Knott-
Emeritus

Reviews 174
Approval 98%

Soundoffs 124
News Articles 14
Band Edits + Tags 2
Album Edits 33

Album Ratings 276
Objectivity 73%

Last Active 12-20-22 3:51 pm
Joined 11-15-08

Review Comments 10,260

Average Rating: 3.76
Rating Variance: 0.96
Objectivity Score: 73%
(Fairly Balanced)

Chart.

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2023
There Will Be Fireworks Summer Moon4.5

2021
Coldplay Music of the Spheres2.0
Much like space: too big and empty for anybody to understand.
Manchester Orchestra The Million Masks of God4.5

2019
Copeland Blushing4.5
Default Genders main pop girl 20194.5

2018
Metric Art of Doubt4.5
Somehow, this is now the quintessential Metric album, overtaking Fantasies as the band's crowning work. It's sharp, melodic, tender, energetic, atmospheric; all the best parts of Metric's sound swirling around each other to create something immense. Inject the riff from "Underline the Black" into my veins and put me to sleep with "No Lights on the Horizon", surely one of the most gorgeous album closers in recent memory.
Titus Andronicus A Productive Cough1.5
Tiny Little Houses Idiot Proverbs4.5
2017
Gang of Youths Go Farther in Lightness5.0
Lorde Melodrama4.5

2014
The Hotelier Home, Like NoPlace Is There4.5

2013
The National Trouble Will Find Me4.7
The best National album, perhaps. Tied with Alligator, at least, so effortless, weightless, cutting and beautiful.

2012
Benjamin Gibbard Former Lives4.0
About 5 billion times better than the last DCFC album. Has the laid-back pop poise of Plans and an immensely strong second half. Highly recommend this, whatever you thought of Codes and Tedium.
The Mountain Goats Transcendental Youth4.5
Plug a fucking night light in.
Mumford and Sons Babel1.0
holy fuck this is actually more trite than sigh no more how is that even possible oh my fucking god
The Killers Battle Born2.0
EVERYBODY LISTEN TO HOW PASSIONATE AND ANTHEMIC WE CAN BE
Abel (NY) Make It Right4.5
The Gaslight Anthem Handwritten4.0
The Antlers Undersea4.0
Passion Pit Gossamer4.5
best pop of 2012 so far
Metric Synthetica2.5
Wow, this is boring.
Motion City Soundtrack Go3.5
The Tallest Man on Earth There's No Leaving Now4.5
I feel like I'm listening to the album you were all pretending The Wild Hunt was a couple of years ago.
Japandroids Celebration Rock4.0
Regina Spektor What We Saw from the Cheap Seats4.0
Sigur Ros Valtari3.0
Silversun Pickups Neck of the Woods3.5
iLiKETRAiNS The Shallows4.0
Ghost Mice All We Got Is Each Other4.5
All We Got Is Each Other is a record about death, but within that mission statement it finds itself inevitably saying much more about life and the way we choose to live it. It's a bundle of raw feelings, expressed with an acoustic guitar and a violin as its support, and it finds itself toeing that line between blunt and inescapably beautiful. It takes a special form of honesty to write a record this human.
Lostprophets Weapons3.5
A surprisingly consistent album consisting of anthems, anthems, and a few anthems for good measure.
Wires Shadows EP3.5
fun. Some Nights4.0
The Twilight Sad No One Can Ever Know3.5
Craig Finn Clear Heart Full Eyes3.5
John K. Samson Provincial4.0
Stop Robin my rating.

2011
Frank Turner The Second Three Years4.0
Los Campesinos! Hello Sadness2.5
This is so much less interesting than Romance Is Boring that it makes me want to cry... or just listen to Johnny Foreigner's new album instead.
Johnny Foreigner Johnny Foreigner vs Everything4.5
Florence and the Machine Ceremonials4.5
I never knew daylight could be this violent.

Is this better than Lungs? Shit, never thought I'd be asking that.
Coldplay Mylo Xyloto5.0
SO. MUCH. MELODY.
Jack's Mannequin People and Things4.0
Mayday Parade Mayday Parade3.5
Mayday Parade still lack something without Lancaster, but most of what made A Lesson In Romantics so perfect makes a welcome return on their self-titled.
blink-182 Neighborhoods3.5
When you look at how Blink-182 have gone about their lives since 2003's self-titled, it seems like an absolute f**king miracle that their comeback record Neighborhoods isn't absolutely laughable. When the album's first two singles failed to light the type of spark you would have expected from one of pop-punk's most important bands, it seemed as though the reunion was doomed to the backest of alleys, a whisper clung to by some but passed over by the masses. Neighborhoods certainly isn't the game-changing record that nobody expected it to be, less still the venture into new textures that stunned long-time fans on blink-182, but few would have predicted it to be this strong. There are new ideas, the weird snake-charming motif from, umm, 'Snake Charmer' for instance, but nothing that would scare away even the least adventurous listeners of the band's pre-hiatus discography. All in all, Neighborhoods is a slightly less inspired version of the group's self-titled, even including the now-mandatory interlude track (which rules), but it's a superb alternative rock album that clearly comes after side-projects where its predecessor hinted rat those projects to come. It has energy, hooks and ample intrigue. Colour me pretty impressed and equally surprised.
Bomb the Music Industry! Vacation4.0
Trophy Scars Never Born, Never Dead3.5
I'm pretty sure this band would be incredible if the dude's vocals weren't frequently so ridiculously awful.
The Midway State Paris or India3.5
The Dangerous Summer War Paint4.5
The Horrors Skying4.0
Coldplay Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall4.0
Not enough like Dragonforce yeah?

The title-track is euphoric, Major/Minus has groove and Moving To Mars is beautiful. Yup,
immensely excited for the new record.

Which a little birdie tells me will be released on October 10.
Bon Iver Bon Iver, Bon Iver4.5
Honestly? After one listen of Bon Iver it hadn't even hit me that it sounded different to Emma like you guys are all saying it does. It doesn't. It's still Vernon, it's still those meandering, evasive melodies, still that atmosphere that tugs on your hand like it's pretending it wants to get away but no, it's not going anywhere, no, it's still Bon Iver, it's still gorgeous, it still makes everything stand still.
Owl City All Things Bright And Beautiful1.0
The Dear Hunter The Color Spectrum (Complete Collection)5.0
Frank Turner England Keep My Bones5.0
SO IF EVER I STRAY FROM THE PATH I FOLLOW, TAKE ME DOWN TO THE ENGLISH CHANNEL, THROW ME IN WHERE THE WATER IS SHALLOW AND THEN DRAG ME ON BACK TO SHORE. BECAUSE LOVE IS FREE AND LIFE IS CHEAP AND AS LONG AS I'VE GOT ME A PLACE TO SLEEP, SOME CLOTHES ON MY BACK AND SOME FOOD TO EAT, THEN I CAN'T ASK FOR ANYTHING MORE.rYeah.
Death Cab for Cutie Codes and Keys2.5
I need a bit more time to articulate clearly what I think of it, and I'm not sure on the rating yet, either, but on first impression, I think the most accurate way of phrasing it is: :/
Maybeshewill I Was Here For a Moment, Then I Was Gone4.0
Hugh Laurie Let Them Talk3.5
He's an actor 5/5 He's an actor 5/5 He's an actor 5/5 He's an actor 5/5
Manchester Orchestra Simple Math4.5
dredg Chuckles and Mr. Squeezy1.5
Laura Stevenson Sit Resist4.5
The Wombats This Modern Glitch2.0
Painfully uninspired, largely homogenous and at rare points seriously bad, This Modern Glitch survives off the back of the occasional sharp lyric or nailed-on melody but does little more. The vast majority of these tracks feel lacking in depth and direction, resulting in a disappointing and aimless follow-up to a far superior and infinitely more cohesive debut.
Johnny Foreigner Certain Songs Are Cursed4.0
Jessie J Who You Are2.0
Panda Bear Tomboy4.5
So guys, it might be time to rethink all those 5s you gave Merriweather Post Pavilion. This is everything that Animal Collective's last LP could have been. I'll just stand over here while you guys come to terms with that.
The Blackout Hope1.0
Aiden Disguises1.5
Emery We Do What We Want4.0
Everything everybody pretended to see in Shallow Seas. Heaven knows what everyone is talking
about a 'heavier direction' for, this is gorgeous. Except the closer, which is massively
gay.
Yellowcard When You're Through Thinking, Say Yes4.0
The Strokes Angles4.0
Gloriously fractured, the sound of a band dipping and diving without restraint. A complex and ambitious record tied together by a common thread of charm, Angles sees The Strokes grinning at you in the background every time they change tempo unexpectedly, showing off a different manifestation of the confidence that made Is This It? such a joy to listen to and flexing their muscles in a plethora of different ways at the same time.
Avril Lavigne Goodbye Lullaby3.5
Defeater Empty Days and Sleepless Nights4.0
'Quiet The Longing' is probably the song of the year so far.
Noah and the Whale Last Night On Earth2.0
Eisley The Valley4.5
Bayside Killing Time4.0
They're halfway to perfect now - but we always mistake it for progress.
Radiohead The King of Limbs2.5
Love American Love American3.5
Armistice Armistice4.0
Hey Rosetta! Seeds4.5
Why are these guys not fucking huge here? If you like, say, Frightened Rabbit, The National, just anything indie that Sputnik loves... listen to this. Trust me on this one?
Bright Eyes The People's Key2.5
i think calling this sci-fi emo might be the lease accurate description ive heard all day
Glassjaw Coloring Book5.0
I don't even listen to this band very often but this is absolutely. Astounding.
Little Comets In Search of Elusive Little Comets4.5
The Decemberists The King Is Dead4.0
White Lies Ritual2.0
listen to these heartbreak songs when nothing's really wrongrthen smile when we're asked and we say that we're fine

2010
Charlie Simpson When We Were Lions4.0
Plain White T's Wonders of the Younger1.5
Daft Punk Tron: Legacy4.0
Frank Turner Rock & Roll4.0
Kanye West My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy4.5
I liked that part where everybody built statues of Kanye West and declared him the Most Divisive Pop Culture Icon.
Mariage Blanc Mariage Blanc4.0
Take That Progress3.0
Johnny Foreigner You Thought You Saw A Shooting Star...4.0
Taylor Swift Speak Now4.5
your string of lights is still bright to me, yeahhhhhhhhhhhh
Mae (e)vening4.5
seasons is the most beautiful thing i've heard all year
Pete Yorn Pete Yorn3.5
Jimmy Eat World Invented4.5
You could almost say Jimmy Eat World are re-invented but really they're just 'back'; Invented mixes Futures with Clarity, asks you to invest a bit of attention where Chase This Light was so easy, and carves its own feel out of old Jimmy Eat World textures. It's not so much Your New Aesthetic as Your Old Aesthetics Combined and it works a treat. A grower for sure, but undoubtedly one of the best albums in a stellar discography.
The Script Science & Faith2.5
I must have been musically deprived when I first heard this, it's pretty boring.
Brandon Flowers Flamingo3.0
What do the other members of The Killers do, exactly?
Weezer Hurley4.0
WAIT. WHAT? HOW IS THIS SO GOOD? WHAT. THE. FUCK. PASS ME ANOTHER DRINK.
Anberlin Dark Is the Way, Light Is a Place3.5
it is all slow and they are not a pop punk band any more and that means they souled out (coz
they lost their soul!) and it is all diluted and boring and gay so i give this new album a
1/10 don't listen unless you want to be put to sleep by so-called 'beautiful' vocals and
'crafted' songs (HINT!!!!!!1 what those words really mean is "GAY" and "NOT
FAST"11!!!!!)
The Thermals Personal Life4.0
Goo Goo Dolls Something for the Rest of Us3.5
If you've heard Let Love In you've pretty much heard this but that doesn't mean you won't enjoy it.
Fight Like Apes The Body Of Christ And The Legs Of Tina Turner3.5
Klaxons Surfing the Void2.5
album of the year if you read nme or you've never heard weird effects echoed vocals and spaced-out guitars before
David Gray Foundling2.0
American Hi-Fi Fight The Frequency3.5
Taking Back Sunday Live from Orensanz4.0
Arcade Fire The Suburbs4.0
It's fairly obvious that Funeral is better than The Suburbs is better than Neon Bible. This is beautiful, epic without being pretentious, and very, very solid. It's comfortable, and that comfort is (right now) what earns it 4 stars and stops it from earning a 5th, but I'll be damned if this isn't in very frequent rotation in the months to come.
Avenged Sevenfold Nightmare3.0
a modern day Dark Side Of The Moon 5/5
the worst thing i've EVER HEARD IN MY LIFE 1/5
errrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrm yeah
Los Campesinos! All's Well That Ends2.0
I Am Kloot Sky At Night3.5
Steel Train Steel Train4.0
Stars The Five Ghosts4.0
Eminem Recovery4.0
Around about the end of track 7, Recovery will have you feeling bad about saying Eminem had lost his edge. That pretty much sums it up.
The Drums The Drums2.5
The National High Violet4.0
ITT people don't listen to Alligator enough and therefore give High Violet a 5. ;)
Parades Foreign Tapes4.0
If you like melody you will like this album. If you like airy atmosphere you will love this album. If you take those things a little bit too far you'll rate this album a 5!
fun. Live At Fingerprints4.5
i hate to sound like a fanboy but this is as awesome and fun as youd expect a fun. live album to be and i hate to sound like a fanboy but i don't, really, i fucking love it
The Tallest Man on Earth The Wild Hunt3.5
Red Sparowes The Fear Is Excruciating, But Therein...4.0
The Dillinger Escape Plan Option Paralysis3.5
The Weakerthans Live at Burton Cummings Theatre5.0
Titus Andronicus The Monitor5.0
It is messy. It's an essential distillation of fucked up people. It's not an organised work of art with pre-conceived structure and form and bounds; it's impulsive, visceral, completely derailed. Everything contributes to that. If Stickles were an operatic vocalist or even a competent one this album would probably be excellent at best. If his lyrics weren't so all-over-the-place they wouldn't be so obviously and inherently human. If this album were shorter it would mean that it didn't say all that it could and all that it wanted to, and it would dull the effect of that last climax in Hampton Roads. It's not 10 songs stuck on a CD to sell a product, it's so obviously the product of flawed and probably drunk people making a reckless and unadulterated statement on what it's like to be flawed and probably drunk.
Dan le Sac vs Scroobius Pip Logic of Chance1.5
The beats have arguably gotten better but it appears Pip has run out of ideas. This is the kind of sophomore album syndrome you hear about but rarely actually experience. And it's very disappointing.
Frightened Rabbit The Winter of Mixed Drinks4.5
More open, more conventional and certainly less suffocated, The Winter Of Mixed Drinks sees Frightened Rabbit take on directions many thought would ruin them, but who knew they would do happy so damn well too? Hutchison is no longer the bitter boy he was on The Midnight Organ Fight, so The Loneliness And The Scream's wordless chorus is euphoric without a hint of regret or sadness; all over are his assertions that the past is the past and this is a new honesty. The lyricism's still poignant, moving to the point of tears, just not for the same reasons as it used to be. The production values are slightly bumped, but the band still sound like they're playing in your front room, those folk-pop guitars and organic rhythms intertwining into strands that make up what is already one of the year's best records so far; if it grows as did TMOF, we might have a close call on our hands.
Fightstar Be Human Deluxe Edition4.5
The Rocket Summer Of Men and Angels2.0
Bomb the Music Industry! Adults!!!: Smart!!! Shithammered!!! And Excited By Nothing!!!!!!!4.5
yet more DIY punk that takes on numerous aesthetics but never lose its sense of reality and honest approach to music; the lyrics are as always clever and engaging and the music varied and hook-loaded. immense.
Los Campesinos! Romance Is Boring5.0
Every single moment of Romance Is Boring is designed exclusively to alleviate the single most awkward aural experience of the year 2010. The kitchen-sink arrangements, the phenomenally irritating melodies, the sincere/witty dichotomy of the lyrics, the fidgety and adrenaline-packed ideas, the uncomfortable truths; Los Campesinos are a band that love to hate themselves, fucked up and flawed and beautiful and doomed and never ever ever boring. The abandon the band demonstrate is just the same as before; the ambition, though, presents them in a new, raw light, showcasing a stunning array of talents and eventually, somehow, GOD knows how, justifying the moment when Gareth Campesinos! says, "you never touch my cock!" Messy, self-involved and abrasive; special.
Motion City Soundtrack My Dinosaur Life4.0
Lostprophets The Betrayed3.0

2009
Animal Collective Fall Be Kind3.5
John Mayer Battle Studies3.0
Defeater Lost Ground4.5
JLS JLS1.0
Say Anything Say Anything4.0
Say Anything normalise slightly and the result is intriguing; Bemis still weaves and stabs, the Kings of Leon line an absolute gem, but their self-titled album comes across as a more streamlined, consistent and accessible In Defense Of The Genre. Wholly enjoyable and impressive.
Johnny Foreigner Grace And The Bigger Picture4.0
There's something a bit special about Birmingham-based indie-rock trio Johnny Foreigner that threads itself subtly through these frantic, shouted pop songs. Grace And The Bigger Picture is one of 2009's most impressive records, blending JoFo's now-trademark noise-pop and intricate, chaotic guitar lines with a wider spectrum of musical endeavours. Berrow, as always, sounds passionate and full of conviction; Southern, likewise, but more fragile. These are tunes about life on the road and visiting a new city every day that contain enough hooks and energy to define your autumn.
Do Make Say Think Other Truths3.5
Thrice Beggars4.5
Where The Alchemy Index was Thrice saying, "Look, here's four different ways to compartmentalise us," Beggars sees them at their most difficult to pin down. Honing the sound of Vheissu but with softer, more groove-oriented rhythms, they've crafted something which runs together and seems a coherent whole. It leans in certain directions but always stands up straight in the end; the Radiohead influence is clear on Circles, and there are hints of TAI's Earth CD in many of these tracks. The Weight is arguably the best song they've ever written, but Beggars as a whole is beautiful, passionate and just jaw-droppingly good. It's probably an indication of the high standards they set that I believe they're yet to make their masterpiece, but for most bands on the planet, this would be far and away the most impressive release of their career.
Mumford and Sons Sigh No More1.0
No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No.
Paramore Brand New Eyes4.0
Mae (a)fternoon1.5
The second of Mae's 2009 EPs is not just a step down; it's a dismount. Overly long songs with nowhere nearly enough substance to justify their running times, clich?lines about fathers and communication, and a lack of what made Mae good in the first place results in a difficult record that lacks any cohesion. There's respite in the brilliant Falling Into You, while In Pieces and The Cure are passable songs, but even they sound incomplete., and the rest of (A)fternoon sounds tired and laboured. Cross your fingers for (E)vening, folks.
Brand New Daisy2.5
So did you guys hear Brand New have a new album out
Muse The Resistance2.0
The biggest problem with The Resistance is that Muse, for the first time, sound like a band that could be imitated. There are very few hugely surprising ideas through its runtime, however varied the atmospherics are and however big the anthems become. The tangents that Bellamy finds are predictable or ineffective, and there are certain tracks which border on unlistenable - Uprising is one of the least captivating openers in recent rock history. Ambition is to be celebrated and admired, but Muse seem to be doing things for the sake of it, and The Resistance doesn't add up to any sort of cohesive whole, and there are very few moments that come close to anything off Absolution or Origin. Poor.
Twin Atlantic Vivarium4.0
Scotland's 2009 victory lap is an offering with character and restraint that demonstrates
marked maturity from a band that by right should have none. Twin Atlantic's debut LP takes a
sprinkling of ideas located between pop-rock and post-hardcore and crafts them into
ambitious, infectious rock songs; at 8 tracks long, this record is criminally short, but
what's present is classy and very impressive indeed.
Noah and the Whale The First Days of Spring1.5
This is probably the worst thing I've ever heard.
fun. Aim and Ignite5.0
Joyous abandon. Tangible emotion. Astounding melodies. One of the best pop albums ever.
Paul Dempsey Everything Is True4.0
Owl City Ocean Eyes1.0
Sorry to inform you, but your opinion of this record speaks volumes about your outlook on music. Yes, that means all of you.
Billy Talent Billy Talent III2.0
August Burns Red Constellations4.0
Alexisonfire Old Crows / Young Cardinals3.5
Maybeshewill Sing The Word Hope In Four-Part Harmony4.5
Taking Back Sunday New Again4.0
more rock, less punk, less chaos, more craft, less inconsistent, more mature, entirely awesome.
Twenty Twenty Forever EP1.0
Grizzly Bear Veckatimest2.5
Phoenix (FRA) Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix4.0
Green Day 21st Century Breakdown1.5
Eminem Relapse2.0
Coldplay LeftRightLeftRightLeft4.0
Japandroids Post-Nothing4.0
As Cities Burn Hell or High Water3.0
Manchester Orchestra Mean Everything to Nothing4.5
There is absolutely nothing wrong with Manchester Orchestra's 2009 record; not a second goes by without something impressive, be it an intelligent, smirk-inducing line, an emotionally-delievered vocal, a pumping riff or an incredible hook. I don't even really know what it is. It's alt-rock. It's indie-rock. It's fucking brilliant.
Fightstar Be Human4.0
With guitars amped up and an orchestra behind them, Fightstar craft a brilliant piece of rock music, and 'craft' is most definitely the right word. There is such care taken to build this album to its explosive and frequent climaxes that it is impossible to describe it in any other way. It's not a masterpiece, but it certainly suggests a band that is capable of one; melodic, diverse and delivered with conviction, Be Human might just be the record that makes the world sit up and listen.
Death Cab for Cutie The Open Door3.0
Mono Hymn to the Immortal Wind4.5
There is absolutely no doubt that this is some of the best-orchestrated and most moving sound recorded in a hell of a long time. Hymn To The Immortal Wind has a timeless aura about it, as if it could quite easily have been produced hundreds of years ago in wastelands and castle courtyards. It's the kind of music everybody wants playing when they finally get to see the northern lights or the pyramids or Paris at night: painfully optimistic, absolutely awe-inspiring and quite simply sublime.
The Antlers Hospice3.5
Half of it's like holyfuckthisisa5/5 and half of it might as well not exist.
Bomb the Music Industry! Scrambles4.5
BAAAABY WE'RE SCARMBLINNNNNNNNNNNNNN if you don't FIND A STEADY JOB NOW OR FIND YOURSELF A STEADY FUCK NOW ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh nNOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Gavin Castleton Home4.5
Bon Iver Blood Bank4.0
Animal Collective Merriweather Post Pavilion2.5
im actually getting really bored of putting myself through this trying to find what the fuck is so special about pulsed electronics, echoed vocals and frankly flat melodies. summertime clothes is absolute gold; everything else feels like it's designed to appeal to the part of you that pretends to understand music rather than the part of you that does.
Laura Stevenson Holy Ghost!4.0
These songs are good enough to fuck to, I just hope the weirdo nextdoor doesn't hear us.

2008
The All-American Rejects When the World Comes Down3.0
Kanye West 808s and Heartbreak4.0
Nickelback Dark Horse2.0
Taylor Swift Fearless4.5
One of the most superbly conceived, written and executed pop music albums of the last few years, Taylor Swift's Fearless is nothing if not honest. In teenage rhetoric she eases her way through 13 tracks of pure hooks, carried by a country-tinged pop backdrop complete with acoustic guitars, sappy pianos and persistent drums. Those not into the whole simple (simplistic?) emotion thing will be turned off by her lyricism, but the truth is it's sweet, to the point, and incredibly endearing. The tempos switch, the subject matter stays the same - boys, basically - and the quality doesn't falter.
Sleepingdog Polar Life4.5
Snow Patrol A Hundred Million Suns3.0
Tat Soho Lights3.5
Pessimist might be the best thing evar. 50 characterssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss. Review on way.
Los Campesinos! We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed4.5
brokeNCYDE BC 131.0
Frightened Rabbit Quietly, Now4.5
Copeland You Are My Sunshine4.5
Oasis Dig Out Your Soul1.5
Bayside Shudder4.0
Fight Like Apes ...And The Mystery Of The Golden Medallion4.5
House Of Heroes The End Is Not the End3.0
The Script The Script3.0
A fantastic pop album. Hook after hook after hook, seamless and pretty and well-executed. It's nothing groundbreaking and very little of it is phenomenal but pop-rock needs more records like this.
Stars Sad Robots EP3.5
The Gaslight Anthem The '59 Sound4.5
Coldplay Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends4.5
Johnny Foreigner Waited Up 'til It Was Light4.5
Death Cab for Cutie Narrow Stairs3.5
Dan le Sac vs Scroobius Pip Angles4.0
Frightened Rabbit The Midnight Organ Fight5.0
The Midnight Organ Fight is a beautifully crafted album. Emotional, raw and supremely addictive, Frightened Rabbit succeed in mixing folk-pop and indie-rock into 48 minutes of bouncy and heartwarming melodies that lift you up, beat you down and, in a final twist, bring you closure and peace. Thoughtful and care-free at the same time, this is one of 2008's best albums, and in a fair world would see Frightened Rabbit catapulted to the mainstream fame they deserve.
Los Campesinos! Hold On Now, Youngster...3.5
Frank Turner Love, Ire & Song4.5
Music - it's my substitute for love.

Well I've had many different girls inside my bed, but only one or two inside my head. These
days I cuddle up to my guitar instead.

But oh, what I would give, not to stumble but to really fall in love, and I could substitute
my singing for the sound of someone sleeping next to me
Nada Surf Lucky4.0

2007
Say Anything In Defense of the Genre3.0
Jimmy Eat World Chase This Light4.0
The New Amsterdams At The Foot Of My Rival4.5
Minus the Bear Planet of Ice3.5
Epic45 May Your Heart Be The Map4.0
The Receiving End of Sirens The Earth Sings Mi Fa Mi4.5
A serious and ambitious album, the follow-up to the widely-acclaimed Between The Heart And the Synapse is an altogether more claustrophobic and difficult affair but ultimately a more rewarding one too. Those who stick with the somewhat homogenous but totally entrancing soundscapes to the end will agree; the climax of the closer, amid all the weight that's come before it, is a pay-off worth revisiting time and time again. The lyrics are incredible, the "progressive post-hardcore" musicality enthralling and the structure is undeniably superb. A must-hear.
Interpol Our Love to Admire4.0
Mayday Parade A Lesson In Romantics4.5
Bon Iver For Emma, Forever Ago5.0
If you only listen to For Emma, Forever Ago once, you won't do it justice; it takes a little bit of time to unlock the yearning and loss hidden inside this bare, stark-naked 40-minute masterpiece. Emotion shivers through every falsetto, every strummed note, every layered vocal, and the lyrics, enigmatic and somehow relatable, tell a story of love and regret so deep it ought to be called poetry. Don't dismiss this at first glance; it took me 3 listens for it to hit me, so don't expect it to penetrate first time round. And if after 5 or 6 spins it still doesn't break you down, then it's time to face the awful truth that you probably don't have a soul.
The National Boxer4.5
As soon as that tipsy opening piano walks in you know it's going to be special. Everything on Boxer is blissfully melodic, painfully uncertain and rendered in three glorious dimensions. It just lacks Alligator's 4th.
Avril Lavigne The Best Damn Thing3.5
Bright Eyes Cassadaga3.5
Bayside The Walking Wounded3.5

2006
Brand New The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me4.5
I can't listen to this album without becoming depressed. Not just in a downbeat mood - depressed. It reminds me of the worst 3 months of my life by a long shot and I can't avoid that feeling. There's little doubt that this record could be perfect - I can't tell. It's raw, emotional, dynamic, dark, passionate, unpredictable and brilliantly constructed. I just think it should end after You Won't Know. Honestly, every time I listen to this album that song finishes and I can't be f**ked with the rest of it all. Up to there it's pretty much the most powerful thing ever. I'm rambling, I don't care. Album is, put simply, intense. Hear it.
Manchester Orchestra I'm Like a Virgin Losing a Child4.0
mewithoutYou Brother, Sister4.0
John Mayer Continuum5.0
BT This Binary Universe4.5
The Thermals The Body, The Blood, The Machine4.5
Hellogoodbye Zombies! Aliens! Vampires! Dinosaurs!4.5
Muse Black Holes & Revelations3.0
The Format Dog Problems5.0
The fantastic last track, If Work Permits, sets off with character but turns absolutely frantic after the chorus; Ruess? emotive vocals atop distorted guitars and pulsing drums build gradually throughout the second verse and the last chorus is shouted, passionately. Earlier in the song, though, that same chorus had made for arguably the album?s most poignant moment, crooned vulnerably over a sparse, misery-stricken piano. This is the genius of Dog Problems: the subtlety and the energy are not split between tracks, or ever really separable. Just energy, and you?re shouting about nothing. Just emotion and subtlety, and you?re going to come out depressed. But both together ? like The Format manage on this record ? gives you a bit of fight, and a hell of a good time while you figure it out.
Guillemots Through the Windowpane4.5
Lostprophets Liberation Transmission3.0
Frightened Rabbit Sing The Greys3.5
Taking Back Sunday Louder Now3.0

2005
Cauterize Paper Wings3.5
Animal Collective Feels5.0
Every time I give a classic rating I write a soundoff but this time I think I'll spend my time more productively by bouncing around my room to the mesmerizing, perfect mess of sounds and melodies that is Feels. Oh, and fuck MPP.
Nickelback All the Right Reasons2.5
Jimmy Eat World Stay on My Side Tonight4.0
If you were to extrapolate a full LP from these 4 original songs, you would have almost certainly Jimmy Eat World's best record. Opener 'Disintegration' is a phenomenal construction which grows in stature as it slides by effortlessly over 8 minutes. The rest is just as good. If you're a fan of this band, listen to this album. It's not a throwaway release by any stretch of the imagination.
Panic! at the Disco A Fever You Can't Sweat Out4.0
Death Cab for Cutie Plans3.5
Coldplay X&Y3.0
The only of Coldplay's LPs that can reasonably be called 'bad' is still not an unequivocal disaster, but it's far too big without being nearly interesting enough; it's fair enough to aim huge on the follow-up to a record like A Rush Of Blood but spacey dynamics aren't enough to carry the weight of songs on their own. There's not really a bad song here but the emotion is buried underneath unfulfilled ambition; X&Y is huge, and occasionally outstanding, but as Martin himself concedes, it's simply Coldplay getting bigger when they should have been getting better. A letdown.
The National Alligator5.0
Some days I'm not sure whether The National's Boxer might be just as good as Alligator, but I always come to two conclusions. The first of those conclusions is that, however good its follow-up is, Alligator is a basically flawless record, and the second conclusion is that I should stop thinking about it and listen to it. Baritone indie-rock, whatever you want to call it, has never been done this well; the imagery, the flow, the downbeat melodies, are all sublime. This is my fallback record when I don't know what to listen to, it's my hangover record, and it's all the album I do most of my thinking to. City Middle, Mr November and Lit Up are standouts but every single track is part of a whole that never fails to astound.
Mae The Everglow4.5
Mae's 2005 masterpiece is perfectly named, as over the course of 13 tracks they deliver a pop-rock record so heavy with the weight of emotion and such undeniably euphoria that as the album nears its climax it feels like the musical embodiment of love going on and on and on. There's not a single track without a role to play, but the greatest thing about The Everglow is that it doesn't feel like it's constructed, just like it's conceived. With a plot grounded in reality, it really is one hell of a concept album executed around momentous guitars, tender pianos and the passionate vocals of Dave Elkin. It slows, speeds off and always feels immaculate, and when the title track swings around and the record peaks, it's tough to keep it all together. If you don't invest in the concept presented, this is still an excellent record, but with the weight of the storyline and the stunning presentation of the album as a whole, The Everglow becomes so close to perfect that its name almost begins to apply to the music itself. Amazing.
The Frames Burn The Maps3.5
God Is an Astronaut All Is Violent, All Is Bright4.5
Bright Eyes I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning5.0
I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning exists as an open, liberated masterpiece with all the emotion Oberst is capable of and heaps of pop songwriting ability to boot. But more than that, it's 45 minutes of music that allow you to be absolutely nowhere, and the time to just be now. Don't feel sorry for Conor Oberst. He'll be just fine.
2004
Jimmy Eat World Futures5.0
The majority of albums that deserve a classic rating have some sort of thread that runs through them; the album's completeness as a work contributes largely to the idea that it should be regarded in its entirety as a masterpiece. The only thing Jimmy Eat World's Futures has as a common theme is flawlessly catchy pop-punk songwriting. The first 5 tracks are simply some of the most endearing songs ever written, and it hardly lets up. 23 closes it off with a sense of occasion; the lyrics are packed and intriguing and the melodies will keep you there for days on end.
Straylight Run Straylight Run4.5
Arcade Fire Funeral4.5
Say Anything ...Is a Real Boy5.0
Bemis is a genius, and it's evident right from the off that ...Is A Real Boy is a classic album; his self-aware, introspective observations, the raw, dark/upbeat pop-punk backdrop, all contribute to a sound that never tires. It's always honest and sometimes a little bit scary, but mostly, Admit It!!! embodies everything awesome about Say Anything's second studio album; it's clever, maintains a punk edge, has hooks all over it and Bemis' vocal delivery adds that extra staying power that pop-punk often ignores.
The Thermals Fuckin' A3.5
HOLD TIGHT, remember today!
Snow Patrol Final Straw4.0
Bayside Sirens & Condolences4.0
Circle Takes the Square As the Roots Undo4.5
A year ago I listened to this and had absolutely no idea what to make of it. It was neither good nor bad. A Crater To Cough In has just ended and I have been practically strapped to my seat for 44 minutes. This album is fucking incredible.
2003
blink-182 Blink-1825.0
The fact is that the pop-punk genre revolves around Blink-182's self-titled album taken in the context of their back catalogue; still a comprehensive tour-de-force of a maligned genre's strongest points, it's honest and unpretentious, guitar-driven and excellent. Choice cuts are difficult to pick out - the singles are no stronger than the space between, and where Go is short, sharp and overwhelming, I'm Lost Without You takes the pace down several notches and still sounds just as emotional. Everything is packed with nostalgia, hooks and brilliant songwriting. Without a doubt the pinnacle of its kind, even to this day no band has said anything about pop-punk that cannot be better explained by playing this album.
Park It Won't Snow Where You're Going4.5
Explosions in the Sky The Earth Is Not a Cold Dead Place4.5
Death Cab for Cutie Transatlanticism5.0
The title-track is a case in point: Transatlanticism, poetic and melodic, mellow and yet ridiculously powerful, is constructed with such ease and genius it deserves to be one of those records you set aside a separate shelf for. Alongside most other albums of the 21st Century it is godlike; Gibbard and Walla particularly are on top form, but the momentum, and the gut-wrenching moments, they just don't stop. Simply sublime.
Muse Absolution4.5
Thrice The Artist in the Ambulance4.5
Cauterize So far from real4.0
Brand New Deja Entendu5.0
There are a lot of reasons why Deja Entendu receives the praise it does, but the extent to which it bares every part of its soul has to be integral to its popularity. Track after track is dripping with a self-aware, poignant lyricism matched consistently by an atmospheric backdrop of broody pop-punk guitars and mid-tempo rhythm sections. Much is made of the soft-heavy formula the band typically employs, and while it's true that most of Deja's songs build brilliantly, they're far from predictable. The songwriting is stellar, the vocals are some of the most passionately delivered in- and out-of-genre since heaven knows when, and the slower, acoustic tracks are delicate, tragic and honest. "If it makes you less sad, I will die by your hand..." turns to "it's dark in your room when I sneak to your bed to pour salt on your wounds", which by the end of The Boy Who Blocked His Own Shot has evolved into a list of elegant and heartstopping observations about the same girl's beauty. Deja Entendu would change into something more sinister and deliberated on Brand New's next release, but it stands tall as the absolute pinnacle of dark, angsty pop-punk.
The Postal Service Give Up4.5
Yellowcard Ocean Avenue3.5
Now this album has a sound off to keep it warm at night just like it did for you when your first girlfriend dumped you when you were 14 and the violin fixed everything.
Switchfoot The Beautiful Letdown4.0
2002
Sigur Ros ( )5.0
( ) is one of those albums. Some will find it endearing, some will find it perfect and some will find it life-changing, but any human being claiming to not be affected by it is either lying or entirely without a soul.
Trespassers William Different Stars4.5
Coldplay A Rush of Blood to the Head4.0
so give me love over love over love over thissssssssssssssss
Bright Eyes Lifted or The Story is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground 4.5
Taking Back Sunday Tell All Your Friends4.5
dredg El Cielo3.0

2001
Park No Signal4.5
God damn this band is too good. Was too good. Is too good. Whatever.
Death Cab for Cutie The Photo Album4.0
Nickelback Silver Side Up3.0
Converge Jane Doe4.5
Jimmy Eat World Bleed American4.0
Muse Origin of Symmetry3.5
blink-182 Take Off Your Pants And Jacket4.0
2000
Godspeed You! Black Emperor Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven5.0
A schizophrenic patchwork of crescendos and haunting passages, Lift Your Skinny Fists is nothing less than one of the most meticulous records ever created. From the canyons of static to the pumping climaxes, this is hardly easy-listening stuff, but attention is rewarded by the dark melodies and the way Godspeed! are just so fucking GOOD.
Radiohead Kid A5.0
Welcome to a sound-off about an album you've already heard. At the very least, you should have. Because you know at 6am when you're home and just sobering up from the previous night? Kid A will do that to you, just without the liver damage. It'll intoxicate you with its dark, mechanical and schizophrenic electronics, it'll make you HURT, and you won't remember much of it when you wake up the following morning. It evades time and defeats the notion that speed or volume are required for an intense listen, all whilst Yorke pleads the case of the world's first human clone, until Motion Picture Soundtrack - one of the most incredible closers ever written - hangs on by its sorrowful organ just a little bit too long, and then you're gone.
At the Drive-In Relationship of Command4.5
The Weakerthans Left and Leaving5.0
Bright Eyes Fevers & Mirrors3.5
1999
Godspeed You! Black Emperor Slow Riot For New Zero Kanada5.0
Slow Riot is one of those albums that knows instinctively when to build, move, explode and quit. That's rare for any record, but in post-rock it's especially powerful. The two tracks here complement each other perfectly; Moya doesn't work without the climax that is Blaise Bailey Finnegan III, and the latter is so much less potent without the lead-in offered by one of the most gorgeous and stunning instrumentals ever recorded. As a whole, Slow Riot For New Zero Kanada works as a perfect illustration of Godspeed's talent, without impenetrable sections and lacking anything redundant. Concise, epic and astounding.
1998
Neutral Milk Hotel In the Aeroplane Over the Sea5.0
Where to start. Some records just flow with a lyrical ease that surpasses perfection; In The Aeroplane Over The Sea is tragic, beautiful, enigmatic and honest, but it harbours an atmosphere rooted in reality which is only re-inforced by the passionate vocal delivery of Mangum, the simplest acoustic guitars, the overwhelming instrumentals and the general gritty production. The structure of the record lends itself to an immensely satisfying experience, becoming heavier in the third quarter and commanding your attention throughout, but really, this is all analysis of an album that is proof that music does not need to be pretentious or experimental to be classic; it just needs to be real.

1997
Godspeed You! Black Emperor F♯ A♯ ∞4.5
Ignoring Yanqui which I for some reason still haven't heard, Godspeed's worst album is a 4.5 out of 5.
Radiohead OK Computer4.0
Record is amazing, contains everything but just lacks the emotional impact of Kid A. Still, it swerves and swoons and punches like you'd expect of a phenomenal alt-rock album. Fitter, Happier will never be written by another band for the rest of time, and it's just one of the moments on here which seems so removed from anything offered elsewhere that it's almost alien. At the very least, it's breathtaking.

1993
Counting Crows August And Everything After4.5
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