http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B0006AZE00.01._SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg
Girls Aloud - What Will the Neighbours Say?
"Since day one the pressure gauge on the Girls Aloud machine has been shivering in the red; at any given moment it could slip over into 'dangerous' and explode the whole group. But, 'The Show' erupts into the kind of epic orgasm you imagined was reserved for wildly breeding whales, possessing everything you could want in a Girls Aloud track. The signature Xenomania electro-pop sound, the last chorus that comes out of nowhere and drags you with it through a wormhole of euphoria, and a classic line - "shoulda hung around the kitchen in my underwear" (You won't read that gem in any self-help books). It's all there.Amazingly, the entire record sustains this momentum for an entire 51 minutes (including the bonus material, which for once, is really "YES!"). One particular standout, “Graffiti My Soul,� is twisted through the Girls Aloud machine to sound like a 'Red Coat' take on The Prodigy, complete with liberal use of a stutter effect and a reference to 'fisting' (Zig-ah-zig-OUCH!).Really, there was no better pop group 2004." -Hari Ashurst
Other ILXors Say:
"There isn't a bad moment on this." -Gravel Puzzleworth
"I'm growing to love the sequencing. It's like a carpet bombing with the four singles upfront, and then the group troups move in to shore everything up." -Dom Passantino
"Sound Of The Underground epitomised a certain type of small-town mindset: the teenage girl gang hanging around on street corners, bored out of their skulls with provincial life and provincial boys, longing to escape. And What Will The Neighbours Say? is the sound of those girls five years on, career girls in the big bad city and loving it, supremely confident and sassy but not yet world-weary." -The Lex
― The Good Dr. Bill (The Good Dr. Bill), Monday, 17 January 2005 23:11 (nineteen years ago) link
Fiery Furnaces on 2004 poll = Orbital on 1990's poll
― MindInRewind (Barry Bruner), Monday, 17 January 2005 23:12 (nineteen years ago) link
http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B0001Z3U10.01._SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg
Cut Copy - Bright Like Neon Love
I heard a story about the making of this album; that Dan Whitford, the Cut Copy main-man, wasn't happy with the results of his recording efforts - the demos he'd recorded by himself with keyboards and drum machines didn't cut it, and the efforts at re-recording the same songs with a live band weren't right either. So he took the tapes to Paris, where Philippe Zdar from Cassius had "a bit of a fiddle" with them.
Some job he did. The songs are, for the most part, great hooky pop. But the production job is something else. The sound constantly shifts between the band tracks and the electronic stuff, often on the same track. They combine in unexpected ways, like when the bass drops out of the driving rock of "The Twilight" and reappears as a really acid-y synth line. And it's all coated in those sweeping Gallic filters, which lend a disco sheen but also just make a lot of the textures more interesting than they would otherwise be. It's as good on the headphones as it is on the dancefloor.
Will indie dudes with guitars who want to take a step towards the dancefloor find a bit of inspiration in this record? It doesn't sound very much like Gang Of Four, so probably not. Oh well. -Haitch
"Who knew the guy who made 'Hunder Twasser' would turn around and kick my ass so completely every time?" -R.I.M.A.
"My fave local album this year. "Going Nowhere" is the best New Order pastiche/parody ever!" -Hayden Nicholls
"This is just a damn magnificent album, like an extended meditation on the Aerodynamic/Digital Love segue in Discovery." -MC Transmaniacon
― The Good Dr. Bill (The Good Dr. Bill), Monday, 17 January 2005 23:15 (nineteen years ago) link
This is just wrong.
― The Good Dr. Bill (The Good Dr. Bill), Monday, 17 January 2005 23:16 (nineteen years ago) link
― Alba (Alba), Monday, 17 January 2005 23:17 (nineteen years ago) link
http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00013RC9I.01._SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg
Air - Talkie Walkie
Like Moon Safari, except with four or five real songs. -The Good Dr. Bill
"i love the record. really fantastic. "surfing on a rock" is my favorite" -Yanc3y
""Sexy Boy" = yer gliding along the autobahn"Radio #1" = yer nodding your head as you do sothe new album = the car's broken down and while it's a pretty view and all there's nowhere to go!" -Ned Raggett
"I Think It's Their Best Album So Far.......I Started This Thread By The Way.Suprised to see it pop back" -Dude
― The Good Dr. Bill (The Good Dr. Bill), Monday, 17 January 2005 23:19 (nineteen years ago) link
― reo, Monday, 17 January 2005 23:19 (nineteen years ago) link
― Alba (Alba), Monday, 17 January 2005 23:21 (nineteen years ago) link
What I meant was, with Orbital we had a few people praising them to the heavens, and when they finished lower those people expected, we were WTF'ing up and down the thread. That's the ILM equivalent of "Blueberry Boat" at #18. Some people on ILM adore them, but lots of others don't see what the fuss is about, so voila, "only" #18.
― MindInRewind (Barry Bruner), Monday, 17 January 2005 23:23 (nineteen years ago) link
http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B0001K634G.01._SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg
Phoenix - Alphabetical
More French pop. This one’s got hooks, though. Like, major hooks. -The Good Dr. Bill
"i absolutely love the record. it wasn't what i'd call a grower. first listen i hated it, second listen, i loved it. not sure how that worked, there was nothing gradual about it." -pitwithspikes
"think it is a good record, almost too good - a lot of the songs seem like they were produced in some factory where pop melodies/arrangements are made to sound as if I've heard them a hundred times before." -dleone
"CLASSIC. I listen to it almost every day lately, and I never get sick of it." -Matthew Perpetua
― The Good Dr. Bill (The Good Dr. Bill), Monday, 17 January 2005 23:23 (nineteen years ago) link
― MindInRewind (Barry Bruner), Monday, 17 January 2005 23:24 (nineteen years ago) link
― jaymc (jaymc), Monday, 17 January 2005 23:26 (nineteen years ago) link
― Alba (Alba), Monday, 17 January 2005 23:27 (nineteen years ago) link
http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00018Y0QQ.01._SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg
Madvillain - Madillainy
There's little left to say about the chemistry between producer Madlib's dense lo-fi collage of jazz club beats, forgotten movie dialogue, soul hooks, and comic book KA-POW when coupled with the hilarious, fantastic, vaguely psychedelic ramblings and raspy, cyclic delivery of chief rhymesayer MF Doom. It's all in a constant state of juxtaposition: Doom's knack for clever, comedic twists and his equal aptitude for flooring realism; Madlib's arrangements of jumpy horns and melting organs are combined with speaker panning detritus and daring mixing in a way that makes his tracks sound simultaneously familiar and alien. It's blunted hip hop that rewards the careful listener, cartoonish enough that we can keep our distance and human enough in its curiosity to pull us in and keep us there. -DOPESMOKER
"this is the weakest thing i have ever heard." -tOph
"I think it works in a totally different way than say Vik Vaughn or Doomsday. This is sort of like late night doom--it IS more mellow, less hyper, but the rhymes work surprising well in that conext, and some of the tracks are just brilliant, especially ALLCAPS and Raid." -Scott
"He is ridiculously clever, has a very unique personality, and sounds like no one else in hip-hop. Plus I just think he sounds good." -DJDee2005
― The Good Dr. Bill (The Good Dr. Bill), Monday, 17 January 2005 23:28 (nineteen years ago) link
― Alba (Alba), Monday, 17 January 2005 23:29 (nineteen years ago) link
Your flippant comment notwithstanding, I am surprised, considering how much love it's been getting on ILM threads.
I don't know if the people on those threads voted here, though. Perhaps not.
― MindInRewind (Barry Bruner), Monday, 17 January 2005 23:32 (nineteen years ago) link
― jaymc (jaymc), Monday, 17 January 2005 23:32 (nineteen years ago) link
― Robin Geurts (Hyperdog), Monday, 17 January 2005 23:34 (nineteen years ago) link
― jaymc (jaymc), Monday, 17 January 2005 23:43 (nineteen years ago) link
10. Dungen9. Squarepusher8. Mastodon7. Tv on the Radio6. Stina Nordenstam5. Diplo4. Beta Band3. Isis2. Annie1. Junior Boys
― DJ Martian (djmartian), Monday, 17 January 2005 23:45 (nineteen years ago) link
― DJ Martian (djmartian), Monday, 17 January 2005 23:47 (nineteen years ago) link
1. Junior Boys, Last Exit2. Kanye West, The College Dropout3. Annie, Anniemal4. The Streets, A Grand Don't Come for Free5. M.I.A./Diplo, Piracy Funds Terrorism, Vol. 16. Dizzee Rascal, Showtime7. Brian Wilson, Smile8. Arcade Fire, Funeral9. Joanna Newsom, The Milk-Eyed Mender10. Ghostface, The Pretty Toney Album
― jaymc (jaymc), Monday, 17 January 2005 23:51 (nineteen years ago) link
― DJ Martian (djmartian), Monday, 17 January 2005 23:56 (nineteen years ago) link
― DJ Martian (djmartian), Monday, 17 January 2005 23:59 (nineteen years ago) link
For a multitude of reasons, that sentence is perhaps my favorite thing that I've ever read.
― The Good Dr. Bill (The Good Dr. Bill), Tuesday, 18 January 2005 00:00 (nineteen years ago) link
― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 18 January 2005 00:02 (nineteen years ago) link
― Robin Geurts (Hyperdog), Tuesday, 18 January 2005 00:02 (nineteen years ago) link
http://rateyourmusic.com/
― DJ Martian (djmartian), Tuesday, 18 January 2005 00:05 (nineteen years ago) link
― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 18 January 2005 00:05 (nineteen years ago) link
― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 18 January 2005 00:07 (nineteen years ago) link
I don't expect there to be the exact same references, however it is a useful comparative link for reference.
― DJ Martian (djmartian), Tuesday, 18 January 2005 00:10 (nineteen years ago) link
Will do, thanks.
― The Good Dr. Bill (The Good Dr. Bill), Tuesday, 18 January 2005 00:11 (nineteen years ago) link
― Michael F Gill (Michael F Gill), Tuesday, 18 January 2005 00:18 (nineteen years ago) link
― Alba (Alba), Tuesday, 18 January 2005 00:26 (nineteen years ago) link
― polyphonic (polyphonic), Tuesday, 18 January 2005 00:41 (nineteen years ago) link
Thanks.
― hi. a question., Tuesday, 18 January 2005 01:26 (nineteen years ago) link
― The Lex (The Lex), Tuesday, 18 January 2005 01:50 (nineteen years ago) link
― Shane (Shane), Tuesday, 18 January 2005 02:05 (nineteen years ago) link
On ILM? Are you joking?
― djdee2005 (djdee2005), Tuesday, 18 January 2005 02:33 (nineteen years ago) link
― zeus, Tuesday, 18 January 2005 07:48 (nineteen years ago) link
― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Tuesday, 18 January 2005 08:00 (nineteen years ago) link
― Robin Goad (rgoad), Tuesday, 18 January 2005 08:03 (nineteen years ago) link
― polyphonic (polyphonic), Tuesday, 18 January 2005 08:07 (nineteen years ago) link
― zeus, Tuesday, 18 January 2005 08:22 (nineteen years ago) link
Martian you are insane. If you seriously believe Squarepusher, Dungen and Isis will be in the Top 10 and not Dizzee, The Streets and Kanye then you clearly have not been reading ILM properly.
I'm going with A Grand Don't Come For Free at #1 though.
― Matt DC (Matt DC), Tuesday, 18 January 2005 09:38 (nineteen years ago) link
― Alba (Alba), Tuesday, 18 January 2005 12:05 (nineteen years ago) link
― Alba (Alba), Tuesday, 18 January 2005 12:06 (nineteen years ago) link
― Matt DC (Matt DC), Tuesday, 18 January 2005 12:16 (nineteen years ago) link