COMPLETED: 1997 Deepest Dive
After the (narrow) failures of 1994 and 1998 to qualify for an even deeper dive I'm going to head to (officially according to 'the stats') my third favourite year for music in the 90s, that's 1997, and check out yet another hundred releases, one per calendar day (although I may not actually get to listening to them first time on that day strictly) and see if I keep unearthing those gems. The rule in this Deepest Dive series remains that I will be averaging the rating I award across all hundred albums that make this list and if that figure is equal to or greater than 3.25 then I will keep going and listen to ANOTHER hundred albums from the same year. MY STARTING RATING COUNT FOR 1998 = 250 ALBUMS RATED |
| 1 |  | Helmet
Aftertaste
27th July:
Initial Rating: 3.5
Initial Thoughts: gone from middle hitters in my estimations to a bit of a favourite - from having their best album sat at a 3.5 I now have all three of their first albums on a 4 - and this is solid enough for the 3.5. More commercial sheen than ever...but still meaty. |
| 2 |  | John Fahey
Womblife
28th July:
Initial Rating: 3.5
Initial Thoughts: bit different from our John, very experimental - bit of the ol' musique concrete competing with that slide guitar etc. Cool. |
| 3 |  | Ben Harper
The Will To Live
29th July:
Initial Rating: 3
Initial Thoughts: it's Ben Harper, it's smooth, it's agreeable...it's a little forgettable too. |
| 4 |  | Lard
Pure Chewing Satisfaction
30th July:
Initial Rating: 3.5
Initial Thoughts: not as great as the debut but Jello over industrial is still mostly a good idea. |
| 5 |  | Monolake
Hong Kong
31st July:
Initial Rating: 3.5
Initial Thoughts: good ambient techno but I'm not convinced it speaks to me enough to warrant a 4+ rating. |
| 6 |  | Oblivians
Play 9 Songs With Mr. Quintron
1st August:
Initial Rating: 3.5
Initial Thoughts: always enjoy their style, some old school garage rock n' roll |
| 7 |  | Pinetop Seven
Pinetop Seven
2nd August:
Initial Rating: 3.5
Initial Thoughts: as said in the last list for '98 this band are one of the most consistent alt country bands of the '90s and this debut is up to standard too. After trying four albums now they're becoming a real favourite, playing their stuff a lot. |
| 8 |  | Redd Kross
Show World
3rd August:
Initial Rating: 4
Initial Thoughts: a really strong power pop album which backs up all those harmonised vocals and bright (yes, sometimes Beatles'y) melodies with some real beef in the instrumentation - these guitars buzz and near thrash at times, and the drumming is also prominent in the mix and aggressive. They land somewhere close to a more consistent and 'heavier' Posies and that's coming from someone who rates The Posies very highly to begin with. |
| 9 |  | Stars of the Lid
The Ballasted Orchestra
4th August:
Initial Rating: 3.5
Initial Thoughts: got a lot more into ambient music over the last three or so years...but I'm yet to totally buy into Stars of the Lid. Did appreciate the darker atmosphere here...can see this one perhaps getting a bump after listen two, for now a solid 3.5. |
| 10 |  | The 3rd and the Mortal
In This Room
5th August:
Initial Rating: 3.5
Initial Thoughts: a lot more of a jazz influence than expected and a lot less metal, doom or indeed rock, to report. Intriguing. |
| 11 |  | Dave Seaman and Robert Miles
Renaissance Worldwide: London
6th August:
Initial Rating: 4
Initial Thoughts: the Seaman mix is more consistent but the highlights of the Miles set are top notch. This rating could go up! |
| 12 |  | Master P
Ghetto D
7th August:
Initial Rating: 3.5
Initial Thoughts: bit of a generous 3.5, usual boring complaint of hip hop albums being too long, but starting to warm to Southern hip hop a bit more... |
| 13 |  | Brainiac
Electro-Shock for President
8th August:
Initial Rating: 3.5
Initial Thoughts: was a bit gutted this was only an EP, need to listen to more of their stuff. |
| 14 |  | Alabama 3
Exile on Coldharbour Lane
9th August:
Initial Rating: 2.5
Initial Thoughts: someone on RYM compared this to 'Screamadelica' (aka 'the most overrated album of the '90s') and to that I'd maybe add the gimmicky likes of the Fun Lovin' Criminals. Feels lightweight, feels fake. Still, it is listenable in a background way. |
| 15 |  | Blonde Redhead
Fake Can Be Just As Good
10th August:
Initial Rating: 3
Initial Thoughts: prefer their later material, I'm not sure I'm convinced with them being a raw Sonic Youth style band. |
| 16 |  | The Brian Jonestown Massacre
Give It Back
11th August:
Initial Rating: 4
Initial Thoughts: not sure just how authentic this really is, am I being inconsistent shitting on Primal Scream (always) and the Alabama 3 album (at number 14 in this list) and giving this a pass? Maybe. I'm digging this psychedelic album anyway and am going to forgive any whiff of fakery emanating from it as is my wont. Deal. |
| 17 |  | Calexico
Spoke
12th August:
Initial Rating: 3.5
Initial Thoughts: shares some of the sounds and a lot of the spirit of the Tindersticks from their debut, this appears to be a hugely underrated outing from Calexico. |
| 18 |  | Enslaved
Eld
13th August:
Initial Rating: 3.5
Initial Thoughts: the good sections here are real good, love the intro too, but is it fair to say this rambles like Waldo the World Famous Wandering Goat? Enslaved should have done the black metal thing (and the viking metal thing?) and sacrificed Waldo. What do you mean you've never heard of Waldo? |
| 19 |  | Missy Elliott
Supa Dupa Fly
14th August:
Initial Rating: 2.5
Initial Thoughts: real background music for me, as an MC Missy isn’t too engaging and as a singer she’s decent but not very distinctive. Overall this bored me. |
| 20 |  | Lesser
Welcome to the American Experience
15th August:
Initial Rating: 3.5
Initial Thoughts: one of those albums you think you’ve got figured out and then it throws a curveball at you. You think this is mostly about the beats and then you get live instruments or more ambient sound collages. Some of it worked for me better than other sections (not sure about the live instruments/guitars/etc). |
| 21 |  | Camp Lo
Uptown Saturday Night
16th August:
Initial Rating: 4
Initial Thoughts: really enjoyable jazzy hip hop, I guess my one complaint in there are better MCs but musically and in terms of vibe this is perfect. |
| 22 |  | Hatebreed
Satisfaction Is The Death Of Desire
17th August:
Initial Rating: 3.5
Initial Thoughts: little underrated (at least on RYM), this goes hard - reminds me a lot of 'Chaos AD' era Sepultura mixed with hardcore. More metallic hardcore suits me. |
| 23 |  | 1.8.7
When Worlds Collide
18th August:
Initial Rating: 4
Initial Thoughts: this is classic sci fi informed drum n' bass from the heyday of the genre - let your mind take a little trip. |
| 24 |  | Tiamat
A Deeper Kind of Slumber
19th August:
Initial Rating: 4
Initial Thoughts: gothic rock mixed with electronics suits Tiamat better then extreme metal and it was wise to keep the Pink Floyd style prog influence in the mix - wasn't expecting to prefer this to the excellent 'Wildhoney'...but I did. |
| 25 |  | Varnaline
Varnaline
20th August:
Initial Rating: 3.5
Initial Thoughts: not as good as the 1998 follow up album but I still have a lot of time for this alt country band. |
| 26 |  | To Rococo Rot
Veiculo
21st August:
Initial Rating: 3.5
Initial Thoughts: a slightly underrated electronic act are these Rococo Rotters, I'd say this is perhaps the least exciting album of the three I've tried by them so far but I still enjoyed it enough. |
| 27 |  | Superchunk
Indoor Living
22nd August:
Initial Rating: 3.5
Initial Thoughts: usual 'upbeat yet slacker' alt rock from Superchunk, like this about as much as the more championed earlier albums. |
| 28 |  | Snapcase
Progression Through Unlearning
23rd August:
Initial Rating: 3.5
Initial Thoughts: more fun metalcore, adding to my theory the 90s were the best for nearly every genre... |
| 29 |  | Hive (USA-CA)
Working With Sound
24th August:
Initial Rating: 3.5
Initial Thoughts: mellow instrumental hip hop - the only problem is I've listened to so much of it and this didn't blow me away despite the somewhat unique take on the jazz influence here. |
| 30 |  | Red Red Meat
There's A Star Above The Manger Tonight
25th August:
Initial Rating: 3
Initial Thoughts: a necessary step towards the superior Califone project. |
| 31 |  | Dover
Devil came to me
27th August:
Initial Rating: 3
Initial Thoughts: this grew on me as I listened, almost a female vocal Social Distortion at times, others it's more alt rock/grunge. |
| 32 |  | of Montreal
Cherry Peel
28th August:
Initial Rating: 2.5
Initial Thoughts: well made and carefully thought out no doubt, but not for me, it takes what I find to be the weakest elements of stuff I like (Pavement, Elliott Smith, Deerhoof, etc) and mixes those parts together into a self satisfied quirky gloop, while the retro elements land close to robotic pastiche. |
| 33 |  | Erykah Badu
Baduizm
29th August:
Initial Rating: 3
Initial Thoughts: actually for a 'modern' r n' b album this isn't at all bad, an agreeable tasteful atmosphere and some winning melodies. Didn't blow my mind but came close to mellowing it, and hey, I recognised about three or four of these songs already somehow. |
| 34 |  | Ballers
A Day Late and a Dollar Short
30th August:
Initial Rating: 3.5
Initial Thoughts: more G-funk with a great atmosphere but a little commercial sounding at times for my tastes. |
| 35 |  | Brutal Truth
Sounds of the Animal Kingdom
31st August:
Initial Rating: 2
Initial Thoughts: honestly I find this band's stuff dull and I don't feel like that about all grind. I don't find it heavy, just clownish and try hard to my ears. This is some Mary Poppins shit for me, cover art sums it up. Couple of good tracks here and there though. |
| 36 |  | Boymerang
Balance of the Force
1st September:
Initial Rating: 4
Initial Thoughts: very interesting this came from a member of Bark Psychosis...on first listen I was left wanting to like it even more than I do, but quality cerebral d n' b all the same and scrapes a 4 rating for now. |
| 37 |  | Bisk
Strange Or Funny Ha-Ha?
2nd September:
Initial Rating: 4
Initial Thoughts: phenomenal atmosphere here, glitch/IDM/jazz flavours conjure up images of an uncanny urban landscape...only I can't tell if it's futuristic, noir or some industrial dreamworld like Eraserhead except only populated by robots. |
| 38 |  | David Byrne
Feelings
3rd September:
Initial Rating: 3.5
Initial Thoughts: his solo output is overlooked really, but tunes like 'Dance on Vaseline' and 'Miss America' are classic Byrne. Ok as a full album it's more disjointed than the classic Talking Heads albums but if you don't directly compare (which is a little unfair...) then this is more worthy work. |
| 39 |  | Paul McCartney
Flaming Pie
4th September:
Initial Rating: 3
Initial Thoughts: a quality song writer no doubt, but boy oh boy is this a bit 'dad rock', needs a follow up listen but found it hard to connect to. |
| 40 |  | Misery Loves Co.
Not Like Them
5th September:
Initial Rating: 3
Initial Thoughts: think I prefer this to the debut, more consistency, though also less rawness so that can be a negative at times - this is very polished industrial alt metal.
EDIT: revised 3.5 bump, and another also for their debut, I'd underrated this bad - a more easily digestible Godflesh at times. Fun. |
| 41 |  | Motorpsycho
Angels and Daemons at Play
6th September:
Initial Rating: 3.5
Initial Thoughts: here we go again, I liked it but I didn't love it, some of the instrumental work was excellent, some of the vocals were too 'emo' for my tastes when things got slower and quieter, the songs themselves I'd need to spend time with...my intentions are to return, but I always say that with Motorpsycho. Still don't totally get them. |
| 42 |  | Jim O'Rourke
Happy Days
7th September:
Initial Rating: 3.5
Initial Thoughts: a bit like 'Endless Summer' meets The Necks, my sort of 'ting. |
| 43 |  | The Offspring
Ixnay on the Hombre
8th September:
Initial Rating: 2.5
Initial Thoughts: I actually forgot there was an album between 'Smash' and 'Americana' and it seems a lot of other people did too. This album shows the decline from 'Smash' was instantaneous...there's only one possible way to describe the sound of this album, and that's 'Smash B-Sides' (which a lot of these most likely are). Now where other '90s punk stalwarts like Bad Religion ploughed on into relative irrelevance doing the same old same old - the fate a succession of albums like this would have created for The Offspring - after this fizzler the band decided they wanted (nay, needed) the lifeblood of hits and realised that would call for true 'novelty'. This album has near zero novelty, less than 'Smash' even, but 'Americana' would deliver an album of at least 30% novelty - and that was the formula for The Offspring, "Uh huh, uh huh!". |
| 44 |  | The Orb
Orblivion
9th September:
Initial Rating: 3.5
Initial Thoughts: a more beat driven Orb is still an Orb worth listening to. |
| 45 |  | Pigeonhed
The Full Sentence
10th September:
Initial Rating: 3
Initial Thoughts: it's not the best style of backing for Shawn Smith, I still think he works best showing range over more rocking material, but he does ok here stuck in falsetto mode most of the time. |
| 46 |  | Elton John
The Big Picture
11th September:
Initial Rating: 1.5
Initial Thoughts: mostly piano ballads that manage to be both overwrought AND undercooked...an unfortunate combo. |
| 47 |  | Kreator
Outcast
12th September:
Initial Rating: 4
Initial Thoughts: a metal band I really respect, I don't know why this is underrated as much as it is, maybe the '90's factor'? Quite diverse, some more moody tunes too, and then it goes hard on tracks like 'Phobia' which are just outstanding. Love this, more great Kreator! |
| 48 |  | Kid Loco
A Grand Love Story
13th September:
Initial Rating: 4
Initial Thoughts: maybe a slightly generous 4 rating but this has that 90s 'electronica' (gah!) mellow atmosphere that hits the spot, consciously retro at the time but now genuinely retro on top of that. |
| 49 |  | L7
The Beauty Process: Triple Platinum
14th September:
Initial Rating: 3
Initial Thoughts: fun enough raw rock n' roll attitude album, don't think too many of the songs are mind blowers. |
| 50 |  | k.d. lang
Drag
15th September:
Initial Rating: 3
Initial Thoughts: jazz lite torch songs mostly about the topic of smoking (drag you see)...erm, yeah, proficient at, erm, that remit. |
| 51 |  | Alpha
Come From Heaven
16th September:
Initial Rating: 3.5
Initial Thoughts: very mellow downtempo but quite prominent vocals, almost like 'Moon Safari' in that regard. |
| 52 |  | Steve Wynn
Sweetness And Light
17th September:
Initial Rating: 3.5
Initial Thoughts: it's 4 out of 5 for the guitars, 3.5 out of 5 for the songs...and 3 out of 5 for the vocals. Equals out to a 3.5, but I like the cut of his jib. |
| 53 |  | Attica Blues
Attica Blues
18th September:
Initial Rating: 3.5
Initial Thoughts: mid tier trip hop album on (yay!) Mo Wax...I used to love that label so much. This is more 'like' than 'love' but it's all good as they say. |
| 54 |  | Sick of It All
Built to Last
19th September:
Initial Rating: 3
Initial Thoughts: I remember them from back in the day and I get it, but they play the new yoik hardore thing with perhaps too straight a bat for me - I like a little more metal in the mix in general, but still some of these tunes kick up some dust. |
| 55 |  | Cranes
Population 4
20th September:
Initial Rating: 3
Initial Thoughts: the voice worked ok with a denser backdrop of sounds...with a jangle backing i'm not so sure, this does get a bit 'little sister doing pretend karaoke in front of the mirror' at times. |
| 56 |  | Silverchair
Freak Show
21st September:
Initial Rating: 2
Initial Thoughts: "this sounds fake and copycat" "but man, they were still only kids when they recorded it" "I guess...I'm still not sure I want to listen to it" |
| 57 |  | Ray Wylie Hubbard
Dangerous Spirits
22nd September:
Initial Rating: 3.5
Initial Thoughts: just one of those 3.5 artists, and there's nothing too wrong with that, his mix of outlaw country and blues rock is a winning formula. |
| 58 |  | Katatonia
Sounds of Decay
23rd September:
Initial Rating: 4
Initial Thoughts: their old stuff is so good and this is no exception - works as an enjoyable companion piece EP for 'Brave Murder Day'. |
| 59 |  | Robert Earl Keen
Picnic
24th September:
Initial Rating: 3.5
Initial Thoughts: in the '90s he was in a groove, solid country rock album here. |
| 60 |  | Kent
Isola
25th September:
Initial Rating: 2.5
Initial Thoughts: some not horrible mid level alt rock, they're better than PaloAlto...maybe worse than Deus? That sort of level anyway. |
| 61 |  | Loftus (IL)
Loftus
26th September:
Initial Rating: 3
Initial Thoughts: a Califone side project and testing ground - some of the experiments, jams and sound collages are interesting...but it's the definition of non essential all the same. |
| 62 |  | Mogwai
Ten Rapid (Collected Recordings 1996-1997)
27th September:
Initial Rating: 4
Initial Thoughts: imagine the scenes if BCNR put this out! It's early material but it has that youthful thing that only 'Young Team' in their discog had...so it is nice to have more of that feeling in other Mogwai material. |
| 63 |  | Mood
Doom
28th September:
Initial Rating: 3.5
Initial Thoughts: the instrumentals and beats are the star on this East Coast boom bap album - smooth but with a subtly cold/dark atmosphere. |
| 64 |  | Ozric Tentacles
Curious Corn
29th September:
Initial Rating: 3.5
Initial Thoughts: it's certainly an Ozric Tentacles album. |
| 65 |  | Pink Martini
Sympathique
30th September:
Initial Rating: 2.5
Initial Thoughts: not for me, bit of jazz, bit of latin, some classical, just very blah to my tastes. Songs range from pleasant to 'don't like this cover version at all'. Your elevator deserves better maybe. |
| 66 |  | Discordance Axis
Jouhou
1st October:
Initial Rating: 3.5
Initial Thoughts: see Brutal Truth, this is a better grindcore album. |
| 67 |  | Vader
Black to the Blind
2nd October:
Initial Rating: 4
Initial Thoughts: band are just really solid now based on the two album's I've tried. |
| 68 |  | The Stranglers
Written in Red
3rd October:
Initial Rating: 2
Initial Thoughts: by the time Cornwell left the band the Stranglers were recording the occasional one off song gem (usually a single) and then a lot of bad material that sometimes at least had a 'novelty factor' working for it. This nu-Stranglers stuff isn't even bad in an interesting way like the worst of the original Stranglers, just painfully bland and personality-free. Should have changed the band name, disgraceful they didn't really. |
| 69 |  | Hugh Cornwell
Guilty
4th October:
Initial Rating: 2.5
Initial Thoughts: like The Stranglers above, this is also a pedestrian album from their former frontman, but the writing connects a little deeper and the voice is still a 'cool voice' so this goes down as a win. |
| 70 |  | Refused
Songs To Fan The Flames Of Discontent
5th October:
Initial Rating: 2.5
Initial Thoughts: didn't really do it for me in a massive way, I'm over Refused if I'm really honest, but this is one of those 'dress rehearsal albums' where you know the main event is coming next. |
| 71 |  | The Rolling Stones
Bridges to Babylon
6th October:
Initial Rating: 2
Initial Thoughts: a couple of ok songs for the accompanying tour and the Keith ballads at the end were actually ok too...below par stuff overall though. |
| 72 |  | Ron Sexsmith
Other Songs
7th October:
Initial Rating: 3.5
Initial Thoughts: his style is a bit indistinct, a lot of Rufus in there, for some reason it remains enjoyable. Classy. |
| 73 |  | Mustard Plug
Evildoers Beware!
8th October:
Initial Rating: 2
Initial Thoughts: it's an acceptable ska album but this just isn't my genre - the occasional ska song on a Rancid album is about all I need. |
| 74 |  | Skrew
Angel Seed XXIII
9th October:
Initial Rating: 3
Initial Thoughts: so much industrial tinged rock or metal from the late '90s now sounds like it was trying to cash in on the success of Marilyn Manson, I detected that influence here anyway. |
| 75 |  | Smoke City
Flying Away
10th October:
Initial Rating: 3.5
Initial Thoughts: when people accuse something of being 'coffee table trip hop' then I think this is exactly what they're thinking of, I mean this fits that description way more accurately then 'Dummy' for example. Is this being a bit background'y and 'light' a bad thing though? Not necessarily. |
| 76 |  | Ulver
Nattens Madrigal
11th October:
Initial Rating: 3.5
Initial Thoughts: this band sure have tried a lot of different styles, lo-fi black metal is a convincing one for them. |
| 77 |  | The Gathering
Nighttime Birds
12th October:
Initial Rating: 4
Initial Thoughts: feels a slightly generous 4 but I'm really coming around to this band's style, although this one is more straightahead goth rock. |
| 78 |  | The Hives
Barely Legal
13th October:
Initial Rating: 3
Initial Thoughts: this is going to sound harsh but this band don't really do much for me and feel like the perfect band that ten second snippets will sound really cool as a burst of high volume 'acceptable' punk over an advert. The full songs are ok to listen to, just somehow unmemorable. |
| 79 |  | Kenneth Keith Kallenbach
Yeah!
14th October:
Initial Rating: 3
Initial Thoughts: there's probably a sloppy punk rock tune here I'll play a hundred times down the line...I just can't tell which one that'll be just yet. Hopefully 'You Better Dress Up Like a Ho-Bag' because it has the best title. |
| 80 |  | Fila Brazillia
Luck Be A Weirdo Tonight
15th October:
Initial Rating: 3
Initial Thoughts: the album title and cover art combo needs recognition, and this was an enjoyable listen...but 'background music' is still the name of the game. |
| 81 |  | The Charlatans (UK)
Tellin' Stories
16th October:
Initial Rating: 3
Initial Thoughts: they've gotten more boring by this stage, a few early hits in the track list, then some very standard Oasis/Stone Roses chuff makes up the rest. |
| 82 |  | Esoteric
The Pernicious Enigma
17th October:
Initial Rating: 4
Initial Thoughts: as atmospheric and crushing as doom metal gets…and two whole hours of it here, which is a lot admittedly. |
| 83 |  | Fu Manchu
The Action is Go
18th October:
Initial Rating: 3.5
Initial Thoughts: they have one sound, maybe even only one song, but still enjoyable - possibly a 3 in reality. |
| 84 |  | The Geraldine Fibbers
Butch
19th October:
Initial Rating: 4
Initial Thoughts: I should like this a lot more than I do, when you write down what the ingredients of what they sound like on paper it reads like they're the real deal...like some truly 'alternative' alt country mixed with some outsider aesthetic (think Smoke maybe), plus a little noise rock for good measure. A couple of the early songs really slap you around the face with their energy and eccentricity...but then that's not really repeated again elsewhere until you reach the truly gobsmacking t/t and what follows, so I guess that's the slight problem here. Still, mighty cool and not saying this couldn't grow. |
| 85 |  | Ground Zero
Consume Red
20th October:
Initial Rating: 4
Initial Thoughts: quite the trip, this builds and builds into a living breathing cacophony that's not without it's own sense of catharsis too. |
| 86 |  | Jimmie's Chicken Shack
Pushing the Salmanilla Envelope
21st October:
Initial Rating: 3
Initial Thoughts: another 'evolutionary missing link' type '90s band..."was there a '90s band somewhere between RHCP/FNM and nu metal/post grunge". This band are that 'link in the chain'! Not to do JCS a complete disservice as some of this album is fun and playful...but then an awful lot of it is stodgy and close to unmemorable. |
| 87 |  | Leo Kottke
Standing in My Shoes
22nd October:
Initial Rating: 3.5
Initial Thoughts: the easy listening variety of virtuoso blues folk, this is mostly light, sparky and sprightly. |
| 88 |  | Madder Rose
Tragic Magic
23rd October:
Initial Rating: 3
Initial Thoughts: light and frothy indie with a strong trip hop influence, this is so mid '90s it hurts - the vocals are well done and that helps things a lot. |
| 89 |  | Lullaby for the Working Class
I Never Even Asked for Light
24th October:
Initial Rating: 3
Initial Thoughts: liked the debut a fair amount but was left underwhelmed with this one - where were the tunes? |
| 90 |  | Lowercase
Kill The Lights
25th October:
Initial Rating: 3.5
Initial Thoughts: agreeable and comforting Slint/Unwound/Fugazi inspired stuff with maybe a lingering aftertaste of grunge in the mix too - one of those bands with an instant familiarity that even though you're listening for the first time feel like they're an 'old friend'. |
| 91 |  | Holly McNarland
Stuff
26th October:
Initial Rating: 2.5
Initial Thoughts: has a few more interesting moments but overall just more fem alt rock that tries to be either quirky or intense depending on the song. |
| 92 |  | Our Lady Peace
Clumsy
27th October:
Initial Rating: 2.5
Initial Thoughts: their best album but still over eager alt rock with little unique to recommend it - and a lousier impression of Michael Stipe vocals than even Live. |
| 93 |  | Stephan Micus
The Garden of Mirrors
28th October:
Initial Rating: 4
Initial Thoughts: ethnic ambient new age gubbins, I enjoyed this a lot. |
| 94 |  | Mark Mulcahy
Fathering
29th October:
Initial Rating: 3.5
Initial Thoughts: this singer/songwriter album had enough knotty stylistic bits and emotion to intrigue me into probably delving further into his output, good job. |
| 95 |  | Radish
Restraining Bolt
30th October:
Initial Rating: 2
Initial Thoughts: very standard 'Weezer meets grunge' songs, mostly listenable though. |
| 96 |  | Matthew Ryan
May Day
31st October:
Initial Rating: 3.5
Initial Thoughts: not an incredible country vocal, definitely from the Willy Vlautin school of alt country speak-singing, just with some gruff Springsteen rock n' roll appeal added in there too. This means more pressure is put on the musicianship and the writing, and to be fair both hold up well and make this a worthwhile debut effort - it gets the all important 3.5 rating. |
| 97 |  | Luke Slater
Freek Funk
1st November:
Initial Rating: 4
Initial Thoughts: banging choons? This has the non stop techno chops. |
| 98 |  | Storm and Stress
Storm and Stress
2nd November:
Initial Rating: 3.5
Initial Thoughts: I've always said, if 'free jazz' uses a palette of sounds I warm to then half the battle is won already...if it uses shrill parps to make me curl up in the recovery position then not so much. This 'post rock' (maybe 'math rock') palette is perfect to my ears, so we're onto a winner. "Mmmmmm, improv!". Who was that? |
| 99 |  | U.S. Maple
Sang Phat Editor
3rd November:
Initial Rating: 3
Initial Thoughts: more improv, much shorter album, strange vocals...not feeling this is toooo substantial. A 'sit on the fence' 3 rating it is. |
| 100 |  | Witchman
Explorimenting Beats
4th November:
Initial Rating: 4
Initial Thoughts: a member of The Orb apparently, this is drum n bass with more of a trip hop aesthetic and it's very very good. |
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