A mall-music odyssey. This is pretty fantastic, with all the great production you'd expect, and quite a bit of pastiche. It's kind of front loaded with all the bangers, and then things kind of slow down and the energy gets a bit lost. But I'm glad Alan is back and I hope we don't wait too long for the next album.
Highlights: Meutrière, La Madrileña, Nudista Mundial ’89, The Return of Mickey Milan, Stay-At-Home DJ, Club People, The Island Years
Fuzzy and shoegazey, very live energy. I randomly came across this band a while back, and I really liked a couple of tracks from their last EP.
There's a few good moments on this album, though the very drowned out vocals didn't really leave much of an impression. Sometimes the emulation of other bands here is hard to ignore, but there's still some nice guitar work.
Highlights: Kissing Embers, Perception, Surrender
So, this isn't quite my "thing", it's a little too traditional, too sappy and sweet. But it's too well written, performed and produced to not be enjoyed, even if I may not come back to it often.
Highlights: Dreamer, While You Were Sleeping, Lovesick, California and Me, Nocturne, From The Start, Bewitched
Maybe a little TOO consistent. The album is mostly piano + beats and many songs bleed into each other, and maybe that's the point... it makes for a solid listen with no peaks or valleys.
Highlights: Promises, No Limit, 2 D I C U V
Feels both too lean and overlong somehow, but it's warm, blissful, worth a listen.
Highlights: shanty, prayer remembered, kisses
I'd definitely see Lucas Abela and Zach Hill live. But I will never listen to this again lmao
The Cowboys continue further into more straightforward good ol "rock n roll" and away from their earlier punk leaning stuff. While it still has its quirks and charms and decent instrumentals, the vocals and songwriting can be a little awkward and hard to take to sometimes.
Surprisingly, the only song that really stuck with me was the cheeky piano ballad "Pheobe From HR".
Sometimes mildly funny, sometimes the beats go hard. I don't need to ever listen to this again
Highlights: FAMILY GUY
This album turned out pretty much like I hoped it would - wacky, energetic, and synth heavy. Like on A Foul Form, the band keeps things short and sweet, the longest track being the out-of-nowhere hypnagogic slow jam Always At Night. Tom Dolas on keys has been such a great addition to the lineup, and this album really puts this on display.
Long live John and his Dwyerisms.
EDIT: Also, those who pre-ordered on Bandcamp are treated to a cover of the most iconic call hold song of all ... read more
Instrumentally not always astounding, but Anohni's vocals and songwriting definitely are.
Highlights: Can't, Scapegoat, Rest, There Wasn't Enough
A pretty fun electro punk / noisy pop EP from a band I stumbled across on YouTube. Fumble is a total banger.
Create an account to rate and review albums.
Recent Review Comments
On Muse - Cryogen
"@TheContract12 why does autotune and simplicity have to equate to a lower score? Maybe in this case, I prefer the simplistic, lighter sound of that song versus the production on this one. And let's not pretend this is some complex peice of work or Muse's best.
I was a much bigger Muse fan back in the day compared to The Strokes, so I have alot stronger opinions on what Muse does compared to The Strokes.
Let's not do that thing where you look at someone's scores and go "you rated 'A' this so your opinion about 'B' is invalid". Its okay if we have different tastes."
On The Strokes - Going Shopping
"@Ch3ck1t whats there to be mad at though lol? And yeah Instant Crush is a Daft Punk song"
On Ember Hart - repectation
"@EmberHart no π"
On colin's review of Paris Texas - They Left Me with the Sword
"I dont understand why everybody doesn't just like every band in existence"
On SPOONSTHEFIRST's review of Magdalena Bay - Imaginal Disk
"Saw them open for George Clanton, they are so good live!"
On ππ¨π¨πππ’π§π's review of your arms are my cocoon - death of a rabbit
"People take music opinions so personally it's fucking crazy."
On orange's review of νλλ
Έμ [Parannoul] - Sky Hundred
"I havent listened to it yet but, I felt the same way about To See The Next Part Of The Dream, it just almost hurt to listen to, pretty bad mix. After The Magic felt like a big improvement tho I hope we haven't reverted. Lo-fi doesn't have to mean physically uncomfortable to hear"
On Porter Robinson - SMILE! :D
"@Krolljr I definitely will soon. I admire Porter a lot, just hasn't really stuck with me yet"
On Alexlikesmusic's review of The Weeknd - After Hours
"Good review! I don't think I've actually ever listened to the whole album so thanks for the push"
On Confidence Man - I Can't Lose You
"@klctht hoping the album is better than singles they've been dropping the past year π΅π«"
On BeyoncΓ© - COWBOY CARTER
"@evelezt I wouldn't say I was comparing them, I'm not a huge Beyonce listener to begin with. I just stylistically like Renaissance more, this album isn't something I would really come back to regardless"
On Brendan's review of The Cult Of Lip - Marsha
"Sounded better in my car, when I listened at home I was like π"
On alezf's review of Osees - Intercepted Message
"That set is so good. They've really gotten their live sound down to a science at this point"
On KaitoNkmra's review of George Clanton - Ooh Rap I Ya
"I like the album alot but Slide definitely was better. I have issues with the mix on a lot of the songs as well, it's kind of all over the place"
On Omelete's review of TV Girl - Grapes Upon the Vine
"Just because the style changed doesn't really mean "progression" though"
Advertisement