Recommend me some 2022 albums +1000th album halp

[rayword45]

Day 1009: Nature Morte by Big Brave

On the other hand, here's something else I listened to a couple times through on my bus from Boston back home to NYC. If y'all remember how much I love KEN Mode then, assuming you listen to at least 5 seconds of their music, it should be no surprise that when you mix sludge metal, my favorite type of metal, and noise rock, the music that shaped my childhood and teen years, I will jizz all over the place and onto your mom's face.

With a band name like that, I thought this would be something similar to Big Black but it's actually damn near the opposite, where Albini's band that I wonder if these guys named themselves after is fast-paced, treble-y to the point of seeming to have intended discomforting effects and concise, this is a slow, atmospheric combination of drone-infused, Panopticon-esque post-metal and the noise rock I'm so sexually attracted to.

I'm not sure this qualifies as "sludge metal" but who gives a shit about labels? You know what this qualifies as? GOOD FUCKING MUSIC. At first the clean yet harsh (almost shrill) female vocalist raised my brow, but I came to really appreciate what she brought to the heady, doom vibe of the whole thing. All the songs are brooding and take their time to develop, but never ever boring to this pair of ears.

This is the best album I've heard to come out this year yet. I'm sure I'll hear many more albums that are just as good or better, but I won't be surprised if this ends up in my top 10, maybe even top 5.

Best Track: A Parable of the Trusting
Rating: 9/10

[rayword45]

Day 1010: Ignore Grief by Xiu Xiu

I'm seeing this guy perform in 8 days! This album was enjoyable! Not exactly a melodic one, so fans of that Twin Peaks referencing album may be disappointed, but it fully achieves the creepy ambience it intends to develop and the stereo design is some of the best I've ever heard in terms of making the whole thing sound three-dimensional.

I like this more than the Lingua Ignota album baldy gave a 10.

Best Track: your father
Rating: 8/10

[rayword45]

Day 1011: 12 by Ryuichi Sakamoto

I've listened like 10 times now and I'm still not sure how much I truly like it.

Best Track: nah
Rating: 6.5/10

[rayword45]

Day 1012: Berdlycore Chapter 3 by xaev

I remember last year I really, really hate chapter 2 of whatever the fuck this series is. Now with an artist name change, here we have more of the same but slightly better. It's still some of the most slapdash, hit-or-miss stuff I've ever heard, and it can be VERY annoying when it misses, but there were some enjoyable cuts with some genuinely dope melodic passages.

My god this dude only turned 18 last July? I'm fucking old goddamnit.

Best Track: do you actually care?
Rating: 5/10

[rayword45]

Day 1013: Nemesta by ТДК

Man, finally some good fucking noise rock from this year. I wish black midi sounded like this, THIS is what I expect when I hear "Brutal Prog" as a descriptor.

Best Track: Avtomontyora
Rating: 8/10

[rayword45]

Day 1014: Congratulations by EYES

We're on a hot streak here! I saw this as one of the higher-ranked noise rock albums for the year, but it also having the subgenres "screamo" and "metalcore" turned me off from it before I listened to a second of it. That was a fat ass mistake, as this fucking SLAPS. This is way more sludgy than those aforementioned descriptors would make me think, it is indeed angsty and angry as you'd expect but it doesn't make me cringe like some Rise Records bullshit.

This stuff can get pretty same-y, not just this band but pretty much all bands with a similar sound, but it works here because they keep things brief and tight (the whole album clocks in under a half-hour) and the whole thing never relents with the in-your-face aggression. Compared to the much more popular Chat Pile, the vocals here work better for me as do the riffs. Compared to the much more cancelled Daughters, this seems way more interested in just being face-shredding rather than "dark" and "spooky" and all that crap, which fits the sardonic album art.

I'm gonna have to listen to this a bunch times more to see if it's a new favorite like KEN Mode's Loved or if it loses its luster with repeat listens. With the first few go arounds though, this may very well be the best thing I've heard all year thus far.

Best Track: Bbbbbbbliss
Rating: 9/10

[rayword45]

Day 1015: Rat Saw God by Wednesday

Yesterday was a very special day for me, in that it marked exactly 900 unique musical acts that I've seen live, and Pinback gave a fantastic performance which was a nice coincidence since it's really hard to control that due to counting opening acts. Any act I've seen more than once only counts once, and a lot of local acts I saw during high school and college are excluded because they have no RateYourMusic page. Crazy to think that when I started this review crap, I was 2 years away from seeing a concert on my own dime. How time flies!

Anyways, this album has been getting quite a bit of hype. I find it hit-or-miss. I like the fuzzy, shoegaze-esque guitar tones but the country vibes are less my thing. Ah well, onto the next one!

Best Track: not sure and don't feel like checking
Rating: 6/10

[rayword45]

Day 1016: Quest for Fire by Skrillex

I'm a tad bit late. Many have heralded this as a "comeback" of sorts for good ol Sonny Moore. Or actually, more like an "artistic redemption".

I understand those arguments completely. I do not agree with them. This is definitely less cheesy than classic Skrillex but nothing bangs as hard as Bangarang, pun intended, and it's very inconsistent stuff. Really, I just think people like it more because it's not 2010s style dubstep and they're haters.

Best Track: XENA
Rating: 5.5/10

[rayword45]

Day 1017: Live at Bush Hall by Black Country, New Road

I have to admit I was a bit too mean to the ant album and have mildly come around to it. I still think it's more overrated than Pete Davidson's looks but I think it's a middling album, 5.5-6/10 stuff. The debut is still wack.

My biggest complaint about this band was always the singer, but now that he's gone, what do we get?

About one half cringe tracks, one half okay tracks and one half good jams, although at least now the vocals are better across the board. Still prefer the awfully named Jockstrap.

Best Track: lichendies
Rating: 6/10

[robertsona]

check out water from your eyes' album when it comes out friday

[Plics]

Kendrick Lamar - Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers

[rayword45]

Day (Day?!) 1018: by Fever Ray (Album Choice: IRL friend I'm not naming)

Exactly a month hiatus!

My friend told me a couple months ago that he was staying in unless he found cheap tickets for this guy live that night. I don't remember what night it was, I just remember that I was at a different show and that I saw no cheap tickets for this show online whenever I looked in assistance. Anyways, here we go.

Oh yeah, I've actually listened to several new albums over the past month... and I've forgotten how I've felt about most of them. I wish my ADHD wasn't so bad because now I'm only gonna review and score something if I re-listen to it, no matter how strong those memories are. We're starting with this one because it was the most recent, and that makes it easy.

Honestly, for the most part I think this is actually pretty cool. I'm not sure it's super innovative or unique or anything, but it's fun synthy indie pop stuff with a moderately weird edge to it, and it has a cohesive enough style without feeling too repetitive. I especially like the noisier, more atonal cuts. My only complaint is that sometimes the vocals are a bit TOO theatrical, but I think this is pretty solid overall.

Actually, second complaint, what the fuck is that makeup?

Best Track: nah
Rating: 7.5/10

[rayword45]

Day 1019: O Monolith by Squid

Sadly, or not so sadly depending on your outlook, this has nothing to do with the Kyle Ward song.

These guys put on a pretty fun performance when I saw them live, but I'm still not totally in love with their last album. The Talking Heads aping works a lot better on a stage than on a recording. Regardless, though, that has little to do with this album because this is a pretty MASSIVE stylistic shift. Now instead of zoomers attempting to mimic the more angular new wave and dance-punk of the 70s and 80s, we have zoomers attempting to go all krautrock but somewhat modernized.

The results? Decent. Decent-to-good. The ambition is admirable either way, but just like many windmill bands, I find this to be a bundle of joy at times, a snoozer at others. There's 8 tracks here and they average over 5 minutes a piece, and ultimately I'm not sure that was a totally necessary decision. Whatever, I'd see them live again to hear just how they tackle this stuff, and ultimately, since that's the most money they'd ever get from me, isn't that what matters?

Best Track: The Blades
Rating: 6.5/10

[rayword45]

Day 1020: We're Still Here by HIRS

With this and Jerome's Dream this whole type of -core/-violence sound seems to be surging in popularity. Did I miss a trendsetting event that explains this?

This album is fun and I think the queer themes are cool, but it's definitely not gonna be on my year end list. Cool guest appearances though.

Okay next.

Best Track: The one with Melt-Banana
Rating: 6/10

[rayword45]

Day 1021: Seeking the Sources of Streams by Cicada



What's the deal with airplane-provided free music selections?

Best Track: Remains of Ancient Trees
Rating: 6/10

[rayword45]

Day 1022: the new dds

Darklife was better but this is pretty good.

Best Track: Joseph Matriarch
Rating: 7.5/10

[rayword45]

Day 1023: Please Touch by Rrose (Album Choice: septuagenarian)

I'll get to a lot more requests from other people soon.... or maybe not soon but eventually.... and maybe not a lot but at least a few, I swear to god. Anyways, I picked this one because I needed something minimal for work purposes, and because seeing Rrose live in a sweaty illegal warehouse rave was a divine experience. I will fully cop to being pretty dumb when it comes to techno, which is a bit tough in NYC because people here are obsessed with being the most elitist techno snob of them all via only listening to that underground shit and turning their nose up at "business techno". At the very least, I know this ain't business techno, because business techno artists don't play LGBTQ-only techno-only DJ showcases inside unlicensed sweatboxes. The only artist that I KNOW is considered that stupid-ass term is Charlotte De Witte and over here she plays the biggest, shittiest venue in Brooklyn for more than $100 a pop.

This is considerably more minimal than Hymn to Moisture but also feels a lot groovier. The descriptions of each album on Bandcamp articulate the differences pretty well, as the 2019 album definitely felt more like it was going for "natural" or "pastoral" vibes with field recordings manipulated hard enough that I couldn't tell they were field recordings. This doesn't completely eschew that sort of atmosphere, in fact I'd say it's largely got a similar approach to things, but the biggest difference upon side-by-side comparison is that this new album makes you wanna shake your ass a lot more frequently. Well, perhaps not shake your ass, but bob your head up-and-down to the tempo. Therefore, I prefer it.

Seriously though, techno elitists are the fucking worst.

Best Track: Feeding Time
Rating: 8/10

[rayword45]

Day 1024: Erotic Probiotic 2 by Nourished By Time.

I keep listening to this album, telling myself I'll write this review, then fail to write this review, then listen to the album again, and so on and so on with the cycle. Well, let's kill the cycle in its tracks. The score I'm going to give this is a 7.

Best Track: The vocals are pretty interesting throughout
Rating: 7/11 was a part-time job, but this is a 7/10

[rayword45]

Day 1025: The Whaler by Home Is Where

The other day my concert buddy said something during a conversation between us and some randos at Elsewhere. To paraphrase, it was something along the lines of

"I don't even really listen to that much emo at home, but live emo just hits different sometimes, man."

I'm not as in love with live emo as he is, but I think I concur with that general sentiment. What may seem cathartic and passionate in a concert setting could end up coming across as overwrought and try-hard on a recording, or even corny sometimes. That's not ALL emo, and to be crystal clear I'm speaking about midwest emo and adjacent genres. I would never describe something like Unwound or Rites of Spring that way, and I mostly wouldn't apply that to acoustic sadsack stuff akin to (fuck you bperson) Elliott Smith as when that kinda stuff is bad it grates in a totally different way that is less laughable and more legitimately annoying.

To get to the point, this is a pretty well-made album, I can recognize that. I also recognize that I would probably find this to be emotionally impactful with live guitars blasting in my face, but most of it performed in a studio just comes across as... not for me. I'm not sure how to articulate. It's not ALL like that, as some of these tracks do hit, especially the more aggressive, screamy ones, but ultimately I'm just not in tune with this stuff I don't think.

Best Track: Even though I hate the stupidly edgy title, Everyday Feels Like 9/11
Rating: 5.5/10

[rayword45]

Day 1026: The Loveliest Time by Carly Rae Jepsen

Originally Posted by choof

almost dont want to roast you for that one lmfao
but anyway bro why is it every time I open your music review thread the only music you pull from is pitchfork and rym

I try to look through other sources, but at the end of the day, I go with what FOMO tells me to listen to most. And that usually ends up being what's popular amongst the music nerds for reasons I myself don't fully understand, or what's popular amongst the mainstream because I don't want to be a TOTAL hipster.

Originally Posted by apersonagain

you're turning into kewpie

Kewpie... Or BANANA CREAM PIE?!

Yes that was a joke about my immense gayness.

Anyways, this seems to be similar to Dedicated Side B in that it seemingly comes from largely the same writing and recording sessions as the album from the year prior. This time around, they decided to not call this a collection of B-Sides/outtakes and my guess is that the stigma made marketing difficult, so probably a good choice. Another similarity to Dedicated Side B is that this is a way better album than the A-Side collection. In regards to the 2019/2020 album, that's my personal take that's not commonly agreed with, but in this case, it seems to be the dominant opinion. The power of marketing!

I wonder if the extra year was used by Carly and her producers for minor tweaks and improvements, because all around this seems like a tighter, slimmer album with production that pops out at you more, with far less filler and far less moments of boredom. My biggest qualm would be that this doesn't feel like a cohesive album at all but indeed just a collection of random session highlights, but when the songs are this good, that doesn't matter too much I don't think. I'd put this up there, or rather just below, other synthy pop albums of recent days that I adore for their uplifting qualities like Mercurial World and even Prom King minus the sentimental value I attach to the latter.

Yeah, this is her best since E·MO·TION. Guess I'm a flaming homo, huh?

Best Track: Kamikaze or After Last Night
Rating: 8.5/10