New Albums (Q1 2009)

Last year was a dry spell for me as far as ALBUMS are concerned. Sure, I picked up a lot of dance music, but most of that was either in the form of single tracks thrown together on a compilation CD or dance albums, which are usually so poorly put together than they don't really feel like albums. Yes, I did buy a few non-dance albums, but they were few and far between. This said, I've already picked up eight generally good rock albums in 2009, and since I plan to keep this trend up throughout the year, I figured it might be good to break them down every quarter, so here's what I've purchased in Q1:

1. Tommy Sunshine - Relax, This Won't Hurt (1/5)
2. Fall Out Boy - Folie à Deux (4/5)
3. Cobra Starship - ¡Viva La Cobra! (2/5)
4. 3OH!3 - Want (2/5)
5. Bloc Party - Intimacy (4/5)
6. Plushgun - Pins & Panzers (4/5)
7. The Used - Lies For The Liars (5/5)
8. Forgive Durden - Razia's Shadow (3/5)
9. Head Automatica - Popaganda (5/5)

Of these, perhaps the ones I like the most are the Bloc Party, The Used, and Head Automatica albums.

Fall Out Boy's was a bit of a disappointment early on, as I am a big fan of their previous two albums, but this one eventually grew on me. I picked up Cobra Starship's album because I'm seeing them open for Fall Out Boy later this month, and although the album isn't perfect, it has its moments. 3OH!3's album is the official soundtrack for my last Bloomington trip, effectively capturing the Midwest's trashy tendency towards wiggerness (the group is basically a couple white boys acting gangsta). Bloc Party's album took awhile to grow on me, but I have since come to respect it immensely. Naturally, Tommy Sunshine's mix CD was horrible, as it's my only 1/5 of the set.

Plushgun's Postal Service-style approach initially mesmerized me, but I have a feeling I listened to it too much in too short a time, thereby burning me out on it. The Used's album is short but fantastic, capturing a lot of what I like in rock at this point in time. Forgive Durden's post-punk musical is in spots either really good or really bland, but the good stuff is truly unique and loveable (the story doesn't make much sense though). Finally, Head Automatica's poppier album of the two they've released is catchy as hell and immensely sing-along-able, traits I'm always looking for in a good driving album.

There you have it. Nine new albums, none of which are bad. Certainly some contenders for album of the year in here. Can't wait to see how Q2 turns out!

[Note: Due to having only recently (as of September 2010) finally written a post concerning the albums of Q4 2009, I've gone and reassigned scores to all of the albums of that year so as to have some sort of standardization across the board instead of a mix of new and old scores.]