After Interpol released their self-titled fourth studio album in September 2010, something needed to change. Despite decent critic reviews, it was clear that there was something missing from the album. Not only was the mixing miserable, as the band were production rookies, with 'Interpol' being their first fully self-produced album, and the songwriting poor and distinctly uninspiring, but the relationships within the band were tumultuous as well. In a 2018 interview, Paul Banks ... read more

this shit fucking sucks i love ween

I had put off listening to this for a while, not because I thought I wouldn't enjoy it, but I thought it would be something I wouldn't ever really return to. I was then recommended it by the goat @lordwheat who revealed to me that Dan Barrett from Have a Nice Life was behind this, which somehow I hadn't learned up until that point.

I got so much more out of this record than I was ever expecting to. Even removed from its horrifically depressing feel; the main focus of the record, ... read more

The Smiths are one of those bands where I honestly don't know if they've ever churned out a bad album. The average song quality I've heard from these guys is insane. Just about every Smiths song that I've heard has been great, but there's an upper echelon of Smiths songs that just make you go "hoooly fuck." This record has a lot of them (I mean, this has There Is a Light That Never Goes Out, ffs). This album was one of the better sounding records I've ... read more

Some of the tracks might overstay their welcome (and truthfully this record really doesn't need to be 74 minutes), but the vast majority of this record illustrates exactly what makes Modest Mouse so great. The long and drawn out closing instrumental sections work so well here and never really fail. There are so many incredibly well-crafted songs, and the last seven tracks are especially memorable, and provide a fantastic end to the album.

This album has gotta be so good to listen to when ... read more

It's possible that my first listen is distorted by the hype around this album, but as it stands right now, I feel somewhat comfortable saying that this may be the single best pop album that I've ever heard. This is pop perfection. Every instrument is layered so perfectly and there's so much happening at once and yet it all comes together to form something greater than the sum of its parts. Basically every song has at least one moment that blew me away, and for some, the entire ... read more

Whenever this record is rarely lacking in sound, it's fully made up for by the emotional toll this will take on you by the time Epilogue fades out. A songwriting masterclass, one of the few times I've actually honed in on and felt impacted by lyricism in music. This is great sonically as well, it really feels very drab and depressing and has this constant feeling of dread even when the music can be comparatively bright sometimes.

Truthfully I really only listened to this for two reasons: 1. I wanted to say I went through the endeavor of listening to a 3-hour, 69-track album, and 2. I listened to I Don't Want to Get Over You before and I liked it. I really wasn't expecting to like it that much. I don't think I have ever been more surprised by how good an album is than I was listening to this.

The creativity it takes to have an idea like this and then make it is crazy (especially considering it was ... read more

Panama Limited Jug Band has been on my radar for a while because I was browsing the Wikipedia article for Hipgnosis one day and I was checking out all of the album covers and this one caught my eye because I thought it looked like a really sick underground psychedelic rock album. It was one of the more unique album covers I've ever seen, just a bunch of corroded guys posing on a train with a six-string banjo in the foreground and the band is called Panama Limited Jug Band!! Anyways today I ... read more

There is so much to like about this album. The singer, Hamilton Leithauser, has a really interesting voice that fits the feel of the album really well, kinda sounds like a mix between Thom Yorke and Arctic Monkeys's Alex Turner, but he's somehow American?? This is the most British-sounding American I've ever heard. The vocals work for the most part. The piano is amazing on this album. It's genuinely haunting and I can't believe I've never heard an album that ... read more

Was inspired to listen to this after I read a great review on Musicboard from my dear friend Lordwheat (check them out). Looking deeper into the album really piqued my interest especially after seeing that this released this year and was not on my radar at all. It seemed right up gomp alley given that I've been listening to a good amount of noise rock and some more hardcore punk. I got so much enjoyment out of this it's unbelievable.

I don't love every song on here, there were a ... read more

In my review of Wilco (The Album), I said that Wilco's "noisy edge might've given way to a more consistent sound." This is partially true, there are a few unremarkable tracks in the middle that don't have much in the way of experimentation, but this record at whole is very reminiscent of the poppy experimentation on Summerteeth when the band was blossoming into what they could be.

The Whole Love is an incredible record filled with a lot of great pop moments, but ... read more

AOTY Recommended Albums #5 (1963)

This is an album that I'm fairly sure I'd heard of before listening to it, so I was fairly excited and had high hopes for this partial live album, made even greater by the fact that this is a Coltrane album, after all. Investigating even closer, we get an appearance from old friend Eric Dolphy, who I'd grown to love after hearing George Russell's Ezz-Thetics. Everything pointed to this being a great live jazz album, and my god did it ... read more

Went into this album expecting the world, and that's exactly what I got. This album is incredibly consistent, never compromising on its sound, and it never fails to bring unmatched energy for all 48 minutes. The vocals are great and absolutely electric, and Sleater-Kinney back up the energy with well-written experimentation, most notably on Let's Call It Love, the 11-minute half-instrumental guitar-led epic. I've listened to a good amount of albums in this vein, and none of them ... read more

AOTY Recommended Albums #4 (1962)

We haven't gone far enough into the '60s to exit the jazz genre, but the next album selected is a pretty weird one. With a grand total of... 4 ratings, the AOTY algorithm suggested that I listen to Into the Hot by the Gil Evans Orchestra.

The background information for this album is pretty interesting. Gil Evans and his orchestra had spent the last couple of years working and releasing his most successful album, Out of the Cool, before backing out ... read more

This was my first exposure to JPEGMAFIA, so I had no idea what to expect from this album, but I certainly wasn't expecting what I got. This ended in a completely different galaxy than the one in which it began. I had a whole spiel lined up about how Exmilitary was a great palette cleanser from all of the crazy experimental industrial hip hop happening and how this was great but beyond the amount of experimentation I could tolerate. But then I realized that the second half is basically a ... read more

AOTY Recommended Albums #3 (1961)

For the next algorithm recommended album, we remain in the New York jazz sphere, this time checking out Ezz-Thetics by the George Russell Sextet. While the name George Russell didn't ring any bells for me, it's worth mentioning that he formed a pretty star-studded sextet here, most notably including Eric Dolphy, well-known for his 1964 opus Out to Lunch!

Ezz-Thetic is a fantastic song, and really the only one worth writing home about on here. ... read more

AOTY Recommend Albums #2 (1960)

The second album AOTY recommended for me is yet another avant-jazz album, this time it is We Insist!, the most popular record by jazz drummer Max Roach.

Max Roach's drumming is absolutely electric on this. It's formless and crazy, but so impressive, very engaging, and fun to listen to. Probably the highlight of the record. There's also some sick conga drumming on All Africa, which I think is done by Michael Olatunji.

This is a rare jazz album ... read more

AOTY Recommended Albums #1 (1959)

Decided to change things up with the way I reviewed albums and wanted to do something fun while expanding my tastes, so I decided to listen to whatever the Albumoftheyear algorithm suggests for me from every year from 1959-2024. The first album is an avant-garde classic, The Shape of Jazz to Come by Ornette Coleman (surprised it didn't recommend Kind of Blue, but I'm fine with this).

This was certainly pretty enjoyable and definitely revolutionary ... read more

Bridging the gap between Godspeed You! Black Emperor's infinitely acclaimed first two LPs, F♯A♯∞ and Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven, the 1999 EP Slow Riot for New Zerø Kanada understandably slips between the cracks. Whether that be due to it's short length or placement between two post-rock behemoths, their sophomore release never gets as much consideration as those two. It's a shame, because this very easily stands up to the material on those ... read more