| 2012 |
| Bruno Mars Unorthodox Jukebox | 3.0 |
| Captain Murphy Duality | 3.0 |
| Deftones Koi No Yokan | 4.0 |
| Titus Andronicus Local Business | 2.5 |
| Kendrick Lamar good kid, m.A.A.d city | 3.0 |
| Dynfari Sem Skugginn | 3.0 |
| The Haarp Machine Disclosure | 2.0 |
| Coheed and Cambria The Afterman: Ascension | 3.5 |
| Converge All We Love We Leave Behind | 4.0 |
| Borgore Turn Up | 1.0 |
| Why? Mumps, Etc. | 4.0 |
| Tame Impala Lonerism | 3.5 |
| A newly leaked album with 3 classics already. I believe it, give it to me |
| Macklemore and Ryan Lewis The Heist | 3.0 |
| Death Grips No Love Deep Web | 2.0 |
| Godstopper What Matters | 3.0 |
| John Frusciante PBX Funicular Intaglio Zone | 3.5 |
| Deadmau5 >album title goes here< | 1.5 |
| Title Fight Floral Green | 3.0 |
| Grizzly Bear Shields | 3.0 |
| Abel (NY) Make It Right | 3.0 |
| How to Dress Well Total Loss | 3.5 |
| Devin Townsend Project Epicloud | 4.0 |
| Menomena Moms | 4.0 |
| GOOD Music Cruel Summer | 2.5 |
| The xx Coexist | 2.5 |
| Animal Collective Centipede Hz | 2.0 |
| Album should be called 'Preppy Rich Kids Still Have No Ideas, Pt. III: Now Even More Grating" |
| Mono For My Parents | 2.5 |
| Propagandhi Failed States | 3.5 |
| Blut Aus Nord 777 - Cosmosophy | 3.5 |
| Skrillex Make It Bun Dem After Hours | 1.0 |
| Dan Deacon America | 2.5 |
| Circa Survive Violent Waves | 3.5 |
| Minus the Bear Infinity Overhead | 3.5 |
| The Chariot One Wing | 4.5 |
| Matthew Dear Beams | 2.5 |
| Swans The Seer | 4.0 |
| Giles Corey Deconstructionist | 2.0 |
| Wished it was a real album |
| Ash Borer Cold of Ages | 3.0 |
| Why? Sod In The Seed | 3.0 |
| Buckethead The Shores of Molokai | 3.5 |
| Dead Can Dance Anastasis | 4.0 |
| TNGHT TNGHT | 1.0 |
| The Gaslight Anthem Handwritten | 2.5 |
| Purity Ring Shrines | 3.0 |
| The Antlers Undersea | 3.5 |
| Om Advaitic Songs | 4.0 |
| Dark Time Sunshine ANX | 4.5 |
| Flea Helen Burns | 4.0 |
I'm actually quite surprised at how outside-the-lines Flea can color while staying not only
bearable, but greatly interesting - and with refreshing intention. This moves through a lot
of excited electronic breakbeats, tasteful trumpet flutters, piano and choir segments, stuttering synths, and it makes for an overall worthy EP, showing how far the L.A. punk has come in his long musical journey.
And, of course, there's a great vocal part from Patti Smith on the title
track.
|
| Frank Ocean channel ORANGE | 3.0 |
| Baroness Yellow and Green | 3.5 |
| Much better than Centipede Hz |
| Nas Life Is Good | 4.0 |
Post-divorce Nas rises above the frustrations of mo'money, mo'ex-wife problems, and
half-assed albums of his past. The production is superb and the Amy Winehouse track is
well... conclusively, a really nice touch. Lyrics are personal and the beats are glorious.
The result is a newborn Nas laughing it all off with his ex-wife's green wedding dress on
the cover saying, "You know what? Fuck it. Life is good." |
| John Frusciante Letur-Lefr | 4.5 |
Upon hearing "synth-pop" and "electronica" thrown around about this EP, I was expecting a
throwback to To Record Only Water and I felt myself quietly accepting it. Then John
smacks me right the fuck in the face with an unexpectedly cathartic glitch/hip-hop expedition
that is as impressively cohesive as it is flavorfully tense |
| Indigo Symbol #7 | 4.0 |
| Sudatsuga Blue Moon Saiyeed | 4.0 |
| Family of the Year Loma Vista | 2.5 |
| Serj Tankian Harakiri | 3.5 |
| Der Weg Einer Freiheit Unstille | 3.5 |
| DIIV Oshin | 2.0 |
DIIV join in on the sound of the moment without feeling the need to personalize, flavor, or
put any amount of effort into uniqueness. Reverb instead of soul, shimmers instead of heart,
and blandness instead of demand. You have already albums that have honed this sound into
something more substantial. Move on, beat a new dead horse, already, Brooklyn. |
| Bosse-de-Nage III | 3.5 |
| Gojira L'Enfant Sauvage | 4.0 |
| The Smashing Pumpkins Oceania | 3.0 |
| Fiona Apple The Idler Wheel... | 3.5 |
| Borgore Decisions | 1.0 |
| Metric Synthetica | 2.5 |
| Jukebox the Ghost Safe Travels | 2.5 |
| The Tallest Man on Earth There's No Leaving Now | 3.5 |
| Joey Badass 1999 | 3.5 |
| Celldweller Wish Upon a Blackstar | 4.0 |
| Rush Clockwork Angels | 4.5 |
| Future of the Left The Plot Against Common Sense | 4.5 |
| iamamiwhoami Kin | 4.5 |
| Sing in grass and sassafrass, gotta 4.5 dat ass |
| The Temper Trap The Temper Trap | 2.5 |
| Fear Factory The Industrialist | 4.0 |
| Japandroids Celebration Rock | 2.5 |
| Liars WIXIW | 3.0 |
sans sans sans sans sans sans sans sans sans sans sans sans sans sans sans sans sans sans
sans sans sans sans sans sans without sans sans |
| Dr. Acula Nation | 1.0 |
| Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros Here | 2.0 |
| Art By Numbers Reticence: The Musical | 3.0 |
| Sigur Ros Valtari | 3.0 |
| alt-J An Awesome Wave | 3.0 |
An interesting find, this is raw and felt in the right ways. Though only after a few listens
it is clear this won't stay with me long after June. The vocals are most definitely what
they view as their selling point, using hipsters' sensitive reflex to call 'cultured' to
their advantage. His voice teeters between sounding tired or annoyingly twang, instead.
But in the same breath, I also wouldn't put it past these guys to possibly make one of my
favorite albums in the future. |
| Knife Party Rage Valley | 1.0 |
| Dark Tranquillity Zero Distance | 3.5 |
| Mount Eerie Clear Moon | 4.0 |
| El-P Cancer 4 Cure | 5.0 |
| Best Coast The Only Place | 1.5 |
| Beach House Bloom | 2.5 |
| Tenacious D Rize of the Fenix | 3.5 |
| mewithoutYou Ten Stories | 4.0 |
| It's like a mixture of A and B if B was a bit more muted as heard on #1. Because #3 was not at all as memorable or youthful as #2, they added C in the name of something called influence and now this album sounds like #4 - either on par, beyond or below your expectations for the band you secretly wish you were a part of but are forced to critique from afar |
| Killer Mike R.A.P. Music | 4.5 |
| Wodensthrone Curse | 4.0 |
| Silversun Pickups Neck of the Woods | 3.0 |
| OFF! OFF! | 3.0 |
| Cattle Decapitation Monolith of Inhumanity | 3.5 |
| Hop Along Get Disowned | 2.5 |
| Sometimes you have to know when to call out bullshit |
| Reptar Body Faucet | 1.5 |
| Tell this guy to stick to one voice to sound terrible in |
| Santigold Master of My Make-Believe | 2.0 |
| Dot Hacker Inhibition | 4.5 |
| oOoOO Our Loving Is Hurting Us | 2.0 |
| Marilyn Manson Born Villain | 4.0 |
| The Dandy Warhols This Machine | 2.0 |
| Death Grips The Money Store | 3.0 |
| I don't know guys. It is an interesting hit and immediately compelling but after a couple days, I stare back at my stereo when this is playing and just go "ALRIGHT WILL YOU PLEASE SHUT THE FUCK UP FOR A MINUTE" |
| Magic Wands Aloha Moon | 3.0 |
| Jack White Blunderbuss | 3.5 |
| Eve 6 Speak in Code | 3.5 |
| Torche Harmonicraft | 4.0 |
| Storm Corrosion Storm Corrosion | 3.5 |
| Animal Collective Transverse Temporal Gyrus | 2.5 |
| Dry The River Shallow Bed | 2.0 |
| Mumford & Sons part 2: The Crying-ing |
| Horse Feathers Cynic's New Year | 2.5 |
| Jason Mraz Love Is a Four Letter Word | 3.0 |
| Dead Sara Dead Sara | 3.0 |
| The Lumineers The Lumineers | 2.0 |
| BADBADNOTGOOD BBNG2 | 3.0 |
| Chromatics Kill for Love | 2.0 |
| The Mars Volta Noctourniquet | 2.5 |
If the single was any indication, this is pretty fucking disappointing. Although "Malkin
Jewel" is still the worst song, not many are memorable. Except for "Dyslexicon" which sounds
like an AtDI B-side
Future punk sucks. Back to Bedlam in Goliath |
| XXYYXX XXYYXX | 3.0 |
| Tanlines Mixed Emotions | 2.0 |
| Secrets of the Moon Seven Bells | 4.0 |
| Say Anything Anarchy, My Dear | 1.0 |
| Hands Like Houses Ground Dweller | 2.5 |
| Ceremony (USA-CA) Zoo | 1.5 |
| Andrew Bird Break It Yourself | 4.0 |
| Borgore Flex | 1.0 |
How the fuck does this asshole have around 5 releases above an avg 3 ratingrWhat the is
happening to this world You're all ruining |
| The Magnetic Fields Love At The Bottom Of The Sea | 3.0 |
| Caravan Palace Panic | 3.5 |
| Pond (AUS) Beard, Wives, Denim | 4.0 |
| Wires Shadows EP | 3.0 |
| Drudkh Eternal Turn of the Wheel | 3.5 |
| Sleigh Bells Reign of Terror | 1.0 |
| fun. Some Nights | 2.5 |
| Farewell Republic Burn the Boats | 3.0 |
| Buckethead Electric Sea | 4.5 |
| Dot Hacker Dot Hacker | 4.5 |
| Eluveitie Helvetios | 3.5 |
| Addaura Burning for the Ancient | 3.5 |
| The Omega Experiment The Omega Experiment | 2.0 |
| Burial Kindred | 3.0 |
| John Talabot Fin | 3.5 |
Not too bad. Not too unique or progressive in the grand scheme of things, but still good for
what it is. Will make you consistently feel things you're comfortable feeling. |
| of Montreal Paralytic Stalks | 2.5 |
| A Place to Bury Strangers Onwards To The Wall | 3.0 |
| Van Halen A Different Kind of Truth | 3.5 |
| The Twilight Sad No One Can Ever Know | 3.5 |
| Therapy? A Brief Crack of Light | 4.0 |
| Grimes Visions | 2.5 |
| Django Django Django Django | 2.0 |
| Mangled out-of-place shapes fitted onto landscapes. 2012 year of geometrical album covers. We're intelligent indie, bro, math in hea |
| Lana Del Rey Born to Die | 3.0 |
| Pop. 1280 The Horror | 1.5 |
Sort of really sucks. Annoying punk noise with more color in their facebook biography than
their music - and I suppose they're "dark" because they've experienced their first boner
while thinking about the apocalypse. |
| Cloud Nothings Attack on Memory | 2.0 |
| Porcelain Raft Strange Weekend | 2.5 |
| Crosses EP II | 3.5 |
| The Devil's Blood The Thousandfold Epicentre | 2.5 |
| Enter Shikari A Flash Flood of Colour | 3.0 |
| JJ Brine President of Mozambique | 2.5 |
| Kitty The Lizzie Mcguire Experience | 2.5 |
| 2010 |
| The World Is a Beautiful Place... Josh Is Dead | 2.0 |
| Sorry. It feels like they were forced to call it emo because no one in this band can sing an actual note |
| Roar I Can't Handle Change | 4.0 |
| Deadmau5 4x4=12 | 2.0 |
| Frank Turner Rock & Roll | 2.5 |
| Circa Survive Appendage | 3.5 |
| Tigers Jaw Two Worlds | 2.5 |
| Kanye West My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy | 3.5 |
| Choke a fuckin' South Park writer with a fishstick |
| Cradle of Filth Darkly, Darkly, Venus Aversa | 2.5 |
| Kid Cudi Man on the Moon II: The Legend of Mr. Rager | 3.0 |
| Cee Lo Green The Lady Killer | 3.5 |
| Wild Orchid Children The Wild Orchid Children Are Alexander Supertramp | 3.5 |
| Atheist Jupiter | 4.0 |
| Matt and Kim Sidewalks | 2.0 |
| Bear Hands Burning Bush Supper Club | 4.0 |
| Electric Wizard Black Masses | 3.0 |
| MellowHype BLACKENEDWHITE | 3.5 |
| Trophy Scars Darkness, Oh Hell | 3.5 |
| Young the Giant Young the Giant | 3.0 |
| Avey Tare Down There | 3.0 |
| Ghost (SWE) Opus Eponymous | 3.5 |
| Buckethead Captain Eo's Voyage | 4.0 |
| Kings of Leon Come Around Sundown | 4.0 |
| Kids and Explosions Shit Computer | 3.0 |
| Motionless in White Creatures | 2.0 |
| Kno Death Is Silent | 3.5 |
| Sufjan Stevens The Age of Adz | 5.0 |
Music is a personal opinion, yes. There are exceptions though. You either love this album for
all its anxiety and beauty and paranoia, or you had an ear infection while listening. Sufjan
deserves all the blowjobs he receives |
| Flux Pavilion Lines in Wax | 2.0 |
| Benoit Pioulard Lasted | 4.0 |
| oOoOO oOoOO | 2.5 |
| Tim Kasher The Game of Monogamy | 3.0 |
| Grimes Halfaxa | 2.0 |
| Women Public Strain | 2.0 |
| This is making me hate music, so I stopped |
| Twin Shadow Forget | 3.0 |
| Jimmy Eat World Invented | 3.0 |
| Deerhunter Halcyon Digest | 4.0 |
| Borgore Borgore Ruined Dubstep (Part 2) | 1.0 |
| No Age Everything In Between | 2.5 |
| Serj Tankian Imperfect Harmonies | 3.0 |
| John Legend and the Roots Wake Up! | 3.0 |
| How to Dress Well Love Remains | 3.5 |
| Drudkh Handful of Stars | 3.0 |
| Weezer Hurley | 3.0 |
| Mar De Grises Streams Inwards | 3.5 |
| Oceansize Self Preserved While The Bodies Float Up | 4.0 |
| The Walkmen Lisbon | 4.0 |
| Grinderman Grinderman 2 | 4.0 |
| Royksopp Senior | 3.0 |
| Interpol Interpol | 3.0 |
| Anberlin Dark Is the Way, Light Is a Place | 3.0 |
| Gnaw Their Tongues L'arrivée de la Terne Mort Triomphante | 4.0 |
| Iron Chic Not Like This | 3.0 |
| Philip Selway Familial | 3.0 |
| !!! Strange Weather, Isn't It? | 2.5 |
| S. Carey All We Grow | 4.0 |
| The Devil Wears Prada Zombie | 2.0 |
| Klaxons Surfing the Void | 2.5 |
| Adebisi Shank This is the Second Album | 4.0 |
| Orbs Asleep Next to Science | 3.5 |
| Mike Posner 31 Minutes To Takeoff | 2.5 |
| Wavves King of the Beach | 1.0 |
| Matthew Dear Black City | 2.5 |
| Arcade Fire The Suburbs | 3.0 |
| Avenged Sevenfold Nightmare | 3.0 |
| Menomena Mines | 4.0 |
| Birds Of Tokyo Birds Of Tokyo | 3.5 |
| Jimmy Gnecco The Heart | 3.0 |
| New Politics New Politics | 1.5 |
| Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse Dark Night of the Soul | 3.5 |
| Martina Topley-Bird Some Place Simple | 3.0 |
| Brandon Boyd The Wild Trapeze | 3.5 |
| Big Boi Sir Lucious Left Foot | 4.0 |
| My Epic Yet | 4.0 |
| Witchery Witchkrieg | 3.0 |
| Wolf Parade Expo 86 | 3.5 |
| Maps and Atlases Perch Patchwork | 3.5 |
| Ceschi The One Man Band Broke Up | 4.0 |
| Borgore Borgore Ruined Dubstep (Part 1) | 1.0 |
| Eminem Recovery | 4.0 |
| The Gaslight Anthem American Slang | 3.0 |
| Foals Total Life Forever | 4.0 |
| Against Me! White Crosses | 2.5 |
| The State Lottery When the Night Comes | 4.0 |
| Celeste Morte(s) Nee(s) | 3.5 |
| The Smashing Pumpkins Teargarden by Kaleidyscope, Vol. 1 | 2.5 |
| Far At Night We Live | 3.5 |
| Rosetta A Determinism of Morality | 4.0 |
| Borgore Birthday And The Black November/Ambient Dub Shit | 1.0 |
| Pendulum Immersion | 3.0 |
| Band of Horses Infinite Arms | 2.5 |
| VESSL Goddess | 3.0 |
| Dead Letter Circus This Is The Warning | 3.5 |
| Gayngs Relayted | 3.0 |
| CocoRosie Grey Oceans | 3.0 |
| Sage Francis Li(f)e | 3.0 |
| The Dead Weather Sea of Cowards | 3.5 |
| The National High Violet | 4.0 |
| Minus the Bear Omni | 3.0 |
| The Hold Steady Heaven Is Whenever | 3.0 |
| The Austerity Program Backsliders and Apostates Will Burn | 3.5 |
| Broken Social Scene Forgiveness Rock Record | 4.0 |
| Deftones Diamond Eyes | 5.0 |
| Omar Rodriguez-Lopez and John Frusciante Omar Rodriguez-Lopez and John Frusciante | 3.0 |
| Micah P. Hinson Micah P. Hinson and the Pioneer Saboteurs | 3.5 |
| The Radio Dept. Clinging to a Scheme | 3.0 |
| Shugo Tokumaru Port Entropy | 3.5 |
| Plants and Animals La La Land | 3.0 |
| Caribou Swim | 3.5 |
| Circa Survive Blue Sky Noise | 4.0 |
| Dark Time Sunshine Vessel | 4.0 |
| MGMT Congratulations | 2.0 |
| Sky Eats Airplane The Sound of Symmetry | 2.5 |
| Cancer Bats Bears, Mayors, Scraps & Bones | 3.0 |
| letlive. Fake History | 3.0 |
| Coheed and Cambria Year of the Black Rainbow | 4.0 |
| Darwin Deez Darwin Deez | 3.0 |
| Secret And Whisper Teenage Fantasy | 3.0 |
| Red Sparowes The Fear Is Excruciating, But Therein... | 3.0 |
| Murder by Death Good Morning, Magpie | 3.0 |
| Dr. Dog Shame, Shame | 3.0 |
| PM Today In Medias Res | 3.0 |
| Jonsi Go | 3.5 |
| Portugal. The Man American Ghetto | 3.0 |
American Ghetto is sort of like waiting for the water in your ice tray to freeze so you can enjoy it in a drink. By the time a solid object is present, it really wasn't worth the wait in the first place. The usually bleary drum beats, high-whining hooks that always seem to be climbing down - the gameplan has been foiled by now. We're just waiting for guys to get 'roided up so the game can become entertaining again.
No one track stands out except for the surprisingly focused and alive closer, "When the War Ends" that revives itself at the end dressed in disco. Unfortunately, for the most part the songs stand cowardly and lost in the band's expanding cloud of dormancy.
Songs I remember:
"1000 Years"
"When the War Ends" |
| Medications Completely removed | 3.5 |
| Earl Sweatshirt EARL | 2.5 |
| Erykah Badu New Amerykah Part Two: Return of the Ankh | 3.5 |
| Envy On The Coast Lowcountry | 4.5 |
| The Dillinger Escape Plan Option Paralysis | 3.0 |
| Six Gallery Breakthroughs in Modern Art | 4.0 |
| Scuba Triangulation | 3.5 |
| Immolation Majesty and Decay | 4.5 |
| Titus Andronicus The Monitor | 2.5 |
| Gorillaz Plastic Beach | 2.5 |
| Broken Bells Broken Bells | 3.5 |
| Burzum Belus | 3.0 |
| Gonjasufi A Sufi and a Killer | 3.5 |
| Shot Heard Around The World How Empty We've Become | 2.0 |
| Rogue Wave Permalight | 4.0 |
| Two Door Cinema Club Tourist History | 3.5 |
| Murmuure Murmuure | 4.0 |
| Fang Island Fang Island | 2.5 |
| Shearwater The Golden Archipelago | 3.5 |
| Electric President The Violent Blue | 3.5 |
| Autechre Oversteps | 3.0 |
| The Audition Great Danger | 3.0 |
| Borgore Ice Cream | 1.0 |
| Pantha Du Prince Black Noise | 4.0 |
| HIM Screamworks: Love In Theory And Practice | 3.0 |
| Buckethead Shadows Between The Sky | 4.0 |
| Rob Zombie Hellbilly Deluxe 2 | 3.0 |
| Hot Chip One Life Stand | 3.0 |
| Never Shout Never What Is Love? | 1.5 |
| The Magnetic Fields Realism | 3.0 |
| Orphaned Land The Never Ending Way Of ORwarriOR | 2.5 |
| Beach House Teen Dream | 3.0 |
| Jaga Jazzist One-Armed Bandit | 3.5 |
| Four Tet There is Love in You | 4.0 |
| Amestigon Sun of All Suns | 3.5 |
| Surfer Blood Astro Coast | 3.0 |
| Eels End Times | 3.0 |
| Cold War Kids Behave Yourself | 3.5 |
| Spoon Transference | 4.0 |
| Motion City Soundtrack My Dinosaur Life | 4.0 |
| OK Go Of The Blue Colour Of The Sky | 3.0 |
| Owen Pallett Heartland | 3.5 |
| Vampire Weekend Contra | 2.0 |
| Anullaby Anullaby EP | 2.0 |
| Dangers Messy, Isn't It? | 2.5 |
| Dinosaur Feathers Fantasy Memorial | 2.5 |
| Wintercult Neverending Selfhatred | 3.0 |
| 2009 |
| Tyler, the Creator Bastard | 3.5 |
| Mudvayne Mudvayne | 3.5 |
| Eminem Relapse: Refill | 3.0 |
| Sarah Fimm The Vanishing Sessions (B-Sides Part I) | 4.0 |
| Thirty Seconds to Mars This Is War | 3.0 |
| Jon Gomm Don't Panic | 4.0 |
| HRVRD The Inevitable And I | 3.0 |
| An Endless Sporadic An Endless Sporadic | 3.5 |
| Wiz Khalifa Deal or No Deal | 2.5 |
| Brown Jenkins Death Obsession | 4.0 |
| Animal Collective Fall Be Kind | 2.5 |
| A Wilhelm Scream A Wilhelm Scream | 3.5 |
| Lady Gaga The Fame Monster | 3.0 |
| Deadmau5 At Play 2 | 2.5 |
| Real Estate Real Estate | 3.0 |
| John Mayer Battle Studies | 3.5 |
Though Mayer has always been singin' the blues, Battle Studies immediately draws the
pop toy's downtrodden face. The record is an observation of post-breakup, post-abandonment,
and post-war in the form of a personal and soft sound.
The album should not be mistaken for a ballad whore, though, as you still get glimpses of
his jazzy and funky upbringing ("Crossroads", for instance, counts even though it's a
cover). But where he once was proudly holding the torch of best mainstream guitarist, John
retreats into himself and his loneliness (And who says he can't?). That said, it still may
not hit like his previous records, which were the big men on blues/pop campus.
John Mayer Side-quest: Can you spot out Taylor Swift? |
| Person L The Positives | 3.5 |
| Devin Townsend Project Addicted | 4.0 |
| Them Crooked Vultures Them Crooked Vultures | 4.0 |
Watch me not compare this to any Queens of The Stone Age album:
Them Crooked Vultures is a small journey in itself and the more you listen to it, the
more you gather what you've been craving from these specific musicians. You get to hear
Homme slowly polish his 'Best Sludge Rocker' trophy and Grohl returns to his snare flam
convulsions, and JPJ backgrounds his vox, slides guitar and sexually... basses guitars.
You would only say this drags if you've never heard a rock album before 2003 |
| Bear in Heaven Beast Rest Forth Mouth | 4.0 |
| Gaza He Is Never Coming Back | 4.0 |
| Wale Attention Deficit | 3.5 |
| Ola Podrida Belly of the Lion | 4.0 |
| Say Anything Say Anything | 2.5 |
| Say Anything is challenging themselves - to see how many 'witty' lines could overlap a standard pop-punk tune. Where this strategy worked before, something goes awry this time and compromises their lyrically stunning spirit. As a result, the album comes across to be a hopeful lunge at cutting edge and instead backfires, coming out half-great.rStill a pretty fun ride the first couple of times, but is nowhere near being lifted up to the same platform as their previous releases. The first couple of songs come off as either shaky or boring and I find myself rolling my eyes at the types of lines I once thought clever. rIf you have In Defense of the Genre and ...Is A Real Boy this is not needed.rBut you can take it in pieces and collect the songs that are good to fill up your iPod. |
| Julian Casablancas Phrazes for the Young | 3.0 |
Casablancas proves himself the safest Stroke soloist to count on.
The most refreshing thing about Phrazes for the Young is that it sounds exactly the
way it should. It's a light-on-its-feet fuzz pop collection showing off Julian's beaming
vocals through electric ruffles in a good amount of catches and hooks.
There's a satisfying amount of New York rock/punk what have you mixed with the shiny girth
of melody.
Phrazes is a great bridge between The Strokes' First Impressions and their
next project announced to be in the workings. But more importantly, it shows Casablancas'
hopefully growing ability to give us what we like about The Strokes by himself. Because with
tensions in the band escalating, who knows how long we have with the guys as a group? |
| Slayer World Painted Blood | 3.0 |
| Weezer Raditude | 2.5 |
| Well, it's like - "Put Me Back Together" and "(If You're Wondering...)" actually come across as acceptible Weezer songs (whatever that means anymore) and along with the first mentioned, there lie some songs that you get the feeling Rivers actually (miraculously) spent more than 6 minutes on.rBut then, it's like - "In The Mall": What is this, an unfunny Lonely Island song? "Can't Stop Partying": Lil Wayne with some unbelievably bad lines in a really cheap song. This couldn've been left out. "Trippin' Down The Freeway": A love song that's supposed to be cute and overwhelming but has lyrics that come across as uncomfortable. rBut the bonus song "Get Me Some" has this fancy guitarwork in it which makes you go: "Weezer is breathing in here, and alive somewhere in the musical realm - here is the proof".rWish we had a tad more proof |
| Atreyu Congregation of the Damned | 2.5 |
| Pelican What We All Come to Need | 3.5 |
| 3 (USA) Revisions | 3.5 |
| The Red Chord Fed Through the Teeth Machine | 4.0 |
| The Lawrence Arms Buttsweat and Tears | 4.0 |
| Orianthi Believe | 3.0 |
| Morrissey Swords | 3.0 |
The outtakes from You Are the Quarry,Ringleader of the Tormentors, and
Years of Refusal. Now the average Smith listener would assume any solo Morrissey song
is an unimportant Smiths song, so the thought of the B-sides of those might be daunting.
Yet, for a B-side collection, the album is very easy to put on and leave on. It's full of
unsubtle messages and thoughts, but ones that don't complete each other. In other words,
literally half-assed. Half of the album has a decently fun pulse ("Good Looking Man About
Town", "It's Hard to Walk Tall When You're Small", "Don't Make Fun of Daddy's Voice") the
other half is soft ("The Never-Played Symphonies" is a positive, but "Sweetie Pie" is a
little too forgettable) but it's all Morrissey. Meaning you're not entirely sure what's a
joke and what is him showing his goofy grandpa side.
|
| Halford Halford III - Winter Songs | 3.5 |
| Blueneck The Fallen Host | 4.0 |
| Atlas Sound Logos | 2.5 |
| Flight of the Conchords I Told You I Was Freaky | 3.0 |
| Russian Circles Geneva | 3.5 |
| Do Make Say Think Other Truths | 4.0 |
| Kings of Convenience Declaration of Dependence | 4.0 |
| Rammstein Liebe Ist Für Alle Da | 2.5 |
| Soundtrack (Film) The Twilight Saga: New Moon | 3.5 |
| The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble Here Be Dragons | 4.0 |
| Thrice Beggars | 3.0 |
The simplest thing they've ever done. Not a bad release, not an insanely captivating one, either. This time around, Thrice seem more motivated by...I don't know, 3 Doors Down?
Listen to "In Exile" and tell me that's not 3 Doors Down |
| Neon Indian Psychic Chasms | 3.0 |
| Skeletonwitch Breathing the Fire | 3.5 |
| Baroness Blue Record | 3.5 |
| The Flaming Lips Embryonic | 4.0 |
| Sole and the Skyrider Band Plastique | 4.0 |
| Tubelord Our First American Friends | 4.0 |
| Chad Smith's Bombastic Meatbats Meet the Meatbats | 4.0 |
| The Fall of Troy In the Unlikely Event | 2.0 |
| Warpaint Exquisite Corpse | 3.0 |
| Built to Spill There Is No Enemy | 3.0 |
| Matthew Good Vancouver | 3.5 |
| Relient K Forget and Not Slow Down | 4.0 |
| A Place to Bury Strangers Exploding Head | 4.0 |
| Mumford and Sons Sigh No More | 1.0 |
| Bad Lieutenant Never Cry Another Tear | 3.5 |
| Converge Axe to Fall | 4.0 |
| Portal Swarth | 4.0 |
| Paramore Brand New Eyes | 3.0 |
| AFI Crash Love | 3.5 |
| Empire! Empire! (I Was a Lonely Estate) What It Takes to Move Forward | 3.5 |
| Dethklok Dethalbum II | 4.0 |
| Strung Out Agents of the Underground | 4.5 |
| Paradise Lost Faith Divides Us - Death Unites Us | 4.0 |
| Vitalic Flashmob | 4.0 |
| Buckethead Needle In A Slunk Stack | 2.5 |
| Five Finger Death Punch War Is The Answer | 2.0 |
| Deadmau5 For Lack of a Better Name | 2.5 |
| Volcano Choir Unmap | 3.0 |
| Brand New Daisy | 3.0 |
| Why? Eskimo Snow | 3.5 |
| Islands Vapours | 3.5 |
| Skindred Shark Bites And Dog Fights | 3.0 |
| Porcupine Tree The Incident | 3.5 |
| Pearl Jam Backspacer | 3.0 |
An overall average band can actually put out a decent record. But let me tell you if you haven't heard it yet, you already know exactly how this sounds.
While still good, the fact of how Pearl Jammy it sounds is a bit of a turnoff. Generic, yes. Good, yes. Great, sometimes. Excellent, no. |
| Moneen The World I Want To Leave Behind | 3.0 |
| Caspian Tertia | 3.5 |
| A Sunny Day in Glasgow Ashes Grammar | 3.5 |
| Kid Cudi Man on the Moon: The End of Day | 4.0 |
| Muse The Resistance | 2.5 |
....What? Matt's vocals use to be godlike and the drums use to be really pounding and strong, the bass big and fuzzy...Muse used to make smart and fun music at the same time. Well...not anymore. The Resistance barely touches fun and replaces smart with goofy. Musicianship went down. Songwriting went down. The piano parts used to be intense and beautiful - they're now laughable and rare.
I can't name a single truly great track that stands out...but overall, the album is ok. I appreciate their...effort. I don't mind The Resistance being 'poppy' but I do mind it being dumb for the most part. |
| Phantogram Eyelid Movies | 3.0 |
| Sarah Fimm Red Yellow Sun | 4.0 |
| Jay-Z The Blueprint 3 | 2.0 |
| Saosin In Search Of Solid Ground | 2.0 |
| The Cribs Ignore The Ignorant | 3.0 |
| Polvo In Prism | 3.5 |
| HEALTH Get Color | 4.0 |
| Raekwon Only Built 4 Cuban Linx... Pt II | 4.0 |
| Circulatory System Signal Morning | 5.0 |
| Mariachi El Bronx El Bronx | 2.5 |
| Wodensthrone Loss | 3.5 |
| Fell Voices Fell Voices | 3.5 |
| Polar Bear Club Chasing Hamburg | 4.0 |
| Noah and the Whale The First Days of Spring | 4.0 |
| Chevelle Sci-Fi Crimes | 4.5 |
| Jet Shaka Rock | 2.5 |
| Collective Soul Rabbit | 3.0 |
| fun. Aim and Ignite | 3.5 |
Aim and Ignite's concept is what deserves a 5/5. They're pop overkill and they're
sickeningly addicting. For their certainly promising debut, fun. aim for a monumental sing
along pleasure, and yes it's a guilty one.
There are some truly excellent tracks including the optimistic and dynamic opener, "Be Calm"
or the 'alright, it's cute - you got me' track, "At Least I'm Not as Sad as I Used to Be",
but if you aren't overdosed with the pure personality and charisma like these couple of
tracks ("Barlights" also counts as a standout), you may find yourself bored and
underwhelmed. fun. lures you into craving the pansiest hooks, the most innocent feelings with
every track - but doesn't live up to that fantasy for more than half the time.
Too many tracks fall into the 'almost there' headcount which turns Aim and Ignite
into an overall attractive buffet table that you only find yourself repeatedly going back
for the sesame chicken and shrimp.
Should the band focus more on a consistent delivery for each of their penetrating sing
alongs and give each of them a more rounded entity, we may have a classic from these guys.
Just don't tell your father you listen to this. |
| Matisyahu Light | 4.0 |
| Mew No More Stories | 4.5 |
| Imogen Heap Ellipse | 4.0 |
| Arctic Monkeys Humbug | 3.5 |
| Third Eye Blind Ursa Major | 3.0 |
| Mutemath Armistice | 3.5 |
| As Tall As Lions You Can't Take It With You | 4.0 |
| Jay Reatard Watch Me Fall | 4.0 |
| Brendan Benson My Old, Familiar Friend | 4.5 |
| The xx xx | 2.5 |
| Paul Dempsey Everything Is True | 4.5 |
| Young the Giant Shake My Hand | 4.0 |
| Slaughterhouse Slaughterhouse | 3.0 |
| The Temper Trap Conditions | 3.5 |
| Behemoth Evangelion | 3.5 |
| Assjack Assjack | 3.0 |
| Throw Me The Statue Creaturesque | 3.5 |
| Modest Mouse No One's First, and You're Next | 4.0 |
| Ducktails Landscapes | 1.0 |
| Polar Bear Club The Summer of George | 3.0 |
| Amazing baby Rewild | 3.0 |
| Nazxul Iconoclast | 3.5 |
| Our Lady Peace Burn Burn | 3.5 |
| Portugal. The Man The Satanic Satanist | 4.0 |
| Rx Bandits Mandala | 4.5 |
| Cave In Planets of Old | 4.5 |
| He Is Legend It Hates You | 3.5 |
| The Dead Weather Horehound | 3.5 |
| Billy Boy On Poison Drama Junkie Queen | 2.0 |
| We Were Promised Jetpacks These Four Walls | 3.5 |
| Maxwell BLACKsummers'night (2009) | 4.0 |
| Things get hot rllllll fast |
| Florence and the Machine Lungs | 3.5 |
| Touche Amore ...To the Beat of a Dead Horse | 3.5 |
| Suicide Silence No Time to Bleed | 1.0 |
| Killswitch Engage Killswitch Engage (2009) | 2.5 |
| Alexisonfire Old Crows / Young Cardinals | 3.0 |
| Maybeshewill Sing The Word Hope In Four-Part Harmony | 4.0 |
| Moby Wait for Me | 4.0 |
| Bjork Voltaic | 4.0 |
| La Roux La Roux | 3.0 |
| Future of the Left Travels With Myself And Another | 3.5 |
| Cyne Water for Mars | 3.5 |
| Secret Chiefs 3 Traditionalists | 3.0 |
| Dinosaur Jr. Farm | 3.5 |
| The Mars Volta Octahedron | 3.5 |
| The Phenomenal Handclap Band The Phenomenal Handclap Band | 3.5 |
| Dream Theater Black Clouds and Silver Linings | 4.0 |
| The Dear Hunter Act III: Life and Death | 4.0 |
| Drudkh Microcosmos | 3.5 |
| Jack Penate Everything Is New | 3.5 |
| Panopticon Collapse | 4.0 |
| Street Sweeper Social Club Street Sweeper Social Club | 2.5 |
| Incubus (USA-CA) Monuments and Melodies | 4.0 |
| Hilltop Hoods State of the Art | 4.0 |
| Sonic Youth The Eternal | 2.5 |
| Dirty Projectors Bitte Orca | 3.0 |
| Chickenfoot Chickenfoot | 3.0 |
| dredg The Pariah, The Parrot, The Delusion | 3.5 |
| Miike Snow Miike Snow | 4.0 |
| Placebo Battle for the Sun | 3.0 |
| The Sounds Crossing the Rubicon | 2.5 |
| Taking Back Sunday New Again | 3.0 |
| Elvis Costello Secret, Profane & Sugarcane | 3.0 |
| Dave Matthews Band Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King | 3.5 |
| Emery ...In Shallow Seas We Sail | 3.5 |
| 311 Uplifter | 3.5 |
| Jeff Buckley Grace Around the World | 5.0 |
| Franz Ferdinand Blood | 3.0 |
| Broken Records Until the Earth Begins to Part | 4.0 |
| Arckanum ÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞ | 3.5 |
| Marilyn Manson The High End of Low | 3.0 |
| Crash Kings Crash Kings | 3.0 |
| Bike For Three! More Heart Than Brains | 3.5 |
| Grizzly Bear Veckatimest | 4.0 |
| Phoenix (FRA) Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix | 3.5 |
| Passion Pit Manners | 2.5 |
| CKY Carver City | 3.0 |
| Make Do and Mend Bodies Of Water | 3.0 |
| John Vanderslice Romanian Names | 3.5 |
| mewithoutYou It's All Crazy! It's All False! It's All A Dream! It's Alright! | 4.0 |
| Green Day 21st Century Breakdown | 2.5 |
| Eminem Relapse | 4.5 |
| maudlin of the Well Part the Second | 3.5 |
| Maximo Park Quicken The Heart | 3.5 |
| Busdriver Jhelli Beam | 3.0 |
| El Grupo Nuevo de Omar Rodriguez Lopez Cryptomnesia | 2.0 |
| Sunn O))) Monoliths and Dimensions | 2.5 |
| De La Soul Are You In?: Nike+ Original Run | 3.0 |
| Closure in Moscow First Temple | 3.5 |
| The Horrors Primary Colours | 4.0 |
| Japandroids Post-Nothing | 3.0 |
| Animals As Leaders Animals as Leaders | 4.0 |
| Buckethead A Real Diamond In The Rough | 4.0 |
| Gwynbleidd Nostalgia | 3.5 |
| Ozric Tentacles The Yumyum Tree | 3.5 |
| Oranssi Pazuzu Muukalainen Puhuu | 4.0 |
| ISIS Wavering Radiant | 4.0 |
| As Cities Burn Hell or High Water | 4.0 |
| Children of Nova The Complexity of Light | 4.0 |
| Manchester Orchestra Mean Everything to Nothing | 5.0 |
| Depeche Mode Sounds Of The Universe | 3.5 |
| Nicki Minaj Beam Me Up Scotty | 1.5 |
| FACT Fact | 3.0 |
| Yonlu A Society In Which No Tear is Shed... | 3.0 |
| Silversun Pickups Swoon | 4.0 |
| Bill Callahan Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle | 4.0 |
| My Heart To Joy Seasons In Verse | 3.0 |
| The Thermals Now We Can See | 3.0 |
| Metric Fantasies | 3.5 |
| Finale A Pipe Dream and a Promise | 3.5 |
| Snowing Fuck Your Emotional Bullshit | 2.0 |
| Wolves in the Throne Room Black Cascade | 3.0 |
| Gomez A New Tide | 3.5 |
| Sui Caedere Threne | 3.5 |
| Great Lake Swimmers Lost Channels | 4.0 |
| Eleventh He Reaches London Hollow Be My Name | 4.0 |
| Dan Deacon Bromst | 3.0 |
| Prince MPLSoUND | 3.0 |
| Mastodon Crack the Skye | 3.5 |
| Mono Hymn to the Immortal Wind | 4.5 |
| The Decemberists The Hazards of Love | 4.5 |
| Therapy? Crooked Timber | 4.0 |
| Band of Skulls Baby Darling Doll Face Honey | 3.0 |
If Band of Skulls came on the radio without you knowing, you would think "Does Jack White
ever find the time to fu*king eat?"
Well...he does. Because this ain't him.
However Band of Skulls do take on that rocking Raconteurs drive rand mix it with some odd
time signatures to add a small spice to this indie rock outfit. rWhile first it seems
they're standard alternative rock, their sound branches off and isn't rafraid to get
experimental. There's a female guest vocalist that kind of sketches the Alison Mosshart
sound - again bringing back the atmosphere of Jack White. "Honest" brags the pipes on
said female and then eventually makes itself out to be a chamber sounding duet.
It spreads enough for you to enjoy what's there but rocks enough for you to feel rescued.
Listen to: "I Know What I Am" "Patterns" "Impossible" |
| Kylesa Static Tensions | 4.0 |
| Borgore Gorestep Vol. 1 | 1.0 |
| Cursive Mama, I'm Swollen | 3.0 |
| Yeah Yeah Yeahs It's Blitz! | 3.5 |
| Ubiquitous Synergy Seeker Questamation | 3.5 |
| Blackout Sands Who Killed Jiminy Cricket? | 3.5 |
| Tim Hecker An Imaginary Country | 4.0 |
| Propagandhi Supporting Caste | 4.5 |
| Justin Townes Earle Midnight at the Movies | 4.0 |
| Find Me Fighting Them Its a Big Bad World and I've No Guns to Fight With | 3.5 |
| U2 No Line on the Horizon | 3.0 |
| The Whitest Boy Alive Rules | 3.5 |
| Say Hi Oohs & Aahs | 3.5 |
| The Antlers Hospice | 3.5 |
| husband&wife Dark Dark Woods | 4.0 |
| Benjy Ferree Come Back to the Dime and Five Bobby Dee Bobby Dee | 3.0 |
| The Appleseed Cast Sagarmatha | 3.5 |
| Sholi Sholi | 4.0 |
| Scale the Summit Carving Desert Canyons | 4.0 |
| Morrissey Years of Refusal | 4.0 |
| Bomb the Music Industry! Scrambles | 4.0 |
| Svarttjern Misanthropic Path of Madness | 4.0 |
| One of my favorite blacks. Pummeling, dark madness. So mad. |
| Gavin Castleton Home | 4.5 |
| Wavves Wavvves | 1.5 |
| Two Tongues Two Tongues | 2.5 |
| The Pains of Being Pure at Heart The Pains of Being Pure at Heart | 3.0 |
| The Joy Formidable A Balloon Called Moaning | 3.0 |
| Buckethead Slaughterhouse on the Prairie | 3.5 |
| Omar Rodriguez-Lopez Old Money | 3.0 |
| Franz Ferdinand Tonight: Franz Ferdinand | 3.5 |
| Matt and Kim Grand | 2.5 |
| Cymbals Eat Guitars Why There Are Mountains | 3.5 |
| Andrew Bird Useless Creatures | 3.5 |
| Andrew Bird Noble Beast | 4.0 |
| John Frusciante The Empyrean | 4.5 |
| Tera Melos Idioms, Vol. 1 | 2.5 |
| Animal Collective Merriweather Post Pavilion | 2.5 |
| Brother/Ghost Black Ice | 3.0 |
| Chiddy Bang The Swelly Express | 3.0 |
| Now, Now Every Children Cars | 3.5 |
| The Mercury Program Chez Viking | 3.5 |
| Penpal Penpal | 3.5 |
| Decoder Ring They Blind The Stars, And The Wild Team | 5.0 |
| 2008 |
| Sarah Fimm White Birds | 3.5 |
| Fall Out Boy Folie a Deux | 3.0 |
| Britney Spears Circus | 3.0 |
| Moving Mountains Foreword | 4.0 |
| The Killers Day & Age | 3.0 |
| Kanye West 808s and Heartbreak | 4.0 |
| Mudvayne The New Game | 2.0 |
| Japanther Tut Tut, Now Shake Ya Butt | 1.5 |
| La Dispute Somewhere at the Bottom of the River Between Vega and Altair | 3.0 |
| Dead Leaf Echo Pale Fire | 3.0 |
| Taylor Swift Fearless | 3.5 |
| Butch Walker Sycamore Meadows | 4.0 |
| God Is an Astronaut God Is an Astronaut | 3.5 |
| ohGr Devils In My Details | 4.0 |
| Lady Gaga The Fame | 3.0 |
| Tsunenori Landscape | 3.5 |
| Cynic Traced in Air | 4.5 |
| Up-C Down-C Left-C Right-C ABC + Start Embers | 3.0 |
| The Cure 4:13 Dream | 3.5 |
| of Montreal Skeletal Lamping | 2.5 |
| Frightened Rabbit Quietly, Now | 4.5 |
| Kaiser Chiefs Off With Their Heads | 2.5 |
| Wolff The Brass Ceiling | 4.0 |
| TTNG Animals | 4.0 |
| Gojira The Way of All Flesh | 4.5 |
| Oasis Dig Out Your Soul | 3.5 |
| Minus the Bear Acoustics | 3.5 |
| Department of Eagles In Ear Park | 3.5 |
| Goddamn Electric Bill Topics For Gossip | 4.0 |
| Wavves Wavves | 1.0 |
| Murs Murs For President | 3.0 |
| Anberlin New Surrender | 3.5 |
| Restiform Bodies TV Loves You Back | 3.5 |
| Amon Amarth Twilight of the Thunder God | 4.0 |
| Innerpartysystem Innerpartysystem | 3.5 |
| Cold War Kids Loyalty to Loyalty | 3.5 |
| TV on the Radio Dear Science | 4.0 |
| Kings of Leon Only By The Night | 4.0 |
Kings of Leon's rhythm section is evolving more and more into mellow rock gold with each
passing album. While this isn't even the Kings' breakthrough album (which was Because of
the Times), it's just as consistently excellent.
The bass and drums lock coolly and instantly, as expected, and lets loose the heartfelt
bawling of tracks like "Crawl", "Manhattan", and "Notion". It's so easy to revisit this album
and easier to just let it take over without worrying about skipping tracks. The Kings know
what they're doing and aren't jerking anyone around lyrically, Caleb speaks in primal
confessions in every song (especially the drunken "Cold Desert").
"Sex On Fire": Nathan - "I don't know where Caleb got that song from...I'm pretty sure he's
saving himself sexually for marriage. But, the song is 3 and a half minutes long and ends
with him apologizing, so maybe he's onto something..."
Lawl 4/5 |
| Buckethead Albino Slug | 4.0 |
| Buckethead The Dragons Of Eden | 4.5 |
| Passion Pit Chunk of Change | 2.5 |
| Touche Amore Touche Amore | 3.0 |
| Portugal. The Man Censored Colors | 4.0 |
| Defeater Travels | 4.5 |
| Ladyhawke Ladyhawke | 4.0 |
| Metallica Death Magnetic | 3.5 |
| The Blizzards Domino Effect | 4.0 |
| Lisa Hannigan Sea Sew | 4.0 |
| The Sound of Animals Fighting The Ocean and the Sun | 4.0 |
| Glasvegas Glasvegas | 2.5 |
| Deadmau5 Random Album Title | 3.0 |
| Tame Impala Tame Impala | 3.5 |
| Friendly Fires Friendly Fires | 4.0 |
| Sean Fournier Oh My | 4.0 |
| Rorcal Myrra, Mordvynn, Marayaa | 4.0 |
| Earshot The Silver Lining | 3.0 |
| Eisbrecher Sünde | 3.5 |
| Bloc Party Intimacy | 3.0 |
| Slipknot All Hope Is Gone | 2.5 |
| 31knots Worried Well | 3.5 |
| Deerhunter Microcastle | 4.0 |
| The Gaslight Anthem The '59 Sound | 3.5 |
| Woven Designer Codes | 4.5 |
| Anathema Hindsight | 4.0 |
| Minotaur Shock Amateur Dramatics | 4.0 |
| Zebrahead Phoenix | 2.5 |
| Person L Initial | 3.0 |
| The Airborne Toxic Event The Airborne Toxic Event | 3.0 |
| My Epic I Am Undone | 3.5 |
| Scars on Broadway Scars on Broadway | 2.5 |
| Pygmy Lush Mount Hope | 4.0 |
| Black Kids Partie Traumatic | 2.0 |
| Lackthereof Your Anchor | 3.0 |
Your Anchor is stationed on a large rock in the ocean and goes through all of its
motions. It gets washed around with messy drums that try their hardest to keep on that rock.
Then, things eventually calm down (or creep down) in the dead of night that only keeps
its endurable basslines. The vocals could either kill a song or pass it as acceptable and
thankfully about 78% of the time it's the latter.
This is an album that steers off-course sometimes, like the sloppiness of "Locked Upstairs,"
but has the ability to keep its grip such as on "Last November," "Choir Practice," or "Ask
Permission."
The cover of The National's "Fake Empire" makes an interesting still-sounded track with
an eerie twist on it. |
| The Hold Steady Stay Positive | 3.5 |
| 3OH!3 Want | 2.0 |
| Beck Modern Guilt | 3.0 |
| Birds Of Tokyo Universes | 4.0 |
| Alkaline Trio Agony and Irony | 3.5 |
| John Mayer Where the Light Is | 5.0 |
| Cage The Elephant Cage the Elephant | 3.5 |
| The Offspring Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace | 2.5 |
| Wolf Parade At Mount Zoomer | 3.0 |
| Tilly and the Wall O | 3.5 |
| My Morning Jacket Evil Urges | 3.5 |
| Weezer The Red Album | 2.5 |
| Fleet Foxes Fleet Foxes | 3.0 |
| Opeth Watershed | 4.0 |
| House Vs. Hurricane Forfeiture | 3.0 |
| Darkspace Dark Space III | 5.0 |
| Usher Here I Stand | 3.0 |
| Bonnie 'Prince' Billy Lie Down in the Light | 3.0 |
| Islands Arm's Way | 3.5 |
| The Cool Kids The Bake Sale | 3.5 |
| Paper Rival Dialog | 4.0 |
| The Dresden Dolls No, Virginia... | 3.0 |
| Sadistik The Balancing Act | 4.0 |
| Death Cab for Cutie Narrow Stairs | 3.0 |
| No-Man Schoolyard Ghosts | 3.5 |
| No Age Nouns | 3.0 |
| Nine Inch Nails The Slip | 3.0 |
| Elvis Costello Momofuku | 4.0 |
| Maybeshewill Not For Want Of Trying | 3.0 |
| Love You Moon Waxwane | 3.0 |
| Moss Sub Templum | 3.5 |
| Panopticon Panopticon | 4.5 |
| Santigold Santogold | 3.0 |
| Mindless Self Indulgence If | 3.5 |
| Blue Sky Black Death Late Night Cinema | 4.0 |
| The Envy Corps Dwell | 4.0 |
| Algernon Cadwallader Some Kind Of Cadwallader | 3.0 |
| Madonna Hard Candy | 2.5 |
| The Last Shadow Puppets The Age Of The Understatement | 3.5 |
| Flight of the Conchords Flight of the Conchords | 4.0 |
| dEUS Vantage Point | 3.0 |
| Four Tet Ringer | 3.5 |
| Ours Mercy (Dancing for the Death of an Imaginary Enemy | 4.0 |
| Thrice The Alchemy Index Vols. III & IV | 4.0 |
| Frightened Rabbit The Midnight Organ Fight | 4.0 |
| M83 Saturdays=Youth | 3.5 |
| Tim and Eric Awesome Record, Great Songs | 5.0 |
| Paul Gilbert Silence Followed By A Deafening Roar | 3.5 |
| Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin Pershing | 4.0 |
| Frank Turner Love, Ire & Song | 2.5 |
| In Flames A Sense of Purpose | 3.0 |
| Joe Satriani Professor Satchafunkilus and the Musterion of Rock | 3.5 |
| TTNG This Town Needs Guns | 3.5 |
| The Raconteurs Consolers of the Lonely | 4.0 |
| Foals Antidotes | 3.5 |
| Coldworld Melancholie² | 4.5 |
| Crystal Castles Crystal Castles | 2.0 |
| The Dodos Visiter | 4.0 |
| She and Him Volume One | 4.0 |
| Elbow The Seldom Seen Kid | 3.0 |
| Polar Bear Club Sometimes Things Just Disappear | 3.5 |
| Riddle of Steel 1985 | 3.5 |
| Why? Alopecia | 4.5 |
| The Tallest Man on Earth Shallow Grave | 3.5 |
| The Acorn Glory Hope Mountain | 3.5 |
| Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks Real Emotional Trash | 4.0 |
| Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! | 4.0 |
| Arghoslent Hornets of the Pogrom | 4.0 |
| Nine Inch Nails Ghosts I-IV | 3.5 |
| Erykah Badu New Amerykah Pt. One: 4th World War | 4.5 |
| The Mountain Goats Heretic Pride | 3.5 |
| Throw Me The Statue Moonbeams | 4.0 |
| Porcupine Tree Nil Recurring | 4.0 |
| The Mae Shi HLLLYH | 4.0 |
| Edison Glass Time Is Fiction | 4.0 |
| Vampire Weekend Vampire Weekend | 1.5 |
| The Flashbulb Soundtrack to a Vacant Life | 4.0 |
| Protest the Hero Fortress | 4.5 |
| The Mars Volta The Bedlam in Goliath | 4.5 |
| Have a Nice Life Deathconsciousness | 3.5 |
| Foxy Shazam Introducing | 3.5 |
| You Slut! Critical Meat | 3.0 |
| Get Well Soon Rest Now, Weary Head! You Will Get Well Soon | 3.0 |
| TotalSelfHatred TotalSelfHatred | 4.0 |
| Balance Problems Morning Sun | 4.0 |
| Secrets of the Moon Antithesis | 4.5 |
| 1997 |
| Sublime Second Hand Smoke | 3.0 |
| HIM Greatest Love Songs Vol. 666 | 4.0 |
| Metallica Reload | 3.0 |
| Modest Mouse The Lonesome Crowded West | 4.5 |
| In Flames Whoracle | 4.5 |
| Deftones Around the Fur | 4.5 |
| Green Day Nimrod | 3.5 |
| Bjork Homogenic | 5.0 |
| At the Drive-In El Gran Orgo | 2.5 |
| Mew A Triumph for Man | 3.5 |
| Dismember Death Metal | 3.0 |
| Incubus (USA-CA) S.C.I.E.N.C.E. | 4.5 |
| John Frusciante Smile from the Streets You Hold | 3.0 |
| Rammstein Sehnsucht | 3.5 |
| In Flames Black-Ash Inheritance | 3.0 |
| 311 Transistor | 4.5 |
It's no secret that the genre-molding quintet have a soft spot in their hearts for the solar
system (among other natural mysteries) through their vague, suggestively scientific lyrical
themes. So, when categorizing their albums in a planetary motif, Transistor is their
Jupiter album with no doubt. Huge, airy, and comfortable (one could imagine after getting
past that whole 'asphyxiation due to a simultaneous boiling and freezing of your blood'
thing).Transistor keeps the blithesomeness the band is known for but delivers it
soaked in psychedelia and allusive hip-hop ("Strangers"- Biggie's "Hypnotize"?)
that takes you on a road trip to galactic submergence. The rhythms are not only
well placed (no surprise, as Sexton and P-Nut are rarely separated brains), but this time
they're glossy and delicate. SA now uses his voice more for singing lead or backup to Hexum
rather than being called in to rap and it works marvelously over guitarist Tim Mahoney's
anti-gravity spiraling that really shapes the watery and, at times, quirky sound. This is
probably 311's most important album to date. It shows the quintet diverting from their roots
and more importantly, diverting from expectations. Although originally signed for 12 songs,
they decide to show more love rand rack it up to 21. There's no gimmick, no catch, and plenty
of time to disconnect your mind from planet Earth in this psychedelic funk vacuum. |
| u-Ziq Lunatic Harness | 3.5 |
| of Montreal Cherry Peel | 3.0 |
| Limp Bizkit Three Dollar Bill Y'all | 4.0 |
| The American Analog Set From Our Living Room To Yours | 4.5 |
| Wyclef Jean The Carnival | 3.5 |
| blink-182 Dude Ranch | 3.5 |
| Radiohead OK Computer | 4.5 |
| Pat Benatar Innamorata | 4.0 |
| Foo Fighters The Colour and the Shape | 4.0 |
| Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan The Greatest Hits of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan | 4.5 |
| Modest Mouse The Fruit That Ate Itself | 3.0 |
| Third Eye Blind Third Eye Blind | 5.0 |
The band that claimed the 90's shows the world how to ache.
Third Eye Blind may have single-handedly broke the dam for emotional and lyrical innovation in both alternative rock and pop punk. Every single moment on the album has the utmost opportunity to deliver an impact of raw, susbstantial significance with a hit-or-hit combination of atmosphere and energy.
Jenkins perfectly fuses the metaphoric and relatable words that build his transmittal into more and more of a juggernaut of sex, drugs, heartbreak, and summer fun.
The poppy elements are conspicuous through Fredianelli's always kosher guitar lines that become a sidekick for Jenkins' insistent persona and when he's taking a breather, Fredianelli rarely allows you time to become detached from the lingering hooks.
Hargreaves is a powerhouse of funk and pop punk as seen is songs like "London", or his snare chops in "Jumper" but develops a certain identity restricting the songs from sounding similar.
It's not hard to see how this band dominated the radio, yet what makes this such an interesting release is how their explicity seem to blow over the average radio-listener's head.
This will make you sing along, this will make you pick up a guitar for the first time, this will make you want to buy a drumkit, and this will make you want to write.
Whenever the topic of a classic album comes up and the distinct image of a girl holding her forehead and screaming doesn't make it's way into your head, then you're doing this 'listening to music' thing all wrong. |
| The Dismemberment Plan The Dismemberment Plan Is Terrified | 4.0 |
| Blur Blur | 3.5 |
| Shiner Lula Divinia | 4.0 |
| Elliott Smith Either/Or | 5.0 |
| Anal Cunt I Like It When You Die | 1.0 |
| Erykah Badu Baduizm | 4.0 |
| Strapping Young Lad City | 5.0 |
| Nobuo Uematsu Final Fantasy VII: Original Soundtrack | 4.5 |
| The Offspring Ixnay on the Hombre | 4.0 |
| Built to Spill Perfect from Now On | 4.0 |
| Glassjaw Kiss Kiss Bang Bang | 2.0 |
| Porcupine Tree Spiral Circus | 3.5 |
| Electric Wizard Come My Fanatics... | 4.0 |
| The Notorious B.I.G. Life After Death | 4.0 |
| Dagda Mor The Border of the Light | 4.0 |
| Everclear So Much For The Afterglow | 4.5 |
| Emperor Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk | 4.5 |
| Ween The Mollusk | 4.5 |
