Plastic Beach (
Gorillaz) – A concept album from a concept band. What impresses me about this album is how fluid it manages to be for having guest artists on most every track (from Snoop Dogg to Mos Def to Lou Reed). It definitely has some catchy songs (e.g. ‘Melancholy Hill’) that you can’t help but like but it also has some less “user-friendly” tracks (‘Sweepstakes’ w/ Mos Def) which have a lot of depth to them upon subsequent listens. This helps make the album a lastingly good one. ‘Some Kind of Nature’ w/ Lou Reed doesn’t really fit any of those categories; it is just awesome.
8.5 (on a scale of -10 to 10)
Sisterworld (
Liars) – A friend of mine wondered if the cd had possibly been retrieved after being “discarded somewhere on the floor of hell.” He continued, “I tried, but I just can't do it. I feel like an old man getting his first taste of rock 'n' roll.” This album is definitely not for the faint of heart and yes it may have some diabolical qualities to it, but damn if I don’t LOVE this album. It’s so good. Admittedly, you have to be in a slightly sinister mood (in other words, don’t listen to it on a sunny morning whilst on a power walk) to really get into it. Interestingly, some of the tracks (e.g. ‘Scissor’) are haunting and jagged, yet others (e.g. “Too Much, Too Much’) are angelically melodic. Also, they pull off one of the best album remixes I’ve ever heard. As a bonus disc they do alt versions of each track allowing other artists to inject their influence and remix the track to their style. Two of these remix creations are just annoying and offer no new perspectives or improvements, but at least two of them are homeruns and most of them are just really good.
9.0
Go (
Jonsi) – Listen to this album on a sunny morning whilst on a power walk. It will make you happy. Jonsi (frontman of Sigur Ros) steps out on his own to deliver this solo project. It’s very colorful and upbeat and I like that it draws on that signature Icelandic sound that he has helped to create. No song really stands out as genius, and after a week or two you might even forget that you have this album in your collection, but it is good and you will be glad when you play it again after realizing that you haven’t listened to it in a while.
7.0
Forgiveness Rock Record (
Broken Social Scene) – The Canadien indie superband is back at it with their fourth studio album. I think this is BSS’s most consistently good album to date. It doesn’t have any immediate hits like ’Anthems for a Seventeen Year Old Girl’ or ‘7/4 (Shoreline)’ but it has two or three or four songs that I really like and more importantly, no duds. This album is pretty recent so I haven’t given it a lot of listens yet but I’ve found that it’s their most complete album and for that reason probably their best.
I'm bored with this album by now. It has little character and at least one annoying song ("Texaco B's"). It still has a few nice tracks but it's never enough to pull me back in.
7.5 4.0
8 comments:
I completely agree with all these reviews, especially on the new BSS. Most solid of all their records, but no awesome hits like the other ones have. Interesting fact, 7/4 (Shoreline) ranks atop my list of most listened to tunes on itunes, with 54. Should i be embarrassed by that many listens?
After more time with it, and seeing the stage performance i am tempted to bump jonsi up to an 8 though.
Thanks for the support, Desmand. I am inclined to leave Jonsi where it is for this reason: I have a hard time staying focused throughout the entire album. The Jonsi sound is just a bit too signature and I tire of it after 4 or 5 tracks.
Interesting tidbit on the 7/4 Shoreline thing. Last I checked my #1 track on iTunes was Thom Yorke's Analyse.
Okay, okay, Mr. and Mrs. Music Guys. The Gorillaz are lame and just like Lady Gaga, which is true so don't disagree. Second of all, I liked this post a lot with the exception of one thing: no, two things, but first this thing: you used Pitchfork's grading system, which I hate, mainly because I hate Pitchfork and their thick-glasses smug comraderie. Their criteria for good music is if the music makes them more smug. Here is my criteria: it has to have good melodies, and it have to have good harmonies. Everything else is just chocolate sauce. If I had my own Pitchfork, which I would name I'msmug, I would lay out my grading philosophy based on the poem "Music's Duel" by Richard Crashaw. To get a sense how much I hate Pitchfork, read the review of Gillian Welch's "Soul Journey," and you will never want to read those dheads again. I felt the same way when I listened to the recent BS Report when that radio announcer from the Celtics was on. Some people just don't see beyond their thick-rimmed glasses. Chuck Klosterman is like this too, but I don't mind him quite as much.
Second of all, Jonsi deserves a solid 9.5, or, since I am protesting the 10 point scale, a double D. After putting out the fantastic Riceboy Sleeps album, which is perfect on harmony, he comes out with Go, which is genius melodically. In other words, he nailed both criteria for good pop music. Hooray for Jonsi. By the way, I listened to an interview with him the other day, and he uses the word "amazing" way too often. The only reason you can't listen to Jonsi after four or five tracks is because each song demands full attention for its melody, and as a culture, we get exhausted quickly these days.
Third of all, why don't you do posts like these more often?
Fourth of all, BSS is not nearly as good as they pretend to be. I am convinced they have duped everyone because they are so "bandy." They are a supergroup, which is like the Dream Team or the new Sly Stallone movie, and I never like those kinds of things. But, if I had to choose an awesome BSS song, I would choose Superconnected, which used to be my get ready for school song when I lived in Tucson. I feel like BSS gets away with too much nonsense since they are a supergroup and all.
Fifth of all, I listened to that group, Twisted Sister or something, on itunes and each 15 second excerpt had a deep-voiced guy who was goth. I am all for goth unless it is musical goth. Go Suns!
James,
Out of fairness to me I think my system is different from pforks. My scale, as noted in my first music review in Sep-07, is a scale from -10.0 to 10.0 (Neil Young: 'Arc' being a -10.0). Does pfork do negatives?
Fair enough. Didn't know Neil Young was capable of a negative in your evaluation. Never heard of Arc, but it sounds like I should listen to it. I would give Are you Passionate? a -7. You should do more reviews of crappy albums, but they are hard to do because we don't want to buy those ones.
By the way, you should get Dave Rawlings's "A Friend of a Friend" and review it. His version of "Cortez the Killer" is great, so much better than the Dave Matthews nonsense.
James,
Are You Passionate is definitely not a -7. I had an urge to listen to it just earlier this week after a particular song, "You're My Girl", went running through my head. I think he found a great sound on this album. "You're My Girl" is one of his best songs of the 21st century. And "Mr. Disappointment" is weird but also poetic and awesome. "When I Hold You In My Arms" is a great love song. You should listen to these 3 songs just to get yourself in the groove, and I bet you come around on the whole album.
I remember getting home from my mission and hearing that Neil Young had a new CD but that, "it wasn't that good." So I tepidly listened to it and kind of stored it in the archives. But somehow it kept creeping up on me and now, even in 2010 I still have urges to track down and listen to that specific album.
Oh no, my friend, Neil Young can do much worse than Are You Passionate.
Now I think BSS should get downgraded to a 4. It's pretty boring and has little character.
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