12.23.2010

Defiance, Ohio - Midwestern Minutes: Missing some of the catchiness I remember them for.

12.20.2010

Decemberists - King Is Dead: My favorite Decemberists album, hands down. Less pretentious than previous outings put it over the top.
The Bees - Every Step's A Yes: Folky music for a simpler time.

12.16.2010

Kings Of Leon - Come Around Sundown: Increased accessibility results in decreased enjoyability.

12.15.2010

Go! Team - Rolling Blackouts: Not as infectious as their debut but more than solid.
The Drums - The Drums: I tried so hard to dislike it, but it proved irresistible.

12.08.2010

Joanna Newsom - Have One On Me: As outstanding as it is it's still hard to reconcile the length at 3 discs.

12.05.2010

Eminem - Recovery: So hungry you can feel it. A fantastic return to form.

12.02.2010

Various - Fast Music 7: Good to know I'm not missing much.

11.30.2010

TS And Past Haunts - EP: No substitute for a new Piebald album, but far from terrible.
System Of A Down - Toxicity: Easily the best nu metal album I've ever heard. Still a few tracks too long.

11.29.2010

Off - Four EPs: Fantastic early Black Flag.
Go Rydell - The Golden Age: A bit more gravelly but an easy substitute for those missing Kid Dynamite. I know I am.
Beatles - Decca Audition: Historically essential, but nothing more.

11.24.2010

My Chemical Romance - Danger Days: Drops remaining pretense of being a punk band, opting for a pop album. And it's fantastic.

11.18.2010

Jordaan Mason And Horse Museum - Divorce Lawyers: Obviously NMH inspired, but without any if the euphoria it's a tough listen.

11.17.2010

Crazy Arm - Born To Ruin: Modern Against Me! without the arena-level hooks.

11.16.2010

Kanye West - Beautiful Twisted Fantasy: Somewhere in the middle it lost me and was never able to recover.

11.02.2010

Wovenhand - The Threshing Floor: Another solid album for fans of Califone.
Tom Waits - Closing Time: Sometimes perfect execution can mask a lack of innovation.

11.01.2010

Vampire Weekend - Contra: Epitome of a sophmore slump, failing to achieve any of the high water marks found on their debut.

10.29.2010

Titus Adronicus - The Monitor: Very rewarding, but sometimes flawed execution of a perfect blend of Two Gallants and Hold Steady.

10.28.2010

Wrong Side - Of The Tracks: Mosh-heavy hardcore reminiscent of Death Threat.
Wolfmother - Cosmic Egg: Save yourself some time and listen to Muse.

10.27.2010

White Stripes - Under Northern Lights: Too good to feel so short.

10.26.2010

White Lies - To Lose My Life: The album Interpol always wanted to make?
Jim Ward - In the Valley, On the Shore: Refreshing to hear him out of arena mode.
War Pigs - Degeneration: Hardcore that didn't live up to the high expectations, namely for its seeming self indulgence.

10.25.2010

Volcano Choir - Unmap: Radiohead-esque meets (obviously) Bon Iver.
Bob Dylan - Wittmark Demos: Beyond essential at half the fidelity.

10.20.2010

Various - Stroke: Come for Mangum, stay for the rest, come back for the songs.

10.19.2010

Various - At Both Ends: Fantastic grouping of bands. Wish they all had at least 1 more track.
Various - Abbey Road Now: Fails to surpass mediocre expectations.

10.18.2010

Pete Townsend - Lifehouse Chronicles: Thoroughly enjoyable collection of demos from an innately creative visionary.

10.15.2010

Touche Amore - ...To The Beat Of A Dead Horse: Filling the void that Verse left behind.

10.14.2010

Them Crooked Vultures - Them Crooked Vultures: Mostly succeeds as proof a supergroup can be better than individual components.

10.13.2010

Tegan And Sara - So Jealous: Solid pop rock, but nothing to get too excited about.

10.12.2010

Tallest Man on Earth - Wild Hunt: Dylan comparison impossible not to make. Deservingly.
Surrounded - Safety In Numbers: Equal parts Swell Season, post-rock and shoegaze. But listenable.
Sunny Day Real Estate - The Rising Tide: Big time arena rock record.

10.11.2010

Sunny Day Real Estate - How It Feels To Be Something On: The experimentation had to begin sometime.

10.08.2010

10.07.2010

Strike Anywhere - Iron Front: Best album since, and maybe including, their debut.
Street Dogs - Demo: DKM-nostalgia not enough to keep afloat a band still finding its way.
Spoon - Transference: The indie rock Mission of Burma. Laid back yet taut.

10.06.2010

Sounds Like Violence - The Pistol: Virtually forgettable.
Snoop Dogg - Doggystyle: Too much filler, but with listening to for the highs alone.
Smoke Or Fire - Sinking Ship: Excellent pop-punk that rips off the best parts of other bands and executes flawlessly.

10.05.2010

Smashing Pumpkins - Mellon Collie: 2 discs and a seemingly forever runtime yet still manages to succeed far more than fail.

10.04.2010

Slowride - C/S: '90s indie rock for when you're feeling nostalgic.
Sleep - Dopesmoker: Prog for the heavy metal crowd.

10.01.2010

Thee Silver Mt Zion Memorial Orchestra - Kollaps Tradixionales: Perfect blend of their post-rock roots and more choral efforts.
Shook Ones - Unquotable AMH: Not the 2nd coming of Kid Dynamite I was hoping for, but solid pop-punk nonetheless.

9.30.2010

Settlefish - Plural of the Choir: Ultimately forgettable.

9.29.2010

Settlefish - Dance a While, Upset: Semi-screamo that starts strong but fails to hold interest.
Pete Seeger - Live '57: Not an everyday listen, but certainly worth listening to. Spontaneity in stark contrast to contemporary live acts.

9.28.2010

Rural Alberta Advantage - Hometowns: Uneven with heaps of potential.
Roxy Music - Country Life: Like the Talking Heads but mellower and more experimental. And sometimes too long.
Ben Folds - Lonely Avenue: Feels less forced than his last few albums.

9.01.2010

Halfway through Order of the Phoenix. Skipping Deathly Hallows until after movie is released.

8.04.2010

Arcade Fire - The Suburbs: Unexpectedly low key and long.

6.29.2010

Mesmerized by Harry Potter audio books, music has taken a temporary backseat.

6.22.2010

New Amsterdams - Killed Or Cured: Cool concept, but Cured was unnecessary.

6.21.2010

Omar Rodriguez-Lopez - Solar Gambling: His best solo album yet. Not that it is terribly great.
Omar Rodriguez-Lopez - Los Suenos de un Hidalgo: Still nothing to get excited about.

6.18.2010

Enmit Rhodes - Recordings: If the 2nd Paul had become a dead man, Rhodes would be a more than adequate 3rd.

6.17.2010

Reggie and the Full Effect - Under the Tray: Even more quirky than debut, but songs are not as strong.

6.15.2010

Red Fang - Red Fang: Successfully borrowing from classic hard rock bands serves them well.
Chuck Ragan - Gold Country: Easily his best album.

6.14.2010

Raekwon - Cuban Linx 2: A couple of misfires don't hold this excellent album from being the best hip-hop of last year.

6.10.2010

Against Me! - White Crosses: Their big time arena rock album hinted at on New Wave has arrived to mixed results.

6.04.2010

Propagandhi - How To Clean Everything: best political punk band not named Against Me! ?
Polar Bear Club - Chasing Hamburg: Solid follow-up to a more-than-solid debut.

6.03.2010

Pinhead Gunpowder - Kick Over The Traces: Best Green Day related band yet.
Pavement - Quarantine The Past: Quintessential indie rock. A must listen.

6.02.2010

Page France - Hello, Dear Wind: Hitting all the indie-folk hot buttons, if excessive at times, it's easy to swoon over.

6.01.2010

No Age - Losing Feeling: Nothing's lost here.
Network - Money Money 2020: Not my favorite Green Day spin-off, but far from worthless.
Muse - The Resistance: Their best album is their most progressive yet.

5.26.2010

Mountain Goats - Life Of The World To Come: Life his voice and everything he does. Just sad that it never compares to Sunset Tree.
Mark Mulcahy - Fathering: While good, it lacks a sense if engagement.

5.20.2010

The Germs - (GI): Classic and essential punk rock for when you are in that mood.

5.19.2010

EPMD - Strictly Business: For when you're in the mood for some old school hip-hop you're not terribly familiar with.
Eazy-E - Eazy-Duz-It: A refreshing look back at how simple and effective hip-hop used to be. What happened?

5.14.2010

Monsters Of Folk - Monsters Of Folk: Hard not to compare to Traveling Wilburys, both in make up and spirit.

5.13.2010

Mission Of Burma - Sound Speed Light: Good, but missing something that's made past efforts great.

5.12.2010

Miracle Legion - Surprise Surprise Surprise: Early version of Polaris that was obviously influenced by REM, so it's pretty awesome.
Mansions - Mansions: Had I not known better, I'd swear these were Bright Eyes tracks
Doom - Unexpected Guests: With an emphasis on rapping and virtually skit-free, it's surprisingly coherent given its disjointed nature.

5.11.2010

Mark Lind - Homeward Bound: More balancing of his classic rock ambitions and punk rock roots. Mostly successful too.
Mark Lind - Truth Can Be Brutal: Close enough to a Sinners And Saints follow-up.

5.10.2010

Liars - Sisterworld: A little too slow and quiet. Good enough for further listens.
Lewis - Even So: Doing nothing more than the basics really well is sometimes enough. This is such a case.

5.07.2010

Lewd Acts - Black Eye Blues: Not exactly innovative, but not stagnant, it balances a lounge between slow but heavy and fast and aggressive.

5.05.2010

Dan In Real Life Soundtrack: Sondre Lerche-dominated soundtrack has moved this movie up my "to watch" list.

5.04.2010

Kurtis Blow - Kingdom Blow: Mostly terrible old school hip-hop. Notable only for the involvement of Bob Dylan.

5.03.2010

Karen O - Where The Wild Things Are: Perfect soundtrack to an excellent movie.

4.30.2010

4.29.2010

Jethro Tull - Aqualung: Cannot wait to listen to this again. Gives The Who a run for their money in 1971.

4.28.2010

Islands - Vapours: I loved most of the album. Could have done without all of the digitization.
Iron Age - Sleeping Eye: Heavier than it is aggressive, which was welcome, if unexpected.

4.26.2010

The Invisible - The Invisible: Difficult not to compare to TVOTR.

4.22.2010

Hole - Live Through This: Grunge has not held up very well.

4.21.2010

Hold Steady - Heaven Is Whenever: No Boys And Girls, but really good. Will be on repeat a while.

4.20.2010

Gaslight Anthem - American Slang: Good album on its own, just not compared to The '59 Sound.

4.19.2010

Richie Havens - Mixed Bag: Extremely consistent '60s folk.

4.15.2010

Broken Social Scene - Forgiveness Rock Record: Going to be hard to forgive this one.

4.14.2010

Barry Goldberg - Barry Goldberg: '70s singer-songwriter for fans of Jim Croce.

4.10.2010

Coheed And Camria - Year Of The Black Rainbow: This one's going to thar some time to get used to, but I will.

4.09.2010

God And Country - Moloch: No idea the background or how I got a hold of it, but it's like post-rock with words. Surprisingly engaging.
Ghostface Killah - Ghostdini: Too much filler, but some great tracks.
Ghostface Killah - Ghostdini: Too much filler, but some great tracks.

4.07.2010

Fucked Up - Couple Tracks: Incomplete but mostly worthwhile collection of non-album tracks.
Foxboro Hot Tubs - Stop Drop And Roll: A laid back Green Day is especially refreshing now that they take themselves so seriously.

4.06.2010

Fire Divine - It's All A Blur: Another band incapable of pulling off screamo.

4.05.2010

FC Five - Dandelion's Blues: Bane and Verse-influenced hardcore not to be missed.
Flight Of The Conchords - I Told You I Was Freaky: Law of diminishing returns strikes again.

4.04.2010

Fleetwood Mac - Rumours: Plays more like a greatest his collection than a regular album.
Jim Gaffigan - Beyond The Pale: Success strikes again.
Jeff Garlin - Young And Handsome: Makes his work on Curb look like a warm up for hilarity.
Explosions In The Sky - Self Titled: You can hear the foundation of future greatness.

4.02.2010

Echo And The Bunnymen - The Fountain: Arena- friendly rock that fails to stand out.
Bob Dylan - Christmas In The Heart: Forced to pick Christmas music, I'd pick this.

3.31.2010

Dirty Projectors - Rise Above: A reinterpretation of classic Black Flag songs is more unique than I thought possible.
Dillinger Escape Plan - Calculating Infinity: Need more mathcore in your life? Look no further.

3.30.2010

Destroyer - Bay Of Pigs: I don't remember Destroyer bring so Bowie-esque.
Desert City Soundtrack - Funeral Car: Attempting to be all things to a potential fanbase yields nothing to anyone outside of it.

3.29.2010

Dead To Me - African Elephants: Ambitious, if not schizophrenic emo/punk that shows as much potential as it causes confusion.
Converge - Axe To Fall: Their best since Jane Doe. An album in the style of Cruel Bloom would be welcome.
Coheed And Cambria - Neverender: Awesome concept but mediocre production means it's unlikely that I'll pick this up in lieu of studio ones.

3.23.2010

Clipse - 'til The Casket Drops: Good hip-hop albums are lightning in a bottle. Something Clipse can't catch a third time.

3.22.2010

Clientele - Bonfires On The Hearth: Like the soundtrack to your fuzzy dreams.
Clem Snide - The Meat Of Life: May be my last Clem Snide album. Not because it's bad, but because it offers nothing new to their formula.

3.21.2010

Julian Casablancas - Phrazes For The Young: Not the biggest Strokes fan, but I'm highly impressed.

3.18.2010

Campaign - H1N1: For fans of Hot Water Music and Polar Bear Club.
Bob Dylan - Self Portrait: Terribly uneven, but not as bad as the lore foretold.

3.17.2010

Jello Biafra - The Audacity Of Hype: Ever the vigilant, it's nice to hear that he's still as feisty as he used to be.

3.14.2010

Califone - All My Friends Are Funeral: I always want to like Califone, but there's never enough to keep me engaged.

3.12.2010

Sebastian Cabot - Bob Dylan, Dramatic Reading With Music: A-ma-zing!

3.11.2010

Burns Out Bright - Save Yourself A Lifetime: Pop-punk barely good enough to get by.
Burns Out Bright - Save Yourself A Lifetime: Pop-punk barely good enough to get by.

3.10.2010

Brandsron - Trying To Figure Each Other Out: Adequate, though hardly revolutionary, emo.
Brand New - Daisy: Pretty hit-or-miss, but I'm sure I'll love it. Eventually.
Boy Sets Fire - The Day The Sun Went Out: Proto-screamo whose melodic side shines through muddy production.

3.09.2010

Blitzen Trapper - Black River Killer: Every song sounds like a classic rock standard that's been around forever.
Blacklisted - No One Deserves This: Outstanding hardcore album. Probably the best of last year.
Between The Buried And Me - Colors: Hit-or-miss metal that has me sold on a second listen based on the strength of the last track.

3.08.2010

Arctic Monkeys - Humbug: Given the chance, I'm sure it would grow on me. Just not sure it's with it.

3.05.2010

Appeared Cast - Lost Songs: Just interesting enough, considering it's a bunch of throwaway tracks.
Apostle Of Hustle - Eats Darkness: Another adequate album, with just enough good songs to make it worthwhile.

3.04.2010

Animal Collective - Fall Be Kind: Smaller doses typically yield more success. Just not this time.
Amusement Parks On Fire - Young Fight: Can't hold a candle to their debut.

2.25.2010

Jenny Owen Youngs - Transmitter Failure: Such potential for the future, but misses the mark a few too many times.

2.24.2010

Yesterdays New Quintet - Yesterday's Universe: Not as charismatic as the debut, but good enough.

2.23.2010

XO Skeletons - Bored By Heaven: Of all Wes Eisold's post-American Nightmare output, this is my favorite.
X - Los Angeles: A punk rock classic for a reason.

2.22.2010

Wilco - Wilco: Fun pop/rock record that comes across like a soundtrack to a summer.

2.19.2010

Wasted Youth UK - Wild And Wandering: A little too mopey for everyday listening, but quality post-punk, proto-goth.
M. Ward - Hold Time: His best collection of songs yet.

2.18.2010

Kurt Vile - God Its Saying This To You: Is unmemorable a word?
The Veils - Sun Gangs: Pick a band to rip off and then do it well. Not poorly of several.

2.16.2010

Various - Dark Was The Night: Outstanding sequencing considering the eclectic mix and thirty one tracks. Even without considering.

2.12.2010

Various - Carry The Torch: Makes me miss Kid Dynamite.
Various - Once OST: Fantastic music from a fantastic movie.

2.10.2010

Various - Experiments In Audio Rocketry: Awesome collection of acoustic punk without a terrible track.

2.07.2010

Two Tongues - Two Tongues: Underwhelming results from an interesting concept.
Two Gallants - The Throes: Mildly disappointing follow-up nc

2.05.2010

Trial - Darkest Days: As expected, nowhere near as good as Are These Our Lives
Title Fight - Last Thing You Forget: Solid melodic hardcore from a band still trying to find its footing.

2.04.2010

Thursday - Common Existence: Not enough up-front incentive to commit to a long-term relationship.
Thrice - Beggars: Someone's been listening to a lot of Radiohead and TV on the Radio. That's a good thing nv

2.03.2010

This Charming Man - Every Little Secret: Pre-Gaslight anthem that's a little rough around the edges, but more than listenable.
Telepathic Butterflies -Introducing: Psychedelic pop as expected from a band called Telepathic Butterflies.
Tear It Up - Nothing To Nothing: Musical taste is dictated largely by time and place. I listened to this hardcore album at the right time.

2.02.2010

Taking Back Sunday - New Again: A good starting point for the second (third?) part of their career.

2.01.2010

Super Furry Animals - Dark Days: I was bored, uninterested and felt uninvolved.

1.31.2010

Sunset Rubdown - Dragonslayer: Another failed attempt at converting me into a fan.
Starflyer 59 - Dial M: Unmemorable shoegaze from a once-memorable band.

1.30.2010

Bruce Springsteen - Working On A Dream: Other than a few good tracks it's pretty mediocre.

1.29.2010

Regiona Spektor - Far: More hits than misses make for an enjoyable listen with revisiting.

1.28.2010

Sparks - Exotic Creatures: Like the similar-sounding Of Montreal, you have to be n the mood for the wackiness.
The Sonics - Here Are The Sonics: Mid-60s
proto-punk is worth a listen of just for historic reasons.

1.27.2010

Sonic Youth - Eternal: Apt name for a still-relevant band.

1.26.2010

Son Volt - American Central Dust: If you weren't already a fan, this won't do much to change your mind.

1.25.2010

Some Girls - Rains/Blues: Exactly the transition you'd expect coming from American Nightmare.
Sin Fang Bous - Ciangour: Seems like an uncohesive to start, but quickly gels as the quirkiness becomes normal and expected.

1.21.2010

Shelter - Discography: Frustratingly uneven journey from Krishna-core trailblazers to nu metal to H2O clone.

1.15.2010

Omar Rodriguez-Lopez - Old Money: Best non-Mars Volta album he's released yet. Not that I can keep up.

1.14.2010

Reggie and the Full Effect - Greatest Hits: Odd, quirky, weird, yet compelling, emo from a Get Up Kid.
Q-Tip - Kamaal, The Abstract: A prog-R&B album that, justifiably, has been sitting on the record label's shelves for years.

1.13.2010

Propaganhi - Supporting Caste: I will be on the lookout for everything else they've done.
Project Citizen - Get Angry, Fight United: 41!? tracks of DIY anarcho-folk is a bit much, even if some of the tracks are great.

1.12.2010

The Progress - Golden State: Sounds like very early Brand New.

1.11.2010

Poison the Well - Opposite of December: There was a time when I would have, but I just don't care.
Plant and Krauss - Raising Sand: some great songs, but not some I'll listen to frequently.

1.08.2010

Papercuts - You Can't Always Have What you Want: I want to not fall asleep while listening.

1.07.2010

Paper Chase - Someday, Volume 1: Easily their best since before, or after, Kitchen Knives.

1.06.2010

Outkast - Stankonia: Together is better, but too many tracks are skip-worthy.
Organized Konfusion - Stress: Old school hip hop needs to resurrected.
Off With Their Heads - All Is Not Well: Amazing, catchy punk. Can't believe they aren't more well known.

1.05.2010

Conor Oberst - Outer South: Always enjoyable, rarely memorable.

1.04.2010

Noah And The Whale - First Days of Spring: Probably the most beautiful album of the year.