sleepy jack

I did my top 10. This was surprisingly hard.

Elliott Smith:
Strengths: Created some of the most interesting experimental pop songs of his day after perfecting his intimate acoustic sound.

Weaknesses: Died too early making a mess of most his post-humus material particularly the stuff during his later day. Don't think that's a problem? Look at the mixing on From a Basement on the Hill which had the potential to be without a doubt his masterpiece.

Patrick Wolf:
Strengths: He's made some of the most unique pop ever with his last album and the two before created some of the most unique things for what he was trying to do with them and he's super talented and super hot<33

Weaknesses: Sometimes it seems like he takes himself too seriously which doesn't so much affect the album as his stage presence live.

The Magnetic Fields:
Strengths: Stephin Merritt is one of the most talented lyricists ever and an excellent producer who can construct songs/albums very well.

Weaknesses: Kind of like with Stereolab he's far too prolific. He's done albums with various side projects (under his own name, Gothic Archives, Future Bible Heroes, The 6ths etc) and the Magnetic Fields releases, while they've been spaced out, if you look at Stephin Merritt's other stuff including they're not too spaced out and sometimes you wonder why he put a certain song on here. But oddly enough that isn't a problem at all on 69 Love Songs, there's probably five or so songs I'd have gotten rid of but thats it.

Carissa's Wierd:
Strengths: They kind of the embody the pacific northwest musical aesthetic for me and they create some of the most heartwrenching music ever.

Weaknesses: Sometimes they're a bit too cliche, particularly on tracks like Die which you can only listen to if you're already feeling down.

Jens Lekman:
Strengths: He writes funny lyrics that would place him along side Morrissey and Stuart Murdoch, which is extraordinary given English isn't his first language. Plus he's an excellent vocalist that from a technical standpoint is stunning.

Weaknesses: He tries to rhyme certain things that shouldn't be rhymed. English is his second language and it makes it amusing but sometimes its distracting particularly when vocals/lyrics are such a big part of his music.

Morrissey:
Strengths: When he's in proper form he can rival the best of the Smiths stuff easily and he's proven to be a very versatile artist from album to album.

Weaknesses: Sometimes style changing isn't for the best, for every good Morrissey album you can basically find a bad or subpar one. He's also become far too stream-lined with these last two releases. I hope he does something different with the new album.

Bright Eyes:
Strengths: I think Conor can write some of the most beautiful lyrics ever and create some very eclectic/unique music when he wants to, example: Digital Ash in a Digital Urn or Letting Off the Happiness.

Weaknesses: Lately his lyrics have been below standard (they've honestly been a downhill slope ever since Fevers & Mirrors) and his music is becoming pretty stream-lined. I don't think he'll be experimenting anytime soon and seeing as his orchestrated country sound is already dull that kind of blows.

Modest Mouse:
Strengths: Back in their day they created fantastically jaded and edgy music that was a brilliant combination of Pixies and Built to Spill.

Weaknesses: They've turned into a fairly dull supergroup that's obviously past their prime.

The Smiths:
Strengths: They created some of the most perfect pop songs ever (There is a Light That Never Goes Out for instance) and some of the just most perfect songs ever (Asleep for instance.) Morrissey was an excellent frontman, Johnny Marr a great guitarist, Rourke and excellent bassist and Joyce a very solid drummer. All in all a very cohesive group of musicians who knew exactly what they were doing.

Weaknesses: I couldn't think of many but the reason I don't listen to Strangeways, Here We Come much is because after the Queen is Dead they became fairly dull. Maybe they'd already achieved their pinnacle sound I don't know but that album only shines at moments. Stuff like the pointless intro to Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me and the banality of Unhappy Birthday are kind of shameful given their prior releases.

Daniel Johnston:
Strengths/Weaknesses: He created some of the most painfully honest lo-fi music ever. This could be both good and bad.

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