Well, August is finally being ushered out the door and I’d be lying if I said I was going to miss this past month. Both July and August this year were excruciatingly boring from a music/pop culture perspective, which has been reflected in my less-than-frantic posting rate here on the blog. However, with summer finally starting to give way to fall, it looks like things are about to pick up again. However, more on that later…
First of all…last month, I hinted that there would be a major upheveal in terms of re-grading past reviews. Sure enough, I’m changing more grades this month than I ever have before. Here we go…
-Bat For Lashes’ Two Suns gains an entire pretzel (!), jumping from 3 to 4. Two Suns has been the major “grower” album for me this year and the past months have made me appreciate it more and more.
-The Antlers’ Hospice gains half a pretzel, from 3.5 to 4. Another album that has gained from further listening, Hospice still has some flaws in my book, but deserves plenty of attention as one of the better traditional indie rock albums to have been released this year.
-Camera Obscura’s My Maudlin Career loses half a pretzel, falling from 4.5 to 4. This is the big one. This moves My Maudlin Career out of my 2009 Favorites. While I do like this album quite a lot, after sitting in my iTunes for months, I find myself listening to it very rarely compared to other albums with similar grades. It lacks songs that keep me coming back for more and has thus been demoted from “great” to “very good.” However, taking its place in my 2009 Favorties will be…
-The xx’s xx, which gains half a pretzel, moving from 4 to 4.5. I was on the edge between these two grades when I first reviewed this album and after a whole month of thought on the subject, I’ve decided I erred on the side of conservatism. This is a fantastic debut and deserves some praise. (Also, the album title is in lower case letters. Just in case, y’know, you cared…)
Anyway, enough talk about the past. Onto the future, I say! September is packed to the gills with interesting albums I want to review. So far, these are the artists to expect: Alice In Chains, Dizzee Rascal, Ghostface Killah, Islands, Jay-Z, Muse, Pearl Jam, Raekwon and Rain Machine (a TV On The Radio sideproject). That’s right, not one, but two Wu-Tang solo albums this upcoming month, along with a couple other exciting rap reviews. It’s about time 2009 got some quality album-oriented rap. I’m all kinds of excited.
First of all…last month, I hinted that there would be a major upheveal in terms of re-grading past reviews. Sure enough, I’m changing more grades this month than I ever have before. Here we go…
-Bat For Lashes’ Two Suns gains an entire pretzel (!), jumping from 3 to 4. Two Suns has been the major “grower” album for me this year and the past months have made me appreciate it more and more.
-The Antlers’ Hospice gains half a pretzel, from 3.5 to 4. Another album that has gained from further listening, Hospice still has some flaws in my book, but deserves plenty of attention as one of the better traditional indie rock albums to have been released this year.
-Camera Obscura’s My Maudlin Career loses half a pretzel, falling from 4.5 to 4. This is the big one. This moves My Maudlin Career out of my 2009 Favorites. While I do like this album quite a lot, after sitting in my iTunes for months, I find myself listening to it very rarely compared to other albums with similar grades. It lacks songs that keep me coming back for more and has thus been demoted from “great” to “very good.” However, taking its place in my 2009 Favorties will be…
-The xx’s xx, which gains half a pretzel, moving from 4 to 4.5. I was on the edge between these two grades when I first reviewed this album and after a whole month of thought on the subject, I’ve decided I erred on the side of conservatism. This is a fantastic debut and deserves some praise. (Also, the album title is in lower case letters. Just in case, y’know, you cared…)
Anyway, enough talk about the past. Onto the future, I say! September is packed to the gills with interesting albums I want to review. So far, these are the artists to expect: Alice In Chains, Dizzee Rascal, Ghostface Killah, Islands, Jay-Z, Muse, Pearl Jam, Raekwon and Rain Machine (a TV On The Radio sideproject). That’s right, not one, but two Wu-Tang solo albums this upcoming month, along with a couple other exciting rap reviews. It’s about time 2009 got some quality album-oriented rap. I’m all kinds of excited.
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