Album Rating: 3.5 | Sound Off

those albums enrich me as much as sewer water would enrich my immune system

Album Rating: 4.5

I wouldn’t rate a song on this below a 4/5 now, loving that this is Dan’s easiest start to finish listen so far with a few songs clocking in at under 4 minutes and a great track flow too.



1. Sky’s Grey [5]

2. Hospital [5]

3. Catwalk [5]

4. In the Morning [4.5]

5. La Regle [4.5]

6. Rome [4.5]

7. Tinseltown [4.5]

8. Ivory Coast [4]

9. Cover from the Sun [4]

10. Sometimes [4]

11. Stay Lost [4]



That’s feeling like my settled track ratings now

Album Rating: 4.5

I was thinking this would drop to a 4.5 for me so I currently have three 5 ratings for 2017 and that’s at least one too many...what to do, what to do...?



That end of year best of list is going to need to be brutal

Album Rating: 3.5 | Sound Off

if Poison Season is an indicator, dropping it sounds likely [side note: when you gonna bump async]

Album Rating: 3.5 | Sound Off

to which everyone would reply: "Should've seen it coming."

Album Rating: 4.5

‘Poison Season’ was an album I always struggled to listen to in one sitting - the fact this is such an easy listen will work wonders for it. Probably the most fully realised consistent atmosphere I’ve heard on a 2017 album too. Lyrics are absolute top tier Bejar...I don’t know what’s not to like here?



Dunno why people are so touchy about altering ratings by a 0.5 here - sure there’d be less of it if we had the .1 increments. I know 100% this is between a 4.6 and a 4.8. That sound way more reasonable than saying it’s between a 4.5 and a 5 but these are the tools I’ve been given.

Album Rating: 4.5

Async - I’d need to listen to it again. I’ll give it a few goes before December list season.

Album Rating: 3.5 | Sound Off

fight the system doofus

Album Rating: 3.5 | Sound Off

plus Async has a remix album coming out in December so i'll be all over it

Album Rating: 3.0

I'm not so sure about this one Doof. I've put a 3.5 on it but that may be generous. I've listened to it 4 times now and there are only a few songs I really like if I'm being honest. To my ears despite the brevity this is a more difficult listen than Kaputt. A good few of the songs are just kind of awkward and don't really come together in a particularly memorable way. Some of the guitar and synth sounds are kind of unappealing too.

Album Rating: 4.5

This is my smoothest album of 2017 :/



Found it a breeze clocking up 20 listens so far.



One of Cigarettes After Sex, The National or this will need to get the 0.5 chop though...and Lord preserve us if the new John Maus or something else gets a cheeky 5 before the year is out.



Finding it easier culling my 2017 4.5's - the Slowdive has gone down to a 4 again.

Album Rating: 4.5

Love this bit from the Bejar Pitchfork track by track guide relating to cheeky album closer 'La Regle Du Jeu'...



"The state of America is terrible, but it doesn’t strike me as a wildfire. I see it as a slow, steady crawl towards a terrible conclusion. I thought if I did sing to America, I wanted to do it in a language that they didn’t understand—or that they possibly actively hated. I thought French would be good for that."



Lol, that context has definitely added to my enjoyment of the song.

Album Rating: 3.0

This is my smoothest album of 2017 :/

Album Rating: 4.5

Two of the most important moments on the album ),:



The way he starts tripping himself over the Oliver Twist line is hilarious, a hint of desperation and mania, perhaps idiocy, in there. Love it, classic Bejar.



"The song paints a picture of dreariness and collapse, people just soiling themselves. And the only antidote offered up—the only light—is this book that I’m working on called The New Oliver Twist, if it even is a book. It also seems like a fool’s errand".

Album Rating: 4.5

Definitely the most fun set of lyrics of the year here...but that was to be expected.



Not sure they're my favorite lyrics overall, The National was light on classic lines actually, I liked the Cigarettes After Sex shtick but don't think they're stunning lyrics.



Ones that impressed me would be this, Aimee Mann, Tiger Lillies, Sleaford Mods, Oxbow, Everything Everything and Mark Eitzel.



Sun Kil Moon, Ariel Pink and Mount Eerie were good too but niche. Father John Misty...decent baiting lyrics, I'll give him that.



Forced to make a decision at gunpoint I'd probably give best lyrics 2017 to Eitzel.

Album Rating: 3.0

I haven't given up on this yet, maybe it just hasn't struck me in the right mood yet. I hate to use the "p" word but a lot of this comes across as pretentious and I think that's what's putting me off a bit.

Gotta say 2017 has been pretty light on good lyrics - though in general I've been paying a bit less attention to lyrics in my listening of late, so maybe it's just me.

Album Rating: 3.0

Yeah, dropping my rating for now... Tinseltown is lovely though.

Bone knows

Album Rating: 3.5

Good autumn tunes here

Album Rating: 4.5

Tunes for life here