Re: Read My Reviews
 

Uh yeah I don't think I'm hiding that fact lol

It is less goal-oriented though, more trying to listen to more new music without writing.

Re: Read My Reviews
 

This is way too generous when compared to their first three albums.

And it wasn't really a hiatus when you consider that they released three albums between 2007 - 2013 as Polkadot Cadaver. Same style of music. Same warped lyrics. Same core band members including the main guitarist, vocalist and songwriter.

I was so pissed when I had to miss a gig over in London where it was Dog Fashion Disco headlining with Polkadot Cadaver as the support.

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

:( got ignored hard

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

Shit takes time but I'll appease you tonight

Yeah I know about Polkadot Cadaver (I might actually prefer a greater quantity of their albums to DFD's) and it did always make the breakup seem kinda nebulous but they do co-exist right now it seems so whatever difference two members makes.

Also when you say first three albums are you talking about the ACTUAL first three or Anarchists-Adultery? I haven't given much of anything pre-Anarchists a listen besides a track or two but I actually did prefer this album to pretty much everything DFD and PC related besides Adultery which is really something of a black sheep favorite in my digital collection.

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

Ah. It was your quote about Sweet Nothings being the poppiest they've ever gotten that made think about Polkadot Cadaver. That's exactly what I thought about Sex Offender, though still a great album.

I didn't know they had albums prior to Anarchists Of Good Taste. Why didn't I know that? Least I have more of their music to check out now.

Not going to knock your opinion, Adultery is a good choice. I think my own favourites are Committed to a Bright Future and PC's Purgatory Dance Party.

Re: Read My Reviews
 

Day 320: We Like It Here by Snarky Puppy (Album Choice: MarioNintendo)

The word "tonight" was very poor choice on my behalf.

Some of this stuff is way too Phishy. Some of it is excellent stuff, bliss in free-form, but songs like Tio Macaco and Jambone feature way too much dicking around and sound aimless as a result. Since this is a live recording I'm not sure how much is written and how much is improvised but either way I'd like to see a more focused effort which still maintained the experimentation. Just less funky-smelling noodles is all.

Genius comes in sporadic bursts.

Best Track: Sleeper
Rating: 6/10

Re: Read My Reviews
 

Day 321: Blumenkraft by Ott (Album Choice: alin)

High school is over. It was fun while it lasted.

Just kidding it sucked.

This album was recommended to me because I like Shpongle. I heard about this guy before and almost saw him when he came to Boston but chose instead to go to Krill and Pile. This album is pretty damn good but that's something I have no regrets over.

I swear these are the same samples that Shpongle uses. Very chilled out, dubby stuff yet very engaging. I get visuals from this music without taking any drugs, the vibes are just plain great.

A repeat listener for sure.

Best Track: Smoked Glass And Chrome
Rating: 9/10

Re: Read My Reviews
 

Thanks for the review! If you like more focused experiences, maybe Sylva by the same band would be of interest.

Re: Read My Reviews
 

Saving this quote for use in exactly one year. Also I've got some more albums for you if you need some more material. Just thought of these so there might be overlap from previous reviews you might have done.

Re: Read My Reviews
 

Day 322: Opus At The End Of Everything by The Flashbulb (Album Choice: Tokzic)

I like The Flashbulb. I have no idea why he's so consistently disrespected in elitist IDM circles (it's not like his quality control is any worse than Autechre or Squarepusher or anyone else), but whatever.

On that note, he definitely does shit out too much stuff and needs to trim his albums down quite a bit. What's good is VERY good here, but the amount of filler is just ridiculous. There's maybe 30 or 35 minutes of fantastic, emotional IDM here and then the rest is just more of the same without hitting you as hard.

I have the same goddamn complaint for every album. Why are they all so fucking long now? I don't need all this filler. Fuck you Eminem.

Best Track: Arrival to an Empty Room
Rating: 5/10

Re: Read My Reviews
 

Day 323: Long Season by Fishmans (Album Choice: ilikexd)

When was the last time I reviewed something Japanese? I'm so fucking lazy and sporadic that I honestly do not remember if it was recently or months ago.

This album is very airy. That's the best adjective I can think of to describe it. It's also gorgeous, the plethora of sounds used really makes for an engaging single track.

OK back to college work.

Best Track: Uhhh....
Rating: 7.5/10

Re: Read My Reviews
 

Day 324: The Glowing Man by Swans

Last time I reviewed a Swans album, nobody knew about the whole rape scandal. I'm gonna try to separate art from artist but if you have been living under a rock when it comes to noise or post-rock, read up now. And stop supporting this guy financially. I deliberately bought second-hand tickets because I'm not giving this guy a cent of my money.

For the record, it's probably still horribly immoral to add to his head count at the concert but whatever, maybe I'll join in on some heckling.

Anyways, onto the music, this is definitely in the same vein as the other reunion Swans albums, but it's a lot more drone and a lot less aggro, with ambient textures and folky instrumentation galore. As a result, it feels more repetitive than To Be Kind but this actually works in the album's favor. Two hours passes by much faster when the drones soothe you rather than agitate you. Almost nothing here is grating or boring. I don't like to compare albums since benchmarks are almost always stupid, but if we were to compare the longest track on this album, the title track, and Bring The Sun/Toussaint L'Ouverture from To Be Kind, the shitty latter track overstayed it's welcome within the first 10 minutes of its sloppy Umphrey's McIndustrial crescendocore nonsense. The Glowing Man, on the other hand, uses much more repetition in spite of a perceived lack of structure, creating a hypnotic atmosphere. It also avoids the cliche of crescendo-core that was all too prominent in the last few Swans albums and relies instead on abrupt volume and texture shifts, with less corny vocals pervading everywhere. Basically, this track is fucking unique, and that makes it a lot more enjoyable than more cliche Explosions In The Sky-esque dime-a-dozen post-rock tracks.

There's more to an album than one song, but to do even MORE comparison (ugh), the ordering on this album is phenomenal. We start with a quick 1-2 punch, move through floaty hypnosis, and end with Finally, Peace which is a good ending even if it seems somewhat trite at times. The artwork is... still terrible but whatever. If there's one really conspicuous flaw, its the vocals. Gira was never a particularly strong singer, but at least in projects like Angels of Light or many tracks from Soundtracks For The Blind the vocals fit the music well. Here, it sounds like Gira's trying to emulate an angsty 90s grunge-crooner and it's horribly cheesy all the time. Luckily, this is not as big a problem as it could be, because most of the time this album stick to instrumental bits.

If this is truly the end of this incarnation of Swans, it was a damn fine cup of coffee. Wait what? What the fuck am I saying?

Good ending to a good band with a shitbag frontman, but hey that's rock music for you.

Best Track: The Glowing Man
Rating: 8/10

Re: Read My Reviews
 

Day 325: Awake by Tycho (Album Choice: Arkuski)

...Ehhh, it wasn't that bad but it got kinda samey after only 37 minutes. Good enough of a review for me.

btw high school graduate official fuck my shcool

Best Track: Apogee
Rating: 5/10

Re: Read My Reviews
 

I don't want to derail your thread too much but I'd advise you, and anyone really, to avoid jumping to conclusions and instantly demonizing a person. Just as there are rapists who lie about raping, there are people who lie about being raped.

To report it on Facebook was, to me, the wrong thing to do. Facebook is about getting attention and inciting a mob mentality. The right thing to do would be to file a report with the police and have them investigate. Unless she does this, there's no concrete evidence and neither party can be seen as telling the truth.

Re: Read My Reviews
 

Again, I'll avoid derailing the thread by offering my concrete opinion.

Grimm said she was raped. Gira said "I DON'T KNOW THIS WOMAN" and hurled many unsavory terms at her. Grimm said that that was bullshit. Only THEN did Gira basically admit that he fucked her but tried to claim it was consensual.

Everything about that story makes me thing Gira is a sketchball.

Regarding reporting on Facebook first, the police have proven themselves time and time again to be useless (see: Brock). I do think that they're still the first people you'd want to talk to but we must account for post-traumatic stress disorder at the very least.

Also the viability of any claim being false is really low, 98 rapes go unreported for every 2 false rape reports. I certainly do not doubt they happen, but typically a false rape claim is HIGHLY unsubstantiated such as the case with that shitty Bright Eyes dude. Shitty music but BLATANTLY falsely accused.

Re: Read My Reviews
 

Day 326: Demon Days by Gorillaz (Album Choice: Jade F.)

I've heard a few singles from this album. But not much else. Are these guys, or is it guy, still relevant anywhere?

I love eclectic albums, and this album is fairly eclectic, but I don't love it. There are some wonderful tracks on here, but it's honestly not grabbing my attention the whole way through. The ideas all seem to be great but the songwriting itself varies from super catchy to piss-poor. The features are mostly fantastic but they usually can't save the song itself from being boring. And somehow, in spite of the aforementioned eclecticism, this album gets very samey very fast.

50 minutes of wasted talent with a good number of shining spots. I wonder if Blur somehow manages to be more boring than the bad parts of this album.

Best Track: Feel Good Inc
Rating: 4.5/10

Re: Read My Reviews
 

Music wise it's all Damon Albarn but it was technically co-founded with Jamie Hewlett, who does all the visuals. They've become too inactive to remain relevant, don't think they've released anything in years.

Blur were huge in the 90's. I still remember their whole Britpop rivalry with Oasis and Pulp, good times for pop music.

Re: Read My Reviews
 

music game related but really tho top album of whenever it came out

wac - 音楽

Re: Read My Reviews
 

Day 327: Copia by Eluvium (Album Choice: Trogdor!!!)

Serene and peaceful
I really suck at haikus
Not top ambient

Best Track: Prelude For Time Feelers
Rating: 6/10

Re: Read My Reviews
 

Day 328: Inches by Les Savy Fav (Album Choice: FoJaR)

This is a singles compilation. That reminds me of the fact that I desperately need to listen to Terminal Tower before I see Pere Ubu live. I also have very high expectations for this, because a singles compilation should literally be nothing but hit after hit after hit (and some B-Sides but I don't excuse a song for being shit just because it's a B-Side).

Oh wait, this is BACKWARDS chronology? Why the fuck would they do that? This has started off extremely strong to the point where I was wondering how these guys had everything in place so damn well from the start but this isn't the start at all. But it is good, catchy, raucous post-punk. Let's see if they started off better or worse.

This album is definitely the sound of a band regressing. This isn't to say their earlier songs, or the songs that come later on this album, are bad at all. They're still mostly enjoyable although some are a bit too experimental for their own good (what the hell is this Reformat bullshit?). However, the first 5 tracks were such a joyous kick in the earteeth that everything else pales in comparison. The major exception to this is Our Coastal Hymn which is absolutely fantastic.

I wonder if I'd like this album more in reverse track order. Nonetheless, a strong collection of songs.

Best Track: Meet Me In The Dollar Bin
Rating: 7.5/10