Alternative
Noah’s Barks pages relating to the alternative music genre. Combine with other tags for subgenres, e.g. “alternative+rock.”
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Blur – “Leisure”
“She’s So High” and “Wear Me Down” are pretty good songs, but the rest of Leisure is mostly just serviceable Baggy-Madchester rock. The band tries to cover up a lack of hooks and good melodies with a lot of minor noisy psychedelic guitar wash. Sometimes it works and makes for a pleasant shoegaze-ish song, such… (read more)
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Deftones – “B-Sides & Rarities”
I actually quite like these covers, particularly “Wax and Wane,” “No Ordinary Love,” and “The Chauffeur.” Problem is, they are “only” covers… and I’m going to go out and a limb and assume this isn’t a complete B-sides collection because they never fucking are (see: my Music Pet Peeves list). Anyway, a bunch of great… (read more)
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Life of Agony – “River Runs Red” (1993)
The skits here are pretty horrible. River Runs Red attempts to take on the serious concept of parental neglect and an abusive home life, but the mother’s voice for example sounds so ridiculous and exaggerated that these parts actually take on a comedic tone and end up making a joke out of something serious and… (read more)
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Manic Street Preachers – “Know Your Enemy” (2001)
Know Your Enemy is actually my favorite Manic Street Preachers (MSO) album after The Holy Bible. I don’t quite understand why it’s hated. Well, okay; I know what the criticisms are: 1. It’s different from their work from Everything Must Go and onward to this point. Why is that a bad thing? Those albums were different from what… (read more)
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Manic Street Preachers – “Lifeblood” (2004)
Lifeblood is the second-best Manic Street Preachers (MSP) album after The Holy Bible. For the first time in the MSP catalog, synthesizers take the lead and wash over the guitars, layering everything and making one of the most silky-smooth “rock” albums you’ll ever hear, while James Dean Bradfield’s vocals elevate the album to something almost soulful.… (read more)
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Alice in Chains – “The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here”
‘The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here’ gets repetitive quickly. Only a hardcore fan wouldn’t be tired by the middle of this 70-minute (!) album. (read more)
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Better Than Ezra – “Deluxe”
‘Deluxe’ by Better Than Ezra sounds like a poor man’s R.E.M. Not enough strong hooks here to be a great pop rock album. (read more)
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The Jesus and Mary Chain – “Automatic” (1989)
I recently went back to Automatic. It was pretty good! The Jesus and Mary Chain went full rock ‘n roll on Automatic, and that of course turned many people off. No more of the sugary pop that was on Psychocandy or Darklands, the Reid brothers are bad to the bone on this one. As usual… (read more)
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Johnny Marr – “The Messenger” (2013)
Other than this first sentence, I’d like everyone to note how I never bring up The Smiths anywhere in this little review of The Messenger. Well, people will be pleased to hear the whole album is done in Johnny Marr’s distinctive playing style. This sounds like an album that could have been released in the… (read more)
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The Joy Formidable – “Wolf’s Law” (2013)
Featured on the front page of RateYourMusic.com! On first listen, this has less variety in songcraft than The Big Roar. Primarily because there’s a lot less dynamics this time around. Most songs on Wolf’s Law have no surprises in them like how many tracks on The Big Roar often shifted between softer verses and loud choruses.… (read more)