AWmusic

Anyway, while the 5 I choose are probably not the 5 worst albums of 2008, it’s the ones I* (just me) that I found to hurt the ears (or brain) for one reason or another.

#5 Black Kids – Partie Traumatic
Original Rating: 1.25 out of 5
Traumatic isn’t a great name to include on your album name especially if people think it sucks. This album is passable though, and a lot of my harshness comes more from the disappointment when comparing the Wizard of Ahhhs EP to this album. They decided to take out things that made their songs universally dancey and did it by being overthetop and on this album more subdued and held back. To go from a self-released gem to shitty major label record, always baffles me but I guess it isn’t the first time it’s happened.
I’ve Underestimated My Charm (Again) by Black Kids

#4 The Killers – Day & Age
Original Rating: 1 out 5
The Killers did try something new on this album. As much as I hate the song “Human”, they do TRY and I do give props for that. I think this album fails because they just weren’t good with the types of songs they were making. I think they were better served being a powerpop band, not letting Flowers’ weaknesses as a singer to be exposed. I’d prefer their music when it was meant for the masses and not necessarily playing toward critics and “making the best album ever” (cough cough) – not that Sam’s town was bad.
Human by The Killers

#3 The Raconteurs – Consolers of The Lonely
Original Rating: 1.25 out of 5
While the original concentrated on other subjects regarding the marketing. Some critics calling it unique to release an album in short notice while taking down blogs at the same time who did promote it when the label could not seems smart (not). Anyway, this album was more noise then substance and just seemed like a cover songs that were bare to bone. Production was pretty terrible though to be fair that could’ve been intentional. Still, some albums work for some people, this album didn’t work for me. There was nothing for me to grasp ahold of, other then noise and distortion then was beginning to annoy me anyway.
Steady As She Goes by The Raconteurs (my favorite song by them, not on CoL)

#2 Mystery Jets – Twenty One
Original Rating: 0.5/5
I first got into the Mystery Jets with Young Love when I showed it to a friend and said it sounded like another track, specifically one of Hugh Grant and Haley Bennett. While I did call it copying, “borrowing” may be another word used and it occurs a lot on this album. I won’t outright call the MJs plagiarists unless they are sued but they sure aren’t very original. I think on each track, I kept going to myself “haven’t I heard that before?” all throughout the album. It’s not that bad to be influenced by certain artists but this album DID suck. I do love myself a good pop album, and I have no idea what the critics are smoking on this one. It’s mediocre at best and at times feels contrived like it’s sticking to a certain “template”.

E.g. Two Doors Down: “I think I’m in love with the girl next door” later in the song “I know I’m in love with a girl who lives two doors down”, clearly this isn’t a mistake it’s more of what fits better in the song. What gives a better hook? When my English teacher told me when writing lyrics, is lyric or the beat that comes first? For the Mystery Jets it’s definitely the hook and they don’t even do that well. This album doesn’t even work on a consistent level, they have no “real” sound, they jump all over the place without doing anything specifically well which is why they got a huge thumbs down. I stand by my review, could’ve been a better post but hey it was a popular post .
Way Back Into Love by Hugh Grant & Haley Bennett

#1 Cold War Kids – Loyalty to Loyalty
(You have to be pretty loyal to like this one)
Original Rating: 0.5 out of 5
Cold War Kids takes the #1 spot for both disappointing and sucking altogether. My review was simply:
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIITTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT SSSSSSSSSSSSSSsUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU
UUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC
CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK
KKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSs
(okay there was more to it, I lied)
Robbers and Cowards used more guitaring and various other instrumentation to bring the music to epic levels. Nathan Willett vocals take a huge hit in this record. I think the thing is that his vocals aren’t so strong to begin with but the instrumentation made it a meaningless factor. Instead they tried to work with more rhythm and use some African influences (see The Killers for taking the wrong approach here) but again not really working to the strengths of the band and moreso then the Killers to their own weaknesses. There’s just nothing to like on this record. It doesn’t hurt the ears but I do either want to doze off or skip next to the album immediately. I did call Something Is Not Right With Me lackluster compared to anything they had on the previous album, I guess compared to the rest of the record …it’s a stand out (Golden Gate Jumpers is alright too). I liked this band live and their first record A LOT. Who knows now…
Hang Me Up To Dry by Cold War Kids

The Killers have been the internet’s darlings along with Kanye West over the past month but unlike West, the Killers aren’t exactly cool to like by any means and this music, plainly sucks (as you notice from the title).

Hmm I wonder where to start? How about to discussing the worst song of the year… “are we human or are we dancer(s)”. Flowers fails to enunciate the S and it’s a rather empty song that has an odd lyric that makes no sense. I can’t do enough justice to how much this song, totally sucks ass. It starts off as some start off slow new wave riff that just never progresses and just a lyric that works on zero levels.

The Killers do try to different things but maybe they should just stick to other things. On “Joy Ride” the Killers try to work in some African influenced beats and guitar riff that would be in some vein similar to Vampire Weekend but absolutely shitty. This song feels like its 15 minutes long. Instrumentation just does not flow, the chorus is cliché lyrically and everything else in-between sucks. My ears are put into submission for the repetitive last minute where we get the chorus and some “oh oh oh” throws in for good measure.

Speaking of more African influences, we have some sort of chanting in This Is Your Life. However it feels more or less like the producer and the Killers thought, “lets spice this song up by just sandwiching it African style chants so people don’t know it sucks”. It still sucks.

Are any positives on this album? I think the only bright spot, if you were digging is the track Spaceman. In this case Flowers finally sounds like a true lead singer here and it’s sticking with what the Killers do well, just mainstream upbeat pop music despite how people try so hard to make them cool. It’s a song that doesn’t overdo it in the trying to be different area and it’s one of the few songs that doesn’t feel contrived. I guess you can say the same for the track “I can’t stay”.

The Killers just aren’t a very good anymore, Flowers does nothing to make him seem brilliant. He wrote some of the worst songs of the year on this album and his bandmates didn’t help him either. Instead they tried to hide weak songs by putting in sounds and instruments that simply do not fit each song to cover it up. From song to song, it makes this album even more painful to listen to because there is no direction and not a single discernible way to describe WHAT the Killers have become.

Sure they get pats on the back for trying but if you can honestly say you can muster listening to this album, I feel sorry for you (if you need an explanation refer to the comments). This album has no proverbial meaning and it feels like a lame contrived attempt to appease to the increasingly “hip” fans of Vampire Weekend and MGMT.

Rating: 1 out of 5
Sure some songs are terrible and then some are mediocre which could merit a higher score but unlike other albums which have similar scores, this album just feels like a bunch of songs the Killers threw together so they get the CD out for Christmas time.

Please, do not buy this album as a Christmas gift. I’d rather get a sweater then this pile of crap.

Human by The Killers
-Yes, let the hounds come out how I shouldn’t give away mp3s and bash at the same time. However, wouldn’t it be wrong to not let people know that the song they’re downloading isn’t very good.

The Past and The Pending by The Shins (for Hiro)
I’m Your Villain by Franz Ferdinand (for Sylar/title of Season 3 is “Villains”)
TouchIt_Technologic by Daft Punk (for Micah Sanders)
Cries of The Dead by Chad VanGaalen (for the follow up of who’s dead)
Read My Mind by The Killers (for Matt Parkman)
Morning Bell/Amnesiac by Radiohead (for the wuss Peter Petrelli who can’t remember a goddamn thing)
Electric Feel by MGMT (for Elle Bishop… mmm Kristin Bell)
Muscle’n Flo by Menomena (for Monica Dawson and her muscle memory)
Play Your Part (Pt. 2) by Girl Talk (for Ando and Mohinder playing their part)
Secrets by Oh! Custer (for Claire who ’s secret plagues her, and I can’t find many other songs for her)

Ghost Town Review:

I had the chance to see Ghost Town on opening weekend. Box office success was mild playing 8th. I think for the most part it’s because the storyline isn’t that appealing or original. With a character who develops the 6th sense (same as the movie as the Sixth Sense) he begins seeing ghosts after a near-death experience.

There isn’t much to the storyline other then a seemingly typical/predictable storyline. But all in all it is light hearted and the characters (including ghosts) do progress and show off a real quality about them.

Otherwise it’s just a mildly good movie, that isn’t bad nor great though a 87% RT score probably suggests that more people liked it then not.

My rating is: 3.25 out of 5. Just kind of average but worth your money I guess.

The Dark Knight has been a huge critical and financial success, grossing just under $160 million in an opening weekend, critical praise of 95% and becoming the #1 movie on IMDB. So better late then never with my review and playlist?

My playlist tried to involve some key quotes surrounding the movie. Granted the real soundtrack is great but let’s give the movie a good playlist anyway.

1. The Thieves They Are Everywhere by Bridges and Powerlines
2. Pencil Rot by Stephen Malkmus
3. Only Clowns Are Scary by I Love Math
4. Boy With A Coin by Iron & Wine
5. Smile Like You Mean It by The Killers
6. Knights of Cydonia by Muse
7. I’m Your Villain by Franz Ferdinand
8. The Angry Mob by Kaiser Chiefs
9. Psycho Killer by The Talking Heads
10. No Key, No Plan by Okkervil River
11. Black Heroes by Ratatat

Here’s the movie review below (CONTAINS SPOILERS!!!!!!)
(more…)

Anyway when Sawdust was released, I wasn’t too ecstatic about a compilation album because it usually means subpar stuff and with the Killers, if it’s not great I probably can’t step out and admit I like it (saying I like them is hard enough!). Sawdust includes 19 tracks (including the 2 bonus tracks) and it features the track Tranquilize featuring Lou Reed, a cover of Joy Divisions’ Shadowplay, some recognizable tracks that you would find on P2P networks and some unreleased stuff.

For a compilation album, you have to be a pretty big fan to shell out money for it. With The Killer’s mainstream success it isn’t surprising to see this album do quite well but with 15 tracks either re-released off singles or re-worked it is still leaves a lot left to be desired when it comes to new material. I think it begs the question of what big fan would pay for songs that have circulated around on the internet when a real fan would’ve acquired it by either paying for it on itunes or downloading it on some program already.

As for an album, The Killers do display some diversity with their sound but it feels like an album that was just thrown together just for the sake of it. So while the critics didn’t like Sam’s Town much, and not so much Sawdust, I can’t help but kind of hate this album. Singles wise, I think each song can stand on it’s own and it did remind me why I do like the Killers. I just can’t see myself ever dishing out the dough for this album or should anyone else really. I’ll just wait for their 3rd official release and secretly enjoy the Killers.

The album gets a 2.75 out of 5. Kind of a below average album, passable based on individual songs and at least it’s not entirely garbage.

I’ll post two older tracks that I stumbled across from before that I really liked and not due to being on Sawdust:

Change Your Mind by The Killers

Under the Gun by The Killers

Buy Sawdust @ CD Universe for $13.35
Buy Sawdust @ Insound for $15.99
Buy Sawdust @ Amazon for $12.96

I am still currently looking for someone to go with or else these tickets will have to be sold. Anyone interesed in coming with me for 60 bucks?

Anyway here is cool video by the Killers that takes place in Japan with the band doing random things:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ch3hppFG3UQ]

The correct lyrics are:
I got a man to stick it out
And make a home from a rented house oh oh oh

Wow big mistake…

The lyrics for where the white boy dance by the Killers: this is a bonus track on the album but if they had these lyrics it would be down right funny having white guys singin it:

Bounce that ass
Shake dat ass
Shorty you can move dat ass
Slow it down and work dat ass
C’mon shorty do dat dance for me
Bounce dat ass
Shake dat ass
Shorty you can move dat ass
Slow it down and work dat ass
C’mon shorty I know you a freak
I’m seein’ bitches thats thick and shit walkin’ past
Hoes on the floor poppin’ and droppin’ dat ass
Tryin’ to come up on niggas that got cash
Somethin’ like we the dumber family

I kindly clicked the link that said that these lyrics for the wrong song. Anyway it was very entertaining to read. The moral of the story don’t trust lyrics sites at least not entirely.