Loss

Loss is full of catchy melodies and 'everything but the kitchen sink' instrumentation and arrangements. It delivers grandiose, yet home-made sounding, songs with overarching themes of finding peace and place in an increasingly homogenous and consumerist world. It's jam-packed with sounds that shouldn't necessarily go together, but it works. Colin MacIntyre could have made this into a nice acoustic singer songwriter album, but I'm glad he went for something bigger and more interesting. I love the ambition and lack of compromise in creating his vision. Amongst the sea of nu-metal dross in the early 2000s, this drew me in and has held up as one of my favourite albums to this day. I love at least something about every song on the record. PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCER: a bit of a ploddy opener, but I like the PA system sounds that run through it and the "high speed trainline" section after the false ending that bridges to the next track. WATCHING XANADU: glistening pop perfection and energy (and theremin!). INSTEAD: A song basically saying 'be true to yourself', which felt important in my late teens and early 20s. The first outing of the Mull Historical Society Children's Choir and I love the counter melodies in the outro. I TRIED: Perhaps a little let down by the chorus, but the verses and, in particular, the opening 90 seconds as the song builds up, are brilliant. THIS IS NOT WHO WE WERE: Comparatively less going on in this one, but I detected a steel drum in the mix and it throws the listener a dummy with the rave intro and outro. Catchy as heck. BARCODE BYPASS: Globalisation and corporatisation told through the eyes of a local shop keeper and dog walker on a remote Scottish Island. Bit of an epic. ONLY I: I love how this starts out defeated ("only I know how hard I try to get nowhere", "little old life I ain't trying no more") but builds to a massive and defiant crescendo, complete with horns and return of the children's choir ("I'm not afraid of anyone"). It makes me feel about 10 foot tall. ANIMAL CANNABUS: Another song about being yourself and making your own way that meant a lot to me 20+ years ago. It's also drenched in theremin and an absolute banger. Love this song. STRANGEWAYS INSIDE: beautifully conveys imagery of two people in a moment. Another highlight. MULL HISTORICAL SOCIETY: Yes, I want to join. Arriba! PAPER HOUSES: Back to the theme of the difficulty being your true self in an increasingly homogenised society. The song ends with a ferry announcer reporting arrival back at Oban terminal, leaving Mull behind and heading back to the wider, globalised world. I love this album. It's unique, idiosyncratic, and ambitious. It still connects with my world view, and makes me feel both comforted and ready to take on the world. Consider me a lifetime member. Rating: 5 Playlist track: Animal Cannabus Date listened: 06/12/24

A real treat!

Fun entry, filling in some of that millenial indie stuff that the original list lacked.

I enjoyed this. Refreshing and catchy. A bit Oasis-ish at times. Nice album cover too. 4 stars.

I hear a lot of early Flaming Lips in here. It’s good!

Relatively awful album, all in all. Little rhythmic or dynamic contrast means there’s not much excitement to be had in any way, and coupled with dollar-store chord progressions the whole LP feels flatter than a pancake. The vocals do nothing to build up this poor foundation, instead opting for repeating phrases that feel lazy and grate as the album goes on. The whole thing feels like a stuck gearbox with clutch caught on first gear and making an awful grinding noise, but even that would be a more interesting listen than this LP.

Strong start, a real interesting sort of melange, though I feel like it got bogged down in the middle. Ended well though, and merits an extra point for being such a strong debut.

Not really special. But wasn't bad too

Rating: 7/10 Best songs: Watching Xanadu, This is not who we were

This was a nice album - some early-oughts indie pop that goes down easy. Maybe not earth shattering for me, but I did enjoy. I’m all for a song about Watching Xanadu, and I can relate to the plight of a shopkeeper threatened by supermarkets. So rounding up a bit for those.

Quite likable.

Lots of fun, and bonus points for a song about the movie Xanadu.

The Society made the call to copy the studio not the beach and kept the lushest brand of pop alive into the millennium. Lyrical referents are twee and local, rounding out the record and making the package feel a bit overstuffed.

A mix of Radiohead and Supergrass!

Harmless enough indie. Maybe a bit gay? Has a show-tuney vibe at times, as if REM and Elton John wrote a rock opera together on a budget of instruments you could have in a bedroom studio in 2001. Which means the dog on the cover is dead by 2024, I guess. RIP dog. 3/5.

I remember this when it came out. Heavily influenced by Beach Boys. Not too surly like other macho Brit-Pop. Barcode Bypass reminds me of Radiohead’s Fake Plastic Flowers as well as perhaps a little early Arcade Fire. Fits in well with Belle & Sebastian, Snow Patrol etc.

Good

This album is a little Britpop, a little jangle pop, and a little indie electropop. There are a lot of influences floating around here and it is fairly cohesive. It is a bit bland to me, but perhaps that’s because so much of what is in this album is taken for granted in today’s indie music.

Perfectly pleasant, melodic, quirky, well-made Indie pop that's easy on the ears. I don't know how much of this I'll remember, but this was a solid listen. Fave Songs: Instead, This Is Not Who We Were, Watching Xanadu, Barcode Bypass

Pleasant but ultimately ordinary. If you're going to go with the pop angle, you need to have something catchy, a hook, a groove. This is samey, and though easily approachable, doesn't make me very interested in anything else they might do.

A week from now I'll have absolutely no recollection of hearing this

Indie pop, electropop, electronica. Ni fu ni fa.

Forgettable pop music to me.

This is a unique soft indie pop style album that isn’t quite shoegaze but isn’t a lot of other pop things either. It’s really just in limbo on the pop indie side and is unique but lacking in something. It’s soft and a simple listen but it’ has some oddities that make it a bit different. Overall it’s not bad but it’s also underwhelming. 6.2/10

This artist, despite being modern, gave me the impression that he has an influence from the fifties and sixties, his melodies are ambient, very similar to those used to set television series and movies. He didn't surprise me, but he's not bad either. 2.5 stars

Musically this was pretty ok, but those whiny vocals really got on my nerves.

Does the submitter know someone in the band or something?

I was hoping for something more Scottish sounding

So damn hipster-y, actually has a song just about watching the movie "xanadu" all this would be fine if the music was enjoyable, despite being upbeat it's also boring with grating vocals 1.5

It seems to be a concept album of sorts. Musically, there's something lacking. Not sure what it's missing. Maybe rhythm? ugh.

I feel like this is one of those musicians where I'd love the person, but the music comes out a bit plain despite the interesting ideas and great influences. Similar to Shack or (British) Sea Power. I didn't dislike anything, but didn't get beyond "Hmm, that was quite good".

wtf why why I don't even care about the music, if it has a cover like this its a 1 (The music sucks too I found) I am sorry