favs: Shine On You Crazy Diamond (all parts), Have a Cigar, Wish You Were Here
least fav: Welcome to the Machine

a long album that doesn't feel bloated.

(just the 3 new songs)

:((

favs: 360; Sympathy is a knife; Talk talk; Von dutch; So I; Girl, So Confusing; Apple; Mean girls; 365

least favs: Club classics, Rewind, I think about it all the time

idk how it took me this long to review this album

david was really byrning down the house with this one

the lyrics on this album are 50% gasping for air

this song is the blissness

not as good as starburster, but I warmed up to it a lot by the end, it's beautiful and very cure-esque. I hope the rest of the album is more like starburster than this (i.e. more post-punk than indie rock), but a worthy closer.

if this is modest mouse "selling out" i'll buy it all. sure, they lose some of the insane charm of Lonesome Crowded West, but they refine the sweeter sounds of the Moon and Antarctica with some truly beautiful songs. The last 4 songs on this album all hit me so hard. Incredible stuff.

favs: WILL U STILL U, LIKED U BETTER, DOUBT, FUTURE IS DUMB, SOFT LIVING, HEALMODE, GRAVEYARD SONG, 3 SUMMERS

least: LIFE ADMIN

I won't deny that Vampire Weekend is an aging rock band. The departure of band member and producer Rostam after their third album (and, as of last year, my favorite), Modern Vampires of the City, left the band seemingly disoriented on the following Father of the Bride. While that album had its fair share of great tracks, it did feel like an only slightly successful attempt at a rebound---and in hindsight, even those great tracks pale in comparison to any on their sixth album, Only God Was ... read more

If This is a Long Drive… evokes endless, monotonous travel, The Lonesome Crowded West focuses conversely on anxious stillness. With songs like “Convenient Parking” and “Out of Gas,” and lyrics about abandoned malls and trailer park life, the whole album feels trapped in some crumbling Northwestern suburb not far from the yellowish Seattle hotel depicted on the cover. The title reflects this feeling perfectly—someone so boxed in by the throngs of people ... read more

some killer, more filler

hell yeah

standouts: everything is equally fantastic

i mean uhh
like
what do you want me to say

Not my personal favorite, but objectively pretty incredible

this album could've been amazing if it stuck to the immaculately depressing beauty of the first few songs, and many other songs throughout the tracklist. But songs like vampire reference, the main character, white noise, and the two interlude tracks disrupt the flow for me and make it less consistent than it could be. I greatly appreciate the more folksy lean of this album, as to me it is much more tasteful in comparison to the loud and chaotic piano rock of the Normal Album, which did have ... read more

hold on, magnolia
i think its almost time