Album: You are Here | Band: Thenewno2

Track by Track

1) So Vain 6/10
2) Another John Doe 9/10
3) Back to You 7/10
4) Give you Love 7.5/10
5) Bluesy 5/10
6) Yomp 10/10
7) Hiding Out 3/10
8) Crazy Tuesday 7/10
9) Idle Lover 6/10
10) Shelter 6.5/10
11) Wind up Dead 7.5/10

Overall 6.8/10

Now, i did say that numbers are arbitrary, and they are, which is why you should be reading what I'm writing to get why i rated the songs that way. First i got to say that this is a debut album, which is no excuse because i've heard good debut albums before e.g. Cold War Kids' album Robbers & Cowards (review at a later date). The reason why i say this is because i had to tell myself this constantly so i wouldn't yell at the music.

So, the first couple of songs are staying with the theme of a calm-techno sort of feel. It feels like a band out of the 60s and 70s era music where you'd put the CD on and smoke some grass on the side. But then you get a taste of things to come in "Give You Love." They switch it up to a heavier sound, however, they manage to keep a calmer feel. It was a new thing, but completely different from the rest of the album. Ironically, the best song "Yomp" is almost entirely a heavy-calm-techno sound. They--for a band that is supposedly a calm-techno, notice the not heavy--really have a good feel for that heavy sound, but manage to keep it calm, which really aids the music. There are also a couple tracks where they seem that they are trying to much, namely the later half, excluding "Yomp."

So overall, there are only a couple of songs that seem to follow Thenewno2's formula, the others that don't fit their own formula seem to have very polarizing results: they either make you want to listen to it again and again, or they make you want to just hit the next button on your ipod. If you were to buy this album, or suggest a couple of songs for friends to listen to off this album, i would go with "Another John Doe" and "Yomp," as those two seem to have that "it" factor that everyone wants.

Also, the next Album, will be Between the Buried and Me's album Colors, hopefully within a day or two. Any suggestions for new albums to review will be appreciated.

First Post (wow how original)

Ok, so i was thinking a couple of minutes ago, "hey, people now have torrents, and itunes, and as always, stores, which means that CDs and Albums released by bands are now more accessible than they have ever been." Ok, maybe not exactly those words, but you get the gist. Anyway, back to the point, i want to start a site which not only has several CDs on it, as in for review, but also gives links to the band's site, and other information that most other CD review sites wouldn't give you. Now, after a while the database will get huge, so i will try to stay as organized as possible.

Now let's lay some ground rules for how this will work:

1) I will give a rating (1-10)

2) Then i will give an explanation as to why that particular CD got that rating

3) As is a fact that was pointed out by my bro, tracks 2-5 are usually a bands "hit tracks," so special attention will be put onto these tracks and may also be rated as apart from the CD if seen as necessary.

a) and if i so choose i may rate pre-released singles, and give you an idea of the anticipation i have for the album based on the single.

4) READ MY EXPLANATION! Don't assume that because you liked an album with an 8/10 score, only "8/10"s or better will grab your attention and entertain you. Since this is a mostly arbitrary rating system i.e. the 1-10 scale, and words don't do much better, e.g. what is the degree of difference between average, good, and great, or average, above average, good, and great. So, by reading my description it (review) will be of better help than my ratings will be. Also, i may hate a certain genre of music, and although i won't try to make it effect my rating it more than likely will. In essence, read my explanation.

There you go. Keep in mind this will be mostly indie stuff, or non-mainstream, and on rare occasions "pop music."

The first review will be up tomorrow, and for anticipation's sake it is the debut album for the band Thenewno2 entitled You are Here. Since this is taking longer than i originally thought, i will post my review around 5 PMish tomorrow. It all depends how quickly i get through this.

Finally before the end of every post i will ask for suggestions, and i will try to review everyone's suggestion, but it will take a while, so be patient.