Official new albums thread

[Ady]

Picked up Neon Bible by Arcade Fire last week. Bar the last track (where the church organ gets oppressive) I'm enjoying it a great deal.

I bought this recently as well. It's still yet to grow on me though. I really like Black Wave/Bad Vibrations though.

Also picked up the new Bloc Pary album. It makes Silent Alarm sound like a demo.

[Juha]

Nine Inch Nails - Year Zero

Due April 17th.

The band themselves, whiel touring in Europe, have been dropping mp3's of their new album on USB drives at the venues toilets.

Check out this for links, ads, related websites that reveal a growing conspiracy theory brewing:

http://symphonyofnoise.com/nails/yearzero/



J.
(PS: I personally recomend "In This Twilight" and "My Violent Heart" make sure you click on them on the webpage)

[Swallow]

Also picked up the new Bloc Pary album. It makes Silent Alarm sound like a demo.

What does that mean??

Silent Alarm is one of the most incredibly produced albums I've ever listened to.

[Swallow]

Woot! New records by Low, Modest Mouse, Maximo Park, El-P, LCD Soundsystem and !!! all to listen to!

Drums And Guns by Low is, yet again, impeccable.

We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank has failed to impress me much yet.

[Pookmunki]

We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank has failed to impress me much yet.

I was the same, but its growing on me, Florida, Spitting Venom and Little Motel are cracking songs, plus it'l take a lot to shift Dashboard as boozy singalong song of the year tbh

The Low album good then? i thought 'The Great Destroyer' was a bit forced (although i did cane it too much when it came out)

On a side note, coz i cant be arsed to type in the listening today thread, i been listening to the new National track 'Fake Empire' loads lately. New album 'Boxer' is out soon

[Crisp_Rapper]

righty, what i've gotten recently...

incubus - light grenade: top top album, a bit old school incubus in places, a twist of funk and general awesomeness = a very solid album. faves; 'a kiss to send us off', 'di', 'anna moll', 'oil and water' and 'paper shoe'.

orange blue - superstars: a german pop type album which is actually very good, the songs are all love related and a few of them are beautifully written. sung by a german? it's not as bad as you think!! faves; 'shes with me', 'amelie', 'i am not afraid' and 'so beautiful'.

redman - red gone wild: at first listen i thought this was merely ok. second/third listen through and i think it's pretty good, there's a few stonking tracks on it, 'how you like dat', 'wutchugoonadoo', and 'get em' being current faves.

good charlotte - good morning revival: now previously i thought good charlotte were pretty lame, this album however has changed my opinion somewhat as it's not a bad album at all... faves: 'misery', 'the river', 'keep your hands off my girl', 'beautiful place' and 'march on'.

kosheen - damage: this is doing absolutely nothing for me at all... i'm yet to find a track with a hook or one i even like the tune of. and this is pretty ****ing damning considering my thoughts on the good charlotte album above!!

prodigy - return of the mac: wow, really liking this one... right from the off this is goooooood ****, feels proper oldschool with a whole stack of samples from the good old days of hip hop. faves: 'return of the mac', 'stuck on you', 'take it to the top' and 'stop fronting'.

timbaland - shock value: it seems tim like pharrell gives away all his best work to other people... 'release' is a pretty good tune as is 'bounce'. 'bombay' has an indian thing going on which is pretty cool but ultimately annoying. 'throw it on me' is pretty good but 'one and only' is horrible, a collaboration with fallout boy. and the final track is a collab with elton john. boo!

also got the 'new' modest mouse album but i need to give that a few more plays.

[ascender]

Despite my best efforts, I'm starting to like My Chemical Romance.

[Crisp_Rapper]

the black parade album is actually really good... i'm glad i gave it a few listens instead of just dismissing it. it's certainly far better than the vast majority of ****e that's being pumped out at the moment. 9/10.

[Crisp_Rapper]

also i've managed to 'find' the new linkin park album that's due for release in may....

i've listened to it a few times through and i've no idea what they've done but they've actually lost what hook they once had... there's nothing in this album that's even remotely close to their previous hits. it's like they decided to go in another direction and got lost on the way, it's nowhere near as cool as either of their previous 2 albums and i'm finding it boring to be honest....

generico pop metal by numbers, i actually find this pretty sad as linkin park were a guilty pleasure of mine (still are in fact). this is just lame as all **** it's like they've actually gone back in time, listened to some 80s hairmetal copied it and surgically extracted the stuff that made it cool, added a little bit of (terrible) rapping and some of the weakest sounding guitars you've ever heard outside of a simon and garfunkel album.

WHAT THE **** ARE YOU PLAYING AT BOYS?!


*shakes head*

[Big Seany]

The new Kings of Leon record is astonishing. I loved their first two, but this is just....awesome. Album of the year so far, go buy it.

[Crisp_Rapper]

as i am horrifically impatient i've downloaded a copy of nine inch nail's 'year zero' album which is out a week monday... it's a proper copy as opposed to the ****ty listening day ones that have been flying around the internet.

right here i will say that i shall buy this album no matter what so you can do one if you're gonna whinge about stealing music...

****. i shouldn't like this as it's not a 'proper' album but a story based concept album but i do. trent has been at the drum machine again and there's some truly stunning basslines, there's some beats in here that would bring a wry smile to the face of one richard d james... see 'the great destroyer' for details.

one thing i will note whether it be a good or a bad thing... when i first heard the track 'capital g' the very first thought that popped into my head when the beat kicked in was 'diana ross - chain reaction'

this needs more listens before i can properly give an opinion, first listen though i'm not finding any real problems... mmm trent.

"...I AM THE GREAT DESTROYERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

*bassline from hell follows*"



****, everyone needs to get their asses out to their local high end stereo shops and listen to this album in full, it is ass-kickery.

[Bleeders]

Listen to the Crisp Rapper, pheonemonal stuff from Trent again; dirty, gritty sounds fresh from the mind of Trent.

My initial thoughts; I found it less "accomodating" than 'With Teeth' which was a bit easier to get into. This one however, will require multiple listens, but having listened to it a couple times already, it's quickly established itself as a solid piece of work.

[Pookmunki]

I have just been listening to the new National album 'Boxer' on an advance cd (the actual album isnt released until May 22nd)

In a word: Magical.

I fell for The National when i heard 'Cardinal Song' from their second album, something about it seemed so brutally honest, Matt Berningers broken voice reminded me of the man in black and the musical backing had swoops and soars. I bought the album the next day and played it on repeat practically every day for the rest of the year. 'Cherry Tree', an ep with a more americana sound, was released in 2005. That album made me a fan for life, joining such others as Pearl Jam, Jeff Buckley, Red House Painters, REM and The God Machine.

'Alligator', their third album was a true follow-up to 'The National' and 'Sad songs for dirty lovers', the sound of a band growing into what its listeners wanted from them: honest lyrics, a solid contribution from Padme Newsome (sometime violin player) and more 'drooped into an empty glass, the bartender sweeping up around you as you ponder how you made your life a mess' style musings.

So, 'Boxer' then?

Its really a continuation of the sound that was developing on 'Alligator', but with an almost 50's sounding twist, more Tindersticks and The Smiths than REM. Horns, piano and strings are used to great affect, not in a cheesy 'by the numbers' way most bands tend to employ them. 'Mistaken For Strangers' sounds almost Joy Division while 'Green Gloves' could be seen as the song Iron and Wine should've made by now.

By far my favourite song on the album is 'Slow Show', a sweet song about drunken, overconfident love.

2007 is going to match 2005 as a great year for new albums, i already have this and Modest Mouse fighting for album of the year and there's new releases from Interpol, Iron and Wine, Calexico, Sun Kil Moon, Down, Editors and more to come

Sorry for the length, but i jus had to write something fresh off the presses

[Ady]

Low : Drums and Guns - With their drummer gone, Low get a little experimental (which is always a good thing). Dave Fridmann does the business, production-wise by keeping things clean and crisp (though I think he made a mess of their last album, but that's another topic...). Best track? The aching slow-burn that is 'Murderer'. The worst? The incredibly corny 'Hatchet' with it's sub-Thom Yorke/Eraser style knock-off beats. 7/10

Kaki King - ...and we Felt Red - If you don't know, kaki King is a female guitar virtuoso known particularly for her acoustic guitar trickery. On this album, she exapnds her pallette to other six strings to amazing effect. An exemplary album from a very talented woman. 8/10

[Swallow]

Thanks for the post on The National Pookmunki, been looking forward to this for a long time

Drums & Guns has retained it's statuesque poise for me, not as towering an accomplishment as Things We Lost In The Fire, but let's be honest, Low at less than full throttle beats somewhere close to 100% of all other music.