89 --> 98
This is one of my favourite electronic/vaporwave projects ever, easily. This entire album has a sound which I have never seen replicated since. It's a sound that is perfectly reflected by the album art, that feeling of flicking through channels on the TV in the middle of the night when you're almost asleep, and your brain trying to piece together everything that you hear. The atmosphere created here is something that makes this album feel completely other-worldly.
98 -- ... read more
This sounded really smart and complicated, and at points I definitely felt like I was drifting into space. However I don't think the songs do much to distinguish themselves from each other, which results in it all feeling like one giant song
This isn't really a song, it's literally just a sped up recording of the "Bloop" noise: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloop, so there is literally nothing original being done here. I guess the title tries to re-frame the noise in a new context, but it's completely incoherent.
A lot of interesting sounds and ideas that I don't feel like amount to anything of substance
Honestly really impressed with the first few tracks on here, but my enjoyment really falls by the end of this album
On this album by American multi-instrumentalist Marisa Anderson, she manages to create a project with a very soothing atmosphere. This album has very simple and stripped back instrumentals and guitar work courtesy of Anderson, which makes me feel like I'm gathered round a campfire, listening to someone play the guitar. Even if this album is simple, and sometimes feels repetitive, I can see myself returning to this album if I want something on in the background while I'm doing something.
While it's clear that Lang is an incredibly talented musician, I don't think he uses his skills to their advantage on this album. This project starts off with an impressive instrumental track, followed by a 9 minute long song that goes on for about 4 minutes too long. A lot of this album fell into the background as I was listening to it. Also, I don't really care for the lyrics to many of the songs on this album, and Lang's performance leaves a lot to be desired. The album explores a lot of ... read more
This is such an easy project to get lost in, with the repeating sounds creating this incredible atmosphere. The singing on many of the songs here elevates the album to a level higher than other albums of the same nature. I think that the song "Corner Of My Sky" is a bit of a bump in the road here, as I don't think John Cale's voice works well with Owens' production (Although he does sing Welsh for parts of the song, so that's pretty cool). Something good about this album is that ... read more
This is an incredibly catchy project with such a fun vibe to it. This is a highlight in modern British dance music
So, I found this album randomly, and went into it completely blind, this is the first full length album by band "empress", (it's titled "Debut LP" on Spotify, so I don't know its official title). It's extremely hard to find much about this band, which makes the music here feel much more elusive.
At the beginning of this album, I felt like I was transported to a small house on the side of the mountain, looking out to nature on a rainy and miserable day. This emotion changes ... read more
An incredibly impressive album, especially knowing nothing going in, I guess my main issue is that I felt like it was the project felt too short for how much was going on, and would love to hear them expand on the ideas presented here on later projects.
Probably the strangest Bjork album I've listened to so far, with many songs on here being solely vocals with no background instruments. When these background instruments do show up, they are usually subdued and very quiet. This leads to an album to a somewhat foreboding atmosphere, like I'm being led to a place I know nothing about. With an album that is so focused on the vocals, this album's quality rests on the quality of these vocals. Sadly I think this is where the album falters the most. ... read more
A lot of really cool ideas, and incredible for the time, but I can't help feel like people credit the legacy of this album more than the actual contents of the album itself.
2nd listen (2 years later), 75-87:
Clicked for me way more now, having listened to a lot more music, I can appreciate all the little things this album does and just how amazing it sounds.
This is a wildly different sound than billy woods' more recent output, from the production, to the tone, to the delivery. Despite having nearly 20 songs, and being over an hour in length, at no point was this album ever dull, at no point did any of the songs on here feel like they overstayed their welcome, which is an indication of the quality on this album. This album still retains much of billy woods' almost spoken word style of rapping that he would develop in later albums, but has a way of ... read more
The last song on here is so good, I just wish that the other songs reached that level of quality. Overall, I think this is a decent little EP, however I think it's less ambitious than other projects.
![Armand Hammer - We Buy Diabetic Test Strips [Reissue]](https://cdn2.albumoftheyear.org/100x0/album/886909-we-buy-diabetic-test-strips_030118.jpg)
(Also includes a review of "Doves", as the song's page was taken down)
This is a really interesting and unique hip hop album, featuring unique production mixed with (As expected) excellent lyrics from billy woods and E L U C I D.
- Review Of "Doves":
This will probably be the best song of the year, how can it not be? It manages to find a balance between being devastating and beautiful amongst all the chaos. To put this song into a genre will be a disservice to it. Over its ... read more
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