I pretty much liked what i heard, mostly because i heard so little, and most of it was highly recommended by people i trust.

Beck seems to be the nearly unanimous choice, so I throw in my vote for that one. How one could consider Odelay 'jokey garbage' compared to this uninspired and narcoleptic album is beyond me. Garbage's album was also pretty boring. Mercury Rev, while better over a couple of listens, was still disappointing compared to their earlier stuff which might as well be a completely different band.

Let's run through Odelay...

Awful white dude "rapping" - check
Terrible scratching and (if my memory serves me correctly) samples - check
Aggressively stupid lyrics - check
Bloated, dated production - check

You are insane Mike.

Beck is a masterpiece when you do compare it to that thing Weezer released this year.

Rapping and Scratching? Shitty samples? Were ever supposed to take him seriously as an 'hip hop' artist? That's like people riffing on The Streets for doing shitty hip hop. I love The Streets and Beck, but give me a break. It's not serious, it's fun and loose. And lyrics? If I want lyrics I'll go listen to Dylan or something. Or to be closer to the mark, Sea Change or Mutations, if I'm supposed to be paying attention to what he's saying. And the Dust Brothers' production sounds fine to me, sample-wise as well. So does Paul's Boutique. I think they do quality work. Odelay is an excellent, fun album to throw on at any gathering and almost everyone will dig it. If I want to send people home early I'll throw on Guero.

Natural Mike,

What do you listen to? Your top few bands or what's been playing lately are/is..

What DumpJack said. Such a fun fucking album!

Anthony & the Johnsons. I know I'm going to get slayed, but screw it - I don't like the music, the vocals, the subject matter, I don't like anything about this album. I wanted to, and I really gave it a shot, and briefly flirted with enjoying it, but then it just got icky feeling after that.

Some favorites (in absolutely no particular order)...

Shuggie Otis
Elvis Costello
Fugazi
Seam
Neil Young
Wire
Les Savy Fav
Neko Case
John Cale
Fela Kuti
Brian Eno (mostly his "pop" albums, but I really dig a few of the more ambient ones)
Television
The Kinks
Echo and the Bunnymen
Jenny Toomey

Yes, it is heavy on rock-related artists.

supergrass
super furry animals
redwalls
antony and the blah blahs

Me, too.
Lord knows, I've tried several times with Andrew Bird's latest...and I just don't get it.

On the flip side, Spoon's latest registers in my year-end top ten.

All three will be in my Top 20, probably because I'm not awesome enough to be aware of every jittery-quivery rock band that manages to sound like all the jittery-quivery rock bands I knew in 1981. There's only so many jittery-quiveries I can tell apart from one another.

Whereas these three releases still have depth and texture after many listens.

LCD Soundsystem
Antony
Okkervil
Bloc Party
Black Mountain

that new Supergrass isn't among there best or anything, but it's still pretty good

All right, then I can see why you may not enjoy an album like Odelay. Actually, my friend this past weekend called Odelay, "annoying" and said he hates it. His interests are ONLY rock-related artists, so go figure.

British Sea Power - Open Season
i really wanted to like this, cos The Decline Of is great , but this is just kinda boring

Jackson and his Computer Band - Smash
So much promise, nothing delivered.

Daft Punk - Human After All
One of the biggest disappointments of the year

wow, lots of people hating on okkervil.

psh, that's alright - more for me.

or something.

Me too. I just didn't seem to have the attention span any time I put it on. I haven't given up yet, but it hasn't grabbed me.

I like this a lot. It was my first Okkervil River disc, though. What say Obners of the other(s) to make this a disappointment?

I'll get Mike's back. Beck's an artist that I should totally dig by all discriptions of him and listings of his influences. I don't like anything I've heard by him though including Odelay.

And if Weezer's your yardstick, I'd suggest getting a new one.

The only thing Weezer is my yardstick for is that it's the worst of the worst. Well maybe the Others tops it but I wasn't expecting anything from them.

Surprising, I didn't think that record was so polarizing.

I enjoyed BSB but, honestly, I think their previous record, "Down the River of Golden Dreams" is better.

I like both of them. But that's just me.

I like them both so much DON'T MAKE ME DECIDE

Thank you, sir. While (as I stated earlier) I'm not a huge fan of the dude's music, I too would expect to like Beck more based on the (actual or alleged) influences.

I'm all for "fun" and "adventerous" music, but Beck (at least in the earlier days) all too often crossed over into annoying territory with his nonsense raps, goofy samples, and lazy delivery. If there's anything I hate in music, it's artists trying to be goofy and failing miserably (see also: Barenaked Ladies, Bloodhound Gang). While Beck may never stoop as low as those two groups, he comes awfully close on a few tracks. If I want a party in my pants, I'll throw on some Jorge Ben. If I want adventure, I'll pop in some Cale. If I want sharp but occasionally humorous lyrics delivered the right way, I'll spin some Elvis Costello.

Do I hate Beck as a person? No.
Am I an angry snob in real life? Hell no.
Do I enjoy ridiculous internet battles? Yep.
Am I eating a comically large hoagie while typing this? YES.

Good night, ya'll.

Oh man, when this hit...so sweet. I really wasn't digging it at first, but out of nowhere it grabbed a'hold.

Garbage - Bleed Like Me

Nothing on here that rivaled their first 2 CDs. This one got buried in my CD collection pretty fast.