The tuneful vibe is unmatched. Doug’s voice is great. So toned and unique and is treated like an instrument as his unique voice should be. Very catchy album too. The balance of the guitars, bass and drums enhances the catchiness of these songs. For a positive, bright sounding album, it’s quite instrumental too. Since Secret has a lot of pop-adjacent writing, they don’t fully rely on the tropes of writing singles. But keeps it specific to their sound and vision.

I used to love this album. I had a nostalgic kick of the hit singles of the era I was born into. But I'm a new person. And this has not held up at all. It's so offensively pop. They made horrible lyrics that are too simple and mean nothing, like the stupid song "Sweetness". The production is also terrible. It's so clean and indistinct that the middling guitar tones hid good song ideas and good guitar work on songs like "The Middle". As middle school as the ... read more

Knowing that The Argument would come down the pipe, this record makes a little sense. Since this doesn’t rock as hard as their earlier material, the guys go for a more subdued soundscape that still has some rock undertones. The way the songs are a little slower really brings out a new side of their menacing riffage that is a good change for the band. I think the band were transitioning from the punkier sound to this more textured style, so the songs are not the strongest. The songs really ... read more

For a debut album, Smashing Pumpkins were quite oiled up and well stretched in the recording process. Their sound and unique dynamic were already fleshed out, resulting in an electrifying set of performances. As well as psychedelic paths no other alt band back then were doing. Let’s not gloss over the production. It’s great. Captures perfectly what the band about aesthetically and musically, as well as not being over produced like Siamese. Sounds good without being flawless: my type ... read more

A friend showed me “Is This Thing On?”, which showed me how pop-punk in the 90s was blantantly birthed out of post-hardcore. It’s not a style I’m familiar with or heard a lot growing up, so this felt new to me and quite late 90s. But as I decided to dig deeper, this album really got on my nerves. There were too many songs with bad vocals. Dude is either buried in the mix or the signing was low effort. Also his songwriting as a lyricist was not there either. There were ... read more

The bros felt like floating, so they made floating music to their tastes. I'm glad they changed their style a tad, not being as nu-metal and getting more palatable. Songs like "Echo" and "Are You In" are new cannons in the arsenal. "Wish You Were Here" is a weird one for me: out of context and it sounds like radio fodder. But it fits on the album quite well. They did a good job carving a deeper lane of their own other hard rock bands weren't interested ... read more

It seems this era bridges the gap between the more straight-ahead rock of Painful and the even more sophisticated Heart Beating. I hear more of their influences who may not seem cool to the indie crowd of the time—definitely some stripped down country acts, soft rock, even psych music that branched away from 60s psych rock. This album was certainly needed to later develop more of the identity of Yo La Tengo, which is diverse, a style well-defined into any genre of choice. There’s a ... read more

Shit fell off hard for me. Before I got heavy into music, my prelude was to listen to hits from my early memories and the albums they landed on. So this record had a purpose for where I am now. But listening back, oh boy. Album did not age well. The soundscape is so goofy. I imagine Incubus was trying to set themselves apart from other nu-metal/hard rock acts, but the guitar effects are bad. The turntablism was not needed either. That did a bad job setting them apart in an era everyone had a ... read more

I haven’t given much of their 80s material the ear time. But they clearly had something special earlier in their careers, before they hopped on the grunge wave just a few years later. Listening to this front-to-back does feel more like an artistic journey rather than just hearing a ton of songs. Which is good for music to not treat it as a songwriting craft, but like random paint strokes. Where the brushes can go anywhere. And textures can be achieved through unidentifiable noise just by ... read more

The good songs are flashes of prime Cure aging well in the upgraded production value, and shows how execution means everything when making music in the irrelevant years. The bad songs, ohh boyyyy. The bad songs are goofy pop songs with a lame commercial sound. The performances are relatively loose and not old-man stiff, which is good. I wish the “experiments” were better.

Every artist has low points. But it’s even more sour to see a billionaire milk her cult following’s energy and money just for complete mid bullshit. Album is super outdated. This style would fit better ten years prior, and it would still suck. I’m not gonna sit on a pedestal and whismy about what I want her to do as an artist. All I can say is the music is so soulless, so non essential. Not meeting the moment our culture is at and our music. She has a responsibility to be a ... read more

Respect them coming back. But eeeeeeeeee. This wasn't good bruh. The vocals had flashes of prime archers. But he learned how to properly sing, and it just doesn't work. I know he isn't young anymore nor the same person thirty years ago. I don't want to listen to someone trying to sing 2010s era pop melodies: when every syllable is spaced out to point out a melody is being sung. It's such a terrible style for him. I assume since this band existed in an era of more raw, ... read more

Admittedly, I don’t feel as strongly about the album. Only because the length of time I really listened I played the hell out of it. But the score remains how I felt previously. The soundscape is some of the best of its decade. So serene, like I’m in the cool clouds. Or the coolness of a cloudless day. Works both ways. A friend described this as country. Definitely not. I think the effects allowed Vile to not play with much twang, or else this would fall apart. Songs like ... read more

Don’t wanna hate too much. But the sound is pretty dated. The amount of reverb shows that the 90s drier punch hasn’t settled in yet. It’s interesting to see records like this seal the gap between the ass 80s rock and 90s punk side.

Pretty big step down without Jimmy Chamberlain. Corgan was forced to simplify the writing with the electronic tools, and it’s just not a Pumpkins album. Any other pop artist could have made this. His signature guitar work: GONE. The spark of a band’s righteous chemistry: GONE. Plus, the track list is quite static. Formulaic, stiff, most songs are too long for a big track list. Especially with the little flow the performances have.

Usually, older artists make underwhelming music in those twilight years. For me, it’s very hard to be open minded for this era of an artist‘s journey since their music tends to be a mixture of contemporary sounding music that sounds nothing like the band or their usual sound being so underwhelming. I wouldn’t be shocked if the quasi scrapped version from circa 2011 or 2012 would’ve been better or more biting. But for Tool’s case, I think this was an interesting ... read more

While I recognize the higher studio budget compared to the debut, the production is kind of mid. The reverb is so aggressive on everything: Morrissey's vocals and the drums. It's ass. It's an amateur trying to replicate their sound without any experience. Also not hip to the songs that sounds like the 50s, like "Rusholme Ruffians" and "Nowhere Fast". It reveals their age, and that era sucks azzzzzzzzz. Even my favorite songs I don't think had strong ... read more

An improvement from Meat is Murder. All the reverb isn't overbearing. The producers actually use the dark reverb tastefully to make the instruments sound better. The songs are more diverse as well, which I respect. What holds the album down for me is the songwriting isn't consistent enough. Many songs end in fade-outs, some songs like "Never Had No One Ever" is practically over the half way point. The final song has an amazing riff, but Morrissey's stupid ass lyrics ... read more

I think his sound needed more work. Too many songs had the last minute being the beat by itself with nothing added to it or doesn’t complete the songs. It looks a bit amateurish compared to Some Rap Songs where he didn’t care if the song barely hit 2 minutes. But reading the lyrics shows Earl feeling isolated and lonely with some pretty good rhyme schemes. The way his rhyming is subtle comes off as unique and natural to Earl. I think the beats were not the best either. Not that they ... read more

Kids will be kids. Trolls will be trolls.