SAW [Week 64 - "Home of the Strange"]

[triceratopzeuhl]

Actually I don't need to pick a nomination yet because I won't be in the next poll anyway

[JaggedJimmyJay]

Here we go. Time for my rave.

[Epignosis]

I'll keep nominating the same old shit until it gets reviewed, I guess.

[JaggedJimmyJay]

thellama73 - Pandora's Box - Original Sin / 1989 / Art Pop / 14 tracks / 67:11 / YouTube

Ricochet - Jethro Tull - A Passion Play / 1973 / Progressive Rock / 2 tracks / 45:11 / YouTube (Rico please verify this playlist is legit)

insertnamehere - The Mountain Goats - All Hail West Texas / Lo-Fi / 14 tracks / 42:02 / YouTube (INH please verify) and Spotify

nutella - Bobby McFerrin - Circlesongs / 1997 / Vocal Jazz / 8 tracks / 42:42 / YouTube (nutella please verify) and Spotify

MovingPictures07 - De La Soul - De La Soul Is Dead / 1991 / East Coast Hip Hop / 27 tracks / 73:32 / YouTube (MP please verify) and

Epignosis - Echolyn - Echolyn / 2012 / Progressive Rock / 8 tracks / 70:44 / Bandcamp

Golden - Corinne Bailey Rae - The Heart Speaks in Whispers (Deluxe) / 2016 / Neo-soul / 16 tracks / 75:32 / YouTube and Spotify (Golden please let me know if you'd like to change your submission)

Quin - Last Dinosaurs - In a Million Years / 2012 / Indie Pop / 11 tracks / 42:56 / YouTube and Spotify

speedchuck - Toehider - What Kind of Creature Am I? / 2014 / Progressive rock/metal / 10 tracks / 51:45 / YouTube, Bandcamp, and Spotify

[Golden]

No, my submission will win!

Besides that, I'm waiting to get internet in the new house... I should finally have time to catch up on some of this, yay!

[JaggedJimmyJay]

I'll open the new poll on Thursday. Anyone else eligible is welcome to submit albums until then. juliets? Quin? S~V~S?

[JaggedJimmyJay]

I'm finishing up the deadmau5 album now. It has had some entertaining moments, but for the most part I have found it to be a tedious listen. At its worst it's pretty lifeless to my ear, and that covers a significant fraction of the thing. I have nothing against this genre, but this is not an example that works well for me. It's not terrible though. 2 stars.

[Quin]

I'll go with Last Dinosaurs - In a Million Years

Find it here

[Quin]

The youtube link to this week's deadmau5 says "video is unavailable".

For me too.

[juliets]

I'll open the new poll on Thursday. Anyone else eligible is welcome to submit albums until then. juliets? Quin? S~V~S?

Thanks Jay but I'll skip submission. I'll vote though.

[thellama73]

I did not really care for Dead Meo Five. It was far too long, and mostly seemed like pretty uninspired techno to me. Nothing there that made me want to come back for more. Also, Metalmarsh is a wuss for not at least coming to discuss his own nomination.

[Quin]

I really enjoyed album title goes here. I'm learning that I've got a thing for good background noise. I'm not the kind to stop everything to properly take in what I'm listening to, so being able to spend my night on other things while letting this play worked well for me. I was able to enjoy it this way even more given that the majority of tracks had no lyrics. Sound alone was engaging and had me hooked for the entire thing. 4.5 stars.

[thellama73]

Interesting counterpoint from Quin.
2 stars from me.

[Ricochet]

Can't use spoiler tags currently, so here it is in the open.

[JaggedJimmyJay]

The first Ricoreview I haven't watched in full.

[Golden]

The first Ricoreview I haven't watched in full.

You don't like Rico any more?

[Golden]

I am not expecting to have internet for another week

Annoying, because I can't listen to these things at work and they are really too data intensive for me to be able to afford to listen without wifi.

I feel way behind because I'd been so busy with the move, so now that's over I just want to get, well, a move on.

[Ricochet]

The first Ricoreview I haven't watched in full.

You don't like Rico any more?

Probably not, after Woodface.

[Ricochet]

[speedchuck]

I'm gonna try and jump in on this SAW thing.

I nominate "What Kind Of Creature Am I?" by Toehider if I'm not too late here. (It's not Thursday for me yet)
Youtube link
Bandcamp link

EDIT:

I'm going to throw my music review stuff here (and in my next post, apparently). Albums 1-46 completed

Spoiler: show

1. nutella - The Family Crest - Beneath the Brine

Spoiler: show

Beneath the Brine has one of the best album openings I've ever heard, and the first song mostly lives up to that promise. Blending the beauty of voice and strings with the frenetic energy of alt rock seamlessly. It's a new combination to me, it's catchy, pretty, fun, and I love it.
The World calms down and gets snappy, providing an uptempo groove that immediately showcases the variety of the band while still fitting into the mold the first song provided. Around the end of the song, though, I began to notice another pattern. When it seems like the vocalist is improvising/warbling against a repetitive part of the song, I grow bored quickly. The music, in these rare cases, falls back and loses its unique flavor.
I loved everything about Love don't Go except for the vocal hook. Little generic pop/altrock missteps like this bring the album down in places, make it lose its energy and majesty.
William's Dirge is . . . dirgy. And swanky. Good for what it is, I guess, as an introduction to Howl, which is amazing right off the bat. Jazzy, groovy, and intoxicating. I don't listen much to this type of swingy music, so my expectations might be low, but dang. It knows when to drop off and pick things back up again. Love it.
The Water's Fine starts really strong, like Beneath the Brine did. And it just . . . stays strong.
I am the Winter is probably the most beautiful song on here, but I'm not sure it holds the same uniqueness as the rest of the album thus far.
She Knows My Name is good, pretty. It's got a lot of mood to it, though the music doesn't include anything that surprises me or catches me like some of the other songs did. Solid and well done.
As We Move Forward moves forward. Straightwforward. I feel like I've said everything I need to say about the style already. Both this song and the previous song have a slight feeling of . . . catharsis, maybe? Feels like something's been accomplished.
Atomsperic pieces and acoustic guitar jump us into When the Lights Go Out. Once again, after a couple of somes that were 'normal,' I feel like we're going somewhere new. And while the rest of the song doesn't continue to surprise, the way it swells and dims is legitimately emotional. And then the end of the song is perfect.
We end with There's a Thunder. It makes a good finale song in feel, with more of that cathartic feeling. It's a strong finish, but not one that pushes the band rating up. The choiric part really contributes to the unique feel of the song.
Overall, I enjoyed this album immensely. The music is beautiful, with hints of something even greater. Like the album is about 2/5 masterpiece, and the rest is along for the ride and merely excellent. There were no really low points, and I loved the sound of the vocals. The lyrics didn't stand out to me as something you should play close attention to, but did give me the feel of a concept album. The struggle and hope of love out of reach or something like that. It felt thematically consistent.

Beneath the Brine, Howl, and The Water's Fine are the 3 songs I would take with me. (I'm going to do this for any album I want to)

4.5/5

2. MovingPictures07 - Fishmans - Otokotachi no Wakare

Spoiler: show

Whoa dang this is really long. And live. But it has a good sound. After the cheering, I can't really tell it's live. Which is good. :P
ARE YOU FEEL GOOD? I'm probably not going to do a song-by-song on this. I'll just throw in thoughts as they come.
This first guitar riff goes on a long time. The sufferings of a live album, I guess. At least it's a good riff to have in the background, and others are doing their stuff.
So far, nothing is bad. But it's (according to the OP) dream pop. Never heard dream pop before. And I'm not big on it. The music is just kinda... there, and I can't understand the lyrics (though that hasn't stopped me from liking songs before). I suppose the beats are sometimes catchy, and as of 30 minutes in, I've liked some of the riffs and solos okay. But the plodding pace and repetitiveness in parts makes me feel like I could have heard everything I've really liked from this album so far in about 7 minutes of time, if that.
Even when the album starts doing something interesting and fun, it ends up back at the plain muted cord progessions or repeated same-y notes.
Some strong grooves in places. Back to my bolded point, though. Everything is swamped in chill dream pop that doesn't really do much for me, and often that pop is repetitive. Especially when the lyrics come in.
Bass guitar sounds pretty good, even in the parts that are meh.
In the Air ends with some awful whining vocal sounds. It is the worst part of the album thus far.
5 minutes into Long Season, and it's a definite step up. I expected a bigger step at the very beginning, but it lapsed back into the same style (don't know what I expected) but maye better. The piano repetition 5 minutes in is killing me though.
This all works better to me as background music. Maybe it's the reggae I don't like. Hrm.
The piano riff never goes away.

I'm a picky guy when it comes to music. I want one of . . . five? things.
1. Fun to sing with
2. Energetic, driven, springy, idk something that fills my spirit and makes me want to move my legs or rock out
3. Musically intricate and diverse
4. Lyrically moving or plat-focused
5. Mood-setting/nostalgic

This album was well-put-together, especially for a live album, and had some good grooves and solos and instrumentation. The closest this got to me liking it was criteria #3, during some little parts. I somehow didn't get #5 from it at all.

1.5/5

3. Boomslang - Goat - World Music

Spoiler: show

Right off the bat, I'm hit with some strong moody bass warbling with guitar joining in and I like it, then the song kicks in hard. Diarabi, it's called. It's got some power to it. And it keeps that power and energy going unitl it's about to get bored, then stops. A good introduction to the album.
The insteresting beats and fun warbly instruments continue into the next song until the vocals come in. And then after. But I want to talk about the NA NA, NANANANA vocals. They're kinda yelly, repetitive... not super annoying, but I'm not getting much out of them. The spastic guitar that pops in between verses does a much better job of complementing the jungle-y beats and stuff. If all the vocals are like this, the album would be better off instrumental.
Speaking of Goatman, the talking part at the beginning was interesting. It didn't make much of an impression on me, tough. It's like with That Handsome Devil. The speaking parts are there, but I probably won't remember them.
Goathead continues the trend with some crunchy bass and musical guitar orchestration that half sounds like a SEGA Genesis soundtrack on hard drugs. And then the singing comes back in and lowers my estimation of the song. The latter part of Goathead calms down and plays come acoustic guitar in a pleasing way, with background ambience that suggests a quiet highway in the rain. The two are really well put together.
Disco fever picks things back up, and includes the least offensive use of the vocals thus far in a tumbling beat held together by needly guitar licks. (I don't know what these words even mean, but they sound about right.) The use of a synthesizer/organ on the interverse solos really works.
16:28
Had to take a break, but I'm back into the game. I've got to wonder what the ethnic influences are for this album. I'm unning into some unique percussive bits.
Golden Dawn now. Starts with a disclaimer that this is totally psychadelic. (not really, but it was a little cliche) I love the smooth rolling bass grooves and the way they sync with the drums. Again, could give or take the lyrics. Sometimes, with this particular album, I'm not sure what instrument is playing. I need to figure out what dulcumers sound like. (This music is making my thinking sporadic.)
In any case, Golden Dawn pulls right into the crazy-fun instrumental warbling and keeps mixing it up as I go, straight through to the end. A welcome addition to the album.
Let it Bleed. What, bongos? I appreciate the wide variety of instruments being used. Vocals are just killing this for me whenever they appear, but they rarely show so far. It's worth pushing through for the groovy tunes man. The sax warbling near the end of the song goes on a little too long. When the primary draw of the music is being pulled into new infectious rhythms with a variets of instruments, overstaying your welcome can be aggrivating. Small complaint, really, but I'm weird enough to notice I guess.
Run to your Mama: The atmosphere around this piece sounds different. And by atmosphere, I mean environment. The percussion is still really cool, but the guitar that it starts with echoes more, and that changes the tone of the piece a lot. Other than that, the piece is very minimalistic, which stands out, and the vocals work with it better that way too.
Goatlord reminds me of Arabian Nights right at the beginning. The sound is haunting, but not in too spooky a way. Mysterious maybe. The crisp guitar works with everything else being smooth and flowy, though I'm unsure how I feel once the guitar starts literally screeching at me. I don't know if that fits the feel I had going.
Then the last song comes along, Det Som Aldrig Förändras / Diarabi. I feel like it starts weak. The beat isn't as nuanced, the instruments don't do much different than what I've seen before, the tone is pretty similar to what I've heard already. Either that or I'm fatigued of this particular sound. And it doesn't change much. I could cut out four minutes of this song and still make it flow together, and everything in the middle would be the same. I don't handle stagnation well.
All in all, this album barely overstays it's welcome. While I was enjoying the album, it was flitting from beat to beat, contrasting delightful moodsetting pieces with diverse and energetic instrumentation that was quick to switch before getting tiresome. Each piece, except for the last one, introduced a new sound. The punk-ish singing on most track wasn't really my thing, and in some cases, DEFINITELY wasn't the music's thing. That, along with the last track, brought the album down from what could have been a solid 3.5.
I give it a 2.5.

2.5/5

4. insertnamehere - Scott Walker - Bish Bosch

Spoiler: show

bum bu bum bu bum bu bum bu bum bu bum bu bum bu bum bu bum bu bum bu bum bu bum bu bum bu bum bu bum bu bum bu
*guitar riffs rip in*
"LIKE PLUCKING FEATHERS FROM A SWAN SONG"
I'm confused. I love the beat, the guitar, the ambient noise, the singing... all individually and the way they fit together. But this first track is so repetitive that I feel like I shouldn't like it. But I do. Rrrgh. I'm ready to groove.
And then I proceed to do the opposite of grooving. Slower, longer track, pleasant until the fart sounds started. I'm... honestly aghast. Am I in the wrong place? What's going on?
What the hell?
. . .
This is music I would troll people with. And the first song was so good. And musically, nothing is wrong, necessarily. I just-- I uh-- um. Looking at this out of context. Not my thing. Lyrics are good, but even in my comedy, I want music. Funny and trajic on a meta level.

1/5

5. thellama73 - Arthur Brown - The Crazy World of Arthur Brown

Spoiler: show

Oh hey actual music. It's pleasant. The vocals and crazy synth/organs sold me on the first song. Crazy fun.
I was usure for about 20 seconds if the second song would keep things up. And then the music kicked into gear, and even with the man talking craziness over it (or maybe because of that), I loved it. This stuff has the right amount of grooviness, zaniness, energy, and I'm laughing as Arthur Brown falls into the flames.
Track 3. I'm beginning to suspect this is a concept album. It's dark but happy about it, and the organ really sells it as a poppy little tune that defies the subject matter.
Come and Buy is lovely. The fast-spitting lyrics juxtaposed against the slower, deeper dirges really catches my attention.
Time exemplifies how much better these songs work when they have more energy.
There's a bit of a lull until we get back to fire again. Interesting that the three songs (sort of at least) repeat. Fire & Come and Buy are my favorite part of the album, so I'm not complaining. If only the intro repeated as well.
The rest of the album didn't wow as much, but didn't really have low points either.

This is a fun album, and there's nothing I really dislike about it. It doesn't fit my musical preferences in a way that I would put it on repeat and listen to appreciate, but as a full album experience when I'm in the mood, it works great.

4/5

6. G-Man - Chuck Berry - Chuck Berry Is on Top

Spoiler: show

Jumping right in. The beat is infectious, the older music cheery and catchy, but I'm not a huge fan on the reliance on background singers.
The second album throws me more into what I was expecting. Twangy, twisty guitar riffs and an unrelenting beat that pulls the piano and geetah together. It's kinda hard to describe this music because, even having not heard the album, it's something I've heard a hundred times any time a movie wants to have a retro soundtrack.
Can't help but tap my heel to the music.
One thing that bothers me is when music gets too repetitive. A few parts of this album do that sort of thing. Mostly with the lyrics, but also with the main riff of Carol. It's mitigated by how short most of these songs are.
This may be rock and roll at it's roots, but I don't often get to hear electric guitar and actual honest-to-god piano in a song. I always hear guitar with synthesizers, keyboards, and organs. Not piano. I appreciate the sort of dueling solos between the two.
There is some variety on this album, but when I cam across it, I found myself split. I like variety. But I also like the 'rock' side of the heavier rock and roll tunes. The variety always goes in the opposite direction, especially near the end of the album.

3/5

7. JaggedJimmyJay - Crowded House - Woodface

Spoiler: show

Alright, alright, I'll confess. I do not like The Beatles. Never heard a song by them that I liked. I mean genuinely like, not "meh, this is okay but boring." The Beatles bore me. When I saw that JJJ said this took the significance and place in his music experience that the Beatles took for most people, I began to worry.
But then Chocolate Cake happened. And two songs later, my fears have been all but erased. My mind hasn't been blown or anything, but every song I've come across gives me the same regard that my favorite songs in average genres give me. Ew, rough sentence there. Let me explain. Country music is bland to me, especially the slower ballads. There are outliers that I love. Soft pop is boring. There are outliers that I love. And so on. This album feels like a compilation of songs that just WORK, even if the genre is something I would never touch. Listening intently gives me an emotional connection to some songs, and others just make me smile. It's good.
Of course, I like the rockin' tunes better, because I'm a young hothead. The opening song tops most of the ballads for me.
I think this is the first album I've listened to that had nothing annoying in it. The "Whoa"s in Beneath the Brine, the vocals in world music, repetitive bits in Chuck Berry, and so on. While this music doesn't hit me as something I could just love forever and forever, I also have no reason to dislike it. That alone puts it above 3 stars, and almost to 4.
Maybe it was just because it was the first song, but I don't think I heard anything that topped Chocolate Cake.

3.5/5

8. triceratopzeuhl - The Kinks - Arthur

Spoiler: show

It's easier to point out what I enjoyed about this album than to point at flaws. I liked the chill vibe in places. Some of the mellow, more groovy riffs were fun, and at times the vocals took on a novel sound. But most of the time, the basic-ness of the music was . . . merely average. The singing wasn't awe-inspiring, nor was it supposed to be. The music was mostly pleasant, but nothing I would remember after listening. Perhaps this band was important, was influential, but after a lifetime of listening to the bands that were influenced, this all seems basic. The music never surprised me or showed me something I haven't heard a hundred times before.
That said, I liked the culture of the lyrics. That alone puts Victoria, Australia, and Yes Sir No Sir up as my favorites on the album. They weren't the most interesting musically, but I forget the music near instantly. The Bri'ish-ness of the lyrics made it fun for me.
I wouldn't be bothered by this album playing in my vicinity. I'd probably tap my foot. Maybe hum along. But it doesn't really push me in any way emotionally or mentally, and I probably wouldn't choose to put it on.

2/5

9. A Person - Vanessa Rossetto - Whole Stories

Spoiler: show

This fits none of my criteria for music. I went in biased against it, as soon as I figured out what the genre was. And the entire time I listened to it, I wondered why I wasn't just quitting like I had with Bish Bosch. I never quit. I hung through to the end. And I liked it.
Wierd, huh?
It's hard for me to pinpoint why I like it. Maybe it's because I'm trapped in a quiet cubicle, and I long to be out in the streets. Maybe the sounds did come together to make something pleasing. But overall, I'd say that the sense of discovery contributed the most to it. Discovery of the genre, the sounds, the experience. I can't say I'll ever listen to this again. Maybe I'll try another album in the genre, see how much variety there is. Hard to say. I don't enjy this in the same way as normal music. I don't know how to appreciate the musicianship, there's nothing to sing along to, no catchy beat or interesting tunes. But it's so... different. Maybe I'm appreciating this in a way that I don't appreciate music. I'm not sure.
I'm very not sure.
But it was a decent experience. 3/5. Probably would not listen to the same track again.

3/5

10. Marmot - deadmau5 - > album title goes here <

Spoiler: show

Electronic music is something that I haven't listened to, much like the above experimental music. So I'm easy to please. That said, the way the first track fakes you out with a tripple 4/4 beat and then overlays a 12/4 complex time signature while building itself up is fantastic. The drop into soothing synth afterward is pleasing. This first track has a way of defying expectations while staying straightforward and energetic.
The rest of the tracks don't really surprise me in the same way.
They are decent enough, and there are interesting pieces here and there. But the novelty wore off quickly. By the time that the album was 60% done, I felt tired.
There isn't really anything wrong with what's here. It's just what it is. Straightforward beat, music, etc. It's there. It's not bad.

2.5/5

11. Ricochet - Jethro Tull - A Passion Play

Spoiler: show

I listened to this back when it was in the thread, and I think we lost any discussion I made on it. Intellectually, I liked this music, enjoyed some of the lyrics and choices in design. I just wasn't a big fan of the sound. Too... fuzzy? Don't remember. And then there weren't enough standouts to make this stand out.

2.5/5

12. Epignosis - echolyn - echolyn

Spoiler: show

This. This is exactly the kind of music that I listen to. Proggy, but not too proggy. Beautiful instrumentation, a mixture of more driven beats and laid back tunes, talented vocals, interesting and emotional lyrics, songs that are long enough to explore themselves and what they want to do. It's in the perfect spot for me.
Maybe too perfect.
As I was listening to this, it struck me that I wasn't hearing anything that I haven't heard before, in a way. I technically hadn't heard this album, but it didn't do enough to stand out from all the progressive rock bands I've listened to. Consistent in quality, in mix, in tone, the songs were all good. But it didn't stand out among what I've listened to as truly exceptional. It didn't surprise me much, like Beneath the Brine did at the start of this exercise.
It also didn't surprise itself. Compared to some other works I've enjoyed, there wasn't a huge variety of music on display. Some of the more slow songs just faded into memory without distinguishing themselves.
But even as I write this, the last track comes along. The Cardinal and I and The Island, as well as one or two other tracks I heard along the way are 5/5 tracks. That just barely edges this up to a 4.5. But it could have been a 5/5, if the fat was cut, or variety of equal quality was thrown in there.

4.5/5

13. Quin - Last Dinosaurs - In a Million Years

Spoiler: show

Last Dinosaurs had their own sound, I'll give them that much. In tone, they were different than what I normally listen to. Fun, with enough energy to keep me toe-tapping. The songs did kind-of blend together. I checked my playlist and saw that I was on the sixth song, when I had thought I was on song three. The album doesn't overstay its welcome, either.
Didn't make a huge impression on me, but it's not something I'd mind someone playing. Given the indie pop rock style of the music, that's saying a lot. Decent album, middle of the road.

3/5

14. thellama73 - Pandora's Box - Original Sin

Spoiler: show

When the description said 'Rock Opera,' this is not what I was expecting.
This is amazing. I certainly can't complain about the variety. A lot of familiar-sounding tunes, pushed to the point of gaudiness and unapologetic brazenness. I love it. Nothing is ever too eighties for me. Nothing is ever too much.
Perhaps I just have less experience with this kind of music, but even if everything was familiar, I was pleasantly surprised and couldn't compare this album directly to anything I listen to.
"I've been dreaming up a storm lately" is hilarious.
I can't point out anything about the music I particularly enjoyed, but I was grinning as I listened.

3.5/5

15. insertnamehere - The Mountain Goats - All Hail West Texas

Spoiler: show

I appreciated this for what it was. I've not ever heard Lo-Fi, didn't know what it was.
Problem is that Low Fidelity music is literally designed to be lower quality. There are goo things and bad things about this.
-The recording quality was iffy. The voice sounds like it's coming over an old radio, and I don't like that sound.
-The music had a grainy background sound.
-The arrangements didn't have much depth or variation in musical arrangement, excluding the 'blues in dallas' track.
I did not like these things. I also didn't like the voice of the vocalist. Felt like anyone could have done as well.
But in the simplicity of the songs, the chord progressions and lyrics really stood out. None of the tunes were unpleasant, and I didn't mistake one song for another despite the simple one-instrument setup. Takes me back to something simpler. I like the idea of two joe shmoes, one with a guitar, sitting in a bedroom and recording on a cassette tape. They put a lot of heart and originality into their work, even if the voice is bland and the music is simple. Even though the voice doesn't try to emotionally inflect on its own lyrics, these songs felt more genuine than anything in modern pop music.
I had been planning to give this a 2/5, but after reading my review and thinking about it, I'm not going to do that.

3/5

16. Golden - Corinne Bailey Rae - The Heart Speaks in Whispers (Deluxe)

Spoiler: show

I'm sorry to say that I was bored. There is no sin that music can commit that is worse than boring me.
I'd like to point to something specific. But the voice was pleasant, the production values were high, the music was 'pretty', and the tone was relaxing. But I listened to the whole album, and nothing interested me in the slightest. Perhaps it's just the genre.
The voice was pretty. But it didn't do much for me. It's like it was relying on it's own natural tone rather than doing something interesting musically.
I'd say more, but I just zone out every time I try to pay attention.
I don't even like this as background music. It's too... bleh. I can't articulate. Bored now. Not annoyed, just bored.

1.5/5

17. MovingPictures07 - Dead Can Dance - Within the Realm of a Dying Sun

Spoiler: show

I've never heard any Neoclassical Darkwave before, but to me it sounds like the perfect mix of gothic atmospheric music and... well, actual music. Each track gave me a different kind of epic or melancholic swelling feeling, but that wasn't all that drew me. The music itself was pretty good, well arranged. Even if the tone was altered, and the lyrics changed to something less foreign angelic and more generic, I would have enjoyed the arrangement of the music. The two aspects complimented each other though, so I prefer things as they are.
The album didn't overstay it's welcome at all, and it's definitely something I wouldn't mind revisiting. Especially if running a D&D campaign.

4/5

18. nutella - Bobby McFerrin - Circlesongs

Spoiler: show

The concept here is amazing. Vocal-only jazz. Love that. And I liked the rhythm of the first track. But the main, standout vocalist immediately turned me off with his tone and timbre. I could listen to the backgroundists and bassists for a while. With Bobby himself, or whoever, I slip from "This is pretty cool and unique" to "please stop making that noise with your mouth."
Some tracks have much better sounds than the others. Circlesong 3 is better than 2 or 1, for example. (That's how far I've gotten. :P)
Some of the vocals sound haunting and mood-driven, but when that happens, the beat vocals are usually undercutting them and clashing with their vibes. Moments like this point to what I feel is the squandered potential of this album. The concept and skill and individual bits shown could have blown me away, but certain choices in the musical design left them just north of mediocre.
Circlesong 6, the longest song on the album, pushes up the score, though. I was planning on 2 or 2.5 based on the first half of the album, but song 5 and 6 pushed it up for me.

3/5

19. speedchuck - Toehider - What Kind of Creature Am I?

Spoiler: show

Toehider is (for the most part) one guy, Michael Mills. I ran into him on the Ayreon rock opera The Theory of Everything and decided almost immediately that he was in my top 3 vocalists of all time, if not my favorite. When I went to check out his original band, I was surprised to find a silly proggy rock mashup of everything I like in music. Everything. This is the first album that I listened to, and is my favorite Toehider work, and one of my favorite albums of all time.

5/5

20. G-Man - The Stooges - Fun House

Spoiler: show

Grungey, grimy, straight-up rock. Normally, something I'd like, but for a couple of issues I had. First, the mix. The music should be powerful, in your face, driven. But everything sounds muddy, like I'm listening from far away on the other side of a building. Perhaps that's just 70s music mixing for you, but it turned me off immediately.
Secondly, some parts of the songs are very, very repetitive. I'm pretty sure the bassist is doing the same thing for 4 minutes straight in some cases. The vocals aren't much less repetitive than that, nor is the guitar.
Iggy Pop has a rough sound, and I'm not a huge fan of it on certain songs.
If there was a strong redeeming grace here for me, I'd call attention to the guitar. Even if I hate the way it's mixed in, I have the urge to pull that guitar out, turn it up, make it more crisp and clear, then listen to it without any vocals to get in the way. It sounds fun to play, and it sounds good. Even when repeating itself, the guitar is making some really good sounds.
Taking the music as a whole, the rampant energy doesn't do enough for me.

2.5/5

21. sprityo - Michael Guy Bowman - Mobius Trip and Hadron Kaleido

Spoiler: show

I liked this. It continued to mix the electronic approach to the music with instruments that at least sounded analog. The variety kept me going, as well as the light mood-setting synth effects. The vocals were not super impressive, but they fit the music. Everything was peppy and energetic most of the time, the music was mixed well and fit together cohesively.
Feel like I'm repeating myself.
Couldn't help but tap my foot and appreciate the weirdness that the synth brought to this relatively normal pop sound. I like it in the same way I like Thomas Dolby. It's quirky and fun, though nothing mind-blowing.
Nothing negative here, thought the positives didn't really blow me away. Looking back, I apparently didn't like this the first time I heard it. Go figure.

4/5

22. thellama73 - Comus - First Utterance

Spoiler: show

I loved the music. From the moody, groovy bits to the soul-filled acoustic ripping, the music grasped everything I like about folk and then twisted it into something different, but good. The way that the music came out and in, syncing with the vocals, then jumping to something else entirely, I couldn't help but be entertained.
But the vocals. I just don't know.
At times, the singing was haunting, at times angry, at times goofy, at times incomprehensible. While the vocals always fit the music, I found myself in the full range of 'like' to 'hate' at any given moment. I enjoyed the lyrics most when they synched up with the rest of the sound, and hated it most when it was being odd and loud.
Yet, in all of that, it didn't DETRACT from the music, or RUIN it. It was a part of the music, and I can't judge them seperately here. Altogether, things occasionally sounded unpleasant, which bothered me even when it was a part of the 'mood'. Those times were worth enduring for the unique and often haunting or insane tone of the album. I could see some sort of urban fantasy horror story set to these tunes.
Good for mood-setting or if you want to hear a different side of what folk can do.

3.5/5

23. JaggedJimmyJay - Mariee Sioux - Faces in the Rocks

Spoiler: show

This album is beautiful. I thought so months ago when I first heard it, and I think so now. It is the most wholesome, beautiful sound I've heard in music. More soothing, more peaceful, more pleasant than any other sound.
That's not what I always look for in music, but it is a plus.
I don't usually catch enough of the lyrics in these albums to review them that much, but the imagery in these lyrics takes the beauty to a whole 'nother level. If the album was only beauty, it would be vapid and dry. The lyrics and the haunting tone elevate this into a natural, whole and full beauty that relaxes body, heart, and soul.
I have yet to find another album like this.
All of the above being said, this isn't really my kind of album. I don't listen to music to relax typically, though if I did, this one would be on repeat. I usually listen to music for the energy, story, instrumentation, structure, or some combination thereof. This album is pleasant, and the instrumentation on display is skillful and unique, but it doesn't hit a lot of my buttons. That's the only thing keeping it out of my 'beloved albums' box.

4/5

24. Epignosis - Tears for Fears - Songs From the Big Chair

Spoiler: show

I've really underestimated how much I love this genre. Just the sound of it appeals to me. From the sound of the vocals to the mix itself. Love it. And the album kicks off really strong, with some great songs to use that sound to the fullest.
I Believe is the only track that I don't care for. It's not bad, per se, but it doesn't play to the strengths of this sound and set of musicians. It was just a song, whereas Shout, for example, is a classic. (No, I'm not biased toward hits. Shout is just really good IMO.)
There are a few places that the album took me by surprise, hitting me with something sharp and cutting after a long, brazen and full verse.
Either I'm in a good mood or I'm just hitting a bunch of great music lately.

4/5

25. A Person - Moor Mother - Fetish Bones

Spoiler: show

I'm saving 0.5 and 1 out of five for albums I couldn't finish. Yeah, sorry, this is one of them. I could handle Dataplex, a later submission that ripped and screeched at me, but at least it was doing something. Fetish Bones has "noise" as a part of its genre, and I would rather listen to the sounds of the street or computerized whining chirps than just NOISE.
The hip hop poetic inciting lyrics were okay. But even with them there, I was treating the album like a marathon, holding out through the pain. Once I realized what I was doing, I decided that I'd given the noise a fair enough shake and shut it down. Painful. Not for me.

0.5/5

26. triceratopzeuhl - Townes Van Zandt - Townes Van Zandt

Spoiler: show

I actively dislike modern country. Anything after the turn of the century is pretentious, low-brow, boozy, cruddy, overblown crap. The fake accents, the horribly meaningless and trashy lyrics, the sound of the guitar, the same-y poppish sound that is ruined by the aforementioned flaws... It's all trash, all of it.
90s country I liked, at time. It was honest, gritty, harsh, and told stories that were too down-to-earth for rock or pop to get across. It felt good. There are some 90s country songs that I would put up there with my favorite nostalgic songs.
Where did I feel on Townes Van Zandt?
It wasn't modern country. It didn't physically hurt to listen to it. But it also didn't have the edge, the realness of the 90s country. It was a collection of ballads that, while honest, pretty, and atmospheric, were ultimately forgettable. I wouldn't say that's a dig at the music. I can imagine someone getting hooked into these songs, swaying with the strings, and singing every clear and lonely word. It's a romantic album, and I mean that in the classiest way possible. Good for it.
On a personal enjoyment scale, though, I just cannot get into it at all. It's like mint and dark chocolate together. I can see why people appreciate the richness and the refreshing flavor, but it's just not something I want to experience if I have the choice.

2/5

27. sprityo - Ratatat - Classics

Spoiler: show

Steady. Nostalgic. Some cool electronic or snappy string grooves. In general, this is what I expect music to vary from. A good strong and steady beat, with melodies and harmonies that mesh and repeat well. Some of it is electronic. Some of it is not, or does a good job of sounding like it's not. All of it is... average. A good average, but still average.
I generally want something a little more interesting out of my instrumentals, but if I were streaming or working or playing video games, this would make good background music. Like any good electronic stuff.

2.5/5

28. Ricochet - Phoenix - Mugur de fluier

Spoiler: show

It's hard to review foreign language stuff most of the time. This isn't much of an exception. I can't really tell what Phoenix was going for with this album. I don't know what they were singing.
But dang, instrumentally, they nailed it. (What is it?) THEY NAILED SOMETHING!
Musically, I loved every second of this album. Everything happened as I thought it should. Bass and violin came in at just the right times to accentuate each other, the chanty interludes gave the album some structure, the tone of the lyrics fit the music, there was just the right mix of rock and... music. Like I said, hard to review. All I could say while sitting and listening was "I like this. I like every part of this." It made me want to bob my head, drum along, or pick up a bass guitar.
Musical bliss.
I just wish I could understand more about it.

4.5/5

29. G-Man - A Flock of Seagulls - A Flock of Seagulls

Spoiler: show

Ah, more new-wave-ish stuff. To make my opinion easy, I could compare this album to Tears for Fears's Songs From the Big Chair. In which case I would say this album is more consistent, but not as strong.
There are a lot of albums I've listened to from this topic that had me waiting for them to end, even if I didn't necessarily dislike them. This was not one of those. I got to the end of the album, and I felt like I could start over and go straight through it again. Which is... both good and bad.
The album didn't have a sound I would get tired of easily, but it also didn't wow me with the impressive strength and power of some New Wave stuff I've heard. The mix just wasn't as strong. But that lack of strength made it easy for the music to fade into the background pleasantly. It didn't demand my attention, but instead sought to please me unintrusively while allowing some interesting poppy lyrics if I decided to listen intently.
All around, I enjoyed this album. I'd listen again. That's all I can say about it.

3.5/5

30. MovingPictures07 - Esbjörn Svensson Trio - Leucocyte

Spoiler: show

The album cover in the Youtube video sums up my thoughts on this album pretty well. The name of the album, Leucocyte, appears in bold black letters on a white background. Simple, clean. Just like the music all arrangement. Drums, bass, keys, everything sounds very clean and crisp and perfectly played.
But then the title is printed again, with parts of it rearranged. And again. And again. This is what the album does with the music, taking these clean and well-played instruments and piecing together movements over and over and over again. And, in my opinion, like with the album cover, you end up with a mess that's hard to look at.
I like structure in my music. I like songs that are either short or broken up into clean parts that have their own sound. While this album tries to do the latter, without words or a change in the style of the music itself, all I see it it moving on to the next 'thing'. Like the last title printed on the album, instead of moving from character to character we just move from blacks and whites to whites and blacks. There is good musicianship in here, and I like a lot of the more sparse and melodic movements, but it's just messy to keep track of, and the lack of structure kills my enjoyment.
That's more of a me-thing than a music thing, but it's a thing.
I don't understand how people can listen to unstructured, 'artsy' music without drinking fine wine and eating cheeses that don't actually taste good, just for the splendor and nuance. It's probably how some normal people feel about Prog.

I wrote this review after listening to one song. I don't expect the rest of the album to change my opinion at all. That's not how this type of music goes.

1.5/5

31. nutella - Woodkid - The Golden Age

Spoiler: show

I instantly liked the music of this album. Not loved, but liked. And then the vocalist came in and ruined it. Song #1, The Golden Age, did not fit the voice that came with it at all. It sounded like it should have a clear, beautiful singer to match the tone and feel of the song, but instead we got a blase murmurer.
Then song #2 came along, Run Boy Run. The orchestral sound was still there, but it had lowered itself to a more gritty and catchy level. The vocalist fit in perfectly, and Run Boy Run was enjoyable all of the way through. The orchestral percussion really gave the piece an alive feel.
The rest of the album relied on that percussive impact to pull me in and present a cohesive work. Before I reached the end of the album, I had to go back and check that first song, and make sure that I really disliked it. I was suprised to find that I still did, because the rest of the album kept pushing my expectations higher and higher.
There was only one other song, Where I Live, that disappointed me by returning to the discordant beauty of pianic orchestra. The voice just doesn't fit that. That combination doesn't work for me.
Overall, I found this to be a great introduction to Orchestral Pop, with a unique voice to carry the songs when it fit in. Other than a couple of missteps, I liked the sound. Its beauty, in a strong and epic sense, made me feel like this sound was from a bygone era. Any music that can make me feel is definitely worth a listen.

4/5

32. speedchuck - That Handsome Devil - A City Dressed in Dynamite

Spoiler: show

That Handsome Devil was introduced to me through the games Guitar Hero 2 and Rock Band 2, way back when that was how I got into music. Those games are solely responsible for my somewhat diverse tastes. And in the middle of those games, I found some goofy, irreverent tunes that couldn't help but tap my foot to.
Elephant Bones (not on this album, but worth a listen) and Rob the Prez-O-Dent.
I only fell further in from there.
That Handsome Devil creates booze-soaked bops that imitate anything from elevator music to rockabilly funk (as if I know what that is), selling it all with the distinct vocal drawl of Godforbid and lyrics that barge into inappropriateness with all the grace of a ballet hippo. This fusion spawn tunes that I, at least, can't help but sing along with, and this album has some of my favorites on it: Wintergreen, Rob the Prez-O-Dent, Pills for Everything, Viva Discordia, and Mexico.
I don't know what else to say. Start the playlist, kick down the Damn Door, and (hopefully) enjoy the bumpy ride.

4.5/5

33. insertnamehere - Timber Timbre - Creep On Creepin' On

Spoiler: show

I appreciate what this album is trying to do, really. I also like the full sound of the mix, and the vocals are superb and creepy in their own right. But listening to this album wore me out. The full mix became overwhelming when things got over-the-top, and the music dragged in places. The sound itself, while putting up a good atmosphere, was a little too squealy and zany for me sometimes.
And then the problem, with atmospheric music like this, is that it drained energy from me rather than giving it. I don't regret listening to it, but I wouldn't do it again, because I'd feel more worn out after than before. I wanted more energy out of this, even if it was frantic. That might be a problem with the genre for me, because I felt that the music was good.
Subjectivity doesn't let me rate this very highly, though.

2/5

34. Epignosis - Chris Squire - Fish Out of Water

Spoiler: show

Fish out of Water was about what I expected. Soothing but interesting yes tunes, a bit more emphasis on the bass. I wasn't blown away, but do I have to be? I enjoyed this immensely, though it's more like music that I would listen to while driving, working, editing, and so on than music I would use to hype me up or music that I would listen to on it's own. That's just me I guess.
Definitely toe-tapping (yes, even to lucky seven. I'm a drummer, I can toe tap to anything.)

4/5

35. JaggedJimmyJay - Joanna Newsom - Ys

Spoiler: show

I should like this. Really, I should. I like strings. I like folk, or I thought I did. I like atmospheric music, and I like lyrics that paint pictures like this. But wow, that voice. I couldn't stand it. It varied too much, and from the tone and timbre, to the unstructured way that she moved her voice with the music... didn't like it at any point. It sounded too strained at points, too try-hardy in others. When she warbled, I cringed. When she slurred and mumbled, I flinched. Just no.
And the music did the same thing in places. Though I appreciated the tone of the music, it still, at times, broke structure to match what the vocals were doing, and I didn't like that.
The lyrics themselves were beautiful, reading them. Fine poetry, and I felt like another voice could have presented it in a way that I loved. But this one just made my skin crawl.

1.5/5

36. dunya - Drake - Take Care

Spoiler: show

The use of n***** and p**** make me uncomfortable, so I'm going to mark this as the second submitted album that I could not finish. I barely got started before deciding that it wasn't worth the discomfort, when I'm looking for enjoyment in music. I'm trying to give every album a fair shot, but as I said on my first listen when this was submitted, racial and gender-related slurs or profanity push it too far for me. I don't really care if an f-bomb is dropped now and then, or anything lesser than that, but anything I think of as a 'slur' rather than a cuss word, even if it's not used as one because Drake is allowed to say it, makes me uncomfortable. Welcome to America, I guess.
Also rhyming the n-word with itself over and over is kinda lazy.
But on to the actual music, which I heard on the first track only. It was... good. Pleasant. It wasn't gaudy and self-important, like a lot of mainstream crap I've heard. It was down to earth, pretty, and musical. Drake's voice itself was pleasant to listen to, not at all harsh. Having looked up the lyrics to the title track alone, I'd say that this album does have some pretty good lyrical content in it, despite the landmines.
It's not an album for me, it wasn't directed at me, and I'll pass. To those outside of my cultural situation and bias, I can see and hear the quality.

1.5/5

37. G-Man - Vince Guaraldi Trio - A Charlie Brown Christmas

Spoiler: show

I guess I'll provide some perspective.
This was really, really good. I've heard a lot of these songs before, at some point or another, but I've never listened to this album or seen A Charlie Brown Christmas. I went in without expectations, I guess. Some tunes were familiar, some weren't, but I feel like I could listen to this at any time of year and be satisfied.
The tunes work best as background music, in my opinion. But I could reasonably just close my eyes and listen. I guess this is what iconic music is. There's a reason this movie was so popular, and I'll bet a lot of it has to do with the music.
I'm not going to go into detail like some of you do. I have an ear for musical intricacy, which is why I listen to prog, but I'm not good at explaining what a piece does or how it does it and why that makes it good. All I know is that I like it. And I like this.

4.5/5

38. MovingPictures07 - Flying Lotus - Cosmogramma

Spoiler: show

Within the first 30 seconds I've been greeted with retro gaming vibes, asian styled music, and various electronic wibbly-wobblies. I have to start the thing over to make sure this is what I heard. Answer: Yes, but there's more!
At least the second song reminds me of gaming sountracks from the early 2000s. Frogger 2, maybe (muh childhood!). Some VVVVVV in the more digital-heavy parts, but still with more substance/style. This is really neat background music, constantly changing and moving and (my favorite word) warbling. I usually have trouble finding good background music outside of soundtracks. Mostly because I'm not into/know nothing about electronic music.
Everything stays that way till Intro//A Cosmic Drama showcases some soft (electronic?) strings and whimsical mood-setting flourishes. Very different than what came before. That mood-setting high feeling continues into the next track. Computer face brings us back brings us back.
I doubt I'll have much esle to say about this album unless something changes. The electronic parts make me feel nostalgic for some reason, and the softer, more moody parts are genuinely good chill mood setters. I do prefer the electronic pieces more, but I can see myself saving this album and putting it on in the background. Not while writing, though. Wouldn't fit my type of writing.
I do have another thing to say. This album is like onions. There are so many laters, so many pieces to the music. It has depth, but it meshes well and doesn't get confusing or overblown.
...And The World Laughs With You has singing, which surprised and pleased me, and a clicking sound in the background, which hurt my ears and made me turn the album down.
I keep thinking I'm done commenting, and then new things are introduced. I underestimated the variety, it seems. Arkestry is more percussive than anything, but pulls together the mood-setting and electronic bits from before with a little sax. It's a little too unfocused for my taste, and anything with that ambient (staticy?) noise in my headphones bothers me. Ends well though.
I appreciate the artistic choices in most of the music tracks, but based on the music videos, I have to wonder if they're marketing this to people that are high? I don't understand that kind of culture or their videos. I just kinda get that vibe from the way it looks, and it sort of taints my perception of certain songs. But when I close my eyes and listen to the music alone, it sounds good. So idunno.
Satellite would be better without vocals IMO.

4/5

39. JaggedJimmyJay - CunninLynguists - A Piece of Strange

Spoiler: show

This was chill, it was good. Maybe it's the 'southern' hip-hop agreeing with me, but I enjoyed this album. I could click on a random time in the album, and I have no doubt that the resulting beat would leave me bobbing my head with a vacant smile on my face. This is good stuff. It's not profanity-laced, the lyrics aren't garbage (what what I could tell), and the instrumentation isn't lazy. The voices were pleasant.
Basically, this is a genre I don't like, but with all of the things that I don't like about it taken away.
The rhythm of the music is infectious, and I can still feel a shadow of it after listening to the album.
That's about all I have to say. I enjoyed this, and would put it on in the background again.
Oh, and now I really want to go back and listen to Arthur Brown. FIRE. I'LL TAKE YOU TO BURN.

3.5/5

40. speedchuck - Rishloo - Feathergun

Spoiler: show

This alum was introduced to me by a friend, a couple of years ago. I heard it, thought it was noisy but interesting, then forgot about it for a year. At some point the songs came back into my head. I asked about them looked them up, and began playing them at work on my headphones. With every listen I enjoyed the songs more, though I can't point to why or how. They are progressive, but not unduly so. Heavy, but not grating. Complex, but not up their own ass. Pleasant at times, but not beautiful. Hard-edged, but not unkind. Lyrically interesting, but not entirely profound. Full of variety, but in no way that is ultimately surprising.

And I suppose that the lack of extremes fits in the way that I like Rishloo, or specifically this album. It's different and interesting and fun to listen to, whether intently or in the background. Whatever I'm in the mood for, I can always listen to it. I would put Rishloo near the center of my musical tastes, a midpoint that is high in quality. All of my other musical tastes branch out from elements of this style of music.

I suppose that is why I submitted this.

4.5/5

41. nutella - Chris Thile, Edgar Meyer, Stuart Duncan, Yo-Yo Ma - The Goat Rodeo Sessions

Spoiler: show

I don't really like bluegrass. As much as I love stringed instruments, and as much as I like the concept, bluegrass just doesn't appeal to me. Just like with country music, I dislike to voices. And on top of that, bluegrass always seems to have the same circular, bouncing rhythm.
So while I approached this album with trepidation, I was rewarded with a mostly-instrumental album, completely free of faux southerners, that did not jangle along with the traditional rolling banjo. No. This was art, and I loved every second of it. I mean that in the most literal sense. The moment-to-moment music was perfect in sound, pleasing, interesting, and fun. The album was structured in a way that game me a distinct feel of what the band was trying to do, especially with the songs that had lyrics, but it didn't feel constrained by the structure.
And the energy here was just astounding.
I don't know what separates this album from... say Leucodyte. It's hard to say. There was enough structure to please me, and the instruments took me in various directions. The pieces weren't busy enough to throw me about, but each instrument was giving its all. It was like listening to one of my favorite prog bands freestyling on a sound test, but with less solo wankery and more strings.
I nearly gave this a 4.5/5, but while I loved every second of the album, I don't see myself coming back to it on the regular like I have with Beneath the Brine and other 4.5s. I have trouble articulating why, but I'd draw it down to preference. I can't sing along, and the music doesn't pump me up. It's background music, and art that I can appreciate with awe. By filling 2/4 of my 'things I look for in music'', The Goat Rodeo Session earns a well-deserved 4.

4/5

42. Epignosis - Kansas - Somewhere to Elsewhere

Spoiler: show

Somewhere to elsewhere starts with one of my favorite songs of all time. Icarus II is fantastic. I also love When The World Was Young, and Myriad. Perhaps you see the pattern. I like the faster or more power-driven tunes. The more ballad-y or slow tunes like Byzantium and Dissappearing Skin Tight Blues are merely amazing, and not my favorites.
To point out what I like about this music would be hard. It would be easier to say that these songs have nothing in them that I DON'T like. The instrumentation, alternately meaningful and clever lyrics, soulful (maybe that's the world I'm looking for) vocals and interesting rhythmic drum tracks that don't get too trashy or meaninglessly complex/noisy, all of it is what I want.
This is not my favorite Kansas album. It is my second favorite. If I took the half of this album I actually loved, or by itself with the additions of Down The Road, Icarus (Borne on Wings of Steel), Miracles out of Nowhere, Magnum Opus, and some classics like Wayward Son and Point of Know Return, it would not only be a 5.0, it would be my favorite album of all time.
So should I give this a 4.5 or 5.0? I lean toward 4.5. I want to save 5.0 for something that I come across that not only blows me away, but also does so consistently.
...
Giving it a 5.0 anyway.

5/5

43. MovingPictures07 - Ryoji Ikeda - dataplex

Spoiler: show

I listened to the whole thing. And I would do it again.
Wasn't expecting to enjoy this thing. But lo and behold, I had no issue sitting through it. Even the high-frequency sounds fit the music, and I can't say that I wished they were gone.
By using the digital sounds, outside of the normal spectrum for music, dataplex has become something special. It demonstrates how you can take harsh or unpleasant sounds and link them together to make something good. The beats were what I appreciated most. They made me want to move, which is one of my 'things that I appreciate in music'. With the album moving a variety of beats along at a rapid pace, I didn't have to worry about getting bored or fatigued. Whenever something I didn't like came along, I just waited two minutes.
I put this music on in the background while working. It's surprisingly good for that. The music sounds like the way that my brain works, rapid paced, processing several different things at once, never letting up. It speaks to me.
Of course, all is not good. My praise doesn't change the fact that I would have enjoyed the album just as much at half the length. It doesn't change that I had to listen to this on headphones, so as not to have people scream at me. This is still a harsh album with an unpleasant tone, one that I wouldn't recommend to anyone. It still doesn't have many different avenues by which I enjoy it.
But dang, I could actually see myself listening to this again.
...

3.5/5

44. dunya - Pescado Rabioso - Pescado 2

Spoiler: show

The first track of this album is amazing.
Within the first fifteen minutes of this album, I came to the conclusion that I was listening to Pink Floyd, translated into another language. While the album did stray from that sound a little bit, at no point did I feel like the music was something new. Everything was derived from music I've been hearing for years. This particular derivation is good, and I suppose it's nice for Spanish people to hear in their language, considering that they outnumber us English folk. But it's not all that different.
More interestingly, as I was hinting to, this is a Spanish album that holds little hint of what I'd expect as Spanish or Latin American sounds. It just sounds like 60s-80s psyche rock, which is fine, but a little odd. Based on the voice and tone and music, I expect to be hearing english, but none of the words make sense. It's jarring, but I kinda dig it in that way.
As the album entered the latter two thirds, it began to do interesting things again, just as the first track did. Non-musical sounds for effect, synth organs used to give it a mystic feel, and so on. Again, I dig it. It wasn't mind-blowing, but it gave the album a little of its own flair.

3/5

45. G-Man - Local H - Pack Up The Cats

Spoiler: show

Local H decided to start this album with noisy, energetic rock, and made the unfortunate choice to include a rather annoying voice droning "allrightohyeah" constantly during breaks. Horrid. But in between these awful breaks, the music finds a rather catchy beat, and at times surprises me with a particular turn or choice.
This pendulum swinging back and forth, from annoying to servicable and then to catchy and fun, characterizes the album. Even the vocalist was likeable at times, even most of the time, but he couldn't refrain from getting too excited. And when he goes all-out, it sounds awful.
On the other hand, kitty noises.
As the album progresses, I gain more appreciation for the guitar tones, and the highlights of the songs get better. But I can't get past the more annoying and noisy bits. I'm all for energy, powerful sound, distortion, etc., but some small parts of this were grating.

3/5

46. JaggedJimmyJay - Marina & the Diamonds - The Family Jewels

Spoiler: show

I'm going to TL;DR at the start: Inoffensive, but not my thing at all.
I liked Marina's voice a lot, and the music showed talent. Everything came together as one piece, and nothing was jarring or awful-sounding. Pleasant when it wanted to be, but varied enough to show the strengths of the singing and songwriting. I'd like to believe that I fully appreciated this album's songwriting, and the vibe it as going for.
But I just can't get into this music because it doesn't hit any of my qualifiers. It's not complex, interesting, heart-pumping, nostalgic, or atmospheric, and I can't see myself wanting to sing along with it. It just is. It's not for me, but for others that appreciate the general vibe of the lyrics rather than any interesting narrative, and for those who want something that is "pretty" but also has some meat to it. I think. It's hard for me to say what others want.

2.5/5

[JaggedJimmyJay]

Glad to have you, speedchuck! You're not too late, I'll add your album to the thing. I'll set up the poll sometime this afternoon.

[JaggedJimmyJay]

Sorry for the delay folks, but the new poll is up. It'll conclude Saturday night just before we transition to Week 11.

[JaggedJimmyJay]

I hope we can find a way to get Golden, Epi, and Rico into the mix finally.

[Ricochet]

Pity votes, ey?

[thellama73]

I feel I should explain my selection. Pandora's Box is a project by songwriter/producer Jim Steinman, best known for writing all the song's on Meat Loaf's Bat Out of Hell, as well as Bonnie Tyler's Total Eclipse of the Heart. In an homage to 60s girl groups like the Shangri-Las, he assembled four female vocalists to perform his original material. The album was basically a flop, but most of the tracks would later be performed to great success by other artists, the most notable being Celine Dion's smash hit It's All Coming Back to Me Now. Here are all the originally version, which I almost universally prefer to later versions. There's also a cover of a Doors song and a Burt Bacharach song, which is somewhat regrettable.

Overall though, it's a record of great vocal performances and great songs produced by the most over the top guy in rock and roll.

[thellama73]

I can't see who voted for what, though, which makes me rather sad.

[speedchuck]

I voted for it. Though my votes have mostly been driven by cool-sounding names and artists I barely recognize.

Edit:
Ran out of room in my previous post. MORE MUSIC REVIEWS! Albums 47-???

Spoiler: show

Continuing from 47...

47. speedchuck - Ayreon - Universal Migrator Pt I: The Dream Sequencer

Spoiler: show

Ayreon holds a special place in my heart. And for a time, this album was at the bottom of that place, the forgotten rubbish that was upended by the masterpieces that came after. For a time, that was so.
This album lacks the interplay between vocalists that is so prevalent on later albums. It lacks Ed Warby, the masterful drummer who carries every other Ayreon work. It lacks a story that pulls the album together, and it lacks the hard-driving metal edge that certain songs from other albums have. Heck, it even lacks that Celtic flair that I can find hidden away in my favorite albums.
Over time, however, I came to appreciate The Dream Sequencer for what it was. Songs like My House on Mars and The Druids Turn To Stone may not be tightly-written and powerful masterpieces that make me tremble with excitement, but they do their own thing. I can get lost in these two songs, in the sweeping tones and soulful lyrics. Other songs on the album paint a picture and give me a feel of what that time and place was like.
I appreciate this Ayreon album in a different way than most, but it still sticks with me, and I owe it more listens.
At least it is just as fun to sing with as any other Ayreon album.

4/5

48. MovingPictures07 - Madvillain - Madvillainy

Spoiler: show

I thought, after listening to the Cunninlinguists, that I was warming up to hip hop. Apparently not.
My thought process, upon picking up the album, was "Oh, this is going to be unique, look at this cool thing it's doing to my headphones." I'll hold to that. The album was unique. Madvillain mixed in a bunch of speech-like segments, some naturally-occuring noises, and segments of odd, concept-album-like linkage that held the album together. It was an experience, I suppose. If I had the lyrics in front of me, I think they would at least hint at a real supervillain story, as they seemed to when I payed attention to them.
But, to my ears, nothing in the album was really pleasant, and the sound wasn't interesting enough to make up for that fact. I took several breaks from this music, not because it hurt my ears, but because I just couldn't derive enjoyment of it. Sure, it was different from hip-hop I might hear on the radio, but the instrumentation was repetitive and screechy at times, the odd interlude segments didn't do much for me, and the rapping itself neither sounded pleasant nor made me want to follow the beat.
This album contains none of my 'things I like in music', to the point where I'm not sure why anyone would really love this album. I look forward to seeing the opinions of others.

1/5

49. Ricochet - Igor Stravinsky - Petrushka

Spoiler: show

I don't listen to classical music, outside of Looney Tunes and old Tom and Jerry bits. It's not that I don't like it. Classical music and I are acquaintances, and we get along just fine when put in a room together, but we aren't booking a church anytime soon. Since I'm not super familiar with classical music, I'm just going to step back and mostly talk about classical as a whole.

Before I do so, however, I will note that Petrushka is very good. It's not as stuck in my mind as some classical pieces I've heard, but I enjoyed it all of the way through. I'd give it a 4/5.

Now let's talk about the great disservice I just did this piece, from my limited perspective of classical (orchestral?) music.

Classical music is created completely differently than most music I listen to. Rather than a few different people brainstorming, putting together lyrics, themes, riffs, etc, it is composed on paper by either one or a group of mad geniuses. It is less a collection of contributions and more a work of mastery, of pure, unaffected, musical prowess. There is nothing cheap about classical music. It doesn't draw you in with lyrics that you can't get out of your head, wacky guitar tones, odd noises (most of the time) or unique instruments. It draws you in with the music itself. I'm painting what I've heard of the genre in broad strokes. I'm sure some could correct me regarding classical music having it's quirks, and it would only take them four and a half minutes.
Composition aside, we look at the performance of classical music. In the orchestral performances, dozens if not over a hundred (I have no idea) people are required to give the piece justice. This boggles the mind, for a piece that sounds so perfect. It's hard enough to get a couple guitarists to sync up with a drummer. Throw in that huge number of people with a conductor to pull it together, and in my mind, you're wrapping up a HUGE amount of skill, artistry, and talent across a great number of people, all of which have to work together without flaw, keeping the tone, mix, and flow correct for the piece to reach its height.

I have nothing but respect for classical music. And this is a good, enjoyable piece. That's all I have to say without looking up the ballet behind the music, and I don't actually care much about that.

4/5

50. ColinIsCool - Los Campesinos! - No Blues

Spoiler: show

Gareth has an interesting voice. For me, his distinctive vocals mirror those of other bands I enjoy, bands that have goofier or more fun-loving vocalists. I didn't mind it, but it didn't fit the big sound that the band was going for in some places. My opinion, of course.
This is an album that grows on repeated listens. The mix is pretty clear, despite the amount of things that are going on, and the lyrics are easy to follow a lot of the time. Nothing here wow-ed me, but it also stood out and had its own distinct sound. Like you said, it's solid.

3/5

51. nutella - Esben and the Witch - A New Nature

Spoiler: show

I just knew... I just knew from the warm guitar and bass tones at the start of this album that I was going to like it. As the music picked up more and more, I liked it more and more. It edged toward being drone-y at times, which I don't generally like, but the muddy tones were just clear enough for me to pick out.
But the vocals weren't clear. They weren't clean, or pleasant. They were moaning, groaning, alternately weak and soft and faltering and bleh. I do not want to hear a woman droning words repeatedly over the music. It wasn't all bad, I suppose. I found myself thinking several times that I was overreacting. And then the singer would draw out some line waaaay longer than it needed to be, sounding horribly drone-y and almost in pain. It was just on and off, the whole time.
Had to get that off my chest.
If this music were just the same, but instrumental, I'd probably give it a 3.5 or 4. The tone build and fall successfully, turning a sound I'd usually hear from an unmixed 'artistic' garage band playing in a smoke-filled venue into music, passion, warmth, and energy. When the music really picks up, especially during the instrumental parts, I feel like I could just listen to these musicians warble on for hours.

3/5

52. dunya - Emiliana Torrini - Fisherman's Woman

Spoiler: show

Torrini was pleasant. I always love simple, clear acoustic tones. The music feels like outdoors, like childhood nostalgia for things that never necessarily happened to me. And though I usually don't like breathy soft lyrics, they contributed. This is how you use that type of voice. The lyrical content was great, too. Everything contributed to the whole. It was perfect for what it was. I get how people could give this album a 5 out of 5.
That said, I generally don't listen to music that is designed to be preety. It's not my thing. I came into this album ready for boredom, the voice immediately turned me off, and I began to etch in the 2/5 rating. Just because this isn't my kind of music.
In the end, I couldn't do it. The album grew on me, the voice either legitimately became stronger or I just adjusted, and the music picked up in energy and beauty as the songs progressed. Everything was clean, and piece for piece appealed to me for a better rating. So I gave it.

3.5/5 (was 4/5, but I lowered it post-review)

53. G-Man - Explosions In the Sky - The Wilderness

Spoiler: show

I just had the most surreal musical experience of my life.

I was listening to the Wilderness, first track. Minding my own business. And I also hear, about 2 minutes in, a phone ringing. At first I think nothing of this. But then on the second ring, I noticed an unusual pattern. The phone ring... was a part of the music.
I'm not exaggerating when I say I hit a solid 2 seconds of confusion. The brrrrrrr of the phone ring lasted exactly half a measure, and the time between rings was a measure and a half. Down to the hundredth of a second, the ring was timed to start in the middle of a measure and end on the downbeat that started the measure again. It was perfect. Boom. Clap. Brrriiiiiiiig-Clap. It added to the music. No tonal inconsistencies, no timing mishaps. I was a part of a transient experience.
I paused the music. I had to make sure. Yes, the phone kept ringing. I knew the sound well, and I hear it all of the time in my office. But I couldn't separate it. For that moment, Explosions in the Sky had another instrument in their mix, and I will never be able to hear this song the same way again.

Album's pretty grand, BTW. I don't know that's it's really uplifiting to me, though I could see how it would be to others. I would need context to give music like this an emotional response. But it's good. Varied. Pleasant. Wistful. Contemplative, but explosive. Would listen again.

4/5

54. JaggedJimmyJay - Queensrÿche - Operation: Mindcrime

Spoiler: show

Operation Mindcrime is fun.
I've scarcely heard more dynamic and interesting vocals, in my time listening to music. Between the dynamic inflection, range, jovial delivery, and wailing harmony, the vocals capture everything I want in rock vocals. It catches my attention, makes me want to listen enough times that I can sing along.
The lyrics and music themselves are memorable pieces. "Revolution Calling" kicks off the album strong (what do you mean that's the third track?) And the next three tracks keep it going strong. "Speak" gets stuck in my head, as well as "Operation Mindcrime," the title track. It may just be that I haven't listened far enough to get into the latter half of the album multiple times, but I don't feel like the same ear-worm quality persists through the album. The first half rules my head with an iron fist. (except for maybe "The Needle Lies")
That is not to say that the second half of the album is bad. I'm not partial to any of those songs (yet), but listening through them as a whole, I can say that the technical quality holds up. I enjoy every second of the latter half, even if it isn't sticking with me yet. I go back and forth on whether the album has enough variety... songs like "The Mission" confuse me. It starts out very unique and interesting, then falls back to the same (albeit good) metal sound that the album has had. It goes back and forth like that.
The story of the album is dark, political and interfaces with religion. I really like the content and story of the lyrics, even if its message is a bit over the top. I can enjoy the simplicity of the story, the revolution, the forbidden love story, the emotional draw of anger, helplessness, and vengeance.

4.5/5 (or maybe a 4/5, we'll see once I dwell on it.)

55. speedchuck - Royal Blood - How Did We Get So Dark?

Spoiler: show

Enjoyable, though the second half of the album is unmemorable. The limited sonic range of the instruments leads to a unique sound, and in limited doses, a very enjoyable one.

3.5/5

56. MovingPictures07 - Oneohtrix Point Never

Spoiler: show

Lots of variety. I liked some of it. The ambient stuff went too heavy with the overtones, and (to me at least) much of the sampling got old. But when the sampling didn't stand out too much, the more melodic and structured songs on the album were pretty good.
Probably not my style.

2.5/5

57. Ricochet - Aphrodite's Child - 666

Spoiler: show

This was wild. I liked a lot of parts of it, though it took a while to get used to the old mixing. The music was of good to great quality most of the way through (Except for the song Infinity. It, and anything based on it, was uncomfortable and cringe-y to listen to). As I was listening through the album, I felt like I was listening through an event. At no point did I want to go back and relisten, but the album as a whole confronted me and flowed through. It was intense in places, as an apocalypse should be.
I'd rate the experience itself as a 4. But I don't have any desire to relisten.

2.5/5

58. Nutella - The Reign of Kindo - Rhythm, Chord & Melody

Spoiler: show

Rhythm, Chord, and Melody is really living up to it's name. It has the melodic instruments of Family Crest, holding together the "keys and strings" in beautiful melodies. But the music holds a frantic pace a lot of the time, sounding more like the melodic soft version of a prog band like Rishloo. (There may be more apt comparisons, but this is what comes to mind.) The music is both melodic and busy at times, in a way I don't usually hear. That makes it unique, though not necessarily better than if it chose one or the other.

Like with most of Nutella's submissions, the music is pleasant. Each individual instrument is played with skill, and none of them sound harsh or annoying. No grating singers, bagpipes, organs, or overdriven guitars here. It all sounds good, if a bit overwhelming with density at times.

That's my impression of the music, anyway. The songs didn't have strong individual hooks, and they were busy, but it was still a good sound. The vocalist really tied it all together.

3.5/5

59: G-Man - Loretta Lynn - Van Lear Rose

Spoiler: show

First impression of the album:

Van Lear Rose starts off sounding rather normal. It is old, soulful country, sung by a woman who is 70 but sounds 45. The problem I have with most country music is the accents, so at first I struggled to stay with it. But the genuineness of the album's tone kept me going, and after the first few songs, I began to see the rock influence. The latter two thirds of the album were not what I was expecting after the first third. The songs were varied, gritty at times, and utilized the talents and timbre of Loretta Lynn really well. She fits in so well with the rock instrumentation that I'm surprised I haven't heard that combination of tone and instruments before.

3.5/5

[Epignosis]

I got behind because I didn't feel inspired to sit through forty minutes of someone recording the sounds of the city. But I have.

Before I get into this spiel, I will remark that at times when the recorder interjected, I was reminded of "Thela Hun Ginjeet" by King Crimson.

I want to start with the end of the first half, when we get the intent of the production. Rosetto says she's been recording things, she takes them home, makes notes, cuts them up, and then reassembles them so that they have some kind of "narrative structure." The trouble is that I couldn't follow any narrative. I heard a bus driver (?) yelling at people on a bus (?). I heard a British(?) lady communicating something I couldn't follow. I didn't get any sense of narrative: What I heard was random noises from the outside world, which is something I can hear just by going outside in the city.

I'll give my two cents here, which I already know some will reject: This sort of thing may seem artistic, but it requires almost no skill to produce. The artist has no control over the "composition" (using that term loosely). There's no composition or performance on the part of the recorder other than sonic arrangement, and even that element seems minimal. Yes, I understand there is an art in arrangement, but here is my question: In music, people can generally agree if a singer is off key or if a drummer is off beat or if a recording engineer mixed the guitar solo too low. How do you judge the artist merits of a field recording? From my discussion with others on this subject, the answer I got was essentially, "If you like it, you like it."

Right-o. But that's true of everything, and isn't a particularly helpful answer if you're trying to convince me that this is art. Art implies creativity, and in this instance, was anything created? Again, perhaps you can argue that arrangement itself is an expression of creativity, but If that's all there is to it, then maybe I'll record forty minutes of my kids fussing and crying, arrange it to form some "narrative structure" and bingo- I'm an artist.

In discussing this with others elsewhere, some of us regarded field recordings as "bootlegs of the real world." If a person goes to a concert and records what's there, we call that a "bootleg," and even then, one wouldn't listen to that and feel that the bootlegger (rather than the band) was exhibiting some sort of artistic genius. However, it would seem that if the bootlegger took the recording home and chopped it up and reassembled it to have some kind of narrative, all of the sudden his "work" has a fancy French genre.

Sorry. I don't buy it.

Ricochet asked me what the difference was between hearing a bus driver yell at people on a bus and reading a chapter about the same subject. I said that when I read a chapter from a book, the author is going to tell about the bus driver and describe the scene his or her own way. If I asked Stephen King, John Irving, Margaret Atwood, and Anne Bradstreet to write a chapter about a bus driver yelling at people to move back, they are all going to produce different results that I can enjoy independently. The Bradstreet version should be especially good considering she wouldn't have any idea what a bus is. If King, Irving, Atwood, and Bradstreet were all sitting on that bus with the same recording device, we would hear more or less the same results. Yes, I get they would eventually go back and assemble their sounds into different orders and do "things" to the recordings. But I don't see what's so special about that.

I regard this as the difference between, say, Thomas Cole and Jackson Pollock. Anyone can make something that resembles a Pollock piece. Good luck trying to create something that looks like "The Voyage of Life" unless you are truly that talented.

And that's where I stand on that. 1/5

[JaggedJimmyJay]

I consider "skill" to be irrelevant as a factor for determining the artistic merit of something.

[Epignosis]

I consider "skill" to be irrelevant as a factor for determining the artistic merit of something.

I know you say so, but I'm skeptical regarding how true that really is.

[A Person]

>album review goes here<

I will just respond to the album by agreeing with this. I thought it was interesting he was trying something somewhat different, and I thought it interesting he took (to my ears anyway) some cues from the likes of BT on "The Veldt", but overall I was unimpressed and would say "benign" about sums it up. I am a bit more lenient than Rico is as far as beeps and bloops go, though.

[JaggedJimmyJay]

Since interpretation and reception of music (or any art) is by nature subjective, the creative process which inspires and builds the art is subject to the respect or disrespect of the observer. This includes whatever skills are necessary to generate whatever variety of music is being discussed. I would agree that arrangement is an important factor for field recordings specifically, but to judge the "quality" of an arrangement is inherently nonsense because it is reliant entirely upon the perspective of the observer. Person A (not intended as a reverse of the username ) might draw real meaning from any given thing while Person B might perceive it to be void of meaning or substance. Neither of them is objectively correct; they are simply reporting on their own subjective viewpoints -- which I would theorize are derived nearly at random.

Skill cannot be relevant because interpretation of skill is not consistent. One skill which is paramount to a progressive rock fan (such as technical aptitude with the instruments) might be meaningless to the pop fan who is much more concerned with some other skill (such as songwriting aptitude). Yet another person might not care about either one, and is instead only concerned with arrangement, or emotional resonance, or something very specific like time signature, or whatever other crap people might arbitrarily care about.

If even a single listener out there draws meaning and importance from something, then that person perceives a skill to exist in its creation (whatever that skill may be). I cannot find a way to justify calling that person wrong if I do not find the same something to be interesting. The notion makes no sense to me.

[JaggedJimmyJay]

Poor Golden.

[A Person]

I regard this as the difference between, say, Thomas Cole and Jackson Pollock. Anyone can make something that resembles a Pollock piece. Good luck trying to create something that looks like "The Voyage of Life" unless you are truly that talented.

I'm sure it will come as no surprise to you that I love Pollock.

[Tangrowth]

Hey guys, things have been crazy busy! I did get around to this week's album though and I'm giving it a 2.0. I'm not averse to solid EDM but this one was rather disappointing and hard to get through with any real enjoyment. Not really bad or anything though.

FYI I'm also modifying my rating for Woodface. Mulling over Crowded House some more this past week and although I love it, I realize I see the album as really more of a 4.25+, so I think a downward revision to 4.0 is required.

[triceratopzeuhl]

I haven't really been rating anything...

Chuck Berry - no rating (abstaining)
Crowded House - wasn't as interesting to me as I expected, didn't like the vocals much, 2.5/5
Kinks - always liked this album but only maybe my 4th or 5th fave kinks album, 4/5
Vanessa Rossetto - sorry not into it at all, 1/5
deadmau5 - haven't decided yet, it's ok but not my style of music

[triceratopzeuhl]

also FYI I've only been voting for albums I haven't heard in each poll (sorry Echolyn and De La Soul)

[speedchuck]

What happens to the options that don't get chosen?

[triceratopzeuhl]

they go in the next poll again unless the person changes their nomination

[nutella]

yooo let's get this show back on the road

it's been so long, I think I listened to deadmau5 and I vaguely remember finding it pretty dull/decent for background music or maybe dancey if in the right mood but it wasn't very exciting. yeah it's coming back to me now, I definitely posted about it but it was during the period of time from which the posts are lost. I should give it another listen but IIRC I rated it a 2ish?

[JaggedJimmyJay]

Hey y'all, by all means jump into the next album -- sorry that I cannot keep up currently. I have a ton going on this week. The next one is Epi's -- Echolyn. If anyone else can get those sexy graphics up to kick off the week, get 'er done! We can extend it to Monday of next week since it's delayed.

[Ricochet]

What about A Passion Play?

[JaggedJimmyJay]

I am fairly sure we got the full week out of A Passion Play, or at least very close to it, before the site exploded.

[nutella]

Yeah lol I forgot that happened after deadmau5 Can't remember what I rated it either. Probably 3.5?

[Golden]

I would rather have some time with passion play. Mind you I'm way behind cos of how busy I've been.

[Golden]

Like, the links again, giving people an opportunity to post about it even if they already did (because I've missed it)

[Ricochet]

The APP review, in case you didn't see it the first time (which, judging by the views count, you did not).



My hair grew back in the meantime. Pretty pointless haircut, that was.

[Ricochet]

[Epignosis]

I say give APP some more time.

[JaggedJimmyJay]

By all means, fine with me. I am too pressed for time anyway. Rico, please grab the links.