Picked up an early download of this today. Well, all of you Wolf Parade fans who were letdown with Sunset Rubdown (me included) can rejoice, because this is damn good. Its Dan Boekner's other project for those of you not up to speed. Its different from Wolf Parade, there are lots of electronic beats. But the songwriting is still very similar to the Boeckner helmed tunes from Apologies to the Queen Mary. Highly, highly recommended.

Let down by Sunset Rubdown? The first and last songs alone make it a top 5 2006 album.

I grabbed this album this morning but haven't had a chance to listen; I'm excited though. I'll get back.


Edit: On first listen- intriguing, pretty good. Reminds me of Frog Eyes (atleast "Tear of the Valedictorian"). Stand out tracks for me are "Sing! Sailor" "Dumb Animals" and "The Radio's Hot Sun".

I see this one growing on me a lot.

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quote:

Originally posted by Vypa:
Let down by Sunset Rubdown? The first and last songs alone make it a top 5 2006 album.

The first and last songs are great, as was discussed to death around here last year. Most everything in the middle is a big turd. I'm sorry, there were plenty of better albums last year.

Sunset Rubdown was definetely one of the better albums from last year and they put on a killer live show, if you ask me.

On to the topic at hand...

Handsome Furs is quite good. I had always thought Krug's songs in Wolf Parade were better than Boeckner's, and still do. Plague Park, however, has songs nearly on par with Krug's work (with any band), and the arrangements are great. The Handsome Furs' sound is still in that Montreal style, but different enough to stand on its own. I love the electronic elements of the music.

I definitely thought Boeckner's band would sound more "rawk" than it ended up being. This is a good thing.

This may be one of those albums I buy a hard copy of when it's released.

I've only heard a couple of tracks on this, but it sounds pretty good. I haven't came in touch with very many albums I've been excited about this year, but Handsome Furs sound promising thus far.

This album is so damn good, I'm bumping this thread. Anyone else into this yet or are you all waiting until May 22?

I enjoyed it. A few tracks really stand out, but the album as a whole is a good listen.

I would have to disagree about Sunset's album though. I would say most of the songs were good, and some were great. "The Men Are Called Horsemen There" was one of my favorite songs of the year.

I downloaded this album after hearing "What We Had" and gave it repeated listens in anticipation of their New York shows - which of course got cancelled.

I've never really listened to Wolf Parade, but I can appreciate "Plague Park" in its own right. I like that it is sparse and emotional because a lot of albums I've listened too lately (even good ones) have been a little too elaborate and overblown in terms of instrumentation and production values.

Some of the other songs I like are "Handsome Furs Hate This City" and "Dead + Rural."

I listened to this album for the first time over the weekend. I was instantly impressed, which was unexpected because I wasn't that enthralled with Wolf Parade. However, Boeckner's comfortingly familiar vocals probably influenced my judgment. This is great music for late night driving and reflecting. As a side project band, this album takes a somewhat monotonous approach so there aren't really distinct tracks or stand-outs. Overall it has a desperate and haunting feeling, but it's not dark or brooding - rather it's more expansive and jangly. I think the synth's, drum machine, and electronic elements are the strong point in the mix. Perhaps it was just the context in which I've been listening to the album, but I'm really enjoying it.

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Plague Park is comfortably in my top ten albums of 2007. I enjoy the minimalist space that is has, it's dancing repetitions, it's clever lyrical twists and imagery, it's consistent feeling and emotion that shines out of each song which still distinguish themselves as individuals.

Dan is definitely not "the weaker half" of Wolf Parade. He just makes a different style of music.

Listen to 'What We Had'. The break down at the end is amazing.

its funny to see only these few posts here about that excellent album.
i thought that metacritic members could easily fall in love with Hundsome Furs.
i think its a very strong album with very good and memorable tunes that works exacxtly like The Shins album (good with fist listen but its gettin better every time you hear it.a grower).
in my list i would put it higher than Iron and Wine album and maybe higher or in the same level with Okkervil River!

I still really like this album (I started the thread way back when.) Plague Park ended up in the high teens on my final list. I don't get why Spencer Krug gets all the love when this album is head and shoulders better than both Sunset Rubdown albums. I can't wait for the new Wolf Parade.