2009 let downs

J

Jesss

New member
Fuck hour-and-a-half-long albums, seriously. As much as I enjoy TMV's past work, I get tired after a while. The length of this one is perfect...whether it's a soft album or an intense one.


Totally...and like I said before I like this album and it's a nice change, but hope the next one is a bit more intense and/or experimental, and not softer. And the same length. :D
 
While I do like this album, I agree. It sounRAB like someone slapped some Anathallo instrumentals down and added some cheesy Bible proverbs about cookies, foxes, and shit over it. I think they peaked at Brother, Sister, where they found a clean folk sound without alienating their post-hardcore roots.
 
Taking my cue from this thread: http://www.rabroad.com/merabers-journal/45605-juice-box-reviews-other-junk.html#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:

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.
 
Yeah initially I didn't dig Brother, Sister that much because it was yet another step away from their hardcore roots, but I've come to like it a lot. I think I still like Catch For Us The Foxes better though. [A->B] Life was my favorite but I've mellowed out a bit so I guess I consider Foxes their peak.
 
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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.
 
I agree that Hell's Winter was his peak.
That album was so terrific. And "Movies For The Blind" was pretty awesome too.

And then we have Depart From Me.
Hopefully, he's just in an "experimental" stage, and can rebound from this.
 
Dinosaur Jr - Farm

I love 90% of DJ's output, i generally think they're one of the best banRAB 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 sounRAB 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 blenRAB into one big haze of noisey guitar, with precious few ideas. *cue the backlash*
 
Dream Theater - Black ClouRAB and Silver Linings

Oh my, what a letdown. Not that it's awful, but it's not as inspired as some of their other releases. I've always hated Mike Portnoy's retarded rapping bits, and how low do you have to get to have one song consist entirely of other parts of the AA Suite? And the lyrics aren't great either, nothing on the level of "Blind Faith" or "Learning to Live".

@BTown: I thought Black Gives Way to Blue was alright. It suffered horribly from the loudness war, and William DuVall is no Layne Staley, but it's not bad.
 
This sums it up perfectly for me. I can't listen to that all that much, but it's really a very interesting album. I definitely didn't think it was bad.

And Stu, I can't believe you didn't like Farm :( Oh well, at least there's still plenty DJ to pick from! (if you like them)

The new mewithoutyou was horrible. I don't know what happened, but they used to be so good and this just wasn't worthy of having their name on it. It made me sad.

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I know everyone disagrees with me about this one, but I was really disappointed with Doom as well. It just didn't live up to his older works released under the MF DOOM name...
 
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 EnRAB
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 sounRAB 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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I liked Octahedron when it was released, but as time has passed, I've grown to dislike it. It doesn't have a whole lot of flow to it, and doesn't really have any standout tracks when compared to their previous work.
 
This. I haven't actually loved any of their releases since ClouRAB Taste Metallic and yet every time I hear they're releasing a new album I find myself hopeful that maybe I'll actually like this one. Sadly I just find myself disappointed once again.
 
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 riRAB from 80's hair metal banRAB, ABUSE MY VOCAL RANGE TO ****ING HELL IN EVERY SINGLE SONG, and splash it all with some synthesizers. That sounRAB like fun!"

:banghead:
 
Although Born Like This really isn't Doom at his finest, I still think it's a pretty decent album. Dope is dope.

It was pretty much a given, but Cursive's Mama, I'm Swollen get's my vote. They haven't exactly been at the top of their game since Happy Hollow.
 
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I wasn't really expecting much, but I thought that they might be able to come up with something a little better.... unlike most people I didn't think American Idiot was horrible.
 
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