Albums you've been hearing for first time lately

Yeah I remembered you was a fan. I went to see Fields once and MLN were heading the bill, was going to watch them on your recommendation but they weren't on until about 11 on a school night so I fucked off. I really didn't like that album though.

You should check out that Yabby You record if you've not heard it, you'd dig.

H-p1 by White Hills.


heavy riff laden pyschedlic music on thrill jockey. youtube video is the first track on the album, doesnt do justice to how loud it starts.

not an album ive been hearing for the first time, but one ive been hearing for the first time in about 7 years....

ive been listening to oasis a lot again recently and falling in love with them all over again. i knew that eventually it would be time for me to face up to it and blow the dust off of this cd...



beginning with the hindu times, this song has always been nothing more than alright for me. its pretty oasis by numbers, not awful by any means but disappointing lead single, shock of the lightning proved to do a much better job of this years later.

force of nature i always remembered hating but must say i enjoyed listening to today. probably partly because whilst at the time this was a pretty weak noel song, since then he has released several worse, but yeah it was alright.

hung in a bad place follows and is shite. proper pub rock that should never be near an oasis album.

stop crying your heart out has benefited massively from a break away from it. today felt a bit like hearing it for the first time again when we were all blown away after downloading it on our dial up modems. clearly a bit sacharrine and became massively overplayed but what can i say, im a sucker for a big oasis liam sung ballad. really enjoyed it.

songbird has remained a classic and sounds as fresh as ever, at this point i started thinking to myself, actually this album is nowhere near as bad as i remember.

then little by little came on and i remembered why it is by far the worst lp oasis have done.

a quick peep/probably all in the mind are ok but again shouldnt be anywhere near an oasis album really, mind you they sound amazing after little by little.

she is love yknow ive never hated as much as some on here do. i kinda like hearing a more light hearted happy clappy noel. it is a bit wank though.

born on a different cloud used to be my favourite from this album, still very good but i didnt enjoy it quite so much today. i think songbird is now my favourite on the lp as this slips into lennon pastiche a bit too much at times.

better man again is distinctly average and i always thought a bit of a weird closer.

so yeah overall this was slightly better than i remembered and i didnt hate listening to it. probably a 5 or 6 out of 10 at most though and was considered lower than that due to the brilliance of the albums that had come before.

what a band oasis were though, mad fer it

This Heat - This Heat 2/10

&

This Heat - Deceit 6/10

Saw them name checked in a Mark E. Smith interview so decided to give them a listen. The first one is typical "avant-garde" nonsense? Weird sounds for people with difficult glasses who are into Merzbow. I'm appalled M.E.S. likes them tbh, though it makes sense.

The second album is a lot better though it reminds me of a poor man's version of Doc at the Radar Station. Some dashes of Kraut prog (hip!) in there as well. So in my most optimistic opinion a 6/10 for effort.

Van Der Graaf Generator - Pawn Hearts 5/10

For music that I've no affection with whatsoever it was not nearly as bad as I imagined it to be. Behind all the pomposity and randomness there actually were some enjoyable parts. Somewhere between the middle of the last song and before the ending things somehow fell together and it didn't sound like Freddie Mercury on downers any more and I'd go as far as saying that that particular part was quite good.

Overall rating / 10 though.

Rachmaninoff Piano Concertos 1-4 7/10

Been getting into classical piano music cos of James Booker. Don't know anything about it, so yet another review from a layman's perspective.
It was alright! The main problem I had with it is that it had orchestra backing where I'm more into hearing a piano with nothing else behind it. Yes, I should've searched for something which only has piano. But where do you start with a classical artist with a huuuuge discography? Any advice is welcome.
At times mesmerizing stuff, but the dose was too high (around 2 hours of music) to keep fully concentrated. Am definitely planning to dig deeper into this stuff though.

i love this heat, both those albums are very good.

Yeah the second one is much more straightforward which makes it a lot better for me. The first one... to each their own? It reminds me of people who pierce their used tampons on dead foxes with a plastic fork and call it ''art''.

Yesterday I heard Kind of Blue, I wrote a little piece about my jazzy feelings and other void shit but the reply got lost in the big vacuum of Internet. Don't think the world has missed a big thing anyway.

Today I'm trying The Perfect Prescription, but I've seen the duration and tracklist vary between Wikipedia, RYM and the rar I've downloaded so I don't know what to do... I want to be faithful to the real deal but it's getting harder with reissues everywhere.

Been listening to shit loads of Nirvana recently and remembering how it feels to be young and angry.

Nevermind - Still a stonking album full of massive anthems.

Insecticide - I love this album, it's got the poppyness of Nevermind but mixed in with the more raw punkier sound of Bleach. Has some of my fave Nirvana songs on it, Aneurysm, Sliver, Dive, Been A Son.

In Utero - The fucking bollocks, only just realised it's 10 x the album Nevermind is.

Bleach - Much better than i'd given credit for, the first 5 songs are brilliant.

From the muddy banks of the wiskah - incredible live album, Aneurysm live and the (as far as i'm aware) unrecorded Spank Thru

MTV Unplugged - Proof that the songs were so strong that they could flourish without the huge buzz sawing guitars.








just realised i've misunderstood this topic, apologies

Listening to the new album by this Spanish band I've just discovered. Nothing new here, but it sounds fresh and fun and I welcome that. No big flaws and quite consistent, surprising as they're from here.



Is there any 2012 release worth? So far I have heard GBV, Cloud Nothings, Nada Surf, Howler, Tribes, Leonard Cohen, Paul McCartney, Lana and Django Django. I seriously think you can't get a whole decent album combining all of them.

did go thru a phase when i preferred in utero to nevermind.

gone back to thinking nevermind is better now though.

prefer the nevermind hidden track to.

muddy banks is a bit mixed i think.

some good live stuff and some shit.

Neil Young - Tonight's The Night


Have listened to a couple of Neil Young records since I got into Decade at the end, with this the most recent one. It sounds great, like it was all just recorded in one take or something, like listening to a great band rehearse in a lot of ways. Cmon Baby Lets Go Downtown and Lookout Joe are my favourite two, but the whole thing is quality, best I've heard by him so far. He can sometimes sound a bit odd vocally, but the title track of this album is one of the best vocals I've heard. Nils Lofgren/Neil Young himself/whoever plays the lead guitars on this one, is on serious form.

The Twilight Sad - No One Can Ever Know


Maybe I didn't quite have my 'Twilight Sad head' on when I've listened to this the first couple of times, cos even by their standards, it sounds a bit over-serious. Basically, this album sounds like The Twilight Sad covering the Terminator 1 soundtrack and putting abstract and intense lyrics over it. More Joy Division-ish than previous albums, Alphabet and Don't Move are probably the standout two for me just now, and its cool to hear a different take on their sound, but not really enjoying it as much as I did the first two.

Black Grape - Its Great When You're Straight...Yeah

I love the Happy Mondays. Bummed is a top album, really unique record as well. Pills N Thrills... is an ultimate summer album that gets play on my stereo and in the car every year without fail. Hallelujah is a quality ep, and I've even heard the likes of Squirrel & G-man, Yes Please and Unkle Dysfunktional ('now that I am naked, I'm a laaay-daaay' ). I even bought the Playground Superstar single when they reunited for the 47th time.

HOW. THE. FUCK. did I not get round to listening to this? I don't even know why I haven't before, it makes no sense. I've been listening to this album for about two weeks now and it might be the best thing Shaun Ryder's ever been involved with. Cannot believe I overlooked this.

Barny, the only two I've been enjoying thus far from 2012 is First Aid Kit (fleet foxes type folk) & the new Dan Sartain record which is a blast of garage rock with every song clocking in under 2 minutes. Neither are anything special but if your looking for new stuff they are worth a go. Has been a bit slow so far, last year by now some of my favourites of 2011 had already leaked.

It's great when you're straight is indeed a blast. I was obsessed with it when I first heard it. Grown tiresome of it a bit now and do prefer pills thrills but I think it still holds up as a top record. For years I always said it was the best thing Ryder had done.
Tonight's the night I still can't fully appreciate. Krburgs banged on about it for years but unfortunately it's the only 'classic' Neil Young record I don't truly love though I do enjoy it.
Only heard the new twilight sad record twice but my first impressions are not very good at all. Horrible bland keyboard sounds, reminds me of interpol/editors in places, Not sure it's gonna grow on me either.

I heard First Aid Kit and thought it was alright but forgot about it. It's getting a lot of buzz so I might give it another chance.

Lately I'm a little tired with garage rock bands, there are thousands of them but the truth is most of them aren't memorable at all. I'll try that one and come back here cursing and swearing.

Karl, the new Cloud Nothings is the best of 2012 so far.

It might be a good reason for the world to end then.

Heard Let's Dance. Don't think I'll ever hear it again.

I thought their album from last year was average as hell. Is the new one a huge improvement?

Different sound, in fact different band. Produced by Steve Albini. Still average.

perfume genius is the best album ive heard of 2012 so far. new standard fare is good too. overall though yeah not a great bunch of lps so far, twighlight sads debut is one of my favourite lps of the last 5 years or so but the two that followed just dont live up to it.