The Dudes - Album Review

Click here for my review of The Dudes' Blood Guts Bruises Cuts.

It may be corrected but at one point it's written that one of the songs is called "Lady Cops" - this is wrong and the song is actually called "Girl Police". It got by me and the editor but to be fair he does say "Lady cops" pretty often in the verses so get off my back.

Black Heart Procession Review + More

Another album review: Black Heart Procession - Six

I also just submitted my own personal Top 20 Albums of the 2000s list, which will be taken into consideration for Soundproof's big Top 50 in December. This was a painful (and, I found, after I had whittled it down to 37, a little arbitrary as well) procedure that hurt my brain and now I need to go for a late walk.

There's been a hell of a lot of good music in the past ten years.

Anyway, here's the list:

In no particular order.....

Joanna Newsom – Ys

Emperor – Prometheus: The Discipline of Fire and Demise

Daft Punk - Discovery

LCD Soundsystem - LCD Soundsystem

Vitalic - OK Cowboy

White Stripes - White Blood Cells

Madvillain - Madvillainy

Gorillaz - Demon Days

Liars - They Threw Us All In a Trench and Stuck a Monument On Top

Broken Social Scene - You Forgot It In People

Modest Mouse – The Moon And Antarctica

Mars Volta - Deloused In The Comatorium

Feist – Let It Die

Sonic Youth - Sonic Nurse

Bloc Party - Silent Alarm

Dizzee Rascal - Showtime

The Streets - Original Pirate Material

Atmosphere - Seven's Travels

Brother Ali – The Undisputed Truth

Santogold – Santogold

You can and should submit your own top 20 (or 10, or 5) for consideration here.

Michael Bernard Fitzgerald LP Review + Top 20 Manchester Albums list

The MFB Love LP is my favourite debut of the year and the review is up on Soundproof!

Also, there was a top 20 Manchester albums list that I did two blurbs for.

More material to follow this week maybe, if not then there will be a flood next week. Been kinda unproductive writing-wise in the past few days because I've been listening to comedy cd's non-stop and figuring out how to use Ubuntu. Linux rules. It brings me much joy, as does Maria Bamford.

Luckily however the new Vitalic is mind-fuck awesome, Slayer still kicks ass and Them Crooked Vultures just came out and sounds quite good as far as first listen is concerned, so I am feeling inspired.

Paperbacks Album Review

There's a bunch of stuff I wrote that was never published for Spillmagazine.com for whatever reason (usually coz they would lose things) and languished on my computer. I found one of them and it doesn't suck too bad so I'm posting it, and will post any others I stumble across.


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An Illusion Against Death
The Paperbacks
Parliament of Trees

Winnipeg's The Paperbacks tend to get burdened with Weakerthans comparisons which, while flattering, are largely inaccurate – even though John K. Samson’s production work on the album An Illusion Against Death is similar to the sound of his own band. If a comparison is to be made at all, the Paperbacks tend to be more reminiscent of pre-Plans Death Cab for Cutie. The first few tracks on An Illusion Against Death are meandering and seem to go nowhere, burdened by heavy lyricism (to be fair, singer Dough McLean’s humourlessly pointy-headed lyrics can feel overwhelming but eventually become less so with repeated listens) and lacking in melody vocally or musically. Opening track “Hesitation Marks” is a perfect example, with its melodramatic subject matter and less than enthusiastic musicianship.

The band begins to hit its stride with “Institutions”, a genuinely touching story of taking a mentally disabled sibling to visit your dying parents. With its more straightforward lyrics and brass flourishes, the song marks the beginning of the The Paperbacks’ walls tumbling to reveal a directness that is lacking in the beginning of the album. It picks up from there, even genuinely rocking on a few standout tracks such as the spectacular “Rattled By Failure” There many fine songs on this album and some alright storytelling in its better moments, the main downfall simply seems to be the sequencing which front loads the least satisfying tracks instead of trying to grab the listener right away. To focus on this however would be to miss the fact that The Paperbacks’ flirtations with mediocrity are far outweighed with by their strongest moments, and serve to further humanize this endearingly imperfect and talented band.

http://www.thepaperbacks.com/

Ben Lerman!

Comedy good. Music good. Music AND comedy not always so good together.

Here's an exception.






His name is Ben Lerman, and he plays the Ukelele. There's not much else you need to know about this supremely funny musical comedian except that his album is awesome, as you can hear in the above musaac playin' thinger (listen to "Nothing But Amish" to see just how awesome it gets).


Also, as long as we're on the topic, here are some videos he has on Youtube:

"Ben Lerman Plays Ukulele" and "Lullaby"



"Unshaven" - Parody of Natasha Beddingfield's "Unwritten"



"Asian Baby," "Lazy Eye," and "Pig ****"



Ben Lerman and Britney Houston - Let Me Smell Yo Dick (Riskay cover)



Check out the original version here

Enjoy!