Oops Missed A Day (190-186)

Sorry about a lack of update yesterday, I was sleeping (like a baby). So no point fannying around let's crack on with this bitch.

190. The Stills-Logic Will Break Your Heart [sixsevenine 2003]

The essence of post punk reincarnated for the 21st century. The influences are all too familiar, The Smiths, The Cure that whole gang. These songs are about girls and the boys who can't get them. Or boys that get those girls and then inevitably fuck it up. Or those boys who just dream about girls whether they've got them or not. Lyrically & musically this is stuck back in the early 80s, yet what you have to remember is that music is timeless. This album will stick with pretty much anyone who hears it, the reverberating guitars, the catharic lyrics or the general gloomy mood of the album will have you entranced.

189. Deerhunter-Cryptograms [Kranky 2007]

Imagine being trapped in an air raid bunker in World War II for a long period of time in the dark on your own apart from a strange man (probably in your head) spouting nonsense to you. Bleak, desolate and insular, Deerhunter's second album is a very lonely affair. Created for those long walks home in the dark when the sky seems like it's about to cave in. Except it's caving in really really slowly. There is a sense of dread. Whatever instruments being used, be they slow creeping synths, expansive gloomy guitars, loud simplistic drumming, manage to create an album that will keep your tensions high, your pulse beating from slow to fast in a matter of seconds. All manner of bizarre thoughts will enter your mind as you are taken away to a place that resonates fear, loneliness and suicide.

188. Beck-Modern Guilt [XL 2008]

A true chameleon in every sense of the words. This man has had more musical styles than I've had proper meals in the last 8 weeks. It's no different here either. Once again Beck has re-created himself. With Modern Guilt he also seems to have kept his indulgent tendencies refrained. His last two albums had been over inflated with some monster tracks and a hell of a lot of filler. Not here though, the man has kept it simple. An album with his same splendiferous beats and rhythms and his own idiosyncratic lyrics. Yet this is not just a party album, there are also times of reflection see the gorgeous lead single Chemtrails and Volcano. He hasn't forget how to party though with Gamma Ray, Youthless and the title track standing out as some of the funkiest tracks from his catalogue.

187. The Fiery Furnaces-Gallowsbird's Barks [Rough Trade 2003]

Oft compared to The White Stripes when this album was released way back in 2003. The Fiery Furnaces are so much different, much more experimental, way more ideas and the ability to make you wonder quite how they are making the sounds that are coming out of your stereo. Boy/girl vocals splattered along with random electronics, trashy acoustic guitars and grand piano make this album a truly varied one. Many would argue that Gallowsbird's Bark offers too much on the eclectic factor and it's just one big jumble of instruments. They're wrong it's a musical masterpiece that has many directions and something new to be discovered each time you listen to it.

186. Albert Hammond Jr.-Yours To Keep [Rough Trade 2006]

A tremendous solo effort from one of the members of The Strokes. Catchy, perfect indie pop to soundtrack those days in the sun that will disappear if you don't make the most of them. As much as I love the music on this, sweet little guitar licks with the most basic drumming supporting it, it's all about the lyrics for me in particular the brutally honest Scared to the carefree In Transit. Albert's lyrics have a particular resonance for people who don't want to be stuck in the same thing day in and day out yet don't want to cause uproar. For people who just want to be happy.