This album has been submitted by a user and is not included in any edition of the book.
Loss is the debut album of Scottish indie pop band Mull Historical Society. It includes the singles "Barcode Bypass", "I Tried", "Animal Cannabus" and "Watching Xanadu". The album reached number 43 in the UK album chart. It was inspired by the sudden death of his father in 1999 and his upbringing on the Isle of Mull. It contains samples from a Caledonian MacBrayne ferry and the waves on Calgary Bay in Mull. "Barcode Bypass" is about a small shopkeeper threatened by the supermarkets, and "Watching Xanadu" is about watching the film Xanadu.
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
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.
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?
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
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