The Kills - Midnight Boom (2008)

Rating: B
The 3rd album by The Kills, and the only one I've actually heard, was worth a couple listens but somewhat forgettable. The female vocals and garage-y sound reminded me of a combination of The White Stripes, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and The Ting Tings. The album as a whole was a somewhat repetitive. I found lyrically there was a lot of repetition, and not a lot of variation between like tempo and speed between songs. However the songs were all pretty short and as an album under 35 minutes it's pretty quick and easy listen. Songs for song, my favorite song was Tape Song, second favorite being What New York Used To Be. Sour Cherry was decent too.  There were a few songs that felt like fillers (MEXICOCU, Alphabet Pony)(Feel free to disagree).  Overall, I liked the album. The choruses were catchy, the Sleight Bell-esque guitars were not too light but not to heavy, and the vocals were just different enough to stand out. I'll defiantly be checking out other work by these guys.

Black Mountain - Wilderness Heart (2010)

Rating: A

It's difficult to explain the atmosphere this album creates. It's one of those albums you can just sit there and listen to from start to finish, and totally become lost in the music. It's very simple, yet deep and layered. Black Sabbath meets The White Stripes. It's my favourite album released in the new millennium and it has restored my faith in new bands and the future of music. When the next music revolution begins, it will be Black Mountain helping lead the charge to overthrow the shallow, immature, watered down sound of Top 40 music! My personal favourite track is probably, "Let Spirits Ride". It's the perfect album to listen to when you're stressed out, as it tends to clear the mind and I always feel refreshed after the last song. Give it a chance, I think you guys might actually like it.

Panic! At The Disco - A Fever You Can't Sweat Out (2005)

Rating: A
Let me start off by saying that I've chosen this album because of it's influence on powerpop music in the last half a decade. Since Panic! At The Disco released this album, every powerpop band in the business (Names like All Time Low, Hellogoodbye, Cobra Starship, Metro Station) have shown similar styles in their music. However, A Fever You Can't Sweat Out stand alone because of it's somewhat mature themes (Marriage, religion) and well put together album. The album is split into 2 halves, kind of like a theatre show, with the song Intermission separating them. I loved the first half of the album because of all the synthesizer utilized, but the 2nd half still really impressed me. Hopefully you guys will see what I mean.