Average Rating: 3.50 Rating Variance: 0.75 Objectivity Score: 79% (Well Balanced)
Sort by: Rating | Release Date | Rating Date | Name5.0 classicAfter Dinner Paradise of Replicagorgeous and sneakily noisy, a deep warm well packed with toy instruments that get strummed once each on the album. a distant satellite of avant-progressive music with a playful nature but with all the spikes shorn off - just half an hour of genuinely beautiful nestbedding music, acoustically-lead with lots of comforting strings and woodwind. Haco's weirdly unknown on a lot of music sites and maybe this is the coolest thing she's on?Aloa Aloauwu through the roof 100! try the raspberry icecream track, no wonder prog died! no wonder prog died! no wonder prog died! no wonder prog died! edit: this is a terrible sound-off, what I meant to say was that Aloa make very creative synth, uncommonly harmonic without being film score crapArt Bears The World As It Is Todayutterly scathing commentary on the nature of the modern world set to wonderfully floaty arrangements, incidental music performed mostly on acoustic instruments with a free, atonal bite to them. Dagmar's voice is astounding and while her delivery might initially be off-putting it's hard to imagine the lyrics working properly if they were pronounced any less sternly. Frith and Cutler are superb accompanists but we all already knew thatArt Bears Winter Songsi think it's beautiful that these very well-trained musicians can construct brilliant rock miniatures from spite and incidental music techniques alone. that's all you need baby. the compositions are dramatic and urgent and Chris Cutler's one of the best Fuck You drummers of all time. plus the whole time you feel like you're being skewered by the lyrics, especially as delivered by Dagmar's uniquely piercing voice. Six out of fiveArt Bears Hopes and Fearsbleak as hekk but so original they've tempted you out of the act. In Two Minds is this band's one attempt at a rock epic and they still make you navigate entire minutes of augmented chords before you receive any form of release. i respect thatBoris Amplifier Worshipsludge you can walk on, that doesn't bury you but carries you forwards. no glacial movement, no choruses, all perfectly judged and perfectly paced. huge, like the song says. this is a book that's also a five course meal and it stays in your memory foreverEinsturzende Neubauten Silence is Sexyi swear i'm gonna review this thing someday. its probably the EN disc with the most english on it too, perfect for a monolinguo philistine like yours trulyEinsturzende Neubauten Halber Menschon Zeichnungen they master mood... on Halfy Menschy they learn how to hook you in. still madcap but bolstered with focused beats, they're more or less deploying the same instruments and allowing their natural eclecticism to distil them this time into more substantial songs. you can hear exactly what grew Silence is Sexy in the bones of this album, which I think's the best of their 80s workFela Kuti Alagbon Closegreat place to get on board with Fela and his band, famed for their super-tight mesh-work of muted guitar, reaching bass and inspired drumming which rocks without at all resembling rock drumming. political, energetic and important, Alagbon Close's grooves seem to elevate the listener to a higher state of awareness, not in a narcotic way so much as a paramilitarizing one. the release I bought comes packaged with "Why Black Man Dey Suffer", an earlier LP where Ginger Baker collaboratesFront 242 Front By Fronti can't hold back the max score any more. the felines need to be fedHenry Cow In Praise of Learningfor a 37 minute album there's a staggering amount of serious writing here. Living in the Heart of the Beast is an extended piece that barely repeats a phrase until its call-to-action coda, preferring to spiral into mockery and tension adding up to one long chromatic nightmare. elsewhere Beautiful as the Moon / Terrible as an Army with Banners is as sweet as can be. and the words? the words are undeniableHerbie Hancock Head Hunters*beatboxes the turn-around from chameleon* DAAA-NAAA tak taka dobom do KLAK DAAA-NAAA tak takatabokatadukatadom KLAK DAN-DAAA DAN-DAAA wana DANAWAMAAW MAAAAW dub dubudumKayo Dot Dowsing Anemone With Copper Tonguefloaty and thoughtful, anemone rarely constrains itself to any type of rigid song structure 'cos there's endless beauty to be doodled in the margins. the tunes are cleverly arranged and you'll breathe in harmony with them through every well-earned interval, intense despite their looseness. one of those rare albums that never wears off me, no matter how familiar or recently playedKing Crimson Redalways impressive how these guitar skronkers with their dangerously overdriven bass tone have such a melodic sweet spot; they're restrained here compared to Larks and a kinda paranoid melancholy atmosphere pervades everything. not much singing but that means you have to sing along more urgently when the time comesKing Crimson Larks' Tongues in Aspicking crimson when they weren't afraid to be unapproachable or idiosyncratic. the music boils and spills over, one instrument sprawls into the space of the next and everything gets primal dead quick. they can jam, they can write beautiful little ballads and they can create landscapes which almost deprive you of a place to stand. Larks part one is possibly their best workMagma Mekanïk Destruktïẁ KommandöhMagma KöhntarköszMagma Rétrospective Vol. 1 & 2Two fantastic progressive rock epics back to back! the live sound quality is fine, it sounds like a long form alien hymnal symphony etc, the P-Funk of prawg... MDK has been previously recorded as a studio album but I think the band line-up here is different enough that each version is its own experienceMare Marekiller little post-metal/sludge/prog cd, jams like mad, every song provides contrast to the last but suits the whole. just a miniature slice o' genius that never got reprisedMelvins Bullheadget speechless as the combined vision of Crover and Buzzo unfurls its language-bending wiry riff glaciers all over the room. their best album. doom's best album.Melvins EggnogMr. Bungle Disco Volantea comprehensive multi-vitamin of music, always threatening, always seedy; the soundtrack for reading the writing on the toilet walls, in a good wayMr. Bungle CaliforniaParliament Funkentelechy Vs. the Placebo SyndromePublic Image Ltd. Flowers Of RomanceSolange A Seat at the TableFUBU's progression is A++. love the amount of song titles that start with "Don't", it's a good message in 2016This Heat Deceitno album better decries our ceaselessly militarized lives than this one, Deceit, a tight and justifiably paranoid web of post-punk tension, laden with variously wry and grave observations about how we've been conscripted from birth. The best album I've ever heard.This Heat Health and EfficiencyThis Heat This HeatZan-zan-zawa-veia fran tall ear4.5 superb23 Skidoo The Gospel Comes to New GuineaArt Zoyd HaxanArt Zoyd Le mariage du ciel et de l'enferAt the Drive-In VayaBjork SelmasongsBlack Flag DamagedBlacklight Braille Electric Canticles of the Blacklight BrailleCabaret Voltaire The Voice of AmericaCabaret Voltaire Three Mantrasmy fave thing about this album/ep/thing is that people here, discogs and RYM interchangeably call both of the tunes "Eastern Mantra" or "Western Mantra" so working out which side they are actually complaining about is coinflip cityCabaret Voltaire The CrackdownCabaret Voltaire Drinking GasolineCamberwell Now The Ghost TradeCan Tago MagoCandlemass NightfallDeath Grips ExmilitaryDeutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft Alles Ist GutDevo Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!Einsturzende Neubauten Alles Wieder OffenEinsturzende Neubauten Zeichnungen des Patienten O.T.outdo most serious musicians with this one simple trick! wear leather trousers and decant a boxful of spanners! composers hate them!Einsturzende Neubauten Kollapsthe sounds of deep frustration and cabin fever unleashed on a scrapyard of possible instruments. side A is anger put to record, while B is reserved for exhaustion. their most chaotic and noisy work yet not totally without structure - you can see the industri-pop arrangement of later EN albums shining through on side B. if I ever come to understand more of the German language you might well see me bump this to a perfect scoreExpo (JPN) Expo's Great International Strategycorporate video package makers turning their nose up at the early high watermark of idiotic chiptuneFela Kuti Coffin for Head of StateFifth Column To Sir With Hateinventive writing, good energy, "modern diseases" is unbelievable, essentialFront 242 Politics of Pressurefave period of F242. Don't Crash is genius, once in a lifetime tune, which promises brilliance they don't really return to (but that's me being a post-punk nerd more than a rivetnerd and not a real criticism)Front 242 No Commentfucking iconic. first four tunes on this are imho flawless. hard hitting yet atmospheric, mega mega-future god band confidently hitting post on very long-form music and then making the repetition into blissGenesis Foxtrotprog genius. best thing about Genesis is their skill with quiet passages; most bands in this vein try to keep it solid but these guys'll break a song down to almost nothing if it helps. Phil Collins can drum like crazy but he's silent for about half this album because composers understand dynamics 'n stuff. Get 'em Out by Friday I think is the overall best Genesis tuneIKARUS (SWI) Plasmavery light but very deep jazzy zeuhl-prog. it's all in the textures and the crescendos; Ikarus have no time for heroic rock composition, absorbed as they are in gorgeous semi-improv gamesJohn Greaves, Peter Blegvad and Lisa Herman Kew. Rhone.this pisses me off so much and I don't like it at all, it's too coy, giggle, and the music is fucking incredibleJoy Division Unknown PleasuresKayo Dot Moss Grew on the Swords and Plowshares AlikeKilling Joke Killing Jokebefore they were ultra-heavy they were adorable and gothy punky and they had some serious tunes, played without feeling busy. definitely feels like a response to those first two Banshees albums, but so much stuff from this period does that it can't really be a criticism. plus it's just hooks all the way through and Killing Joke's DIY minimal approach stays with me more than the next three albums where they practise being heavy and maximal Killing Joke Night TimeKing Crimson The ConstruKction of LightKing Crimson THRAKKing Crimson Starless and Bible BlackLiaisons Dangereuses Liaisons Dangereusesevery electronic subgenre specialist claims Los Ninos del Parque as a valid starting point for their thing and maybe they're rightMagma Šlaǧ TanƶMagma 1001° Centigradesgorgeous avant jazz with a seriously pissed off gnomeManic Street Preachers The Holy Biblequasi-perfect album lightly tanked by the brutality of "Yes"'s lyrics... I never know what the manics' angle on sex work, sex positivity etc. is cos on things like So Dead and this they sound 50% supportive, 50% hammer of the fucking witches. like if Diane Abbot was a rock bandManic Street Preachers Know Your Enemythis isn't a forgotten gems situation. it's the scrapbook of a lifetime. forget richie's final binder, this is where the good stuff lies, be it too REM-ish, too underbaked after Tell Me Yours's 64 channel symphony, nothing they had done before this point really prepares you for Wattsville Blues, their catchiest song. if only it had been the fulcrum for what happened next. the alternate reality history of the Manic Street PreachersMansun SixMelvins OzmaMike Oldfield Tubular BellsNapalm Death Throes of Joy in the Jaws of Defeatismtheir genius just keeps building. goth rock deathgrind, absolutely contemporary in its anger. it's stupid that the best metal band of all time is a punk band but it also makes perfect sense and it's what you deserveNick Cave and The Bad Seeds From Her To EternityParliament Mothership ConnectionPortion Control Go-TalkRadiohead Kid ARadiohead AmnesiacRadiohead Hail to the ThiefRobert Wyatt Rock BottomSevered Heads Dead Eyes OpenedSevered Heads Bad Mood GuySilverfish Fuckin' Drivin' or What... E.P.big bad baby pig squeaaaaaaaaaal. kinda one of the top noise rock tunes, weirdly forgottenSiouxsie and the Banshees Jujuim listening to this at xmas, trick or treat baby Skinny Puppy Bitessome of the best gibbering, wailing and gnashing I've ever heard on record. really fascinating how sparse the beats are and how thickly this is wallpapered in unsettling samples. "The Choke" is killer, a ten star trackSlint SpiderlandSuper Furry Animals Out Spacedevolution stops right here with me, my descendents will be fiiiiiiishhhhhhhSuper Furry Animals GuerillaSuper Furry Animals Rings Around the WorldThe Mars Volta De-Loused in the ComatoriumThe Sisters of Mercy FloodlandThe Young Gods L'eau RougeTommi Stumpff Zu Spät Ihr Scheißer. Hier Ist: Tommi StumpffTuxedomoon Desirestrangely orchestral, culturally-knowing post-punk wanderings sitting just slightly askew in teh gap between postcards of holiday destinations and how they actually are - an album that giggles at modern culture and makes me giggle along with it. perfectly strangeTuxedomoon Holy Warstuxedomoon are just so fucking good, just unhoning all my fave types of music and sticking the corners back on the sphere and being gorgeously weird and unstoppableUnwound Leaves Turn Inside YouVan der Graaf Generator Pawn HeartsYellow Magic Orchestra Technodelicignore my previous soundoff this is incredible Yes Close to the Edge4.0 excellentA Tribe Called Quest We got it from Here… Thank You 4 Your serviceAppliances Paranoia Rapholy shit this is actually from 1981? it even has a classic "and ya don't stop" and the funk stomp is unbelievableAt the Drive-In Relationship of CommandAu Pairs Playing With A Different Sexaddictive, snaky bass serves as a platform for some perfectly true lyrics about exhausted women carry "Playing With a Different Sex". each tune drills its message home through post-punk-ish repetition and confident singing - don't expect great composition or variation, there's more important treasureBattles MirroredBattles Juice B CryptsBjork PostBjork VoltaBuzzov-en SoreCabaret Voltaire Red MeccaCabaret Voltaire Extended Playone of the most forthwrite 'n crucial instructions in music: make as much shit as you can before you fall prey to knowing what you're doingCabaret Voltaire Mix-UpCabaret Voltaire Eight Crepuscule TracksCabaret Voltaire 2x45Camberwell Now MeridianCandlemass Epicus Doomicus MetallicusChat Pile God's CountryCirith Ungol King of the DeadCirith Ungol Witch's GameCity of Caterpillar Mystic SistersClick Click Wet Skin and Curious EyeCloud Rat ThresholdCollectif Incertain Analyze Non Standardhahaha I massacred the album cover upload. do I look like I know what a jpeg is? do I look like I know what a jpeg is? do I look like I know what a jpeg is? do I look like I know what a jpeg is? CTI Elemental 7Dalis Car The Waking Hourdelightfully strange! you could call this synth pop if you ignored its whimsy and refusal to be locked into the simple rules of songwriting. wanders through some rarely heard melodies, performed on some playfully inspired synthesizer patches. peter murphy sings with personality as ever. it's amazing how many of these tunes feel like they've slid slightly out of time and it's all down to great arrangementDavid Bowie BlackstarDeliluh Fault Linesowns. amulet owns. lots of different approaches to these downer punk goth genres from minimal synth to big discordant post-punk things, all of it ownsDesert Corbusier Walked Up and Down the Stairs, Searched the Buildiinsanely cool and ignored bit of mood goth, bass high up the nekk, nonpropulsive machine beats, chords used for scene setting, seemingly informed by poetic camp and by industrial. just really fucking good & only 12 minutes long. full title is "Walked Up and Down the Stairs, Searched the Building All Over" but sput had its fillDevo Mechanical Manfrom back when they liked music. i say this with love lolDon Bolo BAHAMUTthis is really fucking cool. charismatic weirdo music that's not entirely out on the peripheries, very hooky and sweetDun (FRA1) ErosEinsturzende Neubauten Kalte Sternespecial shout-out to the closing track "Schwarz" which sounds like Blixa adlibbing over the dungeon music from Daggerfall. elder scrolls never dieFad Gadget Incontinenta set of vicious and cynical lyrics enhances the dark, mocking atmosphere of Incontinent. all songs are uncommonly well-arranged and if they are a little long, any repetitious feeling is sidestepped by the large and assorted arsenal of instruments their accompaniments bring to bear. underneath all the trappings, this is essentially good pop-rockFrantic Bleep The Sense ApparatusFront 242 Endless RiddanceGanzheit HammerGenesis Nursery CrymeGentle Giant Acquiring the TasteGentle Giant Free HandGentle Giant Three FriendsGentle Giant The Power and the GloryGeorge Clinton Computer Gamesits so hairy and ridiculous. clinton's already a hype man for his ridiculously talented band at this point but the songs are just fucking drunk and brilliant. apart from track 3 which is absolutely torture hahahahahahahahahsabh bnd c xmkscGhost Funk Orchestra A New Kind Of LoveGlenn Branca The AscensionGodflesh Streetcleanerthe core of my maladjusted being adapted to drum machineGodspeed You! Black Emperor F♯ A♯ ∞Gospel The LoserGramme Pre ReleaseGrauzone EisbaerHenry Cow Western CultureHonningbarna AnimorphsIDLES Joy as an Act of ResistanceIn Excelsis Ladder of Lustfurious gothic whirring with nary a backbeat to be found, just WADATDATDATDATDATDATDATDATDAT with a guy howling, guitars going where they like, super deconstructed, more disintegrated than any stupid album called disintegrationIron Maiden PowerslaveJamiroquai Emergency on Planet EarthJean-Michel Jarre RevolutionsJean-Michel Jarre ZoolookJean-Michel Jarre EquinoxeKayo Dot Plastic House on Base of SkyKeith LeBlanc Major MalfunctionKilling Joke What's THIS For...!most solid album with their early sound. side one has the good stuff, four stars for that alone, while the second side just idles along, with tunes running out of lyrics and refusing to change or end. that's fine, though, cos at their best the mood they summon up kinda renders variation unnecessary. i mean im a huge fan of Adorations off of Thousand Suns, and an Outside the Gate apologist from hell, but the first four tunes on What's THIS For are still essential to me, especially the tune "Butcher"Killing Joke Revelationsthey search for new chords on this one because they will never change their powerful repetitive formula so most of the songs feel suspended and weird, which is cool, but usually suspended-sounding music eventually resolves somewhere, whereas Revelations just chugs ahead and revels in the tension. side one in particular sounds strangely like Voivod at times for that reason, super murky, sloganeering and tritone obsessed. original bassist left the band after this one? or because of the critical reception to it? but it's the most experimental of the first three and I cherish it tbhKim Gordon No Home RecordKing Crimson DisciplineKlinik PlagueKraftwerk Radio-ActivityKraftwerk Computer WorldLaurie Anderson Big ScienceLeatherette (ITA) Fiestaon first impressions this is a messy n vibrant combination of hundreds of things I already love, with the added bonus of bearing the best album cover I have ever seenLifetones For a Reasonkiller weird dub for this heat and african head charge folks, you know who you areLindsay Cooper Ragsa mini-Henry Cow reunion takes place on this disc, Frith and Cutler among those accompanying Cooper's wonderful composition. i've always found the way that Cooper can use incredibly modern compositional tricks to evoke folk and everyday dystopia in the modern world and this is a fine example of that, being a tale concerning exploited textile workers, half demonstrative political song, half film score, all gorgeous and thoughtfulMagma Studio ZündMagma KobaïaManic Street Preachers Gold Against The Soulbumped to a four outta five. I love the style so much more than the debut, where songs had to be seriously good to rise out of the murk; here, the production is fine and its down to the songs to disappoint you. Yourself and the closer have gradually revealed themselves to me as killer tunes and La Tristessa Durera has always been one of their top best tunes. Life Becoming a Landslide and From Despair are a bit pub rockManic Street Preachers This Is My Truth Tell Me Yourseveryone was so devastated that they learned to write pop songs but almost every example here is incredibly well done. the lyrical attack has necessarily changed and the biblical fury simmered off but the manics are still excruciatingly disappointed in you and that owns. The Everlasting is actually very boring though lolMelvins HonkyMelvins Gluey Porch TreatmentsMeshuggah Destroy Erase ImproveMeshuggah ImmutableMinutemen The Punch LineMission of Burma Signals, Calls, and MarchesMX-80 Sound Crowd ControlMy Life with the Thrill Kill Kult Kooler Than JesusNapalm Death Apex Predator - Easy MeatNapalm Death Resentment is Always Seismic...Nightstick UltimatumSlow, sludgy stoner CD with its scant lyrics adding up to a strong criticism of the G. W. Bush years. Menacing enough to not slip entirely into Sabbath worship. Contains three versions of the same song, certainly, but that song has a magickally simple riff which is welcome to repeat as many times as it pleases. Gets freaky in places with squalling saxophone or sound collage to accompany the drone-wall. Vox are not strong but nor are they continually present. Seems pretty obscure for some reason, I hope a few people look these guys up!P-Model In a Model Roomhigh energy cutesy riffing n seasick organ in weird keys, punky n silly, have the first half of this album totally memorized and its fun to have in yr head. also cyclotron has 2'd this so you know it's essentialPetrol Girls BabyPortion Control I Staggered Mentallyprimitive, industrial, echoey n dalek-proclamative early electro. feels drum circle-esque, albeit performed on synths and accomps, where the beat is layered, and constant while melodies weave in and out like spontaneous chants. just as cool as cabaret voltaire and throbbing gristle, part of such an essential scene to me. (listed as EBM on some sites but EBM had a slow gestation process which this ain't part of - look at Alles ist Gut for how this could be stripped back into intentional dance music)Portion Control The Great DivideQueen Greatest HitsRadiohead OK ComputerRadiohead The King of LimbsRichard H. Kirk Time High Fictionblissed out, boomy n all dubbed up. more maxxed than Cabaret Voltaire but even less song-like. creative, diverse and wordlessly miserableRosa Anschutz Goldener StromSaccharine Trust PaganiconsSavage Republic Tragic Figuresgreat post-punk bass album with perfectly human vocals. the beats are enthusiastic with no robotic parts, layered with lotsa various African percussive tools. the riffs are tense and often avoid rock intervals which would release the tension. has a song called "Kill the Fascists!". very goodSevered Heads Come Visit The Big Bigotsynth-pop tunes positively cluttered with industrial thinking. everything's great, last three tunes seal the deal as an amazing album. not forthright and focused like Depeche Mode, rather more whimsical and messy like Edward Ka-Spel stuffSikTh The Trees Are Dead and Dried Out, Wait for Something WildSkinny Puppy VIVIsectVISkinny Puppy RemissionSocial Climbers Social ClimbersFirst four tunes are some of the best mutant-funk/post-punk tunes ever put to record. Quality tails off from there but the band never loses tension.Sonic Youth Daydream NationSquid Bright Green Fieldirony's back to being the only shit that's funnySuicidal Tendencies Suicidal TendenciesSuper Furry Animals Ice Hockey HairSuper Furry Animals RadiatorTalking Heads Remain in LightTest Dept. T.D.A.: The Faces of Freedom 1 2 & 3The Cure PornographyThe Dillinger Escape Plan DissociationThe Flying Lizards Fourth Walllots of sites list this as an avant-garde album, which may or may not be the case, but what it sounds like is electic rock, with 50s and 60s influences as well as the funk&dub tips typical of the era, except rendered fragile and floaty, flirting with the fairground atmosphere in places, and elsewhere perforated by loud interjections of seemingly inappropriate instrumentation. some of the shorter pieces are gorgeously ambient & a bit "Frippertronic". it's up to you to decide whether the Flying Lizard sound is refreshing or just too out-of-left field for you but Fourth Wall is very definitely worth a listen.The Residents Meet the ResidentsThe Specials Ghost Town / Why? / Friday Night, Saturday Morningone of the best singles of all time and yet it contributed to the band's demise. ghost town's a musically adventurous tune, deservedly famous, speaking volumes despite its vanishingly short set of lyrics. the b-sides have their own stories to tell and don't falter eitherThe Tear Garden Tired Eyes Slowly BurningThinking Plague In This LifeTiamat Wildhoneygonna tell future generations this is pink floyd "dark side of the moon"Trouble Trouble/Psalm 9Unknown Gender Exposéincredibly funky and incredibly sarcastic and slightly no-wave damaged and that's beautifulVan der Graaf Generator World RecordVan der Graaf Generator H to He, Who Am the Only OneVaura Vista of Deviant Anatomiesreal goth rock is coming back and happy boys are running scaredVirgin Prunes ...If I Die, I Diesexily, sneakily gothic. virgin prunes don't cling so hard to the fast punk rock formula; the rock's often pushed back behind fx, atmospherics, eclectic instrument choices and pointillist guitar scree. they can party but half of everything that transpires on If I Die is more mantra than songVR Sex Rough DimensionWall Of Voodoo Dark ContinentWha Ha Ha Shinutokiwa Betsubored genius supergroup slotting together experimental pop and jazz with jejune attempts at predicting the game soundtracks of the future. lots of humour and comfy momentsWipers Youth of AmericaYello Claro Que Siincredibly moody and peculiar for an album by a "pop" band, this! Claro que Si is one of Yello's earliest albums, released on the Residents' Ralph record label for a reason, it retains a touch of the alien - the whole album is saturated in peculiar (and, at the time, maybe revolutionary and astounding) synth noises, sculpted into one perfectly catchy tune after another. unlike Kraftwerk, Yello do not shed their sense of playful rhythm, nor their cultural attachment to nearby forms of music. much more of a world record than the dull Computerwelt from the same year!Yoo Doo Right A Murmur, Boundless to the East3.5 greatA Certain Ratio To Each...wonderful rhythm-obsessed mutant funk from a time when most were more taken by the motorik beat. gets sparse as heck at times - the beat is often accompanied only by resty funk bass and trumpet squawks, and occasionally by sussuration alone. that's a good thing, thoughA Guy Called Gerald Black Secret TechnologyA Guy Called Gerald Voodoo Ray"rhapsody in acid" is a bit smashed-up, like an atonal bolero with squirt bass. the other three tracks ownAdolescents AdolescentsADULT. Becoming UndoneAfrican Head Charge My Life in a Hole in the Groundpushes dub towards the avant-garde - this isn't necessarily all chilled-out and smoky, sharp saxes and phasers will push you out of your narcotic mood. interestingly they settle for sub-bass in the era of brutal, loud post-punk bass clunksAhab The Coral TombsAksak Maboul Figuresstrangely killer for a near 40 year reunion. playful avant-pop with not much skronking or pain, just the joy of music approached from a strange angleAlgebra Suicide The Secret Like Crazyomnibus of wry little punk poems, oh-so tempting to join in with her lazy-vicious judgments & too addictive not toAnna von Hausswolff Dead MagicArt Objects Bagpipe Musicat times garage-y, at times funky rock accompanying good observational poetry. for velvet underground fans? some of the tunes are dud but the lyrics never falter. Who Switches Off the Light should be considered a classic of post-punk but this CD seems to have been brushed aside. Passengers of Fortune is deservingly pretentious - you'll agree it couldn't have been done in a humble manner. a weird little gemAttrition Smiling, At The Hypogonder Clubi know what they think of meeeeeeee i shot john f kennedyyyyyyyyAttrition The Voice Of Godwith the accompaniment being so monomanic, Voice of God's back-and-forth vox justify this whole EP, strange and confident, EBM toad croaks to vampire opera register runs, nothing professional or refined about any of it (her vox are often leaden and out-of-tune but that rules.) accomps, drum machines and fairly inaudible samples can only cling smokily to the skirtingboards cos of the wailing sphere of force in the middle of the room. really compelling, don't know whyAyizan Dilijanssilky smooth 'n jazzy. extended songs with hints of afrobeat: those guitar shapes, the interplay between front man and backing singers. read 'em up and saw them categorized as Haitian street-festival music so call me a dabbler cos I have nothing much to compare this with save Fela. just want to say that I really like itBeyond Dawn Fryshreally pretty n gentle at times, lyrics often seem disconnected or deliberately oneliner-ish, maybe to keep you in a daze? Righteous Underground's beautiful in particular. love their earlier doom metal work tooBlack Country, New Road Ants From Up ThereBorghesia No Hope, No FearBourbonese Qualk Laughing Afternoonbass guitar bounce under indust.electronics, project who got in the same time as cabaret voltaire got out? sorta spare and longing, beautiful moments, surreal groovesBrian Eno and David Byrne My Life in the Bush of GhostsCassels A Gut Feelingnoice prose-punk like a less pub bloke Art Objects/Blue Aeroplanes. another uk document of administrative misery but i've lived it and the theme never gets boringCheer-Accident Here Comes the Sunsetwhat the heck is dream police ahahahah hahahhahahahahsjhdgjsdbjobkvshidojfjbvzyvuxygsdihn. killer record though, really seductive and Robert Wyatt-ish takes on complicated progressive musicClick Click Party HateCocteau Twins GarlandsCommando M. Pigg Commando M. Piggspiky and super-tight collection of post-punky new wave tunes with a great, dominating singer. includes the occasional adventurous time-sig but most of the songs are rooted in repetition so you'll groove along no problem. Tom Puss has an all-time simple bass muscle riffCrass Penis Envylyrical tour-de-force, not optimistic feminism but rather a litany of society's atrocities that show little sign of going away. most of the accompaniment doesn't impress, but Systematic Death is a 5/5 song and a punk classicCrime Cellar Night LustCybotron Enterjust rec'd this based on how good it was as electronic music based on the famous tune "Clear", rejam the album for old time's sake, half of it is new wave/post-punk. lol. even when I am trying not to rec based on the exact centre of my taste I still do :DDDDDDDDDDDD ps it still rulesDaisuck and Prostitute Shinu Made Odori Tsuzuketepeople seem to exaggerate the wildness of this release - the grooves stay focused, and the skronking over the top only awards D&P a little credibility as true, wild rock music, rather than pub rock, stadium rock, indie rock or what have you. perfectly listenable release with lots of enthusiastic playing and kraut-ish deviationsDeaf Club (USA-CA) Productive DisruptionDeath Grips Year of the SnitchDeftones White PonyDie Form FetishDie Krupps Volle Kraft Voraus!Einsturzende Neubauten Alles in Allemwithout a grasp of german this latest EN album just sounds gorgeous and wistful. past the lead single Ten Grand Goldie everything's placid and gently dramatic, musically speaking. 20 years on from Silence is Sexy and not much of the flair has been lostEskaton 4 Visionsone of them zeuhl albums, zeuhl being a genre term for a very specific brand of spiritual prog fusion with hypnotic bass and orchestral movements, which tries to hit all the highs that Magma reach without really being willing to indulge in all the crescendo work to get to those points. still, the album is great fun and accessible - just follow the bass if you get lost, it's spectacular!Executioner's Mask Winterlonggorgeous 'n goth as heck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! more echoey and produced than some contemporaries, definitely more full than the 80s breed, if you like that sorta thingExek Advertise Herecool vibed-out zost punk with lots of horns and matter o' fact voices. motorik funk sarcasm we loveExperiments With Ice Experiments With Iceelements of synth pop, mutant funk vie for dominance on this playful disc. relatively rare, hopefully you can buy this in mp3. band is british but the sillier arrangements smack of continental Zolo, if you really think that's a genre dudeFACS Negative Housesthe songs don't do anything but contain this really lovely post-punk dub feel, lots of bass and echoing and snareless beats. pretty sensualFactrix Scheintotlisten if you want to relive your memories of working in an abbatoire in a half-dreaming state. a psychedelic haze separates you from all the bleakness and squalling and depravity. drum machines. unmentionable lyrics. bizarre, possibly guitar-sourced noises that sound like automated slicing implements. but this record is not harsh on the ears, just on the psycheFaith No More King for a Day... Fool for a LifetimeFront 242 Geographyi respect fat german party boys more than the prev sound-off!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! this album is gnice, though, still lots of punk and experimentation on it; easily more lush and maximal than DAF and with tougher beats than The Cabs. some of the tunes don't actually do anything though; Geography strikes me mostly as an exhuberant industrial scrapbook with a couple of hitsFront 242 Tyranny (For You)really solid neurobashing. giggle. they sound a little less exciting here than on the previous album to me, still super confident in their style but experiencing slight narrowing. or like a "thank you for buying our previous album" feeling throughout? after this one they change style a little cos NIN and industrial rock are eclipsing this kinda stuff in popularityGang of Four Solid GoldGeorge Clinton You Shouldn't-Nuf Bit FishGGGOLDDD This Shame Should Not Be MineGnod Hexen ValleyHeartworms A Comforting NotionIn Sotto Voce In Sotto Vocecollects two EPs. first promises howling party EBM, much noisier and less piccolo than the bigger names, but we eventually settle into electro dirges with leather vox, that froggy glossolalic cyber punk feel. and they do it so well. don't expect chords changes this is strictly a procession directly forwardJapan Tin DrumJethro Tull Thick as a BrickKelli Ali Psychic CatKilling Joke Outside The Gatemessy synth rock magnum opus thing. Jaz's songwriting amps up like crazy but because the music now has stuff like credible transitions and variation it sounds fairly unlike Killing Joke. really inventive but with less power than usual - the mastering's bombastic on the synths and the guitars kinda fuck off (along with half the band members) and a lot of the lyrics are gigabrain stuff which can sometimes sound like pagan construction of a personal belief system and sometimes sound uh libertarian Klinik SabotageKyoto Kyoto Mirror Flexing Jawslightly jazzier end of uk post-punk, can feel indie-ish, Interpol-ish and noodl-y all in one song, in a totally different way to the way Squid can do thatLydia Lunch Queen of Siamreally good gothy-poetic undermining of songstress jazz, lydia's a legend. total mood record. without knowing anything about any of the other performers i can say they're all pretty snapped too, they have the most sarcastic lurch possibleMagma K.A. (Köhntarkösz Anteria) Magma Kãrtëhlbiggest concentration of "Dezoveloi"s so far!!!!!! too musical-minded to be boring but it's not really a statement album as far as I can tell, just some neat late 70s-ish zeuhl tunes that sound like the original soundtracker for "Last of the Summer Wine" discovered jazz-funkMalaria! Malaria!simple n hypnotic n punky. Verfurhung makes the best impression imoManual de Combate El Encierro Dentro del Encierrovery furious, seemingly semi-improv'd long form punk dirge, really killerMarijata This Is Marijatasuper loose afrobeat with a groovy rock element. lead singer shrieks like crazy, all the instruments are slightly out of tune with each other, everything's based on a two-chord jam (although the final track has significantly more arrangement), the brass lines are effective without being slick, plenty of solos and good drumming and just all around a really good timeMark Stewart And The Maffia Learning To Cope With CowardiceMedium Medium The Glitterhousetense and snappy post-punk funk from somewhere in England, as usual, Medium Medium have an ultra-solid rhythm section and a saxophonist who adds all manner of flourishes without pouring on too much cheeseMichael Jackson ThrillerMidnight Oil Place Without A Postcardessentially just rock with a Clash-y twist, but the songwriting is fairly nuts, guitarists approaching the tunes with a large amount of harmonic abandon! album starts slow but the last four tracks pay off wellMoonspell WolfheartMother Gong Robot Womanconceptual musickal story about a robotic maid who awakens to the unfairness of the world. Mother Gong is a continuation of the 70s band Gong with some Hawkwind guys added to the mix and they come up with a sort of Gong-lite sound with a little Funkadelia stirred into the cauldron. the lyrics are harsh and blunt but the music is a little too safe in places. weirdo curio you probably need to hear anywayNag Human Coward Coyotelots of feedback and slowly decaying guitarbeams to this punky affair, I like their style a whole lotNarbo Dacal Narbo Dacalway better than I originally gave it credit for. well written proggy sludge with places to go, not afraid to go gothPankow Throw Out RitePeter Hammill A Black Boxfogwalking is genius, hammill staying current as a musician and being insanely cool and slightly goth, rest of the album has nice momentsPIG Baptise Bless & Bleedtotal soft spot music for me. better than kmfdm themselves right now, the cooler deep voiced blasphemy guy. and he's an edgy lad of course but having "fuck me jesus" lyrics is always cool and always funnyPortion Control Hit The Pulseportion control tipping over from silly synth experiments into silly EBM. tis fun. tbh I feel like I am on ignore on this website or I am going mad and irritating everyone, think I will leave for a long while byeePortion Control Simulate SensualPrimitive Man ScornPsyche Insomnia Theatrefairly badass industrial synthpop with a lot of fad gadget influence, i think? combines the power of being fast and brash with the power of not really knowing how to resolve anything or finish the songs at all, entirely carried by exuberanceQueen Latifah Black ReignRip Rig and Panic Godbrilliant but bitty, lotsa raw potential and talent but a not-entirely tantalizing scrapbook of an albumRobert Fripp Let The Power Fallgorgeous, and yet imagine what this album could be with just a little dirt or atonal naughtinessSevered Heads City Slab HorrorShapeshifter (JPN) Dark RitualShellac 1000 Hurtshey man i wanna have a fight with you, and from the way that you behave it is clear to me that you'd like to have one [[[to-ooo]]] and that to-ooo is one of the cutest and unthreatening denouements ever and it makes me adore this album even after a bunch of fillerSinead O'Brien Time Bend and Break the BowerSkinny Puppy Cleanse Fold and ManipulateSlapp Happy and Henry Cow Desperate StraightsSoft Cell Non-Stop Erotic Cabaretover time i've become charmed by his voice. kinda the vox version of trans keyboard smashingSolange When I Get HomeSOUL GLO Diaspora ProblemsSpike Hellis Spike Hellisget spun round by ebm scaffoldwork n watch the tunes get built around you. loose and old-school, the ultra observant beatStern Meissen Reise zum Mittelpunkt des Menschenprog rock awash with synths of a thousand colours. the composition sounds like it took a lot of work, although some stretches suffer from overly regular changes and the search for something as babby's-first-prog as, you know, a cadence, amongst all the jazzy and disney-esque chord digressions. certainly doesn't fuckin sound like Camel, though, which is a giant plus - closer to the ELP-loving Italian school of prog but with a little more time for funky drum & bassy directions. impressiveStiu Nu Stiu New SunSuper Furry Animals Phantom PowerTackhead Tackhead Tape TimeThank Thoughtless Crueltys'nice. starting to be the year of fun abrasive annoying yorkshire punkers lolThe Cure FaithThe Flowerpot Men Jo's So MeanThe Garden Horseshit On Route 66The Mars Volta Frances the MuteThe Master Scratch Band Dégoutlow-res sampler electro is slowly returning to its rightful place as my fave genre everThe Prodigy What Evil LurksThe Raincoats Odyshapegets lumped into the post-punk dub-reggae axis but is far more reminiscent of folk and indie rock. really delicate and thoughtful and feminist - very easy to get lost in all the wanderlust because it's not a catchy record, but it IS greatly rewardingThe Sisters of Mercy First and Last and AlwaysThe Web of Lies Nude With Demonnoisy duo play downer tunes and get hung up on the murky stuff you can do with a guitar. "The Wasp" is a killer tune heyyyyyThe Young Gods The Young GodsTolerance Divini really adore this LP but, uh, nothing happens for the entire length. lots of synth squirts and radio-sourced sounds as rendered in boomy layers of echo floss. call it a precursor to ambient techno and to IDM if you like. album sounds like a series of bubbles bursting into a classic effects unit. has just enough of an industrial edge to bestow a questionable dark natureTom Tom Club Tom Tom Clubdanceable and smart electro-funk from half of teh Talking Heads. it's a style that, while light, is experimental and eccentric enough to not get dull, but which doesn't exactly tip over into the shambolic brilliance of Parliament/Funkadelic. they tend to stick to one groove and rely mostly on vocals and layering to create variationTrouble Funk Super Grittitle track is mesmerizing, xtra-fun, xtra-parliamentary go-go funk with a wonderful sense of humourUK Decay For Madmen Onlya good chunk of gothic bedrock here, with waily, proclaimative vocals and guitar tones you thought you'd only ever hear on Big Black records. not every song is actually good but the songs swagger and all the accompanists get their moment in the black sunVoivod Synchro Anarchywell-made and extensive tunes, lacking in a sense of relief or build. don't wanna punish a band for reusing their own iconic style but Voivod sound best here when they're not being as atonal as usual. still fairly brilliantWarning (GER) WarningWas (Not Was) Was (Not Was)Webcore The Captain's Tablestrangely rapturous, strangely sensual, strangely indefinable! v strong music from non partisane genre origin. saxwave??????????????????????World Domination Enterprises Let's Play Dominationsearching for this album title is about equally likely to find you abrasive post-punk or a german guy playing an old strategy game in dosbox3.0 goodAnna Orchid Orchidsconstantly-peaking zoomerdustrial with its toes in a million squillion annoying genresArt Fleury The Last Albuminconsistent but all the more fascinating for it. Art Fleury are talented and expressive, pairing *that* gorgeous new wavoid bass tone with all manners of washes and atmospheres. Just makes me wish I knew Italian, I'm very sure there's more layers of treasure in all the gibbering... too bad that the long songs Lilith and Berlin Charlottenburg release the tension by being unhelpfully conventionalBauhaus Crackle: Best of Bauhausi mean i still adore Bela Lugosi's Dead and a few other tracks, the opener and Silent Hedges especially, but a lot of Bauhaus' old tunes reveal themselves to be pretty flimsy and lazy on repeat listens. very cool thoughBig Boys Where's My Towel/Industry Standardinteresting punk act with some slow, grooving tendencies. vocalist has lots of personality which enhances the great songs and smooths over the moments where the band over-reaches (there are certain tracks where the Big Boys' lack of musical know-how betrays itself, but never disastrously.) Complete Control is a bit of a dip in an otherwise fun album which stands up for itselfBone Orchard Penthouse PoultryBorghesia ClonesBPEOPLE BPEOPLEgod, if only the whole disc was as good as "Can Can't"... they try, though, and their particular style is more expressive than the typical post-punk fare, featuring walking bass, rocky sax and even the occasional solo. BPEOPLE are one of a squillion short-lived bands of the era who demonstrated a quick flash of brillianceBursting Into Gloom Covenpsyched out spacegaze doomnsludgers riding one long atmospheric tune, it's cool n sparse. follow the weedian 'n all thatCabaret Voltaire Micro-Phoniesreally cool messy punk electro, good bassline of quality but I just never got on with Blue Heat, just really claustrophobic and unenjoyable compared to everything else here. get the version with the 12" version of Sensoria, one of their defining moments, which mashes up the original song with Do Right n gets some good backup vox involved. total singalong stuffCabaret Voltaire CodeCirith Ungol Frost and Firehappily this is much more insecure than troo metul has any right to be. dominated by loud bass and confused emotions conveyed through some seriously frustrated goblin vox. the instrumental on the end is nothing special, though - stick to the bits that metalheads dislikeClock DVA Thirstfrustrating, really - the band are clearly great at assembling sounds in an artistic, expansively atmospheric manner but as soon as they start rocking out it descends perilously close to conventionality... maddeningly, they can switch gears in the space of a tape splice. bat these dudes with a newspaper every time they slip in a four chord loop and it all works out fineDavid Harrow The SuccessionDie Form Es Lebe Der TodDie Krupps Entering the ArenaEider Stellaire Icompulsive zeuhl in its strong moments, close to disco when it lapses into lazinessFaith No More Angel DustFoetus NailFontaines D.C. Dogrelpromising. nice spread of indie family genres. needs more lyrics and less overhead cymbal crashing because i don't think the music wants to be hypnotic - keep me engaged! these guys could make an album that'd sit alongside Art Objects "Bagpipe Music" as one of the great, cool post-punk poet discs if they really wanted toFred Frith SpeechlessFrith backed up with some RIO stalwarts here, but it's easy to question how much effort really went into the songwriting - many of the pieces descend into free improv without bothering to first establish any sort of lure, or sometimes into rather makeshift Beefheartianism in dire need of vocals to pin everything together. progarchives.com, at some point, started throwing every slightly abrasive piece of music into their "Avant-prog" section after one cursory listen and you can point the blame at albums exactly like this one - musos with no plan heading into the studio and treating us to their most annoying tendencies. still, thanks to their sheer talent some cuts are, irritatingly, fascinatingFront 242 Official Versionstrange how they pushed Masterhit so hard but didn't think to make it all that interesting o:3 definitely my least fave early F242; they sheared off all the cool shitFront Line Assembly The Initial CommandFront Line Assembly State of MindGive My Remains to Broadway Beyond the Gates of XouztothHangman's Chair A Lonerreliably goth but a bit too simple. i like their sounds and moods, their songwriting compels way lessHymn (FRA) Tiredreally messy really enthusiastic french goth rock. retains its punk feel cos it's so blurry but also vampy and ambitiousIron Maiden KillersJust Mustard Heart UnderKatatonia Sky Void of StarsKing Crimson The Power to Believei might think facts of life is the worst king crimson song. the lyrics here are tired in general, would've nice to hear this be instrumental aside from the mantra. musically fascinating as ever, it's KCKing Crimson LizardKMFDM AngstKMFDM What Do You Know, Deutschland?Korn IssuesTheir best - the funky and adventurous rhythm section peaks on Issues, where each song distinguishes itself from the next with offbeat, effect-expanded sections amid all the distortion and bassclicking. (aside from Hey Daddy, a one chord jam only saved by hilariously explorative bass playing.) Very experimental in terms of nu-metal - interludes split the disc up into small acts. Lyrics are mostly terrible but what did you expect? The follow up, Untouchables, tips all the way over into lifeless radio rock - stop here, the quirkiest Korn CD.Lethe (NLD) Lethenice instrumental prog LP splitting teh difference between pastoral woodwind things and jazzy blues rock things. just comfy stuff for when yr an elf, not challenging beyond a few jazzy flourishesLydia Lunch 13.13Magma Üdü ẀüdüMagma Ẁurdah ÏtahMammoth Weed Wizard Bastard The Harvest (as MWWB)any point at which this album tries to rock out it loses me. they should amp up the goth elements even more imoManic Street Preachers New Art RiotManic Street Preachers Generation Terroristsearly Manics lives and dies on the power of the lyrics. here they are fucking lethal! otoh the only musician in this band who does anything is JDB which means there's too much room in these glam rock-finished tunes and not enough accompaniment to fill itManic Street Preachers Everything Must Goimmensely important to the band and to the contemporary accompaniment of football coverage. I have come to dislike this album's style, although the opener and closer and Kevin Carter still hit like brickManic Street Preachers LifebloodMansun Attack of the Grey LanternMark Stewart Mark Stewartwow wow! wow! everything with Mark Stewart on it has this sexy dubby indignant mixture of feelings and all the songs wear out half-way through; something about his delivery drags teh perceived bpm down to 0.0000000000000000000000000000000000000001Martha and the Muffins This is the Ice Agecheck this fun little new-wave album for the great track "Casualties of Glass"! a lot of the more earnestly pop-oriented writing on this album doesn't measure up to the moodiness of that song but it is all very well performedMinistry TwitchMr. Bungle Mr. BungleMurderbait Nostalgia Like Cancerlong doomy goth epics, really good feeling. songs are pretty similar to each other thoughNapalm Death Punishment in Capitals*screams the name of every track while the crowd giggles*Nekropolis Musik aus dem Schattenreichsome distinctly gothic ambient cuts, equal time dedicated to simple drones and rock-driven crypt grooves. there isn't a wrong note on this album but that's because there aren't all that many notes at all - very simplistic music! can't beat the moods thoughNeonbabies Neonbabieswitty, punky NDW with a bizarre mix, all suffused in saxomophone and lead by a great, confident singer. their cover of Big Spender is perfectly Residential. songs are short and scattershot and as a result some cuts do feel a little inessentialNew Fast Automatic Daffodils Pigeonholefunky manchester indie stuff with good grooves. Fishes Eyes rules but a lot of the other tunes are lesser variations of it - some with bongos, some with psychy strumming - the same set of chords all the time and the dwindling lyrical content gets you bored by the saminess before longNjurmannen Cerebral PlayerNumb Blue Lightis this the first thing they did? recorded 86-87? I love how there's still some scathingness to it but you can feel the rock arrangement tendencies bubblin' under; it's not "industrial rock", not yet, but it could be if reapplied to different instruments. badass EP, sometimes electro, sometimes industrial, sometimes holding hands with good KICKING throughoutP-Model Potpourrimagazines typically call music like this "spastic" or "herky-jerky" but i consider that really rudePlasmatics Metal Priestesssweet spot stuff, heavy-for-1981, gimmicky (horny and ranty), goes kinda undermentioned on the topic of formative metal considering it's basically the same as maiden "killers", wendy's vox have this fun strangled punk approach. trashy as it needs to be tbh, has a strange way of prefiguring GWAR's most fun stuffPortion Control Rough JusticePortion Control PurgePreoccupations Arrangementsthe atmosphere doesn't gel with the songwriting and there's phrases that practically sound like Kings of Leon, agh, plenty of better goth this year where you can hear the bassPriest Body Machinecheese electro/EBM but it's fun and all the songs have something gnice about them! wow!Queensryche Operation: MindcrimeRadiohead In RainbowsRadiohead The BendsRAH Band Going Upsuper slick funky arrangements, very musical n sweet, eventually starts to cloy thoughRed Krayola with Art and Language Kangaroo?a lot of the tunes with rockier composition undermine what could be a more powerful statement. at its best Kangaroo reminds of both Crass and Art Bears; if only they'd had a less cavalier approach to the songs!Revolting Cocks No DevotionRobert Fripp The League of Gentlementhe vocal clips threaten that the album may be something more challenging and radical than what it is - an instrumental combo featuring Fripp's unique way of playing guitar whose basic compositions get whisked into identical pudding by his tendency to lean on those equidistant note math riffs. "Cognitive Dissonance" is at least noisy and strange, would fit on any Crimso albumRobert Görl Night Full of TensionShiny Men Again!it's one of those post-punky puzzle prog albums which is compositionally interesting and relatively varied BUT it has those stupid arch lyrics which wreck everything in the entire genre (f.e. Cardiacs, Diagram Bros, et al as well as, in a larger scope, a good swathe of modern avant-garde rock;) can't you say something which isn't dumb as shit? still nice as an art exercise, but imagine a record this inventive accompanying biting protest lyricsSkinny Puppy Mind: The Perpetual IntercourseSPK Machine Age VoodooSuburban Lawns Suburban Lawnsvery smart new wave where some of the tunes have that first-LP Devo playfulness while others... don't. the female vocalist is a joy to listen to, I just wish the songs had received more compositional attention.Super Furry Animals Fuzzy Logicthey have absolutely no idea what they're doing here but it's adorable. Mario Man and Fuzzy Birds are mega keepers and the "Fields of Industry... Death by Misery" line is immortalSuper Furry Animals MwngThe Budos Band The Budos Band Vreally fun extended psyche rock band, horns are the best bit. all instrumental, the tunes sound like they'd add up to a badass soundtrack for some 70s road movie but they're just not that fascinating on their ownThe Cure DisintegrationThe Legendary Pink Dots The Museum of Human Happinessmore food for my dots compilation tape!!!!! as ever, some of this is luscious n weird psyche, some of it goths, some of it does a secret regrettable third thingThe Mars Volta TremulantThe Nits Workthese guys have that Beatles-ish talent to paint a complete picture using very simple arrangements and a set of lyrics stripped down to the essentials. the back to basics approach can miss heavily since all the songs go verse-chorus-verse-chorus forever, many receiving no further compositional attention, but about half of these songs are catchy and charming anywayThe Smile A Light For Attracting Attention"Free in the Knowledge" is torture of the sort that restricts what I can rate this otherwise-gnice set of jamsTomahawk TomahawkTones on Tail Popclosing tune is so good it's worth enduring most of the silly stuff beforehand. but it is very silly stuffUnschooling Random Acts of Total Controlthis is somewhere uh between art-punk, math-rock and post-hardcore which is to say the bridges are better than the verses. giggle. semi-talking vox, sarcastic style, some interesting ideas and twists. probably bumpable higher than this rating if I get into this kinda thing more, everything's solidV-Effect Stop Those Songsfun, punky, loopy avant-prog/no wave with some good sax skronks, groovier than many of their peers. vox aint that strong thoughVulk Vulk Ez Dasemi-epic semi-indie post-punk things going on here, got big Midnight Oil vibes and it also made me think of that 80s Stormy Six album in places. everything's brash and hopeful, apparently a little political (on the topic of Basque independence?) generally cool but can feel too arena for me cos im a little goblinWasted Youth Reagan's Incool and energetic punk rock but their lyrics are mean i feel a bit upsetZebulon Pike ...and Blood Was Passionweird album. it's like stoner doom finger-exercise mastered loud. good playing, some good ideas, but 40 minutes of it wears ya down. transitions often make no sense apart from in a Fuck yeah, harmonic abandon! kind of way. that's OK. from here I think they delve in a more atmospheric direction2.5 average(DOLCH) NachtAnamanaguchi Endless FantasyAsian Glow and sonhos tomam conta dreamglowAttic [UK] All Plans Existgawd I love uk post-punk, new wave, industrial, art-punk dance-punk dub-punk everything but you can't hide an unimaginative song with sneering vox alone. Attic wanted to be cool but too much convention gets in, too much Sparks gets in. check the first tune though, its outro is really good, no problem saying that's a killer tuneBad Optics Pax Americanacan't get into. got them devolved cardiac touches but the lyrics clunk and everything's *pronouncedly* mocking from the vox to the riffs to the rhythms, to the point of inflicting misery louder than it satirizes the causeChris and Cosey HeartbeatCola Deep In ViewColdplay ParachutesCrime of Passing Crime of Passinglovely desperate goth sound but the songs are scraps, sounds like the whole album was written in one sesh. hunting knife = incredibleDe Arma NightcallFamily Fodder Schizophrenia Party!daft as hell toy new wave stuff where they're not even trying apart from on the first song, i was kinda into it tbhFehlfarben 33 Tage in Kettenat their best when they play guitar-heavy, minor key songs, all angular like you're witnessing the song just before the scaffolding comes off. Fehlfarben can sneak subtle synthy elements into their music when they're trying; when they're not the music is a little too generic to bear. check Hutschlager and Schlaffos NachtsFischer-Z Red Skies Over ParadiseGiuni Russo Energiea really fantastic and well-trained singer crying out for more interesting song arrangementsJamiroquai Dynamitebig fan of their first two discs and I can't help but feel disappointed by the total reversal in lyrical stance. i guess i am late on the "Jay Kay doesn't care about environmental and social issues anymore" train by at least two albums but lemme say it anyway. music is still competent and catchy though, just not really superb or meaningfulJon and Vangelis The Friends of Mr CairoKilling Joke Fire Dancesjust a relatively dud batch of songs here, less like themselves and more like other post-punkers. you can hear their drummer just get more and more powerful though, guy is never not hitting somethingKing Crimson In the Court of the Crimson KingKing Crimson Three of a Perfect PairLinkin Park Hybrid TheoryMagazine No ThyselfMagma AttahkMassacre (USA-NY) Killing Timesome people see this as a math-rock blueprint but it sounds to me like Fred Frith failing to attune himself to the 80s. like... there is cool stuff occurring here, but most of it has zero groove, some of the songs have no personality and just exist to stop. all the musicians were relatively young here but in places it still sounds like yer dad playing post-punk. maybe my complaint is that it sounds crap musically rather than crap sonically? the improvisation is definitely better than the form on this oneMaterial Memory Servesthere's some good funky, adventurous music here, but the drummer is having no truck with it, mostly just playing basic rock beats, totally out of character with the, uh, material being played which craves a more minimal, syncopated rhythm - the player sounds very skilled and solid, just not at all willing to allow the rest of the band any space, it's all metronomically hammered hi-hats all day which makes it feel way too fast and ultimately fucks everyone else's efforts in a profound and unsalvageable mannerMetallica Master of PuppetsMetallica Kill 'Em AllMinimal Man The Shroud Ofgood tempting slice'o'industrial but it feels a bit tribute-ish, almost a sampler for more defining bands as recreated by a loyal fan, uhhh. would have greatly preferred longer tracks with enough time to build in intensity - shouting rarely achieves a powerful industrial atmosphere in and of itselfMudvayne L.D. 50Muse Black Holes & RevelationsMuse AbsolutionOrchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark Architecture & MoralityParalisis Permanente El Actopunk rockish, goth-flavoured power pop act with lots of variety between the songs. fun and extravagant but too much rock'n'roll cliche tbhPeter Hammill Sitting TargetsPortion Control ..Step Forwardsomething about this one makes me impatient. the track order might be to blame? but I never get to land on this one, just keep orbiting. an ebm scrapbook with less atmosphere than it thinks tbh. some moments sound like carter USM lolRenaldo and the Loaf Songs for Swinging Larvaenow here's an act that finds their own work absolutely hilarious. there are some decent extra-terrestrial tape experiments and fields of sound on the tape but regrettably there is an equal amount of tweeter-destroying helium-enhanced folk nonsense songs, all too short to evoke much besides annoyance. everyone who said The Residents got boring when they started showing signs of ambition would be perfectly at home with this... stuffRobert Prince Doom II SoundtrackScientist (JAM) Rids the World of the Curse of the VampiresSeru Giran Peperinavery confident and jazz-tinged pop music, with an occasional passion to rock out rising to teh top of the soup. cheesy though, like the Argentinian Steely Dan. nice one if you can bear to listen to music this sophisticated and perfectionistSimple Minds Sons and FascinationSuper Furry Animals Love KraftSuper Furry Animals Dark Days/Light YearsThe Korgis Sticky Georgein a world of synth and shoulderpads this might still be the cheesiest thing outta 1981. big pop song ballads with suffusive synth-washes EVERYWHERE. singer has the voice of an angel who used to be a cute little mousy. "Can't We Be Friends Now" is Beatles-ish. all the tunes are secretly great but it's impossible to admitThe Neon Judgement Horny as Hellstupid. a big pitfall of EBM, electro-industrial, sampler electro etc. is that the music is often stupid as sin. ok, this is sex-themed, meant to be fun, taken as tongue-in-cheek, not as self-cutting and philosophical as Deathconsciousness (this is a joke, don't take this seriously) awoo one of the songs here even has a teehee beep-the-swearword moment!!!!!!!!!!! you can't make music like this cool if yr sense of humour works like that. imo. generally the less lyricism you can hear and the less sampled guitar there is the better the tune is; title track is bestThe Neon Judgement The Neon Judgement 1981-1984The Stalin trashlost on me - gimmickless punk approaching hardcore, with probably the bulk of the meaning locked away in its lyrics. Not bad or anything, apparently pioneering in terms of being early Japanese hardcoreTool LateralusType O Negative Life Is Killing MeViagra Boys Cave WorldVon Lmo Future Languagethis is actually really dumb, both lyrically and in terms of monomaniacal composition, with bass, sax and guitar all playing the same note so continuously that when you get a cheesy-ass rock'n'roll noodle solo over the top of something you're thankful for the variety. zero introspection, zero respite, basically a Motorhead album in a silver boilersuit.. On the other hand the frontman is a high-energy psyche lunatic who shouts LONG LIVE HEAVY METAL at the start of the first song which, when in certain moods, might make "Future Language" an essential classic at that moment in timeWhispering Sons Imagedecent tribute act to the completely unexperimental end of new wave post punk minor key posingWiseblood Dirtdish2.0 poorAgalloch The MantleAgent Orange Living in DarknessAlex G God Save The AnimalsBig Thief Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in YouBilly Howerdel What Normal Waspours massive energy into the production but that somehow pushed me away. forgot what this sound like basically. has that I'm Achingly Intelligent feelBlack Sabbath Master of RealityDavid Maxim Micic BILO IVDeftones Goredeftones don't really have anything left at this point. enjoy Chino and a good drummer doing their usual effortless stuff very lazilyFleshwater We're Not Here To Be LovedFontaines D.C. Skinty FiaFranco Battiato La voce del padroneinsubstantial attempt to switch to new wave by an old Italian master with a lot of great experimental proggy albums under his belt. the songs are too cheerful and mostly just breeze by - not exactly the best pop album of 1981Half Japanese LoudKorn RequiemMagma MerciManic Street Preachers Journal For Plague LoversManic Street Preachers FuturologyMansun Little KixMetallica 72 SeasonsNew Order Power, Corruption and LiesOingo Boingo Only a LadPantera The Great Southern TrendkillRadiohead A Moon Shaped PoolRed Hot Chili Peppers By the WayRiverside ID.Entitydecided that in 2023 I would listen to everything that got a decent review. mmmm I may already have to alter that policySpoon Lucifer on the SofaSuper Furry Animals Hey Venus!Tallah The Generation of DangerThe Birthday Massacre FascinationThe Callous Daoboys Celebrity TherapistThe Mars Volta The Mars VoltaThe Sisters of Mercy Vision ThingVOLA Applause of a Distant Crowd1.5 very poorBurzum FilosofemCult of Luna The Long Road NorthJimmy Eat World Bleed AmericanPeriphery Periphery V: Djent is Not a GenrePorcupine Tree Closure/ContinuationRed Hot Chili Peppers Return of the Dream CanteenRolo Tomassi Where Myth Becomes Memory1.0 awfulDaughters You Won't Get What You WantDeathspell Omega Si Monvmentvm Reqvires CircvmspiceDecapitated Cancer CultureDream Theater A View from the Top of the Worldvirtuosically constructed wall of completely unsurprising shit. these guys have hated music for at least ten yearsIbaraki RashomonManic Street Preachers Send Away The TigersPolyphia Remember That You Will Diewow! completely on top of all their shit, thriving and hydrated, optimal 'til it becomes poptimal, sympathetic and well-lit yet malign agents of Anime Intros (Technical)The Offspring Let the Bad Times RollThe Offspring Americanafuck this garbage! i'm at war with your stupid band
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