My discoveries per year

[dihansse]

Two 2005 albums I listened to:

An album I already own:

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The Alternative To Love by Brendan Benson
A much much better than I had first ranked it. The album is in vein of the best singer songwriters but rocks a bit more and the quality of the songs is excellent. Spit It Out and Them and Me are the highlights and the album rises from the 53rd to a whopping 11th rank in my year chart.

An album on my wishlist:

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Okemah And The Melody Of Riot by Son Volt
I'm not a big fan of Jay Farrar and Son Volt as Roma (this album is featured on nr 276 in his diary but this album is very enjoyable. I must say I didn't really liked the first half, maybe a bit too country-ish, but the second half made up for that because it's much more rocking and adventurous. So all in all a fine album which ends at the 36th rank of the year.

[dihansse]

Two album of 2006 I listened to:

An album I already know/own:

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Puzzles Like You by Mojave 3
This is the only album of this band and I had bought when it was released and I learn that this is their most rocking. I must admit I had forgotten how good this album was and this has certainly inspired me to also put the rest of their albums on my wishlist. Breaking The Ice, Big Star Baby (and that's what it is) and You Said It Before are the highlights but I can safely say the whole album is really good so it rises from the 36th to the 10th rank of the year.

An album on my wishlist and another one from the diary of Romanelli (nr 337):

A Blessing And A Curse by Drive-By Truckers
This album comes after their three classics and therefore gets a bit snowed under but I really liked listening to it. The guitarwork is excellent and inspired and the songs are just fine which is not difficult if you have three fine guitarplayers/songwriters in one band (where for Jason Isbell it would be his last album with the DBT). Even a country song like A World Of Hurt gets an exciting treatment; so it enters at the 23rd rank.

[dihansse]

These are the two albums of 2007 I listened to:

An album I already own:

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Elegies To Lessons Learnt by I Like Trains
This album is very dark. It is very guitar based but definitely not heavy. It describes the darkest ages in English history and it's very efficient in doing so and certainly a start for exploring their other albums as well. This album is a bit of an underrated classic and it moves from the 42nd to the 19th rank.

An album on my wishlist:

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A Place To Bury Strangers by A Place To Bury Strangers
I'm familiar with a few of their more recent albums but I didn't know that their first was so close to the hoover sound of the first album of The Jesus and Mary Chain. And I liked it and it immediately enters at the 5th rank of the year.

[dihansse]

And two album of 2008 I listened to:

An album I already know/own:

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The Airing Of Grievances by Titus Andronicus
The first album of these arty punkers with just two words: unbridled energy. So the album deserves to rise from the 23rd to the 6th rank of the year.


An album on my wishlist:

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Primary Colours by Eddy Current Suppression Ring
Just a good punky album. I'm not really a fan of the voice of the singer but the songs on this album are sufficiently diverse to keep interesting. This is not the best year in music so this album rises to the 7th rank of the year.

[dihansse]

And here is the last year of the decade with two albums of 2009 I listened to:

An album I already know/own:

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Album by Girls
In the beginning I ranked Girls under the many great and inventive guitar band newcomers of the years 2000 and 2010 (Yuck, Titus Andronicus, No Age, Fucked Up) but in hindsight especially this album Album is as derivative as the name of the album and the name of the band. It just breathes the sixties especially Beach Boys. Not that this is necessarily bad because it sometimes result in good songs but not all of them are that good. But nevertheless this album rises from the 67 to the 42nd rank.

An album on my wishlist:

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Already Free by The Derek Trucks Band
The reference to the Allmans and especially Duane Allman are all over the place. In the first part of the album the reference are not yet very clear but in the second half, the guitar work is just heavenly. The album immediately enters at the 29th rank. Btw thanks Romanelli for bringing this album under my attention (= nr 1141 in Roma's diary).

[dihansse]

Two albums of 2010:

An album I already own/know:

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The Place We Ran From by Tired Pony
A band (or you can call it a supergroup) where Gary Lightbody does most of the singing and he even sounds better than he does in Snow Patrol. The other driving force here is Peter Buck And Good Book sung by Tom Smith of The Editors is also great. So all in all a very good album which goes from the 68th to the 22nd rank of the year.


An album on my wishlist:

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Blood Of The Nations by Accept
Accept has never been known for their intelligent lyrics. Balls To The Walls etc... and this is also the case here but here they are trying to do some nasty politics and it's clear they're dead serious about that. But on most tracks that doesn't bother me too much especially as a lot of them have thundering drums and screaming guitars and epic songs that bring the best of hard rock/metal. The only thing you could say that a lot of it sounds a lot like Saxon (of course not the way of singing but the general way that the songs are built). The best example is Rolling Thunder of which not only the title resembles Heavy Metal Thunder, but this song is oh so good that they're forgiven. The other great track Kill The Pain, a power ballad, where the guitars are just fantastic. So a very good album except for that one song that is absolutely horrible because of its really foul lyrics with very low level nationalistic bullshit and not being saved by a good song: unfortunately it's also the title track. But except for that one big miss this is a great album and much better than their eighties stuff of which I wasn't a great fan. So immediately enters at the 18th rank.

[dihansse]

These are the albums of 2011 I listened to:

An album I already know/own:

Napa Asylum by Sic Alps
Although I have this album already for some time (at least bought on Itunes) and even liked it, I think now that this album is a bit too unfocused and lacks overall quality (both soundwise and songwise). This is not to say that some tracks have enough punky punch to be actually good Eat Happy so finally ok to even rise from the 63rd to the 56th rank.

An album on my wishlist and another one from Roma's list on nr 1025:

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Mockingbird Time by The Jayhawks
The Jayhawks have always been an inbetween band: sometimes too poppy and mainstrain and sometimes adventurous and utterly beautiful, especially on those albums where Gary Louris and and Mark Olson do their unprecendented harmonics. This is a comeback album after they have split ways for a long time (at least under the Jayhawks moniker). So this album is an inbetween mostly: Roma thinks they sound a bit old and maybe that's also a bit the case. But that doesn't prevent that there are some beautiful tracks here like Stand Out In The Rain and even the relatively schmalzy Guilder Annie. But there are also plenty of lesser tracks. Nevertheless good for the 46th rank and certainly not their worst album.

[dihansse]

These are the two albums of 2012 I listened to:

An album I already own/know:

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¡Uno! by Green Day
I always had a soft spot for this band, both for their more punky things (although their punk has never sounded dangerous) and their more political stuff. This is a return to their more punky stuff. Why they chose to release three very similar album in a very short period is still the question and you should never listen to the three in a row but digesting one album is not a punishment. This one is fun to listen to it, nothing more and nothing less. And so moves from the 32nd to the 20th rank of the year/

An album on my wishlist:

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Twins by Ty Segall
This album sounds very fuzzy and to be honest, this is what Ty Segall does very well. Immediately good for the 10th rank of the year.

[dihansse]

Two albums of 2013 I listened to:

An album I already own:

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Major Arcana by Speedy Ortiz
Not your umpteenth female rock band. Especially on this album they really shone and especially with No Below as finest song. It climbs from the 26th to the 8th rank.

An album on my wishlist:

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Glow & Behold by Yuck
Their self-titled first album was my third favorite album of the 2010's so I looked forward very much to their second until I heard that their singer had left and they completely changed course. And this second album was also completely destroyed by most critics. So completely my fault that I didn't bother to listen to this album completely myself. That's why it was time that I found out for myself and give this album a second chance. And what do you think: I really liked it. Of course it's completely not comparable to the fantastic first but in their new form which is much more mellower (a bit in the style of Teenage Fanclub) the song writing as excellent as well especially on tracks like How Does It Feel and the title track. And it immediately goes to the 26th rank of the year.

[dihansse]

Two albums of 2014 I listened to:

An album I already know/own:

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Sunbathing Animal by Parquet Courts
In hindsight I would call this album a classic, not because this album showed something new because there are many references to older bands like Velvet Underground, Wire and Pavement/The Fall. just because it set the standard for many bands/albums to follow. But they do their own thing with it and this was again a leap forward compared to Light Up Gold which was already very good. Maybe a bit underestimated earlier on because it jumps from the 45th to the 4th rank of the year.

An album on my wishlist:

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Hot Dreams by Timber Timbre
A sinister version of Richard Hawley mixed with a bit of Once Upon A Time In The West music I would call it. I'm not yet convinced completely but I think more listening sessions might be rewarding so definitely should be in my top chart though not very high yet at the 53rd rank.