Review(s): The Beatles

The Beatles - Acoustic Submarine: Everything you'd expect from a collection of acoustic Beatles songs. Some better, some worse, some on par with their original counterparts.

Review(s): The Easybeats

The Easybeats - Aussie Beat That Shook The World: The Definitive Anthology: "Hey man, let's rip off a ton of good bands [ed. namely The Beatles and The Kinks] and convince everyone we're unique cause we're from Australia." Wow, to be around when drugs made things like that seem logical...

Review(s): Brian Wilson

Brian Wilson - SMiLE (Live on 02/20/04): I wish I would have borrowed one of the umpteen bootlegs Jared has of this before listening. It makes me want a fleshed out studio version, and I don't even care for the Beach Boys.

Review(s): Danger Mouse

Danger Mouse - The Grey Album: In what was easily the most promising and anticipated album of the year (and perhaps the last few years) I find the sum of the whole to be inferior to both pieces of the puzzle.

Review(s): Elbow, Soundtrack Of Our Lives, Daniel Johnston

Elbow - Cast Of Thousands: Elbow (and the Bunnymen).

Soundtrack Of Our Lives - Behind The Music: All the requisite Brit-pop influences are there. Beatles, Oasis, Radiohead, Kinks, Blur, but still, I wonder what all the fuss was when this was released.

VAST - Music For People: ::shrug::

Daniel Johnston - The Complete Early Recordings, Volume 1: Songs Of Pain and More Songs Of Pain:You either love Daniel Johnston in all his Manic/Depressive glory or just don't see the allure. More artists should be Manic/Depressive so they can be as good as him.

Review(s): Clem Snide, City of Caterpillar, Built To Spill, Broken Social Scene

Clem Snide - The Ghost Of Fashion: Good pop music. (Oh, and they did the theme song for Season 2 of Ed)

City Of Caterpillar - Demo + Live Recordings: Filling out the City of Caterpillar discography, this disc shows that even when they were 'just another Screamo' band they were good.

Built To Spill - Keep It: For some reason, I hear Radiohead meets Weezer, but that doesn't seem quite right. Good nonetheless.

Broken Social Scene - Feel Good Lost: They should call it the Sophmore Stride when it comes to this band, because this debut is boring and mediocre, just like most other bands on the genre, but their follow-up is heaven on plastic.

Review(s): Dirty Three, Damien Rice, Cursive, The Clint Boon Experience, Clinic

Dirty Three - Horse Stories: I don't know how to describe it. Post-Bluegrass? Post-Country? Post-Folk? Whatever it is, it's really good.

Damien Rice - O: If you listen really closely, you can hear the tears hitting the recording studio's floor.

Cursive - The Ugly Organ: Believe some of the hype.

The Clint Boon Experience - Compact Guide To Pop Music & Space Travel: Some of the most enjoyable (and quirky) pop music I've heard in a long time. Sadly, it will never get the recognition it deserves.

Clinic - Walking With Thee: Rather mediocre for being Thom Yorke-approved.

Review(s): Hot Hot Heat, Kayo Dot, Kind of Like Spitting, The For Carnation x2

Hot Hot Heat - Makeup The Breakdown: Die, dancepunk, die.

Kayo Dot - Choirs Of The Eye: Avante Gardecore that isn't quite to the level of City of Caterpillar, but good enough.

Kind Of Like Spitting - Bridges Worth Burning: I'd vote for a name change to Kind Of Like A Lack Of Emotional Conviction.

The For Carnation - Promised Works: Having members of Slint no longer makes me want to run out and buy their album.

The For Carnation - The For Carnation: He hits a chord taken right out of Spiderland. Your heart stops. Your pants become moist. You proceed to cry because not only is this not Spiderland, but you left your Spiderland disc at home.

Review(s): Lift To Experience, M83, Mercury Rev, Missy Elliott, Corm

Lift To Experience - The Texas-Jerusalem Crossroads: Almost phenomenal, but then it goes on too long.

M83 - Dead Cities, Red Seas and Lost Ghosts: Why do I hate electronic music so?/On the list of acceptable, it ranks just below/the bubblegum pop you despise/but singing along I cannot deny.

Mercury Rev - Boces: If your songs are longer than 3 minutes and you're not doing anything to further something (a theme, story, emotion), you're music is boring.

Missy Elliott - Under Construction: Timbaland could make me sound good.

Corm - Everything Streamlined: Starting off as an early-Piebald rip off and slowly regressing into ska before ending up as a Hot Water Music rip off. Overall, it's a lackluster effort with some good moments.

Review(s): Betchadupa, Saturday Looks Good To Me, The Kinks, Slapshot

Betchadupa - Alphabetchadupa: This band is pretty good. But, so are the other 6,375 bands that sound exactly like them.

Saturday Looks Good To Me - All Your Summer Songs: Another indie pop band that does little to set itself apart.

The Kinks - Face To Face: The British Beatles.

Slapshot - Greatest Hits, Slashes And Crosschecks: One of those (like American Nightmare after them) who is copied more often than the Beatles.

Review(s): Sufjan Stevens, Swans, Liars x2

Sufjan Stevens - Greetings From Michigan, The Great Lake State: Something indescribable is missing. Once it is found, it will be perfect.

Swans - Children Of God: The worst album I have ever heard.

Liars - They Threw Us All In A Trench And Stuck On Monument On Top: Performing with such anxiety is sometimes a blessing and sometimes a curse. When referencing this disc, it is a blessing, despite the 30 minute 'outro'.

Liars - They Were Wrong, So We Drowned: Talk about ruining a band's potential.

Review(s): Pretty Girls Make Graves, Primus, The Rapture, Ednaswap, Silverchair

Pretty Girls Make Graves - The New Romance: Not at all what I was expecting from the makers of "Speakers Push The Air", but it's a good album that requires more listens to determine its greatness.

Primus - Sailing The Seas Of Cheese: Proving that not even shorter songs can save Prog-Rock.

The Rapture - Echoes: Every indie kid's wet dream: A record s/he can dance to without losing scene points!

Ednaswap - Ednaswap: This band is a hook and producer away from being on Star 94. (note: They were the ones who wrote the song "Torn" as performed famously by Natalie Imbruglia)

Silverchair - Diorama: They weren't cool in 1995 with Frogstomp and they're not cool in 2002 (2004) with Diorama.

Review(s): Monotonashfuck, Múm, My Bloody Valentine, Oceansize, the pAper chAse

Monotonashfuck - Demo: It is unclear if this band is pre- or post-City of Caterpillar. I hope that it is the former, because it's nothing special and City of Caterpillar was.

Múm - Finally, We Are No One: Electronic music from Iceland. You figure it out.

My Bloody Valentine - Loveless: Pushing the boundaries of noise boredom.

Oceansize - Effloresce: There are so many elements of this band that I like, but it just doesn't quite fit. I expect good things from them in the future.

the pAper chAse - hide the kitchen knives: Everything a Dave Pajo solo CD should be. Even if it doesn't actually have Dave Pajo.

Review(s): Sweet 75, Three O'clock, American Nightmare, Metric x2

Sweet 75 - Sweet 75: Krist Novoselic's first post-Nirvana band is forgettable. So forgettable that I listened to this disc over two weeks ago and forgot about.

Three O'Clock - Sixteen Tambourines/Baroque Hoedown: Their impact and influence on the Stone Roses is apparent, but the repetitive nature of the songs leaves more to be desired.

American Nightmare/Give Up The Ghost - We're Down 'till We're Underground: Poor production permeates this past due disc.

Metric - Static Anonymity: Exhibit A: Band trying too hard.

Metric - Old World Underground, Where Are You?: Wait, I thought I took Static Anonymity out of the CD player.

Review(s): Jay-Z, The Swords Project x2

Jay-Z - The Black Album: The final maturation of Hip-Hop. Now, if someone would just do something to move the genre forward, I'd appreciate it.

The Swords Project - The Swords Project: The American Sigur Ros. (note: this is a good thing)

The Swords Project - Entertainment Is Over If You Want It: Every once in a while, a CD comes along that renews my faith in something. In this case, Entertainment Is Over If You Want It renews my faith in the Post-Rock genre. Breathtaking, stunning, engaging, this discs make me re-evaluate my Top 11 of 2003 (in addition to Broken Social Scene)

Review(s): Beau Sia, The Books, Bark Pyschosis, Badfinger, Aerial M

Beau Sia: Attack! Attack! Go! Go!: In what seems like a logical step, Beau Sia tries to attach his in-your-face style of 'def poetry' to some music (beats). This works under the pretenses that you like Beau Sia's poetry (I do) and understand that the music is only there to drive to poem on (which, I do).

The Books - The Lemon Of Pink: The most cohesive album of incoherent fragments that I've ever heard.

Bark Psychosis - Hex: Simply beautiful.

Badfinger - The Very Best Of Badfinger: As if you needed another reason as to why '60s Pop/Rock is infinitely better than modern Pop/Rock.

Aerial M - As Performed By: Aerial M is Dave Pajo. Dave Pajo is Slint. Slint is Post-Rock. Aerial M is Post-Rock, but still bad.

Review(s): Anadivine, Exhaust x2, Echo and the Bunnymen

Anadivine - Anadivine: I always knew the Coheed and Cambriazation of 'emo' was an inevitablilty. I didn't know, however, just how mediocre the results would be.

Exhaust - Enregistreur: Boring.

Exhaust - Exhaust: The most engaging post-rock album I've heard in a long time from non-heavyweights (GY!BE, ASMZ, EITS, etc).

Echo And The Bunnymen: Crystal Days: 1979-1999: Reviewing a four-disc career overview of an artist whose work you are not familiar with is rather daunting. However, I shall trudge forward. Sounding like any numer of UK bands (Joy Division, Stone Roses, Happy Mondays) during their quest for the original sound, they fail to stand out. That being said, when they are on top of their game (songs like The Killing Moon and Lips Like Sugar) they are nothing more than Echo and the Bunnymen, and this, my friend, is a very good thing. Their works are meant to be listened to as individual albums, and this collection is only for hardcore fans as it contains a wonderful set of live numbers (including a string of covers - Beatles, Dylan, Rolling Stones) and alternate versions of included songs. I recommend you at least check out this band, but perhaps not this collection. I, myself, will be on the lookout for their proper albums (specifically, Crocodiles and Ocean Rain both of which tthe Bible gives 4.5 stars (out of 5))

Review(s): The Unicorns

The Unicorns - Who Will Cut Our Hair When We're Gone?: A friend of mine, on the subject of The Unicorns had only this to say: "they're weird", which, as you might have guessed, stuck with me as I listened to this CD. Weird as it is, the last three tracks (and perhaps more, as I listened to the first 9 tracks and the last 3 tracks on two separate occassions with two different sets of circumstances) had some [2nd ed] very [ed.] strong redeeming factors.

Review(s): Esmerine, Low

Esmerine - If Only A Sweet Surrender To The Nights To Come Be True: Same post-rock formula with different instrumentation yields similar results. A wonderfully talented group of individuals with boring music [on its own merit] that would be perfect for a movie.

Low - Christmas: It's amazing what words and a singer can do for post-rock. It's also amazing how emotional a sub-5 minute song can be (take the hint GY!BE et al).

Review(s): The Mars Volta, Broken Social Scene

The Mars Volta - Live: This limited edition EP makes me wish I were there (note: this is the first and last time Upon* will use an emoticon as part of a review)

Broken Social Scene - You Forgot It In People: This disc will not be reviewed at this time, for it requires repeat listens.