黄嘉維 » Music Ratings

St. Vincent :: Actor

Gary — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 16:00:58 +0000

Rating: ★★★★☆

Camera Obscura :: My Maudlin Career

Gary — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 16:00:05 +0000

Right from the get go with “French Navy”, My Maudlin Career is a sweet poppy confection. The album’s strength lies in singer Tracyanne Campbell’s voice, especially in “James” where you can feel the heartache in her singing.

Rating: ★★★★☆

Art Brut :: Art Brut vs. Satan

Gary — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 16:48:16 +0000

Art Brut continues to have fun with their quasi-punk rock and culturally specific lyrics. Eddie Argos still doesn’t really do too much singing but, then, that’s what we’ve come to expect.

Rating: ★★★★☆

Yeah Yeah Yeahs :: It’s Blitz!

Gary — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 16:13:20 +0000

It’s different from their first two albums – less screaming and more poppy. It works. Also, anything that can preserve Karen Oh’s voice can’t be all that bad.

Rating: ★★★★☆

Harlem Shakes :: Technicolor Health

Gary — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 16:16:47 +0000

This album is good. It’s really fuckin’ good. It’s what indie pop should always sound like. The Brooklyn-based Shakes should find itself with a younger-skewing audience not unlike that of Vampire Weekend.

Rating: ★★★★½

The Decemberists :: The Hazards of Love

Gary — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 16:47:50 +0000

The Hazards of Love takes, I repeat, takes several listens free of distraction to truly appreciate. On first listen, it really seems like it’s meandering with nary a climax in sight. Many – that cannot be stressed enough – listens later and I got the rock opera album concept. This is probably going to play great live.

Rating: ★★★★☆

Marissa Nadler :: Little Hells

Gary — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 16:14:14 +0000

There’s a beautiful minimalist quality to the backing guitar, piano, and other instruments, lending greater weight to Nadler’s beautiful voice. I suspect this will make the year-end list of best albums.

Rating: ★★★★☆

Neko Case :: Middle Cyclone

Gary — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 16:24:53 +0000

We absolutely loved Neko Case’s last album Fox Confessor Brings the Flood to death so to say that Middle Cyclone is just as good is no small praise. Though you can definitely save yourself some time by skipping the final 30 minute plus track – you’ll know why once you’ve listened to the album all the way through once.

Rating: ★★★★☆

Xiu Xiu :: Women as Lovers

Gary — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 16:12:11 +0000

Rating: ★★★½☆

U2 :: No Line on the Horizon

Gary — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 16:03:40 +0000

Though their best days are seemingly behind them, I still don’t get what all the hate on U2’s last few albums are about. They’ve been around forever – if you didn’t like them 20 years ago, you probably won’t start liking them with No Line on the Horizon. Fine, I get that. Stop ragging on them just because it’s fun to do so. That said, this isn’t their best album and Bono’s still a preening douche but Edge’s guitar work continues to wow.

Rating: ★★★½☆

黄 嘉 維 » Music Ratings

St. Vincent :: Actor

Camera Obscura :: My Maudlin Career

Art Brut :: Art Brut vs. Satan

Yeah Yeah Yeahs :: It’s Blitz!

Harlem Shakes :: Technicolor Health

The Decemberists :: The Hazards of Love

Marissa Nadler :: Little Hells

Neko Case :: Middle Cyclone

Xiu Xiu :: Women as Lovers

U2 :: No Line on the Horizon

黄嘉維 » Music Ratings