Recommend me some 2022 albums +1000th album halp

[rayword45]

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

Day 14: Zero Data Index v2 by Veqtor (Album Choice: XCV)

Tonight's album is a breakcore album. I like some breakcore, it's not my favorite genre but there is some good stuff. It's also completely free on Bandcamp so everyone who reads this should listen to it. I'm saying this before I listen to the album because hey, if I don't like it, you might, and if it REALLY REALLY sucks you should share my pain. Time to review.

So there's very little info on this guy on the internet. I dunno if this guy is actively seeking out a large fanbase, but Jesus teach this man about marketing. I found his site, no thanks to Google. His album titles are really dull. Analogik3, Wavetrace and the album I'm listening to now, these are album titles? I'm not talking much about the music but shut up let me vent. This guy might have a better chance of being known if a Google search for his pseudonym plus an album title didn't result in stocks showing up.

Well, back to talking about the music. This is pretty abrasive stuff here, a dark atmosphere runs throughout and some of the breaks/mangled synths actually feel like they're causing ear damage. Fragments starts out sounding like an attempt to cause tinnitus, and has very little in the way of actual "notes" coming out of your headphones, to the point where this feels like borderline harsh noise.

Xilence contains a guest artist, P. Sandström. Based on the internet, he's a transportation company in Finland... Seriously literally no info on this guy. This track is interesting as the longest track because the first 2 minutes are nothing but guitar noodling, which allows you a well-deserved break after 8 tracks of pure abrasive breaks. Then the breaks start building up again, with a little bit of tribal influence. The guitar isn't bad, but it's just some boring freeform jazzy noodling that isn't even smooth-sounding, which is what a rest track should be. Yup, that was a boring-ass 12 minutes. I prefer the abrasive tracks by a lot.

Huh, these tracks seem to get more and more melodic as they go on. The last track is predominantly synth-based, with lots of breaks from the breaks. Hahaha I'm not funny.
And now the albums over. Damn that was intense. The first 8 tracks are really harsh with a spacy atmosphere and very little in the way of melody. The 9th track was garbage free jazz, and the last 3 tracks are a bit more on the melodic side but still pound your face with those breaks. Overall, that was pretty good, if not for everyone, but damn it needs more balance. And that 9th track, one-fifth of the album at 12 minutes, dragged it down A TON.

3 ratings on RYM and a 4.31 average. Boy, I'm gonna drag that average down a considerable amount and this wasn't even a bad album.

Best Track: Stealth (I didn't mention it by name in the review. It's the last song.)
Rating: 6/10

[rayword45]

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

Day 15: Old Man Lizard by Old Man Lizard (Album Choice: squeesfan)

So I took a month-long pledge to not watch porn. It lasts until August 10th. The rules are to not watch porn. Don't ask any more questions I'm not gonna answer them. I will, however, over the next 32 (more or less) reviews, log every day down and how much I struggle.

Day 1 of the pledge: This already sucks. Okay I'm done writing about that for the day, time for music.

Another free Bandcamp download, this one is the debut EP from a stoner/sludge trio. They have way more information than the last guy I reviewed on the internet, but I'm not gonna write anything more in this useless intro.

These vocals are quite rough. Not rough like Eyehategod with their raspy, unintelligible screams or most other sludge bands where the singer sounds stoned and angry. The vocalist has a rugged, throaty quality to his voice, which makes the music seem all the bluesier. Oh and the first two tracks flow into each other. Let's see if the whole album does it, and if it works out well. It worked out well for the first two tracks, since King Clone starts out with a jam that makes it seem like one epic long song.

Unfortunately it doesn't last the whole EP. Kinda wish it did but oh well. Every track on here frequently jumps from heavy, fuzzy chord chugging sections to softer, more melodic and arpeggiated sections and back. It's a formula that isn't the smoothest at times, but usually works and makes for a unique listening experience, something you never find in newer sludge metal.

The EP ends abruptly, which leaves you wanting more, as an EP should. Definitely one of the better releases I've reviewed thus far. The unique vocals and song structures make this a very fresh take on sludge metal, a genre where being derivative doesn't usually equate to being bad. The riffage is awesome, the solos and jams never get overlong or tedious, and everything here sounds like a band who have their own bright new ideas. This release is a keeper.

Best Track: Tie between Cold Winter Blues and King Clone since they basically make up one epic-length track
Rating: 8/10

[rayword45]

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

Day 16: Oversteps by Autechre (Album Choice: Contrapasso)

Day 2 of the pledge: I went through almost the whole day not even giving a second thought to the pledge. Later, I found out that uncensored Black Dynamite episodes had leaked from the Blu-ray. My opinion is not important, nor is yours, especially if you're one of those uptight pansies who thinks everything Williams Street makes is random, idiotic humor. It is, but that's what makes it so enjoyable. But yeah, I decided to watch the second episode, and as kitschy and deliberately outdated the references are in that episode (and that whole show)... Yeah some of it ended up hitting a little too close to home. I didn't relapse so obviously it wasn't that close to home. I am strong, I will make it through this pledge. Now onto the music.

Do I need to give Autechre any introduction? I mean, they're not The Beatles or anything, but they're pretty well known to anybody who would care I think. This is their tenth studio album, or maybe not. Depends on what you consider their EPs because the majority of them are definitely long enough to be considered albums. EP7 is longer than a good deal of their albums! And that one EP that I'm not going to list the title of is long enough to fill up TWO CDS! OR 4 TWELVE-INCHES! OR 2 TWELVE-INCHES FROM PLAIN RECORDINGS! OR HOWEVER MANY CASSETTES/8-TRACKS IT WOULD TAKE TO HOLD 150 MINUTES OF MUSIC!

That reminds me, I should review that new Swans album some time soon. The Needle Drop gave it a 10/10 and I wanna judge if that's deserved or hipster hyping over Michael Gira's foot skin. I've been putting it off because it's two hours long. Soundtracks To The Blind was 140 minutes, and the only Swans release I think I can say I fully enjoyed. I've only listened to three others though. Children Of God is damn overrated.

So anyways, I'm currently at somewhat a loss for words on how to judge this music, so let me start by saying these song titles are ABSOLUTE BULLSHIT. known(1)? pt2ph8? os veix3? How do you pronounce this garbage? To compare this to the most famous Autechre track which I believe to be Gantz Graf, most of these songs actually have melodies, instead of just glitch sounds. In fact, very few songs here have glitch sounds, seeming to be driven predominantly by old, outdated synths and old outdated drum machines. see on see, for example, is basically percussion-free, driven by a constantly changing bassline and sparkly, high-octave synth notes. A rather pretty song. Judging by these first 7 tracks, the main atmosphere of the album is icy and slightly retro. Example of icyness, the first track starts with pure silence for 20 seconds that feel like 20 hours, then slowly build up into cold ambience. Cold ambience is found in most of the tracks on this album. Slightly retro, as in it sounds like an attempt to make modern music with old equipment. The drums on Treale, for example, sound like they're taken from a broken Roland, incredibly lo-fi and buzzy to the point of almost being grating. These synthesizers sound like they were custom made by Martenot. These don't sound like they were ever used in popular music, it's like they deliberately got the oldest sounding synths ever.

This is a pretty hard album to describe. "A bunch of outdated freeform synths on top of cold drones and occasionally some lo-fi drum machine beats" doesn't sound too pleasing but it's better than it sounds. Personally though, this is just a bit too abstract for me at least upon first listen. And 70 minutes is way too damn long for this type of music.

Best Track: see on see (Why do they choose to not capitalize most titles? Why)
Rating: 6/10

[rayword45]

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

Day 17: &&&&& by Arca (Album Choice: Arkuski)

Ugh, I give up on pronouncing anything.

So, 5 second research shows this guy is Venezuelan, he's on some no-name New York label, and he was a producer on Yeezus. I hate Kanye but I'm not judging this guy at all for that, I still listen to Daft Punk after all. His styles according to Tiny Mix Tapes (who I don't care for nor particularly abhor) are "dub, hip-hop, ambient, found sound". The fact that Tiny Mix Tapes gave it that high of a rating isn't so much worrisome as, eh... Their taste often times seems to be DELIBERATELY as hipster as possible. When I say that, hopefully you know what I mean because I'm not trying to come off as narrow-minded. I mean they try HARD to come off as hipsters sometimes. But let's what this is.

Oh yeah, right, the pledge.

Day 3 of the pledge: I woke up, and immediately almost relapsed. This is not fun. To compare a different man's struggles, I watched the Super Jizz Me series of videos from YouTube user dcigs, AKA the Angry Black Man. His challenge was considerably different, because mine is no porn, not r/nofap. I don't think r/noporn is a very well-known subreddit. Anyways, he lasted 9 days. Many of his fans took the challenge at the same time as him, and over 250 people failed with him and admit it, and who knows who didn't admit it? That does not bear well for me. This is tough stuff. Music takes it off my mind so let's listen.

Soundcloud comments are hilarious in how incredibly stupid they come off sometimes, and... What the hell is this shit? This seems to be music deliberately made with the ugliest sounds ever. This music (and the guy's website) reminds me of Off The Air, that [adult swim] show which is just a bunch of trippy videos and pictures thrown together. The style of the Soundcloud website makes it RIDICULOUSLY difficult to comment on any individual tracks, but that's okay every track seems to get the same basic idea across. Every track is a short (24 tracks, less than 25 minutes) snippet of bizarre tones, chirpy/glitchy noises, low bass and really strange drum tracks. This whole mixtape is really strange.

I turned off the air conditioner 16 minutes into the mixtape to hear better. But I turned it back on in about 15 seconds because it's too damn hot.

So yeah, this is one hell of a mixtape. I can immediately see why Tiny Mix Tapes loved this shit. I have no comparisons to make to any other music, but honestly that's because I'm not really into this kinda music. I've said that for like 5000 of my reviews. Go watch Off The Air. This mixtape is like an episode of that show converted into audio format expanded to 26 minutes. I really can't describe or criticize this music at all. It's not traditionally catchy or traditionally melodic, and it doesn't make for good background music AT ALL, but it is some truly unique stuff I'll give it that.

Hey, wanna hear something funny? Uh, I don't when the mixtape ended. Because after it ended Soundcloud immediately started playing other Arca tracks and I wasn't paying much attention. So this isn't a very fair review, but screw you I make my own rules.

3 words: Trippy. Weird. Pitchfork.

Best Track: How the fuck am I supposed to know that?
Rating: 5/10

[Gradiant]

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

Save Us From The Archon - Thereafter
Carach Angren - Where the Corpses Sink Forever
Plini - Sweet Nothings

[rayword45]

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

Day 18: Pure Heroine by Lorde (Album Choice: Trevor P)

Do I really need to write an introductory paragraph for this one?

Day 4 of the pledge: Day 4? It's only been 4 days? Really? Damnit this is taking forever. And it seems like everywhere I look temptation strikes. Look at Twitter "damn bro she got a fat ass". Look at Facebook "Selena Gomez braless in a see-through". I can't watch TV or take a freaking walk without seeing connections to porn somehow. That class was correct, porn culture really does permeate through America. And these 4 days have been long as hell. I don't consider myself an addict, I haven't had any negative side effects or withdrawals but damnit this is one of the hardest pledges I've ever done.

So, can someone explain to me the concept of "anti-pop". I basically imagine it as the pop version of anti-folk, except I don't really know what that is either. 50% of the time I hear about Lorde her style is described as being anti-pop. The other 50% of the time it's described as "Tumblr bullshit" but I'm gonna try to go into this without any biases whatsoever. Let's try and pretend Tumblr never existed.

To be honest, though, I'm really not looking forward to this album. I looking forward to it most because I think it'll make this pledge a hell of a lot easier.

...Do I really have to review this? This is the first fucking track and I think I have a clear idea of what this album is all about.

Screw it, starting with track 3 I'm just gonna right my thoughts down track by track.

Track 3: Oh yeah, this was the radio hit. I'm not even gonna bother writing anything else here.
Track 4: Huh, this is better than the last 3 tracks it seems, despite the fact that it's basically THE EXACT SAME.
Track 5: Yeah, I think every song here sounds the same.
Track 6: Seriously, this girl follows a formula. Vocals and shitty drum loop, and for louder parts, bass synth. This is synthpop where the synths are unnecessarily sparse.
Track 7: For a title as badass as Glory and Gore, this song is decidedly non-badass and decidedly very samey.
Track 8: You know I don't usually feel like commenting on lyrics, but for this album I have to, because musically, it's pretty much non-existent. That is not an insult, THAT IS A STATEMENT. So yeah, lyrically, this pretty much sucks. Though for teen-written pop, I don't expect much, and besides, her core audience is Tumb- Shit. Her core audience is... her core audience, and these lyrics would definitely appeal to them. For me though, this subject matter is really bland.
Track 9: And here's another problem with the lyrics that this song title requires me to bring up. Besides the bland subject matter, every freaking song seems to mention teeth and bruises. Why? What the hell is the point of that? It doesn't seem to have much deeper meaning, it doesn't seem to symbolize anything, it doesn't seem to evoke any powerful imagery, if anything the best thing about it is it definitely keeps my mind off the pledge.
Track 10: Holy crap is that a guitar?! Wowee! Something different! Not really though, besides the guitar and the crowd noise samples, this is the exact same as tracks 1-9.

My prediction based on the first track was exactly right! This album is literally the same thing throughout, vocals, shitty drum loop, and synths that are WAY too spare. For me, that is a huge problem. See, with that Justin Bieber album, there were clear highs and clear-to-the-point-of-physical-pain-and-nausea lows. This album isn't nearly as bad as that album, but it's the SAME. GODDAMN. THING for nearly 40 minutes. Bland vocals, bland teenage lyrics, bland lo-fi drum loops, bland overly spare synths. This album is like eating a block of tofu. In fact, I am willing to bet anyone $14 that if you buy this album at your local record store you'll get free bean curd. I will seriously make that bet.

Every critic who reviews this album puts in your face that Lorde was 16 when this album was made. Does that excuse the subpar lyrics and boring music? Yes, yes it does. I mean, she seems to have potential for the future lest she quickly fall into obscurity and end up waitressing at The Sizzler in her mid-20s. It excuses it, but it doesn't mean I want to listen to this album. I'm 16 too, and there is very little appeal to this album to me, maybe because I don't use Tumblr. Yeah screw what I said earlier Tumblr exists again.

My overall conclusion? The album was the same throughout, and individual songs ranged from grating to mediocre (this is despite basically being the same song 10 times). If I wanted to listen to something endlessly repetitive I'd listen to Earth or something. Because Dylan Carlson's mentions of teeth don't annoy me.

Best Track: Bitch, don't even try me.
Rating: 4/10

Addendum: The album title's double entendre is incredibly obvious, and it doesn't fit the album because I feel like heroin is less boring and more addictive.

[choof]

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

oh wow what someone else recommended veqtor
I haven't listened to him in months and I was always sure I was the only person who knew of him

I'd personally recommend Limit Cycle EP

[rayword45]

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

Day 19: Mickey Mouse Operation by Little People (Album Choice: Tokzic)

Man, I have a massive headache. Thank the lord then, random.org gave me this album and it's described as downtempo. My eyes are gonna be closed most of this review so it's gonna be rather concise. I'm probably gonna review that Swans album later today and that will almost certainly be more indepth.

Day 5 of the pledge: I'm staying alive. That's all for today.

Holy crap, these Spotify ads are ruining everything. Last Fare seems somewhat out of place here, as the preceding 9 tracks kept a consistent dark, brooding atmosphere while this song is fairly upbeat. Goes back to the dark atmosphere after that.

My headache is gone. That was a decent album. The end.

Hey I said it would be concise.

Best Track: Nope
Rating: 6/10

[rayword45]

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

Day 20: To Be Kind by Swans (Album Choice: Me)

Two hours. It's 11 PM. I shouldn't be doing this.

Anyways, if you don't know who Swans are look them up. My experience with Swans thus far is this. I listened to Children of God first, as people said to do. There were a couple of good songs but overall I found the whole thing to be rather inconsistent and highly underwhelming. So I moved on to the early stuff. I listened to Filth, then I listened to Cop. The only song I can remember from both albums is Weakling. Two more albums down, two more underwhelming experiences. At that point, I decided "eff it" and went to listen to the highest-regarded album, which is usually considered the black sheep album, Soundtracks For The Blind. That, was a good damn album. 140 minutes made it somewhat intimidating to approach, and there were a few e clunkers in there for sure (Yum-Yab Killers is particularly memorable for totally sucking), but I was definitely rewarded when I listened to it, and that's the only Swans album I would give more than a 6/10 out of the 4 I listened to. This is the second-highest regarded Swans album on RYM at the moment, and as I mentioned a while ago, The Needle Drop gave it a 10/10. That makes a total of two albums he gave a 10/10 and the other one was The Money Store. Was it good? Yeah. Was it 10/10 good? Hell to the fucking no, that is some hipster hyping right there. And it seems that after he gave it a 10/10 the internet (/mu/ in particular) just blew up with splooshes for Death Grips. I've been watching too much Archer. Don't get me wrong, I do like Death Grips to an extent, but giving The Money Store a 10/10 was just a wrong opinion. Let's see if this opinion was wrong too!

Day 5 of the pledge: I already reported on this day. Let's go straight to the music now.

I must note that this album isn't very "new" at this time, this being the 2 month anniversary of this album's release. With a track record of 25% for me, it took a lot to muster up the willpower to listen to this album, and "a lot" in this case mean two months of waiting. Within the last two months I had heard the song Oxygen but sources tell me that song wasn't indicative of the album's sound very much. Those sources were right. That song sounded like a mix between The Birthday Party (whom I like), Korn (whom I hate) and drone music (of which I like some, but not really drone so much as "repeating the same measure-long riff for the entire damn song"). The only part that stayed for these first two songs it seems is the drone aspect. And yeah these first two songs do not need to be as long as they are. Well, maybe I'm being judgemental on the first track now that I think about it. It drones for a little bit then crescendos, like any other modern post-rock track. Not the greatest thing ever but pretty good I guess. This second track though, that's a bit more problematic. For 9 and a half minutes that seem like 30, it drones the same 4 second bass riff OVER AND OVER. They toss in flecks of other instruments to tease you, as well as bizarre screams of "I'm not human!" and "I need love!" Then, finally at the 10 minute mark, it begins to actually crescendo. 10 freaking minutes? It would've been just as cathartic if you droned for maybe half that time! Oh well, this third track, on the other hand, drones the same NOTE for a long time, but it does so at a rhythm that makes it totally danceable. In my mind, dance-y music = repetition so it's okay, and this track is great. Instead of annoyingly saving everything for the last two minutes, it starts out minimalist and funky, then adds an instrument every minute or so and increasingly gets demented with each new sound until the end where everything falls apart. THAT is a rewarding track... Oh boy, 34 minute track coming up now. And yeah, besides the vocals in Just a Little Boy (for Chester Burnett) this sounds nothing like The Birthday Party, and thank god, nothing at all sounds like Korn.

Unlike the first 3 tracks, this track starts out loud and punchy. Then it goes quiet with a background drone, another repetitive bass riff, another repetitive guitar riff and mantra like vocals. This music isn't sexy at all, I'll say that. Swans were absolutely NEVER sexy but you know, that's gonna an important factor for me for the next few weeks. It's not trying to be sexy and I'm glad it's not. Hey you know what's funny? The 34 minute song drones for less time than the 12 minute song. What's the deal with that? Wow, no joke, when the vocals get even more chant like 9 minutes in you can practically smell the burning incense. The song's style is similar to the last three but reminds me more of Soundtracks For The Blind although with considerably less Jarboe and considerably more anger. Everything I said there is pretty much a good thing, maybe not more anger but whatever. This song is only a third through and it seems to be reaching towards a climax already. That, kinda worries me. But we'll see. Huh, before listening to this track I assumed Toussaint L'Ouverture was a classical music piece that this song was at least influenced by. Nope, turns out, according to the internet, he's the Haitian Napoleon. Yeah I was really wrong and that was a stupid assumption to make. Oh yeah, anyways, so after the 12 minute mark, where you expect a climax, it gets quiet, there's a bit of metal chord chugging then it drones and you think this is gonna turn into Earth. Rest assured or disappointed. It goes back to the quiet drone, then I assume at the 20 minute mark Gira wanted to give you a taste of his live shows, because it's a bunch of guitar noise mashed with whatever field recordings it seems he could find. It's two minutes of incomprehensible mess. Then it's back to the quiet. Title drop is incredibly underwhelming, the French accent almost makes it cheesy. I'm just summarizing the track for you in a very poor fashion you have to listen to it yourself if you wanna get the real deal, if that's obvious enough. I'm gonna stop describing the song, so I can leave the last 12 minutes a surprise (Spoiler alert: There's more droning). When it ends I will tell you how rewarding the track is overall, which you'd hope is "very much so" since it's more than a fucking half-hour.

Well it's over. Dare I say this? Yes I dare say this. That just sounded like Sonic Youth got a lot darker and did a long jam session. My mind is not blown at all.

Some Things We Do is the last song on the first disc. Goddamnit I'm only half done here? Anyways, it's dissonant string sections, vaguely tribal drums, and poetry that would impress Trent Reznor AKA not very good poetry. As you would expect after a 34 minute post rock track full of crescendos and heavy drones, this is basically a break track and it would be SO MUCH BETTER if Gira left this as an instrumental. Because lyrically this is freaking horrible.

The second side starts out fairly promising. She Loves You kicks off the second side, is the second longest track on the album, and is a bit less than one-second the length of the longest track... I forced that so hard. I wish I could force it harder by saying that the song doesn't waste a second, but that would be a lie. It idles on a bit too long for my taste. Luckily, the intro and the climax both kick total ass so it doesn't feel disappointing. Lyrically though, this is even worse than Some Things We Do. Early Swans is often described as "caveman music" and when you hear it, it's easy to see why. However, those lyrics often seem to satirize overly angry or overly masculine music in a way that seems genuine. Here, you get to listen to Gira scream "FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK!" for about 10 minutes. It's like an inversion of Song Against Sex by Neutral Milk Hotel, because according to this song, love is just a bunch of sex apparently. If this is satirical, this is the least witty satire I have ever listened to. If it's meant to convey emotion, damnit I'm not 12 anymore.

Overall though, the second side seems to be much better than the first (at least upon first listen). Kirsten Supine is yet another lengthy post-rock track, but it has THE best crescendo out of all the songs, starting out like quiet chamber music, and building up in a truly amazing way. The quiet feedback, jangly guitars and squeaky strings all build up in contrast with the pounding drums that harken back to the earlier Swans material. I mentioned that I listened to Oxygen before. It's a little bit corny ("Oxygeeeeeeeeeeeeyeyeyeyeyen"), but it still kicks total ass. Those horns will melt your face off. Nathalie Neal starts out with a nice bit of near-ambience after the pummeling Oxygen, then goes in with one of the best drum tracks on the whole album. The middle seems to drag on a little bit but overall a very captivating track. And finally, FINALLY, we reach the last track. My hands are too carpal tunnel-y at this point to say much. Not really that's a lie. I just don't feel like commenting much. I will say that it doesn't really end on a high note, BUT it was a ton more climactic of an ending than the one to Soundtracks For The Blind.

Yeah screw you Fantano, this is not a 10/10. Or, well, at least in my book. Unlike The Money Store, I can totally understand why someone would give this album a 10/10. But I personally can't do that. Too many flaws to list. Or actually, no not too many, let's do that right now.

1. Too many of the songs overstay their welcome, especially when it comes to the drone-based tracks. Kinda hypocritical considering I gave albums like The Disintegration Loops a 10/10 but whatever.
2. In fact, the album as a whole doesn't need to be two hours. It could do with a fair amount of cutting to say half that length.
3. Regarding Bring The Sun/Toussaint L'Ouverture, look if I wanted to listen to industrial Phish... Well actually, I can't think of anything there.
4. That is the worst album art I've seen this year. That wouldn't bring the score down but it is worth noting. Both My Father Will Guide Me Up A Rope To The Sky and The Seer had great artwork. What gives?
5. Ordering issues. This album is backloaded as hell, seeing how the only tracks I enjoyed for their full length on the first side were A Little God In My Hands and Screen Shot.
6. As a matter of fact I only enjoyed Screen Shot retrospectively.
7. Lyrics. Okay I never looked to Swans for beautiful, meaningful lyrics (although Angels of Light is a whole 'nother ballgame). But seriously, from what little I've listened to, these are Gira's absolute nadir lyrically, they make Marilyn Manson look like John Darnielle. All the seriously bad lyrics from older albums were Jarboe's fault.
8. You know what, I do have too many flaws to list, I'm done here.

Overall though, I will say that all of the weaker tracks did at least have a few good moments each, and the tracks that were more riff than drone were, for the most part, fantastic, as well as some of the post-rockier tracks. But there's simply too much wasted time for many of these tracks, if hipsters hate Jam Rock why the hell do they treat that fourth track like a masterpiece? Yet another underwhelming experience from Swans for me, and this one hurts more, because with a little (or really A LOT) cutting, this would almost certainly rival Soundtracks For The Blind.

Best Track: Toss-up between Kirsten Supine and A Little God In My Hands
Rating: 6/10 (nope, didn't break the non-SFTB peak)

[EzExZeRo7497]

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

I've listened to half of To Be Kind and didn't get the appeal as well - I thought it was mediocre. I'll probably have to listen to the entire thing though... but I really didn't find it impressive by any means. Definitely doesn't deserve a 3.9x rating on RYM, at least. Not too big on Swans though - I thought Soundtracks for the Blind was decent at best.

[rayword45]

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

Day 21: Thickfreakness by The Black Keys (Album Choice: Phillip S)

Even though I didn't write a review yesterday I do have yesterday's pledge log saved.

Day 6 of the pledge: It's not getting any easier. It's not really getting any harder either. The difficulty level remains static. Today I told a few people I've lasted 6 days thus far. They react with shock and a few people straight up don't believe.

And now for today

Day 7 of the pledge: I inhaled far too many lead fumes and far too many smelly people fumes to give a single shit about this pledge today. Easiest day yet.

Okay so to move on to the music, I have a headache but it's mild so I'm not expecting any cures. To expect that out of this band would be stupid, because they're garage/blues rock, which hopefully ISN'T relaxing. The few songs I've heard from this band (AKA the radio hits) I didn't care for much but many people tell me that their earlier stuff is much better, and would appeal to someone like me (since I dig a lot of lo-fi stuff). I also got plenty of comments along the ranges of "They're okay but really not worth your time" which caused me to not so much put it off rather than completely ignore it. Furthering that decision is the fact that they have no bassist. Bands with no bass range from awesome (Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, The Doors) to good (Japandroids) to so horribly hit-and-miss that I just ignore the band altogether (Hella, Beat Happening, and yes, The White Stripes), most bands seem to fall in the last category. Bands with no guitar on the other hand seem to consistently kick ass (Big Business, Lightning Bolt, Morphine, Om) which makes me think that having no bass is a serious detriment. Oh well whatever let's just get this done so I can sleep.

Well, this is certainly far removed from the radio hits of long ago (AKA a couple of years ago). This isn't exactly my idea of usual "lo-fi" but it is certainly raw and unproduced. Unlike the radio hits, there's no professional studio sound, no keyboards, no backing vocals, and very little on the low end (Was there bass on the radio hits? I swear I remember some songs having bass lines. Could just be my stupid memory, or this lead in my brain). No, this very much sounds like two dudes recording their songs in their basement. It also sounds like the guitarist listened to a lot of his dad's old blues rock records. That's a good thing since he can make a catchy riff or two with his guitar. It's also a bad thing, because the vocals are the stupidest "hey I'm a young white guy trying to sound like I'm a blues man from the 40s so I'll use a gruff voice that makes everything I sing unintelligible" vocals I've heard in a long time. It's not so much annoying as it is laughable, but it does certainly detract from the music.

Well, uh, that certainly went by faster than I expected. Is that a good thing? I don't know. Either way, this ranks among the Japandroids-tier of how good a bassless band is. Not bad, though I can't see myself listening to this very often. And those vocals are so dreadfully stupid. Okay I'm done time for bed.

Best Track: You know, I might be rating this too high because I honestly can not list one song. They blend together and are for the most part interchangeable.
Rating: 6/10

[KingofSushi]

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

(Reposting this here due the possibility of you not coming back to T3E (which, surprisingly, is fixed now))

After looking at that spreadsheet, it seems that you forgot to add the albums that I suggested. Since someone else suggested Untrue, you can replace my suggestion of it with this:

Fire! Orchestra - Exit!

(funnily enough, I was literally just about to suggest To Be Kind instead)

[rayword45]

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

Day 22: Sunbather by Deafheaven (Album Choice: EzExZeRo7497)

I've been meaning to listen to this one for a while. Partially because the idea of shoegaze combined with black metal sounds interesting, but mostly because, you guessed it, it's another Pitchfork-hype baby.

Day 8 of the pledge: So yesterday I attempted listening to some binaural beats because someone told me it would induce lucid dreaming. It didn't work (I'm trying again though). I do, however, remember exactly what I dreamt about. Can you guess? Here's a hint, I was on my computer. Yep, that class I took was totally right, pornography is totally burned into our psyches. Or at least mine.

This is the happiest-sounding black metal I have ever heard. I'm basing this solely off of this first track, but the guitar here is decidedly more shoegaze than black metal, and is still less dark-sounding than a lot of shoegaze I've heard. That contrasts quite a bit with the vocals, which are decidedly more black metal than shoegaze. These are some seriously ugly vocals. Thankfully though, they're rather low in the mix so you can focus pretty easily on the guitar beautyworks here. The drums started out as blastbeats but around the halfway mark or something, they've switched to slower rock drumming. I'm pretty sure if you replaced the scratchy screamo vocals with something like cheesy love crooning and lowered the effects on the guitar just a little bit, this could pass off for a really long power ballad.

The second track is a break track which is simply some more pretty guitar lines, this time with less effects and more delicate picking patterns. Instead of talking more about this track (which I'm pretty sure will be an instrumental and is the shortest track on the album), let me look up the band history and share anything interesting.

There was absolutely nothing interesting to share. It's a group of white dudes from San Francisco. I'm not exactly disappointed, I honestly don't know what I was expecting since I definitely wasn't expecting one of those traditional black metal mythos of Norway.
These guys are way too upbeat and polished-sounding to be anything like those (plus, you know, the fact that this was released in 2010 and anyone following that scene in America would hopefully be promptly institutionalized, with all the murder and church burnings and raw meat).

This third track follows the same formula as the first track. It's more interesting to talk about the fourth track and second break track, Please Remember, because it contains the most clearly pronounced words in the intro while still being completely incomprehensible, as well as the harshest noise thus far on the album (which I think might just be a power drill) and an acoustic guitar. Sonically and compositionally this
is their most varied track yet, and it's a break track.

I had an egg cream today. It was good. If I'm going to comment any further on these long main tracks, let's see what I can say that I haven't said. The use of dynamics is... Okay. It rarely provides any shockers. Loud build-up, quiet part, back to the loud. It's nice that they provide some breaks since 10 minutes at a time of pure shrieking vocals and pretty yet harsh guitar tones would be tiring. Not much else to say there. Lyrically... Who gives a crap? The vocals don't allow for anything to be understood. If you've ever read a review of Loveless, there's a 99% chance the reviewer said something like "You can't understand the vocals at all, but that's okay because they're like another dreamy layer on top of the guitars". And if you listened to Loveless you know that's true. Here, the abrasive vocals contrast with the guitars too much to be "another layer" but are far too low in the mix to actually be abrasive. They're just... A slight hindrance. Bear in mind I don't have the most developed taste for black metal, so these vocals could totally be right up your alley. For me though, I honestly would've preferred something more guttural if we're sticking to metal, or some nice dream pop vocals. But they're too quiet for me to really care, I can still enjoy the rest of the music just fine.

With Windows, the third and final break track and sixth track overall, I can definitely see the Godspeed You! Black Emperor connections with these guys, particularly to F#A#∞ with the brooding, dark atmosphere, spoken word samples and low piano notes. Other than that, why do they get compared to these guys at all? To me they don't even sound remotely similar on the main tracks. And... I'm not commenting on the last song. It follows the same formula as the other 3 blackgaze tracks.

Well, the main 4 tracks were a bit samey overall, the vocals were not to my taste and I'm not entirely sure this album needed to be 60 minutes, but that was an album I definitely liked, and one I plan to return to to see if my opinion grows (or lowers) over time. Definitely the most accessible, polished and upbeat sounding black metal release I've ever heard. To me that is a good thing, since it adds some definite differences to a genre I'm not the biggest listener of. So, for this Pitchfork baby, did it live up to the hype? Ehh.... To a certain extent. That's better than most of their children so it's good enough for my ears.

Best Track: Dream House
Rating: 7.5/10

[rayword45]

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

Day 23: Vision Creation Newsun by Boredoms (Album Choice: Lord Of Sushi)

I'm going camping and will have barely any internet access. Thus, the next 4 days have all already been chosen. First 2 were via random.org, then after those 2 were Japanese I decided to keep that theme going for the whole camping trip.

Day 9 of the pledge: Hello? I'm stuck in the wilderness. How the hell am I supposed to even think about watching ANYTHING when I can barely find the connection to post text?

So, yeah I remember listening to Pop Tatari by Boredoms last summer while stuck in an undisclosed noisy location. It was a weird album. This one is much more highly regarded and seems to be much different in sound overall. Thus I'm gonna keep comparisons to a minimum. Also this review shall be rather terse as will the next 3 days for obvious reasons.

So yeah, definitely different, and most certainly not a car album, or at least Circle is not a car song. This sounds like very little else I've heard. The closest comparison would be groups like Fuck Buttons or Black Dice, but this is a lot more organic sounding. This is outdoor celebration music for sure, although it may not have enough mass appeal to be used for that purpose ever. Through all of the chaotic, sun-blistering noise jams there is a sense of cheer and celebration throughout the music, especially with the constant chants of "Vision Creation Newsun!"

Every track here morphs together into one big song thus far, but whereas the first two tracks sounded like explosive celebrations in audio form, the third track, aptly titled (or really symbolized) Heart, is much calmer in form, being one riff repeated and run through many different effects. The change in mood is nice but the track (or section, I should say) drags on for a bit too long. Much better of a "pretty song" (relative term) is Tilde, which still keeps up the energy and tribal beats but includes some wonderful acoustic guitar.

I decided against typing for the remainder of the seamless jam which unfortunately ended after track 7, leaving two more tracks. Omega starts out with some unenjoyable chanting then turns into a reprise of the drone between Circle and Star. Zutto comes after a minute or so of silence and is definitely the quietest track on the album, especially at the end when the drums drop out leaving nothing but that sweet guitar.

Wow. A car was NOT the right atmosphere for this album, but that was mindblowing. Chaotic, noisy and sprinkled with effects and atonal electronics, yet equal parts captivating, celebratory and beautiful. As a guy who is absolutely biased AGAINST Japanese culture (don't question my tastes) and slightly less biased against Jam Rock (there's still a few jam bands I enjoy) this stands out as one of the best albums yet this challenge. 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).

Best Track: Circle but all the first seven tracks basically count
Rating: 9/10

[rayword45]

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

Day 24: BabyMetal by BabyMetal (Album Choice: demonllama6124)

So let me assume you've never heard of this. It got pretty notorious over the internet, for combining genres that aren't meant to mix. I'm talking about J-Pop and death/thrash metal. This combination is known as "kawaii metal". Urgh... Let's get these 55 minutes done already, while I read The Picture of Dorian Gray. I'm deliberately getting the theoretical worst of the 4 albums done today.

Day 10 of pledge: Still camping. Though right now I'm actually in a Barnes and Noble.

What.
The fuck.
Was that?

Best Track: It's pretty disappointing when you get THIS after one of the best albums yet. Plus I only finished two chapters of the book due to distractions.
Rating: 2/10