I understand that this wasn't really intended to be taken seriously but it blows my mind that someone could be content with a releasing an album that's this sloppy, unfinished, and mundane. The songs provide absolutely nothing in the way of substance, and given that this is over an hour long, most of it is very forgettable.

There was actually one cool moment on this though (at least that I can remember), and it's the admittedly awesome guitar solo on 'Nothing Else ... read more

I knew of Bon Iver's reputation and I imagined that it'd be something I like, but I never really bothered to check them out until now, needless to say I was not disappointed. This is a great batch of indie folk that surprised me in how varied it was and how many different musical elements it included in just 39 minutes. It contains all your standard indie folk stuff but also has a lot of ambient/neo-psychedelia/dream pop moments, among others.

My only complaint here is that it is ... read more

I legitimately may never tire of hearing Elton John plinking away on a piano while crooning about whatever he wants because it's so good every time!! Even though he's one of my most streamed artists of all time, I never really explored Elton John past his 1970-1973 output during which I don't think he & Bernie could write a bad song.

I knew a couple songs from this record beforehand, 'Val-Hala' and 'Sails,' the latter of which being one of my favorite Elton songs in general, so I was ... read more

Super cool listen and not at all what I was expecting given that I didn't know Beth Gibbons outside of Portishead before this, but it was a pleasantly surprising listen! Each of the tracks individually here are all incredible but genuinely I don't think I could distinguish them if I didn't know the titles.

I loved the string arrangements on this so much, and I haven't really heard anyone else do what Gibbons did here, I felt like I was walking through ancient Egypt listening to this. Because ... read more

Thoroughly enjoyable, this has a great selection of songs and I loved the thematic feel of space on this because this really does feel like I'm doing some sort of spacewalk aboard the ISS and my spacesuit is equipped with headphones playing Duster.

It is a little lengthy, but most of the songs are short enough to not really impact my enjoyment at all, and the longer ones like 'Stratosphere' were great anyways. My main gripe with this record are the vocals, which are thankfully pretty sparse ... read more

There's something about Yo La Tengo that's so deeply familiar, something that's reminiscent of warm summer nights (super cliché I know but it's true), late night childhood drives in the Lincoln Tunnel, and a sound I've heard so many times before. The music's nostalgic and comforting, a theme explored more thoroughly on this release than those of years prior, perhaps through the dream pop & slowcore soundscapes but certainly exemplified by the album cover. The lyrics are so personal, ... read more

No musical experience will ever match thinking that 'I Would Hurt a Fly' is almost done, then looking at the song and seeing that it's only like halfway done and then being blown away by one of the coolest guitar solos/instrumental parts I've ever heard.

I haven't been able to say in a while that I've heard an album as completely unique as 'Perfect from Now On.' A beautiful melding of various styles including post-rock, psychedelic rock, and slowcore, 'Perfect from Now On' is able to ... read more

This album is essentially flawless, even if it does feel fairly lengthy at times. Purely sonically, this sounds pretty similar for its entire runtime but this has so many cathartic moments I don't really mind some of the slower moments. There are a handful of songs on here that are just unbelievably good, chief among them being 'Bodys,' which immediately became one of the best songs that I've heard. Don't sleep on the rest of the songs, though, because there's not a bad moment to be found ... read more

This is pretty far removed from anything I usually listen to but I still found this an enjoyable album to listen to. This has very good production and is exceedingly groovy (note the bass on After Midnight). Song quality is very consistent but nothing really stands out very much outside of My Kink is Karma and Pink Pony Club which are both great and very fun.

Couldn't help but notice the lyrical content despite my ineptitude at paying attention to lyrics but it doesn't affect me all that much ... read more

If you're fine with every song sounding the same, this is an impeccable album. This manages to combine expertly crafted songwriting while retaining a feeling of a homegrown, amateurish sound. While all the songs are here are effectively made in the same way, Never Meant is particularly incredible. The first three tracks here are an incredible run.

I was introduced to this album because Have it Your Way autoplayed after finishing Daughter's 'You Won't Get You Want,' which became the best thing to come out of listening to that album. Given my past track record with noise rock/shoegaze/emo (sometimes screamo) records, I should not enjoy this as much as I do. My tolerance for noise rock and emo is fairly low, but this album is so well crafted that it mostly circumvents my issues for the genres. Sometimes, though, it still passes the point of ... read more

As I embarked on my Interpol pilgrimage, it always seemed to me that, given their sound, they'd have a pretty short shelf life. My fears were proven correct. Interpol, less than a decade after their debut, have managed to lose any edge that they had once had.

Three years prior to 'Interpol,' they had released the solid yet safe 'Our Love to Admire,' which had a few great tracks, but didn't break any new ground and featured weaker songwriting. Three years later, they continue their slide of ... read more

This album functions best out of focus, as more white noise. The soundscapes are lush and dreamy, Frank Ocean's voice is soothing, and all of the songs are pleasant listening experiences that are hard to find any objection in.

When this record isn't relegated to the background, I think it loses a bit of its sheen. While sonically impeccable with great production, the songs don't provide much in the way of actual substance. Perhaps it's just a bit bloated, tracks like Pilot Jones or Forrest ... read more

Few artists have had the posthumous musical relevance that Nick Drake has had since he released Pink Moon over 50 years ago. Nick Drake has been able to influence an entire genre of music through his incredible lyricism and atmospheric playing. I don't think it'd be possible to find an artist in the folk sphere who wasn't influenced in some way by Nick Drake.

This album is, beautiful, succinct—only 28 minutes long, and exercises one of the clearest examples of a perfect folk album to be ... read more

I knew going into this that I wasn't going to enjoy this, so the rating is no surprise. All things considered, this isn't bad. The length of this is definitely helping my score but I can see how someone would enjoy this, it's just about as far away from what I'd normally to as an album could possibly be. Blinding Faith definitely stood out here with how much it deviates from the rest of the album, I really liked the unique noise elements present on that song. Nothing else really stood out off ... read more

I avoided listening to 3.15.20 specifically so I could listen to the new refined version and love it. My plans backfired so bad. This is not a good album. This is such a mess, it's all over the place and the songs are so mismatched, it feels like a puzzle I have to put together to create a cohesive album. By far the worst part of the album are the vocal effects that are put on Glover occasionally, it sounds unbearably bad, completely ruins some songs.

Final Church is good, but that's about it. ... read more

Are a good portion of the songs here nothing special? Yeah. Is this album awesome? Fuck yeah. This was an absolute blast to listen to, even if it was 21 tracks over 35 minutes and impossible to keep track of. This album has no right to be as enjoyable as it is.

Far too polished and safe for a band trying to replicate TotBL, but still has a solid collection of songs—and some of Interpol's most underrated. It's kinda a slog to listen to this, the songs that are notable are pretty spread out and are somewhat lost in the slog of the copy+paste Interpol songs. There are a couple songs here, Mammoth & What Do You Think, that actually harken back to the angsty and cramped feeling that they'd largely left behind.

Aside from that, the best songs ... read more

This album rocks—sometimes that's all an album needs to do. Couldn't help but feel like this is just watered down Strokes at some points though. The highs on this album are very high though, Darts of Pleasure was my intro to this album and it's one of my favorite songs right now. Most of the songs on here don't really do much for me though, including Take Me Out, which I was really looking forward to hearing.

This has a surprising amount of Wilco's unequivocally best moments, from the absolutely lush and gorgeous Impossible Germany, to the energetic instrumental breaks on Side with the Seeds, to the unexpectedly effective closer On and on and On. This is, above anything else, just an incredibly beautiful album.

Removed from the highest of Wilco's highs lies the baseline floor of songs that are pretty good, but not really worth returning to. After Side with the Seeds, the song quality takes a dip, ... read more