Daily Music Reviews (Summer Challenge)

[Crazyjayde]

Re: Daily Music Reviews (Summer Challenge)

Well then I'd second noname's suggestion and propose you a listening of any album from Colour Haze's discography (with a strong inclination towards Tempel or their eponymous album). It should please your ears.
(no need to review, just a necessary listening )

[rayword45]

Re: Daily Music Reviews (Summer Challenge)

I'll probably get to Colour Haze pretty soon.


Day 13: Highly Refined Pirates by Minus The Bear

Minus The Bear is an indie rock band from where Kurt Cobain hailed. They don't play power-chord repetitions, though, at least I assume not. They play math rock, the genre that applies bands like Slint and Rodan, bands with far more complex and angular guitar playing than Kurt could touch. It's also the root of mathcore, which applies to more quality bands like Protest The Hero and Dillinger Escape Plan (I also like to throw Soundgarden in there solely due to messed up time signatures. Truthfully the guitar isn't crazy technical enough). I heard of this band long ago, and I thought they had a stupid name (this was before I ever listened to Butthole Surfers or Andrew Jackson Jihad or anything else with a weirdo band name) and somehow I was scared they would sound like Arab on Radar. On that last part looking back I have no freaking idea why. Looking at other bands of this genre, I have high hopes which I expect to be crushed. Which technically means I have low hopes, doesn't it?

This is not Slint-like at all. I'm sad.

0/10

Okay maybe not, that's only the first 30 seconds and that wasn't much of a fair chance. The songs are a mixture of guitar tapping, guitar arpeggiating and the odd addition of crappy synths. Also, this guy can sing, unlike Brian McMahan where the only time he tried to sing about washing machines it was so poor it turned a melancholy song hilarious. It's a good thing he stuck to speaking for songs like Good Morning, Captain. Speaking of melancholy, these songs do not fit the titles at all. Nor does the album title fit, at all. These guys would be the wimpiest pirates ever, no amount of refinement would ever lead to pirates sounding like this. But then again, album and song titles don't mean anything.

Anyways, back to the music. This album takes lyrics about sex, boozing and partying, and attempts to make it melancholy. And you know what? Half the time, it works! The other half of the time I would like to duct tape the singers mouth shut so I can listen to the guitar work without thinking "This is one of those emo losers." Because of that, Andy Wolff is my favorite track. The lyrics aren't ALL BAD though. Most tracks include a fair amount of wordplay when the vocalist isn't whining about banging a girl while cutting himself. I'd like to actually see a song about that. Imagine the title to that track. Regardless of the vocals, the plinking tap guitar is enjoyable enough, and the changing time signatures are enough to satisfy the term "math rock", at least as far as I know. Those synths also have great camp value with how awful they are.

I just realized that my joke rating makes no sense, because I'm not giving out ratings. But if you like guitar or hearing people sing in a slightly whiny voice about having a good time, listen to this. If you don't like that second part, listen to Andy Wolff first, then give the rest a try. If this is considered emo, this is what emo should sound like. It kicks bad emo bands like My Chemical Romance in the ass. Those synths are still laughable though.

[rayword45]

Re: Daily Music Reviews (Summer Challenge)

Day 14: Until The Quiet Comes by Flying Lotus

Today*I'm going to write a review of Until The Quiet Comes by Flying Lotus. This dude makes bumper music for [adult swim]. I chose this album because it wasn't too long due to a lack of time. Thus, this review will be very terse.*Today's prediction is similar to those Nujabes instrumentals with a dash more drums. You know, like [adult swim] commercial music.

The bells in Getting There are nice. And that's the conclusion of any further track-by-track I think. I get a mix of downtempo, IDM and jazz, like if Aphex Twin attempted a jazz record. No, that's not accurate at all. My IDM knowledge is quite limited. Seriously, listen to the [adult swim] bumps. Turns out I lied about the "no more track-by-track" but, but it's worth mention. Electric Candyman features Thom Yorke, probably on vocals alone. I get 2 thoughts from that.

1. "This doesn't sound nearly as dated as Kid A"

2. "Wow, I'm assuming this is FAR less obscure then I thought, which is not that obscure at all."

I don't have much to say about this one. If you like the other artists on Warp like Aphex Twin, Auchtere or Boards of Canada then by all means try this. The end, I apologize for half-butting this but I don't think any more detail is necessary. If you like the Warp Records sounds, here's some more, this time with a jazzy finish. And if you like [adult swim] bumper music maybe you'll like this, although taking in 30 seconds is much different from a 45 minute album.

[rayword45]

Re: Daily Music Reviews (Summer Challenge)

Day 15: Surtur Rising by Amon Amarth (Album Choice: Jonlovesddr)

Amon Amarth is a death metal band. People call them viking metal because they sing about vikings or something, but the ever intelligent frontman said that it's a stupid name for a genre because the vikings didn't have electric guitars. Hooray for literalism. Unlike the brutal death metal of Oral Fistfuck, these guys play melodic death metal. Which is (judging solely off of Metalocalypse) much easier to stomach. Also unlike Oral Fistfuck's Cult of Mictlan, this isn't an EP, but rather a full album. Which means I can give it a full review.

Unlike the EP I mentioned several times already, this album does not start with a guy screaming, instead it took about 15 seconds of guitar playing. Didn't catch me off guard this time. So for the first song, I must say that the guitar KICKS TOTAL ASS. I have no idea what this guy is growling about, seriously. I'm assuming it's about going to Midevil Times with The Cable Guy. Jesus Christ my jokes suck as much as the guitar rocks. This second song is titled Tock's Taunt - Loke's Trachery Part II but Part I isn't on this album. I guess I'm missing something, or they didn't title it as Part I before, just like they did with Sleep Part I: Slowly Growing Deaf on Mr. Bungle's Mr. Bungle. Before the bonus track, it seems this thing is straight-up death metal from starting track to end, except for a coda in A Best I Am that's instrumental and lasts for less than 2 minutes. The bonus track, Aerials, is probably the most dynamic track, with the first chorus being sung melodically! And judging that, it's probably for the best that this guy sticks to death growls.

I pulled up a lyrics sheet, and... It's about vikings. And death. I'm not gonna go so far as say I enjoy the vocal style (says the guy who listens to hardcore punk bands and loves the Meat Puppets debut) but it definitely works for this kind of music, plus the guy can't sing. And thankfully, the vocals are kept low enough in the mix for it not to be overbearing, a complaint I have that seems far too common (like in In The Aeroplane Over The Sea despite being a favorite of mine). We're not talking Jesus Lizard low but I can turn up the music without yelling for the guy to shut up so I can focus on the guitar. There's no twists or turns to be found in this music, but it's pretty good music.

BONUS REVIEW

After a rather anti-climatic conclusion, I've decided to do a bonus review. I'm doing another request from the same guy, The City EP by Madeon. This is the blindest I've been to an album thus far (being a spur-of-the-moment choice), so any requests would be pretty redundant. I just realized I didn't predict anything for Amon Amarth so for the hell of it, I'm going to guess this band sounds like David Bowie. First I'm going to listen to some folk music, for no reason. Then I'll review this.

5 tracks, 3 actually with different names. And this is dance music. I'm done being blind. Apparently the guy who released this was 18 when released. He also did the jackass move of releasing all 3 tracks (I don't care if it's 5, one's an extended cut and one is a live track of another) as singles. (Correction: They're all remixes here except for the first track. Most remixes I consider to be quite bland so I'm pretending these are the originals, however you can nullify that complaint I made.) Another problem, track order. Why would you put one track after THE EXACT SAME TRACK WITH A CUT INTRO? (Correction: They're not the exact same, but still similar enough.) And then there's a live track right before a studio track. (Correction: They're quite different, also this live track lacks crowd noise).

I'm done complaining. None of the complaints I made are about any of the actual tracks. I guess that's a good thing. Not rating this.

[rayword45]

Re: Daily Music Reviews (Summer Challenge)

Day 16: Transformalin by Diagnose: Lebensgefahr (Album Choice: Wayward Vagabond)

I tried to avoid reviewing albums in foreign languages but say what you will, I don't care, I couldn't resist it.

I've been listening to a lot of Japandroids recently, and I have them stuck in my head now. Ah well.

The reason I couldn't resist it is because it was described as "a really intense album" that "brings chills down my [his] spine" but everyone that the album has been shown to "has(understandably) been turned off by it enough to stop listening to it". This is definitely worth a shot, even if I'll need a translator. This is another very blind jump, so let me rank my several predictions.

1. Some brutal death/black metal with unintelligible vocals
2. Scary music in the vein of dark ambient/drone/noise music mixed with screaming or dissonant breaks or something (which would put people off)
3. Metal Machine Music II without Lou Reed (if this is the case Wayward you are a pretentious douchebag)

No matter what, I'm determined to listen to the whole thing.

A lot of these songs have progressive lengths. Oh joy. This is why I'm not a Dream Theater fan. The cover has either a hospital or a coroner, and the first track is dark ambient. Being a short track, I can see that it may change, but it is chilling. The second track has a... Heartbeat fade-in? Here comes vocals... It's not foreign to me! It's just.. Weird. There are going to be a lot of ellipses in this review. "Pull out my teeth" and "remove my eyes" are just some of the beautifully poetic lines in this album. I need to pull this out of the charger and blindfold myself, I assume this is less interesting in bright daylight. This album reminds me of the concept of the third Fantomas album, Delirium Cordia which was one track over an hour about surgery without anesthesia. I get a slightly similar idea from these first two tracks, though somewhere in there you'd have to throw in crystal meth. But it turns out (after a brief Google) that this album was written as therapy for the artist after he was sent to an asylum... And there's another ellipse because if you can't tell my exact reaction is WHAT THE FU

Nearing the end of track 3, it's still bright outside so I've decided to wrap a blanket around my head and attempt to visualize these noises. Maybe I'll get it. I'll also attempt to write with this blanket on my head, I'll have to fix my typos. This 5th track contains pig squeals and a marching band. I had to take off the head blanket to type that sentence. Back on it goes.

I took the blanket blindfold off at the end of the 6th track. So here's a list of daydreams I got in such a brief timespan.

-Watching a speech on meth
-A guy giving a speech on meth
-A girl who can't breath very well and is getting surgery without anesthesia (this is an outlier)
-A guy in the hospital on meth
-A black metal singer making music on his computer on meth

Overall, there seems to be a lot of drug influence to this music, or this guy is completely wacked out. There is some essence of an eerie vibe to this music, but less then I expected after the first track. The 7th track, The Last Breath of Tellus sounds like a purgatory orchestra. With a guy chanting to you about how you've done 50 percent good and bad things. But then it turns into actual electronic music which I refuse to define further. Not that haunting, actually mildly enjoyable (which is exaggerated on this album) and... It went to screams. Mani VS Apati reminds me of that middle section of Raisans by Dinosaur Jr except there's no bass, drums, guitar, or any real melody. Just that bit with the old guy with mental problems screaming. The penultimate track, Obducentens Drom features a warm, tape recorder-esque sound and if you can't tell I'm just drooling all my thoughts onto the keyboard. And this last track has me finally thinking that this album is partially formulaic. Around half of the tracks are ambient music played with some insane meth addict screaming "NYAAAAAAH SPLEIGOON! ASTON! ASTON! CREEEEEHEHHEEEELILILILILI!" repeatedly. That or something else in a language I don't know. The other half of the time it's in English, very rarely with prominent drums.

Well, what can I say about this album? I can say that I sat through it. I can say that it's definitely a chilling listen. Oh yeah, I can also say "WHO IS THIS MARKETED TO!?". I honestly don't know how there could possibly be a niche large enough to appreciate this kind of music, this sounds like it was designed to make the mentally ill commit suicide. No joke. And for that reason, I give it a recommendation! Only because I want to find out who actually really likes this kind of music. It's one interesting album. I feel like it deserves a re-listen though, for 3 reasons.

1. Because it's a "challenging" album. Cliche but true.
2. Because I feel like the setting I listened to it in isn't the most appropriate. It should be listened to in a room with very little furniture, in the dead of night, played loudly on speakers. That or it should be played at Guantanamo Bay.
3. Mostly, because I want to compare this to Delirium Cordia despite having never listened to that, and the fact that it may not be similar at all.

But yeah, I recommend this to EVERYONE solely to see what market this is for. It's also an interesting look into the mind of an unstable black metal singer.

[rayword45]

Re: Daily Music Reviews (Summer Challenge)

Day 17: This Is Our Science by Astronautalis (Album Choice: Efe Clemenza)

Today's review is of a white rap album. I'm not a fan of white rap, let me be honest. Some are okay, like the Beastie Boys (which has a fair amount of punk to it) but for the most part hearing white people rap is an exploration of hilariously pathetic attempts at flow and lyrics that make you want to burn someone (for that last one, looking mainly at Anthony Kiedis). It's even worse when people who are talented in rock music attempt hip-hop. And to think Chris Cornell was so good in Soundgarden. I don't give a shit if Scream wasn't actually hip-hop it was produced by Timbaland so I automatically think of it as such.

Back on track. So anyways, this guy is Caucasian, and he's a rap producer. This would normally be a red flag considering the past collections of musical sadness. (Hey, Al Sharpton said you can't be racist against white people, did he not?) This guy, however, is often compared to Beck, if Beck was more into hip-hop. I am a fan of Beck despite the many awkward rap tracks he makes. That would give me high hopes, except he's said to mix "electro house, blues and indie rock" into hip-hop. No folk or funk rock? Where the hell is the Beck comparison? There are other eclectic artists and I don't recall Beck ever really covering electro house. Ah well, let's give this a shot. I feel like quoting several websites counts as a prediction.

Meh, I'm not big on this dude's voice. But it's not excruciating like Lil B and his lyrics aren't excruciating like Lil B so I'm happy. This isn't entirely hip-hop, Measure The Globe seems very ballad-y. As a matter of fact, it seems this album is only hip-hop pretty sparingly, with a fair dose of eclecticism throughout. There's a mixture of acoustic instrumentation, synthesizers, and pop rock structures. I don't like most pop rock, just like I don't like most Caucasian rap. But this is a very respectable effort in music and I'm glad I wasn't subjected to the equivalent of an Anthony Kiedis solo hip-hop album. If such a thing ever comes into existence I must punch Rick Rubin in the face. Onto the lyrics, they also weren't a total disaster! I didn't hear everything, but never did I think to myself "This guy is a wigger." With the comparisons to Beck, I'll say these rap tracks are better lyrically then anything he has done in terms of hip-hop.

This is better then I expected, maybe I should leave it at that. Despite being a bit unfocused overall you have to admire this guys ambition in terms of musical versatility. And his total lack of suck when it comes to lyrics is a plus. I'm still not a fan of Caucasian hip-hop, so I guess the album wasn't so remarkable as to change my mind. But it's not painful, and that puts up above most white rap. Have I said that already? Whatever, that's my conclusion.

[rayword45]

Re: Daily Music Reviews (Summer Challenge)

Day 18: For Now I Am Winter by Olafur Arnalds (Album Choice: Choofers)

This marks the first neo-classical review I'm doing. I've gotten more then a few requests from this genre, but I decided to wait it out. I don't know why, except maybe the fact that I have NOTHING INTERESTING TO SAY ABOUT CLASSICAL. I've never taken any music theory or music analysis classes, and I like my music either electronic-based (I don't know how to make that more specific, but stuff like Ke$ha or Crunkcore does not apply. Stuff like IDM and House mainly), headbangable (seriously, need to make these a lot more specific, I don't headbang to emo or screamo. Or Christianity. Or Crunkcore. Goddamn this is hard.) or weird for the sake of being weird (that's good enough, except... Damn you Lady Gaga). Or whatever adjective I can apply to folk rock but not country. I think I missed a few potential genre adjectives. That whole thing was incredibly pointless, adjectives are too vague when it comes to music. But like I said, I don't feel qualified to review many genres, and classical is probably at the top. I don't understand when people have debates over which 18th-century European composer had superior compositions due to "vizualizations". If I wanted to visualize something I'd listen to a concept album, preferably one where I can just read the lyrics. Failing that, I find ambient music is easier to daydream to. I also don't know how to "analyze interpretations" or "interpret analyzations" or whatever. It's a skill that must take some serious time to learn.

Rant is over now, and I don't know why I typed all that, this is NEO-classical music, neo meaning new. The people who tell me I must dissect some bullshit to appreciate old-classical typically hate this stuff because they can see it performed by the composer without a time machine. Which means I don't have to worry about their teachings. Still, this review (unlike that rant) is probably going to be pretty short.

Well... That rant was even less necessary then I thought (which was next-to-none). This isn't that classical sounding. I mean, it is inarguably neo-classical music, but there are definite electronica influences with the fast drums in some tracks. And there are clear vocals in front of the soundscapes on a few tracks. Did I mention the soundscapes? There's a lot of them. And appropriate usage of sound effects in songs like This Place Was A Shelter.

See, now I would go with the typical "don't know what the hell to say" praise of "Oh, I can tell there was a lot of time and care put into composing this" but let's be honest, when CAN'T you say that? When you can't say that, you know the album sucks, just like Human After All. I never go out of my way to listen to classical music, and the electronica-influence here is minimal at most. Again, I'm not that qualified to review this kind of music, it isn't really to my liking. I think the closest thing to classical that I listen to on a semi-regular basis is The Flashbulb.

But hey, if you like classical, give it a shot (how many times have I said those 4 words?). I can't recommend this because I don't know how to separate quality when it comes to classical music unless it's an entire earful of suck.

[rayword45]

Re: Daily Music Reviews (Summer Challenge)

People should recommend more albums. Seriously.

Day 19: Halycon Digest by Deerhunter (Album Choice: Gus V.)

Here's a band which I have heard of... I think. I don't know anything about them so let me see what I can find and maybe it'll ring a bell.

Nope. So apparently these guys play "ambient punk" with touches of noise rock, neo-psychedelia and shoegaze. What the hell is ambient punk I don't know. They're also on 4AD, who released, among many things, 6 of the hi-fi Mountain Goats albums.
I'm quite interested in seeing what ambient punk is. Seems kind of hypocritical, like "acoustic metal" or "folktronica" or "good post-grunge". But hey, those first 2 actually exist. My prediction is Lux Interior singing over Boards of Canada which makes absolutely no sense.

And holy crap was I wrong. The neo-psychedelia and "ambient" are the only things I get out of these first 4 tracks. Where's the punk? These guys don't have the DIY sound, the abrasive fast music, the either snotty or indecipherable vocal style, this isn't punk. I can vaguely see the shoegazing bit, but this is quiet compared to the loud-as-hell shoegazing I'm used to. It's like some soft, dreamy guitar with quiet vocals over an ambient music backdrop. Lux Interior my ass. This is less punk than Good Charlotte. (Important Note: "Less punk" does NOT mean worse. The fact that I can tolerate a full 4 songs should be a clear indicator this is better than Good Charlotte.)

For a comparison, I'd say a cross between a very, very quiet My Bloody Valentine and Pavement works. I don't see the noise rock, I don't see the punk, garage rock or noise in here. I just see some run-of-the-mill dream pop with a dash of ambient here and there, and horns. Horns make everything better, from ambient to metal to hip-hop to hardcore punk to JAZZ! Other then that, there's still no garage to be found nearing the last track. This is a rather linear album, and it's not like the band description at all. The last song ends abruptly, which strangely isn't one of my musical pet peeves (I seem to have a lot that I don't know about). Apparently it's about Jay Reatard, and that's the closest thing to a punk rock connection I have heard.

I feel like I've spent the entirety of this review complaining, and that's not fair. It's not bad music at all. I was just overexcited at the prospect of ambient punk and disappointed with the results. It's pretty decent dream pop, though I'm not 100% sure I can agree with such a high Metascore. It lacks the memorability I look for in dream pop. That and for gaming I usually consider metascores too low so I'm inclined to add a few points.

Welp, that's all subjective. And in terms of subjectivity, as long as Kanye West has a 94, anything goes in my book. Not a bad album at all, Halycon Digest. Just remember that ambient punk is a serious misnomer.

[noname219]

Re: Daily Music Reviews (Summer Challenge)

Coincidence, I've listened to Monomania by Deerhunter earlier today. And yes, it's far from Ambient Punk. Very close to Neo-Psychedelia with Noise Rock influences (might explain why people think it's Shoegaze)

I've got more suggestions for you, but you should first review the albums I've mentioned on page one :
Gospel - The Moon Is a Dead World
Harmonium - Si on avait besoin d'une cinquième saison
BT - This Binary Universe

[rayword45]

Re: Daily Music Reviews (Summer Challenge)

Coincidence, I've listened to Monomania by Deerhunter earlier today. And yes, it's far from Ambient Punk. Very close to Neo-Psychedelia with Noise Rock influences (might explain why people think it's Shoegaze)

I've got more suggestions for you, but you should first review the albums I've mentioned on page one :
Gospel - The Moon Is a Dead World
Harmonium - Si on avait besoin d'une cinquième saison
BT - This Binary Universe

Yeah, I plan to get to yours soon.

It's just that I'm waiting for a day where I'm really tired because Tempel is described as stoner rock, and that made Dopesmoker so much better XP

[Choofers]

Re: Daily Music Reviews (Summer Challenge)

top lel

[Crazyjayde]

Re: Daily Music Reviews (Summer Challenge)

People should recommend more albums. Seriously.

More intricate/obscure music I know you might want to get around:

Alva Noto + Ryuichi Sakamoto - Insen (which is fucking incredible and has opened a lot of doors deeper into experimental/minimalistic music I couldn't reach in before)
Botch - We Are The Romans (aggressive and noisy album that spawned forth incredible mathcore releases, along the likes of Converge and Coalesce. Extremely cohesive album)
Boredoms - Vision Creation Newsun (rich textured psychedelia experience that'll most definitely brighten your day)

Three definite keepers I should have added earlier:

Cannibal Ox - The Cold Vein (must-have abstract hip-hop album)
Clark - Totem's Flare (i'm literally obsessed with this album, particular atmosphere that is incredibly delusional)
Malajube - Trompe-L'oeil (goes along with Karkwa's "Les Chemins de Verre" as my most acclaimed contemporary french albums)


*Loved review #16, I believe it's one of the most dynamic review out of the bunch whereas #14 was nothing near substantial. You have a nice format but I believe it needs more thought progression or some kind of dissection of individual tracks. Sometimes I'm just not sure if those reviews centers around the artist rather than the album.
Anyway, love the impressions you share in your reviews, really spontaneous and vivid. Nothing seems calculated (reinforces your style of writing, so that's a plus).

[EzExZeRo7497]

Re: Daily Music Reviews (Summer Challenge)

Really liked some of the reviews here, haha.

Mmkay, I'll suggest some albums:
William Basinski - Nocturnes (Recently released, very melancholic, probably darker than Melancholia if you listened to Basinski before)
Belong - October Language (Very good noise/shoegazy drone tracks overall, definitely one of my favourite albums for casual listening)
Benn Jordan - Louisiana Mourning (Progressive folk/bluegrass, really vivid in textures though imo)
Thomas Koner - Kaamos (Cold and barren but also rather moving, absolutely mindblowing)

All of these are considered ambient, they're very different from each other though.

Oh, might as well throw some leftfield music in your way lmao
UndaCova - Intrusion
Datach'i - Black Trees
Autechre - EP7

[Crazyjayde]

Re: Daily Music Reviews (Summer Challenge)

Omg William Basinski

[rayword45]

Re: Daily Music Reviews (Summer Challenge)

Day 20: Soulbleed by Soulbleed (Album Request: Sonicman68)

Soulbleed is a death/thrash metal band from Los Angeles. Looking at their Facebook, it seems they've done Soundgarden and Faith No More covers. That's either awesome or a bad sign. Their cover photo (presumably of the band) consists of 3 overweight men and one average-figured female. Let's see how this turns out.

This first track has a nice bassy intro. Then it turns to plain old thrash metal. The vocals are considerably more understandable then the average death metal band, there's a plus. Unlike the last few death metal bands I listened to, this guy doesn't have a particularly bad singing voice (although it doesn't to be 100% accurate at all times) based off the song Burning Slow. The guitar is decent (Slow Decay contains some decent solo work), but I've heard superior. Bed of Nails with its changing time signatures may be the most technically impressive song on the album. Or is it BPM changes? And a mini drum break! Either I haven't been paying attention or this song is vastly superior to the rest of the album.

So I've come to the conclusion that I haven't been paying attention. We have some pretty awesome drumming, fairly technical guitar work and a bass. My main problem? There's a pretty clear lack of creativity here. Every song on the album follows a pretty similar structure, and it could use some variety. Yes I realize I praised Amon Amarth despite the lack of creativity, bite me. A little variety would make this stand out. As it stands, it's pretty average thrash metal, though it's clear the instrumentalists have at least some semblance of talent.