2009 let downs
 

Taking my cue from this thread: http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...tml#post771516, I thought it would be good to gather all our dislikes in one place.

What's disappointed you this year musically? Here are a few of mine:


Probably their worst release of the 00's. Not inherently awful but still a huge let down. The hour long 1st C.D has barely any standout sections and is a rehash of musical themes that PT have done better before. Couple that with a production that is hardly dynamic and you get probably the biggest letdown for me this year. The CD came out last month. It got a few plays before I went to see them. It hasn't had an airing since. Damn shame.


Pure Reason Revolution have slowly gained an audience enamoured with their multi layered harmonic Prog Rock that was structured well enough to tick all the requisite boxes yet remain original and refreshing in a market that has it's detractors. So what do they do after making massive strides with their previous 2 releases? Make an Electronic album and a damn poor one at that, so devoid of anything memorable or distinctive that one could almost weep. I guess one could see the reasoning behind it- poor sales and an audience not exactly lapping up their music but to make a complete about turn and fail so bad is beyond bewilderment. Another band bites the dust.


The Mars Volta- Ocathedron. By all means a progressive band should always try something new but this acoustic album is poor beyond belief. It's not even GOOD acoustic music. Bland, uninspired and totally forgettable. A major let down.


His earlier release Roadkillovercoat blew me away with his unconventional flow and beats that dipped it's toes in many genres and what worked so well was the individuality and catchiness of the album. It inspired me to go back into his back catalogue with Fear Of A Black Tangent proving more than equal to Roadkill. such a shame then that Jhelli Beam is the complete opposite and seemed uninspired and lazy in comparison.

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Just because your songs aren't accessible doesn't make them worthwhile. Somehow the Lips, caught up in the post-partum depression of their last blooming failure, decided to go the anterior route and produced an annal of free-form synth noodlings. I didn't find it abrasive or unusual, just inescapably boring. Apologies Wayne.

I quite like The Mars Volta's Ocathedron. I think it's a refreshing break from the ear-fucking they usually give us. Not that I mind the ear-fuckings. It's just as I said, a refreshing break. Curious where they'll go next.

Dinosaur Jr - Farm

I love 90% of DJ's output, i generally think they're one of the best bands of the last 25 years. So i was stoked to recieve Farm following a myriad of positive reviews.

Now, i can understand why people like it, the instrumentation is, as ever, tight as hell, there is a dynamism to the songs which sounds great. However, for me the songs are generally uninspiring and devoid of anything remotely memorable. There is of course the odd exception, but as a whole i found it all blends into one big haze of noisey guitar, with precious few ideas. *cue the backlash*

mewithoutYou - It's All Crazy! It's All False! It's All A Dream! It's Alright
Ugh. I don't even want to talk about it. A few decent tracks but all in all, everything I liked about their sound is gone.

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Diamond Watch Wrists - Ice Capped At Both Ends
Total fail. It's a debut album/side project so I shouldn't have really had any expectations, but I did. Meh central. Every song sounds the same, and it's not a very good one.

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Cursive - Mama, I'm Swollen
Nothing on this album has grabbed me. I don't hate it but I expected to like it more. Maybe I just need to play it more, because the first time it sounded nice but then I lost interest with each listen. Actually with that logic I'll like it even less if I play it again.

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Black Bonzo - Guillotine Drama
While this is a good record, they've kind of lost their progressive edge, making it basically a 70s-inspired hard rock record. Good but not what I was hoping for. Plus some of the vocals in the first track always put me off so when I think of putting the album on I always have second thoughts.

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2009 was pretty good to me, but...

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"Hey man, you know what we should do for our next album? Let's take riffs from 80's hair metal bands, ABUSE MY VOCAL RANGE TO ****ING HELL IN EVERY SINGLE SONG, and splash it all with some synthesizers. That sounds like fun!"

:banghead:

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^ 311 - Uplifter. They keep "maturing" more and more with every album they release, and I find myself enjoying them less and less. The CD they put out before this one, Don't Tread On Me, took awhile to grow on me, but I enjoy it from time to time now...but I'm not sure this one can.
The only 311 album I don't actually own yet, and I'm not sure if I'll ever get around to buying it. :|

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Listened to the newest IM cd 5 or 6 times through now I'd guess. A few songs like Project 100 are crazy, but most are pretty unremarkable, and none make me get all screw-faced like has happened with their previous releases on occasion. I'm gonna keep trying with this one probably though, so we'll see.

That's all I got atm.

Definitely as already said by jackhammer, Porcupine Tree's The Incident was the biggest letdown for me. It's really not up to scratch with their earlier stuff that I love.

And also The Resistance by Muse, after all this discussion before it was released about the album having more 'classical' influence I thought it may lean towards Absolution-type style. So as you can imagine I was pretty disappointed when it came out. That being said, it is growing on me, and I am beginning to like the way Muse can be so diverse in their creations.

I actually thought this was a damn fine addition to his discography. One of my favorites from Busdriver. (THE favorite would still be Fear of a Black Tangent) but I still think this is a terrific album.



My pick, though would be...


http://betterpropaganda.com/images/a...e-Cage_480.jpg

My, my, my...
What happened to Cage?
Listening to his older albums, this is all you can say...
"What happened?"

I was so excited for this CD, and I haven't been able to sit through it more than two or three times.

Oh God yes

After peaking (IMO) with Hell's Winter, he gives us this. Bleh