dac

This thread has my attention. Great write ups broseph.

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music_phantom13

I already know I’m getting **** for this one. I realized making this list, in my eyes The Cure were never able to top this album as a whole. This album, as far as I’m concerned, marks the real birth of gothic rock. The songs are pleasantly dark, minimal, and beautiful, and have a way of pulling you in. While I do enjoy Pornography and Faith, there’s something about this one that just clicks with me. It’s like Robert Smith is seeing through the complexities of life and telling it honestly exactly as it is, and the music matches that concept perfectly. As far as I’m concerned, this is The Cure as they were meant to be. Music that is strangely pleasant and withdrawn while pulling you spiraling down into the gloomy, lonely world of The Cure. It just feels unbelievably real to me, I’m not to sure how to put the feeling I get when I hear it into words. If you’re feeling depressed and nothing can cheer you up, throw this bitch on. It can’t fail to be perfect.


The Coathangers are an all girl lo-fi indie rock band with a punk attitude that play some ****ing awesome music. They remind me a lot of The Pixies if the Pixies songs weren’t so well produced and if they played even crazier than they do. This album’s been growing on me like crazy lately, probably should have been in my top albums of 09. The first song Toomerhead (not counting the 5 second intro) has a catchy piano line played behind a simple guitar riff and a somewhat haunting vocal backing, and when the chorus comes in they kick up the distortion and rock out. Time Passing is a very, very lo-fi recording with some wicked guitar that creates a perfect atmosphere for the band. Bury Me makes perfect use of ___’s yelping, energetic voice with a very catchy beat and some background tambourines playing along. Pussywillow is one of my favorites, using just single guitar notes, a very primitive bass line, and a few other instruments to create a very dark, catchy song. Sonic You probably is some sort of tribute to Sonic Youth, but it sounds very shoegazey to me; the vocals are very dreamy and carry you away. Check it out, definitely one of my favorite lo-fi releases.

Bulldog

This is a great-looking list, and it's already given me a few more albums I'd never have heard of otherwise to look for (speaking of which, if I run into a proverbial brick wall with those, I'll give you a call!). Keep up the good work eh.

music_phantom13

I completely gave up on this. And it must be finished!!! New **** coming through... After 4 months of time to get much better acquainted with my music, my list changed a bit, and I'm working on reorganizing it right now. Hopefully I'll get some done this weekend since I have a lot of free time.

music_phantom13

Ah, American Football. This is pretty much the perfect break up album, I know it's extremely cliche but I can't imagine a better album to throw on after a tough break up. The album has a nostalgic, depressing sound that feels like the end of something great that simply ended. The guitar provides an excellent picked melody throughout, and some songs feature a trumpet that really solidifies the sound of the album. It's a mellow, laid back album with a sometimes jazzy sound. Mike Kinsella's lyrics are fantastic, and he sings with such serious emotion you'll immediately means every word he sings. The vocals are relatively sparsely placed, allowing the music to speak for itself for the majority of the album. The mix is also well produced so that the vocals don't distract from the rest of the song, blending in perfectly so that each instrument has it's own place in the songs. When the tempo speeds up in songs like I'll See You When We're Both Not So Emotional, you'll hear the band shine at it's best in my opinion. But in each song the tempos are constantly changing, and despite being a relatively calm and relaxing album it won't let you lose interest, providing plenty of variation to keep one actively listening. My only complaint - the bass is relatively simple, often playing a single note repetitively. But regardless, American Football still crafted a mellow masterpiece with this album, and it's a consistently emotional and well produced album throughout.


I know it's somewhat odd to have a mash up in my favorite albums, but it deserves it's spot, and as such I'm putting it here. DJ N-Wee, whoever he is, created one of the best mash up albums I've ever heard. Using sometimes full sections of Pavement's songs and other times simply chopped up and dissected pieces, he creates an even better back to Jay-Z's lyrics than the beats of The Black Album itself, in my opinion. The songs go in order, so it's each track of The Black Album mixed with the corresponding song on Slanted & Enchanted. The man must be a genius, he creates some seriously impressive beats and backing tracks out of an indie rock masterpiece. The album has got a seriously impressive flow to it, molding together perfectly. There's really not much else to say here, you need to hear it to believe it. I guess a lot of people hate it from the little bit of stuff about it I found on the web trying to find out who DJ N-Wee is, but I ****ing love it. What More Can I Sing, Zurich Your Shoulder, Loretta Clarity, and 99 Problems Here are the highlights of the album in my opinion. I know mash ups like this can get annoying but I really loved this one.

music_phantom13

An Albatross return with some brutal, rhythmic noise rock a la heavily distorted thudding guitar riff, almost circus like synth, and drums. This may sound like an impossible combination, but the band pulls it off fantastically, with the guitars providing pure noise shredding bliss over strange running synth melodies that will rock your world and melt your mind. This is the kind of music you need an 11 on your speakers for. The bass chugs along at hyperspeed, the synth pumps out melodies under the guitar that keep the songs sounding at least somewhat melodic (for the most part), and the guitar just shreds along for complete sonic bliss, sometimes playing discernible rhythms and melodies but just as often simply scratching and shredding all over the bridge to create a massive wall of sound that will kick you across the room and leave your heart pumping and adrenalin flowing. Add in the demonic screams of indecipherable lyrics, and make all of these sounds about the same importance to the mix, and you have Blessphemy, another ass-kicking, decimating release from one of my favorite noise rock bands always doing their own thing, An Albatross.


The music of Spiritualized is definitely something special. The songs start off as something simple and beautiful, usually utilizing an organ, dreamy vocals, and some jangly drum beats. Some of the songs could almost be hymns one would hear in church for the first little bit. But as they move on, each song grows into something special. Then the distorted guitars come in, spacey and loud and forceful but never aggressive or abrasive, giving the song a kick into action as the band begins to rock out and can knockyou on your ass at times if you don't know what's coming. To me, the songs are beautiful and powerful, capable of taking away any stress I may have and then lifting my mood until I'm feeling relaxed and content. Never boring, never too harsh, Spiritualized hit the perfect balance of wall of sound guitars and simplicity. With a stellar collection of songs, including a kick ass version of Take Good Care Of It and a cover of Spacemen 3's Walk With Jesus, I'd give anything to have been at this concert. The band are much wilder and louder live than in their studio recordings, but still manage to hold things together very well. I'd highly recommend this album to anyone that likes shoegaze or space rock, or just calming music in general that's up for something with a bit more liveliness to it.

music_phantom13

Time for some free jazz/no wave type stuff. No Pain For Cakes is, as far as the Lounge Lizards are concerned, a rather accessible album and a great place to start if you're put off by the insanity that is their self titled album (though I love that as well). The no wave craziness is still here, but in much smaller doses and with much more of a discernible melody. The title track showcases the feel of the album well after their previous works, introducing a much more straight jazzy feel but with a nice break in the middle where things still get a bit chaotic. The title track incorporates bongo drums, a syncopated horn section and violin melody, and oddly sad romantic feeling trumpet and violin solos, before moving into a latin jazz sound for a minute or so. My Clowns On Fire is again a chaotic free jazz work, albeit with a very constant and apparent beat. Carry Me Out has a very ragtime feel to it with a nice bit of Lounge Lizards touch, and Bob and Nico flows smooth and slow. Cue For Passion consists of only a piano playing a somewhat dissonant, heavy repeated chord progression with a trumpet soloing over top. Album closer Where Were You is a chill groove with John Lurie talking a bit about how the band works. Overall a very strong jazz oriented no wave album that adds a bit of structure and mellowness to what a lot of no wave bands of the time were making. It also has probably my favorite album cover of any album.

music_phantom13

Yep, for those of you who haven't realized it yet, I'm a huge sucker for indie pop. Especially when it's done right, and Melpo Mene definitely do just that. Holes is a very mellow, laid back album with Erik Mattiason's terrific, soft smooth voice just as important as the music. And he can really sing. The music has a folky feel to it, with lots of finger picked acoustic guitar, and he displays a bit of an electronica influence as well. A jazzy feel runs through most of the album as well. It's gauranteed to relax you and calm you down as much as any downtempo album I've heard. Sadly, Melpo Mene doesn't seem to be very popular anywhere despite the fact that it deserves just as much attention as Stars or Belle & Sebastian, in my mind. Check it out when you're in the mood for something relaxing and usually very upbeat (a few songs, like Lady, have a bit of a depressing feel).

Also, I'm writing shorter reviews from now on. I really want to actually finish this damn thing.

music_phantom13

Ah, good old hardcore punk. When the band finally discovered Henry Rollins for a lead singer, something clicked, and this album was the first outcome. Definitely one of the best things to come out of California in the punk scene, Black Flag created an album that was not just comical or anti-establishment like a lot of their peers. The songs talk about fear and anger at not being able to control what's happening in the world around you, and songs like Six Pack seem to advocate the idea that being a fat lazy alcoholic isn't the way to live your life. Of course there is fun to be had in songs like T.V. Party, and on first listen the record does seem to focus on rebellion and drinking and funny inappropriate lyrics. Gregg Ginn's guitar is also as important to the album as Henry Rollins vocals, and the album seems to speak as much truth today as it did to punks in the early 80s. Not much more to say, you've all probably heard this one before.

music_phantom13

The Boats' Songs By The Sea is a beautiful, slightly depressing, lo-fi masterpiece. The album opener, Lessley, consists of a very simple guitar part, just a slide up and down an acoustic string and an occassional note, a very simple keyboard melody, and two female vocalists (or maybe one recorded twice, I have no idea) singing. The result is a somewhat fractured sounding but gorgeous song that sets the tone very well for the rest of the album. It's Not Your Fault It's How Air Works then begins with a very catchy echoey synth line, and a very few extra sounds going on that blend into the background. The songs have definite repitition, for example in And There Are Stars That Fell From The Sky the main sound prevalent throughout the song is what sounds like a hammer being gently tapped on some metal, but the melodies come in and fill the empty space around the sound. The Boats real strong point is their ability to layer a very few collection of sounds together so that certain things fade into the background or become more prevalent, while still leaving plenty of space and emptiness in their songs. They usually utilize a drone of some sort in the back but it is very, very quiet and simply provides a background ambience for their sounds to weave in and out of, like waves crashing in on the beach, hence the album name I would imagine (All Thumbs and Thumbs actually has recordings of waves on a beach). Overall, the album has a feeling of loneliness and comfortable depression (if that
makes any sense) and The Boats manage to make a record that encapsulates the idea of Songs by the Sea in my mind perfectly.