Bright Flight

Not really that great.

Even being alternative, not my cup of tea.

2 out of 5. Too slow and not much going on here.

01) Slow Education - 6,0 02) Room Games and Diamond Rain - 5,5 03) Time Will Break the World - 5,0 04) I Remember Me - 6,0 05) Horseleg Swastikas - 5,0 06) Transylvania Blues - 6,0 07) Let's Not and Say We Did - 5,0 08) Tennessee - 6,0 09) Friday Night Fever - 5,0 10) Death of an Heir of Sorrows - 5,0 TOTAL: 5,45 (55/100) Current ranking: 820/938 Why? Why on earth is this here?

Have never heard of this one, that's always fun. Well sometimes it's not so fun once you get started. Based solely on the cover, I would expect this to be middle of the road 90s/00s lo fi indie. Yeah I was pretty much right on. Maybe add a little bit of a country vibe to a lot of it. But what's with these kinds of bands from this era and the absolutely shitty vocals? Like I get that it kind of gives a different sort of laid back and melancholy quality to it but god damn. Indie for a reason I guess. I think there are probably some good lyrics in here somewhere if you can stand to listen to them. I don't know, making music like this just seems kind of lazy. There's some good parts here and there but it's missing anything that would make you want to connect with it. Not for me. 2.5/5

ehh got boring after a while

The Adele album, and now this one together kind of represent the duality of vocal performance; Adele singing is theatrical and performed a high-level of execution, whereas this band and their singer is very laidback, DIY, Garage band. Neither is my favorite, but I probably prefer this band slightly. The instrumentation and compositions were pretty solid, and I can understand some of the charm of the singer, but I mostly don't buy it all that much. Definitely a stronger 2 than Adele, but I don't think I can quite give this a three

We've already heard quite a few more awful records than this one (which isn't exactly . . . awful), but . . . this sure seems like a very slight and quirky record, which clearly doesn't belong on this list. I guess if you focus on 1001 albums you "need to hear" (as opposed to the 1001 "best" albums), you could try to make a case that this is, what . . . an album for all those people who get together and make music in a basement or a garage, and the lead singer has a lot to say, and wants to sing it in his quirky, slightly annoying voice? This one probably suffers from my tendency not to focus on the lyrics; maybe he's singing some interesting words. This is a higher 2 than Adele, but I think it's still a 2 (though I could try to make a case for 3, I guess). But, nah, sticking with 2. I guess we're far enough into this that we can start to compare a new album (how to rate it) with things we've already rated. 3 would be sort of average; so I think that helps me put this (just a bit) below that.

very low energy for the most part the vocalist is challenging to listen to. I almost had to quit about three songs in. But the lyrics almost make it worthwhile. And the songs get a little more varied in the second half

This album is so strange. It’s like a guy that can’t really sing too well just decided to recite his journal entries. There are some songs that felt like they had so much potential but I wanted them to go crazy but the build up never paid off. ‘You’re the only ten I see’ my god. This is not for me.

I’m nominally a Pavement fan, so am aware of this side project as well. DCB was a long-time friend of the Pavement guys and a tortured poet. You can hear both in what is a more depressed and depressing country version of Pavement on this album. Maybe if I was in a funk on a dark cold rainy winter day this would speak to me, but it did not today. 2⭐️

Boring Fave track: Tennessee, despite the cringey pick up line

Hmm.... Not sure on this one. The music is kind of pseudo-country, folkish and the instrumentals are quite okay if not simple. however... The lead singer is ... like some guy doing karaoke who had not really ever been known to sing anything before. The music is half decent, the lyrics are fair to middling, it's just ... Yeah, like I said, the lead singer is quite literally like some random dude just belting out tunes as best as possible. Had they had an audition or something or just chose someone who could actually sing... Yeah, this is just too amateurish to be really ... what maybe it COULD be.

Never heard of this album or the band and, based on the slightly winey alt country atmosphere that permeates throughout, I don't; see any urgent need to explore further. Not unpleasant but not remarkable enough to suggest that this is an essential album to listen to. It sounds like music to immerse oneself in dark ideas and doomed relationships.

Let’s Not and Say We Did with this album

I have a lot of respect for this artist. I had the song “sometimes a pony gets depressed” saved on my phone and that song is awesome! They are entirely original and I don’t know of any band that sounds quite like this band. So I have creative respect for them, I even understand why this album made the cut, it’s all about the irreverent/creative lyrics with soft instrumentals. But to me personally this album was little too slow to truly engage me. That being said my favorite songs on the album are “Tennessee” and “Friday night fever”. I’d genuinely be excited to hear another album from them in the future.

Was this satire? AI? A bet? This sounded like a poor Tom Petty impression, with lyrics written to be as depressed and country as possible, with deep-sounding meaning behind them, but with not actual substance. Musically it wasn't bad, but christ, when he sang and you listened to his lyrics it was draining.

# Album Name: Bright Flight # Artist: Silver Jews # Rating: 2/5 # Comments: Meh forgettable. # Top Tunes: # Would I listen to it again? No

Another album with good instruments but very boring vocals. The guy tried to be like Lou Reed or even Bill Callahan from a previous album on this list but he had the most uninteresting vocals out of all of them.

one long run on sentence of an album / 5

Favorite track(s): Room Games and Diamond Rain, I Remember Me

Um... a guy with no obvious talent or singing voice is trying to sing sad songs. I have absolutely no idea how this ended up on this list.

Wtf are these lyrics? This dude is not good.

If late-stage Johnny Cash and acoustic Tom Petty had a baby, but the baby had suffered from failure to thrive, I imagine this is what it would sound like. I admit, I'm not a country fan, although I love Cash. While the laid back vocals and strumming are fine, I just don't see this as adding anything to whatever genre it belongs to. For an indie performer doing his own thing, I can support it, but this is not 1/1000 for me.

Guess you had to be there, otherwise it’s dreadful.

Ibland kändes det som att det var på gång att ha något, men slutade ändå med att jag inte gillade det särskilt mycket.

Silver Jews son un grupo bastante desconocido, y longevo: se fundo a finales de los 80 con fundó a finales de los ochenta junto a Stephen Malkmus y Bob Nastanovich (Pavement). 6 discos en casi 30 años, y el final en 2019 con la muerte de su líder (también en otros ilustres ignorados como Purple Mountains). Slow Education es folk destartalado. En cierto modo tiene el encanto de aquellos Moldy peaches que fueron olvidados en un suspiro. Room Games and Diamond Rain, Time will break the world, I remember me... similares Horseleg Swastikas gana mucho en la mitad final. Transylvania blues es un tema de lo mejor del disco, instrumental pero recordando a Friends of Dean Martinez. Let's Not and Say We Did tiene un ambiente sorprendentemente rápido y más comercial. Tennessee pone las cosas en su sitio. Friday Night Fever es country rock con aroma clásico. Death of an Heir of Sorrows es un buen cierre. Yo prefiero a Lambchop, Bonnie "Prince" Billy, Bill Calahan, John Grant (o los Czars) pero es un buen disco Will Oldham, Kurt Wagner (Lambchop), Bill Callahan...

meh

Meh

Dreadful fluff

This feels like something I should love. Melancholy indie strings warbling. But it's missing something. My heartstrings remained untugged. This style of music should be "so beautiful it physically hurts" rather than "this dude has having a bad day"

Ahh, I try to like this band, on paper they should be a favourite - indie flavoured downbeat country, prominent pedal steel, links to Pavement and other bands I like - but I find it all a bit bland and repetitive, particularly an albums worth.

OK. Very ok. Just lacking any real spark

Listened Before? N This sounds like Tom Waits and Nick Cave got wasted and tried to see who could come up with worse lyrics while listening to old Beck records. The music is fine... super simple... pretty sleepy. Added to Library? N Songs added to playlist: Slow Education

This really summarize my experience with this list... Yesterday I had an iconic 5 star album that is so widely culturally recognizable that most people can mention the band in a random quiz. and the next day a random artist I never heard of making very bland music. He sounds like even he is bored by his own music. If you want to listen to this type of music just listen to Cohen because this just sounds like someone writing a song in that style. A album in the classic "Can't sing but song write" genre The song "Transylvania Blues" stands out and is actually pretty good. Great choice of vocal style on that track.

The cover of Friday night fever is hilariously bad

I liked the overall vibe of the album, but most of the songs had at least one lyric so bad it made me cringe.

It was fine but remarkably bland

nasal mumbling with boring country guitar, yawn

pretty boring and uninspiring. Nothing is special about anything. Feels like no effort or creativity spend at all.

Bland and forgettable

One song in I already want to quit. The album cover shows exactly how dull this music has been so far.

As soon as the vocals kicked in this was destined for a 2. The lyrics just made me cringe. Some examples, from just the first couple of tracks: - "And if we're like plug-in reindeer, Whose chords can't stretch far enough to fly" - "A kitten from Great Britain sleeps behind the drapes" The backing is completely uninteresting; simple 4/4 beat, generally not many layers beyond drums/guitar/sometimes piano, and even when there's multiple instruments involved they're all basically playing the same thing. Arguably more country than rock in most of these tracks. Even when we get a female vocalist appearing in "Tennessee", she's dire and out-of-tune. Dull. Plodding. Shit vocals. Nonsense lyrics. Uninspired backing. With 2 notable exceptions: - "Transylvania Blues" - the complete absence of the (awful) vocals was a massive boon to this track. It wasn't hugely interesting, but it was a step above all of the preceding tracks. - "Let's Not and Say We Did" - completely different tone and energy made it stand out, even though the vocals were back, they were slightly different style, and it was genuinely refreshing. Shame it didn't last. Low 2.

It was fine. If I wanted to listen to Sufjan Stevens, I'd just listen to him.

I get why I never heard of them...meh. It just always stayed on the edge of being good and safe but never really pushing it farther. Like its fun to play in our living room together but never really push it beyond that.

This was pretty awful at first and got a little better as it went on. The slow songs where it's just him droning on feel like he just wants to hear himself talk. But Let's Not and Say We Did wasn't bad with the backup vocals, I enjoyed the woman singing in Tennessee, and Friday Night Fever was a fun little bop. The lead singer's overall boringness was the star of the show though, so I can't rate this highly.

The guy can’t sing, at least not well. It’s too distracting. If the musicians on the record were at the same level as the singer, it would sound like all novice players learning how to play their instruments. Why does the singer get a pass then?

Disliked the vocal work at times.

Nice music. Nothing to write home about

Definitely not for me. The singer's voice was annoying and not melodic to me at all.

no che

Not for me

Liked: I Remember Me

Boring, dull, meh, plodding, not wasting more time on describing an album so unworthy of the effort.

Not my kind of music

had great potential but voice us hard to enjoy, nice lyrics tho

I really just didn’t get on with the vocals. Apart from that not too bad

вот это название. но слишком повествовательно под нотами, даже за моё любимое когда рифмуют слово киттен не могу перетерпеть

“The terrible band name can not disguise that this is a stinker,” I thought about 5 songs in. That out of the way, I then started not minding it. If they’d only called the band the Kidding Muslims I may have given it 4 stars.

I’ll admit, my first reaction was that this sounded like a lifeless, budget-brand version of Pavement. The vocals are flat, the instrumentation is skeletal, and at times the whole experience feels utterly wearisome and dull. However, after sitting with it, I started to realize that the boring quality is actually a deliberate, minimalist country-tinged atmosphere meant to frame David Berman’s songwriting. It’s pretty sad music at its core, but there’s a uniquely poetic wit hidden within. As for whether it has aged well or is a must listen to album, the general sentiment is a resounding "meh", though it's clearly an acquired taste.

never heard this band before. Melancholic lo-fi country tunes, it's pleasant enough in a miserable sort of way. After a few tracks though, it just gets a bit too whiney, like a drunken relative at a wedding reception. You want to get away from them, but you can't...

Hadn't heard of this artist before now. Jewish Country is a genre I didn't know existed. The record is quite dull and dry with a very monotonous singer. The music is drab and doesn't keep my attention. I got through the whole record out of commitment to this project, but that will likely be the last time I intentionally listen to this artist.

Whiny

I don't mind these songs except I don't really like the singer's voice. I wonder if it would grow on me the same way that like Colin meloy's voice did if I really liked the songs more, but I feel firmly in the camp of people who prefer pavement to silver jews.

Pretty good, couple songs I wasn’t a big fan of. Not my favorite silver Jews album. Decent 5

The music is fine, but his singing is very monotonous. I also don't like the way the lyrics are structured, there's oftentimes too many syllables in a bar, sounds awkward Horseleg Swastikas reminds me of a joke: What did the fish say when he hit a wall? Dam. A waste of good instrumentals ^Nvm just heard Let's Not and Say We Did

i was expecting angry rock.. my default assumption for random indie bands on this list. maybe i *shouldn't* assume that, but i've gotten too many angry indie rock bands on here.. this is fine, i guess. very casual. low key. his voice is fine, but occasionally annoying. i guess this is the kind of deep gravel voice i sometimes really enjoy, but idk, not feeling it today.

I do not like the main singer.

Inmemorable

Oh man another album that doesn’t belong on this list. This kind of music has been done much better by bands from the ‘70s. Not a great singing voice either. Makes it harder to try to enjoy this. It’s as if the appeal of this is that we’re supposed to empathize with him for being such a fuck-up. I can certainly do that and am pretty sure I have with other musicians but this album doesn’t really get me there. Listening to this doesn’t make me care about him or the music. Kind of just seems overly pathetic and pretentious. I’m a very open-minded music listener so I can’t believe how annoyed I am by this one. Still not the worst on this list probably because there’s real instruments played by real people. Maybe I’ll get it some other time when my life has gone completely to shit.

It was not very good. Again, Indie-artists are just singing badly. Sometimes it makes sense, like Neutral Milk Hotel but this time it was just bad. 2/5

This is OK. I actually listened to this 4 whole time, trying to decide if I like it or not. Crazy, right? Mostly, the music is similar throughout, typical singer-songwriter stuff with simple guitars. But occasionally it's interesting. Along the same lines, his voice is on the edge of annoying. He's not a great singer. But then, once in a while, I like the delivery. It fits the song. So, here I am back and forth about it. I do like "Transylvania Blues" enough to save it for another time. But the rest of this doesn't warrant a return. I guess being pressed for a rating, I have to give this a 2. I don't imagine I'll come back to it again ever.

This is almost gets to where it is interesting and overcomes the bad poetry of the singer. Almost. The music is good. The songs can be catchy. But the syntax and subject matter of the songs makes this less than what it could have been.

Stop talking to me bro your a singer.

I really didn’t like how lazy his voice sounded. It was ok but definitely not for me.

I don't think there was enough substance to this album to make it a fully enjoyable experience. It certainly filled the air while I cooked dinner, but "you're the only ten I see" is just... Bleh. That's a good word for this album. Bleh.

Sounds like Wilco’s opener.

Meh….K-Mart Wilco 2.5⭐️

It's alright...I would have been okay with not hearing this before departing this mortal coil though.

Stephen Malkmus is really hit or miss. This one's a miss.

Why is this on here?

The best part of the album is when he shut the fuck up

Well… It wasn’t 69 Love Songs! It also wasn’t Wilco A.M. I started curious, and then was wondering how an entire group of people can go down on themselves (Slow Education). It was kind of distracting. Was a Marilyn Manson thing or just really flexible? If you could do that, would you ever date again? And then he started talking about all his poor, starving children, (Room Games) and I started thinking of myself, dude, vasectomy! The song HorseLeg Swastika I think kind of described this album: drunk on a couch in Nashville. I didn’t hate it, and there are some good bones here. Transylvania Blues was kind of fun, but think the lack of lyrics and Stay-At-Home-mom Tuesday morning Chardonnay cartoon vocals helped. It was like listening to the Wiggles if they were stoned on a couch in Nashville. I just don’t think this is my thing.

Random thoughts: * I've definitely heard of Silver Jews before but I'm not sure I ever listened to them. * I don't think I was missing much. I couldn't really get behind this one. The vocals were annoying and I just couldn't get into any of it. * I couldn't even re-listen to this one. Which has been a big barometer for me on my enjoyment or lack thereof. * I did enjoy the pun of Tennessee. "You're the only ten I see". * Other than that, skip this one.

I thought that I would like this when I first put it on, but I kind of got bored pretty quickly. Listened through twice. It would be fine to have on, but I really want to actively listen to something, I wouldn't chose this.

Nothing thrilling.

Phew, I don't like the nasal voice or the rather boring music. You can listen to it, but you don't have to. 2/5

Best Song: Slow Education. It was a smart idea to add a female vocalist who can actually sing. Worst Song: Time Will Break The World. Nonsense lyrics that jump from non sequitor to non sequitor, while the vocalist absolutely struggles to hold a note. Overall: I frequently enjoy albums like this, but this kind of "lyrics-first, vocals-last" prioritized music only works if the lyrics are so great that they overcome how terrible the vocal performance is. Unfortunately, on this album the balance is rarely in favour of the lyrics. Pseudo-poetic attempts made by a vocalist who is unaware of their own limitations.

116/1001 First listen. I don’t know man. You’re not gonna win me over in a day with a voice like that. Nothing else going on here to help it along. I’m trying to fair and honest with this project but eeshk. 4/10

These are some of the worst vocals I’ve heard on a widely praised project. The instrumentals are the only thing keeping this from a 1-star rating. Take the roughest parts of Bob Dylan, Neil Young, and Tom Waits, strip away the originality, then make it boring. Truly one of the worst listening experiences I’ve had so far. 4/10

actually disappointing. i wanted to hear this for the first time and like it.

2,5

lyrically fun but only for background - not hooked enough to see live.

This wasn’t terrible. It’s started out slow but grew on me a bit. Still not my thing. It’s not great for sure. It’s just there. 2.75

2/5

That was a really boring singing style. The instrumentation is alright.

Could have been so much better

Just words

Boring indie

Sorry Jews

It was ok…I feel like I was listening to Jonathan Richman trying to sing Wilco…but not as good.

Hey kids, are you sad that Leonard Cohen is no longer around? Want to hear more primary school level poetry stuffed with half rhymes stuffed into tortured meter with the occasional guitar chord behind it? Well this is the album for you.

didnt know what to make of it. it was on in the background didnt really inspire me to listen properly, it was a bit dull but managed to stick it out.

Reminds me of one of those singer-songwriters but don't know which one. Cohen? Dylan? Reed? Someone else? Maybe a bit of all of them. It isn't as annoying as whoever it reminds me of, but blimey, pretty boring. The fact the music has more than a whinging acoustic guitar gets it an extra point.

This was gunna be a 1 but the lyrics saved it a bit. Will never listen again though

Not bad 2.5

In the land of Wilco/Bright Eyes/ MJ lenderman/pavement. Not my favorite style of production / lyrics, but the upfrontness is charming and personal. Lyrics can be too goofy/on the nose/absurd but again it’s charming and I like his voice. I think I struggle with the sort of storytelling sort of songs like the girl and the boy who gets hit by the truck after he proposes, but it’s also compelling. Awesome production on Transylvania Blues when it goes electric unexpectedly.

It's either depressing or jangly and depressing. Plus the singing sounds like Lou Reed if he were even more bored with life. This is kind of exactly the type of music I associated with the indie rock movement of the oughts, twangy, boring music with too much treble. The only track I really liked was Transylvania Blues, probably because there were no vocals, and the music was better. Let's Not and Say We Did than takes us right back into jangly BS. 2/5

Top 5 worst vocalists so far. And that’s saying something.

I wanted to like this and there were quite a few elements of it that were up my street, eg an ‘Americana’ style with quite interesting lyrics. But in the end it was too folk/country for me. If I’d liked the singer’s voice more, it would definitely have helped. Interesting to learn that this was the band Steven Malkmus of Pavement started with, and periodically retuned to. Pavement are good!

Musically pretty decent but I didn't like the vocals at all. They sounded drab and often off-key which didn't fit with the music at all.

album curtinho :0 FAVS (top 3): time will break the world, horseleg swastikas, lets not and say we did mençoes honrosas: slow education, transylvania blues compraria o vinil: NAO estou gag dos gags com a letra "youre the only ten i see" na musica TENNESSEE KKKKKKKKKKKKKKK CHEGA. mas enfim, eu odiei esse album... ainda bem q é curto pq meu DEUS esse eu poderia morrer sem escutar facilmente; tipo tem uma vibe mas como projeto inteiro não é bom nota final: 2.5/5

Нуднувато.

feels like a depressed guy trying to make normal people music, the depression sounds seeping through, i couldn’t finish because it’s not my style, it’s probably good to somebody else though

This one was rough. The vocals were unbearable, and the instrumentals weren't offering anything exciting either. The only somewhat good song was "Transylvania Blues", which coincidentally had no singing.

weird broken up cadence throughout, also try not to sound bored as fuck throughout. The rhyming schemes are pretty basic, but I kinda get the vibe they were going for. I just think Bright Eyes did it better.

What an awful album to end 2025 on. Just boring, bland, poorly sung lyrics that don’t seem to even fit the god damn songs HE wrote. Dude if you want to cram wordy sentences into your songs than rewrite them so they fit! Quickly stumbling through syllables makes for a real shitty listening experience. Why is this on here?!? I get that this dude had a tragic life and killed himself but tragedy doesn’t always = worthwhile art. Let’s hope 2026 gets off to a better start.

Quite a weird album. Today is 31 December and I can't believe that I'm leaving the year with this. There are definitely worse ones that I've listened to, so it's okay, I won't complain too much. It was overall alright having it in the background, but it was just a bit meh.

Boring

I like the music a lot, but David Berman is really not the best singer in the world. He actually kind of makes this a difficult listen. 2.5/5

инди-рок в плохом смысле этого слова.

I really like the twangy, sad country style guitar playing on this album. The lead singer's voice is quite off-putting to me though. He somehow sounds like a 2010s hipster despite this album coming out in 2001. Overall it was fine, but not particularly enjoyable

I got to the end of I Remember Me and was so close to turning off the music and throwing myself from the car. I liked the guitar, but the vocals truly I could not get past. I don't think I was depressed enough for this album. "my horse's legs look like 4 brown shotguns"?? okay man maybe you need to see somebody about that. It got better after that, just about cried from relief that Transylvania Blues was instrumental - that was my favorite track. Some of the lyrics were good but some were just massive stinkers.

cant get into it

Mmmm I’m torn. I liked some of this album, but I felt it got old pretty quickly. It reminds me of geese, but in the way I don’t really like geese. I would probably listen again to see how I really feel.

didn't get much out of this

Got excited by one of the songs but checked and saw the album was over and it went into similar artists, that was better

Early 00s indie rock, it's slow and laid back, but I've found it just boring. His voice is sleepy and the songs are just uninspiring. At least it's not a long album and I listened it in one go. I don't think I should listen to this before I die...2 stars.

Pretty bored. Didn't do too much for me outside the keyboard/piano on the 2rd/3rd song.

God I dislike indie music, and this album did nothing to change that. The Nashville sound they mixed in was a nice touch, but it still felt like I was listening to a country version of the Crash Test Dummies the whole time. There were a couple moments where the vibe almost worked for me, but overall it just dragged. Not completely terrible, just definitely not for me.

What a drag. I appreciate Berman’s way with words but he is the epitome of a sad sack. Sorry, maybe that’s disrespectful to the dead… He was a real artist and I have sympathy for his struggles and his fate. But I’ve always had a hard time getting through a full album of his material. I guess I need a little more emotional range in the albums I enjoy (at least in the absence of good hooks).

Not really overwhelmed one way or another on this

This band could be so much better with a new singer he has no range no tone. The country rock guitar is cool, unfortunately the singer over shadows it.

I HATE IT HATE IT HATE IT. Something about my body is repulsed by this voice. Nails to blackboard, drill in my teeth type shit. If you're gonna do a spoken word thing then just do that, commit to something for fucks sake, this noncommital half arsed sludge singing is doing my nut in.

They should get a vocalist.

The best song on this album had no lyrics and was entirely instrumental.

This is adjacent to music I like, but I didn’t like this. In some ways, it reminded me of the Magnetic Fields, who I love—but there’s so much wit and playfulness in MF records. This didn’t have that. I was surprised to learn that David Berman was meticulous with his lyric writing because I thought these lyrics were pretty uninspired… The arrangements were decent, and I generally liked what the band was playing, but this alt country sound with pitchy vocals just didn’t do it for me.

Didn't hit me that much musically, but there are some good lines and some interesting sounds going on with the country-ish feel on many songs. Off beat in a fairly fun way but I think modern baseball is more deserving off a spot on the list than this

This was a unique listen. Not my favorite.

I don’t hate it or love it, but I can appreciate it for what it is. seems like the kind of album that I’d want to listen to in a very specific laid back mood. Transylvania Blues is the standout track (which, funny enough, is the only track without vocals), while Tennessee is definitely my least favorite.

liked it less this time. his voice is unsatisfactory

голос артиста достал на первой песне, нудный

Kerrassaan ärsyttävä ääni. Let's Not and Say We Did soolo oli ihan hauska. Ei muuta sanottavaa.

Why do I have to listen to so many whining men?

Decent album, but I didn't really dig the guy's vocals; they worked sometimes and didn't others. But a nice record with a healthy country influence. There was one track that actually had a cool electric guitar riff, wish there was more of that.

Maso

The Transylvania rock song was awesome, the rest was fine

It's weird, it's quirky and in some ways pretentious. Sounds like soppy whisky sodden music for sitting on a porch or a couch reflecting on what went wrong. The songwriting is very witty, sad, the lyricism is poetic and wistful but not brooding. Everything about the instrumentation feels warm and melancholic throughout, somewhere between indie rock and country. David Berman's voice isn't conventionally good, he sounds real, raw and honest, which can get hard to get used to, and in fact the songs can sound tiresome and mundane at first, but it's the right voice for these songs. Overall this isn't an amazing album for me, but there's something about it that keeps me listening and I want to seek out more of their other songs, so I guess I like it in some way? I cant quite figure out why and how I feel about this yet, but I'm interested enough to explore more of their work so I am going to continue listening until I figure that out. A few tracks that stood were Horseleg Swastikas and Transylvania Blues. Let’s Not and Say We Did caught me off guard, a honky tonk song appearing out of nowhere, somehow still fitting within the album.

Pretty sure it was a choice to sing off key. “Transylvania Blues” shows he had talent, but this album strays far into hipster country, and it just doesn’t work.

Oof. I do not like this guy's Kentucky-Fried mumble voice. The music is fine; the female vocalist is fine. The success of this album clearly rests with the lead singer, and for me, it's a massive miss. This is not a voice I want to listen to. Insufferable.

Boring singing

After just listening to Morrissey I had hopes this would be better. After the song ‘slow education’ it got progressively worse

2/5

2/5

Honestly I am too tired to even think about this one today. So I'll keep it short. Bland, boring. no. 2/5

2.5 stars This sounds like an album I’d pretend to like in high school but really never finish. It’s not bad but there’s so much music that sounds like this and I don’t really want to listen to it.

Wow. Maybe I need to go into this project with lowest expectations, or at the very least, realize that most people truly cannot write and/or sing well. Then when I get something good that I’ve never heard before, it gives me renewed faith that there’s more to gain from life. This album is not entirely unlistenable, but I’ve heard enough.

Didn’t connect to this album. Some high points including Tennessee however the album as a whole didn’t work for me. Found it quite dull and didn’t engage me. I wasn’t familiar with this band until this album and so listened to some other albums which I preferred.

It's like an older, more haggard Tom Waits. Or a less haggard Nick Cave, with consequently less mythical appeal. This guy's voice both sounds tired and makes the listener feel tired well before the end of the album. At times it's bearable, but in certain songs (Time Will Break The World, Tennessee) it causes the singing to be completely and horrendously out of tune. Some may call it experimental art; I call it holding modern music to a higher standard because earlier artists figured out already that singing out of tune sounds bad. A band from 2001 should know better. Another reviewer correctly identified that the music is "so wearing and wearisome ... that these hangdog vocals overshadow everything else. In an already muted soundscape, such a lugubrious performance merely serves to poison the well." One of my highlights ends up being the instrumental Transylvania Blues, in part because the vocals are absent and in part because the atmosphere is a bit more lively and honky-tonk than in the others. The two opening tracks, Slow Education & Room Games and Diamond Rain, are also "standouts" (at a stretch) because at that point you're still holding out hope that Berman's just going through a phase. (He isn't.) The musicianship throughout is listenable enough, but nothing exciting or outstanding. The album flow is passable. I would've liked to hear more interesting melodies in either vocal or guitar lines. 2/5 Key tracks: Slow Education, Room Games and Diamond Rain, Transylvania Blues

шо за блюз аля том уэйтс

It’s not that bad but it’s not good either. This album feels like the worst parts of Wilco A.M. album. Songs sound very similar and this didn’t hold my attention. Top tracks: “Room Games and Diamond Rain,” “Transylvania Blues”

No clue what this is. I assume it is some kind of LES rap rock thing. Let's see how wrong I am! /Starts song 1 Lmao I was waaaay off.

--Slow Education...the lyrics come through nice and clear. The song? meh --Room Games and Diamond Rain...pleasant. the guitar was nice --Time Will Break the World...your enjoyment of this song is probably dependent on how much you like the lyrics and vocals. I don't --I Remember Me...I think understand how this dude and Stephen Malkmus hooked up. I can hear Beavis yell "Try more!" while listening to this --Horseleg Swastikas...plodding --Transylvania Blues...an instrumental to remind you that this is a band. it's nice --Let's Not and Say We Did...a fun piano groove --Tennessee..."you're the only ten I see"? really? --Friday Night Fever...generic country --Death of an Heir of Sorrows...hate the title, song just kind of exists

This one was fine. A couple of songs caught my attention with the remainder blending into one. Probably not one I’ll return to

No, you do not need to listen to this album before you die.

Un poco plano, pero no está mal.

Imagine to series indie with RHCP lyrics……

Thought I would love this but I just can't.

Meh.. voice reminds me of Kurt Vile, and that's no compliment. Why is this on the list?

I wanted to like this one, because I was excited to listen to something totally new. But it just did not click for me, at ALL. I saw a lot of praise for the lyrics but they fell pretty flat. Both the music and the vocals felt dull and honestly, kind of boring and monotonous. Pretty fitting for the dreary, rainy morning commute though.

A voice fit for a podcaster and decent instrumentation elevates this collection of spoken word poetry from terrible to boring.

During various points in the songs I kept thinking it was about pull a sharp left and turn into a parody song. Guy's voice is cool but singing is bad. I don't know what this is really, but it's not for me.

How is this on this list? Sleepy bored songwriter

Very middle of the road indie plonk, and a "a kitten from great britain" will go down as a particularly egregrious rhyme - like thre rest of the album, it felt awfully tortured trying to be meaningful

sad

This was a good one, some of the lyrics were a bit basic but a nice solid country vibe to travel to our first Funghi Supper Club in Marlborough to.

2.5 Absolutely fine, but felt zero inclination to return to it after it was through.

I liked the instrumental part of this album, but the vocals just killed me. The singer makes Bob Dylan sound like he has perfect pitch. Transylvania Blues was good because it was all instrumental, but this album is not something I'd listen to again. 2.3

Very meh. Early 2000s indie in that really annoying way. Nothing particularly stood out, and I didn't care for the singer's voice either. I feel like there were so many of this kind of album that came out in the early 2000s that I'm struggling with why this one was chosen. There just isn't anything special about it.

Not bad but I don’t think I’ll be coming back to this one. Except for “Transylvania Blues” the album reminded me of second or even third rate Nick Drake.

pavement why

This is not really doing it for me. The voice isn't great. The poetry is worse.

I couldn't get past the singer's voice. Did not finish.

Oof

some songs i liked, the guitar is great throughout. cant stand his voice mostly

Good grey album, after a breakthrough and just riding into the sunset… A great voice for a storyteller

Just because we can clone Lou Reed doesn’t mean we should.

I found this very sleepy, boring and one note. Those are the blandest terms I can think of this early in the morning.

I guess I can understand why people might like this. I was not one of them. I think the singer was as bored by their songs as I was. High point was Transylvania Blues which is funny because there weren’t any vocals. Low point was the lyric “you’re the only ten I see…”

2.5

Youre the only ten I see 🤮2/5

am I missing something?

Strange. Should probably give it another listen sometime. I like the tone of the lead singer's voice.

4/10…country / indie

I generally dislike ironically-delivered vocals. David Berman sounds like he's trying to score points with the Pitchfork crowd by not giving a shit. Some of the songs were interesting, and some had some genuinely good moments (Tennessee).

Like shitty Wilco

Would have been good songs if the singer could sing on key

Busy album that didn't really match the I'm vocals.

boring generic soft rock 3/10

It's an album. that's about all I have to say

Like a less catchy and more folksy Coldplay

How about no?

This is a miss and is forgettable. Every song finished and I couldn't tell you anything about it 20 seconds later. Doesn't make sense to be here. Not incompetent, just not noteworthy.

Making music isn't that hard really. There are alot of people out there that can do it and it can be fun to do. Not everyone commits to seeing what a wider audience thinks of their art. 1989 to 2009 a nice run There are some fine bits of music here. The track Tennessee reminds me of Daniel Johnston. I'm sure they were a fine local touring act. The 2 stars is in this case more so for being on the list not for the product.

Not their best.

I just can’t get on with the voice it’s too obscure .

I ask this sincerely: how the hell did this album get on this list? The fourth studio album of an indie band I'd venture to say virtually no one has heard of - what? I guess that's the joy of this project though; now I know way more than I wish I did about this band. The front man bothered me, using a country twang on some tracks and not others. I can't say I enjoyed his voice much either. Like, I think I could sing this equally as well as he did. But I suppose its the lyrics and art we should look at because there are droves of popular "bad" singers out there. The guitar melodies are actually not bad. There's some good piano occasionally. Lyrically it is kind of interesting. Reading about Berman, he was clearly going through a lot of shit with drugs and depression and this does seem like an outlet for him. Standouts were "Room Games and Diamond Rain" - for the guitar bits - "I Remember Me" "Transylvania Blues" It's just a strange album. Obviously a lot went into the lyrics, but the music itself felt left behind and was just kind of standard and uninteresting to me. Honestly, Berman seemed like a trainwreck of a guy his whole life and maybe if you followed along with his career in real time you'd be tempted to put one of his albums on this list for the spectacle of it all, but I sure am not one of those people. I wouldn't listen to any of this again but some of the music was ok. The singing bothered me almost throughout. 2/5 stars for me and it's kinda lucky to get 2 at that.

Every song had at least one lyric that made me go 🤔🤔 but overall this is a pretty bland album.

I didn’t want to turn it off but I was also glad it was only 35 min

Country is not for me

kjedelig

It’s fine if it’s what you like

Couldn’t listen to it all, didn’t like his voice

they sounded all the same to me 2-/5

This album sounds like The Jayhawks mixed with Pavement. Lo-fi alternative country, in other words. It is a bit too "oh I'm edgy!" in some places but the ideas are good. I think if it had been edited a bit more and had a clearer sense of identity, this would have resulted something great. Standout track: Transylvania Blues. I'm going to spin Jayhawks's Hollywood Town Hall after this finishes.

This is one of the few subsets of indie I struggle to connect with. It seems like the lyrics are doing 90% of the heavy lifting, which isn’t a bad thing per se, but when the lyrics to a particular song aren’t grabbing me all there is to fall back on is some fairly insubstantial and forgettable light country.

Bland indie folk album Standout song Transylvania Blues

This guys vocal delivery and lyrics made me irrationally angry... Otherwise it was great! Just kidding, it's fucking terrible. It did have a couple of solid instrumental moments that saved it from a 1 from me.

A compilation of the some of the cringiest dad puns ive been subjected to. Transylvania Blues was quite enjoyable, its the only song with lyrics and the only reason this shit isnt a 1

Sounds like a (bad) Beck ripoff. No enjoy. In fact, I've got a bad streak going here where I've had 4 albums in a row of just absolute garbage. Hope it gets better. 1.5/5 = 2 stars because some of the music was enjoyable. But I'd rather just listen to Beck.

Meh. I generally enjoy David Berman and love the Purple Mountains. This was fine enough to listen to but I won't be clamouring back any time soon. 2/5

Lyrics are weird, like early Beck, Voice is more like Cake. Music is uninteresting and basic, which make it much less appealing then the aforementioned Artists.

Weird lyrics

Alt rock country mixup that shouldn’t have happened

I think this is a 5/10 record - I like a few songs and the issue is primarily that there a few that are really hard to listen to. I listened in two parts and I went back again at the end to listen on headphones, wow there are a few songs on the first side which are a real slog where the vocals are rough - I like singers that aren't conventional but these are so laid back and almost feel intentionally out of tune at times. I think the lyrics are meant to be the main draw but honestly they weren't hitting for me either - they were dry and as depressing as it gets. I quite liked some of the more country instrumentation and the instrumental track was honestly very good! Putting this one firmly as 'not for me' and as there's no half stars I will give it a 2.

The leader singer sounds like he's trying to be Johnny Cash. Lyrics are strange and the songs kind of bore me. My favorite song is Transylvania Blues (no singing and great guitar work).

Each song sounded exactly the same

Music for sad.... cowboys? Sad hipsters?

So freaking boring. And "Water don't give a damn" is the cheapest play on words I heard in a long time. It's not all bad though. After the second listen I enjoyed it more. Either way: 2/5 max.

Not my thing. It's my speed but don't care for this kinda "sitting in the tall grass" type country. It's like Kurt Vile wore a vest with an American flag on it.

Just no. 2* for track 1.

"Nett" im besten Sinne. Rauschte eher an mir vorbei und es blieb nur wenig hängen. Schönste Zeile: irgendwas mit explodierenden Sonnenbänken und reichen Frauen darin.

Great band name. Not so much a great album.

Are these lyrics translated from Japanese or something?

relatively chill album with an alright singer that's got some country twang to it.

I wasnt familiar with the band or album going in. A fushion of post-grunge garage rock with indie flavor- I appreciate what they were going for but I didnt really enjoy it. I can see how it was an influential album for early indie rock though (modest mouse, arcade fire) Overall- fine, but not for me

A studious avoidance of charisma.

Hahaha this one really feels like a product of recency bias in the early 2000s reviewers. Sort of similar to many other superior whispering mid western albums.

Opzich helemaal niet verkeerd, maar waarom is de zang bij dit soort platen altijd zo wack? Ik weet dat die kerel heel depressief van, maar door zijn stem ga ik bijna zelf knopen leggen...

The singer sounds bored

Like if the lumineers enlisted bob dylan to sing the country songs they tried to write with lyrics poorly imitating him. Bad even for 00s indie.

Sometimes I got lulled in by the music, other times I cringed. A bit boring overall.

I got quite bored, it was a miserable slog and I didn’t even finish it

A very, very faded and watered down copy of Lou Reed. The music was fine, the lyrics weren't anything to write home about.

A nice chill vibe… I think I could listen to a song or two on shuffle, a full album was a lot.

The ones with Malkmus are better and should have been here over this one

Err, I find the songwriting interesting but the delivery leaves me kind of cold.

Hard work

You know when you see a used couch, and think to yourself, "Hey that is kind of a nice couch", but then you look closer and realize it's got stains, and no matter how much scrubbing, it's basically trash. That's kind of how I feel about this album.

Lidt stille indierock, lidt meh, lidt country

Booooooooring

Not for me

dogshit yanks

Not even average.

Dylan without the lyrics, without the melodies - not much remaining.

Pretty melancholy. Songs really lacked melody. I didn't hate it, but certainly wouldn't listen again.

2 - Sounds like every other 2000's era indie rock artist.

Don't recall much about it

When your lead singer sounds like that you think you'd do a bit more to cover it up but w/e 2.5

eh couldn't really get into this either. 2/5

This is like lo fi indie country rock verging on noise rock. Complete with a singer who can't carry a tune in a bucket. The lyrics are simplistic and nonsensical. The singer, David Berman, gathered up a few members of the band Pavement to create this band. I've reviewed a few of Pavement's records on this generator, and really disliked those. I don't really know what the hell this is, but it's not great. There are fleeting glimpses of cohesion, but then the singer opens his mouth again... Favourite songs: I Remember Me, Friday Night Fever, Tennessee Least favourite songs: Time Will Break the World 2/5

Derivative 2000's indie rock unfortunately. There are far better examples of this genre, and perhaps this is not the album that is the one that's meant to showcase the band's abilities but its not very inspiring either. Nod to a bit of midwest emo in here. Country western themes too allow for a more emphatic and unique indie sounds.

I just kept waiting for something interesting to happen. It's musically not terrible, but it's not very interesting.

boring ass néné

Not terrible, but not particularly good either. “Transylvania Blues” was a welcome break from the dull vocals (both male and female vocals btw). Even some of the guitar riffs were questionable a variety of times. Some interesting mix of styles and some weird lyrics. I’ve heard worse, but I won’t venture into any of their other albums. 2 because it’s a bit samey with the vocals, singing style and lyrics.

Dude can't sing

Had too much of a country sound for me

More like beige Jews this is so bland, geezer can’t sing either

I was so happy when this ended and an REM song came on.

Not sure. Very light and soft. No grit

a kitten with from Great Britain sleeps behind the drapes an old silver bowl filled with apples and grapes. Highlights: I Remember Me The Font on the Cover of the Album death of an heir of sorrows I don't like it. but i really buy the premise that this inspired a lot of better music.

It wasn't awful but the music was just boring to me and so was his voice

This just sounds so generic. Nothing standing out from this one. I think some of the more “modern” albums just got here because either the author liked them or somehow the band paid him. No disrespect, I just don’t think this should’ve taken up a place from more influencial records

Pre: I've been meaning to listen to more Silver Jews as they are a band I have heard enough songs I've liked but I've typically bounced off each album I've listened to so far. I also did not realise until checking the background of this that Stephen Malkmus was a founding member! I can't remember how I first heard about Silver Jews but I know I started listening to them after the Courtney Barnett cover of We Could be Looking for the Same Thing. Post: I think one of my takeaways of this is that I'm not a huge fan of David Berman's vocals. My favourite moments are when either he is not singing or someone else is on vocals. Thinking about it this makes sense how my most listened to songs by them are either group vocals or through a cover. I was surprised how much of this I would say is country, I always placed them as mostly folk and indie rock. It seems to lean closer to country for the second half but sadly this is where it starts to leave my interest. Maybe I'll come back to this album for the first few songs but it's unlikely I'll want to revisit the latter half. Highlight: Slow Education

Not what I had expected going in. Never listened to them before.

while i'm glad that others found this a rewarding listen, to me it felt insipid and uninspired. sure would have been nice for the singer to actually, y'know, sing. these early aughts indie-albums-with-a-fill-in-the-blank-twist (in this case, country) are a dime a dozen so i'm not losing any sleep over this one failing to excite. the best song on here is transylvania blues, if only because it sounds nothing like the others favorites: i remember me, transylvania blues

Don’t get it, lo-if bad folk

Really had a hard time getting through this one with this singer's particular vocal and lyrical style. I don't like alt country enough to rescue it.

I messaged my friend who really likes this band "isn't life hard enough?" and received a response explaining that there's another, even more depressing and harder to listen to, album that's good but difficult. For me, life is already hard enough and the flat vocals are difficult in a different way.

Interesting but didn't really hold my interest - never a good sign when you hear a good one and go to check what it's called and realize it's actually Spotify shuffling similar artists after the albums finished lol

Pre-listening thoughts: no clue who or what this is gonna be Post/during listening thoughts: yo who is on lead vocals and is he half asleep singing? It sounds like he's bored of his own material. Lowkey this is how I feel about the lead singer of The National too. It's like indie music that seems to bore the band itself. Well, count me bored too. There is little distinction between songs. They all sound the same. 3/10 DID I NEED TO HEAR THIS BEFORE I DIE: no Fav tracks: Let's Not And Say We Did Least fav tracks: Time Will Break the World

Strange fusion between country and indie that just starts and remains flat all throughout. The dull vocals certainly didn't help. "Tennessee" can't be a real song either.

I’ve never heard of Silver Jews before, nor this album, so I have no idea of what to expect when I listen to this. I see the reviews for Bright Flight are… shall we say, less than favorable? Outside of this project, I don’t really have a lot of experience with indie rock from this era, and the things I’ve listened to so far have been pretty hit or miss with me, so I’m heading into this album with middle-of-the-road expectations. As I listened to Bright Flight, I waffled back and forth between not liking it and finding it okay. It took me a minute to get used to the vocals, but once I did, I was able to appreciate them more. The stripped-down arrangements were done well, but aside from a few songs, I didn’t find anything particularly interesting or enjoyable about this album. However, I thought the songwriting was pretty good, and there were some fairly clever lyrics. The line “Everybody's going down on themselves, No ‘pardon me's’ or ‘fare thee well’s’ in the end” was probably my favorite line on the whole album. “Transylvania Blue” was my favorite song on the album. I really enjoyed the moodiness and atmosphere to the sound, and it really stood out from the rest of the songs. “Let’s Not and Say We Did” stood out too; I enjoyed its upbeat tempo, the percussion, and the piano melody. Other than that, though, I really wasn’t into this album very much. I didn’t think Bright Flight was bad per se, but it’s definitely different than the type of music that I tend to gravitate towards, and it didn’t do enough to stand out.

Silver Jews - Bright Flight It's a country album and it sounds mostly alright at least. Personally, i'm not a huge country fan honestly, so some of them were just, a bit odd to listen... However, it does have it's good moments (especially Transylvania Blues, even though it's the only track he doesn't sing on it, it has a lot to offer sonically speaking). Overall however, this is decent. 1.- Slow Education = 8/10 2.- Room Games and Diamond Rain = 7/10 3.- Time Will Break The World = 6/10 4.- I Remember Me = 7/10 5.- Horseleg Swastikas = 7/10 6.- Transylvania Blues = 9/10 7.- Let's Not and Say We Did = 6/10 8.- Tennessee = 5/10 9.- Friday Night Fever = 6/10 10.- Death of an Heir of Sorrows = 7/10 FINAL SCORE: 6.8/10

Not too bothered

#462. About as interesting as an underseasoned and overcooked steak. 2/5: gray

Ik vind het eigenlijk niet zo heel mooi gezongen. De man is wat saai en de vrouw een beetje vals of zo. Melodie is ook niet heel bijzonder, maar ik kan het wel luisteren.

Dull.

Best: Transylvania Blues Worst: Tennessee Liked songs: 50% Mid to high 2 Shocker, but the more indie rock it gets the more I like it and the more country it gets i don't. Given the very limited country I've listened to though, it's some of the best.

Reminds me some of Bill Callahan, but I found this overly boring compared to thatm. The lyrics aren't inspired enough for me to get past the talk-singing that is offered here. It has some cool country influences, but ultimately is a stereotypical indie rock record.

Bright Flight is pretty miserable in sound and content, just morose bluegrass country stuff. Voice is alright (he thinks he's Johnny Cash at times) but the whole thing is just a bit too plodding and depressing for me to care about. Another 2.

This was not very Christmassy. Miserable man singing about miserable things miserably. Doesn't have a good enough voice to allow for it being that front and centre of the production, and doesn't have good enough lyrics to make you not really care about it. 2/5.

Sounded like country. Don’t like country.

Overall: 4/10 Honestly, what are you supposed to expect from a band called "Silver Jews". Well, country-tinged indie folk wouldn't have been my first guess but I'm not complaining! Or at least, I wasn't complaining at first. This is the kind of music that I tend to like in shorr bursts, but an entire album of the same nasally monotone voice gets really grating on the ears after a while. The music behind that voice is actually pretty great but one thing I'm realizing by doing this list is that vocals seem to be incredibly important to me when it comes to how much I enjoy an artist. Fav Song: Transylvania Blues Least Fav Song: Let's Not and Say We Did

hehe Jews... Oh fuck not sure if I can hang. The first words were "When god was young" Okay it wasn't religious. I'll keep listening. 2 sars.

I found this extremely boring and weary, except for "Transylvania Blues". Most of the album was too slow and plodding for me, and I really disliked the singer's voice. 1.5 rounded up

Put your back into it, mate. C'mon.

I think you had to be there. 2/5

2.5

His biggest drawback is he can't sing. Lyrically pretty good but why not listen to Nick Cave instead? I found it a bit tedious/flat/samey.