| 2012 |
| MC Tristan The End of The World | 2.0 |
| blink-182 Dogs Eating Dogs | 2.0 |
| Chief Keef Finally Rich | 2.0 |
| Burial Truant/Rough Sleeper | 3.5 |
| The Game Jesus Piece | 2.0 |
| Kesha Warrior | 2.0 |
| Kesha Deconstructed | 3.0 |
| Gifts From Enola A Healthy Fear | 3.5 |
| Modern Baseball Sports | 2.5 |
| Froggy Fresh Money Maker | 1.0 |
| From Indian Lakes Able Bodies | 3.5 |
| Major League Hard Feelings | 2.0 |
| Deftones Koi No Yokan | 2.0 |
| Issues Black Diamonds | 1.5 |
| Hacktivist Hacktivist | 2.0 |
| Thriftworks Hydromancy | 3.5 |
| Solterra Umbra | 3.0 |
| The Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza Danza IIII: The Alpha - The Omega | 2.0 |
| Being as an Ocean Dear G-d | 2.0 |
| Future Idiots Neighborhoods & Morningwoods | 2.5 |
| Taylor Swift Red | 4.0 |
| P.O.S We Don't Even Live Here | 2.5 |
| Kendrick Lamar good kid, m.A.A.d city | 3.0 |
| Anberlin Vital | 3.0 |
| Night Sins New Grave | 3.5 |
| Anaal Nathrakh Vanitas | 2.5 |
| Jake Bugg Jake Bugg | 2.5 |
| Wintersun Time I | 2.5 |
| All Time Low Don't Panic | 2.0 |
| Fuck, you guys can't fucking be fucking serious. fuck |
| Hostage Calm Please Remain Calm | 3.5 |
| Converge All We Love We Leave Behind | 2.5 |
| Coheed and Cambria The Afterman: Ascension | 2.0 |
| Between the Buried and Me The Parallax II: Future Sequence | 2.0 |
| Macklemore and Ryan Lewis The Heist | 2.0 |
| Flying Lotus Until the Quiet Comes | 3.5 |
| Frank Turner Last Minutes and Lost Evenings | 2.0 |
| The guy who thought it was a good idea to put I Still Believe on two albums should be shot. |
| Hidden Orchestra Archipelago | 3.5 |
| Rome Hell Money | 3.5 |
| Muse The 2nd Law | 1.5 |
| Green Day ¡UNO! | 1.0 |
| silly bj, you're supposed to put the x's on the back of your hands, not your eyes |
| Mumford and Sons Babel | 2.0 |
| zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz |
| Handguns Angst | 2.0 |
| Clara C Esc | 3.5 |
| No Doubt Push and Shove | 2.0 |
| Go Radio Close the Distance | 2.5 |
| The Killers Battle Born | 2.0 |
| Kreayshawn Somethin' 'Bout Kreay | 1.0 |
| Title Fight Floral Green | 3.0 |
| Ben Folds Five The Sound of the Life of the Mind | 2.5 |
| Sinthesis Horseshoes and Handgrenades | 4.0 |
| Pink The Truth About Love | 2.5 |
| Jon Mess Defying Gravity | 1.0 |
| Hoobastank Fight or Flight | 2.5 |
| Spine Subhuman | 3.5 |
| The Script #3 | 1.0 |
| Mono For My Parents | 2.5 |
| My Iron Lung Grief | 3.0 |
| Yeah, I heard this a while back. I wasn't too impressed tbh. |
| Two Door Cinema Club Beacon | 2.5 |
| Imagine Dragons Night Visions | 2.5 |
| Sudatsuga Syzygy | 3.0 |
| Volcanic Queen Volcanic Queen | 3.0 |
| I can't hear/understand the vocals, there's no lyrics and when I max up the volume to listen my ears get blasted by a random bitch screaming at me... rIn other news, the train on Tombs is sweet, worked perfectly. |
| Circa Survive Violent Waves | 2.0 |
| The Chariot One Wing | 3.0 |
| Katatonia Dead End Kings | 3.0 |
| Sudatsuga Untitled | 3.5 |
| Deflate Demo | 3.0 |
| The Smith Street Band Sunshine and Technology | 2.5 |
| Owl City The Midsummer Station | 1.0 |
| Parquet Courts Light Up Gold | 2.5 |
| The Classic Crime Phoenix | 3.0 |
| Yellowcard Southern Air | 3.0 |
| Yellowcard does what Yellowcard can only do - make a Yellowcard album. |
| Love, Robot Rebuild | Rebirth | 3.0 |
| Dead Can Dance Anastasis | 3.5 |
| The American Scene Safe For Now | 2.5 |
| Somehow the American Scene manage to dive headfirst into the indie punk scene and manage to make it work out, for the most part. As expected from their last EP, comparisons to the Dangerous Summer are inescapable (most particularly in the vocals but also in the atmospheres crafted by their instruments). The vocals are also very similar to that of Maker (which doubtlessly harkens back to the Godfather of indie punk, Brand New). They are not just another indie punk band, however, the production is excellent (for one thing) and the vocals are clearer. Nothing was overly moving, but it remains consistently interesting throughout the whole album. |
| Super Snake Summer Girls | 3.0 |
| Anchors Lost at the Bottom of the World | 3.0 |
| This Is Your Life Before We Fade Away | 3.5 |
The opening song starts with an epic riff that gets almost completely ruined when the
rest of the band joins (featuring some of the most generic characteristics pop punk/hardcore
has to offer), but is thankfully picked back up quickly. The guitar work seriously makes
this band, as far as I'm concerned. It's not particularly unique or new, but it's quick
paced and unrelentingly catchy.
After subsequent listens, it becomes increasingly obvious to me that this is definitely the
best melodic hardcore I've listened to in a very long time. Between the in-song interludes
and screaming, the band manages to show impressive songwriting depth. The final track is
incredibly gripping, laced with intense cathartic desperation.
It's been a long time since I've been this interested in a band in this genre. This Is Your
Life should have no where to go from here but up. |
| Cloudkicker Fade | 3.0 |
| Electric Ills Guns | 3.5 |
| Very noisy, very fun, and very chaotic punk rock that harkens back to the 1980s. |
| Complete Freedom Alpha | 3.0 |
| This is the Trvth. tr00 m/ lives on. |
| Passion Pit Gossamer | 3.5 |
| The Gaslight Anthem Handwritten | 2.0 |
| Om Advaitic Songs | 3.0 |
| Purity Ring Shrines | 3.0 |
| Dark Time Sunshine ANX | 3.0 |
| The Antlers Undersea | 3.0 |
| Forever Came Calling Contender | 2.5 |
| TNGHT TNGHT | 2.5 |
| Sandcastle Sandcastle | 3.5 |
| A Hero a Fake The Future Again | 1.0 |
| It took two whole seconds before they did a breakdown. |
| Frank Ocean channel ORANGE | 3.5 |
Yeah, I'm not getting this at all. Frank's not bad, but his voice seems underwhelming. I
rather enjoy the arrangements for most of the songs. The lyrical content tends to keep this
interesting yet the first few songs seems very lacking to me. Some of the synth work is
really good, but I found most of the samples to be completely useless and really
unnecessary. The production is nice but I can't find anything memorable for me. |
| Baroness Yellow and Green | 2.5 |
| Tigers on Trains Foundry | 3.0 |
| For the Fallen Dreams Wasted Youth | 1.5 |
| Transit Listen & Forgive (Reissue) | 3.0 |
| Boys Like Girls Crazy World-EP | 1.5 |
| It's a shame that their hiatus didn't turn out to be indefinite after all. |
| Beat Inc. The Structure | 2.5 |
| It's mostly rather boring and somewhat repetitve, but it does have its moments. Mayday is a glitchy and fun white Mountain Beach features well-executed and effective, if not, standard soulful riff. |
| Sudatsuga Blue Moon Saiyeed | 3.5 |
| Aesop Rock Skelethon | 3.0 |
| Holograms Holograms | 3.5 |
| House Of Heroes Cold Hard Want | 3.5 |
| I Call Fives I Call Fives | 2.5 |
| Dads American Radass (This Is Important) | 3.0 |
| Periphery Periphery II: This Time It's Personal | 1.5 |
| With the Punches Seams and Stitches | 2.0 |
The guy from Absolutepunk gave this a 5.5/10....this is probably complete crap.
EDIT: I'm finally listening to it now and it seems incredibly standard as of now. The
profile is sure correct, they've got no gimmicks - which in pop punk kinda sucks because
then they've only got lyrics and catchiness with going for them. From the start, I rather
enjoyed it, I got a very strong Valencia vibe from it. The singer seems to get off key a
few times, but at least the guitar solo was there to save the opener. The next few songs
aren't better, the guitar work is most often boring.
"I'm losing interest in all your promises." An interesting line but incidently, I'm losing
interest in this album. Few things are working for this band right now, the drums are way
boring and the production mutes the guitars so that you can barely hear them unless the guy
isn't singing. It's all for the best, I suppose, because the guitars are rarely noteworthy
to begin with.
Disillusioned guy from Absolutepunk is right: you've heard this album plenty of times
before, once more isn't going to hurt anybody, but it's also not going to impress either.
There are moments in the album that makes you think that they could have been much better
such as the last break in Harvard and the chorus of Postcards. But not matter how catchy it
is, it's not memorable and the guy's voice sounds like a second-rate Shane Henderson. It
could be worse, I guess, at least it didn't have pointless breakdowns. |
| The Word Alive Life Cycles | 2.0 |
| Digital Daggers The Devil Within | 3.0 |
| Hail the Sun Elephantitis | 2.5 |
| I wish their wasn't such a stylistic disparity between the instruments and vocals... Okay I just wish there were no vocals to begin with. |
| Fanu Coffee Crazy | 3.0 |
| Doctrines ZE | 3.0 |
| Doctrines is focuses on disjointed structures, indie-pop to noise rock instruments, and ridiculous ideas (mostly in its lyrics). The opening track is a catchy noise-pop tune featuring disillusioned and seemingly apocalyptic lyrics and screams. Part III begins as a more standard track with a very brief sample of Big Yellow Taxi that's carried with a repeating indie rock based riff before leading into a gang vocal outro. |
| Careers In Science ForeverWolf | 3.5 |
| Maroon 5 Overexposed | 1.0 |
| Cody Hoffman Cody Hoffman | 3.0 |
| Cody Hoffman's self-titled EP is very much the feel-good straight forward pop rock album I've been searching for for quite some time. Recommended tracks: I'm Not Crazy. |
| Linkin Park Living Things | 2.0 |
| Icarus the Owl Love Always, Leviathan | 3.5 |
| They definitely have an interesting sound - combining different ideas such as a post-hardcore/alternative guitar work with post-hardcore/pop punk vocal stylings. It is interesting and works surprisingly well. The vocal work in a sense it reminds me of Panic!'s debut where the instruments were rather good but the vocals occupied spotlight much too often. My main nitpicks are that I'd prefer if they expanded on their instruments, switch up the structures every once in a while, create and set up the mood more effectively. The band is certainly technically proficient, but it becomes somewhat difficult to tell behind the vocals. |
| Esther Common Choirs | 3.0 |
| Justin Bieber Believe | 2.0 |
| Whitechapel Whitechapel | 2.0 |
| Make Do and Mend Everything You Ever Loved | 2.5 |
| The Royal Concept The Royal Concept - EP | 3.0 |
| Cool post punk revival sound, a bit too peppy at times. Some nice music to nod your head to. |
| The Ghost Inside Get What You Give | 2.0 |
| Blood on the Dance Floor Evolution | 1.0 |
| The Megas History Repeating: Blue | 3.0 |
| Cheryl Cole A Million Lights | 1.5 |
| Anne Power Exchange | 2.5 |
| Walk the Moon Walk the Moon | 3.0 |
| Motion City Soundtrack Go | 2.0 |
| I'm not really sure what's up with all these high scores. I've never heard of their older (and supposedly better) work but I'm well aware that these guys are considered pop punk legends. The opener "Circuit and Wires" is incredibly underwhelming with a weak chorus and absolutely nothing special about it. Many of the other songs are not too different than the opener but at least "Timelines" has an incredible delivery and tangible emotion. "Everyone Will Die" is surprisingly optimistic and beautiful. The lyrics are actually pretty good but the vocals are odd yet seemingly flimsy and nondescript. Recommended tracks: Timelines, Everyone Will Die |
| Rush Clockwork Angels | 3.5 |
| This is my first Rush album and it rocks. The instruments are woven together seamlessly and this is seriously catchy as fuck. Caravan's opening phrase will make you want to bang your head. It's heavy yet has an atmospheric feel to it. |
| Via Coma Figures | 2.5 |
| David Douglas Royal Horticultural Society | 3.5 |
| Joey Badass 1999 | 3.5 |
| He's got that MF Doom vibe going on with him. |
| Stepdad Wildlife Pop | 3.5 |
| This is amazing. |
| The Bouncing Souls Comet | 2.0 |
| It really sucks so much that this sucks so much. In Bouncing Souls' Comet, you'll rarely hear anything new or even particularly interesting. This is all just straight-forward happy yet boring punk rock. Aggression and energy are two things you won't find here often and the anthems are fleeting at best. The vocals are often clean and are certainly not grating or bad, but it is less than distinctive and the instruments very rarely help. The songs Infidel, Baptized, and Comet are semi-decent but the rest are hardly worth your while. Sorry, Hep Kat, I usually agree with you on things like this. I expected so much more from this. |
| Right Away, Great Captain! The Church of the Good Thief | 3.0 |
| Ne Obliviscaris Portal of I | 2.0 |
| Future of the Left The Plot Against Common Sense | 3.5 |
| iamamiwhoami Kin | 3.0 |
| Thank You Scientist Maps of Non-Existent Places | 3.5 |
| Yet another interesting experiment/progressive rock album to come out this year. Similar to the likes of Art By Numbers and Via Coma, Thank You Scientist incorporate many different genres and instruments in their music (everything from pop punk to funk to Mexican with violins, mandolins, and trombones), apply strange, sometimes awkward, songs tructures, and intensely focus on their instrumentation. The music can be described as complex, silly, gimmicky, and intricate all at once - and the band seems to be well aware of that, striving for that exact effect. At times these attitudes and musical choices seem inconsistent and ridiculous (like the overly long horn solo in track 4), but for the band is always entertaining and often refreshing. |
| Love American Disquiet | 3.0 |
| The Siren The Siren | 3.5 |
This is my personal ideal type of indie pop. The Siren begins with Snow, a tantalizingly
beautiful piece. Ironically, it does not bring to mind a dreary snow day. Rather, it
invokes an lucid dream-like state of one lying in an open field, beneath a clear and
inviting nighttime sky. It is very much reminiscent of Air France's track Maundy Thursday
with less horns and more harmonizing and guitar. The Siren is very driven by swaying
exchange between the bass provided by the piano, the distorted guitars, and phenomenal
harmonizing. Likewise to Storm, Storm's the name is entirely misleading as the is not so
much chaotic as it is serene. The real stand out track of the album is Stars. It is a bit
more of your traditional indie pop, starting with a quick drum-line before dissolving as the
vocals start.
Perhaps the best way to describe this is a far more accessible and straightforward Formation
of Tides by Ennui (for better or for worse, however in this case, it is very difficult to
tell which is better than the other as both are excellent). |
| Vampires Everywhere Hellbound And Heartless | 1.5 |
| Enemy Noise No Control, No Parade | 2.5 |
| This isn't bad, it just doesn't have anything that's different or particularly unique about it. It is certainly catchy and energetic, something many lesser known hardcore bands have been lacking recently. However, the lead singer has really poor vocals and blackzombie is right in that the drums are very typical, which is a really easy turn off for some. I do like the metal-influenced guitars, and I certainly wouldn't mind hearing an LP out of this band and see how they've progressed from here. I'm between a 2.5 and 3 right now. |
| Zelienople The World Is A House On Fire | 3.0 |
| Art By Numbers Reticence: The Musical | 2.5 |
| |
| Future Idiots Future Idiots | 3.0 |
This is what I wish I Call Fives new album sounded like. Very consistent and memorable pop
punk that's jam-packed with energy. Sure the lyrics are pretty bad, but Blink-182 gets away
with that shit all the time so... |
| For Today Immortal | 1.5 |
| Public Image Ltd. This Is PiL | 3.0 |
| alt-J An Awesome Wave | 3.5 |
| Sigur Ros Valtari | 3.0 |
| The Upside It All Feels Like An Ending | 3.0 |
One of the best pop punk albums I've listened to in the last few weeks. Very consistent, yet somewhat diverse with some very nice vocals. The album is certainly catchy and occasionally experiments in song structures which helps keep it interesting. The token ballad (An Ending) song is excellent. I must admit, I'm very worried that the band name takes after The Wonder Years. I really hope not.
http://theupside.bandcamp.com/ |
| Kyary Pamyu Pamyu Pamyu Pamyu Revolution | 3.5 |
| El-P Cancer 4 Cure | 3.5 |
| Dope Body Natural History | 3.0 |
| Koi. Maelstrom | 3.5 |
| Adam Lambert Trespassing | 2.0 |
| Killer Mike R.A.P. Music | 3.0 |
| Beach House Bloom | 2.5 |
| Owl City Shooting Star | 2.0 |
| Homelife Translation | 3.0 |
| Coasta Sunzal | 3.0 |
| Them Laceys, man. |
| Heymoonshaker HEYMOONSHAKER (Black) | 3.0 |
| Fast paced acoustic Blues-rock with interesting and unique vocals taking additional influences many other genres such as hip-hop (beat boxing). http://heymoonshaker.bandcamp.com/album/heymoonshaker-black |
| Daytrader Twelve Years | 3.0 |
| Karmin Hello | 1.5 |
| Late In The Playoffs The Wayside Sesseions | 3.0 |
| Nice, simple, and absolutely harmless pop rock. |
| Keane Strangeland | 2.5 |
| TV Girl The Wild, The Innocent, The TV Shuffle | 2.5 |
| Billy Woods History Will Absolve Me | 3.0 |
| To Speak Of Wolves Find Your Worth, Come Home | 2.0 |
| Warm Brew Kottabos | 3.0 |
| Peace Be Still 64 | 2.5 |
| http://peacebestill.bandcamp.com/ |
| B.o.B Strange Clouds | 2.5 |
| Nick Waterhouse Time's All Gone | 4.0 |
| swag |
| Pennywise All or Nothing | 3.0 |
| Carrie Underwood Blown Away | 2.5 |
| Logic Young Sinatra: Undeniable | 3.0 |
| Lower Dens Nootropics | 3.0 |
| Marina Electra Heart | 3.0 |
| Assimilation Assimilation | 3.0 |
| Electric Guest Mondo | 3.0 |
| The Sun and The Sea Nightfalls | 3.5 |
The Graduate's spiritual and literal reincarnation takes the band further into their more
progressive indie sound. The opening track "Down the Same Path" features the band's
characteristic trance-like atmosphere and some excellent harmonizing provided by the band's
new vocalist. The next track sounds like it could have been produced straight out of Only
Every Time with even more gang vocal work and is extremely catchy. Also characteristic of
the band, a short instrumental piece is featured - one that is beautiful, serene,
and wistfully fleeting. Nightfalls is the feel good album of the summer - but only warm yet dark and lonely nights. |
| You Blew It! Grow Up, Dude | 3.0 |
| Author and Punisher Ursus Americanus | 3.0 |
| Magic Wands Aloha Moon | 3.0 |
| Deuce Nine Lives | 1.5 |
| Racing Heart To Walk Beside That Ghost | 3.0 |
| Joyce Manor Of All Things I Will Soon Grow Tired | 2.5 |
| Train California 37 | 1.0 |
| Why Bother? (USA-PA) Some Songs | 3.0 |
| Gatling Beforemath | 3.5 |
| State Faults Desolate Peaks | 3.0 |
| Dead Sara Dead Sara | 3.0 |
| Halestorm The Strange Case Of... | 2.0 |
| Casey Veggies Customized Greatly Vol. 3 | 2.5 |
| It's a bit boring at some points, but it's definitely some quality hip-hop. Thoughts Weight is excellent. |
| Emay Adam | 3.0 |
| BADBADNOTGOOD BBNG2 | 3.5 |
| Killing Joke MMXII | 3.0 |
| The Mount Fuji Doomjazz Corporation Egor | 3.5 |
| Niechec Smierc w Miekkim Futerku | 4.0 |
| Make Me Famous It's Now or Never | 1.0 |
| The Mars Volta Noctourniquet | 2.0 |
| Noctorniquet is a sloppy and awkward mess where most of the songs lack urgency and is plagued by poor production. The instrumentation is often good but the songs seem too incoherent. Lastly, the vocals here do not help much, if anything, Noctorniquet was probably better without them. |
| Real Boys Real Boys | 2.5 |
| A very nice and summery pop rock album. |
| I the Mighty Karma Never Sleeps | 3.0 |
| Stick to Your Guns Diamond | 2.5 |
| Shinedown Amaryllis | 2.0 |
| The American Dollar Awake In The City | 3.0 |
| Mac Miller Macadelic | 2.0 |
| When I first heard the opening of Desperado, I was genuinely excited, however not so much after his verse began. Overall, he hasn't changed much, except that everything about Mac Miller seems very slightly better. His rapping seems more natural, more laid back, and not as forced as in his debut album. The production and the hooks are improved and the beats aren't quite as generic or as obnoxious. Unfortunately, he fails to improve upon the most important area: lyrics and themes. |
| If These Trees Could Talk Red Forest | 3.0 |
| The Shins Port of Morrow | 3.0 |
| Worm Ouroboros Come the Thaw | 3.0 |
| Sharks No Gods | 2.0 |
| Apologies, I Have None London | 2.5 |
| A surprisingly dull record. I really expected a lot more from the first few tracks but it just did not deliver. The 26, is probably far and away the best track, however. Recommended track(s): The 26. |
| Atrium Carceri Reliquiae | 3.0 |
| Monolake Ghosts | 3.5 |
| Say Anything Anarchy, My Dear | 1.5 |
| Carousel Kings A Slice of Heaven | 2.5 |
| I usually don't like breakdown-happy pop punk albums or bands, but I decided to raise my rating because this is definitely more fun and interesting than that new Bouncing Souls album. |
| Xerxes Our Home Is A Deathbed | 3.0 |
| Transient We Do Not Lose Heart | 3.0 |
| Crywank Narcissist on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown | 2.0 |
It's lyrically very blunt, straightforward, and downright depressingly pathetic. The guitar
work is often simplistic (although he is already very informed of this) and his vocals are
amateurish and plain. You can feel the palpable desperation, however, I find this to be
excruciatingly boring. Crywank and the album title both embody the album almost perfectly:
what you got is just a desperate man and an acoustic guitar aspiring for success. |
| Ceremony (USA-CA) Zoo | 1.5 |
| Andrew Bird Break It Yourself | 3.0 |
| Gatherer Postcards | 3.5 |
One of the best hardcore albums I've listened to in recent memory. I got through it without
getting bored once (of course, it helps that the album is 7 minutes long). The vocals and
production are incredibly solid and are well aided by the guitars and drums. All of the
songs are structurally varied, spacing between the slower more emotional parts and the
faster and heavier parts. I'm getting a strong Reflections vibe off of Counterparts 2nd LP.
Recommended Tracks: Brittle Bones, Wedding Bells. |
| Speak Easy S/T E.P. | 2.5 |
| Anoice The Black Rain | 3.0 |
| Big Bang Alive | 1.0 |
| This album is so bad, I can't even pretend or try to like it. |
| TR/ST TRST | 3.0 |
| Solterra Soul, Earth, Sun | 3.5 |
| Sectarian Violence Sectarian Violence | 3.5 |
| Sectarian Violence makes for a very intense and very catchy 5 minutes. |
| Beat Inc. The Formula | 2.5 |
| http://originalcultures.bandcamp.com/album/the-formula |
| Lute West1996 | 3.0 |
| fun. Some Nights | 2.5 |
| The Menzingers On the Impossible Past | 3.0 |
| No Trigger Tycoon | 3.0 |
| Cursive I Am Gemini | 2.5 |
| Perfume Genius Put Your Back N 2 It | 2.5 |
| Terry Malts Killing Time | 3.0 |
| Tyga Careless World: Rise of the Last King | 1.0 |
This is the worst rap album I've heard in a while. Tyga's vocal delivery is very odd (in the
worst possible way) most of the time, it hardly sounds like it's his real voice. It really
gets in the way of his songs because his voice can barely carry a good hook or even a verse.
His beats are absolutely pathetic (sometimes barely noticeable), his rhythms and rhymes are
constantly awkward, and his lyrics are just plain awful. Few songs have a notable
climax (making the songs incredibly stale halfway through). The album opener is
misleadingly passable however the singles Rack City and Faded are repetitive as fuck. To
make things worse, he is so boring like holy fuck, I fell asleep listening to this. |
| Carly Rae Jepsen Curiosity | 2.0 |
| Burial Kindred | 3.5 |
| Imagine Dragons Continued Silence | 2.5 |
| Vowel All the Sad Songs | 2.5 |
| Hampden HipSTARZ Secrets of Hampden | 1.0 |
| Lil Ugly Mane Mista Thug Isolation | 3.5 |
| Departures Green Turns To Red, Then Turns To Gold | 3.0 |
| A Common Year Where The Light Still Shines | 3.0 |
| Van Halen A Different Kind of Truth | 2.5 |
| The Twilight Sad No One Can Ever Know | 3.0 |
| Zelliack Noir Tone | 3.5 |
| Cowshed Records Dark Side of Pop | 4.0 |
| Pepe Deluxe Queen of the Wave | 4.0 |
| Lana Del Rey Born to Die | 3.5 |
| Real Friends Everyone That Dragged You Here | 3.5 |
| I don't get why this score is pretty low compared to other pop punk bands when this is rexcellent. The production is absolutely superb - everything is so clear, with no instrument rgets left behind. As far as catchiness goes, this certainly delivers. rEveryone That Dragged You Here is one of the catchiest things I've heard all year, far rcatchier than most bands that reside in the new trend of indie punk (90's punk/emo rinfluenced tr00 pop punk usually with poor indie production). The guitars and style is very rmuch reminiscent of All Time Low's debut LP The Party Scene (which is a damn good thing) ronly this is even catchier and has much better production, but not as good lyrics (although rone could argue that this has more meaningful lyrics). |
| Pop. 1280 The Horror | 3.0 |
| Attack Attack! This Means War | 1.5 |
| Cate Le Bon CYRK | 3.0 |
| Enter Shikari A Flash Flood of Colour | 2.0 |
| Loma Prieta I.V. | 3.5 |
| Thriftworks Rainmaker | 3.0 |
| The Murlocs Tee Pee | 3.0 |
| Ghost Ship Golden Girls | 3.0 |
| Alcest Les Voyages De L'Âme | 3.0 |
| Digital By Birth Noise Pollution | 2.0 |
| Brujas del Soul Moonliners Vol. 2 | 3.0 |
| http://brujasdelsol.bandcamp.com/ |
| Trapper Keeper Names | 3.0 |
| The United Sons Of Toil Forces of Production | 3.0 |
| Triple Hex Winter | 3.0 |
| Hometown Letdown Hometown Letdown | 2.5 |
| Damn, this would have been great pop punk were it not for the fucking breakdowns and Mark Hoppus-like vocals. |
| Xaxaxa Siromašni i bogati | 3.0 |
| I must admit, this wears off on ya really really quickly |
| Debeli Precjednik Bruto Slav | 2.5 |
http://moonleerecords.bandcamp.com/album/bruto-slavo-vbk
It has a lot of moments that are worth listening to, but has a whole lot more that are just
plain boring. |
| Mean Lady Vault | 3.0 |
| White Hex Heat | 3.5 |
| The Socialists Green EP | 3.5 |
| ekrib saamej Eezzzz | 3.5 |
| Human Tetris Happy Way in the Maze of Rebirth | 3.0 |
| Cubones Brigade Train And Destroy | 3.0 |
| best thing evar |
| Various Artists Electronic Music Sources Vol. 2 (1937-1959) | 3.5 |
| EMEFE Good Future | 4.5 |
| 2011 |
| Andross Stay In The Suit | 3.0 |
| Very solid Pop Punk with a perceptibly different sound. Seems somewhat disjointed at times and sometimes the vocals or the guitar work interfere with each other. Recommended Track(s): Make It Rain. |
| Summer Vacation Condition | 3.5 |
| Great album, it takes a bit of time (after the second track) to pick itself up but it's a whole lot better than I could remember. It might have too much tracks for its own good, but all the songs are like 2 minutes long or less so it doesn't really matter. Recommended tracks: Tiffany Sucks, The Flower That Drank the Moon, Not That, Vice City |
| The Sun and The Sea Demo EP | 3.5 |
Lacking a vocalist, The Sun and The Sea opt to pursue a more ambient/electronic approach to
their sound. In reality, it is a very natural progression from their previous incarnation's
latest album: Only Every Time. The increased focus on the beats and meticulous layering of
the instruments creates a beautiful, spacey, and sometimes haunting landscape. Recommended
track(s): First Track, Mad Max, and South Dallas.
http://thesunandthesea.bandcamp.com/album/demo-ep |
| The Maine Pioneer | 2.5 |
| Case In Theory Cinematic | 3.0 |
| http://caseintheory.bandcamp.com/album/cinematic |
| Eyes Wide When It's Raining | 2.5 |
| Okay, I've listened to this album twice and then once more again. However, my latest listen confirms that this is relatively worth listening to. It is not subpar pop punk in the least, however, it is average and it really lacks memorability and distinctiveness - as far as I'm concerned. Everything I've heard here sounds like I've heard it elsewhere before. |
| Tyga #BitchImTheShit | 1.0 |
| Gallows (UK) Death Is Birth | 2.0 |
| Jelonek Revenge | 3.5 |
| Big Time Rush Elevate | 1.0 |
| Nickelback Here and Now | 1.0 |
| Marianas Trench Ever After | 3.0 |
| Daughtry Break the Spell | 2.0 |
| Yelawolf Radioactive | 2.0 |
| One Direction Up All Night | 2.0 |
| Drake Take Care | 2.5 |
| Seaway Seaway | 3.0 |
| Rather of the same but what else is new? |
| Post Season Pop Punk Destroyed My Life | 2.0 |
| It's generally good and consistent until they get to the breakdowns. The breakdowns almost much ruin the whole song. It's still enjoyable, I'm trying to rip the breakdowns out of the songs. |
| Seahaven Winter Forever | 2.5 |
| Mac Miller Blue Slide Park | 2.0 |
Okay, so I'm listening and it doesn't seem that awful. Just that, nothing about him seems
particularly believable or even interesting. As someone else pointed out, his style doesn't
seem natural or authentic and he certainly isn't pulling on any emotional strings here. The
production and the hooks don't seem that awful either, though, but his lyrics are pretty
bad. The beats are sometimes really obnoxious and actually bring him back (if that even
makes sense). Up All Night is a very fun pop tune - well at least until the God-awful
chorus and bridge show up and only if you ignore the lyrics. Loitering is painful to listen
to. All in all, Mac Miller's Blue Slide Park is forgettable, nothing new, and completely
inoffensive. |
| Four Year Strong In Some Way, Shape, or Form. | 2.0 |
| Justin Bieber Under the Mistletoe | 1.0 |
| Lou Reed and Metallica Lulu | 1.5 |
| The Library is on Fire Works On Paper | 2.5 |
| The Beach Boys The Smile Sessions | 4.0 |
| Never Hit Again Sinkers | 3.5 |
| Thematically, it's simple and not anything special - often having to do with relationships and hanging out with the bros - however, the album is fast paced and is embedded with numerous hard-hitting anthems that will surely have your head banging along. Never Hit Again's album Sinkers is everything you could ask from a (very) melodic Hardcore album with gang vocal sessions and short anthemic guitar solos abound. In short, Sinkers is everything Rise Against's last album should/could have been without the half-hearted political dogma. Recommended tracks: Sinkers. |
| Counterparts The Current Will Carry Us | 3.5 |
| Lol, these guys are so Hardcore, they're Hardcore twice! |
| Kelly Clarkson Stronger | 1.5 |
| Lowkey Soundtrack to the Struggle | 3.5 |
| Bjork Biophilia | 3.5 |
| Foxygen Take The Kids Off Broadway | 3.5 |
| We Are The In Crowd Best Intentions | 2.5 |
| Mayday Parade Mayday Parade | 3.0 |
| Yamantaka // Sonic Titan YT//ST | 4.5 |
| Damascus Of Whom I Always Think | 3.5 |
| Tonight Alive What Are You So Scared Of? | 3.0 |
| Into It. Over It. Proper | 2.5 |
| blink-182 Neighborhoods | 1.5 |
| Man Overboard Man Overboard | 1.5 |
| J. Cole Cole World: The Sideline Story | 3.0 |
| Of Monsters and Men My Head is an Animal | 3.0 |
| AJJ Knife Man | 2.5 |
| Demi Lovato Unbroken | 2.0 |
| Saves the Day Daybreak | 2.5 |
| Astronautalis This Is Our Science | 3.0 |
| Polar Bear Club Clash Battle Guilt Pride | 3.0 |
| Grouplove Never Trust A Happy Song | 2.5 |
| A Winged Victory for the Sullen A Winged Victory for the Sullen | 3.0 |
| Badgerhunt The First Hunt | 3.5 |
Some of the best emo indie punk newcoming bands I've heard in a while. The guitar tone
isn't that of your normal twinkle tone. They have a habit of repeating a lot of their guitar lines within a song but somehow manage to keep it very interesting. The songs have a lot of raw and unexpected energy. The song structures are dynamic in that the overall tone of the song will fluctuate across the song: if the song starts fast, it will slow down in the middle, and then speed up again. Recommended songs: Three Six Mafia, B.T.O. |
| Creations The Gospel | 1.5 |
| Thundercat The Golden Age Of Apocalypse | 2.5 |
| Squid the Whale new war. | 3.0 |
Try not to pay attention the awful band name - Squid the Whale is a very good post-hardcore
band. The vocals are incredibly smooth, soulful and stylistic - definitely reminiscent of
Johnny Craig. While the voice is the clear highlight of the album, the instruments are
definitely competent effective in maintaining the setting of the songs and conjuring
surprisingly catchy beats, but you won't find yourself any surprise intense riffs. New war.
is a satisfying listen to pop punk and post hardcore fans alike. |
| Male Bonding Endless Now | 2.5 |
| Lil Wayne Tha Carter IV | 1.0 |
| Kimbra Vows | 3.0 |
| David Guetta Nothing but the Beat | 1.0 |
| Mr. Envi' Rydaz Redemption: The Street Album | 2.0 |
| Tries to pass off as something more than the same generic shitpile rap music when he is really no better. |
| Gotye Making Mirrors | 3.0 |
| House Boat The Thorns of Life | 3.5 |
| Sea of Shit Sea of Shit 7" | 3.5 |
| Sainthood Reps Monoculture | 3.0 |
| Jay-Z and Kanye West Watch the Throne | 2.5 |
| Bomb the Music Industry! Vacation | 3.5 |
| The Summer Set Everything's Fine | 1.5 |
| The Dangerous Summer War Paint | 2.0 |
| Trophy Scars Never Born, Never Dead | 3.5 |
| Wugazi 13 Chambers | 3.5 |
| We The Kings Sunshine State of Mind | 1.0 |
| Fair to Midland Arrows and Anchors | 2.5 |
| Alex Clare The Lateness Of The Hour | 3.0 |
| Teenage Octopus Ink | 3.0 |
Nice and mellow bluesy indie rock. It may take a while to let it sink in, but the bluesy
guitar solo on Ceiling, is excellent and pretty much all of She's An Island are worth
listening to. Recommended Tracks: She's An Island, Ceiling. |
| The Fight New Young Electric | 3.0 |
| Different band, same name as the other. It's much better, however. |
| The Smith Street Band No One Gets Lost Anymore | 3.0 |
| Taking Back Sunday Taking Back Sunday | 1.5 |
| Shabazz Palaces Black Up | 2.5 |
| Anchor Recovery | 2.5 |
| Set Your Goals Burning At Both Ends | 2.0 |
| John Congleton and the Nighty Nite Dimples | 3.0 |
| Pretty much the Paper Chase spiritual and literal successor. The same guy (John Congleton) doing his characteristic odd vocals but with different people doing the instruments - though it could be pretty damn hard to tell because this sounds exactly like a natural progression in the Paper Chase: it may as well be the next album. The familiar dark, highly disjointed, and creepy yet definitely whimsical sound predominately carries over to this album with pretty much the same results. This time around, Congleton actually ascends his distinct to heights here in tracks suck as In My Hospital Gown. |
| Maker Mirrors | 3.0 |
| The Brand New influence is extremely obvious here. If you can imagine if Jesse Lacey decided to go back to his roots and start singing Pop Punk again (but with in the Devil/God's vocal style) then Maker is what you would get. Overall, it's relatively consistent, almost a bit too consistent. What's In Your Head starts of with the most generic drum/guitar intro ever, thankfully it gets better from there. I was hoping for something just a little bit more spectacular than this (not to say that it was bad in the first place). Recommended tracks: Earthquakes, What's In Your Head. |
| The Story So Far Under Soil and Dirt | 3.0 |
| Ty Segall Goodbye Bread | 3.0 |
| Set It Off Horrible Kids | 2.5 |
| In Set It Off's new EP, they decide to take a route taken by their predecessors - a more theatrical, yet still very much pop punk direction. The vocals sound even more like your usual post-hardcore whines and the bombastic tone is often hit or miss. But overall, they pull off a coherent, slightly darker, and certainly intriguing pop punk album. An album similar and different than many bands before them, but one that won't be turning heads. |
| Owl City All Things Bright And Beautiful | 1.0 |
| The Wonder Years Suburbia I've Given You All and Now I'm Nothing | 3.0 |
| Lost In Kostko You're Gonna Need A Towel | 3.5 |
| Life on Repeat Struggle + Sleep | 2.5 |
| 2Cellos 2Cellos | 3.0 |
| All Time Low Dirty Work | 1.5 |
| Frank Turner England Keep My Bones | 2.0 |
| SebastiAn Total | 3.0 |
| Fireworks Gospel | 3.0 |
| Glee Cast Glee: The Music, Volume 6 | 1.5 |
| Lady Gaga Born This Way | 1.5 |
| Weekend Nachos Worthless | 3.0 |
| Transient Alone | 3.0 |
| Balkans Balkans | 3.0 |
Balkans have a very intriguing and unique sound. Some of the riffs are
incredibly catchy and production is clear but raw. The vocals aren't the very good but they
feel perfectly suited for this music. I can definitely hear some post punk, noise rock, and
old school punk rock influences. The songwriting is definitely a major focus for this band
which you can see in the disjointed song structures and massive amounts of accidental notes
or usage off odd keys. However, this gets a bit much sometimes, quite often reducing the
album's catchiness and lasting value. This album is (unfortunately) not an immediate one.
Recommended tracks: I Can't Compete, Dressed In Black |
| The Lonely Island Turtleneck and Chain | 1.5 |
| A Place In Time Not For Nothing | 2.5 |
| |
| Title Fight Shed | 2.5 |
| Damascus Salutations, Distant Satellite! | 3.0 |
| dredg Chuckles and Mr. Squeezy | 1.0 |
| Augustana Augustana | 1.5 |
| Texas in July One Reality | 2.0 |
| Deafheaven Roads to Judah | 3.0 |
| Ulver Wars of the Roses | 3.0 |
| Periphery Icarus | 2.5 |
| Grouper A I A | 3.0 |
| The Graduate Sea Legs | 3.0 |
| Turnover Turnover | 3.5 |
| Asking Alexandria Reckless and Relentless | 1.5 |
| Hollywood Undead American Tragedy | 1.0 |
| Ennui (USA-PA) Formation of Tides | 3.5 |
| This is just magnificently incredible. The smooth and dreamy atmosphere is provided so excellently. Ennui makes it clear that the vocals here are just another excellently executed set of instruments - the balance between the vocals and the rest of the instruments is perfect and the harmonies provided are simply sublime. There really isn't that much else to say other than that this is also ridiculously catchy. Formation of Tides is surprisingly immediately gripping and the 2nd track has a tendency to sound like an retro video game soundtrack. |
| GDP Useless Eaters | 3.0 |
| Sum 41 Screaming Bloody Murder | 1.0 |
| Major League Variables | 2.0 |
| Panic! at the Disco Vices & Virtues | 3.5 |
| CunninLynguists Oneirology | 3.0 |
| Protest the Hero Scurrilous | 1.5 |
| Rise Against Endgame | 1.0 |
| AWOLNATION Megalithic Symphony | 2.0 |
| Imagine Dragons It's Time | 2.5 |
| this is like go for the first 10 times you hear the best song. the album, however, is resoundingly shallow. |
| Defeater Empty Days and Sleepless Nights | 3.5 |
| Mayday Parade Valdosta | 2.5 |
| The United Sons Of Toil When the Revolution Comes, Everything Will Be Beau | 3.0 |
| Go Radio Lucky Street | 2.5 |
| Lucky Street sees Go Radio go in the somewhat surprising direction of full on Pop Rock, as opposed to the heavier and more alternative Do Overs and Second Chances. Unfortunately, this newer style doesn't work nearly as well as it should. Once again, we see Lancaster showing off his unique vocals and once again, Lancaster makes it clear why his lyrics far surpass those of their peers in lines such as "...You're leaving something short of innocent" and "If I could paint this town with all your good intent, I'd leave these walls as red as my eyes could have been..." However, aside from the resentful Any Other Heart and some ballads such as Swear It Like You Mean It, there isn't much that catches your attention. Lucky Street is unfortunately a relatively boring release. |
| Sport Sport | 3.5 |
| We Still Dream Chapters | 3.0 |
| A surprisingly varied album, Chapters sees We Still Dream focus more on the poppier side of pop punk we excellent results. The album is exceedingly catchy and has above average vocals. The music is very upbeat and fun overall but the guitar work rarely falters - sometimes providing the climax of the song. Life's An Avalanche sounds just like Man Overboard's best (at until the bridge comes on) and We Still Dream is a rocking pop punk anthem. Unfortunately, some of the songs are clearly worse than others, and others risk becoming a bit too generic. |
| SubRosa (US) No Help for the Mighty Ones | 3.5 |
| Man Overboard The Absolute Worst | 2.0 |
| Bayside Killing Time | 3.5 |
| Handguns Don't Bite Your Tongue | 2.0 |
| I found absolutely nothing special about this album. |
| Sims Bad Time Zoo | 3.5 |
| Justin Bieber Never Say Never : The Remixes | 1.0 |
| Bright Eyes The People's Key | 2.0 |
| Destroy Rebuild Until God Shows D.R.U.G.S. | 2.0 |
| Defeater Dear Father | 2.5 |
| Monkeys In Space Flying Under the Influence | 4.0 |
| http://www.myspace.com/themonkeysrock/music |
| Adele 21 | 3.0 |
| The Graduate Every Other Time | 3.0 |
| Joyce Manor Joyce Manor | 3.5 |
| Iceage New Brigade | 3.5 |
| The Dangerous Summer An Acoustic Performance of "Reach For The Sun" | 2.0 |
| Ape Machine War to Head | 2.5 |
Overall good and consistent, but it just seems to homogenous by the end of the whole thing.
No Sugar in My Coffee is an awesome track. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tv7e-
b9Dsk&feature=relmfu |
| Birds in Row Cottbus | 3.5 |
| Velvet Condom Stadtgeil | 3.5 |
| Depths and Scatabrainz Less Than Human | 2.0 |
| Just too damn annoying to be considered anything good. Terrible lyrics too and awful flow. It can occasionally be interesting but will always be more annoying than anything else. |
| Triple Hex Triple Hex | 3.0 |
| Coastwar Good Head Starts, Bitter Ends | 3.0 |
| A Place In Time Take This To Heart | 3.0 |
| This is probably A Place In Time's catchiest release, but also their least consistent. The severely uncalled for and boring breakdown, along with the (probably) white guy verse seriously ruins the flow of the album. |
| EMEFE Europe | 2.5 |
| 2008 |
| The Real You Better Now Than Never | 3.0 |
| They remind me a lot like an indie pop version of Jellyfish. |
| Kanye West 808s and Heartbreak | 3.5 |
| Anathallo Canopy Glow | 2.5 |
| You, Me, And Everyone We Know So Young, So Insane | 3.0 |
| Nickelback Dark Horse | 1.5 |
| La Dispute Somewhere at the Bottom of the River Between Vega and Altair | 3.0 |
| Taylor Swift Fearless | 2.5 |
| The Bronx The Bronx (III) | 2.0 |
| Attack Attack! Someday Came Suddenly | 1.0 |
| Hinder Take It to the Limit | 1.5 |
| Forgive Durden Razia's Shadow: A Musical | 2.5 |
One of the most hit or miss albums you may ever come across. Feature a very large cast of
extra singers, an odd (and overblown) story, and strange execution, Forgive Durden was
shooting for the stars in their musical. It is exactly what it says it is, pop punk in
musical form. The production and execution make this an interesting, if not, off-putting
listen. It's certainly unique among its genre but perhaps not in such a good way. |
| Pink Funhouse | 2.5 |
| Lady Gaga The Fame | 3.0 |
| Big Bang Number 1 | 3.0 |
| Rise Against Appeal to Reason | 2.5 |
| A very hit-or-miss album that has Rise Against trying to become mainstream with (redundantly) mixed results. We have the good (Re-Education), the awesome (Savior and Entertainment), and the bad to forgettable (pretty much everything else). |
| Hey Monday Hold On Tight | 2.5 |
| You Me At Six Take Off Your Colours | 2.5 |
| I Set My Friends On Fire You Can't Spell Slaughter Without Laughter | 2.0 |
| Demi Lovato Don't Forget | 3.0 |
| Don't Forget has a power pop sound with massive hooks and surprisingly dynamic structures. rLa La Land and Trainwreck have an older pop rock style to it along with interesting musical rkeys and The Middle sounds just like a 90s pop tune (in the best way possible). She displays ra lot of emotion and swagger. Don't Forget is somewhat standard, yet manages to be an rinteresting ballad about romantic loss. Unfortunately, the album closer is incredibly runderwhelming, no matter how hard it tries to be uplifting and inspiration. It is the ralbum's signature pop rock flair and emotion that sets it far above that of her other Disney rstar peers. |
| TV on the Radio Dear Science | 3.0 |
| Astronautalis Pomegranate | 2.5 |
| Hollywood Undead Swan Songs | 2.5 |
| An intensely polarizing album that lacks coherence and self-respect. The album has few very good tracks and quite a few awful ones. One moment they are talking about bitches and hoes, the next they're riding out an anthem for the forgotten and unwanted generation(s). A 3.5 for more sentimental reasons than otherwise. Recommended tracks: Undead, This Love This Hate, Young |
| Valencia We All Need A Reason To Believe | 3.0 |
| The Fun Years Baby, It's Cold Inside | 4.0 |
| Have Heart Songs to Scream at the Sun | 3.0 |
| Cute Is What We Aim For Rotation | 1.0 |
| Cryptopsy The Unspoken King | 1.0 |
| Superchick Rock What You Got | 3.5 |
| Superchick's latest album is a frustrating one. With old-school rock throwbacks abound, combined with modern pop rock, Rock What You Got starts with an interesting sound. However, after the 4 hard-hitting anthems (and with the exception of Cross The Line) it quickly becomes redundant and tepid after Hold On. Although, it does seem to grow on me, far more than expected. |
| The Effort Iconoclasm | 3.0 |
| Coldplay Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends | 3.0 |
| Elysia Lion of Judas | 2.0 |
| The Medic Droid What's Your Medium | 1.5 |
| Anchor The Quiet Dance | 3.0 |
| The Quiet Dance is a somewhat of your standard melodic hardcore. It may not be the most distinguishing or innovative hardcore bands, but you'll find plenty of catchy and memorable tunes here. Unfortunately, the guitar work could be described as simple and rather unoriginal. Recommended tracks: Finding Home, Relations of Silence, Open Letter, Preying On the Weak |
| MEANS To Keep Me From Sinking | 2.0 |
| Air France No Way Down | 3.5 |
| Akissforjersey Victims | 2.0 |
| From First to Last From First to Last | 1.5 |
| Chunk! No, Captain Chunk! Cum On | 1.5 |
| Augustana Can't Love, Can't Hurt | 2.0 |
| Frank Turner Love, Ire & Song | 2.0 |
| Panic! at the Disco Pretty. Odd. | 3.5 |
| PlayRadioPlay! Texas | 2.0 |
| Lydia Illuminate | 3.5 |
| Protest the Hero Fortress | 3.0 |
| Protest the Hero Fortress (Instrumental) | 3.0 |
| Captain, Your Ship is Sinking Captain, Your Ship Is Sinking | 3.0 |
| Basically the Best Band Ever This Is Our Second Album and it Cost Us A Lot... | 1.0 |
| Yacopsae Tanz, Grosny, Tanz... | 3.5 |
