invertedcarcal

The View From This Tower, at its core, is a great math rock album with a more aggressive edge. Vocalist Devin Ocampo exhibits an emotive and yearning but still focused voice, and of course the instrumentation in general is amazing. It's well produced and the surprising amount of different instruments you can hear outside of the typical 3-piece sound (cello, synth, trumpet, etc.) makes for each song to be a cohesive and memorable experience. While the album isn't mindblowing, it's a good bit of ... read more

On New Plastic Ideas, Unwound takes a step above Fake Train and creates an album with basically no skips. While understandably similar in sound (although the production makes this an even more pleasant listen), there's no quick uninspired ditties or touches of filler. From opener Entirely Different Matters to beautiful instrumental Abstraktions to livid closer Fiction Friction, there is no stop to this album's momentum. It all just fits. It's an ugly yet beautifully distilled version of this ... read more

Obviously, this early into Unwound's incredible discography, this (sort of but not really) debut record sounds different to later masterpieces such as Repetition and Leaves Turn Inside You (both of which I have been feversishly in my rotation recently). While it's not my favourite record by them, it shows obvious proof that this band was going to go places.

There's a few duds on here (namely Lucky Acid and Gravity Slips) but these generic sounding tunes are eclipsed by the selection of songs ... read more

I kind of knew from the beginning that I'd enjoy Steely Dan's music. This kind of thing is practically baked into my DNA. There's not much to say about this album, other than some praise for the incredible musicianship and, surprisingly, the lyrics.
I feel like a slimy businessman listening to this. Good good stuff.