| 4.0 excellent |
| A Perfect Circle Thirteenth Step |
| Arctic Monkeys Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not |
| Audioslave Audioslave |
| Ben Folds Rockin' The Suburbs |
| Black Rebel Motorcycle Club Take Them On, On Your Own |
| blink-182 Take Off Your Pants And Jacket |
| Blur Parklife |
| Brand New Fight Off Your Demons (The Demos) |
| Calla Strength In Numbers |
| Camera Obscura Let's Get Out of This Country |
| Cat Power What Would the Community Think |
| Cat Power Moon Pix |
| Cursive The Ugly Organ |
| Damien Rice B-Sides |
| Damien Rice O |
| Damien Rice Live From The Union Chapel |
| Doves (UK) The Last Broadcast |
| Emery The Question |
| Feist Let It Die |
| Foo Fighters Foo Fighters |
| Foo Fighters In Your Honor |
| Foo Fighters Skin and Bones |
| Fountains of Wayne Welcome Interstate Managers |
| Franz Ferdinand You Could Have It So Much Better |
| Franz Ferdinand Franz Ferdinand |
| Incubus (USA-CA) Morning View |
| Incubus (USA-CA) Light Grenades |
| Incubus (USA-CA) Alive at Red Rocks |
| Interpol Turn on the Bright Lights |
| Jimmy Eat World Clarity |
| Jimmy Eat World Bleed American |
| Kaiser Chiefs Yours Truly, Angry Mob |
I can't get the words Ruby, Ruby, Ruby and Rubay out of my head. Though somehow, I'm not altogether convinced that I want to.
The Chiefs are back in their sophomore attempt. Of course the weight of expectation wouldn't be too high? I mean, it's not like Employment had like eight singles or anything. And it's not like I went through the last five months humming "Na Na Na Na Naa". Okay, I did. So basically, KC has a lot to live up to.
YT,AM is not as catchy as Employment. Maybe it's the Kaiser fatigue, maybe it's too much Maximo Park. Maybe the songs just aren't that catchy. Which is not to say that have too. "We are the angry mob, we read the papers everyday" is every bit as stadium as "I predict a riot"; but somewhere along the line Ricky Wilson forgot to reinvent his band. It's something that's going to catch a lot of bands out this year if they're not careful (Arctic Monkeys, Wolfmother, er... Maximo Park).
Where Ricky and co. have shown some skill is in reliving the instrumental chorus excitement of Employment. Songs like Heat Dies Down and High Royds are flowing with sticky hooks and sing-along choruses. And somewhere in the middle they throw in a gem in the form of Love's Not A Competition (But I'm Winning); Wilson's softer side isn't exactly "soft", but it's good enough to save the album from being boring.
Sure YT,AM's going to sell tonnes of records for the Chiefs, but if they want to fill up the arenas, they better start thinking bigger on their next outing. |
| Kaiser Chiefs Employment |
| Kasabian Kasabian |
| Kelly Jones Only The Names Have Been Changed |
| Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin IV |
| Maximo Park A Certain Trigger |
| Mirah You Think It's Like This But Really It's |
| Nirvana From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah |
| Oasis Be Here Now |
| Oasis Familiar To Millions |
| Peter Bjorn and John Writer's Block |
| Queens of the Stone Age Songs for the Deaf |
| Queens of the Stone Age Rated R |
| Queens of the Stone Age Lullabies to Paralyze |
| Radiohead OK Computer |
| Radiohead Kid A |
| Rage Against the Machine Rage Against the Machine |
| Regina Spektor Soviet Kitsch |
| Silverchair Frogstomp |
| Snow Patrol Final Straw |
| Something For Kate Desert Lights |
| Something For Kate The Official Fiction |
| Something For Kate Beautiful Sharks |
| Stereophonics Just Enough Education to Perform |
| Stereophonics Language.Sex.Violence.Other? |
| Stereophonics Performance and Cocktails |
| Stereophonics You Gotta Go There To Come Back |
| The Beatles Help! |
| The Beatles 1967 – 1970 |
| The Beatles Magical Mystery Tour |
| The Beatles A Hard Day's Night |
| The Beatles 1 |
| The Decemberists The Crane Wife |
| The Decemberists Castaways and Cutouts |
| The Doors Strange Days |
| The Doors Morrison Hotel |
| The Doors L.A. Woman |
| The Format Interventions and Lullabies |
| The Kooks Inside In/Inside Out |
| The Shins Oh, Inverted World |
| The Shins Wincing the Night Away |
| The Wallflowers Bringing Down the Horse |
| The Who My Generation |
| The Who The Who Sell Out |
| The Who Who's Next |
| The Who The Who by Numbers |
| Thrice Vheissu |
| Travis 12 Memories |
| Travis The Invisible Band |
| Yeah Yeah Yeahs Fever To Tell |
| 3.0 good |
| Arcade Fire Funeral |
| Arctic Monkeys Who The Fuck Are Arctic Monkeys? |
| blink-182 Blink-182 |
| Blur 13 |
| Brand New Your Favorite Weapon |
| Cat Power Myra Lee |
| Cat Power The Covers Record |
| Fall Out Boy Infinity on High |
| Incubus (USA-CA) Make Yourself |
| Incubus (USA-CA) S.C.I.E.N.C.E. |
| Klaxons Myths of the Near Future |
I'll be honest. I like NME. And they like everything. I haven't read a single review that was under 7 of 10. And ever since they gave Klaxons 9, I'd been waiting to get my hands on this baby. Oh man is their website trippy.
Heralded as the new wave of new rave, the weight of expectation on MOTNF was high. And fortunately, I'm a sucker for opening tracks. So Two Receivers had me at hello, though admittedly I thought it was the opening to Sick Sad Little World (Incubus). And though it's not really a 9 of 10 track, it's got enough spunk in it to ensure a good start to the album.
From then on, it's a roller coaster ride through, well, most places in South England (okay so they're from London), some places in Morocco and wherever else there's a party with alcohol punch and fruit. Golden Skans, with it's floaty ooo's and aaa's is psychedelic pop at its best with its druids and whatnots. Somewhere in between Franz Ferdinand and The Strokes we find ourselves drunk in the video game end credits of Gravity's Rainbow and suddenly the Bee Gees type vocal harmonies aren't that cheesy anymore. Phew. It's not just the harmonies that bring back fond memories of disco and shiny balls, but just the way the songs flow from one bouncy robot beat to another.
Where Klaxons lose out to, say The Rapture, is in energy. Which is not to say that the songs aren't terribly exciting. "Light the bridges with the lantern, you know something's going to happen" (Forgotten Worlds) Klaxons may be caught for trying too hard. Maybe. |
| Love Of Diagrams Mosaic |
| Nirvana In Utero |
| Oasis Don't Believe the Truth |
| Oasis Heathen Chemistry |
| Our Lady Peace Gravity |
| Radiohead Amnesiac |
| Rage Against the Machine Renegades |
| Rediscover Call Me When You Get This |
| Snow Patrol When It's All Over We Still Have to Clear Up |
| Taking Back Sunday Where You Want To Be |
| The Beatles Beatles for Sale |
| The View Hats Off To The Buskers |
| The Who A Quick One |
| Thursday War All the Time |
| Travis The Man Who |
| Travis Good Feeling |
