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User
Reviews 8
Approval 87%
Soundoffs 102
Album Ratings 2745
Objectivity 84%
Last Active 12-28-22 7:12 pm
Joined 11-17-15
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| Best Songs and Albums of June 2017
Yeah, yeah, I know, it's almost halfway through the month of July that I'm actually posting this list. I took a trip with my family on an Alaskan cruise on the 2nd and I wasn't able to relisten to this past month's songs or albums until I got Wifi again on the 11th. My Mid-Year list will probably come out in the next 3-7 days, so just keep on the lookout for that. Anyways, sorry for the wait, and here's the stuff I thought was jammin' for the first month of Summer! | | 29 |  | DJ Khaled
Grateful
--BEST SONGS-- | | 28 |  | Brockhampton
Saturation
10. “BANK”: I feel like this song is actually quite unpopular among its peers on Saturation, and I can see why. It has repetitive lyrics, a fairly repetitive beat, and it doesn't quite have the strongest message. The word “repetitive” to me, in this case, doesn't have a negative connotation. The looping tribal drum beat with the occasional woodwind and the broken back-up vocals can actually have the power to overstay its welcome without, well, overstaying its welcome. The strongest performances in this song are the rappers themselves. Each verse feels as if they were done by completely different people and voices, but they all somehow fit within the exact same realm the song is creating. Believe it or not, though, this isn't even the best song on Saturation, as you'll eventually find out. | | 27 |  | Count to Altek
Imodius Forms: Millenium Flux
9. “They Constructed the Supernetwork Using Only Sound”: Here's the sequence of events in which I believe this song was created upon:
1. AnimalsAsSummit started to really dig Merriweather Post Pavillion recently.
2. He decided that it was a great idea to take the sound of that album and blend it with his blackened-electronic-jazz-thingy going on in Count to Altek.
3. He makes this the opening track of the new album.
4. Unfortunately, it set a bar so high that the rest of the album never came close to competing with.
5. Fortunately, it's freaking great and better than a lot of the stuff on MPP (if you ask me). | | 26 |  | Bones
NoRedeemingQualities
8. “WhatAGreatDayToStayIndoors”: Bones came out with a very impressive album this month, and this song is the best example of an evolution in instrument sampling. The banjo's sound and tuning are perfect in the intro because its rather empty echo gives off a feeling of isolation that's spoken about in the song. The trap beat actually flows well with the banjo, and it doesn't try to do anything upbeat enough to disrupt the atmosphere. Bones also happened to get Jon Simmons on the track for a higher-pitched vocalist, which might sound questionable on paper, but it seems to work as a necessary break from the dreariness in Bones's voice. | | 25 |  | Eidola
To Speak, To Listen
7. “Transcendentium (Both Parts)”: Eidola is the absolute child of a relationship between Animals as Leaders and Dance Gavin Dance. Like real DNA pairing, you have to give up a few properties of each band, like a lot of the technical complexity in Animals as Leaders and the simple vocals of DGD, but the influences are clearly there, and this pair of songs is no different. Right off the bat of Part 1, the calm riff bleeds resemblance of The Joy of Motion, and then, when the leading riff comes in preceding the harsh vocals, early DGD is channeled. With all of this being said, songs that happen to have heavy influences aren't always any good, in fact, they only occasionally are. Thankfully this song amazingly impresses, and it's closer this album desperately needed with a majorly directionless first half. There's a ton of catchy choruses with equally catchy guitar work on both parts. Zoroastrian (Part 1) is a more fluid and consistent half of this duality while Fourth Temple (Part 2) has | | 24 | | Eidola
To Speak, To Listen
more harsh vocals (which I preferred over the cleans here) and has a more successful time as serving its part as a closer. Also, consider me cheating for putting both parts of the song on this list, but the flow of guitar riffs between Part 1 and 2 can't be anything but played back to back to me. | | 23 |  | Dying Fetus
Wrong One To Fuck With
6. “Weaken the Structure”: Wrong One to Fuck With was, unfortunately, a boring slab of grind that had little to offer in variety and songwriting capability. Though, with creativity in the guitar and bass playing, a really great song could be created with the structure on this album. It only happened once, but “Weaken the Structure” came about as that song. Everything seemed to be much more fresh, heavy, and substantial here than the rest of the album, and even most other grind songs this year. It never felt too long, and the brutalness was quite genuine. | | 22 |  | King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard
Murder Of The Universe
5. “Altered Beast IV”: This is, without a doubt, King Gizzard's best song of the year so far. The story on this track takes us to the final part of the man's transformation into a monstrous creature, hence the epic atmosphere. What makes a lot of the song for me is the chorus (or what I think is a chorus) where the vocalist emphasizes really random syllables while the guitar in the background is climbing notes. Somehow, KG/LW makes this segment super satisfying. I found the female “robot” voice to be somewhat intrusive on earlier Alter tracks, but she works great here, as her presence actually fits the words that she says. | | 21 | | Brockhampton
Saturation
4. “MILK”: “MILK” is the best rap song I've heard all year, and I'm definitely on the fence about considering this song rap by any standards. Rather, I think it's a humanistic piece of R&B, providing examples of songwriting that showcases understanding of finding oneself in the modern era. Last month, I called the track “Once in a Long, Long While” by Low Roar the best song of the month, and a lot of my reasoning for its honor was because of its songwriting's “dreamy reality”. I also apply this to “MILK” since there's an influence of psychedelia in its instruments with it's lyrics making a contrast, yet unfrictional parallel with those instrumentals. What adds even more to this song is the ending monologue, where the vocalist gets more upfront and personal about his realities, which I very much appreciate, especially in this song where the general public is usually addressed. | | 20 |  | Bent Knee
Land Animal
3. “Insides In”: I feel as if this song could qualify for the most “symphonic” rock song of the year. It has many elements found in a classical work: cresendo violins, genuinely chilling vocal work, complex keyboard playing, and multi-style percussion. However, this comparison doesn't divert the album's or the band's sound into completely impassible territory. Instead, this brings a new idea of songwriting that fit perfectly on Land Animal. If I had to pick a standout performance here, it would most definitely be the vocals. Her Cranberries like delivery on other tracks felt abrasive and overdramatic, but I knew the potential, at one point, that she could use this voice in a sound that only she can perfect. “Insides In” was that performance. The jazzy first half is accompanied with quiet and modest vocals, which actually lets the piano lead for much of the half, already preparing its buildup for the climax. When the climax is actually reached, she magnifies the singing pattern used at | | 19 | | Bent Knee
Land Animal
the end of the opener, “Terror Bird”, to make the end absolutely complete. She kinda reminds me of Ninet Tayeb from the Steven Wilson features, which I very much approve of. | | 18 |  | Igorrr
Savage Sinusoid
2. “Opus Brain”: In contrast to symphonies from heaven by Bent Knee, you also have operas straight from HELL with Igorrr. This 5 ½ minute long track wastes almost no time getting you to know depths of musical insanity that I've never seen encountered in a very long time. I guess one could say the opening 30 seconds or so is fairly generic electronic music, but once that stops, an epic journey through hell is embarked. The screaming male vocals with the blasting guitars is undescribingly awesome, and the weird guitar-tremolo breakdown paralleled with double-bass-flavored opera vocals just adds for an amazingly impressive start. These opera vocals go on for another minute and a half with a calmer section before getting right back into breakdowns. After these breakdowns is what can only be classified as a spiraling out into a giant pit of fire. Now, how do all of these colorful descriptions get put into my mind about a song that's only 5 ½ minutes long? There's actually two answers here: | | 17 | | Igorrr
Savage Sinusoid
flow and pacing, both of which are basically flawless. Each buildup and decresendo stitch up the main pieces together like the best seamstresses in the world, and there's no moment that feels empty here. There's so much weight behind each second of the song that the pressure will accurately make you feel below Earth. | | 16 |  | Jason Isbell
The Nashville Sound
1. “If We Were Vampires”: So we've been through the idea of heaven and the idea of hell, but the best song of, not just the month, but one of the best songs of the year, showcases an idea I've been over before with bands such as Mount Eerie and Pain of Salvation, and that's death. Or, in Phil Elvrum's own words, Real Death. As a contrast to Mount Eerie and Pain of Salvation, however, Jason Isbell doesn't attempt to make his lyrics about personal stories and feelings. That, by no means, is meant to depreciate the two other artists for their experiences, rather, it's meant to confirm that Isbell simply sought a different route of expressing “the end”. This songwriting is meant for the general public to be aware that life is mortal and that it's possibilities end for everyone. Yes, it's a common concept, but every aspect of songwriting here is carefully engineered and created. The repetitive guitar riff is only there to accompany the background as a ballad, instead leaving the listener to | | 15 | | Jason Isbell
The Nashville Sound
focus on the lyrics being vocalized. The lyrics are straightforward and easy to understand, but has more than enough depth to avoid being shallow or pandering. I think the most important part of this song, though, is the bridge. The instrumentation here is even simpler and even less convoluted than the verses, as it is basically just two composures playing at the same time: the acoustic guitar riff and an introduced wind howl. This new howl actually plays in front of the riff here, and it doesn't have much rhythm to it, instead droning on for around 30 seconds. I think this drone represents the listener's reflection on their own life and how they've used up their precious time. Does this all sound pretentious? Maybe. Is it a smartly written song with tons of raw emotion from the singers, lyrics, and instruments? You bet your ass it is. | | 14 |  | Halsey
hopeless fountain kingdom
--BEST ALBUMS-- | | 13 |  | Fleet Foxes
Crack-Up
10. 7/10 If there's one thing that warrants the most credit about this album, it's the sense of ambition it has. Fleet Foxes played on a very large scale here, and I can appreciate the way they attempt to mix this grandiose atmosphere with the usual Fleet Foxes. On many songs here, this combination works very well. Just take a look at songs like “I Am All That I Need...”, the end of “Cassius”, “Mearcstapa”, “Fool's Errand”, and the title track. All of them have the indie folk sound as the core in the songwriting with hits of a more modern, more cleanly produced recording. This, I thought, is what made their first two albums special. Unfortunately, most of the album is spacey, sorta safe folk with some interesting ideas thrown in sometimes, which leads to a good bit of meandering. Even this meandering can really lead to some beautiful moments, but I just don't quite think it deserves to be called one of the best albums of the year. It does, however, deserve to be on this list. | | 12 | | Brockhampton
Saturation
9. 7/10 Saturation is a unique album in a sense of quality. There's most of the first half of the album, which is more hard-hitting, in-your-face tracks with their specialization being in the beats. The bad thing about this particular start was that the songwriting, for me at least, was a little sour, and it didn't really add anything that I haven't heard before. This goes on until FAKE, where their album almost completely derails into experimental territory, and it doesn't return into the visceral rap territory until BUMP. This transitional point is actually when the album starts to become really great, but it's not just because of the change in sound, but it's because of the uniqueness and quality songwriting these guys dumped into this region of the album. | | 11 |  | Lorde
Melodrama
8. 7.5/10 This has been a really good year for pop. Artists are thinking of ways to keep the genre interesting while finding new ways to impress and explore beyond the genre's limitations. I wouldn't say Melodrama broke any of those limitations, but, damn, it's quality for sure. The awesome production can standout on this album because of some of great moments it magnifies. For example, the completely lustrous flavor of “The Louvre” would not have been so sexy with shallow and generic production, and it's instead punchy and demanding. This can also be said for the sombreness in “Writer in the Dark” and the flashiness in “Green Light”. There's even some art pop ventures on some of the retracks (Sober II and Liability Reprise), which I know weren't very popular, but it brought an intriguing soundscape to Lorde's music. | | 10 |  | Lapalux
Ruinism
7. 7.5/10 I listened to this album before Calvin Harris's new record, actually thinking that Calvin Harris could pull off as good, if not better, of a performance for June's electronica albums. Yeah, that was totally wrong. Calvin Harris fell in a bottomless pit of bore while this shone really well in a year that's been kinda average in electronic releases so far. “Data Demon” was so close to making my Top 10 Songs of June list, but I still highly recommend using that song as a sample for the album. This song, among many others here, are just so good at making binaural beats and keyboard lines that twinkle through your head. Case in point, “Tessellate”. Another amazing aspect this album has to offer is their way of getting the more popular cuts right. Those that have vocals on them, like “Rotted Arp”, “Flickering”, and “4EVA” all have the same chilled feel that thickens the vocalist's presence. It's like for these tracks, electronica takes a backseat to songwriting, | | 9 | | Lapalux
Ruinism
but in the more experimental electronic tracks, those beats are driving. | | 8 |  | Beholding
Ocean Grave
6. 7.5/10 If you tend to like a good bit of post-modernism in your classical music, this one's for you. As one would expect, synths and keyboards lead the way here, but the production gives a lot of edge to these songs to create a greater scale of songwriting variety. Just listen to the finale of “Bound...” or the howling effects of “(the wind was forgotten)” (my personal fav). This concept can get lackluster sometimes, sure, but the artist behind the project clearly knew what he was doing, making powerful, yet calming ambient music. | | 7 |  | Elder (USA-MA)
Reflections of a Floating World
5. 7.5/10 Maybe it's just me or something, but the new epic stoner metal trend going on right now isn't one I can personally get into. There's too many lackluster singers and dull guitar playing with most of these followers. Elder seems to be the Alpha of this pack, I say that in a good way. Elder has been at this for much longer than its lower peers, and they just do everything much better. The vocals are actually quite nice, and, in fact, I find them frustratingly underused at most points. The instrumental work is great here allowing more than enough sound uniqueness to make most of the 10+ songs not feel like unnecessary padding to this 64 minute album. | | 6 | | Bones
NoRedeemingQualities
4. 8/10 Famous SoundCloud rapper actually churns out some fire in June. After being very indifferent towards his last record, Unrendered, Bones decides to get a lot more diverse and creative in his instrumentation, which was exactly what I wanted him to do. The soundscapes are much more bleak and dark, and it has it's own atmosphere, unlike much of Unrendered's watered-down sound. Songs like “WhataGreatDaytoStayIndoors”, “YouMadeYourBed,NowLieInIt”, and “ExoticBambooFlooring” showcase exactly what's so great about the album. The chemistry of Bones's voice with the instruments and low-key synths are really spot-on, which makes most of the tracks really enjoyable to listen to. The bars here are actually quite good, too. “SeanPaul...” was humorous and creative, particularly from Danny Brown, as was the lyrics for “I2I”. I know it's hard to believe that a guy with 3 full-length releases of 2017 has a record crowned as my favorite rap album of the year currently, but this did it. | | 5 | | Bent Knee
Land Animal
3. 8/10 Bent Knee is... different. Apparently Sputnik categorizes them as a progressive rock band, but I find them more in common with art pop or indie rock. Genres regardless, this is freaking awesome and you should dig this now. Courtney Swain may have a sort of acquired taste, sure, but damn isn't her voice beautiful. “Boxes”, “Insides In”, and “Terror Bird”, really highlight her capabilities as she has a great range of voice types from a full-out epic rock climax or a soft, soothing baroque voice. The instrumentation on this album closely resembles The Deer Hunter (they even have a song called “Time Deer”), with basically none of the wankery and way more satisfying songwriting. Also, Land Animal let's the listener know that Bent Knee are musicians, not a show. The instruments here just perfectly complement each other, even if Ms. Swain can overwhelm at times. As I said with the highlight song of this album “Insides In”, it's all just like a symphony. | | 4 | | Jason Isbell
The Nashville Sound
2. 8/10 When I discussed Chris Stalpeton's knew album back in April, I didn't think I would witness a country album surpass its quality, or, in fact, even come close. Jason Isbell easily succeeded in changing that expectation this past month, however, as he comes out with yet another great release. This album in particular reminded me of why the singer/songwriter tag fits Jason Isbell more than the country tag as an artist. Sure, he has the great 400 Unit behind him on this album, but I think she magic behind Jason Isbell in The Nashville Sound comes from... himself. Anyways, one thing to note about The Nashville Sound is its seriously authentic vocal production. Dave Cobb did a superb job at mixing the vocals because they feel so cleanly natural here. They especially work in “If We Were Vampires”, “Molotov”, and “Hope the High Road”. The instruments also feel this way, adding a ton of cohesion for Isbell's voice. This album doesn't try to shoehorn drum machines or over-twanged guitars | | 3 | | Jason Isbell
The Nashville Sound
instead opting for careful diversity, such as the violins on “Anxiety”, or the number of 70's sounding hard rock guitars throughout the album. The songwriting here is no joke either. There are truly great lines here like “Everybody clapping on the one and three” on “Last of My Kind” (that whole story is great, even if sad). “White Man's World” stands as a testament to many songs with political agenda by Isbell just making a song with no bullshit or pandering, but real talk. The song's lyrics have a great motivation behind them, too, coming from the innocence of Isbell's daughter. Also note the unique schizophrenic-styled conversation Isbell has with his own anxiety on “Anxiety”, too, as they totally fit with the swelling and dramatic instruments. | | 2 | | Igorrr
Savage Sinusoid
1. 8/10 I was so torn between this and The Nashville Sound as my album of the month. The amount of quality in each album is nearly identical, so I couldn't use that as the deciding factor for this spot. I tried to think 'Out of the two, which album is the best?', answering undecided. So, I willingly did a disservice to both albums and thought 'Out of the two, which album is the worst?', and, for some reason, I thought Savage Sinusoid wasn't quite as “bad”. All of that aside, I really adore this opera-metal-thingy that came out in June. Just like Bent Knee, there aren't a ton of bands out there like Igorrr right now, in fact, any of Mike Patton's Fantomas or solo records seem to be the closest thing I can think of to this album, and most of those are over a decade old. About the actual album, let's talk about the pairing between the two main vocalists on this record because WOW their chemistry is awesome. Both the male unclean vocalist and the operaic female cleans blend with the | | 1 | | Igorrr
Savage Sinusoid
electronic metal so effortlessly and cleanly that I'm just stunned at how well this worked. This style of songwriting hardly ever felt old or recycled, and Igorrr always found something new to bring to the table every upcoming track. There's ton of instruments and instrumental structures to be heard here, but all of them feel within the atmosphere of their respective songs, instead of an atmosphere limited to themselves. Just really, really do yourself a favor and check this record out. It's totally worth it. | |
Papa Universe
07.13.17 | Here we go | theBoneyKing
07.13.17 | Nice Isbell writeups. If you haven't yet, you need to listen to Southeastern right now because while The Nashville Sound is good Southeastern is 10 times better. | Papa Universe
07.13.17 | So you pretty much loved Fleet Foxes for the exact same reason I didn't... | AnimalsAsSummit
07.18.17 | ive never heard of meriweather post pavilion, but that igorrr record has some sicknasty tracks on it | BlazinBlitzer
07.21.17 | Your sound on that song just reminds me a lot of that album. I actually didn't know if you listened to it or not :) |
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