After enjoying Angles so much I thought this one would be even better. Kinda left me wondering "Is this it?" at the end (hahaxddd). Seriously though, I don't think this is quite as good. There are a few good singles on the album for sure but there's no rhythmic variety for the most part which gets really dull for me.
I've heard that this album is the reference point for most modern indie rock, hence it's fairly possible that I've just heard all the albums inspired by this and am bored of the sound a bit. It was still pretty decent overall, 7/10.
Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation. The Strokes are great but their first 3 albums imo are more of my cup of tea, later albums are still good but dont hold a candle to their older ones.
Lol King Crimson is cheating. Never listened to an entire Strokes album before, now I've got 2 on the list thus far!
Must say I'm impressed with this one. The fusion between Indie + New wave works really well. A lot of the songs start quite simple and open up really beautifully, the best example of this is in two kinds of happiness at like 0:50 or something.
There's definitely enough variety to keep me entertained throughout the duration. Honestly there's no bad track I'd say. There are a few that don't quite reach the standard set by the rest of the album but they're short enough to be forgotten. This is a 7.5/10 for sure.
Fave track(s): Machu Picchu, Two Kinds Of Happiness, Taken For A Fool, Call Me Back
Weirdly I've only listened to later Muse rather then their earler (and generally considered better) stuff. Mainly due to the friends who got me into them. Obviously there are tons of Radiohead parallels which suck since Radiohead is a better band but I'm going to try to stay unbiased.
This album feels empty. There are some good songs as listed below but the rest is soulless filler which is OK to listen to but not terribly enjoyable. A lot of chord progressions are very samey and the production doesn't particularly help differentiate anything most of the time. This reinforces my opinion that Muse are better with singles than albums. 6/10 is my score.
Fave track(s): Plug In Baby, New Born, Feeling Good
As indie pop goes, it's certainly decent. Her voice is a little shrill for my taste but the excellent production more than makes up for it. There are some parallels to be drawn with Kate Bush which is definitely a great thing.
The problem here is the problem with most indie pop in general: there's not enough variety on the album in terms of songwriting/production etc. It all sounds a bit too sparkly and I get kinda sick of the formula about halfway through so the rest of the album is a bit of a slog.
There are some genuine gems here which I'll list below and will add to my regular listening. The album as a whole gets a 6/10.
