Rock
Noah’s Barks pages related to the rock music genre. Combine with other tags for subgenres, e.g. “alternative+rock,” “noise+rock,” and “indie+rock.”
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Grizzly Bear – “Shields”
No Grizzly Bear album is well-rounded, but Shields comes closest. For the first time, its sonic peaks are worth traversing an album for, especially since they’re tactfully spread out. (read more)
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Todd Rundgren – “Something / Anything?” (1972)
Often called “the best album Paul McCartney never made,” Todd Rundgren’s 1972 double album Something / Anything? is indeed as good as any album the master of pop put out during his solo career, if not better. The album is basically packed full of competent pop songs, either piano or guitar-driven, and almost anything on… (read more)
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letlive. – “Fake History” (2010)
Post-hardcore is pretty much a dead genre now, but there are some bands that keep the torch burning. One of those bands is Glassjaw, who have been playing since around the genre’s conception and still occasionally release new material. Another one of those bands is a much more recently formed one named letlive., a band… (read more)
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The Smashing Pumpkins – “Gish” (1991)
The Smashing Pumpkins’s first album Gish arrived at the forefront of the coming alternative rock and grunge movement, and like other acclaimed bands of the time, the Pumpkins pioneered the new sound and attitude shift from the currently mainstream ’80s heavy metal/glam scene. The Pumpkins certainly know how to rock just as hard, and they… (read more)
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Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – “Abattoir Blues / The Lyre of Orpheus”
Oh, how embarrassing! I mean, to hear one of rock’s all-time greatest vocalists pant and wheeze his way through those rhythm & blues rockers that make up the first disc of this double album. Nick Cave was once a man full of as much menace as he was class, but on Abattoir Blues / The… (read more)
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The Smashing Pumpkins – “Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness” (1995)
I went through a phase of the music side of my life where I frequently said that I really liked double albums. This was when my experience with them was primarily the best stuff: London Calling, The Beatles, etc. It was only until I got around to listening to more double albums that I realized… (read more)
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Boris – “Heavy Rocks” (2011)
Hard candy When Boris announced that they’d release an identically titled follow-up to their 2002 fan-favorite hard rock masterpiece Heavy Rocks, people got hyped. And hype is a stupid thing to fall into, let me tell you, because it’s by nature not rooted in rationality. People assumed Heavy Rocks 2011 would sound the same as Heavy… (read more)
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Queen – “Hot Space”
Many consider Hot Space to be Queen‘s worst album (personally, I believe that title goes to The Miracle), and it’s fans often abhor it for its shift from rock to pop, featuring many songs driven by synthesizer dance beats. Certainly, a move that could (and would) easily anger the band’s long-time fans and rock purists. But… (read more)
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Fairport Convention – “Liege & Lief”
A great British folk rock album, but that sort of thing often isn’t for me. After listening to a lot of this stuff you get a bit tired of the same medieval vocabulary and woodwind instruments. They take you to a certain time and place, which is great, but the more you visit a place… (read more)
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Queen – “Queen II”
An often overlooked Queen album (aren’t most of them?). Queen II is loose concept album where the first side of the album is meant to have brighter lyrical imagery with all songs written by guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor, while the second side contains darker songs all written by lead vocalist Freddie Mercury. As usual… (read more)