Relistening to this fuckass yoinky sploinky soundtrack before the emotional gut-punch of that finale made the whole thing pretty funny actually. Really goes to show just how far this show has come and I still can't believe it's over.

This is yet another Boards of Canada album. Because it's another Boards of Canada album, of course it's really good. However, I've let this new Boards of Canada album sit with me for a bit and I've come to the conclusion that I don't really care for this Boards of Canada album. If you've listened to MHTRTC or Geogaddi, you've already heard this Boards of Canada album. Boards of Canada don't really do a whole lot new here, the only thing of note would be ... read more

Yeah we can skip past July and go straight to August I need this right now

I think watching paint dry would be more entertaining than this. Literally every Bleachers song post Take The Sadness Out Of Saturday Night has sounded exactly the same and this is the most sanitized version of that basic formula. The charm has worn out for me, this was just fucking boring.

There was zero point for this. I could write a multi-page essay on why this rerelease goes against everything special about the original. Lyric changes are made to be cleaner and they are pointless, cringe, and downright misunderstand the purpose of the original lyrics. The mixes are noticeably worse, with drums taking up WAY more of the mix. Seriously, it sounds like these songs were taken back to their demo stages. They don't have the energy the OG had. This was the last album they ... read more

So all they needed to do this entire time was bring Brian Eno in to produce their albums and we would've had four good albums instead of, well, just one.

I may be biased because Viva La Vida *is* my favorite Coldplay song, but I genuinely think this is their most focused album so far. Their first album was sweet, but a little too shallow. Their second was too bloated with almost nothing to say. Their third was slightly better but still felt like it was missing a major piece to the puzzle. ... read more

I've concluded that this trilogy of albums was never meant to be paid attention to and was strictly designed to be background noise. This has some more highlights than the previous album (What If, White Shadows, Til Kingdom Come), but at the end of the day the majority of the tracklist is still incredibly repetitive, just get me to Viva La Vida

And here we are: Radiohead's final album... at least for now? Moon Shaped Pool has such a thick atmosphere, both airy and beautiful. Strings dance around your ears, pianos are endlessly layered and each note has so much to say. Thom's vocals are definitely showing some age but he still sounds incredible and his raspy voice fits this world's mood so well. True Love Waits, a song 20 years in the making, is both breathtaking and depressing. A song once conceived as a cheesy love ... read more

55 -> 76
OK Computer... 2!

After dipping into the world of electronic/IDM for Kid A and Amnesiac, Hail to the Thief seems somewhat like a return to form for Radiohead. They still keep it experimental, incorporating some drum loops and punchy electronic plucks every now and then. This feels like a mix between OK Computer and Amnesiac in sound and I find that really interesting. I really didn't remember much from this album seeing that I heard it once 4 years ago and then never again, ... read more

78 -> 44
In Rainbows is one of those weird albums where I see it constantly placed in Radiohead's top 3 albums next to Ok Computer and Kid A and then I listen to it and wonder if I'm even hearing the same album.

I don't know, I feel like this record is playing it way too safe. It *does* start off super strong with 15 Step and the bombastic Bodysnatchers, but then all that forward momentum comes to a screeching halt. Don't get me wrong, Nude is a fine song, but when the ... read more

My problem with Parachutes was that every song didn't feel developed enough, staying very one-note throughout the tracklist. This album does nothing to address that and makes the average song even longer while also stripping away any sort of charm the previous album's tracks had. This was a complete drag to get through and I would give this a much lower score if The Scientist wasn't genuinely a blissful break from the monotony.

81 -> 86
As I continue to be underwhelmed with Forever Howlong, I decided to check back up on Bush Hall and holy shit I forgot how amazing this album is. It's got that whimsical flair to it while still building to the next payoff, the next climactic moment. Everyone is giving it their all here, with specific highlights being May and Tyler's incredible vocal performances. Turbines/Pigs continues to be one of their best songs and stands as a testament to how special this band is (or ... read more

I actually came away from this album surprisingly underwhelmed. I'd actually never heard Yellow in full, or any song here for that matter, but I knew this was supposed to be one of their better albums. It is very warm and well put together, but maybe that's what I don't love about it. It seems a little *too* clean. A lot of these songs bubble down to the same formula, rarely going in any new directions that weren't already presented in the first 30 seconds. There really ... read more

This album feels like a sneeze that never comes out. For the sake of the metaphor this is one of those sneezes you know is gonna feel good if it came out, but it never does, so now you're left feeling unsatisfied and it hurts slightly. To exacerbate the metaphor even further: the sneeze was all the good ideas that could've been and the disappointment in realizing that nothing builds to anything truly exciting is the feeling that comes with that sneeze never happening.

Only listen to ... read more

400TH REVIEW

75 ---> 86

After relistening to the entirety Music Has The Right To Children for the third time this week I thought I'd give Geogaddi another shot, as it *was* my introduction to Boards of Canada. I've come to love the sound of Right To Children because it embraces its IDM roots but also feels like a complete rejection of the music surrounding that time period. The late 90s started to ween off of grunge rock and more into alt-rock territory thanks to the wild success ... read more

I listened to 12 out of the 21 songs so I'd say that's enough to give a fair score.

A surprisingly melancholic project from American Football. Never Meant and Bad Moon are extremely close contenders for my favorite song from these guys. Bad Moon is so uncomfortably raw that I'm actually kind of glad the rest of the album is nowhere near as dark. It's still pretty depressing everywhere else but I honestly thought it was more beautiful than anything. Very light and dreamy, the perfect album for gazing into a blood moon.

This was the first album I ever bought on Google Music ("I" being my mom, I was 9 years old). Words can not describe my love for this game and its soundtrack. I've played it for hundreds of hours speedrunning and racing the friends I met thanks to this game and its sequel. The music has stuck with me for the last 11 years. It's an emotional powerhouse: impossibly whimsical and awe-inspiring. It's one of the single greatest OSTs I've ever heard minus the Minecraft ... read more

This is a very killer debut; very soothing with hints of mystery scattered all throughout, which brings me to my fun fact! Did you know there's actually a ghost living in this album? If you fall victim to it's spell, you may catch this ghost trying to speak to you, even if only for a brief time and only in a couple moments.

I'm feeling extreme amounts of relief right now. The two singles I heard from this album really had me preparing for a worst case scenario: one where Friko didn't live up to their insane debut and fumbled for their sophomore. While I can't say this album is anywhere close to the near-masterpiece that was "Where we've been, where we go from here", it still has a hell of a kick to it. Choo Choo didn't impress me as a single but as part of this album it actually ... read more