What Are You Listening To?

[killsaly]

Sad Day For Puppets

Unknown Colours

(Sigh) Az, why do I bother? Another very mediocre release. Sounds a lot like the Swedish version of The Manhattan Love Suicides but a little better. Not by much though.

I love that band and album. 

And the new APTBS, way better than their old stuff.  I thought it sounded a bit more Skywave than their last one. 


Placebo - Battle for the Sun
An excellent release for a great band.  I hope they reschedule their Baltimore show soon...

[sweetcell]

Air - Love 2



so, who has given this a listen?  i think it's an above-average outing for the band, which makes it better than most, but it's not on par with their classics.

there are some horrible lyrics in there ("on the way to the heaven's light, things go up, things go down", sung in a reedicoulos fronche aksent), and the album is rife with crimes against vocoding.  there is a sax line or two, and a flute/recorder part, that i could really do without.

despite these shortcomings, i still like the album.  it's very playful.  had they released "sign sang sung" three months ago, it would have been the indie hit of the summer.  the album is also quite cinematic, this could easily have been a soundtrack.  the highlight of the album is "night hunter", a space jam that would fit perfectly on an old nightmares on wax album.  as always with Air, there are some beautiful analog synths sounds in there </gear geek>.

over-all this album gets a "not bad" from me, good moments but i doubt i'll be coming back to it too often.  worth a listen, and who knows... maybe it'll grow on me.

[James Ford]

Air - Love 2



so, who has given this a listen?  i think it's an above-average outing for the band, which makes it better than most, but it's not on par with their classics.

there are some horrible lyrics in there ("on the way to the heaven's light, things go up, things go down", sung in a reedicoulos fronche aksent), and the album is rife with crimes against vocoding.  there is a sax line or two, and a flute/recorder part, that i could really do without.

despite these shortcomings, i still like the album.  it's very playful.  had they released "sign sang sung" three months ago, it would have been the indie hit of the summer.  the album is also quite cinematic, this could easily have been a soundtrack.  the highlight of the album is "night hunter", a space jam that would fit perfectly on an old nightmares on wax album.  as always with Air, there are some beautiful analog synths sounds in there </gear geek>.

over-all this album gets a "not bad" from me, good moments but i doubt i'll be coming back to it too often.  worth a listen, and who knows... maybe it'll grow on me.

Your review confuses me. If it's "above average outing for the band which makes it better than most", that would necessarily put it in the top three (of their seven) albums. If it's "not on par with their classics", which two albums are their classics? And if #3 is "not bad", where does that leave #4-#7?

It's "not bad" and you "won't be comiing back to it too often", yet you still "like the album"?




My six word review: Phoenix has nothing to worry about.

[azaghal1981]

Well, the only two other albums of theirs that are actually listenable throughout are Moon Safari and Talkie Walkie. So keeping that in mind, an album of theirs can easily be slightly above average but better than most.

[kosmo vinyl]

Air - Love 2



so, who has given this a listen?  i think it's an above-average outing for the band, which makes it better than most, but it's not on par with their classics.

there are some horrible lyrics in there ("on the way to the heaven's light, things go up, things go down", sung in a reedicoulos fronche aksent), and the album is rife with crimes against vocoding.  there is a sax line or two, and a flute/recorder part, that i could really do without.

despite these shortcomings, i still like the album.  it's very playful.  had they released "sign sang sung" three months ago, it would have been the indie hit of the summer.  the album is also quite cinematic, this could easily have been a soundtrack.  the highlight of the album is "night hunter", a space jam that would fit perfectly on an old nightmares on wax album.  as always with Air, there are some beautiful analog synths sounds in there </gear geek>.

over-all this album gets a "not bad" from me, good moments but i doubt i'll be coming back to it too often.  worth a listen, and who knows... maybe it'll grow on me.

My thoughts are they could have easily outsourced this album, seeing as there are numerous groups doing electronic music with that 60's Bachelor Pad vibe to it.  It's not unlike what Stereophonic Space Sound Unlimited have been doing for years.

[kosmo vinyl]

The Hot Rats very clever cover of the Beastie Boy's "Fight For Your Right", they've taken the track and recorded as a 60's Nuggets Psychedelic Garage band doing it.  Also, shades of the Dukes of the Stratosphere.

http://www.myspace.com/thehotrats

 

[bearman🐻]

Comparing Air to Phoenix to Daft Punk all because they're from France is like comparing The Ramones to Blondie to the Talking Heads just because they all came from the same scene. Those bands couldn't be more different in style. Air fills a niche, actually they all do. THat being said, I think Love 2 has a lot of depth and I'll go back to it more than I will to Pocket Symphony or 10,000hz Legend (which was total overkill on the band trying not to sound like themselves...we don't need another ones of those). Really, how many bands can keep doing different records and yet still not betray their sound? I think it's just a little different than some of their other stuff, and I applaud them for making yet another LP that truly has some wonderful songs on it. As for the vocoder, I don't mind it if Air does it.

[sweetcell]

Your review confuses me. If it's "above average outing for the band which makes it better than most", that would necessarily put it in the top three (of their seven) albums. If it's "not on par with their classics", which two albums are their classics? And if #3 is "not bad", where does that leave #4-#7?

moon safari and talkie walkie are their classics, IMO.  #4 to #7 go from "also not bad" to "wish they hadn't made this album".

It's "not bad" and you "won't be comiing back to it too often", yet you still "like the album"?

 
i like grape jelly, it's not bad, but i haven't eaten any in month.  does that help?

how about "i like the album but don't love it" - is that better?

My six word review: Phoenix has nothing to worry about.

your review doesn't say anything about the music... this album won't give metallica anything to worry about either. 

[xneverwherex]

lots of generation terrorists today. havent been listening to the manics in a long time, and forgot how much I *really* love Little Baby Nothing and a bunch of their other songs.

[bearman🐻]

Do you have the US or UK version? Even though the UK has like 5 more songs, I prefer the US version. The production on it isn't as muted, IMO. Plus I prefer the order they selected more. It was one case where they really made a good decision to edit it down a bit and make a tighter, more fluid record.

[ggw]

Are we dealing with the resurrection of Brian_Walalce here or something?

I'm pretty sure it's the resurrection of Rhett:

Name:  Charlie Nakatestes, Japanese Golfer
Last Active:  July 22, 2009, 03:17:37 PM

Name:  James Ford
Date Registered:  July 22, 2009, 05:02:35 PM

[Jaguar]

Are we dealing with the resurrection of Brian_Walalce here or something?

I'm pretty sure it's the resurrection of Rhett:

Name:  Charlie Nakatestes, Japanese Golfer
Last Active:  July 22, 2009, 03:17:37 PM

Name:  James Ford
Date Registered:  July 22, 2009, 05:02:35 PM

Interesting. I was just thinking that he is probably Rhett. Now that little piece of info verifies it.

Welcome back Rhett! 

[BookerT]

if you're a "lost" nerd it's also pretty obvious. for so long rhett/sawyer went by an alias, that didn't represent his true self. now, rhett isn't exactly using his real name, but james ford is sawyer's real name on lost, so, uh ... grasping at straws? maybe. probably not.

[Jaguar]

if you're a "lost" nerd it's also pretty obvious. for so long rhett/sawyer went by an alias, that didn't represent his true self. now, rhett isn't exactly using his real name, but james ford is sawyer's real name on lost, so, uh ... grasping at straws? maybe. probably not.

I don't know a thing about Lost but I'm usually pretty good at recognizing posting styles and it sure fits his. Even by the fact that he usually selects someone (real or fictionalized) else's name for his own, even if it's bastardized in some way.

[vansmack]

Are we dealing with the resurrection of Brian_Walalce here or something?

I'm pretty sure it's the resurrection of Rhett:

Name:  Charlie Nakatestes, Japanese Golfer
Last Active:  July 22, 2009, 03:17:37 PM

Name:  James Ford
Date Registered:  July 22, 2009, 05:02:35 PM

I've been thinking that for about a month now....