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Sparklehorse are one of my favorite bands. This is a very compelling album, where Danger Mouse's influence is strangely barely felt. For the record, some of those you’ve probably never heard of are Mercer (the frontman of the Shins) and Rhys (the singer of Super Furry Animals). Not to mention a certain Mister Francis... I commend you on your choice, but I found the review a bit hasty.

I completely agree with you about Coldplay. I don’t listen to Bjork (my limit) and I’ve abandoned U2 for years now. The NIN are breaking up? That makes me really sad, I consider "The Downward Spiral" one of the greatest rock albums ever. I grew up with that album. As for the meeting, I have no idea how it’s organized (I've recently become a debaser user) but I’m in anyway!

Dear hb, I see that in the end, you agree with me regarding the relationship between Sophia and Coldplay: "So Slow" is the song that Coldplay will forever dream of having written... As for Robin's new musical direction: you state, "it's his choice to break away from the God Machine experience, certainly an admirable choice; but today, in my opinion, the objective struggle in shaping a new identity for a band that, unlike its predecessors, is achieving success can be traced back to the unwillingness to confront that past." I, on the other hand, believe there is no "objective struggle"; in fact, the identity is well-defined. This is exactly the winning card that has allowed Sophia to achieve relative success with the last three albums, namely the ability to (intelligently) free themselves from a sound (that of GM) which you yourself have rightly defined as nostalgic somewhere on Debaser. I find it would have been pointless to continue proposing music in search of a lost identity. It's better to turn the page, make the music more airy and melodic, and compete with those high-level indie-rock bands (Radiohead, Coldplay, etc.) who are the flag bearers of this music. Also because Robin certainly has the compositional skills to hold his own. Post-rock? That's gone too. The important thing is to know how to write, in a profound and never trivial manner, songs with a capital S. With affection, your geb
P.S. Are you from Rome? Sophia are playing at Circolo in early October.

I associate myself with the ones...@lost: I've always been around these Owens, but I've never listened to them. Any references? Who do they resemble? Are they post-rock like Joan of Arc? Answer my question...nice review, well done.

@ Bartleboom: not in the melodic choices, the sophia are a bit more "open"... in common with Farina's group they have, in my opinion, the "slow" attitude of some pieces, and some electro-acoustic passages. Let's say the resemblance is not exactly glaring, but in some aspects they remind me of them.

Well done. When you don't get stuck on sterile polemics, you really know how to do it... great review. If you don't know them already, try listening to the Karate, you should like them.

The Motorpsycho album is called "child of the future" and it's a double vinyl with only 7 tracks produced by Steve Albini... I had also somewhat drifted away from them, starting from "let them eat cake"... the flower-pop hard-seventies turn didn't excite me... however, the latest "Little lucid moments" convinced me; in my opinion, it has revitalized them.

@ lukapiz: scrunching your nose, no way, I think it's a good album (rating 6.5) with some gems inside (black and white town above all) but it remains the least convincing chapter of a discography that is still at an excellent level... let's say they spoiled me too much until "Some cities."

Fiquata: it's true, the albums to listen to are always increasing, and the time is always decreasing...I practically only listen to music in the car, when I travel for work from one side of Rome to the other...I own many vinyl records, I even have a nice sound system, but I only turn it on when friends come over for dinner...about the hardcore legacy: great, I grew up with the Black Flag! Anyway, the idea of the triple vinyl is tempting, I think I'm going to get it, along with the new double album by Motorpsycho! Do you know if there's a sampler in the Oneida vinyl to download the mp3 files? There was one in the Okkervil record. @ Alfredo: you're right, excellent advice...happy Ferragosto to everyone, guys!!!

Nice review...the album has been torn apart by Mucchio, praised by Rumore...you praise it too, so we're 2-1! It can be done! And those from Mucchio kind of rub me the wrong way! Anyway, the Oneida are great. Well done!