| Liquid Liquid Optimo | 4.5 |
| Liquid Liquid Liquid Liquid | 4.5 |
| Purple Mountains Purple Mountains | 4.5 |
| The Unicorns Who Will Cut Our Hair When We're Gone? | 4.5 |
| Andy Stott Faith in Strangers | 4.5 |
| Tobias Jesso Jr. Goon | 4.0 |
| Courtney Barnett sometimes i sit and think, and sometimes i just sit | 4.0 |
| Courtney Barnett Tell Me How You Really Feel | 3.5 |
| Shamir Ratchet | 4.0 |
| Empress Of Me | 4.0 |
| Neon Indian Vega Intl. Night School | 4.0 |
| Floating Points Shadows | 4.0 |
| Floating Points Nuits Sonores | 4.5 |
| Floating Points Elaenia | 4.0 |
| Porches Pool | 4.0 |
| ANOHNI HOPELESSNESS | 4.5 |
| Smith Westerns Dye It Blonde | 4.0 |
| Whitney Light Upon the Lake | 4.0 |
| Suzanne Ciani Seven Waves | 5.0 |
| Visible Cloaks Reassemblage | 5.0 |
| Moses Sumney Aromanticism | 4.5 |
| SZA Ctrl | 4.5 |
| Kelela Hallucinogen | 4.0 |
| Kelela Take Me Apart | 4.0 |
| Royksopp Melody A.M. | 4.5 |
| Air Moon Safari | 5.0 |
| Charlotte Gainsbourg Rest | 4.0 |
| Lorde Melodrama | 4.5 |
| Charli XCX Focus / No Angel | 4.0 |
| Charli XCX Pop 2 | 5.0 |
| Amen Dunes Freedom | 4.0 |
| Cardi B Invasion of Privacy | 4.0 |
| Snail Mail Lush | 4.0 |
| Tierra Whack Whack World | 4.0 |
| Mitski Puberty 2 | 4.0 |
| Mitski Be the Cowboy | 4.5 |
| Tirzah Devotion | 4.0 |
| Yves Tumor Safe in the Hands of Love | 4.5 |
| Boygenius boygenius | 4.0 |
| Jessica Pratt Quiet Signs | 4.0 |
| Helado Negro This Is How You Smile | 4.0 |
| Cate Le Bon Reward | 4.0 |
| Bill Callahan Dream River | 4.5 |
| Mannequin Pussy Patience | 4.0 |
| The Microphones The Glow Pt. 2 | 5.0 |
| Waxahatchee Cerulean Salt | 4.0 |
| Florist Emily Alone | 4.0 |
| Florist If Blue Could Be Happiness | 4.0 |
| Spoon They Want My Soul | 4.0 |
| The Shins Chutes Too Narrow | 4.5 |
| Pond (AUS) Beard, Wives, Denim | 4.0 |
| Tame Impala Currents | 4.5 |
| Tame Impala Lonerism | 4.5 |
| Tame Impala Innerspeaker | 4.5 |
| Gas Pop | 4.5 |
| Gold Panda Half of Where You Live | 4.0 |
| Caribou Swim | 4.5 |
| Caribou Our Love | 4.0 |
| Burial Rival Dealer | 4.5 |
| Mount Kimbie Love What Survives | 4.0 |
| Four Tet There is Love in You | 4.5 |
| Four Tet Rounds | 4.0 |
| Black Midi Schlagenheim | 4.5 |
| Anderson .Paak Malibu | 4.5 |
| A Tribe Called Quest The Low End Theory | 5.0 |
| Alex G Rocket | 4.0 |
| Earl Sweatshirt Some Rap Songs | 5.0 |
| The Avalanches Wildflower | 4.0 |
| The Avalanches Since I Left You | 5.0 |
| American Football American Football | 5.0 |
| Gnarls Barkley St. Elsewhere | 4.0 |
| DangerDoom The Mouse And The Mask | 3.5 |
| Big Boi Sir Lucious Left Foot | 4.0 |
| Killer Mike R.A.P. Music | 4.0 |
| OutKast Stankonia | 4.5 |
| OutKast Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik | 4.0 |
| OutKast ATLiens | 4.5 |
| Amy Winehouse Frank | 3.0 |
| FKA Twigs LP1 | 4.0 |
| Solange True | 3.5 |
| Solange When I Get Home | 4.0 |
| Solange A Seat at the Table | 4.5 |
| Car Seat Headrest Twin Fantasy (Face to Face) | 4.5 |
| Janelle Monae The Electric Lady | 4.0 |
| Janelle Monae The ArchAndroid | 4.5 |
| Gorillaz Gorillaz | 3.5 |
| Gorillaz Demon Days | 4.0 |
| Marvin Gaye Trouble Man | 4.5 |
| Gorillaz Plastic Beach | 4.5 |
| Marvin Gaye What's Going On | 5.0 |
| Aphex Twin Syro | 4.0 |
| Aphex Twin Selected Ambient Works Volume II | 4.5 |
| Aphex Twin Selected Ambient Works 85-92 | 5.0 |
| Joni Mitchell Blue | 4.0 |
| Bruce Springsteen Darkness on the Edge of Town | 4.5 |
| Joanna Newsom Ys | 5.0 |
| Tim Hecker Konoyo | 4.5 |
| Grouper Ruins | 4.5 |
| Brian Eno Ambient 1: Music For Airports | 4.5 |
| Boards of Canada Music Has the Right to Children | 5.0 |
| Echo and The Bunnymen Ocean Rain | 4.0 |
| Oneohtrix Point Never Garden of Delete | 5.0 |
| Oneohtrix Point Never R Plus Seven | 4.5 |
| Joy Division Unknown Pleasures | 4.5 |
| Oneohtrix Point Never Replica | 4.5 |
| Deafheaven Sunbather | 5.0 |
| Drive Like Jehu Yank Crime | 4.5 |
| Bikini Kill Pussy Whipped | 4.0 |
| Bikini Kill The Singles | 4.5 |
| Sleater-Kinney Dig Me Out | 4.5 |
| Archy Marshall A New Place 2 Drown | 4.5 |
| King Krule 6 Feet Beneath the Moon | 4.0 |
| King Krule The OOZ | 4.0 |
| Kaiser Chiefs Employment | 4.0 |
| Kaiser Chiefs Yours Truly, Angry Mob | 3.5 |
| The Rolling Stones Exile on Main St. | 4.5 |
| The Rolling Stones Let It Bleed | 5.0 |
| The Who The Who Sell Out | 4.0 |
| Bright Eyes I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning | 4.0 |
| Refused The Shape Of Punk To Come | 5.0 |
| Foo Fighters There Is Nothing Left to Lose | 3.0 |
| Foo Fighters Wasting Light | 3.0 |
| Foo Fighters The Colour and the Shape | 4.0 |
| Foo Fighters Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace | 3.5 |
| Them Crooked Vultures Them Crooked Vultures | 3.5 |
| Queens of the Stone Age Rated R | 4.0 |
| Queens of the Stone Age Songs for the Deaf | 4.5 |
| Queens of the Stone Age Era Vulgaris | 3.5 |
When I think about misunderstood albums, this is the one I always think of. Perhaps that’s because of what QOTSA where when the recorded this album; Songs for the Deaf is one of the all-time best straight rock albums, I’d recommend it but chances are you already have it.
Era Vulgaris is not a straight rock album at all. Era Vulgaris is offbeat, ugly and clunky. Era Vulgaris is also a record that I adore to pieces. This album however needs a fair bit of explaining. The title means “common age” and refers to the decadent, self-absorbed culture of today. Josh Homme is rarely his charming rocker self, instead taking the role of a spoilt, modern brat and sarcastically ripping them with their own tongue. If you will, this album is a satire of the YouTube generation. The lyrics have a very Tom Sawyer-ish feel about them. “I’m Designer” is a blast if you get this concept. The drums are clunky on this track, the guitar screeches repeatedly while the lyrics efferminately declare “We all have our own style and bag-age, why hump it yourself?”. In the chorus Homme’s true voice comes out, calling the verses “lies” and bemoaning his plastic existence.
The sound is appropriately off-beat; the chords sound like they were devised with random rolls of dice. This isn’t a metal album at all, but the sound is robotic and mechanical melody certainly wasn’t one of the priorities, focusing on repeating weird noises until they have dug so far into your brain they work. QOTSA have always been a hypnotic band too, I mean c’mon, they named an album “Lullabies to Paralyze”. Era sees a lot of this, the opening track “Turning on the Screw” has on odd solo (?) where Homme declares “you sound like this” before all the instruments repeat the same sustained sound over and over. It’s witty and odd stuff, the kind of thing I can see people really hating if they aren’t into some good old fashioned sound lashing. On “Battery Acid” the drums just pound the same beat over and over, the only difference is they get louder and louder as the band ramp up the intensity. Also “Robots! Robots! Brain Washed Babies!” Is the greatest hook ever.
Era is an eclectic mix too. Track 7 drastically changes gear to a straight blues song, in text slang of course, “Make It Wit Chu”. Josh is back on his charming sexy self and is a welcome return. Overall though QOTSA tongue is firmly in their cheek, I fear I have made this sound too arty when infact it is big, dumb noisy fun with a brainy twist.
This album is a divisive choice; I know people who despise it and people who love it. You won’t know which one you are until you try it yourself. Worse comes to the worse, it’s a cool bit of album art to have on you iPod.
More recommendations at http://captainspacker.blogspot.com/ |
| Kyuss Blues for the Red Sun | 4.5 |
| Kyuss Muchas Gracias: The Best of Kyuss | 4.5 |
| The White Stripes Icky Thump | 3.5 |
| The White Stripes White Blood Cells | 4.0 |
| The White Stripes Elephant | 4.0 |
| Stone Temple Pilots Core | 4.0 |
| Stone Temple Pilots Purple | 4.0 |
| Pearl Jam Vs. | 4.0 |
| Pearl Jam Ten | 4.0 |
| Editors The Back Room | 3.0 |
| Pearl Jam Pearl Jam | 2.5 |
| Misfits Static Age | 4.5 |
| Foals Holy Fire | 3.5 |
| alt-J This Is All Yours | 3.0 |
| alt-J An Awesome Wave | 4.0 |
| Fugazi The Argument | 4.5 |
| Galaxie 500 On Fire | 4.5 |
| Explosions in the Sky The Earth Is Not a Cold Dead Place | 4.5 |
| Explosions in the Sky Take Care, Take Care, Take Care | 4.0 |
| Low Double Negative | 5.0 |
| The xx I See You | 4.0 |
| Sun Kil Moon Benji | 5.0 |
| The xx xx | 4.5 |
| Sigur Ros Agætis byrjun | 5.0 |
| Jon Hopkins Asleep Versions | 3.5 |
| Jon Hopkins Immunity | 4.0 |
| Fleetwood Mac Fleetwood Mac | 4.0 |
| Fleetwood Mac Rumours | 4.5 |
| The Antlers Familiars | 5.0 |
| The Antlers Hospice | 4.5 |
| King Crimson In the Court of the Crimson King | 5.0 |
| King Crimson Red | 5.0 |
| Lou Reed Transformer | 4.0 |
| The Stooges The Stooges | 4.0 |
| The Stooges Raw Power | 4.5 |
| The Flaming Lips Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots | 4.0 |
| The Flaming Lips With A Little Help From My Fwends | 3.5 |
| The Flaming Lips Peace Sword | 4.0 |
| The Flaming Lips The Soft Bulletin | 5.0 |
| Massive Attack Blue Lines | 4.0 |
| Massive Attack Mezzanine | 5.0 |
| Bjork Homogenic | 5.0 |
| Kate Bush The Kick Inside | 3.5 |
| Soundgarden Badmotorfinger | 4.0 |
| Soundgarden Superunknown | 4.5 |
| The Band The Band | 4.5 |
| The Band Music from Big Pink | 5.0 |
| Jeff Rosenstock POST- | 4.0 |
| Jeff Rosenstock WORRY. | 4.5 |
| Angel Olsen My Woman | 4.0 |
| Frank Sinatra In The Wee Small Hours | 4.5 |
| The Dear Hunter The Color Spectrum (Complete Collection) | 4.0 |
| The Dear Hunter Green | 4.0 |
| The Dear Hunter Blue | 3.5 |
| The Dear Hunter Yellow | 3.5 |
| The Dear Hunter Orange | 3.5 |
| The Dear Hunter Red | 4.0 |
| The Dear Hunter Black | 4.0 |
| The Dear Hunter Violet | 4.0 |
| The Dear Hunter White | 4.0 |
| The Dear Hunter Indigo | 5.0 |
| 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 | 4.0 |
| Jane's Addiction Ritual De Lo Habitual | 4.0 |
| Jane's Addiction Nothing's Shocking | 4.0 |
| Primus Sailing the Seas of Cheese | 4.0 |
| Primus Frizzle Fry | 4.0 |
| Red Hot Chili Peppers Stadium Arcadium | 3.5 |
| Red Hot Chili Peppers Blood Sugar Sex Magik | 4.0 |
| Red Hot Chili Peppers Californication | 4.0 |
| Faith No More The Real Thing | 4.0 |
| Disclosure Settle | 4.5 |
| Beyonce Homecoming | 4.5 |
| Beyonce Lemonade | 4.0 |
| Beyonce Beyonce | 4.5 |
| DJ Rashad Double Cup | 4.5 |
| Belle and Sebastian If You're Feeling Sinister | 4.5 |
| Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti Before Today | 4.0 |
| Mac DeMarco Another One | 4.0 |
| Mac DeMarco 2 | 3.5 |
| Mac DeMarco Here Comes the Cowboy | 3.0 |
| Mac DeMarco This Old Dog | 4.0 |
| Mac DeMarco Salad Days | 4.0 |
| Arcade Fire Reflektor | 4.0 |
| Slowdive Souvlaki | 4.5 |
| Slowdive Slowdive (LP) | 4.0 |
| Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds | 3.0 |
| Oasis (What's the Story) Morning Glory? | 4.0 |
| Oasis Be Here Now | 2.5 |
| Oasis Dig Out Your Soul | 2.5 |
| Oasis Don't Believe the Truth | 3.0 |
| Oasis Definitely Maybe | 4.0 |
| Bob Dylan Bringing It All Back Home | 4.5 |
| Julia Holter Have You In My Wilderness | 4.5 |
| Weyes Blood Titanic Rising | 4.5 |
| David Bowie Young Americans | 3.5 |
| David Bowie Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) | 4.5 |
| David Bowie Blackstar | 4.5 |
| Deftones White Pony | 4.5 |
| Deftones Diamond Eyes | 4.5 |
| Glassjaw Worship and Tribute | 5.0 |
| Pulp Different Class | 4.0 |
| Manic Street Preachers Generation Terrorists | 3.0 |
| Manic Street Preachers Gold Against The Soul | 4.0 |
| Manic Street Preachers Everything Must Go | 4.5 |
| Meat Puppets Up on the Sun | 4.5 |
| Nirvana MTV Unplugged in New York | 4.0 |
| Nirvana Bleach | 4.0 |
| Nirvana In Utero | 5.0 |
| Pixies Trompe Le Monde | 4.0 |
| Morphine The Night | 4.0 |
| Morphine Cure for Pain | 4.0 |
| D'Angelo Black Messiah | 4.5 |
| D'Angelo Voodoo | 4.5 |
| Frank Ocean channel ORANGE | 5.0 |
| Big Star Third/Sister Lovers | 4.0 |
| Big Star 3rd | 4.0 |
| Big Star #1 Record | 4.5 |
| Teenage Fanclub Bandwagonesque | 4.5 |
| Primal Scream XTRMNTR | 4.0 |
| Primal Scream Screamadelica | 4.0 |
| Neil Young Harvest | 4.0 |
| Magnolia Electric Co Magnolia Electric Co | 5.0 |
| Iron And Wine The Shepherd's Dog | 4.5 |
| Father John Misty Fear Fun | 3.5 |
| Father John Misty Pure Comedy | 4.0 |
| Father John Misty I Love You, Honeybear | 4.5 |
| Fleet Foxes Sun Giant | 4.0 |
| Fleet Foxes Fleet Foxes | 4.0 |
| Fleet Foxes Crack-Up | 4.0 |
| Andrew Bird My Finest Work Yet | 4.0 |
| Sufjan Stevens Carrie and Lowell | 5.0 |
| Kendrick Lamar To Pimp a Butterfly | 5.0 |
| Kendrick Lamar DAMN. | 4.0 |
| Jay-Z The Blueprint | 4.0 |
| Jay-Z 4:44 | 4.0 |
| Sunset Rubdown Dragonslayer | 4.5 |
| Sonic Youth Goo | 4.0 |
| Sonic Youth Daydream Nation | 5.0 |
| Unwound Leaves Turn Inside You | 4.5 |
| Grimes Halfaxa | 4.0 |
| Grimes Art Angels | 4.5 |
| Led Zeppelin Physical Graffiti | 4.5 |
| Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin | 4.5 |
| Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin II | 4.5 |
| Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin III | 4.5 |
| Led Zeppelin Houses of the Holy | 4.5 |
| The Jimi Hendrix Experience Electric Ladyland | 4.5 |
| The Jimi Hendrix Experience Are You Experienced | 4.5 |
| Built to Spill You in Reverse | 3.5 |
| Built to Spill There's Nothing Wrong with Love | 4.0 |
| Built to Spill Keep It Like a Secret | 4.5 |
| Modest Mouse The Moon & Antarctica | 5.0 |
| Modest Mouse Good News for People Who Love Bad News | 3.5 |
| Daft Punk Random Access Memories | 4.0 |
| LCD Soundsystem The Long Goodbye | 4.0 |
| LCD Soundsystem LCD Soundsystem | 4.0 |
| LCD Soundsystem Sound of Silver | 4.5 |
| LCD Soundsystem This Is Happening | 5.0 |
| LCD Soundsystem American Dream | 4.0 |
| WU LYF Go Tell Fire to the Mountain | 5.0 |
| Regina Spektor Begin To Hope | 3.5 |
| Fiona Apple When the Pawn... | 4.5 |
| Fiona Apple The Idler Wheel... | 4.5 |
| Tears for Fears Songs from the Big Chair | 4.0 |
| Talk Talk Spirit of Eden | 4.5 |
| The Libertines The Libertines | 3.0 |
| The Field From Here We Go Sublime | 5.0 |
| Fuck Buttons Slow Focus | 4.0 |
| Animal Collective Sung Tongs | 4.5 |
| Animal Collective Merriweather Post Pavilion | 5.0 |
| Panda Bear Panda Bear Meets the Grim Reaper | 4.5 |
| Panda Bear Person Pitch | 5.0 |
| Grizzly Bear Yellow House | 4.5 |
| Grizzly Bear Veckatimest | 4.5 |
| Grizzly Bear Shields | 5.0 |
| The Cribs Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever | 3.0 |
| The Cribs In the Belly of the Brazen Bull | 3.0 |
| The Maccabees Given to the Wild | 3.5 |
| Beach House Bloom | 4.5 |
| Skepta Konnichiwa | 3.5 |
| James Blake James Blake | 4.0 |
| James Blake Overgrown | 4.0 |
| Neurosis Through Silver in Blood | 4.5 |
| Mastodon Blood Mountain | 4.5 |
| Mastodon Leviathan | 4.5 |
| Mastodon Crack the Skye | 4.5 |
I have a beef with “nu-metal”. For me metal was always big, scary and complex. Songs shouldn’t be less than 5 minutes, the bass and drums ought to evoke Satan hammering on your door and the lyrics should soar effortlessly above the rest, only met on occasion by screeching solos every 3 minutes. And under no circumstance must anyone even attempt to be “gangsta”. In short I’m a devout follower of the Sabbath and Metallica models.
The problem with this is it can get boring, you cover the same ground. For this reason I forgive the music industry for its two decades of catchy chorus and grown men in dress up. Mastodon blew this situation away however on Crack the Skye. Variety is on full show here; “Oblivion” starts with a haunting, spacey synth intro. “Divinations” kicks off with rumbling banjo. Single tracks morph and change direction frequently.
The real impressive feat though is how good everyone is. The vocals are spot on, constant melodies; I still don’t know who exactly was on lead for this album. The two guitars fuzz and dance, the bass skips here and there, on the aforementioned “Divinations” all instruments gun it for a mad crescendo, which impossible holds together. Prog comes to mind very much, I’d compare their sound to recent Metallica with Sabbath. This isn’t thrash, Crack the Skye is much more focused on atmosphere and depth than moshing.
The themes have been updated too. Fantasy and the occult has been a metal staple since Zeppelin, todays it’s space and time travel. There is some kind of concept of a time travelling astronaut warning an occult of the Russian revolution or something, but all you really need to know is this is a trip album.
I’d recommend this to even non-metal fans, it’s an excellent example of the genre very much misunderstood by the mainstream. This and the Black Album should atleast be able to convert non-believers to appreciators.
More recommendations at http://captainspacker.blogspot.com/ |
| Mastodon The Hunter | 3.5 |
| Broken Social Scene You Forgot It in People | 4.5 |
| TV on the Radio Return to Cookie Mountain | 4.0 |
| TV on the Radio Dear Science | 4.5 |
| Vampire Weekend Father Of The Bride | 4.0 |
| Vampire Weekend Modern Vampires of the City | 5.0 |
| The Last Shadow Puppets The Age Of The Understatement | 4.0 |
| Arctic Monkeys Tranquility Base Hotel and Casino | 4.0 |
| Arctic Monkeys AM | 4.0 |
| The Strokes First Impressions of Earth | 3.5 |
| The Strokes Room on Fire | 3.5 |
| The Strokes Is This It | 4.0 |
| Yeah Yeah Yeahs Fever To Tell | 4.0 |
| Yeah Yeah Yeahs Show Your Bones | 3.5 |
| Yeah Yeah Yeahs It's Blitz! | 3.0 |
| The Gaslight Anthem Handwritten | 2.5 |
| The Gaslight Anthem The '59 Sound | 3.5 |
| Yo La Tengo And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside... | 4.5 |
| Yo La Tengo Fade | 3.5 |
| Megadeth Peace Sells... but Who's Buying? | 4.5 |
| Justice † | 3.5 |
| Justice Audio, Video, Disco | 3.0 |
| Metallica S&M | 4.0 |
| Metallica Ride the Lightning | 4.5 |
| Metallica Metallica | 3.5 |
| Metallica ...And Justice for All | 4.5 |
| Jessie Ware Devotion | 4.0 |
| Miike Snow Happy to You | 4.0 |
| Thundercat The Beyond/Where The Giants Roam | 4.5 |
| Thundercat Apocalypse | 3.5 |
| Thundercat Drunk | 4.0 |
| Flying Lotus Cosmogramma | 4.5 |
| Flying Lotus You're Dead! | 4.0 |
| A Perfect Circle Thirteenth Step | 4.5 |
| The Smashing Pumpkins Adore | 4.0 |
| The Smashing Pumpkins Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness | 4.0 |
| Silversun Pickups Carnavas | 4.0 |
| Silversun Pickups Swoon | 4.0 |
| The Joy Formidable The Big Roar | 4.0 |
| Jeff Tweedy Warm | 4.5 |
| Wilco Summerteeth | 4.5 |
| The War On Drugs Lost in the Dream | 4.0 |
| The War On Drugs A Deeper Understanding | 4.0 |
| Kurt Vile Wakin on a Pretty Daze | 4.0 |
| Girls Father, Son, Holy Ghost | 4.0 |
| Youth Lagoon Wondrous Bughouse | 4.0 |
| Youth Lagoon Savage Hills Ballroom | 4.0 |
| Patti Smith Horses | 4.5 |
| PJ Harvey The Hope Six Demolition Project | 4.0 |
| PJ Harvey Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea | 4.5 |
| PJ Harvey Rid of Me | 5.0 |
| PJ Harvey To Bring You My Love | 5.0 |
| PJ Harvey Let England Shake | 4.0 |
| Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band Trout Mask Replica | 4.5 |
| Frank Zappa Hot Rats | 4.5 |
| Frank Zappa Apostrophe | 5.0 |
| Tom Waits Mule Variations | 4.0 |
| Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds Henry's Dream | 4.5 |
| Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds Murder Ballads | 4.0 |
| Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds The Boatman's Call | 4.0 |
| Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds Push The Sky Away | 4.0 |
| Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds Skeleton Tree | 5.0 |
| The National Boxer | 5.0 |
| Silver Jews The Natural Bridge | 4.5 |
| Silver Jews American Water | 4.5 |
| Pavement Watery, Domestic | 5.0 |
| Dinosaur Jr. Bug | 4.5 |
| Dinosaur Jr. Green Mind | 4.0 |
| Dinosaur Jr. Beyond | 4.0 |
| Green Day Nimrod | 3.5 |
| Green Day Insomniac | 4.0 |
| Green Day Dookie | 4.0 |
| Green Day American Idiot | 3.5 |
| Green Day 21st Century Breakdown | 2.5 |
| Deerhunter Halcyon Digest | 4.5 |
| Deerhunter Fading Frontier | 4.0 |
| Parquet Courts Wide Awake | 3.5 |
| Parquet Courts Sunbathing Animal | 4.0 |
| Parquet Courts Human Performance | 4.5 |
| Matthew Dear Black City | 4.5 |
| Jamie xx In Colour | 5.0 |
| Kindness Otherness | 4.0 |
| Purity Ring Shrines | 4.5 |
| Blur Parklife | 3.5 |
| Blur 13 | 5.0 |
| The Hives Veni Vidi Vicious | 3.5 |
| Radiohead The Bends | 4.0 |
| Radiohead Amnesiac | 5.0 |
| Radiohead Hail to the Thief | 3.5 |
| Thom Yorke Anima | 4.0 |
| Kacey Musgraves Golden Hour | 4.0 |
| Todd Terje It's Album Time | 4.5 |
| The Hives Lex Hives | 3.5 |
| The Mars Volta De-Loused in the Comatorium | 4.5 |
| Japandroids Celebration Rock | 4.5 |
| Interpol Antics | 4.0 |
| Interpol Our Love to Admire | 3.5 |
| Interpol Interpol | 3.5 |
| Interpol El Pintor | 4.0 |
| Slayer Seasons in the Abyss | 4.0 |
| Slayer South of Heaven | 4.0 |
| Slayer Reign in Blood | 4.5 |
| Frank Turner Sleep Is For The Week | 3.0 |
| Frank Turner England Keep My Bones | 4.5 |
| Yuck Yuck | 4.5 |
| Raekwon Only Built 4 Cuban Linx... | 5.0 |
| Pusha T DAYTONA | 4.5 |
| Kanye West Late Registration | 4.0 |
| Kanye West Graduation | 3.5 |
| Kanye West The College Dropout | 4.0 |
| Kanye West 808s and Heartbreak | 3.5 |
| Kanye West My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy | 4.5 |
| Kanye West The Life of Pablo | 4.0 |
| Kanye West Yeezus | 4.5 |
| Childish Gambino Because the Internet | 4.0 |
| Childish Gambino "Awaken, My Love!" | 4.0 |
| Run the Jewels Run the Jewels | 4.0 |
| Run the Jewels Run the Jewels 2 | 5.0 |
| Run the Jewels Run the Jewels 3 | 4.0 |
| Chance the Rapper Acid Rap | 5.0 |
| Chance the Rapper Coloring Book | 4.0 |
| Big Thief U.F.O.F. | 4.5 |
| Brand New Science Fiction | 5.0 |
| Bon Iver i,i | 4.5 |
| Bon Iver 22, A Million | 5.0 |
| Frank Ocean Blonde | 5.0 |
| The Dismemberment Plan Change | 5.0 |
| Kendrick Lamar untitled unmastered. | 4.5 |
| Kendrick Lamar good kid, m.A.A.d city | 5.0 |
| George Harrison All Things Must Pass | 4.5 |
| FKA Twigs M3LL155X | 4.5 |
| Godspeed You! Black Emperor Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven | 4.5 |
| Godspeed You! Black Emperor F♯ A♯ ∞ | 4.5 |
| ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead Source Tags and Codes | 5.0 |
| Vince Guaraldi Trio A Charlie Brown Christmas | 5.0 |
| Madvillain Madvillainy | 5.0 |
| Love Forever Changes | 5.0 |
| M.I.A. Matangi | 4.0 |
| M.I.A. Kala | 5.0 |
| Torche Harmonicraft | 4.0 |
| Descendents Milo Goes to College | 4.0 |
| Talk Talk Laughing Stock | 5.0 |
| DJ Shadow Endtroducing..... | 5.0 |
| Spiritualized Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space | 4.5 |
| Built to Spill Perfect from Now On | 5.0 |
| Guided by Voices Bee Thousand | 5.0 |
| Portishead Dummy | 5.0 |
| Weezer Weezer | 5.0 |
| Kyuss Welcome to Sky Valley | 5.0 |
| The Notorious B.I.G. Ready to Die | 4.5 |
| Nas Illmatic | 5.0 |
| Pavement Wowee Zowee | 5.0 |
| Sufjan Stevens Illinois | 5.0 |
| The National Alligator | 5.0 |
| AJJ Christmas Island | 4.0 |
| Bauhaus Bela Lugosi's Dead | 5.0 |
| Sounds like a silent horror film or a hanuted house. Windows rattle, floorboards creak, the music fuzzes and crackles like poor film stock and dat vocal. |
| Laura Stevenson Wheel | 4.5 |
| Festivus One | 3.5 |
| OutKast Aquemini | 5.0 |
| Dio Holy Diver | 3.0 |
| Faith No More Angel Dust | 4.5 |
| The Feelies Crazy Rhythms | 5.0 |
| Diamond Head Lightning to the Nations | 4.5 |
| Neil Young After the Gold Rush | 4.5 |
| David Bowie Station to Station | 5.0 |
| The Who Who's Next | 4.5 |
| Dinosaur Jr. You're Living All Over Me | 4.5 |
| R.E.M. Murmur | 5.0 |
| Meat Puppets Meat Puppets II | 5.0 |
| Gomez Bring It On | 4.0 |
| Yasunori Mitsuda Chrono Trigger Original Sound Version | 2.0 |
| Joe Hisaishi Princess Mononoke | 2.5 |
| Regina Spektor Soviet Kitsch | 4.0 |
| The Stooges Fun House | 5.0 |
| The Dismemberment Plan Emergency & I | 5.0 |
| 0edit Neotokyo | 5.0 |
| Howard Shore The Fellowship of the Ring: The Complete Recording | 5.0 |
| maudlin of the Well Bath | 5.0 |
| Tool 10,000 Days | 4.0 |
| Talking Heads Remain in Light | 5.0 |
| Godspeed You! Black Emperor Slow Riot For New Zero Kanada | 5.0 |
| Nick Drake Pink Moon | 4.5 |
| Death Symbolic | 5.0 |
| Bruce Springsteen Born to Run | 4.5 |
| Wu-Tang Clan Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) | 5.0 |
| Pink Floyd Wish You Were Here | 4.5 |
| Kate Bush Hounds of Love | 5.0 |
| Anais Mitchell Hadestown | 4.0 |
| Weezer Pinkerton | 4.5 |
| Slint Spiderland | 5.0 |
| Manic Street Preachers The Holy Bible | 5.0 |
| My Bloody Valentine Loveless | 5.0 |
| Rage Against the Machine Rage Against the Machine | 4.0 |
| The Smashing Pumpkins Siamese Dream | 4.5 |
| Nine Inch Nails The Downward Spiral | 4.0 |
| Iron Maiden The Number of the Beast | 4.0 |
| Metallica Master of Puppets | 5.0 |
| Stevie Ray Vaughan Texas Flood | 4.0 |
| Megadeth Rust in Peace | 5.0 |
| Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin IV | 5.0 |
| The Smith Street Band No One Gets Lost Anymore | 3.0 |
| Pavement Brighten the Corners | 4.5 |
| Pavement Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain | 5.0 |
| Radiohead In Rainbows | 5.0 |
| Interpol Turn on the Bright Lights | 5.0 |
| Television Marquee Moon | 5.0 |
| Radiohead Kid A | 4.5 |
| Jeff Buckley Grace | 5.0 |
| The Velvet Underground The Velvet Underground & Nico | 3.5 |
| Neil Young On the Beach | 5.0 |
| The Zombies Odessey and Oracle | 5.0 |
| Yo La Tengo I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One | 5.0 |
| Radiohead The King of Limbs | 4.5 |
| Sebadoh Bubble and Scrape | 4.0 |
| Pixies Surfer Rosa | 4.0 |
| Pixies Doolittle | 5.0 |
| Tool Ænima | 5.0 |
| Tool Lateralus | 5.0 |
| Paul Simon Graceland | 4.5 |
| Koji Kondo The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time OST | 3.5 |
| Gomez Whatever's On Your Mind | 3.5 |
| Godspeed You! Black Emperor 'Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend! | 5.0 |
| Brand New The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me | 5.0 |
| Grimes Visions | 5.0 |
| Mystery Jets Radlands | 4.0 |
| Neutral Milk Hotel In the Aeroplane Over the Sea | 5.0 |
| Danny Elfman The Nightmare Before Christmas | 2.0 |
| Pavement Slanted and Enchanted | 5.0 |
Do you like The Pixies? Silly question really. Pavement are a slacker alternative band from the 90’s who do the short, catchy, timeless and bloody odd in much the same way as Doolittle. The one difference is this album is honestly better in my opinion, which is no mean feat considering how often Doolittle crops up on best ever lists.
It’s warm and fuzzy throughout, “Summer Babe (Winter Version)” is slow and mellow with a dizzy, spastic solo at the end, breaking out into fun, nonsense melodies. Melodies and nonsense are recurring themes; “Trigger Cut” sees the band sing “sha-na-na” and don’t get me started on “Conduit For Sale!”, which is some kind of history rap with panicked chorus.
On other tracks the album absolutely wears it’s heart on its sleeve, “Here” and “Zurich is Stained” are spacious laments, very much for the slacker.
Throughout the bass is fuzzy and you can hear the drummer have a great time as the melodies grow bigger; on “Lorretta’s Scars” the beat is certain to move anyone. This is a through and through a lo-fi marvel, but the album quality is very good unlike, say; Dinosaur Jnr.
Like Doolittle every song is a hit, you wish there was more of it and whoever you are there is no way you cannot love this beauty. |
| Linkin Park A Thousand Suns | 1.5 |
| Tom Waits Rain Dogs | 5.0 |
| Elliott Smith Either/Or | 4.5 |
| Radiohead OK Computer | 4.5 |
| Pink Floyd The Dark Side of the Moon | 4.0 |
| The Jimi Hendrix Experience Axis: Bold as Love | 5.0 |
| Baxter Dury Happy Soup | 3.0 |
| Nirvana Nevermind | 4.5 |
| Judas Priest Painkiller | 4.5 |
| The Stone Roses The Stone Roses | 4.5 |
| The Seatbelts Cowboy Bebop | 5.0 |
| Eagles Of Death Metal Heart On | 3.0 |
| Doves (UK) Kingdom of Rust | 3.5 |
| The Doors The Doors | 4.5 |
| The Doors Morrison Hotel | 3.5 |
| The Doors L.A. Woman | 3.5 |
| The Doors The Soft Parade | 3.5 |
| Disturbed Asylum | 1.5 |
| Disturbed Indestructible | 2.0 |
| Disturbed Ten Thousand Fists | 2.0 |
| Disturbed The Sickness | 3.0 |
| Deerhoof Apple O' | 3.0 |
| Deerhoof Deerhoof vs. Evil | 3.0 |
| Dead Kennedys Give Me Convenience or Give Me Death | 5.0 |
| David Bowie "Heroes" | 5.0 |
| David Bowie The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars | 5.0 |
| David Bowie Hunky Dory | 5.0 |
| David Bowie Low | 4.5 |
| Bon Iver For Emma, Forever Ago | 4.0 |
| Bon Iver Bon Iver, Bon Iver | 4.5 |
| Darwin Deez Darwin Deez | 3.0 |
| Darren Korb Bastion OST | 4.0 |
| The Darkness Permission to Land | 3.0 |
| Dark Tranquillity Damage Done | 4.0 |
| Danzig Danzig | 4.0 |
| The Dandy Warhols Thirteen Tales From Urban Bohemia | 3.5 |
| Daft Punk Human After All | 3.0 |
| Daft Punk Homework | 3.5 |
| Daft Punk Discovery | 4.0 |
| The Cure Pornography | 4.5 |
| The Cure Disintegration | 5.0 |
| Creedence Clearwater Revival Green River | 5.0 |
| Creedence Clearwater Revival Cosmo's Factory | 4.0 |
| Creedence Clearwater Revival Willy and the Poor Boys | 4.5 |
| The Coral The Coral | 3.0 |
| Coheed and Cambria From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness | 4.0 |
| Coheed and Cambria Year of the Black Rainbow | 3.5 |
| The Clash Combat Rock | 3.5 |
| The Clash London Calling | 5.0 |
| The Clash The Clash | 4.0 |
| The Clash The Clash (US version) | 4.0 |
| The Chemical Brothers Dig Your Own Hole | 4.5 |
| Cheap Trick Cheap Trick | 4.5 |
| Bullet for My Valentine The Poison | 2.5 |
| The Cars The Cars | 3.0 |
| Boston Boston | 5.0 |
| Bombay Bicycle Club I Had The Blues But I Shook Them Loose | 3.5 |
| Bombay Bicycle Club A Different Kind of Fix | 3.5 |
| Bob Dylan Blonde on Blonde | 4.5 |
| Bob Dylan Highway 61 Revisited | 5.0 |
| Bob Dylan Blood on the Tracks | 4.5 |
| Bob Dylan Modern Times | 4.0 |
| Bob Dylan The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan | 4.0 |
| Graham Coxon Love Travels At Illegal Speeds | 3.0 |
| Graham Coxon A+E | 4.5 |
| Blur Blur | 3.0 |
| Blondie Parallel Lines | 4.5 |
| Bloc Party A Weekend in the City | 4.0 |
| Bloc Party Silent Alarm | 4.0 |
| Bloc Party Intimacy | 3.5 |
| Black Sabbath Heaven and Hell | 4.0 |
| Black Sabbath Never Say Die! | 2.5 |
| Black Sabbath Sabotage | 4.0 |
| Black Sabbath Sabbath Bloody Sabbath | 3.5 |
| Black Sabbath Vol. 4 | 3.5 |
| Black Sabbath Master of Reality | 4.5 |
| Black Sabbath Black Sabbath | 3.5 |
| Black Sabbath Paranoid | 4.0 |
| Black Sabbath Dehumanizer | 2.5 |
| Dirty Pretty Things Waterloo to Anywhere | 2.5 |
| Blind Melon Soup | 3.5 |
| Blind Melon Blind Melon | 3.5 |
| Blind Melon Nico | 3.0 |
| The Black Keys Attack & Release | 3.5 |
| The Black Keys Brothers | 3.5 |
| The Black Keys El Camino | 3.5 |
| Beck Guero | 3.5 |
| Beck Sea Change | 4.0 |
| Beck Odelay | 4.5 |
| The Beatles Let It Be | 4.0 |
| The Beatles Abbey Road | 5.0 |
| The Beatles The Beatles | 4.5 |
| The Beatles Magical Mystery Tour | 4.0 |
| The Beatles Revolver | 4.5 |
| The Beatles Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band | 4.5 |
| The Beatles Rubber Soul | 4.0 |
| The Beatles Help! | 3.5 |
| The Beatles A Hard Day's Night | 3.5 |
| The Beatles Beatles for Sale | 3.5 |
| The Beatles With the Beatles | 3.0 |
| The Beatles Please Please Me | 3.0 |
| Beady Eye Different Gear, Still Speeding | 2.0 |
| The Beach Boys The Smile Sessions | 3.5 |
| The Beach Boys Pet Sounds | 5.0 |
| Bang Camaro Bang Camaro | 2.5 |
| Bang Camaro Bang Camaro II | 2.0 |
| Babyshambles Down In Albion | 2.5 |
| Bad Religion Suffer | 4.0 |
| Avenged Sevenfold Nightmare | 2.5 |
| Avenged Sevenfold City of Evil | 3.0 |
| Avenged Sevenfold Avenged Sevenfold | 2.0 |
| Audioslave Audioslave | 3.0 |
| At the Drive-In In/Casino/Out | 4.0 |
| At the Drive-In Relationship of Command | 4.5 |
| Arctic Monkeys Favourite Worst Nightmare | 4.0 |
| Arctic Monkeys Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not | 4.0 |
| Arctic Monkeys Suck It and See | 4.0 |
| Arch Enemy Doomsday Machine | 3.5 |
| Arch Enemy Khaos Legions | 2.5 |
| Anthrax Among the Living | 4.0 |
| Andrew W.K. I Get Wet | 2.0 |
| AJJ Knife Man | 5.0 |
| AJJ Can't Maintain | 3.5 |
| AJJ People Who Can Eat People are the Luckiest People | 5.0 |
| Amy Winehouse Back to Black | 3.5 |
| Alice in Chains Dirt | 4.5 |
| Alice in Chains Facelift | 3.0 |
| Alice in Chains Alice in Chains | 4.0 |
| Alice in Chains Jar of Flies | 3.5 |
| Alice in Chains MTV Unplugged | 3.5 |
| Alice in Chains Sap | 3.0 |
| Arcade Fire Neon Bible | 3.5 |
| Mark Ronson Version | 3.0 |
| Mark Ronson Record Collection | 2.5 |
| Paul Weller Sonik Kicks | 3.5 |
| Paul Weller Stanley Road | 4.5 |
| Butthole Surfers Locust Abortion Technician | 2.0 |
| Coldplay Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends | 3.0 |
| Coldplay A Rush of Blood to the Head | 2.5 |
| Coldplay X&Y | 2.0 |
| Coldplay Parachutes | 2.5 |
| Alabama Shakes Boys & Girls | 3.0 |
| Queen A Kind of Magic | 2.0 |
| Queen The Miracle | 2.5 |
| Queen The Works | 2.5 |
| Queen Jazz | 2.5 |
| Queen News of the World | 2.5 |
| Queen A Day at the Races | 3.0 |
| Queen A Night at the Opera | 3.0 |
| Queen Queen II | 3.5 |
| Queen Sheer Heart Attack | 3.5 |
| Mother Love Bone Mother Love Bone | 2.5 |
| Alanis Morissette Jagged Little Pill | 3.0 |
| Florence and the Machine Lungs | 3.5 |
| Florence and the Machine Ceremonials | 3.0 |
| Velvet Revolver Contraband | 3.0 |
| Velvet Revolver Libertad | 2.5 |
| AC/DC The Razors Edge | 3.5 |
| AC/DC For Those About To Rock We Salute You | 3.5 |
| AC/DC Back In Black | 3.5 |
| AC/DC Highway To Hell | 3.5 |
| AC/DC High Voltage | 3.5 |
| Arcade Fire Funeral | 4.0 |
| Arcade Fire The Suburbs | 4.5 |
| System of a Down Hypnotize | 4.0 |
| Wilco Yankee Hotel Foxtrot | 5.0 |
| Temple of the Dog Temple of the Dog | 3.5 |
| Nine Inch Nails Broken | 3.5 |
