2007 New Releases Listened To (by release week)
Submitted by greenmind on Mon, 01/15/2007 - 12:07
Tags:
- 1/9 - Sloan : "Never Hear The End Of It" (6.5/10) - Screwed up a perfectly good joke by putting out a really good album. The only reason I don't give it a higher rating is that 30 songs is just way too much to digest to listen to again. But they've shown the ability to write short pop songs at Guided By Voices levels.
- 1/9 - Self Against City : "Telling Secrets To Strangers" (6/10) - The world's first Brand New cover band. It's what an emo album would sound like if it was recorded by a band who didn't listen to much emo. It's not bad, just horribly unoriginal.
- 1/23 - The Shins : "Wincing The Night Away" (6.5/10) - This band has never and will never change my life. They're good enough and all but I can't think of a band that would be more fitting playing over the loud speaker in a dentist office. An AAA format album that just doesn't know it yet. That being said, I don't have anything against AAA.
- 1/23 - David Kilgour : "The Far Now" (5.5/10) - It's good background music for an indie film and I'm sure it will be used as that one day. But I just don't have the patience for an album that burns so slowly. It's like Mazzy Star without the lovely voice.
Cloned From:
My music tastes tend to be alternative, indie, and punk/hardcore but occasionally a few rock, rap, and even musicals will sneak in.
I don't review live albums, greatest hits collection, EPs, or singles for the purposes of this list.
Label compilations and soundtracks are eligible so long as they contain a majority of new music.
If anyone has any suggestions for what I might be missing in a given week, please let me know.
I listen to these CDs using Rhapsody (the second greatest internet invention after Netflix) so a lot of the "huge" releases don't make the server for a few months (and hence will not make this list but will be counted on the list by rank as well as those minor new releases I listen to after the week).
Unless the name really fascinates me, I tend not to review CDs that are on Rhapsody without genre (unless I sludge through all of the CDs chosen at the start of the week and am looking for more music) or just listed under rock/pop.
Hightlighted CDs = recommended
Bolded CDs = record of the week (only in weeks with multiple releases listened to)
Italicized CDs = throw this crap out
* = plan to listen in current week (in the order that I will listen - if I don't listen to an album in a given week, perhaps discover it later, it doesn't count on the list)
(x/10 = rating on 10 point scale by half points)
10 = instant classic
9 = feels like an old friend on the first listen
8 = almost every track is brilliant
7 = great album
6 = better than average
5.5 = average
5 = worse than average but listenable
4 = barely listenable
3 = this CD has some serious issue
2 = why?
1 = this music is absolutely terrible
Anything 6.5 or above, I would listen to multiple times (and after the release week is over).