Album Rating: 4.0

the vocal melodies here are beautiful, idk what everyone else is (or isn't) hearing to say otherwise

Album Rating: 4.7 | Sound Off

Love seeing everyone who was disappointed on first listen enjoying this more on second (:

Album Rating: 2.5

"also so many people talking about "weak melodies" as if there's actually a functioning litmus test on melody strength



obviously everybody hears what they like or dislike about a record, but objective language seems so petty and critical when it's still just a matter of preference"

come on you could literally say that about any type of critique or praise of music. Everybody who talks about music uses objective language because it's inherently implied that it's an opinion. Beautiful production, tight instrumentation witty lyrics, etc. Etc. It's just bothering you because you don't agree with it

Album Rating: 4.0

"come on you could literally say that about any type of critique or praise of music. Everybody who talks about music uses objective language because it's inherently implied that it's an opinion. Beautiful production, tight instrumentation witty lyrics, etc. Etc. It's just bothering you because you don't agree with it"



i absolutely would say that about critique and praise of music



there are inflexible, rigid words that are a little too "much" for me personally in music critique. for shit that's too subjective. melodies, yeah, "weak" doesn't make much sense to me. you can still talk about it negatively if you find it, i don't know, repetitive, or maybe too limited to a certain palette, whatever. there's many ways to say a negative thing. there are loads of ways to describe something without going down the "lazy", "uninspired", "half-assed", "weak", "bad choice" route--fills in too many blanks that aren't in the listener's purview imo



the positive words you mentioned? beautiful, tight, witty... i mean, those words acknowledge their subjectivity by default, right? tight can be a negative word if you're wanting a looser arrangement. something can be too witty for its own good. it doesn't assign 'strength' or 'weakness' or project intention on an artist from somebody who wasn't a fly on the wall



i get that this is kind of the hill i die on but that's part of the dialogue of music discussion i guess



edit: and yeah obviously anybody can talk about anything the way they want, but i find "weak melodies" a bit of a headscratcher unless the writer is literally singing root notes over every chord change for a whole album lol

Album Rating: 4.7 | Sound Off

[2]

Album Rating: 4.0

projects an assessment of quality instead of an assessment of opinion!



"This music is too tight for me. Feels quantized or over-produced. I like a little looseness in my music, so, yeah, wish it was more like that."



usually the artist went for the "tight" sound deliberately for any host of reasons. if i don't care for it, it's not because the artist is bad at what they do... just don't like that choice, not for me, etc. etc. but somebody else is gonna love it for the EXACT reason i may dislike it.



that's why weak seems weird to me. not here to police stuff but just mentioning that an assessment like "weak melodies" is a bit too "she is bad at this" when i think it's more of, "i'm not a fan of the melodies"

Album Rating: 4.7 | Sound Off

There are certainly some people on here who come off as thinking their opinions are the objective truth, which irks me

I like to think my constantly aggressive and obvious stanning removes me from this list

Album Rating: 4.0

i mean "i'm not a fan of the melodies" and "the melodies are bad" are literally examples of subjective and objective statements but whatever



none of my business sharing opinions on quality. just sharing opinions on taste and learning/sharing about other new music with folks. like i said, that's my hill to die on and that's how it's gonna be haha



anyways i listened to this for the first time deliberately while i've been bitching just now



and yeah i'm a sucker for this. i was affectionate but disinterested in stranger in the alps, but this scratches every musical itch i have because i'm basically a parody of a music listener. i love everything i heard, but even cooler is the vibe of like... this is first listen, and this is a rabbit hole and i'm going to end up on the other side vibing even harder.



so yeah i'm gonna end up with a cartoonish rating of this record pretty soon.

Album Rating: 4.7 | Sound Off

fuck yes I love it Waior (:

Album Rating: 4.0

aggressive stanning is way cooler to me at this stage of life idk there aren't guilty pleasures anymore just like what you like and understand that if somebody rated an album by the fray a 5 and then c&l a 3.5, its not about shitty taste its just that they like that thing more than they do haha



and yes neeka this thing i really really like god damn excited to sink my teeth into it



one last edit: cole, i think of it like the production thing we were talking about earlier. some folks say "worse songs, great production masks it". i'm sitting here thinking the songwriting/melodies are/is better--personally--than stranger in the alps and the production can't be disassociated it from it, so if the songwriting is weak, i like weak songs. that's weird. but if the songwriting is "not beautiful", i get that, beauty is in the eye of the bees

Album Rating: 4.0

i'm not arguing whether or not every statement should be prefaced with "this is my personal opinion" lol



i'm saying i'm not into saying something is weak when it comes to music



making deliberate albums is intensely vulnerable and long process and it feels shitty to just be like "melodies are weak" to artists because its just a non-statement

Album Rating: 5.0

Aren't we all just voicing how the album connects with us? I'm on the side of those who find the songwriting lacking and, while definitely disappointing, how else can we portray those feelings? My opinion is that this album could be instrumental and it could very well be an even more enthralling listen. Each time I listen I catch something wonderful in the instrumentation and I find myself wanting to hear more of that instead.

Album Rating: 4.7 | Sound Off

I can't imagine a Phoebe album where her voice isn't the forefront because of how ecstatic her voice and lyrics are, but it does speak to the strengths of this album that it could feasibly work instrumentally too

Album Rating: 4.0

"Aren't we all just voicing how the album connects with us? I'm on the side of those who find the songwriting lacking and, while definitely disappointing, how else can we portray those feelings? My opinion is that this album could be instrumental and it could very well be an even more enthralling listen. Each time I listen I catch something wonderful in the instrumentation and I find myself wanting to hear more of that instead."



i mean this is a perfect model of a mixed, complex feeling about a record that thinks about taste and quality (based on my own personal bullshit rubric of language policing lol). i fall on the "voice how the album connects with you" side of things reaaaal strong



the instrumentation is STRIKING. most aggressively beautiful on saviour complex and i know the end on my third lesson. saviour complex has a such a nice adventurous classic chord progression its very charming

Album Rating: 3.5

Agree that being a fanboy is almost always cooler than being a hater, as are charitable interpretations of an artist's intentions (if those are assumptions you wanna willingly make in the first place), but find the lines you're drawing unreasonable and likely-to-shut-down-discussion-y.



Anyway, bump bump bump! This is so beautful, it makes me feel a little like when I heard Turn Out the Lights for the first time. :3 Just like that, employs already well-honed songwriting in a super deliberate, but also somehow spontaneously impassioned way, it's so warm.

Album Rating: 4.0

I have no power only opinions : )

Album Rating: 4.7 | Sound Off

Love to see those ratings going up!!! (:

Album Rating: 3.5

"I have no power only opinions : )"



Don't underestimate the fantastic power of contributorship on Sputnikmusic.com brother. Inflate your ego, abuse it at every turn.



What makes you prefer this to Stranger?

Album Rating: 3.5

I do think it’s funny how we get defensive when other people dislike/criticize things we like. Like, why does their opinion matter to me? It shouldn’t diminish my appreciation for it. Not calling anyone out here, we’ve all done this.



It is always a big conversation in music fandom (or any art really) though - subjective “I like this” vs. objective “this is good.” All art has somewhat “objective” standards of quality, or at least objective standards on which they can be discussed, and I think we all like to think on some level that our preferred standards are “right” - it’s inherently hard to imagine how someone can find value in something we don’t find value in. But also, sometimes things just connect with some people in ways that they don’t others - or sometimes even the same person at different times. This is what I think can often be lost in the modern maximal consumption approach - we all want to be quick to evaluate and discuss things and that can get in the way of letting ourselves connect with something organically. Or maybe I’m just projecting.



Anyway. This record absolutely has some great moments and I look forward to continuing to sink my teeth into it.

Album Rating: 3.0

I was pretty captivated with Stranger; not so much here. Maybe it’s a grower, I will spend some more time with it. “I Know the End” is pretty great though!