Fiery Furnaces - Blueberry Boat (2004)

Everyone said this album was a challenge. The FF played the Siren Festival last year and I couldn't stand them (I only stuck around for one song max). I avoided this album. I gave it two good listens, and I had this thought in the back on my mind.

Brian said (about Architecture in Helsinki): "I see this album being compared very favorably to Blueberry Boat, but they're just not the same. But then again, it took me maybe 4 listens to blueberry boat to really even start to appreciate it, but then again, i know what I thought of the furnaces at that point when I didn't like them, and I'm not getting that feeling at all from this album."

AND

It took me like 6 listens to begin to not hate blueberry boat.

and I wanted to give it six honest listens, but then I saw that the album was 72 minutes long, that it contained five songs over seven minutes. And I gave up.

1. Quay Cur (2)
2. Straight Street (3)
3. Blueberry Boat (3)
4. Chris Michaels (2)
5. Paw Paw Tree (2)
6. My Dog Was Lost But Now He's Found (3)
7. Mason City (2)
8. Chief Inspector Blancheflower (2)
9. Spainolated (1)
10. 1917 (2)
11. Wolf Notes (2)
12. Turning Round (3)
13. Birdie Brain (2)

Overall: 2.2

Jackson 5 - "I Want You Back" (Z-Trip remix)

from Motown Remixed

I think before I die I should put together a list of the 25 songs I don't feel like I could live without. Or something like that - "awesomely good" Consider it the beat, the harmonies or Michael's ability to marry his vocals with his brothers, but "I Want You Back" is just one of the best songs ever conceived. It's the true definition of ass-shaking funk and somehow I thought a remiss of this song - sanctioned by Motown Records, no less - would considerably rock an already undeniably rock-house song.

I was sort of wrong.

It's not that Z-Trip's (whoever that may be) remix is decidedly lacking, because you could definitely party to it. But by deconstructing the song just a tiniest bit, you lose the sense of why your butt was hopping in the first place. There's a beat, but it's not as addictive as the original. And Michael's power gets lost in the bass-heavy beat, kind of losing touch with its 1970s origins.

3/5
original: 5/5

The Decemberists - Picaresque (2005)

I definitely want to see The Decemberists now. What a just really interesting album. I'll probably burn this and stick it in my car.

1. The Infanta (3)
2. We Both Go Down Together (3)
3. Eli, The Barrowboy (5)
4. The Sporting Life (4)
5. The Bagman's Gambit (4)
6. From My Own True Love (Lost at Sea) (3)
7. Sixteen Military Wives (4)
8. The Engine Drive (3)
9. On the Bus Mall (3)
10. The Mariner's Revenge Song (3)
11. Of Angels and Angles (3)

Overall: 3.5

Spoon - Gimme Fiction (2005)

Spoon's influences on "Gimme Fiction": Wilco's "A Ghost is Born," "Revolver"-era Beatles, Tom Petty, Prince,

What do we do with a song like "My Mathematical Mind"? Excepting perhaps the last 1:30, this would be a dreadful song to hear live. I hope they don't play it in Austin. "The Delicate Place" is similarly unenchanting.

Now "Sister Jack," with its handclaps, that's a tune I could really get into at a show. It's probably the closest they come to a single on this album, but certainly nothing as radio friendly as say "Jonathan Fisk" or that song they always put on the O.C. soundtrack ("The Way We Get By"?).

I don't think I've ever liked a Spoon album all the way through and it's been a slight downward progression (I think) since "Girls Can Tell," which received an impressive 3.8.

I'm not saying I don't like them; I'm just not in love with them.

1. The Beast And Dragon Adored (4)
2. The Two Sides of Monsieur Valentine (3)
3. I Turn My Camera On (3)
4. My Mathematical Mind (3)
5. The Delicate Place (2)
6. Sister Jack (4)
7. I Summon You (4)
8. The Infinite Pet (2)
9. Was it You? (2)
10. They Never Got You (2)
11. Merchants of Soul (2)

Overall: 2.8

Nine Inch Nails - "Closer"

If you asked me what the dirtiest song I ever heard was, I wouldn't have to think twice. In terms of creating a vivid image of dirt, grime, sin and pain, it gets no better than "Closer."

I put together my first mix in November 1995, almost ten years ago. Interspersed amongst songs by Green Day, Dave Matthews Band, Blues Traveler and Hootie and the Blowfish was this ditty from "The Downward Spiral." Even edited for the radio, it freaked the hell out of me the first time I heard it.

:00 What has to be some sort of heartbeat sounding bass drum starts us off. If you listen with headphones, you can actually hear the violin (?) strings faintly.

:21 Trent starts in, and so does a "woo wah wah wah" beat with another beat that sounds like a stopwatch keeping time. The lyrics in the first verse are of pain inflicted on another and on himself.

:43 A chorus of Trent's plead "Help me" like he's sitting in purgatory somewhere.

1:02 The first "I wanna fuck you like an animal." The tone of the song has changed. Now there is a deep, brooding keyboard. Trent's delivery in full of hate and anger. Wow.

1:48 With "You can have my isolation," we've moved to a different synth part. The next time the "Help me"s kick in its just layered onto this new sound.

2:50 The word "God" starts back to another deep synth bass, a hard "dum dum dum dum" progression, and what sounds like taut violin synth in the background. A dirty electric guitar is now complicating both sides, growing louder.

3:47 There's some obscured narration. "Through every forest, above the trees, within my stomach, scraped off my knees, I drink the honey inside your hive. You are the reason I stay alive."

4:28 We're hitting on all cylinders now. It sounds like chainsaws and themes to dirty backroom sex.

5:09 like buzzing of bees and chainsaws, it's getting progressive louder. Weed wackers, yes, weed wackers.

5:32 The comedown part has arrived, but now it's being obscured by the other layers.

5:52 The finishing touch. A keyboard/piano repeats "do dum do dum do do do do" until closeout.

I think I only liked two or three other Nine Inch Nails songs in my whole life.

4/5

Bloc Party - Silent Alarm (2005)

I think this album really starts into a tailspin by the end.

1. Like Eating Glass (4)
2. Helicopter (3)
3. Positive Tension (4)
4. Banquet (3)
5. Blue Light (2)
6. She's Hearing Voices (2)
7. This Modern Love (3)
8. Pioneers (3)
9. Price of Gas (2)
10. So Here We Are (3)
11. Luno (3)
12. Plans (2)
13. Compliments (2)

Overall: 2.8

I agree with Brian's sentiment that a perfect 5.0 is probably impossible to attain. However, I don't think a reorganization of the grading system is in order. I am curious to see what "Ponyoak" would get on such a defined scale, however.

Lina - "Come to Mama" (iTunes Single of the Week)

What iTunes says: Start snapping your fingers! The Hidden Beach record label (Jill Scott, Darius Rucker, Kindred the Family Soul) has found another star in the making, R&B singer/songwriter Lina has delivered one of the best singles of 2005 with her new track "Come to Mama." Combining an excellent blend of today's R&B production with a touch of the classic Soul II Soul production from the early '90s, "Come to Mama" is an example of the limitless creative directions of R&B.

What I say: If this is an example of the "limitless creative directions of R&B," I say rhythm and blues is dead, my friends. This is so straightforward in its productions its painful to listen to the lack of creativity. It uses a smooth jazz piano beat and quasi-modern bass beat to back a vocal that could be found on an En Vogue ballads album. It's biggest crime is that its frightfully boring. I'd be proud of the fact that Lina writes her own stuff, but the lyrics aren't anything to write extensively about. And is that French in the refrain? Yikes.

1/5

Mates of State - Team Boo (2004)

I've been listening to this album for the past six months, easily.

1. Ha Ha (4)
2. Whiner's Bio (5)
3. Fluke (4)
4. Open Book (4)
5. Middle is Gold (3)
6. The Kissaway (3)
7. Gotta Get a Problem (3)
8. Parachutes (Funeral Song) (3)
9. An Experiment (3)
10. Sound it off (3)
11. I Got This Feelin' (4)
12. Separate The People (3)

Overall: 3.5

Annie - Anniemal (2005)

First off, brilliant album title. I just really love it. Ditto to the cover art, which is strangely transfixing. I've listened to "Heartbeat" four times, but I just don't see what Pitchfork was apparently seeing.

1. Intro (2)
2. Chewing Gum (5)
3. Always Too Late (3)
4. Me Plus One (5)
5. Heartbeat (3)
6. Helpless for Love (3)
7. Anniemal (3)
8. No Easy Love (2)
9. Happy Without You (2)
10. The Greatest Hit (3)
11. Come Together (3)
12. My Best Friend (2)

Overall: 3.0
Overall (without intro): 3.1

Iron & Wine - Woman King EP (2005)

I suppose I wouldn't mind if this is the way Sam Beam wanted to go. There are some songs on "Our Endless Numbered Days" that are pure genius, by the way.

1. Woman King (3)
2. Jezebel (4)
3. Grey Stables (2)
4. Freedom Hangs Like Heaven (3)
5. In My Lady's House (3)
6. Evening on the Ground (3)

Overall: 3.0

The Arcade Fire - Funeral (2004)

Every hip kid's "album of the year," eh?

1. Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels) (5)
2. Neighborhood #2 (Laika) (5)
3. Une Annee Sans Lumiere (3)
4. Neighborhood #3 (Power Out) (4)
5. Neighborhood #4 (7 Kettles (3)
6. Crown of Love (4)
7. Wake Up (4)
8. Haiti (3)
9. Rebellion (Lies) (4)
10. In the Back Seat (3)

Overall: 3.8

Bright Eyes - Digital Ash in a Digital Urn (2005)

Guess what? It was "I'm Wide Awake" that was the better album.

1. Time Code (2)
2. Gold Mine Gutted (3)
3. Arc of Time (Time Code) (4)
4. Down in a Rabbit Hole (3)
5. Take It Easy (Love Nothing) (5)
6. Hit the Switch (4)
7. I Believe in Symmetry (5)
8. Devil in the Details (2)
9. Ship in a Bottle (3)
10. Light Pollution (3)
11. Theme to Pinata (3)
12. Easy/Lucky/Free (3)

Overall: 3.3

Bright Eyes - I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning (2005)

This may just be the better album.

1. At the Bottom of Everything (4)
2. We are Nowhere and It's Now (4)
3. Old Soul Song (4)
4. Lua (3)
5. Train Under Water (3)
6. First Day of My Life (4)
7. Another Travelin' Song (4)
8. Landlocked Blues (f/k/a One Foot in Front of the Other) (4)
9. Poison Oak (3)
10. Road to Joy (5)

Overall: 3.8