[ORIGINALLY REVIEWED ON RYM]

Alright, so imagine you're some...Say 60 year old guy from the UK, we'll call you Jack, in 1979 (the same year Billy Corgan was having teenage fun). You have never heard of Throbbing Gristle before and you are at a record store.

You see a record that catches your eye: '20 Jazz Funk Greats', it says. You like how these lads look, despite Genesis' (RIP) depressed stare and the peculiar band name - You disregard it as being silly and bring it ... read more

[ORIGINALLY REVIEWED ON RYM]

Serj describes his latest EP as a retrospect on various moments of his musical career, thus giving the name 'Foundations'. From what I know, A.F Day has vocals from the SOAD period, 'Cartoon Buyer' and 'Life's Revengeful Son' were recorded prior to 2010, and I can assume 'Justice Will Shine On' and 'Appropriations' are more recent.

I take that as a negative sign, because they're my least favorite ones. ... read more

[RECENSITO ORIGINALMENTE SU RYM]

Ho seguito con abbastanza attenzione Tananai da quando ha rilasciato il primo singolo dell'album 'Veleno'. Già lì ho sentito un nuovo sound rispetto a quello proposto precedentemente, più interessante e meno banale, e ho notato con piacere la riduzione di quel pesantissimo filtro alla voce che usava una volta e che rovinava completamente pezzi carini.

Ho aspettato dunque con interesse l'album, e anche se ho perso ... read more

[ORIGINALLY REVIEWED ON RYM]

There's a lot of discourse regarding the Pistols, mainly about their image and if they're punk or not..I don't really give a shit about any of that, though, I just wanted a cool introduction. I'm not even gonna mention Sid past this point, because he doesn't even play bass on here, it's Steve Jones. So nevermind the bollocks indeed, let's talk about the music.

The Sex Pistols' debut and only album 'Nevermind The ... read more

[ORIGINALLY REVIEWED ON RYM]

My first full listen dive into the band, R.E.M's 5th record is post-punk done properly. It features their hits 'It's The End Of The World As We Know It' and 'The One I Love'.
The lyrics are prominently politically charged against the Reagan administration of the time, the biggest example of this being 'Welcome to the Occupation'.
My favorite tracks on here are 'Lightnin' Hopkins' (insane on a musical level) and ... read more

[ORIGINALLY REVIEWED ON RYM]

On R.E.M's fourth, the lyrics start to make a bit more sense and it is generally all chirpier. This would be the true step in the direction of Document, their next.
Probably the best and most consistent example of early R.E.M being commercial. Some mentions are 'Hyena', 'These Days', and 'Superman'.

[ORIGINALLY REVIEWED ON RYM]

R.E.M's third, 'Fables of the Reconstruction' continues what was going on on Murmur and Reckoning and makes it a bit darker. Stipe's voice is much clearer here, the instrumentals are more interesting than Reckoning, and in general it has a more gloomy vibe that I dig a lot. My favorites are 'Driver 8' and 'Can't Get There From Here'.

[ORIGINALLY REVIEWED ON RYM]

R.E.M's sophomore record, Reckoning puts a stronger emphasis on guitars than Murmur and is their first step at developing their more famous alt rock sounds, resulting in lessening the artsy bits and being more immediately accessible. Unfortunately the tracks here are pretty forgettable, and 'Camera' is a straight up dud, so it's a downgrade in a way, but still a great album.
I highlight 'So. Central Rain', 'Second Guessing' ... read more

[ORIGINALLY REVIEWED ON RYM]

R.E.M's full length debut Murmur unites pop rock with post punk in a blend that works perfectly. Both sides have great tracks all over them, though side B is more energetic than the first (and I prefer it, call me crazy), of which I give a special mention to the two extremes of the record, 'Radio Free Europe' and 'West of the Fields' (GREAT bassline, though the entire album has a strong bass presence).

[ORIGINALLY REVIEWED ON RYM]

I think we're all a bit too mean to Pablo Honey. It's a great little alt rock album, and it would be rated higher if it was by another band.
Sure, it ain't as good as Ok Computer- not a lot of things are- but come on, who cares? It would make sense to give an album so much hate if it was released later in the band's catalog, but this is their debut. They were doing something else and it's fine.

Besides the iconic 'Creep', we have ... read more

[RECENSITO ORIGINALMENTE SU RYM]

Certe volte raggiunge il limite dell'irritante (Piove e Betty tossica per esempio) ma ritorna a galla grazie a buoni pezzi come Ho raccontato che, Colla, Ics, Acida e GM. Il resto non ha molto da dire, tutto sommato è un disco carino. I Prozac avrebbero fatto di molto meglio dopo.

[ORIGINALLY REVIEWED ON RYM]

An immediate exhibition of what's to come. It's raw, but flows by like not much else. Frank Black's vocals are as high pitched as ever, and Kim Deal also has a strong presence, both in bass and in voice ('Gigantic', in particular, is a really good track and she's the only one singing it). All the different instruments are powerful already, but they are amped up even more by Steve Albini's wonderful production job.

More so than a ... read more

[ORIGINALLY REVIEWED ON RYM, ON THE OCCASION OF NEVERMIND'S BIRTHDAY]

Today, the 24th September 2024, it has been 33 years since Nirvana's 'Nevermind' released. This review is a sort of birthday gift for it, though words don't do it much justice.

On a personal level, this is one of the most important albums for me right now, and it has accompanied me in good and awful times, but do you care about my personal life and my connections to this piece of music? Probably ... read more

[ORIGINALLY REVIEWED ON RYM]

Probably my most anticipated release of the year, 'Cheshire Days' blew my socks off ever since I first heard it and the whole record has been on repeat since. As of writing this review, i'm listening to it for..what? The fifth time by now?

In the album, Ashley keeps a distance from the more noise pop (going off genre tags) sound of their earlier projects Ninelives and Eagle Creek, which are awesome so go check them out aswell (but hey! Finish ... read more

[ORIGINALLY REVIEWED ON RYM]

Before listening to this little album, I naturally heard a lot of hate for the band around. So I gave their most popular song, 'Shut Me Up', a try, and I liked it.
I thought 'hey, maybe they're not that bad after all!'
So I listened to their 'best album' according to RYM.
Track 1 is indeed Shut Me Up, and i'm thinking 'what could go so wrong?'
Then Stupid MF hit like a terrible, stupid motherfucker indeed.

Well, ... read more

[ORIGINALLY REVIEWED ON RYM]

It is quite hard for an artist this late into his career, with nothing but 'meh' records under his belt after a certain point, to make something this good. Regardless, LL Cool J (with considerable help from Q-Tip of A Tribe Called Quest) nails it with his latest effort, 'The Force'.

First of all, i'm gonna talk about the instrumentals. Q-Tip's production complements LL's flow greatly, and instead of just being background noise, ... read more

[RECENSITO ORIGINALMENTE SU RYM]

Li conoscete i Litfiba? Quelli di 'Regina di cuori', 'El diablo'? E bene scordateveli, perchè questa è una cosa quasi completamente diversa. Qua si parla di new wave, post punk, addirittura il sito mette il descriptor 'gothic rock' (con cui non concordo, ma se proprio si vuole..). Per 33 minuti la band, qui non solo composta da Pelù e Renzulli ma anche da Aiazzi, Maroccolo e De Palma (di cui dopo si ... read more

[ORIGINALLY REVIEWED ON RYM]

Greatly dated album, and usually that's not a problem but the random vocoder absolutely kills (not in a good way). Sounds like if the Backstreet Boys went 'you know what, we like these Weezer guys'...Though Liquido is significantly less corny than the Boys. Other than that, I reeeally don't think the keyboard guy even knew how to play the keyboard in this stage of the band, because while Narcotic is iconic, it's REALLY simple to play, and ... read more

[ORIGINALLY REVIEWED ON RYM]

Extreme gloom that leaves no space to smile. If you're feeling down, this album can have two different effects on you:
1. You feel even worse;
2. You feel even better knowing you are not alone.
...but honestly this is all probably bullshit. What am I, a therapist? Let's move onto the stuff I can talk about.

This is a weird black metal record. I don't even know if I can call it that, because I don't know other BM, but the site says it so ... read more

[REVIEWED ORIGINALLY ON RYM]

"Death grips feature on next album"

A notable step down from last year's 'Scaring The Hoes', I Lay Down My Life For You keeps the greatness of the production but falls flat on lyricism.

As has been correctly said by another reviewer, nothing much is said in these tracks, only really getting better on the latter half of the record. Sure, he throws some small jabs at Drake here and there as he has been doing for a while now, but there is ... read more