Am I the only one who hates Cat Power?

not at all. there are plenty of people who hate her. well, hate may be a harsh term, but a lot certainly don't care for her.

yeah isn't that odd w/ release dates?
Last year, it didnt matter for me, Bright Eyes & Bloc Party were two of the best and they were early 2005.

This year, the Strokes & Cat Power had really solid albums, but just didnt stay in my head the way they should've

#36.




Califone - Roots & Crowns

US Chart Position: #30 Independent

UK Chart Position: n/a

Charting Singles: n/a

Acclaimed Music Ranking: #64 (Year)

SOMB Says: "After he considered calling it quits musically, Tim Rutili's return to Califone was inspired by the Psychic TV song "The Orchids," with its pivotal lyric, "In the morning after the night / I fall in love with the light." On Roots and Crowns, Rutili pays tribute to the song with a cover that acts as both a beautiful centerpiece and the easy entrance point to a challenging album, exposing its themes and ruminating on the record's development and the birth of art in general. Illumination and obscurity figure heavily in both Rutili's complex lyrics and the group's intricate arrangements, which range in sound from Wilco-esque folk to darker Byrne/Eno-inspired soundscapes. Down to its binary title, Roots and Crowns is an album full of dichotomies, and the tension behind its conception is audible in its structure. It's a record that -- although a finished product - seems to keep searching, and for that reason, it rewards more listens than almost any other release from this year." -Animals and Men

Ranked Highest By: Clarence Witherspoon, Jenny, Ricewaters and Stovich (#1) (also ranked #2 by Elastico and #5 by Umbrellatimes)

Amazon Link

I think Cat Power's my haven't checked this out because the name sucks music.

I really expected that Califone to go Top 15 on this list, there seemed to be a lot of votes for it. How many did it get in the end?


My only guesses are Decemberists going top 10, and Ys, Cookie Mountain, and the Hold Steady as the top 3 in some order. Really can't come up with a lot more records that are still to come on the list. St. Elsewhere I suppose.... and umm Post-War. Hmmm.


Also, Writer's Block may be the only album this year where the pitchfork review has made me really want to hear it. That blurb for it here only magnifies said want.

crash came out in april of last year i believe.

Don't put those two fad bands in the same room as the Lips.

#35.




The Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Show Your Bones
(1078 Points, 31 Votes, One #1 Vote)

US Chart Position: #11

UK Chart Position: #7

Charting Singles: "Gold Lion" (#88 / #14 Modern Rock US, #18 UK)

Acclaimed music Ranking: #12 (year0, #141 (decade), #1172 (all-time)

SOMB Says: "The second YYYs album emerged into an environment very different from their hothoused 2002 breakthrough. Bands semi-accurately portrayed as their peers back then have enjoyed varying success, with only the White Stripes scoring a hit on the magnitude of "Maps" and many of The Thes completely burning through their career cycle. It's the consistent contradictions that made this band vital, and keep them so. Karen O's enthusiasm and vulnerability - expressed with equal naivety - render "too cool" accusations as outdated as "Get Free." Nick Zinner is quietly assembling a body of work that establishes him as one of today's best rock guitarists. And the group's frantic aesthetic (more easily understood once freed of their visual presentation) increasingly resolves into demure, damaged beauty. So is that album title confessional, or carnivorous? Probably both." -More Drama

Ranked Highest By: Cooler By the Lake (#1) (also ranked #2 by Kmac, #3 by More Drama and #5 by Syphilufigus)

Amazon Link

Yeah, because they're both better.



I went there.




About time we 'showed our bones' too.

I can honestly say I have at times loved Cat Power, but at this point, nevertheless. I hated this last record.

Her Wonderwall cover is great. Very vanilla music though most of the time.

#34.




Asobi Seksu - Citrus
(1084 Points, 32 Votes, One #1 Vote)

US Chart Position: n/a

UK Chart Position: n/a

Charting Singles: n/a

Acclaimed Music Ranking: n/a

SOMB Says: -Undercooked Sausage

Ranked Highest By: RoBKoZ (#1) (also ranked #2 by BritKid and #5 by Cooler By the Lake and Norton)

Amazon Link

omgz that blurb is so clevar.

Yeah, for some reason I've avoided this band like the plague. But I downloaded "Young Folks" from our singles list and loved it. The well written blurb here is now directing me over to the fish thread to see if I can snake it over there.

I like this a lot, but their first disc... that was the stunner.. and would be in my top 5 if it were released in 2006. Still I am all for the Asobi Sesku love, and yeah the blurb is priceless.

all i gotta say is that if you haven't heard asobi seksu's - "nefi + girly" by now, do yourself a favor and check it out.

Better as in "my white thighs look better in the dark light because there's a kid in there and he's big and dumb and scared"

or better as in this:

<object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/z2kNXIS1okw"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/z2kNXIS1okw" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>


?

Yeah, that one and the LCD Soundsystem one make me not want to seek out the music therein. They may make a few people giggle, but they're a disservice to everyone who voted for those albums

First one, by default.

That's one of the wimpiest lines of the year. The histrionics don't help much either.

"and I'm sorry anyone at all dies these days"?

That is such teen angst crap.

Anyway,back to the original point. What is it about the Strokes and Franz Ferdinand that is superior to the Flaming Lips in your mind?

I will throw in my opinion, which is that the Strokes and Franz Ferdinand are still releasing material that I enjoy and the Lips have not made a good album, or even a good song really, since Clouds Taste Metallic.

I agree, they're laughable now.

The last album was bad, but it was far superior to the Strokes latest effort. The Lips are still a great live act, blowing the lushy Strokes out of the water. The Strokes are done.

It's hard to say for Franz Ferdinand, but I will wager a high sum that they will be a flash in the pan.

The Lips have been at this for a long, long time. Steven Drozd farts better tunes than either of those pretenders.

The Lips are dull live. I saw them right after Yoshimi came out and the show was really fun, dancing animals and balloons and shit, but it comes off really phoned in after what, the fifth year of doing the exact same thing?

edit: hey how come I don't get credit for the asobi seksu blurb, if it's going to offend some people I definitely want my name attached to it.

Fargo fits into that category as well. Released right at the beginning of '96.

no way, it's totally the opposite. it's maturity.

when you're a teen, you don't know shit about the world, you don't take death very seriously, you go to horror movies and play violent video games and it's all fun.

then you get older, you realize how shitty the world really is so horror movies aren't very entertaining anymore... and although you don't break down and cry every time someone dies, you feel more sympathy for them and their loved ones.

If an album or movie is good enough, it really doesn't matter what time of year it was released.

A sense of direction, vocal sound, and generally songs I want to listen to as opposed to some of the bloated stuff the Lips have put out.

I prefer the post-punk sound in general to that kind of experimentation.



I'm glad you use music to gauge your manliness.




I have no perspective.

yeah, and if we're talking about manliness, the last few Lips records have been some serious sugary bubble-gum bullshit.

please SOMB don't hurt me

Have you ever experimented with hallucinogens? Your perspective would change in a second.





Well, to be honest that's kind of a hypocritical comment form me. It *is*a very wimpy,self pitying lyric, but I listen to alot of rather wimpy music. Believe me, I have tried to get into Sunset Rubdown. They just don't have the chops or the rhythm section. I can deal with the wimpiness.







Well, objectively, there is some truth to that. However, the Lips have a killer rhythm section that kind of balances out the sugary shit from Wayne. This is especially apparent while under the influence. Things like "Are You a Hypnotist??" or "Ego Tripping" are just incredible.

And, objectively, the Strokes were done a long time ago.

Some of the tracks off First Impressions suggest otherwise.




Just mail me over some shrooms and I'll get started with the Flaming Lips love.

They said the same thing about 4 Non-Blondes latest effort. They are the sister band to the Strokes.

Spencer Krug is quite the performer. They aren't particularly rhythmic, compared to Wolf Parade, though.



As if sounding similar means you are destined to the same fate.

It's been a long time. A few months after Yoshimi was the last.

stop ruining this thread with stupid arguments about terrible bands.

I don't think they sound all that similar. But they are just fad acts that the world passed by.

Go back to your fucking drum circle.

Montana, go somewhere and judge records objectively. Chrono, go do so some hallucinogens. Both of you shut the fuck up.

Too bad you suck.

Thanks for reminding me about a great song. Haven't listened to Ego Tripping in like 3 months, must go put it on repeat now to make up for lost listens.

And way better then the first Franz Ferdinand album. It actually has some variety in the track list...makes for an altogether more satisfying listen.

I like the production on the first disc a lot more. That, for me, clinches it.

for the christ... we have the antichrist...

for the tastemakers of the somb... we have montana

please return the thread to the upper level highway.. .that is all.

<object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Gg-246gFJ7A"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Gg-246gFJ7A" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>




Do you have the remix version? It's pretty solid.

IT'S SO MUCH BETTER ON HOLIDAY, THAT'S WHY WE ONLY WORK WHEN WE NEED THE MONEY

For the square peg.....we have the round hole....


For the exictement of SOMB.....we have Izzy.


The upper level highway has been closed. A truck headed for Dusty Ben's Used CD Shack in Baraboo at the corner of Oak and Maple has flipped over. Thousands of used copies of Strokes, Franz Ferdinand and 4-Non Blonde cd's have made the highway impassable. Onlookers said they also found a few copies of Izzy Stradlin and the Ju Ju Hounds self titled.

is there actually an argument about which is better - The Strokes' 2006 album or the Flaming Lips' 2006 album? For real? they each have one good song a piece, so I'd call it a tie at best.