You could have it so much better.....with the ILM albums of 2005

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c23/unterwasser/sunsettree.jpg

Comment:

For me, the most immediate and addictive of all the Mountain Goats albums. Forget the issue of timbre; Darnielle's vocal delivery on lines like "But in the long tresses of your hair, I am a babbling brook" and "Take your foot off of the brake, for Christ's sake" makes you want to grab the one you've always wanted and kiss her/him with your mouth open. And with its lyrics, The Sunset Tree is an album with which you feel like you can really spend some quality time allowing it to tell you its story.

David Maher

other ilxors said

It took a little while to grow on me, I think because it was so heavy, but it's become one of my favorites this year. This Year-Dilaudid-Dance Music sequence is just amazing. The other highlights for me are Up the Wolves and Pale Green Things.

I love the imagery of Up The Wolves, and it took my a couple of listens to hear the line about "ever since we founded Rome" and realize that "The wolf" wasn't the step-dad. Though I'm still not sure who it is. I guess it's just hope for some surrogate or better mother.
Scott CE May 11th, 2005 9:16 PM.

The whole thing has this bittersweet redemptive quality to it. It's really powerful and touching. I think he's finally got the instrumentation right too; I loved parts of the last two albums but it still seemed like it was feeling around in the dark somewhat (with production and new instruments). There's this great subtlety on 'The Sunset Tree' and everything seems to be in the right place.
Hari A$hur$t May 31st, 2005 10:18 PM.

M83 - Before the dawn heals us:

i used to hear music in my dreams; music so beautiful, so powerful, so
perfect that i would wake up in tears.

this is that music.

album of the year. album of the decade. album of a lifetime.

12 to go, the next 2 should be interesting - then the top 10 predictions can start

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c23/unterwasser/kanyewest.jpg

Comment:

Although this is unmistakably Kanye's album, Jon Brion pushes this one over the top and into 'classic' territory. Although there were other well made and successful hip-hop albums of 2005, Late Registration is the most musically complex, while still being catchy enough to appeal to a wide audience.
Jonathan W

other ilxors said:

i am getting little disturbed reading different opinions about this album :) i liked it very much first, but soon my interest wore off. if you compare it with Blueprint (soulful samples, rap about personal matters), Kanye just isn't Jay Z, he doesnt have neither his lyrics nor his skills on mike. its a shame there is no great rapper these days able to presuade Kanye to work with him on entire album. maybe jay-z comeback album...
karl76 August 21st, 2005 11:16 PM.

as always, the best Kanye tracks are *made* by the guest talent - Drive Slow is worth it for Paul Wall (kanye's forgettable), Gold Digger has the Jamie Foxx vocals,

I don't know enough about 'flow' or whatever to make a 'he can't rap well' argument but I know he always sounds mush-mouthed and forced (except for Gold Digger, really), his personality is grating as well as boring (oooh, he's conflicted. Get in line with about four million other MCs, thanks.) and it ruins a lot of well-produced tracks.

What I notice most about the album is how much I love his drum sound - his drums are so big and warm but just the right amount of tight, with the bass drops every so often to rattle your trunk.
milozauckerman August 24th, 2005 2:22 AM.

uhhhh why do people think this? Kanye's verse is so much more memorable than Paul Walls, whose isn't bad but is generic by Paul Wall standards.

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c23/unterwasser/girlsaloud.jpg

Comment:

other ilxors said:

GIRLS ALOUD ROCK I SURE HOPE DIS ALBUM WONT LET DEM DOWN. LONG HOT SUMMER IS CRAP THOUGH. WHY IS EVERYONE MAKING A FUSS ABOUT 'SEE THE DAY'? IS IT MEANT TO BE THERE BEST EVER SONG OR SOMETHING?

LORNA

XX
LORNA November 18th, 2005 9:31 PM.

It SOUNDS fantastic, and is indeed fun and silly and exciting. But...I don't know. When Long Hot Summer" came out it was a blast of adrenaline, and then after a while people seem to feel that there wasn't much "there" there (I actually still really like that track); I fear the album might end up the same way.

But we'll see.

(And "Whole Lotta History" = tear-inducing. The best "song" song, if you will.)
brittle-lemon November 27th, 2005 1:23 AM.

like this album a lot better today! it's no wwtns (i second what edward said about the magnificence of 'big brother' and would claim the same for 'thank me daddy' too) but it's still brilliant. at first i thought people claiming about the fade-outs were being overly picky but they're right, though i have no problem with fade-outs per se these ones feel rather random.

in order of greatness:

1. SWINGING LONDON TOWN (discoraveboshing 4eva, this is the 'graffiti my soul' of chemistry)
2. watch me go (have we mentioned yet that this appears to have been co-written by jc chasez? and that it is like an even saucier version of the ska one on his album whose title slips my mind? the "quarter past one!" section makes me giggle with glee, as do the TWO raps)
3. wild horses (the transition from school assembly choir into banging chorus-chorus-chorus is the most wtf moment on the album outside of 'swinging london town')
4. no regrets (really very un-girls aloud; it's not really a pop ballad at all. it reminds me a little of some of the better songs off the great expectations soundtrack from a while ago - 'life in mono', 'besame mucho', 'siren' - for some reason. brilliant lyrics)
5. waiting (the most fun to dance to! contains lyric "all men are dogs so baby throw me to the wolves"! this is totally totally not meh)
6. models (great concept, great execution apart from the vocals possibly being mixed too low. should have been called 'girls girls girls')
7. it's magic (there is no song, really, anywhere in this, but it sounds ace - ie and omg it is KET-HOUSE GONE POP, this reminds me of those reverso 68 mixes of the juan maclean and manhead but in a girls aloud context)
8. see the day (RIDICULOUSLY over-the-top!)
9. racy lacey (not as annoying as i was expecting. very funny)
10. whole lotta history (this i fully expect to grow on me a lot more, i haven't really paid attention to it yet)

all the above i categorise as Very Classic.

11. biology (it's grown on me quite a bit but i still can't stand that out-of-sync percussion which doesn't let up at any point apart from the bluesy section)
12. long hot summer (even at the time it was only ok, and diminishing returns are happening)
The Lex December 6th, 2005 12:38 PM.

predictions, no order:
spoon
bloc party
andrew bird
MIA
animal collective
sufjan
LCD soundsystem
ladytron

i hope, but i'm not so confident:
gwen
clipse
shortwave set

I know he always sounds mush-mouthed and forced (except for Gold Digger, really), his personality is grating as well as boring (oooh, he's conflicted. Get in line with about four million other MCs, thanks.) and it ruins a lot of well-produced tracks.

OTM

is that David Maher or Christgau?

-- titty sanskrit (quaf...), Today. (later)

Is this a compliment? If so, I guess I'll take it. If not, touche. But am I wrong?

THE WOLF ISN'T THE STEP-DAD?!! WTF. Somebody educate me.

only saw them open for Spoon

so did I. it was SO PAINFUL. one of those situations where you just pray they finish. and then Spoon put on the lamest show I've seen them do

1. M.I.A.
2. LCD Soundsystem
3. Animal Collective
4. Bloc Party
5. Sufjan Stevens
6. Spoon
7. Vitalic
8. Jamie Lidell
9. Isolee
10. Kate Bush

But he did! And it's way better than Late Registration too!

Not to rag on Milo I just think he's crazy!

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c23/unterwasser/patrickwolf.jpg http://eur.news1.yimg.com/eur.yimg.com/xp/pressass/2638560831.jpg

most of jaymc's predictions are solid and dependable, i think.

Brooke Valentine album also slept on eh?

The Lex - in the rundown of the top 10 don't forget to post about how crap the chart is, and it must have been rigged by guitar-worshippin' american college dorks who should be listening to some new jack electropop. Don't forget now.

brooke album bizarrely slept on by the lady herself, did she bother even promoting 'girlfight' in any meaningful way?

my ILM top 10 predictions:

Sufjan Stevens - Illinois
M.I.A. - Arular
Animal Collective - Feels
LCD Soundsystem - LCD Soundsystem
Kate Bush - Aerial
Vitalic - Ok Cowboy
Bloc Party - Silent Alarm
Isolée - Wearemonster
Broadcast - Tender Buttons
Boards of Canada - The Campfire Headphase

maybes or maybe NOT: will these be OUTSIDE the top 50 or will any sneak into the top 10?

The Arcade Fire [have enough Brits voted for it?]
Broken Social Scene - Broken Social Scene
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
Common - Be
Dälek - Absence
Lightning Bolt - Hypermagic Mountain
The Mars Volta - Frances The Mute
New Order - Waiting for the Sirens' Call
Nine Horses - Snow Borne Sorrow
Spoon - Gimme Fiction

in the UK they are NOT well known

Bring on Isolee at number 1 anyway.

especially the ones in hackney

[LET'S GO DIRTY PROJECTORS #1!)