While I genrally try to avoid a political album, Radiohead has created a manifesto, that seems to sail over politics and judge it harshly, the way we imagine aliens would the human race.
Also, here's Thom Yorke's alternate tracklist:
There, There
The Gloaming (the live version of this song, is amazing!)
Sail to the Moon
Sit Down, Stand Up
Go To Sleep
Where I end and you begin
Scatterbrain
2+2=5 (sort of works that jonny starts the song the way he does after scatterbrain)
Myxomatosis
A Wolf at ... read more
I think the first Kanye album you listen to from start to finish, is usually that persons favorite and thats very telling of the worlds Kanye creates for each album, this was my first, complete listen, I was aware of Graduation/LR/CD of course, but never listened to the entire records this was the era of Bluetooth, also since his singles were so overblown and the deep-cuts were so well exhumed in remixes and hip-hop culture that I heard most of those records, just not as complete bodies of ... read more
When this album is not approached as a supergroup album, but just listened to on the basis of being a rock album, it shines through as one of if not the best rock album of 2002 and that is no small feat at all. The biggest problem here, is that two to four different groups of fans were coming to this album each with radically different expectations, its no wonder the band broke up from all the pressure associated.
What You Are and Shadow on the Sun have to go down as some of the biggest rock ... read more
A beautiful collection of music, which follows as if quite aptly put, three worlds having crashed into one another, the melding of songs here, makes a 16 track affair feel as though it were three or four pieces of a whole.
Split evenly by the words of Woolf, I was unaware of the concept of this album, but am now fairly certain it contains musings from Virginia Woolf herself, little excerpts from her numerous poetry collections and books, while it may not be herself speaking, the words carry a ... read more
Musique Concrete is the experimental technique of musical composition using recorded sounds as raw material. The principle uses the various natural sounds assembled to produce an aural montage.
Concrete Misery erodes out as possibly the greatest album to come out of this discipline, may this album swallow you whole and never spit you out.
Disclaimer: While its name, may give off a "metal"-y vibe its definitely not that its more ambient electronic, though its atmosphere sure is ... read more
An exploration of all that is Julia Holter, in the best environment imaginable, as the title aptly points out, all in the same room.
While there is nothing new here, it is a great entry point to anyone wishing to have a listen to Holter.
For long-time listeners notably "World" is missing, and if you aren't too fond of her previous album this could be a real let-down as the majority of those songs live in this live-album.
PS: Do not worry there is no clapping or any crowd-noise for ... read more
The essential Chance the Rapper album alreaddy, where to go from here?
Update: Nowhere in particular
Update: Straight into mainstreamville
Update: na-na nah nah naaah
Update: Take a hot shower and forget
My Pick for AOTY 2015:
An album that is jarringly inward, masterfully created.
This is what it sounds like when a hip hop artist writes all his lyrics, creates all his beats, does not allow big-name features despite being featured on their albums, only artists that fit the style, fit the narrative, will fit into the album, as it should be. Earl Sweatshirt effortlessly establishes his name as the best wordsmith around, comparisons to MF DOOM make sense, as his music is in the mainstream view, ... read more
Creativity has been replaced by tropes and symbolism now associated with Chance.
This album seems to push an agenda, each song holding what he stands for, so instead of wordplay, sermons. instead of ad-lib induced tracks, mainstream rapper interludes "Chance the motherfucking rapper, with a capatilzed x, not times"
It is a departure, a good departure from Surf, a terrible departure from Acid Rap
Do hesitant, this score does what soundtrack scores should do, it disappears to the back, and warns you of all that music can evoke in the mind.
I'm a huge Reznor fan so it may be a bias even though this sounds nothing like NIN, I can admit an admiration for Reznor exists. For the last 4 years this soundtrack has been something I can play at any time in my life: skating, studying, writing, walking around the city, anything where I want to hear beautiful music while interacting with the world, ... read more
Never has a masterpiece been so cryptically hidden, an IDM record teetering on ambient its soundscapes are tiny planets slowly collapsing. Admittedly, I was lukewarm to this album at first, gravitating to what sounded most familiar "interference" but that is what I've come to expect from Thom Yorke, either you invest the time to the record he has introduced (I listened to this album in and out of sleep when driving with my father across Europe, and somewhere there it finally clicked) ... read more
MY PICK FOR AOTY 2016:
MY PICK FOR ALBUM OF THE DECADE:
Another record where I know exactly what I was doing when I first heard it. That magical effect music has on mind and memory further explored.
I went for a weekend away with my girlfriend and her sisters and their lovers. We left the city and went back to this small surfing town where I grew up in. It was my first time there without being with family. I kept getting spikes of nostalgia like I was in a dream, I was also in love and ... read more
If ever you were looking for a time to test the waters of Spoon, Hot Thoughts is a perfect time.
Hot Thoughts feels like the culmination of years of experimentation and self-destructions.
An album that if anything shows a clear shift in culture, the grammy award for rock is in the pre-show, while rock is not dead, it definitely isn't sexy anymore.
Linkin Parks schizophrenic production should bear the full brunt of this, had an album such as this followed Metoera or even Minutes to Midnight, it would probably have found more receptive ears.
Also Rakim's verse is insane, to so effortlessly sway on such a heavy rock instrumentation while layering your lyrics the way he does, ... read more
What a surprise, that Linkin Park's greatest offering be one teetering on the edge of disaster.
Comparsions to Kid-A and The Dark Side of the Moon while lazy, drive home the point, this is an album that bends and combines every genre that Linkin Park had and would use into a single fluid album and fuck this album is smooth each song truly melts into the next, any keen un-biased listener can only admire the amount of musical elements contained and mastered here upon this album.
For all its ... read more
The Process is felt in what is Sampha's first complete vision. While his voice immediately known when heard thanks to poignant features on tracks with SBTRKT and Drake to name the most memorable, it is no surprise that his songwriting credits are cloistered around numerous hit singles.
It makes sense then, that a songwriters album would be such a complete experience, an album built from the ground upwards, this is a collection of Sampha.
The album itself, is a grower and will not be fully ... read more
While a welcomed retreat from the "Heavy" disappointment, we find Linkin Park somewhere far off in the pop realm.
Battle Symphony is completely lacking the edge that could have turned this track into a "Lies, Greed, Misery"-y track instead it continues the trend of what seems to be Linkin Parks most laziest offering to date.
10 tracks, within the pop universe, written poorly by multiple writers.
Sadly it feels that Battle Symphony may be one of the highlights on what ... read more
A modern take, this is the home of classical music, housed in the present. The electronic bits are uninvited, but what a juxtaposition. A beautiful voice, shattered into fragments, this album was probably perfect but Blake smashed it on the ground and pieced it back together again, to give us a haunted, flawed album. What an album.
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Recent Review Comments
On Mac Miller - Swimming
"Yeah getting rid of that, of course that was said before he moved on. It was a huge departure from his sound and definitely not hip-hop but his next release would show it was so much more."
On Julianna Barwick - Nepenthe
"@cjstuart <3"
On Eminem - Encore
"I didn’t realise “skipping to” would be such a hard read. 🫣"
On billy woods & Kenny Segal - Hiding Places
"Exactly, exactly teehee. It was Big Fish Theory by Vince Staples!"
On Vince Staples - FM!
"@Audiohype 6 years late on this response but I believe it was Trent Reznor who talking about it, and it did affect the exposure! At the time he (Trent) was a part of the Apple Music team so he would know, it did play a part then, probably not anymore!"
On Jay-Z & Linkin Park - Collision Course
"Hey hey, not quite, I don't think. Though Turnstile & BADBADNOTGOOD's EP "New Heart Designs" definitely had something there but less hip-hop and more Jazz fusion or HEALTH's "DISCO4 :: PART II" which definitely got there on certain tracks."
On Clairo - Pretty Girl
"in 2017 it wasn't, or at least it wasn't to me."
On Jooyoung - Sphere
"<4"
On BiggieBJones's review of The Smile - Wall of Eyes
"Albums been out for less than a day and you're doing HTTT and The Bends like that?"
On Slauson Malone 1 - EXCELSIOR
"Maybe in production but vocally I think Slauson sounding like Dominic is as good as its going to get"
On Jooyoung - Be
"Agree 100% I think it has to do with their vocal performances both artists do the sing-talking thing in their verses, punctuate their songs with falsetto’s and love to stack manipulated vocals a top one another!"
On The Killers - Hot Fuss
"Yeah that’s the point, let me be less succinct, there was a very real push for indie rock to be the next great effector of sound, best seen/known with the Pitchfork-core tag. The reverse of this is that bands with more a traditional rock sound ended up being lampooned despite releasing their most noteworthy records in this time while let’s say in 2005 (when this DEBUT album came out) Franz Ferdinand, Animal Collective, modest mouse, Iron and wine, THE VERVE, feist all got glowing reviews in jarring contrast to this record. There was a deliberate and unnatural critic bombing for albums like this. Not to say that like The Funeral isn’t a wonderful record just that for this debut record to get spitroasted by critics was alarmingly disproportionate to other indie rock record receptions."
On NTTR's review of Moby - Resound NYC
"I’m about to listen to Moby again because of you, better not be lying about that 84!"
On starlessmoons's review of Coldplay - Ghost Stories
"That’s so cool orange and I don’t mean it in a sarcastic way! I never would have thought this album could mean so much to someone and I think it’s amazing that it does. Outside of “Magic” I reallly disliked this record but your review made me listen to the album alot more 👍🏽."
On Doofy's review of Jungstötter - One Star
"Had to double check multiple tracks to make sure Hayden Thorpe wasn’t featuring ^^"
On Jay-Z & Linkin Park - Collision Course
""In Search Of" by NERD? if yes then of course! And "The Grey Album" is the reason this record was made so definitely aware and consider those better records that preceded this album. My sentiment is towards the critical reception of this album despite how brilliant and influential it was: It's a record that was a HUGE gateway for hip-hop kids to listen to rock and for rock kids to listen to hip-hop far bigger than the records you mentioned but it isn't acknowledged as such. You really have to look no further than Numb/Encore to understand that."
On Chorde's review of Metro Boomin - HEROES & VILLAINS
"@Hydon "youu are nottt aloone, I am heere witt u""
On Chorde's review of Metro Boomin - HEROES & VILLAINS
"Ayy thanks for doing this again, think its such a cool idea.
Just some thoughts on the options: Vale-Smith dropped Re-Kindle it should definitely be a option for best AOTY community member album
and the Asian AOTY picks are really poor </3"
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