Review: Brazilian Girls - Brazilian Girls

Brazilian Girls - Brazilian Girls: If this were in my iPod (like several other bloggers out there...), I'd probably fall asleep more often. Not to say it's bad, it just doesn't make me sit up and take notice.

Stream four tracks

Buy

Review: U2 - How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb

U2 - How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb: It's no Joshua Tree, but I like it a lot. Wish I would have listened to it last year, so it would have had an impact on my Top 88 of '04 list.

Stream clips of the entire album

Buy

Review: M. Ward - Transistor Radio

M. Ward - Transistor Radio: So much more alive than Transfiguration.

Stream clips of the entire album

Buy

Review: Antony and the Johnsons - I Am A Bird Now

Antony and the Johnsons - I Am A Bird Now: Kinda (emphasis on kinda) sounds like Jens Lekman, but does it with more soul in his voice.

Download clips of several tracks

Buy

Review: Lou Reed - Live and Rock 'n' Roll Animal

Lou Reed - Live/Rock 'n' Roll Animal: More than likely, I'll never listen to a Velvet Underground album. But, at least I can find this enjoyable, if only moderately so.

Stream clips of Live

Stream clips of Rock 'n' Roll Animal

Stream clips of non-album specific tracks

Stream more clips of non-album specific tracks (Click on the Jukebox)

Buy Live

Buy Rock 'n' Roll Animal

Review: King Crimson - Sleepless (The Concise King Crimson)

King Crimson - Sleepless (The Concise King Crimson): Forewarning me to stick to the earlier King Crimson albums, because it seems as though their later stuff sucked.

Stream clips of the entire album

Buy

Review: Kaiser Chiefs - Employment

Kaiser Chiefs - Employment: If cheesy rock is your thing (and you're enjoying the current trend of ripping off the '80s), then this disc is for you. Even if it isn't, there are a few catchy tunes, but the album as a whole can be a bit trying.

Stream clips of the entire album

Buy

Review: Fiona Apple - Extraordinary Machine

Fiona Apple - Extraordinary Machine: What it lacks in the guise of a single, it makes up for by the fact that it's a really, really good album. The order doesn't lend itself to flow in all parts, but that's more than likely due to the fact that they're not in the right order.

Download the entire album (you'd better hurry, that links not liable to stay active)

Review: Up Up Down Down Left Right Left Right B A Start - And Nothing Is #1

Up Up Down Down Left Righ Left Right B A Start - And Nothing Is #1: Most of the press you read about these guys is about how cool the name is. While it a fabulous name, they should also mention what an unbelievably solid pop-rock (dare I say, emo) record.

Download See You In A Month
Download By Suprise
Buy

Review: Tindersticks - Tindersticks II

Tindersticks - Tindersticks II: If liesure-pop wasn't a genre before Tindersticks, it certainly was after.

Stream clips of the entire album

Buy

Review: Comeback Kid - Wake The Dead

Comeback Kid - Wake The Dead: It's too perfect. Mosh here, sing-along there, we're all brothers, unity, yadda, yadda, yadda. Victory Records is no better than Jive. They just pump out what the kids want to hear.

Download Wake The Dead

Download Lorelei

Buy

Review: Hollywood - Demo

Hollywood - Demo: There's something unique about this band, I just hope it pans out better on a full length than it did on their demo. Buy

Review: The Smiths - The Queen Is Dead

The Smiths - The Queen Is Dead: Too many bands have ripped off the Smiths, making it impossible to give it a fair chance. Stream clips of the entire album / Buy

Review: The Shins - Oh, Inverted World

The Shins - Oh, Inverted World: Not as catchy or poppy as Chutes, but still very solid. Stream a couple of videos / Stream a few songs / Download Know You're Onion / Buy

Review: The Bravery - Bravery

The Bravery - Bravery: Putting the 'bad' in 'terrible'. Stream several songs / Just Don't Buy It

Reviews: Sweep The Leg Johnny x2

Sweep The Leg Johnny - Tomorrow, We Will Run Faster: It won't make you forget about Slint, but it may ease the pain. Stream Please Give Me Roses Before I Am Dead / Buy

Sweep The Leg Johnny - Going Down Swingin': A bit jazzier, a bit punkier, but similar enough to their first album to make me like it. Download Only In A Rerun / Buy

Review: Taking Back Sunday - Tell All Your Friends

Taking Back Sunday - Tell All Your Friends: I'm ashamed that I like it. They're not worth all of the hype heaped upon them, but some of it is legitimate. Stream You're So Last Summer / Buy

Review and Story Time: Coldplay - Speed Of Sound

I make no secret concerning my admiration for Coldplay. It all began on a fateful evening in which I was battling my insomnia. Flipping through station after station landed me on the ever-dreadful MTV. Bored, I began watching, only to find it bland and insipid, as usual. Still, with nothing else on in the early morning hours, I affixed my eyes to the screen. There it was, the best thing MTV had let grace its screen in what I could only figure was 10 years, and it was Yellow. Genius I thought. This was not normal fare for me either. I was decidely into heavy music (punk, hardcore, whatever you want to call it), and did not stray very far from the formula (save the oldies). But, here I was, listening to a band that would late become the kings of Glum-Rock. Napster was huge at the time (but still in its infancy as far as p2p was concerned), so I downloaded a few tracks. I liked them, but Yellow was absolutely fabulous. I had the get the album. I searched high and low for it at Wal-Mart and Media Play, but, alas could not locate a single copy. Only later did I find out it was yet to be released. So, later I bought it. No regrets whatsoever. For very little stretches of time did it leave my CD player. Eventually, as all music does, it faded from rotation (though I never left home without it). Soon, news came about their next album, and I anxiously waited. Bam, In My Place hits. I thought it was 'eh' and was very disappointed. Not as disappointed as I was when I heard the album in its entirety. This was, of course, in bootlegged form, and I was listening to it in the state-of-the-art audio system that occupied my '73 VW Beetle. When the actual album dropped, I obliged, and picked up a copy, only to be blown away. I suddenly 'got' it, and once again, the album took a long time to fade from rotation, perhaps even longer than Parachutes had. What I came to realize later was that the single In My Place was the most Parachutes-esque and thus, the perfect single for fans who liked the first album and a good introduction to new fans (side story: It doesn't fit on the album very well, which was discovered by my good friend Adam and cemented in fact when we saw Coldplay live and they played Politik straight into God Put A Smile Upon Your Face). Now, 2 years of anticipation has led me to Speed of Sound. I refuse to bootleg the album (or any of the shows), so as not to taint my opinions, but coldplay.com was playing the song, so I felt it my duty to listen. It is, as expected, X&Y's In My Place. It sounds like it would be a great song on A Rush Of Blood To The Head, but I have a feeling it won't fit in perfectly with the rest of the album. Don't get me wrong, the song is FANTASTIC (like a faster version of The Scientist, mixed with a little a little Clocks) and will be a wonderful single, I just hope the album brings a bit more progression (if that's the right word) to their sound. Here's hoping.

Review: Suede - Suede

Suede - Suede: It's really good when put into a context (post-Madchester pre-Oasis brit-pop), but I doubt I'll listen to it regularly. Stream clips of the entire album / Buy

Review: Suede - Suede

Suede - Suede: It's really good when put into a context (post-Madchester pre-Oasis brit-pop), but I doubt I'll listen to it regularly. Stream clips of the entire album / Buy

Review: Switchblade - Switchblade

Switchblade - Switchblade: For all of their musical prowess, they lack conceptualization. Stream a clip of Track 2 / Download several tracks, including 5:12 / Buy

Review: Styx - Greatest Hits

Styx - Greatest Hits: How come when rock is cheesy it's endearing, but when pop is cheesy it's downright putrid. Stream clips of the entire album / Buy

Review: Stand And Fight - Stand And Fight

Stand And Fight - Stand And Fight: I wanted this to be better, but I was disappointed. Download End Of The Line / Buy

Review: Stand Accused - Demonstration

Stand Accused - Demonstration: A bit harder than expected, but more of the same. Download Suspended for the Emergency and 21st Centure Patriot / Buy

Review: Smoosh - She Like Electric

Smoosh - She Like Electric: A fine indie album for a 13 and 10 year old duo anyone. Download Massive Cure / Buy

Review: Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream

Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream: Holy shit this is good, missed the boat on this one. Stream clips of the entire album / Buy

Review: Saves The Day - In Reverie

Saves The Day - In Reverie: I'm a fan, forgetting for a moment that this is the same band that did Can't Slow Down and Through Being Cool. Stream Anywhere With You / Buy

Review: Ben Folds - Speed Graphic/Sunny 16

Ben Folds - Super Graphic/Sunny 16: Not essential (unless you're a hardcore fan), but every artist should release a set of 3 EPs between full lengths.

Stream clips from Speed Graphic

Stream clips from Sunny 16

Buy both

Review: Silkworm - Firewater

Silkworm - Firewater: An album from '96 that belongs in '91. Stream clips of the entire album / Buy

Review: Shalabi Wffect - Shalabi Effect

Shalabi Effect - Shalabi Effect: Kill me. Kill me now. Stream / Download clips of six tracks / Buy

Reviews: Set Fire To Flames x2

Set Fire To Flames - Sings Reign Rebuilder: WWGY!BEMAR? (When Will Godspeed You! Black Emperor Make Another Record?) Download one track / Buy

Set Fire To Flames - Telegraphs In Negative/Mouths Trapped In Static: A chore to listen to. Download two tracks / Buy

Review: The Mars Volta - Frances The Mute

Mars Volta - Frances The Mute: One small step forward, four giant leaps backward. Stream clips from the entire album / Stream The Widow / Buy

UponFurtherConsideration: I love this album. The highs are so high and the lows just make me anticipate the highs. And you know what they say about anticipation, right? It's better than the actual event.

Review: Scissor Sisters - Scissor Sisters

Scissor Sisters - Scissor Sisters: I refuse to admit that I like this. Stream a bunch of tracks / Buy

Review: Rogue Wave - Out Of The Shadow

Rogue Wave - Out Of The Shadow: Perhaps staying in the shadow a bit longer would be beneficial. Stream four tracks / Buy

Review: Roger Waters - Amused To Death

Roger Waters - Amused To Death: If Pink Floyd had survived into the '80s (No, the real Pink Floyd), I have doubt that it would sound similar to this. Stream clips of the entire album / Buy

Review: Razorlight - Up All Night

Razorlight - Up All Night: Allmusic lists the following bands as similar: Muse, Franz Ferdinand, The Killers, Supergrass, The Libertines, The Strokes, Pink Grease. While I don't agree with all of those, you get the idea. Stream a bunch of tracks / Buy

Review: The Pretty Things - Get The Picture?

The Pretty Things - Get The Picture?: Dick Taylor (Guitarist) decided to leave the Rolling Stones instead of switching to bass. Betcha he kicked himself after that decision. Stream clips of the entire album / Buy

Review: The Papercuts - Mockingbird

The Papercuts - Mockingbird: Looks like I owe someone a nickel. Download Poor and Free And Pan American Blues, Pt. 2 / Buy

Review: Over The Rhine - Ohio

Over The Rhine - Ohio (2 Disc): Do we really need two discs of female-fronted country-pop (or is it alt-country?). I think one disc would have sufficed and even with the pairing down would still not see much play. Download Show Me, Suitcase and Nobody Number One / Buy

Review: The Misunderstood - Before The Dream Faded

The Misunderstood - Before The Dream Faded: It's not like any of this is bad, but there are too many blues/pop/rock bands from the '60s and they all sound so similar. Download several tracks / Buy

Review: Maritime - Glass Floor

Maritime - Glass Floor: Pop so sugary sweet, you'll find it hard not to like. Stream clips of the entire album / Download Sleep Around and A Night Like This / Buy

Review: Malady - Malady

Malady - Malady: More chaotic, less grandiose and less forgiving the City of Caterpillar, but an excellent follow-up. Stream clips of the entire album / Stream entire versions of Tongue, Yeah, Well Again and The World Is A Tomb / Buy

Review: Little Birdy - Little Birdy/Big Big Love

Little Birdy - Little Birdy/Big Big Love: Damnit, I don't need anymore female-fronted Pop/Rock in my rotation. Stream four songs off of Big Big Love (The player is in the top right of your screen) / Buy

Review: The Lilys - Better Can't Make Your Life Better

The Lilys - Better Can't Make Your Life Better: This disc won't make your life better either. Stream clips of the entire record / Buy

Review: Kings of Leon - Aha Shake Heartbreak

Kings of Leon - Aha Shake Heartbreak: I'm not supposed to like Southern Rock, so I'll pretend I didn't like this. Watch video for The Bucket / Stream clips of the entire album / Buy

Review: The Kills - No Wow

The Kills - No Wow: Hasn't blues-punk been done to death yet? Stream the majoirty of the record / Watch The Good Ones Video / Buy

Review: Iggy and the Stooges - Raw Power

Iggy And The Stooges - Raw Power: This is punk rock. This is essential. Stream Clips of Search and Destroy, Gimme Danger, Raw Power and Shake Appeal / Buy

Review: Hood - Outside Closer

Hood - Outside Closer: I wasn't too fond of their previous disc, but this is really, really good. You won't sing along, but it's so complex, so rich, so deep. Download The Lost You / Buy

Review: Grails - Redlight

Grails - Redlight: Post-rock perfect for a rainy day. No real goal in mind, no destination to reach, it just kind of meanders, but not in a bad way. Download Dargai and Word Made Flesh / Buy

Review: Don Zientara - Sixteen Songs

Don Zientara - Sixteen Songs: There's something really sincere and honest about a man and his guitar. There's something not really honest about an album called "Sixteen Songs" that contains seventeen songs. That aside, this is a good blend of folk with blues and man with guitar. Download Funny Man / Buy

Review: The Decemberists - Castaways and Cutouts

The Decemberists - Castaways and Cutouts: The Decemberists get name-dropped a lot by a lot of people. Now I see why. Download Here I Dreamt I Was An Arichitect / Buy

Review: Death From Above 1979

Death From Above 1979 - You're A Woman, I'm A Machine: It's not as if dance-punk suddenly redeemed itself, it's that this is way too good not to like. Download You're A Woman, I'm A Machine / Buy

Reviews: Consonant x2 Re: Uncooperative Blogger

Consonant - Consonant: A softer side of post-punk is neither interesting nor engaging. Sad, considering this comes from a Mission of Burma alum. Stream clips of the entire album / Buy

Consonant - Love And Affliction: More of the same, perhaps even slightly more bland, than their self-titled. Stream the entire album / Buy

Review: Ciccone

Ciccone - Eversholt Street: Nice collection of pop singles, but just doesn't succeed as an album. A few tracks may end up on a mix CD or two, but that's about it. Stream the entire album / Download clips of Look At You Now, You're Beautiful, You'll Get By, Last Breath, If I Could Prove You Wrong, Just Got Laid, If Friday Falls Through / Buy

Review: Chin Up Chin Up

Chin Up Chin Up - We Should Have Never Lived Like We Were Skyscrapers: This album is very calm and soothing, bordering on refreshing. It just sort of plays in the background, uninhibited without you realizing it's playing. I guess that's a good thing. Download We Should Have Never Lived Like We Were Skyscrapers and Virginia, Don't Drown / Buy

Show Review: Bane, Comeback Kid, With Honor, Silent Drive, Hollywood

Preface: I haven't been to a show of any kind in many months, never mind a hardcore show, which you would have to delve even further into my past to discover the last opportunity I partook of to see a hardcore show. In fact, the last show I attended was the last time Bane was in town.

Since that time, it seems as though the Atlanta "Scene" has grown by leaps and bounds. Whereas the last time I saw Bane, they had attracted an older crowd, this time, it was the young folks's turn to represent. And represent they did, coming out in droves to the order or nearly 600 people packing a larger-than-last-time-I-was-there Swayze's in Marietta (a good 25 minute drive from downtown Atlanta).

The recently-remodeled Swayze's is an excellent place for a show (despite it's not-close-enough proximity to Atlanta, which may ostracize many people), though, as to be expected, the sound was not of the highest priority. But, it is nice to have a fully functional all-ages venue (despite the fact that I am of both legal ages). On to the show.

Doors were supposed to open at 7, but did not do so until 7:30. Hollywood was set to take the stage at 8, but ended up being on stage and playing at 7:45 with their entire set finished by the aforementioned 8. They were really good. Each song comes at swinging and I thought to myself how 'punchy' it sounded. The punchiness only lasted about 20-30 seconds per song before they seemed to fall into a rhythm. This was not terrible, but the excellent way each song began made me hope for a little more. I picked up their demo CD (for $1, how could I go wrong?) and had to fight off the advances of one of the members from trying to sell me a t-shirt (I understand how badly you want to sell your merch, but back off. Next time, just tell me to come to your next show instead of pestering me to buy your merch).

By 8:15 Silent Drive was already on the stage and ready to go. Silent Drive is Zach Bane singing and Nick and Pete Bane on bass (I think) and drumes, respectively. I was burned by the previous Zach-fronted Ink Cartrdge Funeral (though, not terribly), so I never even bothered when they announced the formation of Silent Drive, as I had an inkling of what to expect. It was exactly what I expected. Mellow parts, that sound like Incubus, bleeding into hardcore/metalish parts. While I like Zach's voice and the intensity he showed on stage was second-to-none, I just know that I'll never get into their music. (Side note about Zach: I saw him play in his other band, Barrit, what seems like ten years ago. He played guitar and just looked incredibly evil. He didn't really move around a lot, just stood there, eyes rolled upwards and gave the crowd a metal sign, or evil point, now and again. The last few times I saw Bane, he also didn't move around a whole lot, just kind of playing his music. This time, however, he was extremely animated, talking with the crowd, getting very involved and just going nuts. It was refreshing to see).

Silent Drive rapped up by about 8:45 and by 9 With Honor was on the stage. Now, I haven't been keeping up as much on the hardcore scene as I used to and hadn't even heard of With Honor before that night, so I wasn't expecting the kids to get to rowdy. But they did. Singing along, moshing, stage dives, high fives. They were really hard and tight. They reminded me a lot of the Suicide File, whom I am a big fan of. If I had more money, I would have gotten a CD, but I did not.

Another half hour set and it was 9:30. Another 15 minute wait and Comeback Kid took the stage. I had always heard good things about Comeback Kid and they did not disapoint. They sounded like if you took Hold This Moment and It All Comes Down To This (Bane albums) and mixed them together. As Bane progresses (more on that later), some bands will always attempt to capture what they had during that period. Comback Kid were very tight, had the crowd going apeshit (literally, as they hung from the rafters). Crazy sing-alongs, good mosh parts, a complete package. On my way out the door, I picked up their new CD, though I haven't given it a listen as of yet, but look for a review at some point. Something sad happened during the second to last song though. I was thinking about writing this review and I wanted to make a comment about how the media always 'slams' moshing and how brutal and unforgiving it is. What they don't understand is how fast everybody is to pick someone up that falls down. No one stays on the ground long. No sooner did I finish my thought when a guy was carrying a girl that had gone limp during the song. I'm not exactly sure what happened to her, but she was completely dead weight in the guys hands. I was expecting the worse; she had gotten hit in the back of the head and would never walk again, or even worse she had died and I could envision the headline in the AJC: Local Girl Dead After Attending Rock Concert. My stomach sank and it was hard for me (and most of the people on my side of the stage) to get back into the music. I did hear someone say that she was alright, but I'd still be curious to hear what happened to her.

10:15 they were done and by 10:30 Bane was on the stage (note: This was a smoothly run show, as you can see there was never more than a 15 minute gap between bands. I've waited upwards of an hour and a half for some acts). Everybody knew they were going to play some new songs as they have an album coming out in May (note2: When their last album came out, they had copies of the new album almost 2 full months early while on tour. No such luck this time). They played a good mix of songs, though. Maybe 2 or 3 from the new Album, 1 or 2 from Give Blood, 4 or so off It All Comes Down To This and 3 off of Holding This Moment. I love Holding This Moment, so I was pyshed to see Superhero (my favorite Bane song), Count Me Out and the surprise of the evening, Both Guns Blazing (in lieu of the unrehearsed Struck Down By Me). The crowd was weird, as about a third of them had left before Bane had taken the stage (pay $10 and not stay for the main act...I've done it, but if you're a hardcore fan, you can't leave before Bane). The ones that remained did not disapoint. More hanging from the rafters, more crazy pile-ons and moshing. Par for the course for Bane. It's just indescribable. If you ever been up front during Bane, you know what I'm talking about. Somebody also broke the lights and some ceiling tiles fell down during the mayhem (Aaron remarking something about tearing the roof down is metaphoric for a good hardcore show, and he was right).

As I said earlier, it had been a long time since I had been to a hardcore show and I was not let down this night. I don't think I had ever seen so many good hardcore bands share the same stage (festivals aside). Maybe it's a hardcore renaissance (a la '95), or maybe there's just a lot more really good bands out right now. I'm not sure. Either way, it was an awesome experience and I give major props to the guys at Swayze's for putting an an excellent show (and they book a lot of really good shows coming up too, check them out Swayze's Venue).

Review: Cass McCombs

Cass McCombs - PREfection: Each song is a tad different, but they're all held together by a foundation of '60s pop, just a bit slower. It's really, really good though. Stream Sacred Heart / Buy

Reviews: Bright Eyes

Bright Eyes - Digital Ash In A Digital Urn: Deviation from the familiar? Shun it! Or listen to it, cause it's pretty good.

Bright Eyes - I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning: His accessible album to date. His best album to date. Album of the year, to date. (Just don't call him Bob Dylan)

Stream and Download a bunch of Bright Eyes songs and then Buy them both

Review: Atari

Atari - Ten Years Strong Discography: Very solid hardcore in the same style as IME or TYF. Download Face It / Buy

Review: The Arcade Fire

The Arcade Fire - Us Kids Know: The desperation and urgency lacking from their LP. Download I'm Sleeping In A Submarine / Buy

Review: Ambulance LTD

Ambulance Ltd - LP: Broken Social Scene for the shoegazer crowd. Download Stay Where You Are and Primitive (The Way I Treat You) (Sorry you've got to sign up) / Buy

Reviews: Redneck Manifesto x3

Redneck Manifesto - Thirtysixstrings: Post-rock on the edge of greatness (I know, aren't they all? But this one really is). Download Please Don't Ask Us What We Think Of Your Band / Buy

Redneck Manifesto - Cut Your Heart Off From Your Head: Disappointing follow-up. Download Clue Out Puzzles / Buy

Redneck Manifesto - Taj Compilation: Found this while browsing a p2p network. It's a live set in Texas in which the band just piddle-farts on stage and is a gross waste of time. I added all of their 7" tracks to the end of it to make it worthwhile, but those are hit and miss. Download A Live Track / Buy

Review: Redd Kross

Redd Kross - Neurotica: The album that inspired grunge? I doubt it, sounds like to many other 'punk on the inside, pop on the outside' (or is that the other way around?) bands that came before them. Download Neurotica / Buy

Review: Ray And Porcell

Ray And Porcell - Ray And Porcell: Ray and Porcell (of Youth of Today fame) 'solo' and with a drum machine. It's only two songs, but you wish it were more. Buy

Review: Neon Christ

Neon Christ - Neon Christ (Discography): What starts out as a run-of-the-mill punk band from the early '80s quickly progressed into something a lot better. Then they broke up. Buy

Review: Mos Def

Mos Def - Black On Both Sides: Mos Def is very intelligent, which is why I expected more than this mediocre outing. His best output remains when he teams with Kweli (a la Black Star). Stream / Buy

Reviews: Talib Kweli x2

Talib Kweli - Freestyles and Rarities: Why is it necessary to reach EVERY piece of recorded music from a rapper? I deem it unnecessary. Buy

Talib Kweli - Quality: Now I get the hype. Kweli redeems himself on the previously-released Quality where his skills are apparent and he's not trying to sell out (a la The Beautiful Struggle). Stream / Buy

Review: Moonbabies

Moonbabies - June And Novas: Not bad, just a little too all over the place. They need some focus, hopefully provided for future releases. Download / Buy

Review: Bloc Party

Bloc Party - Silent Alarm: Not bad, just a little dissapointing following the phenomenal EP. Download (Sorry for the double dip) / Buy

Review: Rivulets

Rivulets - Debridement: This guy could make Reverend H.W. Smith depressed. Stream / Download / Buy

Reviews: Mission Of Burma x8

Mission Of Burma - Forget: Such immediacy that will not be forgotten soon. Didn't know until post-listen that this was a posthumously odds-and-ends collection, so I look forward to delving into their proper catalogue. Stream / Buy

Mission Of Burma - Signals, Calls and Marches: '80s punk that's insanely catchy. I dare you not to like at least one song. Stream / Download (Videos, 2002 reunion) / Buy

Mission Of Burma - VS: It has taken me far too long to discover these guys. Stream / Buy

Mission Of Burma - The Horrible Truth About Burma: Another live disc, another dud. Stream / Buy

Mission Of Burma - Mission Of Burma: Easily the best way to get into this band. The catchy songs are here, the immediate songs are here, the rest of the songs are here. Buy

Mission Of Burma - Let There Be Burma: Another odds-and-ends collection, another waste of a casual fan's time. Buy

Mission Of Burma - Peking Spring: Better-than-most odds-and-ends collection because it foreshadows that what-could've-been. Stream / Buy

Review: King Missile

King Missile - Happy Hour: What a weird album. I can't really take it seriously, but, still, I'm oddly drawn to it. Stream / Buy

Review: King Crimson

King Crimson - In The Wake Of Poseidon: Another solid album from one of art-rock's finest. Stream / Download (Not album specific) / Buy

Review: Kent

Kent - Hagnesta Hill: It seems as though every other country (Sweden) has wonderful pop music. Why, then, do we get stuck with Lindsay Lohan? Stream / Buy

Reviews: KC Accidental x2

KC Accidental - Anthems For The Could've Been Pills: Before they became a pop band and changed their name (Broken Social Scene), they were a pretty good post-rock band. Stream / Buy

KC Accidental - Captured Anthems For An Empty Bathtub: A bit more experimental, not as entertaining. Stream / Buy

Review: Jimmy Chamberlin Complex

Jimmy Chamberlin Complex - Life Begins Again: Ton of jazz influence is evident, but it fails to appeal. Stream (Register to hear the whole song) / Buy

Review: Japancakes

Japancakes - If I Could See Dallas: The perfect post-rock album to fall asleep to. Doesn't get busy (a la GYBE and EITS), but just stays constant. Beautiful, but not boring. Stream / Stream (2) / Buy

Review: In/Humanity

In/Humanity - Humanity/Violent Resignation: The Great American Teenage Suicide Rebellion 1992-1998: It's just noise. If you're a Converge fan, you should check them out, otherwise avoid them. Buy

Reviews: Rachel's x3

Rachel's - Handwriting LP: I'm not sure this can even be classified as post-rock for it seems to be something more. Stream / Download / Buy

Rachel's - Music For Egon Schiele: Rachel's is no longer a post-rock band. They are now just a plain old instrumental band. Some of the most interesting, engaging, emotional, sentimental and amazing instrumental music ever. Each song is a complete thought, complete emotion, beginning to end. Stream / Download / Buy

Rachel's - The Sea And The Bells: Rachel's is a post-rock band, but a better-than-most post-rock band. Stream / Download / Buy

Reviews: Michael Franti x2

Michael Franti - Songs From The Front Porch: Soulful, laid-back, but most importantly, enjoyable. Not going to make you rethink your musical tastes, but my broaden them slightly. Stream / Download / Buy

Michael Franti & Spearhead: A more conceptualized album, complete with radio segments/skits. Kicker is, I don't want to cut out the skits and burn it cause I think it will detract from the album, and what a fine album it is. Stream / Download (Videos) / Buy

Review: Flipper

Flipper - Album; Generic Flipper: Not an album to enjoy, but an album to respect. Stream / Download (Not album specific) / Buy

Review: Primal Scream

Primal Scream - Vanishing Point: I really need to start sampling albums before committing to a full listen. This way I can weed out the ones I'm obviously going to hate, like this one. Stream / Buy

Review: The Faces

The Faces - Five Guy Walk Into A Bar (4 Disc): Rod Stewart sure could rock back in the day, but a single-disc affair would have sufficed for the uniniated. Stream / Buy

Review: Maggie Estep

Maggie Estep - Love Is A Dog From Hell: Like most spoken word put to music, this is largely a hit or miss affair. Stream / Buy

Review: Earlimart

Earlimart - Kingdom Of Champions: It's not that what Earlimart does is bad, it's that what they do is done so much better by many bands. Download / Download (2) / Buy

Review: Black Star

Black Star - Mos Def & Talib Kweli Are Black Star: "One, two, three Mos Def and Talib Kweli/We came to rock it on to the tip-top/Best alliance in hip-hop" Couldn't have said it better myself. Stream (Live concert, courtesy of www.mosdefinitely.com) / Buy

Review: Devendra Banhart

Devendra Banhart - Rejoicing In The Hands: The indie-folk revoluting is being blogged about. Stream / Download / Buy

News: Top 88 of '04 Complete With Reviews

Devendra Banhart was the final album I listened to last year and while I have listened to more albums released last year I have opted to not update the list. For now, the Top 88 of '04 is complete. Perhaps next year I will make a revised list which will surely be the Top 107 of '04, but not today. Tomorrow will continue with regular updates of albums from all years of release.

News: UponFirstListen Ripped Off

I read several music websites each day. All of the blogs you see to the right get a hit once a day (usually at night, after they've updated for the day) as does antimusic, velvetrope and pitchforkmedia. Others I check less frequently. Two of these are popmatters and stylusmagazine. Not that their news or reviews are any less entertaining or important, but they both have terrible layouts and are difficult to navigate and difficult to ascertain needed information. So, tonight, I'm browsing the internet at random and I decide to hit both of them up to see what I'm missed. Nothing major at popmatters (new Hood and Sage Francis review), but stylusmagazine has something interesting. Called "On First Listen" it's exactly what you think, only slightly different. They take established artists and make theire reviewers listen to them for the first time (the first one is a review of the Rolling Stones). Granted, their review is a lot longer than anything I write (or plan to, sans this and a feature here and there), but still, I can't help but feel violated. Of course, there's not much I can do, but the satisfaction of knowing that I've been doing this (at 3 different locations) for almost a year and a half, with more than 300 albums reviewed for the first time, makes me feel cheated. I plan to continue updating this site every day for as long as I possibly can (I already have the next 2 months worth of reviews sitting in a .txt document on my desktop, so assuming I have internet, you will see an update for at least that long. Additionally, I have approximately another 150 or so albums I have in the to-be reviewed column and that's not counting new stuff I discover, and trust me, I discover a lot of new music). UponFirsListen did it first, just remember that.

Review: Saul Williams

saul Williams - Saul Williams: Not as innovative as Amethyst Rock Star, but it's more accessible and just plain better. Stream / Buy

Review: pAper chAse/Red Worms' Farm

Various - the pAper chAse meets red worms farm: Both of these bands compliment each other well and are a good introduction into each. The real gem, though is the remixed "Out Come The Knives" which is better described as an acoustic version. Download / Buy

Review: The Music

The Music - Welcome To The North: It just doesn't rock like their self-titled album did, but it sure as hell is catchy. Stream / Buy

Review: The Go! Team

The Go! Team - Thunder Lightning Strike: Such a fun indie-rock record. Stream / Buy

Review: Madvillain

Madvillain - Madvillainy: Avant-Garde Rap? I don't get it, but keep trying to push the genre forward, it really needs it. Stream / Buy

Reviews: Fiery Furnaces x3

The Fiery Furnaces - Blueberry Boat: It feels so complete, even after just a solitary listen. I can't think of a reason why it needs to exit my CD player. Stream / Download / Buy

Fiery Furnaces - Gallowsbird's Bark: This one's going to take a lot longer [than Blueberry Boat] to get into, but I think it will be much more rewarding. Stream / Buy

Fiery Furnaces - EP: A b-sides collection that will see just as much play as both of their full lengths. For a more complete collection, add SBN versions of We Got The Plague, My Dog Was Lost and Up In The North along with the Fall and Clash covers (Winter and One More Time, respectively). Download / Buy

News: Redesign & New Blog

I redesigned the site. Got tired of having a Blogger Template that other people have, so I made my own. Many thanks go to my lovely girlfriend, Sara, for the logo design, color scheme and basic layout. Never realized how powerful CSS and XML are. Started another blog (PenguinVirgin.blogspot.com) to document my adventures of Linux.

Review: Xiu Xiu

Xiu Xiu - Fabulous Muscles: It's good, but I don't really know why. Nor can I decide if I want to listen again, but I will. Stream / Buy

Review: Wovenhand

Wovenhand - Consider The Birds: I love it. Empty and dark without being boring, pretentious or fake. Stream / Download / Buy

Review: Wilco

Wilco - A Ghost Is Born: I thought previous albums were okay, but didn't get the hoopla. That aside, I really got into this album (despite the high pitched noise towards the end). Stream / Buy

Review: Walking Concert

Walking Concert - Run To Be Born: Just about everything Walter Schriefels touches (Gorilla Biscuits, Moondog, World's Fastest Car, Quicksand, Rival Schools) is gold. This is silver, but still a damn fine album. Download / Buy