Official new albums thread

[VR46]

Forever Faithless (greatest hits album & DVD) fantastic if you like Faithless, not one duff track, shame no live version of Insomnia though

[Ady]

The Arcade Fire - Funeral : I'm probably only repeating what's already been said, but this album is a superb debut from a very promising band. Intially, I wasn't to keen on the singer's voice, but it's grown on me. Musically, The Arcade Fire embellishes its unique flavour of Indie rock with lots of experimental flourishes. The music has a real, tangible physicality to it and the emotionality of the vocal delivery leaves no doubt that whatever it is they may sing about comes from the heart. The real beauty of The Arcade Fire's music though is its unpredictability. 'Neighbourhood #2 (Laika)' recalls The Pixies and could quite possibly be the best song they never wrote. 'Wake Up' is very reminiscent of 'Clouds Taste Metallic'-era Flaming Lips with it's sweeping, almost choral vocal harmonies and dense musical orchestration, this before switching up to an almost Mowtown-esque pace for the closing seconds. The song -which appears to be a lament about how adulthood destroys the easygoing insouciance of youth- is one of the album's finest moments, and when Butler cries "We're just a million little gods causing storm clouds, turning every good thing into rust", you know he really means it. 'Rebellion (Lies)' is one of the album's catchier songs and would make a great single. Oh, and you just try not tapping your foot to 'Neighbourhood #3 (Power Out)'. It can't be done. 'In The Backseat' provides a haunting finale to the album and is guaranteed to make the hairs on the back of your head stand to attention. You NEED to own this album, and I suggest you do so as soon as possible. This is already one of the best albums of 2005. 9/10

[spagmasterswift]

Sat down with Mezmerize at the weekend, lyrics in hand eager to hear what craziness System Of A Down where gonna come up with this time. Their album with the open hand on the cover got played to death during long Ikaruga sessions last year and I'm feeling some of the tracks off Toxicity and Steal This Album! Basically I heard Chop Suey and that turned me onto them.

Anyways, its a wicked album. Probably the first that I can quite happily sit through the whole of without skipping tracks. Its seems like the Guitar dude has become more involved allowing for tunes like Lost In Hollywood which is amazing and unlike anything I thought SOAD would record. Radio/Video is funny as hell - spoofing the crap out of the Rock Scene. Political and funny - like PE used to do

Its short but very sweet!

[Ady]

Handsome Boy Modelling School - White People : Prince Paul and Dan the Automator return with a second Handsome Boy album. Like the first, it's a collaborative effort involving a variety of rappers (mainly underground) and singers. 'White People' lacks the overall impact of the first record, but it does have many moments of brilliance. De La Soul open with the chirpy "If it Wasn't For You" and "The World's Gone Bad" (featuring Del the Funky Homosapien) wouldn't sound out of place on a Gorillaz album (the first of which was produced by Dan the Automator). Cat Power's Chan Marshall is perhaps the album's most unlikely collaborator (the diffident Indie songstress is best known for her exquistely fragile, folk-tinged compositions), but seems right at home on "I've Been Thinking". The disjointed medley that is "Rock n Roll Could Never Hip Hop Like This pt II" feels out of place, sitting slap-bang in the middle of the album, it sticks out like a snapped, jutting shin bone and sounds like the duo just stuck a bunch of half-finished tracks together. "The Hours" is graceless and messy (basically a banal guitar riff put to a Hip-Hop beat, topped with some atonal wailing) whilst "Breakdown" and "Greatest Mistake" are weak and forgetttable. Additionally, unlike the first record, many of the skits grate, serving no other purpose it seems beyond encouraging listeners to use the 'skip' buttons on their music players more; they try too hard to be funny and end up being incredibly annoying instead. Genrally though, the good does outweigh the bad and White People is an enjoyable, fun Hip-Hop record, even if it could've done with a bit more editing. 6/10

[Scythe]

In a week where coldplay, white stripes et al grab the headlines another album came out this week with little fanfare:

Isolee: We Are Monster: Anyone with even a passing interest in electronic music should check this out asap, difficult to describe but i've listened to it four times in as many days (unheard of for me), five years since his debut and you can see where the time has gone, fine tuned to perfection, suited to be played out or absorbed at home each track is a mini journey with unexpected twists and turns, beautifully sequenced together, organic and spiky in equal measure, a real gem which deserves more attention than it will no doubt get...9/10

[jimtendo]

A few new albums have been given a good listening to lately:

The Bravery - (self titled album)
Mainly bought this from listening to 'Honest Mistake' and 'Fearless'
So far, yeah it's good - if you're into power-synth-pop rock.
There's a lot of pacey tracks which i mainly like.
Stand out tracks for me are:
- Honest Mistake
- No Brakes
- Fearless
- Tyrant
- Public Service Announcement
- Unconditional
- Hot Pursuit

Audioslave - Out Of Exile
Typically good stuff, with a slightly more mellower sound (i think) from their first album. Probably my most played album at the moment, along with 'Make Believe' and 'The Bravery'
Favourites so far:
- Out of Exile
- Be Yourself
- Doesn't Remind Me
- Heaven's Dead
- Yesterday to Tomorrow
- Dandelion
- The Curse

Interpol - Antics
I haven't really quite gotten into this as of yet. I really need a few more listens. Only heard the singles Evil and C'Mere which i liked. It's just the other tracks have yet to grow on me.

[Scythe]

Antics is a huge grower....trust me in three listens you'll adore it!

[Ady]

Mos Def : The New Danger - I've actually had this for a couple of months, but haven't really listened to it all that much until recently. This is the follow-up to Mos Def's superb 'Black on Both Sides'. On this album, Mos experiments with live rock instrumentation and features many contributions from his rock group side-project Black Jack Johnson (allegedly formed to help "reclaim" rock music for black artists). The album opens on a quiet note with "Boogie Man Song" before launching into one of the least successful rock experimentations of the record; "Freaky Black Greetings" is little more than a very hackneyed riff married to incredibly scant vocal contributions from the rapper. In fact, it sounds more like a jam than an actual song, and feels half-baked. It's ironic then that Mos Def -who's usually very outspoken against the flaccid rap-rock of Limp Bizkit- fails to bring anything to the genre himself with the album's first rock-orientated track. Things improve considerably from here on in however with a host of great tunes, including the excellent "Ghetto Rock" and "Zimzallabim" (the former of which samples children's playground clapping games to good effect). "The Panties" is so smooth it literally slides from your speakers and is guaranteed to make any woman part with said underwear, "The Modern Marvel" and "War" are both progressive, almost epic tracks, though the sub-Rage Against The Machine rockout that bookends the latter does let it down somewhat. "Sunshine" and "Grown Man Business" both bristle with pleasant old-school charm. All in all, this is an outstanding Hip-Hop record that defiantly flies in the face of much of the modern-day drivel that constantly discredits and cheapens the genre with so much lowest common denominator nonsense. 8/10

[Big Seany]

Good review, Ady. I picked that one up at the car boot sale a few weeks ago (for a pound - result!). Mos Def has always been superb lyrically, and nice that he is trying to take hip hop somewhere a bit different. OK so rap/rock has been done before, but not in such an avant-garde fashion. A nice album.

[Ady]

A quid!?

I really need to go to more car boot sales!

[Big Seany]

Yes. Was a good day, that one, if I remember. Bagged that, the Kasabian album, The Great Eastern by the Delgados, Cult Of Ray by Frank Black and the latest Sage Francis album all for a pound each!!

[Baseley09]

Charlotte Church - Tissues & Issues

Hmmm, MOR stuff. Dunno why i had high expectations for this one, Crazy Chick was great but suprisingly sanz that, the slower sections of the album show her most capable side. By no means a wash out, has a few decent turns not without classical tones. Certainly not a pop blitz.

[Bleeders]

Buck 65 - Secret House Against The World

Yet another sterling effort from the Canadian, who continues to push the boundaries of hip-hop with this eclectic sounding record fusing the sounds of folk, electro, hip-hop and jazz into one package. Just when you think you have Buck pigeon-holed, he comes out with a record like this. Take the track 'The Suffering Machine' for example; a slo-burn folk guitar looping over a muddy drum-sound whilst at various intervals, a woman's haunting voice singing "Black Angels". The whole album has different peaks and valleys, so it never ends up sounding the same all the way through - and there's even a French version of the second song, 'Devil's Eyes' as the closer too.

For me at least, one of the AOTY.

If you like your hip-hop fresh, but different, check this out.

[radio]

Just listening to Billy Corgan's album, the rubbishly titled thefutureembrace.
So far I think it's great; up there with all his other work.

[Ish]

David Hasshelhoff - Sings America

Standout tracks being Rhinestone Cowboy and Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head.

Surely a contender for album of the year?