Reviews by deksametazon

Lust For Life is a vicious, hedonistic journey into the belly of the 70s through the lens of the rejuvenated Iggy Pop. Iggy's raw vocals mixes very well with the themes of loss of life and innocence in the jaws of drugs, and the idea of "grabbing life by the balls" and living it to the fullest extent, be it as a garage rocker, or as a slower, soul-influenced banger.

Lust for Life and The Passenger catapulted Iggy into the mainstream, and are great tracks, but to me, Some Weird Sin, Tonight and Turn Blue (which mixes Bowie and The Rolling Stones) should also be talked about more, as they're all great songs.

It also features extensive producing work by David Bowie, who beyond producing, lent his voice for backing vocal duty, alongside his expertise on instrument duty. If you ask me, he's the perfect musician to take it to the next level.

Sometimes I think about the state music has fallen into since 2020. Now, is it from COVID, the emergence of some current topics that artists are milking until exhaustion, to the shift of trends, to all of the above plus SOMETHING else, or do I have my own foot up my ass so far up that I can't appreciate art (or is it simply that my ideals and my goals are different from the goals of the first world)? Anyway, I digress. Caroline Polachek's sophomore album is one of those albums that intrigued me the most for the reason that Caroline is not subject to the industry and that she makes albums like her life depends on it, but that she treats albums as a process that lasts more than a year, and not as a cash grab and as an industrial loading of the environment and fans of dopamine to the extent that it creates dopamine addiction in people. Only that there is one problem, but I think that problem is more of a "consumer" problem than a "musician" problem, and that problem is: what if the album, which has been in the works for two years or more, sounds as if it could have been prepared in a couple of months?

That brings us to Desire, I Want to Turn Into You. An album that, for one reason or another, did not need to be awaited for several years.
There is something there, actually. I can't say that the album is objectively bad, but my subjective feelings dictate that the album doesn't have a factor pulling it to the promised land. Caroline has incredible vocal abilities, and the melodious instrumentals are excellent on a couple of occasions, but I can't ignore the fact that she doesn't use these abilities properly and in a good way, or better said, in a way that suits me. The songs could have incredible staying power, but when 1/3 of the song is an ambient, breakbeat collage, 1/3 mindless harmonizing, and 1/3 is actually what I like to some extent, the album loses its meaning and loses its direction. I can see through the lyrics to an extent, so I can say that they don't make my stomach turn like other parts of the album. For the above reasons, "Hopedrunk Everlasting", "Butterfly Net", and to some extent "Blood and Butter", are songs that, like pillars, keep the album from collapsing under the weight of its problems. Now, is it because I like that psychedelic feel, the organ solo that reminds me of some works by Pink Floyd, or actually because of the vocal abilities that are properly used, I don't know, but I know that those songs are good. The rest of the album is less of a mistake, more of the „taking the album in a direction that I don't find appealing“, that's all.

I’ve only listened to their next album, If I Should Fall from Grace with God, and that one feels like an ode to the Irish diaspora, while Rum Sodomy & the Lash is more of a love letter to those who stayed, or are still trying to find happiness at home in Ireland.

Shane MacGowan has always been hailed as one of the generation’s greatest songwriters, and it shows on tracks like The Sick Bed of Cuchulainn, A Pair of Brown Eyes, and Sally MacLennane. Some of these could easily pass as traditional Irish songs, with their rural sound and timeless nature. The Pogues also have a knack for arranging older folk material so it sounds fresh and modern.

And like any good punk album, it’s not all showboating. When the moment calls for it, they deliver raw, emotional songs that hit hard. All the more reason to check these guys out.

I've written in my review of Run, Sodomy and the Lash, but I'll write it again. This is an album made for the Irish diaspora. It's much more varied in sound, adding in middle eastern and Spanish melodies and a dash of underground vaudeville atmosphere of the New York.

The obvious highpoint is Fairytale of New York, a thinking man's Christmas song, but a few more stand out like If I Should Fall From Grace with God, Thousands Are Sailing (which is about the Irish immigration), the b-side Medley, Lullaby of London and The Broad Majestic Shannon. The songwriting duo of MacGowan and Finer is as prolific as ever.

I usually have a disdain towards our diaspora. Those who come from the Balkans could pinpoint plethora of reasons why. But I have a few family members and quite a few friends and colleagues who've tried their luck at finding happiness abroad, forced or not, and some of these songs remind me of conversations I've had with some of them. The sad "where's the old corner shop?" or "what happened to so and so's house?" rings true in these songs.

Orpheus Listening Challenge 2024: #26 An album using https://rateyourmusic.com/misc/random (47th album)

Honestly, if it was longer, I probably would've fallen asleep.

Good as watching guys drink at the pub. At first, it's fun seeing men having fun, you hear some stuff you wouldn't hear on any other occasion, but as it drags on, you get bored to all hell and wish you were somewhere else.

It's a cool vibe, and that's it. I'm trying to find anything especially convincing, but I'm drawing blanks. It's quaint Japanese background music of the newer age that's easy to relisten to, but it's too saccharine for me.

I don't hate it, but I dunno. More power to the people who find this inspiring, or finding an embrace in it, soft or with a gentleness of a suplex on nails, but I don't see how listening to this for longer stretches of time can be beneficial. Oh well.

A gripping album, and a fitting ode to a friend and a situation Pink Floyd found themselves in. Mix that with the fact that here they were at their apex in terms of creative energy and just the right amount of angry and you get an album that can rightfully be called the best of all time by some criteria.

Let me tell you, reader, a story of my father. My father is nothing special. Aside from having a limp for a year and a half now, there's nothing that could differentiate him from the next guy. Jolly guy, working a job in 8-hour shifts, Monday to Friday, has a wife, and two sons. Standard shit.

But what differentiates him from the standard dad around the world, is that he fought in a war. A medic to be precise. Scary shit. I don't press him to talk about atrocities he's witnessed. I can sometimes see the pain arise through the cracks of his personality. His home burned down, he lost many of his friends and family, all of his DJ equipment got stolen, or destroyed, and so on.

I didn't witness the war, so I, like most of my generation, thought war was like in Call Of Duty, Medal of Honor, etc. Shoot the bad guys, win battles, win wars ggez. Total ignoramus I was. But as I got older, I got wiser (or so I think, at least). I started to piece the puzzle of what the shitstorm in the 90s meant.

And as fate would have it, when I first started collecting records in the summer of 2019, my father's friend brought a few of his albums as a gift, one of them being The Final Cut. And of course, I spun it a lot, and after each listen I grew closer to that darkness and pain.

The Final Cut felt like a lantern, keeping the void at bay, as I walked through the unknown territory. From the dreams of post war calamity, the return and life of the broken soldier as one of the few who won the lottery of not being taken by the cold hands of death, and the complete nonsense and ego flexing wars are, to the introspective moments like on the s/t track, the album resonated with me with each spin. And that's what I like about the album. It helped me see a part of history for what it truly is. A painful chapter, full of loss, tragedy, fear, anger and general directionlessness. It's definitely not for everyone, but once you go through a certain part of life, everything becomes so clear and it makes sense. This album is not political like Animals, introspective like the Wall, or sad like Wish You Were Here. This album is something different. A painful exhibition, a musical catharsis, of a talented human being who's missing a part of himself.

Musically, the album isn't as bad as reviews suggest. Sure, its not DSoTM or Animals, but it's still well above average and holds its weight against the big boys of PF's catalog. I just hope you never relate to this album the same way Rog and I do. For your sake.

Syd starts to show signs of being fried out of his mind, and is mostly out of it, and Gilmy comes in and turns the band from a psychedelic la di da band into a mushroom-gobbling, space-riding animal.

As far as the album goes, it's spotty and rocky throughout. The first two songs are amazing space psych numbers, Set The Controls... is an ok studio track, but is far better done live, and Corporal Clegg showcases Waters' war-itis syndrome, for better or worse, while side B's s/t opener is at most listenable as a sort of "easy-listening, beats-to-study-to" vibe, and at worst, a waste of almost 12 minutes of my time, and See-Saw is alright, but due to the previous song, I'm fazed out of it, while Jugband Blues is a song that perfectly captures the essence of Syd: weird and mysterious, but also fragile, sad and misunderstood. A good closing album to a chapter of a bands life, but beyond that, only a footnote in history.

Sentimentally, this is the 2nd best Pink Floyd album, but in reality, it's hard for it to dethrone DSoTM and WYWH, but it's there in 3rd place. The theme speaks to me, sheep and predatory dogs, which are wolves in disguise, are a staple of today's life. It's just a matter of walking among them, knowing who is who.

With all the members are at their peak, and each one of them gets their chance at the spotlight. "Pigs" is an absolutely banger, probably my favorite PF composition, which I always blast on full volume without any hesitation, and "Dogs" has a full deck of cards with a lot of radio-friendly moments and some real prog stuff. "Sheep" is also good, but not on the level of the other two compositions. The boogie style is a weird change that works

So yeah, in my opinion, this was the zenith of Pink Floyd's career. They had it all here, both musically and artistically. After this, the band would either succumb to the aging of their music, and being put in the second plan due to some other stars emerging, or if you're that dense, because of Roger being a controlling asshat, which is not wrong, just not part of the complete picture.

Blue Screen Life was a bit of a letdown. It's not a bad album, but I've put such high expectations on it, and they weren't met. It's good indie rock that reminds me of Elliott Smith in the tone of the vocals. It's melodic and nice, but a bit meatless and anemic (other than a few moments).

One of those albums that succumb to the CD era, aka putting a lot of music just for the sake of filling it up. It kinda started out alright, but once it got to Honey Bee, it dawned on me that I have to sit through basically the same songs over again. Tom singing his poetry with an guitar followed by a band behind sprinkled with some C-tier The Band copies of roots rock jams.

I was expecting a lot more from Tom, but instead I got a big fat disappointment. Crawling Back to You pushed it to generous 2.5 star album, at least.

Orpheus Listening Challenge 2024: #8 An album in a language you would like to learn (42nd album)

Well this is nice sounding pop album from Germany that I've been recommended.

I still have a lot to go in terms of learning the German language, but music can transcend most language barriers, so in the emotional aspect of the album, it hits the necessary spots in order to achieve this hopeful melancholy that I seem to dig, but also with a dash of playfulness and humor.

So far, Spinetta doesn't disappoint. Spectacular display of talent by (mostly) ONE person. Spinetta took it upon himself to make one of the most beautiful sounding Argentine albums I've heard so far. Poppy, and fun, but underneath, very philosophical and blue, from what I can see in the rough translation of the lyrics. But I truly think it would be hard to fully grasp the lyrics even if you understand the language because of how it uses the influences of Artaud, Jung, Rimbaud and Cocteau. Hence, why it's called the most "literary album of rock national".

Beside folk and rock intertwining, there's also blues and jazz sprinkled in, which helps this pastoral folky album get new life in it.

I like it more than the debut. It's more out there, and does atmosphere better than the debut.

Allen Ravenstein plays a mean synth on here. On The Surface is a great example of an infectious key passage that makes a song stand out, but on songs like Thriller! and Blow Daddy-O it brings an ominous energy.

It's always fun listening to Dub Housing. Putting it on casually gives you a dark atmosphere around your house, while listening to it intently, you always hear something new around it and its creation and performance.

Released way back in '85 while being in circulation sine '82 in a form of a demo, Pentagram's debut was a view into a band that would've succeeded if they (and by they, I mean Bobby fucking Liebling) weren't their own worst enemy.

It's a great album, with the distorted and down tuned guitar rolling through most of the songs, creating a headbanging atmosphere. Death Row and Dying World being some of them, with an infectious backbone of the guitar and crisp drums doing most of the work. The lyrics are mostly the standard occult, macabre and satanic stuff you'd usually find on these kinds of albums, with Bobby's vocals having enough gruff to stand on its own.

Despite the band being on the circuit for around 15 up to this point, this album felt, and still does feel, fresh. It does feel like Sabbath worship, but it has enough of a original momentum to it to distinguish them from their influences. Also, enough for me to consider looking deeper into their next (and archival previous) albums.

Music for dancing and cuddling with a loved one. Their first album was intimate, but this one blooms like a beautiful garden in the spring.

Both are equally good and compelling in the own ways, but here, Penguin Café Orchestra show their chops, both intimate and grandiose. I particularly loved the intimate Cutting Branches for a Temporary Shelter. Something about the lute and sparse arrangements makes me feel all fuzzy. And The Ecstasy of Dancing Fleas have a weird Americana twang to it that I'm all about these days.

Orpheus Listening Challenge 2023: #3 A chamber music album (12th album)

I hesitated whether to choose this album, because technically it is not chamber music, but some combination of jazz, classical, and ambient music, and only at the end chamber music. Anyway, I'm very glad that I chose this particular album. The entire album is amazing, but what I truly love about it can be summed up in two compositions.

Zopf is divided into several parts, so it can be characterized as the first larger and more grandiose composition here with a lot of influence. "From The Colonies" has a krautrock feel, "In a Sidney Motel" skillfully uses vocal performances to create a soothing folk atmosphere, "Surface Tension", as the name suggests, initially creates a tense atmosphere with synth manipulation, but gradually returns to that minimalistic lulling, and "Milk" then appears with experimental avant-folk. "Coronation" is perhaps the most boring part of the whole composition, but it continues beautifully on "Giles Farnaby's Dream" which adds... classical music with calypso inspiration? That's what I'm talking about! Listening, you never know how the next composition will blow your mind, but they all perfectly hit all the notes and all the feelings on any of them without becoming too ambitious for their own good.

The second composition I want to touch on is "The Sound of Someone You Love Who's Going Away and It Doesn't Matter". At first, it looks very, very pretentious, but it really isn't. It lives up to the name. Without giving much away, the composition is centered around one chord passage that repeats itself, lulling you to sleep, gradually being suppressed by the violin, keyboards, and other wacky instruments, creating a heavy and tense atmosphere, only to later return again, like that love that is difficult to keep on living without.

Amazing musical achievement! Peaceful, yet thought-provoking. At times angry and confused, yet absolutely soothing. Recommended!