Album Rating: 3.5

Not programmed to like this stuff and have no idea who these guys are, but this hits hard.



Thanks for the heads-up, Atari!

v skeptical this lives up to schmaltz

that album is tough to listen to, reminds me of a dark time in my life

Album Rating: 2.5

"makes me surprised you even have this at a 2.8"

if i rated albums purely for what they represent, this would be a hard 2 or below lol. like i said, songwriting is mostly competent song-to-song, but the backing-band arrangements, change-your-meds vocals and turgid pacing reaaaaaally drag it down

and BNM was just a matter of time unfortunately

Album is great but I think I'm finally past my ability to enjoy lyricism like this, learning to let go of my miserably depressed former self and accept the world's ugliness.

That being said early 20's me would worship these guys

Album Rating: 2.5

What even is a 5 anymore? It sure as hell ain’t this

Almost like it's subjective Gyro, crazy right?

relating to lyrics is overrated

i feel like a large portion of artists who write quote unquote good lyrics do it to compensate for the fact they can’t sing for shit

Why does their singer sound like a billygoat

thot this was the band no joy releasing an album called spanish love songs

Album Rating: 4.0

i'm pretty sure he would give it a 1 if the rating system allowed him to



i wanna do the same thing with that one depeche mode album

Album Rating: 5.0

"Not programmed to like this stuff and have no idea who these guys are, but this hits hard."



manosg digging Spanish Love Songs, what?! haha, cheers bud. it honestly made my day that you enjoyed this

Album Rating: 3.0

is this like your favorite band of all time atari? you've written 5 reviews for the last 3 albums lol

Album Rating: 3.5

I like this more than Brave Faces, but neither of them is even in the same stratosphere as Schmaltz.

Album Rating: 3.5

i do kinda understand the complaint that this doesnt come together all that great as an album since even tho its sonic palate is a big shift for them it is the same exact blanket over more or less everything besides the few fully stripped back songs (still better than brave faces everyone's egregious exercise in using the same exact key for every one of the non pre release tracks and the general dollar store menzos vibes of their back catalogue)



i like more or less everything here but even as a fan its already been working better for me throwing on songs in isolation which isnt really a recipe for lasting staying power

Album Rating: 3.9

woah this is one of the most mildly annoying threads i have skimmed on this site recently

great review tho atari, love that u love this

Album Rating: 4.0

Lifers is one of my favorite songs of the year

Album Rating: 5.0

@Calc: yeah, they're basically my favorite band at this point, haha.. at least as far as this style of music goes. to be fair my review for Schmaltz was just a glorified sound off I wrote in about 10 minutes, but yes, I am shameless



@Jesper: yeah, this is DEFINITELY a sputnik thread. got a bit rough there but hopefully we can turn it around! your 3.9 ain't too shabby either ;)



and agreed Jack! Lifers has been on repeat a lot lately. somehow the lyrics are better every time I listen to it

Album Rating: 4.0

Ok let's bring the positivity back to this glorious record.



For starters, great review Atari, and no wonder you're only sporadically reviewing these days, when the thread just turns into a personal critique pissing contest.



I know the album is called No Joy, and that's exactly how I feel when I open Sputnik these days, not going to elaborate here.



Back to the album, great direction for the band to be going, steering away from the sadboi emo punk sound, to more of a sandman indie rock sound with new wave/post punk elements scattered throughout. Lyrics are great as usual, Slocum has a gift of capturing the most mundane obscure depressive moments in life. I'm also liking the diversity in the guitar and keyboard on this.



Kinda wished this album came out in the depths of winter.

The sky looked

Like a cracked phone screen