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Last Active 01-01-70 12:00 am
Joined 01-01-70
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| JOTW's 5s = REFURBISHXD
sup losers, the end of year lists are upon us and there are blurbs to write, and in a fit of galvanising procrastination I have decided NOW is the time to clear house and purge some 5s wow watch this page who will stay who will go | | 1 |  | Anathema
Judgement
(Probably) the oldest 5 on the page, courtesy of maudlin teenage angst and my lava lamp era. As a combined result of that history and Anathema's emotionally, uh, fervent delivery, I always expect this to have fallen off somehow but y'know what, nope nope nope not even a little bit. Not one new gripe to be had here - *Wings of God* is perhaps a little more tiresome than it was before, but that's the scope of it. Really glad this still reaches me the same way tbh - I've rubbished so many alt rock records for vapid melancholic nothingness in the last few years that I was worried I'd gone off the species altogether, but this one's songwriting is on point. its doom roots run deep and lend themselves to the substantive death/grief/depression themes in question and the emotional candour is way above the pitfalls of that brittle kitsch melodrama silliness of which I live in perpetual terror. KEEPER!
VERDICT: Still a 5 | | 2 |  | Bjork
Vespertine
This one's a lil awkward - originally bumped up from the 4.9 bracket when I wrote its 20-year retrospective review, which was the *right* move because it is kinda perfect and a classic and definitely hugely important for me personally and a lot of music that I personally like!
But something about this never felt quite right in the long run
Let's not talk about the artistry and the arrangements and the complexity and the palette, because I love them you love them yada yada they took influence from all the right places, did something inimitably #bjork and passed themselves onwards in all the right ways. The one fatal snag I have with Vespertine is that its treatment of intimacy has always felt a little cold to me - *not* in Bjork's performance, which borders on an all-out swoon from start to finish, but in the way it sets up the audience experience. I relate to its loved-up blissout more than I have done in a while in the sense of projecting personal experiences alongside the performance, but I've come to realise that all the facets that make it such a singularly Bjorkian record also serve as a very subtle barrier to channeling any kind of corresponding, vicarious bliss from her end of things. For an otherwise supremely intimate record, it's always made me feel oddly 3rd person, and so it's never truly been *my* blissout - I'm just an observer to beautiful work of sensual self-expression, and up on the 5list that doesn't quite cut it.
This isn't really anything close to an objective criticism, but it is the reason why Vesp is not a true 5 in a world where 4.9s exist.
VERDICT: Vespertine is perfect and a perfect 4.9, order will be restored. Downbump :] | | 3 |  | Boris
Boris At Last -Feedbacker-
[not up for re-evaluation] | | 4 |  | Cocteau Twins
Heaven or Las Vegas
I have absolutely zero new thoughts on Heaven or Las Vagas tbqh. Feels like coming back to an old pal in that classic 5.0-classic feeling, only the pal in question happens to be the aurora borealis. Maybe there's a little less between the stronger and weaker tracks here than I remembered? Maybe - still sublime anyway, perfect saccharine wonderpiece.
VERDICT: HOLV stays! Still a 5 | | 5 |  | Dead Can Dance
Within the Realm of a Dying Sun
My hopes for this one were relatively tempered, but this was largely because it's one of the albums I return to least on the list and medieval gothic is an incredibly easy aesthetic to make fun of. Turns out I needn't have worried - every song here is impeccable (*including* the ones that sound like DnD background music) and the atmosphere is timeless and profound and deeper than any depths of cynicism I will ever sink to. Resolute keeper!
VERDICT: yes 5.0 | | 6 |  | Kayo Dot
Choirs of the Eye
This is another of the older 5s here and had top sway over the way my taste developed back in the day and the kinda shit I went out of my way to look for. Gotta say, it's still unparalleled for what it is - shit's a masterclass in the slow builds and huge payoffs everyone and their mother was obsessed with throughout the '00s, but these compositions are gorgeous and so much more substantive than practically anything else you could wave the 21st C post-rock tag at (won't say the same for post-metal since ISIS exists, but that's another story)
This wasn't a clean victory lap though - bits of it have definitely worn thinner over time, especially anything overly build-oriented.The majority Wayfarer and the latter end of Manifold Curiosity are prime culprits (though certainly no slouch); this album is just too imaginative to need to be that linear. Gimme the way Marathon patiently unravels itself or the way the Antique draws itself laboriously together only to violently disintegrate any day.
VERDICT: benchmark 5.0 | | 7 |  | Ling Tosite Sigure
Just a Moment
Oh no oh no this one is really tough. For a solid year or so, this was no-holds-barred the apex of guitar music for me (Feedbacker later came along and swung that pendulum to the other end of the clockhouse) and as far as shamelessly overkill flashy 120%core goes, this is still extraordinary. There are so many *beautiful* moments here that bowled me over on my rejam and I love love love the way these guys work these kinds of momentary introspective stunnage into tracks that are otherwise pure fireworks display. Love playing along to a few of these too - S-tier guitar album
The problems are that 1) flamboyant post-hardcore, however atmospheric, is decreasingly my speed these days and 2) jfc I've overplayed a load of these tracks to death. A lot of them still very much bring their own flavours, but the opening pair and even JPOP Xfile have finally boiled down to cheap thrills. Mmmm it's gonna have to be a drop. Feels really rough letting this one go, but at least I know for sure that I'll still be dipping into it enough to maybe change my mind sometime
VERDICT: the best of its kind and definitely one I'll keep a soft spot for, but not quite a personal GOAT anymore. Would 4.8 it if that was a thing I did hmmm
EDIT: dipped into this again and it's still a jaw-dropper even if it's maybe not a 5. 4.9 tier baby lessgo | | 8 |  | Macaroom
Homephone TE
There's so much sugary pop goodness in this one that I wonder perhaps more than most whether I've finally overplayed it. No need! Absolutely magical record, probably the best experience I had returning to any of these so far (followed closely by Dead Can Dance and Anathema).
The intricacy in those glitch/downtempo/chamber arrangements holds up fantastically, the oddball lyricism marks a rare example of a Japanese-lang album I've actively enjoyed more as my language has improved (there really is nothing like being able to project over incomprehensible words you imagine are actually meaningful), and oh my goodness the sequencing, the pacing, the number of innocuous left-turns?? If I dropped Vespertine for feeling too much like a peep-hole into someone else's hidden chambers, this is an all-immersive wonderworld of enchanting semi-digital cryptics and I'm not leaving anytime soon.
VERDICT: extremely easy 5 | | 9 |  | Melt-Banana
Cell-Scape
Hahahahahahaha yeah this thing still rips like lightning freebase foxmagic, don't think there's anyone alive who can touch the guitar stunts+stylings pulled off here. I'm forever in awe at just how many great beats and basslines this drops for a supposedly pedalboard+feedback -oriented experience. Eternal love. shield For Your Eyes got me grinning and bopping like the feckdamned caffeine-addled Cheshire Cat and it was all go from there. Will say that Like A White Bat In A Box is by far the least inspiring song and maybe doesn't even belong here, but everything else is straight warped heat so I don't care. Greatest band of all time, fuck you and your heavy metal !
VERDICT: blessed and freebased 5.0 | | 10 |  | mewithoutYou
Pale Horses
[not up for re-evaluation] | | 11 |  | Oceansize
Frames
Let's talk about prog rock. Let's not. Frames is on the fence and I don't know which way to go - the climax-oriented cuts here are extraordinary and some of the best post-rock of the era, and the rock tracks that muscle that post-rock bullshit into tighter moment-to-moment push-pull are even better. This wing of the album (most of it!) is special and holds up a treat.
What I'm much less sure about is the ballads. Oh baby. The title track is the biggest offender here (am deeply sorry to past-me and all fans, but that shit is a slightly sickly-sentimental baby shower in slow motion) and Savant, while an excellent track in most respects, isn't *quite* compelling enough to warrant taking so long to turn into that string winddown. This is a LARGE album and these two tracks are also LARGE. And yet I still enjoy them. But. Is this still a 5? UH. Would likely keep if the t/t did not exist! As it is further research is needed
VERDICT: I DON'T KNOW
EDIT: Revisited Sleeping Dogs and the t/t and it's a cinch. Off to 4.7 | | 12 |  | Seiko Oomori
Sennou
Shame on me for not ruling this out for re-evaluation. Absolutely magical album from start to finish, really beautiful glimpse of younger Seiko hitting the sort-of mainstream and coming into her own outside of her weirdo brand of indie folk and starting to show a little societal skewering in her lyricism, while still displaying many a sign of vestigial youthfulness. This thing is *full* of the kind of nostalgia that only young people can have for a past they're still convincing themselves maybe existing, and backed with the kind of mercurial creative waywardness that this era of unrefined popstar-Seiko held in such spades, the results are raw and organic and inspirationally messy (and occasionally try a little too hard, but we allow that). First seven tracks in particular is an alltimer run; there hasn't been a record like this since.
VERDICT: Zero regrets about the absolute age it took to warm to this. Best artist of her time 5.0 | | 13 |  | Shiina Ringo
Shouso Strip
Shouso Strip probably holds the most claim of any of these to a single album that outright changed my life in a single specific way, which squares nicely with how it's iconic as all fuck in general. Young Shiina Ringo at the peak of her songwriting powers was spewing noisy ROCKING earworms left right and centre, sweeping up accolades commercial and critical alike and laying what turned out to be the framework for a lovely, very much enduring moment of East-West cultural exchange - goodbye noisy '90s American alternative, hello overdriven '00s Jpop. This record is a comfortable mutual with practically anyone with even a casual interest in Japanese music and the intrigue and personality I felt from the start beneath its bracing feedback and inspirational hooks was a key part of what attracted me, fresh back from a bewildering first visit to Tokyo, to learn the language and explore the culture to begin with.
So tl;dr if there's one Japanese record I feel I can't drop because of what it's meant for me, it's this one. Most of the music is still easily up to scratch (Benkai Debussy's early slaughtering of the tracklist flow is the one misstep I can't forgive), and by good fortune this spin has been the one to *finally* make me click with the midway electro-popfuck interlude(???) Stoicism, which until now was a thorn in this one's side, and the relatively coy Sakana. Hooray. As for the highlights, it's a bit of of a Chan-TDAG-review scenario: sometimes the same allure comes back to me in all its scorching electricity and pop magnetism, sometimes I just feel I'm listening through truly great set of songs that have already changed me in the way they needed to. I can live with this; even when I dip into Shouso Strip at a less-than-critical moment, it still feels like sightseeing one of the greatest pop albums of all time. Those echoes of awe speak volumes.
VERDICT: cannot go without this one. | | 14 |  | Slint
Spiderland
[not up for re-evaluation] | | 15 |  | Slowdive
Souvlaki
Very little to add to this one; I've drifted closer and closer to shoegaze in the last couple of years, and Souvlaki still encapsulates the majority of its best qualities better than anything.
VERDICT: Uncontroversial pick for genre peak, for all the right reasons. Righteous 5.0 | | 16 |  | Sonic Youth
EVOL
EVOL hypothesis: this album is amazing and spooky and kinda immature but in the best way, but do I still love it as such? Has it still got it?
EVOL relisten #1: ...well, does it?
EVOL relisten #2: Opening four is still an all-time combo, but can I really still connect to this thing's grotty undercurrent of anxiety like I used to?
EVOL relisten #3: okay hmmmm yes good mmm uh okay yeah i remember this bit too well [...] mmmm [Secret Girls] OH HOLY SHIT-
-I think the combo of Secret Girls/Marilyn Moore saves EVOL. I really didn't want to drop this one (hence the relistens); the opening run and Expressway is obviously a masterclass, but my relationship with the whole thing has always been a little off/on and the mitigating element that made and kept this as a 5 was that this (ft. the m u r k y atmosphere) was an intrigue in and of itself. Was worried things had gotten a little dry, but nope nope this still has that edge. Is it an edgier album than it is a good one? U h h h h h h don't call me.
VERDICT: Will be happy if this ends up my worst 5. Might drop it 4.9 if I do end up bumping Sister | | 17 |  | Soutaisei Riron
Hi-Fi Anatomia
This is a perfect album and I love everything about it. Everything cool and clean about indie pop in the widestest sense is pulled off magnificently here. I love it. I love how spaced out everything is yet how meticulously tight the pacing is. I love how every track has such a distinct presence, and I love how two tracks I used not to care for have grown on me. I love the tones and I LOVE THE GUITAR jfc find me a classier guitar performance on any pop album, I shall wait! Gonna learn a few of these tracks. I love how succinct the whole thing is. The only thing I don't always love is Etsuko Yakushimaru's daydream voice, but her songwriting is watertight and her delivery suits the ditsy smartass nonsense the lyrics toy with so she gets a pass.
VERDICT: Easy 5, but I will yield to the probably accidental wisdom proffered by vagrant havey and acknowledge that this thing is *so* clean and slick that it would benefit from sitting alongside a noisier scuzzier sillier counterpart from within similar territory, and that 35 would be the perfect album for that. Fingers crossed. | | 18 |  | Talking Heads
Remain in Light
[not up for re-evaluation] | | 19 |  | The Dillinger Escape Plan
Option Paralysis
This record has spent a. l o n g. time carrying the burden of my token metal 5 that the metal ignoramus_hivemind also loves. And, um I would love for it to stay there! I love this album! I adore the *hell* out of the first three tracks + I Wouldn't If You Didn't in particular, but the rest is various shades of fire that I am and am not in the mood to listen to at any moment, to varying respective degrees. This is without a doubt the best Dillinger album (in a universe where Calculating Infinity is in another universe - that's another convo) - everything else they did with Greg P is some shade of sloppy, inconsistent, immature, overproduced or homogenous in songwriting (love em all but). Not this! This is *everything*, most of it to the best and almost all of it so fleeting that it hardly overstays its welcome. Mercilessly precise, gloriously intense, jack-of-all-trades and their most refined - what's not to love?
Well, uh, certain things. Maybe their lustre has faded having heard the Callous Daoboys force-march this sound to Broadway (uh. uhhhhhhhh.), but Widower and Parasitic Twins (two previous highlights) aren't that far off the mark from gimmick tracks at this point, and while I do enjoy both when they're on, it's time to stop pretending that the Endless Endings/Crystal Morning combo is as whelming as I always wanted it to be. And Chinese Whispers, hmm. Still don't quite hate it, but shit's a portent for the most banal parts of One of Us... and a strong contender for the Dillinger song my girlfriend (who fwiw jams Honeysuckle on public transport) enjoys more than me by the largest margin.
I dunno, I love this record. It opened doors to me and there's a ton here that holds up a treat. Do I want to keep it close to teh heart? Hell yeah! Is it still a candidate for absolute total all-timer? Ummmm *so close baby*
Still the best of its kind probably
VERDICT: Gonna drop to a righteous 4.7 that it would thoroughly deserve if I heard it for the first time today | | 20 |  | The Flaming Lips
Clouds Taste Metallic
Clouds Taste Metallic is potentially unmatched in the way it frames the duality of blissed out hippy airhead zanyshit and a biting undercurrent of disillusion/loss of innocence that it doesn't have the heart/will/words to confront headlong. I found this record and connected with it extremely intensely over a 2ish year period in my early 20s where those themes only seemed to cut deeper into my own life the more I recognised them, and my first re-impression of this record now was disarmingly vivid. That magical opener transported me uncomfortably clearly to when I was living that idyllic spacey fantasy-life and didn't want to notice that it was starting to show significant wear around the edges and phwoar bam, a tragic nostalgia trip was born. I was worried that this record would have a limited amount to say to me now, but suddenly it seemed that a little distance and extra self-awareness might actually give me an extra lens to appreciate it and the way I used to cling to its. every. vibe.
For the most part, it does just that -- enough said to that end -- with the perk that phwoar boi, this is far more sophisticated musically than I remembered (the number of subtle counter-melodies (Brainville!) and half-hidden layers on this thing goes far beyond its fuzzed-out noise pop exterior). It feels good(/meaningfully sad) and sounds good - huzzah!
There is one glaring issue in that I now straight-up dislike Guy Who Got A Headache (its clunky riff-rock and cartoonish fantasy is just too much too long too irritating even for this record, I'm sorry) and get pretty sparse gratification from the belaboured saddish-tracks Placebo Headwound and They Punctured My Yolk - I think these two address what I look for in this record so directly in their tone that they kinda ruin the enchantment, which is a me-problem but still a salient one. So there are drawbacks hmm and they weigh down a decent chunk of the record.
This is a rare case where I feel I could justify a 5 or a drop to 4.7-ish territory just as easily. This record is easily strong enough, not to mention significantly and enduringly formative, that I don't mind keeping it around as a nostalgia pick, but I return to it rarely enough and can find *just* enough flaws in it to let it drop. If there is an empty room, then it can happily fill it - and on that basis, I'm going to pull a gigantic cop-out and wait to see how many of the remaining three records (22 thru 24) I cull before making a final cull here. Don't wanna lose too many of those kids. | | 21 |  | The Gathering
Souvenirs
Well, this is interesting - I expected this one to ace the round, but while (spoilers) it is an enduring 5, the upshot was more similar to the EVOL scenario of a cluster of out-of-this-world highlights and a pervasive album-long atmosphere compensating for a handful of tracks that I don't think I'd ever jam in isolation nowadays (we're talking Monsters and Broken Glass esp, but also, surprisingly, A Life All Mine - I finally see that one as the relatively shallow bonus track that it really is, which ig mitigates the impact of revelation). Strange. Surprising. No longer as consistent! No matter - a bunch of these tracks are pure noir perfect, the opening pair and t/t especially but also I love the moody shit that Jelena, We Just Stopped Breathing and even Golden Grounds throw in in their own instantly recognisable ways. The thought of playing Portishead as a texture-savvy goth rock band should never in a million years have worked this well - I adore Third to pieces too, but half the time *this* is the record to jam in its stead.
VERDICT: 5.0, but maybe I should bump Third to keep em as close as they should be | | 22 |  | The Veils
Nux Vomica
Of all the albums I did *not* expect to pick as my current least favourite 5, this was - uh! One of them! And I still love most of it, that astounding opening pair first and foremost, but it's got too many cracks to conserve its end-to-end charm: Pan's jumpy incohesion, the trudge of a closer or the poppiest tracks (Mamas, One Nighters) wearing off on me. Love the group, love the album, can't wait to catch em in June, but this isn't quite the peak it once was.
VERDICT: 4.5 with you | | 23 |  | Thrice
The Artist in the Ambulance
I have no idea why of all the nostalgia jams in the world, this should be the one to never lose its grip, but shit damn these tracks still hit like an overcompressed ton of bricks and I am *sold* on this being the golden age mallcore record for me. This is high school and it is the best high school and it is a mystery that we are still there, but it is the one: it's beefier than Thursday, more distinct hooks than Alexisonfire, far stronger songwriting than the jank the Fall of Troy started churning out in following years, and don't even think about bringing that pathetic self-pitying Brand New shit into this conversation, and... well, I can't really justify this as being any better than Glassjaw but. Is it childish to reduce this to a back-n-forth round of scene comparisons? This is high school. Perfect time capsule 5 and fuck you if you think discovering Radiohead and the Beach Boys made *you* too cool for whatever you were wired to back then lol you probably listen to Deftones and ETID on the daily you piece of shit.
VERDICT: would probably struggle to 4 this if I heard it for the first time today, but yahnah I ain't dropping EDIT actually yes fuck this isn't highschool and this isn't a 5. There is no way in hell I'm keeping this in a universe where Just a Moment drops. | | 24 |  | Unwound
Leaves Turn Inside You
Yes lol this is obviously a 5, not sure why I doubted. Two of my least favs (Look a Ghost, Below the Salt) hit me extra hard this time around and I had a good ol' time spacing the hell out. Mmmmm
VERDICT: yes | | 25 |  | Yeule
Glitch Princess
I've just spammed my guts out over this record on my yearend list and don't want to squeeze it for sentences too hard, but this is still a deeply special record and I don't think it resonates with me any less now that the initial release buzz has worn off. If anything, I feel more comfortable with it than ever now that the year is out and all those silly stakes-are-up protectivist instincts can be put to bed; Glitch Princess has made its mark and I don't feel much further need to get on my soapbox for it - so much easier viewing it as a mostly-masterpiece without there being anything to prove by it hype-wise. As a healthy bonus, my latest listen has swung me back round to songs earlier in the tracklist that I thought I was losing faith in (esp Flowers Are Dead). Glitch pop peak alongside Homephone TE.
VERDICT: the 5.0 stays | | 26 |  | Satanicpornocultshop
Arkhaiomelisidonophunikheratos
**PROSPECTIVE NU-5s** | | 27 |  | Supercar
Highvision
Long overdue a 5, one of the best shoegaze records *and* the best thing to come out of indietronica, absolutely impeccable tracklist and beautifully straightforward performances across the ground. So much heart to this, so many slick genre crossover decisions, easy classic.
VERDICT: 5.0 fuck off Kid A | | 28 |  | Unwound
New Plastic Ideas
See: Sister blurb
VERDICT: Sister sister | | 29 |  | Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds
Henry's Dream
7 or maybe 6 out of 9 of these songs are Bad Seeds classics and I just *love* how much menace those driving acoustics pack. Perfect storytelling, obviously. Is it a 5? Honestly, no. Just no. Gut no - so close, but these songs' magic used to hit me in a life-or-death way that just ain't there in the same way, superb as they are, and I'm not going to compensate with a flashy rating. Wow that was easy.
VERDICT: I love this album we are still friends, no 5 | | 30 |  | Sonic Youth
Sister
I've spent so long thinking about bumping Sister and then jamming Sister and then not making my mind up that y'know fuck it, I'm not bumping Sister
VERDICT: not today not yesterday hm | | 31 |  | Spangle call Lilli line
PURPLE
VERDICT: not quite a 5 - this is a situationally perfect record and I adore it to pieces, so much so that I won't overrate it. Perfect downtempo/dream pop *heavy* chilltimes | | 32 |  | The Weakerthans
Reconstruction Site
VERDICT: this probably should have been a 5 at some point, but I have to strain by about 5% to get 100% into the full sappy egodeath spirit of it and that's a nope for now. | | 33 |  | David Bowie
Station to Station
After a few months, I'm more than happy to hold this up as peak Bowie alongside Ziggy Stardust and the majority of Scary Monsters... but a 5? It feels a little premature - these songs are all various shades of perfect, granted, but they're begging to have a few more memories hung on them. I feel that they'll support that so well as time passes that this record hasn't fully matured for me personally. But then, so much of this is about being the opposite of lucid and overthought, and just making impulsive decisions and CARPEING THAT DIEM and now that TVC15 is on, I can feel this and fuckit okay okay we can go up actually hmmmmmmHHHHHM
VERDICT: yeah go on 5.0 | | 34 |  | Vladislav Delay
Anima
Went back and forth on this, since the ONE HOUR ONE SONG LIMINAL STRUCTURE experience ain't for the casual jams, but I can't lay a finger on any flaws here. Just impeccable atmosphere, spotless glitch, absolutely unrivalled knack for off-kilter ambient percussion (the way this thing's rhythm reinvents itself continually for 60 bloody minutes is beyond belief), and a simple but incredibly effective framing device that sets this up perfectly as the cybernetic reverie out of time and consciousness that it needs to nail, well, perfectly to justify that sprawl. Phenomenal stuff.
VERDICT: perfect album 5.0 | | 35 |  | Citrus
Pits Are the Pits (25 Gold = Rare = Debris...
Every time I listen to this I become a little more convinced that it's actually the best album of all time
And it has a few rough fuckin patches I cannot lie
But also the scattergun greatness here is unbelievable and ridiculously fun and does hold up absurdly well across repeats
VERDICT: cannot solicit a 5, but we're gonna get as close as we can | | 36 |  | Stereolab
Transient Random-Noise Bursts with Announcements
A few repeat listens over the last few months and I'm satisfied that this has grown on me by just the crucial pinch required to bump it up. Sorry Dots and Loops gang - this is and will forever be the best Stereolab, such a fun smart vibrant buzz of a record with so many brilliant ideas. Play this on any non-digital format at least once and you'll get why
VERDICT: p much everything good about guitar music is on this album it can be a 5 | | 37 |  | Boards of Canada
Music Has the Right to Children
Yes this is GOATed but also how much do I care about everything in the second half that isn't Rue The Whirl or Open The Light or ig Pete Standing Alone? Pass
VERDICT: lovely 4.5 | | 38 |  | Oceansize
Effloresce
Nop nop nop too long too alt rock too moment-in-time-that-ain't-this-one. Still adore a lot of this album and will weigh it against Frames sometime, but it's not 5 material alas | | 39 |  | Sweet Trip
Velocity : Design : Comfort
VERDICT: so close but so far sorry no ily. Second half of Fruitcake and Cookies + all of Pro : Lov : Ad drag this down just a little too much, and then the HISTORY comes crashing in | | 40 |  | My Chemical Romance
The Black Parade
will reappraise this one another time, I cannot handle it right now and this is a good thing | | 41 |  | Carissa's Wierd
Songs About Leaving
VERDICT: gosh, so close. A bunch of this is definitely 5worthy, but a) it has just a tad too much shrapnel and b) the overbearing chamber arrangements aren't as much my scene as they used to be. Maybe Ugly But Honest's pared back slowcore tunes are the answer after all, gonna 4.7 this meanwhile | | 42 |  | The Dillinger Escape Plan
Calculating Infinity
This record deserves better than to be my new token metal 5 that isn't Boris | |
MoM
12.16.22 | Some great stuff on here, Johnny. Particularly glad to see 7. | sixdegrees
12.16.22 | thrice weakerthans & unwound gotta go | widowslaugh123
12.16.22 | 29 is not a 5 there just saved you some time | Mort.
12.16.22 | concept
list | sixdegrees
12.16.22 | no 5s is psychotic, he's not even using a positive rating system | MiloRuggles
12.16.22 | Excuse me Underworld is not in your prospective 5s? | TVC15
12.16.22 | Delete it all and bump up Katatonia | TVC15
12.16.22 | Actually nvm delete it all and keep Leaves Turn Inside You | sixdegrees
12.16.22 | neck | Kompys2000
12.16.22 | Lmao is something in the water lately a discord I'm in started getting really into satanicpornocultshop like the same week I saw u post about them for the first time
Pulling for station to station as a nu-5 u gotta get ur boomer-era takes up to level ! | samwise2000
12.16.22 | sennou above shouso strip is a crime and you will be tried in court | MoM
12.16.22 | ^ But… the alphabet 😔 | Scornfyre
12.16.22 | No 5s is fucking ludicrous. You must not enjoy music all that much if no album has ever touched you enough to be worthy of a 5. | Scornfyre
12.16.22 | "The suggestion that Katatonia have ever released a record rateable above a 4 just injured my ribcage"
Fr. After going through Anathema's discography someone said "if you love this kinda stuff then you will love Katatonia." Suffice to say, I was thoroughly disappointed. | neekafat
12.16.22 | Demote Yeule already | Trifolium
12.16.22 | 🌞✨ | Mort.
12.16.22 | 'including* the ones that sound like DnD background music'
quite literally used windfall as dnd background music, very apt | anode
12.16.22 | Lol go figure the best hardcore album of its kind for Johnny also has an indie tag. What’s the connection here? I’ll give it a listen though…better not be pretentious af | anode
12.16.22 | Alright thas pretty good
Edit: that wore thin pretty quick. I guess I shouldn’t have expected them to keep up the pace of that banger opener | Egarran
12.16.22 | Very interesting to see how your taste is progressing. You make me wish I knew any of these albums. | Pangea
12.16.22 | 5 station to station TODAY | anode
12.16.22 | Fair | Demon of the Fall
12.16.22 | 'Satanicpornocultshop
electronicexperimentaltrip hoptag'
damn... NEED!
I'll be doing the whole overview in Jan and beyond, like a less ridiculous person who actually plans for their 'workload'
good idea, nice list though etc. | Demon of the Fall
12.16.22 | Vladislav Delay is also on my checklist for the new year, nice | anode
12.16.22 | Listening to melt-banana, what have I got myself into | Demon of the Fall
12.16.22 | a wonderful thing? | Icebloom
12.16.22 | Cool to see I've (maybe) inspired you to do a re-evaluation list (maybe?). Good job keeping Within the Realm as a 5. Looking forward to your thoughts on Slowdive, Nick Cave and Spangle. | Sabrutin
12.17.22 | What if someone dies and this list turns out to be the setting of a whodunnit then
I'm sure some sputters could find a motive to kill over a 5 | MoM
12.17.22 | 😵🔍🥸
Aye, Souvlaki killed Purp with the Machine Gun in the Space Station | samwise2000
12.18.22 | Oh wait im dumb didnt realize this was alphabetical now i look stupid haha my b | Demon of the Fall
12.18.22 | I still prefer Effloresce to Frames probably because I’m basic… my mind says I’m wrong, but my heart is comfortable with the decision
Agreed on the balladry either way | Demon of the Fall
12.19.22 | yeah, I got into Efflo first and sometimes put my own preference down to nostalgia, despite a perceived relative lack of refinement, that on reflection I'm no longer sure exists...
maybe I should occasionally place some trust in my 20 year old self, as occasionally his taste was somewhat acceptable, this might've been one such instance | Demon of the Fall
12.19.22 | 26 is absurd(ly cool) | anode
12.19.22 | I didn’t know jpop was actually something people listened to. Those guitars are a lot punchier than over here | JohnnyoftheWell
01.15.23 | gonna have to finish this soon hmpf
added some new candidates | AnimalsAsSummit
01.15.23 | Woah nice Anima. Amazing album! | Icebloom
01.15.23 | Ugly But Honest is the true Carissa's Wierd 5, but I'll take Songs as well | TVC15
01.15.23 | 5 The Black Parade already | JohnnyoftheWell
01.16.23 | honestly tempted to got here without relistening lol
bump for EVOL | GhandhiLion
01.16.23 | Nice! I might also bump EVOL. | JohnnyoftheWell
02.23.23 | quintuple update phwoar the end of the current 5s is near! How many more to cull??? | Ryus
02.23.23 | 5 calc infinity instead of annoying greg album | JohnnyoftheWell
02.23.23 | i love greg :[ but he is the worst part of Dillinger when they're not good and Ben Weinman is their god and a god on Calc so yes maybe, let's get that on the prospectives list
gonna say that Billy Rymer's style + the ultraslick (but not glossy!) prod on that record go some way to making up for the missteps | Ryus
02.23.23 | noice
calculating infinity is on the cusp for me and it was a 5 once upon a time. it kind of peters out at the end because really how could it maintain the intensity of the opening few tracks | JohnnyoftheWell
02.23.23 | I've always loved the final 4-5 tracks on that one most (t/t and 4th Grade are legendary cmon), so maybe there shall be no issue mmhm | Mort.
02.24.23 | calc used to be my fav mathcore but then coalesce botch took that space
inb4 johnny says something about coalesces being rednecks cos hes an anti-white misandrist | JohnnyoftheWell
02.24.23 | fuck men | Demon of the Fall
02.24.23 | '5 calc infinity instead of annoying greg album'
no, this is definitely the wrong character development (as I did the reverse)... actually for YOU maybe it is okay
good take on A Life All Mine (do bonus tracks count though?) and Third is > for sure, more highlights and comparable situational vibes in some ways. Admittedly I was considering 5ing Souvenirs also but I'm not quite there yet... still time | Demon of the Fall
02.24.23 | or just 5 We Are The Romans instead of Calc | Pheromone
02.24.23 | > the overbearing chamber arrangements aren't as much my scene as they used to be.
ur wrong | JohnnyoftheWell
02.24.23 | ur a sad boi | Pheromone
02.24.23 | u dont know me | Demon of the Fall
02.24.23 | is Carissa's Wierd demoncore?
it is currently registering a 6.3/10 on the ol' possibility meter
| Pheromone
02.24.23 | demoncore is hard to gauge
i see a 3.5 in the horizon | Demon of the Fall
02.24.23 | yes, even I find it hard to gauge! 3.5 sounds good to me tho
Sparklehorse has been growing on me btw | JohnnyoftheWell
02.24.23 | phero check 35 it is the moreru of shibuya kei | Mort.
02.24.23 | good neighbor is the best track from 19 | JohnnyoftheWell
02.27.23 | i get closer to agreeing the more i think about that, so hmmm maybe
3 more to go | Kompys2000
02.27.23 | Yeah Headache is a easyish pick for CTM weak link, far and away Jones' least interesting performance with the band and it really could use a verse or bridge or something... the outro is still cute as heck tho hehehe
HOWEVER cannot agree even a little on they Punctured My Yolk, the build to the fourth verse/last 2 minutes overall is everything the band had been promising they could pull off since priest driven ambulance- although I don't know that the track sequencing does it any favors (feels a bit like a home-stretch tune booted back to the middle third, plus Watermelon Gun is an admittedly tough act to follow) | JohnnyoftheWell
02.27.23 | Yolk is very much a personal gripe and not an attack on that song! think it's v much perfect for what it is, just not what i demand from the alb (despite being precisely that in so many ways to a fault lol), if that figures?
but yes Watermelon Gun is impossible to follow. potential peak of noise pop right there, love it to pieces and MISS Ronald Jones. what a hero | Kompys2000
02.27.23 | Right yes I am saying your personal gripes are wrong and you should stop having them UwU but for sure agree other points on other songs feel like twists on formulas it serves up more straightforwardly
Pulling for sexy crowdpleaser scenecore MCR to replace bland myspace-hipster scenecore Thrice but honestly a lot of those nu-5s point to exciting #arcs onwards and upwards!!! | JohnnyoftheWell
03.20.23 | WE HAVE SOME WINNERS AND SOME LOSERS um new era yes! | Mort.
03.20.23 | i am beautiful no matter what they say | JohnnyoftheWell
03.20.23 | ABOUT THAT!!!!
i don't care what they say etc | DocSportello
03.20.23 | i lost interest in metal a long time ago but man choirs of the eye (manifold curiosity esp) has such a fucking grip and i think about it often. one of the best albums I’ll never rate | JohnnyoftheWell
03.21.23 | blessed and based. i don't really think of Choirs as a metal album nowadays - probs more of a reflection of how i feel about metal, but it really do be unfair competition | anode
03.21.23 | how you feel about metal johnny? it's definitely my favorite genre due to the extremes that it can reach but i was tripping the other weekend and i tried to listen to some very extreme metal and i was like "i dont really feel like these emotions right now" and went back to nonmetal jams. is it something like that? | Demon of the Fall
03.21.23 | interesting update, I might one day get around to checking a few of the unknowns here
I know you didn't ask me anode, but metal for me has been an almost perfectly symmetrical mountain so far. I have reached the peak and started on the slow descent already, although only time will tell whether there's another peak on the horizon, or whether this sustains itself and ends up back where I started
In numeric terms, this would be a relatively modest decline, yet it can certainly be felt. My listening habits in terms of '% time spent' are certainly quite different to a couple of years ago and I definitely explore new stuff in other genres more keenly (as a priority) than I ever did before. | anode
03.21.23 | I gotta say demon, I have no idea what you’re talking about. I would never characterize my listening preferences as a mountain. More of a current with twist and turns where normally I will listen to anything, sometimes just want to listen to extreme music such as metal, sometimes I want to listen to calmer music ie nonmetal, and rarely I don’t want to listen to music at all. But nothing really changes in terms of what genres I like/am interested in aside from the youthful stuff I listened to in my teens | Demon of the Fall
03.21.23 | ah yeah, well that's the difference if you generally appreciate the same things. My preferences obviously do change depending on my mood, but it's also normal for your taste to develop over time. I'm still into metal, I just listen less now than I did before. I likened it to a mountain as it feels the most apt visual descriptor of this path so far, doesn't mean it won't change (hence mentioning the potential for another 'peak')... idk it was a shit analogy. | anode
03.21.23 | I like new things when I discover them, but I find it hard to believe I wouldn’t have enjoyed them similarly if I found them 10 years ago. I think the analogy was alright just didn’t apply to me | JohnnyoftheWell
03.21.23 | what the hell guys | Demon of the Fall
03.21.23 | Captain, this is a hijack | AlexKzillion
03.21.23 | station to station 5 lets gooooo | AlexKzillion
03.21.23 | pour one out for option paralysis tho damn | Demon of the Fall
03.21.23 | I’ll bump it to replace Johnny | anode
03.21.23 | Sorry johnny | izakaya
03.21.23 | some primo navel-gazing here but I enjoyed it a lot - you've got a fun style.
good call on station to station, 100% best bowie.
decided to test if I had any nostalgia for thrice and actually kind of enjoyed the t/t for TAiTA. then the tracks after came on and had to turn it off immediately |
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