Bedex
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Reviews 6
Approval 99%

Soundoffs 1,976
News Articles 15
Band Edits + Tags 175
Album Edits 356

Album Ratings 1993
Objectivity 75%

Last Active 01-10-23 12:44 pm
Joined 06-29-12

Review Comments 3,133

Average Rating: 3.46
Rating Variance: 0.38
Objectivity Score: 75%
(Fairly Balanced)

Chart.

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2023
Oerheks Valkengebed3.0
I like the vast, expansive sound at play here, including the occasional synths and the vocals being buried at the back of a wall of sound. This is well crafted and dynamic with an expansive sound. But I do find the prod feels quite blunted. There is little bite to the guitars, like the abrasive frequencies are missing. It tampers my enthusiasm down a bit. Something like better recorded acoustic instruments could have helped offset this. Whilst a short record, the latter part of 2 lost me a bit I have to say. Good talent, but not quite the prod for me. 3.2
Sea In The Sky Fall in Place3.5
Neat aerial pliniesque at its worst, AAL esque at its best, atmo guitar wank core crossed with
emo vocals. The opener is pretty standard chamber djent, it is competent but it doesn't really
move me. 2 immediately strikes as more interesting with its cute arpeggio intro, and while my
appreciation went up and down it has loads of truly great lil moments, melodies, and features
some sax even. The voice feels a bit shaky in places, whereas in 3 from the get go it feels a
lot more confident. I love the sound on 3, ngl 2016 me would eat that stuff up. The end is a
bit overprotracted though. 4 is a very nice, Madness of Many esque groovy instrumental that
sticks in me head. 5 is a bit more lame with the wankery upped and a meh transition, but by the
midpoint it returns to their more aerial leanings and the track ends up quite nice and groovy.
6 is more of a cute relaxed track, it's not my favourite conclusion in the world but it works.
Plus, synths. I might watch this band with this, but I'm not sure I want to dig back into their
catalogue yet - let's see what their future holds! 3.5
Iress Solace3.5
Very nice jesperec of hazy riffy dreamcore that gets very woozy shoegazy on the last track - my favourite here. There is a strong feel of great first act band here. Vocals are excellent and give this indecent amounts of soul. One to watch! 3.6
Manchester Orchestra The Valley of Vision3.5
After a solidly crafted but still just a ballad, ballad, 2-4 shows us that this is MO trying out a new direction, something more intimate and electronic, even with traces of RnB perhaps. Whilst I commend ventures into new directions and do think it is good for the band to do this, and whilst it is as you would expect well crafted, it still feels a bit bland and like it could have been made by a lot of other bands. The end of 3 is a great moment that shows much more of a recognisable touch. 5 is then a pretty bland ballad imo, then 6 starts off pretty soft too but it's end shows us again a bit more personality. I dont know that I agree with some of the commenters here as No Rules is a pretty fine track but that I dont really see fitting here. It is hard not to feel a touch underwhelmed considering the quality of their past output, but in a vacuum this is probably a [M3, train] 3.4
Castlesiege The Council of Trees3.5
A bit hit and miss, but solid when it hits. Like some commenter said, it reminds me of videogames I have not played. It really plays nicely into that SNES/GoldenSun aesthetic. Track 2 is pretty bad, and there are a few others that mismatch a bit in atmosphere or just have a few sounds that break them a bit for me, but if you strip those away the record would be a 3.8 for me because I like that vibe so much. As it stands 3.6
Saturdays at Your Place always cloudy3.5
Impressive little EP. The drumming is especially cool and intense, carrying tracks that are relatively diverse and mostly united by the energy, instrumentation and vocals. While the emo-ness or teenagehood of the vocals is at times a bit too much for my taste, in most places it works really well in the context of fun music or laid over much more complex instrumentation. It is rather front loaded as an EP as the first three tracks are clearly the better half. 2 is funky, 3 is very mathy and cool, then 4 is probably my least favourite of the lot. I like the energy of the closer, though it doesn't offer much of a constructed conclusion. I'll jam some of the tracks again, I might check out their later output, and honestly if I ever put out anything like this I'd be incredibly proud. 3.7
Silent Whale Becomes a Dream North3.5
The first track is clearly superior and has some beautiful strings and some epic moments, although I find the way the guitars are produced to be a bit under the standard of the rest. The track does overextend but is all in all solid. 2 is much more by the book whilst having an even more grating prod in my opinion, and so it dropped my rating a fair bit. It's not bad but it's not a record I would really come back to except maybe the first two thirds of the first track. The art is very pretty though. 3.5
Cicada (Taiwan) Seeking the Sources of Streams4.0
I want to live in this album - Nintendo can we get this in the OST for next Breath of the Wild pls 3.8

2022
Goodfight Goodfight3.5
Very coherent, largely peri-instrumental and kinda wobbly drugged up stuff with a fun sound (like the vague jazzness on 4 which is super fun), with interspersed mid era pink floyd-esque ballads (7, or 10
which kinda took me out of the reverie tbh), and a few more involved tracks such as the nicely dreamy 5, or of course 2 which transitions extremely well after the intro on 1 and has a dope section
starting around 4:10, though I'm not a fan of the male-female vox mix in the early stages. 3 is also kinda neat dreamy stuff with almost childish sounding vox. I kind of lost track after a while, and the
album might have been better off being 5-10min shorter, but it's still a sweet and sour piece of acid-infused candy. (M3,library) 3.7
Oublieth Arcanes4.0
Holy mother of synths. Do you want that Blood Incantation album, but shorter, less ambient and with more dynamics (and a good dose of daddy Vangelis inspiration)? This is the record for you. My main qualm is that, on the rare instances where the record goes back to more standard medieval sounding DS, even ever so slightly, it kind of does not fit with the expansive spacey synthiness of the rest. This is especially prominent on the second track. Otherwise, a short and very sweet trip. Thanks garas! 3.8
Darkthrone Astral Fortress3.0
Kind of like with the previous album, Spacethrone is a concept with sooo much potential that is only sparsely touched here, and this ends up leaving me with a feeling of frustration, moreso than with Eternal Hails even as the synthy touches seem even rarer here. Darkthrone go to doom tempos, and this gives a good feel of frost to the music - which nicely works when it is atmospheric. Aside from the vocals which are frankly unconvincing to me, I kind of dug 1 because of this. It reminds me of Agalloch in places I confess. But then the album very quickly strips its atmosphere and goes to bare bones riff+bass+drums, which combined to the slow tempo really does not make me all that excited. 2-5 are pretty much all like this, except when the rare synth touches come on 3 and 4, which is reliably my favourite moment of the track but are just too sparse. 6 breaks things with a cool weird interlude, and 7 has the best intro here, starting on a frost ambience before converting to some kind of heavy metal with an outstanding transition. When it unfolds, it goes back to the barer sound, so it kinda meh's me, but it does come back to atmsophere quickly for a while. Some more of that, then the album ends, just like that. 3.2
Burial Streetlands3.5
Slightly puzzling this one. I really appreciate the extremely minimal ambience crafted by 1, and continued somewhat too long by 2. You can really see the nighttime London images/documentary playing before your eyes, even though especially on 1 there are practically no sounds to speak of. 3 springs a bit out of nowhere if I'm honest with its Vangelis-ish, old timey synths arpeggio based flavor of ambient coupled with some esoteric vocals you could find on some BBC archaeological documentary about an old lost civilization, and its abrupt shifts in volume and space filling, going to much darker places, then back to the arpeggios. Don't get me wrong, I like the ideas it presents, but I am a bit confused as to how they stick with the prior two tracks, or indeed with themselves. The track is cool but is a clusterfak patchwork of things. 3.4
Fazerdaze Break!3.0
yea I am not into the new sound going on here - too bare bones without the haze, vocals feel very flat to me with just this radio distortion effect. There is good creativity to be found - 5 is quite a bit more expansive in spite of the voc, and 2 would be a great abstrct hip hop track. Even with its beat as it is it works, excetpt for the vocals. But otherwise I found this unconvincing, and it ends into nothing. 3.1
Alvvays Blue Rev3.5
Much grittier than I remember Alvvays being, which is complemented by the slightly rough (in a good way) prod and the seemingly semi-live recording process; but with a few too many filler tracks imho. The style feels quite Australian to me, like Polygon Woods grit meets Hatchie candor, mixed in various ratios. 2 showcases the latter element quite clearly, whilst 3 shows the grittier, garage rock almost side and has an excellent last quarter when it goes faster and ahrder. 4 is the first track to feel a bit underwhelming and 'mou', whilst 5 is faster again with cool instruments but shows how the vocals dont always work here. 6 is ok but a bit gnangnan, which is more in line with what I remember from Alvvays' bulk material. 7 has fun synths but again pretty tepid vox, whilst 8 has some meh but also some good sections where the band gives it a good go if you will. 9 is calmer with some lana del rey vibes vocally (idk), but it's quite a decent track with some fun notes ngl. 10 navigates the line between annoying and cool with its prod that makes it soothing to lower the volume. By that point my rating went donhill. 11's alright, 12's a soft track that works quite well at giving us a break without being boring, but 13's frankly tiresome. The conclusion track is a synth ballad in lieu of a piano ballad, which has the merit of offering a decent conclusion with an appreciable idea. A rating not to compare with the previous opi, 3.45
Old Sorcery Dragon Citadel Elegies4.0
As with seemingly every Old Sorcery record I check, this will join the collection of greatly grafted DS records that I'll happily come back to. This one feels extra well made from the get go. Track 1 is amazing with nearly solo ?flute creating a great ambience, then joined by voices and harp. Sublime. The intro to 4 is extremely cool. Otherwise I don't really want to pinpoint to particular sections as the album is a well constructed and very dynamic journey to be experienced in full I feel. My only two gripes are that the closing track is perhaps a touch overlong for what it offers, and the sort of weird Dingo pictures boing boing sound I was making with a ruler on the edge of a table in school (I know you dont if anyone's reading this but I know what I am talking about) which is the only downside featuring on 1, and which comes back in a couple places, most porminently 3:30 on 4. The overlong closer dropped this a point to a still very healthy 4.0
The Callous Daoboys Celebrity Therapist4.0
These guys really do TDEP worship incredibly well (down to the vocal production which sounds strikingly similar), and the first two tracks are undeniable demonstrations of that. And obviously I love this, I have Calculating Infinity 5'd after all. But I still feel like they struggle to differentiate themselves from TDEP without resorting to over the top weirdcore and excessive shifts in sound that hinder coherence and frankly fatigue me quite quickly. Even though the music remains incredibly well crafted, technical and varied, I kind of checked out after 3-4 tracks, which is a recurring issue I have listening to their stuff even though their albums aren't very long. It's definitely good, I will definitely jam this again, and I want to see them live, I just don't think it warrants 4.5s and 5.s YET. I feel they have even better things in them still. 3.8
Alpha Wolf/Holding Absence The Lost & the Longing3.0
I wasn't familiar with Alpha Wolf going in, but basically they are a slightly good tier band of what I'd experience as teenagehood metalcore. 1 is basically that, ever so slightly softened by HA's contribution which frankly I would not have noticed if it weren't for the artist tags and also for the fact that in contrast 2 goes quite harder with a slightly djentier prod - honestly it was quite fun although I wouldn't like a whole album of that. 3 is where the two bands blend the best, AW giving HA a way to crescendo that isn't just more dramatic operaic rock. 4 is just HA corniness, which is fine for a single track I guess. 2.9
Tales Under The Oak Swamp Kingdom4.0
Love the aesthetic, love the sounds, love the chill pond forest magical vibe. IT's a fairly unassuming little DS album, but it's thoroughly successful at the humble thing it does. 3.8
Gospel MVDM: Magick Volumes Of Dark Madder4.0
Incredibly fun prog jam that is full of rhythm changes and ideas. Compared to their usual stuff, the keyboardist is a lot mroe of a highlight here. The only issue is that this is "just" a prog jam; it hardly gets out of that mode, and doesn't really attempt to build anything from that. There are a couple sections with vocals but they're pretty short and tbh I dont think the vocals fit all that well. But man if that's not a fun jam. 4.0
Hazel English Summer Nights3.5
Hazel returns to the haziness, dreaminess and candor of her EPs, abandoning a bit the change of direction initiated with the LP. The tracks are nice and comfy and functional, though none seem to reach the lovely heights of some of her previous dreamy ones. But they're well enough crafted and good fun, though not as memorable. The production is a little more polished, a little more electronic, and the voice processed differently, which gives a different flavour and perhaps removes a bit of the dreamy magic, but adds a slightly more pop flavour for which the enjoyment will vary. It's not quite back to the first EPs, but it's much closer than the LP was. 1-2 are the best here and closest to the older sound, whilst 3 is not far off and the guest feature does add a nice touch of diversity. 4's perhaps a bit cheesier than the rest and I wasn't so into it, and 5 feels like the record has definitely lost steam already, which drops this a couple points. If it was all like 1-2 it might be a good 3.6 aided by nostalgia, but here I struggle to think of this more than a 3.4
Gospel The Loser4.0
I'll give it a few more listened before i write a formed opinion, but I feel like it will sit within this range maybe? then again, at first I also thought the same of Moon. ?/5
Hatchie Giving the World Away3.0
Forgot to upload this yesterday and lost my notes but anyhoo. Basically, with previous output I thought Hatchie got a bit too much criticism as she made quite a few catchy songs albeit it was
never a revolutionary sound, but here I am struggling a bit to defend her. For the most part this doesn't seem like a strong effort - the song and the prod is there, but there are only scarce
melodic and prod bits for the mind to latch onto. Most songs blend together in a nicely dreamy but forgettable blur. I'll concede the second half tries a bit more, with 6 being the first kinda
marking track with its more hyper, more electronic vibes; 8's a nice track too, and 9 starts off more recognisable with its more prominent drums and bass, but the vocals still dont really try and
so it devolves into more of the same blur. The closer is not too bad either, and there were a couple more ideas or vaguely interesting bits that I dont recall from the lost notes. Whereas the
first half is all a blurry 'nice' bar the occasional noisy grittiness in the subtle background which adds a little bit of occasional excitement. LP1 was much more memorable I think. Also what is
this corny art 3.1
Home Is Where/Record Setter dissection lesson3.0
I really liked the intro to 2 and perhaps less so but still the intro to 3. Tracks 1-2 (Home is Where) are ruined for me by pretty insufferable vocals that remind of the sort of BMTH brand of shrieks, and aside for the really lovely intro to 2 there's not much else I'd seek again here. Vocals on 3-4 (Record Setter) are a bit better, fairly generic emo/screamo, and track 4 works perhaps the most consistently of all four tracks, which bumps this a point. 2.9
Hallas Isle of Wisdom3.5
Yea this is without a doubt the least catchy Hallas, although their production value remains excellent. You can tell they had loads of fun making this (just listen to the keys and the soloing on 6, or the soloing on 8 which doesn't work for me I gotta say), but the the tracks often have a feel of 'mou'. They're cool, but not epic; they're fun, but not explosive. It works in places, like 2 or 6, but on the whole the album feels like a bunch of good ideas packaged in a way that make them feel like they just pass without really catching on. The album ending on a fadeout is a big no no too. 3.45
Banks Serpentina3.5
I think this is a fairly underwhelming offering from Banks, and that's not just because I really liked the previous one. The complex production value is still there, and there aren't really any tracks that are properly unpleasant - it just feels all flat and I struggle to think of a single track that truly wowed me. There's a lot of soft, mildly convincing tracks that just pass, e.g. 4,8,9,12, and the balladey 13 which was a terrible way to end the album considering my overall feeling. The opener is fun, but already 2 feels like an underbaked mid album filler song rather than what should be a banger to start on. The record feels like it is shaking keys at you and changing sounds all the time and adding little things to keep your attention but it only semi works. 3 is kinda cool, and 5 is more in your face which helps even though I'm not sure I love it. 6 is closer to III and is a fine single, but it is 7 which is truly my favourite here and a good reminder of older Banks. 10 is a fun lighter track but ends on a fadeout, and 11 is the most fun track here with its intro and beat. But yea there's hardly a jam to be found here. 3.3
Whimsical Melt3.5
A neat shoegazy drem record that I like a lot more at its angriest than at its calmest. 1-2, 5, the end of 7 instantly feel cool, and the contrast between the soft vocals and the relatively involved instrumental works very well, whereas on mellow tracks like 3,4, or the rest of 7, the overall softer vibe feels a bit less engaging and more 'm'okay'. They can make softer tracks work though, with for example a nostalgic vibe on 6 that I really like. I had to pause the album for several hours at this point which makes me not the best judge, but watch me go ahead anyways because I dont want to respin this again just to soundoff it (although selected tracks I will gladly respin). 8 is a softer track and certainly the most electronic of the lot, and it is alright, whilst 9 is a melow track like 3-4 that provides little to no sense of conclusion. The heavily processed, sometimes electronic sounding vaguely Anathema-esque vocals won't be for everyone, and they dont always work for me, but they do the vast majority of the time and add a nice nostalgic, clean edge that I enjoyed. 3.5
Nite Voices of the Kronian Moon3.0
'Oh heck yea' is what my soundoff would have been if it weren't for these aggressively tepid grinch-whispered vocals which are only unobstrusively bad on the punchier, groovier songs (the 70s vaguely Hallasey 1,2 and 6, the mastodoney 7 and 8 although 8 is not the best here) which makes for still cool songs, but which frankly break the instrumentally less engaging songs due to how disengaging and monotone the vocals are. Good potential but the vocals really aren't for me and the band doesn't always manage t make up for them - although when they do this is great. 3.2
Animals As Leaders Parrhesia3.5
Here AAL sound like their best copycat - or in places, even like humans showing they can do AI generated djent better than an AI. They return to the electronic production of Joy of Motion, and largely return to the compositional style of their earliest albums. The acoustic contributions from MoM are completely gone, and the album just feels like an endless stream of riffz without much context. The softer interlude 5 is the first to truly go against this trend, and aside from 2 which has substantially more meat to it, the first half of the album feels a bit underwhelming. Their compositions are just as complex in terms of polyrhythmic shenanigans (as far as I can tell at least), but this prowess isn't showcased by much context - the songs are just about the well crafted chug. The second half does a fair bit better, especially 7 with its fun Woven Web-esque riffage, and 8 too to a lesser extent, but the riffy, conclusionless 9 really ends the album on a chuggy chug chug feel rather than the soulful music AAL has presented before. Not their best effort. 3.3
Denzel Curry Melt My Eyez See Your Future4.0
Long time since I last jammed his albums, but best Curry (so far) I'd say? The latter half did dampen my enthusiasm, but I was easily looking at a 4.2 up to 7 maybe. The production is pristine, lush, varied, multilayered, and transitions between tracks smoothly (so much so that I missed the track changes multiple times for my notes), what's more to ask. I loved 1 as an intro track, 2 has an excellent swingy choppy instrumental, his rap seemed flat at first in comparison but does get much better, 3 fantastic prod again and I love the reggae vibes in some places, 4-5 are more hazy and drugged up compared to the energetic opening trio but I like them especially 5. 6 feels like Nujabes with a bit more distorted punch on the drums, and the T pain feature on 7 is fun. 8 is the first time the album is not even meh but outright unpleasant with the Aint No Way shouts. It only occurs at the start, but the track also feels like it regresses into something more basic than anything before it on the LP. 9 is pretty mid too ngl, but 10 is cool (and my last heart song on the LP). 11 is pretty meh, but very short, then 12-13 is somewhat cool with its DnB element, but this is where the album gets a bit much and feels too long - the track is just too much in your ears at this stage. Thankfully 14 is a nice conclusion track, but yea overall album is a 4.0
Rosalia Motomami3.5
Honestly I found this rather underwhelming. The first two tracks are very cool, and led me to think this would be an album that takes reggaeton beats, distorts them and plays with them to create tracks with depth and weird prod that aren't really meant for the club. But after that, the main qualifier I'd use is 'forgettable'. It applies to 3-4, and then 5 at least has a beat but it is barely bearable. Oh btw all of these feel rather disjointed. Weirdly in this album the emotional tracks that stand out and save the day, largely thanks to the pretty pianos and R's excellent voice. 6, 12, and perhaps 13 although it is more interesting and synthy fall in that category. 7 has a beat and is a bit perky but ultimately not my cuppa hugely, while 8 has kinda cool prod with the elctronic voices and the organ and stuff, but ultimately it still feels like a filler track. 10 also kinda passes after an interlude, while 11 is a fun transition track with cintage cupheadey noises in the back. 14 is again an interlude, and 15 is quite tepid until it slightly improves once the beat kicks in halfway in. The closer is also a beautiful, very well performed emotional track that at least works as a conclusion and as a display of R's vocals. Bonus: 16 bis is ,just a skit, 17 is okay silly fun, 18 is the club version of 2 with annoying voices, 19 is slightly less forgettable than its studio ver, 20 is pretty neat ambientish+vocals track, 21 is an okay syncopated beat track, 22 is basically an interlude, 23 is another track with a weird beat but is quite interesting. 3.35
Blood Incantation Timewave Zero4.0
Well, it's no DM, but I gotta say it's a damn well crafted space synth voyage that moves slowly but without ever being static, and is quite good from the get go at setting a mood. Worked extremely well with the colourful purples of the sunset and flashy traffic lights out my window today. If it'd been released in like 1985 it would be an easy upper 4.0 if not 4.5. I will concede it goes on for a bit too long maybe, especially given its conclusion feels essentially like a fadeout, but on the other hand I really want to counterbalance people who low rated this out of spite for it not being dm, so you know what 3.8
Cult of Luna The Long Road North4.0
CoL are the true Gang of 4.0. To a point where the last few records are all starting to blend together. The album's main fault is that it lacks features to distinguish it from its predecessors and also true standout tracks. The opener starts off with one of the dopest album openings they have, and though the track isn't too fantastic CoLcore, it develops well in the second half. 2 is stronger, darker CoL overall. These tracks feel like they would be sublimed by the synths from last LP which are missed a bit. 3 is on its own not that notable a track, but it is a great transitional interlude and shows that these guys know to craft an album. 4 is the first highlight post-opening with its long slow buildup that resolves extremely well, though again I just longed for crazy synths. I might have gotten my notes meddled but basically 5-6 are softer songs that work well in terms of album structure. 7 is by far an away the top highlight here, laying its atmosphere very well before several heavy unfolds, lining idea after idea, and finally featuring some more prominent synthwork. Fabulous CoL track. 8 is not as good but is also a clearly strong track, on the darker, riffier yet nicely aerial side. I do find that the conclusion track feels a bit long and unnecessary, like a misplaced interlude that leads to nothing. 4.1
Nneka Love Supreme4.0
Has its ups and downs, but creativity, range of influences, and production certainly aren't in the downs. 1-4 is an all round excellent series of tracks with strong UK RnB vibes esp on 2, whilst 4 is more electronic and kinda fun in an Ott way though the autotune will deter some. 5 switches styles a bit again and is a rich track but that I enjoyed a bit less. 6 has a nice intro and the strings near the end are a sweet addition, but the vibrating vocals werent too uch my cuppa (a recurring theme). 7 continued to lose me a bit, but I really loved the back music on 8 which I found quite inspiring in sound, making for an overall memorable track though I wasn't sure the vocals and drums fit in the best way. 9 switches things up to something much dancier making for a fun track, 10 has super fun prod in the back though again the vocals were okay but not my dream. 11 is a bop with its dub vibes, whilst 12 goes into charming rnb quite nicely. 13 has a nice memorable lil piano hook, though it leaves the album ending a bit into nothing. A good album I may well rejam. 3.85
Raum Daughter4.0
More than Grouper or even Raum's second LP, this really feels like Nivhek LP2. This is particularly prominent with the keys on 4, and once you realise this the Nivhek identitiy is also quite noticeable on 5, less so but still on 6 which feels a little more like random tape drone stuff, and somewhat on the very long 7 that lets the LP die out in agony and eventually drowns into depressed piano repetition that reminds of Basinski's Cascade but with more variation to the vast emptiness. Not a word is uttered on the whole record, which contributes to setting it apart from LP1, and makes it resolutely a drone album with lots of keys. 1 opens on a Sea Oleena-esque sad piano which doesn't prepare you for a drone album at all, and I got to say the way the droniness is introduced about after a minute was really one fo teh weaker points - it just feels like your audio crashed or something because it is so abrupt. The track is good though and gets very pretty once the piano comes back in. 2 is lovely drone, and 3 is good but less engaging perhaps - good thing 4 brought my interest back up with its Nivhekness. Man I missed Nivhek. 3.9
Silvana Estrada Marchita3.5
A very lovely and coherent record mostly made of delicate aerial guitar + vox ballads with of course a strong Mexican flavour. The quality is fairly consistent and particularly shines through on tracks that add subtle elements behind the guitar, which is perhaps most prominent on the highlight 7. The only two weaker tracks would be 4 and the beginning of 9, which dabble into weirder things and also exacerbate some of her vocal quirks that I like a little less. The rest is all lovely. The instrumental ending of 9 is really cool with its dramatic strings contrasting with the gentle relaxed guitar, and I feel like it would have been an appropriate conclusion. Whilst the album doesn't feel long, 10 feels a bit like an unnecessary track after this, no better or worse than the bulk of what preceded it; and whilst 11 is a neat instrumental conclusion that has the merit of ending things with a special track, again I feel like 9 did that job just fine. Drops this a point, but it regains half a point because it is still a lovely debut. 3.65
Burial ANTIDAWN EP4.0
I think norma hite the nail quite right on this one with his rev. This is Burial succeeding a lot more consistently than it previously has at making a fully beatless record that is more than 15min long. Although this is ambient there is a whole lot going on, with lots of sounds, textures, fx and sample collages coming in an out very frequently. In that sense, it reminded me of a Tim Hecker i.e. ambient that shifts, moves and evolves, as opposed to a synthpad monoblock - a major difference with Hecker being the high prevalence of (Burial processed) vocals here, which makes Antidawn almost feel like the beatless, desperate flipside of Untrue. Can't help thinking of spending a depressed amount of time alone in your room late at night during the London lockdowns when jamming this. The vibe varies subtly, with 4 being more hopeful and 5 being more scared almost, but every track is equally good aside from 3 which I did find a bit subpar. Might have been just in the right mood for this but this felt like very strong output from B. 3.9
Sofia Valdes In Bloom3.5
Lovely, well crafted short EP to start off the Summer. 1 has a very nice relaxed vibe with subtle instrumentation, 2 is very fun and summery, 3 is perhaps not as good but is cute nonetheless, 4 is dancier and boasts some rnb vibes and nice bassiness, whilst 5 is a bit okay mellow and an underwhelming conclusion to this EP. A few songs for playlists, but aside from the closer I could also easily rejam this is full. 3.6
Marissa Mur All Inclusive4.0
A clinical case of yas queen as Marissa delivers exactly the record one could have expected based on her singles: a bubbly, fun, suitably short Mexican pop record full of colour that improves massively on her prior output, remaining semi-boppy most of the time and boppy on occasion. The pacing is also excellent, with calm tracks where they should be, and my only two gripes with this are a) the dual vocal tracks which ineivtably make the songs cheesy - I feel like the record is short enough that her voice alone would be fine the whole way -, and b) the closer which, although it has the merit of feeling like a closer by differentiating itself from the rest with its gloomier vibe, feels like a bit of a meh track thrown in at the end, instead of being the colourful and explosive track this record deserved to end on. Nice just at the start of Summer. 3.8
Akemi Fox You're My Favourite Day4.0
I absolutely love the flair and style on this little EP. The blend of neo soul bordering on RnB with South American vibes with elements of bossa nova and reggaeton beats is absolutely delightful and totally up my alley. The vocal delivery is subtle and very well performed without pushing into showing off, which adds to the delicate quality this oozes. The two only downsides I saw here are the brief guest vocal performance on 2, which although ok is perhaps a bit too electronic/polished pop for the more organic dance the music otherwise calls for, and more importantly 4 is the only track that was not so convincing to me, as it is more of a slow straight up neo soul ballad which takes a bit away of the record's DNA. I thought it was a debut, but there is actually at least one preceding EP I can find. Great EP that I'll respin, by an artist I'll definitely follow after founding her through a collab with Children of Zeus and the almighty Georgie. 3.9

2021
Angele Nonante-Cinq3.5
Fuller soundoff to come later probably, but in short this album (contrary to what the artwork may suggest) shows Angele's more nocturnal, urban, neon side, where Brol was more of a chill summer afternoon soundtrack. This one is more produced, more autotuned in the back, and has a lot more prominent rap/trap DNA. It feels more full. At first I wasn't so keen on this new style, but as I got to terms with knowing that the style of Brol would scarcely come back - except maybe on 4 -, it got better. And whilst some of the tracks feel like slightly forced radio anthem fodder, some are true successes. 3.5
Cynic Ascension Codes3.5
From the get go and the album intro on 1+2 I really like the extremely synthy, airy style of prog this offers, which reminds me a bit of The Contortionist's Intrinsic in that I quite enjoy it yet it isn't too well received. The album is largely instrumental, and it's a good thing because even for Cynic here the vocals are really stretching it. On previous albums, they were an acquired taste; here they just feel half assed. This is very clear on 6 or 13. The album is quite nicely continuous in spite of all the interludes, which contributed to my enjoyment of it at the start, but also made it feel getting very long after a while. By 15 I really needed it to be done, and although there's not much after that it also felt like quite the stretch. Really like the style of is, not quite its execution, but when feeling free to cut it short this is a good album to jam for sure. 3.5
Tales Under The Oak The Toad King4.0
Magic forest dungeon synth reverie with a solid effort through and through (without being mindblowing, but certainly a record that can be jammed front to back). 3.8
Sofia Campos Lugares Imaginarios4.0
My thoughts on this are very similar to the first album -she is extremely consistent, and also varies the vibes between contemplative/relaxed (1,3,5,7,9 and its piano touches, 10 which is one of the few that remain subdued throughout without unfolding into drums etc, whcih makes for a really soothing and functional conclusion track) and softly dancy, sometimes with Brazilian flair (2,4,8 which opens up into some brass even). All very good, and her singing is very nice, though 3 does highlight htat 3 will always remain my absolute queen. The male vox on 6 works very well to bring some variety to an album taht is perhaps slightly more consistent even than its senior, but also is 10+ minutes shorter which obviously helps. 3.8
Ill Considered Liminal Space4.0
Quite appreciable modern jazz with not a huge amount to distinguish it from other similar releases I daresay but with quite some quality to it. There's a bit of a fusion feel throughout, and the first couple of tracks have some good groovy bass to them. The fusion aspect can be detrimental too, with 5 getting a bit annoying with its guitar and other noises. Thankfully 6 compensates by being calmer with some nice flutes, fun drums, and overall a really nice track. 7 is very cool as it feels a bit like vaguely AAL-like prog especially in the intro, but with a jazz sound and cool brass in the back. 8 Brings back the groove of the first few tracks but does get annoying in places, whilst 9 shows very fun rhythms but suffers from the album feeling a bit long. Feels like with a few tracks removed this could be mid 4.0 easily, but as it stands it was a bit too much for me without enough distinguishing elements to make up for it. 3.8
Parcels Day/Night3.5
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Moon Kissed I’d Like to Tell You Something Important3.5
This is far better realised than the first LP and shows great signs of progress, although I don't think it is fully baked yet. The production is excellent, and most tracks, even the less convincing ones at first, reveal more elements a long the way and have almost always something good to show. Production is pristine and synthy, and whilst they are not a strong element per se I would say the vocals are no longer a weakness bar a few select places. There are lots of spoken samples/skits etc, which are cool and meaningful, but there's quite a lot of it for such a short album. 1 is mokay with some very brief goodness at 1:25. 2 is really where the record started to get good for me with a cool synthy track despite a semi awkward transition from 1. 4 is super catchy and gets catchier as it unfolds, and after a cute intro 5 also gets catchier as it unfolds until its soft conclusion. I am not a fan of 6's intro but the unfold works and it is an okay cute track. 8 is another highlight, with a beautiful intro I love, vocals that evoke Tame Impala, and a very successful much softer track, showing the band is not only about in your face music. In contrast after a speech, 10 is a bitchin fat track that is quite cool (though I feel it could get even fatter). The last two tracks lose a point, as 11 is a very meh tracks with vocals I dont like, though the backing vocals are great and the drums have bursts of good ideas, and then 12 concludes on a ballad that is okay although unnecessary at first, but grows to be just too much and almost annoying nearer the end. Not a great way to conclude an album that is mostly cool. 3.6
Grouper Shade4.0
Another album where I don't get what happened. I was really quite enthralled by the first four tracks. The noisy intro track evokes the s/t debut a fair bit, and its contrast with the clean folkiness of 2 is really quite beautiful. 2-4 are superb songs, like DaDDuaH but without the fx, and all feel so comfy especially 4. It's not as sad a vibe as some of her other records either. Then 5 truly is the question mark here. On another album it might feel like cool experimentation, but in the context of this one it is hugely disruptive to the flow and doesn't fit at all. It is loud, full of fx, has a beat in places, and really abruptly contrasts with the vibe set beforehand. It's especially frustrating when 6 takes us back to the simple pretty folk, which really makes 5 stick like a sore thumb. 6 is really pretty, but the recording is kind of weird, with a few pauses and start/stop/restarts, as if this was a practice session and not the finished recording. Still beautiful. 7 reaches the heights of 2-4 again and feels like a warm bath, o so perfect. 8 has morre fx again, but here the transition actually works as it is relatively subtle and maintains the vibe before morphing into a ghostly atmosphere. The closing track, although again pretty, also shows how this album could have gone boring if it had lasted a lot longer. It is probably the simplest track here, and I am not convinced it really does much in the way of concluding the album. Had it been more consistent, better concluded, and especially 5-less, this could've been a 4.1-4.2, but as is these painful issues drop it to a 3.8
Sonido de la Frontera Sonidero Guerrillero3.0
A fun album all the way, but that repeats itself enormously (starting with lyrics, I'm pretty
sure they say their name and 'Cumbia' over a hundred times), and which as a result sees all its
track blur into one another. I am also not a fan of the vocals, and bar a couple examples the
tracks really don't stand out as bops. The album feels like a compilation of okay cumbia songs.
1's quite catchy but also has meh bits, 2 is more consistent but less catchy, 3 is a nice albeit
rather flat beach soundtrack, and 4 is perhaps my fav track so far with a nice intro. 5 is fun
too. After that the album started to loose me substantially. There are quite a few of these
tracks with good intros that don't resolve super well, other examples being 6 or 8. By 9 I kinda
wanted it to stop. 10 is softer and more instrumental which is a nice rest, but by 12 the vox
start to get annoying, and come the final track you realise the album is all a blur, because the
track gives no sense of the album finishing and tehre could be 15 extra songs or 5 fewer than it
wouldn't make a difference. Thankfully 11 saves this final act and even bumps the album a point
as it is clearly the best and most fun track here with its brass additions - the only one that I
might call a jam. 3.1
Clara Malaterre Points Cardinaux4.0
Whilst it starts off very Nick Drakey, the breadth of instruments, styles and vibes on display in such a short span of time is astounding. Uneblievably talented, and the closing track makes me super happy. Hyper coul 3.8
Turnstile Glow On4.0
Goes in with a synthy thing followed by a bang, goes out with a bang followed by a synthy thing. Things wrap around. This reminds me a lot of Refused's glory days, both from the guitar tone, and its nature as a hardcore punk banger with lots of interspersed random influences that shouldn't work but really do, a random example among many being the wee piano on 3. The pacing on this is great, with just enough banger headbanger tracks followed by just enough calm stuff, though I will say the stretch 6-8 made me doubt this would last. Thankfully the following songs do well to bring the quality back up, and this is one I'll jam again both in playlists and as a whole. Urgh I gotta do a Turnstile run now tx dedebro 4.0
Wolves in the Throne Room Primordial Arcana4.0
Definitely their best since their early Cascadian years whilst keeping some of their more recent DNA, though I feel some are going a bit overboard with the praise here. The bits inbetween bm still kick ass, and finally the bm no longer feels lukewarm. Some of it even evokes the frozen goodness of Drudkh (3, 4 from its midtrack on), or the Oregon folkiness of Agalloch (e.g. 5 after its excellent atmospheric midtrack). That's not to say that it's all perfect. I really like how 1 introes the album, and the midtrack break and synthy ambient outro to 2 are cool too. 4 starts off on a really cool rupture, but quite a short one, and evolves into mokay bm before freezing up as said before. 6 starts off on fat nice bm, but around min 4-5 it gets quite awkward. I like the nice finish on a soft ambient track with 7, though it has a bit of an underwhelming feeling too. The bonus track is alright, more ambientey stuff, nice but nothing to get too excited about. This is a good album and their best in a long time, but I wasn't completely thrilled at all times either. 3.8
Billie Eilish Happier Than Ever3.0
As per dede's soundoff, the main fault here is the number of softspoken ballads. While it is a type of track I often find inherently dull, her vocal delivery and the prod subtleties often make them surprisingly nice. The issue is the sheer number of them, and their place in an already very softspoken album. 1's ok because it is the intro, 4 starts off like a ballad but develops a beat and funky guitar touches etc and so works super well, but then the soft elvish choral 6 is very forgettable, 8 is not saved by its soft beat, 9-10 have interesting prods but again are too calm though 10 is better, 11 is yet another ballad, 12 is at least a pretty guitar-based ballad, 15 starts as a ballad but its fuzzy explosion saves it from being an altogether boring track, and 16 is again a ballad. I feel like the fact that the prod on the other tracks is so often compressed, soft spoken, almost whispery, sometimes to a fault (eg 7 which would otherwise be pretty nice and groovy, or 8 before its dreamy conclusion) doesn't help contrast wiht the ballads. The two tracks of more past Billie (5 and 13) kind of stick out, but 5 is alright enough and 13 is quite cool with its noisy ideas. Really for me the album's main successes lie in the more engaged yet subdued tracks where Billie sings with a much louder and more open voice, i.e. 2 with its interesting prod ideas, the relaxed 3 despite the fadeout, and 14. 2.8
Midwife (USA) Luminol3.5
forgot to post - I think this start really quite good and okay, but it overextends quite a bit for me despite being in the 35min ballpark. By 4 the recipe applied here in vaguely gritty, dreamy semi sadcore was frankly getting a bit old, and 5 is pretty bad except the cool ending. 6 was pretty ok but too little too late. The first half of hte album is nice and mood setting, but never stunning and certainly not wowing enough to make up for hte latter half. 3.4
Hillsfar Raiders on the Moonsea3.5
This isn't a fair comparison, I have no idea if the difference comes from mood or what, but this felt weaker than the memory I have of its predecessor. The chief complaint is that this is more disruptive, with a couple more abrupt changes but especially a lot of invasive drums that often don't frankly sound very good in 1's first third. 2 is a little smoother, but that also makes it feel flatter. 2 could go on the same background DnD playlist LP1 was starting, but 1 is just too in your face nd loud at times for what it wants to do. 3.4
Chihei Hatakeyama Late Spring3.5
As ever with most of Chihei's discog, this is very much a background listening album, but it also is a good one at that. Not too varied but hypnotic enough and just about enough variation and ideas to keep you entertained when the goal of jamming this isn't to fall asleep. 6 with its stutterrings or 3 and 7 with their slightly grittier sound are prime examples. This is definitely not one of those albums with two 45min long tracks. There are lots of fadeouts between tracks which is a shame, but I guess it helps underline the variations between tracks. 3,6,9,11 are highlights but this is really one to just spin in the background. The concluding track is a nice example of how lush Chihei's sound gets. 3.5
Hiatus Kaiyote Mood Valiant3.5
One thing is sure: HK have the raw talent, instrumental n vocal prowess, and songwriting ability to make music with immense depth that might easily reach in the 4.5+. But for my taste, I'm not sure the relatively marked change of direction they took here is the one to achieve that. It is very successful in places but also carries problems. After an incredibly smooth entry on 1-2, 3 feels very aggressive and almost epileptic with how busy it is. Usually HK excel at keeping the groove alive on weird start/stop polyrhythms; on 3 it actually feels disjointed. Bass is huge tho. 4 goes much softer and plays superbly with vocal prod. 5 starts amazingly and shows the album at its best with this new busier, more electronic, more hip-hop, Fly-Loesque Brainfeeder sound. The track does get very full with strings, brass and a long ending section. That worked for me, but in another mood it might not have (plus it's a slight issue for playlists). 6 is also great, but also gets very, very busy. At a gig that would be insane, but here idk if the band wants me to relax or go apeshit. 7 is an incredibly pretty song with its cassette distorted piano, 8 finally has more of a stripped down classic HK groove, and 9-10 are great but you do see that the second half of the LP is a lot calmer, when I think it would have worked a lot better the other way round. 11 is the final mistake costing the alb anotha pt as it is a well sung but ultimately not that interesting ballad that could entirely be done away with, as 12 is also a softer song but that is much more interesting and concludes the album well. Lots of problems, lots of greatness, 3.7
Darkthrone Eternal Hails3.5
Starts very cool on a spacey psych-ish guitar tone that is very much in keeping with the artwork and got me very excited as to where this album could go. Alas this is an aesthetic taht only comes back on the outro of 1, and also a bit with the synths on the closing track 5. Otherwise this is mostly a regular doomthrone album for the most part, with some tracks being quite successful and some less. between its spacey intro and outro, 1 works well although the vox are kind of faltering in power imo and arent all that hot anymore. 2 starts off with good riffage despite its slow tempo but the vox really suffer again, and also the track loses steam a bit and by the midtrack it's quite a lot less engaging imo. 3 however saves things, being one of the cooler, angrier and most atmospheric DT tracks in a long while as far as I remember. Complemented the rain here very nicely, and probably the track I am most likely to come back to. 4 has a gorgeous distorted opening tone in the intro but unfolds quite terribly into an okay less energetic track that just feels underwhelming after 3 but works ish in a vacuum. At 6:30 or so it finally wakes up and becomes quite cool. 5 is more relaxed and spacey which works quite nicely as an outro. The album would be a lot better if each track was cut in half and only kept its good half to make a 20min spacey EP if I'm honest imo. 3.4
Doja Cat Planet Her3.5
rImproves on Hot Pink especially early on, with three colourful neon tracks with a latin sort of beat to them and great coherence, but misses huge jams. 3 is perhaps a little more divisve but is still cool in its rnb vibes. Then once again Doja feels like she doesn't know if she wants to be a pop artist with a trap side, or a rapper, and offers us with the nto horrible but instantly less interesting 4. 5's a bit more colourful but is too long, and 6 is also meh and too obviously destined for Tiktok. Ari does bring a lot of substance to it without being overbearing, and in fact all the guests here are excellently integrated into their tracks and feel really in their place. 7 and 8 are more of pop with a trap side, and instantly I like those better, but amusingly the spotify play counts are far lower. 9 is very the weekndey and works well. By the end of the record the transitions and coherence go downhill. 10 is again another not bad but very meh trap song, whilst 11 is a trap song that works quite well actually. 12 is aggressively ok with unfit rap, and 13 whilst catchier than the rest could've been more of a bop imo. Highs less highs, but fewer lows than LP2 iirc. 3.4
Polo and Pan Cyclorama3.5
Polo and Pan seem to perpetuate their trope of making long albums with way too few hits and a bit too much barely above background music to fill the rest of the hour. However this one is a classic case of the highs being less high and the lows being less low: it doesn't have a canopee, but it's also rarely unpleasant. I actually bloody love the opener, it is SO Polo and Pan. Sets the mood right. Then 2 is a good idea but with meh execution, whilst 3 is simpler but better packaged, and reveals more depth later on to make for a loads better track. 4 is kinda cool but it is a bit too trappy to transition well with the rest. 5 feels like midday at tomorrowland music, a bit more of a fodder song. 6 and 9 are both long, diverse, fun instrumentals with lots of PnP esque sonic ventures. 7 is a nice chill seaside track, and 8 has a bit of a ltin guitar vibe to it, making this whole section the album highghlight probably. 10 indeed gets kinda slow and boring, reiforcing the feeling that the album is getting long, and indeed by 11 it is feeling long. 12 is kinda weird and out of the blue but works really well at disrupting the monotony, and so 13 does feel boring despite being a very mid regular PnP track thanks to fatigue being alleviated by 12. 14 is a soft song to finish things in an acceptable way, to make for a nicely passable album that feels more consistent than the pprevious ones. Oh and I dig the art on this. 3.4
Lucy Gooch Rain's Break3.5
Pretty much the same soundoff as for the last one, except the novelty wore off. The last track does strike as a particularly good implementation of her style which maintains my hopes that she will have great things to release in the future, and the EP does flow better than EP1. I don't think this would work on a longer format, but as an EP it is very nice. 3.3
Joana Serrat Hardcore from the Heart4.0
The album does a great job for the most part, then does end a bit on what I feared it would do seeing the alt-country tags. 8,9, and 10, whilst all pretty especially 8 and 10, are all quite saddey balladey low energy tracks, and I don't feel like that was the best way to end the album. 10 is outright country but the guitar is quite pretty. There are noticeable country influences in the rest, especially on 1 and 7 which really feel like someone stole a pedalboard from a dream pop band and starting playing their songs with it - and I'm all for it. 2,3, and 4 are more conventional dream pop tracks with more of a beat to them and are I daresay all good songs. 5's a ballad too, but at that point in the album it felt much more appropriate, and the ambient touches in the back do a lot to turn it from 'eh a ballad' to an actually pretty track. 6 is nice too. On the whole, this is an album I enjoyed a lot and would rejam, but if this is her best I'm not 100% sure I want to delve into the whole discog. 3.8
Hildegard Hildegard3.5
A sweet album whose purpose I struggle a bit to see - I don't really know what story it wants to tell, partly due to the very minimal aesthetic at play here, and partly owing to the music itself being quite subdued. Mostly these are slightly dreamy, slightly weird RnB esque songs that vaguely remind of a much much tamer FKA Twigs or Banks, and I have to concede some are quite good - Jour 2,3,5 and 7 particularly. The others are fine but rather forgettable. It should be said that seing Helena Deland on the vocals here is really cool because this has absolutely nothing to do with her solo discog, which is yet another example showing the variety she is capable of. 3.5
Jaubi Nafs at Peace4.0
After a superb, relatively ambientey intro that introduces us gently to the wide and varied instrumentation on display here (which will largely be unusual to the western listener and brings in wonderful textures) as well as some discrete ethereal vocals, the rest is a long instrumental jam session that is extremely dreamy and very nicely bass-led, which gives a lot of catchy moments, bits with a heavily jazzy feel (some moments feel like excellent jazz fusion but without any brass) and keeps the interest alive for the whole length of the thing. Favs: all [2], as really it makes no sense to just listen to bits and pieces of it - that being said, the tracks are mostly audibly demarcated so that it doesn't feel like one long blurry bloc either. It's not for everyone, but it was definitely for me. 4.1
Erika de Casier Sensational4.0
I'll complete the soundoff later but tldr: while no song struck me as clearly as the ones on Essentials, this one doesnt yet have the benefit of time, and furthermore it comes out on top as a better constructed, more coherent and consistent record, where Essentials wasnt as well sequenced and has most of the favourites early on. This one remains true to her style, but adds some elements of its own, and I think it has a slight edge over LP1 as a record, so 4.1
Jorja Smith Be Right Back3.5
Forgot to upload this one earlier - this is a nice EP that shows a Jorja in good form and improving. For starters there isn't really a bad track, and she did away with the bland ballads that clunked her prior records. The closing track does start on a sadder, melancholic vibe, but it does keep a beat going and is great fun. There is still a feeling of looking for a direction, but there is more of a direction to speak with, as the mid-record emphasises more on her soulsy side whilst the beginning and end revel more of an electronic, 'modern' style. 1 is really cool and has a nice prod with vocals that are both good and intelligently sparse. I am not as sure about 2 as I feel like some of those beats won't age too well, but the track remains alright and beside the meme horn sound in the beginning 3 is really cool in its prod. The first guest rap verse doesn't work hugely well for me but hte second one is better integrated with the interesting drums and prod. 4 starts the guitar-ish-led soul phase of the record in excellent fashion although a wee bit too short for my liking and with a questionable skit at the end. 5 continues the exact same vibe but is just a touch less memorable, before 6 prolongs the guitar soul vibe for one last track in a very nice and soft song. 7 brings back a beat with a reaggeaton groove tucked away discretely in a comfy prod, making for a track that is both subdued and catchy working really nicely before the emotional-ish closer I mentioned above. Well done and a definite look upwards for the future! 3.65
Sons of Kemet Black to the Future3.5
In some ways, perhaps some of their best output, but in other ways it is also their worst. 1 is a fun intro track with lotsa words, and 2 has a super cool intro for the actual start of the album with an extra dancey track with not so bad tuba. That energy abruptly goes away and we get 3, yet another fun SoK track where the tuba breaks it all for me. The track again feels awkwardly cut short. Thankfully 4 marks the start of an upside with interesting vox in the intro that unfold into soft rap, making for the first track that actually evolves at multiple stages rather than just ending. 5 is dancy, the tuba works well, the flutey bits are cool, honestly 4-5 could be some of my fav SoK material. 6 starts super nice with smooth, almost bossa nova feeling jazz, before the tuba pops in and ruins the chill. It does morph into a nice track, but basically as ever as SoK the more audible the tuba is the less I like. 7 has a supe dancy and weird intro that I love... then tuba. The sax solo is veyr fun tho and the track is really dancey. 8 is pretty alright jazz, and the transitions up to this stage got better. 8 does go really weird in its last quarter, in a way I might enjoy in a vacuum but that's certainly out of place here. 9 has a very cool blizzardesque intro slowly morphing into jazz, but then it kinda loses itself midway, partly saved by the sax, partly hurt by the tuba still. 10 is fun, but has too many tuba-focused moments, and 11 concludes like 1 on a track taht is mostly words. It works for its puprose. 3.55
Doss 4 New Hit Songs2.5
1,2, and 4 are built on a foundation of relatively generic but very much functional and catchy dancey/clubbey music, on top of which memey bleep bloops and jpop-vaguely chipmunkey sounding vocals are added. This makes the songs a fun listen in a memey way, but I don't really know that it makes them ''good'' if there is such a thing. 2 and 4 I might rejam moreso than 1. To be fair 3 with its guitars feels a little more substantial and is kinda cool/almost quite good, although it doesn't reach the appeal of that one track frmo the 2014 record. Meh? 2.7
Paysage d'Hiver Geister3.5
Where Im Wald was the PdH formula applied a little too much for a little too long, this one has the merit of wanting to change things whilst remaining at a reasonable runtime. The most blatant change is of course the tempo, with Geister being a lot slower than its predecessors (or most of them anyway). The most blatant is 9, which to me echoes Welt Aus Weis but a lot slower... And showing how much it doesn't work for me. Slower bm can be great to achieve a sense of evil and almost goth (where PdH is usually more about dem blizzards, which we still get a fair bit of here) say a la Blut Aus Nord, but the album here rarely achieves this. Maybe some moments of 2-3 or 8 could be good examples. But for the most part it just makes the tracks less engaging to me, and by 3 it was already a bit of a blur tbh. 5 is a bit faster-aced and does feel more like regular PdH, and in retrospect 1 might do too. The PdH identity is further (strongly) reinforced by the windy, noisy outro track - though it feels a little more industrial than usual - which is a welcome addition to strengthen the atmosphere. However, it might be becayse I was working at the same time and not paying huge amounts of attention to it, but the album rather feels like the upper side of an okay experience rather than an amazing experience such as some of the previous PdH offerings. 3.5
Holding Absence The Greatest Mistake of My Life2.5
Jesper got it exactly right when he used the word tiresome to describe this album. HA put
the emphasis on the parts of their sound I didn't like in LP1, and largely forewent (?) the
more esoteric, post, eerie aspects to go for exuberant emo rock grandeur. It's the kind of
record where I am sure every track is going to be some teenager's favorite song, but taken
all together they really fatigued me. 6 is the summum of mindless corny. The midtrack on 7
is a nice change, and 8 is finally kind of post rocky in its intro which offers some
respite. 9 is a simpler piano song, and proves that the band really work better when they
stop trying to be constantly grand - which they resume in the chorus, though the female
guest vox are a nice surprise. 10 gives us an interlude to relax, but 11 goes back to being
tiresome. It really feels like the vocalist is pushing it too far at times. 12 is a piano
ballad to finish which again is actually nice as respite. The band seem to have lumped all
of their restful moments at the end unfortunately. I am okay with a bit of epic grand corny,
heck I love it in some moments in The Contortionist' Intrisic, but this is just too much,
too corny, too all the time. 2.4
Kekht Arakh Pale Swordsman4.0
Black metal for sunny days? Music to be sad to in corpse paint whilst enjoying the sun? There is something magical about the way this mixes pretty sounds to a background wall of lo-fi raw-ish bm. 1-2 or 9 are prime examples of this, and perhaps the record's most unique trait. That's not to say the one-man band doesn't do aggressive bm well as well: 3-4 and 7-8 amply prove the contrary, whilst the softie break in the middle is most welcome. The prod won't sit right with everyone but I dug it. My only real gripe with this comes at the end, which is a shame. There is no transition between 9 and 10, and that's the first time the record fails in construction because before that it flows superbly well. And on top of that, 10 is a bit too long and cheesy I found, even though the other cheesy/romantic/emo bits on the album worked well. So album conclusion could be improved on and drops this down a bit, but tbh I wasn't planning on checking the rest of this discog and now I am wanting to do just that. 3.8
Requin chagrin Bye Bye Baby3.5
Now it's been a hell of a long time since I jammed the previous two records, but this felt a lot more engaging than anything I remembered from this band's output. That being said, their vocals do tire me out after a few tracks, and not just from hte voice but also because their melodies feel very repetitive track to track. 1-3 are quite catchy and good dream pop, but by 4 I was getting a bit tired. 5 has an excellent synthy intro that I really love, and unfolds quite well until the vocals come in to make the song mostly okay. This made me realise synths seem a lot more prominent in this record, and are quite good at it. 6 shows this again, but also again the vocals kind of don't convince me. 7-9 continues being mostly ok, kinda catchy dream pop with synth touches like 1-3. I do wish the record concluded on the energetic 9, as 10 feels a bit unnecessary here. I'm hesitant to go a bit lower but I'll be nice and say 3.4
Memoryhouse Mania1.5
Despite the stunning artwork I wasn't expecting much from a Beatles cover EP, and yet I was still disappointed. This is prolly partly due to the material it is taken fom but it all feels very bland, and not even covered in all that an interesting way. Some of the vocals frankly graze the ear. In fact this EP sounds more like an unexciting debut demo, but this comes over a decade in their career so there is no excuse I can see there. The intro on 1 is just bad, and most of the song is meh although the unfold part is actually alright. 2 doesn't work primarily due to the vox. 3-5 are ok but majorly boring, with the only exception being some brief guitar parts on 4 that are quite bitchin and cool. Doesn't save this from a clear cut 1.5
BRUIT The Machine Is Burning...3.5
Now I don't recall a single thing from the starter EP, but based on the EP it seems I was more excited about it than I was about this. This is very well crafted, has diverse instrumentation and rich production, good transitions, and a varied sound within post-rock, but I do feel it misses grandiose moments. I still feel like the tracks kind of die out at times. It is always good, but I was never captivated. 1 is not fantastic but does display the aforementioned diversity well, 2 is without doubt my favourite of the lot with its more acoustic sound and its strings, 3 is much more electronic and feels like it would be a great album opener more than a mid album track, whilst 4 has a long build up leading to a climax feeling like an upper middle tier GYBE track before descending into an all in all nice section. 2 is clearly the standout track here and if it were all like that we'd be probably looking at a circa 4.0+ rating, but here I have to stick with a 3.7
Julia Kwamya Feel Good About Feeling Bad4.0
The perfect soundtrack for a vintage video of pretty women dancing on the beach at sunset in the 50s. Really neat little EP of catchy, dreamy, kaleidoscopic pop with a touch of Sade sensuality whose class and flair is all the more impressive from it being the debut effort of a young artist. One to keep an eye on for sure. 3.8
Blindfolded and Led to the Woods Nightmare Withdrawals3.5
Horror deathcore with lots of ideas. Reminds me of a less proggy Seizures actually. I think I just wasn't in the right conditions for this - mood wise and also had to focus on me work. Still could tell this is super cool and full of riffs, but I found that the quieter bits like the midtrack on 3 or the second half of 9 felt like relief as well as instinsically cool moments which isn't ideal. 3.7
L'Imperatrice Tako Tsubo3.5
In a vacuum, a well crafted album after all. But in the context of their discog, and knowing what they can do, this is a huge frustration. Restraint can be good in music, but this has too much of it. This is clear from the very start with 1's very sparse explosiveness - the track has good ideas but remains way too tame. It does also intro us to one of the album's strengths: da bass is deliciously mixed. 2's more of the same, 3 is instantly less good, and 4 is even calmer, although it ha chorus that hints at what I wanted, and once hte beat starts it does have nice cocktail vibes I guess. Their sound just calls for funk, guitar, syncopation, brass, and we hardly get that. 5 is once again not bad, but low energy. The section at min 3 on 6 is cool but short lived. 7 is slightly groovier and better, albeit not in the way I expected, and I really love 8's space cartoon aesthetic. 10 does get the funk going a little more too (9 being just an interlude) but it's still not one of their huge jams. 11 has quite nice synthwork, and 12 has more of a beat but remains tame and never explodes. 13 is yet another of those low energy tracks - feels like the album could go on for hours, especially because there is no conclusion at all. It just falls flat, and nearly each track feels like a rest track between two other rest tracks. I am trying not to let my frustration affect my rating, but yes I liked their prior output a lot more. 3.4
Evigt Morker Enande Mane3.5
I am perhaps overly kind to this because I missed old Evigt and this is the closest he's gotten to his past EPs in years. While not the greatest bangers of all time, 1 and especially 3 have this nice mixed of atmospheric, ethereal pads and strong techno backbone that I really enjoyed in his first couple EPs and that he's struggled to find again ever since. 4 is undeniably weaker, but reminds of the undeniably weaker tracks he also had on past records. His latest evolutions aren't wholly lost though, as 2 is much more hard hitting and punchy, and also bring faint psytrance traces that I quite enjoyed. Not sure how well it joins up with the rest, but it is certainly a fun track too. If you enjoyed EP1-4, this is the first of his newer records that I'd recommend to ya. 3.5
A Compendium of Curiosities Heaven Feels Like Floating Around in a Golden City3.0
1-2 are really nice synthy ambientish pieces which garas described quite aptly in its rev. Very nice, but I find the production to be a bit digitalley and thin, lacking low end and the sort of pretentiously blown out of proportion yet kind of an actual thing 'analog warmth' of the original synth pieces from the 70s-80s this seems to take inspiration from. It really sounds like it was made from a computer and I don't know that I like that for this genre. 3 is a bit more ambient and, imo, interesting, with longer drone phases, cool bursts of notes, a bit of grittiness and noisiness in the textures. Not quite thrilling but a sweet and quite short listen. 3.2
A Winged Victory for the Sullen Invisible Cities4.0
From yesterday. This is an album where AWFTS show us that they can do more than regular AWFTS, and that they can do it well without completely overturning their aesthetic. 1 indeed opens on lovely but typical AWFTS piano in a very nice way. 2 already introduces changes starting subtly with superb faint choral voices. Then brass kicks in (not a fan, a bit too Marvel OST), then some grittiness (love it), then new piano coming in at 1m40 that is just magnificent. The track ends a bit nowhere and I would've liked more of a buildup, but it shows where the album will explore. 3 continues the grit, 4 is nice, then 5-6 show some dungeon synth vibes imo (yes), and after these fuller tracks the very calm start of 7 is most welcome, before the track gradually buidls into superb cascading, distorted textures, followed by the absolute magical 8 in the context of the album. Made my rating go up. 9 goes from gritty from fully distorted (not sure I like the end tbh), 10-11 are nice, then 12 summarises again what the album tried with vocal sounds and gritty bits. 13 starts on lovely piano over lonely drone to conclude, then builds up distortion sounding almost like a metal intro, getting into prurienty territories at times, then stopping suddenly and beautifully. Whilst it's not the most coherent album in the world (but flowing well), or not having striking melodies like LP1, this is a show of force showing that AWFTS are masters at many more aspects of their craft than we've seen before. I can see how this LP resonates with fewer people - it is more drone at heart than their prior records. 3.9
Dua Lipa Future Nostalgia: The Moonlight Edition2.5
One thing is clear: these are random bonus tracks lumped at the end of Future Nostalgia without much of an attempt at continuity with the album and even each other. No point listening to this record in one go, you can just check the new tracks as an independent entity really. 'If It Ain't Me' and 'That Kind of Woman' are the only two songs that would stylistically fit on FN, and while the former is ok in the way of calmer songs, only the latter would really have had the quality to match the LP. It's one of the few keepers from the new tracks here. 'Fever' is also ok and maybe the second keeper here, as the song is short and sweet, and the chemistry between Dua and Angele works well. On 'Prisoner' on the other hand, Dua doesn't feel like she belongs and I much preferred Miley's parts, resulting in a clunky track but that does have ideas in it although it is far less explosive than it could've been. 'We're Good' really brings us back to Dua's first LP, and that isn't really a good thing. 'Not My Problem' is fun in a quirky way but would never have fit on FN, whilst the Levitating feat. DaBaby really feels pointless - he does an ok job at rapping but there was no place for rapping in the song imo and frankly I'd never jam that over the original version. Finally we have the inevitable reggaeton track with J Balvin/Bad Bunny for dem dolla, it's completely incongruous with the rest but hey within it's own genre it's actually not bad, might be a third keeper idk. But on the whole this is not a great record, just jam the original FN instead. 2.5
Jäde Romance3.0
Very similar style to the first one, but done a wee bit better. Again we are offered soft rnb with summery pop leanings on some tracks (4-6 and the conclusion which ends things on a good note) and trappy vibes on the others, with 8 being kind of midway. In the former case the tracks, although you know not absolute bops are quite playlist-worthy and nice for lazy sunny afternoons. In the latter case they are alright but a bit passable, which I think just reflects my personal taste at the moment. Three feats: 2 on which it works well within the track but the track itself is eh, 5 where for once the guest is actually a really cool addition, and 7 where it is more classically a low point of the track. So playlist material and I'll follow her stuff, but this is not quite a strong record either. 3.2
Endling The Heavy Frigate3.5
This album cuddles me and I'm all for it (more fluid than the debut too nice progression buddy) 3.6
Cult of Luna The Raging River4.0
Man I do love me some synth of Luna. This feels like the band yet again finding a very slightly different twist to their sound, combining the heavy reliance on synths displayed on ADTF to their sludgier beginnings. This combination is most prominent on the excellent 1 (which becomes particularly beautiful starting at 6:30 whereas it is more on the aggressive, sludgy side beforehand), 2 which is super gritty and evokes almost the first CoL EP - emphasising the sludge side there, and 6, especially its majestic end with the last two minutes showing the synths going into a noisy whirlwind of emotions behind the endless (and quite rehashed in their discog ngl) post-metal riffage. People seem to like the track before last a lot too but it is about the one that least convinced me, feeling just a bit tame and more 'standard CoL' than anything here. Compare to the excellent atmosphere on 6 that unfolds superbly well into a beat we have practically never seen in their disocg before, going to a transition of desolate desperation before the majestic last few miuntes I mentioned, and to me it is clear 4 is instantly more simplistic and less engaging, dropping this a point. 3 I am not sure about as the ?guest vox isnt too my cuppa, but the track is short enough that the novelty is sufficient to counterbalance that. Rock solid as always - too often almost? Idk how to rate these anymore. 3.9
Clara Malaterre Portraits4.0
Truly excellent little folk EP with lots of bursts of creativity sprinkled in in the form of swathes of fx coming in sporadically amidst the otherwise largely acoustic sound, little dissonances and compositional freehand that justifies the jazz tag this gets here and there, cool instrumental additions, and also well placed restraint to keep things subtle and elusive. These aspects magnify what would otherwise be a well crafted but not outstanding EP to make it into something I found to be memorable. The sort of falsetto, sometimes heavily vibrato-ing voice will not sit right with some, but with me it did. Whilst the first three song bear the same mysterious, slightly sad, slightly ichiko-esque vibe, 4 shows us Clara can also do upbeat stuff well, and 5 is really intriguing especially in its intro, although I cannot put my finger on what it reminds me of. A precious, obscure little gem. 3.8
Oliver Heldens Never Look Back3.0
1 is quite a cool future house track, but alas there is a clear section within the recurring A B C etc pattern that is way subpar and frankly cringe, which is a bit of a shame. 2 is almost cool but is too cheesy and repetitive without having the peps of some of his other tracks to not get the title of worst track on here. Because, yes, clearly 3 is the best here. The vox are super cool and surprisingly well integrated within the FL studio housecore rest of the track, which is a bit too cliche but is quite effective. Seeing that this wasn't their first collab together wasn't a surprise really, the track is a success. 3.1
Zeynep Bastik Zeynodisco3.0
On paper, I should love this. It's a short pop album with a disco theme and kitsch elements, prominent bass, synths and strings sprinkled in, some brass even eg at the end of 5 (a highlight), and with Zeynep who I know from other records is an excellent vocalist. Yet, although I tamely liked it all and never found it unpleasant, none of the tracks really clicked. I was hungry for jams and they didn't happen for me. I can't put my finger on what it is, but I was never fully hooked. I still think she's an artist to watch, but I wish I liked this more. 3.2
Sofia Valdes Ventura3.5
Lovely debut EP by an interesting young artist out of Panama. Her voice would fit remarkably well on a neo-soul background, but she navigates more on the side of summery/lush indie pop, and that works very well for her too. I do think the EP could use a couple huge banger jams you know, accentuating the dancier side she gives hints of here and there, but on the whole it's still quality. 1 is perhaps the poppest one, whilst 2 is dreamier. 3 is more balladey and is probably the track I liked least, but is thankfully followed by my favourite here, which after a well crafter soft transition becomes the danciest track here with some bossa novaey touches in the back to hold the fort. 5 really shows how soulsey she can get, whilst 6 is a nice soft track to conclude. On the extended version 7 is pretty much the same as its original version on 3 - although the espanol does a nice touch -, 8 is a nice soft song, 9 didn't really grab my attention much but 10 is awesome and really worth a detour, bringing back the bossa nova and the danciness of 4 a lot more than the soft og 6. 3.5
Ber I'm Not In Love3.5
Checked this wee summery naive-but-cute indie pop thing because Hazel English co-wrote track 2, and indeed 2 is my favourite here being quite catchy and bouncy despite its relative simplicity. The intro track is quite nice too but is very short, which makes 4 the only competitor to 2 as 3 is at heart a frankly boring vaguely country ballad with a bit of extra fx that do help. Alas 4 doesnt come even close to 2 and is maybe just about playlist-worthy, maybe not. 3.3
Laura Itandehui Laura Itandehui3.5
Pretty Mexican folk that isn't fully realising its potential yet. 1 hooks you nicely by displaying the singer's vocal abilities over a quasi inexistant instrumental, and some fun sounds are displayed on such tracks as 3, while the much more upbeat 4 is quite fun. 5 is really not my cuppa in places, and 6 is not flawless but pretty neat in a kinda generic way. 7's better imo, and 8 is very soothing. Not a huge amoutn for playlists, but a pleasant listen, and an artist to watch, probably? (M3, library) 3.3
María Cristina Plata Como El Mar3.5
Pretty, pristine Colombian guitar chanson. Uneven in enjoyment for me, but still a globally
good listen with some playlist pearls. (M3, library) 3.65
Shadow Community Restless Song/ Halcyon's Coffin4.0
Very pretty debut EP that could make for great things on a longer format with its extremely lush, light and airy mix of dream pop, indie pop, jazz and even some hints of math-rock I feel here and there, blurring it all into a cohesive whole somehow. Quite a dreamy experience that is only too short to score much higher than it does. 3.8

2020
Lanterns on the Lake The Realist3.0
Starts quite well (without much faffing which is good this is a short EP) with a nice, very Jezablesy song that is very well crafted and builds up nicely. But 2 does the same except much lower energy and without the buildup, and 3 is even lower energy, and 4 even lower... which makes most of this a (pretty and well crafter) bore, until they calm down enough that it becomes ambient and quite nice ambient at that on 5. Nice textures and stuff, but ultimately forgettable albeit less than the 3 tracks that preceded. 3.0
Alpha Wann don dada mixtape vol. 13.5
This feels a lot less like a compilation than I had anticipated, despite Wann's success at featuring each guest's style in their respective tracks - the great 4 being undoubtedly Freeze's before the first word is even uttered, and the hard hitting, dumb instrumentalled 3 being clearly Kaaris' who works really welll here alongside Infinit. It almost feels like an LP2 just with loads of guests. 1 is a short minimalistic, hard hitting, dark track, not my fave but definitely a cool way to open. 2 brings more the smoke n weed vibes and I felt a bit of zwangere guyness in the delivery (lol). The bong rap instrumental on 5 is nice but I'm not sure about the vox, then the shift once Nekfeu comes on is really cool. 6 is chiller but I really dislike the intro on 7. 8 has a cool insutrmental but im not into its vox. 9 is another okay but ultimately eh bong rap track, but 10 is frankly not my thing with its skeet skeet swshing. 11 is much better instrumentally again but I still wasnt too into the vox, though the 'sung' chorus brings some welcome variety. 12 is nice n dancy, 13 is not bad either, but by then it's really getting too long and it all blurs out. 14 has a cool instrumental idea but again the delivery feels a bit robotic n slow, 15 is weird but in a cool way I dont mind it, I'm a normie for liking 16's simpler instrumental, and 17 is not a bad one to end on with its cool kinda mysterious vibes that change it from the rest. Some great tracks, a lot of okay tracks - more of a playlist one for me, but it's a compilation after all anyway. 3.6
Yazmin Lacey and Congi Two Takes3.5
Short and sweet EP with strong qualities, but suffering from being very frontloaded. 1 is indeed by far and away the best track here, not so much because of its vocals, but because of its lush, glitchy yet fun and multilayered prod with a very Prefuse 93 feel. Honestly makes me want to check Congi more than anything. 2 is more ambient, more straightforward and more relaxed, but works fine enough, whilst 3 is more of a forgettable interlude. 4 maintains this calmer vibe still, but adds more depth to the instrumentals and features one of the best vocal performances here, resulting in a pretty good track. I will come back to this just for 1 I think. Will I check Congi? 3.5
Ichiko Aoba Adan no Kaze4.5
Absolutely gorgeous. There is a short run in the middle that made me question whether or not I'd slap a 4.3 on this thing, but you know what the few tracks after that do save the day. Ichikobroadens her sound enormously, whilst also taking a more ambient direction than folk in a lot of places - rather prominently on the gorgeous opening track for instance -, and the result is a marvellous thought-inducing patchwork of ghibli colours and adventurous childhood. No wonder she was featured on Link's Awakening. She didn't lose her sound, as is shown on tracks like 12 and 13 which remind a lot of her prior work yet fit with the rest nicely. She just expanded it beautifully. This is already clear from 2. The piano on 6 even reminds of Debussy-type impressionist compositions. What's more to ask. Perfect album to jam on a sunny morning looking at the trees gently swinging in the wind? 4.3
Coletta Idealism2.5
I quite dif the art i confess. Early on I had hope this could be incredibly better than the EP.
For they did do a style shift with this, with much more electronic production occasionally
bordering on RnB and pop, and with a pretty complete absence of the awful harsh vocals. And the
start is great, with a really nice lush intro track transitioning ultra smoothly into 2 that has
a lovely entry too. Sadly, you already then see that, while perhaps less insufferable, the vocals
have retained a lot of their post-hxc DGD circa survive etc DNA. Perhaps not so much
stylistically, but definitely melodically - and that is my main gripe with the album actually,
the melodies feel so recycled the farther you go. It's a shame becaause instrumentally this is
kind of cool as shown by 3 or the super electronic 4, at which point i still had some hope, but
then completely random and out of place rapping comes out of nowhere to confirm this is not going
to be great.It comes back often too, ruining perhaps four or five tracks, and taking the role of
the harsh vocals on the EP. Still, despite all this, this might have looked at a low 3.0 sort of
rating, because the mix of influences, while questionable, is rather unique, and being the
electronic instrumentation is largely more interesting that the cool but seen before post hxc
instrumentation of the EP, but the length and fatigue on this just make it an album I cant
decently rate more than a 2.7
Phoebe Bridgers If We Make It Through December3.0
I mean it is a Christmas-themed EP so I didnt expect much of it, and I did jam it on shuffle accidentally because I am a big dumbo, but still this realy did not engage me at all. Track 1 is ok folk that tries to hard to say word and feels more like somebody talking to you over a song than it does a song; track 2 is an annoyingly panned collage of the classic Christmas song on one hand (and a rather meh version of it at that), and a vocal sample about abortion laws and other things. It sounds bad as music, but I do appreciate the effect created by the contrast between the jolly xmas caroll and the heavy content on the other audio canal. 3 does have a touch more meat to it than 1, with more voices, strings, and drums to add volume, but it's still violently mid. 4 is a nice soft Christmas song, which means it's also aggressively naive - but I think with some visuals of falling snow on an old European town at night it would be quite nice. No intention of listening to this again. 2.9
Evigt Morker 53.0
1 is darker and clubbier than he used us to, not the fattest track in the world but its got some bounce. 2 transitions very well from it, and overall the EP feels nicely continous which is great to see. It's also in that darker vibe, while 3 finally brings back some of the ethreal synths and atmospheric dubs that he does so well. It's nice but it doesnt reach his past heights imo. Idk maybe 3.1
Ana Roxanne Because of a Flower3.5
Has some truly stunning bits, but suffers from similar problems to ~~~: namely questionable sequencing and a lack of fluidity between tracks. 1 is a nice short vocal sample that sets the listener into a contemplative mood, getting them ready for the absolutely stunning 2, a superb ambient drone jam with gradual additions of endlessly reverberated vocals that have a bit of a Dead Can Dance vibe to them. At that point I was pumped for this, but then the transition to the chimey synthey 3 is really not so great, although once the vocals kick in it becomes quite beautiful. 6-7 which are much more ambient and ethereal vocals-based like 2 would have fit a lot more there imo, especially 7 with its lovely tape hiss and repetitive piano which makes for a rather flat album conclusion. Instead before that we have echoed chimes on 4 for too long (should have been an interlude imo), and 5 which features drums and is relatively cool but that kind of ruptures with the overall ambient vibe. Same comment as with ~~~: some fantastic potential, but not quite there from an album perspective. 3.5
Spieglass None Shall Gather3.5
Some more good stuff from Spieglass. The softer, ambient passages are well mastered at this point and the tones are gorgeous. The ambience on 4 is just superb, the tone on 5 is just so s o f t, and 6 turns in plain
excellent ambient parts that really tickle my fancy. 2 is quite pretty and I really dig the midtrack with the vocals and the latter half on 3. I do find that the heavier parts feel less experienced than the rest -
which makes sense since this is a new element in the Spieglass sound. The drums especially lack beefiness and low end for what they are trying to convey imo, it's a lot of nice hi hats and snares and whatnot but it's
lacking some lower toms and kicks and things I think. Maybe it's my sound here. I also feel like the distorted guitars could have a little more bite even, to contrast more fully with the lushness of the rest. That
being said, 1 is still cool compositionally, and 7 probably achieves the most solid heavy parts on the record. Nice. 3.6
Shapoval Sextet Kobzareva Duma (1976)3.5
The label presents it as radical, psych and experimental jazz, but frankly for the most part I don't see it. 1-2 are relatively standard 70s jazz fusion, or so it feels to my ignorant ears. 3 it's true is a lot more experimental, and gets really weird and abrasive in a cool way before returning to cool groovy jazz fusion with some sweet sweet basslines. It's also true that the album intro is absolutely fantastic, and something GYBE would have dreamed of making despite this having been recorded in 1976. So with an intro this eerie and brooding, I cant deny the transition into fun guitar groovy bass jazz fusion (after a great jazz entry with piano and sax) was a bit of a disappoint for me, even though it's actually a super fun track - just less dark than I was led to expect this would be. 2 has great piano parts after the intro section, but I gotta say it was the least memorable track of the three for me. A sweet record that is frankly worth a check if you dig 70s jazz. https://shukai.bandcamp.com/album/kobzareva-duma-1976 3.7
Sea Oleena Weaving A Basket4.0
Absolutely superb record once again. I struggle to pick a favourite with Charlotte's extremely consistent output. This again combines a mildly happier, less droney folk Groupercore with some remote Agnes Obel vibes, to varying ratios. 1
calls strongly to the former and 3 to the latter, while 2 is nicely ambient inbetween. 4 is a bit more subdued folk, and while it is pretty indeed I do find it a bit compelling than the rest. Same goes for the first couple minutes on 5,
until the track develops itself to really display the full range of styles explored by the album in one single song, probably turning into my favourite on the album. It even has a full on drone section to it > I'm happy. 6 is absolutely
superb Groupery stuff again and would have been a wonderful way to conclude the album on 4.2 with growth potential. Sadly, there's still the long 7 to go, and I have for it pretty much the exact same comment as for 4, meaning that the
album ends on 11 minutes of less compelling folk. I feel like it drags for a bit too long and brings the album. Just with a little bit of fat trimmed this could easily be in strong 4.5 range. Get on this folks
https://seaoleena.bandcamp.com/album/weaving-a-basket 4.1
Ariana Grande positions3.5
This is a very consistent album - pretty much never gets annoying, which is rare for an ultra mainstream pop alb likethis -, but also an utterly mild one. It's like every track would work well as a mall soundtrack. It's nice and pretty -
the aesthetic very much evokes the cleanliness of a fragrance store -, but it doesn't even try to pop bangers or too memorable a track. Noname for example did the soft spoken marshmallow gold rose aesthetic with much more impactful tracks
that do stick in memory, so it isn't a question of the style not being compatible with memorable tracks. The one exception is 8, which gives us a glimpse of what neosoul Ari could be - and frankly there's great potential there. In
contrast, 9 feels like a disappointment going back to the pastel trap stuff again, even though there is nothing wrong with the track. I like Doja Cat's music more than her feat here, but otherwise the guests work well within the tracks. I
gotta say the album mostly lost me after a few tracks especially past 8, but 11-14 do feel like they try a bit harder. Still though, there isn't really anything bombastic, or explosive on here, and I already can't remember a single track
except 8. 3.35
Adrianne Lenker Instrumentals3.0
Does what it says on the tin. 1 is a guitar instrumental with some really nice parts, but that isn't compelling enough to be much more than nice background listening. The second track continues this for five minutes then continues with pretty much just chimes as the title suggests. Again there are some really sweet bits, but overall there is even more blank space and it just falls flat. This could make it to my library as I easily could listen to this again when in need of something very unintrusive to listen to with a book for example, but as a standalone album to listen to in a relatively focused manner it feels like a 2.9
Adrianne Lenker Songs3.5
To me this is unquestionably Adrianne's strongest full-length to date. It is more coherent without sudden jumps in atmosphere or from folk to country for example, and there aren't really any bad songs - the guitar at least is always nice. My main gripes are vocal. Firstly, I find that it gets a bit too whiney shakey for too long at times; and secondly, this isn't true of every song but sometimes she leaves no space for the instruments and just hums constantly like on 7 myyyYyyYy daAaaAAauuuUUghteeeEeEeEr. So it gets a bit tiresome after a few songs, although in a vacuum most would be nice. And I do appreciate that the songs do sometimes leave breathing space for the instruments, wether in the intro/outro or more rarely within the song - the closer being a prime example Some of the tracks have more intricate strumming and some are more conventional or minimalistic, but the sequencing is well done in that aspect and it brings nice variety. 1,2 kinda 3 although earlier on it's not as compelling, 6 with its engaging guitar, the more minimal 8 and the simpler 9, and the very well constructed and initially peaceful closer are highlights. As I said the rest is pretty fine too except the voice gets a bit much in the mid-album. If I grab an Adrianne LP for my lib it'll be this one. 3.7
Georgie Sweet Misunderstood4.0
Idk what rating I am throwing at this yet but Georgie did not disappoint you should all listen to
this and review coming soon https://futuristicamusic.bandcamp.com/album/misunderstood Edit: well
cf review hehe 3.9
The Freaks Intrusions3.5
Lots of ideas here for an exciting little EP. I do think the main flaw is that the songs feel like they don't take enough time to build up. Maybe it's because some of the aesthetics are borrowed from genres where track lengths are much longer, but a lot of it feels like 'a great intro' that stops a bit too soon. 4 is a great example: I love the beginning texture and the many elements that ensue, but to me it feels like the intro to a swanesque fresca and not a standalone track if that makes sense? 5 then changes things nicely into something much more peaceful instrumentally. Also like the progressive album intro and the general spooky atmosphere. Feels like there is a bit too much singing where there is singing - not that it's bad, I quite like it actually, but it's just missing a bit of breathing space in between the sentences yknow. Cool and butt feel free to @me when the next release comes about. 3.3
Vansire After Fillmore County3.5
I disagree with what's been said here or the average rating. To me this is clearly (and by far) Vansire's best work yet. It retains the versatility and desire for exploration of Angel Youth, but in a much better flowing and more coherent version, with the shorter length also helping. My issue once again are the vox. This album could easily sit in 4.0 tier if only they had given the vocalist a shot of adrenaline before studio time or something. I did have hope on 1 and thought he might have woken up a bit compared to prior records, but no overall to me the vocals just don't match the energy of the record and bring it down. That being said, this is isntrumentally ripe with ideas and surprisingly cohesive for something this diverse. 1 and the first half of 2 are perhaps classic Vansire, but after you've been saddened by the vocals 2 starts throwing a funky groove at you and you realise this might still be good. 3 is synth pop, that transforms into chill hip-hop; 4 is great too and saw my rating increase, and the transition into the Tychoesque 5 is super on point, the flow into 6 is great as well, and 7 ends things on a Message to Bears note with vocals that are more heavily fx'd which makes them work better. The record that convinced me that Vansire are a band worth following. 3.5
Helena Deland Someone New4.0
To me this is a nice album that only suffers from dabbling in a genre and type of vocal display that can bore some and bores most on the long run. Thankfullu, the last two tracks take a turn into something much more ambient, Sea Oleena-esque almsot, which breaks the tiredness - and really I kinda wish the album explore that direction a lot earlier because these tracks are quite nice. The album does make use of nice ambient drones subtly in the back in many places, and so this style shift is foreshadowed a fair bit. 1 is an excellent opener that starts droney and eerie with some vocals, but takes an excellently executed surprisingly upbeat turn later on. 2 is a very nice track too, but 3 is a bit boring instrumentally ngl, though its last third gets more fun and poppy. 4 is more on the folk side and is pretty, whilst 5 is more on the indie pop side then gets fatter and synthier. 6 has a dope indie pop instrumental, and 7 is a cool weird instrumental which introduces the darker turn 8 takes in its intro very well. 8, like 1, slowly turns into happy and jolly vibes, which is very impressively well and subtly done. 9 is not quite a jam but displays some of the aforementioned ambient leanings in its indie pop, whilst 11 is very indie pop a la clairo, and 10 between them starts off on a nice folky + soft ambient vibe before turning more indie pop with a beat. 3.8
Alexia Avina Unearth3.5
A whole let better and more consistent than anything else she's put out. Instead of meandering between indie pop, folk, and ambient folk, this one offers a coherent atmosphere of ambient folk that maintains its atmosphere all the way through and never makes you feel like an element or segment is unwelcome, even in the less memorable tracks. It is rarely properly stunning, but it is strong all the way through. Like a happier, relaxing more than depressing, off brand but still functional Sea Oleena that does the job quite well when in need of more material in the genre. 3.7
Women Rarities 2007-20103.5
Frankly if you had told me this was a 'real' EP and not a compilation of rarities i would've believed you, it all works out pretty well together. The 15min runtime is also a relief - this certianly isn't the band scrapping the barrel for every bit of audio they cant find. 1 is somewhat interesting though ultimately not a track I'd really want to seek again, 2 has fun guitar twinkling echoing the vague mathiness they've shown at times, 3 is frankly annoying and 4 is quite boring to me, but 5 is kinda cool and hypnotic. An okay listen that's sufficiently short to say it is worth including in anyone's discog run. 3.3
21 Savage Savage Mode II4.0
Probable trap AOTY carried by Metro and Freeman, but not just. In terms of album construction, consistency and instrumental production this is probably the best I have ever seen for a trap album. The transitions are incredibly fluid and on point, and even their occasional absence like the abrupt pause before the vocal interlude on 8 are well chosen. The only two small issues that I see are the transition into 14, and the 11 which is the only track whose instrumental I disliked. It's not properly bad and in a vacuum it might be a fun track, but in the context of the album it sticks out a bit. Otherwise, instrumentally this is upper 4.0 quite easily. 21S also improved, and while the difference isn't as striking, he does work excellently well on a lot of tracks. You do have to look past the usual lyrical tropes that are often frankly smh (21 21, repeated p word, etc), and bizarrely there are loads of track where I found he kinda was struggling in the first third/half and then only wakes up and kicks in properly. But this still houses loads of jams (5,7,12,13) and although some are weaker (4,11), there is nothing properly awful. Also, the (intelligently few) feats are all very well integrated unlike what you find on loads of trap records. The added vocalists make sense and dont just feel like an invited rapper for the sake of namedrop. The only one I didnt quite like was Drake's, but it's mostly because the track itself is a bit on the weak side. There's loads to say and it's late and I cba to do a full track by track, but hell this is a great surprise - which plays into my rating a little ngl. 3.85
The Day Soon I Will Forget3.5
Bit of a disappoint imo, and bizarrely my main gripe is the vocals. While they were generally a super strong point on the past records, here they feel somehow unconvinced? Less motivated/confident? Idk what it is but it feels like the singer isn't as much into the music as she was before, and by automatic mimetism so am I. It's a shame because the instrumentals are generally really well done. 1 has a super cool intro that unfolds into the eh vocals and prefaces what's to come. 2 makes a sort of post-rocky pop song, while 3 starts off really catchy with some 80's-ish drums and grooves, before the tired singer comes along to reduce the energy level. The last third is quite cool and catchy though, leading into the again post-rocky 4 which aGAIN is tamed down by the vocals. I can't remember the originals well enough to compare the two versions, so this soundoff is awfully ill-informed, but hey if you mind just write one and make sputnik a more active place pls. 3.3
Bing Satellites The Adirondack Piano2.5
Running a piano through a reverb pedal: the album. Feels ok throughout but doesn't have much textural or melodic substance to it either. By 5 it feels quite too long. 3 is a bit more interesting with some more adventurous composition giving an uneasy feeling as the track title suggests, and this comes back a touch on 6, but sadly 3 is also one of the shortest tracks. Still was a nice albeit slightly depressive listen for a library study session. Tx garasanta! 2.7
Squid Natural Resources3.5
An experimental little EP moreso than playlistable jams, but still a fun listen through and through that shows that Squid are not a mere copycat post punk wannabee group and is instead a band with rather some depth. 1 is a really cool way to intro the record and shows once again that these guys sure know how to start a record with a cover whose original I do not know, whilst 2 is a cool Steve Reich cover that is so far removed from the original that I am not sure I would've identified it to be a cover, with the result being super cool - although, again, not really a track I'd jam back often? 3.5
Taylor Swift Folklore2.5
This is Taylor's safest and blandest record imo, continuing the trend set by Lover. Despite the pristine prod and lovely instrumentation at times, the fact that she still sings like it's generic pop makes it all really boring. There is no spice and a general scarcity of ideas Maybe I just wasn't in the right mood for this, but I have no desire to try again really. 1 is a nice intro track, 2 is nice but bland, 3's pretty, then 4's probably the worst of the record, simplistic, overlong, and with out of place guest vox. By 5 I was already falling asleep. Thankfully the mid-record improves, with 6-8 all being nice songs that finally have some interesting ideas. Again 9 has a nice intro but as soon as she sings it gets boring. There is one vocal idea at 2:05 and it doesn't come back. Same thing for 10. 11 is pretty I guess although there is no transition into 12 which is eh alright. I have to say 13 does have really nice ambient textures and works quite well. 14 sees the return of country Taylor, and while I don't enjoy it I have to say the end track is the only moment this record ever has energy (which is needed with vox like these) and I enjoyed it for that. 15 would be a cool intro track too but at this point of the album feels boring, while 16 furthers the downward energy curve with a pretty but very soft piano track to conclude on just flat a note as the rest of the album - it is super predictable and you just want it to end quick. 2.3
Lianne La Havas Lianne La Havas4.0
This is surely slightly heightened by having seen it live before listening to it properly, but man what an absolute queen album. My main gripe with her prior output was that the individual tracks were quite good but the overall albums felt a bit compilationey and lacking an overarching identity; this is now fully resolved, for this s/t has a sound and sticks to it all the way through whilst exploring different directions it can be taken in. It's no wonder when I saw her life I could tell which songs were from this new LP without having listened to it - and I had a pulse of serotonin when recognising them again here too. Every track is a success, her vocal performance is outstanding, the instruments are having fun, even the interlude is a good time - an LP I'll be happy to rejam in full. 4.15
Oh, Yoko Sports Day3.0
With this I got pretty much the same feeling as with Alex Cameron. I don't really see the appeal or the point. All four tracks are essentially made of one synth line plus cute vocals atop. 2 does have more interesting sounds, and 4 is at least upbeat with its more prominent drums, but yeah apart from that I see nothing bad but also nothing really great. 3.0
Library Tapes Summer Songs3.0
Cute, but the first couple songs really feel a bit weak/basic for longing piano like this. There are a couple highlights (eg. 2,5) which bump this a couple points, but it remains quite forgettable especially considering the short length. 3.2
Giorgia Angiuli Trust The Hours3.5
Really nice synth-based techno with a few nice vocals here and there. It isn't revolutionary but it does the job really well and that was a fun listen, more on the psych side of techno but with some fat bits here and there. The last track convinced me a bit less which drops this half a point. 3.45
Coops Crimes Against Creation4.0
Back to the simpler, classic, instrumental + sick rapping style of Lost Souls, but perhaps with a touch less of a 90s sound. There isn't a bad track but I gotta say the first half had me leaning more towards a 3.7. 1 and 2 got me daym, but only 2 was really all that marking. 3 was you know alright rhodes hop, 4 has a dope beat and goes kinda hard but feels like it lacks substance a bit, 5 is more of that, and yeah by then I was only mildly excited. But the last three tracks, 6-7 especially, raise it up a notch with super chill instrumental, hard hitting drums, and great rapping as always. Despite 8 being a bit less convincing than 6 and 7, it confirmed my feeling that this is 4.0 tier. It is shorter and far more focused than Life in the Flesh, so while it maybe doesn't have as unique jams as LitF, as a record it feels quite a bit stronger. 3.85
Ellis Bedroom Covers2.5
Man I can't put my finger on what it is but I really struggle to find her sound engaging. 2 is quite nice though and singlehandedly saves this, because without it it'd be in middle of the road 2.0 range probably. 2 >> 3 > 1. 2.35
Knox Engler Glitter2.5
Found this guy through some video where he delightfully mixed bossa nova and math rock or something. This is less convincing than the track I saw though. While the prod is positively bedroomey and the vocals lack a bit of confidence, 1 is certainly exciting and sweet tappedey math rock containing nice compositional surprises. But then 2-3 are frankly less appealing to me, being mostly shreddy shred and being even more hurt by the prod on the distorted sections. 4 goes back to electronic playful math rock and thus gets instantly better. 5 is fun too and you can tell he's having fun with the vocals drums etc, and 6 is kinda fun too, but yeah except on 1 it rarely ever goes above 'kinda fun with bad prod'. There is good potential though from the little I've seen from this project. 2.7
Mad'M When the Sun and the Moon Rise3.0
Best daroncore ever 3.0
Quest Master The Twelve Castles3.0
I wanted some SNES RPG OST worship and this was perfect for it. It does really feel like an OST as it isn't really constructed like an album at all, and there are a few disrupting issues like some weirdly mixed sounds on 2. But overall this packs 30 min of a nice voyage and it works well for that. 3.2
Paysage d'Hiver Im Wald3.5
On first listen I'm not really convinced by this. Now yes this is July so perhaps another day I'd have liked it better. Also I can't fairly compare it to prior PdH albums bcs it's been a while. But this felt a lot like riff A for 10min, interlude, riff B for 10min, interlude, rinse and repeat, which on a 40min record is all good and well, but over 2hrs just tired me out. The tracks feel like the PdH formula applied to the T - well executed, but formulaic. The prod is nice and lo-fi, but I perhaps would have preferred something more abrasive to reinforce the RIFFZ. Now I say this but by track 13 my ears really were suffering. It was fine after I paused to take a wee though so maybe I'm just a noob. Now this does have great tracks - 1,4,6 - perhaps my fave here,8 and dat violin, and 13 after min 7 when I took the aforementioned wee. The latter feels like slowly dying in the cold and I really dig how it concludes the album by slowly, well, dying out. Bumped the album a point, but sadly it had previously been dragged down a fair few points because I found 9-12 (and even the beginnign of 13) to be quite fillerish, boring and lacking definition (need to relisten I was maybe just fatigued by then), even borderline insufferable in places. The intro to 13 is very good and nice to the ear which was welcome. 2 was a sign of what was to come, it already felt like the formula merely applied and far less striking than 1. 3.7
Pilori (FRA) À Nos Morts3.5
Cool stuff and a band I'll be following. This is blackened crust that navigates both sludge tempos and hxc aesthetics quite well. One of my main gripes is the vocals. They are great in isolation with really raw, distorted prod, but they are a bit overpresent and overwhelming at times. Otherwise the sound is quite great except a couple of faux pas here and there (looking at you track 7). What excites me most is some of the really evil-sounding ideas the band has and some of the riffing that's really nice and aggressive, making 3-5 and 10-11 some of my favourite tracks. 6 is really cool and clever too as a calmer interlude, which contributes to the album feeling well constructed and nicely flowing. A good start (?) for a band that might come up with truly great stuff in the near future. 3.65
Phoebe Bridgers Punisher3.5
The problem with this isn't the song themselves, it is the fact that they are all here together in a row. Bridgers' mellow, slightly whiny, slightly naive delivery works okay on a track basis, but it tends to bore on the longer run - by 5 it was already getting a bit zzz. This becomes particularly painful in the second half as most songs are ballads and lose indie pop leanings for the most part until 11's midtrack evolution into a slightly crazy, eventually a bit annoying but commendable conclusion. But taken one by one most of the songs are good. After the slightly pointless 1, 2 has a great glitchy and bassy intro, the songs only suffering from weird low ended vox in the back. 3 is nice upbeat indie pop, 4 is softer and aquatic with weird back vox again but remains quite pretty, 5 is nice subdued autumn folk, 6 is a well crafted mellow ballad that goes into a bit of naive christmassy vibes later on, 7 is a pretty mountain cabin track that shows an example of some of the cool sound processing stuff that goes on in the back in a couple places on this album. 8's yet another nice mellow ballad with some strings, and by 9 with all these ballads the alb was losing me - but I also feel 9 is one of the weaker tracks. 10 is a lot nicer but does get a little whiney for too long. It's just too many mellow ballads in a row man, but individually they're mostly fine. 3.4
Speaker Music Black Nationalist Sonic Weaponry3.5
For the most part this feels more like a stylistic/performative exercise of making tracks with distorted drum machines, fx and not much else, which I can appreciate and really didn't mind but also wouldn't really seek out as a piece of music to listen to again. There are also a couple tracks where the music is just a background for long voice samples, chiefly the opening track and 9. I find it better done on 9 where it doesn't disrupt the musical aspect at all which finds the message reinforced, whereas opening on one long sample like this feels a bit like a sequencing mistake - which doesn't say anything about the message per se of course. Where this record truly shines however is when it manages to mix the drummachinecore to other things. While tracks like 2 and 4 are cool sonic objects, 3 stands out between them by incorporating brass into a sort of glitch-jazz vibe. The tastefully dissonant piano on 6 is another example, and the album ends on a peak with the continuous 10 and 11 being a masterclass at using voice samples intelligently as textures and not just a centepeiece, with 11 bringing in the brass back in a great conclusion with amazing distorted sounds too. An album of tracks like these and the jazzy/piano based ones would easily be at least middle 4.0 tier if not more, but here they feel like they merely drag up by a point or two an album that feels like it spreads its ideas out far too much. 3.6
Jessie Ware What's Your Pleasure?4.0
This album is the first of Jessie's that displays a consistent sound and aesthetic all throughout, suppressing the compilation feeling that plagued her prior work in spite of a couple semi-questionable transitions. The vibe here is that of house, disco, synth bass, and subtle grooves. And what an album she gives us when construction serves the music. Nearly every track is an instant playlist pick despite hardly ever feeling like 4.5 tier worthy. The run from 1-5 is practically flawless. 6 is then calmer, which is perhaps less memorable/playlist worthy but works really well in the context of the album, before 7 keeps things even calmer and quite elegant before 8-10 bring the groove again. By 10 I was really thinking this could reach a solid 4.1, but I wish the two conclusion tracks kept the groove on the strong side as that second half of the album is resolutely less dancey. The closer is a nice aesthetic and works, but following the calmer 11 I was hopping for a huge boppy finale. Still an outstanding effort by Jessie and a solid 4.0
Nuvolascura As We Suffer From Memory and Imagination4.0
Boy I love this band. I need to rejam this versus the s/t and perhaps on another day though. I probably overhyped the s/t, and I perhaps wasn't in the best conditions to jam this one, but on first listen I feel like I prefer the debut. This one has higher highs but seems less focused, with more sort of down time (if such a term applies to the band) and sometimes track construction that wants to do too much and to go into too many directions. There are loads of jams but I didn't write them down because this is very short and also not the kind of album where I feel like it'd make sense to come back to singular tracks. The absolutely dope closing triad bumps this a point to a temporary (probably) 4.0
clipping. Chapter 3194.0
I missed this when it came out. First track is one of the most car-listenable clipping
tracks ever and is a great jam, while 2 echoes more to their prior material but is
excellently done with a fantastic ominous atmosphere. Plus what it all says. This is their
best work yet, although idk how fair the comparison is to a full-length like addiction to
blood. Might grow but for now 4.1
Prison of Mirrors (ITA) De Ritualibus et Sacrificiis ad Serviendum Abysso3.5
Cool evil bm, but I don't think they have fully reached their potential yet. They have some cool ideas and sounds, but they are most commonly overused, protracted, or simply lost in a sea of more generic sounding stuff. The prod on some guitars on 1 is particularly flat and poor, and compositionally it's fine but has been done better before, but the end of the track is ok. 2 has a cool drum intro that rapidly unfolds into cliche, but the second half gets progressively more evil and hellish and gets really cool by the end, concluding on a monk chant sort of thing that is super cool here, but will be overused later. The intro to 3 is quite clumsy but the unfolding riff is crazily glacial and really cool, into a nice monkish bridge entering the last third of the track. This hinge between 2 and 3 really is the peak of the album, as the behemoth 4 is pretty boring and far too long, with only some cool riffage here and there but certainly not enough to hold the fort for 22min. The fadeout outro into monks feels cheap too, considering we've heard that twice already and it sounded exactly the same. 3.3
Gia Margaret Mia Gargaret4.0
Unlike her prior indie pop/folk effort, this one is almost wholly ambient and would belong on Erased Tapes. And frankly I find it very successful. There are perhaps a few downsides. After 3 you're kind of feeling the tracks build up to nothing and are introey without ever resolving, (but that feel goes away right after), the glitchy synth sounds starting off 5 are quite abrupt and broke the mood for me before the track goes back to lovely softness and mellowness thereafter, feeling a bit like music for ambient geat demos, and finally the concluding track has mixing issues. I appreciate the intent of keeping vocals (other than samples) as a nice surprise for the end and a callback to her first LP, but they are mixed way too loud to a nearly startling level, and that's a shame because prod is otherwise absolutely stellar on this. But all in all despite these downsides this is a very pretty, relaxing ambient record that I'd recommend. The use of pianos, on 1 over aquatic sounds, 6, 8, and 9 is particularly successful, the synths and electronic sounds are well mastered, and the sparse use of field recordings is aptly done especially with the waves on 7. Brava. 3.8
Hatchie and The Pains of Being Pure At Heart Sometimes Always3.0
1 is not great and too short, feels pointless. 2 is a fun Hatchie song that'll go into my playlists. Heh this is like 5 min long so just check it, but as a record it's kinda weak. https://hatchie.bandcamp.com/album/sometimes-always 2.8
Endling Proper Nouns3.5
Not going to do a track by track here, but really an honorable effort from our resident anatelier. Pretty tones (1 sets the stage), dreamy vox, some cool unexpected sounds (eg the intro to 5) - this is a dreamy ambienty indiey project that has some room to mature but that already provides a strong offering. Well done matey 3.4
Low Roar Inure3.5
A nice EP, which like (it seems) every single Low Roar record is nice, but hardly goes beyond nice too. 1 is surprisingly ambient and contemplative being fully instrumental, and it gets quite beautiful with its lamenting strings. It is a great setup for the next songs, which is smart enough to use vocals quite sparingly after bringing back some folk into the mix, and is as such one of the more successful LR songs. The issue with this one as well as 1-3 is that they are two short, and feel like they end when really they should have expanded for twice as long. 3 is more ambient and ethereal which is nice, just wish it went on for longer. 4 is a sweet folk/country song and is the only track here that is actually long enough to feel complete, without overextending. While it isn't my favourite thing in the world, in the context of the EP I quite like it. A nice EP, but that is just LR being LR. 3.5
Keleketla! Keleketla!4.0
A colourful, goddamn fun album that mixes a bunch of styles from African folk song to *~*electronica~*~ and jazz in quite a cohesive yet always evolving way. 1-3 are baller songs, but I have to concede I agree with most of the comments here that things fall down a bit afterwards, even when skipping the 'Edit' versions. Whilst still cool, the weirder 4 and the more rap electronic 5, and even 6 struggle to maintain the excitement, fun and patchwork coloured groove of the earlier tracks. The album starts finding its footing again on 7, but it's truly on 8 that the banger energy comes fully back. The transition from that dancey banger to the calm and contemplative 9 is a bit awkward I must say, and whilst I do think the track is a great way to conclude I find it's not integrated with the rest in the best way. 1-3 and 8 are perfect tracks to play in the back with your cool friends, and the album does a baller job of making you want to check its many featured artists. Super cool 4.0
Roly Porter Kistvaen4.0
I'm kind of unsure about my rating because I havent heard his other stuff in a long while (and just similar records in general) so the comparison isn't the most fair, but this feels like his peak so far. Lots and lots of beautiful gritty textures on this, with delightful and quite subtle use of grain and noise. In contrast, acoustic moments like the strings the gritty 2 (starting off on really cool menacing textures) eases into towards its end, or the soft piano sounds the album ends on (v nice although feels like it had a little bit more of potential in it) are magnified in beauty. The album starts off strong with 2 but especially 1, a fantastic intro track that kind of dies into nothing but features some really cool vocal parts morphing into droney organs and gritty glitches - superb, wish it had a better conclusion. 3 is more on the soft and pretty side although there is still a bit of wall of sound in places. 4 has cool textures but not as much of a compelling tension to it, however for once its conclusion is quite cool with the spatial synths. The first half of 5 kinda lost me despite the cool texture here and there, but the second half brings the attention right back up with a cool ominous wall of sound before the peaceful 6 ties things up nicely. An inspiring album for aspiring ambient producers, if anything. 3.75
Celer Everyday After3.0
Reminds me of Chihei Hatakeyama's body of work: good to sleep to, good to zone out to, but a bit too flat for focused listen if neither of those are your goal. 2.9
Philip Glass Music in Eight Parts2.5
Not fantastic. The first 8 minutes are really bare bones and I don't know if I could have stood that for 20+ minutes. Fortunately the first grasping variation finally happens at the 8th min mark, the rhythmic change at min 9 is nice to hear, and by 12:40 the piece finally has found its footing. Still overall far from a top tier Glass piece imo. Think I'll review this. 2.6
Marie Dahlstrøm Like Sand3.5
This is still well executed but relatively generic neo soul. It lacks hooks and jammy tracks to really be memorable, but it's all quite nice. I was struggling that she'd struggle with a longer runtime, but she cleverly made the LP hold the distance by changing things up adding guest vocals and not singing herself in a lot of places on these tracks (6,9,13,14) which are all quality and set up their follow ups for success. The latter two especially convinced me that this just deserved a 3.5 tier as I was hesitant to 3.2 or 3.3 this. 1,2,12 have chill late arvo vibes which work well with her sound. 3's kinda fun too, but 4-5 show her usual issues, although 5 has a fun instrumental and improves over time with cool ideas and guitars at the end. 7 has its impact refreshed by 6 as I said and is a fun track with a relatively memorable hook which is good to see. 8's more of the same with some nice piano. 10 is a gentler track but that works very well for once with its elegant, jazzy piano and sax with cleverly sparse singing. Unfortunately 11 is also a ballad and not nearly as good. 3.25
SUZANNE The Distance Between You and Me4.0
What a lovely, breezy, delicately produced aerial K-RnB EP where every track works. Like LEEBADA this has an elegant, subdued sound making for an EP that is definitely going to stay in my library. Short and sweet, just 5 tracks' worth of goodness that flow well into one another. It's only 17min long, if you are interested in the genre this might be a good entry point. 4.2
Jäde Premiere Fois3.0
Mindless but sweet and well produced French-language RnB with pop leanings and trap/rap leanings in other places, the former usually being far more successful imo than the latter. Vocal performance is good albeit a bit too constant across tracks, and some of the lyrics are a bit too phonetically shortcutey - which I probably would note even in English language music or other. But overall a nice listen, especially the first half. Whilst the okay mindless RnB closing track keeps this afloat, 5 and particularly 6 definitely brought it well below the sort of 3.2-3.3 territory it was at prior, by emphasising the trap stuff, and 6 getting frankly a bit annoying in places. But before that it is quite nice, wiht 1 being a soft and sweet (but not like crazy good) entry track with just a few questionable rhymes, 2 being an excellent surprise at first taking things into more dissonant a territory but with a questionable trap/drill/idk unfolding that works in places and not so much in others, 3 being really nice and sunny (yet flowing ok from 2) in spite of the scarce bad autotune additions, and 4 bieng again nice rnb. This peaks no further than 'nice', but I wouldn't mind it on a playlist or on the radio. 3.05
The Fahrenheit Drill Ugly3.5
Exciting sputmade mathcore/metalcore stuff. The spastic, chaotic songwriting makes the thing super fun, and while the prod could be a little bit better it's quite impressive for a little two tracker like this, nicely complementing the band's somewhat deranged sound. I tend to prefer the harshest bits honestly but this is cool and I'll be checking their future output. Well done guys! 3.5
Cuerpos Cosmicos Rain3.5
Hey I really liked this! This is a lovely electronic flavour of dream pop (emphasising on the pop and very far remote from any shoegaze influences, it is dream pop in the literal sense of the words). I really dig the vocals and instrumentation tones, although I had a bit of an issue with the drums on 2 and especially on 1. They are still nice tracks but far from my faves here. 3 is really nice and relaxing, 4 is a dig, 5 is very nice too and offers a jolly sweet conclusion, while 7 calms things down even more (if that were even possible). It's not my favourite track either, but the piano additions near the end are very pretty. 8 is a cool track that reminds me of French pop in some weird remote way - and I thought that before noticing the track was called Paris I promise. 9 is perhaps the catchiest here with a nice beat, it could play on the radio really - in a nice way. Exciting debut, I'm looking forward to more. 3.7
Flowermage Lily of the Valley3.5
Excellent textures here - the very intro made me pump the volume up. The tracks evolve gradually,
introducing new elements in a very organic way, which is truly the form of drone that I enjoy
most: not static, ever changing, but almost imperceivably so. This is ominous, brooding, but
delicate at the same time. I did find there were some panning issues and a couple volume spikes
that could use a bit of taming, but beyond these sort of technical formalities I can't really say
there's anything I can fault here.It is an exciting debut which left me wanting for more if
anything, and the project could easily achieve a 4.0 on longer format. Well done garas, one of
your top releases imo! 3.7
Zach Bryan Elisabeth3.0
Granted I am not a countryhead for one bit, but I feel like making an album this long in a style with so little harmonic and sonic variation was a mistake. If this were a 20-30min EP with tracks 1-6 this would easily be in lower 4.0 tier, I really dig his folk-country style with bare instrumentation. Would stay in my library for sure. 3 and especially 4 are fuller and more upbeat, and 5 is cheesy. But by 6 and especially 7 I knew fatigue would kill this. Variations in sound are very mild and usually not successful. The acapella intro on 8, harmonica on 11, or piano on the slower 15 are all examples of variations that simply either fail to save the song or make it worse. The additional guitars on 12 and 13 are quite cool though, and harmonica is better used on 14. Drums on 16 make it a fun song too. But the last track with drums, piano and backing vocals changes up the sound the most yet still feels like the same song over and over again because those melodies have been used dozens of time before in the album. Some of the guest voices are cool, and the second half does include some other kinda good songs like 10, but this album really did not hold the distance for me. Shame because for the first 20min maybe I really enjoyed it, maybe I'll have to jam it again when I'm more used to country. 3.1
State Faults Moon Sign Gemini3.5
The first two tracks are taken straight off Clairvoyant, and the last two as I understand were previously somewhat unreleased (at least not as part of an official "record" properly speaking). 4 is really cool and could well have been a top track on Clairvoyant. 3 seems out of context here, coming from a different era for the band, and displaying a style that I find a little closer to PBTT but with excessively harsh voice for the style perhaps. Breaks the cohesiveness of this EP of sorts a little bit. In a vacuum I'd say this is a very exciting little EP, but in the grand scheme of their discog I'm not sure I see its purpose - might as well have released track 4 as a Clairvoyant bonus track and taken a pass on 3. Still, this is short and worth a check. Not sure how to rate so we'll go for 3.6
Spieglass Genera3.5
More Spieglass prettiness with sweet, sweet tones. My only complaint is that 3 builds up
really nicely adding loads of elements towards the end and then it just dies right away : (
7 also stands out from the rest by starting in a bit of a different style that evokes Fief,
to return past midtrack to piano-led prettiness for a sweet sweet finale. 3.6
Viva Belgrado Bellavista3.5
A weird one that boasts good ideas and a change of direction that I appreciate, but shaky execution in places and a lot of formulaic stuff as well. Generally speaking they softened their sound quite a bit, and while the skramz isn't all gone it certainly is quite scarce, with only sparse harsh singing. The formula on this opus involves prominent, upbeat and fun drums, relatively light and simple instrumentals, and weird La Disputey vocals sung in Spanish that rarely feel like they fit the otherwise cool instrumentals. They sometimes use fun voice effects (2 for instance) that change it up a bit, but that's essentially it. 4 is an actual pop song, chill but not mind-blowing, demonstrating that they went much softer here. In contrast 5 goes back to skramz, and while simple the transition works well - but the track conclusion feels amateur. 6 executes the general album style well, and the last third is just alt rock basically. 7 shows how out of place the vox can be. 9 sounds like the sort of music I jammed end of high school and honestly it's quite cool, even the weird break at min 2, but the finale is way too post-rocky generic. 10 and 11 bump this up a point, 10 offering a midtrack break that I love although it was a weird place to start screaming again, and 11 just offering a grand album closer which finally changes up the vox, bumping the record a point. The sort of album I might revisit the high points of for inspiration, but that won't stay in my library really. 3.5
Black Curse Endless Wound3.0
Might be that I wasn't in the right mood for it but I didn't enjoy this much. I'm not a huge fan of the vocals although they're still alright, and the blackened death style is kinda cool. I really dig the psych aspects at the end of 3, and 4 has a cool witchy atmosphere. But the sort of gasps in the mic at the end of it are typical are the numerous little gimmicky things I don't like, including the soloing guitars over the main riff on the album conclusion which I found really annoying - sorry DDD if you read this, I know you love it. This is alright but just wasn't me cuppa today. 3.1
Hazel English Wake Up3.5
For her LP she turned the reverb down and dropped much of her dream pop aesthetics. It's hard to not be overharsh as this disappoints compared to her EPs, but I try to look at it in a vacuum. This is an indie pop record with occasional dreamy leanings, but even as such it doesn't work too well. Much of it feels very generic. 1 is an example of song that does work quite well, especially thanks to its vast and ethereal chorus. 2's a fun but generic indie rock song, and I already felt like this was never going to be in 4.0 territory. 3's forgettable and so is 4 but at least it's quite pretty. 5 is a bit dreamier, generic again but pretty. At that point it felt like a 3.5, but the rest of the record never really grasped me. The intro to 6 could be on The Voice, the rest is alright with vague surf rock vibes but again forgettable. 7 is dreamier again and has the first striking chorus since 1 but it is quite brief. 8 is a full on sort of catchy pop song that could well pass on the radio and I wouldn't mind it. 9 is an outright boring song. 10 has another nice intriguing moment that grabs your attention a little bit, and the song is nice. So I'll be nice and keep this in 3.5 tier because again I don't want to judge it too harshly out of wanting more of her EP style (I jammed a track off Just Give In immediately after and boy do I like it better). 3.3
Nthng Hypnotherapy3.5
Much better than his first LP imo. The tracks are more memorable, and the record has a cohesive atmosphere for the most part. He uses vocal samples as hooks here and there, and while he isn't quite a master at it, it certainly helps maintaining the listener's attention without making the mistake to clutter every track. 1 is good and similar to the prelude track on LP1, also introducing the vox samples as a surprise although I am not sure they particularly fit here. The tracks are still long and slow to settle, but they seem to have more variety to them. 2-4 are very strong and have a cold, hypnotic quality to them - 2 and 3 are jams. The middle of the album really dips in quality, 5 shattering the ambience with its quirky sounds and lighter beat, and 6 being nice with its vintage synth sounds but not mindblowing. 7 brings back the quality of the earlier and is nicely atmospheric, and 8 makes the vox sample work better because it is so lost and isolated in a wall of sound - wish it didn't repeat as much though. I really liked the textures on the album outro 9, and overall this is surprisingly solid. 3.65
Ulcerate Stare Into Death and Be Still4.0
I don't know how much of this is due to not so great listening conditions or overhype syndrome, but this felt quite similar in quality to Shrines and I kinda saturated on some of the later tracks. I have a similar comment for it in that it combines the visceral brutality of EiF (albeit toned down) and the ominous atmosphere of the two albums that followed it but more successfully so than they did. But on first listen at least I much preferred the hellish violence of EiF to this. I find the calmer, more melodic passages a bit draggy here and not as interesting as they could be - 5 being a prime example. The slower part at 5:30 doesn't even function as an ear rest imo. 1 and 2 are dope tracks, but I'm not too sure about the early track and later midtrack on 3. The premidtrack is cool though, and the conclusion fantastic. 4's cool too. By 6 I was kind of saturating, but thankfully it offers a nice rest for the ears. I didn't quite dig how it unfolded in semi bmey fashion. 7 got me tired, and its fadeout ending didn't help, but thankfully the album ends on a strong note with the closer being of the best tracks, if not the best track period. Stylistically I'm just way more into EiF than this, but I owe this a relisten against Shrines. 4.1
Infant Island Sepulcher3.0
Between explosions, this is full of sweet melodies, nice buildups, and great transitions. Whenever it explodes and goes full on screamo mode, this sounds like ass because of the mushy, muddy, flat prod. Remastered, this could be great, but as it is I have a hard time getting into it. I think the cymbals in particular sound like white noise more than they sound like drums really? Weird. All the gorgeousness and cinematic grandeur of the post-rocky guitars is effaced by a wash of unrecognisable distorted sounds. Not a huge fan of the vox either. Track 3's an alright droney interlude, but this is so short I'm not sure it was really needed. 2.85
Malena Zavala La Yarara3.5
Very nice too and feels ever so slightly more consistent than Aliso. Brings the same brand of vaguely ambient, vaguely psych indie pop with interesting sounds. That style is kind of the record's meat und po-tah-toes, covering the chill 3 which only suffers from a bit of a pointless outro, 5 (which feels a bit French for some reason, a sweet highlight imo), the very nice 6, 7-8 and 10, which feels like the sountrack to falling asleep in a hamoc on the beach in the late arvi and concludes the album quite adequately. 1 is also a highlight, with a very nice ambient/psych intro with a great drums+bass entry. Not a jam but a really sweet and fun track. 2 is a highlight too but I wouldn't really know how to describe it. 4 changes things up for a dark atmosphere, and while the track doesn't quite work imo I appreciate its intent and really dig its badass intro. 9 is a super sweet highlight with a remote dream pop flavour to it. Well done Malena! Will be watching future albums. 3.6
JVH Still Looking3.5
More nice beats, but felt a tad weaker. 1 is a bit bland and too long if it was just meant as a short intro track (kinda weird to have an intro outro and interlude track on such a short EP but alright). 2 is very nice and shows us that JVH can use vox just fine. 3 is a nice beat but feels like it could have unfolded into more and ends on a fadeout. 4-5 feel like your regular cliche youtube lo-fi beat, 6 just passes, and 7 is a nice outro track. 3.3
Y La Bamba Mariposa De Coalcomán3.5
First track feels like a nice intro to their psychedelic hispanic indie folk sound. 2 cranks the pysch up a fair bit with a more destructed and drugged sound, I wasn't a fan of the first half but the second half was fairly nice. 3.4
Celer Could I Not Be Saved After All That?4.0
Extremely repetitive ambient over 46 minutes - if you aren't already in love with the genre this probably isn't the record to start with. But it is so lush, so soft, so lovely to drown into that I can't help but give it quite high a rating. It is great as meditative music to ponder the meaning of life alone on yar bed, or as background music to work to before you fall asleep. 3.75
cordless EP3.0
Typical example of a record where there is too much singing. I don't mind the vox I actually like her voice, but it is so ubiquitous that it gets tiresome and samey for the listener. Some instrumental sections and more dynamics would have been nice to see, because in its present state I got out of the record after three tracks (and it is only a five tracker so). 1 is sweet and very lush, but the rest kind of blended all together. Still a band I'll watch. 2.9
Midwife (USA) Forever3.5
There's a clear issue of pacing with this imo, as it is only 33min long yet takes the luxury of long interludey passages that give the overall feel of a lot of downtime in a music style where the up time is already quite down anyways. The first track is great, and 4 is probably the second highlight; both good tracks to be depressed inside your room when it's nice outside. 2 is a bit like 1 but a lot less convincing imo, then 3 is already an oversparse interlude. I mean 4's also practically instrumental but it's Grouper - Paradise Valley- esque sound makes for a much more compelling piece. 5 starts on a way too long vocal sample followed by many minutes of pretty okay but out of place ambient, and then 6 tries to perk us up with noisier, grittier texture and the return of vocals, but frankly by that point it is already too little too late. 3.3
Why Bonnie Voice Box4.0
Maybe it is because of the sun and the gorgeous weather magnifying the music, but this felt stronger than their prior outputs. Why Bonnie sets a specific mood, and here it worked perfectly for me. From track 1 on you can already tell they sound got very full with a lot going on. Their construction is good too, with 3 being a far more abrasive track which perhaps didn't match the mood I was looking for with this listen but in a vacuum is still a good track, immediately followed by 4 which is the softest track here to rest a bit from the momentary distortion our soft ears were exposed to. 5 is also great as a conclusion. Overall solid, LP when? 3.8
Ande Vossenkuil2.5
I wasn't too keen on this. I did dig the calmer bits, and the record does have good dynamics alternating between angrier bm tracks and softer things like 1 which I very much dug, 4, or the closer. But the tracks themselves do feel like they last dynamics and colour. On 6, four minutes of the same riff repeated over and over again just didn't work for me, and 5 felt quite dull too. I did dig the slower riffs on 2, and the beginning of 4 although the vox in the midtrack was questionable, but yeah on the whole perhaps it just wasn't the right time for me but I had to push to finish the album. Sorry Jim there's potential there but the tracks just felt too long for the little variety they offer. 2.5
Ellis Born Again3.0
This felt very flat and generic in a lot of places, both vocally and instrumentally. She has a pretty voice but the singing felt monochromatic and all too samey. There must be some sort of music theory explanation that I can't formulate, but the harmonies feel generic and samey - it is like I have heard these chords before to a point where I wondered if some of these were covers, and the record hardly ever offers harmonic spice. The upside to all this is that when the record does give the slightest hint of an explosion or colour, it is exacerbated and makes the song feel instantly better. The emotional, guitar based tracks like 1 feel particularly dull and meh. 2 is more upbeat and kinda fun. 3 bores like in the verse but offers cool explosions where the vox finally feel like they work well. 4 with its more electronic instrumentation works better and feels less flat, but 5 is really meh despite nice-ish vox and synths, because of a piano melody that just feels extremely basic. 6 is more upbeat and one of the best tracks, but I could swear I have heard some of the melodies before and I thought it may be a cover of some kind. By 7 the album already feels long because of the overall lack of variety, but at least 8 makes the emotional style work and ends on a cool explosion. 9 is also alright thanks to the more 'aggressive' (read: not backgroundey) drums and guitars. 10 bores again at first, but the reverberated modulated guitars starting up around 1:20 are nice and then it sort of explodes so it's not too bad. Still a very bland record overall. 2.9
Banks Live and Stripped3.5
Interesting stylistic exercise. I am not sure how much post-processing was done on her voice, but I find it truly impressive how much she is able to replicate the deeply electronic effects from III in this stripped down setting. 1 is a fantastic cover, and much more than what I would expect from a mere 'acoustic covers' EP like this, with not only a stellar performance from Banks herself, but also interesting little instrumental bits and guitar parts here and there that change up the track nicely. 2 feels a bit more flavourless, and 4 also feels more like a generic acoustic cover/ballad but is still quite pretty. 3 has more of a beat to it and could pass a regular track on a regular Banks record, not necessarily this live and stripped EP. Second best track on here imo. 3.55
Caustic Wound Death Posture3.5
This was fun death/grind with lots of good moments, but even though it changes pace a lot and has multple different vox etc, it all felt a bit flat. 4 and 5 are highlights, but there are lots of sections that I felt were less memorable. Still a fun band and the low growls are great, albeit a bit unidimensional. 3.6
Dua Lipa Future Nostalgia4.0
Tchoo tchoo hype train this is good mannnn, watch this space 3.95
Yazmin Lacey Morning Matters4.0
I had heard this a week or two ago but forgot to soundoff it. These 5 tracks are all well crafted in Yazmin's style of interesting acoustic drumming and vaguely soulsy instrumentation. In fact there's something about the sound and prod here that makes me think of a live jam quite a bit sometimes, on tracks like 4 eg. I do think this improves slightly on the past, and tracks like 3 and 5 are really quite strong jams in her choppy drums brand of neo-soul. One to watch for sure. 3.75
Squid Sludge/Broadcaster3.5
This one is just two tracks and is less well constructed than their proper EPs, so it has a bit more memorable value. That being said both tracks have great ideas, with 1 being a bitchin cool and loud song, and 2 having a sweet unexpected synth intro into a great buildup. My two issues are firstly the length but you know, alright, and secondly the vocals. They great pretty hardcore for Squid, which I like, but they also go a bit too much into quirky high pitched LoOk At Me i aM CrAzY territory to my taste, which brings the record down. Still lots of ideas here for a sweet 3.6
Lous and the Yakuza Solo3.0
Nice RnB/pop from Congo/Belgium, with a relatively light tone musically but heavier stuff lyrically. There are also some trap leanings especially on the last track. It's nice but a bit inoffensive, there isn't much here that struck me but there's also nothing bad really. I'll check the LP with very mild excitement when it comes out. I wouldn't be surprised to see her get lots of success here in BE though. 3.05
The Weeknd After Hours4.0
First half is a solid 4.2, but second half falters a bit despite a fun synthpop twist, and overextends a tiny bit too. Still feels like his magnum opus so far where he magnifies his style, and the album is a nice summary of his musical 2010's decade as a way to open the 2020's. Opener's very nice, then 2 is a big jam with its bouncy, burialesque almost prod. 3 follows with a dnb prod, 4 feeling more like regular The Weeknd and the first weaker/gnangnan track. But already we see the variety on display here. 5 is a kinda jam with nice bounce, and I love the ambient-esque prod on 6. The intro is jammy but the track feels a touch too long. 7 is a harder hitting trap track (but still with his vox), and it is another hard jam. The record then takes a turn and moves into its weaker 2nd act. 8 feels a bit much. 9-11 then take us on a synthpop trip, and while they're all nice, especially the overall better 10 with its fantastic, sax-led conclusion, they fail to bring the record back up imo. 12 ends the synthpop phase and brings back the eerier electronica style of the early record, but minus a lot of the energy it had. Does help with the album length though, because at this point it is starting to feel long indeed. 13 brings the energy back and is really nice, but it was about time the album ended, and while 14 is niec it feels outright unnecessary. Well done man. 4.0
Converge Endless Arrow2.0
I like Converge and I like ambient drone. And this comes from good intentions I think so I'd like to rate this high. But, while for five minutes it is quite nice, this is so drenched in reverb and delays and fx in general that it lacks definition, structure and texture really. It feels digital, hollow, and all too samey without having much to hook you. 10 minutes in I already wanted to skip to the end. Skipping ahead indeed, the end seems grittier which earns this a point, but it's still not great. The start is a fade in, the end is a reverberated fade out, symptomatic of the bulk of the track really. 2.1
36 Music for Isolation3.5
Very pretty piano loop-based ambient EP. Nothing groundbreaking, but just sweet lovely tracks. 1 and 3 feel clearly like the top tracks, with 4 not so far behind and evoking Hisaishi to me in its melody somehow? 2 doesn't change the formula, yet feels clearly inferior which is interesting. Might give this a shot for a review. Once again a good garas find! 3.5
Cuerpos Cosmicos Loneliness is a Very Special Place3.5
Very short clocking at less than 5 minutes, but really sweet. She could make a full album out of this style and I would quite dig it I think. This is Cuerpos Cosmicos x autotune a la 070 Shake, and honestly it's quite well done and I dig it. A bit hard to rate because of the minuscule length, but 3.5
Immortal Onion XD [Experience Design]3.5
Up to the last two tracks, I was going to 3.8 this. The album has a soul and lots of great moments. 1 is probably the weakest before those last two closers - I don't like the prod on it (and it is the only track where prod was a problem) with over-agressive cymbals, and while some of the rhythm changes are cool they often feel contrived. 2 after that is a far better track, with a nice piano+bass transition section and a fun conclusion. 3 is probably the best track here, more on the emotional pretty side of things, emphasised by the bowed bass (? string thing) which turns it into a superb jam. 4 continues in that style, then 5 intelligently brings the energy and groove before superbly albeit derivatively ending on Hisaishi chords. 6 already shows sign of the decline the album will undergo, with weird sections where the drums come in and go abruptly early on and in the midtrack. While imperfect, it still has cool moments - I love the key change from 5 in the intro, the section between the intro and the midtrack is nice and the bass solo in the last third is fun as a hell - and wouldn't have prevented this from being a 3.8. But the last two track feel like they prolong the album erratically and unnecessarily, going into weird electronic grooves - while I appreciate the intent, I don't think it is executed well. From the midtrack on, 7 goes back into the earlier album style and is quite nice and groovy, but 8 is all over the place. The conclusion in particular is symptomatic of this, and the two tracks bring this down to a 3.65
Shabaka and the Ancestors We Are Sent Here By History4.0
Actually jammed this on Feb 11 but forgot to upload the soundoff. I really, really enjoyed this album and its neverending groove, starting from the fabulous intro track and even from its first few seconds. The little dissonances and the cool repetitive vocals eg on 2 reinforce the spiritual/transcendental vibes, though they largely disappear for most of the middle section of the album. Yes it's nothing revolutionary but I do thnk it is delightfully executed. The midtrack reprise on 8 with all the flutes and instruments is simply lovely for example. By 10 I did concede this was getting a bit long, though in a vacuum the track itself is quite cool and finally brings back the transcendental vox from much earlier, and always with the GROOVE. 11 works great as a nice conclusion track on the more contemplative starry side of things with the piano and brass duo, although its veeery end does fall a bit flat. Fak it I just liked this too much to not go for a sweet 4.1
No Note if this is the future then I'm in the dark4.0
Fantastic, fun and gritty little album offering a sweet blend of chaotic, noisy, sometimes post-rocky skramz/hxc. I found the track construction on 1 a bit weird and the prod put me off a little bit at first - it's not too bad but it's not great -, but rapidly thereafter I was convinced and the album didn't disappoint again. The intro on 2 is dope and the track unfolds into Daughtersy chaos which I love, 3 displays the style really nicely, and 4 gets a little more conventional post-rocky skramz but is still cool. Then 5-6 is perhaps the album peak, with 5 which is an f-ing dope chaotic jam followed by 6 starting intelligently slow and atmospheric before building up the violence again, into a super chill post-rocky conclusion at 2:35 slowly building back into euroskramz. While it is on shiny display on those two tracks, album construction is a quality of the record in general, alternating very well between chaos and atmosphere, frantic drumming and relatively calm and lush passages. 7 is even more slower and atmo than the beginning of 6 was, then 8 is fast and upbeat again, and then 9 starts like a crazy jam and finished on a grand, atmospheric conclusion. So solid this. 4.1
Aseul Slow Dance3.0
I am surprised to be a bit disappointed with this. The prior records were improving on each other, but this one feels a bit half baked - especially the first half. The first track is soft and nice but not hugely memorable. The intro to 2 showcases really cool synth, and at that point I was pumped, but I found the track as it unfolds to actually be quite meh, whilst 3 didn't sit right with me and felt frankly annoying at times. 4 has a cool intro and so my hopes were up, buuut it's actually just an instrumental interlude. A nice one, but so far we haven't had a single wow song and we are looking at a high 2.5 - low 3.0 sort of range. 5 is finally kinda cool albeit not hugely explosive, with some nice synth bass going on. I don't love the transition into 6 but the intro is cool and the track finally builds up into the Aseul I like, breezy and ethereal. Sadly the track feels a bit short. 7 is nice too, more on the soft ambientey side of things, and 8 takes this even further, reminding me of Yeule a bit more than Aseul. Sweet but eh. 3.1
VIM Waiting3.5
This one emphasises more on lush, dreamy ambiences, and makes less catchy songs. While this works for some bands, here I find that their relatively simple compositional style was better suited to the style of their first EP. 2 is in this vein and is one of the strongest tracks. For the rest, the tracks feel all nice but just a bit flat you know? 3 is a clear example of that. This is with the exception of the last track, which makes this dreamier style work much better by adding darker flavours to the music. It overextends a little bit, but I'd say it is the other strong track on the EP. 3.6
Snarls Burst4.0
Sweet sweet dreamy indie rock record, generally very lighthearted and lovely (3 and 4, jams of sorts, or 6 which I love too) but gets a bit slower, rocker and I'd say eerier on tracks like 5. 8's a ballad that unfolds nicely and brings welcome variety, and the record as a whole is just very nice. I'll come back to it for sure. 3.8
Teik Aro Acid Resurrection 8 & 92.5
There is an evolution, but it's not huge. 1 is very formulaic, but 2 introduces a much denser and better track that isnt just the recipe applied. I was excited, but the last two minutes went rapidly downhill in quality and brought this back under the 2.5 bar. Second track is still super fun and evokes Belgian New Beat from the 90s in modern techno form. Might come back to that track? 2.7
The Orielles Disco Volador2.5
I'm not sure why, but I found this really boring. I don't fault the compositions; they are
varied, bouncy, and often involve various instruments. Yet the music does not ever feel
groovy to me. 7 is a great example of that. I don't know if it is the constantly lazy and
low energy vocals or the weird mixing with the drums very low and the bass seemingly
lacking
bottom end, but it just doesn't work. After 1-2 I was going to quit on the record honestly,
but the jazzy midtrack on 3 kept me in. 5 has fun bits I guess. 10 looks kinda fun but at
that point I was out. Idk I really wasn't into this, it surely has good tracks but it felt
like a 2.5
MSDMNR Emergency2.5
Yeah no, pretty meh techno EP that boasts some good ideas but doesn't quite work. I checked this out because of 3, a nice, dark noisy and gritty track that doesn't unfold into much but is still cool. 4 isn't great but had an idea there with the reverberated key at min 5, and 5 albeit a bit much is nicely pounding. 1 and 2 were weaker and felt way too bleep boopey and random to work. 2.6
Driftwood (BE) Only Fighters Left Behind3.0
A perfect example of an album where one little element brings the whole thing down. To me here, it is the male vocals. There is just something about their whispery, falsely sensual delivery that I just dislike and that ruins every track they're in for me. The female vocals are sublime, so when there's both it's kind of ok. Instrumentally the album is sweet trip-hop flavoured indie pop with the occasional neoclassical strings or strings and piano based interlude. 2 and 7 are of the latter kind, both sweet pieces, and the closer is a nice ambient wintery track. 1 already shows what I don't like about the male vox, and I don't even get what it is doing there before the 'Prologue' track. Another example is 9 which gets ruined after a sweet intro. 3 on the other hand is a lovely piece with just the female vocals, and 5 shows the trip-hop flavours this album can display. Full of potential but I can't bring myself to rate this higher than 3.15
Fluisteraars Bloem3.5
Very nice bm with lots of ideas for a band I think I'll watch in the future. The record starts off quite timidly though, 1 being a pretty straightforward bm track with some good riffs but hindered by relatively tame prod - I would have liked something a little more aggressive to the ear maybe. 2 does throw some ideas in but I wouldn't say it really worked for me, I found the midtrack a bit funny sounding to be honest. However after that the record picks up in quality and quite dramatically so. 3 involves slightly cleaner yet still screamed vocals which I really dug, and has more of a personal, recognisable sound to it, with I daresay traces of Agalloch DNA that I obviously enjoyed. 4 starts off on really cool frozen riffage, then displays even more innovative sounds with strings additions, supplemental vocals, and some really great cleaner sections that match the artwork well with the track finishing in strongly atmospheric fashion. Kept my rating going up as the band really displayed a thickened, enriched sound on these two tracks. 5 is similar, starting on a frozen riff to then add strings and additional vocals, and even flute and some brass, but I found the track still less striking than 3-4, keeping this under the 4.0 bar at a solid 3.65
Slift Ummon4.0
Not exactly what I anticipated on the basis of the title track (which is frankly better produced
and cooler on the KEXP version, but still a jam here), but still graet. Only the last track, and
perhaps a few moments here and there match the stoner energy and danciness of the s/t track.
Instead, we are offered with a loooong jam of spacey stoner rock. A true voyage, always cool,
always showing nice ideas, but also struggling to make individual tracks stand out and feel like
jams. It's all an excellent odyssey in which the chapters are not delineated at all. In that
aspect the band remind me a lot of an Ozric Tentacles where the albums are nearly instrumental
and always cool but also really dont have jams that stand out individually, the albums working a
lot better as whole records I guess. I dont generally like blanks in an album, but here it kinda
helps giving it more structure and delineation. There is cool drumming, cool bass all along - in
many ways this is a prog album. A super cool spacey trip at any rate. I don't agree with the
apparent general sentiment that this is too long, but I had to pause a lot tbf. 3.95
Agnes Obel Myopia4.0
Placeholder soundoff but basically on this one the instrumentals are magnificient, and the vocals often - but not always - get a bit lost in fx and editing which must've been fun to play with but kind of disrupt the musical voyage for me. However it holds its direction better than Citizen did imo. 4.0
Joeii Zeit zu bleiben3.5
Random bandcamp find. Caveat to this whole soundoff: this is German rap/hip-hop, I do not speak German, so I don't have the slightest clue what the hell this is saying. The gorgeous instrumental to track 1 is what got me here, and the track is indeed a jam. The fact that it is in German doesn't really get me out of which as I suspected it would, except on weaker tracks like 4 where the vox isn't great. The instrumental is still nice though. 2 also felt weaker, while 3 is good albeit not on par with 1. 5 isn't too great, reminded me of aspects I tend to not enjoy in French language rap. 6 is nice and nocturnal, and I enjoyed the delivery. 7 is alright, the guest vox is nice. The track feels more emotional but again I don't get what they're saying so the fk do I know lol. This gets a slightly inflated rating because it did manage to make me enjoy German rap, and I do find 1 to be a jam. 3.3
Tame Impala The Slow Rush4.0
This is a frustrating album, because it often feels like it could have been a fantastic psych pop bop, yet the production, instrumentation and arguably singing remain too subdued to fully attain that potential. It is like Kevin remained partly prisoner of the past Tame Impala sound, and felt like he needed to retain this psychedelic laziness without it being always appropriate on the album. Tracks like 3, 5 or 6 exemplify that, and while being kinda jammy, could have been huge jams were they more pop and explosive. They have banger melodies in them and feel like they just don't unfold enough. 7, while not as jammy, does the blend of psych and pop a bit better. The record feels hesitant as to which direction to go for, and the result feels like it is half the album it could be. Yet I think it gets way too much heat for what it still delivers. When prod and instrumentation give themselves the means to be bouncy, it works amazingly, see 8, 9 and 11. 4 is kinda cool, my best description for it (rofl) would be Ott-pop? And I really like the opener. Sure, 10 feels a bit eh, and the closer, while having cool ideas, disappoints a bit with its protracted ending going into a fadeout (taking this down half a point at least), but this still feels like a 3.85
Georgie Sweet Here4.0
LP hyyyyyype!! Silk smooth and groovy as it gets. Great live performance too. Need that LP
Georgie! 4.2
keepsakes Puerile Politics3.0
Gritty techno with good ideas but poor execution. 1 is ok but has a questionable beat and leads that aren't good enough to quite make up for it. It improves around 2:30 and I dig the The Prodigy vibe there; after that, the track pounds much harder, but the beat is still questionable in places. 2 is worse and just a weak track overall. 3 is quite good and funky but the execution is messy. Some tracks are jammy but the track feels like it doesn't quite know which direction to go into and thus changes all the time. Some section are still dancey and bouncy, bring the record up a solid notch, and I think at a club or something I might find it jammy. The remix on 4 is boring but I don't factor it into the rating. 3.05
Denzel Curry and Kenny Beats Unlocked3.5
This is cool, but I think it suffers from the beatmaker and vocalist somewhat competing for attention and not working together as much as they could, and also from the beatmaker himself having some erratic song construction at times. There's a lot going on and the record feels like it has a very short attention span. But in general some of the sounds are amazing, evoking 90s Wu-Tang with some of the samples, Quasimoto/Madlib on other tracks, and some tracks feeling quite fresh and original. 1 shows the former two influences in a Denzelless beat, then 2 is quite cool. I dig the transition at 1:20 but not so much some of the weird vocals they added - a common theme. The vibe on 3 is cool and Denzel is on point but the slow tempo forces him into awkward flows, and again the added voice are zzz. 4 is cool again but shows what I mean by them competing for attention. 5 is quirky and I dig some bits and hate others. 6 is my fave here, it's an original track that is very well executed without annoying elements at all. 7's first half is really fun with the bass, but then the track just dies. 8 has a dope beat again and is kinda cool, but again most of the tracks are too erratic to make a lasting impression. Still, this is shorts and has lots of ideas, so worth a check. 3.5
Hallas Conundrum3.5
This one starts excellently, with a cool intro track that unfolds deliciously well into the dadcore 2. Alas (ba dm tss) I dont think it holds the distance quite well. It does feel far more coherent an album than the debut, and the flow is great and seamless. After 1 the album's essentially a series of prog passages (whether it be intros, outros or interludes), sporadically building up to cool more hard rock moments. And the problem I find is that the tracks that have the best prog passages build up to the least good rock bits, and vice versa, meaning that no track is excellent on the whole. I also take issue with the vocals on this alb more than the first, as they often feel like they could use more meat to back the instrumentals backing them up. That being said there is still a great epic feeling that emanates from the music (I wanna play Skyrim now), the influences are clear be cool, and the album has other strengths as I mentioned above. 3 is a bit of a sea shanty choraley idk track, and I dont know how to feel about it. 4's cool and so is 5 in an 80s way. 6 has a cool buildup, and 7 after a rather meh intro is quite cool when the synths kick in at 1:10 - fonkay. The intro on 8 is excellent, some of the transitions are great like 5:45, but idk if finishing on a more instrumental track like this was the best idea versus having something more explosive - especially with the vocoder section lol come on guys. 3.5
36 and Zake Stasis Sounds For Long​-​Distance...3.5
Thanks garas for the rec! This is an album to be listened in the background. On dedicated listen, it would feel way too long and too samey. I don't think it would hold its own. But if you are looking for a continuous wall of lovely, lush, Stars of the Lid-esque ambient continuously well executed, there you have it. My favourite part was the first act, 1-3, but that's probably just because my attention went away a bit after that. I had to skip most of the last act because my battery died, but I feel like this is the kind of album where it does not really matter as there are no surprises to be expected. A genre consistently well executed, but without any extra edge to tip it into the top tier arena - this is the perfect definition of a 3.5
Marrasmieli Between Land And Sky3.0
Cool bm with some slaying riffz, but also with some protracted material. Unlike some of the others here I find the folk/synth additions very fitting, as they make the otherwise quite hollow and pale prod feel a tad fuller and more powerful. In fact I find the album works best when those elements are mixed to the bm, whereas when they're not like on 3 the tracks feel weaker. 4 does make it work though thanks to fuller tones and textures, and quite fat midtrack riffage. 2 has some fun riffs too. In 6 the synthy elements do feel a bit contrived I agree, but the riff at min 7 slays hard. Sadly it is quite short, and the lengthy outro brought this right back down to a (sorry DDD) 3.2
070 Shake Modus Vivendi3.5
Neon 80s sci-fi space version of The Weekend using near-ubiquitous autotune and vast
amounts of synths, some of which sound quite vintage and even Pink Floydy here and there.
Nice and full of ideas if you can tolerate autotune, but overstretched for a tad too
long. By 8 it starts feeling a bit lengthy, and you're just about halfway. 8 and the
following songs aren't bad though which keeps this at a reasonable rating. The early
record could get a 3.8-3.9 with a superb vox based Rnbesque intro track, the cool 2, the
jammy 3, the more industrial sounding 4 which I don't think I'd like in an album but
works here, and the deliciously 80's + 2020 cloud rap 5. 6 is a bit weaker and 7 is
anecdotal being only 17 seconds long. 9 is pretty and picks up the interest a little bit
with some intelligent acoustic guitar lines to freshen the sound a bit, while 10 and 11
get simpler and more bare bones to relieve a bit from all the synthyness, which shows the
album is intelligently constructed. 12 is the only bad track but thankfully it is short.
By 13 it is really about time the album ends, and it is a good thing because 14 gives a
good conclusion to an album that, while not flawless, is interesting, promising, and
deserves a fair bit more than the avg rating it has. 3.55
Ichiko Aoba amuletum bouquet4.0
Very very pretty stuff. Idk if this announces a future album but even if it doesn't I ain't mad
because it kinda works as a short two track EP. 1 is very nice and champetre with the cute flute
additions, whilst 2 is more in her usual folk style but is very soft and blissful. Nice. An album
of this please? Or not you decide queen. 3.9
Lucy Gooch Rushing3.0
Whilst my rating is a bit low this is for sure a very charming debut EP that makes Lucy an artist I want to follow. The ideas and the style are cool, it's just that the record feels like sketches more than anything. This is basically LG with a mic, a reverb pedal and a looper, and a synth of some description that is largely reserved for bass. 1 is very lush and beautiful, and my other fave track is 5, which is the only one not featuring vocals, and is at its core a simple lush synth wall but that feels nice and evokes a bit 80s Steve Roach. 2 is nice but feels more like a debut project and isn't as memorable, 3 would be a fantastic intro track but doesn't live up to its quite inspiring potential, and 4 is a pretty vox layup without much more to it. 3.2
Hillsfar Jewel of the Moonsea4.0
From both the artwork and the music this has neardy board game/DnD/oldschool rpg written all over it and I am all for it. As we say in Franche it doesn't break three legs to a duck but it is crafted very well and excels at what it does - setting an atmosphere unintrusively. My only gripe would probably be that there isn't really a transition to speak of between the two tracks, and that it concludes a bit into nothing (which arguably does help it to be unintrusive tbf), but aside from that it has lots of ever evolving variety and I would not hesitate to play this in the back during a game night. 3.9
Amulets Severed Seas3.0
A fairly bland result for an Amulets record. 1-2 are the only ones with some grit, and yet don't reach the heights of some of his other stuff - they work but they're not stunning yknow -, then 3-4 are very nice but generic blissful ambient, and 5 is frankly a bit of a drag. The semi generic quality plus the disjointed direction makes it feel like a skippable record in his discog which holds much better qualities elsewhere. I'd say 3.0
Relay Tapes Early Morning Abstract3.5
A little more daring than the first, though not perhaps as constant in quality. 1 is a cool, short instrumental intro in the form of wall of sound ambient/paulstretchy drone that works quite well, followed by 2 and 3 which are great dream pop tunes to gaze at the sunny hills from your car with the windows open - you know, classic late summery dream pop soothiness. 3 is simpler perhaps but efficient, though the fadeout ending is a shame. 4's perhaps the least convincing track here, though I appreciate its rockier leanings it struggles a bit more to convince and some of the drum sounds felt weird. 5's much better and pick things back up, especially past the midtrack when it morphs into a cool noisy and wall of soundey finale. Good stuff. 3.6
Freeze Corleone LMF3.5
Habitual flaws (questionable lyrical tropes, poor track conclusions), newfound strength (great coherent atmosphere), but also some newer mistakes: freeze evolves, but this isn't his final form, I hope. The main issue with the album is that his delivery, while strong and impactful, hardly ever varies. Thus the album quickly fatigues, and songs that in a vacuum or in a playlist would be very strong feel here like they just repeat the same ideas. This is particularly true of tracks 1-10, while the album's last third feels somehow fresher by spacing out his verses, which helps with the 65min runtime. Freeze intelligently brings a lot of feats to the table to freshen things up, but while it sometimes work brilliantly (5,7 in which his own delivery also changes nicely), it is often merely ok (12,13 and frankly 14, which while lmao brings welcome variety), and often really not all that good (9,, the dumb feat on 10 despite a brilliant intro,,16). Instrumentals are the album's strongest point by far, especially in the intros, and every track is good to fantastic on that end - except the slightly dumb start to 2. The album's dark, often piano-led, nocturnal yet hard hitting atmosphere is really nicely laid out and coherent. Highlights include the bookend which are just executed really well, the softer 8 which brings welcome relief, the fantastic more ambient 11, and 12-13 with their amazing vocal tribal ambiences in the background. A great, great sign of evolution, but still a bit of an overshot. 3.5
Ben Buitendijk Ouroboros3.5
Just what i needed for late night work, and a couple of those tracks will join me playlists as well. 1 is the highlight here with its hypnotic acid melody, and 2 is a pretty cool industrial techno follow up that works quite well too. 3 sadly feels a bit redundant with 3 and lost me a bit. 3.3
Akemi Fox Colour You In3.5
Very neat EP, albeit perhaps a touch less outstanding than its predecessor. 1 is a very well crafted soft spoken intro, that highlights the choppiness/out of syncness/grooviness of the excellent 2 with its heavier RnB touches and backing vocals that reminded me a lot of Banks. 3 features neat tropical vibrato guitar that reminds of Lianne's latest album, but I kind of found the vocals unconvincing, not in their performance but in their composition - the song feels a bit blander than its elements called for. Like on EP2, 4 is a slower, more balladey type track, but I like it better here than on EP2. 5 is another soft track, and an even better one with its pretty piano and excellent vocal delivery. So a slightly less memorable EP perhaps, but still a very well crafted one, with brownie points for being -I think?- a solid debut. 3.7
Matthew Tavares and Leland Whitty Visions4.0
A jazz epic like the greats, with incredible variety and storytelling abilities. This is one big jazz fresca with guitar, piano, sax, you name it, and I don't think it is the kind of album that warrants a track by track description. The outro to 2 is fantastic, the intro to 5 is fantastic and displays the variety of atmospheres found here, which the guitar-led (but a bit overextended) 4, the playful 9 or the piano piece on 6 all exemplify quite nicely. Go home Kamasi (c). Might grow, but for now 4.2
Gaidaa Overture4.0
Extremely well executed - both instrumentally and vocally -, relatively expansive (26min) debut neo-soul EP with a lot of promise, by a seemingly already quite popular Sudanese-Dutch artist. The songs are full of dynamics and all have multiple sections with little repetition to them - this is certainly not a record with loopey instrumentals with voice laid over it. The couple of guest voices are well integrated and short enough to not be disruptive. Honestly, aside from several of the tracks ending on a fadeout, this is practically faultless. I do find that I wasn't completely stunned by any of teh tracks aside from the closer starting halfway maybe. Most tracks are great, but none are complete stunners perhaps? Very stoked to see what comes next. 3.8

2019
Envy The Definition of Impossibility4.0
Side A is sweet but generic post-rocky Envy material. Kinda between 3.7 and 3.8.
Serendipitous finding, the intro sounds super cool played at 33 rpm. Side B is the real
banger here, sounding like TDEP crossed with Envy. A very heavy and riffy track that also
boasts some delicate and intricate melodies, a delight. Side B is worth a 4.3 imo, so
overall this is a 4.1
Edit: Side B is a gem and effing brutal yet delicate, I stand by my 4.1
Waves No Shore Nothingness3.0
Just a single that I checked kinda randomly. It has pretty moments, I dig the intro guitar (tone), and some of the vox are nice. It's not supremely exciting but if they release a short EP or something I might check it out. 3.0
Kekht Arakh Night & Love4.0
At its heights I prefer it to LP2, but it has also more lower points - namely it does feel like it drags on severely past 8 which LP2 didn't really suffer from. I agree with garas that this one draws its main interest from its soft passages and atmospheric interludes, 4 and chiefly 8 being prime examples, but also within tracks themselves. That isn't to say that we are still being served with delightful raw, nicely lo-fi atmo bm when things do explode, which 2 and 3 exemplify quite nicely, and an extremely well flowing record. Pre-8 the only lower point is perhaps 7 which does have awkward phases, but up till then the album is an easy 4.0ish rating. But I kind of wish the album ended on 8. 9's a bit awkward and quite breaks the magic, and by 10 the album feels long. 11 does rip hard and is the only really noteworthy track in this last third of the record, but whilst cute 12 feels a bit boring, and so the record comes down to another 3.8
Fief V3.5
Maybe it was the conditions but this felt at home right between II and III, at a low 3.5
clipping. The Deep2.5
Pretty inconsequential EP. I really really dug the midtrack on 1 starting at 2:35, unfortunately it lasts like 15 seconds. The rest of the track is pretty beep bloopey and frankly boring to me. 2 is kinda fun I guess. 3 is more in usual clipping style and is kinda nice but really not enough to make me rate this much higher. 2.6
Lyna Lemon Haze3.0
Sweet and diverse Belgian pop EP that shows promise but also lots of room for improvement. A recurring problem is that she seems to not put enough power or aggressiveness in her vox, resulting in it feeling a bit like she's trying too hard to be badass. This is mostly felt on some rapping sections, but also in sung sections on the closer. 1 is a cute, bouncy and bubbly pop track, probs the best here. Sounds a bit Ariana-esque, but it's not a copy by any means. It's way too short though. 2 creates a bad and awkward transition into annoying urban vibes with an annoying hook and vox that struggle to match the aggressive tone, although the second half is a touch better. 3 would have been a much nicer transition, also with urban vibes but with much more restraint and sweetness in the vox - remind me of Koffee. Kinda cool tbh, but again too short. 4 has a sweet intro, but once it kicks all in it's really not my cuppa. Once she sings and stops rapping it's actually kinda cool. 5 mixes 2000's RnB with some glitchy undertones and is an interesting kinda cool track. 6 is a slightly Banks-flavoured RnB, not bad, but not crazy good. Overall 2.9
Dark Watcher Dark Watcher3.0
I don't mind the prod too much but I often find the tempo to be weirdly slow with this -
then again that's a common theme with me. Love the intro to 3, some fun riffing (the end
track has a couple fat phases) and melodies in places. Great to see some sputmade bm! 3.1
Flyingpool Flyingpool Demo3.5
Sweet dream pop from Belgium? Thanks budgie for the rec. 1 is the strongest track here, a dense jam that starts off as lush dream pop and shows great promise with complex vocal layering, some synths, a post-rocky guitar here and there, and a keys-led finale. Makes them feel like a band to follow. 2 displays trip-hoppy vocals on a similar dream pop instrumentation, but the track works less well and is less ambitious. 3 is the most trip-hoppy and synth driven track here, it's quite nice but the grand vocals over the toned down music take some getting used to. 4 is the most post-rocky track here and the second strongest one, boasting a lovely intro that builds up very nicely into a climax that doesn't quite get the conclusion it deserves. The vox is nice but tbh I feel like on a full length they'd need more vocal variations, such as seen on 1. Overall this is sweet and I'll watch their future releases. 3.6
Life on Venus Odes to the Void3.5
I am not quite sure what it is, but this one feels a lot weaker than Encounters. It feels less dreamgazey, atmospheric and ethereal, and more like cutsey but bland alt rock fed into a reverb. A contributing factor could be the vox; they are no longer layered between multiple vocalists and they are more bare (less fx), which has pros and cons but imo doesnt work so well with the lazy shoegaze singing style here. Tracks like 6-8 feel all too samey and a touch naive. 10 brings on a nice wall of fuzz but it doesn't save the carrots. This meh feel already started with 1 which is nice but passable, but 2 and especially 3 bring up the catchiness a lot and are some of the few tracks I'll keep from this. But sadly by 4, the naive gnagnan feel had already started. I really don't think it was a matter of mood with this one as I was wanting to jam more of them, it's just less enjoyable for me than the debut. 3.3
Blood Incantation Hidden History of the Human Race4.0
I agree with my dexbro: they have a magnum opus in them, but this isn't it yet. I do think it is a step in the right direction though. Starspawn is imo an objectively better and more consistent record, but this one shows a lot more of their unique sound and is just more interesting on the whole. The first two tracks feel like your usual BI dm. The bass is nicely mixed, 1 is fat and the conclusion to 2 is fat. But at this point it felt like a downgrade from Starspawn really. Then the band starts to unfold their real potential with the sublime 3, an absolute jam that finally got me to feel space vibes and not Antiquity vibes (lol). It's the kind of grand intro/buildup that makes grand albums. Feels like taking off in an immense spaceship. 4 brings back the dm but mixes in elements similar to 3 and feels like they really found their sound. The intro is superb, min 3 is copiously fat, at min 6 the band goes into tasty dark ambient, before going back to guitars in a superb way. There, sadly, the track looses a bit of steam, going back to more conventional/generic dm, bringing back a bit of the wankery guitars that could be heard on 1. Min 14 on gets especially zzz. But eventually it breaks into a convenu yet nicely executed mix of wind recording and a nice chill melody on the guitar as album outro. The next one might be it. 4.0
Hajduk Свобода4.0
The most straightforward Hajduk EP, with only a couple vocal samples and a very nice 'classical' album intro to break away from the relatively raw bm that constitutes most of the record. Both tracks are of similar quality ie really good, and despite being quite long hold the distance well - although 2 does better than 1. The outro of 1 feels a bit eh, it has a nice tone but it's just overstretching it. This is sweet and cold af bm, not groundbreaking, but still nice when in need of a short fix of softened PdH. 3.8
Giant Swan Giant Swan2.5
A disappoint imo. The record really struggles to find the balance between being weird and being interesting. Whereas the Whities 016 EP was intriguingly bizarre, this one just sounds random and experimental just for the sake of being experimental for the bulk of the record. In a word it lacks atmosphere. 1 is a fun opening which would maybe not be a great track in a vacuum but that I appreciate as an opener , and 2 is kinda cool dark techno that works very well in places but also a lots of random sampled bits that I didn't quite enjoy. Most of it is solid though. 3 is sort of ok with a detuned hungover kinda vibe to it, but 4-6 is just boring weirdness. 7 tries to go back to something more straightforward with some techno again, but the boring 808 sounds just feel lazy and it really isn't a good track either. 8 is sort of weird ambient but just passes, and 9 saves this from 2.0 range with a passable pounding techno track that HATE could have published, that is really not all that fantastic with some meh bits but that has at least some fun moments and isn't aggressively boring. Eh. 2.25
French 79 Joshua3.0
A well crafted but profoundly tepid set of electropop housey tracks where the woob woob kick
snare foundation is the foundation to virtually nothing more - some tracks like 8 or 12
evoking a Polo and Pan stripped from all its special elements. That being said, the
production is on point, and the mid section with 5 and especially the combo 6-7 has a little
bit more melodic meat to it, but for the rest this is an entirely forgettable yet agreeable
record that would work perfectly as the uninvasive background soundtrack to a 30 seconds
aftermovie of your skydiving adventures. Other sparse semi highlights include the last third
of 2, and the last third of 10. 13 tries a little too but it's too little too late. 2.9
Low Roar ross.3.5
Brings back a little more of the folk to resemble the earlier Low Roar output more than the prior album. And it works quite well. My main gripe with this is that the voices rarely deviate or surprise you, and so while in isolations the tracks can work very well, in succession it takes away a lot of their impact. After the nice intro on 1 which prefaces the return to folktronica and the overall sound on the album quite well, 2 is a really sweet and nice song, perhaps my fave here. I like the drums on 3 but his voice already feels a bit not quite in the right place. 4 is a nice piano ballad that you know isn't my cuppa but is fine, and then evolves into a synthy instrumental second half which is really cool and shows that he at least does not make the mistake of singing constantly and letting the instruments speak. 5 is a nice ambient transition into folkey stuff again, before 7 surprises us with some nice sax after the emotional but relatively skippable 6. Although it begins by an odd silence that I don't see the point of, 8 is quite superb instrumentally, but again the vox are a bit to blame - especially those few vocoded sections which I really do not get in the slightest. 9 is a nice lo-fi interlude kinda thing, and then 10 again is quite good instrumentally but is a bit of a snore vocally. The conclusion with the more intense drums and the synths and the brass-ish sounding elements and the strings later on is a really welcome surprise though, which bumps this half a point. 3.35
FKA Twigs Magdalene4.0
As always, strong album from FKA Twigs, with few jams but consistent quality overall. I
preferred the first half, as the second half often feels a bit like a musical more than an
album - especially on 6 and 8. 7 is nice though, and the closer is a gorgeous emotional
lo-fi-ish jam that bumps the album a point a point on its own. 1 and 4 are also kinda jammy
in spite of Future's contribution, 5 is also a lovely track and 2-3 are ok. Solid. 3.95
Doja Cat Hot Pink3.5
On the one hand Amala is more erratic and typical of a pop album as far as construction goes, on
the other hand it feels like it has more memorable tracks and more value as its exploration are
often well executed. Hot Pink is more consistent with a more unified direction going mostly into
fully rapped songs, but because that direction isn't Doja's strongest it results in a mildly
disappointing album with only a couple tunes sprinkled in. The best tracks are in fact the ones
where she goes back to pop and RnB, only keeping rapping to limited sections to add nice variety,
rather than rapping the whole time. The jammy 5 and 8 instantly feel l so far above the rest. 6
does the same thing but rapping ends up overwhelming it especially with the feat, and the song is
quite meh anyway. 9 is also interesting, although it articulates very poorly with 8, feeling like
a dark but flavourful remix of some Erika tune. Nice. For the rest, the rapped songs work best
when it's sort of a bubblegum vibe like on 1 and 12, or 2 with its fun intro but poor unfolding
and 3 which is simpler but works better than 2. At worst, the songs are proper awful with really
poorly done autotune - 4 or 10 despite a cool intro. Beyond that, 7 is kinda like 6 but works
better with a couple nice ideas and doesnt have the feat to hinder it, while 11 is a nice track
that has fewer non rap elements than 5 and 6 but still works quite well with rap that flows
better into the track than elsewhere. I wish she'd aspire to be a rapping pop star Doja, not a
rap star. Maybe with different producers for LP3? 3.3
Crypt Master Reign of Decay3.0
Nice creepy drone find garas! Some lovely textures on there, especially on 1, 3 and 6. I
wish the trebles were used a little more, some noisy textures would be lovely over the
horror inducing, low ended synthy chilling pads. 3.15
Hana HANADRIEL2.5
I found this pretty boring really. It's not annoying so not really bad, but often times I just feels hollow and lacking substance. You can see what they were trying to do but it just doesn't work. For example 2 is an attempt to make poppy RnB but just feels super dull. The record is best when it experiments, eg at the end of 4 which is quite Dead Can Dance-esque, 5 and 6. 9 is also a kinda sweet 2019 pop track. Apart from that the record boasts over-minimalistic instrumentals over a mix of pop and various flavours of electronica, but it's just boring most of the time. 11 is the most generic and sounds like a random romantic ballad from some movie. 10 is a nice ambient interlude but at this point I was out of the album. Probs won't come back to this. 2.6
I Hate Models Intergalactic Emotional Breakdown3.0
Failed potential, especially on track 1 and 2, but worth checking out. The songs are too long, poorly constructed, and often have gimmicky bits that break them. Album intro is pounding and would be nice in club but isn't so nice to listen to. At min 3 we get some touches of the epic synths that made Warehouse Memories EP so glorious, and the track honestly had the potential to match that EP in quality as it displays sublime moments if it weren't for the excessive length and gimmicky bits. 2 again is kinda cool and pounding, but the gimmicky vocals and 808's break it again. I wish he stuck to his darker style, could've been a hell of a track. Wanted it to end by min 7. 3 is more subtle and atmospheric, the most consistent track here. It looses its quality around min 4, but at min 6 we get a nice synthy transition into more psychedelic dub techno that makes for a nice finale, and the track brings the album up a couple points. I don't take the vinyl only track into account for my rating here, and thank goodness because it is annoying as fuck. 3.2
Frail Body A Brief Memoriam3.5
Relatively nice skramz that reminds of Beau Navire with its highly distorted vocals. At times it is lovely controlled chaos, but at other times it feels like a mess and can be a bit much. 1 and 3 were my fav tracks, the latter in particular being kinda jammy, with lots of headbanging potential, but again with the vox being a bit much at times. For the rest, there are occasional sweet melodies but also annoying bits and it didn't mark me much overall. 3.4
Desolate (DE) Exceptionalism3.5
Quite an significant style shift here, with Desolate abandoning mots of the night- time, lonely urban vibes of his prior discog for happier, beachier, relaxing undertones - except on the sweet album opener. This newfound style truly shines in the middle of this where it is most nuanced with some remainders of his Burial touches of old. 6 is a jam and feels like 50% Tycho 50% Burial's NYC. 7 is the best jam here with a lovely piano piece that transforms itself with sublime vox. I kinda wish a beat kicked in at some point almost though. 8 is very nice too with some sax and lush reveberated chill vibes, and demonstrates that the record has finally found its sound there. Kinda jam too. After that the record looses its precious balance, with 9 being some slowed down Burial and 10 just falling flat (he isn't great at album conclusions). The early record bar 1 is straight up a bore though, just feels like some nice but tasteless Tycho-esque material. 5 and 2 are maybe the best in this part. I do prefer nocturnal Desolate to paradise Desolate, but this feels on par with the previous record which keeps a slight edge because it was more interesting. NB I messed up the discography order so 'previous record' refers here to Celestial Light Beings. 3.55
Pomme Les Failles3.5
You know how my favourite part of her first LP was the more poppy and dancy songs? Well, with
this one, as the title slightly suggests, she abandons those completely. This one is all about
sad ballads and is a lot more subdued in its instrumentation. The better songs imo are things
like 2 and 3 which contains a lot more glittery poppy elements in the back to make the
instrumental feel more colourful. The energy never matches the peps of her earlier poppy tracks
though. 4 has a more intriguing intro which is great, and unfolds after a while into the first
instance of the album opening up instrumentally - a great song. 6 is also more involved
instrumentally, whilst 8 with its prod evokes beautiful old chanson francaise. For the rest, the
album feels mostly okay but is never catchy, and the vocalisations on 11 feel frankly dull by
that point, even though she is a talented vocalist of course. Bonus tracks: 1996 is cute and very
good, probably the best bonus track. Les cours d'eau feels a bit more like indie pop but remains
quite subdued, whilst its 'solo' version suppresses that interest with just a cheap dream pop
chorus tone. Vide is an okay song, and sorcieres is a relatively boring and repetitive ballad,
though the chorus is kinda fun. Magie bleue is the coolest instrumentally (thanks guest), eg.
with the piano at 3:30, but alas it is completed by mere although well done vocalisations, so it
is more of an experiement than a song per se. Chanson for my depressed love is a fair bit cooler,
though her delivery tires a bit after this many bonus tracks, and finally comme tu dis is a
pretty cute and sappy ballad with not much else to it. A few selected cuts for playlists in an
album I might rejam once or twice but not much more. 3.4
A Winged Victory for the Sullen The Undivided Five4.0
This one compared to Atomos goes back to instrumentations that are closer to the debut. The piano pieces - which, as the first track title suggests would make Claude proud - are particularly clear examples of this. 3 evokes Satie very vividly. The album is however not a redo of the s/t. It uses the same instrumentation, but it is much more subdued, subtle, discrete. It is a soft cotton ball of an album, where the first LP had perhaps more prominent, repeated melodies that stuck in the head. Here every track has superb ideas, but they are presented in background and coat the echoes, rather than take the spotlight. I don't mind it per se and in fact I really enjoyed the album. It flows incredibly well from idea to idea and this is definitely one to spin in full. When the synths come in on 1 it really makes me want synths goddammit. 1-2 do feel a bit like the debut but underbaked though. Then the combo of 3-4 is superb, before 5 taks us to darker places, then hope again. 7 gets a bit dronier, and 8 is one of those tracks that shows the quality of ideas on (subtle) display here. I'm not gonna do a full track by track because it wouldn't work for an album like this. I will say that it does feel a bit like it ends out of nowhere, which made me a bit disappointed at the end - AWFTS can't seem to get album conclusions perfectly right can they? 3.8
Night Flowers Fortune Teller2.5
Really boring in my opinion. The songs are simple, but never catchy, or never dreamy. The only moment the album grabbed me a bit was on 5, perhaps bits of 6. And I guess the closing track was better, and the bass on the opener - a simple song that sounds like it is from a different decade - was yum. But really, there isn't much here that would ever make me want to go back to this. 2.55
Moon Kissed I Met My Band At A New Years Party3.0
Absolute tonnes of potential to be heard here, but I don't see it being anywhere near realised with this record. It nearly is with 2 though, which after the anecdotal fifteen seconds of 1 delights us with some delightfully produced, catchy funk pop that doesn't quite reach the status of absolute bop but sure is a cool as hell track, though it does feel a bit erratic and overlong near the end. Afterwards the band never really match that though. 3 is instrumentally super cool and full of excellent elements - the strings, the synths at 2:20, the vocal pads at 2:50 - but the vocals although ok don't seem on par with the rest. And the track also showcases the albums' most recurrent flaw: the choruses are often underwhelming and less catchy than the verses, which in this pop style is very much backwards. 4 is probably my least favourite here and tries a bit too hard imo. 5 is an interlude which like 1 I appreciate that they separated (playlist generation aye), and 6 again has a dope instrumental but less convincing vox, and like 2 it ends up feeling a bit erratic near the end. 7 is a lot more successful and finally gets a chorus that bops more than the verse, and this isalso the case of 8 which is quite fun in 'lets dance at prom in the final movie scene' style, probably the second most successful track of the record. On 9 the chorus doesn't quite work but the track is otherwise cool. Nice but I don't see a 4.4 average being right for this folks. 3.2
Malaise (US) Death Do Us Part3.5
This was a fun listen with some nifty ideas and melodies, and overall great prod for a small record like this. Track 1 is my favourite. Feels like a clean section of 00s metalcore with some Deftones DNA. The band is quite adept at mixing fat riffs with more atmospheric voices and guitars, and that's really cool. The voice processing gives a lot of -core flavour but I actually dig that. I am remotely reminded of a cleaner version of Intrisinc-era The Contortionist without the whole polyrhythmic aspect. There are better comparisons to be found but idk that's what I thought of. 3.4
Alcest Spiritual Instinct4.0
Alcest show us once again that they are a supremely consistent band. 1 is the clearest jam here and shows us a brand of Alcest we haven't seen before, more straightforward, with more prominent bass and drums (love it), lots of riffy riffs, and a lesser emphasis on lush reverberated atmospheres. 2 is in the same vein, albeit a bit less jammy - both tracks do have a few short clumsy sections here and there. The album then softens to more regular Alcest material and didn't mark me as much - the softest track being 5. 4 feels uninspired, but the other tracks are all really nice. I like the direction they took, and admire that they managed to once again change their sound (both in prod and comp) while retaining their identity, but somehow I wish they pushed it a little further. Still a solid 4.1
Yeule Serotonin II4.0
Great debut LP leveraging her early discog but also adding new things. The clearest example of that is this seemingly odd mix of synthpop on a fat house-ish beat that was never in her prior EPs. It is best executed on 2 and 7 where it is quite fun, and it is also on 5 after a lengthy intro but not done so well. 3 shows a nice flavour of psychedelic dream pop with some Culprate vibes to it. 9 feels a bit like vaporwave and is quite cool. There is also a lot of ambient on this, starting with the very sweet intro track and constituting most of the interludes. 8 also starts off and ends that way in lovely fashion, but the bulk of the track is less soft. At 10-11 the album takes an angelic turn with two superb and delicate ambient tracks, to then end on the most experimental track of hers yet, a glitchy ambient thingy that ends on a wash of noise - which I love and bumps this up a point. Very well constructed, quite original, bring on the next LP! 3.85
Ness Heads Numb4.0
This is Drake/The Weeknd/Post Malone etc in female version and actually good. Surprised this isn't more popular - give it some time. 1 is an effing hard-hitting jam in that style, 2 is more cloudy and emotional but a very nice track too. 3 starts a bit cheesy with some acoustic guitar but intelligently drops it mid track, making it welcome variety and not just cheesiness. The track unfolds with a lot more complexity and variety than I expected with some heavily processed vox and a shift to a more electronica style. The guitar comes back on 4 although the beat drops quickly into the track, but it just unfolds into something much weaker and the first actual downer of this otherwise lovely debut EP. Same goes for 5, which is fine but packs nowhere the punch of the early record, and those two tracks bring this down a couple points to a 4.0
Hajduk Природа4.0
From the first seconds of the first track with that folk instrument I can't identify I knew
I'd love this. The bulk of the track is raw bm that sounds like the random demos I used to
jam back in the days, but much better, and thankfully the folk comes back right at the end.
2 is my fav track here as a rich, tasty folkey droney post-blackey interlude track with
some fantastic textures - superb jam. 3 is also a droney but more on the distorted guitar
side of things, it's cool but not as good. The end (from min 5 onwards) is fantastic, but I
feel like the first half is a bit subpar and brings the record down a point. 4.0
clipping. There Existed an Addiction to Blood4.0
Yeah following their discog this feels like a huge step up. It finally feels like a grand, ominous album with its own coherent (for the most part) personality and feel. I don't know if it is the layers of low ended noisy drones forming the basis of a lot of tracks or what but there is just something that ties tracks together very nicely. The record is weakest when it evokes their prior discog actually, i.e. tracks that feel like stylistic exercises more than parts of a cohesive whole. 9 and 13 are clear examples, while 8 starts off that way but then builds up quite nicely back into the album's style - I don't dig the guest vox though. The run from 1-7 is pretty much flawless. With 1 and the intro of 2 you already know this is going to be better. 2 and 5 are huge jams, and 3 and 6 have fantastic atmospheres - especially the latter with its horror feel. While weaker the second half still boasts some great tracks, with the fantastic second half of 11 and 12 which will be a huge banger live. It's a bit pretentious but I also dig the burning piano outro, it tickles my drone fancy nicely. Their magnum opus? Maybe, we'll see what they offer next. 4.05
Vaa Ur sägen och hävd4.0
Yeah this is clearly some of the best DS-type music I've heard. Wonderfully cinematic, and knows to keep things short. I did feel like the last track was a bit of an excessive drag, and the record may have been better as a three tracker imo, which brings it down a point. But still a fantastic garasfind and a good 3.9
indigo la End Nureyuku Shishosetsu3.5
Nice and full of fresh ideas, but sometimes falls short in execution. Some tracks display newfound yet clear funk/disco/city pop influences, and it makes for really fun songs. The opener starts the album off like that, and so does 2, which got me really pumped thinking this would be the funkiest ILE album yet. But they don't keep this up and only bring it back most noticeably on 7 which even has a questionable but fun jazzy rapped section in it, as well as 9 which gets a bit much in the midtrack but is otherwise fun. Not all the good ideas derive from these 70s-80s roots though, and 8 is a fun track with great vox, and 10 has a cool intro although the conclusion is annoying. The conclusion section on 6 is fun too, and 11 is a nice standard ILE track. What I wasn't a fan of was tracks 3-4 which feel like the band on amphetamines/ADHD, and is a bit too hyper for me. Thankfully 5 calms things down and is alright. They have lots of ideas in them and they could really make a grand album out of em some day. 3.55
DIIV Deceiver3.5
They mixed in a lot of rock and shoegaze into their dream pop to renew their sound with this one, and honestly I quite dig it. This album reminded me a lot of Nothing. They do sprinkle in some darker undertones, mostly from lovely dissonant guitar lines, giving off some distant Slint/90's alt bands vibes, on tracks like 3 or 4 especially in the last third. However this is stil mostly a happy, lighthearted record, with tracks like 6, 7 and 9 being quite fun/chill. 9 is in particular poppy and a nice upbeat jam, which contrasts nicely with the slower 8. I however wish the record had stopped there. The closer, while not bad, brings the dark vibes a bit and concludes on a grand atmospheric finale (into a fadeout), which I feel was a mistake. Bumps this down half a point to a 3.7
Seizures Reverie of the Revolving Diamond4.0
This reminds me of The Contortionist's Intrinsic, not in terms of the actual music, but in
terms of how I absolutely love the proggy soft parts, and wish the harsh parts were
different. Goddamn I want that reverb tone so bad. Don't take me wrong, the metalcore parts
are fine - I just feel like they don't live up to the potential of the soft bits, and also
don't mix too well with them, except on a few tracks like 3, 7 and 9. Oddly enough the
purely non-harsh tracks feel weaker than the bits sprinkled in the midst of all the
metalcore. There aren't any jam tracks really, but this record is absolutely stocked with
jammy sections all over it - the end of the closer is a gorgeous example. It's an
interesting sound for sure and an album I'll re-listen to. Absolutely love the title, band
name and art combo too. 3.8
Sundrugs Abstract Forms3.0
This is just a collection of drone/noise sketches, and it isn't pretending to be a grand album at all or to have much coherence. 1 is noisier and more experimental than the rest of his stuff, it starts off nice but soon enough becomes too bleep bloopey for me. 2 again starts very nicely with an ominous intro, but shows even worse bleep bloops immediately afterwards. 3 is the best track here with broken reverberated noises that struggle to exist, evoking the end of a Disintegration Loops track, but I wish the track was an intro that went somewhere instead of just ending after a couple minutes. 3 is a nice idea but there isn't much else to retain here. 2.8
Floating Points Anasickmodular3.5
Really cool I don't really know how to tag it so I'll just go with Wolfe's tag i.e. tech
house. Track 1 has a nice beat to it but I'm puzzled about the leads - I do enjoy how
psychedelic they feel though. Track 2 is outstanding and a psychedelic late night rave
trip, pounding and prog at the same time with lots of variations and buildups within the
track. Track 3 brings the record down a bit, by the end it is quite nice, but its beginning
feels really bare and empty compared to the richness of track 2. 3.65
Evigt Morker Krona2.5
I had no clue he had released a debut LP, but sadly it is quite a disappoint. He abandons the ethereal style of ambient/dub techno he displayed so gracefully on some of the EPs and swaps it for an odd mixed of quite dark, industrial bounce with a mellow dub techno-esque prod and some extra bells and whistles that don't do much at all. 8 is the only track that isn't in this style as an ambient precursor to the final track, but it's not all that striking. You could also count 5 which is an ambient interlude. Some tracks do pound pretty nicely, namely 3 and frankly the closer, but on the whole the album fails to be dancy, dark enough, or really atmospheric at all, although it isn't an unpleasant listen either. He has better things in him. Art is cool though 2.5
John Coltrane Blue World3.5
Once again, this album's main fault is that it feels a lot more like a (?cash grab) compilation than an album. There are three takes of Village Blues and two of Naima on here, both tracks having very recognisable intro hooks which makes the repetition intensely blatant. That being said, this particular record does a whole lot better than some of its predecessor posthumous 'lost album' releases as it does actually have a coherent, consistent atmosphere and evolution bar a few nonexistent transitions, unlike the previous opus which was all over the place for example. The vibe here is slow, tranquil, smooth but not boring jazz, and it is really relaxing. It is clearly not as spicy as some of the other classic quartet releases, but it is still a good time. If it didn't have all these repetitions it would probably lie somewhere around the transition from 3.5 to 4.0 tier, not sure on which side, but as is, this is maybe a 3.6
Giorgia Angiuli You Shine3.5
I was considering stopping with her discog but now I might just continue. She really did
improve in the last couple years because this is miles better than her 2016 stuff, both in
prod and composition. This EP is darker andmore straight to the point techno than her
earlier stuff. 1 has really dope ominous sounds but falls a bit flat - feels like the track
is missing a 'peak' or two -, while 2 is even better. There are some awkward sections but
most are dope and again some of the songs are really cool. 3-4 are remixes so per usual not
included in the rating, but briefly 3 flows extremely well and could be made by Giorgia
herself while possibly being the best constructed, most consistent track here - nice pool
party background music or something -, while ZAC's remix is clearly the weakest of the
bunch, hesitating between turning the track into a club anthem which makes for some cliche
sections (although dat bass at 3:50 is pretty dope), or keeping the track as it is which
makes the remixing feel a bit pointless. 3.25
Exhorder Mourn the Southern Skies2.0
Erh this is in a very different style to their other two albums, and I do not like it at
all. 1 is probably the most palatable (except perhaps the closer) on the whole thing. It is
quite bouncy, and the vocals don't get too wankery. However, with every new track, boredom
and annoyance start to settle. This is very much beer metal with not much substance to it,
just some riffs and words to shout in the crowd with a fist in the air and a beer in the
other hand. It's beer metal of the ok kind but I really don't care for it. A lot of tracks
like 6 have a sweet intro riff, but after that they all reach various levels of dull. The
closing track stands out of the rest, with a much slower pace to it, and an actual intro
and outro. It's not as bad, but the bulk of the song is still quite boring - the end is
quite nice prog with wankery vocals though. That last tracks bumps it in a bit safer
territory at 1.8
Hajduk Кръв3.0
Good bm but nothing mindblowing [2]rI like the raw prod but the EP really sounds like what I was jamming based on random Metal Archives pages back in the days where I hardly knew what black metal was and had only heard stuff like Lustre and Mirkwood. Track 2 is kinda nice though with sweet riffage a la Drudkh, and I can see their potential. 3.0
Y La Bamba Entre Los Dos3.5
This isn't mind blowing, but it is short, sweet, and interesting, and people shouldn't sleep on it. 1 is a lovely, weird bouncy jam, quite unique and mixes sort of mariachi vintage and modern dreamy pop. 2 is also really nice, also weird, more on the folk side of things. Not quite a jam though. 3 is a bit less nice but at least offers interesting vox - that I'm not quite a fan of. 4 is a relatively forgettable Hispanic (don't know her exact origin so won't call out a specific country) folk, but it's short so fine. 5 is the second jam of the album, super bouncy and weird. 6 and 7 are a bit annoying. 7 less so but ending the album on a fade out is bad taste. Overall a fun record with jams I'll come back to. 3.45
Cult of Luna A Dawn to Fear4.0
Might be a grower. Super solid CoL record. Love the proggy organic sounds they're adding,
although they're mostly subtle and only truly shine in a few select places (1,7). The post-
rocky guitars are nice too and just in the right amount. 6 is the only weaker track and
feels like a misplaced dragged out album outro, although the bells towards the end of it
are absolutely gorgeous. Basically every other track has jammy sections, and they're pretty
much all jams except perhaps 3 which slows down a bit too much. 5 and its slow, enormous
buildup is going to be a huge jam live. However, 4 and the second half of 1 are on first
listen the only two real classic-worthy moments, and the rest has a lot of nice jammy
sections but that don't quite cut it to that ultimate level, bathing in nice CoL material.
I feel like the record is missing some clean vocals too - Julie's or not. Still a solid and
tentative 4.15
Edit: bumped a bit, this is super solid. 5 grew on me and is the album's second peak after
1, 7-8 being the last peak. The album is fantastic but goes up and down in intensity a bit
too much imo. 4.2
Ichiko Aoba 鮎川のしづく3.0
A fine listen, but not really one I'd hugely recommend. The bulk of the album is made of hydrophone (I suppose) recordings that mostly make you want to pee, but aren't all that compelling otherwise - it's fine but I've heard more interesting field recordings. Some of the tracks have more elements and are cooler, like 5 with the guitar and the man talking. In its second half the album brings more and more musical elements, which in contrast to the relative emptiness of the first half is a welcome refreshing addition no matter how minimal. 13-14 is thus kinda nice, and 15-16 with the guitar and low and behold her singing. 16 is way too long though and goes on erratically. 17 is still pretty, and 18 is a superb piano-led jam, perhaps the only track here that will actually stick in my memory. 19 is cute but the singing feels a bit too whiny/chipmunkey in places, prefacing some of the memey vocals on 22 where it's a least cute but evokes meow meow ratings from community, and 23 where it's frankly rofl. Eh I didn't mind it and there's a jam so 2.8
Ben Buitendijk OBQ0083.5
While it's not crazy crazy good, 1 is a compelling dark track, which manages to remain engaging for its whole 9 minutes by varying things up gradually but constantly. Frankly on its own a 3.5 tier track. But then 2 is just tozziesque techno without much interest, and 3 is even less compelling, managing to drop the rating for this by a lot by being just too long and too repetitive in a bad way. So overall I guess since there's a good track I enjoyed, maybe 3.0
Alex Cameron Miami Memory3.0
Yeah this guy's style isn't my cuppa. Kind of the same thing I found with FW: to me it sounds goofy, and when it is a fun upbeat track that kinda works, but if not it doesn't work. Feels like music that requires checking the lyrics for appreciation, which isn't my jam. Even the fun tracks feel kinda shy and tame, always remaining at slow tempos, never quite exploding. Quite a few times (1,2,5) I feel like the late additions at min 3-4 are really cool but should have started one minute in. I do prefer this one to FW as I mildly enjoyed most tracks. 2 and its darker industrial vibe but spoiled by singing that doesn't fit at all, 3 and its funky intro but very tame unfolding, 4 which is kinda like FW but still has trouble with some questionable deliveries, 5 where the drums make the song at least ok and upbeat-ish, transitioning well into the ok 6. 7 is a highlight, like 5 but actually starting up, you know, from the start, with rich instrumentation, and proving that I do dig this one more than LP. Best track here? Maybe, still has a slow, tame quality to it though. 8-9 is more of the same but by 9 his delivery started to get to my nerves ngl. Was going to 3.0 this, but them 10 is properly awful, like 1 reminiscent of his first LP. Summarises a lot of what I dislike here. I have to say though there is a really well crafted and thought out album conclusion here, which means 10 only brings it down a half point. 2.95
Further Down The Zone Tapes3.5
Nicely done sputmade ambient with varied sounds and textures flowing well into one another, going from dronier things on the opener to vintage synth parts, to piano etc, but with the whole thing still cohesive which is great to see. On the prod side it does feel quite thin at times, as if the whole thing was recorded on a cassette dictaphone, and the volume varies a touch too much to my taste. The opener creates nice tension, and unlike Ben Chatwin the tension does resolve well as the track unfolds. The following track is less straightforward and showcases morphing variations from pretty piano into dissonant textures into nice synth work. 3 has pretty sounds too, however I feel like the second half of the record was strongest and bumped this up a couple points, 4 being my fave track probably with its pretty piano bursts first and then nice synth work, 5 getting sweetly distorted and 6 offering nice sounds as well. Well done dude, release more pls 3.5
Squid Town Centre4.0
From 3 days ago too oops. I also forgot what I wanted to rate this but I know it was in 4.0 tier because Squid are at it again with an excellent wee EP, starting with once again an excellent intro track that feels like it could introduce some prog rock or jazz fusion album, but instead has an excellent transition into the jammy 2, a supper cool and catchy post punkey punkey idk track. 3 is not as fun a listen imo but remains cool and bitchin, and the last third improves things and frankly resembles the second track in a good way. 4 starts off cool, but it feels a bit like an interlude you'd find in a longer album that we're not gonna get. It ends up turning into a proper track though, with a grim outro that is really cool. I'm ready for a full length by these folks because their EPs have lots of meat to them. 3.9
Gemini Rising Best Case Life4.0
Very sweet 80s worship album that does not seek to be too explosive, dancey or disco, but rather focuses on synths and building a neon atmosphere. It does have some memorable hooks for sure, but that doesn't feel like the overarching aim of the record. Does a great job of seamlessly integrating the EP songs which do not feel like isolated singles at all. I have to say album construction is a strength on this, it all flows well and the sequencing between calmer and catchier tracks is excellent. My only gripe is the transition on 12 which feels underwhelming after 11. 13 is a very pretty and calmer track that works fine at concluding the album, but I feel like they could have done away with those two tracks - not that the album feels too long though, and the synth outro is great. 1-2 are quite jammy and a good start as 2 feels like a better follow up to 1 than on the EP. 3 is a bit less compelling but flows well and is still fun. 4 is another jam with some great synthwork. 5-6 are more of the same, then 7 breaks a bit of the (mild) monotony a bit with some good catchiness and is a nice track despite a couple weird quirks. 8 is calmer, and like on the EP feels a bit fillerey, whereas 9 continues this calmer side but does it a whole lot better and is a great track. After this calmer phase 10 is more explosive thanks to its intrinsic contrast which is great, and 11 features a more prominent beat and is also one of teh more explosive, jammier tracks. Those last few good successes had bumped it to 3.9, but the last two tracks bring it back down to 3.85
JVH ALL NATURAL4.0
Really nice collection of little lo-fi beats that hits harder and harder as the record goes. 1 makes you go ow yeah this is gonna be s o f t. 2's a bit cliche and perhaps the weakest track on the record, I mean it's fine but it feels the most generic. 3 is very nice and qutie inspiring although I didn't dig the second half. Now 4 and 5 hit HARD, and 4 especially is a jam, before 6 shows us how the cool the record could be with some vox over the instrumental with a lovely track. Shame a few of the tracks end on a fadeout but oh well. I'll be hearing more of this guy for sure. Available for free/NYP at https://jvhbless.bandcamp.com/album/all-natural-ep 3.8
Windows Lost For Love3.5
Really good little house EP but that fails in the last track. The first two are super fun and bouncy, and would have earned around a 3.75 probably. But the last track slows it down, takes away a bit of the fun for a different atmosphere, and I don't think it really works especially on a track this long. Were it three or four minutes it'd be a different story, but here this brings the EP down. 3.6
Zach Bryan DeAnn3.5
Honestly given I am not a country dude for one bit this was a nice surprise. This is country that very much feels like folk due its stripped down instrumentation, essentially just him and a guitar, and also due to the atmosphere not being jolly yee haw let's ride our cows but rather sappy and melancholic. With the grey skies and the rain outside this was very nicely fitting to the mood. 1-2 are good,3 was a bit of a letdown being too repetitive, 4 is better, 5 shows that I like it less when he goes less subdued but the track improves by the midtrack, and after that I didn't really take track by track notes because this is all a bit of the same honestly so who cares. I'll give it one bonus point for surprising me because I really wasn't expecting to enjoy this record all too much. 3.7
Taylor Swift Lover2.5
Lover is a shy record that feels like it had bangers in it but never quite lets them out. As such, it is quite possibly the most frustrating and least engaging Taylor album yet. I have no problem with soft, low-energy music, but here the issue is that tracks do build up, create a sense of expectation, and then stop and fall flat. 1,5, sort of 9 which did start off chill however, 10 despite its great intro, and 13 maybe are clear example. They could all have been great songs but feel like they never quite start. The other songs are also low energy, which makes for a very flat curved album. 2 is nice and summery, but then 3 is a boring ballad despite having some ideas, and 4 is ok but would be a huge bore with a less pristine prod. 6 is kind of cool and unfolds a bit unexpectedly, 7 is ok but bland. It's not until 8 that the record gets out of its shell a bit, and the track is enjoyable because of that. But by 9 you still haven't been wowed at any point and it starts to feel long. 11 has some cool sounds but 12 is a ballad again. 13 has a nice start but stays flat. 14-16 are the peak, with 14 and 16 being the highest energy track on the whole thing (14 is the only track I recognised here and it doesn't surprise me given the rest of the album is so zzz) with a softer but very nice track in between. Sadly, the end of the album is symptomatic of the whole record with a flat energy interlude and a soft conclusion that builds up mildly again into nothing, losing the point 14-16 had managed to earn. 2.3
WRVTH No Rising Sun4.0
Phew. Now this album has a lot going on. The band leverage their technical prowess beautifully to create unceasing tension, which starts from the very intro. They craft a delicate balance between the soothing, echoing, modulated reverb guitars of post-x influences, and gut wrenching, atmospheric and expansive skramz, to which they sometimes add whiffs of black metal - an influence that only points it nose around 6 or so. In a way, it's kind of like Seizures, but with harsh parts that I like a lot better, and way more of the even better soft bits. The balance is ever frail, and from one moment to the next the band take you from soothing calm to complete chaos, to then mix the two in an improbably functional contrast. As ever in anything proggy, the tracks meander without verse or chorus, yet they remain captivating and build singular identities - the album does tend to take a second or two to silently breathe between tracks, which separates the songs. 1-4 are an incredible run, then the soothing elven voices of 5 come as a surprise, before 6 throws sparse moments of bm-ness at ye - which I must confess aren't always my favourite sections. As it progresses, the album evolves from mysterious to progressively sadder, especially on 8 and 10, which completes the album on a feeling of utter emptiness. With the album's story, as told by comrades Mars and Slex (cheerio folks), it really hit hard. This reminds me of Gospel in that it has so many layers, so many moments, that I think I will digest more of it as I listen to it again. And I sense it might grow? Who knows. For now, I'll settle on a 4.1
Diplodocus Slow And Heavy3.5
Short, sweet, to the point. I did think it was more medieval sounding than dino sounding for the first couple tracks, but starting from 3 it felt very dinoey. It is quite a continuous flow so no point doing a track by track but I noted 8 as a kind of highlight. Nice but now I want to jam Rite of Spring! 3.4
Pijn and Conjurer Curse These Metal Hands4.0
A post-metal album that is really, really cool and exciting in some aspects, but doesn't feel like it quite matches the potential of its ideas and is hindered quite consistently by vocals that are okay but not so great, except in a few harsher sections like the shortest track 3. Every single track has an excellent intro, and the album intro is particularly top tier; by the post- book, but brilliantly done. Despite the meh clean vox, there's lots to be loved here with a bmey surprise and a lovely bridge in the second third. 2 offers darker and fatter riffage, and 4 has again a particularly cool intro with great bass work, but they could have done away with the vocals frankly and the finale feels a bit underwhelming and uninspired for an album that has so many melodic ideas. Makes you want to check out the bands' future outputs though, because they've got some solid stuff in them - I'm not sure who did what on this but it feels like one coherent band I'd say. 3.8
The Contortionist Our Bones2.5
1 sounds like the one non-annoying and therefore best song of some annoying djent band with a few actually nice Contortionist sections sprinkled in there. 2 is best and I kinda like it, 3.5 range track. 3 is a nice interlude but guys this a 10min EP you don't need to be doing outros and interludes and stuff, it's forgettable. 4 is a cover so yes it is cool but it's cool because it reminds you of the original, and it does not diverge enough stylistically to be interesting as a cover. This is not a bad record but I don't care for it at all - feels like it has no structure and no point - hence my rating. Hope they won't pursue the direction they took in track 1 any further. 2.5
clairo Immunity3.5
Don't feel super convinced by this. It feels hesitant, like she's still looking for her direction and trying different things at once. There's autotune that feels completely out of place (cf 3 although I like the instrumental ending or the boring first half of 11 bring this down a half point), randomly distorted bits (on the otherwise French radiocore 7, a weird thing to do really but a passable song still), etc. There's also a lingering Ellis feeling of this all being 'boring nice' and bland, but it's not always there. To me Immunity is most successful when clairo sticks to a cohesive direction throughout a song, and that's most commonly on tracks with electronica leanings and strong beats (sometimes evocative of hip hop what). The sunny afternooney 2, 4 sorta although the vocal fxing feels like an attempt to give the song flavour it doesn't have, the kinda jammy 6, 10 with its nice vocal performance, and the second half of 11 fall in that category. 3 or 5 show how confusing the direction on this is, like the tracks don't know what they want to make you feel. 5 is a nice picnic soundtrack though I guess. For the rest this is generally fine, but forgettable. 3.25
niña love letters to you3.5
She displays a nice, diverse sound with some dream pop, trip-hop, and even a lovely guitar interlude. The tracks don't all quite work, and the ones surrounding the interlude are perhaps the weakest, but she definitely piques my interest with this EP and I'll be looking out for what comes next. The first track is a nice dream pop jam, and the second is nice and trip-hoppy. The last track is better than the bland 5 but is not as strong as 1-2, although it summarises the record quite well blending dream pop guitar and vox sorta with the trip hop vibes of track 2. 3.35
Wormsblood Bounds Beaten4.0
Great, raw black metal with quite an extensive sound palette that is very fluidly displayed in the span of ten minutes. I do take issues with some (but not all) of the vocals, because some of the delay effects just sound cheesy, while nothing else about this is even remotely cheesy. But I love the sound they offer, and if I weren't in the middle of a Darkthrone discog run I'd start their discog right now. I will after DT because I'm quite excited by this. 3.9
Sum 41 Order In Decline2.5
Wow this Linkin Park/Rise Against covers/Guitar Hero II foddercore band is super mature considering they are still in high schoo... wait what? Yea S41 try more than on their previous albums but it just sounds all a bit hollow and without personality. 2.3
Nthng Microdose3.5
Nice dub techno, but not hugely memorable. Track 1 is a slow but steady buildup starting off nice and low ended but with some of these typical nthng synths coming in nicely after a few minutes. It is perhaps not as jammy as some of his more recognisable tracks but it is certainly up there in the high tiers of dub techno. 2 offers a clearer hook and explores it on the ravier end of dub techno. It's the kind of dub techno you'd love to hear in a club you know to loose your mind to. After a while it starts to feel like it lacks substance especially with some awkward hi-hats coming in. But variation ends up coming to save the day. This isn't a top tier jam but it would have been nice material on the EP for example. 3 is hindered by just a weird beat that lasts the whole track which otherwise boasts some kinda cool sounds. The conclusion is nice though. Good nthng material, good MORK material, but the best of neither. 3.25
Odd Person The flowers of arcadia3.5
Lots of weird sounds, lots of echoes, lots of reverb - a nice fun tape! Nice find garas 3.3
Goodfight Dac Mcmicken, the Legend Of3.5
Nice vaguely psych indie pop but that doesn't quite manage to remain compelling for the whole 28min. The first two tracks are really quite cool, but by 3 when the backing female vox arrive it gives the ensemble a bit of niais feel that I dont quite dig. 4 despite still slightly cheesy vox brings some cool funkiness, and 5 sees the band having fun with weirder sounds and more of an experimental instrumental-ish track. I kinda wish it ended there, because 6-7 really feel like okcore and 8 while being a nice chorussey outro track doesn't feel like as interesting a conclusion as 5 would've been. 8 kinda feels like an interlude more than a conclusion I'd even say. 3.3
Devictus This Is Not Forever3.0
Nice soft and mellow sput-made ambient. I liked the intro with the voice sample and field recordings, but I did feel like the voice samples in the middle of the record broke the rhythm and atmosphere a little bit. A caveat is I did not listen do this on my usual headphones so can't really speak fairly about the prod, but it sounded good to me except perhaps a slightly mushy lower half of the spectrum at times - again maybe was just my headphones. Wish the transitions were a little more seamless to create one coherent cozy atmosphere, but the individual tracks sound great. 3.0
Monosymbiosis 13.5
On the one hand, this does sound like a dude spending a fun evening with his synths and nothing grander (and I thought this before reading the description). On the other hand, it is nonetheless powerfully evocative drone, despite its simplicity. The soundtrack of a grave floating in cold space. Awesome and not too ambitious. 3.45
Frohvahr Dungeon Ghosts3.0
Very nicely produced sput-made dungeon synth. Great tones. The record feels like one long track and does not have a lot of variety to it - which impacted my rating a fair bit -, but it does create a strong, mysterious atmosphere while avoiding the video game OST/funny effect that would have been easy to fall into. Props man. 3.15
Tertia May Not From Concentrate3.0
Sweet, but not as nice as KoP. The opener is great, boasting a pounding, bass heavy trip-hop beat that she likes with some nice Amy Winehousey vox before the male guests kick in and bring hip-hop vibes. Very nice. 2-3 is a bit odd, with the vox feeling unbalanced and too aggressive for the lush instrumentals they're covering. Especially true of 2, 3 is still nice and Sade-ish. 4 is a sad piano-led ballad, and while I don't usually dig that kind of stuff here I quite liked it. Excellent delivery. 5 confirms that the bookends are best here with a very cool soft and mellow, Noname-esque track that finds a much better balance between vox and instrumental than 2-3 did. Still well below KoP in terms of consistency and quality, but a bit more diverse which shows promise for a future LP. 3.2
Rebekah Murder in Birmingham3.0
This is very much a live set at its core, and not quite a constructed EP. That is its strength, as the sections you perhaps like less never last more than a couple dozens of seconds. The whole thing feels consistent, and hardly does it ever not sound good. Hard, visceral, aggressive techno in the vein of her live sets. That live feel is also the EP's greatest weakness. None of the tracks truly focus on a particular melody or motif. They could be divided up very differently and the EP would feel exactly the same, which is to say a 15min set made of a collage of segments of different songs. Because of this, the EP isn't really memorable like a say IHM EP can be because none of the tracks commit long enough to a melody for it to ever stick. But it also never falters. If you need a soundtrack to keep doing work in the middle of night when all you want is to go to sleep, this is it. 3.1
Banks III4.0
I consider this to be ever so slightly superior to Altar solely because it is much more memorable. III sees Banks shift style a lot, both vocally and instrumentally. I kind of prefer her old style, but this is more unique. Vocals are much more processed and more noticeably autotuned, While this works in a lot of places, there are lots where it doesn't, and regardless her more organic, 'bare' vocals are missed. They remind of Ariana Grande in a lot of places too, both melodically and in how they are processed. Instrumentally, this explores a lot more than Banks' first two albums with tonnes of synthy sounds, piano textures, distorted drums etc., and while it does not always work it certainly is commendable. The first half of the record is by far the best and has only jams (1,2,4) or nice tracks. 6 has the first annoying section of the record with overprocessed whiny vocals, but otherwise it is cool albeit Ari-neric. The first truly bad track is 7, which is frankly awful all the way. 8 is in the same style but does it a little bit better, and its end is kinda nice with good ideas. From there on the record becomes more generic and Ari-esque, not much that is truly bad, but the catchy and memorable hooks from the first half are sorely missed. The closing track is probably the worst post track 8, but the actual ending is nice. Overall, just barely above Altar with a 3.4rSecond listen: 1-6 & 8 are jams, 11 is kinda cool, 10 and 12 are ok, but the second half is still a train wreck compared to the first. 3.9
Falls of Rauros Patterns in Mythology4.0
Uplifting black metal [2] This is bm that looks hopefully towards the clearing after the storm. Superb melodies and superb atmospheric guitars. While the clean-ish sections are all gorgeous, including the shorter tracks on 1 and 4, I must admit I was a bit on the fence at first about the bmey bits on 2. Maybe it was just me getting use to this bizarre mix of uplifting mood and black metal, or the fact that I was looking at a thunderstorm and maybe wished for something rawer and more aggressive, but as 3 came by I was fully into it. Superb tracks where I see touches of Alcest. The opening on 5 is truly gorgeous and so is most of the track, although there are erratic bits here and there. Had to pause here, so maybe that's why, but 6 felt a bit less good in its first half, kinda like 2. From the tastily fat midtrack however the track closes up on a great and well thought out conclusion - melikey. Yeah I ought to do a discog rerun of these guys. 3.85
Arias Estrellas de Madera3.0
Ok math-rock with lots of electronica sounds in it, but not much more. The electronic sounds are a touch original but are not often well utilized, for instance in track 4 where they don't really work. Tracks 1-3 are nice and 8 is a jam at least in part. 6 is not too great but is kinda interesting with a middle section sounding like a mix of math-rock and downtempo vaguely abstract hip hop stuff. Overall an ok album that I will not remember all that much. 2.9
Polygon Woods Window Seat / Rabbit Holes3.0
By the looks of it this is just a compil of two singles off a future album (?) rather than a legit EP in due form. Indeed the two tracks feel massively disjointed and lack any context, but because this is a single it isn't a surprise that construction is a bit inadequate. These are good tunes though: while 1 is a bit run of the mill Polygon Woods its conclusion is quite cool, and same can be said of 2. So exciting for the EP/LP they preface, but in and of itself as a record this is a bit strange. 3.1
JOFI Lafcádio3.0
Sput-made ambient with an increasingly organic instrumental sound and decreasing electronicness to it. Album has nice textures throughout, but the second half feels more complete due to richer composition and shift in instrumentation than the first one. So track 3, 4, 5 are faves here. 3.1
Borvlt Under The Green Shades4.0
Really nice sput-made drone/dark ambient with rich textures. Not too long and very nicely produced. Solid work that really has an atmosphere to it. 4.0
Hatchie Keepsake3.5
Kinda nice dreamy pop. I liked the catchier tunes, 1, 4 and 9 being solid jams. The rest was nice
but forgettable. No really poor track and no annoying moment. It's a nice debut but nothing mind
blowing. 3.3
The Callous Daoboys Die on Mars3.5
These guys constantly switch between competent TDEP worship that I obviously like, truly great stuff, and excessively quirky weirdcore. I think I am slightly put off by the short track lengths and the constant changes in style. A band like TDEP does it a lot less frequently, whereas here there is little time for a sense of coherence to arise before it is shattered again. 1 is an excellent of these folks' greatness, starting off TDEPey but then completely surprising me about midtrack with marimba-esque stuff, strings and soft vocals. 2 exemplifies a bit more of the weird for the sake of being weird side, while 3 is a good simpler fast riffy track, and so is the perhaps even better 4. 5-6 are okay but I found them less convincing. I was getting a bit tired already if I'm honest. 8 feels contrived, TDEP with a whole lot too much of those strident sweepy Daughters sounds, and the transition into 9 is awful as it almost sounds like a different band made its way in bcs you had shuffle on. The track does get pretty cool, and so does 10, but by then it's been enough you know and it gets too much eventually. I appreciated seeing 11 as a conclusion track here. I don't know how to rate this, there is obvious quality but I struggle to get into the record on the whole. And it's only 34 min long like. 3.65
Black Midi Schlagenheim3.5
Sweet experimental post-punk ish record, but didn't impress me too crazily. Tbf I was
interrupted in the middle and I was expecting something harsher so I will have to give it a
second chance anyway. Lots of peeps seem to have an issue with the vox but I found them
nice and fitting. The middle of the record was best, with 4's cool explosion, 5 being a jam
with a bouncy midtrack and the record's general experimental approach paying off the most,
and 6 boasting a cool post-punk atmosphere with electronic bits and lost of jammy bits,
especially the second half - although it's a shame it ends on a fadeout. The rest of the
record after that is cool rock-ish post-punk with a lot of bounce. 8 goes aggressively
crazy in a The Body sort of way, but the end of 9 is less successful at the craziness and
the bulk of the track doesn't work too well either despite the fun bounce initially. The
early record reminded me more of 90s bands like Slint and Unwound, and 1-3 are all quite
cool and boast fun experimentation. But overall I'm still only half convinced by this 3.6
Mc Tha Rito de Passá3.5
Brazilian pop-ish stuff. The songs are fun but I am not a fan of her voice. She seems shy, apathetic, or restrained in a lot of places. This did seem like it improved through the album, not sure if it actually gets better or if I just got used to it? 1-2 are kinda weird and weren't too much my vibe, 3-5 are fun songs but again I thought the vox wasn't the greatest - 3 is kinda dancey for example, but the voice takes away a lot of the energy -, but starting from 6 her voice does get better and the song is fun. The songs feel a good length and the record doesn't make the mistake of being too long. The vocal notes on 7 felt kinda weird, I'm not sure if it's just my uneducated occidental ears failing me but it all just seem odd. 8's alright. 9 is one of the songs where her voice works the best and is a kinda badass track, really cool, and might have been a better closer than 10 which boasts great ideas but is very erratic and doesn't feel like a fantastic track overall. Nice, I might have to watch what she releases in the future. 3.3
State Faults Clairvoyant4.0
The first half of this up to track 7 or so is incredible, about a 4.35 and clearly a potential grower. The music is brutal, intelligent, changes pace all the time and is just a chaotic delight to hear. Drums are incredible, and I finally love the vocals with those more aggressive instrumentals behind them .Track 4 is my tentative favourite of the album, but 1-6 are absolute jams bar some sections of 3. The t/t is a turning point and is much slower and doomier than the rest. It's not quite my favourite, but also it brings a bit of freshness mid-record, and in the context of making a grand album and not just a great album I think it fits really well. The run from 7-11 has more ups and downs, whereas the first half was all ups. Highlights are the brutal last third of 9, and the melody on 9. 11 is a jam and graciously comes back to the sound of the first half. I feel diced about rating this in 4.5 range, but also I've grown more cautious about what I 4.5 since I 4.3'd Nuvolascura. Clairvoyant feels superior, so I guess I'll have to rejam both. I still think this is fantastic and a grower, so it'll tentatively reach a 4.25rEdit: it has bursts of 5 genius but it doesn't quite manage to maintain it all the way and the second half falls off a tad, 4.2
cordless All Your Faces/ Left3.5
Hey this isn't actually half bad, although no clue why they are tagged nightmare pop. This is dreamy and not nightmarish in the slightest. Track 1 is fun dream pop, while 2 takes more of an electronica turn with fun percussive sound but a weaker track overall bumping this down a point. I really dug the vox in 1, and the grittier finale on 2. Convinced me to check their EP at least. 3.3
Far Caspian The Heights3.5
The punchier tracks (1 especially,4) are pretty fun and would work as road trip soundtrack. The slower, less catchy tracks are well crafted, but a bit flat and forgettable for me. 3 does stand out a bit with its use of synths, but yeah. I don't see a reason to rate it any differently from EP1, though it feels like overrating a bit. 3.4
Burial Claustro/State Forest3.0
Meeeeh. Track 1 is in classic Burial style and got me hopeful for the first 10 seconds, except it
is done poorly and never reaches the subtlety of the Untrue days primarily owing to overwhelming
and annoying vocals repeated way too many times. 2.2 range. Track 2 on the other hand is a
wonderful electronic ambient track that I'll definitely re-listen to in the 4 rating range. So
overall I guess this is a 3.2
HLLW Bølge3.0
This isn't particularly groundbreaking or memorable, but it reaffirms MORK as a dub techno label you should keep an eye out for. Quality little EP that never sounds quite amazing, but is also consistently good. 2-3 are a little bouncier than the dreamy 1, and 3 feels slightly superior and a bit like a jam. Unfortunately, 4 is a bit weaker with an awkward beat and general lack of energy, thankfully it is the shortest track here but it takes the record down the couple points 3 had earned it. 3.0
Rachel Chinouriri Mama's Boy4.0
If you like Lianne La Havas, you HAVE to jam this. This is why you should always check out first acts folks. A collection of tightly crafted, catchy neo-soul infused tunes. The prod under serves them a bit and feels somewhat hollow. They'd maybe need to sound fuller to achieve banger status, but every track is excellent nonetheless. 1 is very Liannesque and quite a jammy banger track, 2 is more intimate and subtle with a super chill beat again, 3 is funky and groovy as hell and is again a jam, 4 is more dubsteppy and a bit Ratatat-esque I'd say. 5 is an acoustic version of 3, but I think it concludes the EP extremely well, especially because 4 while a good track would not have offered the best conclusion. Sweet, sweet debut EP. Check this out people! 4.1
Lala &ce Le Son D'Apres3.5
Starts off very nicely, and has a specific atmosphere to it which is great, but falters a bit over time and feels a bit flat towards the end. Still shows great promise and I'll be following her stuff - checked this because I liked her feat on Freeze's Vol.2 album. I like the opener and its tired delivery, and I dig 2 too in its female Booba style of sorts? Kinda jammy. 3 is fine and has more of a soft club vibe to it owing to its reggaeton-esque rhythm. 4 takes a bit more of an emotive style and has some cool bits but feels a bit much. 5 and 6 feel more skippable, 5 being on the abrasive side, and 6 just feeling plain awkward. As you can tell this marks my rating dipping a bit, as the albums struggles to bring it back up thereafter. 7 is cool with the nocturnal style of the early album but with a male guest vox, and it turns super cool once Lala comes in. 8 has a club vibe again but less subdued and is kinda cool. 9-11 feel 'alright' you know, although I dig the cloudiness of 11. 12 is fatter and a bit meh tbh. I was hesitant between a 3.2 and 3.3, and the closer made me decide 3.2, but re-listening to the early record while writing I now feel like a 3.25
Sundrugs Light Paints a Way2.5
This album gives a perfect example of why having too much going on at once can break ambient-related music by not allowing atmosphere to set in. This is my comment for the bulk of the record, some sections are nice, some sounds are really cool, but structurally the tracks just feel febrile and too eager to move on to the next sound. So it doesn't work. The opener starts off nice and gritty to morph into some kinda psychedelic synth stuff, and it is pretty nice. 2 has nice synths again, but starts the record's aforementioned main problem. 3 and a lot of the ensuing tracks feel a lot like some kind of OST that would be nice in a movie but not so much on its own. 9 is more focused but is a bit forgettable. The three piano pieces are quite nice, not so much the first but the second and especially the third (10) with its degrading reverberations in the background - the best track on the record, kinda jammy. The closer relies on a lot of field recording and is a nice way to wrap up the album, it is simpler, more bare bones, and works well because of that. There is just a lot more exciting stuff in this guy's discog. 2.7
Zake Orchestral Tape Studies3.5
Four ambient pieces that flow quite well with one another. 1 is a bit noisier than the
rest, and while I usually enjoy that, here once it transitions into the cleaner, pristine 2
it immediately feels like an improvement. 2 is really sweet and peaceful, a stripped down
version of AWFTS in a way. 3 is more of the same but between 1 and 2 in terms of impact. 4
is a bit different, with very emotional strings and very sad vibes compared to the zen that
came before it. Evokes those sad post-rock violins but without the post-rock. Truly
gorgeous as a soundtrack to a loved one leaving or dying or something. Unfortunately I wish
the field recordings were better used; while in the bulk of the piece they're nice and add
texture, in the intro and outro they feel misplaced. Still a sweet 3.65
Spieglass Patience3.5
I really dug the intro on this and the first two tracks in general. Gorgeous, multilayered ambient/post-rock based ambient, lovely and meditative stuff. Well done Josh D. This lost me a bit at track 3: the track's simpler nature, as essentially one long guitar piece fed through an fx chain felt a little more generic and far more like a dude jamming in his room you know, whereas the multi-texturality of the prior two pieces packed a lot more punch imo. Now I say this but track 5 does the same thing yet sounded a lot fuller than 3 so what do I know. Maybe 4 helped a little by going back to the pre-3 style, although it didn't quite get me back into the record and has hardly any conclusion to it. Now 6 did lose a couple points for me, as it ruptures a lot with the rest of the record in terms of mood with a much jollier, more orchestral sound that evoked pirate movies to me for some reason. And the transition into 7 reinforced this impression of lacking cohesiveness, although the track itself is pretty and boasts a lot of welcome layers with drums, and orchestral strings whose melody sounds a bit like Enrique's Te Amo (auditory hallucination probably). A more cohesive version of this with tracks flowing well into each other like 1-2 could easily get a 4.0 out of me, but for now this is a 3.65
Andavald Undir Skyggðarhaldi4.0
Absolutely amazing black metal. Would be in 4.5 range if it weren't for the vocals which I found
frankly quite horrendous most of the time. It is one thing to sound inhuman and despaired, it's
another to sound like field recording of evil sick burping babies. The instrumentals on the other
hand are out of this world and make every single track a jam. I love the unique gnarly,
aggressive, noisy, droney almost tone the band creates. It has horror and bleak feels, but also a
sort of emo feel at times - not sound, juts the emotion of it. An instrumental version of this
would nearly be a potential classic - the record is extremely strong, cohesive and unique, not
too long to bore but long enough to thoroughly entertain. 4.22
Darkthrone Old Star3.0
I got excited at the beginning - this is one of the best tones DT has exhibited in a fair few albums. 2 also has some really fun bits. 3 slows things down, and frankly from there on the album just goes on a downward trend with the occasional spark - it all blurred into one for me and the last track especially dropped it well below the 3.5 bar. Fine, but I didn't click with it. 3.15
Denzel Curry Zuu3.5
His most straightforward album - standard Denzel track after standard Denzel track. The middle of the album especially 4-6 is the strongest part, with 5 being a jam and the other two being not far behind with their horror feel. The rest did not impress me as much - some tracks or vocals are cool, but there is always an element (sample or vocal guest) disrupting the track. 3.4
Desolate Moon Phases Heathenstones3.5
Nice synthy droney dark ambient. Tracks 1-3 and the closer are jams. The opener is wonderfully
ominous with choir vocals drowned in reverb and overlaid atop droney goodness. 2 and 3 drop the
choir textures and offer great desolate synthy dronebient. However the whole run from track 4-8
drops significantly in quality (5 is quite ok). The background synths start to bore ya after a
while, and the additional textures are more and more clumsily integrated, making the track pieces
feel like they don't fit together. The closer picks it up again and drops the unnecessary
textures for a more consistent, nice and desolate synthy ambient drone track. 3.65
Slift 2016 : Spacetrip for Everyone3.0
Very much (and expectedly) demo material that just happened to be released three years after being recorded, with corresponding quality and lack thereof. Here we see the band jamming out and displaying a lot of their sound already, but with a lot less craziness than their better stuff, and running a bit in circles with a lot of the ideas being stretched out for - it feels like - the whole EP. It's a listen that passes more than it impresses. The slightly obnoxious shredding in parts of 2 prevents this from reaching 3.5 tier and it sits at a mild 'okay cool but I'm very unlikely to ever jam this again though I wouldn'tt mind' 3.2
Windows Life Knocked Me3.5
The highs are less high, but the lows are less low. I don't count the two remixes here. First track is the strongest with its nice house vibes over an interesting beat, yielding something Tycho would have liked to make. The early second track slows things down a bit and dips in energy at an imo inappropriate time. But at 3:30 it transitions very nicely into a different vibe entirely, very elegant and aerial, and I dug that a bunch too. 3.6
Misthyrming Algleymi3.0
I quite disliked two thirds of this, but the last third is cool. I had a hard time with the vox, but that's not the only problem. 1-3 have cool intros, but the tracks develop into things I don't like too much, with gimmicky bits and solos, and by the end of 3 I was already bored. The album almost feels like (but doesn't sound like) power metal in places. 4 has a nice ambient feel, but then evolves melodically into boring power metal territory before ending on a fade out. 5 transitions awfully and 5-6 are just boring, although nicely hell-sounding. 6-8 are much better than the rest and show that the band can be successful with this style. The midtrack on 7 feels like cool black'n'roll. 8 is nice and melodic, quite rich, and has a cool album outro. If it were instrumental, it might be a jam. Overall this is maybe a 3.0
Gallery Six Gentle Scars3.5
Standard stuff from Gallery Six. Lovely droney ambient field recording, but quite generic from him - nothing to make it stand out in a good or in a bad way. Still a good jam. 3.6
Ann Annie Wander Into3.5
Nice ambient-ish stuff, that ranges from chihei hatakeyama synth + piano soft b a t h for the mind (like on 1), to beep boops (4) sometimes a la Knobs maybe such as the more guitar heavy 5 that I quite like. It's nice to play in the back, but it has too much beep boop to be my favorite album in the genre. 3.4
Glass Beach The First Glass Beach Album3.5
Lovely diverse and creative debut with lots and lots of high points and good ideas, but that hardly ever manages to sustain them for more than three minutes without something coming up to ruin the party. The vox often sounds naive and can be annoying. The record mixes a lot of stuff whilst remaining somewhat cohesive which is good to see, but I won't attempt to really describe it. 1 is kinda cute once the drums kick in but eh, 3 is a lovely interlude, 5 is a cool indie rock jam, 6 is kinda bouncy and Speed of Sound in Seawater-esque, 7 is a cool glitchy interlude, on 8 they go more aggressive which is cool at first but quickly gets annoying, 10's first half is kind of a jam with a lovely tone but the track goes to crap in its second part, 11 is sweet, 12's intro is a jam with a bouncy bass bu the vox ruins the bulk of the track. 14 is bouncy and cute, and would have been a better finale than 15 - although I commend the intent to have a proper finale. I'd love to see this played live. I'll come back to bits of this, but the album can't reach the ranks of favourite. 3.65
Full of Hell Weeping Choir3.5
I don't see how this is their best effort yet by any stretch. Sure, it does rally up a lot of their influences and shows perhaps their best bm side to this point like on 5. But first of all the shrieked vocals don't always succeed and are often not great like on 1 or 2 (where the instrumental is balls but the singer sounds like an angry cat), and their absence often helps, 3 feeling the best of the opening triad for that sole reason (well I guess also the riffs rip ahrd). 4 follows up with some noise sutff which I always like. 7 is perhaps the peak of the album, mostly sludgy, ending on a calm last third before a bm finale - showing once again that the band has heaps of potential. But it doesn't realise it quite, the album feeling erratic and not even succeeding at grindcore/sludge in places. 10 is a great example as it is followed by 11 which is far more successful in the same style, although the album conclusion is frankly laughable. 8 does it well too and has cool deep guttural voice, but also shows gimmicky traits here and there. On 9 the samples and noise parts are the greatest appeal. Idk man this is a fine effort but it feels like it mixes the best of their last two records with the erratic flaws of their debut. This isn't their magnum opus yet - or so I hope. 3.65
Carly Rae Jepsen Dedicated3.5
Continuing the explorations seen on Emotions Side B, the early record is full of ideas but consistently seems to fall flat and often fails to feel either catchy, bouncy, sexy, or whatever else pop can be. She is obviously having fun, experimenting and maturing from the naive teenager pop to blend in more of a personality which is nice to see, but execution isn't always perfect. The songs are all very short, which is good on poor tracks but also makes the good tracks feel like they just slip by. The opener overextends a bit but is a nice track. 3 is a nice champagne pool party track and is kinda jammy tbh. 6 really shows what I mean by the record struggling to resonate with me. 8 has nice RnB track but the chorus is a bit eh. 9 has a lovely piano loop but I felt it'd be better used on a different kind of album - it works though. By 10 my rating was going to be something like 2.9, but 11-15 really take it up a notch. Carly goes back to more straightforward synthy summer pop, but without fully abandoning the ideas of the first two thirds of the record, and it just works better. 11-12 and 14 are very cool, and 13 is a kinda basic summer jam. 15 does fall a bit flat like the early record, but works well as an end of the movie/credits type of album closer and warrants this the last point it needed. Will have to re-listen to see if I prefer this or Emotion. 3.3
Erika de Casier Essentials4.0
Super fun, sexy and cozy album that would be perfect for a night car ride back home. The
run from 1-7 is pretty much flawless with every track being successful. The record
navigates many genres and influences (trip-hop, RnB, female The Weekend, Sade) and often
calls back to 90's and 00's music without it being gimmicky. The clearest jam and perhaps
most interesting track is the opener, but really all the other tracks are really sweet -
just wish 7 didn't sample that iPhone screenshot sound though. 8 is the first weak track
with a somewhat silly beginning and not much else to it. 9 and 10 are nice in a vacuum but
fail to bring you back into the album. Makes you wish the album was a shorter EP and brings
it down a point. Thankfully 11 picks it up in the home stretch and closes the album nicely.
The remix doesn't really count but actually fits surprisingly well as a soft jungle take on
5, could very well be an original track. Overall 4.0
Edit: a bit underserved by lyrics in places, but still lovely and night time sensual.
Jammest jams are 1, 4-7, 11 sorta. Still 4.0
Sabbra The Sun​,​The Moon​,​The Stars2.5
This is interesting and makes me want to follow their future output. Nice riffage and textures. For the moment though, this is so short it does not have much value as an album. It is barely long enough to be a single song, so there is no time to set a real atmosphere or a personality. Will follow what they come up with next. 2.6
Borvlt The Light Shines Through3.5
Nice sput made droney ambient with some sweet textures. Prod makes it not fill the ears as much as I'd like, but still a good jam. 3.6
uchu nekoko Kimi No Youni Ikiretara3.5
More in line with what I was expecting from the first EP - I don't know what the story behind that second EP is but I am happy it happened in between these two dream pop/gaze ventures. 1 starts off on a nice but just nice distorted track. The distortion won't come back before 5, but that's fine because I tend to much prefer their softer tracks. 2 is indeed really sweet, soft and cuddly, and 3 even more so, making it a seaside afternoon jam. Really lovely. 4 is still soft but with a much darker and sadder vibe. It's fine and I appreciate the venture but 3 left me wishing for more s o f t n e s s. 6 is yet another nice soft song, but 7 is a bit of a letdown with a pretty boring piano ballad over vinyl crackle samples. Drops this half a point maybe to a uugh idk 3.3
Defeater Defeater3.0
@dedex wheeee that track selection
First half is frankly boring. I don't know if it is due to the odd prod and mixing on the
vocals
or if he genuinely does not sing as passionately but singer almost sounds bored himself.
The
second half is a lot better and has all the tracks that grabbed my attention (All Roads,
Dealer/Debtor, No Guilt, No Man Born Evil). I might re-listen to those once or twice but
that's
about it. 3.1
Mellow Gang Adjourn4.0
On the EP they felt like a cool opening act; here they feel like the main band. They progressed by a mile and that is really nice to see. The songs are rich, dynamic and varied, and the record is full of colour. This is clear from the opener right away with its superb vox and layering. The rhythm section is also on point with a lot of fun drumming and tasty bass. I enjoyed the synths on 3 a lot. 5 shakes things up with male voices a little, and while I do slightly prefer the female vox this is a nice change and shows they thought about this well. The track conclusion is dope too. 7 is super chill and I generally like their guitar tones a lot. The closer shows lovely guitar tones too, and inbetween 8 offers short interlude that changes up the atmosphere again with its dark undertones. The good album conclusion bumps this the half point it needed to be a 4.0
Fetid Steeping Corporeal Mess3.0
Cute death metal album. Vocals are good, guttural and deep without being gimmicky, but the instrumentals feel a bit outdated and dorky. Nothing too bad but also not an evolution from 90's dm - of which there were better albums, you know, in the 90's. Intro to the closer stands out, with nice electronic synth textures that are a pleasant surprise before going back to dm as in the rest of the album. Closer is the best track in fact. 3.2
The Peter Franks Group Elements3.0
Nice soulsey abstract hip hop instrumentals of sorts. Never hugely compelling, but an enjoyable listen. 1 has nice percussions and evolves quite nicely with strings etc, while 2 has really cool DJ Shadowesque drums, but on both the keys feel a bit too simplistic and repetitive for a standalone track (as opposed to a beat for vocals to be added to). 3 strips away pretty much all of the neosoul/hip hop dna and is just a sadder, piano led track which is quite pretty. 4 maintains this sadder vibe but brings the drums back and is probably the nicest track of the bunch. 2.8
Le Grand Plastic Jazz2.5
I thought I was not going to like this, but actually the first track and a half are quite jammy and groovy. After that it all goes downhill, more wankery, more gimmicky, more annoying, and less catchy, down to the last two tracks which sound half the time like some obnoxious guitar cover of a Super Mario Bros track, and half the time like bad Chon with uninspired tone. Meh. Would be in the 2 range if it weren't for the opener. 2.4
Saif Streets Ain't Saif3.5
Nice South African trap/rap, but nothing majorly fantastic. Delivery wise she reminds of an r-rolling non annoying Cardi B, especially on track 4 which could fit right into Cardi's discog but just is better. Kinda cool but not a jam. 5 is quite boring after that. 1 has ethereal prod and I wouldn't have expected it to work with Saif's delivery but it actually does, the track is nice. I love the ambient prod on 2, quite inspiring, but there the vox doesn't work at all and feels out of context. I do dig the chorus though. 3 is cloudier and dreamier, nice but not fantastic. 3.4
Still Woozy Lately4.0
Fun RnB/psych infused alt pop for summery laziness. The bubbly 3 and 4 are probably the dreamiest and most relaxed, while 1 and 5 offer some tasty groove. 2 felt a bit weaker and skippable but is still nice, for an overall strong EP. 1 and 3 would probably be the strongest jams? 3.75
Old Sorcery Strange and Eternal3.5
Lovely DS again from Old Sorcery, but I didn't feel it was quite as good as the first LP. 1 is lovely DS with many different vibes that nicely transition into each other. Literally the album cover in music. 2 I'm not as much a fan of, feels more gimmicky. 3 is my fav here and a solid DS jam, with a lovely mysterious forest atmosphere. Really tasty textures. 4 sounds a bit like a glorified snes soundtrack which isn't my cuppa, and 5 is ok but not fantastic. The vocals didn't convince me much but by the 11th minute they had grown on me and I ended up digging em, nice complement to the music. I dig the synthy track ending, and the addition of a distinct album ending is nice too. 3.7
Cuzco Sketchbook4.0
This is really pretty math-rock. In every way the direct follow-up to their first EP: Clever Girly production and instrumentation, chill vibes, no guitar neck wanking for the sake of it, but beautiful melodies instead. There is something nostalgic and soothing about it - what math-rock from your childhood would sound like. For some reason evoked math-rock EitS to me. Needs a re-listen. 3.8
Nails I Don't Want to Know You2.5
First track is Nails doing Nails, second track is an extended version of a basic breakdown from a metalcore song from my teens, making up three quarters of this record. Art is dope, but otherwise there's no reason to get this really. 2.3
Weyes Blood Titanic Rising3.0
This is nice and pretty pop. What Lana Del Rey could have been. Still did not really resonate with me though. 3.1
Nico Georis Shirley Shirley Shirley!2.5
While I enjoy the idea of this with the MIDI Sprout and all, I found the album felt too constrained by its own concept. It often feels like someone simply fed a noise+ S&H circuit into a sequencer into a synth, resulting in random bleep bloops without much more to it. That the randomness comes from a plant instead of a noise source makes it cool but not any more musically interesting in my eyes. Track 3 or 10 are symptomatic of the aspects I don't like in this. Some tracks do create more of an atmosphere - 5 is really nice and what I was hoping to find here, 7 is too but overextends a fair bit, and 11 is kinda nice. But for the rest, and as much fun as it must have been to make, I don't find this to be very compelling. 2.3
Blood Spore Fungal Warfare Upon All Life2.5
This has some good riffs here and there but come on guys it isn't all that great. Even though the bm vocals are good the instrumentals feel clunky and clumsy. It sounds like a demo with the production but not the compositional qualities of a full release. 2.7
UVB The Power of Saying No3.0
Crushing ravey techno, but quite poorly executed. IHM does it miles better. There are good hooks in this and the drums are generally good, harsh and bouncy, but there is always a sound or two that just sounds odd or out of place and ruins the dark mood of the track. Ok, but not great. 2.9
Billie Eilish When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?3.0
Lyrics notwithstanding, the album's biggest fault is to preface itself with two of its danciest, bangerest tracks which sets us to expect a pop album where in fact this is mostly low energy and quite subdued. Indeed after the ultra(over?)famous 2 and the actually really cool distorted halloween vibes from 3 ending on a soft piano, there is little in the way of hooks or energy. 4 is quite nice with her voice but the woob woob is a bit dumb, 5 is an upper okay cute track with great grain in the voice, the intro on 6 is very zzz which the beat coming later struggles to counteract, and 7 is an alright pretty ballad but that is just misplaced energy wise. Whilst the baby voice us a bit annoying, 8 is the first track that distinguishes itself a bit more, but it evolves into an alright relax track that isnt what the album needed. 9 despite its The Office samples finally stands above hte rest (whilst not being a jam) and brings back some energy, which 10 keeps up with its Banks' III-esque aesthetic. 11 works well with the artwork and it again has more meat and recognisable stuff to it. Then 12 is a not bad but again misplaced piano ballad, and 13 is a trakc I could have loved elswhere but is again too calm here. Melody reminds me of Zelda and also Hallelujah in places and the vocal prod is interesting and subtle. I think 14 is a very neat way to conclude and I like that there is a conclusion track to speak of at all, let alone a good one. 3.3
Billy Woods and Kenny Segal Hiding Places3.5
This is cool and worthy of praise, but as a whole it failed to fully convince me - especially the
second half. Love the explorations, the work on the beats, and the delivery in general function
wells with them. I like the destructive tape loop feel of the prod in places, it's quite faint
but may be a cool thing to explore. 8 is a good example, although delivery is a bit odd at times
there. 1-5 are jams especially the latter 3. 4 especially is extremely 2010 beats tape sounding,
which is super cool. 5 explores a different direction which is nice, although it does not succeed
as well with the delivery. 6 is bleh but at the end there is a mini trip hoppy track that adds
variety and is much welcome. After that every track is bleh to ok, nothing fully bad but few
sections where it all works. Prod is really great in places, some sections of 11 for instance,
but I also hated it in other sections of the same songs. The monotonous delivery starts to get
annoying towards the end, and 12 is a bit poussive. Good, but not amazing imo. 3.5
Brutus (BE) Nest4.0
I was not quite convinced at first, and the first half of the album is a 3.8 reiteration of their first album that just charmed me far less. However, starting from 'War', the record lines up fantastic track after fantastic track, with lots of great ideas, cool riffs and drumming, and more post-rock influences. Second half is a 4.2, for an overall 4.0
LEEBADA THE OCEAN4.0
Normally I tend to distrust single high ratings on albums, but this is Abe we're talking about and he found a super fun little gem here. This is an album that should appeal to all amateurs of late 2010s/2020s pop and RnB, not just k-core fans, as it is full of colour, hooks and energy, without falling in the trap of being exuberant. In fact the sound is for the most part relatively subdued for something this groovy - where others would have added disco sound effects, huge string pads etc, this one keeps things relatively simple, making for a lovely aesthetic. The jazzy additions here and there add to the overall feeling of urban elegance. 6 vaguely but 7 especially break off from this a bit with sadder, piano led vibes that were ok but not as fun. I was a bit worried that the album wouldn't find its earlier heights again, but after the more trap infused 8 (perhaps less fun but definitely still an efficient track), the record lines up jam after jam with relaxed and catchy tunes, with the only real gripe being that instead of finishing on a jam with 12, 13 is fun and brings back the trap vibes again plus some guest male vocals, which works, but really not as well as 12 would have been as a conclusion. Still lots of highlights that I'm not going to list, because this one is staying in my library for more listens anyway. 4.05
Koffee Rapture3.0
What one would imagine reggae in 2019 would sound like. Vague trap influences, very clean production. Track 1 is a jam, track 2 and 5 are ok, 4 is meh and 3 is just annoying. She has potential but the songwriting isn't quite there yet. At least it has cool vibes. 3.2
Stephen Taranto Permanence3.0
CHON if it was played on TDEP levels of chaos with black metal tempo and a djenty sound base. With its constant changes of riffage and rhythm signature literally every second, with instruments coming in and out at all times, and with incessant (but sometimes cool) Rings of Saturn-esque ultrafast arpeggios, this sounds like your brain on triple caffeine. And in fact this is the main interest I see to the EP: I sure would like stuff like this to jam when working at 4am and absolutely needing to stay awake somehow. But musically, although the technicity is beyond belief, as ever with this type of stuff I struggle to connect and see a real appeal to the ultra shreddiness. This is not your basicest shred though. There are lots of synths, which I don't really like here as they give a Joy of Motion overelectronic feel, and very occasional piano or marimbaesque Tortoisey percussions which are really cool when they come in, e.g. in the beautiful intro to 4 before it turns to cringe. The riff at 2:40 is sorta cool. Apart from that the best bit was the third quarter of 2 which is quite good, and the rare calmer moments e.g. on 3. I guess the riff midtrack is headbangy and cool ,though very cliche in a AI-generated djent/Tesseract kind of way. My rating went down quickly with time, but thankfully this is quite short. 2.8
Alexia Avina All That I Can't See3.5
More consistent and coherent than LP1, but also falters down halfway through, which on a 24min record is quite a problem. 1-3 is far more ambient than LP1 and is to me the highlight of the record as it transitions very well. 4 is more folk, on the simpler side of ichikore aoba, remaining cool but without being stunnning. 5 really is the weak point here as a kinda lame folk track, and although 6 is more ambient and ichikoesque again I doesn't manage to make up for 5 before 7 comes to raise the interest a bit. 3.55
Ronin Arkestra First Meeting3.5
Ok modern jazz. Some hip-hop beats/rhythms in scarce places. Fairly generic and not super memorable. 3.6
Danny Ocean 54+13.5
My expectations were very, very low - was expecting a bad reggaeton album with the one guilty
pleasure song, Me Rehuso. The album is actually pretty solid and consistent, with diverse
instrumentation and smooth mood shifts - it does not have just radio banger wannabees. Some track
have kind of a vintage feel - 2 or 4 for instance. Does not have too much autotune and whatnot,
although you gotta get past the 'niais' feel of most vocals here. No bad out of place guest feats
either. Opener is sexy but kinda fragile, 1-4 and 10 are jams. 7-9 are kinda nice. 6,11, and 13
are merf, either too niaises or too generic. 5 and 12 are the only unpleasant tracks here, which
was a surprise. Idk man my rating is probably biased because I was expecting an annoying record,
but it's actually pretty good. 3.55
American Football American Football (LP3)4.0
This is a great album by American Football. Not diverging much from their previous two albums but I like the use of keys on this as well as some of the guest vocals. Very relaxing and soothing with beautiful melodies, but nothing quite as catchy and memorable as their first LP. Will still re-listen to this for sure, but the first thing I did after finishing it was jamming Never Meant. 4.1
Dis Fig Purge3.5
Deliciously bizarre record with a mishmash of noises, screams, weird vocals, and weird sounds. While I usually don't enjoy such collage albums very much, here it manages to craft a deranged, crazy bad dream atmosphere that I really enjoyed. 2 is just a touch too long, but 3 perfectly illustrates that deranged bad dream atmosphere. 4 was my least favourite track, going away from the mentally deranged to the slightly annoying side of weirdcore. Thankfully it was follow by my fave track, 5, a mentally insane jam that makes me want to see her play live. From 6 onwards the record structures itself a little bit more, which shifts the atmosphere slightly but also shows variety and good construction. 6-8 are calmer, closer to ambient, and 8 is especially chill with a minimal mix of simple ambient and reverberated vocals that aren't crazily distorted and whatnot like they were in the early record. The closer is a textbook drone track but a quite nice one at that. Worth a check, and definitely worth checking her future output. 3.65
Ana Roxanne ~​~​~3.5
Nice tape with good potential making for an artist to watch. I do wish the tracks better flowed into one another, this very much feels like a compilation tape. But the ethereal vocal ambient jams 1 and particularly 4 are quite lovely and sublime, evocative of the lushest, warmest and softest Grouper tracks. 3 is more synth base with some noise textures and is very nice too, but I did find 2 to be quite disruptive with its bleeps and bloops. 5 mixes the vocal and synthy aspects for a quite nice albeit slightly more amateur feeling result. 6 is mostly field recordings, and feels like it'd fit much more in a longer album than here where it only serves to weirdly prolong the tape. I'll be checking out her future stuff because this could get really nice. 3.3
Internazionale Avatar in Life2.0
Nice attempt at varying styles, but honestly it doesn't work. The first four tracks - and to a lesser extent, the whole of the record - are so incoherent and have so many random sound samples and out of place textures - really odd ones in places - that I genuinely looked to see if I didn't have a tab playing some sound in the background over the music. But no I didn't, the music is just like that. Track 8 is a nice example of trying to overlay drone/ambient stuff over a beat and failing at it. While the concept sounds great, the execution does not live up to it at all. The closing track is quite nice ambient, but that's about the only thing I kinda dug on this. 2.2
Teik Aro Acid Resurrection2.5
It does what it says on the tin: it's acid techno. It worked for the purpose I gave it
(late night work), and it isn't bad by any means, but it is really the recipe applied to
the T and that's pretty much it. The tracks are of decreasing quality, but 1 is kinda nice
actually. I don't know much acid techno but I'm sure there's better stuff out there - some
bits are cool and would spice up a set nicely though I guess. 2.6
standards Friends2.5
Quality, but really generic tappy noodly math-rock. Not much I'll remember. 2.6
William Basinski On Time Out of Time3.0
Jamming to see if I want to see this played live, and I might but not if it's a huge hassle. The central piece is nice bare bones soft drone texturation with just enough variability to not bore yet without being bleep bloopey - Willy knows what he's doing. The track is quite nice and evolving, and often evokes a dronier, less analogue synth Steve Roach. By 20 minutes though, I felt like it was time to either stop or bring more variation. Variety does come in at min 24 but without quite working. Thereafter the track is still sweet in a vacuum but just feels protracted for way too long, and it was never that jammy anyway just merely nice. It gets really Steve Roachy near the end before ending on a slow, protracted fade out - really meh there. I was kinda going to rate this low after that, but thankfully the second track is much nicer with very nice aquatic textures, and has the intelligence to keep it short, thereby bumping this a little. 3.1
Holding Absence Holding Absence3.5
First track is a fantastic jam, but after that the vocals grow rapidly annoying as f*ck when they
go all lyrical and grand. In that regard reminded me a lot of Tesseract. Album is full of good
ideas, but in nearly each song there is also an equal amount of annoying sh*te. Track 7 for
example has a nice verse but an annoying chorus. Album is quite diverse, super melodic
metalcore/post-hardcore with post-rocky guitars at times, lots of ambient textures in the
background, and a nice piano interlude on track 10. But naive and urgh tracks like 5 and 6 bring
it down a lot, so it's a shame. Too much vocalising. Overall 3.4
Ximena Sarinana ¿Dónde Bailarán las Niñas?2.5
Sorry Xi but after this and 'Mediocre' I can't get myself to jam the rest of yar discog. This is also mild, inoffensive and generic pop, but on the latin side of pop. Track 1 is a jam and made me want to spin her music in the first place. Track 3 is inoffensive latin stuff but kind of a beach jam? Track 2 is representative of the rest of the album and is ok but so inoffensive, background chill pop. The rest is also boringly ok, with a couple urgh track (4,9,10). Her voice is more artificially produced and generic, but still sounds flat across tracks. Track 9 and 10 attempt to diversify the sound with some mellow piano but it's just failed. 2.25
H A S T Elegy3.5
"Experimental" jazz band from BE? Count me in. This is very much a band that is looking for its own direction, finds it, loses it, and finds it again. The sequencing feels a bit chaotic. The opening trilogy is very well constructed, a dissonant blend of jazz and rock guitars that slowly descends into softness track by track up to the point of morphing into ambient on 3, only picking back up with a gentle inquisitive melody at 1:30. 4 is perhaps my favourite dig with Gallery Six -esque sound collages atop pretty guitar for a lovely ambient track. They should have cut it and made it an EP at this point, because the issues start here. The transition into the jazzy 5 is a awkward, although the reprise thereafter is nice and gentle, only to be abruptly broken by the abrasive rock intro to 6. I feel like the transition works surprisingly ok, but the song doesn't unfold well at all. 1 is in fact the only example of the band using distorted guitars which I liked. 7 feels pointless and like it just breaks the dynamics. I like avant garde bruitiste stuff but this is not where it belongs at all. 8 starts very well with more pretty ambient guitar, but then they start distorting and soloing over a background of nice ambient jazz, which is incongruous and just doesn't work. 9 is pretty guitar again to close on a somewhat ambient track. I feel like their next record, if they explore the directions they excel at, construct it better, and work on flow and transitions between tracks a little more could be really great ambient jazz. 3.3
Zwangere Guy Wie Is Guy?4.0
Really cool this one. I think it holds its 64min runtime quite well. The first act 1-9 is all quite nocturnal, dark and subtle smokey rap, from playlist material to straight up jam, and with varying degree of chillness. The only exception is the chorus on 5, which kinda breaks an otherwise really cool track for me. The more conventionally bouncy (after an epic intro sample) 10 and 11 are a bit of a transition phase, whereupon the vocals and overall atmosphere make the album start to feel a bit lengthy. The second act addresses this by varying up more in genre and bringing up more guests. It's a more arduous business to make it work, and as a result it's more of a mixed bag quality wise. 12 is a peak with its funkiness and Selah's great contribution. I like the change in atmosphere from 13, but the guest not so much. 14 is jammy in the style of the earlier album. Then 15 is the greatest example of how cool this alb's play with various languages is. Sadly, Blu and Guy's cool contrib are kind of overshadowed by the brrt brrt skrrt things and the shpongled vox in the back breaking the track. 16 goes again back to a more nocturnal style, but I'm not a fan of the francophone guest - the vlaams vocalists are better. 17 after a dramatische muziek intro is more conventional car trap, the chorus being a bit lame but the second guest cool. 18 is drilley and kinda cool, and I thought it was a good idea to end on a harder track. Then 19 hits even harder, almost to an annoying degree, but it is short so it kinda works. 3.9
Georgie Sweet Stories4.5
Nujabes meets 90's soul? Add in a touch of XXYYXX on the second track, sprinkle with Hiatus
Kaiyote vibes and you get this little gem. This is only a two-tracker but it is splendid.
Cannot wait to hear more from her/these guys (not sure if this is a multi-person band or
not). Soulful, groovy and relaxing all at the same time. 4.25
Loure Avenues3.0
This is a nice jazzy house EP. The production is good but still sounds a little bit amateur in some places - you can almost see the loop running on FL studio with some piano sampler if you've had experience with that. Probably wouldn't be able to tell listening to this where it is meant to be listened to: on a beach, in the car, at a pool party. This is a feel good record and it does feel groovy and relaxing - that's all we ask from it. Last track stands a bit above the pack, third track is the weakest in my taste. 3.2
Can Bardd The Last Rain2.0
Bleh. The medieval-sounding instrumentals are actually cool which is unexpected for me
(usually it sounds a bit funny to me), but at some point it just is too much especially
with the vocals. I don't like the harsh vocals either. Thus I either feel like I am at
the Renaissance fair or listening to cool bm with bad vocals. Either way, not so great.
2.1
Yola Walk Through Fire3.0
This isn't hugely longer than her EP, but boy did it feel a lot longer than it actually is. Where the EP surprised me by making me enjoy genres I don't usually dabble in, this one was mostly boring with scarce highlights here and there. The production and her voice are amazing, but the compositions are often extremely generic or outright funny. 1 is laughably christmassy and 2 is so goddamn cheesy that 3 is the first track that I could take seriously. 4 is really cool too and perhaps my fave on the album. 5 is laughably yee-haw, 6 and 7 are a bit boring, 8 is a super boring ballad, and 9 is another ballad but that manages to be less boring and boasts a super fun chorus that I dig. 10 has a fun start and is a nice track too, but 11 is a bore. I like what she sings on 12, and the song is nice, works well as a closer with the late brass additions, and prevents this from dropping further down because my rating went sub 3.0 about two thirds of the way in really. The two deluxe edition tracks are quite fun and worth a check but I don't include them in my rating because deluxe editions suck. 2.9
Black Matter Device Hostile Architecture3.5
Perhaps I just wasn't in the right mood for such heavy and chaotic music, but this felt like a
bit of a headache. There is a lot of craziness and violence, but not much contrast offered as you
would find in a Botch or TDEP. It's just a constant onslaught that doesn't have enough to it to
function as an onslaught only. I gotta say the Daughters influences are a little bit too clear,
especially on 2. This feeling of needlessly frantic chaos is reinforced by the very short track
length, which do at the same time help as things move along too quick to bore. The record, though
a bit insufferable early on ngl, does improve a lot as it goes. 4 has a cool end breakdown, 5 and
6 have great heavy intros, and 7 is actually damn cool. But yea on the whole this is maybe a 3.45
Royal T (US) Audacity2.5
On 1 it feels like the vocals are better than on The Secrets, but the beat is very youtubey and simplistic so the track as a whole still isn't that much of a success. On 2 I dig the organ based beat quite a lot (it evolves quite nicely too), but his vocals are like before and so is still is to make a song I consistently enjoy. At least this benefits from being less long than The Secrets, but it also feels weirdly short even for an EP - which makes it feel rather pointless? Plus it doesn't quite have the highlight that Overcum's beat was, although 2's beat here is a good one. 2.3
Saor Forgotten Paths4.0
This is a brilliant record that mixes black metal with elements of folk and out-of-the-ordinary instruments like violin or flute. The songs are very dynamic and there aren't five minutes in the album that are the same This will require multiple listens to definitely make my mind on it, but it is definitely a cool ride. 4.1
Cara Neir Part III / Part IV4.0
This record is incredibly diverse instrumentally, ranging from furiously chaotic hardcore drumming to almost trip-hop/hip-hop beats - worthy of note, 'Choke' was recorded four years before the rest of the album and has a very distinctive style, yet it blends quite well with the rest of the album.rThe album's main strength - its diversity - is also its weakness, with a couple lower points and harsh vocals that very subjectively I am not a fan of. As I was listening my intended rating bounced back and forth between 3.7 and 4.1. Regardless of the rating, this rules and is definitely worth a listen.
Celer Vamps3.5
Track 1 is really nice, aquatic piano a la Basinski and is frankly worth a solid 3.5 - simple but very effective and relaxing -, but track 2 lets things down and looses the magic a bit to just be you know, a minimialistic, overlong piano piece. It's fine but brings this down a solid notch. 3.25
SUZANNE Underwater4.0
Nice K-RnB too. More ambient and perhaps less catchy than Distance - with the exception of 2 -, which isn't something I mind at all - 1 for example is really nice and fittingly aquatic. I have to say the prod on this is a touch too abrasive and lacking roundness in the bottom end to my taste, but I am nitpicking as it is overall very nice. 3.8
Ariana Grande Thank U, Next2.0
Her most consistent album, in that there are almost no truly bad tracks, but also very few tracks I dig. 4 and 12 are probably the only kinda jams, with 7 being nice too, while 3 is probably the most annoying track. Ari keeps the trap/rap influences from Sweetener, but watered down with more pop - which isn't in itself a bad idea. The famous tracks are meh too. Her most forgettable album since her debut? 2.2
Nivhek After Its own Death/ Walking in a Spiral3.5
Had to pause for hours in the middle of this so will have to re-listen.rSides A&B are a rnoisier, grittier version of Grouper. Unbelievably good (4.3 or something?). Sides C&D rare instrumental percussive ambient without vocals that vaguely reminds of the water gong rworks by Klaus Wiese. I liked these tracks too but not as much. Overall still an rundecided 4.0-4.1, re-jam warranted though.rRe-jammed, Side B is my fave by far with a fantastic intro, noisy stuff in the middle. Side A thrilled me less, and overall the record felt far less good with overused gong sounds in way too long sections. The melodies keep coming back it feels. Maybe I missed that on first listen because of the pause? Have to re-relisten. 3.4
Y La Bamba Mujeres4.0
Wonderful album that starts off as good albeit generic dream pop, but brings much more to the table later on. The record navigates an array of styles impressively well whilst staying cohesive. Some songs sound like they would belong to a 50's black and white Mexican movie, some are sad, some are upbeat. The only track I did not like was the one before last, and maybe the bonus track which I did not care for anyway. Will re-listen to it. 4.1
Default Genders main pop girl 20193.5
Quite a hallucinating trip. Mixture of a bunch of more or less popular electronic music genres including some drum and bass parts, with overlaid odd yet interesting vocals. Perhaps not my favourite thing in the world, but definitely original and worth a listen. 3.6
Vehemence (FRA) Par le sang versé2.5
A whole lot better than their first. Unlike the latter, it almost never sounds like a caricature.
The first half of the album is still majorly annoying to me though, with its dorky powered black
metal - just done better than on their first oput. I was hopeful because there is a section on
the first track where I actually like that, but the rest disappointed. Track 5 exemplifies how
annoying this can get. Album is saved by its instrumental interludes on tracks 3,6 and bits of
others. Nice guitar noodling with medieval textures in addition. Those sections become more
prevalent in the second half, which is miles better. Still dislike the album overall, but it is
not bad per se like its older brother. 2.3
999999999 0000000052.5
Pretty ravey techno that ends up being more of a headache generator than a banger. This may be sound great at a rave for a couple minutes but as a standalone EP it does not work very well and lacks diversity. 2.7
Zake zakè (扎克)3.5
Another great garasfind. Four great drone pieces that feel very relaxing and certainly have
a mood to them. 1-2 remind of a less filed-recording based Gallery Six. The prod is a bit
off on 1 I feel like, with some frequency bands feeling overrepresented in the mix, but
it's nothing too bad and the track is still great and peaceful with a lovely texture. 2
adds in some light bird recordings which are light enough to not be gimmicky but still add
a lot to the piece. 3 is much darker than the other two (and the next track), it is broody
and noisier, very nice. It might be the bandcamp version, but there then is a long silent
gap which I find really broke the atmosphere for me. Not really sure why it is there. 4
comes in with a very long fade in that made me adjust volume a bit to much, and feels a bit
flat and unidimensional at first even though the one texture is very nice. Distorted
textures slowly come in and progressively add great grittiness, which adds great variety to
the track. The end is superb, I just wish it too less long to get there! 3.7
The Great Yawn Botanica4.0
Superb folk on the slight indie pop side of things, with sublime vocals. The record has some gorgeous tracks, and does not hesitate to venture in jazzier, poppier, or ballad territory on 5, 4 and 11 as respective examples. The first half felt stronger, especially with 1 and 3 which are lovely jams, and the second half of 4 which is gorgeous too. 7 is the first track that didn't grab my attention as much, everything before that is really sweet, but after it the album didn't feel like it held the distance too well, loosing my attention a little bit. 8 with its backing vocals giving Obel vibes is kinda jammy though, and 11 and 12 are gorgeous too. Overall 3.9
Squid Houseplants4.0
Yea again a one tracker but it is way cooler than the beginning (and bulk) of the song lead you to believe. My favourite bits are indeed when they deviate from the functional and catchy but ultimately quite dull DUM DU DU DUMM groove to go into depression with a surprise saxophone early on, or for the more agressive last quarter of the song. 3.8
Desert Medicine Desert Medicine4.0
Stunning dreamy indie folk with gorgeous, delicate and fragile vocals. First song was my fave, but really they're all graceful and beautiful. A band to watch for sure, nice find budgie. 3.9
Nthng Shine3.5
Ok dub techno/ ambient. Track 1 2 3 are nice and varied, but nothnig really noteworthy.
Track 4 is a good idea but ends up being boring and way too long, bumping this down to the
2.5 tier. Second track is probably best, followed by the opener. 2.7rEdit: Idk what the
hell I was on about after that first listen. Sure, 3 is a weak track, with incessant bleep
bloops ruining an otherwise fine dub techno foundation. But 1 is lovely albeit not hugely
original aquatic ambient with lost keys droning over the reverb, 2 is superb dub techno a
la Purl with a high pitched pad and tasty crepitating noises, and 4 is a fantastic outro
that gives a sense of grandeur to the EP and would fit perfectly at the end of a nthng LP.
It has a sort of downtempo hip hop beat, nothing to do with dub techno really, yet it fits.
Great stuff. 3.55
Nuvolascura Nuvolascura4.5
Phenomenal screamo with crazy drumming, constant changes and relentless gut-wrenching energy.
Amazing debut, a band to watch. 4.3
Edit: second listen, I stand by my rating. Not a classic contender, but this is an amazing
record. A trance in flames, maybe one half track too long (could do away with the closer), but
still. 4.25
Requin chagrin Semaphore3.0
Perhaps mildly better than the debut but frankly that could just be due to listening conditions. Pretty much exactly the same soundoff: this is dreamy surf rock that is hardly ever bad but just blurs all together and doesn't really stick in memory, on top of the fact that it being in French makes it sound a bit cheesy to me at times. 1 is kinda cool and starts off with weird intriguing songs that drag you into the album, but sadly this kind of sonic venture never happens again in the record. Some bits to stand out a little bit, like the instrumental last third of 3, 4 as a simple tune that is kinda cool, or 8, but by 6 really it all feels to samey and lukewarm. Ok but not a dig for me. 2.9
Celer Xièxie4.0
A testament to the power of repetition. Think I'll review this one. 3.75
Pi Ja Ma Nice To Meet U4.0
Really fun cutepop. I'm not sure why but the early four tracks got me worried and felt inferior to the rest, but from 5 onwards this was all kinda jammy or full on jammy. 1 is sweet, 2 feels a bit 'gnangnan' (don't know how to translate that), 3 is nicer, 4 is music that my ma would like, but really overall it didn't feel as memorable as the EP tracks. Those actually come back in the LP as 5 and 6, both feeling like jams. I thought it was maybe because I was familiar with those two tracks, but now, they only sparked a streak of jaminess. 7 is also a jam and is quite a rich track, 8 transitions to something funky and upbeat and is a real fun jam, 9 is more ethereal and almost grew into a jam before ending on a fadeout, 10 is a nice and catchy kinda jam, and 11 is perhaps one of the most interesting tracks on the record with a whole lot of psychedelic influences infused into Pi's sweet pop style. Perhaps not a classic album, but certainly a lovely enjoyable one. 3.9
The Day Midnight Parade3.5
Again an excellent start of the album, but they seem to struggle to keep the interest up for the whole length. 6 and 7 display a light, jolly kind of instrumentation which could be nice, but the tracks just feel like they mass remarkably despite 7's sweet guitars and choruses here and there. 9 is a sweet but long ambienty track that didn't really mark me much at all, and pretty much every other track in the album's second half is either an interlude or not super grasping. But the first half is fantastic. 1 is super pretty (could have used being a linute or two shorter though), 2 is nice generic dream pop for the road etc, 3 is a bit synth poppier and is quite fun. 4's an itnerlude, and 5 shows that this is definitely poppier and synthier than their debut, and is quite a sweet fun jam (nice bass, nice catchy chorus, sweet textures). 3.7
Two People First Body3.5
Good dream poppy melancholic album. The opener is an absolute jam and the first half of the record had me hooked, but the second half really drops in quality and I was frankly bored come the album closer. First half alone makes it worth a spin though. 3.6
Tallies Tallies3.0
This is dream pop tone (both instrumentally and in vox) that lingers on the border of straight up pop, pop rock, and surf rock in places (see 10). Some tracks are really nice and fun (3, 4 which is cool and kinda feels like the theme for a 90's cartoon, 8), but most feel a bit bland. The vox pales in places for example on 5, and a lot of the songs fail to be catchy, or dreamy, or mood setting without ever being unpleasant but also rarely above merely 'nice'. 3.1
Jay Mitta Tatizo Pesa3.0
A genre I had never even heard of (singeli is it?), and it makes me want to hear more from
it, even though I don't feel like this is the strongest album in the genre? Not sure. This
uses a combination of very high tempoed electronic-ish beats, electronic sounds, and more
organic sounds coming from what I guess must be traditional instruments - at least I can't
identify them really. This feels like it would be insane drugged up in a Dar Es Salaam
nightclub or something, but I'm not sure how it fits into at-home listening. 1 was a bit
weird and headachy and got me a bit worried, and the intro to 3 was similar, but the track
gets cool thereafter and 2 is nice too. 4 boasts fun sounds. A lot of the tracks thereafter
gave me videogame OST vibes and felt like they would be dope on some cool action packed
level or someting, like a sped up Electronic Super Joy OST of sorts on 5, or 7 having more
of a haunted mansion level atmosphere. 8 and 9 also gave me video game vibes, 9 being a bit
less nice. By 6 the album gets a bit much though, and I wasn't a huge fan of the closer,
but again it has the merit of making me want to dig further into the genre. 3.2
Yoriko Ichinomiya Buenos Aires2.0
Whilst LP1 wasn't too much my cuppa but was at least respectable, varied, and offered a lot of ideas, this one is largely a bore. The vocals are the main factor to blame, but for once it is not a question of technique or voice: they just have an almost absurd level of vibrato, and also sound way too extra on the emotional side. The result sounds like a crossbreed between Xiu Xiu and Demis Roussos as a female voice. Not my cuppa. And unlike with many albums, the instrumentals don't do much to help keep the interest up. I will concede that the transition at 3:20 (!) on 1 is really unexpected and quite cool, 6 at least tries something that kinda works with its beat etc., although the vocals still don't make it that great and the idea is protracted for way too long, and the run from 7-8 is the highlight here, with 7 being vaguely entertaining I guess, and 8 being another boring ballad but that works better because it has fewer of these silly vibrato vocals. This mini run of okay songs gets this a point of forgiveness. Otherwise, the only thing that happens between 1 and 6 is 4:30 on 5 whcih is a pretty awful moment. The album intro is okay but kinda broken by these very loud vocal samples, a segment that lasts for over three minutes. The album conclusion is also okay as 9, although boring for the most part, does open upsomewhat nicely from 4:00. But yea I really had trouble finishing the album, and the fact that the second half is only a bit better did help massively for that. 2.1
Yvette Young Piano EP3.0
This is nice and sweet. Good concept, and her proficiency on the instrument is commendable. All things considered though this is far from being a transcendental record, and although it sure is pretty it is not super memorable. 'Math piano' has a lot of potential left to explore (isn't this just some subgenre of jazz though?). 3.1
Alpha Wann PPP3.5
Yea kinda cool but not great. The mixing is quite bad with excessive bass and excessively aggressive drums, and that kinda breaks 2 and 3, while 1 is just meh of its own accord. 3 is the better executed one and is indeed the best one (still imperfect mix though), but 2 has the more potential. I might be remembering incorrectly but I feel like the Colors Show release version of 2 has a subtly better mix that massively improves it, but might just be my imagination. 3.25
Life on Venus Departure3.5
If I were to guess I'd say this was recorded before the 2nd LP as the vox are still closer to the first LP and so are the style and quality. 1 is really cool and one of the most distorted songs by the band yet, and 3 is a very pretty song bang on in the style of the first LP. 2 and 4 were far less convincing, but they aren't bad and given this is a short EP I can forgive that to some degree. 3.65
Angele Brol La Suite3.5
I am taking this as a bonus edition with bonus tracks that, whilst they are unusually lumped at the _beginning_ of the record, aren't really meant to be included in a full album listen, on the basis of a kinda erratic vibe and the fact that there is a cover of one of the LP tracks in there. On the other hand there are 7 added tracks here, which feels like it warrants a rating. So I am rating those 7 alone, not the whole thing. 1 is cool although I am not sure autotune fits her the best here, and 2 is a nice track that frankly could've fitted on the original album. 3 is ok but a bit of a snoozer and the first relatively poor transition here. 4-5 show a yet unforeseen side to Angele, both having bitchin intros and displaying more RnB vibes than usual in her sound, especially 5 which is the best of the two as 4 doesn't unfold super well. 6 is an excellent track and would be a jam if it werent for the scarcely present but sufficiently annoying guest. Finally 7 is a lovely cover of Ta Reine that works quite well, and that would not have fitted at all on the original album so good idea to have it here. As far as deluxe editions go this is unusually solid, but it's also a tad below the original album. 3.45
Miel De Montagne Miel De Montagne3.5
I do tend to like my synth pop a little more boppy, explosive and energetic, whereas MdM takes a more relaxed, lazy afternoon sort of approach. That being said they do it very well. I can see the vocals being slightly divisive, personally I don't mind them at all but I also don't love them. It is no surprise that my favourite tracks are the bouncier, catchier ones: 1,3,4, and 8. The relaxed ones have almost a dream pop vibe to them, and they can be good too. 2 feels quite drunk, 5 is quite synthy but is softer than 3-4, 6 is one of the best of these chiller tracks, and 7 is very cute too and shows even more of that dream popiness. The last two tracks both start very relaxed and open up a bit near the end, 9 moreso than 10 with its hints of funky guitars (hopefuly they sprinkle more of that in in future records), but only in its conclusion, whereas 10 after a really cool, quiet transition part in the middle doesn't open up as strongly but does so for almost half the track. Never explosive, never a huge bop, but certainly a charming little record with lots of nice songs to jam again, and that for sure makes me want to watch their future output. 3.6
Marissa Mur Amores3.5
Undoubtedly better as it displays a lot more of Marissa's personal sound here, although this largely remains a set of sweet and well crafted but not hugely explosive pop songs. 1 is a lovely cute relaxed song with a very slight groove to it. Bit weird to have a guest on track 1 but he works well I'd say. 2 shows how the latina vibes with the guitars are a lot more present, making this LP2 feel less generic than LP1. 2 is also on the dancier side. 3 has accordion and a groove quite like 7. 4 is more classic mellow pop but is cute n pretty, and 5 reminds of LP1 though not bad and the production is good. 6 is super chill. I do like Marissa's explosive dancy side most though and we get a cool groovy track on 9, though it's not a huge ham either. 9 is cute, and whilst I wasn't sure finishing on a ballad on 10 was the best idea, it is really quite pretty and I was sold in the end. Better, not super, I think the singles she released afterwards make me more excited about LP3, but quite a few LP2 songs went to the playlists. 3.4
Jackie Mendoza LuvHz3.5
Cool little hazy psychey drem weirdpop EP that hopefully prefaces cool things for the future. It is more interesting than it is thrilling, but it's still pretty enjoyable. 1 and 4 are cool because they mix the hazey, noisy, weird chopped production value to a slightly dancey undertone, though 4 does not unfold as well. 2 is an okay but fairly forgettable drem track, whilst 3 does it more nicely. 5 has the more prominent beat here and is quite nice drem pop stuff, whilst 6 explores an interesting angle here with more of a horror/creepy vibe. I'll be curious to see where she goes next, and I might rejam a couple of these every now and again. 3.4
JAK3 Moonlight Radiation4.0
Very cool record that wasn't what I was expecting, but in a good way. It offers a very breezy, smokey, subdued brand of cloud rap amidst a lot of ambient/illbient/drone even. I really dig how 1 and the intro of 2 lead into the first beat being introduced. The vox part is alright, and I really dig the conclusion to 2 as well. 3 starts incredibly drugged although it doesn't unfold incredibly. 4 got me to kinda dig the vox here. 5 is the first that made the vox really work well imo though, and the outro with the vox samples is cool too. 6 is cool, but on 8 I felt like the flow was a bit off. 9 is a super cool noisy droney track, then 10 is nice but 11 works less well. By 12 this started to feel too long and my rating decreased steadily. The last few tracks pump the energy up though, even bringing salut c'est cool-core in the beginning of 14, and then going into D'n'B-ish beats even thereafter and on 15. This is rich and a style I don't know at all, so gotta dig deeper into that. 3.85
Sofia Campos Salvar el Fuego4.0
Extremely consistent Mexico-Argentinian (?) folk/pop (?) album that rarely transcends but is also practically faultless without a single bad track and maintaining a relatively coherent mood throughout. If it weren't perhaps for the fact that it is the same vocalist all along, this could really pass as a chill playlist to play in the back, where as the Musas albums by Natalia do go left and right in terms of vibe for example. This does maybe lose a touch of steam near the end, but the extremely Brazilian feeling of the closing track brings the energy back up and keeps the rating at a very healthy and much recommended 3.8

2018
Scary Larry Scary Larry3.5
The black metal bits are ok but I did not care much for them. The ambient bits on the other hand are very nice and make me want to re-listen to this, especially track 2. The prod is a bit odd during the bm bits (bass and some drums mixed way too high/clear, trebles a bit absent) which undermines them a bunch, but on the ambient sections it is good. 3.6
21 Savage i am > i was3.5
Cool art on this. I don't know if it was the conditions but this felt all good but a bit bland, with no track truly standing out as a jam. 1 is prbably the most marking with its chill childish gambino, along with 7 which is essentially a post-malone track with hardly any 21sav in sight, and 8 which evokes Mask Off. Again 21sav is at his best when... he's less there? 2-3 are kinda meh, 4 is fun but has excessively repetitive hooks, which is also 5's flaw. 6 is alright but basic ATL trap. 9 has a chill nocturnal instrumental. 11 is darker but a bit boring. 12 is kinda cool in a cloudy, smoky way, and 13 is hte same but even better. 14 and 15 just pass honestly. The album feels like it hardly explodes, has mostly minimal insrtumentals, flat delivery, and few truly marking hooks, whilst at the same time hardly ever being bad. Issa Album was more colourful with higher ups and lower down, but this feels of equivalent quality. 3.3
Kekht Arakh Through the Branches to Eternity3.0
This has value as a demo to show the breadth of things KA can do, and as proof that it really isn't limited to well-made bm; as a record in its own right though, idk that it has much value. 1 has DSBM vox but an instrumental that reminds me of screamo but produced like bm. Cool conceptually and in actuality, even though the result isn't necessarily a jam. 2 is much softer both vocally and does work well as an 'outro' - in fact it feels like a transition track or an outro you could find, again, on a screamo record. I wonder how much skramz KA jams because it really feels like it trnaspires a lot here yet I didn't find a real trace of that on PAle Swordsman. Anyhoo this isn't something I would recommend unless you are trying to dig into KA's discog, in absolute term it is a bit contextless. 3.0
Obliteration Cenotaph Obscure3.5
To me this is unquestionably the best Obliteration LP at the moment. They mostly drop the old school revival stuff including the pointless soloing, refresh the prod to more modern standards, and drop the slow paced doom bits while upping the bm influences. For my taste those are all dramatic improvements. Still has the occasional cringe vocal or solo (looking at you third minute on 4) but it is generally short lived and followed by more evil riffz. The record flows well and is well constructed with the intriguing interlude on 3. It isn't my favourite dm record ever but it sure is blackened death that I enjoyed for the greater part of the album. Feels like I have to check whatever they release next now. 3.65
Fief IV4.0
Very similar to 1, but just better executed. I just wanna take a walk in the forest you know? 3.75
Far Caspian Between Days3.5
Cute, well crafted but not transcendentally good little debut EP that is a sweet listen from start to finish. The instrumentals remain relatively simple or subtle but manage to be quite catchy, mostly prominent on 1 (whose intro I really like), and 4, on 2 too but resulting in a slightly less convincing song with the fadeout, and to a lesser degree on 3. 5 is noticeably calmer especially in its first half, but remains nice. The vocals dont have huge walls of effects for the genre, andthe prod works very well overall. Nice, might jam some tracks again, but not necessarily a favorite record. 3.5
Boygenius boygenius3.5
If you listen to this for what it is and not as a SUPERGROUP you find that the multiple voices
actually work very well together and we have here a softcore indie folk solid little EP that's
nice, warm and comforting but also a bit melancholic at times (it has Julien after all). Bit of
electric guitar in places, it's not just campfirecore. You know it's not the record of the
decade but it's very neat and a good jam! There's kind of no conclusion though. 3.6
Ulthar Cosmovore3.5
Checked this out solely based on the awesome album art, but it was good. Great ideas with a cool mix of death, black metal, and some scarce psychedelic elements, but I found them poorly executed. The transitions are not seamless to say the least - you can see them thinking 'and now let's do a super bm-ey section' instead of having an organic transition. First two tracks are best with some good riffage, after that I kinda lost interest but still was a nice listen. 3.3
Hillsfar To Distant Lands And Further Still2.5
Compared to Hillsfar's later output, this one starts off in a slightly dronier/more ambient form, with fewer bells and whistles and more of a hypnotic synth base. And I really like that, I think 1 is a great opening track for this. Sure, some of the mixing on drums is a bit loud and intrusive to my taste, but it's not bad at all. What truly kills this album for me is the electric guitar sections. Whilst on 3 they work quite alright at just adding a gritty texture background as they are quite subtle (in spite of the mixing issues still), in 2 they are just really bad and have nothing to do there. They sound like some youtube boi wanted to make a metal cover of a neat DS song, rather than being integrated in the song. The 'riffs' come out of nowhere, aren't good in a vacuum, and are especially not good in hte context of the track. 4 comes back to the good sounds of 1 thankfully, but does feature guitars later too, at a cringe level between 2 and 3 but closer to 3. Not the Hillsfar record I'd recommend aside maybe from track 1. 2.4
Takeoff The Last Rocket2.5
Not horrible, but not great. He has a relatively soft timbre to his voice and relatively
calm, monotonous delivery, which prevents 'gangsta' tracks to really feel impactful or
aggressive, but also doesn't work too well with chill tracks either due to ubiquitous
rapping. However the album's major issue lies in its instrumentals, which are minimalistic
to a degree that simply cannot work with vocals this monochromatic. This was clear from the
opening track even though I kinda dug his delivery, with 2 in the same vein and kinda fun.
But 3 already disappoints, although I have to say there is a nice album-level sensibility
at play here with nice transitions and interludey bits between tracks. 4 exemplifies the
over minimal instrumentals well, and so does 6 where the nice drugged vocal delivery is
ruined by a beat that sounds like it comes from some guy on youtube. 8 is kinda nice as a
chill track, and 9 has some ideas here and there but again a nearly nonexistent
instrumental. The real surprise comes at 10, which out of nowhere delights us with a
bouncy, colourful instrumental with cool guest vox and very little of his own rap. The
track single-handedly saves the record, helped by the fact that the next two tracks also
feel fuller and are both kinda cool even though his delivery on 11 is super flat. 2.7
Rosalia El Mal Querer4.0
Rosala goes pop, Rosala takes a good dash of electronic, and Rosala dumps a whole lot of the acoustic guitar to make space for these new influences while retaining a lot of the flamenco AAooaoAoeeoEOAoeAOoeAAaa vocals, albeit in smaller doses. A shorter format definitely suits her, and even then the last three track feel almost superfluous, with the pretty good 10 being stuck in between two over esoteric tracks. There is a lot of charm to be found here in the weird but flowing mix of mysterious vocalisations, traces of beats, and unusual prod/instrumentation. Although the first LP is perhaps 'objectively' stronger, the overall enjoyment from this one is simpler and more readily accessible. Only track 4 was a true let down, being excessively weird and way too random in its background noises. 2 or 7 were particular favourites. This is not a bangers album yet, and it is worth listening on the whole as there is care put into the construction - 10 is for instance magnified by being preceded by a much calmer track. And since it is short and overall more readily enjoyable, unlike LA I can see myself re-jamming it in semi-full in not so long. 3.8
Daughters You Won't Get What You Want4.0
Disturbing feel throughout the album. Very interesting listen although I did find the album somewhat linear and not as extreme in its concept as it could have been.
Ichiko Aoba qp4.0
Quite similar to the prior LP in that it is simpler and more focused than 0, but is very successful at the simple folk and still has some occasionally more intriguing stuff. The intro track is part of that with a nice choirey piece that drags you into the album right away before Ichiko's beautiful guitar tone catches you at the beginning of 2. It gets very playful at some point which is quite unforeseen and well done - one of the rare in-track atmosphere changes on the record. 3 is pretty (like every track basically) but evokes really basic indie folk, and were it in English you could call it utahcore. 4 is similar but gets extra pretty in the second half. 5 is a great Ichiko jam and brings back some of the more intriguing harmonies and intricate strumming patterns that she does so well. 6 is also very pretty, but 7 is less compelling. 8 again has a nice intriguing melody, then 9 and 10 again go back to simplicity but both and especially 10 are very well executed, with 10 getting shatteringly melancholic and haunting - another superb jam, that lifts this up a point to a nice round 4.0
Ondubground X Chill Bump Ondubground X Chill Bump3.5
Tours, France collab between a dub artist and the hip-hop duo. Mixing dub and other electronic variants with rapping surely has been done before but I don't know very many examples of it so this sounded fresh to me. While not my fave CB work, this has some dope tracks and is worth a check. The opener has a really cool intro but unfolds in a pretty standard instrumental dub track. 2 is kinda jammy and made me bop me head with its fat dubsteppy drums with Misc.'s rapping. 3 is the only track to go into more of a house direction, but while I see the idea the prod is weird with veiled vocals, and feels like it's hesitant to truly explode. 4 goes kinda hard and brings some cool elements like middle-eastern strings. 5 doesn't work as well and reusing that Macklemore melody is a bit boring if you ask me. The record uses autotune sparsely but well on 6 and 7. The dubstep parts on 6 go quite ahrd, but 7 is a bit less good especially when it tries to go ahrd. 8 starts off a bit too simplistic even though I like the male guest vocalist, but the second track is jammy with misc's rapping and the howled female vox in the background. 9 starts off like 2 and unfolds in a more instrumental direction with traditional vocals, which is a cool way to end the album. 3.55
Gorod Aethra3.5
Ok I lost my notes like a dungus so this won't be very detailed sorry future me, but essentially
this is my favourite Gorod LP. They drop most of the wankery bit, when they are here it often
works - like the intro solo on 2 I think -, and there are loads of influences. It feels like they
tried to move away from death/deathcore and expanded to a proggier side, with traces of Opeth,
Mastodon and stuff like that. There are still some questionable vocals but overall this is really
quite fun - there's even bm drumming in places, and you can always count of them to line up 20
riffs per minute. However, even though they do offer some pauses and bridges, by track say 7 it
gets quite tiresome, dropping this below the critical 3.8 bar, and frankly the last track is
awful and brings all of their old flaws back. Quite a poor way to end an album that could've been
really fun had it been 15min shorter. 3.65
Helena Deland Altogether Unaccompanied Vol. III and IV3.5
Again, no idea why these were collated together in the database but oh well. Volume IV clearly seems like the superior one, whilst III feels perhaps like the most forgettable out of all four volumes if memory serves me right. IV's first track is the only electronic one here and unfolds in an almost Tychoey manner, making for a very cute although far from outstanding track. The second track (so 5 here) is very pretty cute indie folk that is quite by the books but very well crafted. III on the other hand starts off on a pretty folk intro track that I question the utility of on a three tracker (I guess as a five tracker in the combination of III+IV then it makes more sense). 2 then starts off on a relatively generic, detuned/slow vibrato guitar sort of dreamy vibe that turns into a cute and relaxed soft folkey indie pop track, still with the dreamay tones. 3 is the most melancholic one of the lot with some Grouper touches in the tones, but this is just very faint and the album isn't really ambient much at all, it's just fairly relaxed indie folk. All nice, never outstanding, though 5 is real real pretty. III: 3.4, IV: 3.5, Total: 3.4
Parcels Parcels3.5
Very sweet debut LP that shows a lot of potential. It is globally on the slightly slower, more mellow side compared to the explosive EP, but that's not to say it doesn't have bops. The tracks take more time to build up. This starts from 1 which takes a minute or two to fully open but is sweet thereafter. 2 is dancier/funkier, 3 slower, and 4 funkier again but more on the chill in the sun side than the dancy side. 5 is the paroxysm of what I describe by slow building songs as it takes a long time to build up (too long for playlists probably) but is really cool as an album listen and adds lots of ideas, particularly the super cool and unexpected electronic break near the end. 6 is softer again, nice but hugely compelling. 7 is fun electronically, and 8 is great fun especially when the vocals kick in atop the funk, while 9 adds some cool elements in the way of flutes and strings. As you can probably tell, the length of the album is well managed, and there are constant yet coherent shifts in vibe and instrumentation that keep the listener entertained throughout without feeling incohesive. 10 is a huge jam, 11 is sweet, and while I wouldnt put it on a playlist or anything I respect 12 as a fun and humouristic way to close the album. Great effort and lots of rejam material. 3.7
BRUIT Monolith4.0
Honestly I was not at all expecting to be this excited in 2021 by a 2018 debut post-rock EP. Especially when there isn't much that makes them stand out on paper: this is a mix of post-rock and ''''classical'''' strings, with a bit of electronica, synths and bleeps and bloops; no wild genre mixes, no vocals, no collab of note. Thus the band creates quality and excitement out of sheer compositional prowess, and that is to be commended. Yes both tracks are a slow emotional post-rocky crescendo like we've seen millions, but they aren't done like the millions we've seen. The ideas are many and ever flowing, and it's not like they add guitar 2 3 4 then drums then a violin; these buildups are nonlinear and beautifully controlled chaos. Now I will say that, although 1 does get quite intense, and although 2 has some magnificent strings at its peak, it does feel a bit like both tracks build up beautifully to end a bit abruptly, and go a bit nowhere in light of the vastness of the journey upwards. But hell man this is a debut EP and it's just so brutally good compared to what I was expecting seeing the tin. Very pumped for the full-length. 3.9
Cursive Vitriola3.5
I am diced with this one. Overall this is great emo, and some tracks (e.g. 'Ouroboros')
do stand out, with dark atmospheres and interesting melodic lines. Other tracks feel
pretty generic, and in general I am not the biggest fan of the vocals on this. Solid
album overall nonetheless. 3.7-3.8
Adrianne Lenker Abysskiss3.5
By far and away her most consistent one yet, despite my rating not being that much higher. Instead of abruptly switching atmospheres and erratically gonig from sad folk to happy country, this one evolves progressively and smoothly, the only exception being the awful, non existent transition between the mellow 3 and, after brief silence, the sudden distortion of 4 (very mild, but in music this soft it still feels harsh). 1 is pretty superb folk and almost a jam, 2 being very similar, into the slightly jollier and countrier 3. 5 is softer and more contemplative, and 6 is nice too. As always with Lenker, this is great for 20 minutes, and then by track 7 is starts feeling all too samey. However 8 does bring a couple darker chords and much welcome slight melodic variation, saving this from really dropping points. To me she could do very well on EP format, and she definitely makes some really pretty songs both instrumentally and vocally, but as a solo artist she still needs to progress to fill time in interesting ways on a full-length format. 3.6
Angele Brol4.0
Au soleil, c'est parfait. An sweet poppy album that works particularly best in its summery tracks and is impressively consistent, as none of the tracks feel like filler. Sure, some work better than others, but the ones that aren't as good at least tried something different, and the album never really bores. 1-3, 7-8 and 11-12 are all super catchy, summery bops with varying amount of synth goodness, and really make the backbone of the album. 9 is cute but doesn't work as well as the prior two tracks, though it has a nice darkness in its lightness that makes it interesting. 10 is romantic but in a non boring, non-ballad kind of way which I appreciated. So really that second act 7-12 is all great and confirmed the feeling I had on 1-3 that this would be a 3.9. I had some doubts before that though, as 4-6 is a bit weaker and more erratic. 4 is great but the guest vox is not too fab imo. 5 is reasonably catchy and is fun as it introduces English to the album, but despite its catchy chorus it is the first track that isn't really playlist worthy. 6 is kind of sad and balladey, which is fine but doesn't work too well especially after 5. So a quick dip in energy, but that is rapidly compensated by a great second act: the alb overall is a sweet 3.9
Slift La Planète Inexplorée3.5
I think this one's less good than the first LP, the frist few tracks are a bit of a dull blur imo despite the rhythm section's best effort, thankfully starting at the 6th track the record does open up to more marking territories. 3.45
The Stargazer's Assistant Resurgam I, Resurgam II3.5
By far their darkest, droniest, eeriest, and most consistent album so far, because it doesn't loose itself in too many instruments and textures. Instead, the atmosphere flows and evolves slowly, allowing the listener to follow along instead of feeling lost in randomness. In fact this album gave me strong Svarte Greiner vibes. Now this isn't fantastic either, as it feels quite flat, and albeit nicely cinematic it also feels like it drags on for a touch too long. But I was not going to follow these guys' output on the basis of their first three records; now maybe I will. 3.35
Coops Life in the Flesh4.0
For a concept album this feels a lot like a mixtape, with a lot of dope tracks but low coherence between songs and a bit of an erratic construction. Still, the quality of individual tracks pulls this up by a lot. This is a Londoner offering his take on various American hip-hop variations and echoing back to a range of different artists. 1 evokes Nas, 2 evokes CYNE, 3 reminds of Wu-Tang, and after a mild interlude on 4, 5 explores more modern directions with its jammy use of autotune and dub vibes here and there. The darker turn at the end is cool, shame that the transition into it sounds like yourcomputer freezing. His delivery is top tier, diverse, and with the nice added touch of the accent only being the cherry on the cake. 7 lost me a bit, but 8 is really chill. The track is symptomatic of the record as a whole though, as the middle section and outro feel like a different track entirely. 9-10 go back to a 90s vibe, then 11 is chill again (a lovely track at that though), 12 has a bouncier summer vibe, and 13 is more nocturnal with a dope instrumental. See what I mean by the individual tracks being good but record construction being erratic? This was going to be a 3.7 but the dope jam closing the album, despite an unnecessary outro section bumps this back up to a 3.8
SUMAC Love In Shadow3.5
Did not like this one nearly as much as WOB. It's interesting that they have pretty much the same avg rating because they felt very different. This one is quite erratic, and although individual sections are quite cool - I liked for instance the funeral doom-influenced heaviness of some riffs in track 1 - they are just arranged really oddly, even within tracks. Chaos and bizarreness can be interesting and amazing, but they weren't here here. The last track is the one exception, with a very coherent transition from noisy ambient to classic SUMAC material and a great track overall. Singlehandedly bumped this from a 3.4-3.5 to my final 3.7
Alpha Wann Une Main Lave l'Autre4.0
Solid album. Caveat is I didn't pay attention to the lyrics, but his delivery is usually amazing, one of the most enjoyable in modern FR rap imo. Album is long but does not feel too long and does not have a single real bad track which is rare. As usual in rap no real transitions between tracks, but they follow in a good order and construction is not bad. Most tracks are 3.2-4.0 with scarce 2.5 range sections, but album also has f*cking jams (1,3,8,16, 12 kinda). 3.95
Squid The Dial4.0
I mean it is just a track followed by its radio edit, but in actuality it doesn't feel hugely repetitive and rather feels like a continuous ~10min track split in two. I wish there were a real conclusion to it, but aside from that it is a really cool track that reminds of a slightly more aggressive version of Television. Again it's a track so hard to judge but maybe 3.9
Toby Driver They Are the Shield4.5
Somewhere between 4.0 and 4.5. Violin/piano based prog, which in itself makes this worth a listen. Some really cool tracks (1,3,4) but the record is slightly on the lengthy side considering its overall tone scarcely changes.
Noname Room 253.0
This will require a re-listen before becoming a definitive statement, but the album fails to create as strong an atmosphere and mood as Telefone did. It is in the same style, there is an attempt for sure, but it just does not work. In a vacuum though this is still a pleasant little hip-hop EP with interesting instrumentals and vocal deliveries. 3.2
Ben Chatwin Drone Signals3.5
Huge improvement, and it's nice to see. On its own I would maybe have made this a 3.1 or .2 but in the context of his discog this feels exciting, here have a 3.5 man. The album no longer feels like a series of intros. When tracks do buildup, they feel like they buildup for their own sake, e.g. on 2. He does display some pretty nice drone/ambient too e.g. on 1, 4, and the noisy 7. Now let's not get carried away, this isn't superb dronebient either. There is too much movement, too much going on, there is no room for the textures to breathe and no space for the notes to decay. This is best heard on 5. I might write a review on this, because it is interesting in showing how a collage of pretty sounds doesn't always make a nice ambient track. Makes me want to follow his future stuff. 3.3
Giant Swan Whities 0163.5
Very cool experimental techno (?) EP. 1 especially is super fun despite being bizarre, the intro particularly. It's just a fun aggressive track you should listen to really and I'm hesitant to make it a jam. 2 is much weaker although it flows well from 1 and just goes too weird to my taste. 3 sits a bit between the two in terms of weirdness and quality. It starts off (after a bit) as a cool and twisted track in the vein of 1, but afterwards it goes to a more straightforward style of techno and fluctuates between weird stuff I find boring and quite hard and fat techno I enjoy. Check track 1 basically. 3.4
Holy Fawn Death Spells4.0
Excellent shoegaze album with lots of great influences. Alcest-y guitars, touches of Sigur Ros ambient interludes, Deafheaven harsh parts, and a couple other good things. Does not quite transcend as the aforementioned influences may suggest, but still great. 4.0
Ricky Tinez Deci3.5
Nothing truly outstanding, but this is also a fun record that would work really well for a late night focused work session as a variation from Quadrant Dub. All three tracks are pretty good although I feel like I had a slight preference for 3, and they're all in the same side of instrumental, discrete but groovy, bass centred house that is energetic and hypnotic but doesn't take your brain power away forom work. Damn I want a Sirin now. 3.45
Mestis Eikasia3.5
Mestis refines its personal touch and strays resolutely away from its AAL roots by offering something far more relaxed, cleaner, but still groovy and with a more prominent latin twist. This is particularly obvious on tracks like 2, the jammy 4 which got me to check Mestis in the first place, and the oh so relaxed 6. Whilst I appreciate its latin guitar tinges, 1 does have a sort of shreddy-for-nothing aspect to it, and 3 is kind of halfway stylistically between that and 2. 5 is a bit more electronic but transitions quite well. 7 however doesn't work so well. I don't mind weirdcore but on something so otherwise clean and pristine, it feels weird to add 6-7min of some weird distorted vocals and weird sounds, especially when nothing comes after it. This odd album closure drops it a point if not two, to maybe a sort of 3.55
Lucy Camp Summer Camp3.0
This offers a cool unexpected blend of dream pop, synthwave and rap/trap vibes, but the execution is not always successful. 1 is kinda jammy as the dreamiest track here, 2 following in the same vibe but feeling less impactful. 4 is also a successful track offering strong indie pop vibes, and the track could pass on Triple J or something. 3 goes into a darker nightmarish vibe, but the vocal become far more generic and frankly a bit dull. 5 and 6 definitely brought this sub 3.5. The instrumental on 5 feels quite amateur imo, although the rapped delivery has improved (is it the feat?), resulting in a meh track. 6 improves with cool synth work and gets quite nice in the midtrack, but the conclusion with the vocoded vox is again not too great imo, bringing this to a 3.15
April + Vista You are Here3.5
On paper, this sounds really phenomenal - female Anderson.Paak vocals layered on abstract hip-hop/FlyLo type beats. The first track + prelude got me really excited about the EP, but after that the record never really takes off and falls kind of flat. It is lacking stand-out tracks or melodies. These guys would be a perfect opening act for Flying Lotus or something, but they don't yet have the stature to be a full main act of their own in my opinion. Hopefully they improve and also find a better name. Will still listen to their other stuff. 3.3
Murphy Radio S/T3.5
Very nice math-rock twinkle, that feels relatively generic (albeit well executed) and less personal/recognisable than the EP for the most part, but that stills shows signs of greatness especially in the second half, making for a band to watch. Like on the EP, the prod can get nicely crispy and punchy especially on the snare, making for much more impactful songs than the rest of the regular math-rock doodle noodling. The opener is nice and punchy, and the drum intro on 4 is really fun too, but the track evolves into generic CHON stuff. 2 is an example of less punchy track which becomes far less interesting. 3 is the first of a few additions to their sound with scarce vocals, but the generic math-rock behind it makes the track still feel a bit unmemorable. The LP has two acoustic ballads on 5 and 8, but neither are as good or welcome as the one on the LP - but they're alright. 6 marks the transition into the much stronger second half, with a nice addition of strings giving an ominous feeling, breaking into a bass solo and cool punchiness - one of the best tracks since 1. 7 is also a punchy track then adds brass. 9 continues in this style minus the brass, with very nice melodies and grooves in the bridge, and ends with an addition of an electronica beat. 10 is a fun punchy closer, and despite the overall absence of highlight jams this high note second half brings the LP back up to a 3.6
Ariana Grande Sweetener2.5
Here too some songs are biased because they're famous. Big step down from DW. Reminds of her
second album, but instead of festival summer pop we have here mild pop with various amounts of
trap/rap, which rarely works with Ari's style but is sometimes kinda cool albeit puzzling, as in
5 one of the album highlights with 2 and 9 (3.7-3.9). Most of the tracks are really meh, some are
frankly annoying like 3 or the chorus on 6. 7 is kinda fun but reminds of some Wii soundtrack
lol. 10 I half love and half hate. Overall a little bit better than her second just for the
attempts at enriching her sound, despite their relative lack of success. Best Ari artwork though.
2.3
Infant Island Infant Island3.5
Very solid debut record with a great blend of post-rock/screamo (heavy on the post-rock side). The album misses some differentiating elements but has an excellent base. I'll be looking forward to their future output and will enjoy re-listening to this!
Midwife (USA) Prayer Hands3.5
Starts off quite strong but falls off about midway. 1 is a good simple but efficient loopey intro, and 2 is a strong Midwife track with quite heavily distorted vocals and some moments that reminded me of GYBE's F#A#8 in mood - mixed with the usual depressed folk vibe that I found from the preceding LP this is great. In contrast, 3 accentuates a little more the beat, and becomes a relatively boring, repetitive instead of hypnotic, frankly tepid track that felt way too long. 4 is a bit better, reintroducing a bit of the GYBE-ness, and getting more convincing as it progresses. Nice, but nowhere near LP1 in compelling quality imo. 3.4
Gia Margaret There's Always Glimmer3.5
A lot of lovely songs, but I can't help but feel like this is still an artist looking for her direction as some tracks work far better than others. Generally speaking the subdued, melancholic ballads felt quite superb, and the more energic tracks with happier vibes yet the same vocals felt a little less effective and perhaps a little discordant. After a lovely knobscore opener, this becomes evident already on 2, with 10 being another example. 3 shows more of a folk aspect and is very pretty, while 4 feels a bit cliche but offers very sweet piano and bell sounds. 5 is extremely soft, like a pillow feather. 8 is quite beautiful a piano-led track, and 9 is another sweet folk song. 11 is sweet too, and the closer in itself bumped this a point. It is rarely stunning, but she clearly has the potential to make something gorgeous from front to back. 3.6
Aseul Asobi4.0
A humble little album that has lots more to offer than it looks, but suffers a bit from being a) a slow burner b) feeling a lot like an EP (is it one?) with little in the way of context and conclusion. It does have a more readily understandable structure than its predecessor in terms of genres, with an electronic typical Aseul start on 1-2, a dream pop phase on 3-4 (although 4 only maintains a guitar tone and goes back to more electronica), and 5-7 being a series of three synth pop near-bangers near jams. The latter three are really a positive note and some of the best Aseul material yet, lifting this up a point, but the absolutely nonexistent album conclusion keeps it well clear from a 4.0. Whilst 1 is slow to start the album it gets really colourful, but the more relaxed 2 is a bit meh despite being nice and synthy. 3 is the first Aseul track that I'd qualify as properly dream pop. So all in all lots of playlist material, but not a grand album for the ages. 3.9
Denzel Curry TA13OO4.0
Much proggier and kendrickesque than I expected. The opener is a gorgeous jam. A lot of tracks have multiple sections, and generally they start off annoying to meh with excessive vocals then morph into something super cool, for instance on 3, 12, 13. Loads of other jammy tracks on 2, 6-8. 9 is probably the weakest track. 4 marks an odd style shift that does not really work in the context of the album imo, but the track is cool despite a feeling of caricature. Overall a solid album I'll go back to with lots of creativity put in it. 4.0
Khorada Salt1.5
This was a pain to listen to. The vocals are unbearable and the instrumentation is a complete
mess. I love both Agalloch and Giant Squid, and am absolutely fine with Khorada sounding
different, however this really did not click with me. I just don't get this album. The last track
is quite ok which saves it from being a 1.0. Not sure about precise rating
Internazionale Seek and Create4.0
One of his best pieces with some of his hardest jams, but also quite uneven in quality. 1 is a jam with a lovely uneasy texture layered with for once well incorporated vocal samples. 2-3 are nice but not as good, on the upper end of standard Internazionale material. 4 (I think? Around min 10-11 of the record) is the hardest and most interesting jam here, first with its gorgeous despaired textures, but then with the surprise element of a distant techno beat creeping its way in. The track ends up being an absolutely lovely mix of drone and dub techno. 5 begins with a sweet agressive drone tone la Deathprod, but the second half of the track is quite dull and disappoints massively. Album ending is relatively nice though. 3.75
Covet effloresce2.5
Might be just me but this sounds like a demo for their earlier material rather than a newer full-length. Far fewer high points than their s/t.
Pool Kids Music to Practice Safe Sex To3.0
This has great instrumentations, but to me the vocals are often out of place. They are sometimes really great and complement the music nicely, but oftentimes they sound amateur and bring the record down a level in my opinion. Cool indie/math-rock nonetheless.
Marie Dahlstrøm Kanel3.5
This one tries harder and has more interesting/fun ideas even than 0.0, but it doesn't execute as well hence the lower rating. But in my view that still makes it a more interesting and exciting record. Also the art is simple but so nice. 1 is a super fun track, it doesn't just quite hold the distance and I wish she explored lower registers with her voice but it's still a huge improvement. 2 has a balladey intro and scared me for a second, but once the drums start to kick in it morphs into a sort of elegant house track that really pleasantly surprised me. Didn't expect that style from her and it's kind of a jam honestly, especially the chorus and some of those synths. It has a nice bass once it shows up, and lots of instrumental sections - which is nice because surprisingly her vocals still feel a touch flat in places. The same applies to 3 - mabye she just uses too much head voice to my liking? Still a fun groovy track that evokes 90s RnB. 4's not so great, feeling like an unnecessary continuation of 3's ideas before 5, which is more of a softer piano track but works very well here to conclude things. I'd say 3.35 but 2 really was a pleasant surprise so 3.4
Sundrugs Endless Reverie3.5
Boasts some nice tracks in a variety of ambient styles, but just a bit uneventful and lacking high points to pull it up. 1 is vocal based Ottbient that is extremely peaceful and sort of jammy, a nice track to introduce someone to ambient music. 2 is a nice post-rockbient intro, but fails because it builds up to nothing - it is inspiring though. 3 starts in tychocore and evolves into really nice kinda jammy ambient pads. 4 is very similar to 3, and 5 is the first weak track here, sounds ominous but boring and morphs into not much at all. It is nice to see that each track has a nice development to it and isn't just a loop or a pad repeated over three minutes. The second half has both stronger and weaker tracks, with 6 being much darker and more interesting, 7 being nice genericbient despite the bleep bloops early on in the track. 8 is dark ambient plus field recording, sadly the two layers feel completely discordant with each other and out of place. 9 is a nice disruption with very noisy field recording textures, but has a bit too much going on to be a top tier noise track. 10 is maybe the best track here with nice and eerie dark ambient quickly turning into deathprodesque drone sprinkled with Tim Hecker, very nice. The closer is nice in a vacuum with simple but nice droney stuff, but it doesn't work as an album conclusion, falling flat on a fade out. This is ok, but it's really not a grand album. 3.45
Ben Chatwin Staccato Signals2.5
Indubitably better, as Ben feels like he finally is losing his constant propention to build up tracks without letting them breathe and be tracks of their own, which makes this feel like an intro sketchbook than its predecessors. Still not great though, as the record just did not grab my attention. 3 is kinda nice, 4 has sweet textures, 9 is pretty, 10 is meh and has pretty moments, and the album intro is a jam because the guy sure can make an intro. Still just maybe a 2.5
Haron Wandelaar4.0
Nice piano ambient. Nothing mindblowing, but nothing bad either, some nice tracks especially 1 and 5, some odd but interesting tracks (2-4). Might rejam. 3.8
Lunar Vacation Artificial Flavors4.0
Jollier and funkier than Swell, and honestly very exciting for the future of their career. 1 is a huge bouncy jam, and 3 is super funky too and pretty much a jam although the midtrack doesn't unfold in the best way. Still super catchy and goes on the playlist. 2 is slower and less upbeat but still a great song, while 4 is good but my least fave, taking a more electronic direction and offering a lazy summer afternoon vibe which I enjoy but feels like a sequencing mistake to conclude the album on. I particularly enjoy the mixing on the whole thing with nice audible bass, a soft bed of synths, and neither obtrusive nor excessively shy vox, extra props to whomever did that. 3.8
John Coltrane Both Directions At Once: The Lost Album3.0
Again, qualifying this as a lost 'album' is a bit of an overstatement. In truth this is mostly a collection of random bits from recording session(?s) that exemplifies quite well the importance of album construction and the hurt of lack thereof. The tracks taken individually are all quite very good, and in fact quite a few made it to playlists, but even just Disc 1 taken alone doesn't feel cohesive or like it has any sense of direction. 1 is a hell of a tune in classic coltrane fashion, and 2 is pretty good too though not as much, whilst 3-4 are much smoother and really nice easy jazz. 5's quite good too, but already this feels too disjointed to be a solid album. 6 starts very low energy although it gets better, and by 7 this already felt too long. Disc 2 with all its repeats (the record counts a total of 4 takes of Impression and 3 takes of Untitled 11386) just feels like a long, repetitive series of clones of the same tracks that already repeat their motifs within themselves, and my rating dropped quite dramatically. More of a compilation for overenthusiastic fans than a 'Lost Album'. 3.2
Converge Beautiful Ruin3.0
These are the kind of Converge songs I love hearing live but will never listen to otherwise. 3.2
Goodfight Ghoster3.5
Fine EP with tonnes of instrumental potential but that vocally is a bit too much on the fun and quirky and naive side of things to my taste, even compared to their other records. This applies to every track and it's a bit sad because instrumentally this is really cool. It is no surprise that some of my fave part are the instrumental last thirds of 2 and 3. 3 does have a fun groove throughout but is a bit less explosive than it could be - still fun. 4 is great starting on a sort of bossa nova vibe before the beat kicks in in a cool way. You can tell they had fun making this with some slight jazz tinges, or their accordion and frog samples on 5, or other things; it's just that the vocals are frustratingly not quite my cuppa here. 3.35
Too Young To Go Steady Dropout4.0
To me this is indie pop that feels like post-rock - in places it's even post-rock with vocals that actually fit it. This is particularly true of 1 and 4, both really nice and 4 being the jammiest track on here. There are feels of epic Rocky Mountains summers infused in there. 2 is a bit more pop and made me bob ma head, it is nicely catchy. 3 is weaker and feels more generic compositionally speaking. I'm not sure I'd call this dream pop for the most part, but 5 would be the track for it with its dreamy lushness. 6 is quite catchy and, while perhaps not my fave track, summarises the album pretty well - really sweet post-pop, to speak in gross neologisms. Very nice and worth a check, this goes in my library. 3.95
Yazmin Lacey When The Sun Dips 90 Degrees3.5
Although I was not as attentive as I should have been during my listen, this overall felt more consistent, but a wee bit less interesting than the debut Black Moon. The songs are all well crafted here, and some of the less convincing vocals have gone, but the tracks also have less of an edge and less of a play with beats and rhythm than the best ones on EP1. What we have here are 5 breezy, aerial, delicately produced neo-soul tracks on the very relaxed side of things, but a little more standard than EP1. The bass on 4 is delightfully produced, but aside from that I dont really have track-specific points - this is neat and good, playlist quality, but not top tier. 3.6
Why Bonnie Nightgown3.5
Lovely EP that shows a lot of promise. The breadth of genres displayed on such a short 5-tracker is impressive, and they're all well executed. The opener is a lovely sad kinda dreamy indie rock track, 2 is a super catchy dream pop track (much catchier than anything from their first EP), 3 is their most shoegazy track yet and is nicely peaceful, 4 takes an unexpected electronica turn that I love especially the processing of vox, and 5 is a cool sad album closer that sounds like it comes from an old magnetic tape that has seen a few too many winters. Lovely and I'll be watching their future output. 3.65
Cacartu Habitat4.0
Damn, that Melbourne soul scene man. This is a really consistent record without a single bad track and with quite a few high points ('Orion's Belt' or 'Cyclone' to name a couple). It is also more guitar-centered than a lot of the genre which gives it a remote bluesy vibe at times. Groovy, relaxing, smooth, and a definite re-listen. 4.0
Giant Swan High Waisted3.0
Pounding techno with lots and lots of distorted sonuds which is cool, but also lots of bleeps and bloops and generally weak leads. Some sections are jammy but don't last too long. It is generally foot tap-inducing material, but just not a great listen imo - although not unpleasant. It's sort of danceable but that's it. 3 is clearly the strongest track yet not a jam with a nice pounding hook, and 4 is the weakest with just a wall of bleeps and bloops. 2.9
DNCE People to People3.0
Once again a lukewarm record from these folks. 1 starts off by finally giving the bass a bit of the spotlight which is nice to see, but it never quite explodes and the main hook resembles Charlie Puth's attention too much to not make me want to jam that instead as it is far more fun and less tame. 2 is incredibly bland and skippable. 3 takes an unusual approach for the band, more subdued and lightly dancy instead of trying to be a funk pop explosive track without really daring to be, and I gotta say it is quite successful. 4 goes back to the funk pop with a touch of rock, and while it certainly still isn't as explosive as it could be, it's maybe 3/4 baked where the rest of their stuff is usually half baked. Fits a playlist but wouldn't be the peak of it you know. 3.0
Joanna Teters Back to Brooklyn3.5
Great neo-sould EP with some remote hip hop influences. Groovy and amazing vocals. The first track is particularly good, the rest has its up and downs. Pleasant music that I will re-listen to - and I'll make sure to check out her other records too. 3.5
Miku Daza It's A Fairy Tale2.0
Looking on the tags of bandcamp, carnival rock seems a very fitting description, and nightmare pop a far-fetched one - apart from the crazy good, very inspiring album intro which would indeed be perfectly suited for an actual nightmare pop album and got me really pumped for a hot minute. Considering the tag 'carnival rock' it's easy to tell I did not like this at all. The genre itself already wouldn't be my cuppa, and if you add to that the quite amateur vox that cover everything this becomes really meh to me. Punk drumming on 2 or the fun bass/brass sounds in the background can make up for it all. 4 has a fun start but unfolds poorly although it seems like the strongest track of the bunch. 2.05
Zeal and Ardor Stranger Fruit2.0
Blerf. The mix of genres (rock, gospel-ish backup vocals, vaguely black metal-ish noisy
parts) sounds interesting, but its execution is poor. I don't think there is a single
track I thoroughly enjoyed, with the exception of 'Solve' maybe. Some sections are cool,
yes, but they are almost systematically followed by annoying parts. I'll re-listen to
this in better conditions because it is quite unique, but I don't expect to like it. 2.1
Jorja Smith Lost & Found3.5
3.3 seems like a severe average, but the album does have a striking downward curve in energy and I daresay quality. It works best on punchier, bouncier tracks, and less on ballad-type songs which make up most of the latter half of the record. Her voice fits very well the high energy beats, but feels like it lacks fullness when laid atop bare ballad piano. The first half is great though. The album opening is fantastic, and 1 is a really nice bouncy neo-soul ish track. 2 is also lovely and I love the little lo-fi piano sample that comes here and there. It was already present on 2, but 3 really shows how the prod can under-serve her voice by making it a bit more nasally and moany than it needs to be. Her vocal abilities are fantastic still, and she displays it more on this LP than on the EP that preceded it. 4 is a more relaxed, elegant track. 5 continues in the same vein but starts to feel weaker, and 6 is the first weak track here being the first ballad too. 7 is more of the same, tuning down the soul/hip-hop vibes for more generic pop vibes that don't quite work. 8 catches up nicely though with a very sweet and bouncy track, and 9 is nice too with more hip-hop vibes present especially in the vocal delivery. 10-12 are boring ballads (except perhaps when the drums kick in on 11, and 10 being the best executed of those on the LP) and bring this down a couple points and definitely below 4.0 range. 3.6
Tertia May Kind of Purple4.0
Very rich debut (?) EP. She'll be a fantastic first act for Erika de Casier. 1-3 are great
neo-soul tracks, 1 being chill and simple, 2 being Erika-esque and nocturnal, 3 being a
little simple and seemingly immature at first, but then unfolding in multiple ways with a
nice verse allowing her to display fantastic vocals. 4 is more in the style of classic
soul, but is very fun and enjoyable with the backing vocals and the blues guitar offering
welcome variety. This is just solid really. 3.9
Hainbach Songs for Coco3.0
I've got tonnes of respect for Hainbach's content, both musical and video. For the most part this
record feels like ok but quite bleep bloopey ambient drone. I don't quite like the 100% L/R
panning on a lot of the tracks, feels like the stereo space should have been explored less
simplistically. Although it sounds good, its bloopiness puts a dent in the atmosphere it creates,
and it mostly lies in 2.8-3.0 territory. Two stand out tracks and jams however in 4 and 6,
especially 4, where the music beautifully breaks up to creat noisy, gritty textures that I love,
bring it up a notch or two. Impressive stylistic exercise considering this is all made with the
Cocoquantus. 3.15
Snarls Snarls3.0
1 is a crazy cool track, but afterwards there isn't much substance to this debut EP - I am glad to have checked the LP frmo my binge lists as I don't know that I would have checked it on the basis of this EP alone. 2 is quite great in the verse but its intro/chorus 'explosion' is quite lame and highschoolbandcore. 3 is pretty meh, but 4 is actually the second worthwhile track here, being the dreamiest and very summery. 5 has a nice guitar tone but is an otherwise boring song. I think the energy curve hurts this a lot - if the best track came last it easily might gain a few extra points out of excitment. 3.1
Simge Ben Bazen4.0
Cool Turkish pop/electropop album with folk here and there that has a lot more to offer than the first few tracks let presume. 1-4 are all variations of summer electropop, 1 having fun bits but also gimmicky bits, 2 being flatter overall, 3 having a great intro and being less cliche, a fun summer track, and 4 being another fun track. 5 is a turning point showing that this won't be just a pop record with a superb (Turkish, not guitar balladcore) folky jam. 6 continues in that vein and is quite lovely too. 7 has a cool intro and eases us back into the funky electropop stuff with a slower track than 1-4, although the song's main interest lies in its first minute. 8 takes us back to the fun pop wholheartedly and gets super fun after a minute or two, ngl. 9 starts interesting but unfolds quite badly and is the weakest track here. 10 is a nice elegant track, while 11 shows us a more subdued, lo-fi hip hop vibe almost - yeah man this album is diverse. By 12 which is just alright it starts to feel a bit long though, and while 14 is an alright closer, 13 feels superfluous - it's a nice albeit cheesy acoustic cover of 4, might have been better as a bonus track instead. This is light yet quite rich, and you know what, I dig it. 3.75
standards standards3.0
Maybe it is because I've jammed it a couple times before, but I like this a lot more than 'Friends'. Still generic noodly tappy math-rock, but at least some riffs are memorable. 3.2
Chihei Hatakeyama Butterfly's Summer and Vanished3.0
I try to not let this suffer from discog fatigue, but it does feel like an nth episode of Chihei 'background ambient' Hatakeyama's catalogue. The last track is a dig I guess, but the diversity of textures and the various bells and whistles of the first opus seem long gone now. 3.2
Hatchie Sugar and Spice3.0
I liked the first track a fair bit, nice Aussie dreamy pop. However every track after that gets
less and less good, turning more into pop of the annoying kind while retaining fewer dream pop
elements. I'm not that excited about her LP now. The closer is a frank 2.6 and the overall album
is a 3.1
clairo Diary 0013.5
Huge change of direction and improvement in effort from her, honestly part of my rating comes from the relief of this not being an nth clairo badly produced sort of sadfolk mini-EP. Straight off the bat you hear that this is better produced, has fuller instrumentation, and is more dynamic than anything she's ever done before. There's a beat, there's rhodes, even a guest rapper on 1 that actually works. The vocals have also been a bit processed and improved upon on 2 for example. This really is a pop record all things considered, with not so much dream or indie DNA in it - 3 sounds like Ari on lean a bit. The synth introing 4 is a bit of a curveball but the track thereafter is quite a catchy pop song. On 5 you do wish she'd put a little more energy in her vocals - that, or complement the lazy aesthetic by reverberated dream pop fx. 6 makes the lazy aesthetic work quite well and feels quite drugs. I think the record could have kept going because it kinda ends on nothing, but this is still massive improvement for her in a direction that isn't quite what I thought she'd go for but that I do dig, and for that I'll slap an encouraging 3.3
Buck Meek Buck Meek2.5
yeehaw not my thing. 1 was nice but his voice is too nasally and it kinda lost me rapidly after
that. 4 is a bore, 8 is annoying, 10 was ok. Globally fine but I'm not going to listen to this
again. 2.3
Parquet Courts Wide Awake4.0
Fun alb with lots of sounds and influences mixed into the globally punk aesthetic. In fact I usually prefer when they focus on those influences rather than the punk aspect, but that's not to say that I dislike the punkish tracks. 1 for instance is super catchy and bouncy (thanks bass) despite the vox that I'm not always the biggest fan of. I did warm up to them as time went though, including on 2 where after a Doors-evoking intro I started liking the vox more and more - plus the instrumental side is cool. 3 transitions very well into a cool slower track, then 4 is very surfey with 60s pink floyd-evoking vox, and it;s frankly a highlight for me. The riffage starting of 5 ruptures a bit abruptly imo, but the track is quite fun especially from the midtrack on. 6 is one of the more punkish tracks that I find a bit meh, but 7 is more successful especially with its fun Amen break. 8 is quite interesting as I almost got RnB vibes from it at times which is cool. 9-10 are more conventional but sure are fun stuff. The transition to 11 is a bit poor and it's kind of like 6 although the guitar and bass are good as always. 12 starts off with a darker, more post punk tone which I dig, but it feels like the track didnt fully bake it falls a bit flat. I like how with the spoken dialogue they make it clear that 13 is conclusion track, and it's a very fun and groovy Clashy tune. Bumped this a point, but then it ended on a fadeout why why why, but I'll give the album the benefit of the doubt because I had a massive interruption in the middle so it's not quite fair. 3.8
Slow Meadow Those Who Rush Across the Sea / You Felt Like Home3.5
Track 1 could be the opener to a grand 5.0 post-rock album and would work perfectly well in that context. Here though, it feels like it builds up beautifully into nothing, for the second track really doesn't do much and just painfully highlights how much more 1 needed to unfold into. Pretty, but frustrating. 3.3
Beach House 74.0
To be fair to the band, this was quite an unfocused listen on my end, and frankly my rating is mostly based off the vague impression that this is stronger than Bloom. But by track 5 I really wasn't paying attention much and that wasn't the band's fault. Well, mostly not. To be fair to me though, I have come to terms with the fact that BH is just not going to be a fave band of mine. While 1-3 are all kinda cool, and certainly make the band's dreamy haze finally pay off with compositions that are inspired and flavourful especially in the synth section, by 4 they already fall back into their old traps - although it's not quite as bad as previously. 7 is nice and psychedelic. Beyond that don't ask me (shame). 3.85
Belly (USA-MA) Dove3.0
When this started I thought this was underrated and would become my fave Belly. 1 starts off with a very nice album intro and unfolds into a fun song. 2 starts of nicely too, and I thought maybe modern Belly isn't so bad, but while the song has cool bits it already starts to show some of their regular flaws (read: some odd vocal choices and exccessively tame composition). 3 is kind of a cool track but does have not so great vocals. From then on, the album feels ok but super generic and really isn't all that interesting. Feels a bit like something Radiohead would jam and then turn into much, much better music. 8 and 10 are the two generic songs that are kind of fun and not just a bore. 9 is more on the dreamy side but by that point I was already out of the album. 11 ends things on a sort of country ballad which works fine and at least has the merit to chagne things up a bit. Eh I guess I'll slap a 2.8
You're Sister Keepsake3.5
Sweet little ambient folk/songwriter on the soft and simple side of things. Works quite well and I can see potential for greatness here although the record does feel like an early career record, no two ways about it. My understanding is that this isn't the debut though. Well worth a listen anyway. 1,3,4,8, and the second act of 9 ('The Moon') are all pretty highights. Some other songs just pass, but few were noticeably meh - I didn't really click with 5-6 and perhaps 2, that's about it. Prod is pretty good overall, although I feel like it changes just for 9? Felt a lot more panned out. Is it my imagination, is it a recording from a different time? Who knows. I'll check her future output for sure! If it had been a debut might've bumped it a bit, but here I'd say 3.4
Grouper Grid of Points3.0
Like Ruins, heavily keys-based. Same frustration as with most of her short EPs - this is too short, and the mood barely has time to settle that it already ends. More so than the length of the record, it's the length of the individual tracks that hurts. The material is nice but not grasping enough to make up for that. 2.9
Coops No Brainer4.0
Well this one is even chiller than God Complex. You can tell thought has been put in album construction, because the record flows from nocturnal US trap, to really chill stuff, to more of a rapped emphasis near the end, with 13 evoking Lost Soul in a nice way and with cool guests. and 14 granting the album an extra half point as a chill conclusion. 1 is super smooth, 2 has a The Weeknd kinda vibe but without the voice processing obviously, 3 has the same vibe but with more of a beat to it, 4 is cool but ruined by a bad drum machine sound (thankfully it's short), 5 is soft US-style trap again and cool at that. Then 6 sees a shift away from that style and is a superb jam with dope sample processing, while 7 is cheesy but chill. 8 is supper drugged despite the instrumental not being the best, 9 resembles 6 with its tape/vibrato sound but isn't as impactful at all. 10 is also chill (like the whole album) but a bit too repetitive and meh. 11 is nearly a jam because it is so so chill, but it doesn't quite unfold and is just too short. 12 has a dope instrumental but not the greatest delivery. So fewer jams than other records of his, but great construction and overall quality. 3.75
Vansire Angel Youth3.5
Look, I'll concede that they really tried and that their effort shows. It's actually infuriating how many ideas this has for such a flat result. Feels like a cake that refuses to raise in teh oven. One aspect of this is that the tracks are almost all very short. The boring ones don't have time to annoy, but the good ones don't have time to stick. There loads and loads of fun melodies here, beginning with the splendid intro ambient track. Rapidly in the album we are introduced to the idea that this will have lo-fi type beats to it, and builds a new direction for the band. Great to see, well executed, but ultimately the band's flaw catches them. While at first it feels like the lazy vocals work better with this inherently lazy hazy style, after a short while they make the songs feel all flat and underbaked. 2-3 is cool too, bit groovy even, 7 is a perfect example of the dream-hop style at play here, 11's got a great beat, 13's quite groovy, and the band intelligently tries to help with guest vox that are all really positive contributions, especially the female vox on 9, but also other ones including 5 and the rapped 14 and 17. The fact is, the songs are instantly made better by the presence of guest vox. For the rest I'm saddened to report that although I was hopeful at first this progressively bored me - I just can't stick with the band. Clearly their best effort yet though for sure. 3.25
Ghost Park 物の怪 (Mononoke)4.0
I don't know who tagged this but this not post-rock by any means. Admittedly it is hard to tag. Lots of influences and instrumentations with field recordings, some brass, acoustic guitar, etc. Lots and lots of interesting textures and ideas make the record unique in its own right with good storytelling potential. Brilliant experimental ambient album which I will need to re-listen to - the opener is particularly good but so are a lot of the tracks. 4.1
Cautious Clay Blood Type3.5
Cool modern RnB with processed vocals, randomly found on bandcamp. Well produced and has lots of potential, but the songs blend into one another and no section really stands out. I guess 6 was most recognisable because that is the track I found this with, and 2 has fun additions with the brass and layered backing vocals. An artist to watch. 3.4
Chihei Hatakeyama Void XVI3.5
The n-th episode of Chihei making a 5/5 album when it comes to sleeping to it, but not so marking for daytime listening. I have to say the opening track is very pretty and I was hoping to rate this a bit higher than his regular stuff, but the rest just feels like filler. 3.4
Night Flowers Wild Notion3.5
I think I owe this a second listen to decide if it is upper 3.5 or lower 4.0. It is an album that takes a specific mood, and I found that mood more readily during the second half, so I perhaps underestimated the first half. The record walks the line between mildly annoying naivety and fun catchiness quite well, but not always perfectly. 1-2 are nice and catchy, but 3-5 felt quite naive. Oddly 5 evokes French songs from the 80s to me? After that the record brought it up a solid notch (but as I said maybe it was just me getting used to its atmosphere), as 6 has a very solid and jammy intro, 7 shows how the naive side can work by alternating the cute vox with rock vibes, 8 is beautiful in the right mood, and 9 is catchy too. The record does end on a lower note though, with 9 overextending a bit and 10 feeling merely ok. Gotta re-listen. 3.7
Malena Zavala Aliso3.5
Very sweet debut record of chill indie pop with folk, dream pop and ambient leanings. It's
not quite there yet as it lacks jams and marking hooks, but to me it shows great promise.
As a record it feels a bit tame and none of these felt like truly stunning tracks, but they
also could fit well on a nice relaxed playlist. I like the fact that there is an intro
track to begin with, with nice bass and psych flavour. The tracks that ensue are all
varying degrees of chill, 2 being perhaps more on the fun/pop side of things, 4 being a
good example of her great singing performance, and 5 embodying the artwork quite a bit. The
chorus guitars just evoke surf and late afternoon beaches you know. 6 and 7 are very cute,
both quite high tier. 8 is more contemplative, and like every track is quite pretty. 9 and
10 to me step it up a notch and suggest she knows where to head, as they try to be a little
more memorable with the nice surprising unfolding at min 2 on 9, and the exciting additions
of eguitar and even synths on 10, with nice bass too. Probably the most exciting track of
the record even though it feels a touch protracted at times. 3.5
DJ Central Li'ud4.0
Super sweet, surprisingly consistent and cohesive little house EP. Unlike many others it doesn't make the mistake of throwing four entirely different tracks together or adding a rogue remix, and instead offers a common atmosphere on all tracks which is nice to see. A perfect little record to spin whilst having a beer with friends on yar terrace as the sun goes down to warm up before a party or something. The EP is characterized by sparse vocal samples and most importantly a prominent, very audible smooth round bass. The latter is less present on 3 which happened to be my least favourite track although still chill. The second half of 2 and the whole of 4 were my favourite parts - the strong closer bumps this in 4.0 territory, helped by the intelligently short length at 29 minutes in total. 3.75
Many Rooms There is a Presence Here3.5
I got very excited about this early on. The intro track is superb, very different from her EP. The instrumentation has much more depth, production is cleaner, vocals much more processed and interesting (reminding of Grouper a lot). I am not a fan of the bare vocal transition into 2, but glad that there is a transition to speak of and that it flows well. Once 2 unfolds it gets really nice too, and 3 works fine as well. 4 is even prettier and is incredibly vulnerable and delicate. So far, so good. 5 is fine too but already you feel like there are a little too many blank spaces compared to the lush moments, preventing the listener from feeling fully transported if you will. Then 6 ruptures and goes back to the much simpler singer songwriter style of the EP, and some of the shaky vocals get frankly annoying. 7 continues this, but 8 does bring back the softness and lushness nicely before 9 closes the album quite well with Groupery vocals similar to 1 and sweet guitars. I see lots and lots of potential but it;s not fully realised at all and that makes the record rather frustrating. 3.5
Haru Nemuri Haru to Shura4.0
Great distorted (noise) J-pop J-rock which could have been annoying but really is quite the opposite. A lot of catchy moments, scarce weak moments, and cool ideas all over the place. The end is where the album falters. The three remixes are quite boring to annoying except the third one's second half, but I don't count them here. 10 is catchy but also has meh bits. 11 is the softest sounding (albeit still upbeat) bit of the album, which is a welcome break, but the track doesn't build up too well. 12 feels like an unnecessary track and the first real flaw in the album, 13 has cool math-rock bounce inthe beginning and a male guest voice which is fine I guess, but it gets a bit much and end up being annoying. And that's a shame because it is the album finale, since 14 is a silent track. Before that the album is bouncy track after catchy track, with varying levels of noise rock heaviness, sweet basslines, synthy goodness, and vox that really work. The only weaker points are the zzz interludes I'd say. Hard to pinpoint jams, but 2 and 4 would be a first pick - her screams on 2 got me really going. Overall 4.0
Cardi B Invasion of Privacy2.0
This wasn't completely awful, which is better than I had expected. Sorry Cardi but the moments I prefer are the ones where feats take over. I really can't manage to like her delivery, it just feels flat and hollow to me. The lyrics are often so in your face that it is difficult to ignore them. Tracks like 4 or 7 could be jams if it weren't for her vocals - especially on 4's second half. Same goes for 8, which is probably one of the most solid tracks of the album owing to the prominence of guest vocals over hers atop a nice instrumental. Her vocals fit best on 10, which is kinda jammy, thanks to the held back nocturnal non-twerky atmosphere. Vocals that I would normally dislike - Bad Bunny's or SZA's autotune, Chance the Rapper's vox on 6 - actually feel welcome and refreshing because they bring life to the record. 1 is kinda nice too, 5 is m'ok, and then the rest is just bad - same level as Shakira's Eldorado I guess. 1.8
Alpha Wann Alph Lauren 33.5
It's been a while since I jammed AL2, and I am not even sure which one I prefer between the two. This one feels like it has better standout tracks, but it also feels erratic and some tracks are experienced as frank fillers. The intro vox on 1 is not so great but once it unfolds the track is quite incisive, and the instrumental supports it well. 2 is perhaps more conventional and quite worth a listen too. So far, so good. 3 then breaks this by being not only meh per se, but by also not fitting at all in the EP. 4 reminds a lot of 1, and 5 of 2, both being good tracks again. 6 is quite hard hitting but the feat kinda breaks it for me (what is this Nekfeu-worship delivery) and the EP really doesn't end too well as 7 is frankly not my cuppa for one bit and 8 is fine but just falls flat as a record conclusion. Idk man some playlist material but it's not fantastic by any stretch. 3.4
Black Matter Device Modern Frenetics4.0
Brilliant mathcore album, and a few tracks in I already knew I would need to re-listen to
it before making my mind on a final rating - it is a lot to process. The record is
extremely dynamic, jumping from sheer chaotic hardcore brutality to calm guitars in a
matter of seconds. The album mixes various influences and there are even some noise
sections sprinkled in. The recorded reminded me somewhat of a slightly less raw, 2010's
version of TDEP's Calculating Infinity. This is my rating for now, but I sense that this
may be a grower. 4.1
Loure Smooth Talk4.0
Really cool and groovy house EP with diverse sounds and textures. Nothing revolutionary, but a darn good listen nonetheless. Not a single bad track - in fact my least favourite is the only one that is a remix. 4.0
Sons of Kemet Your Queen Is a Reptile3.5
I agree with the general sentiment that this is the best SoK album (so far), but as ever with SoK whilst it feels cool and well crafted I also struggle to think of it as music I'd voluntarily jam on the regular. I think I just don't like the way they use the ?tuba. It all starts great though, wiht 1 being really cool and class with its vocals but also fun as hell with its infectious rhythm, transitioning smoothly into the perhaps not as jammy but still cool 2 which prolongs it all. The good transitions continue with the super dancey again 3, and frankly with that first trio I was quite convinced. 3 ends abruptly which is fine as 4 gives us much deserved rest. But then 5 takes us back to the SoK I don't like so much. The drums are dancy and all, but it feels like they are having a whole lot more fun than I am. 6 goes back to a relaxed mood which is nice, but the low ended prrrewprrew prrew prewwww are still breaking things for me when they are present if I'm honest. 7 is alright and kinda fun, 8 is dancier again, 9 brings back the cool vocals, and there is a conclusion to note but it focuses on the prrr prrr which again doesnt do much for me. 3.6
Doja Cat Amala4.0
Spoiler I'm going to rate this maybe a touch higher than I should because it does not deserve a 2.9 average. This is fun, diverse pop/RnB with pristine prod, and for a popular full-length debut like this it is really enjoyable and holds the distance well. Sure, it does slip up on 3 which kind of breaks the lovely bubblegum atmosphere of 1-2 (2 being a bit harder and eh but still with fun bits) with its autotune and slower pace, or 5 where the Canon sample is a bit pointless and cringe, leading to a shallow track that itself is one of the weakest here. But skip those and the really cool, chill 4 with cool guest vox would transition well into the light 6 which is a great representation of the general album's aesthetic - bar a handful tracks. 7 continues this without unfolding too too well, 8's a sweet dig, then 9 after a sweet intro surprises with its super upbeat unfolding - not the best execution but an idea I appreciate. 10's another highlight with its deconstructed pop vibes, 11 brings super cool dancestep energy, then 12-13 are two sweet RnB tracks to close off the record nicely. Deluxe tracks: 14's fun but quite mindless at times, more on the rap/twerk side; 15 even more so and it really does not fit in here, pretty awful; 16 completely opposite, super light and memey - can't say it's a highlight though, glad these tracks are just on the deluxe edition. 3.75
Invalids Fulfillment EP2.5
Incredibly wankery record. Playing as fast as you possibly can does not automatically mean your
music will be any good. The vocals are also quite cringy at times, although far from the worst I
have seen. Would be a 1.9 if it weren't for the last two tracks that have far more nice bits than
the rest - the only two tracks where the pretty sections aren't drowned under furious guitar neck
masturbation. 2.3
070 Shake Glitter2.5
Autotune rap that isn't entirely devoid of ideas but consistently fails at exploring them. The intro of 1 lasts too long (over half the track) but once it kicks in it becomes the strongest cut on here and shows her potential with something jazzier and simpler. For the rest of the album the instrumentals are very nocturnal and dreamy, quite nice, but the songs probably owing to the vox never feel like they quite work. For instance on 2 she audibly tries to force her voice to sound lower than it is like pre-puberty boys, and it is a shame because the beat is quite nice. It jsut works better with the guest vox. 3 has good ideas that are hardly explored, but the second half is nice, Mario Galaxy rap of sorts. 4 displays perfectly the nocturnal dreamy atmosphere I mentioned but is quite meh. I sense some Ott in it which makes it interesting. 5 is just meh and drops this a couple points. Hey this isn't fantastic but at least it doesn't follow a recipe and makes it worth listening to her following output. 2.7
I Hate Models/Umwelt Requiems3.0
The IHM track is cool and would work great as a set closer or something - not so much for at home listening but cool. The Umwelt track has ideas but doesn't function at all as a track imo. https://newfleshrecords.bandcamp.com/album/rave-or-die-10-gold-2019-rod10gold 2.8
Smile To The Wind Illusions4.0
Great screamo record that stands out because of its very fast tempo and brutality. It gets right at your face and reminded me somewhat of Beau Navire.
Night Flowers Hey Love3.0
1 is a pretty kinda jammy track, but 2-3 felt quite naive and not in a good way, although 3 does show some nice rock influences. By the looks of it 1 is the only one that made it to the LP so that's good I guess? Also means there isn't a reason for me to come back to this really unless the LP ends up being terrible. 3.05
Desired Timeless3.0
A fun little future funk (?) record that has some good bounce but tends to push its own concept a little too far. A lot of the tracks just have a little too many quirky samples or just abuse the 'fun Japanese samples bouncy tracks sidechain kick snare' envelope - the closing track being an example of that, or also the Sonic samples on 5. By 6-7 the record starts to sound a little bit like a parody of itself. But when it knows to remain relatively subtle (if the word applies here), hell is it fun. 1 and 3 are jams in that vein, 2 is a bit weaker but is super fun too. 8 is quite disco and funky, and one of the strongest tracks too, along with 10 which again shows how good this can be if it knows to not go over the top. 11 is a simple but fun party track relying on heavy sidechain, too bad it extends for a little too long. Nice but I feel like there gotta be better records in the genre? 3.0
Dubby [MOS001]3.5
Sweet, aerial dub techno reminding strongly of Yagya and Ben Buitendijk to a lesser extent. 1 could literally have been on Sleepygirls. The second track does every now and then feature darker beats in the vein of other records by the label, but for short amounts of time only - which is my only gripe with the album, as the contrast with the light leads is very nice and would have been worth exploring a little more. 3.6
Cuzco/Catholics Split3.5
This is a cute math-rock EP. The cuzco track is nice and diverse with good sections. 3.7 material. The catholics track is odd but interesting, with some unusual sounds for math-rocks, strings etc. Overall this is a pretty inconsequential record and I don't like the concept of splits in general, but this was a worthy and sweet little listen. 3.4
Nubya Garcia When We Are3.5
This is an interesting take on modern jazz with prominent and aggressive drums. Very likable sound although the EP itself feels like it is just the of two singles instead of a consistent record with a beginning and an end. I have not checked out her full length yet but this made me want to. Did not care much for the two remixes although they are not bad by any means. 3.7
Helena Deland Altogether Unaccompanied Vol. I and II4.0
I'm not really sure why the two volumes have been lumped together in the database but you know what I'm not gonna question it. Vol. I 1-2 is textbook but excellently crafted indie folk, 1 having perhaps a few more surprises with some nice synthwork in the end. Given the short length, 3.8. Vol. II ie. 3-4 transitions a bit weirdly from this, which isn't a surprise given the records are separate, but in the context of jamming both together it does bring nice freshness. 3 is a trip-hop track almost, especially in the intro, and it's surprisingly well done, whilst 4 has almost the vibe of an acoustic-ish cover of an RnB song. Would probably be sort of 3.7 on its own. Together the two volumes have sufficiently good consistency iwth enough variety to warrant a soft 3.85
Anna von Hausswolff Dead Magic4.5
Fabulous album mixing a variety of influences, even bordering on ambient and drone at times. Eerie, tribal, epic in alternation.
Royal T (US) The Secrets2.0
As far as I understand this is a wholly independent project which is to be praised. I am not sure if the vocalist and the beatmaker are different people but it sure feels like so, because the beats are quite consistently good and the vocal deliveries consistently not my cuppa at all. The delivery feels very youtube-esque, and without even paying attention or looking at the lyrics they sometimes kinda feel off and meh. It's not always bad and it does feel really good when it occasionally works, but that is without fail short lived and soon replaced by m'kay to mildly cringe stuff. This is most frustrating on tracks like 1,3 or especially 8 which have great, delicate instrumentals, on 2 which would almost work as a slow house type track if only he didn't rap over it, the really cool and quite fat 6, and even on a track like 7 with a more conventional beat based on a very nice piano sample. He does succeed vocally on 4 relatively consistently, but that's the only example. The beats aren't faultless either. On top of the sometimes awful, sometimes kinda cool vocals, 5 feels like it butchers its Portishead sample by misconstruing it into some sort of trap beat. And on 9 there are formal mistakes with vocal samples and some drums mixed way way too high. This latter example convinced me to drop this a point on the basis that not even the beats can all save this. Jam this for the instrumental to 8, that's about it. Sorry man. 2.2
L'Imperatrice Matahari3.5
Jammed the French version because why would I not. This album's main mistake is to start quite funky and boppy, and then to deprive us of that for the rest of the album, with the exception of 10 which is an instrumental reprise of a prior track anyways. I feel like opening on a few of the more psychedelic/soft songs would have made them work a lot better, as here the contrast with the explosive tracks hurts them a bit. Beside this structural problem, the album is as always quality through and through. 1 takes its time to introduce the album with some classic L'I smooth synthwork, 2 delights us with beautiful synthy bass that makes me want a moog. This nice basswork is continued on 3, but to be frank the sort of multi vox disco vocals in English work less well for me than the regular L'I vocals and the track feels a bit anecdotal. 4 is a huge jam with again funky moogy bass and a great a capella intro. Then the album goes a lot calmer on the nice 5, and as I said hardly picks back up after that. 6 is similar and has some cool added vox. 7 is more lush and cuddly. 8 does give us a bit of the Moog funk back, but it's not as explosive as before. 9 is an excellent 'scared' song, and 11 is also an excellent song that makes me thikn of the drifty space tracks in super mario galaxy lel. Its only flaw is that it really doesn't conclude into anything, reinforcing this feel of the album falling a bit too soft in its latter two thirds, and settling that it belongs below 4.0 tier. Yet with the quality I can't decently give any less than a 3.7
Salim Washington Dogon Revisited3.5
It's sweet to have modern production on jazz for once. It starts off as fine jazz club, but you know that (prod aside) could have been recorded 60 years earlier. Sweet drum solo though. The record shows that it's got more flavour from 2 though, which after a questionable transition features faster, modernish drums + kalimba (?). Idk about the mixing on the vocal sample though, sounds like a narrator. Perhaps it's partially my fault for paying less attention that I ought to but the album kind of lost me in its middle. It's all quite good, some cool wind instruments in places (on the cool 4 for example), bass and drums generally on point, but nothing to truly grab my attention. 6 even gets a bit annoying in places. Then 7 and 8 crank things up a whole lot and are imo the peak of the album, with some rather unique instrumentation with a country violin and other things, with some highly dissonant strings evoking Penderecki mixed over jazz, and just a whole lot of spice and interesting ideas all round. Convinced me to maybe check his other things, although the concluding track is kind of generic again. 3.55
Rebekah My Heart Bleeds Black4.0
A fantastic set of crass, pounding industrial techno tracks to morcellate your brains out. 1-4 is excellent in that style and would form a very strong EP. 2 is a jam which represents what I like to imagine Berghain sounds like, and 4 is a jam too. Unfortunately the run from 5-6 is much much weaker, starting with the annoying 808 (or whatever they are) snares on 5. At the end of it I thought the album would be too long and that it should have been a shorter EP, but I was wrong as the enormous jam 7 comes in zith its gritty and noisy textures to bring the interest right back up - despite a middelkerk conclusion to the track that is a rare instance of the album not flowing well. 8 starts by a simple pound that's just fine, but at min 2 or thereabouts it morphs into a vast, ominous track that could have been a fantastic closer. However there is still 9, which flows well from 8 and is quite atmospheric too, wrapping up the album nicely - although perhaps not as well as 8 would have. This is good man, will stay in my library. 3.85
Alexia Avina Betting on an Island3.5
Pretty ambient folky stuff on the happier side of things - a bit of midway between Gia Margaret's second album, a happy version of Sea Oleena, with maybe a sprinkle of Ichiko Aoba's latest album in terms of vibes. Although it doesn't vary enough to excite me on the whole record, on individual tracks the vox are very pretty, though slightly generically pretty in places. The somewhat clumsy intro on 4 is an example. That being said almost every track that starts in a not so interesting way does develop ideas later on, just like the controlled rhythmic mismatch around 1:10 on 4. And most tracks start very prettily and remain good, 6 being a good example with a great pretty and inspiring intro that continues into nice ambient experimentation. I will say I find the generic electronic percussions that feature on a couple tracks a bit cheap and not fitting well, and 8 feels quite unnecessary as a track, dropping this a point, but I could see myself revisiting this and liking it more. I will definitely come back to a few selected tracks at any rate. 3.5
Turnstile Time and Space4.0
On this one Turnstile refine extremely well the packaging around the songs, but until the second half struggle with the songs themselves. Indeed the key selling point here is the interludes -whether it be the excellent soulsey (yes) interludes on 4 and 12 or within tracks- and other additions the band made to their sound. They don't all work though with some added vox not really working for me, and the tracks often feel very short. 1 is a the darker and less fun than usual mid-good track, 2 has a great epiano intro that transitions well but some of the weird new vox, 3 has a great interlude 2/3rds into the track but otherwise continues this darker vibe that I don't think fits the band too well. 5 is the first track that feels truly fun and after a nice intro offers fat riffage and clean vox that are good to see albeit a bit cliche. 6 is a slightly overextended, functional dumbfunstile track that would work better live but does have some nice added keys. 7 goes into faster hxc and has an excellent transition into the main riff altho it's not their best riff at first. 8 has an excellent intro and one of the best riffs yet, making the dark vibe work a lot better. 9 is the only bad track of the second half (/album?) with vocals taht sound a bit like a7x. 10 was on the preceding EP and is still a very fun RATMesque/hxc bop. 11 is a dope track with great riffage despite the meh added vox, and 13 closes on one of the best Turnstile-of-the-mill tracks with excellent riffage in places and fun added vox. An LP showing the band blooming to maturity in album construction and mixing in new influences a la Refused. 3.8
Two Sided Agency Bonjour Tristesse3.0
1-2 are alright sort of atmospheric acid techno (which in its concept is interesting), 3 is a banger jam and made me listen to this in the first place, 4 is weak in its first half but imporves in the second half. Nice, but not much to fuss about except track 3. 3.0
Pianos Become the Teeth Wait For Love3.0
Very similar to its predecessor, but in my opinion a little bit better. The band seems more
comfortable with their new softer sound and experiments with it a little bit more, offering
a fresher and less bland album. However the quality drops somewhat towards the end of the
record, and overall it still only is worth a 3.2-3.3
Yndi Halda A Sun​-​Coloured Shaker3.0
This was going to be a 2.2, but the last two minutes and a half of eerie keys-based noisy ambient are simply gorgeous and bump this to a 3.0. The rest is an even less inspired version of Under Summer and unlike the latter is frankly quite boring.
Why Bonnie In Water3.0
Sweet debut, but nothing majorly incredible. 1 is a fun start in dreamy road trip rock style and is probably my fav here, but it's not quite a jam. 2-3 felt weaker. 2 has a 'classic' rock and dream pop vibe to it that was already here on 1 but is just stronger, and 3 especially feels amateur in places with some vox and guitar tones. 4 is better again though, even though the vocals get a bit much. 3.1
Loma Loma3.5
Nice, quite original - interesting blend of somewhat downtempoed indie folk-pop with tribal and psychedelic touches, but not crazy good. 1-3 are nice, especially 1, and 3 makes the band sound like a nice first at a gig - same goes for 6. 4 is Erased Tapes sound + aerial vocals and is one of the two kinda jams on the record, before the record goes into more industrial and electronic directions, which is nicely done but doesn't produce the best tracks, before going back to softened psychedelia towards the end of the record. 9 is the other jam, 10 has a nice instrumental but doesn't get too good until its second half. 7 sounds like a folky post rock interlude, it's pretty sweet but I wish they made it evolve further. This could have been a lot better as the band manages to craft very delicate and subtle sounds, but it feels like it lacks ambition a bit. 3.6
KAS:ST Cosmic Walkers3.0
Good dark and industrial techno atmosphere, but really not much that is memorable to get this higher than a 3.0. It does have some good ideas and textures to bring it above the 2.5 bar, but probably won't re-listen to this.
Natalia Lafourcade Musas Vol. 23.5
Some excellent tracks mixed among a few bland songs that make the album good but not exceptional. Still a worthy listen with a few favourites mixed in there.
Relay Tapes Semblance3.5
Solid little dreamy EP with discrete vox. I faken love the tones and whiff of riff in the instrumental intro 1 from the first few seconds. 3 is also a highlight, whilst 2 and 4 are good but not as hooky. 5 is calm and okay but kind of tempered my enthusiasm. Considering it's a debut too, this is exciting. 3.5
Chihei Hatakeyama Void XV3.0
Yet another one of those nice, static ambient records Chihei does very well, but that fundamentally struggle to be hugely striking. It might be fatigue from the other ones I jammed recently or just conditions generally, but this one felt uneventful and nowhere near as compelling. The textures are far simpler, and the usual nuances and details he adds are not as present - compare track 2 to track 4, for instance. 3.0
TLRVT Classic Waffle3.5
Cute instumental rock with mathy touches and pretty post-rocky guitars. Nothing overwhelmingly good but it's a fun short listen and 2 is above the rest. https://tlrvt.bandcamp.com/album/classic-waffle 3.3
Lillet Blanc Casco Bay3.0
Not super convinced by this one. The songs feel messy, heteroclite and inconsistent with a little bit too much going on at once and not enough stability to either build up an atmosphere or create hooking melodies. I also don't like the vox here as much, they fit mush better on the lush atmosphere of the s/t. 1 is still a jam with a lovely blend of surf rock and dream pop, which we find again on 5 but in a less good version. 6 is quite groovy but also dreamy, more in the vein of the s/t. 2 is lusher, 3 has a nice use of abrasive guitars but that just doesn't fit with the rest, and 4 features keys that sound really odd. All three tracks but especially the latter two show what I mean by the record being 'messy'. The first track is the only one I'd come back to, otherwise I'll take the s/t over this any day. 3.2
Emmanuel All Killer No Filler4.0
Excellent techno exploring a lot of textures in a short amount of time, from strong house influences on the opening track to more atmospheric ambient-dub techno towards the end, with a more industrial sounding middle track. Interesting sounds, especially on the last track. Very solid EP.
Porches The House3.0
Much more electronica based than their prior output, this one hits perhaps harder when it does, but it very often fails due to a combination of annoying moany or autotuned vocals, excessively minimalistic instrumentals, or erratic bleep bloops. The very album intro is good but quickly you feel like ok stop the moans now. The outro track is quite nice and wraps the album well into a sort of vox led ambient thingy. 2 is one of their most fun tracks, displaying the electronic style on this record done well, and is kind of a jam. 4 shows the most dream pop they've ever been in the intro but doesn't unfold incredibly well. 5 despite being moany sort of works I guess. 6 shows them going RnBey - experimenting nicely - but is too bleep bloopey to work. 8 is another bouncy electronica track but the vox ruin it, and they ruin 9 even more. Even without that the track feels weak, but interestingly it made me wonder if I'd have this much trouble with female vocals. 10 is the other kinda jam here, it takes a while to kick in but when it does it does nicely. 12 shows autotune used quite well in daft punk fashion, but the track doesn't work because of the weird instrumental. 13 is cooper fx generation loss guitar + annoying vox. So yeah an erratic record quite like their prior stuff, but showing a definite change in direction which can work quite well in places. 3.1
Coletta Mind and Time1.5
I feel partially bad for rating this very low because instrumentally there isn't all that much to fault, and even a lot to praise. The softer instrumental bits are the best here, but even in the rest there are nice synths, nice guitar lines, and a mishmash of lots of influences. It's also hard to not ragerate bcs I went into this expecting some indie pop or even some prog rock of some kind where in actuality this is Circa Survive-esque post-hardcore + some Plinicore, cf for example the intro to 4. And just like for CS and co., the issue I have is the globally insufferable vocals, insufferable enough to ruin the record entirely and make you want to to stop halfway. The first track isn't actually so bad, but the Linkin Park-worship rapping on 2 and then the awful harsh vocals showing up for the first time on 3 but also coming in to ruin the tracks thereafter just break the deal very early on in the record. Moments like the midtrack to 5 offer brief relief but don't last 30 seconds before they are ruined by the vox again. The piano outro to 3 is also kind of redeeming. 6 is a compilation of everything that is wrong with this EP, and also displays how out of place the vocals are when you have fun synth lines on a fun indie background of sorts and then just godawful badly produced harsh post-hardcore vocals to complement it - who thought this was a good idea. I'll stop hating but 1.6
indigo la End Pulsate3.5
For sure their softest, most laid back record yet, and one that I mostly enjoyed. The addition of keys with lots of piano thrown into their repertoire is nice. To be honest I had to pause this many many times so it wasn't the best conditions, but I enjoyed this more or less thoroughly even though some of the songs do overextend and get a bit much/annoying, for instance 8 or the s o f t closer. While this was all fun, there were also few actually noticeable high points. 1 is really nice, 3 is fun, but 9 is really the one stand out track, starting like a funky 70's song, then not unfolding too much, but then going into a super fun and jammy intrumental section in the middle. The added emo/mathy guitar twinkles show a nice mix of genres, and the track's easily one of the best and memorable tracks on the album, its clearets jams. Again I'm a bit puzzled by the remixes here, but in a vacuum they're quite nice. 3.55
Nepal (FR) KKSHISENSE83.5
This is his most consistent EP with not a single weak track really, but it is also the least marking, and the most generic sounding - I just enjoy the style here less. The run from 4-8 is particularly uneventful, albeit of good quality. The feat on 6 is kinda nice, and 8 provides a quiet and soft album outro which echoes the album itself, leaving almost unnoticed. There isn't really a clear cut jam here but the first half is more interesting, especially 2 which mixes a cloudy atmosphere with trap, and 4 which has a nice, darker atmosphere as opposed to the lushness of his Blue Half thingy. 3 has a lovely instrumental but feels again a touch generic, and 1 has a not so good instrumental and was perhaps one of the weakest tracks. Overall don't think I'll come back to this bar a couple tracks, but it's not bad by any means. 3.5
Freeze Corleone Projet Blue Beam3.5
I really enjoyed the middle/second third of the album, a quite dark brand of French rap.
The album only scarcely annoys, which is impressive, and is well constructed with a nicely
defined atmosphere, rare enough in hip-hop to deserve praise. His delivery is excellent
most of the time, but it occasionally stumbles and feels amateur which is quite weird. This
is shown on 5 and particularly on 9, both jams, the latter exemplifying some of his best
lines with some of his worst deliveries. 6 and 7 are also jams. 8 has an annoying intro
with a hook repeated over and over (which also faults 4, one of the weaker tracks), but
after that it is quite a nice heavy track too. 10 is dark but chill, but is a minute or two
too long with a vocal sample just listing stuff? 11 is an ok track but I wish the album had
a better conclusion - would've bumped it a point. 1 feels a bit silly and simplistic with
its Harry Potter sample, and 3 is the only annoying track tbh. 2 is cool and chill. Overall
a solid, well-constructed album with a bunch of jams, but I'm hesitant to put it in 4.0
territory yet. Ekip (you gotta stop saying that every line dude). 3.7
Silvana Estrada Primeras Canciones3.5
The first three tracks are really well crafted and a sign of great things to come. 1 is a lovely album intro, 2 begins very nicely and softly to unfold superbly into something more poppy and vibrant than I expected, whilst 3 also unfolds superbly but remains in softer territories. A solid 3.7 so far. 4 is then quite incongruous and doesn't really fit with the rest. I wasn't surprised to see it was previously released as a standalone single as it really sticks out. It also happens to be the track I enjoyed the least, though it's not bad per se. I still think this is a lovely EP and that Silvana Estrada is someone to watch as far as Mexican singer-songwriters/pop stars idk how to describe this go, as both her records up to this point showed a lot of promise. A soft 3.7
Miel De Montagne Petit Garcon3.5
Cute little EP that works well as relaxed, dreamy sometimes synthy and mostly instrumental indie pop to chill on the seaside, without being enormously memorable due to not trying to be too boppy. So it works great for its purpose, but isn't too ambitious. 1 is perhaps the most fleshed out track as it has more vocals, whilst 3 is the most synthpop track here and has a particularly great intro though the rest of the track is fun too. Short and sweet EP, 3.4
Swing Marabout4.0
Consider this a joint -dex recommendation of some sweet, chill Belgian-hop. Instrumentals are often complex, multi-layered and evolving, far from being a mere loop over a drum line. This is displayed from the get go and all throughout, but my favourite example are the added percussive sounds coming at min 2 on 2. His delivery is also excellent and varies from hard hitting to more fun and laid back a la Hippocampe Fou minus the parody aspect. It's nicely displayed on 8 for example. Every track is sweet but 2 and 7 are hard hitting jams. The exception being 6, which is outright horrible and completely out of place - prevents the album from being a 4.2 for me. I love the very inspiring intro texture on 9, but the track doesn't unfold into more than a merely ok track. 5 is the only track where I really wish he didn't rap, I feel like it would have worked better without it. All in all this is a nice example of everything that French-language rap does well, and only scarcely shows what it does wrong. 4.15
I Hate Models Midnight Cults4.0
For IHM this is pretty soft techno, but he pulled it off well. This is very cinematic and evocative, a perfect soundtrack for daydreams of industrial landscapes and raves in obscure neon-lit basements. It also has some weird phases too and the EP's quality fluctuates a fair bit, but overall it is a good listen. 3.9

2017
Frail Body AT PEACE4.0
This is super short yes, but I can't believe it only has a 3.4 average. Quality skramz with a nice atmosphere, I dig the somewhat amateur prod, not revolutionary but definitely worth checking out if you have a spare 5 minutes. 3.8
VIM UKIYO4.0
Very very sweet and catchy little dream pop EP with some nicely memorable melodies. I recalled 2 just from hearing it once when budgie linked it so hey well done band. 1-2 are very nice, but 3 and 4 really bring it up a notch with two lovely upbeat, catchy jams, 3 being the lusher one and 4 being the one you can dance to. I wish the EP ended on this fun track and not on 5, which while nice is certainly not as good, bringing it down a point. 3.75
Ojne Prima Che Tutto Bruci4.0
This is good screamo in European fashion - with heavy touches of post-rock -, but it feels
somewhat overhyped. Great melodies, vocals a la Envy but with a bit poorer rawer production and
in Italia, which I enjoyed. This is a great album but also nothing too crazy - feels like your
typically brilliant screamo record. 3.9
The Callous Daoboys Animal Tetris3.5
The daoboys are a n g r y. This sounds vastly grittier and tortured than I remember the first EP being. The quality is also more consistent I feel, and certainly this is a well executed chaoscore EP throughout, with elements of chaos and fun surprises in most non-interlude tracks that make sense and spice things up quite nicely, except perhaps in the run 2-4 where some of the strings feel like they are there just because, whereas in other places they fit a lot better. The vox are angry, the end of 5 or indeed the record conclusion are cool, all in all not my favourite record on Earth but a short, solid, diverse one for 17 minutes of frenetic anger but still with contrast and calmer parts. 3.6
Goodfight Florida Room4.0
Supper fun poppy little jangly record for happy times. 1-3 are all jammy, then the mellower
slower 4 doesnt work a well imo, but is immediately followed by the jammy 5 and its nice guitar
tones which 6 then prolongs into more rock territory. 7 is a bit more naive and less compelling,
and 8 prolongs things a bit (especially the harry potter cover ghost track) but it's all fine.
3.75
Taylor Swift Reputation2.5
This isn't great, but it takes a bit too much hate imo. I still prefer this to her country stuff. Sequencing is pretty awful (cf transitions between 4-5-6-7) and there is one single jam on 11, but there isn't too much awful stuff either. 1 mixes a twerk/club verse with a 1989 chorus, it's alright I guess. 2 continues this. The Future feat feels very incongruous, although after it the transition back into Taylor's part (the best) is actually really sweet. Ed's take is boring although more congruous. 3 is annoying and skippable but has ideas. 4's better but also a bit boring, and shows how much she tried to go for nocturnal, city woob woob aesthetics with this one. 5 is a nice summery 1989 Taylor song and my favourite at that point. 6 is completely out of place and is the worst example of sequencing here imo. After the ok 7, 8 is kinda fun, and 9 is too in 1989 style. Not jams, but you know, not too bad either. 10 is an awful mixed bag of elements that don't go together with a couple scarce good sections, pretty symptomatic of the whole album. 12 follows the jammy 11 and is kinda cool too, but right after that 13 is quite dumb and 14 is alright but inoffensive. The concluding track is a soft ballad with pretty piano, which wouldn't be my choice but that I don't mind as a standout conclusion. Not much to retain with this one but come on it's not that bad. 2.7
Fief III3.5
This one tells more of a story and brings us from the village/urban vibes of the second record (I can't imagine this was unintentional given the track names) into the forests the first record took us into. And while the end record is really lovely, I can't help but prefer those foresty vibes above all else. The first record felt ever so slightly superior but it may be benefiting from being my first Fief record ever, so I'll slap the same note on this one. 3.6
You're Sister Sedentary Lives3.0
At first I liked this one a wee bit more than the follow-up, but I do find that it loses a bit of steam into more experimental/excessively ambient tracks which aren't too welcome on a record this low-energy to start with. Still a nice performance, a pretty sound, and some great tracks. 1 is very nice and sweetly raw, 2 is super eerie, then 3 feels ok but lackluster instrumentally. 4 adds a lot of things and is great although it is a bit overlong for what it can offer. 5 is far more ambient, and like I said I don't know that it is what the record needed at this point, although it gets nice and eerie near the end. 6 gets more folkey and is cool. I guess this just feels -and justifiably so- like an artist in search for a direction yknow? There are also some mmmh adventurous vox here and there but overall the performance is sweet. 7 is very nice, and 8 has some lovely sounds to it. 9 is a typical example of what i mean with the above - the experimentations are cool but in the context of the record it makes the whole thing feel a bit protracted. Prod is alright although there are some volume discrepancies. 3.2
21 Savage, Offset and Metro Boomin Without Warning3.5
I should re-listen to this because I was set up to expect more aggressive/explosive vibes than this offered, where it is despite the trap vox quite a subdued nocturnal record - a style quite evident on the calssy jam 9 for example. For a trap record it is surprisingly consistent and good as an album, with great transitions (helped by the cohesive mood) that often made me think a track was a new section of the previous song - the best example being the neat transition from 4 and its jammy instrumental but questionably fitting delivery from 21sav into the jammy 5. 6-10 also flow really well into one another, although there isn't always a proper transition to speak of. While generally I tend to dislike multiplicity of vocalists, here it is a strong point of the album, bringing variety and avoiding fatigue while maintaining a consistent style. This is best shown on the jammy opener, but is true of the record as a whole. Some tracks like 2 or 8 are perhaps a bit subpar, but I was really not expecting such a well constructed and cohesive album for the genre given the lineup. Props boys. 3.6
Marie Dahlstrøm Nine3.5
A cool EP too. Less focused than 0.0 but stronger than Gloom as it sticks to the more electronic, upbeat, beat-centred approach of the former while still falling in some of the traps of the latter. 1 with the prod and the soft guitar evokes Hiatus Kaiyote a bit. 2 starts off with some of the voice issues I found previously with her, but improves a lot later on and becomes really cool, with a nice beat to it too. 3 Continues the flaws and is in more of a balladey style, making it the dullest track on the record. 4 thankfully changes things up very nicely and is quite a successful track. 5 tries that too but isn't so successful despite some great ideas like that change at 1:25 or thereabouts. 6 is is quite a nice neo soul song and another one that works quite well. 3.25
Jessie Ware Glasshouse3.5
Sensibly better than tough love with a few more standouts, but still has this feeling of compilation of a few good songs among a lot of ok but bland stuff. The intro track and 2 are very cool, which made me hopeful. 3 is softer and more rnbey, 4 is catchier, and both are nice, but by 5 it's already starting to feel a bit ok fine let's get a move on. 6 stands out as very cool and completely unexpected, I thouhgt it was a cover but apparently not. Dramatic shift of style, that unfortunately is poorly integrated as 7 comes back to regular soulsey balladey stuff and is frankly boring in contrast. 8 brings some surprise again with a pretty post-rocky intro and an unexpected but well done unfolding, not quite a playlist jam but a cool track nonetheless. 9 is then a pretty slow song, showcasing how faulty the structure is in this album. So far this is still superior to TL and in 3.5-3.6 ballpark. Then 10 is another slow song but more on the pop side, kinda nice but overstretches a fair bit, 11 is also ye fine, then 12 brings this massively down by ending this looon downward energy curve on an absolute snooze of a country ballad - maybe the lyrics are nice idk but this is skippable as hell musically speaking. Brings the alb way down to barely a 3.4
Nai Palm Needle Paw3.5
My conditions weren't ideal (had to focus and the album is a bit invasive) so I struggled
with this more than I should have. My main issue is that, whilst I love Nai's voice and
singing, over half the vocals are her or backing voices going
AAaaawoaAwaaAAawwwhhmmmmwAaAaa - and while that is great in a small dose, having so much
gets to yar nerves a bit. The vocals are mixed quite high and it just gets overpowering
sometimes, like on 2 in the midtrack where they just repeat the same stuff on and on again.
I far preferred more subdued tracks like 6, 8, the midtrack on 10 - the early track being
weird in a cool way but getting a bit too much in places -, or 12. 11 has nice bits too.
Some tracks like 3 or 5 feel like a performance I would enjoy live but not listen to at
home - 5 is a cool cover of the HK song you know. I do absolutely love Nai's guitar
playing, especially on the fantastic intro to 2. It also complements nicely the Aboriginal
(?) vocals by Jason Guwanbal Gurruwiwi on the opener and closer which I both absolutely
love - also love the small conversation sample included at the end of the record. Feels
like I owe this a re-listen at least for some tracks, it just wasn't the right mood. 3.3
Amenra Mass VI4.0
I'm frankly lukewarm on this one. To be fair I havent jammed any Amenra in some time, but a lot of this feels a bit formulaic, and while it is of course well executed, I feel like they don't explode as much or for as long as they did previously. There are lots of good surprises though: the pyre-evoking intro of Plus Prs de Chez Toi (thanks live gig), Spijt which is frankly a great, well placed interlude, the midtrack and finale on Diaken, and most importantly A Solitary Reign, which introduces a never-seen-before flavour of Amenra whereby hopeful guitars are placed atop the usual sludge, making for an unusual and quite magnificent feeling. But it just feels like the tracks build up for too long a time leading to not enough. The second half of Diaken crystallises the issue for me actually: the midtrack is super cool, then it stops, but instead of the album ending there we have silence then yet another long build up leading to maybe 30s of a finale that then ends abruptly. I like the finale, I like build ups, but the ratio seems just a bit off you know? I still love this band but unlike their prior releases I feel like the songs really don't work as well in studio as they did live. Maybe a matter of listening conditions though and will rejam. m/ dedex check ligeti 3.9
Amber Navran Speak Up4.0
Cool neo-soul EP with excellent grooves. Was rbobbing my head to the music all along. Some rsections are a little less tasteful than rothers with sounds that feel out of place or rgrooves that are somewhat lost at times, but rdespite this imperfect execution this is a rsolid EP that I will listen to again and ragain. 3.8
Spectral Voice Eroded Corridors of Unbeing3.5
First of all, these guys have crazy good taste in artwork. Now this is deathened (?) doom with the occasional dm section. And these occasional bits are crazy good, pounding and hellish. The guitar tones are just so so deep, and the guttural voice is incredible. The band is at its best when it lays out massively reverberated walls of fat guitar tones and growl. These sections are sometimes followed by dark ambient which works really well in the context of the album. And in fact the record works least when they go riffy riff and play your generic doom really. 1 is great, but 2 already sticks to the same riff for too long. At 10:45 shows how the way they let walls of low ended reverb fill the space after each riff is so tasty. 3 has a great intro and a nice dark ambient outro but it doesn't unfold too well. 4 offers nice atmosphere, but 5 is definitely weaker (apart on the dm bits) and too much of that aforementioned generic doom style, bringing the album down definitely below the 4.0 bar into a (surprised I enjoyed a doom-ish album so much) 3.7
The Brwry The BRWRY LP3.5
Nice sput made idk, blackened crust punk? Very solid comps with lots and lots of dynamics. Prod is mostly good but has issues in places which breaks the deal a bit for me. Vocals are not my style quite but it's not a matter of technique - just taste. Lots of jammy sections. Great variety of influences with bits of black metal, deathcore somewhat, stuff like that. I had fun spinning this! 3.45
Hallas Excerpts From a Future Past4.0
Ah yes, yes yes yeeeeees. Exactly what one could have hoped for from the first EP. This is now superbly well produced whilst retaining all of its catchy qualities and building up on them. Sure the influences aren't concealed for one bit, sure some of the vox are a liiiittle too much (like I actually laughed a bit on 2), sure it gets a bit excessive at times (4 is a bit overwhelming), but man isn't it awesome and diverse. Transports you to other places whilst churning out tunes. What truly bumps it to 4.0 tier for me is, of course, STAAAAR RIDAH, but also the fact that the closing track is an excellent instrumental conclusion to close the epic with great panache, which really makes the album feels like a story and not just songs lined up one after the other. Great and might grow on me tbh. 3.8
Svarte Greiner Apart1.5
A paramount example of boring 'drone' music. It never is unpleasant, but a minute or two in I knew this would be a bore and wanted to skip to the end the whole time. Collages of random sounds that don't last enough to craft an atmosphere (except maybe 3, at a stretch) and just feel pointless. The last track seems a bit different and perhaps worthwhile, but by then I had entirely lost interest, which for an album this short is a bad achievement to claim. 1.5
Kelela Take Me Apart2.5
Again, very mild and bland record, but nice and never unpleasant. Because there are very few sections I dislike it does not deserve to be below 2.5 range, but it really is near the bottom of it. Most tracks are ok but just forgettable. 2 is the only one that kinda struck my interest, it is a cool song. Other tracks try (8,11,13), but fail to ever be near jam-level. 13 is a particularly bad idea. This record feels outdated and like a copycat of other thnigs (stripped-down Submotion Orchestra without jazz elements or prominent drums?), but again I did not really dislike it per se. 2.35
Sound of Ceres The Twin3.5
This one struggles perhaps a bit more than its predecessor when it comes to crafting an atmosphere - the band's instrumentation seems a little less full and simpler in places - but this still feels way underrated. Track 1-3 are nice and soft, with perhaps increasingly lacking substance but not to a dramatic degree, then 4 is catchier and more hooking. After an interlude, 6 is kinda cool and ritualistico-hypnotic with nice synths, while 7 is alright but a bit cheesy. The end of the track with the fat beat is kinda cool even though it's quite a convenue idea. 8's alright, 9 is nice, and 10 is the clearest jam here - the band seems really good at closing albums on super fun, whirly electronic-leaning tracks. This closer in and of itself bumps this a point or two to a final 3.65
Desolate (DE) Lunar Glyphs3.5
Bridges the prior album and the next while displaying more hip-hop influences than anywhere else in his discog, but quite forgettable. The kind of album you don't regret listening to but know you won't ever come back to. Hints of Tycho can be heard on 2 (interestingly with the mood of CLB though) or 12, while the hip-hop influences are clearest on 8 which is kinda nice, 10 where it is clearest, and 12 which really feels like it needs a voice to be complete. 7 calls back to the cinematic nature of CLB but is hindered by excessive bleep bloopiness, and the preceding track after a very nice intro of deconstructed piano is hurt by patchworking of far too many genres (hip-hop, house, Tycho, ambient). The best track here are the Farewell interludes, 5 being a sweet granular piano jam, and 2-4, 8 , and the sad 9 are nice too, while 11 almost sounds amateur. 3.4
Pomme À peu près3.5
I think I should listen to this one again another time - and it'll be happily so because this is cute and quite good - because it is quite weird that I really liked the first few tracks and the last few but didn't really click with most of the middle section. I do like that she goes for a lot of different vibes and it bodes well for the future, but i do feel like in this particular album it feels more like practice and that the record would be a lot stronger if it were shorter and focused on a few of the better songs. Her vocal performance is always excellent and is quite distinctly recognisable, which leads to a problem I frequently have with singer-songwriter records that you just get fatigued of hearing the same delivery on a lot of very different songs. I do think her style fits best on more lighthearted songs or cute little ballads, but some of the more intense or sadder tracks do work well too. I don't really know what to think, I'll stop rambling, but she is for sure an artist I like and will be happy to listen back to in the future. 3.6
Sundrugs Desert Underground2.5
Soundoff from yesterday. On this one Sundrugs decide to eplore tribal drums and ambiences, which is nice, but not wonderfully well executed here. 1 start of with nice eerie and scary textures before the tribal drums kick in, and ends on a synthy groove at the end. Very nice track and the most successful one by far. 2 is even more clearly tribal from the get go but just isn't a good track. 3 starts of on very creepy and interesting drone textures that get a bit broken by adding tribal drums yet again. That one could have really worked if it weren't for those drums. The last 30 seconds are outright annoying. Kudos for experimenting, but this is not his best at all. 2.6
Yeule Coma3.0
Has a lot more vocals and feels a lot more generic tycho-esque than the previous EP whilst struggling to create as ethereal an ambience. It is still sweet, soft and comfy music though. 3 was my favourite track (it is the most ambient one after all) and 4 was quite nice too, while 2 or 5 demonstrate that Tycho vibe I get quite well. 3.05
Wolves in the Throne Room Thrice Woven3.5
Yea it does go back to a lot of their former elements and offers a nice blend of their black metal past, their folk touches and their more recent ambient and choral ventures, but alas this appealing mix is being showcased by a relatively tepid and only mildly convincing album. There very much is this effect I have previously found with WITTR where the soft sections are good, but because you know the harsh bm sections they lead up to aren't all that harsh and don't always have the best riffage, sounding a bit uninspired, well then it feels like you are waiting and building up to something that will be underwhelming which makes the wait itself lose a lot of its interest. That being said it's still a pretty decent listen, and there are some cool sections, and also I don't think my conditions were ideal, but I don't think this will really ever be one of my favourite wittr or bm albums, and to the surprise of no one, my favourite bit was the droney, ambient ending on 5. 3.4
Godspeed You! Black Emperor Luciferian Towers3.5
Idk what on earth is happening in the soundoff section here. Anyways, is this the best GY!BE record out there? Definitely not. But it remains well crafted. The transitions (aside from within the two triptychs) are really poor with frank blanks in places, making this feel like a compilation of B-side pieces rather than a true album, although all the pieces have a coherent aesthetic. 1 is the most interesting with its slight traces of brass and jazziness. The others are to me variations of the sound on Yanqui UXO, with good quality and cool instrumentation, but with build ups that never lead to the heights GY!BE has used us to. It's fine, and from another band it would surely score higher, but it's hard not to feel disappointed. The last triptych was losing me a bit until the violin comes in on 06:30 and makes the conclusion all aerial and beautiful. That's probably the only GY!BE-worthy moment there along with 1, but man would be nice to hear on a road trip. 3.7
Gemini Rising After the Rain3.0
A bit meh this. The tracks are fine but I don't feel like they fit on a very short EP like this, especially the softer and contemplative 2; on a larger album sure, but here it feels a bit pointless. 1 is more upbeat and another nice 80s worship track, but while it has some sweet synthage it's not as catchy as some of their other tracks. Feels like it would be a good track on a larger album, but not a highlight. Good thing both of there are on the full-length indeed so that they can be heard in a hopefully better context. 3.0
Nthng Turn to Gaia3.5
Not the best album intro in the world again, but it's alright. 1 starts off as funky techno, and once again when these nthng dub synths kick in they instantly turn it into a different track don't they. Much lovelier, but still not hugely marking or an amazing track, and quite a skippable one. 3 is in somewhat the same vein, but from the first few seconds with the syncopated synths you know it's going to be a bouncy one. And indeed it is a bouncy one, even reinforced at 4:40 by some lovely shakers. It is a better track than 3 and certainly a more memorable one (I still remembered it from first listen), but still not a jam. Now the real reason you should jam this EP as I recollected well is the sublime centerpiece A Souls Search, an incredibly lush ambient track with a myriad of pads and a nice rond bass behind it. It is an ambient track that you can tell was made by a techno artist because it retains some of the bounce and some of those sounds without being techno itself ever at all. And for that alone, it is interesting. Jam jam jam, and single-handedly brings this to a 3.3
Rayana Jay Morning After3.5
A bit of a disappoint. The soulful groovy goodness of the first track or two rapidly fades and is overpowered by the poppy R&B elements the opener baked in so delightfully. The record sounds less and less mature as it goes. The end sounds quite basic and typical college freshmen material, which is a shame. Beginning still really good. 3.4
Benjamin Clementine I Tell A Fly4.0
A burlesque, patchworky album that makes for a very interesting listen. This is made of invariably superb light piano sections, random harpischord bits, grooves of various origins - there is even some DnB DNA in 8 -, broadway-evoking vocals - probably my main issue with the album - and lots and lots of other elements all pieced together in a completely non linear and rather chaotic way but one that works somehow. While it is a bit of a struggle to love in its entirety given how many elements it has, especially when like me you are allergic to musicals, this is nonetheless a super fun album, full of ideas and unexpected things, and frankly a worthy listen. Main highlights were perhaps 4,6 and 9, but this is a thing to be listened in full. RIP Ted. 3.9
Old Sorcery Realms of Magickal Sorrow4.0
This is some of the best dungeon synth I've heard. Yet I still would have a hard time rating anything above 4.0 in this genre. This record has an amazing opener and almost as good a closer. On their own I might rate these two tracks a 4.0, but the middle of the album - albeit short - drops a lot in quality and exemplifies the genre's shortcomings: it sounds almost funny, or like the vintage soundtrack of some old pc medieval game. There is a fine line there. 3.8
Freeze Corleone X TheHashClique THC3.0
Starts off strong, and has a few jams sprinkled all over, but has severe dips in quality on most tracks thereafter. Freeze experiments a bit with autotuned or even cloud rap here, and he does so very successfully. 3 is a fat jam, and 7 is a cloudy jam which sticks a bit out in the general dark, nocturnal urban vibe the album gives off. Tracks delivered in his usual style can also be quite strong, and the opener is solid, while 2 experiments with a sort of lo-fi prod on the vox which is nice for an intro but feels like it should stop at some point in the track yet doesn't. The closer is also a cool track, and the bulk of 9 is nice and fat, but the intro and outro are cringe. For the rest, every track suffers from a different subset of a lot of recurring flows: annoying repetitive hooks as intro and outro, excessively long outros, poor conclusions, gimmicky lyrics, bizarre vox processing in places, and instrumentals that often sound like they come from some beatmaking channel on youtube. Rarely annoying, but not great. But the jams still pull this up to a 3.15
Celer Loma3.5
Very nice droney ambient piece. The first two thirds are one tasty ambient Celer texture,
and towards the end the tape starts undergoing relatively extreme warble and pitch changes
which gives an increasingly ominous flavour to the piece and makes for an interesting
track. Quit short, but worth a check for drone peeps. 3.7
Delusion (FRA) [MOS009]3.0
I just realised this last "EP" was by Delusion too so I have no idea what happened to MOS008 since MOS009 came out over a year later. And then after this one they disappeared seemingly forever? This label is mysterious. Anyway this one is a wholly different style from 008, the beat is much lighter, and the track has an ambient/dub feel to it. Feels like it'd be a great 'cooldown' track on an album between harder hitting cuts. On its own though it's porbably a 2.9
Phoebe Bridgers Stranger in the Alps4.0
Unlike a lot of ppl here I don't find this to be too samey/boring - after all I do like some fairly unvaried folkey albums, so it doesn't bother me here. I do find that Bridger's voice, whilst excellent most of the time, can sometimes not quite work for me especially in higher notes. Gene put it well. Sometimes it really does all sound quite corny. But mostly this is pretty, rarely stunning indie folk/balladey indie pop. 1 is beautiful and the subtle buildup is lovely, though I am not a fan of the panning. 2 is a bit more poppy or rocky even, which I think kinda ruptures with 1, but individually it is a good track. 3 would have linked up with 1 a lot better, as it is some more beautiful indie folk w nice instrumentation beyond guitar. 4 after that makes the first good non-comical use of a ?banjo I've ever heard. I do find that a few of the songs (2,5,7) overextend in their last third, with attempted climaxes that feel overlong nd don't really work. Before that tho 5 and 7 are both very pretty, especially the unfold at 1:10 on 7 which is a relief bcs for a sec I thought it'd be a ballad like 6. 6 works quite well with enough going on to keep the interest up, but two piano ballads in a row would've been too much. 8 is another simple pretty folk song, with some more examples of the vocals I don't really dig, and 9 attempts some variation with added male vox which I think are poorly integrated and detrimental to the track. 10 is a pretty ambientish ballad, and it's nice to see a wee outro track. Not a mindblowing album, but a sweet one. I should rejam it I wasnt super focused. 3.85
Alex Cameron Forced Witness3.0
While I can see the appeal, this has an aesthetic I struggle to resonate with, except on a few select funkier, more upbeat tracks. Cameron walks the line between quirky fun and absolute corn quite shakily, and as far as I am concerned it is more frequently on the latter side than the former - but I also understand how it would be the contrary for others. Anyhoo this is undeniably far far superior to his debut, and you can tell from the first few seconds. This has more variation, more in-track evolution, more sounds and more colour. Because of that and of the surprise brass addition, 1's a fun track. 2 is also helped with the fun sax and is fine too. 3's one of my digs as a fun 80s song. But 4 and its duet I struggle to take seriously, probs my least fave track here. 5's the same but a bit better, but 6 and 9 (nice) are no-nos. 7's at least funkier and alright, and 8 is ok too and quite fun. 10 is perhaps my one other real dig, it works quite well. But other than that this isn't really my cuppa, don't @me dedex 2.8
Alvvays Antisocialites3.5
On the last one they were hesitant about their direction, but here they found it. This is
fun, lighthearted summery indie/surf rock with dream pop guitar tones and candid vocals.
Really sounds like they'd be Aussie but they're from Canada so whoops. Now they did find
their direction, but while I do like it it's not my favourite aspects of their music that
they chose to pursue. The songs feel very short and didn't mark me as much as the jams from
LP1. 1 is nice, 2 starts a bit naive but has nice The Smiths vibes (a recurring theme), 3
is kinda catchy and clearly shows their going for a catchy indie rock vibe, but tracks like
4 or 5 showed me that this wasn't my thing too much. The nasally voice gets a bit much a
times, and despite the cuteness of the songs or the fun dream pop guitars this remains fun
background music to me and not much more. 6 is nicely surfey, 7 is fun too, and 10 shows
more dissonant guitars, but the record kinda lost me over time I have to say and it's only
34min long. 3.4
Squid Lino4.0
I did not AT ALL expect this to be so good. A 2.8 average debut EP wasn't too appealing, but I am very glad I checked it. I absolutely love the superb intro track which I find very Pink Floydey and frankly quite inspiring. 2 and 3 both transition superbly from the track prior, and feature ubiquitous synth nappes in lush prod that renders the whole delightfully psych and vast. I do find that 2 doesn't unfold very well at all, remaining very tame and being far lest rocky, explosive or psych than it could be for a large portion of the track. This is also true of 3, but less so as the bulk of the song is more successful and nicely psych. Very excited for the rest of the discog if this was at a 2.8, although I worry that the problems here with songs unfolding in tame ways may be recurrent. 4.1
Coma Regalia, Vril, Ostraca & Untold Want Yarrow3.5
Nice screamo compilation/4-way split albums. My fav sides in order: Vril (aka Nuvolascura) > Coma Regalia > Untold Want > Ostraca. Untold Want offers cool material but that doesn't feel hugely memorable. Ostraca's first track really clashes in terms of prod and sound, and the first track just seems odd like it comes from an entirely second record. Their second track is cool though, and the band is probably the slowest, sludgiest here. Vril's side is clearly the best imo, 7 and 9 being two fantastic tracks. The transition into Coma Regalia's final act is seamless, and the vocals are the only thing that actually let it transpire on a noticeable level. Coma Regalia's style is pretty similar to Vril's, but just felt a touch less good and memorable although the intro to their last track is kinda catchy. Worth a check if you dig Zegema Beach Record or Nuvolascura. https://zegemabeachrecords.bandcamp.com/album/yarrow 3.65
Celer Advancing Dances4.0
Nice, loopy, ominous and depressing, but simple and somewhat generic ambient from Willy. A good jam when in need for 16min of ambient but no more. 3.8
Tchami Revelations3.5
A surprisingly good, somewhat filler free EP from Tchami - even though the album construction is erratic at best and flow nonexistent besides the transitions from 2 to 3 and from 5 to 6. 1 has a cool not too cliche intro and is pretty strong odeszacore. 2 ruptures into something darker and clubbier. The buildup isn't the best but the drop is actually really cool and gritty, and I wish it had a better track around it. 3 is tomorrowlandcore but its flow, while ok, feels a bit incongruous and the track overall isn't so great. 4 is the first big surprise here (and generally the second half is the strongest) as it starts with weird but cool mildly dissonant percussions, and then builds up with the drums in a very nice way into a surprsingly original track. Wasn't expecting to see something less generic like that here. 5 is a great Prydzcore track and I'm glad it gets the length it deserved, while 6 is its softer, calmer continuation. Nice nice and some tracks I'll keep in mind. 3.3
Salim Washington Sankofa4.0
In my opinion, far superior to its follow up. The album throws its weirder tracks early on, which might deter some, but for the bulk of it it is all in all excellent but somewhat conventional jazz with great flow between tracks - to a point where you quite often don't feel that it is a new track. It also alternates nicely between a select few calmer, softer tracks, and bouncier things. 1-3 feature sometimes unusual vox, and it takes a bit of getting used to. 1 is nice but fairly standard vox aside, 2 brings more dissonances and some dreaminess and bluesy piano. 3 is the first peak of the album and a jam with its choirey intro, which marks pretty much the last of these vocal bits as the rest of the track and album is more instrumental. I recognised 4's melody (probably from the other alb that I jammed before this?) but it is quite fun and big band high energy similarly to 5. 6 is softer with flutes etc, then 7 is more energetic again but with a bit of a disappointing conclusion. 8 is softer and transitions nicely into the superb piano on 9 before the track eventually brings back the energy. I do like that the conclusion track - which btw is advertised as live but isn't really noticeably different from the rest - brings back a little more of dissonant spice to conclude things. It is just a little too long, which turns a solid 4.2 into a final 4.15
No Somos Marineros D'arcy3.0
This a case of a talented band suffering from lackluster album construction and struggling to commit to a direction. They switched to a hazier, shoegazey kinda direction with lots of chorus and phaser. That's fine and could have been fun, but it feels like they were hesitant with the change. 1 is really upbeat with their super drumming again, but then 2 is awkward, then 3 brings the drumming again over the shoegazy vibes. Cool track and the band definitely finds great melodies, riffs etc, but the problem is that after the album has stated itself as kind of upbeat with prominent drums, the band chooses to turn the energy way down and go for really relaxed songs. 4 whose intro is a clear example of their renewed aesthetic, 5 which does have a cool explosion at 3min but with lazy vocals still that feel like they weren't decided on making a proper explosion, and the lazy 6. Idk if it is a matter of mood but this switch to much more relaxed vibes didn't work for me, because after the tasters 1-3 you're waiting for the band's energy to pick back up and it doesn't quite do that. 7 is nice dream pop but with excessively lazy vocals. 8 brings back the more aggressive sound, but it feels a bit weird after these tracks. At least it prefaces 9 which finally goes full on and is a really cool track, buuut ends on a fadeout. Yeah this is full of ideas but it is missing some fundamental sequencing and construction. 3.15
Billie Eilish dont smile at me3.5
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Breag Naofa II3.5
Yeah this is clearly inferior to their debut. Sounds like it would be their debut in fact. Slower, sudgier, and less hardcore than their first and their EP - going against the progression between those two -, it also feels more dull and less diverse. Track 4 (XII) stands out as a clear re-listen, the other tracks are pretty forgettable. Closer stands out because of the weird French sample that does not really work imo. 3.7
Lunar Vacation Swell3.5
Very nice little EP to start off their discog. Perfect listen in the sun. I prefer the
faster paced song because they complement their fun summer vibes well - mostly 1 which is
a nice jam, and also 4. 5 is slower and doesn't quite have the same fun in it, but I
really dig it as a lazy sun song and think it works very well as a conclusion. 2 is a
slower ballad which would bore me were it a piano+vox kind of song, but that I still
enjoyed thanks to their dream pop sound and aesthetic. 3 is simpler and less catchy than
1, but the sped up section at the end is super cool and proves that I dig these guys more
when they jam to fast paced stuff and make fun songs. Wish the whole track were like
this. Exciting debut that also gets a bit of bonus love for being a debut. 3.6
Harrison BDP ARS0013.0
1 is a really chill, bass led, nearly voxless house track and is quite atmospheric and nice. 2 strips away more of the house elements and drags for a bit too long, with some gimmicky elements like the wobble around min 5. Brought this down a few points. Remix doesn't count in my rating but it's merely alright at first then unfolds weirdly. 3.15
zenxienz Brainforest3.5
I feel a bit disappointed to rate this below the 4.0 bar because its beginning really got me excited. This is a kaleidoscopic patchwork of a crazy depth of elements and influences - from sitars to jazzy polyrhythms, to noisy psych aesthetic, with 80s synths, distorted guitars - laid atop a background of Culpratey IDMey psychedelic electronica with the occasional Amen break, and with an overarching dreamy, ever-changing vibe with no chorus-verse structure whatsoever which reminded me of jazz fusion epics. And in the first 3-4 tracks this is done brilliantly well. But then the album goes through a relatively long calmer spell with fewer drums, and while it's cool and atmopsheric it's not as compelling. The craziness gets a bit much and you're missing the constant drum changes a bit. 6 is cool though as it shows how weird this album gets (tribal drums + distorted flutes + a house beat + synths??). At the end of the super drugged 8, the DnB vibes come back - which is cool here, but a trope that will be overused in the rest of the album. There is also a lot of fatigue with all these synths and arpeggios and things, and I feel like the calmer 13 and 14 should have happened much earlier in the album. The tracks are probably great individually, but in the context of the album passed the mid album it gets a bit too much too often. 3.7
Manchester Orchestra A Black Mile to the Surface4.0
It'd been a while since I last heard it. 1-7 is near perfect (in a indie 4.5 way), though 4 does put a damper on that as it sticks out a bit and doesn't feel it matches the others in quality. 8-9 is less perfect, but unlike 4 they don't stick out and do actually fit. They're good songs, they just feel half a tier below their predecessors is all. 10 is a nice but bare bones ballad with slightly over-reverberated vocals given how quiet the instruments are, then 11 takes on the more expansive sound again, with a slightly different, nostalgically hopeful vibe that makes it work well as a concluding track. Honestly might bump this eventually. 4.2
Dvne Asheran4.0
This is really cool. The instrumentals are phenomenal and remind of Mastodon at times, but with a myriad of additional influences ranging from psychedelic to black metal. These make the album quite unique and really a worthy listen - and re-listen. The one problem I had with this was the singing. There are two types of vocals on this album: the not so bad harsh ones, and the annoying ones. Clean vocals sound amateur and to me they just ruin the instrumental epicness going on in the background. Still, they seem to be less used in the second half of the album, and they are not too invasive even in the first half. 3.9
Giorgia Angiuli You Are My Religion3.0
Probably the best one out of those three early EPs. 1 is very meh and feels like it'd be earlier material or stuff still at the draft stage. It's very simplistic and not that interesting really. 2, while having fewer bells and whistles with no vox etc manages to work a lot better. It is very tastefully produced and is a nice atmo track worth keeping. 3 brings back the style of 1 but far better executed, the guitar lines being particularly cool, and brings this in definite 3.0 tear to let's say 2.85
Yeule Lost Memories Dot Net3.5
Apparently this is a video game OST of some kind? In any case it's good Yeule material, although I jammed it much later than the rest of her discog so the comparison isn't totally fair. All three tracks are in the same spirit of synthy, vaguely snes OST-esque indeed ambienty stuff with scarce dreamy vocals on top - in fact the first track reminded me a lof of Soul Catcher, a Yeule favourite of mine. The three tracks are all good, and while not a legendary record by any mean this is a short and sweet, thoroughly enjoyable listen. 3.5
City of Caterpillar Driving Spain Up A Wall4.0
Track 1 has a superb intro and explodes much more softly than I expected but is still great, whilst track 2 brings the skramz back a little more albeit still softer than their older records and is quite fantastic. Both jams I'd say. They still have a fantastic LP2 in them by the looks of it, if that ever comes. 4.1
indigo la End Crying End Roll3.0
Way too erratic as a record to really hook me, this feels like it wants to go in too many directions, some of which work beautifully, but a lot of which do not. A prime example is 7 being a remix in the middle of the record, taking IlE into an (kinda boring) electronic turn all of a sudden. The closing remix on 12 felt more appropriate and interesting, albeit not greatly executed. Intro's nice though. The tracks that do work are mostly the opener, which while having a slightly cheesy naive feel to it does emulate the bouncy IlE sound heard previously, and 9 which is a superb jam and the best track here, bringing back the bass heard on the previous album, and feeling weirdly lost in the middle of this record. 2-3 decrease the energy from 1 a fair bit, but the end of 3 is quite nice as far as laid back atmospheres go. 5 brings the cheesiness way back, and 6 is a bit annoying if you ask me. 8 shows the electrojazz (?) sound done quite nicely before the vox kick in and kinda break it for me. 10 comes right after the best jam here and is one of the few actually annoying tracks, showing how erratic the record is. 11's alright but by then I was lost entirely. Still has good bits here and there so 2.9
21 Savage Issa Album3.5
Had to interrupt this multiple times so I didn't quite measure the full impact of its longer runtime at 56 minutes, but this felt far stronger and consistent than his earlier tapes save Savage Mode. Feels underrated. First of all he pretty much entirely drops the gimmicky pew pew skrrt skrrt, which is a saving grace. The album's aesthetic surprisingly match the artwork quite well; far from the gangsta aesthetics one could expect, a lot of the tracks like 3,5,9,11 have bubbly, light and colourful cartoon instrumentals and are all super nice - although on 9 his vocals fail to feel congruous. 1's also a nice 21s track, and 2 is quite cool although his repetitive, slightly nasal delivery isn't so great. 4 is a rupture in atmosphere, going back to darker things between 3 and 5, but it is short and passable enough. 6 is cool but a touch too long. 7 is nice and relaxed, but after that the second half of the album felt far weaker - although again it might be my listening conditions. 8,10,12 and 13 are all far weaker - 13 being the worst by far. Thankfully, the closer saves the beans being a cool darker, autotuned track more in the vein of his tapes (but better made), and brings this up to a 3.3
I Hate Models Totsuka no Tsurugi3.5
Great and unique techno ep that mixes almost psychedelic melodic lines with banger rave beats. This is acid in a non acid way. I am not a huge fan of distorted kicks, so my appreciation decreased somewhat steadily with every tracks as these are used more and more. However this is a greatly imaginative and creative piece of music that deserves to be listened to. More melody than in most of IHM's work. 3.6
Shanti Celeste PARTY001 - Untitled2.0
Pretty dull house EP that starts well with 'Loop One' mixing a lot of elements into a house frame, with drums reminding the listener of a happy version of Burial. Quickly enough the transitions become lackluster and the track ends up being a messy patchwork rather than a cohesive whole with various influences. The second track 'Selector' is not very interesting and did not even succeed at being an enjoyable house track for me.
Denzel Curry 133.5
Strong EP, with 1 and 2 both being jams with interesting prod - although 1 is superior. 3 is nice and hits hard, and 5 is a cool track. 4 feels like it comes out of nowhere to ruin the record, compiling all the bad traits of Imperial in one track and bringing the record down a couple points. Still a 3.75
Mellow Gang Play3.5
Very nice debut EP. It might be because of the slightly dirty prod that evokes a live setting, but I can't help but feel this has a first-act-I'll-be-excited-to-check-out feel to it. They describe themselves as psyche pop and I guess that's fitting. Track 1 is a nice, funky electronic opener with gorgeous voice, but feels a bit flat as it progresses and seemingly fails to build up. The other tracks do unfold better though, and have nice elements to each of them. I like the synths going crazy on 2 (although I wish the vox were a little more dynamic here), the cute sounds on 3, and the fun percussions on 4. As the record went I started to enjoy their style more and more, especially on the closer which is nicely p s y c h. Excited for the LP. https://mellowgang.bandcamp.com/album/play-ep 3.4
Ex Eye Ex Eye4.0
I really liked this - and I am surprised that I did because John Zorn-esque experimental saxophone sounds usually start to annoy me very quickly. Here the integration with vaguely blackened post-metal is brilliantly done and works well. I was worried that this would get too repetitive and annoying after the first two tracks though, and this is where the album is very well constructed as it throws at you a phenomenal ambient noisy track with no or little saxophone to relax your ears. The last track was the only one I disliked, but a couple minutes in I realized it actually was a bonus track and ditched it. Needs a re-listen. 4.1
Sewer Election Malign2.5
Yeah this one didn't strike home at all. It's mostly made of experimental bore collage kind of stuff without much to it, and certainly isn't a noise album like Wreck. 3-5 was quite nice though, with 3 being harsher noise stuff, 4 sounding like an old tape warping in a cool way, and 5 having perhaps a weaker first half but a cool second half. 8 goes drone but isn't successful at it, 9 sounds like distorded DS but is quite eh, and for the rest this is pretty much just boring random sounds I found.2.3
Slift Space Is The Key3.5
Will type this one up tomorrow too but it's a cool ass record and while it has its flaws i feel like a 3.4 average doesn't do it justice. 3.6
Midwife (USA) Like Author, Like Daughter4.0
When does this never come up when I dig around looking for Groupercore? I massively enjoyed the most part of this. From the first few moments of 1 showing its gritty, noisy, yet restrained tones, I knew I'd love this. The sound is resolutely on brand with folky Grouper, but with its own take. The drone is less present, and the vocals are less depressing. Of course that is absolute bedecore and so I liked the heck out of it. Now I did enjoy the earlier bits more than the later bits. As time went on, I came to realise that the vocals were almost constantly produced with this thinned out, radio-effect type filter to them. And while for a long bit it works quite well, with time it feels a bit too uniform and like a limitation that prevent this from ever ascending to a higher tier. This adds to the feeling that 8 and 9, although the former moreso than the latter, are both a track too many. While 9 concludes things well, I feel the album would have really gained from being 10-15 minutes shorter, because in the last 15 minutes or so fatigue made my rating descend from a lower fringes of 4.1 to maybe at best a - still very respectable and worthy of a keeper - 3.9
Gemini Rising Gemini Rising3.5
A very neat little 80s worship synthpop EP that isn't perhaps shockingly good in itself but that I think for a debut is very strong and exciting. The opening track in particular is especially nice and catchy, a lovely jam. 2 is a bit less catchy despite its mildly bouncier rhythm but it's still nice. 3 is a synthy instrumental interlude which works quite well at building up tension. Slightly its follow up on 4 is an emotional track and I just don't think it was the best idea to end on that which substracts a point from this. I have to say however that the prod on this is so delicious and crisp that it makes me enjoy even 4 where it is nice to see them play with fx and add modern touches to the 80s worship aesthetic with autotuney things etc. Sweet sweet sweet. 3.5
Panda Riot Infinity Maps4.0
Man this band is cool. And I do mean c o o l. There are so many fun riffs and ideas on this record it's uncanny. It's also beautifully produced and the multilayered, diverse sound design is excellent. There's piano, synth, guitar, fuzzy guitar, vocals, backing vocals, everything you'd ever want. Just hear how beautifully produced 1:15-1:20 is on 4. My only small gripe is that vocals could be perhaps processed a bit more impactfully. With catchier vocal melodies they could achieve fantastic success. The early record 1-9 is pure joy, ripe with ideas, and an easy 4.05. There's just riff after riff, and even a distorted interlude on 3, what's not to like? Not a single bad track, and as soon as you start feeling there may be a downtime they just throw another riff at you that makes you bob yar head. 10-11 feel like the album is loosing steam a bit, and while beautiful in itself, the lovely ambient on 12 doesn't help with that. The late record has lots of very short track and I feel like that contributes to the problem. 13 is like the early record, 14 has more of an electronic vibe and is cool too (continued by 15), while 16 is cool too but has a few down sections. 17 is very dreamy, and while that was cool in the early record, here it doesn't feel like such a good idea despite the track having great elements still. Feels like unnecessarily extending the record, which would have benefited massively from being 5-10min shorter imo. 18 is a weird conclusion, feels like a transition into another track to end the record abruptly. Don't see the point of it really. 3.9
Immortal Onion Ocelot of Salvation4.0
Great jazz record. Reminds quite a lot of Gogo Penguin at times (which is to be expected
given the instruments are exactly the same), however this has also freshness and
diversity, creating very different vibes throughout the record. The opener for example
starts with what could be piano work by Joe Hisaishi, but the eponymous track brings in a
completely different atmosphere with funky groovy bass lines and a much quieter piano in
the background. This constant shift in style and mood makes the record interesting and a
much enjoyable listen, with the band managing to craft their unique sound quite
successfully.
Dua Lipa Dua Lipa3.0
The first half on this was honestly in 3.4 territory. If I had to get pumped on a road trip with people who can't stand anything else than mainstream pop it'd be a possible pick. No standout track really but no bad egg either, can all be jams in their own right. Then the second half from track 7 brings it all down with a series of mellow, romantic tracks that were really zzzzzzzz, with the clear and odd exception of track 10. Should've swapped 10 and 7 and ended the record there. 2.9
Elder (USA-MA) Reflections of a Floating World4.0
Awesome psychedlic/prog/stoner metal album. Very often feels like the logical continuity of 70's rock music except with modern day sound and heaviness. Even Pink Floyd-esque at times which is amazing. Some sections do feel excessively long and there is a tendency to sometimes go into random riffing and solos without much musical sense. Still, a brilliant record that manages to be both super cool and musically interesting. A definite re-listen. 4.2
Shakira El Dorado2.0
Seeing that this was on bandcamp (yes) I had to listen to it for the lolz. And it was just as bad as I had expected. I'll admit some tracks are maybe 2.5's-3.0's - summer beach feels are not inherently wrong -, but the overall album is a disaster. It tries so hard to be a new summer hit but is hilariously confused as to how to go about it. We get everything, from piano based lamentations to reggaeton, to mellow supposedly romantic songs, in no order and without any logic or structure at all. Even language-wise this is an erratic record, going clumsily from English to Spanish, and even to French with Black M's feat (yes). It's actually a funny listen, but don't expect anything good let alone great. At least it is not unbearable. 1.3rEdit: I was too harsh with this. It is annoying at times, but far from her worst. It is her most reggaetony yet, following trends really, which is a bit of a shame - her unique style is long gone by now. 1 and 3 are jams, 5 is fine, 7 is annoying but also sexy at times, and frankly I kinda dig 8's instrumental even though the vocals are appalling. 1.9
Low Roar Once in a Long, Long While...3.5
Largely abandons the folk aesthetics to concentrate on electronic elements a lot more. The second act is largely ambient, and so I am not really surprised that most people found this be a downgrade from 0 while I quite clearly prefer it (although yknow could be conditions). 1 is really cool and really displays the style shift from the get go. 2 seems cheesy at first but improves and the guest vox are a nice addition. 3 brings back the folk for a very subdued but really nice song, that has a lot more impact here than it would have among 10 other folk ballads you know. With this electronic vibe, the songs have more character and the album feels less repetitive as a result, as shown by 4 and 5. 6-7 is a bit too soft and perhaps the album's weak point as the last third is really well executed. 8 evokes electronic radiohead, 9 shows darker vibe that are unheard of in Low Roar's discog at that point, and while 11 is a bit yawney 10 and especially 12 are very nice and ambientey, concluding the album on a light and uplifting touch. Downwards energy curves arent usually my jam but I gotta say it works quite well. 3.6
Glaskin Debris Disk3.5
This EP is quite disappointing because it starts off great, the first track 'groundwork' is a massive ravey-industrial techno banger, and the second track really has a lot of punch too. But then it all goes downhill. The third track is average at best, and the remix on the last track is completely forgettable. A promising debut still, if they evolve in the right direction. 3.6
Woman Happy Freedom3.5
Again, a frustrating album from the Germans, but certainly an improvement. Instrumentally this is really sound and diverse, with lots of synths, going into funkey territories (the cool 3), RnB even on 8, latin-ish beats on 5, etc etc. And nearly every track has surprises along the way, sometimes in t Unhe forms of added synths but oftentimes not, and this is even true of tracks that would be otherwise boring such as the sad pianocore 9. But also, unlike in the debut EP, they learned to make their tracks interesting and unfold before they are almost over, which is great. Some ideas are just excellent and I'd say inspiring. Introducing the piano late on 6 to transition into 7, or the deconstructed conclusion after the acceleration on 9 are really super cool touches. The issue I have is again the vocals, though they have improved. Not only I am not always a fan of the singer when he's alone, but in addition the melodies themselves are quite cliche and predictable sometimes, which takes away from the appeal of hte instruments. This is particularly blatant on 4 where the higher pitch makes the voice itself actually cool, but what it sings is still boring. The result is an album that feels more outdated than it should, the kinda thing my dad might like but I don't really (on the vocal side that is). Fix this and you have an excellent lil indie pop outfit. 3.4
Hazel English Just Give In4.0
More consistent than her first EP, both in style and quality. Seems like the obvious winner the two despite it being close. I just love her sound on these EPs. The first track is perhaps my fave, a catchy pretty jam, while 2 slows things down in a dreamier, cloud watching sort of vibe with less pop DNA. Perhaps less playlist worthy but skilfully done. 3 and 4 are nice songs to start with but are elevated to pretty much jam rank by their super fun choruses. 5 is really nice and slower again, coming back to the style of 2. As a conclusion I think it is a good move, and the sequencing on this EP is clearly superior to the first opus. Blissful. 3.9
Frail Body those that left those that remain3.0
OK skramz, but less impressive than IN PEACE. 1 is a bouncy groovy jam though. The rest of the album feels more generic. 2 is post-rocky and atmospheric, but the explosion is super convenue, and 3 and 4 are just generic (but ok) skamz. Eh. 3.1
Prison of Mirrors (ITA) Unstinted, Delirious, Convulsive Oaths3.0
Fairly run of the mill black metal with not much to retain but also nothing properly awful. The first track starts with no intro at all and is by far the blandest, offering only very scarce evil passages with the ress being pretty forgettable. 2 brings this a point or two up, having an ambient sort of intro at least and especially a few really nice tasty riffs. Don't think I'll ever come back to this though. 2.85
Full of Hell Trumpeting Ecstasy4.0
Even more fiercly merciless than its predecessor. This one is just a near constant barrage of aggression. And yet on a small format like this and with FoH's proficiency, it works very well. Now I'm not quite positive because like an idiot I forgot to upload my notes on the prior LP, but I feel like I prefer this one stylistically. I do enjoy when FOH go more in a dm direction like on 5 rather than grindcore, especially vocally, which is expected given I have the same overall genre preference. They vary beyond this dichotomy though, for example with 4 approaching bm territory. The sort of 'clean' voice on 7 evokes Converge quite strongly and I dig it. I also really like how they processed and integrated vocal samples, e.g. on 1 or 6. Finally, this is the record where FoH show they can do more than existing genres, with .y favourite tracks of theirs so far in 10. The track is super noisy and interesting, and stands out completely compared to the rest of the record and indeed the concluding track that follows it - which I'm not super sure about, feels like 10 would have been a better conclusion. 10 Definitely sets this in 4.0 range. I don't know if I'd say the prior LP was better, but on this one I feel a 3.8
Fazerdaze Morningside4.0
Deceptively simple yet powerfully atmospheric summer bubbles dream pop. All-round a flawless record that keeps its track intelligently short to not bore, since the instrumentation is often quite bare bones. 7 is maybe the track that works the least due to its more melancholic tone, the rest is all nice. 1 is a super fun track that's quite representative of the album as a whole, but the synth turn at the end isn't the best. 2 is maybe naive in places but is super catchy and made me tap mah foot, therefore it's a jam. 4 screams summer and is perhaps the strongest jam here. 5 is more laid back, less upbeat and catchy, but splendid and yet another jam. 8 is awesome becomes it brings welcome variety with a much more aggressive rock chorus that is very well integrated with the rest, and the track makes up for the point lost by 7. Another jam I guess, before 10 which is perhaps the most interesting track here, I kinda wish it evolved into something a bit more upbeat but it is still super cool and the final jam on this little gem of a record. 4.0
Natalia Lafourcade Musas4.5
(M3, library) This thing is a dream and Natalia is a goddess. Can't get enough of it. Screw it, 4.5
Breag Naofa Cearo4.0
A little bit more FoE DNA in this one - it feels like a modern take on Owsla at times, but not as good. The first track is a gorgeous buildup leading to a nice explosion that did not quite match the quality of its intro, while track 2 is more aggressive and fast paced but did not convince me as much. I'm diced between 3.7 and 3.8 but I'll bias it to a higher rating because this is short and sweet and people should jam it. 3.75
Nthng The Traveller2.5
Nthng tries what I could only ignorantly describe as acid dub techno with touches of trance here and there. And he isn't unsuccessful at that, managing a nice consistent blend of the genres that actually works throughout the EP. The issue is that this ends up feeling more like a protracted stylistic exercise than an actual memorable EP that's worth your time - unless you're deep into those genres or this guy's discog. It's never bad, it's just long and all samey. If anything the first track is quite nice, has cool moments, and uses the same kind of fantastic ominous nthng synths we've seen better used elsewhere. The other two tracks bear little interest and just bring the record down because of their excessive length coupled to a lesser sense of identity and interest. 2.7
Oumou Sangare Mogoya4.0
Instant crush on this album. I think I need to do a full discog run after all. This one is resolutely more modern (duh), with crystalline production and more complex/multi-layered instrumentation. There are influences from lots of other genres, and the album moves a bit away from the 'popular Malian folk' vibe for lack of a better term, except on 4 which resolutely evokes her prior discog in a nice way. From the get-go with 1 and its fun start with so much going on you know this will be a different beast of a record. 2 continues this trend, and 3 is incredibly dancy. As I said 4 is more folk and is quite calm which shows intelligent sequencing. 5 echoes a lot to the 80s and to disco years with its synths and chorus, and honestly it is so fun it might be my fave track here. 6 is so fun, 7 is so groovy, that 8 feels a bit less flavourful in comparison albeit still nice. The piano coming in near the end is an especially nice touch. Finally, the closing track very smartly goes back to a more subdued style with a superb tone, and it firmly bumps this about half a point to a solid 4.2
Marco Fusinato Spectral Arrows: Singapore3.0
First track is great harsh noise, but towards the end you feel the traps it will fal into in the second track, as the wall of noise stops abruptly in I daresay a completely non musical way. Just sounds like your Internet connection is having trouble? And while in the first track it only occurs a couple times towards the end, the second track is almost entirely constructed around that. Plus there are a couple sections where the noise wall just isn't nice. Still a good listen for the most part though. https://ujikaji.bandcamp.com/album/spectral-arrows-singapore 3.0
Dua Lipa The Only EP2.0
Track 1 and 3 are very very festivaley pop. Not top-notch by any means but I appreciate her voice and the touches of reggaeton beats here and there (for lack of a better analogy). Other tracks are meh to mildly annoying so nothing all that great here. Still looking forward to jamming her lp. 2.0
The Physics House Band Mercury Fountain3.0
This experimental math-rock ish album has some really cool head-bobbing moments with compulsive foot tapping going on, and some others where really it is just weird sounds that aren't all that interesting. A very uneven ride but some sections are worth it
Night Tempo Fantasy3.5
Just a thoroughly enjoyable and funky neoncity record which, while I won't really remember any individual songs, was a fun ride I might keep in my library after re-jamming the highlihts. The atmosphere on this is like the Mariokart victory music x anime x funk. 10's an example of a track that feels flatter and alright but not marking at all. 4's last third is perhaps the only time the record gets annoying. 3 features an actual vocalist, and offers a nice funky rapped break from the generally samples-based vox. 6 is nicely f u n k, the midtrack on 7 with the sax is incredibly fun, and 8 is against just a whole lot of fun packed under 4 minutes. Lovely. 3.55
Kendrick Lamar DAMN.4.0
This is Kendrick's popular album of the time. In a way this makes it feel older than its
predecessor TPAB. Songs like HUMBLE,LOVE, and others (to an extent DNA and LOYALTY) feel like
they belong to a time now long gone by, and lack the aspect intemporel that TPAB's grandeur
offered. Where I find the album to be more successful, less out of date and more consistent is
in its lazier, hazier, woozier slower paced tracks heralded by the calming YAH which is
accompanied by many such others, and makes one wonder if DAMN could have simply been Kendrick's
relaxed album and shouldn't have delved so much into the popular harder hitting rap of its
time. Truly what I struggle with when listening to this album is that the only track that, to
me, replicates the heights of TPAB in both style of quality is also its last, and I find myself
longing for DUCKWORTH for most of the LP. It's still solid and I like many of the tracks, but
some I would frankly skip. [car] 3.8
I Hate Models/Vittorio Di Mango Nigredo Edition2.5
First track is quite slow paced and has good bits here and there but is far too patchworky to my taste. Track 2 is simpler, more straight to the point, which makes it more cohesive but also frankly a bit dull. 2.3
Ulver The Assassination of Julius Caesar4.0
Good god is there any genre these guys can't do. Amazing post-punky pop. Consistent
quality throughout the record, lots of head-bobbing moments, some questionable vocals.
Overall a very successful album. All tracks are faves although the closer is what bumped
the album from a 3.9-4.0 to a firm 4.1.
The Callous Daoboys My Dixie Wrecked3.5
Pretty cool aggressive core with some TDEP worship. The start is more chaotic, but also has definitely more of a 'promising band recording a demo in their garage', and then the execution gradually improves as the EP goes but with somewhat lessened chaos I find. 2 is an example with its crazy string sounds that add very cool madness that is found less later on. 5 and 7 are examples of greatly executed, albeit perhaps more 'conventional' tracks. By the end of 7's first stage I was considering a 3.5 sort of deal, but when after a pause the track goes on again, it kinda sucks for me and is kinda lengthy which dropped the rating again. Idk 3.4
Nuvolascura 20173.5
This isn't even a debut demo, more like a small compilation of songs they had recorded for different purposes because renaming to Nuvolascura. And yet it's very exciting, as the first track, albeit short, is fucking balls of a track and an excellent Nuvolascura jam displaying a lot of versatility in under two minutes. Nothing else on the record matches up to it, which kinda makes sense since 2-4 were recorded together for a split LP with three other bands where 1 was entirely separate. 2 starts off slower and weaker, but the melodic bit in the early midtrack is quite nice, but it then doesn't unfold too well. 3's a kinda weird interlude which would be nice on a longer album (well, it actually was on a longer album in that split LP). 4 starts of awkward but the acceleration midtrack makes it nicer but still nowhere near as exciting as 1 was. Bonus point for excitement, 3.6
Gorod Kiss The Freak4.0
Lol I will get murdered for this but, unless Aethra really surprises me I think this is by far and away my fave Gorod record. I find their general style with epileptic alternation of riffs, soloing, and corey vocals at times just so much more suited for something short and fun like this, instead of their dm epics where they frankly tire me out quite quickly. There is still soloing that I dont agree with too much - on 1 right after epic riffs, second half of 3, and some of 5 where I feel like it actually works well -, but even when it's bad it's generally short lived. Otherwise, the riffs and the mood are hella fun, especially on 2, on 3 with the super cool premidtrack/midtrack riffage, and the fat riffs on 4 and 5. The softer sections - short intro of 4, sweet bridge on 5 - bring the few breaks needed even on a record this short, and yea this one I really might rejam. 3.8
Ben Buitendijk Transcended Being3.5
How was this not in the db?
https://obliquemusicnl.bandcamp.com/album/obq004-ben-buitendijk-transcended-being-ep T/t is
a superb dub techno jam. It is simple, but it just works so well in giving you a sensation
of falling into a comfortable spiral. Delicate ambient pad, massive low ended but smooth
kick, lots of little hats and high pitched noises to populate those upper frequencies,
can't ask for much more. 2 is a little more bare bones with less of a pad layer and just a
nice relaxed beat, and 3 is even more minimalistic and sleepier. It's fine for a while but
3 especially feels like it lasts for too long. Brings the record down a point to a 3.4
Internazionale The Pale and the Colourful3.0
4 is a nice track and quite a jammy one for the matter, but apart from that this is eh
ambient/drone/synth stuff. It is too bleep bloopey to my taste to really set an atmosphere,
yet not melodic enough to entertain without a texture focus. It is quite synthy in parts,
e.g. on the closer, and often sounds like B-sides of the Stranger Things OST, in a bad way.
It's fine but eh. 2.9
Chihei Hatakeyama Void XI3.5
Sweet and lush ambient drone, with just enough movement to it. Infinitely relaxing and soothing, but too long to my taste. Had it been 30min, it would be a 3.6-7, but as it is this is a 3.4
Heaven In Her Arms White Halo4.0
This is good, but all over the place. Added to the base of proggier less screamo heavy Abyssal-era Envy we find a bunch of somewhat random influences from black metal to wankery bedroom shreddy 'djent'. While this may sound interesting these influences are baked in quite poorly, resulting in the record feeling erratic rather than a cohesive multi-faceted piece of music. It still has beautiful sections and is well worth a spin, but it is a shame those sections are drowned by the lack of artistic direction. 3.8
Venenum Trance of Death4.0
Great, brutal and inventive death metal. Re-listen needed. I was not so convinced by the first 3-4 tracks. A bit gimmicky and erratic at times if you ask me. 3.7-3.8 range. But the ending trilogy, especially part II, definitely bumped these above that range to a comfortable 3.9
Polygon Woods Post Space4.0
Australian psych rock means two things: this really isn't revolutionary in any way, and
also this is really good. This particular flavour of the genre makes heavy use of synth
pads which I love, and also shows some sprinkles of dream pop DNA - particularly
noticeable on 3. The bass is also really good on this, while the vocals are extremely,
well, psychedelic sounding. I like that this has a proper intro track despite the short
length, and while I didn't resonate as much with the last track this EP is definitely a
keeper for me. Far better produced than their first EP too which is nice to see. 3.9
Pillorian Obsidian Arc3.0
The first track is quite cool and made me hopeful this would be good - like Agalloch gone even blacker than on MotS. Except the rest of the album was a passable 'not bad, but not great'. Really not that exciting black metal, and it is quite disappointing to hear Haugm's vocals on such unimaginative music given his past output. 'The Sentient Arcanum' is a cool noise track. 3.1
Life on Venus Encounters4.0
Relatively run-of-the-mill and by the book yet brilliantly executed shoegaze/dream pop on the less distorted side of things - like a softer Nothing. Kind of inspiring in that it's the sort of tone I'd love to produce. While it all feels a bit samey despite the album being just about half an hour long, it's also all good. Some tracks do stand out slightly more, usually because they become instrumentally a bit more excited and catchy as the vocals remain the classic languishing dream pop vox that we know well; namely 2,4,5, and perhaps my fave jam here on 9. One I'll jam again for sure. 3.85
Nthng It Never Ends3.0
Re-jamming this in preparation for the new LP but it was just as I remembered: really not all that marking. The prelude is quite cool and slowly builds a wall of synths, nicely stating that this will be an album that takes its time - at 70 minutes, that's quite accurate. The problem is that, until the closing trilogy which I find better crafted than the rest, and with the exception of 4 which was a standout single on the EP but here feels like it blurs itself into a sea of bore, this album never truly grabs me and feels like it has a lot of incongruous elements. The songs are too long and there isn't much for the mind to be hooked to. The simplistic beat on 2 for instance completely breaks the atmosphere 1 took so long to build, and I just don't get that. The bassline is nice, and some sections are cool, but the track overall fails to ever convince me. Same goes for 5. 3 has a way darker beat which is more cohesive with 1 and nicer, but is still meh. Then on its latter third-ish, the record improves. 6 is a snthy interlude akin to 1, 7 is alright generic nthng material, 8 shows a cool blend of Shed and nthng but should have been 6 minutes shorter, and finally 9 is what I had been waiting for all along on this album with the only true standout track alongside 4, with a nice, dark, cold, broody, foggy atmosphere to it. Bumps this a point or two to a 3.05
Future HNDRXX3.0
Positives: this is Future's most diverse output yet, often abandoning rapper aesthetics with (dumber) simpler trap tracks kept to a minimum (10 or 13) for something more emotional, softly nocturnal, or even RnB esque (the fluffy marshmallowey 1, 5 and its fun kinda trippy intro, 6,8, 11, 14, 17 with the pitch modulation on the piano that I particularly like), which is reinforced by pretty much every guest feat (2 with The Weeknd, which comes weirdly early in hte album considering we've barely heard Future himself at that point, the nicely softboi feat with Rihanna on 15, the fun 00s vibes on 18 with _gulp_ Chris Brown, 19 with Nicky Minaj). Cons: Future's delivery often (but not always!) returns to his very standard tropes, which means it often feels like he doesn't at all fit on his own tracks, and I almost invariably prefer the guests' verses to his - 2's main fault is that it really makes me want a The Weeknd album to ensue rather than a Future LP. 4 is perhaps the only standard Future track where he has a good fun delivery of his own without relying on the instrumental to carry things through. Otherwise this is a largely m'okay album, that is far too long but really does have merits. 3.0
Future FUTURE3.0
An album that has quite a few strong track and isn't just about Mask Off, but that lacks identity and is too long and too structurally erratic to be called a strong record overall. This is especially blatant in the last three tracks. While 15
is run of the mill Future with a kidna cool instru, it ends on a long skit that breaks the rhythm, then 16 tries to be a cute track which doesnt fit at all with the rest of the album, and while 17 is fine with its flutey bits, all of that feels
long and unnecessary for an LP that clocks at just over 1hr. 1 has a cool insturmental but the vox early on are a bit questionable, 2 is classic semi-fat future that gets a bit repetitive, 3 doesnt have the best instrumental but good vocal
delivery (and the first skit). 4 has ideas but does not execute them well, cant believe it was supposed to be the lead single. 5 again is generic Future, but it gets better towards the end in both instru and vox. 6 and of course 7 are good
Future jams, and 8 is a famous track that also works quite well and brings fresher, lighter aesthetics. 9 sounds a bit funny but it's alright, while 10 contrasts it with a dark, metro boomin type vibe. 11 is a bit snoozey, then 12 is a great
elegant track with minimalistic piano. 13 is club twerky, 14 hits hard in place but feels a boot snoozey overall, and remember we still have those 3 other tracks to go through. See, a bit too long and erratic, but lots of good tracks too. The
Drake bonus track is actually quite good, but the other two are a waste of time (the Kendrick feat being surprisingly poor). 3.0
Chaos in the CBD Accidental Meetings3.5
Elegant piano house with a vintage feel. The first track is one of the best constructed
house tracks I know, with a good slow jazzy buildup, vocals that are just right, and a
dynamic structure instead of a repeating loop. However the actual melodic line is not
that memorable. The second track is actually pretty interesting especially in the
beginning, with some unique tribal sounding drum patterns. It feels a bit out of place
though. The third track is pretty forgettable and the last track is similar to the first
one, except the melodic line is a touch catchier but the track construction is less good.
An ok house EP that has the merit of having a unique mood to it, but falls a bit short in
execution. 3.6
Rosalia Los Angeles3.5
I absolutely love *most* segments of this, but it is a bit too much and kind of lost me along time. The guitar especially tickles my fancy, and the vocal performance is stunning. There is a little bit too much of the vocal aaAaaaAaaAaAAaOooaOaaOaoaoAOAOaAAaaoAOaa sometimes, and most tracks have a moment that completely captures me, and another that really loses me. There is real mysterious gold here, dede said it well tbh. I'll come back to tracks, but probably not to the whole thing before a long time. 3.7
Celer Alcoves2.5
Not a great ambient album. It's not unpleasant or bad, but it just lacks substance and something to make it stand out. 1-2 are passable, 3 is marginally nicer and the top track here evoking aquatic ambiences a la Gallery Six, then 4 just feels like someone playing with a filter for 15 minutes and drops this right down to a lukewarm 2.7
Brutus (BE) Burst4.0
Everyone is hyped over the new album but hey this jams. Somehow it sounds like it was recorded live, the production and vocals are a touch amateur. But when in general this can be a bad thing, here it gives the album a unique vibe. It feels like your teenage girlfriend's rock band except a lot better, and with tonnes of post-hardcore/even post-rock influences. There is a certain tenderness felt towards the music because of that. Idk it's weird. Also yeepee they're Belgian! 4.1
Internazionale Vigilance3.5
One of his (their?) better works, with some tracks/sections on par with EftV. 1-2 are jams. Lovely buildup on 1, and 2 reminds of Our Fortress is Burning III. 3 is cool and interesting, surprisingly featuring a slow, pounding kick drum from the middle of the track onwards. Nice. 4 is lovely with cool use of aquatic sounds. After that, the record loses a bit of steam in its second half. 7 is probably the nicest track here, with lost city under the sea vibes. 8 is the weakest and reminds of his hollower works, but at least the album ending is very well done with a nice buildup of gritty, decaying textures. 3.6
Cuzco A Medicine For Melancholy4.0
Brilliant math-rock, the closest we'll ever get to Clever Girl most likely. Track 2 is the only one that is not quite a jam. Otherwise, nice bits and melodies all over the place, sweet tones, and even some pretty ambient sections. Not as good as CG, but spotless. 4.1
Vansire The Rolling, Driftless North3.0
A vast improvement on the first record. The prod is far less fx-drenched and the resulting sound feels less amateur. The lazy vocal style is also better integrated here, although it will still deter most and only keeps this to rather specific playlists. But after a rather sweet droney intro track and a transition that is well thought out but not as well executed, we are served with three chill dream surf pop tracks that would fit very well on a relaxed beach afternoon with indie friends, in stark contrast to the title and artwork aesthetics. The last track reminds of LP1 although still with the improved sound, and made me retract the bump to 3.25 that I was going to give this. 3.2
Julie Byrne Not Even Happiness3.5
Similar style to RWWaW (lol that acronym) but imo far better executed and produced with a more marking ideas. The instrumentation is also richer, with for example flutes (I think?) on 3 or strings on 4. It has a bit more of a country flavour especially on the nice 1-2, it's quite well constructed with a welcome instrumental interlude on 5, and has some really sweet bits and pieces like the end to 6. My only gripe is probably the (I think purposefully) shakier vocal delivery over a relatively bland instrumental on the last track, and the fact that this is all very very safe. Nothing groundbreaking but a very sweet, well produced folk/ambient folk/ ambient country? album with a consistent atmosphere, promising lots for the future but not quite to for the history books just yet. 3.5
Giorgia Angiuli New Skin2.5
Pretty meh. Her vocal processing has improved, but the sound still feels lackluster. This one is less lush and perhaps that hurts it because it doesn't even have the lushness going for it. Now 1 does have a cool intro, but it takes a bit too long to build up, and even though they have improved the vox are still not quite there yet. 2 is a remix so I don't count it, and here that's unfortunate because it feels like a much improved version of 3 which has a pretty bad intro and beat overall. 2.4
Folamour Shakkei3.5
Really cool little jazzy house EP. There is not a single bad track, unlike many other records like it. It is nice, it grooves, it feels good, and that's all we ask from it. Not the album of the century, but definitely an EP that I'll jam again. 3.7
Old Tower The Rise of the Specter3.0
This is cute dungeon synth, but really nothing all that great. Maybe dungeon synth just isn't my thing. Might re-listen. 3.1
Parcels Hideout3.5
Super fun little colourful funky pop EP with no low point really. The last track is maybe a little less explosive and a little underwhelming compared to the rest but it is still a fine listen. 1 is super bouncy and its psychedelic synthy conclusion is great, 2 is extremely 80s but the chorus with its synths is super catchy, 3 is very nice and sunny but a bit less explosive too, and 4 is of course an absolute feel good jam that makes me a happy fox. Prod very neat all round. 3.65
Polo and Pan Caravelle3.5
An album that struggles to ever re-attain the heights of its beginnings, and settles for mostly nice/okay background music with a few quirks and a nice bassiness without being too memorable for the larger part of the record. It just lacks more vocals, and catchier ones, to make the other tracks really jammy or even memorable. It starts so well though - 1 is a heavily mood setting, Mario Galaxy/colourful cartoon vibes intro that works extremely well with the aesthetic at play here, and 2 is a lovely song that continues it well albeit not as jammily as the iconic 3. Then 4 is okay but I dont dig the dub slow woob woob vibes. Then 5 is okay, but why would I not listen to the original ?Brazilian song that contains the whole essence of the track. Aside from teh midtrack on 8, 9 that is far frmo as good as 3 of course but is the first track in a while that tries to be a proper catchy song, and 11 that also tries a bit on a calmer note, there is not much more to be sais of the rest, besides 10 getting quite weird and not in a good way, and 12 being an ok but way too long album conclusion. 3.4
Denzel Curry and BADBADNOTGOOD Ultimate / Sick & Tired3.5
Pretty fire and a successful collab between two artistic projects that I love. It is quite intense and the short length actually serves it right, but you're also wanting some more. Can we get a full-length please? I preferred the jazzier 1 to the more intense 2 which does have some subpar sections, but overall this works really well. 3.7
Silvana Estrada Lo Sagrado3.5
Veracruz strikes again with another talent. For a debut record produced (as far as I can tell) at a very young age, this is very impressive and mature. The record navigates well between jazzy vibes (1-2) and calmer songs (3), always complemented by an excellent vocal performance reminding of Silvia Perez Cruz that is crafted very well but may feel slightly unidimensional and not always best suited to the song. This is most visible on 5, though the track does unfold well. The tracks are quite rich, which is demonstrated from the get go with 1-2 displaying jazzy beats, guitar, some brass, and some mystic vibes too. 10 is very fast paced and boppy tempoed but does have slower sections and is a great conclusion, though I feel like the demo version of 3 featured at the end of the re-edition works well as a conclusion too. So overall a sweet listen that is quality and varied enough to be a keeper as far as slightly jazzy slightly folky Mexican song goes. 3.65
Laura Murcia Cassette3.5
Very cute Mexican song two tracker. I am not sure how to approach this as a release but it looks like the 2017 original edition only had the two tracks I am rating for, although she also released a version on bandcamp with a lot of singles that came out since. So I am not sure what's up with that. What I am sure of is the quality of this and perhaps moreso of the ensuing singles, and the fact that I'll be checking her future output eagerly. As a two tracker it is so short it struggles to get a high rating, but for sunny peace it sure is quality. 3.6
L'Imperatrice Séquences3.5
A super fun and funky EP that only falls short of 4.0 tier because I don't really see the point of padding half the runtime with instrumental versions of 1 and 2 on 3 and 4. Their vocals are good and make the songs even catchier without being ever overbearing, so I struggle to see when I'd need to jam an instrumental version since I am not running a playlist for cafes. This being said 1 is incredibly funk and has lovely synthwork, it is not explosive in a pop way though but just calmly bouncy. It is certainly fun but remains more relaxed than 2, which is an even boppier, even funkier jam with lots of depths to it and lots of elements coming up along the way such as brass or extra synths. Take the exact same tracks but muting the vocals, and you get 3 and 4, whose only real merit is to showcase how good the instrumentals are behind the vocals, and how they would work standalone if there werent a better version two tracks earlier (aka the version with vox). 3.7
Yazmin Lacey Black Moon3.5
Usually with relatively small, early-career neo-soul artists like Y Lacey, what I find is that the often excellent vocals are undermined by pretty tepid run-of-the mill instrumentations, with the biggest fault being lackluster demarcation from the sea of like records out there. Here the issue is almost reverse. Lacey's voice and technique are good, but the performance feels a bit hushed, almost timid - which is quite understandable for a debut. I do wonder how this will evolve in her later EPs though. The key appeal of this EP is instrumental. I love how she plays with rhythms, chops phrases, and adds spice to what could otherwise well have been a good but forgettable EP. Her style is inventive and class. This is most prominent on 2, but shines through all the tracks bar the bookends (the intro being nice, and the outro unmemorable) and 4, which is the only track that it is quite standard and inevitably becomes the blandest - weird that it has the highest play count on spotify. 3's great instrumental is a bit hindered by repeated vocal lines, but overall this is an exciting one. 3.65
Faye Meana Nothing's the Same3.5
Well executed but slightly shy debut EP in the seemingly ever flowing stream of London-adjacent neo-soul talent. The second track is perhaps the catchiest and best executed here, whilst its two follow-ups are a bit more lukewarm, though consistently nice and well sung. The last few seconds of the closer do pick things up a bit, with a more perky bass and tighter drums, giving a glimpse of what I hope is to come. 3.3
Nepal (FR) 445ème Nuit4.0
This one feels more consistent than 444, but also its high points felt like they didn't
reach the same heights, explaining my low ratings. Not the best conditions either but don't
think it affected me too much. The best part is the middle of the album, followed by its
last third, as the album goes back to the same brand of soft, cloudy, hazy, nocturnal rap
that was so enjoyable on 444's blue half. 3 is the first track of that kind, but didn't
quite amaze me because his delivery often sounds like he's just talking to you. 4 and 5 are
jams, the latter having the most successful feat of the two. 6 has a lovely deconstructed
lo-fi hip-hop instrumental with a sweet sax sample, and I wish the track focused on that
more than on his vocals which feel like they're mixed too prominently. Really didn't like 7
because the flow is exactly the same as Bodak Yellow's and it might be a funny reference or
something but hearing Cardi B from a male soft-spoken rapper in French just doesn't sit
right with me. Thankfully, 8 closes the album quite nicely without being a jam. 1 and 2
were in a different style and I enjoyed them less. Kinda feel out of place, like the pink
half on 444 a bit. Overall this is solid, but I much prefer 444 for all the jams it had.
3.9
L'Imperatrice Odyssée (Version Acoustique)4.0
I wasnt super sold on the idea of acoustic versions a priori, but darn it this is superbly well
executed. It makes for an EP that is of course a lot less catchy and bouncy, but also very
elegant and pretty which makes up for the reduced funk factor. Aside maybe from the slightly
questionable transition between 1 and 2 my main thought the whole time was just admiration for
how intelligently and elegantly they transformed the tracks. Even Agitations Tropicales has
superb added elements with extra vocals and flutes without ever feeling denatured, 3 is super
pretty, 1 is super cool, what an intro on 4, 5 is just a tiny classical strings piece that
transitions o so amazingly well into 6. This thing is incredibly cool. I do think it can be best
enjoyed by knowing the original EP before listening, if you want to give it a try. 4.1

2016
Grouper Paradise Valley3.5
These songs are incredibly soothing and beautiful. This is excellent music for sure. Why a 2.5 then? Because this is awfully and frustratingly short. Grouper's music works infinitely better on longer formats. I am actually outright upset because I wanted this to continue - it is so beautiful, but it ends out of nowhere. Maybe listening to all her EP's as if they were one single album I'd give that a 4.0-4.5rEdit: ok shaddup past bedex, these are gorgeous and even if it is infitiely frustrating to not have more you were harsh. 3.6
The Love Experiment The Love Experiment2.5
This is a very uneven neo-soul record. It is FULL of good ideas, but the execution often just does not cut it and a lot of tracks often fall short of their potential, owing to odd compositional choices and sounds. 'School Girl' is kinda cool, 'Friends' is nice, and the Prelude is outright gorgeous: completely different from the rest of the record, it is essentially a piano piece that reminds a lot of Kashiwa Daisuke in his less electronic moments. The album outro is similar although a lot cheesier and less interesting. 2.7
Yeule pathos3.5
Extremely pretty electronic softness that often reminds of a better version of Tycho (especially on the closer) and features a tonne of echoes and delays of a myriad of pretty little sounds highlighted by a sweet prod. Best example of that prod is on 4 with those sweet crispy plucked noises. 1 is a sweet fairy intro to the album and reflects its tone pretty well, and both 3 and the closer are lovely as well. 2 convinced me perhaps a touch less because it strays a little away from the overall feel of warmth and lushness the EP has to offer. Very sweet, man this is going to be a good discog. 3.65
Brought By Pain Crafted By Society3.0
This is vastly superior to the LP, and not just because it benefits from being shorter. There are more good riffs, more jazziness, it just feels a bit more prog in a nice way. The shreddiness is down a bit in 1's (first half especially) and in 2, but 3 bar a few sections is practically as shreddy as the LP. The break midtrack on 2 is quite cool but almost instantly ruined by a shreddy solo. Plus they still have lots of questionable vocal sections. So yeah it is vastly better, but I can't decently say it is above a 3.0 anyway given I have no intention to come back to it, so I suppose the rating won't be that much higher. 2.9
Zao The Well-Intentioned Virus4.0
This may be me getting used to the band and the vocals, but my taste for this grew quite steadily throughout the album. I had trouble with the first couple tracks, but the middle of the album is fantastic and the end is not too bad either. Really interesting, proggy metalcore/hardcore reminiscent of a lot of amazing bands out there. A re-listen is needed, the album may become a grower. 3.8
Enemies Valuables4.0
Adorable poppy post-rocky vaguely mathy indie rock. From the first few seconds of the opening track you can tell this is going to be good. The female vocals on track 3 are a wonderful addition. Just a really pleasant album with nice dynamics and a good closer that calls back to the opener. Will happily re-listen. 4.0
Ash Borer The Irrepassable Gate3.5
It's always difficult to rate when a band changes styles unexpectedly. The shift isn't too drastic here, this remains black metal, but they do move a way from the bread and butter atmospheric passage - atmoblack - more calmer passages of their prior records. This one is slower, it evokes older era bm at times, and I just dig that less - but kudos to them for trying new stuff you know. I also find that the prod makes it sound like a debut a bit sometimes, which obviously doesn't help. The style shift perhaps could've worked better on shorter format, and in fact the outro of 1 makes it feel a bit like a standalone EP that could've been worthwhile. The droney noisey midtrack on 2 is really cool and also makes the track feel like it could've been an EP in itself. The second half of the track picks things up and is actually excellent, one of the peaks of the album. In fact the peaks are when AB do what older AB did. 4's nice. There is an album conclusion that wraps things up nicely, and all in all this still has some (but fewer) excellent atmoblack sections, with still out of this world vocals; it just doesn't reach the heights of their prior work on a consistent enough basis. 3.6
Prince Of Denmark 83.0
Behemoth of a techno album clocking at nearly 3 hours. Yet its huge runtime did not bore me, and I didn't have to push myself to finish the album. That in itself is an achievement. The album is generally consistent and strong, with tracks flowing well into each other, but I found it drastically missing hooks and memorable tracks. It all flows from one mild flavour of minimalist techno to another without ever being very marking. Exceptions are 7, kinda jammy with a tasty lead, 10, a kinda jammy dub techno track that takes it time to kick in, and 16 which is the clearest cut jam here and made me go THAT'S IT, finally a memorable hook. By 15 (1hr40 in!) the album had started to feel a bit draggy, so it comes at just the right time too. For the rest, most tracks are nice but forgettable, often have bleep bloops or questionable sounds that ruin them, and the record especially lost me after 20. 21-22 are hypnotic and pounding but frankly boring, and no longer flow well with each other - the second half of 21 is nice though. 23 is a good ominous album closer, showing again that the album construction is its strength. For the rest, not much I'll remember - I'll save my notes somewhere because there are so many tracks there isn't enough space here. 3.2
Fief II3.5
It might be because I am listening to this so shortly after I, but it feels quite a bit weaker and more conventional than its predecessor. That said, it is still nicely evocative music. For some reason the vibes I get here are that of a medieval town, whereas the prior LP took me to enchanted forests. 3.4
Marie Dahlstrøm 0.03.5
I had to pause in the middle for a good while so this isn't exactly fair, but this EP feels like by far and away her strongest material so far. The style is far more electronic with prominent beats, away from the more balladey type songs she used us to with prior release. This is a bit less true of the last track, which felt like the weakest one and brings this half a point, but even that one is quite nice. There is also more vocal processing and more prevalent use of backing vocals etc, which cleverly addresses some of the weaknesses I found in some of her prior releases. A great sign of a blossoming artist for a very sweet EP. 3.45
Gallery Six Underwater Paradise3.5
From the get go you know that this is the peak of G6's work and superior to Fogbound Island. 1 is instantly recognisable unlike any of the tracks on FI; and 2 is a gorgeous jam of spacious ambient - that sadly is a bit overlong and finds itself distracted by overused field recording towards the end. 3 is nicely textured ambient again but somewhat without does mistakes. 4 is essentially just hydrophone recording, it's nice and relaxing but like FI feels a bit like sound to sleep to and not necessarily a track on a good album I'd enjoy iduring daytime. 5 really is the ugly duckling here, with horribly excessive use of water sound that is just utterly disruptive to the mood and gets annoying very quickly. If it weren't a short track I'd have skipped it without hesitation. 6 goes back to the sound of 2 and 3, while 7 offers a very nice, thinner and drier texture that I enjoyed a lot but that again sadly gets slowly overpowered by the invasive sound samples. This feels vastly superior to Fogbound, but I also can't decently rate it in 4.0 tier when it has such a terrible track ruining a lot of the mood, so 3.74
DNCE DNCE3.0
Quite a frustrating album, and beside the opening track which is frankly quite fun and well done, and maybe the closing track which isn't half bad either, there is no reason to ever jam this over the Swaaay EP. The reason being that everything else just feels far weaker, to a point where 13 which was one of the less convincing tracks on the EP feels like a total bop here because it is preceded by a long run from 6-12 that is quite weak. 1-5 is quite strong, and even the weaker 4 is quite ok. My only gripe here ism like on the EP, that both prod and composition are just frustratingly a little less explosive and poppy than they could be. Still good fun though. Then 6 starts of the weakness (plus it features a cringe rap bit), 7 is basic as hell and frankly a bore, 8 attempts something more emotional/balladey which is fine in a vacuum but feels a bit dull after two unconvincing tracks (and the choruses feel half baked). 9 is the first track that gets some energy going again, but the chorus with its ridiculous kazoo sounds and short length really does not quite work for me. Amusingly some of the vox sound like Cynic though. 10 is like 8 and by then my rating was dropping like crazy. 11-12 have some ideas in the chorus/prechorus but are overall relatively meh tracks still, while 13-14 continue this trend of mild improvement closing this on two quite nice tracks although there is no feeling of album conclusion at all. Ye this is ok, but it's far less great than it could have been and the EP is more worth yar while. 2.9
Jorja Smith Project 114.0
How does this have a 3.1 average? Sure, track 2 is a bit of a boring Adele style ballad that I really wish had gone in a complete direction, but apart from that the EP is really cool. 1 is a lovely bouncy neosoul jam and a great opener, 3 is a ballad too but one that I actually enjoyed, and 5 shows a more hip hop side even with some rapped delivery and ends on a lovely lush conclusion. Her voice is a bit, I don't know, nasally in places especially on 1, but it's still greatly delivered on a promising EP. 3.75
Svarte Greiner Moss Garden2.5
Yup, this one's a bore. First track is a long minimalistic dark ambient drone with not much to it, and second track starts off well in the first few minutes but then goes back to more of the same. At the 16:20 mark some cool sounds reappear, but that's almost the end of the record anyway so that hardly bumps it up. 2.55
Animals As Leaders The Madness of Many4.5
Gotta confess my listen today was pretty perfect, but oh man what a good time. Since seeing this live it seems like every single riff feels memorable and gets me going. This is perhaps the lightest and most fun AAL got - 8 is just a straight up groovy math-rock track, and 9 is pure and gorgeous. Now this isn't quite flawless - 2 is this album's Not Unlike the Waves despite having some good riffz, and the record lacks perhaps transition game compared to others. There are lots of fadeouts or places where silence wasn't perhaps the best transition, but if I can forgive that in Dummy I can forgive it here can't I. Even some of the perhaps less dope tracks like 7 still line up fun riff after fun riff, and the quirky conclusion on 10 is perhaps controversial but I dig it personally. Matt Gartska makes my neurons feel like they're having a chaotic orgy and I like it. 4.7
Lunar Womb The Sleeping Green3.5
Fantastic dungeon synth that feels like a staple of the genre, yet I have a hard time seeing it in 4.0 territory. My notes got a bit mixed up between 2-4 so don't quote me on the track numbers. 3 is super peaceful, and 4 is just an all round great DS track, and they both feel like they could be jams. 1 is incredibly dreamy too, while 2 is cute and evokes a cartoon or RPG. 5 is nice but feels unwarranted, especially to conclude the album on a fade out. Very nice. 3.7
Lillet Blanc Lillet Blanc4.0
Really sweet dream pop on the dreamier less poppy side of the spectrum given relatively quiet and discrete drums. The first track feels like it was recorded on a different day or something, the prod on some of the guitars feels really subpar compared to the lushness of other instruments and of Emily's angelic voice which is nicely not overprocessed. It's still a catchy track, but it feels a bit amateur in places, which is an issue the two other tracks do not suffer from. 2 is a superb lush jam, and 3 while not as jammy perhaps is still a sweet song and perhaps the catchiest of the EP. This goes directly into my library. NYP at https://lilletblanc.bandcamp.com/album/lillet-blanc 3.9
Yola Orphan Offering3.5
I'm quite surprised that I didn't mind this at all and actually rather enjoyed it, given this is a genre I usually don't dig for one bit. Her voice does a lot but it's really not the sole reason. I'm also absolutely baffled that she is English because this is one of the most American-sounding records I've heard, really living up to the 'americana' name (country sprinkled with soul). I mean seriously, can it get more American than track two on this? The turn at min 3 on the intro track is quite cool, before that I was worried this would be far too generic despite the great singing. The only fault is the closing track, which gets quite annoying rather quickly and is also one of the longest songs sadly. Dropped this a point or two on its own really. Still props for an enjoyable record. 3.35
Ulcerate Shrines of Paralysis4.0
I need to rejam this because the conditions weren't ideal and I might rate it higher on second spin, but either way this is clearly superior to the prior two LPs, and I think clearly inferior to EiF. From the get go you notice first that the prod is again not the best, and that this is the good old Ulcerate we had on EiF again and not the slower, more deathcorey stuff we had before - the vox feel like dm again. It does retain some of the blast beat walls and some other flaws, but it's really not too bad and the atmospheric, ominous atmospheres are better integrated into their sound here. 1 in itself demonstrates all of this. 2-3 is more of the same great stuff, with a nice break around min 5 on track 3. The t/t shows well how much they have improved the ominous vibes in their sound. 5 is a very cool interlude, and generally speaking this may be due to listening conditions but I felt like the latter half of the record was superior and bumped it a good point, with 6-8 all being fantastic and closing the album on a strong note. Again I need to revisit this, but for now 4.1
TotorRo Come to Mexico3.0
Cool energetic math-rock EP with some good tunes. However I thought this had fewer nice head-bobbing melodic parts and more annoying noisy parts than its predecessor. If I wanted to re-listen this I would probably listen to Home Alone instead - based on my distant memory of Home Alone that is. Come to Mexico does have some sparse moments where cool ideas are included and renew the music - some brass, and vocals. 3.2
Agnes Obel Citizen Of Glass4.0
Agnes' foresty, mysterious, magical album. A change of direction that is well done, but is hurt by album construction in my opinion, and that feels like it is looking for its footing a bit. Better writeup to come, 3.8
Ichiko Aoba Mahoroboshiya4.0
Quite clearly my second Ichiko favourite after the debut (don't @me johnny). Unlike 0 this one is less adventurous and compositionally daring, but more focused and coherent - which is helped by the much shorter length. I say it is less daring but there are still some fresh elements added to the sound. 1 sees Ichiko use more fx than ever before, bringing her close to the aesthetics of other bedexcore artists (liz harris), after the pretty but straightforward 2 the second half of 3 sees added textures which on top of her voice on the verge of breaking turns the track into the first jam on the record, or the superb broken instrumental piano jam on 9, which offers a nice breath of fresh air between the fun jam 8 and the superbly done and pretty reprise on 10, which with 11 are also jams to wrap up a latter third of the record that is pretty much flawless. There is a dip in quality with 6 feeling a bit naive and less compelling, and with the first half of 7, but from the midtrack onwards the utter prettiness that was also displayed on 4 and 5 comes right back. This is a simpler record than 0, but certainly not ta simplistic one, and as a record it works a lot better in my humble, ill-informed opinion. 4.0
Darkthrone Arctic Thunder3.0
Darkthrone be Darkthrone. It's been a long interruption in me binge so this isn't too fair to compare to my ratings on their other albums. But with these I can't help feeling if it weren't for the name Darkthrone their average rating would be a tad lower. Yet I fall into the same trap m/ This is fun stuff, less riffy than its predecessor, and a bit slower too perhaps with not much I'll retain overall. 1 and 3 especially starts things off a bit meh, but 2 is cool although it kind of overextends, 4-5 are a bit better, then 6-7 are just run of the mill stuff and 8 is a bore imo. Yeah not one I really plan on coming back to much. 2.9
Chihei Hatakeyama Coastal Railroads in Memories3.5
Incredibly peaceful. Music to listen to while bathing in the sun on the seaside. Has more movement than Winter Storm, which makes for a more nuanced and entertaining listen - a bit less soporific and more meditative, you see. 3.25
Hazel English Never Going Home4.0
A 3.1 average? Hell no this deserves more. It's not perfect but it is so light, summery and wholesome. I love the prod, the tone, the voice, the whole aesthetic really. The main mistake for me are the last two tracks. They feel like a sequencing mistake - where 1-4 have a coherent, consistent sound, 5 ruptures this with a far dreamier, less pop, almost drumless track which feels a bit off all of a sudden, while 6 follows it up with drums again but on a slower tempo. A fine track but probably the least marking of the bunch. But boy, 1 is a definite jam, 3 and 4 have super jammy choruses, and 2 while being weaker with its less jolly and upbeat style still is very nice with a super pretty midtrack. Those four tracks flow super well into one another and it's a shame the other two aren't presented as bonus tracks or something. 3.8
Internazionale The Opaline Dancer3.0
I like the title, but yeah I can't find anything as interesting as EftV in this guy's discog so far. This one almost sounds like dungeon synth at times, like on track 1 or 2 and in the middle of the album, but it's not the best I've seen and apart from that it struggles to set a mood. 3.0
Banks The Altar3.5
Big jump in quality from Goddess imo. The Altar sees Banks explore many different directions, not always successfully, but generally interestingly. Not that many clear jams (1 and the fka twiggy 2, maybe 10), but apart form 4 and 5 which are really by far the worst tracks, especially the mainstreamy radio poppy 5, most tracks are ok to nice. 11 and 13 are kinda cool, and 12 is an example of Banks succesfully doing a mellow track. Not earth-shattering, but a fine album. 3.35
Alcest Kodama4.5
This is peak Alcest material, proggy post-rocky blackened shoegaze executed masterfully.
And yet it does not feel like a 5.0 contender. It has quite a few non-god tier points, and
although I perceive it as a better album it feels like it has less of an identity than EdL
did at the time. 2 except its lovely outro tempers the excitment of a superb jammy opener
quite early on in the album. 3 is then a jam, but followed by again a less good track in 4.
1, 6, and 7 are definitely the main jams here. The album closer feels a bit unnecessary and
does not bring much in terms of album finale, but at the same time it does feel like a
closing track was needed. I just found out it was a bonus track so guess I'll have to re-
listen without 8. Some of the best, most mature Alcest material yet, but I don't think
it'll grow past a 4.4
Amulets False Horizon4.0
Wonderful noise/drone. I might just jam this guy's discog. Track 4 is a pure jam and made me want
to listen to this, but all the tracks are pretty much jams too and the record sure is worth a
spin for those seeking noisey, gritty and aggressive drone. 4.1
Turnstile Move Thru Me3.5
Largely dumb fun, but offers a glimpse of the band adding a lot more to their sound. This is slightly true of 1, which is mostly riff-fest+moshpit core, but does have some added melodic elements to it that are quite nice. 2 continues this with a smooth transition and I'm not sure why they are separate tracks really. 3 is also dumb fun but feels less accomplished and more dumb than fun you know. 4 is the definite highlight here, with a gorgeous, very Refused-esque intro, and also revelas some nice clean vocals later on. A track that could well have fit on GLOW ON, and perhaps the strongest sign of grandeur to come yet for the band? 3.6
Shabaka and the Ancestors Wisdom of Elders3.5
Not much to say on this one - it was exactly the kind of dreamy, fusioney, bouncy jazz I was wanting today, and it is perfectly well crafted for that, but also rarely feels stunning, and it overextends a bit as the album feels quite long overall. The sparse vocals are really quite cool. The first three tracks all start very well, especially the excellent album intro, and the lovely bass on 3 min 3ish. 7 gets slightly more abrasive which is cool. Because it feels oustanding a lot less than Bennie Maupin and co, and because again it feels quite long, my rating dropped from a say generic good 3.9 to a 3.7
Touche Amore Stage Four4.0
I have to say I am somewhat biased because I have always slightly preferred TA's rawer, more hardcore side, but this is a more than solid album for a band that is yet to ever disappoint with the records they put out. This album brings the hardcore influences ever so slightly down, and brings in more pop punk, emo and post-rock more than ever before in a TA album. I still found it missing the catchy hooks and melodies that were plentiful in their previous records, perhaps due to the change of style but also to my listening conditions. The last track takes a very interesting musical direction, and it is almost a shame that the album ends right after that. Will have to re-listen to it for sure. 3.8
Freeze Corleone F.D.T.3.0
Cool and quite consistent, but feels all too samey and spreads its ideas too thin. Had it been 20min shorter it could be a banger. Almost every single song is in a minimalistic, dark style of rap/trap, but they get so similar that by 7-8 you're really wanting some more variety. He still does his usual gimmicks - ekip, petasse, reusing the same word 5 or 6 times as an end of line rhyme, etc etc - but it is generally alright. I dug 1, 3 is a jam with delivery evoking Orel, although the conclusion isn't too great, 4 is nicely hard hitting, 5 is quite boring but I like the slowed down, deconstructed conclusion. 6 is nice, and 7 is quite fat but overextends a bit. 8 is a nice destroyed drugged track, and 9 brings welcome variation with a nice bouncy instrumental making for a cool track. 10-12 stars to drag and really bring the album down, but the closer is quite nice. 3.2
clipping. Splendor and Misery3.5
Again this has some really good bits, but they struggle to keep their full-length efforts consistent. Some of the tracks show clipping. displaying a wonderful dark, industrial and oppressive flavour of their style when it's well executed. 3, 12 and especially 8 are jams that display that. On the other hand, some of the tracks here are just completely out of place - 2 feels like a stylistic exercise more than an actual song, and what on earth is even 13. Other tracks that are could would be 5 which is going to be a huge banger live, and the last third on 10 that is quite fat despite a boring early track. For the rest, it's either interludes or tracks that don't really work - 14 for example, which brings the noise textures back but isn't all that marking. Hoping the latest LP will be the one. 3.3
Porches Water3.0
Nice, but doesn't work superbly well. It is simpler and more bare bones than the same tracks on Pool, resulting in a safer, less annoying, but ultimately less interesting record. 1 is kinda bouncy but what the hell was the ending of it. 3 is kinda catchy, 4 is nicely summery and pop but the vox are a bit much and boring, and that applies to a lot of the rest of the record in fact. 5 is a weak track, 6 starts off very smooth and could have been a sort of jam if it weren't for the cringy vocals it unfolds into. 7 is kinda cool and shows the album feeling very 80s like on Pool, but again the vox fails. 8 is a folktronica outro which could have been weird but actually works quite nicely to wrap up the album. Still can't shake that feeling of meh though. 3.0
The Stargazer's Assistant Remoteness Of Light3.0
This is alright ambient with lots of cool elements, but that never quite manages to capture me or maintain the atmospheres it creates for long at all. The first half of 1 and midtrack on 2 are quite cool, and 3 is one of their most solid tracks bringing this up a point, but yeah this failed to resonate with me or to make me want to come back to it really. 3.15
Viva Belgrado Ulises4.0
Clearly superior to anything else they've put out. I am a sucker for prominent drums and they sure are impressive and more prominent here. The first half of the album is incredible, but from track 7 onwards it does seem to have more trouble. Not bad by any means, but it does struggle a bit to keep your attention for the last few tracks which brings it down a point or two. The end of 10 is jammy, and the beginning of 7 is interesting and jammywith an indie-rock sounding riff but with skramz prod and drums. The closer is a bit convenu, I like the noisier bit at its riffing peak but you can tell they were going for a grand finale and it is a bit convenu. 1-2 are jams, pbtt meets Spanish Envy. 3 is a jam too and interesting, it has kind of a rap feel to it with La Dispute vibes? 4-6 are nice. 5 shows that the drums make the record feel a lot more brutal than their other output. 4.1
Plini Handmade Cities2.5
Not bad and has good ideas, but the music feels gimmicky and soul-less. Virtuoso riffage
and complex layering of instruments do not necessarily give it depth.
Carly Rae Jepsen Emotion: Side B2.5
For the most part, this is still bland naive, far more so than Emotion LP, but the EP also displays some hints of greatness to come. This is especially true of 2 with its 80's/Depeche Mode vibe in the instrumental which surprisingly work quite well with her bouncy vocals and summer verse. A surprise jam and quite honestly one of her best tracks so far. 6 shows an interesting chorus and an ok verse, but the instrumental is a bit lackluster. 7 is quite an ok romantic track but with a dumb verse. So yeah, she's showing promise, but for the rest, pretty much every track is super naive. Not much that is unpleasant though, except maybe 3 - the kind of track that just gets stuck in your head and drives you nuts. 1 sounds like a parody almost, but I guess it'd be nice in a club or something, and 8 while naive as ever has some cool sounds. If anything this made me excited for her next LP. 2.7
Britney Spears Glory3.0
While this still isn't great, and has hardly any memorable track I'll come back to and certainly fewer jams than its predecessor, it is an album I respect much more than its predecessor. It is still very generic but boasts more fresh ideas and personality in the first three tracks than Britney Jean did on the whole. Britney abandons the club tomorrowland vibe to produce something that remains in the same vein stylistically, but gives lighter, summery pop vibes. 1 is my favourite track and probably the only jam here, a lovely opener. 2 is kinda cool too, and while it could work without the feat I appreciated it. 3-4 are fine, and 5 shows RnB sensibilities mixed with festival house stuff - it's not that great, but shows again that unlike the previous one this record at least tries to come up with something original. 6 alternates an electro swing feel (not sound) and Electronic Super Joy OST-core (yes), wish it stuck to the former but still a fun track. 8-10 are all nice and further demonstrate what I am saying here. 11 feels a bit weaker and is on the verge of being annoying but still feels fine, and the closer, once again, is alright. As Britney says herself, 'this was fun'. Maybe all hope isn't lost after all, but the probability of getting a great Britney album again remains fairly effing low. 2.8
Goodfight Lifejazz: Florida Room3.5
Lucy got me worried because frankly this version of the track is nowhere near as good, being all demoey and with rougher prod with also fewer elements to it (the female vox are gone for instance, only the male ones are there I think). But the other tracks do actually benefit from the demoeyness in a noisy psych candy claws way, and the versions are quite enjoyable in and of themselves as a renewed flavour. 2 for instance would fit perfectly on my surfey surfey playlist - if only it were on spotify -. 3-4 continue this, then 5 is a bit slower and perhaps a bit less convincing although the midtrack is cool. I found that 6 suffered a bit more than the others of the vocals being a bit shaky and not quite there yet, although its faster paced instrumental with a couple fun ideas is quite cool. 3.3
Alex Cameron Jumping the Shark2.0
Yeah I frankly do not get what's appealing in this. Sounding like you're from the 80's
doesn't automatically make the music interesting? This is like, one synth line, his
singing, and then pretty much nothing else, rinse and repeat. The tracks are incredibly
flat. 6 and 8 do have some cool synths coming in near the end I guess. 4 was perhaps my
least fave, and 5 was my favourite because it feels a little less plain and flavourless,
but overall I still found this aggressively boring sorry boys. 2.1
Blood Incantation Starspawn4.0
Now this is how you play around with different genres in a coherent manner. The first track showcases this especially well, opening with no mercy on hellish dm, showing hints of bm, fat doom riffs, beautiful dissonant guitars at 3:40, another excellent doom break at 8:35, atmospheric guitars at 11:40, back to fatness. And it all flows superbly well. The prod is miles better than on the EP, and the vox is fantastically atmospheric - reminds of Saturnus with its low ended reverberated growls. Bizarrely I get more Egyptian vibes out of this than I do space vibes. Now I don't think it is perfect, given there are some wankery solos here and there that don't seem like they work as well as on the EP. 2 is an absolute hellish jam and perhaps my fave track on the record unlike a lot of the folks here? 3 is its direct contender as their greatest implementation of atmospheric dm yet, quite sublime. 4 starts off on an ominous drone intro (me likey), and goes back to hellishness thereafter, while 5 does the same but feels a touch more generic. Yummy modern dm. 3.9
Vansire Reflections And Reveries3.0
Pretty by-the-book dream pop with some surf rock DNA in there somewhere. It is nice and has fun melodies, yet I struggle to shake the feeling of amateurism with this. A big part of that is the vocals which are frankly thin and anergetic and not great - though not awful either. Another aspect is how everything seems cheaply drenched into fx. The tones are cool at first, but it quickly feels amateurish. And there's also genuine bits like chatting bits on 9 that reinforce the impression that this was recorded in a garage. The tracks being so many, so short, and so washed out in fx (although the prod besides that isn't bad or anything), the whole album blurs very quickly into forgettable stuff. The intros on 2 and 4 are cool, and the album intro with r e v e r b is kinda fun. 10 and 13 have some pretty guitar work in them, and the latter especially stands out because its aim is more ambient, resulting in a more successful track, while 11 adds sort of synth pads that add substance to the sound. These few '''highlights''' towards the end bump this to a 2.9
Nthng Untitled [LT029.5 Sampler]3.5
I know this was a sampler for the then-upcoming nthng debut LP, but it was released on
vinyl long before the LP was so I think it counts as a semi-EP . Track 1 is a costco
version of Human from Remember Us. It is good, but only insofar as it reminds you of
Human. In itself it doesn't have much added value, and I don't think I'd ever jam this
part II over the original. In a vacuum though it is still nice . 2 is a short and sweet
interlude. 3 is a massive, gorgeous dub techno jam and my favourite track of the LP,
which as I recollect it was quite a disappoint (I should rejam it though to be fair). So
this EP is pretty much a concentrate of some of his best tracks, but it just lacks the
identity and panache Remember Us has. The third track is special though, 5.0 dub techno
material. 3.3
Helena Deland Drawing Room3.5
A pretty debut EP that is always good but didn't really stun me either, hence the rating. 1 is a cool slightly folkey indie pop track with surprising depth to it. At the end of 1 but especially the intro of 2 (makes sense given the title: 'Black Metal'), Helena adds a lot of distortion, and idk if I agree. Since the vocals don't change, I find the distorted guitars feel a bit incongruous with the rest of the soft dreamy aesthetic. Gotta say the unfold after 2's intro is nicely crafted though. 3 is the prettiest and most pristine track here, tapping into Helena's beautiful soft voice to make a nice track on the more ambient folk/dreamy side. 4 also is on the softer side, and is pretty, but not as lush as 3 as it is more on the side of regular indie folk. It's simpler, it's nice, my jaw didn't drop. Sweet and for a debut it is of quite high quality and variety. 3.7
Murphy Radio Naftalena3.5
Indonesian math-rock that doesn't fall into the trap of mindless noodliness and offers nice crispy prod, relaxing jazzy bits, and punchy CHON-esque bits does the job for me. Will be checking their other things. 3.5
Sianvar Stay Lost2.5
At its best this sounds like HRVRD. The calmer phases are especially enjoyable. At its
worse this sounds like a complete cacophony with gimmicky guitar riffs overpowering the
flavorful elements of the music. Climaxes and explosions in this are not fantastic, and
even sometimes irritating. There are many records out there that are similar to this, but
just better, including other works by the members of this band.
uchu nekoko Summer Sunny Blue3.5
Honestly this little record is not at all what I expected after the first EP, but it is great fun and it'll make it to my library. This one is far funkier and less dreamy. 1 starts off with fun bass despite odd mixing in places, fun brass too, making for a really sweet and funky song. 2 is cute city pop sorta stuff. 3 is the dreamiest of all with its acoustic guitars, somewhat more of what I was expecting after the first EP but still with a very different sound. Finally 4 is city pop too on the lignt and jolly side of things. Despite all four songs having quite different vibes the EP flows very nicely, what's more to ask? 3.6
Fief I3.5
Very sweet medieval sounding, enchanting music. It sets a mood superbly, with only track 3 feeling a little subpar. It reminds of the Graveyard Keeper OST but better - not hugely ambitious, but very good at what it does. Perfect forest walk soundtrack. 3.6
Noname Telefone4.0
I really enjoyed this record. This is the hip-hop form of a marshmallow. It is soft, comfy
and mellow. Strong abstract and soul influences. Both the vocals and instrumentals feel
fresh and innovative. I'm rating it quite high for now, but it may evolve either way -
become a grower, or on the contrary drop in rating after the surprise effect fades. A re-
listen is definitely on the cards. 4.1
Ben McElroy Bird-Stone2.5
Cello-based ambient. Sounds a bit like a GY!BE or a Sigur Ros interlude. I really liked the first track or two, but then the album really does not evolve and after some time there are no more surprises or excitement, rendering the album quite dull. Also vocals on 'Bernie's Army' should have been dropped entirely, not so great. However this is good at setting a certain atmosphere, and despite the low rating I mat very well re-listen to this - especially for the first couple tracks. 2.4
Voidspawn Pyrrhic3.5
A really exciting, well produced dm demo that borders on funeral doom in places. While I'm not usually much of a doom guy, with that tone and those fantastic guttural vox they truly make them work. They remind of a baby Ulcerate in some places especially 1-2 with some relatively dissonant guitar work, while some excellent riffs on 3 evokes the atmospheric riffs of Blood Incantation - good names to have on a dm soundoff hey. Sure it is very short and has some clumsier sections - the intros to 1 or 3 feel a bit cliche -, but if they release anything new in the coming years I will get my hands on it asap because they sure have the talent to produce something truly great. 3.65
Ben Chatwin Heat & Entropy2.0
More of the same, except with even less pretty parts and more boredom. 1 is cool and works because it actually is an intro. It is quite inspiring and could go into a lot of directions - could make a rap beat out of it I'm p sure. 5, 8 and the very end of 2 are the only bits that actually kinda work without feeling like glorified intros/interludes, but 5's just ok really. 8 is pretty and maybe the best track here. 6 is synthy and vaguely nice. Besides that, zzzzzzzzz. 1.9
Celer Shima3.5
Nice record from Celer. The second track is very similar to the first one. Both are good individually - with my preference going to the first one owing to its seemingly richer textures -, but the record as a whole feels like it drags on for too long without offering much that is memorable. Still a good relaxing record with a wonderful first track that I'll re-listen to many times. 3.7
I Hate Models Warehouse Memories4.0
The Emmanuel remix has good ideas, mostly but not exclusively from the original, but it is the weakest track. Thankfully I don't count remixes when rating techno EP like this. And for the rest these are three of my favourite IHM tracks including one of my favourite techno tracks period, thrown together on a nice consistent little EP with a cohesive atmosphere. Rare enough in my experience to warrant praise. Here's to hoping he'll beat this some day. 4.1
Cornfield Fugue [MOS007]2.5
The least successful MOS EP so far imo. I do not tend to include remixes in my ratings but I'll discuss them first: Curved's remix on 2 is the single best track here and by far, because Curved manages to make the music explode where Cornfield's falls a bit flat and feels introey. The second remix - also by curved - is the single worst track here and doesn't work at all. Now the two Cornfield tracks both have the same flaws: they feel like the opening track to an hour long set, but never quite unfold. 1 starts off on Rapoon-like dark ambient textures with a dark beat, not as hard hitting as Curved's but still quite good, but the track stops where it feels like it should have started exploding after a long build up. 3 is the same but even less good. Meh. 2.7
milareva Search For The Light3.5
Fun little soul EP. Great drums, the rest is pretty generic, but quality. The bridge section in 'Appreciate' was probably the highlight. 3.4
21 Savage Savage Mode3.0
Far better instrumentally and vocally than an of his prior work, yet still feels like it struggles to hit home. 21's delivery is very lazy and laid back, which works for some tracks but is a bit tiresome and flat over the long run. When he does get more intense it works really well, like on the jammy 2's first half, but he hardly ever builds up in intensity. The use of autotune on 9 freshens things up nicely resulting in a chill trap track, but it's a bit too little too late since the track closes the (intelligently short) tape. From the very opener you see that the gimmicks (pew pew skrrt skrrt etc) are still there but in far smaller quantities which is great to see, and that the instrumentals will rbe nice, broody and nocturnal. 3 is the last peak track here, with Future's sporadic but much welcome contribution and a generally intimate atmosphere that you wouldn't expect from a dude with 21's persona. 4 has great instrumental but makes you wish 21 would whine less. 5 just passes, and 6 has a really cool intro. 7 is the hardest hitting track in that half of the record and is quite cool although the repetitive midtrack is annoying. 8 has a nice subdued instrumental but feels a bit contrived. Even though this is a lot better it doesn't feel strong enough to be in 3.5 tier, because besides No Heart it mostly makes me want to check Future's discog and not 21's. 3.2
Night Flowers Glow in the Dark3.0
Always nice, never marking, super short, and 2 feels a bit gnangnan. 3.15
TTNG Disappointment Island2.5
I will avoid the world of unfunny title-based puns these guys were asking for when they named their album and just say this isn't super good. Some tracks are ok and bouncy (I actually liked 'consoling ghosts'), and it is all still technically extremely impressive, but the spark just isn't there and this really is not TTNG's best effort. 2.7
Delusion (FRA) [MOS008]3.0
"Full EP out soon !" they said in July 2016 : ( As it stands, this will forever be a one
track preview of an EP that never came to be in its complete form. It's a shame because
this is a top tier Delusion track with its hard hitting beat over echoing synth leads as we
know from Delusions' past work. It feels like he/she/they were improving with every
release, but I don't know if they continued producing. Anyway because it is so short and
only a one tracker, despite said track being good this can't be more than a 3.2
Emmanuel Diamonds & Ashes3.5
Neat little two-track techno EP. 'Diamonds' is a banger with an intriguing, industrially eerie vibe. 'Ashes' is very similar but did not quite click with me as much, although it does build up a nice atmosphere towards the end of the track.
J Balvin Energia2.5
Even for ultra mainstream reggaeton (which it more uniformly is compared to the diverse LP1) this is a fairly tepid effort. It does start surprisingly well, with 1 being a pretty good intro track considering the album it is the intro to, 2 being a nice slow-paced track to start with, and 3 being pretty good also albeit still not explosive - it's like reggaeton that is not made for club/party listening, which I wasn't even sure existed. 4's already a lot more generic, okay with some crnigey bits, whilst 5 is an upper okay sunset track. From here on there isn't much else to speak of; there are no hooks, little attempt to make tracks memorable, and it just all gets blurry. 7's a little bit more cringe, by the cute sunsetty 8 the album feels long already, 9 is an overlong song to get laid but without much else otherwise beside the intro, 10 has a nice discrete hook I guess but is otherwise forgettable.12 and especially 11 demonstrate tracks that are completely hollow - blueprints more than full songs almost. 14 and 15 do try to add a little more production value, which although they aren't that great offers a bit of relief. I like Fuego's contributions to 15, especially the rapped bits, but the song is still too long, still corny, and ends on a fadeout as the appropriate conclusion to quite a lazy opus. 2.3
Todd Terje The Big Cover-Up2.5
The album itself is not that great, but the remixes really feel useless and if they were included in the rating this would be on the low end of 2.5 tier. 5-6 just rehash their original tracks without adding anything whatsoever, just relying on the same ideas, thus feeling like complete fillers, while 7 and especially 8 just make the tracks worse. So yea no need to bother really. 1 is the worst of the four original tracks as it has good ideas here and there but just feels like a mishmash of completely different things that don't stick together, with the only unifying element being a meh Terje synth bassline that just struggles to glue everything together. 2-3 with their vocals have some cute outdated fun in them although 2 overstretches a good amount, while 4 does the same but without vocals and shows a lack of substance. Meh. 2.7
Nails You Will Never Be One of Us3.5
Strangely enough the prod on this one feels far mushier and muddier than previously, but not in a way that serves the music. In fact, the first four tracks sound like a demo, not their latest LP to date. It has cool riffs here and there, but it is slower, less fun, and with the bad prod I'd never listen to this over their earlier material. Then, surprisingly, the record picks it up with more abrasive, faster paced songs that also have much more chaotic hardcore DNA into them, which of course I like. The end of 5 is stupid, but aside from that 5-9 are all jammy tracks. 8 shows the chaotic elements nicely, and 6 demonstrates that Nails can make slower tempos work. The first few minutes of the closer are cool too, but the track then goes on and on forever with cliche slow riff after cliche riff, and my rating went downhill because of that. On an album this short, having an uninteresting closer this long is a massive mistake. Still an ok 3.6
Pi Ja Ma Radio Girl4.0
An adorable little indie pop EP that sits on a cloud and tickles the Trifolium fibres in my musical taste. 1 is nice but I felt like the vox was mixed way too loud. It is twinkly and glittery cute pop, the kind of track I'd be happy to hear on the radio. Catchy, but not quite a jam you know. 2 is even cuddlier and feels like music that would work for kids just as much as it works for us nerds out here. 3 has more of a folk style still with this happy fairy vibe to it, and 4 is a repeat of the track in a demo version that I honestly could not tell was a demo version. The track is so sweet I didn't mind it being repeated at all. The soundtrack to paradise. I am so pumped to hear the LP! 3.75
clipping. Wriggle3.5
Beats the prior EP as their most 'showable' record yet, as this one not only is quite easily palatable and catchy for the band, but also is so without abandoning much of the experimental style that demarcates them from conventional 2010s hip-hop. 1 is a great intro and shows what I mean here by finishing on an abrupt but short wall of noise to melt your face off. 2 is quite catchy, and 3 is aggressive but also kinda showable to people. The t/t on 4 is quite fun but a bit weirder and less socially acceptable. The acid techno line at 2:30 is a fun addition to see in their sound. 5 is has a lot of stuff going on and is quite fun but also isn't a great track. 6 on the other hand is the first real jam I find in their discog (I think), blending superbly accessible elements (female guest vox for instance) to a weird and noisy instrumental. If you want to show your friends the concept of experimental noisy hip-hop, this might be the track. 3.65
Sleep Talk Growing Pains3.5
This is the term 'post-hardcore' taken almost literally, with enormous post-rock influences laid
atop a good ol' hardcore basis. The instrumentals are really good and the genre mix is
interestingly done - with even some Suis La Lune vibes at times. Production is a bit odd with
very hard hitting hardcore drums onto a mostly mellow background, but I quite like it. The vocals
however are quite annoying and generic metalcore-ish most of the time. The sparse clean vocals
are on the naive side but they still sound miles better than the harsh vocals. Overall a good
listen that makes me want to watch them and listen to their other stuff - there is a good idea in
almost every track. 3.5
SUMAC What One Becomes4.5
Holy f*ck this record is massive as f*ck. Crass, bleak post-metal with heaps of low end and fantastic guttural grows. I don't understand why this is rated so low on here. The compositions are maybe a touch simpler than say Isis' or CoL's, but they sure are efficient. Mad headbangs - Locust Star as an album. The record also has some calm phases (e.g. the end of 'Blackout' whose melody sounds exactly like Perth by Bon Iver) and lots of dynamics. Last track is probably the weakest and it's still great. 4.3
doesn't oneday3.0
Doesn't are a talented band, and this thing is ripe with cool little riffs and drumming parts - see for example 1,3,4, or 6. They do somewhat well to try and vary things up with a softer track on 5, grittier stuff on 3, some electrnoica bits like on 8, etc. But this is far less prominent than on the EP, and I just dont think that recipe has enough in it to work on longer format. Sure the first few tracks are cool as bite sized fun tracks with ideas in them, but the record feels quite long quite quickly because everything feels a bit flat despite the undeniable muscianship at play. Is it the very tame guitar sound, the absence of distinctive elements (moreso than on the EP anyways), the relatively flat energy curve, I'm not sure, but this felt much longer than it needed to. Selected bits are very cool though. 3.2
Sea of Shit 2nd EP3.5
When it hits, it still hits hard, but I feel like on this one there are too many slower, doomier tracks that pack less energy for the record's benefit, whereas on the 10 inch they offered nice pauses. Starting and closing the album on that style with two of the three longest tracks on the EP breaks its energy a lot. The middle still rips and 2 gives of great Cursed vibes, and 5 is a fun Sea of Shit jam. 3.5
indigo la End Aiiro Music3.5
This one felt inexplicably flat despite having dynamics in both song and composition. The tracks just feel like they blur into each other as the listener's attention drifts away and is only called back in a select few places. The weird thing is there are calmer songs and more aggressive songs, rhythm changes etc, but they fail to make the album feel dynamic and colourful. Maybe it is due to the relatively unchanging vocals? I guess in itself that makes the album an interesting piece to analyse and learn about record construction. So yeah for most of its course this is lighthearted ilE material with occasional math-rock guitars here and there (see 6 eg). 9 is a fun song that I recognise from idk which other one of their records, and is pretty much the first time the album grabbed my attention beyond 'this is nice'. 10 is boring piano, and is followed by 11 which is another waking up point with its weird but cool electronic style. The verse on 12 is catchy, but it felt like it was about time for the album to end. 13 felt like that again, as its protracted conclusion feels a bit like an album finale. The actual closer is a great track and album high point though, finally offering a rupture that works with that funky guitar at the beginning, unfolding nicely, and ending on a cool bass solo conclusion. Bumps this a point to 3.4
Curved [MOS006]3.5
Heck yeah this is the record I needed. Dark, brooding, industrial techno much in the vein of MOS003. The tracks did feel of decreasing quality, with 1 being a huge jam, 2 being super cool but mostly in the second half, and 3 finishing to drag this down under the 4.0 tier with its excessively long buildup unfolding into not too much. I think I prefer MOS003 but this confirms I really dig Curved's general style. 3.7
Coops God Complex3.5
Coops' chillest one yet. The first half of the record feels weirdly disjointed from the second: it's not as well produced, more erratic and certainly less cohesive. 1 has a cool intro but the track doesn't develop too well. 2 continues the sad vibe and has a really tasty RnB vocal intro that then only gets to rap, the instrumental is sweet especially the conclusion, but sadly the prod feels off. 3 is a relatively standard, chill piano-based track. 4 has a really sweet instrumental with Nujabes-style flute thingies contrasting with Coops' more aggressive delivery, very nice but doesn't quite hold the distance. 5 has very nice piano but I'm no sold on the delivery. 6 is one of the weakest tracks with a beat that feels like it's off youtube despite a few nice sounds - also idk if it's intentional but the notes are nearly the same as the evil theme from stranger things. From then on we suddenly enter the second half of the record which could be a 4.0 tier EP quite easily. 7 is a jam where the contrast between the extremely chill instrumental and his hard delivery works really well. 8 is also very chill although more generic and less marking. 9 is kinda jammy and shows how good the prod suddenly got, with the bass especially. 10 is a smooth jazzy jam, 11 is a fun track that reminds of French rap somehow, after the skit on 12 13 and 14 are also super chill before the nice outro that works quite well as a conclusion and clearly represents the atmosphere of this second half. On another day this could be a 3.8 quite easily, but because of the first half I'll slap a 3.7
Delusion (FRA) [MOS005]3.5
By far Delusion's strongest EP on Molecular Structure, and it's not even close. This one takes the kaleidoscopic, psych vibes of MOS004's opener and makes two tracks out of it, the first with a dope intro and ahrd but a touch incongruous beats with interesting percussions here and there, cool but not quite a jam, and the second with a merciless introduction of a pounding beat over a psych lead, going into a super dope clubbby, danceable direction and becoming Delusion's hardest jam. He tends to layer simple leads echoing into one another that are a bit too simple in the track build ups but shine o so well in climaxes. Sadly the last track is a bit meh and feels like a long protracted outro owing to the relative scarcity of beats in it. Quite forgettable and brings this down a point. 3.6
Black Thread Seeping Pitch3.0
Side A is one of his best and very evocative, was going to put this in 3.5 territory, but side B is one of his weakest although it does improve near the end, and brings this way down to a 2.9
Ariana Grande Dangerous Woman3.5
Hard to rate this objectively because it is blasted on the radio/in stores etc. all the time so of course lots of tracks feel recognizable. Following her discog I can tell why this got so much hype when it came out. Huge improvement from her two first albums. This one manages to vary genres without it feeling random, the record feels well constructed and very strong on that front especially for such mainstream pop. Tracks 1-8 are 3.7-3.9 and are p much all jams except 6. Then it goes to crap again. 9 is supremely annoying, 1.1-1.2, and track 10 is meh as f*ck. The closer is ok but I wish the record stopped at 7 or 8 instead. Still a jam and re-listen album, overall 3.6
Nothing Tired of Tomorrow3.0
I really like Nothing's sound. Pretty much any generic song by them sounds great to me, and that is exactly what happened on this album. It does have some scarce good moments, especially in the beginning, but after the first couple tracks it never caught my attention at any point even though it all sounds great. There are no catchy melodies, riffs, or vocals that stand out and make you want to stop for a second to listen closely. There are no bad moments either, and in general it is a very pleasant album, but for me it was quite a big step down from their previous opus. 3.4
Aseul New Pop3.5
Really cool and ripe with ideas, flowing (somewhat) seamlessly from genre to genre whilst maintaining a coherent, lovely dreamy fairyesque atmosphere with bleeps and bloops and cuddly chimes. There's bit of techno (5), vaporwave DNA all over, sad piano on 7 prefaced by a lovely section on 6, ethereal trap beats on 8, you name it. I do find I preferred the boppier, catchier tracks, like 5 before it unfolds into a happy childhood, or 9-10 with their delightful 80s spin. I do find 11 to be a bit of a bummer, being back to the slow mellowness, when 12 would have connected with 9-10 much better. It's a good conclusion and a nice 10 min piece that slowly relaxes you out of the album. There is nothing profoundly outstanding on this, but it is a sweet listen through and through and a keeper. 3.7
Radiohead A Moon Shaped Pool4.0
Yeah I don't know how this ever felt like a possible 5.0 to me, but it is still a gorgeous Radiohead album. I really enjoy the lush, ambient, deconstructed keys style of a good part of the album, but it doesn't always quite strike home. For starters I don't understand 1 as the opener, it stands out completely and either of the two following tracks (both jams) would have been much nicer and fitting openers imo. Still an ok fun track though. 4 is the first track that falls kinda flat but is well constructed, breaking the lushness of 2 and 3 with some acoustic guitar then slowly easing its way back into the keys. 5 is more electronic and hard hitting, which again shakes things up nicely and demonstrates their mastery of album craft, but only the second half is jammy. 6 is a sublimely delicate winter jam that demonstrates the style of AMSP perfectly executed. 7 is a bit more in classic Radiohead 'rock' style but remains merely ok, and 8 despite some lovely sounds also feels like it doesn't quite work. 9 is a jam and shows a lovely mix of their prior sound with the new twist taken on this record. Very nice. 10 is nice but just passes by before the godtier jam that is 11, a top tier Radiohead track that I think is solely responsible for making me think this could ever be a 5.0. Gorgeously hopeless and sad, with beautifully fragile vocal delivery and impactfully simple instrumental. Glorious. So yeah the album has huge jams but just alternates too many merely nice tracks in between to claim even the possibility of a 5. 4.15
Astronauts End Codes3.5
This was sweet, but not as noteworthy as their first, as they stuck more to the simple sweet indie folk without much variation, whereas their first record ventured into more distant territories. All nice to very nice tracks, with the exception of 2 and 3 which gave me Flight of the Conchords vibes - which when you are trying to make serious music is not a good thing -. 1 and 7 marked me the most as very nice lovely tracks, but honestly I couldn't pinpoint the jams as the songs really resemble one another and blend into each other. 9 also grabbed my attention owing to its nice, faster pace, which frankly in a record with so little variation is enough for you to notice. 3.6
Amulets In Flux4.0
I love this guy's stuff. Pretty flat drone without vocals or anything quite memorable to it, so not really anything above 4 range material, but the textures are just so so sweet and droney. Very nice and inspiring albeit very much low ambition EP material - not going to be a classic album. 3.95
Dante Mars Ajeto! Celebrating Digital Artefacts4.0
Really really fun vaporwave album that flows naturally almost the entire time bar the intro on 3 and doesn't feel long at all. Will stay in my library. The tracks that worked best for me were the bouncier, groovier ones - and hell, some really do got some good bounce in em. 7 is a really bouncy jam, 15 is a jam that would fit right in a house set, and 18 offers sort of an ambient bounce. There are few weak tracks and excessively quirky bits. I mean sure, the opener sounds like it is from the OST of some documentary on African fauna, 3 is a bit abrupt in its transition, and 12 is the kind of bizarre I was worried about (but quite short). A few tracks are also half cool and bouncy but just have a little too much weirdness or a sample that doesn't quite work, eg 6, 13, or 19. Other cool tracks 4, 9, 14 (chill and groovy, kinda jammy), and the closer which is a nice ambient-ish piece. Surprised I liked this so much tbh. Thanks rellik! 4.05
I Hate Models The Lost Tapes4.0
One of his top EPs. He could make a 5.0 album honestly if you compiled all of his best tracks and moments, and 1 would be the perfect intro to that album with a rich, ominous and layered ambient/drone buildup of textures. After that, the next three tracks progressively increase in quality. 2 is very fat, but feels like it could have exploded much better, and instead feels like protracted buildup that never quite resolves. It is still nicely industrial, dark and fat, and the vox make it still quite nice, but it ends up feeling like half baked potential. 3 is fatter and more consistent, and 4 is a huge gritty IHM jam, less synthy than the tracks I usually dig from him, just visceral, hard pounding basement techno that will turn your guts inside out. A top tier IHM track really, although it isn't quite perfectly constructed. And to top it all off, I love the art. Get on this people. 4.05
Eructation The Fumes of Putrefaction (1992-1995)3.5
Most of my general comments from the demo apply here: this is well produced for demo material, it's full of idea and good riffs, but its value mostly lies in how exciting it is for their hypothetical future output that actually never came to be, while as a record in and of itself it is cool but not something I'd recommend or keep in my library really. I have to say I am surprised at how well it holds the distance, and the added tracks all feel at least as good as the best demo track (3) or better. 1-3's the demo, 4 has cool tech riffage in the intro and is already better than anything on the demo, 5 is as good as 3, 6 lines up some great riffs followed by not so great riffs (a common theme). Then 7-8 are what truly elevates this a point above the demo, with 7 being fast and aggressive all the way through which I dig (it's kind of a jam actually), while 8 ruptures completely and delightfully from the rest with a clean guitar interlude that has fantastic prod for its age and demo material status. Reminds of some AAL almost. 9-10 were recorded later on (I can't really talk about construction here since this is a compilation), and the voice changes but not for the better imo. The return to riffage on 9 isn't the best, but again both tracks do also boast some pretty sweet riffz - a lot of them actually, especially some of the tech hints on 10. 3.6
Polygon Woods Polygon Woods3.5
For a debut EP this is very strong. They have great tones, they know what they're doing and their compos flow like soft liquid cream. Leaves me wanting for more. Sure the prod is a bit spicy most noticeably on the first track, but in a way that gives it a certain raw aesthetic that's kinda charming. 1 is really nice aussie psych rock with a touch of thom yorke sprinkled in, 2 slows things down and is more on the psych side of things, while 3 confirms that I love vibrato as an effect and is just plain fun too, kind of between 1 and 2 in terms of energy level. Fun stuff that'll go in my library, well done guys. 3.6
clairo brains a bus station2.0
Again, feels low effort. It wasn't a bad idea to add drum sounds to her aesthetic, but the one sound she chose is pretty awful, both per se and in the mix, and it ruins most of the tracks. Also the prod is still lackluster in places, actually worse than it was on some of her other stuff. The only two highlights here are the instrumental 4 which is very pretty and drops the piano, and 6 which shows for the first time strong dream pop aesthetics in her sound especially vocally, which is exciting but again ruined in the track by bad mixing and drums. The transitions are also pretty awful, 1-2 just stop abruptly, 4-5 has no link whatsoever, etc etc. 2.0
Sewer Election Wreck4.0
This confirms two things. First, I like (?harsh) noise. Second, I am entirely illiterate when it comes to noise. For beyond saying that it is quite diverse with different flavours of noise from distorted stuff to walls of white noise, and also that it is quite intelligently made with some pauses and alternation of aggressive and less aggressive phases, I'd be hard pressed to explain why I enjoyed this. But hell I did. What makes a good noise album as opposed to a bad mishmash of random, well, noises? I don't have a clue. 3.8
Cult of Luna and Julie Christmas Mariner4.5
Absolutely massive and enthralling. One of the best uses of female vocals in metal. Julie
Christmas input notwithstanding this is already a fantastic CoL record with brutal riffs,
excellent song constructions, and vocals amongst the best. Julie is a incredibly clever addition
to their sound and brings a touch of madness, making the record sound like a lunatic witch ritual
with powerful imagery a la Dead Magic by Anna vH. This freshness and originality is amazing from
these masters of the genre, and this may very well become the CoL classic album I've been looking
for. I have to say the second half did not feel quite as good on first listen, and 'The Wreck of
S.S. Needle' is a bit of a weak point, but hell yeah this rocks. 4.6
Edit: same except SS Needle is a good track, the low point is track 4 whcih drags on a bit and
maybe the second half of the closer. Still 4.6
Gallery Six The Fogbound Island3.5
Very nice drone to fall asleep to, as usual with him with great use of field recording as supplement. However, the three tracks feel a bit isolated, with no transition really, and no apparent album construction although the vibe does vary a touch from track to track. I doesn't feel as much as a great 'record' to jam, but rather feels like a compilation of three different ambiences to fall asleep to on three different days. As always I don't really include the remixes in my rating, but briefly track 4 feels like more of the same but with far clumsier use of field recordings although with a better evolution within the track from lushness to noisiness, while 5 is better done but more generic ambient that is very nice but also pretty forgettable. 3.7
Cacartu Cacartu4.0
This neo-soul EP felt just a touch better than their full length, with more variety in a shorter runtime (including an instrumental track 'Jeff the Chef' that bangs). Again, not a single bad track and overall a very enjoyable record. I did listen to it in better conditions though so not a super fair comparison with the LP, probably need a re-listen. 4.1
Delusion (FRA) [MOS004]3.0
Where the last one was two m'okay track (and then a youtube outlier we won't include), this one is all over the place. The first track is a dope jam reminding of Curved's MOS003 with its regular tempo compared to MOS002, deep reverberated kicks, and dark undertones. The lead does feel a bit incongruous in the first two minutes, but when the second synth line comes in the track takes a fantastic psychedelic turn and gets its jam status. 2 is slower, more awkward, and pretty much in the vein of MOS002 - just m'kay really. Then 3 is the first truly bad track I encounter with this label, despite sometimes interesting incisive drums, owing to its simplistic, flavourless lead which makes the track boring to no avail. Sure it improves in the second half, but that still doesn't make it worth it. Even though this rates lower than MOS002, I'd be more likely to come back to it for the sole sake of track 1. 2.9
Hana Hana3.0
This isn't jaw-dropping, but it's a sweet promising debut that makes me want to check out her subsequent LP. Her vox is really nice and is the overarching element of the album, the background music changing exploring different electronica directions - varying lever of poppiness. 1 is quite light summery dream pop, and I kinda wish it either went full way summer pop, or remained darker and more subtle, instead of remaining in a grey zone. 2's a bit dull, weakest track here. 3 is nice but had potential it didn't live up to, still with nice vox of course. 4 and 5 are quite cool and interesting (4 being some sort of dub house track I guess), and would be the reason why I'd ever come back to this. 3.2
Woman Fever3.0
Cute little indie pop record that has lots of potential but also bad problems that could easily be fixed. Primarily, a) the vocals are quite weak unless they are layered, meaning most of the vocals when the singer is alone feel kind of bland but in the choruses they work a lot better. b) The explosions in tracks 1,3, and 5 are super cool, but all come 3-4min into the song and last about a minute. This is a skewed song structure because the buildups feel far too long for what they lead to. The intros on 1 and 2 are particularly cool, but 2 despite being a cool spacey synthy track doesn't explode as much as it should. The occasional electric guitar brings nice amounts of surprising grit. 3 has a boring start and a couple of weird sections but again ends very well. 4 is the weakest track here, being slow and never truly picking things up to explode. So despite a low rating if they improve they could be really great. 2.9
Delusion (FRA) [MOS002]3.0
Slower paced than your regular techno, with darker, more mysterious vibes than MOS001. I find the slow tempo didn't quite work on the first track as much as it does on the second, although both tracks seem to find much
better groove and footing in their respective second halves. Still, this doesn't feel like a record I'd be dying to come back to in the foreseeable future. There is a mysterious third track on YouTube and I'm not sure
whether it should count towards the rating or not. It does offer interesting lead synths with an uneasy vibe, most clearly in the second half yet again, but the drums are weird, the tempo is wrong and the groove feels
off - it's like the track doesn't know where to go. I guess it should bump this down a bit. 3.15
Ben Buitendijk Venomous3.5
Doesn't have a single track as marking as the t/t on transcended being, but much more consistent overall. This one is dark, broody, and pounding. Much more basement club-oriented than Transcended Being. 1 feels like it'd be a perfect intro to a live set of that kind although it isn't hugely memorable in a vacuum. 2 is even bouncier but less catchy. Some welcome variation comes in at min 3, and the track is nice overall. 3 is also dark industrial yet...soft? Probably due to his prod choices. Sounds a bit muffled you know. It's interesting at least. Perfect techno to work with in the background, not so much for dedicated listen. At min 4 it does bounce really hard though with those extra hi-hats coming in. The locked groove is what it is, just a little beat for less than a minute. I mean yeah sure it's fin but it's too short to really matter. Nice EP. https://obliquemusicnl.bandcamp.com/album/obq001-ben-buitendijk-venomous-ep-2 3.5
Curved [MOS003]4.0
I am definitely biased because this is the first MOS recorded I ever encountered, and one of the first techno EPs I came across in general. Still, this is fantastic, dark, menacing indus techno with curved oh so fat beats. I will say the last track's second half feels a bit subpar and brings this down a point or so, but still on this I'll slap a 4.05
The Body No One Deserves Happiness4.5
Exceptionally bleak and abrasive. A unique album with a peculiar horror-esque feel.
Denzel Curry Imperial3.0
This one got me really pumped in the beginning, but failed to convince me. The opener is merciless, and the verse is super jammy, but the chorus kinda sucks in comparison - an omen for what will follow. Track 2 is also a jam with an interesting prod, and again a chorus that kinda sucks. The run from 3-7 goes from ok to annoying (6 is kinda cool though). The prods are often good, but ruined by annoying choruses or back vocals, and Denzel's delivery instead of saving it all sometimes adds to the mess. Then the record calms down and 8-10 are much more relaxed and sort of jammy I guess? Get the record a couple extra points up to a 3.05
Omega Dawkins alpha4.0
A weird one. Has really tasty, noisy drone textures - especially on 2 which is a definitive jam. The record feels like it does not quite know where it is going, boasting random samples, abrupt transitions, ventures into other genres such as techno on 7 or lo-fi hip hop on 6 (jammy), and while there is definite quality in a lot of the tracks, this erratic nature disrupts the immersion for me. 3.8
Sound of Ceres Nostalgia for Infinity4.0
Underrated. I liked this a whole lot more than Candy Claws' stuff - SoC has a lot cleaner and softer a sound but still retains a strong part of CC's aesthetic. This album truly puts the 'dream' in dream pop, with a very lazy and hazy record to chill to in a sunny summer prairie - this isn't catchy dream pop for car rides. The intro on 1 is super nice and dreamy, while 2 is simpler and less catchy but with a very cool atmosphere to it. 3 continues this style, then the album takes a catchier turn on 4. This has a lot of synth part and electronica bits, which here reminded me a bit of Yoshimi in a remote way. 5 is a lazy but blissful jam that is transitions superbly into its own continuation on the catchy 6 which is pretty much 5 part B really. After this strong mid album, I was convinced this would get at least a 3.8 - before that I was thinking of a 3.7 maybe. 7 is the only track that looses momentum a bit, but 8 is incredibly chill, and after a short interlude, the concluding track offers hypnotic synth works that stands out from the rest of the album but works great as a finale and makes the last track another jam. 3.9
clairo Creased Laundry3.0
Not going to repeat my soundoff for the nth time - this is pretty but feels a bit pointless. Prod has improved thus these are some of her best songs, but why is the mellow 3 (my fav) so much quieter on bandcamp? 2.8
Submotion Orchestra Colour Theory3.5
I was expecting to be disappointed by this, but I wasn't. Yes it abandons a LOT of the
jazz/soul elements of their earlier records, emphasizing a whole lot more on electronica
sounds. This almost sounds like a Four Tet/ Culprate record at times, and at other times
like some festival house EP. But is that necessarily a bad thing? There are a lot of
tracks on there I thoroughly enjoyed (Red Dress, In Gold, a couple others) and none that
I really disliked. I might re-listen to this. 3.6
The Jezabels Synthia3.5
Yeah this one didn't click too much either. Again much poppier, with as the same suggests lots of synth pop bits. 1 has a lovely album intro but the bulk of the track feels a bit lackluster. 2 also has a cool intro and is a stronger track overall, with better integrated vocals and touches of baroque. 3 is also good and shows post-rocky touches, showing how diverse the album gets. 4's full on synth pop but I find the vocals don't really match it and the track is kinda eh. 5-6 are the album peak, two gorgeous tracks, and the latter taking a darker turn and showing the best instance of the synth pop turn the band took whilst retaining scarce post-rock touches. 7 has a cool bass but feels amateur for most of it, like a first act you'd see at a gig, and 8-9 kinda lost me tbh. 10 is a sweet ballad (which normally I wouldn't like so that's an achievement), but it is overstretched a little bit and feels excessively lengthy. Overall this is a good album, but it's not consistently living to the potential of 'synth pop Jezabels'. 3.6
Nthng Are You Here2.5
Some good ideas, but just falls flat almost all throughout. 1 has a cool deconstructed
groove to it, but it isn't dancy or ravey or atmospheric much at all. I wish the beat
were simpler over the deconstructed groove to make it bouncy instead of being
deconstructed itself too, making the track not really work. 2 is more straightforward
than 1 especially in the beat, and simply works better. The lead is nice and dark, but
not enough to make make the track a banger. At some point we see some pad dub synths come
in which is a welcome addition (they were entirely absent on 1) that gives the track an
added flavour on top of being quite bouncy, but despite this second track being nicer I
still couldn't shake the feeling that it all flet kinda bland. 2.7
Memoryhouse Soft Hate3.0
Nicer than their previous LP, but really not mindblowing. Feels more like poppy pop in lieu of folky indie dream pop at times. 3 and 7 are kinda jams, but the record often feels a little naive and innocent, like on 8 (although the end of the track is nice). It'd be quite nice to jam in the car with non musical friends maybe, but not much beyond that. 3.1
DIIV Is the Is Are3.5
While the first half of this felt stronger than the prior LP, and this one having a lot more tracks I'll retain, as a record on the whole this felt weaker. It might be due to listening conditions and interruptions, but it feels like it drags on for a tad too long. Even though 14 and the closer are quite nice, by track 10 I was loosing track of the album really. Prior to that though, this offers nice fun songs when the band decides to have a lot of vocals. The opener, 7 and 9 are quite catchy songs in that regard, but the best track here is probably 4, the only song I'd call a jam. For the rest, this bears the same comment as the prior LP: it's nice, but not hooking. The band's instrumentals are sweet but to simple not to rely on vocals a bit to grab the listener. Still a nice effort, and while I rate it lower it has a better chance to end up in my library simply because of the better high points. 3.5
Porches Pool3.5
Feels like the first time they make their style work since 2011's Summer of Ten EP. They tone down the moany annoying vox and the weirdness, especially in the early record. 1-2 are bouncy jams, vaguely evoking Depeche pop. 3 has jammy sounds but vox that don't work as well, which will be a recurring theme as the album goes on. 4 is ok but I did not even notice the track changed. 5 shows again good sounds but less good over worsening vocals. The auto-tune use is generally good but is sometimes excessive and sounds like a parody, especially on 7 and on 12 which concludes the album quite flatly. 7 is still a cool track with a nice synthy bridge in the midtrack. On 9 the singer gets quite moany but the instrumental is cool and the conclusion well crafted. 10 is cool, and 11 is a boring track in the vein of their earlier stuff. This started off as a 3.8, but overall it feels more like a 3.55
Future EVOL3.0
Starts off quite encouragingly, but rapidly falls back into Future's usual traps: quite a disappointment overall. Tbf the comparison between my rating for this and prior projects is dubious bcs there was a long break during the discog run. 1-2 are regular Future tracks with a nice mildly dark vibe and quite playlist worthy with no annoying moments or bad ideas really. The intro to 3 is a bit funny and preludes to grimmer things, but while not quite playlist worthy the track still hits hard in places. Bad intros are a recurring theme here, with 4's evoking britney spears, then a rave with cool sounds, then unfolding quite disappointingly, and 5's feeling outdated as hell, unfolding in a cool way although not without annoying sections. 6 is quite meh, but 7 while not as good as 1-2 raises the bar quite back up. 8 has a funny synthwave intro then unfolds awfully, but 9 is like 1-2. The intro to 10 is pretty terrible, but The Weeknd's feat is actually really successful and much welcome as variation - so much so that when Future's part kicks in, you realise you would kind of have preferred if this was just a wholly The Weeknd track. 11 is one of the few good surprises here, with nice instrumental especially the strings at 2:30, while 12 has yet another dumb intro but does work quite well in some places. Inconsistency, erratic structure, dumb additions that break otherwise fine songs, a couple jams in a sea of filler and excessively monochromatic delivery: this sure is a Future record. 2.9
Yndi Halda Under Summer3.5
Even though I 5'd EEB I don't dislike the different direction these guys took. 'Helena' (especially the intro) and the opening track sound great. Track 2 and 4 not so much though, pretty forgettable. Overall this style fits them well too and the shift is not too stark, but this just does not match the quality of EEB. Seeing songs from the two albums live is night and day. They can do better. 3.7
Cult of Luna/The Old Wind Råångest3.5
This is some of the sludgiest and darkest CoL out there. Apart from maybe the vocals and the
poorer prod it is hard to tell it is a 2016 split and not an early CoL demo. I like it and will
re-listen to it, but I'm also not too crazy about it - does not have much to it except massive
riffage. 3.7
Rihanna ANTI3.5
Complete surprise after the prior album, as this one has a real identity - doesn't sound
like it is the same Rihanna in a lot of places actually-, is well constructed, and is never
annoying. Fantastic turn for Rihanna and makes me excited to hear what she comes up with
next. The whole thing could be a top tie mainstream album a la Dangerous Woman, if only it
weren't for the run from 10-13 which is full of ok but dull ballads, 10 being folky, 11
soul-ish, 12 showing Rihanna overstretching her voice, and 13 at least offering a nice
album ending. Before that, the album was easily in 3.5-3.6 range. 1 is a kinda jammy hip-
hop infused track, 2 is a lovely interlude with remote FlyLo/Thundercat vibes, 3 (and lots
of other bits) remind of Banks' flavour of RnB - not a jam but I enjoyed how atmospheric it
is compared to her prior records -, 4 is maybe 20s too long but I like it - feels a bit
like a modern take on her early hits but with a more intimate, sexy, laid back direction.
Drake's contrib is a bit eh but does not ruin the track at all. 5-7 are ok to boring. 8 and
9 are the album's peak, both jams. 8 is an incredibly sexy track. 9 starts off weird in
contrast - the transition is not so great, but the track is the biggest surprise on here,
being a long track full of depth and with sweeet dream pop DNA (yes). Strongest track on
the record probably. If only she stopped there. I'll re-listen to this, but maybe stopping
at 9. Bonus tracks uninteresting. 3.35
Roly Porter Third Law3.5
This feels like his best so far, and confirms that I want to follow his future output if any. He has lots of potential, but the album falters again and is still quite weak for most of it. He manages to make drone that is pounding, crazy, and aggressive instead of ambient-ish, which I love and which I hope he does more of, like on 1-2 and the first half of 3. After that, the record becomes quite boring (except the cool end of 4) and usual RP bleep bloop stuff, until the second half fo 7 and the whole of 8 which is a clear jam, both are grand, epic tracks and explore a lot of flavours of drone/synth etc - 7 reminds of a less noisy Prurient. 3.7
Future Purple Reign3.0
Not a strong Future record, but one that holds good surprises - chiefly, the excellent jam 5 which may well be my fave Future track so far in his discog. Most songs, while they have good sections here and there, suffer form memey sounds, instrumentally and vocally, that just make them feel more parodic than musically interesting, and certainly preclude them from playlist-worthiness for the most part. The closing track does make it work, although it offers pretty much nothing in the way of album conclusion. The two prior tracks are also worth mentioning: 10, as one of the rare examples where the instrumental is less memey but the vocals are really unfitting and clearly the weakest point; and 11, which is ok, but weirdly quiet and subdued compared to everything else on the record. The dark, hard intro track is also quite fine, and so is 8. 6 is kinda ok but the harder vibe after the excellent 5 kinda clashes badly. Really not all that great but I recommend 5 vividly if you like Future. 2.9
Alpha Wann Alph Lauren 23.5
Indubitably better than EP1, both vocally with Alpha being far more incisive and innovative, far now from his quite debutante performance on EP1, and instrumentally as the record mostly strays away from the efficient-but-a-bit-generic-asf style of the first EP to try new things. This isn't immediately obvious as 1, while nice, remains quite flat and chill cute, albeit with an absolutely excellent outro that i was surprised to see on a track like that. 2 transitions in a cool way and packs more of a punch as the EP reveals its substance a wee bit more. 3 exemplifies what I mean by the instrumental side having made progress as well. 4 works but is just, yknow, 'the mandatory Nek track' unto which Nekfeu imprinted his style a little too much to my taste, whilst 5 is elegant and quite frankly one of the best tracks here. 6 is nice and incisive but has a bit of cringe in it, whilst 7 goes back to the safer style of EP1 but much better (and after the first 6 tracks, a safer track is more than fine yknow). 8 bugs me and drops this a point, as its second half is great and would have joined well with 7, but its first half really sticks out like a sore thumb and, while ok, feels just weaker and breaks the flow unnecessarily. 3.4
Amulets Beneath the Surface4.0
Yeah I like this guy's stuff - probably will jam his discog. Droney, gritty and repetitive ambient. Track 2 and 3 are the highlight jams, the former being on the drone side and the latter mixing in more organic instruments with noise textures, but every track is a jam to be honest. This is helped by the record being quite short. 4 is nice too and a bit grouper-y without the vocals. 4.05
Full of Hell Amber Mote In The Black Vault3.5
Dope little EP that packs a lot despite being only 6 minutes long. While I am not a fan of the higher pitched voice in the low-ended, fat first track, after that it feels very fitting. 2 is more on the hardcore punk side of things, and 3 is deliciously chaotic. 4 is the real weak link here, starting on an awkward section with pretty much just that high pitched voice shrieking in the void over pretty much nothing, which then resolves into an okay riff but that feels really subpar compared to the rest. Drops this a point down a tier to 3.7
Freeze Corleone Vieilles Merdes Vol. II3.5
Surprisingly good and much more colourful than this LP's relatively flat successor. This one toys a lot more with autotune and quite often evokes Booba quite vivdly. Completely different from his 2019 LP but honestly pretty much just as strong because more consisten. 1 is a super cool autotuned opener. 2 is nicely deconstructed and def but he does his classic bad protracted conclusion here. 3 is super cool, very US rap sounding. 4 is fatter and nice, but gets a bit much by the midtrack. 5 has really cool distorted vox in the intro and is quite fat thereafter. 6 is the first (only?) weak track because it is super gimmicky. 7's instrumental reminds of Chill Bump a lot and obviously I gotta love that. 8-9 are cool boobaesque tracks, while 10 evokes the LP that would come after this one. is nice and fat, 12-13 continue that boobaesque style again. By 14 it starts feeling a bit long, but the female guest vox that come in are really good and help by bringing some welcome freshness, although the track remains a bit eh. 15 is kinda cool despite meh vox, and it gets a bit too much. Thankfully, it is the lats track. Man, this makes me wonder if I should dig up his even earlier stuff? 3.55
Lucy Camp Down Talk3.0
The tracks are usually quite fun, but I really do not dig her rapping delivery. It is fine at first, but it is very flat and repetitive, and also gives off strong Cardi vibes which I'm not a fan of. It does work a bit better on 3, but the male guest on 4 has the exact same problems and doesn't save anything. The track does have a nice beat but the rapping feels out of place. Track 2 is really cool apart from the rapping, the opening track being quite anecdotal. Up to track 4 this was looking at an upper 3.0 rating, but the fifth track reusing Burial's Archangel entirely without any credit, adding one quirky synth that breaks the atmosphere, and rapping over it with her flow was something I did not appreciate at all and dropped this quite a few points. The idea of rapping over Burial is cool, but the flow ought to be better, Burial's vox ought to be taken out, and most importantly he should be credited if you're going to change so little shouldn't he? 2.9
Pomme En Cavale3.5
Very cute debut EP that shows some strengths but also some less engaging songs. One thing to be said is that the vocal performance is (expectedly) stunning all the way through. 1-2 are pretty similar in that they are very well performed but ultimately quite generic pop folk songs, though 1 get better by the midtrack as it adds more elements and with 2 being on the romantic side with a few very pretty ideas scattered through, though the outro is a bit lengthy. These feel a bit like a The Voice performance that you'd buzz for, because their strength doesn't lie in the compositions. This is kind of also true of 5, and these tracks are the least memorable here because of this. 3 has a pretty and less simplistic intro that unfolds very beautifully, whilst on a high level 4 returns to simpler folky things but with a lot more compositional substance that makes the track excellent. Average the three tracks at about 3.0 and the two at about 3.6-3.8 and you get a solid 3.4
Steve Lehman / Selebeyone Sélébéyone4.0
Really dug this. The first track got me especially excited. I love the mood, the rhythmic
weirdness, the jazzy instrumentation, the non-English sounding Wolof bits mixed into the
English rapping, with voices that I enjoy. In general the improvy jazzy tracks like 2, 4 or
9 are the ones I enjoyed most, while darker tracks like 3 or 6 didn't convince me as much.
5 is dark too but does it better. Beyond jazz and rap, the album has even more variety and
takes an electronic turn at the end of 6 and on the deranged 7. A strong album, I need more
of it. 3.9
Nepal (FR) 444 Nuits4.0
First half is sublime and felt like potentially 4.5 range material. Aerial, supremely chill instrumentals and (mostly) excellent delivery. Didn't pay much attention to the lyrics but they are never strikingly bad (which is rare), and often feels well thought out despite the cheesy excessive verlan at times. Unlike a lot of fr rap records, this blue half displays consistent quality, a true identity and flow as an EP, and very few distasteful bits (a rare example would be the MGS sample but we'll let that slide). 1 is a jam (I wish it didn't have this many vocal samples though), 2 is a fcking jam and honestly a fav fr rap track, 5 is a jam, and the other tracks are all really good. 6 is a great finale for the blue half except it fades out. Really wish the blue half was a standalone record, because after that the EP falls back in the traps of fr rap, with annoying backing vocals on 8 (shame because the verses are nice) and 9, a slightly cheeky sample that doesn't feel like it belongs in a rap song on 10, and less nice delivery from him in places (7,10). 7, 10-12 are still cool tracks. I almost wish he rapped on the outro actually. This second half brings the record down a bit, but it still stands out as a very strong gem of French rap. RIP man. 4.15

2015
Dante Mars Ajeto! MELT: PLUS3.5
Maybe it is my mistake for jamming this while being sleepy expecting to find some bounce to wake me up. This is generally much slower and calmer than DMA's Artefacts or Experiences, and I just resonated with that approach less making for the first DMA record I check that won't land in me lib. 2 does have some bounce but its tempo cant keep it alive, 4 has some very cool and explosive sounds but doesnt quite manage to become a fully poppy track, 7 is quite funky although not a jam, and 8 does the relaxed vaporwave style well. The remix on 9 put me to sleep almost, but quite in a good way. Still I'm not too crazy about this one. 3.35
Tchami After Life2.5
As you'd expect a pretty all over the place EP where the main interest is the title track, a fun future house cut that is quite fun and has a recognisable hook to it. Could be in 3.5 range honestly for the genre. But then 2 is a very poor track: the intro sounds like me an hour into discovering the demo version of FL studio (not a compliment), the vox and alarms are annoying, the buildup is cliche as it gets, the drop doesn't work. The only redeeming thing is the pianos, which while cliche are quite fun and help the track. 3 is erratic as a track and doesnt't really work at all either. 4 starts off feeling a bit like Feed Me and old Culprate before it delivers a you know outdated but still fun woob woob brostep kinda drop. It's not the greatest at that but after 2-3 it felt very fun and fresh. 5 has an excellent intro and then unexpectedly great emotional vocals. Had lots of potential, unfortunately I dont think the drums and woobs were brought up as subtly as they could have, and the woobs arent that compelling anyway. It's fine, but a bit underwhelming. Eh despite the t/t and a couple fun bits this is a 2.4
Memoryhouse Digital Fire, Digital Burn3.0
Fun little compil, nothing too serious but it was a good listen. The last track is fun in sort of drugged up electronica dream pop. You know what, despite the Christmas theme and the godawful art I might come back and re-listen to this. 3.2
Intervals The Shape of Colour3.0
I don't think this is bad, but it just does close to nothing for me. While competent this is by and large an emotionless experience for ole Bede here. The instrumental bedroom
djent chugging and noodling is well crafted, and the music is never annoying or anything, but I wasn't engaged by it bar for a few moments where the tracks breathe more and take
time to set a mood. Around 2:30 on 2 before returning to the chug, the sax on 3, or the midtrack on 7 were such 'highlights'. Even if it doesn't do that, I found 8 to be pretty
cool for a chuggers track as well. Still, this gives me no desire to further explore this band's catalogue - again, not because they're bad, but because they're not a band for me.
Cool artwork however! 3.0
21 Savage Slaughter King2.0
Individual songs are stronger, but this felt overall weaker than the Slaughter Tapes because it varies a lot less. The bass always sound the same (more or less distorted plucked stuff), the drums often feel out of place, the instruments reek of VSTs, and the whole thing feels very much made on a sequencer and not organic at all. And over that, we get the same vaguely gangsta, awkwardly flowing delivery for pretty much the whole record, which made me saturate quite fast. 1 got my hopes up and is honestly a good track with a nice, nocturnal delivery, just a touch of autotune where it brings a bit of colour, and just a cool drugged vibe overall. 5 is sort of light and fun, 6 has cool instrumental in the intro but becomes laughable as soon as the bass kicks in, 8 also has a fun instrumental like 5, 9 has nice piano but awkward bass - and at hat point you're just tired of the vocals really -, and apart from that there isn't much to retain from this mixtape that feels a lot longer than it actually is. 2.15
Many Rooms Hollow Body3.0
I am feeling a bit underwhelmed by this. But to be fair, I am drawn to comparison with Grouper and Sea Oleena because the site connects them a lot, and in the Bedex book that is hard to beat. I don't know how much of an early EP this was but the prod while overall okay isn't ideal. There's buzz, wide changes in volume that feel a bit unnecessary, and other bits and bops that aren't quite clean. But the tones are nice. 1 starts off as a pretty but generic post-rock guitar intro + ballad-type vox that are generally nice but not always on point, and 2 is similar, a bit sadder and infinitesimally more interesting but eh. At that point I feared this would be just a guitar ballads EP. Thankfully 3 starts off nice and pretty, and from the midtrack onwards with the buildup it is the first time the EP crosses the threshold of just 'nice'. 4 starts off very Groupery and more subtle than 1-2, so my hopes were up, but then it doesn't evolve in the best way and 5 gets really meh despite a nice outro. 6 starts off as one of the best tracks with a cool guitar melody and entry, but then it just repeats itself over and over and doesn't add much substance. 2.9
Hallas Hällas3.5
For a debut EP 2 years before their first full-length this is excellent and very exciting, although it does raise a worry that the formula may struggle a bit on a longer record. The production is a bit gritty in places, but aside from that this already feels like a mature record. Both vox and guitar tones already make you crave for Star Rider (which may be a case of Never meant syndrome). 1 has a great synth intro and guitar tone as i said, but the track does feel like it struggles to unfold as it goes and feels a bit overlong. 2 and 3 are the highlights here I'd say, with plentiful Sabbath DNA but not just that. Both songs are really cool and pack more than the first 30s lead you to believe. 3's first half is perhaps a bit less cool, but after a great bridge mid-track the second half really cranks up the riffage. 4 is pretty eh in the first half but again the second half catches up although perhaps less memorable than 2-3, an impression reinforced by an album conclusion that feels utterly unnecessary and falls flat. A bit of a shame that brings this down half a point, but still a healthy 3.65
A Sunny Day in Glasgow Planning Weed Like It’s Acid / Life is Loss3.0
As always with this band this is a fluctuating blend of various different genres and influences, but here the mix rarely works. 1 is interesting being constructed as a properly pop track with a semi anthemic chorus and all whilst remaining quite noisy, 3 is nicely weird starting off as dissonant rock and going off a tangent with a wall of organs etc, worth a check, 4 is nicely dreamingly psychedelic and 5 is the peak of the EP with a lovely dreamy jam with incredible surf vibes that makes you want to light it up. So this might stay in my library just for that, but after that 6 is meh, 7 is actually annoying, 8 starts off quite meh but takes a cool electronica turn around the 2:30 mark, and 9 is only relatively nice noise pop. Oh and 2 was weak too. So overall 2.75
Anna von Hausswolff The Miraculous4.0
This is underrated. Grand organ-based ambient ceremonial stuff that has some vocals reminding of Lana del Rey but miles, miles better. Album quality decreases ever so slightly through its course, but still a great jam. 3.9
Harm Done Abuse / Abused3.5
Very fun hxc/powerviolence, but I do feel like the last few tracks by slowing down a bit dip in both quality and energy, bringing this down a bit. 3.65
Mestis Polysemy3.5
Now this is quite better produced than the EP, and the hard djenty bits sound good. This one has a couple excellent tracks - 3 with its super cool intro and some other great sections, 7 with its great intro too and woven webby riffage, the more atmospheric 8 maybe -, a couple quite weak tracks - 4 which really feels like snoozey dime-a-dozen bedroom djent, 9 which feels fillery, and 10 which is also frankly one of the weakest tracks here save for a couple riffs in the midtrack -, and for the rest is full of appreciable but not quite memorable material. What hurts it the most is the structure, with the two closing tracks being frankly quite weak which drops it a point or two, and transitions or track conclusions going amiss in an awful lot of places, making the album feel rather disjointed. But there is lots of good material here beyond 3,7,8 to make it a wortwhile listen. 1 has good bits, and 2 is really cool in that it gives a broad overview of many flavours of bedroom djents, some bits reminding of Plini, Chon, and covet in alternation. 5 is fine but its relaxed second half is really nice, and 6 is a sweet interlude. So not the album of the decade but a few select tracks I'll come back to. 3.4
Lanterns on the Lake Beings3.5
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Foxing Dealer3.5
Much more cohesive than The Albatross, but also missing its level of top highlights, this is quite an introspective album with a more cohesive sound yet not without dynamics. This one will most likely charm the indie folk-inclined side of their crowd more - even though they still instil many influences into their sound, I am merely talking vibes here -, and signs of sonic abrasion are mostly gone. I do take issue with the album's energy curve, starting with songs that have more dynamics and higher energy moments (e.g. 2), but then having an increasing proportion of calm, interludey sections or whole tracks, to the point that the conclusion feels like the album is dying out of exhaustion rather than finishing with 8 being the last track to be a little more energetic really. Still a solid output overall. 3.45
DNCE Swaay3.5
1 and 3 could be enormous funk pop bops, if it weren't for the fact that prod is a tad tame - where's the bass man it should be way more prominent. 2 and 4 are fine, but while 2 is alright tucked in nicely between the two bops, 4 feels a bit unnecessary and drops this a point. A cool starting EP though, would've made me want to follow the act had I heard it back in 2015. 3.4
Hiatus Kaiyote Spotify Sessions3.0
As much as they are incredible musicians, and as much as I love Nai's vocals and persona in this, I would say this is not the band at their best. A lot of the innovations either don't really work for me or feel like they are trying too hard, especially compared to the subtleness of live in revolt's added contributions. This starts within the very first minute with the intro to Mobius Streak and its added vocals. 5 is the best performed song and is pretty much the only track for which I would re-listen to this particular version; for pretty much every other tracks, there are other versions that I think are clearly superior. Harsh rating because this is really not the HK record you should check. 3.0
Beach House Thank Your Lucky Stars3.0
Idk if this is actually the weakest beach house yet or if my listening conditions are to blame, but frankly I don't care enough to bother trying to find out. While 1 is cute and kinda nice, and 2 nicely psychedelic especially when they wake up, there is still this eternal feeling of dullness and numbness that makes this band seemingly unable to ever reach more than 3.5 tier for me. 3 becomes proper annoying with that bass synth, 4 is a bore, and frankly while the rest of the album was all fine, I was completely out of it by 6. I guess the last track would be a nice slow dance finale ost in some cheesy movie, but that ain't my jam. 3.0
Gorod A Maze of Recycled Creeds3.5
One of the more bearable Gorod albums, but again not something I plan on coming back to ever. While this is ripe with ideas, riffs and grooves, the epileptic way they are connected with one another plus the occasional solo or bad vocal just make it an experience that I might want to cherry pick from, but not really relive on the whole. It certainly is one of the better ones though. Although cheesy we are graced with an intro track again, and while the entry on 2 is a bit questionable especially vocally, it gets bettern and from the midtrack on it's actually darn cool. 3 starts off with cool riffage and despite some vocals and sections is on the whole actually dope, especially the bridge midtrack - again, I much prefer Gorod's soft sections than when they go brr brr constantly. The intro is a bit lel but the track is kinda cool thereafter. However you start feeling the Gorod syndrome where it all starts feeling like a blur of blast beats and tapped arpeggios, which makes 5 quite forgettable. The intro on 6 but the rest is still meh. The band does however give us a break in the last third. This is a recurring theme actually: they give you breaks and bridges and things, but always too late for things to not get annoying first. 7 has some riffs and groovy sections, but 8 brings the wankeriness up a notch and is quite a rough part honestly. 9-10 have some funky bits but also some questionable vox, some of which remind of a Gojira ersatz - waddayaknow. But here some of the grooves feel a bit ridiculous if I'm honest. Ah, this is ok, but I feel no urge to hear it again really. 3.4
The Oh Hellos Dear Wormwood4.0
This really sounds like a rural hipster village had an hour long jam session where everybody showed their talent. Indie folk with touches of country. This is fun and cute quality music, even though it is not my favourite genre. Some tracks are great (e.g. 'Caesar') and the record is definitely worth a spin. I maybe preferred their first opus ever so slightly though. 3.9
Kelela Hallucinogen3.0
Nice and pleasant R&B - but only nice and pleasant. People are complaining about her similarity rto FKA Twigs, but this record has a lot less weirdness and personality to it in my opinion, which rmakes it safe but also less interesting. 1-3 are a straight up 3.0, very nice but nothing rmemorable enough to be a jam. 4 is a touch more memorable, and 5-6 take it up another notch with ra touch more experimental sounds - 6 being a potential jam. This slightly better second half rbumps the record to a 3.1
Deafheaven New Bermuda4.0
Pinkshinyultrablast Kiddy Pool Dreams4.0
This is from yesterday but i put it on the wrong record oops. I think this is an incredibly cool wee EP with lots of substance to it for how short it is. I can easily see how the extremely fx'd vocals (which somehow give me ambient kpop/krnb vibes lol) could deter many, but in the context of the band's extremely produced sound here I don't mind them at all. I see that 1 is on Grandfeathered and 2 is pretty much an electronic reinterpretation of 1, but this still feels like an EP in its own right. 1 is crazy cool a fast paced, aggressive math rocky opening that unfolds into a nice lush bridge that sometimes bursts into heavy (bedroom djenty almost with this prod) riffage to make for a track that keeps you on your toes quite nicely. 2 is a looot more electronic, with lots of chopped stuff especially in the intro and outro, and with vocals that Liquicity would love to reuse. It is quite a cool track too and it is impressive of the band to display prowess in something so strikingly different from the first track. Solid. 4.0
Svalbard One Day All This Will End2.5
Not a huge fan of this. I see what they were trying to do and the mix of genres (post-rock, hardcore, Oathbreaker) is great, but it just did not work well for me. A bit too formulaic and having trouble with most of the vocals - although they are sometimes great like at the end of 'The Vanishing Point', reminding of 90's screamo vocals, or on the closing track. The intro melody in the first few seconds of the first track is gorgeous. 2.6
Blood Incantation / Spectral Voice Blood Incantation / Spectral Voice2.5
This is a random Blood Incantation track that is fine but feels a bit pointless and has worse prod than their debut EP, followed by a simplistic Spectral Voice track, saved by the buttfantastic vocals but otherwise quite boring with riffs essentially made of one chord a bar and that's it. I guess the intro is kinda cool though. This split is fine but I really don't see a reason to check it if you're not trying to do a full discog run or something. 2.7
Submotion Orchestra III2.0
Meh. Nothing really bad, the first track even sounds quite nice, but absolutely nothing memorable. 2.2
Helen The Original Faces3.0
The first third sounds like dream pop that would fit right in at the end of a Black Mirror episode, the second third sounds like slightly noisier shoegaze, and the last third sounds like an amateur band tried to replicate the latter two in a garage. Not bad, but really not memorable at all for me and no jam to retain. 3.0
Mgla Exercises in Futility3.5
Very high quality black metal, especially the second half. It is nothing more than that though, and it feels like it lacks some personality that would make it recognizable and memorable.
Blood Incantation Interdimensional Extinction3.5
First of all, superb album art - wish they did away with the cheesy skulls but I still love it. Prod is quite off here, and for example the bass is compositionally lovely but sounds weird here imo just because of the mixing and whatnot. This is a band showing great promise without being quite mature yet. 1 starts kind of awkward not sure I like it, but from min 2 on it starts hitting hard. 2 starts nicer but still has awkward grooves here and there. But this is where the band's potential really shows its nose. At 1:35 the track takes a nice pysch turn, into fat riffage, into a crazy acceleration. Love it. 3 shows potential too, and especially the first third onwards is quite funky. Massive sound. 4 might be my fave track here though, with fantastic aerial melodies laid atop a deep dm foundation, ending on a cool conclusion. If they only got better from here, that's great news. 3.55
Requin chagrin Requin Chagrin3.0
First track is quite cool with some dream pop and post-punk touches, but after that I very quickly lost track. This is just a series of acceptably produced surf rock tunes in French, and it is fine but also it all feels like a blur to me. I suppose if it were not in French it might sound less cheesy to me, and there are some cool guitars on 5 that got my attention, but yea I hardly took notice when this ended and the music stopped. 2.8
Beach House Depression Cherry3.5
Where Bloom saw BH explode and finally get out of their shell, Cherry has them retract back but finally succeed at calmer, more psychedelic songs. There are still plenty of tame and dull moments, but also lots where it actually worse. Tracks like 4-5 are the clearest examples, in contrast to the quite boring 6. 7 is also quite nice, especially with its synthy intro (synthiness is a recurring theme here). The transition into 8 is, well, disjointed at best, and the track has a pretty clumsy, first act-quality start until a melodic shift at 1:30 which displays exactly what I mean when I say that BH need more dynamics to make their sound super cool instead of dull, because in those moments like here it just works miles better. 9 is nice and psych again although it drags on a touch. Earlier on the album is less consistent and has grittier touches. While 1 starts off tame, it progresses quite nicely into psychedelia. 2 adds quite an agressive guitar in places, and that is a super nice surprise in the overall mellow BH sound. Works super well, but the softer sections in between pale in comparison. 3 has a sweet intro and some cool melody ideas, but is ultimately a zzz song. Once again, I don't ask them to be more aggressive or anything, their genre is fine - it's just that to me they often fail to make the songs actually compelling instead of merely nice. 3.65
doesn't e​.​p​.​3rd3.5
I'm slightly overrating this because I haven't had fun with random math-rock like this in a long time. This does a great job at doing extra things to distinguish itself from the sea of lovely but ultimately all somewhat samey soft noodley tappey math rock records out there, although it does also display quite a strong offering in that particular brand of math rock in a few places. This is all most visible on 1 and 2 with their nice, tight grooves with a prominent drums mix, but also some random aggressive, slightly electronic outbursts that are a bit meh on 1 (still with the merit of trying something new though), and actually really phat and well done on 2. 3 is short and very sweet, whilst 4 offers a grittier brand of math rock that reminds more of earlier albums in the genre - quite cool. I gotta say 5 loses itself in its quirky electronica weirdness a bit, which definitely dropped the record below the gracious 3.8 I was considering given it is a debut, but at least 6 is a really good, really cool, hella fast track that closes things nicely. If you like math rock ever so slightly check this out! 3.7
Carly Rae Jepsen Emotion3.5
Miles and miles above her prior material - she finally feels like an accomplished pop
artist and not some teenager music maker - yet I can't help but feel that it doesn't bang
as hard as it could have, and that over time the vox do still feel too naive. By 9 I was
starting to feel like the album was too long (despite it actually being short), and tracks
like 12 could be jammy in a vacuum but felt just like overstretching it. 10 is kinda bouncy
again despite some questionable sound choices, but otherwise 8-12 was a bit of a bore.
Stylistically this remains summer/springbreak pop at its core, but somehow manages to make
it not annoying and kinda rich and cool on most tracks - none are really annoying at all,
and most are nice. The album does explore multiple directions, most noticeably 80's music,
but also Anastacia vibes on 6 - interesting but not jam -, or vox that remind of a happy
Banks on 2 - kinda jammy synthy pop - and 4. 1's intro sounds like it comes out of Zelda
TP, and the track shows right away that the album is going to be better and more
interesting. 5 (edit: think I meant 6, Boy Problems) is a huge bouncy jam and the only real
banger here, which puts the record above the level of mere consistency, but below banger
goldmines such as Ari's or Banks'. 3.3
Agent Fresco Destrier3.5
The instrumentals are phenomenal, will the band delightfully mixing in a lot of proggy elements, notably heavy use of keys in their overall alt rock/ post-hardcore sound. However to me this is sometimes ruined by vocals that are way too much on the whinier/lyrical side of things. It is just a matter of taste anyway and album is a great listen nonetheless.
clairo Growing2.5
I'm puzzled because 1-2 are some of her most boring track yet because they emphasise the guitar a lot more in the mix, which highlights how simple the songs are and takes away from the atmosphere, but at the same time 3 is one of my favourites, giving me sad folk vibes a bit remotely a la Grouper, which I dig. But yea that doesn't save it at all and it's not at all a jam anyway. At least the prod is pretty clean now, like the last non-bonus track on Metal Heart. 2.5
Giorgia Angiuli Underskin Harmony3.0
Nice, but quite generic for the most part and not fully mature yet when compared to her 2020 EP that I jammed (which is expected obvs). Her vocal processing is not quite at the right spot yet, although it is quite fine in places and especially on the fourth track, but there it is sadly a bit brought down by overacted delivery. 1 is bland and generic but has good tones. It improves temporarily in the midtrack but yeah it feels quite hollow, sort of summer house vibes where you feel like it's missing a few sounds. 2 has a bit more to it and starts off pretty cool despite the questionable vocal processing. The piano transition perfectly demonstrates by the track feeling like they need more meat, it's a good idea but the execution diminishes its impact. The ideas are there indeed though, and the synth arpeggios in the last third are quite cool. 3 sounds like what a youtuber would make in a 'how to make summer house anthems' tutorial video, it's not bad but again not hugely marking. 4's clearly the best track both in execution and ideas, despite a simplistic beat and bassline - the atmospheric ethereal sounds that pop here and there are very nice. But still, doesn't have lots to it. 2.8
Lianne La Havas Blood4.0
I don't know if it was conditions, but although this has killer tracks and a killer vocal performance, I do feel like it struggles to really feel like an album sometimes. The tracks feel disjointed and like they dont have much to do with each other. 7 and 9 both feature aggressive beats whilst 8 and 10 are extremely soft songs, for instance. The opener is super class, and so are the softer songs, but it's truly when she adds in some groove that she truly shines imo - see 2 or 3. Very solid,very playlisty I daresay but I owe it another listen. 3.8
Future DS23.5
This is Future's most consistent LP so far. It's never quite amazing and I didn't find any real jam, but a lot of tracks are quite good and car playlist worthy. There is a common aesthetic and many of the instrumentals are nice or interesting. I do not understand 4 which not only is awful in itself but also is the only track that completely cashes with an otherwise quite coherent album - although without much at all in the way of progression, conclusion or construction. 1's okay with a cool instrumental but meh delivery, 2 goes kinda hard, Drake's feat on 3 works well and the track has a subtle, interesting instrumental. 5's less dumb than 4 but still the second weakest track here (mostly fine), 6 is kinda basic but cool with hard hitting drums, 7 is quite fun with the orchestral-ish strings, 8 has a nice nocturnal synthy vibe, 9 is tame but fine, 10-13's all quite cool, with the breezy 13 working nicely to end the album. Bonus tracks: 14 cool, 15 a cool mix of oldschool and modern trap with some of his best flowing delivery on this LP, 16 p forgettable with its nintendo instrumental, 17 kinda cool, nocturnal sad but also quite hard, and 18 one of the hardest on this record, kinda cool. 3.35
Tame Impala Currents4.0
After Lonerism's 60's-evoking psychedelic ventures, this one takes a decidedly more electronic turn while retaining the psychedelia. I can't help but feel it is compositionally complacent on certain tracks (4 especially, 5 a bit too). The synthy tones and prod are so good that the tracks can afford to become simpler, but in places TI went a little overboard imo. This is especially true of the slower-paced, less catchy tracks, although 2,3 and 8 do it quite well. Now this does boast some solid jams, for instance 1, 7, and 13, and the conclusion 11-12 is also very strong, bumping this a point. But the record lost me a bit midway on this listen. 4.0
Immortal Bird Empress​/​Abscess3.5
This was nice. Interesting blend of genres - blackened chaotic hardcore? Also good female vocals. The record lacks dynamics and feels a bit flat, but most of the individual songs are good - although there are low point in the middle of the record e.g. track 4. My favourite part was the drone outro, and the bookends maybe. 3.6
21 Savage Free Guwop2.0
This has the benefit of being shorter than the two mixtapes before and after it, but unlike them it starts really weakly with 1-4 just being bad, gimmicky tracks. Ok 3 does have a sorta cool instrumental, and 2 is not as bad, but it's still very weak overall. Whispering pew pew in the mic does not sound cool it sounds funny dude. Now 5 and 6 improve and tone down the gimmicks, but they're still not tracks I would come back to and 7 is boring anyway. 2.0
Svarte Greiner Drunk, Road, Tree3.5
One of the best instances of him executing his general style of minimalistic drone + a bit of gritty samples here and there. 1 is really just regular SG material but really works nicely and is sweetly aggressive. 2 is fantastic at crafting an oppressive and suffocative atmosphere, kinda jammy really. 3 is more deranged and noisy, it feels perhaps not as nice and a bit too messy but it's still cool. This feels like my favourite record in his discog and the only one I'm likely to come back to in its entirety. 3.5
Internazionale Brothers Of The Baltic Pearl3.5
The first half of track 1 and track 2 are pretty forgettable droney ambient stuff, particularly the former, but the second half of 1 (from~8min onwards) is a lovely slightly noisy jam and the first time Internazionale vaguely matches Elegy for the Victors in all I've jammed so far (except of course EftV). 3.35
Oh, Yoko Amusement Park3.0
This is a collection of ambient ideas ranging from samples from very old songs to guitar ambient to relatively droney stuff. It is all pretty and well produced, but the problem is right there: it is just a collage of ideas. It is too random and changing to function well as an ambient sort of piece, and as a result if feels more like a series of cool interludes or intros you'd see on a Refused record for example, but not quite standalone music. Still sweet and 3.1
Save Us From The Archon Fear Eats the Soul3.0
This kind of technical wanking really isn't my cuppa, but they crafted their most emotional moment here with the superb intro to 4. I dig the intro to 2 as well but the track thereafter is even less appealing to me than the first one. Prod seems to thin up on the dirty parts and that contrasts a lot with the delicious lushness of the scarce chill parts. IF these guys had made more ambienty albums they could have been fantastic, but apart from 4 and the intro to 2 there's nothing here I'd come back to really. 3.15
Internazionale Armour of Stars3.5
This feels more like a long collection of sketches rather than a full blown album. Most tracks lack coherence and sound more like sound collages than composed tracks. That being said I like the noisiness of it, and had it lasted only a disk or two it could have been a lot sweeter. A couple tracks I retained were disk 1 track 2, 2-4 and 4-1. 3.3
WRVTH WRVTH4.0
Phew. Again, WRVTH pack a lot. I definitely prefer NRS, but the s/t holds its own and beats it in some regards. The transition game is gorgeous (1>2,9>10 especially), and there are some surprises such as the sexy sax featured on 6 midway, or more prominently on the instrumental 9 atop a gorgeous layer of post guitars with a beautiful intro. The two downgrades though are that soft parts are less subtly imbricated with the harsh ones - this LP does more of a standard alternation -, and the harsh parts themselves get a bit full on, and even rarely unconvincing. 1 already shows that there's some tech death DNA in this, with growls even. But its intro is beautiful, and when it comes back for an outro with the bass kicking in at 5:15 to prep for the transition into 2, it is gorgeous. Alas the explosion on 2 is more generic - I find the alternation of growls and skramz vox a touch corny, I prefered what NSR does vocally. 3 is an interlude with nice bass, a djenty form of which features on 4 too which I quite dig even though not the best track. 5's a bit slow and tbh awkward with some Nile vibes. Aside from the sax, 6 is also not the best along the same lines (Niley skram). By 7 we see that the album leaves us less downtime than NSR and is quite full on - the midtrack is very pretty tho. 8's angry, and after its transition the explosion on 10 is a nadir in quality and the rest remains a bit slow and awkward. The intro on 11 is excellent and *that* guitar made me gasp ow yis with its prod that makes it stand out. The explosion is mwerf, but the midtrack is so pretty. A worthy prelude to NSR with ideas of its own. 3.8
Dirk Serries Disorientation Flow2.5
Long, inoffensive ambient. The individual pieces are nice, the opening act especially, they all feel samey, and the complete absence of any transition whatsoever, the long silences between tracks, and the protracted fade in intros make me question the very legitimacy of this as an album. Track 1 on its own might be a 3.5 tier EP, but as a whole the album is a drag. Might review I guess. 2.5
clairo Moth Girl3.0
More of the same, but with increasing hints of maturation. 1,2 and 4 are her usual nice but not groundbreaking indie folk-ish over a background of white noise/bad prod, 3 changes up the instrumentation from a guitar to some kind of toy keyboard or something, and while the idea of variation is good I don't think the track works too well, and finally 5 is the first song of hers that I'd call 'well produced' and is very nice not only for that but also for its nice subdued take. Adds a half point to a 2.75
Black Thread Embers3.5
I liked this tape a lot, really nice and distorted. Unlike a lot of his other tapes, there aren't really abrupt transitions into different textures which makes for a much more coherent record. However as always it seems with Black Thread, it never really surpasses the status of 'nice'. 3.4
Dante Mars Ajeto! Ｌｉｆｅ Ｅｎｔｅｒｐｒｉｓｅｓ4.0
DMA sure masters his vaporwave. Man this is good. This one is slightly more on the bouncier, lighthearted disco side compared to Artefacts, not having some of those grittier tracks. This is clear from the opening track, and most of the album highlights are highlights because they offer instant B O U N C E (1,4,7,8,10). But that isn't the only think DMA can do, and even a slower, softer track like 6 can also serve as highlight. The other tracks are all fine, just perhaps a little less explosive but still fun listens, and there is a lot more in the way of album construction. My only gripe with this is with the last three tracks. The intro to 11 is the first time that I feel the album does not flow well at all, and while after that intro all three tracks are fine, they also feel like a bit of a drag as they clearly aren't highlights. Dropped this a point, but frankly don't compare this too closely to Artefacts bcs I don't really know which one I'd call my fave since it's been so long. 3.9
21 Savage The Slaughter Tape2.5
The first track got me excited despite its relatively weak instrumental, as 21 offers a sad, horror kinda vocal delivery that I hadn't seen from him before and that I dug a bit, but the rest of this was quite underwhelming. To be fair it is well put together, as tracks of similar vibes are after one another instead of randomly mixed. 2-5 just have weak instrumentals with awkward grooves, which imo breaks any good section offered vocally. On 6 we learn that Metro Boomin is producing, but the end result albeit alright feels really subpar compared to his later output. These are alright songs I guess but I wouldn't keep them in my library. 7-9 go into autotune and improve a bit. 7 has a great instrumental that comes out of nowhere, but sadly the vocals aren't too well executed and 8 ends up being a stronger overall track albeit not as striking. 9's alright too, but 10 gets annoying. 11 is softer and not annoying but has an awkward flow, 12 is boring autotune, 13 has a fun instrumental with ok vox, and 14 felt invisible. Not horrible but it all just feels very skippable. 2.25
death's dynamic shroud I'll Try Living Like This2.5
This one didn't really work for me. The bulk of the album is what I don't quite enjoy in vaporwave: a lot of glitchiness, a lot of weird vocals, apparently random song structures which as my dexbro said sometimes sound like two different peolpe are making separate bits of a same track instead of working together. There are some nice bits, for example 2 changes completely after the 1:40 mark and becomes quite nice and chill and psych, but reverts to glitches later on. I also don't really enjoy the excessive videogame/anime samples etc in places like on 3. To be fair the album is never unpleasant except the closer, but it's almost never my cuppa. I did dig the middle a lot more. 4 starts nicely but has an awful conclusion, which is relieved by the cheesy sitcomcore 5. It morphs into more chilled and relaxed vibes, which continue during 6 and 7 and are the peak of the album imo. The intro to 7 is nice and intriguing but the bulk doesn't quite live up to it. 8 is a fun track and is definitely a fave in some sections. After that 9 displays some trappy vibes but just feels alright, and 10-11 are a big nope. The abrupt dropoff in quality at the end after a nice mid album brings this down to a 2.4
clairo metal heart2.5
I'm finding it hard to rate this. It doesn't feel like a finished, polished record. Rather it feels like she threw together a bunch of old songs made at different times, some of which didn't make it to an EP previously I guess, and called it an album. The production varies from song to song, and the songs have no connection whatsoever between them - which could be fine but not when even the prod isn't cohesive -. I do love her more contemplative, better produced tracks that just feel like old songs to be melancholic over while watching the grass grow from your terrace (1,2,7), but the more ""intense"" tracks like 3, 4 suffer from the prod instead of being given a nice old tape flavour by it, and just don't feel like anything more than drafts. 5 makes it work a little better, but again the transition into 6 with the prod is quite rough. The bonus tracks are more of the same really - it doesn't feel cohesive at all. But hey some of the songs really are pretty and with some more construction her style could really work for me. 2.7
Nthng 19963.0
First track is excellent - man at that point nthng was such a hot artist with that following Remember Us. It starts off with a darker, industrial, Henning Baer-esque beat, which is odd from nthng. But quickly, the dub synths come in place and somehow fit perfectly that darker beat. The first couple minutes are full of surprises in fact, with excellent additional hats added and vocal samples. The track unfolds well and is a cool jam. The third track has a cool groovy drum beat, but is far simpler and feels a bit bland and forgettable in comparison. The second track takes everything 1 and 3 do well, and does it badly. It attempts a groovy beat that just doesn't work and that characterises the kind of techno I usually skip; the additional drums sound completely out of place and the vocal samples do nothing to help. A poor track despite the usual dub synths. Definitely do jam the t/t on this, the rest isn't really worth it though imo. 3.2
Prurient Frozen Niagara Falls4.0
Incredible album. Very dense and bizarre. Absolutely needs a re-listen. A noise record
over 90 minutes long sounds like a terrible idea, but it is so diverse and navigates so
many genres that it ends up being never boring and always surprising. From straight up
noise/ hnw on multiple interlude tracks, to Mass Effect synth sountrack overlaid with
noise in the opener and 'A Sorrow With A Braid', to dungeon synth almost on Jester Agony,
to glitchy noise that I hated on the track before last, ending up on an ambient track
that Agalloch could have made for the album finale, the whole thing being sprinkled with
vocals going from whispers to distorted spoken word, to growls and to screams evoking
black metal. Stunning. Jams on 1,4,5,12 and the album conclusion is perfect too; dip in
energy on 6, 10 and 15. 4.2
Ben Chatwin The Sleeper Awakes2.0
Aggressively boring. Sounds like a collection of pretty post-rock intros or interludes. Sure it has good ideas and it sounds nice, but the tracks always have a sense of build up that never leads to anything. As ambient music, as standalone music, it doesn't work. At best though this sounds like Nils Frahm B sides like 3 (a jam I guess?) and 6, the latter being mixed with GYBE interlude vibes. 5 is a typical example of a track that doesn't work. Might come back to this for inspiration, but as an album it completely failed to excite me for the rest of his discog. Not terrible though. 2.1
Turnover Peripheral Vision3.0
This is a nice relaxed emo-ish/indie record. It is probably worth more than the 3.0 I am giving it, but it just did not impress me that much. I found its tone quite naive and a bit too 'happy summer' to my taste. I just am not a fan of the genre, but within the genre it is quite a good album to grab.
Hiatus Kaiyote Choose Your Weapon4.0
In some places this is a masterclass. Whilst it doesn't benefit as much from nostalgia and lacks perhaps an ultra flagship track a la Nakamarra, this one is immensely stronger as a record. It no longer feels like three singles amidst a series of cool but ultimately too short to be memorable interludes, and instead it feels like an album where the interludes have been nicely cut out for playlists. It boasts a fair bit of variety (there's even DnB on 12 like it is quite cool), and like LP1 gets bizarre at times, but unlike in LP1 it pretty much always flows well and the album just takes you from place to place in a smooth fashion - the only exception being 8 with its loud farty synth sounds which kind of rupture with the rest, though the everlasting groove and piano in the back do save it later on. The album loses a point in the last stretch because its runtime is quite long, and it could frankly do away with the okay but ultimately not riveting last track, in addition to the second half of the album feeling ever so slightly less captivating than the first. A strong 4.0
The Crinn Shadowbreather3.5
Great instrumentals - albeit with some wanker solo bits - ruined by a constant barrage of bad vocals. They never stop and are just generic metalcore. If you look at bands like Death, Converge, TDEP etc, the vocals are impactful because of the voice but also because they pause, have dynamics etc. They don't just scream constantly, whereas here at least twice per song the singer(s?) go AAAAAAAAAAA and absolutely never shut up. Opener is a great jam though, and the second track has some tasty sludgey riffs too. 3.3
Colin Stetson and Sarah Neufeld Never Were The Way She Was4.0
Man that's a cool ass album, thanks dede for hte rec. Whilst it is primarily based on the sax + violin duo (already on paper this sounds like a dope album dunnit), there are lots of subtle little things going on in the back that give the whole a superimposed mystic, esoteric, F#A#8-esque vibe. The very album intro is kinda droney, before transforming into a Steve Reich-ey pattern on the two lead instruments - already I was in love, if that's not a recipe for bedecore idk what is. After the shorter but imo less convincing 2, 3 feels again like if Steve Reich had written a jazz album before getting more intense in the midtrack. Very good. Again 4 is a bit shorter and less convincing, more of an interlude track really. 5 then takes a super cool turn in vibe and sounds like the soundtrack to evil orc plottings. 6 adds more prominent ?electronic elements in the back, and gets really intense and almost riffy, like GYBE writing the soundtrack to a lion chasing a gazelle in some BBC Earth docco. 7 is also quite evil sounding and intense, but does end more calmly after the storm, before drifting into the very soft noisy washout 8, which dies down slowly and beautifully in an album conclusion that bumps this a point. Mystic, very cool, quite unique, and wonderfully executed. 4.0
Chippr Jones Tropics / COSM4.0
A low ambition two track (plus interludes) math-rock EP that ends up being full of rsurprises. 'Tropics' is especially impressive in how many styles of math-rock and rambiences it fits in under five minutes. This will never grow past a 4.2-4.3 for me rbecause it is so short and lacks identity as an album, but if you have a dozen minutes to rspare this is worth a shot. A lot of head-nodding high points and makes you want to rlisten to a full length by them.
Akhlys The Dreaming I4.0
Really cool and bleak black metal, but not hugely original. The vocals are not my favourite but they're not bad at all. Tracks 1-2 and the drone intro of 3 are jams, Track 3 is super bleak and has cool moments but drags on a bit, and track 4 is a nice ambient outro. I might come back to this but I don't feel compelled to do so. 3.9
Harm Done Hammer Tape '153.0
First track sounds a bit bmey mixed with upbeat and fast riff changes from hxc which is cool, the rest is fine but this is just too short to rate much higher than a 3.0
Marriages Salome4.0
Compositionally this seems like a step up from Kitsune, but prod wise it goes further down which is surprising. It feels hollow, a bit distant and blurred, making the album sound more like a good live recording in lieu of a proper studio record. This adds to the feeling that this could be an awesome 'first act' band that I got in a few places. But what a first act band. The opener is weird in a good way, and offers super fun groove changes starting in the midtrack. 2 offers then a dream poppier side of the band, with great songwriting. This continues on 3-5 which all over superb dreamy guitar tones, fun drum breaks, and inventive compositions. With better prod 4 could be crazy good. 5 is perhaps their most immediate song offering great dream pop-ish vibes but with fatter, more distorted explosions. 6 feels a bit more like it comes off the prior EP but is still cool. 7 sees the band at its heaviest, and despite some questionable electronica elements it is a catchy jam with a fantastic headbangy chorus. Sadly, 8 and 9 feel a bit weaker after all that energy, and while the buildup to it is good, the album conclusion is frankly to abrupt. Still a nice, soft 3.75
clairo Aquarius Boy3.0
Man I am excited for her LPs because I enjoy her style, but these 3min long records are frustrating. I love her extremely subdued atmosphere and her soft voice, and this being the first record that doesn't suffer as much from prod is also the first that might be worth keeping in one's library. Ima slap a 2.9
Celer Jima3.5
Classic Celer material. The first track is best, very nice and dreamy, soft with the occasional grittiness, really soothing and with a kinda marine feeling. The second one is cool too, a wall of repetitive synthy ambient, but its not nuanced enough for me. It's neither gritty nor delicate enough, which is a balance the first track and many others of his strike better. 3.6
Future 56 Nights3.5
This is easily Future's most consistent, best constructed record yet. The cringy elements like backing vocals, gunshot sounds etc are entirely removed, and as a result the record is hardly ever annoying. It's perhaps also not as jammy because it is safer, but the overall quality as a record is clearly improved. 1-3 are all stripped down instrumentals, Future's delivery and no other bells or whistles. Some of the most listenable Future material yet where there isn't a stupid element to come and banish tracks from your playlists forever. 4 feels a lot weaker (which was already announced by 3 to some extent) and brings this down, while 5 is the clear accident here with an awful, laughable youtube instrumental. Those two tracks really are a faux pas, for 6-7 come back to the quality of 1-3, 6 with a nice sort of emotional soft piano based vibe, and 7 being the most interesting track of the record with a cool synth arpeggio instrumental. Kind of a jam and not one I was expecting on this EP. Keep this at a healthy 3.4
Downfall of Nur Umbras de Barbagia4.0
Very interesting bm that I'd say any bm-appreciator ought to check out. The sparse use of
'traditional' folk instruments is very intelligently done here and gives ancient mysterious vibes
to the music, as if it were a lost beacon from an extinct civilization. The shrieking vocals are
a tough pill to swallow at times - although I did not really dislike them -, and the album does
loose a bit of its freshness and songwriting quality over time, the album closer being the worst
track. Absolutely worth a listen nonetheless. 4.0
HeklAa Pieces Of You3.5
Beautiful and diverse piano works. For some reason it sounds like it would fit very well in the middle of a metal album or at the end of a hardcore record as a contrasted finale.
Natalia Lafourcade Hasta la Raiz3.5
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Kendrick Lamar To Pimp a Butterfly4.5
A colossal statement of what hip-hop in the digital age can be, and a standard setter for hip-hop in the 2010s. I say hip-hop but this thing has all manners of influences ranging from Thundercat psychedelia to R'n'B and jazz. Some of the tracks are absolutely outstanding, none are bad, and the flow is pretty much uninterrupted. A vibrant, incredible and dare I say historical album that I should jam more often - and that I might bump? 4.8
Sean C. Johnson CIRCA 19933.0
This record alternates between soul and rap/hip-hop quite freely. It ended up not being as good as I expected from the first track. It is not bad by any means but there just is something that does not work - perhaps the discrepancy in mood between almost romantic soul sung by a dude versus hip-hop vibes? Some tracks are cool though and I particularly liked the first and last one. 2.9
Entro Senestre Rosegold3.0
Fine but forgettable house/dub techno. First track is best and the reason why I checked this out, not a jam but close. Quite relaxing but also deep with some nostalgic chords repeated all over. 2 is the glitchy kind of dub techno I don't really like, but still chill. 3 is weird, vaguely Burial-esque but with an odd syncopated beat that does not quite work. 4 is the second best track here, reminding of Djrum's mountains, but again with a weird syncopation to the rhythm that breaks the atmosphere a bit. Won't come back to this except for 1 maybe. 2.9
clairo Late Show2.5
As it seems to be the case with every one of these little demos, this is pretty but feels pointless. The songs are entirely disjointed, and the prod (which is a bit better for 1 and 4, giving in the former case a sort of tape, 40's love song vibe which I dig) varies even from track to track, destroying all sense of this being a real record more than a compilation of songs randomly put together. If it weren't for that this might sit at a 2.8 because the opening song is very nice and my favourite of hers so far, but as a record it really doesn't do the basic things well at all. 2.7
Elder (USA-MA) Lore4.0
Good lord this record is FUN. Groovy proggy Mastodon-y rock'n'roll goodness. The first two tracks are absolute bangers and I preferred them to RoaFW. Title track is probably the weakest, the last two are quite equivalent to RoaFW with a preference for the album closer. 4.2
Internazionale Elegy for the Victors4.0
Absolutely lovely drone. Tasty mix of organic textures (pianos, mostly) and gritty,
decaying stuff in the background. The kind of drone that makes you all contemplative and
introspective. All jams apart from the last track - will re-listen. 4.2
Edit ok maybe I got a little over excited. This is the genre executed to perfection, but
this style of drone struggles to have 4.5+ worthy impact even when done superbly like
this. This is the kind of album that really can give you a 5.0 meditative experience in
the right conditions in the right place, but that also doesn't feel like it is a 5.0
intrinsically. But man this music makes me ponder the meaning of life. 4.1
The Day Strangers With Familiar Faces3.5
Post-rock infused indie pop which starts incredibly pretty but goes more generic along the way. 1 is lovely, and 2 is a stellar jam with a gorgeous emotional track. After that, 3-6 pack nowhere near the same punch, going back to more conventional emotional pop songs, to a point where 6 is a simple acoustic guitar ballad. But man 2 is beautiful. 3.6
clairo Have A Nice Day2.5
Prod has improved and no longer hurts the ear. The best prod is on 2. 1 is clean but a bit weird as the sound keeps swooshing back and forth between left and right, while 3 is still a bit dirty but in a relatively appreciable way - sadly the song is maybe the blandest one of all 3. I like her style and I like 2, but being this short this feels a bit pointless you know? 2.7
Aloe Island Posse Aloe Island Adventures3.5
A very good surprise for a random bandcamp find like this. Well executed nu disco/future funk/vaporwave/whatever that's not the record of the century but that is also a fun listen all the way through. The first three tracks are very in your face and intense. They're cool but it also gets a bit too much in places. 1 is super funky though with all the brass additions. Then 4-6 take a simpler approach and it works wonders to make the music more approachable and impactful, with all three tracks feeling better than 1-3 peaking on the jammy 6 and its super fun bass. Then 7 takes its time to conclude the album softly, in a relaxed sunset sort of vibe, which I think works great as a conclusion. Well executed and grants this a 3.55
Misthyrming Söngvar elds og óreiðu4.0
Great bm that somehow feels like dm in a lot of places without ever sounding like dm. Maybe
owing to the low ended, deep guttural vox a bit. The album feels hellish in a lot of
places, and my fav tracks were the most hell-sounding ones (3, a jam which somehow gave me
strong LOTR vibes, 6). The record is well constructed, with nice ups and downs of
intensity, crystallised by a great dark ambient interlude on 4 picked right up by solid
riffage on 5, and a dark ambient album outro on 9 that wasn't as good. The run from 1-6 is
stellar, although it took me a couple tracks to get accustomed to the band, but the end of
the record 7-9 felt weaker, especially 7 which felt more generic and kind of like the Not
Unlike the Waves of this album. 8 does have a nice intro. I deleted my notes accidentally
but based on memory this feels like a 3.95
indigo la End Shiawase ga Afuretara4.0
Take all of the energy of their past records, crank the construction quality way up, and you get this super fun J-rock record with again prominent bass and cool drums too. Vox feels like it is mixed a bit too loud in places, but prod wise that is about the only issue I could find even nitpicking. 1 is a huge energetic jam with slap bass, 2 is a is a jam too in the same style. 3 gets a bit much in places but is still cool. 4 is more of a slow paced emotional track that unfold super well but still has cool tracks. 6 gets a bit too abrasive to my taste but is still alright. 7 is a jam with lots of cool bass and drum breaks. In 8 the bass intro feels a bit exaggerated but once it stops it is a nice and relaxed track, and when the bass break comes back in the outro it's actually good. 9 changes the atmosphere into a darker, softer, sadder track, and it is most welcome at this point, illustrating what I mean in terms of improved construction by letting the energy settle for 8 tracks and then only breaking it up for a moment. 10 brings back the bounce and is a jam with again super cool bass and a catchy chorus. The closer is excellent, starting off as a ballad which is an idea I respect, but that gets more abrasive. Light grow on me as I get used to the loud J-rock vox. 3.95
A Swarm of the Sun The Rifts2.5
Woefully uninspired. Not an unpleasant listen by any means, but the record just lines up one deja-vu post-rock/post-metal riff after the other with nothing fresh for the ear to catch on. Practically no memorable melodies at all, let alone unique musical features that would differentiate the album from the swarm of post-rocky records out there. The last two tracks however are actually not that bad, and a few head-nodding moments throughout the album save it from being a 2.0.
Callisto Secret Youth3.0
Cool prog/post-metal instrumentations with somewhat dark atmospheres. Unfortunately the over-prominent clean vocals bring the album in a direction that I do not like (a la Tesseract for instance, a bit too lyrical and singer-focused). Harsh vocals are quite great, but really sparse. There is a lot better out there. 3.1
Pinkshinyultrablast Everything Else Matters4.0
Like on the EP, pinkshiny prove that they are a band that can do both abrasive and chill, with lots of influences, lots of intra-song variety, and with an excellent mastery of their fx boards. That being said I do find their reverb-drenched sound to be a bit much on the longer run, and by 7-8 I felt a bit saturated and the album felt overlong, despite 8 being cool. The droney album outro particularly reinforced that feeling of lengthening the sauce like the frenchos say. Pinkshiny don't really do much in the way of memorable choruses or repetition, which makes for music that is very cool and full of ideas and surprises, but that is difficult to recall even minutes after you jammed it and adds to the blurry feeling. My last gripe with this is the dreamy, reverberated, high pitched vocals. They are cool sometimes, and fit very well in places like the intro to 3 or 5, but very often it feels like it would take a very specific mood i wasnt in to fully dig them. I would have liked something more abrasive to match the energy in the back. A cool intro like 4 feels like it falls a bit flat when it unfolds on those vox. But the music in teh back is always cool and full, and 1 is an incredibly well crafted intro song that takes its sweet time but is worth the wait, with cool vocal textures, synths and moog homage to the Floyd-inspired song title before an excellent abrasive opening. 3.85
Shadowland (RUS) A2.0
Pretty inconsequential synth ambient EP. Remote ambient bm vibes, but reminds me more of the soundtrack of some old snes rpg to be honest. Nothing unpleasant, but nothing I'll remember. 2.0
Future Beast Mode2.5
Compared to his LPs this obviously benefits from being a lot shorter, and yet I can't help but feel that this is hardly more than 'alright'. There isn't a single clear cut jam really, because there is a core flaw on pretty much every single track. 1's merely alright with a couple good bits here and there maybe but with a fadeout ending. On 2 the vox is cool but the instrumental isn't super convincing and like the first track it feels a bit awkward for the most part, while on 3 things are flipped and the vocals are the element to blame. 4 is perhaps one of the most successful tracks here, with a relatively soft and aerial instrumental and fine delivery from our main man. 5 is more restrained and kinda cool in that vibe. The thing is, Future's delivery and the trap drums offer a contrast to smooth instrumentals which is a fun idea to explore over a track or two, but that gets old quickly if you do it four times in a row. So when 6 keeps this incongruous aspect, it doesn't really work and the track gets annoying. Same applies to 7 although it works a bit better with its jazzy instrumental. 8 finally comes back to a congruous vibe and is perhaps the other best track here, except it sounds like he was rapping it with his jaw anaesthetised for three quarters of the song. This EP is Future showing great potential, but not realising it. Maybe I am being a bit too harsh because this is fine especially 1,4,5,7,8, so I might jam it again, but for now 2.6
Spectral Voice Necrotic Doom2.5
For a demo, production is stellar (far better than the first Blood Incantation EP), and the deep guttural vox is fantastic. But instrumentally this is generic doom chug and not much else, despite the tasty fat tones these guys employ. Some riff are nice but they just last a second, and there are awkward grooves too. The early track on 2 is nicer, and accelerations are nice like on the fourth minute on 3. And to be fair this never annoying. But I sure won't come back to it. 2.6
Turnstile Nonstop Feeling3.5
I'm not sure the first half is really successful at what it does, but the album redeems itself in the second half (insert meme). 1 is really cool in a teenage pop punk sort of way and has a little more substance to it than some of their demo tracks. But from then on the album hits a long low phase. 2-6 all feel like they try to be dumb fun, but are all too slow and not crazy enough in their unfolds to succeed at that, giving an awkward result overall with simplistic riffs at times. 4 does start more fun in the intro, then slows down but remains nice, and 5 does have a really cool proggy intro but a disappointing unfold into a dumb riff alas. In contrast to the kinda slow 6, 7 picks things up by contrasting with relatively fast, pop punkey fun again, and whilst the track is only a bit over a minute long it does wake up the itnerest a bit, especially as its outro with ambient textures and bass gives a very nice and inspiring transition into 8, which is way cooler than anything else on the album so far and is just plain fun RATM worship. 9 does a bit more of what 2-6 did but better with a slightly more fun riff. 10 starts as straight up dumb hxc fun that is super cool, and near 50s offers a glimpse of the more syncopasted riffs that would make the success of GLOW ON many years later. 11 offers a much welcome and well crafted soft rest, before the album ends on a fun ish track that would probably work a lot better live than for at-home listening, and which sadly conclude sthe album on a fadeout. Still, this much stronger second half raises this all the way to a 3.4
Marissa Mur Marissa Mur3.0
This album feels a lot like a bunch of well crafted but ultimately quite generic pop songs. Most arent compositionally complacent enough to be properly bad, and would work as generic soundtrack to some romantic moment in an watch-to-relax-before-bed okay tv show. But without that visual/scenaristic support they do feel a bit spinelessrThe vocal performance is good throughout, I really like her silky voice. 4 is quite below the rest. 6 and 7 both have elements that hint at her more explosive and acoustic future especially in their intros, and both were in succession my faves thus far. 8 has more of a beat and is even closer to her modern stuff instrumentally, but that's all just a hint it reamins quite mellow and not super engaging. Teh guest voice breaks 9 quite abdly for me, whilst 10 is a cute song to conclude with again a more fun and inventive chorus, tho the album conclusions is weirdly abrupt - it doesnt even feel like the song is over? Sweet and hte second half less consistent but with better stuff than teh first. 3.1r
Sons of Kemet Lest We Forget What We Came Here To Do3.5
Beyond any doubt this album's strongest point is found behind the drumkit. The interplay between the two drummers is the main highlight here, constructing intricate, catchy and dancy grooves all the way through, and it is incredible fun at times. The problem is that the tracks constructed around these grooves as they rarely complement them well enough, and are even often detrimental. Exhibit A is 6, where there are no drums making for an instantly boring track. The opener is quite cool and intriguing though, and 2 works quite well. But 3 takes us to quirky brr brr land and it just does not work for me, again the drums being the only saving grace. 4 is better with kinda cool mysterious vibes, although it's not quite gripping. The midtrack on 5 is hella dancey, but the track showcases how much drums are the meat of this and how little else there is. The drums in the second half of 7 are really really cool, and thankfully the album finishes on two tracks that are finally complete, fully functional, and with brass that works well with the drums rather than feeling it is just there to fill space. Lots to improve on, but some very strong points. Also they improved on a artwork a whole lot. 3.45
Phoebe Bridgers Killer3.5
Sadgirl guitar folk ballads: the thee tracker EP. The songs are well crafted and delicate, her very emotional voice works wonders for this, and individually the songs are all quite good albeit straightforward as can be - but all three of them in a row is a bit much, especially 2 which is the longest. It would have worked better if the mood or instrumentation or vocal delivery, anything changed ever so slightly, but here it quickly all gets into a nice, inoffensive blur. But sweet songs nonetheless that cuold bring up tears to yar little sis in a movie or something. 3.3
Monsieur Perine Caja de Musica3.5
A sweet album, slightly better crafted than LP1 perhaps, with a good variety of songs that link together well, except the last two which dip this a point. 11 is indeed weirdly sappy emotional, especially vocally whilst the instrumental does cheer up a bit, after an album that was largely lighthearted. Then 12 goes right back into chill uku, with a nice interlude at min 3 but otherwise unfolding into a fairly meh track. Thankfully the short 13 offers a nice conclusion that feels like it would fit on a champetre anime. Before this, 1 is a nice lighthearted song that remains interesting all along, 2 is fun enough and has a bit of that burlesque/circus/idk what aesthetic that I can appreciate but dont usually seek out, 3 is a very locely dancy track mostly in French though the dramatic strings ending will make it a bit weird on playlists, after an interlude 5's a cute sweet track altho not as dancey, 6 is another well crafted track that doesnt do much for me, 7 gives a better go at that burlesque aesthetic (just at the edge of too much tho) and makes me want to live on the seaside in the 70s, 8's a good relaxed track that's just about too involved to fit on my guava list but otherwise is very good, 9 is dancier but does get a bit too much in its second half, and 10 is another good chill track. Solid, varied sound, fun - a good album. 3.6
L'Imperatrice Odyssée4.0
Super fun little French touch Daft funk pop EP, with of course 2 being the leading jam, but the rest also being pretty on par with it. The EP really matches the aesthetic of its artwork, with 1 feeling like the synthy OST to the decollage of a steampunk spaceship, 2 being all glorious fun, 3 being a lot mroe relaxed yet still groovy and full of tasty synths, 4 being the perfect soundtrack to a seaside space cafe (whut), and 5 bringing back the vocals again. I do think that the EP could have used either 5 exploding a little more to match the energy of 2, or an additional pop track, because as it is the closer 6 feels like the EP goes back down in energy a little too quickly. That drops it a point, but it's still a solid little fun gem at a sweet 4.0

2014
clairo Do U Wanna Fall In Love?2.5
This is produced with ass, but I actually dig the sort of relic tape quality it gives to the otherwise simple albeit nice soft and jolly folk music. But I would be a pretentious liar if I said I thoroughly enjoy it because some bits just outright hurt the ear on 1 and 3, 2 being bizarrely produced differently. This is ridonkulously short so it's hard to rate. It feels like I will like her future work, but it's hard to call it decently publishable music per se. 2.5
Nails Two Song Flexi2.5
Well I means this is fine but it's not even top tier Nails and it is so short it makes very little sense as a record, although as a track it's alright. Meh. 2.5
Black Thread Drifting Snow3.5
Pretty warbly piano tapes. The second half of part A is especially nice. 3.4
Black Thread Autumn Flowers2.5
Side A has two nice, but utterly disconnected textures. The second, heavily distorted one is especially nice. Side B is not that interesting really, although I like the hissy album outro. 2.5
Adrianne Lenker Hours Were the Birds3.5
Folk with country leanings to a varying degree. Quite pretty, especially vocally, but overextends a fair bit. The first half (pre-interlude on 6) is perhaps more marking, but feels a bit erratic. 1 unfolds with nice surprise as soft folks with vaguely country singing, then 2 emphasises the country aspects even more - an ok song but that worked a bit less than 1 for me. 3 goes back to simple but pretty folk, then 4 adds a beat and is almost country danceable, then 5 is a sweet folk song again. A bit too much of back and forth change in vibe imo. 7-10 is far more consistent with more remote country notes and a sadder vibe overall, but the album progressively lost me with 8 and 9. 10 is the best song on this latter half though and helps a bit, reminding of French folk songs. Sweet, but not one for the history books. 3.5
A Sunny Day in Glasgow New Christmas Classics2.5
Bit weird this, and not really worth a check, but not properly bad either. 1 is an xmas song. It has cute sounds, it has that vibe, but it is naive. Eh. 2 is just weird and felt very skippable, plus the intro with relatively aggressive sounds feels like it disrupts the semi-existent flow of the EP. There are some nice bits though so I hope they focused on that in their later discog and not on those weirdcore bits. 3 is a kinda weird nearly a capella track that would work well as an interlude on some albums but not here. 4 is kinda catchy and fun and christmassy without being naive like 1. It's the strongest track here, but it still miles away from being a jam. Don't bother with this unless you're a fan. 2.5
Eldur Siggja3.5
1-2 remind me of Lustre, but better done. Really sweet atmospheres throughout. And unlike Lustre, when the bm guitars, drums etc come atop the synthy ambience, it doesn't feel forced. The idea of the three tracks being the exact same length is cute, but imo it results in them feeling like they dont really conclude or flow into one another; they are just three separate tracks of literally the same calibre that must be concluded by the deadline so to speak. 3 is quite different in that it goes in more conventional bm. The vocals are cool and the song is nice, but it just feels a bit more generic and less flavourful than the rest. When the big boy drums kick in near the end though it does rip. So cool tracks, but in terms of album construction this isn't a very cohesive release. Gotta check more from Eldur! 3.5
Hiatus Kaiyote By Fire4.0
The songs assembled here work well collated in this order as a standalone EP, but ultimately as they are all on the LP that followed it (and I don't believe there is a difference in version?), given that said LP is excellent on the whole this no longer really has a point as a record. Still of undeniable quality for a solid 3.8
No Somos Marineros Lomas Verdes4.0
The early record struggles a tiny bit, but from 4 on this is dope. I find that their heavy vocals on song climaxes are not always quite on point except on 7 eg, and the instrumental climaxes are consistently better. The intro track takes its time but I think it's really cool. 2 has quite heavy punk leanings, I dig it but some of the math rock aesthetics feel a bit contrived here. Then 3 has a lengthy intro again, it's fine but I feel like it comes too soon after 1 to reach its full impact. The technicity and fat drumming are great though (through the whole record). 4 and 5 are pretty much the same track, and here make great use of the polyrhythmic riffing. The end to 4, and the whole of 5 brought this closer to 4.0 tier desptie questionable heavy vocals. 6 has a long calmer phase but here it is a good idea, then the cool explosion showcases again the vocals struggling. They work better on 7 which brought this into 4.0 tier more firmly, before the bonkers 8 sealed the deal with a really cool despaired jam. Worth a check for sure. 3.8
Mamiffer Statu Nascendi3.0
Meh. I really, really liked the first track, and the second track was ok too albeit nowhere near as good. I was still hopeful, but track 3 and 4 crushed those hopes in boredom. I don't know how to describe this: droney ambient post-rocky folk with female witchy vocals? Had lots of potential, but only fulfilled in the first track. 3.1
Kitty FROSTBITE3.5
Tracks 1-3 sound like if a Liquicity producer decided to make kick snare pop: it is lush, mildly cheesy, full of echoey synths, and quite catchy and cool with 'ethereal' vocals. 4 displays some super prominent dnb bits even. A sweet catchy EP there, but I do find 5 to be a bit of a drag if I'm honest, which dampens my enthusiasm a touch. 3.5
Nthng Remember Us4.0
The opener is fine, and I would accept it on a larger 5.0 album, but on a three tracker where it takes up a third of the runtime it single-handedly prevents the EP from being a 5. The middle track has gorgeous bits (I especially enjoy how it starts) and could fit on a 5.0 EP, but it also drags a fair bit and doesn't feel as full as the gorgeous 3, a sublime introspective trip that always makes me want to turn the volume up and is perhaps one of my favourite techno tracks ever, having been a strong motivator of my foray into techno in the first place. 4.1
Grouper Ruins4.5
Absolutely superb. My favourite from Grouper with Draggin a Dead Deer Up a Hill.
Absolutely worth a re-listen. Far heavier on the keys than DaDDUaH (what a strange
acronym), but that yields more than interesting textures. A lot of the album sounds like
Agnes Obel in terminal phase of depression, lost during a snow storm in some mental
hospital in the mountains. Magically dreadful. The last track is phenomenal and perhaps
the best of the album - instrumental ambient synth work that reminds of GYBE or
Agalloch's ambient moments. 4.4
オオハシ (Ohashi) sankaku ni narande / 2​.​45GHz3.5
Fun little math-rock two tracker. Track 1 is math-rock with well-done female Japanese vocals, track is an instrumental, slightly noisier grittier version of math-rock. Both pack a good punch and record is a solid 3.6
Viva Belgrado Flores, Carne4.0
Very nice post-rock with skramz explosions. Tracks 1-4 are quite jammy and could be a very solid EP on their own. The record bores a bit when it dwells too long on post-rock interludes like on track 5. 6 is probably the best jam here and delves even into post-metal riffage at times. 8 has really cool riffs but doesn't use them well. Still kinda jammy. Towards the end the record feels less memorable (although I had to pause at track 8 so not super fair). It feels a bit like a sine wave with constant alternation of calm post-rock and skramzey explosions with almost clock-like precision, with solid average quality but few moments that truly shine. 3.85
Sundrugs Low4.0
Where the prior album started off strong but overextended, this one starts with merely ok
tracks to finish on a perfect run of three strong jams. Second half is highly recommended
drone. 1 is sweet but a bit forgettable, then the record goes a bit all over the place with
a spacey 2, a sci-fi cavernous 3, and an interesting track on 4 with sort of psychedelic
downtempo sprinkled in with some Lustre and DS (can tell that you liked this garasbro).
From then on the record picks it up, with 5 being a lovely synthy repetitive track that is
way too short and would otherwise be a jam, 6 being nicely cinematic like drifiting in the
ocean or space, and 7 being sweetly gritty. The last three tracks bump this up hugely
though, as they're all jams. 8 displays nice piano laid atop some lovely dronebient, to
later turn into drone and lead to a fantastic conclusion. Title's very fitting. 9 is an
aquatic soundscape, I mean it's short and not really a jam but it fits, and 10 is the
behemoth track here with a 21 min runtime. It starts dark and mysterious, menacing almost,
and later brings the gritty subtlety I loved so much on the debut. It feels desolate and
alone, and my rating went up by the minute. Perfect for contemplating my Oregon trip
pictures. The last third is softer and perhaps not as jammy but still very nice, and the
hopeful conclusion is very well delivered. This will stay in my library for sure. 3.9
Pianos Become the Teeth Keep You3.0
This album has a much more pop feeling to it than their other records, beyond the obvious post-rock/emo. Album feels quite flat, and more like a collection of songs than a real album with structure and evolution. The songs work very well in a vacuum, but as part of the overall album they just blend together due to the lack of dynamics. This makes most of the songs pretty forgettable - even though the album has really excellent tracks too. A lot of songs also feel like they end when really they should have started exploding. A lot of climatic moments are missing, which contributes to the album feeling bland.
Future Monster3.0
Ok this is his best so far, but feels a bit overrated. One thing is that Future himself
hardly ever fails here; unlike in prior records where his delivery could ruin a track as
much as the instrumentals themselves, here it is nearly exclusively the latter. This one
has quite an identity with lots of synths and emotional tracks, so it works relatively well
as an album. There is a bit too much happening at once in the album intro, but the track
unfolds quite fatly (lel) although a bit slow to my taste. 2 has great delivery and the
flute part is dope, but there also are mario galaxy sounds breaking the deal. 3 is synthy
and kinda cool, not super aggressive, but after a lovely midtrack bridge the second half of
the song reveals itself as one of Future's best sections yet, sort of ambient trap. I dig.
4 is back to gangsta aesthetics and could be a jam if it weren't for some ludicrous backing
skrrt. Lil Wayne's feat is really good. 5-6 are a bit flat and a bit forgettable but not
bad I guess. 7 like 4 is fat but ruined by backing vocals. 8's a bit dumb and the weakest
track at that point. 9 is cool with a sort of bare piano instrumental that fits his
delivery surprisingly well. Future works quite well on intimate tracks like these. 10 is
kinda cool with its horrorsynth and delivery again, but idk if I'd call it a strong track.
11-12 are weak again, kinda simplistic and youtubey, before 13 closes nicely on a top tier
Future track, great especially when he drops the autotune albeit not perfect. Edit: welp
apparently I heard the 2019 version on spotify. 3.2
Taylor Swift 19893.5
I've heard my fair share of bad mainstream pop albums, and this clearly isn't one of them. I'd say it sits at the bottom, low growth potential end of my personal mainstream pop top tier at this point. It is very consistent with not a single bad track, consistent direction for the first time since her country days, and top notch production all around, but the real bangers are also relatively scarce. Namely 3, the guilty pleasure super famous 6, and 10 are super fun tracks. The album doesn't feel like it truly starts before 3 actually. 1 is okay but really not that catchy for summer teen pop (perhaps because it is quite slow). 2 improves with catchier delivery, sweet nostalgia vibes, and just being funny, but doesn't yet feel like a banger. 4 is not bad but not great, then 5 is catchier again. Even the less dancy songs have cool sounds or good melodies here and there, and again none or bad - see 7 or 9. Some of the vocal deliveries are impressive, like on 8, and the album manages to make me not mind a ballad on 11 thanks to synth background, prod etc. The sequencing is smart, putting the ballad right after a catchy peak and not following up with another emotional song but rather with the nice sappy 12. The closing track feels a bit flat compared to 2-12, it's neither catchy nor vibey, which is a bit of a shame, but it doesn't prevent 1989 from being one of the most consistent mainstream pop records I've heard. 3.5
Jessie Ware Tough Love3.5
Nice, but frankly a bit disappointing compared to the debut, because it almost always feels a bit
tame and it also doesn't know where it is going, between the resolutely more Rnb 1, pop, soul,
and even a bit of disco vibes on 7, which is frankly the closest to a jam here but also leaves
you wanting more when it's followed by the balladey 8, with some heights but certainly
underwhelming. The end of the record in general dropped it a pointm as 9 is more pop and nice at
first but never really unfolds, and 10-11 are frankly forgettable. 3 and 6 are more electronic,
with 3 being quite groovy and 6 being a bit empty at first but progressing nicely. 2 on the other
hand feels like a bland pop track. 4 evokes the soul of Alabama Shakes and 5 is quite groovy,
bringing the hopes up a bit, but as I said overall the album feels a bit undercooked whilst never
being bad. 3.5
Orbs These People Are Animals1.5
This is just annoying to listen to, at least for me. It's original and all, it's not rlacking ideas, it is just annoying and does not give me any emotional response beyond that.
Fazerdaze Fazerdaze EP3.5
Cute dream pop EP, but that feels pretty uneventful. The first track is a happy and cool
jam, the kinda track you can show to your non-nerd friends. Unfortunately it is the only
jam here. 2 is perhaps more interesting with its quirky and childish sounds, but isn't
quite a jam. 3 reminds of 1 but with a touch more shoegaze, and 4 shifts styles a bit with
a catchy bass-led track that reminds of the 90's a bit. 5 and 6 are quite subpar though and
kinda boring, contributing to the EP leaving little impression besides being a nice listen.
3.4
Les Abysses Reveal the deep3.5
Sweet synthy stuff with lots of atmosphere to it. Strongest track is 5 which is sort of dungeon synth but with a peculiar twist to it that I can't quite put my finger on, a jam. 2 made me think of JM Jarre a bit with its new agey synths and bits of drums here and there, kinda jammy too. 4 has some noise textures in the background which I like, and the other tracks had nice synthy sounds but didn't feel as strong compositionally. Sweet and solid. 3.5
worms as blind as dirt worms as blind as dirt (2)3.5
More cascading fragments goodness. 1 is a lovely jam made out of harsh noise muffled to an extensive degree, making it almost sound like a wind field recording before it dies out nicely into a wash of white noise. 2 is much more abrasive and I like that, but I feel like it doesn't work as well as the harsh noise tracks on the first s/t. Oh btw this is a second s/t album, the (2) is just there because sputnik wouldn't let me upload two albums with the same name 3.45
A Winged Victory for the Sullen Atomos3.5
This one is a lot more 'acoustic'/instrument based as opposed to the electronic sounds of the s/t. It's quite sad in vibe overall and actually reminded me more of the Mono/WEG joint album in places than of their own s/t. The opener is the only real jam here and is quite gorgeous and cinematic. After that, the album has sporadic jammy tracks or sections (2,4,8,10), but past the end of 5 (VI) it looses your attention and feels like it is missing hooking textures that the first few tracks offered. 9 is nice in that it brings some grittier textures, but it's not a jam and it comes way too late in the album to save it from being a bit bland. 3.3
Dwig Big Tales3.0
Inconsequential but nice downtempo house-ish stuff. First track is the nicest and has some interesting dark vibes to it; the rest is nice, but just nice. 3.1
clipping. Something They Don't Know/Mouth3.5
clipping's most socially acceptable piece at this point in their discog. Yet they don't entirely give up the experimentation and the abrasive sounds, for example the tastily dissonant piano sample in 1, but it is clearly more accessible and less aggressive, with no walls of noise etc. The first track has a tasty intro and cool fun vocal delivery thereafter, reminding of fun rappers a la Chill Bump or Hippocame Fou (first that came to mind fight me). The only bit that doesn't work is transition into the last third of the sum with the vinyl scratches, but thankfully it is quite short. 2 is cool again and would be a nice track to show clipping to someone without scaring them away too much. 3.65
Sea Oleena Shallow4.0
Very nice debut album of sweet less droney and more organic Grouper-like music, quality
on par with the EP's. The first few tracks did not quite convince me I have to say, 3.5
range material. But starting from track 4, the quality goes way up with some phenomenal
tracks, particularly track 4 and 6, making the album a definite re-listen. The great
second half bumps the album to a grand total of 3.9
EDIT: idk what I was on about, the first half is so pretty too especially the dreamy too.
Lots of inspiring stuff with beautiful tones and lovely reverberated vocals. Had a pretty
much perfect listen today ngl. 4.1
Breag Naofa/Children of God Split4.0
Another split that makes me want to check the band Breag played with. The opener by Children of God is an incredibly nasty, rather Amenra-esque evil track and is outirght excellent. After a surprising but functional intro, Breag's track unfolds excellently into the riff to very rapidly (and I would say slightly awkwardly) transition again into Breag Naopunk. It is of course really cool and catchy and you want to dance, but I again feel like the vocals were always better on LP1 with this band. The track ends and almsot sets you up to expect more, but this record is alas very short and it just ends like that. Wish there was more, teh length is the main downside here. Might have to check Children of God I guess. 3.8
glowing domes sow3.5
Another nice tape from Cascading Fragments. This one fluctuated between 3.7 and 3.8. First track is at the very noisiest end of the drone spectrum, as some shatters of melody can be heard here and there but are utterly destroyed by a wash of noise. I enjoyed the latter end of it even more. The second track is half pure noise and is quite nice at that, and half hainbachesque music that isn't all too well executed and brought the tape down a good bit. 3.65
Black Thread flaming sprig3.5
More cascading fragments, this time with some nice, abrasive destructed loops evocative of some Hainbach. I enjoy the noisiness and grittiness of it all, and some of the textures are really tasty. This will clearly be an artist I look further into. I have seen this style better executed elsewhere though, the loops aren't quite as trippy as they could be, and the destruction doesn't progress much within each track. The guy knows how to end a track though. 3.4
Internazionale Protection Glass3.0
Mah, this is fine but nothing to retain really. End of track 1 is the best bit, track 2 is cool, first track of track 1 warrants the same comments as Armour of Stars. Sweet drone but not quite memorable. 3.0
No Somos Marineros Onnie Jay Holy3.5
Again just a track, but it is their best yet. To me this is the first one where they make
the vocals work well and don't make the mistake of using them too much. The song packs a
lot of fun ideas and makes me hopeful about their full length output. 3.5
Banks Goddess3.0
This just barely makes it to 3.0 range because it stays consistently ok despite a relatively long runtime. The only true jam is Waiting Game, but some other tracks (7,8,10) are kinda fun and jammy. The opener is also nice. For the most part, the rest of the album is ok but just plain unmemorable - however, there are few tracks that are actually annoying or bad (2,4,9). This does not have much interest beyond the jammy tracks that were on the EPs, but it's not terrible by any means. 2.8
Internazionale Sisters Of Ambrosia3.0
This is ok drone, but I find it a bit flat without entertaining enough textures to maintain full interest all the way through. Mostly noisy textures with very few smooth or organic elements. I don't think it would stand its own on focused listen, but on background listen it's ok. 3.1
Chihei Hatakeyama Winter Storm3.0
Your typical very slow, minimalist ambient/lush drone. Powerfully soporific, and as sleepy music it works superbly, but as music to listen to in and of itself it doesn't have huge value I think. 3.0
Harm Done Harm Done3.0
Some tracks are cool (first half of 3, 7), but they're all so short and the album (EP?) itself is so short that it literally never has tome to make a lasting impression, especially since their sound, while cool and fun, is not hugely recognisable vs. other hxc thingies. 3.1
Ariana Grande My Everything2.0
Better than her debut because of sheer coherence. Tracks 1-9 are all the same kind of really
summery happy summer festivaley pop that would fit in as party/beach music in some young teen
movie - a perfect example is track 3. The individual tracks aren't any better than on her debut,
but at least they are cohesive. The feats are generally ok and better introduced. Then from track
10 on it all goes to crap with again random romantic ballads and a complete destructuration of
the record. I almost thought I was jamming a bonus track compil, but no. All in all, not great a
record, but a bit better. Track 1,3 and 5 are kinda nice. After that I lost interest I have to
say. 2.1
Skarpseian Tan Gil3.5
Also well executed DS, but I was a bit less transported than with LP1. The crusty prod on 1 doesn't sit too well with me, the end of 2 is cool and 3 is cool also but again we see a lot of fadeouts here, 5 is frankly quite corny, 6 has some cool sounds tho and 7 is pretty well made. All in all cool but not really my fave DS thing in the world. 3.4
Doja Cat Purrr!4.0
Maybe I'm uprating this a little because I wasn't expecting to like it so much, but yeah this is good dude. Fun pop-flavoured RnB with lots of personality and ideas. The EP starts off strong with a jam on 1, chill but upbeat and badass at the same time. The track has more ideas than it looks, both vocally and in the sweet sweet prod. 2 is more on the chill side and is great too. I dig her delivery, it is varied and fun. 3 continues this and while it doesn't start off the strongest, once what the prod and the synth open it becomes quite a dig. 4 is the weakest track here, as early on the soft prod feel a bit incongruous with the more aggressive vocal prod and delivery. It improves a lot as the track goes but yeah it brings the EP sub 4.0 although still firmly in 4.0 tier. 5 is kinda lusher and RnBey, very nice. Comparing this to other mainstream debuts, this is a great surprise. 3.85
worms as blind as dirt worms as blind as dirt4.0
I really can't articulate thoughts when it comes to noise. This is a lovely hnw tape made
of two different walls of noise. It feels a bit like Paysage d'Hiver cranked the bad prod
to its absolute peak and disintegrated the audio. I like the prod, it is aggressive but
not too much and preserves the relaxing features of white noise while also being quite
destructive. This one hit home harder than other noise projects I've found so I'll bump
it a point. 3.9
Chippr Jones Two Rooms3.5
Fun little math-rock record with lots of tapping sections and synth interludes. Nothing too crazy
but definitely an enjoyable listen. Edit: this is really sweet and worth a check, more than I
remember. It's mostly ambient actually, with the superb 1 especially the gritty part at the end,
3,5-9 all being ambient sketches. They are all pretty, and 8 is actually really beautiful and
inspiring, but it is very long (10min out of 35), and after 5-7 which already felt a bit less
compelling than the earlier record, and followed by yet another pretty ambient texture on 9, that
kinda drags the EP down. The math-rock tracks (2,4,10) are all pretty darn cool, well produced
and intricate, and I remembered some of their melodies to a surprising degree after having jammed
this like at work once. The return of math on 10 with a fun groove after so much ambient was a
nice call to not end on a low descending energy curve, but 4 really takes the cake as a super fun
math rock jam. I mean, 2 kinda takes the cake too especially when some of the more aggressive
guitars and drum come in in the second half. So summary this is super cool, but it looks like
they split up the band - big sad :[ 3.65
Julia Brown An Abundance of Strawberries3.5
Nice weird lo-fi indie pop stuff. Most of it sees the band go in a much more electronic direction than before before going back to the folkier, violin layered sounds of their first opus - just with better prod - on 12 bar its weird outro. They do find here a happy middle ground between the dirty prod of LP1 and the overclean prod of the 2013 EP. Apart from that track and the outro bit, all tracks are more in the electronica style. The record is rather erratically constructed, and the fact that most songs fade in and fade out make it feel a bit unstructured and more like a compilation which is a shame. 2 is nice and smokey, 3 is very sweet with the chimes in the background, 4 has lovely distorted vintage tones and 5 is quite catchy, but if there is one jam on here it is the lush 10, a much longer and more complex track than anything before it that feels like it could have been a brilliant album closer. I kind of lost track during the mid record, but 7 shows them going really abstract electronica on this. Nice, but I feel like I prefer their debut. 3.65
Sungazer Sungazer Vol. I2.5
This is an interesting mix of genres for sure: from math-rock bass lines to chiptune and vocal sampling that sounds like it could be on Liquicity tracks, to cool odd synth work,... The list is long, which is impressive for such a short EP.rHowever it also makes it sound like a mess, and the record is a bit difficult to grasp as a piece of music. The meme vibe is strong with this one. Track 2 and 3 are great but I'm sure Adam can do better. 2.6
Alvvays Alvvays3.5
Some very nice tracks, but an example of album where the vocals don't always work well for the music and are far too ubiquitous. By 5 I had enough of her voice, and there were still four tracks to go. 8 is fun for example, but within the album it doesn't work as well because the constant, candid voice becomes too much after a while. It's especially not too great on slower, calmer tracks - on the candid upbeat tracks like the jammy 1 or the jangly 4 it works quite well actually. 2 has a fun catchy chorus but I found the vocie too nasally on the verse, while 3 calms things down and is more subdued, starting off quite beachy and unfolding in a pop direction, quite jammy as well overall. 5 is the first track that I felt truly weak, and 6-7 were other examples of slower songs not working very well here and her voice saturating the lsitener a little bit. 9 is the only chill track in this second half that kinda works with its synthy sounds. Overall to me this sounds like a promising but quite immature band putting out a couple bangers amongst a lot of tracks that need improving. 3.5
Astronauts Hollow Ponds4.0
Lovely indie folk. 1 is a really nice intro and a jam I think. 2-5 are all nice tracks, but they got me worried. The songs are all simple, a nice acoustic guitar lick, simple vocals. Because of that, at that point the album started to feel repetitive and I thought I'd rate it below 4.0 range. Thankfully the second half picks it up a whole notch. The t/t starts with a relatively long ambient/droney intro, which brings most welcome variation. The actual song felt kinda eh, going back to the simple indie folk, but on its own I think it'd be a jam. 7 is a jam too. 8-9 both bring nice variation again , 9 being the densest and noisiest track here with New Plastic Ideas vibes throughout the track and a Pigmy Lush-esque ending. 10 breaks that by returning to simple indie folk with touches of piano, but at this point of the album it is most welcome, like coming home. Both 9 and 10 are jams, and the record is overall a very sweet 4.0
Lawrence English Wilderness of Mirrors4.0
I've been out of my drone phase for a fair while now, but this was an incredibly good fix for the remaining itch. A pretty textbook example of drone with a monolithic approach to sound, with little in the way of melody, acoustic sounds or even recognisable instrument tones. Here we just have drones that get crushingly beautiful (1), then get quite noisy (2), breathe to vast spaces (4), then go in the suffocating underground (5). The album is very well constructed, with enough room for pauses and enough variety without disrupting its continuity. It's perhaps not the most stunning drone I have heard, but it is pretty flawlessly executed. Also the art/title is cool. 4.2
Wolves in the Throne Room Celestite3.5
Much like Blood Incantation's Timewave Zero I think this took way too much heat just out of being drastically different from the rest of the band's discography, whereas had it been released in a vacuum the average would be a touch higher. Thus I may be rating a touch higher myself with this. This is a brilliantly crafted, very dynamic synth ambient voyage (as opposed to soft background ambient). Lots of instrumental changes, lots of different vibes - tho always with a sense of spatial grandeur. This is certainly not a one pad for 40 minutes kind of ambient album. The whole thing is a monolithic experience to be listened to in full, but it's not a perfect one. 1 and 4 are to me the best crafted here wiht the most interest to them and pretty much no real flaws, whilst 3 comes close but is just a tad too much organ church sounding for too long for me. 2 is fine, but I don't know that I like so much the fuzzy Sunn o))) guitars - they're alright for a while, but not my first choice. Alas 6, reuses them, but more importantly concludes this beforehand very well constructed journey very badly. It kinda fades out midtrack, then revives itself, only to one more time end in much too protracted a way. Feels like this deserved a better ending. Still, 3.6
Low Roar 03.5
Quite underwhelming if you ask me. Sure this is pretty folktronica (far more electronic than I remember the debut was although it's been a while), and I have nothing against wholly soft albums, but here there are too few memorable moments, and more importantly to few slow build up intros that make the album feel like an endless ebb and flow between soft and less soft that never explodes but makes you want it to explode. There are some highlights though and individually I suppose most of the tracks would work. The album intro is really cool reminding of sigur ros x radiohead, and the track itself is great. 2 is symptomatic of the problem as its soft intro should imo have been skipped entirely as it intensifies nicely in its second half which would have been a better follow up to 1. 6 has kind of a memorable hook and is quite nice. 7 is another highlight and is one of the few tracks that has a bit of a punch from the get go. 9 is almost a jam and perhaps the top highlight here with its post-rock leanings while keeping the folktronica sound. Because it was more intense, it makes the calmer 10 work unlike the prior yawney tracks. 12 has a nice intro texture, then goes back to yawncore, but the instrumental last third is quite cool and would have been a nice way to end the album, as 13 recycles themes from 6 and feels wholly unnecessary. Nice, but too little spread over too long. 3.4
Ian William Craig A Turn of Breath3.5
IWC certainly can craft some truly beautiful and subtle textures that are utter 2019 Bedecore, playing with vocal elements, extremely faint touches of guitar, lots of noise and sound rehashing etc. 1-2, the beautifully dlp-esque albeit short 6, 7, the really nice and peaceful 10 (a highlight), or 13 which starts of the 'extended' tracklist that I jammed by mistake are all clear examples. The issue lies with how these delicately crafted composition are articulated with one another. Often they aren't at all, with long blanks between most tracks. It is a pity because 1-2 flow super well, but this smoothness in transition is rarely found later on. Another minor issue is the use of less processed, sung voices, which although they provide some welcome change of sound, do disrupt the atmospheric power a bit, especially on 12 where they sound almost christmassy early in the track. Fantastic tracks arranged into a less fantastic album. 3.5
Mastodon Once More 'Round the Sun3.5
This certainly feels like a better album that commits a lot more to their softer, rocker, less metal sound than its predecessor, yet it hardly feels like a 3.7 which is where it should be based on it being better. Did I overrate the prior opus? Aside from the xool extra guitars near the end with a proggy feel, 1 is just decent. 2's a bit better with a fun rock anthem vibe to the chorus. There are a couple weird electronic fx in places tho - a recurring theme. 3's again fairly ok like 1, I really enjoyed the aerial proggy part around the 75% mark. 4 felt a bit short, and by 5 the tracks were blurring into one another a bit tbh. Cool CtS vibes here especially near the end - which is alas a FADEOUT. 6 starts the better run of the album, with its fun intro that continues into a track that wakes you up a fair bit, which 7 continues and cranks up a notch getting really quite aggressive and catchy. 8 again has more of a rifferoo, but from 2/3rds on, the weirdness and then the ultra lame hey ho lets fucking go really do ruin the track for me. 9's pretty cool, but honestly I felt like the album could've ended there; 10 has a fun riff as it enters its second half, but 11 really felt like it was making the album overlong and bloated - reinforced by it being the longest track here too. Maybe that's why I feel like a similar rating? They still are a cool as band and have some great moments. 3.65
A Sunny Day in Glasgow Sea When Absent3.5
Continues the more straightforward style they started on AA, but executed better. It doesn't work on every track, but it works more often than on AA. Prod's always been a bit bizarre with this band, but while it complemented the more experimental LP1 and LP2 nicely, here I feel like the album would benefit from being cleaner. 1 is a great quirky opener, I would't want the whole album to be like that but it works nicely to kick it off. 2 intelligently becomes less weird and is kinda jammy, although some weird parts don't quite work - the syncopated vox early on or the break at 3:35 for instance. 3-4 felt a bit unremarkable and just pass nicely. 5 feels like a deranged Tame Impala a bit and is more impactful. 6 takes a chiller flavour but is nice. 7 is unremarkable again and 8's just an interlude. The end of the album is stronger, with 9 being a nice catchy synthy jam with a cool intro, 10 continuing in the same vein of catchier more straightforward songs and is kinda jammy itself, while 11 goes a more psychedelic route again and works in places but not everywhere. 3.6
Musk Ox Woodfall3.5
Haven't listened to any neo-folk in a long time, but this was a good ride. It has a lot of low points, and few truly memorable melodies, but overall it is a nice record that would perfectly fit the atmosphere of a cabin lost in summer woods as sunlight peeks through the leaves. Might re-listen. 3.5
Nails Obscene Humanity 7''4.0
This is ridiculously short, but it's also all good fun except perhaps the last track
overextending just a touch. The comparison with their LPs is not really fair, but also
rating this below the 4.0 wouldn't feel right. 3.75
uchu nekoko Hibi no Awa3.0
Nice little EP that gets me pumped for the rest of this sadly short discog. I really love
the tone on 1, it has something soft and nostalgic to it. Very sweet vibe I'd seek out
again. 2 starts off more abrasive and upbeat but I'm not really a fan. It does get nicer
after the intro but not as nice as 1. The vast dreamy sky finale contrasted with the cute
voice is quite nice though. So this is super sweet, but all in all it is so short and
inconsequential as an EP that I can't really rate it all that high. 3.2
clipping. CLPPNG3.5
Much more accessible than their prior output, and mixing in a lot more elements from more conventional or even mainstream hip-hop - see the autotuned anthemic chorus on 6. This works well in places like 2, 5 or the quite bouncy 10, but also not on other tracks. 3 is a bit annoying, 8 is very annoying, and 12 is boring. The album outro resembles the experimenting of their early stuff the best. This is good, but it didn't captivate me, and it feels to me like a band still seeking its direction. 3.4
Secret Band Secret Band EP (Remastered)2.5
This is a rollercoaster of things I love and things I hate. Instrumentals are fantastic on track 2 and 3, with groovy bass lines and an especially nice bass tone. The opener is cool too. I absolutely hated the vocals throughout the record - too much of them, too low quality, too annoying. Track 4 I disliked altogether. Meh. 2.3
Coops Lost Soul4.0
Where Life in the Flesh struggles by mixing too many styles too randomly this one succeeds in offering a consistent atmosphere all throughout without boring either. Pretty much every track works on a minimalist instrumental with hard hitting drums, jazzy samples to provide texture and not much else, with Coops' relentless delivery atop. And you know what, it works crazy well. Tracks like 1-4 or 13 just work so well. The slight variations, for example the addition of female """soul/RnB""" vocals on 5 and 9, or the howls on the 12 are extremely well done and make the tracks stand out above the rest. Now while this is a much stronger album than LitF, the individual tracks do become perhaps a little less memorable. The album also feels quite long, with tracks past 13 kinda blurring out for me. And the album conclusion doesn't really feel like a conclusion. But this is still dope and well worth a spin. 4.0
Bedroom (TN) Grow3.0
Nice little indie/lo-fi record on the depressed slowcore side of things. Nothing too crazy.
Kurt Travis Everything Is Beautiful4.0
Great poppy album with lots and lots of interesting sounds. Rarely found poppy stuff this interesting. The first half is brilliant, with only a few annoying vocals here and there. Second half falls behind with some tracks that are entirely annoying and a lot more of his cringy vocals, but it still has some good tracks and melodies. Inspiring e.g. the intro of It's All Over. Album has quite a few flows but it was a positive jam still. Will probably re-listen. 3.8
Kitty Impatiens2.5
Yea really, really not a fan of this. The instrumentals are okay - though 1-2 are borderline Mario Galaxy sound effectscore -, but the rapped/rnbey delivery really does not work one bit for me, and especially does not feel like it fits with said instrumentals. I will concede that 3, which doesnt have those rapped vocals, although quite tame and inoffensive does feel cute and much better than the rest, saving me for actively disliking the record. 2.5
Swans To Be Kind4.0
I used to absolutely love this album, but this time round I wasn't so convinced. Sure it has plenty of fantastic, memorable, 5-worthy moments, and it holds the distance superbly well for a 2hrs+ album, but I just don't think the length is fully justified here. Feels like the (plentiful) ideas are stretched a little bit too thin. May just be a case of a bad listen, but this hardly feels like a 4.15
Adrianne Lenker b-sides3.5
Once again, a very pretty set of tracks with some that are a bit a bore and that lacks variety overall. 1 is actually really nice guitar folk/country, kinda makes you want to learn it on the guitar. 2 is slower and frankly not marking except some vocal ventures, while 3 succeeds far better at the same style with overall more interesting and delicate vocal delivery. 4 is a bit naive and again not that interesting. By 5 you're really wishing for some variation, which does come in 6 with a bit of lighthearted snowy folk, and especially on 7 with surprise male vocals that I quite dug. Man I swear if you compiled all of her best songs into a 30min EP it'd be an easy 4.0, but this is at best a 3.5
Black Thread leaves falling2.5
Excessive use of tape stoppages here break the ambience a fair bit. Track 1, by far the longest, is symptomatic of this, as an otherwise very nice piano-led tape piece is ruin by constant interruptions in the sound that take you out of it and make you think something is wrong with your audio system, especially when the background hiss stops too. Seems a bit gimmicky, and breaks the track for me. 3 makes this work a lot better and is very nice with lots of distortion onto the piano tape. But it suffers from excessive stoppages too. 2 is just forgettable, and 4 isn't much better. I might come back to 3 but that's it. 2.7
Chippr Jones Scout3.0
Yes this is a single but pls Jom don't nuke :[ The versions on this are different than on the Two
Rooms EP where they are live recorded takes. That being said, removing all the ambient material
makes this a bit contextless and sweet but entirely forgettable, so I don't think I'd ever jam
this over the EP. If you like math-rock do check their two EPs though they're really quite fun.
3.2
Gallery Six Bud Flush3.0
I like pretty much everything this guy does - this however is not his best output.rIt is somewhat moving away from field recording and sounds a lot more like 'regular' ambient - and to me this makes it lose its flavour, because there just is better 'regular' ambient out there. The experimentation and addition of noisy bits especially on the closing track are laudable.
Lantlos Melting Sun4.0
Lantlos is a frustrating band. They have incredible strengths, but persistent flaws in album and song structure that just break the deal for me on album format. This one does feel like their magnum opus though, moving away
from relatively conventional bm+post-rock to offer a splendid and quite unique mix of post-stuff, bm, dreamy guitars, djenty-nu-metallish-core riffing (don't @me) especially on 2 and 4, a blend which really could have been
special and is brilliantly done. The problem is that the album's progression is extremely gradual and linear, the record feeling like one long continuum with no real peaks, and falls flat on the low energy 6 which I saw
coming. I don't ask for a grand finale on every album, but the nice, broody instrumental 5 would have been a far better conclusion imo, despite 6 offering superb tones in the intro especially, as 6 takes so much time to pick
up and really feels like it prolongs things unecessarily. 1 also has a delightful intro tone that gets you right into the album and has some fantastic guitar parts after quite cliche an entry, but also displays the second
major flaw of the album: low energy, passable but never great or compelling vocals, on top of the excessively slow and gradual progression. 2's entry is far stronger, vast and glorious, and despite the vocals the song is a
highlight, with also the grand reprise at 4:50. 3 honestly I didnt take notes on because you can hardly notice song changes with this thing. And then 4 again with its fat riffage is another highlight. A good but frustrating
album. 3.9
Adrianne Lenker a-sides3.5
At first I thought I'd like this more than Hours. 1-3 are all really pretty folk songs with nice guitar and singing, and even well done integration of male vox on 1. Nothing amazing but a touch more compelling than the LP. But after the countrier 4 and 5, despite some cool vocals still, the EP kind of lost me and felt like more of the same. Which, on a 20min record is pretty bad. A sweet but almost thoroughly forgettable listen. 3.4
Doss Doss3.5
With the exception of 3, this is three instances of well done but really generic music embellished by nice reverberated dreamy vocals here and there. 1 is festival-aftermoviecore with curve ball addition of the cute vox, it is nice but it feels like it keeps building up to explosions that either don't happen or fall very flat (see 3:50). 2 feels like background music to some kind of Carribean cruise ad with added cute beach sounds with the steel pan and again the cool vocals. 3 ruptures completely from the rest with its really dreamy, hazy, shoegazy almost aesthetics atop a sort of trip-hop foundation. I'm describing it very poorly but it's a jam. Then 4 goes back to the earlier style and is the fastest, jolliest one yet, to a degree that feels almost funny to me and, while fine, really isn't my cuppa. Idk how to rate this really but because I dug 3 a lot we'll go for a safe 3.3
A Winged Victory for the Sullen Atomos VII4.0
Exactly what I needed after listening to Mia Gargaret and wanting more. This is soft,
simple ambient that they do so well. The first track feels like it's designed for dance
and is simple but well executed - I particularly enjoyed the subtle turn it starts taking
midtrack. 2 is also very nice, but 3 is where this stumbles a bit. Moving away from the
organic/acoustic brand of ambient AWFTS are used to, it starts off noisier and in more of
a drone style, which normally I'd enjoyed, but here feels a bit out of place, a feeling
which is reinforced by the suddenly far thinner prod. In fact prod on the track is
overall poor, varying a lot and having excessively large changes of overall volume. The
track has pretty ideas especiallyy near the end with the return of the piano, but its
early section separates the good ideas too far from the first two tracks for it to work.
Not AWFTS' best material, but certainly a nice EP to pick up when in need of a short fix.
3.75
Future Honest2.5
It's been weeks since I heard Pluto, but it's crazy the difference 3 yrs made for this is truly a modern trap record, whereas Pluto retained a lot of 00's aesthetics. Perhaps not a genre defining record, but certainly a sign of Future's renewed direction. There's massive improvement across the board, but I struggle to find a single track that I wholly find jammy and it's hard to rate this significantly higher than Pluto. 1 has a dope intro but doesn't unfold too well, 2 I half hate half dig, 3 has a cool intro sound but the instrumental's a bit awkward and the track should have been 2:40 shorter. 4 is textbook late 2010s trap and is quite cool, 5 has a kinda nice groove, 6 is more on the vaguely emotional side with buttloads of autotune as with most of the record, the addition of Drake's voice on 7 with far less autotune is a pleasant surprise but the track ends abruptly on a fade out and baffles me a bit - why stop there? 8's alright evoking a soft Booba track a bit, 9 hits kinda hard ngl, 10 is super soft in contrast and is kinda dope when it actually starts at 2 min, 11 has a cool bit but bleh vocals for the most part although some fun sections are nice, and 12 is a surprisingly good conclusion. With a bit of trimming and improved track construction this could have been great, but as it is it feels a bit like a mixtape where most tracks only succeed in places. On the deluxe edition (which tbf flows surprisingly well it doesn't really feel like bonus tracks) some tracks are sorta cool, namely the nicely 80s 14, the car-worthy 16, 18 kinda, and maybe the kinda hard 17. 2.7
Todd Terje It's Album Time3.5
I 'm not hugely convinced by this. I do appreciate the effort to not make this just a compilation of Terje tunes, and most of the time it flows seamlessly (though not always, see 10 eg). But it bothers me that most of the highlights are EP materials, putting a question mark on the album value, and I also find the sequencing/structure really odd. Maybe it is my fault for expecting something more explosive and danceable. The intro track is cool but it builds up to an explosion that does not happen on the slow starting 2, which while ripe with cool ideas especially in the midtrack is more cool than it is good. 3 would have been a much better follow up as it is simpler, more straightforward, and works better as a result. The sambaesque 4 is really fun and could have been made by shpongle. 5-6 are then standard Terje jams and I thought finally the album had started, but then 6 softens in the end to lead into the biggest question mark on this album, the mellow and frankly plain 7 with its unnecessary vocals hiding the few cool synths that maintain some degree of interest through the track. Again, the more energetic 8 with its super cool drums would have been a better follow up, although the track doesnt quite explode. 9 is like on the EP kinda italian discoey ok fine, like on the EP I dont understand 10 at all, then 11 has a lengthy but cool buildup that brings back some of the interest. Finally 12 is again EP material and gets super jammy in its middle, but the track takes its sweet time to end which kind of undermines its impact as a colourful grand finale for me and again makes me question the record structure here. 3.4
Yeule Yeule3.5
Dream pop vocals over weirdtronica. Quite nicely done and exciting start to her discog, but in a vacuum not an incredibly strong EP or anything. 1-2 are cool, 5 is the weakest. 3.3
Night Flowers Night Flowers EP3.5
This was a great soundtrack to read the 'songs of the dedexcade' list to, because it evokes the good old days time and time again with its delicate undertone of melancholy. Idk what it is but the prod feels a touch off, but it is still fine. 1 sounds the most nostalgic and dreamy, and already proves the band has a multi-layered and rich sound. It is chill and mildly sad, like a longing for the old days, whereas Fazerdaze is a soundtrack to the old days themselves. 2 and 3, like Fazerdaze, feel more like the latter, by stripping away the dream pop influences a bit and feeling more post-hardcore ish. 3 is perhaps my fave on the record. 4 takes away the sad melancholy and honestly I don't think it works all that well for them. Weakest track on the record, bringing this down to a 3.65
indigo la End Ano Machi Rekodo3.5
More J-Rock for the ages, I'm not sure what this is doing on my dream pop list honestly at this point. On this one the transitions struck me as being really bad in places. There is an awkward near-silent break between 3 and 4, 4's conclusion is not great to say the least, and 5 starts on a silent pause again. 7, although it offers sweet bell songs feels way too long as an interlude. It's a shame because in terms of the tracks themselves, album construction is impeccable. We start on a kinda jammy upbeat slightly cheesy J-Rock opener, and the two following tracks remain at the same energy level. But 2 gets a bit annoying in places, although the bass break into the last third is really nice, and 3 gets a bit much but some passages are super fun. The vox is quite loud on this record I have to say. Then 4 is a nice, calmer ballad that feels in the right place, followed by 5 which starts off the J-rock again but more gently as an easy way back in. 6 is more J-Rock but feels a bit much at this point. The interlude 7 goes into the superb intro of 8, which unfolds into a nice track to wrap up the album well. So yeah well constructed but not the strongest tracks in the world and formal mistakes on transitions here and there. 3.3
Animals As Leaders The Joy of Motion4.0
While Madness is acoustic and earthy, Joy offers a synth-led spatial (and I daresay djentier) flavour of AAL. Admittedly my conditions were a bit less good for this one, but I have to say I prefer the former aesthetic - which is hinted at in the intro to 9 - to the latter - which the track evolves into later on. Joy also feels perhaps a bit less drum-centric than its follow up, possibly because the drums are often covered by a wall of synths and heavily processed guitars. A lot of my fave parts on this are actually the simpler, rawer, more bare bones bits like dat riff on 10 (one of AAL's best), which is telling of why I prefer Madness to this one. Perhaps the most telltale sign is 11, in which I find the electronic bells and whistles and overproduction work against the otherworldy riffs instead of complementing them. Joy has some of AAL's fattest riffz and top tracks (1,3,5 after a minute, 6,7,10), and is well constructed eg with the chill 8 following the fat af 6 and 7, but I feel like it struggles more to create an atmosphere (like 4 gets me out of the zone a bit) and anyway I prefer the rawer atmosphere Madness crafts. Still a strong upper 4.2
Shakira Shakira.2.5
Her most American album yet bar a couple Spanish versions. It often does not quite feel
like a Shakira album, but honestly it is not badly done. Lots of influences are explored,
and only a few tracks are truly unpleasant (like 8). The kind of album that would be fine
on the radio or as background music, but that I wouldn't really come back to otherwise.
Feels like teenage music that came out too late for me to enjoy any nostalgia from it. Fav
tracks 3, 10 and 12. 2.6
La Dispute Rooms of the House3.5
This is a good La Dispute album. It does not stand out as a highlight of their discography, but it certainly isn't bad at all either. In this album I particularly enjoyed the calmer songs including 'Woman (in mirror)' or the closing track 'Objects in Space'. Solid record. 3.7
Recondite PSY3.5
Both tracks sound like they would make a fantastic 1 min section on a live techno set, but also are a bit too long and samey for what they can offer here on their own. Still solid to listen to in the background, but lacks a bit of dynamics to be substantial party music on their own, and not dark/atmospheric enough to be something else imo - I mean yeah the first track is fairly dark. 3.4
Saint Pepsi Gin City2.5
I don't quite get the love for this. 2 is a fun track for sure, perhaps not of the party dancey type but nice as a warmup track - the buildup in the intro is really cool for instance. But beyond that, 1 and 4 feel like youtubey stylistic exercise without much substance - although 4 evokes Tycho a bit I guess -, 3 is fine but not as great as 2, and 5 is kind of annoying. Certainly not going to my fave from Saint Pepsi. 2.7
Vehemence (FRA) Assiégé2.0
Urgh. Artwork is the best part of this album. This often sounds like some youtuber's parody song
on a 'how to make black metal' video. Some sections are heavily power metal-flavoured, reinforced
by the medieval sound bits here and there, and vocals are horrendous - vaguely remind of Le Pre
Ou Je Suis Mort but just bad and out of place. Could be 1.5 range but the last track - some
inoffensive acoustic guitar noodling - pushed me to give this a 1.8
The Jezabels The Brink3.5
With 1-2 I was confused as to why this has such a lower rating. They are both sublime
Jezabels jams. After that though, the record seems to loose its focus, hesitantly various
directions and not quite succeeding. The record has a more pop direction overall which I
enjoy. They go on 80's pop in places, definitely use more synths, and loose the post-rock
grandeur of their past material. It has a couple sublime bridges and bits n pieces but
overall the bulk of the album is pretty bland. The last two tracks pick it up though, but
nowhere near the level of 1-2. Can't say anything more precise bcs I deleted my notes like
an idiot, but this is definitely the first dip in quality in their discog. 3.7
Cynic Kindly Bent to Free Us3.0
I would love to like it, but this album is killed by completely erratic song structures. The tracks have nice sections, but they almost all feel disjointed and there appears to be no direction they want to get you to. It lost me entirely because of this. There are other problems I find, like the bass tone and lines feel really odd in places, for instance in the opening track right after a great intro, but song structure is clearly the core flaw here. 1 does have some nice atmospheric sections but already showcases all of the album's problems. 2 is cool and has a jammy chorus despite the cringy bass, but it is pretty much the only track here that I'd say is worthwhile as a whole. The intro to 3 brings the psych back and the last third is cool too, but the rest lost me. 4 starts off more aggressively which is cool, but again the track structure made no sense to me. And honestly after this point I kinda lost track, reinforced by 5 just being kinda long and interludey. The passage at 3:40 on 7 is a clear example of what I mean: there is a lovely buildup that randomly resolves into a weird, pointless solo. 8 has a terrible intro and doesn't save the goodies in any way. 2.9
The Gloaming The Gloaming3.0
This is some pleasant folk-ish music. It starts off great with a very peculiar mood, and
music that adds many layers to a strong base of soft Irish folk. However this initial
freshness quickly wears off after the first couple of tracks, and most of the album
sounds either like a cheesy sad pop song sung in Irish, or some good but forgettable
movie soundtrack. The last song comes back to the goodness of the first few tracks, and
the album is worth a listen for those. Note that the album is sung in Irish, not in
English, which is cool and rare enough to point out. 3.1
Xiu Xiu Angel Guts: Red Classroom3.0
Much better than other Xiu Xiu records I have heard, chiefly because the place taken by the semi-interesting electronic stuff has increased whilst that taken by the insufferable vox has diminished. That's not to say that this is a record I like - and it is roughly the same style so I doubt I missed much in the albums I skipped -, but it wasn't a pain to go through and some tracks are functional. The intro is excellent, though followed by nothing happening for two minutes, and the distorted outro track is kinda cool too. The tracks with beats such as 3 and 5 at least give something for the mind to latch upon that isnt' the vocals, and there are some good ideas that somewhat make the track work before they are ruined by the vocals or some other annoying element. For example the bells stuff in 7, or the very cool start to 8, some of the sounds on 9, some of the snesey sounds on 11 etc etc. 12 is the only track where I find the vocals actually work and make the track _better_ (though some bits are still annoying) as it is a horror track of sorts and the vox isn't just whiny. This all being said, do I like Xiu Xiu or do I plan on listening to this again? Not really. 3.0
Deen Burbigo Fin D'Après-Minuit3.5
French rap with quite a few really tasty, lush nocturnal instumentals, but sadly with quite generic vocals with not too great delivery imo. Track 2 with its processed guest vox (really cool) show how much better this album could be with a different vocalist or kind of vocals, including track 1 and its very nice instrumental. Track 3 changes up the style a bit and is quite uninteresting and generic. 4 takes us back to the chill and is perhaps the top track here as his own vox work a lot better and the guest vox work well too, while the instrumental is in the vein of 1-2. Sadly this is broken again right away on 5 with its cringe vox all through. 6 does the same but far less cringe although it's still not great. 7 is quite nice but the chorus is boring, and 8 is eh with meh delivery and a not so interesting instrumental. Nice but since he is a solo act I don't have too much hope the flaws and things I don't like here would change in future records of his. 3.45
Julie Byrne Rooms With Walls and Windows3.5
Very nice but also extremely one dimensional album .of ambient sadgirl indie folk of sorts with remote country inspirations on the guitars here and there. Thankfully that single dimension is one I appreciate and enjoy a lot, perfect for watching the trees dry under the sun. By 10 it did start to feel a bit too long, and while I appreciate the idea of having an instrumental track as closer had it come 10 minutes earlier, here it feels a little excessively draggy. Still 3.3
Ichiko Aoba 0%4.0
Didn't have good listening conditions (interruptions etc) but this did work better as a version of 0's songs. The live setting, well established by the nice intro track, favours a more introspective approach to the album, and the fact that is is much longer and takes its time helps with the variation in mood etc. Also I'm more forgiving of that in a live set anyway. This really has superb bits all round, but I still get the same feeling as I did with 0: it isn't as focused as some of her other stuff, and I don't feel like the record structures helps the key moments shine. Still makes me absolutely want to see her play live ASAP though. It's a bit long, but frankly because of the interruptions I didn't really mind. 3.9
Alcest Shelter3.5
I don't mind the shift to post-rock in itself. I do mind that the resulting album sounds quite generic throughout its course (if it weren't for Neige's vocals and some vaguely different instrumentations like on the album closer). it is not a bad album, but it just does not cut it for me. Only a couple memorable high points - mostly track 1 and 2, maybe 3. In a vacuum this would still be meh, irrespective of the rest of their discog. 3.3
Alpha Wann Alph Lauren3.0
Really really feels like a start-of-career EP - and it makes sense. His delivery seems shy, and he sticks to straightforward flows for the most part. They are well executed, except a few questionable bits and pieces on 6-7 maybe, but just very standard and safe. The sort of thing that if your buddy had made it you'd be thoroughly impressed, but that as commercially available music you wouldn't expect to really ever blow up. Now it is true that 1 has a really excellent instrumental, and 5 is a track that works well in its own right and feels a bit more mature, so those two tracks are to keep. But beyond that there's not much - 2 is cute but not incredible boom bap stuff, 3 really feels like a starter rapper in his room, 4 has a good instrumental but the delivery is too flawed for the track to work despite some scarce good elements, 6 shows some trap elements combined with cute outdatedness but is vocally subpar even for this, the intro delivery on 7 is really weak and after that it imporves but remains commonplace, and 8 has a great instrumental but is also meh overall due to the vox. So yea jam 1 and 5 and you'll be good. 2.95
Nakanoise Otomenoinori2.0
Man this band really does nothing from me. The vocals are terribly unengaging, and there is very little to make up for them on the instrumental side aside from a few intros (1,5,10) that are sort of riffy and sort of cool. I guess 10 is a redeeming track and isn't all that bad except its end. I dont know if it is meant as a cover but 6 sounds suspiciously like Sigur Ros from a melody standpoint. Yea this isnt for me. 2.2
Blood Incantation Astral Spells Demo3.0
Basically earlier, less well recorded versions of better songs later found on Interdimensional Extinction. 1 is cool and showcases that BI was an interesting band already at the time especially on the bass. 2 is a ok but a bit wankery in places, a bit less memorable than 1, and most importantly feels far too long. 3 rips more and is short and sweet. Nice, but no drive to listen to this ever again really. 3.1
L'Imperatrice Sonate Pacifique3.5
Promising little EP that, after the super synthy 80s voyage intro track that i quite frankly love feels like it is just missing catchy vocals to match its funky super fun instrumentals. I don't mind instrumental music, but these just feel incomplete without vox. 3 does have vox, but weirdly I find that it makes it feel too long and not sticking well enough with the rest as teh vocals are more on the dreamier side. Still a great track, and whilst i thought at first having the instrumental on 5 would be a mistake, it kinda shows that the track fits better with the rest that way. 4 is particularly cool too. 3.55
Polo and Pan Dorothy3.5
I think my rating undersells my liking of the album, because I just don't think it is all that strong as a record but the tracks are still all quite fun and do have an atmosphere to them as well as being fonkay. 1 is weird but funky and chill. 2 has higher energy and quite a catchy intro, but its unfold is a bit meh and quite a slow burner. The vocals do come in around 2:20 and it's cute but not great, but I feel like with an intro like this the track could have been a lot funkier and poppier despite getting kinda dancey in its later stages. 3 is a lot dancier and 4 is kinda cool and calmly bouncy, though it never progresses past 'kinda cool' or even unfolds at all. The two remixes are largely instrumental bassy slow house or something, with 5 being slightly better and renewing itself well during its 6 minutes, but of course that doesn't count for the rating. 3.4
French 79 Angel3.5
A solid little album without too much pretense. Every track is pretty catchy and bouncy, Prydz-esque synthy house (?). Because it always remains instrumental, and because the tracks are quite long (sometimes excessively slow burners, such as 3 which unfolds in a super cool way but after over two minutes of slow intro), these feel like tracks that would fit well within a set, but that a set could not be solely composed of at risk of being quite boring. 1, 3, and 4 are the highlights. 2 is a little slower, more backgroundey, and is frankly overlong. 5 is again softer and feels like it prolongs things unnecessarily with some low energy, and drops this a point because the EP would 100% be better without it. 3.4

2013
Burial Rival Dealer4.0
Mah dude went all over the place on this and I feel like he had fun making the record. 1 and 3 are dense enough that they could be EPs on their own. 1 is top tier and a solid 4.3. Some of the hardest hitting Burial material out there, bouncy, upbeat and fast tempoed as if Burial made a The Prodigy track. At 5 min the track transitions into something grittier and subtler but still bouncy, medig. Another transition at 7:30, building up to one of the loveliest ambient textures Burial's made - I miss Untrue man. There is even some kind of flute featured. On its own, this t/t would be a 4.3 EP. 2 is oddly happy but comforting. I'm not sure if I like it, it confuses me. It sounds like the soundtrack to the happy end of a movie where two lovers finally get to be together, and if it weren't for the vox I'd be hard pressed to guess it's a Burial track. 3 features a sitar (?) based beat, feels high as fck that breaks at min 7 into some kind of Burial-esque abstract hip hop, always with his classic vox. It's cool but not as much as 1, would be a 4.0 on its own, so the EP overall is around 4.1
The Oh Hellos The Oh Hellos' Family Christmas Album4.0
Forgot to rate this yesterdayrSurprised by how much I liked this. My favourite was
probably track 1 and my appreciation went down after that, but good Oh Hellos material
still. A bit weird to be recognizing Christmas song melodies though. Will re-listen. 4.1
Britney Spears Britney Jean2.5
This album continues in the dance/summer festival/club direction the previous LP took, and pushes it to a point where the old Britney is now entirely gone. This feels more like a David Guetta album where Britney happens to contribute vocals. To be fair, while incredibly generic and frankly dumb, some of them are dangerously infectious, catchy, and I daresay kinda jammy. Come on 2, is fun, although it feels like the track would be better without Britney's input. 5 is as brainless as it gets but still fun and so is 6. Actually no, 7 is as brainless as it gets. But at that point in the album, it still felt like a low 3.0 area thing, although woefully generic. Sure 1 feels like it never starts although it has a nice intro, 3 is too long for how simple it is, and 4 has nice dance parts but the rest in between is boring (and also reuses the melody from Dragostea Din Tei?). After 7 though, it goes downhill. The intro to 8 is maybe the only non-generic sound happening in this album, but the song after that feels contrived, generic and a bit katy perry-esque. This is Britney aligning herself to the standard and not setting it any more. 9 is probably the worst track here on the sole ground that it is completely erratic, and alternates emotional bits with dance drops and groovy parts with no logic or flow whatsoever. The result is frankly boring and confusing. The closing track is entirely unmemorable. I don't rate bonus tracks, but 13 is symptomatic of this album with its absolute tomorrowlandcore composition, sort of bopiness, and general dumbness. Brtiney's gone it seems. 2.6
Black Thread Meadowlark (Premonition)3.0
So this one was a weird listen. For the most part, I thought this was overrated and I was feeling a bit disappointed. This is a single pad of ambient that evolves over 30min, and while it is very nice, lush and comforting, there is other stuff like this that I like more. Yet, come the end, I didn't really wanted it to end. It puts you in a certain headspace, and I wanted to stay there. So I guess this deserves a second listen, but for now I found it a bit flat and it gets a 3.2
Todd Terje Spiral3.0
Pretty run of the mill Terje material. I feel like compared to some of his prior tracks it clearly is missing hooks and explosiveness - this one really does feel like a background listen and nothing else. Quite a nice and fun background listen, but not much more imo. 2.8
Marie Dahlstrøm Gloom3.0
A nice EP that would have gained a lot from being 10 minutes shorter. While she sings well, I wish there were more dynamics throughout the record in terms of register, processing, or energy level. It makes tracks which in a vacuum would be quite neat feel a bit redundant, 'more of the same' and thus far less impactful than they could be. This is especially true after the nice interlude on 6, where the nice and elegant 7 and 8 feel like they overextend the record despite being quite nice. I have to say the backing vocals and the male guest on 7 and 8 respectively help a bit, and she definitely had the right idea to add variety with 10 finally adding loads of variation. It comes a bit late, but certainly makes for one of the greatest tracks here with the most depth. Unfortunately the EP is also ill constructed, as both 9 (soft emotional track, really not the place to have that as energy curve was already headed down, nice buildup of energy and bass though so it's fine) and 10 could have been nice album conclusions, lessening the impact of 10 and making the outro 11 feel unnecessary. Drops this below 3.5 tier. Before that, 1's a pretty album intro, 2's fine but fairly generic although it gets way better by 1min30 gets chill with some of the pianos, 3 is very elegant with the piano, 4 is one of the best with great guitar tone in the intro followed by nice vocals and drums, while 5 is also top tier with its more upbeat vibe and nice rapped additions - sadly as I said above it is followed by an excessively long dip in energy. 3.2
Seizures The Sanity Universal3.5
This is hard to rate, so much brilliance packed into it but it really tired me out. The big culprit is the vocals, which for a band with this much musical prowess are surprisingly flat - it feels like they only do one note in the entire album, yet they are ubiquitous on the harsh parts. The major (but not only) selling point is again the softer parts, especially when they contrast. 1 is an amazing intro at building tension, to a point where you expect it to explode but without knowing what genre it will be. The unfold is not the best, but the rest is very cool.I didn't even notice it into the darker, nasty 2 that gave me ~deathspell omeg vibes. No blank into 3 again - the transitions are beautifully done here, it just sounds like a bridge within the same track. 4's a bit less compelling save for the softer guitars in the middle. 5 shows another strong selling point: they can go pretty batshit chaotic TDEP style. 6 has a lot more of their softer tone which I ofc like, though it has the first meh transition into 7, by which point I was already tired from their anger. Although it's less chaotic it's not bad, it has nice bass and all, but especially with the vocals it all gets tiresome. 8's once again flatter, 9 shows again that the softer bits are the nicest though contrast really is what makes them shine. The end of 11 feels like it is and should be the end of hte album, but 12 takes us on again, to again let us believe the album is ending before an awful reprise on 13. The harsh riff early on 14 is really meh until it gets chaotic, but man their soft tones are so inspiring. The album end was well overdue. 3.3
Raum The Event of Your Leaving4.0
Once again, Liz is incredibly consistent. Lovely ambient/drone album, with a slowly increasing prevalence of Liz's vocals. The record seems like it slowly transitions from cold and gritty textures, to comfortable warmth reminding of Mirrorring - that second half feeling a bit superior on first listen. 2 is the grittiest track but also my least favourite. 3 and 4 are jams, 1 and 5 being really nice too. 3.85
Oiseaux-Tempete Oiseaux-Tempête3.0
Feels like off-brand GY!BE at times. Not bad by any means, but didn't have very many high points for me. Good, not great.
State Faults Resonate/Desperate4.0
Every album of theirs improve on its predecessor. Superb post-rocky screamo again, yet I seem to struggle to fall in love with this band. Prod has improved a tonne and sounds nice and round with lovely prominent drums. Still not a fan of the vocals but they did improve. This one sounds a lot more -core at times e.g. on track 2, and has some wankery bits e.g. on 4 or at the end of the album before the piano melody (which is 'convenue', but nice). Some gorgeous Suis La Lune-esque melodies again e.g. on track 6. The songs transition incredibly well into each other and the album's flow is top-notch, which makes it a bit hard to pinpoint jams - it really is a cohesive record. I don't quite like when the record goes happy almost and a bit more poppy while retaining the screamo vocals and sound, like on tracks 10-11. Sounded a bit odd to me. It maybe occurs earlier in the record too but it took me a while to put my finger on it. Still a strong 3.9
Foxing The Albatross4.0
Ah, what a throwback to my most emo-appreciative times. Loved this when this came out. While 'The Medic' is the unquestioned highlight here and comes on quite early, the rest of the record does a mostly great job of mixing post-rock, ambient and emo vocals with some dashes of raspiness in various proportions. Especially the Dead Bee pair and the Quietus ehich closes the record quite well. The Medic remains one of my favorite songs, and the record is short and sweet, probably for a debut a generous 3.9
Obliteration Black Death Horizon2.0
The beginning of this dm album is really shreddy and gimmicky at times - not my type at all. Come on guys this came out in 2013, not 1993. In the second half this improves a lot however and leaves room for not incredible but certainly tasteful dm, with clear blackened death influences here and there. The closing track as well as tracks 3,5 and 6 were my faves. 3.4rEdit: I was way too kind on this. Maybe a case of a bad listen, but it sure feels like Nekropsalms was miles better. First half is cringe upon cringe with super sparse good bits (intros mainly) and is a strong 2.0, but second half does improve a solid bit and brings this up to - I don't feel like it even belongs in 2.5 tier - 2.2
No Somos Marineros Violencia River2.5
This is a single track so I don't really get why it's in the db but sure. The instrumental is cool aggressive math rock, and in fact it would have been better as an instrumental track because, while not awful, the vocals don't quite do it for me. This is also a bit pointless as a record but I"m not sure they intended this to be a record in the first place. 2.7
J Balvin La Familia2.5
A pretty run of the mill but ultimately not so bad mixtape-feeling album. Not really bangers to speak of, but very little that is actually awful. 1's mostly ok but hardly engaging and a bit ludicrous in places esp the end, 2's basic trashy reggaeton that works altho not a banger and not the danciest, 3 also pretty okay non bangery not too trashy not hugely dancy reggaeton, 4 is more energetic but is painfully outdated and really feels like a track for children/pediatric crowd pleaser. 5 is autotuned reggaeton but is far dancier than what we've seen so far and would work miles better in a club. 6 feels more like late 00s early 10s david guettacore , very generic, and although the drop is fun at first the track gets really gimmicky and quite awful. 7 is also not reggaeton but is still quite dancy albeit somewhat basic, idk what it is really. 8 has very nice guitar and evolves into a mellow song that'd get ye laid singing at the beach. 9 brings us back to not so bad, only slightly cringe reggaeton, whilst 10 is supremely forgettable but still ok reggaeton. Album should have ended there though. 11 is more on the trashgaeton side but remains forgettable, then 12 is absolutely awful guettacore, 13 is pretty bad reggaeton, has fun bass but idk with the annoyance of the last few tracks I had trouble enjoying it, and finally 15 is a not so bad reggaeton track but that feels like too little too late. 2.5
Ichiko Aoba 03.5
Contrary to popular opinion (hallo johnnyofthedex) this is positively not my fave Ichiko album so far. It ventures into more diverse directions, and the experimentation is very successful, but it just feels like there is a lot of downtime and an overall lack of coherent album identity. Beside the stylistic ventures which I pretty much thoroughly enjoyed, the bulk of the record is a bit simpler than her past work, with guitar parts that are often less intricate. It's pretty, it's fragile, but it lacks this magical uniqueness that I found elsewhere in her discog. 1 is very cute until its melancholic conclusion, transitioning into the simple but pretty and sadgirl 2. 3 is the first to show signs of new elements to her sound with cool guitar at 2:45 and some mildly dissonant stuff at 6:40, which in a vacuum I find interesting and enjoyed, but whose appropriateness within the album I rather question. 4 is again nice but feels a bit empty although again I appreciate the sonic ventures. 5 is very cute again, while 6 offers cool explorations and darker vibes with same comments as before. 7-8 are both pretty and moving but again rather minimalistic tracks. I'm just less enchanted by this style than I am with her cascading strumming of the earlier days. Will have to recheck in better conditions though, this is still a lovely album with lots of stuff to dig and explore further. 3.7
clipping. Chain/Jump3.0
Track 3 is a jam and one of my favourite clipping tracks so far in this discog run. It is perhaps more immediate and less experimental but not entirely give up the noise textures. Track 1 has some cool parts but is a bit more erratic, and the a cappella versions break the rhythm and just feel pointless. I'll come back to track 3 but that's it. 2.8
Matt Kivel Double Exposure4.0
This EP/short album starts off as pretty but somewhat generic indie folk. As it goes however it does bring a lot of surprises and interesting ideas, with shifts in style on 'Kes' or 'Tetra' for example, and the album as a whole does not at all feel generic. This unexpected depth for what I thought would be straight up generic indie folk makes me want to re-listen to it. 3.9
Baby Formula Baby Formula4.0
A band to watch. Very sweet and lush blend of dream pop, shoegaze and the occasional
post-rock guitar with vocals aerially sung in Chinese. 1 is just a little intro thing,
but from the first seconds of 2 you feel how lush this is going to be. Same on 3, but I
wish the drums were less cheaply electronic sounding. Exact same comment on the superb 5.
The band is also capable of more upbeat and catchy tracks like 4, and can crank up the
distortion a bit - see the happy and summery 9. 7-8 are quite shoegazy, while the closer
demonstrates the strongest post-rock influences. Every track works, 6 being maybe the one
that hit the least and still cool. This isn't an album where I can really pinpoint
specific jammy tracks - just listen to the whole thing, it's quality stuff. 3.75
Roly Porter Life Cycle Of A Massive Star3.5
A bit more consistent, and helped by its short length, but still not quite there yet. Track 1-2 are very consistent, but after that the album looses track of itself and goes back to the bleepbloopiness that hurt its predecessor. Volume is also weird on here, and some tasty textures go amiss because they were just too quiet compared to the rest - had to play with my volume knob more than I would expect. This is particularly true on 4 which has tasty dronebient textures that are just very, very quiet. 5 feels the most bleep bloopey, even with its noise layers added in the second half, whereas in 3 it's not as bad - the blank at the end of the track is unfortunate though. 1-2 on the other hand are fantastic and sound like what it's like to be on a broken lost spaceship, trying to survive and repair it before the black hole sucks you in too deep - and I'm not saying that just because of the title/artwork. The midtrack on 2 is particularly lonely and lovely. That can't save the record from its own inconsistency though, 3.3
Lanterns on the Lake Until The Colours Run3.5
An album that is quite good at doing what it does, ie. being mild and inoffensive but in a very pretty way. The drumming is most praiseworthy here, as it is the main driver of interests in the songs that do stand out. The middle of the album is the best crafted, especially 4 which has an excellent and inspiring intro with a much more poppy side than anything else here, whilst 5 is a rare example of a sad piano song that I actually enjoyed, and 6 whilst being not as cool as 4 does have lots of ideas and feels like an English Sigur Ros wannabee being relatively successful at that. In comparison, 7 is quite a dull ballad. 8-9 are quite good example of how the drumming saves tracks, as both starts on a very nice but ultimately generic post-rock guitar tone but do gain a lot of interest as soon as the drumming comes on. That being said the vox are nice and pretty throughout, though there are times in the album when I wish they would be a little more intense. The first three tracks are also quite generic post-rock with vocals and susprisingly abrasive explosions (with slightly difficult prod), that works quite well in the opening but thereafter gets old quickly - the album really gets a second chance with 4. Not really an album i'd seek again but i really wouldnt hate listening back to it if I didnt know what to put on. 3.5
Agnes Obel Aventine4.5
This is sweet. Nothing too crazy, and no really amazing memorable tracks, but with a couple
exceptions they are all very nice, relaxing and enjoyable. Good melodies and vocals, I might re-
listen. Surprised this does not have a review yet. 3.9 Edit: ok past Bedex wrong this is lovely,
I don't know why I find it so easy to give 4.5 tier ratings to Agnes but this is just such a
thoroughly lovely listen with not a single bad bit to it, and certainly lots that are wonderful
(1-3, the playful 4 maybe, 6-9,11, idk the whole album?). It might be better than Philharmonics,
or not, I don't know, but I don't quite have the same relationship with Aventine that I do with
LP1 so I do feel like I prefer LP1. 4.3
Touche Amore Is Survived By3.5
Your classic TA album. Also one of their weakest. It sounds a bit like they were not sure which direction to go with this, drumming-wise especially. The first track is just weird, and the album end (past track 8 one of the high points) is full of good ideas but does not execute them quite right. Still a great jam that I'll probably re-listen to. 3.7
Ulcerate Vermis3.5
This felt ever so slightly superior to the prior LP because it does have some great Ulcerate moments, but I also do not think it belongs in 4.0 tier so my rating has to be the same. I do second dedex's soundoff on the prior LP in saying that this sometimes evokes Deathspell Omega's evil, massive, ominous vibes but in dm form. After an alright doomey intro on which the prod doesn't sound too great - which is a bit odd for a third LP -, 2 got me hyped up and is one of the most solid tracks here despite deathcorey vocals that I don't dig too much. The perfect example of the cinematic, evil version of Ulcerate I mentioned. Sadly 3 (despite some cool sections) and a lot of the tracks thereafter either feel like they suffer from the same flows as the prior LP, or are kinda interludey and not really memorable - 4 feels like a super long interlude imo, and 6 is one but at least is an appropriate length for it. Because the fat tracks aren't all that fat, I didn't feel like I needed the rest provided by those tracks. 5 starts not too great but evokes track 2 a lot after that and is solid, and same goes for 7. 8 has cool bits but again those boring spam drums kinda break it, although the conclusion is dope. But these good beats are far too few and too spread apart, and with a closer like 9 I was convinced this is just a 3.7
Cult of Luna Vertikal II3.5
It's been a while since Vertikal, but I feel like these tracks embody the cold, machine, steel aesthetic a whole lot more potently,especially with the digital electronic tones and the synths. It feels like being in desolate dunes of mirrors. 1 is particularly good at this with its slow tempo. 2 Would be probably quite cool live, but in comparison to 1 was too much of a slow repetitive burner to truly engage me all the way. 3 was also way better at doing it, making 2 probably the weakest track, despite a nice main hook that is present from the intro onwards. 4 has some very pretty moments like 7:30 and a sweet buildup, but the vocals aren't really all that convincing and the unfolding is a bit missing before the track dies out in quite a cool way with its almost tribal vocals. I wasn't super focused, so it is impressive that the record gave me such precise mental imagery, but equally it is also quite clearly not the best CoL out there as it lacks dynamics overall. 3.7r
Prince Of Denmark The Body2.0
Weak album imo. PoD goes clubbier and darker than anything I know from him, and that's all
good and well, but every single track bar 4 (sweet groove, nice dynamics), 8 (last third
pounds nicely) and the closer has some kind of odd dissonant or arrythmic element that just
breaks it. And without that element they still wouldn't be incredible tracks for most of
it. The closer is kinda jammy and notable as a drone track with synths coming in the second
half which wraps the album up nicely and brings it up a point, but this is still something
I woun't come back to. 2.1
Banks London2.5
Track 1 is a very solid jam and the reason why I followed BANKS in the first place. Track 2 is ok-ish but at least it's memorable. Track 3 and 4 are quite meh actually and the EP is more underwhelming than I remember. Track 1 is the shortest and does not save it from being a 2.7
Sons of Kemet Burn3.5
There's this one low ended farty brass instrument that I cannot for the life of me remember the name of that is quite heavily featured here and that I don't really like, but aside from that this isn't the most memorable jazz record. It is quite low energy with not a huge amount for the mind to latch onto, which especially prominent on 1. 2 like 5 later on has a more fun, quirky n goofy vibe that makes it more interesting, and 3 has a bit of a fun rhythm, but 4 makes you fall asleep. 6 and 7 have quite a nice mystique, dreamy vibe to them and are perhaps the highlight here as the only bits with a bit of a wow to them, but the fartsy 8 although it is quite dancey kinda breaks the deal. 9 makes it even more fun tbf. The album loses a solid point on its conclusion track, because it is way too known a song to cover, the track is way too longm too low energy, and really doesn't feel like it adds anything beyond slowing down the melody it covers. That being said the album is not at all a bad listen, and some of the more fusion/electronic elements, although in light touches only, are cool. But it's just not a strong jazz record, no matter how I look at it. It's a debut too tbf. 3.3
Krobak Little Victories3.5
For the most part this is quite simple, generic post-rock with less good tones than usual in the genre I would say (although they can get great in places). Why is it worth a check then? That solely comes from the excellent violin playing. It's not just that the violin adds a beautiful texture as an instrument, evocative of EEB; the violin compositions just seem a tier or two above everyone else's. Whenever the music strikes home, it is because of a violin melody - and in between those moments the listener is left to long for more violin-led goodness. 4 is a good example, starting with generic guitar work that doesn't sound too marking, but getting very pretty as soon as the violin comes in at min 4:30. Moments like the reprise at min 9 on the closing track are just superb. Right before it I thought the album was getting overlong, but it changed my mind right away and bumped it a point. 1 also has pretty violin. The intro to 2 was a good surprise as a nice rupture from the post-rock atmosphere with jollier rhythms and guitars before going back to the more generic material. So yeah worth a check for post-rock fans and inspiring in places, but not spectacular either. 3.6
Ariana Grande Yours Truly2.0
The first few tracks are kinda nice, roaming 2.5-3.5. The opener is actually a good song. Then it all goes downhill - the last two tracks are particularly obnoxious, but there is plenty of 1-1.5 material in there. I did have to stop in the middle for a good while, and I am a bit biased due to not knowing any of these songs prior, but yeah the only track I might rejam is the opener. 1.9
Denzel Curry Nostalgic 644.0
Very strong debut record, well constructed for a rap album with nice fluidity between song - e.g. the transition between 7 and 8. 2 (despite the silly brrrrrah vocals in the background), 4 especially its bleak second half, and 8 are the clearest jams here. 5-7 are all very nice Denzel material too. 9 brings nice variation although the execution does not quite cut it. 3, 10, and 11 are the weakest tracks, with clich triplet rap and cheesy choruses. 12 has a great prod but remains only nice as a track, and the album closer is an odd track but that functions very well as album closer. Overall, lots of tracks I'll come back to and a solid 3.9
Kayo Dot Hubardo4.0
Glorious album by a glorious band. Despite its 90+ minutes runtime it is absolutely never boring, constantly switching both genres - from experimental metal to jazz, prog rock, post-rock/ambient - and instrumentation - guitar based, brass, keys, you name it. A crazy idea brilliantly executed. No bad tracks, but Thief, Zilda Caosgi, The First Matter, The Second Operation, Passing the River and the albumrcloser are highlights for me. 4.2
Evigt Morker 14.0
1 is stunning isn't it. 4 is really atmospheric too, 2-3 are a bit subpar. A record that's been with me for years and that will stay for many more. 4.0
Obliteration Goat Skull Crown2.5
1 is regular Obliteration stuff with great vocals, cool fast parts, but incongruous doom additions and stuff I utterly dislike such as random soloing - in a couple places within a single track -. 2 is bmey and kinda cool but weirdly the vocals aren't so great. 3 is probably the most fun of the bunch, but ends on another zzz solo. This might be worth a 2.8, but the final solo on 3 and the fact that this EP feels more like a not so well coordinated three way split convinced me to set this at a 2.7
Porches Slow Dance in the Cosmos2.0
Big meh on this. Weirdcore indie rock/folk/pop. Again his vox are too prominent and get to yar nerves quite quickly. 1 is cool though, and 3 is nicer with scarce vocals and big fat electro indie rock riffage. The album then goes more folk on 4, more psych on 5, etc. It's a bit erratic but that is fine. 7 is really annoying, and I have mixed feelings about 10. The vox really breaks the deal for me and there isn't enough in the instrumentals to compensate. 2.2
ASAP Ferg Trap Lord2.5
Yeah I don't think I really want to listen to his other outputs if this is rated the best.
It's alright, but it is way way too gimmicky to my taste and there are very few tracks I'd
actually come back to. Some ideas are nice though, especially when teh record gives a sort
of mysterious, tribal, ancient Egypt vibe to it sort of? For example 1's intro and general
sounds give off a bit of that, but the track itself is a bit awkward and doesn't work. 5
offers a nice, nocturnal take on this atmosphere. 3 has kinda cool instrumentation and a
really good outro to it, but the vox in the track bulk are quite bad. 4 is the first
actually strong track, really cool and chill. 6 is alright too in that chill vibe. 7 is
just funny because of the lyrics. 8 is back to more regular trap, but hte beat has a
youtuber-made beat quality to it which isn't good (so does 2). The rest is pretty
unnoticeable to be honest, but the record is hardly annoying so it's fine. 2.3
Slow Walkers Slow Walkers3.0
Not the most exciting Liz release if I'm honest. Mostly material for my soft soft Celercore playlist and not much else. The closing track does have more to it though, and is quite inspiring, propelling this to a soft 3.2
Oathbreaker Eros|Anteros3.5
I have to say I did not listen to this in the best conditions (had to pause a lot) so
this is not super fair to them. The first half is more hardcore-heavy and reminiscent of
what these guys sound like live. Not mind-blowing but quite cool with good
instrumentations and vocals. The middle track 'The Abyss Looks Into Me' is brilliant and
I thought this was an excellent album closer. Except it actually carries on for nearly
another half hour of their doomier side, and I did not find it quite as good. Tracks 1-5
would have been a 4.0, but this is more like an overall 3.6
Julianna Barwick Nepenthe4.0
An ever shifting dreamscape of more or less vocal ambient with gorgeous layered chorals, this is Julianna doing what we've previously heard her do, but really well executed. A lot of this could be a magnificient soundtrack, and it leaves the mind to meander in places full of tampered light. It's a bit too single flow to have top tier genius highlights to pinpoint, although some tracks like 2 or 5 do stand out, but there aren't really lows to speak of either. It's a good one to jam and drown into without trying to separate the tracks. Now this is not at all ambient sadfolk like Grouper or Sea Oleena who she is often likened to, a musical corner which I would love to hear more from, but I don't think it would be fair to rate Julianna's well crafted work on this basis. 3.85
Ulver Messe I.X-VI.X4.0
Darn it there really isn't anything Ulver can't do. Ambient/Dark ambient bordering on orchestral, WWII documentary soundtrack. The album is phenomenal and works very well in creating a dark, chilling atmosphere. The opening track is gorgeous, and the only low point point I found was 'Son of Man', or the singer's input in general. A solid 4.2
Acronym River Red Gum2.5
Feels a bit like a Luigi Tozzi ersatz but not as well done. The first track ends wite nciely, but it starts off with a really weird kind of out of sync beat which may be cool to some, but to me sounds like I forgot to close a tab with another techno song. Once it syncs it's nice but that intro just kinda breaks the deal for me. 2 is fine, 3 is kinda skippable. 4 does what 1 tried but a lot better and without that weird intro, it's not as compelling at the end of 1 but it's pretty nice and drags this up a couple points. Sorry octa don't be mad keep recing me things pls 2.6
Oh, Yoko I Love You...3.0
I have trouble with music this contemplative being so disjointed. I feel like an ambient-leaning album should morph from idea to idea, and only rarely be abrupt. This one breaks its own atmosphere with several transitions - the end of 1 which breaks its otherwise solid atmosphere with interesting elements, the awful drum introduction on 3 after the blissful 2, though followed by a fun ambient jpop track that doesnt quite commit, back into the hypnotic but not super great 4, or the intro of 8 which is cool but breaks the atmosphere again. Even between tracks that do flow well there often is no transition to speak of or no connection really. There are tracks that do function very well: 5 which is great music to look at the slow life in the trees - would've been a great album intro imo -, the cool foresty sounds of 6 with some Sigur Ros DNA, the fun synth+voice combination on 7 evoking a much much more accessible La Monte Young, the very nice 10 with its dark and ominous Celer-ey (lol) sounds, the nice vocal ambients on 12, the nice synthwork on 13, and the stunning 14, perhaps my fave here as a soft and inspiring tracks. That is most tracks, true, but as a record this feels more like a compilation to me, and again especially with this vibe and genre mix I have trouble with that. Maybe I just wasn't in the right mood, I'll give this another listen. 3.2
Sea of Shit Sea Of Shit4.0
Look I don't know much powerviolence and co. at all, but I know that this is fun as hell, full of good riffz, and nicely headbangy. Hell I'd love this live. The prod is a bit tamer and hollower than on their 7 inch which is a shame, but it still sounds fine. Again everything flows quite nicely although the breaks between tracks are more noticeable heare and there. They slow down the pace here and there with some doomier riffs, on 9 for example, or 13, or the closer - where I feel they don't fit as well but eh. In fact I'm not sure the album conclusion is the greatest. But before that this is super fun. There's no point listening to isolated tracks really, but highlights were 2,3,6 (those riffz would be so fun live), and 11. 3.85
Black Thread the earth is a failed illusion3.0
This is two very nice noisy drone textures. But clocking a grand total of what 7 minutes of music heard elsewhere, I can't decently call this a great EP really. 2.9
Metal Zone Magic Kingdom2.0
Kinda weird, glitchy electronica vaguely droney stuff from members of Gospel. Not what I expected, and honestly apart from track 3 and maybe track 6 this is too glitchy to my taste, but nice to see the experimentation, and although it doesn't hold up well as an album imo, some individual sections are really nice. 2.1
Astronoid Stargazer1.5
I hated this - to a point where I should probably re-listen to it because I maybe just was not in the right mood. This sounds like these guys have heard the 'recipe' for post-black metal and executed it to the T without adding any personal or original touch whatsoever. No memorable tracks at all. 1.7
Julia Brown Library B/W I wanna be a witch3.0
This is really short and I kind of wonder why it exists tbh. It sounds like songs taken from LP1 but with much, much cleaner prod, which takes away a lot of the charm imo. On 1-2 the vocals stand out far too much, and it shows that they're not all that good. Sounded much better when buried deep inside a wall of bad prod. On 3 it those work though, as the song is much lusher and boasts a backing vocalist which makes the scarce vox sound a lot better. Kinda jammy but it is very short sadly. This is nice but feels kinda pointless. 2.9
Candy Claws Ceres And Calypso In The Deep Time3.5
Here's a band whose aesthetic I struggle to fault but that I also can't seem to get into. When the sound gets noisy it's in a way I rather don't enjoy, and I feel like the blurred, fx-drenched aesthetic was better done elsewhere (cf A Sunny Day in Glasgow). And it feels like it overpowers composition, with songs like 10 or 11 having cool melodic ideas but that I was distracted from by the prod etc. Now this has cool tracks too - the excellent album opener, 3,6,7,9 - the latter of which shows that a more transparent sound makes their song immediately more impactful, whilst the other demonstrate that it is possible to make good tunes with this approach, but also contrasting with the band struggling to achieve that elsewhere. The rest is alright or meh, and frankly I don't plan on coming back to this before a solid while has passed. 3.5
Cloakroom Infinity3.0
This has pretty cool instrumentals. It starts off sounding like it will be yet another post-rockish emo type of sound, but quickly into the album stoner rock guitars kick in, adding much welcome flavour to the music and making the album quite unique, interesting and worthwile. That stoner sound is most obvious on the last track. However mixing genres in innovative ways does not do everything, and some instrumental parts are weaker than others. The weakest element of the album end up being the vocals in my opinion. They sometimes sound like a sad cartoon bear complaining about being hungryr3.2
Todd Terje Strandbar3.5
Good Terje material that does the job very well of being consistently dancey but not hugely catchy and overbearing, building up slowly on repeated hooks rather than having a chorus verse structure, and featuring fun synth stuff. The first two tracks do take a touch long to properly start but it's really a sweet EP to jam in the background of a good friday at work. 3.5
Case Studies This is Another Life2.5
The line between subdued and boring is a fine one. And Case Studies fall on the latter side more often than not in this LP. 1 and 2 both have pretty cringe balladey intro, but whilst 1 does unfold well into not bad a song afterwards with the drums and strings, 2 remains just as boring. And like most songs here (they are all quite long and the album would be a lot better with 10-15min shaved off), it overstays its welcome. The wannabee pinkfloyde electric guitars added at the end don't do much. This applies also to 3 which is otherwise really quite a boring countryey ballad that ends weirdly. 4 is kinda fun in its more christmas caroley parts, but the solo female vox is less engaging, and when the regular CS vox come they really dont fit. So far we were easily looking at a 2.5 or so. 5 is a little more upbeat, and not a ballad, with some fun guitar tones: quite an improvement. From then on the album gets a lot better, with 6 being more like what I remember from LP1 - though it is the shortest track here alas - and the first track I outright liked. 7 is then an overlong boring ballad, but the guitar sweep stuff it does to try and maintain interest near the end are actually quite cool. 8 is a cute song with slightly annoying vocals, 9 is a soft milder song with a nice midtrack wiht strings, and 10 is an okay song to close. Alas the track that manages the subdued folk best here is 11, a bonus track, but certainly a highlight of this. 2.7
Black Thread Pinkfire3.0
This is a series of four, maybe five different tape textures with varying degree of grittiness (the last ones having more wobble, grittiness and tape destruction than the lusher first couple). There isn't much continuity at all, and none of the textures are particularly marking, although they're all nice in their own right. A sweet background drone record, but not a strong album per se. 3.15
Black Thread Effulgent Angel Piss3.5
This is a strong tape. Parts 1 evokes Scars of the Shattered Sky and I'd say is a jam, with
some distant melodies washed out by prominent hiss noise and warble. Part 2 is a bit less
marking, but still nice, fluctuating between wind-recording-esque textures and grittier
things. Think ths one will stay in my library. 3.7
Quadron Avalanche4.0
I might be slightly overrating this because a) I did find it stronger than the debut although the conditions were very different b) the fact that it hasn't received any sput attention since 2017 is sad! This is an album that doesn't live up the promise of its first two tracks but still stays afloat. 1-2 are indeed the peak here, both jammy, one being more soulsy and the other showing more hints of RnB DNA. There isn't a transition properly speaking, but the flow is very coherent, which gave me hope that they had fixed the greatest flaw of teh s/t. They didn't quite overall as there are still sequencing issues on this LP, but the flow overall is much improved. 3 is cool too as it shows more pop influences and house even, which gives a feeling of diversity without the album feeling erratic. But the track already shows the record losing steam. 4 also breaks the flow a bit, and my enthusiasm was going down. 5 could have been bad but works well, and 6 picks things back up definitely. 7 has a bit of a weird start but does work, and 8 is cool with a Kendrick contrib that works well, but alas a fadeout. Although most of the tracks are cool, I found that almost none worked as well as 1-2. 9 is nice neo soul, and 10 is a kind of cool slow solemn track to end the album that could've been bad but that I did like. Still an album worth a lsiten with sweet prod, sweet potential, and vocals that are mostly good although not always the best, but that are supplemented nicely with subtle additions in the back. 3.8
Saint Pepsi Hit Vibes3.5
I absolutely loved the beginning, deliciously fun future funk/dico, but the mid album really dipped in energy and the latter third never caught up. To be fair I was kind of expecting this to be 100% high energy jolly diso style so maybe there was just a mismatch there and I owe this a re-listen. 1-2 are incredibly fun, but 3 is my main jam on the album here with its fantastic bounce and strong disco vibes. I wish it didn't end on a fadeout though. 4 (still nice) and especially 5 dip in energy a lot. 6 starts like it'll bring back up again, but it actually keeps at a slower pace. 7's finally does bring the energy up with an elegant vibe, it gets a bit excessively glitchy in the midtrack but only briefly so that's fine. 8's an elegant interlude, and 9 is nicely chill which is surprising for the genre. 10 brings the bounce again finally, but by then it's been 6 tracks and it feels too little too late. The track is cute and quirky, but a bit too quirky which prevents it from being a real jam. 11 has some nice bounce and the second half is jammy, while the outro track is anecdotal. 3.65
Full of Hell Rudiments of Mutilation4.0
Dammit I forgot to upload my sound off yesterday. Well I won't mind re-listening to this anyway because it is far better than their debut LP. The first act especially is merciless, and when the first real pause comes in at I can't recall which track, it feels very well placed. The feeling I had on the first album that they just alternate mosh parts with calmer parts for the life setting is completely gone, this one is a nice studio album like it should be. There are more noticeable influences as well, with noisier Prurient/Merzbow-esque tracks e.g. in the intro, and fat heavy sludge parts too. After the pause track the record doesn't pick up as well though, and I feel like I had an issue with the way the album concludes and it falling a bit flat but I'm not sure. 3.8
Skarpseian Skygge Slottet3.5
Well executed dungeon synth that takes the term quite literally, as this is pretty much exclusively made of a couple lines on old timey/vaguely RPG OST sounding synths, and not much else. Yet it really works, and crafts an atmosphere quite nicely without ever being at all intrustive - a great soundtrack for productive hours. I think 1hr of this would have been too much, but the record is smart enough to keep its runtime under 30 minutes. I will say for something so bare bones it is a bit of a shame to rely on fadeouts for conclusions (e.g. on 1 or especially on the album closer 5), but that's just a usual gripe of mine isn't it. Well done and looking forward to the rest of the discog. 3.5
Tokyo Shoegazer Turnaround3.5
I don't know what on Earth happened with this album. The first 1.5 tracks are a superbly executed mix of post-rock, math-rock, shoegaze that just works oh so well and is really impressive in how rich yet coherent it is. An easy 4.1-4.2 from me at that point and I was wondering why this album wasnt an Aberf 5.0. The second half of 2 is a bit weaker, and the wow factor is reduced to a quite cool, but the intro of 3 makes you think taht was just a temporary blip. Then, the vox come. They really don't work well for me, being in English, backed by male vocals in quite a cheesy combination, and compositionally not that interesting. From that point on, I really don't know what the album is doing. After 3 which ends up feeling quite lame because of the vocals, 4 has random ass 80s vocoder vocals that really are out of place here. The midtrack with the guitars starts being cool, and then the vocals break it again. The ambient outro is nice I suppose, but it doesn't help with engaging with the album. 5 has a quite a pretty post-rockish intro that gets your hopes up again, only to end up unfolding on a pretty middle of the road post-rock track. 6 attempts a grand post-rock closure with strings and shoegazy guitars in the background, but the slow tempo and fact that everything that preceded is pretty meh makes it feel like a protracted conclusion rather than an epic closure of a great album. So despite a stunning first track and a half, I am not sure how to rate this because the contrast makes the rest look so bad in comparison, but I'll go with a 3.45
Oh, Yoko Seashore4.0
I'm going to consider this a single with two bonus tracks I won't count because I really dig the t/t and didn't quite vibe with the remixes. 1 is very pretty ambient with lovely textures, some guitar, some piano, some voice, wrapped in pristine prod as you'd expect from Will. I'm a sucker for this type of stuff, it is just so smooth. 2 starts off very nicely as an instrumental continuation of the soft textures, perfect to fall asleep to on a hammock or sumthang. Unfortunatelym the couple little dissonances which were so lovely early on in 1 come back on 2 and kind of break the lushness of it all, and thereafter the track remains nice but not incredible. 3 is even more disruptive with the drum sounds it adds and some of the voice samples too, and while it turns into a sort of nice Tycho-ey track and has a very sweet outro in the vein of 1-2, it is still pretty awful sequencing and completely out of place - then again it's a remix so not a huge surprise. Rating 1 alone this feels like a 3.75
Captain, We're Sinking The Future Is Cancelled3.5
Probably the pop punky post-hardcore album I've liked the most so far. Touches of emo at
times. I liked the first few tracks the most and the last few tracks the least, with some
annoying parts towards the end. Had a fun time picturing Michael Scott jamming this
though. 3.7
Black Thread Rippling peacock ashes3.0
Two sets of Amulets-y distorted tape textures. Simple, but works quite nicely. Side A feels
like it's a tad better than B. 3.2
The Stargazer's Assistant Mirrors & Tides, Shivers & Voids2.5
Has some good moments - 1 up to 8:40 is nice tape ambient, 2 is nice, and the second half of 4 is quite cool -, but very much feels like a soundtrack (in a bad way), in the sense that a lot of the transitions, breaks, and changes of mood feel like they may work were they justified by visual imagery or story line, but in the context of a musical album in a vacuum they make very little sense. The abrupt change to weird vocals in the midtrack on 1 is a prime example, although the vox do feel far more appropriate once they evolve in the second half. Same goes for 3 starting off with a weird blank and trying to set too many atmospheres at once thereafter. All in all really not a record you need to check, but an ok listen I guess. 2.4
Svarte Greiner Black Tie3.5
The first track failed to have much of an impact on me. It starts off with distant, ominous percussive sounds and organic strings-based dark ambient. It gets more abrasive come min 4 and in other places, in the middle of the second half eg, and these bits are really cool. Unfortunately between them not much is happening and I didn't find the atmosphere very impactful at all - the way the track dies in just vaguely tense ambient with not much to it is a good example. Track 2 on the other hand is a fantastic, slowly rising dark ambient jam that is just nicely executed. Overall 3.45
Sundrugs Hidden Scenes3.5
First half is great and probably around 3.8-9, but the record overextends a lot and the end is kind of a drag. The prod is weird at times, feels like a tape a bit with sound lacking fullness a bit. Takes a while to get used to but it some places it is nice. The record is a near continuous stream of reverberated lushness with very slight gritty textures now and then, only interrupted by an odd interlude on 4 and a fade out followed by a blank at the end of 7. The subtlety of the sound and ever so slight noisiness is fantastic and the main highlight of the record. 2 is a nice oceanic jam, and bar 4 the run from 1-6 would be a 4.0 range EP. Unfortunately the rest drags for way too long without variation, and feels a bit too fx-based drone with the sound lacking fullness. The subtle grittiness is lost, 7 falls flat and the album conclusion falls flat too again on a fadeout. This is feels like an immature album by a very talented artist I'm excited to look into further. 3.65
Minilogue Blomma3.5
A sweet album that works well as nice soundtrack when you're busy on something else, but that would feel a tad too long when focused on it. To be fair, maintaining interest for most of the behemoth runtime even on unfocused listen is an achievement. The only track I skipped to the end to was the 45min one, which starts quite nicely as synthy ambient but without that vintage touch Steve Roach would have, but then gets bleep bloopey and lost me about midway. In contrast, 7 has a jazzy feel and is quite nice, while 8 is also ambient but much shorter, making for a great conclusion. The album flow is bizarre as it sometimes almost comes to a full stop (which, on an album this long often makes you think it is finally the end) - an example being the transition between 5 and 6. 1,2, and 4 are kinda cool and perhaps more upbeat. The sounds around min8 on 3 are really a terrible choice and the only time the album is unpleasant, not sure what happened there. This is a sweet listen. Perhaps not worth 146 minutes of your dedicated attention, but well worth it as a soundtrack to whatever you want. Thanks Trrif! 3.25
The Haxan Cloak Excavation2.0
I don't click with this guy's style at all (sorry dude). Beyond the occasional good texture (end of 2, middle of 9), this was not my thing. 2.0
Viva Belgrado El Invierno3.5
Solid EP too. With this one they sound like Spanish Envy. Harsh vocals have improved and the meh clean vocals are practically gone. The bookends are both jams, especially track 1. The other tracks drop significantly in quality especially track 3 which has a few blurps and relatively poor sections in it. Still a solip EP that packs a punch despite relatively simple riffage at times. 3.7
Ash Borer Bloodlands3.5
First track is excellent and made me think this was underrated. The intro and first explosion are amongst AB's best, which is saying something - I just love their atmosphere. The track is overall super cool, and despite suffering from the usual AB flaws - excessive length, some awkward bits eg. at min 10 - it really would warrant a low 4.0 tier rating. The windy outro is cool, and the track feels like a village burning then slowly turning to ashes in the blizzard. 2 also has a very cool albiet simpler intro, but the track stuggles a lot more to find its footing, and while it works sometimes still, it feels quite sluggish overall (to both start and explode). Brings this down to a 3.65
Nails Abandon All Life4.0
This may be due to better listening conditions, but for the most part this one felt better, faster, and more fun than their debut LP. I was going to rate it 4.0, but the last track brought that down a fair but. It changes styles, going into something slower and more metal-ish. While conceptually that can be a cool idea, here the result feels contrived and not that great, like the record trying to be what it isn't: a grand album where such genre switches bring welcome variety. This would have been better staying a short bit of Nails fun at your throat, imo. 3.8
Desolate (DE) Actaeon2.5
The first minute or so has really nice grainey droney textures, beyond that this is just a bore. Vaguely dubby in places, but idk it just went right over my head. 2.4
Plini Other Things3.5
Dedex's got it. This evokes bedroom AAL with nice additions of keys etc., instead of a
teenager making youtube djent videos in the hope of looking cool by riffing as fast as they
possibly can. 3.7
No Somos Marineros Demo juvenil en vivo3.5
Maybe it's because I haven't listened to math rock in a while but this was a fun listen and a respectable demo to start your career with. Prod's a bit rough on the edges but that's only a bit of a problem on 1, which is the most in your face tracks and my least favourite. The rhythm change at 1:10 onwards is cool, but the voices feel overwhelming and literally screaming for attention. There is also no intro whatsoever which reinforces this impression a bit. Voices are far better use on 3, where they flow in naturally some way into the song, and complement the music instead of trying to cover it. The music itself is cool but perhaps less marking than on 2 which is pure math-rock and heaps of fun and prettiness. 3.4
Julianna Barwick Pacing3.5
i mean this is two tracks of pretty much just ambient piano. It's very pretty, in fact it's
kind of what I was hoping to get from Barwick, something pure and blissful. The first track
is imo clearly hte best but 2 holds its own. The thing is the ideas here would be fantastic
on a longer form record, but as they are, they're cool and playlist worthy, but they can't
make a grand record of their own. 3.6
Banks Fall Over3.5
An exciting EP to start with. Track 2 is a definite jam. Track 1 is kinda nice too although I'm not the biggest fan of the instrumental. Didn't care much for the two remixes - they're both kinda cool, but their strongest points are her vocals anyway. Plus I don't like havnig remixes on studio albums. 3.5 without the two remixes, with them I guess 3.3
Darkthrone The Underground Resistance3.5
Without question my favourite in this Darkthrone era. The vocals are often quite alright although there are a couple areas where it still hurts, but more importantly this one is far riffier and fatter than its predecessors, evoking thrash metal and bands such as Hellhammer on a good day. The vocals are worst on 2,4, and 6 when they remind of glam metal/power metal almost. The last track in particular dropped this a couple points because some of the vocals are frankly ridonkulous, and the track is way too long although it does have great riffage like everything else here. Far more fun and enjoyable across the board this one thanks to the power of RIFFZ - unlike its predecessors I might come back to it. 3.5
Paysage d'Hiver Das Tor4.0
Another bm fave from Pd'H. Sounds like the evil continuation of Winterkalte with more cinematic voice textures and also soft but more lo-fi prod. Idk what those two albums in the middle were all about. The middle of the record (track 2 and the first half of track 3) is stellar and top tier Pd'H material. Track 1 and 4 are jams too. Closer perfectly sums up Pd'H's discog with bm decaying into synthy ambient then wind recordings (otherwise dropped from the album). It does have low points, especially the second half of track 3, but album is a definite re-listen and a solid 4.15
Zeus! Opera2.5
Yeah I had hopes during the first half that this would be in 3-3.5 territory, but the second half failed me. This sounds like The Bulletproof Tiger ran everything through shitty $20 Behringer fuzz pedals for a e s t h e t i c s and got themselves a part time black metal singer. That is to say, a lot of it is experimentation that must be fun to play but isn't all that fun to listen to and just sounds like an unhappy mess. I do enjoy the occasional Halloween synths on 1 (fav track I guess), 5 or 9, the sporadic mathcore touches (e.g. on 4 but all over the place really), and the heaviness of some tracks (e.g. 9, the other strong track of the record, maybe with 5's cool ending), but I didn't enjoy moments when the band sounds like grindcore made on a snes. Don't think I'll come back to this, the run from 6-11 just became more and more boring and lost me. 2.7
Panda Riot Northern Automatic Music3.5
3.1 feels a bit low for this, but it's true that it feels far weaker than their prior output. While the early record flows surprisingly well given its variety, after that there are lots of long blanks between tracks, and when the tracks do transition it doesn't always work - the most glaring example being the very soft, lush conclusion to 6 into the abrasive intro riff of 7. And the album is missing key jams to really be memorable. It is however still ripe with ideas and inspiring sounds. I love 1 which is both fat and dreamy with its walls of distorted guitars over Hidden Lands-vibe vox. 2 gives more indie folk vibes but still with dream pop guitars in the background, it is cute but less impactful. 6 is in that same style but even less memorable although the conclusion is very nice. 3 is upbeat and more on the car playlist end of dream pop. 4 has the first weak bit with awkward vox in the beginning, but the change midtrack is cool and the conclusion is even better. 5 is more electronic and unfolds into a really pretty track. Despite the bad transition, 7 is a r eally cool track more on the rock side of things with jammy sections. 8 is quite inspiring as a nice multilayered instrumental. 9 is more shoegazy and has good bits but is a bit meh overall, 10 is a pretty interlude into the dreamy 11 which works fine as a conclusion. 3.4
Coops What Do You See?3.0
Typical example of a record that has dope individual tracks but that suffers from erratic construction. The mixtape effect is strong. I supposed these are mostly covers because I recognise so many samples/melodies but idk. 1's cool with its dub vibes, not too convinced by 2-3, 4's a bit better and darker but eh, 5 has cool backing vox processing but otherwise reminds me a bit of those like two Turkish rap songs I know, 6 is a huge chill jam, 7 starts on too iconic a sample for comfort but is cool thereafter, 8 is a semi dig with its creepy vibes, 9 has post-apocalyptic nocturnal vibes and while it's not a jam I like it, 9-10 shows how there is no connection between tracks as 10 goes back to jollier modernity but ends up merely alright, 11's meh, 12 is kinda chill but still not super convincing, 13's just a skit sure, 14 is the most 90s beat of the lot, 15's a sweet chill track, 16 is fun gangsta sorta rap, 17 feels Mobb Deep which I dig obviously but I don't feel like it holds the distance, 18 despite unfortunate lyrics is smooth and cool, 19 is just regular hip hop but good again, 20-22 are all dope with great/interesting instrumentals, and 23 is a nice chill conclusion track. The album ends up on a strong note which brings it up a fair bit. So basically 1,6-9,14-16,18-22 are to maybe retain (hey it's a good chunk) and the rest will remain faint memories. 3.1
Julia Brown to be close to you4.0
Short but very rich. Feels like a hidden gem demo from the 90's that precursed a lot of things, except it's from 2013. The lo-fi production, occasional vox/white noise sample, and violin evoke GYBE vibes very vividly, as a hypothetical indie folk precursor of theirs would sound like. 1-4 is all very strong and in the same vein, but 5 offers a lusher and more psych interlude which frankly feels a bit weird here, while 6 goes to sadder folk first, then offers a GYBE-esque interlude with lush string pads and bells. 7 goes back to the style of the early record with semi happy lo-fi dreamy emo vocals indie folk and is perhaps the best summary of the album despite a weird transition again at the end. The whole album is great but 8 feels like the clearest cut jam here, especially its intro which would fit in a movie perfectly. If this had come out 20 years earlier, it'd be a classic. 3.8
Turnstile Step 2 Rhythm3.5
Turnstile showing signs of future greatness, and lesser signs of their former flaws. The intro track is really cool and I would have struggles to guess it was their work. 2 is hxc that feels older than it is but is no less cool because of it, and has slight goth undertones here and there. 4 starts on one of those aforementioned signs of greatness with an ultra cool riff that could find its place a la Glow On, but as the track unfolds it gets worse and worse with meh Beastie Boys vocals that feel quite awkward and riffs getting less and less cool until the last boring riff ends the track on a fadeout. Pretty titanic as a track. On 5 you can see that the moshpit breakdowns that riddled their older stuff are now fare more subtle and better integrated, especially but not only the transition starting at 3:15. This is not longer music that will mostly appeal to drunken teenagers. 6 is a bit of a pointless track with a middle of the road riff, but 7 packs a lot more depth as a track with lots of change, a highlight being the cool proggy transition at 2:38 that reminded me a bit of Opeth. I don't know how to rate this because it has excellent stuff and fairly mediocre stuff, but let's say 3.5
indigo la End yoru ni mahou wo kakerarete3.5
Again, feels a bit underrated. But this is a great example of an album where, while individual songs are great, construction hurts the record as a whole. The mood changes are too abrupt and too short. We go from a fun upbeat math-rock/j-rock opener with a fun intro but ok unfolding, to a very chill Toe-esque acoustic ballad almost - very pretty sunny morning music -, to a sudden dark noise rock almost turn on 3, followed by a noisy interlude, followed by a very nice chill sunny morning math-rock track. The changes are just too abrupt and too erratic, and while 3 could be a cool song in a vacuum, here it hurts the album. 6 has fantastic drum breaks here and there but is an overall weaker song. 7 is nice, then all of a sudden we are offered the band's version of a Marche Funebre on a dark, sad piano. Excess consistency is the enemy of variety, but here there is just not enough cohesiveness. 9 is a pretty song with a super cool intro and tone, and 10 brings the energy up with a really cool punchy intro. 11 displays more of the fun, upbeat drums and is really nice, and 12 brings back the prettiness. All in all solid with some great tracks, but their magnum opus for sure. 3.6
clipping. Midcity3.0
Bad listening conditions and got interrupted but essentially this feels a lot like their first EP where a lot of the sections are a super cool blend of noise and rapping, a lot are borderline bore, and very few are bad. I love the album intro continuing the style of the EP but just better. 8 would be quite fat at a gig, and 12 works really well. On 13 they show their most accessible track yet, and honestly I missed the experimentation. It's not their strongest track. On 4 I didn't like the guest vox (but I did on 6), and 5-6 are examples of tracks that don't really work. At the risk of sounding like a complete pretensious arse I actually liked most of the closer track, reminded me of the early works by Steve Reich. 3.2
Grouper The Man Who Died in His Boat3.5
First half is a very mild and bland version of DaDDuaH. 3.3 range, not much more. Track 7 is a turning point and the most marking jam on the record, disrupting the general Agnes Obely guitar-based ambient folk style for something much dronier and more experimental sounding. After that the record proceeds in the same ambient folky style, but better, with 8, 9 and 11 being jams - not quite at the level of DaDDuaH though. 3.7
Saint Pepsi Empire Building3.5
This one is more successful on the chill tracks than it is at making ya bum shake. 1-8 is somewhat weak but it improves quite a bit after that. 1's just an intro track, 2 is nice and playlist worthy but suffers from somewhat thin prod, 3 is slower and less marking but ok, 4 starts to feel quite weak although the sax and guitar are quite nice. 5 is kinda nice with an interesting, heavily sidechained prod, while 6 prefaces the alter record with a very chill, lounge kind of track, still suffering from thin prod but still playlist worthy. 7's fine but eh, while 8 is the big mistake on this record. It ruptures completely from the rest with its hard hitting drums and less breezy instrumentation, and even in a vacuum sounds pretty silly - the intro especially. 9 with its very nice deconstructed piano intro clearly shows that 8 has nothing to do here, 9 would have been a much better transition from 7. 10's kinda dancey and nice, 11 is okay but forgettable, then the record concludes on four strong, very chill tracks (with 13 feeling a bit like late arvo cocktailcore so a touch different) to finish on a strong note. Bumps it to 3.45
Cult of Luna Vertikal4.0
The coldest CoL album. The first two tracks and a half and the last four are fantastic and evoke cold, snowy rocky mountains and polar black peaks. Like a winter version of EK. Even the mixing of the vocals calls to that. I don't click at all with the middle tracks though. The electronic bits feel completely out of place, although I see where they were coming from and maybe it is my snowy nature read of the album that does not fit with it? Still felt kinda bored for those few tracks, among my least favourite sections in the whole of CoL 's catalog. Album is still a 4.0 overall
New Order Lost Sirens2.5
New Order continue their long streak of violently tepid albums with this nicely artworked opus which, to be fair, isn't the worst of them. Despite the vocals being upsettingly milquetoast, 1 is quite fun instrumentally for example, and in general the album does have quite a lot of depth to its prod and its instrumental layers - it's just that the overall songs in this shiny frame are boring and the vocals hardly achieve the bare minimum for passable. 2 is laughably cheesy, but at least the latter part of 3 is instrumental and so passes much more nicely. 4 is well produced but pretty standard young giant type rock with cheesy as darn heck vocals, and in places it feels like they left out a track, like it is a well produced foundation but with the substance missing. It also is quite apparent that little effort went into transitions and album construction here. 5's like watching your dad's cover band and being kinda supportive but also embarassed a bit. 6 tries a little more I'll concede, but I also will say that a lot of the hooks and motifs I hear in this album reminded me of other songs by other artists more than a few times. 7's intro really isn't trying at all, but the unfold guitar is kinda fun if you overlook the lyrics. 8, much like this whole album, just passes. Not their worst effort, but a pretty uninspired effort stiill. 2.5
Saint Pepsi New Generation3.0
Bit of a disappoint. Maybe I was expecting funky stuff too much, but the prod here often sounds quite thin and takes away a lot of the bounce potential.This is already blatant on 2, which starts like a banger but unfolds quite poorly and doesn't feel like it reaches its potential at all. The record also feels a lot like a mixtape or compilation, switching vibes and sounds a bit too erratically for it to claim much cohesiveness. The very short track length coupled with the prod also prevent tracks from graduating to banger status. 6 would be kinda nice as background music I guess, and 7 shows again the funkiness being destroyed by the thin sound. 9 now does work well as a chill track. Otherwise, this is ok but pretty uneventfull. 3.0
Monuments Collapse Monuments Collapse3.5
An album wherein you can visibly see the band's progress. I am almost sure this was recorded before the split with Breag Naofa, as the split continues this upwards trend. Sad they haven't released anything since. 1 starts off on a functional but extremely generic post- intro, and takes 3:45 to get into a riff that feels really unsatisfying, both compositionally as it is fairly straightforward, and in tone as the guitar prod feels qutie weak and not as crunchy as it should be. This goes on for a while, and you hope another bigger explosion is coming. After a short bridge, this happens: the vocals finally arrive after 9 minutes. They are one of teh strong points on the record, raw and aggressive, and getting rawer and more powerful as time goes on. Really makes most of the crunch in the explosions, not the riffs. Drums have also some nice rollz here and there. But mostly, this peak 'explosion' feels very molle vocals aside, and starting from min 15 the track gets really awkward. In contrast, 2's intro is a lot less generic, is darker, more subtle, has cool drums, unfolds well into the vocals, and then into a riff that has a lot more meat to it, though the tone is still not all that. Vox are a highlgiht again, and after a bridge there is another crazy cool riffy explosion. The buildup to the midtrack is nice, but the midtrack explosion itself sucks quite frankly. There is another one at 12 that is simple but cool. All in all a track that shows the band was still looking for its footing, but was looking in the right direction. Alas with the first track bringing it down LP is hardly a 3.3
Breag Naofa/Monuments Collapse Split3.5
I am stunned by how subpar Breag Naofa's performance is compared to Monuments Collapse's. Based
on the music I would completely have thought the bands were the other way round; MC sound more
like BN than BN do. 1 is a classic intro that is cool and functional, and the unfold into 2 is
outright excellent. 2 is pretty run of the mill fat riffey post-metal, but it goes quite ahrd,
works well, and does show brief excellence at 5:30 with the added guitars. 3 has an extremely
BN/FoE type intro and a great one at that. The unfold is a bit less cool than 2's, and the track
is a pretty simple progression, but the riff at 5:45 is immense and the track picks up
thereafter. In contrast with MC's contribution, 4 feels quite dull and even gets a bit annoying
with some of the high pitched ritournelles. The vocals though nicely roarey are overproduced and
frankly I'm not a fan. MC's vocals sounded more like the BN vocals I am used to than this. The
second act rise around min 9 is more engaging, and the guitars at 12:20 are kinda cute. 5 has a
much bette intro especially the melody at 0:55, but the unfold is very underwhelming and the vox
feel even more metalcorey. Again the second rise around 8:50 is a lot cooler, but the ensuing
explosion is really awful, then the album concludes into nothing. The unnamed bonus track is the
best BN track here with a nice intro, kinda cool vox, a nonlinear progression with more than
chugchug, and frankly some excellent bits like 7:30, but hey I dont rate for bonus tracks. Oh
btw, not a trace of BN's punk side here, even though some buildups call for it. MC: 3.8 (makes me
want to check them out), BN: 2.9, Total: 3.4
Hiatus Kaiyote Live in Revolt4.0
Condenses in 13min most (but not all) of what one should retain from Tawk Tomahawk in one pretty much flawless performance. Outshines the LP by its extreme consistency and cohesiveness. The main flaw in this is the length really. Even Nakamarra manages to be kinda better here wiht all the backing vocals - outstanding. I am almost considering giving this a 4.3 but for now I'll stick to 4.2

2012
Yukari Echo3.5
Super dreamy electronica with some fun glitchiness to it here and there. I enjoyed the style on display here and hope she releases more eventually? I never found this to be quite 4.0+ worthy, but it's quite consistent in quality. 1-2 are very nice but 3 gets a bit much by the end with the synths and some of the vocal notes - nothing too bad though. 4 is a fun track and perhaps one of the best here, a super chill soundtrack really. 5 is nice too, but I wasn't a huge fan of 6, and the remix on 7 while alright in itself felt like it was prolonging the record for no reason. This not too great conclusion brings the album down a point or so, to a mild 3.65
Burial Truant/Rough Sleeper4.0
One of the great Burial EPs. I have to jam that Tunes comp man. Truant is so lovely from the first seconds, bathing in good Burial lushness, but thereafter (and following a weird pause, common theme here with a lot of odd transitions between the sections of each track) it takes a darker turn with an uneasy feel. It is the Untrue sound, but with a different twist, and I love it. The track feels a bit patchworky and has some disrupting sections, but the last one is really cool with some of the noisiest, messiest and wicked Burial we've seen. Rough Sleeper starts in even a lusher way, and is overall a much stronger track - although both are jams. It is closer to his typical sound, less dark and slightly more upbeat in a sad way, although the midtrack features some great but pretty unique vox relative to his repertoire which makes the track memorable. The last section, again after an awks transition is good but really does not stand out as much as the rest of the track and feels far more average. Does not prevent this from being a 4.1
Chill Bump The Loop5.0
Mestis Basal Ganglia3.5
Javier's solo project and I never heard it? What a crime. Stylistically I could see myself preferring this to AAL, but the execution is well below that of AAL's top notch work - now, granted, we are in 2012, and 2012 AAL isn't what they are now so we'll see where Mestis goes. The two harder tracks here that would qualify as metalley are 1 and 4. On both I find that I have an issue with the prod, which is lush and nice on the softer parts, but on the distorted bits feels muddy, noisy, and undefined. There are brass additions which I find a really cool idea, but they almost come out as a treble hiss more than a nice distinct instrument. Shame because the actual riffage is, of course, great. The other issue I take with this is construction a bit, as both 2 and 3 kind of die out without conclusion, and the EP outro, whilst being very cute and nice per se, feels also like a bit of a flat ending. Now on the good side, which is most of this: the softer bits are all lovely, and mess with my rhythmic brain in a delightful way. This is especially true of 1, whilst 2 and 3 are increasingly relaxed, the latter showing the latin guitar influences at play here most prominently. The soft bits in between the harder riffs in the first half of 4 are again excellent, and the track evolves midway in really cool ways. All in all excellent potential for a debut EP with a few dents that keep it at a soft 3.7
Amenra Mass V5.0
Yea uh this is likely to get demoted alas. I absoluetly love them in a gig, and these tracks are 5/5 in that setting. I love them all of course, but I feel like for an at-home listen, it's not a 5. The buildups are just too long, on 3 especially. Still 4.5 ish but I on't expect this 5 will survive a second listen. [PENDING]
Rihanna Unapologetic2.0
Supremely incoherent album, especially the run from 1-7 which goes all over the place, with stark contrast of genres and abrupt changes of atmosphere from one track to the next with no transition whatsoever. It often feels like a compilation of random songs, and it also often feels that they were trying to follow and ride on every ongoing trend at the time. Only the run from maybe 6-8 feels a bit coherent, remaining in the realm of dance/dubstep/electronica. 6 has quite a nice verse but a terrible chorus, and 8 is actually a cool emotional dubstep track but with an annoying end. 7 feels outdated but would actually be kind of nice maybe in a taxi ride at 3am from one party to the other to pump you up . The run from 9-14 (long album yeah) is thoroughly uninteresting (although it goes from RnB to dub, dubstep, a ballad etc.) apart from 10, a nice bouncy house track that's kinda jammy. The second half did feel superior to the first half of the album, where the only highlight was 4 which is a jam of female rap, really cool but a bit shortand lacking a conclusion. 3 is nice and interesting with a sorta ethnic atmosphere, but has unfortunate drums, odd sound samples, and an out-of-place contrib from Eminem. 2 is famous but not that good of a track really. Overall this is a bad album wit scarce good tracks, but not a terrible one. 1.95
Deafheaven/Bosse-de-Nage Split3.5
To my surprise I actually prefered B-d-N's track. The bulk of it is quite generic albeit nicely bleak blackgaze/bm, but its first third is gorgeous with a sublime intro that is probably the best GYBE material GYBE hasn't made, and a sweet first explosion with unusual rhythm to it. Deafheaven's side, while boasting stronger vocals, pales in comparison. The first explosion feels generic and too doomey, but the calm interlude part before it is really nice. The end explosion feels clumsily done and not well produced. Thankfuly the middle part displays a nice mix of post-rock and bm. Overall this is worth checking out but not mindblowing. 3.6
Flourishing Intersubjectivity3.0
A bit underserved by very flat prod. More on the sludgey side than their prior output, with the occasional soloing that I notoriously don't like (it's mild though and obviously there is still a good sound overall). 1-2 have some nasty, evil riffage, but again underserved by prod and some compositions. The wild Flourishing ideas are a bit absent here but not entirely, eg the punkish acceleration midtrack on 2. 3 stands out as an extremely nasty and noisy kind of erratic track. It is more ambient than anything, a bit a la Agalloch's Scars of the Shattered Sky, but it is quite unique and I dug it, bringing this up a point. 3.0
The Oh Hellos Through The Deep, Dark Valley4.0
Usually with this kind of music (happy indie folk) I think this is nice but quite generic. Here however there is so much variety - for example in the vocals, going from solo male to female to group chant to and fro - that it did not feel at all generic or simplistic. It is a nice, feel good late spring record that I will happily re-listen to. 4.1
Lil Ugly Mane Uneven Compromise4.0
First and last act are the most interesting in that they feel more unique, and that final act is especially good (finishing a hip-hop track on noise? Bedex approves), but the two middle acts are incredible fun - especially the latter of the two. This is solid and yeah I need to look into the lyrics for sure. 4.15
Prince Of Denmark To The Fifty Engineers3.5
Much, much better than Soulfood. It does have some oddities and doesn't sound too amazing, but it is a very interesting EP with lots of sweet textures and ideas. Unlike Soulfood, I'll come back to it. 3 and 4 are of particular appeal to me with their drone ambient textures laid atop the delicate dub techno beat a la nthng. 2 proves that this guy knows what he's doing and can handle a 9min hypnotic minimalistic track without it feeling too long (again, improving compared to Soulfood). The track is subtle at first but gets quite dissonant and is the third jam on this EP. 1 is not so much a jam, but still boasts an interesting synth groove. Very solid. 3.65
Bomba Estereo Elegancia Tropical3.0
The first half of this album is really cool, refreshing and fun. Beachy poppy noodly latino rock with a vast array of influences and electronic sounds - I would not know what to call the genre really. 'El Alma y El Cuerpo' is such a jam. Unfortunately past the fourth track the album has a stroke it seems and throws a series of dull or annoying tracks at you, drowning the good sections sprinkled here and there into a sea of disappointment. May re-listen to double checks which tracks to jam. 3.1
Taylor Swift Red3.0
You thought I had given up on my discog run didn't you? Honestly this is my fave record of hers so far, and I don't quite get why her country era stuff is rated so much higher. I guess I just don't like the genre, whereas I don't mind more generic pop like this. Structurally this has two acts: the one from 1-7 where she changes her sound - still generic, but away from country pop, and the one from 8-16 which goes back to her previous style and frankly bored me. The only exceptions were 9 which despite being a bit silly amused me with its fairy christmassy vibes, and 15 which goes back to the style of the first track - only to be left again come the boring closing ballad reusing some melodies from the very album, dropping this album. There are a few melodies here and there that feel very predictable, but maybe I just know the songs subconsciously. 1 is a fun opener, 2 brings the banjo back a bit and is basically a nice pop take on her prior style, 3's alright, 4 has a relatively silly rebel little girl verse but a cool dubsteppy chorus. It is cool to see her music explode a little finally. 5 and 7 are kinda like 3, but perhaps not as good. 6 I knew, it is basic pop but I still prefer this to a boring guitar ballad. Honestly on this I want to slap a 2.75
Tame Impala Lonerism4.0
This one bridges the gap between the EP and the first LP. It is more modern than the former, but far more 60's psych than the latter. It has also a lot fewer tunes than LP1, but to be honest I listened to LP1 a lot more and it defines the Tame Impala sound to me so it's not exactly fair. This one still boasts some tunes, 7 of course, 6 to a lesser degree, and the fantastic 9 which manages to mix the catchiness and the psych vibes incredibly well. The outro to 11 is also super jammy but only lasts a few seconds and ends on a fadeout. Album is incredibly constructed. The opener already states the record as being firmly different from its predecessor, and the two open in very different ways but both very well. The closer tracks stands out being in a very different style, vibe, and instrumentation, and is a class example of how you do that properly. Fantastically well done, before it I was going to give this a 4.15, but it brings it to a solid 4.2
Carly Rae Jepsen Kiss1.5
With this album Carly completely moves away from the acoustic guitar ballad, Christian pop style of her debut LP to fully go into kick snare sidechain synth generic American summer pop, and it hardly, hardly ever works. The only exception is 9 which keeps the ballad style she displayed previously, but is nauseatingly naive. In fact, the album as a whole feels nauseatingly naive to varying degrees, with simplistic instrumentals, generic as it gets compositions, and cringy lyrics that are so clich you can often predict them. The tracks also almost all feel repetitive in a bad way. By 6 I had disconnected from the album completely, and the second half almost pushed this down to 1.0 range, with 7-11 being unbearable, especially 10-11 which are just horrible. Thankfully the closer is vaguely ok and at least bareable. 1-2 is also very annoying despite the presence of 'slap bass' on 1, and a tbh catchy chorus on 2. As we know from Curiosity 3 is a jam and the only track I'd ever come back to here (saving it all from 1.0 range). Feels like 2 but so much better and catchier. 4 starts ok but boasts an awful chorus, and 5 has horrible guest vox that make the track even worse than it was. Just a hair above 1.0 range really. 1.3
Natalia Lafourcade Mujer Divina, Homenaje a Agustín Lara3.5
One of Natalia's most consistent albums in terms of mood. Here you don't have relaxed folk going into crazy brass energy the next minute - it's all chill, all nice, all soft. That means it is one of her best records to just play in full in the back. Alas it's also one of the records where individual songs felt the least memorable - it's all a nice mellow blur. The biggest fault is the guests, who whilst adding variety do also add a bit of corniness to a lot of the tracks. I've never been too much into this type of duo, and sadly aside from the last track every song is such a duo basically. Nice, consistent, sweet, mellow, never crazy good but never bad, a play-it-in-full-in-the-background flavour of Natalia. 3.4
Winterfylleth The Threnody of Triumph3.5
This is a good black metal album with lots of variations and nuances in atmospheres. The beginning in particular has more of an epic battle feeling than most modern BM records, although the feeling of winter, cold and bleak winds is still very much present. There are some really good ideas and elements with some folk instrumentations, a touch of male choir, etc. However the album is long and loses some of its energy and freshness along the way. An overall great but far from perfect record. 3.7
The Paper Kites Young North3.5
Unassuming, cute and competent lil indie record. It never explodes or stuns, but it's a fine listen throughout. 5 was probably the most forgettable of the lot, and 1 has ever so slightly indie *rock* DNA, but it's still a soft boi. The three tracks in between were probably my faves and worth a jam on a playlist or somethin? 3.55
indigo la End Nagisanite4.0
How is this sitting at a 3.3? Criminally underrated. Super fun and chill Japanese math/indie rock. From the first notes of 1 you know this is going to be fun. Catchy and groovy melodies for the week. 2 is a jam, 3 is a bizarre interlude but that I like in this context. The guitar on 4 is super chill, and the track conclusion is fantastic.after another interlude on 5, 6 is yet another chill track which is sadly a bit protracted maybe, bringing the record down a point, but still cool. Evoked Radiohead in places for some reason. This will sta in my library for sure. Check this out people? 3.8
Ombre Believe You Me3.5
The intro is extremely sweet and made me think this was going to be fantastic, but the two tracks that ensue feel completely out of place. 3 has cool sounds but weird male vocals that I don't quite dig. 4-6 come back to a more experimental, Barwick-led style I imagine, and are all great. 6-8 are also nice and pretty, but they feel a bit like a gear demo you know - pretty sounds, simple ideas, but not much else to go buy. Worth a listen honestly. 3.4
Jessie Ware Devotion4.0
A great debut that I may have underappreciated due to being tired. The neo-soul influences are clear egon 10, but it's not so much groovy or explosive as it is nocturnal - in fact energy-wise it reminds me of RnB. This is broken entirely by the super boppy concluding track which is a jam and which I appreciate a lot. I also enjoyed the numerous sonic ventures beyond your basic neo-soul/lo-fi beat kinda deal, starting on the excellent album intro, the more weirdtronica 4, the sudden Nujabesque hip hop on the groovy 5, the rock guitars on 6 and other places which I don't find as successful, and 11 where I find the guitar works better, etc etc. It's not a straightforward album, nor does it rely on catchy hooks whilst still being compelling. It doesn't always captivate though, and it lost me in places on softer songs like 7 or the end of 10. But the fun 8 and 12 quickly fix that. The remix feels a bit pointless - it could've been cool, but the rapped sections are extremely short and poorly integrated, might as well listen to the original because it barely changes it. Lots of playlist material here. 3.75
Ash Borer Cold of Ages4.0
Once again, Ash Borer truly excel in big wally black metal explosions, but struggle a bit with song and even album construction. I think the song structures didn't really warrant the record being cut in only four long tracks, which gives a sort of directionless feeling, as there are clear breaks and interludes within tracks where cuts would've made sense - like the gorgeous drone interlude at 8:20 on 2. More importantly, the tracks all have some less engaging, clumsier dare I say bits, and because they are so long that means none are 'perfect' on the whole. However, the band still absolutely rips it when they explode, which is particularly prominent on reprises. Min 13 on 1, 3:45 on 2, min 4 and 14 on 3, min 10 on 4 all make you go fck me this is good. The vocals are fantastic and some of my favourite in bm in a while, particularly on 1. And the band adds subtle but excellent elements to their calmer bits, like the angelic vocals on 3 and 4. 1 also has a sort of hopeful and magnificent side to it, like rain in the sun. Alas, the track lengths and clumsy bits make them not very playlistable, and also make the album imo inferior to the debut, although AB remain quite a fave and a band to watch in my book. 3.75
The Haxan Cloak The Men Parted The Sea To Devour The Water3.5
Man I thought this was going to be great, but the middle part really let me down. The intro is gorgeous, vocal ambient drone that very slowly builds up until a nice drum patterns kicks in at a surprise. That first part belongs in 4.0 territory really. The album outro, a lush, reverb-drenched synthy descent is absolutely superb too and could well make it to that level as well - although the very finale was really not the place to have that noisy texture there. The middle of the album however, from the moment the choral drone starts being sidechained to the drums right until that synthy outro is really disappointing Haxan Cloak material, not unlike his first LP, that just really brings the record down a solid bunch. I'll re-listen to parts of this, but it only reaches an overall 3.5
clipping. dba1183.5
Well this is essentially noise-hop so it perfectly fits my getting into noise. Track 2 felt weaker with a lot of bleep bloopey sections, and 3 felt the strongest as the track where the blend of noisy stuff and rapping is the most fluid. Strong, short, sweet. 3.65
Twin Shadow Confess3.5
Granted I dont really remember much of the debut, but based on my soundoff this seems far more successful. Although some of the vocals do still sometimes sound a bit outdated, funny, or not that convincing one way or another, for the most part they work, and because the instrumentals are again strong on the whole, the tracks work more often than not. 1-2 feel like Xiu Xiu if they were less depressed and made popey rnbey stuff and if their vocals didnt suck as much, but it still feels like music I tolerate more than I enjoy. After that the run frmo 3-6 is a series of great, fun, 80s-infused synthpop tracks that really work and show Twin Shadow can craft great songs. If it werent for the only okay vocals these might be big bangers. 3 especially has lots of elements to it that are quite inspiring, but every one of those tracks is at least catchy. 7 returns to the slower style of 1-2, whilst 8 shows that the 80s synth aesthetic makes the slower tracks work a lot better than Xiu Xiu borecore. 9 is abit meh, 10 is a cute ballad I guess, and 11 is a cool track to close things up on a good note - though some of the midtrack vocals onwards are quite weak. 3.6
Lianne La Havas Is Your Love Big Enough?4.0
For a debut I would say this is very impressive. Heck for a regular album it is impressive. Her vocals are stunning, and makes relative successes of tracks like 10, which as a piano ballad would usually bore me out very rapidly. I'll concede that the tracks tend to overextend just a touch, and that they start feeling less memorable in the last third, but they remain all still good at a minimum. The unfold with the drums on 1 is noiche even though the intro is not the best, 2 is nice and catchy, 3 is nice and more relaxed, 4 is such a good song, 5 is a nice track taken from the EP but the male vox didnt bother me as much here, 6 is a surprise being weirder than anything else she's shown us so far and frankly I find it super cool. I'm not sure about the transition into the much softer 7 but it remains a nice track, followed by an even less explosive but still nice 8. 9 is again softer, and this is where the tracks were starting to blur into one another - the album could've ended there honestly. 10 is the ballad which does help a bit by changing things up, but it's still an overextended piano ballad. 11 is a nice song with nice guitar, and I really appreciate 12's intention to shake things up near the end which much more of a beat and explosive track, although it is not the best execution in the world (who mixed these cymbals) it remains a success. 3.85
DIIV Oshin3.5
Textbook 3.6: this is an album that I enjoyed all the way through but that did not strike me in a lot of places either. Would be nice to jam in the background or something because there isn't a single bad track here. This is largely instrumental although there are some nice vox here and there - I really dig them on 6 for instance. But before they kicked in on 2 I thought this was going to be instrumental. This is light, sweet, very chill, and rarely catchy - 8 probably being the catchiest one with its fun upbeat drumming. The music rarely explodes so to speak (if ever), which may partly explain why this never felt hugely marking. But tracks like the post-rockish 4 are just lovely. 11 is perhaps the only track that lost me a little bit, not because it is bad, but just because its darker, psych undertones didn't feel like they fit the band as well as the rest. I love the tones on 13 too, and the album opener is nice as well. 3.6
Silvia Perez Cruz 11 de Novembre3.5
Starts off with a series of sublime, subdued tracks, but kinda lost me in the middle and longer than it needed to be. Her voice is as soft, delicate and light as it gets. 2-4 are all soft jams of a graceful blend of - I like the vocabulary for this - Spanish folk, flamenco, and what I imagine old Spanish movies' OSTs must sound like. In general this record feels much older than it actually is, which is a nice thing I guess? 5 changes it up with a jumpier, cheekier, kinda weird track with a jazzier side that I kinda enjoyed. A welcome break from the softeness, which 6 takes us right back to, this time with a sadder, more melancholic take. Up to this point I felt this as a 3.9-4.0, it is incredibly lovely. The a capella 7 and especially the monkish guest vox was a bit too much for me though, and is a turning point after which I never quite got back into the album. There are lots of instruments on display here, albeit very few play together at any given time. But things like the banjo on 8 got a bit too much for me, although the track is nice in places. 9 continues the same style, but a bit better. 10 goes back to the guitar-led softness of the early record, but felt a bit too whiny. 11 is Brazilian inspired, starting with sort of bossa nova vibes to end on Brazilian carnival music of sorts. By 12 the record feels really too long and the track gets especially annoying towards its end. Thankfully the closer is nice and fine. 3.45
Beau Navire Lumens3.5
I'm not sure how much nostalgia/memory played in my appreciation of Hours, but this one felt far, far weaker, more generic, less clearly constructed, and just less memorable overall. It's still cool, but not great. 2 is a clear example of this, feeling more generic and less mature than any of the tracks on Hours. Lumens does have its moments - the intro on 1 is dope, 5 has cool rhythm changes also its conclusion gets annoying, 8-9 have cool bits, and the slowly decaying, ambientey post-rockey album conclusion, whilst cliche, is well done. But I still fail to see any reason why I'd ever come back to this over Hours. 3.5
Viva Belgrado Demo 20123.5
Really cool demo. Sadly the last two tracks bring it down a notch, and I am not a huge fan of the clean emo vocals in Spanish. The harsh vocals I quite liked. Post-rocky screamo, nothing super new but nicely down with simple and efficient melodies. Track 1-3 are jams of decreasing jamminess - 3 being just nice post rock. Looking forward to their full discog. 3.6
Celer Merkin2.5
This is the weakest Celer record I've heard yet. Not much going on, no interesting textures
really, just plain stripped down sine wave synth tones with some reverb. Nothing unpleasant, it
is just really boring and not memorable. It's good music to fall asleep to I guess though. The
last 10 min are vaguely better than the rest but merh. 2.3
Beach House Bloom4.0
FINALLY Beach House wake up and, well, bloom. Instrumentally, this is far richer and more compelling than anything from their prior catalogue, and you can tell from the very well executed, compelling intros to 1 and 2, and from the post-rocky unfolding of 1 despite relatively generic BH vocals. Vocals do remain the main hold up here and still sometimes feel tame and a bit bland for example early on in 2, but they often eventually vary, with more adventurous vocal compositions, which then complement the richer instrumentals. 3 shows this with an ok first track, but a second half where the band finally reveals its potential and explodes a bit. 4 is an actual sweet good song that I'd come back to, but 5 is more regular BH albeit with more meat to it. The album peaks with 6 and 7, which are my first real BH jams, have more prominent drums, more ideas, and are just overall far richer and more compelling. Just hear the synthy bridge at min 2 on 7 for example. 8 is nice but doesn't reach the same jaminess, while 9 comes back to their regular flaws - albeit still with the richer sound on this album. Melodies on 10 evoke candy claws a lot, it's nice and better than their older stuff but still quite protracted and not truly my cuppa, while the ghost track feels like a bit of a bore. Clearly superior to anything else they've put out, with fewer flaws and songs I actually liked, so hell I'm slapping a 3.75
City of the Lost Birds Of Tartary2.0
Super dull post-rock - who said this was post-metal? Don't understand how they can label themselves as 'progressive post-rock' when this is about as generic as it gets. Sounds like a fun band to listen to in the morning at Dunk! festival while waiting for the afternoon headliners, that's about it. Two last tracks are a wee bit better, but overall this is still a 2.1
Marriages Kitsune3.5
Had to pause before the last two tracks, and hell did these last two feel a lot stronger. Also noticed Emma Ruth Rundle was on the bill only towards the end. Nice stonerey-spacey-shoegazey post-rockey EP that shows great promise, but prod especially on the guitars felt a bid muddy, blurring out the compositions - although the bass is nice and audible. The opener is a good example of that, and feels a bit simplistic. 2 is more interesting and dynamic. The transition into 3 is great, which is true of the EP in general - transitions flow when they should, and are abrupt when they need to. 3 in itself shows crescendocore guitars but also fat sludgey tones in the midtrack, and it is cool to see the variety of sounds the band can produce. 5 is super cool with its bass line, but I kinda wish it unfolded into a full on track with vocals like the rest. 6 starts nice and deftonesey before going into pretty post-rock. I might give this another spin if I end up enjoying their LP. 3.6
Moonchild Be Free3.0
It has cool moments, but this is really not as groovy and cool as it could have been - probably owing to the somewhat slow tempos throughout the whole album. The album has dynamics, but those aren't all that great - 'Turn It Up' for example feels completely out of place and disrupts the album rather than bringing welcome variation in it. Vibes and energy are quickly lost and the album ends up being a pleasant but not that memorable background soul record. Has potential though, as some sections are really great and the vocals are of high quality. 3.2r
Future Pluto2.5
Quite bland and not really marking. The sound is quite anchored in the 00's still, and coupled with Future's delivery, the autotune, the trap tropes etc that we'll come to get used to in later years, it all feels a bit incongruous. 1 is an anecdotal intro, 2 is a twerk club track that starts vaguely fun but gets too repetitive and too long. 3 exemplified the incongruous nature I mentioned, trying to be an anthemic song but failing. 4 works a bit better at that. 5 is kinda cool because it hints at what trap was about to become, but in itself it's not all that great. 6 is cool, but is immediately followed by the awkward and boring 7. 8 feels outdated, 9 is boring and Drake is invisible on it. 10 has a cool verse, but the chorus feels old again. 11 is a bit hyper but is fine. By then I was a bit out I must admit. 12 is kinda fun kinda gimmicky. 13 is all over the place but snoop's contribution is fun. 14-15 are kinda cringe. Meh, he's done better. 2.4
Sea Oleena Sleeplessness4.0
This is wonderful, delicate and lovely acoustic guitar-based dream pop/indie folk. Its simplicity does not take anything away from its sheer quality. Reminds of
Grouper but much less ambient and a lot happier with tonnes less reverb. Will have to re-listen, but immediate crush on this. 4.2
Edit: ok maybe I got a bit overexcited, but not by much. 1 and 6 are very nice but perhaps the least marking here. 5 is more aethereal and groupery and brought this
to a 4.1 as it felt like a 4.0 before, which was confirmed by the sublime, very ambient 7. The prod is gorgeous, and the extra sounds on 2-3 work really well, while
4 is such a pretty song. 4.1
Grouper Violet Replacement3.5
Certainly her droniest and least Groupery album yet. I'm not sure how I feel about it. The first half of Rolling Gate frankly bored me and was far from the best drone I've heard. The second half much improved and was really nice. Sleep is a very solid drone piece with lots of evocative power, and despite its long run time it keeps the listener entertained by very slowly rolling in field recording elements and varying background textures. I did find the latter third with field recordings a little less inspired than the rest of the track though. Overall this is mostly very good drone but it feels a bit flat, I need to re-listen to it because I perhaps was not in the best of conditions. 3.45
State Faults Desolate Peaks3.5
Superb post-rocky screamo, but undermined by vocals that I seem to be mildly allergic to and prod somewhat lacking substance and low end. I paid a little less attention during the first half so can't point out the jams, but the record sure is full of them. Track 7 and 10 are jams with gorgeous melodies a bit a la Suis la Lune, and 9 is a nice example of the band's more brutal side. This makes me look forward to the rest of their discog, but its actual sound limits it to a 3.7
Mental Architects Celebrations3.0
This little math-rock EP has some cool bouncy groovy moments. At other times it sounds very much like ASIWYFA, which isn't bad at all. The rest, most of the album, is simply 'ok'. Nothing incredible here but a nice listen still. 2.9
Hiatus Kaiyote Tawk Tomahawk4.0
I can't rate this one any lower because it was such a staple of my formative years. The musicianship and vocals are on absolute point, especially the rhythm section, and the grooves are amazing and extremely memorable. While I like the bits
with rawer, more aggressive prod like the vox on 2, it is a bit excessive sometimes, most blatantly on 5 which remains kinda fun. The album's main issue is its construction. As the tracks are largely very short this feels more like a few
singles (Mobius Streak and Nakamarra, but also Malika and Lace Skull) which are all excellent tracks, surrounded by a cool jam with short segments but not really tracks properly speaking. 6 is a typical example as a bitchin track that ends
abruptly kind of for no reason. I also think the Live in Revolt version is better produced and more straight to the point, which makes it really hard not to compare the two record. A final constructive mistake is having a less good version of
Nakamarra with an unncessary (but good) guest feat from Q-Tip on a canon version and not as a bonus track or something. Again reinforces the '4 singles plus excellent filler but filller nonetheless' vibe. Still, I recall most melodies and the
rhythm section and vocals are genius, making for an excellent debut semi-LP. Malike has such a good intro goddamn i had forgotten. 3.8
Desolate (DE) Celestial Light Beings3.5
Strong, cinematic first half, but the second half falters. After a nice, very Burialesque opener featuring some lovely piano, Desolate shows us why he chose that artist name. The music evokes a feeling of being lost in a vast, desolate city in the moonlight. It boasts a lot of strings atop the electronica and Burial-ish vocal samples. 2 is quite sublime, and 5 showcases the cinematic powers of this record. Apart from 3 which is a little bit too much of a copy of Teardrop apart from a sweet conclusion, the run from 1-5 is excellent and maybe 3.8 material. 6 breaks that with a questionable beat resembling slowed down Djrum, followed by 7 which is kinda weird, while 9 and 10 are pretty but fall flat - especially the former. 8 saves the day with some nice sax samples and some steeldrum giving it less of an ominous vibe as seen on the first half and more of a mystery Divine Moments of Truth feel almost, but the second half overall still brings this down to a 3.6
Mirrorring Foreign Body4.0
Wonderful little Grouper-y folk record. Most of it feels like putting your head
underwater in a warm bath with extremely soothing folk washed out in a sea of Grouper
reverb. If it weren't for tracks 2 and 5 it would be just that, in a perfect way. Track
2 is more standard folk with more generic vocals, and is nice but not a jam. Track 5 is
meh and a surprise after such the nice run 1-4, the only dysfunctional track on the album
imo. It has a weird instrumental and generic vocals.I do like its noisy ending tho. The
closer is nice but does not feel as good as 1-4. Track 1 and 4 are my faves and wonderful
jams, so soothing. I love this, but it's not the strongest record ever. 3.9
Edit: after a few listens, 3.8
Gorod A Perfect Absolution3.5
Based on the appalling artwork I was expecting the worst Gorod yet, but surprisingly this turned out to be my fave of theirs so far in their discog, and for now the only LP I could see myself coming back to. Finally they offer a real album intro again like on the debut, and a quite nice sort of classical piece at that. While the vocals arent the best to my taste, the aggressive entry on 2 is quite cool. Then the track goes back to more regular Gorod material. But this time - and this applies to the whole album, they turned the wankery bit I don't like way done with fewer pointless solos and whatnot, they stripped away the pig vocals, and the record generally insists more on its prog metalcore tendencies and less on mindless deathcore etc. On 2 the riff at 3:15 is kinda cool for example, and 3-4 are also fine. 5 is a bit of a stumble with an awful midtrack and a sudden pause at the end which sounds like it shouldn't be there, making you think you just finished an EP. The intro to 6 is really cool though, showing how good they are with soft sections which offers some great ear rest that was sorely missed in prior records. 7 makes the solos etc work quite well with a nice groove from the midtrack onwards. 8 is my favourite track on here, displaying all the band's best traits (despite not being perfect) with nice non wankery technicity, a cool soft part at 2:20, and lots of ideas and depth in general. 9 comes back to regular Gorod, and while there is still boring soloing etc it doesn't feel as awful as on prior record since there was such a long nice break from it. 3.5
Memoryhouse The Slideshow Effect3.0
More folky pop, less dream. This can be especially noticed on 6, which despite the melody being nearly the same feels like a completely different track to the version on The Years. Right after that 7 is a jam and probably the dreamiest song on the record, 1 being kinda nice too. But apart from that this is pretty mild and bland I gotta say. 2.8
Aussitot Mort Nagykanizsa3.5
Post-rocky screamo-ish stuff. The first track is a jam, second track is the worst, the rest is
good. Will re-listen to it, it has too much depth for me to leave it at that one listen. 3.7
T.R.A.M. Lingua Franca4.0
Cool jazz fusion that takes extensive inspiration from the fusion classics but does add its own djenty touch and displays really nice rhythmics and guitar melodies. More to write up againnnn 4.0
Alkerdeel Morinde2.5
Great vocals, but instrumentation is simplistic and feels amateur at times. The sludge feel baked into a black metal base isn't enough to compensate for that or to make the album not forgettable. There are good ideas though and this isn't a terrible album by any means.
Pallbearer Sorrow And Extinction3.0
Yawn. Doom metal with a vague sludgy tone and vocals from the 80's. Mostly ok, but often gimmicky - especially the second half of the last track urgh. Best track was the 3rd one I guess, or maybe the first half of the last track, but even those I'm not really interested in re-listening. Did not get psychedelic vibes from this really. 3.0
Henning Baer Drop Out2.5
I feel attached to 1 as one of the first techno tracks I ever found and enjoyed, well before nthng or IHM. Very dark and unsettling techno jam. That snare is special man. 2-3 have okay sounds but don't work really much at all as tracks. It feels like they're hesitant between being dancy and being as dark as the first track, and as a result they have an awkward beat and no real focus. On 4 the beat is simplistic but works at least, but the leads just don't work and the track just isn't worth your time. Can tell this came early on in his discog. 2.6
Carly Rae Jepsen Curiosity2.5
As generic and inoffensive as pop gets, but not a properly bad record either. 2 is the weakest track here and gets quite annoying and boring, while 3 is extremely plain too but not quite annoying. 1 screams later 00's even if this was released later, and I'd be lying if I said it isn't bouncy and catchy. I also feels very very naive - far more so than Ari's bops for example -, but tbh it's kind of a jam and the best track here, fight me. 4-6 are not too bad either, 4 is nicely summery but still generic, 5 is the second best track and one I'd honestly be ok catching on the radio for example, and 6 is not far behind. They're all still generic and bland though. Just slightly above completely average at 2.6
Breag Naofa Breag Naofa4.0
75% Cult of Luna's first two albums, 25% Fall of Efrafa's Owsla minus the violin, and some
of the best post-metal vocals out there: needless to say this album is a f*cking jam. Track
3 is quite subpar compared to the rest and brings the album down one or two points, but
track 2 is balls and the bookends especially the opener are really not far behind it.
Looking forward to the rest of their discog now. 4.0
Edit: no, 3 isn't subpar, this is all gold. 4.0
Burial Kindred4.5
If I ever get a second Burial 5.0, this is going to be the one. Man this doesn't age. 4.7
Departures Green Turns To Red, Then Turns To Gold3.0
It's a good two-tracker that makes we want to listen to their full-lengths. On its own though it really is just two quite cool screamo/ post-hardcore songs in a complete vacuum, nothing too memorable. 2.8
Ichiko Aoba Utabiko4.0
Starts off extremely strong, but looses a bit of steam midway. Although it takes its time tos tart, 1's intro is extremely well crafted, hinting at a complex track that is full of depths, ideas, and Iberic influences as seen in her debut but not so much in the second album. A very powerful track that makes you want to learn it on the guitar. 2-3 are magical Ichiko material, and are followed by the magical, slightly flamenco-ey instrumental 4. The lack of an instrumental track to rest for the singing was my only issue with the first album, and at this one this green opus feels like a 4.0-4.1 even, certainly a contender for my favourite Ichiko so far. Sadly, the second half never picks quite back up. Although still relatively intricate and still very pretty, 5-8 feel simpler folk songs, lacking a bit of the magic the first half had. The pause starting off 8 and its abrupt conclusion show what I mean by the record feeling less well crafted and thought out in its second half which feels a lot more like the prior album. Overall and because this is quite literally halfway between the first and second album, I'd call this a 3.85
Alcest Les Voyages De L'Âme4.0
Lovely follow up to EdL, and its logical foresty, shoegazy and softer counterpart. The album often relies on an alternation of ethereal, blackened post-rock ambiences and magical reverberated melodic hooks. When it works it is superb and can produce some of my favourite Alcest material (1, first half of 2, 6), but when it doesn't it quickly feels like the album is running out of steam (the rest of 2,3, 4, 8) which brings it down a lot. 7 is a really well crafted interlude. 5 is a peculiar track here, with a lovely ambient intro that softly builds up into a blurry cinematic post-rock atmosphere underlined by bm drums. It could have been boring but I actually dig it, it works very nicely as a midway album interlude, and could have been a nice finale if put at the end of it. Overall this is a sweet album but that I revisit mostly for individual songs, its structure doesn't feel compelling. 3.9
Todd Terje Its The Arps3.0
1 starts off like fun synthy Terje material but then unfolds incredibly well with surprise upon surprise and some really cool lines in there. Sadly the EP doesnt really live up to that thereafter, and the transitions between tracks are rather poor - particularly between 3 and 4. 2 is more funny than anything else, 3 is nice and fun, but 4 has a lot of bleepbloopcore which I'm rarely a fan of. Cool first track but not much else I'd come back to. 3.1
indigo la End Sayonara, subarashi sekai3.5
Fun record with good lighthearted moments, but that isn't as successful in the abrasive parts. 1 is a huge fun j-rock jam and certainly a track I'll come back to. Made me think this was underrated. 2 is a bit more abrasive and thus weaker, 3 sitting somewhere between the two - at first. The tracks are quite long and unfold into a multitude of melodies, so the midtrack on 3 is actually super jammy, and the ensuing melody also is. In the last third it comes back to its own intro though which isn't the best. 4 evokes chill math-rock but doesn't unfold too well (feels a bit low in energy), until the second half which is more post-rock-ish and actually quite nice. 5 is fine and atmospheric, but 6 is abrasive and annoying. After a brief piano interlude which is quite welcome, the conclusion track is quite nice. 3.3
L'Imperatrice L'Imperatrice3.5
Ok I think this one actually is their debut EP - and wow is it cool. For the most part, it still suffers from the fact that it feels like it could be so much more explosive and catchy with some good soulsy vocals. 4 is especially prominent in this, being super catchy and groovy, but feeling a bit like great background music for a place like george st social rather than a real funk pop bop because it is instrumental all the way through. On a longer format these instrumental tracks (2 and 4) could pass as excellent albeit long interludes, but here they feel like they miss that vocal element - despite being all the way through. The real surprise with this EP is the fact that most of the vocals that we do get are rapped, especially in the rather Jazz Liberatorz/CYNE type vibe 1, but also sporadically on 3 with a different voice which I assume is also doing the singer doing the other vocals on 3 - alas her contributions are far too scarce and the non-rapped vocals are not convincing enough to make the track feel like the pop bop it could be. Excellent, encouraging, promising and full of their future sound, but not quite as full-fledged as it could be. 3.65
Monsieur Perine Hecho a Mano3.5
This album has two clear halves to it. The first, from 1-7, is a really consistent series of tracks that, although on focused listening maybe caps at 3.6, I wouldn't hesitate to play in full if I had a sunny caf or dive shop that needed some background music. 1-2 are quite relaxed, 3 is dancier and gets better as it goes, 4 is okay, less convincing but still fine for a background listen. 5 prefaces the second half of hte album being a little more quirky, it's alright here because it is in isolation but yea if I had to drop one track off this first half it would probably be that one. 6 is really nice and truly what I mean by sunny caf newspaper reading soundtrack, whilst 7 wears its title of La Playa very fittingly. 8 starts off nicely explosive and more rock even, then unfolds into a quirktrack that kinda reminds of 5 (but I prefer 8). 9-10 are a bit swingey quirky circus dancey and whilst it's fun it's not really my jam, 10 especially getting a bit too quirky and weird for me. 11 starts off kinda like a bop then unfolds into yet another (half French) sung quirktrack like 5 and 8, but this is clearly the best of the three and probably my fave track of this second side of the album. 12, fittingly per its title, is quite swingy, and yea it's okay. I clearly like this second half of hte album less though, not because it's bad but because I rarely enjoy that style unironically, so this drops a couple points. Still fun and strong for a debut - 3.4

2011
The Oh Hellos The Oh Hellos3.0
Meh. Cute indie folk, but not their best work. Track 1 is a jam, but track 2 and 3 I found quite annoying and generic. Track 4 isn't super great either but at least it is a bit interesting - although I did not like the outro. 3.0
Rihanna Talk That Talk2.0
The first half of this made me think it was unfairly underrated because of its club/EDM inclinations. 1 is ok, 2 has a silly intro but is dancy and I kinda dig it before its latter third which is silly again, and 3 albeit the simplest track imaginable with two notes and a kick snare pattern is saved by nice catchy vox, and I would be lying if I said I don't find it fun. 4 is for once, a successful feat, with the rest being an ok track. So far so good, 2.5-3.0 range stuff. Then 5 and 6 are some of the worst Rihanna tracks yet, 7 is a short ok relief before 8 annoys us again on top of semi-plagiarizing the XX. 9 and 10 really aren't all that bad but by that point the album starts to get on your nerves, and is only bumped a point up thanks to an ok-ish emotional closer. An excessively long downhill ride. 1.8
Lianne La Havas Lost And Found3.5
I'd say in terms of a debut this is very strong, both because the excellence of her vocal performance alone justifies excitement for the future, but also because stylistically this finds its good niche of groovy, smooth soulsy stuff. 1 is very lovely, but I only wish the male voice wasn't there as it makes it sound more cheesy without adding much imo. 2 has a nice piano I guess but even her voice can't save it from just being a cheesy ballad. Things pick right back up afterwards with the simple but fun 3, the smooth 4, and the higher tempo, more beaty, more electronic 5. There isn't a world turning song here, but it's all good - and hindsight tells us the reasonable excitement stemming from a debut EP like this was justified. 3.5
Cynic Carbon-Based Anatomy3.5
While it certainly isn't top tier Cynic material, this is the only non-full length effort of theirs that I feel is worth a space in one's library because it shows an aspect of the band that I haven't seen elsewhere: the use of traditional/traditional-sounding instruments and voices. This is clear from the get go with the lovely opening track, and is also best demonstrated on the jammy 3, offering us sort of tribal-esque ambient tracks that make the record unique in their discog. The issue is that, between these transitional tracks, the more typically Cynic material the band goes into feels kind of bland and flavourless, much like the prior EP. This is true of every track but 1 and 3, although 4 unlike the others is quite successful at mixing the particular sound of this EP to the Cynic sound from the prior effort. But 5 with its solos, or 6 with its cliche post-rock leanings and vocal samples feel like a bore. So I guess 3.4
Brought By Pain The Dreamer's Will3.0
Same with most tech death: it has great riffs and technicity, and some moments are really cool (the intro to 3 for instance), but there are lots of elements that are utterly non bedexcore, namely multiple corey voices, shreddy solos, and imo a lack of atmosphere that unlike with other bands/genres isn't made up for by the technicity or riffs. It was fine as background to stay awake while working but to me after a track or two it all becomes a blur of music I can appreciate once but have very little intention to check again. 2.8
Coeur de Pirate Blonde3.5
This is better than I expected. The vocals are lovely and most of the instrumentals are actually very nice albeit often naive sounding. I tried not to pay attention to the lyrics because were this in English I would not care for them. The issue with this record is that the songs are all very short, and although they flow relatively well into each other, none have time to give a lasting impression - which is also a good thing because practically none get the chance to become annoying. A sweet pop album. 3.6
Marie Dahlstrøm Feelings2.5
From a performance standpoint, this is great. The singing and the playing are on point.
Compositionally however I find it quite tame. 1 and 5 are example of tracks with impressive
performances but that as song are a bit dull if you ask me. It's lacking some spice or
explosivity or something. The tracks featuring Lea Beck (2,4,6) all have great drums
although idk if that is a coincidence, and those beats will be what I retain from the
record because otherwise it's all nice but also not super memorable. Feels very much like a
nice first act at a gig you know. I have to say 4 is a bit better especially near the end,
and 6 despite (or thanks to?) its beat being close to a ripoff of Teardrop is quite sweet
with the brass and piano additions, bumping this a point. 2.7
Low Roar Low Roar3.5
An encouraging cutefolk debut with strong flaws as a record but showing signs of greatness. Some songs really have a compelling yosemite spring morning atmosphere and this will probably will stay in my library for those. This is particularly true of the more folk based tracks, with highlights being 1,2,6-9,11, and maybe 5 with its very peaceful vibe. They do however display the main flaw of this record: on their own the songs are very cute and pretty, but 54min of cute prettiness with little variation in mood and very tame compositions is too long and makes the songs loose a lot of their impact. But sound wise the prod is absolutely pristine, the instrumentation is gorgeous, and, while a bit naive sounding in places, the singing fits very well. But it feels more like a playlist record than an album to play in full. There are changes, but they're rarely successful. 3 takes a more bare bones, electronic approach, and frankly it doesn't work nearly as much. 4 is kinda between that and 1-2, but isn't as compelling as the latter, despite the strings and the voices in the chorus being quite superb. 10 feels like a remix but isn't. While the transition is awful making it feel completely out of context, on its own the track is quite cool, although it kinda stops on nothing where I wanted it to go into full dub techno. Does refresh things though. The only truly successful 'experimentation' is 12, which starts darker than everything else, then introduces super cool trip hop drums that give the track an entirely new flavour. The unexpected electronic noisy conclusion is the an excellent way to close the album. 3.6
Discipline (USA) To Shatter All Accord4.0
By a mile their best album. It's not a fav album of mine, it won't grow much further I don't think, but it is sweet enjoyable prog. 1 felt like their best track so far, but after hearing the whole album I don't know if that holds true or if it's another track on this one. The run from 2's messy ending to the second third of 4 is quite weak and somewhat dull Discipline material (sounding a bit outdated in places too), but the record picks it back up with strings around min 8 on 4 that are one of he bands' best sections, then 5 with a lovely intro, nice track overall, and sweet album ending. 3.75
Lantlos Agape3.5
The individual sections are often really cool, but album construction is severely flawed here. 1-3 alternate black metal and soft sections like clockwork, making the whole thing feel a bit contrived. The prod is also a touch questionable imo but nothing too bad. The bm parts alternate between the dark, bleak, deathspell omega-esque on 1, just a great tone on 2, a nice reprise on 3, and a really cool, post rocky grand and cinematic reprise on 5 that unfortunately unfolds a bit into nothing, making the track fall a bit flat and not feel at all like a closing piece - thus making the album itself also feel like it falls flat. The softer section are all well executed, but 4 especially because it is just a soft track with no black metal explosion does break the cycle and brings freshness on top of being nice in and of itself with its purring bassline, making for perhaps my fave track here and certainly the best constructed one. 3.6
Celer Vestiges of an Inherent Melancholy3.0
Very mild Celer record, which isn't necessarily a bad thing - but here it does not work because of the constant mood shifts and disruptions from odd choices in field recordings. The first two tracks are a very sleepy, sleeping concert type of ambient. Then the record disrupts that mood with a sample of people shouting, which wasn't the best decision if you ask me. Track 5 is a creepier, grand and slightly para-esque track, 6 is regular reverby ambient with field recordings, and at that point you feel like the record is more of a Celer sampler than a standalone full-on record. Track 8 brings back the para tones and felt strangely familiar - not sure if it is because it perhaps borrows from track 5 or other Celer records, there is a strong possibility I jammed this before and forgot to rate it lol. I guess at least that means the track is memorable. The bookends are jams, but the rest is pretty unmemorable, and since the album is also poorly constructed it only gets a 2.8
Celer Red Seals4.0
Pretty flat, but good dark ambient record. The two tracks are essentially two halves of the same thing. Texture vaguely reminding of Para, but with a creepier tone. This record is chilling to the bone and pretty horror-esque, which makes it interesting although its complete lack of variability even in textures alone brings it down. Solid 3.9
Calibre Condition3.5
This album sounds like two EPs mushed together. For the first four tracks (which, on their own, would be a 4.2 EP) and a couple of the last tracks, Calibre does what he does best: subtle and smooth liquid dnb. But between those, he switches genres, from more aggressive dnb to dub ventures. Variation was not a bad idea given the record's length, but it still hurts the album. Calibre is not as proficient in those other genres, and I personally enjoy them less. It is still an excellent album that I may re-listen to, and has some of Calibre's finest tracks, but it falls short of its potential because of the artist's persistence in making excessively long albums - although he gets away with it quite skillfully. 3.7
Nakanoise Nagaremono no gi2.5
A typical example of an album that could easily gain like 0.8 in rating if it were instrumental, and 1.0 or thereabouts if it has vocals that were good. Vocals are indeed my main issue with the album and the one that drops it by the most point, though it isn't the only problem I have. Whilst their scarcity makes the album bearable and a good experience in segments, the fact that they sound like an autotuned chipmunk singing in mic that was left out in the rain really doesn't click with me. It is sad because instrumentally, 1-4 are super cool high energy aggressively toned J-rock ish with math-rock undertones at times. 3 being instrumental and with insane drumming makes it easily the best track here. Vocals aside, I do have a problem with the album structure from there on. These high-energy tracks are followed by a few EITS-worship-type soft post-rock tracks that frankly feel quite dull after all this explosivity. The energy comes back a bit on 7, but feels a lot less effective. The riff at min 3 on 8 is quite lame for example, and 9 tries to bring the interest back up with quirky J-popey technoey idk elements that sort of ride the border between fun and annoying quite well at first, but the track ends up being quite insufferable to me. The album then offers a weird 16min long ambient closer that I really like, but which feels more like a relief and the band apologising than an appropriate closure. Did safe my rating from dropping too far down from the sort of mid 3.5 it was sitting at after 1-4 even considering the vocals. 2.7
Mastodon The Hunter3.5
The really frustrating thing with this album is that, whilst the vocals and to a lesser extent a lot of the instruments went into softer proggy rock, sometimes remotely heavy/power metal influenced even, the drums and quite often the riffz have preserved most of their grit, which keeps making you long for more of their former anger rather than fully embarking you on the new sound. See 11 (with its cool rhythm changes) and many others to see that the riffage is still there. The new sound can really work well - for example 13 is really pink floydey and cool -, but rarely does it not evolve into some slight degree of wankeriness or kinda lame unfoldings - see for example 13, or the unfold of 12 after the super cool and mathy intro to 12. Although it feels a bit long by the end I'd say the album is well paced, with a well made synthy spacey rupture on 10. If you couldn't tell I only took notes near the end, but really I found this an enjoyable album with lots of Mastodon DNA and a frustrating lack of committment to either their former or future sound. Quite a few boppy sections did result from that unhappy mix, undeniably almost. 3.65
Lanterns on the Lake Gracious Tide, Take Me Home3.5
Very soft n pretty indie with lots of post-rock influences with strings and slow layered buildups, the whole giving a very strong Sigur Ros-esque vibe (Takk/Agaetis era). The record intelligently varies the aesthetic, with the great first couple of tracks (coming from the EPs I believe) transitioning after the pretty intro-ed but a bit too simply structured 3 and the pointless 4 into a very energetic 5, before calming down again until the drumming intro on 8. It isn't complacent in its lushness and knows to change things up gently but surely. On the whole not a mesmerising record, but certainly a sweet and lovely one, for those in search of very soft indie with a very big lush sound. 3.7
Old Silver Key Tales of Wanderings2.0
I really wanted this to be good. How could Drudkh + Neige produce something this poor? I thought sputnik was wrong, but it wasn't. This album disappointed me big time, mostly because of uninspired instrumentals (which is surprising from the Drudkh guys) and vocals from Neige that often sound out of place and do not feel like he put his heart into them the way he does for Alcest records. This just sounds like an early Alcest demo they want everyone to forget about, instead of the incredible supergroup album this should have been. It is not unpleasant to hear, but it is frankly very dull. 2.1
The Jezabels Prisoner4.0
This is a band that knows what they're doing. The record isn't just their EPs in a longer format - it is masterfully and carefully constructed, and bears a feeling of grandeur as a record the shorter EPs didn't quite have. The album retains the post-rock influences seen on Dark Storm, but in a much subtler and more integrated way which is delightful to hear. The opener is sublime and quite literally one of my favourite album openers, period. The following track is also an incredible jam, and both are godtier tracks with huge intensity and voluminous instrumentation. 3 retains that intensity but is perhaps not quite as strong a track, then the record gradually descends in intensity which is welcome - 14 tracks of that would have been too much. The record is very dense and quite long (without being too long) and I'd be hard pressed to pinpoint all the jams and weaker tracks. The descent gets to its calmest on 11, with a lovely keys-based ambient interlude (jam), then picks it right up with 13 which is also a jam. 14 is a questionable closer in my opinion, in fact the bonus track felt like a better closer. Throughout my listen I was hesitant between 4.2 and 4.3, but the closer tips it down. This is really dense and I can't commit to a 4.5 range rating just yet. Still reaches a solid upper 4.2
Wolves in the Throne Room Celestial Lineage3.0
In this one WiTTR are quite excellent at crafting grandeur and tension, with the choral vocals, the synths, the slow interludes, all of which is abundantly clear frmo the very album intro. The issue is that on this album they pretty much never make sitting through all that tension worth your while as the resolutions are usually really tame, generic, or certainly not on par with the grandeur that builds them up. This results in a good album that constantly feels like it's about to start, and then ends on a lengthy 7. The first half of 6 is perhaps the most well crafted package here, although there is good struff throughout - just missing some success in the more intense sections. 3.2
A Winged Victory for the Sullen A Winged Victory for the Sullen4.5
Absolutely gorgeous ambient, and imo far superior to SotL by keeping it shorter and adding lovely elements in the piano. This one just sets the mood - this mood https://i.pinimg.com/originals/3c/39/37/3c3937b55e077318bf773647d0e77492.jpg . Peace, and the slow waves at the bottom of the sea. Now, like most SotL-related material, it does overextend, with the 6th and first half of the 7th track dragging on for a tad too long. Thankfully the latter half of 7 is gorgeous with its delicate piano. Up to Vicodin Tears this is easily a 4.7, but overall feels like a 4.4
Full of Hell Roots Of Earth Are Consuming My Home3.0
This is cool, but it feels like it is mostly designed for the live setting (in which it is dope that's true). Like the sudden acceleration and fat sludge sections often seem to be designed to induce moshpits and fat headbanging. In terms of at-home listening unfortunately that yields a feeling of contrived and a slightly random structure imo. Plus a lot of the sections between the aggressive parts feel a bit awkward, and the tempo is often off even when the onslaught is on. The intro track starting on electronic chaos into classic full of hell aggression is dope at first, but after it explodes it feels a bit meh. 2 is super fat, and 3 is a lot more complex than its simple yet effectively fun beginning suggests. Some of the sections are dark and really cool, some work less well. 4 is a fun FoH track, and 5 is super cool with its electronic noise+shouts. No wonder they collabed with Merzbow, this sounds like Prurient. 6 again is fun but feels like it belongs in a show more than a studio album, and after 7 that feeling starts to get a bit old. 8 is great and ominous, but 9 is boring. After an interlude, the concluding track is more of the same, but I did dig the sludgey part especially near the end. Don't think I'll come back to this. 3.2
Roly Porter Aftertime3.0
Drone/noise that had great potential - the high points are amazing, albeit scarce - but that failed at execution. The records feel erratic, hesitating constantly between ambient, lush synth stuff, bleeps and bloops, and straight up noise, the whole of it feeling mostly boring. 1-2 got me hyped up as very noisy tracks that I found to be jams - thought this would be like Controlled Bleeding again. At the end of 2, the energy falls down to somewhat boring ambient, and the record never manages to reach that intensity again after that point. 5 would be cool as some kind of metal interlude with its nice wind instrument, but on a low energy album such as this one it felt too soft. It does grow well as a track though. 7 brings back the noisiness, and is a sublime jam as string come atop the noise mid-track. Apart from that, nothing noteworthy. I'm excited for his discog because he's capable of beautiful things, but this can't be more than a 3.1
Grouper Water People3.5
These are two very pretty songs. The problem is that the reason why I enjoy Grouper's music so much - because it sets moods and ambiances so powerfully- does not function well in a 10 minute two-tracker format. I wanted the record to continue and be the beginning of an album, instead of being an isolated island of music with no context and no conclusion. Still great sounding music, though.rEdit: again I think past bedex was a bit harsh. First track is pretty run of the mill grouper and nothing to marking, but the second is even more subdued and aquatic and I love it. Still hard to rate because of the legnth, but 3.4
Case Studies The World Is Just A Shape To Fill The Night4.0
Sweet folk album that starts very strong. 1-4 are all simple but very elegant folk songs, with a nice interplay with the deep male voice and the discrete but subtle female voices in the back. 2 is a little on the sadder side, and 4 more on the country side, but overall a great set of songs. Then 5-7 feel more like pub songs, with more voices, wider instrumentation, and honestly I feel like it breaks the mood quite substantially. If it were only 5, which is not quite my cuppa but is fun at least, it might be okay, but the piratey 6 as well as 7 really don't convince me much. In its last third, the album redeems itself somewhat, but not enough to fully regain the points it lost. 8 is nice like 1-4, and so are 9 and maybe 11, but they feel less convincing after the pub songs. 10 does feel like a halfway point, as it does have that pub song vibe but retains the softer vibe of the more subdued folk songs, and it is okay. More of 1-4 would have been 4.0 easily, but here I'll say at most (and I think I am being generous) 3.8
Sea of Shit Sea of Shit 7"3.5
Super fun little EP of aggressive stuff. I dig the vocals and prod, and this is a band I feel like I'd really dig live. Unlike a lot of grindcore, the tracks here flow seamlessly into each other and aren't really properly one minute long songs, but rather they just split one long song in a bunch of little slices. The closing track is theonly one that's a bit longer and it was quite fun, including in the feedback noisy conclusion, so it bumps this up a point. 3.6
Flourishing The Sum of All Fossils4.0
Begins as a death metal album but progressively mixes a tonne of influences along the way, which makes it a very interesting piece of music that blurs the boundaries of the genre. Edit: yea this really cool. There isn't a single song that doesn't feature either really cool ideas with various influences mixed in, or just straight up fat riffage for days. But there is also hardly any song that doesn't have less interesting sections. If you condensed all the ideas in this into a 20 min EP it'd be an easy 4.5+, but there are just mokay sections intertwined with all the good stuff. The first half to 4 opposed to the amazing second half is a clear example, but it's true of almost all of the record. 5 is another example, with a skippable intro, a great entry right after that, then meh unfolding, then back into cool riffs again - a seemingly endless alternation. 1 evokes if TDEP did death metal, and 3 is particularly bonkers. The raw vocals are fantastic but some cleaner sections eg on 6 begged for variety. 7 starts nice and punkish, and 8 is a creat ominous, riffy ending track that sadly has a pretty blander conclusion than the album deserved. Great ideas, but a potential not quite fully realised. 3.85
Djrum Mountains3.5
Track 1 is interesting and dubby but not quite a jam. 2 and 3 are the same smoky, pounding, vaguely burial-esque I daresay techno track. 2 is a jam but 3 drags a bit. The closer has more of a techno vibe, but again with this smoky, London at night prod. Three interesting takes on a same nice atmosphere, but nothing that really sticks with me. 3.6
Gesaffelstein Conspiracy PT. II3.0
This is what would play in the background of a generic underground nightclub bad drug trip scene in some TV show. It's ok, but not incredible - it sounds pretty quirky and gimmcky. Track 2 > 1 >> 3. 3.2
The Haxan Cloak Observatory2.5
Meh. Nice vaguely ambient synthy stuff, but really nothing I'll come back to. 2.5
Porches Je T'aime2.0
Meh. Weird pop/indie folk with vocals mixed way too prominently that doesn't quite work. 4 reminded me of the folk bits on early Floyd but gets a bit boring. 4 becomes sort of cool once it crescendoes. Not much else I'll retain, but it's not horrible at all. 2.2
Beau Navire Hours4.0
Now this is the Beau Navire record I remembered. The shrieking, gut-wrenching vocals may
deter some, and partially deterred my past self, but I actually kinda dig them now. The
band displays the classic post-rock interlude - agressive screamo alternation formula, but
executed fantastically. The screamo is chaotic, brutal and frantic, and offers sublime
contrast to the simple, tension-filled, short but sweet interludes. This all makes the
formula not feel cliche. The only interlude that doesn't work is 10, which feels way too
long and marks the only dip in quality in the album, with 9's chaotic start being a touch
too much for me, although when it calms down it becomes a fun, bass-filled track. This two
track run costs the album a point. Otherwise, it stays strong all the way. The intro
melody is very pretty, and I love how it gets right at your face after 20s. The closer
reuses the melody from 5, which may seem a bit easy, but works very well imo and makes the
album more memorable. This band belongs amongst the greats. 4.0
The Haxan Cloak The Haxan Cloak2.0
This may be partly my bad for expecting regular ambient/drone from the tags etc., but this felt more like an exercise on sound designing creepy atmosphere than an actual musical record. It does have some interesting bits - 1 evokes Schoenberg a bit, a lot of the tracks end on nice actual drone textures like 3 particularly, 4 or the closer; and the end of 6, although thoroughly unpleasant, introduces us to the concept of electronic grindcore. But beyond that I didn't enjoy this much at all, rather the opposite in fact. 2.0
Departures When Losing Everything Is Everything You Wanted3.0
At times this sounds like Defeater and Pianos Become the Teeth had a baby that was about two thirds as good as it sounds. At other times this sounds like the -core stuff I was listening to ages 14-15, but a bit better. Overall this is an enjoyable hardcore record, but not much more. 3.2
Gorod Transcendence3.5
My favourite Gorod record so far - although I think I rated the debut higher? The first track is very much in the prior LP's fashion i.e. awful, with no intro whatsoever. But 2 and 3 are really really cool, offering acoustic takes on tech death that not only reveal how good gorod could be if they use their musicianship to better ends, but also sounds surprisingly fun and flamencoey idk especially 2, while 3 evokes its prog/tech death roots more but is still super cool. The transition back into normal Gorod sound with 4 is rough, but after a few min the rather long (15min) track reveals itself as one of the most consistent stretches of music Gorod had ever offered at this point in their careers. The awful EP structure with two randomly acoustic tracks in hte middle hurts the rating for this, but as far as songs go this is the one I am most likely to listen to again. 3.5
Ouroboros Glorification of a Myth3.5
Despite it being really, really wankery melodeath (kinda), I actually like this record a lot.
Part of that is nostalgia, but the torrent of highly technical, Oriental-sounding riffs this
record throws at you single-handedly makes it a worthy listen despite meh vocals and a lack of
structure or storytelling. 3.6
Altar of Plagues Mammal3.5
Celer Caves With No Faces1.0
This is an awful tape, and I say this with a lot of love for some of his other works. It is already not very interesting to start with, with unremarkable textures, very short pieces that have no time to create an atmosphere, and not much else going on, but what really tips it into 'no one should ever listen to this' territory for me is the godawful panning which makes one side be entirely quiet while the other one is at full volume in a lot of places. Drone this minimalistic is a subtle art, and here it is failed completely. 1.1
Grouper A I A3.5
The first half of this album is amazing and exactly why I love Grouper. A very unique brand of vocal ambient, bordering on noise and drone. Stunning. The second half however drops in quality in my opinion and goes more into a sad minimialistic pop direction which I enjoy a lot less. 3.6
Grouper A I A: Dream Loss4.0
This one is noisier and grittier than Alien Observer which I love. It has more dynamics, a perfect example being 6, but also some blanks which break the mood and rhythm a bit. Slightly superior to its counterpart because of its diversity an occasionally more aggressive textures, but not as much as when listening to both as a same album. Pretty much all jams. The closing track does not quite feel like an album end though, understandably so. 4.1
Grouper A I A: Alien Observer4.0
I still don't get if this is a two part albums or two separate albums - going for the
latter this time round for my disco run. Wonderful and solid vocal ambient from grouper,
moving further away from the organic folkiness of DaDDUaH. 1-4 are all jams in the same
vein, and the first and only real disruption are welcome dissonant bells at the beginning
of track 5. The track then proceeds to go back to the same brand of vocal ambient up till
the end of the album, and at this point the record starts feeling lengthy. Up to mid track
5 it is a 4.15, but especially after the last track it drops down. Clearly can see how it
feels like it drags on forever when listened to as the second half of AIA instead of as an
album of its own. In isolation I'd still say it is a 4.05
Todd Terje Ragysh3.0
First track, while it never quite explodes is a fun trip throughout, from the catchy beat, to the smug synthy buildup endlessly shifting and finally peaking around min 6. A great great track. Sadly it all goes downhill from there. 2 attempts the same thing but is far less compelling and a bit skippable if I'm honest despite the end evoking nils frahm doing electro dancey stuff in a semi cool way. Then 3 is just a bore, sounding like someone having fun tweaking knobs on their eurorack but not making much sense musically. And when the drums kick in, it really doesn't work imo. 4 is just a long protracted echoey drumless version of 2, and while I appreciate softer music etc here it just feels like a bit of an unnecessary drag. Still track 1 was really fun and 2 isn't the worst, so 2.8
True Widow As High As The Highest Heavens And From The Center3.5
Stoner rock + shoegaze = double stoner. Great record to blaze with friends in a campervan in the desert somewhere. Not revolutionary but good rock songs to chill to. 3.7
Britney Spears Femme Fatale2.5
Birtney found the Eurodance patch on her Casio keyboard. This one takes a completely
dancefloor-oriented electronic approach, and looses a bit of the Britney style I enjoyed on
Circus. It's still an okay record, but it will probably age far less well - already has in
places actually -, and feels a bit more generic too. Most tracks feel mindless, but okay
and mildly catchy. 1 has a fun last chorus, 2 works a bit better, 4 sounds outdated already
but is kinda infectious still, 6 too. 3 is slower and brosteppy, it's alright but again you
see how this won't age very well. 5 and 7 are kinda boring. 8 sounds like a parody track
almost, like a Salut C'est Cool x Britney collab, featuring the dumbest outro on the album,
and while it could have been fun the result is awful. 10's again alright and mindless. 11
is interesting and sounds like it could have been a redo of a song from say her third album
but with the sound of this one. It's kinda nice but feels out of context. The 'acoustic'
melody of 12 offers a nice break from the general abrasive eurosynth sound of the album,
and to intro a closer track I think it is an excellent decision. It is a nice track on its
own, but most importantly I really respect its choice as a closing track. Bumps the album
up a point. Rating still low because this doesn't really have a single Britney jam I want
to come back to. 2.6
Belong Common Era3.5
This oscillates between shoegazy drone and droney shoegaze. The end of the album (7-9) is frankly a bit boring and brought it down a couple points. 1 has an odd intro but thereafter it's a nice track. 2 and 3 are really nice droney shoegaze tracks, and 5 is a jam of sweet shoegazy drone reminding of a male vox version of Grouper. 4 is the only weak track in that first half and is frankly quite boring, but overall that first half is still between 3.7 and 3.8. Saddly the boring second half brings the record down to a mere 3.5
Ash Borer Ash Borer4.0
Very glad I checked it. It's far from perfect, and there are some losses of focus and rhythm in at least 2/3 tracks, but man when they explode these guys really can throw some raw and aggressive bm wall at you. This is particularly visible in 1 and 3 where the explosions are sudden (but good) after nice melodic or calmer passages. 3 has some of hte best bits here - that intro explosion, the melodic interludey bit around min 6, some other riffage later on, but also the worst with an album conclusion that gets frankly annoying and takes this down a point. 2 is quite epic like 1 but both have slightly awkwards bits, and 2 perhaps more so. All in all an excellent album that I'd recomment but with flaws that keep it to strict 4.0 range. At this point in their career AB feel like a band taht has a 5.0 in them potentially should they master album construction - but from the sput ratings it doesn't look like that magnum opus has come out yet. 4.05
Rise (UK) Messages4.0
Some surprisingly strong points I would say when it comes to nu-jazz/UK jazz a la gogo penguin a bit/lo-fi beat + jazz and that sort of erm jazz. Tracks like the two 'Messages', 3, or 10 with its more acoustic-sounding drums are quite high point and evoke older, grander jazz delightfully whilst obviously giving it a more modern/electronic touch. The record is hindered by its structure however, with too many tracks that are too short with too few transitions and far, far too many fadeouts, which makes the whole lot feel a bit clunky when it could really have been a more compelling album where it more smoothly continuous. The sparse of vocal samples is really well done I have to say, giving some nice soul to the lot, and 9 is a successful interlude as it changes the vibe a fair bit. Worth a check if you're into this sort of genre. https://futuristicamusic.bandcamp.com/album/messages 3.8
Wye Oak Civilian3.0
I really liked the first track on this, and a couple other ones. It does have its high points and is a cool indie rock with interesting instrumentations, perfect for a psychedelic listen on a road trip. I will probably re-listen to it, even though it failed to grab my attention during most of the album. 3.2
Julianna Barwick The Magic Place3.5
This is far more of a full record than Sanguine was, with longer tracks (i.e. now they are of regular track length, not just snippets) and transitions here and there - at any rate, far fewer fadeouts, though criminally almost the album does end on a fadeout. This LP is also almost twice as long, and has a slightly more unified style of loopey ambient vocal choral stuff with discrete instrumentation, perhaps a little too unified even as the main fault I found here was lack of variation whereas the strength of Sanguine was to show a breadth of sound from blissful to droney. I lost my notes like a dumb dumb so the details wont be accurate. Tracks like 1-3 feel really nice and showcase the album's style quite well, but by 4 you kind of wish for that style to shift a bit to something else especially given how inherently repetitive it is. This continues on 5 which made my rating drop quite a bit. Thankfully the next few tracks do shift things a bit - only a touch too late perhaps for me - by focusing more on individual instruments, and by making the vocals step back a bit. 6 looks more at the piano, 7 at the guitar, 8 at a synth loops and even a cool drum beat after a while, before 9 eventually comes back to a blissful choral + piano combo that is one of the strongest tracks here but does end on a fadeout. Again I really like her style, I don't think this is the magnum opus I am looking for yet but there are some tracks to rejam. 3.65
Beau Navire Life Moves3.5
While still thin and very demo-ey, the prod on this is far better and at least acceptable compared to the one on their actual demo tape. I like how 1 wastes no time getting to the meat of it, but 2 felt like a stronger track with a cool intro and early math-rock vibes. The thing is that the hyper intense Beau Navire screamo vocals and general vibe feel a bit incongruous on that type of instrumental, which whilst good feels like it doesn't quite belong there? 3 feels a bit less cool instrumentally, but also more congruous. From then on it is like the band realised they wanted to do screamo and not Don Caballero with despaired shrieks, as 4 shows a fantastic intro that finally feels like it belongs with the voice and the general vibe. Sadly the track doesn't unfold too great after a minute or so, but the ensuing three tracks work very well, 5 being especially chaotic. These last three tracks feel like the band finally found its sound. And while on its own this album doesn't feel super convincing, owing mostly to the prod but also to the kinda weird compositions early on, it did set them up for the rest of their discog. Not a great debut, but an encouraging and exciting one. 3.25
Armistice Armistice3.0
The 5.0 review and mariachi-esque instrumental on track 1 got me excited about this, on top of Beatrice Martin's voice. But in the end the godawful naive 'gnangnan' feel this album oozes completely overshadows its qualities. The duo vocal style is particularly cheesy. The instrumentals remain quite interesting through the EP though which still makes this worth a spin. 3.0
Porches Summer of Ten3.5
At first I wasn't sure how I felt about this. It is quite bizarre and difficult to describe. Keys-based indie weirdcore pop with vaguely dissonant male vox? It is interesting and I grew to quite like it as each track went by. 5 is perhaps the most digestable, being closer to regular psych pop, and 4 is quite bouncy. A cool alien record that makes me excited for the rest of their discog. 3.45
Ulcerate The Destroyers of All3.5
Felt a tad weaker and more generic than its predecessor. Drums are a big part of that - I
don't know if it is from the way they're composed, the way they're mixed, or both, but
where drums on EiF felt technical, subtle, and a fantastic framework for the rest of the
instruments, here they just feel like a wall of blast beats after the other, which again
feels more generic and is just less interesting to me. The snare in particular is quite
high, which may affect this phenomenon, which the conclusion of 3 is symptomatic of. Now
this is is still quality, brutal death metal, but except in a few places (the start of 3 is
the first time the album evokes EiF, and the midtrack of 6 is another holy fk moment), it
has nowhere near the wow factor EiF had. Might be a slightly excessively low rating, but
this felt like a 3.7
Ichiko Aoba Origami4.0
Might be a matter of listening conditions, but while sweet and indubitably pretty, this one didn't feel as magical as the debut. Most of the songs feel simpler and more of what you'd expect upon hearing the words 'pretty japanese guitar folk'. This is clear from the start with 1-2. 3 does reintroduce Ichiko's delightful strummed cascades, and when the simpler 4 comes is works quite better than 1-2 in contrast. 5, continues this, then 6 is more of a playful fun track, immediately followed by another highlight on the darl, rich 7. Really cool, but also makes the album atmosphere feel a touch to erratic. 8 finishes on a pretty track again to conclude nicely. Sweet, but debut felt better on first listen. 3.75
Desolate (DE) The Invisible Insurrection3.0
Sweet but a bit forgettable. This has roots in ambient, lounge, downtempo etc, with touches of Burial and Djrum but not in the same style as them. He uses organic instruments like strings and piano a fair bit too. 5 is a very pretty and relaxed jam, and 10 is the jam from the Heroic Death EP - the only track he took from that EP so good taste there. 1 is kinda cool and has a different vibe to the rest of the album with some dark, creepy undertones, but transitions well into the much lusher 2 - still nice. The rest is pretty, but also not super marking. 3.2
Akua Naru The Journey Aflame3.5
If CYNE were one woman instead of a bunch of dudes. Cool instrumentals, groovy vocal deliveries. The album drags on a bit and feel a little flat at times, but the mix of influences and spotless execution are to be appreciated. Not the album of the century but a worthwhile listen for sure, if anything for the cool style this record has. 3.7
Turnstile Pressure To Succeed2.5
Idk if it is a question of mood but this felt like a bloated, duller version of the demo. At least the demo packs a lot of heaviness quickly and is just outright fun. Whereas this one is a glaring example of vox that arent inherently bad, but dont fit. On this Turnstile feel a lot like they don't want to admit to themselves they want to be a breakdown moshpit 2010s metalcore band, and so maintain their hxc vocals that dont really work and are really overbearing over the whole 15 minutes this takes. The only place they really fit well are bits like the run of the mill first 25 seconds of 5 for example, before we turn to moshpit riffing again. 6 starts on a funky rhythm but as soon as the vox come it's just urgh. And this was already showing on 1 as the doomier, more metal tone from the get go doesn't fit with the vox, though starting from the hella cool 1:45 riffage the track improves a lot. 3 has a cool intro and bass+drums in the outro, but again the Beastie Boys vibes on the vocals are just not in music where they can thrive. Idk maybe I just wasnt in the right mood. 2.6
Beau Navire Demo Tape3.0
Prod wise this sounds like absolute ass (at least the stream that I found here dozq https://tenzenmen.bandcamp.com/album/demo-tape ), and unless you're doing a discog run there isn't much of a reason to ever check this I guess. But despite the extremely thin prod, songs like 2,4, 6 a bit, and 7 especially manage to shine through. Had I grabbed this tape in 2011 I would have thought man this is an exciting band but they need to get themselves an audio engineer. 3.1
Svarte Greiner Twin3.5
This is nice, ominous, textbook drone. For once he doesn't play with too many textures going all over the place, and as a result the record is very atmospheric and nicely consistent. It is simple, not hugely memorable, but well executed. 1 is a bit religious sounding which is cool, and decays out nicely at the end of the track. Could be an EP of its own really, and I was worried 2 would feel too long. But it is sufficiently different and grabbing for it to not be the case. The midtrack is especially nice. The second half does feel a bit less interesting and too long, but the actual conclusion is very nice and brings right back up to a textbook 3.5
Alabama Shakes Alabama Shakes4.0
On today's episode of bands I listened to in the distant past but lost track of for no reason, Alabama Shakes and their splendid debut EP I never checked out. Had to have been very exciting back in 2011. The first two tracks are great Alabama Shakes jam, and it is very impressive that they are on just a debut EP, both compositionally and prod wise. Track 3 is fine but felt a tad weaker, while track 4 displays more of their soul/worship music influences and is quite fun. I missed those guys, when are they coming back? 3.8
Tokyo Shoegazer Crystallize4.0
Great album showing lots of sides of shoegaze and post-rock even - alas the last track is a bit of a draggy letdown. Full writeup coming too yknow 3.9

2010
4 Bonjour's Parties Okapi Horn3.5
Very nice. To be fair to the debut I had much better conditions for this one, but Okapi did feel far superior and more engaging, especially in the first few songs. I did phase out a bit about halfway, but some of the tracks still managed to bring me back. 7 because it was a bit too quirky in its first half (but the second is cool), 8 because it brings back the soft math rock influences a bit, 9 becuase it is nice and chill but also bcs its conclusion exemplifies what I find a bit less interesting in this. STylistically this is very similar to the debut: soft inidie folk with very varied instrumentation. The chimes reminded me of Takk a fair bit actually. 1 and 3 were perhaps my faves but I'd need to pay more attention in the second half of the record next time. 3.6
Amia Venera Landscape The Long Procession4.0
Temporary rating as I had godawful poor listening condition, plus was not paying enough attention. Almost would 4.3 it right now though. Really diverse, and managed to make me like vocals I usually find annoying borderline insufferable. Post-rock, post-hardcore, post-metal, post everything, with intelligent interludes and shifts in atmospheres, instrumentation, and vocals. MUST re-listen. 4.2
sway (CA) This Was Tomorrow3.0
It's interesting how I have heard three records from this dude and they could have come from three entirely different bands. That alone warrants respect. This one explores a more electronica direction on nearly every track, boasting a lot of Cynic-esque autotuned vocals and synth works. I like the intent, but I don't think it quite works, especially in the mid record. 3 sounds like a weird house remix of itself, and on 4 the mix of shoegaze + electronica + 070 Shakes vox really doesn't feel coherent. 5 feels skippable. Thankfully the later record improves a lot. 6 is less electronica more in the vein of his prior work and simply works better. 7 is a sweet interlude abruptly transitioning into 8 but thankfully 8 quickly calms down into a cool track with a nice conclusion. 9 shows a bit of an abrasive side here with some riffage and is frankly cool, but again the overprocessed vox feel out of place. 10 is nice and has cool moments like the bridge at min 3. The very early two tracks kind of make the electronic sound work too, 1 being an interesting opener with a very cool intro and more of a post-rock vibe to it - still retaining solid shoegaze lushness, and 2 boasting some nice prominent drums but again with the vox not quite fitting. This record feels like a somewhat failed but commendable experiment. 3.0
Rihanna Loud3.0
Listened to this on 8/11 but forgot to upload here. Probably her strongest album so far. Only three annoying tracks on 3, 8 and 9. 5 is the truest jam of her discog so far, a super bouncy and dancy track. 4,6 and 11 see Rihanna finally succeeding at making emotional/ballad-type songs. 11 is a great album finale with Eminem's feat coming as a neat 'surprise'. 7 brings back the dub influences a bit which is nice to see, and 1-2 are nice modern era Rihanna track although they have not-so-good moments too. Overall a somewhat solid pop album (wish there were more jams though), topped by Rihanna's best album artwork imo. 3.0
Memoryhouse Caregiver / Heirloom3.5
From what I gather (but I may well be wrong), Heirloom appears on a later album but Caregiver isn't released anywhere else and justifies this being a legitimate EP. Both songs are quite nice albeit not stunning, in standard Memoryhouse fashion imo. The conclusion to Heirloom is a high point. I'd have to re-listen to their followup LPs to see if this deserves a place in my library or not. 3.5
Celer The Die That's Caste3.0
Starts off with very nice, broody, dark subaquatic drone, very soft and not gritty at all. The soundtrack to deep ocean diving, watching a whale descend into the abyss. But the prod feels quite amateur I daresay, especially for him. After 10min (even though it's only 17min long) it's getting too samey though. It doesn't have the density of pieces like Para or Basinski's to work on a long time like this without much variation - or rather, very slow variation, for the sound does lighten up after the first track. I'm also not a huge fan of the vox sample at the end, which kinda disrupts the mood if you ask me and seems out of context and contrived. So yeah apart from the first track which I find very nice, pleasing and cinematic, this isn't exactly a strong Celer tape. 2.95
Prince Of Denmark Soulfood2.5
An EP that excites me for the rest of PoD's stuff, but that doesn't work very well on its own. 1 is a great albeit slow opener that I'd see nicely starting a much longer set than this EP. Thankfully it is continuous with 2 which is the highlight here, nice dub techno once it kicks in but that doesn't quite reach the level of jam and feels not ambitious enough with too few sounds and synths. 3 is a mistake and breaks both the continuity and the mood with a boring, overlong generic track. 4 is also overlong with a meh intro and a semi-annoying last minute or two, but the bulk of the track is sweet and bouncy with a lovely round bass, but again not a jam. Record is very nicely produced and shows potential, but it's only a 2.7 really.
Taylor Swift Speak Now2.5
Same as the previous one: while this is clearly better than her debut (and, arguably, than Fearless too), it is way too long and I had disconnected halfway through. 1 is honestly a fun song showing lots more colour and dynamics that she used us to, the back male vocals give a kinda nice albeit cheesy to no end romantic touch, and they're used well on 3 again. 4 is already kinda meh, 6 is as boring oklahomacore as it gets, and yeah by 7 I was already out of it. Up to 9 I was just getting bored - 10 felt like a little too much and I wanted her to calm down a bit. Now at least 12 woke me up with its slightly different instrumentation and the strings it adds - not a fantastic song but it did manage to bring my attention into the album a bit, which is something Fearless didn't quite manage to do, bumping this one a point. But yeah apart from that that second half wasn't for me. Idk if I prefer this one or Fearless, and honestly I don't care. 2.6
Shakira Sale El Sol2.0
Much better than She Wolf in that it is not unpleasant per se, but still a weak album. 10 is an interesting track, and 2, 6 I think and 7 are kinda nice. The rest is just bland and not memorable, but nothing too annoying. 2.0
A Sunny Day in Glasgow Autumn, Again3.0
This one is a much more straightforward listen. It is shorter, the mix of genres is much simpler and most songs are dream pop, even the vox feel less processed and distantly reverberated. It also left often feels like one continuous stream and more like a compilation of separate, relatively generic songs. The goal is clearly to make you tap ya foot - the art says 'pop songs' quite fittingly' - and ventures less into psychedelia. This works on some songs, but not enough of them are jammy to compensate for the lost of the sheer 'interesting' factor. From 2 already you can tell this is a more straightforward album. 4 sounds like dream pop heard from a distance but is weak wth sounds way too aggressive for the record. 5 feels a bit like Porches with that weirdness that doesn't flow right and similar vox. The second half is much stronger, with 6 instantly claiming itself a poppier fun song even before the drums kick in, and when they do boy is it a jam. 7 feels Depeche Mode infuse and again shows the increased immediacy of this LP, 9 is a catchy song again albeit not as jammy as 6, but 11 often less energic a conclusion than this deserved. Overall a good effort but they did not quite manage the change of direction on all the tracks. 3.1
Vestiges The Descent Of Man4.0
Man if this were better produced it'd be monumental. It's not the end of the world but you do feel like the prod hurts the experience a bit. The ambient intro and outro tracks are great, although the latter feels a bit too long. Then 2 offers a fantastic sample platter of everything the band can do: you get FoE crust, sludge, black metal, post-metal vibes, and it all flows surprisingly well. The track is overall bonkers and the transition into 3 is a masterclass. 3 is also great, but by min 4 struggles a bit and annouces a dip in quality in the middle of the album. 4 is a simpler track and is fine but feels far less marking than 2 or 4. 5 picks it up again with a super cool buildup into a great explosion that makes you really wish the prod were fuller and better. 6 has a nice explosion too, again hurt by the prod, and reinforces the impression of the outro track being excessively long by having a protracted conclusion itself. Fantastic potential especially shown on 2, but I feel like they can do even better things. 3.75
Grouper Hold / Sick4.5
Short Grouper records usually give me trouble because they frustrate me building up gorgeous atmosphere and then just suddenly stopping with no room to develop. Did not quite feel this here although I can't explain why. Wonderful short Grouper fix, more in the droney vein of her later records than of the folky DaDDuaH and the lp before that. 3.6 Edit: wtf past me this is perfect 4.3
Memoryhouse Choir of Empty Rooms3.5
Hardly a memoryhouse record, this one is straight up ambient. There is a nicely welcome trace of vocals on the last track but that's it. Some of the tracks are really nice ambient, and some feel superfluous, so all in all this is a sweet record but not a huge deal either. 1 kicks things off nicely, 2 gets darker and slightly noisy which I always love, but by 3 it starts to feel samey. 5 adds a touch of water samples here and there and is quite nice but feels a bit too fx-based. 6 is a top track here especially at the end with its lovely glacial sounds, which 6 reuses but in a far less interesting composition. 8 is nice with the vocals as I said, which is a cool idea to close off the album. 3.4
The Jezabels Dark Storm4.0
Scratch my first impression, it was due to poor listening conditions. This is superb, especially the first two tracks which are both jams. The vocals work even better here and feel catchier and (nicely) poppier than before. This doesn't take away any intensity to the music, which feels extremely intense despite not being extreme - an achievement to be praised. 3 and 4 are more of the same without quite reaching the same level but remaining sublime. 5 is the weakest track here, it's not bad but being the album closer and in contrast to the rest it brings the album down a point. The post-rocky touches on 1 and 3 are a bit clich but still sweet and a noticeable new addition. Also love the artwork. 4.1
Emuul Crawling Across The Rafters4.0
Great ambient record, with more instrument-based textures and fewer synth/noise/field recording sounds than commonly found in the genre - at least that's what it feels like. The first track is phenomenal, and 'Haunting with M' is really good too - the rest is ok. Worth a re-listen and props for having a black metal logo without doing black metal at all - although the ambiences created here remind of ambient black metal. 3.9
Women Public Strain3.5
This honestly felt way overhyped. I can't even say I had bad listening conditions or anything. Overall I find the vocals are so the bare minimum that they mostly take away from the atmosphere without adding much at all. 1 is drony and kinda cool vox aside, then I frankly found nothing memorable up to the nice seaside-ness of 4. 5's quite functional drone, and then 6 is boring to me again. The album so far feels a bit like a bland pop rock record from the 60s perked up with some noisier, more modern production idk. It's not until 7 that the cool math-rock tendencies foreshadowed on LP1 poke their nose vaguely. 8 brings the interest further up with its nice noisiness and hypnotic bass though it's still not really a jam. 9 brings the mathiness again in the stereo interplay between the guitars, but by the midtrack it goes back to zzz. 10 has cute guitars but again and again the vox kinda break it for me. 11 is a good track with fun grit, but the album feels like it ends into nowhere. At least LP1 was a debut and felt like I tried a bit further? 3.3
Twin Shadow Forget3.5
From 3 days ago oops. A cool album that I would never have described as dream pop, but rather goes through lots of electronica with an 80s Depeche Mode twang. It is very nicely produced, and it is music I would be very proud to have made with all its multilayers. BUT the voice fells like a cool attempt and works on occasion, but none of the tracks feel fully baked and very few have playlist potential because of this. 11 exemplifies what I don't like vocally here. I do like the rough prod on the vox on 1, and after a mokay buildup the track unfolds in a fun way, but as it opens up it just stops - although the transition into 2 isn't bad. 2 really shows how i feel with some vox that is alright and some vox taht is questionable, but I like the abrasive bits. 3 globally works, and the 80s vocals work sometimes in it. 4 has an absolute bitchin jam of an intro, that unfolds into an alright-ish track alas. 5 unfolds better and shows how multilayered this gets. 6 again has a cool intro but struggles to properly unfold. 7 vividly reminds me of Depeche Mode but struggles too. 8-9 shows the breadth of influences here with lots of electronica, and the cool af synth pop 9 is only broken by the vocals. 10 is cool and fast and sweet. So an album that could've been great, and that remains really cool, but that isn't on the whole that much of a keeper for me. 3.5
State Faults Head in the Clouds3.5
Nice screamo, but nothing that quite amazed me and I'm not really a fan of the vocals. They're not unpleasant but they're not my favorite. The clean vocals on the closer are annoying though. Nice instrumentations otherwise. 3.3
Agnes Obel Philharmonics4.5
I can't be objective for one bit with this one, I know every single song almost note for note because of my maman and I have a lot of affection for the record. I do find that some of the later songs are not AS striking and memorable as in the first act, with some of the transitions not being quite ideal, and because I do prefer the first half of the record without hesitation that drops it a couple points. Thakfully the last two tracks pick things up quite well and we stay well afloat at a delightful, heartwarming 4.3
Patrick Watson Je Te Laisserai Des Mots4.5
I can't legitimately rate a single any higher than a 4.5 especially with a track this short, but as far as individual songs go this is an absolute stunner. Wonderful, breathtaking emotion. 4.5
Gnaw Their Tongues L'arrivée de la Terne Mort Triomphante4.5
Orchestral noisy dark ambient/black metal. Don't have to say much more: this record is
f*cking terrifying and will chill your spine like day old pee in Siberia. The musical
embodiment of a cold, devastated hell. Glorious. 4.3
A Swarm of the Sun Zenith3.0
This is better than Zenith - which is surprising because it came beforehand. It is also a pretty generic post-rock release. The first half is a lot more interesting and diverse, whilst the second half really drops dramatically in quality and becomes frankly dull. I feared the end of 'I Fear the End' would never come. Still, this album has quite a few ok moments and some that are actually good. 3.2
Candy Claws Hidden Lands3.5
This one gives me A Sunny Day in Glasgow vibes from being one long continuous, difficult to comprehend blur with a peculiar atmosphere to it. I do know I enjoyed it more than their prior LP - for starters, unlike the latter, this one is never annoying and the prod is much improved. I love 1 as a very soft way for the album to ease itself into the ears, and the beginning of 2 is a perfect follow up although the track unfold into a sort of carnival atmosphere I find a touch odd. 5 is kinda fun, 6 has a sort of ritualistic vibes to it especially in the last third, and is one of the few distinct sections that stand out in the overall blur. Another one of these is the fun synth (or do I recognise a theremin?) coming into the second half of the closing track. I really might rejam this one, feels like a Big Fish village lost somewhere. 3.65
Celer Panoramic Dreams Bathed In Seldomness4.0
Again, fantastic ambient-drone from Celer. Track 1 and 2 are not particularly great, they have brilliant textures but those are deserved by a choppy and erratic structure which struggles to establish a mood. Track 3 is much more linear which allows the atmosphere to set in, and the result is a fantastic track. Track 4 brings it up a notch and is the genre perfectly executed. Maybe not as surprising as Para, but very good. 4.15
Sea Oleena Sea Oleena4.0
This is great dreamy Groupery acoustic dream pop in the vein of their (her?) Sleeplessness
EP. It did not strike me quite as much as the latter, but it still is a lovely record. It
has some good ideas and explores things, which at select times sounded just a touch odd.
Nothing too bad and I thoroughly enjoyed the record - will have to re-listen. 3.8
Edit yea I agree with my past self. This one alternates ambient tracks then folk tracks,
and those (2,4 and especially 6 despite some questionable snare? mixing) are particularly
loveable. Also the beginnig to 1. Yup I'll stick to my 3.8
Yoriko Ichinomiya Tango renka3.5
I was kind of set up to expect something completely different, so a bit of my judgement is tainted in that regard. This is largely an album of sad-ish ballads, mostly piano-based, in a varying mix of Japanese and English, that are generally well sung and well played, and that would work well in movies, but that are also not exactly the type of stuff I tend to jam more than once. The first couple tracks led me to expect more than this, as both open up in surprising ways after a few minutes, with some saxophone, the instrumentals opening up, more energy and more of a beat, making them somewhat cool tracks. The atmosphere is slow, subdued, sensual, a bit a la Sade (not in sound just in vibe), and the tracks definitely set a mood. This is also true of the more guitar based 3, and 4 goes back to the piano with a very pretty intro but adds sporadic accordion and is really quite pretty. 5 is another pretty guitar ballad. So far so good, and the songs have enough variety between them to be entertaining as a record but also individually. Then 6-9 is just piano ballads, and whilst they are all equally well crafted, they just blur into another. That's just too much sad pianocore in a row for me. It's not awful but it's not my cuppa. Then 10 goes back to jollier piano and almost feels like a saloon/bar kind of song, and I guess it's cute - at least it has the merit of not ending the album on a streak of piano ballads. A well crafted album that I don't really care for, sporadic French sound bites or not. 3.4
Drake Thank Me Later2.5
Severely lacking jams to pull it upwards, but not annoying enough to be sub-2.5. 1 is clearly the hardest jam here, and kind of the only one. I was worried about the feats, but I have to say they're really successful and sometimes even the strongest part of the track. The two ends of the album, 1-3 and 10-13 (14 is pretty meh) are the strongest by far, especially 10 and 11. 13 is catchy but it feels like it's a cover I can't put my finger on. In its middle the album feels a bit like Drake hasn't gotten over the 2000's yet, and a lot of instrumentals or choruses are very questionable, most tracks are pretty annoying or boring and there isn't a lot to retain rally. 4 does have a cool instrumental, but there's just too much that doesn't work to retain much else really. This drags the album down a whole lot to a 2.6
Lantlos .neon4.0
Indubitably builds upon the strengths of its predecessor and adds lots to it, but not without flaws. There are lots of phases here where the post- DNA is most apparent, especially in the simple yet efficient intro of 1 and 3 where it could almost be a CoL song in places. And frankly I quite dig it. After that the bm entry 1 is a bit meh though, and the album despite the sweet round bass doesn't start the strongest way. The second reprise 5min in is super sweet and almost envy-esque though, prefacing the peak of the album on 2-3, with 2 being just strong overall especially at the start and 3 demonstrating lots of these newer elements I mentioned with post-metal vibes, clean singing from Neige (obviously lovely), and just a very cool song overall. The album never makes it quite back to that quality though, with 4 being fatter and cool but not as compelling, 5 not having the best intro but cool bm thereafter, and 6 which is slower and more cinematic. By that point things feel a bit draggy, and the heights of 2-3 feel a bit distant, but I do dig the grand, gritty outro to the album. An album that demonstrates very good steps forward and could easily be 4.0 if not more in its best phases. 3.85
Tame Impala Innerspeaker4.5
Tunes tunes tunes. Prod is a bit rougher on the edge than I remembered, but man does this have catchy melodies. 4.3
Lanterns on the Lake Lungs Quicken3.0
1 gets very pretty and is the chief reason to jam this. It is however quite a slow burner sappy indie softsong, and I feel like it will fit better on the full-length whre I think it is featured. 2 is pretty too but far calmer, and that would be fine if 3 had energy, but instead we are served with an unncessary outro track on a record that is less than 10min long. 3.0
(The) Slowest Runner (In All The World) We, Burning Giraffes4.0
This is cool post-rock and certainly worth a check, but the first third struggles a lot by constantly building up into climaxes that never really feel like they lead anywhere, pausing, then building up again, repeating the pattern to a clock and thus losing the listener a bit. It's a shame because the instrumentation is quite original and leads to really cool sections (the intro or the buildup at min 5 on 1, and the gorgeous piano transition at 6:30 on 3). The advantage is that it makes it feel flowing and organic, but a bit boring to my taste. The middle of the album breaks this cycle and really is its peak. 4 offers a very nice and dark atmosphere that caught my attention by stopping the ebb and flow of conclusionless climaxes, while 5 is a super cool jam, full of cool ideas for start to finish, and convinced me that this band was well worth the check despite the rough first third. The interlude that ensues on 6 is also very nice. Finally, the last track dips in quality a bit, but still feels a bit better than the first third of the album due to its less predictable construction. It's a lot darker and starts off with difficulty, but by the midtrack and its ambient-ish passages (a style which I kinda wish they stuck to instead of taking so much inspiration from pointless crescendocore) at min 5 or 7-8, and from the pretty min 12 leading to an awesome conclusion. This has dope artwork, and I'm also baffled that sputnik can handle the band name. If you like post-rock check it. 3.75
Cynic Re-Traced3.0
I am trying to look at this in a vacuum without the context of their discog - and in that sense, I guess it's kinda cool -, but I have a really hard time not seeing this as someone taking songs from TiA, sucking all the life, colour and dynamics out of it, and leaving a cool but monochrome skeleton - not unlike what was done with the artwork. This is particularly true of 1 and 2. The issue isn't quite that the metal is gone, but rather than the flavour and dynamics it gave to the music hasn't found a replacement. And when the 'metal' comes back on track 5, it makes the song instantly stand out as a dynamic track even though it's not necessarily that good. The album does find its balance even without the metal on 3, which is quite solid and gives good hope as it unfolds into the pretty guitar intro of 4, but 4 disappoints and quickly bores with its whiny vocals. Eh just check 3 or jam TiA. 3.15
Deafheaven Demo4.5
Deafheaven's sound is already there, but the black metal influences are more predominant, still with the characteristic post-rock interludes they are known for and have come to use increasingly along the years. This early output is excellent, although less ambitious and grand than their full-length work.
The National High Violet4.0
This is very pretty and it will grow on me for sure as I get to know it better - hadn't heard it in years, literally. But because it is quite restrained and subdued, only few tracks stood out on this undedicated listen - 6 and 9, namely. This isn't the kind of album you can fully appreciate whilst doing something else so don't @me I'll listen to it more closely next time. 4.2
Panda Riot Far and Near4.0
This band is super cool and they know what they're doing. Again this is full of ideas and difficult transitions they manage really well. The clearest example is the use of distortion on 1 and 4 which despite being sudden and abrupt works very smoothly and comes off as a nice surprise. The trippy 1 is perhaps the clearest jam here as it evolves with a multitude of cool elements - a track that keeps on giving. It's not that the rest is ever bad or weak but 1 just has that extra edge. 2-3 give off 'champetre'/Big Fish vibes that I got from bands like A Sunny Day in Glasgow or a cleaner Candy Claws' Hidden Lands, 2 being perhaps more complacent and 3 jollier. 4 is super happy and fun with the distortion as I said. After a pretty and relaxing interlude on 5, 6 starts off with distortion straight away and is a cool song on the more rock side of things. The finale and it's fun riffing brings this up half a point (despite the overall thin prod) to a 3.75
Parades Foreign Tapes3.5
This is a record that is full of ideas, fun riffs, fun instrumentation etc, but that somehow didn't really resonate with me. I'm not sure why but it's like the songs fail to bring emotion, their ideas being too disjointed to make the tracks jammy. I owe this a relisten. There are lots of cool drumming and intros (1-3,5-7), variety with 3 being more on a pop side or 5 being an interlude with really sweet sounds, diverse instrumentation - I particularly enjoyed the added brass and the conclusion on 9. I do have to say not everything works, like the post rock guitar on 9 feels super contrived, and the male vocals feel shy and subpar compared to the female vox. But I still didn't get as transported as I'd expect. 3.6
Beach House Zebra EP3.5
Perhaps my favourite record of theirs so far, simply benefiting from being an EP with all
relatively (for BH) strong songs with less sameyness than on their full lengths. Still, I can't
help but find this band so tame. It's a bit pretty, it's a bit dreamy, a bit psychedelic, but
it's all very mild - I need me some stronger flavour. Honestly the most marking song was the
remix at the end, which at least adds some cool unexpected textures like a post-rock guitar over
their sound and more of a sense of grandeur, making an actually good song that I enjoyed. Says a
lot doesn't it. 3.5
Darkthrone Circle the Wagons2.5
Less bad than its two predecessors, but still not an album I'd see myself jamming ever again. It's true there are some good riffs in this kind of heavy metal/beer metal with a more aggressive tone style, and the song intros are often fun. The middle of the album was also encouraging as 4 and 5 despite their flaws are kind of fun. But there are too many flaws in the rest of the album to compensate. 1 starts off making me want to jam heavy metal from the old days instead, not something purposefully out of date (fight me). And then the vocals just ruin most tracks, to varying degrees. Plus there are frank construction errors, peaking on the absolutely terrible conclusion to 7 where, unless it's a spotify bug, the track fades out (yuck), then come back on its intro riff suddenly (which made me think I had looped it accidentally), then fades out again. By 6 the alb really got me tired tbh. 8 is kind of fun for a minute before the vocals break it, and 9 starts off frankly in a (badly) comical way but does feature some good riffs before it gets bnoring. Ok I suppose but just not an album for me. 2.5
Flourishing A Momentary Sense of the Immediate World3.5
Really, really cool and exciting demo/debut EP that is quite different from their full-length (at least from what I remember). This one is chaotic and more corey, reminding of CI-era TDEP in places, which is nicely complemented by the raw but far from awful prod and the coarse vocals. The songs all flow well into one another and it's hard to think of them as highlights as opposed to a long, epileptic continuum of riffage and aggressive screms. The one exception is 2, with its absolutely superb sudden acoustic bridge back into ominous riffage. Superbly done. This might be a demo, but honestly I think I might well jam it again. 3.5
Alcest Écailles De Lune4.5
Absolutely stunning evolution from their debut. 1-3 is god tier and easily 4.4-4.5
territory. Abysses, albeit a lovely dark ambient interlude, is what brings the album down
as it faults its construction massively. The last two tracks are much softer than the first
three, and progressively decay away in reverberated lushness. If it weren't for Abysses,
they could be a lovely descent down from the bm goodness of 3, similarly to Boris' Flood 4.
But the pause created by Abysses forces us to regard those last two tracks as a standalone
'second half' which never reaches the heights of the first one, whereas it would have
functioned perfectly as a counterpart to the increasing heaviness of the first three tracks
if it were continuous with them. The album is still lovely, but this critical flaw in
construction prevents it from currently being a potential 5 from me, and it ends at 4.35
Quadron Quadron3.5
My rating isn't super fair because I was working with this only being in the background, and I didnt take proper notes or pay enough attention. That being said, it is very clear even without close analysis that this is a compilation album. There are very few transitions between tracks if any, and the style and energy change with every track. In fact this record is so inhomogeneous yet overall quite consistently good that it works beautifully as a playlist in its own right; it was actually a great thing to jam while working because it felt like just having a playlist on shuffle that you don't need to pay attention to (I checked, shuffle wasn't on I promise). As a record to listen to with full attention though I'd say that would be a downside probably. Most songs go from just not playlistable to nice and playlistable, but no real huge jams; highlights include 4 which, while not very playlistable is cool and bitchin' with its sax and all; 5, which is a random ass Christmas-type song and frankly a fun surprise albeit demonstrating the lack of cohesiveness in this record; 9, the best track here probably, a beautiful guitar led soulsey track; and 11, which is very nice neo-soul wherein I detect some traces of Sade DNA. Some other songs went to playlist but I won't list them here because idk lazy fight me 3.7
Calibre Steptoe/Silence4.0
1 is an okay dubby track I guess with good prod, but frankly I skip it every time. 2 is the true meat and tatoes of this as one little gem of a liquid DnB track and one of my favourites. I've been jamming it for a good decade now or thereabouts, and contrary to lots of stuff I listened to back then, I still thinks it fcks. So all in all this is very much a compound rating averaging the two because there is next to no record construction here and no value to those two tracks being lumped together aside from enabling me to rate Silence on sput and aside from the lovely artwork. Lets say 3.8
Four Year Strong Enemy of the World2.0
Dexbro will kill me on this one (cc) but I can't seem to get into this album at all. There's something about the aggressive guitars, the ubiquitous singing with a lot of different voices and the general prod that just doesn't sit right with me. When it is fun, it's lacking the nostalgia factor to be more than merely 'fun'. The last two tracks are examples of tracks that I enjoyed with nice anthemic sections and not much annoyance to them, bumping the record a couple points up. 7 was also kinda cool as music for poolside beer and tank tops. The intro of 5 and 1 were the other kinda cool bits. I feel like I preferred the more straightforward mostly pop punk bits, and didn't enjoy the mix of heavier parts in the other tracks. I mean for instance the breakdown on 6 with all those voices and all just doesn't work for me. It just feels like the aggressive tone here and there doesn't work for the fun vibe they're trying to convey. 4 or 9 are examples of tracks I really didn't like, mostly because of the vox. Anyway I'll stop blabbering on, fight me dedex. 2.2
Daughters Daughters4.0
Really did not like the first track so I was a bit skeptical going into it, but tracks 2-5 bang so hard they completely changed my mind. If punk had been invented in the 2010s by people who were abducted by aliens in their teenage years and carried extraterrestrial eggs in their brains that's what it would sound like. 4.2
Ash Borer 2009 Demo4.0
It's nothing revolutionary, but it's also everything I wanted from a bm demo: raw, gut-wrenching bm with great vox, and the occasional melodic post passage. It's true the second track drags a touch in places and brings this down a point perhaps, but for a demo it's great material, albeit without much of a recognisable touch to it for something released in 2009. 3.8
Nails Unsilent Death4.0
Prod here strikes the perfect balance between raw aggressiveness and clarity. This is fun fun stuff, but feels a bit formulaic in places - the closing riff especially. Still a fun record to jam when in need of aggression, riffs and fun, with pauses where they're needed. 3.8
Beach House Teen Dream3.5
Again, improves upon its predecessors, but still feels well below its potential. The songs often feel tame, especially on the vocal side, and there is a sense that the good ideas could be better served. 1's a sweet song with an especially nice intro, 2 is nice psych relaxed and beachy but already feels tame, and 3 reinforces that feeling with simplistic vocal lines - although the nice intro and some of the detuned sounds are very nice. Weirdly enough, 4 evokes generic old BH material at first, but unfolds way more than the songs that preceded and features some of the most successful unfolding on the album (into a fade out outro cough cough ok fine). 5 is also less tame but sadly on the silly side with its musical/xmas vibes, and makes the album construction feel questionable. 6 is nice instrumentally but the vocal are still a bit of a bore, although it unfolds a bit later on. Same for 7 but I dug the vox more, while by 8 the album was kinda losing me despite nice synth layers. 9 is a boring piano track that feels like it is way older than it is, while 10 summarises the album well with a nice australian beach intro, tame unfolding that improves later on (making it one of the best songs here with the most depth), to then finish on a fadeout conclusion. A safe album, an ok album, not a fantastic album. 3.5
Chihei Hatakeyama A Long Journey3.5
This one was nice and had some good peaks, but again felt far less memorable than his debut - conditions perhaps. 8-9 dd remind a lot of his debut style and were among my faves, along with the soothing 3. 7 is quite nice with lots of field recordings, but the closer with more field recordings feels a bit unnecessary. Nice but I would always jam the debut over this. 3.4
Youth Pictures of Florence Henderson Youth Pictures of Florence Henderson4.0
Not revolutionary but very enjoyable post-rock with some emo parts sprinkled in.
Ichiko Aoba Kamisori Otome4.0
rMy goodness talk about a perfect first listen. This is sublime, delicate yet intricate guitar folk with some iberic vibes over a pristine voice, and nothing else. And the result is so so pretty with a compelling atmosphere to it. My only gripe really is that I kinda wish there was an instrumental track thrown in there to vary away from the voice just a couple minutes, but otherwise this is fantastic, with 1,4,5 being my loosely favourite highlights amongst a sea of great tracks. Tbh the only reason I'm not throwing a 4.2 on this is that I don't want to be forced to slap a 4.5 on the next one if I like it even better. 4.1
Memoryhouse The Years4.0
Sometimes all you need is pretty tunes, enormous amounts of reverb, and sweet vox. Lovely dream pop, that fluctuates between the inoffensive and the gorgeous on track 5 particularly, but also 2, both of which are nice dreamy jams. 5 alone bumps this to a 3.75
About Tess Song of the Bird2.5
This is an obstrusively protracted series of really cool instrumental rock parts of different flavours that invariably drag on for too long and turn into annoying wankeriness before moving on. You can tell they had fun making this, but it's not always fun listening to it, I had to pause in the middle and it still felt way too long. The record could have been 35-40min long and it'd be a gem, but here it ends up being something I can't decently recommend to not just scroll through to get to the good bits. 1 opens up on a nice stoner rock tune that makes ya tap yar foot, the mathrocky turn at min 10 is really nice, fun and honestly jammy but comes too late (I'm not going to say that for every bit but it applies every time). 2 starts off on another fun mathy bit that takes a chiller turn at min 5. Things change up around min 10 and it is quite fun. 3 has a pretty, post-rocky intro into a fat fuzzy riff (melikey), and changes into fun rock at min 6 (not before getting old and annoying obviously). Around min 10 there is another fun bit but that just dies out. I don't get it, why not split a new track here? And btw why are the two first minutes of 4 not in 3, they're an exact continuation of it? Anyway, min 17 is also super fun on 3, then 4 is more of the same. Fun part at min 2, min 7 would be cool as a bridge in a non instrumental song but here on its own idk, and then the conclusion is hugely protracted. Shame bcs this is full of good ideas. 2.7
Full of Hell The Inevitable Fear of Existence3.0
This is fun, but I also don't feel the need to come back to it. But yeah based on this alone one can already see why seeing them live is so dope. Last track is doomier and a bit of a drag if you ask me, so that brings this down a couple points. 3.1
Turnstile Demo3.0
Huge first act at a gig vibes. And boy seeing this live with some friends after a few beers would be the perfect moshy warm up. If it werent for the far duller 3 (which drops it a point) the EP would be a 5/5 fun and 1/5 brains experience in that sense. But for at home sober listening that's a 3.2
Nakanoise Yurikago Kara Hakaba Made3.0
Far more bearable than LP1 (and not just because this is shorter), but still not my cuppa. Some of the instrumental elements can be really cool, chiefly the intro to 2 before the vocaloided vocaloos come and break the day. 3 is pretty cool too, and other tracks too, but it's not always the case that this is instrumentally strong - for example, the fully instrumental 6 feels quite bland, which is a shame because it would have been nice to have a cool track without these annoying vocals. Tbh they arent as bad as on the LP, and are mostly insufferable on 3 and 5, but 2 for example maanges to be all in and all a cool song in spite of them, and 1 is pretty okay too. Not much to write home about but it;s not the worst listen in the world. 3.0
Aboombong Asynchronic3.5
Weird but cool drone ambient experimental idk what throwing a lot of sounds together into a happy mess. This includes West-African percussions most notably on the fun but not transcendentally good 1, some random noisy jazz in the middle of 3, and a kind of post-rocky, much softer concluding track which stands out as quite different from the rest and works well as an album conclusion, bumping this a point. 2 was perhaps my fave, I really dig its intro and how it progressively turns darker and more dissonant. I also dig how dark gets. Nice rec park - who got it from Ghandhi I think? 3.4
Socially Retarded/Sea of Shit Split3.5
This is super short too, but because of the band's crass and more unique sound it felt stronger. A fun little tape, but really too short to have claims at anything higher. 3.4
Desolate (DE) Heroic Death3.5
The first track is a jam and quite exciting for the rest of his discog. Simple, works well, and while evoking Burial it does not sound like one of his many copycats. The rest of this was a bit of a disappoint, with 2 being a tad too long and weaker, feeling indeed like aforementioned copycats, and 3, while full of potential and pretty ideas including a nice strings-based intro never feels like it quite starts and instead feels like a protracted interlude. Still looking forward to his discog, but this is a 3.3
Belong Same Places4.0
A simple, lovely drone/ambient track in the vein of October Language softest bits. A slow emergence and disappearance of a single texture over 15 minutes. The length feels just right and, although it doesn't have the ambition to be a grand album, this is a great drone EP to grab. Nice art too. 4.05
Clever Girl No Drum And Bass in the Jazz Room5.0
I was going into this thinking this would be at risk of being bumped down because it felt like one my weakest fives, but in reality man my adolescent love for this has not budged an inch. Yes it is a very lighthearted obscure little record and isn't a grand album by any means, but it just makes me feel all fluffy and comfy and I can't not love it. Its crisp production and intricate yet delicate playing take you right into the band's happy, soothing, sunny spring atmosphere that I want to live in forever, and for a record that is after all merely noodly modern math rock with a sax, that atmosphere is incredibly strongly evoked. Contrary to some other records I used to love, this one seems to gains value over time (at least for now), because on top of not feeling silly, there is a sweet taste of happy nostalgia that overarchs the memories I tie it with. I struggle to think of a record that stands so far above everything else I know in its genre solely out of the sheer goodness of its execution. This isn't the most technical math-rock (which I think is a strength as they know to remain subtle), this isn't the only math-rock band that uses brass, hell it's not even the only math-rock band called Clever Girl. But to me it is special, and it makes me happy every dam time i hear it. 5.0

2009
Grouper and Roy Montgomery Split3.0
This is ok, but really not all that great. Montgomery's side is nice an interesting, but reminds more of the opening act for some cool gig (like GYBE) than a strong enough headliner act. Grouper's side is really not her best material, although I do appreciate the scarce noisy touches, and the best thing about this split is how well it works as a single album as opposed to two sides that clearly sound like they come from different records, and how seamless the transition is. 3.0
Les Discrets/Alcest Split3.0
This is a pretty weird record, mostly made of tracks from other albums. Track 3 is probably the stupidest with a demo version of a previously released LD track. Breaks the cohesiveness of the record that was already tenuous owing to its split nature given the poor demo production of the track. Track 1 is as always for me with LD gorgeous instrumentally but yaawn vocally. Track 2 is actually my favourite from LD. Percees De Lumiere stands out and completely eclipses the rest of the record by miles and miles. Sole reason with track 2 why this is not less than a 2.0. Last track is ok but so cliche. A weird, completely incoherent record that I don't think should exist. 2.8
Rihanna Rated R2.0
First half really boring, second half mostly ok, giving a fairly forgettable album that is surely not as fun as her debut without quite making up for it in emotion or atmosphere. I have to say the album flows well, has a genuinely cool albeit outdated dubstep-ish intro (yes yes), and a proper finale although quite lame given its title is 'Last Song' and the lyrics talk about how it is... the last song. Well done on that. She's shaping her her sound more towards the Rihanna I know, with more rap/hip hop influences here and there (and some rogue dubstep bits too), and almost no dub/reggae touches left. Most tracks are annoying to mildly ok. 2 is kinda badass and interesting at least, 6 is kinda cool but not a jam, 8 is also kinda badass and bouncy, and generally the run from 8-12 isn't all that bad, but there isn't really a jammy track on the whole record. Eh. 2.1
Obliteration Nekropsalms3.0
From this I conclude that I don't like doom/death because frankly the slower parts bored me almost without fail, except for the riff near the end of 4. It doesn't help that it sounds like this record was recorded in 92 and mixed in 88 while being two decades years younger. Now they do have some truly great riffage in the faster sections - and some pretty run of the mill but at least efficient and energetic bits too -. The riffing midtrack on 1, the intros to 2, 5-6, the super cool end of first third riff on 6 or some of the faster bits on 7 are all good examples. The issue is that those faster paced sections are scarce and very short lived. You get fifteen seconds of excitement and then boom it's doom. 6 was perhaps my fave track because it lined up some of the most fun riffs and keeps this above 3.0, but yeah no matter how much I like those sections, 5 minutes of them in a 40min long album is just not my idea of a strong album. 3.1
Defeater Lost Ground5.0
This is a record I really love and know every note from, but whilst it is imo a genuinely good hardcore record both in its angrier moments and in its emotional content, I cannot help but feel like this is a record you look back tenderly to which heightens how good you perceive it is, rather than a genuinely perfect quality record. I am 100% projecting, but it has a touch of a 'music I liked as a teenager' feel that I don't get with some of my other 5s like Mf18M. In light of that, I struggle to justify calling Lost Ground a perfect 5.0, although I did feel it was a 4.6 sort of deal all the way because like I said it remains a really strong EP. The last track being perhaps my least favourite kind of confirms that this probably isn't a true 5 for me. That being said I'd never bump a 5.0 down before wanting to do so on at least two listens, so for now this is still [PENDING]
The Jezabels She's So Hard4.0
Superb. I am really excited for their even more praised records now. Art pop infused indie rock, but with incredibly diverse instrumentation and loads of creative ideas. Not all jams, but I respect every single track. 1 is a gorgeous jam with a top notch intro. Like all songs on here it is quite dense, and tbh not all parts are favourites, but overall a very solid track. 2 is less my cuppa but the ending is cool. 3 is in the same vein. 4 and 5 take it up a notch again, each with superb bridges - especially 5's piano bridge -, although the vox is a bit much occasionally in both tracks. This isn't an all time favourite album but I really love this band and how creative they get. 4.0
Celer Close Proximity And The Unhindered Care-All3.5
Not his best work. First track is fantastic
and has some amazing sections that evoke
similar feelings as f#a#8 does. Mildly
depressing. It is oddly constructed however
and has a lot of weird mini blanks that sound
like poor track separations but aren't even
that. Track 2 is almost boring, and track 3 is
ok especially the latter half. I'd probably
only re-listen to track 1. Eeeh who am I
kidding I'll rejam the whole album anyway. 3.5
Shakira She Wolf1.5
Definitely a huge downwards step from her prior discog. Does not even have the cute outdatedness of her first couple lps to save it. The opening track and its Spanish counterpart are maybe a bit cute, and there are a couple ok bits here and there. But it has no jams at all, and most of the tracks are not even enjoyable, although bar a few like 6 or 11, there aren't too many really annoying ones. This is a vastly unpleasant album that often sounds like clich RnB/pop from 2001, and certainly not one I'll ever go back to. 1.75
Celer Mane Blooms3.5
Side A is a fantastic (albeit short) track with wonderful textures, lots of depth and richness, and a nice evolution, but side B felt a bit like a letdown and just flat in comparison. On a record this short, that has to bring you down quite a few points. But side A's definitely worth a check. 3.4
Drake So Far Gone3.0
Up to the last two tracks I thought this was overrated. The tracks are very erratic and patchworky with multiple vocalists and vocal styles - 3 being a good example. The record feels best when Drake doesn't really on guests and raps himself tbh. 1 is a cheesy but nicely cloudy track that reminds of Craig David a bit. With 2 you can see the potential of ethereal RnB + bits of rap atop but it just doesn't quite work here. The end of 3 is cool, and when Drake raps it's not too bad either, but the rest is a bit messy. The track sounds very 2000's in places funnily enough. 4 is dumb and annoying, the worst track here, owing to Lil Wayne and Bun Ba fair lot. 5 is pretty bad too, but when Drake raps its ok. Thankfully 6 and 7 are really cool, the former being kinda jamy and the latter a full jam. On 6 Drake displays his mature style already over a sweet subtle ambient prod. Shame that the track lacks variety very badly and feels way too long and overstretched. 7 has a REALLY cool prod, which at first doesn't feel like it matches Drake's style too well and could have been better even instrumentally, but has a cool chorus and quickly felt like a jam. Nice. Overall still a 2.9
A Sunny Day in Glasgow Ashes Grammar4.0
And the band continues with another incredible journey that defies description. The album flows very well, don't let the disgusting number of short tracks discourage you. This mixes dream pop (4, and just overall), ambient (3,5,13), techno (the next part of 13,16,20), funky or tychoesque electronica stuff (intro of 4, 7-9,21-22), post-rock (12), a tonne of weird interludes that actually work, accordion passages on 17 I think, you name it, in an ever changing blend that yet somehow manages to feel coherent. A true tour de force as nearly every single one of these tracks is very nice and some are quite jammy or have jammy moments. The two bits that marked me the most were the bouncy jam 6 and the second jammy half of 13, but really this is an album that should be heard as a whole. Again a rich, dense, baffling album that will require more dedicated listens to fully grasp. 3.9
Tigers on Trains Grandfather4.0
This is cute and quality indie-folk. Sounds like summer in the American northwestern states. Some great jams, but none that marked me incredibly. Will have to re-listen. 4.0
(The) Slowest Runner (In All The World) The Flophouse Session4.0
This is a live recording? Super impressive, hardly seems like it. This is EEB-era Yndi Halda minus the guitars (for the most part), minus most of the crescendocore DNA, and plus a piano. 4 does feel a bit more on the post-rock side of things with more prominent use of guitar, but otherwise this is mostly a neoclassical record really. 4 has pretty ideas but compared to the early record it fees like it looses its focus a bit. For 1-3 truly are gorgeous - easily 4.0 -, emotional, strings+piano based tracks, 1 being a masterful album intro and 3 having cool voices in addition. It doesn't really explode, it's not really post-rock, but it is beautiful. Then 4 brings it all down a point, and 5 reinforces that feeling by reinforcing the downward curve in energy and interest. It builds up nicely around the midtrack but it's not into much, and the conclusion although pretty near the end feels a bit contrived. 3.9
Oneohtrix Point Never Zones Without People3.0
I mean this is cute but I have a hard time seeing beyond the dorky videogame OST textures, except maybe on the first track which I enjoyed a fair amount. There are no transitions whatsoever between tracks, and these complete blanks ruin the little album structure there even was in the first place. This sounds more like a compilation of synth improvs someone made in their bedroom than a real meaningful album. 3.1
Candy Claws In the Dream of the Sea Life3.5
I had trouble with some of the noisiness in a couple of the first tracks (1 and 3 namely) which got me a bit worried, but it resolved for the rest. I like me a noisy aesthetic, but here it felt overpowering and incongruous with the otherwise obviously chill aim of the music.For the rest this is very nice, chill and psych. I particularly enjoyed 2, 5 and 7 which is really p s y c h, but the whole record was fun really. Might come back to it, but perhaps I'll find the rest of their discog even better so we'll see. 3.6
Touche Amore ...To the Beat of a Dead Horse4.0
Not as good as I remember, tho I do like me their rawer sound on this. The more intense tracks and the ones I remember listening to over and over again are still utter jams (3,5,7-9, some other bits), but the rest is more of a good okay and certainly doesnt engage me as much as it used to. Still pretty fire, but yea I don't think this will land in my top favourite albums ever either. 3.9
Gorod Process of a New Decline1.5
Boy I haven't wanted to stop an album after just a couple tracks in a long long time. This is a concentrate of everything I dislike in death metal. Pointless (endless soloing), tappy tapp arpeggios all the time, squeal vocals, you name it. And this is from A to Z with no intro or outro whatsoever for the album. They are saved from 1.0 tier by the occasional good riff (min 3 on 1, some of 3, the entry riff of 7 for example), some actually ok and less unbearable tracks (still 2.5-3.0 range at most, 4-5, 10-11 maybe), and scarce really nice bits (mostly the intro and outro to 10) that make you wish they used their fantastic musicianship in better ways for the whole record and not just those 20 seconds, but yea pretty much every time something is going well it won't take 20s before the annoying soloing etc starts again. There also some quirky mix things e.g. what the hell is up with 9 at 2:20, but that is quite rare thankfully. Really did not enjoy this one at all except in brief moments of respite. 1.6
Nails Obscene Humanity3.0
Cool, riffy and fun, but the prod tames it down a lot. The 2014 should top this completely hopefully. Still a good demo to start a discog with, 3.2
Natalia Lafourcade Hu hu hu3.5
Technically the second album in her solo discog, but also it came 7 years after LP1 and she did collab stuff inbetween. Still a massive improvement over the debut. The direction is still very much pop, with a lot less Mexican folk elements compared to her later output, but the sound is a whole lot richer than on LP1, even though few tracks truly stun. 1 is a lovely and cute pop song that already showcases how much richer this is. 2 is more relaxed, and 3 is even more chill but does get nicely crazy near the end. 4 starts as a beautiful guitar ballad that evokes her later work (tho not yet perfect), then the unfold 2 min in with the drums is a really cool surprise and the track is a clear album highlight. It's weird to hear her in English on 5, but the song is kinda catchy and her high notes are so pretty. 6 has more ambienty bits whilst keeping up a beat and joyful vibe. So far the album flowed very well despite its variety, but hte transition into the cute, christmassy 7 is not the best. 8 evokes Agnes Obel in its piano melodies, but much more joyful. 9 is a cute folk ballad in English that would have been great were it only a minute long, but feels lengthy here. The alb itself starts to feel long by then. 10 might've worked earlier in the alb, but at this stage it feels almost annoying. 11 is cute. 12 saves thing by offering a beautiful pristine ballad like her later songs I love, and is another definite highlight. This renders 13 a bit unnecessary and frustrating, tho the track itself is (yet again) cute. 3.7
Calibre Shelflife Vol. 23.0
This seems quite overhyped here. It is good Calibre-style DnB for sure, and the fact that is not a boring listen despite its mammoth runtime and low variability shows its quality. However none but a couple of the tracks (e.g. 'Life') truly stand out, and this is more of a background album than anything really memorable. 3.0
Lanterns on the Lake Misfortunes And Minor Victories3.5
Better than the first EP, but remains cute and sweet but not much beyond that-type stuff. 1 is cute, 2 gives the impression taht it will have a lot more with its post-rocky tones and more noticeable drums, but although kinda cool it doesn't feel like it lives up to its potential. Then 3 and 4 are both really pretty, 3 perhaps being the best whilst 4 is nice too but a bit generic (and also the banjo is a bit fonnay lol). But 3 is really quite beutiful, and unlike the prior EP this one feels more like a keeper. 3.5
Trist (GER) Willenskraft3.0
This is the concept of ambient black metal taken to the T. Pretty mild and unmemorable overall. Best track is closer, followed by track 2. The buildups are very long which I have no issue with per se, but the explosions are fairly inoffensive too, resulting in a fairly flat album. The extensive field recordings are also no the best out there, a la Pd'H when half of the album is wind noises. 3.0
Chihei Hatakeyama Saunter3.5
Beginning is kind of weak, but the album improves over time to become nice, soft, happy ambient. 2 is one of the weakest points, and is way to fx-ey, sounding like a guitar pedal demo almost? Again, Chihei varies the sound and doesn't stick one particular set of instruments or textures, showing us some nice guitar again on 4. Last track is particularly nice. 3.45
Altar of Plagues White Tomb3.5
Didn't like this as much as I recalled. The first two tracks are good especially the opener intro, but the last two go into into doomier black metal that I find a bit meh, while dropping a lot of the post- and more experimental elements. Prod is somewhat weird at times but it is rarely bothersome. There are lots of better albums that I'd jam instead of this. 3.3
Celer Engaged Touches3.5
For most of its course this record is quality but somewhat generic ambient that Stars of
the Lid were doing better many years prior. In its scarce best points it reminds of Para
with similar textures, but at its worst it evokes Arte documentary background soundtracks
and nothing more. Not unique enough to my taste. 3.4
Ulcerate Everything Is Fire4.5
Absolute hell on earth. I haven't been this excited by a modern dm band in a long time. This made
me go 'holy f*ck' so many times, particularity the second half of 3, as well as 4 and 6. 5 offers
somewhat of a break slowing things down, but 6 takes you right into it. 7 slows things down again
but is still insanely bleak, and the closer, while not the strongest track, has incredible
moments too. I'll have to give it another listen to confirm this isn't just an isolated perfect
listen, but holy dang this gets an instant 4.5 Edit: bump 4.6
Wolves in the Throne Room Black Cascade3.0
An album I found very underwhelming, without seeing an organic reason why such as lineup change or even artistic direction change. It just doesn't feel as well crafted as LP1/2. At best, it is good run-of-the mill bm, but I was hardly ever wowed. 1 starts with very standard bm with a soft-ish prod that gets dull after a while, though the last few minutes are a bit better and get more cascadianly epic. 2 overall is far far better (albeit still your standard bm), but after the slow bit at min 10-11 which I am not a fan of anyways, it just dies out, and then 3 starts on a fade in. That's a fair few minutes of nothing. After the fadein, 3 is kinda awkward too, but after min 4 it does get back to fairly nicely cascadian standard bm. The calm-riff contrast at 7:30 did work much for me, but again the alst few min were a bit better and angrier which I enjoyed despite a nearly nonexistent conclusion. 4 has a cool intro riff that doesnt unfold very well. I'll concede the calmer part around min 6 is quite pretty and the reprise at min 9 isn't bad either, which earns the album a point. The ending with the guitars ringing and a slight fadeout to conclude is okay but really not engaging. Good think the album isn't 1hr+ long otherwise the rating would be quite poor. 3.2
Mastodon Crack the Skye4.5
After seeing this with all the visuals it hits different. THE LAST BARON, THE LAST BAROOOON 4.6
Heavy Winged + Inca Ore Ring Mining4.0
Very different from Inca Ore's other output - this really is her laying some sounds atop a base of Heavy Winged, i.e. fast, angry noise rock with tremendous energy. 1 especially is super cool and loads of fun, although I do wish it weren't instrumental as some demented shrieks would have topped the wall of sound quite perfectly to fully commit to the madness. About midway, we get to something far more ambient and I suspect more of Inca Ore's doing, and this ties the track together nicely into an excellent droney decaying end. There no transition between the two tracks, but both share that feeling of cool live jam that you'd love to watch being played. 2 is a bit softer and ambient at first, and does feature light vocals at the back. It then become increasingly mad and noisy, finally giving us some demented shrieks. The track feels like it stretches thing a bit perhaps, droppnig this a half point, but still this feels like a fun keeper and a tentative 3.75
Pestilence Resurrection Macabre2.0
Pestilence go thrashened deathcore after a long hiatus, and it is quite terrible. So much that I will stop their discog there, I didn't sign up for a bad deathcore discog. The first track or two are quite ok, despite the deathcorey vocals, a wankery breakdown or two, and annoying mindless soloing, the brutal riffage makes up for it to some extent. After that, track after track it feels like the record drops the good riffs, ups the wankeriness and the bad or boring melodies, and does not know what to do except being br00tal whenever possible. First track or two could have been 3.5 range, but because towards the end you just want it to stop and you're bored out of your mind this has to get a 2.0
Trespassers William The Natural Order of Things3.0
Again, a nice soft EP that doesn't feel very memorable. 2 is pretty, the album outro is pretty, the rest is nice but just passes really. 3.05
Wolves in the Throne Room Malevolent Grain3.5
Basically as dede said. 1 evokes the style of Celestial Lineage, except with the qualities reversed: here the buildups feel very long and lacking substance, but the explosion comes as a relief. I don't mind that there aren't harsh vocals per se, BUT it feels like they would provide some much needed contrast to the soft vox I find kind of dull here. 2 on the other hand starts without any intro whatsoever into a harsh wall of sound, and whilst it's not unique it does feel good after 1. But the real good bit about this EP, and the reason that I bumped it a point, is the track conclusions. 1's noisy ending comes as a surprise after a relatively tame track and is definitely my favourite part of it, whilst 2 ends in a kinda weird and interesting way too, making both conclusions the most memorable part of this. 3.3
Svarte Greiner Kappe3.0
The first track, although starting with relatively hollow prod, rapidly gets fuller and unveils into a wash of very noisy and gritty drone, a solid jam and my fav tracks of the last couple albums of his I jammed. The random sounds from bells and chimes over the dark ambient give a very horror feel to the track and it's just fantastic. 2-3 after that feel vastly emptier, with some nice textures here and there but just too sparsely distributed in bleeps bloops of drones surrounded with near silence. 3 does improve during the midtrack but onlyy for a couple minutes. 4 is nicer with fuller layers and feels like it should have been the outro to 1 while 2-3 should not have been there at all. 1 single-handedly brings this up a couple points to a low 2.8
The Jezabels The Man Is Dead3.5
Nice dream pop/art pop that's quite nostalgic/National-esque at times.. Amazing that this was their debut given how nicely produced it is and how compositionally creative it can get. Impressively mature. 2-4 are a bit too art pop for me, they're not quite my cuppa, but I respect them, they're good tracks. The end of 3 is really nice. 5 is a jam, nice drumming and all, and 1 is not far behind it - don't know if it is a happy song or a sad song and I like that. 3.6
Pocahaunted Gold Miner's Daughters3.0
Weird tribal ambient/soundtrack material. First track is the best (3.8-3.9). The rest is mostly dull, with scarce great sections - for instance a droney country depressed ambient section on the second track that reminds of GYBE - that do not make up for the overall feeling of meh. 3.2
Inca Ore Silver Sea Surfer School3.0
This reminded me a lot of her earlier demos/EPs but only slightly better (which feels like a big
downgrade after Birthday of Bless You), in that for a lot of tracks my comment was that this has
cool noises, but doesn't feel very musical and is a bit patchworkingly erratic. This is true of
2, 3 which most clearly reminded me of the snooziness of the earlier records, 7 which starts
frankly annoying but builds into cool sounds later on, and 9. 5 start m'okay but turns quite cool
and hypnotic after a while. I don't know what exactly it is about 4 but I found it worked far
better than anything else on the record as a sort of frozen atmospheric jammy track. For the
rest, this is meh, and at this point of her discog the bonus demo points don't really apply.
@garas check track 4 on May 25th :] 3.05
Antigua y Barbuda Try Future3.5
Ily Vinny xoxo Very early on it felt like I'd owe this a relisten because there is (as you'd expect) a lot going on. The drumming is obviously sick, there's hardcore, atmo interludes, bm passages, and (sadly) most noticeably awful glam metal vocals that feel completely out of place and ruin the music whenever they show up. Thankfully they remain quite scarce otherwise the record would have been unbearable. I can see what they were going for with it but it just doesn't work for me, except maybe on 7. The track starts off on sort of superhero movie OST-type stuff before going back to the band's style progressively, showing along with the 80s synth intro on 1, the atmo interlude on 4, and the really cool apocalyptic ending on 5 (a track otherwise ruined by the vocals) that this record is well constructed, conscious of its own intensity and therefore providing pauses and softer dynamics when needed. The prod on 2 is not so great but it improves, and if you look past the vox you hear some nice gospely vocals but also some of those bmey bits. 3 has a better sound and is nicely atmo. 6 transitions very well from 5 into a fat bmey riff, and is quite dope in spite of the (scarce) vox. 8 has cool riffs too. Idk man for now I'll say 3.6
Julianna Barwick Florine3.5
More Julianna material of the same quality and flavour: music where she turns herself in a (sometimes a touch too much) reverb-drenched choir. It is nice, short and sweet, but there always is a little something that blocks it from being outright stunning. The very pretty 5 stands out as being much more piano-focused, and the closer 6, although more straightforward vocals-based Julianna stuff again, works very nicely after that as well, though the EP (acceptably) kinds of ends into nowhere. 3.5
Horseback The Invisible Mountain4.0
This album increases very steadily in quality through its course. After the first track, a boring, tasteless, screamy stoner rock song that vaguely reminds of Om, I was going to rate it 2.9 quite honestly. But every track improves on the previous one, to end on an album finale that is frankly quite gorgeous, more hypnotic, more psychedelic, and just overall miles better (4.2-4.3 material) than the rest of the album - reminding of TEoES Neurosis with Boris' Flood's beautiful hypnotic repetition. Re-listen warranted. 3.8
Pinkshinyultrablast Happy Songs For Happy Zombies4.0
Very very cool debut EP. Sounds a lot like if Life on Venus played fast and with more of a catchy, fast-paced punkey approach almost rather than slow ethereal shoegaze. From the first seconds what strikes is the beautifully intricate yet abrasive tones these folks manage to craft without sounding messy. Beautiful employ of vast, vast amounts of fx, and nice sporadic shoegaze vox to work with it. I do wonder how this would work on a longer format, but here on something this short the somewhat lack of variety is not at all a problem. The band also goes quite ahrd at times as the riffage on 2 can demonstrate. I do find 4 to be slihgtly less engaging than the rest, though it is still a great song and does have its fair shair of riffage plus a nice noisy outro I quite dig. Still drops this a point to a lovely and promising 3.9

2008
Deathspell Omega Mass Grave Aesthetics4.0
Should've checked their EP's a long time ago. This is great and reminded me of the 'burning in hell' feel of Incantation's Onward to Golgotha's opener. This EP sounds a lot like death metal, but with black metal textures, and despite its 20min runtime it brings a lot of variety, with different atmospheres. orchestral elements sprinkled in etc. Re-listen warranted. 4.15
Britney Spears Circus3.5
Hell yeah. Hands down her best album so far, and I foresee it being my fav album of hers period. This LP confirms two things: she is a very consistent album maker (only two actually weak tracks here, the gimmicky 5 especially in vox in places, and the kinda annoying 10 that still boats nice RnB vibes here and there), and she also has very few hidden gems, as pretty much every single jam she produces is already famous - although I had forgotten a lot of the ones on this particular album. 1-2 are fun although I know the Dirty Loops cover of Circus too much to fully enjoy the track. 3 is a nice, aerial sadgirl song. 4 has a cool intro, starts off quite badass, and also has a cool chorus. A top britney track although not really a jam. 6 is a huge infectious jam and a top tier track as well. 7 is another aerial sadgirl track, and 8 maintains that style but in a not sad way. Cool track too. 9 is super catchy as well and also a jam tbh. 11 isnt a jam but is nice with cool bass. I wish the ballady 12 wasnt there and it brings the album down a point (I mean it's alright but feels out of place), but the closer (already heard on Blackout what?) is kinda cool and brings this up half a point. 3.55
Svarte Greiner Man Bird Dress3.5
Nice sound/noise collage over dark ambient, but the second track brings it down a fair bit. I usually don't dig this genre too muc, but 1 executes it very nicely. 2 not so much and feels like a drag. Thankfully 3 is nice especially at the end, and is quite shorter, so this still remains in 3.5 territory. But it's just nice, never mindblowingly good at any point, so 3.3
Flares Levitation3.5
Shows a whole big lot of potential, but quite rough over the edges. This isn't mere crescendocore - I mean it is, but it is of the inventive kind. Prod is lo-fi but it has its charm versus the usual crystal clear post-rock sound. Drumming is often syncopated for lack of a better word, and it feels like their drummer wanted to be in a math rock band instead at times. The first track starts on a sweet kinda inspiring melody which could go into other directions than just post-rock. The transition at 3:30 into something more upbeat, the crescendo that follows is nice, and honestly the track on the whole is the best executed one here and is kinda jammy. 4 is mostly ok interlude material, but the crescendo at the end is massive and possibly the best on the record. 2 and 3 on the other hand feel very amateur at times, especially the synth work on 2, and the bridge at min 4 on 3, thankfully followed by a dark and riffy climax. So yeah I guess I might jam other things by these guys, but even if it is inventive, it remains the tried and tested ol' crescendo post rock as we know it. 3.45
Taylor Swift Fearless2.5
In her defence, I am clearly not the target audience for this - the lyrics on songs like 2 or 6 (or most of the record really) make that quite obvious. And this LP did seem stronger that her debut without straying too far away from it stylistically. But, while up to track 8 I was feeling a possible 2.8, 53min of country era Taylor Swift is more than I can handle. 9 is one ballad too many, and while 10-13 aren't perhaps actually weaker than the earlier tracks it was just time for the album to end as far as I am concerned. 1 is kinda fun though and shows a bit of rock mixed into the style of her debut but seemingly way better done. Same comment goes for 3 pretty much, while 4 reminded more of the debut's quality. 5 and 7 are ballads, and while normally I can't stand ballads in pop records, here she makes it kinda work because her style makes ballad far less of a rupture with the rest of the album and they blend in quite well. 6 is surprisingly fun for banjo pop, and 8 has a fun beat in the first few seconds and unfolds into what I guess is a top track here despite being far from being a jam, with its fun rhythm to it. Eh this is alright but not for me. 2.65
Cynic Traced in Air4.5
Where Focus was trying to strike the balance between the proggy Cynic elements with the vocoded voice and all and their former style of technical (thrash cough cough) death metal, this one goes full on prog and hardly has any dm DNA left at all. I mean there's some, but just a little. And while Focus felt more god tier when it did manage to find the right balance (read: Textures), it also felt less cohesive on some tracks where the mix of dm and prog felt incongruous at times. No such problem here, and for that reason TiA feels like a stronger album overall. I did discover Cynic with this album back in the days and had a hard time with some of the vocals, but while it still doesn't quite work here and there (the mini chorussy bit on 2 is a bit cringe let's be honest) now I am really fine with them and I kinda love the psychedelic flavour they give to this acid trip of an album. The opener alone into the clean guitars opening up 2 told me I was going to have a fantastic listen. 4 is crazy good but the fade crossover transition into 5 is a bit of a shame. If I'm honest I was paying less attention towards the last third of the record, but it felt jammy pretty much. Alright, on this one I'll slap a 4.25
Darkthrone Dark Thrones and Black Flags2.5
Perhaps it is owing to conditions but it feels like this one has more ok bits and pieces and doesn't fail as hard as FOAD - it's still pretty bad though. I do like a fair few of the intro riffs and guitar tones, especially at 4 and 5 at which point I had hope this could climb to low 3.0 tier maybe, as what came before it was ok instrumentally, just ruined by frankly ludicrous vocals at times. But 6 and 7 are a big nope, and everything thereafter is a bore quite frankly, so my rating went downhill the whole time. Because the first half is sort of ok this feels like a lukewarm 2.3
Carly Rae Jepsen Tug of War2.5
Is it bad? No. Is it annoying? No not really. Will I come back to it? Probably not. It's a nice debut, but it feels very generic. 1-2 and 6 completely feel like happy kids music from the 2000's, and 2 makes me feel nostalgic for a life that wasn't mine, that of a young girl kid growing up in California in the 2000's. Songs feel like they belong to the school era of your life. 5 for example is completely a slow prom song. Some songs like 3 feel like generic Christian pop, the kind of stuff the hot girl in the school will sing at the high school talent show whatever in some movie. The last third is best, with 7 and 8 having a touch of an interesting twist, especially with vaaaguely soul vox, and 10 reminding of a female-led, profusely pop, distortion-less Teenage Dirtbag. Honestly it's not bad, and probably my fav track here. 9 interrupts that third with more generic core and feels a bit much and 4 is weaker too. Thankfully both the album and the songs are short, so this isn't too bad and about a 2.3
Bomba Estereo Estalla3.0
Nice and has the right ideas, but often struggles to really amaze. I don't know latin music genres much at all so please forgive my utter ignorance. My main gripe is probably the vocals, which are sometimes super cool, but sometimes really fail to hook me. 2's a good example. I also am not a fan of the English bits but idk if I can really blame them for that, especially since it is only on 1 and on 7 which are otherwise nice tracks. From 1-4 the record is quite bouncy with heavy bass, and 3,4 especially feel like some kind of local party music that you play at the village or something, 3 doing it a tiny bit better. 5 is the first of two interludes that use a super cool wind instrument which appears to be a Millo flute - the flute being more discrete on 10 which is overall less marking. 5 is among the best track, but 6 transitions quite awfully from it with too much singing too soon and the vocal's a bit meh. 7 works better but perhaps it just because it flows more naturally from 6 than 6 from 5. 8 goes back to the jolly, bass heavy style of the early record and is quite a fun track; while 9 is alright offering a slower dub sorta vibe. The transition from 10 to 11 is a whole lot better than with the prior interlude, and the album ends on a strong note with 12 having a lovely intro and the best instrumental here beside the flutey bits. Despite some rough vocal bits here and there it's a catchy song. But all in all this feels like an enjoyable listen but not one I'd seek out again soon. 3.0
Chihei Hatakeyama Dedication3.0
I don't know if I just happened to have a wonderful listening experience with the debut, but this one, while retaining the same style of diverse yet cohesive ambient with lots of guitar, field recordings and other sounds atop the general lush ambient pads, feels a lot weaker. Part of that comes objectively from the songs not flowing into each other, making this a compilation of rather short ambient pieces instead of a grander, 40min piece. The long silence at the end of 3 is symptomatic, and perhaps the worst instance of this. The tracks themselves also feel less cinematic and compelling. 2 still is lush and pretty, 6 and 7 are quite nice, and the concluding track is a fantastic drone piece bringing this up a point. But overall this is still far weaker - 5 for example feels quite amateur and a bit randombient. 3.2
Lantlos Lantlos3.5
An album that starts off pretty mundane, but gradually builds up in interest. 1-2 are ok but forgettable bm. 1 gets a bit too long even. The acoustic bridge on 2 is the first trace of more interesting things to come, but it isn't executed very well. 3 is pretty regular bm but with already a bit more meat to it especially in the last quarter with some nice walls of sound. 4 starts off the same way, but it is truly starting at the bridge with a vocal sample that you start feeling that Lantlos will be a great band. The reprise is well done and shows post-black metal DNA in all its grandeur. The most personality Lantlos have shown at that point in their discog. The transition into 5 is well done, into a long, soft acoustic passage that, unlike on the demo, doesn't just randomly end, but rather leads to a cool melancholic reprise, pulling this up to a 3.5
Touche Amore Touche Amore4.0
Honestly, might be conditions but I enjoyed this more than beat of a dead horse almost. This is perhaps a less unique product, but a more focused and digestible one - and it also gets forgive points from being a debut. This is TA with teh prod of dead horse (nice), but a more energetic and punk version of TA, where horse leans more into the emo side. Right off the bat the intro to 1 is sick and the unfold excellent - total jam. 1-3 in general are all hype high energy tracks, then 4 has a cool intro but its doomey intro marks a lower point. 5 and kinda 6 continue this low point, tho it's never bad and 6 has some more kick ass sections. But it still feels like the energy has gone down a notch here, until 7 cranks it right back up with probably the second top highlight here with a sick track with sick transitions. 8 has a cool intro but eventually with the long interlude in the middle it almost feels like two tracks randomly lumped together, and the latter one is a bit more molle and concludes in an ok but not ideal way. As always with TA the most impressive thing here is how many ideas they manage to fit in 14minutes. 3.9
Tame Impala Tame Impala4.0
This is the best 60s record that was recorded in 2008. It is interesting how the first track which is on Innerspeaker feels like a normal Tame Impala track whereas every single other track sounds like it is straight out of the 60s. Is the track truly different at its core, or is it just that knowing its cleaner LP version takes away the feeling of outdatedness that comes from the crasser prod here? Anyway there is no reason to ever jam 1 here since the prod doesn't serve it and it is again on the LP, but in a vacuum it is of course a great track. 2 is a huge jam and it is fun how much it sounds like the music that inspired him. 5 is also on the more psychedelic side and maybe a jam as well. 3 on the other hand is on the more rock side of things, and while still nice it definitely feels like the weakest track here. 4's more fun than 3. This is a very interesting way to start a discog because with this EP Tame Impala just sounded like a 60s psych rock revival band, and transformed itself for the first LP. 3.8
Apex By The Way/The Yearning VIP3.5
Apex once again shows his quality as DnB producer. The first track is quite straight up
DnB that could pass for a Liquicity track, it has some lovely moments and ideas but feels
like it overextends quite a bit, especially to end on a fade out like that. Track 2 is
pretty much identical to its Unknown Error version except there are a few added piano
sounds here and there and a slightly more articulated intro I guess (I think, this is all
based on memory). Which version of the track I prefer I am not sure, but I definitely
prefer The Yearning/ Midnight Special to this EP given again the overextended and
somewhat weaker first track. 3.6
Suis La Lune Heir5.0
An important record for me, and one I maintain is about the best example of euroskramz you can find out there. The melodies are gut wrenching, the drumming is tight despite the record being less agressive than other entries in the genre, the riffs can be abrasive when they want to be, and both the intro track and the intro to the closer are to this day some of my favourite moments in music. That being said, on this listen, I did find that whilst 2 holds its own pretty well and offers some of that nice abrasiveness I mentioned, 3 really feels subpar, and the conclusion to 4 on this listen at least was a bit of a drag. On a full LP that wouldn't be a problem, but I struggle to accept it on a 12min EP. This felt more like a 4.5 tier record for being excellent, sometimes but not always perfect emotive euroskramz, than it did a 5.0. Thus its 5.0 is [PENDING]
Fall of Efrafa Tharn5.0
Tearwave Different Shade of Beauty1.5
An album that really, really overstays its welcome, clocking nearly twice the runtime of its predecessor which I already found a bit too samey overall, without imporinvg much at all upon it and I daresay taking a step back even. There is a touch more goth energy in this versus the ethereal debut, and so already we start on a basis of music that is fine but a bit teenagey. 1 is a bore, 2 is a bit better, 3 has more energy but there you see how the never-altered, more gothic sounding slightly electronic dreamy vocals don't always fit and more importantly never change. 4 does get a bit shoegazy and 5 more electronic, and this first say third of the album is actually quite alright, bringing it from 3.0 to 3.5 sort of ballpark. By 7 I was describing this as an'ok blur' and there are 10 more tracks to go. Idk if it was the nice conditions but 9 did grab my attention a bit, and 10 has a nice intro, but 11 with its strings and vox and d4rk synths makes it really sound gothically ridonkulous. From taht poiint on I was out of the album and I very nearly stopped it at several stages. 13 does have a cute start but evolves awfully. 17 does bump this a point because it isn't the worst conclusion in the world, but after 70+minutes it all crumbles down to a 1.5
Pygmy Lush Mount Hope4.0
This has really good tunes, a bit as if Unwound were a folk band
Taylor Swift Beautiful Eyes2.5
If I wanted to keep a country-era Taylor Swift record in my library (which I don't) this would be the one. Not necessarily because it is the best, but because it is short and provides a good summary of her discog at that point. You get a guitar ballad on 3, banjo a bit all over the place, a rock track on 4 which honestly has good bits here and there, something a bit more upbeat on 5 which has an honestly fun intro and is perhaps the best track here despite its questionable chorus, and even a hit track on 2 which is one of the very few (if not the sole) track I recognised in Taylor's discog up to 2010. 1 is also an ok sweet track that very much summarises her vibes in this era (which the artwork does too tbh). 6 was one track too many and brings this down a point, and I wouldn't ever come back to this, but if for some reason you want to know what country Taylor Swift was like without hearing four hours of it this is the record to pick. 2.6
Nadja The Bungled and the Botched4.0
Yes the second track can be prohibitive, and I rarely listen to it in full, but hell this is fun and it has been with me for many years without me getting tired of it. Holy mother of riffs. 3.9
Lanterns on the Lake The Starlight3.0
Cutsie indie folk that borders on post-rock with its ambient tendencies and rich instrumentation. 1 isn't incredible but is cute and prettay, while 2 is the peak of the record with a really nice, soft song with excellent emotional buildup. 3 is however slower and frankly not all that compelling, although the conclusion is better than the track itself. 4 is nice, but i wonder if an outro track was reeally necessary on an EP this short? SO ya this might have been better as a single for 2, and then 2 re-used on a longer record, but as it stands this is a 3.2
nuito Unutella3.5
Very well crafted, technically proficient math-rock with generally bogstandard instrumentation, many beautiful moments, many very cool moments, and a bit of an erratic approach to energy curves with some especially hyperactive sections - see for example the last track. It's a good album, but while individual moments are very commonly excellent, I didn't find much of an atmosphere to the cohesive whole. I am a bit reminded of bands like The Bulletproof Tiger where what they play is incredible but just feels like a flatly cool experience to me. Still props to those guys for consistent quality across the board at a relatively early era of math-rock. [JBL] 3.7
Cult of Luna Eternal Kingdom4.0
This one is a lot earthier, less proggy and far less post-rocky than its two predecessors. It evokes mountains, dirt and rocks. Track 3 is a top-tier CoL track, but the rest of the album's first half is on par if not very slightly above their s/t debut i.e. 3.9 material. The second half from track 6 onwards brings it up a notch though and is pretty much all faves. Overall this album is excellent and should be commanded for having its own feel and taking the band in a different direction. I do subjectively prefer the two preceding albums though - maybe in perfect listening conditions I'd dig that new direction even more? 4.1
Grouper Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill4.5
This sounds like reading a book wrapped up in a warm blanket at home on a cold winter night.
Superb acoustic guitar-based ambient with indie-like vocals. It is a bit on the long side and
does not vary much, but because it has such a unique feel and texture, balancing between haunting
and reassuring, in the right conditions it just works. Amazing album.
Edit: Absolute wonder. Much folkier than anything she released previously, with lots of acoustic
guitar and fewer noisy/drone elements. This is a droney folk album at this point, not a folky
drone album, and its a favourite folk record for me. Hadn't properly rated it at the time, but
this is clearly a 4.45
Svarte Greiner Til Seters3.0
First track is generic SG material that frankly isn't all that interesting. 2 starts off as a very sweet ambient jam, doesn't quite unfold too well but goes progressively darker and ever so slightly dronier as time goes. Very nice track. 3 is also nice as gritty and noisy ambient drone with some vocal samples coming in at min 5. It does feel a bit gimmicky with the obvious vinyl hiss and crackles for a e s t h e t i c s, but it's still a fine track. 3.05
Minilogue Animals2.5
Quite unimpressed by this. It is essentially a protracted (85 min) series of bleeps and bloops over a background of sort of housey ambient techno. While it hardly ever sounds bad, it's also boring for most of the time. The
middle of 8 away strips away the techno foundation to leave just bleeps and is the worst section of the entire record. I do like the intro track a lot, and the closer is nice and hypnotic with a sweet conclusion. 5 is also
cool, and 10 is nice in place. Apart from that, quite boring. 2.4
Ximena Sarinana Mediocre2.5
This is kind of ok pop sung in Spanish. The first two tracks are jams and got me excited, made me think I found an underrated album. But after that the record looses your interest very quickly. Track 3 is ok, track 4 is meh with failed ventures into electronic sounds, and then most of the rest is ok but super generic inoffensive pop, with the occasional unpleasant track in 9 and 11. I like her vocie, but her singing is kind of flat and does not vary much, so over the course of an album it starts to get pretty boring I have to say. Will remember the first two-three tracks but that's it. 2.6
Beach House Devotion3.5
Agree with the userbase: this is similar to the debut, but slightly better. Same relatively peculiar blend of psych, dream pop and stuff, but slightly better executed and more entertaining. 1-3 are nice and chill with increasingly better execution, 4 doesn't start so well with the sadder vibe but evolves really well once the piano kicks in and gets really cool by the end, dreamier and dreamier. 5 is my first real Beach House dig, while 6 returns to more regular BH material but is still nice and fine. By 7 though I have to say the length was starting to hurt. I had to pause there, which may explain why I didn't feel that way about 8 which was quite fine, and 9's nice sounds helped, but by 10 the feeling was back. While they're a bit corny, the Christmassy vibes on the last track kinda helped being being a bit refreshing if anything. So yeah nice, but again not something I feel like I'll come back to before long - if ever. 3.45
Belong Colorloss Record3.0
Nice drone. Not as noisy as the debut. This one relies a whole lot on vocal samples, which form a near constant layer underneath the drone/ambient textures. It's not particularly well done tbh, Grouper was doing it much better at the time tbh. I think the fact that the vocals hardly ever stop doesn't help. Te first three tracks aren't really noteworthy but the closer is kinda nice and bumps it into 3.0 territory. The short length feels surprisingly ok. 2.8
Hellhammer Demon Entrails1.5
I don't care about the historical importance of this or whatever, it sounds terrible. The prod is awful, and far from reinforcing the brutality of anything it highlights the acute compositional simplicity of every single song. I don't understand how this was sold for money as a legitimate record when they even fail to keep tempo as seen on the third track. It is not the most unbearable thing in the world but I couldn't even bring myself to finish it because it was so aggressively boring. In a vacuum though I would probably have finished it, so it is not in 1.0 range. 1.4
Trapped Under Ice Stay Cold3.0
If this is their magnum opus it doesn't make me excited to ever check the rest of their output. While it functions wells at times, this largely concentrates things I usually don't like in hardcore: monobloc vox that sacrifice rhythmic fluency to try to fit too many lyrics to the singing, random ass breakdowns, and songs that are very clearly destined to the live setting (in which tbf I would probably break my neck to them so that would work) but that don't really work otherwise as music to lsiten to. This is all very clear from the first track. The riffs even feel clumsy. 2-3 feel a little more ok and straightforward wiht a bit of a thrash metal vibe, whilst 4 is ok at being bourrine, but ends abruptly on a solo and leaves a feeling of meh yet again, which is continued by 5 though the track presents the only breakdwon that actually works and doesnt feel dumb. 6 pays itself the luxury of a proper intro, but its unfold doesn't work for me. There are a couple good riffs near the end, but yea the band does not convince me. It does not riff ahrd enough to just rely on headbanging, yet it doesn't really try to offer much else. 3.2
Lantlos Isern Himel - Demo 2005-20073.0
A promising start. 1 is pretty generic bm, and is a bit underserved by the prod which is quite fan on the drums but really flat on the guitars, numbing the metal a bit. But 2 is already a fairb bit more interesting starting with its pretty intro and with its bridge but also even in the bm part themselves which just feel fuller, especially the post-bridge re-explosion. 3 is an instrumental piano track that is very nice to see especially on a bm record in 2005, evoking remote Hisaishi notes. 4 is then a sweet acoustic guitar outro. The issue is, I thought both these tracks and 4 especially were introes. The fact that nothing comes after 4 makes it feel like they put an outro track after an interlude, which is just strange and throws the listener off. To be fair it seems like this is a compilation, but to me that is the main flaw here. Move 1 after 4 and fuse them into one track, and it'd be a different story. 3.1
Candy Claws Two Airships / Exploder Falls3.0
Pretty fun instrumental rock mixed with lots of electronica elements but with very very grainy and aggressive prod that reminds of noise rock albums, but without the music feeling like it was intended to sound that way (I totally could be wrong though). It does go a bit crazy and noisy eg at min 8 on track 1. Now this is fun and has plenty of ideas, but it feels a bit hyperactive, never goes down, and instead throws ideas left and right constantly. That's super fun on a short run, but as it goes it kinda tends to saturate me. Track 1 on its own would have been my cuppa, but 2 just felt like a huge weaker drag. It still has fun stuff but it gets to your nerves here and there. Min 5 or min 11 are good examples. This is a band with lots of ideas and I'm looking forward to their full-length work, but this wasn't a good way to use this creativity. 3.05
Women Women3.5
An impressive mish-mash of weirdcore that, although it doesn't have the consistency and coherence of a 'grand album', does display a fair good lot of musical maturity considering it is a debut, with the band having already its own sound and some fairly impressive creative tropes. I wonder if these guys had done other projects before this. The sound ranges from fairly lukewarm and tame songs that are fine but that I immediately forgot (4,6) to drone (3) or near-noise (end of 2), with a couple songs displaying somewhat agressive, Faraquet style math-rockiness (5,7) which were perhaps teh most immediately likeable tracks), whilst some tracks like the opener go to and fro between those things while having some good ideas. There is a good flow at play here, and with the 29min runtime it all blends into a good, seamless, grainy experience, that isn't revolutionary but is definitely a good time. 3.7
Svarte Greiner Penpals Forever3.5
Quality drone, but not one for the history books. This one is much more bare bones than the previous album, consisting for the most part in a dark ambient texture and scarce random sounds that are rare enough to create an atmosphere without ruining it. Because it is simpler, this one is maybe less interesting than Knive, but it just succeeds better at what it does. It is very nicely done drone that I enjoyed listening to, but it's really never hooking, mesmerising or mindblowing and felt like a solid upper average 3.6 or something for most of it. 1 is a dark and intriguing album intro, a simple and jammy track that feels like it is just the right length. 2 is a bit softer and I like it but is even less marking, but the rain sample towards the end creates a nice build up. 3 is the soundtrack to dying in your sleep and brings the quality back up with a nice, slow descent in an increasingly low ended bass abyss of sounds. It hits more than track 2, not because there are more textures, but because they feel denser and richer, more nuanced, more evocative, more evolving and shifting. 4 continues this intensity into a nice buildup, bumping this temporarily to a nice 3.7, before coming back down. Track 5 (side B-3) really is the mistake here that brings the album down a severe notch. The track feels a flatter and in excess, it is mostly just wind and lacks the depth and richness of 3-4's textures. I wish the album had ended on the build up of 4 and not let a protracted downward curve let its energy go quietly. I do like the noise washout ending though, but that just was not the place to have it. 3.45
Inca Ore Birthday Of Bless You3.5
Feels like a massive improvement compared to her prior discog, and perhaps i am overrating due to the contrast. Instead of messy and chaotic and frankly hardly musical sometimes, this really feels like music. Noisier, dronier Grouper evoking Liz's debut is the sound dominating a lot of tracks including for example the pretty jammy 1 and 3. The weird stuff isn't gone, but as I said for the previous album it works much better in the context of an album where there isn't only just that, and so tracks like 7 are more than welcome. I did feel like it loses a bit of steam the closer we get to the end, but it's still solid and I think unlike her other stuff thus far I'll jam it again. 3.5
Grouper/Inca Ore Split3.5
My first encounter with Inca Ore and it makes me want to check the rest of her stuff. First
of all, for a split this flows incredibly well. You can hardly tell the artist changed;
rather, it feels like a two act story of a character fine at first, then slowly descending
into mental insanity and paranoia in the second act (IO's). Surprisingly to me I liked that
2nd act better. The opening song is a superb Grouper jam with percussive keys, but 2 is
weird and feels too fast tempoed for a Grouper song, while 3-4 are nice meditative vocal
ambient but really not that marking. Then comes Inca Ore with some very nice oppressive The
Lighthouse-evoking pounding sounds on 5, then a series of track evoking a deranged version
of Grouper. 5-8 is all jams and in that vein. Brings the record up a lot, but unfortunately
it falters well before its conclusion. 9 is a weaker track already, 10 is a weirdly loud
(on spotify at least) straightforward drone track without much to it, and 11 is an outro
that just passes. Together these three bring the record back down below the 4.0 bar, but
it'll still stay in my library for 1 and 5-8 which are just wonderful. 3.6
Celer I Love You So Much I Can't Even Title This4.5
Some of the best sounding 'generic' ambient I've heard. Maybe I am overreacting due to being in the perfect mood for it. Very different from Para, whose charm came from original sounds and textures - nothing surprising here, but masterfully executed. Will have to re-listen. Oh and title is certainly not the record's strongest point. 4.3

2007
4 Bonjour's Parties Pigments Drift Down to the Brook3.0
I think this just wasn't the right time for me to listen to this - after a long day of work it felt like a bit of a snoozer. There are lots and lots of ideas, sounds and instruments, mostly within psych pop but also with additions such as midwest emoey-type guitar on 7, or flutes that evoke the prog rock giants. It all starts well, with 1 being a nice comeplling yet relaxed album intro. The problem is, this and almost every subsequent track feels like I want it to open up and eventually unfold, whereas the album remains majorly tame for the most part, an impression reinforced by the vocals which I find rarely work. It just feels like there are frustrating amounts of unexplored potential here. While 3 is a bit more involved, by 4 I already felt like this would be too long. Thankfully, some of the tracks do save this from a boring 2.5 tier type rating: 7 and its guitars which woke me up a bit, the second half of 9 with the flutes which is really nice, and the first half of 10 which is also a bit more awake instrumentally making the vox work better in contrast. But you see it rarely lasts for more than half a song before we go back to the sweet, but relatively uncaptivating snooze. 2.85
*shels Laurentian's Atoll4.0
Diverse record packing some great post-rock, post-metal and interesting interludes in a not-so-short amount of time. Could stand its own as a full length really.
Natalia Lafourcade Las 4 estaciones del amor4.0
A very impressive offering considering how different this is to anything else in Natalia's published catalogue. That's not to take anything away from it, as it also is good in its own right. This is a series of four instrumental tracks recorded with the collaboration of the National Youth Orchestra of Veracruz, and it features very occasional voices, but in ambient choral esque form rather than Natalia's singing. I'm not even sure she sings or plays at all on this. The four tracks are all very lovely, and perfectly fit a tender, happy frollicking childhood atmosphere save for the latter half of Invierno which gets frankly evil - but is followed by one of the softest moments here in the track's conclusion. She managed to put a lot of sweetheart emotions into these 28 minutes, and it makes for a very neat, short and sweet 'classical' listen. A really lovely jam in the sun, and it could also work seamlessly as the soundtrack to some cute cartoon. The main fault really is this awful art man 3.8
Nujabes Hydeout Productions 2nd Collection4.0
Much like I remember from years and years ago, this is a solid compilation with coherence that really could make it an album of mostly B tier, with a substantial number of A tier and a minute amount of S tier Nujabes material, with the caveat that it benefits less from familiarity bias than Metaphorical Music does. Damn it I have to resort to rating albums from the awful car JBL sound now. 4.1
Celer Para4.5
Excellent ambient/dark ambient drone with rich, diverse and mildly surprising textures. Notrquite interesting enough to loop over 50+ minutes, but very near that top tier. Will re-rlisten. 4.2rEdit: yeah it does feel a touch long, but it still boasts some really unique and tastyrtextures and I find myself coming back to it often. Definitely one of his best works. 4.3
Burial Untrue5.0
The run from 1-4 is standard setting, and quite decidedly a 5.0 for me. Unlike on most other albums, I find that the prolonged dip in energy that comes afterwards I really fitting for the album's sad, nocturnal, nighttime bus ride vibe, and especially given it is stilll punctuated by a few beaty tracks here and there. But I do find that the dip is still slightly too long, especially when all of the true bangers are all clustered at the start. That being said, there are many tracklists for this, and the one I jammed today on Spotify is I believe different from the one I originally 5'd, so the 5.0 is only tentatively [PENDING]
Panda Riot She Dares All Things4.0
Really cool record and bursting with ideas for a debut. The prod is a bit on the thin side but it's really not much of a problem. This is a record full of 'imperfect jams' where some sections are fine but some are really jammy. But it's full of promise, inspiring, and I enjoyed it a lot. 1 is a dream rock jam, but the rough transition into 2 showcases what I mean by the band not being fully mature yet. The track is cool though especially the drums, and the second half brings it up a notch. 3 has catchy melodies but also some of those more awkward sections I mentioned, and 4 is a textbook dream pop imperfect jam to toke with yar alt gf. Really cool ideas all round. 5 has a pretty intro but the track thereafter is not the best here. 6 is quite catchy but doesn't really hold the distance, although the concluding section is catchy. 7 is a superb song starting off on the pop side of dream pop and slowly dirtying it up with shoegaze vibes. Lovely and convinced me to give this an extra half point (it was at a 3.75). 7-8-9 really show how they can bring up different flavours of the same style and make it feel cohesive, even without necessarily being the best constructed album in the world. 8 is really pretty and delicate, while 9 brings back the fuzz for a dreamy finale that definitely settles this at a promising 3.8
Britney Spears Blackout2.5
Ok so for some reason this is one of the first albums I had on my first ever ipod and here it plays against the album because this sounds incredibly outdated and quirky to me now. So my rating is anecdotal really - I remembered much more than I was anticipating though. The LP is very synthy and has a distinct style compared to her prior output. Some tracks evoke Madonna a fair bit - 5, which has a dream pop feel to it without having a dream pop sound and is kinda jammy ngl, and 7 which is kinda fun and clubby. The end record is stronger and brings it up a point, 10 being a fun track, 11 are strong Britney sexy rnb track, and 12 being an alright closer I guess. But before that, 9 is one of the weakest tracks and the only annoying one in the bunch really. The opener is not her strongest really, and the two following tracks are kinda zzz too. 4 has a nice verse but an awkward chorus. 6 is cool and has a nice halloween vibe to it? 8 is kind of alright and kind of annoying. So yeah I can't judge this fairly, but it does have strong tracks and is scarcely annoying, as I've come to find most her albums were so far. 2.6
Ulcerate Of Fracture and Failure2.0
While it does have a lot of great riffy and fun bits, this is too erratic and grows worse and worse as it goes. It might be bad conditions of simply a case of having jammed too much Ulcerate today (don't think so), but in quite inexplicable fashion this sounds messy instead of nicely chaotic like the 2004 EP did. I get deathcore vibes from this which I don't like at all, and the record sounds like it wants and tries really hard to sound evil but doesn't really succeed except here and there like on 4 which is nicely hellish sounding. 2 is kinda cool too. But this is so all over the place that by 6 I was completely out of it really. 7 does offer a nice, slower, more atmospheric break but comes in too late, and there's still 8 and 9 to go through. By the end, the album feels like headachecore. Hardly sounds like the same band if you ask me. 2.2
Darkthrone F.O.A.D.2.0
Dadthrone. No but seriously this one really marks the start of them rendering homage to their influences with lots of heavy metal elements etc, and yea it's maybe cool conceptually but the result just isn't my cuppa. The drumming on 1 is kinda cool, but after that with its cringe vocals, relatively soft riffs which are even reused sometiemes, general outdateness, and occasional cringe solo this really did not take long to lose me and only worsened over time. On 3 for example I checked where I was in the track hoping to be at the end and it was just about halfway. I do dig the tone on 6 but that's about the only positive. Also the album really should've ended on 8, why put an extra track after a complete blank just to reuse a riff. - just brings it down another point. 2.0
Wolves in the Throne Room Two Hunters4.0
Weirdly enough, the weakest parts here feel like they are the straight up bm bits. This might however just be out of contrast with the sheer beauty of the rest. This album is a master class at intros, atmosphere buildups, clair obscur play with the clean and hard sections, and building up calmly to abrupt and satisfying harsh explosions. Perhaps the least engaging bit was the midtrack of 2, but on the whole this is truly stunning. 4.2
Fall of Efrafa Elil5.0
Alcest Souvenirs D'Un Autre Monde3.5
This is a lovely debut that already shaped their song with a lovely mix of softness and
black metal, but not their best effort either. 5 is the track that tips it down a point,
with relatively annoying vocals and a weak riff. Generally speaking, this record is
strongest during instrumental or vocalised parts, whereas when Neige sings, the riffs go
simpler and the overall music is less entertaining - although his performance as a singer
is not at fault. 3 is the main jam here, with an enchanting intro and atmosphere. Literally
the artwork in musical form. 4 is kinda jammy too but not as much, and 6 is really cute. 1-
2 are worth a listen as well, esp the guitar around 2.5min on 1, but because of the verse
parts they aren't jams really. The fade out album ending is a bit of a shame. Still a solid
3.7
Sum 41 Underclass Hero1.5
If you don't know the word milquetoast, listen to this. This is either uninspired pop punk rehashed to oblivion, or music so cheesy it sounds like what you think of at 11 when you daydream about making cool music with your cool band. 1 sounds like off brand Fat Lip but benefits from being first on the album. 2 has a super cheesy intro but a 'real' pop punk unfold as a surprise around a minute in, which is a cool idea although the execution here is very meh. 3 is ultra teenagey, and 4 is cheesy beyond belief. 1:45 on 5 shows what I mean by music I thought was cool at 11. 6 is a joke, 7 shows how rehashed the pop punk is here as it feels like it's the third of fourth time we have heard the same melody. 8 is kinda fun actually and is one of the best track here at a maybe upper 3.0 lower 3.5 sort of rating - at least it tries. 9 is ok but bland, 10 has a cool intro riff I guess but htat's it, 11 is fast paced which helps I guess, and by then I was skipping through the tracks and nothing further retained my attention. 1.5
Darkthrone NWOBHM3.0
Feels a little underrated - this isn't the best DT by any stretch but it's quite fun and 2.7 seems a bit harsh. 1 is just pretty cool especially the opening riff despite the track ending on a fadeout, and 2 is also cool except the annoying solo in the second half. 3 feels very demo-ey (which for a 2007 DT record isn't a good thing?) but the atmospheric end is kinda nice I have to say. 4 is a very short heavy metal track, and while it doesn't flow from hte rest at all it is quite fun. Eh 3.1
Tearwave Tearwave3.5
An album that finds a great sound instantly with a really great first track to intro the album brilliantly, and then proceeds to never stray away from that sound which makes the ensemble feel way too samey. If you heard a couple tracks you heard it all, which means none of it is bad (although some bits of 9 are frankly questionable), but also it all colludes into one shapeless blur. An album that is too shy, too safe, and that I wish tried to push its boundaries and renew itself a little more. What is that sound you ask? Ethereal, dream poppy vocals with a firmly electronic prod that remind me of Anathema or some Ott tracks, over lush dream pop instrumentation on the more rock side of things as opposed to electronic. Or very soft shoegaze idk. That sounds work really well and the first track got me excited. Frankly in isolation or within a playlist most of these songs would work quite well. Highlights are 1 and the slower, more contemplative tracks on 3 and 5; after that I kinda lost track if I'm honest. Inspiring stuff though. 3.6
Bon Iver For Emma, Forever Ago4.0
Had a perfect, peaceful listen by an open window in the pastel hours of the evening. Such beautiful songs. As far as guitar songwriter stuff goes this is a beaut, with just enough blissfully low but not fully nonexistent variety in instrumentation, for example with the added brass/strings on 8, the occasional percussion etc. Didnt remember the closing track being this good. Discog rerun soon? 4.1
Rihanna Good Girl Gone Bad2.5
Meh. Very mild album, most tracks are ok but kinda boring, especially past track 3. If you get past Jay Z's annoying contribution, 1 is kinda bouncy and a fun track - although not quite a jam. 3 is a funny throwback and honestly a fun listen. 9 is kinda interesting and wakes you up after a long run of bland songs. 10 is a nice relaxed track. Apart from that, not much to retain. 2, 4 and to a lesser extent 5 are some of the most annoying Rihanna material yet. I'm just going to forget about this. 2.4
Trespassers William Noble House3.0
Quite flat EP of soft folk. 1 and 2 have nice beginnings but don't unfold too well. 3 is a bit boring, and 4 is fine. My fave tracks are 5 and 6, 5 being sort of field recordy ambient drone, and 6 morphing it back into some folk and having a very different feel compared to 1-4 because of that. Not mindblowing, but quite nice, and certainly giving a lot more flavour to the EP. 2.95
Oxbow The Narcotic Story4.5
Obliteration Perpetual Decay3.5
A cool debut that shows the same strengths and flaws I seem to always find with this band. Some bits are amazing with some fantastic riffing, some bits are fast and do the job without being stunning, and some bits really feel out of date. Tracks like 1,2, or 6 clearly show that. I seem to particularly enjoy the riffy conclusions on this one, with the conclusion to 5 (peak of the album, jammy),6,7 and 10 greatly surpassing the tracks they close. I generally like it less when they use a slower, doom tempo, but 1 or early on in 5 do make it work. 3 and 4 before the awkward midtrack break, 7 from the midtrack on (not hugely marking before that) and 8 despite the soloing which kinda works here ngl are also some cool dm tracks. 9 really hurts this album though, being the most outdated sounding track here. It could be from 89 if it weren't for the cleaner prod, and it's really the weakest track. The intro bass is its only redeeming aspect. The band is great at riffing but not so much at filling the melodic space between dem riffz, and it shows on 10 which seems to reuse melodies from the album and which itself seem to have been heard before a thousand times. The speedy midtrack does the job though, the conclusion is cool as I said, and the single break at 3:45 gives a glimpse of greatness, but overall these last two tracks do bring this down a half point. 3.45
Paysage d'Hiver Einsamkeit3.5
Almost entirely ambient album with this one. I quite dig it. Each track was good and felt more interesting than the previous one. Track 1 is good field recording/synth ambient. Track 2 has more interesting textures with more aggressive synth textures. Track 3 brings bm touches for the first time and is even more aggressive. Might grow on me, have to re-listen. 3.4
Trist (GER) Hin-Fort4.0
Track 1/disc 1 crushes yer balls with intergalactic might. After nearly 15 minutes of brooding ambient intro, which may be too long in some cases but that I enjoyed this time, an absolute wall of PdH/darkspace bm is unleashed. I find the transition from the ambient and the hinge vocal sample into the bm to be a bit weaker than it could have been actually, I almost wish the bm was louder. Although the bm riffage itself is extremely monolithic and hardly varies, it is supreme, and there is enough variation in the background bells and whistles to give a lot of nuance and depth to the wall of sound. You travel through space as the relentless drums kick to oblivion. After maybe 25 min of this, we get a brief interlude of vocal sample, then the crushing wall comes back again. This second half could have maybe used a little bit of differentiation from the first, but it still crushes (to be listened to LOUD and on full blast). This first track is easily a very upper 4.0 if not a 4.5. Disc 2 is a long series of dark ambient/ambient tracks interspersed with various vocal samples. It very often feels like listening to the audio from the trailer of some horror movie. I found it cool, and it is nice to have a tail end to rest after track 1. But the disc is just far, far too long for me. 15min of ambient tops would have been great. One hour? Too much man. Not because I dislike ambient, but because the glorious track 1 should not be merely half of the album. Still badass. 3.9
Stars of the Lid And Their Refinement Of The Decline4.0
First disk could be 4.5 material on its own, but unfortunately they dragged it for too long again. The album is still much more successful at keeping you entertained and varying the textures than its predecessor, and feels so much vastly superior that I wonder if I wasn't in poor listening conditions for Tired Sounds compared to this. Disk 1 is pretty much all jams, 1-4 being classic SoL sound, 5 bringing welcome variation with darker undertones, 6 bringing more changes including bells stuff, 7 being the only a bit weaker track here feeling a touch bleep bloopey and boasting a long awks silence at the end, although the piano+vox in the intro is nice. 8 is less lush at first, then reintroduces the lushness beautifully, 9 is more material like 1-4, and 10 is probably one of the strongest jams here with more of a post-rocky drone supplemented by lovely keys. I'm telling ya, disk 1 is 4.5 material. Then comes disk 2. 11 is nice and bleak albeit lush, but 12 feels excessively long and kinda lost me. 13 changes it up with cello or something but it didn't convince me, by 14 the album had lost me a fair bit and just felt too long, and no longer like 4.5 range material. 15 brings the interest back though with a nice keys based track, not sure if jam or not, and 16 being kinda jammy with sweet, WWII-evoking textures. 17 would have been a cool outro to the album, but sadly they felt like they needed to add 17 more minutes of generic SotL material which is nice in a vacuum but here feels unnecessary and dragging forever. Overall this still scores a 4.1
A Sunny Day in Glasgow Scribble Mural Comic Journal3.5
This is dense and I'm honestly quite baffled by it. My rating is temporary because this needs a re-listen. This record is bizarre and defies tagging for most of its course. The vocal ambient/droney intro track flows into sort of dub techno, and after that into a series of experimental sort of dreamy sort of noisy tracks that I'd be hard pressed to describe, but globally felt quite difficult to get into although they have good moments. It is like the record is lethargic and had too much drugs, or like what you hear and remember when you are semi conscious about to fall asleep you know. It sometimes sounds deranged, like on 4. 6 is kinda cool and noisy. Slowly, the record wakes up from its bad trip or dream; it becomes more digestable, more genre-defined, easier to interpret. 9 is the first track that felt like that with some nice dreaminess. 10 is a cool electronic buildup with a great bass-led outro. 11-12 are dreamy shoegaze of sorts, and I suppose prelude their later sound. I feel like this would be best describe as having a Mulholland Drive kind of vibe? 3.5
Wormsblood In the Stars2.5
Hey this one actually has some cool stuff especially on its second side. This is a demo but surprisingly construction in terms of transition and fluidity between tracks is actually quite well done, with most tracks feeling pretty much in continuity. In terms of sequencing and prod though, things are pretty awful: we switch back and forth between genres, and I don't think anyone tried to make sure there weren't dramatic shifts in sound quality and frequency content. There's also scarce but dreadful panning issues. Nonetheless on the whole, the raw sound is cool. After the nice and dark 1, the record starts off rather poorly, with 2 and 3 being so raw and burpy that it just sounds funny to me. 4 is a cool but excessively long sort of cinematic organ piece + screeches. Those screeches (already seen on 3 and quite prevalent in the later record) evoke The Body, and that's actually quite cool. Some bits of the bm 5 are cool and despaired but on the whole the track is a meh. 6 is completely random but made me think of melt banana and it's overall quite fun. 8-9 are the record's peak with nice evilness to them, 9 putting up a particularly bleak wall of sound and dragging this just above 2.5. 10-11 continue this but it gets a bit old, then the end record is mostly ok, uneventful, outroey stuff. Maybe check the couple tracks I highlighted but no need to hear the whole thing I'd say. 2.6
The Stargazer's Assistant The Other Side Of The Island3.0
Cool ambient with lots of ethnic sound, but the concept just doesn't seem to have been pushed anywhere near its potential. Track 1 is odd in a cool way at first, but feels protracted a little bit and doesn't unfold into much. 2's just an interlude, and 3 is a kind of uneasy drone which I didn't find particularly appealing. The overall feel of dread, mystery and uneasiness in the whole album is kinda cool, but this isn't a stellar listen by any means. Art's cool though. 3.1
Celer Canopy3.0
Not sure what to think of this. It is very, very minimalistic dark ambient - to a point where it is probably boring. Yet despite having barely any...sound at all, it does create a strong atmosphere. What it would feel like to live in a basement at night for months. Surely not his best release, but an interesting one that I want to re-listen to. 3.2
Dirge (FR) Wings Of Lead Over Dormant Seas3.5
This album was a bold, bold choice. Doing a 2hrs album without being Swans is quite a bet. The first couple tracks are fantastic post-metal and are well worth a listen. However the record loses its focus over time, delving into prolonged noisy experimental-ish ambient tracks that don't have much to offer, and with the exception of a great album closer, the latter two thirds of the album are quite boring for a very, very long time. Still an ok listen overall, but that does not make me want to check out their other albums. 3.3
Julianna Barwick Sanguine3.5
I love the sound displayed here, but the format it is showcased in is also frustrating, as - aside from 11 which just about reaches the 3:15 mark - everything here is a collection of sketches between 1-2min long, with fade in intros and fadeouts. And even 11 is pretty short. As such, the record feels more like a collection of disjointed drafts, or a demo to show her sounds, rather than a full fledged EP/album. But I do really like the sound she crafts, whether it be groupery loopey drone folk, or much lighter vocal loopey stuff. 11 for example is really light hearted and enchanting, making me want to live amongst hippies swimming in norwegian wildflowers. Other favourites would be 1,3,6,8, idk honestly I liked it all. If her later records build on this sound she's likely to become a Bede favourite. Now how do I rate this,. 3.5
Le Pre Ou Je Suis Mort Le Pre Ou Je Suis Mort4.0
This truly has 5.0-worthy peak moments (TOUS ESPERENT LA FORTUNE, MAIS AU PRIX DE LEUR LIBERTE) and has a relatively recognisable sound. The band takes its sweet time to build up tension, especially in the closing track, but the resolutions are o so worth it. Some of the melodies are fantastic, especially the intros. Yet I don't see tracks other than 3 being 5.0 songs on the whole really. An album that is sublime only in places, but that is also thoroughly great. The strings/synth idk in the very conclusion always get me too. 4.2
Grouper Cover the Windows and the Walls4.0
Wonderful record and chronologically the first of hers that truly marked me after her s/t. 1-3 are jams and a 4.2, potential 4.5 territory. 1 is a very organic and acoustic flavour of Grouper, much closer to DaDDuaH than her previous records. 2 is more like Wider, with vocals again being long choir-esque drones. Very melancholic and lovely, kinda jam. 3 pushes it further and is even dronier, noisier and less folk/dream pop than 1, like drowning slowly but in peace. The transitions between these three tracks (and those that follow) are flawless and the storytelling potential is compelling. 3 is a slow decaying jam a la Flood 4. This is an intense record that calls for perfect and attentive listening conditions. 4-7 are very nice tracks too, but don't quite have that extra edge that makes me want to 4.5 the first half of the record. 4 is probably a jam, quite a cinematic track that recalls the organic textures of 1. 5 is the same but less jammy. Before the record starts feeling stagnant, Grouper masterfully brings welcome variation with tasty loud, noisy drone textures in 6. 7 is nice and decays slowly to end the record. Memorable and very solid album. 4.1

2006
Brand New The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me4.5
Hits harder now than it did a few years ago, probably from jamming it on the road. It's like it now ties to my life a little more, and thus its impact is magnified. All in all this is a very well constructed indie emo idk what rock record that alternates between heaviness (1,4,6,7,9), catchiness (2,8,11), and emotion (the rest tbh) all throughout without it ever feeling erratic. The only construction gripe I have with this is that I wish it ended on 11 - the ballad on 12 albeit nice feels unnecessary. 5 feels like it drags a bit even though the track is good. Apart from those two and the interludey 10 maybe, every track is a hell of a jam. Songs I did not click too well with like 3 now feel sublime. Hey maybe I ll jam this in three years and it'll feel like a 5. For now, 4.35
Svarte Greiner Depardieu3.5
I haven't quite followed the chronological order here but funnily enough this is one of the pieces enjoyed most in his whole discog. A two tracker made of sound collages of some random percussions, field recordings and noises that works surprisingly well for its style. 1 is very tasty and crispy with a lot of compressed noises. 2 works a bit less imo but continues in the same style, and I appreciate hydrophone textures always. I also really dug the very last few seconds that go quite noisy, so 3.4
Svarte Greiner Raggsokk3.5
Again, he succeeds better in the shorter EPs. 1 reminds a lot of the vibes on Knife, which makes sense since this is a B side of it or whatever. The track is nice but I wish it were longer. It feels a bit pointless being this short. 2 is very similar but adds some weird La Monte Young-esque vocals that I really liked here, but again it feels a bit short. Quality wise this is great, but because it is 5 minutes long it's not much of an EP really. 3.5
Svarte Greiner Knive3.0
Interesting drone that rarely succeeds in execution but remains of interest. The bulk of
the album consists of sound collages usually laid atop a layer of strings of some sort,
sometimes pizzicato which I'm not a fan of here especially on 5, and with the occasional
vocal layer added to it. The bookends are best by far here, both jams, with 1 demonstrating
the concept outlined above done just right, and 9 being an unexpected but powerful vocally-
led ominous jam. 4 is also nice in an ominous style, 6 works very well in places with some
noisy bits but isn't jammy on the whole, and 8 works well but not as much as 1. For the
rest, this has good sounds and ideas here and there but it just all feels too bleep
bloopey. But man the opener is really superb. 3.2
Wormsblood The First Dim Shinings Of Those About To Awaken2.5
Fine, but a bit of a pointless listen really. 1 feels like an intro, which with the first minute of 2 in the same style takes over half the 'record' - a bit too long for something that feels like an intro if you ask me. Although they do avoid some of their bad tropes like the echoed vocals cals cals, the bm part that ensues has nothing special to remember except its prod that is even thinner than usual and clashes a fair bit with the intro. It's fine I guess but I'd never rec this to anybody. 2.5
Taylor Swift Taylor Swift2.5
There are far worse pop debuts tbh, but this is as bland, supremely generic 00's eleven-year-old-little-girl-who-thinks-she's-in-love summer oklahomacore as it gets, and I doubt I'll jam any of this ever again. 2.5
Beach House Beach House3.5
Nice and chill, but just nice and chill ambient dream indie idk pop something with a very subdued but well produced sound. Some psych elements and fun sounds but nothing too major. 5 takes a darker turn and honestly I found it the most boring of the lot, while 6 was my favourite, with a bit more of a beat to it, more depth and ideas than anything else here. 7 starts of similarly well but evolves kinda weirdly, although the conclusion is very nice and the transition into the nice intro to 8 well is articulated. Sadly 8-9 are kinda bores too honestly. The ghost track on 9 is perhaps my favourite on the whole thing, a nice, dreamy, grittily produced piano-based track with some great singing with remote Grouper vibes (thus instant dig). Still not too impressed, definitely nothing that makes me think of this as a keeper but it's all quite fine really with a fun consistent sound at least. 3.3
Unknown Error The Yearning / Midnight Special4.0
One of the most solid DnB/Jungle records I've heard. Sweet beats throughout without falling into the trap of an endless accelerated Amen break, sweet melodic lines, rich textures - both tracks are chill and pounding at the same time. Prefer track 2 slightly, the complete lack of EP intro is regrettable, and tbh it does not have much stature to it, but this is quite a jam and could grow on me. 4.1
Mastodon Blood Mountain4.0
In many ways this feels more like the follow up to Remission than Leviathan did. This is very evident on the excellent 1-2, but also kinda on the proggier 3 and the again angrier and super cool 4-5. These opening tracks are really the highlight here, but already offer a glimpse of the issues to come with some strange vocals. 6 is a completely weird and disruptive track I cannot explain, and marks a transition into the weaker 2/3 of the album. whilst 7 nicely prefaces Skye which is cool, 8-9 feel like the band has little idea of where the music is going, both instrumentally and vocally. They try too many things and there is not much of a sense of direction. 10 has a fun proggy intro followed by a good ass riff, showing that the album hasn't wholly given up, but by 11 it feels long and their strange forays into more vocal territories are again met with a what the hell is going on more than enjoyment. 12 closes things with a cool weird proggy song that kinda works at first, but again that doesnt feel like it knows where to go from there. I wanna say 3.7 becausethe album feels like it has a breakdown midway even though its beginning is hella cool and the band remains quality, but i'll give the benefit of the doubt maybe i just wasnt in hte right mood or lost focus because of study so i'll say 3.8
Grouper Wide3.5
This one is really accurately titled. The vocals are mostly long, grand, choir-esque drones instead of the usual whispered lyrics and intimate singing, giving the whole piece a sense of grandeur and desolate wide spaces. The record feels almost post-rocky at times, like some experimental droney section of it - track 3 is an example. Track 4 is more typical Grouper with keys etc. 2 and 6 are jams, with 6 almost belonging to some sick cowboy movie, and 5 is kinda jammy too. The tracks are varied but don't flow amazingly well into each other - 7 being an example of a nice mellow interlude... that completely breaks the mood built by the track before it. 8 and 9 are quite unpleasant tracks and I have to say some of the weakest Grouper I've heard so far. Other tracks are nice to ok. 3.65
Inca Ore The Birds In The Bushes2.0
Inca Ore's music can I think be fantastic for some ominous album intros or interludes, as part of an album rather than for the whole of it - see the Grouper split for instance where Churpa Champurrado works super well. 1 is a super cool as an album intro and more compelling than the demo stuff. At that point I was hoping that this would be a soundtrack album to fear, madness and schyzophrenia - but sadly that isnt the case as IO struggles to make albums that work all the way through. Some of the sounds on 2 really do not fit the aesthetic imo and feels more demoey already. 3 is a bit less weird and is an actually ok track, followed up by relatively cool noisy stuff on 4. So far, pretty okay. 5 gets frankly annoying in places however, and the album already feels too long when there is more than half to go. 6-8 is a bit less unbearable although I did almost stop the album and skipped some bits, but it's just not something I enjoyed. 9 like 1 is more musical and compelling, and would also be a great album intro actually. 10 is meh but I do like the shrieks in a madness OST kind of way again, while 11 is also more ambient and musical and features some cool noisy sounds. Nothing much that goes above the 3.0 bar except maybe 1 and 9, but the last three tracks save this from 1.5 tier to a 1.9
Gorod Leading Vision3.0
Like the debut, has many many flaws, but has neither the excuse of being a debut nor the novelty factor for me to save the rating. The first half had me looking at a 2.5 range rating honestly. It felt a lot more wankery and like it had fewer cool moments than the debut - in reverse proportions almost. 1 has no intro whatsoever and goes chug chug right away. The midtrack riffing is fun, but the vocals and especially the pig squeals in the second half are really not my jam - a recurring criticism here.2 at 1:05 is pretty darn cool, but 3 then goes on to wankeriness and awful soloing etc. I like the instrumental tech stuff like min 2, but it is quite rare. 4 is less bad, 5 brings the pig vox again but the instrumental section at 2:30 is really cool. Then, after a rather laughable intro, 6 starts an upwards shift in quality in the album, with from 0:55 onwards the longest uninterrupted streak of enjoyable music here that makes even the questionable vocals and soloing work quite well - probably the best track here. 7 continues this with a meh intro but a nice opening riff. On 8 the porcine wankeriness is back at min 1 but then it goes away again and the riff at 2:15 frankly owns. See what I mean by good moments interspersed with bad stuff? 9 has an awful start but doesnt get too bad after that, and 10 changes things up a bit with groovey ouroboros-esque stuff that I dont mind (preferable to soloing heh) and then an outro that is, well, a nice surprise although questionably fitting. Some rare great ideas, but overall I am far from convinced. 3.0
Daughters Hell Songs4.5
Liked this a lot more than YWGWYW. TDEP without metal and a touch noisier. Very accurately titled. 4.3
Agalloch Ashes Against the Grain5.0
Rihanna A Girl Like Me2.0
This doesn't feel as cutely outdated as her debut, which hurts it, except maybe on 4 and 10. Lots of dub-inspired track on 2,5, 8 and 9. The former two are quite meh, 8 is probably the best, and 9 is the most interesting with more of a stoner vibe and some brass, but her vox kinda breaks it. Her albums definitely prove to be diverse but weirdly constructed - notice how the dub tracks are spread all over the place. This one has also more of the boring romantic ballads, on 2 and 12 for instance, but 6 is the first time she's actually successful at it. No jam, although 7 is fun but is also hurt by Sean Paul (quite funny though). 1 is mildly famous too (but quite eh), and I'm surprised to already be recognising tracks in her second album. Overall this just feels much weaker than her first one to me. 2.0
Cult of Luna Somewhere Along the Highway4.5
Monumental album. The first few tracks are especially good, with many brilliant ideas (that synth
riff on 'Finland' is balls), and may surpass Salvation in their best moments. The rest of the
album does fall off a bit however, especially the middle. The heavy bits are brilliant and on par
with if not better than some of Salvation's high points, but the long calm phases are way weaker.
They're in a grimmer, slightly proggier style than the classic hopeful post-rock style Salvation
had, but just executed far less well. On the verge of losing its 5 contender status, but still a
solid 4.4
sway (CA) Winter Heart3.5
Track 1 got me really pumped and proves that he is able to make jams while shifting his style a bit. For here the vox are much more prominent and highly mixed, and the vibe is generally less ambient and more dream poppy. So yeah 1 is a jam, but after that the more distorted 2 and the erratic 3 feel like they really don't work as much. 2 has an awful electronica midtrack which just is not successful, don't know what happened there. 4 is fine but it is too short. In fact all three last tracks are too short, breaking the little atmosphere they managed to create. But given that 1 is a jam this still gets a 3.3
Cult of Luna Bodies / Recluse3.5
Not sure why this wasn't in the db, can't believe I added a CoL record to sput. Prod is different to their contemporary stuff and sounds much sludgier. Track 1 is the main point of interest here, with one of the fastet paced CoL songs and a brutal one at that. It does not quite evolve into too strong a track past the first couple minutes though, and ends abruptly. Track 2 is much slower and resembles much more full on sludge metal. It's a bit less interesting tbh. This is a cool EP, but only worth if you really dig CoL and want to hear what they experimented with. 3.3
Trespassers William Having3.5
By far their best imo. They mostly (but far from completely) abandon the boringpop ballad style, and when the vocals agree to fit the style they work best. You end up with very nice, lush, post-rocky stuff with vocals that sounds great. 4-6 are in that style, followed by a ballad track but that works here because it brings variation instead of the whole album being like that. 8 continues that for a touch too long but then become a really nice track with beautiful desperation in the second half of the track, and the song displays the two sides of the coin I'm talking about here. Unfortunately the album end reverts back to their style I don't dig much for 9, 10, and the first half of the long closer, bringing the LP down a couple points for sure. The second half of 11 is full on ambient without vocals and it is very nice. I wish they had done the same for 2, where the intro sounds like a knob demo and is instrumentally very nice, but where I wish the vox weren't there. Still a nice track. 1 is one of their best, with lovely intro textures and nice processing of vocals which gives them some flavour. 3 is a typical track that should have no vox because they clearly are out of place. All in all I'm still not a fan of the band, but this is a much stronger album. 3.6
Darkthrone The Cult Is Alive3.0
Idk all those punkish beer bm tone but not bm atmosphere DT are all starting to blend into one another for me. I do think this has interests beyond the couple tracks from the EP, with 3 and 5 having some cool riffage, and the end of 8 too, but otherwise it all kind of becomes a blur by track 6 or 7. 9 starts quite awfully, and ends on a solo into a fadeout to conclude the album, which in the bedex book has to drop this a couple points. idk 3.05
Chihei Hatakeyama Minima Moralia4.5
An ambient masterclass. Starting (I think?) his full length career with this is truly impressive. Extremely lush and diverse with guitar noodling a la Knobs, strings a la AWVFTS, lovely reverberated bells and chimes, and a slightly grittier conclusion, as well as lovely trebled clicks and crackles on 5. Have to give it another spin for sure, it might grow. 4.25
Wolves in the Throne Room Diadem of 12 Stars4.0
A long, continuous bm epic that shows a lot of variety and is a lot stronger than I remember. I would say it only stumbles twice, in its two doomier segments. The first after the superb slower, folkier section on 1, but being salvaged by a well crafted bm acceleration; the second near the midtrack of 3, after which the hellish Ulceratey almost riffage of the end track brings the interest back up. Globally, 1 is epic bm that makes you want to climb mighty mountains, 2 is tortured bm (both vocally and later on in riffs) that makes you feel lost in the blizzard-ridden mountains a la PdH, 3 feels like finding the evil forteress atop the mountain, and 4 is the aftermath of the adventure, starting all haunting and softly melodic (especially with the female vox we were already introduced to once earlier on in the album) with a great soft guitar tone in its intro, then becomes a lot angrier with a hella powerful midtrack riff and a moshpit-inducing segment near the end. Not to be underlooked also the few but very beautiful soft melodic segments really help keeping the album entertaining for its whole hour runtime. For a 2006 debut, really an impressive feat. 4.1
Belong October Language4.5
Absolutely superb noisy, gritty drone album which navigates various flavours of the genre
masterfully. From the first few seconds I knew I'd love it. The record is weakest on tracks
like 4, 6, and the first two thirds of 7 (the track end is a nice noisy decay though),
where it is glitchier, less cinematic, and maybe looses its atmospheric focus a bit.
Otherwise, this is pretty much all jams except maybe 2. 5 sounds a bit different as sublime
descent into lower ended, underwater-sounding textures reminisced in a glitchier, less good
way in 7. 3 brings a lovely despaired Sigur-Ros-esque post-rock guitar line atop all the
noise, and it gives a special flavour to the track. After 6 and 7 I was hesitant to say
this is 4.5 territory, but the absolutely sublime decay of the album into a blur of noise
as a grand finale bumped it over the edge. 4.25
Unknown Error Heaven & Hell EP3.0
Not really a fan of this one. Mostly generic Noisia-esque DnB - I was missing completely the feeling of uniqueness I found with The Yearning/Midnight Special. Track 3 is probably the best instance of that style, with its prominent use of cinematic strings - some of which I feel are a sample from the I, Robot OST? I'm not quite sure -. Track 4 continues that use of strings in its intro, but does not quite live up to it afterwards. Track 2 is second nicest, and track 1 is third. The record is organized a bit oddly because 2 and 4 are calmer while 1 and 3 are more aggressive. I might come back to 3 and maybe 1/2 when in need for nice aggressive DnB, but not for much else. 3.0
Grouper He Knows He Knows He Knows3.0
This is ok - middle track is the most interesting one with cool textures - but again Grouper does not work well on short formats and this feels more like a practice draft than a formal record. 2.8
Darkthrone Too Old, Too Cold3.0
This sounds much older than it is (2006) but all fine. 1 is fun punkish DT and is the best track here, but then 2 starts off with some awful soloing before settling into a similar style, and 3 sounds funny more than anything if you ask me. Like you can tell they had fun making it, but that doesn't equate to good music imo. 4 is more of 1-2 but with again some a bit wankery guitars, and frankly at that point I was kinda glad this didn't prolong into a full-length. Fine but not me cuppa. 2.9
Scarling. Staring To The Sun2.5
Am thoroughly unimpressed by this. 1 is the same as the LP, ie. the vocals are not great but do work a bit better on the explosion bit, and otherwise the track is fine alt rock I guess. 2 is merely m'okay, and really feels like the opening act of a highschool show, in which context it would be quite good, but in sput context it feels quite lame. No desire to ever hear this again but if I did it is short and okay enough that it wouldn't be the end of the world: a dead center 2.5
Bennie Maupin Penumbra3.0
I don't know the backstory to this, but it very much feels like a compilation of disjointed sketches and Etudes. There is no continuity between tracks and the sequencing is really odd - the fun playful intro 1 going into the mysterious and slower 2 which is great in a vacuum but quite incongruous here, then followed by something much more experimental after a blank, then 4 is just someone practising the sax, what is happening. Thus as an album this fails quite heavily, even though some of the parts are great or at least interesting. 5 with its traditional sounding drums and interesting winds, 8 past its intro, 11 after the drummer got his practice down (and a track that ends out of nowhere showing yet another sequencing issue), and 13-14 are highlights, the rest is just skippable for the most part imo. 13 is an actual jazz tune for once not with just one instrument or two doing crab knows what, and 14 is a surprisingly great, minimalistic and melancholic piano track that makes for a surprisingly excellent album conclusion in a record that before that had no structure at all. Those two tracks just about bump this to a 2.8
Manicured Noise Northern Stories 1978/804.0
Quite a long album that does an excellent job of holding the distance through atmosphere progression. 1-10 is a series of very dancy, bass led, disco almost tracks but with post-punk instrumentation+prominent bass riffs for days+crazy brass with variying degrees of boogie and a number of certified booty shaker jams, with vocals (6,9) or not (10). The vocals here won't suit everyone as they feel almost borrowed from a wholly different genre, but I do find they work in a cool way on the whole. 8's more melancholic vibe matches the artwork perfectly. Starting with 10, the album begins a long descent into a much more restrained, weirder, sadder almost angle. This is very gradual, as 11 is still groovy, 12 feels like a spaghetti western standoff, 13 has some vocals, 15 hints at lighter vibes again near the end, etc. It's not all just gloom from there on, but it's mostly gloom. And weirder stuff, but certainly not constant which makes it not boring. I do wish they came back to the more explosive vibes of the early album, especially after 16 which feels quite long, but I guess if you jam 18 which is an alternate 3 then you do get a pretty good ersatz of such a conclusion. Despite this gradual decline in energy which tampered by enthusiasm somewhat (not too much as it remains good moozak), this is an impressive album with some Minutemen disco swagger that you should check. Members of Ludus too! 3.95

2005
Shakira Oral Fixation Vol. 23.0
Very similar to the previous one in that it is quite bland, has even fewer jams, but is also quite consistent. It does feel less good, in parts owing to the Americanization of the music which she does not negotiate as well (and as a non latino looses some of its original flavour). The closing track brings it down a couple points, and the only relative jam I noted was 6 - 10 being just a poorer English version of the opener on Vol. 1. Even Hips Don't Lie (which wasn't on the original release) isn't all that jammy compared to some of her prior tracks. Merf. 2.9
Grouper Way Their Crept3.5
Not as good as her first at all imo. Grouper usually makes her music very memorable and hooking despite it being soft and texture-based, but here most of it is lacking that genius touch. The first half of the record feels ok but bland and forgettable, quite atypical of her. Second half is stronger with 5, 7 and 9 being good jams, but overall this is still a 3.5
Obliteration Total Fucking Obliteration3.5
Some parts of this are 4.0 tier worthy, but as I found previously with Obliteration there also are cringy elements that feel dramatically out of date or not at all my type of dm, which kinda spoil the soup for me. And it's just here and there: some of the vocals especially the cleaner ones on 3, some of the guitar sounds which already show up on 1, the soloing on 3, etc. Still, every track has fat riffs, and 2 is actually fantastic and almost cringe-gree - I just don't enjoy the doom ending as much. 3 is perhaps the worst one here because there are so many beer metal elements to it, while 4 is fine but has a pretty awful conclusion that brings this down a point. h idk man I'll say 3.45
Darkspace Dark Space II2.5
I don't know what it is but I just don't click with this band. To me it all sounds like a blurry directionless mess with some good moments but no architectures tying those moments together. It takes 10 minutes of (too) slow and relatively boring buildup to get anything I find compelling on 1, then shrieks come in and it all intensifies to a cool feeling of horror, only to be dropped literally 30 seconds later after which it all fades away into quasi-nothing. Why? The track returns with some bm druminess but I find it kinda awkward before it finally turns to something really quite cool at the 15min mark. After a smooth transition 2 is just long drone with interspersed gritty noises, and frankly it is well crafted and works well but it overextends. By the midtrack a lady starts talking and it already felt about time the track ended. 3 restarts into something bmey again but my reaction was more 'erf do I really want it to' than anything positive. There's a nice guitar at 2:45 but I'm really grasping at straws here. This gets all quite boring to me even though the agressive wall at 11min is cool - again with this feeling of the music being a blurry meandering that sometimes gets cool almost by accident. The second half (10min) of the track is going back down into dronebient of sorts, giving a matchingly underwhelming conclusion to the album. 2.6
The Newfound Interest in Connecticut Tell Me About the Long Dark Path Home4.0
Really lovely post-rock/emo with tasty prominent and aggressive drumming contrasting with the relatively soft, raw and lo-fi instrumentals and vocals. Some of the best post-rock I've heard in the last few months, and the emo bits are mostly really nice too. The record is very consistent and pretty much all jammy, but the tracks that struck me most were 1,3,4 and 6. Not going to be a classic, but a thoroughly enjoyable record nonetheless. 4.15
Yndi Halda Enjoy Eternal Bliss EP5.0
Man I know the conditions were opposite to ideal for me today (interruptions mood etc) but this did not feel like a 5.0 whatsoever, not even a 4.5. A 4.0-4.1 perhaps. Even with my least fave song removed from the full-length, there is still a lot of downtime on this. I know it's inherent to crescendocore but it really was tough today. True, when the nostalgia kicks in it's truly something, true the first half of Dash&Blast alone justifies why I ever even considered this a 5.0 and remains magnificient, true the closing track also has a lot of beautiful moments, but eh today I really could have demoted it. If i have a similar experience in better conditions, this may really lose a lot in rating. 5.0 is [PENDING]
Madonna Confessions on a Dancefloor4.0
Post 80's Madonna's most consistent album. Look with the momma I got this has to be a favourite album, but nostalgia aside this is probably more in the upper 3.6 ballpark, which still makes it Madonna's best album in eons with the feel of a triumphant return, proving she's not only still relevant in 2005, but can also put out seminal (read: chart busting and/or that me momma spun a lot) pop albums and be up there with the contemporary stars. 1 which Abba can take most of the credit for, and 3 are the two top tier utter jams here, which makes the album slightly frontloaded. 10 is a solid third place although idk where the samples are from. Most of the other tracks are fun but not top tier, and have aged somewhat but still are pretty enjoyable. 2,4,5,8 which builds up very well to a pretty tepid chorus,9 which is somewhat better because of the use of dramatic Madonna strings are all in this category. 6 is a bit corny but still fun, but 7 is really very mid and perhaps the least convincing of the LP. 11 is frankly bad but in a fun way, I had completely forgotten about that track, and 12 is a fun track that doesn't really feel like a conclusion. 00s Madonna is peak Madonna nostalgia for me, and of that period this album is certainly the best. 3.8
NOISIA The Tide/Concussion3.0
First track is Noisia doing Noisia, nice but not memorable really, second track is kinda cheeky and fun and bumps this up a couple points (it"s only a two tracker after all) 3.2
Wormsblood Urfyr1.0
I felt the urge to skip through half of this and did because it was offensively boring -> insta 1.0 tier. The tracks are just excessively long, repetitive, and frankly uninteresting for the most part. Even the scarce good aggressive bmey bits are ruined by being spread far too thin for way too long, and also by, you know, their classic echoed vocals or some other funny sounding stuff like that. 6 is kinda weird and cool I suppose, but other than that this lacks the substance to warrant a full listen. After 30s of pretty much every track you get the jist and can skip ahead, except if you are curious to know what awful vocals the band can sometimes surprise you with (looking at you 9). 1.2
Sed Non Satiata Le Ciel De Notre Enfance4.0
Instrumental are goddarn good at times, and simply sublime at others. Vocals are not the best screamo has seen however. Nothing too bad, just not the best. 4.2
Toby Driver In the L..L..Library Loft3.5
A really odd album. Toby Driver whining on some experimental-ish ambient-ish rock. Really liked the first track, tracks 2-3 are really forgettable, track 4 was ok. Meh - better jam some Kayo Dot, or another album of his. 3.4
Northern Picture Library Postscript2.0
Frankly this was a waste of time. The album alternates between m'okay songs you've already heard and boring material. 3 was maybe a bit better but 4 immediately goes back to bore. Similarly 6 wakes up with guitars and drums a bit, but 7 immediately brings us back to sleep. 8 is the only track that tries things and has some interest and ideas, bumping this a last minute point, but it still hardly surpasses 'okay'. No point listening to this if you've heard their prior records really. 2.1
Deathspell Omega Kenose4.0
I don't really know to label this - sludgy blackened death metal? It sure is diverse and
very dense, thereby warranting a re-listen. Track 1 is really cool, track 2 is phenomenal,
track 3 really fell behind and felt bland and generic. God that fadeout outro. 4.1 for the
first two tracks, 3.9 overall. Edit: rejammed it and I thoroughly agree with my previous
assessment although I'd tamper the enthusiasm a bit. 1 has excellent hellish moments, 2 is
wholly hellish, and 3 is a long drag once its cool but simple explosion is gone. Still,
within their discog, this is the record where DsO finally show signs of being able to
maintain their hellish sounds for more than sporadic moments amidst the generic bm that they
were producing before. 3.8
Britney Spears Britney and Kevin: Chaotic2.5
Not bad, has a couple scarce ideas (the synth bits on 2 I think it was? and the string samples on 3) here and there, but as bland as it gets. Never unpleasant either though, so 2.5
Sigur Ros Takk...4.5
Magnificent opus from Sigur Ros. If happy childhoods had a soundtrack. I have no idea if
the lyrics are actually happy but I always found this bizarrely uplifting, with a heavy
touch of melancholy - missing those long lost happy days. Probably the most peaceful SR
album too. I shall need many re-listens but this is definitely still a 5 contender. 4.6
Edit: perfectly bridges the emotion of ( ) and the hooking melodies of AB. Might be my fave
of theirs? 4.7
Inca Ore Milky Petals Of The Solar Meadows3.0
Cool experimental loopey music that reminds me of early Steve Reich x La Monte Young but a bit cleaner, the kind of stuff I enjoyed listening to but won't probably jam ever again and that would get you the weirdest looks if you showed it to someone. It's a demo which excuses it partly, but the two tracks are fairly disjointed, and while I enjoyed the first track, the second one felt a bit less compelling. This is from yesterday but I messed up the db entry loloops 3.0
Mihai Edrisch Un Jour Sans Lendemain3.5
Good screamo with annoying vocals. With all due respect he sounds like he's pushing through a voice loss, not like he's screaming or singing, and since the vocals are almost ubiquitous here they are quite detrimental to the record. The middle of the album is the strongest, with 5 and 8 being jams, and the first half is not far behind. Tight drumming, beautiful melodies, a couple headbanging grooves and sporadic piano samples. The last few tracks past 8 are much weaker and bring the record down a couple points, but the outro track is cool. 3.5
Inca Ore Brute Nature Vs. Wild Magic3.0
'For Tupac' Otherwise pretty much the same comment like the other demo EP thing, down to the fact that the soundoff is one day late: it's fine and hypnotic but i probs won't jam it ever again, cool to feel like a nerd far removed from all social dogma though if you ever wish to feel like that 3.0
Rihanna Music of the Sun3.0
Honestly I am impressed with this debut. Like Shakira's it benefits from its cute outdatedness - this screams early 2000's all over the place, but especially on 1-3 and 6-7. It is also quite diverse too, boasting diverse beats stemming from reggae/dub on 2 and 4, to rhythmic changes on 6, to other interesting things like on 3 (I lost track after that). With the exception of the album closer which is frankly long and annoying and brings the record down a point, 5, and maybe 10 where the guest is a bit annoying, this does not have any bad track really. 4 is the first track to not entertain actually. 9 is really fun and may even be a jam. Other high points are 3,6 and 8. Not much else I'll come back to, but a much richer, nicer and less annoying record than I anticipated. 2.8
Scarling. So Long, Scarecrow3.5
This is a series of reasonably well crafted alt rock songs, usually with quite killer riffs and
instrumentals, and whose overall success depend mostly on where on a scale from annoying to
mildly ok the vocals land. I do see a bit more of why this is tagged dream pop primarily on 1,
but I still wouldn't say that's the primary genre at all. The vox tend to work best in the
explosion/choruses like 2-3 show, whilst 4 is a bit more falvourless but does have a nice phat
final explosion. 6 is more of the same with the chorus feeling a bit gnagnan, whilst 7 at least
reminds me of Little Uneasy a bit with its rhythmics and also has a cool intro riff. 8 is another
one where the vox really don't work even in the explosion, and by 9 you grow quite tired of them,
though the track in isolation actually works quite well. 10 feels more like the previous records
vocally, and on 11 the vocals are laughably uninvolved and uninterested. And the frustrating
thing is that throughout all this the instrumentals are at worst functional and at best really
cool and fat! By 12 you really want it to stop and my rating which sat at 3.4-3.5 for most of
this started to plummet. 13 is the only track that steps away from the alt rock to try something
more broody and soft, and while the vox is meh and the track kinda eh, I guess it's nice to have
a soft peaceful conclusion. 3.3
Joby Talbot Path of Miracles / Owain Park: Footsteps4.0
1hr20 of choral music may seem like an ominous listen (this is Nigel Short's version), but honestly this is so rich and full of ideas that it makes for a great listen through and through that never bores, owing to the lack of repetitiveness with loads of variety in voicing, atmosphere and melody. My only two real gripes are that, on this version at least, the bells on PoM I are mixed way too loud, and that some of the bits in English just feel a bit strange to me. PoM II felt a little less compelling than the rest with fewer surprises to it. My favourites were Footsteps and PoM I, which seem more tonally adventurous with scarce but great spicy dissonances and harmonies which I love, while the rest is perhaps more conventional - but no less good, III and IV generally having lusher, angelic undertones with less dissonance, although IV changes things up a few minutes in. Again, a great piece that never fails to entertain and that I will certainly listen to again. 'Fun' fact, the premiere of this in 2005 in London had to be delayed because of the London attacks - which is kinda fitting to the music, especially Footsteps. 4.15
Natalia y la Forquetina Casa3.0
Sorry to poop the party but this is a largely underwhelming album that doesn't do much with Natalia's voice - tho the variety is appreciable and the compilation feel is avoided fairly well. 1 is bland n outdated 00s pop rock, but 2 with its bass is pretty funky and cool, and after a more Natalia-typical folk intro, 3 continues this. 4 takes us back to milder boring stuff, then 5 is more engaging instrumentally and even gives us quite cool a RIFF (yes) which is fun to see in her discog, followed by funky keys. 6 is relaxed and pretty but not a jam with a melody I feel I've heard elsewhere. 7 feels like an overlong, poorly mixed live performance of the best band in the school yknow, whilst 8 brings some rnb with a surprisingly not bad transition, some forgettable sections and some nice smooth ones. 9 after a sweet intro gets unnecessarily long/annoying. 10 is again meh pop rock, whilst 11 brings welcome change in sound but with too low energy to fit the LP - the dissonances remain cool. 12 has a much more electronic, fun dancey cocktail house vibe with naive but cute vox and a surprise guitar+bass unfold, cool. 13 finally brings a more latin side but is unfortunateky meh, 14 is also relaxed and cute but not crazy good. 15 is more representative of Natalia's solo discog and also has a cute unfold, whilst 16 is worth a listen as it does have a few interesting ideas though on the whole the track isnt the best. Little to retain on playlists here, and the weird 2-3 versions on Spotify add to the feel that this is just a random idea-throwing side thing rather than a proper canon LP. 3.1
Gorod Neurotripsicks3.5
Fck this sucks but also it owns. Here's a frustrating album that goes on for way too long and gets hurt by it. I have to say the first half of the intro track is quite unique and draws you into the album with its corey vocals and interesting instrumentation. The riff midtrack is original but a bit eh, then it gets very Cynicey. For the rest, the album will alternate about 75% of super cool tech death riffz with intricate rhythms, 10% of tech death riffz that don't work so well, and the rest is just wankery solos and stuff that gave me bad memories of thrash binges. Some of the riffs are really fat like 3 despite the burpvomit vox which are generally fine but never really the selling point for me, but by 4 I already knew the cringe bits would probably keep this sub 4.0. By 6 the album was already getting a bit long, and with 7 I wanted it to stop, with about 25min to go. Some parts of 8 are really terrible to a laughable degree. 10 gave me some hope with some particularly cool riffs but that are then followed by some guitar neck tappy wanking, and 12 is just an awful track. I give them bonus points because when it works, this is really good, and I am still excited to check out their discog, but I'm also scared. 3.3
Shakira Fijacion Oral Vol. 13.5
This album is kind of what I expected Ladrones to be and it is weird that it comes after
Laundry Service and not before. No real banger here, but a really nice and consistent album
with heavier use of acoustic guitar, more of a relaxed latin vibe, and occasional synth
arrangements like on the closer. No bad track really. 1 is gorgeous and the major jam here;
4,5 and 9 are the other jams I noted. The acoustic takes at the end are anecdotal but
they're alright. 3.4
Coprofago Unorthodox Creative Criteria4.0
I love the chaos and variety at play here, and for a relatively obscure band this is solid quality. I've known this for a while but never jammed it in full, and it really holds up. The start is very strong (aside from the fadeout on 1) with two top end tracks that this band truly is the Meshuggy Contortionist of Chile. While nicely riffy 3 is a bit more awkward, but seeing drastically different instrumental tracks like 4 really adds a lot to the album atmosphere. The album goes largely instrumental for a while here, generally keeping us on our toes with smooth yet frequent shifts in style. 6 is more immediately riffy, and the conclusion slays. 8 is okay but feels a bit directionless, and the album loses points a bit as it goes past the excellent 1-2. 9 is another track like 4 which really adds to the charm of the album by bringing newfound variety, here with some electronica djent combination. The later stages of the album go back up in quality, 10 being another cool weird interlude, and 11 showing touches of death/grind violence, again another sign of this band's delightful taste for variety and chaos. Me likey. 3.8
Gospel The Moon Is a Dead World5.0
A unique, kaleidoscopic, exquisitely produced atmospheric hardcore (?) album with powerful prog imagery and an absolute onslaught on the drumkit and bass. Even my least favourite track here is a pure jam, every riff is memorable, and I can't
get enough of this record. Probably my second favourite album. 5.0
Grouper Grouper4.0
Wonderful droney, noisy Grouper record with far less folk and fewer vocals than in her later releases. I'm hesitant to 4.5 it just now but it's right there between a 4 and a 4.5. Need to re-listen more closely. Hard to breakdown by tracks, it just works really well as a whole with a couple odd transitions in places but spectacular textures everywhere. 4.24
New Order Waiting for the Siren's Call2.5
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By The End Of Tonight A Tribute To Tigers2.5
Random math rock-y with pretty poor production for the genre. Tracks 3 and 4 save this from being a 2.1, but in the end this is still pretty annoying and erratic. There are some tasty riffs here and there, but it scarcely sounds good and never sounds amazing. 2.4
Ataraxie Slow Transcending Agony3.0
Great vocals, but I really was not convinced by the instrumentals. Granted funeral doom isn't particularly my thing, but this felt gimmicky and simplistic in a lot of places - although there were a few tasty riffs here and there. Not much I'll remember except DUUUUM DUUUUM BADUUUM UUUUUURHHHH. Meh, 3.0
Boa (UK) Get There3.5
While it never really reaches the heights of their prior output in terms of top tier tracks, it's also better at doing their less interesting material (i.e. the simple alt rock songs) and is overall imo a more consistent album. 1-3 is just quite fun alt rock that is done better that the alt rock songs on LP1 as she doesn't sing all the time. Not quite my style and nothing to write home about, but way better done imo. 4-5 do get a bit lame and got me worried, but then 6 introduces a quite clear style shift that will colour most of the album's second half. The guitar parts become softer, more intricate, the bass becomes more prominent, and the rhythm feels proggier - instrumentally evoking soft Opeth in places. There are also some (very mild and occasional) dissonances that are unexpected here, and singing that is processed in more interesting ways than straight up alt rock. 7 continues this, while 8 brings back some of the alt rock but still maintaining this 'proggier' style, quite like 10 while 9 is surprisingly eerie in a cool way. 11 is nice and contemplative, definitely making the energy cure here a downwards one, but still being interesting. I cannot for the life of me explain what they were thinking with 12 which completely ruptures this after a moment of silence and just sticks out like a sore thumb, but still this is the strongest ba LP imo. 3.4
Trist (GER) Tiefenrausch (Ein Abstieg in fünf Stufen)2.0
I will confess after 20 min I started to skip over that one. I just couldn't take the bare bones dark ambient with a guy rambling in German for more than that. The dark ambient textures are well crafted and a good variety of them is on display (see 1 for example). It seems like the vocals largely stop after 2, and so maybe my rating is unfair and would actually go back up. But even then, the perspective of 1h15 of melody-less dark ambient with not much more than a droning sound and sometimes vocals does not attract me nowadays. The end of 4 with its shift to more hopeful ambient (without vocals too!) is really nice, but otherwise the album really did not feel compelling at all. 2.0
Space Frog Welcome All Species3.0
Yeah this is fine, but if you condensed its best moments and developed the potential of certain songs it'd be a huge banger album whereas here it has a lot of ups, downs, and flats. A lot of tracks have relatively uneventful first halves and build up for too long but have great dancey second halves: 5, 7 (has cool ideas but doesn't unfold too well) 10, 12 (starts off as boring slavcore from 3:00 onwards gets nicely ravey), and arguably 9 which is the central jam of the album and the reason why I'm checking it in the first place. 6 is kinda psych and reminds of Hallucinogen a bit, another track I'll come back to. 3's more ambientish, it is fine but not really my vibe. 8's boring until the eurodance synths kick in and even then it's not all that great. 11 is a diverse track, starting with trance on a sort of dnb beat, getting annoying a bit, then some slavcore, symptomatic of the lack of construction put into this album. Yeah so some bits I'll come back to but as a whole not the strongest album in the world. 3.05
Rotten Sound Exit3.5
Has a lot of great riffage, but also a lot of merely alright moments in between the good passages. It also felt quite long compared to it's actual length, and the only real break is only found on 17. Very nice, but comes in a tad too late. The closer after that starts on a nice intro riff but fails to unfold imo. 3,5, and 14 except the vox on the last third are top highlights. But gimmicky moments (peaking on the end of 6 which literally sounds like they burped into a mic) kinda are too numerous for this too reach too high a rating in my book. 3.5
Wormsblood The Grave Hill3.5
I really like their raw, depressed bm style especially instrumentally, but some of the flaws that don't impact shorter releases so much are felt here. I mean this isn't very long, but still longer than Bounds Beaten. Things like the funnily excessively echoed vocals which only occur once or twice in BB (lel) are quite detrimental here as they are repeated. While after the anecdotal intro track 2 is fantastic and gut wrenching despite the funny echoes, and frankly a solid raw bm jam. 3 offers a nice rest from the intensity, but thereafter the record drops in quality as 4 and 5 feature some funny sounding vox (although instrumentally the band is solid as hell), while 6 feels like it prolongs things unnecessarily. Do jam 1-3 though it's dope and justifies this staying in my library eventually. 3.4

2004
1200 Micrograms The Time Machine2.0
If you have a friend who doesn't like trance, this is the album to make sure they keep
disliking it. I've used the Salut C'est Cool analogy with these guys before but it's never
been more appropriate. There are some good bits but they're scarce and badly disjointed,
while the bad bits are just too cringy and numerous - 7 being an example of this within a
track. The worst aspect of this LP is how they use super nice folk samples of various
cultures (the intros are generally super sweet) then butcher them with godawful transitions
into trance. It's like they put folk instruments just for the sake of it and did not make
the effort to integrate it properly into the music. 1 prefaces this but has the excuse of
slow tempo to explain why it doesn't work, while the other tracks just plain don't work. 3
does it better that's true, but 4-5 is the worst and clearly brings this sub 2.5 tier.
Let's also not forget the seemingly mandatory terrible electric guitar 1200mg track on 8. I
have to say min 3 and min 5 on 2 are nice, and 9 is by far the best track here by reminding
of their debut, but it's just not enough to save it to a 2.5 tier rating. 2.2
Todd Terje Eurodans3.0
Two tracks that rely on a catchy bassy groove and a fun beat, but whose hooks feel not compelling enough to warrant single status. They're fine and there sure are some catchier moments than others, but these mostly feel like transition tracks between bangers in a set, rather than the bangers themselves. 3.2
William Basinski Variations: A Movement in Chrome Primitive3.5
Basinski proving he is the daddy of loopy ambient. These are all essentially a piano loop
with various levels of play with echoes and (mild) sound destruction. The atmospheres they
craft is very potent, but this isn't Basinski's best execution as there are places with
annoyingly loud ringing sound and a couple occasional "formal" problems like that that are
quite detrimental to the experience. I'd say 2hrs of runtime is also quite long for an album
like this, also it is exactly what I needed here. Most of the pieces are around 15-20min and
work very well individually with various degrees of success. My favourites were perhaps the
second and sixth variation, whilst the seventh sounded quite familiar as its melody will be
practically reused for Cascade which was fun to see. I think I still prefer Cascade, but
this is a nice broken and distorted version of it. Probably one I'll rejam tracks from, but
not in whole unless I am again in the very specific mood that calls for it. 3.5
ISIS Panopticon4.5
So vast and gracious. The ultimate answer to MeTaL iS jUsT nOiSe? 4.55
Cult of Luna Salvation4.5
Effing beast of an album - a huge step up from their first two. To me this is the
defining CoL sound. Much more post-rocky and cleaner than its predecessors, it does not
lose the brutal riffs on some tracks, for instance the magnificent album outro. This
alternation of calm and heavy, clear and harsh vocals, dream and violence makes for a
very dynamic album. Riveting, diverse and with lots of memorable tracks, this is a clear
5 contender that has its unique personality to it. Solid 4.5
Sum 41 Chuck3.0
Sum 41 trying to ride the wave of what was popular at the time. All this album does is making me want to jam Linkin Park. I'll concede 1 is a really cool intro track, and 2 with its kinda rise against vibe is super fun, and at that point I was pumped about this album. Sadly 3 gets more cringe and is quite meh although not truly horrible. 4 is the first track to really show the LP-worship going on here - the issue is that S41 never do it better than LP, so you just want to jam LP if you like them. 5 takes more from Oasis, 6 goes a bit harder and shreds and sounds like thrash and so I don't like it. 7 is quite LPey again and still meh, although they try to differentiate themselves a bit more here - still nice to have a softer break on 8 afterwards. 9 is pop LP wiht a dumb breakdown, 10 is dumb okay pop punk, 11-12 are very milquetoast nu-metal/pop punk, but finally 13 wakes us up with its fun intro and is simple and efficient with a surprising unfold into a good song I like... until they add a stupid breakdown with shreddy shredders. 14 has a fun intro too, and whilst it is run of the mill pop punk these last few tracks redeem the album a bit. A bit only. Most of it was done much better by other people. 2.9
Mastodon Leviathan4.0
Very solid Mastodon record, especially the second half. The first half of the record feels like it is undecided between the proggy feel of their later output and harsher, sludgier post-metal sounds. The resulting mix is not as convincing as either of those. However in the second half of the album Mastodon succeeds much better at combining those sounds and at magnifying them through contrast between massive post-metal riffs and softer parts. The result is a phenomenal last couple of tracks which bring this on the verge of being a 4.5.
Necrophagist Epitaph3.5
I am trying not to be biased by the artwork which I utterly dislike here whilst I loved the one from LP1, but this felt far, far weaker. Stylistically it has more slower tracks, more solo-ing, and seemed less brutal overall - the prod is really never aggressive and the vocals are nearly the only element warranting giving any sense of grittiness. While the other one made me enjoy the soloing for the most part, here it made me cringe a tad more - the supreme point being the end of 6 playing Prokofiev's Dance of the Knights, which made me decide once and for all that this was not only weaker than Onset of Putrefaction but also sub 4.0 tier. This still has fun bits and fun riffage, but there's hardly a track I can call a jam although 1 is fun indeed, and 5 accelerates things for a nice change. 2 starts not so great, evolves very well, and then ruins it again in the conclusion. Apart from that, I'd never jam this instead of Onset of Putrefaction. Perhaps it'll check back on this one some time it case it was just a matter of bad listening conditions, but for now 3.6
The Dillinger Escape Plan Miss Machine4.0
The closest we'll ever get to Calculating Infinity for a full-length record. Feels less raw, and already marks a shift towards their later sound. This brings a lot of fresh ideas and the music has many high points, even though some tracks do fall a bit behind. Excellent and a must listen when looking for that early TDEP sound, but with a touch more melody and a touch less brutality.r4.2
Meshuggah I4.5
What an absolute mindfking banger this is. Deserved a better conclusion though. 4.7
Alexisonfire Watch Out!4.0
This has the melodic, riffy, rhythmic and vocal ideas to be a 5.0, but there are too many elements to waste that potential. The direction they chose is just not one I resonate with. But their sound can get very proggy at times, one example being 7's intro, and they mostly succeed at mixing that with more anthemic, corey songwriting. 6 has a dope intro with the clean vox+ bass, giving me Tool vibes somehow. My issue with this is the harsh vocals which are gimmicky and really not my cuppa, and to a lesser extent the ""anthemic"" group sung parts. This is like music for my adolescent self but well done, except those harsh parts. 1,2,4,6,7,9,10,11 all have great intros and/or clean parts, but are often ruined in the harsh sections - I disliked 9 overall for example despite the great intro. 2 and 4 have annoying bits in minimal amounts and are thus jams. 3,5,8 are the only truly weaker tracks from start to finish. The closer 11 is one of the best tracks too with a super fun groove to it and a lovely clean intro, and convinced me this deserves a solid 4.0
Madvillain Madvillainy4.5
There is a particularly great symbiosis between DOOM's vocal deliveries and Madlib's intricate
instrumentals that is found quite often on this and makes for solid bangers. I do have to say
the variety there primarily comes from Madlib's side as I found in those moments that work best
DOOM's delivery tends to be quite self similar, but in isolation it is impeccable and his voice
certainly carries quite some pathos. I do find there are some moments that could use a bit of
trimming with excessively long interludey passages, and au contraire some of the greater
segments feel short lived and could have made for much longer songs. But overall this is
indubitably a very solid album that indubitably forms significant part of hip-hop's evolution
away from the classic 90s sound into newer things. [car] 4.3
Fennesz Venice3.5
This is ok ambient-drone, but it does not quite cut it for me. Some tracks are cool - 'The Other Face', the opener and closer - with nice interesting textures, but others e.g. track 2 are more a glitchier gimmicker version of ambient that I like a lot less. At the very least I think these tracks are not well integrated and break the drone mood created by the others, instead of changing it. Still a nice jam. 3.6
Xiu Xiu Fabulous Muscles2.5
Xiu xiu still sits somewhere between Prurient for people who cannot stand distortion, wannabee erotic audiobook for slug fetishists, and beyond dull 'I am not like most bands' quirkyelectrocore. I am still at best bored by Xiu xiu. I suppose this one is the best so far and has a couple nice-ish bit but meh 2.5
Scarling. Sweet Heart Dealer3.0
This starts off in an unexpectedly great way with an amazingly gritty riff and tone on the guitar that is just extremely FAT. And although the vox is kinda lame and generic for how cool the instrumental is, I'd say with that riffage the track still works. 2 is the same thing but with more effective vox and a less gritty, less effective riff. At that point I wasn't sure whether I liked this or not. Despite cool drumming, 3 is meh, and by then it is official: the gritty fat guitars of 1 are gone, and the vocals aren't my cuppa. 4 is very meh, and after a very cool Steve Reichey almost intro riff, the vocals ruin 5 until it gets instrumentally quite angry by 3. It's frustrating to see relatively cool instrumentals being coupled with 2003 fingerless gloves and fishnet stockings teen pop rockcore vocals that I might have liked back when I got my first ipod. 6 is kinda cool though its chorus and ending get kidn of annyoing. 7 being the longest track by far yet being quite useless and annoying drops this down to a fairly weak 2.9
Deathspell Omega Si Monvmentvm Reqvires Circvmspice3.0
Far too long and bloated for its own good. Plus the vocals don't serve the music very well for the most part, and sometimes feel like they are just there to read out the (I'm sure cool) lyrics. Sometimes the album is excellent at feeling hellish, sometimes it feels like it tries too hard. 1 introes the album excellently, with tension and esoteric vox, but the transition into 2 is not great and introduces us to the meh vocals. The hellish wall of sound in the back, whilst great, quickly blurs out after a few tracks. The occasional riff (eg min 6 on 3) or drum fill (on 2 especially) wake us up, but not often enough. The album's pacing is its greatest fault. Some softer moments are very well crafted (10's second half, 11 around min 4-8, which makes the impressive explosion afterwards shine), but they come in very late in the album to vary things up. 4 feels more cheesy than evil, 5 does have a cool ending but is otherwise meh, 6 has a nice wall of hellish sound then riffage around 2:30 with still the cringe vox, and the album was losing me though 8's hellish 4th minute did wake me. 9 's first minute is pretty darn hellish and nice, but the album feels already way too long. 10 before its softer bit starts off as regular but functional bm more like their older material, and 11 is pretty slow and meh except min 3, and then its calmer bit and later explosion are great and save the day somewhat. 12 does have some great hellish bit, but the slow and awkward 13 is really making things longer unnecessarily. Maybe was not in the right mood for this idk. 3.15
Paysage d'Hiver Nacht2.5
This record is a big step down from Winterkalte. It is really boring most of the time and my
least favourite Pd'H by far (compared to its predecessors). It only takes the few parts of
Winterkalte I don't like (slow, repetitive riffy bm dragging on forever), dims the production to
make it all sounds inoffensive, and drowns it into 50% of field recording of wind. I like
ambient/ field recording but there's better stuff out there than that. There are some 3.5-3.7
sections (beginning of tracks 2 and 4), but most of the album you're just waiting for something
to happen. 2.6
Manchester Orchestra 5 Stories2.5
Look I do not pretend I could do any better, not even half as good, and if you played this on the guitar at a party or something I would think of you that you're talented. But ultimately, as a record to listen to this is painfully mid. 1-2 are bogstandard bare bones guitar bonfire indie ballads, 3 has a little more of a 00's pop (punk) song vibe with soft still but more complete instrumentation, which feels a bit random but brings much needed variation at least, then 4 is more like 1-2, and finally 5 goes back to the vibe of 3. This also sounds nothing like their later output. Only for completionists I'd say. It is a very early debut record though, no need to be harsh in rating here. Plus it's not BAD bad yknow. 2.3
Darkthrone Sardonic Wrath3.5
Feels quite underrated. Might be a hot take but this feels like my fave DT since the black trilogy. Usually I don't dig slow bm all that much, but this one makes it work and some of the tracks truly have great riffs - see the end of 4, or 7 for instance. The droney album intro is nice too and helps setting the mood. There's maybe one or two tracks too many on this but either way I enjoyed it a good bit. 3.65
Vali Forlatt3.5
This is nice neofolk, with strings (cello?) and sparse use of flutes that give it a nice 70's prog rock touch at times. It does have some great sections that charmed me more than these instrumental acoustic guitar neofolk albums usually do, but a lot of the album felt pretty bland too. Amusingly I got some hispanic/cuban vibes from some of the tracks including the opener. 3.5
Electric Universe Cosmic Experience3.5
Better than its predecessor because it doesn't waste 20 min into two pointless closing tracks, but 1hr13 of psytrance is still hard to digest. Again, not quite an album I'd turn to for at-home listening, but pretty fun ravey stuff. 1,2,5,6 and 7 all work really well, the latter being perhaps the best track here with its occasional pads in the background to give texture to psytrance hooks that already among the best here. 3-4 loose a bit of steam, although the intro to 3 and the midtrack to 4 are cool. But 4 shows an instance of mindless guitar soloing over the psytrance which I just find a boring way to fill time, and that's used again on 9. Tbf after an hour it was hard to not feel like a lot of this was filler material. 8 starts of cool but looses a bit of steam too. What saves the album and easily gives it an extra point is the concluding track, which I must say does its job fantastically well and gives a real, well timed and well composed conclusion to the album as it slowly dies off with flutes and ambient synths easing the slow death of the psytrance rave. Wasn't expecting such a great conclusion here, nice. 3.4
Ulcerate The Coming of Genocide3.5
Dense, brutal, technical, and full of ideas : I am incredibly pumped considering this is only their debut EP (2003 demo notwithstanding) and widely regarded as inferior to their ulterior discog, yet still felt fantastic and fun. I don't like everything, especially some vox here and there, but the riffs and melodies change so much and so fast that it never becomes a true issue. And this only rarely occurs anyway. 3.6
Todd Terje Mjondalen Diskoklubb3.5
I'm going to enjoy this discog, for Mr Terje sure can make a bass bounce. Thoroughly enjoyable listen with 1 being really dancey and featuring super fun synths (and bass), 2 being nicely produced but not as compelling (except for the bass it's all about the bass), and 3 taking a much softer, ambient, topics, relaxed approach (but ends on yet another catchy bass groove) and is really successful at that less explosive, more contemplative atmosphere. A great debut EP that's worth playlist spots. 3.6
Gospel Lived4.0
This sounds like absolute shit prod-wise but the songwriting is so good it still makes you want
to tap ya foot and hear the whole thing. Man I wish I had been there. 4.0
William Basinski Watermusic II4.0
Excellent aquatic ambient track. It's not perfect though - in some places the sounds ring a tad too loud -, but it does the job and sets the mood perfectly. 3.9
Windrikje Frostland4.0
This is a simple album, didn't feel that special to me or anything, and yet for some reason I really dug it. Maybe because it is DS (or I guess winter synth hey garas) without sounding like a game soundtrack at all? 2 is probably the weakest track here. 1 is nice and has a heavy desolate atmosphere to it. 2 is a bit weaker, 3 is a lovely sounding jam, 4 is nice but a bit forgettable - although I love the drony very intro and outro -, 5 is kinda cool even though not the most atmospheric track on the record, epic and ominous sounding with its distant drums, and finally 6 wraps it up nicely with a slightly japanese sounding track. The record is short and sweet, and I'll revisit it. 3.9
Evilfeast Mysteries of the Nocturnal Forest4.5
This is fantastic and extremely atmospheric black metal. It remotely evokes a 2000's version of
90's Burzum. This is how dungeon synth truly shines, used either occasionally in conjunction with
bm or for short ambient interludes. Despite what I consider minor formal mistakes - fade out song
ends, abrupt changes in production that sound quite odd especially between the first two tracks
-, the record is excellent at crafting a wizardy, foresty, mountainy and mysterious feel, and has
enough unique traits to be quite memorable. Re-listen warranted. 4.4

2003
Scarling. Band Aid Covers the Bullet Hole3.5
Bit of an anecdotal alt rock EP with a nice gritty guitar tone and sweet dreamy vocals but not much else to go for it if you ask me. 1-2 are cool, 3 is only memorable because it's a cover, but on the whole this is quite short and forgettable though I can't really fault it beside the choice of covering Creep on a three tracker. 3.4
Britney Spears In the Zone3.0
She keeps improving and delivers a solid album with a much more defined style. Said style is essentially a semi-sensual 00's RnB vibe built over a hook made out of an organic instrument - a guitar, strings, some sort of wind instrument. That describes most of the album, except the end which does falter a bit and contain the only two cheesy tracks of the whole thing: 10, which is fine really, and 12, which is a ballad but fits better here as an album closer than it did breaking the rhythm on her former LPs. 11 is an actually fun summer pool party music with a bit of rapping in places, simple but dancey. The album peaks on the huge 6 which is a huge jam of course, and is followed by 7 which is a nice urban 50cents-vibed track that is fun and dancey, which means that 8 and 9, while nice, feel like a downward curve. 8 is kinda synthy like 4, with some nice bits here and tehre and a China-evoking strings sample, while 9 has a bit of a slow reggaeton beat to it? 1-5 on the other hand are all very consistent albeit almost never jammy, and demonstrate the aforementioned style without exception. 1's a fun track but I feel like hte melody is recycled from a Madonna track at times. 2 evokes Madonna too. 3 is almost jammy and is packed with cool ideas, 4's mildly fun and catchy, and 5 varying up the organic textures a bit with some wind instrument. A solid pop record and one I feel might end up being my favourite Britney LP. 3.2
Explosions in the Sky The Earth Is Not a Cold Dead Place4.5
Why do I enjoy this so much? In the end this is crescendocore like any other - fantastically well crafted, but quite standard. Yes it is old and sparked a
lot of interest for the genre, but it isn't the first crescendo post-rock album ever. But you know what, it just works. These songs have been with me for a
decade now; this is music that makes me love life, in a delicate mixture of happiness, nostalgia, and a bit of a smile for those melodies which I recall so
well. Today the intro of Six Days is what hit me the most, but that changes with every listen. Man I'm pumped to finally see them tonight. 4.5
1200 Micrograms Heroes Of the Imagination3.5
To me this holds the distance better than 1200 Mics. It is the same style of mindless,
club-oriented trance that does the job and feels like it's from the 90s even though it
isn't, but it just works better across the board. Again, really not something to start
discovering trance with though. The best comparison I could come up with (realised this on
8) is that this is Salut C'est Cool, but serious + psytrance synths. There are some flutes
and other more shpongeley elements, on 3 where the flute is cool but not very well mixed in
conjuntion with the electronica, and 5 where it is far better used. 4 is my fave track here
and 5 is second with maybe 8 as third, while 1-3 is a bit all the same. On 7 the electric
guitar is used well for the first time in their discog, but the real track bringing this
all way down is 6. The Money for Nothing sample is a very cheap gimmick and the remix into
a trance track is pretty awful. Even when the track doesn't use the sample it uses electric
guitar awfully and the track is just not a good time. It brings this down but even with
this massive, bad taste faux pas I can't have this one not beating 1200 Mics so 3.4
Darkspace Dark Space I2.5
I am not at all convinced by this one. There are many glimpses of goodness, but the albums really feels like it cannot choose between first wavey chuggy chugs, and vast expansive bm atmosphere. Now I like variety in albums and I dont mind stylistic shifts, but here you cannot have more than three minutes of one without it turning into the other. Even the prod jumps from relatively thin on the atmo bits to fuller on the chug. It is particularly chaotic on 4 with random drums coming in for a minute, volume changes etc. It doesn't help that I am already not a fan of the chuggy flavor of bm to begin with, and indeed the crumbs of greatness are all in the atmospheric bits for me. I like the synths that complement them too. 6 is the only track I enjoyed on the whole, with delicious atmo riffage and a relatively coherent structure unlike anything else here. Bumped the album up a tier, but it was brought right down by the closer, which is chuggy, takes ages upon ages to end, and yet still manages to conclude on a fadeout. 3 is quite cool around 5min in, the first wall of bm on 1 is fun, there are other good bits, but man did I mention this is 76 minutes long too? 2.7
Death Cab for Cutie Transatlanticism4.0
A strong album, but clearly no longer a 5.0 contender for me. The opener is a bit naive sounding but that's fine because it is followed by a series of simple yet catchy and captivating tunes 2-4. 5 is a bit naive and feels more like upper 4.0 material but still a fun track. 6 is more relaxed which is quite welcome, but the issue is that afterwards the record hardly picks back up at all. 7 starts as a second ballad which already feels like it wasn't the right choice, and the end track gets really boring. 8 has a sweet intro I guess. By 9 I already knew this wasn't a 5. 10 brings some nice electronica variety, but the album closer is boring and brings this down yet another point. 4.05
On The Might of Princes Sirens4.0
I think I overrated the previous opus, but I can't say this one is worse so now I'm forced to 3.8. Band is a much better emo band than it is a skramz band, and the most successful tracks tend to be the softer ones - which for the most part sit on the second half of the album. This is evident on 2 which is fine on the softer bits but really struggles in the aggressive bits, after 1 which is a fantastic opener I gotta say. 3 is good but has some questionably nasal vocals, whilst 4 is one of the most successful abrasive tracks with a sense of erratic chaos that reminded me of late TDEP somehow. 5 has an amazing intro riff that unfolds terribly although the track gets better later on. 6 is also abrasive and also kinda cool, then the interlude 7 gives us some much welcome rest. 8-9 are softer tracks and so much more consistent, whilst 10 has a fun opening on the bass that unfolds not so well, but then there is a call back to the opener which would have been an excellent way to conclude the album. Inexplicably, they carry on whith 11, which tbf isnt half bad and has a good intro, then 12 whihc is just skippable nonsense. A quality band but with as many weak points as they have strnegths. 3.8
sway (CA) The Millia Pink and Green4.0
Some of the lushest and softest shoegaze I've heard in recent memory. Listened to this in the wrong order thanks to Spotify but I will rejam it anyway because this a sweet, continuous stream of reverberated softness that felt like a 4.1 from start to finish. 3 (the real one, Sullust, not Spotify's 3) feels perhaps a little dronier, 4 more ambient, 1-2 vaguely more classically shoegaze with their guitar tones, and 5 is the most melodically hooking track of all thereby making it a great album conclusion, but the record just feels like one continuous stream of soft dreaminess you want to wrap yourself in and sleep on. The vox evoke soft Neige and are often mixed quietly e.g. on 5 which reinforces their softness, and there is hardly any distortion let alone fuzz here, maybe on 2 a bit. Get on this people. 4.1
Nujabes Metaphorical Music4.5
Fluffy aerial hip-hop/jazz to soothe the soul. Man when this is on, life's good. 4.8
Drudkh Forgotten Legends4.0
Incredible debut. The Drudkh sound is already there, minus maybe some stronger folk influences, and the tracks are all good to excellent. This is a great record to get into BM, with extremely scarce vocals and relatively clean production. Not their best, but a truly solid album. 4.0
Daughters Canada Songs4.0
Hey why is this rated so low on here? This is one of the most fun grind albums I've come
across. It is quite unique too. The Hell Songs sound is already present and the record is
incredibly (too) short, leaving absolutely zero time to get bored. 3.8
Cult of Luna The Beyond4.0
You know I don't know if I prefer this one or their debut LP. It is definitely a step up in
quality and maturity, as none of the sections feel amateur anymore. They definitely progressed.
This has some of CoL's angriest moments on Receiver and The Watchtower, which are my album
favorites and definite re-listens. The second half of the album falls off a fair bit and did not
rgrab my attention as much. I also don't like the cleaner, more electronic prod as much compared
to their debut. Which one I prefer in a vacuum is hard to say because of variability of listening
conditions for albums that are very similar, but as far as rating it I'll give it a 3.75
Madonna American Life3.5
Suburbian soccer mom: the album. Now I cannot be 'objective' with this, having been raised to it, but I have to say nostalgia does not save many of its tracks. The issue is mostly pacing. The album starts with 3 of its best, catchiest tracks in the style of its perhaps somewhat outdated, but still super fun and very much my jam brand of pop full of triangle synths and electronic drums. All three bangers, although 3 perhaps less so. Then we have a long spell of tracks that, albeit not bad per se, are on an ever downward trend in energy. 5 is fun in that it outdated pretty badly, but by 8 we are at the mellowest ballad and it's frankly downhill with my rating. The album finally goes back to more of a beat, more catchiness, and more synths on 9 which feels like a deliverance but is also fun in its own right, before the album throws the banger 10 at us. Would have been a good conclusion, but it felt obliged to also give us 11, which whilst a fun calmer song is not as much of a finale as 10 would've been. Playlist album for sure. 3.3
Tim Hecker Radio Amor4.5
Tim Hecker is a dominant artist when it comes to drone ambient, and that has been the case for a long time as he shows us with this brilliant record. Hard to pick favourites in his discog but this one is certainly up there, varying between melodic and noisy tracks, uplifting and dark moments - some sections even reminding of Thomas Koner. Stellar and always a good re-listen. 4.4
Blut Aus Nord The Work Which Transforms God4.0
This album is unique, and for a straight up black metal record released in 2004 with no added elements from other genres, that in itself is laudable. The music has a strong horror feel to it and makes one's skin crawl minutes into the r ecord. However the record lasts long enough for the freshness and excitement of the first few tracks to slightly fade without renewing it with other atmospheres or ideas. A solid 4.1
Darkthrone Hate Them3.5
Now on this one the punk is abundantly clear. The guitar tone is also deliciously grainy and as garas put it, rusty. While tracks like 5 show the hxc roots-with-bm-tones approach quite evidently, there's other stuff to be found here, the first track reminding me a bit of sludge with its slower tempo. While the riffs are consitently cool, the tracks do kind of blur into one another after the first few, and I don't really know that I'd want to come back to this. Plus 7 is completely incongruous with the rest, at least in its intro. But this was a fun listen nonetheless. 3.4
Xiu Xiu A Promise2.5
This is their highest rated album? Oh dear. Idk what it is but Xiu Xiu's music just doesn't work for me so far. It doesn't give me any emotion or tell me any story. At best, this is passable like 4-5 or 9 with its cute inspiring sorta marine guitar strum. At worst, this is frankly annoying - most commonly because of the vocals once again, but not just. Oftentimes, it also just has zero interest for someone like me who doesn't really pay attention to lyrics, as it's just him talking over random sounds. That's just not what I seek in music. I guess the insturmental part of how 2 unfolds is kinda cool? Idk man I have no desire to return to this, but it wasn't the worst I guess. 2.3
Sleep Dopesmoker3.5
I don't really get what all the fuss is about. Yes this is really cool stoner
rock/metal(?), it definitely has tasty riffs and textures and is quite hypnotic. It's
good, but I did not find it transcendental or deserving a 4.0+ average. I have better
memories of Om for instance - have to rejam their albums for a fair comparison though.
3.7
Ulcerate Demo 20033.0
Far more generic and less exciting than the 2004 EP, but strong nonetheless. Track 3 is actually pretty solid which bumps the record up a point, and prod is fine. No reason to ever jam this over the EP or probably any of their later records, but nice. 2.95
William Basinski The Disintegration Loops II5.0

2002
Sum 41 Does This Look Infected?3.0
I don't know how much of this is familiarity versus listening conditions versus the vocals really sounding less inspired on this, but LP2 feels like Sum 41 were already tired. There is less of the mindless teenage candor that made LP1 so fun, yet seriousness isn't really their strong suit. The less adolescent vibe is already prominent on the flagship 1 (Guitar Hero II ftw), and moreso on the still fun 2. 3's more like LP1 but gets awkward midway. Although it already feels like a bit much, 4's chorus is classic fun. 5 more hxc adjacent but is also very short, whilst 6 brings power metal vibes and is actually quite fun although a bit overextended. 7 finally brings a more recognisable intro (missing still 1) and is just easy pop punk. 8 is fun pop punk but its cringe basemetalcore mini breaks kinda ruin the track for me. 9 again reminds more of LP1 in terms of vibes, but not in quality as it really isn't a banger. 10 tries a little more to be recognisable, but on it and 11 you really feel the band being a bit tired and uninspired. 12 wakes up a lot in the intro although its unfold remains a bit meh. I like its calm, melancholic ending, but the transition into the cringe hair metal 13 is pretty awful. 14 starts much calmer and unfolds quite well into a semi cringe hair metal track that's a lot better than 13, but less good than I remember the hair metal being on LP1. Far fewer bangers than LP1, and did I mention the artwork? 3.0
Sigur Ros ( )4.5
From the first notes you know this is going to hit right in the feels. Didn't have as good
a listen as I was expecting this time after not hearing this for quite a while, but it's
still a glorious album full of highly emotional peaks, that are unfortunately brought down
by some very (I daresay excessively) lengthy buildups and a couple tracks that do not pack
as much intensity as others. Still a glorious and top tier SR album, but I'm not feeling
the 5.0 on this one. 4.4
1200 Micrograms 1200 Micrograms3.5
"Let's give title each track after a different drug lol so edgy" Not the most serious aesthetic here with lots and lots of samples telling us psychedelic things, but let's look past that. 1-5 is a solid, easy 3.7. It is trance/psytrance that is never hugely memorable because of its simple, straight to the point approach with drums+bass+synth line and that's it, but it also does the job without fail and without any annoying section really. It is quite mindless and repetitive, so definitely not a record to recommend to someone who wants to discover trance without quite enjoying it yet. 4 is softer and trippier but looses a bit of steam by the midtrack, which is saved by 5 being one of the fattest cuts. By 6 however, it is starting to feel a touch long, and the first cringe sounds also start to show up in the end track. 7 has some great buildups and rave potential but furthers this starting to feel too long. 8 starts quite badly with the guitar but once it goes away by the midtrack it becomes really fun with some added tribal drums. The second half is super cool but it ends out of nowhere. At this point I realised Spotify is dumb and has the same track twice, so 9 is a repeat. Looks like there are multiple versions of this album but this is definitely not a correct one. The last track is more of the same, and the record ends on a 3.35
Trespassers William Different Stars2.5
Still unimpressed by these guys, I'm really surprised this clocks a 4.3 average. This is basically the first album again but with correct vocals, which makes it never unpleasant, but also isn't enough to make it interesting to me. It is still the same type of kinda ballady mellow song time and time again, which bar the occasional nice moment and dreamy guitar bears little interest in my book. 2 is one of the nicest songs with a tasty guitar tone and lovely but occasional high notes from the vox. 4 another strong song with a very sweet kinda despaired track that ends into a nice explosion of sorts. 9's a nice example of the inoffensive type songs, and 11 is a nice conclusion - the intro is inspiring and could make a nice beat, and the midtrack is beautiful. Apart from that, meh. 2.7
The Flaming Lips Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots4.5
An album I love and enjoy thoroughly every time I jam it - especially the mid-album 5-8 -, but that lacks this 'god-tier' feel required to be a 5.0 or a 5.0 contender really. Textbook 4.5
Natalia Lafourcade Natalia Lafourcade3.0
This is very different from what I know from her more recent output, but it still is good fun. This is essentially a late 90s pop record (in 2003) with her vox, which feel less mature and are not always on point, but are still fine. Track 9 is an example where the instrumental is really nice and fun but her vox doesn't feel like it really fits. 2-4 are kinda fine, 5 is a highlight and is quite funky, 6 has good melody in places but isn't all too great, 7 is interesting with a sort of DnB beat to it. 8 shows more rock influences. 10-12 is more of the same in the early record. The remix track is a bit annoying, but the acoustic closer is really nice - perhaps because that's what I am used to hearing from her. This is a nice debut but in a vacuum it's not hugely interesting. 3.15
Tim Hecker My Love Is Rotten to the Core3.5
I don't know what it is about Tim, he just destroys sounds in such a pleasing way. 1 is clearly the highlight here and a great Hecker track. After 2 which is a fine sample, 3 is also pretty good and cool in that it is perhaps one of the most broken Hecker tracks I can remember. 4 is very short, and 5 is okay but a bit more forgettable. 3.65
Darkspace Minus One3.5
Honestly this is pretty great, and I found it far more engaging than LP1. The first track opens with a lot closer material to what I always hope for with Darkspace - a grand wall of bm sound complemented by space evoking synths and/or black hole/supernova-esque grandeur. It does loose a bit of steam for a couple minutes after min 5, but picks things back up after that. It could of loses itself again in the last few minutes, before getting quite epic in a soloey kind of way at the very end sort of min 14. Great quality Darkspace outright and one of my fave tracks at this point of their discog (including LP1). 2's charm and merit is more in how surprising it is. Quite early on we get a slow, pounding, deep slow techno type beat almost, sounding very electronic, and quite unexpected. The track slowly morphs into an almost Rammsteiney industrial kind of thing and gets quite cool with the riff starting around 4:40, before eventually devolving into a dark ambient/droney type conclusion that works ok. I frankly didnt pay too much attention closer to the end. Worth a listen really. 3.55
Mastodon Remission4.5
The rawest Mastodon LP out there. Fantastic drumming technique, bleak and spicy prod, and
the vox sound heavily distorted and out of this world. But apart from 7 I think they fit
the album's brutality and raw aggressiveness perfectly. The first half is incredible, and
1-4 is all god tier jams bar a few sections here and there. 5 shows us that they already
had those melodic, proggy, marine melodies in them as well with a lovely intro, seen also
on 9. But from 5 on the record seems to get lost into slower territories and seems to loose
its focus and direction quite badly. 10 does go back to the style of the early and is a jam
except towards the end, but at this point it feels like too little too late. We're still
being offered lovely material, sometimes post-metalish, but it's just not on par with the
first half, especially with the closing track ending it all on pretty much a fade out.
Still balls and still some of my favourite riffage out there - who dare say thrash metal
now. 4.4
Cult of Luna Cult of Luna (EP)4.0
Holy effing shite. The absolute bleakest and darkest CoL record ever. First two CoL albums + Amenra pre Mass V + crass prod. The EP is very impressive for a first release, the intro already sounds pretty much like their later records, the riffs are soul-crushing, vocals are excellent albeit quite lost in the mix, and they even already use touches of organ (I think?) on the first track, and a didgeridoo (?) on the second one. First track was my fave but honestly both are jams. The only less mature bit is the occasional bleep bloopy electronic sounds here and there on the first track, but other than that it sound like a full blown record really. If you enjoy CoL's rawer, earlier sound, or if you like stuff like Amenra, do not sleep on this!.3.8
Xiu Xiu Knife Play2.5
For the majority of the first half, this feels like Prurient if Dominik had lost all of his grit and two or three distortion pedals. It's chaotic, but it's not angry. It's noisy, but it doesn't scream. In fact there is a whole lotta whining in this thing, to a point that gets frankly annoying in multiple places. Now this is not to say there is no merit here. Lots of songs have cool ideas, textures or intros - chiefly 1,5,6 -, but as long as he starts whining or singing-but-pretty-much-talking-really it feels like those ideas are thrown down the drain. The second half is a bit calmer and more ambient, as crystallised in the closing track, and that works better wiht the vocals, which bumps this back to 2.5 tier -, but firstly this means the album has a strong downward energy curve, and secondly there are still plenty of bad bits in this half - 7 and 10 get really irksome for instance. So yeah not one I'll come back to any time soon. 2.5
Prurient The History of AIDS3.0
I enjoyed the first half on this quite a bit. As usual with noise, it is hard to put into words, but there is just something about Dominik shrieking auditory abuse over a wall of noise that just tickles my fancy. The first two tracks are quite heavily vox-based, then the rest is mostly 'instrumental' noise. Up to track 6 this was somewhere in 4.0 territory, but sadly track 7 then felt very disruptive to the atmosphere. How can a track feel disruptive on an album that's made of mostly random noises and bleeps I don't know, but it clearly ruptures with the rest. Something with the frequency spectrum perhaps? 8 is kinda nice and brings back the first half, but I had trouble getting back into the album thereafter because it already felt long enough at 7 and could easily have ended there. There are some nice bits here and there but the closer feels disruptive again and turns into a headache almost. Throughout the second half my rating went downhill to a low 3.2
Xiu Xiu Chapel of the Chimes3.0
This has good ideas but also major flaws that kind of break it for me, although it being an old debut EP I can be a bit lenient. The instrumentals are all fun, althouhg there arent really any 'wow' moments, but the excessively whiny/over the top/overdramatic vox just never work for me, in addition to some instrumental moments that are a bit weaker - like 5 getting a bit annoying despite a nice intro bringing a fun change of pace compared to the slower tracks that preceded it. A nice EP but that feels like it was more fun to make than it was to jam, and that I don't really plan on listen to again. 3.0
Deathspell Omega Inquisitors of Satan3.5
Again, perhaps is underrated from being released 10 years too late to be really innovative, but even then still feels a bit to monotonous. Whilst 1 has really great evil riffs, the novelty wears off quickly, and the band never really offer any break or change from the bm barrage, which only works with evil tracks such as the opener. 2 is a lot more run of the mill and Darkthrone-ripoffey, and like much of the album feels ok but quite forgettable as there isn't much personality there for the mind to latch onto. 3 displays a lot more of the cool evil riffs, but the next cool moment that happens to awaken the interest beyond 'standard ok made bm' is the riff change at 4:45 on track (emphasis) 6. 7 is also angrier in places which is cool, but on the whole not really an album I intend on jamming again. 3.3
Daughters Daughters3.5
Interesting grindcore. The noisy interlude on track 2 was probably my favourite. Even for grind stuff this is way, way too short and has no time at all to tell a story, but the music itself is good. Vocals subpar and uninteresting compared to their other stuff. 3.5
Agalloch The Mantle5.0

2001
Shakira Laundry Service3.0
Yeah I'm a normie and prefer this over any of her prior ones, probably a touch owing to nostalgia (dear mama had a CD of this). There are a few more true jams (1,3, and of course the closer which is recycled from ladrones, 6 is kinda jammy too tbh), and the record is super fun. It's also less consistent than ladrones, with a lot of tracks being borderline bad (4-5 are good examples). The versions in different languages are odd but also an interesting case study. Some songs clearly work better in Spanish (Ojos Asi, and the opener), but some frankly sound better in English, e.g. 3. At this point of her discog I'm excited because she's starting to boast some really solid and fun tracks amongst the okay stuff. 3.1
Britney Spears Britney2.5
Britney displays here hints of a style that is more original in an album that feels more diverse than her prior two efforts. She brings up the OO's RnB influences and bounce from the get go, with a first track I am not sure I like but that brings welcome variety to her discog. 2 has a nice bounce and I feel like if it were more famous it could be a bit jammy. 3 on the other hand reminds of her earlier material, and 4 is yet another boring ballad. These first four tracks pretty much show the breadth of styles you'll find the album. 5 has a fun verse but a meh justin timberlakey chorus. 6 is quite funky and really proves that, albeit still hardly above a straight 2.5, this album is clearly superior to her first two. 7 is a silly cover like she already did on her prior LP. 8 contrary to 5 has a fun chorus but a not so great verse. 9 is boring and 10 again has a nice chorus but a boring verse. 11 is interesting as a ballad but with a bouncy beat which makes it a lot more palatable, sadly it ends on a fadeout. 12 just passes really. She's still struggling to come up with a single real jam that I didn't already know really. 2.7
Tim Hecker Haunt Me, Haunt Me Do It Again4.5
The broken noises draw landscapes before my eyes. An impressionist drone masterpiece telling blurred stories through creaks and squeaks over long, desolate ambient laments. Tim Hecker being a master of his craft with the album that introduced me to sound collage drone can only mean a top tier record. The only question is, is this my favourite of his, or did he ever beat it? First half is strongest, second is softer and really not far behind in quality. 4.5
Stars of the Lid The Tired Sounds of Stars of the Lid3.5
I'm sorry, this has great material, but it really does not have the stature to last two hours. By the end of the first disk it already feels kinda long. It feels more like a sleep concert piece than an actual album, but even then it's not particularly amazing imo. The album does mark an evolution from their prior discog though, and you understand that from the first few seconds, but I just wish they didn't make it a slow mammoth like that. 4 is sweet, the run from 6-8 is lovely and 8 is a tasty sleepy jam. On the second disk 4 is kinda jammy and a strong, varied track, 8 is a peaceful jam, and 9 is basically just a drone but it's quite nice. The closer is incredibly soft and really makes it feel like the album is meant to be slept to. As for the rest of the tracks well they're ok, but generally failed to grab my attention. Condense this and it'd be in upper 4.0 range, but as is I can't give it more than a 3.4
Knut Untitled EP3.5
This sounds like Neurosis and Converge had a baby. It works really well as an EP. It is good music, but none of the tracks were incredibly memorable for me. Will re-listen for sure. 3.7
Modjo Modjo3.5
I was expecting this to be a one track album with 'Lady' and nothing else memorable, but I was
pleasantly surprised. 3 is obviously the major jam here, but all the other tracks with the
exception of the album closer - which sounds like a bad cover - are really fun, have some zing to
them and aren't bad tracks at all. It's rare to have an album in this genre that is this
consistent. 1-4, 7 and 9 are faves, 6, 9 and 10 are meh but fun, and no bad track except maybe 12
- if that. 3.7
Darkthrone Plaguewielder3.5
To be fair to this I had a listen with lots of interruptions so quite unfair of me to judge, but basically this is run of the mill DT bm plus a touch of punkiness I guess. Tracks have good riffage but they are often twice too long for the ideas they try to stretch. So it's fine but there isn't really much to stand out, and it's kind of hesitant between being atmospheric or punky riffy and as a result the album feels kinda half-baked. Still fine so 3.3
Converge Jane Doe5.0
Forgot to write this yesterday - although it wasn't a very focused listen, I think it's safe to say this one remains a 5 for now. This thing is chuck full of dynamics, going from absolute onslaught to atmosphere back and forth, and both the opening two tracks and the transition to the colossal s/t closing track ensure the energy/appreciation curve here is just about optimal. Now I always get the feeling that I wish track 3 continued on the absolute chaos of 1-2. There is an alternate world where Jane Doe is shorter, more uniform, and concentrates on the utter violence of 1-2, and I also 5'd it. But whilst that doesn't exist, and whilst I probably will want a focused listen before being definitive, I don't think it makes the version we do have less worthy of a 5.0
New Order Get Ready2.5
It is rare to see a band so capable of great ideas make such tasteless music. As ever the vocals are again the weakest point here and feel just bland, naive and uninspired - NO very much feel like a dad band at this point. This is blatant from the very start - 1 opens up the album in a very cool way and then the vocals ruin it into a boring song despite a couple good things on the keys and a bit of distortion to improve things near the end. 2 really feels naive, and so does 3 after a good intro. 4 has a cute catchy intro, and the unfold after a minute is really good. 5 also has a super cool, inspiring even intro, and the instrumental really tries, but the vocals are just too bad for the overall song to suceed. We are also in 2001 by now; songs like 8 would sound impressive a couple decades earlier, but here they don't feel great (although 8 does get cool bits with some inspiring rhythmic plays and a now very rare glimpse of post punk around 4:10. 9 has cool synths, but again the song they make out of it is terribly disappointing, before 10 closes things with a useless song that feels completely disjointed. The bad counterbalances the good: 2.5
Cult of Luna Cult of Luna4.0
For a debut this is a brilliant power move. Their most Neurosis-y album - gave me lots of Amenra vibes too. Track 1 and 2 are amazing and made me think their s/t is to CoL what Remission is to Mastodon, with a rawer sounds and riffs out of this world. The album also has a lot of low points however, with entire sections sounding almost amateur (e.g. the last track around the 3 minutes mark??). You can tell it was their debut. Track 6 is also a jam though, and the album is well worth a spin if anything for that rawer side of their sound. 3.8
Susumu Yokota Grinning Cat4.0
A weird and wonderful album that starts on an excellent ambient track, then occasionally goes into beats which are a lot better integrated here than they were on Sakura. See already the hip-hopey vibe with the piano starting from the midtrack on 2, which 3 continues in interesting ways although it ends on a fadeout. 4 is nicely ambient, 5 is nice with marimbas and stuff with a hella nice unfold later on with the beat, whilst 6 is more dissonant but in a cool way. 7 is nice ambient techno, 8's also good, then 9 goes into vaguely dissonant vaguely jazzy stuff which is cool and dandy, followed up by nice anxious piano on 10. By 11 I paid a bit less attention to writing notes but you can just see this is just a nice, varied album that still flows well, and ends on a strong note as the drums on 12 are super cool. Zero 'bangers', but just all round good stuff. 4.05
Sum 41 All Killer No Filler3.5
This album is like playing Pokemon: we grew up with it, then we all pretended to hate it because
it was cool to grow out of it, but then we realised it's actually fun anyways. The album boasts a
number of certified care free bangers to remind you of the times when all that mattered was girls
at school and your playstation. Sure, some of the songs especially near the end are a bit
draggier, but none are terrible and they all have at least a couple sections that are still cool.
The hair metal closer track is a bit rogue but hey it's a nice surprise. They also get slightly
more aggressive than I remembered eg. on 3. Hey it's not a grand album, but it's so fun to jam
every once in a while, and when I think of 00's widespread pop punk, I first think of this. 3.6
Unwound Leaves Turn Inside You4.5
This is on the verge of getting to a 5.0, but I still need more listens to fully digest it and make my mind. Despite its lengthy runtime almost every single song is catchy and memorable. The album is masterfully constructed and keeps the listener entertained throughout the record. So many jams. 4.9
On The Might of Princes Where You Are and Where You Want to Be4.0
A 00's record of uneven quality in the style of the kind of 90's emo/skramz that would go on to influence math-rock but isn't math rock itself. From 1 you can tell the prod isn't the cleanest (despite having jammed the 2020 remaster), but it's alright and the bass is nicely audible. The occasional skramz shouting is cool and in the ?last third the track has some great gutiar play. 2 has cool hardcore bits but the clean vox is a bit borderline meh - the track is still fine though. The softness on 3 is really nice, but the explosion that ensues really isn't all that great. The anger they get to near the end is really cool tho. By 4 the album was already getting into a bit of a noisy blur albeit still cool - it doesnt do enough in the way of hooks and contrast to give a clear feel of progression. 5 is the second track that wowed me (idk which one was first lel) with its pretty calm part and its apocalyptic ending. 6 is an okay calmer track with cool subtle ?banjo additions. 8-9 offers an excellent transition from calm hopefulness at the end of 8 to the very aggressive start of 9 which we see again near the end, tho in between the track gets a bit erratic. The riff at 2:50 on 10 is cool but comes after a bit of downtime, and the weird recording distortion at the end is questionable. 3.8
Paysage d'Hiver Winterkälte4.5
My favourite from Pd'H by far. This album shows a lot of maturity in construction compared to previous records, alternating very well between field recording sections, black metal bursts, and ambient parts. The production is a lot cleaner too, which arguably takes away a little bit of the Pd'H DNA, but makes the record less tough a pill to swallow. The middle section especially tracks 2 and 4 bring the album down a couple points. Their style of slower, more repetitive riff based and less atmospheric bm just clicks with me less than the rest. Prevents the record from being 4.4/4.5 material, but the other tracks keep it high up. Opener especially is a favourite Pd'H jam. 4.3
John Coltrane The Olatunji Concert: The Last Live Recording4.5
Crushing, immense, powerful. Both in composition and in prod, this is about the gnarliest jazz you will find in Coltrane's catalogue. Knowing this oozes the rage of a man's last few breaths makes it all the more evocative. I really found that spiritual side many give to Coltrane's later music. Ogunde is perhaps my favourite of the two in its relentless kaleidoscopic anger. My Favorite Things starts with a several minutes long welcome rest in the form of a bass solo, before gradually growing insane again and transforming into a galactic free jazz acid trip where flashes of shapes and color pop in your head, with occasional glimpses of sanity when the my favorite things themes hit (which I found gave me a somewhat weird feeling). The prod is so dirty and the music so aggressive that at times the enjoyment i get from this borders on the one i get from Prurient. The prod is not only gritty and noisy but also chaotically variable, and before you listen to this i'd suggest reading the short wikipedia article which does a good job of explaining the cool story behind of this and sets the mood quite well. Coltrane's last ever live recording, and his penultimate concert, a couple months before his passing; a monument, but not only for being his last. 4.4

2000
Madonna Music3.0
Clearly 00's Madonna debut, which works nicely with the date of release, and confirming the shift back into pop, but a more electronic and produced version compared to the disco flavours of the earlier days. This is often combined with wee bits of vaguely country guitar, starting with the flasgship, kinda jammy but ending into nothing 1. The tracks feel sometimes overproduced, and too bleep bloopey or autotuned. 2 is a prime example, whilst 3's intro is also pretty bad. Its bass stuff is fun but it still feels outdated overall. 4 is simple but has an effcicient beat at least, whilst 5 is a fun semi banger. 6 is awfully autotuned and could pass for a parody youtube track these days, though the odd rhythmic ruptures are fun. 7 is another countryish famous banger, whilst 8 is an extremely okay and mild song. 9 has cute ideas but is again broken by the bleeps and the bloops. 10 makes the countryisj stuff into an emotional track which makes the mix kinda dull, and whilst 11 is very famous aside from 'singing this will be the day that I dieeee' it's mostly a slight bore dare I say. An okay effort that doesnt commit too much to its sound and feels a bit lackluster albeit hardly ever bad. 3.2
At the Drive-In Relationship of Command4.0
This is really cool, but it also gets to my nerves. Some of the vocals are borderline insufferable, and the second half in general is a tad weaker than the first (which on its own would reach 4.0+ tier somewhat easily). The bass on this album is lovely and bouncy, and they do manage to pull really memorable, punkish anthems - see 3, 6 or 7 for instance, although on 3's verse some of the vocal notes simply don't feel like they're in the right place. 1 is a good example of how good the band can be instrumentally. 2's second half evokes The Smith at first, but the vocals really go rogue in the end and are symptomatic of what I don't like on this record. 4 feels like a kid with ADHD as a song. Then comes my favourite track here, 5. The intro is perfect, evoking Radiohead sprinkled with Deftones, the verse isn't annoying, and the chorus is anthemic. A nearly flawless jam that a bad conclusion doesn't manage to ruin. As I said, it is then followed by two fun punkish anthemic tracks, and at that point the album is looking bright. Then 8 gets too much and annoying, 9 is boring, 10 is a bit better but just alright, 11 is plain awful, and 13 is a bit awkward and meh. 12 saves that second half being dissonant, chaotic and cool, but really overall this is a 3.8
Elliott False Cathedrals4.0
This is top-notch emo/post-hardcore, especially for someone who like me does not enjoy
pop punk elements too much. The instrumentations are fantastic and production is unusual
but interesting, with very prominent and clear bass. The album starts mellow and heavy on
keys, emphasizing its emo sides, but evolves throughout the record and in the second half
often sounds like Tool morphed into an emo band. There are a few tracks that are subpar,
true, - the closing track for instance really does not do the album justice - but overall
this is definitely worth picking up. 4.2
Sum 41 Half Hour Of Power3.0
Sum 41 when they already knew how to write riffs, but didn't know how to write songs. Indeed, a lot of the actual songs making the bulk of this EP (as opposed to some of the transition songs) boast very cool riffs, meaty intros, and then unfold into very okay to mediocre songs with bland vocals. 3,5,6, or 8 are great examples. There are flashes of greatness on this - for instance, the bridge at min 2 on 8 with its brass and complete change of sound amidst some cringy shredding is an absolute surprise and is extremely cool. There is also a directionless feel, the intro starts off on hair metal instrumental, then the transition into the pop punk 2 - probs the most overall consistent song here - is really cool. 4 has touches of hair metal again, but also thrash/hxc/idk, and while on paper that may sound great the execution just feels chaotic. 7 is a fun drum heavy transition track. By 9 it was all getting a bit much, and then the album hits you with surprsing but questionable nu metal and rapping. 10 brings us back to hair metal briefly, and altho it was about time it ended, 11 does conclude on dumb fun quite adequatly. Very little to retain, surprising variety, unsurprisingly questionable maturity and execution. 3.2
Susumu Yokota Zero3.5
Look if I had a bar/club on a sunset beach I would spin this back to back all the time. It is technoey, funky, and very backgroundey as there isn't much in the way of hooks or choruses - it's really mostly nice beaty songs to play in the background. I was surprised at the style shift compared to the much more ambient Sakura, as this is house/techno outright in a lot of places. Well crafted, but a type of music I just don't tend to listen to on my own, at my place. 3.6
Deftones White Pony5.0
Dammit I also don't know about this one. I think that was my most recent 5 before the start of the great review, and it's still shaky? That ain't good chief. The album is ripe full of banger tracks, and has a distinctive, subtle, sexy and smokey style, quite unique even within Deftones' own discography. Tracks like Digital Bath or Change alone easily earn this a 4.5. But the album does take a couple tracks to warm up - not a groundbreaking view but the rapped vocals on 1 don't sit too well with me, and while 2 is a pretty good track, it takes until 3 for the album to truly hit you. And, while they are cool, there are a few too many tracks that are a good take on the "heavy riff + ethereal Chino vox and prod" style without being top tier stunning like the aforementioned highlight tracks. I feel like the album could have used being a little bit shorter, even if it cost some pretty damn good minutes. I don't know, I have to listen to it again - maybe I was set in the wrong tracks by the slow start. [PENDING]
Britney Spears Oops!...I Did It Again2.5
Again, her material is almost never annoying, but is also very often skippable. The tracks that are worth it here are the all famous opener, which has some nice bounce to it but not as much as her debut's opener, and 11 which is actually a nice sort of RnB track. For the rest, all the bouncy tracks feel like variations on the opener - the grooves feel like they're the same, with a different chorus, cf 6 or 7 for instance. It's generic but it's alright. Now there is also some truly laughable stuff here: the ends of 3,6 and 11 have some skits in them which just cracked me up, and 4 is one of the worst ideas of all time with a cover of Satisfaction. Of course, the ballads are boring. So yeah, this is never annoying, but this is hardly a hair above a perfect mid rating thanks to the two tracks that stood above the crowd. 2.55
Hallucinogen Mi-Loony-Um!3.5
Quite clearly the best Hallucinogen EP I have heard. Note that I'm referring to the bandcamp sequencing here, same as on sput, because spotify messed it up again. 1 is the best of the two Hallucinogen track, showing a different style to Twisted with additional sounds etc beyond the psytrance synths and drums, but being more successful at it than in most of his previous attempts imo. As far as I understand there was no real Hallucinogen LP after this, but this would have been a good preface for a renewed direction if he wanted to go that route. While 2 flows well from 1, the first half is quite a lot less successful and struggles to find its footing. Around the midtrack though there is a super cool ominous sound that comes in, and beyond that the second half of the track is actually dope (which is a trait I recognise again from Deranger EP). Per usual I don't count the remix in my rating, and thank goodness because despite being alright it is entirely incongruous with the rest of the EP and would make little sense as a real part of it. Some of the sounds nicely remind me of Curved so much I wonder if Curved didn't take this as an inspiration somehow, but otherwise the first half is alright but quite simplistic. The second half is a bit more psychedelic and quite anthemic I'll give it that. 3.55
Hypnosia Extreme Hatred2.5
Meh, a disappoint. Far wankerier and far less straight to the point than their prior EP led
me to hope it would be. Second half is a bit better, with 6 and bits of thhe closer being
nice tracks, and 7 bringing welcome (but too late) freshness with a short interludey bit,
but overall there is almost always something that comes to ruin the riffs, of which there
are already fewer solid ones, and the nice bare riffage sections sprinkled here and there
can't save the record for me. 2.5
Deathspell Omega Infernal Battles2.5
First four tracks are fine, run of the mill black metal that I'm happy to have heard once and would be happy never hearing again. 3.3 sort of stuff, although the fadeout at the end of 3, the first wavey kinda boring 4, and some other clumiser bits tilted it to a 3.2. Then the second half of the record is the demo literally copy pasted with the prod and everything. And it is far cooler, although the album now doesnt really makes sense as a record does it. And it begs the question - why would you ever listen to this and not the demo? The answer is I can't see a reason. Not a bad, but entirely forgettable/pointless, so overall 2.5
William Basinski Watermusic3.0
Not the best Basinski piece. It essentially is Watermusic II but not as good, with fewer textures for most of its runtime. Why then would one ever jam Watermusic I then, even if in a vacuum it is not bad per se? 3.0
Explosions in the Sky How Strange, Innocence3.5
This one feels like it is for the history books. Like much of its descent it is an agreeable listen, but it also lacks the impact of their later output and is a bit rough around the edges, which means there isn't much reason to come back to it other than its relative historical importance. The production is a bit off, some guitar tones aren't too good - for example the fuzz tone appearing midtrack on 3 -, and some moments feel a bit amateur e.g. the climax at the end of 4 or the end of 6. More importantly, there are few actually hooking memorable moments. The album intro is very nice and reminds of 90s indie - after all, this one came out in 2000 -, and it feels less fluffy and more abrasive than TEinaCDP. That fluffy sound is already prefaced here too though, early on in 4 being the clearest example. The middle of 3 has also cool drums. But all in all, this feels far less personal, emotional and overall enjoyable than other similar albums, and it feels more like a full-length quality demo than it feels like a mature album. It's still impressive, a nice listen, and its age warrants respect as it came way before the wave of crescendocore we saw later on, so I feel like its avg rating is well deserved. 3.7
Susumu Yokota Sakura3.5
This has some nicely hypnotic, atmosphere setting moments, but this success isn't consistent enough imo to say the whole experience itself is enthralling. I love when Yokota dabbles in 80s evoking, synths based ambient (1-2), but some of the tracks that remind a lot more of modern ambient are also quite great (6 with its tape collage + weird noises that somehow works super well, 8 with its vocals evoking composers of the XXth century a bit, 10 with its somewhat jazzy groove (and with that pretty much the only track here where I really like the drums), the guitar/strings based 11 which reminds of moderen ambient folk artists, and the space conclusion 12 are all great). The rest is mostly a bit forgettable, although some of the tracks do sound a bit funny, especially the ones with a beat like 7 or 9 - that sound doesnt work much for me. 3.7
Boa (UK) Twilight3.5
Yea this is essentially an alternative version of the first album, and it's not that easy to tell which one I prefer. On the one hand yes, Duvet as an opener and the edited sequencing thereafter works miles better, making 1-5 quite a great run despite 3's weaknesses. It's actually quite interesting in how it shows the impace (good or bad) sequencing can have on an album. On the other hand, most of the tracks are still relatively meh mom rock with some truly annoying moments, and the added tracks aren't all that much help. The acoustic Duvet cover is nice and 13 is kinda cool but still has weak bits, while 14 is a forgettable closer compared to the nice run from 9-11 with the flamencoey 11 being the closing track on the first album version. I still feel like the sequencing wins ever so slightly and if I had to keep one of the two albums it'd probably be this one, so it deserves a small edge. 3.3
Paysage d'Hiver Kristall und Isa4.0
Great Pd'H record with a very bleak start and a bleak ending. In between the record alternates
between calm ambient phases and bm sections. Nothing that stood out as amazing, but all good too.
Even though it's one of the shortest Pd'H records, it still feels too long. Tracks 2,3,4, and
maybe the closer are jams. The opener is ok too, but the record overall feels like it drags on a
lot and does not have a lot of crazy high points. It's just nice, nothing that stood out as
amazing, but all good too. 3.8
Forest Silence Winter Circle4.0
Extremely compelling frosty atmosphere, relatively minimalistic with few sounds going on at once, but always maintaining tension with some brooding synths and vocals over sweet wintery samples and things. The atmosphere drags you in right away in 1, but the vocals on 2 aren't too much my cuppa - although the track is otherwise really nice, especially towards the end with its ritualistic tribal vibes. I don't know if it is because I sank more and more into the album or if I genuinely liked them better, but 3-4 felt even stronger to me, with vocals that worked for me this time and really sweet droney textures. Honestly I was going to 3.7 this, but thinking of what it'd feel like to listen to this in an actual frozen mountain at night yep it deserves to be in 4.0 tier. I could very well see myself jamming this again. 3.8
ee Ramadan4.0
A collection of sweet sweet vaguely pygmy lushesque indie rock tunes that I just wish went a step further and got a touch more intense here and there, but still is of very consistent quality overall. Not a single bad track and a myriad of jams. 1 just passes and feels fairly inoffensive, but don't be fooled the record has much rocker (5,7) or catchier moments (2 and the closer which stands out quite abruptly from the rest with its funky riff but in an actually nice way to conclude the album in a fun manner). I don't know if I am tainted by hearing this on Feb 14th, but this feels like indie summer tunes to jam in a pick up truck with your gf in the midwest. The only exceptions being 8 which gives me a Christmassy vibe for some reason, and 9 which feels like a romantic ballad and whose weak end is perhaps the lowest point of the record while being still fine. Solid record, worth a check and probably will stick in my library. 3.85
Boris Flood5.0

1999
Trespassers William Anchor1.5
The album's first track is by far the greatest and got me excited. Sort of a soft indie rock vibe. The voice is a bit odd,but once you get used to it it is kind of nice - not always though, some notes are still a bit of a stretch for the singer. But all in all it is a sweet track. For the rest, bar the odd nice guitar or melody and the album conclusion which is quite nice builidng up a rock explosion into a downwards piano piece, the album is a huge protracted bore where I ended up skipping through tracks. It is just ballad after ballad of mellow acoustic guitar plus ambience and most importantly the bad vocals. It's not the voice, but rather the singing technique. 3's a clear example where the vocals are just not in the notes quite often. 5's a bit nicer and more upbeat, but yeah album's a drag. 1.5
Botch We Are the Romans4.5
Oh boy I owe Botch a renewed discog run. 1-6 struck home ahrd and were easily looking at a 4.4. While the opener has bursts of genius but also some weaker sections, the rest is just fantastic with lovely riffs and chaos. I particularly liked the dissonance on 3, while 4 was nice but not as transcendental. I do love how calm it gets, setting you up nicely for the explosion coming up when the track changes to 5- you just sense it coming and that feels so good. 2 and 6 also have dope riffz riffz. Then I feel like past 7, the record loses steam a bit. 7 feels a bit more like your regular moshpit inducing metalcore, 8 is cool but feels like it lacks the madness of the earlier record, and frankly 9 felt like a drag. The hidden sort of DnB track, although quirky and completely out of place, is a fun addition imo and I quite like it. That end record brings this down to a mild, just about 4.5-tier 4.25
Necrophagist Onset of Putrefaction4.0
This grew on me with every track and I need to re-listen to it again. It is sometimes very hard and heavy, sometimes much softer, but always blissfully dynamic and tech. It also features a handful sympho guitar solos which I normally loathe, but the album manages to make me actually like most of them which in itself is an achievement. The vox are fantastic all throughout, and the prod is great this time (at least on the 04 re-edition I heard). The fact that this is a one man effort is astounding, as every instrument takes the spotlight in turn - I particularly enjoyed the brief bass lines that shine through here and there. I liked how 1 just goes at it right away, but wasn't a super fan of the high pitched soloing guitars over everything. Thankfully they stop in 2 which I like a lot better, fun and funky but not super brutal - which isn't a bad thing and just shows the record is very dynamic. I love the intro on 3 but I wish the track unfolded into something far crazier and chaotic, it feels a little too restrained. After that, 4-8 felt a lot heavier and made me like this record more by the minute, turning it from a 3.8 nice but not fantastic album to an apparent tech death classic. 5-6 are particularly hard and jammy. I'll come back to this. 4.05
Coalesce 0:12 Revolution in Just Listening4.0
This is an excellent metalcore album.It is far from being a disruptive musical monument like its contemporaries (TDEP's CI and Jane Doe) which I see it often compared to - questionably if you ask me. It does not have anywhere near as much of a unique personality as these classics, but it sure is well ahead of its time and sounds better than a lot of the metalcore from 2005 and up. 4.0
The Dillinger Escape Plan Calculating Infinity5.0
Makes you want to break everything. The viscerally aggressive, supremely technical, delightfully raw soundtrack to a hellish apocalypse. In many ways this feels like the explosive, demon/zombie ridden, combative prelude to F#A#infinity's melancholic desolation. Their dissonant tones remind of Stravinsky, and so does the constant tension they distil in the calmer moments. Yup methinks this one will remain a certified 5 at this stage. 5.0
Sigur Ros Agætis byrjun4.5
To me this has been 'almost a 5.0' for at least five years now. The beginning and the end are absolutely beautiful, but there is just a phase in the middle of the album where it struggles to match the quality of the rest, with a few sub par tracks that make me hesitant to make it a five. Still a strong contender though. 4.6
Stars of the Lid Avec Laudenum3.5
Yeah I really don't think SoL discography is really all that good before the last two albums. This record is strongest when it evokes (or outright displays) their later sound, on 2 and 5 especially. The latter is really nice, and the first half of the former is probably the album's strongest point with delicate sweeping waves of ambient lushness - quite a jam. Unfortunately the second half of the track looses its focus a bit. This is crystallised in 3 which is the weakest track here. 4 might also be a jam but in a different way as it is very droney and not lush at all, quite Kner-esque. 1 is pretty bland SoL material that could have come from any of their prior efforts. This is vaguely starting to get nice but really it's mostly ok ambient and only reaches 3.5 territory because of 2 and 5's sounding exactly like they could be in their last two albums - in 1999 though, which is impressive. 3.3
Boa (UK) Tall Snake2.0
This is presented as a proper EP and not a single, so I will treat it as such: this is a terrible EP. The first three songs are different versions of the same thing, the first one being the classic original, the second sounding like Odesza using samples completely out of context making for an appreciable beat but a very poorly executed remix that makes no sense and has no structure, and a superb acoustic version that unfortunately looses its impact after you heard those melodies twice in succession already. Then 4 is frankly a head scratcher as it sounds like a completely different band and is frankly a bit annoying, then 5 is a normal but really not great generic ba song with the same criticisms I had on the first LP, with a couple ideas here and there but overall not compelling a song. I see literally no point in ever jamming this given the acoustic version of Duvet which was the only point of interest is also on Twilight. 2.0
The Sound Propaganda3.5
Exam tomorrow no time will write this up later BUT long story short this is not the discography ender I was hoping for and reusing a track from Jeopardy just goes to show this is a band that had run out of steam. 3.3
Neurosis Times of Grace4.5
Absolutely bleak and ferociously dark. A dive into the depth of hell. Even though the music is in the end relatively simple, the evoked emotional response is extremely powerful. One of their best and sludgiest records. I wouldn't be surprised if it were Amenra's favourite. 4.3
Godspeed You! Black Emperor Slow Riot For New Zero Kanada5.0
Britney Spears ...Baby One More Time2.5
Not terrible, never properly annoying, but also has few tracks that actually work. 1 is the best track here and honestly a very strong way of starting off a pop discog given how cult it is. Just from the cult factor it is incredibly fun, don't lie. But come 2 which is far less popular, you realise that it all sounds quite outdated. It's a sort of fun track but the chorus is boring. 4 is funny in a bad way, it sounds like a compilation of island music cliches made for a Scooby Doo OST. To be fair there is a lot going on which is cool, but the chorus is just childish. 5 is a nice pop track, but just nice. 7 is a kinda fun 00's track for kids. 9 is actually a fun track with an ok chorus, kinda jammy. For the rest of it, this is populated by bland pop songs at various degrees of outdatedness and cheesiness, and even blander romantic prom ballad songs that never quite work, especially 8 with the male guest vox making it incredibly cheesy. 11 is perhaps the one that works the best in that style. 12 is just a weird conclusion. This stays in 2.5 territory thanks to 1 and the hints of good stuff present here and there. 2.3
Paysage d'Hiver Paysage d'Hiver4.5
Need to re-listen because I was not paying enough attention. This is the first album where Pd'H successfully alternates ambiences and genres without it resulting in an odd record like on his first two outputs, which shows progress. The albums starts as a stark opposite to its direct predecessor, with a wall of bleak Pd'H bm with piss poor production that I used to hate but now kinda enjoy. The record does have dynamics later on and has multiple ambient-ish sections and additions of more acoustic instruments. A great record that I need to revisit. 4.1Edit: re-jammed, opener is f*cking balls, 4.3 material. The first half of track 2 is a bit more dull and does not pack as much of a punch, but it evolves in the second half and brings in more textures, becomes more epic in the middle, and more evil towards the end whcih sounds fantastic. Track 3 continues the evil vibe in its first half, but slowly becomes dreamier and aetheral with more ambient textures over the bm noise wall. Sounds good but actually brings the track down. It eventually slowly fades down into ambient bm-ey drone in the last few minutes. Overall, does not reach the 4.5 range yet, but clear bump to 4.2 Edit: bumpin this bad boy to a 4.3
Paysage d'Hiver Kerker3.0
Bit of a love-hate relationship with this one. The mix changes the one band frequency it lets through (yes) and shifts towards a muffled low end compared to the crisp aggressive treble-intense mix of previous records, particularly the direct predecessor to Kerker - the s/t. Vocals also shift down and move from piercing shrieks to guttural almost dm growls, which fit the mix better. The result of this is on the one hand, interesting dark ambient with a vague bm/dm undertone that expresses despair, darkness and isolation of industrial life, as opposed to the wide open white spaces of blizzardy winter the previous records evoked, and on the other hand, sounds like what a Pd'H gig would sound like if you were standing outside the venue down the street and could hear the basses from the gig from far away a little bit. Overall bit of a meh from me, but appreciable meh. 3.0
Gramm Personal Rock3.0
Impressive that this is (sort of) dub techno from 99 given the production value, but I found it quite bland overall and devoid of groove whilst also failing to be truly ambient. It's fine, but I don't think I'd come back to it. 1 starts off nice especially once the pads kick in at min 2. On those first two tracks it is especially noticeable that the high frequencies are very prominent and aggressive which hurts the lushness imo. The hats and the bleeps stand out way too much. The dub techno aspects on 2 are cool, but the pointless bleeps and bloops will be a recurring theme in the album. 3 is more of the same although the midtrack is quite nice bassy funky ambient in the vein of Turn to Gaia. 4 is simple but sweet and it first half doesn't have bleep bloops which is welcome, sadly they do come in in the second half which is much weaker. On 5 at 1:30 again there are really sweet synths, and a 2:35 the groove is quite fun, signs of greatness, but the record just lurks on the edge of its potential without really ever fully going into it and quickly defaults back to bleep bloops. I do like how subtle and muffle it is though, but it doesn't focus on that enough for it to work. 6-8 is just boring, and 8 especially feels unnecessary - 7 was an ok end. The ghost track is funky though, but yeah this is a 2.9
Darkthrone Ravishing Grimness3.5
At first I was a bit concerned because I usually am not a fan of slow paced bm. Call me a noob but I just prefer when the tempo goes brrr you know. However as the first track progressed I realised this is still an album I can enjoy quite a lot, for o brother does it have RIFFZ despite the slowness. I thought that to an increasing degree with each track, but it was probably just me getting used to this album's sound. While it certainly will never be a top fave of mine, it's still a record I enjoyed for the most part, and probably the first of the lest revered DT albums that I'd see myself going back to just because I like it. 3.6
Hypnosia Violent Intensity3.5
Beast of an EP, I'm pumped for their LP now. Sometimes all that's needed is sweet riffage, no BS and no wankeriness, which this record is almost devoid of. It's not too ambitious or grand, but it's sweet and I bobbed ma head all along. 3.65
Deathspell Omega Disciples of the Ultimate Void4.0
Ok once again I cannot believe this sits at a 2.1 average. And I am probably overrating it a touch out of spite for that. But man for an old demo tape like this, it's really cool. It's not the greatest record in the world but it is cool and certainly impressive in how evil it already sounds despite the very raw and lo-fi prod (which I find adds to the character but is probably the reason for a lot of 1.0s and 2.0s in these parts smh). 2 starts a bit like a thrash song and reminds a bit more of first wave bm maybe, but otherwise this is all quite excellent raw bm with quite an atmosphere to it, with 3 being a bit slower but still cool. Potentially a keeper, although, probably not? But certainly cool and rules. 3.8
Mortiis The Stargate4.0
Like its predecessor this is a much more varied and mature album by Mortiis - these two feel like his magnum opi. There is even less repetition than on the previous LP, and really this one feels like a continuous adventure that does not come back on its own steps, whihc is the first time I can fully say this of a Mortiis album and is a remarkable improvement. It's really epic, with some tavern vibes (eg on 1), some more epic moments, some more introspective moments, and it would really work fabulously as a DnD or other kinda similar thing soundtrack if it werent for my two gripes with this ie some mild volume discrepancies here andthere, but most importantly some of hte vox feeling kind of disruptive. I really like the sort of ethereal choral ones, but the deep ones or the ones that tell you a story are a bit disruptive to the atmosphere imo. Don't tell me the story, let me imagine it! Otherwise a grand Mortiis album. 4.0
Unknown Artist funeral music4.0
I expect most of the ratings here are trolling a bit but hey I don't care I liked this. For an uncompromising hour of thai classical funeral music this was quite the psychedelic experience, partly owing to the recording quality with the sound being crispy and saturated in a lot of places, party to the almost complete lack of vocals, and also to the frequent slight dissonances or melodic oddities that I so perceive with my uneducated ear in an instrumentation that I am not used to at all. It did feel like a little too long about midway through the second side, and also while I was quite transported and fond of this idk that I'd listen to it again any time soon, but man if this wasn't a unique listening experience among the ones I've had. Cool stuff, La Monte Young would dig. 3.9
Afel Bocoum Alkibar4.0
Beautiful Malian music of a genre that I won't dare to classify but with a style largely consistent throughout the album, by a former member of Ali Farka Toure's band I gather. The variations are in the order of more or less group voices, the added strings on 3, things like that, but in essence jamming the first track gives you a good idea of what the next hour will be like. I gotta say the last song being perhaps one of the weaker one compounded to the album feeling like it needed to end at 50minutes ish drops this a point, but this is solid for anyone enjoying this type of music. 3.8

1998
Paysage d'Hiver Die Festung3.0
Pretty inconsequential Pd'H synth ambient record with no bm whatsoever. Track 1 is the best and
probably 3.9 material as it creates a great atmosphere. Definite re-listen. The other tracks are
all a little bit quirky and bleep bloopey. They aren't bad but just really mwerf. Not memorable.
Not bad, but not good either except one track: a textbook 3.0
Stars of the Lid Per Aspera Ad Astra3.0
Fairly unmemorable SotL record, but not a bad one. Divided into two parts, the first
reminding of their earlier material with occasionally nice textures but too much variation
to grab your attention for a long time, perhaps with the exception of 3 which is a nice
track. The second half reminds more of their later sound, most notably with the prominent
use of acoustic strings on 4, and 6 that reminded me of the synth textures they'll come to
use later on - including with AWVFTS. Kinda nice track at times. It's cool to see the
evolution and the record does feel like a turning point in their discog, but beyond that
there really isn't much to retain. 2.9
Refused The Shape Of Punk To Come5.0
This is a hugely important and influential, masterfully constructed album with a unique, varied musical offering, and boasting some of the coolest ass songs one can hear. It is a classic album for sure. But is it a personal 5.0? It probably was mood, but some bits felt a bit lengthy for me - which is fine on a 4.8, but there was too much of it to feel like a personal perfect album today. And I have this seen live, which I would expect to reinforce the 5.0. I wasn't expecting to, but I did doubt this LP's 5.0 status on several occasions during this listen, thus the 5.0 is [PENDNIG]
The Dillinger Escape Plan Under the Running Board3.5
This is super cool and announces the monumental Calculating Infinity. Must have been
considered an extremely promising EP at the time. It is very short though, which does not
leave it enough time for buildups or changes of tone, and feels a little bit random - but
not in a good way. Still very solid songs when looking for the earlier TDEP sound. 3.7
Death The Sound of Perseverance4.5
IT COMESrFROM THE DEPTHSrOF A PLACErUNKNOWN TO THEEEErKEEPEEEEEEERrOF DREAMSrThis has some of Death's best banger tracks, but I have to say it got farther from a 5.0 for me. Transitions between songs are not always on point, and the Judas Priest cover is bad taste. Still incredibly solid though. 4.7
Boa (UK) The Race of a Thousand Camels3.5
The Dillinger Escape Plan & Nora NJ3.5
There isn't much of a reason to jam this beside to complete a discog, but it is still a good, fun and short listen so why don't you check it out. As expected, TDEP's track is the best here, but Nora's effort holds its own and they have great sections. Just a nice thing to listen to when you have a spare ten minutes. 3.5
AZ Pieces of a Man4.0
Full of high quality songs individually, and flows exceptionally well overall for an album like this (a lot better than LP1), navigating transitions between widely different vibes very smoothly, but ultimately AZ's relatively monochrome albeit great delivery and the nearly hourlong runtime make the album feel quite too long. I'll be forgiving on the rating as there really are lots of tracks to keep here and maybe I was just not in the best spot for this. There are some very questionable things happening that the album could really do away with, starting with the loud bang on 1, the sex sounds on 5, or the excellent grim guest rapping section on 6 being stopped on a weird fadeout after 30s before the track moves on to something unrelated (though still cool with its sad vibes and great guests performances). The guests in general are great, and 3 with its prime era Nas feat really stands tall above the rest. Mostly this is somewhat sombre but with lighthearted delivery typical 90s East Coast hip-hop, but there is a lot of other things to be found eg. 8 being super funky or the colourful 14 which does help with the album length. 10 is really the only truly awkward track here, aside from that each song could be a cool track taken individually. 3.8
Paysage d'Hiver Schattengang3.5
Also a bizarre album, but liked it more than the debut. Track 2 especially is a gorgeous, bleak
and merciless bm Pd'H jam - definite re-listen. Track 3 is synthy ambient. Kinda nice but nothing
too crazy. The opening track is probably the oddest, with lots of random sounds and textures, and
very deep, guttural vocals - not the best here but I like it. Love the intro too, and I find the
artwork wonderfully fitting and somehow gorgeous albeit cartoony. Overall a solid
3.65
Dodheimsgard Satanic Art3.5
I should re-listen to this because I didn't pay enough attention. Short and sweet raw-ish black metal with a nice piano intro and outro. The riffs are good, I enjoy the bad prod, and the vocals are great too. The record boasts quite a few random sound bits and samples (pianos, strings, little girls screaming), which sometimes are great but sometimes don't quite fit and break the atmosphere for me. Still makes me want to check out some of their other records. 3.6
John Adams Hallelujah Junction3.5
Roughly 17 min long modern piece for two pianos. In classic Adams fashion, there are some really pretty parts, a few quite meh parts, and not many wow parts (technical terms, I know). Up to 6:40 we are graced with a really nice and charming modern piano piece very evocative of Reich's piano works. Past 6:40 though this switches to something much less atmospheric or nuance, to basically the pianists hitting dem keys hard. I find it kind of meh and disruptive tbh. The ensuing section is very pretty though, and reminded me of Glass' emotionality on the piano. The pianos trot along with quite a story-telly evocative progression. The last quarter of the piece alas goes back to some more syncopated, agressive bourrin stuff, to then evolve into some mildly dissonant Gershwinesque stuff, neither of which I feel suit the piece or even are much successful. So this particularly, and to a lesser degree due to it being somewhat short the section at 6:60, easily drop this 2 or 3 points. 3.6
Madonna Ray of Light3.0
Madonna's Live Laugh Love album. She largely abandons pop grooves to go into softer, contemplative music. Frankly the best aspect of this is the flutes and other instruments that are added here and there, and this new style kidna works on the flagship track 9, but for the most part it is either cringe (8), offensively boring and corny (11,13 which definitely bumped the album down a point), or more generally just entirely forgettable. Some of the tracks do have beats - it is the only saving grace on 2, 3 is an upper okay funky track with a nice vintage feel, 5 goes into techno almost which has the merit of waking you up a little bit but that's about its main appeal despite a few good ideas here and there, and although not a jam and ending on a fadeout, 6 is quite funky too. 7 is kinda 5 but more relaxed, and marks the start of a long, long, way too long stretch of low blood pressure music for moms who are suddenly getting deep into yoga. I guess 10 kinda works too after 9. Way too long, lots of fadeouts, only one track that I kinda want to jam again (9), why this album is her top rated one here at a tie is beyond me. 3.1
Paysage d'Hiver Steineiche3.5
Not really convinced by this. The first track is great, bleak, svper trve bm as you'd expect from
Pd'H. Vocals sometimes sound like an evil baby crying but great 3.9 track overall, worthy of a
re-listen. Track 2 is bizarre and brings in some more guttural growls over some weird erratic
instrumentation that sounds a bit like doom metal with bm tones. Not amazing but interesting at
least. Track 3, the longest, is quite boring and mixes dull ambient/dark ambient, vague bits of
dungeon synth, and low spoken word in German from what sounds like an evil old dude in a
nightmare.
Overall this is quite meh. 3.4
Unwound Challenge For a Civilized Society4.0
Very clearly the prelude to Leaves as Unwound venture into a much more atmospheric side with longer instrumental pieces with hypnotic elements and weirdcore touches. The aerial 5, the latter part of 7 after the faster-paced start, 9 and 10 are prime examples of tracks that are largely devoted to atmosphere and no longer to being bangers. This works well, but not perfectly. The band offer a less enchanting experience with those are their sounds remain much narrower than the grand variety on leaves, and the pacing towards the end becomes really all too sluggish with the album feeling a bit long as there are no faster, catchier bits interspersed. It does it better earlier on, with 6 or the first bit on 7 being a litter catchier between two longer astmospheric pieces. This new approach on the album is not so visible earlier on, as 1 is a pretty regular Unwound track - a fine one at that, but a bit too slow and sluggish to be a jam -. 2 on the other hand is an extremely cool Unwound track with a uniquely feeling riff, whilst 3 remains quite conventional albeit slower and grittier, making for an okay track. The transition into 4 and its slow energy buildup, both very well crafter, sort of preface the more atmospheric side to come. Good, but more of a practice sketch for the new sound to come than a perfect iteration of the sound that was or woud become. 3.8
Stars of the Lid Maneuvering The Nocturnal Hum (E.P.)+2.5
Note: only jammed the EP part, not the live track. First 5 mins are nice watermusic-esque
ambient but not super noteworthy, the last 5 minutes are slightly less nice watermusic-
esque ambient still not super noteworthy, and in between this has more interesting textures
but still not super noteworthy. Best is min 13-17, 5-12 is frankly not that great. Overall
this is a 2.7
Shakira ¿Dónde Están los Ladrones?3.0
Certainly the strongest and most mature of her non-Americanised period. She does have a lot
of annoying vocals because she just does too much whining and whispering and such, which
kinda kills some otherwise nice tracks such as 7. 3 and 4 are kinda jammy, but the real jam
here is the album closer - super fun jam and defo my favourite Shakira track so far into
her discog. Other than that most tracks are okay-nice and less outdated than on her
previous records, but not much to point out. She goes quite heavy into rock on 5, but the
vocals kill it, 9 is yawn and bland, and 6 is bland too but hints towards her following
records. Was maybe overhyped by the 4.0 average. 3.1
Bennie Maupin and Dr Patrick Gleeson Driving While Black...3.0
I frankly wasn't too keen on this one. I can't really put my finger on it, but even for jazz fusion it feels a bit too messy and all over the place, like the instruments are trying to pull the music in different directions instead of cohesively. This is particularly true of the synths/keyboards which I find overbearing a lot of the time, and I would bet good money this Dr Gleeson person was behind the keys. Some parts try to be spicy, some draemy, and idk the first couple tracks got me out of it pretty quickly. 3 is a fun surprise with its Amen break/dnb/jungle backbone, 5 does the album style quite nicely for once and is just a sweet mildly dissonant jazz fusion track, 6 is pretty much funk bass, 7 and 8 are quite nice but some of the mixing on 8 is a bit too annoying for a record from 98. It would have concluded the album very well however, but they still added 9. Eh, maybe I am excessively mad at this but it would not be the Maupin record I recommend. 3.2

1997
Unwound The Light at the End of the Tunnel is a Train3.5
Unwound having fun with a much softer record than previously. 1-2 are some good Groovywound, and 1 especially is a jam that could have fit on Leaves save for some aspects of the vocal prod. 3-4 are instrumental, and while they are nice, the fact that they make 13 out of the 17 minutes of this EP drops the rating substantially as they are clearly less engaging than 1-2, even though 4 does go into some cool weirdness. I'll rejam 1, the rest I'm not so sure. 3.4
Buena Vista Social Club Buena Vista Social Club4.0
It is difficult enough to get music like this on a solid album format for me to
appreciate that fact alone. The album is sure good at setting a mood, and it will project
Cuban vibes anywhere you play it. It has a subtlety to it too, with a sense of melancholy
and longing for the old days - it is far, far from being just background chill music,
which I've seen it being used as a lot. However, the first half of the album (with the
notable exception of opener 'Chan Chan') pales in comparison to the amazing second half.
Overall still a solid jam. 3.9
Godspeed You! Black Emperor F♯ A♯ ∞5.0
Radiohead OK Computer4.5
12/02/20 A mammoth album full of superb tunes that I think suffers from some degree of generational mismatch. A lot of the tracks feel like jams but not god tier, personal ones. The tracks that do feel god tier - the cheesy 10 and more so 6 - are the famous ones I knew early on before I ever jammed the CD as a whole. The outlier being 12, which I just love as a sublime conclusion and bumps this a point. Because of this phenomenon, the album feels like it won't be a personal 5.0 - and it isn't a matter of familiarity, I've listened to this for years and years -, but it also just suffers from a weaker second half post the Pink Floydesque transitional 7, a vocal sample-based interlude, that is followed by a run of two harder hitting tracks that go more experimental (the intro of 9 is totally trip-hop). While I enjoy abrasiveness and experimentation, here it feels out of place for an album that was mostly made of rich, deep and complex yet easily digestable tunes. Thankfully 10-12 are all jams - 11 is so vast and spatial. The first half on the other hand is all classic jams except perhaps the electronic 4 which still feels like a very strong track that would fit on a 5.0. That first half is all classic, rich and dense songs that aren't really worth describing given how ubiquitously known they are, and somehow they feel like the soundtrack to a happy sunny roadtrip with your sad friends. Behemoth album, but that falls short of perfection. 4.8 28/02/24 Huge step up from The Bends, a bit too much to trim to ever be a 5 for me, but chuck full of monster tracks and unforgettable passages. 4.6
Hallucinogen The Lone Deranger3.5
Being in the shadow of Twisted is tough. And it sure hurts this album, because despite it being different and good in a vacuum I can't help comparing it to its monumental predecessor. Deranger gives hints to Posford's slow transition towards the Shpongle sound: this one uses slower tempos here and there, and more sounds samples. This is clearest at the end of 8. 1 with its vocal sample and quite slow tempo gives more psych and less party vibes than Twisted, which is a fine choice but one that I enjoy less. 2 changes this and gets the party started. It is a hard track, but it pales in comparison to Twisted's bangers with somewhat gimmicky vocal sampling. 3 is a great track, and shows how good Posford is at making tracks flow into one another. 4 also shows hints of Shpongle, but without all the folk and vocal elements of it. It gets really cool by the 2:30 mark. By 5 I realised the album strongly feels like it has less of an identity than Twisted, because the sound changes up a lot more and the whole lot feels less cohesive in consequence. But the track really has fat moments. 6 is like its Pt.1 on the EP bringing in weirder sounds which (especially the water sample) are sometimes a bit intrusive. Pity because the bassline is super catchy. 7 is perhaps the best track here and could honestly been on Twisted, while 8 continues the vibe but more poorly with some unfortunate sound choices. If I wanted Twisted sounds I'd jam Twisted, if I wanted Shpongle I'd jam Shpongle, but deranger sits at an uncomfortable middle which doesn't quite work for me. Still a 3.65
Stars of the Lid The Ballasted Orchestra3.5
For the most part this is just ok ambient/drone, with appreciable variety (vital for an 80min record), but nothing mindblowing. 1-2 are nice but not amazing dark ambient, 3 breaking those into much sweeter and softer ambient textures, resulting in 4 which isn't all that noteworthy really. 5 gets a bit interesting in the middle but mildly still. Feels a bit like a sleep piece from R Rich. 6 is to my recollection the first prequel in their discog of the sound they'll eventualyl display in the last two albums. A nice and peaceful track, like hearing the waves while falling asleep on the beach. 7 morphs the track (as its second part) into something similar to the album opener, which at this point feels a bit boring. The album closer is definitely the high point here, also prequelling their later sound, but this time done a lot better, and thence becomes the first real jam in their discog, bumping the album up a point. Overall this is mostly too long and not too interesting, but it has some sweet bits. 3.3
Depressive Silence Depressive Silence3.0
I did not click with this if I'm honest. It has traces of cool things, with slight traces of droney plays on sounds, some fun synths (eg the very end of the EP actually), and some epic moments not dissimilar to what we got on DS II. But I feel like this one is a bit all over the place, especially noticeable on the second track. Instead of immersing you into a continuous ambience, or shifting the scenery, it feels like it is trying seven different things per track with a detrimental effect on coherence. I'll listen to DS again, but I don't know if I'd pick this one. 3.1
Secret Stairways Enchantment of the Ring3.0
It's a fun little dungeon synth album. Really not an unpleasant listen, although quite naive-sounding at times. I liked the opener the most because it somehow reminded me of LOTR's OST. 3.2
Discipline (USA) Unfolded Like Staircase3.5
This does feel better than their first (less lyrically grand and all), but I'm still not convinced. Everything feels like a blur, the tracks are long and lack dynamics or standout section to really stick with ya. The album intro and outro are both weird and I daresay badly done. 1 starts with a lovely bass+vocals only groove, and has occasional brass too which is cool. 2 around min 8 is one of the best sections by the band, and 5 might be their best track yet. For the rest this is mostly fine but just not really marking. 3.5
The Prodigy The Fat of the Land4.5
Has been one listen away from a 5.0 for years now. It is such an exquisite bunch of songs absolutely packed with complete electro-punk goodness and incredible energy. One day maybe.

1996
Oumou Sangare Worotan4.0
Similar to Moussolou, this one felt somewhat more digestable even though it is almost twice as long with seemingly longer tracks too. I'm probably talking butt and it's just a matter of different conditions. My least favourite tracks were those straying away from the instrumentation on the record, namely the brass on 3 and the violin (?) again on 4. Everything else was great, and the particularly strong end record with 7-9 being catchy (7 the most, a jam) and the gorgeous, peaceful 10 as a concluding track bumped this up. 4.0
Darkthrone Goatlord2.5
I do realise this was recorded far before its release date, but even compared to Soulside Journey it is very weak. There are some redeeming riffs here and there, but overall the muddy prod, ridiculous elements such as those weird feminised vox, and the overall lack of anything really for the mind to grab onto makes this just a blurred mess of debutante material that I don't see much interest in beside historical. I guess 8 and 10 are kinda nice in between the ridonkulous vox. 2.5
Hallucinogen Deranger3.5
Clearly stronger than its unfortunately name counterpart imo (although listening conditions may have biased this) because it has energy from the start and doesn't stop, like Twisted, whereas Space P was always looking for solid footing for half a track before truly kicking off. Yet the tracks do feel a lot weaker than on Twisted. 1 doesn't flow well, is too erratic and a few truly marking hooks, while 3 is a bit stronger but has a pretty bland conclusion. Plus it's again a CD only track. 2 on the other hand shows a little more of exploration in the sound and isn't really straight up Hallucinogen material. I can't say it is my favourite track of his, far from it as some sounds are a little bit funny to the ear nowadays, but I can certainly commend the venture. 3.3
Amr Diab Nour El Ain3.0
First track was one of the greatest international successes for an Egyptian song when it came out apparently. And I can see why, it sure is a fun track. 2 is kinda fun but not quite as good (and it ends on a fadeout), while 3 offers some fun adventures instrumentally. 4 is fun again and frankly up to that point it's a pretty sweet album. I do find that 5 is far weaker despite some nice bits here and there, and 6 although fun also sounds a bit funny at times and overextends a fair bit. 7 is more subdued which is nice at first but gets a bit boring after the track overextends again. 8 nicely ends thing on a semi positive note with a some nice bits and a track about on par with 2. Yea the main interest is the opening tracks, but there are nice ideas elsewhere in the record too. 3.2
Hallucinogen Space Pussy3.0
I'm a bit confused with this one, because some of the melodies and synth sounds feel like drafts of Twisted tracks (especially on 2) but this came out a year later. Anyway it is far weaker than Twisted for sure. There are some cool melodies and ideas, but they feel shy in the mix and hardly ever explode, whereas Twisted was banger after banger. The tracks also seem to have trouble starting up, the second half always being an improvement on an always sort of disappointing first half that struggles to find its footing. The intros don't hook you, they make you wait if that makes sense. The third track has the lowest low and the highest high. There is no transition at all from 2 to 3 (which makes a bit of sense since 3 is a CD only track and wasn't included on the 12"), and the first half of the track doesn't have much to it beside a bit of chopped vocals that remind of future Shpongle work. But the second half of the track is pretty dope, perhaps the best executed on this EP which it bumps into 3.0 tier. 2.9
Neurosis Through Silver in Blood4.0
This is a great album for sure, but I found the buildups often too long for climaxes that
are not as impactful as they could be, with notable exceptions in the massive 'Locust
Star' or 'Aeon'. The second half of the closing track offers some of the most psychotic-
sounding Neurosis out there, and the opener is the perfect background for the Germans
marching on Poland to start off WWII (oddly specific yes). Apart from that, ToG does it
better. 4.2
The Infinity Project Mystical Experiences2.5
Idk if it is because I was expecting full on psytrance based on that other album of theirs,
or if I wasn't in the right mood or what, but this felt like a huge bore. I love ambient
and I am used to music that "never starts", but the problem is that this one does start,
toys with an idea for a minute, stops, moves on to something else, rinse and repeat. And as
a result, none of the tracks feel memorable or even like they have an identity, because the
album is just a flow of samples and synth parts without connection or meaning. It's a shame
because some its, vocals and flute samples especially are really nice. But it just feels
like Shpongle music with 80% of the elements removed. The second half of the album changes
up a bit, takes away the folk music elements, and instead sounds like a long synth demo.
The second half of 3 with its nice synth melody, the buildup on 7, the synth melody on 10
at least in the first few minutes, are some of the rare places where there is a semblance
of track construction and coherence, which instantly makes them highlights and keep this
record just afloat at an unconvinced 2.5
Shakira Pies Descalzos2.5
Quite mwerf album. Loses the outdated charm of the first two without quite making up for it. 1 still sounds outdated but from the 90s now. Her voice is now much more recognisable and shaping up her style. There are no real track transitions but the flow is still ok. 2, 4 and 10 are all ok-nice beats with her annoying vocals atop, although 10 does have fun backing vocals. 3 is a quirky but fun reggae/dub Shakira track. 7 is kind of a laid back summery sexy track and is quite nice, and 9 is a vaguely interesting interlude. For the rest, the record is either boring romantic stuff, or just plain but ok vaguely rock pop, but not much I'll remember. 2.3
DJ Shadow Endtroducing.....5.0
Darkthrone Total Death3.0
Frankly not a DT album I really plan on going back to. While stylistically this is still resolutely bm, they go back to slower tempos that just dont fit their vibes and remove the barren, frozen forests feel to replace it with riffs that feel a bit awkward. There are alot of faster paced, more regular bm sections in the vein of their previous releases, which is especially prominent on the nicely frozen 3, but even these are underserved by production that is rather tame and soft on the ear for something meaning to be aggressive and raw. Tbf I had a long pause in the DT discog run so maybe this explains why the rating goes dramatically down like this but this honestly feels like a 2.8
Current 93 All the Pretty Little Horses3.0
This is great when it sounds like music. Swans gone folk, or Mantle Agalloch gone so depressed they lost the energy to make metal. The problem is, this record often sounds like a guy narrating over background music instead of performing vocals for the music. This ruined the record for me, as I felt like I was listening to the soundtrack to some wicked Disney movie instead of the awesome neo-folk album this should have been. 3.1
Stars of the Lid Gravitational Pull vs the Desire for an Aquatic Li3.0
This one's a bit better, still not great, but quite impressive for its time. Just very soft droney dark ambient. I like the closer, bits of 2 and the last third of 4 maybe, the rest is mostly ok, but I don't think I'll ever come back to this album. 3.0
Maeror Tri The Beauty of Sadness3.5
Excellently crafted ambient/vaguely droney tracks, but not so well crafted album. For an album taht isn't a single flowing composition but rather a series of somewhat disjointed tracks (several including the album conclusion ending on a fadeout), it is a bit too long. By the end of 7 I was flagging a bit, though the quality and some changes of vibe thereafter kept me going. 1-7 have a similar mysterious, introspective yet inquisitive atmosphere, but then as the album starts feeling long, 8 and some of the tracks thereafter change and add textures and sounds to craft a more hopeful perhaps atmosphere, which works well at keeping the interest going for the last third of the record. The bonus track is pretty good and continues the conclusion tracks by freezing some of the sounds and doing some fun things with it. A good record, with great ?song?writing, but that I wish were more of a flowing experience rather than a series of tracks that feel separate. 3.6
Blut Aus Nord Memoria Vetusta I - Fathers Of The Icy Ages3.5
Pretty disappointing bm album given it's rating. There are great tasty riffs in multiple places in tracks 1-4, but aside from that the record feels erratic and "poussif" with not so great drumming and vocals. That first half is still worth the listen, but tracks 5-7 are really forgettable. Kudos for mixing an audible, clean and groovy bass. 3.3
Emglev Noz Veil3.5
I liked this a lot, but there are a couple of what I'd call formal mistakes that break the deal for me a little bit. 1 is a really lovely dungeon synth jam with some ambient/dark ambient undertones. The stereo panning on 2 is really odd and is one of those formal mistakes I mentioned. While I've heard a lot worse and you get used to it quickly, it is still a bit detrimental to the atmosphere 1 crafted so nicely. 3 corrects that and is the other great track on this - perhaps a jam too. Then the other formal mistake comes: the very odd closing track, that pointlessly (it's only 40s long) disrupts the atmosphere created by 3 with its faster paced melody that comes and goes out of the blue. Definitely brings this below the 4.0 tier. Nice rec garas! 3.55
Unwound Repetition4.0
One of Unwound's best, and certainly harbours some of their top tier tracks, I find Repetition is mostly hurt by its somewhat erratic sense of direction. 1-2 are top notch, angy bangers, and a short album of just that would reach 4.5s easily. Although 1 is perhaps more straightforward fun, 2 is particularly interesting with its synths and multilayered sound. 3-4 are similar although a lot calmer. Although the whole album features it, this starting quartet really showcases how crispy and crunchy and groovy the bass is on this thing. 5's a neat interlude, and 6 preludes Leaves quite strongly which is cool. 7 is hypnotic and cool but by then I was missing the aggressive edge from 1-2 quite substantially. Near 7's end you get some of that back, and then 8 is a top banger like 1-2. 9-10 remain nicely aggressive. I really like how 11 gradually transitions into weird demented jazz, which would've made for a tremendous album conclusion and therefore feels 12 somewhat unnecessary and long. 4.1
Unwound Corpse Pose/Everything is Weird4.0
Some of the best Unwound material of that era - the main problem here is the two tracker format, that's it. 1 starts things off on a bitchin bouncy bass riff and unfolds amazingly, whilst 2 takes a grittier approach and has some evil undertones especially near the end. Both tracks are catchy, gritty jams, and a longer record of this quality would very easily reach in the 4.5. But here it's just two tracks and there's not much else to say about it m/ 4.15
Depressive Silence Depressive Silence II4.0
A coherent, consistent, ever flowing stream of old school dungeon synth adventures. One of the (or the?) best releases I have heard in the genre. The synth tones are just gorgeous and singlehandedly carry the whole thing true. It tells stories this. And it's from 96? Damn. 4.0
Burzum Filosofem4.5
Some of the best and most original bm ever made. My personal favourite from Burzum. Strong contender for a 5, but for now a 4.7

1995
The Infinity Project Feeling Weird3.5
Strong traits, but falls off in execution, though I'll come back to some tracks for sure. This offers a different style of psytrance compared to Hallucinogen. It is more bare bones and closer to techno with repeated motifs and fewer bells and whistles around them. Tbh when it is successful I dig it a lot. Idk if it is my version but the first track and a half have a pretty awful treble-heavy mix which kinda breaks the deal for me in what are otherwise nice psytrance tracks. It suddenly resolves for the second half of 2 which immediately feels super cool and jammy. 3 has an atmo intro that doesn't unfold too well until the atmo synths come back at 2:20. It's a track with some good bits but also some sounds that remind of crash bandicoot. 4-5 are really cool and the prod issues are long gone. The album really peaks in its middle with 6 being super cool too despite running a bit out of steam in the last third, and 7, my fave here and a fat jam, raising this to a 3.8. 8 continues and is great too, with the reprise at 2:45 being nice and fat, but the last third of the track is a bit awkward and announces the album starting to struggle again. The intro to 9 is a bit awkward but is quite fun with its acid techno sounds. The midtrack vocals did not age well at all, and the end track doesn't quite work. Then comes 10, which is a dub track with a protracted intro that feels entirely disjointed from the rest. It is a remix of a prior track so idk if I should really count it, but it feels so utterly pointless without appearing to be a bonus track or anything that I have to sadly drop this a point because of it to a 3.7
Enrique Iglesias Enrique Iglesias2.0
Incredibly outdated, cliche and cheesy. The first two songs made me actually laugh and warrant this a couple points just for that. They're just so hilarious and outdated it's got to a take a smile out of ya. By 3 the funny is fading down and getting replaced by boredom. 4 sounds amateur in places, and by 5 he starts getting moany and the album starts just bouncing back and forth between annoyance and zzzzz with my rating going downhill all along. 9 wakes you up near the end with some nicer sounds and a vaguely catchier track similar to 1-2, but his singing is still borderline insufferable, and 10 goes back to a boring cheesy annoying ballad, thus the hope is only short lived. Don't think I'll ever come back to any of this. 1.8
John Coltrane Stellar Regions3.5
I don't know that this is the last grand Coltrane record the ratings average and count seem to depict. Granted it has very cool passages, in that special brand of Coltrane that is just bordering on free dissonance but retains enough structure to just not be that. But the tracks are quite short, sometimes to a degree that hinders the album structure and make it feel like a random compilation - see for instance the transition between the cool and spicy 6 to the much, much more standard 7, or the abruptly very calm intro to 10 between its later spiciness and the cool craziness found on 8 and 9. There is a bit of an eerie feel from this being one of the (the?) last studio Coltrane recording, and Alice Coltrane's piano meanderings are very cool in many places, but this feels a bit too disjointed for too long to be a top top tier Coltrane record imo. Still a good time, and quite a spicy time albeit far from his spiciest. 3.7
AZ Doe or Die4.0
An excellent, classic 90s hip-hop album that loses a bit of its coherence in the second half but certainly would deserve to be more in the spotlight in my opinion, and that might easily grow on me. It is crazy how recognisable his rapping sounds from that one and a half tracks he was featured in on Illmatic - which is very prominent eg on 11 here. I absolutely adore the intro track and its brooding bass. 1-5 are very coherent in both style (of Nas-like hard hitting 90s East Coast hip-hop), flow and quality, which is rare even in the classic albums of the time which tend to have skits etc. The transitions into 6 and 7 do feel a bit rough, but that might be a merely prod/volume issue. 7 also introduces a rupture in atmosphere that we'll see again in the second half of the album with a more West Coastey, 2Pacey, Biggie-ey, even slightly 80s atmosphere, a bit away from the darkness of 90s NYC yknow. This comes again on 9 although it is a cool and kinda chill track. If I'm honest I was paying a little less attention in the second half due to work so this might be my fault and I owe this another listen, but I can't help feeling the album never finds the cohesiveness of 1-5 again, though it remains high quality through and through. Second half brings it down to a solid 4.1
Brainiac Internationale3.0
Pretty pointless as an EP, but cool. 1 is a quirky punk track, it's fun though I wouldn't seek that sound necessarily. 2 is kinda ambient and I actually dig its grit, except the vocals kill it for me a bit. 3 is a gritty more conventional Brainiac track and is pretty cool. Don't think I'll jam any of this again. 3.0
Deftones Adrenaline4.0
From yesterday I forgot to upload: perhaps Deftones at their most straightforward and least atmospheric, making for a cool album that's impressive for a debut LP but not as grand as their later output perhaps. Most songs are a cool fat riff, Chino's signature vox, 3 minutes done and dusted. Simple, efficient, well done. I particularly liked 7 with its prominent bassy groove and its particularly fat 'chorus' riff, with semi lame but ok vox. The rapped mid track is a bit weird, and there I can see people likening Deftones to nu-metal quite directly (in 95!). By 8 despite no change in quality I presume, I started getting a bit fatigued by the formula presented here. Same for 9. Thankfully things moved from there. 10 is very cool around 1:55, with a more atmospheric offering foreshadowing future Deftones, and 11 is a great conclusion track, also more atmospheric than the rest. Tbh I was surprised to see such a worked conclusion on a more riffy songs type album like this. Bumped back the points it lost on 8-9 to a sweet (but underselling the merit of individual tracks perhaps) 3.8
Unwound Unwound3.5
As Johnny said, as far as worst albums go this one is pretty killer [2] Pretty much read dedex's soundoff. 1 and 3 are really cool while 2 is fine but not as good, 4 is gloomier which is really cool, 5 is super cool, by 7 it starts to feel a bit too samey although the good energy is still there, 8 would be great if it werent for the atrocious mix, 9 is one of the best tracks here starting off like Slint and ending like Off Minor, and yea a solid first effort that I suspect we would all rate higher if it weren't followed by their excellent later stuff. 3.6
Necrophagist Necrophagist3.0
The start of the record is a bit funny I gotta say, and the vox takes some getting used to, but every track feels like it improves. Prod isn't the best but compared to the prior demo it feels fantastic. 2 offers fun riffage, 3 is actually pretty arhd, and 4 has a lovely bass in the intro and made me actually enjoy the solo towards the end. Solid. Now, as I understand it, the band that recorded this pretty much fell apart so I wonder how different the LP will be, but as a demo/first EP this is exciting nonetheless. 3.55
Maeror Tri Myein3.5
Although this is far too true to its genre to be recommended to someone wanting to discover drone, for those who are convincingly into drone it is a good record. Its sole merit lies in the textures, but it evolves just enough to feel monolithic yet ever changing. The first two tracks in particular are very well crafted and have a great sense of progression to them, in the same mood but less repetitive than a Celer. The last, 47 min long track, although it begins well with frank noise and a lot of texture shifts, rapidly becomes a bit less engaging, and feels inevitably long. Had it been 10 min long I would have slapped a mild soft 3.8, but as it stands the track tamed my enthusiasm a fair bit. Also this is inevitably a record that requires a specific mood as you don't want to be jamming 74min of very slow moving drone in every situation - or if you do my uttermost salutes. Shall I say 3.6
Mobb Deep The Infamous4.5
As quintessential as hip-hop gets. Not quite there yet and I have my doubts, but this is still very much a 5.0 contender. The opener is perhaps not as iconic as Illmatic's but is a godtier jam, and Shook Ones is perhaps even godlier - Prodigy's verse being one of the best in hip-hop and one of my favourite moments in music altogether. This is packed with jams on 1,3,6 (quite Nujabessy), 7 (ethereal and vox-centered), 8 (hard hitting but far from god tier), 10, 11 (cool but again far from godlike), and 14-16. The vocal deliveries are diverse with multiple guests but consistently surgically sharp and fitting for the song, eg. Q-Tip in the jazzier 14 which contrasts sublimely with the bleakness of 15 and 16. 13 had the ideas to be a godtier jam, but the execution pales and the prod often feels too minimalistic. The record only struggles on some of the darker tracks which reminisce of what we will later see on Hell on Earth and don't feel like they fit the aerial tone of the album, like on 4 or 9, where a track like 10 is hard hitting too but in a way that fits the album massively better. The skits aren't the worst and certainly not annoying, and while I kinda wish they weren't there they do offer flow and continuity to an album which I decidedly struggle to find flaws in. 4.75
Unwound The Future of What4.0
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Radiohead The Bends4.0
It really wasn't the most focused of listens for me, but frankly I'm a little underwhelmed. While this is undeniably better crafted and more ambitious than Pablo Honey, I don't feel like the uptick is THAT high - which is reinforced by the fact I also think Pablo takes excessive critique. The highs are definitely higher here, and the sound is more varied, and the tracks are generally less forgettable. But we are far from the heights of OK Computer in my view. On this distracted listen anyways, it felt like a solid decent album, but not the stuff of legends either. 3.75
Death Symbolic4.5
absolute bonkers of an album containing some of their most legendary moments. The end especially 6-8 shows how wonderfully atmospheric and progressive they can get. 1-3 are also amazing, but I can't help but think Human keeps it more straight to the point. Like the solo on 2 is a bit eh if you ask me. Exceptionally strong still. 4.6
Hallucinogen Twisted4.0
I really need to give this a proper listen some time - which for this record means at full blast on speaker and not headphones, a few pintjes in. But because it still bangs when I am sat at my desk not moving at night and listening on headphones at a reasonable volume (protect ya ears boys), and because I can't imagine a trance record lining up idea after idea without fail and with a supreme sense of flow with the album feeling like a continuous set (althoug admittedly this is pretty much the only full on psytrance record I've heard so gotta work on that) this easily gets a 4.2
Stars of the Lid Music For Nitrous Oxide2.5
Frankly quite boring drone/dark ambient with really odd volume changes (at least on Spotify). 3 is kind of a dark ambient jam tbh, 8 has nice hiss/scratch noise textures, but beyond that I won't retain anything. 4's beginning is a bit annoying and dissonant in a bad way, and 6 is all annoying too. The rest is fine I guess. 2.6
Belly (USA-MA) King3.0
Yup, again some great ideas but an overall slightly flavourless album. This one feels a bit stronger than Star with a fair few more well constructed ideas I have to say. 1 is quite nice particularly the intro, 2 and 4 are kinda cool 90s song that feel like they could have been hit songs had they been a bit more memorable, but 3 is vapid and feels like a generic band with a singer having a fair bit more fun than the other members. 5 is typical Belly: after a boring intro, they have a really cool intro with a dope distorted tone, then proceed to make a boring song out of it. 6's boring but 7 starts on a cool riff too and uses it better. 8 starts well but overextends a fair bit, 9's kinda fun I guess with the intro and some random halloween vibes here and there, 10's actually one of the (few) solid songs, and 11's just ok. I'm just not ever quite convinced with these guys, but it's never bad and they do have more ideas than many a band. 3.1
Electric Universe One Love3.0
At its best this is a super fun, relatively minimal, super ravey trance record. Quite different from Hallucinogen and I would perhaps not seek it out as much for at-home listening, but pretty dope. This includes 1-2 despite both tracks overextending a little bit in the last couple minutes, and 5 which is the peak of the record imo and a jam. For the most part this is more of the same style, but with tracks that spread their ideas way too thin and offer a couple really cool sections among heaps of passable stuff with some questionable melodies here and there. That goes for 3,4,6,7, although the last third on 7 is quite cool. At its worst, this record offers a conclusion that just seems unnecessary and fillery. After one hour of ravey trance, the record gets slower, less energic and more introspective - and I just don't think that's the right moment to switch to that. Shame because at a higher tempo the melody midtrack of 8 would be quite dope, but yeah those two last tracks are weak - at some point it sounds like a cat stepped on the sequencer or something. The end of the record is pretty cool I'll give you that, but I don't see myself rec'ing this to someone who isn't a trance fan already. 3.1
Darkthrone Panzerfaust3.5
Frankly (don't @me) I'm not that convinced. Sure the riffage on 1 is some of the best DT material out there, blissfully frozen and blizzardey, and 4 is kinda cool, but there's lots not to be crazy about here. There lots of slower bits, the prod on vocals on 1 is especially strange, lots of tracks end on fadeout, the album conclusion with the spoken word is ok but a bit questionable, idk this doesn't feel as focused as the black trilogy. Feels like a step back. To be fair though I didnt have the best listening condition so I might check it again still. 3.6
Portal (Cynic) Portal3.5
Very cool instrumentally (for the most part), but the cliche, naive and overacted vocals break it for me. The album overextends quite a lot too. By the end of 7, which is one of the countless tracks to offer a tasty bassy instrumental but yawn-inducing vocals and whose conclusion could have nicely ended the album, I was thinking of a 3.8-3.9. But, although 8 does have interesting sounds in its intro, it and 9 are a bore, while 10 is cheesy to a cringy point. Dropped the album a couple points. Before that, 1 evokes Focus a lot but with the overacted female vox, which work better in places on 2, with the track offering an especially nice ritualistic last third. 3 is the strongest track here, offering a groovy prog jazz fusion jam. 4 much like 7 bores vocally, while 5 is superb instrumentally and remains a strong track despite questionable vox here and there. 6 has pop undertones, and the intention ought to be praised, but the chorus really is a bore, especially in the end. Had potential but too many flaws to be called excellent. 3.65
Depressive Silence The Darkened Empires3.5
Not as convinced by this one if I'm honest. The first track and the start of the second are great early DS that instantly put you in an adventurous medieval SNES RPG mood that I love. But track 2 starts introducing poorly sequenced pianos, 3 is cool but has a very boss metalzone digital distortion sound to it that I would say does not really fit here, and 4 just made me laugh with its ridiculous vocals in the intro (which I cannot find scrolling back through so maybe I was on some sort of shuffle on bandcamp oh no lord no) but is a competent track - it's just that the record feels a bit disjointed by then. 3.4
Wax Doctor The Spectrum / The Step3.5
Heard the 2015 remaster, which makes this sound really crispy and sweet - not sure what the original is like. First track is really cool old school jungle/dnb with solid atmosphere and lots of variations. Excellent 3.9-4.0 track really. Second track is a bit weaker and more bare bones, focused on the drums and not much else, and while it works well it certainly isn't as compelling as the first track, bring this down a couple points. 3.7
Alex Reece Pulp Fiction/Chill Pill3.5
Sweet, straight to the point old school DnB. 1 boasts a super nice and round bass, and is proper DnB in the literal sense: sweet drums, some samples here and there, b a s s, and nothing more. It is maybe a minute too long to my taste, but a very nice relaxing slow-tempoed track nonetheless. 2 features a really bouncy beat that varies a fair bit, but I didn't like those high pitched hats in the intro too much. thankfully the track changes leads a fair bit at the 1:40 mark and becomes very fun. Loveably vintage and a sweet track as well. 3.65
Depressive Silence Depressive Silence Demo3.5
Originally posted on May 7 23, reposting after database fix. rGenerally I LOVE the sounds on this with the old school rpgey synths. I found the bmey/Lustrey vocals cool, thought they do have the drawback of making this a little less of a potential background ambience. 1 is the longest track here but seems made of several subtracks that are quite disjointed. 2 is a little more straighforward rpgey stuff, while 3 is quite nuanced and ambientish. I dig, and this thing's age obviously earns it some bonus points. 3.7r
Ved Buens Ende Written In Waters4.0
The instrumentals are really cool, proggy and inventive, mostly not bm I'd say but at times it
does go bm-ey. Really interesting instrumentals that are the sole reason why I want to re-listen
to this because the vocals whether clean or harsh are godawful. The clean ones sounds like they
are impersonating a ghost to scare kids on Halloween, and the harsh ones sound like a baby
burping. Track 7 is a perfect example of a cool track being ruined by Casper vocals. Thankfully
the album does not have a lot of vocals, which thanks to the creative instrumentals keeps it at a
safe 3.8
Mortiis Keiser Av En Dimensjon Ukjent4.0
Now this is a masterclass in how DS should make you feel. Right off the back it is very cinematic, makes you want to climb mountains and fight dragons in castles and caves. Some of it is angrier and ready for battle, some of it is more atmospheric, but the whole flows extremely well and is very cohesive without finding the overbearing repetition some prior Mortiis records suffered from. I do find that repeating the hooks from the past 20mins on track 4 and 5 is a bit of a misplay, but that's okay. The only two other real gripes I have with the album are firstly a weird super loud and abrupt moment at min 1 on 7 which made me think I had music playing in another tab or something for a second. and the fact that the last two tracks have several moments that would have concluded the album perfectly (especially the track before last which really feels like it builds up to the album ending, though the last track does a good job itself) yet it still ends on a fadeout. Grandiose and epic with spot on execution and only a few nitpicky critiques to be made. 4.1

1994
Brainiac Bonsai Superstar3.5
Honestly I fail to see how this is 0.6 avg better than LP1. It feels very similar in that it
is cool, interesting gritty weirdcore stuff that I enjoyed listening to but probably won't
listen back to very often. I enjoyed some of the noisiest sections e.g. 5 quite a lot, 6 is
really upbeat and bouncy but the vocals were a bit too weird for me, then after two pretty
decent tracks it was all starting to be a bit much for me. By 11 I was really no longer
convinced. The early album tho feels quite a bit stronger than LP1. Overall I feel about the
same, a solid 3.6
Demolition Hammer Time Bomb1.5
At first I thought this got a bad rep because its style diverges a lot from the rest of their stuff. The first couple tracks have cool riffs and felt like they wouldn't warrant a 2.7 average. But after nearly a dozen tracks of the same, with meh vocals over incredibly similar riffs I had a headache and had understood why people loathe this album. The record tries so hard to make you headbang but it becomes annoying very quickly and doesn't work. The songs feel like they're all the same and despite a few nice groovy riffs, after a while you just want it to stop. 1.6
Portishead Dummy5.0
Gravediggaz 6 Feet Deep4.0
A great Wu side project that has lots going on for it, starting with a relatively unique (at the time) and prominent identity based around horror, evil, murders and halloween, as well as some truly excellent tracks. The LP starts strong with a fun, groovy track on 2, already showing the album's spooky tones, and the outright quality on 3 (after the 9 seconds long 1). 4 has a cool intro and unfolds into a relatively generic hip hop track that is hindered by a few awkward bits. 5 has a very ahrd hitting instrumental, but vocals that don't quite match it - a recurring critique here -, and is also very short. There are several of these almost interlude-like tracks that are short but very cool, like the fun and relaxed 10, or the rather evil outro track. The album is very good at alternating hard hitting evil tracks with more relaxed things. 6 is a cool evil jam, and 8 is an excellent relaxed jam, then 9 is a reallly classic horror track. Although this is perhaps the album's peak, there are enough jams all throughout to make the album great overall. 11 is quite ahrd and noisy, but isn't quite a jam, 12 is a cool track but not crazy cool, 13 is one of those hard horrorey tracks where the vocals don't quite measure up to the instrumental, 14 is quite a boppy funky track, and 15 is a slow, cool horror halloween track that only suffers from being a bit gimmicky on the vocals. A strong album overall and lots of strong playlistable tracks. Could grow. 4.1
Darkthrone Transilvanian Hunger4.0
Classic bm is classic [2] Frankly I have a bit of trouble coming up with a different soundoff for this vs Moon as I found them to be very similar: just relentless, good old fashioned bm. I'd need closer listens in rapid succession to really tell. This felt like it had ever so slightly better riffs and even sharper prod, but idk if it is the version that I jammed but there are pauses after almost every track which breaks the flow a little bit. 4.2
Nas Illmatic4.5
Where The Infamous embodies classic collective East Coast hip-hop, Nas sublimes the solo rapper side of the genre with this masterpiece. It feels slightly more consistent than The Infamous, owing to a shorter runtime, an absence of skits, and the near-total absence of weak tracks. I say near total, because 8 hurts the album massively. The second half of the album (7-10) is clearly weaker than the first, but 8 is the one that really hurts the album by feeling quite out of place. It is bouncy and head bobby, but feels too slow and laid back compared to the early album without packing anywhere near the same punch. 7,9 and 10 are still jams of varying degrees, although 10 feels like it falls a bit flat as an album closer, but had 8 not been there it would be a very different story. On the other hand, 1-6 is some of the most consistent and iconic hip-hop there is out there, and is the reason why this still could be a 5.0. 2 is my favourite hip-hop track, only challenged perhaps by Prodigy's verse on Shook Ones. But I'm doubtful this will manage to reach the perfect album tier. 4.8
Basic Channel Quadrant Dub4.0
To steal some random lastfm user's description this is a near perfect brain massage. Accompanied me through many a work night. First track is an easy 4.5, but I find that the second adds some unwelcome dancier sounds, and brings its variations a little too late to not drop this to a - still legendary - 4.2
Breadwinner The Burner3.5
The Burner is a puzzling one. On the one hand, some of its tracks are not only impressive for their time (this is gritty math rock that was recorded between 1990-1992 and released post band breakup, with even tracks like 1, the only one featuring vocals really, or 3 both strongly prefacing TDEP's mathcore offerings), but also bangers in their own right. The aforementioned TDEP-esque 3, but also the groovy as hell 5 and 7 are very cool tracks. But on the other hand, the album can feel very sluggish at times despite its stylistically obliged constant changes, either because the tracks themselves feel directionless, slow or weird for the purpose of being weird (see for example 4 or 9, especially its first half), or because they dont feel cohesive with one another - an impression taht probably stems from this being a posthumous collation of two EPs plus three unreleased tracks, rather than a record conceived as an album by the band from the outset. I don't really know how to rate this one, but I feel like the points it gains from being such an early record reminding of much later things are counterbalanced by the ones it loses from lack of structure and consistency. 3.7
Unwound New Plastic Ideas4.5
Always has been my favourite Unwound album after LTIY. Much more readily classifiable and accessible than the latter, it is an impactful, creative noise rock/post-hardcore album that packs a shorter, less grand but almost just as efficient punch as its little swansong brother. Always a jam. 4.3
Northern Picture Library Paris3.0
First track is not amazing but sweet dream pop; the rest with the change of vox is passable but franly forgettable. It's all very tame and the male vox don't work as well. 3.0
Robert Hood Minimal Nation3.0
Techno is based on a strong, prominent, regular beat. A good kick, good snares, good hi-hats are essential. And this record does this very well. The kicks are tasty, the hats are crispy, and the foundation of the music is quite solid. The issue is that techno cannot just be a strong beat. And the leads here always feel lackluster, bleep bloopey and uninteresting, only catching my attention a couple times. They are generally neither dark, nor ambient, nor ravey, nor dancy. They're just bloops - 3 being a prime example. Now this is from 94 so there is a bit of room for forgiveness, and tracks like 4 (or its near exact copy 10) or 7 do have kind of a nice groove to them, while 9 is nice and perhaps the strongest track here with more pads and just a thicker sound in general. But overall I still found this only mildly fun really. 2.75
Madonna Bedtime Stories3.5
The top highlight here is 2 which in many ways (especially vocally) heavily prefaces the style of peri 00's Madonna, which is completely my jam. Kinda odd that it is the only track to that though. Indeed, the rest is a mostly well crafted, good-ish but very forgettable watered down disco pop album with recurrent ?hip-hop? influences? Idk there is something that reminds me instrumentally of the GTA San Andreas or something lmao. Jam the intro to 3 (which even has a rapped section with a guest vox) and tell me that doesn't scream that vibe. 1-4 are mostly okay, 5 is slightly mroe engaging with its beat, 6 again shows that strange hip hop sidem 7 has some sax and 8 goes even more soulsey, 9 is some more filler-feeling stuff,10 has fun synths in the back and sort of works as a hypnotic track I guess, and then 11 is about the most fittingly milquetoast conclusion track they could have written. Okay, not fantastic, prefaces better things to come and marks the nearing end of thigns that were. 3.45
Ved Buens Ende Those who Caress the Pale3.5
Nice record that sits between a demo and an EP in terms of quality. Black metal background with different vocals and lots of prog touches. Props for having a nicely audible bass. Fave track is 5 by far - the proggiest and main instrumental one, a solid jam. Some of the clean vocals sound odd but they are varied and not overwhelming so it is fine. Looking forward to the LP. 3.4
Mortiis Ånden Som Gjorde Opprør3.5
Yea this is excellent Mortiis material, better produced and better constructed than the prior records. I didn't pay attention to individual tracks particularly since this is one big continuous piece, but it just work as an epic background to go look for dragons in the forest. 3.7
Discipline (USA) Push and Profit3.5
This is ok prog, but I wasn't mesmerized. There are fantastic sections sprinkled here and there. The album intro on 1 is lovely, 3 has a lovely section towards it sixth minute but is otherwise a meh track, 6 has a lovely piano section in its middle, 7 boasts the best section of the record in its ending, a Pink Floydesque jam. Why they ended the record with a fadeout on 8 instead of that I'll never understand. The vox on 1 got me worried, and frankly most tracks on this are quite meh, apart maybe from 2 which is a nice instrumental and 8 which is quite an ok track despite its bad end - bar of course the sections I highlighted. 3.4
Joy Division Warsaw3.5
What Joy Division - aka Warsaw at the time of recording, but not at time of release if I understand correctly - 's LP1 should have been. And indeed this is far closer to the EP punk sound than it is to the rest of their discog. In fact I was hoping it would link these two aspects of Joy Division together, but the version I heard did not have the added symths and really is just a straight continuation of what the EP was - which makes it even more surprising that they transitioned so gracefully into sad post-punk. This may have to do with prod and engineering changes as well, as this Warsaw LP sounds a whole lot more like rawer punk than crisp electronic'd post-punk. On the whole this is relatively basic punk, though not repetitive, not based on hooks to shout, and with plenty of space for the instruments to express themselves, so for sure a nice and quite subtle brand of 70's punk if anything. The tracks that stood out most to me were (I think) A4, A6, and B2, chiefly because of their nice grittiness on the guitar and adventures beyond repeating the same motifs for two minutes that punk can sometimes fall into. I jammed the 12 track version that is on youtube as fulll album, there are plenty of versions for this so I dont really know which is the canonical one - I'd be interested to hear the version with added synths that made the band initially not release this. 3.7
Unwound Negated/Said Serial3.5
Track 1 is cool typical Unwound of this era altho the prod underserves it a bit imo, whilst 3 sees unwound play with fun brass. 2 is somewhere in between and I think it works kinda better than 3, but thankfully the tracks are of decreasing run time each time. A cool demo but nothing to really keep imo. 3.3
Cryptopsy Blasphemy Made Flesh4.0
Phew. When silence hits after listening to this, it feels like the sweaty heat after eating an enormous spicy meal. This is completely on-brand, quality Cryptospy material, with fantastic technicity, lots of variety and dynamics, could very brief calm moments, a lot of crushing riffs, and ruh ruh ruh. Very impressive for a debut album, it is well produced and also flows quite well as a constant stream of chaos. The main hurdle, as ever, is the (very occasional) shrieky vocals that was present on Ungentle Exhumation, and make a come back on a couple tracks including 1 (which had me worried for a second), whilst the guttural vocals are much better than before but do get awakward in certain places like the end of 5. No highlights to speak of really, as the album feels more like an ever flowing stream of brutal ebb and flow. 4.1
Unwound MK Ultra/Totality4.0
Excellent Unwound EP that keeps on getting angrier but without losing its subtlety. 1 starts off very reminiscent of Slint only with slightly more aggressive prod especially on the drumkit, then it morphs into cool Unwound anger but keeping a lot of depths, evoking a lot of the Leaves sound already, and honestly it feels like a classic Unwound track to me. 2 goes quite ahrd from the getgo but again, it keeps it subtlety and remains incredibly recognisable as an Unwound track. It gets very angry towards the end with an almost sludgey riff in hte back which is really cool, and honestly the whole EP is a jam. 3.8

1993
Brainiac Smack Bunny Baby3.5
I think this was really cool stuff, and it feels a bit underrated. I do think the band is much stronger here instrumentally than it is vocally. The vocals aren't really bad, but they often feel like the music deserved better, or are overbearing. The initial trio demonstrates this quite well: 1-2 are pretty cool gritty tracks with less than ideal vocals, and 3 is less gritty but really fun with super cool riffage - but there is just too much of the vocals man. 4 continues this, while 5 is more on the crazy noisy weird side, which for a whole album would annoy me but here is cool. 6 is more kinda cool weirdcore, whilst 7 and 8 are nicely riffy and cool, though 8 doesn't start off as well. 9 remains fun thanks to its riffage in spite of the vox. The vox on 10 is cool, reminiscient of quite hardcore punk stuff, but although the voice itself is nice, what he sings is kinda cringe - almost feels like talking but screamed. 11 is hella cool. This record is cool, what's up with this average? 3.6
Death Individual Thought Patterns4.0
Excellent death metal, but in my opinion really far from the (near?) perfect record Human was, despite having a very similar style. I would have thought Human was the later of the two, but not. Much simpler collection of songs whereas Human is a real story and has more soul. Some fantastic tracks on this one too though, such as Desitiny and Trapped in a Corner (I think, the third or fourth track). 4.1
Anacrusis Screams and Whispers3.5
Clearly their best album for me, yet still not one I feel like I want to go back to. 1 starts off great, vocals aren't the best but the track is nice. I like it, they almost sound like a different band here. I'm not a fan of 2 but you can tell this is going to be a much better album. 3 goes really wankery though, with the strings, squeals etc., particularly in the end. At that point my hopes of this being an album I'll be back to went down, and never went back up really. 5 is an interesting track, 8 is kinda cool and 9 offers nice drumming. For the rest, this is mosty ok thrash, with the occasional good idea (prominent bass on 3), and the occasional squeal or annoying solo. Erf. 3.4
New Order Republic3.5
Written in retrospect. On this album, you can feel NO progressively stop trying, a trend which was visible on previous albums on the vocal side especially, but which is now really flagrant. The vocals feel more and more cheesy, unimaginative, uninterested even. 1 is a nice enough song, but all the grit is gone. The album intro is cool but the vocal unfold is a bit of a disappoint. 2 is a lot better, and though the vocals are cheesy, the chorus is really fun, the synthwork is great, and the funk is on. 3 starts off similarly albeit a bit more melancholic, but unfolds into a super cheesy, almost christmassy song. 4 has an incredible technoey almost intro, but then the unfold with autotune is really weird. It's leather pants core as hell, and ends on a fadeout, but it hsa fun disco housey bits. 5 is funky and has fun guitars at 3:10, but man these vocals are really uninspired. 6 has a bit of a Madonna quality to it, eh I dont mind it. 7 has a funky intro but really you start to feel this album did not age well. 8 is kinda fun until it unfolds. It really lacks compositional substance and isn't explosive enough to cash in on vintage value. 9 has a cute synths that feel almost DS, but then has a terribly bad unfold. 10 tries a bit more instrumentally, and 11 does have the merit of also trying something different for its intro and isn't terribly unpleasant. But yea the band feels like it is running out of steam here. 3.25
Radiohead Pablo Honey3.5
While a strong contender for worst Radiohead album, I think this one takes a little bit too much heat based on how much better its successors turned out to be. In a vacuum, I don't think it is bad at all, especially for a first record. The murky grungy dreaminess can turn out good, Creep while simple remains a cool classic song, and 1 4 and 12 got me into them quite a bit. Sure there is plentiful bland songwriting to be found here, to a grating point sometimes, but I never found the album to be outright unpleasant, and it's short enough to not feel like too much of a drag. If it was a small bandcamp band and not Radiohead I'm pretty sure the average would be sitting higher, although most likely not much above lower 3 tiers. 3.3
Shakira Peligro2.0
Weaker than her first. It is longer, and that starts to hurt from track 7-8 onwards. There are also fewer jam tracks/moments that are spread thinner. 4 is funny and fun, 5 has Pan flute which is cool, and 6 is a jam. Beyond that, the only noteworthy track is 10, which first sees Shakira use tribal sounds - for lack of a better term -, which is interesting but not all that good, and then sees the track shift to something with a cuban, jazzy fun mood which I dig and is super jammy. Other tracks are mostly boring, with some scarce nice and scarce unpleasant sections, 7 and 9 being the most annoying tracks. 2.0
Disincarnate Dreams of the Carrion Kind4.0
In fairness, I was interrupted a lot. This feels like relatively standard 90s dm, but particularly well executed and with some truly fabulous riffy moments. It's not all mesmerising which is why I don't see this reaching 4.5 tier any time soon for me, but the weaker moments and the shreddy bits are nicely few. It is a shame in a sense that this sticks to by the book dm though, as the intro and especially outro tracks hint at a much wider range of sounds that the band is able to achieve. The album would've been much more memorable had it incorporated some of those alternate textures and instrumentations within the album itself imo. 2 and especially 3 are cool, but 4 is really the first point at which the album displays its top tier qualities. 5 is also excellent early on, but does go to the slower, less compelling stuff in its second half. 6 has dope riffage, then 7 again goes back to slower and less headbangy stuff. 8-9 really felt like the album peak for me, whilst 10 feels like it is inferior to its predecessors and dropped this a point, before the outro lifted it up again for the reason i mentioned. Cool cool cool. won't be a 5.0 from me though. 4.1
Depeche Mode Songs of Faith and Devotion4.0
Whilst both clearly lacking the flair and legendary status of Violator's top tracks and also having many dips, this is a commendable effort. They venture in directions not quite seen before in their catalogue, some of which are surprising and somewhat impressive given this came out in 1993. 4 has somewhat of a trip-hop flavour dare I say, and 8 could've fit on the Matrix OST. 6 is kinda cooil too. In spite of the variety, the transitions are generally functional. There aren't too many frank dips, among which we can especially count the Disney princesscore 9, but there is a general feel of okay rock atop cool electronic layers. 1 is a prime example of a track being okay, but really not as good as the top flight DM tracks have been. This gets an extra point for being daring, but the resulting quality, whilst certainly there, is not enough to bring me back to this reliably. 3.8
Mingus Big Band Nostalgia in Times Square4.0
In fairness I should not have listened to this 77min long big band record right after Africa/Brass. This has some very high points and it rarely displeases, but it just feels a bit bloated especially in the middle. I generally am not a fan of big band in jazz and prefer more stripped down instrumentation, but 1-2 certainly make me love it with a badass album intro and just plenty of fun all round. 3 intelligently calms things down a bit. 4 is really cool and has some fever dream/horror vibes to it in the intro, but I feel like it does not belong there at all. Cool in a vacuum, but here it feels weird. It becomes more Coltranesque later on but there are still some meh bits. By 5 the big band sound is getting too much but in a vacuum the track is cool, and 6 has fun swing to it. 7 makes the album feel like a soundtrack with its storytelling potential, but the album was loosing me a bit at this point. Then 8 comes in with some fast paced city jazz that is quite jammy in places especially the final reprise, and 9 offers a nice piano break in the midtrack. 10 gives a more bluesy piano vibe, and is very successful in places and rather poor in other with patchworkiness giving that OST vibe again. I have mixed feelings about it as a concluding track. Nice listen, worth a check, thanks rellik! 3.85
Demilich Nespithe4.0
While the very, very low ended vocals take some getting used to, they worked for me most of the time and are rare enough that they never become an issue, which wasn't the case of some of the demos. The prod finally gives them justice and highlights how riffy and technical this can get, with a weird deranged atmosphere stemming from it all. The first 6 tracks of the record are plain cool and juts line up fat riff after weird riff, peaking on the midtrack riffage on 3 and most of all on the whole of 4 which is a huge jam. After that I have to say I did find the record overextends quite a bit without ever giving the ear a rest - but as we know this depends a lot on listening conditions. By 9 I felt the record was loosing steam a bit, and by 10 I thought it was time for it to end. Still enjoyed this much more than I could remember from way back when, so I'll give it a pleasantly surprised 4.05
Belly (USA-MA) Star3.0
I don't know if there were tensions in the band or what but, similarly to the EP, they have loads of cool ideas and then they make forgettable, generic rock songs out of them, as if they never really committed to being a little spicy. The cool bass intro of 3, the dope intro to 9 or the intro to 13 and 14 are all followed by relatively vapid songs. 1 is a cool intro track and 2 unfolds unexpectedly after a cool intro, but all in all it's a fun song. 5 is quite fun but feels really generic after a little while. 7 shows how cool and Slintey they can get, but it is one of the very few songs where they sort of commit to that aesthetic by repeating some of the more dissonant riffs - and still for the most part it's a pretty generic song. Because 6 and 8 (nice intro riff though, maintains a bit of the slint aesthetic) are bores it also feels a touch incongruous unfortunately. 10 shows that despite most songs being forgettable, the bass on this record is usually pretty cool. Beside the tracks I've mentioned this is all quite forgettable to aggressively boring really - the conclusion is one of the worst with melodies that are simplistic to the extreme, and brings this down maybe a point. 3.0
Darkthrone Under a Funeral Moon4.0
Now this one fully commits to DT's new sound: classic bm is classic. I gotta say weirdly I get
more evil ritual vibes that I feel the frost on this one, but hell yea this is really cool. The
tracks all flow really well and are pretty much all great so no need for a track by track m/ 4.15
Northern Picture Library Alaska3.5
An album that bewilders me. It's like somebody took an album from a band I'd like way more and somehow imbricated a regular NPL EP onto 9-14, like a tape splice that didn't go as planned. Because indeed, 1-8 is vastly superior to everything else put out by the band, and a masterclass at album flow on top of that. From the great intro track, 2 takes us to a seagull-infested beach in England with a bit of an rpg village OST atmosphere (and very subtly integrated vocals, which I find inspiring), then after the nice 3, 4 takes us to much darker places not unlike a good GYBE interlude. The flow into the lush again 5 is extremely well done, 6 gets to really cool oldschool synthy ambient whilst 7 has more drums, and 8 continues the niceness. Up to this point, the record is truly impressive in how well it ties vastly different atmospheres together, and is a massive improvement over the EPs which never showed much evolution or buildup of ideas. Then, heck knows why, 9-14 returns to regular NPL material, which I am hardly a fan of to start with, but in the context of this album where it ruins an otherwise excellent record feels infuriating. By 13 I wanted it to stop. The vocals are no longer subtle, they're just lazy and boring again. Then 15 brings back the quality with some instrumental psych, and it's like 9-14 never happened, with 16 starting on something super cool and unexpectedly abrasive, then transitioning back into lushness, 17 continuing it , and 18 transitioning superbly into a funky synthy groove. So good. I really don't know what the hell happened with this record. 3.6
Mortification Post Momentary Affliction2.5
I dont't know man this band doesn't do much for me. The first 8 tracks are alright, pretty run of the mill and unmemorable but reasonably well crafted dm, that only ever grabs one's attention in its faster paced bursts, and that features some quite cringe softer vocals in a couple places - e.g. 3 and its also poorly produced bass, or 6 with its very short lived nice guitars in the midtrack. 9 is a weird transition track that had the merit of waking me up, then what on Earth are they doing on 10. The rest of the album is much more cringe, (11), much more boring (13), much more confusing (10,12), and is mostly a bore with the occasional ok time passing track. Whilst it was maybe a 3.3-3.4 before 8, my rating went steadily down after that, to pretty much a 2.3
Dark Millennium Diana Read Peace2.5
I did get through this one but I almost quit. It is rarely truly bad - although the last track is insufferable - and some bits really shine especially in the second half of the record, for instance the super cool tones in the intro of 4 - but the bulk of it is either doomey bore, or okay music over which they try to narrate a musical which I always hate. On the whole 69 minutes (nice) I'd say there are maybe 9 minutes of cool proggy ideas or the odd heavy riffage (like the end of 9), 9 minutes of complete insufferable cringe (soloing etc), and 51 minutes of boring doomdads: the musical. 2.4
Protector The Heritage2.5
Clearly their best lp imo. Far fewer wankery solos, far fewer annoying vocals. Still not convinced by this band though and I won't push their discog to the post-hiatus stuff. Most tracks are mostly ok with some good bits and some annoying bits, but none are truly unpleasant all the way through except the outro track which is weird and unnecessary. Could bring the album a point down on its own. Again, the best parts are some track intros, on 2 and especially 4 and 7. 4's intro feels like a breath of fresh proggy opethy air - clearly the best track of the first half -, and 7 is kinda jammy with Daughters/TDPey instrumentation but bad vocals. Would have considered 3.0 range without the outro track, but this is a 2.7
For Against Aperture2.5
One of the most forgettable albums I've come across, because every single song feels like a photocopy of the same, bland but okay slow paced dream poppey song ish, and the only thing that changes is something very minor like the toner or something. It only rarely dips in quality (3 maybe, 7 is perhaps the weakest track and by 8 you really want the album to end), but the rating just declines slowly due to fatigue from hearing the same thing over and over again. It also very rarely blips upwards in quality, with 2 having a little bit of an extra quality to it, and perhaps dipping above forgettably okay threshold. So jam the first tracks and you've heard it all. 2.4
Mortiis The Song of a Long Forgotten Ghost2.5
I don't really know how to feel about this. On the one hand, the sounds and melodies are really cool, and would work well to transport you to mountains, medieval times, or perhaps pirate land. And for 93 as one of the first real DS
records this is truly impressive. On the other hand , I felt like this is a record that almost works to get you out of its atmosphere, not in. First of all the prod is gritty or frankly bad in places (the panning being a
constant reminder that you are listening to an album and not a cloaked adventurer fighting goblins), but also variable as a lot of tracks are actually well produced. Idk if it is the spotify version but there is also a very disruptive
crossfade between every track, which against works to take you out of your voyage. And finally, this thing is r e p e t i t i v e, but not in a hypnotic way, rather in a way that makes you think the melody will change, but it doesn't,
or it does but only for a minute (looking at you 3 with your awful transition into a minute long epic heroic fantasy section before going back to the exact same melody 1-2 had). It works sometimes, but oftentimes you just go 'not this
again'. So if I wanted a soundtrack to a heroic fantasy book or something, I don't really know that I would ever choose this given how much it draws the attention to its prod and the fact that it is a recording. But also, this is
still an impressive effort? IDK MAN 2.6
Pestilence Spheres3.0
Pestilence go much softer on this one, both in prod and actual music played. They also go much more prog, and one effect is to make the synthy videogamey interludes work here. They sound crazy and prog a la TDEP or Refused, not out of place like on their previous lp where the contrast with brutal thrashened death metal was just bizarre. Tracks 4 and 7 are good example. This is true too for the main tracks, although most of the time those synthy and electronic sounds are poorly used and do sound out of the place like on track 5, sometimes they work really well. It creates a sort of weird crazy sound again a bit a la TDEP - I wouldn't be surprised if they liked this album - and track 3 for example is kind of a crazy weird jam. The middle section on 6 is a real prog jam too. However the album as a whole failed to convince me, as it has few true jams, and many many quirky dorky sections or sound that don't work, but I clearly prefer it over to TotA. 3.1
Minutemen "Georgeless" EP3.0
A pretty cool but ultimately not too significant potato quality recording of the band's earlier phase is 1980, that would have been a catchy but not rivetting EP if it were better recorded. I kind of prefer to think that their discog starts with Paranoid Time, and I kinda like that this is a way to circle back to their humble beginnings to close their official discog. Unlikely to ever jam this again. 3.1
Unwound Unwound (1993)3.0
Unwound being angry over 7 minutes. Cool and all, except the mix with marked panning hurts my ears - genuinely thought there was an issue with my cable or something. So not sure why I'd jam this again? 3.0
Northern Picture Library Blue Dissolve3.0
Kind of a weird one. The first two tracks have excellent intros and buildups in the way of synthy dream poppy stuff, and then just weirdly stop building up and stick to overly simple melodies for the length of the track. 1 does have a surprise at the end (after 9-10min) in that it quite unexpectedly becomes abrasive and aggressive in the conclusion, which is really cool - only this should've happened 5 minutes earlier for the track to not feel a bit overstretched on the whole. 2 does not have any such surprise but is shorter at least. 3 is the track where this kind of plateauing quality to the songs works, as it is quite a beautiful synthy ambient almost jam, which 4 follows up very poorly by doing the same but more abrasively in a way that just doesn't flow well at all imo. So some thigns really well done, and others that are quite subpar: strange. 3.2
Porcupine Tree Up the Downstair3.5
I wasn't paying huge amounts of attention, but still this also did not manage to grab my attention either. It's all nice but it feels like it is doing it's thing in the background without anything shaking keys at ya. The intro to 2 is a rare moment that did bring my attention to teh music in its intro as it unfolds round min 2, but afterwards when the guitars come in it goes back to m'okay. 3 is very pink floydey around min 4-5, and 4 around min 13-14, but broadly speaking I was quite indifferent to this. Maybe conditions. 3.65
The Boo Radleys Giant Steps3.5
An okay album that doesnt try hard enough for how long it is. The bulk of the songs feel like slightly tired, underbaked alt rock/brit pop/whatever with vocals that are too lazy to work without heavy fx that they dont get. That being said the band does have spurts of goodness. 1 with its tapey audio processing stuff opens the album quite well as it unfolds weirdly into a cool riff. 2 already feels a bit patchworky between the gritty guitars and the random vox, but does feature some nice round bass and some surprise ?cello near the end. 3 starts off nice and surf rocky, but without fx the dreamy vox just dont work. 4 is again lackluster on the prod, though the tone in the softer sections reminds me of PF's Echoes. The bass is nicely audible and the riffs riff enough. 5 does not work for me at first, but gets really faken cool with its bass and brass - one of the highlights here. 6 also features super cool rhythmics and accompanying riff, and its outro reminds nicely of the album intro. Might have wanted to finish the album there honestly. 7 is a niec enough interlude, but 8 feels quite zzz despite the guitars in the back and the flutes also. 9 is outright annoying, and most songs blend into an okayness I could enjoy in a vacuum but not 45min into the album you know. 11 is a typical example. 13 does wake us up a bit with the brass, 14 is a cute interlude, 15 is quite loud and chaotic but then the vox are annoying, and by 17 I really needed the album to stop despite its best efforts. Yea not a fan of this. 3.3
Maeror Tri Multiple Personality Disorder3.5
At first I was quite excited by this because it's been a while since I jammed some proper drone, this from the 90s, and the intro track and its follow up are quite great. But like every other track bar the intro, 2 is too a bit too long, and whilst the textures are nice it feels a bit too samey run of the mill drone on the whole. Still pretty strong. Then 3 is extremely minimalistic which I quite liked but idk how much I would jam ever, and 4 brings much grittier textures which are non-musical but cool in places and really excellent in others with some even horror-feeling parts. 5 is more musical and soundtrackey but at that point I was a bit out of the album if I'm honest. Cool drone, but that I have little desire to jam ever again, and taht isn't old enough to gain significant bonus points. Love that band aesthetic tho. 3.5
Mortiis Født til å Herske3.5
Vast, vast improvement on the debut demo/EP thingy - however not quite perfect yet. First of all, this is no longer mind-numbingly repetitive and is in fact quite varied; secondly this is far better and more consistently produced. There are two main acts to this, and I like the latter quite a bit more. It is more solemn, more brooding, more ambient - 9 and 12 being examples, although some of the vocals feel a bit wonky - borderline funny in places. 13 is excellent and shuffles things up well - I just wish there were more surprises like this in the album, but it bodes well for future records.The main downside of the second act really is that it comes after the first, and so when you get to it the album ends up feeling quite long. Even though I prefer this second half, to me the biggest highlight here is the concluding track to the first half (7) and how elegantly it shifts the atmosphere between the two acts. The first act really reminds me more of the debut EP, but better done and more varied. It is nice, but some of the synths really feel digital in a bad way - idk if they were or if it is by choice but whatever - and we still get quite a few crossfade transitions. That being said, the atmosphere is still strong and nicely medieval, and even without the second half this first act would easily achieve a 3.5 on its own. 3.6
Unwound Kandykornritualsagainsthatingind3.5
'Unwound being angry for a few minutes' is what I thought this would be at first, as it starts off much like the prior demo except better produced. 2 especially gets really ahrd, and this is about as hardcore as the band got - the vocals being especially harsh. 3 which is longer than the otehr two tracks combined calms things down in its first half before slowly building up the anger again. Super cool, but the end is quite abrupt, to a point where I thought my computer had crashed or somethign. So this feels more like the amputated beginnign of a cool angry album than an EP that makes sense in its own right, but it's still a fun jam. 3.5
Cynic Focus4.0
To this day, this is wonderfully weird and progressive. Imagine hearing this in 93 when you were just expecting some cool technical death/thrash based on the demos. Incredible, and I am glad I jammed the demos just to realise how giant a step they took. The opener is a fantastic summary of the album and displays right off the bat the weird vocals and tones we'll be offered all throughout. The conclusion in particular is fantastic. Sadly the album stumbles right after this strong start. 2-3 are relatively 'straightforward' dm tracks, and on them the vocoded vox and other prog elements feel like unjustified addition and no longer parts of a cohesive whole like they were on 1. I gotta say the prod, while more than alright, is not stellar, and doesn't serve the harsh parts or the bass too well imo. They're not as gritty and bouncy as they could be, respectively. 4 goes back to the calmer jazziness and proginness thankfully and is quite fantastic especially the last third albeit it sadly ends on a fadeout. 5-6 succeed where 2-3 failed, very good dm with only scarce proggy cynic elements - I particularly enjoyed 5's intro. 7 is a godtier instrumental jam and one of the proggiest here. The album intelligently ends on a strong track with vocals again though, only to sadly conclude on a fadeout. Immense, well constructed album that just had a little too many shortcomings to reach the 4.5 tear in my book. 4.15
Unwound Fake Train4.0
Angrier, noisier, yet more subtle than the debut - a great album through and through with lots of good jams and riffz. I didn't really find there was a drop in quality anywhere it's just a fun listen all round ay ay 3.9
Cryptopsy Ungentle Exhumation4.0
Ok this was exactly what i needed right now. Surprisingly mature for a demo, this certainly isn't all round perfect - some of the shriekey, ?female vocals sound frankly horrible, and the deep regular Cryptopsy vocals are cool but get a bit ludicrous in places, some of the sections are a bit less engaging too although rarely for very long - but hell if this isnt good hard hitting Cryptopsy stuff with already most of their sound being there in good quality. 1-2 are really cool, 3 is not far behind, and 4 was a bit less convincing especially at the start, but all four tracks have the merit of never dwelling too long on a bad (or good idea) and keep you on their toes constantly with an never ending stream of dynamics. Good and exciting demo. 3.8
Oumou Sangare Ko Sira4.0
Preeetty much the same comments I had for Moussoulou. Although as the album went on I got used to the violiney-countryey sounding strings and they started even to be an element I enjoyed. It's been a long time since Moussoulou but from memory I feel like I preferred this one slightly. 2 builds up greatly, some of the vox deliveries on 3 and especially its last third are really cool, the calmer 4 comes in at a great time, the lower ended voices on 6 are a very well made addition and most welcome, and the album's just a great jam all round, although I think for people who aren;t used to the genre it may feel a little flat or repetitive. 3.9
Ozean Ozean4.0
Superb shoegaze on the soft and mellow side of things, I don't understand why it has such a
low average here. Sure, it is quite short, and all three songs end on a fadeout with no
conclusion which takes the record down a point, but it still has lovely vox, tasty shoegaze
instrumentation, and some sweet bass lines. All jams, 2 being probably my favourite. Yes,
you should check it out. 3.95
John Coltrane Dear Old Stockholm4.0
Am I missing something here? I do not understand how this has a 2.9 average. Sure it is a compilation and not an album, but still. All tracks were recorded with the classic quartet except with Roy Haynes instead of Jones behind the kit. And boy does Hayne give a good performance here, especially on 3-4. 1-2 were recorded in 1963 and are quite more conventional bepop, especially 2 which is softer wine jazz. 1 especially is quite good. 3-5 were recorded in 1965, nine days after The John Coltrane Quartet Plays, and it is immediately spicier. 3-4 are especially continuous crazy goodness, more along the lines of A Love Supreme's spiciest moments, and it's just an energetic delight of a listen. 5 is more calm, but I guess that was kind of needed, and it closes things on a relatively colorless but short n sweet way. A lot of the tracks were featured elsewhere so this is definitely a compilation, but goddamn I liked 3-4. 4.1
Steve Reich Duet for Two Violins and Strings4.0
A very pretty piece with a nice motif whose emotional impact is heightened by the strings based instrumentation - the only fault really is the length, because at 5 minutes this feels really short (although a change of motif is well due by the end), and so it struggles to feel like a 'grand' piece. But on a playlist or something, where it doesn't sit alone being this short. its heartwarming, emotionally hopeful vibe is quite nice to start a sunny morning like today. 3.8
1992
Rage Against the Machine Rage Against the Machine5.0
Madonna Erotica3.5
Starts in a really cool and surprising way and works ok on the long run but without quite matching up to that excitement. The runtime is long but ok, as the track count is reasonable and the tracks sustain their lengths well by always adding a few things along the way. This is very much a transition point for Madonna who resolutely abandons the 80s for the 90s. From the nice intro track you can even spot some signs of 00's Madonna in some aspects. 2-4 introduce us to a new house/bass/club oriented Madonna, and tbh i dig it, particularly 2, which is a perfect tropical cafe OST from the 2020s but with delightful touches of 90s outdatedness. Her delivery is more subdued than previously but it works with the groovy beats. 3 feels perhaps a little more outdated. However there is a long stretch before these clubby vibes come back. 5 is already slower and more sensual, closer to her older stuff, but it still works well. The slower, rnbey almost 6 ishte first to not convince me so much and is merely okay. This is when the album starts dipping below 4.0. 7 is super cool however and starts on a hip hop beat almost before unfolding into some sexy stuff. 8-9 (9 with a nice intro) bring back the club vibes very well, but alas that is short lived as 10 is again slower although nice and spacey. 11 feels a lot more like her 80s stuff again but is cool. 12 and 13 lose the album its last point, as the former is sweet but a bit dull, and the latter despite a nice beat feels like a questionable way to conclude on a down note. LP nearly was a super cool 90s dancy gem, ends up being a nice record with some great playlist cuts. 3.7
Necrophagist Requiems of Festered Gore2.5
This sounds like listening to a death metal gig from outside the venue. Is it riffy and fun? Yes. Would I go inside the venue to check out the gig? Definitely. Would I ever listen to this at home? No, sounds too ass. Despite the prod it does manage to get a lot of good riffage through, and track 3 is an actually good track, bumping this up a point or two, but I can't in good honesty say this is a good record given the demoey prod which, unlike PdH, doesn't feel like it adds much artistic value and rather takes a lot away from the experience. 2.65
Darkthrone A Blaze in the Northern Sky4.0
Being the first of Darkthrone's black albums, this one probably holds the most historical importance. It is not easy to innovate, and as a turning point for the band and for extreme metal in general, this is quite a fantastic step. However, retrospectively (easy to say), I feel like the album's main flaw is its hesitancy to fully commit to the new bm sound. Again total respect to DT, it's not easy, I am merely talking about this as a musical object here because obviously historically it takes teh cake. The first two tracks and 1 (after an intro that is kind of quirky but honestly cool) especially still display a lot of dm roots, and a lot of slower, doomier sections, but with the new bm tone and prod. And because I don't like OSDM and doom as much, well, that doesn't work well with me. Hoerver the last min of 1 finally fully commits to bm with endless blast beats and an accelerated tempo, super cool. 2 also does that from the midtrack on, and the finale with the softer guitar atop the bm wall is simply fantastic. 3 is a bit better overall with some dope riff especially in the midtrack, and 4 is finally a huge, full on black metal jam (despite a short bit of urgh soloing) with absolutely filthy riffs, clearly my fave here. 5 continues this and is probably a jam too, while 6 comes back to slower stuff like the earlier record and is perhaps less convincing before the album ends just like it started, which is kinda cool. A massive step towards frozen forests for the human kind, and a giant step for DT. 4.0
Demilich The Echo3.5
The first of their demos that I would call 'exciting' firstly because the prod, while still thin and far from great, at least allows us to distinctly hear riffs, and secondly because the voice found a happy middle ground between the goodness of their very first demo and ludicrous burpcore. This has gimmicky bits here and there, and again the prod prevents it from being truly great, but it is nicely technical, quite brutal despite the hollow sound, and a sweet listen. 3.3
Porcupine Tree On the Sunday of Life3.5
There is perhaps a background story I am missing, but I feel like this is a bit underrated. I will concede the record is a bit weird, with some bits feeling not so serious, many questionable vocals and some prod issues, and it's also a bit long. But there is real value to be found here. 1 is a masterclass of an intro track with synths, tension, flutes, which could go into prog as much as it could go into shpongle stuff. The prod transitioning into 2 is awful though, and the track frankly feels like mariokart music, then 3 is a cool prog interlude again. 4-5 are alright, the reprise is tight but the vocals are very meh (a theme). 6 is just a guy whispering in your ear which I like not. 8 is kinda pink floydey in places (another theme, good this time) with its guitars, whilst 9 evokes PF's softer tracks but with a really weird mix on some of hte drums. 10-11 continues this reasonably well, then what on Earth is 12. From there on I lost track a bit, there's lots of interludey feeling stuff, reasonably good. 17 grabbed my attention a bit again with its frun DnB type rhythm, and 18 is quite nice and Pink Floydey with flutes. Sure it's a bit messy and it's not the prog record of the century, but it could be worse. Definite chaotic good energy. Compensatory 3.4
Belly (USA-MA) Slow Dust3.0
I'm feeling lukewarm on this. It's nice but doesn't feel all that special. 1 is an alt rock song, 2 is a bit better with darker undertones, but 3 is way worse and really did not do it for me. 4 is the most interesting of the bunch with some weird guitar reminding of Slint a bit, while the sort of ghost conclusion track is fine in the same vibe but feels a bit pointless. 3.15
Demilich ...Somewhere Inside the Bowels of Endlessness...3.5
Very much like the prior demo. It's cool, exciting, and the scarcity of the vox make work, but I wouldn't say it is mind blowing either. Sections like the beginning of 5 feel a bit awkward for example. The technicality is there again, but when it doesn't show its nose the record feels like it looses a lot of its flavour. I'm not sure if I prefer this one or The Echo, but it doesn't matter because I don't really feel a need to ever come back to either. I did have a slightly more enjoyable time on this one even though it's probably due to the conditions, so it gets a mild 3.5
Exhorder The Law3.5
I really enjoy Exhorder's merciless, straight to the point, riff barrage style of thrash metal. A fav thrash band. This one has very high points, but is overall not executed as well as its predecessor. The prod is a bit less aggressive, and the vocals feel a bit less good. Tracks like 1, 5, and 7 (except its last third which is jammy as hell) feel like they don't quite work. 2, 4, and the intro of 8 are jams. 4 in particular is interesting, really technical sounding, with lovely slap bass but a slightly annoying funky guitar riff which is the only thing bringing the track down. Amidst the constant and excellent riffing, this one also has more wankery bits - eg the rest of 8, 9 which even has a sorta breakdown to it, or the wankery mosh machine that is 6. Overall still a 3.7
The Boo Radleys Everything's Alright Forever3.5
Looses a bit of its (punk) edge compared to LP1 for a dreamier album, but still retains some.
Even moreso than on LP1, the vocals are a bit too soft at times. 1 is a very spacious intro with
cool iberian touches added, but with too discrete vox, and 2 has roaring guitars that are quite
cool. 3 already gives a bit of this 'molle' impression with a very subdued and long intro that
leaves an impression of a long blank between tracks, but once it finally opens up on the midtrack
it is cool. 4 is lovely and shows how much synthier this album is, but idk about hte vox. 5 is
pretty meh as even the tones aren't that great. 6 is one of the highllights here with an ultra
cool polyrhythmic unfold with a bouncy bass under noisy textures, and 7 again shows some of that
Unpleasant Surprise, ultra gritty guitar tone that I am not sure fits the album all that well.
The track feels a bit meh as you don't really know where it wants to take you, and it feels a bit
like an interlude stretched over five minutes. 8 again has a super cool unfold on the drums, and
again the vocals are a bit disappointing. 9 is nice as far as interludes go, 10 is voaclly cheesy
but does have more to it instrumentally than the first minute shows. 11 shows yet again the very
gritty distortion this album can get to, and again idk if these noisy textures really fit, but
aside from being slightly overlong the track is otherwise cool. 12 wouldn't really work in a
vacuum but fits well here as a nice interlude before 13 and 14 get a lot angrier which is really
cool. 14 especially concludes the album very well, going into some Slintey weirdness, and
probably bumps the album a point. LP feels like an excellent band in search of a direction,
rather than an excellent LP, but some of the tracks are really good. 3.7
Demolition Hammer Epidemic of Violence4.0
Yes now this is what I was hoping to hear after the demos. The opener scared me a little bit with its wankery bits and fade out ending, but after that it is jam after jam. Prod is far less muffled down and inoffensive than on Tortured Existence, resulting in a much more aggressive and fun record overall. I need to re-listen to it to pinpoint the jams and because this record is super cool, but for now I'd say 2,3,4,5,8,9. 4.2
Sadus A Vision of Misery3.0
This one is kind of weird in that it feels like they went backwards in their evolution. The wankeriness is way up, and the record feels erratic in construction, incessantly switching grooves, genres and tempos, breaking a lot of tracks which would otherwise be individually nice. By 6 they had lost me really. 1 feels like an 80's record, which is another layer to the overall feel of backwards evolution. 2 is kind of bm-ish and nice but is short. 3 is nice, fun and technical, but the second half is wankery although it unfolds in a nice riffy conclusion. 4 has fun bits here and there but by then you really feel how erratic and wankerier the record is. Like 5 ends on a slow paced doom riff? It just doesn't work. Thankfully, 8 and 9 bring the quality way up, 8 being nice and aggressive, and 9 bringing pleasant proggy bass here and there. The album conclusion on an ominous mysterious melody is extremely nice and a very good choice. Not my fancy in terms of thrash records, but these last two tracks bump this back up to a 3.2
Incantation Onward to Golgotha3.5
This is cool but not really my type of dm. Still impressively brutal and abrasive after all these years. If you want to know what being burnt alive sounds like, jam the first track. 3.6
Mortification Scrolls of the Megilloth3.5
Almost finished it yesterday but had to jam the last 5 minutes today lol - an album that starts much dorkier than its bulk with 1, and that then goes into pretty cool but mindless chug, before it goes for mindless chug for so long that it becomes dorky again, with the occasional extra dorky moment e.g. some of the vocals on the closer. The main vocalist rips though, and I must say 6's calm intro before restarting offers a welcome breath of fresh air. It was fine, but I also have no interest in rejamming this really. 3.4
Dark Millennium Ashore the Celestial Burden3.5
It's okay and there's lots of potential on display, but I am not a fan. For starters the bulk of this has a lot more doom DNA than I expected, and well I am not a fan of doom. I can see the vox being divisive, but I more often like them than not. The truly cool stuff here is the occasional proggy/atmospheric elements that remind of bands that would come about much later, such as bits of acoustic guitar and prog bass on 4, more guitar stuff on 5, the really cool out-of time riffy piano (?) additions at 4:45ish on 6, and the interlude 9. Some of the (scarce) dmey/ heavy riffy sections are also quite cool, like min 4 on 1, the start of 2 and 5, the end of 7. But almost every track has a bulk of doom that is ok with occasional good riff at best, and borderline amateur/cringe eg. on 1 and 3, and by 4 I was already getting out of the album a bit, although the proggy elements I mentioned did bring me back to it. So all in all not a keeper, and not even a track that I'd keep on the whole either. 3.3
Eructation 1992 Demo3.5
As a demo this is truly excellent and makes you wish there was a full-length to follow it up (well there is that compilation thing but that's not the same). For a 92 dm demo this is well produced, the vocals are quite good, it's all good. As a record in the more general sense though idk if this is dm I'd recommend, but it feels like it'd preface greatness and I wonder what happened to those guys. Each track improves imo. 1 shows bursts of technical dm DNA before 1:55 for example, but then it switches a lot into less impactful (read: thrashy) riffz like at 1:55. The track does have dope moments, although it ends on a fadeout, to then only have an outro that also fades out. Why oh why. Still an ok track though. 2 has funky riffs although the bass tone is a little off at times, not enough to ruin the riffing though, and 3 has some really dope riffs and is more on the instrumental side. Now I'm sad that there's no LP. 3.55
Disincarnate Soul Erosion [Demo]4.0
Very solid demo. I jammed the version that is crammed at the end of Dreams of Carrion Kind expanded edition so maybe they were remastered, but the prod is fat and the riffs are fat. Vox is great. There is occasional bothersome soloing and whatnot, most prominently at the very beginning of the t/t, but frankly if this is a mere demo I'm pumped to see the LP. Sligthly overrating probably due to the excitement this gave ma dm pickle 3.8

1991
Unwound Caterpillar3.5
A bit more what I expected from the first demo. It's quite darker, and focusses on their aggressive side a bit more, but there isn't much else to it - whereas the other one felt like a keeper with a lot of jammy tracks. 3.3
Death Human4.5
I like a lot of death metal, but coming back to this always makes me feel like this is the absolute best death metal record out there, with the only real contenders being the three Death albums that followed it. Massive, innovative and never monotonous - the genre is masterfully executed. Especially after the remaster, this is a little bit like Pink Floyd in that you can tell it was made decades ago, but at the same time it does not sound old or outdated at all and is just as good today - if not better. Potential classic. 4.6
Unwound Unwound (Demo)4.0
How this is sitting at a 2.8 average is beyond me. I am probably overrating because I was set up to expect something way worse (and also it's a demo), but man this is incredible. Although none of the tracks are weak it's perhaps a few minutes too long, maybe owing to some questionable transitions between tracks; but it remains incredible energetic noise rock/hxc pretty much at times, ripe with ideas and with a lot of different vibes - compare the atmo-ish instrumental 4 to the angry 5 to the jolly intro on 6 for instance. The prod is maybe a bit thin but with enough volume it's all fine. A keeper, and it's just the first demo what the hell. 4.1
A Tribe Called Quest The Low End Theory4.5
Rebirth of the cool. IT'S 1991 AND I REFUSE TO COME WACK 4.9
Pestilence Testimony of the Ancients2.5
Really did not dig this. It is not unpleasant and the first track is a jam with interesting sounds so it doesn't warrant a 2.0 range rating or less, but that's about all there is to it. Track 7 is kinda cool classic dm. There is one other cool heavy metal section in the middle of the closer. For the rest, the album progressively lost my interest. It has lots of weird interludes, out-of-place sounds that feel like they come out of some video game or parody horror movie, it has a plethora of wankery solos and bits and most of the riffs that should make up for it simply don't work. Pestilence definitely aren't good at doing slow music in my opinion, and they demonstrate that in track 3. 2.4
Anacrusis Manic Impressions3.0
This one feels superior to Reason only owing to the last four tracks. The rest was honestly a disappoint, and did not feel to me like an improvement over Reason - almost less good actually. The 'progressive' elements don't really make the music any better for me - quite the opposite. Even when nice thrash riffing does pop up, it's always ruined by wankery guitars or annoying squeals, an example being 3. Honestly by track 6 I was going to rate this sub 3. Track 7 and the first half of 8 are however quite nice, and show signs of the massive improvement 9 and 10 will be (bar a few questionable vocals on 10), those two being the first Anacrusis track I genuinely kinda liked, especially 10. Not quite jams though. The very closing of the album is kinda weird. 3.2
Shakira Magia3.0
Honestly glad I jammed this, the second half falls behind but this record is super fun. It's wonderfully outdated and very funny/cute because of that, I like it more than a lot of pop star debuts out there. 1-3 are funny jams and sound like they're straight out of some cheesy daytime Spanish language TV soap opera from the 80's. 2 makes you feel like you're at a party in 80's rural Colombia, and 3 is so precious with its English rap sample. Just plain fun. 4 is a bit boring though, and 6 is quite annoying with Shakira venturing into wankery rock territory. 5, 7 and 8 are mild versions of 1-3, nice and fun but not as good. 9 is super fun. Because of the number of poor tracks I can't rank this higher than lowest 3.0 territory - honestly the first 3 tracks may be upper 3.0 to lower 3.5 - but this is so fun it gets a 2.8
Morbid Angel Blessed Are the Sick3.0
Not a fair comparison since I jammed them weeks and weeks apart, but did not impress me nearly as much as Altars did. Sounds gimmickier and more outdated. The middle of the album has some good old school death metal tracks, but the first few and last few tracks especially are kinda meh and really wankery at times. The notable exceptions are the two instrumentals, with 'Desolate Ways' being my fav track of the album. 3.0r
Demilich The Four Instructive Tales... of Decomposition2.0
This is an undeniably better record than the previous demo from an 'objective' standpoint', because at least now you can hear what's going on a BIT. It's still terrible prod, but more acceptable. However, the vox have now gone full burp mode and are no longer a positive element unlike on the first demo. I seriously have a hard time with this bands' vocals on this. The instrumentals behind the vox have a couple good moments here and there but very scarcely, otherwise it feels quite generic and bland - although the prod is probably partly to blame - and certainly not enough to compensate for the burps. The previous demo was inaudible, but funny enough I wish this one were too. 2.0r
Suffocation Human Waste4.0
The relatively raw production of this early Suffocation record brings color to a classic death metal sound. Absolutely massive and brutal record, but short enough to not lose its freshness in its course. 4.1
Demilich Regurgitation of Blood2.0
Unless it is the version I listened to, the prod on this makes it hardly audible. I often use hearing a gig from outside as a metaphor to describe bad prod, but here it's like hearing a gig from outside with earplugs on and your headphones over that. The vocals are the most audible thing here, but the rest is just distant background. I cannot in all honesty say this is worth a check regardless of how good it may be from a compositional standpoint - if you have the coolest groove in the world but no one can hear it, I don't see the point. 2.2
Devastation Idolatry1.5
I can't believe this has a 4.2 average on here. Unbelievably annoying album. The singer's vox are nice in the first five minutes, then they get to your nerves. The good riffs are scarcer here than in their two prior records, and the wankeriness is way up. 6 and 7 are the least annoying tracks, with 7 at least having a nice brutal riff. The album finishes on a fadeout - putting some acoustic guitar after a fadeout does not make it any less of a fadeout boys. This doesn't even have the excuse of being their debut, having bad prod etc., it's just not my thing at all. 1.4
Dark Angel Time Does Not Heal2.0
Two tracks in I thought this would be the one DA album that isn't bad. Track 1 is actually cool, it is far proggier, more instrumental, has no annoying vox, it's riffy but also melodic in place, it's almost a jam really. Sounds like a different band. The first half of 2, although the vox isn't the best, feels quite cool and dark too. Then starting from the middle of the track, things go downhill. The goodness of 1 is never seen again, and DA return to their speedy boring thrash style, with vox that at that point feel completely out of date and seem sometimes like they will never stop, and riffs that are only occasionally catchy, eg on 4 and 9, but can also feel contrived eg on 5, or just don't mark you at all which is most of the record. 6-8 is so annoying I started skipping it. I guess because of 1 this is the best Dark Angel album, but it's still a 2.0
Protector A Shedding of Skin2.0
I can see how this is their best, but their music still does not resonate with me at all. The run from 4-7 had me hopeful this could bump into high 2.5 to 3.0 territory, with some sweet riffage and cool intros, and lots of instrumental sections. Unfortunately, the multi-voice vocals and the overall wankeriness of the record ruin about everything else. The opener is awful and announces how the whole record is going to feel like. 8, 11,12 are also awful. The opening bit of track 2 is a good bit and reminds of bands like Ouroboros or Nile ahead of its time, but I'm really scraping the barrel here. Can't bring myself to rate this any higher than a 2.2
Darkthrone Soulside Journey3.5
It's not a surprise that this isn't really the record DT are known for, nor that it won't be my favourite of theirs, as this is relatively (but not wholly) generic early 90s dm, and good but not incredible. There are some relatively unique touches, especially synthwork, but with the exception of the great first track where they are a fantastic albeit short-lived surprise, I don't find them well integrated at all. Like come on some of the sounds on 10 and 11 just sound ridonkulous. While in the early tracks this was actually solid dm despite my historical unappreciation of the genre, looking at a 3.8 or thereabouts despite some occasional quirks (some solos - although on 7 despite it being cringe the tone is really cool -, the weirdly abrupt end of 3 although maybe that is just the version I listened to, some of the vocals on 4), with time and especially from 9 onwards this starts to feel long and a bit too repetitive, as the most successful track really was 1, which makes the album gradually drop to a 3.5
Cynic Demo 19913.5
Yeah this reminds very strongly of Human-era Death, both vocally and with its very fun, rhythmically intricate style of dm. The prod is still quite demoey, but this is quite fun and definitely the most worthwile of their demos - it packs a fantastic amount of riffs given how short it is. However I wouldn't say it is a hugely important record, as you can just listen to Death and get the same thing but better made, better produced, more aggressive, and less wankery in places. A very strong and exciting demo for the time though. Sill no trace of a vocoder in sight. 3.65
Tool 728264.0
If this truly is the first thing they ever released, it is damn impressive. This thing bangs harder than most thrash metal I've heard. Now, will I listen to this again, probably not. The prod is more than respectable for an early EP/demo, but it does feel muffled and thin still, and the songs (or some at least) seem to be featured again in their later works with better production. That doesn't take any of the merit away. Vocals move between sort of hard rocky thrashy generic stuff to more Tool-typical vox. The riffs riff to various degrees, and tracks like 1 or 3 are very cool. There are whiffs of their future sound to be found everywhere, there is nice bass when you can hear it, but every other track feels a tad more generic - albeit pretty cool. Kinda rules, won't listen again. 3.8
Mortification Mortification4.0
Is it thrash? Is it dm? I'd say it's somewhere in between. It is quite aggressive both in tone and vocally, and I am all for it. The drumming is particularly flavourful here, promoting riffs that change incessantly and work really well most of the time, making for an album that really makes you bop yar head a whole lot. The usual cringe thrash tropes are not wholly absent but remain at an acceptable scarcity level, with the exception of 9 which is frankly a big nope for me and brings this down a point. Thankfully 10 and the questionably useful 11 still have some good riffage in store to make up for it thereafter. I often get fatigued wiht these thrashy albums, but slower tracks like 4 offer nice rest, and when it accelerates back on 6 after a very tiny interlude on 5, it's all the more powerful. Honestly one that I could see myself jamming again. 3.75
Oumou Sangare Moussolou4.0
Lovely Malian music in which I recognised a lot of Fatoumata Diawara's sound - which isn't a suprise, as Oumou mentored Fatoumata. The first track was my fave but the whole record is a beaut. Funnily enough the strings featured on track 3 that sound like violin (I am not positive it is a violin so I won't assume so) felt quite incongruous to me and made the track my least favourite because my brain ties those sounds to country and GYBE, which is probably direly uncultured of me. Solid solid solid. 3.8
Slint Spiderland4.5
What every noisy mathy rock band rehearsing in a garage aspires to be even to this day.
Drags ever so slightly around track 5, but this bangs and seems to grow half a point every
time I listen to it. 4.4

1990
Annihilator Never, Neverland2.5
A bit less annoying than its predecessor it feels like, probably because it is trying less to be thrash metal and embraces its heavy metal/power/speed leanings. Still a thoroughly wankery, caricaturesque, quirky record that bored me most of the time. The only kinda cool bits were 7 because it is instrumental and short (unlike most songs which feel like they take forever), and 4 has some nice acoustic guitar parts but a boring chorus. We lose the sweet bass tone and the riffs, but somehow the album feels more consistent than the debut - still barely reaches a 2.3
Demolition Hammer Tortured Existence3.5
Man the prod waters this down so much compared to the demos. It feels a lot more wankery too, especially the vocals, because you don't have the brutality behind it to compensate. 1 and 5 are still jams but sounded better in their rawer form. I think I'd jam Necropsy over this any day. This is still quality thrash and the riffage is there, even though the sound serves it less. 3.74
Exhorder Slaughter in the Vatican4.0
Now this is what I was looking for in my thrash binge. Nice brootal, riffy thrash metal. The vox is quite nice, but it feels like the dude has too many words to spit out at times (especially in the first track). The mixing of the drums is quite weird, the snare sounds lovely but the kick not so much. In general the prod is passable, but not the best either. To be honest every track has nice brutal riffs, super groovy at times (middle of 5, end of 9), and some nice but not as good sections, so I kinda lost count of which tracks are jams and which aren't. 3 didn't seem as well constructed and nice as 1 or 2. 4 almost sounds like angry Maiden with nice fat riffs. 5 introduces a welcome break in the onslaught. 9's intro is a bit weird, but thereafter it's a banger although the very album closing is also really weird. This isn't revolutionary but goddamn it's good thrash, I'll definitely come jam it again. 4.1
Anacrusis Reason3.0
This makes me hopeful for the rest of their discog. The annoying squeals and stupid vocals are generally far more scarce (except on track 1 which is just godawful), and there were tracks that genuinely caught my ear (3, 5-7's first half). This is good thrash but just with too many bad elements and too annoying an opener to be a favourite of mine. If I really like their next albums I might re-listen to this to give it a fair chance, but for now it's a 3.1
Depeche Mode Violator4.0
An album that is completely overshadowed by its own grandiose singles, but that finally does a good job of making a pretty cogent album out of DM's wonderful aesthetic of that era, the culmination of which lies indubitably in Enjoy the Silence and Personal Jesus. While far less famous, 5 does a pretty darn good job of leading up to EtS, and 7 is also a decent follow up. The production value here is supreme, seen of course on the top tracks but also for example on the floydesque intro to 9 which is a decent closing track. Most songs end on a fadeout which reduces the album identity a bit, but it's not too bad. The opener is not mind blowing but functions pretty well, whilst 2 and 4 feel more like generic songs to pad the runtime, but at least they keep the aesthetic well. It's difficult for the rest of the album to not be eclipsed by some of the most rightfully legendary tracks of the time, and I wish they used the energy of those in some of the lesser known tracks, but while it's not a thorough success the final product is pretty darn good overall. Bonus wise, 10-12 are instrumental tracks with a broody aesthetic, and the latter two are kinda cool. 3.9
Hellhammer Apocalyptic Raids 1990 A.D.2.0
1 is ok I guess, and 2 is kinda bouncy (maybe 3.0 material), but 3-4 are absolute bore. They even noticeably lose their sync at one point, come on guys do another take. The acceleration at the end of 4 is way too late to wake your interest up. At least it isn't aggressively annoying and remains quite short. 1.9
Protector Leviathan's Desire3.0
Clearly their best and most brutal record. The vocals have a lot to do with my liking this - they're not great, but imo the best of all their records I jammed. This feels like they regressed for the following two LPs, but still a turning point in their career. The middle of the record is best and easily 3.5 range material. The rest has more weak bits, whether it be out of place slow sections, boring drumming, or some soloing sections - although these work better than they ever have for Protector. It's still ok material though, probably at the level of their lps. If I'm ever to jam Protector again this would be the record I'd spin no doubt. 3.2
Forbidden Twisted into Form2.5
This one feels like it is older than their first LP, not its successor. It reminds of heavy metal a lot more, and feels generally far less aggressive and headbangy, probably partly owing to prod, but also to a generally lowered tempo throughout the record - or so it feels at least. It also has more of a beer metal, boringly anthemic flavour to it than its pounding predecessor. The wankeriness is way way down, albeit not fully gone, both in terms of silly vocals and boring solos. This makes the low point far less low than on the prior LP, and this one is scarcely properly annoying. But it is also far more bland and skippable, with no real high points I'll retain. Sure 3,6, and 8 starts kind of nice and aggressive, but they all unfold boringly. The intro track and instrumental interlude on 7 are also nice, but very short. I was going to rate this somewhere around 3.0 or just sub 3.0, but starting from mid 8 this started to go down, and especially because of the protracted 9 that gets really boring and takes forever to finish the album, the record ends up at a mere 2.7
Destruction Cracked Brain3.0
1-3 got me pumped, nice thrash with good riffage and very few annoying bits. Thought they had evolved from their prior flaws, but unfortunately not quite. Each ensuing track displays either annoying vocals, boring riffs, or wankery solos which ruin it. On 8 the speedy bits are kinda fun, and some riffage can still be found e.g. at the album conclusion, but yeah I'm still not a Destruction fan by any means. Soz park 2.8
Cynic '90 Demo3.0
Whilst still far remote from what they would eventually go on to release, this one starts to give tiny hints that these demos were indeed released by Cynic and not by some obscure thrash metal band. This one ups the aggressiveness even more although the prod does not allow it to go too far, and displays a lot more technicality than previously, which is evident from the first track on. The vocals are angrier, the riffs are mightier, more numerous, and more complex, and while the wankery soloing bits at the end of 2 and 3 prevent this from ever leaving the 3.0 tier, I would say this demo is the first one to be actually worthwile for a Cynic fan wanting to see where they came from, and in a vacuum is still a fun technical thrash demo with just a slight hint of dm. 3.24
For Against In the Marshes3.5
You know I wasn't going to extend my dive into these folks' discog further than this EP, but the synthpop turn they take in places here makes me want to extend for a record or two. The opener is a weird electrocore + vocal montage combo that works well at dragging you in despite ending on a fadeout. Afterwards, 2,3, and later on the closer 6 take a more hypnotic approach, with slow, atmospheric tracks more than they are banger songs. Although it does struggle to reach beyond 'kinda cool' status for me, I do find the tracks quite sucessful at what they do - it's just what they do isn't something I crave often in music. 3 displays some cool abrasive guitars and is perhaps the more notable of the three. The record highlight is definitely 4 and especially 5 though. 4 is a cool track that builds up into synth pop with a sort of slow melancholic goth atmosphere (clear from the itntro), but 5 really goes a step further with a catchy beat and is just a super fun song, even with some brilliant sporadic dissonant moments to keep things interesting. Almost single handedly justifies the opening sentence of this soundoff. 6 is ok, but it left me craving for more stuff similar to 4 and 5. 3.6
Sadus Swallowed in Black4.0
Yes yes yes. This is practically death metal at this point, and the wankery solos or bad vocals are now extremely scarce. Ergo, I like this album. Riffz and riffz for days, and I was mildly headbangin' the whole time. I'll come back to this, one listen is not enough. 3.95
Baden Powell Os Afro-Sambas4.0
A really lovely Brazilian album that is also a re-recording of a much older album by Powell, but this time accompanied by a quatuor of female vocalists who seem to be four sisters. And therein lies the secret ingredient of a glorious mix, for to me this chorale of candid and joyous voices adds enormous depth and feel to the songs. I love this album's version of Canto de Ossanha of course, and 3, 6 or 10 are also very happy jams. I find the broodier, moodier tracks to be perhaps less fitting to this sound, but remain very lovely with 4 being the first example as its title implies, or 8 being a later one. 9 stands out as a semi peculiar track, more instrumental, more trance inducing than it is dancey, but I would not say there is a rupture. In fact the album is very well structured and displays good unity and transitions throughout. The outro track is perhaps a bit long but it is otherwise nicely functional. It feels like the album could use being 10 min shorter, but not by slashing any particular song, just by trimming a bit of fat here and there. Quality and has some of my favourite Brazilian songs, but also has some downtime. 3.9
Suffocation Reincremated4.5
I don't care, this is a huge dm fix with fat demo prod and distorted vox. It's a headbanger from the first minute to the last. Man I had forgotten how much I love this band. 4.3

1989
Pestilence Consuming Impulse4.0
Not sure if I prefer this to their first - the high points were higher, but there weren't
that many of them. Tracks 1-3 are absolute jams and made me think this would be a 4.4.
Track 2 in particular is an immense jam with wonderful riffage, and track 3 is basically
cool dm with some horror choir-esque sounds. 4 is cool too but not a jam. The meh slow
bits it brings continue on 5 and make the track weak. Plus urgh that fade out ending.
Track 6 does the slow bits right and the first half is kinda jammy, but the latter half
is merf. 7 is nice in the middle and the horror sounds from track 3 come back. 8 and 10
are kinda ok but not jams and have many wankery bits. 9 is merf. Idk I guess in the
numbers this is superior to their debut lp, but with such a strong beginning and weak
rest of the record it feels like a disappointment and I feel I liked it less. 4.0
Nuclear Assault Handle With Care3.5
Handle With Care is a neverending riffy barrage of not so bad dumb fun. This means two things. First, unlike a lot of thrash out there, it is scarcely annoying, and when it is it is usually short lived - most shreddy passages being only short spurts, 9 being the only really faulty track on that point. The vocals are not cringe by always remaining in this angry Maiden sort of style. Second, this all also means that the album doesn't really have much plus-value beyond its execution. It is angry,quite well made, fast, intelligently short (clocking well under 40min) thrash with not much more to it. So whilst I recognise the quality, there isn't much here that would make me come back to it given this isn't really a genre that I seek. But if you like thrash this must be a banger (albeit relatively generic imo). 3.7
Darkthrone Cromlech3.0
More old school dmey with black touches really. It's cool and it works quite well, but it is fairly generic. As in if I found this as a demo with a different band name on it I wouldn't be too eager to check that band's catalogue. Not a Darkthrone record I plan on revisiting, well, ever really. The riffs are fun and there isn't really any bad element, so I was going to 3.3 this maybe, until track 4 came along with its completely different prod that makes it stick out, a couple drum sounds that literally feel like comedic sound effects, and some pretty awful vox, bringing this down to 3.2
Protector Urm the Mad2.0
Really poor, but not awful. The tones on this are really questionable. The vocals remind me of my ol' teacher's -core band lol. I don't hate it the way I hated their previous album, but I still don't like it all. There a few cool sections like on 4,6,7, but they last 30 seconds at best. Track 4 has the first memorable riff of the record, come on. There are odd choices here like that looped section towards the end of 2 or 3, what on Earth is that. This feels amateur to me and they can't seem to make a consistent song that's good all the way. I dig the art though. 1.9
Morbid Angel Altars of Madness4.0
Look this is really cool death metal, and the remastered version on bandcamp helps with its age. It is quite impressive that this came out in 1989 and still sounds good and brutal. The vocals and instrument tones are great (except the snare drum here which I'm allergic to). However it does not feel as groovy and well-constructed as other death metal records out there that came out around the same time (*cough cough* Death *cough cough*). The album is lacking dynamics and a musical storyline so to speak, the tracks just come one after the other without any real variation of atmosphere. There are also some gimmicky solos or sound samples at times. It's a good record however and I'd re-listen to it gladly. This is a classic album, but definitely not a 5.0 for me. 4.0
Annihilator Alice in Hell2.0
On the plus side, this album has a lovely bass tone, the intro is a lovely jam that feels like it preludes to a prog rock album, and nearly every track has the odd thrash metal riff moment that is kinda cool. The intro to 3 and 9 are quite nice. Apart from that, this is an extremely wankery record, fluctuating between thrash metal and speed/power metal (not my cuppa), with never great but sometimes ludicrous vocals that make you feel like you're being toldna fairy tale over some metal background, and the instrumentation feels generic, wankery and boring most of the time - bar the aforementioned odd nice riff. Nothing I'll come back to. 2.2
New Order Technique4.0
Like Brotherhood, this one hesitates between the electronic side and the band's guitar roots - but unlike on Brotherhood, the balance is now clearly being won by the electronica. The album's major flaw is the uninterested, almost lazy-sounding vocals. With better vox I'm convinced every track here could be a bop/jam. 1 for example is super boppy, some of it could be an MJ track and there are traces of techno/house coming later on. 2-3 are more on the dreamy pop rock side idk, but with the vocals they feel a bit undercooked, tho 3 is slightly better. 4 gets back to the electronic side, and whilst some sounds are kinda funny, the fun(k) is real. 5 is like 2-3, but on the better side like 3, and offers an excellent bridge around 2/3 into the track with great added synths in the conclusion. 6 is a bit slower and feels merely okay until again its bridge 2/3rds into the track. I don't think the conclusion is too successful though with some sounds sounding almost medieval. 7 is very funkey discoey electronic stuff again, and it's really a shame the vox (whislt not bad per se) are not at all on par with the rest. 8 brings back a bit more of the technoey aspects and benefits for slightly more engaged vocals, and finally 9 closes things acceptably on a fun but not quite jammy synthpop track with nicely creamy synth pads. NO have almost completed their transformation into a club band, and I love it, but really they need to work on the vocal side and give it more peps. 3.85
Dark Angel Leave Scars2.0
This one felt better because it was less one dimensional, but it was still weak with a lot of boring tracks. At least the squeals are very scarce and the vox are mostly ok. 1 is nice especially the intro, but still got me worried that this would be mindless speedy thrash like the previous album -which thankfully it wasn't. The end of 2 and the first 5 min of 3 gave me hope as pretty bouncy thrash tracks, but only 6 and the intro on 8 managed to carry the flame. The rest of the album just felt boring with excessively long songs overstretching relatively weak motifs. While I appreciate the attempt at variety, the two instrumental tracks on 4 and 7 just felt dull, and 5 has annoying vocals. Meh. 2.2
Dead Moon Unknown Passage2.5
Nah sorry but Dead Moon don't convince me. Their vocals are bearable at best. It's a shame because some of the more punkish songs like 1-2, 4, 10 and its very cool intro could be really cool if it wenre't for the whiney vocals, which get frankly unbearable on tracks like 3. I only finished this alb because it is relatively short, and I knew it would be the last I see of Dead Moon so I owed them to at least finish this, but if this and the debut LP are their peak per the ratings I don't think I want to hear more. 2.5
Devastation Signs of Life3.0
This improves enormously on their debut - it sounds like a different band -, but it still isn't a super strong album. The singer woke up, and the prod is much better but far from perfect, with the bass still being a touch weird and the overall sound feeling quite muddy in places. 1 is nice and brutal, probably partly owing to the surprise effect compared to the previous album. The run from 2-5 progressively lost me, the good riffing being too occasional compared to other bands. The album lacks dynamics and feels like a constant stream of the same riff over relentless kick drum pounding. The breakdown mid 5 brings a welcome pause but really isn't all that great. 6-8 improves massively, 6 being a jam, with much better riffage and super cool sections. 8 is a rollercoaster of quality and has some of the album best bits but also boring sections. 9 is meh again, and the album has no finale at all - it just abruptly stops. Eh, may come back to a couple tracks but that's all. 3.15
Cynic Reflections of a Dying World3.0
More thrash albeit a touch more aggressive than the 88 demo, and you know what? It's not
bad at all. If this were a demo by a band from my thrash binge I'd be pumped because it
could turn out to be a cool thrash band, but yeah somehow the guys who made this demo are
Cynic. The prod is awful but in an unusual way I daresay, and some parts aren't all too
great, but overall this is good, fun, simple but riffy thrash that I enjoyed. 3.2
Madonna Like a Prayer3.5
Tbf it has been a long while since i jammed the preceding records, but this certainly does not feel like her best ever. The record hesitates between super cool Nile Rodgersy tracks where it really shines (especially the jammy 2 and 9), ballads that are mostly okay but kinda don't work with the rest (5, 8 kinda, 10 despite it's great itr), a short spell of musical-sounding tracks that kinda work (7 and 8 again, with the semi-classical transition between the two being the highlight, and the hook of 8 being another highlight), and several okay but not jammy but still fun songs (1 after it's intro 'riff' yes, 4,6). Oh and there is also a random outro track that is frankly unnecessary, and 3 with drums that are cool to see in 1989 with a strong Rnb feeling, and that gets quite nice in the last third with the added vocals and elements, but that isn't all that convincing for the first half. The resulting record is great if you cherry pick the tracks, but also kind of erratic and not so convincing on the whole despite having a couple solid jams and several good tracks. 3.6
Darkthrone Thulcandra3.5
Wasn't too convinced by the first and a half tracks - a bit too doomey and non committal to riffs with not enough time for them to really develop before the band changes to another doom part, a style that I just like a lot less, plus vox that sound a bit wonky - but the transition at min 2 on 2 is really superb, the track from there on is kinda cool, and then 3 frankly bangs super hard in places with a bm tone that I absolutely love. Sadly the track doesnt quite focus on that just yet and still has a bit of an erratic feeling, but still a strong track even when not taking the fact that this is a demo into account. Really solid for a demo this old. 3.3
The Boo Radleys Ichabod And I4.0
This is really, really cool and I wasn't expecting what I heard. I would have hearted pretty much every track if it was on Spotify like their other stuff (rip). 1-2 are a very cool punkish take on shoegaze (this is from 1989 too so not the earliest stuff but quite early), 3 is cool too, and then the album goes surprisingly ahrd on 4-5. They really are aggressive insturmentally and it is inspiring, music that I would like to play. The only issue I slightly take is the vocals, which whilst quite good remain at the same energy level they were at on softer shoegazey tracks, which doesn't always fit hugely with these more aggressive tracks. But still ok and instrumentally they are dope. 6 is calmer and has a fun beat, it's still cool but not as outstanding as the rest. 7 has a really great tone and is nice and noisy - again, super cool, whilst 8 comes back to more of the shoegazey tone to conclude things nice and softly first then with a more rock approach. The prod on this has a slightly raw flavour which I dig, especially the drums which get quite loud and aggressive at times. Impressive and an album I'll jam again I think. 3.9
Demolition Hammer Necrology (Demo)4.0
Bloody amazing demo. Makes me want to go on a death thrash binge. Some scarce solos and vocal sections feel a bit wankery especially compared to their previous demo, but every single track is a jam and a real headbang brutal riffage fest. Lovely and audible bass, good drumming. Will re-listen. 4.1

1988
Darkthrone A New Dimension3.0
Another cool demo which shows punk roots and dm roots atop the bm precursor stuff, but again that is just a cool demo to hear and not really a record to come back to. They lay out a lot of ideas, but it feels more like a stylistic exercise a la let's jam out and find ideas than a truly constructed record - which is fine, this is a rehearsal demo after all. I do dig the ambience track though. 3.2
Forbidden Forbidden Evil3.5
The mid album is some of my fav thrash I've heard (from the 80's at least), but the early record and especially its end bring it down a lot. The wankery guitars and solos, the ear piercing lyrical vox and the general awkwardness are just far more prevalent there than they are in the mid record, although they never are truly absent. But come on 3, with its fun riffz and great vintage vox is a jam despite a few weird guitars here and there, and 4-5 are solid fun too - the fast and pounding riffs in 5 got me going. The intro of 6 is a nice welcome break too, and the record knows to pause its riff barrage for an instant before starting even stronger. But after that the track doesn't unfold well although some of the riffs are fun. 7-8 repeat the mistakes found in 1-2, i.e. way too many bad vocals and wankery bits, and brought what could have been a 4.0 territory album way down to the bar below, although the intros to 2 and 8 are quite cool. If their next album takes away some of the wankeriness, this could be a fav thrash band. 3.6
Protector Golem1.5
Awful convenu, speedy, wankery and poussif thrash metal. Not a single enjoyable track, let alone a jam. It does have a grand total of maybe two minutes of good riffing, but beyond that it just doesn't work at all for me, instrumentally in particular - the vocals are mostly ok to be fair. Maybe I'm hating on this a bit too much but man was I expecting better. 1.4
Anacrusis Suffering Hour2.5
This is mostly fine, with some good riffing eg on 8, but the singer's constant squeals kinda ruin the deal for me. I do appreciate that it is not too wankery, but it's really not all that memorable a thrash record and if you add the squeals into the mix it really becomes one I won't come back to. 2.65
Nuclear Assault Survive3.5
I don't know if they re-used a lot of songs, if i had jammed this and forgot to soundoff it, or if the band's music just all sounds the same, but I could have sworn I had already heard half the songs on this. It's fast, quite well crafted thrash metal, but frankly since there is so much more of the same out there I am not going to miss it not being on streaming services. By 8 and 9 some of the band tropes get really annoying - like 9 has a good riff but wtf are these vocals. The album could have used ending 10 minutes earlier, would have been more in sort of 3.6 ballpark. The only track that differs significantly from the thrashwall of the rest is the closer, and that's because it is a Led Zeppelin cover. Comes as a bit of fresh air, but it's a cover so that's a bit lame. 3.3
Darkthrone Land of Frost3.0
As a record in a vacuum this is probably not something I'd listen to very often. But for a 1988 demo it is really impressive. While the prod is, well, what you'd expect it to be, the guitar tones - and not only the fuzzy ones but also the cleaner on say 4-5 - are really cool, and there are bm sections that are genuinely nice Darkthrone material. They just did so much more of that good stuff later on that it doesn't make too much sense to jam this except for the historical aspect, but they sure offered a promising demo, albeit with its quirks like some of the vocal fx experimentations on 3 for example. Sweet stuff. 3.1
Cynic '88 Demo3.0
This is thrash metal with not a trace of their later style, but honestly in spite of the not so great prod which I forgive anyway given it's a demo, it is far better than a lot of the thrash I've heard - simple, not too wankery, short, but kinda fun. 3.0
Dead Moon In The Graveyard3.0
Checked this because of Liz Harris, and while it's cool I can't say i am fully sold because some aspectsjust dont work for me. First of all the structure is quite erratic, with songs going from punkish angst to soft spoken ballads in ways that sometimes work but also confuse you a bit. Secondly it has covers, which are acceptably well done but I just dont like covers yknow - gotta say 6 is super cool instrumentally and nicely angry though. The main flaw are the vocals though, which are at best ok, but very often whiney, and sometimes outright bad - especially the female vox. In kind of works on some calmer, more brooding songs like 10, but on cool punk tracks like 1 or 2 it really does not work imo and ends up being more funny than it is good. The prod is charmingly lo-fi, and some songs that I havnet yet mentioned are quite cool instrumentally like 4-5 or 7, but overall this isn't really a keeper for me. A shame because instrumentally their sound, versatility and aesthetic is really cool, but the overall product doesn't work for me. 3.1
Sadus Illusions3.5
If I like their future albums I might re-listen to this, I'm not sure I was in the right setting. This confirms what I thought of their demo: the highs are very high, this has the potential to be thrash I love, but it also still features wankery solos here and there (not too many) and speedy zzz tracks (4,5) or slower tracks with an odd groove (6 I think it was) which don't do much for me. Vox have improved, don't really get annoyingly shrieky anymore and isntead evoke bm in places. Riffz are still fat and diverse (see 2 or 9 for instance). Idk this is great but I need to listen to it more closely. 3.6
Demolition Hammer Skull Fracturing Nightmare [Demo]3.5
Fun demo, I actually liked the bad prod. Track 2 was the most wankery, 1 and 4 are total jams though. Nice thrashy dm that makes me look forward to their full length discog. 3.7
For Against December3.5
Starts off very strong, but quickly fades into a long drag before being saved by the last few tracks. 1 is indeed an amazing intro track and 2 is not far behind it, both displaying the band's mix of post punkey goodness instrumentally, and soft spoken, fx'd vox that remind of dream pop. They work to varying degrees: whilst ok on 1 I do feel like classic, more gothy post punk vocals would have served the song a lot better by not giving out as much of a teenagey flavour, but on 2 they work like a charm, then on 3 not at all. 3 remains very cool instrumentally, and so the opening trio is the album's peak. 4 is the first song that feels a bit bland instrumentally, and 4-6 feel like ok but generic songs which gets draggy near the end before 7 gets actually boring. Thankfully 8 saves thigns a little by returning to the style of 1-3 - which feels like a relief more than than the song feels cool in and of itself, and 9 continues this by opening on a nice prominent beat + bass riff that unfolds not as well into a cool but kind of amateur-ish feeling closing track. Saves face, but really beyond the opening trio there isn't enough here to justify more than a 3.45
Pestilence Malleus Maleficarum4.0
Gotta love the Latin title. Fantastic debut lp that starts off very poorly. Track 1 and 2 are
quite meh and the vocals sound terrible like the guy can barely sing through diseased lungs and
has again too many words to spit out. 3.0 range. Track 3 is a massive turning point and is a
grand thrashy deathy crazy jam with incredible diversity for its 4 minutes. Despite a few flaws
and wankery solos here and there, tracks 4-8 are also all jams or at least have many jammy
sections. And then the album ends like it started with two meh tracks, although the closer has
some nice riffs. What the hell are those last 5s lol. Overall still a solid and brutal thrashy
album that I'll re-listen to. 4.05

1987
Destruction Release from Agony3.5
Enormous improvement on their prior sound. Finally it actually sounds fat. The prod is fuller and darker, the riffs are thicker and more prevalent, it feels brutal. The record even evokes early Death at times, no wonder I like it more. Now this is still not fantastic. There are still wankery solos all over the place - although some are occasionally good -, the vox still often feel outdated or like little girl squeals, and some tracks are just not on par with the rest. But lord is it better, and you can tell from the first few seconds of 2 after the very nice intro track on 1, beginning with a riff that in itself hits harder than anything they've released before. 2 is one of the best Destruction tracks I've heard tbh. 3 is a bit early Deathy. 4 has the kind of intro that also makes this record superior with actual track construction, displays how much their riffage has improved, and has parts that are honestly jammy. 5 is quite fat and perhaps the most consistent track here. The end of album falters a bit (tbf I had to pause), 6 reminding more of the prior album, 7 having a nice fast aggressive first half but a terrible solo covering the second, and 8 having a cool riff at min 2 followed immediately by the worst solo on the record and a weird conclusion. So yeah this won't stay in my library, but at least it had the potential to. 3.35
Depeche Mode Music for the Masses3.5
I am kind of disappointed if I'm honest. A lot of my feelings for this are the same as for Black Celebration: the synthpop gothic post punk esque sound is fantastic and complemented by crystalline prod, but they don't do much with this sound. 7 is a good example. There are cool ideas, there is a cool sound, but where is the song? I really struggled to engage with this album. This is reinforced by a strong compilation feel, though there is a nice unity of sound. Songs like 5 which clearly cut at the end remove a lot of the sense of flow. 3 is pretty cool, 6 is perhaps more engaging than the track or two before it, 8 has a very cool intro, 9 is slightly engaging I guess, and 10 again has a great intro building into a really weird yet grandiose instrumental track that I like a lot and that stands out. But despite this the album overall didn't really captivate me, though I must say the conditions were perhaps not ideal. The bonus tracks puzzle me even more. What is all this, I don't even know what I am listening to. 12 is kinda fun I guess, and so is 16 with its Depeche ZZ aesthetic - but gotta say the execution on that fun idea is very tame. I really like the broody yet sappy melancholic feel of the piano piece on 17, and 18 is a huge question mark - wtf is Moonlight Sonata doing here. At leats Black Celebration benefited from being the first to introduce their sound, whereas this largely feels like a repeat of the same mistakes. 3.3
The Jesus and Mary Chain Darklands3.5
Nice post-punky vaguely shoegazy alt rock stuff. Impressive for 1987. I didn't dig the more atmospheric, slow paced tracks as much - although the closer is very nice -, and all my favourite are the more upbeat and catchy ones, namely 3,6, and 8 mainly. Very nice. 3.7
Death Scream Bloody Gore4.0
This is obviously well below Death's later, more technical, progressive and complex albums. SBG's songs are very similar to one another, and far less catchy and memorable. The riffs and songwriting are efficient but straightforward, simplistic even at times. But hell, this sounds incredibly good considering it came out in friggin' 87. Ten years later, many other bands could not still match that. It sounds dated now, but its quality has to be praised. 3.9
Devastation Violent Termination1.5
This album combines some of the worst prod I've ever heard with some of the worst vocals I've come across. It's not that the record sounds lo-fi - that'd be fine, and tbh the frequency spectrum is decently covered -. The bass is mixed super oddly and is the most prominent flaw here, it literally sounds like low ended farts. The toms on 3 are ridiculously loud. And idk if it is the spotify version or what, but track 9 is louder than the rest, and on min 2 of track 6 it sounds like there is a CD scratch on the record or something? The vocalist sounds like he does not want to be there, has no energy, and ruins practically every song as soon as he comes on. Some of the songs have occasionally nice riffing, but really when the sound is this bad a couple riffs aren't gonna save ya. The more he shuts up - like on 7's intro - the better. 8 is probably the most decent track here. 1 is the best track and a jam because it is a superb album intro, but I have no clue what the heck it is doing in this record. By contrast and with the surprise effect, 2 is probably the worst here. The occasional good riffs and formal nature of the record's flaw (rather than compositional, mostly) keep me hopeful for the rest of the discog, but I can't decently rate this any higher than 1.5
Pestilence The Penance3.0
I like the intro track, but the three 'real' tracks were quite meh. 3 was my favourite beside the intro track because it has the most good riffage, but throughout the record the good riffs are lost between wankery sections and questionable transitions, and the vocals are quite meh. It's a good demo, but no one that would have gotten me super hyped as it lacks any real non-generic high point. 3.0
Protector Misanthropy3.5
Fairly generic but cool and fast thrash metal with vocals I don't like but don't really hate and nice riffage at times with sweet brutality to it. No jams, track 3-4 are the coolest, but bits of wankeriness here and there on track 6 for instance, and 1 is weird with horrendous vocals. A record I will happily forget, but wasn't unhappy jamming. 3.4
Pestilence Dysentery3.5
Far superior to their other demo, it's not even close. The vocals and song constructions are a
tonne better, and the wankeriness is way down. I have to say sometimes it sounds like there are
too many words and the dude is struggling to articulate them out so fast. My fave was track 1 but
probably just because I was paying a touch more attention at the beginning of the record, all the
tracks are equivalent and pretty good. Nothing earth-shattering here though, this is a demo after
all and is fairly generic. 3.5
The Sound Thunder Up3.5
Starting to lose hope that The Sound will truly wow me again at this point in their discog. Despite the key player's best efforts (he really tries on most tracks), I cant help but get a feel of blandness from this. I think the vocals are largely to blame as they often lack energy. Things start off good with 1 which is a great energetic song between adolescent rock and U2core the band's been dabbling with for the last few albums, then 2 become slower but welcome to be so after that energy. It feels a bit bland already but as far as bland songs go I dont mind it. 3 has a cool intro - although transitions are rather weird in this album - but becomes dull after that, and the track really shows how everyone except the key players seems to be a little unmotivated for this. 4 is kinda like 1 but with lots of synths which give a cool Depeche Mode feel. The track conclusion is especially cool and feels like the 80s saying goodbye before the 90s come round. But there are also some meh bits in the track. 5 has a really cool inspiring prod with prominent bass, guitars in the background, and a second guitar becoming only prominent in the chorus. Alas the vox are still dull and they use some mariokart sounds that I struggle to not laugh at (my own fault). 6 is nice ok rock, by 7 I was getting tired of an album that is alright and has ideas but hardly gets me excited. 8 has a cool intriguing intro but remains dull despite the keys. 9 is also dull, but 10 does have more of an atmosphere to it. Still, this was gonna be 3.5 for most of the album, but after this relatively dull last run it goes to a 3.4
For Against Echelons4.0
Very good, although never truly outstanding post-punk with relatively softspoken, minimally producede vocals, that, yes, do give a bit of a dream pop vibe in combination with the post-punk - combo most prominently displayed on 3. 1-3 are quite fast paced, light hearted, cool post-punk with those vibes. Then there is an abrupt rupture of vibe on 4 (which makes for an awkward transition). The track goes much slower, much more goth, much more horror, and marks a darker turn in the album. The track then accelerates into a mild trance of sorts that is quite cool. 5 continues with a nice bass line. There's another awkward transition into 6 with a relatively long blank making the album feel slightly disjointed, which is saved by a really cool bass-led intro afterwards. 7 gets more synthy. 8 brings back the upbeat vibe of 1-3 but combined with the synthiness and bassiness of the last couple songs, making for another highlight, and finally 9 closes things on a wider, more spacious, longer more atmospheric track, which I think is quite a good way to close the album. This doesn't really reach 4.0 territory for me as some other post-punk have much stronger flagship tracks, but the quality, variety, and somewhat recognisable songs are quite strong points. As a debut, this is a 3.9
Nuclear Assault The Plague3.0
Not convinced. 1 is a cool intro track but that feels weird because it stops right when it feels like it's about to explode. 2 is ok but slightly cringe with the soloing and somewhat the vox but not that bad. 3 starts awkwards with its slow tempo, and is cool espeically in its accelerations, but the obobobobobo part of the vox is just laughable really. 4 would be hella cool and m/ without its many cringe bits. 5 has a nice proggy intro with a sweet sweet bass tone, but alas it unfolds into a pretty boring song. 6 saves the day and earns this a point because it is the only track (aside frmo 1 I guess) that isn't cringe at one point or another and that I could listen to in full on a playlist or something. But yea not much else to retain here. 3.1

1986
New Order Brotherhood3.5
An album where the songs either really fully commit to synthpop or almost don't use synths at all, whilst somehow making the album feel coherent - that alone is a feat. The vocals are very different from anything they have previously put out and feel a lot more like a pop band's - and it works sometime but not always. 1 and 2 are clear examples of that,1 being a bit more synthy and 2 being almost dream pop in tone and more pop than dream in the chorus. 3 is a well crafted song but not a super engaging one, being slower and more relaxed, but still with lots of chorus on the guitars. 4 starts off on a classic NO bassline, but unfolds into a relatively underwhelming poppy song that has some great moments and a scarce few quite awkward ones. Again it gets quite a lot more abrasive near the end which is nice. 5 is another pretty forgettable albeit well crafted song that was quite low in volume for me for some reason. 6 is definitely the flagship track here and is super synthy, then 7 is a nice instrumental that is again more on the dreamy/shoegazey side of the album. 8 is another very funfull-on synthpop track, though the vocals don't always convince me and the track feels like it could be a bit more explosive - super fun still. 9 is a weird, kinda naive, angelo branduardi almost sounding conclusion track that doesnt excite me. Overall clearly not their best and only a few tracks to cherry pick, but a decent and consistent enough album nonetheless. 3.6
Dark Angel Darkness Descends2.0
This is not as annoying as its predecessor as the vocals have massively improved and are only occasionally ridiculous, but it is just thoroughly boring. Prod seemed a bit weird. The good riffs are very scarce, and instead are drowned in a sea of a lot of notes played very fast. Apart from the sweet bass intro on 4, this was just mindnumbing rapidy rapidy thrash that I won't come back to. 2.0
Nuclear Assault Game Over3.5
Very cool thrash that does a lot of thigns so right that it somewhat makes up for the things it does wrong, making for an album that excites me to delve further into the band;s discog. What it does right: it is short, fast, aggressive (which we see from the excellent 1), and ever changing, meaning the annoying parts rarely last more than 30s. It is well paced with eg. the mini break on the intro on 8 before 9 brings back the onslaught (being probs the most consistent track here, a jam). The vocals when they work evoke a very angry Maiden and that's cool. What it does wrong: sometimes the vocal don;t really work eg on 5 where they ruin an otherwise perfect start of a track - though they remain intelligently scarce), or on the quite aggressive 6. There is a fair bit of soloing or unnecessary guitar wanking, and whilst it's far from the worst I have heard sometimes you just want it to shut up so it stops covering the RIFFZS. This is very prominent on 2 and 3, or 10 where it gets quite tiresome. 4 is slower and one of teh outright least convincing tracks. 7 has an excellent intro that unfolds nto so well at first, then better, and I can't decide if I like the track overall or not. 11 is a wee bass-led interlude track that is really cool, into the lengthy conclusion on 12 that I don't really mind because at least there aren't solos and stuff. Exciting album! An optimistic 3.65
Depeche Mode Black Celebration3.5
A historically crucial album, as now DM finally display their classic, dark goth synthpop sound that we all know. Alas, imo, it is first showcased in an album where the sound is carrying it all and core songwriting is often not that great. 4,5,9,10 (which ends on a fadeout) particularly are either lame songs or boring ballads at their core, but are saved by all the synths, processed vocals, and beautiful prod that is thrown at them (particularly visible on 5). The opener is kinda cool but not a jam by any means, the transition into 2 is smooth altho weird, but 2-3 are less catchy although still not bad. 3 is violently 80s lol. 6 does better at being a song than its predecessors but gets annoying near the end, 7 is an okay synthy track and 8 is quite cute. 11 has a bit more of a beat and some good ideas but is ultimately not great and kinda concludes into nothing. Sadly the deluxe/bonus tracks are a better album than the album. Skipping the lives, 15 is a famous bop, 16 is mostly annoying but has some fun bits, 18 is a version of 2 with a prod i like much better as it emphasises the instruments more clearly, 19 is ok and 20 sounds a bit ridiculous today, then 21 and 22 are weird and cool tracks that arent maybe much to jam in and of themselves but that work super well at contrasting with the rest of this and would have been great on the actual LP. Bonus tracks notwithstanding, 3.35r
Destruction Eternal Devastation3.0
The highs on this go higher than on the debut, and it feels generally stronger, yet I can't bring myself to rate it any higher. This just isn't a good album and I won't come back to it. The prod is not incredibly polished, and while it isn't a great surprise at first, it gives some guitars a bm-ey quality which can be quite nice. 1-2 gave me a lot of hope. The riffage is nice, the solo on 1 actually works well (2's is wankery), 1 especially feels darker and just thrasher than their debut. But the vox kinda break it with intermittent little girl squeals or just annoying vox, and this will apply to the record as a whole. Still those first two tracks are fine, but then 3 comes with a godawful intro followed by two minutes of what can only be summarised as a clumsy track. The middle third is a bit better, and the last third is quite catchy but still overall eh. 4 temporarily pounds nicely midtrack but the bad vox, terrible intro and headachy end just ruin the track, 5 is simply boring, 6 offers some actually nice speedy thrash after a boring intro, and 7 starts with an odd standout interlude that could have been a nice album conclusion but instead precedes a mildly boring track. Meh. 2.8
Protector 2 Track Demo Tape3.0
The intro of track 1 is kinda cool, a bit dungeon synth-y, but after that it goes to somewhat wankery thrash metal. Not a big fan of the vocals. Track 2 improves on that and is nice thrash, but the demo is not all that memorable. 3.0
Madonna True Blue3.5
An archetypal '80s pop release [2] 2012 TheNotrap got it right m/ This is a super fun record, with quite a few bangers, lower energy tracks that work well, not a single bad track really, but most importantly utter outdatedness that is really fun and unabashed, making this record perhaps not as portable to modern times as otehr Madonna LPs, but incredibly fun nonetheless. I do find the energy curve to be quite downwards apart from the beachy Mario Galaxy last track, and that brings the album down a touch. Will write this up better later but 3.7
Sadus Death to Posers3.5
This is an exciting demo and tells me Sadus may be one of the few thrash bands I dig a lot. The riffz are plentiful, diverse, fast, slow, heavy, punky, and the record is super fun in that regard. Just listen to the first half of 3 for instance. This is quite aggressive, especially for 86. Now, they do fall in the usual traps of thrash, with wankery solos for example on the second halves of 1,4 or 5, shrieky vocals that often get annoying (but also kind of have a cool bmey vibe to them in places), things like that. But it is never completely awful like I've seen with other bands, and is usually quite short lived. If they drop those elements in their later discog, they might be a top tier thrash band in my book. 3.6
Kou Machida Dotera Iyatsura3.5
Bizarre, but a good kind of bizarre. I'm not sure how to describe this - chaotic Japanese noise rock? An epileptic album that navigates from idea to idea incessantly (see min 4) but makes for a good fun listen anyway. There are only scarce places where it doesn't work; min 15-16, or min 32 (must be the track before last I reckon). From the first minute you get that it is going to be a funky but weird listen. Min 8-9 is super funky, 11 is deliciously weird, 18 is incredibly fun, 25 is mentally messed up in a fun way, 29 is cool too, and in between those nice phases the material doesn't feel like it is filler or anything. A deconstructed collage of fun stuff that I see as a 3.6

1985
Minutemen 3-Way Tie (For Last)3.5
Written far too long in retrospect This very much feels like an erratic, chaotic, sometimes cool sometimes annoying compilations of songs that have little to do with each other. Given a lot of these are covers it kinda makes sense. 1 is awkward, 2 has more of a riff but unfolds badly, 3's main interest probably lives in its lyrics though from the midtrack on the guitar playing gets quite cool, 4 is an okay song with a harder and cooler last quarter, 5 is a kinda cool but basic song, 6 is quite annoying because the vox does not fit the vibe at all, 7 is fun, gets a bit much but with a cool conclusion portion. 8's cool spoken word, 9's wankery af, 10 is almost a folk song and is alright, 11 is the first jam on this and is super fun, but 12 is unbearable, unnecessary and so short as well why oh why. 13 is nice with its groovier and lazier vibe, 14 is dissonant in a way I quite like then turns into a regular cadillac track for like 20s, 15 is mostly chill guitar, and 16 is a cool recorded piece sung over the phone. I quite like it as a conclusion although it obv cant be a jam with that prod. Not really the LP I wanted their discog to end on, but it's alright. 3.4
Aburadako 19854.0
The vocals on this are pretty horrible and sound like a parody almost. I wish they stuck to a different style, why not the one heard on 9. But instrumentally, for 1985, this is absolutely incredible. Maybe I need to listen to it again without having a pint beforehand but hell is it full of good stuff. 4.1
New Order Low-Life4.0
Undeniably New Order's magnum opus at that stage. 1-3 starts off w full synthpop NO. Whilst there are some kinda funny sounds in 1's intro, the tone behind is great (and a consistent highlight of this alb). The vox border on not great at times, but this fades. Instrumentally very cool, and like most tracks here (so im not gonna mention it for each) it is magnified in its conclusion. 2 again is a bit cheesily outdated at first but rapidly turns into a super dancey bop, almost disco, but still with the post punk guitars subtly in the back. 3 is on the sadder side but is still great especially with the added pianos from hte midtrack. Like Age of Consent on the previous LP, my fav track here is ofc the post punkest one, with 4 being a crazy jam after a Burzumesque intro - could well be my fav NO track. After such explosiveness, the ghostly calm of 5 is actually welcome. The added guitars at 1:40 start to make the track magnificient, and the only issue is the final fadeout. These two tracks alone bumped this to a 4.3 almost. Sadly, 6 is not as transcendental, with a quirky start and some bordeline vox again, and is more in line with the style of 1-3. Still a fine track, where 7 isn't. The main hook sounds like a Romeo and Juliet musical track and I cant unhear it, but beside that the track is corny and awkward, and the only onw I did not like on this alb. It's also the only track to feel overlong, as it doesn't have a great conclusion to extend the runtime. 8 is a fun way to conclude on a happy note with lots of 80s punk/Clash vibes to it, which prevents a further drop in points but also doesn't gain any. 4.1
Minutemen "Tour-Spiel" EP3.0
A wee covers EP without pretension that is far, far from the band's best work (and also is just covers anyways) but does get a bit too much heat on here I would say. Indeed, after 1 which is fun but so short it hardly feels like a full track, 2 is a great rock track, and 3 is pretty cool too. 4 does feel like a drag, and with the prod, some of the questionable vocals, and again the fact it's all covers, this EP whilst not being the worst can't score much past a 3.0
Minutemen Project: Mersh3.5
Dede sait it all pretty much. This record shows an intentional and sarcastic departure from the band's usual direction, with songs that have more conventional lengths (>90s) and structures, with a lot less of punk angst and abrasivenessl. That being said, that doesn't make this bad, and indeed it is quite a catchy EP, especially with the brass additions here and there. 1-2 are really funkey and brass oriented, to a point where for a second I thought they were covers, and are quite fun. 3 takes a bit more of a rock-oriented turn, and 4 is on the jolly surf rock side of things. On all fours songs the instrumentals are excellent but you do feel like especially vocally the band isn't trying to their best. 5 starts off with a cool riff, then goes down until it fades out into the soft, repetitive 6, that would be an amazing track on a psychedelic album or as an intro, but that as a conclusion to a short EP feels a bit unnecessary long imo. Minutement can do no wrong, even when they're trolling. 3.7
Dark Angel We Have Arrived2.0
Doesn't really excite me for the rest of their discog - pretty annoying thrash really. The instrumental part is mostly ok, but is ruined primarily by horrible vox with random high pitches and just generally of an annoying nature, and secondarily by occasional but excessively long wankery solos. These two together break every single track. The prod is also quite bad (and uneven track to track), most noticeably on 1. 2 has a sweet bass intro and a really cool buildup that's quite brutal for the time. Then it goes to crap. 3 is one of the best tracks because he pretty much doesn't sing for most of the track. 6 starts with an actually cool interlude followed by an ok riff, then it goes to crap. 7 has a cool intro riff, then it goes to crap. I hope dearly that their style changed later on. 2.1
Controlled Bleeding Knees and Bones2.5
Brutal power noise/hnw. Did I like this? I don't have an effing clue. I did not hate it, which is an achievement. Some sections actually sounded great. Most were just meh, some were actually funny. Am utterly confused by this. 2.4
Destruction Infernal Overkill3.0
Not awfully bad, but man I still can't get into thrash metal classics. Nearly every track bar the instrumental 6 (mindless but with some cool sections) has a wankery solo in it, which is a shame. Thankfully they're generally not too long. Vocals are generally quite good. The good riffage is quite scarce and the songs feel more speedy than they feel brutal really. 5 despite a meh intro is the strongest track here and could be a jam if it weren't for the midtrack solo which warrants the record a point. The prod gets quite bad in places eg on 2, and overall this record just feels like it is hesitant to be a more brutal and aggressive early death metal album but doesn't quite manage to be a fun thrash metal either, the songs except 5 just feel like they like fluff and substance. Far, far from being the worst thrash I've heard though - there is hope. 2.8
The Sound Heads & Hearts3.5
Starts off quite nicely, with 1 being a cool brassy song with a few surprises including the brassy conclusion, but rapidly falls off. It is a frustrating album, because everywhere there are hints of The Sound's older glories, but they almost systematically make relatively vapid songs out of those ideas. Because of these frustrations I'm maybe a little harsh. 8 is a prime example, as we get a nice chunky TS bass, the song gets exciting, and thennnn nothing it is just another meh song. There are some good bits - for example after 2 which reminded me of U2 again, 3 is more on the post-punk side again which is nice to see, but immediately after 4 is lame. 5 starts of cute although non-committal to its goth aesthetic, but gets quite flat frankly despite the sax additions. By 6 and 7 I had really lost hope for this - they get excited but I really don't. I nearly put this below 3.5 tier, but 10 despite being very short and not flowing well at all with the rest has cool ideas, and the conclusion track despite a meh intro unfolds quite well. Clearly not their best, about their worst so far even, and surprisingly few songs that could join a playlist - one of their first album with almost no fully successful tune. But tis alright I'm just a bit harsh because I loved their older stuff so much more. 3.25
John Adams Harmonielehre4.0
This is a great, cinematic, subtly modern piece. Without resorting to dissonance, or extreme repetition, or any of the other themes that underpin modern 'classical', this one has very moderate Reichness repetitivity and not much else - just enough for you to know it was not written in 1750, but not in your face too much. There is a lot of emotional dynamism at play here, hence my qualifying it of rather 'cinematic'. My two only gripes are that some of the more intense, aggressive sections feel like they want to resolve into an enthralling Rite of Springesque riff that does not happen, and that the middle act is a bit less engaging than the bookends due to its sadder, more evil, quieter tone. Still a great piece that I really might well rejam. 3.9

1984
Madonna Like a Virgin3.5
This one looses a lot of the disco flavour of LP1, with the exception of the super boppy 6 which really echoes the debut. The result is a perhaps more generic pop album but that isn't bland at all, although the outdatedness is quite palpable. 1 has cute bleep bloop but is one of those tracks that feel a bit generic. 2 shows the album's style quite well, subdued but quite catchy, which I find interesting. With 3 I cannot refrain from thinking of Shrek (always good but perhaps more comical than musically appealing lol) but hey ho all in all it is a super fun song nonetheless. 4 is fun too but just shows how this feels quite outdated. 5 is just a great sound all in all, and so is the discoey 6 as mentioned above. 3.7 starts off at as a boring ballad, but although it is frankly slightly funny at times it manages to not unfold in a cringe expected ballad way. 8 is the first and only subpar song here, but thankfully 9 in the vein of 2 and 4 is quite generic but nice and gets quite cool towards the end, enabling the album to not end on a bad note. So not as catchy as LP1, but mostly fine and fun despite not being hugely memorable 3.6
Krzysztof Penderecki Polskie Requiem4.0
This Requiem is resolutely modern in that it lines hooking sections designed to mark memories in quite rapid succession, and does not linger much at all. While it is excellently done in the first half or even two thirds, with the whole piece clocking a 100+min total length it starts to saturate the ear after a while for it hardly ever comes down. The relatively calm Lacrimosa on 10 is a much welcome break after the fantastic but quite intense Recordare. The Sanctus that ensues feels like it could have been a brilliant conclusion, but there is still a half hour to go during which the Requiem almost thoroughly failed to move me, with a conclusion that is particularly laborious and 'poussive'. Before that tough, it is an amazing, ominous, evil, and sometimes epic piece of music. I do have a bit of an issue with some of the solo male voices on 7 or the second half of 8 which make me feel a bit like I'm listening to a Disney villain song of sorts, but otherwise it is all fantastic. 1-2 are deliciously evil, 3 is really dark and evokes an epic boss fight to my young ears, 5 has icy moments and is perhaps my favourite movement of all, and 6 is amazingly cinematic. That first half is in 4.1-4.3 territory really. Jammed the Swedish Philarmonic version. 3.85
Depeche Mode Some Great Reward3.5
DM's clangy, metallic, samples heavy opus stars off on a weird but intriguing intro followed by vox that are by now the classic DM ones we all know. 1 is not necessarily a track I would rejam a million times but it def has lots of ideas. I like the bass intro riff on 2 but not much more to say about it, whilst 3 is a cool classic song after which 4 feels a bit sleepy though all the weird sampled sounds maintain some interest. Same goes for 5 though it's not so bad. 6 is a piano ballad which really is a big boo and has nothing to do on this LP, but 7 finally brings back more of a beat that we've been missing since 3. It's a pretty cool DM song from that era tbf the era of sampler machines and a cold'n' weird aesthetic. 8 is again an okay song that isnt necessarily rivetting but does have some pretty unusual and interesting sounds in there. I knew 9 and it is quite cool, featuring some more of these cold, steely drums. The ending is a bit weird with a fadeout then followed by a random synthy conclusion, but given it has its own identity, lots of ideas, and (only) a couple standout tracks, this feels still like a 3.5
Destruction Sentence of Death2.5
This is a relatively fun but quite wankery EP and not much more. The riffage is existent but scarce - this is all about playing a lot of notes very fast. And while I'm not a fan of that, it works loads better than on other records I've seen. Some of the solos actually sound good, for instance the first part of the main solo on 1. The album intro is laughable and awkward, but once the track kicks off it is kinda cool. But like every track it has loads of wankery bits. 2 starts in a dragonforcesque note orgy but is vaguely fun afterwards, and 3 is cool at first but also turns into a wank quite quickly. 5 is just plain bad and an unhappy mess, especially on the intro which sounds like the band is playing in slo-mo. I'm less excited than I was with the demo now. 2.4
Minutemen Double Nickels on the Dime4.0
The worst thing about this album is the number of times I've had to alt+tab to go heart a song. As ever with Minutemen, the funk punkey fast paced tracks make the meat and tatoes of the record, especially with the outstanding basswork, but it would have been too much over 80+ minutes and the band are more than intelligent enough to spread those tracks out and to vary things along the way. When you think you've heard every type of song this album has to offer, they hit you with yet another wholly different style. So whilst those faster paced tracks are where the album shines and where my glutes get a workout, the rest serves album construction dramatically well (and is often excellently done, such as the softer 4 or 8). This being said, I do find that it is less true of some sections of the album, a feeling strengthened by the relatively long runtime and the behemoth track count. I didn't check which track belongs to what side (plus I listened to the 43 tracks CD version not the original 45 tracks LP), but roughly speaking the first quarter of the album and the third quarter felt a lot more consistently engaging than the second and last one, which have more of a compilation vibe to them imo. This might be listening conditions-related though, as it varies over the course of the 80+ minutes. The album is incredibly class and makes me want to drive on Californian highways in an 80s Cadillac with a good ol burger in hand. The band is so cool it even makes me enjoy soloing like on 10. First quarter is easily a 4.3+, but overall ima stay for now at a 4.2
Jun Fukamachi Starview HCT-58083.0
I absolutely loved the quirky and cute album intro on this, but after that it felt like a long series of good synthy jazz fusion-ish stuff sprinkled over a sea of just weird bleeps and bloops which I wasn't a fan of. Min 7 feels like the album finally starting with cool drumming, a synth build up and an actual melody. It sounds a bit like a futurustic Sci-fi Mario Partyesque version of Tigran Hamasyan there for a minute. Min 9 has some fun Pink Floydesque vintage synthy stuff. Min 18 is fun. See how sparse it is? This is full of cool ideas but they just last for a minute or two and then it goes back to semi-uneventful stuff. Min 22 has a lovely droney sound. 24 boasts some nice, simple piano, and 27 is a beautiful passage too . The distorted synths at min 36 are cool. Thankfully, the last 10 minutes of the album are consistently good and take us from a successful mix of synth and pianos to a fun guitar solo, to a bouncy funky groove etc etc. Wish the whole album was like that conclusion, which bumps it a point. 3.1
Siege Drop Dead4.0
This came out in 1984? Incredible. Well I did listen to the 93 CD LP version but still. Sounds vintage, but from a compositional standpoint it could have come out in recent days. 4-5 are standout chaotic tracks, and 1-2 are jams too. The intro to 8 shows that they can do lighter things just as well, but the track doesn't unfold too well I found. I am not a huge fan of the vocals especially on the closer, but the track is still fantastic, with its bass + sax intro and general insane, john zornesque chaotic jazz kind of vibe. A beautifully executed style rupture which I wasn't expecting. A historical 4.2
Hellhammer Apocalyptic Raids2.0
Their most passable record (the punkish goodness of Death Fiend notwithstanding) but still a bore. The prod improved which helps, but now feels very soft that wants itself to be brutal. The guitar tone on 1 is nice for example but overall they sound quite mellow. The other major problem here is tempo. The songs are just too slow to make such simple riffs work, and the record sometimes feels like you're playing it on x0.75 speed or something, best heard on 4. The last two tracks are far more digestable because they speed up (funny that they should speed up on Revelations of D o o m of all titles). 3 is just ludicrous and sounds like a bad Black Sabbath parody. Yup, won't come back to Hellhammer any time soon. 2.1
The Smiths The Smiths4.0
(M3) Solid debut, but one that takes time to reveal its flavor. The lovely Smiths contrast between sadboi vocals and fun engaging bass heavy stuff at the back takes time to show its nose. 1 is indeed a pretty standard, slow paced song at its core, tho well executed and with pretty pianos near the end. 2's a bit faster and bass heavy which is nice, while 3 after a minute speeds up to show their punk influences, but unfortunately has pretty weird vocals. 4 has cool cute instrumentation but I'm not sure it fits with the vocals. 5's nice and then 6-9 finally gives us a run of really solid Smiths songs, with faster paces and more engaging upbeat instrumentals particularly 6-7. This preludes QiD quite nicely. 10 goes back to slower stuff, but after those faster songs it actually works well as a contemplative rest. I do not think however the album should have ended on another slow and even more subdued song with 11, as it gives it a bad energy curve imo. Still 3.8
Destruction Bestial Invasion of Hell3.0
Look this is perhaps not much I'll come back to, but it is a cool demo that makes me think this is going to be a fun thrash discog. Only a few wankery bits here and there, and most tracks are catchy and moshy as fk. 3 is a bit weaker and slower in the intro, but catches up alright. 2 and 4 are probably my fav tracks. The production is not the worst I've seen and makes it all nice and crunchy, and vox aren't too wankery, tbh I grew to quite dig them from 2 onwards. There are some really meh bits like the conclusions of 4-5, and 6 is a bit on the wankerier side of things, but hey this is a demo I'll forgive that. Don't disappoint me on your LPs guys please. 3.0
The Sound Shock of Daylight3.5
A bit en demi-teinte if you pardon my French. The band displays a lot of talent as always, but also what I hope aren't the first signs of a gradual evolution to something more along the lines of alt-rock than post-punk. I was qutie strongly reminded of U2 in several bits actually. This is especially true of the middle run. It works quite well on 2 which also features a surprisingly prominent bass for the genre, and 3 is fine too, although by then I was like well this isn't really what I expected. 4 in its intro marks a sudden shift to ambient which is really cool and works well at grabbing our attention again, except the ensuing track is actually quite the snoozefest. No, really where it works best is the post-punk tracks. 1 despite its excessively aggressive start that prevents it from being really all that playlistable is perhaps the coolest track here and displays a breadth of ideas that is impressive given the short amount of time. It is rich, it has gritty bits, it's not always perfect, but it really shows that The Sound are an excellent band to be reckoned with. 5 feels like a blessing after a relatively meh mid EP and brings the synth back after a snazzy catchy intro. Only wish it weren't followed by the bland 6 which feels frankly pointless. 3.45
Controlled Bleeding Distress Signals4.0
Listening to this while reading the 'treatment' chapters in A Clockwork Orange was absolutely perfect. This the first powernoise/hnw album I thoroughly liked. It fit the scenes of torture, horror and medical abuse so goddamn well. It is also quite diverse in a way, with vocals in the opening track or a melodic mid-third track. Do I like powernoise now? 3.9
Ludus Completement Nue Au Soleil4.0
Ludus go out* on a bang with this short and very sweet, extremely Ludus-esque EP. 1 is a simple chill track that makes me reminesce of an era I never lived in and the fact that it is in French adds a nice touch. 2 is a really fun yet random track in a very Ludus way, and 3 is perhaps even more fun with its 60s rock and roll fun but with a synthpop prod and even occasional synths. Then of course it wouldn't be Ludus without it getting weird, and 4 is a random track more along the lines of LP2, with random bouts of jazz and dissonant piano and weird vox, and whilst on a whole LP that style was a bit too much for me, on one random track to close an EP like this I actually like it, especially because it gets quite weird even for them. Jam this I say. 4.1

1983
Hellhammer Satanic Rites2.0
Doesn't sound as bad as Triumph, but still quite boring. Prod is better although less raw and the vox are less interesting. It does reduce the annoyance factor though. They reuse songs a lot which I'm not a fan of. The run from 5-8 is mostly ok, but the album is just too long and too boring. 2 and 11 are kinda bouncy I guess. 2.0
Depeche Mode Construction Time Again3.5
Here DM offer an album with a lot more mystery and flair than before, with lots of percussive elements, tribal sort of sounds at times, and instruments we werent used to hearing in the band's prior catalogue. That being said, there is also a lot of awkwardness and outdatedness. The band hasn't yet found its vocal identity. 1 feels very outdated but does have some cute sounds, 2 has a great halloween/luigi's mansion vibe atop a cool bass riff tho its accelerating finale is a bit weird, then 3 shows us how this album is largely kinda weird, but cool weirdness I guess. 4 is a famous song and shows a lot more of their future colours here, and its reprise on the kinda useless but fine 10 shows it is the flagship here. 5 is cute but feels a bit underbaked like most of the early DM material, 6 is weird but not that great, then 7 wakes things up with a lot of bounce n groove but does show how the vocals are not yet on par with the rest/lack identity. 8 has a supre fun intro and gets kinda dissonant in the middle which is cool. I like this album, it's not the best but it has an aura and some great bits. 3.6
Hellhammer Triumph Of Death2.0
I don't understand why anyone would check this boring, overstretched pile of semi-raw badly produced blackened Motorhead when its only interesting tracks are also on the previous, shorter and better demo. The only exception is 12 which is kinda bouncy and not on the previous demo. 14 has an ok intro but is fantastically boring, as an example. Won't come back to this for sure. 1.8
New Order Power, Corruption and Lies3.5
The first track is everything, a beautiful post-punkey jams with excellent synthwork, and the main problem with the album is that I wanted more of that, but it never really comes. For good or bad I had to listen to the 2015 remaster of the album. At least it has the same amazing artwork. 2 slows things down a lot already and feels like a structural mistake, as 3 picks up the pace again. The sound is now resolutely electronic, synthpop, whatever you call it, away from the Joy Division heritage. And I find these tracks to sound more dated. It does work on 3 though it's a touch too long maybe, then 4 slows down again and sounds exaggeratedly outdated now. It remains fun, and must have been so fun at the time, and tbf after 5 minutes when the sound opens up the track really becomes good and shows things that are quite ahead of their time. So an interesting track at the very least. The second half of the album is better structured. 5 is cool instrumentally but the vox bore me a bit, then 6-8 transition really well into each other. 6 is again a track that only gets really cool in its second half, 7 is an ok fun track that is not as long so doesn't have time to wear off which is good, and 8 does bring back a bit of the post-punkish melancholy of 1, which imo works better with their sound (and my taste I confess) and bumps the album a point in the home run to a flimsy 3.7
Wham! Fantastic3.5
hey this is fun why avg so low (full soundoff later again i know i know) 3.7
Minutemen Buzz or Howl Under the Influence of Heat4.0
The opening track is butterduck incredible and I wish the rest of the record ripped this ahrd. 2-3 is still super fun with some great bass grooves. I did find 4-5 a bit questionable in places, but then 6-9 (nice) is also a great run, albeit lighter than 1. It's kind of catchy punky groovy fast but soft music that you could jam with yar mates in the car you know? If it were all like 1 though this would be an easy 4.5 tier. 3.8
New Order Blue Monday3.5
Blue Monday the original is of course a synthpop masterclass. New Order really had the knack for making long-ish songs that were absolutely worth listening to all the way through, because they keep revealing more and more elements, and the conclusions almost always elevate the track in its final minute or so. This is of course true of this track, which lines up idea after idea with so many classic sounds. That being said, I know it was innovative and all but some of the drum machine bursts arent too much my cuppa. The other big downside is, at least on the single version I jammed, that the track ends on a fadeout, which after its grand conclusion is really a shame. Still a solid 4.1 4.2 as a track if not more for historical importance. Then (again on the version I jammed) comes the B side, which frankly is unnecessary. It doubles the runtime and just feels like unnecessarily stretching the same ideas thinner and thinner. The only things that are on The Beach that werent one Blue Monday are a cool aah pad at 1:30, a couple scarce vocoded vocals, and that's it. The other great moments, including the conclusion, are practically copy pasted from Blue Monday. So I don't really see the point of it, and since it takes half the record's length, that diminsihes the record value imo. So on the whole 3.7
Overkill Power In Black2.0
Guys stop fanboying, this isn't a record I'd recommend anyone to listen to. Like yeah it has occasional nice bits, but it gets progressively more annoying the longer it goes, and the prod sounds like what you hear at a gig when you're in the corridor just outside the actual venue to take a breath. I'm mildly excited to hear their actual stuff, but this is not something I'll ever come back to. 1.8
Hellhammer Death Fiend3.5
Crass, very raw, punk-ish thrash metal with occasional doom touches. I dig the prod, but it
does induce a bit of record fatigue and come 9 you're pretty happy that it is the last
track. The record is best when it is fast-paced and brutal, 1 being a surprise jam here,
and 8 probably the second best track. 2 is nice too but a bit gimmicky. The record is
weakest when it slows down and goes doom (with the tone even the fast parts evoke doom
though) like the record's middle. 4 does go fast in midtrack and is a good summary of the
record as a whole. 6 after its outdated intro and 7 are kinda bouncy and could be cool if
it weren't for record fatigue. Overall, not great, but surprisingly I think I'll come back
to bits of this. 3.4
Minutemen What Makes a Man Start Fires?4.0
Prod is a bit thin on this, and it's also a slow starter (well in terms of number of tracks anyway, as always with Minutemen these songs are all very short ), as 1-3 are fun but quite straightforward punk tracks that really aren't all that memorable. 4 displays more of the interesting side of the band's palette, and the run from there is quite good, with 6 being a great track too, 8 and 10 being super fun, 11 having an elegant groove, and other tracks being rejam-worthy that I lost track of because the tracks are all like 50 seconds long to a couple minutes at most. I did find that, apart from 15 which is quite fun, the rest of the album beyond that point was a bit less engaging, and furthermore there is a strong feeling of stylistic inconsistency/compilation here that I find perhaps a bit more problematic in this one compared to the debut because it is a little less adventurous stylistically. So cool and good tracks to keep, but not their strongest by any stretch. 3.8
Madonna Madonna4.0
Really, really cool disco-pop debut for Madonna. The two main setbacks here are that a) some tracks drag on for too long which lessens their impact (1,2,7,8) b) wellll Madonna herself, bcs the vox sometimes feel a bit tame and less epxlosive than they could be. I'm nitpicking though because this certainly has some bounce to it. The intro on 1 is fantastic, and 1-2 despite being as I said too long are quite cool. 3 is shorter and quite catchy, but idk if it is the reissue version i jammed but its mixed weirdly stands out as louder and more aggressive. 4 is a bit of a downer in terms of energy and i worried the album had exhausted its ideas already, but hell no. 5-7 is the strongest run here, and up to the lengthy end of 7 I was considering bumping this to a 3.9 because the tracks are just so fun. 8 is super cool too, but alas it's a wee bit too long again, which reinforces the impression of an album that could have been a 4.5/5.0 even with slightly more efficient and poppy songwriting, but still manages upwards of a healthy 3.8

1982
Depeche Mode A Broken Frame3.5
The comparison with LP1 is almost obligatory, as this one is also best appreciated mostly ironically. I think on this one the band feels more accomplished (which is surprising given the loss of personnel), but to counterbalance that the LP lacks a flagship track like Just Can't Get Enough on LP1. 1 shows us this more 'abouti' side already as well as sadder vibes than anything on LP1. 2 has some truly excellent synthwork which is the highlight on this alb tbh, and more post-unkey vox than ever before, but it also has some kinda funny bleep bloops especially in the intro before 40s. 3 is slower, and colder, but also less engaging. It has a bit of a Disney villain vibe with its corny melodies, and this will be a recurring theme as I could have almost the same comment on the haunted house halloween synthpop 5, or 6, or in a different way the christmassy 8 which is quite a functional track nonetheless. 4 is a cute instrumental that almost sounds like a joke jdg track, though it does have brief but excellent synths just before min 2. 7 is also a cute track but sounds a bit funny like the outdatedness of LP1 (which applies to most tracks here), 9 is another one of those cute instrumentals, and 10 concludes the album on a slow burney note which isn't ideal, alhtough the conclusion section itself is well crafted with its prolonged layering and repetition. An okay album with some sparks of excellence amidst mostly fun but not very good material. 3.3
Iron Maiden The Number of the Beast4.5
Bruce comes onboard, and Maiden shift ever so slightly away from raw riffage to craft something a little more cinematic. That being said, many of the songs on here still fck, starting with the hella cool opener. 2 is not as riffy and displays more of that newer style, but remains a cool listen, whilst 3 blends the two and offers a nice grand track but also with poutre riffage. 4 is fine but feels a bit like a flat continuation of 3 minus the riffage, and it was perhaps my least fave here. It's good, but it lacks distinguishing features to it. Then you have the insane and classic 5-6 combo with Number and Run to the Hills, but the tour the force is that the following tracks dont feel any less good despite being perhaps a touch less classic - 7 fcks heavyily again, and 8 is a bit softer but a great grand track to close, though there isn't much of a conclusion. All round solid, many times exceptional. 4.3
Minutemen Bean-Spill3.5
As always with Minutemen this is ripe with ideas, technicity, and cool influences, but as the dexbro said most songs feel like they lack impact. Where in prior material the songs were extremely short but had substance to still feel like songs, here it does feel like they are intros or parts of songs and not standalone pieces. This is less true of 5 which packs a great deal of fun and sweet jazzy dissonance too. 4 is interesting with its Slint-y tone, and 2-3 is kinda cool too, while 1 really illustrates what I mean by the songs missing substance as it feels rather pointless as a track. 3.5
The Sound All Fall Down3.5
Similarly to the prior album, I found this one to be far less engaging and boppy than the debut. The tracks are all ok but they really don't stick in me memory. This not true of the first couple of tracks, with the intro being super engaging and its follow up being quite a jam. But by 5 it was already all turning into a blur, though 6 does wake things up a bit for a moment. 7 is kinda fun, 8 is kinda cool, but the keyword always is 'kinda'. 9 gets a bit abrasive which is nice to see, but the conclusion track is the only one that really manages to grab my attention as much as the first two did. Again, bar a couple tracks I would jam the debut over this any day. 3.6
Ludus Danger Came Smiling3.5
At the start of this, I was very excited. The first track sounds like it could be Coltrane's, and 2 is nicely weird with the jazz + the vocalist's laugh. 3 is mystique drums stuff, and 4 is weird jazz again. But at that point it started to transpire that Ludus kind of left out their usual post-punkey songwriting on this one and just went full avant-garde weirdcore. And while that was fine at first, especially given the music retained a decent proportion of jazz in it, as time goes on there's more and more downtime, blanks, weird stuff that is okay to listen to but that I really have zero drive to jam again. I have to concede I had veeery long interruptions through listening to this, so it's not totally fair of me to rate it, but there is also nothing here that makes me want to give it a second try. There is a bit of normal Ludus voice on 7, but then lots of weirdgarde downtime until 11 which has nice piano at least, and 13 which offers fun drum stuff. 14 is also interestingly weird, but 15 this gets really a bit long and the fact that there is no conclusion at all and that the album just kinda dies reinforce that feeling of once listened good forever. I'll be kind in rating in light of the poor conditions, so 3.3
The Names Swimming4.0
Really cool and yeepee they're Belgian. While I appreciated them, I wasn't so sold on the first couple tracks, where I found myself wishing they dropped the sort of gothic atmosphere and went into something more on their punkish side and catchier. And thankfully, that's what they do. 3 is particularly cool and 4 is even catchier. 5 and its glacial synth wall and overall slower atmosphere works better than 1-2 thanks to contrast effect. 6-8 rely on a simple bass groove to tie the songs together, and it all works, 6 being the most interesting one as it ventures on top of that into random jazz sounds and stuff whereas the other two are simpler but I daresay catchier. 9 then goes back to a gloomy, ominous vibe, but I kind of like that as a conclusion. I am rating the original vinyl version here, but the CD sounds are worth a check. They do feel like disjointed bonus tracks though even though they dont seem to be presented as such, but 10 is a jam, 11 has a nice vibe to it even though i find it a bit weaker, and 12 is nice. Kinda making me want to glance at their (much) later output. 3.8

1981
New Order Movement3.5
Placeholder, you know the drill I'll fill this in later (I'm in exams ok) 3.7
Minutemen The Punch Line4.0
The epitome of short and sweet. Sure there is a number of tracks where the track ending feels rather abrupt and uncalled for, but on the whole it works quite alright imo. The rhythm section is again god tier on this with a bouncy bass and quite technical drums, some of the tracks evoking prog or chaotic genres of today - the rhythm section on 5 literally sounds like modern math rock for one -, others simpler punkish grooves, but always in a catchy way. The rest does not pale in comparison either, the vox being all quite cool and the guitar work complementing the rhythm section well. If the tracks were more developed, if the sound got a touch more abrasive in places, and if the sequencing was less symptomatic of the recording process (see wikipedia lol) this could easily be 4.5+ tier. 4.05
Depeche Mode Speak & Spell3.5
Of all the ultra-famous Depeche Mode songs, no wonder this album's flagship track is the jovial,
cute, happy and dancy Just Can't Get Enough. This album is DM before they developed an ounce of
dark side. Aside from said flagship track, which comes clutch right at the end to conclude the
album on a boppy note and giving it an extra point, the only track that is wholly unironically
enjoyable is probably 1. 2-9 is just a collection of wonderfully outdated 80s synth tracks. This
album is largely bad, but fun bad, like a bad horror movie that is so terrible it makes you
laugh. 8 is the only track that didn't really catch me, and with 10 the novelty wore off a bit,
not aided by 9 being instrumental (tho it is cool and sounds a bit like an old videogame OST).
Otherwise the album is just plain fun, and I had way too good a time to rate it at the 3.0 avg it
sits at. With the jammy last track we're getting an enamored 3.5. Edit with the CD bonus tracks:
12-13 continue the style of the album, however idk if it is because i have fresh ears but they
sound better executed than most on the original LP. 14 is really cool and has a completely
different tone, it is weird and really stands out. 15 is nice bleep blooping but doesn't add much
compared to the original version and takes away the voices, whilst 16 is a pointless remix that
just makes the track longer and less catchy for no reason. I don't rate for bonus tracks, so
still 3.5
Minutemen Joy4.0
Track 1 is 1981 Daughters, track 2 is well written post-punk, track 3 is 1981 post-punk Funky Town. Why oh why do the songs end so soon after they started? Three minutes that are well worth a (frustrating but excellent) check. 3.6 Edit: ok screw it this is frustratingly short but it's such a jam and it's crazy how much it evokes much more modern bands to me (I hear some Unwound on 2 yes) 3.9
Gang of Four Solid Gold4.0
Yet another one I'll have to catch up on later bcs work work 3.8
New Order Ceremony / In a Lonely Place3.5
Am a bit confused by this release so I just jammed the two tracks successively off Substance but I'm not sure those are the same version. Anyhoo Ceremony is super fun, whereby In a Lonely Place is a bit slower and on the psych side. It's fine, but I think it'd have a better place on a longer record - here it just feels like a sluggish way to conclude. 3.5
Iron Maiden Killers4.0
Although it perhaps doesn't have as many recognisable classic songs as other albums of theirs, and aside from the last two tracks (more on that later) this is the textbook definition of all killer no filler. The pace is fast, the bass is fat, the lyrics attack, and the result is just ultra fun and kewl. 1-7 could be listened to all in one go for a workout. 8 is also fantastic, but in a different way, being less agressive and more rock. This makes the contrast with the kinda fast paced, in your face a bit dorky 9 feels a bit meh after it. 10 also feels a bit like an additional track taht wasn't so needed. Before this, all quality, 2 and 6 being favourites, 5 being more interesting and less chuggy which is cool in a different way, and 7 having a couple seconds in the midtrack taht really make me think of pop punk for some reason which is cool to see in 1981. Did I mention this is cool? 4.1
The Sound From The Lion's Mouth3.5
I don't know if it is a matter of conditions or perhaps paying less attention to it than I did for the debut, but I found this one far less engaging and much more straightforward. 7-8 are the exceptions and really stood out to me, though 4 and maybe the opener were also early highlights. So I had hope this would end on a strong note (and in fact it does bcs the ghost track is at the same kind of level but I don't rate that), but sadly 9-10 come back to the same samey sameyness of the earlier half of the record, I need to rejam this maybe but as it stands I'd jam the debut over this any day, and I could not tell you why if I tried. 3.6
Ludus The Seduction4.0
Ludus reinforce their image of a crazy (cool) band. This one shows a lot of 60s-70s prog/zeuhl/etc influences, with longer tracks that go bonkers and with complex song structures with long instrumental sections. After a kinda meh alb intro, 1's unfold into DnB + bass is quite cool, and after 2:30 the prog evolutions get super cool. This is not playlistable at all, but it has an impressive number of vibe and rhythm changes that make for an sweetly kaleidoscopic track. They retained their jazz fusion feel too. The end of the track is very chaotic and feels like two songs playing at once. 2-3 are much simpler with lots of groove to them but without losing their grit fully. The transition into 4 is incredible, and the track onwards has some friggin cool sections but also some weird experimentation eg. in the midtrack. 5 is the only track here that doesn't excite me at any point really and is just from the get go weirdness for the sake of it. 6 again has a lot of weird instrumental improv? stuff, which feels long after 5 and temporarily drops this to a 3.9, even though the track does a lot better with its weirdness. It takes a specific mood (even moreso than Ludus in general do), but some of it is really cool like the piano starting about min 7. 7 is a much more normal Ludus song and features some great guitars, and 8 is also one of the most readily fun songs here wiht some truly beautiful guitar work before a stunning album conclusion that washes out into a superb lush pad of ambienty reverb (and some screams). Crazy impressive for 1980, and the outro alone gains a point. 4.1
Ludus Pickpocket4.0
Not Ludus' best, some of their good stuff, some of their ok stuff, a bit too much downtime for how short this is. 1's intro riff is cool, again the vox will be an acquired taste to some and take a mood but i like the lighthearted mildly abrasive weirdness here. 2 keeps up the jazziness nicely. 3 starts off as a laid back interlude for the first minute, then the guitar comes back, then the track goes laid back again. It is the longest track so far and frankly feels a bit long, though it retains te fact that Ludus is really a band with a certain je ne sais quoi. 4 is bass-led Ludus goodness, but 5 is a bit slower and more awkward, and 6 is a weird kinda sheepy (idk what I meant by that this is written in retrospect) conclusion. 3.8

1980
Joy Division Closer4.0
Whilst Unknown Pleasures benefits from being more straightforward and perhaps is an easier album to get into, Closer has more substance to analyse in it I'd say. 1 is a lot more psych and hypnotically repetitive than anything on UP, which makes it cool albeit less catchy. 2 is a cool song that shows hints of Joy Division's synthpop future as New Order. 2 has cool guitars and becomes especially great and entrancing in its second half, maybe ahead of its time in some aspects. A caveat to these is that the vocals seem a little unfitting at times. They matched well UP's cold atmosphere, but here they sometimes don't really work. This is again clear on 4, where the fun rock vibes clash with the vox, and you don't really know where the track wants to go. So far I thought Closer was more interesting, but clearly preferred UP. After 5 which is a nice song with cool guitars though, the album starts to take a turn. 6 like 5 has a very cool intro, but also offers different vocals that fit a lot better, as well as a slow paced but excellent buildup, especially with the added guitars from 2:25 on. The track is perhaps my fav so far, and has lots of atmosphere to it. From there on, the album starts losing energy, getting more and more subdued. And whilst normally I don't like that, here it feels incredibly eerie in the context of Ian Curtis' story. The album slowly dying out, like a message, like an alarm (the album was released after his passing, it should be noted, afaik). And with that context, 9 with its lots of added synths, and its almost hopeful vibe, takes an incredibly beautiful dimension. Powerful. 4.15
Joy Division Love Will Tear Us Apart3.5
Yes this is a legendary song, but firstly this is still a single realese, and secondly I don't think it's even my favourite Joy Division track. It does have an enormous aura to it though, undeniably, from Ian Curtis' story. To be honest I prefer the Pennine version on 3 which has more prominent drums and a slightly different mix to 1. 3 Feels more like the synthpop future of the band, whilst 1 accentuates more the gothic side. Tbh I prefer 2 to 1, it's just a catchier song to me, though it doesn't have the benefits of being such a classic song. For the release overall, considering every track is great but two out of the three are a reepeat, I say 3.7
Iron Maiden Iron Maiden4.0
The start of a career full of greatness, and what a matching start at that. Unbelievable that before this they were an 'underground band' and all of a sudden released this charts machine of an album. It's a bit rawer, a bit rougher on the edges perhaps than their later stuff, in addition to the vocals being somewhat more rauque perhaps (idk english word). Lots of banger classic songs already, like 1,4 or 8 especially from its cool ass midtrack. 2's first half is a bit slower and introspective, whihc is alright but doesnt move me as much, but the midtrack switches to something more upbeat and stays cool frmo htere on. 3 feels a bit like filler to me tbh. 5 is a fun instrumental albeit a touch too long for me maybe, 6 has some cool instrumentation with quite cheesy vocals - but a bit of cheese is fine from time to time man -, and 7 is fast, simple, catchy, and fun. I'll add a point for it being a debut. 4.15
Vice Versa (UK) 8 Aspects Of2.5
This really isn't music for me. These sawtooth synthy bleep bloops, random drumm machine percussions at times, and vaguely post-punkey vocals that are often the only redeeming factor but also can get really annoying, never make me feel anything. At best it is vaguely nice background music, at worst it's awfully annoying, usually I don't care for it. 6 made me think this might be worth a point or two above 2.5, but 8 and especially 7 dropped that down right quick. I hope they changed their style substantially upon becoming ABC because this really wasn't an album for me. 2.4
Joy Division Licht Und Blindheit3.5
1 is really cool in its atmosphere that reminds almost of dungeon synth in the far back and is very consistent with the adventurous and epic album cover that would very well on a DS or black metal relesse. Alas the vocals are of the opera type I don't really like with Joy Division. 2 is a cool track however, in the punkier side of Joy Division that I do like. All in all a slightly anecdotal EP that works quite okay for what it is. 3.6
Gang of Four Yellow EP3.5
A slightly messy EP that begins very well on a good ol' bouncy Go4 track, four of which would easily make for a 3.8 EP, but that is then followed by a slower, more subdued and slightly awkward track on 2, though the track gets cooler in its second half. 3 ups teh weirdness again with some ?harmonica over a weird bass tone. It's kinda cool in a weird way but it's very far from being a jam. 4 is a bit more conventional but reinforces the feel of a very disjointed EP as the tracks really make no effort whatsoever in transition and also have a bit too much abrupt variety between them on such a short record. 3.5
Minutemen Paranoid Time4.0
Ah man these guys are cool. Dancing drums, bouncy bass, there's everything I need and it's only 1980. Some of the guitars are slightly nicely dissonant but we're at a low level of distortion here. While I love the instrumentals, the vocals weren't too much my cuppa on 1-2, but thereafter 3-5 are mad cool, 6 is more groovy than it is cool, and 7 works well too but I find it's a bit of an abrupt conclusion. Granted, asking for a proper EP conclusion on something under 7 minutes is a bit of a big ask. What a way to start a career. 3.8
The Sound Jeopardy4.0
Really cool post-punk that oscillates with high regularity between faster paced, fun songs (1,2,4,6,7,9) and softer stuff, which makes for an album that is quite well structured although there is a touch of a compilation feel. But tracks like the slower 3 which wouldnt be all that great in isolation works super well here. 1 is a great cool album, and it and 2 showcase how the band kind of retains its energy when you don't expect it, which I quite enjoyed. 5 is more of a slow building, grandiose song, and is a bit overlong albeit cool - the first sign of fatigue. 7 has cool catchiness coupled with mystery synths, a formula that 9 repeasts, but I found that in the last third I was getting less and less engaged, and so I suppose that drops this a point. Definite keeper though. 4.0
Ludus The Visit4.0
Man this thing is COOL. It falls just short of a 4.3 for me because there is a large section of the last track that feels a little more like
experimentation for the sake of experimentation and gets to my nerves ever so slightly, but who knows the EP might grow on me anyways. This is an
incredibly soulful and colourful post-punk EP infused with Giant Steps and jazz rhythmics, some brass, diva vocals that you could see on a jazz
fusion record, all sorts of craziness, cool basslines, cool tones, and ideas throughout. Blends a lot of things from its era, feels ahead of its
time yet deeply entrenched in its time. I don't know how to better describe this, it's four tracks, jam it. The two tracks that are on the
Visit/Seduction compilation between the EP and LP but in neither of those are worth checking too, though they wouldn't change my rating of this I
think. They are both slightly insane tracks, and I find a touch of TDEP in Anatomy Is Not Destiny with the polyrhythms and the distorted guitars,
4.2

1979
Joy Division Unknown Pleasures4.0
Legendary album that is successful on every single track, but that I don't think I fully click with (yet?) as it rarely really takes me to 'absolute jam' territory. The restraint and darkness is truly what makes this the melodies take their full effect, and turns simple guitar lines into memorable hooks and great intros. Even some of the long silences like on the intro of ?4 work well to this effect. The vibe change from their debut EP is absolute, and I'm curious to check Warsaw to hear what their LP1 was meant to be originally. That being said, the latter half of the album does show more hints of their punk roots (a welcome change to prevent the album from feeling monochromatic), and is more 'fun' and upbeat, and quite frankly whilst I like all the others I tend to prefer these tracks (especially 6,7 and 9). However Joy Division don't fail to bring us back to the darkness before letting us off, thanks to the excellent 10. The vocals set the standard, except on a couple tracks where they dont work as well for me - 2 where they sound a bit too opera, and 5 maybe. Amusingly on 1 and 9 the drums remind me a lot of the 2010's 2020's dream pop bandcamp acts such as Hazel English; percussions in general are a strong point here. Listened to the 2019 remaster today which is alright. Tracks like 3 and the whole first half in general remind me of Slint a bit which is cool given how much later Slint would come. 4.1
Vice Versa (UK) Music 42.5
Fairly minimalistic synth pew pewing with a little bit of vocals here and there, and not much else going on. The bookends are what pull this up just above 'completely forgettable' status as they both have really nice synthy bits, although it takes some time for those to come up, with some sweet tones. The tracks do remain minimal though. The two tracks inbetween I frankly had no interest for but also didn't mind. 2 does have some slight dissonances, which makes it slightly more interesting but also the least pleasant bit of the record at times, whilst 3 is really just aimless bleep bloops plus some random spoken word. 2.7
Sister Sledge We Are Family3.5
A frustrating album because it delivers its top, most explosive banger right from the start with no time wasted, and then proceeds to never reach that height or energy again. Even the ultra famous classic 5, although a cool song, doesn't top it imo. Tracks like 2,4 and 8 are all less explosive, but very nice and groovy, and would fit perfectly as calmer material between bangers were the album more energetic overall. The guitar intro to 4 is particularly fun. Sadly, 3 and 7 are kinda fine ballads with nice bass that are just out of place and too calm for what this album seems like it sets out to be at the start. 6 is also slower paced but does have some tension and groove to it and feels like it would be a good slower song to dance to. It should have been the calmest song of the album. Sadly, the energy curve is very much a blip at the start and then a couple semi-highs. Still a fun listen. [JBL] 3.65
The Sound Physical World3.5
A nice 'transition' EP as a debut, where 1 is closer to punk, 3 is closer to 80s post-punk, and 2 is somewhere in between. Unfortunately whilst 1 is quite catchy, I found the other two tracks to be less engaging, and on a record this short that has to drop quite a few points, but because it's a nice debut I'll give it a 3.3
Gang of Four Entertainment!4.0
Gang of the cool. Really classy, gritty (post) punky album that doesn't really have all that many 5/5 tracks for me but also is always successful. The style is far from gothic depression and is much closer to the punk roots of the genre; it evokes Minutemen and Television. The only part of the album I did not dig at all was the first 50s of 6 which are a bit slow and awkward. Otherwise, some of the tracks have a really cool and artfully stuttery quality to their riffage which makes them not very socially ok music but absolutely cool (1,6 after the intro, the ultra cool 10); some have a really fun Double Nickels on the Dime vibe to them (2, the funkey classic 4,7,9); 12 has a really cool noisy intro and works well as an conclusion track; and the rest is just outright good tracks without being too outstanding, but still fun to jam. Extremely consistent album as the outstanding tracks are nicely sprinkled all over. 4.15

1978
Joy Division An Ideal for Living3.5
Joy Division before they added sadness and post- to their punk. 1 and 4 are super cool and dare I say fun punk tracks, whilst 3 is cool instrumentally with a nice dark and murky sound but suffers from not so convincing vocals, which 2 does too on top of the fact that it sounds like a punk version of Funky Town which I can't seam to unhear even though this came out a couple years before Funky Town. Interesting to see how much they evolved after that first EP, but also a cool punk EP in its own right, particularly its bookends. 3.7
Pierre Schaeffer Le Trièdre fertile3.0
This one is far more recent (composed in 1975 unlike what sput says), so the 'this was revolutionary for its time' effect is quite diminished. It is also far more electronic sounding and less tape-y, whether or not they actually did use synths for this I'm not sure. But for the most parts this sounds a lot like someone recording random bleeps on a synthetizer and not much else. 2 does have a nice sine wavey texture, 3 plays with noisy textures nicely and has cool sounds in the midtrack, 5 has better than average bleeps, and the end of 7 is kinda cool, but overall I can't say this is too interesting or much of a good listen. 3.0
Chico Buarque Chico Buarque3.5
Merf. His most 'fun' ay la bamba album. Not my fave, but not bad either. The end of the album is best. 7-8 are nice, 9 is a jam, the closer is a jam despite the funny sound, and only 10 is meh. 3 is the only other true jam, a beautiful ballad that stands out from his other jams. I appreciate the occasional changes to female vocals e.g. on track 4. Track 1 is the only truly unpleasant track, and the rest is meh to ok with fun sounds. 3.3
Bennie Maupin Moonscapes4.0
This is like Slow Traffic but much more successful and with more of a consistent vibe, with a touch more of that dreamy fusion style Lotus had eg on 2 and 6. I feel like I still do prefer the esoterism of Lotus, but this one is undeniably fun and funky with its all-round prominent and groovy bass. And this is true from the very banging album intro. After the more relaxed and dreamy 2, 3-4 are funky as hell again before 5 purrs in the ear with its soft jazzy guitar intro that gets super bouncy later on. It does end on a fade out though. 6 occasionally has a bit too much of spice for the album's vibe imo but is still a fantastic track, while the synthy 7 works quite well to close the album. Seems like the 8th track is only present on the Expanded Edition as a bonus track of sorts, and thats good because while its intro is nice and flows well, as a cover I find its purpose a bit questionable. All round solid and will go to me lib. 4.0
Arvo Part Spiegel im Spiegel4.5
Delicate and breathtaking. Like much of Satie's work, wonderful musical food for thought.
Steve Reich Music for 18 Musicians5.0
Nothing makes the mind levitate quite as much as Music for Eighteen Musicians. Uniqueness executed to perfection. Whether it be the original 1978 ECM recording or the 2007 Grand Valley State version, I can't see myself bumping it down. 5.0

1977
John Coltrane First Meditations (For Quartet)4.0
Now there's an album whose listening experience was heightened by the artwork. I really like the psychedelic, abstract, dreamy trance vibes the art gives, and it really made me experience the album that way. As the album suggests this is a quartet version of what would later become Meditations, and as such it is one (the?) final recording with the classic quartet, Sun Ship having been recorded a week earlier. It is quite otherwordly jazz, not too abrasive, just delirious enough to feel acid-inspired and acid-complementary, sometimes playful, sometimes compassionate, sometimes more involved like on 4, and sometimes dreamier like on the lovely conclusion track 5 before the brass comes in with almost a scary feel to it. Jazz to be experienced, and although it's not my highest rating ever for a Coltrane it is certainly one I'd jam again. 4.1
John Adams Phrygian Gates4.0
The quintessential Adams piece in the form of 24min of "minimalist" solo piano. Although some scarce sections do sound a bit like someone rubbing a piano at random due to the very high rate of notes coming through, most of this is quite nice and some sections are really entrancing and pretty. Of course this features heavy repetition but only within a given section as it does have many motifs to it - certainly quite a lot of prominent changes are to be found here. Budgie aptly compared this to a piano only version of Le Carnaval des Animaux and that is kind of a good description ngl. Really nice, short and sweet, a classic piece though not an absolutely stunning favourite either. 3.8
Pink Floyd Animals4.5
Animals feels like it echoes back to the Meddle era to some degree, with the bookends and Dogs especially. While the bookends are short and sweet, as ever with Animals I can't help but feel like Dogs is a drag and brings the album down. Pigs is a cool funky track that could feature on a 5.0, but Sheep to me is and always has been the one track in this that is truly worthy of a 5.0 and matches the height of the album's titan predecessors. Unfortunately, that isn't enough to make the album a 5.0. Meddle still feels a touch less good, so 4.45
Giorgio Moroder From Here to Eternity3.5
Indeed, super catchy, super synthy, and very impressive for a 1977 release. This one does a lot better than Knight although its last third feels a bit disjointed and not so good. That being said 8 is the memest track of all time and is ridiculously fun. 1-5 are a long continuous synthy disco jam with highs and lows but always maintaining the groove. The buildup intro to 1 (though its unfolding not so much) is a great start, and 4 is especially jammy and delightfully produced. There is a bit of a silence at the end of 5, which is an achingly clear mark of the album transitioning into a few tracks that are a lot less connected and less good. 6 stays cute and vintage but is far less fnuky and fun than its predecessors, and the intro to 7 with the vocoder is a bit funny nowadays, though impressive for 1977. This weaker last third drops this a point or two to a shweet 3.6
Bennie Maupin Slow Traffic to the Right3.5
Again sounds quite modern, but shows a different vibe compared to Lotus. This one feels more like club jazz, a fun, somewhat bass-centric jam session. As such it makes for a gig I'd enjoy a lot, and an album I'd gladly rejam, but it does have less of that mystical esoteric atmosphere that Lotus showed. It's cooler, but doesn't tell a story as much. This is reinforced by 4 which weirdly ruptures the atmosphere by sounding like a sexy jazz jingle, sounding almost comical especially in the intro. Thankfully 6 (to which 5 is just an intro) does not continue this and goes back to a style evoking Lotus a bit more, with a fun bass groove, making for perhaps my fave track on this. Honestly might come back to this and that closing track especially. 3.7

1976
Giorgio Moroder Knights in White Satin3.5
Jammed this yesterday but fell asleep without writing this up lel. This is bitchin disco and instrumentally it is full of colour and ideas all throughout. The first three tracks are one continuum, and while one might fear repetitivity Giorgio brings on many ideas and variations to flavour it up. I only really take issue with the vocals, which seem tame and make the thing feel lengthy at times - it feels like it is all missing an explosive chorus, and the result feels structurally flat. 2 being instrumental was in fact my favourite part. 4 is another highlight, but 5 didn't fully convince me. It is true the strings and particularly the sax are very fun additions, but the vox, relatively slow tempo, and first fadeout conclusion on the album don't quite sit right with me. 6 is super cool and funky (in fact it reminds me a lot of funky town), although the lyrics are a bit mh excessively not subtle. But then again I dont normally rate based on lyrics do I. 3.45

1975
Anne Boyd As I Crossed A Bridge of Dreams4.0
Very pretty choral piece. I jammed it right after Ligeti's Lux Aeterna, so the comparison is a bit forced. This is less dissonant than what you'd expect from a Ligeti piece, but it is still adventurous, especially in the second half with some nicely laid out harmonic surprises. The very start of the piece is particularly well done. The later sections are perhaps more tonally conventional and give quite angelic, soft vibes. Really nice, but I preferred the ventures earlier on in the piece to the pretty but a touch forgettable softness of its latter end. 4.1
Pink Floyd Wish You Were Here5.0
Quiet Sun Mainstream4.0
Great 70s prog rock that never feels like the best ever but is super cool for sure, and throws a
few surprises at you, some good, some bad. Whilst the first few tracks feel a bit incomplete
without vocals, the album for the most part makes it really work as the tracks stop shying away
from intensity and do feel like they fully unfold, but then the album finally starts its vocal
almost three minutes into the final track. A strange choice, especially given the vox aren't bad
at all and would have held up for the whole record, but it's kinda cool in a way I think. The
album intro is also cool as hell with sizzling crisp production and already at 5min a fun change
of pace that these albums can do so well and that we'll find plentiful other examples of further
along. As always in the good instances of the genre the bass is playful and bouncy, keeping the
fort up for the most part. 3 shows cool experimentation in its first act though I question its
musicality before going back into prog rock (with cool percussion and a melody that reminds me of
Zelda TP's shadow world lol) which makes it even more of a strange interlude section. 4 is an
extremely chill track, and the abrupt transition back into 5 puzzles me a bit. 5-7 are really
well crafted 70s prog rock and are so consistent they bump this a point. Yea a fine prog rock
album amongst many, with great artwork I gotta say. 3.8
Cortex Troupeau Bleu4.0
Fun jazz record with distant touches of prog.I have a hard time with the vocals when they actually sing in French, bun when they just hum along it's fine. Instrumental side is really nice, groovy and fun. Loved the middle of the album (Tracks 4-8, of which the latter two are jams especially). The beginning and end have more of what I don't dig and less of what I do dig, but they're still nice. Overall a solid record I will re-listen to - vocals might grow on me. 3.9
Lula Cortes and Ze Ramalho Paêbirú4.0
A thoroughly interesting and enjoyable listen of a multicoloured, multiflavoured patchwork of folk instruments, prog stuff, psych stuff, which a noob like me would be hard pressed to further describe. I tend to favour the instrumental tracks which are all superb (2 perhaps my favourite and a clear cut jam, 4,5,7,9) or tracks where the singing feels like a village group singing or something (8,10) where the vocals work really well. Notice that's almost all of the record already. Tracks like 1 or 3 I find interesting all the way through, but a bit too abrasive. They're tracks I enjoyed hearing but wouldn't really seek out again. That being said, the instrumental last third on 1 is super chill, and 3 has an amazing start and improves a lot halfway after the singing portion I mentioned. 6 makes the abrasive aspect work a little better but is still not something I'd really seek out again. Really interesting and worth a check for anyone into this sort of music. 3.9

1974
King Crimson Red4.5
Miles ahead of its time, with many sections sounding like they are from the 90s 16 years before even 1990. Aggressive, noisy in places, with jazzy sections, classical additions even especially on 4, and lots of tasty experimentation: what's not to like? Some of the vox are a touch wonky, particularly on 3 which is my least favourite tracks, and the sublime 5 is perhaps a touch overextended, but beyond that I don't see much here that I don't absolutely enjoy. The experimentation on 4 and the noisiness on 1 are so exquisite. 4.8
John Coltrane Interstellar Space3.5
For an album that is 100% a sax-drum duet with chaotic rhythm and relatively erratic (but not dissonant) sax with zero in the way of hooks or anything for the memory to latch on, this works surprisingly great. Sure it feels like a technical exercise more than an album; sure it feels a bit like what some other albums use as interlude, except it is only that and goes on for 35 min; but in the end I didn't have a bad time, and the album does feel like it has a conclusion. CD bonus tracks: 'Leo is more of the same except a touch noisier, it's cool but obviously as the album feels like it has a conclusion it its 4 track version, that one feels disjointed. Jupiter Variation is also just more of the same. So it's really a question of whether you want to listen to a 35min or 50min long album like this. This was recorded the year of Coltrane's death, and makes you wonder where he would have gone next. 3.5
ABBA Waterloo3.0
Filler songs: the album. Most of these are tracks that would fly well in some 80s movie OST, that play as the characters drive to the grocery store and that you immediately forget afterwards. There are a few semi exceptions, that aren't really jams but stand out from being amidst such a tepid crowd. 1's pretty catchy, 5 is a bit funkier and groovier, 7 is upper tier as far as filler goes, 8 is more rock and has catchy *instants*. That's about it, and to reinforce the feeling of forgettableness/filling, everything past 10 is just a version of previous songs in another language. Never insufferable, but really, really not memorable aside from a couple tracks at best. 2.9
Bennie Maupin The Jewel in the Lotus4.0
Disclaimer: I have not heard much 70s jazz/jazz fusion in a long time and don't know much in those genres, but man this album hit hard. It is a powerfully atmospheric continuum of jazzy idea after jazzy idea. Some sections sound extremely modern for its age (maybe they remastered it because the prod is really quite good) to the point where I was sometimes half hoping for some kind of electronic FlyLo beat. While there are silences between tracks, and quite large discrepancies in atmosphere, with the dark, almost droney 3 with its eerie vocals being followed up by the super pretty piano-led 4 for example, it really feels like one strong flowing story. The only exception to that is the intro to the t/t, which ruptures the vibe quite abruptly. Despite some quite nice relaxed jazz sections, the track and its follow up on 6 don't feel as compelling, and frankly drop this down a point. Thankfully 7 and especially the superb conclusion 8 do come back to the quality of the earlier record. Certainly an album that deserves further listens and a place in my library. For now I think I'll slap a 4.1
Arne Domnerus and Rune Gustafsson Svarta Far3.5
Completely random find as I was looking for a metal band called Rune and stumbled upon a Swedish jazz guitarist fella. Whilst album construction has many flaws, this is full of great tracks. My favourites are the more relaxed ones where the guitar takes on latin flavour - perfect for relaxed sunny snoozetime. This is particularly prominent on 7 and 8 but there are others. The transition into the super fun and dancey 9 is a bit weird but the track per se is great. 10 continues things fine, and then 11 finishes the album on the other style it does quite well imo: brooding, dreamy fusionesque jazz. Notice that this run 7-11 is quite strong and in fact bumps the album a point, for what comes before it is a tad more erratic. While 1 and especially 3 are other examples of nice relaxed tracks, 2 is frankly laughable with its super out of date guitar effect ventures. 4 is fine and sort of fusioney. 5 feels a bit like the local village band having a jam, and 6 really feels like western saloon jazz music, which is fun but really shows how the album doesnt really know where to go - an impression reinforced by the fadeout at the end of the track. Thankfully as I said, the second half or so bumps this from a 3.6 to a 3.7

1973
Sly and The Family Stone Fresh4.0
I don't know if I am imagining things or if the prod actually got loads better, but this is the crispiest and beefiest I have heard Sly&FS being. The bass is clear, the voices sound good, and this definitely helps reinforce the ongoing groove. I do still find this impression I always get with this band that the tracks are a permanent wall of nice but rarely stand out to memory, on first listen at least. But because the sound itself is less blurry, it isn't as detrimental here. The quality is undeniable, it's not the most upbeat funk in the book but it maintains a nice, round, slow-ish paced groove throughout. Probably my favourite by the band on first listen, is that a heretic thing to say? 3.85
ABBA Ring Ring3.0
ABBA's career starts with an okay bunch of competent, well crafted but rather forgettable songs as far as I'm concerned - for the most part. It often felt like they wanted me to listen to the lyrics a lot more than I cared to, like family songs telling a story but with pop production - see 6,10, or 11. I can't say I minded, but there isn't much in the way of jams here. The t/t on both its versions (1 and 15), while not a top tier ABBA banger is certainly fun, and I can definitely see some precursors to their later banger sounds on 7, which while not a bop itself really does foreshadow the way they'll later play with multiple voices, grand sounds, and contrast. 2 sounds a bit like a christmas song but not annoying and even a bit fun. 3 feels like the ost to the emotional moment in a movie, pretty ok. 4 is hippe nicety, 5's an ok radio song, 8's a cute jolly song but 9 is ultra tepid, 12 is more rock and roll and ok, 13 is very tame aside frmo the intro, 14 is a bit more upbeat and 15 is 1 but in Swedish. Did I mention half the songs end on a fadeout? There's executional quality to be found here to be sure, and variety, but it's not a magnum opus for sure. 3.1
Pink Floyd The Dark Side of the Moon5.0
As far as albums go this is about as classic as it gets. Dark Side oozes class from every pore. That being said, being an absolute unmissable classic doesnt automatically make it a perfect 5.0 in my system. I do find that going all the way to the end of Money, everything is unquestionably 5.0 material, but starting from Us and Them tehre is a bit of a feeling of descent. There's still plenty of psychedelic colour and dlightful synthwork, the tunes remain tunes, and the album construction remains an undeniable masterclass with all the transitions. But I can't help feeling WYWH is just an overall stronger, better album that doesn't end on a long downwards curve like this. So is Dark Side a 5.0 or a 4.8? I wasn't expecting it to be, but the 5.0 is [PENDING]
John Coltrane Concert in Japan3.5
This oozes big energy through every minute, and there's 247 of them. A behemoth that mostly suffers from being so unmanageably long. I find the piano focused moments are often the best, and the drumming is a strong point throughout. The story behind this as the one and only, utterly triumphant, frantically packed Japanese Coltrane tour 1yr before his passing is of note. Overall I'd say Shinjuku [...] got the better concert of the two, but the first one starts very strong with 1, a huge, intense, spicy jazz trip that makes you want tattoos, tho the sax occasionally gets a bit too gnarly. 2 begins a lot calmer before gradually waking up to a pretty cool track too. 3 starts with a 12 min long bass solo which makes for a veeery calm transition, then grows into an increasingly noisy and gritty track that gets cool but feels like its takes ages to end, tho the finale with the crowd is great. As we switch into the Shinjuku concert, 4 starts as relaxed and blissful as its title indicates before nicely growing more anxious to transform into a really cool, fever dream kinda spiritual track that reminds me of First Meditations. 5's a nicely gritty track with some moments that make sense amid chaos and a hella cool drum solo, a track that makes you travel places. The piano heavy, fast drums finale is very fireworksily nocturnal and is very cool. 6 starts with a 15 min bass solo, and although its second half is better I find it a bit less convincing than some other tracks here. It's a bit weird but a bit fun to hear the Favorite Thigns themes popping up amidst chaos. How do you boil down 4hrs+ of Coltrane to one rating? 3.6

1972
Pink Floyd Live at Pompeii4.5
I don't tend to rate live albums, but given this was played to be recorded without even an audience, I don't care. It is canon, and it is a 'studio' album - but recorded outdoors. And what a beast of an album. It is their first truly flawless album, like 70's Floyd took the best of their earlier discog, and transformed it into the first of the legendary 70's Floyd albums. Echoes is a highlight here and offers a much rockier version than on Meddle, definitely jams and 5.0 material. But it is not the only highlight, as 3 is an effing sick avant garde jam with crazy screams (avant garde done right dude), and 6 is a fantastic jam too, perfect take from their earlier discog with those oriental mysterious vibes, and showing that the album just summarises early Floyd in a better form. 4 has awesome drumming in the intro, and is fantastic but does get quite experimental, while 7 is just flat out unnecessary but is thankfully only two minutes long. The album does have a couple too many experimental weird sections than I can live with on a 5.0, but they're never too long. 5 is the only track that clearly sounded better on the studio version, but is still very nicely experimental and cool. The sample/sorta drone intro on 1 is nice too, and a trait we'll find later on in their discog. Just near flawless. 4.8

1971
Sly and The Family Stone There's A Riot Goin' On4.0
Idk man, I can see how this is better than their prior albums, but I am still not clicking with this band. Something about the lack of real hooks, the somewhat flat song structures, the held back prod on the vocals, makes it impossible for my mind to latch onto the music. That being said, I will concede there is a fair degree of bum shaking goodness foundation here, see tracks like 5,7 or 8, and I did really likethe guitar riff at the end of 11. But 10 really bored me and got weird. I'll give a tame 3.8
Pink Floyd Meddle4.5
The most relaxing of all the 70's Floyd albums, and the first really legendary one as AHM was only a precursor. The bulk of the album from 2-5 does retain a lot of the earlier, folkier Floyd sound minus the psychedelia, and doesn't go yet too much into their later 'rock' grandeur, but the bookends (both jams obvs) are magical and represent what they were about to become. 1 is one of the best openers of all time, and 5 is a majestic epic, from the first minutes displaying a more rock sound, and is the track that nudges this back to 4.5 range. It is incredibly atmospheric in places, music to look at the sky. The midtrack gets weird but not for too long, and then it goes back to sublime stuff although the very conclusion is not their best. Between those two, 2 is ok and sweet but doesn't feel as jammy in comparison, 3 is a chill jam and probably the best in this mid-album, 4 is summer Floyd with lovely bounce, kind of a boppy jam, while 5 feels like it overstretches 4 and is a bit unnecessary. An album to enjoy life to. 4.4
John Coltrane Sun Ship3.5
The mixing on this is really really poor, and I struggle to look past it. What the hell is this panning, this wasn't recorded in the 50s. This is the classic quartet, but not with their usual engineer Rudy, and goddamn who did they hire instead. The mixing makes the a bit excessively crazy plain feel really a bit much. The panning is less disruptive on 2 which if it werent for it would be an excellent track. 3 is cool, fast paced and fun, but mixed terribly. 4 is also cool but more in a mystique way. 5 feels very long and interludey though, and it kind of just dies out so I dont really see its point. I think musically this is a 3.7, but with this mixing I cant give it more than a 3.4
Chico Buarque Construção3.0
I certainly do not get how this is his most revered album on here. I may have been tilted by the first track which I found frankly horrendous, but most of this album is ok zzz. The second track is also annoying, but more mildly. 4 is a good summary of the album, beginning as an interesting and fun track - Brazilian James Bond soundtrack - but turning annoying after a few minutes. Some of the tracks (3,7) are kinda nice but were ruined for me because they have funny sounds that I associate to Les 12 Travaux d'Asterix. It has some jams (the last two tracks and 5), but it's really not his best as most songs are merely ok to boringly fine. 3.1
John Coltrane Live In Seattle3.5
I lost my notes because I am a donkey but basically 1 is super cool albeit rather dissonant and spicy, 2 is a bit softer on the ear and both track together were probably looking at a soft low 4.0 tier rating maybe, but although the bulk of the track is fine, the 36min long 3 gets very tiresome, especially in some moments eg. min 6 ? with some of the sax and midtrack with the wtf vocals that are quite insufferable albeit short-lived. Thankfully 4 offers nice though protracted rest in the form of double bass noodling. Nice and saves the record a little bit, but still struggles to get maybe on the whole a 3,6

1970
Pink Floyd Atom Heart Mother3.5
AHM is a turning point and sees the birth of legendary rock Meddle,Pompeii era Floyd, away from psych era Floyd, but it still remains at the infancy stage and won't quite make it to the same heights just yet. The t/t is the first instance of a long, complex, build up intro that we'll later see in SoYCD and similar tracks, and by min 7 you hear how much grander they're becoming. Min 11 with its guitar parts is the aforementioned rock Floyd being born. Unfortunately the track never quite unfolds, keeping it out of their pantheon, and by min 16 although you see their taste for backing vocals a couple minutes before that, the track definitely turns back into their earlier flaws and weirdness. The track feels like it lost its course and coherence along the way. The conclusion from min 21 on shows us their grand rock leanings again, but not as good. One side B, 2 and 4 and both peaceful folk jams, and 3 is a jazzy? pop? bop. So far the album is very well constructed and feels like it could end at a 3.7-3.8, except the last track overextends for way too long and has too few ideas bar a cool last couple minutes, bring the album down to a 3.5
Black Sabbath Paranoid5.0
John Coltrane Transition4.0
1 reminds a lot of the noir NYC vibes of A Love Supreme, but in a more dancy club jazz form, and with some dissonances here and there. Super hella cool. This makes sense, as the LP was actually recoded in 1965, though released in 1970. This was the, hum, transition record between ALS and the later more dissonant freeform output. Thus I am not surprised to love this learning that this was actually recorded by the classic Coltrane quartet. 2 is a lot mellower but is not bad at all as far as soft wine and cheese jazz goes, the piano is especially nice and playful. The second half of 3 is fantastic and very similar to 1. I do prefer it largely over the first half, but it is cool too. It brings back the dissonance nicely after 2, and takes a while to get started but is worth the wait for that dissonance classic quartet sound. Compared to 1 it is a bit less dancy and catchy, more on the grand baroque dissonant side. The bass solo feels far too long, but the reprise afterwards is great with cool dark vibes. This LP is truly excellent jazz, but not packed in a way that makes it easy to share as there are spurts of dissonance and weirdness which prevent the two major tracks from going onto playlists. Perhaps not one of the greatest greatest, but certainly feels like a minor major opus in coltrane's major opus-full career. Very consistent aside from the long transition mid track 3 and perhaps its first half. 4.15
Black Sabbath Black Sabbath4.5
Is there a more legendary intro track than this. This one feels a lot more 60s infused than what follows (can be heard on 3 or 4 for example), but their dark, fat sound is already there and aged so well. 1-4 is all jams, 1 being the evilest and darkest and 2 being super fun in contrast. 3 doesn't have the best transition from 2 or the best outro, but hell the riffs are fun. 4 is also incredibly fun. 5's a fine track but feels a touch more outdated and resolves on a fadeout. 6 is the track where you can tell they are having fun, and while it's not a jam it sure is cool and would belong on a 5.0. The nail on in the 5.0 coffin is the closing track which, let's be frank, is all good and well but didn't age properly and overextends pointless solos for a fair bit. Still a behemoth of an album, both from a historical point of view and just musically top notch. If ever you wanted to jam Sabbath in a festival while having a beer this might be the one? 4.4

1969
Pink Floyd Ummagumma3.5
I vibe with Disk 1 a good bunch (just makes you want to see them in the 60s yknow), but Disk 2 is just a long protracted series of tracks at various degrees of unnecessaryness. 1-4 are acid jams, although by the midtrack of 4 it starts to feel a bit lengthy. Egyptian-sounding organs and synths, edoteric drums, tasty bass, scarce vocals, yum. 2 when it explodes with crazy screams sounds like delicious prog rock. On disk 2, 1 sounds like a Zelda OST, and 2 sounds like Nils Frahm on its first third and La Monte Young in the rest. Album is crazy good so far (maybe 3.8), but it all goes downhill after that. 3 is the first track I didn't fak with, and 4 sounds like an OST in a bad way. 5 is a pretty Nick Drakey ballad, 7 is super pretty, sadly 6 is a horrible track. The rest is just nice or boring, until the annoyingly experimental 11 and the pretty but short conclusion on 12. Eh not the most marking PF album, but the first 6 tracks are worth checking out. 3.35
King Crimson In the Court of the Crimson King4.5
Talk about a classic record. Every track is 5.0 worthy,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, except Moonchild. While I like its experimentation, and commend its forward thinking style (this came out in bloody 1969 waht), I can't seems to feel connected to that track as much as I do with the others. And the issue is its the longest one. Still a vibrant 4.8
Nick Drake Five Leaves Left4.5
Sublime, and the added strings/piano/etc textures vary up the song very nicely, for an album that never bores - perhaps the fact that it's the first Nick Drake I ever heard many years ago helps too. 4.5
Pink Floyd More3.0
Tbf to them this isn't really a canon album, but more like a quickly made side OST project. Had it stopped at 9 it could have been 3.2-3.3 material, but the last tracks are really a letdown. 11 is a prime example, being clearly an OST filler track and nothing else. 12 is funny at least, and 13 is nice but sound like an interlude. Before that, the album has better tracks but it still woefully constructed with repeated dramatic changes in mood and style. 1 is a nice intro track, and 2 is PF going hard rock which is kinda cool although it gets gimmicky. 3 is gorgeous. 4 is weird,5 is a nice happy folk song, 7 has cool tribal-ish drums, 8 is kinda cute and atmospheric and is a jam, 9 goes back to rock and is a fairy average track that ends on a fadeout but the bass is quite bouncy. See what I meant about album construction? 3.05
Sly and The Family Stone Stand!3.5
Honestly, contrary to what seems to be the consensus, I don't find this particularly stronger than their prior otuput, 1 perhaps set aside. It's another nice 60s soul track to jam in your convertible cadillac,
but it stands out in quality, and the change around the 3/4 mark is really great. 2 wasn't too my jam but is a class track nonetheless, playing a lot with wah. For its rest, the record is pretty decent Sly
material, but nothing that I found extraordinary. 3 is a passable song with weird prod, 4 is also merely alright but has better prod, then 5 is nicely groovy but feels like it would really benefit from having
a beefier sound. 6 is a bit 'neuneu' tbh, and 7 is kinda ruined for me by some of the guitars sounding like an angry mosquito almost. 8 is a pretty decent albeit standard track, but it comes out of nowhere as
the end of 7 really felt like an album conclusion. I am kinda feeling a 3.6
Dave Bixby Ode To Quetzalcoatl4.0
Very nice folk album from the depths of time. From the first few notes I knew I'd dig this, the intro to track 1 is so sublime. 2-4 felt a little bit more like the kind of folk that necessitates to dig into the lyrics to enjoy but not so incredible instrumentally. But then it picks back up again, 5 being a super soft track (which 10 and 12 will be too, the later being the softest probably and a very nice closer). 6 is nice too, and 7 shows a bit of a more 'upbeat' side to folk which, while welcome, feels a bit incongruous with the soft mellow sad Ozzy-ish vocals. 8-9 are very nice as well and the album seems to get more instrumentally complex on these tracks, which really do not need one to look into what they say to be great listens. The harmonica on 11 brings a nice change, and is intelligently kept to a small contribution on that track alone. Will have to listen to this more. 4.1

1968
Sly and The Family Stone Life3.5
Again, pretty good, but I am yet to be w o w'd by these folks I think. I clearly prefer disc 2 here (6-11). 1-2 are fine but they just feel like they are neither dancy, not psychedelic, not riffy. They are a mix of all those that excels in none of them. 3 has some fun anthemic lyrics (ALL THE PLASTIC PEOPLE), and 4 is also fun and a bit better than 1-2 but barely, whilst 5 is a slower track whose vibe I quite liked. 6 on the other hand is quite fun and makes me want to drive a cabriolet cadillac in the 60s, whilst 7 is also fun with a sunny Mexico vibe a bit. 8 once more is kinda fun, 9 is an alright calmer track I guess. 10 is the most hyped, intense and fun track of them all, with very much final scene of the Disney channel movie where everyone suddenly dances in a prepared choreography -type vibes. 11 is a neat track to end on I suppose. See how it's fine but I am never going 'this is a BOP' ? Bonus tracks: Seven More Times is pretty meh, Pressure is kinda fun and could've well fit on the album, Sorrow is a cool instrumental with much more prominent bass that could use some vocals I think but that I hope prefaces a slight change of sound for the future. 3.5
Pink Floyd A Saucerful of Secrets4.0
Perhaps less grand than Piper, and hints less at their later wonders, but this time round the album felt like psych-Barrett era Pink Floyd done better than on the debut. Had to pause just before 6 so this isn't completely fair but hey. The first third is best nad incredibly P S Y C H. 1 has weird panning, but 2 and 3 are jams - 2 feels like hippie times and 3 sounds like Om almost 40yrs before Om. 4 takes a more psych rock approach, and is cool at first but gets a bit weaker and annoying, evokes the worst of Piper. 5 literally has a dungeon synth intro and is weird Floyd done right this time, echoing Piper's transition track only better. 6 is part super jammy and part boring, back to the P S Y C H of the first third. 7 is just ok, and the album 'pre-conclusion' feels a bit weird, definitely preventing this from being above 4.0
Sly and The Family Stone Dance To The Music3.5
Perhaps even more consistent than the debut, this one is a fun listen through and through without ever being super boppy, but always remaining cool. The start is a tocuh rocky with a first couple songs that dont maintain their groove for very long, but then aside from (inevitably) some sections of the 12min long 4, the run from 3-8 goes by very smoothly with all fun tracks. Alas 9 is a bit weaker and ends the album a bit into nothing, but despite a few fadeouts here and there the overall sense of album-ness is still well maintained. 3.6
McCoy Tyner Expansions4.0
Aaah, there he is, Tyner playing like he was with Coltrane! 1 is a really engaging, Tyner heavy first track that I really loved, very similar to his soloing with Coltrane. although there is a sax it is less adventurous than what you find on a Coltrane quartet record, but this is still a darn nice track. The last minute is a bit less my vibe though with a touch of Duke Ellington DNA. 2 is nice too but a little less engaging, and here on the contrary the last minute is also the best one being cool and weird with its flutes. 3 is fun, a bit too keys-shaking all over the place for me, but has the merit of being energizing. 4 is a bit more standard but a really good track at that. The intro to 5 is mysterious, orchestral and really nice, prefacing a grand track that never comes and is instead a wine jazz track that isn't bad at all but underwhelms and ends the album on a soft, cushy note. Excited to find this Tyner back, but I'd be over-rating if I gave more than a 3.85
John Coltrane Om4.0
John Coltrane himself was apparently ashamed of this record (which is from a session from right after Live at Seattle, and during which he was reportedly on LSD but we don't seem to be sure) and didn't want it released (it was only released after his death as a cash grab). Why? To me thiis is extremely good free jazz and an album I'd want to rejam. It is weird, transcendental, and has some beautiful sections. It feels like it builds a specific atmosphere beyond lets wank our instruments best we can. It is hard for me to delineate things because Spotify doesn't split into parts 1 and 2 like the original LP release and instead lumps it all into one single track like some of the CD releases, but I think the only slightly weaker part was the start of part 2. The vocals in the intro and outro are quite fine and htey add some personality to the album. One I'll revisit I think. 4.1
Gyorgy Ligeti String Quartet No. 24.0
Felt a bit more structured than No. 1, and certainly has less 'downtime'. It is also generally closer to Ligeti's dissonant body of work, and abandons almost entirely the most conventional sections found on No. 1, a choice that tickles my pretentious ear. I'll happily check both again, but this one more excitedly so. This one deserves another listen for sure since I was busy trying to fix the dumb lastfm scrobbles. 4.15
James Carr A Man Needs a Woman4.5
Bass truly is a magical instrument. Take the previous album, make the bass and drums more prominent and delightfully bouncy, and you get this little gem of a soul/RnB record (depending on the track). Really fits the definition of Rhythm'n'Blues. The soul tracks, and especially the more ballady-type songs (9 or 15 eg) felt a little weaker, just because the bouncier ones are so much fun you feel like you don't want a break in that groove. A whole lot of jams, 2-4,6,7,10,12,14 (which sounds like another song I can't for the life of me find the name of). 11 is one of the rare RnB tracks that don't really work as well. 13 is interesting because I didn't like it at first but it grew on me, so the album even has growing potential and I will have to give it a lot more spins. 16 has a bit of a darker and abrasive tone, which is fantastic as a closer. Sadly it ends on a fadeout, but hey this is from 68. And to think he was only 26, what a voice too. 4.35

1967
John Coltrane Expression3.5
The first posthumous Coltrane album. Starts of very well, and ends well, but i struggle a bit with most of the middle album. Intro track is a brief but nicely spicy standard Coltrane tune. 2 then follows being a very introspective track with sounds we haven't heard before, almost reminding me of some of Disney's Jungle Book darker vibe, with flutes and Pharoah Sanders' contribution that isnt present anywhere else on the album afaik. The track is really moody and broody, which makes it particularly ominous knowing how close to passing Coltrane recorded it. But by the midtrack, some of the flutes get very loud, some of the notes get very aggressive, fast and repetitive (but still consonant ie. not in a free jazz kind of way) when i kinda wish the track kept to its spiritual undertone. The end is honestly borderline insufferable in short places. 3 also gets similarly loud and buzz in your face kind of annoying, though the angry drums are really quite cool. Then the closing track after a nice intro melody theme concludes on a much better note, with superb piano being the highlight, but still with occasional spurts of not so pleasant instrumentation preventing it from being a true Coltrane classic track. Some great aspects, but some problems that make it far from his best in thsi era. 3.7
Pink Floyd The Piper at the Gates of Dawn4.0
This is a fantastic debut, especially its first half which showcases good PF traits already, with 1,2 and 4 being my jams here. However, it didn't age nearly as well as their 70's mastodons (tracks like 8 or 11 are examples of this), and I find its interest more historical than anything else. Songs end on fade-outs or silences so we're missing the perfection of PF's album construction. There aren't too many experimental weird bits, they're mostly on 5 midtrack,6 which is the only annoying track,7 and the end of 11. 7 is a pivot point and sees the album shift style a bit to more traditional-evoking English songs and less PF goodness, and the second half of the album feels a bit blander. Overall 3.9
Sly and The Family Stone A Whole New Thing3.5
A great, fun, consistent debut, that would be a solid 3.8 if it didn't lose itself a bit in the last third. There is an aspect of my enjoyment that stems from this oozing 60s happiness, which is something I have been missing and which makes relatively generic songs shine perhaps more than they otherwise would - 2,3,6-8 are all not the most memorable tracks, but I enjoyed them loads nonetheless. 1 opens up with a slightly unusual rhythm but makes for a fun track still, 4 is faster than its predecessors and hella fun with a slight latino vibe on the brass even (probs unintentional I venture) and vox that definitely sound like the inspiration for Hercules' OST. 5 on the other hand completely rupture this with a slow song, not quite prevented from being a bit boring by an impressive vocal performance. 9 kinda marks the transition into the album overextending with a kinda awkward track (don't like that low voice humming in my ears man), 10's okay, then 11 is another slow song and confirms this dropping in rating a bit. It ends on a fadeout but I'll give that a pass considering we are in the 60s and this is the first bad one. 12 is more fun, but this still dropped a bit to a 3.6
McCoy Tyner The Real McCoy4.0
Great stuff, with a bit more spiciness than I remember seeing on prior Tyner records - 2 is a prime example. The foundation remains fairly classic, and not too fast paced, so while this is good and it's really nice to see more adventurous chord action, it's not quite S tier. 4's a nice wine jazz track, and 1 is fairly catchy and memorable. 4.0
Chico Buarque Chico Buarque de Hollanda - Volume 33.5
Good album, but not as great as his prior works that I've tried so far. 1 and 3 are jams, 2,9 and 10 are nice too. The rest varies from ok-kinda nice to boring or meh. The man has to be commended for the diversity of atmosphere brought by the record in spite of its short 36min runtime, with e.g. an ok movie ballad on track 8. Same remarks as usual regarding the vocals. 3.55
James Carr You Got My Mind Messed Up4.0
It has been a long time since I last jammed a classic 60's soul/RnB record, so perhaps part of my enjoyment of this is partly stemming from simply missing the genre. This is quite unknown, and I had never heard any of the tracks before, yet they almost all felt like they could be classic songs. So this may grow on me even more as I get familiar with each and every track. I didn't really take notes too much, but some highlights that popped up were 1-3, 5 with its simple but fun bass that drags a bit too long, 9 and 11. I gotta give this another spin. 4.1
Giacinto Scelsi Natura Renovatur4.0
I struggle a bit to understand whether the piece is only the t/t itself, or if the tracklist on spotify is part of the canon. In the former case this is probably a 4.1 sort of deal. From the start you get the jist: this is a less dissonant and abrasive, mostly just strings based Threnody to the victims of Hiroshima (which came out a few years prior it seems) which still is great at crafting a sense of dread and evil. Some parts feel a lot like the strings from f#a#8 without all the rest. The opening 3 tracks, despite 2 being a rather bland interlude between the two scary pieces, are quite great. The problem is that the piece maintains this for over 50 min wihtout varying much at all, and so the t/t on 7, which holds its own very well as a piece, feels hugely dampened by the fact that you've been hearing 35min of the same thing and are wanting some variety. A quality piece but that spreads itself too thin or too long. 3.8
Chico Buarque Chico Buarque de Hollanda - Volume 24.0
Exactly the same thoughts as on his first: nice Brazillian chill music, but his vocals are a bit
much sometimes and most tracks are too short. Closer or track 8 are perfect examples of that with
neat instrumentations but vocals that get annoying after a while. This album felt superior but
the second half falls of a fair bit. 1-3 are jams, 5,6 10 are kinda nice. Instrumentation on 11
is really nice but the vocals again annoy towards the end. 3.9

1966
John Coltrane Live at the Village Vanguard Again!3.5
This is cool, but if i got to see a Coltrane gig this wouldn't be my first pick. Tbf I wasn't expecting something this free jazzey, thus was perhaps not in the best mood for it. The first track starts alright, but the weird brass starting at 3:30 (is it Pharoah Sanders' solo?) really is not my cuppa. It's cool in an avant-garde sort of fashion to be able to make your brass instrument sound like a dying cow at times, but as a musical experience it's a no from me. The piano in the back by Alice Coltrane is super pretty though. Aside from that solo the track is kinda cool Coltrane stuff, far less free than Ascension but still with a solid amount of dissonance. After a cool meditiative interlude on 2, we are offered a version of My Favorite Things that is hardly recognisable except in a couple places at min 3 and near the end (where it is particularly cool amidst the semi-chaos), and is otherwise quite crazy and free, displaying Coltrane's evolution within the decade. The mix at min 7 is particularly cool with the brass going crazy on the right side and a wee flute playing gently quietly on the left. There are some weird fade ins n outs in places but that remains rare and not a problem - the mix was a bit more difficult on 1. Okay but not really an album I would come back to often in Coltrane's discog, except maybe for Alice's piano. 3.7
John Coltrane Ascension4.0
Historically highly important as it marks Coltrane's full transition into more experimental/free jazz - the previous albums and indeed Meditations that came after this one dabble more or less extensively in free compositions, but this one is the first that does it all the way through. And it does it well; while it takes a specific mood to appreciate it, the enjoy is thoroughly enjoyable and doesn't feel annoying at all. It is controlled chaos, with just enough structure and variation to keep you hooked, but just too little for you to recognise much of the structure a all. It looks like it will work, a trace of discernable groove catches on, and then it goes chaotic agai. I think I am not fully mature for free jazz yet - I can enjoy it, this is cool, but it doesn't form images in my head like most other jazz records do. Still there's lots to be enjoyed here - starting from the album intro sounding like an orchestra tuning up then going increasingly dissonant, the end of part I, the start of part II, after which I felt slightly less engaged perhaps, the string solo at 13:30ish on part II that reminds more of avant-garde 'classical' away from jazz, before the brass comes back in to give a great cool latter half to part II as the rets from free jazz for a few minutes allows the listener to re-engage. And of course, there is incredible instrumental prowess on display here, with always my heart's favourite Tyner holding the fort all the way through. I jammed Edition I; I'll jam Edition II but I don't expect to see much difference between the two as this is abstract and free anyway. 4.1
Krzysztof Penderecki St. Luke Passion3.0
I did not quite finish this yesterday, but I don't think I'll be coming back to it any time soon - even though I need to eventually because I might be missing something -, so I am giving it a not super firm rating now. While this has great moments - for example the opening and closing and the first act on Penderecki's take (with the cover art that's here) -, they feel far too disjointed to really strike. In particular, there are long, drown out pauses, or phases where someone is merely speaking over near silence, which makes the whole thing feel more like a mass or even a sort of twisted musical at times in lieu of a prolonged, coherent piece of music from start to finish. And because of that I have a hard time appreciating the scarce musical bits which do get fantastic and are quite diverse, but are just sprinkled over far too empty a plate. 3.0
Giacinto Scelsi Uaxuctum3.0
As ever with Scelsi, this is horror music that kind of ends into nothing - I hardly noticed when the piece ended. That being said, I was quite hopeful with part I as it is rather compelling, and part 4 is also potent as well. The problem I find in Scelsi's music is not the emotions he manages to create, it is the scarcity of them. 3.1
John Coltrane The Last Trane3.5
This one failed to convince me really. The first track is perhaps the first of Coltrane's that I actively dislike. It feels like epileptic jazz, which was hinted at on the last track of the prior album but becomes here really quite insufferable. There are some nice sections but they're almost always instantly ruined by some spasm of one instrument or another. 2 is on the other hand very slow, and quite enjoyable. 3 should have been the one called Slowtrane imo, for it does have a very nice, weighy slow groove to it, especially the first half. The second half looses its focus a bit, and the last track feels like it doesn't quite know what tempo to go for - slow and soulful like 3, or more upbeat and catchy in the vein of Blue Train - and ends up somewhat awkward as a result. Don't get me wrong, this is still nice jazz, but in the man's discog I don't really feel the need to come back to this, at least as a non-background listen. 3.4
Gyorgy Ligeti Lux Aeterna4.0
Beautiful and frozen choral piece. A soundtrack to a silent forest after the blizzard, or to what the planet would look like after it freezes in nuclear winter (idk). As I understand this is a 10min standalone piece, in which case it kind of is hurt by its non existent conclusion - it just fades away really. But still superb. Jammed Bernius' Kammerchor Stuttgart's version. 4.15
John Coltrane Kulu Se Mama4.0
The last Coltrane album to be released before his passing. That gives it a slight sour taste, because it shows a hint of where things could have gone had Coltrane lived through the glory days of jazz fusion. Indeed with its vocals, tribal atmosphere, and many less conventional added instruments, the title track gives a lot of the dreamy feeling I find in jazz fusion, with sections of standard bepop and more dissonant jazz in between. The midtrack is full on jazz. The transition into 2 is seamless, and 2 feels more like a classic Coltrane quartet jam (which indeed it is). I love that sound and my heart goes to 2 even though 1 is more interesting, but that might be simply out of missing that classic Coltrane sound. 5 is a very pretty yet short outro, the intro offering particularly beautiful contrast to what preceded it. The panning and mixing are questionable in places imo, and the album structure with a behemoth title track + two short more standard ones reminds a lot of early 60s Coltrane records. 4.0
Chico Buarque Chico Buarque de Hollanda4.0
I dug the second half much more than the first. Nice Brazilian music with amazing prod for its
time. I much prefer when there is either less singing or mixed singing with back vocals and not
only his, because otherwise it gets a bit much. Obviously there is the caveat that I don't get
any of the lyrics. Lots of jams (3,5,7,8,11,12) and nothing too bad either, but the songs feel
very short sometimes. 3.85
John Coltrane Meditations4.5
Db is not really in order because this came out after Ascension I believe but it's also seen as the 'spiritual follow-up to A Love Supreme' apparently so whatever. An important one historically as this is the last album with Tyner and Jones, which makes me sad but all good things have an end. The first track is perhaps one of the spiciest Coltrane tracks yet ith 12 minutes of noisy free jazz that remains an enjoyable listen, especially 2 and more so 3 go back to more conventional, calmer jazz - though 2 retains some spice on the piano which is lovely. 4 summarises the record perfectly, starting on almost as much spiciness as 1 and evolving all through the track to unfold into decreasingly dissonant and ultimately very relaxing piano, continuing into the serene 5 with an incredibly smooth transition. The smooth transitions and this strong ending of the album bump it ever so slightly to a soft 4.3

1965
John Coltrane Creation4.0
Bit of a weird one this - it doesn't seem to be an 'official' Coltrane approved recording, and is more of a compilation of live takes, but also per wikipedia this is the only known recording of the t/t on 3. And admittedly it's hard to find a clean version, here I listened to the tracks piecemeal on youtube. Pretty sure the (nice) version of 1 I heard was actually incorrect and came from Live at Birdland. 2 is also a very lovely track, with relatively poor recording quality in the version I heard but which gives it character. 3, the t/t and centrepiece of this bizarre album, is incisive, quite spicy and intense, and frankly excellent bumping this up a point, even with the cool drum soloing. Nice, I need to get my hands on a proper version to resolutely rate this though. 4.1
John Coltrane A Love Supreme5.0
I don't know what it is, but there is something special about this record. This is jazz that tells a story, even in its dissonances and its quirks. It tells a story of noir New York, of lost times, of love perhaps. It has an inexplicable darkness to it. The opener is the one that makes me a bit doubtful that it could be a perfect 5.0. 2 and 3 are the most accessible jams, the former being one of my fave jazz tracks period and 3 being more upbeat and heavy on the drums in a lovely, fun almost gershwin-esque way. 4's a perfect conclusion and honestly, this might be the jazz album I 5 some day. In the context of his discogs, this kind of marks the start of Coltrane's shift towards more dissonant/free territories, which was already hinted at in prior albums but is here really showing prominently, particularly again on the piano. 4.8 Edit 22/3/23: the opener is perfect, dammit this is a 5.0
John Coltrane and Archie Shepp New Thing at Newport3.5
The opening speech is kinda cool 'and now, the master of them all, Mr John COLTRANE' gave me semi goosebumps (also needed John Cena theme). Track 2 is fabulous, though again the ehavily panned mix hurts when listening on headphones and should really be listened to more on speakers. A great classic Coltrane quartet jam nonetheless with the same perfect slight spice and utmost piano excellence. 3 starts off playful, but quickly starts feeling a bit erratic and goal-less. In fact this is true of the rest of the album, and is perhaps most clear on 6 when it ends on a strong note of meh, though 4 is quite nice and dancey. Sweet but apart from 1 and 2 not much I'd ever keep. Might be that I wasnt in the best mood for it tbf. 3.4
McCoy Tyner McCoy Tyner Plays Ellington3.5
As expected this is beautifully executed but not too spicy jazz. McCoy do be a god, and when he goes a little free roaming the tracks become fabulous. Favourites were especially the dancier 3, and then 4,8 and 10, which are all characterized by slightly spicier offering. The much calmer and contemplative 9 was also marking. Finally, it might be stating the obvious but I think that I would have enjoyed this record more had I been more familiar with Duke Ellington's discography, for some of the enjoyment comes from recognising the tunes and seeing where Tyner takes them - which I realised from the delightfully familiar 2. 3.7
John Coltrane The John Coltrane Quartet Plays4.5
An excellent introduction to the spicier Coltrane. From the first notes on 1 it is clear that we are entering more dissonant territories again. The sax tone is decidedly incisive, and I thought the panning would annoy me but you get used to it. The dissonant jazz twist on a Mary Poppins theme is super cool. 2 evokes more jazz club sort of stuff, but still preserving the harmonic spiciness, whilst 3 starts on a slower, date night jazz sort of vibe with quite a famous melody I cant name rn. It picks up some way into the track and builds up the spiciness to 'heck yes' levels. 4 starts on a long bass solo that would almost have its place by a bonfire, and the track is overall quite atmospheric which I find is a cool way to conclude the album. Very solid and consistent, dissonant jazz that is more than listenable, jazz to feel smart and smug at your fireplace. 4.25
Gyorgy Ligeti Requiem4.5
One of the most cinematic, dread-inducing and frankly death-evoking Requiem masses I know.
The third movement breaks the suffocating atmosphere a bit and is by far my least
favourite, but this is still immensely powerful. Potential 5? Jammed the Berliner
philarmoniker from Ligeti Project IV. 4.4

1964
McCoy Tyner Today and Tomorrow3.5
Yea it's well crafted club jazz that turns slightly calmer as it goes. 1 is the most interesting one here with some great piano-drums parts, otherwise it is fun but not stunning yeknow. 3.7
John Coltrane Coltrane's Sound3.5
Another one of the label-made records, this time based on 1960 sessions recorded around My Favorite things. It certainly does not live up to that album, but starts off quite strongly with 1 being a super fun light and dancey jam with particularly cool drums but everything else working great as well. 2 is much softer in wine jazz style - not the best transition but it's fine -, then 3 transitions very well from that into a quite cool alternation of more fun dancy jazz with some city jazz vibes interspersed. 4 is also bouncy but a bit more relaxed, and at this point the album is starting to struggle to captivate. 5 is more on the nocturnal side but isn't too memorable and is a bit lengthy, then 6 feels a bit like filler. So a couple tracks to keep but not a peak album. 3.7
John Coltrane The Believer3.5
I should redo this discog with only the canon albums because this is yet anOTHER label-made album based on recordings from 58. And again you can feel the stylistic difference compared to things from his 60s records. There's an emphasis on repeated hooks as well. But all in all despite not being canon this is quite fun. McCoy's piano is definitely the highlight on 1, in the intro and the rest; the rest of the track is fine and fun as far as late 50s bebop goes but nothing to write home about. This is contrary to 2 where the piano is only one of the strong elements, the track being a dancey bouncy jam that I'd gladly listen to again. 3 ruptures the mood completely with its nice but not fantastic wine jazz undertones (as advertised by the title), and from then on the record becomes kind of erratic in structure. The melody on 4 is hookey I guess but I find the instrumentation doesnt work in quite a lot of places. The intro is especially meh and then after 90 seconds it switches into more conventional - albeit still not great - bebop. Then 5 starts off as city jazz and is quite fine with some hooks, but again, nothing crazy good. 3.55
John Coltrane Black Pearls3.5
Ok that other soundoff was wrong because this is also again a frankenstein album made by the label. But for once, it is suprisingly consistent and it all flows superbly well into one long and well produced club jazz session. Thoroughly fun, but also thoroughly generic if it werent for some ventures of the sax on 1 and the drum solo at the end of 3. Makes you want to be a jazz musician to be able to jam tunes like that, it's so sweet. One that's worth listening to when in need of jazz that's not too spicy, not too fusion, not too experimental, but just fun. 3.7
Stan Getz and Joao Gilberto Getz/Gilberto4.5
My literal first musical memory, and what a gem. Well done pa and ma. I might slip a 5 on it eventually it's just too smooth for its own good.
John Coltrane Bahia3.5
Apparently the last one of these frankenstein label-looking-to-ride the fame albums. The fact that it is made of much older recordings (from 58 I gather?) is quite palpable here, as this is far more run-of-the-mill and sort of conventional jazz than what Coltrane was coming up with around the time of release in the 60s. 1 and 4 are fun club jazz with 1 being especially dancey from the get go, while 2 fits that vibe too but is a bit more full on and fast paced, and I daresay annoying. 3 and 5 are relaxed one jazz, and quite excellent one at that. Not much else to say: this is well done generic jazz. 3.6
John Coltrane Crescent4.0
A good album and overall of quite consistent quality - simply missing really stand out tracks, but a nice jam overall. Despite the usual panning issues the mix is far from the worst. 1 starts off very relaxed until the drums eventually kick in giving some smooth dancy groove. 2 is more piano led and is a rather compelling atmospheric track, followed up by the dancey, instant bop 3. 4 like 1 is a bit more relaxed but builds up into a nice little groove. The piano is once again a highlight and the source of occasional spice. After a long but kinda fun bass solo, the sax comes back for a really great finale that could have concluded the album very well. 5 is interesting so I dont mind it, but it certainly feels less of a conclusion. As the title suggests it is a drum-led, eerie, tribal feeling track and feels quite unique in Coltrane's catalogue, before a nice drum solo comes to close things off. So yea a cool listen, but not Coltrane's peak for sure, although he does show very well that he doesnt feel the need to take the spotlight all the time and leaves plentiful space for the other musicians which is nice to see. 3.8

1963
John Coltrane Afro-Blue Impressions3.5
A great live session with lots of heights, but that's a bit too long and often fails to convince me that I should come back to these live versions instead of the studio ones. These are all quite recognisable tunes, especially My Favorite Things on 4 of course. It illustrates what I am saying here: it is still a great tune, and some sections in this live version are especially cool, but overall I still would check the studio version over this any day. 1 starts off relatively relaxed and bland but does gain in spice as it goes, while the relaxed 2 continues this with touches of piano and drums spice but nothing too crazy. 3 is just Coltrane having fun. 5 is another highly recognisable tune, and 6 is super fun. After the calmer and cute 7, 8 is also calm and at this point the length of the record is starting to become really plapable. 9 does save the day by being crazy cool fun again, but overall I think the average on this is bang on. It's great, but it isn't by any means a top tier Coltrane record, even if you just look at his live stuff. 3.7
John Coltrane Live At Birdland4.5
A frankly excellent live album that deserves the praise it receives. Despite a couple slightly aggressive cymbals and things this is way better mixed than some of his studio recordings from that time if I'm honest. As quite often with Coltrane, the first track is a magical behemoth and perhaps the peak of the album here, but its qualities are continued by 2 and 3 albeit with a bit less harmonic spice. All three tracks feature absolutely bonkers drumming, extremely fun grooves, excellent piano playing tying everything up, and fun sax - it's just pure love. 4 changes things up a bit, and it makes sense since it was recorded in a different session apparently - but weirdly enough I found that it flows quite well, and is a good choice to relax a bit from the fun intensity of 1-3. It is kind of cool and intriguing, and in another album would work well as an opener, but functions very well here too. 5 does the same, and the quality and freshness these two tracks bring enable the album to not only not feel excessively long or tiresome, but also just bring freshness that bring the rating ever so slightly up. 4.25
John Coltrane Newport '633.5
This is good, but there is just better Coltrane material out there - live or studio. Although it is the shortest track, 1 is perhaps the weakest, with its long sax solo with nothing else towards the end and not much else to offer. It's fine but in the context of the man discography it's wholly forgettable. The live version of My Favorite Things starts off not so great as the mix gives excessive prominence to the sax which looses a bit of the magic of the tune, but once the piano+drum solo starts it gets really quite cool. Then Coltrane goes a bit off tangent near the end, and while I do like me some spicy notes, with this tune it doesn't quite fit. 3 has lots of drums + sax, and much like 2 has cool bits but is a bit lengthy and has not so cool bits. The conclusion is nice. 4 is an enigma, as it comes from a completely different live session and has nothing to do with the rest, being far simpler, dancier, bepopper jazz with a different mix, yet was released as part of the original album tracklist and not as a bonus track on some reedition - or so it seems. A weird choice, that just feels like it lengthens things for no reasons and takes away a bit of the record's identity. 3.6
McCoy Tyner Live at Newport4.0
Very nicely crafted jazz, and sweetly produced for a 60s live record, but I also struggle to see any specific aspects that would push this above 'very' good tier, like a behemoth track you'd see on a Coltrane album. It's "just" all round very well made. There is more sax than on some of his albums of that year, but not on every track. 1 is fun jazz, 2 is more relaxed wine jazz, 3 ups the tempo again a bit and really starts to showcase tyner's outright quality even in more 'regular', less spicy jazz. I also noted some references to my favorite things perhaps? 4 gets ever so slightly spicier in some places, and 5 takes it up another half notch too. It is quite dancy but also the most interetsing and perhaps unique track here, but not hugely so. Quality record but I was hoping for a bit more given the average (admittedly with few ratings tho). 4.0
John Coltrane Impressions4.0
After a lot of frankenstein albums assembled without Coltrane's input, it feels nice to finally come back to an actual record of his. We're back to the spice, especially with 1 which is perhaps the most dissonant and 'experimental' we've seen him being on record yet. It's almost excessive in places, but after the lukewarm fake coltrane albums that preceded it still feels cool. The track also introduces the major issue with the album: mixing and panning. While on 1 it's not too bad (but still a weak point), which can be partly forgiven because of it being a live take, on 2 it is frankly awful even though it isn't a live one. 3 improves but has some blatant mixing quirks, and 4 is the best one off. Despite the mix 2 is nice, and the more upbeat and dancey 3 is perhaps the best track here with really nice prominent drumming and a cool piano addition as conclusion. 4 is softer and very rainy feeling (so the title is of questionable accuracy hehe), super nice, but it concludes a bit into nothing, which coupled with the non-uniform mix hurts the album feel a bit, dropping this half a point. 3.95
McCoy Tyner Nights of Ballads and Blues3.5
Not much to say about this one - this is a very competent, very standard take on exactly what the title suggests. If you need a relaxed jazz album to play in full without worries of weird vibe variations or lots of spice, this is a great one to pick up. If you are looking for Tyner's spicy magnum opus, this is probably not the right one. 3.5
John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman3.5
While I admire the voice and technique, the singing kind of breaks this for me. As soon as he starts singing I can't help but think this is what our grandmas used to get horny to. Sure in 2020 it might still work as an elegant date bedroom eyes soundtrack, but as a more focused listen it frankly sounds a bit funny now. However instrumentally this is really smooth jazz, and I would have loved just an instrumental album of this. The longest runs without singing like on 3 or 6 are without fail the most enjoyable sections - the latter changing atmospheres to something a touch more upbeat and spicy instrumentally, but still just as snorefest vocally. The instrumental part at 3:15 on 4, or some sections of 1 or 2 can't remember show the musicians and especially the drummer having more fun than you'd expect as soon as the singer stops, and it just makes you wish this had more of that. 3.6
John Coltrane Stardust3.5
Yet another one of those Frankenstein albums made to ride on Coltrane's fame. However I'd say this one is really not that bad and is actually well constructed. It's not exactly the most memorable album - it's mostly just 'nice' jazz without any spice or particular hook for the mind to recall -, but you know what for a lazy afternoon with some warm tea it works just fine. 1 starts very soft and relaxed, then the energy goes up gradually with increasing prominence of drums and swing, until 4 relaxes a little bit somewhere between the energy level of 2 and 3 to wrap things up quite nicely. I liked the bowed bass section and Coltrane's bits on 1, but the rest was really quite filler-y I found. 2 is very nice and so is 3, especially with its very cool finale despite a relatively uneventful bass solo before that. A nice relaxing album - or compilation, rather. 3.7
John Coltrane Dakar3.5
Yet another album released to ride on Coltrane's rising fame. Here he wasn't even leader of the band as these were originally recorded under Pepper Adams' and Cecil Payne's names, which explains the somewhat unusual instrumentation for a Coltrane record with multiple saxophones and baritones, which gives the album a bigbandy sound in places eg the intro of 5. The label just released this as a Coltrane album, but it really isn't quite. Still a fun listen, and within his discog it brings quite fresh stylistic devices - which makes sense since it's not really him is it. 1 is a really fun caravan-esque track that offers more than its intro lets you think, and the main highlight here with the other bookend, 'Cat Walk', which is perfectly titled really need I say more. The intro to 3 is cool, but 2,4-5 kinda feel like you know a fun but meandering session that is a good listen but really won't stick in my memory, although parts of 5 are quite cool. Not quite a Coltrane record, and probably not the one you should check next. 3.4
McCoy Tyner Reaching Fourth3.5
Great playing, solid quality, but mostly generic. Sure the bookends are a little bit faster paced and have touches of rhythmic chaos which add to the fun, but aside from that this is 'good piano jazz' with nothing else to distinguish it from all the other nice piano jazz. 2 is the most relaxed, a very wine jazz type track, whilst 3-5 are a touch faster paced with a touch more drums and are more fancy cocktail party vibes I guess. Textbook 3.45

1962
John Coltrane Standard Coltrane3.5
Yet another one of those Frankestein Coltrane albums put together by the label after he left and without his input. On this one you can really feel it, as the album structure makes no sense. 1 and 4 and really smooth, relaxed evening wine jazz tracks, and the transitions with the far more swingy and playul 2-3 is rather abrupt. 1 is merely ok, the man himself having made nicer and more relaxed jazz in that vibe. Doesn't feel memorable at all. 4 on the other hand is far better executed and is really quite a sweet track overall. 2-3 are quite nice, but on 3 I rather dislike some of the big bands sounding bits where the brass is doubled. The piano bits are really nice and playful though, making up most of the track. Overall a sweet album, but there is far better in his discog even when looking for generic relaxed jazz. Maybe 4 can stay in a playlist or something. 3.45
John Coltrane Coltrane (1962, Impulse)4.0
Perhaps not legendary tier, but certainly top tier Coltrane with yet another album I will come back to. Unlike Plays the Blues in which the sessions felt quite uninspired, here the incessant meandering of the sax, piano and drums are full of flavour and spice. This is particularly true of the delightful opening track, perhaps the best here as it increasingly gets more rich and fun to turn into an absolute jams with many a solo and a lovely surprise chord. 2 is slower and has more of a relaxed evening vibe. Quite sweet before 3 becomes playful again, reminding of 1 and with some quite recognisable melodies. 4 is again slower and gets a bit darker too but is also really sweet, although the slightly protracted conclusion is maybe my one main gripe with this album. 5 brings the energy all the way back up with especially prominent drums, and concludes quite well an album that was pretty much brilliant all the way through, but lacked perhaps a couple behemoth, legendary tracks a la My Favorite Things/ Ole to really make it to 4.5 tier. 4.1
John Coltrane Coltrane Plays the Blues3.5
Much like Settin the Pace, this is a case of the label lumping old Coltrane recordings together and selling the result as an album to benefit from his rising fame at the time. So not really a canon Coltrane record I suppose. Stereo mix is a bit off but the not the worst. Side A is far weaker, and although 1 starts off with a not too memorable but quite nice sort of city cafe atmosphere, the ensuing tracks are of decreasing quality and all too samey. You only notice the track changes because of dips in quality actually, because otherwise the tracks just sound like musicians endlessly jamming for the sake of jamming to try to find ideas but not quite getting there. Overall 3.0 tier pretty much. Thankfully, Side B is much stronger (upper 3.5 tier), with all tracks displaying more ideas and distinctiveness. 4 is sweet and playful, the sax knowing to stay quiet to let the piano shine as well as the bass in a nice outro, 5 is slower and more of a smoother vibe, while 6 is similar to 4, perhaps less good but resolutely superior to anything on side A still. Just jam side B really. Overall 3.4
John Coltrane "Live" at the Village Vanguard4.0
This was super cool, but not as marking as I hoped it to be. Sure, I would have killed to see that live (to be fair I would have given a lot to get to see Coltrane live at any point really), but as a record to listen to I feel like there is better in the man's discog. This is a really sweet session, but that's kind of the issue - it feels like a session. I do love the energy, the prominent drums and the general vibe of the music, although the mixing sounds - forgivably since it's live- a bit off most of the time. The last third of 2 is the peak of the record imo, really darn solid, and 3 gets nicely spicier and adventurous, but sadly with the mix it gets a touch hard on the ear. Solid and good, but positively not my favourite Coltrane. 3.9
McCoy Tyner Inception3.5
Although the rest of the album is a bit more (but not fully) conventional, and slightly compilation-feeling, 1 makes me think I will really enjoy this discog as expected, with its crazy energy and fun dissonances already in the intro. I also thought throughout the album that the drumming was prominently good, whether it be as the frantic stronghold of 1 and 6, the groove of 2, or the solo on 5. I then googled it and it all made sense when it turned out the drummer was none other that another one of Coltrane's quartet members, Elvin Jones. 2 although not as engaging as 1 is still a very fun track that would work well over a rich cocktail/dinner party scene. 3 gets more interesting in places as it goes, whilst 4 is fairly standard but well crafted relaxed nocturnal jazz. Aside from the drum solo 5 also felt fairly generic, whilst 6 was perhaps my second fav here after 1. As expected, Tyner's music works absolutely well without a sax, though sometimes you do wonder how this would have turned out had a fourth member been added to the trio - but that's just because I can't help longing for more classic Coltrane quartet material. 3.6
John Coltrane Ballads3.5
Not much to say about this one. This is the Coltrane album to put in the background while watching your cat sleep by the fire with a glass of wine. Every track is relaxed, velvety smooth late evening jazz. The one note is the couple funky drumming bits on 6, and the fact that the ending to 7 would have concluded the album perfectly, so 8, although not any better or worse than anything that preceded it feels a bit pointless - especially since its own conclusion is rather unremarkable. 4 is the one slight curve ball here, dropping the soft relaxed atmosphere for something more playful and interesting, but even then it still fits relatively well. An album that works very well at being generic, which means it pales in comparison of Coltrane's grandest endeavours. 3.5

1961
John Coltrane Settin' The Pace3.5
As I understand it this isn't really an official Coltrane record; rather, the label
wanting to take advantage of Coltrane's booming fame released old, previously unpublished
recordings long after he stopped working for them, without his input really. This is
nonetheless quite a sweet record, albeit far from his best. 1 has a fun intro with some
percussion I can't identify, then goes on to be a really really relaxed late evening jazz
piece. Perhaps the greatest track here, although the bass solo near the end, while nice,
feels a bit out of place. 2 is a little more upbeat and generic, smooth restaurant jazz
(don't @ me). It's fine but not really memorable. 3 is similar but a lot better and with
occasional spicy touches which I enjoyed. 4 is the most upbeat of all tracks, which is
fitting with the 'Rise and Shine' title. It is quite fun and the last 30 seconds are
particularly good. So bizarrely enough this is actually quite a well constructed record
with a consistent upwards energy curve. 3.65
John Coltrane Olé Coltrane4.0
1961, what a year for Coltrane. The t/t on this is a top tier Coltrane tracks and one of his darkest? at this point, yet swingy at the same time. Easily brought this in 4.5 territory at 4.23-4.3 if not more. It's kind of Favorite Things' dark emo cousin, with some Oriental vibes coming from the Spanish influences. 2 is a bit more regular chill jazz. Like for 1 I really dig the presence of drums in the mix, but it just feels like a safer, less interesting albeit good track. Dropped this just below 4.5 tier, especially because it is a bit too long for its ideas. 3 is far more relaxed, late day jazz. I quite dig it and it is very nice, but I'm not sure I agree with the decision to end on such a downward energy and spice curve. The bonus track flows very well from 3 and just feels like a smoother, date version of 3 that works a little better and is very sweet, but because it wasn't in Coltrane's original releast I don't feel like I can count it in. 4.15
John Coltrane My Favorite Things4.5
Very lighthearted and accessible, but oh so fun. The first track uses the My Favorite
Things Melody which now reminds me of Ari so that was kind of amusing, but the track is
fantastic nonetheless, and very fun all the way through. It is kinda mixed like Time Out,
with a nice foundation of piano holding the fort all the way through. I did find the
mixing a problem on the darker, lazier, more melancholic second track, as the bass is all
the way to the right and all the high frequency instruments are on the left, leaving the
bass almost on its own on one side for a large portion of the track. Thankfully it is the
shortest track here and I'm making a fuss about the mix but it isn't even all that bad
anyway. The third track evokes city vibes to me (city jazz?), and evolves progressively
more 'aggressive' with the drums taking an increasingly prominent space. Perhaps the
least accessible track here, but still plenty fun. The fourth track is a lovely
lighthearted dancy jam and brings this up a point. A jazz classic for sure - I'm feeling
like I really need to do a proper discog run on Coltrane. 4.4 Edit: it's even better the
second time 4.5
John Coltrane Coltrane Jazz3.5
For the most part this is a series of surprisingly well-flowing jazz tunes with a variety of atmospheres, never hugely memorable but always great. The stereo mixing is an issue in places but rarely. 1 is life's good jazz, 2's city jazz, 3's dancy jazz, 7 is lazy slightly sexy jazz, and 8 is dancy again with cool drum breaks. Out of all these 7 does what it does the best and is a jam. 4 and especially 5-6 have a little bit more spice and feel a touch more interesting. 4 has a sort of sly spy/James Bond kind of vibe, then 5 is perhaps the weirdest of all and is really cool in that regard, and 6 starts off quite unique too although that goes down later on. Track conclusion is really nice. This is a very solid jazz record that I'd listen back to with great enjoyment, but in the grand scheme of his discog it doesn't feel quite legendary of marking enough to warrant top tier ranking. Great execution though. 3.7
Giacinto Scelsi Aion2.5
I don't really get Scelsi. To me this sounds like random bouts of semi-evocative B movie horror music, some low ended brass, and awkward silences. I don't at all get the evocative power I enjoy from Ligeti for example. Out of confusion I'll say 2.5
Gyorgy Ligeti Atmospheres4.0
Gorgeous ominous, brooding textural piece by Ligeti, that is intelligently short yet feels
plenty rich. If you have a whole nine minutes to spare this is a must. Jammed the version
from Ligeti Project by Berliner Philharmoniker which seems to have volume issues? 4.1
John Coltrane Africa/Brass4.5
I haven't crushed this hard on a jazz album in a long, long time. In many ways this marks a massive change in Coltrane's discog: this one is more adventurous, the instrumentation is much wider, and the influences range wider. 1 is one of his most daring compositions at that point with lots of little tasteful dissonances, a weird intro that I love, and somehow Rite of Spring vibes that I got goodness knows why. The track is full of depth, with lots of solos that flow very well into one another, including an uncompromising drum solo, and by the midtrack I already knew this would sit in 4.5 tier. 2 expands a famous traditional melody into a more relaxed jazz track with fewer 'experimental' elements, which is a good idea after the wild ride that 1 was. Then finally, the last track is a colourful, kaleidoscopic fresque of fun dancy jazz where Coltrane goes wild over super fun big band goodness. At the start the track wasn't my fave, but it rapidly became so fun that it raised this yet another point. The sound on this record is fantastic (at least in the spotify version) if it weren't for the excessive panning especially noticeable early on, which is perhaps my only complaint here. A masterclass. 4.6

1960
Krzysztof Penderecki Anaklasis3.5
Some really cool bits, but I find some of the percussions break up the atmosphere a bit,
and there are too many quieter sections. But the ones that aren't quiet are quite
fantastic. 3.65
John Coltrane Giant Steps4.0
I don't know if it is the spotify version (maybe) or the fact that I listened on headphones
(probably) but my experience was a bit tainted by the mix and especially the panning.
Having the sax which is the only treble-heavy, "aggressive" sound only on one side kinda
hurts the ear, to a point where I enjoyed sections without sax more because of it. At
least the bass is very nice and audible - but again wholly on one side which is a bit odd.
Still this is great Coltrane material, especially the last two thirds. 1 is dancy and fast
and 2 is nice and swingy , but 3 was a bit of a letdown and again the mix hurt it all. Then
comes 4, perhaps my fav dig here, alternating the simple swing and danciness with a bit
more harmonic spice here and there. The piano solo is love too. 5 continues this semi dark
semi jolly vibe and is a dig too. 6 is lazy and sadder with a very nice vibe, then in what
I found an intelligent conclusion 7 contrasts this with the danciest, catchiest track yet
with super fun melodies. I need to rejam this in a different way. 4.1 Edit: mono mix is way
better, but I was gentle with the stereo mix too. 4.15
John Coltrane Lush Life3.5
No idea what happened with this one. The early record has some of the weakest Coltrane material since his debut (in sput's discog order that is, I gather this album was actually recorded quite close to said debut), but later on things improve dramatically. The first track is quite nice and somewhat interesting being really stripped down. It's pretty much just Coltrane's velvet smooth sax, the rest is very discrete. 2 starts on really weird drums that just don't sound good to me, and follows up with a nice sly, sneaky vibe. But the track feels like it doesn't know where to go or what mood to convey; calm, malice, dissonance, happiness, it just ebbs and flows all over the place and the result doesn't quite work. 3 has a cool jazz feel but is perhaps the weakest track here and I didn't find it convincing at all. The various solo part (esp drums and bass) feel contrived and like they come out of nowhere. Weirdly enough the following track is one of Coltrane's bests at this point. The intro piano is sublime, and the track is rich and evolves in a coherent way unlike 2, from dark vibes to the good life. A solid jam. 5 is perhaps not as stellar but still very good, dancy jazz in the same style of some of his other stuff. These last two on their own would be 4.0 tier, but here this is maybe a 3.6
Krzysztof Penderecki Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima4.5
This will freeze the blood inside your veins. 4.25

1959
The Dave Brubeck Quartet Time Out4.5
Fantastic cool jazz with some of the most instantly recognisable melodies in the genre,
and I'm not only talking about the ultimate classic Take Five. It feels like less of a
unique flow like KoB and more like distinct songs, which isn't a bad thing. The high
points here can get higher than on KoB, but the album feels less consistent overall. A
lot of the tracks feel like they stray too far away and for too long from the melodic
territory they started with. The clearest example of it is the closer, which is one of
the weakest tracks here overall. It feels like the album would gain in having nearly
every track shortened by a minute or two. This is nonetheless a timeless classy, relaxed,
playful, bouncier than KoB autumnal cool jazz classic, with 2-6 being pretty much all
jams. If you think this one is just about Take Five, you are completely incorrect - it is
an achievement that they succeeded in making the tracks following it not feel like a step
down. Some part of me actually prefers some of the live recordings of Take Five, but the
one here is 5.0 worthy still. 4.5
Miles Davis Kind of Blue4.5
Gorgeous, relaxed jazz and one of the most consistent albums at that out there - that I
know of at least. It has an atmosphere to it, that of a timelapse of 50's NYC traffic,
but it is less atmospheric than A Love Supreme. The opener is an incredible feel good
jazz jam and a top tier track, but the problem is that, after 2 which is the perfect
continuation of the track, the album feels a touch like a downwards curve. 3 has a lovely
delicate atmosphere but lingers on it a little too long, and 4 is the weakest track here
although it is nicely playful and cute and certainly still a strong track. 5 is
deliciously relaxed and a gorgeous jazz track. While a jam it also reinforces that
overall feel of overall downwards curve in energy which I'm not sure I am a fan of. Still
a mammoth jazz record of course, and one of the few truly accessible ones. Perfect to get
started on jazz. 4.65
Giacinto Scelsi Quattro Pezzi per Orchestra3.0
I don't know if it is the version I listened to (Vienna RSO) but this sounds like an orchestra made of mosquitoes recording four intro pieces and then calling it a day. The second halves of II and IV do have some ideas, but really I am unimpressed and surprised by how short this is. 3.0
Ritchie Valens Ritchie Valens3.5
Not sure if it's listening conditions or what but despite La Bamba offering irresistible fun this album felt a tad weaker. It alternates between more of the upbeat, road trip, Hollywood kind of tracks that are still quite fun (1, 3 kind of dancey and I feel like I know it from somewhere,6 which is alright, 9, and the closer which at least doesn't end the record on a boring note), and slower, kind of prom soundtrack songs that often feel like they fit his voice a lot less (2,4,8,11). 10 is bluesy and kinda meh but not too bad, and 5 just passes. So yeah this feels like a less cohesive collection of less good songs, and with the exception of a couple tracks I'd never come back to this over the other LP he put out in his sadly short career. 3.4
Pierre Schaeffer Etude Aux Objets3.5
Tracks 2 and 4 (Objets etendus and objets lies) are actually quite dope and ambient/droney but fly by, 1, 3, and 5 are just random bleep bloops that I don't care for however historically relevant they may be. I guess something like 3.4
John Coltrane Coltrane Time4.0
I really dug this one, but quite inexplicably as it is quite simple and not fundamentally different from its immediate predecessors really. The only real difference being the (very occasional) audacities of Cecil Taylor on the piano, first and foremost with the short album intro that I dig a lot. If anything this album makes me want to check out Cecil Taylor actually. Not to take anything from Coltrane purring sax or from the other members really who also hold down the fort very skillfully. After the occasionally mildly dissonant piano ventures on the relatively slow paced 1, the album speeds up with the three ensuing tracks getting dancier and catchier. 2 evokes city jazz quite strongly, on 3 the rhythm section is having a blast and takes the spotlight here and there, then on 4 the brass comes back to the centre stage. Far from his most legendary record probably, but one I thoroughly enjoyed for sure. Oh and this was originally issue as a Cecil Taylor album titled Stereo Drive and titled Hard Driving Jazz for its mono version per wikipedia, so idk really where to rate this. 4.0
Ritchie Valens Ritchie4.0
This was surprisingly good, but the latter third let me down quite badly. I hardly know the first thing about 50's music so bear with me. His young voice is quite refreshing I have to say, and makes balladey songs like 1 actually enjoyable for me. Quite obviously this is more a compilation of tracks than a properly constructed album but oh well. 2 is catchy and fun rock'n'roll, 3 is an ok blues song, 4 is again fun and upbeat - the kind of music you hear in roadtrip scenes in American movies -, but the real surprise here comes on 5. A jam that I could only describe as a sad folk ballad? Super cool, some of the guitars sound like they could be from a 90's emo song or something. 6 is more US roadtrip music, fun but not super memorable. It all goes downhill from the quite boring soul 7 and onward. 8 is also boring in ballad style this time. 9 and 10 are instrumental, and I do find it a good idea and a surprising album construction feature to offer a break from his vocals. Both tracks are kinda nice, but sadly the closer is boring again and the only track where his voice did not work for me. Still a surprisingly nice album that charmed me more than I expected it to. 5 alone bumps it a point to a (what a sad story this guy had man) 3.8

1958
John Coltrane Soultrane4.0
A very sweet opus, perhaps not ever truly marking, but also practically faultless. Soultrane alternates high energy and moodier, softer tracks with clock-like precision, starting on the perhaps slighly overlong but nicely swingy Good Bait, and ending on a track that is the only curve ball here, starting with exquisite, delicate piano, with then an abrupt transition into one of the fastest paced sections on the whole record. Honestly? It works, and the album makes it to 4.0 tier because there isn't a single unpleasant moment in it really. 3.8
John Coltrane John Coltrane with the Red Garland Trio4.0
A very nice bop record that feels perhaps underrated following Blue Train. Sure, I do feel like the parts that do not feature Coltrane's sax are a bit weaker than the rest - with the exception of the gorgeous Slow Dance where the piano-led sections are equally lovely -, and the fast paced closer, while potentially a fun track in a vacuum, perplexes me a little bit here for it feels entirely out of context after the peaceful tracks that preceded it, and feels like a very short, entirely unnecessary disruption to the album to end it abruptly. But for most of its course the album is quite loveable still and a fun piece to play every now and then. 3.75
John Coltrane Blue Train4.0
Coltrane's jazz never got dancier than this. 4.2
Krzysztof Penderecki Three Miniatures for Clarinet and Piano3.0
This is nice, 1 and 3 are fun and playful, but it's also so short and random it feels like excerpts from a bigger piece instead of something that would work standalone. It's weird to rate but I'd say 3.0
Cecil Taylor Stereo Drive4.0
As I understand it and per wikipedia this is the same album as Coltrane's Coltrane time. I rate this entry too because it only has one vote and poor Cecil Taylor deserves a fair few more ratings on an album that was originally released under his name I think? See my Coltrane soundoff for the deets .4.0

1957
John Coltrane Coltrane (Prestige, 1957)3.5
An okay debut that I sadly feels isn't too memorable or marking. In fact the single most memorable thing here is the 'hook' or whatever you want to call it that features on 1 starting from the very intro, and boasts a farty brass instrument that I can't quite identify and that breaks an otherwise nice smooth jazz tracks as soon as it pops up. For the rest, this is all very nice, but not hugely marking jazz, 2 being smooth and mellow with tasty piano, 3 being nice and dancier but with a bass solo I'm not too convinced by, 4 which offers more of the same with the occasional return of the farty brass, 5 with a slightly more interesting, mysterious, playfuk, pink panthery almost vibe to it but that looses interest as it goes, and 6 which is more of the unremarkable same. A nice debut with hardly a faux pas, but not really a Coltrane album I'd come back to. 3.6

1956
Ravi Shankar Three Ragas4.5
Did you like that last AAL album? Listen to this. 4.4

1954
Gyorgy Ligeti String Quartet No. 14.0
No stringed instruments were harmed in the recording process. As you'd expect, a lovely, but quite scary and somewhat chaotic piece from Ligeti, going from frozen string dissonances, to relatively conventional sections, to 'riffy' Rite of Spring-esque sections. While scary and deliciously epileptic, I found this perhaps less atmospheric than some of his other pieces. It is still delightful to discover all the ways Ligeti keeps finding to torture the instruments to scare us and surprise us as the piece goes, and it is very much an enjoyable and eventful listen. There are some really fantastic bits but not always, and because the version I listened to (Ralf Ehlers - Arditti quartet) had the whole piece on one track with no separation it is a bit tough to refer to it. A piece for appreciators of the genre, perhaps not a first choice for those who seek to discover it though. 4.0

1953
Pierre Schaeffer Orphée 533.5
Calling this an 'opera' as I've seen is a bit of a stretch, but I did enjoy hearing a longer piece from him. The first few minutes got me really pumped up as they evoke Ligeti-ish, kind of ominous orchestrated music, but rendered even more ominous through tape effects thereby making tape a strong added value. Sadly, a lot of what ensues is what I would call relatively random sounds and noises here and there, some of which are on the border of funny and not really fitting with the atmosphere I am getting from this (perhaps it is my own fault as a listener though), for which I would say again the interest is merely historical and not too musical. There are lots of good bits here and there, with nice ideas, surprises (sudden bursts of piano or even brass) and textures (for example the atmosphere behind the German vocal in the middle of the piece around min 20), as well as recurring themes which is fun, min 27 showcasing great atmosphere and a lot of the themes and surprises that were included in the first half of the piece. But on the whole I can't say this is a fantastic listen, albeit it sure is an interesting one. 3.55
Francis Poulenc Trois Pieces3.5
Still Alexandre Tharaud. This one is good but a bit all over the place. 1 is Poulenc's Gnossienne 1 in vibe and I quite like it, the end of 2 is really sweet, and 3 is ADHD in piano form. Nice but not really the piece I'd come back to. 3.5

1950
Pierre Schaeffer Suite Pour Quatorze Instruments3.5
This one feels a lot like a weird piece of orchestrated music more than a tape/electronic piece in places really. It does offer good vibes, but all the relative randomness and sudden changes of atmospheres (probably owing to the tape splicing etc mixing different bits of various pieces of music) achieve is to make me feel like I am listening to the OST of some movie that doesn't exist, where the sudden additions are justified by images or actions on-screen. Again the historical value is undeniable and this isn't a bad listen by any means, but I felt far less transported by it. It feels more like it belongs to its time than the previous pieces did. I do like the Prelude, and the conclusion of the Vth act is really cool and more avantgardey than the rest. 3.6
Pierre Schaeffer Symphonie Pour Homme Seul4.0
This one uses tape in much more interesting ways that Suite Pour Quatorze Instruments, and why it may seem very bizarre and random to some I did really enjoy it. Feels like a snapshot of the mind of a madman. I'll come back to this I think. 3.95

1948
Pierre Schaeffer Cinq études de bruits4.0
Tape field recordings from 1948 anyone? This one is again very interesting historically speaking, but feels less like something I'd keep in my library, although Etude Violette is a jam, Etude Noire is cool with its reversed tapes, and Etude Pathetique past the first minute experiments nicely with pretty chimes and spliced up vocals. 3.9
Pierre Schaeffer Diapason Concertino4.0
I love this. It is quite amusing that a lot of the sounds and textures I hear here are
things drone/ambient/experimental artists are replicating with tape desks etc. nowadays,
whereas back then it was the forefront of musical technology/evolution. The interest of
this tape piece is far from being merely historical, and it has very sweet compositions in
and of itself with a superb collage of piano parts and other bits. If this were released
today, it'd already be cool - but the fact that it is from 1948 adds so much more eerie
flavour to it. 4.2

1938
Francis Poulenc Nocturnes4.0
Very enjoyable Nocturnes pour piano with compelling story telling. It's not the most famous or
memorable piece but I really liked it. Jammed Alexandra Tharaud's take. 3.73.9

1928
Igor Stravinsky Apollon Musagète4.0
Very lovely romantic mostly strings based piece. It is very relaxing and very nice at the end of hte day. Will def jam again. Idk what else to say about it. Jammed the von Karajan-led Berliner Philharmoniker 1973 version based on the 1947 altered version of hte piece. 4.0

1923
Igor Stravinsky Octet for Wind Instruments3.5
This has some fun ideas and sections, and it is sufficiently short to make the unusual
instrumentation not annoying or anything, but it also only occasionally grabbed my attention
and mostly sounds a bit light and jolly to me without much depth otherwise. Jammed the
Eastman Wind Ensemble version. 3.5

1921
Igor Stravinsky Symphonies of Wind Instruments3.0
Do you want a piece that has essentially the same vibe as the interludes as the Rite of Spring and not much else? This is the record for you then. It even feels like some of the recorded tracks are missing in places - this is nice, but calls for more. jammed Boulez's rendition with the Berliner Philarmoniker. 3.2

1918
Igor Stravinsky L'Histoire du soldat3.5
A cute, relaxed piece which was a great fit for a lazy Sunday morning, that feels like it tells stories with a Wes Anderson vibe - a bit goofy and quite jolly. Like village drama or something. Part II is goofier than part I, especially in its intro. 6 feels almost like the village tavern soudntrack/bar or something. But yea not much more to say about that - if it played on classic fm I would enjoy it, but I wouldnt seek out another listen particularly. 3.6
Francis Poulenc Mouvements Perpetuels3.5
A very sweet listen of a piece with lots of movement - just a bit short. Like the nocturnes I jammed Alexandra Tharaud's take. 3.7

1917
Maurice Ravel Le Tombeau de Couperin4.0
I really loved the start of this, with a prelude beginning extremely aerial, playful, and dreamy. A special moment. The rest is a lot more conventional. 2 and especially 3 are very frolicky, whilst 4 struggle to find its footing with me a bit. Memorable for 1, probably also rejammable 3. 3.9
Igor Stravinsky Le chant du rossignol4.0
Unlike Petrushka, Oiseau and Sacre, I had absolutely never heard this one. I might perhaps bump it at some stage but I feel like I would need to get more familiar with it first. This makes cartoons play in your head. It switches vibes very fast yet very smoothly, going from utter evil to colourful frolic, from relaxed to furious, from tiny little bells that remind of the fee dragee to loud brass. I love the interplay between piano and flutes in the 4th movement for example (by far the longest). The 1st movement is probably the craziest and most dissonant, qutie impressively so for 1917. But to be honest I loved every movement here which is rare, though of course the overall quite short length helps. Outstanding piece that deserves another few listens from me. Today was, quite at random, Boulez's take with the Cleveland Orchestra. 4.2

1915
Claude Debussy 6 Épigraphes antiques L.1313.5
This is late Debussy, and the compositional prowess and style remain recognisable of course. But the atmosphere of these 6 pieces is - understandably - not very coherent, some being a little more mysterious and inquisitive, and other being more contemplative and soul-resting more along the lines of his better known piece. And I can't help but prefer the latter category. Furthermore I don't feel like any of these have the magic and memorable factor of some his other stuff. So not my favourite Debussy material for sure, but still a nice listen without doubt. 3.5

1914
Maurice Ravel Piano Trio in A Minor4.0
Very extra piano trio especially past the first movement, but well crafted and excellent background music to a tortured moment of reflection with a glass of wine. 2 is more playful, 3 more melancholic then dramatic, and 4 is the extra-est of them all. Not the most focused listen ngl, doing some e-learning at the same time woop. [JBL] Listened to the Beaux Arts trio version. 4.2

1913
Igor Stravinsky Le Sacre du Printemps4.5
F*ck yes. Jammed Seiji Ozawa's version today and it seems like a good standard to me - pretty much what I know from the piece 4.75

1912
Maurice Ravel Daphnis et Chloé4.0
Kinda hit and miss symphonie chorographique (read:orchestral storytelling) from Ravel. When it hits, it hits hard. The use of voices in the introductions to the first and seconds parts (which, for the first partie, includes the second track too) create a sense of mysterious wonder that I love and that you get from some of the best movie soundtracks. The third part as a whole, though its end goes a bit intense, is also masterful in its story telling ability. Combined with the visions of a flock of bird going crazy outside, it really transported me to a fantastic place for a good chunk of time there. Miss, because the bulk of the first two Parties is kind of less compelling to me - idk if it was listening conditions, but it kind of just happened in the background for me, and without fail when I was brought back to the piece, it was because the introduction to a new Partie started - with the exception of the third partie which again is compelling in full. Jammed the Boulez 1995 Berliner Philarmoniker version. 3.8
Erik Satie Pièces Froides3.0
Not his best piano works. Great ideas in almost every track, but almost none on par with the magic of some of his other pieces. The first act, 'Airs faire fuir' sounds almost classical at times. The second act is better in that perspective, but also slightly less emotion-inducing I found. Favourites were probably 'Modestement', 'Passer' and 'Encore'. 3.2
Paul Dukas La Péri3.5
Very neat, albeit rather forgettable ballet by Dukas, which certainly has his distinct patte in places, and which has a very 'movie music' quality to it with quite expansive changes of mood as if to fit different scenes. Nice and I could listen to it again gladly, but equally I wouldn't die any sadder if I didn't. 3.7
Albert Roussel Le Festin de L'Araignée4.0
Really love this kind of energetic, ever changing, cinematic yet jolly vibe - you can see the cartoon play before your very eyes. Thoroughly enjoyed it. 4.2

1911
Igor Stravinsky Petrushka4.0
Between the Firebird and Rite I would say this isn't as thrilling, but if you remove that shadow the piece is a very fun, full 16ish minutes that never falls flat and is relatively jolly/upbeat in tone, at any rate moreso than the other two ballets were. I listened to the Berliner, Stokowski take of the 1911 version. The record is a bit old and the audio saturates in lots of places, so maybe it wasn't the best. 4.0

1910
Igor Stravinsky L'Oiseau de feu4.5
I realised halfway through playing that I was listening to a recording of the 1919 version (by Bernstein within London SO) and not a recording of the original version. Some of the similarities that I see between this and le Sacre are potentially due to that then. This holds a lot of the evocative power of Sacre, and a lot of its violence too (the Firebird Dance and the Infernal Dance especially), and in a vacuum this is a great piece. There is something special about Stravinsky's Russian era music. In comparison to le Sacre, this pales in terms of dissonance, experimentation, grandeur, length, and rpetty much every aspect; but in a vacuum, it is an excellent piece in its own right. Will check the 1910 version though. 4.3
Gustav Mahler Symphony No. 10 in F sharp [Unfinished]4.0
I don't know how to rate it since it is unfinished, but this is glorious Mahler material. Jammed Bernstein's take. 1 is a lovely first track, pretty much spotless. 2 brings in a lot of twisted and dark notes. 4 has a lovely, 'hook' section in the middle. 5 was my favourite here, it dies out slowly, I don't even know if it was planned, but it is so wonderfuly melancholic in a way, symbolising Mahler's departure from this world. Big jam for that. Overall this is absolutely worth checking out and I'd say 4.2
Gustav Mahler Symphony No. 94.0
Jammed Abbado's take. Movement 1 is sublime from the first few seconds, has surprisingly dark turns, is incredibly cinematic, and holds the distance perfectly despite being 25min long. Some fav Mahler material. The rest of the symphony does not feel as much like top tier Mahler material though. 2 is the weakest, 3 is a lot better. I love and hate 4, its beginning is lovely and sad, and I love how it lets the music die out properly instead of having a generic grand finale, but the bulk of the first half felt quite meh. Overall 4.1

1909
Maurice Ravel Gaspard de la nuit, M. 554.0
A progressive descent into madness in piano form. 1: que la folie est belle. Globally a very pretty track, although it gets perhaps a bit too nervous in places for relaxed piano playlists - but superb throughout. 2 is sadder, icy almost. 3 goes even deeper, and goes a bit more into vaguely dissonant anxiousness. It sounds almost gershwiny in places weirdly at first, but with it being stressed for 9 minutes with some relatively big semi silences, I found it relatively less engaging than 1-2 and my rating went down a fair bit. Jammed Martha Argerich's performance. 3.8
Paul Dukas Prelude Elegiaque sur le Nom de Haydn4.0
This is a nice and broody piece for playlists, but it is also so short and not quite recognisable enough that it doesn't warrant much more than at best a 4.1

1908
Gustav Mahler Symphony No.74.0
Once again, a superb symphony with incredibly cinematic storytelling capabilities. I and II evoke classic Mahler material, but told from the bad guy's point of view, with more dissonances and evil sounding melodic lines. Lovely. III and IV see Mahler go a little bit more 'experimental', and these movements especially the two Nachtmuzik are probably my fav on the record as they show a side to Mahler's music that I have not seen much before. I didn't fall in love with V however, and it brings the symphony down a point or two for me - the grand romantic finale feels a touch grotesque after the insidious subtlety of the prior two movements. 4.1
Sergei Rachmaninoff Symphony No. 2 in E minor, Op. 274.0
Jammed Valery Gergiev's LSO take. Excellent symphony with lots of depth, very little downtime, and a variety of atmospheres packed very quickly like fluidly after one another, but that because of this also feels like it lacks stand out section for the memory to latch upon. There's lots to unpack and one listen doesn't quite do it justice, but also backlog be backlog man. The entry to the first movement is really nice and dark, and the movement in general has quite a dark, emotional, enhanced history doc vibe to it. I feel like it is a touch timid and could go further in the emotional romanticism in place but it is still fantastically well executed. It does drag though, and the Wagneresque parts at min 17 for example aren't quite the best, and the finale thereafter also feels a bit drawn out. The reprise on 2 is really nice though, with lots and lots of depth and ideas flowing very well. 3 is softer and quite nice, really heavily romantic - as in romance not stylistically this time - in places, while 4 starts off with a mildly amusing, midnight ball sort of vibe, but by min 7 gets quite cool and offers a nice -stylistically- romantic finale. I might be a bit harsh but this was too confusing for a single listen. Don't compare this with my Mahler ratings etc pls. 4.1
Gustav Mahler Das Lied von der Erde3.0
1-2 have to be commended for making me like an opera for solo male voice in German. 1 is quite bleak although it gets romantic by the end, and bar a few weird notes it's really nice. 2 is also really nice. 3 goes all naive and 'champetre', goes a bit Disney-esque almost, and although it is cute by the end I was a bit bored. The rest of the piece mostly oscillates between those naive zzz bits and some nicer, darker bits that often don't last very long. The mammoth 31min last movement puts the last nail in the coffin and, although never truly bad (only track 4 is actually annoying in places), it just lost me completely and brings the piece down a point. Sorry Gustav. 3.2
Maurice Ravel Rapsodie espagnole3.5
A very romantic sounding Ravel piece which is quite good at what it does but ultimately did not strike me in particularly outstanding within the larger scope of its repertoire. I do like the tragic vibe underlying the romance in 1, as well as its very calm conclusion, I like the mild espanol vibes on 2, and 4 even more so when it gets all carnivalesque and festive. But ultimately whilst this is great I don't feel like this is a piece I'd call a Ravel favourite. 3.6

1907
Abel Decaux Clairs de Lune4.5
A fantastic tetrad of piano pieces found by mr budgie thanku. Played Frederic Chiu's recording. This was written between the years 1900 and 1907 per wiki, and that is quite impressive. The intro to 1 is an instant attention grabber and quite fantastic in how broody and calmly thrilling it is. There are short dissonant bursts that are quite cool and impressive for the time, although it ruptures with the soft Debussy Ravel & co. sort of aesthetic, so I like them a touch lses. It really is a dark soundtrack to watch things decay. 2 continues this with perhaps fewer dissonances, and lots of expressive imagery, reminding of Dukas' Apprenti Sorcier a bit. 3 is softer and complentative, which is very nice - however at that stage I felt a bit like the 'goodness shock' of the first track was wearing off, and was looking at a 4.2. But the brooding, wonderfully atmospheric last track brings things back up to a solid 4.3

1906
Gustav Mahler Symphony No. 6 in A minor, "Tragic" 4.0
Jammed Bernstein's Wiener take. This is a lovely symphony as always, but I feel like the last half hour with vocals is too long and again, not Mahler's strong suit. Movement I and III struck me the most, with III being some of the most emotional Mahler material yet, and both being jams. Also feel like I'm going to saturate my high ratings with Mahler's symphonies here darn it. First part is 4.25 and this is definitely one of his pieces I might come back to, but overall it's a 4.1
Maurice Ravel Sonatine4.0
Que c'est magnifique. A beautiful albeit rather short piece on the pieno, with many facets and
many moods, and many moments of absolute beauty. Might grow as i rejam it. Checked Bertrand
Chamayou's take today. 4.2
Gustav Mahler Symphony No. 8 in E Flat Major4.0
Jammed Solti's take. The first part (1-6) is fantastic, contender for fav Mahler material, and a solid 4.4 at least. Vocals that I for once really dig, sublime evilness, dissonance here and there. This is much more marking and memorable than the rest of his symphonies so far, no matter their quality. 5 is the only place where it works a bit less, but the finale on 6 is superb. Will definitely jam that first part again. The second part is a huge disappoint in comparison, loosing its energy, coming back to classic Mahler material (and honestly quite a bland flavour of it). Lost my interest especially in comparison to the innovative and interesting first part. Vox less prominent, but far less well executed - e.g. the male opera solo in German on 8 or Christmas carol-evoking vox on 10. The finale is especially zzz and way too long. So overall this is merely a 4.15

1903
Maurice Ravel String Quartet in F Major4.5
Excellent string quartet with lots of colour and variety to it. Movement II is a particular highlight for me with its many extremely playful and fun sections with plucked strings and whatnot. I is far more conventional and grave in tone but is quite sweet in a posh garden party way. III is even more grave, but there is a complete shift towards hopeful vibes mid-movement. Finally IV sounds like the panicked, frantic soundtrack to a severe betrayal, and works quite well as the shortest movement here. Jammed the 1986 Cleveland quartet version because why not. 4.3
Alexander Scriabin 8 Etudes, Op.423.5
I appreciate that these are etudes, and they certainly require lots of virtuosity to be played. But the overall result is not overwhelmingly good. 1,2, or 8 sounds like beautiful impressionist composition, but after somebody tripled the number of notes on the sheet and played by somebody on 16 cups of coffee before 9am. 3 exaggeratees this even further and has almost a bumblebee-like quality to it. 5 and 6 make it work a lot better, and have lots of color to them with some villainous parts, some crazy parts, and more introspective sections. 4 stands apart from the rest as the only track that doesnt feel so accelerated and overcrowded, being a delicate, soft piece with a lot of impressionistic value to it and a slight touch of spice still, whilst 7 is too short to really say much about. 3.3
Claude Debussy Estampes, L. 1004.0
As always beautiful impressionist pieces with Debussy, where you don't really know whether the titles are just formidably well chosen or if they guide your mental imagery of the music. In any case, 1 could fit on a a Ghibli, and 3 really feels like a rainy day. That last track is especially quite the voyage. 2 is a bit more en demi-teinte. It has some lovely melodies to it, and even jazzy bits, but between the other two it feels a bit like a downer, whilst the bookends are faves. I jammed Arrau's version at random, but I don't think it was the best because I felt like his piano got angrier than it needed to be for something so soothing. 4.1

1902
Maurice Ravel Jeux d'Eau, M.304.0
Again, this is extremely short so weird to rate, but it is so powerfully impressionist, I love
it! You can see the rain reverbertaing on the lake from the cascading piano notes. Alexandre
Tharaud's version is what I am rating again. 4.2
Paul Dukas Variations, Interlude, Finale on a Theme by Rameau3.5
I wasn't really thrilled by this. It feels like the piano is played well, but not in ways that capture the attention except in a couple places - the faster paced 4 or 6, or the brooding variation 11. Otherwise it's not really that mood setting, although I will say the tracks transition seamlessly, and although the individual runtimes are very short this does not feel disjointed at least. Jammed Chantal Stiglani's version. 3.3
Gustav Mahler Symphony No. 5 in C sharp minor4.5
Probably my favourite of his so far on first listen. It feels like it offers much more in terms of memorable hooks, eg at minute 4 on III. Jammed Abbado's take. I starts with a nice intro, its first third is a bit flavourless, but the rise around min 5 is superb. II is my favourite Mahler movement at this point, with compelling storytelling, lots of dynamics and dramatic melodies. III is in the same vein, and made me decide this was my fave Mahler symphony. Min 14-15 is superb. IV is much more relaxed than the prior two movements, but that is most welcome given their dynamics and fullness. V is nice but not the best of all these. The finale is fine but not to the level of II/III. 4.3

1901
Gustav Mahler Symphony No. 4 in G major4.0
Jammed Szell's remastered take. Very nice symphony. One of my favourites so far, yet it feels like a 4.1-ish. I probably rated the rest of his stuff a point too high, because I am still missing the hooks and memorable melodies people like Stravinsky exhibit to rate this in 4.5 range. 1st movement reminded me of the enchantment I found with his first symphony, with incredible storytelling potential. The second movement is my favourite here and a jam with its sweet darker tones. The third movement is more mellow and bland in its first half, but the second half turns much more dynamic and as always retains fantastic storytelling potential. Fourth movement has one of the best Mahler vocal sections I've heard and is nice. Overall if I am consistent with my past ratings for him this should be a 4.2 or so, but in reality I should drop my old ratings a point because this is a 4.15

1900
Alexander Scriabin Symphony No. 1, Op. 264.0
This is a wonderful relaxing symphony and is well worth the listen. It might be because with the nice morning sun I was really looking for a nice relaxed piece but man this was a joy. I gotta say the (rare) more intense bits, especially in the first allegro, were a bit less my jam, but I think that is clearly because of listening conditions, whilst the second allegro makes the intensity really work. The last movement is a bit of a curveball, and makes you almost think you're listening to a different piece as the voices kick in. I quite like it, and I think in a vacuum that last movement is great, but it just feels a bit randomly lumped in at the end. When the voices ove from solo to choral in the last third or so, it gets really nice and intense to be fair. 4.1

1899
Maurice Ravel Pavane pour une infante défunte4.0
Jammed Ragna Schirmer's version a bit at random. Extremely beautiful piece, and it tells so much
of a story in such a short amount of time. It's also a single sub 10 min track so it's a bit
weird to rate. Maurice I love your work don't judge me this is a meaningless rating on
sputnikmusic dot com 3.8

1898
Gustav Mahler Symphony No. 3 in D minor4.0
Jammed Horenstein's take. Movement I is captivating and I love its darkness. Has a bit of a military tone to it. Movement III offers a nice contrast. IV and V kinda lost me, adding in voice parts that don't really fit imo, and even sounding like at Christmas song in a couple sections. VI picks it up again and is great. I-III are 4.3 material, but overall this is a 4.2r
Alexander Scriabin Piano Sonata No.3, Op.234.0
One of the more consistent Scriabin piano sonatas so far, except perhaps in the last movement. I like to picture 1 as what Debussy would write if he came home drunk and a bit angry late at night and hammered the piano a bit too hard in places, but still crafted beauty out of it. It is the 'Drammatico' movement after all. 2 feels like playful villain music, like what would play as background of the evil plot in an old Tom & Jerry cartoon, and is short enough to make it work. 3 is softer, sadder, and perhaps my fave track here. 4 starts kind of like 2 with a ncie added cascadic feel, but then the movement is a bit erratic, getting very intense in the midtrack, Gershwiney almost in its abrupts accelerations and transitions from soft to intense. I liked it okay but I find it's not on par with the rest. 3.9

1897
Alexander Scriabin Piano Concerto in F Sharp Minor, Op. 204.0
Movement 1 gets very romantic and extra but is really quite good at it, movement 2 feels like an idyllic spring morning except in its middle portion which is sadder and that ruptures a bit with the rest, and movement 3 is kinda like 1 but perhaps with more of an emphasis on the piano especially early on. All very good, and yes it's maybe not the most stunning concerto ever, but it is great. 3.9
Paul Dukas The Sorcerer's Apprentice (L'apprenti sorcier)4.0
Hard to not relive the Fantasia animation with this one. The piece itself has some excellent motifs, and I particularly like its slow buildup and its conclusion, but I gotta say my enthusiasm was tamed somewhat in the later middle section as it seems to go in circles a bit. Still an excellent, legendary piece that I'd rejam gladly. Listened to the version pictured here i.e. Cincinnati orchestra. 4.0
Erik Satie Gnossiennes4.5
From reading online I gather only Gnossienne 1-3 were named as such by Satie, 4-7 having
been lumped in there posthumously. So I'm only talking about 1-3 here.rAbsolutely
stunning piano works with a unique, uneasy yet elegant feeling. No. 2 is my least
favourite, but 1 and 3 are absolute masterpieces. I sometimes prefer these to the
extremely overused Gymnopedies - depends on the mood really. They are drastically
different pieces of about equal quality. 4.4
Edit: jammed Hans Sjögren's version which I quite like today, and I take back what I said
on the second Gnossienne: it is short and sweet, and I don't really see it as a dip in
quality. I do feel like I prefer the third over both the other two Gnossiennes. 4.3

1896
Francisco Tarrega Recuerdos de la Alhambra4.0
A lovely guitar piece, but where Capricio Arabe sets the mood, this one feels like it'd need some Spanish sun to be fully enjoyed and find its vibe. Still 3.8

1895
Gustav Mahler Symphony No. 2 in C minor, "Resurrection"4.0
Jammed Bernstein's version. This one feels more epic and heroic than the 1st, and has some vocals towards the end. Great storytelling again. Least favourite movements were III and IV. Favourite was probably the 1st? Have to re-listen, this is a long and dense piece with lots going on, but at least on first listen the average quality was excellent but there weren't any super memorable 4.5+ moments. 4.25

1894
Alexander Scriabin 12 Etudes, Op.83.5
Good piano etudes that all work well on the whole except the 12th which gets a bit obnoxious at times, at least in the version by Alexander Paley that I listened to. Otherwise they go from very slight dissonance and burstey accelerations to soft French-esque impressionsism - especially 8 -, a mix which I am finding more and more characteristic of Scriabin. 3.6

1892
Paul Dukas Polyeucte3.5
A nice overture written by Dukas for a drama by Corneille. It starts of very evil and gradually settles down to more happiness. It's nice, I probably won't hear it again though. 3.6
Alexander Scriabin Piano Sonata No. 1 in F minor, Op. 64.0
Jammed Ashkenazy's take. Excellent piece which I think I preferred to the 2nd Sonata as it feels more coherent throughout. First movement starts rather angrily and furiously but resolves in a beautiful starry night feeling. Again Scriabin reminds me of the French impressionists but with added angst and bursts of slight aggressivity, which is a cool variation. This is particularly clear in the second movement which is much sadder than the first. The third continues this but does get a bit crazy like the start of 1 again, then 4 really wears its 'Funebre' name quite accurately. Great piece, with a little more in the way of stunning moments than the second I daresay. 4.0
Alexander Scriabin Piano Sonata No. 2 in G sharp minor Op.194.0
Pogorelich's recording is excellent, though the volume spkikes a little too much in places. First movement evokes sublimely the French impressionists in places, but on the whole there is just a little bit more dissonance and adventure than you normally find with those. The second movement is a lot more adventurous and feels a lot like a cascade of flashing colours, but ends a bit out of the blue. Both are nice but have too few blissful moments for this to be on par with some other pieces, yet it remains great. 3.8
Francisco Tarrega Capricho árabe4.5
Can a guitar be any more soothing than that? 4.6

1891
Claude Debussy Deux arabesques, L. 664.0
Arabesque no. 1's opening and closing melody is some of the most gorgeous piano music I have ever heard. The middle is beautiful too albeit not at that same incredible level and the whole Arabesque is a solid 4.4. Arabesque no. 2 breaks the mood for me a little however, with its more classical, less impressionist style that I would almost call quirky at times, bringing the collection down for me. 4.0
Ernest Chausson Concert in D Major, Op. 214.0
Well ngl I kinda listened to this randomly because his name is funny but turns out it's actually super good. It is the perfect soundtrack to a villain whose big plan failed sulking over his defeat and brooding over increasingly demented plans to upturn his failure. It has the same slightly mad, slightly evil vibe of Schoenberg's non dissonant works, although perhaps a bit milder, and I'm all for it. It also has loads of wonderful piano moments interspersed amidst the dramatic strings. The fourth movement does feel a touch too long, and the conclusion is a bit too cliche compared to the work that precedes it, but still I liked this an awful lot. 4.1

1890
Claude Debussy Fantaisie Pour Piano Et Orchestre L.734.5
Frolic. Verb. (intransitive) 1. To make merry; to have fun; to romp; to behave playfully and uninhibitedly. [from 1580s] We saw the lambs frolicking in the meadow. 2. (transitive, archaic) To cause to be merry.r4.3

1888
Gustav Mahler Symphony No. 1 in D major, "Titan"4.0
I jammed the 1893 version with 5 movements. Not the most memorable symphony ever, yet I was
amazed by its incredible storytelling capacity. You see some Disney cartoon or 60-70's
heroic movie play before your eyes without having to think about it at all. This is
especially true of the Allegro Comodo movement (1st), and the Allegro Furioso (5th) has
fantastic moments too. Very romantic (style wise) symphonies, and very cinematic too.
Excited for the rest of his stuff. Have to re-listen with more attention and in the final
1899 version without the Blumine movement. 4.1

1874
Camille Saint-Saens Danse macabre, Op.404.0
Who said classical can't be fun. This never fails to entertain. The middle passage doesn't feel aaaas compelling, and on a piece this short that hurts a bit, but man I always love hearing this. Jammed Bernstein's NYPO take this time round. 4.2

1845
Robert Schumann Piano Concerto in A minor, Op.544.0
This concerto packs so much in the space of 30 minutes it's quite unbelievable. Beyond description probably. It goes from sad to frolicky, from delicate to vast and wide, from subtle to grandiloquent, all the while getting the musicians to display excellent virtuosity. The number of musical ideas per minute is truly impressive. I'm not going to say more: just enjoy it in full, in all its grandeur. 4.2

1713
Giuseppe Tartini "Devil's Trill Sonata" Violin Sonata in G minor4.0
A fun piece which would rather impress me were someone to play it in front of me, and that
works nicely to pretend you are elevated when having guests - despite the 'devil' quality
it is labelled with. A bit of the end of the first movement is used by Gramatik as a sample
and I'm glad I know where that comes from now. Bonus point for epic name. 3.9

1711
Antonio Vivaldi Violin Concerto in A Minor, Op. 3 No. 6 RV 3564.0
Jammed the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra version depicted here a bit at random. 1 and 3 are very classical but very effective garden party violin type concertos in regular Vivaldi fashion, with a preference for the first as the latter is a tad short. The middle piece is more interesting as it is a bit sadder and melancholic, which brings this to a safe 3.8
Antonio Vivaldi Concerto for 2 violins in A minor, RV 5224.5
One of my favourite Vivaldi concertos and concertos period. It's classical but every part just works so well at what it does . 4.3

1690
Johann Pachelbel Toccata in E minor3.5
The beginning and right after half are cool sections but the rest isn't hugely memorable organ music. And this is super short too so weird to rate. 3.5

1680
Johann Pachelbel Canon and Gigue in D4.0
canon rock ftw (impossible to unhear it but this is a lovely composition nonetheless) 4.1
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