Mirah - C'Mon Miracle (2004)

1. Nobody Has to Stay (4)
2. Jerusalem (3)
3. The Light (4)
4. Don't Die in Me (3)
5. Look Up! (3)
6. We're Both So Sorry (5)
7. The Dogs of B.A. (2)
8. The Struggle (3)
9. You've Gone Away Enough
10. Promise to Me (3)
11. Exactly Where We're From (2)

Overall: 3.3

See also: Fiona Apple - Tidal; Liz Phair - Exile in Guyville.

Interpol - Antics (2004)

This album definitely grew on me between listens.

1. Next Exit (3)
2. Evil (4)
3. Narc (3.5)
4. Take You on a Cruise (3)
5. Slow Hands (4)
6. Not Even Jail (3.5)
7. Public Pervert (3.5)
8. C'Mere (3.5)
9. Length of Love (2.5)
10. A Time and Be So Small (2.5)

Overall: 3.3

The Dears - No Cities Left (2004)

Instead of waiting for Brian to ever return my e-mail that asked him if he had this album, I took the initiative and ordered it myself. It wasn't as good as I thought it was going to be, but I definitely still enjoyed it.

1. We Can Have it (3.5)
2. Who Are You, Defenders of the Universe (3)
3. Lost in the Plot (4)
4. The Second Part (3)
5. Expect the Worst/'Cos She's a Tourist (2)
6. Pinned Together, Falling Apart (2.5)
7. Never Destroy Us (2.5)
8. Warm and Sunny Days (2)
9. 22: The Death of All the Romance (3.5)
10. Postcard from Purgatory (2.5)
11. No Cities Left (3)

Overall: 2.9

Junior Boys - Last Exit (2004)

As I inch closer to the end of the discs that Brian gave me, I've held out on a couple which I didn't think I would like. Of course, that's silly. How would I know I'm not going to like it if I haven't even heard it? (Mirah, for example, I'm loving.) And then there's others where I've heard their other albums and I don't really know what to expect (Pinback's other album was decidedly commonplace; M. Ward's "Transfiguration of Vincent" was solid, but I'm not even sure I've listened to the whole thing.)

This however was just ridiculously boring. I didn't think I had it in me anymore to not enjoy an album this much. I guess I was wrong.

1. More than Real (2)
2. Bellona (2)
3. High Come Down (2)
4. Last Exit (1)
5. Neon Rider (1)
6. Birthday (1)
7. Under the Sun (1)
8. Three Words (1)
9. Teach Me How to Fight (3)
10. When I'm Not Around (2)

Overall: 1.6

Metric - Old World Underground, Where Are You Now? (2003)

1. IOU (3)
2. Hustle Rose (4)
3. Succexy (3)
4. Combat Baby (4)
5. Calculation Theme (3)
6. Wet Blanket (3)
7. On A Slow Night (3)
8. The List (3)
9. Dead Disco (3)
10. Love is a Place (3)

Overall: 3.2

Modest Mouse - Good News For People Who Love Bad News (2004)

1. Horn Intro (n/a)
2. The World at Large (5)
3. Float On (4)
4. Ocean Breathes Salty (5)
5. Dig Your Grave (n/a)
6. Bury Me With It (4)
7. Dance Hall (3)
8. Bukowski (4)
9. The Devil's Workday (4)
10. The View (4)
11. Satin in a Coffin (3)
12. Interlude (Milo) (n/a)
13. Blame it on the Tetons (4)
14. Black Cadillacs (5)
15. One Chance (4)
16. The Good Times Are Killing Me (3)

Overall: 4.0

The Mavericks - The Mavericks (2003)

Looking at the track list for this album, I'm realizing for the first time that my father burned this CD in the wrong order. That's weird, because the way I have it actually works quite well (which I believe is alphabetical, now that I look at it)

1. I Want to Know (4)
2. In My Dreams (4)
3. Shine Your Light (4)
4. I'm Wondering (3)
5. By the Time (4)
6. Would You Believe? (5)
7. Too Lonely (4)
8. Time Goes By (4)
9. San Jose (4)
10. Because of You (4)
11. Air that I Breathe (4)

Overall: 4.0

Ryan Adams - Rock N Roll (spelled backwards and reversed) (2003)

A lot of people took this album to task.
"Oh, he just ripped it off in three weeks because the studio hated 'Love is Hell' and felt they needed a more rockier album."
True.
"Oh it sounds like he didn't spend a lot of time on the music; it sounds very rushed."
True.
But you know what? This album is full of solid 3s. You can't give them 4s, because a lot of them don't have any soul behind them. They were meant to be played loud, and when you're pissed off, and when you just feel like jumping around your room and secretly hoping you speakers blow - because then my friends, you'd have a story. I mean he put girlfriend Parker Posey as the backup vocals on "Note to Self," for chrissakes. He gave her the title of exe"cute"ive producer.
Ryan's message: Stop taking yourself so fucking seriously and enjoy the record.
This album was permanently in my car (because I couldn't find the case and it was easier to keep it in the CD player) for like a year. And yes, I agree with everyone who says "So Alive" is a U2 ripoff and "Anybody Wanna Take Me Home" is a Smiths ripoff. That's probably why I like them so much. Usually when people say that, they say it with a fair amount of disdain. To them, I say: Fucking grow up. We've always played "spot the influence" with RA. When you were ejaculating all over "Gold," didn't you notice it was Neil Young, the Stones, Van Morrison and Elton John and like a million others? Please, c'mon. Honestly, people.

1. This is It (3)
2. Shallow (3)
3. 1974 (3)
4. Wish You Were Here (3)
5. So Alive (4)
6. Luminol (3)
7. Burning Photographs (3)
8. She's Lost Total Control (3)
9. Note to Self: Don't Die (3)
10. Rock N Roll (4)
11. Anybody Wanna Take Me Home (5)
12. Do Miss America (3)
13. Boys (3)
14. The Drugs Not Working (3)

Overall: 3.3

Ryan Adams & The Cardinals - Cold Roses (2005)

A lot of people have said this is the return to alt-country that people have been waiting for since "Pneumonia" or "Heartbreaker." I agree in some respects; if you liked "Rock 'N' Roll" solely, I think you'd find it hard to enjoy this one. But I also hear a conscious Grateful Dead influence and I think the corresponding artwork inside the album backs up that theory. Ryan has been no stranger to showing his GD influences as of late and I think he really wanted to make an album that evoked 1970s AM, GD's country leanings and some of his own Whiskeytown background. It's definitely not a WT album, however. It's a Ryan Adams album.

I haven't rated all the RA albums yet, but if I had to guess, it might look like something like this: Gold, Demolition, RNR, Heartbreaker, LIH1, CR, LIH2. That's just a total guess though.

Disc 1:
1. Magnolia Mountain (4)
2. Sweet Illusions (3)
3. Meadowlake Street (3)
4. When Will You Come Back Home (3)
5. Beautiful Sorta (4)
6. Now That You're Gone (3)
7. Cherry Lane (2)
8. Mockingbird (3)
9. How Do You Keep Love Alive (2)

Overall: 3.0

Disc 2:
1. Easy Plateau (3)
2. Let it Ride (4)
3. Rosebud (2)
4. Cold Roses (3)
5. If I Am A Stranger (3)
6. Dance All Night (3)
7. Blossom (3)
8. Life is Beautiful (3)
9. Friends (3)

Overall: 3.0
Two-disc overall: 3.0

Dashboard Confessional - The Places You Have Come to Fear the Most (2001)

"If you're under 20 and plan on staying in your room all night crying about that girl who just dumped you, then there is no point in looking further than this record." - Peter J. D'Angelo, Allmusic.com

I was listening to this album today and yesterday and thinking, "Wow, I used to love this album. What happened?" I mean, I still know most of the words and all of the hooks. But it wasn't hitting its same resonance.

I became familiar with this album sometime in the spring of 2002. By the winter, Daniele had broken up with me. And everything on this album seemed achingly comforting. I used to belt out these songs; now they don't have the same impact. But I think if I was ever to go through a bad break-up, I'd come back here first. Or, will I be too grown by then?

1. The Brillian Dance (3)
2. Screaming Infidelities (4)
3. The Best Deception (4)
4. This Ruined Puzzle (3)
5. Saints and Sailors (4)
6. The Good Fight (3)
7. Standard Lines (3)
8. Again I Go Unnoticed (4)
9. The Places You Have Come to Fear the Most (3)
10. This Bitter Pill (3)

Overall: 3.4

Dave Matthews Band - Crash (1996)

Speaking of influences, perhaps no other album was responsible for my teen-age existence than "Crash." It solidified an obsession that seems remarkably silly these days, and propogated attendance at a string of concerts.

1. So Much to Say (3)
2. Two Step (3)
3. Crash into Me (2)
4. Too Much (2)
5. #41 (4)
6. Say Goodbye (3)
7. Drive in Drive Out (3)
8. Let You Down (2)
9. Lie in Our Graves (4)
10. Cry Freedom (3)
11. Tripping Billies (3)
12. Proudest Monkey (2)

Overall: 2.8

Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea

I decided to listen to this album, because there's been some talk over on Brian's journal (I guess we call them blogs now) about how great this album. There was also a discussion of how nostalgia plays a role in the grading system. Would I think the same of "In the Aeroplane Over the Sea" the first time as I did this time? Of course not.

As I listened tonight, I suprised myself in how many words and notes I actually remembered. Then I realized that this was one of my favorite albums and how "God is a place where we will wait for the rest of our lives" was my screensaver for like a billion years.

It has my all-time favorite endings to an album too. "Don't hate her when she gets up to leave." and then you hear him get up from what sounds like a wooden rocking chair and put down his guitar. Excellent.

1. King of Carrot Flowers Pt. One (4)
2. King of Carrot Flowers Pt. Two & Three (5)
3. In the Aeroplane Over the Sea (5)
4. Two-Headed Boy (5)
5. Fool (3)
6. Holland, 1945 (4)
7. Communist Daughter (4)
8. Oh Comely (5)
9. Ghost (5)
10. (untitled) (4)
11. Two-Headed Boy Pt. Two (5)

Overall: 4.5

Jason Mraz - Waiting for My Rocket to Come (2002)

Managed to get this album on my hard drive somehow. It's before Ms. John Soda in alphabetical listing.

1. You And I Both (4)
2. I'll Do Anything (3)
3. The Remedy (I Won't Worry) (2)
4. Who Needs Shelter (2)
5. Curbside Prophet (3)
6. Sleep All Day (2)
7. Too Much Food (2)
8. Absolutely Zero (2)
9. On Love, In Sadness (2)
10. No Stopping Us (2)
11. The Boy's Gone (2)
12. Tonight, Not Again (2)

Overall: 2.3

Ms. John Soda - No P or D (2002)

Sometimes you avoid bands or albums for the strangest reasons. One of those strange reasons is a band's name or an album's name. I avoid Gandalf Murphy & the Slambovian Circus of Dreams for a while until I actually took the plunge. I really like it.

I felt like I new the Ms. John Soda album in question intimately. I've heard Brian say many times he's a big fan. I just avoided it for a really long time because I usually don't take to the IDM or electronic (there are exceptions, "Role Model" comes immediately to mind). But today I happened to see it when I turned on my computer, and I was like, "Screw this, I'm going to listen to it."

On a semi-related note, how great is the band name Dogs Die in Hot Cars? I wonder if they're any good.

1. Technicolor (3)
2. Misco (4)
3. Go Check (3)
4. Solid Ground (3)
5. By Twos (2)
6. Unsleeping (4)
7. Hiding/Fading (4)
8. Elusive (3)

Overall: 3.3

Styrofoam - Nothing's Lost (2004)

I listened to "Beequeen" three times. All three times it showed a promise of a three, but an execution of a two. In fact, only "Anything" got upgraded during a second listen.

1. Misguided (2)
2. Ticket Out of Town (3)
3. Couches in Alleys (4)
4. Beequeen (2)
5. Your Eyes Only (2)
6. Front to Back (3)
7. Safe and Broken (2)
8. Anything (3)
9. Make it Mine (2)

Overall: 2.6

Bright Eyes - Letting Off the Happiness (1998)

1. If Winter Ends (2)
2. Padriac My Prince (3)
3. Contrast and Compare (2)
4. The City Has Sex (2)
5. The Difference in Shades (2)
6. Touch (3)
7. June on the West Coast (3)
8. Pully My Hair (2)
9. A Poetic Retelling of an Unfortunate Seduction (2)
10. Tereza and Tomas (2)

Overall: 2.5

Bright Eyes/Britt Daniel - Home, Vol. IV (2003)

1. Spent on Rainy Days (3)
2. You Get Yours (2)
3. Southern State (3)
4. Let the Distance Bring Us Together (2)

Overall: 2.5