| Beach House 7 | 4.5 |
| The xx Coexist | 3.0 |
| Clap Your Hands Say Yeah The Tourist | 3.5 |
| The xx I See You | 4.5 |
| Spoon Hot Thoughts | 3.0 |
| The Shins Heartworms | 3.5 |
| Wild Nothing Life of Pause | 3.5 |
| Real Estate In Mind | 3.0 |
| Mac DeMarco Salad Days | 4.5 |
| Passion Pit Kindred | 2.5 |
| Freddie Gibbs You Only Live 2wice | 4.5 |
| Lupe Fiasco DROGAS Light | 3.0 |
| Lupe Fiasco Food & Liquor 2: The Great American Rap Album Pt.1 | 3.0 |
| Lupe Fiasco Tetsuo and Youth | 4.0 |
| Danny Brown Atrocity Exhibition | 4.5 |
| ScHoolboy Q Blank Face LP | 4.0 |
| Kendrick Lamar Kendrick Lamar | 4.0 |
| Kendrick Lamar Overly Dedicated | 3.5 |
| Kendrick Lamar untitled unmastered. | 4.5 |
| Kendrick Lamar DAMN. | 4.5 |
| Kanye West The Life of Pablo | 3.0 |
| Lil Uzi Vert The Perfect Luv Tape | 3.0 |
| Lil Uzi Vert Luv Is Rage 1.5 | 3.5 |
| Lil Uzi Vert Lil Uzi Vert vs. The World | 3.5 |
| Playboi Carti Playboi Carti | 3.0 |
| Young Thug Slime Season 3 | 3.0 |
| Young Thug I'm Up | 3.0 |
| Young Thug Slime Season 2 | 3.0 |
| Young Thug Slime Season | 3.5 |
| Young Thug JEFFERY | 4.5 |
| Lil Yachty Summer Songs 2 | 2.5 |
| Lil Yachty Lil Boat | 2.5 |
| Logic Everybody | 2.5 |
| Lil Yachty Teenage Emotions | 3.0 |
| Mac DeMarco This Old Dog | 4.0 |
| Do Make Say Think Stubborn Persistent Illusions | 4.0 |
| Slowdive Slowdive (LP) | 4.5 |
| Phoenix (FRA) Ti Amo | 3.5 |
| alt-J Relaxer | 2.0 |
| Big Boi BOOMIVERSE | 4.0 |
| Young Thug BEAUTIFUL THUGGER GIRLS | 4.0 |
| 2 Chainz Pretty Girls Like Trap Music | 4.0 |
| Denzel Curry 13 | 4.0 |
| SZA Ctrl | 4.5 |
| Vince Staples Big Fish Theory | 4.5 |
| Sleater-Kinney No Cities to Love | 4.0 |
| Baroness Purple | 4.0 |
| David Bowie Blackstar | 4.5 |
| Julia Holter Tragedy | 4.0 |
| Julia Holter Ekstasis | 4.5 |
| The World Is a Beautiful Place... Harmlessness | 4.0 |
| Frog Eyes Pickpocket's Locket | 4.5 |
| Frog Eyes Carey's Cold Spring | 4.5 |
| Pusha T King Push – Darkest Before Dawn: The Prelude | 4.0 |
| Pusha T My Name Is My Name | 3.5 |
| Joey Badass B4.DA.$$ | 3.5 |
| Vince Staples Summertime '06 | 4.5 |
| The Go! Team The Scene Between | 3.5 |
| Panda Bear Panda Bear Meets the Grim Reaper | 4.5 |
| Grimes Art Angels | 4.0 |
| Majical Cloudz Are You Alone? | 4.5 |
| FKA Twigs M3LL155X | 4.0 |
| Holly Herndon Platform | 4.0 |
| Jamie xx In Colour | 4.5 |
| Drake and Future What a Time to Be Alive | 3.5 |
| Empress Of Me | 4.0 |
| Deerhunter Fading Frontier | 4.5 |
| Earl Sweatshirt I Don't Like Shit, I Don't Go Outside | 4.0 |
| Destroyer Poison Season | 4.0 |
| Deerhunter Weird Era Cont. | 3.5 |
| Deerhunter Monomania | 3.0 |
| Beach House Thank Your Lucky Stars | 4.0 |
| CHVRCHES Every Open Eye | 4.0 |
| Julia Holter Have You In My Wilderness | 4.5 |
| Deafheaven New Bermuda | 4.5 |
| Kylesa Exhausting Fire | 4.0 |
| Kylesa Ultraviolet | 3.5 |
| Kylesa Spiral Shadow | 4.5 |
| Kylesa Static Tensions | 4.5 |
| Laura Marling Short Movie | 4.0 |
| Bilal Airtight's Revenge | 3.5 |
| Bilal A Love Surreal | 4.0 |
| D'Angelo Black Messiah | 4.5 |
| Tame Impala Innerspeaker | 4.0 |
| Tame Impala Currents | 4.5 |
| Titus Andronicus The Most Lamentable Tragedy | 4.0 |
| Beach House Depression Cherry | 4.5 |
| Thundercat The Beyond/Where The Giants Roam | 4.5 |
| Young Thug Barter 6 | 4.5 |
| John Legend and the Roots Wake Up! | 3.0 |
| John Legend Get Lifted | 4.5 |
| Fucked Up Glass Boys | 3.0 |
| Preoccupations Viet Cong | 4.0 |
| Drake If You're Reading This It's Too Late | 3.5 |
| The Amazing Picture You | 4.0 |
| Father John Misty I Love You, Honeybear | 4.0 |
| Kendrick Lamar To Pimp a Butterfly | 4.5 |
| Toro Y Moi What For? | 2.0 |
| Waxahatchee Ivy Tripp | 4.5 |
| Susanne Sundfor Ten Love Songs | 4.5 |
| My Iron Lung Relief | 4.0 |
| Pharmakon Bestial Burden | 3.5 |
| Ought More Than Any Other Day | 4.5 |
| First Aid Kit The Big Black & the Blue | 3.5 |
| First Aid Kit The Lion's Roar | 3.5 |
| First Aid Kit Stay Gold | 3.5 |
| A Sunny Day in Glasgow Sea When Absent | 4.5 |
| Perfume Genius Too Bright | 4.0 |
| Dads I’ll Be The Tornado | 4.0 |
| Clap Your Hands Say Yeah Only Run | 3.0 |
| tUnE-yArDs Nikki Nack | 3.0 |
| Damon Albarn Monkey: Journey to the West | 3.0 |
| Damon Albarn Everyday Robots | 3.0 |
| Liz Just Like You | 4.0 |
| Caribou Our Love | 4.0 |
| Billy the Kid Horseshoes and Hand Grenades | 4.0 |
| Mr Twin Sister Mr Twin Sister | 3.5 |
| Gazelle Twin Unflesh | 3.5 |
| Vince Staples Hell Can Wait | 4.0 |
| Big K.R.I.T. Cadillactica | 4.5 |
| TV on the Radio New Health Rock | 4.0 |
| TV on the Radio Young Liars | 4.5 |
| PVRIS White Noise | 2.5 |
| ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead IX | 3.5 |
| ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead Tao of the Dead | 3.0 |
| Bayside Cult | 3.5 |
| Stars No One Is Lost | 2.5 |
| Isaiah Rashad Cilvia Demo | 3.5 |
| Grouper Ruins | 4.5 |
| Run the Jewels Run the Jewels 2 | 4.5 |
| Cymbals Eat Guitars LOSE | 4.5 |
| Kurt Vile Childish Prodigy | 3.5 |
| Kurt Vile Smoke Ring For My Halo | 3.5 |
| Kurt Vile Wakin on a Pretty Daze | 3.5 |
| The Rosebuds Night of the Furies | 3.0 |
| The Besnard Lakes Until in Excess, Imperceptible UFO | 3.0 |
| Wye Oak The Knot | 3.5 |
| Wye Oak Civilian | 3.5 |
| Wye Oak Shriek | 3.5 |
| clipping. CLPPNG | 4.0 |
| Iceage Plowing into the Field of Love | 4.0 |
| Tinashe Aquarius | 4.0 |
| Thundercat Apocalypse | 4.5 |
| Flying Lotus You're Dead! | 4.0 |
| Ex Hex Rips | 4.0 |
| Spoon They Want My Soul | 4.5 |
| Hundred Waters The Moon Rang Like a Bell | 4.5 |
| Against Me! Transgender Dysphoria Blues | 4.5 |
| Sinkane Mean Love | 3.5 |
| Blonde Redhead Barragan | 2.0 |
| The Hotelier We Are All Alone | 4.0 |
| The Hotelier It Never Goes Out | 4.0 |
| Shabazz Palaces Lese Majesty | 4.5 |
| Alvvays Alvvays | 4.0 |
| The New Pornographers Brill Bruisers | 4.0 |
| J Mascis Tied to a Star | 2.5 |
| FKA Twigs LP1 | 4.5 |
| Ariana Grande My Everything | 2.5 |
| Sharon Van Etten Epic | 4.0 |
| Sharon Van Etten Tramp | 4.0 |
| Sharon Van Etten Are We There | 4.5 |
| Emma Ruth Rundle Some Heavy Ocean | 4.0 |
| Emily Haines and the Soft Skeleton Knives Don't Have Your Back | 3.5 |
| Feist Let It Die | 3.5 |
| Lykke Li Youth Novels | 4.0 |
| Lykke Li Wounded Rhymes | 4.0 |
| Lykke Li I Never Learn | 4.5 |
| Kelis Kaleidoscope | 4.0 |
| Kelis Wanderland | 4.0 |
| Kelis Tasty | 3.5 |
| Kelis Kelis Was Here | 3.5 |
| Kelis Flesh Tone | 3.5 |
| Kelis Food | 4.0 |
| Future Pluto | 3.0 |
| YG My Krazy Life | 4.0 |
| Kid Cudi Satellite Flight: The Journey to Mother Moon | 2.0 |
| Squadda B Back to Playtime | 3.0 |
| Kid Ink My Own Lane | 2.0 |
| Pharrell Williams G I R L | 2.5 |
| Young Thug 1017 Thug | 4.0 |
| Future Honest | 2.0 |
| Smoke DZA Dream.Zone.Achieve | 3.0 |
| Iggy Azalea The New Classic | 2.5 |
| Dizzy Wright The Golden Age | 3.0 |
| Childish Gambino Because the Internet | 3.0 |
| Childish Gambino Camp | 2.5 |
| Wild Beasts Present Tense | 4.5 |
| Nicole Atkins Mondo Amore | 3.5 |
| Nicole Atkins Slow Phaser | 3.5 |
| Nicole Atkins Neptune City | 3.5 |
| The Donnas Spend the Night | 2.0 |
| American Hi-Fi The Art Of Losing | 1.5 |
| American Hi-Fi American Hi-Fi | 1.5 |
| The Fray The Fray | 1.0 |
| The Fray How to Save a Life | 1.0 |
| Straylight Run Straylight Run | 2.0 |
| Dashboard Confessional The Places You Have Come To Fear The Most | 1.5 |
| Dashboard Confessional A Mark, A Mission, A Brand, A Scar | 1.5 |
| Ben Folds Five Ben Folds Five | 3.5 |
| Ben Folds Five Whatever and Ever, Amen | 4.0 |
| Something Corporate North | 2.5 |
| Something Corporate Leaving Through The Window | 2.5 |
| Something Corporate Ready...Break | 3.0 |
| Jimmy Eat World Chase This Light | 2.0 |
| Jimmy Eat World Static Prevails | 3.5 |
| Jimmy Eat World Clarity | 3.5 |
| Gowns Red State | 4.0 |
| EMA The Future's Void | 4.0 |
| Currensy The Drive In Theatre | 3.5 |
| The Hotelier Home, Like NoPlace Is There | 4.5 |
| De La Soul Smell The DA.I.S.Y. | 3.5 |
| Neneh Cherry Blank Project | 4.0 |
| Son Lux Alternate Worlds | 3.0 |
| Rick Ross Mastermind | 3.0 |
| Le1f Hey | 4.0 |
| Gazpacho Demon | 3.0 |
| Freddie Gibbs and Madlib Pinata | 4.5 |
| Ava Luna Electric Balloon | 3.0 |
| Perfect Pussy Say Yes to Love | 4.5 |
| Perfect Pussy I have lost all desire for feeling | 4.5 |
| The Beach Boys Today! | 5.0 |
| The Mighty Mighty Bosstones Let's Face It | 4.5 |
| The Mighty Mighty Bosstones Question the Answers | 4.5 |
| Real Estate Atlas | 4.0 |
| The War On Drugs Lost in the Dream | 4.5 |
| The Men Tomorrow's Hits | 4.0 |
| Warpaint Warpaint | 3.0 |
| Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings Give the People What They Want | 4.0 |
| Rosanne Cash The River & the Thread | 2.5 |
| Alcest Shelter | 3.5 |
| The Notwist Close to the Glass | 2.5 |
| Speedy Ortiz Real Hair | 3.5 |
| Marissa Nadler July | 4.5 |
| St. Vincent St. Vincent | 4.0 |
| Nico The End... | 4.0 |
| Black Star Black Star | 4.5 |
| Raphael Saadiq The Way I See It | 4.0 |
| Raphael Saadiq Instant Vintage | 4.0 |
| Jill Scott Who Is Jill Scott? Words and Sounds Vol. 1 | 4.0 |
| D'Angelo Brown Sugar | 4.5 |
| D'Angelo Voodoo | 4.5 |
| Lauryn Hill The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill | 5.0 |
| ScHoolboy Q Oxymoron | 3.5 |
| The Mamas and The Papas California Dreamin' | 4.5 |
| Sam Cooke My Kind of Blues | 4.5 |
| Sam Cooke Tribute to the Lady | 4.0 |
| Sam Cooke Encore | 4.0 |
| Sam Cooke Sam Cooke | 4.5 |
| Sam Cooke Ain't That Good News | 5.0 |
| Sam Cooke Live at the Harlem Square Club, 1963 | 5.0 |
| Etta James Tell Mama | 4.5 |
| Etta James At Last! | 5.0 |
| Jenny Hval Innocence Is Kinky | 3.0 |
| Blood Orange Cupid Deluxe | 4.0 |
| Laura Marling Once I Was an Eagle | 4.5 |
| Justin Timberlake The 20/20 Experience - 2 of 2 | 1.5 |
| Justin Timberlake The 20/20 Experience | 3.0 |
| Echo and The Bunnymen Porcupine | 4.5 |
| Echo and The Bunnymen Heaven Up Here | 4.5 |
| Echo and The Bunnymen Crocodiles | 4.5 |
| The New Pornographers Challengers | 3.0 |
| Spoon Girls Can Tell | 4.0 |
| UGK Super Tight... | 4.0 |
| UGK Ridin' Dirty | 4.5 |
| The Weeknd Kiss Land | 2.0 |
| Main Attrakionz 808s and Dark Grapes | 4.0 |
| Main Attrakionz 808s and Dark Grapes II | 4.0 |
| Main Attrakionz Bossalinis and Fooliyones | 3.5 |
| Swordplay and Pierre the Motionless Tap Water | 4.0 |
| Young L Enigma Theory | 4.0 |
| Raum The Event of Your Leaving | 3.5 |
| Billie Joe Armstrong/Norah Jones Foreverly | 2.5 |
| AFI Burials | 2.0 |
| Operation Ivy Energy | 4.5 |
| The Offspring Americana | 2.5 |
| The Offspring Ixnay on the Hombre | 2.5 |
| Green Day iTRE! | 1.5 |
| Eminem The Marshall Mathers LP 2 | 1.5 |
| Yo can Em just start doing drugs again, already? I'm only about half kidding. |
| Saint Pepsi Hit Vibes | 3.5 |
| Moonface Julia with Blue Jeans On | 3.5 |
| Lorde Pure Heroine | 3.5 |
| Sky Ferreira Night Time, My Time | 4.0 |
| Marnie Stern The Chronicles of Marnia | 3.5 |
| Yamantaka // Sonic Titan Uzu | 3.5 |
| Mutual Benefit Love's Crushing Diamond | 4.0 |
| Los Campesinos! No Blues | 4.0 |
| Arcade Fire Reflektor | 4.0 |
| M.I.A. Matangi | 3.5 |
| Friendzone DX | 4.0 |
| 2 Chainz B.O.A.T.S. II #METIME | 2.5 |
| Au Revoir Simone Move in Spectrums | 3.5 |
| Danny Brown Old | 4.5 |
| Yuck Glow and Behold | 2.5 |
| The Knife Shaking the Habitual | 4.0 |
| Deafheaven Sunbather | 4.5 |
| ASAP Rocky LONG.LIVE.A$AP | 4.0 |
| Factory Floor Factory Floor | 4.0 |
| CHVRCHES The Bones of What You Believe | 4.5 |
| Denzel Curry Nostalgic 64 | 4.0 |
| Delorean Apar | 3.0 |
| Drake Nothing Was the Same | 2.5 |
| Crocodiles Summer Of Hate | 3.5 |
| Crocodiles Crimes of Passion | 3.0 |
| Volcano Choir Repave | 3.5 |
| The 1975 The 1975 | 2.0 |
| Neko Case The Worse Things Get, the Harder I Fight... | 3.5 |
| Okkervil River The Silver Gymnasium | 3.5 |
| Janelle Monae The Electric Lady | 4.0 |
| Sigur Ros Kveikur | 4.5 |
| Braids Flourish // Perish | 3.5 |
| Nam Le Nam Le | 4.0 |
| Jay-Z Magna Carta... Holy Grail | 2.5 |
| Julia Holter Loud City Song | 4.5 |
| Sorrow (UK) Dreamstone | 4.5 |
| El-P I'll Sleep When You're Dead | 4.0 |
| El-P High Water | 3.5 |
| El-P Fantastic Damage | 4.5 |
| Big K.R.I.T. King Remembered In Time | 3.5 |
| Kanye West Yeezus | 3.0 |
| Run the Jewels Run the Jewels | 4.5 |
| Jon Hopkins Immunity | 4.5 |
| Boards of Canada Tomorrow's Harvest | 4.0 |
| Disclosure Settle | 4.0 |
| Zebra Katz DRKLNG | 3.0 |
| MS MR Secondhand Rapture | 3.0 |
| Bibio Silver Wilkinson | 3.5 |
| Camera Obscura Desire Lines | 3.5 |
| Pharmakon Abandon | 3.5 |
| Noah and the Whale Heart Of Nowhere | 1.5 |
| Wild Nothing Empty Estate | 3.0 |
| Vampire Weekend Modern Vampires of the City | 4.0 |
| Fitz and the Tantrums More Than Just A Dream | 2.0 |
| Daft Punk Random Access Memories | 4.5 |
| The National Trouble Will Find Me | 4.5 |
| Sigur Ros Valtari | 3.0 |
| !!! THR!!!ER | 3.0 |
| Major Lazer Free The Universe | 3.0 |
| Ghostface Killah Twelve Reasons to Die | 3.5 |
| Charli XCX True Romance | 4.0 |
| Yeah Yeah Yeahs Mosquito | 3.5 |
| Waxahatchee Cerulean Salt | 4.5 |
| James Blake Overgrown | 4.0 |
| Youth Lagoon Wondrous Bughouse | 4.0 |
| Wavves Afraid of Heights | 3.0 |
| The Strokes Comedown Machine | 2.5 |
| David Bowie The Next Day | 4.0 |
| Blue Hawaii Untogether | 3.0 |
| Phoenix (FRA) Bankrupt! | 4.0 |
| Screaming Females Chalk Tape | 2.5 |
| Iceage You're Nothing | 4.0 |
| Doldrums (CAN) Lesser Evil | 3.5 |
| Shout Out Louds Optica | 3.0 |
| The Men New Moon | 4.0 |
| Walk the Moon Tightrope | 3.0 |
| The Ruby Suns Christopher | 2.0 |
| Christopher Owens Lysandre | 2.5 |
| Grouper The Man Who Died in His Boat | 4.0 |
| My Bloody Valentine m b v | 4.5 |
| Eels Wonderful, Glorious | 2.5 |
| The Bronx The Bronx (IV) | 3.5 |
| Ra Ra Riot The Rhumb Line | 3.5 |
| Ra Ra Riot The Orchard | 3.0 |
| Local Natives Hummingbird | 4.0 |
| Local Natives Gorilla Manor | 3.5 |
| Ra Ra Riot Beta Love | 2.0 |
| X (USA) Under The Big Black Sun | 4.0 |
| X (USA) Wild Gift | 4.5 |
| X (USA) Los Angeles | 4.5 |
| Circle Takes the Square Decompositions: Volume Number One | 4.0 |
| Mac DeMarco Rock and Roll Night Club | 3.5 |
| Departures Teenage Haze | 3.5 |
| Big Boi Vicious Lies and Dangerous Rumors | 3.5 |
| Pop Winds Earth To Friend | 4.0 |
| Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti Mature Themes | 3.5 |
| Crocodiles Endless Flowers | 3.0 |
| Benjamin Gibbard Former Lives | 3.0 |
| Deerhoof Breakup Song | 3.0 |
| Twin Shadow Confess | 3.5 |
| Motion City Soundtrack Making Moves | 3.5 |
| Why? Mumps, Etc. | 2.0 |
| MellowHype Numbers | 2.0 |
| Mac DeMarco 2 | 4.0 |
| Ellie Goulding Halcyon | 3.0 |
| Bat For Lashes The Haunted Man | 4.5 |
| Andy Stott Luxury Problems | 3.5 |
| School of Seven Bells Put Your Sad Down | 2.5 |
| Tame Impala Lonerism | 4.0 |
| blink-182 Neighborhoods | 2.0 |
| Green Day iDOS! | 1.5 |
| Green Day ¡UNO! | 1.0 |
| Kendrick Lamar good kid, m.A.A.d city | 4.5 |
| Freddie Gibbs Baby Face Killa | 3.5 |
| Young Dro Ralph Lauren Reefa | 3.0 |
| Titus Andronicus Local Business | 3.0 |
| Flying Lotus Until the Quiet Comes | 4.5 |
| Of Monsters and Men My Head is an Animal | 3.0 |
| Laura Marling A Creature I Don't Know | 3.5 |
| Mumford and Sons Babel | 1.5 |
| No Doubt Push and Shove | 2.0 |
| Dum Dum Girls End of Daze | 3.5 |
| Godspeed You! Black Emperor 'Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend! | 4.5 |
| Stars The North | 3.0 |
| Clams Casino Instrumental Mixtape 2 | 3.5 |
| 2 Chainz Based On a T.R.U. Story | 2.5 |
| Big Sean Detroit | 3.0 |
| ASAP Mob Lord$ Never Worry | 3.0 |
| Tall Ships Everything Touching | 3.5 |
| GOOD Music Cruel Summer | 3.0 |
| Animal Collective Centipede Hz | 3.0 |
| Abel (NY) Make It Right | 3.5 |
| Nas Life Is Good | 4.0 |
| Menomena Moms | 4.0 |
| Grizzly Bear Shields | 4.5 |
| Wild Nothing Nocturne | 4.0 |
| Fugazi The Argument | 4.5 |
| I Am Carpenter My God Clara | 4.5 |
| Alabama Shakes Boys & Girls | 3.0 |
What up The Souff??
Sounds like y'all are pretty much the same. |
| Yeasayer Fragrant World | 2.5 |
A lot of these new songs sound absolutely excellent in person.
On record?
Shit leaves so much to be desired. |
| Metric Synthetica | 3.0 |
| Passion Pit Gossamer | 4.5 |
| Azealia Banks Fantasea | 3.5 |
| Dads American Radass (This Is Important) | 3.5 |
| Yellowcard When You're Through Thinking, Say Yes | 2.0 |
| Yellowcard Southern Air | 3.0 |
| Niki And The Dove Instinct | 3.5 |
| The Antlers Undersea | 3.5 |
| Frank Ocean channel ORANGE | 4.5 |
| Dirty Projectors Swing Lo Magellan | 4.5 |
| POP ETC Pop Etc | 1.5 |
| this band was very good when they went by "The Morning Benders" and did not make shitty dance-pop. |
| DIIV Oshin | 4.0 |
| The Antlers Burst Apart | 3.5 |
| Joey Badass 1999 | 4.0 |
| El-P Cancer 4 Cure | 4.5 |
| Zelienople The World Is A House On Fire | 3.5 |
| Fiona Apple The Idler Wheel... | 4.0 |
| Gavin Castleton Home | 4.0 |
| Liars WIXIW | 3.5 |
| SpaceGhostPurrp Mysterious Phonk | 3.5 |
| Currensy The Stoned Immaculate | 3.5 |
| Currensy Here | 3.0 |
| Big K.R.I.T. Live From The Underground | 3.0 |
| Big K.R.I.T. 4Eva N A Day | 3.5 |
| The Walkmen Heaven | 4.5 |
| Big L Lifestylez ov da Poor & Dangerous | 4.5 |
| Death Grips The Money Store | 3.0 |
| Killer Mike R.A.P. Music | 4.5 |
| Best Coast The Only Place | 2.5 |
| B.o.B Strange Clouds | 2.5 |
| B.o.B The Adventures of Bobby Ray | 1.5 |
| Moonface With Siinai: Heartbreaking Bravery | 3.5 |
| Moonface Organ Music Not Vibraphone Like I'd Hoped | 3.0 |
| Santigold Master of My Make-Believe | 3.0 |
| Stalley Savage Journey To The American Dream | 3.5 |
| Stalley Lincoln Way Nights (Intelligent Trunk Music) | 3.0 |
| Wild Beasts Two Dancers | 4.5 |
| Wild Beasts Limbo, Panto | 4.0 |
| Chromatics Kill for Love | 4.5 |
| Crazily potent spring fever all up in this bitch. |
| Screaming Females Ugly | 4.0 |
| Beach House Bloom | 4.5 |
| lol Sam Feldman shut the hell up and blunt out to this sir. |
| Miike Snow Miike Snow | 3.0 |
| Empire Of The Sun Walking On A Dream | 2.5 |
| Evanescence Evanescence | 2.0 |
| The Shins Port of Morrow | 4.0 |
| Cloud Nothings Attack on Memory | 3.0 |
| Hodgy Untitled | 3.5 |
| Grenadine Goya | 4.0 |
| Xiu Xiu Always | 2.0 |
| Nedry In a Dim Light | 4.0 |
| White Rabbits Milk Famous | 3.0 |
| Yamantaka // Sonic Titan YT//ST | 4.5 |
| Beautiful noise from the Great White North. |
| The Men Leave Home | 4.0 |
| The Men Immaculada | 4.0 |
| The Magnetic Fields Love At The Bottom Of The Sea | 3.0 |
| The Magnetic Fields The Wayward Bus | 3.5 |
| The Magnetic Fields Distant Plastic Trees | 4.0 |
| The Magnetic Fields The House Of Tomorrow | 4.0 |
| It must have been surprising for Susan Anway to hear: "You're fired." If she ever even did, one would imagine those words would slide out the gab of Magnetic Fields' leader and new lead-vocalist Stephin Merritt in his distinct baritone. Before the Merge signing on the heels of two successful exercises in twee that were Distant Plastic Trees (1991) and The Wayward Bus (1992--both with exclusively Anway on vocal duty--this was a stepping out party of sorts for Magnetic Fields. Stripping down their sound from the dreamy mini-orchestrations of their first two records to a more punk-based form of synthesizer-pop; The House Of Tomorrow EP was titled aptly as this would shift would reflect the second incarnation of this ever evolving project. Developing the looping, rhythm based songwriting that Holiday (1993) and The Charm Of The Highway Strip (1994) would adopt so successfully. "Alien Being" and "Love Goes On To Paris In The Spring" being the high points of bouncy chamber-pop but Merritt's austere baritone is on full display along with his inherent Pop savvy that would help build so many excellent gems as he was nestled away in the Back Bay. |
| The Lonely Island Turtleneck and Chain | 3.0 |
| Flight of the Conchords I Told You I Was Freaky | 3.5 |
| Kendrick Lamar Section.80 | 4.0 |
| The Men Open Your Heart | 4.5 |
| Kaiser Chiefs Start the Revolution Without Me | 2.0 |
| US re-mix of a very, very slimy record. A few new tracks do little to solve the lack of focus on the part of the Kaisers. Surprising considering how (overly)streamlined their records have always been--and well Post-Punk is generally quite rigid. No one ever told the Kaisers apparently. |
| Kaiser Chiefs The Future is Medieval | 2.0 |
| Hey if you consider how bad the last record was and this time around both US and UK fans were able to sift through a shit-storm of 20 boring riffs, sterile synth lines and snare onslaughts to create a record that still sucks--albeit slightly less than history would suggest. Bright side though? At least the Kaiser's are finally coming to terms with that truth that maybe they should take a step back from any and all producer(s) ambitions. |
| Kaiser Chiefs Off With Their Heads | 1.5 |
| Kaiser Chiefs Yours Truly, Angry Mob | 1.5 |
| Kaiser Chiefs Employment | 3.0 |
| The Radio Dept. Lesser Matters | 4.0 |
| The Raveonettes Lust Lust Lust | 3.5 |
| The Raveonettes Pretty In Black | 3.0 |
| The Raveonettes Chain Gang of Love | 3.5 |
| The Big Pink Future This | 1.5 |
| Unrest Imperial ffrr | 4.0 |
| School of Seven Bells Ghostory | 3.0 |
| Pop. 1280 The Horror | 3.5 |
| Danny Brown The Hybrid | 3.5 |
| ASAP Rocky Live.Love.A$AP. | 4.0 |
| of Montreal Paralytic Stalks | 2.5 |
| So apparently the drugs have stopped working -- I am at a loss. |
| Islands Return To The Sea | 3.5 |
| Islands Arm's Way | 3.5 |
| Islands Vapours | 3.0 |
| Islands A Sleep and a Forgetting | 3.5 |
| Sleigh Bells Reign of Terror | 4.0 |
| Grimes Visions | 4.0 |
| Rick Ross Rich Forever | 3.5 |
| Tennis Young And Old | 3.0 |
| The Twilight Sad No One Can Ever Know | 3.5 |
| ScHoolboy Q Habits and Contradictions | 4.0 |
| Gonjasufi MU.ZZ.LE | 3.5 |
| Snow Patrol Fallen Empires | 2.0 |
| I'm really not sure why I believe this would be any different... |
| Florence and the Machine Ceremonials | 3.5 |
| This is what happens when artists are allowed to create a pastiche of epically bloated cine-pop. Ceremonials may all sounds like the same damn song but thankfully that tune is killer. |
| Gonjasufi A Sufi and a Killer | 3.5 |
| WU LYF Go Tell Fire to the Mountain | 3.5 |
| CunninLynguists Oneirology | 3.0 |
| Mr Twin Sister Color Your Life | 3.5 |
| Mr Twin Sister In Heaven | 4.0 |
| Submotion Orchestra Finest Hour | 4.0 |
| Neon Indian Era Extrana | 3.0 |
| Memory Tapes Player Piano | 3.0 |
| Lostprophets The Betrayed | 1.5 |
| Freddie Gibbs midwestgangstaboxframecadillacmuzik | 4.5 |
| Freddie Gibbs Cold Day in Hell | 4.0 |
BLAKE WHAT THE FUCK QUIT HATING.
GANGSTA GIBBS. |
| G-Side Island | 4.0 |
And here I was believing the bullshit I had the unfortunate unloading of upon my ear in the form of: "G-Side dun fucked up." Apprehensive I kept my distance from the iSLAND too long until the barrage of flashing lights, copious laughter and fucking killer beats was too much to refuse.
Hello, we've arrived. |
| Tycho Dive | 3.5 |
| Real Estate Days | 4.0 |
| Dum Dum Girls Only in Dreams | 3.5 |
| The Roots undun | 4.0 |
| The Weeknd Echoes of Silence | 4.0 |
| Jamie Woon Mirrorwriting | 3.0 |
| Adele 21 | 2.5 |
| Adele 19 | 1.5 |
| Phonte Charity Starts at Home | 4.0 |
| Das Racist Relax | 3.0 |
| Danny Brown XXX | 4.5 |
| Swarms Old Raves End | 4.0 |
| Battles Gloss Drop | 3.5 |
| Defeater Empty Days and Sleepless Nights | 3.0 |
| Acid House Kings Music Sounds Better With You | 3.5 |
| The Black Keys El Camino | 3.5 |
| Johnny Foreigner Johnny Foreigner vs Everything | 3.0 |
| Yelawolf Radioactive | 2.0 |
GANGSTA BOO SIGHTING!!! WTF is this Stankonia?
NOPE. |
| Drake Take Care | 4.0 |
| Meek Mill Dreamchasers | 3.0 |
| The Kinks Lola vs. Powerman and the Moneygoround | 4.5 |
| Los Campesinos! Hello Sadness | 3.0 |
| Robin Smith hammering things home once more. Hello, sadness. |
| Atlas Sound Parallax | 3.5 |
| Girls Father, Son, Holy Ghost | 3.5 |
| Zola Jesus Stridulum II | 3.5 |
| Zola Jesus Conatus | 3.5 |
| Justice Audio, Video, Disco | 2.5 |
| M83 Hurry Up, We're Dreaming | 4.5 |
| Bjork Biophilia | 3.0 |
| Youth Lagoon The Year of Hibernation | 4.0 |
| The War On Drugs Slave Ambient | 4.5 |
| Cerebral Ballzy Cerebral Ballzy | 2.5 |
| Wilco The Whole Love | 4.0 |
| Jenny Hval Viscera | 4.0 |
| Red Hot Chili Peppers I'm With You | 2.0 |
| The Drums Portamento | 2.5 |
| The Kooks Junk of the Heart | 1.5 |
| Blondie Panic of Girls | 2.0 |
| Clap Your Hands Say Yeah Hysterical | 2.0 |
| Mister Heavenly Out of Love | 3.5 |
| Fountains of Wayne Sky Full of Holes | 2.0 |
| Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks Mirror Traffic | 3.0 |
| Beastie Boys Hot Sauce Committee Part Two | 3.0 |
| Cymbals Eat Guitars Lenses Alien | 4.0 |
| The Joy Formidable The Big Roar | 3.0 |
| Laura Stevenson Sit Resist | 3.5 |
| Mates of State Team Boo | 3.0 |
| Mates of State Bring it Back | 2.5 |
| Mates of State Re-Arrange Us | 2.5 |
| PJ Harvey Dry | 3.5 |
| PJ Harvey Rid of Me | 4.5 |
| PJ Harvey To Bring You My Love | 4.0 |
| PJ Harvey Is This Desire? | 4.0 |
| PJ Harvey Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea | 4.5 |
| PJ Harvey Uh Huh Her | 4.0 |
| PJ Harvey White Chalk | 3.5 |
| James Blake Klavierwerke | 4.0 |
| James Blake CMYK | 4.0 |
| James Blake The Bells Sketch | 3.5 |
| Mates of State Mountaintops | 2.5 |
| St. Vincent Strange Mercy | 4.5 |
| Male Bonding Endless Now | 3.5 |
| The Weeknd Thursday | 4.5 |
| The Game The R.E.D. Album | 3.5 |
| "Speakers On Blast" will fuck up pretty much every other hip hop track from this year. |
| Hercules and Love Affair Blue Songs | 3.0 |
| Joy Orbison Sicko Cell/Knock Knock | 3.5 |
| Jay-Z and Kanye West Watch the Throne | 4.0 |
| Goldfrapp Felt Mountain | 4.0 |
| Goldfrapp Head First | 2.5 |
| David Bowie David Bowie | 2.0 |
| The Horrors Skying | 4.0 |
| Fleetwood Mac Mystery to Me | 2.0 |
| Fleetwood Mac Penguin | 2.0 |
| Fleetwood Mac Bare Trees | 3.0 |
| Fleetwood Mac Future Games | 2.5 |
| Fleetwood Mac Kiln House | 2.5 |
| Fleetwood Mac Then Play On | 3.5 |
| Fleetwood Mac Mr. Wonderful | 1.5 |
| Fleetwood Mac Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac | 3.5 |
| Little Dragon Ritual Union | 3.5 |
| Arctic Monkeys Suck It and See | 3.0 |
| Catherine Wheel Chrome | 4.0 |
| Ride Carnival of Light | 3.0 |
| Ride Going Blank Again | 3.5 |
| Cocteau Twins Milk and Kisses | 2.5 |
| Cocteau Twins Four-Calendar Cafe | 2.5 |
| Lush Lovelife | 2.5 |
| Lush Split | 3.0 |
| Swervedriver Raise | 4.0 |
| Pylon (USA-GA) Chomp | 4.0 |
| Wipers Over the Edge | 3.5 |
| Talk Talk Spirit of Eden | 4.5 |
| Talk Talk Laughing Stock | 4.5 |
| Washed Out Within and Without | 3.5 |
| Air 10,000 Hz Legends | 2.5 |
| Air Pocket Symphony | 2.5 |
| Wilco Summerteeth | 4.0 |
| The Microphones It Was Hot, We Stayed In The Water | 4.0 |
| De La Soul Stakes Is High | 3.5 |
| De La Soul Buhloone Mindstate | 3.0 |
| De La Soul 3 Feet High and Rising | 4.5 |
| Fucked Up Hidden World | 4.0 |
| Iceage New Brigade | 4.0 |
I hate when Rudy Klapper rates albums that could vaguely be described as "skuzzy punk." He knows he won't like it, but listens anyways and: BAM! 2.5.
KILLIN' ME RUDEBOY. |
| Death Cab for Cutie Codes and Keys | 2.5 |
| Art Brut Brilliant! Tragic! | 2.0 |
| Dananananaykroyd There Is A Way | 3.0 |
| Dananananaykroyd Hey Everyone | 3.0 |
| Digitalism I Love You, Dude | 2.5 |
| Teddybears Devil's Music | 2.0 |
| Sorrow (UK) Summer Of Love | 3.5 |
| Teddybears Soft Machine | 3.0 |
| Brian Eno Before and After Science | 4.5 |
| Freddie Gibbs Str8 Killa No Filla | 3.5 |
| Freddie Gibbs The Miseducation Of Freddie Gibbs | 4.5 |
| Currensy Fast Times at Ridgemont Fly | 3.5 |
| Currensy Muscle Car Chronicles | 3.0 |
| Currensy Smokee Robinson | 3.5 |
| Currensy This Ain't No Mixtape | 4.0 |
| YACHT Shangri-La | 3.5 |
| The Sounds Something to Die For | 2.0 |
| Currensy Weekend at Burnie's | 4.0 |
| Patrick Wolf Lupercalia | 2.5 |
| Bon Iver Bon Iver, Bon Iver | 4.0 |
| Limp Bizkit Gold Cobra | 1.0 |
| 2562 Fever | 3.5 |
| Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie XX We're New Here | 3.0 |
| Sorrow (UK) Existence | 4.0 |
| M.I.A. VICKI LEEKX | 3.0 |
| Fucked Up David Comes to Life | 4.5 |
| Caribou Up in Flames (as Manitoba) | 4.0 |
| Caribou Start Breaking My Heart (as Manitoba) | 3.5 |
| Cults Cults | 4.0 |
| Owl City All Things Bright And Beautiful | 1.0 |
| Foo Fighters Wasting Light | 3.0 |
| new Foos sounds a lot like a really good homage to old Foos. Plus the band is making good videos again (and ya know, having fun on record.) |
| Incubus (USA-CA) If Not Now, When? | 2.0 |
| Wild Beasts Smother | 4.5 |
| Boards of Canada Boc Maxima | 3.5 |
| EMA Past Life Martyred Saints | 4.5 |
| The Horrors Strange House | 2.0 |
| Gang Gang Dance Eye Contact | 4.5 |
| Big K.R.I.T. ReturnOf4eva | 4.5 |
| Big K.R.I.T. K.R.I.T Wuz Here | 3.5 |
| Wipers Youth of America | 4.0 |
| Wipers Is This Real? | 4.0 |
| Danger Mouse and Daniele Luppi Rome | 3.0 |
| this record is quite good and probably better than I am giving it credit for. high-five Jack. |
| The Airborne Toxic Event All At Once | 2.0 |
| The Airborne Toxic Event The Airborne Toxic Event | 2.0 |
| tUnE-yArDs BiRd-BrAiNs | 3.5 |
| Hodgy The Dena Tape | 2.5 |
| Mike G ALI | 3.0 |
| Tyler, the Creator Goblin | 3.0 |
| Big Black Headache | 3.5 |
| Big Black Atomizer | 4.0 |
| Big Black Songs About Fucking | 4.0 |
| Bruno Mars Doo-Wops & Hooligans | 2.5 |
| Times New Viking Dancer Equired | 3.0 |
| Times New Viking Born Again Revisited | 3.5 |
| Times New Viking Rip It Off | 4.0 |
| Times New Viking Present the Paisley Reich | 3.5 |
| Grouper A I A | 4.0 |
| Snoop Dogg Ego Trippin' | 3.0 |
| Snoop Dogg Doggumentary | 2.0 |
| Pusha T Fear Of God | 3.0 |
| Peter Bjorn and John Gimme Some | 3.0 |
| Elbow Build A Rocket Boys! | 3.0 |
| tUnE-yArDs w h o k i l l | 4.0 |
| Submerse Mecha | 4.0 |
| Black Sun Empire Lights And Wires | 3.5 |
| Cold War Kids Mine is Yours | 2.0 |
| Currensy Covert Coup | 3.5 |
| Dum Dum Girls He Gets Me High | 3.5 |
| Vivian Girls Share the Joy | 3.0 |
| Architecture In Helsinki Moment Bends | 3.0 |
| Ponytail Do Whatever You Want All The Time | 4.0 |
| Bailter Space Robot World | 4.0 |
| Nico Desertshore | 4.0 |
| Nico The Marble Index | 4.0 |
| Nico Chelsea Girl | 4.5 |
| Panda Bear Young Prayer | 4.0 |
| Panda Bear Tomboy | 4.0 |
| lol Acad. Meaningless lyrics. YEAH I MEAN ITS NO ATREYU. |
| Foxes in Fiction Alberto | 4.0 |
| Foxes in Fiction Swung From The Branches | 3.5 |
| Joy Orbison Hyph Mngo/Wet Look | 4.0 |
| Joy Orbison J.Doe/BRKLN CLLN | 3.5 |
| Joy Orbison BB/Ladywell | 4.0 |
| Joy Orbison Wade In/Jels | 4.0 |
| TV on the Radio Nine Types of Light | 4.0 |
| Beat Happening Dreamy | 4.5 |
| Beat Happening Black Candy | 3.5 |
| Beat Happening Jamboree | 3.5 |
| Beat Happening You Turn Me On | 4.0 |
| Beat Happening Music to Climb the Apple Tree By | 4.0 |
| Prefab Sprout Steve McQueen | 4.5 |
| Stricken City Losing Colour | 4.0 |
oh look I'm the first one to rate this.
and I gave it a 4.
surprise, surprise. |
| The Pains of Being Pure at Heart Belong | 4.0 |
| The Weeknd House of Balloons | 4.0 |
| Wiz Khalifa Rolling Papers | 1.5 |
| mclusky McLusky Do Dallas | 4.5 |
| Laura Marling Alas, I Cannot Swim | 3.5 |
| Laura Marling I Speak Because I Can | 4.0 |
| Noah and the Whale Last Night On Earth | 2.0 |
| Noah and the Whale The First Days of Spring | 1.5 |
| Noah and the Whale Peaceful, the World Lays Me Down | 2.5 |
| The Strokes Angles | 3.5 |
| OFWGKTA Radical | 3.0 |
| Tyler, the Creator Bastard | 3.5 |
| Earl Sweatshirt EARL | 3.5 |
| Domo Genesis Rolling Papers | 3.5 |
| MellowHype BLACKENEDWHITE | 3.5 |
| MellowHype Yellowhite | 3.5 |
| Frank Ocean Nostalgia, Ultra. | 4.0 |
| DeVotchKa 100 Lovers | 3.0 |
| Lupe Fiasco Lasers | 2.0 |
| Lupe Fiasco Enemy Of The State: A Love Story | 3.0 |
| Lupe Fiasco The Cool | 4.0 |
| Raekwon Shaolin vs. Wu-Tang | 3.5 |
| Make a reference to Tom Brady? Instant greatness. Easiest decision ever. |
| Talib Kweli Gutter Rainbows | 3.0 |
| Smith Westerns Dye It Blonde | 2.5 |
| PJ Harvey Let England Shake | 4.5 |
| Slaughterhouse Slaughterhouse EP | 2.0 |
| Saigon The Greatest Story Never Told | 3.0 |
| Esben and the Witch Violet Cries | 3.0 |
| Beady Eye Different Gear, Still Speeding | 2.0 |
| Akron/Family S/T II: The Cosmic Birth and Journey of Shinju TNT | 3.0 |
| Eisley The Valley | 3.0 |
| Sigur Ros ( ) | 3.5 |
| Sigur Ros Von | 3.5 |
| Echo and The Bunnymen Ocean Rain | 4.5 |
| Joy Division Closer | 4.5 |
| Joy Division Unknown Pleasures | 4.5 |
| Gang of Four Solid Gold | 4.0 |
| Magazine The Correct Use Of Soap | 4.0 |
| Magazine Secondhand Daylight | 4.0 |
| Magazine Real Life | 4.5 |
| The Temptations Cloud Nine | 4.0 |
| Sam Cooke Night Beat | 4.5 |
| Sam Cooke Portrait Of A Legend 1951-1964 | 5.0 |
| Common Resurrection | 4.5 |
| Julianna Barwick Florine | 4.0 |
| Black Tambourine Black Tambourine | 4.5 |
| The Field Mice For Keeps | 4.0 |
| The Field Mice Skywriting | 3.5 |
| Toro Y Moi Underneath The Pine | 3.0 |
| MillionYoung Sunndreamm EP | 3.0 |
| MillionYoung Be So True EP | 3.5 |
| MillionYoung Replicants | 2.5 |
| Its like chillwave is almost trying not to remove itself from its own cookie-cutter sometimes. Album would make another great millionyoung EP if some fat were trimmed. |
| Serge Gainsbourg Bonnie and Clyde | 4.0 |
| Serge Gainsbourg Vu De L'Exterieur | 3.5 |
| Serge Gainsbourg Jane Birkin & Serge Gainsbourg | 4.0 |
| Serge Gainsbourg Histoire de Melody Nelson | 4.0 |
| Deerhoof The Man, the King, the Girl | 3.0 |
| Deerhoof Reveille | 3.5 |
| Deerhoof Apple O' | 3.5 |
| Deerhoof Milk Man | 2.0 |
| Deerhoof The Runners Four | 3.5 |
| Deerhoof Offend Maggie | 3.0 |
| Deerhoof Deerhoof vs. Evil | 3.5 |
| Ol' Dirty Bastard Return to the 36 Chambers: The Dirty Version | 3.5 |
| Radiohead The King of Limbs | 3.0 |
| Guilty Simpson Ode to the Ghetto | 3.5 |
| Drake Thank Me Later | 3.0 |
| Brian Eno Another Green World | 4.5 |
| Blue Hawaii Blooming Summer | 4.0 |
| Cut Copy Zonoscope | 4.0 |
| brings the fucking womp womp womp. |
| Girl Talk All Day | 3.5 |
| Ellie Goulding Lights | 3.5 |
| ok this got a lot better on like listen 6 or whateverrr. |
| Gang Gang Dance Gang Gang Dance | 4.0 |
| Destroyer Archer on the Beach | 3.0 |
| Destroyer Bay of Pigs | 3.5 |
| Frog Eyes The Folded Palm | 3.0 |
| Frog Eyes Tears of the Valedictorian | 3.5 |
| Destroyer Trouble In Dreams | 3.5 |
| Destroyer Your Blues | 4.0 |
| Destroyer This Night | 4.0 |
| Cut Copy Bright Like Neon Love | 3.5 |
| Iron And Wine Our Endless Numbered Days | 4.0 |
| Iron And Wine The Creek Drank the Cradle | 4.0 |
| Pavement Wowee Zowee | 4.0 |
| Pavement Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain | 4.0 |
| The Breeders Mountain Battles | 3.0 |
| The Breeders Title TK | 2.0 |
| The Breeders Last Splash | 4.0 |
| The Breeders Pod | 4.0 |
| Marina The Family Jewels | 3.5 |
| The Go! Team Rolling Blackouts | 3.5 |
| Vivian Girls Everything Goes Wrong | 3.0 |
| Vivian Girls Vivian Girls | 3.0 |
| M83 M83 | 3.5 |
| Stevie Wonder Songs in the Key of Life | 4.5 |
| Queen A Night at the Opera | 4.5 |
| Screaming Females Castle Talk | 3.5 |
| Gang Gang Dance RAWWAR | 3.0 |
| Gang Gang Dance Retina Riddim | 3.5 |
| Gang Gang Dance Hillulah | 3.0 |
| Gang Gang Dance God's Money | 4.5 |
| Iron And Wine Kiss Each Other Clean | 3.5 |
| Frog Eyes Paul's Tomb: A Triumph | 4.0 |
| Cloud Nothings Cloud Nothings | 3.5 |
| Braids Native Speaker | 4.0 |
| White Lies Ritual | 2.0 |
| Tennis Cape Dory | 3.0 |
| Rustie Sunburst | 3.0 |
| Deadmau5 4x4=12 | 3.0 |
| Submerse Streams | 4.5 |
| The Decemberists The King Is Dead | 2.5 |
| G-Side The One...Cohesive | 4.0 |
| TV Screens flippin down -- all you hear is tick n pound. |
| Talking Heads Naked | 2.0 |
| Talking Heads True Stories | 2.5 |
| Talking Heads Little Creatures | 3.0 |
| Talking Heads Speaking in Tongues | 4.0 |
| Talking Heads Fear of Music | 4.0 |
| Talking Heads More Songs About Buildings and Food | 4.0 |
| Talking Heads Talking Heads: 77 | 4.0 |
| of Montreal Icons, Abstract Thee | 3.5 |
| of Montreal Aldhils Arboretum | 3.0 |
| of Montreal The Gay Parade | 4.0 |
| Destroyer Destroyer's Rubies | 4.0 |
| Weekend Sports | 3.0 |
| Tapes 'n Tapes The Loon | 3.5 |
| Tapes 'n Tapes Walk It Off | 2.0 |
| Tapes 'n Tapes Outside | 3.0 |
| Destroyer Kaputt | 4.5 |
| not really all that similar to Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti at all... |
| Run DMT Bong Voyage | 3.0 |
| you nerd-faces this deserves a 3 based on cover art alone. yes I mean you Kiran and Ala. |
| Yuck Yuck | 4.0 |
| Adam Downer you couldn't be more correct. Oh my. |
| of Montreal False Priest | 3.0 |
| The Vaselines Sex With An X | 3.0 |
| certainly not bad but pales in comparison to their older recordings. It is nice to see that they can still write good pop tunes and Frances McKee can still sing. |
| James Blake James Blake | 4.0 |
| Asobi Seksu Fluorescence | 4.0 |
| Yuki pretty much kills it on each and every Asobi Seksu record. |
| School of Seven Bells Alpinisms | 3.0 |
| N.E.R.D. Seeing Sounds | 1.5 |
| N.E.R.D. Fly Or Die | 2.5 |
| N.E.R.D. In Search Of | 3.5 |
| The Vaselines The Way Of The Vaselines | 4.0 |
| The Brian Jonestown Massacre My Bloody Underground | 2.0 |
| The Mars Volta Octahedron | 3.0 |
| The Magnetic Fields Get Lost | 3.5 |
| The Magnetic Fields 69 Love Songs | 4.5 |
| Al Stewart Past, Present and Future | 4.5 |
| Shad TSOL | 3.5 |
| Daft Punk Tron: Legacy | 2.5 |
| Memoryhouse The Years | 4.0 |
| Squarepusher Shobaleader One - D'demonstrator | 1.5 |
| oOoOO oOoOO | 3.5 |
| Gold Panda Lucky Shiner | 3.5 |
| Eluvium Similes | 3.5 |
| The Concretes WYWH | 3.0 |
| Robyn Body Talk | 4.0 |
| Matt and Kim Sidewalks | 3.0 |
| Girls Broken Dreams Club | 4.0 |
| Brian Eno Small Craft on a Milk Sea | 3.0 |
| 3OH!3 Streets of Gold | 1.0 |
| Beach House Devotion | 4.5 |
| Beach House Beach House | 4.0 |
| Julian Lynch Mare | 4.0 |
| Teen Daze Beach Dreams | 3.5 |
| Waka Flocka Flame Flockaveli | 3.5 |
| The State Lottery When the Night Comes | 3.5 |
| Film School Fission | 2.5 |
| Linkin Park A Thousand Suns | 1.5 |
| Nicki Minaj Pink Friday | 2.0 |
| Badly Drawn Boy It's What I'm Thinking - Photographing Snowflakes | 2.0 |
| Currensy Pilot Talk II | 4.0 |
| Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti Before Today | 3.5 |
| More Than Life Love Let Me Go | 4.0 |
| Teebs Ardour | 4.0 |
| Codeine The White Birch | 4.0 |
| Veil Veil Vanish Change in the Neon Light | 3.5 |
| Kanye West My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy | 4.5 |
| The Millennium Begin | 4.0 |
| Janelle Monae The ArchAndroid | 4.0 |
| Avey Tare Down There | 3.0 |
| Women Women | 4.0 |
| Kid Cudi Man on the Moon: The End of Day | 3.0 |
| Kid Cudi Man on the Moon II: The Legend of Mr. Rager | 2.5 |
| N.E.R.D. Nothing | 1.5 |
| And you make me touch your hands FOR STUPID REASONS. |
| The Gaslight Anthem American Slang | 3.0 |
| The Gaslight Anthem The '59 Sound | 3.5 |
| Basement Jaxx Remedy | 4.0 |
| all those naked bodies stacked on top of each other is a pretty decent visual representation of how you should feel after a Jaxx live set. Especially if any of this album is present during the show. |
| Tricky Mixed Race | 3.5 |
| Cee Lo Green The Lady Killer | 4.0 |
| The Prodigy Music for the Jilted Generation | 4.5 |
| Wyclef Jean The Carnival Volume II (Memoirs of an Immigrant) | 2.5 |
| the difference between Carnival I & II is a crevasse about as wide as the one separating 'The Last Crusade' from 'The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull.' |
| Wyclef Jean The Carnival | 3.5 |
| I'm pretty sure I had this 5'd when I first joined sputnik based solely on the first three songs and 'Gone Til November.' |
| The Black Eyed Peas The E.N.D. (The Energy Never Dies) | 1.0 |
| Gang of Four Entertainment! | 4.5 |
| Flying Lotus Pattern+Grid World | 3.5 |
| Yeasayer Odd Blood | 3.0 |
| Small Black New Chain | 2.5 |
| I think I put too much faith in these guys back in the summer--oops. |
| Kings of Leon Come Around Sundown | 2.0 |
| Well...after a few forced listens on my way to and from Halloween festivities all there is to say: Slightly better than the previous dregs. |
| Belle and Sebastian Write About Love | 3.5 |
| Ghostface Killah Ghostdini: The Wizard of Poetry in Emerald City | 2.0 |
| Wu-Tang Clan Iron Flag | 3.5 |
| Wu-Tang Clan 8 Diagrams | 3.5 |
| Gucci Mane Burrrprint 2 (HD) | 2.0 |
| Gucci Mane The State vs. Radric Davis | 3.0 |
| Young Money We Are Young Money | 2.5 |
| Birdman Pricele$$ | 1.5 |
| Lil Wayne The Dedication | 3.0 |
| Lil Wayne Da Drought 3 | 4.0 |
| Lil Wayne Dedication 2 | 3.5 |
| Lil Wayne Dedication 3 | 2.0 |
| Lil Wayne No Ceilings | 3.0 |
| Lil Wayne Tha Carter | 3.5 |
| Lil Wayne Tha Carter II | 4.0 |
| Lil Wayne Rebirth | 1.5 |
| Lil Wayne I Am Not a Human Being | 2.5 |
| Truthfully? This is a pretty stupid ass record. Granted Wayne can still hit a punchline--too bad most of them suck. But then again...prison sucks. I'll continue to wait for Tha Carter IV and Wanye will continue to sell millions of records. So yeah basically nothing has really changed since 'Rebirth.' |
| Tangerine Dream Zeit | 4.0 |
| Tangerine Dream Alpha Centauri | 4.0 |
| Reflection Eternal Revolutions Per Minute | 3.5 |
| Electric President The Violent Blue | 3.0 |
| Caribou Swim | 4.0 |
| Tokyo Police Club Champ | 3.5 |
| Robyn Body Talk Pt. 2 | 3.0 |
| Wiz Khalifa Kush & Orange Juice | 3.0 |
| M.I.A. Maya | 3.0 |
| Boards of Canada In a Beautiful Place Out in the Country | 4.5 |
| Boards of Canada Trans Canada Highway | 4.0 |
| Boards of Canada Twoism | 4.0 |
| Warpaint The Fool | 4.0 |
| A Sunny Day in Glasgow Autumn, Again | 4.0 |
| Mumford and Sons Sigh No More | 1.5 |
| "We were playing a festival in Dublin the other week. There was this other group like, warming up in the next sort of chalet, and they were terrible. I said 'shut them cunts up' and they were still warming up, so I threw a bottle at them. The bands said 'that's the Sons of Mumford' or something, 'they're number five in charts!' I just thought they were a load of retarded Irish folk singers." - The Immortal(ly Old) Mark E. Smith. |
| The Drums The Drums | 2.5 |
| Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse Dark Night of the Soul | 3.5 |
| Jr Jr Horse Power | 3.0 |
| The Pretty Reckless Light Me Up | 1.5 |
| Philip Selway Familial | 3.0 |
| Weezer Hurley | 2.5 |
| Interpol Interpol | 2.0 |
| Ghostface Killah Bulletproof Wallets | 3.0 |
| Ghostface Killah Supreme Clientele | 4.0 |
| Ghostface Killah Fishscale | 4.0 |
| GZA Pro Tools | 3.0 |
| Jay-Z Kingdom Come | 2.5 |
| Jay-Z The Blueprint²: The Gift & the Curse | 2.5 |
| Jay-Z Vol. 3: Life and Times of S. Carter | 3.5 |
| Jay-Z In My Lifetime, Vol. 1 | 3.5 |
| Jay-Z Vol. 2: Hard Knock Life | 3.5 |
| Clinic Walking With Thee | 4.0 |
| Clinic Do it! | 3.5 |
| Baths Cerulean | 3.5 |
| Amusement Parks On Fire Road Eyes | 3.5 |
| Women Public Strain | 5.0 |
| Stevie Wonder Innervisions | 4.5 |
| Toro Y Moi Causers of This | 3.5 |
| Black Milk Album Of The Year | 4.0 |
| Deerhunter Halcyon Digest | 4.5 |
| Yeasayer All Hour Cymbals | 4.0 |
| Burial and Four Tet Moth/Wolf Cub | 3.5 |
| How to Dress Well Love Remains | 3.0 |
| Glasser Ring | 4.0 |
| No Age Everything In Between | 4.5 |
| Crocodiles Sleep Forever | 3.0 |
| Les Savy Fav Root For Ruin | 3.0 |
| Warpaint Exquisite Corpse | 4.0 |
| Teen Daze Four More Years | 3.5 |
| Universal Studios Florida Ocean Sunbirds | 3.5 |
| Tom Tom Club Tom Tom Club | 4.5 |
| El Guincho Pop Negro | 2.5 |
| Blonde Redhead Penny Sparkle | 3.5 |
| The Walkmen Lisbon | 4.5 |
| Blonde Redhead Melody of Certain Damaged Lemons | 4.5 |
| The Walkmen Everyone Who Pretended To Like Me Is Gone | 3.5 |
| The Walkmen You & Me | 4.5 |
| The Hold Steady Almost Killed Me | 3.5 |
| The Thermals More Parts Per Million | 4.0 |
| The Thermals Fuckin' A | 3.0 |
| The Thermals Personal Life | 3.5 |
| The Thermals Now We Can See | 3.0 |
| The Magnetic Fields Realism | 2.5 |
| Slowdive Pygmalion | 3.5 |
| Eels Tomorrow Morning | 3.5 |
| The Blood Brothers March On Electric Children | 3.5 |
| The Blood Brothers This Adultery Is Ripe | 4.0 |
| !!! Strange Weather, Isn't It? | 3.0 |
| The Magnetic Fields Distortion | 4.0 |
| The Magic Numbers The Runaway | 2.5 |
| Arcade Fire The Suburbs | 4.0 |
| Autolux Transit Transit | 4.0 |
| Best Coast Crazy For You | 3.0 |
| School of Seven Bells Disconnect From Desire | 2.5 |
| Rick Ross Port of Miami | 1.5 |
| Rick Ross Trilla | 1.5 |
| Rick Ross Teflon Don | 3.0 |
| Rick Ross Deeper Than Rap | 3.0 |
| Currensy Pilot Talk | 4.0 |
| I could write a whole spiel about how the kid has shown up multiple times before and how if anyone was doubting this, their head was firmly planted far up their own ass but, uhh -- JETS. |
| pg.99 Document #5 | 4.0 |
| pg.99 Document #4 | 3.5 |
| Wolf Parade Expo 86 | 4.0 |
| Robyn Body Talk Pt. 1 | 3.5 |
| letlive. Fake History | 3.0 |
| ceo White Magic | 3.5 |
| Blackbird Blackbird Summer Heart | 4.0 |
| Blackbird Blackbird Bye Bye Blackbird EP | 3.5 |
| Nedry Condors | 4.0 |
| Stars The Five Ghosts | 3.0 |
| The Roots How I Got Over | 4.0 |
| Big Boi Sir Lucious Left Foot | 4.5 |
| Crystal Castles Crystal Castles II | 4.0 |
| Blonde Redhead La Mia Vita Violenta | 4.5 |
| Wavves King of the Beach | 3.5 |
| Washed Out Life of Leisure | 4.0 |
| Ratatat LP4 | 3.0 |
| The Wave Pictures Susan Rode The Cyclone | 4.0 |
| Damian Valles Bow Echoes | 4.0 |
| Flying Lotus Cosmogramma | 4.5 |
| Flying Lotus Los Angeles | 4.0 |
| Wye Oak My Neighbor / My Creator | 3.5 |
| Eminem Recovery | 2.5 |
| You could basically refer to this as Eminem's first real shot at recording something relevant in almost a decade -- and honestly it may echo the glory days, so much so that it's easy to just assume he's back. He's not, but I'll be god damned if it doesn't feel nice to hear Marshall drop a verse that doesn't induce painful cringes. So yeah, there's that. |
| Ghastly City Sleep Moondrifts | 3.5 |
| De La Soul De La Soul Is Dead | 4.5 |
| Wild Nothing Gemini | 4.0 |
| The Cure Disintegration | 4.5 |
| thanks Robert Smith for reminding me what it sounded like when I rode to the coast skipping class in senior year of high school. Thanks. |
| Ringo Starr Y Not | 2.5 |
| Guido Anidea | 4.0 |
| Sonic Youth Bad Moon Rising | 3.5 |
| Sonic Youth Washing Machine | 4.0 |
| Sonic Youth Dirty | 3.5 |
| Menomena Mines | 4.0 |
| drumsdrumsdrums. pianopianopiano. this is a fine fine album indeed. |
| CocoRosie Grey Oceans | 2.0 |
| Why did I bother with this record? I mean it's probably their best, but...uuugghhhhhh. |
| The New Pornographers Together | 3.5 |
| UNKLE Where Did The Night Fall | 3.0 |
| The Magnetic Fields i | 3.5 |
| The Futureheads The Chaos | 3.0 |
| Future Islands In Evening Air | 3.5 |
| The Radio Dept. Pet Grief | 3.5 |
| Guided by Voices Alien Lanes | 4.5 |
| Nas and Damian Marley Distant Relatives | 3.0 |
| The Magnetic Fields Holiday | 4.5 |
| Catherine Wheel Ferment | 4.5 |
| Ride Today Forever | 3.5 |
| Ride Nowhere | 4.5 |
| My Bloody Valentine Feed Me with Your Kiss | 4.0 |
| My Bloody Valentine Tremolo | 4.0 |
| LCD Soundsystem This Is Happening | 4.0 |
| Phosphorescent Here's To Taking It Easy | 3.5 |
| Felt (USA-MN) Felt 3: A Tribute to Rosie Perez | 3.0 |
| Felt (USA-MN) Felt 2: A Tribute to Lisa Bonet | 2.5 |
| Felt (USA-MN) A Tribute to Christina Ricci | 3.0 |
| Dark Time Sunshine Vessel | 3.5 |
| Snoop Dogg Malice 'n' Wonderland | 1.5 |
| Band of Horses Infinite Arms | 2.5 |
| I wish I could sit in a studio and re-record my albums too... |
| Male Bonding Nothing Hurts | 3.5 |
| The Field Mice I Can See Myself Alone Forever | 3.5 |
| The Field Mice Sensitive | 3.5 |
| The Field Mice Emma's House | 4.0 |
| The Field Mice Snowball | 4.0 |
| Race Horses Goodbye Falkenburg | 4.0 |
| Pavement Slanted and Enchanted | 4.0 |
| The Weakerthans Reconstruction Site | 4.5 |
| Sleigh Bells Treats | 4.0 |
| The Magnetic Fields The Charm Of The Highway Strip | 4.5 |
| I could probably 5 this with assistance from just the right bourbon. |
| The National High Violet | 4.5 |
| Zolof the Rock and Roll Destroyer Schematics | 3.5 |
| Team Ghost You Never Did Anything Wrong To Me | 3.5 |
| Daughters Daughters | 4.0 |
| Arab on Radar Queen Hygiene II | 3.5 |
| Lightning Bolt Wonderful Rainbow | 3.5 |
| Lightning Bolt Hypermagic Mountain | 4.0 |
| The Radio Dept. Clinging to a Scheme | 4.0 |
| The Olivia Tremor Control Black Foliage: Animation Music Volume 1 | 4.0 |
| The Olivia Tremor Control Music From The Unrealized Film Script | 4.5 |
| The Ruby Suns Fight Softly | 2.5 |
| Ben Frost By the Throat | 3.5 |
| Delorean Subiza | 4.0 |
| The Hold Steady Heaven Is Whenever | 3.5 |
| Ludacris Battle of the Sexes | 1.5 |
| G-Side Huntsville International | 4.5 |
| David Byrne and Fatboy Slim Here Lies Love | 3.0 |
| NOISIA Split The Atom | 4.0 |
| Primal Scream Screamadelica | 4.5 |
| Saint Etienne Good Humor | 4.0 |
| band basically should have never been allowed to make music strictly based on the fact that what they would subsequently produce would be the kind of stuff that simultaneously fills in your 'its really good' and 'its infectious' meters to full at the same time. Screw you Saint Etienne. |
| Saint Etienne Tiger Bay | 4.0 |
| G-Side Starshipz and Rocketz | 4.5 |
| Broken Social Scene Forgiveness Rock Record | 4.0 |
| Jonsi Go | 3.5 |
| Galaxie 500 This is Our Music | 4.0 |
| Galaxie 500 On Fire | 5.0 |
By the end of the day this will probably be a 5.
Also; see Yotimi's sound off -- |
| Galaxie 500 Today | 4.0 |
| Let's Wrestle In The Court Of The Wrestling Let's | 4.0 |
| Harlem Hippies | 3.0 |
| Flobots Survival Story | 1.5 |
Robin Smith doesn't like my sound off.
This album is the definition of garbage indie-hop. |
| Mos Def Black on Both Sides | 5.0 |
| Goodie Mob Soul Food | 5.0 |
| Hypernova Through The Chaos | 3.0 |
| Power Animal People Songs | 2.5 |
| MGMT Congratulations | 3.0 |
| The Drums Summertime! | 2.5 |
| Guided by Voices Bee Thousand | 4.0 |
| The Weakerthans Left and Leaving | 4.0 |
| Modern Life Is War Witness | 4.5 |
| Al Stewart Modern Times | 4.5 |
| Dum Dum Girls I Will Be | 3.5 |
| ...this is pretty good. catchy but derivative as fuck sometimes. but Im not sure Ive heard a sweeter girl group surf rock thing, song than 'I Will Be.' |
| A Weather Everyday Balloons | 3.5 |
| An absurdly successful conversion from acoustic to electric. A Weather's delicate bedroom pop is maintained if not heightened by the move. |
| Pregnant Liquidation on Swans | 4.0 |
| Bone Thugs-N-Harmony E 1999 Eternal | 4.5 |
| The Tallest Man on Earth The Wild Hunt | 3.5 |
| The Knife Tomorrow, In a Year | 4.0 |
| Four Tet There is Love in You | 4.0 |
| AFI Crash Love | 1.5 |
| Free Energy Stuck On Nothing | 4.0 |
| Stricken City Animal Festival EP | 4.0 |
| On par if not better than their previous mega EP 'Songs About People I Know' -- half the length, but frrrreeeeee. Cannot wait for the full album this summer, also go DL this from their website. Now. Do it. |
| Fang Island Fang Island | 3.0 |
| Broken Bells Broken Bells | 3.0 |
| The Morning Benders Big Echo | 4.0 |
| Liars Sisterworld | 4.5 |
| Serena Maneesh S-M 2: Abyss in B Minor | 4.0 |
| The Brian Jonestown Massacre Who Killed Sgt. Pepper? | 2.0 |
| Stricken City Songs About People I Know | 4.0 |
| I must traverse the wilds on a grandiose expedition into foreign lands and find myself this Stricken City and shake their hands. |
| jj jj n° 3 | 3.0 |
| Kesha Animal | 1.0 |
| So I've really only heard like 4, well I guess 5 tracks from this album. But, yeah, whatever. I'm not losing sleep over this one. |
| The Besnard Lakes The Besnard Lakes Are the Roaring Night | 4.0 |
| Ted Leo and the Pharmacists The Brutalist Bricks | 4.0 |
| Rogue Wave Permalight | 3.0 |
| Gorillaz Plastic Beach | 4.5 |
| Shearwater The Golden Archipelago | 4.0 |
| Lovesliescrushing Bloweyelashwish | 2.5 |
| Beat Happening Beat Happening | 4.0 |
| Dirty Projectors Ascending Melody | 4.0 |
| If you enjoyed 'Bitte Orca' in any way Ascending Melody is a must have (and it's free!) this 7" is pretty much a continuation of that albums skewed pop-sweetness. 2 new songs, of the same caliber, just visit their website for an official link. |
| Field Music Field Music (Measure) | 3.5 |
| Grouper and Roy Montgomery Split | 3.5 |
LizHarrisLizHarrisLizHarrisLizHarrisLizHarrisLizHarrisLizHarris
Roy Montgomery is sweet too. |
| These New Puritans Hidden | 2.5 |
| Neon Indian Psychic Chasms | 3.5 |
| Memory Tapes Seek Magic | 4.0 |
| Freeway & Jake One The Stimulus Package | 3.0 |
| Sambassadeur Sambassadeur | 3.0 |
| Sambassadeur Migration | 3.5 |
| Sambassadeur European | 4.0 |
| Frightened Rabbit The Winter of Mixed Drinks | 3.0 |
| Pretty Girls Make Graves Pretty Girls Make Graves | 4.5 |
| Titus Andronicus The Monitor | 4.5 |
| King Midas Sound Waiting For You | 3.5 |
| The Middle East The Recordings of the Middle East | 3.5 |
| Defeater Lost Ground | 4.5 |
| Defeater Travels | 4.5 |
fffffffffffuuuuuucccccckkkk mmmmmmmeeeeee, this is so good.
If you like hardcore punk or (scr)emo, or post-hardcore, or whatever -- get this. |
| Massive Attack Heligoland | 3.5 |
| Massive Attack Splitting the Atom | 3.0 |
| Massive Attack Danny the Dog | 3.0 |
| Ramones Ramones | 4.0 |
| Ramones Leave Home | 3.5 |
| MC5 Kick Out the Jams | 4.5 |
| The Stooges Raw Power | 4.5 |
| Sex Pistols Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols | 2.5 |
| Real Estate Real Estate | 4.0 |
| Oh No Ono Eggs | 3.5 |
| Sonic Youth Goo | 4.5 |
| Moonface Dreamland EP: Marimba and Shit-Drums | 3.5 |
Seriously the best fucking track that Sunset Rubdown have ever recorded.
Oh wait... |
| American Football American Football | 3.0 |
| The Cardigans Super Extra Gravity | 4.0 |
| Nicki Minaj Beam Me Up Scotty | 3.5 |
| Silence is Sexy This Ain't Hollywood | 3.0 |
| Penfold Amateurs and Professionals | 2.5 |
| Beach House Teen Dream | 4.5 |
| Surfer Blood Astro Coast | 4.0 |
| Hot Chip One Life Stand | 2.5 |
| Charlotte Gainsbourg IRM | 2.5 |
| Viktor Vaughn Vaudeville Villain | 4.5 |
| Vampire Weekend Contra | 3.0 |
| Los Campesinos! Romance Is Boring | 4.5 |
There was a time when the thought of Los Campesinos! would have sent me straight to the bathroom -- either to puke or to take a dump visually explaining my opinion of Garreth & co.'s bleak, asinine, above all annoying(ly voiced!) outlook on life. Those 2 days aside, Los Campesinos! have since proven those first inclinations wrong with a solid mix of glockspiel infused, string bevy, acid-tipped, hyper-literal indie rawk that is as infectious as it is funny/good/intelligent/honest/loveable. Over a mere 3 year span of life, LC! have released various EPs, 3 full length albums, toured the world a few times and even have seen the use(lessness) of mounds of critical praise, and backlash. But, in the end, what always mattered is that fact that really, they don't fucking care. The Campesinos were sincerely in it for themselves, and that we would listen, never mind dance around screaming their music like we couldn't do anything else better in our lives, was an added bonus. This first grouping of members will probably in years stand as an early era in an accomplished bands respected catalouge, but that's not to say there's nothing special about 'Romance Is Boring', furthermore, this specific Los Campesinos! While 'Youngster...' was pop savvy and fractured, and 'Beautiful' stronger, but still, in the end could not escape it's haphazard recording, and fissured sense, still feeling like an astounding collection of B-Sides by it's completion. 'Romance' finds the Campesinos! culminating everything they've done since their inception and throwing it together under one guise. Not a distaste for radio/modern living/douche bags, but the single thing none of them can fucking get over -- Love. Musically it sounds like the other LC! albums, but more focused, calmer, they play to their strength in pacing that made the breakneck speeds of their last 2 LPs endearing and fun, here is held down, almost hushed. You can feel the tension in the recording, not just concerning the record's content, but female lead vocalist Aleks Campesinos impending departure -- this is the sound of a band imploding upon itself, and finding a way to not only deal with that elephant in the room, but take it by the reigns. With nothing else to do, this group of Brits throw together yet another ramshackle collection of tracks that amount to an astoundingly repayable album. And for once, it all sounds cohesive. Garreth and Aleks finally seem comfortable speaking to one another via their microphones. Their best writing (which to begin with is hard to top, so stfu) is on display here, as well as musicianship, showcasing their talent with molding Twee and Punk legitimately, except now its honed, perfected to deliver that sugary jab at just the right moment. Many have stated that over the past few years watching this band grow up has been a pleasure. I wouldn't think I'm the first to say, but would like to reiterate wholeheartedly that personally, its been an immense pleasure to simply grow up with them.
|
| Spoon Transference | 3.0 |
| Les Savy Fav 3/5 | 4.0 |
| Les Savy Fav The Cat and the Cobra | 4.0 |
| Les Savy Fav Inches | 4.0 |
| Les Savy Fav Let's Stay Friends | 4.5 |
| And to think I spent the better half of my teenage years seeing and hating these fools. Brooklyn by way of Rhode Island art-punk stalwarts, Les Savy Fav drop their, late Flaming Lips, meets early Talking Heads, post-punk-hardcore-twee masterpiece with 'Let's Stay Friends'. |
| Eels End Times | 2.5 |
| Godspeed You! Black Emperor Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven | 4.5 |
| Godspeed You! Black Emperor F♯ A♯ ∞ | 4.5 |
| G-Side Sumthin 2 Hate | 4.0 |
| Clinic Internal Wrangler | 4.5 |
| Boards of Canada The Campfire Headphase | 4.0 |
| Drake So Far Gone | 3.5 |
| Drake So Far Gone | 3.5 |
| Discovery LP | 3.5 |
| Ponytail Ice Cream Spiritual | 4.5 |
| Ponytail Kamehameha | 3.5 |
| Florence and the Machine Lungs | 4.0 |
| Missy Elliott The Cookbook | 3.0 |
| Missy Elliott This Is Not a Test! | 4.0 |
| Missy Elliott Under Construction | 4.0 |
| Missy Elliott Miss E… So Addictive | 4.0 |
| The Futureheads The Futureheads | 4.0 |
| Primal Scream XTRMNTR | 4.0 |
| The National Boxer | 3.5 |
| The National Alligator | 4.5 |
| The National Sad Songs for Dirty Lovers | 4.0 |
| The Thermals The Body, The Blood, The Machine | 4.5 |
| The closest this Yeti can get to a religious experience now that the old gods boarded the ghost-clipper and sailed it into the tempest maelstrom. Good stuff. |
| David Bowie Let's Dance | 2.5 |
| David Bowie Lodger | 3.5 |
| Madvillain Madvillainy | 4.5 |
| Clipse Til the Casket Drops | 3.0 |
| The Notwist Neon Golden | 4.0 |
| Mew And the Glass Handed Kites | 4.5 |
| Mew Frengers | 4.5 |
| The Very Best Warm Heart of Africa | 4.0 |
| If you have any inclination towards world music or African pop then this is pretty much the perfect place to go. a fun, warm, brilliant piece of electro pop with an Afro-funk twist. |
| The Wrens The Meadowlands | 5.0 |
| Boards of Canada Geogaddi | 4.5 |
| David Bowie The Man Who Sold the World | 3.5 |
| David Bowie Station to Station | 4.5 |
| David Bowie Diamond Dogs | 4.0 |
| David Bowie Pin Ups | 2.0 |
| BLK JKS After Robots | 4.0 |
| BLK JKS Mystery EP | 4.0 |
| The Temper Trap Conditions | 2.5 |
| David Bowie "Heroes" | 4.5 |
| David Bowie Space Oddity | 3.0 |
| David Bowie Aladdin Sane | 4.0 |
| Do Make Say Think Other Truths | 4.0 |
| Camera Obscura Let's Get Out of This Country | 3.0 |
| Camera Obscura Biggest Bluest Hi Fi | 3.5 |
| Lightning Bolt Earthly Delights | 3.5 |
| Emery ...In Shallow Seas We Sail | 3.0 |
| Liars Liars | 4.0 |
| Liars Drum's Not Dead | 4.5 |
| Liars They Were Wrong, So We Drowned | 3.0 |
| Liars They Threw Us All in a Trench and Stuck a Monument on Top | 3.5 |
| Owl City Ocean Eyes | 1.0 |
| Cymbals Eat Guitars Why There Are Mountains | 4.5 |
| Orphans of Cush White Noize | 4.5 |
| Julian Casablancas Phrazes for the Young | 3.0 |
| Charlotte Hatherley New Worlds | 3.5 |
| Air Love 2 | 3.5 |
| The Clientele Bonfires on the Heath | 4.0 |
| Animal Collective Fall Be Kind | 4.0 |
| Weezer Raditude | 1.5 |
| Fastball All the Pain Money Can Buy | 3.0 |
| Asher Roth Asleep In The Bread Aisle | 1.0 |
| Kid Sister Ultraviolet | 3.0 |
It's like if MIA and 36 Mafia had a baby and Spank Rock and Amanda Blank got down -- then those 2 babies fuuuuccckkedd.
That baby is Kid Sister -- even tho she's older than all of them. |
| 50 Cent Before I Self Destruct | 3.0 |
| Fitty spends the better half of the decade making more money and fucking more bitches than you. All the while making 1 good album and some great singles. I guess he was listening to all the shit people were talking about his skill cause here he goes making his best album since 'Get Rich'. 'Before I Self Destruct' is not groundbreaking by any means, but the beats are deep and mean and his syrupy flow has found it self again along with his pen. Its not an album full of a predominance of hip hip love songs and a couple of street worthy bangers here an there. It's actually got some kind of structure(albeit *loose*) and attention to the filler tracks as opposed to just the 4 hit singles. |
| Wale Attention Deficit | 3.0 |
| Asobi Seksu Rewolf | 3.5 |
| An absurdly successful 'acoustic arrangement' take on the effects laden, pedal pushing star punk of Brooklyn's Asobi Seksu. They break down the core of the songwriting and bring the focus onto Hanna's musicianship and Yuki Chikudate's beautiful, effervescent voice. Luckily it pays off and 'Rewolf' turns out to be more than just an acoustic fan service. |
| Atlas Sound Logos | 3.5 |
| The Ting Tings We Started Nothing | 1.0 |
| A Place to Bury Strangers Exploding Head | 4.0 |
| Deerhunter Rainwater Cassette Exchange | 3.5 |
| A Sunny Day in Glasgow Ashes Grammar | 4.5 |
| Philly ensemble's sophomore release 'Ashes Grammar' is a compulsively listenable, brilliant, fractured dance/ambient-pop album with heavy holds in shoegaze, dreampop, and freakfolk. Old news yes, but 'Ashes Grammar' just happens to do it so goddamn well, not to mention uniquely, and infectiously, that they find their own sound in the chaos of the past. In the loss of integral members (bass! vocalists!) and movement from a bedroom to a studio, Ben Daniels and drummer/guitarist Josh Meakim and newly recruited vocalist Annie Fredrickson create magic. A 22 track behemoth that is setup in movements as opposed to singular tracks, most 'real songs' sitting between mood setting ambient interludes that hold their own against the longer tracks. Really these interlude portions just help the flow of the album, as it's 60+ minutes wiz by accordingly and are just a logical setup for the next bit of songs. From the freakfolk/dance induced 'Failure' and 'Close Chorus', to shoegazer tour de force(s) 'Nightime Rainbows' & 'Blood White'', 'Ashes Grammar' delivers. Dream pop masterworks , 'Shy', 'Headphone Space', 'Starting at a Disadvantage' and 'The White Witch' top off the album as the (hard to chose) stand outs but let's not be picky here. Why be, when there' s so much about Ashes Grammar to love. |
| We Were Promised Jetpacks These Four Walls | 2.5 |
| If you put Frightened Rabbit and The Twilight Sad into a supersonic gravitron at the local Glasgow city fair, they'd come out as We Were Promised Jetpacks -- and they wouldn't play their instruments as well as before. |
| The Horrors Primary Colours | 4.0 |
| The Twilight Sad Forget The Night Ahead | 3.5 |
| Snowing Fuck Your Emotional Bullshit | 3.5 |
| Sonic Youth The Eternal | 3.5 |
| Major Lazer Guns Dont Kill People... Lazers Do | 3.5 |
| The Flaming Lips Embryonic | 4.0 |
| Saint Etienne So Tough | 4.5 |
| Saint Etienne Fox Base Alpha | 4.5 |
| Raekwon Only Built 4 Cuban Linx... Pt II | 4.0 |
| Girls Album | 4.5 |
| The Big Pink A Brief History of Love | 4.0 |
| Pretty Girls Make Graves The New Romance | 3.5 |
| The Pains of Being Pure at Heart Higher Than the Stars | 3.5 |
| The price of admission is worth it for the remix alone. |
| The Alchemist Chemical Warfare | 3.0 |
| Neko Case Middle Cyclone | 3.5 |
| Sonic Youth Evol | 4.5 |
| Jay-Z The Blueprint 3 | 3.0 |
| Blur Midlife: A Beginner's Guide To Blur | 4.0 |
| Slightly tops the 'Best of Blur' greatest hits comp, which is saying something considering that usually comps suck, and there's enough quality Blur material to fill up two, two disc compilations. The fact that these songs continue to carry their essential punch even years after the fact doesn't hurt either. These dudes haven't released an album since 2003, and yet somehow there's a distinctly different feel to this as compared to 'Best Of'. 'Mid Life' carries a sense of accomplishment, a cannon of 90s Brit pop which the previous comp couldn't even hold a candle to. Now if Albarn, Coxon and co. could put down their swords, pick up their guitars and just rock again. Added bonus, everything here slays and it's not all album only tracks or singles. 'Woo hoo!' indeed. |
| The Low Anthem Oh My God, Charlie Darwin | 3.5 |
| Deer Tick Born on Flag Day | 2.5 |
| Standard folk rock; delivered on nothing that 'War Elephant' had promised -- even though 'Little White Lies' and 'The Ghost' are pretty much boss, don't be fooled. |
| Mew No More Stories | 4.5 |
| Mount Eerie Wind's Poem | 3.0 |
| Phil went crazy, and skuzzed up his already skuzzy music with heaps and heaps of 'metal'. 'Wind's Poem' proves that Elvrum is an extremely talented musician (duh...) and that genre hopping, as it always has been, is quite easy for him. Sadly though, 'Wind's Poem' delivers significantly less than the sum of it's parts. He seems to sacrifice his superior songwriting talent to fit genre conventions that he's less than adept at recreating. While about as easy to swallow as any of his albums, 'Wind's Poem' lacks that essential aftertaste that gave all his previous work it's legs. This bitch stumbles right out the gate and struggles to keep it together throughout the duration. |
| Simple Plan No Pads, No Helmets... Just Balls | 1.0 |
| Silversun Pickups Swoon | 2.5 |
| Phoenix (FRA) United | 3.5 |
| Phoenix (FRA) It's Never Been Like That | 4.0 |
| Modest Mouse No One's First, and You're Next | 3.5 |
| The xx xx | 4.5 |
| Arctic Monkeys Humbug | 3.0 |
| Handsome Furs Face Control | 3.5 |
| Sunset Rubdown Dragonslayer | 3.5 |
| The Sounds Crossing the Rubicon | 1.5 |
| Amanda Blank I Love You | 1.5 |
| Doves (UK) Kingdom of Rust | 3.5 |
| The Antlers Hospice | 3.5 |
| YACHT See Mystery Lights | 4.0 |
| Mos Def The Ecstatic | 4.0 |
| The Most Serene Republic ...And The Ever Expanding Universe | 3.0 |
| Delorean Ayrton Senna | 4.0 |
| jj jj n° 2 | 3.5 |
| Have a Nice Life Deathconsciousness | 3.0 |
| The Twilight Sad Killed My Parents and Hit the Road | 3.0 |
| Slint Spiderland | 4.0 |
| Pretty Girls Make Graves Good Health | 4.5 |
| Muse Showbiz | 2.5 |
| Passion Pit Manners | 4.0 |
| God Help The Girl God Help The Girl | 3.5 |
| Monty Are I Thanks for the Metal Sign | 3.0 |
| Monty Are I The Red Shift | 3.5 |
| Monty Are I Heart's Bleeding EP | 4.0 |
| The Juan MacLean The Future Will Come | 4.0 |
| Patrick Wolf The Bachelor | 2.5 |
| I mean maybe it's just me but, if there is such a thing as 'too quirky' or 'forced pretension' Wolf has done everything in his power to infest every second of 'The Bachelor's run time with just that. Too much quirkiness and an array or forced, lackadaisical pretensions drown out what could have been a very solid release. Album cover is ill tho... |
| Spoon Kill the Moonlight | 4.5 |
| It clocks in at just slightly over 30 minutes, and the band has since become more adventurous with their sound as their budget for albums increases -- but 'Kill The Moonlight' slays. Every song has it's hook and damn do they ever catch, you'll be hard pressed not to get these little indie rock gems stuck in your head. Daniel's lyrics and the song writing are at their peak here, straying from studio tricks and epic inclinations. Songs like 'Small Stakes', 'The Way We Get By', and 'Jonathan Fisk', bring forth your standard verse-chorus-verse structure. But the songs are jam packed with memorable 1 liners, slick guitar riffs, great drumming and keyboard fills. Plus the riffs on 'All The Pretty Girls Go To The City' and 'Something To Look Forward To' are almost too infectious. Spoon came out of the gates swinging with their debut ('Telephono') and continued with a string of great releases. But not until 'Kill The Moonlight', their opus of catchy, concise and intelligent yet accessible rock music, did they understand how to make a complete, fulfilling listen from start to finish -- thankfully they never forgot. |
| The Killers Day & Age | 1.0 |
| Peter Bjorn and John Living Thing | 2.5 |
| PB&J come back with all the heart, but this time they seem to have forgot the tunes. 'Living Thing' is about as interesting as tofu -- as a slug -- or maybe a rock. Basically every song, no matter what the intention of it might be, trugs along with an annoying ebb and flow that does nothing but bore the shit out of you. Even when they almost get it (I Want You!, Lay It Down, Stay This Way), the songs still seem to get lost in their own 'experimentation'. By that I mean a boring blast of distorted vocals here, or a total lack of a rhythm (section) in the song there. A hiccup in an otherwise great catalog of music, 'Living Thing' is the Swedish groups certifiable dud, and here's to their next outing having a bit more longevity and spirit than 'Living Thing' |
| UGK UGK 4 Life | 3.5 |
| Method Man and Redman Blackout! 2 | 3.0 |
| If you take it at face value (It's Wu-Tang...), and just appreciate that these two dudes got back together and created a sequel equal to it's predecessor, albeit a bit less surprising, you'll probably find something to enjoy here. |
| De La Soul Are You In?: Nike+ Original Run | 3.0 |
| Camera Obscura My Maudlin Career | 4.0 |
| Green Day 21st Century Breakdown | 1.5 |
| Phoenix (FRA) Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix | 4.5 |
| Eels Hombre Lobo | 3.0 |
| Camera Obscura Underachievers Please Try Harder | 4.0 |
| Iron And Wine The Shepherd's Dog | 4.5 |
| Dirty Projectors Bitte Orca | 4.5 |
| White Rabbits It's Frightening | 3.0 |
| Wilco Wilco (The Album) | 3.5 |
| A Camp Colonia | 3.0 |
| Something just gets lost in those 8 years and 2 Cardigans' albums that split 'ACamp' and 'Colonia'. |
| St. Vincent Marry Me | 4.0 |
| St. Vincent Actor | 4.5 |
| Grizzly Bear Friend | 3.0 |
| Grizzly Bear Veckatimest | 4.5 |
| Eminem Relapse | 1.5 |
| Really good beats and the fact that Em still has a better flow than most modern rappers can't save 'Relapse' from imploding in upon itself. Bloated and almost sophomoric the songs never find their way out of Em's verses (which are just as quirky and disturbing as ever) to a hook that has any chance of paying off. Basically there are no hooks, or if there's an attempt (3am, Mother,Insane -- fuckit the whole album) "Relapse" gives them no room to breathe. Instead they chock up to a rushed Em continuing his lame, accented flow to a chorus about how many drugs he does, how fucked up he is, or how much he goes against the grain. If 'Relapse' is supposed to be that jolt that rockets Marshall sky high once more, you couldn't tell. It feels more like Eminem is still searching for his wings, never mind trying to soar. |
| The Twilight Sad Fourteen Autumns and Fifteen Winters | 4.5 |
| Completely miscalculated this one too -- I seem to be making a habit of that recently. *shrugs* More to come soon, but safe to say there's more to "Fourteen Autumns and Fifteen Winters', than wah-wah guitar, distortion, Grahams gorgeous yelp and Post-Rock grandeur. Tho The Twilight Sad will be damned if they let you know that. |
| Micachu and the Shapes Jewellery | 3.5 |
| Dan Deacon Bromst | 4.5 |
| Yeah Yeah Yeahs It's Blitz! | 4.0 |
| Metric Fantasies | 3.0 |
| Japandroids Post-Nothing | 3.0 |
| Bat For Lashes Two Suns | 4.5 |
| Bat For Lashes Fur and Gold | 4.0 |
| Hercules and Love Affair Hercules and Love Affair | 4.5 |
| Well looks like I misjudged another one. This lush, beautiful piece of modern dance music is nothing less than flooring. Mixing disco flair with a taste for soul and free jazz rarely used so well in modern electronica, Andrew Butler and his bandmates create a masterpiece. mixing infectious grooves, heart warming "ballads", and some straight up bangers that will get even the most rigid Jane and John shaking their asses. 'Hercules Theme' is the clear winner here, but nothing is short of amazing. It may take repeated listens but what gives 'Hercules and Love Affair' it's legs is that beyond all things, these tracks are purely danceable. Add the fact that they're gorgeous, fully realized pieces of music with a defined, interesting narrative and the singers slay -- it is pretty much that good. |
| Kings of Leon Only By The Night | 1.5 |
| After hearing the atrocious 'Sex On Fire' plus all their other bullshit releases I'm not really sure why I bothered with this. Watching this band ascend past their supposed grass roots to arena status has been less than gratifying, at least on their part. Passing up the inspired instrumental play between band members and their old Southern feel for a plastic sheen ready to reflect the stage lights, they produce their biggest flop yet. It may seem that I'm bitching about them 'making it. No, I'm bitching about their new lack of inspiration on phone-in's like 'Closer', 'Use Somebody' and 'Manhattan', not to mention the worst offender, lead off single 'Sex On Fire'. A song about a lead singer's great sex life collapses with boring riffs, awful drumming and a clunky chorus. These problems plague the whole of 'Only By The Night' and leave it as a lack luster release from a band that, personally, is yet to find themselves, let alone reach a stride. |
| Harvey Danger Where Have All The Merrymakers Gone? | 3.0 |
| Some good tracks, and a whole lot of bullshit -- but the good tracks contain 'Flag Pole Sitter' which merits this album a 3 on its own. |
| pg.99 Document #8 | 4.5 |
| Gang Gang Dance Saint Dymphna | 4.5 |
| Asobi Seksu Asobi Seksu | 3.5 |
| To look back on this now after listening to both 'Citrus' and 'Hush' at length almost give's the New York shoegaze band a sense of history and place. Asobi Seksu's 2004 self titled debut presents a band with a clear set of skills and an honest vision but the lack of any direction. Tracks like opener 'I'm Happy But You Don't Like Me' or 'Walk On The Moon' present clear indications that band members Yuki Chikudate (vocals, keyboards) and James Hanna (guitar, vocals) know what they'd like to do, just not exactly how to get there. The songs are accessible, containing fun loving bouncy grooves, coupled with 1-2-1, verse-chorus-verse build ups that all have extremely satisfying ascensions and conclusions, 'Asobi Seksu' is a gem. It is however a gem because on subsequent albums the band showcases their maturation with not only layering tracks (see 'Citrus' and the 10 levels of sound in each song) but handling chaos with beauty. While 'Asobi Seksu' is hardly a bad album, it feels misplaced, unfinished and a bit cranky at times. This is all however mixed with the bands obvious prowess of distortion control & song structure plus they make some truly amazing music here -- other times it sounds like 'It's Too Late'. |
| T.I. Paper Trail | 3.0 |
| Various Artists (Indie) Dark Was The Night | 4.0 |
| The Lonely Island Incredibad | 3.5 |
| Lady Gaga The Fame | 1.5 |
| U2 No Line on the Horizon | 2.0 |
| MSTRKRFT Fist of God | 3.0 |
| Clint Mansell and Kronos Quartet Requiem for a Dream | 4.0 |
| Soundtrack (Film) Moulin Rouge! - Music From Baz Luhrmann's Film | 1.5 |
| Soundtrack (Film) Across the Universe | 1.0 |
Excuse me while I take a big shit all over the years and years of tried and true accomplishment of this group of musicians.
Wait? Someone already did?
Oh... |
| Soundtrack (Film) Juno | 2.5 |
| Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard The Dark Knight | 3.5 |
| Soundtrack (Television) Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog | 3.5 |
| Daft Punk Homework | 4.0 |
| Wintersleep Welcome To The Night Sky | 3.5 |
| Fauxliage Fauxliage | 3.0 |
| A Camp A Camp | 4.0 |
| Roots Manuva Awfully Deep | 4.0 |
| Roots Manuva Dub Come Save Me | 3.0 |
| Roots Manuva Run Come Save Me | 4.0 |
| Roots Manuva Brand New Second Hand | 4.5 |
| Made Out of Babies The Ruiner | 4.0 |
| Asobi Seksu Citrus | 4.5 |
I stupidly wrote this off as average for quite a long time. Then I sat down, and gave it some deserved spins.
wow.
one day Ill probably bump this up again. |
| ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead The Century of Self | 2.0 |
| Radio Rock + Booze worthy chanting + bad drumming + Strings + AFI - Emo x U2 = 'The Century of Self' |
| Frightened Rabbit The Midnight Organ Fight | 4.0 |
| The Pains of Being Pure at Heart The Pains of Being Pure at Heart | 4.0 |
| Lily Allen It's Not Me, It's You | 3.0 |
| I Would Set Myself On Fire For You I Would Set Myself On Fire For You | 3.0 |
| Asobi Seksu Hush | 3.5 |
| The Receiving End of Sirens Between the Heart and the Synapse | 2.0 |
| Murs Murs 3:16: the 9th Edition | 4.0 |
| Orchid Chaos is Me | 4.5 |
| Guns N' Roses Chinese Democracy | 2.0 |
This title track is fucking awesome
High five guys! You took over a decade to make 1 good song and successfully bastardized the rest of your catalog that has shown it's age immensely over the years. |
| The Offspring Smash | 2.5 |
| The Flaming Lips Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots | 4.0 |
| The Flaming Lips The Soft Bulletin | 4.0 |
| Murs Murs For President | 3.0 |
| Less Than Jake Losing Streak | 4.0 |
| Fatboy Slim Palookaville | 3.0 |
| Fatboy Slim Halfway Between the Gutter and the Stars | 2.5 |
| pg.99 Document #1 | 4.0 |
| pg.99 Document #11 | 3.5 |
This EP is only 9mins long, but it's some of the most epic 9 minutes you'll ever experience.
Plus 'Diagram For A Suicide' is essentially the shit. |
| Franz Ferdinand Tonight: Franz Ferdinand | 3.0 |
| Common Universal Mind Control | 1.5 |
| Animal Collective Merriweather Post Pavilion | 4.5 |
| Animal Collective mixes in some ambient electro pop, new wave along with some house and everybody wins. |
| My Morning Jacket Evil Urges | 2.0 |
| Puscifer "V" Is For Vagina | 1.0 |
I would go so far as to say I'm a Tool fan, and that I have been for a while. I was one of those nerds buying 'Lateralus' on the day it came out, prompted from my 12th and 13th years of life where 'Undertow' and 'Anemia' were in heavy rotation. I even went so far as to pick up every Maynard side project I could and I would even call myself a fan of A Perfect Circle. Recently though I've acquired his Pussifer albums and to quote Sean Rizzo from our very own Sputnik review (*ahem*): 'unless borderline spoken word vocals fronting repetitive and primitive beats tickles your fancy, the album is a complete bore fest.'
They don't
He's right,
this album is atrocious. |
| A Perfect Circle eMOTIVe | 1.0 |
I'm like
'lol, this poor excuse for a turd is an album?'
Maynard is like
'Yah dude, totally is the best cover album ever -- probably the best thing I've done'
Then he went off and formed Pussifer. Oops.
|
| Element Eighty Element Eighty | 1.5 |
| M83 Saturdays=Youth | 3.0 |
| The Dodos Visiter | 3.5 |
| Elbow The Seldom Seen Kid | 3.5 |
| Q-Tip The Renaissance | 4.0 |
| Titus Andronicus The Airing of Grievances | 4.5 |
| I wouldn't really call 'The Airing of Grievances' an album as much as a collection of 9 arguments, and front man Patrick Stickles is more giving a first-hand account than "singing". He yelps and screams over most of Titus Andronicus' debut disc, which is a gem of indie-emo self loathing, too smart for my surroundings (New Jersey!) bliss. His band mates do a very ample job of booming and blasting around his scream, twanging away on their guitars and smashing their drums and piano keys. Stickle's lyrics convey a hurt man, he may scream the odd "We can betray each other in dreams every night." Or "What could be the harm?/What a six week vacation from the use of my right arm?". Or maybe a chant of "Do do do do/Do do do do/Fuck everything/Fu-uck Me." Stickles is pissed sure, at himself, at god, at his parents, at the institutions he was forced to attend; but honestly, while he plays music, you couldn't tell. He couldn't be happier, even as his cries become blood curdling. It really shows in the band's music, it's fast (for the most part), fist pumping, chant worthy; it just so happens to be that their lead singer kinda sounds like Conor Oberst and he kinda whines a little. But whatever, they could give a fuck less, and that's why Titus succeed. 'Grievances' sounds like it was recorded in a submarine on shitty lowfi mics, as Stickles was in the next room screaming his lungs out. But this sound is fleshed out, real, and it works for them. They may be angry and bitter, but Titus Andronicus don't skip on the life affirming pop with a debut to be reckoned with. |
| The Fireman Electric Arguments | 4.0 |
| Jonas Brothers A Little Bit Longer | 1.5 |
I sat through this at my grandmother's usual Xmas Eve gathering. My little cousin loves it, the kid's a peach so I just kept my mouth shut and dealt with it.
Imagine if the seminal 90s boy bands were just *slightly* less corny and played their own instruments -- and were all ****ing related.
|
| Weezer Christmas with Weezer | 1.0 |
You've got to be kidding me.
Let's chug through 6 lame ass Christmas songs. Sounds like they did this last night in a drunken stupor and mixed it through the morning. |
| Cake Comfort Eagle | 3.5 |
| Cold War Kids Loyalty to Loyalty | 2.0 |
| Kanye West 808s and Heartbreak | 3.0 |
| Coldplay Prospekt's March | 2.0 |
| Coldplay Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends | 3.0 |
| Cake Fashion Nugget | 4.5 |
| Lifehouse No Name Face | 3.0 |
| Lifehouse Who We Are | 1.0 |
| Flobots Fight with Tools | 1.5 |
| James Blunt Back To Bedlam | 1.0 |
| Mike Jones Who Is Mike Jones? | 1.0 |
| Deerhunter Microcastle | 4.5 |
| 'Microcastle' sees GA based Deerhunter turn down the fuzz and learn to pretty things up a bit. Granted, their rocker 'Nothing Ever Happened' is probably the best thing they've ever record, with all it's ferocity and beautiful instrumentation. 'Microcastle' has a kinder feel than 'Cryptograms', and really that's what pushes them past the mediocrity of their debut. 'Agoraphobia' & 'Never Stops' as well as enders 'Saved By Old Times' and 'These Hands' are quite gorgeous songs. Cox showed he was capable of such things with his Atlas Sound project, but I never saw these coming. 'Agoraphobia' and it's simple beat builds to beauty as Cox croons, 'Never Stops' and 'Little Kids' follow suit in their upbeat sound, seemingly alien to the (old)band but they produce nothing short of gold. Drawbacks can be found I'm sure, it's a bit too short, sometimes the whole album can just pass you by. The mid section can be a bit too wonky as they experiment their way around fractured riffs and weird drum beats all the while keeping it pretty minimalist. But, seriously, whatever, just sit back and enjoy 'Microcastle' and all its serene beauty. |
| Sigur Ros Med Sud i Eyrum vid Spilum Endalaust | 4.0 |
| Ben Folds Way To Normal | 3.0 |
| Ben Folds Songs for Silverman | 2.0 |
| Blondie Parallel Lines | 4.5 |
| No Doubt Tragic Kingdom | 4.5 |
| Ben Folds Rockin' The Suburbs | 3.5 |
| Stars Do You Trust Your Friends? | 1.0 |
| Johnny Cash At Folsom Prison | 5.0 |
| Santigold Santogold | 4.0 |
| So, this album is righteous, in the fullest sense of the word. 30 something, ex punk band singer(chick) living in NYC(via PA), DIY's a badass solo debut. She mixes mod rock, dub, reggae, electronica, punk and tops it off with a nice helping of distortion. Did I forget to mention she's badass? Or downright crazy? In cuts like 'L.E.S. Astistes' she hopes her art/career "will be worth what I give up" as she tries to "stand up for the things that she believes". While in "Creator"('Santogold's 2nd best) she exclaims she is just that(an artist? a god? whothefuckcares.); "setting friction to this bitch, creepin in just like an itch", by the end you're apt to take her word for it. This is of course after the songs mingling tribal beat and bird like cries in the beginning have already dropped and exploded into a bad bass line and a booming beat. By booming I mean 'Creator' will rock the shit out of any trunk you got, son. 'Creator' is followed by the acid washed 'My Superman', which is then followed by the high flying mod rock of 'Lights Out'. This is really where 'Santogold' pulls itself past the crowd. She seems to move effortlessly between styles, and she varies it up enough to keep every song interesting. Yes there are the "dub songs", and the "mod songs" and the "electronic bouncers", but they are all pretty separate from one another. Distinct in their own way, each track showing prowess in a differnt aspect of musical composition, plus they all rock, so, kudos lady. |
| of Montreal Satanic Panic in the Attic | 4.0 |
| of Montreal Skeletal Lamping | 3.0 |
| Bon Iver For Emma, Forever Ago | 3.5 |
| The Darkness Permission to Land | 1.5 |
| I love Queen; Justin, you sir, are no Freddie Mercury and your band is no Queen. Stop it. |
| Shiny Toy Guns Season of Poison | 1.5 |
| Ditching almost all of their electronic sound and adopting a prominent guitar scheme right and ready to compete with the best of top 40 radio, Shiny's flunk. 'Season of Poison' is a dud, there's 3 good tracks -- good ones. Not great, or amazing, good ('I Owe You a Love Song' 'Season Of Love' & 'Turned To Real Life'). Rather than coming to the choruses and banging through on drop d power chords they create electronic bliss, unlike the rest of the 'Season'. Shiny Toy Guns were interesting because regardless of how much they played to cliches, they surrounded it with a truly sick electronica song. Couple that with decent verses and instrumental play and you've got yourself a solid album (We Are Pilots). Mix crappy industrial, bullshit grunge and a dose of rap rock (check new singer Sisley Treasure on 'When Did This Storm Begin') and you've got this balls follow up. They may have ditched Carah (The best part...) but Sisley can hold her own; but she's barely there (3 tracks!). Me thinks Chad doesn't trust her, but if 'Frozen Oceans' is any indication, they'll find their savior in her voice. 'Season of Poison' sees a talented band flounder with the loss of an obviously integral member. They mix many styles and jumble genres in trying to move away from their previous core sound. Shinys may think they're evolving -- honestly it just seems like they're running out of ideas. |
| Fucked Up The Chemistry of Common Life | 4.5 |
| Hardcore, infused with all the strings, horns and bells and whistles you could ask for, with a great lead singer, this is some boss shit. Yes, maybe it's a bit meandering, their instrumentals, though quite badass, are not highlights of the album. and yes, in a genre where technicality is held in an extremely high regard -- they're not. But Fucked Up excel in their arrangements, they know how to build tension, to explode, and more importantly how to rock the fuck out. Pink Eyes(Damian Abraham), has a vicious growl and a scream that shakes the earth. Coupled with clean vocals from both male and female band mates his gravel pit of a voice is pulled up from average, to powerful. This is where they shine, issues with God, modern society, family, and materialism are prominent themes, and they handle it with class. They skip the pretension by not taking themselves too seriously, as well as having a sick drummer and guitarist. Plus 'Son the Father' & 'Black Albino Bones' are easily some of the best tracks of 2008. |
| Oasis Dig Out Your Soul | 3.5 |
| Lil Wayne Tha Carter III | 4.0 |
| Los Campesinos! We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed | 4.5 |
| Year #1, Album #2(2!). 'We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed' sees the Campesino camp mature a little bit through acting just a bit more immature. As opposed to 'Hold On Now, Youngster...' their auspicious debut, where they seemed to be going over every line with red pen, 'We Are Beautiful,' is more haphazard. 'Youngster' saw all its lines end with just the perfect punch, just clever enough, and just enough emotion. Essentially showing they aren't involved as much as observing from the outside, basically they were too good for themselves; this time around they seem to feel right in their own skin. Gareth takes over the vocals predominantly, and he's basically crying about his ex, but he does it in such a way (You said he's got his teeth fixed/ I'm gonna break them!), that exemplifies a sense of here and now (Oh we kid ourselves there's future in the fucking!/but there is no fucking future!) that most other frontpeople can't attest to(My life was saved by a packet of 19 cigarettes/Held in my left breast pocket/for a closest friend). To say they have spirit is a bit cheap, they bombast through 10 tracks of glockenspiel infused, violin savvy indie rock. They keep the tensions high, the boy-girl interchanges sweet or biting and when they decide to slow it down on 'Heart Swells/Pacific Daylight Time' it pays off. It's one of their most touching tracks, they grow up just a little, enough to see their faults and deliver a fucking great follow up. |
| Love Forever Changes | 4.5 |
| Beautiful, engrossing, reflective, haunting, heartbreaking, reaffirming, brilliant -- amazing. 'Forever Changes' is a gorgeous chronicle of Arthur Lee, lead singer, as he was living during the late 60s, the cusp of the 'hippie revolution' and a time he was convinced he was going to die. The lyrics are morose, but the music itself is lush and even upbeat. The horn sections that roar throughout the album only compliment the pristine string arrangements and soothing riffs. The fantastic instrumentation only brings forth the beauty of Lee's voice, and his lyrics. Bits like "Sitting on a hillside -- Watching all the people die -- I'll feel much better on the other side." become all the more haunting and long lasting. A pinnacle of American music. |
| Chapterhouse Whirlpool | 4.0 |
| Sonic Youth Sister | 4.5 |
| Gospel The Moon Is a Dead World | 4.5 |
| The Long Blondes Couples | 3.5 |
| A solid follow up to equally as solid debut. The songs may have rocked harder before and the writing could have done with more quick quips and flowing narratives. but hey -- at least it's cohesive this time. The Long Blondes are able to keep their feet firmly planted in the post-punk that got them through 'Some One to Drive You Home' so successfully, and allow their hands to dabble around. The pulp they find this time is not mod life or 50s nostalgia, but lush lounge grooves and electro-pop of the disco floor. Kate Jackson's laissez faire croon spurt out tales of modern romance, nearly all soar, some fall flat on their face, but most of the time "Couples" is a little number that just keeps you coming back for more -- even though you know you shouldn't. |
| Sigur Ros Agætis byrjun | 5.0 |
| Talking Heads Remain in Light | 5.0 |
| The Blood Brothers Crimes | 4.0 |
| The Blood Brothers ...Burn, Piano Island, Burn | 4.5 |
| Stars Sad Robots EP | 3.0 |
| Take out a few tracks from 'In Our Bedroom...' and plug these in, you've got yourself a hell of an album. For an EP it's pretty fully packed, and the live version of 'Going, Going, Gone' is haunting. But really, after many listens. 'Sad Robots' amounts to some bad ass cover art, 1 worthless instrumental, a live song, 3 great songs that should have been on the album instead, and 1 dud (Title Track). |
| Brazilian Girls New York City | 3.0 |
| Animal Collective Water Curses | 3.0 |
| Another Animal Collective LP, another subsequent EP where the title track is the shit and everything else is filler. Woo. |
| No Age Nouns | 3.0 |
| TV on the Radio Dear Science | 4.5 |
| TV On The Radio pretty much ditched the complicated fuzz/anthem rock of 'Return to Cookie Mountain' for some dance hall, electronic, funk/fuzz rock, soulful balladry bullshit. And it was all for the better, not necessarily better than 'Return', but for the better of the band. 'Dear Science' is like 25 minutes and 8 tracks shorter, but whatever, it?s still some boss music. 'Half Way Home' 'Love Dog' & 'DLZ' are the best songs that never made it onto '..Cookie', 'Golden Age', 'Crying', 'Dancing Choose' and 'Red Dress' are funk infused, rap, indie masterpieces. While their dance songs and rockers shine, 'Dear Science,' really lets it all go when it's heart is showing. Tracks like 'Stork & Owl' and 'Family Tree' are gorgeous ballads, adorn with sweet horns and strings, while 'Lover's Day' is probably the best song about a raucous fuck ever. Ever. |
| Junkie XL Big Sounds Of The Drags | 4.0 |
| Soundtrack (Film) South Park (Original Soundtrack) | 3.5 |
| The Unicorns Who Will Cut Our Hair When We're Gone? | 2.5 |
| The Flashbulb Soundtrack to a Vacant Life | 3.5 |
| The Bug London Zoo | 4.0 |
| Junkie XL Booming Back At You | 2.0 |
| His beats became repetitive, his interlays asinine and his voice recordings/samples are just plain aggravating now. He sounds like he sought out to make another 'bombastic, booming classic! yeah!', but instead the Dutchman collapsed under his own weight. Just see him live, or get 'Big Sounds of the Drags'. |
| Tiesto In Search of Sunrise 3: Panama | 3.5 |
| Tiesto Parade Of The Athletes | 3.5 |
| Paul Van Dyk The Politics of Dancing, Vol. 2 | 3.0 |
| Paul Van Dyk Out There and Back | 4.0 |
| The Hold Steady Stay Positive | 3.5 |
| Flight of the Conchords Flight of the Conchords | 4.0 |
| Lush Spooky | 3.5 |
| Ghostface Killah Ironman | 4.5 |
| Black Kids Partie Traumatic | 2.0 |
Boooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!
-That was my initial reaction, it hasn't changed much. 'Partie Traumatic' falls victim to boring composition, squeaky clean production, and indie-pop cliches. Reggie Youngblood sounds a whole hell of a lot like Robert Smith yes, and true his backing band can drop some pretty addicting/danceable beats, but as a whole it's trite and pretty boring.
Better luck next time. |
| The Cool Kids The Bake Sale | 3.5 |
| Grouper Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill | 4.5 |
| *drool inducing guitar leads and wayward riffing. frequently spellbinding, this is one of the better records of the previous decade. Yay Liz.* |
| Kidcrash New Ruins | 2.5 |
| Kidcrash Jokes | 4.5 |
| The Faint Blank-Wave Arcade | 2.0 |
| Air France No Way Down | 4.0 |
| A group of Swedes mix high flying syth lines, great samples, a little heart and some bass that resonate heat. I honestly would listen to 'No Way Down', 2008's best EP, to feel like it was summer. Regardless of the temp outside, I was on an island, sipping away on ritas. I've heard it described as "post-rave bliss", and it's quite fitting. They fill their lush electronics, with full horn sections, great vocal samples and beautiful strings plus, the whistle on 'June Evenings' is where it's at. |
| Slowdive Just for a Day | 4.0 |
| Slowdive Souvlaki | 5.0 |
| Air Moon Safari | 4.5 |
| Nas Untitled | 2.0 |
| The Cool Kids Totally Flossed Out EP | 3.5 |
| GZA Liquid Swords | 4.5 |
| Nas It Was Written | 4.0 |
| Brendan Canning Something For All of Us... | 3.5 |
| lol Broken Social Scene solo outings, they're always pretty good, but they're always pretty scattered. Canning is able to bring himself out beyond the shadow of his BSS counterparts, but he does this mainly by purveying his key (natural) sound. He's the community man, and he shows it in full here. Taking the core BSS sound and building upon it (much like Kevin Drew), Canning is electric. 'Something For All of Us', 'Chameleon' and 'Possible Grenade' are the stand out rockers, 'All the Best Wooden Toys are Made In Germany' is a heaping of prog-indie bliss while 'Churches Under the Stairs' is one of the best BSS associated tracks ever. Canning leans more towards the commune feel, as opposed to Drew's reserved whispers and croons. And while Kevin turned up his vocals, Brendan chooses to wash his voice much like his bands albums. He's softer, more pleasant even, and what seems to be the obligatory "girl spot" on these 'BSS Presents' is held by Amy Milian (elegant and powerfully). 'Something For All of Us' makes sense really, I'm yet to meet someone that finds nothing to love here. |
| Stars of Track and Field Centuries Before Love and War | 2.5 |
| Band of Horses Cease to Begin | 3.0 |
| Radiohead I Might Be Wrong: Live Recordings | 3.0 |
| Radiohead The Astoria London Live (DVD) | 3.5 |
| Fleet Foxes Fleet Foxes | 3.0 |
| Fleet Foxes Sun Giant | 4.0 |
| Girl Talk Feed the Animals | 4.0 |
| Eiffel 65 Europop | 1.0 |
| UGK UGK (Underground Kingz) | 3.5 |
| M83 Before The Dawn Heals Us | 4.5 |
| M83 Dead Cities, Red Seas and Lost Ghosts | 5.0 |
| My favorite soundtrack music ever -- M83's 'Dead Cities, Red Seas and Lost Ghosts' is an electronic masterpiece. Mixing equal influences from Air & My Bloody Valentine, Anthony Gonzalez creates an eclectic masterwork of epic proportions. Add MBV's fuzzed out guitars with a French love for synths and you've pretty much got M83 in a pigeon hole -- or so it would seem. They go more rough, less pretty -- frightening as opposed to serene, this is not dream pop. Vocals are mostly kept to indeterminable male (Gonzalez) or robot, almost completely electronic female ones -- or a spoken word story here and there (see 'America'). Really though, this is mostly an instrumental album, along the lines of an Air, or Eluvium. Air is a fair (heh) choice for a comparison seeing as both electronic duos are French, and pretty much sound like it. The music broods with romantic turmoil, bevies of emotion as well as those awesome, awesome synths. Regardless of all M83's obvious comparisons, Gonzalez is able to bring his music to something totally different. With a soundtrack quality to his epic inclinations his music comes out sounding tried and exuberant, yet beautiful and serene. It always sounds HUGE, and really, benefits from that fact. 'Unrecorded', 'Run into Flowers' and 'In Church' -- hell every track is stand out. Get this. |
| Air Talkie Walkie | 4.0 |
| Air The Virgin Suicides | 4.0 |
| Muscles Guns Babes Lemonade | 2.5 |
| The Roots Rising Down | 3.5 |
| The Roots on autopilot, thankfully autopilot = dark, dense, brooding, amazing hip hop. They don't top 'Game Theory', their 2nd best, but they do push themselves into a new area of sound that is at least as intriguing. 'Rising Down' offers up something somewhat new from the Roots, an ass load of distortion, each of 'Rising Down's songs are washed in it, they sound akin to listening to them as they play underground. It's pretty f'in cool. Thought's lines aren't as tight as before, but thankfully this is no 'The Tipping Point'. Granted, he does rhyme 'nigga' like 50 times on '75 Bars', but at least it's surrounded by a seemingly huge and inexistent, thick bass line. It plays to 'Rising Down', Black Thought may not always be hot, but ?uestlove and the rest of them will be damned if they're not on fire. The instrumentation on 'Rising Down' is enough to make this one of the best hip-hop albums of this year, thankfully Thought is still tight and their guests have honestly just gotten better (Mos Def, Peedi Peedi and Dice Raw slay), but Malik B is seriously missed. If they were smart, they'd just keep him around all the time, because it seems to work out all the time (see: Things Fall Apart & Game Theory). |
| Cut Copy In Ghost Colours | 4.5 |
| Cut Copy are more live action electronica I guess, they use real instruments, and they may perform with a load of people on stage, but this means each song really has like 3 separate back beats. It's pretty tight when you break it down, not to mention the infusion of shoegaze and samples only adds to the melodic quality of each song. For all of 'In Ghost Colours' bangers ('Feel the Love', 'Lights and Music', 'Hearts on Fire', 'Far Away', 'So Haunted' & 'Nobody Lost, Nobody Found') they have some straight up beautiful tracks. 'We Fight for Diamonds', 'Unforgettable Season' and 'Midnight Runner' are a gorgeous suite in the mid section merging you between the organic beginning & the sample full, pure electronic finish. 'Midnight Runner' is brimming with pretty fuzz as it fades into the beat of 'Unforgettable Season' which calls out to a lover to remain faithful during the distance. 'Midnight Runner' comes in softly with a warped beat and a guitar strumming as Whitford croons 'It's a secret I've been keeping from you' a few times as the song builds into a flowing beat and piano. It's all those little things that give 'In Ghost Colours' it's edge, it's tangible, you feel Whitford as he sings and yelps and you live in his beats as they beg you to get down. |
| Wolf Parade At Mount Zoomer | 3.5 |
| Krug didn't quite 'fail' me, but he's certainly the weaker half on '...Mount Zoomer'. Wolf Parade have seen themselves turn from a band, to a collective of musicians, two whom are very distinct. Boeckner wails with all the fury of Bowie and Black, his detest for the concrete jungle and modern living is still very prominent in his songs on 'Zoomer & he's almost *more* prolific this time around. Sacrificing blunt song writing for a streamlined product that comes out sounding slicker -- but that's not to say they don't indulge in their progressive inclinations. I mean pretty much all of Krug's songs sound like Sunset Rubdown B-sides he just happened to record with his other band. Talk about prog indulgences, every record that band (Sunset Rubdown) has produced could easily be called 'A Day at the Renaissance Fair'. This comes out full force on Krug's contributions to 'Mt. Zoomer', which can be good (California Dreamer) or asinine ('Animal in Your Care'). Really, when they just let it all go and rock the fuck out for 10 minutes on the closer 'Kissing the Bee Hive', (the album's original title, wtf?)Spencer and Danny finally decided to get together and just be Wolf Parade agai -- it's quite mesmerizing. |
| Death Cab for Cutie Narrow Stairs | 3.0 |
| It's ok, well, the first 3 tracks and 'Your New Twin Sized Bed' are great, but everything else here is general Death Cab. Now that would be ok, if the instrumentation was a tight as it was on say 'The Photo Album' or 'Something About Airplanes', but even 'Plans' outplays this album. Gibbard's fantastic voice can't save him from imploding into his own sappy lyrics and the plastic encasing his band's tunes. 'Narrow Stairs' is a confusing and sometimes frustrating journey, but it's hardly a bad one. 'I Will Posses Your Heart' almost sells the whole thing, but sadly, DC decided, in the end, regardless of what they may want us to think, to play it safe. |
| Tokyo Police Club Elephant Shell | 3.5 |
| So, logical progression from 'A Lesson in Crime'? Yes. Is it good? Oh hell yeah, 30 minutes of bliss, awesome guitar work, still spacey and synth soaked, and Dave Monk's voice has got all it's Casablancas power and frustration. Could they have made a better record? With out a doubt. But doesn't mean that 'Elephant Shell' is anything less than f'in sweet. 'Sixties Remake' & "The Harrowing Adventures of...' are they only really weak tracks here, and that's only if you're being nit-picky. It's just you've heard it all before -- but with all these boring additions it somehow sums up into something quite interesting and re playable. |
| A Place to Bury Strangers A Place to Bury Strangers | 3.5 |
| Monty Are I Wall Of People | 3.5 |
| M.I.A. Arular | 4.5 |
| The Most Serene Republic Population | 3.5 |
| Running with the success of 'Underwater Cinematographer', MSR add a little Flaming Lips, & a lot of Polyphonic Spree for their second record, 'Population'. Still wearing their influences on their sleeves, proudly at that, it almost makes it forgivable that their sound is really a culmination of many of their contemporaries. It all adds up to a fantastic end product though, somehow, I'm really still not sure how. 'Population' boasts it's BSS and New Pornographer song style with flair, and two lead singers that pretty much sound exactly like Ben Gibbard and Amy Milian -- and yet they're able to find a sound that is distinctly them. The swooping melodies, jazzy interludes/drumming and varied vocals give the Republic something of their own, independent of their peers. Their musicianship really isn't where their weakness lies, they're quite good at layering sounds and their song composition at times is really fucking impressive (or just sweet) -- but man those lyrics get pretty vapid. Their heart is in the right place, 'Population' is full of fantastic alterations to suburban life, big brother, modern living and the quest for happiness. Then there are gems like 'Suffers breasts - and the dryness of climatic milk' - what the fuck guys? 'Population' is still a beast of a record, The Republic are able to sprawl over nearly an hour of flowing, fantastic tunes. Though sometimes, you just need a break. |
| Boards of Canada Music Has the Right to Children | 4.5 |
| Portishead Third | 4.5 |
| 'Third' is not only a reinvention of the genre (trip hop), but a logical progression for a set of some forefathers and that�s after only a 10+ year hiatus . 'Third' is less a return to form as it is a reminder of quality, quality that Portishead have always held themselves to, and it just so happens they took their damn time to remind us of just how viable they are(were). 'Third' is not the same Portishead, they've moved from the lounge club to the movie screen, crafting soundtrack gems that always manage to be as terribly frightening as they are beautiful. And Beth Gibbons, let it be said her voice has aged wonderfully, she masterfully sings over bombast beats (Silence, Machine Gun, We Carry On), acoustic strums (Small, The Rip) and even sways her way through the surf rock of 'Deep Water'. Her voice has deepened, she sounds heftier, weathered, less kitsch and naive, but this plays to her as all kinds of new strength. On cuts like 'Machine Gun' who's unsettling beat alone could be enough to turn some listeners away at first, that's before Beth grabs a hold of it, and matched with her croons it somehow becomes gorgeous. Or check 'The Rip' and it's slow build before it explodes from a great synth line to electronic bliss -- Gibbon's lights up giving her best performance on record. Exclaiming: "Wild white horses/They will take me away" leaving her mundane imagery behind for a little hope is an example of 'Third's core. A little darkness leads way to the light. |
| Jefferson Airplane Volunteers | 3.5 |
| The Hold Steady Separation Sunday | 3.5 |
| Blonde Redhead Misery is a Butterfly | 4.5 |
| Midtown Forget What You Know | 2.0 |
| Midtown Living Well is the Best Revenge | 2.0 |
| Soundtrack (Film) Garden State | 2.5 |
| MGMT Oracular Spectacular | 3.0 |
| Burial Untrue | 4.0 |
| El Pus Hoodlum Rock, Vol. 1 | 3.0 |
| Talib Kweli Eardrum | 3.0 |
| Black Kids Wizard Of Ahhhs | 2.5 |
| Explosions in the Sky How Strange, Innocence | 4.5 |
| Explosions in the Sky Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Die... | 4.0 |
| Belle and Sebastian The Life Pursuit | 4.0 |
| Belle and Sebastian If You're Feeling Sinister | 5.0 |
| Good Charlotte The Young And The Hopeless | 1.0 |
| Good Charlotte Good Charlotte | 2.5 |
| The Microphones Window | 3.5 |
| The Microphones The Glow Pt. 2 | 4.5 |
| DJ Shadow Endtroducing..... | 4.0 |
| dredg El Cielo | 2.0 |
| David Bowie Young Americans | 3.5 |
| David Bowie Low | 5.0 |
| David Bowie Hunky Dory | 4.5 |
| David Bowie The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars | 4.5 |
| Why? Alopecia | 3.5 |
| DeVotchKa SuperMelodrama | 3.5 |
| DeVotchKa Una Volta | 3.5 |
| DeVotchKa A Mad & Faithful Telling | 4.0 |
| Devotcka, a Denver group of Mexican/Eastern European Gypsies (lol, no) put out their 2nd best album with their 4th effort. 'A Mad and Faithful Telling' is a little less epic, and a little shorter than their previous, better, effort, but it still floors. 'Brasso Profundo' starts off 'Telling' with a bang, it's violins and Spanish guitar floating over the bouncing upright base as Theo Urata cries out for his fellow revolutionaries. Now this is not very alien to them, it's the mid song jam out they do before picking it right back up again to finish off. The song shows right away that this is no 'How It Ends', and really is better for it. Had they just rehashed their Little Miss Sunshine album, it would've been a waste, they dig deep into their southwestern influences and Urata digs into his theme of a South American revolutionary. Their form of bouncy gypsy punk works best on songs like 'Clockwise Witness' and 'Undone' and their 'No Cars Go' remake of 'Head Honcho' bears similar results. The slower songs like 'New World', 'Blessing in Disguise' and 'Along the Way' shine as highlights while Urata croons and cries over beautiful string, horn and bell arrangements. Urata also has that voice -- and their drummer is boss; mm mmm good. |
| Los Campesinos! Hold On Now, Youngster... | 4.0 |
| What could've been a haphazard mix of indie pop, punk spirit and a heap of distortion ends up working out as an well crafted, insightful album. Los Campesinos! hold true their roots, embracing much of what made their genre enjoyable in the first place, this being said nothing here is fantastically original. They just play to their strengths, handle themselves with class and honestly don't craft a single bad track on this album. 'Death to Los Campesinos!' starts of 'Youngster' strong & EP winners 'Don't Tell Me to Do the Math(s)' & 'You! Me! Dancing!' hold up as album highlights. Though the crown goes to '...And We Exhale and Roll Our Eyes in Unison'. With pop sensibility, tight, intelligent song writing and the best tongue-in-cheek spirit seen in a while, 'Hold On Now, Youngster...' is an extremely strong debut. |
| Sunset Rubdown Shut Up I Am Dreaming | 3.0 |
| Be Your Own Pet Get Awkward | 3.0 |
| 'Get Awkward' is good, no doubt about that. That is of course if you're down for BYOP's style of punk rawk with a little jammy/indie flair mix it all around Jemina Pearl's southern fried spunk and snarl and you've got yourself a hell of an album. Kind of...I mean you had a hell of an album, with their self-title debut. 'Get Awkward' sees the same slick riffs (a lot slicker than anyone this young should be putting out), an unquenchable punk spirit and, well, immense disdain for at least one boy in particular, but it can't hold it all together as well. 'BYOP's strengths were found in it's tongue-in-cheek lyrics, powerhouse guitar work and a nice dose of punk chord crunch. It's all still here, it's just not as new, fresh, or interesting. They seem to overcook it sometimes ('You're a Waste', 'What's Your Damage'), or not cook it enough ('Food Fight') , but I mean, then there's always the fist 9 tracks which are solid as hell. And Pearl's voice/scream/snarl can still carry the band on it's own, thankfully her backing band kicks major ass, so, she needn't worry. |
| The Field From Here We Go Sublime | 2.0 |
| Goldfrapp Seventh Tree | 3.5 |
| Well...wow, ok didn't see this coming. Honestly I expected another heaping pile of electronic bullshit with a few awesome tracks hidden beneath the sonic vomit. I was wrong! It's pretty awesome. The electronic acoustic sound Goldfrapp has adopted for 'Seventh Tree' shines through out. 'Clowns' mutters in an out of beautiful, barely discernible verses, while 'Caravan Girl' and 'Cologne Cerrone Houdini' find them adopting an almost vast/epic feel unseen in any other Goldfrapp LP. Plus 'Eat Yourself' is fucking awesome. They got more laid back, though I'm not sure how exactly, but it works tremendously. A truly beautiful album, with few missteps, but few innovations as well. |
| Circle Takes the Square As the Roots Undo | 4.5 |
| if ever given the chance never pass up the opportunity to see these guys play in a basement. intense. |
| Do Make Say Think You, You're a History in Rust | 4.0 |
| I was reluctant as first to pick this up, the I heard 'The Universe!' and well that's all it took. Brooding, dark, and yet epic and glistening Do Make Say Think have crafted a fantastic album. |
| A Weather Cove | 3.5 |
| The Kinks Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire) | 4.5 |
| Atlas Sound Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See... | 3.0 |
Average noise
That's it.
Good for some occasions, but, even then, there's better.
'Scraping Past' & 'Small Horror' are pretty good, while the first 6 tracks are pretty much trash. It's an alright experiment and could be pretty cool live...maybe. |
| Jay-Z American Gangster | 4.0 |
| The Most Serene Republic Underwater Cinematographer | 3.0 |
| Los Campesinos! Sticking fingers Into Sockets | 4.0 |
| Brian Wilson Smile | 4.5 |
| The Beach Boys Smiley Smile | 3.5 |
| The Beach Boys Pet Sounds | 5.0 |
| The most complete and beautiful collection of American music ever produced, and quite frankly could be the best album ever, period. 'Wouldn't It Be Nice', 'Dont Talk', 'I'm Waiting For the Day', 'God Only Knows', are each arguably the best love song(s) ever penned. 'Sloop John B', 'That's Not Me' & 'I Know There's an Answer' are all amazing. The Wilson vocal harmonies that so many try (and fail) to mimic are at their peak here, and they're second to none. Deep into drugs and self seclusion, Brian Wilson pulled something extremely unique and beautiful out of this 'ego music' of his. The arrangements are beautiful, the songs resonate with heat and warmth, 'Pet Sounds' is really a thing to behold. |
| Dirty Projectors Rise Above | 4.0 |
| What could have easily been a bullshit phone it, comes out breathing new life into a classic. Though not really too similar to Black Flag's 'Damaged', save lyrical similarities, 'Rise Above' is still, a faithful re imagination of the hardcore classic. The Projector's Dave Longstreth wails and quivers his way around 'Rise Above', and at first, it's his off putting voice that is the albums biggest detractor. The tripled choir of female voices that join Longstreth's particular croon is nothing but a delightful break and really a fantastic contrast. Its in this that the Projector's really sell 'Rise Above', amongst it's awry guitar twangs and walls of distortion, a certain balance and groove is found in the vocals. The brash, almost annoying voice of Longstreth is compliment by the softer choir of women and in turn his voice really becomes quite beautiful. 'What I See', 'No More', 'Depression', 'Gimme Gimme Gimme' are standouts on a fantastic retread. |
| Stephen Marley Mind Control | 3.5 |
| Ratatat Classics | 4.0 |
| Stars Nightsongs | 3.5 |
| Stars In Our Bedroom After The War | 3.5 |
| The Mars Volta The Bedlam in Goliath | 3.5 |
| Yyyesss!! It doesn't suck, oh man, thank god this time it doesn't suck. 'Ilyena', 'Calvalettes' and 'Soothsayer' are actually some of the tightest Volta tracks ever. 'Bedlam' much like 'Frances' has the tendency to jam the fuck out on the distortion, but not in a good way, in more of a stupid white noise way; and unlike 'FTM' everything else isn't absolutely killer. The first two tracks are alright and the mid section starts to drag out a bit. But, at least it's a great LP. |
| Vampire Weekend Vampire Weekend | 4.0 |
| Replay, replay, replay. There ya go, that's why this biatch works. Slick rips of Police style vocals/riffs mixed with some understated strings and a nice Afro twist - Vampire Weekend are pretty sweet. Too bad a good chunk of the album sounds all like the same song/verse/gimmick. It's pretty good though, regardless -- and the album kicks it up substantially after 'M79' and the last three tracks almost make up for everything on the album, but not quite. |
| Tycho Past is Prologue | 4.0 |
| 1990s Cookies | 2.5 |
| Delerium Karma | 4.5 |
| Delerium Chimera | 4.0 |
| Delerium Poem | 4.0 |
| Timbaland Timbaland Presents Shock Value | 2.0 |
| will.i.am Songs About Girls | 1.0 |
| Film School Hideout | 2.5 |
| The Bravery The Sun and the Moon | 1.0 |
| The Bravery The Bravery | 1.5 |
| Public Enemy It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back | 4.5 |
| Pink Floyd Wish You Were Here | 4.5 |
| Pink Floyd Animals | 5.0 |
| Pink Floyd The Wall | 4.5 |
| Pink Floyd The Dark Side of the Moon | 5.0 |
| The best progressive album ever. Pound for pound some of the finest music ever crafted. My favorite Floyd, has been forever, it's truly an amazing album. |
| Pink Floyd The Piper at the Gates of Dawn | 4.0 |
| Led Zeppelin In Through the Out Door | 3.0 |
| Led Zeppelin How the West Was Won | 3.5 |
| Led Zeppelin Presence | 3.5 |
| Led Zeppelin BBC Sessions | 3.5 |
| Led Zeppelin Physical Graffiti | 4.5 |
| Led Zeppelin Houses of the Holy | 5.0 |
| Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin IV | 5.0 |
| Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin III | 4.5 |
| 'III' was easily my favorite Zeppelin album years ago when I was first really introduced to them, since I've move more towards other LP of theirs, but it'll always have a spot. 'Immigrant Song' being over-licensed and over-played as it is, is still, well -- awesome. 'Since I Been Loving You', 'Gallows Pole' & 'Tangerine' are some personal favorites. Even though they have a more folk/acoustic sound this outing, it's still Zeppelin and still rocks pretty hard considering. |
| Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin II | 4.5 |
| Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin | 4.0 |
| Rancid ...And Out Come the Wolves | 2.5 |
| Rancid Indestructible | 2.0 |
| At the Drive-In Relationship of Command | 4.5 |
| Beware! Be-ware!!!rOr don't -- I mean I wouldn't -- you'd be missing a lot. r |
| My Bloody Valentine Ecstasy and Wine | 3.5 |
| My Bloody Valentine You Made Me Realise | 4.5 |
| Daft Punk Alive 2007 | 4.5 |
| The Moody Blues Days of Future Passed | 5.0 |
| Foo Fighters Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace | 2.0 |
| Welcome to the world of phoning in albums. This, much like 'In Your Honour',is just the Foos making another Foos album. Some acoustic songs, some harder rock ones, a few 'singles' here and there. Whatever, 'The Pretender' is bullshit. 'Summers End' and 'Ballad Of The Beaconsfield Miners' are the few redeemable tracks on this disc. I'm still not sure what the big deal is. |
| Jens Lekman Oh You're So Silent Jens | 3.0 |
| Pixies Best of Pixies: Wave of Mutilation | 4.0 |
| The Velvet Underground White Light/White Heat | 4.5 |
| Lifehouse Lifehouse | 1.5 |
| cheesy and Lame. That's it really, they lost their sense of conviction. Wade's lyrics sound false and almost a farce of what they once were. Lifehouse made a 'Lifehouse Album', or, a standard adult contemp album. Snoozefest. |
| Lifehouse Stanley Climbfall | 3.0 |
| The Cars The Cars | 4.0 |
| My Bloody Valentine Glider | 3.5 |
| Stars Heart | 4.0 |
| Explosions in the Sky The Earth Is Not a Cold Dead Place | 4.0 |
| Le Tigre Feminist Sweeptakes | 2.5 |
| Le Tigre This Island | 2.0 |
| The Faint Media | 2.5 |
| 311 Evolver | 1.5 |
| 311 Don't Tread On Me | 1.5 |
| 311 Soundsystem | 3.0 |
| 311 311 | 3.0 |
| 311 From Chaos | 3.0 |
| 311 Grassroots | 3.5 |
| The Kinks The Village Green Preservation Society | 4.5 |
| The Beatles Magical Mystery Tour | 4.0 |
| The Beatles 1 | 3.5 |
| The Beatles The Capitol Albums, Vol. 1 | 4.0 |
| Fatboy Slim You've Come a Long Way, Baby | 3.5 |
| The Cranberries No Need to Argue | 3.5 |
| The Cranberries Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can't We? | 3.5 |
| Garbage Beautiful Garbage | 2.0 |
| Garbage Garbage | 3.5 |
| Garbage Version 2.0 | 3.5 |
| Matchbox Twenty Mad Season | 3.0 |
| Matchbox Twenty More Than You Think You Are | 1.0 |
| Matchbox Twenty Yourself or Someone Like You | 3.0 |
| 3 Doors Down The Better Life | 2.0 |
| 3 Doors Down Away from the Sun | 2.0 |
| Bush Sixteen Stone | 2.5 |
| Bush The Science of Things | 2.0 |
| Bush Razorblade Suitcase | 2.5 |
| Pearl Jam Yield | 3.5 |
| Pearl Jam Vs. | 3.5 |
| Pearl Jam Ten | 4.0 |
| Stone Temple Pilots Purple | 3.0 |
| Nick Drake Pink Moon | 3.5 |
| Jeff Buckley Grace | 3.5 |
| Justin Timberlake Justified | 3.5 |
| Justin Timberlake FutureSex/LoveSounds | 3.0 |
| Brazilian Girls Talk to La Bomb | 4.0 |
| Brazilian Girls Brazilian Girls | 4.0 |
| Eagles Desperado | 3.0 |
| Eagles One Of These Nights | 3.5 |
| Eagles Hotel California | 4.0 |
| Adema Adema | 1.0 |
| A Perfect Circle Thirteenth Step | 3.5 |
| A Perfect Circle Mer de Noms | 3.0 |
| Metric Old World Underground, Where Are You Now | 3.5 |
| The Police Synchronicity | 4.0 |
| The Police Ghost in the Machine | 3.5 |
| The Police Zenyatta Mondatta | 4.0 |
| The Police Reggatta de Blanc | 3.0 |
| The Police Outlandos d'Amour | 4.0 |
| The Flaming Lips At War with the Mystics | 3.5 |
| Tokyo Police Club A Lesson in Crime | 3.5 |
| U2 War | 4.5 |
| Snow Patrol Final Straw | 2.0 |
| Jurassic 5 Power in Numbers | 3.5 |
| The Notorious B.I.G. Ready to Die | 4.5 |
| Gnarls Barkley St. Elsewhere | 4.0 |
| Ludacris Release Therapy | 1.5 |
| Ludacris The Red Light District | 2.5 |
| Ludacris Chicken-n-Beer | 3.5 |
| Ludacris Word Of Mouf | 3.5 |
| Ludacris Back For The First Time | 3.5 |
| Bullet for My Valentine The Poison | 1.0 |
| Fort Minor The Rising Tied | 2.5 |
| Wu-Tang Clan Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) | 4.5 |
| Dr. Dre The Chronic | 4.0 |
| System of a Down Mezmerize | 2.0 |
| System of a Down Steal This Album! | 1.5 |
| System of a Down Toxicity | 3.5 |
| Disturbed The Sickness | 1.0 |
| Disturbed Believe | 1.5 |
| Jay-Z and Linkin Park Collision Course | 1.0 |
| Sparta Porcelain | 2.0 |
| At the Drive-In This Station Is Non-Operational | 4.0 |
| The Used The Used | 1.0 |
| My Chemical Romance I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love | 2.5 |
| My Chemical Romance Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge | 2.5 |
| My Chemical Romance Life on the Murder Scene | 2.0 |
| Journey Greatest Hits | 3.5 |
| My Chemical Romance The Black Parade | 3.0 |
| Reel Big Fish Monkeys for Nothin' and The Chimps... | 2.5 |
| Godsmack Awake | 1.5 |
| Godsmack Godsmack | 1.5 |
| Weezer Make Believe | 1.5 |
| It's hard at times, I feel, to write about albums that suck, mostly because, how much do you really have to listen before you realize, 'enough is enough'. Here, it took about 4 full listens and a handful of spins in a friends car before Weezer's 'Make Believe' was just too much. That being said, you know my experience with this album -- it sucks. 'Beverly Hills' was a sweet single, that's cool, but umm, where's the rest of this album? You call the remaining 11 tracks of utter bullshit songs? Damnit...you do. Well I guess I might I was just pop out the CD and toss it. Yep, and that's exactly what I did. |
| Weezer Maladroit | 2.5 |
| Weezer The Green Album | 3.5 |
| Weezer Pinkerton | 4.0 |
| Weezer Weezer | 4.0 |
| Sunset Rubdown Random Spirit Lover | 3.5 |
| Nas Hip Hop Is Dead | 3.5 |
| The Killers Hot Fuss | 3.0 |
| Radiohead In Rainbows | 4.5 |
| Now 'In Rainbows' has risen from the pile of shit that is a lot of modern music to remind us what we should expect (demand?) from our artists. Not a single track is wasted,('Bodysnatchers', 'All I Need', 'Jigsaw Falling Into Place' & 'Reckoner' being highlights). Best part? There's no 'downside' here, there's no filler, and they still manage to sound distinctly like themselves, but still a drastic change from their previous effort. Problem? No -- It's all gravy. |
| Bright Eyes I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning | 2.0 |
| Bright Eyes Four Winds | 3.0 |
| Metallica Load | 1.5 |
| Metallica Reload | 1.5 |
| Metallica Garage Inc. | 2.0 |
| Metallica S&M | 3.0 |
| Metallica St. Anger | 1.0 |
| It's like if 'Kill em All' really sucked, maybe it would sound almost as bad as this. I had just thought 'St. Anger' was a weak single, not the strongest track on the album(it's total shit for Christ's sake!). 'Shoot Me Again','Invisible Kid' and 'Purify' are worthless, I understand all the pain & frustration in bedded here, it just sounds so contrived. Metallica sacrifices their skill with lightning riffs and sick licks for the 'chug-chug' guitar method -- what the hell. |
| Metallica Kill 'Em All | 3.5 |
| Guns N' Roses The Spaghetti Incident? | 2.5 |
| Guns N' Roses Use Your Illusion II | 3.0 |
| Guns N' Roses Use Your Illusion I | 3.0 |
| Guns N' Roses Appetite for Destruction | 3.5 |
| Flight of the Conchords The Distant Future | 4.0 |
| Nickelback Silver Side Up | 1.0 |
| Nickelback The Long Road | 1.0 |
| I can't really even begin to express the hatred and detest I feel for this album. The unfortunate fact I was even remotely convinced that 'The Long Road' was 'so much better than the last one' was incredibly foolish on my part. Mostly because I've actually heard this all the way through...more than once. Some people can handle 'Flat on the floor' and 'Feeling way too damn good' or 'Another hole in the head' and other assorted asinine song titles, I can't. Not one song is really independent from the other, it's all the same boring riff, the same lame Kroger croon. That's really their biggest problem, the cheese factor, Nickleback really succeed best at being as lame as humanly possible, and I guess if you're into that, well give this a spin. If not, steer clear. |
| Kevin Drew Spirit If... | 4.0 |
| Kevin Drew makes a break up album, that pretty much sounds like another Broken Social album -- but it's brilliant. 'Spirit If...' on it's own is hardly a Kevin Drew album, it's still created much in the vein of his other band (who technically "present" this record). A bunch of established artists come together to create some all around rock goodness. But something about it all seems distinctly him, like no one else could create this sound, it all comes back to Kevin Drew. 'Farewell to the Pressure Kids', 'Tbtf', 'Fucked Up Kid' are on spot BSS tracks, while 'Safety Bricks' and 'Lucky Ones' sound like a nice mix of The Boss and Dinosaur Jr. All the tracks here are stand out, though as a whole, the album can run a bit long (66 mins) and Drew's ideas at times, can't be saved from his own eccentric experimentation. Other times, it's just that which makes it beautiful. |
| Neutral Milk Hotel In the Aeroplane Over the Sea | 3.5 |
| Stars Set Yourself On Fire | 4.5 |
| Jens Lekman Night Falls Over Kortedala | 3.0 |
| White Rabbits Fort Nightly | 4.5 |
| A wonderful blend of Ska and Indie rock The White Rabbits look to take you back to the time of Model T's and Great Gatsbys -- trust me it works. The Rabbits are able to handle this interesting concept by packing each one of their superbly composed, instantly catchy songs with more depth and drama than most artist fit into a multitude of LPs. By the time you reach 'March of the Camels', Fort Nightly's stand out track, you think the Rabbit's have pulled out all the stops...very very wrong. If the rest of the album wasn't convincing enough, 'Camels' is masterfully layered and blisteringly catchy. Did I mention cool as hell? Check the creepy kid choir on the chorus. |
| Serena Maneesh Serena-Maneesh | 4.5 |
| The Prodigy Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned | 2.5 |
| The Prodigy The Fat of the Land | 4.5 |
| TV on the Radio Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes | 3.5 |
| Lostprophets Liberation Transmission | 1.5 |
| Lostprophets The Fake Sound Of Progress | 3.5 |
| Lostprophets Start Something | 3.5 |
| The Hold Steady Boys and Girls in America | 4.0 |
| Girl Talk Night Ripper | 4.0 |
| Easy Star All Stars Radiodread | 3.5 |
| Easy Star All Stars Dub Side of the Moon | 3.5 |
| The Distillers Sing, Sing Death House | 3.0 |
| The Distillers The Distillers | 3.0 |
| The Distillers Coral Fang | 4.0 |
| The Besnard Lakes Volume 1 | 3.0 |
| Band of Horses Everything All the Time | 3.5 |
| The Avalanches Since I Left You | 4.5 |
| Sublime Sublime | 4.5 |
| Sublime 40 Oz. to Freedom | 4.0 |
| Blackalicious Blazing Arrow | 4.0 |
| King Crimson In the Court of the Crimson King | 5.0 |
| Thom Yorke The Eraser | 3.5 |
| Animal Collective Strawberry Jam | 4.5 |
| in person, 'fireworks' and '#1' are transcendental. |
| The Knife Deep Cuts | 4.0 |
| The Knife Silent Shout | 4.5 |
| LCD Soundsystem Sound of Silver | 4.0 |
| LCD Soundsystem LCD Soundsystem | 3.5 |
| The Chemical Brothers We Are the Night | 3.0 |
| The Chemical Brothers Surrender | 3.5 |
| The Chemical Brothers Come with Us | 3.5 |
| New Found Glory New Found Glory | 1.5 |
| New Found Glory Sticks and Stones | 1.0 |
| Architecture In Helsinki Places Like This | 2.0 |
| Blargh, what the fuck happened? Now I understand that 'In Case We Die' is a mixed bag for most -- for me is was a damn near perfect experience. I even really really enjoy some 'Fingers Crossed' and it's twee goodness from time to time, but 'Places Like These' is without a doubt, by far, the biggest disappointment of '07 for me. Album starts off pretty well too, 'Red Turned White' is a pretty good Architecture song, 'Heart it Races' is easily one of their strongest tracks ever -- then it stops, then it's shit. |
| M.I.A. Kala | 4.0 |
| The Go! Team Proof of Youth | 4.0 |
| Fun and uplifting, The Go! Team strike again! Really though, quality album, still a controlled mess of sheer pop rapture, but this time around they seem a bit more tangible. I guess that's what happens when your kitchen sink project turns into an actual band. Though when you have a slew of quality guests, and Ninja at your helm, there's a certain quality to be expected, luckily they deliver. These songs sound like they could be done live to a resounding success -- which is why, on a whole, Proof Of Youth will rock you particularly hard. |
| Kanye West Graduation | 3.0 |
| Kanye created a shambled masterpiece -- at his worst lyrically but his best song composition by far. The risks he takes with his production seemingly make up for the fact that his writing, is well, not great. Realistically though, did you really appreciate Ye for his writing in the first place? No, you appreciate Mr. West because he creates sonic masterpieces, overall songs, and there's yet to be a single person in modern music that can do it better. |
| Broken Social Scene You Forgot It in People | 5.0 |
| Had you heard 'Feel Good Lost' before the release of this LP; how the fuck could you see this coming? Start to finish 'You Forgot It In People' is a fantastic ride through the experimental, awkward, and very human world of Broken Social Scene. This collective of Canadian musicians came together as a single mastermind and produced (continue to) some of the greatest pop music ever created. Kevin Drew, Leslie Feist, Brendan Canning and Emily Haines at the helm, of roughly 11, float their way through walls of pop mayhem, serene beauty and superb grooves. 'Stars and Sons', 'Anthems...' and 'Lover's Spit' are particularly gorgeous, while 'Almost Crimes' & "Pacific Theme' are pretty much perfect. 'You Forgot It In People' is a shambled masterpiece, that in my opinion, should not be missed. |
| The Go! Team Thunder, Lightning, Strike | 4.5 |
| The Nightwatchman One Man Revolution | 1.5 |
| Kings of Leon Youth and Young Manhood | 2.5 |
| Kings of Leon Aha Shake Heartbreak | 2.5 |
| Metric Live It Out | 4.0 |
| The Who Tommy | 4.5 |
| The sweetest fucking concept album/rock opera ever. The movie -- not so much, but can't win 'em all. The Who are the ultimate in successful artistic excess, 'Tommy' is the key argument that sometimes a little erratic indulgence is best. |
| The Who Quadrophenia | 4.5 |
| The Who The Who Sell Out | 4.0 |
| The Velvet Underground The Velvet Underground | 4.5 |
| The Velvet Underground The Velvet Underground & Nico | 5.0 |
| Beautiful, Frantic, Haunting, Serene all that and it'll rock you to the fucking core. 'The Velvet Underground and Nico' is a blast of pure brilliance that floats it's way into your heart with 'Sunday Morning' and brashly exits in a storm with 'European Son'. That right there is really the album as a whole. It'll softly find it's way past your guard, giving you a sense of serenity before it strips downs to a blaze of reverb, but somehow maintains it's charm. Few other's can do it, and really the VU pioneered it. Plus, Nico's full, brooding voice is something really quite gorgeous. |
| Bjork Volta | 3.5 |
| Bjork Vespertine | 3.5 |
| Bjork Medulla | 3.0 |
| Bjork Debut | 3.5 |
| Peaches Impeach My Bush | 1.0 |
| Peaches Fatherfucker | 1.0 |
| Peaches The Teaches of Peaches | 1.5 |
| The Libertines The Libertines | 3.0 |
| Cold War Kids Up In Rags | 3.0 |
| Cold War Kids With Our Wallets Full | 3.0 |
| Velvet Revolver Libertad | 1.5 |
| Jimmy Eat World Bleed American | 4.0 |
| Jimmy Eat World Futures | 2.5 |
| Oasis Stop the Clocks | 2.5 |
| Oasis Definitely Maybe | 4.5 |
| Oasis (What's the Story) Morning Glory? | 4.5 |
| Blah blah blah, they desperately want to be The Beatles -- who the fuck cares? They got it right at least 2 times (3 1/2 in my opinion), and this, an argument for 90s rock and how absolutely phenomenal it *could* be. Morning Glory's strengths are played through in every song, every lick, every verse, every groan of Liam's brash, almost Lenon-esque voice. The band just knew how to sell their slick, insightful rock with a hint of modern peace and love. Moving from moments of sheer badassery to complete and utter beauty ('Wonderwall', 'Champagne Supernova', 'Don't Look Back in Anger' and 'She's Electric' please stand up) or just straight rock you to the core (Everything else). Oasis crafted a truly stupendous piece of music -- here's to hoping they can do it again. |
| Oasis Be Here Now | 3.5 |
| Oasis The Masterplan | 3.5 |
| Oasis Standing on the Shoulder of Giants | 2.5 |
| Oasis Familiar To Millions | 3.5 |
| Oasis Heathen Chemistry | 2.5 |
| Oasis Don't Believe the Truth | 3.0 |
| Jet Shine On | 1.5 |
| Jet Get Born | 3.0 |
| Tricky Maxinquaye | 4.0 |
| Tricky Angels With Dirty Faces | 3.0 |
| Portishead Portishead | 3.5 |
| Portishead Dummy | 4.5 |
| Massive Attack Blue Lines | 4.5 |
| Massive Attack Protection | 4.5 |
| Essentially taking their successes from 'Blue Lines' and running, Massive Attack's second album 'Protection', is a deep, beautiful album. With 9 tracks that will floor you, and well, 'Light My Fire'. 'Protection', 'Euro Child', 'Sly' and 'Three' are fantastic. The diverse group of brilliant Brits, again, were able to create a fantastic, fluid success with their mix of deep dub beats, evil distortions and truly beautiful voices. |
| Massive Attack 100th Window | 4.0 |
| Massive Attack Mezzanine | 5.0 |
| An essential masterpiece, 'Mezzanine' is a brooding triumph that grabs you, slaps you around, reminds you it loves you, and then caresses you down to sleep. From the fantastic opener, 'Angel', Massive Attack is unrelenting in their sheer quality and scale. Each song brims with tension, tunnels of sound envelop washy vocals, the beats are borderline evil & always fantastic. Nothing is skimped on, 'Mezzanine' is some of the best you'll ever hear. |
| Hooverphonic The Magnificent Tree | 3.5 |
| Hooverphonic Blue Wonder Power Milk | 3.5 |
| Grandaddy The Sophtware Slump | 4.0 |
| Grandaddy Under the Western Freeway | 4.5 |
| Goldfrapp Supernature | 3.0 |
| Goldfrapp Black Cherry | 3.0 |
| Goo Goo Dolls A Boy Named Goo | 2.5 |
| Goo Goo Dolls Dizzy Up The Girl | 2.5 |
| Goo Goo Dolls Gutterflower | 3.0 |
| Flogging Molly Alive Behind the Green Door | 2.5 |
| Flogging Molly Swagger | 2.5 |
| Flogging Molly Drunken Lullabies | 3.0 |
| Fugees The Score | 3.5 |
| Field Music Tones of Town | 3.5 |
| Panic! at the Disco A Fever You Can't Sweat Out | 1.0 |
| Fall Out Boy From Under the Cork Tree | 1.5 |
| Electric Six Fire | 2.5 |
| Electric Six Senor Smoke | 3.0 |
| Dungen Ta Det Lugnt | 4.0 |
| Dave Matthews Band Under The Table And Dreaming | 3.5 |
| Dave Matthews Band Crash | 3.0 |
| Dave Matthews Band Before These Crowded Streets | 3.0 |
| Dave Matthews Band Everyday | 2.0 |
| Dave Matthews Band Stand Up | 1.5 |
| Dropkick Murphys Blackout | 3.5 |
| Dropkick Murphys Sing Loud, Sing Proud! | 4.0 |
| Dropkick Murphys The Gang's All Here | 4.0 |
| Dropkick Murphys The Warrior's Code | 4.0 |
| DeVotchKa Curse Your Little Heart | 4.0 |
| DeVotchKa How It Ends | 4.5 |
| CSS Cansei de Ser Sexy | 2.5 |
| Crazy Town The Gift Of Game | 1.0 |
| Cocteau Twins Heaven or Las Vegas | 5.0 |
| Cocteau Twins Treasure | 4.5 |
| U2 The Joshua Tree | 4.5 |
| U2 Achtung Baby | 4.5 |
| U2 Pop | 2.5 |
| U2 All That You Can't Leave Behind | 3.0 |
| U2 How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb | 3.0 |
| Coldplay Parachutes | 3.0 |
| Coldplay A Rush of Blood to the Head | 4.0 |
| Coldplay X&Y | 2.0 |
| Coheed and Cambria In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3 | 2.5 |
| Coheed and Cambria From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness | 2.0 |
| Joanna Newsom Joanna Newsom and the Ys Street Band | 3.0 |
| Joanna Newsom Ys | 2.5 |
| CocoRosie The Adventures of Ghosthorse and Stillbo | 1.0 |
| CocoRosie Noah's Ark | 2.0 |
| CKY Infiltrate Destroy Rebuild | 1.5 |
| CKY Volume 1 | 2.5 |
| The Black Eyed Peas Monkey Business | 1.0 |
| The Black Eyed Peas Elephunk | 2.5 |
| The Black Eyed Peas Behind the Front | 3.5 |
| The Black Eyed Peas Bridging the Gap | 3.0 |
| Belle and Sebastian Dear Catastrophe Waitress | 4.0 |
| Beck Odelay | 4.5 |
| Beck Sea Change | 3.5 |
| ATB No Silence | 3.5 |
| Audioslave Revelations | 2.0 |
| Audioslave Out of Exile | 1.0 |
| Audioslave Audioslave | 2.0 |
| Arctic Monkeys Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not | 3.0 |
| The Fiery Furnaces Gallowsbird's Bark | 2.0 |
| The Fiery Furnaces Blueberry Boat | 2.5 |
| The Walkmen Bows + Arrows | 4.5 |
| ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead So Divided | 1.5 |
| ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead Worlds Apart | 2.0 |
| ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead Source Tags and Codes | 4.5 |
| It may have been a near perfect fluke, but 'Source Tags and Codes' is nothing less than a beast of a record. Band wistfully moves between moments of ear assaulting walls of sound to relaxed, almost jammy beauty. 'It Was There That I Saw You', 'Another Morning Stoner', 'Source Tags and Codes' are amazing, and even 'Homage' is a nice blast down AFI lane. |
| Damien Rice O | 3.0 |
| Death Cab for Cutie Something About Airplanes | 3.5 |
| Death Cab for Cutie The Photo Album | 4.0 |
| Death Cab for Cutie Transatlanticism | 3.0 |
| Death Cab for Cutie Plans | 3.0 |
| The New Pornographers Twin Cinema | 4.5 |
| The New Pornographers Electric Version | 4.5 |
| The New Pornographers Mass Romantic | 4.5 |
| Spoon Gimme Fiction | 4.5 |
| The Streets The Hardest Way To Make An Easy Living | 2.5 |
| The Streets A Grand Don't Come For Free | 3.0 |
| The Streets Original Pirate Material | 3.0 |
| Eminem The Slim Shady LP | 3.5 |
| Eminem The Marshall Mathers LP | 4.5 |
| Eminem The Eminem Show | 3.5 |
| Eminem Encore | 2.5 |
| Various Artists (Hip Hop) Eminem Presents: The Re-Up | 1.0 |
| T.I. Urban Legend | 3.0 |
| T.I. Trap Muzik | 3.5 |
| T.I. King | 3.5 |
| Snoop Dogg Doggystyle | 4.0 |
| Snoop Dogg Tha Doggfather | 3.0 |
| Snoop Dogg Tha Last Meal | 2.5 |
| Snoop Dogg Paid tha Cost to Be da Bo$$ | 3.0 |
| Snoop Dogg R&G (Rhythm & Gangsta) - The Masterpiece | 3.5 |
| Snoop Dogg Tha Blue Carpet Treatment | 3.0 |
| A Tribe Called Quest Midnight Marauders | 4.5 |
| A Tribe Called Quest The Low End Theory | 4.5 |
| Jay-Z Reasonable Doubt | 4.5 |
| Jay-Z The Blueprint | 4.5 |
| Jay-Z The Black Album | 3.5 |
| Nas Illmatic | 4.5 |
| Nas I Am... | 1.5 |
| Nas Nastradamus | 1.0 |
| Nas STILLmatic | 2.5 |
| Nas God's Son | 4.0 |
| Beastie Boys Paul's Boutique | 4.5 |
| Beastie Boys Licensed to Ill | 4.5 |
| Beastie Boys Ill Communication | 4.0 |
| Beastie Boys Hello Nasty | 4.0 |
| Beastie Boys To the 5 Boroughs | 3.0 |
| Muse Black Holes & Revelations | 3.0 |
| Muse Origin of Symmetry | 3.0 |
| Muse Absolution | 3.0 |
| The Smashing Pumpkins Siamese Dream | 3.0 |
| The Smashing Pumpkins Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness | 3.0 |
| The Smashing Pumpkins Machina/The Machines of God | 2.5 |
| The Smashing Pumpkins Zeitgeist | 1.5 |
| Less Than Jake In with the Out Crowd | 2.0 |
| Less Than Jake Anthem | 3.5 |
| Less Than Jake Hello Rockview | 4.0 |
| Less Than Jake Borders and Boundaries | 3.0 |
| Dizzee Rascal Boy In Da Corner | 3.0 |
| Common Like Water for Chocolate | 4.0 |
| Common Electric Circus | 3.0 |
| Common Be | 3.5 |
| The Good, The Bad and The Queen The Good, The Bad & The Queen | 3.5 |
| The White Stripes Icky Thump | 3.0 |
| The White Stripes Get Behind Me Satan | 2.5 |
| The White Stripes Elephant | 3.0 |
| The White Stripes De Stijl | 2.5 |
| The White Stripes The White Stripes | 3.0 |
| The White Stripes White Blood Cells | 3.5 |
| Jack Johnson Brushfire Fairytales | 4.0 |
| Jack Johnson On and On | 3.0 |
| Jack Johnson In Between Dreams | 3.5 |
| Prince Purple Rain | 4.5 |
| Queens of the Stone Age Lullabies to Paralyze | 2.0 |
| Queens of the Stone Age Songs for the Deaf | 3.0 |
| Foo Fighters Foo Fighters | 3.5 |
| Foo Fighters The Colour and the Shape | 4.0 |
| Foo Fighters There Is Nothing Left to Lose | 3.0 |
| Foo Fighters One by One | 3.0 |
| Foo Fighters In Your Honor | 2.0 |
| Foo Fighters Skin and Bones | 3.0 |
| Nirvana MTV Unplugged in New York | 3.5 |
| Nirvana Nevermind | 4.0 |
| Nirvana In Utero | 4.0 |
| Rage Against the Machine Rage Against the Machine | 4.5 |
| Rage Against the Machine Evil Empire | 4.0 |
| Rage Against the Machine The Battle of Los Angeles | 5.0 |
| Rage have painted a picture of a grim, gray world, filled with lies, treachery, murder, famine, genocide and a loss of hope. The Battle of Los Angeles unloads upon you like no other, De La Rocha backed by Morello and the boys is intense, yet they take time to build. 'Maria', 'Born Of A Broken Man' and 'Voice Of The Voiceless' seem to revel in their rising action and Rage knows all the right spots to hit to make the climax a pay off. 'Guerrilla Radio' and 'Mic Check' dig deep and rock hard, while 'Sleep Now In The Fire' is as frightening as it is jarring. LA is a battlefield, and Rage is at the helm. |
| Rage Against the Machine Renegades | 4.0 |
| Linkin Park Minutes to Midnight | 1.5 |
| This is one of the stupidest albums I've ever heard. Their songwriting has become extremely base, and well, the chug-chug guitar after a while becomes very grinding. Nothing is a worthwhile listen, the only reason this shit floats even a little bit is the slick production, and I'm not exactly sure the Rubin Touch really made this better. |
| Linkin Park Meteora | 3.5 |
| Linkin Park Hybrid Theory | 3.0 |
| Linkin Park Reanimation | 2.5 |
| Limp Bizkit Three Dollar Bill Y'all | 1.5 |
| Limp Bizkit Significant Other | 2.5 |
| Limp Bizkit Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water | 1.5 |
| Limp Bizkit Results May Vary | 1.0 |
| If I took a HUGE dump, and recorded it, burnt it onto a CD for a full 2 hour album, the sounds of my butt hole -- I'd be very interested in listening to this should you tell me my other option is 'Results May Vary'. I felt like this when I was 15, I don't feel much different now(7 years later). That stands for something in my mind, that this is one of the worst albums ever recorded. Nice one Fred! |
| Korn Korn | 2.0 |
| Korn Life Is Peachy | 1.5 |
| Korn Follow the Leader | 3.0 |
| Korn Issues | 1.5 |
| Korn Untouchables | 1.0 |
| Velvet Revolver Contraband | 2.5 |
| AFI Very Proud of Ya | 3.0 |
| AFI Black Sails in the Sunset | 4.0 |
| AFI The Art of Drowning | 4.5 |
| AFI Sing the Sorrow | 3.5 |
| AFI Decemberunderground | 3.0 |
| Sum 41 Half Hour Of Power | 2.0 |
| Sum 41 All Killer No Filler | 2.5 |
| blink-182 Cheshire Cat | 3.0 |
| blink-182 Buddha | 3.0 |
| blink-182 Dude Ranch | 3.0 |
| blink-182 Enema Of The State | 3.5 |
| blink-182 The Mark, Tom and Travis Show | 3.0 |
| blink-182 Take Off Your Pants And Jacket | 3.5 |
| blink-182 Blink-182 | 3.5 |
| Amy Winehouse Back to Black | 2.0 |
| Lily Allen Alright, Still | 4.0 |
| Paul McCartney Memory Almost Full | 3.0 |
| Paramore Riot! | 2.5 |
| Evanescence Anywhere But Home | 1.5 |
| Evanescence Fallen | 3.0 |
| Evanescence The Open Door | 3.0 |
| Breaking Benjamin Phobia | 2.0 |
| Breaking Benjamin We Are Not Alone | 2.0 |
| Buckcherry Fifteen | 2.0 |
| Buckcherry Buckcherry | 1.5 |
| Buckcherry Time Bomb | 1.5 |
| Tenacious D Tenacious D | 4.0 |
| Tenacious D The Pick of Destiny | 3.0 |
| The Mars Volta De-Loused in the Comatorium | 4.5 |
| Listening to 'Son et Lumiere' take place then subsequently fade into 'Inertiatic Esp' pretty much put to rest my worries that this record would come close to being sub par upon first listen. Little did I know it would become a defining record of my teenage years. Safe to say I hold 'De-Loused in the Comatorium' particularly high and (almost sadly) I probably judge each Volta, or any ex-ATDI member's release in comparison. A barrage of notes and sound will flood your ears almost from the get-go, like almost any Volta release since, but 'De-Loused' has a particular magic to it, that they've yet to ever grasp again. The epic, noise-prog holds together here a lot more cohesively than anything they've produced, and granted, their best song may be on their sophomore release, it's in their debut that their masterpiece record lies. Their prog/virtuoso ambitions aren't drowned out by their need to be different, they just seem to be having more fun on this record. There's no wasted track, they all deliver in the utmost sense. |
| The Mars Volta Frances the Mute | 4.0 |
| The Mars Volta Amputechture | 2.5 |
| Tool Opiate | 3.5 |
| Tool Undertow | 3.5 |
| Tool Ænima | 4.5 |
| Tool Lateralus | 4.5 |
| chuggachuggachuggachuggachugga drum drum drum ddddrrruuuummmm. Makes me feel like I'm 12 again. |
| Tool 10,000 Days | 3.0 |
| Jefferson Airplane Surrealistic Pillow | 4.5 |
| of Montreal Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? | 4.0 |
| Sigur Ros Takk... | 4.5 |
| Explosions in the Sky All of a Sudden, I Miss Everyone | 3.0 |
| Eluvium Copia | 4.0 |
| Interpol Antics | 3.0 |
| Interpol Turn on the Bright Lights | 4.5 |
| Rilo Kiley Take-Offs and Landings | 4.5 |
| Rilo Kiley The Execution of All Things | 4.5 |
| Rilo Kiley More Adventurous | 4.0 |
| Bloc Party Silent Alarm | 3.0 |
| Architecture In Helsinki Fingers Crossed | 3.5 |
| Architecture In Helsinki In Case We Die | 4.5 |
| I'm From Barcelona Let Me Introduce My Friends | 3.5 |
| The Killers Sam's Town | 1.5 |
| The Long Blondes Someone To Drive You Home | 3.5 |
| Blonde Redhead 23 | 4.5 |
| A ridiculously strong album from a very very good band. Blonde Redhead have been running on over a decade of already amazing material and then culminate all their influences into a single, different entity from anything else they've produced. There's not a single weak track here, the opener '23' is the stand out, by far, but nothing else really falls far behind -- it's all pretty amazing. Adopting a prominent shoegaze aspect tacked on to their already rough Sonic Youth like sound, mixed with the atmospheric, deep mood rock of 'Misery Is a Butterfly' (their best until '23') they create something quite beautiful an unique. I guess you could call '23' a shoegaze album, most tracks, even the dance cuts, reek of MBV, Ride & Slowdive, and really, sometimes they're better than all 3. Very small stretches of course, but it's those pristine highs that bring '23' it's lasting effect and efficient hook that keeps you coming back. |
| Arctic Monkeys Favourite Worst Nightmare | 4.0 |
| Feist The Reminder | 3.5 |
| TV on the Radio Return to Cookie Mountain | 5.0 |
| Yo La Tengo I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass | 3.5 |
| Cold War Kids Robbers and Cowards | 3.5 |
| Swan Lake Beast Moans | 4.0 |
| Deerhoof Friend Opportunity | 3.0 |
| The Shins Oh, Inverted World | 4.0 |
| The Shins Chutes Too Narrow | 4.0 |
| The Shins Wincing the Night Away | 4.0 |
| Animal Collective Ark | 3.0 |
| Animal Collective Sung Tongs | 4.0 |
| Animal Collective Feels | 5.0 |
| Easily my favorite Collective release, and the album that put me to bed many nights in 2006, 'Feels' is breathtaking. Leaving behind the mess of folk craziness(genius?) that was 'Sung Tongs', they go for focus and pop sensibility over washy Beach Boys inspired melodies and experimental mayhem. 'Did You See The Words', 'Grass','Banshee Beat' and 'The Purple Canoe' bring in the albums brilliant, well crafted, lively first half, which is pure bliss. 'Bees' serves as a mild, almost mono tone transfer into the albums fantastic, second portion. That is where 'Feels' really shines, the ballads in the albums later minutes, 'Banshee Beat', 'Daffy Duck' are memorizing and absolutely gorgeous. While 'Turn into Something' fades out of it's acoustic strums, horse neighs and swirls of distortion into whispery melodies and croons to end what truly is a frantic pop masterpiece. |
| Animal Collective People | 3.0 |
| Deerhunter Cryptograms | 3.5 |
| The Besnard Lakes The Besnard Lakes Are the Dark Horse | 4.5 |
| !!! Myth Takes | 3.0 |
| Panda Bear Person Pitch | 5.0 |
| Battles Mirrored | 4.0 |
| Badass robot rock, Battles clearly crafted something all their own here. Acceding past their 'math rock' confines, they are able to transcend the cliches found in their genre of choice and really etch their own spot in modern music. Evolving their sound from early, instrumental, EPs and giving Tyondai Braxton's 'vocals' a dominant presence, they've created a nice musical balance amongst all their beeps, effects and single string plucking. Mostly indeterminable, Braxton's voice is more machine than man, going through a mess of filters before finally reaching the speakers. Thankfully, it only adds to the robotic feel they handle so well, plus John Stanier is a maniac drummer. 'Race In' - 'Atlas' - 'Rainbow' and 'Leyendecker' are personal favorites. They jam out a bit at times, and it's never quick. Sometimes the music just tends to mesh together, but more often then not it just astounds. |
| Metric Grow Up and Blow Away | 3.5 |
| T.I. T.I. vs. T.I.P. | 3.0 |
| Interpol Our Love to Admire | 3.0 |
| Justice † | 4.5 |
| Yellowcard Ocean Avenue | 3.0 |
| Yellowcard Lights and Sounds | 3.0 |
| Yellowcard Paper Walls | 2.0 |
| Spoon Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga | 4.0 |
| Zolof the Rock and Roll Destroyer The Popsicle EP | 3.5 |
| Zolof the Rock and Roll Destroyer Jalopy Go Far | 4.0 |
| Zolof the Rock and Roll Destroyer Zolof the Rock and Roll Destroyer | 3.5 |
| Yeah Yeah Yeahs Yeah Yeah Yeahs | 3.5 |
| Yeah Yeah Yeahs Fever To Tell | 4.5 |
| Yeah Yeah Yeahs Show Your Bones | 3.5 |
| Yeah Yeah Yeahs Is Is | 4.5 |
| This may be the best stuff the Yeah Yeah Yeahs have put out. Something about this just strikes me right, 'Rockers to Swallow' and 'Kiss Kiss' just bite, while 'Down Boy' and 'Isis' are dark and cavernous. Karen O sounds her best, ever really, while Zinner and Chase pretty much keep pace with O. High hopes for the up coming album. |
| Wolf Parade Apologies to the Queen Mary | 5.0 |
| Wilco Yankee Hotel Foxtrot | 5.0 |
| Wilco A Ghost Is Born | 3.0 |
| Wilco Sky Blue Sky | 3.0 |
| The Strokes Is This It | 5.0 |
| The Strokes Room on Fire | 4.0 |
| The Strokes First Impressions of Earth | 3.0 |
| The Roots Do You Want More?!!!??! | 4.5 |
| The Roots Illadelph Halflife | 4.5 |
| The Roots Things Fall Apart | 5.0 |
| The Roots Phrenology | 4.5 |
| The Roots The Tipping Point | 2.0 |
| This was one of the stupidest records from one of hip-hops shining lights. 'Don't Say Nothing', 'Guns are Drawn' and 'Boom!' sound essentially like dumbed down Roots songs. Which if anything is worse than just being bad, they kind of just remind you of what you're missing in the first place. Everything else pretty much goes over as 'meh', boring beats and surprisingly lame rhymes. Nothing really fantastic, but at least some of the Roots signature laid back jazz & live music feel kind of hang around -- kind of. |
| The Roots Game Theory | 5.0 |
| The Postal Service Give Up | 4.0 |
| The Jesus and Mary Chain Darklands | 3.5 |
| The Jesus and Mary Chain Psychocandy | 4.0 |
| The Cardigans Emmerdale | 4.0 |
| The Cardigans First Band on the Moon | 5.0 |
| Back when disco was the thing, in space. |
| The Cardigans Gran Turismo | 4.0 |
| The Cardigans Life | 4.5 |
| The Cardigans Long Gone Before Daylight | 3.5 |
| The Beatles A Hard Day's Night | 4.0 |
| The Beatles Help! | 4.5 |
| The Beatles Let It Be | 4.0 |
| The Beatles Anthology 1 | 3.0 |
| The Beatles Anthology 2 | 3.0 |
| The Beatles Love | 4.0 |
| The Beatles Rubber Soul | 4.5 |
| The Beatles Revolver | 4.5 |
| The Beatles The Beatles | 4.5 |
| The Beatles Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band | 5.0 |
| The cover alone has me feeling 10/10 all day every day. |
| The Beatles Abbey Road | 5.0 |
| Ted Leo and the Pharmacists Hearts of Oak | 4.5 |
| Ted Leo and the Pharmacists The Tyranny of Distance | 4.5 |
| Ted Leo and the Pharmacists Living With the Living | 3.0 |
| Talib Kweli Quality | 4.5 |
| Talib Kweli The Beautiful Struggle | 3.5 |
| Sonic Youth Daydream Nation | 5.0 |
| The ultimate, the king of distortion, 'Daydream Nation' is beautiful as it is brilliant. To really describe the merits of this LP is harder than it seems at first, because really what makes it so essential is well, how fucking weird it really is. On first listen it may seem harsh, if a bit unfocused -- SY's vocals are less than entrancing and they spend a lot of time jamming out their distortion. This, unappealing as it may seem, is where the brilliance lies -- amongst these rough, chaotic lead voices lies the cries of a generation, on the verge of what they know is not a bright future. Sonic Youth detest the commercial world of double speak, but they understand that it's inevitable, and maybe, preferred. Beyond the phenomenal writing, lies the song structure, the composition -- it's amazing. There's no wasted note, no stray bit of distortion, everything has it's place, it's purpose there. This is why the distortion works, why, 'Daydream Nation' is a success. To encompass the full effect, full result of this album in words is futile, there's not enough time. I bought it when I was 14, and it changed the way I listen to music. |
| Sonic Youth Murray Street | 4.0 |
| Sonic Youth Sonic Nurse | 4.0 |
| Sonic Youth Rather Ripped | 4.0 |
| Shiny Toy Guns We Are Pilots | 3.5 |
| Reel Big Fish Turn the Radio Off | 4.0 |
| Reel Big Fish Why Do They Rock So Hard? | 3.5 |
| Reel Big Fish Cheer Up! | 3.5 |
| Reel Big Fish We're Not Happy 'Till You're Not Happy | 3.0 |
| Reel Big Fish Our Live Album Is Better Than Your Live | 4.0 |
| Red Hot Chili Peppers Mother's Milk | 3.5 |
| Red Hot Chili Peppers Blood Sugar Sex Magik | 4.5 |
| Red Hot Chili Peppers One Hot Minute | 3.0 |
| Red Hot Chili Peppers Californication | 4.5 |
| Red Hot Chili Peppers By the Way | 2.5 |
| Red Hot Chili Peppers Stadium Arcadium | 3.0 |
| Pixies Complete B-Sides | 3.5 |
| Pixies Bossanova | 4.0 |
| Pixies Doolittle | 5.0 |
| Pixies Surfer Rosa | 4.5 |
| Radiohead My Iron Lung | 3.0 |
| Radiohead Pablo Honey | 3.0 |
| Radiohead The Bends | 4.5 |
| Radiohead OK Computer | 5.0 |
| To say that this is 'a classic' is understated, 'OK Computer' is the most essential record of the 1990s. It's easily in contention for the best piece of music I've ever heard and no matter how many times I listen to it, it hits me the same way. 'Airbag', 'Paranoid Android' & 'Subterranean Homesick Alien', are all fucking amazing. 'Climbing Up The Walls' may be the scariest pretty song I've ever heard while, 'No Surprises' & 'Exit Music' are some of the most beautiful. Plus there's really no better closer than 'The Tourist'. Radiohead achieved something really special here, and no matter how close they've come, can't seem to quite match it. But thats fine, might just be better that way. |
| Radiohead Kid A | 4.5 |
| Radiohead Amnesiac | 3.0 |
| Radiohead Hail to the Thief | 4.0 |
| Radiohead COM LAG (2plus2isfive) | 3.0 |
| OutKast Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik | 4.5 |
| OutKast ATLiens | 4.5 |
| OutKast Aquemini | 5.0 |
| OutKast Stankonia | 4.5 |
| 'Stankonia' is a beacon for all artists -- this is how you make an album. 'B.O.B.', 'Ms. Jackson'. 'So Fresh, So Clean', 'Gasoline Dreams', 'I'll Call Before I Come', are brilliant, OutKast are miles beyond their competition. The world's best MC's -- Andre 3000(then), and Big Boi(now), prove their worth with an opus of southern rap. Stankonia, everyone should be so lucky to visit. |
| OutKast Speakerboxxx/The Love Below | 4.0 |
| OutKast Idlewild | 3.5 |
| My Bloody Valentine This Is Your Bloody Valentine | 2.0 |
| My Bloody Valentine Isn't Anything | 4.5 |
| My Bloody Valentine Loveless | 5.0 |
| Beautiful, in every sense of the word. Loveless, though not completely flawless, achieved heights not only never attained, but never even revealed. MBV's lush, flowing, chaos has no comparison, simply because there's nothing else that sounds quite like it. Many have recreated the sound slightly to much success, but none sound quite like MBV's layers of distortion. Bilinda Butcher's otherworldly voice drifts in an out of layers of sounds so beautifully, while Kevin Shields pushes every last bit of gorgeous melody out of the fuzz that surrounds him. When Shield's decides to lend his vocals to the fray some of the album's best tracks are produced. 'Loveless' is not something that should be missed, it is a rigidly beautiful classic piece of music. |
| Modest Mouse This Is a Long Drive for Someone with Nothing to Think About | 4.0 |
| Modest Mouse The Lonesome Crowded West | 4.5 |
| A bold statement of modern 'Americana', 'The Lonesome Crowded West' could/would easily stand as Modest Mouse's crowning achievement of lonesome travel and desolate landscapes. This is of course if 'The Moon and Antarctica' had not shattered it with it's brazen outlook and ethereal tones. But -- that's not to say that this album is anything less than amazing. With 'Lonesome Crowded...", MM created a bleak outlook on the idea of modern, expansive America with it's frayed morals, uneven persona's and earthen tones. Brock's reference's to the characters of 'Jesus/God','the dogs', 'the woman' and 'the long bitter road' first really arise here on their sophomore release, but hardly play out their time. At 70+ minutes too, 'The Lonesome Crowded West' is quite the listen, but, everything flows together pretty flawlessly. MM's, Pixies-esque style is taken for a full ride, and really expands upon itself to give the first, real inkling of what sound this band would soon adopt for the remainder of their career (up until this point). Song's like 'Heart Cooks Brain', 'Convenient Parking', 'Trailer Trash' and 'Out of Gas' are standouts but that's like saying anything here is sub-par. 'The Lonesome Crowded West' is a masterpiece, it's a truthful/expressive/forgiving/unrelenting outlook on what it's like to live as an American, as well as what it was like for this one - Brock - in specific. |
| Modest Mouse The Moon & Antarctica | 5.0 |
| Glorious as it is haunting, The Moon & Antarctica is Modest Mouse's masterpiece. The ethereal, cold feeling that resonates from this music is amazing, and Brock's off-kilter vocal style shines amongst the guitar twangs and deep caverns his band mates create around him. Is there seriously any better starting 3 than this? '3rd Planet', 'Gravity...' & 'Dark Center...' are superb, and thats not to say the second half isn't as enthralling. Actually it's pretty fantastic, really the entire album is, if a bit overlong at times -- it's easily made up for by a large collection of extremely strong tracks. |
| Modest Mouse Sad Sappy Sucker | 2.5 |
| Modest Mouse Good News for People Who Love Bad News | 4.0 |
| Modest Mouse We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank | 4.0 |
| Menomena Friend And Foe | 4.5 |
| Menomena I Am The Fun Blame Monster! | 4.0 |
| Lupe Fiasco Food & Liquor | 4.5 |
| Kanye West The College Dropout | 4.5 |
| Kanye West Late Registration | 4.5 |
| Incubus (USA-CA) S.C.I.E.N.C.E. | 4.0 |
| Incubus (USA-CA) Make Yourself | 3.5 |
| Incubus (USA-CA) Morning View | 3.5 |
| Incubus (USA-CA) A Crow Left of the Murder... | 4.0 |
| Incubus (USA-CA) Light Grenades | 3.0 |
| Grizzly Bear Horn of Plenty | 3.5 |
| Grizzly Bear Yellow House | 4.5 |
It takes no less than the first minute of 'Yellow House' to see that Grizzly Bear have stripped themselves down from their 'recorded in a submarine' sound to something more palpable, but no less expansive, cavernous and beautiful.
Said minute, which belongs to the opener 'Easier' is nothing other than gorgeous, a few chords and piano chimes fade into a nice acoustic/hummed rhythm. Then the 40th second hits, and 'Easier' opens wide into an expansive, glorious tunnel of sound. The song continues, it's a flood of folky-spacey pop accompanied by any number of guitars, drums, pianos, banjos, synth boards -- it's pretty amazing. 'Easier' is a standout (along with 'Knife', 'On a Neck, On a Spit', 'Little Brother' and 'Colorado'), and it would be easy to judge the rest of the album based on this track, but it would be a waste. Grizzly Bear transcend the usual freak-folk, star-pop and indie-rock cliches and build, an immediate, yet reserved -- expansive, yet focused, beautiful but albeit disjointed masterpiece with 'Yellow House'. |
| Green Day Kerplunk | 3.0 |
| Green Day Dookie | 4.0 |
| Green Day Insomniac | 4.0 |
| Green Day Nimrod | 3.0 |
| Green Day Warning | 3.0 |
| Green Day American Idiot | 4.0 |
| Gorillaz G-Sides | 3.0 |
| Gorillaz Laika Come Home | 3.0 |
| Gorillaz Gorillaz | 4.0 |
| Gorillaz Demon Days | 4.5 |
| Never have I been so unimpressed with an album upon first listen, I mean I heard this once, then just basically put it down for a solid month before even remotely flirting with the idea of giving it a second shot. I'm a fucking idiot. 'Demon Days' is fantastic, an eclectic mash of utter madness somehow organized into 15 tracks. Pretty much leaving behind whatever the Gorillaz were, Albarn and co. restructure this animated 'super group' into something truly quite unique. I mean the idea of mixing cool verses and hooks with some sick rhymes is hardly new, it's just few do it better than these guys here. Armed with Damon Albarn's own musical insanity and a slew of excellent guest stars, 'Demon Days' is a party album, introspective character piece and twisted/fun labor of love all at once. The album really doesn't falter from start to finish, every song seems in it's right place. It's successful as a whole, but at times can be a bit goofy, but 90% of the time, you can just roll with it and let 'Demon Days' have it's fun. |
| Fleetwood Mac Fleetwood Mac | 4.0 |
| Fleetwood Mac Tusk | 4.0 |
| Fleetwood Mac Rumours | 5.0 |
| Inner band turmoil, divorces left and right, Fleetwood's misery & marital issues sure as hell birthed some fantastic music in the process of ruining some lives. 'The Chain', 'Go Your Own Way', 'You Make Loving Fun', 'Dreams' are just the highlights on an album that is really quite near flawless. I've had this album with me for a very, very long time & it's at least one of my favorites, if not my favorite. Fun, inventive, brooding, at times extremely heart breaking, all the while remaining completely badass. |
| Eels Beautiful Freak | 4.5 |
| Eels Electro-Shock Blues | 4.5 |
| What was at first, very hard on my ears, save a few songs, has since become my favorite Eels album, and really one of my favorite albums period. 'Electro-Shock Blues' is so achingly painful at points it can defer some listeners, but really, there are a lot of gems here. E's loss of family and well, hope is what crafted this album, and it is morose at times, but more often than not in his sadness there's a lot of beauty to be found. 'Elizabeth on the Bathroom Floor', 'Elfi's God', 'P.S. You Rock My World' are gorgeous, while 'Last Stop: This Town' is a nice light hearted break from the albums slower tones. Everything here is great, no song really falters in my opinion, though as a whole 'Electro-Shock Blues' can run a bit long, and it's not an album for any time. But it's beauty is really found in it's soft but hauting tones, morose themes and E's aching voice and lyrics. |
| Eels Daisies Of The Galaxy | 3.5 |
| Eels Shootenanny! | 2.5 |
| Eels Souljacker | 3.5 |
| Eels Blinking Lights & Other Revelations | 4.0 |
| Eels Eels With Strings - Live At Town Hall | 3.5 |
| Damian Marley Welcome To Jamrock | 4.0 |
| Daft Punk Discovery | 4.0 |
| Daft Punk Human After All | 3.0 |
| Clipse Lord Willin' | 4.0 |
| Clipse Hell Hath No Fury | 4.5 |
| Clap Your Hands Say Yeah Some Loud Thunder | 4.0 |
| Clap Your Hands Say Yeah Clap Your Hands Say Yeah | 5.0 |
| Broken Social Scene Feel Good Lost | 4.0 |
| Broken Social Scene Broken Social Scene | 4.5 |
| Blur Leisure | 3.0 |
| Blur Modern Life Is Rubbish | 4.5 |
| Blur Parklife | 4.5 |
| Blur The Great Escape | 4.0 |
| Blur Blur | 4.0 |
| Blur 13 | 4.5 |
| Blur The Best Of | 4.0 |
| Blur Think Tank | 5.0 |
| At the point of writing this, I am completely convinced that Damon Albarn is a musical genius, and have been for quite some time. From start to finish, 'Think Tank' is achingly gorgeous and entirely inventive and unheard. 'Ambulance', 'Out of Time', 'On the Way to the Club' may be some of the most potent, pretty, unexpected love songs ever crafted. In 'Brothers and Sisters', Albarn yearns for us to lay off the stimulants among the extremely insightful spoken word verses. 'Good Song' is self explanatory, really it's very good, underselling. Among 'Think Tank's' pretty melodies, clings and clangs lies a masterpiece of modern music. If it remains the final album of Blurs fantastic career, at least it's a glorious send off. |
| Be Your Own Pet Be Your Own Pet | 4.0 |
We're on two wheels baby! Rawk Out!!
At least that's what Be Your Own Pet would hope(demand) of us. And with this clusterfuck of sound that is their debut, BYOP find a nice niche for themselves. It's just a question of if you appreciate that niche or not. Armed with a young punk spirit, bad ass instrumentation, a long play into a tongue-in-cheek and, well, Ms. Jemina Pearl, these kid's are looking to knock you onto your ass. Let it be their extremely loud sound, or Pearl's extremely dirty mouth, BYOP are out to attract a little attention, as well they should. They've got some shit to say (albeit sometimes it can be a bit stupid...) -- but maybe it won't hurt to listen just a little. I mean lines like 'Have fun and be safe with it -- Just kidding! Fuck shit up!' probably couldn't fly if BYOP saw themselves as god's next gift to rock and roll. A little pulp here and there is alright, which exactly what BYOP are all about. Stop taking yourself so seriously, chill the fuck out, and enjoy being young/allow the youth to have their fun. Simple. |
| Autolux Future Perfect | 4.5 |
| Robotic domination anyone? Nearly perfect, from start to finish. 'Turnstile Blues', 'Subzero Fun', 'Robots in the Garden' & 'Here Comes Everybody' are standouts in this twisted and twitchy mini masterpiece. |
| Arcade Fire The Arcade Fire | 3.5 |
| Arcade Fire Funeral | 5.0 |
| Modern Classic. That being said, it's arguable (mostly because I know many who would argue this), but in time I feel that 'Funeral' will shine through as a brilliant statement of loss, growth and family that cannot be denied. Beyond sheer song structure and power, 'Funeral', I feel, finds itself beyond the pack in ways of overall structure, and tone. The deep sadness in 'Une Annee Sans Lumiere' and 'In The Back Seat' is near heartbreaking. Just as the hope and wonder in 'Wake Up' and 'Neighborhood#2(Laika)' reach unheard heights. This, almost, 'legitimacy' tacked onto what would normally be 'pretty good' lyrics adds a sense of beauty and earnest. The Fire's overall musicianship soars as well, past all boundaries of 'Pop Music' to create something really quite gorgeous. They did it, really they fucking did. |
| Arcade Fire Neon Bible | 4.5 |
| If 'Funeral' was a masterpiece of youth, hope and family, 'Neon Bible' is The Arcade Fire's declaration of maturity and loss -- thankfully the spark is still there. The Fire bombast through out 'Neon Bible' with images of lost humanity, and a desolate future, outcries for action and reformation before we're overtaken by our own weight...some crazy shit. Though comparatively, the Fire were more joyous and bouncy on their last release, the deep dark caverns of 'Neon Bible's more reserved yet grand style shine through the wash and distortion that covers it's sound. There's something to be said though, with the loss of their youthfulness (only on record thankfully), something always feels a bit empty about it all. Not enough to detract from all the highlights of an absolutely fantastic album. |
