same!
Mambo No 5 has this for me, not a fan personally
5 Likes
Small Brown Bike - Dead Reckoning
Never heard of this band. One for the âNot for meâ pile
Yay! This oneâs mine. Glad you like it. I decided at 18 (over half my life ago) that this was the best record ever made and, whilst i know thatâs probably not true, itâs still the first thing i think of when that question is posed.
They did some good stuff around this but Dead Reckoning is really their masterpiece. Not a dud on there. The Vacuum is like a messier Fugazi, rolling riff after rolling riff. My Own Disaster is the closest they came to a post-hardcore banger. This Ship Will Burn is an anthem. They were like a less metal Grade and a less punk Planes Mistaken For Stars.
Also, for the first time really, i was really aware these were just 4 dudes from nowheresville who made this amazing record from out of thin air. Made me carry on playing music a lot longer than i would have done.
So, not gonna be for everyone but for that turn of the millennium emo/post-core sound with belt along vocals and vague notions of anxiety⌠you can do a lot worse than this, The Greatest Record Of All Time *.
*unverified
6 Likes
Never massively dove into SBB but I adore this song
2 Likes
Iâve had this album for at least 15 years I reckon but havenât listened to it that often. Iâve always preferred The River Bed which is a really great post-hardcore album, and also the Nail Yourself To The Ground EP. I think they really came into their own on those. Still really like the earlier stuff too but to me it sounds quite a bit like Hot Water Music (not necessarily a bad thing), but with later releases their sound got a lot more âwidescreenâ, as it were.
Massive fan of this song:
1 Like
59/391
Rosalia - MOTOMAMI
Only aware of the video with loads of motorbikes, which was on French MTV rotation when I went on holiday. Think that was Rosalia anyway.
On the basis of one listen think this is a great pop record. Ace vocals, lots going on musically, nice mix of styles, just great energy.
Old man rant - really wish it didnât have the auto tune. I donât mind it on tracks like G3 N15, where it is utilised as an instrument but donât like it just as a default production decision. Her voice clearly doesnât need it and I reckon will date it. Then again I understand this is me being an old man and tbf itâs only the odd track where it takes over too much.
5 Likes
Busy after spending a week incapacitated - quite looking forward to my day of soul-crushing catch-up admin at work tomorrow. Have an entire weekâs worth of albums to catch up on
1 Like
Struggle to put into words how much i love Motomami.
Itâsa high-wire act on the verge of collapse at all times. Thereâs dozens of Latinx genres that she pays homage to/obliterates that Iâm not well-versed enough to understand but it sounds fucking mega. Sheâs so damn charismatic, like a ringleader leading a charge.
Stylistically immense but deeply personal too. I donât know how she did it.
4 Likes
Bossanova - Great album - definitely my least favourite of the original run but still excellent. All Over the World is a perfect song.
Our Endless Numbered Days - sounds like a deep breath on warm summers day. Lovely.
Dead Reckoning - had never heard of this. It hasnât clicked immediately but I like a lot of similar music so going to give it a few more listens to see if it beds in.
Motomami -Love it, it was probably my most listened to album last year. Still hear new things in it whenever I put it on. Also saw her headline Primavera Porto last year which was a fun show.
1 Like
Afghan Whigs - Gentlemen
Not for me.
2 Likes
Motomami is an incredible record. I remember a mate of mine waxing lyrical about her previous one and I liked it, but didnât get much from it at the time. Then Motomami came out and I was blown away by how good it was. The scope, the experimentation, the confidence, all combined to make a one of a kind album.
I read someone somewhere say that it reminded them of a Beastie Boys album. Not in sound, but in execution. The willingness to bend her sound to many different genres and still sound uniquely her is not something many can do, but she nails it on this.
4 Likes
Think this album (Gentlemen by Afghan Whigs) is good but Dulliâs vocals just seem a bit off or something? Like they donât really gel with the music or something.
2 Likes
On paper, Gentleman should be just up my street, but I just donât find it doing much for me when I stick it on. Not sure what it is.
1 Like
Gentlemen should be up my street also, since I love Dulliâs material in other guises (Twilight Singers et al) but thereâs something about the Afghan Whigs material that just doesnât click with me. It feels a bit leaden
Locust Abortion Technician - my reaction ranged from finding it massively irritating (âWHOOOAAAAAAOOOOAAAAAOOOOâ) to absolutely great. Sometimes within the same song. Can hear a huge influence on so much alt rock and beyond - also seems to be the conduit linking Beefheart and Waits to the US underground in the late 80s early 90s. Not sure how much I want to hear it again, but it was definitely worth the time.
Iron & Wine - any one track alone would be gorgeous, but over the course of a whole album I found my attention wondering pretty hard.
2 Likes
Happy Songs etc⌠Love a bit of Mogwai and this is probably one of their strongest, although I connect harder with Rock Action personally. Always nice to spend time with them though.
1 Like
Gentlemen absolutely crackles with tension. More than any record Iâve heard. Itâs like a coiled spring.
It also has Fountain & Fairfax, What Jail Is Like, Be Sweet, Debonair, My Curse AND the title track on it.
Like if The Replacements had an amphetamine problem instead of an alcohol one.
3 Likes
Very briefly
- Small Brown Bike: very much in the ânot my thing but glad I listenedâ camp.
- MOTAMAMI - this is something I could happily return to. Made me pine for some warm weather somewhere. Totally unsuited to a Monday morning WFH but cheered me up
- Gentlemen - didnât grab my attention. Went to make a phone call halfway through and forgot to go back to it.
Going to listen to that Underworld album from a couple of weeks ago when I go to the gym in a bit
1 Like
Dead Reckoning
Itâs not quite my thing and itâs probably not something Iâd be returning to much in the futureâŚ.but itâs not quite as much not my thing as I thought it would be from some of the descriptions. What a horribly structured sentence, filled with double negatives that is. Thereâs a really fine and indistinguishable line between vocals I can tolerate with this sort of thing and vocals I canât, and this largely just about keeps on the right side of that line. Some interesting riffs and I like how the songs progress, I can see similarities with stuff I like instrumentally like Cloud Nothings and I can definitely see the Fugazi element vocally, and even a little bit of very early Idlewild (who have been pretty open about ripping off Fugazi) Actually enjoying this more as it goes on, My Own Disaster is pretty good. Iâm still gonna say itâs largely not for me. Iâm considering giving it another blast tomorrow and seeing what happens. For now, 6/10
Gentlemen
This could be brilliant, the band sound really tight and talented and thereâs loads going on there which is really interesting, and the melodies and song structures are doing some really great things. But I cannot get on with his voice at all, I think I picked up this on CD a few years back and found exactly the same. When heâs slightly more restrained in moments like a lot of Be Sweet and Debonair itâs actually alright and works well with the band, but when he goes for it and into that yelpy screech it goes right through me to a degree I find a bit unpleasant to the extent Iâm considering turning it off. Itâs got that jarring âearnest rockâ inclination that quite a few of those 90s American alternative acts have. I know thereâs a lot of people who feel like that about Pearl Jam, and I personally love Vedderâs voice, but itâs exactly the same principle here for me. Add them to âbands Iâd like with different vocalistsâ list with My Chemical Romance, Los Campesinos and Smashing Pumpkins. Quite like My Curse actually, which as Iâm assuming is sung by someone else, and the closing instrumental track, which I guess proves my point perfectly 4/10
1 Like