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User
Reviews 123
Approval 95%
Soundoffs 238
News Articles 11
Band Edits + Tags 250
Album Edits 1,483
Album Ratings 0
Last Active 12-23-19 9:27 pm
Joined 09-16-14
Review Comments 22,502
| May 2018 resumé
May turned out a frustrating time for me and I didn't get around listening to everything I wanted to listen to (like I absolutely did nothing with my Random Tourney) and stuff I did get to listen to ended up not as satisfacotry as I had hoped. But here it is anyway. 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 |  | Damien Jurado
The Horizon Just Laughed
Let me listen to your music, Damien, dammit! | | 2 |  | Thou
The House Primordial
Well, this isn't exactly a great introduction to a band, is it? What a boring, dreadful, overlong fart. 4/10 | | 3 |  | Pinkshinyultrablast
Miserable Miracles
Pinkshinyultranblast's newest might not be the most exciting or new approach to shoegaze pop, but its cuteness and occasionally catchy moments end up rewarding. 6/10 | | 4 |  | Iceage
Beyondless
In all truth, this is not their best, but it might be their most accessible and straightforward. It's odd to me that I all of a sudden ahve so little to say about an Iceage record. It just is a solid release and nothing much above that. 7/10
Pain Killer, The Day the Music Dies, Plead the Filth, Catch It, Take It All | | 5 |  | Fan
Barton's Den
Quite an off-kilter little pop album, but not one that ever goes style-over-substance with its off-kilterness, just sometimes comes off a little kooky in how starry-eyed and cosmic-themed it is. 7/10
Bob1, Fire, Intro of Light, Isn't Love, OMD | | 6 |  | Peace
Kindness Is The New Rock And Roll
Fuck you. 4/10 | | 7 |  | Ihsahn
Amr
Although Ámr admittedly doesn't have as mighty a punch as many other Ihsahn albums, it still is a hell of a ride. But some of the songs just feel incredibly awkward. Like Arcana Imperii feels like there is a whole missing that'd add anything remotely knocking to the track, leaving it just kind of laughably flat and overly soft. Not sure what's going on there. Indeed, this is Ihsahn's poppiest record and not one for fans of harsh metal, but it does have a way with melodies and captivating execution (even if sometimes odd). 7/10
P.S.: Probably a bigger Ghost album than Prequelle.
Lend Me the Eyes of Millennia, One Less Enemy, Marble Soul, Wake | | 8 |  | Arctic Monkeys
Tranquility Base Hotel and Casino
This is what happens when you apply Humbug's sonically dispondent production to Suck It And See's hotel lounge softness... you get hotel and casino lounge, but like the really sleazy one that nobody goes to, but they still think they are high class, overprized and boring. 5/10
Tranquility Base Hotel and Casino, Four Out of Five, She Looks Like Fun | | 9 |  | Beach House
7
Beach House are back with an album that is admittedly sweet and likeable, but lacks anything much in terms of memorable song-writing. 6/10
Dark Spring, Dive, Black Car, Girl of the Year | | 10 |  | La Luz
Floating Features
Beach House, but based on some really great guitar-wielding moments. 6/10
Floating Features, Loose Teeth, California Finally, Greed Machine, Don't Leave Me on the Earth | | 11 |  | Wax Idols
Happy Ending
Wax Idols surprise me again with an actually decent album, although on the surface resembling either a cheesy post-punk album or needlessly downer pop-rock. Either way, it actually turned out fairly fine and with its catchy, lightweight melodies, while admittedly corny, it is still effective. Don't expect Unknown Pleasures or anything, it is just an okay fun album. 7/10
Heaven Knows, Too Late, Crashing, Scream, Warning (Had It Good) | | 12 |  | Dog Chocolate
Moody Balloon Baby
A nice enough throwback to the good old days, when post-punk and no wave were still relevant. Thank you, Dog Chocolate. 7/10 | | 13 |  | Big Ups
Two Parts Together
I always had a bit of an issue with the band's half-soundless and needlessly lazy, half-explosive and despondent style. This album doesn't really sway me into fanatics, but it is still a decent enough punk work. 7/10
In the Shade, Trying to Love, Tell Them | | 14 |  | LITHICS
Mating Surfaces
It's the forgettable kind of the jerky kind of post-punk-y kind of art punk. 6/10 | | 15 |  | Tropical Fuck Storm
A Laughing Death in Meatspace
BNM
I shouldn't have, shouldn't have, shouldn't have slept on this for this initially. This might as well be this month's best album, raunchy, colourful, dissonant, noisy, adventurous, nonchalant and all-over-the-place in a positive way. It is chaotic, but still capable of conveying melodic sweetness. It is negatively minded, but its fuzziness is still unbeat and fun. It is a great goddamn release. 8/10
You Let My Tyres Down, Antimatter Animals, Chameleon Paint, Two Afternoons, Soft Power, Rubber Bullies | | 16 |  | Sugar Candy Mountain
Do Right
SCM deliver an album full of pleasant sounds and sweet melodies, much more cohesive than their last, but still not something to celebrate, but if you are into this mildly psychedelica-inspired pop, you'll love this.
Crystalline, This Time Around, Tidal Wave, Stickeen | | 17 |  | Hegemone
We Disappear
BNM
Quite the hard-hitting metal release. I wanted some blackened doom metal and I got exactly that. It sometimes drags a bit, but is ultimately worth your while. Fairly similar to the recent Conjurer release. 8/10
Raising Barrows, Pi, Chan Tengri | | 18 |  | Trampled By Turtles
Life Is Good On The Open Road
Fans of swinging violins and banjos rejoice! Everyone else, this is quite tiring. 6/10 | | 19 |  | oOoOO and Islamiq Grrrls
Faminine Mystique
Difficult to figure out what exactly am I supposed to think of this... I think I like it, but I also might not really... I like the atmosphere and some of the songs are tuneful and cool, but there is just something missing... I really don't know. 6/10
The Stranger, True Blue, I Want to Be Alone | | 20 |  | Graveyard (SWE)
Peace
BNM
I thought theay broke up, but I am so damn glad they didn't. Psychedelic stoner rock with some distant metallic inklings just as I like it. Yeah, Graveyard are back and with a fucking blast of ballsdropping goodness, vivid melodies, energetic instrumentation and heavily trippy production.
Cold Love, The Fox, Walk On, Del Manic, A Sign of Peace, Low (I WOuldn't Mind) | | 21 |  | Typical Hunks
Rust/Window
Bass über alles. Quite literally. The bass here is perhaps louder than anything else, not that it ruins anything, it just is. (also, there's drum machine, so be warned) Other than that, it's a fairly okay post-punk-ish rock-is. Give it a shot. 6/10 | | 22 |  | Parquet Courts
Wide Awake
BNM
Parquet Courts are nowadays seen as either a holy comeback of the oldschool artsy indie punk or as the hipster rejection of everything that is good about today parasiting on the old (I think that's what people think, I'm not sure). I belong to the former group. I recognise the blatantly obvious influences and soundalikes, when I hear them, but I still end up enjoying this album greatly, most likely due to my uncontrollable love of snarky, nonchalant, wordy (or blabbermouth, that'll do too) delivery and lyrics, energetic and self-aware execution (mostly the fact that they don't really take themselves that seriously) and fun jerky production splattered all throughout. It might have weaker moments and it might be slightly overlong (quite often a problem with Parquet Courts' discography, if you ask me), but if taken apart, this truly is a great record with some deeply likeable tracks and inherently fun atmosphere. 8/10 | | 23 | | Parquet Courts
Wide Awake
Total Football, Violence, Mardi Gras Beads, Almost Had to Start a Fight/In and Out of Patience, Normalization, NYC Observation, Tenderness | | 24 |  | Pre Nup
Oh Well
Oh what a sweet lo-fi pop-punk album. And when I say pop-punk, I don't mean the genre, for this feels more like a fusion of traditional indie pop and punky instrumentation, so punk-pop would probably be more accurate. Be on the lookout, y'all. 6/10
Admit, Impostor, On the Nose, Lost Together, Untitled | | 25 |  | Venetian Snares x Daniel Lanois
Venetian Snares x Daniel Lanois
GotG
Not really the ambient record I was looking for, but still a curious listen with some off-kilter anti-musical structures. It seems as though the two collaborators each focus on different genres, one being purely ambient playing atmospheric mood-setters on the background, and the other being an experimentator, saturating the forefront with all of those weird computery sounds and noises. 6/10 | | 26 |  | Idris Ackamoor and The Pyramids
An Angel Fell
Some obligatory jazz for the month. 7/10 | | 27 |  | Fragments of Unbecoming
Perdition Portal
A blast of that old-school death metal in modern day clothing. Yummy. 7/10
Towards the Leaden Sky, Shadowfathers, Treacherous Grounds, Abyssphere, All Light Swallowed | | 28 |  | Uada
Cult of a Dying Sun
And more of metal goodness, but this time some decent black metal produced as doom. Sounds weird? Good. But fair warning, the vocals might tune you off. 7/10
The Purging Fire, Shere (Imprisonment), Mirrors | | 29 |  | Wooden Shjips
V
While I certainly appreciate the laid-back, multi-instrumentally layered, trippily produced psychedelica, this album felt rather dragging and uneventful. I did end up enjoying the atmosphere at the very least, but it is difficult to get into the album, unless it is a pleasant enough background music. 5/10
Red Line, Golden Flower | | 30 |  | Ash
Islands
I mean, it's Ash and it's a standard, washed out pop-rock. Yeah, deserves 5/10 | | 31 |  | Ill
We Are Ill
Weird for the sake of being weird, but sproused with that loveable old-school no wave-ism, even if not really resulting into anything of substance other than an homage. 6/10 | | 32 |  | Jon Hopkins
Singularity
This being the first introduction to Jon Hopkins' music, I don't feel like I have missed out, neither do I feel like I have missed a crucial part of his discography to understand this album, but I do feel like this album missed my head by a mile. 6/10 | | 33 |  | Thy Catafalque
Geometria
Somehow I don't think I like this fusion of metal and electronica. I liked it with Ihsahn and Amorphis, but here it just doesn't feel all that natural. 6/10
Töltés, Sárember | | 34 |  | The Sea And Cake
Any Day
On surface level, this is definitely some sweet pop music that could have been a pleasant enough little musical escapade with no pretense on greatness, but its ultimate downfall is its repetitiveness and primitivity in song-writing. 5/10 | | 35 |  | Amorphis
Queen of Time
BNM
I don't care what anyone thinks, this is bad-fucking-ass. 8/10
The Bee, Message in the Amber, Daughter of Hate, The Golden Elk, Wrong Direction, Amogst Stars, Pyres on the Coast, Brother and Sister | | 36 |  | Hoobastank
Push Pull
Predictible 2/10 | | 37 |  | Bleeding Through
Love Will Kill All
This album is on one hand something I should be into, but it just comes off as a mess of all messes. 4/10 | | 38 |  | Gazpacho
Soyuz
eh... 5/10 | | 39 |  | Charlie Puth
Voicenotes
Genuinely, doesn't he look like Milo Yiannapoulos on that cover? Also, the album is forgettable, but not a horrible wankery, which is already a points-up in my view. 5/10 | | 40 |  | High Sunn
Missed Connections
Beachy dream pop at its most repetitive and unremarkable, but at least energetic enough not to bore the shits out of you. 5/10
I Though You Were There, Those Last Words, Indirect Kiss | | 41 |  | The Glitch Mob
See Without Eyes
Perhaps due to my lack of interest for the electronica genre, perhaps it is the band whose talents evaporated over the years, but one thing is clear: I do not like this. 5/10 | | 42 |  | Illuminati Hotties
Kiss Yr Frenemies
By all means a typical dreamy pop-rock with some soft instrumentation, but at its most predictible and banal. However, there is a certain youthful charm and hopeful excitement to it that just brightens me up. 7/10
(You're Better) Than Ever, Shape of My Hands, For Cheez (My Friend, Not the Food), Paying Off the Happiness, Pressed 2 Death | | 43 |  | Frog Eyes
Violet Psalms
Is that the singer of Starsailor? Cause jeez... But who am I lying to, I like it. It's pop that just barely gets that art- tag and is trying to make the most of the little it gives. 7/10
Little Mothers, On a Finely Sewn Sleeve, Sleek as the Day is Done, Itch of Summer Knees | | 44 |  | Wayfarer
World's Blood
I like the music on it, especially the cripplingly clattering drums, but the production is just a little too distant to really let the atmospheric aspect of this black metal have an impact on me. 6/10
On Horseback They Carried Thunder, The Dreaming Plain | | 45 |  | Sleepwalker (JPN)
一期一会
Truly not sure what to make of this. It appears to be some version of metalcore with heavy black-death metal influences, but the subdued production leave way too much to be desired. Maybe next time. 6/10
No Premature Celebrations, Never Ailments on Oneself | | 46 |  | Nocturnal Graves
Titan
Much like many others, I too came away from this album feeling slightly underwhelmed. It definitely is a worthwhile listen, but perhaps not one living up to its chronological predecessor's greatness. 6/10 | | 47 |  | Mountain Dust
Seven Storms
Heavy psych is not my absolutely favourite genre, but it is alway one that I can rely on to brighten up my day. I rarely truly deeply love anything from the genre, but I always like listening to it. Mountain Dust provide the much needed dose of that for the month. Thank you for that much, folks. 7/10
Seven Storms, White Bluffs, Old Chills | | 48 |  | Split Cranium
I'm The Devil and I'm OK
Nothing against snarky hardcore punk, but those vocals just felt out of place a little. Either tune up the music to be full of metalcore or go easy on the growls. 6/10 | | 49 |  | The Doppelgangaz
AAAAGGGHH
In full admission, I am not the biggest hip-hop scholar and it is not exactly a genre I tend to focus on, when something new comes out. Still, every now and then I need my beats and poetry mix and this time around, The Doppelgangaz provided me with that. 7/10
Mootah Feekah, Screen Fatigue, B.C.M.T.F.O. | | 50 |  | Beatrice Deer
My All To You
Half-pleasant and relaxing, half-(unfortunately)-boring dream pop. Whathagonnado? 5/10 | | 51 |  | Leon Bridges
Good Thing
Leon Bridges for a while now has been the artist that doesn't really disappoint, but never really excites above just the basic "Yeah, this is likeable and tuneful." No changes, just a handful of new well-written, wonderfully-executed tracks. 7/10
Bad Bad News, Shy, Beyond, Forgive You, Lions, Going to Texas | | 52 |  | Eleanor Friedberger
Rebound
So this is what makes DoofusWainwright's heart melt, huh? 4/10 | | 53 |  | Svalbard
It's Hard To Have Hope
BNM
...and this is what makes my heart melt. 8/10
Disclaimer: The views presented by Svalbard do not reflect the position of Papa universe or its affiliated networks.
Unpaid Intern, Revenge Porn, For the Sake of the Breed, How Do We Stop It?, Try Not to Die Until You're Dead | | 54 |  | Simian Mobile Disco
Murmurations
Past their life-expectancy. 5/10 | | 55 |  | Ghastly (FIN)
Death Velour
Old-school death metal galore. 7/10 | | 56 |  | Giraffes? Giraffes!
Memory Lame
Just as I thought I had enough zany oddities in one day (I listened to this the same day I did Tropical Fuck Storm and Ill), here comes this. And it's odd to think that something with this name and cover could be the sanest of the bunch... and the sanest of their career. 6/10 | | 57 |  | Zohastre
Pan And The Master Pipers
Far from what I expected to hear, even though Sniff's monthly roundup characterised this as "a trip drenched in beer, psychedelic drugs and bagpipes", it still weirded me out. Kudos. 7/10 | | 58 |  | Just Mustard
Wednesday
A decent enough lo-fi punk-ish album, but perhaps one bit too one-dimensional. 6/10
Curtains, Tainted | |
Papa Universe
06.02.18 | to be finished some time later, if I don't forget | Relinquished
06.02.18 | yea 2's not the best intro, but give it a chance after you peered the rest | TwigTW
06.02.18 | That Damien Jurado is supposed to be available on Spotify and Pandora on July 6th, if that helps Uni. | Papa Universe
06.02.18 | It does, Twig. | Papa Universe
06.02.18 | write up updates continue. there's gotta be something I can say about all this crap | Sniff
06.02.18 | aye | Papa Universe
06.02.18 | oi | Papa Universe
06.02.18 | alright, all done |
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