Not speechless cause I have a lot of good things to say

Hatred of Music.

The Work of Art in the Age of Cultural Overproduction is one of his greatest songs. The rest of the album is pretty great and ethereal.

As most say, not quite to the thrilling level of the trilogy, but still pretty great and very hypnotic. The concepts of mortality behind the writing are also quite striking. And while I don't think The Beggar Lover (Three) is as great as the other hyper-long Swans songs I also think it's a completely different style of song which is much more about a massive, entrancing atmosphere then massive builds. The instrumentation on the song is Phenomenal and there is plenty of variety through ... read more

While the lack of instrumental crescendos is disappointing this album is pretty entrancingly beautiful all the way through. The instrumentation is just so detailed and amazing sounding. Maybe hammered dulcimer is just a cheat code for me to think things sound good

Droning waves of texture have never sounded so good.

Edit: (88 -> 100): Ambient music ruined my life.

While the sound of the beats is slightly less dark than some of my favorite content from woods, I can't deny that it's some of the most straightforward great hip hop billy's put out.

Hypnotically cryptic. Armand Hammer consistently make their work worth trying to understand.

Can't say I am enthralled by this one as I am with some of his other works. But there are still some great moments. As always, beat choice is everything

A pretty fascinating collection of small musical pieces. As always wood's biggest strength is his uncompromising writing and his biggest weakness is choosing beats that are a bit too mild. But when he words get on a great beat you basically can't ask for anything better

Kicks ass. Love the heavy acoustic sound of the drums on this one. Makes it stand out among the more synthy stuff Xiu Xiu was doing at the time. Lots of strong moments too like In Lust You Can Hear the Axe Fall. And yes, the under pressure cover is crazy, although admittedly Michael's performance doesn't impress me quite at much as Jamie's. This album like much of Xiu Xiu's work is just raw and also filled with skillfully engineered chaos

The duos on this album offer A Lot. From bangers like Rumpus Room, to new Xiu Xiu favorites like Fuzz Gong Fight, to amazing covers like One Hundred Years... On it's face the nature of the album makes it feel like a less essential or more interstitial Xiu Xiu release. But the idea behind the album and the quality of the music inside makes it out to be anything but

This is the point where I may have to really admit my bias. I like this album a good bit! Definitely one of their weaker but that's not really an insult necessarily. The dark freakish atmosphere of this whole project is neat! Feels like it goes into more abstract and ambient territory than their previous work. Another case of Xiu Xiu switching up their sound but still sounding uniquely like themselves. This album is dark and haunting and while not for most I think it's another solid ... read more

lesser than its expanded counterpart

The balance between desolate atmosphere, thought provoking recordings, and long post-rock not struck quite perfectly. Or I guess it doesn't necessarily yield the most thrilling results. But at the right time this thing can hit hard. Although it's weakest quality may be having to stand up to the projects made after it

Too pussy to make ambient music, to annoying to make normal rock music.

Edit: (95 -> 100): This used to be my least favorite of the trilogy. But every time I listen the things I used to not love bother me less and less. The sounds Swans were working with here are truly like nothing else. The worst thing about it is there's not more that sounds like it.

Edit: (88 -> 95): While I think it's slightly less consistent than the other two in the modern trilogy I have come to truly adore the majority of this album. Each of the three have their own unique ... read more

Guys.. I hate to lay down the hot iron here.. But I don't think I'm the biggest fan of the voice audio clip. Like I get funny haha memes and also deep society meaning damn. And it's definitely not cringe in the way that every small modern producer trying to insert obnoxious "old-timey" samples of randos and people that sound like tik tok audios into their music. But... that doesn't mean I like it that much. I kinda just sit there and wait for the post rock part. ... read more

Edit: (88 -> 99): Every part of the album sounds amazing. The sonic textures are unlike any other (yes including Swans). The lyrical intensity is overwhelming. I keep coming back to it.

Original Review:
Just because it's long post-rock songs doesn't mean it needs to be compared to Swans, just fyi. Swans doesn't have a monopoly on long experimental rock music. And anything that's long psychedelic rock doesn't necessarily have to be categorized as "having clear ... read more

Very good production. Only decent rapping. JPEG's production is great as ever. He continues to evolve his sound, never letting himself get fully boxed in. My major complaint with this album is that on this project more than any of his others is the gap between his production skills and his rapping skills apparent. He has nearly the same flow on just about every track. Even when you think it's a different flow it's basically the same flow. Daveed Diggs and JID have diversified ... read more