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User
Reviews 123
Approval 95%
Soundoffs 238
News Articles 11
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Last Active 12-23-19 9:27 pm
Joined 09-16-14
Review Comments 22,503
| September 2017 resumé
You know the drill: It's the end of the month, thus in comes my short commentary on all the stuff released that I got a chance to hear. If there's a record you loved, but don't see on here, chances are I didn't get to it yet, so stick around and I will write something up about it. And now a score guide: 10/9 - 5; 8 - 4.5; 7 - 4; 6 - 3.5/3; 5 - 2.5; 4 - 2; 3 - 1.5; 2/1 - 1 | | 31 |  | Iglooghost
Neo Wax Bloom
Colourful, playful and absolutely cute beyond any words. 8/10 | | 30 |  | Myrkur
Mareridt
eeeeehhhhhhh... this just left me so lukewarm, I was surprised to astonishment. I just don't feel anything towards this album whatsoever. 5/10 | | 29 |  | Velvet Luna
Escapism
I always dig into Sputnik projects with a little bit of scepticism. After all, a lot of the time they end up being little uninspired obscurities bound to be lost in depths of Bandcamp oblivion. But Velvet Luna (of Sputnik's MisguidedYouth) has a sort of whimsical charm to it. It's as if I listened to a catchier, more lighthearted version of either Crystal Castles or some other near-robotic pulsating Electropop. And by the way, I can't praise enough the cosmic synths on Repeat/Replay. 7/10
Fantasy, Repeat/Replay | | 28 |  | Flesh World
Into The Shroud
Flesh World attempt at recreating that old Indie/Post-Punk sound, but forget to make it based around an actually engaging songwriting. In the end, the album falls apart with nothing much to show for. 5/10 | | 27 |  | IDYLLS
The Barn
Vicious and deeply unpleasant, but not without its own portion of that juicy, disgusting and off-putting raw filth that just gets under your skin. 7/10
Neuroqueering on Shit, Learnt Young, Glare From The Shallow Basin, In the Barn | | 26 |  | Pardoner
Uncontrollable Salvation
Pardoner serve decently played, but poorly written and awfully sung album. Awfully sung even by Post-Punk standards. There is a spark inside, but the band does a poor job at expanding upon it and iin the end we have an underwhelming album that only makes you scratch your head in disillusionment, but also a slight admiration of the fuzziness of it all, which goes from likeable to obnoxious in no-time. 5/10 | | 25 |  | Ariel Pink
Dedicated to Bobby Jameson
Colourful and adventurous, but somehow not as pleasant on the ears as his previous solo output. 7/10
Feels Like Heaven, Santa's in the Closet, Time to Live, Another Weekend, Bubblegum Dreams, Do Yourself a Favor | | 24 |  | Wolves in the Throne Room
Thrice Woven
I want to like this. I do my best to like this. But I just fail. This album's production is just strange. It's flat and unmoving; not what I expect of a good Black Metal release. The songwriting is also quite non-descript and the overall execution, while nice, isn't anything outstanding either. It's odd to hear that. The band just put together a one-off disposable record with some decent moments here and there, but ultimately nothing all that outstanding. 6/10 | | 23 |  | Motorpsycho
The Tower
My Stoner boner is now calmer. My Psychedelic epidemic is very epic. My Prog fnog still needs a snog.
7/10
Bartok of the Universe, In Every Dream House (There's a Dream of Something Else), The Cuckoo, partially Ship of Fools (in its entirety it is quite tiring) | | 22 |  | Mutemath
Play Dead
While I do find this electronica-infused Psych-Blues genuinely pleasant and interesting, there is just not enough things to hold on to for me to come back to it. Some tracks for sure, but not the whole record. It is fun, but then there's not a lot after. 6/10
Hit Parade, Placed on Hold, Achilles Heel | | 21 |  | Metz
Strange Peace
This year just keeps on giving. This is another one of those bands I knew I can like, but never did for that or this reason. I was just waiting for that one record that'd blow me away completely. And here we go. There is so much energy and raw fun on here. The clashing fuzzy guitars and those gud ol' fuck-y'all kinds of vocals together with great musicianship and writing make this a completely worthwhile listen. Whacha waitin' for? Jump on it! 8/10
Mess of Wires, Drained Lake, Lost in the Blank City, Common Trash, Dig a Hole | | 20 |  | The Script
Freedom Child
This one was purely for Objectivity Rate's sake, but you gotta have that. 3/10 | | 19 |  | Benjamin Clementine
I Tell A Fly
This is so beautifully odd and so luminously magical that you just can't stop admiring its twisted beauty. Benjamin Clementine managed to combine some truly ominous atmosphere with music reaching from soul-touchingly pretty to darker than vantablack-marbled night panorama-photo, but still keeping some kind of surreal lounge feeling. His creeping songwriting and chilling vocals fit perfectly into this stylistically slick world he paints and it is as captivating as it is headscratching. 9/10
God Save the Jungle, Better Sorry Than Asafe, Paris Cor Blimey, By the Ports of Europe, Quintessence, Ave Dreamer | | 18 |  | Grift
Arvet
This is a pretty straightforward, fairly decent, nothing-too-special kind of Black Metal with some subpar, but acceptable production and, by god, really awkward vocals. 6/10
Utdöingsbygd | | 17 |  | Pere Ubu
20 Years In A Montana Missile Silo
So you wanna hear the new Pere Ubu, aye? You wanna know what does a band like Pere Ubu do in a year like 2017, aye? Well, they do just about the same thing they've always done. It's a slightly nuts, full-out guts, kind of one-dimensional, but fairly exceptional, sometimes odd, but mostly not, pretty cool, tad too cruel, sonically swift with that instrumental rift and textural coherence among musical consistence, with no real tangible wrongs, but also not many memorable songs, kind of drab, but also sharp, always ripe, but just not my type, it is mostly fine, but not for ears of mine. 6/10
Funk 49, Toe to Toe, Red Eye Blues, Cold Sweat | | 16 |  | Chelsea Wolfe
Hiss Spun
With each record Chelsea Wolfe proves that she can go even deeper into abysmal insanity. An album like this shouldn't be listened to on a happy day, it shouldn't be consumed without a heavy dose of pleasant memories to block the waves of gloomy doom coming towards you. I now expect her next album to be a collection of shroeks set to distorted circus music for the full creepy effect. 7/10
16 Psyche, Vex, The Culling, Twin Fawn, Two Spirit, Scrape | | 15 |  | Alex Cameron
Forced Witness
Alex Cameron took all the criticism towards his previous effort seriously and improved upon his work. Now we have this piece of incredibly pleasant and blissfully pretty album, whose melodywork and gentle instrumentation just keeps you from having a bad time. It's like a positivity-balsam. 7/10
Runnin' Outta Luck, Stranger's Kiss, Marlon Brando
UPDATE: Gotta bump this bad boy up to an 8/10. | | 14 |  | The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
The Echo of Pleasure
I...I really don't know. It feels like I'm listening to a musical representation of someone's vague first draft of an album... that's just where I'm at with this album... yeah. 4/10 | | 13 |  | Falgar
Las hijas del crepúsculo
This is the kind of music you hear at those middle-ages historical festivals... except this one also sounds unbearably repetitive. 5/10 | | 12 |  | Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark
The Punishment Of Luxury
It's strange to hear a production this oddly robotic and intriguing set to songwriting this bland... It's not necessarily bad, it's just nothing exactly outstanding. 6/10 | | 11 |  | Paradise Lost
Medusa
I really wanted to enjoy this. I thought that they might bring that good old gloomy Doomy dismal sound and, in a way, they did, but their songwriting is just beyond uninteresting. It's way too repetitive and flat for my liking. 6/10 | | 10 |  | Godspeed You! Black Emperor
Luciferian Towers
GY!BE released their most waving, dissonant and lo-fi release, but not exactly one that rewards patience as was the case on their previous outputs. It's an intriguingly ear-scratching album, but the melodies, the songwriting and the instrumentation is too often lost behind the walls of vibrating distortion. Ultimately, the songwriting itself, once you actually recognise it, doesn't seem that impressive, but is numbed down even more with the production. It's quite a shame really. 6/10
Undoing a Luciferian Towers, Bosses Hang, Pt. III | | 9 |  | Counterparts
You're Not You Anymore
The power and energy here is undeniable, but I was just constantly detached from it. I normally like myself some of that gargantuan, monolithic Metalcore, but on here it just kind of felt samey with no real distinct features or merits. Not as disappointing as their last, but not making me excited for their future... 6/10
Haunt Me, Thieves, Fragile Limbs | | 8 |  | Kamasi Washington
Harmony of Difference
Another fantastic addition to Kamasi Washington's discography. This EP's concept is a tad odd, but nowhere less intriguing. It takes one core melody, one core musical concept and expands upon it in every direction on each track. Every cut features basically the same progression and melodic play, but each delves into a slightly different instrumental, intensity and mood direction, until it all eventually spirals out into almost 14 minutes of pure musical bliss in form of the album's closing track. It's a brilliantly constructed little endeavour and it is impossible to hate. 7/10
Desire, Humility, Truth | | 7 |  | The Horrors
V
The Horrors push definitively towards an Industrial-ish Dancepunk with this record and in spite of all of my scepticism, this is actually a well crafted, confidently put-together record. The band isn't just jumping on the trend bandwagon of mixing in some electronica into your sound, but rather fully reinventing themselves. It's only shame that a lot of the songwriting isn't exactly up to par. Most of the album is a grower, but I still believe that the band might just be able to perfect this direction in the future. 6/10
Press Enter to Exit, Machine, Something to Remember Me By | | 6 |  | Alvvays
Antisocialites
Alvvays are back with an album that sounds more like some early-20-somethings' first attempt at making a Dream Pop album. It's boring, forgettable and outside of a couple tunes and instrumental moves, it's also uninspired. 5/10
Not My Baby, Hey, Forget About Life | | 5 |  | The National
Sleep Well Beast
The National's much appraised record is as typical a National album as it can get. From its more atmospheric and brooding moments (Nobody Else Will Be There) to the more experimental and upfront (Turntleneck). The National are still exploring the depth of their comfort zone. That is not to say that that's bad, but it also doesn't exactly provide anything to look forward to revisiting. I feel like pretty much everything on here I've heard already and not only on the National record. Sure, if you want more of that usual downer sound the National has mastered over the years, this is a good album. But outside of some melodies and the more traditional Post-Punk songwriting on songs like Turtleneck, had they never made this record, I doubt I'd miss it. 6/10
The System Only Dreams in Total Darkness, Turtleneck, Carin at the Liquor Store | | 4 |  | Protomartyr
Relatives In Descent
If you need to see just how much of a lazy hack I really am, here's a thing: I promised to write an actual review on this. Me. A review. Funny, aye? I even prompted butcherboy to do a collab with me. But time passed and I found myself in that same spot I always do. It's not a writer's block, it's just my lazy ass not willing to do anything productive. And now for the actual album: | | 3 | | Protomartyr
Relatives In Descent
When it comes to Protomartyr, I was always a tad sceptical. They certainly know how to write a powerful and striking tune and they navigate the Post-Punk streams freely, confidently and with a great dose of their own unique charisma, mostly due to frontman Joe Casey's tangible torment-hiding wall of apathy in delivery. However, there was always some kind of songwriting or pacing issue keeping me from adoring their albums. I admired them and believed that they are capable of writing a truly incredible material and I was naturally excited to see what comes next in their discography. | | 2 | | Protomartyr
Relatives In Descent
And I pretty much had a confirmation that their fourth output will be one of legends once they released the first single. A Private Understanding is such a stellar and immaculate piece of music that encapsulates every possible great Post-Punk trope into one ultimate amazing combination. It's a song I've been waiting to hear in a long time and it is definitely one of the best written tunes in a long, long time. I actually wrote a full analysis on it (I'll post the link in the comments). And now the whole album is out and my already high expectations were met with arms wide open. The album contains a massive portion of utter nonchalancy in its songwriting (Here is the Thing), but it often mixes it up with a dose of masked worry (Corpses in Regalia) or it just steps it up to full-blown cynicism (My Children). This kind of emotional-restraint is part of what makes the album so remarkable. | | 1 | | Protomartyr
Relatives In Descent
It's like a portrait of a apathetic man full of disgust, carelessness and general indifference towards the rest of the world, but also a deeply rooted stressed-out wish of change for the better, which will never come. The lyrics on here deserve another mention. The depth of metaphores reach from referencing half-magical phantasmagoria to ancient Greek philosophers and reinterpretations of their theories. It's the most mature record in this band's already seasoned discography and one that will most likely stick out in the future to those Post-Punk junkies like myself who will try to document genre essentials from previous generations. It is one for the ages.
9/fucking10
but often swinging to a full 10, when I'm in a right mood for brood
A PRIVATE UNDERSTANDING, Here Is the Thing, My Children, The Chuckler, Windsor Hum, Up the Tower, Male Plague, Half Sister | |
Papa Universe
10.04.17 | I missed out a lot this month...
Protomartyr - A Private Understanding analysis:
http://www.sputnikmusic.com/list.php?memberid=1053649&listid=176741 | Papa Universe
10.04.17 | well this is dismal
ive become too used to my own minimum of five comments that now my pride, my fragile ego, my aching hunger for fame demands more, when i dont get my dosage. what have i become? | bgillesp
10.04.17 | As soon as I finish my trip hop stuff I'm checking Protomartyr | Papa Universe
10.05.17 | you do that | someguest
10.05.17 | It's your ranking system. You went with the Pitchfork scale at Sputnikmusic and earned yourself a boycott. | Papa Universe
10.05.17 | I am rebel! That's what I do. I rebel. | Papa Universe
10.05.17 | Also, Pitchfork? How dare you, sir! I'm a noble hipster, I only read Robert Christgau's blog. | someguest
10.05.17 | nice weeknd style haircut, rebel. | Dewinged
10.05.17 | I still gotta check 17, 19, 21 and 9. Nice write-ups Uni, you practically reviewed Protomartyr there man lol | Papa Universe
10.05.17 | It was longer and review-postable, but I know I'll get shit for it just like the last time... | Papa Universe
10.05.17 | and you really don't wanna miss 19 and 21 | Dewinged
10.05.17 | Yeah all I read about those 2 were positive things so looking forward to them. Couple of recs!
Wolf Alice - Visions of a Life (Really enjoyed this one)
Hundred Waters - Communicating | BlazinBlitzer
10.05.17 | Protomartyr's new record was damn excellent. | MisguidedYouth
10.21.17 | this means soooooo much, thank you for checking out our music and writing something up, as well as even rating it. You're going to make my sister's year with your words. |
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