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Last Active 12-23-19 9:27 pm
Joined 09-16-14
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| April 2017 resumé
Man, the space in these itmes needs to get bigger. This month had plenty of pleasant surprises, but also a handful of hurtful letdowns. Basically, your usual standard month. As always, if you're reading any of this, write "I like your big hairy cat, mate." in the comment section. This is no best-of 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 that I've heard. 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 | | 54 |  | Rope Sect
Personae Ingratae
I don't know, I just really don't like the sound of it. It's also a bit too samey for its own good. Just kinda really meh on it. 6/10 | | 53 |  | The Life and Times
The Life And Times
I don't know, it's just kinda flat and dreary. Nothing to hold on to. 5/10 | | 52 |  | Bereft (USA-WI)
Lands
The vocals on here are growling half the time and shrieking the other. The growls are incredibly subpar, but the shrieks hold up well. The same could be said about the music, half the time slow and decaying (eh), the other half fast and crushing (yay). 6/10 | | 51 |  | Kiko Dinucci
Cortes Curtos
The strangest of the accessible and the most fun of the weird records this year. Kiko Dinucci delivers some truly bind-bending, perspective-twisting and perception-shifting obscurity that is as hard to swallow as it is fun to attempt to do so. 7/10
Fear of Pop, Chorei, Seu Olhos, O Inferno Tem Sede | | 50 |  | Eric Anders
Eleven Nine
A little Folk, a little Country, a little interest whatsoever. Yeah, I'm mean today. 5/10 | | 49 |  | The Obsessed
Sacred
Well, this certainly seems like a purely traditionalist Doomy Heavy Metal album, but it just evokes absolutely nothing inside of me. Just complete miss, start to finish. 5/10 | | 48 |  | Incubus
8
I don't know, it's nothing particularly outstanding, sure, but I also didn't think it's something terrible. It's average, forgettable, the vocals are sometimes simply annoying and the production leaves a lot of the instruments sounding just flat and dim a lot of the times. But it never really crosses the line of awfulness. Just a perfectly unremarkable album. 5/10 | | 47 |  | Marunata
Réminiscence
An incredible and enthralling work with some of the most breath-taking atmospheric Black Metal moments this year. It's an absolute treat with all of its ladscapic and monolithic musical passages. Beautiful! 8/10
La Renaissance, L'Aveugle, Réminiscence | | 46 |  | Pretend
Circular Ræsoning
Do you always just play some instruments off note and without a rhythm and ramble unintelligible crap, when you're dizzy, sleepy and maybe even high? Yeah, Pretend do. And they release it on album. 4/10 | | 45 |  | Arca
Arca
Arca's obscure and perfectly eerie production is not exactly one that wants you to like it. It's just sort of there to terrify you as much as it can, while it can. 6/10
Reverie, Sin Rumbo, Desafio, Fugaces | | 44 |  | Moonloop
Devocean
This could have been the only Prog Metal album I don't actively dislike, but the vocals just had to be what they were, right? Besides, the music does overstay its welcome eventually, as Prog usually does. 6/10 | | 43 |  | Mew
Visuals
A dictionary definition of one-dimensional. 5/10 | | 42 |  | Mr. Mitch
Devout
Although clearly trying to establish his own style with this spacious and ethereal sound, Mr. Mitch is yet to craft convincingly written and captivating album. So far, this is just intriguing, nothing above or beyond. 6/10 | | 41 |  | Future Islands
The Far Field
Although the vocals are still massive and the songwriting is decent, a lot of the times the band fails at making those no doubt good aspects come together into one cohesive and listenable piece. It happened times and times again that the tender instrumentation and melodies just felt awkward in combination with the deep vocals that need much more ambition and grand arrangement to truly blossom. Unfortunately, this album is a dud in comparison to even Future Island's past releases. 5/10
Ran, Cave | | 40 |  | All That Remains
Madness
To be completely honest, it is not the absolute worst I've ever heard. It is just somewhat redundant, uninspired, boring, bloated and overproduced. But the choruses manage to stick to mind sometimes. 4/10
Nothing I Can Do | | 39 |  | Les Discrets
Prédateurs
It's Alcest with half the finesse and one fourth of the excitement. 6/10 | | 38 |  | Sielunvihollinen
Ruhonkantaja
Dark and ruthless Black Metal in all the best traditions of old Black Metal...which means it's underproduced and has laughable vocals, but the instrumentation is nice. 6/10 | | 37 |  | Feist
Pleasure
Though on its core this album is quite simple and its main appeal is its ability to freely navigate the waves of straight forward tenderness, it still has a lot of musical surprises hidden in its sleeve, such as interesting instrumental backing and Jarvis friggin' Cocker. The problem with the vast majority of albums like this one, however, is that they fail to keep me intersted for a long time. But Feist's songwriting on Pleasure is simply gripping. Even in moments when it went sour and not that interesting, it still manages to eventually turn to something better and much more pleasing, with one or two exceptions. 7/10
Pleasure, I Wish I Didn't Miss You, Century, I'm Not Running Away, Young Up | | 36 |  | Mesarthim
Presence
This is another good portion of Mesarthim's typical cosmic Black Metal and when it hits hard it always hits home, but those Popy interludes on this album are the most obnoxious Mesarthim have ever produced. 6/10
Eschaton Part II | | 35 |  | Single Mothers
East Van Band Van b/w Night School
Two incredible tracks full of life and all of its pain, but also enough nonchalance to be able to have fun with your music. I guess I'm just not entirely in love with their cocky and almost spoken-word-like vocals, some clearer singing would have been nicer. 7/10 | | 34 |  | Foster the People
III
Somehow they managed to come out with three of their blandest and ugliest songs. 4/10 | | 33 |  | Gallops
Bronze Mystic
And I hoped, I HOPED that this will be an album I love deeply. You can't make a better first impression than this album. The first three tracks strike with all the instrumental finesse and simultaneous musical variety. But that variety eventually drains as deeper cuts kick in and the previously intriguing and impressive Post-Rock/Electronic mix turns more or less dim and less memorable. It is still a decent record, it's just that no later tracks rise to quite as high a standard set by the first three (even if the first track was just a two-minute intro). 7/10
Actual Landscapes, Shakma, Pale Force, Professional Weapon | | 32 |  | Sylvan Esso
What Now
I truly struggle to form my opinion on this album. On one hand, it is intriguingly off-kilter, on the other hand it is rarely exciting to any extent. It sort of balances on the thin bornderline between bland Pop burnout and a bold experiment with Electronica. And I just can't decide which one it is. 5/10 | | 31 |  | San Fermin
Belong
The songwriting is really sweet and touching, but all-in-all at the end of the day it is just another plain and forgettable Pop album, but one with some decent enough instrumentation. Besides, I found a lot of the lyrics to be corny as hell. 5/10
Open, Bones | | 30 |  | BNQT
Volume 1.
What do Franz Ferdinand, Travis, Midlake, Grandaddy and Band of Horses have in common? Well, their frontmen grouped together and created one of the most underwhelming Indie Rock album of this year. This album is instrumentally rich, it is obvious that the quintet is highly ambitious and the songwriting is often really nice, but when it all comes together it only created a sort of boring dud. I don't know, it's just not gripping at all. Nice try, though. 5/10 | | 29 |  | Dead by April
Worlds Collide
Well, it's April and they are still around. How so? 4/10 P.S.: At least the cover artwork is kind of cool.
This Is My Life, For Every Step | | 28 |  | Colin Stetson
All This I Do For Glory
This is your usual dose of Colin Stetson masterfully crafted and obscurely electrifying weirdness that I just can't get into. For some reason, whatever this guy does, I just fail to connect with. He displays all the genius of an experimental artist and yet I can't make myself like any of this. What the hell? 6/10
All This I Do For Glory, Spindrift, partially The Lure of the Mine | | 27 |  | Altar of Betelgeuze
Among the Ruins
I like the instrumentation and the heavy atmosphere of the record, it is obvious that the band tried their hardest to make this a professionally crafted and well put together record, but I just can't get over the fact that by the end of it, this samey slow-pace heaviness turns extremely tedious. 6/10 | | 26 |  | Gorillaz
Humanz
On one hand, it's nice that Gorillaz made another album full of solid tracks. On the other hand, however, there's like one or two songs that stick to mind. Be it any other band, I'd say that the album's just not memorable enough, but the finesse makes up for it. But this is Gorillaz we're talking about. I don't know, you guys, it's a let down on all fronts. 5/10
Ascension, Saturnz Barz, Carnival, Let Me Out, She's My Collar, Hallelujah Money | | 25 |  | Guided by Voices
August by Cake
Oh damn, this is avtually better than I expected. Well, understandibly, Guided by Voices have come a long way of being regularly acceptably disappointing, so in the greater scheme of things an album that takes itself less seriously than anything they've done in the past is a sort of turn for the better, unless they were dead serious on their previous efforts, in which case it's really sad. 6/10 | | 24 |  | Deep Purple
inFinite
Hmm, that's odd, there's an ancient Prog band that is still making albums and isn't a complete shit? The world is a magical place. 6/10
P.S.: The incredibly trashy closer track doesn't count.
Time for Bedlam, All I Got Is You, On Top of the World | | 23 |  | Azarath
In Extremis
Boy oh boy, was this a mess. Although I appreciate the ruthless nature of the record, I couldn't help but feel disconnected from the messy production, the lack of differences between the tracks and the laughable vocals. 5/10 | | 22 |  | Ulver
The Assassination of Julius Caesar
Man, this is what Alphaville sounded like on their latest albums. 6/10
Nemoralia, So Falls the World, Southermn Gothic, Angelus Novus | | 21 |  | Joey Badass
ALL-AMERIKKKAN BADA$$
How does one sound so relaxed and joyous, while pushing through some hard ideas? 7/10
For My People, Temptation, Y U Don't Love Me? (Miss Amerikkka), Ring the Alarm, Super Predator, Babylon, Legendary, Amerikkkan Idol | | 20 |  | Ghost Bath
Starmourner
You know, one would think that after that whole Sunbather/Moonlover fiasko the band would man up and start releasing an actually good material, saying that 'yeah, we fucked up, but please accept our sincere apology with this improvement of a record'. And to their credit, they did change. THis sounds like much more of an original content, from its Blazing riffs, kind of cosmic atmosphere and production and almost mechanical drum/bass combo. However, a lot of the times it just comes together in such an underwhelming way that it almost brings tears to my eyes. A lot of the times the truly grande and glorious music is stopped for the purpose of these odd flat slowdowns or just simple (and a lot of the times kind of out of place) Progy interludes (oh hi, New Bermuda, well, the band is staying true to their own in a way, I guess). It certainly has its moments, when it hits hard, it is mostly gratifying and emotional, and as I mentioned before, the riffs were juicy and a pleasant surprise... | | 19 | | Ghost Bath
Starmourner
But as always, this is still very much rough around the edges to a point of it sounding too rushed and unsure of what exactly does it want to accomplish. Is it a conceptual spiritualistic riff-based meditation, or a soul-tearing brutality, or is it rather something off of the myriad of different things the band tries to incorporate into the record (be it more melodic, raw, atmospheric or simply pristine clean and sterile)? And I've got to mention the awkward shrieks at the background. My god they are hilarious. 5/10
Ethereal, partially Thrones, Elysian | | 18 |  | Inferno
Gnosis Kardias (Of Transcension and Involution)
You hear that kids? That's a great Black Metal album in the core being completely dragged down by its subpar overbooming production. 6/10
Abysmal Cacophony, partially Upheaval of Silence | | 17 |  | Pole Younger
Go Daylight!
Every once in a while a pleasing melody appears and brighens this thing up a little. But in spite of that, I can't enjoy almost anything on here, because at the end of the day it is just a plain underproduced mishmash of one dudes guitar practice session. I used to do the same when I was learning to play guitar too, I would just come up with a simple melody and abandon it 20 seconds later. Except I didn't record it. Audio-recording of an amateur guitar player masturbating/10 | | 16 |  | The Wild Reeds
The World We Built
This is one pretty and fairly easy to listen to Folk-Pop with some truly catchy and decently written tunes. It's not particularly challenging or a remarkably outstanding piece of musical art, but it is worth your while nonetheless. 7/10
Only Songs, Everything Looks Better (In Hinsight), Not An Option | | 15 |  | Nightbringer
Terra Damnata
HOLYSHITWHATTHEFUCK! This is definitely one of the most unforgiving, brutal, soulcrushing, earscrewing, annihilating and menacingly grandiose Black Metal albums I've ever heard. I mean it. And sure, it may sometimes rely on its harshness and brutality so much to a point where it becomes pure noise (not necessarily in a good way), but its overwhelming and megalithic nature simply forces you to love every second of it. 8/10
Misrule, Let Silence Be His Sacred Name, The Lamp of Inverse Night, Serpent Sun | | 14 |  | Valgeir Sigurdsson
Dissonance
Boy, do I not care. It's kind of dramatic, but after finishing listening you will not remember a single moment. I guarantee that. 6/10 | | 13 |  | The Black Angels
Death Song
I remember how at the beginning of last year I was giving 8s away here and there to everything. I thought that I matured over the time and will be more critical of albums of my favourite genres. Turns out, I am unable to resist the pandering. God damn it! 8/10
P.S.: And the closer (Life Song) is simply beautiful, if listening to that track alone doesn't convince you that this is a worthwhile album, then nothing will.
Currency, I'd Kill For Her, Half Believing, Comanche Moon, Hunt Me Down, Medicine, Life Song | | 12 |  | Falling in Reverse
Coming Home
No, I will not be bought with bombastic choruses, fake-emotional melodies and overbearing production with a way too heavy reliance on electronic components. 5/10 | | 11 |  | Timber Timbre
Sincerely, Future Pollution
Slick and smooth, but ultimately lacking some sort of excitement, unfortunately. Either the songs drag out and lack some sort of memorability or the vocals simply don't pull off a lot of the times. There's a lot of problems with the direction the band is taking here, but I can see it working...just not now. 5/10
Sewer Blues, Bleu Nuit | | 10 |  | White Reaper
The World's Best American Band
Wow, this is the third April album I've heard and it's a third full-hit, fantastic energising and rapidfire album. This month's outta be good. On this record, White Reaper are presenting some of their most ambitious, upfront and magnetising tracks to date. I can't pinpoint one single song that would be a miss. It's just one solid-ass Indie-Punk killer after another. 8/10
The World's Best American Band, Eagle Beach, Little Silver Cross, The Stack, Daisies, Another Day | | 9 |  | Woods
Love Is Love
The first three tracks are a standard and beautiful Woods in all their lightweight, chill and smooth Psych-Folk glory. The 10 minutes long monstrosity that follows that is a sort of relaxed, nonchalant Jazzy Frankenstein. While still pleasant on the ears, it will tire you by the end, guaranteed. The guys thought they can pull off Kamasi, well the joke's on them. I don't have that much to say about the track Hit That Drum, because it is more of an experimental overture with little to no substance. It just sort of hangs in there existing, being all-in-all quite ugly and still not contributing anything to the album's experience overall. At least the closing second part of the title track is a decent enough pretty tune with catchy hook that kind of reminded me of Spoon (especially their latest efforts). Ultimately, this album is a somewhat inconsistent release... | | 8 | | Woods
Love Is Love
With half of its runtime being more or less redundant head-scratchery, I can see many people tuning off. But to me, the other brilliant half fully makes up for it. 7/10
Love Is Love, Bleeding Blue (this track though, oh my god, that's simply gorgeous), Lost in a Crowd, Love Is Love (Sun On Time) | | 7 |  | Cold War Kids
LA Divine
Now from fully original sound to a much more typical, but one using it to its fullest advantage. Cold War Kids once again manage to come through with a record that encapsulates only the good in modern Indie music, from its sweet and insanely catchy songwriting, to its fantastic vocals, to its bloodpumping and energetic instrumentation, it's a great, albeit uninnovative listen. 8/10
Love Is Mystical, So Tied Up, Open Up The Heavens, Ordinary Idols | | 6 |  | The New Pornographers
Whiteout Conditions
They are back with another bash of incredibly written, beautifully played and lyrically intriguing Indie tracks. Again I have to rely to older bands to deliver decent Indie Rock, because those are the ones who can di it right. Whiteout Conditions is althroughout smooth, tender and beautiful and is a most-listen to anyone, who is desperate for actually original Indie music. 8/10
Play Money, Whiteout Conditions, This Is the World of the Theater, Colosseums, We've Been Here Before, Avalanche Alley | | 5 |  | Father John Misty
Pure Comedy
Josh Tillman makes an album that sounds and is lyrically themed exactly like the song Bored in the USA from his last album, and it does not work out perfectly every time. He gets so critical, but all-in-all directionless in his lyrics that eventually he loses all his original humorous appeal. It's not satire anymore, but rather an obsessive opinional spewing. Granted, the music is gratifying and in a way beautiful, but it's not that interesting to listen the same songwriting one after another. Yeah, Josh Tillman forgot that it's not 60s and all-over-the-place Folk protest albums don't fly anymore. But that is not even the biggest problem. I mentioned that it sounds like Bored in the USA: The Album and by that I mean that it is a slow-burner, but one that almost never pays off. It pains me to say it, but this album is a Pure Boredom. Unfortunately, this is ultimately a flop compared to Josh's previous work. I guess I just can't make myself to give FJM a 5/10, so 6/10 it is... | | 4 | | Father John Misty
Pure Comedy
P.S.: Leaving LA is unnecessarily long, holy shit, had a hard time getting through it.
Total Entertainment Forever, Birdie when it gets all dramatic and stuff, The Memo | | 3 |  | Royal Thunder
WICK
I've always been quite a keen listener and follower of Royal Thunder's music. Their blend of melodic Hard Rock with all the viciousness and finesse of Psychedelica or even Doom Metal (yet never quite fully), together with their frontwoman Mlny Parsons' uniquely powerful vocals created an atmosphere that a slight few others could come even close to. But I suppose all good comes to an end sooner or later. While I fully adored their previous two full-length efforts, Wick fells like a less of a consistent or remarkable output. It is basically just a collection of tracks that are quite decent. Nothing beyond that. It's a shame really, because the band truly comes fully to their own on here too. The album just lacks some sort of specific flow, I suppose, I really an't put it into words as to what exactly is wrong about this record that is right about the previous one, when on the surface they are basically the same things... | | 2 | | Royal Thunder
WICK
Either way, this album is a worthwhile listen, just not AS magnetic or memorable as the previous two. 7/10
Burning Tree, We Slipped, The Sinking Chair, Plans, Anchor | | 1 |  | Kendrick Lamar
DAMN.
Okay, Kendrick may have now solidified his position as THE BEST (whatever you think about him) and most prominent rapper today. Undeniably, this album isn't as good as any of his previous work, not even Section.80, but it is a major and massive step forward to show everyone just how serious and capable an artist he really is. Surely, compared to his previous efforts, Damn. does seem much more plain and straight forward. But in spite of the fact that Kendrick left expreimentation and conceptualism (hope, I'm using that word correctly) behind, this album is full of simply solid tracks. I have a feeling I'm just spewing words and not making any actual points. It's good is what I'm saying. Of course, it's not a masterpiece, but you can't expect that in such a short time, in which he made the album. 7/10
Blood, DNA, Yah, Element, Feel, Pride, God, Duckworth | |
Calc
04.30.17 | i feel the exact same way about colin stetson, I feel like I should like him but I just don't | butcherboy
04.30.17 | That guided by voices album was the most stellar pollard has sounded on his own in a loooong time.. | Papa Universe
04.30.17 | butcherboy: I dunno, it just seems to me like one okay-ish record after another, this one just took a slightly different approach and that's why I like it more than the others, I guess. | LeftyMcRighty
05.04.17 | Definitely picking up what White Reaper is putting down!
Digging 3,9 and 13, as well. |
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