ANTI-NOWHERE LEAGUE / The Road to Rampton (2007)

It's not enough reason to want own it but it's worth pointing out that ANL's ability to place lyrical satire and disaffection alongside comedy and not have one overwhelm the other surfaces in places, albeit sporadically. If only the music wasn't so bloody weak, safe and predicable.
I'm listening to Rampton as I type and it's depressing me. I'll need to go back to the classic début album afterwards to ease my pain.

Songs of Note: Turn To Shit; My God's Bigger than Yours

1½ short, sharp, shocks out of 5

THE ORB FEAT. DAVID GILMOUR / Metallic Spheres [2010]

It seems odd at first but if you really think about a collaboration between spacey techno act The Orb and Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour makes perfect sense.
2010's Metallic Spheres showcases the two acts in a tripped-out soothing haze that recalls the days of Floyd's Meddle and The Orb's more significant era.  Gilmour doesn't really show off here, he simply compliments The Orb's roomy atmosphere with delicate precision that needn't be overanalyzed but rather begs the listener to relax and join them on their journey.   As it smoothly shifts from house music, dub and trip-hop, Spheres never really amazes but tranquilizes you as adequate background ambience.

3 3D60 albums out of 5

Songs Of Note:  There's only 2 lengthy tracks so it's best you seek it out if this collaboration interests you

GREEN DAY / Demolicious [2014]

After the commercial failure of their ¡Uno!, ¡Dos!, ¡Tré! trilogy, rockers Green Day curiously release an album of demos from those sessions to suck it dry of everything it was worth with 2014's Demolicious.
Bassist Mike Dirnt stated that the album is what Green Day would sound like if they were still with Lookout! Records today.  It's not entirely true, seeing as the demos sound sonically better than most indie-act records.  Apart from that, the fun that the band is having is made very apparent giving the songs a life that seemed all too absent from the finished products.  The songs are rough around the edges, occasionally sloppy and unrefined but that's what makes them come alive.  Instead of striving for commercial studio perfection, you can hear the boys are just in it for the pure rock & roll.

3½ Tom Neely album covers out of 5

Songs Of Note: Stay The Night; Stray Heart

LINDI ORTEGA / Tin Star [2013]

Vampy Canadian country crooner Lindi Ortega finally breaks into the big time with her 2013 album Tin Star.
Ortega's sultry, honey-glazed voice is at her absolute best with a sorrowful yearning that is delicate, seductive and boiling over with confident sass.  Lyrically, she's not covering any new territory in the genre but it's spun with such devotion and love it can't be anything but authentic.  The songs bounce between slow-driving heartache & spitting floor-stompers and they all showcase her vocals and songwriting abilities with rough-roaded grace and perfection.
Easily one of the best albums of 2013.

5 dead folk in your bed out of 5

Songs Of Note:  I Want You; This Is Not Surreal

SUUNS / Images Du Futur [2013]

Montreal's electro-hipster-rock act Suuns returns with their second album 2013's Images Du Futur.
They make no attempt to hide the fact that they think they're Clinic and mid-era Radiohead, only without the same sonic impact or thoughtful intensity of their English idols.   A blend of post-punk, art-rock and krautrock, Images Du Futur seems to run in one place never really melding together to create what should seem like a solid product.  Instead, even though it all sounds sleepily similar to each other, each song doesn't seem to have a place with the next one.   Like Ben Shemie's vocals, everything just sounds bored, uninspired and perfect for the snotty 20-somethings that drink Pabst Blue Ribbon in their Urban Outfitter's get-up.

2 songs that Save the album out of 5

Songs Of Note:  Minor Work: Bambi

CRADLE OF FILTH / Vempire (or Dark Faerytales in Phallustein) (1996)

Is it V Empire or Vempire?  Fuck knows, but it sits nicely between the raw aggression of The Principle of Evil Made Flesh (1994) and the technical polish of Dusk... and Her Embrace (1996), and thus will likely appeal to fans of both eras.
Dani's 'cat with balls trapped in cat flap' screech is perfectly contrasted by the deeper, ghoulish narration that elevates the level of cheesy but effectively dramatic theatrics at opportune moments.
It's the first appearance of Sarah Jezebel Diva, who provides some spoken word and additional backing atmosphere.

Songs of Note: Queen of Winter, Throned; Nocturnal Supremacy

4 whispering forests out of 5

TRENT REZNOR AND ATTICUS ROSS / The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)

If ever proof was needed that film/music awards are nothing but public masturbation for the artists and industry, then this is it. It's a 173 min 34 sec soundtrack to a 158 min film and I felt every second of that running time go by.
The film was unnecessary. The score is almost unlistenable. Not because it's ambient or drone, I generally like that kind of thing, but because it's uninspired and monotonous. Upping the volume helps to hide the inherent emptiness, but the tedium is inescapable. Some of the track titles sum up the listening experience perfectly: I Can't Take it Anymore; The Same as the Others; The Sound of Forgetting; and the best one of all, The Seconds Drag.

Songs of Note: You're Here; Great Bird of Prey

1 urge to toss it out the window out of 5