TheThorne
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Post by TheThorne on Nov 26, 2023 20:58:07 GMT 1
57 Baby Queen - Quarter Life Crisis
Ahh Baby Queen, we have been here before. Baby Queen has been releasing music since 2020 but this is her first full-length album. I have to say I am not as keen on her current music as much as her 2021 singles which appeared on the mixtape 'The Yearbook'. But I have been supporting her for so long, this album has grown on me a lot even though some of the promo singles were pretty mid. As a whole record it works so much better but shame there is nothing here to match songs like "Raw Thoughts" , "Dover Beach" or "American Dream". The album though was a top 10 hit reaching #8 which is great for her! a generous 4/5 ( i do give them away!!)
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Post by TheThorne on Nov 26, 2023 21:02:41 GMT 1
56 Speedy Ortiz - Rabbit Rabbit
Actually listening to this right now. This is the fourth album from the indie rock band from Massachusetts. If you don't know the band they are very old school alternative, think of bands like Throwing Muses, Sleater Kinney or Breeders and you get where they sit,especially on this new album. A much cleaner sounding album than their punkier debut. 4/5
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Post by TheThorne on Nov 26, 2023 21:08:58 GMT 1
55 Madder Rose - No One Gets Hurt Ever
Speaking of bands from the 90s, like Drop Nineteens, these 90s alt-rockers decided to come back after a very long hiatus ,20 years. I totally missed their initial comeback album 'To Be Beautiful; from 2019. This is in fact their 6th album and much mellower than their first two most well known albums. I wouldn say it was unmistakably them but if someone told you, that's the new Madder Rose, you'd go, oh yeh! Wether any of these songs will stay with me for 30 years like 'Panic On' from their 2nd album we will probably never know. 4/5
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Post by TheThorne on Nov 26, 2023 21:15:40 GMT 1
54 Lonely the Brave - What We Do to Feel
One of my favourite UK rock bands of the last 15 years who are from Cambridge. This is their fourth album and I think it is a big improvement on their third album, which was their first with new vocalist Jack Bennett. He really seems to have settled properly into the role and they sound like Lonely the Brave in every way again. Although it is a very solid enjoyable album, there is nothing here that will make you sit up like their debut which if I ever do it, will probably be one of my top 50 albums of the 10s reversion 2014. Sadly though, this was their first album not to chart, need to check if I bought it, sorry guys if I didn't! 4/5
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Post by TheThorne on Nov 26, 2023 21:20:07 GMT 1
53 The Dirty Nil - Free Rein to Passions
I can say one thing, I certainly have favoured sounds in 2023, think my taste is narrowing a bit. Well guess what it is a fourth album from a garage punk, pop punk band from Ontario Canada. Dirty is the word, if you don;t like your pop punk all shiny and clean, then this is a band for you. We are still very much pop more than punk though. It is another album where it is excellent all the way through, hard to find fault other than thee is 50 odd albums I like more. 4/5
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Post by TheThorne on Nov 26, 2023 21:24:30 GMT 1
52 Pony - Velveteen
The second album from the power pop band from Toronto Canada. Canada is doing well today. I love this album more with each listen and I think it gets a boost due to me replaying old Primitives, Darling Buds albums as that sound is all over this as well as US bands like Weezer, Verruca Salt and Rilo Kiley. So good. 4/5
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Post by TheThorne on Nov 26, 2023 21:34:38 GMT 1
So just outside the top 50 we have another of my goto genres 51 Superbloom - Life's a Blur
They call it an EP but it has 11 tracks so that counts as an album for sure. This is a grunge album for sure, you won't hear anything new here although they do use shoe gazey, electronic interludes and the track 'Tiny Bodyguard' is as good as any grunge you have ever heard, I can imagine it on MTV2 constantly. I didn't even know it was a single it really deserved to be, with its Nirvana ballad meets Smashing Pumpkins 'Today' in sound. 4/5
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Post by TheThorne on Nov 27, 2023 14:21:04 GMT 1
50 City and Colour - The Love Still Held Me Near
After the long awaited return of Alexisfire, Dallas Green returns to his main project for their eighth album. And guess what it is another Canadian band, the folk rockers were a pretty big deal there but after a gap of 8 years, their run of chart toppers has been broken but still a pretty great #12 peak. 4/5
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Post by TheThorne on Nov 27, 2023 14:27:44 GMT 1
49 Peter Gabriel - i/o
A little bit of a cheat as the album is still to be released but we only have one track still to hear so I thought close enough. This is his tenth album and first with original material since 'Up' in 2002. There are some really great songs on this record, he really still has it. I am not so sure about the Bright and Dark concept, I greatly prefer the Bright versions but I guess Radiohead fans would prefer the Dark so I guess you have a choice. If it had been just one version, it might have been higher up the list. As for chart position, I hope it still will be a number one even with so much of it already available. 4/5
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Post by TheThorne on Nov 27, 2023 14:34:18 GMT 1
48 The Front Bottoms - You Are Who You Hang Out With
The eighth album from the American rock band with one of the worst names in music. It is a shame as they are one of the best bands of the last ten years. If you don't know them, they are basically a Weezer type band. This is their best album for sometime but it is still far from their best which has to be 'Back On Top' from 2015. They have never made am album that is great all the way through, they are just to weird to let that happen. 4/5
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Post by TheThorne on Nov 27, 2023 14:48:10 GMT 1
47 Pierce the Veil - The Jaws of Life
This is a tricky one as the band passed me by when they were at their peak and now they are back, this record is getting a bit of a malling. This is their fifth album and first for 7 years and I thought it was excellent. It helped it came out at the start of the year but with no preconceptions I thought this was a stuffed with great hardcore and alt pop. So no doubt it's not heavy enough, sell outs.... The album reached #14 in the US and #43 in the UK. 4/5
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Post by greendemon on Nov 27, 2023 15:33:59 GMT 1
A few in that recent crop I liked but I don't think any would trouble my top 100 except possibly PONY.
Pierce The Veil I was quite underwhelmed by; I had no expectations really but just nothing there was anything like as good as the singles (well two of them anyway - I really did not like 'Even When I'm Not With You')
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Post by TheThorne on Nov 28, 2023 8:40:53 GMT 1
I hope things get better for you but I do know you are much more metal than me now 46 MisterWives - Nosebleeds
The fourth album from the US indie pop band, they are a group that I have liked but never really loved but I think after their weird misstep album 'Superbloom', this is this back to doing what they do best mostly better than ever before. Sadly, nobody really noticed they were a doing good business 7-8 years ago. But this record failed to chart. 4/5
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Post by TheThorne on Nov 28, 2023 17:11:43 GMT 1
45 Hotline TNT - Cartwheel
Maybe I need to widen my tastes in 2023 but it is pretty hard when you spend the whole year listening to 11 years worth of albums as well as the new stuff. So here we are again with a new band to me but it is in the shoegaze rock genre once more. This is the second album from the New York band and another fine if not special example of the genre. The record has had very positive reviews from NME to Pitchfork. 4/5
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Post by TheThorne on Nov 28, 2023 17:17:55 GMT 1
44 New Found Glory - Make the Most of It
Shock a NFG album not in my top 40! This is their twelth album, and it is not completely a new record, part acoustic new songs and acoustic classics, with many of the new songs written in the wake of guitarist Chad Gilbert's cancer diagnosis. This record works better than you might expect but it is more of a curio, although still enjoyable. 4/5
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Post by TheThorne on Nov 28, 2023 17:24:11 GMT 1
43 Holly Humberstone - Paint My Bedroom Black
The much anticipated debut album from the alt pop singer-songwriter who is one of the most hyped UK singers of recent years. Similar to a few artists she has been releasing singles and EPs for the last 3 years and many of those songs are much stronger than what we get here but the difference is this is still a bloody good record. I very nearly bought it and I probably would have if it did include a couple of her best EP tracks, maybe will get it when the inevitable deluxe edition is released. The album did very well reaching #5 in the UK. 4/5
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Post by TheThorne on Nov 28, 2023 17:29:32 GMT 1
42 Somebody’s Child - Somebody’s Child
The debut album from the Dublin singer-songwriter, he has been putting out music for some time but didn't grab my attention until near the end of 2022 and why was that, well it is very obvious he had been taking notes from Sam Fender as many of the same influences start to appear in his music. This of course is a common thing, acts that sound like a success or take influence from them always appear, sometimes the situation repeats many times until we get bands like The Enemy or Hoosiers hopefully that won't happen with this sound. 4/5
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Post by TheThorne on Nov 28, 2023 17:36:53 GMT 1
41 Olivia Rodrigo - Guts
The second album from one of the best new popstars around. Improving on her debut in many ways, there are fewer ballads and instead we have pop rock and emo lite with Gen Z energy but still recalling similar vibes to Avril Lavigne or Kelly Clarkson before her. Olivia is probably quite easily my favourite pop singer of the 20s which would not be hard as I don't spend a lot of time listening to what makes the charts these days. The record was a number one album all over the world and probably the highest selling album on my list by some distance, well ok there may still be a rival to come. 4/5
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Post by greendemon on Nov 28, 2023 18:01:29 GMT 1
Thought you'd have Olivia higher! I'll probably have it around here, great record but I think I overdosed myself on it Shockingly I haven't got around to Holly yet...
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Post by TheThorne on Nov 29, 2023 8:53:22 GMT 1
40 The Smashing Pumpkins - ATUM
Ahh triple albums, concept albums, why do artists do them!! Why can't you just pick the twelve best songs and make a brilliant album. And there is some brilliant stuff here 'Spellbinding' and 'Beguiled' are as excellent as anything from the 90s. But there is just too much. Unlike many reviewers I can see past that and pick out the gems but most people have listened to this and just thought it is all rubbish. it is not. The record reached #85 in the Uk and #111 in the US. 4/5
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