The Cake album blew chunks. It's the first one of theirs that didn't have at least one memorable song.

did i mention the faint? oh i should have

There's a lot of records that weren't good last year, but as far as disappointment goes, I say Wilco going away. Their last two records were legendary, their live shows are great, all them momentum in the world at their back and Ghost is Born is really boring.

Someone else threw PJ Harvey in, and I agree it was a disappointment, but not on the level of Wilco.


As far as Mission of Burma go, I've been a fan for a long time and think OnoffOn is a great record. When I saw them play the songs live last summer they had jsut as much energy and pop as any of their earlier material that they played. Give it another chance.

Probably my biggest disappointment was RJD2's album. I can't even remember what it was called now, it was that limp.

Yeah, it was definitely their nadir. I also had hoped for better from PTL, The Waxwings, Ron Sexsmith, Radio 4, R.E.M., Old 97's, Jay Bennett, Interpol, Bob Schneider, and The Bigger Lovers though none were really bad, except for Radio 4 and Jay Bennett.

Agreeing with the Air and Walkmen albums. 10,000 Hz Legend was better than Talkie-Walkie, which sounded tired to me. The Rat was a good song, the rest of Bows and Arrows sounded like a more generic version of the Strokes, who aren't that original to begin with.

I'm a bit surprised by the hate on the new Stereolab. It was a step up from Sound-Dust.

You sure you got the right album, chief? NOTHING on the Walkmen album sounds vaguely Strokes-ian. Not a Note. The fact that they are both from NYC must account for this lazy-ass comparison.

Fiery Furnaces "blueberry boat".... much praised (Pitchfork 9.6?) and described in ways that seemed my cuppa tea. It was noisy, unfocused, precious, self-important, over-reaching, annoying and boring. I didn't like it.

P.J. Harvey rocked. One of her best.
Wilco continues to get better for me (especially after seeing them do it live). I like it better than YFH.

I'm an old-timer like you, Harry, and so feel it's my duty to inform you that every one of those adjectives you listed is now considered to be a positive trait.

so much walkmen hate. i love that album. i wonder what people would think about it if the "rat" wasn't on the album. i think that song sets up the album to be something its not. i love the record in whole.

i thought the animal collective was dissapointing relative to the critical hype.

Of course, given that my sociodemographic passport is stamped by real and imagined countries that no longer exist, my eternal-adolescent hackles are up... suggesting that taste is taste no matter what epochal tablecloth (mixing a metaphor or two).

noisy: I like Royal Trux
unfocused: I like Blithe Sons
precious: I like A.C. Newman
self-important: I like The Books
over-reaching: I like Jóhann Jóhannsson
annoying: I like Xiu Xiu
boring: I like Fennesz

Fiery Furnaces, one posits, just simply sucked. Am I too quick to judge?

Too slow, I'm afraid. You apparently take things like context and intent into consideration when passing judgement - and then you compound the problem by attempting to explain why you feel a certain way about a given work. Explaining oneself, y'see, is an old-fashioned conceit that kids today snicker about.

You should only have to listen to something once (on a bad quality mp3 and not all the way through) in order to proclaim it as either something that's the greatest ever or something that's over-rated and sucks inflamed animal testicles (there is no in-between). Too quick to judge? Impossible.