the comas - the science of your mind

came out in 2004 but i still like it.

the rosebuds

i am one of those people that believe that bands are never better than on their first album. it probably has more to do with me craving something new (except when the band is mono) than anything else. i might have like a band's second album more than the first if it had been released first. maybe. we'll never know. at any rate, the rosebuds are an exception to this - first time around the struck me as decent pop-rock but nothing remarkable. but on birds make good neighbors the rosebuds have transformed themselves and deliver a set of songs that are, well, solid. they are not breaking any new ground here though, their songwriting has just improved vastly. good stuff. almost up there with the best of 2005.

man man

this band had me confused for a while. the reviews referenced tom waits and captain beefheart so i know i was supposed to like this. and i tried. it just didn't click. then i saw them live and i realized that i had completely misunderstood this band. these guys have more in common with the make up than tom waits. but instead of attacking funk and sould they deal in ... gypsy music.. or something like that. the tom waits references are understandable because of the instrumentation but that is really where the commonality ends. this is just a huge, huge blast of fun. though it may not sound it at times. you should buy the album but you must see them live.

Giant Drag

if the album kept up pace with the first song, kevin is gay, this would possibly be the best album to be released all year long. I can't quite place the song but it reminds me of the first time I listened to the Breeders. The only thing that makes it anything short of f**ing brilliant is that it's not terribly original sounding and essentially recycles, well, the breeders and my bloody valentine. but then again recycling is a good thing, right? in this case it is. the mbv influence is especially obvious on the first couple of tracks and, although such obviousness is a little off putting, I got over it pretty quickly and frankly there are far worse influences to have. sort of similar to autolux in that way - solid without reinventing the wheel.

are you there?

i guess I got tired of listing my favorite albums from last year... it's just too last year to really bother. at any rate, 2006 is already shaping up to be a stellar year for my tastes. mogwai's mr. beast is a monster of an album that even makes my want to revist their old stuff. and now i find out mono is bringing out a new album in april "there you are". steve albini records and mixes but mono produce the album themselves. at any rate, the first song of the album (linked above and available at mono's website) is pretty much everything you would expect from mono. so pretty much the same old, same old but in the case of mono I would never dream of asking for anything else.

BO05 - Red Sparowes

a great year for instru-metal clearly. treads the same waters as pelican but probably tops it thanks to some nice slide guitar. seeing them play live had me grinning like a fool for days.

WO95 - Art Brut

another huge disappointment - a band called Art Brut should be good + they released an entertaining single in 2004. Art Brut is a band that you either love or you hate. i belong to the latter category. sure they are fun but the problem with jokes is that you can only really laugh at them once, maybe twice if it is really good. after that you at most fake a laugh to be polite when you're told the joke for the n-th time. in this case i can't even do that because i find it offensive that music should be the vehicle for humour. that's even worse than dealing with politics. is there really any point to put music to your jokes? does it make the jokes better? i just don't get the idea. plus the music itself is not that exciting. maybe that's the point - the jokes serve as a distraction? still like the name though...

BO05 - Silence Kit

Pieonear. If I was absolutely forced to pick one album as the best of '05 this would have to be it (though technically it came out in '04.). i don't really know how to describe it - i guess post-rock wouldn't be far of but then it is more ambient in places and in others sort of radiohead kind of groovy. one of the very few albums this year where i would simply have to put whatever i was doing at the time and just listen. perhaps not enterily consistent in its greatness but there are moments here that are just amazing. oh, and these guys are from russia so don't confuse them with the u.s. band that shares their name.

BO05 - Pelican

The Fire in Our Throats Will Beckon the Thaw was a little less metal than the bands previous effort but no less engaging. at any rate, it wasn't too surprising that Pelican would release a split ep with Mono since the bands seem to share the same vision.

WO05 - Serena Maneesh

Another band I was really pretty excited about - shoegazers usually get a bad rep & here was one that was getting great reviews. But in the end it was just a record that pitchforkmedia 'discovered' before everyone else: " We understand that some records recommended by Pitchfork can be difficult to find. Please visit Honeymilk for more information on this release, including how to purchase it." Well, wish I was that cool. Strange though how albums featuring blonde Norwegians always get a great reviews.... recall Annie? At any rate, new shoegazers are sprouting like mushrooms (paik comes recommended) and this not among the tasty ones. Serena-Maneesh does the shoegazing bit pretty well - and there are bits and pieces that sound splendid - but you can't really get more derivative like this. There is a my bloody valentine song, a stone roses one, a primal scream (crappy gospel area) one, and you can go on. This is just pure nostalgia with not an original idea in sight. Here is to hoping that they will come up with some of their own songs next time around.

BO05 - Bohren & Der Club of Gore

I don't know how I stumbled upon this one but nothing could have prepared me for this. And frankly I wasn't sure what to think. Almost painstakingly slow. Sort of funeral jazz. Or just your slowest jazz record 72rpm played at 33rpm. Sort of the perfect David Lynch soundtrack. Needlessly to say, this is a record best listened to in the dark. Preferably with a cigarette and a beer.

WO05 - M.I.A.

Technically, not one of the worst albums of '05 but I just really feel like bitching about the music that is being hyped out of proportion. And I was excited to hear this album. But I wish I hadn't. C'mon, this is just shit. Ok, it is cool to go postpone the release because she felt like contributing the vocals to an album with Diplo and, yeah, she has some political opinions to express - though I don't know why we should give a damn about the political opinion's of musicians. Music and politics have never mixed particularily well and, well, maybe I'm old fashioned but music should be about emotions and feelings and all that shit but not about politics or reason or logic. If you have something so profound to say, wouldn't it make sense just to write a book. At any rate, the music did nothing for me and I find the whole album kinda annoying, neither hard enough not poppy enough.

BO05 - The Duke Spirit

Well, I guess it is about time to start deciding what was good and what was bad in 2005 - and since I've taken such a good time to think about it, you can be sure that, well, that I have indeed thought about. So, to kick of the new year in style (at last) I'm gonna list my favorite albums from last year in no particular order. In no particular order because it is to time consuming and the order would be pretty arbitrary since I pretty much change my mind every day. And I'm not going to be mentioning some of the albums that are on everyone's list (hello, Sufjan, Antony) b/c, well, you have already heard them or you know you should check them out. At any rate, The Duke Spirit album was a disappointment. But only because it came on the heels of such an excellent ep that promised the world. Initially it never occurred to me that this album would become one of my favorites for the year. Basically, straightforwards "bluesy" rock. The closest comparison is early-PJ Harvey, which is a big recommendation in my book. At first, I was drawn to the singer's voice, which is sexy as hell (if you find women who smoke and drink whiskey sexy), but the music is pretty solid as well. In fact, a damn perfect combination.

queen + 50 cents

good for a chuckle....

minus story

well, might as well throw up a couple of songs form minus story. here is one. one above. very nice stuff.

cat power

i'm lazy/busy as usual... but here is the title song from cat power's upcoming album "The Greatest".

Other things spinning.... tortoise vs. bonnie "prince" billy's album of covers, ester drang, tenement halls, detachment kit, minus story...

ladytron

i was a bit disappointed with ladytron's latest but now i'm over it and i've learned to just relax and enjoy.

chad vangaalen's album isn't too bad either - i like this song: clinically dead.

deerhoof makes me smile: wrong time capsule

airwaves

ah, yet another airwaves is over and what a relief - four days of waiting in lines to get into overcrowded venues. i may have spent more time waiting in the cold than actually listening to music. but then again there wasn't really much to miss - this was probably the least exciting line-up in a while. i was pretty excited about seeing ratatat but that didn't happen - mostly thanks to gus gus who for some inexplicable reason always draw huge crowds of people despite being the fourth most boring band in the world. maybe that says something about icelanders. at any rate since gus gus played right after ratatat there was no hope of getting in. i did, however, manage to catch annie (non-offensive pop but wastly overhyped - it clearly pays to be a blonde), new radio (who proved that playing bad rock music with cellos doesn't make it any better), the zutons (who exceeded my expectations), architecture in helsinki (who managed to live up to my expectations), ampop (slightly better than coldplay but equally unexciting), eberg (who i have been trying to hype but now i think that their album may just have been an happy accident) and some other bands that were neither good nor bad enough to mention. except for ulpa. once again this band saves the day - they are just freakishly good. sort of pre-orchestral flaming lips with the foot firmly planted on the effect pedals. and their new song sounds like a (good) remix of jon spencer but with a touch of greg dulli's swagger. right now they blow every other icelandic band out of the water. (an old song linked above)

hadn't it been for ulpa airwaves gets two thumbs down this time around. & it is the last time i will attend until i'm provided with a good reason - better bands and some certainty that i will won't have to freeze my ass off to catch the bands. besides, once you factor in the price of the alcohol consumed, one might as well just buy a ticket to nyc to see your favorite band instead.

bastard

man, i'm lazy... i must snap out of it soon. i haven't managed to get excited about any new music lately. swervedriver and les savy fav monopolize the ipod at the moment. i'm hoping neon blonde will grow on me - a blood brother's side project - but it hasn't happened yet. hmmm... must be the weather. can't even get excited about the airwaves festival. except maybe about ratatat - and for the fools that skipped calla last year and tv on the radio the year before, this is going to be the show you miss this year and then regret it later.

well, this is a band i would like to see live: part chimp - iron pond
the song is taken from the brilliantly titled album chart pimp. it probably won't sound good on your computer speakers but finally, finally a loud and unruly band that ... i don't know makes me smile and think that at least some people still know how to make a ruckus with their guitars...

... oh, and a song from the detachment kit above - old news but sometimes old news is good news...

albums of the year... i had hoped

i'm willing to bet that i'm not the only one that has been waiting impatiently to hear the new broken social scene album. i guess the album has been officially leaked now that bss feel the need to announce it on their website. so what is the verdict? it's not you forgot it in people. it sounds more chaotic and less poopy. windsurfing nation, (zip file) which any bss fan has heard by now, is a stellar song. in short, it is not the album i dreamed of but neither the album that i feared after seeing them on olympic island this summer. it somehow feels a little loose knit, like the band just had a big party - kinda like the band is having more fun playing than you listening. of course, repeated listening may chance this - great albums are rarely great at first listen. anyhow, the good news is that bss is also releasing a limited edition ep (7 more songs) on the same day as the album... oh joy.

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another album i have been dying to hear is calla's collisions. televise and scavengers are two of the best albums released in the last few years and it is a shame that calla hasn't caught everyone's ear yet. calla apparently thinks so too because collisions strikes a little poppier note than previous releases as hinted at by their (excellent) shows over the last year. unfortunately this comes at a cost - the nice "calla-sound" is almost missing here. previous releases sounded a little dark, a little miserable, and a little mysterious. now the lyrics seem a little to straightforward and the choruses too big. but despite all my complaints the album really is pretty good - it just didn't live up to my, perhaps unreasonable, expectations. if you haven't heard calla before, start with televise though.

it dawned on me
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ah, mf doom... not that one ever needs to wait impatiently for an mf doom release since he releases about 43 albums a year. nevertheless, many have been excited about the pairing of mf doom and dangermouse - the grey album guy. i wasn't too crazy about the grey album - though i did think it was an improvement on the white album, which, honestly, was rubbish. dangermouse's work here sounded a little flat here at first, and perhaps a little derivative of mf doom's production style and you wonder what is the point of a collaboration if you aren't bringing anything new to the mix. but to be fair, the beats grow on you and despite a slight initial disappointment (a theme here?) I now manage to thoroughly like the album - much like it took me a while to get into mm food. it is no madvillainy, of course, but yet another solid mf doom album (the 28th this year, i think).

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just because i have the links handy: Rogue Wave: 10:1
& Of Montreal: requiem for omm2
& the new pornographers: use it
& wolf parade: you are...

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i caught the red sparrowes opening up for zombi and breather resist last night and, well, this band is the shit. they were so good that i just left after they played because there was no way the other bands could compete (and, ok, i was feeling a little sick and tired). their album is strong contender for the album of the year in my book and live they are even better. catch them if you can....