February 2016 resumé
This is no top ten list, it is just a bunch of records I've heard, that were released this month. Not the ones I've heard this month, but ones that were RELEASED this month. Therefore, as the time goes, I'll be adding more items on the list, since I listen to stuff constantly. By the way, the names occasionally written under the comments are titles of songs that I recommend. If there are none written, it's either because I didn't like enough of them or because I can't point out a highlight. And now a score guide: 10/9 - 5; 8 - 4.5; 7 - 4; 6 - 3.5/3; 5 - 2.5; 4 - 2; 3 - 1.5; 2/1 - 1 |
| 1 |  | Wildernessking
Mystical Future
A round of applaus to the vocalist for getting from a very low growls to very high shrieks so easily and a slap on the face to the production for making those vocals sound a bit distanced from otherwise well played and atmospheric music. 7/10
Update: Fuck it! It's full 8/10 |
| 2 |  | Jesu/Sun Kil Moon
Jesu/Sun Kil Moon
Mark Kozelek seems to get inspiration for writing lyrics from absolutely everything. And it's part of the magic here. 7/10 |
| 3 |  | Massive Attack
Ritual Spirit
Is this some kind of teaser for something much bigger that is yet to come? Cause you got me in for sure. 8/10 |
| 4 |  | Fuath
I
Alright, look, an epic music is not the one where you stretch a repetative instrumental on a long runtime. Though I do appreciate the effort put into the play, it does get a little boring at times. 6/10 |
| 5 |  | Beacon
Escapements
Simply said, it's good and interesting Electropop with a bunch of magnetising beats and though I'm not exactly happy with the vocals, I can't really imagine any other. 7/10 |
| 6 |  | The Black Queen
Fever Daydream
Somewhat similar to Beacon, but way more ambitious and explosive and with better vocals I'd say. However, I can't say that the tunes themselves and the lyrical structure were absolutely great. They definitely give less than they could have theoretically, despite the great beats and the production. 7/10 |
| 7 |  | DIIV
Is the Is Are
I liked their previous album quite a bit. I like this one too, but for all the different reasons. While Oshin was fun and definitely listenable, it lacked any actual distinct momentum or appeal for me. Well, this one is trying to improve that and is not as memorable instead. 6/10 |
| 8 |  | Decknamen
Librum
What a shame. You can really hear the talents on here. But the production is just wasted. The guitars sound distanced and messy and drums are overly loud and flat, despite being really well played. But Decknamen definitely have a bright future if they can fix the production. After all this is just a two tracks EP, so it's not that catastrophic. 6/10 |
| 9 |  | The Cult
Hidden City
This is a great bloodpumping Hard-Rock record with a lot of great hooks, melodies and overall enjoyable. It's some kind of mix of last year's Baroness and Graveyard, so if you liked those, you'll enjoy the shit out of this aswell. 8/10 |
| 10 |  | Mount Moriah
How to Dance
And this month's feature of "just okay and nothing much else to it whatsoever 6/10" records starts with this... |
| 11 |  | Kanye West
The Life of Pablo
...continues with that... |
| 12 |  | Radiation City
Synesthetica
...is followed by this... |
| 13 |  | Animal Collective
Painting With
...proceeded by that... |
| 14 |  | CFCF
On Vacaction
...and ended with this. |
| 15 |  | Ra Ra Riot
Need Your Light
"Excuse me, waiter, why is there sugar in my soup?"
"Well, that's the recipe, sir."
"Alright, then why is there more sugar than the soup?"
5/10 |
| 16 |  | C Duncan
EP
For those of you who, after listening to The Architect, wanted more... 7/10 |
| 17 |  | Macklemore and Ryan Lewis
This Unruly Mess I've Made
I never understood why does Macklemore and Ryan Lewis put their albums together the way they do. Every single heartfelt, emotional and powerful song is almost immediately replaced by some easy-going silly "let's have fun" kind of track. Like very self-conscious Light Tunnels is followed by a song about mopeds and so on and so forth. I'd be personally happier if they had just released all the silly and humorous songs and all the serious ones from here and their debut as two separate pieces, otherwise it more or less destroys any kind of momentum for me. 6/10 |
| 18 |  | Anthrax
For All Kings
What did I say last month about Megadeth? 4/10 |
| 19 |  | Nonkeen
The Gamble
I mean, it's Nils Frahm and co., what project DID he fail? 8/10 |
| 20 |  | Kula Shaker
K 2.0
Did nobody tell them that it's not 1970s anymore and that HIppie era ended with that Rolling Stones/Hell's Angels concert? But, to the band's credit, it is listenable and definitely good...for the standards of a so-so 70s album...in 2016. 5/10 |
| 21 |  | Mondo Drag
The Occultation Of Light
And the award for best Bluesy Psychedelic Rock album of the month goes to...MONDO DRAG. 8/10
Incendiary Procession, Dying Light |
| 22 |  | PINKSHINYULTRABLAST
Grandfeathered
It could have been just an okay Pop-y Shoegaze record, but those extremely high pitched vocals will simply irritate you by the end of every song. 5/10 |
| 23 |  | Good Willsmith
Things Our Bodies Used To Have
And this month's feature into oddball, electronic and occasionally instrumental Weird-Rock. 7/10 |
| 24 |  | Hypno5e
Shores of the Abstract Line
And the award for the most overblown, faceless and boring mixture of all the Metal genres imaginable without any actual focus or interesting ideas this month goes to...HYPNO5E. 3/10 |
| 25 |  | Eight Bells
Landless
Normally I'd probably dislike the idea of soft female vocals on a Black Metal record, but here it's just well pasted together. When the vocals do pop up they sound like a nice and atmospheric change from that epic and landscapic (irony, cause it is called LandLESS, but...well...whatever, nevermind) and very detailed sound. However, here's the thing, it does seem to me that at times the only actual reason why the music calms down and is a little more ambient is because otherwise the vocals would be simply unhearable during the regular sections of the record. But then again, it does sound nice occasionally. 6/10 |
| 26 |  | Kane Strang
Blue Cheese
It's definitely listenable. The tunes are good and occasionally that psychedelic atmosphere kicks in and even the vocals are okay. But almost every song ends abruptly and with nothing. Like as if the band accidentally released some demos that they wanted to finish later. 6/10 |
| 27 |  | Murals
Violet City Lantern
And yet another feature to this month's category of "could have been okay if not for the vocals" Pop albums. Now, truth be told, these vocals ain't bad. It's just that when the singer is trying to sing in falsetto, he doesn't quite "have it". Plus, the production of instruments is good, I like how echoic it is, but the production of vocals in some reason makes them louder than the music itself. And when the main thing in your album, on which you focus the most ain't that good...well, you got the idea. 6/10 |
| 28 |  | The Cave Singers
Banshee
Oh, wait, there's more to the "just okay 6/10 nothing else to it" records. |
| 29 |  | White Noise Radio
White Noise Radio
When Prog-Rock falls flat on every aspect that the only redeeming quality is that it involves instruments and is made by humans. 4/10 |
| 30 |  | So Pitted
neo
Holy shit! This is like your angsty teenager's wet dream. An underproduced, vocally and musically uninteresting and oddly written too. Just pure anger and no actual ideas. 4/10 |
| 31 |  | Quilt
Plaza
This is some genuinely sweet Psychedelic Pop. And maybe I didn't always necessarily liked that non-chalant easy-going music, I still found a lot of the content on this record to be fairly entertaining, so do check it out. 7/10 |
| 32 |  | Octagrape
Aura Obelisk
This is an earscrewing piece of Noise Rock that does feature a lot of really catchy and interesting tunes and music, but is also so long that, with the kind of production it has, it will burn your head out. 7/10 |
| 33 |  | Arabrot
The Gospel
If it wasn't for that Pop.1280 record that dropped earlier this year, I would have praised this record as one of the greatest Noise Post-Punk records in years. No kidding. 8/10 |
| 34 |  | Pinegrove
Cardinal
Wow, can you get even less imaginative? 5/10 |
| 35 |  | Golden Daze
Golden Daze
Easy listening. At some point you'll realise that it is so simplistic that every other song starts to sound alike. 6/10 |
| 36 |  | Vipassi
Śūnyatā
What an epic! I have to say, it's been an awful long time since I last heard an album where all the instrumentals compliment each other that well. 8/10 |
| 37 |  | Mothers
When You Walk A Long Distance You Are Tired
Well produced, decently written and even containing nice vocals, but unable to grip for a whole track. 6/10 |
| 38 |  | Lushlife
Ritualize
Lushlife seems to be very conscious about what he's doing. It contains a lot of unlikely features, very impressive music and a lot of wanna-seem-clever references. And the Lushlife's flow and emotions are very appearant and it's clear from the get-go that this guy means bussines. Lushlife definitely sets the bar here. He is really passionate about this. Musically, this is flawless, thanks to the production by CSLSX. Every song has its stages and progression as if each and every on of them were a timeline of events with a buildup, suspense, crescendo and aftermath. It has a lot of sharp drums, punchy electronica and even some rock influences, and those surprisingly enough work very well. From the bad sides, I think that Ariel Pink's guest appearance was a little drowned, but still enjoyable. So if you look for some actually good Hip-Hop music from the east coast, check this out. 8/10 |
| 39 |  | Feels
Feels
This album is unbelievably clumsy. From track to track it goes, from guitaristically impressive moody Psychedelica to angry Punk-Rock, from being vocally nice to breathy and cocky. It is just all over the place. But I do applaud the band's guts. 6/10 |
| 40 |  | The Zolas
Swooner
You've heard this already. Trust me, you did. 5/10 |
| 41 |  | The Black Feathers
Soaked To The Bone
This is some genuinely nice and enjoyable guitar only Folk with great vocals and clever lyrics. Give it a shot. 7/10 |
| 42 |  | Choir of Young Believers
Grasque
Please, even less emotions...5/10 |
| 43 |  | The Moth & The Flame
Young & Unafraid
Mixing lite catchy music with lite boring one. 6/10 |
| 44 |  | Entropia (PL)
Ufonaut
Atmospheric and heavy with sharp drums, nice riffs and great production. What else do you want? 8/10 |
| 45 |  | Banned Books
Banned Books
Could have been pretty okay hip and slightly punk-y rock album, but the vocals are just atrocious and out of tone. 5/10 |
| 46 |  | Mayen
Elegy
Though it surely might be appealing to a lot of people, since it is an easy-listening with a nice production. But it also is just another one of them same Indie Pop outputs that we hear million times a month. 6/10 |
| 47 |  | Griddle
Meat Kite
A cohesiveness in disorder. Although vocals could have been a tiny bit better, all together everything surrounding them, from lyrics to highly versatile music (seriously, there are trumpets, saxophones, pianos, and other stuff) is great. 8/10 |
| 48 |  | Holy Esque
At Hope's Ravine
A lot of very interesting and fun stuff on here. Though right now it sounds more like some kind of post-punk revival Indie rock with hoarse vocals that will be stuck in your mind for a long time. And for what they sound like, the performance is pretty solid. I hope next time they'll come together with even more grande and more compelling record. Maybe they'll put more riffs in it or more punky vibe (that would definitely compliment the vocals). 7/10
Prism, Silences, St., Hexx |
| 49 |  | Deep Sea Diver
Secrets
Surprisingly well put together record. I was expecting something a little more plain, but this has a lot of nice instrumentals and the singer's voice is very pleasing as well. I don't really have all that much to add other than check it out for yourself. 7/10 |
| 50 |  | Nyck Caution
Disguise the Limit
Quite good mixtape, but it can get a little exhausting by the end. 7/10
Inspire To Escape, Baptize, Crucifix, Out Of Reach, What's Understood |
| 51 |  | Francis
Marathon
Meh, it's okay. 6/10 |
| 52 |  | Candy
Azure
As far as Dream Pop goes, it is pretty okay, but not memorable or lyrically compelling at all. 5/10 |
| 53 |  | Ukandanz
Awo
Possibly the most creative Prog Rock album this year. Maybe it's because the band is Ethiopean (yes, you've heard right), but they truly seem to bring some kind of exotic vibes and rhythms to the mix and the vocal style. 8/10 |
| 54 |  | Oranssi Pazuzu
Värähtelijä
A heavy devilish piece. In a way it is quite similar to that Graves at Sea record that dropped in April. And in that the songs are mostly very long and repeat the same tune. 7/10 |
| 55 |  | Motorpsycho
Here Be Monsters
Motorpsycho, at their best, motivate to walk, spin, run and do other activities while using specific tools with potential morbid outcome. 8/10 |
| 56 |  | TW Walsh
Fruitless Research
Surprisingly enough, this works. Although it is a pretty stale Shoegaze-Pop, it has a personality that is just so sweet and pretty. However, occasionally it does fall into that trivial Synthpop cliché pit. 7/10
Shallow Water, Fundamental Ground |
| 57 |  | Bastard Thieves
Bastard Thieves
This is like some kind of 90s Black Metal nostalgia. Underproduced, raw and completely mindbendingly brutal and ruthless. 7/10 |
| 58 |  | Black Wizard
New Waste
A KILLER MONSTROSITY!!! HELL YEAH!!! 8/10 |
| 59 |  | Dawnbringer
XX
Here's a metal band that forgot that the 80s and 90s are over. 6/10 |
| 60 |  | Gosh Pith
Gold Chain
Why did I even went into this? Boring and gutless Electropop with some kind of R'n'B vibe and also with easily the most lifeless an bland vocals. 4/10 |
| 61 |  | The Observatory
August is the Cruellest
Could have been just a somewhat okay release, though slightly underproduced, but those vocals just sound as lazily as you could imagine. 5/10 |
| 62 |  | Quelle Chris
Lullabies for the Broken Brain
Easily the strangest Hip-Hop album this year. An unexpectedly relaxing and open-minded Cyberpunk project that might not appeal to you, but at least it will calm all your inner demons and puts you into some sort of limbo. 7/10 |
| 63 |  | Witching Waves
Crystal Cafe
While Witching Waves definitely deliver an uplifting music, this easy-going and somewhat primitive Dream Pop is not compelling at all and has very few memorable moments. 5/10 |
| 64 |  | Black Moth Super Rainbow
SeeFu Lilac
Ehm...are those...are those demos? 5/10 |
| 65 |  | Sarah Neufeld
The Ridge
Sarah Neufeld comes through as emotional, moving and eager to experimentate. 7/10
P.S.: Those violin sections though; man, they're good.
The Ridge, They All Come Down, Chase The Bright And Burning, A Long Awaited Scar |
| 66 |  | Spirit Adrift
Behind - Beyond
A beautifully crafted mini album consisting of two tracks, both over 10 minute mark. And despite their length, neither tracks bore, nor do they have an inconsistent structure. 8/10 |
| 67 |  | Silver Snakes
Saboteur
Oh, look, it's another Hardcore band that sounds exactly the same as any other. 6/10 |
| 68 |  | Barbed Wire
Barbed Wire
If Beastwars were from an American countryside, this what they would have sounded like. If you miss that batshit insane Hard Rock'n'Roll sound, this is a way to go. 8/10
Intro, The Thunderhead, Hellhounds On The Motorway, Blue Rose Dash |
| 69 |  | Ulrika Spacek
The Album Paranoia
I totally get this Noise Pop/Art-Rock formula they try to pull off, but I just can't hear it work yet. 6/10 |
| 70 |  | Magrudergrind
II
There's one good thing about this album, it helped me to finally figure out why I don't like Grindcore. 4/10 |
| 71 |  | Somos
First Day Back
An album composed of soft Emo-Punk tracks that don't have a distinctive sound or even gripping tunes. Every single song convinces you completely that the band does their best, but none of their efforts really feels interesting. And in the second part of the album the music even becomes somewhat ambient and uneventful and despite the album's short runtime in starts to be boring. Thankfully it ends before you really starts to yawn. 6/10
Thorn In The Side, Lifted From The Current |
| 72 |  | Goatpsalm
Downstream
Another typical modern metal record with long sounds of nature and slooooooooow heavy music with pretentious uneventful instrumentation (and with very questionable production quality in this case). 6/10 |
| 73 |  | Living Hour
Living Hour
The vocals are really good, so why are they drowned on the background so much? Though granted, that does createsome kind of atmosphere on here, where the record feels a little more spacious and echoic. But I'd still like to hear more of those vocals (I mean, they're not perfect, but certainly well performed). But that echoic production makes the experience feel like a dreamy levitation. Who knows, maybe next time I'll give them a better rating. 7/10
Seagull, Steady Glazed Eyes, There Is No Substance Between |
| 74 |  | Sunflower Bean
Human Ceremony
The album is well put together, but lacking any memorable moment or distinctive feature. I guess the band is really doing a solid job on here, I'm just not that into it. 6/10 |
| 75 |  | Junior Boys
Big Black Coat
A boring forgettable album full of somewhat alright beats and not at all alright vocals. 5/10 |
| 76 |  | Lifeless (RUS)
Mea Culpa
A set of songs of a certain level of beauty that completely goes over my head. It feels like that Max Richter's eight hours long Neo-Classical album, but shorter...but it fees just as long. 6/10 |
| 77 |  | Lord Slug
Atomsk
An acoustic guitar only demo where nothing happens, at all. 5/10 |
| 78 |  | Mr. Yote
The Terrible Tales of Scurvy Jones
Mr. Yote shows how to sound wonderfully surreal with just one gimmick, that is repeating "Hueh-Heh-Huh-Huu-Hueh" in a quite whiny maner on every song. 6/10
Bait, Plank Walker |
| 79 |  | Mr. Yote
Count Toro's House Of Heebie Jeebies
And continuing the 'Underwater Oddity'. btw, the last track (the self-titled one) is a boring little noisy-lowercase. 6/10
Withering Wood, Tomb Talk |
| 80 |  | Stars That Move
No Riders
A Psychedelic Hard Rock album that could have been just so much more compelling and memorable if some certain details were improved even a little; for once, the vocals could be a bit more passionate, the production could also occasionally highlight some of the instruments on some of the tracks, and the songs could also have a better and more definable ending. But then again, I'll give this one a pass, because it's a Psychedelic Rock and I just can't resist anything Psychedelic. 7/10
Castles, Lost Beyond The Stars, People Of The Sea |
| 81 |  | The 1975
I Like It When You Sleep For You Are So Beautiful
"Excuse me, waiter, is asked for music, but you just brought me a sugar-filled baked turd! That's unacceptable." 3/10 |
| 82 |  | The Rocket Summer
Zoetic
I bet this would sound better live. 6/10 |
| 83 |  | Obscura
Akróasis
You know you're doing something right when even your interludes show a surprising amount of musical virtuosity. 7/10
Sermon of the Seven Suns, The Monist, Fractal Dimension, Perpetual Infinity |
| 84 |  | Mountain Witch
Burning Village
This album is like a journey through the plague filled inquisition age. It features a lot of cool instrumentation, magnetic music and dizzying production. Whether that's a good thing or not I'm still not sure. 7/10
The Dead Won't Sleep, At The Mountain Of Madness, Forbidden Forest, Isle Of Bones |
| 85 |  | Ulaan Passerine
The Great Unwinding
For all of the runtimes, it doesn't really fall into some boring obscurity as many of such albums do. Unfortunately, at a lot of the cuts here it doesn't engage that much either. 6/10 |
| 86 |  | High Priest Of Saturn
Son of Earth and Sky
This album is very long, but most of the time the lengths o songs are justified, surprisingly enough. 7/10 |
| 87 |  | Colours
Ivory
huh? 3/10 |
| 88 |  | Crimson Moonlight
Divine Darkness
Crimson Moonlight definitely gives a hellish performance, but somehow it just left me absolutely tired at the end. I don't know what is the problem. 6/10 |
| 89 |  | Breakbot
Still Waters
Castrated bastard outbreed of M83 and Daft Punk. 4/10 |
| 90 |  | Wild Nothing
Life of Pause
Wild Nothing is more of nothing than wild these days. Of this album they take a strict turn for the dull and forgettable dreaminess. It's Dream Pop, but not in a way than it will make you feel like you're on a journey through your dreams, instead it will literally make you want to fall asleep. 4/10 |
| 91 |  | Jack Garratt
Phase
Music that is meant to be played live, because the studio version sounds completely wasted and bland. There is a huge potential to be explosive, but Jack uses almost none of it. 5/10 |
| 92 |  | Greenleaf
Rise Above The Meadow
This isn't your typical Stoner Rock with toned down slow guitars and cigarette toting cool looking wannabes. This is Greenleaf and they mean business! This album features ten killer songs. And I do mean killer. Every single moment is powerful without sounding over-the-top or cringeworthy. I insist you check it out. 8/10
A Million Fireflies, Howl, Carry Out The Ribbons, You're Gonna Be My Ruin, Tyrants Tongue, Pilgrims |
| 93 |  | Ghostlimb
Difficult Loves
Great aggressive music destroyed by repetitiveness and annoying vocals. 6/10 |
| 94 |  | Cherubs
Fist In The Air
If you think off the remixes at the end, this is a solid Noise Punk EP. The only lowpoint is that the title track got a little boringly repetative in the second half and emerged into complete chaos. But it is still pretty good. 7/10
Donkey Suite, Red Carpet Blues |
| 95 |  | Basia Bulat
Good Advice
Sweet melodies, usually set in forgettable arrangement. 6/10 |
| 96 |  | The Jezabels
Synthia
I am honestly surprised. Every song, no matter how boring it may seem at the beginning, manages to progress into something much more mature and powerful than you'd expect. And even the vocals always progress into something completely different and stunning. Unfortunately, I can't give it an 8/10 because of those a little dull beginnings on almost every song. 7/10
Stand And Deliver, My Love Is My Disease, Come Alive, Flowers In The Attic |
| 97 |  | DMA's
Hill's End
Britpop is dead. It is sad, but true. Nothing you create today will have even a half as big impactas it used to. The struggle is over, but not everyone seems to accept that painful truth. I imagine in the 90s this would have bigger hit factor and even I would be more enthusiastic about this album. It really has that retro vibe and song structure, for which, thank you, guys, for that moment of nostalgia, but time goes on. Get over it 7/10
Lay Down, Delete, In The Moment, So We Know |
| 98 |  | HXLT
HXLT
I don't know, guys, I'm trying to get into it, I really do, but he just can't sing. I do mean, his singing is just bad. At least the music is sometimes surprisingly nice and eneretic. 5/10
Reaper, Why, Together, Guitar |
| 99 |  | Votum
:KTONIK:
Another bloated, over-the-top and desperate to sound megalithic Prog-Metal record. But hey, it has it's moments, I admit. 6/10
those hard-hitting moments on Greed |
| 100 |  | Dr. Dog
The Psychedelic Swamp
Now this is an album that lately recieves a lot of hate, which I don't understand. To me it seemed that Dr. Dog deliver very laid-back and nonchalant late Beatles worship as expected. Though I admit that at times it tends to get a little irritatingly obscure, but such moments are actually quite rare. 7/10
Golden Hind, Swampadelic Pop, Fire On My Back, Badvertise, |
| 101 |  | Black Peaks
Statues
Going into this I was sceptical. Lately, the genre of Post Hardcore and Prog-Metal was covered in mold of repetative, overblown and lame bands and their albums, all sounding completely alike. And although Black Peaks don't really break that, at the very least they provide some sort of breath of fresh air among the other stagnant representatives of those genres. (By the way, isn't it a paradox that the clean vocals sound better than any other? Not that they are particularily great or anything.) 7/10
Crooks, Statues of Shame |
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