oldchicago6

9/10 - producing modern mood music without Satiesque cliches and new age-atmospheres means a lot! This is fresh, raw, intimate pop-chamber music. Beautiful from start to end, one of my favourite records of 2008!

You like "Philtre"? Interesting, cause that one was for me a similarly frustrating exercise in boredom. Starbucks addicts might be happy hearing this "creamy dreamy latte-sound" floating out of the speakers...

But, all in all, it´s just fast food for the ears. One down for the appearance of Mr. Costello with his trademark-singing. 5/10

This is an excellent, quite visual review that made me smile more than one time! And a good introduction for these special melancholic vibes. Sure, it is very folky, full of everything you might expect from such nature-bound hippies. But, at the same time, it sounds fresh, organic, intimate.

After being a bit disappointed at first by all this "gentleness", the record becomes better and better! Several songs go quite deep, and with a smile on their face Byrne/Eno explore mortality and other not so funny stuff in a very interesting way. Byrne has written some great lyrics, too. This is a record that can easily be understated. And despite the dark areas it´s a joyful and soulful affair.

...that keeps the adventurous spirit of jazz alive. We really have enough of all this plastic jazz with its simulated/cloned depth of feelings. So, I think this will definitely be something for listeners who like EST or David Torn´s "Prezens"-album on ECM. By the way, Seb Rochford is playing on the new Byrne/Eno abum as well:)

This is a very fine album, and I´m very happy, too, I gave it a second chance. At first impression, it all sounded a bit too dense and even contrived, prog-rock-like, but then, the music opened up its own spaces - and a certain intensity surfaced more and more!

I always liked their approach to music, but never was keen on the real thing called Stereolab. Now this review made me curious again! Maybe the reduction of the recording process and the ornaments of Sean Hagan may go hand in hand!

This might, aside from other good side effects, be the best remedy for those who had to suffer so much while listening to The Hold Steady. It´s fun and it´s intelligent, what do you wanna more?!

allright is really right; his "mid-point" is a very good description os the area of sound the band fills up with in a poorly inspired way. When i read the 5-star-description of Allan Jones in "Uncut", I thought, wow, that must be a hell of a thing. This seems to be consensus rock.

I love this man´s music like I love the last four Radiohead albums or the late Talk Talk; I will hang on his lips in Germany. Some things never grow old!

Its all about repetition, cadences, progressions´etc - but these are, i.m.o., no good songs.

you mean grill parties?!

There is, I think, a great need - on the side of conservative journalists - to create new myths and new classics. Don´t forget "Dad Rock" has created some milestones in rock music, but this is a quite overestimated recycling of old role models.

I´m really a wow at parties - ask Mandy Lane!

I love their record! full of unknown great songs - and after I´ve heared some of the originals, I must say they turned them in even greater songs! For example "To Baby" - an achingly beautiful piece of music with fantastic lyrics!

That´s a wittone:) - my comment was of course directed to this Ciderland idiot and his redneck fantasies!

you are obviously a great spirit, a specialist in empathy and tolerance.

I´m not the only one who´s not blown away by this!:)

this record is quite boring in many ways. "Stay Positive" is a dull title and a conservative version of testosterone-driven, american mainstream rock. This album has an obvious lack of great songs and melodies. As i got my promo copy I was full of expectations. I read what Allan Jones had to say in his 5-star-review in Uncut; I realized the high ratings in Mojo and elsewhere. Oh me, oh my, thanks and good-bye. For example, albums like "The Allman Brothers Band Live at Fillmore East", Bruce Springsteen´s "Ghost Of Tom Joad", Emmylou Harris´ "Wreckin´Ball" (to quoet some archetypal Americana) go so much deeper. Trust your own ears only, that´s the lesson to learn here!

They don´t use the old formula, they don´t trick around with novelties, the quality of the voice is the common link between the three albums, but now beth gibbons has found some new landscapes to move through. haunting and, yes, old word, breathtaking indeed! There are only a few albums in 2008 I appreciate that much: Willard Grant Conspiracy: Pilgrim Road (Talk Talk fans, listen!!; a Glitterhouse release)and "No Kids: Come Into My House" (on Tomlab)

I first got into contact with the man´s music through his appearance on Robert Wyatt´s masterpiece "Rock Bottom". Decades later, when I interviewed Robert Wyatt ("Cuckooland" was scheduled for relase) in London (we met at teh entrance of Queen Elizabeth Hall), suddenly an old very slim man appeared out of nowhere, Ivor Cutler himself. They must have met by chance,I think, and Robert and Ivor were very happy to see one another again. I was only a silent witness, but quietly enjoyed the meeting of the two fabulous eccentrics.

I don´t like Metallica, I don´t like Police (their comeback being just an embarassing affair) - so that´s reason enough to be suspicious about the writer´s views. But his description of this music is so interesting that I will order this album. At the same time, i will keep the writer´s name in my mind hoping he will not land on my "black list":)

It´s definitely an album from the more extreme side of the Kranky Records catalogue, with all it´s melodies buried in echo-drunk,distorted segments, but it works fine for me. It might even function better at nighttime, with candles burning, but I just had my first listening experience while cleaning my room - after some minutes i felt like a figure from a Flaming Lips song, not a bad choice, if you´re not immediatley killed by robots!

You´re right, but even accidents sometimes produce great results. And the Hot Chip album has some great pieces (moments), it just doesn´t work as a whole.

to other people´s tastes, this record is fantastic. John Darnielle is a great story-teller, a great performer - and, in my opinion, there is no weak track on this album. His quotes of reggae, old rock etc. function as short signatures. His mixing of rock instrumentation and Eric Friedlander´s cello doesn´t follow one old trick, but works different from song to song. Adding "No Kids" and their little masterpiece, "Come Into my House" (out on Tomlab on Feb. 22nd), these are my fave albums of 2008 so far, no "Vampire Weekend", no "Hot Chip" comes close!

This is what makes these songs such a living thing: they create a band feeling, they are raw and intimate at the same time, emotionally profound, full of humour and melancolia. These qualities are quite often part of the same piece. The third "act" (sung in italian and spanish) is equally powerful like the first two parts of this "Comic Opera". Here, Robert Wyatt uses all kind of (musical) dreaming activities, and referring to old revolutionary dreams, the under-water-scenario of a Lorca poem and a sensual vibraphone piece, he completes this breathtaking journey through our world. This is definitely my record of the year, the only one I give a "10" this year.