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User
Reviews 17
Approval 97%
Soundoffs 124
Album Ratings 1536
Objectivity 90%
Last Active 07-12-21 3:40 am
Joined 04-19-14
Review Comments 2,061
| Everything's a Five
In the spirit of critical relativism, I've decided to write a five-star, paragraph-long sound-off for each new rating I add, regardless of the score I actually give it. I'll publish them in sets of five (ha!) here for your reading (in reality: my writing) pleasure. For the sake of fun, I'll also comment my current ratings for each album on the list below. Voila and enjoy. | | 1 |  | Arcade Fire
Everything Now
On paper, Everything Now is a fart: loud, obnoxious, and quite lacking in subtlety. Yet these very characteristics provide Everything Now a striking match of form-to-function effectiveness and ultimately make for a thrilling indie-pop 'fuck-you' of a record. Simultaneously heavy-handed and scarily familiar phrases of Tumblr Capitalism anchor the record, running the gamut between undeniable pop anthems ("Everything Now"), strikingly bleak explorations of suicide ("Creature Comfort", "Good God Damn") and the overblown twin tracks that bookend and divide the record. The tension between Arcade Fire's emotional core and skepticism churns electric through the LP. A great 21st-century listen indeed.
5/5 | | 2 |  | XXXTENTACION
17
17 is not a radical record from an artistic standpoint, but rather from a commercial one. XXX is one of rap's up-and-coming villains whose fame is largely built on subwoofer-destroying bass and yelped, MC-Ride-But-At-Hot-Topic vocals. 17 stands as XXX's rejection of the easy commercial path that could be found by expanding this sound; instead, he opts for a brand of indie folk and R&B that traffics heavily in soft guitar, piano and synths. 17 doesn't boast complex tracks or complex thoughts, yet what it loses in depth it gains in immediacy. Running under 25 minutes long, the record is an incredibly easy listen that never gives its hooks or ideas the opportunity to overstay their welcome. The simple, conflicted lyrics and song structure provide a picture-perfect snapshot of XXX's antagonistic yet noncommittal adolescent mentality. If 17 doesn't provide an excuse for XXX's disgusting behavior, it efficiently and engagingly showcases its source.
5/5 | | 3 |  | Turnover
Good Nature
With Peripheral Vision, Turnover displayed an impressive ability to craft gorgeous songs out of deceptively simple elements. The beautiful guitar lines and vocal melodies return on Good Nature, which clearly prizes album cohesion more than its predecessor. While the songs of Good Nature may not be all that distinctive, they form a whole that is both more colorful and more hopeful than Peripheral Vision. The end result is a grower of an album that softens Turnover's sound without sacrificing the key elements that made their past work so enjoyable.
5/5 | | 4 |  | Father John Misty
Pure Comedy
Tillman turns his eye from love to politics for his new LP. It's no surprise that Pure Comedy turns out to be a plodding, depressed, melodramatic record; the surprise is that it somehow manages to work. Tillman's talent for unraveling bizarre situations and concepts over the course of a pop tune is at its full potential here. Even during the mammoth-sized songs that anchor the record, Tillman's arrangements remain beautiful and evolving, offering a soundtrack to the complex yet amusing tales he's here to weave. Rarely is such a content-heavy record such a pleasant listen.
5/5 | | 5 |  | Lil B
Black Ken
Just when it seemed like the Based God could not possibly offer another surprise in his career, he releases an album that rearranges his quirkiest tendencies as a lyricist and producer in an astoundingly new fashion. Black Ken finds Lil B spitting rhythmically precise, hard-hitting lines that shift mood relentlessly. Lil B effortlessly tackles styles from 80's boom-bap to early 2000's club bangers to latin dance music. His lines crack smiles as often as they raise eyebrows. All in all, Black Ken acts as a depository for Lil B's personality, and with full reins on the production, its as singular as any project he's ever released.
5/5 | |
Toad
09.03.17 | Personal ratings: 2.0, 2.0, 2.5, 1.5, 3.0
what's up sput | Drifter
09.03.17 | Lmaoooo | Toad
09.03.17 | you can't handle the subjective truth | Drifter
09.03.17 | You should get snoop dogg in your recent ratings tbqfh | Toad
09.03.17 | five-star review of snoop incoming | Drifter
09.03.17 | Oh shit | BlushfulHippocrene
09.03.17 | Fantastic list idea, Toad. Very well-written as well, will keep an eye out for this. | Funeralopolis
09.03.17 | great list, look forward to your future entries | AnimalsAsSummit
09.03.17 | ew gross relativism |
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