Stackridge - A Victory for Common Sense (2009)

http://www.mediafire.com/?mtgzznkx1ym
Stackridge had a string of classic albums in the early 70s and they broke up right when they seemed to have run out of steam, leaving no illusions of lost opportunities or missing masterpieces. Since then there have been a handful of partial reunions, but not until 2009 did the original line-up all get back together again. Stackridge are pretty obscure nowadays, and even in their heyday they were never too successful. They never had a hit single or any connections to a major band for them to ride the coattails of popularity on. So why should anyone care about this reunion? Well because it’s really good that’s why. Their age occasionally shows through in their voices, and the nostalgic lyrics, but the songs are consistently great so why should it matter? Musically they go through several different styles, from rock and pop to music hall and prog, updating their classic sound for the new millennium without giving in to any negative modern trappings. This is an extremely solid album from a band that by all rights shouldn’t have any business putting out music of this quality this late in their career. A Victory for Common Sense stands up against any of Stackridge’s previous albums. It’s really English too. - Ken
http://www.mediafire.com/?mtgzznkx1ym

Sunn O))) - Monoliths & Dimensions (2009)

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=K2S62B2U

I have something to confess. I'm not familiar with these guys' (only two of them) back catalogue. This is my first album from them but it sure blows smoke up my ass.

Rather than attempting to recapture the same sludgy stoner metal riffs that Black Sabbath are known for, as like a dozen other stoner metal bands, they up the ante with the sludgy riffs slowed and expanded to brontosaurus levels, eschewing any percussion whatsoever, and adding choral vocals and layering the riffs.

But it's not all noise, harmonically, the stoner riffs are pleasant to the ears, and they throw in bits of melody that may seem incongruent to them being the heaviest and loudest band at the moment.

My favourite album of the past year, not the 00s. But you needn't apply if you are not into deciphering metal harmonics and frequencies. - Il Duce

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=K2S62B2U

The Exploding Hearts - Guitar Romantic (2003)

http://rapidshare.com/files/124220121/Guitar_Romantic.rar.html
AMG REVIEW: "At first glance, the Exploding Hearts seem like mere revivalists. From the pink and yellow cover to their 1977 looks to their influences, it would be easy to dismiss them. But you need to hold the phone a minute and listen, because the Exploding Hearts are the best punk band to come along in a long time, maybe since the original wave. About those influences, here is a partial list: the early Clash if Mick Jones wrote all the songs and the Only Ones or Buzzcocks at their emotional best, but also classic power pop sounds like a (much) tougher Rubinoos, rock & roll like a tighter and sober New York Dolls, and the lo-fi approach of Billy Childish. Guitar Romantic is an amazingly raw and melodic debut, fully realized and original despite the obvious debt to the punk past. It is difficult to pinpoint just what it is about the band that helps overcome their idol worship. Maybe it is the love and authenticity that they pour into the worship, the raw production that smashes the guitars and bass into a whirling mess of tuneful noise, or the wonderfully tough but tender vocals. Most likely it is the songwriting. Too many bands that seek to re-create a sound or an era don't have the tunes to back it up. Not the Hearts. Every song on Guitar Romantic makes a bid to be the best on the album: "I'm a Pretender" is a jaunty kick in the head, "Sleeping Aides & Razorblades" is an ultra-catchy doo wop-inspired ballad with a brilliant guitar line, "Thorns in Roses" is a rollicking '50s-influenced ballad, "Throwaway Style" melds a lovelorn lyric to a Motown beat (the same one the Strokes heisted for "Last Nite") to great effect. There isn't a weak song here, not a single one that isn't on par with the best punk-pop. If you don't have this album and have even the slightest affinity for poppy punk rock or punky pop/rock, you are missing out on something special."
Submitted by Mike Pap Rocki
http://rapidshare.com/files/124220121/Guitar_Romantic.rar.html

Moose - High Ball Me! (2000)

http://www.mediafire.com/?1hwu2zmcw5g
To this day, I consider one of the defining moments of 2005 to be that time in September I was sitting alone in my apartment randomly browsing Audiogalaxy Rhapsody clicking on albums and I uncovered this massive gem released by a band called Moose. I ate up every millisecond of it: it was bright, tuneful, strange, and satisfying. Within the week, I ordered the album from on amazon.com. I had to own a physical copy of it. I mean, I was drooling.

HOLY FREAKING COW, THIS IS AN EXCELLENT ALBUM!!!! Sorry for yelling there, but I exclaim only what I believe. This is one of the most happy and delightful albums that was ever produced. Naturally, I haven't listened to every album ever made, but I believe in this statement just as strongly as I believe that there is a Paris, France even though I've never been there.

I really adore this band's use of arrangements. They prefer thick and heavy pop orchestration like good old Coldplay, but instead of sounding cold and depressing, they sound warm and dreamy, often peppering their songs with such things as spaghetti western guitar, zippy pizzicato strings, dreamy synthesizers, and happy bongos. The result is a brew that sounds almost too good to be true. Really, I don't know why more people don't know about this band. They ought to have been superstars. - Don Ignacio
http://www.mediafire.com/?1hwu2zmcw5g

DJ Drank - Greatest Malt Liquor Hits (2002)

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=XOOLFJZT
Oh, this! 30 tracks from US hip hop's classic era, averaging at just under a minute long each, each one advertising -- yup, you got it -- St. Ide's. Check out that line-up: Wu, Rakim, Ice Cube, EPMD, Snoop Dogg, King Tee, Kool G Rap...I could go on. Yup, Wu's "Shaolin Brew" is that tune lying beneath Raekwon's "Spot Rusherz" skit, and the Nate and Snoop tracks practically justify G-Funk's existence in themselves.

But it's almost all awesome; perhaps it does damage the credibility of Wu and Cube's anti-commercial somewhat, but the amount of effort in the lyrics steers this away from the typical soulessness of most celebrity advertising. And there's a sweet East-meets-West vibe about it all that confirms this as one of the most unexpected rap classics I'll ever encounter. - Liam
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=XOOLFJZT

Disclaimer - The Airbag's Lipstick Kiss (2003)

http://www.mediafire.com/?43ulfmyjnzr
Well Blah Blah early 00s Babble nostalgia/bias, but this is a really good album, an it'd be cool if it were disseminated slightly more amongst the remnants of a community it's creator meant something to. Thought it might provoke slightly more interest/discussion on here due to it's parochial pedigree anyhow.

This is Chris Willie Williams tortured, melodic, electropopangst, witty, multireferential concept album "The Airbag's Lipstick Kiss", an album that evokes musically the wide array of stages of reaction, rationalisations and emotions mandelbrotting throughout one soul in the aftermath of a traumatic break-up. From the first track on, music and lyrics seem to evoke the twists and turns of one troubled minds thought processes after a split. Virtual vistas of self pity alternate with darkly funny bitter twists on pop-culture aphorisms, often within 2 passages of the same song.

Not to get too pretentious about this (well I have already, so might as well go the whole way) it can't help but have added weight for Babblers of a certain age detailing so intensely the loss of innocence (in the "ideals of romance" sense) of a young man at the dawn of the decade. When I hear this album it evokes my expereince of hanging out on Babble in the first 3rd of the 00s, virtual electronic protean luminous blue messageboard with virtual friends reflecting into dark suburban streets outside. Things get really classic Babble-tastic when Joe H joins for a duet on the penultimate song "Please Pardon Our Progress!"'s brainstorm miasma. Closing track "I Couldn't end it there" reminds me of Pink Floyd's "Outside the Wall" or Zappa's "A Little Green Rosetta" (but better) or the last page of 1984 with it's "calm after the storm" purgatorial mood.

Oh, and the line "Should I Be Sticking Chick Tracts into Trick-Or Treaters Snacks?" (from God Said Plastics) is surely one of the greatest tounge-twisters ever placed into the rock context. - A Smith
http://www.mediafire.com/?43ulfmyjnzr

Circulatory System - Circulatory System (2001)

http://www.mediafire.com/?d42y2gmm3go
Hello, I am Pugeye and I did not make a write up.
http://www.mediafire.com/?d42y2gmm3go

Polvo - In Prism (2009)

http://www.mediafire.com/?dmohjnkwrkn
One of the more unlikely reunions of the decade came at the end of it with Chapel Hill, NC's guitar bashers Polvo. Their twisting masterpiece, Today's Active Lifestyles, released in '93, is the album to hear for to convince the stubborn music listeners of the world who decry the '90s. Guitarists/singers Ash Bowie and David Brylawski have an awesome, near-Sonic Youth guitar interplay style, but with a hearty dose of Eastern influence. Bassist Steve Popson grooves and dovetails along with the guitars very nicely and keeps them from going over the edge at times.

After being split up for 12 years, the band returned and released In Prism, a slowed down masterwork from the guys. It alternates gorgeous songs like "D.C. Trails" (my pick for the best track; the ending guitar passage is nearly equal to the Clapton's solo in "While My Guitar Gently Weeps"), "City Birds" (there's that Eastern influence), and "A Link in the Chain" (a near-nine minute epic that ends the album on an uplifting note) to the hard rocking opener "Right the Relation." The latter tune features some incredible drum fills from new drummer Brian Quast (the ending passage especially). The first single from the album, "Beggar's Bowl," is also particularly rockin', and has a catchy main riff. "Lucía," is the other epic of the album and has another undeniable melody. "Dream Residue/Work" begins with a hip hop-ish beat, and "The Pedlar" boasts a mighty bass performance from Popson.

The incredibly creative (yet still very listenable) nature of this album, this band, is staggering. Hear them today to hear the sounds that most guitarists never dream of making. - Trent

http://www.mediafire.com/?dmohjnkwrkn

Subtle - For Hero: For Fool (2006)

http://www.sendspace.com/file/5uk3vf

While Subtle's sound tends to be rooted in hip hop, their first album, A New White, was mostly mellow, abstract, ambient and seems to show a lot of the same influences as Kid Amnesiac era Radiohead (without actually sounding like Radiohead) as well as lots of other influences like the Notwist. The one I'm sharing, however, was recorded after the band was in a tour bus accident which left one of their members a quadriplegic. The stress of the whole ordeal resulted in the album being incredibly heavy, dense (musically and lyrically), anxious, and the whole thing comes across as one of those rare albums where the band HAD to make it or their brains would've exploded. The music is filled with everything from IDM-esque electronics, pretty cello driven passages (courtesy of their full time cello player), spacey post-rock and lots of other genres manage to creep their way into their sound at one time or another. It constantly jumps freely from one style to another and their frontman's flow changes drastically throughout to match, which has made a number of people that are familiar with it draw comparisons to Mr. Bungle or other various Mike Patton projects. Because it's so dense, it tends to take a few listens to really get into and every listen reveals something new and awesome. - Nieh

http://www.sendspace.com/file/5uk3vf

Kayo Dot - Dowsing Anemone With Copper Tongue (2006)

http://www.mediafire.com/?yejztmdjmll

"Trust us when we say that countless otherwise sage people have sacrificed years of their lives trying to accurately summarize the music of Kayo Dot." - Time Out New York

"But if you like your violence framed by surreal mumbojumbo, you may find them awe-awakening; the slow sections are suspenseful, and the climaxes will make your hair jump off your head." - Pitchfork

"It's classical for scenster indie kids majoring in art and clueless about classical music, post-rock for metalheads clueless about post-rock, and just plain stale pointless random noise that stalls and stalls from doing anything remotely interesting for anyone without their heads up their asses." - Metal-Archives

"Amaranth the Peddler. seriously, what the fuck? I don't care how many drugs, or how 'arty' you think you are, that's a fucking GAY title" - Metal-Archives

Kayo Dot are the most terrifying band on the planet. If doom metal bands evoke visions of Gamera, the giant tortoise of destruction, Kayo Dot are the musical Cthulhu. A creature so grotesque, unholy, inexplicable and nightmarish it can only be regarded as an abomination.

I chose Dowsing Anemone With Copper Tongue because no other album this decade made me say "OK, I give up. What the fuck are they DOING?" quite so many times. With their first album, Choirs of the Eye(2003), you could at least follow along and go "This sounds like post-rock. Now here's a prog section. Then this part is totally metal!" No such luck here. All aspects of their sound - Toby Driver's mental-patient vocals, Mia Matsumiya's tweaking viola, other instruments, whatever the fuck they do - merge into a distinct whole that moves and warps from hushed weirdness to apocalyptic crescendos.

But that makes them sound conventional. Even when they get loud, the effect is strangely anti-cathartic - some would say anticlimactic. To think of this music as a series of dramatic buildups is missing the point. The real power of this band, and the element that gives this album nearly infinite replay value, is how uncompromising these compositions remain, long after the shock value of soft-to-loud climaxes and punishing noise assaults (the coda of "___ On Limpid Form" is 13-and-a-half minutes of your life you will never get back) wears off. This band does not give a fuck about your need for "melody" or discernible structure. That they have any fanbase at all (and they surely fucking do) is testament to the paucity of truly groundbreaking musicians this decade. People still want something new, despite that everything that got any amount of "hype" from the critics this decade was a rehash of a throwback.

But Kayo Dot go beyond "new" and really seem to occupy a space of their own. People will front and say this shit reminds them of Jeff Buckley or King Crimson or Neurosis or whatever, but for me the only thing that even comes close to creating this mood or atmosphere is maudlin of the Well, Toby Driver's old band (whose guitarist went to college with Jeremy Olson, so bonus extra Babble connection!). But even that band could be safely pigeonholed into the "avant-metal" category and subsequently ignored. Dowsing Anemone With Copper Tongue is the album where Driver found an escape route from shallow comparisons and guided his band into complete unique artistic territory. And that's why I've chosen it as my Favorite album of the decade. - A.H.

http://www.mediafire.com/?yejztmdjmll

Roger Joseph Manning Jr. - Solid State Warrior/ The Land of Pure Imagination (2006)

http://www.mediafire.com/?jduhcnnttiw
You may not have heard of Roger Joseph Manning Jr. before, but you've certainly heard him before. He's played the session man role (usually keyboards & vocals) with artists as diverse as Air, Beck, Cheap Trick, Green Day, Redd Kross, Mars Volta, Jason Faulkner, Sheryl Crow, Bleu, Ringo Starr, Brian Reitzell and tons more. But he's no slouch when it comes to more upfront roles either, he's been a primary collaborator in the bands Moog Cookbook, Imperial Drag, TV Eyes, and (my personal favorite) Jellyfish.
Anyway, after much clamoring from Jellyfish fans Manning finally put out a solo album in 2006. Much of the Jellyfish sound is here yet he somehow made it even more poppy. Listening to this record is like having a thousand rainbow coloured candy canes shoved down your ears, and then chasing them with happy pills while playing with adorable puppies. And as much as Manning tries to vary the mood, which he does often, he can't get rid of the deliriously cheery mood that this album creates. Plus he's got the voice of a 14 year old choir boy and it lacks any grit whatsoever. So if you're one of those people who doesn't like happy music this probably isn't the album for you.
But if you are, you're in for a treat! Manning knows his way around songwriting and he takes great effort to keep things interesting; creative intros and outros, multi-part choruses, multiple bridges. Of course, the downside to that is that many of the songs run a bit long, but each song has several solid hooks so it's hard to get too upset with that. He's also a keyboard whiz and 80% of the non-guitar instruments on the album are all his keyboards, even the bass and drums. But for the most part, (with the exception of some of the synth-strings) you'd never even realize it.
This album was released twice, first titled Solid State Warrior, and then as The Land of Pure Imagination. The two versions have different tracklistings, but I've combined them so you can hear all 14 tracks instead of the 11 that the CD versions have (so if you think this album runs a bit long, blame me not Roger). - Ken
http://www.mediafire.com/?jduhcnnttiw