Quick and dirty review blitz!

Jesus, who knows when I'll get time to write in here again! And meanwhile, a small pile of new releases that I've been listening to obsessively for the past couple months aren't any closer to getting reviews. So, in the interest of at least giving all my avid readers (ha!) an idea of the rest of this year's purchases to date... here are all the other 2007 albums I haven't gotten around to yet, my rating out of 10, and at most a sentence or two about them.

Besnard Lakes - Are the Dark Horse
Rating: 5
Overall too plodding, their attempts at building dramatic tension only bear fruit on two songs, both of which are fantastic: "Disaster" and especially "And You Lied to Me."

El-P - I'll Sleep When You're Dead
Rating: 7
Not as weirdly wonderful as Fantastic Damage, the latter half drags a bit, and much as I admire the storytelling I simply cannot listen to "Habeas Corpses" without cringing. All that said, "Drive," "Up All Night," "No Kings," and "Run the Numbers" are outstanding revisions/updates on the El-P sound.

LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver
Rating: 3
I really can't wait to eviscerate this one at length. James Murphy is an asshole, and he can bite me. I'm completely puzzled how so many people whose musical taste I respect can be raving about this album. He's so fucking smug! Even on the song that's either about a breakup or a bereavement, he sounds utterly bored. And there is NOTHING remotely innovative about the music. And finally, I'll refer Mr. Murphy to Ted Leo's still-relevant "Ballad of the Sin Eaters" for a more stomachable take on what it's like to face anti-American sentiment overseas. This album's "North American Scum" makes my blood boil every time I hear it. The title track repeats the same two fucking sentences for eight minutes, and I'm supposed to be impressed? I guess I'm just not cool enough, or hip enough, or just not-from-New-York enough, to get it. Nor, frankly, do I want to.

Shining - Grindstone
Rating: 8
Half of this is the most odd, brilliant, disturbing genre-fucking you'll ever hear. Another review I'm dying to write just to give this beautiful and twisted album the due it deserves. That rating would be a 9 if half of the album wasn't frankly boring little ambient exercises. But the other half kicks my ass more than anything else so far this year.

Ted Leo & the Pharmacists - Living with the Living
Rating: 5
Sigh. I love Ted. And I can't put my finger on why this one (even more than Shake the Sheets) feels disappointing and like he's just treading water. I suspect part of it is his increasing earnestness and soapbox-grandstanding. Nothing on here hits with the same punch that most of Hearts of Oak did, preciesely because he's trying so hard to make them hit. And a couple of the genre exercises (the Irish ballad, the - ugh! - reggae song, the unlistenable strident punk screamer) are downright painful. All that said, his performance a couple months ago reconfirmed for me (even as he played only ONE song I actually wanted to hear!) that he's still one of the most amazing performers in the United States.

Deerhunter - Cryptograms
Rating: 6
I'm puzzled by the rapturous response this one has gotten. Half of it is comprised of long ambient drones with little character or memorability. The other half is mostly standard guitar pop with a pretty heavy shoegaze leaning. The two standouts are "Spring Hall Convert" with its haunting vocal and endlessly looping guitar lines; and the bliss-inducing "Octet," which manages to sum up everything they attempt throughout the album and drive it home.

Live reviews I haven't written yet:

Fujiya & Miyagi, Mezzanine
Rating: 5
Simply stunning. Live their sound is raw and jagged and trades the sheen of the album for an undeniable immediacy. You'd never guess from the album how much of the sound really is intricate guitar work. The bassist is inhumanly groovy and SEXY. The guitarist/vocalist's hand gestures are hilariously geeky and restrained - sort of like a less self-conscious Devo. After this show these guys can do no wrong in my book.

Kristin Hersh, Great American Music Hall
Rating: 5
Kristin tours with a full band (really just her 50 Foot Wave mates and the McCarricks on cello and violin), and in the process once again revamps a number of her songs. I'll try to do the performance justice later.

Phew!!!