One of the most interesting and compelling of The Beatles' songs, just because I haven't yet found a version of it that fully realizes what makes "it" so magical. The album version is slathered with reverb and orchestral touches that turn it into a cheesy sludge, easily Phil Spector's worst production showing on Let It Be. The "naked" version is better, but it feels distinctly unfinished, and has a subpar vocal performance from John. Even the Fiona Apple ... read more
The vibes. I don’t want this to be reductive, but the reason why this album is generational is because of the vibes. Everyone in the room was in on it, Johnny Cash was in on it, and for 45 minutes, you’re in on it too. The performer, the audience, and the listener feel connected during this album, and it results in songs that are not only excellent, but also an atmosphere that most live albums could only dream of obtaining. Listen to it!
It has been a long time since I’ve been truly motivated to write long-form… let’s see what happens.
The Complete Matrix Tapes is one of those near-perfect works of art that I can’t stop thinking about. On the surface, it may seem a little tedious, maybe even haphazardly put together, and part of me wants to agree- this 274 minute, four-set live box set is most certainly too much. It features multiple different performances of the same song, and those performances have ... read more
This is probably one of the best cases for how much good mixing can make or break an album. Obviously, the compositions and songwriting on here are absolutely brilliant, but my money is on this album's flawless placement and control of each instrument's volume and timbre (yes, including the vocals) as the key to why None So Vile is so addicting. Everything is remarkably aggressive yet never overpowers the other parts of the mix, and it leads to one of the most effortlessly smooth and ... read more
Q: Harmless cover of a classic rocksteady song, or a blatant whitewashed repackaging of black music history to please the masses?
A: Both, really. Whatever, this song bangs anyway.
BEHEMOTHS - #2
If you didn’t read my last review, this series is just me listening to albums that are very, very long- the criteria is 2 hours or more- and breaking down what makes them so good. Last time I reviewed Somnium by Robert Rich.
And this time, I’ll be reviewing Sent From My Telephone, the four hour long LP by experimental artist Voice Actor. This is an album that is a lot more esoteric and less straightforward than Somnium. I won’t be as reductive as to call ... read more
Stop scrolling and read this.
I realized something about myself last night- so powerful I’m tearing up while writing this- so please read.
Kanye West means a lot to me. Like many people, his music was the kind that introduced me to the greater pleasures that lay within music. Albums like The College Dropout and Graduation are some of my most cherished, and I believe that I would be an entirely different person if I hadn’t heard songs such as Through The Wire or Everything I Am. He ... read more
Charli XCX’s BRAT is an album like it’s cover- uncompromising, funny as hell, divisive, and VERY idiosyncratic.
The whole thing is so consistently good I’m fine with that awkward green stain on my year end list, she deserves it.
EDIT [7/5/24]: Listened to it a few more times, and I don't think I can justify giving BRAT an extremely positive score with how many dead spots there are across the tracklist. Still a great album! I'm excited to see which tracks grow on ... read more
BEHEMOTHS - #1
This may sound idiotic, but I think this record owes most of its intrigue and emotional weight to the runtime. Somnium, as placid and nebulous as it is, would not be able to impress and compel the way it has if different suites were, 5 minutes instead of, say, 30. I wouldn’t have disliked Somnium if it were a more digestible hour or so, but those precious six I spent listening to this album were absolutely essential to the vision Robert Rich had.
…Welcome! This is ... read more
10 minute song length is crazyyyy. Only Taylor could do that.
π°πππππ π²πππππππππ'π π±ππ£ππππ πππ π³πππππππ π³ππππππππππ’ πΏπππ #3/24
Campfire Songs! Except instead of being sung by your good friends, they’re sung but probably-possessed arthouse kids on psychedelics. You watch in a mixture of shock and horror as your lovely night devolves into a surreal, bizarre nightmare of extended folk tunes. Good ... read more
βΆβββββ βΈββββββ£ββ₯β'β’ β·ββ©ββ‘β‘β βββ βΉββββ’ββ₯β βΉββ’ββββ‘ββββ¨ β ββ‘β£ #β‘/β‘β£
This album is bad.
Not bad in an interesting way, or a way that is worth your time, just bad. Let me explain.
Danse Manatee is the second album from what was a duo at this point, and It sees them take the experimental parts of their first album, Spirit They’re Gone, in an even more structureless and radical direction. ... read more
κ§ΰΌΊ ππππππ πππππππ£ππ₯π'π’ πππ, ππ₯ππ‘ππππ, ππ§πππ‘πππππ£ππ, ππππππ£ππ, πππ ππ’π¨ππππππππ πππ’ππππ‘ππππ¨ ππππ πππ₯π #1/24 ΰΌ»κ§
Before we start, this happens to be my thousandth rating, and I coincidentally just hit 300 followers, so to whoever has talked to me or ... read more
CATCHING UP WITH THE CLASSICS: FOLK #3/10
*Live camera feed of me trying to defend giving this album a score that isn’t overwhelmingly positive while being throttled by an army of lonely twinks*
This album is good. It is fine, it is acceptable, it is tolerable. Like most albums that are upheld as downright legendary by members of the /mu/ community, The Glow Pt. 2 is an album I can see the appeal of. I can understand why many consider it to be an intensely intimate experience, filled to ... read more
One of the weirdest and most genuine portraits of a talented and supremely out of touch billionaire, for better or worse. Feels like a cross between Joni Mitchell and Gabbie Hanna. Jesus.
Put this one on my son’s naptime playlist- he’s been out cold for three weeks! What a trooper π₯°
One of the best gay (straight? whatever) love songs ever made. I would say it’s the best ever but that would mean it’d be at odds with the rest of their discography.
It’s very vivid, and it helps that I’ve never heard the complications of human attraction explained so succinctly and simply as this does.
What is gets at is that sexuality, desire, and attraction are complicated things, and can morph, change, find ways of going beyond traditional ideas of who to love and ... read more
ween invited me over to their house last night β€οΈ they gave me a live lobster π¦ as a gift but i wasn’t happy π so we played dress-up and i was a crawfish and they were shrimp π€ afterwards we skipped stones πͺ¨ and made bracelets while their dad played the beatles πΆ love them dearly β€οΈ
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Recent Review Comments
On Toasterqueen12's review of Mafuba - waiting by the phone
"Kevin Gates and Baby Keen taught me there's at least two types but beyond that I'm not sure"
On Siggerssss's review of Metro Boomin - Metro Boomin Presents: A Futuristic Summa
"Mark as low quality and move on"
On Suma's review of JPEGMAFIA - I LAY DOWN MY LIFE FOR YOU
"Oh, a 20/100? Really? That’s the number you’re going with? For ILDMFLY? I just want to understand the galaxy-sized leap in logic it takes to listen to a record like this — dripping in experimentation, emotional depth, and boundary-pushing production — and say, “Yes, this is objectively bad music.” Either you’ve never listened to an album without a trap hi-hat in your life, or you’re willfully missing the point because you don’t like what JPEGMAFIA represents: innovation that refuses to bow to mainstream taste.
Let’s start with something simple: JPEGMAFIA is the GOAT. That’s not just hype, that’s reality. Who else is chopping up samples like he’s disassembling the American dream and reassembling it with duct tape and spite?"
On Quadeca - Vanisher, Horizon Scraper
"@cypre read it and see for yourself"
On verniers's review of The Dismemberment Plan - The Dismemberment Plan Is Terrified
"It does help it's also one of the best-written songs out there, lol"
On Rollo_P's review of Vince Staples - Summertime '06
"Totally agree, if this was a tight ten-track album or even mixtape it would be one of the best albums of the 2010s, and yet... the second disc exists"
On eksallages's review of Henry Cow - Unrest
"Can you stop using such big words? It's giving me a headache. Thanks."
On Calvin's review of ian - Goodbye Horses
"@ScoopTime It’s pretty rare for people to be forthcoming about criticism on here π either way thanks for responding in a cognizant way! At the end of the day, you do what you want to do though, thanks for being honest and I hope I didn’t disturb anything too drastically- your review was thoughtful and extremely in-depth, I’m glad these kind of long form write-ups are still getting attention on the site"
On Calvin's review of ian - Goodbye Horses
"And please don’t take this as a specific attack on you, or as a disagreement with some points you make! But your whole argument doesn’t seem founded upon much, and that’s an issue when talking about such broad and complex issues- side note: whether or not you see a cultural issue with Ian’s music or not saying “stop supporting this waste of time people call music” ends the review on a pretty close-minded note- “I don’t find enjoyment in this” is infinitely better than “you are wrong for enjoying music like this” and even if that’s not what you meant that’s certainly how it comes across"
On Calvin's review of ian - Goodbye Horses
"wanting more variety but it seems odd to be so pissed off at what is at worst an album that is just a standard 2024 trap release. Your points about the music industry being nicer and more willing to promote white artists over black ones is understandable but it rubs me the wrong way hearing incorrect points being made, and if your goal is to make a generalized argument for systematic racism in rap than relying on misconstrued data is not the best way to go."
On Calvin's review of ian - Goodbye Horses
""I will continuously call out Ian and other artists in the same vein that continue to waste away the hope I have that good music will prevail in the Hip Hop landscape instead of the formulaic and repetitive garbage that has infested the charts for a while now." Pop music has been formulaic and engineered to be commercially successful since recorded music was a thing! I understand wanting more artistic integrity or variety on the pop charts, even within Ian's lane of Rap music, but the bottom line is that most releases of any given genre will not be ones you particularly care for, and the amount of run-of-the-mill songs that are on the charts any given time is very very high just due to them being made to sell π€· again I don't fault you for"
On Calvin's review of ian - Goodbye Horses
""Rap is inherently a black genre born and raised, and yet decade after decade since the music broke into the scene it has unsurprisingly always been headed by white artists." No? At least, saying "always" is a vast generalization and even saying "most of the time" or "sometimes" is too generous, imo. The vast majority of best-selling hip-hop has always been from black people, and it seems in bad faith to bend that fact in order to strengthen your argument, even if you weren’t doing it intentionally- in fact, your whole argument about Ian’s appeal partially coming from white people uncomfortable with listening to black musicians is really a small minority of listeners, kind of disproportionate to the weight you give the issue in the review"
On Suma's review of Geordie Greep - The New Sound
"I did get one positive thing out of this review, though. I now have an outline for creating a hipster music album review that would get me indie cred. Hmm... it might be fun to follow through on that outline."
On Suma's review of Geordie Greep - The New Sound
"@blockoumi3 my comment was completely in jest fyi"
On Suma's review of Geordie Greep - The New Sound
"So true. When will this site realize the music they like is hipster and never makes any impact in the real world? AOTY is swamped with pretentiousness these days. Love the review."
On Lord0fDiamonds's review of Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Lift Yr. Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven!
"This is one of the most massively misguided reviews I've ever seen, good work"
On MickyT's review of The Velvet Underground - White Light/White Heat
""I find the production to be way too muddy majority of the time and I feel like this thing could've turned out so much better." Most of the band agrees with you lmao"
On CT_Devourer's review of The Velvet Underground - Loaded
"Id argue otherwise but Reed was definitely influenced by him- an early version of I’m Waiting For The Man is basically a Bob Dylan pastiche"
On Johnny Cash - At Folsom Prison
"@Andrei Intimidation tactic"
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