On the playlist, or the closest thing to reviews I’ll write in a while

I’m still sifting through all the spoils of my last spree, but I should probably make note of some early impressions.

  • ABC, The Lexicon of Love I have a soft spot for How to be a Zillionaire! — the first ABC album I ever owned — but The Lexicon of Love is better. How have I gone so long not knowing this?
  • … And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead, The Century of Self Oh, thank deity, they’re not on Interscope any more.
  • Antony & the Johnsons, The Crying Light It’s not I Am a Bird Now, but it’s got its moments.
  • BoA, BoA Another exhibit in the loudness wars. This album is so loud, I don’t realize the volume of my player is turned down till the next album starts.
  • Camouflage, Voices & Images Man, those Germans are a dark bunch. (Reference, or if you don’t want to scroll.)
  • Cause & Effect, Cause & Effect I liked this album back in 1990, and I’m surprised nearly 20 years later, it holds up really well.
  • detroit7, detroit7 Kind of feels a bit cobbled together — guess they couldn’t license Great ROMANTIC from EMI Japan.
  • Emmylou Harris, Luxury Liner Once I get the title track of this album in my head, there’s little that can be done to get it out. Not that I mind.
  • Emmylou Harris, Quarter Moon in a Ten Cent Town Also a good one, but I think Luxury Liner gets more spins.
  • FLiP, Haha kara Umareta Hinekure no Uta Of the few Japanese bands I could catch this year at SXSW — which I officially did not attend — FLiP is so far the best. A second mini-album is about to be released.
  • Gabriel Prokofiev, String Quartet No. 1 (Elysium Quarter) The remixes of this quartet are longer than the quartet’s movements themselves.
  • Gentleman Reg, Jet Black Not surprising as indie fare goes, but well-crafted nonetheless.
  • LEO Imai, LASER RAIN I was fearful of a sophomore slump, but Imai shakes up his signature Black Sabbath-meets-Kylie Minogue sound just enough to keep listeners reeled in.
  • Jennifer Koh, String Poetic If Koh came to town to perform the pieces on this album as a recital, I would so be there.
  • mono, Hymn to the Immortal Wind The orchestras on mono albums just keep getting bigger, but I think this time, it works in the band’s favor.
  • Morrissey, Years of Refusal I think I like this one better than Ringleaders of the Tormentors. I really ought to start exploring the Smiths — big gap in my music knowledge, especially someone my age.
  • Office, Mecca It’s one thing to release a good album. It’s another to make it available for free!
  • Royal Wood, The Lost and Found EP Yes, I downloaded this EP from eMusic because I thought Wood was cute, so it’s kind of frustrating to discover he’s really good. Am I listening based on merit or by pretty? Why not both?
  • Sasagawa Miwa, miwaBLUE Compared to Jijitsu and Mayoi Naku, this EP is pretty indescript, but unlike Amata or Yoake, it leaves a stronger impression.
  • STRAIGHTENER, Nexus I guess it was premature to expect LOVE/HATE now that two members of ART-SCHOOL from that album are now part of STRAIGHTENER.
  • The Bad Plus joined by Wendy Lewis, For All I Care Hot damn! Who could say no to a cover album by the Bad Plus that includes classical works by Ligeti, Babbitt and Stravinsky?
  • The Replacements, Let It Be (expanded edition) I suspect I’m falling into a Replacements hole …
  • The Replacements, Don’t Tell a Soul (expanded edition) I don’t object to the commercial sheen of this album, but at the same time, what would have happened if they kept it rough for this one?

  • Tommy heavenly6, I KILL MY HEART So far only one listen, but it’s enough to notice it’s not as balls-out as the previous albums.

  • Tommy Keene, In the Late Bright Keene goes for a more programmatic approach with this album.