The biggest band on the planet. An impressive debut from Blur’s northern adversaries, Definitely Maybe is packed cover-to-cover with dead simple rock n’ roll produced at a massive scale. The composition, songwriting and arrangement of these songs is infuriatingly simple. Yet, the Gallaghers, Bonehead, and the other one have the swagger and cojones to make them soar.
The Beasties continue their near-flawless, endlessly influential run by proving they still remember how to be a punk band. Bouncing between live instrumentals and their usual sample-based boom bap, the Brooklyn trio manage to keep 20 tracks sounding fresh top to bottom. Huge shout to Heart Attack Man for giving, well, Heart Attack Man their band name
the band is recording live, and it feels SO good, baby! i personally don’t despise monster like all the old people on this website do (please sell me your fan club CDs) but i am glad the boys from athens decided to try something new on this record. this one is micheal “i don’t shower” stipe’s favorite, and while i don’t agree (love you life’s rich pageant) this is R.E.M at the colliding point of all of their eras. you’ll find the country/bluegrass ... read more
Ben Folds’ usual witty, driving piano rock dosed with an extra heap of wistfulness and self-awareness (not the usual Ben Folds self-awareness don’t get it twisted.) Might’ve been less successful commercially than Rockin’ The Suburbs (economists are calling it the Hammy Effect) and sure as shit is less fun, but those trade offs are well worth it. Benny lets some of his most intellectual songwriting loose on this one, with tracks like Jesusland, Landed and Sentimental Guy ... read more
Air-tight emo filled with energy, solid riffs and surprisingly mature songwriting. I wish the production was a little less shiny but that’s typical of most 2000’s emo, so whatever. Good ass album, if a little front loaded
i. love. robbie. williams. this is essentially a greatest hits collection born out of his first two albums by capitol to get rob the US breakout he deserved (the public reception to better man proved that this exercise was fruitless) and a greatest hits release it was. it’s got the best of 2 real solid albums! it’s got his breakout hit! it’s got the one where he says “your ass is mine!” in the movie! overall it’s a fun oddity in his wildly inconsistent ... read more
The pop-ification of Death Cab continues on Plans, the LP that gives us their biggest radio hits: "Soul Meets Body" and "I Will Follow You Into The Dark". (a song I fucking DESPISE. I cannot stress how much I think that song blows.) While a few feet short of a mile better than their later efforts, Plans is not the followup to Transatlanticism I was looking forward to. Despite the standout track on this album being called "Crooked Teeth", it appears DCFC has lost ... read more
It's a Bright Eyes album, but with synths instead of guitar. Unfairly treated because it was released day and date with Oberst's best album by a long shot, this project still contains tracks worth listening to if you're a fan of Conor Oberst. Ship in a Bottle's insufferable bridge that contains a sample of a baby crying for WAY too long brings this down 5 whole points.
this shit is muddy as hell
okay full review - a bit too repetitive for my tastes. same textures and energy the whole album, which goes hard as fuck, but I get so sick and tired of hearing guitars with just overdrive on playing thick, heavy riffs. great shuffled in with other more interesting music, draining to listen to as a cohesive whole.
Starting out with the obvious - Possum Kingdom is a generational song, one of the highlights of post-grunge or whatever 90's heavy-but-not-metal guitar music is considered, and an absolutely phenomenal piece of songwriting. As for the rest of the album, Toadies shine playing fast, heavy, or both. Their (must-read) self-written bio describes them as Pixies meets Metallica, and while that's high praise to give yourself, I think they're right. Whatever it is they're doing, ... read more
I'm not sure if it's a good or bad sign for any given band when you're talking with the homies about recent pickups and you say "Oh yeah, I picked up the Hootie album" and they know exactly what you mean because who the fuck owns Fairweather Johnson by Hootie and the Blowfish? Anyway, this is THE Good Charlotte album due to it having The Anthem and Lifestyles, the two biggest hits GC ever pulled off. Outside of those? Not great. I love pop-punk. A lot. Unfortunately, ... read more
Holy shit. A raw, incisive, gritty look at the emptiness of celebrity and the draining nature of the creative process. Contains "Art is Hard", potentially the best song-about-songs out there. I had only heard of Cursive in passing before finding this album and Devourer in the clearance bin at my local record shop (and getting the opportunity to see them open for Bright Eyes shortly after) and I can say they have rapidly become one of my favorites. So raw and uncompromised, direct and ... read more
There's 16 minutes of Joyce Manor available for me to critique, so I don't have much to say. Another step towards perfecting their style, but not nearly as influential or novel as S/T or Never Hungover Again. That doesn't mean the music is bad, but I was hoping for more direction as the band ages.
I must have a soft spot for Cool Britannia and its' ripples throughout culture. This album has MOMENTUM in the first half. The Kylie Minogue duet and everybody's favorite first released footage from Better Man Rock DJ are particular standouts. Robbie has a reputation for being a bit cheeky, and in turn grating, but I take it as infectious charm. I just can't dislike this guy, his hits are undeniable and this album holds a few of his career's highlights before going cabaret. ... read more
I seem to have the unfortunate curse of always finding the follow-up to the critical smash at record stores, Goodwill, etc. Luckily for me, Rilo Kiley's attempt to topple their breakout The Execution of All Things might not soar as high as its older sibling, but it still holds steady as a solid Omaha Sound™ project. The first 3 tracks evoke the brilliance of Execution, and then we fall off the wagon. Stylistic experiments litter this LP, with some failing to get off the ground and ... read more
A return to form, but nothing incredibly novel or noteworthy -- just the Kids writing the music they should've been this whole time.
Not quite what I wanted sonically after reading this passage on their Wikipedia page:
"They are considered forefathers of the emo genre, and have been widely credited as being an influence, both by contemporaries Saves the Day and later bands such as Fall Out Boy, Taking Back Sunday and the Wonder Years."
Despite the sanitization of their sound from Midwest emo / pop-punk to power pop, The Get Up Kids still know how to write a competent song. While it takes a few tracks to get to ... read more
The Johns continue to release the kind of music only they can, this time backed by a full band. Holy SHIT these guys needed a bassist and BAD for their first few projects. Clever lyrics and smarter power-pop arranging. Might win award for the coolest story behind an album name unrelated to the lyrics of the album
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Recent Review Comments
On Nathanknowsall's review of Courtney Barnett - Creature of Habit
"barely anybody is hating lmao I think it's just you man"
On Magdalena Bay - Imaginal Disk
"@9876rcm @v1xn no. I'm not doing homework to fully understand an album. I don't know how many times I have to say this - MUSIC IS MUSIC. The movie is not music and should not be required reading to fully get the concept. The band themselves said the concept was applied to the music after it was written. Ziggy Stardust, Tommy, Dark Side, De-Loused in The Comatorium, Good Kid, What's Going On, Hospice, American Idiot, Illinoise, undun, Black Parade, Deltron 3030, ArchAndroid, all of those albums tell the story without needing crutches. It's fine that you like expanded universes. It's not bullshit for me to say that the story (not the themes, the story) is half baked and relies too heavily on outside media to tell it. Opinions are opinions."
On Magdalena Bay - Imaginal Disk
"@Illusionbound your definition of concept album applies to nearly every album with any amount of throughline. I'm not lazy, I just want the album to tell the whole story, because I listen to music for the music, not the social media and the tours and the music videos.. My sincerest condolences that I dared to critique your favorite band, I will keep my opinions exactly homogeneous with you and the rest of this website from now on"
On Magdalena Bay - Imaginal Disk
"@Illusionbound music is not a literary medium. It's okay to like the vibe of a project more than the actual content within, but it's foolish to say that a concept album is effective if you need to do homework to understand it. Because the Internet (an album considered to be one of the best concept albums of all time) was written to be the soundtrack to a fake movie but it also stands completely alone without knowledge of the screenplay or ARG. the themes are enhanced by the extras; the extras are not crucial to understanding the album nor do they leave the album feeling incomplete. Music is music. The extra content around the album is not music, therefore it should not be necessary to understand the themes of the music."
On Magdalena Bay - Imaginal Disk
"@Illusionbound you wouldn't know that without supplementary material which is exactly my point"
On firegold763's review of The Replacements - Let It Be
"it’s obvious i idolize this band but i think you might be missing the entire point of this album and the replacements as a whole, do some research and give it another try"
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