It's just too easy for her at this point...
Despite this being a mere collection of demos, I just can't help but be absolutely mesmerized at the beauty of this thing. Ichiko's music, to me, is like a warm embrace. I find it legitimately impossible to be stressed while listening to her music. It's soothing and wonderful and, on some tracks here, brought me back to a much simpler time in my life. This "album" is beautiful and you should all go listen to it, if nothing else, for that ... read more

i don't know who tagged this as hip hop but whoever did is a fucking god and i love you

In spite of the 2011 mixes' best efforts, this record is still so awesome. Yeah, I'm gonna get my main critique out of the way, the panning on this record is horrendous. Everything is placed so awkwardly in the mix, and it's just not nice on the ears and doesn't do these tracks justice in any way. With that being said, this record is fucking brilliant, especially for a debut. The songwriting in particular was amazing, I especially loved cuts like "Great King Rat" and "My Fairy ... read more

Super cheesy and boring dad rock. I will say though, the title track is pretty good. The instrumentals are fun and remain interesting for the whole ten minutes, but unfortunately for the entire rest of its runtime it's just very bland and corny, both on the lyrical and musical side of things. Especially as someone that's never at all been a fan of Meat Loaf's vocals, this was a slog to get through. I understand and admire its ambitions and I can appreciate how well this was performed, but a ... read more

God, this was just wonderful. Everything about this just feels so passionate and warm, the vocals are beautiful and fit the tone perfectly, and the instrumentals are so warm and nice that I feel completely at ease listening to this, not the type of thing I'm used to saying in regards to psychedelic folk releases. I know no one actually takes AOTY recommendations seriously, but really, if you haven't heard this already, please give it a try. It's not one I'd recommend to the impatient, but if ... read more

Can't believe it took me nearly a thousand albums to hear this thing. Anyways, it was great! Everything to be said about it has already been said so all I'll say is that the hate is unjustified and "The Trial" made me think of a bunch of cats arguing in court which was very funny.

There's better out there in the way of more avant-garde and free forms of jazz. With that being said, if you want to hear a free jazz record with all the explosivity and totality of a loaded firearm, then look no further.

Honestly, age has really made this project seem a lot less impressive to me. That's not to say that there's not still a lot of catchy hooks here, and there are genuinely still moments here that I find to be amazing. However, taking into account some pretty weak vocal performances at times, pretty rough production (albeit it is intentional), and an overall message that is simply lost on me, it's pretty clear that this hasn't held up for me super well. I know what this album is *trying* to say, ... read more

Shinsekai is not exactly Midori's highest moment and unfortunately shows them at their weakest in my opinion. Not only are a lot of the mixes here very weak, but despite sounding like a Midori record with its insane shots of art punk and jazz fusion, this record just lacks a certain level of energy and charm that their first two records had. Maybe this could be attributed to a lack of creativity in the band, or the fact that at this point the band themselves were slowly starting to drift apart, ... read more

Yeah, really liked this actually. The production sounds as clean as ever on this thing, and as usual I still have no idea what the hell Thom is singing about but he sure does sing it beautifully. I'm not sure if this is an unpopular opinion or not, but personally, I greatly preferred the tracks here that delved into more electronic/IDM production, as well as the tracks here that really let the breathtaking string arrangements blossom a bit more, but there's nothing even remotely bad to be found ... read more

edit: 5 fucking years. thanks guys

The song that got me into music. Like, seriously.
Yup! It's been three years now since I first heard this song, which is pretty cool to think about. It was my favorite song ever made when I first heard it, the song that got me into twenty one pilots' music, a song that was there during a very specific time in my life, a time when I really needed it, and the song that planted a seed in my mind that didn't seem all that important at the time, but ... read more

When I was younger, I used to be really into pop punk. I feel like this is a release I would've loved like two or three years ago, but nowadays I just think most of it is fine. Like this. Vocals got on my nerves at times, but the guitars are driving and enjoyable, and the political bite isn't too obnoxious, so yeah. Pretty good release.

https://imgur.com/a/yqmViuI

Really meditative and strange, which I really liked. I'd love to own this one on vinyl someday, such a strange little oddity that I'm so glad I stumbled across.

Really enjoyed this! The production was pretty good and the lyrical content, while not really anything new, was still nice for what it was. Personally, I just thought some tracks were a little too low energy. Still worth checking out though.

Not crazy about the vocals on this, and quite frankly a lot of the sounds here just don't work for me. Still interesting, but not for me.

Do you ever just listen to the first 15 seconds of something and immediately know that it's going to be amazing?
It's not something that I can say happens to me very often, but when it does, it's special. I can think of few records this year that took my breath away as consistently and effectively as this one, and it makes sense why that would be. While there have certainly been some amazing songs and albums this year, in my opinion, none of it came close to hearing Lafourcade's effortlessly ... read more

worse than everyone says it is

Asunojokei come back with a record as fiery and emotional as the best blackgaze is. Every song here is performed extremely well, and the vocals, walls of reverb, and pounding drums all come together to bring an experience that is immensely enjoyable, albeit a bit lacking in variety in some areas. Cleverly, however, the tracks here will manage to occasionally lure you in subtly with these more light, somber moments that bring out a lot more emotion in the sound, only to throw you right back into ... read more

Pretty nice! Mostly just laidback and summery, but it's not really trying to be anything more than that so I don't really mind.