I really didn't expect to love this so much, but considering how much I enjoyed Bringing It All Back Home I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Bob Dylan's poetry on this album is unreal, such a huge step up from the already excellent lyrics of earlier works. The instrumentation is raw and packs a punch, while also feeling super intricate, dynamic and smooth. It's sometimes tragic and sometimes convivial, always fun and always thoughtful. In a single year Dylan both invented and perfected folk ... read more

This is the era of Zep that I've listened to most throughout my life, and god damn this album is PACKED with some of my favourite songs of theirs. First of all, Whole Lotta Love is undisputedly an absolute classic with one of their most kick-ass riffs. What Is and What Should Be surprised me with how captivating and fun it is, and that gentle strumming in the quiet sections is unreal. The Lemon Song is the blues of their first album perfected, bringing the upbeat energy that the band does best, ... read more

This is for sure the least interesting Swans project, but hardly at the fault of the band themselves. Let's just say that UMG is generally not really a label where No Wave innovators feel at home. Quite the opposite in fact. So when Swans got signed to Uni in 1988 and Bill Laswell took the reigns on production, things were inevitably going to go in a strange direction.

First of all, you can tell that this is NOT what Gira wanted. Like the whole album, he sounds like he wants OUT. Of course he ... read more

Although I'm at the point where the thought of vinyl makes me roll my eyes, this is definitely an album that would sound best on a record player. It's the definition of a warm hug, and it would lend itself perfectly to the warm sound of vinyl. Unlike the disposable lovesickness of early Beatles, pure genuine love oozes out of every song, every single word spoken.

The entire tracklist is dreamy and blissful, with beautifully intricate instrumentation that hardly sounds like it was made in '65 ... read more

Honestly, I don't think there has been any other album that after every listen, I have to take off my headphones and check if my hearing's okay. Not even Public Castration Is A Good Idea takes that toll on me, but this does. (Or maybe I've just been listening to too much music recently.) Whatever the case is, this album is HEAVY, but through that it's also pure beauty. Free from the shackles of Andy Warhol, as important as he was for the band, they leaned more into the experimental and ... read more

Homework is a sort of prototype for the more ambitious projects they'd do in the future, with more repetitive and stripped back instrumentals. There's some early use of vocal sampling and chopping, and while it's not always executed very smoothly they definitely deserve credit for their innovation.

What's interesting about this album is that many tracks express some emotional ambiguity, giving them a lot of depth even with mostly basic composition. It makes a lot of the tracklist pretty ... read more

THIS is what I've been waiting for from the Beatles discography - not the mostly disposable pop of Rubber Soul, nor the lazily implemented concept and inconsistency of Sgt Peppers. This is the well-written, psychedelic and naturally progressed experience I wanted out of the most praised band of all time. Every track on Revolver has excellent instrumentation, mostly engaging concepts and doesn't pretend to be something it's not.

It's artsy, and at times it's deeply moving with incredible cuts ... read more

It seems like Gorillaz have lost all their ambition since Plastic Beach, although Albarn is still able to make some great pop songs. However they've lost the nuance and creative ideas that made the group stand out in the first place, it's pure pop rather than being unmistakably Gorillaz. While this project has its highlights, most notably the title track, the rest of the album is pretty inconsistent and doesn't feel like a fulfilling overall product. It just leaves me thinking "well, that ... read more

my social life: a chiropractic appointment

Prior to this album, Swans had been continuously stretching No Wave to its limits. First by slowing things down on Cop, then by bringing in more experimental elements on Greed and Holy Money, and finally their efforts culminated in Public Castration Is a Good Idea, an unfiltered depiction of their insane live shows and often considered to be the heaviest album of all time. With their raw and atonal sound clearly reaching its climax, it was inevitable that the dam had to break and Swans would ... read more

what poland does to a mf

While I love Greed and Holy Money, this is how those albums were meant to be played. Not in a studio with high quality recording equipment, but in a hot underground venue, blasted at 110dB and recorded on a whim. This is widely considered the heaviest album of all time, and while I have no jurisdiction to comment on that, I will say that it's easily the heaviest album I've ever heard and I struggle to imagine anything much heavier.

Gira and company oppress the audience with insane blasts of ... read more

Swans end off their No Wave era with a bit of a re-do of Greed, this time with a denser sonic palette more reminiscent of Filth. Holy Money feels like a culmination of all the ideas and emotions the band worked with for the prior few years, combining a less minimal sound with the slow sludge of Cop, all as they confront the final enemy of their quest to reveal the ugly truths of the world - God himfuckingself; or, a lack thereof.

This album improves on both Fool and Money Is Flesh from Greed, ... read more

Let's just say this would have been much better without the skit of a hooker getting murdered, and the song about raping and murdering hookers, and the song where Ren compares his dick to various confectionary items, and the song with sucking sound effects that's about raping a hooker and having sex with a 14 year old, and just all of the sex stuff, and jesus christ please put me out of my fucking misery.

Welp, a second album has brought me to tears now. I'll give you a moment to guess what track did it for me.

...

You probably wouldn't expect it, but it was Mark's Theme. Reading that the track was a tribute to the saxophonist's late uncle, then hearing of the most beautifully solemn pieces of music I've ever heard, it's just unbelievable.

Ants From Up There is an album which is blissfully patient, and doesn't hesitate to let you marinate in its emotional potency while the band slowly pieces ... read more

I definitely didn't expect the first ever Swans project to sound funky of all things, but I'm certainly not disappointed by it. The more conventional no wave sound they take on this EP is super fun, and while I'm glad they went for a more experimental and heavier sound after this, more projects in this vein would have been fantastic. I wish the vocals were louder in the mix, since they're really faint for some reason, but the instrumentals are upbeat and super exciting so it's only a small ... read more

Perhaps from a technical perspective this album isn't perfect, because there are a few moments of noticable issues in the recording. However, I think the rough aesthetic that's carried throughout perfectly complements the harsh lyrical concepts and overall punk feeling to the vocals and instrumentation. Though, this album is far from being one note, as tracks with Nico's contributions add softer moments to the tracklist, as well as the amazing Sunday Morning.

Heroin is definitely the project's ... read more

This album continues the No Wave influences of Swans' previous work, but expands on it a bit more. They experiment with supporting vocals from Jarboe which make parts of the album feel slightly gothic, piano in place of guitar on Fool, and some unique percussion such as the intense rumbling on Heaven. The project is also less slow and sludgy than Cop for the most part, which makes it feel fresh despite it sharing a lot of ideas with that project.

We also see more glimpses of great progression ... read more

Everything about this album is just amazing. It's amazing how versatile Daft Punk are at setting different moods and atmospheres. It's amazing how catchy and fun every track is. It's amazing how carefully crafted and intricate every track is. It's amazing how futuristic and alien the entire thing feels. Discovery is just amazing. It seriously does not sound at all like it was made in 2001 - it's simultaneously super 80's and super distant future in its aesthetics. The entire album is extremely ... read more

Edit: 76 -> 90
My bad Gira, I get it now.

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Cop feels like a far more sluggish and miserable version of Filth, but less in a boring way and more in an impressively scary way. Pretty much every song is slowed down, and the bump and flow of Filth is removed, with certain tracks not perfectly pertaining to their time signature the whole way through. It makes the album feel extremely depraved, which is reflected through the politics of the lyrics. While again they're more-so angry callouts ... read more