idk why but i can barely connect with a single song on this album. i love i zimbra and think cities is pretty great. i also dont mind heaven and life during wartime, but mostly this album is just boring to me.

its doubly strange returning to this after listening to speaking in tounges which is very similar to this album sonically, but i thoroughly enjoyed almost every track on that album and still could not connect with this one.

for more emphasis i listened to this as my second talking ... read more

this album blows me away anew every time i return to it.
born under punches is such a good title for the opener because its groove feels like its punching you in the face.
the multilayered rhythms on crosseyed and painless are so intricate and complex and infectious.
the great curve might be some of the best melody work i have ever listened to... the underlying instrumental is unchanged for 6.5mins and yet it feels like it is constantly moving and evolving.
once in a lifetime is so strange ... read more

as much as id love to love this album, the second half really lets me down especially compared to how great the a-side is.

for my 300th rating, this is an album i found for $20 at my local record store. it was actually a pink splatter vinyl too which is kinda cool i had no idea itd be that. the music itself is at times quite post rockey and at times just boring chuggy metal. the b side is much better than the a side due to the larger emphasis on the post rock, especially on the 19min closer bleak. i will return to this after a second listen to provide further thoughts :O.

my mum got this album around when it was released, which happened to be around a year before i was born. i remember being under 10 years old on the 10hr drive from home to my grandparents house, with the soundtrack being comprised entirely of this album and fleet foxes self titled. and while the latter i revisited later and fell even deeper in love with and subsequently explored the bands entire discography, this album did not blow me away as much.

there are definitely a few high highs, the ... read more

the number one band for embodying bittersweet joy

sept 2024, after having this album at a 100 for about 1.5yrs now i decided to return to it because, while i had it at a 100 for this whole time i couldnt really explain why or have a favourite song or anything.

but upon returning to it i realised that the album had embedded itself at the core of my understanding of music. the melodies and structures i knew as if id listened to this album since i was born.

and so im keeping it at a 100 because this album is genuinely a masterpiece, even if its ... read more

always thought the beastie boys were just shouty white guys but this was actually much more instrumental than i expected.

geniuley would be hard pressed to come up with a better track selection from their first 2 albums, i would only replace world is yours with ベアーズ the closer from their first album. pretty much all killer no filler.

the renditions of these tracks are overall lacking some of the detail of their album counterparts and the ending of endroll is not as huge as the album versions ending. i also really wish the lead in i f a surfer was louder it isnt as high energy as the album ... read more

lowkey i disagree with general consensus and think that their debut album is way better.

the first 2 tracks are great and track 4 is very fun and heavy (though not as heavy as track 5 on the debut) but the rest i really wasnt feeling as much.

holy shit this album fucks. the first half is a lot more restrained and suffers for it imo having all of the weaker tracks in the lp, except the opener which is pretty great. the second half with the two awesome instrumental tracks sandwiching the absolute peak of this albums insane balls to the wall noise rock that is I F A SURFER.

endroll is at times quite messy, jumping seemingly randomly from riff to riff, but it builds to a soaring conclusion that would be the peak of the album if the ... read more

returning to this with the release of the other singles and by god i think this is so much better than those tracks. it is definitely a bit dragged out but the ideas here are so much more interesting. maybe the album wont be so bad after all.

out of album context this is really not a whole lot. the riff is nice and it develops well into a nice major section in the middle but the outro is a bit played out. still very pretty

update: in album context this song is soul crushing. im not changing my rating of the single but just know that when you listen to the album front to back, this song will be the song to break you.

im not rlly sure if im here for this new direction. the drones are nice sure but its just so boring and unevolving. im actually not super excited for their new album around the corner after this and zero sum :(

breathtakingly beautiful. after listening to this album for about a year now while reading i finally sat down and actually listened to this album. and yeah, its pretty great. had me feeling like i was floating on the bus.

wow, preconceptions of this being a "instagram album" blown away. very beautiful mostly ambient album with sprinkles of tension. the standout for me is run on sentence with a breathtaking linear guitar riff that runs between bars, and an ending that builds up beatifully. the final track was a very pleasant surprise, albiet a bit out of the blue and not built upto.

72 -> 92

cant belive i underrated this so much for so long, this is such a banger. the opener is the best song theyve ever put out.

92 -> 96

this is a masterpiece, maybe a new 100??!

track one had me thinking thisd be a new favourite. alas nothing really lived up to the perfection of that song

this album is so awful. genuinely had me in disbelief at times. the title track was genuinely shocking because it was actually really nice up until the singing started then the nosedive was front and centre. i really liked quest for fire but avoided this because of the bad reviews i read, and tbh i wish i kept avoiding it.

the amount i listened to this as a preteen good lord

1. pretty good albeit messy brostep cut
2. so fun, fatman scoop kills, this shouldve been the opener
3. if i wanted to hear this shit i wouldve got a filling or gone into a marshland fuck this song
4. excellent brostep cut
5. another fun cut with a good feature
6. so messy, still aight but theres too many ideas here
7. fuck yes this is such a good song, one of his best
8. second half is good, first drags, couldve been good instead its a joke ... read more