It's really built up lately, what with a 2 week blog absence and the push to review as many albums before the end of the year. But here we go:
Smith Westerns - Dye It Blonde (2011): Maybe it's the name, but I get a very country feel to this lo-fi rock 4.1/5
Social Jet Lag - The Monster Inside (2011): Generic modern post-hardcore, but with a female that can actually sing. She should do pop instead 2/5
Starfucker - Reptilians (2011): Hipster indie-dance. At times I think Flaming Lips, Of Montreal or Avalanches. The whole time I think "YES!" 5/5
Tennis - Cape Dory (2011): an album seemingly transported from the pop music of a hot 1960s summer 3.9/5
Whirl - Distressor (2010): The Jesus and Mary Chain, if they wrote good music after the 90s. 4/5
White Lies - Ritual (2011): Editors get drunk at New Order concert, hooks up with Interpol; 9 months later their baby sounds like this 3.8/5
Autre Ne Veut - ST (2010): It's a modern Prince album basically, with the same level of annoyance 2.3/5
Tim Blood & The Gutpanthers - Summer Of Our Discontent (2011): lofi pop punk, with a sound that makes me think of a non-folk Defiance Ohio 3.4/5
The Cab - Symphony Soldier (2011): If I was a teenage girl that likes soft contemporary rock, this would make me swoon. Too bad I'm male. 2/5
Nekromantix - What Happens In Hell, Stays In Hell (2011): Songs about ghosts and devils... Never would have guessed that in psychobilly 2.5/5
Kimbra - Vows (2011): A beautiful funky and jazzy album of soul from a talented kiwi female singer 4.2/5
Bomb the Music Industry! - Vacation (2011): The album starts nothing like a BTMI! album, but luckily the quirky ska comes back at the end 3.3/5
311 - Universal Pulse (2011): A 311 album in 2011 just sounds dated and so forced. Nothing even remotely funky about their current sound 2/5
Regurgitator - Superhappyfuntimesfriends (2011): As disjointed and random as any 'gurge album, but doesn't have a noticeable hit song on it 3.4/5
Staind - ST (2011): Less nu-metal than they used to be, but the song Wannabe makes me laugh so hard I can't take this album seriously 1.6/5
Frenzal Rhomb - Smoko At The Pet Food Factory (2011): Tyical Frenzal: fast songs with very non-PC yet hilarious subject matter 3.8/5
Puddle of Mudd - Re(Disc)overed (2011): This cover album takes everything I love about the original songs and destroys them forever 0.3/5
The Drums - Portamento (2011) & Dum Dum Girls - Only In Dreams (2011): surf rock albums almost identical, minus the female singer of Dum Dum Girls 3.3/5
(I had those 2 albums queued up back to back and I didn't notice when the album changed. They are so similar, except Dum Dum Girls is louder)
La Dispute - Wildlife (2011): an emotional trip with some of the best lyrics I have heard recently, each song is a story 4.7/5
(it took me ages to listen to the album, as seemingly each song is about dealing with death. Hits close to home. But unlike their last album, I don't think I heard the word "darling" once. In Wildlife the repeated word seems to be "cancer")
Mates of State - Mountaintops (2011): I listened to this 10 times without forming an opinion; which means it is still perfect lofi pop 3.8/5
Bury Your Dead - Mosh N' Roll (2011): In my world, this album is how I imagine all good straight edge hardcore to sound. 3.8/5
Destroy Rebuild Until God Shows - ST (2011): At times he gets close, but Craig Owens' new band just can't sound as good as Chiodos 2.3/5
Thrice - Major/Minor (2011): The post-hardcore sound is almost fully gone, but it has been replaced with some amazing rock song writing 4.6/5
Trivium - In Waves (2011): Enough heavier thrash for old fans & melodic metal for newer fans. Summary of their career really... 3.2/5
The Rapture - In The Grace Of Your Love (2011): They've lost the dance-punk edge and this album just sounds like modern elevator music 2/5
Red Hot Chili Peppers - I'm With You (2011): A watered-down version of their past (needs Frusciante!) that would be suited for AM radio 2.4/5
I Break Horses - Hearts (2011): This Swedish male/female synth-pop duo stands out from the pack because of their My Bloody Valentine influence 4/5
Girls - Father, Son, Holy Ghost (2011): They've lost a bit of the dreamy hipster sound and now almost sound alt-country. My Weakness! 4.3/5
Primus - Green Naugahyde (2011): The first new album from Primus in 12 years sounds as if it is from the Brown Album years. Funky and quirky 4.3/5
Ladytron - Gravity the Seducer (2011): Very quiet ambient synth music, like every Ladytron album. Just no stand out songs on this one 3.4/5
Eskimo Joe - Ghosts of the Past (2011): A very brooding mainstream-rock album, I can imagine the radio loving it. It just sounds cliche to me 3/5
Owen - Ghost Town (2011): Absolutely beautiful folk/indie/acoustic album, with just subtle touches of his noodly emo past showing 4.5/5
Skyway - Finders Keepers (2011): Imagine New Found Glory circa 2000, but Australian. That is this album. 3.6/5
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