#15-#11#15
System of a Down-Mezmerize/Hypnotize23 Songs(Ok 22 songs with an Intro)
Non-Stop-Disco,
2 Skies Fading
with phony people coming to pray,
on the loneliest day,
as we attack,
on the soilder side,
with a sad statue and a generation that didn't agree.Welcome to The Jungle
that is SOAD's Funhouse
Dante's Inferno for the weak minded listener.
The levels of muscial ability are unmatched except for one other album this year
Funk/Old School Hip-Hop/New Wave/Hardcore DC Political Punk/Indian/Armanian
You've never thought Frank Zappa would come back meaner with a larger platform to spread his message
It's Happened
Sure you could pull some of the absurb portions off both albums
(Cigaro/Cocaine/She's Like Heroin) to make one
but then it's not SOAD that's part of their charm.
You can never feel like your being preached to about politics
when a band does a song about they love their cock
("Cigaro") then calls themselves the biggest ass-holes who killed Rock N Roll
("Kill RNR")Granted it's the serious side that dominated
Toxicitythat I respected and made me fan.
Both sides deliver with so much style and meaning
To make you understand this is music that matters
With a double album they could have easily lost their way and destroyed themselves
**cough** GNR
Instead they made a statement that demands to be picked apart by future bands who dare to have this much ambition.
Not only are SOAD an important band in the current rock landscape but it's the first so called metal band in a long time.
That Intellectuals
"When We Fly Do We Die?"(Question)"They were Crying when their sons left"
"God is Wearing Black"
"He's Gone so far to find no hope"
"He's Never Coming Back"("Soldier Side")and Knuckleheads can both Love
"Banana,Banana,Banana,Terracotta"
"Banana terracotta,terracotta, Pie"
"Do We all learn defeat?'
"From The whores With Bad Feet"("Vicinity of Obscenity")Who knew SOAD could keep the PEACE?
Standout- M-"B.Y.O.B/H-"Soldier Side"
#14
The New Pornographers- Twin CinemaDoes anybody not like at least one NP song?
Really I'm Serious how can you be that angry/depressed/disgusted/etc?
It just seems impossable in the NP universe
They reached a level for me where I don't care to argue which album's better and good luck putting a NP mix together without leaving something off.
Who can tell what it is besides great songs that make NP such a force.
My only criticism is their live show leaves a lot to be desired but I'll save $20 a year if they keep pumping out albums like this.
Twin Cinema is the quickest to dig into you psyche of the 3 albums.
Nothing sounds like these songs.
The amazing thing like a track like
"Three of Four" is on some other album that would be the shining highlight as a pop gem.
Here it's just another fantastic song on an album without a single dropped pass but pales to the genuis of
"Bleeding Heart Show"/"These Are The Fables"/"Stacked Crooked".
There should be a picture of NP entire band next to the definition of "Infectious"
You will not escape how contagious this album is
if you listen to it back to back or find certain songs to keep hitting repeat.
Your Hooked like some music-loving addict
Next time you look at a calender,you realize your still listening to
Twin Cinema months later.
NP have made a career out of being the cure of a stale indie-rock scene.
Admit it there on a Pavement-like run of quality
even hipsters have caught the virus
3 albums in and not a sign of getting more serious in sight(save that for their solo outings)
That's not a good thing/that's the perfect thing for them.
Standout
-"Bleeding Heart Show" The meltdown of voices is just one of the things that make this a true "supergoup"
#13
NIN- With TeethThis was the follow-up to
Downward Sprial that never was if this came out in 96/97/98/99/.
You would hear how it was one of the best of the decade or on a top 5 list.
Instead the bandwagon nails fans got
The Fragileand boy did that bitch and moan (a few critics liked it)
"Oh it's too long"/"oh why all the instrumentals"/"where's the singles"/blah,blah
It's my #1 album 0f 99/Favorite NIN album/etc.
so all i can ask is
Well Are You HAPPY NOW?
Trent returns to his industrial-pop roots
,cranks up the hate machine/
gives up booze/drugs
/becomes the Paul Bunyan of rock swinging his ax across the states back on to Commercial Rock Radio where he dominates programers who only played "Closer"/Head Like a Hole" as if he's a one-hit-wonder.
And I Loved every minute of it.
With Teeth is everything but the instrumentals that make Trent so versatile as a vessel of pain/desire/plain olde hate.
The blue print for his success is in "Love Is Not Enough" think about it.
a)slow build
b) the opening sneer
c) the rise to the chorus(you've fucked me up again basically)
d) cue pyro explosion into memorable chorus
(not so tough/love is not enough)
e) downward breakdown of song structure(scracthing feedback/keyboards
f) slow fade/as trent pleads oohhh
Trent is to getting away with saying what he wants on alternative radio without being censored to what Dr.Dre use to be to urban radio in that respect.
Who else could make
"Only" a hit on stations who still censor the word ASS
"The Hand That Feeds" was a call to arms that commercial rock radio is Stale
He doesn't change his work to fit any format
and now That's He's the comeback kid of 2005 (sorry Fiona)
He's already getting set to do an instrumental tour/album in 06
He Teased Fans like me with
"Beside You In Time"/"Right Where It Belongs" at the end of the album
Just like in 99 Trent came back to save rock this time though he had more disciples and more fun doing it.
oh and
"Sunspots" was the sexiest rock song of the year.
Not Bad Trent for a has-been
Standout
-"Beside You In Time" -Nobody does it better/Nobody does it have as good as you"#12
Wolf Parade- Apologies To The Queen Mary2 Out of Print Ep's/ one 2004 Ep re-record the best material you have-Check
Continue The Canadian Dynasty
2002-Broken Social Scene
2003- Metric/Constatines
2004- Arcade Fire
2005-Wolf Parade- CHECK
OH but we didn't count on Issac Brock and Kurt Cobain (Spencer King/Dan Boeckner) forming a super-group.
Yes the voices have their influences but when the music is this tight and emotional WHO CARES?
Every single song feels like a revelation
It's an album that screams to be part of a revolution.
"I'll Believe In Anything" is possably the best song of the year and has that sense of your listening to something very special at work.
Arcade Fire spread the gospel of
Funeral live all this year.
WP took the next step by putting out an album inhabitied by ghosts/divorce/fear.
a Darker walk down simular influences to Arcade Fire.
BUT nearly as rewarded.
Let's leave those silly Canadian comparisons alone.
Wolf Parade have fractured all their influences into something new and exciting.
A true Emotional Rock album that uses new wave as a seasoning not the main flavor.
A late fall release that improves it's emotional impact on you with each subsquent spin.
As winter arrives the questions of their influences/studio production/ and again vocal styles.
It Doesn't matter this album does all the talking for them.
If Modest Mouse is their biggest shadow well sorry Isaac they're already surpassed your early work leading up to
Moon/AntarcticaBetter than Modest Mouse Now?
Who Knows?
All I know is this will keep me warm into 2006
Standout
-"I'll Believe In Anything" - No rock song this year makes me feel so good, I can't wait for the breakdown at the end it's absolute brilliance in it's fall.
#11
M83-Before The Dawn Heals UsM83 is the best solo/act(Nicolas Fromageau left him alone on this one) in the world of electronic music
Anthony Gonzalez left that MBV fog production that i was worshiping on the best album of 2003
Dead Cities, Red Seas, & Lost GhostsFor a movie sdk soundscape that would work in every big budget Michael Mann flim(I know other reviews used that line but it's so true)
It's so a jump in refinement for a solo producer to capitalize on past success but expand the themes/ambient pop to a whole new audience
There's a reason not since Moby's
Play has corporate amercia tried to snatch up every single drum and bassline to sell their crap.
You cannot lose your interest in these electronic landscapes.
"Don't Save Us From The Flames" is the flight into madness of 2001 Space Odyssey:
"Teen Angst" screams out to be played when your staring at the stars.
"Car Chase Terror" would be a worthless skit if not for the genuine horror the music leaves understated
but it's not until the grand finale of
"Lower Your Eyelids To Die With The Sun" which somehow blends 2 of my all time favorite songs
U2's "Where The Streets Have No Name"
Moby's "God Moving Over The The Face of The Water"
(which was used in
Heat ironically)
Yet somehow this particular work makes you feel like your ascending to the heavens or at least a better place.
The choir is not forced it belongs there everything that's wrong with your day fades off as those vocies rise above anything you've ever known or heard.
It's on my funeral playlist along with M83's "Gone" as well.
So Now You might know why I hold M83's work to such high reguard and I've yet to be dissapointed.
He can't keep up this level of excellence
Can HE?
Standout
-"Lower Your Eyelids To Die With The Sun" -See Review
