Jas' INEXCUSABLY Modest 3rd 1/4 of 2016
Ugh, so guys, I still only barely managed 20, I'm not even actively trying at this point. I just started working and I have to study for exams on top of that so my energy is like... maybe 20%? so anyway, let's do this since I actually like doing this (believe it or not) and I'm only 80% sober rn so this'll be fun. Music-wise, for me, this quarter has been the best by far. |
| 24 |  | M.I.A.
AIM
I didn't even finish this so I don't really wanna rate it but literally what the fuck is this shit? I'm so confused. Did she actually say "the peoples republic of swagistan"? or am i making that up?
Hip-Hop
0/5, which i suppose is kind of a perfect score in a way depending on how you look at it. |
| 23 |  | Opeth
Sorceress
Goodness gracious how did they get to this point? Like, I get that Mikael really likes prog... or really likes Steven Wilson, probably a combination of the two, but I mean damn. I just don't see why you would make something like this that is so consistently derivative and trying to be something that's already existed for well over 40 years. For a start, one of the things that fucks me off the most is those two "Persephone" tracks. For one thing, Persephone is a badass bitch, so fuck you Mikael, and secondly, neither of these tracks need to be on the album. They literally do nothing. Go on, listen to this album sans these two songs, I guarantee you your experience will not change in the slightest. My favourite song off of this was "A Fleeting Glace" and only because it sounds like a Porcupine Tree song and I know I've just spend a paragraph bashing nostalgia-prog but fuck it I like Porcupine Tree sue me.
Dinosaur proge/Stevenwilsoncore
1.5/5 |
| 22 |  | Chevelle
The North Corridor
The only reason I listened to this is because I'm an asshole and I don't deserve people like EvoHavok
2/5 |
| 21 |  | Frank Ocean
Blonde
ho ho hooooly shit this sucks. I love Channel Orange too, but there's something strangely obnoxious for me about this that wasn't about Channel Orange. Like I said on the review thread, I pretty much everything about this except for Frank Ocean. The guy just fucked up here. and I mean what the FUCK is that opening track?
RnB/Prince'sCamilleVoicecore
2/5 |
| 20 |  | Vukari
Divination
Don't mind this, just me jamming something from a genre I'm not particularly into. This is seriously so dumb though, it does these parts that are almost good and then it's just like WALL OF GUITARS WOOOOOOOOOOOSH did you feel the passion?
post-godknowsatthispoint
2.3/5 |
| 19 |  | Against Me!
Shape Shift With Me
http://www.reactiongifs.com/r/smhn.gif
alternative rock
2.5/5 |
| 18 |  | Angel Olsen
MY WOMAN
I'm really struggling to remember what this sounds like cause I'm listening to Banks instead right now. But I do remember it was ok, gets kinda boring after a while cause everything's reeaaalllly slow, but other than that I can't really complain about this album as an experience.
indie-folk |
| 17 |  | The Pineapple Thief
Your Wilderness
Colour me very fucking surprised, I enjoyed this. I don't really like this band that much, I find them pretty boring and I really didn't enjoy Magnolia so idk why I checked this, but it was actually kinda nice so hey :)
alt rock
3/5 |
| 16 |  | The Drones
Feelin Kinda Free
Not really sure I get it, but I didn't hate it.
...actually i have no idea what this is
3/5 |
| 15 |  | Suuns
Hold/Still
[2]
[2]
3.5/5 |
| 14 |  | They Might Be Giants
Phone Power
Some more songs that these guys made for their new incarnation of their "Dial-a-Song" service. Not really any different from last year's Glean and Why?, but if you like this band, you'll like this. Also if you want a bit of a giggle, check out their cover of Destiny's Child's "Bills Bills Bills" which appears on this.
nerd-rock/alt rock/indie rock
3.5/5 |
| 13 |  | Mick Jenkins
The Healing Component
Now, there's actually a couple of things I want to say about this. So, the instrumentals are really nice, but a little to samey over the albums entire running course, which is not really a bad thing, just kind of something that could probably have been better. And this guy takes this albums theme faaaaaaaar more seriously then he really should, considering he seems to think he's found something really profound that no one really discusses anymore... which he of course has not. But other than that, I really like this.
hip-hop
3.6/5 |
| 12 |  | Heliotropes
Over There That Way
I remember this being good, because it's the sort of thing that I like.
indie-rock
3.6/5 |
| 11 |  | Millicent Waffles
My Lord's Poison in Darkfire Illusion
User AnimalsAsSummit has put out more albums this year than I've even heard yet. A lot of it's pretty cool, but only if you either already have the stomach for this kind of thing, or you've just gotten used to what his music sounds like (for me it's probably the latter). He does sort of run in to a bit of a wall with his stuff though where there isn't a lot of distingushing characteristics between all of his different releases, which kind of holds him back.
avant-garde
3.6/5 |
| 10 |  | Kishi Bashi
Sonderlust
Aww this is so fun.
indie-pop
3.7/5 |
| 9 |  | Negative Gemini
Body Work
I was planning to review this for the user spotlight game but I ran out of time cause I'm useless like that. I believe this chick belongs to George Clanton's label or something to that effect.
deep-house
3.7/5 |
| 8 |  | BUCK-TICK
Atom Miraiha No.9
BUCK-TICK have gone straight up gothic dance with this one. Very much a continuation of the electronic-focused stuff they've done in the past, but it's way more of a consistent theme here. And holy shit it's so unfair that Atsushi Sakurai is just getting better as a vocalist the older he gets.
post-punk/alt rock
3.7/5 |
| 7 |  | Regina Spektor
Remember Us To Life
i know people are just going "must be a 5, it's Regina Spektor duh". But yeah that's about all you can say lol. It's Regina Spektor, if you've enjoyed her stuff before, you'll enjoy this, if you haven't, you wont.
anti-folk or something
3.8/5 |
| 6 |  | TK From Ling Tosite Sigure
White Noise
A lot better than Ling Tosite Sigure's more recent output... but probably only because TK seems to be reserving all of his inspiration for his solo stuff instead. Essentially this is very much in the vein of LTS, but with a bigger focus on keys and strings. I've also noticed that TK pretty much only flips over into falsetto for the highs on this album rather than belting and idk if that's on purpose to suit the different tone of this music or if he has actually already ruined his voice.
indie-rock/j-rock
3.9/5 |
| 5 |  | Arca
Entranas
Never listened to Arca before, really like the feel of this. Plus that Beatrix sample, ayy.
electronic/experimental
4/5 |
| 4 |  | Mitski
Puberty 2 |
| 3 |  | Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds
Skeleton Tree |
| 2 |  | Banks
The Altar
Skipped a couple of entries, I might go back and edit them in but it turns out I'm more tired than I realised. But I did really want to say something about this cause it was my AOTY for a very, very brief window of time before I listened to the album that's above this on the list.
So, there are a lot of complaints about her vocals on this. Which, I will assume, is simply down to personal preference. Here's a quick example of why I completely disagree that her vocals are not very great on this. Using "Gemini Feed" as an example (which has been stuck in my fucking head ever since I jammed this the other day), in the verses, especially the very first one, she sings with this incredibly sexy inflection on her voice where she tries her best to keep all of the consonants as smooth as possible (especially on the "passive aggressive" line where she straight up sings with a lisp) and keep the vowels breathy. The reason I like this part is because she then flips over into this incredibly |
| 1 |  | Emma Ruth Rundle
Marked For Death
fuck, ran out of room. So anyway, she flips over into her beautiful natural tone for the chorus, and this just gives it sooooo much more punch than it otherwise would of and I appreciate the shit out of that as a vocalist.
pop
deviant/5
(actually talking about Emma Ruth Rundle now) this is probably my favourite release so far this year. Fantastic singer/songwriter album, has this incredible vibe where it uses dark instrumentation and tempo, but sounds incredibly warm for whatever reason. Also very happy since Salome was one of my favourite albums last year.
indie folk/gothic
4.7/5 |
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