Reviews by deksametazon

Orpheus Listening Challenge 2026: #30. An album with a rating below 2.00 on RYM. (19th Album)

Jax is an unknown musician to me, so if there's some kind of horrific backstory to her, I apologize in advance.

People might get perplexed about this, but I don't see the reason for the vitriolic hate fest on this page. I agree, it's annoying, but did you seriously expect something more from an American Idol contestant? All the songs are made in the same fashion, using the same style of quirky lyrics intertwined with an occasional sob story to appeal to a younger generation. But it fails, as it does when you have an army behind you writing your stuff. And the instrumentals are nothing better. Poppy rock sap.

Dear Joe is bad. But it's expectedly bad. Which is still bad. Oh well, can't win them all.

Usually standards aren't really my thing, but when Jarrett does them, it's an exception. Especially when he does the signature hum behind his piano. Lowkey could've added a credit in the liner notes for that.

The sparseness of the record does wonders, and the paradoxical warmth it brings makes for a very rewarding listen at any moment in a day. It's also never monotonous, yet I can't quite pinpoint any song that I could say "Yep, this is the one". All of them are very similar and are done in a very splendid manner that makes it very easy to get lost in. And you gotta have records you can seamlessly get lost in.

This is music for the intimate night. Nothing profound to bend your mind to, but a lot of music to sit, drink coffee and meditate to.

Was recommended this by some old folks on an ECM Facebook fan group, and honestly, these old folks do know what to recommend. The soothing, alternating leads of Jarrett and Garbarek on Runes and Mirrors respectively makes for a beautiful, calm adventure on par with some of the best ECM albums. I also won't forget to mention Charlie Haden, and the Symphonic Orchestra that glue this thing together in multiple parts all throughout the album.

It might lack the awe, and the moment of memorability, but it does not need it. This piece is meant to be the audio representation of the cover art: minimalistic, yet rich with texture.

Orpheus Listening Challenge 2025: #40 An album classified as "outsider music." (16th Album)

Jandek might be regarded as an outsider musician in 1982(!) when this was recorded, but this type of music would make him an "insider" today.

Stupid jokes aside, I was surprised by this album and how it sounds. Whenever the term "outsider music" is thrown around, you always approach the release with a dose of warning and caution, but with this one, there's nothing to be afraid of. In fact, some of the songs are quite eerie and dissonant, with musical merits and enjoyable arrangements. It's not my thing, but there's no denying that this one has layers to it, from the female guest vocals to a broader palette of musical instruments on it.

Thank you, [~SpeedKills] for the recommendation!

Calling it now: one of her songs will get featured in the ending scene of an episode and will skyrocket her fame. Just you wait.

Oh, the whole album is decent enough. I still can't shake that reverbed vocal work, though. It's the bane of most vocalists these days, and why do the producers still force the use of it is beyond my comprehension.

Whenever someone asks me about some neglected gem from this area, I go for 3 albums: Mungos, Habitus or Maske Za Dvoje from Jakarta.

The nocturnal sound with infectious bass lines and the soft voice of Igor Popović, accompanied by the funky new wave energy belonging to groups such as Simple MInds, Japan, Ultravox or David Bowie is a combination that should have resulted in a fruitful career, but in the end it resulted in a continuation that didn't lead anywhere, once he thinks: "What would have happened if they had stayed in this line-up and had continued to explore these tones?", and an album that every fan of this type of music should have.

Orpheus Listening Challenge 2025: #12. An album by an artist under the age of 16 at the time of recording (20th Album)

Their average age at the time of recording was 15.4, so it TECHNICALLY counts for this entry.

Not to knock off any of the Jacksons, they're kids, and still have (or had) a long career ahead of them, but in all honesty, if this album was sung by someone with more refined vocal skills, it would blow a lot of minds.

The base is there, the deep funky groove is great, but just hearing these younglings sing these songs is at best good (mostly thanks to MJ), but most of the time is either forgettable or just bad.

Orpheus Listening Challenge 2026: #10. An album from an artist currently on the Billboard Hot 100. (18th Album)

BIllie Jean is 17th on the Billboard right now, so lets review the only remaining unrated album from the "big 3" in Michael's discography.

Off the Wall is perfect......... perfectly adequate. Might be a sacrilegious thing to say, but I genuinely can't say much other than this album being very funky, very swanky and very... disco.

The whole album exudes some real groovy melodies that I just cant help but dance to, but just as you don't really delve deeper into the music while you're at the club, neither can I when I listen to this.

Ipce was one of the greatest folk singers of the mid 80s and early 90s, before his untimely demise, and this album is a testament to that. Even as a 20-year-old, he had a majestic voice that singers would dream of, and his way of conveying emotion here is only matched by some of the greats of the genre.

I'm not a guy who thinks Balkan styled Pop-Folk is a worthwhile genre. In fact, it spawned some of the worst possible cultural moments ever since it burst onto the scene, but credit where credit is due, this is one of the few standouts that are worth getting.

This is probably just my nostalgia from my new wave phase in my teen years talking, but this album is one of the more beautiful displays of musicianship from Australia and the new wave genre as a whole.

Every song on side A has this sexual, hedonistic, and overall dancy energy that makes even the saddest people turn up in joy. Side B dips quality-wise, but "Love Is" and "Face The Change" save it. Also, the somewhat atmospheric closer "All the Voices" and "Johnson's Aeroplane" are nice songs that I didn't pay much attention to back then, but they are stellar tracks. A top-notch album, all in all, and a recommended listen.

Really beautiful prog, with jazz and psychedelic influences all around. Probably Spinetta at his peak. His soft voice perfectly fits the atmosphere they build on each song, be it a mellow psychedelic tune, or a song with a harder edge to it, in which he ups his vocal game to equate, or sometimes even elevate, himself with the rest of the band.

But to say that this album is wholly just Spinetta carrying it with his genius would be a disservice to the two musicians beside him. Pomo Lorenzo's drumming is a perfect companion to Spinetta's guitar, at times laying down a simple beat to follow Luis Alberto exploring the soundscape, and sometimes being the one who explores using his jazz influences to the maximum.

The lyrics, as they stand, are an unknown to me, but a quick search yields translations, and from what I conclude, this is one of the better progressive rock albums from that side. The poetic picturesque presentation of some of these themes are on par with the best, if not the best.

Holy fuck people overhype this album. I feel like they put demos of what Groggs had recorded prior to his passing and put a shit ton of effect to mask the fact there are just that, demos.

Parker's production on this album is good, and I'd love it much more had it been a Parker + Ritchie album with an emphasis on electronic sound featuring Groggs and other artists as an homage to their frienc, rather than an overhyped album with a milked storyline.

Given that only six single records and one EP release were available to make this compilation, plus when we consider the musical quality of those releases, it is not difficult to say that this compilation was a complete hit when it comes to collecting the best songs of a very fruitful period.

This compilation contains all the essential tracks from that period from 1969 to 1974. If you want to listen to more commercial stuff, there are beautiful songs such as Budi Kao More, Sanjam, Sve Ove Godine and Krivac Si Ti, which show Indexi as a group that is absolutely up to the task of composing songs that will resonate in the halls of the pop festivals. And if you are looking for a slightly darker note, we have the Svijet u Kojem Živim, Balada, and Plima. Not a single song was selected incorrectly (truth be told, there was not much that could be done wrong, the only two singles that are not present are the ones that are the weakest in my opinion). The only complaint, and this is just my nitpicking, would perhaps be the order of the songs, i.e. if they put more progressive, slightly darker songs on one side, and these slightly more pop-oriented songs on the other, but it doesn't matter.

This compilation is the perfect gateway to Indexi, so I recommend this set of tracks to anyone who wants to know what they're all about.

A very weird album. The whole album is mostly disregarded when talking about the impact of Indexi, mostly because it being only distributed on cassettes, in small quantities, and on a Slovenian label ZKP RTVLJ, despite most of their releases at the time being on the Jugoton label. From what I've read, there was a habit of lending tapes from other labels around the country, which meant that ZKP RTVLJ was able to get tapes from PGP and Jugoton, thus stitching this album.

Also, a fact that doesn't help is that this album is made from songs recorded from 1969 to 1972, a period which was characterized by the band's change from poppy, beat songs to progressive, psychedelia, which meant that the album is somewhat uneven, both in terms of song structures and the quality of recordings, as some songs were recorded on more modern equipment in Croatia, but some were recorded on subpar equipment in Sarajevo and Serbia. The whole ordeal of recording can be read in Seyo's extensive review of the album.

I will not go into detail as he did, firstly because I'm not that big of an Indexi fanatic, secondly because I'm not that well-read on the subject matter, and thirdly because I just don't have the time. The things I will say is that the album boasts some real gems, like the prog-rock behemoth of Negdje u Kraju u Zatišju, and Hej, Ti, songs which are believed to be recorded in the 1971-72 period, also known as the progressive period of Indexi. The rest of the album deviates in quality, sometimes dipping into pop-rock territory, sometimes into beat music, which is mostly because of the aforementioned differences in recording periods of songs.

All in all, the album is worth listening to as a relic of a period in which rock LPs were scarce in Yugoslavia, and as a pillar in the Indexi discography around which the band went from being festival darlings to an actual band devoted to making music they loved. Other than that, listen to the essentials, to save time.

Essentials: Dan kao Ovaj; Hej, ti; Negdje U Kraju u Zatišju;

Proto post-punk in 1967. When they do instrumental surf rock, they're mediocre, but when they do moody western garage rock, they open up a portal to a 80s gothic nightclub, or the basement of Jack White in the 90s. Worth a listen.

Right on the heels of "Fun House" as my favorite Stooges album (maybe even Iggy Pop's career in general). With the arrival of Williamson on guitar, the Stooges take on a new dimension, which I would characterize as a good fusion of approaching the mainstream sound, with incredible guitar skills, memorable riffs, solos, and all that shebang, while still maintaining an avant-garde sonic attack. All songs, and even those that are, let's say ballads (compared to others they are) pack an incredible punch. Such a punch, that I would say that no rock band has managed to reach that level of no-pretention anarchism on one slab of vinyl, other than maybe the Sex Pistols.

All of the songs have this wave of distortion weaved throughout them. I'd give examples, but you really start it anywhere and you're going to be met with this raunchy bass sound, melodic, in-your-face guitars, and Iggy's screaming, high-drive vocals yelling any sexual, hedonistic thing that pops in his mind. Exactly that's why this album deserves all the praise and is rightfully considered essential in punk and punk-adjacent circles.

I would just like to add as far as album mixes go, Iggy's 97 mix is what the album should have sounded like. Perhaps Bowie's original is good in its own right as an attempt to package this dilapidated crack den of an album as one with Billboard Top 100 potential. I don't like it, but maybe someone does, I dunno.

This Idaho album is basically a combination of post-hardcore, Magnetic Fields vocals, slowcore and neo psych melodies and a looming wish to be vaguely grouped into the grunge movement. The whole slowcore genre might seem unfocused to the untrained eye, but this feels unfocused even to someone who enjoys the genre a lot. There's seriously nothing that makes it stand out; it's just a collection of slow songs with no crash moment.

Zen Arcade is Hüsker Dü’s opus, pushing punk past its limits through bold experimentation and an ambitiously wide range of influences, from pop to raga‑tinged melodies and psychedelic noise.

It does a great job at keeping your attention, opening with their hits such as "Something I Learned Today", "Broken Home, Broken Heart" and "Never Talking to You Again" and then alternating between the growl of Bob Mould and the melodic voice of Grant Hart whilst telling the story of the Midwest from the viewpoint of an angsty American teen.

There are a few bad songs here, but as a product, this is well executed, especially since it's a punk rock opera clocking at 70 minutes. The biggest culprit of " badness" has to be Reoccurring Dreams, a 14-minute jam track which doesn't fit the style the band was going for, in my opinion. It feels more like a self-indulging moment than a ending piece. Thank goodness it's at the end, so it's easily skippable

M. John Hurt has that Nick Drake vibe going on here, somber, peaceful, melancholic, but with happiness and the feeling of humility and being grateful (something Nick was a stranger to). It's very well executed country blues folk, and I love the feeling it evokes: sitting in front of a house overlooking fields of both crops and grass.

It's hard for me to say much more, because the music itself doesn't give a lot to review. It's just one man and his guitar creating great music that both requires attention, especially if you focus on his amazing guitar work, but can be enjoyed in the background as a minimalist part of the atmosphere you create.