No Balance Palace

I know Kashmir from way back (The Good Life (1999), Zitilites (2003)) and saw them live multiple times in the early 2000s. Later in 2010 I saw them again with a singer who lost his long hair and looked a lot like actor Christopher Nash Elliott (Get A Life, How I Met Your Mother). That was a bit distracting and not a compliment, but that concert was (musically) good. This album was already out at that time, but I missed it. Too bad as it is a solid album with great songs and support from two of my heroes (Bowie & Reed). Nice entry, thanks!

Honestly sounds like a lost Radiohead LP with some Interpol thrown in – definitely loses steam in the back half and gets a bit diffuse, but I was blown away by the guitar work and orchestration here. Brought me back to that early-aughts indie sound in the best way possible, and I appreciated the creeping unease that saturated most of the tracks here. Great add, excited to see what else this band has in their discography!

How the fuck did they pull Bowie?

Pretty nice Danish indie from the noughts, taking a page out of Radiohead, MBV or even Interpol, but doing it very well. In that league of European acts from that time period having a distinctive knack for cool rock, Kashmir also remind me of Belgian band Ghinzu (check them out of you don't know them). Equally distinctive, Tony Visconti's production and the David Bowie and Lou Reed features. As great as all that is, it's not enough for me to include *No Balance Palace* in my own potential list of 1001 essential albums. This admittedly well-crafted record is still a little too derivative overall for that, and 1001 is a finite number, you know. But if you go to 2001, Kashmir would surely deserve a slot there. And actually, if really you want to talk about indie from the first decade of the 21st century, they deserve it far more that an act such as Doves, for instance, which yet have *two* of their albums included in the original list. So well done, lads. And thanks for the suggestion, user. --- 3.5/5 for the purposes of this list of essential albums, rounded up to 4. 8.5/10 for more general purposes (5 + 3.5). Number of albums from the original list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 465 Albums from the original list I *might* include in mine later on: 288 Albums from the original list I won't include in mine: 336 ----- Number of albums from the users list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 40 Albums from the users list I *might* select for mine later on: 49 Albums from the users list I won't select for mine: 95 (including this one) ---- Émile, as-tu lu ma dernière réponse sous la review de "Chet" ?

Enjoyed this. Clearly influenced by Radiohead which is obviously a good thing, impressive to get Bowie and reed on the album, added to my frequent rotation,

Never heard of them before. Sound like a number of other bands. Some of the recent listening has been pretty poor, so I’m gonna give them a four.

I've heard this type of album on the user list and OG list many, many times now. It's pretty bland sounding alt rock that it isn't really doing anything wrong but isn't doing anything interesting. My personal rating: 3/5 My rating relative to the list: 3/5 Should this have been included on the original list? No.

Really nice sound on this... I enjoyed it tremendously. I can say I liked the whole album but I really took notice from the jump with Kalifornia - and She's Made of Chalk took me to another place. Terrific album!

Favorite songs: She's Made of Chalk, Kalifornia, Ophelia, The Cynic Least favorite songs: Ether 5/5

Rating: 8/10 Best songs: Kalifornia, Jewel drop, The cynic, She’s made out of chalk, No balance palace

Excellent. 4 stars.

Overall really cool. I don't know that this would have piqued my interest if I heard any individual song, but the fuckers won me over eventually 4/5

A third Nirvana! Not the 60s British band, or the one from Seattle some have heard of, but a Danish band that changed their name to Kashmir when "Nevermind" hit big. Taking your new name cue from Led Zeppelin is bold, but Kashmir deliver (though sound nothing like Zep). Instead, they sound rather late 90s post-grunge for the first bit, before revealing some distinct Radiohead influences in the second half of "No Balance Palace." I don't think I noticed it until "She's Made of Chalk," but I also didn't go back to listen to the first half again. Either way, I quite dug the back half and am happy to have been introduced to a quality Danish band that fits terrifically in the evolution of post-grunge rock. They've apparently been around since 1991, so I wonder how their sound evolved leading up to this release. (And, once again, I wonder where the user who added this album is from.)

Very much a product of its time: mid-2000s alt-rock, in the same orbit as Interpol or Radiohead’s more guitar-driven phases. And honestly, that comparison is fair with the heavy bass in the mix, Forty-five minutes is the right length for this album; it doesn’t overstay its welcome, and the more experimental touches in the second half keep it from becoming stale. Critics at the time mostly saw it as a solid, if not spectacular, effort, and I agree. It’s not a masterpiece, but it’s a strong, atmospheric album that was worth revisiting, even if it isn’t rewriting the book.

Inga låtar som sticker ut direkt men som helhet låter det förbluffande bra.

With a Bowie and a Lou Reed appearance I was ready to be all in on this unfamiliar-to-me band, and it was certainly all right, but did feel to me like something of an amalgam of turn of the century mainstream alternative acts. There may have been more going on lyrically than I picked up on in one not terribly attentive listen. I wouldn't be averse to hearing more from this band.

Guessing this will be some kind of indie rock? Ok yep, it is. Not too bad tbh. Just a bit of light-hearted indie rock from the 00s. 3/5.

Denmark Mentioned!!!!🇩🇰🇩🇰🇩🇰🇩🇰🇩🇰 Damn, they got a Bowie feature :0 These danish bands, just like Mew, has some weird extremely depressing quality that isn't found anywhere else. 3

A pretty decent alt indie rock album. They definitely took influence from Radiohead on this album with the softer singing style like Yorke and instrumental pieces in the middle. Overall it’s pretty decent and some cool features but there isn’t much in this album that had me wanting to revisit it. 6.3/10

What if a Danish band decided to sound like Radiohead?

This played while I listened!

Given the cover art and the short Wikipedia text, I was expecting something very different, with more experimentalism and innovation. I got something fairly simple, well done, but simple. The only song that gave me a pinch of what I was expecting was the last one ("No Balance Palace"). An album following the line of this last song will be much more impressive and enjoyable, but we have what we have, so it's a competent 3-star album.

I enjoyed this. It doesn't really bring anything new to the table musically, but it was well made and well produced. I appreciated the surprise appearances of Bowie and Lou Reed, but they both were underutilized in my opinion. Thanks so much for sharing. Fave Songs: Ophelia, Kalifornia, The Cynic, Black Building, Jewel Drop

Never heard of them so surprised about the Bowie element. Bits of Radiohead in there. Decent.

Not bad

Surpise David Bowie feature

It was good.

After this and the Mew album, I think I'm now a fan of whiny Danish alternative rock. Can't believe they got Bowie and Reed on this.

Rock, Alternative rock. Rollo. Un 2.

I had a meeting so had to stop listening. When I came back to it I didn’t know if I’d listened to the whole thing or not. Unsure what that says.

It's as if Radiohead had never read a book. I mean the sound is good, but my word the lyrics are terrible. Which, sadly, makes it totally unlistenable.

Started out promising but it only had one droning note and speed

I had No Balance Palace on while working and didn't notice anything that made me want to check what a track was called at any point. It's solid, it's a decent listen but it's not interesting, it's just fine background 2/5 noise. Fairly well put together though, at no point was I distracted negatively either.