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- Is This It? The Strokes
- It took me way too long to listen to this (got it from Justin),
probably because I was worried about the hype. But I ended up really
liking this album. I mean, I was psyched starting with the first notes of
"Is This It." There's just enough pop in the rock for it to appeal to the
likes of me. I have to admit, it's not special, and there's nothing
really complex about the songs. But hey. Songs like "Hard to Explain"
and "When It Started" are nice to listen to. They're "catchy." You know.
- Stephen Malkmus, Stephen Malkmus
- Good, but not as good as I'd thought it would be just from listening
to "The Hook" and "Jenny and the Ess-Dog," which are (in my opinion) the
best tracks on this album, though "Pink India" and "Trojan Curfew" (with
its droopy guitars) are pretty great. But the other tracks don't seem so
super special, though they're pleasant enough to listen to. But hey! For
some reason I really like the pic of him on the cover! So.
- California [ep], Dressy Bessy
- Again, lovely! (Except for "In the Morning," which I find kinda
annoying, especially the lahahas.) But the title track, "California," is
lilty and sweet. And "Super" is optimistic and happy. Gosh.
- Agoetis Byrjun, Sigur Ros
- Um, wow? What else can I say? The cliches are already in the
reviews, and I'm not even good at those. So. I especially like the
sweetness of "Staralfur." And "Vidrar Vel Til Loftarasa." And just the
hollow, echoey sounds throughout the whole album. Yum.
- Sound Go Round, Dressy Bessy
- I heart Tammy Ealom! Who rocks rocks rocks. She's funny and sweet
and has that smartymouth voice I love. Fave songs--"There's a Girl,"
"Just Being Me," "That's Why," "Oh Mi Amour," "Big To Do," and "Carry-On."
Okay, that's about half of them. Still. So great!
- Storytelling, Belle and Sebastian
- Lovely! The purely instrumental songs are the pleasant surprises in
this album: "Fuck This Shit" is lazy and sweet, especially given its name,
and "Conseulo Leaving" is roll-ey and nice. And wow, I'm a fan of "Big
John Shaft," which I could listen to over and over.
- The Tight Connection, I Am the World Trade Center
- Boy and girl make a Devo-ish old school synthpop group. They name it
after the twin towers that were, well, there at the time they formed the
band. They have fun keyboard baselines and silly voice synthesizers and
this nifty thing where you wave your hand in front of it and it changes
the pitch. The boy and girl are fun. They are good. They are danceable.
More people should dance when they play. "Big Star" makes me think of
Blake for some reason, maybe Amy Dykes's ultrasmooth voice. "Believe in
Me" is great, too, in a sorta New Order sounding way. Ooh! Takes me
back to college dances in Lobdell! And how beautiful is "Soiree?"
- Skittish, Mike Doughty
- I am totally hypnotized by Mike Doughty. "The Only Answer," though
much more sensical than his usual stuff, is beautiful. "Real Love" is a
nice remake. And wow, the first line from "Where Have You Gone?" is
incredible: "I can give a straight-up goddamn // I can give you four or
five goddamns // Got a thousand in my bank account // Break it open and
let the goddamns walk out."
- Richard D. James Album, Aphex Twin
- Okay, so the songs weren't all great (especially "Milkman," which is
just plain annoying). And the cover is scary, as in Jack-Nicholson-The
Shining-scary! But I liked "4." And "Goon Gumpas," was pretty, too. Oh,
and I *loved* "Girl/Boy Song," which was why I got the album in the first
place. It is absolutely gorgeous. So.
- Pink Hearts and Yellow Moons, Dressy Bessy
- Okay, so it's perky bubblegum pop, but it's *great* perky bubblegum
pop. "Lookaround" is so perfect and pink and round, with its lalalalalaaas
and its "lookalookarounds." And "My Maryanne" is girly and sweet. And
gosh, I listened to "If You Should Try To Kiss Her" over and over and
over. How could you not? Oh!
- Down the Elements, Japancakes
- Melodic electronic music, with waveforms that remind me of something
from a late 70s or early 80s space movie.
- Emergency & I, The Dismemberment Plan
- Though I still wouldn't call myself a D-Plan fan, I like this a lot
better than I liked Change. I enjoy "Spider in the Snow" and "Gyroscope"
a lot, for instance. And "Back and Forth" is pretty decent in its
rattle-off spoken-wordness. But I find "I [heart] a Magician" and "Girl
O'Clock" and "8 1/2 Minutes" super annoying (if you know the album you can
sense a theme). And I still stick to my belief that there's an annoying
resemblance between Travis Morrison's voice (on the high notes--I'm
thinking "A Life of Possibilities" here) and that of the lead singer of
the Dave Matthews Band.
- Lolita Nation, Game Theory
- From Casey! Wow, can you see the common thread (of Scott Miller)
between Game Theory and The Loud Family. Good tracks (in my opinion, the
ones that sound most like The Loud Family)): "Not Because You Can,"
"Exactly What We Don't Want to Hear," and especially "We Love You Carol
and Alison," "Nothing New," "Andy in Ten Years," and "Together Now, Very
Minor."
- Blue Screen Life, Pinback
- Okay, so these days I tend to like things on the emo-side, and this
album has been criticized for being way too emo. Whatever. I enjoy it.
I enjoy the thrumming, I enjoy the two-way vocal interchange between the
leads, and I even like the slowness. But you might not.
- But mmm, I think the first two tracks (which, admittedly, sound really
similar), are just gorgeous.
- Triangulum, One Star
- Ethereal electronic pop. Good, but not as good as their other album I
have, Clicktalk.
Triangulum has more of a groove thing going on, and is heavier on the
electronic and lighter on the ethereal. (Though "The Jelly Is Set!" is
dance-beatey but I still love it.) Lots of songs still have the
etherealness that I like, though. Such as "Metaphoric," which is twinkley
and beautiful. So is "Triangulum." And oh, "Astrolama" has a perfect
balance of dancey-baseness and sweetnessnlight.
- Presents: Singles and Beyond, Olivia Tremor Control
- More psychedelic than Apples in Stereo, and in a good way. "Love
Athena," probably the normalest song on the album, is what got me hooked.
But everything else is great too. Including "Collage #1," the weird
samply collage. And "Shaving Spiders," which is not so weird, but still
has all the crazy effects with which OTC seems to like to play. Oh, and
"I'm Not Feeling Human." And "King of the Claws." Anyway, I love the
jangly bass and watery vocal distortions and ramped fade-ins and almost
narratives.
- Folktronic, Momus
- Recommended by Casey. Pretty decent album, but not amazing. Hints of
They Might Be Giants and The Loud Family and Monty Python and Pet Shop
Boys, with more techie sampling. Which means it's fun, but I can't listen
to it for too many repeats. I can listen to the mellower songs, though,
like "Tape Recorder Man" and "Psychopathia Sexualis" and "Folk Me
Amadeus." And the lyrics are smart, with references to superflat and
Apple G5s and Jean Michel Jarre.
- When Your Heartstrings Break, Beulah
- Yippee! Doesn't this album make you want to scream yippee? Yippee!
"Sunday Under Glass" is ultra-yippee! This album is like a sweetened
iced-coffee high! Yippee!
- We Thank You, Kindercore
- Okay, this has got to be my best album purchase of the year.
Really. It's not that the music is the best (though a lot of the
songs--too many to list--are pretty durned wonderful). It's that I got
introduced to so many groups through this collection. Like Japancakes,
which I'd never heard of before. And Masters of the Hemisphere. And Of
Montreal. And then there are the songs from the groups I'd already heard
of and liked, like The Apples in Stereo and Dressy Bessy and The Olivia
Tremor Control. Which is great great great.
- Songs in a Northern Key, Varnaline
- Good, but not stand-out good. But pleasant to listen to, in an
alt-country-flavored way. The richness of the guitars comes across a lot
better over headset than through my crappy speakers. "Broken Song" is
pretty nice, again in that alt-country-flavored way (randomly, the
trombone and the pump organ in this song makes it sound a little like some
of Neutral Milk Hotel's stuff.)
- Spike, Puffy Amiyumi
- Good, but though I think the drums and guitars in this album are more
Americanized (take "Cosmic," for instance) than the other album I have.
But hey! Some great songs here: "Boogie Woogie No. 5," "Violet," the faux
disconess of "Cosmic," the surfiness of "Su-I, Su-I" and "Sui, Sui," the
groove of "Swimming Pool," the sixties-happy swing of "Dec.," the
energetic dancey weirdness of "While Girls on Circuit," and just the
general cheery goodness of "Love So Pure."
- South San Gabriel Songs/Music, Centro-Matic
- Went to a concert to see Varnaline, fell in love with the drifty twang
of Centro-matic instead. The reedy falsetto harmonies really got to me,
because I honestly dig that stuff. Songs like "The Broken Hands" that
just make me want to say gosh. "Glacial Slurs" is pretty nice, too, with
its violins and its especially reedy harmonies.
- Coquelicot Asleep in the Poppies: A Variety of Whimsical Verse, Of
Montreal
- I dunno, I always found this album a little too spastic for me. It's
certainly more spastic than the other Of Monreal albums I have, and while
it's only a little more spastic, it's that little bit that pushes me over.
Nothing specific--just that the songs don't grip me nearly so much. I do
like "Let's Do Everything For the First Time Forever" and "Penelope" and
"The Frozen Island," though. But those songs would still leave
Coquelicot in the maybe category, except that "The Hopeless Opus or
the Great Battle of the Unfriendly Ridiculous" (especially the long
instrumental parts) is so incredible.
- Things To Make and Do, Moloko
- Okay, so people say this isn't that innovative for
funk-electronica, but whatever! I'm fond of Moloko and their surreal
lyrics. Favorite tracks: "Pure Pleasure Seeker," "Indigo," and "Sing It
Back."
- Horse and Elephant Eatery (No Elephants Allowed), Of Montreal
- More silly fun music. Favorites: "The Problem with April," "Nicki
Lighthouse," "In the Army Kid." Special favorite: "Julie the Mouse," with
its weird trickley xylophoney sounds.
- The Gay Parade, Of Montreal
- Happy psychedelic Beatlesey carnival music. Hard to describe how
silly they are, except by saying they're kinda like the Beatles in Sgt.
Pepper or Yellow Submarine, but even sillier. Like "Fun Loving Nun"
("she's not like the conventional sister, no" with wahwahs in the
background). And "Jack Lamure" who's a volunteer fireman. And the
instrumentals of "The March of the Gay Parade." And the fantasticness of
"Nickee Coco."
- Retrospective, Red House Painters
- Red House Painters are kinda like Angry Salad, but slower and
wistfuller and more low key. I use music as mood-altering substances, and
this album is good when I want to experience slow and depressing. Which
sometimes I do. Like "Katy Song" and "Summer Dress" and and "Over My
Head" and "Drop" (especially "Drop") can sometimes make me almost weep.
Or some songs that start out depressing but end up mildly upbeat, like
"San Geronimo." (There are annoying songs, too, like "Medicine Bottle,"
which just makes me bored.)
- Suzuki, Tosca
- Chill trancey stuff for when I'm in that kind of mood. Not as good in
the summer, though. Probably because I associate it with the air
conditioned club feel. Though I do occasionally get in these moods. I
should also remind myself that this type of music really helps me do work,
which is also good. Tracks I like: "Busenfreund," which has a nice
keyboard layering to it, and "Boss on the Boat," which has a really nice,
but mellow, backbeat.
- A collection of songs from Rusty
- Okay, I like listening to this a lot more than Rusty's cover of 69
Love Songs Volume 1 (however amusing the sheer existence of the cover is).
Like "Finally"'s pretty happy and great, in a sort of
I-Am-the-World-Trade-Center kind of way. And so is "I Cry I Cry I Cry I
Cry I Cry I Cry" and "There Is You" and "Cherries" and "Where Has All My
Love Gone?" and "Dead Father" (I definitely like the songs that come out
of "The Mnemonic Devices" lots more. Though "Our Hurricane" sounds like a
lot like a Modest Mouse song, though I forget the title now.[*]) Oh, and
"Get Out of the Room" is pretty hilarious.
- [*]Rusty says they're "Trailer Trash" and "Bankrupt On Selling."
- It's Not As Bad As I'm Making It Sound, Honest Bob
- The album of the band of my friend Dan, who is one of my favorite
people ever, which means this is a completely biased entry, and which also
explains why it took me a hell of a long time to get around to writing
this entry. Okay, so Dan's voice is a little weak on the high notes, but
the cracks are cute! Really.
And the songs are so fun, like "Purple Yesterday," "My Dinner with Laurie"
(Anderson), and "You Don't Love Me Yet" ("I know several women who would
tell you under oath / That men are good for just two things and I excel at
both") and "All of the Cool Girls." And "I'm Still Around" is really
gorgeous, just really really gorgeous in its lovely wistfulness. Um, and
I really like the bonus track of reversed something. (Okay, I admit, I
never liked "Chair" all that much.) (Interesting liner note info:
"Organism" was inspired by "The Cyberiad"? Cool. My whole intro to
Stanislaw Lem came from Dan, back in college.) Honest Bob should play
more in lots of different places, like DC.
- Silverbeet, The Bats
- Lovely lovely lovely! Sweet strummy pop sounds, mmm. With harmonies,
too. Favorite songs: "Sighting the Sound," "Straight On Home," "Before
the Day," and "Halfway to Nowhere."
- Ready to Fly, The Verlaines
- Thanks, Casey, for introducing me to Kiwipop. (The lead singer sounds
disconcertingly like Robert Smith, though.) Though I'm not always into
guitars, I am into them here. Favorite tracks: "Gloomy Junky," "Tremble,"
"Such As I," War in My Head," and "Hold On."
- The Discovery of a World Inside the Moone, Apples in Stereo
- Yeah, so I've been into happy music. Some people are affected by
light and weather and seasons, while I (like many other people) am
affected primarily by music. This album is happy and great and happy.
With the requisite harmonies and stuff that I like. This is all the sun
of summer compressed into one little CD. Did I say it's happy? Of course
I did.
- You know what this is like? This is like J-pop. Like an American boy
version of J-girl-pop. Especially "Stream Running Over," "Look Away," and
"Stay Gold." Especially "Stay Gold." Oh goody goody goody.
- Randomly, the song "The Rainbow" really fit in well with The
Impossibly. Can't figure out why. Maybe just because I listened to
this song and read the book at the same time.
- The Coast Is Never Clear, Beulah
- Man, do I like this band. Happy fifties-ish melodies and harmonies,
with some loungey elements. I mean, the songs are simple, but super
catchy. Favorite songs: "Silver Lining," "Popular Mechanics for Lovers,"
(which has the great line "I heard he wrote you a love song, but so what?
Some guy wrote sixty nine."), "I'll Be Your Lampshade," and "Cruel Minor
Change."
- The Fruit That Ate Itself, Modest Mouse
- Good, solid Modest Mouse. I like "The Waydown," "Sunspots in the
House of the Late Scapegoat," and "The Fruit That Ate Itself" (which is
just weird and filtered and screamy). I especially like "Summer" ("Just
the smell of the summer / Can make me fall in love") and "Karma's
Payment," with its urgency and half-described accidents. I especially
don't like "Dirty Fingernails."
- The Sleepy Strange, Japancakes
- Weird but great instrumental music, country and seventies at the same
time. The songs (my favorites are "This Year's Best," "Vanishing Point,"
and "Vinyl Fever") are all sunny and lazy. There's cello and pedal steel
in here, and wonderful changing rhythms. Apparently most of their
compositions are done from jam sessions. I'd love to see them live.
- Quiet Is the New Loud, Kings of Convenience
- Wow. This is beautiful. I adore this album, I walked for
hours along the banks of the Potomac just listening to the guitars and the
harmonies on this album. I mean, it's a mildly depressing album, in a
wistful way. But god, it's beautiful. Favorite songs (the languidly
harmonic ones, of course): "Winning a Battle, Losing the War," "Singing
Softly to Me," "I Don't Know What I Can Save You From," "Little Kids," and
"Summer on the Westhill." The whole album makes me want to snuggle next
to someone in a bulky cream-colored sweater, on the side of a windswept
hill overlooking the fishing docks.
- I'm Waking Up To Us, Belle and Sebastian
- Three lovely songs by Belle and Sebastian. Strangely (because
everyone knows I am not this way, but then again, I liked Crash, that
movie about car accident fetishists, too), my favorite song is "I Love My
Car." Especially the swinging horn touch. And, of course, there's the
sweet longingess of "Marx and Engels" that's typical of Belle and
Sebastian. This is not to say that "I'm Waking Up To Us" isn't good, I
just don't like it as much as the other two (this seems to be a pattern
here -- see Jonathan David below).
- The Photo Album, Death Cab for Cutie
- How can I even begin my gushing about Death Cab for Cutie?
They are great, they are wonderful! First of all, I love their sound,
eerie and resonant, like looking through a puddle. And then there's Ben
Gibbard's vocals, which are all enunciated and earnest and seductively so,
in the way that only contemplative artboys can be. I especially like
"Steadier Footing," "A Movie Script Ending," and "Blacking Out the
Friction." The only song I don't like is "We Laugh Indoors," with the
repeated "I loved you Guinevere"s.
- Everything Is, Neutral Milk Hotel
- A bunch of earlier songs by Neutral Milk Hotel, before they broke up.
As enjoyable as their other songs, with all the usual weird sounds and
samplings (like in the title song, "Everything Is," and in "Aunt Eggma
Blowtorch") and filters and odd floppy guitar strings. Like a far, far,
far crazier Beck.
- Salt Sinks & Sugar Floats, 764-HERO
- I like this more than their other album, Weekends of Sound. I still
don't think they're amazing, but the songs on this album feel like they
have more character. I especially like the excrutiatingly slow songs such
as "Pitiful Rattle," "Quadrophenia," and "Gospel Truth." The frustration
of rhythm seems almost intentional, which is cool.
- Figure 8, Elliot Smith
- I actually didn't like this album at first, then I didn't listen to it
for a few months, and then I re-listened to it. Now I really like it.
Not sure what changed, except that I'd listened to Kings of Convenience in
between. I think the order of things affects appreciation. Like I liked
Belle and Sebastian more after getting into Magnetic Fields than before.
And a lot of this whole vein of indie pop is much better after my summer
of J-Pop.
Or maybe it's just a time of life thing. But anyway, I like this album.
The middle's okay, and "Everything Reminds Me of Her" and "Everything
Means Nothing To Me" both drag on a bit. But the first tracks -- "Son of
Sam," "Somebody I Used to Know," and "Junk Bond Trader" -- are just great
great great, with drawley but upbeat rhythms, and nice harmonies.
- This is a Long Drive for Someone with Nothing to Think About,
Modest Mouse
- The guitar is just fab in "Dramamine" and "Lounge." Not sure what it
is about the way Isaac Brock's voice cracks, but the "hell yeahs" in
"Breakthrough" are just incredibly hot to me, for some reason. I listened
to this album over and over again for weeks, it's that great.
- And then there are the lyrics
to "Talking Shit About a Pretty Sunset," which for a certain time
period in my life, was really really fitting.
- Everywhere and His Nasty Parlour Tricks, Modest Mouse
- At this point, I'm just being gushy about Modest Mouse. I like their
liquidy resonating guitars, I like their abstract lyrics, I like their
album covers, I like Isaac Brock's break-ey voice. Yeah, I'm just gushy.
Favorite songs on this album: "You're the Good Things," "The Air," and "So
Much Beauty in Dirt" (which is really, really incredible) . Mmm.
- Jonathan David, Belle and Sebastian
- Not so crazy about "Jonathan David," but "The Loneliness of a Middle
Distance Runner" is good and "Take Your Carriage Clock and Shove It" is
exactly the type of Belle and Sebastian song I love -- sad and sweet like
blue pastel.
- Building Nothing Out of Something, Modest Mouse
- Mmmmmm. "Never Ending Math Equation." "Sleepwalking." "Grey Ice
Water."
- Also, the album cover is beautiful beautiful beautiful. Hazy
transparent over colored landscape.
- I don't like "All Night Diner," though. It's kind of annoying.
- Hurray For Everything, Fuzzy
- Upbeat girl pop, with fifties harmonies and stuff. I really don't
think they're that unique, but I like them and their album. And
hey, they're from Boston. And there's some nice slow songs, too, which is
more what I like. Such as "Summer Is Gone" and "Motorcycle."
- The Moon & Antarctica, Modest Mouse
- When I first got this album, I thought it was the best of all the
Modest Mouse albums I'd listened to. But now, after listening more to the
other albums, I've decided it isn't. I mean, it's great. But it's very
different from the other Modest Mouse albums. More produced, I guess.
(Like "Gravity Rides Everything," which sounds so different from the other
Modest Mouse stuff, but which I still like.)
- Don't get me wrong, the album's still lovely. Especially "3rd
Planet," the song I'd take with me if I ever go to Svalbard, which I will
someday, really. ("Everything that keeps me together is falling apart /
I've got this thing that I consider my only art / of fucking people
over.") And "Tiny Cities Made of Ashes" is just surreal and cool. And I
do like the tune of "Laugh Hard It's a Long Way to the Bank." But the
album just doesn't sound as much like Modest Mouse as the other albums.
Though I guess it sounds kind of like "Broke" on "Building Something Out
of Nothing."
- But the lyrics still exhibit the things I like about Modest Mouse --
their preoccupation with the things I'm also preoccupied with. Cities.
Voluntary solitude. Icy cold spaces. Math. Of any group, Modest Mouse
creates my favorite verbal landscapes.
- The Middle of Nowhere, Orbital
- Another album I've had for awhile but forgot to log. Generally nice
space music-ey stuff. You know, it's Orbital. I listened to this album a
lot while writing papers in law school.
- Sad Sappy Sucker, Modest Mouse
- Found in a used music store in Somerville, Mass. Totally incredible
songs on here. "Worms v. Birds" (again, for the hollow guitarey sound).
"From Point A to Point B (infinity)," which starts off weird and a
cappella and samply and filtered but turns into a full-on rock song with
that same weird filtery voice in the background. And "Dukes Up" is great
both for the hollow guitars and the melodic screaminess.
- The Lonesome Crowded West, Modest Mouse
- This was the first of the long run of Modest Mouse albums I picked up.
I'd picked it up because I listened to it at a friend's house, and really
really really dug "Polar Opposites." Turned out that the rest of
the album was pretty damn incredible. Great guitar sound, for instance,
all hollow and distant sounding. "Teeth Like God's Shoeshine" is great,
and "Trucker's Atlas" and "Cowboy Dan," and, hell, everything. And the
pictures in the album are great, too.
- On Avery Island, Neutral Milk Hotel
- Have you ever heard anything more rejuvenating than NMH's "Song
Against Sex"? I have not. It's stumbly and jazzy all at once, a great
pep-song for a clumsy spazz like me. "Naomi"'s good too. And there's the
way that the repeated themes in the individual songs makes the whole album
sound like a great saga, a saga I can barely get my head around. Plus, of
course, there are the great NMH guitar sounds -- all loose and jangly
sounding, even when they're not.
- The Geometrid, Looper
- Though the songs on this album are more multi-styled than in Up a
Tree, I think I like this album less as a whole. I mean, I do like some
of the songs -- "Mondo '77," despite being used in a commercial (but it
was an anti-smoking commercial!), "On the Flipside," and "Uncle Ray." And
"These Things" is just super super sweet, in that pastel way that I like
super super sweetness.
But the album also contains some really annoying songs as well, like
"Modem Song," "Puddle Monkey," and "Money Hair," which just spoil things.
Oh well. I still like The Geometrid tons, just less than Up a Tree.
- Plants and Birds and Rocks and Things, The Loud Family
- I've actually had this album for a few years, but had totally
forgotten to log it. Whatever. It's a fun album. The lead singer's
voice sounds a lot like the lead singer from Angry Salad's voice.
"Aerodeliria." "Jimmy Still Comes Around." "Take Me Down (Too Halloo)."
"Spot the Setup"'s really fun too, some amusing rhymes in there.
Actually, there's a lot of that in this album, which is probably a lot of
what makes it fun.
- Up a Tree, Looper
- Okay, so this album is a bit repetitive. I mean, all the songs are,
arguably, based on the same melodic theme. But I still think the album's
pretty pleasant to listen to, with its intentionally childlike happiness
and all.
maybe
- You Are #6, Don Byron
- More music from Don Byron, with a more Latin American feel this time.
Generally, it's okay, but not, I guess, what I'm super psyched about. Too
loungey feeling to me. And the spoken-word stuff in "B-Setting" and
"Dub-Ya" really annoys me. I really like the weird rubby sounds in
"Belmondo's Lip," though (especially the DJ Spooky mix).
- The Donnas Turn 21, The Donnas
- Eh. Maybe it's just that I'm not into rock these days, just pop. But
I'm just not excited by this album. Yeah yeah, it's cool to hear girls
singing boys-ey lyrics ("40 Boys in 40 Nights" and "Nothing to Do", and
really just about everything), but there's only so far cool can convince
me to listen to something.
- Innocence and Despair, The Langley Schools Music Project
- For some reason I expected it to be really extra strange. "For some
reason" meaning all the reviews. But it's not all that strange--the
reviewers must've forgotten what it's like to be in middle school!
Because I'm pretty sure we sounded like that in music classes back
then--all sweet and light and innocent and stuff, although we ourselves
didn't feel sweet and light and innocent, although we had our bitter feuds
about who smelled funny and who was popular and all that stuff. Anyway.
I like this album, in a nostalgic way. But outsider music it isn't quite.
- TNT, Tortoise
- Decent, but not incredible. Reasonably mellow electronica, with
vibraphones and wavery things and such.
- Sophtware Slump, Grandaddy
- It's okay. I mean, I kinda like "Hewlett's Daughter," but that's
about it. And Jed the Humanoid sounds vaguely Weezerish. Other than
that, nothing else really stands out to me. Oh well.
- Eban and Charlie, Stephin Merritt
- I dunno. I wanted to like the soundtrack more, and maybe I would've
had I seen the movie, but I hadn't, and so I don't. Some of it's okay,
like "Poppyland" and "Little Ukelele" (but similar to stuff done under
Magnetic Fields) but other parts (the instrumentals, which I don't relate
to because I haven't seen the movie, but even some songs with lyrics, like
"Maria Maria Maria") are kinda dreary.
- Mixed Signals, Tristeza
- Nice electromellow music, but too many snares! Not so into snares.
- The Magnetic Fields' 69 Love Songs Vol. 1, Rusty Spell
- You read it right, it's my friend Rusty's (and his girlfriend Liza's)
covers of Vol. 1 of 69 Love Songs. Without it, we would not have
discovered our mutual interest in indie pop. So.
- Some of the covers are great, like "I Don't Believe in the Sun," "All
My Little Words," "The Luckiest Guy on the Lower East Side," "I Think I
Need a New Heart," "The Book of Love" and "Nothing Matters When We're
Dancing." But some are too over-the-top silly for me, like "A Chicken
with Its Head Cut Off" (with chicken sounds!) and "I Don't Want to Get
Over You" (with the whispers) and "Let's Pretend We're Bunny Rabbits"
(with the vocal distortions). This just shows I'm more of a purist, hunh.
- Also, the instrumental cover of "100,000 Fireflies" ("100KF") (not
from 69 Love Songs Vol. 1) is really great.
- As a side note, Rusty's singing voice sounds totally unlike his
speaking voice, which is kinda disconcerting.
- Melt, Straitjacket Fits
- I like the upbeat melodies, but the music's just too guitar-driven
for my tastes right now. Maybe some other time. My favorite songs: "Down
in Splendour," "Such a Daze," and "Hand in Mine" (which has a kinda Modest
Mousey guitar).
- Submarine Bells, The Chills
- Hmm, this is really borderline. I mean, I kinda like it, just that
the lushness of the music is too much, know what I mean? Songs I
like lots: "I Soar," "Familiarity Breeds Contempt," and "Submarine Bells."
- Change, The Dismemberment Plan
- People thought I'd like this album. I'm not so crazy about it. I
mean, it's okay. But the voice of the lead singer, Travis Morrison,
sounds annoyingly like Dave Matthews (especially on the first song,
"Sentimental Man"). Or maybe just on this album. People keep telling me
the other albums are better, and that they're awesome live. So. I'll
give them another chance, I think. But I'm still not crazy about this
album. Though I do really like one song, "Ellen and Ben," which is just
hilarious. And "Following Through" is all right.
- Interlude, Saint Etienne
- For awhile, I didn't like this album. But now I'm so-so about it.
It's a little too lounge-electronic-ey for me, and not in the way that
Japancakes is. The album is lounge electronic-ey in a club sort of way,
in a club sort of way where everyone's dressed smart and clean and
drinking perky sweet drinks. (For example, "Northwestern" and "Mountain
Rain" and "Bar Conscience" and "Le Ballade de Saint Etienne" and, eek, the
two bonus tracks.) Well, not all of it. There's "Queen of Polythene" and
"Red Setter," for instance, which is kind of French-loungey, but annoying,
because the singer's voice is annoying. I like "Roseneck" and "Thank
You," though, which are more slow, non-club-lounge songs, like Japancakes
does.
- Alive to Every Smile, Trembling Blue Stars
- I'm only so so about this album. I mean, I like some of its lushness
(the first song, "Under Lock and Key," reminds me of "Bonnie and Clyde,"
the one song I liked on Luna's Penthouse album). Actually, the whole
group reminds me of Luna (only less twang) and Alphaville, with a little
bit of Duran Duran mixed in (to me, not a good thing, sorry you Duranies
out there). I do really really like the hush of "Maybe After All," but
that's probably the only song I really really like.
- Weekends of Sound, 764-HERO
- A little too traditional for me. I dunno, I guess I sort of got used
to weird sounds in the music I listen to. Or something. The album's all
right, though. And I bet they'd be fun live. "Out Like a Light" reminds
me of something Honest Bob would play, maybe with a touch of Weezer. And
the slowness of "Something Else" is pretty nice, too. But I find the
chorus in "Weekends of Sound" really pretty annoying.
- The Hour of Bewilderbeast, Badly Drawn Boy
- I got this album because I thought "The Shining" was just, well,
really lovely. And it is. Actually, the album has a lot of lovely stuff
on it, it just doesn't grab me for some reason. I mean, I like
"Bewilder," "Fall in a River," and "Mage in the Air" (despite the
appearance of "mage" in the title). I even like "Body Rap," the song that
was on all the music video stations (it was even playing in Japan, where I
was that summer). It's kind of like Danielewski's House of Leaves
-- I feel like I should like it more, but I don't. It just doesn't
compel me somehow, even though the individual pieces are nice.
Maybe if I listen to it more.
- Versus, Kings of Convenience
- Eh, I'm not so crazy about this album of remixes. I mean, part of the
reason I liked Quiet Is the New Loud so much is the gentle sweetness of
its acoustic guitar harmonies. The electronic beats on Versus just
disrupt everything. I mean, I guess the additions in the remixes of "The
Girl From Back Then" and "Winning a Battle, Losing the War" aren't so
obtrusive. And the remix of "Little Kids" is kinda spooky, in a cool way.
But in most of the album, the additions *are* annoying. Like the mix of
"Leaning Against the Wall" by Evil Tordivel. Oh well.
- Ya'll Get Scared Now, Ya Hear!, The Reindeer Section
- I mean, it's not bad -- it's just not great either, you know? Yeah,
I've yet to find a collaboration album that really really impresses me.
Oh well.
- Penthouse, Luna
- For awhile I liked this album, then I hated it, and now I kinda like
it again. I dunno. I think I have to be in the mood for this one. Some
of the songs are just too . . . normal, for one thing -- no odd
instrumentals or rhythms or over-the-top happiness or any of the various
things that keep my attention. But some of the songs are just nice
anyways, like "Moon Palace," for instance. And I think the bonus track,
"Bonnie and Clyde," is awesome. So I'll just file the whole thing under
maybe.
no
- Swansong for You, Gentle Waves
- Too wispy and twee (gah! I used that word!) for me (if you can believe
that). I dunno, Isobel was never my favorite in Belle and Sebastian, and
this album is very Isobel. There's also this sixties
French-loungey feel about the album (especially "Falling from Grace") that
I'm not a fan of, either -- seems like the kind of music that Fonda[*] and
I would always disagree on, the sort of Umbrellas of Cherbourg stuff. Or
maybe it's just that Isobel's voice kinda annoys me.
- [*] I bet Fonda would like this album. I even bet my mom would like
this album, though not in the same post-post-something hipster way that
Fonda would.
musicians and bands i like but don't have any albums of (a sort of to-buy
list)
- The Eels
- Heavenly
- Spinanes