Friday, January 24, 2014

Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand

2004: Tenth Anniversary Retrospective
(2004) Domino
 Rating: 4

Review Summery: It hasn't really held up, I am afraid. The freshest fruit goes rotten eventually.

2004: Tenth Anniversary Retrospective


2004. I was young. I was naive. I had just discovered the joys of music. Ten years later I look upon that year as a stand-out year for brilliant album releases and for fresh new artists. It was my first year of actively paying attention to the musical world and the start of my ever growing need to collect new music and new artists. Here I began. Is my view on the year 2004 biased due to my nostalgia and the furious, over-zealous attention I paid that year? Or was it actually a great year? I guess a retrospective would not harm.

I hereby declare 2014 as the International Year of Retrospective Analysis Of The Musical Out-Put Of 2004.

A bit clunky, but you get the idea.

As well as reviewing new releases, I will be delving back to a collection of albums from that year that were, for better or worse, rather memorable. I will try to highlight forgotten and under-rated gems; over-rated and heavily dated duds; and dwell nostalgically on some rather guilty pleasures.

Ten years later. Will 2004 still be as important a year for me in retrospect?

Let us see.

Thursday, January 23, 2014

James Vincent McMorrow - Post Tropical

(2014) Believe
Rating: 4

Review Summery: Polished to the point that is seems to have been lost in the blizzard, failing to make any emotional connection.


Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Warpaint - Warpaint

(2014) Rough Trade
Rating: 8

Review Summery: Ecstasy and damnation. The sound of the netherworld beckons.


Sunday, January 19, 2014

Joanna Gruesome - Weird Sister

(2013) Fortuna Pop!
Rating: 7

Review Summery: Just makes me nostalgic for their live performances, failing to live up to the spectacle they can truly deliver.


Saturday, January 18, 2014

Zachary Cale - Blue Rider

(2013) Electric Ragtime
Rating: 6

Review Summery: Professionalism personified but lacking in that 'Je ne sais quoi' that would make it truly satisfying.


Thursday, January 16, 2014

Painted Palms - Forever

(2014) Polyvinyl
Rating: 3

Review Summery: Elevator music for the soulless.


Mutual Benefit - Love's Crushing Diamond

(2013) Other Music

Rating: 9

Review Summery: Everything I have been waiting for; everything I wanted. I really do hope the feeling is mutual.


Friday, August 9, 2013

The Belle Game - Ritual Traditon Habitat


2013 (Boompa)

 
Rating: 7

Review Summery: Sounds like everything you have ever hard, and all the better for it.

Thursday, August 8, 2013

Pond - Hobo Rocket


2013 (Matador)

Rating: 5
 
Review Summery: Doomed to forever be in grander shadows, Pond produce an adequate album drowned by its own mediocrity.