Papa Universe
former sputnik\'s home post-punk maester
User

Reviews 123
Approval 95%

Soundoffs 238
News Articles 11
Band Edits + Tags 250
Album Edits 1,484

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Last Active 12-23-19 9:27 pm
Joined 09-16-14

Review Comments 22,503

 Lists
01.10.20 paps runs through his favs real quick (12.07.19 just gonna put this here to remember
07.17.19 On Hip-Hop07.08.19 June 2019 resumé
07.03.19 Actual User Appreciation Thread06.30.19 JULY19 Songs of the Day
06.26.19 Unknown Post-Punk #406.13.19 Papa's Wifey's List of Favs
06.08.19 May 2019 resumé06.07.19 Sputnik R.I.P. list
06.03.19 mid-year metal rundown05.29.19 another one of those bm threads
05.27.19 Unknown Post-Punk #3 ♦05.23.19 looking for an album/band
05.22.19 stuff my cat seems to like05.08.19 recent black metal demos and lo-fi nons
05.05.19 April 2019 resumé05.03.19 Sput's 2019 Random-Album-Review 2019 Ga
More »

CON X PAPA: Papa's side

Conmaniac and Papa Universe go head to heads in 101 albums challenge. I give Connor 101 albums he needs to listen to and he gives me the same. 40 recs are without specifications, then we both set 6 groups of 10 albums (or other limitations) that should have a certain theme, genre or style or what not.
1Cloakroom
Time Well

FREE REC 1/40
Oh boy, we are not getting to a good start here. Almost everything about this album is just off to me, from the breathy, non-present vocals, to oddly heavily mixed guitars that felt so obnoxiously out of place I had a difficult time getting through this and the only real highlights I can point out are the cuts with the lowest amount of that guitar tuning. It's just such a weird choice of direction that doesn't make sense to me even in the context of shoegaze. Sorry.
2.20
Fav: Time Well, 52hz Whale
Least: Gone but Not Entirely
2Horse Jumper of Love
Horse Jumper of Love

FREE REC 2/40
There is definitely something to the ambiance of this record, but I just can't shake off the feeling of dizziness after listenng to it. I've had it spun twice now and all it does is put me to sleep. I don't mean that it is boring, it is just somewhat oddly hazy and lazy. Perhaps that is that cozy emo people are talking about now, where everything feels so laid-back that if you don't relax voluntarily, your body just shuts down. Even the loud moments feel like a slap into r.e.m. (no reference).
3.23
Fav: Spaceman, Dirt
Least: i love you very much forever
3Prince Daddy and The Hyena
I Thought You Didn't Even Like Leaving

FREE REC 3/40
An unusual case of an borderline whiny emo album actually hitting all the right notes and being enjoyable. Mostly because of the harsh fuzzy production and the vocalist who sounds like he's about to mentally break down. All the tiny imperfections are every so charming and all the desperation in the atmosphere is ever so magnetic. Well, damn.
3.89
Fav: I Forgot to Take My Meds Today, Broc Ched
Least: I Wish I Could Ctrl+alt+del My Life
4Duster
Stratosphere

FREE REC 4/40
Rather an ethereal work, much like their sophomore album, which I like quite a bit. I see now that this is somewhat similar to many other albums on the list, mainly due to its soft, subdued, downtrodden atmosphere and quiet vocals. BUt what makes this album so much better is its watery, floating, warm vibe that just persists all throughout. It's not a wishy-washy mess (Cloakroom!), nor a structureless blast of forgettable nothing in particular (Slint!), and nor is it an angsty outburst of confusion and whine (see many emo entries on here). It is just melancholic and patient.
3.46
Fav: Heading for the Door, Echo Bravo
Least: Topical Solution
5Swordfish
Rodia

FREE REC 5/40
Quite unexpectedly, this album has a subtle horn section on the background. And that adds some special homely warmness to the album, which is otherwise a little unremarkable. At its strongest, Swordfish deliver melodramatic ballads that build up and explode, but at its weakest, it is a mere hissy fit or more along the lines of a panic attack.
3.49
Fav: Trenton Garage, I'm Okay (3x)
Least: Wash
6Desaparecidos
Read Music/Speak Spanish

FREE REC 6/40
From every side this is that typical emo whine, but that near-shouting vocals and the lo-fi production gives it a special, cutting spin that just cannot be ignored. It blasts and bursts, it tears and shreds, and it cleverly disguises its misguided angst with punching instrumental mixing that is just oh so moving. Damn well.
4.05
Fav: Maňana, The Happiest Place on Earth
Least: Man and Wife, The Latter (Damaged Goods)
7Run Forever
Settling

FREE REC 7/40
A Con-core if I've ever heard one. This album is a collection of huming guitars (somehow) and semi-whiny lyrics and vocals. A typical indie emo, I'm guessing something midwestern or at least screeching of that midwestern frustration. Yeah...
3.05
Fav: Basement, Drop Out
Least: Nothing to Say
8Cursive
The Ugly Organ

FREE REC 8/40
Is this one of those bloody records that introduced that idiotic idea of an album full of short songs and one fucking 10 minutes long one? Is this it? Bloody stupidity. This isn't black metal, you cannot pull it off, cause you have nothing to pull it off with, and neither can your semi-depressed yelly illegitimate vegan kids. Focken'el.
Other than that, this album is pretty solid. It goes from raw and vicarious to mild and subtle, but doesn't lose its grip. It also delivers a handful of damn fun catchy tunes in short timespan.
3.75
Fav: Some Red-Handed Sleight of Hand, Butcher the Song
Least: Driftwood: A Fairy Tale
9The Good Life
Album of the Year

FREE REC 9/40
10who loves you
talking shit about yr friends

FREE REC 10/40
11Moses Gunn Collective
Mercy Mountain

FREE REC 11/40
12Candy Claws
Ceres And Calypso In The Deep Time

FREE REC 12/40
Description in Uni's Random Rec Tourney.
3.10
Fav: Charade (Fern Prairie), Birth of the Flower (Seagreen)
Least: Into the Deep Time (One Sun)
13CLIQUE
Burden Piece

FREE REC 13/40
This album manages to walk a line between sappy noodly emo and some energetic (and surprisingly uplifting) punk-isms. It doesn't exactly provide a fully immersive experience, for the tackiness does wear off after a while, but you can still pinpoint at least a handful of great moments.
3.39
Fav: Top Field, Wishful Thinking
Least: Athlet
14The Plot To Blow Up The Eiffel Tower
Dissertation, Honey

FREE REC 14/40
15The Detachment Kit
They Raging, Quiet Army

FREE REC 15/40
16Slint
Spiderland

FREE REC 16/40
Something I should have gotten on long time ago, but didn't. To be honest, I can see that this was probably a big deal at the time, but this album just poises no real impact upon my soul. I feel absolutely nothing listening to it. The noisy-ness is more-or-less tiring and irritating and the song-writing feels mostly forgettable. It's just one of those record you should have heard before and now the moment has passed. I am just so overwhelmingly annoyed by everything that is happening here. It's absurdly too much lo-fi screeching and laughably absent of substance.
1.65
Fav: For Dinner (if I had to choose one)
Least: Washer
17The Notwist
Neon Golden

FREE REC 17/40
Yeah, I definitely remember this band from a while back. This record is an example of an odd fusion of glitchy electronic production, lifeless vocals that actually don't irritate and catchy and energetic song-writing. Each track feels melancholic and downtrodden, but you still feel obligated to move your body in a sorrowful trance. What a strange, strange precedent.
4.25
Fav: Pick Up the Phone (lllllllove this), Trashing Days
Least: Neon Golden
18Patrick Watson
Close To Paradise

FREE REC 18/40
19Patrick Watson
Adventures in Your Own Backyard

FREE REC 19/40
20All Human
Teenagers, You Don't Have to Die

FREE REC 20/40
21Archy Marshall
A New Place 2 Drown

FREE REC 21/40
This album walks a dangerous line between meditative and boring and unfortunately it mostly falls into the latter category for me. It's just really, really uneventful. Even by the standards of slow-pace, hazy music, this was mostly just drab.
2.29
Fav: Ammi Ammi, Dull Boys
Least: Sex With Nobody
22Closure in Moscow
Pink Lemonade

FREE REC 22/40
Yeah, if the album cover isn't enough to suggest that this is going to be some trippy magical shit... Seriously, this album is a paradoxical mixture of, FIRST, underdeveloped post-hardcore-ish prog that is only one teaspoon of pretentiousness and obnoxious DMT-posing-as-prog influences away from turning into Dance Gavin Dance (whom I detest), and SECOND, a psychotically mind-bending fucking trip through joy and emotional chaos. Good bloody good. If The Dear Hunter were kicked in the balls and then hell bent on slaughterting everyone responsible for the ballskickage, this would be it. I still am somewhat torn on the zany chaotic song-writing, but I feel it growing.
3.97
Fav: Neoprene Byzantine, Mauerbauertraurigkeit
Least: That Brahmatron Song
23Skull Kid
Protection Charm

FREE REC 23/40
Although at its surface another wobbly, watery emo record, the intricate instrumentation and an atmosphere of settling storm certain worked their charm. Indeed, the vocals could use some work (or at least not be so squeaky), but other than that, this album is a great balance of anxiously angsty and angrily errupting. Just that precise silver lining inbetween. Yum.
3.82
Fav: All She Has, Separate Beds
Least: Headless
24The Bright Light Social Hour
Space Is Still the Place

FREE REC 24/40
25The Caretaker
An Empty Bliss Beyond This World

FREE REC 25/40
26Gangsta Pat
Deadly Verses

FREE REC 26/40
27Chester Watson
Past Cloaks

FREE REC 27/40
28Jons
At Work On Several Things

FREE REC 28/40
29Homeshake
Fresh Air

FREE REC 29/40
30Ozma
Rock and Roll Part Three

FREE REC 30/40
31Quarrels
Admit

FREE REC 31/40
32Sharks Keep Moving
Sharks Keep Moving

FREE REC 32/40
33Talons'
Rustic Bullshit

FREE REC 33/40
This is like Conor Oberst's teenage nephew expressing his misguided and misplaced disappointment with the world, not yet having lived for real. And it is way too repetitive.
2.80
Fav: My Life as a Broke-Ass Conor Oberst, Plants and Animals
Least: F Everything
34Silverchair
Frogstomp

FREE REC 34/40
35Silverchair
Frogstomp

FREE REC 35/40
36Silverchair
Frogstomp

FREE REC 36/40
37Silverchair
Frogstomp

FREE REC 37/40
38Silverchair
Frogstomp

FREE REC 38/40
39Silverchair
Frogstomp

FREE REC 39/40
40Silverchair
Frogstomp

FREE REC 40/40
41Candlebox
Candlebox

CHILDHOOD 1/10
I have to admit that among the long, tedious, bottomless list of things that cause my hair to go gray, grunge has a reserved spot among the echelons of hate-infusion to yours truly. Candlebox did little to improve upon that. As a matter of fact, I became convinced of my views on the genre even more. childhood memories have a tendency of sweetening up a chilli and so I understand your fondness of the album, Connor. But I am listening to this as an adult well into his listening experience and I am beyond unimpressed. I suppose my childlessness is to blame for my lack of understanding for dad rock.
1.60
Fav: eh, I don't know, Cover Me, I guess?
Least: Rain
42Jars Of Clay
Jars Of Clay

CHILDHOOD 2/10
This is like R.E.M., but a tad more depressed. Odd feeling, actually. Still, it's the same cheesy acoustic guitar-driven pop-rock with sometimes almost laughable lyrics. I don't really have much else to add to it, other than that it is almost ridiculously 90s and the guy's voice just makes the music sound like it's one atmosphere-building instrument being absent away from fitting into one of those throwaway boybands of the time. Yeah, cheesy stuff. No surprises.
2.69
Fav: Boy On a String, Flood
Least: He

and does it actually have a 27 minutes long hidden track-ridden cut at the end? yeesh
43R.E.M.
Green

CHILDHOOD 3/10
Yeah, I definitely know these songs (or at least some of them). Many of them were just as enjoyable as back in the day. I don't really have a lot to say about it beyond just "it's a fun little album", but it just is and there's nothing much else to it, even though it tries to be mildly provocative in its lyrics.
3.37
Fav: Pop Song 89, World Leader Pretend
Least: I Remember California
44The Verve Pipe
Underneath

CHILDHOOD 4/10
45Bright Eyes
Fevers & Mirrors

CHILDHOOD 5/10
A hit. This is a hit. It hits home like a kitten heel hits testicles. I feel somewhat torn on it, but every issue I have with it (the lackluster vocal range or the occasionally annoying noisy detours and mixing) somewhat faded with repeated listens once I already knew what was coming. Then I could focus on the song-writing and emotional delivery, in spite of the lacking vocals. Bloody hell, these guys kick it hard.
4.38
Fav: A Scale, The Movement of a Hand, Sunrise Sunset
Least: An Attempt to Tip the Scales
46Kid Cudi
Man on the Moon: The End of Day

CHILDHOOD 6/10
47Minus the Bear
Planet of Ice

CHILDHOOD 7/10
48Maroon 5
Songs About Jane

CHILDHOOD 8/10
Is this even possible? A Maroon 5 release with audible instruments? Also, their Spotify page is either a photo of a random bunch of people or they have 7 members, which I don't believe one bit.
But in all seriousness, this is a surprisingly entertaining pop-rock record with some catchy tunes, albeit somewhat lacking instrumentation and production (but it's early 2000s pop-rock, what else could I have ever expected?). Kudos, Maroon 5, you have something of merit still.
3.03
Fav: Harder to Breathe, Sunday Morning
Least: This Love (I remember this from back in the day and it is annoying as crap, but mostly due to its worn out overplayed state)
49Silversun Pickups
Carnavas

CHILDHOOD 9/10
And so the success of Silversun Pickups continues to escape me. A few decent melodies sometimes, but all-in-all a mediocre alt-rock album there has been plenty of. I suppose, the nostalgic childhood aspect is what draw a lot of people to it (god knows I listened to a lot of worse crap in my youth), but for me right now, this is quite tedious and forgettable with production to rival SunnO))) and not in a good way.
2.24
Fav: Well Thought Out Twinkles, Lazy Eye
Least: Little Lover's So Polite
50Silverchair
Frogstomp

CHILDHOOD 10/10
51Hobo Johnson
The Rise of Hobo Johnson

UNDERRATED 1/10
At first it seemed as though I would actually be able to stomach his voice, especially as it was frequently mixed with some actually decent instrumentals. But eventually his delivery and that nasally voice just became grading as hell. Ugh.
2.12
Fav: Romeo and Juliet (if I had to pick one)
Least: 3%
52GHOSTEMANE
Hexada

UNDERRATED 2/10
A man still not out of his puberty emo phase gets thrown out of his Falling in Reverse tribute band for overamplifying the synths he was supposed to manage, leaves his Walmart night job, moves back in with his mum, starts a rap career.
1.21
Fav: Mercury: Retrograde (also found the oddly well fitting Disney cartoon they used as a music video)
Least: D(R)Own
53Childish Gambino
Because the Internet

UNDERRATED 3/10
Oh boy, this album does go on for way longer than it needed to. Too many of the cuts just feel absolutely redundant and unnecessary, even if the instrumentation is intriguing almost always, but Gambino doesn't seem to be certain of where to go with the music, cause the flow here is just off (even in one song's length), going from quietness to near-dubstep headache. I also can't shake off the feeling that this album is a little too serious for its own good, especially with lyrics like: "We were so Jay Z and Beyonce, my aunt say "keep the sex game picante"" Good god.
3.16
Fav: Crawl, Earth: The Oldest Computer (The Last Night)
Least: Telegraph Ave. ("Oakland" by Lloyd)
54The Obsessives
The Obsessives

UNDERRATED 4/10
I wasn't especially blow away by their first album, but it had its charms and upsides. This, however, takes an odd and unexpected turn to a more summery, surfery jangle pop-punk. Not that that is necessarily a bad thing, it just is a sudden turn of priorities. I'm not all that impressed, mostly due to the lacking song-writing and often off-putting instrumentation and vocals, but that amateur-ish, boyish charm is still there.
3.22
Fav: Surfer Rosa, It's Not Fair
Least: Violent
55Radiator Hospital
Play The Songs You Like

UNDERRATED 5/10
56narra
narra

UNDERRATED 6/10
57Conor Oberst
Outer South

UNDERRATED 7/10
58Silverchair
Frogstomp

UNDERRATED 8/10
59Silverchair
Frogstomp

UNDERRATED 9/10
60Silverchair
Frogstomp

UNDERRATED 10/10
61Dryjacket
For Posterity

BITTERSWEET 1/10
Yeah, when I asked for bittersweet music, I basically sentenced myself to a dosage of emo, didn't I? This is not exactly what I had hoped for, but still a fairly decent, entertaining release that more or less sounds uplifting, but every instrument, vocal performance and hook is executed in such a way that it just feels a notch below the typical excitement level. It feels like joy of a tired man.
3.64
Fav: Spelling Era, Bill Gates' Ringtone
Least: Wicker Couch
62Oso Oso
The Yunahon Mixtape

BITTERSWEET 2/10
If there is anything positive I can say about this with certainty, it is that the album does make me feel kind of warm and comfortable with that summery vibe (also the only way I'll ever accept to feel summer or the only way I'll ever find summer pleasant). It's a little needlessly nasally and all-in-all barely a revelation, but still hardly an unpleasant time.
3.21
Fav: Great Big Beaches, The Secret Spot
Least: Get There (When You're There)
63Rachel (USA-NJ)
Moon

BITTERSWEET 3/10
More bitter than sweet, really. I really liked the intricate guitarwork that tangled and waved and was all around slightly trippy. I suppose, when it comes to song-writing and production, there is a lot to be desired. Rarely a tune stuck in my head here and the subdued occasionally grungy tones also brought it down, but the echoic bass on the background was juicy during the quieter moments (especially on CT). A lot to appreciate, a lot to improve. It's more-or-less a mixed bag, but a pleasant one still.
3.33
Fav: CT, Gas Giants
Least: Party...!
64Heyrocco
Teenage Movie Soundtrack

BITTERSWEET 4/10
This is certainly bittersweet, but still from a rather standard emo-ish pop-punk perspective. I feel a bit underwhelmed by some of the songs, as they seem rather like a bunch of misguided youngster shouts into nothing. But the music almost always pulled the mood up a little. It was refreshing to hear that even though it may not be perfect thematically or lyrically, the disjointed and often hard-hitting musical composition fitted that atmosphere of confused youthfulness well.
3.67
Fav: Alison, Happy
Least: Loser Denial
65Adjy
Grammatology

BITTERSWEET 5/10
66WU LYF
Go Tell Fire to the Mountain

BITTERSWEET 6/10
This album requires some time to sink in. At first you're greeted to whiny atmosphere, grating and sometimes even irritating vocals and almost shoegaze-y production, which is enough to make some people's blood boil (mine included). But as I finished listening, initially dismissing the experiance as mediocre at best, I started questioning why is it mediocre. Normally, I'd dismiss it as borderline vomit-inducing, but not now. So I revisited and much to my surprise I heard all the same things that annoyed me at first as still difficult to swallow, but much more tasteful. I didn't force myself through the album, but rather dedicated myself to finding highlights. And with more listens (and I first listened to it about a week ago) I started really digging it. And now we're here:
4.11
Fav: Cave Song, Such a Sad Puppy Dog
(the vocals are still an issue)
Least: We Bros
67Arbes
Psalms

BITTERSWEET 7/10
By all means, I should not be into this. It is the same vapid dream pop shoegazy summer-jerky I hated every other time I heard something similar, but Arbes have some distantly math-y approach to it that makes it just a little more bearable. It feels not just summery, but like if I smoked pot all throughout summer.
3.47
Fav: Sintra, Psalms
Least: No Home To Know
68Girlfriends
Girlfriends

BITTERSWEET 8/10
69I'm Glad It's You
The Things I Never Say

BITTERSWEET 9/10
70Wild Sweet Orange
We Have Cause To Be Uneasy

BITTERSWEET 10/10
71Why Not
Spring Cleaning

2018 1/10
This album has all the aesthetic and appeal of an utmost by-the-numbers, but it always manages to bust out some goodness in each song, from a catchy hook to really quirky and fun instrumentation. It doesn't necessarily redefine the genre of pop-punk or reinvigorate my interest for it, but for what it is, it is as enjoyable as a thing like this can get, even if I personally would have sacrificed some of the more mellow and instrumentation-lacking tracks on here (the title track and that 'To Do List' interlude).
3.60
Fav: Water, Trapped
Least: Spring Cleaning
72Melody's Echo Chamber
Bon Voyage

2018 2/10
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHEAVEN!
4.40
Fav: Cross My Heart, Visions of Someone Special
Least: Var Har Du Vart
73Gulfer
Dog Bless

2018 3/10
From the very moment that awful crackling near-growling shriek of the vocalist broke through the static guitar-work, I knew it was going to be a bumpy ride. The album, however, has a myriad of redeeming moments and then falls flat on its own face with other. Some instrumentation (tangly guitars and clattering drums especially) and song-writing can of course overwhelm and enamour, but for the most part there is just something ever so short of great here. Maybe the production is too soft, maybe the tunes weren't memorable enough, maybe the vocals were irritating. It's just too much inconsistency.
2.59
Fav: Babyshoe, Judy Froster
Least: Be Father
74Animal Flag
Void Ripper

2018 4/10
Well, shit. This has been a fuckton of goodness. And even though the second half is just ever so slightly more tapid, this album still quite certainly enthralled me. Its atmospheric noisiness, its raw and in-you-face harder moments and its more soulful quieter moments, its catchy song-writing. It's all just so yummy. So fuck it, have yourself a...
...4.39
Fav: Candace, Stray
Least: Five
75stippling
Perfect Life

2018 5/10
Yes, this is the kind of punkisms in emo I appreciate. A swift, rapidfire, bludgeoning experience. This album feels as though it is a tad too flimsy, but hides its vulnerability behind a mask of lo-fi rawness and tangling instrumentation. And heck, I can't say it doesn't warm my heart to hear that kind of music still being made.
3.85
Fav: Sunshine Kids, 2am
Least: The Journal
76War On Women
Capture The Flag

2018 6/10
These girls will have a hard time finding husbands. Nice music, though.
3.30
Fav: Lone Wolves, Childbirth
Least: Divisive Shit
77Hot Mulligan
Pilot

2018 7/10
Well, if this isn't just a Conmaniac album. It's one of those simultaneously emotionally down and ironic projects that uses track titles like "*whispers* Thank You" in all seriousness or titles that are too long to remember and overuse personal names, cause the irony is actually just the attitude component or something. But other than the obnoxious 'misguided youth' aesthetic, the musical side of the record is actually decent. I sense a slight McCafferty (which is always welcome), but much more on the verge of crying.
3.66
Fav: I Hate the Gooey Disk, Wes Dault Can't Find the Madison Falcon
Least: Scream Mountain
78Anna von Hausswolff
Dead Magic

2018 8/10
I've heard this a few times a while back and have made up my mind about it, but it was rather difficult penning it down. This album certainly has a lot of overwhelming spookiness and beauty to it, but it also tired me a lot. The songs just drag on and only really worked whenever I left them play on the background and started doing something else (the album can make anything creepy). And I think I'll leave it at that.
3.49
Fav: The Mysterious Vanishing of Electra (this song is just incredible, way better than the rest of the album)
Least: Ugly and Vengeful
79Persh
persh

2018 9/10
This really feels like math rock in a way. Then again, I don't know a lot about math rock... or slowcore, which this apparently is. Anyway, the song-writing could use an improvement, because the tunes were quite forgettable, but the harsh, brassy atmosphere is what I liked the best in the end. Even if it is rather shapeless, the heavy distortion still was the most memorable aspect of the EP.
3.20
Fav: dead grass, panel house
Least: plasticine
80Silverchair
Frogstomp

2018 10/10
81Foo Fighters
Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace

SOMEONE ELSE 1/10
82Boston
Boston

SOMEONE ELSE 2/10
OH FUCK, THIS BAND?
4.33
Fav: More Than a FEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING, Something About You
Least: Foreplay/Long Time
832Pac
Until the End of Time

SOMEONE ELSE 3/10
So this is what the famed rapper, the inspration for generations and the grandpapa of Drifter's taste sounds like on a full record. Well, I finally dug my ears into it and... boy, I... don't... care...? well, that's a let down. I could've sworn that I was ready to have my mind blown, but I ended up hearing just an decent rap album. What do I do with my life now?
3.11
Fav: Good Life, All Out
Least: Fuckin Wit The Wrong Nigga
84Caribou
Swim

SOMEONE ELSE 4/10
Ever since that song butcherboy recommended me the other day, I was intrigued by this project. And now hearing the whole album, I am not disappointed in any way. In fact, I am more than pleased. I feared it'd overstay its welcome or be boring, but the atmosphere is just oh so lush, cozy and body-moving. You feel an immense wave of comfort reaching over you. Uuuuuuggggghhhhhh.
4.50
Fav: like everything
Least: okay fine, maybe Lalibela
85mewithoutYou
Ten Stories

SOMEONE ELSE 5/10
I am so late to the mewithoutYou craze, which is probably the reason it misses me a little. I do recognise this album to be quite damn fantastic, but barely something I'd download to my phone and listen to just like that. Still, some of the songs are just damn bangers, they are energetic and emotional and oh so catchy. Certainly a masterfully crafted record, even if its aesthetic is to sound as genuine spur-of-the-moment emotional flow.
4.21
Fav: Grist for the Malady Mill, Fiji Mermaid
Least: Bear's Vision of St. Agnes
86The Bamboos
Night Time People

SOMEONE ELSE 6/10
Description in my monthly July roundup.
3.88
Fav: Stranded, Salvage Rites
Least: Pony Up
87Head East
Flat as a Pancake

SOMEONE ELSE 7/10
88Silverchair
Frogstomp

SOMEONE ELSE 8/10
89Silverchair
Frogstomp

SOMEONE ELSE 9/10
90Silverchair
Frogstomp

SOMEONE ELSE 10/10
91Mare
Mare

DARK AND CRUSHING 1/10
92Lowercase
Kill The Lights

DARK AND CRUSHING 2/10
Certainly an album that accomplishes what this category asks for, being dark and crushing. However, its fault is that it often comes off a little tedious. The band was trying to be dark and crushing so much that they often trade song-writing for atmosphere, which is indeed dense and hopeless. It just sometimes seems middle-of-the-road. Still, when the band explodes into pure emotional humbug and the singer's voice starts cracking up, it's earls post-hardcore gold.
3.52
Fav: Slightly Dazed, Severance Denied
Least: Neurasthenia
93Cult Of Luna
Salvation

DARK AND CRUSHING 3/10
94Old Man Gloom
Seminar III: Zozobra

DARK AND CRUSHING 4/10
95The Pax Cecilia
Blessed Are The Bonds

DARK AND CRUSHING 5/10
Quite a mesmerising experience, albeit longer than needed. I thoroughly enjoyed the atmosphere of it and many of the instrumental passages were also incredibly intriguing (especially the occasional Danny Elfman-isms). But yeah, this album is excruciatingly long. I have not finished it in one sitting all throughout yet, only in repeated sessions. It is definitely great, but just oh so bloated.
3.41
Fav: the Tragedy, the Progress
Least: the Water Song
96ostraca
last

DARK AND CRUSHING 6/10
Well, fucking hecky fuck. This sounds like that old-school post-hardcore emo from cassettes from the 90s. It is raw, abrasive and emotionally unhinged. And most importantly, it slams brutally. Such a goddamn travesty, in the best way possible, of course.
4.54
Fav: Waiting for the Crash, Childlike
Least: Nausea
97nouns
Still

DARK AND CRUSHING 7/10
Not so much dark and crushing, as it is disjointed and emo-ish. Can't say that I thoroughly enjoyed it, but it does have a mark of charm to its dissonant atmosphere and production, even if at times it sounds like a live performance. When it hits hard, it hits home, but when it goes quiet, it just bores. Approptiate, really; a disjointed record receives a disjointed reception.
3.31
Fav: Fox Wound, Little Slugger
Least: I Still Want to Make You Proud
98The Newfound Interest in Connecticut
Tell Me About the Long Dark Path Home

DARK AND CRUSHING 8/10
99Jeromes Dream
Seeing Means More Than Safety

DARK AND CRUSHING 9/10
100Silverchair
Frogstomp

DARK AND CRUSHING 10/10
101Baths
Cerulean

PERSONALLY PICKED ALBUM FROM CON's 5s
I am rarely into electronic music, so excuse my misunderstanding of this. I found very little enjoyment here. It certainly has that Jon Hopkins-like charm and memorable glitchy production, but in the long-run, I felt a variety of feelings from lukewarm to intrigued to bored. I certainly have a lot to learn about electronica, but I am afraid that any enjoyment of it on a large scale is long gone for me.
2.94
Favs: Hall, Indoorsy
Least: Rain Smell
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