Recommend me some 2022 albums +1000th album halp

[rayword45]

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

Day 130: 'Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend! by Godspeed You! Black Emperor

Making my way there to the new one.

This album is a lot less dynamic than the previous 3, with a lot more droning and only two tracks with any real crescendoing at all. That's okay with me, I can get behind the more hypnotic nature of this album, plus it's 20 or 30 minutes shorter than the last 3 albums, and more than a few tracks have seemed bloated in the past. The main two tracks are not quite as great as Storm but up there with the likes of F# A# Infinity, the shorter drones are decent enough. A satisfying 50 minutes.

Best Track: Mladic
Rating: 7/10

[rayword45]

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

Day 131: Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit by Courtney Barnett

I'm doing this one because I liked her performance for A.V. Club Undercover. That and I wanna explore as much of March 2015 as possible without subjecting myself to stuff that I think will make me cry, like Rebel Heart. I'll listen to this one with spaghetti.

This album is better than spaghetti, but I find pasta to generally be a mediocre dish. Great pasta is pretty rare.

Anyways, this album was decent. Courtney Barnett is a pretty great lyricist who's wit never becomes groan-inducing, I like her voice, and the instruments sounded good, often reminding me of Silver Jews. Like Silver Jews my complaint with a full album is that things can get pretty samey. But whatever.

Best Track: Pedestrian At Best
Rating: 7/10

[rayword45]

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

Day 132: Carrie & Lowell by Sufjan Stevens

My hipster cred is going to sink below zero once I admit that I've never listened to a Sufjan Stevens album.

I've never listened to a Sufjan Stevens album.

And I never really wanted to but I guess this is a convenient time to start. Maybe I'll like the guy.

At first, the fingerpicking and ultra-pretty voice was enjoyable. Eventually though, it started putting bad thoughts in my head. No joke, this music makes me irrationally ANGRY. I need to stop and meditate if I'm going to finish this album holy crap.

Well, I didn't meditate, but I did take some deep breaths to clear my mind. Now let's hit that play button.

Starting again, I actually have no idea why this music made me angry. That may have been one of the most bizarre reactions I've ever had to music. This music isn't really offensive, it's just basic arpeggio-heavy indie folk. Really... Not that interesting, I don't get it why is this so fantastic? It's pretty and all, but nothing here makes me think I wanna come back to this. The whole mood of the album is funeral dirge, but it's too repetitive and distant to really evoke any emotions other than boredom, and apparently anger.

Half of this album pissed me off, and half of it just bored me. Not impressed.

Best Track: Whatever the name of the first track is, though that's because it had yet to have any collective impact on me when I listened to it.
Rating: 4/10

[rayword45]

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

Day 133: Electronic Music by Tom Dissevelt and Kid Baltan

First off, I'm raising my rating of Sometimes I Sit And Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit to a solid 8 because Pedestrian At Best is easily one of my favorite songs this year and because I've become completely enamored with Barnett's voice. Anyways, this album is a re-release (with new title and song titles) of what is, according to RYM, the first electronic music album ever released. And that is why I decided to listen to it. It can't be any more dated than them early Beatles albums.

Holy crap, this first has hands down the WORST usage of stereo panning I've ever heard, and I've listened to all the Jimi Hendrix Experience remasters. It actually makes me feel like my left ear is clogged or something half the time holy crap that's bizarre. When the left ear isn't in shock, this music mostly sounds like PBS vanity plate rejects.

Wow, I'm really proud of that comparison. PBS vanity plate rejects. I originally said WGBH vanity plate rejects then I realized that's a Boston thing.

And by the end of the album, the songs slowly transition from dated bleeps and bloops from a no-budget network card, to weird, atonal jazz with early synths on top.

Space Age Pop my ass. There's nothing pop about this, that was hands down one of the weirdest albums I've heard in my life. It's like John Zorn meets Silver Apples meets Conlon Nancarrow meets Black Dice meets so many other things. This album is a complete mess, completely inaccessible minus a few melodies here and there, this album is primitive yet blatantly ahead of its time, this album is GLORIOUS.

Also sounds like it would be a great soundtrack to psychedelics.

Best Track: Sonik Re-Entry
Rating: 7.5/10

[rayword45]

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

Day 134: Asunder, Sweet And Other Distress by Godspeed You! Black Emperor

Current condition: Standing in the stall of a musty ass public bathroom, worrying about the money I owe to too many people, trying to get loans to pay off my debts, headphones stained with salad dressing, needing water but unable to leave the bathroom, and to top it all off studying for AP Biology of which I know absolutely nothing thanks to my super useless old hunchback of a teacher. So, onto the album.

This seems a lot less crescendo based than previous GY!BE albums, being more in the vein of straight up post-rock, and it's around half as long as their pre-breakup albums. I'm conflicted, because I can't say I thought the 80 minute run times were justified, but damn this album is just BORING. The first track sounds like the band is trying to skip the buildup and go straight to climax, but that just doesn't work. You may as well listen to Mogwai. I'm saying that and I don't even like Mogwai.

And actually that whole first paragraph was based on the crappy first song. The next two songs aren't even songs so much as buildup as Lambs' Breath is just clipped bass and ambient whereas Asunder, Sweet is feedback and ambient. The horrendously titled Piss Crowns Are Trebled is a satisfying climax. If this album combined the last 3 tracks it would consist of one awful 10 minute song and one satisfying half hour song, if too unfocused to be truly great.

Overall, this album was meh. Now I'm gonna continue freaking out about my debts.

Also olive oil in the hair is a horrible feeling.

Best Track: Doesn't really apply here
Rating: 6/10

[rayword45]

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

Day 135: Seven (+1) by Entertainment For The Braindead (Album Choice: NinjaKIWI)

This is shaping up to be a very boring Easter weekend, so I should burn through lots of music.

This EP is cutesy soprano vocals on top of intricately fingerpicked melodies. I'm oftentimes a sucker for this stuff (even considering my reaction to Carrie & Lowell) but this music doesn't seem as warm as I would've expected. Sure it's barebones, but the music is ridiculously fairy-like, with the self-recorded harmonies, occasional touches of soft horns or bells, and lyrics so bizarrely forest-children they make Devendra Banhart sound like a businessman going through a midlife crisis.

There is no variety across this release and while it never gets actually grating, it also never really gets interesting.

Best Track: Then It Started Speaking To Me
Rating: 5/10

[rayword45]

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

Day 136: Floral Shoppe by Macintosh Plus

Yeah I'm like 3 years late to the party cut me some slack. None of this review will be written while listening. I'm gonna try to keep my eyes closed and dream to this one then write afterwards. The majority of my review will be based on how visual this album is.

This album is based more on generic 80s pop compared to the only other vaporwave release I've listened to which was more elevator music based. This is to the albums detriment, as Muzak is what gave New Dreams Ltd a hazy, dreamlike feel. Here there's very little room for dreaming, instead you just get Diana Ross. Fuck any comments about how the whole genre is satirical I listen to music to enjoy music and this was not very enjoyable. My previous expectations for this album where an experience similar to New Dreams Ltd where I'd think about years gone by in which I've never lived, hotel lounges, waiting rooms, shopping malls, you get the drift. Here I dreamed almost nothing, and outside of a few nice tracks I just wanted this piece of shit to end.

The album art is nice, I'll give it that.

Best Track: None I can remember but even if I had one the titles are all Japanese so I can't type that
Rating: 4/10

[rayword45]

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

Day 137: The Modern Dance by Pere Ubu

I've made it pretty clear that I like Brainiac a whole lot. And this is one of the few bands that people frequently recommend I listen to because I like Brainiac, the others being US Maple and Six Finger Satellite which I might get around to exploring later. This one first, though.

Nope, not much Brainiac sound besides a relatively spare use of synths and a sense of weirdness. If anything, this sounds like a mixture of early Devo (you know, before they got terrible) and early Butthole Surfers (you know, before they got REALLY good then got terrible) with a fat art student singing. Less nerd, less redneck, more awkward beatnik. Also throw in a dash of Minutemen (you know, before they got mediocre then the lead singer died).

Sadly, a good chunk of this 36 minute album is quite boring. Most notably, Sentimental Journey goes on for too goddamn long, and a lot of other tracks suffer from unnecessary quiet noodling bits. Not a bad album but a rather underwhelming one. Still, I desire to check out their albums as they have all the ingredients for some really great music. Heaven knows I'll probably be disappointed.

Best Track: Street Waves
Rating: 5.5/10

[rayword45]

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

Day 138: Apologies To The Queen Mary by Wolf Parade (Album Choice: Xtreme2252)

This album is my before-bed lullaby, unless I decide I don't want it to be.

Well, that was boring.

I wanted to end the review there, but I felt an inclination to write more. This album features consistent anthemic songwriting, like the guys in the band were trying to write the next battle cry, but the vocals here would never work for that, ever. Instead, the vocals make this sound like them guys were trying to be the next Pitchfork darling.

And Pitchfork gave them a 9.2, I just checked, so I guess they were successful there. Anyways, with anthemic songwriting, your songs need a certain exuberance to not come off as hackneyed or corny. And for the most part, this album is full of energy.

And also with anthemic songwriting, you need some good hooks, or else that exuberance will seem completely superfluous. They've got catchy hooks galore though, so it's all good.

Oh yeah, one last thing, you need to be able to write good songs. And they can! They did! Four of them, and they're titled Modern World, We Built Another World, Shine A Light and It's A Curse. The rest ranges from boring to garbage, the most clear example of the latter being Grounds For Divorce which sounds like some attempt at post-ironic Tiny Tim. That song title worked better for Big Business.

Well, that was boring.

Best Track: We Built Another World
Rating: 5/10

[rayword45]

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

Day 139: 札幌コンテンポラリー by 情報デスクVIRTUAL*

I'm not writing that name or album title again. I already know the nature of this album, which is basically entirely unmanipulated excerpts from Muzak tracks and old smooth jazz songs. I'm gonna review this the same way I did Floral Shoppe, which is to stop typing and just try to daydream. I honestly don't know why I'm exploring vaporwave as of late, especially since it's been marked as dead like 50 times, and especially considering this release is elevators and David Sanborn for 75 minutes, but I have little better to do that I actually want to do.

The only reason I namechecked David Sanborn is because I heard some jazz kid mention him I actually have almost no idea who that is.

Hold up, I woke up because I had to note that heihu.org.cnMOON FOUNTAIN is actually a beautiful track and I had to copy that bullcorn from RYM. Back to dream land.

Well, this was certainly better than Floral Shoppe. Through the 75 minute journey there were a lot of uneven moments, and some tracks were pretty bad, but I have to say I enjoyed the whole album and it certainly felt shorter than 75 minutes which is no easy task to do. Perhaps I'm just a nostalgia junkie and this reminds me of young vacations. Or maybe I just like really shitty elevator music. Whatever the point, even if this release was a joke, I enjoyed it quite seriously.

I think I'll spend some spare time just going up an excessive elevator some time soon. If only there were a way to inject music into dreams.

Best Track: heihu.org.cnMOON FOUNTAIN
Rating: 8/10 (yes, seriously)

[rayword45]

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

Day 140: Contact by Silver Apples

I'm listening to this solely to see if this album is better than the self-titled, which I gave a 7/10, so I can answer a poll. I'm not writing a real review.

Yeah, the self-titled is better solely for a lack of crappy banjo usage.

Best Track: I Have Known Love
Rating: 5.5/10

[TheRapingDragon]

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

If you need more albums, here are my top 20 from 2014 if you want to check any of them out:

• A.C.T - Circus Pandemonium
  Anasazi - 1000 yard stare
  Bigelf - Into the Maelstrom
  Closure In Moscow - Pink Lemonade
  D'AccorD - D’AccorD III
  
  Destrage - Are You Kidding Me? No.
  Epica - The Quantum Enigma
  Flaming Row - Mirage - A Portrayal of Figures
  Hemina - Nebulae
  Lazuli - Tant que l'herbe est grasse
  
  Lunatic Soul - Walking on a Flashlight Beam
  Major Parkinson - Twilight Cinema
  Mats & Morgan - [schack tati]
  Moron Police - Defenders of the Small Yard
  Pinkroom - Unloved Toy
  
  Rick Miller - Heart Of Darkness
  Soen - Tellurian
  Spleen Arcana - The Light Beyond the Shades
  Troldhaugen - Obzkure Anekdotez For Maniakal Massez
  Vampillia - the divine move

I suppose I should forewarn you that some of these are Prog-Rock and you said you dislike most from the genre.

Though I hate putting genres on music because I feel it stops people from listening to what is otherwise good music. For example, I got Artifex Pereo's new album, 'Time In Place' (close contender to get on the above list) and it reminds me of The Mars Volta in places, yet was labelled 'emo-core' as a genre. I mean seriously, genre labels are horrible things.

[rayword45]

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

Day 141: Music For A French Elevator by The Books

I freaking love The Books.

This dumblong reissue is the only thing by them I have yet to hear. Good backdrop for studying math, hopefully.

Hopefully I'll give another Sufjan Stevens album a chance sometime soon because everybody I've told my reaction to Carrie & Lowell thinks I'm a nutcase. Perhaps eventually I'll give that album a relook. As it stands, I actually quite like the first track but then I just get angry, again. I have no idea why.

I'm raising my rating of Sometimes I Sit And Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit to a 9/10, by the way, because that album will not leave my playlist.

Also, seriously, there should be a law against having 5 exams on the same day.

Anyways, the original EP, which is the first 13 tracks, is self-indulgent garbage and I'd honestly give it a 3/10. It's 5 minutes of quality followed by 10 minutes of just pure samples. Seriously, it's like a soundboard for crap you don't know or care about, and you'd have to be a pretentious ass to claim you enjoy it.

However, the reissue is a whole nother story as it adds 32 tracks. I came in expecting more sample garbage, but instead, it's 65 minutes of what I assume to be throwaways which are all on par with the first two Books albums. They encapsulate everything good about this band and it makes me wonder why the two guys threw away all these effing brilliant tracks and released that hunk of garbage titled Lost and Safe. Well, actually that album was quite nice, it just didn't compare to the first two albums and this does! And it never outstays its welcome which is pretty amazing for an hour-long collection of cut tracks.

I wanna listen to another album but it's probably in my best interest to sleep. This was definitely a good way to end the mundane night though.

Seriously, I freaking love The Books.

Best Track: Oh Jesus, I really have no idea, because almost anything from 14 to 45 is pure gold.
Rating: 9/10

[rayword45]

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

Day 142: 24 Hour Revenge Therapy by Jawbreaker

I don't deserve to be emotionally devastated. But I am. I'm choosing this because it's apparently emo, and because I adore The Mountain Goats cover version of Boxcar. The fact that I bolded "The" implies improper grammar. Fuck I hate my life.

Goddamnit, can all emo sound like this? When did emo sound like this? This stuff hits just the right spot when you're undergoing a mental breakdown. This could very well replace People That Can Eat People Are The Luckiest People In The World for my choice album during a breakdown, though only time will tell. Also I should listen to Christmas Island.

This is some good stuff, I'd describe it as the soundtrack for when you wanna fly away to oblivion but have no paper wings. I wanna listen to another album while in my crisis but I dunno just how much time I have. Whatever, one good album is good for me. I've been listening to a lot of good shit recently.

Best Track: Outpatient
Rating: 8/10

[rayword45]

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

Day 143: Blank Banshee 0 by Blank Banshee (Album Choice: Arkuski)

Somewhere I read this described as vaportrap or something stupid like that. Both of those genres are guilty pleasures of mine, so let's see if I enjoy this while simultaneously feeling intellectually inferior to a hipster Forrest Gump. That is the most contrived prediction ever.

After a cool opening track, this album is very meh.

Best Track: That first track
Rating: 5/10