I enjoyed Dogrel, but this album did not draw me in as that one did. There were only two songs that I enjoyed (06) Oh Such A Spring / 09) I Was Not Born). It wasn’t a bad album, but it felt more like a collection of lesser tracks on a good album. If I didn’t enjoy the band so much, I may have scored it lower, but it also may require more listens to appreciate.

What a fantastic album. I love when songs can change midstream and still be consistent with what came before; an example of this is St. Vincent’s Pills. Many tracks alter themselves but become something fresh and exciting to listen to. By the third track, I was already deciding that this album was a nine if the rest held up as quality. Not every song reached this level, but none were bad or fell below an eight for me. It was continuously revitalizing and interesting. The voice reminded me ... read more

This is my favorite band to come out in the last decade. Their music is vibrant and raucous and audacious and loud, and it is obvious that they don’t care about anyone’s opinion of them. It is in one’s face and I love the music and lyrics. This to me is what punk music sounds like.

01. Colossus - 8
02. Never Fight a Man with A Perm – 9
03. I’m Scum – 8.5
04. Danny Nedelko - 8
05. Love – 7.5
06. June - 8
07. Samaritans – 8.5
08. Television ... read more

01. Bird Tutorial – 6
02. Sin Triangle – 7
03. Good Magicians – 7.5
04. Sophisticated Space – 7
05. I’m Filled With Steak, and Cannot Dance – 7.5
06. Where the Sidewalk Ends – 7
07. Mouth Log – 7.5
08. I Eat Salads Now – 7.5
09. Rat of the City – 7.5
10. Not but for You, Bunny – 7
11. Persephone – 8
12. Imposter Syndrome – 8
13. New Recording 180 (New Year’s Eve) – 7

I say this with all honestly that this album really made me deep down happy. It is vibrant and lively while a bit of whinging about class differences. The longest song is 3:34, and half are under three minutes. I wasn’t crazy about the last two songs; otherwise, excellent.

01. Lander – 8.5
02. Here It Comes Again - 8
03. Going Soft - 8
04. Camel Crew - 8
05. Long Hot Summer – 7.5
06. Feels Like Fun – 7.5
07. Here’s the Thing – 8.5
08. The Races – 9 ... read more

I really liked Vol. 1, so I hoped that I would like this one as well. I didn’t. I said of the previous song that I loved his voice. I still do, but the covers did not hold up for me as much as they did in the previous album. Moon River is too much of a classic to be remade, especially in an eight-minute version. I like it short and sweet, if at all. Again, his voice appeals, but none of the songs were of interest. I feel that the best works were put in Vol. 1, much as the way artists ... read more

I loved this album. There was not a single song I disliked. Several are in my favorites rotation. An album full of eights is not an eight album to me; it gains more points for consistent excellence.

01. Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels) – 8
02. Neighborhood #2 (Laika) – 8.5
03. Une Anne Sans Lumiere – 8
04. Neighborhood #3 (Power Out) – 9
05. Neighborhood #4 (7 Kettles) - 8
06. Crown of Love - 8
07. Wake Up – 9 – I have to acknowledge a certain affinity for this ... read more

I’ve loved Bjork’s sound and songs for some time, but much of this album was nothing more to me than ambient background music to me. The whole album was a unified vision but none of the songs stood out enough for me to save into a playlist.

This was a series of songs about gunfighters and killers interspersed between songs about living on farms and enjoying the simple life. I have a fondness for storytelling songs, especially the violent ones, much like several of Johnny Cash's more well-known tunes. I am going to tell the plot of the gunfight songs only, so spoiler alert:

01. Big Iron – 7 - An outlaw runs a town. A marshall is expected. Everyone expects the outlaw to win, which he does not.
03. Billy The Kid – 7.5 ... read more

This album reminded me a lot of Liz Phair's Exile in Guyville. Both were albums that didn't hold much interest for me in the beginning but blew me away with the second half. With Exile, it was the song, Mesmerizing. Here, Track 6, The Whores Hustle and the Hustlers Whore, is where I started to notice the album, and the next song with Thom Yorke really pulled me in. I loved the rest of the songs, which made me enjoy the earlier ones on repeat. A lot of albums front load their works with the ... read more

I wasn’t that impressed with the album. It was all right with heavy-hitting beats in the beginning, but sometimes it felt like they were just creating rhymes for rhymes sake.

It took some time to appreciate this album. None of the music gripped me, but I enjoyed some of the crazy lyrics.

01. DVD Menu – 8 – A simple little one-minute song with a nice creepy tone.
02. Garden Song - - “And when your skinhead neighbor goes missing, / I’ll plant a garden in the yard.” Is there a body under that garden?
03. Kyoto – 8 - I do love trumpets. A little epic tone to this one. “I’ve been driving out to the suburbs / To park at ... read more

I have got to say that I love his voice. One only needs to listen to the opening of the last track, Lionel Richie’s All Night Long, to know how this album goes. The album was less a series of songs and more an experience, an excellent experience. It was experimental where I was not so in love with most but I enjoyed the entire album because it constantly changed and surprised.

01. Home Is – 7 – Just people singing single notes without words, growing in intensity.
02. Overture ... read more

This is a great album. The first time I heard it, I couldn’t believe how good it was and it has gotten better with each listen. I do have a problem with some of the added sound effects, like the cats or random yelling. Some worked for me, like the sound of something that may have fallen of a piano or the dogs at the end of Track 3 or the start of Track 7, but it felt like someone trying something new. Few songs were a nine or better but the whole experience was wonderful.

01. I Want You ... read more

There is an almost minstrel quality to this music where it could have been made hundreds of years ago. It is a simple sound on morbid subject matters. Each replay of the album increases the appreciation I have for it, but like most albums, it starts to fade as it goes further along.

01. A Minor Place – 8.5
02. Nomadic Revery – 8
03. I See A Darkness – 9
04. Another Day Full Of Dread – 7.5
05. Death To Everyone – 8.5
06. Knockturne – 7.5
07. Madeleine- Mary ... read more

I did not like any of these songs. There are three interludes called Chromatica I, II, and III which just felt like filler. The first full song opened with a sound like the opening of En Vogue’s Free Your Mind, and the lyrics of “Free your mind” pop up later in the track. Song Three had a nice play on words where it used “breakout” and “freak out,” which should a pear to rhyme, but don’t. She asks to not be objectified and says she is not a ... read more

I like some bubblegum pop; not this. I was not able to get into it or find the fun in the work. None of the beats were catchy or memorable to me and there is not a song I liked amongst the bunch.

What a confident work. I haven’t come across such braggadocious music in years. The characters of the songs are vain, vapid, self-absorbed, and magnificent. This is high-quality bubblegum pop that includes a song called Bubblegum. It has so many retro sounds to it. It opens with the narrator explaining how she is so attractive, every man wants her. The second song has been self-anointed as my personal theme song. By the midway of the fourth song, I was in love with this group. It is ... read more

The album started fine, but Untrust Me was the best of all. After the first song, Tracks 2 and 4 made me imagine the singer screaming over a cabinet box in an arcade while trying to achieve a high score on Galaga. It started to go on forever and there was so many electric sounds, I was waiting for the additions of turn signals and bug zappers. Not a fan.

A fantastic work with great lyrics, it was only bogged down slightly by the psychiatrist’s interludes. Black was great and Lesley is a magnificent eleven-minute story about a woman in a toxic relationship. There is an orchestral feel to the work, with all sorts of classical instruments listed in the production notes. Half the songs buoyed by piano work, and Dave is the pianist on three tracks. It is a marvel, strong and clear, and some of the best hip-hop I’ve heard in a while.