These Are The Days by Saybia
The sound of this album is a bit too swollen for my taste but in many cases this hides some good songs. If it weren't for the last track this would be an average album which just would make it to my year chart. But then there is this last track 'Untitled' which clocks in at more than 17 minutes. And it's absolutely gorgeous and starts with an organ and in about 40 seconds moves into a fairly simple guitar motif which builds and builds into a very lyrical guitar piece and then goes on into a wonderfully sung orchestral part around 7:30. Around minute ten it goes back to its guitar motif but slowed down and then into the organ piece even more slowed down that goes on and on for the next several minutes and which could be very boring but is just the icing on the cake of this majestic piece of music. So moves from the 61st to the 30th rank.
An album on my wishlist:
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The Power Out by Electrelane
It's very difficult to label this album (and this band): is it experimental or straight rock; is it electro or rock, is it Sonic Youth or Stereolab, is it tongue-in-cheek or dead-serious, etc etc. Well the end conclusion is that I like this album a lot in all its forms. And the perfect song to illustrate all that is Take The Bit By The Teeth. The album immediately enters at the 29th rank.
The Magic Numbers by The Magic Numbers
The three tracks which got a lot of airplay on Belgian radio are also their best. The rest is only so-so to ok. And the album goes from the 73rd to 58th rank.
An album on my wishlist:
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Den Of Thieves by The Trews
The Allmusic review throws in a lot of references (from Cheap Trick to ELO) but to me there's only one which is clear throughout the whole album: The Black Crowes. Two tracks are ok: Fire Up Ahead and The Pearl (More Than Everything). The rest is a bit too polished American rock to me (although they're Canadian), so a near miss for my top chart.
The Power Out by Electrelane
It's very difficult to label this album (and this band): is it experimental or straight rock; is it electro or rock, is it Sonic Youth or Stereolab, is it tongue-in-cheek or dead-serious, etc etc. Well the end conclusion is that I like this album a lot in all its forms. And the perfect song to illustrate all that is Take The Bit By The Teeth. The album immediately enters at the 29th rank.
Nux Vomica by The Veils
The voice of the singer has some of the manic character of Nick Cave or David Eugene Edwards but that doesn't mean it's as good as those two. In many cases it results in fairly swollen and fairly mediocre tracks. But in the end fairly ok and the album climbs from the 56th to the 36th rank.
An album on my wishlist:
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Howlin Rain by Howlin' Rain
Their 2018 album The Alligator Bridge is one of my favorite albums of that year and this is only their second album I'm discovering and their first. Te structure of the songs here are fairly basic rock or country but then comes the feedback which sometimes helps but in many cases doesn't help the songs and sometimes results in very long tracks and again: good on The Hanging Heart, not so good on The Firing of the Midnight Rain. So a bit of a mixed bag and good for the 44th rank.
The Good, The Bad & The Queen by The Good, The Bad & The Queen
Another one of the side-projects of Damon Albarn of Blur and it certainly isn't a bad album but I would have let it remain at the lower ranks of my year chart if there wasn't that last track, the title track which is one of those slow burning piano songs building up to a grand guitar finale: the album moves from the 66th to the 33rd rank.
An album on my wishlist:
Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters by The Twilight Sad
This is a fairly peculiar album. It's both rootsy (the accordeon, the somewhat tribal drumming) and bombastic and over the top with lots of postrockian outbursts. This works most on the time especially on the epics like the first two tracks. I liked it and it immediately goes to the 24th rank.
This Gift by Sons And Daughters
Again a much better album than the current rank on my year chart shows and this is proven by the fact that it immediately goes from the 71st to the 17th rank. This is very catchy rock with well written songs and a good female singer which is I suppose best proven by the great opener Gilt Complex. I liked it more than I remember I did when I first bought this.
One on my wishlist:
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Meanderthal by Torche
Finally some more metal (although I didn't even know it was metal when I chose it from my wishlist). The first 6 songs just race past also because they're short (and sharp) and before you know it half of the album is over. And what a great trip it is. Then comes the second half which is not as good also because the songs become a bit grungy in the style of Soundgarden, a band I don't really like. But that doesn't prevent that this was a great discovery and the album goes to the 30th rank.
Hospice by The Antlers
One of those albums I had underrated I suppose just because it's so sad. Although in some of the tracks like Two they sound a bit like Arcade Fire so a bit more upbeat. But overall it's a good album to just take the lyrics sheet (not literally: I read them on Apple Music) and read along while the songs are passing by and feel as miserable as it sounds. But sometimes people are in that mood and I was when I relistened to this album and must say I liked it. And so it goes from rank 80 to rank 50 on my year chart.
An album on my wishlist:
Travels With Myself And Another by Future Of The Left
This is an absolutely forgettable punk album. The songs and how they are delivered are just too pamphletic to be actually good. Only the last and longest track Lapsed Catholics is ok.
Intermission:
If you. want to enjoy yourself listening to an album of a band enjoying theirselves playing covers of songs that have influenced and inspired them you simple have to listen to this album:
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Inspirations by Saxon
From Hold The Line to Bomber and all big fun and well played and interpreted.
Hurley by Weezer
This is one of those albums I bought (on Itunes), I listened to once, and gave it a low score but nevertheless dropped it in my year chart, and never listened to it again.
So it made sense to give it a second chance. But I think I can now say that I can give an even more definitive opinion about it: this is not a good Weeze album and I decided to remove it from my year chart.
One on my wishlist:
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Mines by Menomena
It's an interesting album and most tracks are OK but none really stands out. I had expected more of this album after reading some reviews and I won't include it in my year chart.
SYR9: Simon Werner A Disparu by Sonic Youth
This is a soundtrack of a movie I saw and the music fitted the film perfectly and wasn't intruding. SY's trademark is everywhere but overall as a separate piece of art, the music sounds a bit too fragmented and the album too long to make this an overall enjoyable trip and I chose to withdraw this album from my year chart of 2011.
An album on my wishlist:
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Tot Ziens, Justine Keller by Spinvis
Not really an unknown artist to me but I still hadn't listened to this one so I thought it was about time. And again a wonderful one but this artist who really has his own DIY style which doesn't exclude some fairly lush orchestration as the best track We vieren Het Toch and the title track prove. Even if you don't speak dutch give it a spin. And the album is good for the 27th rank of the year.
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