All of Konstantirank can be found here
>>>>>http://www.obner.org/bb/viewtopic.php?p=158964#158964

UPDATE 12th September 2005

New On The Chart



Fresh from an extensive tour of the United States in support of indie darlings Spoon, London based The Clientele release only their second album in eight years.

For those unfamiliar with The Clientele, 'Strange Geometry' is very much in the vein of classic mid 60's pop music. Think The Beatles in '65 or The Byrds around the same period and you have a pretty good idea of what's in store.

The best track is also the opener. 'Since K Got Over Me', all dreamy vocals and ringing guitars, could easily be a great lost b-side from 'Past Masters'. From then on 'Strange Geometry' fails to quite hit the heights attained by it's opening track despite following a similar template throughout; a sort of late night retro melancholy where Alasdair McLean's vocals almost float out the speakers and Rickenbackers twinkle like stars.

The group does attempt to give each song it's on distinctive character by adding swirling organs, psychedelic backwards guitar solos and some orchestration here and there, but for the most part, it fails to disguise the fact that their sound is a narrow one and the songs, good as they are, tend to blend into one an other after a while.

For the love lorn or wistful, 'Strange Geometry' certainly creates a balming mood but whither the general listener will want to listen to 12 variations on 'Everyone's Been Burned' remains open to question.

The Clientele's 'Strange Geometry' scores 6.66 and enters Konstantiranks at no. 33

RELATED LINKS

Find out more about The Clientele here
>>> http://www.theclientele.co.uk/

KONSTANTIRANKS 2005 (CURRENT STANDINGS)

1. two gallants - THE THROES 7.66
2. edgar 'jones' jones - SOOTHING MUSIC FOR STRAY CATS 7.62*
3. mogwai - GOVERNMENT COMMISSIONS 7.40*
4. the fiery furnaces - EP 7.40*
5. antony & the johnsons - I AM A BIRD NOW 7.38*
6. the broken family band - WELCOME HOME, LOSER 7.23
7. the white stripes - GET BEHIND ME SATAN 7.16
8. edan - BEAUTY AND THE BEAT 7.16
9. arcade fire - FUNERAL 7.15*
10. king creosote - ROCKET D.I.Y 7.12*
11. roots manuva - AWFULLY DEEP 7.08*
12. smog - AIN'T TOO MUCH TO LOVE A RIVER 7.00*
13. mark mulcahy - IN PURSUIT OF YOUR HAPPINESS 7.00*
14. laura cantrell - HUMMING BY THE FLOWERED VINE 7.00
15. the rakes - CAPTURE/RELEASE 7.00
16. mek obaam - YOU AND I 7.00
17. the go-betweens - OCEANS APART 6.94*
18. caribou - THE MILK OF HUMAN KINDNESS 6.94*
19. teenage fanclub - MAN MADE 6.91*
20. amon tobin - CHAOS THEORY 6.90*
21. four tet - EVERYTHING ECSTATIC 6.88*
22. matt sweeney & bonnie prince billy - SUPERWOLF 6.86*
23. spoon - GIMME FICTION 6.85
24. whitey - THE LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL IS A TRAIN 6.85*
25. holopaw - QUIT +/OR FIGHT 6.81
26. thievery corporation - THE COSMIC GAME 6.80*
27. fog - 10th AVENUE FREAKOUT 6.76*
28. malcolm middleton - INTO THE WOODS 6.75
29. low - THE GREAT DESTROYER 6.72*
30. clor - CLOR 6.72
31. sons and daughters - THE REPULSION BOX 6.70*
32. lcd soundsystem - LCD SOUNDSYSTEM 6.66*
33. the clientele - STRANGE GEOMETRY 6.66
34. aesop rock - FAST CARS, DANGER, FIRE & KNIVES 6.64*
35. eastern lane - THE ARTICLE 6.63*
36. emiliana torrini - FISHERMAN'S WOMAN 6.62*
37. stephen malkmus - FACE THE TRUTH 6.58
38. cagedbaby - WILL SEE YOU NOW 6.50
39. brakes - GIVE BLOOD 6.50
40. beck - GUERO 6.43*
41. bloc party - SILENT ALARM 6.42*
42. sufjan steven - ILLINOIS 6.41
43. field music - FIELD MUSIC 6.41
44. jose gonzalez - VENEER 6.40*
45. minotaur shock - MARITIME 6.36
46. the shortwave set - THE DEBT COLLECTION 6.30
47. the national - ALLIGATOR 6.19*
48. momus - OTTO SPOOKY 5.53

tbr - quasimoto - THE FURTHER ADVENTURES OF LORD QUAS
tbr- viarosa - WHERE THE KILLERS ROAM
tbr - vanessa & the o's - LA BALLADE D'O
tbr - coco rosie - NOAH'S ARK

I remain a Clientele fan. They're also doing a solo tour of the US soon.

Good review of that album, K.


That's exactly how I'd describe them. When they opened for Spoon their first song sounded fairly great, then each song after sounded more and more alike, until it all ended up as background mush.

The sameyness was what i had a problem with too. It seems more prevalent here then on the other album .

Darrin, what do the asterisks mean?

I rate an album a week after buying it and then again after couple of months and average out the score.

I do this to cover for albums I like at first but which I lose interest in over time and to provide 'growers' a second chance to increase their score.

The asterisks denote albums which have had both their ratings, i.e the albums with their 'final' score.

Sounds like it's a lot of fun. Maybe I'll do something like this, but I'll wait til next year.

gosh, you really love that two gallants record.

i liked them when i saw them live... i guess you find it worth re-visiting?

I'm not entirely sure what you mean but I'm guessing you're alluding to release dates.

While 'The Throes' was a 2004 release in the US, it didn't get a UK release until March 2005 so I'm including it on my 2005 list. Same situation really as Arcade Fire.