Holy. Freaking. CHRIST… this entire comment section is just embarrassing. Yikes.

This is the same version that was on tkol rmx8, that radiohead posted in november. If you’re trying to track down the missing remix, which would be version number 2, good luck! apparently it was only pressed once and went up for auction.

Well, they got #1 right.

I think its funny when these lists throw in the token random electronic album. Its obvious that they just pick one album that has the slightest bit of cross-over potential and call it a day. Not that I don’t like the SBTRKT album, but anyone who actually follows the electronic scene and listens to the major releases knows that Machinedrum – Room(s) and Sepalcure’s s/t debut are vastly superior albums and the best to come out of that amorphous UK Bass genre.

It’s like with Holy Ghost! on Paste’s list… Paste, you guys are into folksy indie rock. It’s okay. Own it. Holy Ghost’s album doesn’t even belong on a Top 50 list of purely electronic and dance albums, and that’s coming from someone that actually likes them.

Oh and M83 is album of the year, hands down.

People who were into dubstep back when it was actually dubstep (2005-2008) are all dying of barfness at the prolonged, perverse death of this genre. Dubstep is so far past being over, it’s just embarrassing now. It’s been over since 2008. Anyone claiming to make dubstep in 2011 is a complete fraud. The originators have all moved on- to post-dubstep, funky, UK Bass, and a myriad of other hybrid genres. Scuba is making tech-house now (and damn good tech-house at that.)

“Dubstep” today has virtually no traces of the original genre. Its goddamn terrible, and the only people who like it are suburban white-trash posers with awful taste is music. This album will be a smash hit with the Skrillex crowd, i’m sure.

All of these goddamn idiots need to go back in time to 2006, listen to Horsepower Productions, Kode9, everything on Skull Disco, Peverelist, etc… and then realize that what they are listening to now is nothing more than farty electro from 2007 with a half-time beat.

Yep… album of the year for me. It’s huge and gorgeous and everything I was hoping for. Yes, Morgan’s voice is slightly missed, but while there’s no ‘Kim and Jessie,’ or ‘Graveyard Girl,’ there is Intro, and Midnight City, and Reunion, and Claudia Lewis, and Steve McQueen, and OK Pal, and the amazingly bizarre song about frogs… and so on…

Basically, there’s way too much to love here to start judging it by what it is ‘missing.’

I’ll preface this by saying I love Bjork- I think she’s brilliant and I’m glad that there is someone like her in the pop spectrum that is fearlessly experimenting on the fringes of what music can sound like and how it can be made.

That said, I think she went off the deep end with Medulla, and she’s likely never coming back. She’s put the experiment, and her processes of musical exploration, in the forefront of what she’s doing, rather than trying to make a great end result. Medulla’s concept was admirable, but the album itself was very hit-or-miss (mostly miss), and largely pretty ugly sounding. (Although I still think Desired Constellation is one of her best songs.)

I found Volta to be an even bigger disappointment, mostly because it was marketed as this big, colorful, upbeat return to form (which it wasn’t), and the Earth Intruders as just a gigantic red herring. Aside from Earth Intruders and Innocent, Volta was largely a meandering slog, with a sonic palette that did not sound cohesive, and certainly did not support her incredible voice. I just don’t think Bjork’s voice sounds good when supported by brass- it sounds much better with strings. Her songwriting has suffered recently as well- her vocal lines have become so stretched, there’s no hook anymore, and her lyrics have become too conceptual and obtuse to illicit any emotional response.

I’m finding these issues evident in the Biophilia songs as well- strange juxtapositions of sonic timbres, aimless melodies, un-engaging lyrics. Every new Bjork album comes with a press release touting the new experiments and the avant-garde elements; “This time Bjork enlisted a choir of pygmy throat singers and built a piano made of spoons!” Awesome, Bjork…. no really, you’re amazing, please never change. But while you’re doing all of this experimenting and exploring, try to keep in mind how the end result is going to sound. Just because you can make music from literally any object, doesn’t mean its going to be worth listening to. Try to let the song dictate the process, not the other way around.

(It killed my soul a bit to say that, but the fact is, there was a time when I used to go to the record store for the midnight release of a new Bjork album, and now I’m not even excited for Biophilia. :-/ )

Friendly Fires’ entire Pala album… Or just “Live Those Days Tonight.” Also Cut Copy’s Pharaohs & Pyramids

I love the King of Limbs. I wouldn’t be so pretentious as to say ‘if you don’t like it, you don’t get it,’ but I do hope that some of the disappointed naysayers give the album a few more concentrated listens. It is a really beautiful, intricate, dreamy little album. Sure, there are no bangers, no real cathartic releases, but we got a few of those on the last album. I personally like it when Radiohead delve into their more atmospheric and rhythmically complex side. Some don’t. I get it.

I think the disappointment felt is directly related to the inevitable expectations fans bring into a new album, especially with a band like Radiohead, whose back catalog is legendary. You just need to accept the fact that they have followed up a big game changing moment in music, In Rainbows (not just the album, but the impact on the industry, the mindblowing live show) with a deliberately small album.

I’d also be willing to bet that a lot of the disappointment is a subconscious reaction to the length of it. It’s the supersize syndrome. With 8 tracks clocking in a 37 minutes, its the shortest Radiohead album. Admit it to yourself. When you saw that tracklisting, before you even heard a note, you were a little disappointed already. I can admit it, I was. But the album, in my opinion, is such a beautifully realized sonic world, that I let that bullshit feeling of ‘I’m a consumer and this is not the best value for my dollar’ crap go. That mindset is repulsive, but we are conditioned to feel it.

That said, given the way the album is structured- 5 tracks of itchy, insistent rhythms, followed by 2 ballads, and closing with a track that picks back up a bit rhythmically- its almost like the album gives you blue balls. It does feel a bit like an appetizer, and leaves you wanting more. Thom even says ‘If you think this is over then you’re wrong.’ Is he deliberately screwing with us, because he knows we’ll expect more? Its hard not to hope that this is part 1 of larger work, like In Rainbows had a bonus disc, or Kid A had its counterpart Amnesiac. But regardless of those hopes, I do appreciate the album for what it is right now.

As a music fan, I’ve learned to put my expectations aside. The best thing you can do when listening to a new album, especially by a band you love, is to put them aside and listen with an open mind. Appreciate the album for what it is, rather than be disappointed by what is “isn’t.”

Amazing! I wish the Jaxx had a bigger following here in the US. This show could never happen here. They couldn’t even bring their Scars tour here, they just did a few dj nights. They are such a fantastic live band too. :-/

Oh yeah, and Tycho… on Ghostly International… he’s been mentioned working on his new album a few times on his ISO50 blog. Coastal Brake was great… can’t wait to hear his new stuff.

Radiohead
Arcade Fire
Daft Punk
Robyn
Underworld
Chemical Brothers
Basement Jaxx
Royksopp
Lady Gaga
Boards of Canada
New Order Reunion! (hahahaha… yeah right)

love love LOVE this… can not wait to hear Senior!