andystripes

Better songs, better production, better melodies. Teen Dream is a tiring, fatiguing listen; this has more sonic variety and is veering further towards Cocteau / Fleetwood territory than ever before. excellent record

it has this britpop thing going for it that i dig. "heartlines" is the one i think is irredeemably awful. i'm all for big and shiny pop but i'm not really feeling the need to listen to this much when "conatus" exists.

extraordinarily beautiful music, this.

To me, this seems to be an incredibly strange and imperceptive thing to say about this record. Must all popular music be about "big important things" and such? What exactly is the matter with a series of really well produced, clever, and swoony pop songs? I trust you'll now be giving similar scores and making similar statements about bands like Camera Obscura, Belle & Sebastian and the like.

Also, how exactly did you come to the realisation that young attractive Swedes are immune from heartbreak and other such romantic disappointments? Not that she's as "pretty" as Ms Li, but have a listen to Robyn.

Everything Everything though, spot on. With every single they grow more likeable. Is there an album on the way?

Nice to see this column back.

They are wonderful live, dear Wendy, if you ever have the opportunity.

Get well soon!

you do know know there is already a Princeton "halbum", don't you?

mostly i just want to brag about the fact that i just went and saw cloud control play a lovely intimate set which comprised six or seven completely new songs. And they were all tres bien. Ahhh. Also, I love Zooey. And you. (Vomit much)? TTFN, Stripesey.

Also, that Broken Bells review was a mindfuck but I do think enjoyed reading it.

Love your work Roby.

So much I haven't heard, as well. Looking forward to checking heaps of stuff out. As you would so wonderfully say, wendy, MZN stuff. <3

That's even better than an obscura/phoenix top two. Snaps for DiS. St Vincent <3

:(

it looks like Camera Obscura and Phoenix for top 2. I can get behind that.

Stillness Is The Move, 1901, Lisztomania, Sea Within A Sea, Bulletproof, Two Weeks, If I Had A Heart, Daniel, The Reeling...are just a few that come to mind...

damn, I'd even rate Kasabian's "Fire" over a lot of these...

Good calls on AC, Royksopp, Florence, and School of Seven Bells though.