The Slush Pile, or too too much

The longer I wait to write reviews, the bigger the listening pile gets. And right now, the pile is pretty big. I think my Winamp playlist at home has about 2 1/2 days’ worth of stuff. I’ve tried to listen to it all, but sometimes, losses will just have to be cut.

So here are the albums that will go into the slush pile:

Art-School, Flora — This album is actually a pretty decent showing by Art-School. It certainly entertained me more than Paradise Lost. It’s still not the grand statement of Love/Hate, but Flora should please even casual fans.

Straightener, Linear — There are only so many hours in the day, and unfortunately, Straightener is not high enough in my radar to occupy one of them.

The Arcade Fire, Neon Bible — Win Butler doesn’t sound unhinged enough on this album to keep my interest.

Tracey Thorn, Out of the Woods — Boy did I have high hopes for this album.

Vola & the Oriental Machine, Android ~like a house mannequin~ — It’s too bad Ahito Inazawa started hanging around Polysics. The latter’s annoying influence has sway on this full-length album. I could tell this was going into the Slush Pile when I realized I wasn’t even listening to the album as it played.

Dudley Saunders, The Billy White Acre Sessions — eMusic messed up and passed off Troubled Hubble’s Perturbia as Saunders’ EP. I only found that out the hard way by dropping money for the Saunders disc. Now that I’ve listened to it, I can safely say I can only take wispy folkie stuff in very measured doses.

GO!GO!7188, Best of GO!GO! — People already know how good GO!GO!7188 is, so I see no need to be redundant.

Low Line Caller, Continuing Cities — See this band live if you get a chance, but wait for a full-length release that includes more of that live set.