Rated 6/10
Well, it's jazz, so it automatically can't be bad. But it's also not anything that special. It's perfectly fine to listen to, with each track being enjoyable, and Face of the Bass and Free being my favs, but I couldn't pick out anything that stood out to me beside that. What I can say, is that Ornette Coleman really pushed the envelope with his early albums.
Rated 7/10
This one is spiritual jazz that does things a bit differently. Usually, the spiritual aspect is directed towards celebration of God, but this one celebrates the urban spirit. The tribal vibe is what the underground sounds, doesn't matter where you're from. It's only how you distill, rearrange, and interpret the sounds in your head that will determine your thoughts on this one.
Thankfully, this album is a small bite, even for unseasoned veterans of jazz, which is a huge plus. All the moments here are easily digestible and highly enjoyable.
Rated 8/10
Songs of Love and Hate is a frustrating album. Not in a bad way, far from it actually, but frustrating in its aura.
Every song on this album brings that depressing and stale air with sarcasm and spitefulness in Leonard's voice. It's a wet dream to those who love to walk the dark side of life, with a bottle of Jack underneath the coat, and with a thought about wanting to end it all at each step. Even with that, highly enjoyable to those not eyeing the rope.
Diamonds in the Mine is weirdly good. Its upbeat instrumentation with an angry Cohen sneering around with the female backing vocals, awakens images of a dysfunctional household, a much different portrait than the rest of the album.
Rated 8/10
Listening to Leonard Cohen gives you the feeling as if the guy was born a thirty-year-old directly from the gutters of a big city, which is partly true, as the guy was "reborn" a singer from the life of a poet.
Anyway, Songs of Leonard Cohen is a good album by a man who clearly has a lot of experience dealing with heartbreak, loneliness, and existing in a world that doesn't tolerate those without nerves of steel and those who don't learn from their mistakes.
I could go into each song individually because the quality of each one begs the listener to delve deeper into the matter, but I'll refrain from doing so. Instead, I'll leave you with this: none of the ten songs overstay their welcome, all of the songs are at least worthy of a listen and are more than just poetry, but damn good pop songs, and more than half are monolithic songwriting achievements by which all songwriting should be measured. That should be enough to warrant a listen, right?
Rated 8/10
God bless my brother for getting me this LP. Cold, ominous and brooding at the same time, Frigid Stars is as its name implies: frigid as in cold and distant, and stars as in lonely and distant. It's essential slowcore stuff with monotonous guitars, sad lyrics and an overall pessimitsic sound.
I would advise everyone who wants to start listening to slowcore to begin here, headfirst. Like a caring father throwing his son into the deep end of the pool to have him learn to swim. You either drown or come out the victor, and in this case, you want to drown.
Rated 6/10
Not worth the hype. I have no idea why people love this as much as they do. The aesthetic gets monotonous after the first song, and trying to comprehend what's happening makes me feel like unwell.
Is it the vibe? The vibes are good, but it can only take is so far. As it goes on, it sinks deeper and deeper until eventually, it suffocates in the fumes and the haziness it employs.
Rated 7/10
Orpheus Listening Challenge 2023: #7 An album from a religious/spiritual tradition other than your own (25th album)
It's not overtly Christian, but if you look into the lyrical scripts, there is enough to label it Christian musing.
But anyway, Bruce Cockburn is not a name I was familiar with prior to listening to this album. The guy really doesn't have moments in his life that were put under the microscope, and his music is not awe striking to put him on the front pages of newspapers. Instead, the guy is a soft and mellow singer with a talent for guitar playing.
And that's exactly what he does here. If I'm being honest, I can imagine him sitting in the studio, playing his guitar parts, singing, having coffee, and then calling it a day. The music is inoffensively good, and it reminds me of in moments, but with the added "praise thy lord" moments. While we're at it, I love the idea of making an album that's spiritual on the surface, making it enjoyable to a wider mass, but inside being tailored to a specific audience.
I have no intention of returning to it, but it's a good album. Its vibe Is humane, and it really makes me appreciate the world around me without going full-on religious mode.
Orpheus Listening Challenge 2024: #39 An album considered first or nearly first in its genre (24th album)
A modest debut, and a modest album to start the country rock genre, a year before his bandmates from would release with.
As far as the album itself goes, it's alright collection of songs. The standouts are "Echoes" and "The Same One", which are glimpses into the sound and structure he would be more known for in the early to mid-70s. At the same time, the rest is mostly a lite version of Byrds psychedelia with a dash of country twang, with the Gosdin Brothers providing not much more than some harmonizing back vocals.
Rated 8/10
It rips. Combining the San Francisco psychedelic sound with the flavor of country and folk, and with the fertile, picturesque fields of the singer-songwriter genre proved to be a good idea, since this album was the result.
The whole album has this fuzzy, hazy quality that's unique. It isn't full country, but it's also not psychedelic rock. Psychedelic country? Sure.
It's full of spiritual allegories and old, folk inspired narratives, like the existential "Silver Raven", and the and "Strength Of Strings", the latter which has that George Harrison vibe of going epic and spiritual on us.
But it's not all story here. Look At "No Other", which evokes a raga-like trance, and the longest track "Some Misunderstanding" that really gives you an appreciation of the gospel-like vocal harmonies, if done right (and here, they are). It has more to it, like the funk influences of "Lady of the North" and the straight-up commercial shooter that's the opener.
I could go on about this album. It has a timeless quality you can see in a lot of today's artists in different genres, like alt-country, indie, and even some stoner and post-rock at moments.
Rated 4/10
Orpheus Listening Challenge 2024: #44 An album you think you'll love just from the cover art (31st album)
It would be nice if it wasn't filled with cliché, early 2000s alt-rock, and an unholy amount of breakbeat that should've stayed where it belonged: in a shoebox in a closet of mid 40s man.
Well, that kinda means it would be good if it was a completely different album.
Rated 6/10
If you can dredge on through its absurdly needless runtime, there is stuff here that's good. I've liked their 2020 release,, so seeing this pop up on my radar is nice.
It takes inspiration from VU, the early psychedelic era and the more mainstream one from Fleetwood Mac with a lot of love towards indie and a country tinge to create this loveable piece of music. And that's coming from a guy who doesn't believe that this type of music is anything special. The whole album is rooted in a single hazy and low fidelity sound, but it's much more than that. A lot of songs have underlying influences of dream pop, post-punk and ambient that deepen the sea of explorable sound.
It does warrant a "combing through" to make an album of bearable length, though, but there's a lot to choose from, so take a gander. What I will say, though, is that this style of music does not benefit well from the length. When everything is said and done, all the songs merge into this one giant homunculus of hazy, lo-fi sound, and it's hard to differentiate what's actually good. But it is a good album, no doubt. And when you compare the quality with its length, it's amazing.
Orpheus Listening Challenge 2024: #13 An album by a one hit wonder that doesn't feature their one hit (45th album)
I've never understood these guys. For one, I know them only for one song, for two, they've actually had a decent (if not good, I can't be the judge of that) career, and for three, they're apparently a beloved band beyond "the one song that shall not be named", here and in real life.
This is punk that I like, but not one I can return to listen to in my free time. The message is clear: we're headed for a dark path in a plethora of ways, but mostly by consumerism, and by worshiping those on TV (or the internet in these days). In a sense this is a biblical foretelling of the future (or present), and we should be afraid
I might be totally in the wrong in terms of the message this is trying to send across, so let's talk about the music. In spirit, anarchic punk, but in form, a mixture of art punk and pop. It tries to mask its true intentions by being cheerful for 90% of it, which is also an anarchic statement in itself, so pretty much the message is sprawled and written anywhere you look here (even on the cover). Not trying to be subtle, eh?
In short lines, an anarcho punk staple that's more than just a means to spread a message, but a pretty well executed and enjoyable album.
Also, big thanks to [~8osam] for the recommendation. Sorry for not getting to it earlier.
Rated 5/10
Background music for a half-empty dive bar. At least the Chilli Boys try, and the guitarist and saxophonist have some moments. Absolutely not good, but I've most definitely heard worse!
Bonus points for the cover.
Rated 6/10
Orpheus Listening Challenge 2025: #7 An album recorded in a non-studio location. (This does not include live/concert albums) (26th Album)
Year: 2002
Place: Sonic Promiseland studios (a.k.a. his home he rented with his roommate)
Holy mother of lo-fi. Just listen to the drums on The Seed (preferably with headphones) to see what I mean. He outdid plenty of noise rock with that drum bashing.
The Headphone Masterpiece is a precursor to a lot of things. First and foremost, the bedroom aesthetic and recording method. Sure, it was present before this album was released, but this one laid the groundwork for subsequent bedroom artists. And second, the "online", Frank Ocean brand psychedelic RnB genre of the 2010s.
But being first (or one of the first) doesn't automatically mean being good. It has a few good moments, like those few slower, more dissonant numbers like Serve This Royalty and No One Will. The biggest gripe I have with this one is the length, and the humorous nature of it, which I get because of the nature and background of the recording. Still, it doesn't excuse it for being chalk full of slog. It's worth checking out, but as with most long form projects: comb it out.
Rated 7/10
Weirdly, I like this as a whole. but I could say nothing individually. I guess I like the vibe ti brings? Vic always had that poetic edge I like, but I guess it was perfect for me on a song-to-song basis.
Rated 7/10
Chauchat is slowcore a la Galaxy 500 with more indie folk essence to it that's been lost to time and washed upon the shores of RYM.
A bit bloated with post-rock in the beginning, but otherwise good. I'm a sucker for lonely romanticism in lyrics with sparse and/or lo fidelity instrumentation (which tells you more about me, than the album), so this feels like home.
At moments, it can feel like cringe, especially "The Monotony of Jesus Christ", which is more of a denunciation of religion than it is a song about longing for someone who's taken a different route than you. It feels like one of those "look at me" moments, rather than something that's meant to be on here.
Other than that, I have no gripe with it. It's a bit cryptic, bit straightforward, and really lovable if you're into this type of stuff.
Rated 6/10
Booooriiiing. Not bad in any way, shape, or form, but boooooriiiing. Does nothing new, most of the album doesn't stick to me beyond the initial listen,
the instrumentals are passable, but god does the vocalist make me want to gut punch myself. Also, whoever wrote lyrics on this... just don't.
Wicked Puppet Dance started off nice, but once the guy started yelling "Death Cum", I was out. Not a fan of the politically oriented stuff on Why. If I wanted someone to yell what tabloids write on the daily, I'll just listen to the neighborhood pessimist. grimace_smoking_weed.jpeg is a waste of 9 minutes
Also, what the fuck is I Don't Care If I Burn? It's like a 12-year-old discovered 4chan.
Pamela is a track I dig, and that's the only bright spot on here. Rest of it? Not bad, but a waste of 40 minutes.
Good tracks: Pamela
Rated 7/10
Maybe this will be one of those albums that younger generations will love, and that won't make me cringe every time I hear it somewhere in the public sphere. Is this some sign of a new chapter: Deks buries the hatchet and begins to enjoy the magic of music for the masses? Maybe.
Anyway, this album is very enjoyable. Carefully constructed by A.G. Cook, who plays the role of train driver for the most part, with moments presented in the front that are destined to become global summer anthem, while Charli plays the role of the First Lady and the face of the album. I enjoyed the second half more, though. There is something in that pop sound and a more aggressive tone in places that gives the album another dimension and improves it.
Closing words: am I the only one who finds this revival of the electro music I grew up with in the late 00s and early 10s strange? I feel like I'm getting old.
Rated 6/10
Orpheus Listening Challenge 2025: #27 An album where all songs are under two minutes (45th Album)
Non-stop onslaught of screams and fast tempo drumstick swings. It's better than I would've anticipated, a "fight now, talk later" ordeal.
At worst, you can boost your scrobbles by 20 in 12 minutes.
Rated 6/10
Well, this one feels a lot different from most punk I've listened to. A lot more street grit to it.
