Average Rating: 3.77 Rating Variance: 0.61 Objectivity Score: 67% (Fairly Balanced)
Sort by: Rating | Release Date | Rating Date | Name5.0 classicBarenaked Ladies StuntGuster Lost And Gone ForeverManchester Orchestra Simple MathRVIVR The Beauty BetweenSufjan Stevens The Age of AdzThe Taxpayers God, Forgive These BastardsTrophy Scars Never Born, Never Dead4.5 superbBrand New The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Mefun. Some NightsI the Mighty Karma Never SleepsProof that you don't have to reinvent the wheel to write tight, memorable, and evocative music. The quality of the songs on this EP are consistently excellent, with The Frame III being only a slight dip in quality in the middle. I the Mighty SatoriLike Karma Never Sleeps, except there is more of it. Basically, these guys aren't reinventing the wheel but they are so solid that it doesn't matter. Plus they have that x-factor that makes them much better than they sound on paper. P.O.S Never BetterP.O.S We Don't Even Live HerePanic! at the Disco A Fever You Can't Sweat OutState Radio Flag of the ShinersThe Receiving End of Sirens The Earth Sings Mi Fa MiTrophy Scars Darkness, Oh HellTV on the Radio Nine Types of Light4.0 excellentAesop Rock Labor DaysAmong Criminals Black & White WallsAs Tall As Lions As Tall As LionsAs Tall As Lions You Can't Take It With YouBen Folds Five The Sound of the Life of the MindBrand New Deja EntenduChadwick Stokes Simmerkane IIAlbum is definitely more solid and cohesive than anything else Chadwick Stokes has written lately. Though it sells itself as a folk side project from State Radio, in truth this is much more of a pop album with folk influences. Still, the lyrics are quirky and charming and the songs are well written, though all my favorite songs are on the ends of the album. There are a few weaker tracks in the middle, I feel, but they're forgivable because this album presents itself much better as a whole than in individual parts. It's nice to hear Stokes do something that is not based in the politics of State Radio, and I'm pretty sure that's why this is the first album I've thoroughly enjoyed from him since some of the early EPs he put out with his band. The songs feel just a little bit more personal and Stokes also seems more free to have fun. It adds the spark that has been missing from some of his recent songs with State Radio and makes Simmerkane II an album that I could recommend without reservation. Dispatch Silent SteeplesDispatch Who Are We Living For?Envy On The Coast LowcountryIt's been a long time since I've gotten this into an album, so it's personally a 4.5. Pretty damn solid across the board. Frightened Rabbit The Midnight Organ FightGuster Easy WonderfulJeff Rosenstock I Look Like ShitThere's some great stuff, some good stuff, some stuff that doesn't really stand out - but it's all brought together by the fact that Jeff Rosenstock is one of the most convincing lyricists and singers of all time and that holds the album up even when a couple individual songs don't. Jethro Tull AqualungJosh Ritter The Beast In Its TracksRVIVR Dirty WaterRx Bandits The ResignationRx Bandits ...And the Battle BegunRx Bandits MandalaSeahaven GhostThe Civil Wars Barton Hollow3.5 great3 Doors Down The Better LifeAlexisonfire CrisisBlood Red Shoes Fire Like ThisDave Matthews Band Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux KingDessa A Badly Broken CodeDirty Heads Any Port In A StormDispatch Circles Around the SunEmery ...In Shallow Seas We SailI the Mighty We SpeakThis album has more variety and less focus than Karma Never Sleeps and Satori. It also falls much closer to the pop-punk end of the spectrum. There are a lot of ideas on display here, and most of them are executed well. However, the band's inexperience shines through in a lot of these tracks. The cringe worthy chorus of one these songs begins, "Where did I go wrong, was it the bottle or the bong" and a few other tracks fail to reach their potential. On the other hand, a few of these songs are stellar (especially "Hearts and Spades"). Give it a listen, but check out their later releases first.Rx Bandits ProgressSick Puppies Dressed Up as LifeThe Dear Hunter Act I: The Lake South, the River NorthThe Dear Hunter Act II: The Meaning of, & All Things Regarding Ms. LeadingThe Used Artwork3.0 goodDelerium Voice (An Acoustic Collection)Guster Keep It TogetherManchester Orchestra Mean Everything to NothingPanic! at the Disco Pretty. Odd.Sick Puppies Tri-PolarState Radio Us Against the CrownThe Dear Hunter Act III: Life and Death2.5 averageBarenaked Ladies All in Good TimeGayngs RelaytedThere's some cool stuff here, but it's kind of boring. Rx Bandits Live At Park AvenueLove the RX Bandits and they're a great live band, but the sound quality isn't that good and I wouldn't recommend this to anyone who wasn't a dedicated fan. State Radio Year of the Crow2.0 poorBarefoot Truth Walk Softly...Dispatch Dispatch EPThis EP is awkward. It's a product of three songwriters who haven't written together in about a decade. Their old material, while lacking in maturity, had a charm and sense of melody that appealed to me when I was 13 (and still do, but not as much). The main problem with this EP is that there isn't a single thread that holds it together. Each songwriter is very out of sync, bringing their own style of music and lyrics without regard to how it effects the overall sound. Dispatch was never a very consistent band stylistically, but they were always consistent in the spirit of their music. This EP fails in that regard, losing the charm that made them appeal to me in the first place. Also, these songs simply are not very memorable.Josh Ritter Bringing in the DarlingsNone of these songs are really working for me, and "Why" has probably my least favorite Josh Ritter lyrics ever. State Radio Let It Go
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