Re: Meh, let's do it again, this time for a year
 

You're still doing this?



I will literally fight you.

Re: Meh, let's do it again, this time for a year
 

yeah this is basically my log so I have something to update my RYM every few weeks/months

Day 233: Simulacrum by John Zorn

Is this by John Zorn, or is it by Simulacrum? Meh who gives a shit. I'm seeing these guys, or this guy, next Friday at a museum, likely with a friend who's into a lot of cool jazz from the 50s and whatnot.

This'll be fun to see live, although I wonder if my friend shall enjoy himself. This is mostly a metallic, wanky mess except for The Divine Comedy which is really quite beautiful, but on that note it's a FUN metallic, wanky mess.

Best Track: The Divine Comedy
Rating: 7/10

Re: Meh, let's do it again, this time for a year
 

Day 234: Art Angels by Grimes (Album Choice: David H.)

I saw Simulacrum today, but John Zorn himself didn't conduct any music, he just came on stage to introduce the band and talk about his composing process, then promptly left the band to play his pieces. Does that count as seeing a Zorn show? Either way, the show was a good watch, though I wish it would've been longer at 70 minutes, and I kinda wonder what ONE song with vocals would sound like.

Anyways, David bugs me about this album every effing day so I guess I have to listen to it. I don't know too much of what to expect, except this isn't yet another Depeche Mode ripoff or so I hope.

Some of these songs are total trash. For example, Kill V. Maim... Is she trying to sound like some J-Pop star or something? Read that last sentence with a stutter, it's necessary to convey my emotions. SCREAM is clearly trying to be weird but just annoys, and Venus Fly is just gross. There's a bunch of charming pop songs here but this is one inconsistent collection of songs.

Best Track: Realiti
Rating: 5/10

Re: Meh, let's do it again, this time for a year
 

Day 235: Montage of Heck: The Home Recordings by Kurt Cobain

They called this a Kurt Cobain solo album. I call this utter trash.

Best Track: Do-Re-Mi (Medley)
Rating: 2.5/10

Re: Meh, let's do it again, this time for a year
 

Day 236: Trading Basics by Palm

I saw these guys a couple of months ago and they effing rocked. This debut came out a couple of weeks ago but up until now I've been either too busy or too lazy to give it a listen.

Now that I'm finally listening, this album isn't nearly as good as their show was but there are still a good amount of rhythmic, catchy atonal songs. Somewhat hit-or-miss (and the Sonic Youth worship could alienate some) but what works works pretty damn well.

Best Track: Crank
Rating: 7/10

Re: Meh, let's do it again, this time for a year
 

Day 237: Triptunes by Blitz Lunar (Album Choice: Trogdor!!!)

This is not a very trippy album but I bet it'd be fun to trip to, especially for someone like me who has a lot of Nintendo nostalgia. Some of these songs (Comfort Zone, Child Play Zone, Ego Bubble Zone) are beautiful, others inconsequential, but it all evokes way too many childhood memories for me to give it less than a 7. I'll give it a 7.

Best Track: Comfort Zone
Rating: 7/10

Re: Meh, let's do it again, this time for a year
 

Day 238: Rust in Peace by Megadeath (Album Choice: Tokzic)

This is considered one of the greatest thrash metal albums of all time? This is some cartoony camelshit. Even if you cut out the vocals, this doesn't scream "I'm special", this is just wanky.

Best Track: Hanger 18
Rating: 4/10

Re: Meh, let's do it again, this time for a year
 

Day 239: Scientist Rids the World of the Evil Curse of the Vampires by Scientist

Duuuuuuuuuude

Best Track: The Mummy's Shroud
Rating: 7.5/10

Re: Meh, let's do it again, this time for a year
 

Day 240: East Side Story by Squeeze (Album Choice: Gus V.)

The only new wave band I listen with any sort of consistency is Devo unless you count The Cure. The genre experiments here are mindless honky-nk filler but the convention-adhering songs are catchy little pop tunes, if a bit dated with those 80s synths. Good songwriting on board.

Best Track: F-Hole
Rating: 6.5/10 (borderline 7 but those filler experiments are trash)

Re: Meh, let's do it again, this time for a year
 

Day 241: Smack The Brick by Guerilla Toss

I've missed these guys 3 times when they were in town, due to laziness, tiredness, and them canceling a festival. I've only heard one song of theirs (which is on this EP) but I've heard that they put on a fantastic show. Ah well, I'll see them eventually I'm sure.

Anyways, this is a great little snippet of noisy synthy weirdo punk, but the last two songs blow the first two away with a 12-gauge. The funkier these guys are, the better.

Best Track: Etqueeny
Rating: 7/10

Re: Meh, let's do it again, this time for a year
 

Day 242: Lucky Leaves by Krill

I probably should've listened to these guys' whole discography a little earlier considering their final show was a month ago, but whatever they mostly played songs from their latest so it's all good.

This album is not as good as A Distant Fist Unclenching. This album is shorter yet more frontloaded, and I'd say that longer song lengths fit these guys better. Onto the next release.

Best Track: Purity Of Heart
Rating: 6/10

Re: Meh, let's do it again, this time for a year
 

Day 243: Steve Hears Pile in Malden and Bursts into Tears by Krill

Actually, contrary to what I said in that last review, I think this is the peak of their all-too-short career. 4 great DIY guitar pop songs with energy and a sense of humor and then signs of their more ambitious approach on their final album with Fresh Pond. This one is all killer, no filler, which makes sense since it's an EP.

Best Track: Turd
Rating: 8.5/10

Re: Meh, let's do it again, this time for a year
 

Day 244: Alam No Hris by Krill

Yep, now I'm finished with their discography. These guys definitely got better as they got on. Besides the unappealing lo-fi recording (and I love lo-fi usually) these songs certainly seem less focused than their later albums. All of the gems are marred by such poor production quality (it's not charmingly shitty like The Mountain Goats or Guided By Voices, it's just unnecessary), and then the mindless drifting isn't any more charming when it's recorded on tape. It sounds like these guys wanted to be a lot more anthemic or directly pop in the beginning, and there's a lot of weird factors like group chants, country tinges and unnecessary background vocals that all luckily got cut out (for the most part) in further releases. Just to drive my whiny point home, listen to Solitaire. That is some fantastic songwriting going on there, and it sounds like their signature groove, but the recording makes this sound like some crappy garage band randomly struck songwriting luck. Alright enough jerking off on this issue.

I'm now done with this band's discography. To sum it up, this band's RYM page is all effed up. How is it that their final album, their best album by a good margin has the lowest rating? How does something like this have a higher average rating than Steve Hears Pile in Malden and Bursts into Tears? Some bullshit going on over there.

Best Track: Solitaire
Rating: 4.5/10

Re: Meh, let's do it again, this time for a year
 

Day 245: Nadir by 4mat (Album Choice: Crazyjayde)

Meh, I see the kind of victorious adventure Earthbound-kinda vibe this guy went for but it only works in small parts, the rest is just dull and often too modern to evoke nostalgia which is 40 percent of what I look for in chiptune (brostep sections?). Pretty uncaptivating minus a few songs, though it may fare well with repeated listens.

Best Track: Vein (parts 1 and 2)
Rating: 5/10

Re: Meh, let's do it again, this time for a year
 

Day 246: These Open Fields by The Flashbulb (Album Choice: WSCB)

Speaking as a fan of Kirlian Selections, this one seems A LOT more scattershot, and a lot more like he just slapped a bunch of songs together instead of thinking of an album as a cohesive whole. There are some beautiful tracks, don't get me wrong, but this is too long and too inconsistent. I say these words worded differently a lot, don't I?

Best Track: I Wish I Had Died That Day
Rating: 4/10

Re: Meh, let's do it again, this time for a year
 

Day 247: Prom King by Skylar Spence

Anyone hear that new Animal Collective single? It's basically saccharine trash but I kinda like it in a "this is dumb fun" way.

Anyways, I saw this guy at Boston Calling. He was good. This album is pretty good, the instrumentals don't hold up to the Saint Pepsi days but that's fine, and the untrained vocals are charming. Would love to dance to this.

Best Track: Prom King
Rating: 7/10

Re: Meh, let's do it again, this time for a year
 

Day 248: Drinking Songs by Matt Elliott (Album Choice: Crazyjayde)

This is a cool collection of sad psychedelic folk songs with some electronic influences. Atmospheric as hell, but the lyrics leave something to be desired, and that last track is a complete waste of time after the first 7 minutes or so. If you shorten it to that, this is a much better 53 minute album. But this a keeper nonetheless.

Best Track: The Kursk
Rating: 6.5/10

Re: Meh, let's do it again, this time for a year
 

Day 249: Wide Angle by Hybrid (Album Choice: XCV)

Well actually, Wide/r Angle was requested but fuck me if I can't be bothered to listen to 3 goddamn hours of music, half of which is live or alternate versions.

This sounds retro as hell to me, probably because ITG nostalgia. These are some good tracks overall. I have nothing to say it's 3:15 AM and I'm tired as hell.

Best Track: Beachcoma
Rating: 7/10

Re: Meh, let's do it again, this time for a year
 

Day 250: The Age of Adz by Sufjan Stevens

Man, it is taking me ages to get through this guy's stuff because his albums are all ass long for some reason. This isn't as good as Illinois but it is better than Michigan and Carrie & Lowell. It's way too long, the electronic stuff only works about half the time with this guy's sissy-ass voice and it gets pretty repetitive. But it's still not bad.

Just too fucking long.

Best Track: Get Real Get Right
Rating: 6/10

Re: Meh, let's do it again, this time for a year
 

Day 251: The Parallax II: Future Sequence by Between The Buried And Me (Album Choice: master q60)

These guys are very good with their riffage, and their technicality only rarely seems superfluous or wanky. Unfortunately, good riff doesn't immediately translate to good song. These guys need to work on their writing chops (or maybe they already had them, seeing how earlier albums have better reviews). Also 74 minutes of metalcore is too much for me.

I still might see these guys live for the hell of it.

Best Track: Astral Body
Rating: 5.5/10