Hipster CD Collection: R

hipster CD collection
R

booze & grub

movies

Check out the CDs on Mr. Hipster's shelves.

<-<- back to CD collection index

Ra Ra Riot
[ra ra riot website]

The Rhumb Line

It's hard to believe, after spending four years there, that anything good could come out of Syracuse. It's a gray city cursed with some of the worst weather in the country, and a serious lack of anything even approaching cool. Until Ra Ra Riot came along, of course. Unless you don't consider a band whose melodies are mostly formed by two chicks with a cello and a violin cool. And it's just that that gives Ra Ra Riot something more atmospheric, and a different little spark than the glut of vaguely Brit/Scott-sounding indie bands out there. Imagine Belle & Sebastian having a party with That Dog and Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin while hopped up on caffeine and falling down stairs with a couple of the dudes from Vampire Weekend. But less controlled. Yeah, that's it. To listen to this lead singer and think he's from anywhere near Central New York is laughable, but I guess making the word "dollar" sound like "daahler" isn't such a great thing, so you might as well go with any accent outside of Upstate. I think this album is definitely a grower, as it seems to morph with each listen. I keep expecting the guitars to kick in and really put some edge into the music, but it never comes. Part of me is disappointed with that, but the other side likes the originality in not going for the easy umph that most indie bands would go for. Well we may not have had a national band on the scene when I was at SU, but at least we had Clavin's Mother and Professor Spoon.

The Raconteurs
[the raconteurs website]

Broken Boy Soldiers

Radar Bros.
[radar bros. website]

Radar Bros.

Radio 4
[radio 4 website]

Gotham!

The New Song and Dance

Stealing of a Nation

I'm not really sure what happened to these guys. Some might say that nothing happened to them and that, in fact, they've always sucked. I'm also not sure what makes bands go increasingly electronic with each album instead of adding more, say, real drums. There are points in this album that you'd swear you were listening to some awful 80's techno hybrid. Although, come to think of it, that's what this dancepunk thing is all about. Of course, these guys still wear their love of The Clash on their collective sleeve (the song "Nation" sounds pracitcally like a cover), but this is their dramatic shift towards Big Audio Dynamite. Despite all this, I swear multiple listens has endeared me to this mess, rather than repelling me as it should. The nostalgia in the non-techno-y tracks is palpable, and I'm a sucker for recalling the past. God, who knows, even the shittiest albums get their day in the iPOD.

Radiohead
[radiohead website]

The Bends

Hail to the Thief

Kid A

This has to be one of the most overrated albums of all time. It's ''brilliant'' the way an episode of Punkծd is brilliant. I'd honestly rather listen to a hamster running on its wheel for an hour. Did Thom York have nodules when they recorded this thing, or was he just like ''don't worry about the singer, guys, I'm cool just hanging out in the corner pretending there was never a song entitled 'Creep.' I know I was stealing too much of the spotlight, so why don't you guys just turn on the reverb machines and noodle away for a while sotto voce.'' Maybe I'll come to my senses several years from now and realize what an amazing album this is, but those odds are longer than Aqua having another hit in their lifetimes.

OK Computer

Pablo Honey

Rahim
[rahim website]

Ideal Lives

Rainer Maria
[rainer maria website]

Look Now Look Again

The Rakes
[the rakes website]

Capture/Release

Fooook, this shite is hot! This definitely is at the top of my 2006 list so far. Falling somewhere between the Brit snot rock of Art Brut and the raw energy of McLusky, these dudes know how to write a catchy tune. I'm not sure why having a sense of humor and actual song structure seems to be frowned upon these days, but one listen to these louts and you'll remember why pop is in fact based on the word 'popular.' Lush and beautiful it isn't, but the baselines and snappy drums will make you feel like you're in Clash heaven.

Rakim
[rakim website]

The 18th Letter - the Book of Life

Ramones
[ramones website]

All the Stuff (and More) - Vol. 1

All the Stuff (and More) - Vol. 2

Rancid
[rancid website]

. . . and Out Come the Wolves

Indestructible

Let's Go

Life Won't Wait

Rancid

Rancid (II)

The Rapture
[the rapture website]

Echoes

I know I'm supposed to love this album. And to some extent I really do like its weird Cure aesthetic, but too much dance shit almost ruins it for me. I honestly can't tell if they're being serious or ironic with some of this stuff. Considering their hipster pedigree, it may be the latter, but my heart is telling me otherwise. The lead singer has a voice that might cause dogs to howl and the squeamish to go running for cover, but it's affective for the somewhat jarring genre of "dance punk." The music, with its bass kick, rapid beats, and cowbell just kind of grabs you and shakes you and screams at you to pay attention. Unfortunately, it also tells me at points to look away from the horror with my headache in full bloom. The music in and of itself is fun and energetic, but the lyrics are as insipid as most funk and dance music. Overall I like it, but really only in very small doses.

Ratcat
[ratcat website]

Tingles

The Raveonettes
[the raveonettes website]

Whip It On

Reacharound

Who's Tommy Cooper?

Red Five

Flash

Red Hot Chili Peppers
[red hot chili peppers website]

The Abbey Road ep

Blood Sugar Sex Magik

Californication

Freaky Styley

One Hot Minute

Red Hot Lover Tone

Redman
[redman website]

Malpractice

Whut? Thee Album

Reggie and the Full Effect
[reggie and the full effect website]

Promotional Copy

Reggie and the Full Effect: Greatest Hits '84-'87

Under the Tray

Regurgitator
[regurgitator website]

New ep

R.E.M.
[r.e.m. website]

Automatic for the People

Eponymous

The Rentals

The Last Little Life EP

What happened to the fun robotic thing? This ain't Cold War music anymore; it's mid-nineties prog rock. It's mellow folks in their mid-thirties making music for I don't know who. It sounds like a less dynamic Traveling Wilburys with some keyboard. I'd almost say it was kid-friendly in its sing-songy cutesiness. Totally inoffensive and boring, my wallpaper might enjoy mating with it. Take like a later Ben Lee album and beat it within an inch of its life and you have this EP. I'm not really sure what that means, but it isn't good. I hope this was just kind of them testing the waters, and that when/if they put out their next LP that it'll have more life than this puny attempt at cliched barfiness.

Return of the Rentals

Weezer really never was the same after Matt Sharp left the band. Sharp took with him all the quirky fun--and those wonderful keyboards. The Rentals, in fact, are pretty dependent on those same Moogs, which give them a kind of distinctive retro sound that when paired with fuzzed out guitars and some sweet girl harmonies make for a sound that was actually ahead of its time. It really wasn't until several years after this album came out that the 80s revival hit its full stride, but these guys took the more throw-back sounds of Weezer, paired then with the cuteness of that dog and came out the other end with this funny 80s meets Sputnik space-age persona that was hipster before people really knew what hispsterism was. Nerd-chic, maybe? "Friends of P" was their kind of one minor hit, and even listening to it today brings waves of nostalgia flowing back into the mushy parts of my brain--and makes me want to see a Weezer reunion now worse than ever. C'mon, dorks, unite!

The Replacements
[the replacements website]