(118) The Visitor - Jim O'Rourke (Drag City)
One almost 40 minute long track. Truly gorgeous. Easy to get lost in, and unfortunately distracted. (6.5/10)
(119) Junior - Royksopp (Astralwerks)
Solid, fun, catchy and dancey electronic pop. Not the best, but there are several JAMS. (6.5/10)
(120) Mandala - Rx Bandits (Sargent House)
An interesting and loud take on The Police and The Clash's dub-inspired pop. Impressive skills, gets monotonous. (6.5/10)
(121) Oohs & Aahs - Say Hi (Barsuk)
Nice, lame, boring, unoffensive indie pop. I have no other words to describe the way I feel about this. (5.5/10)
(122) Bonfires on the Heath - The Clientele (Merge)
Beautiful, moody slow to mid-tempo 60s pop. It's about time I'm not bored by these guys! (7/10)
(123) New Leaves - Owen (Polyvinyl)
Fifth Owen LP is the same ol' same ol', and even cornier than normal, but boy is it gorgeous. (6.5/10)
(124) Other Truths - Do Make Say Think (Constellation)
As much as I hate the genre, not a bad post-rock album. Not nearly as good as the last one, though. (6/10)
(125) Higher Than the Stars EP - The Pains of Being Pure at Heart (Slumberland)
Four more songs in the vein of their s/t full length plus a remix. Just fine. (6.5/10)
(126) Old Patterns - Alan Scheurman (self-released)
Late 2008 album of spacey, psychedelic folk from ex-singer of Rescue. Recorded w/Warren Defever. Totes good. (6.5/10)
(127) Let Go EP - The Silent Years (Side Cho)
Detroit indie pop darlings and their latest EP of spacey rock ala The Bends meets late SDRE.The goods! (6.5/10)
(128) The Loud Wars - So Many Dynamos (Vagrant)
Poppier, emo-ier version of The Dismemberment Plan's Vagrant debut. Flashlights was better, but still good. (7/10)
(129) Monsters of Folk - Monsters of Folk (Shangri-La)
Mediocre as shit "all-star" band featuring James, Mogis, Oberst and Ward. Getting real sick of these guys. (5.5/10)
(130) The Eternal - Sonic Youth (Matador)
Obviously a so-so album for Sonic Youth. Is my cred completely shot since I can't seem to care about them? (5.5/10)
(131) Got Nuffin' EP - Spoon (Merge)
A nice thought between Ga x 5 and the next record, but nowhere near as good as Spoon usual is. (5.5/10)
(132) Change Remains - Starlight Mints (Barsuk)
Corny, obnoxious, electro-indie pop. Not my bag at all, no thank you. (4/10)
(133) Vapours - Islands (Anti-)
Listening to Islands just makes me miss The Unicorns. Nick Thorburn has just come to be a little too serious for me. (6.5/10)
(134) The BQE - Sufjan Stevens (Asthmatic Kitty)
Suf, please stop the epic, over-orchestrated sidetracks, and please get back to weird, beautiful folk records. (5/10)
(135) Actor - St. Vincent (4AD)
What a babe, right? Annie Clark also happened to release one of the better, more innovative pop albums of 2009. (8/10)
(136) Dragonslayer - Sunset Rubdown (Jagjaguwar)
Wolf Parade's Spencer Krug's other project, which sounds like his Wolf Parade songs. Best from them (SR) yet. (7.5/10)
(137) Leaves in the Gutter EP - Superchunk (Merge)
Great power/pop/punk from one of the longest lasting bands in indie rock. Release a full length already! (7.5/10)
(138) Dark Days/Light Years - Super Furry Animals (Rough Trade)
Truly fantastic and versatile psychedelic pop. Stupid that this is the first time I've tried 'em out. (8.5/10)
(139) Enemy Mine - Swan Lake (Jagjaguwar)
Creepy-ass Bejar/Krug/Mercer supergroup. Pretty fascinating at times, but mostly pretty boring. (6/10)
(140) The Atlantic Ocean - Richard Swift (Secretly Canadian)
Fun, beautiful, weird piano pop not too unlike Randy Newman, and much better than Ben Folds has become. (8/10)
(141) Now We Can See - The Thermals (Kill Rock Stars)
For some reason I've always thought I disliked this band. Turns out, they do some solid pop punk here. (7/10)
4 comments:
I bought "The Visitor" on a whim and really enjoy it when I listen to it - but never really feel like putting it on. I made the mistake of buying a Starlight Mints album because Trav pointed out an awesome song of theirs. Awful. I bought it for $5 so I knew I wasn't gonna get anything selling it. So I think I threw it in the trash.
Yeah Al, I feel the same way about "The Visitor." I would enjoy it more if it were separated into tracks so that I could easily skip around to my favorite parts. I guess I'm not up for the challenge.
Trav put a Starlight Mints song on a mix for me long ago (I think fall 2006) and it is definitely the only good thing I've heard from them.
ok, so i'm new to your blog & it's because i need new music. badly.
140 character reviews = perfect!
downloadable fall mix = more perfect!
[i hope there's a winter one coming soon!]
Thanks Liz! I don't think I'm capable of making winter or spring mixes for some reason. I usually do a summer one that turns out mostly okay and appropriate, but nothing touches my fall mixes.
Post a Comment