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Post by pacinoyes on Mar 16, 2021 7:01:10 GMT
The Dahlmanns - American Heartbeat (2018) - ~ 7 / 10
6 song mini-album by the Norwegian husband & wife duo/band (she sings, he plays guitar) with an ace female singer - who sounds like a more New Wave Pat Benatar singing Kim Wilde songs.
5 of these 6 songs work which is maybe better than you would think based on that description above, huh?
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Post by pacinoyes on Mar 17, 2021 10:44:02 GMT
Reigning Sound - Time Bomb High School (2003) - ~ 8.5 / 10
You'd have a hard time finding a Rock record with this many ballads that feels so raw and rough.
Mixes Classic Rock or vintage R&B/Soul lyrical romance with Garage Rock dour cynicism - and singing that sounds at times like off-key, yelping, pleading - suggesting a kind of emotional breakdown from lingering bad memories.
The whole album operates with that duality - it's like your worst high school memories on playback ..........which I guess is the reason for the album title.
One of the best albums of this early 2000s era - and this era included The Strokes, Libertines, Exploding Hearts, Spoon and The White Stripes.
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Post by pacinoyes on Mar 18, 2021 5:46:11 GMT
Nick Lowe - Labour of Lust (1979) - ...............slightly above an 8 / 10
The 2nd solo album from the Basher - his debut was a stone cold classic in any edition - and how many of those do you have in Power Pop (hint: not many!)?
This starts strong and gets weaker as it nears the finish line but goes down like smooth gin overall. Full of sex, bad behavior, snarky humor, (gloriously) juvenile puns - those are all over this record - it never once sounds contrived or like it's breaking a sweat.
Rockpile plays on this whole record so it's perfectly done......
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Post by pacinoyes on Mar 19, 2021 7:29:32 GMT
Dave Edmunds - Repeat When Necessary (1979) slightly above 8 / 10
Same year and same rating as yesterday's album - except it's Rockpile backing up their other leader this time out.
Dave Edmunds didn't write one song on this album - he wasn't ever much of a writer in general which is why he so perfectly fit in as part of Rockpile. They had others who wrote and were amazing with covers too - and that suits his own personality as much as if he wrote these songs himself.
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Post by pacinoyes on Mar 20, 2021 8:02:08 GMT
Beebe Gallini - Pandemos (2021) - 6-6.5 / 10
Debut by a girl garage band (male drummer) - 10 of 13 songs clock in at under 3 minutes which is the right idea. Loses its way and its focus around track 5. But has a way with covers - like the fantastic version of this long lost 1960s obscurity below which is inspired and blows everything else out of the water.
"He's a scientist!".........she's right you know......
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Post by pacinoyes on Mar 21, 2021 8:04:05 GMT
Lana Del Rey - Chemtrails Over The County Club (2021) - 7 / 10I actually find this more honest and less schtick-y than her last sexxedup/bad girl/profanity laced record (which had a great lyric of the year contender line "if I wasn't so F****D up, I'd F*** you all the time" ).......which was much more fun than this overt almost jazz-y artistry. But this rings more believable, more mellow and is shorter, tighter and is harder to pull off actually.....some people will have this as album of the year but those people probably have the interminable Julien Baker record on their list too so they aren't giving you the whole story like I am.
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Post by pacinoyes on Mar 22, 2021 10:52:43 GMT
The Strokes - Room On Fire (2003) - 9.5 / 10 Like almost all NYC bands with a classic debut - the 2nd record is often misunderstood - Velvets, Ramones, NY Dolls, Television etc. - but this one really is. When you play it the first time - it sounds like half highlights, half filler - and every time after that the highlights are different and nothing seems like filler. People who think that the band doesn't know when to cut songs off nowadays will love this even more - they were ruthless in their editing then (or Gordon Raphael was) - this whole album breezes by - not a single song extended a second too long. Not only that - it has more marvelous one liners than you can shake a stick at that blow by you at first "I've got you to let me down!"........."the room is on fire and she's fixing her hair!" ......"hold on, I'll be right back!" (and Julian won't because that's how it ends ).
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Post by pacinoyes on Mar 23, 2021 10:25:29 GMT
The Ratcliffs - Bubblegum Warfare (2016) - 7.5 / 10
I have talked about this style of music a lot - "Ramonescore" - big (sort of) in Europe especially - that takes The Ramones as the starting point of everything - then adds in a twist of their followers Mr. T Experience, The Queers and especially Screeching Weasel
You get bands like this from it - Austria's The Ratcliffs - all hooks, all the time, pounded into your head - but without the originals wit (or awareness) that made them genuinely great (and made them pacinoyes faves too). .......but hooks go a long way regardless .........and so does giving me EXACTLY what I want because.........well I'm sort of a brat aren't I?
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Post by pacinoyes on Mar 24, 2021 7:01:32 GMT
The Ratcliffs - Hell Mental (2019) - getting disturbingly close to an 8 / 10 .....
Austria's finest band (the only one I know of tbh) - has more jokes, even more hooks and more brazen Ramones theft than their debut - reviewed yesterday.
Snags their idols The KKK Took My Baby Away and Havana Affair multiple times - goes so far as to specifically rewrite I Just Want To Have Something To Do entirely - but still keeping the "wait....now!" part which is literal theft.
Lyrically this is a goofball charmer against toxic male aggression (or something) - that is politically astute - they destroy the proto-fascist Schoolyard Dictator below with this stinging indictment: "You're nothing but a square, your taste in music stinks and so does your underwear"
Indeed.
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Post by pacinoyes on Mar 25, 2021 7:44:12 GMT
Husker Du - Metal Circus (1983) - ~ 8 / 10 .........but
Extremely hard record to rate because after this they made at least 3 all-timers in a row and arguably 2 more in their catalog at least and none of those sounded similar - they grew so fast it's hard to believe they were the same band.
This 7 song EP is where they got great but it itself isn't THAT great relative to who they were - it has 2 classic songs and hardcore Punk that sounds better and more focused on the next record but the next record is ........monumental........ They almost destroy the logic behind ratings at all because you rate them against themselves.
Oh and this one is still scary af - meshing the name "Diane" with the word "Dying" for their very first masterpiece.....there'd be more but not many songs in Rock carry this same chill to them.....I JUST played this record, just now, I'm still uneasy from this song typing this a little........and I've heard this song a million times.
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Post by pacinoyes on Mar 27, 2021 10:30:29 GMT
Cromm Fallon - Electric Bloom (2019) - 7.5 / 10What a name! "Cromm Fallon" - THAT is a Rock stars name - yet people buy records by John Rzeznik who not only isn't remotely good, his name looks like an eye chart. Fallon conjures up some other pretty great other names besides his own but mostly people related to 1960s garage rock so you wouldn't recognize most of the names because they didn't sell. Neither did this........but neither did Iggy in 1969 and I don't even need to list his last name which isn't his real name anyway.
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Post by Joaquim on Mar 28, 2021 19:47:55 GMT
Yes
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Post by pacinoyes on Mar 30, 2021 7:19:28 GMT
The Replacements - For Sale: Live At Maxwell's 1986 (2017) .........10 / 10An essential document that functions as a "live greatest hits" : 1981-1985. Without the actual, you know "hits" or even some notable "misses" too - Kids Don't Follow for one - which is OK because maybe it's an inspired in-joke to exclude it - maybe a defiant statement of their cross purposes to not give the audience exactly what they think they might want. A very meaningful in joke....... Or they could have just forgot that one......
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Post by ingmarhepburn on Mar 30, 2021 13:08:18 GMT
We're counting soundtracks too, right? 8.5/10
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Post by themoviesinner on Mar 31, 2021 16:57:04 GMT
Manos Hadjidakis - Street Of Dreams (Οδός Ονείρων) (1962) -- 10/10This album is a milestone for Greek music and it is probably Hadjidakis' best work. The music is incredibly diverse and, thus, the album is a rollercoaster of emotions. There are songs which are fun and humorous, songs that are full of melancholy, some are nostalgic ect. but everything just blends so well and makes the album incredibly consistent. And also, since this was written for a musical play there's an incredible liveliness in it that makes it extremely engaging. Simply a beautiful work and definitely among my all time favourite albums.
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Post by Joaquim on Apr 1, 2021 23:43:20 GMT
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Post by pacinoyes on Apr 3, 2021 18:56:02 GMT
Husker Du - Zen Arcade (1984) - 11 / 10Some people who appear normal and reasonable - at first - will tell you that the 2nd side of this all-time monster double album lets it down and is really just noise ........when in fact it's actually the most harrowing personal expression in American pop history. These people then are either semanticists, dullards, deaf or possibly just dead on the inside. Whichever it is - you don't have to believe them.....that's all I'm saying.
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Post by pacinoyes on Apr 4, 2021 8:02:40 GMT
Radio Birdman - The Essential Radio Birdman (1974-1978) / (2001) - ~ 9 / 10
Aside from The Saints "Eternally Yours" (1978) this contains the best Rock music ever from Australia.
Yeah, you read that right.....
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Post by pacinoyes on Apr 5, 2021 6:56:26 GMT
Linnea's Garden - Nowhere Friday Nights - EP (2021) - ~ 7 / 10
Sexed up 5 song release from Linnea Herzog - a nerdy bookworm with dirty tricks (and vocabulary) up her sleeve and on her mind. She's often singing about a girl but just to let you know it's much more complicated than that she drops this killer line in the chorus of the last (and by far, best) song: "Glitter" -
Girl on girl / On boy / On girl / On they / On them / On we, again / Boy on boy / On girl / On boy / On they / On them / On we, again
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Post by pacinoyes on Apr 6, 2021 6:31:41 GMT
Elastica - Elastica (1995) - ~ 8.5 /10Controversial Hot Take: Not only did Blur never really match those first 2 Oasis albums - but Damon Albarn didn't match the debut album by his girlfriend either. AND her album has this famous song about a guy - who is not named but sure sounds A LOT like our hero (It's always something you hate or it's something you ate!) who can't get it up even though she "really wants him to". ..........and you think you've had a bad day.
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Post by pacinoyes on Apr 7, 2021 7:21:14 GMT
The Buzzcocks - Singles Going Steady (1979) - 10 / 10
8 singles - 16 song compilation (the A's and B sides - and the B's are almost as spectacular).
Like very few records -Rocket to Russia, Flip Your Wig, Guitar Romantic - it sounds so ridiculously easy and efficient you'd think any band could do this.
But if it was that easy there'd be a lot more examples of it, right?
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Post by pacinoyes on Apr 8, 2021 9:01:51 GMT
Dry Cleaning - New Long Leg (2021) - 7.5 / 10The lead "singer" um, talker Florence Shaw is the kind of gal that makes Rock critics go apeshit - observational hipster-Art collage designed for people who like their Rock music to make themselves feel smarter than others. Well, I refuse to rate this higher just so I can feel smarter than the band and as a way of playing hard to get ..... two can play at this game Florence
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Post by pacinoyes on Apr 9, 2021 8:36:26 GMT
The Damned - Damned Damned Damned (1977) - ~ 8.5 / 10
The Damned only made 2 essential full length albums but what a pair they were - Machine Gun Etiquette (1979) their best - and this furious blast of a debut produced (superbly) by Nick Lowe.
The world needed a band like them in '77 (and '79) and I'd say it kinda needs them even more now.
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Post by pacinoyes on Apr 10, 2021 8:54:55 GMT
Iggy Pop - Lust For Life (1977) - 8+ / 10
Spectacular side 1 and iffy side 2 but the point is he's (still) worth a million in prizes and of course he's had it in the ear before.
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Post by pacinoyes on Apr 11, 2021 9:50:15 GMT
The Manges - Florida EP (2015) - 7+ / 10
This band is really loved in some circles - you see their t-shirts sometimes to a noticeable degree actually among hipster types - a Ramonescore band from Italy - and they got a lot of publicity when Ramonescore touchstone Screeching Weasel covered them ("I Will Always Do") - they totally get the aesthetic without faking it or forcing it.......... and without losing their accents which you hear on almost every track they've ever cut and they've been around a long time.......which is kind of sweet and admirable.
This 6 song EP doesn't add up to much but it's a lot of fun - which is basically like everything they've ever cut just like those accents....which probably means I should listen to them more......they are honest about their teen culture US obsessions too (cartoons, comic books, burgers, Ramones) - "I wrote your PO Box please reply to my letter!" .....and you kind of believe that actually happened.
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