Rate the last album you listened to

[Farin]

Boulevard ~ St. Germain (2002)

nowhere near as good as his second album Tourist, some beats are a bit too prominent, and the last track "Alabama Blues (Todd Edwards Vocal Mix)", while not bad at all, doesn't really fit to the rest of the album

still, all in all a very solid acid jazz album: 8/10

[Viaene]

A Woman A man walked by - PJ Harvey and John Parish

The collaboration between these two good friends left us ten songs. A few, from which, only the single "black hearted love" is really great. Most other songs are around average, which is below the usual PJ Harvey level. The title track is rather experimental, along with a few other songs, and it can't be called a succeeded experiment. I wouldn't mind John Parish to go back to the producing of the album and let PJ do the artistic work.

5/10

[Viaene]

Grace/Wastelands - Pete Doherty

This is the first thing I listen to by Pete, I got to give it to the man, he knows how to put melodies in the music. As his first solo album he brings us a harmonic record with each song fitting in the melancholic mood of the album. With mostly acoustic guitars and well written lyrics one can enjoy all songs without exception, without getting bored.

9/10

[edna]

Doherty is very good. I would like to see him onstage...

[Farin]

Hombre Lobo: 12 Songs of Desire ~ Eels (2009)

On first listen VERY enjoyable, could become a favourite of the year

8.5/10

[Viaene]

That makes an average of 8.25/10 for Eels

[Viaene]

Attack & Release - The Black Keys

This album ROCKS! It's filled with pure, raw bluesrock, rolling riffs and driving drums. The guitarwork is extraordinary, not one song on the album isn't worth listening to. I can't understand why the black keys aren't world famous and loved by everyone.

--> 10/10

Edited June 10, 2009 by Guest

[TheLizard]

I can't understand why the black keys aren't world famous and loved by everyone.

--> 10/10

Because they're really good and people are stupid.

[Levis]

"The Eternal" - Sonic Youth

I really like this - I'm not the hugest Sonic Youth fan. The first song I ever heard by them was Death Valley '69 and I've been a bit wary of them ever since. But The Eternal is the best I've ever heard them.

[pinkstones]

David Gilmour - David Gilmour

This is David's first solo album, released in the year between Pink Floyd's albums Animals and The Wall. It's your basic blues-rock album, but it does show flashes of the little "something" David's immense genius added to Pink Floyd. It's a great album, and it's a shame he doesn't do anything from this record live. Although, he did do the song No Way (my personal favorite) at the Crisis Hidden Gig in London w/ Amadou and Mariam about 3 weeks ago.....so that's a little treat.

A funny tidbit about this record - David had originally written Comfortably Numb to appear on this record. However, he wasn't that confident with the lyrics and didn't think what he had fit, so he brought the demo with him to The Wall sessions and between him and Roger, we got the song that we've all come to love for the last 30 years. Kind of makes you wonder what the finished product would have been if David kept it!

I give it a 9/10. It's not on par with On An Island, although it's a fantastic record anyway. I own it on vinyl (yay!) and mp3 on my iPod.

[Farin]

Figur 5 ~ Couch

This is one of these 'nice to listen to, but you don't miss anything if you don't have it' albums.

If you like instrumental and/or post-rock music this could be something for you though.

6/10

[Levis]

I like that cover art

[Farin]

Hold On Now, Youngster... ~ Los Campesinos!

not much to say about it besides 'great'.

if you like quirky, witty, well made Indie pop, this is a must have!

9/10

[Farin]

listened to some of my favourite albums yesterday... all of them deserve a 10/10 rating

Third ~ Portishead (best album of 2008 btw)

Odelay ~ Beck

Dry ~ PJ Harvey

[Viaene]

^I agree

Also, a 10/10 for that album I listed to last night.

I think it was called Highway 61 Revisited.

[Farin]

Travelling Without Moving ~ Jamiroquai

nice funky (acid) jazz in this one, I actually expected something more dance-y

(less dance more jazz-funk = good thing )

8/10

[BlueAngel]

^^Very solid album. I think both their debut and The Return of the Space Cowboy were perhaps more consistent, but, like you said, this one has a stronger jazz-funk sound.

[Levis]

I'm listening to a bunch of scattered tracks off assorted Weird Tapes, Memory Tapes, Memory Cassette EPs - I like them. Bicycle is a really good single, but I'm disappointed in how generic Weird Tapes sound compared to Memory Tapes, so they bring the overall score down a notch to about 6.75-7. Memory Tapes on their own are worth an 8.5

[Farin]

Humbug ~ Arctic Monkeys

I don't really want to rate it yet, after the first listen only two songs stuck out positively: "Dangerous Animals" and "The Jeweller's Hands"

but 1. some of my most favourite albums took me some listens to really appreciate them and

2. while the whole album is slower than their predecessors, none of the songs stuck out negatively either... not at all

well, there's one thing that I don't think is too great: 10 songs, 39 minutes

[Levis]

one of the last albums I heard was The Horrors' Primary Colours this morning.

Now the thing is - the hype about this album reached me before the album did and given their influences I was told 'you will LOVE this album it is SO shoegaze' - or something like that. This sort of thing is never good...

Additionally, the people who said this sort of thing also added 'This is probably the best album of the year, I think it is fantastic, they should really win the Mercury Prize' - well yes they should, actually, I'm not too keen on the other nominees BUT...

It still isn't doing it for me. I wish I'd heard it BEFORE it became so popular because now it just falls flat. I can tell it's good and different in bits but I wish I could feel it more. I can hear the MBV influence, a bit of Echo and the Bunnymen and I tell you, 'I Can't Control Myself' is nothing but Spiritualized's 'Come Together' and no one has noticed yet.

No rating because anything I say will be 'wrong'

[Levis]

Halfway through 'The Effects of 333' by Black Rebel Motorcycle Club

Oh good god, BRMC, I love you, but to describe this album as a disappointment would be high praise. You hurt my ears, I am glad you gave up 'ambient.' I mean, you even made me give Pitchfork a shred more respect only because they seem to be the only ones who managed to get through the whole thing (only to give it a 0.4). Couldn't you put in even a LITTLE bit of effort? This is worse than an early Telescopes rough cut when they had that album which was just them tuning guitars. In fact, I am going to stop writing right now because I HAVE TO STOP THIS NOISE!!!

that nearly turned me off music. ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch.

[The Seeker]

[Farin]

The Great Destroyer ~ Low

great album, right on the same level with "Things We Lost in the Fire" and "Drums and Guns". Best songs are 'Monkey', 'Broadway' and 'Cue the Strings'

9/10

[Viaene]

"The Beatles" - The Beatles

A double album, with many good tunes, but also many lower quality songs to fill up the two disks.

In my opinion, they should have gone with only one disk, that would have gotten them a 9.

7/10

[Farin]

Yes, Virginia... ~ The Dresden Dolls

sometimes it takes me a while to check out some critically acclaimed bands, even if I personally know some people who would recommend it without a second thought

...I think I should listen to them more often

9/10

and two interesting facts:

The Dresden Dolls describe their style as "Brechtian punk cabaret", a phrase invented by Amanda Palmer because she was "terrified" that the press would invent a name that "would involve the word gothic".

The album title comes from the question written by Virginia O'Hanlon, which resulted in the "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus" response by the newspaper. (referenced in the song "Mrs. O.")