Yeah, this one's just kinda bad. Sorry. I don't usually dislike Oh Sees albums, but this gets grating really quick. And besides, 16 tracks is way too long for an album that gets old by the fifth song.

pros:
- interesting sound
- decent instrumentation

cons:
- boring compositions
- grating definitely-not-King-Gizzard-vocals
- bloated

This album is bad. Awful, in fact. The worst album I've rated on this website so far, with the exception of "Pink Season" (to be fair, not a very difficult standard to exceed), and easily the weakest project I've heard this year. I've already expressed that trap rap just isn't my thing, but even then I can recognize that there are good artists in the genre. Denzel Curry, for example, is one of the most creative and interesting personalities in modern hip hop, and his sound is firmly ... read more

Here's an obscure hidden gem. Strip Tease Belette were a very underground French coldwave band back in the latter half of the 80's--their career as a band were short-lived, as this LP was their final release, two years after they had first formed. Personally, though, I believe that they should have gotten way bigger than they did. Their sound is frigid, shivering with anxiety; much like one of my favorite bands, the Talking Heads, every guitar line oozes with this palpably tense energy that ... read more

"Trench" is by far the best Twenty One Pilots album. This album's release actually made me excited to hear upcoming music from these guys, since (excluding "Blurryface"), it continues their trend of continuous improvement. They started as a pretty terrible band back in 2009, and now, they're actually acceptable. Just makes you wonder what they'll do in the future. Now, don't get me wrong, "Trench" still isn't a perfect album, but there are lots of great ideas and ... read more

Here it is. The crème de la crème of bad Twenty One Pilots albums. The pinnacle of bad. While "Vessel" was more mainstream than the albums that came before it, it still maintained its integrity and I couldn't consider it a sellout move. I can't say the same for "Blurryface". Songs like "Ride" and "Doubt" are obviously pandering to the radio, despite claiming on the disastrous "Fairly Local" that they'll never be on the radio. Trust ... read more

Like I said in my review of "Regional at Best", this record is just a better version of that album. It's also the first Twenty One Pilots album I can call decent, and one of two that I can confidently say aren't bad. This is still an incredibly flawed album, but everything feels much more cohesive and focused. The melodies are solid most of the time, and some of the song structures are surprisingly progressive. Up to this point, the new re-recordings of the tracks "Ode to ... read more

I didn't know this until I listened to this album's follow-up, "Vessel", but this is literally just a worse version of that album. Not only are the ideas here also carried out (much better, might I add) on that record, but FIVE of the tracks on "Regional at Best" appear on "Vessel" as well--just more polished and better-produced. Because of that, there's really no reason for me to listen to this over "Vessel" at all, although I'll give Twenty One Pilots ... read more

Listen, I don't wanna invalidate my little brother's music taste or anything...
...but Twenty One Pilots suck.

My brother is on a similar level of music fanaticism as I am, so we'll often talk about the albums we're listening to a lot with each other and discuss cool bands. I love the kid, but sometimes he pulls out a hot take that makes me wanna curl up in a ball with my Radiohead records. One of his favorite music groups of the past few years has been Twenty One Pilots, and at first, I ... read more

Teddy Pendergrass delivers lots of energetic, sensual, and lifting Philly soul with his 1979 album, "Teddy". It's an infinitely funky time capsule of the sound of soul at the time, and it still holds up very well today.

pros:
- great instrumentation
- really good vocal performances
- memorable

cons:
- some tracks could be shorter

While British renaissance man Archy Marshall has recently gained prominence in the music community under his alias King Krule, he has many more releases under his belt that most people aren't even aware of. I find this EP, "Darkest Shades of Blue", one of the more interesting ones. Released under the name Edgar the Beatmaker, this is a solely hip hop-centric beat tape that showcases Marshall's production talents. It's alright, but I have a few issues with it. Firstly, I'm really ... read more

Take notes, Tycho. THIS is how you make good chillwave. Sure, this entire genre as a whole is kind of prone to being a bit aimless--it's entirely built on aesthetics and "the VIBES, man," and because of its flash-in-the-pan nature, it's almost completely dead these days. However, there is a way to get it right, and Haunted Disco proves that on "Commodore". Lush, dreamy synths, retro soundscapes, and clear vaporwave influences make this one of the standout electronic releases ... read more

The pinnacle of forgoing structure, message, or atmosphere in favor of chasing the ever-so elusive "vibe".

pros:
- decently composed

cons:
- generic & boring

The first album since their era-defining trilogy of records that consisted of "The Seer", "To Be Kind" and "The Glowing Man", this is a very surprising return to their early 90's sound. This time around, though, there are even more country influences added to the mix, making it a unique blend of post-rock, neofolk, gothic country, drone, and experimental rock. For as good of an album as it is, it just doesn't stand up to the phenomenal LPs that came before it. ... read more

This is another pretty tough listen, although it isn't on the same level as "The Seer" in terms of darkness or "To Be Kind" in terms of...well, pure quality, I suppose. Instead, it feels like a pained, struggled goodbye. From a listener's standpoint, this is a goodbye to the trilogy of albums "The Glowing Man" is closing off. After all, those last piano notes that fade into the mist at the end of "Finally, Peace" are the final sounds of one of the most ... read more

And thus, Swans hit their 21st century peak. "To Be Kind" is not only the best album of their 2010's trilogy, but their best release of the 21st century so far. Most things I said about "The Seer" also apply here, specifically the parts about the album's atmosphere and the album experience in general. This record alone is a case study for why albums are so effective as means of music consumption; they're adventurous, vast, wholly engulfing. Albums like this are the reasons ... read more

"The Seer" is a really, really tough listen. Like I said for "The Great Annihilator", it just feels so sinister. The darkness is unending, and it keeps droning on and on for nearly two hours. However, if you manage to get through it all, you're rewarded with one of the most gratifying album experiences of the decade. I'm tempted to do what I did with "Soundtracks for the Blind" and leave a non-review that goes along the lines of "Just listen to the damn thing ... read more

Like "The Burning World", Swans' 2010 comeback record "My Father Will Guide Me Up a Rope to the Sky" is often critiqued for being too tame. According to this album's detractors, it's not nearly experimental as it should be--and as a followup to the mind-altering "Soundtracks for the Blind", maybe they have a point. This is a pretty standard post-rock affair--for Swans, anyway--and for as solid as it is, it just doesn't stack up to the masterpieces the band have ... read more

Experience it yourself first. Ask questions later.

In a way, "The Great Annihilator" feels like a warm-up round in two different ways. The first is in a more literal sense--it feels like the band warming up for one of their greatest magnum opuses, "Soundtracks for the Blind", which would directly follow this record. In terms of soundscapes and atmosphere, the two records are kind of similar. In the other way, though, it feels like the warm-up to an incredibly dark act--possibly suicide, possibly murder, something insidious. ... read more

I don't have much to say about "Love of Life", the admittedly less stellar companion piece to its predecessor, "White Light from the Mouth of Infinity". Sonically, it's pretty similar, although I would say that the gothic rock influences permeate the band's sound a bit more here than they did on "White Light" (of course, they were still everywhere on that album, but you get the picture). It's just a tad bit shorter than "White Light", yet it's packed full ... read more