Reviews by deksametazon

This album was a turning point in my life. I remember finding it mid-2019 and being so fucking perplexed as to how a human being can record something like this. Then I read about how it was recorded, and my 19-year-old self was promptly jizzing his pants. Keep in mind, the most experimental shit I listened at the time was fucking Slipknot and Metallica lol.

Funny story. One time, my two friends and I were driving around town, and I got the aux cord and I switched it from some generic indie garbaggio we were pumping at the time, to "Paper Hats". After those 6 minutes, I was banned from ever touching the AUX cord.

Fuck those guys. One listen of this album helped me more than they ever did in the 10 years I knew them.

As is with most Lounge/Bossa nova albums, this one is fairly innocuous. Nothing to write home about, for better or worse. Good background music while lounging around tho

Don't let the rating fool you, this album is a fine piece of music. Toots soothes the soul with his harmonica playing, which is in my opinion, a very underutilized instrument in jazz. His guitar playing on some tracks is also good. Also, the rest of the cast, Kenny Drew on piano, Art Taylor on drums and Wilbur Ware on bass follow Toots very nicely, gelling with him very well, with everyone having the spotlight shining on them at one point or another. Recommended for anyone who doesn't know what they want to play on a cold winter morning.

Soul Mining is a relic of the 80s that went mostly unasummed when it first got released, but has since been hailed as one of the best albums the new-wave craze had to offer.

It might just be my attraction towards generally anxious and melancholic albums, but this album truly has no weak moment

Matt really has a knack for making danceable, grandiose and lush pop songs, mostly visible in all four songs on the A side. Uncertain Smile is a clear example of that, with the Jools Holland piano solo that's so well done, it stands out as a highlight of his career. This is The Day is a song I've heard back when I was 15 years old, and the seemingly happy and uplifting song has been in and out of my rotation ever since.

Side B is a whole different beast. A trio of progressive, mind-bending, tracks with a lot of mild self-hate and introspection, with Giant being a prog-pop masterpiece with its use of percussion and homage to African music.

The rest of the album is also as good, with a usual combination of infectious rhythm section, memorable solos, and a host of lyrical highlights that stood the test of time.

Well, Teska Industrija tried to replace Vajta's vocals with someone with a similar rough and gravelly voice and they sorta did succeed, but at what cost?

The concentrated and tight musicianship that the debut had got diluted and all we got left was an album that didn't know which way to go. Was it going funky? Maybe progressive? Symphonic? I don't know. All I know is that all of the songs were made in hopes that something will jump off the springboard that was Ho-Ruk and stick them alongside Bijelo Dugme, Korni Grupa, Time, etc. in terms of being known, but all they got was an album that is uninteresting and is mostly futile listening.

I guess the opener "Ala Imam Ružnu Curu" is catchy and there are a few passages in "Prva Bol", "Moja Draga" and "Nikola Tesla" that are worth a listen, but as a full project, this is a bland attempt at mainstream fame.

Ho-Ruk is Teska Industrija's only album you should give a damn about.

Good combination of prog and hard rock with that Italian flavor of organ playing. Combine that with Vajta's voice which makes beards grow on the chins of prepubescent teenagers, and long luscious hair on middle-aged men, and you get this album.

Sadly, it's a high-power album overshadowed by another local up-and-coming band. I'll let you guess who.

A tale of two sides, or so many would point out. The A side is full of punk masterpieces, with the first three tracks being infectious guitar driven bangers that are essential pop songs with a punk edge, and capping it off with a 10-minute storytelling of epic proportions that details the nightlife of New York (but honestly, any town fits) with instrumental passages that avoke a lot of different feelings and that helped a lot of people like myself get over a tough period in life in a surrounding that didn't kindly treat the artistic kind (and still doesn't).

Side B is where most people find the flaws of the thing, and beside the opener it's usually regarded as the lesser part of the album. While yes, I'd agree with the sentiment, it's not that bad. It's still a lot better than most stuff that is peddled under the post-punk umbrella. Sure, Torn Curtain is typical pansy-rock that is maybe too long for it's own good, but the rest is very good. Prove It keeps the infectious edge with its guitar work, and Guiding Light has that intimacy factor that really works in its favor.

But still, even with all of its flaws, this is a very nice package of punk that I'd recommend to anyone, and am very proud to ow

To create an album like The Hurting is a ballsy move for any band, especially for a band trying to make a mark on the world and get a foothold in the music industry.

If you really want to condense it, the first side is where all the cool ideas are. The topics might seem hard to digest at first glance, but Tears for Fears distill the gist of it and create a handful of amazing pop tunes that are spearheaded by great singles such as Mad World and Pale Shelter.

The desolate expansiveness of some songs here are amazing, I just wish it lasted longer and was more utilized, but the bombastic 80s drums and synths make up for it, and are a good way to spice things up a bit.

The singles from this album are massive, to say the least. Anthemic thumps highly infectious to the ear, to the point where they even get annoying to some people, but for me, the real beauty lies in the final three songs, which seemingly flow in each other, making a sort of hybrid, studio/live, medley that combines dream pop, sophisti-pop and new wave in all the right places.

It takes skill to take a well commercialized movement at the time and make something worthwhile, but these guys have done just that.

You know you're in for a happy ride when the opening statement is:

Don't come to me with your sorrows anymore,
I don't need to know how bad you're feeling today...

The whole album reminds me of the happy vibe of Jim Croce, another singer-songwriter in the similar vain as James Taylor. There's nothing you can hate about this one, even if you try to. It's a very good and melodic album, but most importantly... happy.

Orpheus Listening Challenge 2025: #47. An album from a winner of the Grammy award for Best New Artist (17th Album)

Well, Chapel Roan was supposed to be in this entry, but just in the nick of time, [~___BurnerAccount_] saves the day and recommends this one.

Boogie Oogie Oogie was their prized horse that carried their short career, and it's good, at least as good as disco can be these days, but the rest is funky soul of a sophisticated craft, a la Stevie Wonder, which, in honesty, doesn't come out of left field as they're fairly similar, but still its odd enough of a switch. A welcome one, because the staying power of disco is that of a carton of milk on a summer day. All in all, very decent in every aspect.

First off, this is an album undeservingly relegated to a second tier of great. Sure, while I can agree that it lacks the overall emotional energy their final two albums would be abundant in, they more than enough make it up with their talent and knack for creating an infectious melody.

Most of the songs have some kind of key moment that makes the memorable. Life's What You Make It has that deep, running, piano that runs through it, Happiness is Easy with the child choir behind Mark, I Don't Believe in You with the guitar solo in the middle. Oh, and how can I forget the transition from the "proto post-rock" Chameleon Day to Time It's Time, another foreshadowing to Hollis' fascination for church melodies. Beautiful.

Also, I'm glad they decided to tour after this was released. I'll touch more on their live album they released for the tour, but hearing these songs be played in an improvised manner with a post rock touch is something to be an awe of.

This is one of the few albums you need to hear out of the post-rock genre. The rest will just pale in comparison to what you will hear here. You'll forget you even existed for 40 minutes. Mark Hollis expertly crafted 6 immensely beautiful tracks whose instrumentals are, dare I say, unparalleled by anything done in post-rock (maybe Laughing Stock is better, but that's up to preference). Any note played has a reason why it's played and every silence you hear has its place, and every word spoken and sang has a meaning.

From the side A suite that sings about forgiveness, sacrifice, hardship, and the beautiful instrumental breakdown from a calm odyssey to a jungle of drum sounds that reminisce to some of their songs from previous albums in "Desire", to the heartbreaking side B and "I Believe in You" and "Wealth", it's honestly one of the greatest achievements in music in the last 50 years.

I must admit, out of all the Talk Talk/Mark Hollis albums, this was the hardest one to accustom my ears to. But once I did, I could see why this album is often regarded as a one-of-a-kind album and one of the best of the genre. The themes of seeking forgiveness of oneself sung by a man who was disillusioned and hurt by the world around him speak multitudes to me, and I genuinely feel that with each next listen, the emotions multiply, even if I'm not a person who's particularly into the craft of religion.

Mind you, this album is no, which I find to be an immaculate album, but still, Laughing Stock is a well-made, painfully emotional package that, most importantly, stands well today, and still evokes the same feelings it did the previous listen, with more flowing in with each minute of the album passing.

A really great album. To each their own, but I prefer it to their "masterpiece" Remain in Light. It sounds straightforward yet so fresh and quirky with lots of great songs played in their characteristic angular and precise way of riffing through them, accompanied by David Byrne's idiosyncratic and complementary vocal chops.

This one is less of that funky jive Talking Heads would be known for. Some might find it uninspired, but that concrete sound of the urban east coast jungle is just what I'm looking for. New Feeling and Pulled Up is that colorful, funky NYC sound that was brewing in the cracks of the CBGB stage.

In a clear effort to stay relevant, SZA goes full-on mainstream, with no effort to make an album that is going to stand the test of time and be regarded as something other than a bland follow-up to an album considered a staple of modern R&B.

This is a textbook example of how to make a weak album. A way too long of an album with almost every song being made the same, with mellow vocals laded with a fitting trap beat and sometimes with an uplifting feel added to it by adding a choir to pull on some emotional strings. After that Phoebe Bridgers feature, which I found weak, I promptly skipped to track 20 (Open Arms), which had a Travis feature, which I was mildly excited to hear. Spoiler alert, it's mild, but hey, it's not garbage. Good Days is supposed to be good, and it is, considering what I listened to before, but it's not anything out of the ordinary with this album. Also, that ODB feature on the last track is absolutely unnecessary and ruined a somewhat passable song. SZA could've used her resurrecting powers to bring back something better, like my will to live after listening to his.

If you don't have a disappointment fetish, this is a skippable foray.

Morning comfort, or a night solace, this album is good for any time. This is a stretched out, atmospheric masterpiece with a lot of influence from eastern cultures, and with a lot of poetic edge to it. Worth a mention is how much Ryuichi's playing adds to the atmosphere. Without him, this album wouldn't be as good as it is.

Secrets of the Beehive takes all the good things from Scott Walker's early career and the idea of post-rock in its original form and screws it together to create an impressive album. Easy to get lost in its intricacies that span from beginning to end.

This is country in the same vain as The Trinity Sessions and Didn't It Rain - it's biggest calling card is its atmosphere. Smoky and late night. But that's sort of where it ends. It's Very soft and very ghostly. And also well executed. But once you into the nitty-gritty of it, you find little to keep you around. Still, it's a nice background listen.

A mixture of noisy electronic manipulation and the melodic side of shoegaze and dream pop. What is there more to say? It's a nice album that merits replay. I'm more of a fan of the longer tracks, rather than the instrumental fidgeting on shorter ones, though they are not discard value and get a pass from me.

Favs: In Harmony New Found Freedom, San Cristobal de las Casas, Two Girls Kissing, Sunn, The Vehicle is Invisible

Am I the poet being tortured in question here? A futile attempt at being edgy and emotional results in an album that, very well might be, the biggest musical laughingstock in 2024.