March 2018 resumé
Here is the stuff RELEASED in March 2018 I didn't get to review. 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 |
| 1 |  | All We Are
Sunny Hills (Acoustic)
That awkward feeling, when an acoustic rendering of your album turns out better than the original album itself. 6/10 |
| 2 |  | Guided by Voices
Space Gun
Guided By Voices on autopilot since the 90s, but I do have to admit, when they hit home, it's like nobody else. 6/10
Space Gun, Liar's Box, Daily Get Ups, That's Good |
| 3 |  | Titus Andronicus
A Productive Cough
A band with misplaced ambitions, a singer with too shite a vocal power to pull off the songs he's trying to pull off, the song-writing to muddy and directionless to justify excruciating lengths, a band so in over their own fucking heads that they make this unlistenable. Trashy mess that should serve as a wake-up call. 3/10 |
| 4 |  | Rolo Tomassi
Time Will Die And Love Will Bury It
Be it because of the hype or in spite, but I just could not get into this. The hard-hitting songs are usually indeed nice, but there is way too much forgettable and bloated material on here. I hate to say this, but thi album has more ambition than sense. 6/10 |
| 5 |  | The Breeders
All Nerve
Uuugghh... They just... they just don't do it for me anymore. 6/10 |
| 6 |  | David Byrne
American Utopia
David Byrne's newest has all the merit to be a non-conventional great, but it falls short on its lacking ability to put all of those off-kilter and purposefully obscure musicianship and song-writing (with the off-colour vocals) together cohesively. It just falls apart on every song, even if it tries to pretend it is all intended that way. Just doesn't work, sorry. 6/10
I Dance Like This, Everybody's Coming to My House |
| 7 |  | Jack (USA)
Alchemical Rounds
Female-fronted all-around indie endeavour that just doesn't have much to it, unfortunately. THe vocals are more or less sweet, but absolutely non-distinct and the music is rarely original or energetic enough to pique my interest. Just kind of went over my head. 5/10
A Kick a Knife, second half of Fear Of |
| 8 |  | Ministry
AmeriKKKant
HeadaKKKe. KKKunts. 3/10 |
| 9 |  | Slugdge
Esoteric Malacology
Well, damn. This album just keeps on giving. Not only are the lengths fully justified, the music is so surprisingly varied and multi-layered that it keeps you hooked all throughout. I may have an issue with the way the songs often end (that is, the fade outs and just plain sudden ends), but it in no way ruins the experience. Fantastic, grandiose and gripping death metal album. 8/10
War Squids, Crop Killer, The Spectral Burrows, Slave Goo World, Putrid Fairytale, Limo Vincit Omnia |
| 10 |  | Dead Meadow
The Nothing They Need
A fairly entertaining lo-fi psych rock, but not one that'd engage from the beginning to the end. The songs often drag on for too long and their payoff is minimal. Worth one or partial listen, since nothing really hcanges or progresses throughout the record. 6/10
Unsettled Dust |
| 11 |  | Ed Schrader's Music Beat
Riddles
What an odd, odd album this was. Combining dense electronic production with otherwise already off-the-hook genre-blending punk-ish, rock-ish pop music, but still weirder than you think, yet somehow making sense. 8/10
Dunce, Seagull, Riddles, Rust, Kid Radium, Tom, Culebra |
| 12 |  | Drawing Boards
Drawing Boards
A highly pleasant and tender piece of indie pop that doesn't really shoot for the stars, nor does it really fall into the abyss of sameness. It just stays perfectly alright and sweet. 6/10
The Punchline is a Gun, Post-Halloween |
| 13 |  | The Noise Figures
Telepath
Well, fuzz rock it is, just not a lot beyond that. 6/10 |
| 14 |  | Barely Civil
We Can Live Here Forever
Just enough emo to bite, just enough pop-punk to hit, just enough angst to intrigue. Just, just enough. 7/10
I've Been Getting Headaches Lately, Lost/Found, RE: Your Lungs, Super 8/Marathon |
| 15 |  | Vowws
Under the World
This seems to be dream pop entirely played as noise punk. It is possible that this is not the first incarnation of this sound, but this is definitely one of the unique ones that still holds that playful dreamy undertone, while blasting with hellish harshness. 7/10
ESSEFF, One Or the Other, Wild Wind, Inside Out, Forget Your Finery, Game |
| 16 |  | The Men
Drift
It is not the screeching headache their previous album was, but The Men are still far from their strongest suit. Some songs are great, but in the end this album just feels like a blip of no clear ideas at all. 5/10
When I Held You in My Arms, Killed Someone, Come to Me |
| 17 |  | Prism Tats
Mamba
Indie Rock with edge and that cute spark to it too. It might not be the pinnacle of the world of modern indie scene, but as a time-spender it serves well. Catchy enough tunes and likeable enough execution. A step up from their last, mildly confused album. 7/10
Vamps, Brainwaves, Daggers, The Liar, Gloom Tomb |
| 18 |  | Suuns
Felt
One needs a special talent to make a sonically adventurous and experimental project like this that bland. 4/10 |
| 19 |  | Sons Of A Wanted Man
Awakening
Fairly serviceable post-blackgaze, but not really anything much above mere fineness of it all. The EP has little comeback value, as pretty much everything that is presented here has been done by others to a much more impactful effect. Still enjoyable, though. 6/10
Serpentine |
| 20 |  | Forage and Wander
Time Well Spent
Okay, I get what you're trying to do, but this is just too sappy in the most annoying way possible. It's post-hardcore's eyeliner emo phase everyone around is laughing at. Sorry. 4/10 |
| 21 |  | Brett Naucke
The Mansion
GotG
While not entirely an ambient masterpiece, The Mansion is still a decent enough exploration of the genre's possibilities. It may not be the most interesting one of the bunch, but it is an enjoyable endeavour. 6/10
The Vanishing, A Mirror in the Mansion |
| 22 |  | Nap Eyes
I'm Bad Now
Another record in, Nap Eyes sound more focused, but still not fresh or intriguing enough to carry out a whole album. 5/10
Every Time the Feeling, You Like to Joke Around With Me |
| 23 |  | Young Fathers
Cocoa Sugar
Oh man, this is really difficult to talk about. I absolutely love Young Fathers and their unusual approach to hip-hop and its derivatives, but on Cocoa Sugar it all sounds rather half-cooked. Some songs are up there in the highest tiers of their career with just how beautiful and incredibly poignant they are, but some others sound more like a demo version of what didn't make it to White Men Are Black Men Too. Like the song "Fee Fi", which just seems like a mish mash of all sorts of ideas in one pit of pointlessness. Or "Tremolo" and "Border Girl" that both try to sound as outstanding as some of the album's highlights, but there is just this dreadful flatness in their execution and production. And that is not to mention the cuts that are just plain obnoxious (looking at you, "Turn" and "Holy Ghost"). Still, when the album hits the right mark, it is fantastic, even though that probably shouldn't be attributed to the whole album, but to individual songs. 6/10
In My View, Lord, Wow, Toy |
| 24 |  | Three Days Grace
Outsider
Wannabe overwhelming and bombastic, but having barely the talent to pull that off. If you want to hear a few 40s-pushing dudes thinking this is still 2005, then go on ahead. 3/10 |
| 25 |  | Of Montreal
White Is Relic/Irrealis Mood
Once again I find myself rather on odd with of Montreal's music. Their last EP, Rune Husk, was quite a fun little piece, but their full-lengths too often seem quite uneven to me. And now I am again torn between liking the jerky production and the often too easily forgettable song-writing. And sometimes the banal and unexciting execution blends together with the oddball peoduction and creates rather an obnoxious experience that is really difficult to get through. Just not this time, sorry. 4/10 |
| 26 |  | Between the Buried and Me
Automata I
Much like every time before, this is just another one of those bloated and directionless messy prog-jack-offs with little-to-no personality. 4/10
House Organ |
| 27 |  | Vox Vocis
Star Meissa
Just not my thing. A lot of technical goodness, the vocals are fine, even if not entirely fitting, and the non-existent song-writing. It's just fine. 6/10 |
| 28 |  | Conjurer
Mire
Atmospheric and heavy in all the right places. Even though at many accounts it seems like the music is about to get drab and boring, it never does. It keeps its freshness afloat and the execution is always top-notch. No complaints here. Doom Metal extravaganza like it should be. 8/10
Choke, Hollow, Thankless, The Mire, Of Flesh Weaker Than Ash |
| 29 |  | Actors
It Will Come to You
I am torn between whether to write a review for this or not... I might. I am tempted to, but I don't know that I have enough to say. 6/10
Slaves, Hit to the Head, Bury Me |
| 30 |  | Sojourner
The Shadowed Road
Yeah, dis dat gud black metal, man! 7/10
Titan, Our Bones Among the Ruins, The Shadowed Road |
| 31 |  | Mount Eerie
Now Only
Mount Eerie album after album prove to me one thing, which is that they (not sure if it's a band or a one-talentless-man project) are an insufferable mess. No energy, no song-writing whatsoever, no emphasis on the no-doubt crushing emotional condition and no justification for the excrutiating lengths of some of the songs. There is just nothing to hold on to. Sorry, but once again I am left less than unimpressed of this lifeless dread. 4/10
Earth |
| 32 |  | Hot Snakes
Jericho Sirens
I will be absolutely honest with you, I was absolutely prepared to hate this record or at least feel aggressively indifferent about it. But a listen after listen after listen of kick-ass song afte kick-ass song after kick-ass song that just kept on giving with their fun, maniacal, absurdly energetic execution and here I am giving it an 8/10.
I Need a Doctor, Candid Cameras, Jericho Sirens, Death Camp Fantasy, Death Doula, Death of a Sportsman |
| 33 |  | Meshell Ndegeocello
Ventriloquism
Okay, this will solidify my status as the "buzzkill", but I just couldn't get into this, no matter how much I tried. It certainly has nice instrumentation, but the song-writing is rather bleak. 5/10 |
| 34 |  | Rivers of Nihil
Where Owls Know My Name
Y'know what? Fuck write-ups. This just goddamn slays. 8/10 |
| 35 |  | Alva Noto
Unieqav
GotG
Not that I have any understanding of ambient, but this right here is just pleasant to chill out to. Guess that's the point, huh? 7/10 |
| 36 |  | Stone Temple Pilots
Stone Temple Pilots (2018)
Wow, it's like Weiland's Christmas album OD'd and he made a coked up hard rock version of that album. 3/10 |
| 37 |  | Oceans of Slumber
The Banished Heart
Slowing down and giving ways to water. 6/10 |
| 38 |  | J.C. Satan
Centaur Desire
I do enjoy the haziness and some of the riffs, but all-in-all this album just felt left-field and needlessly shaky. 6/10 |
| 39 |  | Judas Priest
Firepower
Somehow, the old leather rockers are back and in full colour. Their usual overly dramatic destructive lyrics, wavy guitar riffs and rapid drums, whole package. Fucking back at it again... even though the album is too long for its own good. 6/10
Lightning Strike, Evil Never Dies, Necromancer, Traitors Gate, Sea of Red |
| 40 |  | Yo La Tengo
There’s A Riot Going On
I am admittedly intrigued by the hazy concept and the calming execution, but the album just doesn't go much of anywhere outside of that. It ends up being absolutely forgettable and boring. 4/10 |
| 41 |  | Murs
A Strange Journey Into The Unimaginable
Considering writing something for this too, cause damn, man. 7/10
The Unimaginable, Same Way, Powerful, A Lean Story, Vows |
| 42 |  | Trvth
Reveal
Uuugh, this is juicy and off-putting (in a good way). Prehaps a little too raw and samey for my taste, but still with its own dark, dissonant merit. 6/10
Fingers Pointed Wrong, Commence |
| 43 |  | Greyhaven
Empty Black
Lord, no! 4/10 |
| 44 |  | Atonet
Ido
GotG
A serviceable enough ambient record, I suppose. It didn't really do much of anything for me, except reinburst my already held belief that ambient genre for the most part is difficult to sit through. It's fine, but nothing much of essence. 6/10 |
| 45 |  | Preoccupations
New Material
Oh how the mighty have fallen. What once was a grand magnetic noise extravaganza known as Women morphed into an eccentric and bold Viet Cong, which rebranded itself into a melodically impeccable and sonically astounding Preoccupations. And now that very band behind an eponymous vortex of goodness has returned with what can only be described as a dried wet fart. It was apparent from the singles already, really. I should have seen it coming. But I had my blind faith that “Espionage” will have a bigger punch to it (which, compared to what it actually was, meant any tiniest punch at all) in the context of the whole album, while “Antidote” is the only real misstep that will surely be overshadowed by a multitude of fresh and catchy tunes (after all, the self-titled record also had that long drone detour on “Memory”). But alas, New Material isn't happening, folks. Go home. 5/10
Solace |
| 46 |  | McCafferty
Yarn
Well, damn. I mean, I knew these guys are bloody good, but one release after another I hear from them is instant gold. Yarn is an emotional and energetic ride with some wonderfully catchy tunes. I just can't quite tell what is the prevalent genre here, pop-punk or emo... 8/10
Loser., Paper Pencil Copyright, Yarn, Scotland, Windmill, Westboro Sadness |
| 47 |  | Sol Invictus
Necropolis
Man, I was really looking forward to enjoying myself some Sol Invictus. It's been a long time since I listened to them and now here I am, listening to an odd, out-of-note detour. Quite demoralising, actually. 5/10 |
| 48 |  | George Ezra
Staying At Tamara's
Stay there, bud. Stay at Tamara's. 5/10 |
| 49 |  | Jack White
Boarding House Reach
That guy from that band you remember only three songs from made an album that you won't remember a single song of. In fact, you'll forget about this album's existence, as well as this guy, until he makes another album... and the cycle will repeat itself. 3/10
P.S.: This album is just sad in how obnoxiously boring it is. |
| 50 |  | Field Report
Summertime Songs
Just some washed out pop tunes... yeah... 5/10 |
| 51 |  | Corpo-Mente
Corpo-Mente
Weirdness in its most straightened out sense. I do enjoy a harsh majority of this album, but perhaps the inclusion of Igorrr influence left me wanting more, I dunno, insanity. This was pleasant instead. 7/10
Scylla, Fia, Dorma, Equus |
| 52 |  | Blessthefall
Hard Feelings
Washed out metal-ish band uses washed out electronica production to produce washed out songs about washed topics. Also, the vocals are terrible. 2/10 |
| 53 |  | Sunflower Bean
Twentytwo In Blue
Dreamy and soft pop outfit Sunflower Bean have been on my radar for quite some time. I do believe in the potential the band holds, but they just fail to wow me time and time again. This album might be my final stop and I am going nowhere after this. Tender melodies are fine, but the lackluster repetitive execution and the lack of any striking personality or character to it makes it all just so, so difficult to sit through. 5/10
Twentytwo, Oh No Bye Bye |
| 54 |  | GosT
Possessor
Creepy as always, but this time just a little bit out of shape. 6/10 |
| 55 |  | Augury
Illusive Golden Age
Technical, proggy, harsh and melodic at the same time... sometimes overkill, but still enjoyable. 7/10
The Living Vault, Maritime, Message Sonore |
| 56 |  | The Republic of Wolves
Shrine
Most definitely something I'd describe as a grower that probably won't grow any higher. I tried and failed time and time again, but the band's song-writing seemed somewher between too cheesy and taking itself too seriously, the vocals were redundant and the overall lack of any structural intrigue just drove me off every time. As unfortunate as it is, all the hype surrounding this (even though it did leave me mostly unaffected) just missed my head by a mile and the album remains just that one glib endeavour I'll probably forget come a week after my last listen. 5/10 |
| 57 |  | The Weeknd
My Dear Melancholy,
Goodbye to this guy I'll never knowingly listen to again. 2/10 |
| 58 |  | Datarock
Face the Brutality
Depeche Mode for the faint at heart with some cool song-writing and silly, but self-aware lyricism and arrangement. It's like the band knows this is dumb, but they just say "Fuck it. We love it anyway." Own that shit, that's how it's done. 7/10
Ruffle Shuffle, Sense of Reason, Laugh in the Face of Darkness, Feathers and Wax, Outta Here, Darkness at the Edge of the Pit |
| 59 |  | Holy Wave
Adult Fear
What an unexpectedly pretty and engulfing echoic release. It perhaps isn't the best psych-pop album out there, but it is nevertheless a fine, tuneful and relaxing one. 7/10
Nation in Regress, How Was I Supposed to Know?, David's Flower, The Nurse's Tale, Crys |
| 60 |  | Jean Grae/Quelle Chris
Everything's Fine
A cool collaboration of two inherently laid-back artists, both showing a certain unease hidden behind their relaxed personas, now together making an album about hidden unease. 7/10 |
| 61 |  | Media Jeweler
1-800-SUCCEED
Experimental post-punk/noise that just blasts with its purposefuly disorganised song-writing (or lack thereof) and instrumentation. 7/10 |
| 62 |  | Cavern of Anti-Matter
Hormone Lemonade
Just kind of a mixed bag of everything and nothing at the same time, sometimes going on for too long with litle to offer. Nice instrumental electrorock, but too little substance for its bloated runtime. 6/10 |
| 63 |  | Courtney Marie Andrews
May Your Kindness Remain
While I definitely do enjoy the tenderness of it all, the album just felt too repeptitive and mot particularly memorable. 6/10 |
| 64 |  | Alice Bag
Blueprint
I don'tt really have a lot to say about this, other than it is a nice fuzzy and melodic near-punk-y effort. 6/10
Turn It Up, 77, Sparkling Path |
| 65 |  | Amen Dunes
Freedom
A fairly pleasant pop album, but it really has nothing much above that going for it. 6/10
Skipping School, Believe |
| 66 |  | Orquesta Akokan
Orquesta Akokan
Robust, fun and just making your body move, this is exotica at its finest and most accesible, so do not be discouraged. 7/10 |
| 67 |  | ANCST
Ghosts of the Timeless Void
BLOODY HELLISH! 7/10 |
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