Review: Audioslave - Out Of Exile

Audioslave - Out Of Exile: All of the positive press surrounding this album seemed to focus on how they finally seemed like a band as opposed to the two bands they originate from. What they fail to mention was how painful this new band was to listen to.

Stream Be Yourself and Your Time Has Come (oh, and you can watch the videos, too)

Purchase for $10.40

Review: Common - Be

Common - Be: What could have been the rap album of the year is ruined by Kanye West's obtrusive beats. They're load, obnoxious and get in the way of Common's words and his delivery. Somebody grab the acapella and do some new beats so I can listen to it a lot more.

Stream (most of) the entire album

Purchase for $11.60

Review: The Game - The Documentary

The Game - The Documentary: Is at least as good as all the hype suggested. Good beats, good rhymes, very solid and consistent. If there's a fault, it's that he mentions Tupac, Biggie, Eazy E, Left-Eye, Aaliyah, et al far too much.

Watch the video for Dreams or stream Hate It Or Love It

Purchase for $11.99

Review: Bear Quartet - Cosy Den

Bear Quartet - Cosy Den: This is only the third shoegaze album I've liked, yet I already feel saturated.

Stream Mom And Dad and Old Friends (Non-album specific)

Purchase for $13.25

Review: Gang Of Four - Entertainment!

Gang of Four - Entertainment!: I'm glad I listened to Bloc Party first, because it allows me to enjoy this much more than if I had listened to this first.

Stream the entire album (click on "Listen to the entire album, Entertainment! (Remastered & Expanded)")

Purchase for $10.69

Review: Gorillaz - Demon Days

Gorillaz - Demon Days: I really enjoyed their self-titled affair back in 2001, but I don't think I've listened to it since. And while I tried to get into G-Sides and Laika Come Home, I could not do so. But here is an album that I can listen to beginning to end. It's very laid back and while each song is certainly independent, the entire album feels cohesively the same.

Stream Feel Good Inc., Every Planet I Reach is Dead and November Has Come

Purchase for $11.99

Review: Dinosaur Jr. - You're Living All Over Me

Dinosaur Jr. - You're Living All Over Me: I mean, it's pretty good, but five stars? Give me a break. It's three and a half, max. Of course, that's historical significance aside, which I have no business being the judge of this time around.

Stream clips from the entire album

Buy it for 10.75

Review: The Hold Steady - Separation Sunday

The Hold Steady - Separation Sunday: The lyrics are delivered exactly the same on each song, making for a boring album.

Download Your Little Hoodrat Friend

Buy for 10.56

Review: Hi-Tek - Hi-Teknology

Hi-Tek - Hi-Teknology: A few songs are really good, though the album as a whole falls short of being called good.

Stream clips from the entire album

Buy it for 11.37

Review: Madlib - Blunted In The Bomb Shelter Mix

Madlib - Blunted In The Bomb Shelter Mix: The closest a reggae-based album will over come to being tolerable.

Download clips from half the album

Buy

Review: Maximo Park - A Certain Trigger

Maximo Park - A Certain Trigger: There's an excellent EP worth of music hear. That being said, the entire album plays a little long (all 35 minutes of it). Musically, they fit somewhere between The Futureheads (sans vocal harmonies) and Franz Ferdinand (but more danceable).

Stream the entire album

and buy it digitally

or physically

Review: Foo Fighters - In Your Honor

Foo Fighters - In Your Honor: Disc 1 (Rock) is vintage Foo. Slightly better than One By One, but still with a few songs that don't really work. The payoff for this album is Disc 2 (Acoustic), which is really, really good. I'm sure it will get more spins in my player than the Disc 1. It just seems more honest and there's not a whole lot of over-production (something that plagued both Disc 1 and One By One).

Stream In Your Honor and No Way Back

Buy for 11.88

Review: Nine Inch Nails - The Downward Spiral

Nine Inch Nails - The Downward Spiral: The word 'grating' frequently popped into my head during listening.

Stream clips from the entire album

Buy

Review: Oasis - Don't Believe The Truth

Oasis - Don't Believe The Truth: Another solid album that's not going to change the world and is unlikely to get many spins.

Stream Lyla

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Review: Quasimoto - The Further Adventures of Lord Quas

Quasimoto - The Further Adventures of Lord Quas: Skit-based hip-hop for the ADD crowd.

Stream clips of the entire album

Buy

Review: Rakim - The Master

Rakim - The Master: Simple, unintrusive beats beneath solid, yet unspectacular rhymes. Still, this is a hip-hop album the way it's supposed to be.

Stream clips from the entire album

Buy

Review: Coldplay - X&Y

Coldplay - X&Y: There was no way I could enjoy this album upon first listen. I had built it up over the past three years to be better than phenomenal. What I did not expect was how far away from where I wanted it to be it would become. I once joke that I could listen to an album of Chris Martin farting, but on this album, his voice sounds fake and forced. Broken up into two distinct halves of an album, X (Tracks 1-6) are vastly inferior to Y (Tracks 7-12+). The X songs all sound very similar, and while this worked to good effect in the middle/second half of AROBTTD, it makes one want to just skip to Speed of Sound, which is not only the first single on the album, but also the beginning of Y. While Y seems to get off to a better start, it never picks up the steam it should to close out the album. What does close out the album is the sublime 'Til Kingdom Come, which is the 'secret' song, but is literally the thirteenth track (why is it a secret if you're letting the CD player choose it as a track...). 'Til Kingdom Come is the best song on the album, followed by Speed of Sound. Ultimately, however, it just does not feel like the album AROBTTD is/was, nor is it the pop album Parachutes is/was. The fate of this album I have yet to decide for more time shall be required.

Stream Speed of Sound

Buy

Review: Son Volt - Trace

Son Volt - Trace: Let's play family tree.

Original Band: Uncle Tupelo (Jay Farrar and Jeff Tweedy)
Splinter Band 1: Wilco (Jeff Tweedy)
Splinter Band 2: Son Volt (Jay Farrar).

So, as one would expect, Son Volt is the more traditional alt-country band whereas Tweedy went on to form the more experimental Wilco. Think of it like At The Drive-In, The Mars Volta and Sparta, respectively. Only difference is, Son Volt is equally as good as its experimental brethren.

Stream clips of the entire album

Buy

Review: Bruce Springsteen - Devils & Dust

Bruce Springsteen - Devils & Dust: The slow songs are mostly just him and his guitar and could use some of the extra flourishes found on the faster songs that could benefit from being just him and his guitar.

Stream clips of the entire album

Buy

Review: Spoon - Gimme Fiction

Spoon - Gimme Fiction: I didn't really like it then and I don't really like it now.

Stream or Download I Turn My Camera On (Bonus section)

Buy

Review: Weezer - Make Believe

Weezer - Make Believe: Maladroit being my only Weezer-album experience, I have no grandiose ideas of how good this should be. Still, I find most of the songs to lack enthusiasm and general feeling of emotion.

Stream the song or the video for Beverly Hills

Buy

Review: The White Stripes - Get Behind Me Satan

White Stripes - Get Behing Me Satan: Blue Orchid aside, the songs on this R&B album are rather uninteresting.

Stream Blue Orchid

Buy

Review: Bane - The Note

Bane - The Note: Give Blood was a really good hardcore record, but a bad Bane record. The Note is a good hardcore record and a good Bane record.

Download Pot Committed

Buy

Review: Frog Eyes - Folded Palm

Frog Eyes - Folded Palm: Some bands succeed with a controlled-chaos sound (pAper chAse, Mars Volta, Futureheads). Some don't (Frog Eyes).

Download The Oscillator's Hum

Buy

Review: Electric Light Orchestra - Eldorado

Electric Light Orchestra - Eldorado: The perfect blend of The Beatles' pop sensibilities and David Bowie's progressive tendencies.

Stream clips from most of the album

Buy

Review: The Wonder Stuff - Eight Legged Groove Machine

The Wonder Stuff - Eight Legged Groove Machine: Unquestionable '80s pop that becomes redundant and doesn't offer anything not already offered.

Stream clips of the entire album

Buy

Review: Earl Pickens - Country Music Jukebox

Earl Pickens - Country Music Jukebox: Excellent singer-songwriter album with an almost refreshing production aesthetic and down-to-earth lyrics.

Download

Buy (It's not on sale until 7.19)

Review: Ben Folds - Songs For Silverman

Ben Folds - Songs For Silverman: Folds's ability to make the ordinary seem extraordinary is part of the reason many fans are drawn to him. Sadly, however, on this disc we find Folds singing about ordinary things ordinarily.

Stream clips of the entire album

Buy

Review: Instruction - God Doesn't Care

Instruction - God Doesn't Care: Neither do I.

Download Great

Buy

Review: Starflyer 59 - Talking Voices vs. Singing Voices

Starflyer 59 - Talking Voices vs. Singing Voices: It's a shame that bands like Ambulance LTD get all the attention, because this is every bit as good.

Stream Good Sons and As Lists Go On

Download Something Evil

Buy