La Gran Perdida de Energia - Self Titled ALBUM REVIEW

"Gloom & Doom that's all I'm saying...

-Austin Lovelace"

This is the first album by the instrumental post-rock outfit who's name, I believe, translates to The Great Loss of Energy. While it is their first album, it's defiantly not their first time out the gate, though it does seem to be the first impression they would rather halve. The reason I say that is because, while there isn't a huge change in style, there is a pretty big change in presentation. In comparison with their first EP the production is much more ambitious, and much grander. They take the sound that they where showing off and focus it much more on the haunting elements of post-rock to assist the production in filling every bit of empty space.

I'll admit that I was on the fence with the EP and listening to it before the album didn't give me the highest expectations. When it comes to this album I'm still not getting it completely; I'm liking the improvements on the sounds they where already using but the production isn't making up for the uniqueness that they've lost because of it. A lot like Foster, who's first EP I gave a raving review, they focus a lot on an indy rock edge. There are a lot of melodies that almost remind me of indy rock kings like Grizzly Bear. A lot of the more catchy moments on that first EP even focused on a math rock influence from the popier side of bands like Band of Horses and Minus the Bear. Under the production that Volvemos en 10 Años had, I was hoping to hear more of their atmospheric side but now that it's the majority of what I'm getting, I'm missing their fun side.

In many ways they're an apposing force to a band like Godspeed You! Black Emperor, while using a lot of similar techniques, they represent a much more optimistic side of post-rock. Where GY!BE soundtrack a post-apocalyptic, political, world Energia is more content with telling you when to relax and play. The opener, "El Mes del Viento", uses a lot of symbol crashing breaks and tremolo picking to create an environment that's easy to get lost in, something you would expect to soundtrack the most tense scene in a movie. That leads into the next track which has a surf feel but as soon as that goes out, it awkwardly transitions into something very similar to the first track. "DO!" has a very strong and cool melody but it repeats it through the whole song and just barley makes it out without decreasing the power the groove has. After about 1:00min the 4th track works into one of the coolest and most climactic grooves on the whole album, and it finishes with some tremolo picking that stops you from breathing, but the song still goes on for 7 more minuets of falling action. While you wait for moments like that everything else just feels like filler, filler that they avoided on their first EP. One of my favorite tracks, "De Los Que Viven Bajo el Agua", takes a while to get there, but it finishes with such a fun outro that I almost wanna dance to it, and the same goes for the intro to "Asia". I don't want this album to have to live up to an EP that's not as good but when they don't sound like they're having fun, they sound like they're stalling. When it feels like they're stalling, I can't say what they're doing anything unique, and those parts at many times on this album, awkwardly mix with the parts I love. That's the only difference from the first EP that isn't an improvement, making it the easiest to talk about, but it's a substantial change.

I understand that this review sounds negative, and while that is the perspective I have of this album compared to others in its genre, I want to make sure you know that I do like it. I enjoyed listening to this, and I can't rave more about how hauntingly beautiful the last track is (it should be on during the credits of Pirates of the Caribbean, it really should). Sadly, though, the best thing I can say about the parts I didn't like is "they do what other bands are doing, really well". I love every moment of this where I can picture a crowd dancing and the band jumping but for now I feel like they're still working out how they want all those sounds to work together. While I wasn't amazed by this album, I'm really excited to see what they do next.

Why Music is Less Relevant Than It Used To Be, and Where Art is Moving as a Form for All Mediums

Listening to my copy of CSN, by Crosby, Stills & Nash, I was wondering why a band whose first studio album came out in 1969 was still a common name. When they came back to putt out “Looking Forward”, as Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young, how did they still reached number 34 on the billboard top 100 with “No Tears Left”, the single (Crosby Stills & Nash award list). How did The Rolling Stones premier “A Bigger Bang”, in 2005, at number 3 when they put out their first album came out in 1964(Rolling Stones award list)? All of these artists surviving for up to 50 years while Vanilla Ice peaked at number 1 with “To The Extreme”, and then never even reached 200 again during subsequent 5 album run(Vanilla Ice award list). Asking anyone else, you would get a simple answer, “good music lasts, so time will tell” but time has already shown that “good” is decided by the relevancy, lasting itself. Music lasts based on what it attaches itself to, by becoming part of history rather than just talking about it; artists have done it with their lyrics, with their sound, but most of what makes them so attached to the fans that keep them in the limelight, are the emotions they appeal to.

Then, Older artists used their influences and inspirations as references in their music. Quoting, “The king is gone, but not forgotten, is this the story of Johnny Rotten?”, Neil Young is asking the same question this is trying to answer in his own music (“Hey Hey, My My (into the Black)” off of the album“Rust Never Sleeps”). Without knowing it, he is also creating an important piece of history. . Song writers like Neil Young would still rather write about the lead singer of a band that only lasted 3 years, only because he changed his stage name. In a way this is a partnership; while this is an example, Neil Young has been famous for writing about historical events well before he wrote this song, which make his music source material for common opinions, but by writing about Johnny Rotten's change to John Lydon he is also adding even more context to what the Sex Pistols already had. Even then, some of the most popular bands can still be forgotten after a breakup, Paul Revere and the Raiders had 10 top 200 studio albums in their 18 year run, but that’s because they didn't write about anything of importance (Paul Revere & the Raiders award list). When lyrics read off the page like a history book, they become as important as one.

Now, most artists are either not giving recognition to their influences or they don’t have any. the only artist still making the same kind of effort in recent years is Maroon 5 with their single, “Moves Like Jagger”, a billboard number one hit (Maroon 5 awards list). They’re riding on the backs of The Rolling Stones who have survived for a solid 50 years and are still getting their albums in the top 5 billboard chart positions (The Rolling Stones award list). Now that most listeners are focused less on what the artists are saying and more on the choruses they can sing along to a song like “Moves Like Jagger” gives their fans a friendly nod to a band, that has inspired everyone, in a chorus that is stuck in a generations head. It’s hard to believe that people will ever walk around saying “Who is this “Jagger” guy?” and as long as current musicians still care to bring him up, neither of them will lose relevance. Hip-Hop is becoming more and more referential to it’s past as well, and most top 40 rappers feature each other on tracks, which in the short run is helping them all stay alive. It’s a very young genre though, at least at its current level, so it doesn't have the same wealth of influences to pull from.

Not all music is lyrical though so this explains the sudden rise popularity for music highly based on production, hip-hop and many other forms of instrumental electronic music, but it doesn't explain the immediate respect that each passing generation is giving it. The simple explanation for that is that most of the artists involved in that culture are creating a sound exclusive to the age of its popularity. While it can easily be seen as repetitive, as well as derivative, there are artists who are guaranteed to come out the other end of the era as legends and forefathers. It’s the result of a necessary death; a genre that comes in, over saturates itself and then leaves like, gritty, 90s Hip-Hop did at the tail end of it’s popularity and swag rap is doing now.

Considering that the past and present share a common pattern in this way more than any other and it’s easily seen that sound is still more important than a fad. Nirvana was not the first band to do what they did; Kurt Cobain even admitted that he was trying to rip off a Pixies song when he wrote one of their biggest hits (Kurt Cobain interviewed by Robert Frick for Rolling Stone Magazine), “Smells Like Teen Spirit” hitting the billboard charts at number six (Nirvana award list). Nirvana also admits to admiring bands like the Melvins who took influence from other bands, like Joy division and Soul Asylum who put out their first albums before they had their chance. Bands like Megadeth and Metallica are still selling albums off of the relevance the gained in the dead thrash metal scene that died in the 80s, Megadeth’s 2011 release, Th1rt3en, hitting number eleven (Megadeth award list) and Metallica’s , Beyond Magnetic EP, reaching 29 on the billboard top 200 (Metallica award list). They keep their fans coming back because they all want to hear an album that puts them back in the scene that used to thrive.

All fans have very strong connection with the music they listen to; it’s a part of their personality so it has an amazing emotional appeal. It takes a rightful place as part of their personality. The reason why our parents still keep their vinyl recordings, why our parents still buy CDs, and why this generation is obsessed with downloading singles on MP3 are all for this reason. The two previous reasonings are reasons why this kind of attachment exists but what makes emotion such a strong comparison between present and past musicians is that they both take it drastically different ways. The way casual listeners have been hearing music through the last decade is based almost exclusively on an emotional appeal that doesn't connect, legitimately, to the other two varieties, almost, at all. In the past few years boy bands and pop punk/new metal bands have been appealing to young people in ways that, in any other case besides music, would not hold up in the real world. While the newer acts are getting younger, groups like N’ SYNC and The Backstreet Boys had men, whose ages average out to about 20 years old, making music about love for girls budding into puberty from ages twelve to seventeen. Emotion like that can’t be considered real and nothing makes it harder to stay relevant than giving something fake to a generation approaching an age that allows them to realize that, even when your first album hits number 4 on the billboard charts (The Backstreet Boys)(Backstreet Boys award list) or you break the new millennium with a number one album (‘N SYNC)(N’SYNC award list). Even when artists like Justin Bieber or One Direction are closer to an appropriate age, they still follow the exact same song format, which is usually not even written by them, which is still fake. On the other hand bands like Black Veil Brides, Three Days Grace, A Day To Remember, and Blessthefall are all appealing to the angst of the side that rejects what pop stars are doing. They create a form of art that can only be attached to one age group or one generation and it cannot be passed down. It would be ignorant to say all radio music is like this, but that’s the exact reason why some current artists will still be able to continue moving with a healthy fan base and stay relevant.

The point of bringing all of this up is to expose what is becoming a more visible truth. Even though music goes through paces just like any other art form there is a much more linear way of seeing what will happen. In terms of what people like, and what people want on the radio, things will stay the same. This means that the level of variety will alternate as it has every decade, but as each decade goes by less artists within the popular field survive. This means that constants are becoming less and less common and when the ideas and people who remain constant leave all you have left are artists who die off with the art form itself. Music will not die, no more than literature is dead but it is still a far cry from the blossoming culture that music proved itself to be in the past. As a music lover this is my plea to see that people change the way they pay attention, and a an art lover I want to expose this as a possibility for all forms of entertainment.

Bibliography

"Charts and Awards for Crosby, Stills & Nash on AllMusic." AllMusic. Allmusic, 2012. Web. 02 Oct. 2012. <http://www.allmusic.com/artist/crosby-stills-nash-mn0000131581/awards>.

"Charts and Awards for A Bigger Bang by The Rolling Stones on AllMusic." AllMusic. Allmusic, 2012. Web. 02 Oct. 2012. <http://www.allmusic.com/album/a-bigger-bang-mw0000408720/awards>.

"Charts and Awards for Vanilla Ice on AllMusic." AllMusic. Allmusic, 2012. Web. 02 Oct. 2012. <http://www.allmusic.com/artist/vanilla-ice-mn0000262445/awards>.

Young, Neil Percival, Front-man, and Jeff Blackburn. "Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black)." Perf. Frank Sampedro, Poncho, William Hammond Talbot, Billy, Ralph Molina, Nicolette Larson, Karl T. Himmel, and Joe Osborn. Rec. 27 Aug. 1979. Rust Never Sleeps. Neil Young and Crazy Horse. David Briggs, 1979. Vinyl recording.

"Charts and Awards for Paul Revere & the Raiders on AllMusic." AllMusic. Allmusic, 2012. Web. 02 Oct. 2012. <http://www.allmusic.com/artist/paul-revere-the-raiders-mn0000750456/awards>.

"Charts and Awards for Maroon 5 on AllMusic." AllMusic. Allmusic, 2012. Web. 02 Oct. 2012. <http://www.allmusic.com/artist/maroon-5-mn0000285232/awards>.

Fricke, David. "Kurt Cobain: The Rolling Stone Interview." The Rolling Stone 27 Jan. 2012: 1+. Rolling Stone Archive. Web. 1 Oct. 2012. <http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/kurt-cobain-the-rolling-stone-interview-19940127>.

"Charts and Awards for Nirvana on AllMusic." AllMusic. Allmusic, 2012. Web. 02 Oct. 2012. <http://www.allmusic.com/artist/nirvana-mn0000357406/awards>.

"Charts and Awards for Megadeth on AllMusic." AllMusic. Allmusic, 2012. Web. 02 Oct. 2012. <http://www.allmusic.com/artist/megadeth-mn0000406294/awards>.

"Charts and Awards for Metallica on AllMusic." AllMusic. Allmusic, 2012. Web. 02 Oct. 2012. <http://www.allmusic.com/artist/metallica-mn0000446509/awards>.

"Charts and Awards for Backstreet Boys on AllMusic." AllMusic. Allmusic, 2012. Web. 02 Oct. 2012. <http://www.allmusic.com/artist/backstreet-boys-mn0000765595/awards>.

"Charts and Awards for *NSYNC on AllMusic." AllMusic. Allmusic, 2012. Web. 02 Oct. 2012. <http://www.allmusic.com/artist/nsync-mn0000516929/awards>.

Garbage - Not Your Kind of People REVIEW

"The new animal collective has already leaked! Well who can you trust...

-Austin Lovelace"

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It's has been 7 years seance we've heard anything from this dynamic 4 peace, of post-grunge and pop music, and I will admit I was skeptical. Post-Grunge is a shaky genre, by this I mean most of it kinda sucks :/. Even though Garbage has separated themselves from the Creeds and Nicklebacks I also relies that I am dealing with a pop band.

With the famed producer Butch Vig, of Nirvana's "Nevermind" & "In Utero"/ Smashing Pumpkin's "Siamese Dream", and the late 90s sex symbol/Singer Shirley Manson it's easy to see why grunge would carry past the boundaries of a pop band. While no one in their right mind would dare call this band grunge I would be glad to carry the "G" in their name to the description of "pop-grunge". I have also had the miss fortune of hearing albums like "Let Your Dim Light Shine", by Soul Asylum, and "Secret Samadhi", by Live, tare some of the best Post-Grunge bands to their knees (voluntarily).


In a Recent Interview with SPIN Magazine Shirley makes it clear that fans will get what they want, "It's not our job to reinvent the wheel., That's the playground of the young.", but which old rickety wheel is she referring to..? because they left us on the 3rd wheel back in 2005. Rising to fame from the hype behind Butch Vig finally racking up the drums behind a full band, Garbage's accessible version of 90s rock unicycles across the top 40 finish line [Twice (on self titled, and 2.0)]. (get ready because the wheel references aren't over) While it's a feat to watch, uni-cycling isn't really a diverse or practical way to travel so, to keep their fans from getting bored, Garbage elected to try out a raw 90s pop album and added a second wheel. While the opener on "Beautiful Garbage", "Shut Your Mouth", hit hard the rest of the album features Butch Vig screwing with only production while everything else just danced around it. Tracks like "Androgyny" or "Chary Lips (Go Baby Go)" showed that they could pull it off but I'm not the only one who needed some more of a punch from them. Two wheels still arrant stable but all you have to do for more support is give it some gas (just in case no you never rode a bike), though Garbage wasn't looking for a quick fix. To prove "Beautiful" wasn't a sell out the band built one of those weird "Chinese 3 wheelers" and released "Bleed Like Me". Garbage wasn't going to fall back on the talent that made the famous. They where, how ever, going to "Run Baby Run" from their last album and ditch the electronics for, almost, a pure rock album. Fans don't leave after one flop but after getting a second album from a band that they didn't expect, return to form or not, a fan base will get unstable; so it's about time they relies maybe 3 wheels isn't a smart design... (DO YOU HEAR ME CHINA!)

Years later we go back to see them and, instead of trying to stabilize the car with 4 wheels, they're back at trying to master a sport they where great at almost a decade ago. It's clear that they've gotten better at it over the years and even become natural with it but now they're using the old parts as obstacles because no one would buy them. While they're old sound has left music almost all together they had no trouble taking it back but not without the affect of their past career. Just as their last two albums couldn't leave the support of their first two this new album wouldn't let it's former two fall behind (a quick break from wheel references).


The first single "Blood for Poppies" made it clear they where going back on the first wheel but it's not in the shape to make it over the obstacles. The heavy bass and guitar riffs on that track felt just like the Garbage I love but the chorus felt left over from "Beautiful" and the same can be said about the opener "Automatic Systematic Habit" and the whole of track 2, "Big Bright World". After the first three tracks pass I loose even more interest in the next 3 tracks, I am inferring that I liked "BFP" & "ASH". "Control" has some really nice vocal samples over the hook (and a really nice climax), and so does "Felt" but as whole songs they fall a little flat. Sadly "flat" is all I get out of the title track and it puts me back at the end of "Bleed Like Me" where tracks like "Why Don't You Come Over" and "Happy Home" leave me hanging. Thankfully, the next 4 tracks make me feel like I'm sitting in a room watching my favorite 90s pop/rock band wright at their best. "I Hate Love" and "Sugar" both start with the kind of production I loved on parts of "Beautiful" and then hit with the emotion of "2.0". "Battle In Me" and "Man On a Wire" don't mess around and hit you with Garbage grade aggression that is almost mosh worthy. "Beloved Freak", like "All Over but the Crying", "Milk" or "You Look So Fine", is a mood song and when you're in that mood it's on of the best on the album meaning Butches Production takes over (it may also be the first Garbage song to feature foreign a sample, correct me if I'm wrong).


My first impressions of the album where 30 second samples that the band uploaded on their youtube channel and if you heard them you would get my hype. They all featured the best of Butch Vig production on this album which is, as usual, top notch, but when you listen to everything else around them they can loose potency and aggressiveness. This album makes me ask "what happened to this part of Garbage I really like?". When they dismantled the car (yep the references are back) what happened to sex in the back seat? I always loved hearing Shirley talk about her sex life like any other male singer. Why can't she talk like a pervert like she did on "Queer", "You Look So Fine", "Cherry Lips" and "Bad Boy Friend", this is the first album without any of that; it's also clear that age took some of the seductiveness out of her voice. Where is the influence I heard from The Pixies and The Breeders on "Bleed Like Me" Shirley Manson is no less capable of writing like that (yes I'm saying she's still hot). Why are you backing off when you used to say "Sex Is Not The Enemy"?


"Lies more lies, I can tell there lies" ("ASH"), I wouldn't say Garbage has been the best at writing lyrics but there are very few spots on this album where I hear any sort of subtleties and there is redundancy all over this which isn't what I expect from a band like this. "What a joke, but do you hear me laughing" ("Battle In Me"), This is what I feel about a lot of the verses on this album. This is the first Garbage album I've had to groan through and this is without mentioning all of the "Shake It, Shake It, Shake It off"s on this thing.


Garbage has a choice to make from this album on; they can either ride the sound that there fans adore or they can decide to experiment and keep us from getting bored. I understand they aren't out to, "re-invent the wheel" anymore but I'm no more asking for that then I'm asking for another album. "Bleed Like Me" was nothing new to the system but it was defiantly Garbage in a new light and I see no reason for them to not try it again, or maybe even pull another influence out from under their belt. Any casual fan of post-grunge will like this album but Garbage risks loosing listeners like me by becoming another Everclear or Gin Blossoms; both of which are good bands but I haven't felt the need to care about them seance they fell into a rut and stopped evolving. Garbage is still a band I want to fallow because I know they won't disappoint but they run the risk of become "another one of those bands" so I ask them to please wright music more naturally instead of just trying to pleas your fans.

The Note Pad:

Other post-grunge bands: Everclear, Gin Blossoms, pre "Secret Samadhi" Live, Foo Fighters, Weezer, Jimmy Eat World, pre "Let Your Dim Light Shine" Soul Asylum 

Other bands you might like: No Doubt, Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, Pearl Jam, Screaming Trees, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, maybe Paramore, Mother Love Bone 

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The Note Pad: The Music Is Sound Rating, Paying for Music, and Supporting Our Fans

"I'm fell off with green day a while back but I'm digging the hell out of this trailer!

-Austin Lovelace"

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I'm going to start reviewing new albums so I'll be abandoning the weekly format to cover the albums on my "anticipated list". I also want to cover other albums that came out this year so recommend albums to me and I'll give them a listen.

This is the system I'm going to use to rate the albums (already been used on the "Milo Takes Baths review". I'm hoping it's easy enough to understand, if not pleas let me know how I could fix it, but there are still some things I want to clear up. Rather than just using a number/star system or a symbol system we wanted to create a system that not only made it clear how we felt about it but could also be easily separated into 3 easey categories; simply put "buy it", "sample it", or "pirate it". We want to give the impression that we buy music that we like and for that matter, want you to buy and support. Even though our lowest rating is "pirate it" we don't support you doing it. We want this blog to have hummer so a rating of "pirate it" should be taken as a joke, though it does mean I'm not going to dish out any money for it. The ratings don't cross with each other, so you can't expect a rating including both "bad" and "buy it"; meaning that not dishing out any money means I didn't like it anyway and won't ever listen to it again. We do promote that you always pay for the music you like but our 2nd rating "sample it" can contradict that. Without trying to sound like I support pirating I do support "illegal downloads" to sample albums. I have used this method to listen and review albums before but I always had the intent on buying it if I wanted to hear it again, if I liked it, and I could rant on that but I will leave the issue at that. If there are any ways you can listen to a project for free and legally pleas sample that way; "Groove Shark", "Spotify", "Youtube", and more are all ways to legally listen to music. Our worst and final rating "rebecca black (why)" is not referring to the person it is referring to the meme and will only be used in the case of an album I actually find offensive and I can almost assure you our version of a 0 will hardly, if ever, be used. I don't like the song though.
(. )__(. )' ( .)__( .)'

We don't promote any particular way of buying your music as long as you pay for it but I will inform you that the older the medium is, the more money the artist gets. Record Companies not only have deals with stores and artists but also media developers as well; they move their attention to the newest media type; the artists get lower percentages of the money that goes into what is now cheaper mediums. In addition to also being more expensive and producing more money artists also get a larger percentage of the money spent on Vinyl rather than CDs, and more from CD's than MP3s. I myself always buy my music on CD but like I said before as long as you pay for your music than we don't care how.

Despite all opinions expressed we are not here to change minds or force ideas on anyone. We can only say what we think, and after that it's all up to you. You don't need to agree with a review I wright or a score I give so please tell us what you think. We'll even offer a download of our score template here so you can rate it for your self (here). You can use this system on your blog as well but please notify us. If you wright a review of the same album and send it to use We'll even feature it on the post, if we like it. We want to express our opinions but pleas take everything we've said with a grain of salt until you here the album for yourself, then tell us what you think. If anything, music deserves a collective opinion so join us and help us get there.

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What Austin's Listening to this week 1/22/2012 - 1/28/2012

"I'm going to start a new segment on the blog today and I'm finally going to get around to editing Kyle's post.

-Austin Lovelace"

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Seance we more or less decided to stop doing monthly top 10s I've decided to try a new segment out on the blog so we can still talk about music and spread it without having to be restrained to new, classic, or specific, material. In this segment I'll just tell you guys what albums I've been listening to in the past week(s), in order.

1. Drive Like Jehu - Yank Crime

Thanks to theneedledrop/Anthony Fantano for getting me back into listening to this album, in his poor lily contest video. Drive Like Jehu is more or less a punk band that started leading the genre into something "more creative", not unlike Fugazi or La Dispute. It's understandable that most people would call them a "post-hardcore" band but they hearken back to so much classic 80s punk that I would just call them "progressive punk". It's just to bad they broke up after 5 years and two albums.

(Don't blame me if you hate Rick Froberg's voice that's your problem ;) )



2. MGMT- Oracular Spectacular

Say what you want about MGMT but they can wright some catchy songs and weather you like them or not you can defiantly hear some classic influence from bands like New Order in the prominent bass, synthesizer and keyboards. Even though I do prefer their second album because of how experimental it is their first album has some of their catchiest and simplest songs on it; that might be because they used to be a singles band but that doesn't change how well written and produced their special brand of "psychedelic electro pop/rock" really is on this album.   I do have to give a lot of credit for this music video though ;).

(btw can someone tell me why people think Andrew VanWyngarden looks like a fat Frodo Baggans?)


3. Blind Pilot - We are the Tide

I'm not sure how I missed this album when it came out, September 2011, because it just might have made it to the top 25 list and because I loved their first album. I can't start to talk about this album without talking about the vocals; I would probably go gay for Israel Nebeker's voice (just his voice forget about him) and I don't need to defend my masculinity to say why. They are well known for catchy folk tunes, rising cords, abstract lyrics and unbelievable vocal melodies but even without their incredible writing talent his beautiful voice is enough to keep me listening. As much as I praise the vocals I do have to give humongous credit to their extremely talented drummer who's fills can "fill" a track by them selves if they wanted to. This album doesn't quite dethrone "3 Rounds and a Sound" but if that albums a 10 (which it is to me) than this album is a 9. 

4. The Black Keys - Brothers

If you know me, you know that I'm a huge fan of The Black Keys and classic blues rock from the early 2000s but you might also know that I hate talking about this album. I know it's hard to say I'm a big fan when my first exposure to the band was "Tighten Up" but my love for their first 4 albums are what make me think they are so classic in the first place. I used to think "Tighten Up" was the best song ever but than I heard "All Hands Against His Own", "Girl is On my Mind", "Midnight in Her Eyes", "Have Love Will Travel", "Just Got to Be", "Strange Desire".....; anyway I can't really get into this album but it's not because it's bad, it's because I was just not into the sound they were going for here. I do still like "Tighten Up" and "Next Girl" + a few solo's her and there but other wise this was just an average album I keep coming back to just to see if I'll like it. I would much rather listen to any of there other albums, including "El Camino", except "Attack & Release" ( which I think is on the same level).



El Camino Review>>
Rubber Factory Review >>
Attack and Release>>

5. New Order - Technique

Besides having one of the best ,artistic, album covers I have ever seen this is also my favorite "New Order" album. With almost no dispute this band is the King/Queen or "Ruling Transvestite" of post punk. Your free to laugh at that statement if you like but this album was that weird when it came out (I issue a formal apology to any transvestites who take insult to being called weird). I swear the production sounds like something ripped right from a Quentin Tarantino film; you can't tell me the intro to "Fine Time" doesn't sound like the beginning of a fight sequence from "Kill Bill". Peter Hook's bass gives their music gives the album so much rhythmic value while Bernard Sumner's riffs and vocals just spew out a depressingly sunny attitude that even singers like Robert Smith couldn't show off on their own. This will always we a perfect 80s album to me.

1/29/2012 - 2/4/2012>>

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