Yvash

is literally the best song Justin Timberlake never wrote. And I mean that in the absolute best possible way. Stone cold, heart pumping disco floor filler perfection. It's a complete classic - representing both the era it apes and being so completetly now it practically hurts.

which was the first time I'd heard any Bibio since he put out Fi (which I love for its sublime pastoral simplicity) and it was a real shock to the system. It wasn't like the guy who had made Fi had completely disappeared, but I couldn't quite believe how much he'd shifted in tone. I wonder if this is going to be as much of a comparative departure from AA or if, as I read it from the review, it's going to feel more like a hark back to the beginning...

It's always hilarious to see him harp on about corporate shills with barely disguised agendas and claiming DiS posters have links to the bands in review comments. He's one of the most entertaining tinfoilhat wearers on this site.

how I imagine The Oscillation would sound if they loosened up and totally wigged out. May have to investigate. Cheers for the heads up, Dom!

I'd say Lidell's relationship with Warp was based less on his current sound and direction and more to do with being one half of Super_Collider with Cristian Vogel, who Warp signed back in 98 or so. His solo stuff started out considerably more electronic - Muddlin Gear is nigh completely alien next to Lidell's later work, and Multiply represents a wonderful middle-ground between knob twiddling and soul singing. Jim marks the true start of his neo-soul output.

I vividly remember the getup he wore for Earthling but Outside is escaping me at the moment. And yes, you're absolutely right, the Pet Shop Boys remix of Hallo Spaceboy is proper tosh; but that's hardly Dave's fault - for an immensely better remix experience you have Trent Reznor's mix of Heart's Filthy Lesson. So much more appropriate: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIMs4flv8Pk

...going to need some sort of quantification to that statement.
Outside represents Bowie at his most primally creative since Scary Monsters, maybe even Diamond Dogs.

SDSS1416+13B (Zercon, A Flagpole Sitter)*

"Pain is not alone"

*it's all over the sleeve notes. Bad ID3 tagging and Spotify are not helping this mistake.

Expect an invoice from my Therapist soon, Sean.

...which basically means if the list hadn't been expanded this year, they'd have been snubbed again.

*sigh*

Is it not possible that people can like The Darkness without being associated with them?

Point B) Well, that's just like, your opinion, man. Just as it was Dan Lucas', displayed here for our delectation or disagreement. This comment section exists for a reason.

Point C) I want you to look at the word 'presumably'.
Now I want you to look at the word 'never'. Now I want you to think about how bloody silly you look.

there's a world outside of metacritic, yes? It's healthier there.

The Darkness' first album: critically panned, turned out to be great.

The Darkness' second album: critically panned, turned out to be great.

The Darkness' third album: critically panned...

You're right. They ARE immune from criticism. I've never known a comedy band so entirely capable of dragging half-arsed intellectual witticisms out of reviewers desperately trying to be seen as legit by disliking the undislikeable. And god forbid they tip any sacred cows...!

if you look at the reviews so far.

It's clearly the strongest album Tom's put out in a decade - and funnily enough it sits well alongside Go Plastic. It shares the subtle theme of pastiche (only this time Dubstep is the joke as opposed to 2-step) and of course unholy digital savagery and the lack of live instrumentation. Having seen the incredible LED light show Tom designed to visualise the music live in the music video for Dark Steering (quite possibly the best Squarepusher track ever, I might add) it feels a little more like a soundtrack than previous albums but I don't think that's a bad thing; there are leitmotifs and repeated sounds throughout. It plays like a twisted sister of Daft Punk's Tron Legacy soundtrack and would work equally well over that movie's digital playground.

...skipped 'Life is a Problem', did you? My heart's not been broken so hard since Ladies And Gentlemen...

how John Power could be involved with such a sublime piece of pop in 'There She Goes' and learn absolutely nothing from it. Cast were a blight on british music in 1995. To resurface now? There are certain rocks that should never be overturned.

this review is so far off the mark it's unreal.

Hurry Up... is stupendous, ridiculous, near farcical. I wouldn't, couldn't change a thing about it. 80s extravagance taken to a new level of hair-raising excess. Joy as a physical force. Moments of Eno-era U2 distilled into a spoonful of sunlight and shot into space. Magical fucking frogs. MAGICAL FUCKING FROGS. MOMMYS WILL BECOME DADDYS. GIANT CUPCAKES.

I think I may actually be looking forward to it *more* because of it.

Saturdays = Youth was always going to be an impossible mountain to climb again. It might not be as big and impressive next to its brand new double-album brother, but it was near perfectly formed, vertical slabs of grand Pop wrought from a shoegaze bedrock.

I have a feeling Hurry Up... will be beset with landslides, but each miss-step will feel more like an adventure while looking for more heart-stoppers like 'Midnight City'.

I knew the moment Gonzalez brought up Melon Collie... as a touch point that he was gearing himself up for a fall. But if it's a spectacular tumble I can forgive the hubris.

It's like Echo & the Bunnymen did a secret John Hughes movie credits roll. With synths and early-onset 21st Century ennui.

A Canadian Hardcore band putting out a double concept album/rock opera about love and loss in the 70s at a spa town in England.

And it's a serious contender for Album of the Year, in my opinion. Maybe the best Hardcore-related release since Relationship of Command. Not kidding.

one of my favourite ever albums. It's an unholy, unfair cross to burden Smother with, but the fact that I've heard Albatross already makes me feel like I've cheated a little, and my expectations need to be kept on a reasonable level. I don't doubt that I'll like Smother, but will I love it?

On its own, it's either face-meltingly over-the-top harsh to near hysterical effect, or wheedling and mean; half-formed, mal-nourished and hiding from the light.

But paired with almost any other song from Daft Punk's back catalogue, it somehow springs to life. Alive 2007 proved what Daft Punk had always intended Human After All to be; their very own mash-up material.

I am steadfastedly refusing to listen to the Tron OST till I've seen the movie, much as I'm desperate to hear it. It was designed to accompany vision. I'm fine listening to soundtracks after the fact, but that first time, it's got to be the whole experience; emotional context and all that.

No cigar.

Robbed at least 75 times. Poor show.

'Scribble' is just painfully derivative, there's really no excuse for creators of some of the greatest techno/breakbeat crossovers (see 'Pearls Girl' for one) peddling sub-Pendulum "one beat fits all" chart-friendly pap. Even Hyde's stream of conscience seems polluted on it.

I was fine with Underworld relaxing; the overall down-tempo feel of Oblivion With Bells was a wonderful comedown. But from what I've heard of this collab-heavy album, there's nothing to compare to any of the solid gold hits on every album prior.

that by the time part 3 rolls around this December, the majority of Robyn fans will have created their own ultimate 'Best of Body Talk' playlists. Part 1 is incredibly enjoyable but suffers a fair few clunkers for its meagre song count; I invariably skip 'Don't Fucking Tell Me What to Do', 'Dancehall Queen' and the disappointing Röyksopp collaboration 'None of Dem' (seriously, from The Girl and the Robot to that? Both of them sound bored) these days.
For me, 'Fembot', 'Dancing on My Own' and 'Hang With Me' are solid gold gems, Robyn on top of her game, and I can't wait to hear the fully fleshed version of the latter.

I just wonder how much of the full, 24 song series I'll end up truly listening to. It's not even a case of quality control since the way Robyn is perceived, as this review suggests, is divisive in the first place.

"'Dancing On My Own' is a song which could suitably be included in a NASA space probe... being emblematic of the best of what our early 21st century society can produce."

Damn straight.

In an album full of portent and regrets, it's a break in the clouds that lets the sun shine in, and features Linkous' most prominent vocals of the album - albeit in sweet, sweet harmony with Nina Persson. It's charming and simple and if it feels by numbers at all, it's only because Linkous was so good at writing songs like it.

Downloaded it yesterday and I've listened to it about 4 times so far. It's not terribly removed from Year Zero onward NIN, but to be honest it was highly unlikely Reznor was going to abandon his old ways. It's essentially more dubsteppy, a dark ambient, post-industrial sound that marries his and Mariqueen's voice very nicely. She has a cadence to her voice that fits Reznor's sound aesthetic perfectly - you can tell why he wanted to work with her let alone marry her.

Fur Lined is the standout track in my opinion, though I am still immensely fond of A Drowning for its slow burn. Beautifully produced.

Jim was inexcusably ignored on release, to my total bewilderment.

Looking forward to this one!

But a brilliant, wonderful album all the same. I haven't been able to play any Sparklehorse since Mark's death was announced, but I think the physical release of Dark Night... will break that silence.

one of the biggies is that if an artist changes their sound then someone, somewhere will definitely praise them for it."

On the other hand, one of the more illogical and specious rules is that there's always some whinnying idiot that would rather promote stagnation.

I've come to dread DiS Goldfrapp reviews. This one is no exception. Goldfrapp's sound may change, but the reviews don't seem to.

Though it could do with a paired rerelease of The Wolf, too - still his finest hour to date, and just as hard to get hold of as CCWBW was.
I probably have 90% of the rarities on Mother of Mankind already thanks to net trawling and diligence, but it'll be so worth it to have a proper copy now.

can be transformed with a bit of judicious rearrangement."

Oh do fuck off, you fatuous berk. You were doing so well up till that point.

The world is a better place everytime I see your lunatic grin.

I'm hoping Close Calls With Brick Walls will have all the regional bonus tracks, or if not, that they'll feature on Mother of Mankind. So much goddamn win.

but it is without question their most beautiful.

Take It In is a total suckerpunch - a heart-filling blend of electronic, paranoid 4-4 darkness tempered by a kick in the ribcage of joyously misty-eyed euphoria. It's over way too soon.

marred only slightly by the unnecessary 'featuring' tracks that simply don't fit. They're not bad - Paul St. Hilaire sounds great over dark, dubsteppy dancehall - but they just feel like they were added in for completion's sake and mess with the flow of the album for me.

Way better than a 6, though. The highlights are really way too high for a mark like that. A New Error, Rusty Nails, No. 22, Out of Sight are stunning. An 8, I'd say.

is fuckin' storming. Looking forward to the rest of the album!

is fantastic. But it's not jolly, as deceptive as the first track seems. It is the Little Matchstick Girl of christmas albums. Christmassy, yet almost harrowing. Their cover of Little Drummer Boy heralds the end of times, the music actually fits the theme of the song for once.

that doesn't outstay it's welcome - in fact, it could be faulted for being all too brief. There's some excellent ideas on it and some inspired sampling (dig The Doobie Brothers 'What a Fool Believes' mutilated looping in Laughing Gas!).

Pick of the tracks for me is Mind, Drips - an exceptional synth-funk crossover track with a certified sex-pest bassline lurking under its dreamy miami beach chorus.

for me, at least. I don't harbour any hopes of it being everyone elses or the DiS collective's choice, but with the exception of the everyman-pleasing Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, no other album this year has been so unrelentingly rewarding from the first listen to the umpteenth.

'Seek Magic' is an apt title - on almost every track, there is a transition moment, a trigger that turns something quite lovely into something ecstatic, something magic. It can be as mundane as a tinny 8-bit game sounding synth evoking pure, blood warming nostalgia just jumping into the fore, to a rapturous children's choir whooping with fun, to some of the finest New Order/Cure aping as heard 3 and a half minutes into Bicycle where Hawke unlocks the sonic genome for joy.

I urge people to hit up Hawke's blog to grab hold of the 'bonus CD' track Treeship - it's like a 20 minute mix of all the best bits that didn't make the album proper and to me, it's the true final track. It's incredible.

but it's a dull, dull, dull cover of a great song, by a dull, dull, dull sideproject of a great band.

Love The Knife. Can't stand Fever Ray.

YES FUCKING PLEASE.

Hopefully this will convince the naysayers who never got past PARTY HARD that Andrew W.K. is very far from being a one trick pony. Seriously, one of my favourite people, let alone favourite musicians.

I think somebody close to them should tell them to stop dicking about with their name. Riceboy Sleeps was fine. Jónsi & Alex sounds like a shitty sitcom.

It doesn't help that my adrenalin, shrieking, singing and dancing diminished immune system is now suggesting I have 'flu and I'm sitting here in a fucking winter-grade jumper while typing this to stave off the shivers, but to be totally honest, a lot of those shivers are chest thumping memories of wednesday night.

Mew had a dissapointingly short set and the sound wasn't right for them at all, everything was getting lost into a (albeit magnificent) torrent of reverb, Jonas' voice getting lost into the swirl. Very shoegaze, but somehow not quite Mew, who are a great deal more intricate than the sound allowed them to be. Also, I think I got into the stadium about 2 songs in so I don't know if they played When She Came Home for Christmas, but I was sad not to hear it.

Janes Addiction were a confliction. I'll go right ahead and admit that I only know 'Ritual de lo Habitual' and the odd track like Oceansize flirting around it, but I fully appreciate what an honour it was to have them up on stage over here - a couple of things spring to mind - firstly, it amazes me how Navarro and Farrel are on two trains going in different directions on the traintrack of ageing - Navarro looking almost whelpish (tinged with a touch of Lucifer, of course) in comparison to Farrel's almost creaky glam. Farrel's voice is a whisper, a cracked homage to years of excess, while Navarro remains a bona-fide Guitar God. I danced like a motherfucker but I did feel I was in a minority, sadly.

NIN, on the other hand... I was lucky enough to get standing tickets, and the first 15 minutes of the set were so brutally intense (BROOOOTAAAAAL) that I was almost desperate to get to the side or the seats, but Reznor realised and dropped the tempo a touch, though thankfully lost none of the intensity. After those 15 minutes of panic-attack tinged awesomeness though, everything mellowed out significantly in the crowd and the response to the big hitters of the night was less psychotic, more adoring. The crowd pleasers are obvious if you look at Sean's handy set list, but while they omitted my all-time favourite NIN track (Into the Void) they played it's ambient cousin, La Mer, and transfixed the audience.

The last 5 songs of the set were just mindblowing - wheeling Gary Numan out of nowhere to do a stunning song-swap (and their version of Cars was even more bonecrunching than Fear Factory's amazing cover), but highlight of the night for me was Head Like a Hole - so skullfuckingly intense that I'm not sure I'll ever be able to listen to it on 'Pretty Hate Machine' and its subdued 80s production again and not feel... cheated in some way. That's truly the mark of an amazing live band - to perform their greats with such panache the records seem like a flimsy facsimile afterwards.

10/10

NIN did this already.

was written by the late, great and inimitable Swells. Go check it out again, and remember what a contrary old cunt he was, and smile like a bastard, like I did when I first read that review!

BANG was great. Fucking rubbish magazine industry.

Man, this album has been long overdue. What an arduous journey, so glad to hear that all the time and heartache has paid off. Their first album was a little understated gem, released about a year too early for the shoegaze revivalist rennaisance and criminally overlooked.

Damn near perfection on record. Within two or three seconds of Lisztomania starting up, you know you've spun up something special. Phoenix have always had a production nous to admire but it's never felt so utterly on the money before. Since Wolfgang came out I've also been hitting United, Alphabetical and It's Never Been to remind myself just what a special band Phoenix are, and shake my head in disbelief that they're still so unknown. Hopefully this time round, Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix won't just be preaching to the choir.

This is the sound of summer, a 36 minute cure to hayfever.

this is the first Manics album worth buying in 13 years (not counting the Holy Bible 10th anniversary reissue)...?

I'm tempted to buy it from Sainsbury's just to have the assinine censorship sleeve they covered up the *astoundingly beautiful* cover art with. It serves as a nice reminder that a) there are still people out there trying to decide what you can see for you and b) the manics can still court controversy in their dotage.

Seriously though, I'm very torn. I know I haven't been 17 for nearly a whole other lifetime, but I'm not sure how I'd feel if Journal... doesn't live up to these 'true Holy Bible follow-up' claims.

And they still need to remaster Generation Terrorists ffs.

half with the Amina string quartet, Jonssi barefoot on a special rug (just like Richard Ashcroft), and half in darkness to match their new more-evil-than-Mogwai songs – it felt like the building was going to collapse, and wouldn’t that be an awesome way to go...?"

I am not a religious person by any means, but when the two best gigs I've ever been to have both been in the Union Chapel - that very Sigur Ros gig and Sparklehorse's 'Mark's not in a wheelchair any more!' comeback gig; it's become my place of worship of choice.