This will be a short post today, because I need to send all my extra time towards studying for tests (3 on Wednesday! Arrgghhh!). But I do not forget my loyal readers, because you don’t exist yet. With hope, you will materialize out of the blue some day.
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1 Sonic Youth – 54
I have never really listened extensively to Sonic Youth, despite many people telling me exactly how stupid I am for not doing so. Well, what finally got me listening was, of course, the Juno soundtrack. Their cut on the album was sublime, so I assumed there was something I was missing. There was, but it’ll still be a little longer before I think I really get into them.
2 Bon Iver – 38
One of the CD’s I had to review this week. My only things to say about this album are that it sounds like an acoustic TV on the Radio and that you need to buy this album immediately. It’s that good.
3 The Moldy Peaches – 34
Listening to them again, although I don’t know how I did it 34 times. I guess I can just lose myself in the music, even if it isn’t the smoothest or prettiest.
4 The Replacements – 33
When I first heard them, I thought I had accidentally put on the Goo Goo Dolls. Turns out that all the accusations of the Goo Goo Dolls being mere Replacements imitators were completely true. To be honest though, I don’t know who does it better. I’m a bit biased, being that the Goo Goo Dolls were my absolute favorite band for the longest time, and I’ve only listened to one Replacements album.
5 The Flashbulb – 26
The band who decided to release their album free to the users of What.cd, in hopes that they would donate if they liked it. To be honest, I love the idea but could care less about the album. It’s fine, but it’s just really not my style.
6 White Blue Yellow and Clouds -24
I can’t get enough of this band, and even though their album was just released, I want to hear their next one.
7 The Exploding Hearts – 21
Good punk band who met with tragedy when their tour van flipped 7 years ago and killed a few members. They had only released one album, and would have hit it big if they had been able to release more.
8 Modest Mouse – 18
Best band of all time.
9 Tally Hall – 16
One of the least known amazing bands I know about. They traverse so many genres, and play them all so well. No one knows about them, but with subsequent releases they’ll just hit it bigger and bigger.
9 Lucy Bland -16
The other album I had to review this week, only I didn’t like it quite as much. It was ok, but nothing really stood out. Very rainy album, if you know what I mean.
EDIT: I figured I’d give some more info on my Lucy Bland review, as it was a pretty good album (3 out of 5), but the Bon Iver CD just overshadowed it. The first track stood out the most to me. The soaring strings rise behind the spot-on vocals, which, coupled with the electronic drums, makes it an interesting track to listen to, and it doesn’t lose any of its appeal with time. The rest of the album is really consistent. It was hard to decide between giving the entire album one star or zero stars, because every song could be played, but none stood out as being much better than another. I ended up giving about half the album stars. A good album to read a book to.
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Short week, short reviews, but my show this week will just keep on getting better. You’d better tune in on 91.1 FM on Wednesday from 11PM-12AM, or on WRVU.org. Either one will do.
Later,
Mikil
1 response so far ↓
Tim Stedman // February 5, 2008 at 4:24 pm
Hi,
Thanks so much for listening to Down to Sea Level. We’re releasing the album in March and touring down the Western seaboard during the first week of April. It’s ok that you thought it was ok. If you get a chance to see us live, though, don’t pass it up. Say hi and I’ll buy you a drink.
Cheers,
Tim