Average Rating: 3.57 Rating Variance: 0.43 Objectivity Score: 72% (Fairly Balanced)
Sort by: Rating | Release Date | Rating Date | Name5.0 classicSaintseneca Dark Arc4.5 superbAndy Shauf The Bearer of Bad NewsBig Thief U.F.O.F.Hippo Campus SouthI listened to their other EP first and got so sucked into it that I forgot to listen to this follow up. When I finally got around to it I was blown away because its better in almost every way. Hippo Campus steps out on their own here; I compare their older EP to Vampire Weekend but this one is much harder to pin down. It still has the vocal quirks and quick melodic guitar riffs but its got a bigger, more mature sound. South and The Halocline are the best demonstrations of this, I think. Those two tracks take less of a straightforward approach to songwriting in terms of structure than the rest of the EP, which focuses more on the guitar hooks and choruses - all of which are very fun. I love this band and continue to be impressed by them, especially considering they are all still teenagers. Julien Baker Sprained AnkleLorde MelodramaI never really fell in love with Lorde's previous material, save a couple tracks from Pure Heroin. I don't have much to say that hasn't already been said: catchy hooks, nice mixture of experimental and clean cut sounds, and the emotive and personal lyrics are all big pluses. Favorite Tracks: Hard Feelings/Loveless, Perfect Places, Homemade Dynamite, Liability.PUP Morbid StuffRemember Sports All Of SomethingThis is a special little album. The songs on here are almost all shorter than 3 minutes of scrappy guitar work and earnest vocals. The songwriting is topnotch with some great, distinct vocals. Favorite Tracks: Stunted, Saturday, Washing Machine4.0 excellentAndy Shauf Waiting for The Sun To LeaveA friend of mine turned me on to this particular Andy Shauf album, which is really more of an EP. It is a short collection of sweet, wistful acoustic tracks delivered with Shauf's quirky, folky guitar styling and thick Canadian accent. The atmosphere of these songs is so comforting and the melodies are consistently catchy. Highly recommend, especially for fans of his other work. Favorite tracks: Swimming in a Cage, Lean On, Open.Big Thief CapacityFrank Turner Tape Deck HeartGivers In LightI have long considered this at least in my top three indie pop records of all time; it has been on hard rotation for me every summer since I first heard this band. The best tracks, I can name three alone which more than justify this record by themselves, are whirlwinds of tempo changes, breakdowns, and colorful production choices. No other record I have come across offers this breadth of an instrumental and textural color palette across an entire record's worth of songs. Plus the songwriting is varied and most of the choruses are crazy catchy. Favorite tracks: Meantime, Up Up Up, Noche Nada, Ripe.Hippo Campus Bashful Creatures EPExcellent, simple indie rock. All of the songs presented on this EP are uptempo guitar pop songs with impeccably clean production. They incorporate crisp, precise guitar licks and drum work that reminds me of early Vampire Weekend. The vocals are fairly heavily stylized as well, again reminding me somewhat of Vampire Weekend. The whole EP is a fun, easy listen. Favorite tracks: Sophie So, Little Grace, Suicide SaturdayHop Along Painted ShutHop Along Bark Your Head Off, DogLewis Watson The MorningLewis Watson MidnightLos Campesinos! Romance Is BoringIt is definitely ridiculous and frequently abrasive. Yet because of this, more than in spite of it, this record is exceedingly colorful and consistently entertaining. It also somehow manages to find space in some of the slower tracks to be genuinely, emotionally striking. Favorite tracks: These Are Listed Buildings, Straight in at 101, and the closer (Coda...). Not a song I don't enjoy, though.Lucy Rose Like I Used ToI thought this was going to be standard folk influenced singer-songwriter stuff. I was, during my first listen, impressed by the variety of the instrumentation and Lucy's voice (which is stunning). In subsequent listens I was impressed by the spectacular melancholy of some tracks (Shiver and Gamble come to mind) and still more fascinated by her voice. It has a distinctive, tender vibrato to it that I love. Certainly would recommend. Phoebe Bridgers Stranger in the AlpsPinegrove SkylightI loved the songs of Cardinal, their previous record, but never the sound. Hearing live takes, including the Audiotree Session, of this band are what made me fall in love with them. I feel that this album better captures the sound and energy of Pinegrove as a band, which exudes a sense of warmth. Skylight also shows more consistently polished lyricism from Evan and more poignant moments that rival the best from Cardinal. Favorite tracks: Skylight, Rings, Intrepid, Lights On.Sara Bareilles Brave Enough Live at the VarietySara Bareilles Little VoiceSoccer Mommy CleanSon Lux BonesSon Lux RemedyTwenty One Pilots TrenchWalk the Moon Talking is Hard3.5 greatBad Bad Hats Psychic ReaderBig Thief MasterpieceBleachers Gone NowI unabashedly love this record. Easily my favorite record from 2017; huge, beautiful hooks and choruses, with plenty of weirdness on the production side of things that keep it interesting. Plus there is an earnestness in the lyrics and much of the vocal delivery that gives it an emotional appeal if those kinds of things resonate with you. Overall thoroughly enjoyable if not terribly ground-breaking. Favorite Tracks: Dream of Mickey Mantle, Don't Take the Money, Everybody Lost Somebody, Foreign Girls.Courtney Barnett Tell Me How You Really FeelThis record really grew on me. Only a track or two caught my attention on first listen, but over a few weeks the album took over my life. Simply put, much of this record is catchy as hell. The lyrics aren't as verbose as in Courtney's previous record, but she makes up for it with way catchier melodies (both vocal and guitar) and some really punchy, often noisy, guitar sounds. That said, the slower tracks, particularly the last two, don't do too much for me. Favorite tracks: City Looks Pretty, Help Yourself, Hopefulness, Charity.Jack Garratt PhaseWhat Jack does on this is relatively unique. He uses a bunch of really heavy synths, beats, and drops that wouldn't sound out of place on modern EDM records and balances them with frequently soft, R&B-esque vocals. Its electro pop but the instrumentals aren't usually as clean and sparkly as something like, say, Chvrches. Its not a mix I've heard before and frequently works quite well. The softer tracks are more hit and miss but the production on the closer of the standard edition, My House is Your Home, is wonderful and pretty unique. Julien Baker Turn Out The LightsKeaton Henson BirthdaysLet's Eat Grandma I'm All EarsMisterWives Our Own HouseI quite enjoy this album. It is nothing revolutionary but it is astronomically fun. "Best I Can Do" and "Our Own House" showcase what I find to be the strong points of the band as a whole: positively danceable, catchy music with just enough unique parts to make it feel fresh. Saintseneca Such ThingsSaintseneca Pillar of NaSon Lux LanternsStef Chura MessesI have come back to this record frequently since it first came out and it never disappoints. The guitar riffing and overall vibe of the record reminds me of a lot of Stef's contemporaries. Bands like Snail Mail, Soccer Mommy, and Courtney Barnett come to mind. However, the folk and grunge influences, plus Stef's dynamic, if nasally, vocals really help to make this unique. There is not really a bad song here, and the high points make it really worth the listen. Favorite Tracks: Human Being, Thin, Time to Go.The Oh Hellos Through The Deep, Dark Valley3.0 goodBig Thief Two HandsBoygenius boygeniusEchosmith Talking DreamsEd Sheeran +HOLYCHILD The Shape of Brat Pop to ComeLoved this record in college and it is still good overall. It isn't as fresh now as it was a few years ago, but still has some great hooks and bombastic production. Lady Lamb Ripely PineThis is one of those records where it feels like the artist did whatever they felt like with no one to tell them no, in the best way possible. The songwriting is like nothing I have ever heard before, which makes it incredibly exciting. I don't think I have ever been so constantly surprised by what was thrown at me in terms of structure and dynamics as I was listening to this for the first time. Some tracks, especially towards the end, are played too straight for my taste, following a straightforward indie folk sound. But these lukewarm tracks are more than made up for by the brilliance of the best tracks. Favorite tracks: Bird Balloons, Hair to the Ferris Wheel, Mezzanine.Lucy Dacus HistorianRemember Sports Slow BuzzSaintseneca LastSnail Mail LushA few fantastic tracks, but comes across very same-y when listening to the whole album. There is just so little diversity in timbre compared to what you find in a lot of similar records. Favorite tracks: Pristine, Heat Wave.The 1975 The 1975I had a bunch of friends who would go on and on about how much they love this band. I gave it a listen and was immediately turned off by Matt Healy as a vocalist. I gave it a few more listens and decided that not only did I not like his style of vocals, I also felt he didn't even do his own style justice. Some time later I gave it another chance and found that I was intrigued by some of the drum work, which is snappy and really quite busy in comparison to other pop rock music, and some of the guitar bits, which are slick and melodic. Begrudgingly I listened some more and found that I couldn't not enjoy this album. It is too fun for me to not enjoy: danceable beats on many songs, slick and polished aesthetic, and variety of different sounds. I am a bigger fan of the sugary, r&b influenced songs (i.e. Settle Down, Pressure, and Menswear) but some of the straight guitar pop is good fun (such as Sex and Chocolate). Its fun if a bit jumbled as a full album, still worth a listen.Twenty One Pilots Vessel2.5 averageBad Bad Hats Lightning RoundEd Sheeran xI like Ed Sheeran in general but most of this album is forgettable. Most of the softer songs here are really excellent, much like the stuff on +. Most of the more pop focused songs are at least fun if uninspired. Some of them I find to be really quite good, "Don't" and "I'm a Mess" for example.Of Monsters and Men Beneath the SkinI got bored listening to it. Tonally it is quite different from the previous album, but the instrumentation, harmonies, and melodies all sounded more or less the same.The Wombats GlitterbugIt is fine. They have transitioned from this unhinged, almost garage rock sound to one that is smooth and glittery indie pop. There is something almost Passion Pit-esque in the sound of the biggest songs, Greek Tragedy and Give Me a Tray are what I am thinking of. The first three tracks are bangers, but the rest of the album fails to keep the energy and intrigue up. It ends up just kind of petering out. The rest of the tracks are fine but decidedly unmemorable. Its breezy and easy listening, the vocals are as distinctive as ever, but nothing to be terribly excited about.Twenty One Pilots Blurryface2.0 poorRa Ra Riot Need Your LightThe 1975 A Brief Inquiry into Online Relationships
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