kind of sonically boring, menial feeling slightly twinkly emo? it just doesn't feel like anything that really elicits emotion in me, apart from the last 4 songs of the album
highlights:
company calls, company epilogue, no joy in mudville
lowlights:
for what reason, little fury bugs

travis miller is a fantastic producer, and his jazzy-inflected beats with smooth vocal chops reminsicent of some early 2000s chipmunk soul tracks are very interesting to listen, but i wont even lie... the fact he's a 41 year old white dude from virginia kinda takes me away from this album a little bit. and i don't know if it's just because that's what memphis rap sounds like, but the lyricism and inflection of travis miller's pitched down rap sounds really awkward ... read more

the strokes have somehow became even more 80s. i find the synthwork paired with their new sleeker sound on display in this record VERY pleasing to the ears. makes sense how they could work on and create the new abnormal 7 years later.
big fan! more of this!!!
highlights:
80's comedown machine, partners in crime, call it fate, call it karma
lowlights:
tap out, all the time

i honestly dont have much to say about this record lol it's just about ok pop rock from a legendary band, they have made better. machu picchu is a fine opener and life is simple in the moonlight is a top 5 strokes song.
idk!
highlights:
machu picchu, taken for a fool, life is simple in the moonlight:
lowlights:
games, call me back

my friend said this record was half great, half mediocre and he was unfortunately right.
you only live once sounds like a cut that was taken off of is this it, cool little midtempo pop rock track that relives former glory, and even juicebox that doesn't even sound like a strokes song, sounds more like a lighter nirvana or fugazi track? very interesting bassline runs through that one
but shit like heart in a cage? vision of division? it just sounds lazy, kinda sonically samey throughout the ... read more

now, i love american football. the first lp is a classic, beloved by most people including me and that's down to how interesting the arrangements are, and mike kinsella's classic midwest emo vocal style.
NONE of this is on display here. we get this boring watered down alt rock style, with hints of the old math rock compositions but it feels forced, rigid and nothing like the first lp that was such a landmark record. i legit only liked a song off this, BECAUSE it sounded like the old ... read more

rounds is kinda like wallpaper music. it's kinda objectively pretty and u might look at it properly sometimes but really it's just wallpaper. it's kinda blank, devoid of any real meaning and is just there to be decor for ur walls. that's how it felt most of this record, it's 2000s electronica with some boring folky guitar arrangements that just doesn't do anything for me, which is unfortunate because i had held higher expectations for four tet.

highlights:
hands, ... read more

jarvis cocker has the voice of bowie with somehow even more english charm, and i didn't think that was even possible
different class is a hot, sweaty, horny but emotionally in-touch record that touches upon carnal desires, and a desire for more and i think it's a masterclass in britpop
when i think of the most english song i could think of, more than sweet caroline, more than mr brightside, more than anything oasis has ever shat out of their bowels, i would definitely pick common ... read more

boards of canada create this world of endless blank faces, noises coming from the other side and beats steeped in 90s hip hop tradition, leading to an album that feels less like an album and more like a late night walk to the end of your life
highlights:
aquarius, roygbiv, torquoise hexagon sun
lowlights:
n/a (all is gud)

pretty unique combination of post-rock and indietronica that i really fuck with on PAPER, but in practice?
it has real cool buildups but it relies a lot on these powerful crescendos which are present in all the songs but lose their lustre pretty quick i believe, turns a bit sonically samey after a while
highlights:
youthful days, you can't turn back time
lowlights:
the now now or never, that unrequited feeling

this album was a big letdown, all of the glaze i heard for this and it just amounted to a bunch of kinda neat tribal drumming and them trying too hard to go for some weird ethereal psychedelic spiritualized rock riffs and i just dont think it had any substance... maybe i should listen again at some point but meh

highlights:
n/a
lowlights:
n/a

it's heavy, thick sludge metal to drown the world in and in other parts, boring non-detailed drone metal that does nothing for me, but serves as a good showcase of what the band can be capable of and is the basis for better albums down the road by them (specifically feedbacker). i did like it overall but i do not think i'd want to relisten to it in full again, based off the length and rigidity of said tracks

highlights:
huge, hama, kurumizu
lowlights:
ganbouki, vomitself (boring, ... read more

this album is a joy
it takes everything i love about nick drake and dials up to an 11
fuller composition in places, even more somber in other parts
nick drake took a two year gap between five leaves left and this, and it seemed to have enriched his songwriting chops, pulling from all sorts of jazz influences to some contemporaries such as bob dylan
i dare say this is his best album, over pink moon even
highlights:
all but specifically: one of these things first, poor boy, northern ... read more

nick drake has been an artist ive enjoyed in the past, as i consider pink moon as one of my favourites and ive been curious on how he started off, especially since ive heard he has similar quality of work all throughout
that being said, this definitely sounds like a debut record. it seems a little rougher in production than pink moon, with more of a orchestral focus on tracks like way to blue and day is done (and even, dare i say, vocal jazz on saturday sun?)
i think it is a solid record ... read more

illinois seems to be a very comprehensive, poetic and well composed love letter to the state, through the absurdity and the emotional highs of this album showcasing the stories of its inhabitants and its legacy in the greater country
this has made me very interested in sufjan stevens and his other works, so i will definitely be checking him out
highlights:
john wayne gacy jr (holy fuck what a song), jacksonville, man of metropolis
lowlights:
none really, its a very consistent album in quality ... read more

im not fucking with this at all, it's super toothless 90s jazz rap that goes nowhere for me
highlights:
black ego, jettin
lowlights:
borough check, slowes comb

it's very nicely produced and owes a lot to their contemporary jazz rap groups like de la soul, the roots and especially tribe but it just comes across as a really toothless, no edge-having version of the previously mentioned groups that i can't really get behind
highlights:
pacifics, what cool breezes do, jimmi diggin' cats (my fav)
lowlights:
swoon units, nickel bags, time & space (a new refutation of)

i cant believe i was bored by a daft punk album, it lost all its danceability for a focus on more pop centric songwriting and even then, its lazy writing as most of these songs sound the fucking same sonically???
highlights:
giorgio by moroder, lose yourself to dance
lowlights:
contact, doin it right

very technically impressive, high achievement to be able to effortlessly mix these great songs together but my issue is mainly just tracklisting to be honest (NO DIGITAL LOVE?) and also as a performance, just didnt move me
highlights:
television rules the nation/around the world, da funk/daftendirekt
lowlights:
touch it/technologic

what a fucking catalog of music, cause this was a really solid listen despite it being ALL demos
it's funny that u can tell which era of elliott smith each of the songs come from :)
highlights:
high times, see you later, half right
lowlights:
talking to mary