What music are you listening to?

[fr34k]

I just fell in love with Bonaparte

I think they're freakin' nuts but somehow that doesn't stop them from being awesome.

[METALMAN]

Think I'll do my what I've been listening to thing before I go to bed. >_>

Patrick Wolf - The Bachelor (7/10) - Perhaps not as good as his last album but it still has its moments. There are some brilliant string arrangements here, most notably on "Hard Times" and "Damaris". My favourite track is "Blackdown" however.

Michael Jackson - The Essential Michael Jackson (6/10) - Listened to this for obvious reasons. It performs better than any other compilation in accurately summarising the ups and downs of Michael Jackson's incredible career. Incredible because the same person who recorded "Ben" - possibly the worst song ever - hit a golden spell where he recorded many songs that are favourites of mine, from "The Girl Is Mine" through to "Smooth Criminal", "Man In The Mirror" and "Black & White". Then he finished his career off with the finest symmetry by releasing mainly dross afterwards - "They Don't Care About Us" for instance.

Michael Jackson - Thriller (8/10) - Again, obvious reasons. You all know the songs on this so I'll keep this brief. I never really liked the title track all that much, but that is more than made up for by the trinity of "Billie Jean", "Beat It" and "The Girl Is Mine". However, my favourite song from the album is "PYT" which is awesome.

She & Him - Volume One (8/10) - Zooey Deschanel does music. With excellent results. I hadn't listened to this album in ages, but after seeing "Yes Man" I felt the urge to give it another spin. Although I did enjoy it back when it came out, this time round it was far better than I ever remembered it. "Sentimental Heart" and "Change Is Hard" are lovely lovely songs, while "Why Do You Let Me Stay Here" is finest Kate Nash without a Kate Nash voice. The two covers - "You've Really Got A Hold On Me" and "I Should Have Known Better" - are brilliantly arranged and barely recognisable when compared to their seminal Beatles' versions. I'd heartily recommend this album, especially "Change Is Hard" which is without a doubt one of my favourite songs ever.

Idlewild - Captain (6/10) - Idlewild's debut mini-album is nothing at all special, though "Annihilate Now!" and "Satan Polaroid" do foreshadow great things to come.

Buffalo Springfield - Buffalo Springfield Again (8/10) - Buffalo Springfield's second album perhaps offers the first real glimpse of Neil Young's future greatness. The album is sandwiched by its two best songs. Opener "Mr. Soul" blatantly rips off "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction)", yet turns it into what is, in my opinion at least, a far superior song. Last track "Broken Arrow" is without a doubt the very pinnacle of this fine album, itself having as many twists and turns over its course as the rest of the album put together.

Nick Drake - Five Leaves Left (9/10) - This is without a doubt my favourite album I've covered in this series of reviews. If I were to list my top ten albums ever, and put a good deal of thought into it, I would highly expect this to feature. I love this to such an extent that I find it difficult to even separate any one song as a best or worst track, though at a push I would recommend "Day Is Done".

God Help The Girl - God Help The Girl (4/10) - NO NO NO NO. Massive crushing disappointment from my favourite songwriter of all time. It just sounds wrong when someone other than Stuart Murdoch sings Stuart Murdoch songs, and the fact that every woman he drafted in seems to have an annoying as fuck voice only serves to further its detriment. This is why the best songs on this album are the ones sung by Murdoch himself. But I'm still not going to advise that you download any of them as they are still subpar to anything Belle & Sebastian has ever done. Download "Push Barman To Open Old Wounds" instead.

Malcolm Middleton - Waxing Gibbous (7/10) - A decent, but forgettable album here. This doesn't feature any of the absolutely incredible catchy as fuck tunes Middleton seems to come up with sporadically - best exhibited on the "A Brighter Beat" trio of "Fight Like The Night", "We're All Going To Die" and the title track. Still, it is a good album, and by all means worth a listen. Or at least download "Shadow".

West Rider Pauper Lunatic Asylum - Kasabian (6/10) - To me, Kasabian are notable for putting out two shit albums which both featured one absolutely golden tune - "LSF" and "Shoot The Runner" respectively. However, here they have considerably upped the ante by producing TWO very good songs and a pretty decent album to boot. The two very good songs are current single "Fire" and "Fast Fuse", which may be familiar to those that play FIFA 09. The album is by no means consistently strong - "Swarfiga" and "West Rider Silver Bullet" are dire - but it still a convincing step in the right direction for Kasabian.

NEXT WEEK - Marmaduke Duke, Grizzly Bear, We Were Promised Jetpacks, Dirty Projectors and whatever else I feel like listening to.

Edited June 27, 2009 by metalman

[GoGo Yubari]

I'm listening to Clutchy Hopkins' second album, Walking Backwards. I need to give it another listen eventually but right now my first impression is that it has nothing on his debut, The Life of Clutchy Hopkins. Kind of a disappointment, he went more in the direction of the lesser tracks on the former rather than the really awesome ones where it was more like instrumental hip-hop beats as opposed to half-beat/half-world music like it is on this.

[Katsuya]

The Veronicas are great, the album's full of a bunch of great tracks. La Roux is shit, she's an albino, ginger, dyke.

Boo, sir. Boo. The album is awesome, I've been listening to it all day. And Bulletproof is making her a contender to GaGa for my ultimate devotion.

[Scott McFly]

Michael Jackson. Over and over again. Anything and everything.

EDIT: And fuck me, I can't get enough of that Smooth Criminal video. Amazing.

Edited June 29, 2009 by Scott McFly

[ThePhenom07]

Sale at HMV, so I bought 'Sawdust' by The Killers for a mere £4. 18 tracks for £4 was a bargain, and cheap music is like my addiction.

Overall, Sawdust is a nice album, formed from mainly B-Sides, remixes and other songs. Strong songs include 'Tranquilize' w/ Lou Reed, 'Under The Gun', 'Change your Mind' and 'Leave the Bourbon on the Shelf'.

However when I next go to HMV, they are chucking out the earlier Kings of Leon albums, Youth and Young Manhood and some other one on a 2 for £10. Is Youth and Young Manhood a gooden?

Edited June 30, 2009 by ThePhenom07

[METALMAN]

Yes it's very good indeed. It's a bit different from their last two albums which you may be used to. But if you like http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdFZhFYvr8U, this and

you should like it.

[Go To Sleep]

Enter Shikari- Sorry Your Not A Winner- without a doubt my fav song from this band and anything can happen in half an hour another great song from this great band.

[Not Henry Cavill]

Enjoying some Alestorm

[New Damage]

Top 5 most listened to songs of the last week or so (no order):

Danzig - Twist of Cain

Blink-182 - I Miss You

Gov't Mule (ft. James Hetfield) - Drivin' Rain

Third Eye Blind - Semi-Charmed Life

Metallica - The Four Horsemen

Edited July 6, 2009 by TheModernWay

[Baddar]

Needtobreathe - Lay Em Down/Said Too Much

Got these two tracks for pre-ordering their "Outsiders" album which comes out next month.

[METALMAN]

might as well get back into doing this again...

Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca (7/10) - Not exactly the masterpiece some had built it up to be, and sometimes it seems like they are being weird just for the sake of being weird, which kind of ruins the whole point a bit. Still, a pretty solid effort, but I found "two Doves" to be the only particularly special tune.

We Were Promised Jetpacks - These Four Walls (7/10) - Decent enough album. Perhaps a bit like Biffy Clyro but not as good. "Roll Up Your Sleeves" is my favourite.

Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest (7/10) - A strong start is ruined by a dire second half following the interludey "Dory." "Cheerleader" is still worth a listen though.

Marmaduke Duke - Duke Pandemonium (5/10) - A very, very bad run from tracks 4 - 7 is saved by a decent beginning and the excellent one-two of "Je Suis Un Funky Homme" and "Rubber Lover". "Erotic Robotic" is a contender for worst song of the year though.

Alexisonfire - Old Crows / Young Cardinals (7/10) - A good album, and probably better than Crisis. However, Crisis did have songs you could actually remember. So yeah...good album but you'll forget all about it within seconds of listening to it.

Bright Eyes - Lifted or the Story Is In the Soil...(9/10) - An all-time favourite of mine, with False Advertising, You Will. You?Will. You? Will. You? Will. and Nothing Gets Crossed Out being three of my favourite songs ever.

Blur - The Great Escape (8/10) - An album that remains consistently strong throughout it's fifteen tracks. However, my favourite songs are the well known singles the Universal, Charmless Man and Country House, joined by Dan Abnormal.

Bob Mould - Life and Times (6/10) - As a member of Husker Du, Bob Mould created music that a great number of bands today owe their whole careers to. Now, in the form of "Life and Times", he helpfully provides one of the most convincing definitions of average ever. Most worrying of all is the fact that the album's best song "Spiralling Down" sounds dangerously like a song by the masters of mediocrity themselves - the Foo Fighters.

Paul Simon - There Goes Rhymin' Simon (8/10) - Shut up. "American tune" and "Kodachrome" are lovely.

Modest Mouse - We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank (8/10) - Perhaps lacking in any distinct moments of brilliance, this album is however my favourite by Modest Mouse, due to the fact that all 14 songs here are - if not brilliant - very good indeed. Spitting Venom, Dashboard and Missed the Boat are my favourites.

Madness - the Liberty Of Norton Folgate (7/10) - A very pleasant surprise. Despite falling down a couple of times, this double album is generally a fun listen.

Iron & Wine - the Shepherd's Dog (7/10) - A bit dull at times, though House By the Sea and Flightless Bird American Mouth are very good.

[GoGo Yubari]

Oh Perilous World by Rasputina. I have no clue why it took me two years to get this, it might actually be their best record overall. There are no immediate blowaway great tracks yet (unlike Thanks For the Ether which has stuff like "Transylvanian Concubine," "Rusty the Skatemaker," "Howard Hughes," and "Why Don't You Do Right") but there's only one track thusfar I actively dislike and that's not a song, it's a thirty-second interlude prior to another real song. I'm definitely looking forward to giving this another listen sometime at work this week if I have the time.

[YI]

Alexisonfire - Old Crows / Young Cardinals (7/10) - A good album, and probably better than Crisis. However, Crisis did have songs you could actually remember. So yeah...good album but you'll forget all about it within seconds of listening to it.

...wow...really...wow...I personally find this the easiest AOF album to remember, the change in vocal style of the 'screamer', has made it a lot easier to understand the lyrics, so I've found the songs are sticking out/getting stuck in my head so much easier. "Sons Of Privilege", "Young Cardinals", "Heading For The Sun", "Born & Raised", "Midnight Regulations" are all HUUUGE tracks, up there already as some of my AOF favourites...to be fair, this is easily my favourite AOF album...and "Crisis" is actually my least favourite.

[METALMAN]

yes crisis is also my least favourite

[Hobo]

I'm bouncing around between an awful lot of Will Oldham (mostly Palace), Randy Newman's Born Agan and Bad Love albums and Loudon Wainwright's Grown Man and Therapy albums.

[Skummy]

Lately, I have been taking advantage of Island Records re-issuing most of Sparks' back catalogue and re-listening to Kimono My House and especially Big Beat, which are two of the best "avant-pop" albums ever recorded. It baffles me that Sparks aren't as widely acknowledged as pop brilliance as they should be, because they're fucking brilliant, and as consistent as any band ever has been. That John Peel quote about The Fall that's so needlessly overused; "always different but always the same" could, and should, just as easily be applied to Sparks. Also, according to the liner notes to Kimono My House, upon witnessing "This Town Ain't Big Enough For The Both Of Us" on Top Of The Pops, John Lennon remarked "Blimey, Hitler's on the telly".

Bizarre, intelligent, arty, tuneful, eccentric, melodic, heavy, proggy, but pure pop - how could anyone want anything more from a band? I love Sparks. And so should everyone. I hate the revisionist music history that states that the '70s were some kind of creative dead-zone before punk came along - between Krautrock, Bowie, Roxy Music, Sparks, Lou Reed, Suicide, Television, The Residents and countless innovations in disco music, it's one of the most exciting periods in music history, but it all gets swept under the rug in favour of some safety-pinned idiots playing Chuck Berry riffs.

Also, I've been listening to the new DOOM album, which is pretty special, the new Iggy Pop, which I can't make head nor tail of - bits of it are horrible, completely cringeworthy, while bits of it aren't so bad...yet I can't make my mind up whether I'd enjoy it more or less if it weren't Iggy Pop. It's such a stylistic departure from even his more obviously lounge-influenced work (Studio B comes to mind) that it comes across in places like almost a pastiche of Tom Waits or Ken Nordine, yet you can't escape the fact that it's Iggy Pop. Maybe out of context it would be better, taken as a wholly original piece of work, though maybe out of context, ignoring the fact that it's Iggy, I'd have no interest in it whatsoever. Not that it matters, because music can never exist devoid of context - so it's forced to exist as a curio for now.

The new Popes album. Pretty much devoid of interest. As with all Popes releases, even the best songs on there are bad Pogues rip-offs or average country-rock. The only really notable moment, for me, is hearing Shane MacGowan sing lead on the closing track, and even that's nothing to write home about...even by MacGowan standards his voice is in terrible shape, and when the lyrics he's singing aren't his own (his songwriting having always been his strongest suit, by a country mile), there's really not that much reason to pay attention any more.

Oh, also, Benny Andersson Band. Worth the asking price, and then some, just for "Story Of A Heart". No one can write a pop song quite like Benny. There's your fucking real King Of Pop, lads.

Edited July 14, 2009 by Skummy

[New Damage]

Some Pearl Jam other than Ten and the other songs I haven't got via Last.Fm. Listened to both Vitalogy and Vs. Loving 'Nothingman', 'Immortality' and 'Indifference'.

I expect to listen to some PJ soon as I ordered the 2 album slipcase thingy of Ten & Vs. from Play as it was cheaper than either album (£5) on it's own at £3.50 and like £6 cheaper than it is at HMV. Also makes me look forward to their upcoming album "Backspacer" which I only just learned of.

[Raney]

Currently: The Dubliners - At The Rising Of The Moon.

[Guest Mr. Potato Head]

New Billy Talent is disappointingly watered-down.