Recommend me some 2022 albums +1000th album halp

[rayword45]

Day 994: Cave World by Viagra Boys

I can see this being a lot of fun live, listening to this made me regret not seeing them live because it seems like it'd be a blast of just dancing all night long.

Recorded though, this is somehow both too inconsistent yet too repetitive for my liking. They really only have two vibes, dance-y/groovy and tight or dance-y/groovy and shambolic. I greatly prefer the latter. Maybe their older albums are more my forte.

Best Track: Ain't No Thief
Rating: 6.5/10

[rayword45]

Day 995: God's Country by Chat Pile

I'm beginning to think I don't understand zoomer taste in noise rock. This is not that great.

Best Track: Tropical Beaches, Inc
Rating: 5.5/10

[aperson]

Lotus Eater - Plasma

[rayword45]

Day 996: The Family by BROCKHAMPTON

So close to 1000, and so long between every review. In case you're wondering however, I haven't stopped listening to new music, I've just been loath to write reviews due to generally being busier with life than I was when I started this thread over 8 years ago, and due to the fact that I want my 1000th album review to be something significant. So before I write my typically concise bullshit about this album, allow me to just update you with some estimated scores I'd give other albums I've listened to within the past several months that I was too much of a lazy sack of shit to review.

Woeful Studies - Ka: 8/10
Languish Arts - Ka: 7/10
Ugly Season - Perfume Genius: 5.5/10
A Light For Attracting Attention - The Smile: 6.5/10
MOTOMAMI - Rosalía: 6/10
Renaissance - Beyoncé: 5/10
Ice, Death, Planets, Lungs, Mushrooms and Lava - King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard: 4.5/10 (fuck you I'm not listening to everything this band dropped this year)
And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow - Weyes Blood: 7/10
Spiderr - Bladee: 5/10
Horseshit on Route 66 - The Garden: 7.5/10
WE - Arcade Fire: 4/10 (that score has nothing to do with the controversy this band has been going through, towards which I have no real opinion or knowledge of details about)
Gemini Rights - Steve Lacy: 5/10
God Save the Animals - Alex G: 5.5/10
Glow On - Turnstile: 5/10
ENTERTAINMENT, DEATH - Spirit Of The Beehive: 8.5/10
Hold The Girl - Rina Sawayama: 6.5/10
chingitychangitychong 2022 - Otoboke Beaver: 5/10
LABYRINTHITIS - Destroyer: 6/10
Come Home the Kids Miss You - Jack Harlow: 2.5/10 (still better than Gunna)
The Mars Volta - The Mars Volta: 4/10
Dariacore 3... At Least I Think That's What It's Called? by leroy: 4/10
The newest Sharon Von Etten: 7/10
The newest Toro Y Moi: 5.5/10
The newest Lizzo: 5/10
Fragments - Bonobo: 6/10
Versions of Modern Performance - Horsegirl: 5/10
Viva Las Vengeance - Panic! at the Disco: 1/10 (this is one of very few albums I actually do wish I wrote something for)
Arrangements - the band formerly known as Viet Long: 6/10
Bleed Out - The Mountain Goats: 6.5/10
Octopod Metropolis - Bluetech: 7.5/10
God Did - DJ Khaled: 3/10
Donda 2 - He Who Shall Not Be Named: 2/10
The album that got Fantano's divorce leaked: 3.5/10

Since these scores are all off memory, take them with an even bigger grain of salt than usual. You may be asking "Hey r-word, why don't you listen to those albums again and jot down your thoughts so you can have a better justification for your score? I realize that these numbers are already usually completely arbitrary, but now they seem even more pointless!" And to that I'll say, "eat a dick".

But anyways, onto the BROCKHAMPTON album. Man it's crazy how long it's been since I found out about this group in 2016, how long it's been since the SATURATION trilogy broke the internet, how long it's been since my friends saw the infamous first show without Ameer Vann while I was at my cousin's wedding, just how long it's been in general. These guys were the soundtrack to my first college summer, the early days of young adulthood, and I have so many memories attached to this group that I'll forever cherish. Even though their output never reached the heights of their hype-ass early days, the last album was surprisingly great after some much weaker efforts in 2018 and 2019, no doubt thanks to their willingness to actually have features from acclaimed musicians like Danny Brown and Charlie Wilson.

And with that, I guess they ultimately went down the OPPOSITE route for their "big finale" (although I would bet money on some reunion shows within the next decade). This album is basically a Kevin solo album, either due to necessity or as an artistic choice but I would assume the former. I've always paired Kevin with JOBA in that they have the strongest songwriting and production chops of the group but aren't the most enticing rappers. Unfortunately, only the latter half seems to hold up with this album, as this album just doesn't have the soul, the energy, the FEEL that their earliest works or even any album prior to this besides Ginger had. It feels like it was a contractual obligation and it's honestly just sad and limp to listen to. It's not terrible, but BROCKHAMPTON has always been about the chemistry of a massive group of friends. This simply cannot capture that magic, and making it even worse is how unfinished the whole thing sounds.

I have high hopes for hypothetical upcoming works from several members of the band, including Kevin and especially JOBA. I'm just going to assume this is a rough, transitory work and not indicative of what the future holds, as it stands alone this is a really underwhelming swan song.

And I'm calling this the swan song and not TM because I listened to both together, and the latter doesn't even deserve a review. That's a 2/10 album.

Best Track: Gold Teeth
Rating: 5/10

[_Stepdude_]

Being a huge Infected Mushroom nerd I definitely enjoyed their latest album that got released in September called "IM25".

[rayword45]

Day 997: NO STYLIST by Destroy Lonely

So I originally told y'all that this was a 3.5 out of 10 if you could decipher the extremely easy and extremely googleable language. And on RYM itself I gave it a 0.5 out of 5 but that was an OVERLY emotional reaction to how I initially listened to the album, because I admit that recent events made me rate it on a scale based on "how much does this album exceed the hurt of random internet weirdos leaking your divorce to the public" when I gave it such a negative rating. At the start, it truly deserved at least 2 stars without bias, as it's definitely NOT incompetent like some albums I've heard, but emotions got the best of me.

But anyways, to review this while trying to ignore personal bias as much as possible, including recent, deeply emotional experiences, I think this album is inherently very flawed. When the albums is at peak litness, it can only be matched VERY rarely, and this translates well to a live setting. I've been to hundreds of concerts, so please don't take it lightly when I say that hearing NOSTYLIST live was one of the most insane experiences of my life.

But, I can say this and still tell you with a straight face, this album is not consistent enough to be called "good". Destroy Lonely is a massive talent when it comes to making your most in-your-face, mosh-around energy level bangers, but outside of the most intense moments, he ranges from not memorable to genuinely bad. This album cannot receive more than a 6/10, it's just FAR too inconsistent.

Best Track: Go see him live and decide for yourself or agree to suck my dick
Rating: 6/10 (I told you, NO MORE than this allowed)

[rayword45]

Day 998: SOS by SZA

It's that time of year again! The time of year where I binge a bunch of albums and dump reviews en masse in hopes of finding new replacements for my upcoming end of year list!

Except don't expect that this time around. I know what you're thinking, which is that I'm being a lazy fuck, but truthfully that's only 60% of the reasoning for not doing reviews this time around. I am still listening to a bunch of new albums daily and will still make a list on RateYourMusic of my 2022 faves, but I'm only going to write this review and one more for the remainder of the year, why? Because I want 1000 to be somewhat special in some way, I haven't thought of how yet, but I'll find some way to make it special for y'all 3 people who still open this thread. Expect the unexpected.

Anyways, this album. I still enjoy CTRL a lot, and this album is a good argument for curation as there are MORE good songs than her previous album, but far more middling or bad songs too, and the ratio of good songs from old album:new album is worse than that for not so good songs. If you trimmed this down by about... 25-30 minutes, it could be a contender for my best of list. Unfortunately, with stuff like the horribly cringy Disney Channel homage F2F and pointless, borderline unfinished tracks like Conceited, this album stands as "good but flawed".

We'll see how 999 and 1000 look.

Best Track: IDK, listen for yourself and you pick, if there's one advantage to making a fucking 75 minute album of short songs, it's that you can make your own superior truncated version
Rating: 6.5/10

[rayword45]

Day 999: The Predator Nominate EP by Brainiac

Sup pretty face bitches.

It's been over a month since I wrote my last review and we are now in a new year. I've been dealing with a slew of personal drama, workload and other shit that all serves as an excuse as to why I've been so lazy with updating this thread, but the reality is what you all know: I'm fairly intimidated by the prospect of finally hitting 1000 reviews after nearly 9 years of this thread existing and I don't want to make that a disappointment, even if only 3 people reading it would be an improvement.

I was going to use this review to practice, but I think that would spoil things. So all I'll add here is I will allow people to use the period between now and review 1000 as an AMA, if anyone is remotely interested in that. It might be a while before 1000 happens, it's a daunting task even if the challenge and judgment is all self-inflicted.

Anyways, this EP is interesting. I'm sure you know these guys are one of my all-time favorite bands and have been a crucial part of my youth and my musical journey. These are the last recordings the band did before the frontman tragically passed away in a car crash at 28, and... you can tell these aren't really full songs for the most part. The first half is rudimentary songs, some good stuff in there, but the back half is basically all just experiments with electronics. I'm gonna give this a far higher rating on RYM than what I'm giving it here, because my emotional enjoyment of this was far higher than it should have been.

Also, RIP RADIOHEAD LONG LIVE KING KENDRICK

Best Track: analbeads
Rating: 6/10

[rayword45]

Day 1000: Let's Start Here. by Lil Yachty

It's been a long fucking while coming, hasn't it? Nearly 9 years (closer to 10 if we include the original 2013 thread), tons of long hiatuses, many life changes and even more music explored later, we've reached this point.

Originally, I was planning to do 05 Fuck Em as this review as an appropriately epic milestone with some historical relevance to it… Yeah I gave up on that idea pretty quick. Ultimately, I've decided that the spirit of the thread would be best matched with an appropriately random-yet-relevant album to go along with such a milestone, as flippancy has been part of this ongoing saga for as long as I can remember AND this particular artist does still have some relevancy to both past reviews I've done as well as the theme I have planned for this entry.

So anyways, onto what I have planned (and why this is taking as long as it is) - Going back and reading through all my past 999 reviews from this thread, and leaving comments wherever one pops into my head. I'm also including the 2013 challenge posts, because why not? This was what I originally had planned for review 500 as well as the 5 year anniversary, but laziness and ADHD got the best of me. Now come along as I look back at the previous 60% of my life, cringe and reminisce about days gone by, and marvel at how much shit has changed. In true spirit of this thread, I expect this to be a complete mess, and I expect that somewhere before the halfway point, my efforts will dwindle considerably and the quality of this effort will degrade like a Basinski album or something. I also expect that this will take multiple posts up, so I'll be sharing the whole thing in a public Google Doc as well.

2013 entry 1: Jeez, it's so weird to think this was right when I finished my first year of high school, and now I'm a white collar worker but STILL doing this crap on this same ancient website. I should archive this stuff in case this website ever goes down. It's funny to think that this all started on some bet with a friend of mine, and look where I am now. I was an underachiever, a troublemaker in class, had only recently even had my first kiss, never got drunk or tried anything harder than weed, and was a few days shy of starting my first ever paid job! If you were to ask me where I think I'd be in just shy of 10 years, I honestly have no idea what I'd tell you. I know for a fact at this time I had no intentions of majoring in statistics, wouldn't have suspected I'd have a Master's degree by now, would be unsure of where I'd be living - honestly I don't think I'd have suspected I even would go through whatever happened over the rest of my high school years.

Also, starting this challenge without scores was a fairly strange decision in hindsight, as I've assigned a number rating to pretty much all of these at this point on RYM.

2013 entry 2: How the fuck did I forget about all the Pendulum stuff I had heard as a result of StepMania, in particular furry edition? Glaring failure right there, also I stand by this album being mid and their weakest effort by far.

2013 entry 4: lol Skillet

2013 entry 6: Damn David, your taste hasn't changed a bit since these days, has it? Nobody who reads this is going to understand that in-joke.

2013 entry 8: This bonus entry is actually really interesting because of the fact that I don't believe this music is publicly available anywhere anymore, and in fact, there's a non-zero chance that it doesn't exist at all. What a weird thought - this project may be the only archive that proves the existence of a small amount of music.

2013 entries 12, 14 and 15: These entries are interesting to me because of my feelings on all of this stuff nowadays - I still listen to The Sophtware Slump every now and then, and I've seen both Flying Lotus and Amon Amarth live now. Jesus fucking Christ, it just occurred to me that when I started this review project, I had seen literally two live concerts in my entire life, both with family. What a MASSIVE change that's been, and it's even more depressing to think about the fact that when I did a mini-review of Soundgarden Chris Cornell was still alive. Rest in peace, you really changed my love of music for the better from a young age.

2013 entry 21: Similar to the above point, I can't believe that I'm going to the second ever Colour Haze show later this year, more than a decade after first listening to their music. Man, these little commentaries are turning out a little on the dull and repetitive side, huh? I'm going to be a lot sparser until I have something more interesting to say in regards to anything whatsoever, whether or not it feels like it's off-topic. Is there even an "on-topic" for this?

I just remembered that this is the first album I did a full review for that later ended up on my list of music I've had sex to, although Superunknown precedes it if I include mini-reviews.

2013 entry 23: Yeah, a lot of my opinions have changed over the past decade and I wouldn't stand by many off-hand comments I've made, but my take on this type of music is the exact same as it was then, and at that time it had been the same for years. FFR, why is there so much Rise Records bullshit in the game? Who was actually a fan of this angsty bullshit?

2013 entry 28: lol @ the person that requested this album, for reasons I cannot repeat involving someone I don't like and her. I wonder if her musical taste has changed at all in the ensuing years, at the very least, I know her taste in men has improved

2013 entry 30: Man, the first time I ever listened to Basinski was when I was on a camping trip, and I still remember listening to this for the first time like it was yesterday, as we had to go grocery shopping while I was bumping this and I had VERY few chances to charge my phone.

2013 entry 37: PAIN. Just… nothing else to say for this one except PAIN. Maybe "too many cringe memories" as an addendum. Ugh.

2013 entry 47: God, Infected Mushroom, what a history I have with this band. I've now seen them live three times and was supposed to see them a fourth time right before COVID lockdowns canceled that for me, and also canceled what was supposed to be my first ever orgy. That sure is an unfortunate association to have with a musical act that I like.

2013 entry 52: This on the other hand is an interesting association because of a friend I made in college whose parents were actually family friends with Mark Sandman. Crazy the places life will take you within just a few short years.

I also vividly remember the context in which I reviewed these slightly delayed reviews, as I had no internet access because I was on a boat in the middle of the ocean getting turnt with kids I'd never see again once I returned. Funny to think at that time I felt the need to both justify a delayed posting, and that I was so dedicated to this that I took time out of vacationing / partying to listen to this stuff.

2013 entry 59: Man, seeing the name OK Go reminds me of the days where I was obsessively playing my 3DS. Good times, good times… Actually that isn't true my life was significantly more miserable when I was an early teenager, grass is always greener eh?

2013 entry 63: AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH

The end of 2013:

And here ends my writing journey across the summer. It was fun. Now let's look back in a year or two and see how cringe-worthy I find my own writing.

My original plan was to rank all the albums I listened.

Jesus Christ what the fuck was I thinking? I'm glad as hell I decided against that.

Big thread entry 1: Man, June 2014. Even between the start of this thread and the start of the previous one, I can immediately think of just how much my life had changed in such a short period of time. A consistent, emotionally fulfilling job, a much stronger understanding of local politics, more insane social drama than I ever could've imagine, the list could go on for quite some time, but let's cut this one short. Also:

It's not very professional to go off on tangents

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH

Big thread entry 5: Ew… I remember exactly why I was being an angsty bitch when writing this review, and I'm too ashamed to admit what it was, other than it was me being a stupid, hormonal teen. Now I look back at what a loser I was being and cringe HARD. Both because at the time, what I was going through wasn't a big deal at all, and because even if it WAS a big deal that shit pales in comparison to some of the traumas I've been through since. I didn't know what pain WAS back then!

Big thread entry 13: "Kind of Blue can suck my dick" never gets old!

Big thread entry 16: I wonder what Arkuski is up to these days.

Big thread entry 23: More camping adventures! This review is one I very much remember originally commenting on when I was planning to do a 5 year anniversary celebration, namely because of this juicy quote:

It may prove even better once I get in the right atmosphere. I need to experience this in some outdoor festival or gathering or something, preferably surrounded by MDMA (which I would NOT take).

Ha, I REALLY couldn't have predicted how much my life would change literally under a year later, not to mention how crazy different things are NOW. God, lost innocence is a trip and a half to think about, more than any psychedelic has ever done for me.

Big thread entry 36: Damn, I forgot that Marty Walsh declared some random day to be Godsmack day that year. What the fuck was that lmao

Big thread entry 44: Now THIS is an entry I'm glad still exists somewhere, not because of any music commentary I made, but because of everything else I wrote down. It's crazy to me that at this time, I had yet to receive a formal ADHD diagnosis even though this writing alone made it apparently obvious. What a massive difference having documentation made later in my life. Also, it's crazy to think about just how much I struggled with education back during these years, compared to how much better I did in college. Making kids start their day at 7:30 in the morning is still incredibly stupid, and I will NEVER change my opinion on that.

Big thread entry 59: lol this fucking album, I still would consider myself a casual enjoyer of They Might Be Giants, the music isn't really why this warrants a laugh… Well it kind of is, you can guess why, I won't tell you if you guess right or wrong because it's easy to figure out for yourself.

Big thread entry 71: I BELIEVE that this is the first album I reviewed that I later ended up bumping to a personal 10/10 on RYM. Funny that the first one was fiffer music consisting of a bunch of bleep-bloops, unless I'm wrong.

Big thread entry 78: Man, now THIS one is a trip to think about, as it shows just how much lazier I had gotten from the previous cruise-associated review hiatus to this one. Man, what a fond memory that week still is for me, even though I made out with the moon from Majora's Mask and she gave me the flu, and even though I missed the opportunity to lose my virginity. Strangeways, here we come, wait why the fuck did I just make a Smiths reference I fucking hate Morrissey's racist ass ugh

Big thread entry 80: Oh, turns out I commented on a handful of the crazy experiences I had on that aforementioned new years cruise in this review. Huh. Well, I don't regret logging this down, I consider this to be a major turning point in exploring my sexuality, even though at this time I was still a massive turbovirgin.

Big thread entry 93: Jeez, yet another entry where I reviewed an artist several years before their untimely death, what a morbid curiosity some of these entries are fulfilling for me. Honestly, if anything is sticking out to me while reading through these all, it's how much more of a pretentious hipster-type I was back during high school. Now I fucking LOVE tons of pop and mainstream hip-hop stuff, and I fucking HATE elitist idiots who act like the obscurity of their music taste and/or the limited breadth of musical artists or genres they'll listen to makes them some kind of superior to those they deem as plebians. Even back then, though, I know I subscribed to the same mantra of every genre having good and bad music, I was just a lot lamer in my application of it. I wonder how much of this difference in outlook I can attribute to social jadedness and how much I can attribute to past sexual frustration.

Big thread entry 95: God, Blue Oyster Cult, to this day I still have not listened to a large amount of their music but I have an incredibly weird association with this band that I cannot share for fear of getting someone doxxed. Man, she was crazy, but also pretty hot… I sure am making a whole lot of references doing this celebratory write-up that will make absolutely no sense to anybody who reads this other than myself, a statement that would still hold true if there were 3000 people that read it all instead of maybe 3.

Big thread entry 100: LMFAO I CAN'T BELIEVE MY 100TH REVIEW IN THIS THREAD WAS MOTHERFUCKING JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE HOLY SHIT THAT'S FUCKING FUNNY

Regarding what I said about my increased ability to enjoy pop music, that still comes with some limitations, and I still hate JT. I stand with Janet to this day!

Big thread entry 101: This is a different type of weird reminisce, as at this time I was still pretty contrarian when it came to Kanye and I don't stand by most of the negative things I would say about his music then. Within just a few years, his music would be THE defining soundtrack to my summer 2018, and then a few years after that, well, we all know what's happening with him now.

I do stand by this album being highly overrated though.

Big thread entry 106: Hey, look, another example where I still stand by my hater-ass opinion that I had close to a decade ago. I hated Drake long before this album came out, and to this day, I still hate his ass, and this opinion would be the same even if there weren't all those grooming rumors.
Big thread entry 116: Ah, this isn't the first review where I specifically remember listening to a good chunk of this while skipping class, that would be Laserdisc Visions, but it's the first one where that actually popped into my head. What's funny to me is that the more I skipped the mornings during high school, the better my GPA got, counter-intuitively. I accredit that practice to why college was so much easier for me.

Big thread entry 123: RIP RADIOHEAD FOREVER AND EVER. Jeez, I'm only twenty percent of the way finished with this shit, when's the last time I've spent this much effort on writing for non-academic reasons?

Big thread entry 156: LMAO I reviewed an album that I had a big part in the creation of, and this album remains one of the most pivotal memories I have of my entire high school experience, a sentiment shared by probably almost everybody I graduated with.

Big thread entry 165:

Man, what is wrong with me? I have no real friends. Fuck all these fake people that use me for whatever crazy shit they need done, or these detached people whom will have a lunch but I can't call them more than an acquaintance. Where is my life going? I have no people. I hate everyone, the people that wanna be my friend I despise, I want more out of my life.

What is the future? Will I ever get a real job? Will I make a solid living? Will I have a family? Will my dreams die with the years? Will I die old or young? Where is life taking me?

Well, close to 8 years later, I have a real job making a survivable living. I'm not sure how much better my social circle is compared to them. I'm also not sure if my dreams ended up dying or not. Sad.

Big thread entry 174: I actually sat through this entire fucking RHCP album? I can't believe I did that. WHY DID I DO THAT?!

Big thread entry 193: Damn, RIP to Terry Hall. Even more than Chris Cornell that might be the musician death that hit me the hardest thanks to memories of playing Little Bitch at the arcade when DDR Extreme machines were still abundant.

Big thread entry 195: And here's an example where my review was totally wrong because the download I had of this album replaced a lot of the original recordings with re-recordings that were done like 25 years after this album was initially released. This album is NOT better than Entertainment but those re-recordings sure are.

Big thread entry 204: Ironically, despite my plea for people to have sex to this album, I myself have never had sex to this album.

Big thread entry 217: It's really funny to me that years after I reviewed this album, the lead singer for this band ended up leaving music to instead work in politics and later ended up as National Labor Organizer for Bernie Sanders in 2020. I still remember both times I saw this band live quite vividly too, shortly before they decided to call it quits. I credit this band and Pile for getting me more into discovering local music and finding punk basements, which in turn is the root of a ton of my socialization from around this time all the way until I finished college.

Big thread entry 229: Holy shit, I forgot I reviewed the last Family Farce album. That's a fucking trip, reviewing an album by these guys nearly a decade after I first discovered their music, and that itself being something I did over 7 years ago.

Big thread entry 247: Hey, yet another album that I later bumped to a 10/10 on my RYM profile, again for largely sentimental reasons. There were some others between this and Lazer Thrash but these two are easily the most notable I can think of before this decade, because of nostalgic associations I have with the whole thing and because of the fact that I saw this guy live right before this album came out, and live just this past summer for the second time. Man, where the FUCK is the sequel to this album? I've been waiting so damn long.

Big thread entry 265: My thoughts on this entry are basically identical to my thoughts on entry 156. What a time this was, two of the few high school memories I have that are basically entirely positive.

Big thread entry 292: Oh boy, yet another angsty vent from my younger days, but unlike many of the previous ones, I don't regret this one one single bit. The kid that this was about ended up getting me falsely accused of felonies by my school (whom already had it out for me for various reasons, some valid and some not) and ended up getting less of a punishment than I did despite HIM being the one who showed up to school on drugs. Pretty annoying stuff, but there's a fond silver lining to this in that I also associate this saga with taking my school's leadership to fake court (at the Boston Public Schools district headquarters) and forcing them to clear my record due to various violations of disciplinary procedures they commit.

I wonder how the kid this review is about is doing now. Last time I heard updates about him, he was suspended from his college after getting caught with a backpack full of benzos, then some time later, he had gone to rehab unsuccessfully multiple times. I wouldn't be as vitriolic now as I was back then, I honestly just hope he manages to fix himself before dying an untimely death. I also hope he's done with the weird classism and racism he had.

Big thread entry 307: Man, it's also weird seeing how this review ties into the previous one. I was depressingly wide-eyed about how the world worked at this time, and I wasn't exactly a big beacon of sunshine already.

Big thread entry 331: Wow, this might be the biggest case of me thinking my opinion was bafflingly wrong in the current day, there is NO way that this album is better than Since I Left You and I still think that this album gets too much flack online. What was I high on?

Big thread entry 365: God, that was a much more epic choice for a milestone review than this ended up being.

Big thread entry 369: Dang, yet another album that I later bumped to a 10/10 some time after reviewing it for the first time, even though I wouldn't say it's flawless as I still hate Waterbaby. I'm actually shocked that this was something I reviewed as recently as 2017, I would've expected this to come quite some time before that. This was basically exactly one year before I lost my virginity to this album, and I'm not sure if that's the main reason or not I bumped this to a 10/10 because losing my virginity was actually an awful experience, although I've had much better sex to this since then.

Big thread entry 399: And here began the 2017 summer of BROCKHAMPTON, although I first heard songs by this group a year before this blew up. God, what a memorable summer that ended up being. I don't have any negative associations with this music, even if many people now turned their backs on these guys and claim their stuff is all cringe shit for white male teenagers.

Big thread entry 444: LOL I can't believe this was a few months before the untimely death of this guy. Man, to this day I still despise the discourse that happens whenever you bring this guy up. I still think most of his music is utter trash, but that's not relevant to why I hate the discourse.

Big thread entry 465: God, even though I never talked about it in these reviews, the date that this review occurred on is still fresh in my mind due to some weird stuff that happened around this time not long after some rather unpleasant drama. It's funny how I look back at that time and felt good about what went down, whereas now if I think about it, that was fucking cringe as all hell. Also fun to remember the shitty photo job I had at this time.

Big thread entry 473: As I said somewhat recently, I have a hypothesis that over fifty percent of the basic white girls in this country between the ages of 16 and 30 have a love affair with Starbucks, Chipotle and Beach House. At least if you restrict to urban areas.

Big thread entry 474: Man, it is impossible to think about this band without remembering that they broke up then reformed because of an opportunity to perform their music on a TV show, and then that show got canceled because the creator turned out to be a Nazi and they had to disavow that appearance. I don't hold it against them, I just think it's hilarious.

Big thread entry 486: OH. BOY. It's fucking Daughters. I still think this album is hella overrated but I genuinely cannot believe the career trajectory these guys ended up having. I also can't believe that just recently I discovered the drummer is my friend's cousin, and he had no idea just how canceled these guys are now. Man, there's a whole lot of wincing I'm doing as I complete this long, uh, journal? Is that what you'd call this?

Big thread entry 522: This is actually about the post I made right after this review. Man, I can't believe that I was banned from RateYourMusic community boards for two years, and then I returned. I also still laugh whenever I think about the staff telling me I held the record for most infractions of any user on that website, largely because most of my offenses were relatively benign.

Big thread entry 561: This review is notable to me because it's the first Pile album I reviewed after discovering my weird social connection to them. What a weird saga that ended up being over the next few years. I can't wait to see these guys for the fifth time later this week!

Big thread entry 569: Oh man, now HERE'S an album that my opinion has changed due to trauma I went through just a couple short years later. Major yikes. Major pain. Sigh…

Big thread entry 596: Top meme

Big thread entry 606: Hey, there's the guy I'm listening to right now!

Big thread entry 638: Of all the joke reviews I've done, I think this is the one I'm still the proudest of.

Big thread entry 647: Man this band is still the bane of my existence, not because it's the worst thing I've ever listened to (although I still am nowhere close to a fan) but because whenever I claim that I don't understand these guys dozens of children immediately call me boomer.

Big thread entry 663: I stand by the comments I made about basic-ass Asians here, even though I'm now a lot more fond of Porter and somewhat more fond of Excision in a live setting.

Big thread entry 701: I'm surprised that I didn't mentioned the obvious Venture Bros reference here. I wonder if that was deliberate or pure coincidence.

Big thread entry 721: Hey now, the first review I ever did after Coronavirus killed everything! Yet another crazy thing to think about, just how much my life ended up changing as a result of the pandemic, and how much my life at this point differed from when I started writing these reviews. Caribou was certainly a choice to kick off this era of my life.

Big thread entry 764: Oh my GOD more than anything else I've commented on, this is super painful to read because of what it marks the beginning of. This marks the start of what ended up resulting in a PTSD diagnosis for me. So many traumatic, painful images that still linger on my mind, mixed in with some of the most emotionally confusing reminiscing possible. Truly, this may actually be the most pivotal review in this entire project, which is impressive over 7 years after I started doing this crap for an audience of like 4 readers.
Big thread entry 817: A+ for the buttplug joke

Big thread entry 849: And here lies the most recent album to come out that I later ended up bumping to a 10/10, and probably the album I've listened to the most times in full over the past few years. Man, this album is still so fucking good in my opinion, but damn is it painful to listen to now due to aforementioned associations with trauma I have now, particularly because of how utterly nostalgic the theme and sound design is. "Traumacore" is actually a great description for this album for me now. Conflicting emotions tied to painful memories sure are a fucky thing to deal with.

Big thread entry 864: Wow, exactly 100 reviews lapsed between the start and end of the most painful era of my life. What a funny coincidence. A much less funny coincidence is how this artist, who ended up being one of the very first I got to see live, ended up gaining her biggest moment of fame, which unfortunately is similar to what I went through. Again, major fucking yikes here.

Big thread entry 897: And here marks the first review I did after leaving the state I grew up in, just over 24 years into my life. Wow, yet another funny coincidence that this is SO close to 1000 albums written about in total. We're getting close to the end, guys! Props to you if you actually read all of this crap despite the inside references nobody will get and general lack of organization of thoughts here.

Big thread entry 916: For all the drama associated with Sewerslvt in the current day, and for my continued mixed feelings on this album, I think this may be the best title of anything I've ever reviewed. Truly a relatable set of words.

Big thread entry 942: I still laugh whenever I think about the various times that people have called Mitski "femcel music" over the years.

Big thread entry 946: I can't believe I didn't comment on the lyrics from the final track on this album about the protagonist having a wet dream where they stuck their face in Charli XCX's tits. That alone is reason to have bumped this 2 points from my initial assessment.

Big thread entry 968: I'll have sex to these guys eventually Grav

Big thread entry 999: And here lies the final review before I reached this benchmark now. What a journey the last decade has been. There isn't much to say besides the fact that my life hasn't changed all that much over the past month, but comparing the very first review I ever did to this now, it's funny how little my prose seems to have changed despite the MASSIVE differences in my actual life since then. Also crazy that more than 10 years since I first listened to these guys, even predating this whole review challenge, they're still one of my all-time favorite bands. Some things truly never change.

Wow, what an adventure this whole thing has been. If you read all of this, I apologize in advance. Anyways, in the spirit of the thread, here comes the low effort review of the album I mentioned in the first line of this all.

______________________________________________________________________________

So, I've heard a lot about this album all over, from online to group chats I'm in to IRL friend groups to even the workplace. It's been getting a lot of attention due to the massive stylistic departure this apparently is compared to past albums, with people frequently comparing it to Tame Impala and other basic indie-psych shit like that. People have also said this marks a sort of "redemption" for Yachty after a ton of mediocre albums with a lack of stylistic variation and low effort bullshit outnumbering the actual good songs, making most of his full-length releases a drag. Even the title somewhat implies that this is the REAL start of his music career, as if everything before was a test run and this is the real first effort, or a soft reboot of sorts. Who doesn't love a good redemption arc?

In the spirit of what this thread has become, I'm keeping this succinct. Is this his best album yet? Absolutely, but that isn't saying much. Did I enjoy this album? Without a doubt, although I'm a little hard-pressed to say that this would be getting AS much love from another artist where this wasn't such a massive stylistic shift. It definitely suffers from some of the same problems of his earlier albums like inconsistency and being somewhat overlong, albeit to a much lesser degree, but it benefits a lot from less repetition and much lusher production.

Comparisons to stuff like Tame Impala are apt, but honestly this genuinely shits on everything Kevin Parker has made since Lonerism. Again, not saying that much at the end of the day, although I am a bit shocked that he's NOT one of the several indie darlings that had a hand in this project. This is undeniably a Lil Boat album through and through though, as the vocals, lyrics and generally sunny mood are undeniably in line with his past work. I don't have much else to say at this point, I liked the album. I can't say I loved it, but it's the first time since partying to One Night back in my teenage years that I'm genuinely excited to see where this man's career goes from here, and that counts for a lot.

I just hope he quits this dumb style of titling his songs like a MySpace girl in love with her shift key.

______________________________________________________________________________

Anyways, thanks for reading, whether it's for reading this entire diatribe, reading all my ramblings over the years or even just having read a single word at all within this thread. It's been quite a journey and as cringe and embarrassing as a lot of stuff I'm jotted down in this thread has been, including a large portion of this post, I'm glad it all still exists and I don't regret doing this project one bit. Who knows what's next? Maybe I'll write 1000 more bad reviews, or maybe this is my swansong. Maybe this will go on for another 10 years, or maybe it won't go another 10 minutes. Maybe I'll find love, maybe my career and income will skyrocket, maybe I'll be homeless, maybe I'll be dead. Maybe I'll even quit this website (god forbid). The real moral takeaway I've gotten from writing this is "predicting the future is a fool's errand" so why bother doing that? I'm just gonna continue taking things one step at a time, as corny and cliche as that is, it's all I really can promise to do.

Here's to whatever the rest of my days entail!

Best Track: REACH THE SUNSHINE.
Rating: 7.5/10

The writing across this thread: 1/10
The personal value I attach to this thread: 11/10

[rayword45]

holy shit I didn't actually expect that to fit in one post

never mind the bit about sharing a Google Doc

[rayword45]

Day 1001: All Fiction by Pile

You didn't really think I was gonna give up on this thread, did you? I've been doing it to zero fanfare for years now already, why would I stop just because I reached a milestone nobody cares about?

This would've also been a pretty fitting 1000th review, due to my discovery of this band occurring fairly early into the thread's existence, my first review of them coming not too long later and my continued fandom of them nearly a decade later. I saw these guys live for the fifth time just a couple of weeks ago, at the second of two sold-out or nearly sold-out shows in NYC. It's so weird to see how much more successful they are after leaving Boston.

I mention this because this was the first time I heard any songs off this album, where they played about half of it mixed in with other older cuts (mostly off A Hairshirt of Purpose) and I STILL haven't heard them play Prom Song much to my chagrin. I must admit that the songs I heard worked better in a live setting than here. I also must admit I prefer this band when they're a four-piece, as the trio set up just didn't sound as full and bold. I know why, however, they reduced down so I get it. So weird to be in the know about things the general public doesn't.

Overall, this album is neither their strongest nor weakest effort. There are a lot of well-written songs but I don't think they're as consistently hard-hitting as those on Green and Gray nor do the peaks reach Magic Isn't Real's best heights. It's also not mixed and produced in a way that I think is complimentary to the album, but that's been an issue since around 2017 when they seemed to go more hi-fi. But these are mostly nitpicky because overall, this is still solid stuff, and I'd be excited to see them a sixth time.

I really need to bump more stuff from this year, sooner rather than later. I have a lot of catch-up to do.

Best Track: Nude with a Suitcase
Rating: 6.5/10

[rayword45]

Day 1002: Dogsbody by Model/Actriz

I have the same opinion on this as I do what currently seems like every time a new noise rock release gets massive hype by terminally online music nerds with autism. I can see this being fun live, but otherwise, I don't get the hype and outside of a few tracks, this is boring.

Melon ruined noise rock because everyone just wants more stuff that sounds like You Won't Get What You Want whereas I want my last millennium-styled stuff. There was plenty of stuff in the 80s and 90s that was dark like the aforementioned mega-cancelled album baldy undeservedly gave a 10/10, but even when that stuff was dark, like say, The Jesus Lizard or Shellac, it was still FUN. Not this self-serious moody crap.

Best Track: Amaranth
Rating: 5/10

[rayword45]

Day 1003: 10,000 gecs by 100 gecs



My opinion of this band's debut has not changed at all since initially reviewing it, no matter how many other zoomers tell me that I'm a boomer because I don't "get it" or whatever.

It's not a fully anti-hyperpop thing either, as I think that many other acts in that scene or adjacent to them have composed some great songs even if I have yet to be wowed by a full project. SOPHIE (RIP), Dorian Electra, Alice Gas, dltzk, all of these have produced songs in a similar style and vibe to cuts off that debut album that seemingly took the world by storm, but all of those are artists where I'd say they made actual good songs. And I've also been to several raves and parties where people played hyperpop including cuts from that album, and in that context I was having fun, but whenever I go back, sit down and listen to Stupid Horse or Money Machine I just think to myself "What a wonderful world!" ...Uh wait, sorry, what I meant to say is but whenever I go back, sit down and listen to Stupid Horse or Money Machine I just think to myself "is this supposed to be an irony thing? Am I really getting too old now?"

Well the answer to that second question is yes regardless of any musical opinions, but I have to admit, I came into this album expecting more meme-tier bullshit that would continue to bewilder me, but honestly this was a lot better than I could've possibly anticipated! People have made claims that they "ditched" hyperpop but this still has a lot of that vocal filtering and post-internet vibe to it, it's just less overt, and very slightly less at that. This is still more discernibly hyperpop in its sound than anything I've heard from SOPHIE or Charli XCX. Where it differs from the debut is that it seems less like "nightcore for people who hate anime" and it seems less desperate to deliberately annoy listeners with jarring pitched-up vocals, fuzzy low-fidelity instrumentals and generally bizarre production choices, and instead feels like a hyperpop-styled tribute to shitty mid-00s scene music, which is fairly fitting considering the fanbase this stuff tends to attract being is terminally online Gen Z LGBTQIA+ who wish they could've lived through the MySpace era but, unlike myself, weren't privy by their elementary school years to all the grooming, gross fetishization of mental illness, lame music and obnoxious capitalization gimmicks that were rampant in those years. Thanks fiffer!

I still can't call myself a fan of these guys, but I'm so impressed by how much I don't hate this that it makes it even funnier to me that there seems to be some backlash against this album for "selling out" according to some purists. Although it's still pretty annoying in it's terminally online abrasive production, a few of these songs are an actual blast of fun. This is certainly no masterpiece, as you can only go so far when you're aping music that already sucked 15-20 years ago and almost all of their best ideas are used up within the first half of this very short album, but it's not that bad! Sometimes, that's enough for me.

Best Track: Doritos & Fritos
Rating: 6/10 (yup, better than that Model/Actriz album)

[rayword45]

Day 1004: whatever the new Rebecca Black was called

Is this better than Friday? Yes!

Is this as good as people online claim? No!

Is it at least decent? Yes!

Best Track: deez nuts
Rating: 6/10

[Trogdor!!!!]

I hated the first 100000000000000000000 gecs album so much that I'm not even going to bother listening to the new one

[rayword45]

Day 1005: Scaring The Hoes by JPEGMafia and Danny Brown

Perhaps the greatest album title of all-time? Not sure.

Before I listened to this album, my friend was raving about it and I said "I bet Danny just raps circles around Peggy". Boy howdy I was wrong! Despite the crossing of fanbases and somewhat similar aggressive appeal between these two artists, Danny REALLY isn't mean for this type of production, and he gets drowned out behind the beats a lot.

That's my only complaint. It's a significant one, but I like just about every one of these tracks otherwise. Hmmm...

Not better than Atrocity Exhibition or Veteran to my ears. Probably not better than LP! either.

Best Track: Fentanyl Tester
Rating: 7.5/10

[pccapso]

I'm interested in your thoughts on Mildred by Grim Salvo

[rayword45]

Day 1006: Desire, I Want to Turn Into You by Caroline Polachek

The other day, someone asked me why I'm so fond of eating ass. They also called it my "gimmick". Now I personally believe that those vehemently against the intimate act of analingus are boomers and prudes, but the first part was a question worth asking as I proved myself to be unable to articulate my thoughts in the heat of the moment. It's one of those questions like "why do you enjoy eating this dish other than that it tastes good?" or "why didn't you leave your ex earlier than you did?" that truly has many little facets which colorfully illustrate the passion associated with your response, but when asked on the spot, you're more likely to flub up your words than not.

So if I try to put this into writing, will it work any better? Well, let's go over some facets of this whole thing that stack together:

1. The intimacy - As I mentioned, I consider analingus to be one of the most intimate of the sexual acts. In the show Brockmire, a character once said "only a degenerate and a fool would eat a stranger's ass" and whether or not I agree with the sentiment, I cannot say that claim is without merit. Beyond the perceived chance for diseases unique to assplay, which I'd be the first to tell you are grossly overstated, there's a level of trust and communication that must be mutually achieved by both parties for the anal licking to be pleasurable for both parties. One must trust that their partner has good hygiene, is not ashamed of the act, trusts the other person highly, actually gets the enjoyment they state they do out of the act, the list goes on!

Millions of people around my age have had casual sex with someone they never talked to again after the fact, and sometimes the finer details can be truly revolting, yet I think casual ass-eating is an incredibly rare occurrence, as it should be! A relationship with regular analingus containing mutual enjoyment is one with some desirably close connection. Bonus points if both parties are both giving and receiving.

2. The taboo - The taboo isn't really much of a thing these days. A woman on a first date once asked me to say something kinky I do and when I replied with this topic, she immediately shot back with "dude, everyone eats ass these days". I'm getting left in the dust, aren't I?

But regardless of changing social norms around oral sex, there is still definitely SOME level of taboo associated with the act itself. How often is analingus mentioned in media, be it TV, movies, music or whatever, in comparison to fellatio and cunnilingus? How much is a man shamed for not eating pussy? How much is a man shamed for not eating ass? The taboo may only be existent as a relic of perception, but as long as we THINK that it's a deviant act, then there's some deviance attached. Or at least some level of not giving a fuck.

3. The physical sensation - I can't articulate this one. You just need to see what it feels like to have a wet tongue scrape your ring, what the sensation of thousands of taste buds bumping subtly up and down between your cheeks truly is like, or what it's like to see your partner's face hidden by your gluten when both of you are nude and vulnerable. Words just can't do it justice.

There's definitely more than just these 3 factors, but this is what I was able to come up with in the nick of time. Will this short diatribe convince anyone of the virtues of having their ass orally pleasured? Maybe, but probably not. Either way, I'm glad I have this written down somewhere. It's a good thing to have to refer back to down the line when this topic inevitably comes up again, in whatever context it does.

Anyways, this album was pretty good!

Best Track: The drum and bass ones
Rating: 7.5/10

[rayword45]

Day 1007: Lil Pump 2 by Lil Pump

It's a strange feeling when you have little-to-no expectations for something, those expectations are met if not exceeded, and yet you still have a lingering sense of disappointment over the whole thing. I'm not sure the last time this has happened as I know it has happened before, but this album is a phenomenal example of such an occurrence for myself.

Unlike a lot of people, I've never had super strong opinions one way or the other on Pump. His albums and mixtapes have always been wildly inconsistent, his lyrics are a joke and his repetitive delivery is equal parts monotonous and generic, BUT Gucci Gang is a great party track, one that has no pretentiousness to it. It bangs you over the head with its intent and drills its vibe into the newly formed crack into your skull, to the point where I cannot imagine anyone falling in-between loving its infectiousness and loathing the whole stupidity of it all. From my own viewpoint, he has a handful of songs with the same quality of dumb fun, and then a whole bunch of bullshit.

So nobody's really cared about him for the past several years or so, and now he's come back newly sober. His whole persona was Xanax, MDMA and lean so I imagine a bunch of white teen fans ripped up their Harverd Dropout posters in a rage, but I'm glad that he's moving onto healthier lifestyles and I've never subscribed to the idea that you need drugs to reach peak creativity. Taking into account the fact that this dude is nearly 3 years younger than me, and almost a year younger than queen Ice Spice, his newfound cleanliness from substance abuse should be celebrated, not mocked or mourned. Ah well, so goes the culture.

My first exposure to anything from this album was two different friends, on two separate days, showing me the absolutely GLORIOUS Pump Rock x Heavy Metal. When I say this is going to be the song topping everyone's year end charts, I mean that. You HAVE to listen to this song yourself to really understand the magic behind it. This form of gold is achieved once in an artist's lifetime, and the mine has been struck, demolished and paved over for new gentrified developments.

Even with that though, I was fully expecting this album to be in line with past efforts. And you know what? I was 100% correct, this is no better and no worse than the vast majority of his prior output. It's just as mindless, just as monotonous, just as unabashedly idiotic. Claims that this album is uniquely bad amongst his output are even more ridiculous than claims that it's uniquely strong, what the fuck is the differentiator?

Ultimately, this is everything I was expecting, but part of me was really hoping for a whole album of "metal" songs. I knew it wouldn't happen, but a boy can dream, can't she? At the very least, the album is solid proof you don't need drugs to make music, because if you asked a group of people to pick which of his albums were made while sober, I don't think you'd get a lot of correct guesses. There's really nothing about this album that differentiates it from his output made while fried off a cocktail of illicit drugs, which is... Good? Bad? Whatever it is, it's extremely consistent I guess.

Seriously though, he's younger than Ice Spice?

Best Track: you know it
Rating: 3.5/10

[rayword45]

Day 1008: No Highs by Tim Hecker (Album Choice: choof but not really)

Y'all know I love this guy. Y'all also know that my least favorite album of his is what's usually considered the best, which is Incels. I mean Virgins.

Anyways, of all his prior albums I think this new one is closest to Virgins indeed, but I like this more. It's neither my favorite nor least favorite of all the Hecker releases I've heard. In fact, it's smack dab in the middle. Good? Yes. Mind-blowing? Nah, not really.

Best Track: Anxiety
Rating: 7.5/10