Since we discussed our biggest disappointment- what was your most pleasant surprise- a record you had NO expectations of and ended up loving.

For me:

Mastodon- Leviathan, I barely like metal and I think this thing is brilliant.

probably Animal Collective.

KPH

Reggie & The Full Effect "Songs not to get married to"


guy at the label kept pushing it on me.. i wasnt crazy bout the first 3 CD's, so i had no overwhelming interest in hearing this one..

but i was very pleasantly surprised, and have played it bout 8 times in the last week or so.

Yeah, that Mastodon album really grew on me unexpectedly. I feel like I really owe it to 'em to buy a legit copy, especially since they're from here. And I have to see them the next time they play.

For me:

Sightings - Arrived in Gold. Picked this one up expecting another abrasive Sightings record that I would kinda like but not listen to very often. The first half is actually really mellow for them. It kinda goes into trendier noise band territory - Black Dice, Gang Gang Dance, Excepter - but I think I may lik eit more than any of that stuff. Really cool record.

Also, I was surprised to find myself actually wanting to listen to A Ghost Is Born towards the end of the year and some recently. I really care about that album a lot more than I thought I would. Personally, I enjoy it as much as YHF.

I have tried to give it more chances so many times. I called them my favorite band for a year or so and I want to like it so much, but I just cannot get into it. I've been on Summerteeth lately.

I think low expectations have a lot to do with my enjoyment. I never really got the extreme hype behind YHF, and I was already a Wilco fan at the time.

I don't think I'd like AGIB if I'd really tried to like it. I didn't really care either way, but I found that some of the songs on it have really stuck with me. And I don't mind the goofy "experimental" points, either. At least you can't really accuse them of treading water.

seriously, we're more about a disappointment thread?

KPH

rap singles
i've like a bunch of them.

I dig it, but the more I listen to it the more self-indulgent it comes off. I never felt that way with YHF. I still don't get why 'Summer Teeth' is so good. Yeah, there is a handful of great tracks (Via Chicago is one of my favorite all-time tunes), but the rest sounds like crappy brit-pop. Maybe someone can explain it to me?

I had gotten the last Mono record One more step and you die and really wasn't expecting to get the newest record. But then I found it for pretty cheap and went for it and it ended up being one of my favorite albums of the year. Beautiful instrumental post rock.

For me, Summerteeth was when they were at their best as a live band, and most of the songs they were playing were from that record. Its definitely their most British album. In a Future Age is one of my favorite songs ever.

i like every song on summerteeth, but i listen to it the least of all their albums (besides AM) i tink the production gets in teh way of my pleausure, where as YHF the production improves my enjoyment.

Yeah, 'In a Future Age' is a gorgeous tune. It's just there are alot of 'meh' tracks. ie. They're not bad, but they're not really great either. I guess they're just good, which is where I don't understand all the critical adulation etc. Crappy brit-pop was maybe to strong a term.

i don't see hardly any of ST having a britpop slant. VU, American rock, and the like, sure...

i have yet to hear a band derided for being self-indulgent and think to myself: gosh, i hate this. when bands begin shirking convention and "indulging" their experimental side in the context of a more traditional sound, that's when i usually get more interested. in my esteem, that's all about personal taste and aesthetic values.

my gosh, it's 1:30 already.

KPH

First of all, I didn't say I hate anything. Actually, I said I liked it. And on AGIB, I'm refering to it being self-indulgent lyrically and oh I don't know...how about the 12 minutes of crap on 'Less Than You Think' that's suppose to simulate a Jeff Tweedy migrane? C'mon.

they have a saying at the sports talk radio in philly, if someone mentions Randall Cunningham, that's all they will talk about for the next two hours. Kinda the same with Wilco and threads.

like i said, personal taste.

i think the lyrics/thematic arc of the album make it a more compelling listen, rather than take away from it.

KPH

Mark Lanegan Band.

i still haven't listened to that. argh.

KPH

To be honest, I really only have a problem with 'I'm a Wheel' and couple other lines through out the record. I guess it is personal taste.

Usher - Confessions

I didn't expect it to be that good considering his last record was just slightly better than most R&B. There is some brilliant pop on Confessions (ranked #4), and it also had my favorite song of the year out of all of my 2004 album picks.

i'm currently addicted to "caught up"
it never gets old.

Definitely Jim White. The solid moments on No Such Place were so few and far-between, that I had no intention whatsoever of getting Drill a Hole.... But the first time I heard it during my free Real Rhapsody trial, I was hooked.

I got summerteeth after YHF and AGIB, and I gotta say, I'm having a real hard time getting into it. I got it through BMG, so I got a bunch of cds at once, and I have listened to that one the least.

I don't really have one for 2004, but for 2005, my surprise so far has been m.i.a. I've never been into dancehall or club style music before, but man this is awesome.