Second Guess the Critic: SMACKDOWN! Round 9

[bloop]

bloop:  Scream, Chris Cornell
Brenden: The Fray, The Fray
murlough: Incredibad, The Lonely Island
plvarona: Swallow the Sea, Matthew Perryman Jones
Josh: Hospice, The Antlers

[Josh]

Bloop: 1
Brenden: 1
murlough: 3
Phil: 4

[murlough23]

I'm gonna guess everyone else is low-balling it this round.

bloop: 1
Brenden: 2
plvarona: 3
Josh: 3

[bloop]

Brenden:  1
murlough:  3
plvarona:  4
Josh:  5

[plvarona]

My guesses:

bloop: 1
Brenden: 2
murlough: 3
Josh: 4

No, I did not guess sequentially on purpose.  It just turned out that way.

[ajyouthguy]

Plvarona: 4
murlough: 3
Brenden: 2
Josh: 3
Bloop: 3

[Brenden]

bloop: 2
Murlough: 4
plvarona: 4
Josh: 3

[bloop]

We can reveal ourselves now.

[murlough23]

Come on, guys. My sense of humor isn't that immature. Sure, I thought "Lazy Sunday" and "Dick in a Box" and most of the other digital shorts that aired on SNL were pretty funny. They seem less so without the shock and uproarious laughter of the live crowd. But those are still the high points, along with the opener "Who Said We're Wack" (the only vulgarity-free track on the album), Jack Black's "Sax Man", and the cleverly worded "Punch You in the Jeans". The rest is either stupid, lame skits that are mercifully shorter than they would have been as SNL sketches, or over-the-top attempts to be as shocking and vulgar as possible, most notably the disgusting "Like a Boss", which details the graphic exploits of Andy Samberg's supposedly typical day at work, and the title track, which finds teenage kids having four-way sex with an alien. I'm not offended, I just find 20 tracks of this to be extremely mind-numbing. The Lonely Island gets 2 stars.

[Josh]

^ Heh... I'd give that album 4 stars. 

But the Antlers album is even BETTER! It's a rich and complicated work that I'm honestly still not fully through digesting, but I keep being lured back to it, and, for its oddly hypnotic power, I think I'm actually going to go with around an 8.5 rating, which I suppose translates to a 4 star (almost 5 star!) rating.

[plvarona]

Here's my verdict:

Album Reviewed: Matthew Perryman Jones - Swallow The Sea

Pros: Matthew is very good at using instrumentation and volume changes to build songs up, and there are many good examples of that here, most notably the two songs that clock in over 6 minutes ("Motherless Child" and "Swallow The Sea".)  Matthew also does a good job varying the mood and tempo throughout the album as he goes from dreamy-acoustic pop at the beginning of the album to pop-rock at the end, while transitioning smoothly between the songs at the same time so the album really does not feel disjointed.  There are quite a few memorable moments, ranging from the up-tempo toe-tapper "When It falls Apart" to the anthemic first single "Save You".  There is not a single track I dislike on this album.

Cons: The lyrics can get a little repetitive for my taste.  While every song is pretty good, there isn't really anything as strong as "Refuge" from his Throwing Punches in the Dark album.

The Bottom Line: This is a very well-crafted album that took a few listens for me to truly appreciate, but now it's an album I enjoy quite a bit.

Rating: I was very tempted to go with 5 stars on this one, and it may eventually end up there.  However, repetitive lyrics and a lack of "wow" moments are enough to knock the grade down a little bit to a "B+".  That's still a strong 4 stars.

On Deck For Next Week: If we assume next week is a regular week, I'll do Phillip LaRue's Let The Road Pave Itself.  Here's a link to a full stream of the album: http://www.jesusfreakhideout.com/features/listeningparty3.asp

[Josh]

My pick for next week: Mastodon, Crack the Skye. You can listen to the whole thing on their MySpace.

[murlough23]

Next week, I'll do Revive's Chorus of the Saints.

[bloop]

Chris Cornell really needs to find himself again, and I think that means a Soundgarden reuinion, honestly.  It's not so terrible that I would go with one star, but there's not much here to recommend either.  Enough to just barely eek out 2 from me.

Dern - I thought my 5 star gamble for Josh would pan out.  On my rating system, btw, an 8.5 would get a 5 (A rating) for the purpose of this game, which is, believe it or not, the precise rating I thought you'd go with.   

Next round:  Just Like Yesterday by radioviolet.  They're a local band whose debut album was gifted to me by one of my students (and perhaps one of their groupies).

[murlough23]

I think we all got duped in this round. 

[bloop]

I still need Bren's rating and we can move past this painful round..

I may be forced to hunt you down if you say "4 stars!", Brenden.

[Josh]

I was VERY close to 5 stars, bloop, and I know that it doesn't necessarily seem like a "Josh Album," so your gamble was a pretty shrewd one!

[murlough23]

I still need Bren's rating and we can move past this painful round..

I may be forced to hunt you down if you say "4 stars!", Brenden.

I'm really glad I hedged on his and said 2 stars instead of 1.

[Brenden]

Sorry, I had a crazy weekend with work and life in general.

So, The Fray, I gave it a few listens and it struck me as safe and listenable, but not very memorable. I'll go with 2 stars and be done with this one.

Next round: Brandon Scott Smith - Modern Day Prodigal

[bloop]

This Round:
7.5   plvarona
7   ajyouthguy
6.75   Brendan
6.25   bloop
6.25   murlough
6.25   Josh
0   Wanderer
0   Ninjarob

Totals
72.5   murlough
71.25   bloop
70.5   plvarona
66.8   ajyouthguy
66   Brendan
64.25   Josh
43   Ninjarob
31.4   Wanderer

[murlough23]

It's interesting how being a non-critic and having your score divided by a different number makes it possible to have things like .8 instead of .75. I think it would be really funny if AJ edged one of us out by .05 at the end.