Idles' last album had me hyped for this one. The noise rock influence on this record is awesome, such a great expansion on the band's sound. I'm loving the insane vocals on songs like "Kill Them With Kindness". I have a few gripes about some songs ending a bit abruptly or feeling a little basic for Idles, but this is still one of my favorite albums of the year so far.

Favorite Tracks: "War", "Grounds", "Kill Them With Kindness", "Model ... read more

EDIT: This grew on me a lot more than I expected. I love the consistent concept and sound of this album.

I haven't listened to an album on release day in a while! On "Mouth Dreams", there's a lot of dreamy production and songs about sleep and dreams across the record. The album also flows very well, as the Mouth albums typically do. There's not much I can say besides expect the usual great mashups from Neil.

Favorite Tracks: "Yahoo", "Just a Baby", ... read more

Listening to Great Albums #13

Here's the big Charles Mingus record. Like I was with Mingus Ah Um after hearing The Clown, I've been looking forward to it. Mingus is by far my favorite jazz artist, he sounds utterly unique compared to most of what I hear from other jazz greats.

The first track "Solo Dancer" is already crazy and foreboding what with the big buildups and frantic instrumentation at the end.
"Duet Solo Dancers" starts off sad and romantic but takes a dark turn ... read more

EDIT 2: I recently re-listened to a few of these songs and I can no longer believe this album exists. It's SO BAD. I realize now that the production is wack (not in a good way) and I also simply cannot deal when the lyrics just don't rhyme.

EDIT: Yeah, it's not good.

Original Review
I'm not sure how I feel after subjecting myself to this unknown album from 2014. This is so ridiculous and probably objectively bad, but that might be why I think I liked it. There are plenty of beautiful hooks, ... read more

Listening to Great Albums #12

The first non-jazz/samba album of my journey, though I haven't totally escaped jazz yet. This is my first time really listening to Bob Dylan, having only heard "Like a Rolling Stone" before, and the lyricism is where it's at. The instrumentals are nothing to scoff at, but they're usually low-key enough to let the vocals take center stage so you can fully appreciate their entertaining character and the engaging lyrics.

Favorite Tracks: "Blowin' in ... read more

Listening to Great Albums #11

These songs are pretty short compared to what I've come to expect from jazz. No 15-minute monsters on this album.

The piano motif in the opening track "In A Sentimental Mood" is sad and nostalgic, sounds like what you would hear on the title screen of a visual novel.
"Take The Coltrane" sounded pretty standard at first and didn't have me until the drums started picking up. The drums are my favorite part of the following track "Big ... read more

Listening to Great Albums #9

The opening track "Concierto de Aranjue" is huge, dark, grand, almost orchestral in sound. The atmosphere of this song is pretty great, ranging from tense to wondrous. It's fantastic as one of the big centerpieces of the record. Honestly, what I said about this song applies to the rest of the album. Sketches of Spain is very cinematic, often suspenseful, and has a cohesive, magical sound. My main downsides are that "The Pan Piper" has a ... read more

Listening to Great Albums #8

We kick off the 1960s with the second John Coltrane album of this journey. I wasn't big on the first one I heard which was "Blue Train" and didn't give it an actual review, just a comment on the list.

I liked the ending of "Giant Steps" with the sax and piano together but otherwise didn't care for the endless soloing. I preferred the following track "Cousin Mary" which had more distinct sections.
"Syeeda's Song Flute" ... read more

Listening to Great Albums #7

This first song is interesting. The dark, almost dystopian melodies made me feel like this was announcing the end of something... possibly the shape of jazz at that time? Probably not, but that was a neat connection I made.
The saxophone runs on "Eventually" are absolutely manic and where the album really started to feel avant-garde.
"Peace" is pretty peaceful throughout, believe it or not, save for the occasional dramatic motif.

"Focus On ... read more

I gotta admit this song is catchy af

Listening to Great Albums #6

I really liked "The Clown", so I was looking forward to the next Charles Mingus album on my list. From the first track alone, I've determined that Mingus's music stands out to me compared to other jazz I've heard so far. The arrangements are engaging, frantic, intense even, and the rhythms are more interesting. I like the drumming a lot, sometimes it sounds more like what you would hear in prog rock (and now that I think about it, prog drumming was ... read more

The language barrier makes it a little harder to connect with these songs, but the overall sound of this album is pleasant and relaxing. It's a very short listen as well, so it doesn't drag at all. Some of the early albums I've been listening to lately suffer from songs being almost indistinguishable from one another, but the songs here are distinct enough to stand out even if I don't know what's being said. Just a nice listen.

Favorite Tracks: "Brigas Nunca Mais", ... read more

This is the first full jazz album I've listened to, so this was a new experience for me. There are moments that just feel like generic background music to me, namely "Blue Cee", but much of the album is pretty great. The first half of the record feels like pretty typical jazz (though I do really like the first song), but the second half takes a darker turn starting with the title track which sounds unsettling at times with the frantic piano work and intriguing spoken word story. ... read more

This album has been on my radar for a while since I've only heard good things about it and I tend to like post-hardcore, and I finally listened to it today. I'm not sure what I expected going in, but it wasn't shouted poetry over pop punk instrumentals.

The vocals and lyrics are everything on "Wildlife": my dude sounds like he's on the verge of angry tears with every line, and each song's story is captivating. I don't know if it's just me, but I feel like the lyrics get darker as you ... read more

This is some unholy combination of Suicide and Xiu Xiu, and it's great.

This is just really good post-punk. Plenty of these songs sound dreary if not blatantly dark, though there are exceptions such as the upbeat title track. I like the sound of this album in general a lot. The guitar tones are usually pretty subdued and dusty, so it's all the more exhilarating when it does get loud, the climax of "Love Is The Main Thing" being the big example here. There's a lot of catchy melodies as well like on "Living In America" (granted, I'm already a fan ... read more

It's cool to see Vulkan getting some recognition, their first album Mask of Air was completely overlooked in 2011. When I stumbled upon it back in February, I couldn't believe this band hadn't even been registered on AOTY. So when I saw Vulkan had a new album coming out, I was pretty excited.

The bass riff in "Redemption Simulations" is killer and the heavy instrumental climax is awesome, not something I would have expected from Vulkan. It's definitely my favorite song on here. The ... read more

I tried to listen to Joy as an Act of Resistance about a year ago, but it didn't grab me then. Recently, though, I had "Never Fight a Man With a Perm" stuck in my head, so I decided to give this album another try and I'm not sure what I was on.

I would love "Colossus" if it had ended immediately after the big buildup halfway through, but it's still a great start. The diversity of this album is cool, ranging from the happy-go-lucky-sounding "I'm Scum", to ... read more

This album is batshit insane. It reminds me of the Stice album from earlier this year, but heavier and more diverse with less-distracting lyrics. The first song didn't quite prepare me for the rest of the album (though it's still great). There are a lot of noisy electro-rock bangers like "MiRRORGiRL" that go hard af with chiller tracks like "Maybe This World Is Another Planets Hell?" to let you cool down, but one consistent thing throughout the album is that it can be hard ... read more

Phenomenal. Some of the best ambient music of all time and the most emotive music I've ever heard.