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[murlough23]

Sleeping at Last - Storyboards

Or, as Epinions spells, it, Sotryboads. 

http://www.epinions.com/content_487564152452

[murlough23]

I'm almost afraid to post this, but...

Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest

http://www.epinions.com/content_488212827780

[murlough23]

David Crowder Band - Church Music

http://www.epinions.com/content_489742962308

[murlough23]

Skillet - Awake

http://www.epinions.com/content_490150399620

I was going to give it 2 stars, but listening to it again for the review, I realized that I had to downgrade it to 1. It's THAT bad.

[Ian]

Oh gosh, that was the first time I'd seen the cover of the album... I already had no plans of listening, but that nauseatingly bad cover just sealed the deal.

[murlough23]

Oh gosh, that was the first time I'd seen the cover of the album... I already had no plans of listening, but that nauseatingly bad cover just sealed the deal.

It speaks volumes, doesn't it?

[murlough23]

Meg & Dia - Here, Here and Here

http://www.epinions.com/content_490526641796

[murlough23]

Thrice - Beggars

http://www.epinions.com/content_492153704068

[murlough23]

Green Day - 21st Century Breakdown

http://www.epinions.com/content_493074747012

[murlough23]

Muse - The Resistance

http://www.epinions.com/content_493624856196

[Ian]

Wow.  Surprised you liked it so much.

[murlough23]

Wow.  Surprised you liked it so much.

As am I. I've listened to Black Holes and Revelations a few times and I'm learning toward a similar reaction. Which probably means I was being a big freaking idiot when I first listened to Absolution.

[Ian]

Pretty much.

[murlough23]

Pretty much.

I walked right into that one, so you get a freebie this time.

[murlough23]

Relient K - Forget and Not Slow Down

http://www.epinions.com/content_495384497796

[murlough23]

Future of Forestry - Advent Christmas EP

http://www.epinions.com/content_496542322308

[murlough23]

Mae - (a)fternoon EP

http://www.epinions.com/content_496962997892

[ewok20t3]

Mae - (a)fternoon EP

http://www.epinions.com/content_496962997892

Nice review! Mae is my favorite band, so I enjoyed reading your thoughts. I thought (m)orning was much better than (a)fternoon, but I still very much enjoy it. I probably would've given (a)fternoon a 3 1/2, but it's probably only because I had extremely high expectations after being blown away by (m)orning.

[murlough23]

Nice review! Mae is my favorite band, so I enjoyed reading your thoughts. I thought (m)orning was much better than (a)fternoon, but I still very much enjoy it. I probably would've given (a)fternoon a 3 1/2, but it's probably only because I had extremely high expectations after being blown away by (m)orning.

Epinions doesn't allow half-stars. If they did, I'd probably want quarter-stars to give them a 3.75 or something.

[ewok20t3]

Epinions doesn't allow half-stars. If they did, I'd probably want quarter-stars to give them a 3.75 or something.

Oh, I see. Yeah, 3.75 sounds about right.

I just read your review of (m)orning and it was fantastic, as well!

[bloop]

I played around with rateyourmusic, but it would take me forever to just rate all my music, let alone to give them all a little blurb.  I like the phorum back and forth more, I think.

[ewok20t3]

I played around with rateyourmusic, but it would take me forever to just rate all my music, let alone to give them all a little blurb.  I like the phorum back and forth more, I think.

I rated over 1,000 of my albums on rateyourmusic about three years ago, then they changed the format of the website and my computer at the time couldn't handle it, so I gave up on trying to keep up with my music on there.

[murlough23]

Vampire Weekend - Contra

http://www.epinions.com/content_502322990724

[Ian]

OK Go - Of the Blue Color of the Sky
http://onethirtybpm.com/2010/02/02/album-review-ok-go-of-the-blue-colour-of-the-sky/

[murlough23]

Deas Vail - Birds & Cages

http://www.epinions.com/content_503314091652

[ajyouthguy]

speaking of Deas Vail, here's a nice interview if you didn't see it.  the town and college mentioned in the first and second paragraphs are my area of the world, the college being where my wife went, where i worked my first 'real job' out of college for a college ministry (where we first met), and where my college-aged kids in our ministry now mostly go.

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/music/interviews/2010/wesblaylock-feb10.html

[murlough23]

speaking of Deas Vail, here's a nice interview if you didn't see it.  the town and college mentioned in the first and second paragraphs are my area of the world, the college being where my wife went, where i worked my first 'real job' out of college for a college ministry (where we first met), and where my college-aged kids in our ministry now mostly go.

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/music/interviews/2010/wesblaylock-feb10.html

Thanks for that. I've never really heard the band speak directly about their music or the meaning of it, so it's good to know that I was mostly guessing right about what they were attempting to do and who the intended audience was.

[ewok20t3]

Deas Vail - Birds & Cages

http://www.epinions.com/content_503314091652

Since we last discussed this album I've been listening to it much closer. I've started to really enjoy the first five tracks and "Sunlight".
I'm very annoyed with "Tell Me". I don't think the chorus is very strong to begin with, so it's certainly not strong enough to need it's own track. "Dance In Perfect Time" is decent except for that darn chorus. Something about it is just extremely annoying to me. It sounds like something ripped off from Barney or some other children's sing-along show. I'm sure it's just me, but I can't shake it.

Everything after "Sunlight" is flat out mediocre to me. Like you said, I think they're trying to be a little more experimental with the arrangements during the last few tracks on the album. I appreciate them trying to be more experimental, but they let go of the things they do best and seem to have concentrated mostly on the arrangements when writing and recording these tracks. When I want experimental music I'll listen to Radiohead or Animal Collective, not Deas Vail. It's like Michael Jordan quitting basketball to play baseball. Sure, he was a better Baseball player than the average person, but he wasn't good enough at it and he should've just kept playing basketball and worked on getting even better at that. So should Deas Vail. I'd probably give the album a B.

[murlough23]

I'm very annoyed with "Tell Me". I don't think the chorus is very strong to begin with, so it's certainly not strong enough to need it's own track. "Dance In Perfect Time" is decent except for that darn chorus. Something about it is just extremely annoying to me. It sounds like something ripped off from Barney or some other children's sing-along show. I'm sure it's just me, but I can't shake it.

LOL. I don't think it's a particularly profound chorus, but I like it.

I appreciate them trying to be more experimental, but they let go of the things they do best and seem to have concentrated mostly on the arrangements when writing and recording these tracks. When I want experimental music I'll listen to Radiohead or Animal Collective, not Deas Vail.

It's a different kind of experimentation, I think. Radiohead and Animal Collective are experimenting with the sounds themselves; Deas Vail is experimenting with the song structure, so it's not like you're getting all sorts of weirdly constructed sounds from them, so much as songs that don't veer in the direction you expect them to instead of a verse always going here or a chorus there. Doing this can be freeing, since sometimes I think we get too tied to strict song structures. But I think the experimentation also exposes the reasons behind the conventions that we're used to. It is very hard to write a good song that doesn't have a sustained, repeating passage to come back to that the listener finds memorable. (The memorability is subjective; the repetition is not.)

Anyway, for as disappointed as you are, you only came out a plus away from the letter grade that I gave the album (B+), so I think we mostly agree here.

[ewok20t3]

Anyway, for as disappointed as you are, you only came out a plus away from the letter grade that I gave the album (B+), so I think we mostly agree here.

Yeah, I wrote mostly on my negatives with the album. I guess the glass is half empty today. I am glad I gave the album another chance, I enjoy it more now than I did before. 

[murlough23]

Yeah, I wrote mostly on my negatives with the album. I guess the glass is half empty today. I am glad I gave the album another chance, I enjoy it more now than I did before. 

Even if you had come out not liking it, I would have been satisfied just knowing you listened more closely.

I can remember having a similar conversation with bloop a long time ago about Much Afraid. Glad I got him to give that one a second look.

[Ian]

130bpm has their decade end list up, i've got several blurbs scattered throughout

[murlough23]

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz!

http://www.epinions.com/content_504200203908

[Ian]

Apparatjik - We Are Here

[murlough23]

Creed - Full Circle

http://www.epinions.com/content_505127800452

(Like you guys really needed my help with this one.)

[murlough23]

Sufjan Stevens - The BQE

http://www.epinions.com/content_505756946052

[murlough23]

fun. - Aim & Ignite

http://www.epinions.com/content_506488262276

[ewok20t3]

fun. - Aim & Ignite

http://www.epinions.com/content_506488262276

I've thought about giving this a listen. The Format were a pretty darn good band.

[murlough23]

I've thought about giving this a listen. The Format were a pretty darn good band.

I never heard 'em. What kind of music did they make, and were they as cheeky as fun.?

[Ian]

$16.50 = 4 stars?