Black Mountain - In The Future.
I don't like this as much as their s/t debut - it has less of a West Coast psych/folk influence and more of a prog-metal aspect, which may be to the liking of some folks around here, but not me. Nonetheless, it's still great in spots - "Stay Free" is a gorgeous acoustic slowie, and "Nightwalks" reminds me, somewhat incongruously, of This Mortal Coil covering Tim Buckley.
Fuck Buttons - Street Horrrsing
Nifty piece of heavily distorted, fizzy electronica. I use it to mask my tinnitus as some of the frequencies herein are so similar to the sound in my left ear that they help me tune it out! Totally blew the rather dull Battles offstage at the Astoria as well - no mean feat considering Fuck Buttons have only two members whereas Battles have about 5000.
Portishead - Third
I know it's had a mixed reception here, but I like it. Sure, parts of it are derivative - particularly of the Silver Apples ("We Carry On") and the United States of America ("Threads"), but at least it's a relatively fresh direction for them, and it certainly knocks spots off anything Massive Attack or Tricky have released since the last century.
Black Angels - Directions to See A Ghost.
Can't agree with machineryelf about this or the Wooden Shjips, both of whom I like a lot. Of the two, Black Angels may have the edge in terms of heavy riffage, but Wooden Shjips have the calmer, mystical side of psychedelic drone-rock down better. Not sure about either of them being the new Spacemen 3, mind you - unlike the latter, neither have any palpable soul, blues or gospel influences, which makes them sound more like Loop to me.
Spectrum Meets Captain Memphis - Indian Giver
Best thing Sonic Boom's been involved with since "Soul Kiss (Glide Divine)". He seems to have regained his focus and learned to harness his trademark drones to memorable song structures (albeit lose ones) for the first time in aeons. Not only that, Jim Dickinson's Tom Waits-ian Southern Gothic narratives are a hoot, although for me most of the highpoints on this release belong to Spectrum. Gives the lie to the oft-repeated cliche that Jason took all Spacemen 3's talent with him when he formed Spiritualized. Which leads me to...
Spiritualized - Songs in A&E
This is a solid release with several highpoints, although I'd be lying if I said I thought it was on a par with their first three albums (although it's certainly better than the formulaic Spiritualized-by-numbers kak that was "Amazing Grace"). Can't help wishing he'd ditch the choir for once, mind - it worked fine on "Ladies And Gentlemen..." but the idea's wearing a tad thin now.
Disappointment of the year?
Howlin' Rain - Magnificent Fiend.
I like Comets on Fire, despite some reservations, but this release unfortunately cherrypicks all their least appealing characteristics and lets them ride roughshod over concepts like variation and subtlety. They were a snore live as well - far too much hackneyed rawk riffage for my liking. Time for the new punk.
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