Gah! It’s like being back in high school
Waiting For The Sirens’ Call - New Order. It’s a lot more indie-rock than I was expecting; even more so than ‘Republic’. For whatever reason, the dancey tracks tend to feel more half-hearted and meandering than the guitar-heavy ones, though I guess the band does have an extra guitarist these days. The whole thing is fairly pleasant, and ‘Turn’ and ‘Dracula’s Castle’ are excellent, but there’s nothing exactly world changing here.
You’re Living All Over Me - Dinosaur Jr. This is a newly remastered CD version of the album, and I can confirm that it certainly sounds better than my 12-year-old bootleg cassette version. Ahem. Even after remastering, it’s not exactly the most hi-fidelity of recordings, but that’s ok because the music is still the same lovely distorted jangly mess that I remember. ‘Raisans’ is still close to the top of my list of ‘Songs I wish I could hear again for the first time.’
Lullabies to Paralyze - Queens of the Stone Age. Rocks very hard indeed. It’s more of a ‘grower’ than Songs for the Deaf, which had me completely hooked after my first listen. Since that album, they’ve lost Nick Oliveri, their bass player, but have a bunch of guest turns from the likes of Billy Gibbons, Mark Lanegan and Brody Dalle. It’s darker and less ‘poppy’ than their previous stuff, but settles into a rumbling groove that completely drags you in. Go buy it now, if not sooner.
Guero - Beck. Carries on his pattern of alternating loud/soft albums, and has a lot in common with ‘Odelay’. As a result it’s not really as coherent and solid as ‘Sea Change’. ‘E-Pro’ and ‘Farewell Ride’ were the tracks that stood out for me, but I think the album could happily lose a couple of songs without being any worse off for it. In a way it feels designed for these ‘iPod-blarg-sell-random-playback-as-a-lifestyle-choice’ shuffle-y times, since all of the songs work well when they come up individually in a shuffle, but listening to the entire album in one sitting is kind of a drag.