Recommend me some 2022 albums +1000th album halp

[rayword45]

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

Day 67: The New Classic by Iggy Azalea (Album Choice: Sheri C.)

It's 2:30 in the morning, and I have no urge to sleep. I may as well take advantage of this pseudo-insomnia, listen to an album and earn some money online. Will I regret this in the morning? Yes. Do I care right now? No.

So, what do I know about this artist? She's white, Australian I think, and she raps. She once took a picture with Macklemore and captioned it "the king and queen of rap" which everyone laughed at because, duh, they're Caucasian. I think she does trap, which makes it ever so much funnier. I should remember one song by this girl but I really can't. Oh yeah, and recently, I believe she made some sort of inflammatory comments, either racist or homophobic. Either way, it's abhorrent, but not abhorrent enough to be funny.

You know, I'm loath to say this in fear that it'll be misconstrued as sexist, but I have never, EVER enjoyed a song, to my memory, performed by a female rapper. In all fairness, I have never listened to The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, but that's only one album. Surely there must be another woman out there who's rapping appeals to me.

Right when Fancy played, which is track 5 for the record, I immediately went "Oh yeah! I remember who this is!" as if I had some sort of giant revelation. This just proves that I am completely inept when tired, my memory is horrid when it comes to memorizing artists I don't care about, and this music is totally disposable. I mean come on, I didn't even remember who I was listening to until that track came on. And that's not totally fatigue-induced. Anyways, to quote one of my favorite shows (especially at this hour)

"Is there anything more funny than somebody just drastically white trying to speak colloquial hood?" - George Lowe as Space Ghost

I mean seriously, to be fair, her flow is not totally tragic, her rhymes are run-of-the-mill at best but not totally tragic, her beats are not totally tragic as far as pop/trap rap goes, but seriously, this stuff lies somewhere between inoffensive and laughable. And it pretty much all lies in her voice, which can be quite accurately described as "Caucasian Australian woman tries to pretend she's from the hood with a faux-Southern accent, to nobody's foolishness and many's amusement". Oh yeah, I also know the song Black Widow like everyone else in America... Man how did I forget who those songs were by? I'm inclined to blame sleepiness but I also feel like that's just natural stupidity shining.

This album ended on a pretty abrupt note, which makes me think this really was meant to follow the classic format of "3-4 singles and a bunch of filler". Regardless, that was totally disposable. There is nothing worthwhile I can write.

Best Track: Screw You
Rating: 3/10

[rayword45]

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

Day 68: A Night At The Opera by Queen (Album Choice: Remi C.)

Well, I have homework... Just kidding. Actually no I'm not kidding about that, but I'm really, REALLY gonna try my best to not be terse here. I mean, if OneRepublic and Iggy Azalea warrant several paragraphs than so does Freddie! Anyways, this is the third and last Queen album on my requests list. I expect this one to be the best one yet, seeing how I've heard one song from this album and you can obviously guess what that is.

Of note: This review and listening session is coming right after a relisten of Pink Moon, probably my 40th or 50th, so this one will be a nice contrast. Worth pointing out my perspective going into this.

It took me an hour after writing the previous paragraph to start listening to the album. Why? I don't know, I must've anticipated whiplash or something. Compared to the previous two Queen albums, this is still Queen. It's still bombastic, it's still cheesy, it's still laughable at times and contrived at others, yet who cares about all those pretentious adjectives when you kick this much ass? There's a VERY SLIGHTLY warmer feel than the previous albums due in part to the many acoustic pieces and heavier usage of piano, as well as less of an emphasis on mythological song themes and a greater focus on pop melodies, but either way it's still incredibly overblown so that warmth is pretty much meaningless.

Truthfully, some of these tracks are totally unnecessary (Seaside Rendezvous anyone?) and others actually caused me to laugh out loud. As someone who was born in the late 90s, the very idea that there was a time when songs like Sweet Lady and I'm In Love With My Car were massively popular radio hits is a pretty funny one. It just seems so ridiculous. Yeah yeah, popular music now is pretty stupid, but this just seems... I dunno, it'd be like if all popular music sounded like Om, or maybe Fantomas, the atmosphere just seems bizarre for a leisurely car ride.

And now we have reached the penultimate track. You know the one. The only Queen song that you need to know, and I'm not talking about We Are The Champions. That song is just grating. This one needs no adjectives. But let's give it some. Rejuvenating, life-affirming, cathartic, theatrical, loaded with pomp and cheese and opera-worship, but still amazing. Yeah I'm a total sucker for this admittedly overplayed song but whatever, when it comes to glammy bombastic cock rock I'll take this ANY DAY over some disgustingly bland KISS crap or even worse, Bon Jovi. I'm still not saying the song title. I really don't need to. If you don't know what song I'm talking about, you're obviously a complete idiot.

Oh yeah, then we end the album with a short instrumental version of the British National Anthem. Like it matters.

Well anyways, of the Queen albums I've listened to that was definitely the best and most captivating of the three, but it wasn't without its flaws. Some songs like the aforementioned seashanty or whatever did feel remarkably self-indulgent, while others really played up the macho image (I'm In Love With My Car? Seriously?). Still, this was a damn good album, and I can't criticize any album with that one song too much. Maybe in a few years when I'm finally sick of it.

Something potentially offensive but I'm gonna say it anyways, of all the very few that I've knowingly listened to, Freddie Mercury may be my third-least favorite LGBT male musician next to RuPaul and Billie Joe Armstrong. In the company of artists like Grant Hart, Bob Mould, Stephin Merritt, Darby Crash and especially Chris Bell, third isn't a bad spot considering the very scant amount of artists I've listened to.

No wait, make that fourth. I forgot about Michael Stipe.

Best Track: Seriously, guess. If you can't, you're a moron. No way around it, you're stupid.
Rating: 8.5/10

[rayword45]

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

Day 69: The United States of America by The United States of America

I wanted to do a request album today but I don't have the time or Internet connection and for some reason this album has been lying around so I thought why not? This is a 60s psychedelic electronic band, thus I expect something like Silver Apples. Ready let's start.

The first two tracks are effing amazing. In spite of the at-the-time untraditional instrument choices for a rock group (electronics, organ, electric violin) this album is very, very 60s. The vocalist sounds like Grace Slick except less annoying, and that's probably all it takes to sound like a band from 50 years past.

...Aaaand I'm done. I didn't really get to listen to track 10 but who cares? Good album, surprisingly not too dated and many catchy songs, although the airy songs were a tad boring (Cloud Song). Definitely way ahead of its time and to compare to another band, I'd argue this is way better than Silver Apples.

Best Track: The American Metaphysical Circus
Rating: 7.5/10

[choof]

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

can I recommend finale by asphyxzero

[YoshL]

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

beatbox is processed as fuck in that album, which is why the newer one that i mentioned is so much better imo lol. you can actually like, hear how a person would be making the sounds, not just drums

[rayword45]

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

@Choof I'll add that

Day 70: Endless Fantasy by Anamanaguchi (Album Choice: Korny)

With a band name like that I would've thought these guys are Japanese. That's all you're getting for an intro.

You're also not getting much of a review here. To sum it up, it's chiptune music with drums and (usually processed) guitars added to the mix. Pretty inoffensive stuff usually. When vocals come in, things get a bit more pop, and they also get kinda annoying.

There's really not much to complain about when it comes to this music nor anything to lavish praise upon. My biggest gripe is that this album had absolutely no reason to be 73 minutes and could've easilt been trimmed down to a little over half of that. Besides that, this was inoffensive. Pleasant enough to the ears, but nothing that makes you go "Wow" nor "This is the worst shit I've heard in my life".

Best Track: I'm tired
Rating: 5.5/10

[rayword45]

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

Day 71: Lazer Thrash by Dev/Null (Album Choice: EzExZeRo7497)

So, I got this album like 3 months ago via random.org but opted not to listen to it for studying purposes. Now I am handpicking it for studying purposes. Why? Because first of all, it's 3 in the morning, I'm still working on this horrid AP Biology project, and the No-Doz clearly isn't working, so a good abrasive listen should help. Second of all, I can still listen to this somewhat passively as I've heard several songs on the album before. Ready let's start.

Okay, so brief opinion. I liked the album. Melodic pieces were good but not fantastic. This album worked best when it got really abrasive. For an industrial-influenced breakcore album... You can pretty much predict how it will sound and if it's your cup of tea. Holy hell I'm tired.

Best Track: Old Extra-Wanky Break Thing
Rating: 7/10

[noname219]

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

I think it was Eze that recommended Lazer Thrash.

[Crazyjayde]

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

My biggest gripe is that this album had absolutely no reason to be 73 minutes and could've easilt been trimmed down to a little over half of that.

Yeaaaaaah. I'm not fond at all of their whole poppy-power-pop-punk shtick. It's the closest musical equivalent to the typical "I swear I'm a 90's kid" poser, making konami code jokes and all. It's fine if it allows people into the genre but as long as they're willing to delve deeper and realize how complex the scene is. Otherwise they, ugh... "WOHA. That's a GAMEBOY????" You know.

I thought I'd give them a chance by grabbing this record. It's cool, they upped their songwriting skills and while I dig their more lush personalities, I'm still loathing the fuck out of it for the length alone. It might have to do with the track placement too. Anyway, say 10-12 songs, two interludes, and it's a treat. Tea Time Interlude would be a fun outro.

[rayword45]

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

Day 72: Triple Live Mother Goose at Budokan by Green Jelly (Album Choice: Sonicman68)

Tuesday, December 16 at 12:18 AM, I have officially relapsed. This totals 160 full days of no pornography. Fuck you Breaking Bad subreddit. Also, that was anti climactic as all living fuck. Wow. People who thought I couldn't do 30 days, I feel as if they're totally mad now, because that was as mundane as frying an egg. I don't feel crazy like "wow how did I ever do that" nor do I feel "oh my god I just broke my purity bonds!". What I feel is incomplete. Incomplete because that's the state of my homework.

So yeah, I wrote that yesterday and it says pretty much everything I have to say. My only addendum is that I don't regret a single one of those 130 days extra, and definitely feel like something in my life has changed from such a small step. What it is? I don't know. Probably my ego.

Okay, this album, these guys are comedy punk. I'm not sure how optimistic to be about this one but I'm not writing too much so let's go.

Well great, we had the clown song as an intro to some bizarre cow worship metal, and now we're moving onto some demented demolition of the Sesame Street theme. These guys are just killing my childhood. I don't wanna hear Bert get tortured man.

Okay, this is seriously the stupidest album I've listened to thus far. I don't mean that in a derogatory manner, as it's not the worst. No, not at all. How could this ever be compared to Nickelback? Before I talk about quality, let me talk about intelligence. The entire album uses a corny "big arena" metal guitar tone with loads of hilarious pick scratches and weird tap solos, and the drumbeats aren't so much stupid as fairly run-of-the-mill, but those lyrics. Holy crap, those lyrics. Sometimes these guys are surrealist like a mediocre episode of Aqua Teen (Obey The New God, Eat Satan's Ham) while other times they destroy childhood memories with as little intelligence as possible (Nightmare on Sesame Street, Three Little Pigs). Besides that, we have joke-y songs with incredibly "minimalistic" lyrics like Whip Me Teenage Babe, we have the crappy Sex Pistols semi-cover Anarchy in Bedrock, which is funny because Sex Pistols already suck, and we have a few instrumentals that nobody will ever care about. As for the vocal delivery, the best way I could put this is "fat, sweaty Henry Rollins delivering horrible jokes". This is really the dumbest album I've listened to yet, and I'm not even trying to be condescending. Musically, these guys aren't impressive or interesting in the least. They're pretty average. Now THAT was condescending.

I just saw that these guys apparently once toured with Psychostick. I don't really care about Psychostick, thus my opinion of this band remains stagnant.

To conclude concisely, because I want to listen to another album, this album was pretty meh. Nothing spectacular musically, and nothing really hilarious either.

Best Track: Nah.
Rating: 4.5/10

[Xtreme2252]

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

This list is somewhere between hipster and mainstream.

Bear vs. Shark - Terrorhawk
Eminem - The Marshall Mathers LP 2
The Left Rights - Bad Choices Made Easy
Nine Inch Nails - The Downward Spiral
Nirvana - Nevermind
Pixies - Doolittle
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Blood Sugar Sex Magik
Soundgarden - Superunknown
System of a Down - Toxicity
Wolf Parade - Apologies to the Queen Mary

[rayword45]

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

Bear vs. Shark - Terrorhawk
The Left Rights - Bad Choices Made Easy
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Blood Sugar Sex Magik
Wolf Parade - Apologies to the Queen Mary

Everything removed is either already on the list or I listened to it before. Feel free to add 6 more, I'll add these 4.

[rayword45]

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

Day 73: El Camino Real by William Basinski (Album Choice: choof)

This review is 5 days and 4 listens long.

12/16/14 11:00 P.M EST - "Shit I gotta start and finish this math project. What's some good music? Oh, Basinski!"

*10 minutes in*

"Hey this is a pretty good loop. Maybe I'll visualize some cool stuff if I close my eyes" and that's why I won the moron of the year award. Got 100% on the project anyways though, it took 20 morning minutes.

12/18/14 1:00 A.M EST - "SHIT I gotta study for this AP Biology test, and this Precalculus test, and this blahdeblahblah show me the music!"

30 minutes later I fall asleep.

12/19/14 11:30 P.M EST - "Yeah let's just put this on while I go to bed"

12/21/14 12:00 P.M PST - And now, finally, I managed to listen to the whole thing while doing dishes. My life is good.

So, anyways, real introduction paragraph, chances are you know who William Basinski is if you actually care about this kind of music. If you don't know him, his discography is all drone and ambient music and you don't care about that. This guy is good stuff, The Disintegration Loops are highly regarded and I believe that to be a well-deserved reputation in spite of the fact that total composing time was less than the running time (unless you wanna argue that total composing time is 2 decades and that's bullcrap) and Melancholia is some gloriously tranquil winter music. Other works of his I've listened to were pleasant enough but not particularly memorable to me. Let's see if this one outranks those.

Let's see? More like I already saw. And this particular album, one 50 minute drone, is pretty damn good. Not as good as the two/five aforementioned albums, but more memorable than any of his other works that I've listened to thus far. The album is literally the same sound (I'm not inclined to call it a melody) for 50 minutes. Theoretically if you've heard half a minute then you can say you've heard the whole album and move on with your life, but damnit this is drone music and I'd be an asshole to complain about a lack of structure. The sound itself? Amazing. It just transports you to a cold empty mountainside, like most of Basinski's music honestly. But this one does it in a better way. Crap I am horrible at describing ambient music.

Best Track: egg sandwich
Rating: 9/10 (How is it that two out of three of my 9s thus far are ambient music? I barely listen to ambient music)

[rayword45]

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

Day 74: Kid Dynamite by Kid Dynamite (Album Choice: FoJaR)

Now after listening to the same ambient track 4 times, I'm switching to hardcore punk. I know as much about these guys as you do, assuming that you know nothing at all other than the fact that they're hardcore punk which I just told you. Okay it's 1 AM let's have fun with this.

This guy kinda sounds like GG Allin. And the album is over. Pretty short one this is, like many punk albums.

That was pretty good. Vaguely Descendents-esque if only due to the mix of pop hooks and nasally hardcore vocals, but definitely heavier than they were (or at least heavier than Milo Goes To College because I didn't listen to any of their other albums). You know I'm just writing fluff here to write fluff.

Best Track: I wish I could tell you, but the format I was required to listen in made this very hard to discern
Rating: 7/10

[rayword45]

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

Day 75: Blast Tyrant by Clutch (Album Choice: noname219)

This is a rush review. Why I chose a 50 minute album for a rush review I do not know. But anyways, this is a stoner rock album, which sounds very appealing to me because I need a morning kicker. I'll be listening to this album eating oatmeal, in the bathroom and riding the bus to school. My TMI game too strong.

Allow to briefly rant about public transportation. The MBTA is the worst train system I have ever seen in my life. Trains smell like decaying ass buses dirty, and the delays feel like they're contrived solely for your inconvenience. Also I've had at least 3 racist bus drivers in my time so there's that. On the plus side, Boston is so small as to make the system completely navigable compared to New York.

Anyways, the music. This is pretty run of the mill stoner rock. Sabbath worship for days with a tinge of groove. As a whole it's pretty good, though I'd honestly take Queens Of The Stone Age for my riff-based stoner rock on most days. The main flaws with this album I have are that things occasionally get samey, and when they try to mix things up, like getting extra funky or going all outlaw country, the results are pretty trash. Luckily that only takes up a couple of tracks here or there.

This review took me over 16 hours to write. I wish it was any good.

Best Track: Promoter (Of Earthbound Causes)
Rating: 6/10