Added some new albums here that I listened to since and have forgotten. The new Group Inerane and Reich, as well as that new Michael Yonkers are all fucking awesome.

Funeral Mariachi will probably be in my hands tomorrow, whoo..

The new Deerhunter record, Halcyon Digest, might be my album of the year...

Wow, they already have a new album? Didn't they release like 3 or 4 last year?! Wow -- they really have a new one?! Because I haven't heard anyone talking about it, on any of the boards I post to, or on facebook -- man. Oh well, they're probably one of the most dull bands ever; I think most people stopped caring!

Haha, well, I posted a song on my facebook profile yesterday... Pitchfork posted their review today so now you're going to hear about it.

PS: It's amazing and it's probably better than Microcastle, which was already incredible, IMO.

PS2: Actually, it would be my album of the year, if it wasn't for King of the Beach... Hahaha

PS3: Hm, they don't have that many records, they don't release 3 or 4 albums a year...

I'll probably listen to it, out of curiosity, I don't like to completely write off an album until I actually listen to it -- but if it's anything like the last few, I won't like it... Microcastle is one of the most dull albums I've ever sat through in my entire life, nearly impossible to listen to. Also, as I've said before, they are the absolute, # 1 worst band I've ever seen live. Also, Pitchfork is a joke, I'm sure they gave it, oh, between an 8.8 and a 9.3 -- maybe a few points higher if their label bought some ad space recently. I'm glad the truth has come out in recent times about pitchfork and it's hardcore coverage-based-on-payola; even though most people have known about it since they first looked at the site, bands and labels are finally speaking out about it, in these shitty economical times. Never understood why anyone would care about what reviews said on a website that is based on money.

No shit dude, they're on 4AD, of course they got a good rating, Ariel Pink did too, but that's not my point, I don't really care about the Pitchfork ratings and it doesn't have an influence on the opinion I have of a record.

PS: I saw Deerhunter live in May and they weren't bad at all, I loved how the sound of the bass guitar was much more up front than any other instrument. However, The Dodos (band playing just before, it was a small festival actually) were better although Deerhunter were headlining.

"they're on 4AD, of course they got a good rating." This is, like, common knowledge? This is, like, accepted rock journalism? This is a respectable website?! That website is TERRIBLE! I can't believe anyone takes that garbage seriously!

Also, true, they only released an ep and a single last year -- however, the year before, they release 2 full length albums, 2 singles, a limited casette, and a split -- as well as a remix maxi single. Plus the Atlas Sound garbage. They've released 21 singles, eps, full lengths, splits, etc since late 2005.

I'm pretty sure that averages "3 or 4 albums a year", but maybe I suck at math. I bet Pitchfork's good at math though. $10,000 from label = 9.0 or higher score.

I'm excited. I love Deerhunter.

HAHA! Just looked at the score -- 9.2. So insane. I gotta download this album now -- I bet it wouldn't be worth a .92.

Well, it's not common knowledge but what I was meaning to say is that, yeah, the rating system has something to do with labels if you look closer. It's not accepted rock journalism of course and their reviews are most of the time awful but hey, it would be hypocritical of me to diss Pitchfork because this website is in my bookmarks and I often go there for news, videos and stuff.

Actually, I don't think that's the definition of "hypocritical" at all. You can dislike their stupid reviews and still go to them for news or whatever -- why not diss them? Even you, a fan of the site, recognize their reviews are absolute garbage. Either way, whatever, you read the site and enjoy it, no biggy. Who cares? I don't. I mean, I guess I would highly suggest reading a website that has some integrity and reccomends music that isn't based on payola, but hey, that's just me. They're a CORPORATE website and their whole thing is to make MONEY, from OTHER CORPORATIONS. That's their role. People, for some reason, just happen to give them more credibility and weight than Spin and Rolling Stone, even though it's the same exact thing. Either way, if dull, bland, glossy, safe, predictable music is your thing, then there's plenty of it out there, and Pitchfork is probably going to give it a great score every day. Enjoy!

I don't "enjoy" them, it's just a habit for me to go on that website and read the music news, I don't even read their reviews actually and I don't download every album that gains a BNM rating... I don't go there for music recommendations.

Uh, okay.... Anyway, P4K represents everything that's wrong with, uh, everything. I stopped reading them when they gave an Experimental Dental School album a 3.4. I mean, wow.

Also, I wouldn't call myself a FAN of the website, lol.


They also gave NYC Ghosts & Flowers a 0 ...

Everyone's well aware of that embasrassing review of NYC -- I am pretty sure they deleted it, since they were embarassed by it themselves (well, I think it had to do with people writing them death threat emails), no doubt. The worst moments of NYCG&F is about a billion times more awesome than even the best of whatever the latest blogcore dreck they cover is doing.

My favorite thing they did was when they gave Source Tags and Codes a 10 -- which is a decent rock record, not worthy of a 10, but anyway... they then realized no one gave a shit about that record, so in their next review they said, "I didn't write the Source Tags and Codes review, so I'm not sure if a 10 was really a good score for it..." and just basically, y'know, backed into a corner with that review and then kinda just stopped covering them, period. INTEGRITY.

Lol, actually, the review is still on the website.

Oh, wow. It is.. ugh!

I do know they did delete a few of their 0.0 reviews, though. Like that Dismemberment Plan guy's album, maybe Zaireeka? I dunno. There is (was?) a wikipedia article about all the 0.0's they gave.

The new Crystal Castles album knocked me on my ass... its tied with Flying lotus for favorite album of the year...

I've heard a song of theirs recently and I thought it was really good. The remix T.Moore did for them is brilliant too.

Deerhunter usually bores me to tits as well, but I find myself enjoying a few songs from the new one. They actually have some good hooks and the mix isn't too soupy.

Heh. Yeah, I agree. Still, not something I want to listen to on a regular basis.

love Deerhunter.

Heh. Well, anyway, I share the love for Deer Hunter -- the movie, at least. The movie is so fucking good! The band is usually quite boring. I downloaded the new album like I said I would, though, and listened. Like, um, I dunno. I just don't understand the appeal, I guess, every song sounds the same, doesn't it? Okay, glossy swirling guitar stuff, simple one note bass stuff, over and over, hooks that don't really do anything particularly interesting. None of it catches my ear in any meaningful way. Having said that, some of the production is interesting. Like the farty clangy guitar noises over the drums in Helicopter before the silly twee part, haha. Some of the guitar in Primitive 3D is pretty, and it goes into a weird ambient part, kinda like how a lot of my songs do -- I liked that! It's just not a very compelling record, the constant guitar and vocal effects and weird production is easy to appreciate, but the actual songwriting is horrid. I mean, Helicopter is barely even a song. I will say, DESIRE LINES is actually an okay little track, just way too long of course.. it actually kinda sounds like Sonic Youth at times (Diamond Sea ish). I like the drums -- which are awkward in a good way. The vocals, however, are awkward in a bad way, and dominate too much of the track. There's a nice guitar break at about 3:20 in where the guitarist just plays a scale over and over and over again, haha. That part's cool. All in all, it doesn't do much, just kinda boring indie rock, I guess the same could be said for the whole album, but if you're into that stuff it's not as offensively bad as Microcastle and such. Some songs, like "Coronado" are just bad, though. That saxophone is HORRID.

Honestly, this album sounds like music that'd be played in a party scene in Gilmore Girls or something.

they just always sound so awesome to me. Shrug.

BTW, you think Turn It Up, Cryptograms and Microcastle sound the same? They each seem like pretty different albums to me.

Well, first of all, Turn It up Faggot is the only album I'd ever want to listen to by them again, so not really that one, but they disowned it, anyway, I guess it wasn't dull, glossy, and predictable enough...And yeah, I mean, all their albums are differnet sides of the same coin, even though they've clearly just gotten glossier since Crpytograms.. all their songs are kinda just that one-note bass robotic simple boring overglossy overproduced crap that doesn't do much, has some little guitar things swirling around (messing with equalizers and whatever), and all seem to exist in some weird vaccum where you can listen to the song 10 times and not really remember anything about the song when it was over, all the songs are so uneventful, usually just resting on some tired, samey arpeggios and all pretty much sound the same. Delay pedal, chorus pedal, one note bass, robotic drums, overloud vocals moaning softly and pleasantly but not ever bothering to create a memorable hook or melody. No interesting or memorable riffs whatsoever, also, that's a big one. It's almost like the worst of Radiohead meets Terror Twilight or something. It's hard to hate since nothing they do is OFFENSIVELY bad -- besides posting pictures of their shit on their blog a while back an the lead singer being a huge dick when I saw them live. I guess FLUORESCENT GREY is their best work, actually, not just because it's their shortest, but also because it perfectly encapsulates the things they do that work. Cryptograms is a pleasant enough record, I'd give it a 5/10 or something. I hate Microcastle. I think it's worthless. I think it's nearly unlistenable -- I can't sit through it ever again. It's like "oh, some nice guitar tones, oh... yeah, hmm... yeah... okay, this is boring as fuck." Their new one is pretty samey. Just not a very interesting band. Easy to ignore.

hmm. I don't know. We all hear stuff differently I guess.

I guess, in general, I just find them too clean, too simple, too light, too shallow -- music with absolutely no depth (despite being called "art rock" at first -- hah). I mean, I've spent hours listening to this band and saw them live, and I can't tell you much about them. It's just so forgettable. It communicates nothing. As soon as the album is not playing, all I can really remember was "lots of delay and kinda this soupy murkiness." And, like, I really pay close attention to music, so that's weird to me. Their music is like one big drone to me -- not drone music, mind you, just some glossy drone. I just don't see the appeal, but since a lot of people don't HATE them, it's easy for them to be popular enough to sustain a career. It just seems like such a weird band to listen to -- like, I can put on a Hot Snakes record and it's creative as hell and ROCKS and it has songs I want to listen to a thousand times and learn on guitar and stuff, and it manages to rock while being interesting and not having guitar solos or anything. And with this band, I put it on and I just feel... it's so cold and dead-sounding, despite them piling on all these layers and layers of them fucking with some equalizer...

But, yeah, for those who haven't heard the new album, it is their glossiest and cleanest yet, so um... yeah. Enjoy.

I don't know. I can remember a lot of their songs. But I like it. So I guess it's different. I'll let you know what I think of the new one once I get it.

I have to agree with Adam. Deerhunter is total banality.

I guess I'm a fan of the banal.

The new Swans album is amazing, I only had to hear it once to realise it was my AOTY. (Closely followed by the Three Trapped Tigers EP)

I like Deerhunter. Especially Cryptograms - I love this record. Adam, don't you even like that song "Heatherwood" ? I find it hard to believe anyone would actually dislike this song. Simple but great melody, fitting vocals, super catchiness. Haven't heard this new album though and for some reason I'm not super excited about hearing it but I'll probably check it out.

I can't decide which one is my favorite Deerhunter record but I think they're all quite amazing (haven't heard Turn It Up Faggot though) but one sure thing is that I've been listening on repeat to Halcyon Digest and it's just SO good. I love how they change their sound with each album: Cryptograms was really hypnotic, Microcastle had this incredible shoegaze-like atmosphere and the new one has some kind of a 60's feel to it, that's something I REALLY dig.

Oh well.....

Master Musicians Of Bukkake - Totem Two
yU - Before Taxes
Chicago Underground Duo - Boca Negra
Blacastan - Black Sabbath
Flying Lotus - Cosmogramma
Univers Zero - Climages
Cee Lo Green - Stray Bullets
Omar Kharshid - Guitar El Chark
Group Inerane - Guitars From Agadez Vol. III
Budos Band - III
Charlotte Gainsbourg - IRM
Aloe Blacc -Good Things
Ariel Pink - Before Today
Janelle Monae - The ArchAndroid
Strong Arm Steady - In Search Of Stoney Jackson
The Whitefield Brothers - Earthology
Gil Scott Heron - I'm New Here
Sir Luscious Left Foot - The Son Of Chico Dusty
The Roots - How I Got Over
Yellow Swans - Going Places
Deerhunter - Halcyon Digest
Oh No - Ethiopium
Michael Yonkers - Lovely Gold

Hell Razah - Heaven Razah


There are tons more I'm forgetting but, I'm tired of lurking this thread and seeing a slug of terrible rappers being mentioned. For those who like hip hop and havent heard the albums I listed, then check them out....

It's alright. They're okay to put on and kinda ignore, just pretty bland when you bother to pay attention to them. Their music just kinda exists, and not much more, I called it "vaccuum rock". It just kinda is there, doesn't really affect anything. I actually just thought that they were just some boring uninspired indie rock band until I saw them live and it was the worst show I've ever seen in my life. The band came off as huge rockstar wannabe assholes, as they played their simple one note shit that was annoying as hell. It just confuses me that there are literally hundreds of creative brilliant rock bands pumping out album after album of awesome melodic rifftastic stuff, and ... well ... yeah... I dunno. They just confuse me, I just don't understand the appeal beyond "oh, this is pleasant enough hmm hmm." But, as I said, therein lies their appeal: even if they don't inspire too much fanaticism, they also don't inspire too much hatred -- just enough people going, "Yeah, this is okay." Hence their popularity.

...But it's nice to see someone else repping GUITARS FROM AGADEZ VOLUME 3 and MASTER MUSICIANS OF BUKKAKE,.. Rdtv, I highly reccomend you should out that new Michael Yonkers disc, it's amazing!

I might actually take that James Blackshaw album off my list. I listened to it 5 times and it's.. yeah. It's disappointing. The new BIG BLOOD, "DEAD SONGS", just feels like it's going through the motions, compared to their last few brilliant effforts. Not sure why people prefer this band over Fire on Fire? I guess because it's simpler?

My friend came down a few days ago and I made him a mix cd of some of my favorite songs from my favorite albums of the year and he just emailed me and said "DUDE, you inspired me to go to the record store and pick up that Ikonika cd. I'm addicted, I listened to it 5 times in one day!" Chalk up another victory for Ikonika. It's all about how the songs build... those insane rising beautiful synths from out of nowhere. Always creating new melodies. It's predictable now, since I've gushed so mcuh about it, but I won't hear a better cd this year, I'm sure. A masterpiece. Even my girlfriend -- who hates electronic music -- says Ikonika is awesome.

IKONIKA!

I wrote Ikonika a really pleasant email the other day, and she wrote me back, she is sweet as hell. Has anyone heard her new single DICKHEADBITCH? It rules of course.

I'll check it out.....The Master Musicians album is by definetly one of my top contenders for album of the year, and Guitars from Agadez is just more quality from sublime frequencies.

i havent heard too many albums this year, but the MMOB is incredible, as usual. definitely one of my favorite bands. i am now listening to the new gorup inerane and its so far so good.
i am curious aobut the michael yonkers cd, will check it out.