Let down and hanging around

After not being able to buy any Jim O'Rourke or Duncan Sheik, I ended up buying the debut album by Thom Yorke (some guy from Radiohead) called The Eraser, the new Keane album - Under The Iron Sea and Retrospective - a compilation of Natalie Merchant's singles and since it was the limited edition set (yeah, set me back by $40 odd), it had the non-official releases and stuff.

The Eraser sucks. Sounds like a bastard off shoot of Idioteque from Kid A. Repeated over 9 tracks, as if allowing Thom Yorke and Nigel Godrich masturbate into my ears. There are moments of brilliance but the brightest spark is repeated. So the brilliance is diminished. Perhaps I've been listening to too much "normal" and "radio-friendly" stuff, but unlike Kid A, Amnesiac and Hail To The Thief, this album is like Thom Yorke's collection of "songs that did not make the cut", packaged and released to recover the massive amount of taxes he had to pay. Ok, I'm being extremely harsh here. I've given the album about 5 listens. Maybe it's a grower. Who knows.

Under The Iron Sea? I am a little irritated by how close this album sounds like the previous, Hopes And Fears. At least for me, Coldplay tried to move away from Parachutes, although still kept things safe. But Keane, stay along the straight and narrow. It's not bad. In fact, I may grow to like it. But I'm just complaining...

Natalie Merchant? There's nothing not to like about this collection.

I have also bought Stadium Arcadium but have not listened to it once. Damn....