Recommend me some 2022 albums +1000th album halp

[rayword45]

Day 717: Mystic Familiar by Dan Deacon

Imtoo drunk to sleep rn to articulate my thoughts but this is REALLY good. I love Off The Air and I love this music because... Fuck itgood just trust me i might elaborate furtherlater

Fuck academia. Bring on the coronavirus.

Best Track: the Arp series or Bumble Bee Crown King
Rating: 8.5/10

[rayword45]

Day 718: WLFGRL by Machine Girl (Album Choice: mi40)

Again, reviewing an album I've heard many times before yet never wrote on because... Idk fuck you

I actually prefer the Demo Disc to this one. This one is... Kinda repetitive at times, and I mean it's consistent but perhaps overly so? Also, the video game atmosphere is cool but can also come off as gimmicky, even though the same influences don't really ever feel that way on their later albums.

There really just needs to be way more groovers in the mix here. More aggression in the aggressive tracks too, but DEFINITELY this needs more groovers.

Best Track: Out By The 16, Dead On The Scene
Rating: 6/10

[rayword45]

Day 719: Massive Oscillations by Waclaw Zimpel

When did I review Zimpel/Ziozek? 2 years ago? Or last year? Or 2017? Ah who gives a shit.

The first track really didn't set the mood right. After something REALLY abrasive, this is more along the lines of the last release I reviewed from this dude, with a sort of pastoral vibe to most of these tracks. I liked the first track, then I liked about half-to-two-thirds of every other track. It's okay.

Best Track: The First One
Rating: 6.5/10

[DeciBel1231]

That's interesting. My opinion on the Machine Girl albums I've listened to is WLFGRL > Because I'm Young > The Ugly Art > U-Void with Because I'm Young being a very close 2nd place.

[rayword45]

Day 720: Funeral by Lil Wayne

I gave Tha Carter V a good review if I recall correctly, and I KNOW I gave Sorry 4 The Wait 2 a shit review. This leans closer to the latter, in that it just sucks. It's way too long, it's way too boring, the features mostly suck, the beats are predominantly horrible, and Wayne himself fluctuates wildly between being an adequate spitter and annoying the everloving shit out of me.

This could be a solid, maybe not great but solid, album if dude just trimmed it into, like, a 10 song collection. It's 2020 man, nobody wants a 75 minute album anymore.

Best Track: Mahogany
Rating: 3/10

[rayword45]

Day 721: Suddenly by Caribou

I really wanted to see this guy live since he was supposed to come around MA some time soon. Fucking modelovirus ruining everything.

Anyways, I just said that, but I can't say I'm super crazy for any of this dude's releases. I still like that one release I reviewed back in 2013 a bit, but it's nothing super spectacular and I've found most of his other releases forgettable. I feel mostly the same about this one, and the touches that are weird just feel out of place (what in the fuck is Sunny's Time?) It's not a bad album, it's actually quite pleasant, it's just mostly bland in a way that I think would translate into a much more enjoyable live show. Compared to Up In Flames this is really lacking in vitality.

Best Track: Ravi
Rating: 5.5/10

[rayword45]

Day 722: Ricky Music by Porches

Spotify recommended this album to me and I'm just gonna say "fuck it". Here we go.

You know, I feel like I would normally like the lo-fi synthy dance-pop atmosphere more than I do right now, but most of these songs just rub me the wrong way and I don't know why. The slow sad sparse tracks especially bore the shit out of me, while also somehow irritating me. Most of the other tracks only do one of those. If every track here sounded the way Madonna does, I would probably LOVE this album. That's a song name, I ain't talkin bout Like A Virgin Madonna fuck anticipating your first time first time is always wack as fuck. Besides that, I strangely enjoyed the short 33 second interlude, and got some pleasure out of the first three tracks.

Maybe I was being harsh earlier, based on second listen the annoyance factor is mostly gone besides those dreadful slow tracks. I'm not in love with it still, it's pretty boring with VERY rare moments within songs (usually closer to the end) that are only slightly enjoyable, but I can't give this a horrible score because I just don't feel that negatively about it.

So we continue the pattern! Also you can probably imagine exactly how I wrote this particular review in bed while multitasking.

Best Track: Madonna
Rating: 5/10

[rayword45]

Day 723: Sixteen Oceans by Four Tet

3 years after his last album, this does nothing to convince me dude is doing anything other than coast by on what he knows. Besides being maybe a little bit less folk-influenced the mood of this album is very similar to New Energy, but there are less obvious highlight tracks and as a whole it feels a lot less inspired. I didn't hate any particular moment of this album, but after the 4th track I'm hardpressed to pick a subsequent highlight. It's not a bad album, once again, this is "pleasantly boring". Not something I'm going to return to much at all, unfortunately, but if you want more Four Tet it's another hour of middling, passable-as-background-noise tracks by him.

Best Track: Baby or Teenage Birdsong
Rating: 5/10

[rayword45]

Day 724: After Hours by The Weeknd

I'm sure somewhere in this longass thread I've mentioned before that I hate this guy's music, but everyone online has been fapping over this album and the sex they imagine they'll have to it, so I felt obligated to give it a shot. With that in mind, this is obviously going to be VERY biased, but I'm making that clear now. Dude did a good job playing a douchebag in Uncut Gems though, which was my favorite of the 4 or 5 movies I saw in 2019.

Yeah, for the most part, this album exemplifies why this guy just doesn't work for me. Granted, I can recognize effort was put into this, and a LOT of it at that, but... yech. His falsetto isn't bad, but it does get repetitive. What is bad are the lyrics, and boy a lot of them are BAD... Or maybe they're not and I'm just biased? Google them yourself to tell me if I am or not!

I think what it really is is just how lowbrow some of the lyrics seem for the softer, Drake-mopey ballads here, and those ballads make up the majority of the album! The production there doesn't keep me interested and also gets repetitive, and all in all this album just makes me think of the sweatiest, smelliest, most unappealing sex ever. It's nowhere near as bad as Aubrey Graham's Grooming Parlor! I want to be clear on that, but this just very much isn't my cup of tea.

And as for the non-ballads... I actually like some of these! I wasn't expecting that, but shit reminds me of the darkwave clubs I went to in NYC, even if only vaguely. Those songs are upbeat, fun, and dancy. The lyrics still get kinda gross on occasion but they somehow bother me far less. Too bad they make up, like, a quarter of all the tracks here.

All in all... I feel like I'm going to have to give this a 3rd or 4th listen. Maybe the ballads will grow on me? Maybe I'll realize I don't like the upbeat tracks as much as I did?

Ahh who gives a fuck I'm rating this based on 1st and 2nd impression. Maybe I'll change my score down the line.

Maybe not nobody reads this shit who gives a fuck. Give me all the coronavirus.

Best Track: In Your Eyes
Rating: 4/10

[rayword45]

Day 725: A Written Testimomy by Jay Electronica

I remember when Exhibit C came out. I was in the 6th grade.

Okay that's a lie. What I DO actually remember is when my friend showed me that song on the bus home in the fall of 2010, my first year of six in hell school. I was cringily enough one of those "le wrong generation" kids but back then I had to admit it was a good track.

Fastforward 9 years and I see this dude is playing in Boston. I ended up seeing SOB X RBE instead because... I don't remember I was drunk. But I do remember wondering what the fuck he was gonna perform, considering he all but dropped off the face of the earth after that 2009 track. I still like it a lot, by the way, but who doesn't?

As for this album? It's pretty good, minus the anti-semitism... That's a bad sentence but hey I've reviewed Burzum and Johnny Rebel since others told me to. Is it worth the 11 year wait? For me, I wasn't really waiting or even expecting this to come out, but I must imagine no, it isn't.

Some tracks just flat-out don't work, unfortunately those tending to be the ones with the more experimental beats, and why is there an intro on a 10 track album? But of the 9 other tracks, I enjoyed a majority, the softer ones locking me in with the themes of introspection and the more bombastic ones being a burst of confidence that is more than welcome, since those softer ones tend to be longer such as the two final AND longest tracks.

Not a knock on the album, but it's funny that I enjoyed Jay-Z's performances more than the artist himself.

Best Track: Universal Soldier
Rating: 7/10

[MixMasterLar]

I might have recommended this years ago but I recently got a physical copy of Hundred Waters - The Moon Rang Like A Bell and it reminded me it was a good album

If you are looking specifically for 2020 stuff local Pensacola band Storm Within just released their first album and it's pretty decent. Here's their first single and looks like most of the songs are on YouTube now

[MixMasterLar]

It's legit better every time I pop it in. I wish we had gotten a second album on par

[rayword45]

Day 726: Future Nostalgia by Dua Lipa

This is currently RYM's top electronic album. The subgenres listed are similar to that of Skylar Spence's Prom King, or at least the primary ones are, but the mood and messages of this album reminds me more of Cuz I Love You more than anything, except whiter. I love both of the albums I just listed, do I love this?

No, I can't say I do. But this is pretty well-crafted stuff for the most part, and the performance oozes confidence. A lot of people I know call Lizzo corny, but that's nothing compared to a lot of the slow ballads here, including the closer which has some of the most overwrought production I've ever heard, and a small portion of the more I Will Survive-vibe songs. That may be the point? I do get a tongue-in-cheek vibe from a lot of this album, but it only bothers me on a handful of cuts here, and all of the bouncier songs are great fun! I wouldn't say anything here is really super original or revelatory, in fact it really relies on retro throwbacks, but pure personal enjoyment comes first! And this is mostly pretty decent, the last two songs easily being the worst.

Best Track: Don't Start Now
Rating: 7.5/10

[rayword45]

Day 727: Obscura by Shye

This is a somewhat folk-influenced ambient album. I have absolutely NOTHING worthwhile to say except that I enjoyed it but again, didn't love it, but also acknowledge that this is going to require a few more listens to decide whether I like it more, less or the same as the first two listens. If anything, it's pretty, works as study music and works as "what the fuck it's 3:57AM why am I awake" music.

Remind me to update this score!

Best Track: The final one
Rating: 7/10

[rayword45]

Day 728: 3.15.20 by Childish Gambino

Even though I never reviewed Awaken, My Love and never will, I'm familiar enough with it to tell you that I do think it's the best musical project this dude has done, but that's saying just about nothing.

And this is now overtaking that as the best musical project he's done, by virtue of not containing Redbone! Also the songwriting is a lot more mature than the shitty albums before it minus AAL, though most of these songs get annoying it's never as cringy as Camp. The production is... not very good. Mixing is weird. Vocal performances annoy me. Goddamnit Donald why can't you just quit music for good and give us 10 seasons of Atlanta and bring back DerrickComedy?

Best Gambino project for sure!

Best Track: 12.38
Rating: 4/10

[rayword45]

Day 729: Color Theory by Soccer Mommy

This album had the worst advertisement I've ever seen in my life. Google it if you must. I still really like her early lo-fi underwater bedroom recordings that nobody else gives a shit about, but I haven't listened to Clean since it came out. This album immediately strikes me as more consistent than that one, but I'm not sure if that's to the album's benefit or detriment. This stuff really does get same-y. That being said, I don't dislike any of these songs, and at least half of it is really good!

Whatever. Better than Snail Mail.

Best Track: Up The Walls
Rating: 7.5/10

[rayword45]

Day 730: Ghosts VI by Nine Inch Nails

There was a Ghosts V? When the fuck did that happen?

"Two-year" mark has been reached! Aaaand... there's legitimately nothing interesting I can say here because there's nothing interesting about this album. Some of it is pleasant enough, but a lot is plain corny and in general I feel like this album was a massive waste of time. Anti-climactic compared to my Elseq review... but fuck it, this is all I'm giving for that two year hoorah. Sorry guys, maybe #800 will be better.

Best Track: I can't tell you
Rating: 4/10

[Jayden1234]

Originally Posted by rayword45

There was a Ghosts V? When the fuck did that happen?

Ghosts V was released simultaneously with VI. I'm not really sure how you got your hands on VI while missing V. It's better, albeit only marginally, and if you slept through VI then engaging in V probably won't yield better results. It's a little shorter but it is still self-indulgently bloated in classic Trent Reznor style.

[MixMasterLar]

Originally Posted by Jayden1234

Ghosts V was released simultaneously with VI..

How

Who

Why?

[aperson]

The newest Igorrr has been out for 2 months yet it is not reviewed..................