actually listen to all the new music I've downloaded

Wonderful, wonderful, WONDERFUL!

Meh.

Fantastic. Unequivocally my album of the year so far. ‘Death to Los Campesinos!’ and ‘You! Me! Dancing!’ are the most obviously catchy and anthemic (I thought the floor was going to fall through during the latter when I saw them live last year), but there’s really not a bad song on there. In fact there’s not even an OK song on there. The artwork is great and all. Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful.

“I was sick in my mouth because of the fear of the scent of an ex-girlfriend. And no more conversations about what Breakfast Club character you’d be. I’d be the one that dies (no one dies) Well then what’s the point? You should have built have a statue, and so I did of you. And you were ungrateful and slightly offended at the dimensions of it. You said you looked less like the Venus de Milo and more like your mother in a straightjacket”

“And I spent the last seven years perched on the edge of my bed scratching ‘I am incredibly sincere’ into my forearms. You should know better. A fifteen year old’s editorial, some lazy innuendo, the last man standing is a girl. Four sweaty boys with guitars tell me NOTHING about my life”

“You said ‘send me stationery to make me horny’ so I always write you letters in multicolours, decorating envelopes for foreplay. Damn extended metaphors, I get carried away on the back of a natural disaster, fixed with parcel tape and with kids sticking plasters. Nothing says ‘I miss you’ quite like war poetry carved in your door with a stanley knife”

Interesting French Canadian punk. The language barrier was a bit of a problem as my French is rather rusty and the tempo is quite fast, but nevertheless it made a nice change. I like the combination of political ideas and horrorpunk imagery, ‘tis interesting. Though admittedly it is a bit odd going from songs about demons and the like to euthanasia. o_O

‘Kassandra’ is one of my favourites. After all, what’s psychobilly without a bit o’ necrophilic vampire lovin’?

_{C’est lorsque tu n’es pas là que je me meurs,
Et que j’erre dans la ville sans aucune peur
C’est sûrement sous ta pierre tombale
Que se poursuivera cet amour fatal}

I also like ‘Le Serment’:

_{De toute façon fait c’que tu veux
L’important c’est qu’tu sois heureux
Mais n’oublies jamais tes amis
Ceux à qui tu avais promis
De ne jamais tourner le dos
De ne jamais garder rancune
Car une amitié qui se termine
N’en aura jamais été une…}

And ‘Comme Une Flamme Trop Forte’:

_{Tu n’cadres pas dans leur monde où les clones se confondent
Toi tu n’es pas de ceux qui mentent pour être heureux
Tu agis trop souvent, comme le f’rait un enfant
Tu penses avec ton coeur, tu ris comme tu pleures…
Tes idées, tes passions, tes convictions te consument
Ton imagination, elle t’embrase et t’allume
Un jour tu partiras, doucement tu t’éteindras
Comme une flamme trop forte, prématurément morte
Et tu diras adieu, à ces rêves délicieux
Qui t’ont accompagnés depuis le jour où tu es né…}

This is the first album I’ve listened to in a while that I really dislike. The only song of theirs I’d heard previous to this was ‘Punk Rock Girls’ which I like in a goofy sort of way. It’s not intelligent by stretch of the imagination, it’s just fun pop-punk a la the Ramones. The difference being that the Ramones aren’t shite.

The only tolerable songs are the aforementioned Punk Rock Girls, Janelle Janelle, and Don’t Back Down (a Beach Boys cover, which is no doubt a massacring of the original but I haven’t heard it yet so I can’t comment).

Crap.

I don’t listen to much hip-hop but I like this. The way some people in my position express their feelings makes it sound like the only reason it’s good is because it’s not like shite commercial hip-hop. This is not the case. It does have some lines that I consider to be misogynistic and homophobic, which is a shame because it only attenuates his very astute message about classism and oppression.

There does seem to be this duality in the album, though maybe it’s just me. There are tracks that are intelligent, unashamedly political and very refreshing (sampling Bach, name-checking Ptolemy and speaking out against capitalism are kinda awesome in my book). Then there are those that I suppose conform to my previous idea of what rap music was, insulting people’s mothers and so on. It’s a bit strange going from talking about how awful the rape of the earth is to saying you’re going to stab someone with an HIV-infected needle. o_O

Best tracks: The Poverty of Philosophy, The Prophecy, Dance with the Devil

_{“As different as we have been taught to look at each other by colonial society, we are in the same struggle and until we realize that, we’ll be fighting for scraps from the table of a system that has kept us subservient instead of being self-determined. And that’s why we have no control over when the embargo will stop in Cuba, or when the bombs will stop dropping in Vieques.”}

Better than I expected. Highlights include Gold Lion, Mysteries, The Sweets and Turn Into.

I prefer other unreleased gems such as Cars and Telephones, Alligator Mine and The Great Arcade Fire, but this EP isn’t without its charms. ‘Tis a grower I think.

I love this band.

Quintessentially British pisstakery.