You Are the Morning

Meh. I’m not loving her voice. I predict pelé will love every track or dislike every track- there’s not alot of variety of mood or style on this one.

With the removal of I Am a Bird Now, I'm very pleased to see the inclusion of another transformationally vulnerable trans experience album. 1001 Album to Hear Before You Die says trans rights! I didn't love this one as much as I Am a Bird Now, but though the music was undeniably well crafted, it didn't quite scratch any of my itches.

Ok I suppose. A few interesting songs but nothing that blew me away. 2.5/5

Love Guy Fawkes Tesco Dissociation

I was surprised at some of the albums that were added to the list in the new edition (and some that were taken out to make way for them) but credit where it’s due, I really liked this.

Not sure about this one.. Feels like maybe Phoebe Bridgers, Lucy Dacus or Julien Baker should've taken this spot instead of someone they signed to their label?

The music is fine, fluid and by the name on the tracks it's filled with emotion, but I personally don't like their voice.

Reminds me of a lot of alternative from the 2010s. I enjoyed it, but felt pretty middle of the road, not sure why it gets so much hate.

This was an interesting curveball, especially in the context of my having been making my way through the users list for over a year now. The user submissions now include a couple albums from trans artists, but most of those have been firmly Electronic joints, either recognizably flavors of pop music or more experimental distorted glitchy sounds, and the album cover here had me expecting more of that. So it was a big surprise to spin this up and get a 4-piece band out of Manchester. Guess that’s what’s required to convince the editors to allow in some more explicitly-queer music. Reading wikipedia, seems like there’s a Phoebe Bridgers bridge bringing this to some more mainstream attention.

Any case, I haven’t traditionally been the biggest liker of Manchester bands, and I wouldn’t exactly say this won me over. A better update than more goddamn rolling stones, though

I mean this is a fine album… but like, do you need to hear it before you die?? I don’t know if this is substantially different than any number of albums that have come out in the past 15 years imo. It’s not bad. But I won’t listen to it again because I didn’t find it super memorable.

Season: Early Spring
Favorite Song: Roan

This album just leads me to ask why include this instead of anything by Boygenius or its members? It’s fine, but definitely not “essential”. Vocals sound kind of like Bon Iver. Favorite song was Guy Fawkes Tesco Dissociation.

Rubbish