funeral	5.0
Mastodon Leviathan	4.5
Say Anything ...Is a Real Boy	4.5
"and the record begins with a song of rebellion..."
Taking Back Sunday Where You Want To Be	3.0
The Killers Hot Fuss	2.0
Hawthorne Heights The Silence in Black and White	1.0
Radiohead COM LAG (2plus2isfive)	3.5
Rodrigo y Gabriela re-Foc	3.5
Ratatat Ratatat	4.5
Nearly flawless mixture of post-rock and pop-ambient electronica, and some incredible, searing synth melodies and sweeping, buzzing guitar riffs combine to form one of the most unique sounding records I've ever heard. Ratatat is a music about they joy of playing music. Listen for yourself, and you won't be disappointed.
Modest Mouse Baron von Bullshit Rides Again	3.0
Modest Mouse Good News for People Who Love Bad News	4.5
Wilco A Ghost Is Born	4.5
Madvillain Madvillainy	4.5
Sufjan Stevens Seven Swans	4.0
Animal Collective Sung Tongs	3.0
A refreshing, icicle-picked, occasionally sparse, ocasionally rich record from the primarily dense, lo-fi heavy Animal Collective. This record could definitely grow on me. The melodies and moments of clarity on this album are such a breath of fresh air to the stale, stuffy sound of "Here Comes The Indian." Surprisingly good and, in several spots, radiantly catchy and joyful.
Rodrigo y Gabriela Live: Manchester And Dublin	3.5
Kanye West The College Dropout	4.0
Pedro the Lion Achilles Heel	4.0
El Ten Eleven El Ten Eleven	4.0
Ratatat Ratatat Remixes Vol.1	4.0

2003
blink-182 Blink-182	4.5
Explosions in the Sky The Earth Is Not a Cold Dead Place	4.5
Sun Kil Moon Ghosts of the Great Highway	4.5
Jose Gonzalez Veneer	4.5
The Strokes Room on Fire	5.0
The Unicorns Who Will Cut Our Hair When We're Gone?	4.0
Between the Buried and Me The Silent Circus	4.0
William Elliott Whitmore Hymns for the Hopeless	3.5
Offbeat yet straightforward, Hymn For The Hopeless sounds as if it were unearthed from a time capsule dated 1955. Great little folk album.
Coheed and Cambria In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3	4.5
Death Cab for Cutie Transatlanticism	4.5
The Wrens The Meadowlands	5.0
Nujabes Metaphorical Music	4.5
Shit just got real. A sake-drenched escapade into the night, all smoke and horns and beats, swirling about, condensing and evaporating, lifting the listener out of the ordinary and into the mystic. Astounding.
Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks Pig Lib	4.0
Kings of Leon Youth and Young Manhood	3.5
Thrice The Artist in the Ambulance	4.5
Sufjan Stevens Michigan	4.0
Animal Collective Ark	1.0
Jesus. H. Christ. This has to be some sort of joke. It has to be. Holy hell.
Mew Frengers	4.0
Arcade Fire The Arcade Fire	4.0
Radiohead Hail to the Thief	4.5
Metallica St. Anger	3.5
Fuck off, I just love it. alright? It's a tragically underrated album. I know what they were going for, and I understand it. Great fucking record.
Protest the Hero A Calculated Use of Sound	2.5
The Black Keys Thickfreakness	4.0
Cursive The Ugly Organ	4.5
Gothic, brutal, catchy indie-rock with some intense instrumental sections and a closing track that brings the whole thing down in a massive firestorm. We all know art is hard.
Animal Collective Campfire Songs	1.5
This album is, simply put, boring and mind-numbingly stupid. Strumming the same chord for 10 minutes while a bunch of people chant and make noises in the background is not a song; it's a waste of time. I guess it's agreeable enough, but listening to this record, I find it very hard to understand fans of Animal Collective.
The Kills Keep On Your Mean Side	4.0
The Microphones Mount Eerie	4.0
Saves the Day In Reverie	4.5

2002
Minus the Bear Highly Refined Pirates	4.5
Godspeed You! Black Emperor Yanqui U.X.O.	4.5
Sigur Ros ( )	5.0
The Libertines Up The Bracket	4.5
CKY Infiltrate Destroy Rebuild	3.5
The Microphones Song Islands	4.0
Interpol Turn on the Bright Lights	4.5
Spoon Kill the Moonlight	4.5
The Flaming Lips Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots	5.0
Mastodon Remission	4.5
Between the Buried and Me Between the Buried and Me	3.5
Doves (UK) The Last Broadcast	4.5
Pedro the Lion Control	5.0
Philip Jeck Stoke	4.5
Taking Back Sunday Tell All Your Friends	4.0
Ben Kweller Sha Sha	4.5
Perfect stoner rock. Great melodies, solid guitar, drums, and bass, and an endearing, sort of Rivers Cuomo-esque vocal style from Kweller. Excellent indie pop-rock, for sure brah.
Thrice The Illusion of Safety	4.5
Ugly Casanova Sharpen Your Teeth	4.5
Oasis Heathen Chemistry	3.0
Death Cab for Cutie The Stability EP	3.5
Yo La Tengo The Sounds Of The Sounds Of Science	4.5
Coheed and Cambria The Second Stage Turbine Blade	5.0

2001
Mono Under the Pipal Tree	4.0
Radiohead I Might Be Wrong: Live Recordings	4.5
Pinback Blue Screen Life	4.5
Death Cab for Cutie The Photo Album	4.0
Modest Mouse Everywhere and His Nasty Parlour Tricks	4.5
The Strokes Is This It	5.0
Broken Social Scene Feel Good Lost	3.5
Wilco Yankee Hotel Foxtrot	4.5
The Microphones The Glow Pt. 2	5.0
Explosions in the Sky Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Die...	5.0
The truth is that this is a flawlessly executed, alternatively illuminating, dizzying, and sublime record that defies and coalesces the silent sky.
Minus the Bear This is What I Know About Being Gigantic	4.5
Radiohead Amnesiac	5.0
Jeff Mangum Live at Jittery Joe's	4.5
Sparklehorse It's a Wonderful Life	4.5
Built to Spill Ancient Melodies of the Future	3.0
Saves the Day Stay What You Are	5.0
Modest Mouse Sad Sappy Sucker	3.0
Daft Punk Discovery	4.0
Spoon Girls Can Tell	4.5
Stephen Malkmus Stephen Malkmus	4.0
The cover of Stephen Malkmus' first solo LP is more than fitting; it encapsulates both an attitude and an approach that permeates the record. After the melancholy and heavy-heartedness of Pavement's Terror Twilight, Malky kicks back, sighs, and sets forth an album that sounds as cool and beautiful as a California breeze, the sun setting lazily over the Pacific. Stephen Malkmus takes its listener to a place that many have been before, but few recognize: the space between Malky's ears.
Sufjan Stevens Enjoy Your Rabbit	2.5
Preston School of Industry All This Sounds Gas	3.5
Mark Kozelek Whats Next To The Moon	4.0
Miles Davis The Complete In a Silent Way Sessions	4.5

2000
Godspeed You! Black Emperor Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven	5.0
Death Cab for Cutie Forbidden Love	4.0
Spoon Love Ways	4.0
Doves (UK) Lost Souls	4.5
Radiohead Kid A	5.0
The Microphones It Was Hot, We Stayed In The Water	3.5
Coldplay Parachutes	3.5
A beautifully melancholy, purposefully moody record that harkens back to the days of straightforward Britpop, subtly melding elements of both U2--for the worse--and Radiohead--for better--into a delicate tapestry held together by Chris Martin's angelic voice. Parachutes is the kind of album it is nearly impossible to hate.
Quasimoto The Unseen	4.0
Sufjan Stevens A Sun Came	3.0
Modest Mouse The Moon & Antarctica	5.0
Built to Spill Live	3.0
Elliott Smith Figure 8	4.5
Thrice Identity Crisis	3.0
Oasis Standing on the Shoulder of Giants	3.0
Yo La Tengo And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside...	5.0
The Microphones Window	3.0
Death Cab for Cutie We Have the Facts and We're Voting Yes	5.0
Modest Mouse Building Nothing Out of Something	4.5
!!! !!!	4.0
Cool, squiggly guitars, offbeat drumming, and some really funky basslines abound on !!!. The vocals are mellow and almost spoken as opposed to sung; think James Murphy with a bit more nasally timbre. Interesting indie rock dance rock record.
Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra He Has Left Us Alone But Shafts of Light Sometimes Grace the Corner of Our	4.0
The Avett Brothers The Avett Bros.	4.0
Listening to these guys in such an early stage of their development is a rare and special treat. This EP is rough hewn--and all the better for it. The songs on this record simply exude life, each in its own battered, flawed fashion, and, set as a collection, allow the listenter access to the unbridled enthusiasm which clearly lies at the heart of who the Avett Brothers are as human beings, and certianly as artists. The record sounds like it was plucked up from some time capsule buried in the corn fields of Nebraska in 1927. Odd, dusty, somehow simultaneously familiar and vague. Ultimately, it's damn near impossible to resist the blissful nostalgia and good old-fashioned Americana that abounds on The Avett Brothers' debut EP, The Avett Bros. So, grab a smoke, grab a beer, and sit beside the fire as the Bros. spin their sepia tinged yarns of love, life, and loss.
Explosions in the Sky How Strange, Innocence	5.0

1999
Botch We Are the Romans	2.5
Metallica S&M	4.5
Opeth Still Life	4.5
Pinback This Is a Pinback CD	4.5
Method Man and Redman Blackout!	4.0
The Microphones Don't Wake Me Up	3.5
Sigur Ros Agætis byrjun	4.5
Pavement Terror Twilight	5.0
blink-182 Enema Of The State	5.0
Mogwai Come On Die Young	3.5
Godspeed You! Black Emperor Slow Riot For New Zero Kanada	5.0
Absolutely, devestatingly haunting and transcendent, yet, firmly rooted to this world, Slow Riot For New Zero Canada is a minuture symphony for the modern age. Brilliantly binding the melodrama of strings to the laudatory clang and pound of drums, to the heavenly thrusting reach of guitars, the record transports one to a place both familiar, and yet, strangely canny and unique. This may well be the soundtrack to the end of days, and it could not sound more melancholy and bittersweet.
Polaris (USA) Music from The Adventures of Pete & Pete	4.5
If you grew up in the 90's and you have a heart, you will love this album. It is pure nostalgic, sentimental bliss. Pete & Pete were an enormous part of my childhood, and the songs on this record swirl up emotions that only fond memories of childhood can conjur. Solid, heartfelt, and often sublime, this is a diamond in the rough of an album.
CKY Volume 1	3.5
Sparklehorse Good Morning Spider	4.5
Built to Spill Keep It Like a Secret	4.5
Modest Mouse ナイト・オン・ザ・サン (Night on the Sun)	4.0

1998
Oasis The Masterplan	3.5
Elliott Smith XO	5.0
Death Cab for Cutie Something About Airplanes	4.5
Massive Attack Mezzanine	3.5
Spoon Series of Sneaks	4.0
Jeff Mangum Live At XFM	4.0
Neutral Milk Hotel In the Aeroplane Over the Sea	5.0
The Microphones Tests	2.5
Radiohead Airbag/How Am I Driving?	4.0

1997
Metallica Reload	3.0
Modest Mouse The Lonesome Crowded West	5.0
Death Cab for Cutie You Can Play These Songs With Chords	3.0
The Promise Ring Nothing Feels Good	4.0
Oasis Be Here Now	3.5
Godspeed You! Black Emperor F♯ A♯ ∞	5.0
This record sounds the way I feel inside most of the time. It is indisputably sad, unique, powerful, terrifying and heartachingly gorgeous.
Radiohead OK Computer	5.0
Modest Mouse The Fruit That Ate Itself	4.0
Yo La Tengo I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One	5.0
Spiritualized Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space	5.0
Elliott Smith Either/Or	5.0
Built to Spill Perfect from Now On	5.0
Pavement Brighten the Corners	4.5
Daft Punk Homework	3.5
Sigur Ros Von	3.0
Mogwai Young Team	5.0

1996
Ghostface Killah Ironman	4.5
Weezer Pinkerton	5.0
The Olivia Tremor Control Music From The Unrealized Film Script	4.5
Modest Mouse Interstate 8	3.5
Metallica Load	2.5
Built to Spill The Normal Years	4.5
Smog Kicking a Couple Around	4.5
Modest Mouse This Is a Long Drive for Someone with Nothing to Think About	5.0
Spoon Telephono	4.0
Neutral Milk Hotel On Avery Island	4.5
Tortoise Millions Now Living Will Never Die	3.0
The Halo Benders Don't Tell Me Now	4.0
If you like Built to Spill, The Silver Jews, and Smog, then this is the album for you. Amazing set of laid-back, stoner surf rock suffused with a sense of sincerity that interacts wonderfully with the playful, often tongue-in-cheek, lyrical segments. Highly recommended for fans of Doug Martsch and his work with Built To Spill. I was very surprised that this was not already on Sputnik!
Jeff Mangum Live At Aquarius Records	4.0

1995
GZA Liquid Swords	5.0
The Smashing Pumpkins Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness	4.5
The Dismemberment Plan !	3.5
Raekwon Only Built 4 Cuban Linx...	5.0
Elliott Smith Elliott Smith	5.0
Pavement Wowee Zowee	3.5
Oasis (What's the Story) Morning Glory?	5.0
Hum You'd Prefer an Astronaut	3.5
Radiohead The Bends	4.5
Death Symbolic	4.5

1994
Nirvana MTV Unplugged in New York	4.5
Oasis Definitely Maybe	5.0
THE quintessential British rock album of my generation. 51 minutes of the most melodic, roughshod, bloody lively collection of tunes of the entire 1990s. The perfect album for the perfect place in history. Amazing.
Dinosaur Jr. Without a Sound	4.0
Elliott Smith Roman Candle	5.0
The Halo Benders God Don't Make No Junk	4.0
A keystone in mid-ninties indie stoner/surf rock music. Released the same year as co-lead singer Doug Martsch's more popular band, Bulit To Spill's classic, "There's Nothing Wrong With Love, this record sounds quite different, yet undoubtedly is imbued with a bit of the aforementioned band's DNA. The dual vocals, although a bit wearisome at first, eventually grow on the listener and becoming inviting, funny, and interesting. If sparse Built To Spill with a bit of Bill Callahan/Smog vocals sounds appealing to you, this is the band for you. Oh, and don't touch my bikini!
Sonic Youth Experimental Jet Set, Trash, and No Star	3.0
Weezer Weezer	5.0
Pavement Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain	5.0
The Sea And Cake The Sea And Cake	4.0
This is the first album I've listened to from The Sea and Cake, as I wanted to follow their progression as a band from their first record through their most recent. Upon first listen, this music speaks to me; serpentine, slinking, spiraling guitar melodies dance rhythmically with subdued, yet often surprisingly nimble bass lines. The vocals are hushed and buried under a soft lo-fi haze, but they are pretty and emotive at heart. This band reminds me of a perfect hybrid of Pinback, Pavement, and Built To Spill. Incredibly good rock record. I have a feeling this will reward multiple listens.
Neutral Milk Hotel Everything Is	4.5
Slint Slint	4.5
Philip Glass Etudes for Piano, Vol. 1	4.5
Chillingly pretty and undeniably unique, Philip Glass' Etudes for Piano, Vol. 1 is a tour de force of elegant, melancholy minimalism and a reaching, searching collection of primaly sophisticated music. Brilliant.
Built to Spill There's Nothing Wrong with Love	5.0
Perhaps my personal favorite album of Built To Spill's. This is the record over which I feel in love with their approach to music and life in general. I can put this on anytime and instantly be dragged back to the salty summer air blowing through my hair as I bonded with these tunes over the warm months of 2006. Absolutley gorgeous in the most broken, fragile sense I've ever heard in a rock band. A milestone for all independent rock music.

1993
Wu-Tang Clan Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)	4.5
A Tribe Called Quest Midnight Marauders	5.0
Yo La Tengo Painful	4.0
Nirvana In Utero	5.0
Fugazi In on the Kill Taker	4.5
Pavement Westing (By Musket and Sextant)	3.5
Radiohead Pablo Honey	3.5
Dinosaur Jr. Where You Been	4.0
Built to Spill Ultimate Alternative Wavers	4.5

1992
Pavement Slanted and Enchanted	4.5
Sonic Youth Dirty	4.5
Ride Going Blank Again	4.0
Aphex Twin Selected Ambient Works 85-92	4.0
Treepeople Something Vicious for Tomorrow / Time Whore	4.5

1991
Talk Talk Laughing Stock	5.0
Dinosaur Jr. Whatever's Cool with Me	3.0
Nirvana Nevermind	5.0
Metallica Metallica	4.0
Dinosaur Jr. Green Mind	4.0
Pixies Trompe Le Monde	4.0
Slint Spiderland	5.0

1990
Angelo Badalamenti Twin Peaks	5.0
Pixies Bossanova	3.5
Sonic Youth Goo	4.0
Daniel Johnston 1990	4.5

1989
Nirvana Bleach	4.0
The Stone Roses The Stone Roses	4.5
Slint Tweez	4.5
Pixies Doolittle	5.0
Fugazi 13 Songs	3.5
Treepeople Guilt Regret Embarrassment	4.5

1988
Metallica ...And Justice for All	4.5
Pixies Surfer Rosa	4.5

1987
Dinosaur Jr. You're Living All Over Me	4.5
Awesomely fuzzed out, chunky guitars fill out this sprawl of hazy, half-baked lyrics and stoned-out metaphors. The riffs are hooky, catchy, yet never soft; they maintain an element of slinky danfer, even at their most playful and lyrical. J. Mascis' penchant for speak-singing his lyrics works especially well on this record. The mixing is rough, yet perfectly suited to his lamenting, wilting voice. You're Living All Over Me nails the perfect balance between pop sensibilities and rock aesthetics. The resulting noise is best summed up in my favorite track of the record, "Sludgefeast."
Pixies Come On Pilgrim	4.0
A brilliant debut for a legendary band, Caribou finds the Pixies in a state of playful agitation, churning out rough hewn gem after gem. The jittery guitar slides on "Vamos" are fantastic, and "Nimrod's Son", "Carbiou", and "Levitate Me" are all fucking awesome in their own ways.

1986
Beastie Boys Licensed to Ill	3.5
Metallica Master of Puppets	5.0

1984
Metallica Ride the Lightning	4.5
Bob Marley and The Wailers Legend	4.5
The Replacements Let It Be	4.0

1983
The Rolling Stones Undercover	2.0
Metallica Kill 'Em All	4.0
Talking Heads Speaking in Tongues	3.0

1980
Joy Division Closer	4.5

1979
Joy Division Unknown Pleasures	4.5

1978
Steve Reich Music for 18 Musicians	5.0

1977
Iggy Pop The Idiot	4.5
Television Marquee Moon	4.5
Brian Eno Before and After Science	3.5

1976
Ramones Ramones	4.0

1975
Bob Dylan Blood on the Tracks	5.0

1973
Roxy Music For Your Pleasure	4.0
Pink Floyd The Dark Side of the Moon	5.0
If you have ever had any interest in getting lost, quite literally, in a body of music, look no further. Floyd's epic, sprawling, spooky, enthralling, downright beautiful meditation on the brevity of life, the immenence of death, the problems of war, poverty, and insanity, and the search for some over-arching truth that might illuminate or explain everything. Then again, listening to the album, one gets the distinct feeling that Waters and Gilmour did not believe in the possibility of a coherent response to the questions they bemoaned so elegantly. "All that you touch, and all that you see, is all your life will ever be." A masterpiece of classic, progressive rock and enduringly resounding testament to the power of curiosty.
Faces Ooh La la	4.0
Dreamies Auralgraphic Entertainment	4.0
At age 28, Bill Holt dropped out of society, quit his job, and secluded himself in a basement for a over a year. What emerged from his time underground is the record Dreamies. Written as a both a response and homage to The Beatles' "Revolution Number 9", Dreamies builds ominously atop a slowly, deliberately strummed four chord progression, as soundclips from the likes of JFK are gradually woven in, and twitchy, sinister synth flourishes added. Composed of two tracks, "Program Ten" and "Program Eleven," the record plays well only as a whole. It is a true album, intended to be heard in one sitting. Holt re-released a newly remasterd version of Dreamies in 2006, with the two songs seperated masterfully into two suites comprised of six and seven tracks respectively. Listening to Dreamies is meant to be a fully immersive aural experience, and, in all likelihood, designed to be heard in an altered state of consciousness. I love this album; it exudes an eerie quality that lends itself to feeling like an artificact of some lost civilization. Take the plunge if you dare.

1972
The Rolling Stones Exile on Main St.	5.0
Why isn't there a 6 rating, for Perfect?
Nick Drake Pink Moon	5.0

1971
T. Rex Electric Warrior	3.0
Nick Drake Bryter Layter	4.5
Miles Davis Jack Johnson	5.0

1970
The Kinks Lola vs. Powerman and the Moneygoround	4.5
Grateful Dead American Beauty	3.0
Bob Dylan New Morning	5.0
The Velvet Underground Loaded	4.0
Black Sabbath Paranoid	4.5
Creedence Clearwater Revival Cosmo's Factory	5.0
Jimi Hendrix Band of Gypsys	5.0
Van Morrison Moondance	5.0
Black Sabbath Black Sabbath	5.0

1969
The Rolling Stones Let It Bleed	4.5
The Velvet Underground The Velvet Underground	5.0
Creedence Clearwater Revival Willy and the Poor Boys	5.0
Blind Faith Blind Faith	4.5
Nick Drake Five Leaves Left	4.5
Miles Davis In a Silent Way	5.0
Bob Dylan Nashville Skyline	4.0
Creedence Clearwater Revival Bayou Country	4.5

1968
The Rolling Stones Beggars Banquet	4.5
The Beatles The Beatles	5.0
Van Morrison Astral Weeks	5.0
The Band Music from Big Pink	4.5
Creedence Clearwater Revival Creedence Clearwater Revival	4.5
Thelonious Monk Monk's Blues	4.0

1967
The Velvet Underground The Velvet Underground & Nico	5.0
Nico Chelsea Girl	4.0

1966
The Beatles Revolver	5.0
Bob Dylan Blonde on Blonde	5.0
The Beach Boys Pet Sounds	5.0

1965
Bob Dylan Highway 61 Revisited	5.0
Bob Dylan Bringing It All Back Home	5.0
John Coltrane A Love Supreme	4.5
Vince Guaraldi Trio A Charlie Brown Christmas	5.0
Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown! The best Christmas album of all time; this album shall be forever innocent, pure. Christmas morning simply seems hollow without this playing merrily and softly in the background, draping its warm, soft arms about you and declaring: "All is well."

1964
Sam Cooke Sam Cooke At The Copa	5.0
Sam Cooke Ain't That Good News	5.0
The keystone of modern soul, Sam Cooke is indesputably the greatest R&B singer/songwriter of all time. Ain't That Good News features some of Sam's best songs, including "Good Times", and was recorded soon after the drowning death of his 18-month old son. The bittersweet agony in Sam's voice is palpable, yet this album sounds much more like a celebration of life than a mourning of its brevity. Ain't That Good News is the stuff of legend.

1963
Bob Dylan The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan	5.0
Charles Mingus The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady	5.0

1962
Bob Dylan Bob Dylan	4.5

1961
Ornette Coleman Free Jazz: A Collective Improvisation	5.0
John Coltrane Olé Coltrane	4.0

1960
Miles Davis Sketches of Spain	5.0
Music as sublime, understated, and unnervingly powerful as the sun baked hillsides and beautiful night skyskapses from which it sprang. Undisputedly one of Miles Davis' most subtle, sultry, and whimsical albums, Sketches of Spain is an exercise in impressionistic painting with a sonic palate. And the landscape which Mr. Davis paints is, to put it mildly, supremely beautiful.

1959
Miles Davis Kind of Blue	5.0
Ornette Coleman The Shape of Jazz to Come	4.5

1958
Miles Davis Porgy and Bess	4.0

1957
Miles Davis 'Round About Midnight	4.5

1824
Ludwig van Beethoven Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125	5.0

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