vsvsvs

nice cover... reshot version of epics in minutes sleeve

might have to get it for completists sake though i am not that fond of the later stuff

is the name of Wild Beasts' debut album

ta!

but i don't think there is any crossover on the two albums... might be wrong though

got the self-titled in NY last year and is really good.. this new ones has a few catchier tracks on it but isn't as hot as "an album"... i'm making little sense today.

ta!

No Age - Sleeper Hold
Beach House - Heart Of Chambers
Times New Viking - DROP-OUT
Usher - Love In This Club
Mayyors - White Jeep
Jay Reatard - An Ugly Death
Chad VanGaalen - Molten Light
The Bug - Skeng
The Sleaze - Smokin' Fucking' Cigs

I think that's nine... again

So they must be the right ones...

Times New Viking - Rip It Off
Beach House - Devotion
Chad VanGaalen - Soft Airplane
Women - Women
No Age - Nouns
Jay Reatard - Matador Singles
The Bug - London Zoo
High Places - High Places
Wolf Parade - At Mount Zoomer

That's nine... but oh well... probably forgetting some really obvious things!

And I am probably being harsh on the band. But I just can't love the new record. I love the fact that the band can go in these directions and don't feel the need to sit within their pre-determined genre or classification, but in this case I feel it is at the expense of the immediacy and fist-clenched raw power of their earlier work. While it is unfair to expect more singular works of genius like Baiting The Public or Two Snakes, I did expect something more powerful than this watered down hard rock album I purchased. Y'know?

I'm a big fan of Hidden World and their earlier singles, and I find this new record a big confusing mess. It's definitely not a punk album, nor a hardcore punk album. It seems the band have tried to combine the passion of Hidden World with the sonic experimentation of Year Of The Pig and just ended up with wavering, unfocused prog-rock nonsense. The fury, energy and, most notably, the strength of their previous work has been sacrificed in favour of weaker, noodly meanderings.

Where's the immediacy? Where are the songs? It's so watered down and non-committal. I can only surmise that Fucked Up have... ahem... "sold out"?

"Tears of the Valedictorian" is probably my favourite of the albums mentioned in this article. It is admittedly not for everybody, but I find it hugely involving and a superior listen.

A bunch of bloody corpses?!

I don't think Gareth likes Nottingham much... I remember some tour diary he did on here where he (rightfully, perhaps) had a big go at Stealth/Rescued.

Also, i'm from Nottingham and I once made the mistake of saying I fancied Aleks on these boards. OOOPS. He don't like that.

But the album is a bit meh... really not keen on that Hummingbird song, and it's all over the place at the moment.

They are considerably less scuzzy live... the pop shines through

A Nottingham or Birmingham addition would be amazing.... but a trip to Leeds is okay too.

Sounds like a potential gig of the year!

Flogging that pig to death.

No Age - Sleeper Hold
Beach House - Heart Of Chambers
Usher - Love In This Club
Lil' Wayne – Love Me Or Hate Me
Be Your Own Pet - Becky
Jay Reatard - See/Saw
Fleet Foxes - Mykonos
Islands - Creeper
Tapes N' Tapes - Hang Them All
Shawty Lo - Dey Know (Remix)

And made doubly worse by the fact she did exactly the same thing in 2005 in Nottingham.

That's gutting. That was one of the things I was looking forward to most. How do you get lost in Nottingham? All the roads lead to the same place.

I forgot to mention Thee Oh Sees cancelled as well. Boo. And Blitzen Trapper mysteriously disappeared from the proposed line-up, despite appearing on all the posters.

But Ex-Models on Saturday was an unexpected delight. Ear-splitting 11 minute noise-fest, followed by 2 minute electro-punk delight. Ahhhhhhh...

were bloody fantastic! The best band I saw at the weekend by a long way. Saying that, overall, it was the worst Dot to Dot i've been to. It was spread far too thinly over two days. You could have easily whittled down the line-up into a killer one-day jamboree. Not this badly organised, half-baked mess of a festival. I'm glad I got an early-bird ticket so I didn't have to spend £40 on the thing!

Btw, did No Kids play? I heard that both Mt. Eerie and No Kids hadn't turned up.

Born Ruffians were okay. The crowd were dire though... only getting excited for the overrated 'Hummingbird', with a lukewarm reception towards a pretty bang-on rendition of 'This Sentence Will Save/Ruin Your Life'. Likewise for Two Gallants, who were genuinely fantastic and rousing... and they played 'Nothing To You'. Fuck yeah!

And I thank you...

I don't know if it's better than the first, but it is a brilliant, misunderstood and underrated record.

Can't wait to hear Arm's Way! The new tracks sounded great when I saw them live.

They can stay at home and listen to hardcore punk 7"s like the rest of us. Grr.

I wonder how many people will be torn between this and the Pitchfork ATP.

And just don't turn up.

from the man Horvitz himself. With a set of photographs, newspaper advertisement and a sachet of lichee black tea.

Wonderful.

Looking forward to the Sunset Rubdown, No Age and Mika Miko discs.

I'll be seeing him twice in 6 days.

Fag Patrol is an EP.

Just throwing that in there. And if we're including EPs, then we can also include splits, and in which case we're on Xiu Xiu's 300th album.

Selectadisc in Nottingham had this in stock a few months ago. I guess they imported it. Fantastic record!

Those 14+ shows will Gallows are going to be hilarious.

I have their first 7"

It's in my top 5 of the year. It's definitely a different kind of album to the debut, but I really don't understand the negative press it got. It's a super impressive experimental/indie album.

Better than that watered-down over serious sorry excuse for a follow-up by The Arcade Fire at any rate

This album is one of my favourites of the year amongst albums by Animal Collective, Marnie Stern and Pissed Jeans.

There hasn't been a pop group with such a consistantly great string of singles and albums since the 1980s, that appeals to those beyond the pop chart spectrum.

This should be celebrated (as it is virtually everywhere else in the press) and not be criticised as bold cynicism.

Yay! Yes! One of my favourite bands!

Clinic were sensational. Too bad the majority of the Arcade Fire fans there (close-minded by nature it seems) didn't get it.

Arcade Fire were pretty good, the Funeral songs at least. Anything from Neon Bible (Keep The Car Running aside) sounded flat and weak, much like the album itself.

I was dancing. Everybody else is SHIT. Also thanks for summing up Liars Club/Stealth vs Rescued in a succinct truthful sentence. Horrible, horrible people.

My favourite song of 2006. Lovely to own it on 7".

Also seeing them perform it live yesterday. WOW!

Sufjan Stevens - Michigan
Sufjan Stevens - Illinois
Radiohead - Kid A
A.C. Newman - The Slow Wonder
The Shins - Oh, Inverted World
Boards Of Canada - Geogaddi