Supergrass - Diamond Hoo ha

This is a great album, far better than most of the tripe I have seen in the Metacritic top 20.


Avishai Cohen Trio

Havent seen mention of this at all by critics, seems they're all stuck on the Pitchfork bandwagon these days.


The Hellacopters - Head Off

Good solid rock, beats the pants off Portishead or The Raconteurs.

Avishai Cohen Trio - Gently Disturbed

sorry forgot to include album title.

Supergrass album is easily their worst, completely pedestrian or pointless cock rock. "Butterfly" is very good though.

I've listened to The Raconteurs a few times and there is barely one memorable hook or melody on it. Hugely disappointing compared to the first.

Great albums I like this year.

British Sea Power -Do You Like Rock Music?

Cruelly denied a spot in the top rungs on Metacritic by an awful review on Pitchfork which originally contained numerous factual errors and completely misses the point.



"Waving Flags"



"No Lucifer"

Laura Marling - Alas I Cannot Swim

Considering it was recorded before she was 18 this is an astonishingly assured debut album of pop-folk touched with some very dark images.



"New Romantic" (not on the album, from last years EP "My Manic & I")



"Ghosts"

Mystery Jets - 21

Second album a lot less proggy than the first and the first half is packed with great pop songs. Great production from producer/remixer du jour Erol Alkan.



"Young Love" ft. Laura Marling



"Two Doors Down"

Long Blondes - "Couples"

Speaking of Erol Alkan he twiddled the knobs on this second album from Sheffield's answer to Blonide. A lot bouncier and lead of single even reminded me Sub Sub.



"Guilt"

Envelopes - Here Comes The Wind

An album full of those staples of Indie Rock like VU's Third, Big Star, Sugarcubes and New Wave all smashed together.



"Freejazz"

A couple of others that have been endorsed to a degree in various places include Ruby Suns. Elbow, Frightened Rabbit, Cut Copy and Neon Neon. Make Model and Fleet Foxes albums are very good but they aren't out yet.

"Cock rock", such a delightful term used by "musik critiques". imo it's probably Supergrass's most solid album to date.

Well imo, speaking as someone who has seen them live a dozen times and has everything they've ever done it's only rival for last place is the s/t from 1999 (and even then they are both solid enough records.)If someone wants to say it's their forth favourite fair enough, I quite like the two before this one but to say it's better than the first two are the gibberings of the delusional.

and yes cock-rock is a perfect description of what they are aping on the near title track and Bad Blood instead of sounding like T.Rex and Bowie as they did on moments on s/t and LoOP they sound more like The Datsuns when they rock out here, it doesn't suit them.

Completely disagree. The Datsuns didn't come close to this album, they were truly dire. I think Supergrass were aiming for the "cock rock" sound on purpose, they have a sense of humour, unlike some people on here.

Hanne Hukkelberg - Rykestraffe 68

I heard about it from a good Popmatters review, but nobody else is reviewing it. I'd put it in my top five so far this year.

Rykestraffe 68 is from 2007.

I think the Madonna album has been given unfair reviews. I agree that the album features producers rather than Madonna but her presence is still definitely there. I'm thinking it's hipsters who don't like that she made an American album rather than making another European album like she's done for the past 10 years. I think it sounds great and it's surprisingly consistent which can't be said for many other American dancehall albums. The only thing I could have done without is the repeating of Madonna on 4 Minutes... I'm pretty sure it happens on other tracks too. I hate that trend in dance music just to repeat the artists name over the beat. That sounds so ridiculous especially when there is no doubt that it's Madonna singing.

I'd say any reviewer that hasn't reviewed "Shallow Graves" by The Tallest Man On Earth yet (which is pretty much everyone except for pitchfork) has overlooked something.

Metaform - Standing On The Shoulders Of Giants

Hanne Hukkelberg became available in the US in 2008. That means I get to call it 2008 for my own purposes! NYAH I say!

Do You Like Rock Music? is one of those albums I made the compare based formula to bolster. Yes, it was dragged down by a few lousy extreme negative reviews. With my system it's top 10. It's been sliding up and down between 4th and 8th as new reviews have come in.

That's another issue with going by metacritic. The fewer reviews, the greater the margin of error. So the ones that aren't reviewed a lot are way more likely to be either way higher than the average they'd have after reviewed by everyone or way lower.

the Duke Spirit hasn't even been posted on metercritic and all the alt. rock stations are loving it. I like British Sea Power too. I hear more Lilys and Interpol than Arcade Fire. I'm getting sick of the who british/New York rudegirl movement with Miss Dynamite, Amy Whinehouse,Lily Allen, Lady Soverign, Duffy, Adelle, Estelle and now Santogold. Some records are better than others but the fact that British Sea Power was able to change their sound and not be clumped with those Gang of Four Knockoffs Block Party, Futureheads, Kaiserchiefs, Maximo Park, Razorlight and Kasabian is a possitive new influence for these talented girls.....And Amy "I Get Along w/a Libertine" Whinehouse. She's a goner. I see another Sid and Nancy scandle in the horizon. I'm going to miss them:-(

Red Shark With A Toothbrush In His Hand - In Bed With Ski Boots

John, I couldn't agree less about the Madonna album. I'm a huge fan of hers- I even adore American Life, which most music aficionados seem to abhor. However, Hard Candy is her worst studio effort for me, by far. Never has she sounded less involved and less interested. It doesn't help matters that she enrolled the help of Timbertwat to make her seem hip. Most of these songs sound like Nelly Furtado rejects, and Madonna sounds so bored on many of the tracks. Even the ones I like such as "Give It 2 Me" are mired with inane lyrics like the nauseating repetition of "Get stupid". I'm very disappointed.