Looking for opinions

[Guest Low Roller]

I'm looking for opinions of some artists I'm not familiar with, but who have received positive reviews from a number of publications. Here are some of the artists:

- The Arcade Fire

- Bonnie "Prince" Billy

- The Decemberists

- Secret Machines

- Fiery Furnaces

- Go! Team

- M. Ward

- The Shins

Also the following albums come heavily recommended, so any opinions of them:

Flaming Lips- The Soft Bulletin

Beck- Guero

Bright Eyes- I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning

Bonnie "Prince" Billy- I See A Darkness

Fiery Furnaces- Blueberry Boat

Go! Team- Thunder, Lightning, Strike

[DevO]

I'm looking for opinions of some artists I'm not familiar with, but who have received positive reviews from a number of publications. Here are some of the artists:

- The Arcade Fire

- Bonnie "Prince" Billy

- The Decemberists

- Secret Machines

- Fiery Furnaces

- Go! Team

- M. Ward

- The Shins

Also the following albums come heavily recommended, so any opinions of them:

Flaming Lips- The Soft Bulletin

Beck- Guero

Bright Eyes- I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning

Bonnie "Prince" Billy- I See A Darkness

Fiery Furnaces- Blueberry Boat

Go! Team- Thunder, Lightning, Strike

The Shins have been my new favourite band for the past few weeks, certainly a must hear. Hmm how to describe, I don't know... I'm not even going to try because whatever I write will leave out all the rest that I am unable to write and I don't want to pin them down to anything. So yes, in conclusion, The Shins are AWESOME!

(how's that for annoying! )

Same goes for The Arcade Fire and M.Ward and Bright Eyes!

[hamilton]

I quite like The Soft Bulletin by the Flaming Lips, but I think I like Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots better. Of course, many, many people will disagree with me on that one, but...

[scottieking]

Arcade Fire has been the most constantly played album in my world since its arrival (and to think on first listen I really wasn't impressed) Three listens = love

The Soft Bulletin is still my favorite Lips album. A must own.

BIG fan of the new Bright Eyes.

Ditto for the Shins. Love both those albums.

Guero is good and fixing to be better in warmer weather.

My dislikes include : Secret Machines - I'd like to see them live but their disc just made me want to listen to Zep or Floyd, not its gangly love child.

Fiery Furnaces did not turn my crank at all.

Other recent thunbs downers - Futureheads, Aqualung and Hot Hot Heat

Other recent thumbs uppers - Kasabian, Razorlight

Other on the bubble - Bloc Party, Kaiser Chiefs

Hope that helps.

[rubberdinghy]

Guero is one of my fave's right now!!! I sorta lost track of beck after mutations but this one got me right back in there...

As if thier is a band called GO TEAM!!! they've gotta be gold!

[Booche]

Five Point One DTS

[d_rawk]

Yeah, every band on that list is worth checking out, for sure. The Go! Team are a blast, make me wanna dance ...

Bonnie Prince Billy (Will Oldham) is great, but can be kind of a downer. A lot of the Palace music stuff he released is stellar.

Arcade Fire - phenomenal. If I hear "Funeral" one more time, I might kill myself, but it is a great fugging album. The S/T release before it is good too (as are the CBC sessions, if you can dig 'em up)

The Decemberists break my heart (in a good way) repeatedly, and Colin Meloy is on the right road to genius. I prefer "Castaways & Cutouts", but others will differ.

Secret Machines - yeah! The track "Nowhere Again" is a good place to start.

M. Ward is a talented muthafawker. The shins are ... well ... the shins! Take "oh, inverted world!" over "chutes too narrow", but they're both gold.

I have no love for the Fiery Furnaces though. I just don't get it, I guess.

Thumbs up to all the albums you listed (minus "Blueberry Boat", and I think there are better starting points for Oldham than "There is a Darkness") The Soft Bulletin kicks Yoshimi's ass.

[edit:] rubberdinghy, you gotta check out "Midnight Vultures"! It's prince-y. (in my world, that's a goooooood thing)

Edited April 25, 2005 by Guest

[AdamH]

I really enjoyed The Soft Bulletin on first listen but haven't gone back to it as much as Yoshimni (you're not alone Hamilton).

Despite being used on The OC and Dawson's Creek the Shins are a right good band that I would have liked to see in T-Dot had they not sold out on the same day. Same with Bright Eyes...the disc you listed has an edge on the companion industro album Digital Ash in A Digital Urn.

With respect to hype I hope that The Arcade Fire does not..umm, burn out? They were fantastic live and playing alongside David Bowie and David Byrne has to be a thrill but they are so hyped up that I fear for their future. In any case they are amazing...particularly their keyboard player who stunned the Hillside Festival crowd last summer by playing all of the Super Mario Brothers theme songs perfectly.

I can't add anything about the others you've listed.

[Guest Low Roller]

Thanks for the input everyone! I'm finding that the music scene is getting generally bigger and better recently thanks to huge internet exposure. It's almost becoming a full-time job to keep up with all the great music being released lately. And those music industry types say that the internet is bad for music... pfff...

[guigsy]

Bonnie Prince Billy - did anyone else see him on Toronto Island opening for Bjork, i guess it woulda been about a year and a half ago? i wanted to ram flaming forks into my eyes.

i'm wide awake it's morning has been a favourite disc of mine recently -- im with Hamilton and Polkeroo on yoshimi over soft bulletin, but soft bulletin still kicks ass.. as does transmissions from a sattelite heart (is that what its called? i get it wrong more often than not, but i dig it.) -- and Arcade Fire make me scrunch my face up and rock.. occassionally i'll pump a fist or 2 in the air, as well.

[d_rawk]

Heh, funny stuff guigsy. More details about the B"P"B show?

There is so much interesting music being released so quickly it really is getting difficult to keep up. We may have to do a "roundup of albums in 2005 so far" thread ... and it's only April!

(my most recent 3 thumbs ups:

Caribou - The Milk of Human Kindness

The National - Alligator

Magnolia Electric Co - Trials & Errors)

[guigsy]

haha... i'll try... admittedly, though, i also tried hard to block him out after a few songs, so i'll try to remember how i felt that day.... musically, it was the most mellow boring folk schlock i had heard, and i really couldnt deal with how much of a cry baby this guy seemed to be. i just wanted him to stop his fucking whining. i guess the easiest comparison to make would be to nick drake, only weaker. he must have had an impact on kid koala that day, though, cuz he followed up with a dj set that was equally depressing, in its own right. luckily Bjork had enough of that shit and she kicked all our asses once she got on stage.

[d_rawk]

Yeah, I wouldn't be chomping at the bit to see him live. The mood he serves is more like drizzly foggy morning in cottage country than ready-to-rock on TO island, for sure. Glad Bjork saved the day.

I am kind of liking Superwolf (the Bonnie "Prince" Billy & Matt Sweeney collaboration) after a few listens. It's a partnership that seems to work pretty well, though I was definately impatient with it on the first spin and left it sitting for a long time before giving it another chance. Might have something to do with the rain.