Need music recommendations | 1 year challenge

[noname219]

Track ratings to help me find which song to bold. I forgot to remove them.

edit : if people see this, the daily review will be posted tomorrow morning

[noname219]

Day Thirty-Six - January 5th, 2014
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Calamari Tuesday by Feed Me (recommended by Tibbers)

1. Orion
2. Death by Robot
3. Lonely Mountain
4. Ebb & Flow
5. Rat Trap
6. Dazed
7. Ophelia
8. Chinchilla
9. In the Bin
10. Fiasco
11. Love Is All I Got
12. Short Skirt
13. No Grip
14. Onstuh
15. Last Requests

I'm once again, extremely late for my reviews. I will make them in advance starting from now, so when I'm in a rush, I won't accumulate delay... I hope so. Today Last sunday was Tibbers' birthday and the album chosen was Calamari Tuesday by Feed Me. Feed Me is Jon Gooch, also known as Spor who specialize in complextro, electro house and dubstep. Calamari Tuesday was his sophomore album, released last October.

A good entry point for people looking to get into complextro due to the large range of styles. There's a bunch of common breakdown-brostep songs (Ebb & Flow, No Grip, etc.). While some of those are entertaining or fun, in general, they are predictably cliché and don't have much interest. The more electro house-induced songs are much better. Orion has a nice build-up but ends on a high, Dazed is smooth and feels aerial, Ophelia is poppier and has a pleasant melodic chorus. The vocals are a good addition on Ophelia, Ebb & Flow and Last Requests. On Love Is All I Got, they don't fit and are distracting. The album has a nice progression : there is piano on the last three songs, it ends softly... if I'm excluding the bonus one minute chiptune track.

The large variety of styles create inconsistencies. I feel more comfortable when brostep is subdued or suggested. There's always some trace of it, even on the most obvious songs. I have the impression that the less present dubstep is, the better the songs get (probably related with my general indifference for the genre). It's a matter of finding a good balance in the styles, in which the album achieves at times, but didn't as a whole. Even if it's not homogeneous, it's still one fair attempt at the genre.

My rating : ★★★★★★☆☆☆☆

edit : rating was 6 actually

[Tibbers]

yay

Originally Posted by noname219

Day Thirty-Six - January 5th, 2014
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Calamari Tuesday by Feed Me (recommended by Tibbers)

1. Orion
2. Death by Robot
3. Lonely Mountain
4. Ebb & Flow
5. Rat Trap
6. Dazed
7. Ophelia
8. Chinchilla
9. In the Bin
10. Fiasco
11. Love Is All I Got
12. Short Skirt
13. No Grip
14. Onstuh
15. Last Requests

I'm once again, extremely late for my reviews. I will make them in advance starting from now, so when I'm in a rush, I won't accumulate delay... I hope so. Today Last sunday was Tibbers' birthday and the album chosen was Calamari Tuesday by Feed Me. Feed Me is Jon Gooch, also known as Spor who specialize in complextro, electro house and dubstep. Calamari Tuesday was his sophomore album, released last October.

A good entry point for people looking to get into complextro due to the large range of styles. There's a bunch of common breakdown-brostep songs (Ebb & Flow, No Grip, etc.). While some of those are entertaining or fun, in general, they are predictably cliché and don't have much interest. The more electro house-induced songs are much better. Orion has a nice build-up but ends on a high, Dazed is smooth and feels aerial, Ophelia is poppier and has a pleasant melodic chorus. The vocals are a good addition on Ophelia, Ebb & Flow and Last Requests. On Love Is All I Got, they don't fit and are distracting. The album has a nice progression : there is piano on the last three songs, it ends softly... if I'm excluding the bonus one minute chiptune track.

The large variety of styles create inconsistencies. I feel more comfortable when brostep is subdued or suggested. There's always some trace of it, even on the most obvious songs. I have the impression that the less present dubstep is, the better the songs get (probably related with my general indifference for the genre). It's a matter of finding a good balance in the styles, in which the album achieves at times, but didn't as a whole. Even if it's not homogeneous, it's still one fair attempt at the genre.

My rating : ★★★★★★★☆☆☆

Nice to know im not the only one who felt like the vocals on Love Is All I've Got were a bit offputting, favorite track on the whole album for me had to be fiasco. That cut to the Sonata in Headphones sounding piano was delicious.

[noname219]

Day Thirty-Seven - January 6th, 2014
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Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From a Memory by Dream Theater (recommended by yo man im awesome)

1. Regression
2. Overture 1928
3. Strange Déjà Vu
4. Through My Words
5. Fatal Tragedy
6. Beyond This Life
7. Through Her Eyes
8. Home
9. The Dance of Eternity
10. One Last Time
11. The Spirit Carries On
12. Finally Free

Cheated a bit on the tracklisting, the album is composed in acts and scenes, something common with progressive rock/metal but I didn't want to deal with that trouble.

Dream Theater, prominescent American progressive metal band, gained popularity in the early 90s after the release of Images and Words which contained the song Metropolis—Part I: "The Miracle and the Sleeper. Since then, many fans requested a follow-up of this song and that's how Metropolis Pt. 2 was created. It is a conceptual album about the story of a man named Nicholas that goes in an hypnotic state with the help of an hypnotherapist because he's haunted by his dreams and cannot sleep at night. He discovers the life of a woman named Victoria, and that Nicholas is her reincarnation, and Victoria needs his help, and Victoria felt in love with two guys named Edward and Julian, and there's a murder story going on... Anyway, how much they wrote about the storyline on wikipedia kind of baffles me. It's a 77 minute album, not a novel!

I always have a liking for conceptual album, there's an extra effort involved in the making and it often conveys new ideas, new ways for creating an album. The story is intruiging, not exceptionnal, but kept me interested. The sound effects were well chosen and the end took me by surprise. I found their concepts to be their most interesting aspect. The music isn't so far behind. Technically, there's substance, I don't need to emphasize their skills more than it needs to, it was already said in the past too many times. I had the impression they are overdoing themselves at moments. Obviously, it's Dream Theater, I shouldn't be surprised after all. The guitar solos are complex, overly fast, but entertaining. LaBrie's voice is correct decent. I have a very grey opinion about him, he's alright. There's a cool transition between Overture 1928 and Strange Déjà Vu. About the latter, the chorus is quite nice. As a song, Though My Words is in excess, but is important from a storyline point of view. The organ in Fatal Tragedy made me laugh (around 2:10). Home features orgasmic moanings around the 8 minute mark and the sound of a slot machine in the background. Still, a good song, but this part is just too much. Heard almost the entire first half of The Dance of Eternity from Instrumedley in Live at Budokan, although I prefer how more tightly it sounded on Instrumedley. John Petrucci's guitar solo on The Spirit Carries On is one of my favourite from him, more soulful and beautiful than everything else on the album.

8 stars. Don't care about the backlash they get.

My rating : ★★★★★★★★☆☆

edit : some mistakes fix

[rayword45]

Man the way you use correct is so alien to me lol.

[yo man im awesome]

I totally agree about Petrucci's solo in The Spirit Carries On, easily one of my favorites. Glad you really liked the album!

[noname219]

Originally Posted by rayword45

Man the way you use correct is so alien to me lol.

Oh man, I shouldn't use that word anymore, you're not the first to point this out to me.

[Crazyjayde]

One of many second meanings of the word "correct" in french: Acceptable/Satisfying/Reasonable
Second meaning of the word "correct" in english: Accurate/True

Effectively a misuse, hence the incomprehension.

High ratings everywhere. Again keep up with this it's a fun read, and there's no shame in reporting reviews.

[rayword45]

You're behind almost a week now man. I wanna see more reviews.

Mainly because I wanna see you listen to 69 Love Songs and The Pod.

[noname219]

I know, I'm very late. I won't be able to keep up with that pace and the length of reviews so far... expect shorter reviews from now on. I'm also gonna cut the first introduction paragraph.

Day Thirty-Eigth - January 7th, 2014
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Walls by Apparat (recommended by XCV)

1. Not a Number
2. Hailin From the Edge
3. Useless Information
4. Limelight
5. Holdon
6. Fractales Pt. I
7. Fractales Pt. II
8. Birds
9. Arcadia
10. You Don't Know Me
11. Headup
12. Over and Over
13. Like Porcelain

An album with a lot of variety and different styles. Slightly downtempo in Hailin From the Edge, late-65daysofstatic-electronic in Fractales Pt. I, indietronica in Headup. Arcadia made me think of Radiohead, due to the ethereal vocals. Those vocals makes it more poppy and accessible than most of IDM. Because of that, the album feels more sparse and eclectic. The violins are absolutely gorgeous. No bad songs, some weaker ones : Like Porcelain is in excess and too short, the hidden track is noisy. I quite liked this.

My rating : ★★★★★★★☆☆☆

[noname219]

Day Thirty-Nine - January 8th, 2014
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Ninur by Savant (recommended by Trogdor!!!!)

1. You Can Play
2. Back to the Phuture
3. Ocarine
4. Ninur
5. The Third Eye
6. Gunslinger Jones
7. I Want You
8. Rabbit Whore
9. Rollercoaster
10. Holy Ghost
11. Make You Dream
12. The A Team
13. Omni

Don't throw rocks at me please. This isn't really unique. Dull beats with very few interesting moments. He's allergic to repetition ; it's too scattered to create a lasting impact. It sounds full, and there's far too much unnecessary heaviness. The screams on Ninur are annoying as hell. Most of the songs follow the same recipe. There are a few exceptions, Gunslinger Jones has a discordant melody and a good beat starting at 2:30, Omni is my favourite, synth funk influences and the arrangements are better.

No deception, really, it was the first Savant album I've listened to. I heard he does improve, so there are chances I get to his later albums.

My rating : ★★★★☆☆☆☆☆☆

[Trogdor!!!!]

Damn rekt

[Trogdor!!!!]

My day is ruined now way to go

[lurker]

have you heard of this band called radiohead i think they could get very big some day i'm so glad i found them while they're still underground and respectable

[Trogdor!!!!]

never heard of them

[GammaBlaster]

goddamnit wurker

[Crazyjayde]

Pretty generic listen coming from Savant, seems right to me.

[noname219]

Day Forty - January 9th, 2014
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The Campaign by Affiance (recommended by 25thhour)

1. Kings of Deceit
2. You Will Be Replaced
3. We the Machines
4. Bohemian
5. Peace of Mind
6. Class Dismissed
7. Jericho
8. The Cynic
9. The Campaign
10. Righteous Kill
11. Threshold

Don't judge an album by its cover. I was expecting some very average metalcore. Turned out, it's pretty solid. In the vein of Killswitch Engage or As I Lay Dying, a mix of clean and growled vocals, very guitar-centric, some breakdowns, capable drummer. Nothing groundbreaking. It could've been released in 2005 and I wouldn't see a difference. The mixing is weird. There are volume variations, for example in Bohemian after the 2:00 mark. Taken apart, the songs tend to sound similar and on first listen, it's tough to choose any highlight. Which is a good thing, because it's a pretty consistent album to be honest.

My rating : ★★★★★★★☆☆☆

Btw, it was the first album on the spreadsheet.

[noname219]

Day Forty-One - January 10th, 2014
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Mother's Earth Plantasia by Mort Garson (recommended by Arkuski)

1. Plantasia
2. Symphony for a Spider Plant
3. Baby's Tears Blues
4. Ode to an African Violet
5. Concerto for Philodendron & Pothos
6. Rhapsody in Green
7. Swingin' Spathiphyllums
8. You Don't Have to Walk a Begonia
9. A Mellow Mood for Maidenhair
10. Music to Soothe the Savage Snake Plant
(just listen to it entirely, it's about 30 minutes)

Love the track titles. And it's your birthday Arkuski, so I needed to review something from you. I gotta say, you have ecclectic choices so far.

An out-of-bound album. There's nothing I know that ressemble this. Although the moog kinda make it sound like late 70s progressive electronic, the theme and bubbly textures make it unique. Songs like Plantasia or Music to Soothe the Savage Snake Plant brought back memories of A Link to the Past, so I really wondered if it had a direct influence on video game composers in general. The melody near the middle of Rhapsody in Green is wonderful bliss to my ears. The change in tone at 1:35 is so greatly composed, I really wished it went on for longer. The melodies are sometimes cute, sometimes spacey, but always superb. Perfect music to cheer me up.

My rating : ★★★★★★★★☆☆

[noname219]

Day Forty-Two - January 11th, 2014
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Rag Doll Blues by Dead When I Found Her (recommended by DarkProdigy)

1. No More Nightmares
2. Better Days
3. New Age of Reason
4. Rain Machine
5. Doll Pieces
6. Dry Bed
7. Mirrors
8. Panic Matter
9. Doll Parts
10. Lesser Light
11. Scissors
12. Stainless

Uncanny valley cover... oh god. Freakish.

Not really the kind of music for me. I don't really listen to much electro-industrial, so my ears weren't accustomed for this type of music. Total overuse of whispering vocals. And it was too long for me. It's dark, thick, heavy, oppressive. Spoken words worked well with the atmosphere and non-electronic instruments added something more. A couple of nice sounds here and there and Stainless is the landmark of the album. It might please fans of the genre.

My rating : ★★★★★★☆☆☆☆