Reviews by deksametazon

This is as good as Balkan folk gets (the worthwhile kind, at least). Combining the influence of the counterculture, late 60s, psychedelic desert folk and the quite opposite, lush forest-y instrumentation with the mix of the everlasting influence of the mountainous Balkans, it dances around, sometimes like a city slicker from the Greenwich, and sometimes like a pagan. Depending on the room.

The vocals are brittle. As if a book is being narrated, the vocals and instrumentation take turns into weaving a scene altogether. When it's the vocalist's turn to shine, it takes a more laid back approach, putting the story in the spotlight, but once the singer gives the reigns to the band, the whole background gets illuminated and the canvas begins to be painted with a palette of different colors. It's also worth mentioning that it's reminiscent at moments of some key snippets of CSN&Y's career, especially "Helplessly Hoping", which is a key influence in their harmonizing moments.

A quick little listen. I like to put it when I'm doing something. It does have a bit of an ominous feeling to it, which is to be expected from a double bass album and from the circumstances it was recorded in. Recommended if you're into instrumental classical playing.

As 3/5 of an album a 3/5 album can be. Musically great with a lot of talent, but just not my thing. Asylum and Crime of the Century stand above the rest, though, but not enough to carry, sadly. The cover is majestic, tho.

Orpheus Listening Challenge 2026: #13 A Welsh album (41st Album)

Vocals remind me of Richard Dawson. Hell, the entire album vaguely does, with those folky tinges. Sadly, it doesn't employ the forward thinking nor the avant-garde fun Dawson does, so it kinda falls flat. Also me not knowing the welsh language also closes the door on the one thing that might've made this one more enjoyable. But I'm glad they made it in Welsh. Stick it up to the Englishman!

A bit underwhelming, all things considered. It's more pop than folk, which really irks me, but Moj Prvi Snijeg is a banger. A slow atmospheric masterpiece.

So the story behind these guys is that Luca Prodan was a kid with rich parents who was sent to Argentina to clean up his act, because apparently heroin wasn't available in South America in the 80s.

With him coming to South America, he also brought a brand of post-punk mashed with reggae a la Clash or The Ruts, pretty much indigenous to the UK due to Caribbean immigrants. Their sound has an energy of a dense urban sprawl: punchy, and dissonant. Luca's lyrics are no Bob Marley-level of good, not even close, but they get the job done.

Essentially, your enjoyment boils down to how much you can enjoy the dubby instrumentals and Luca yelling "Babyloooon!" occasionally. The first half is more post-punk, while the other half is reggae and dub oriented, which would make this album an amazing EP, but it kinda falls short in the second half, especially with the abysmal Debede. Luca would hone is craft as the years went by, and this is a solid start, but a bit far from where I'd want it to be.

I've been listening to Sumo this past year and, while decent, all their albums fail to hold my attention past the halfway mark. Crua-Chan, No Tan Distinos and La Gota En El Ojo are good, but the rest are very plain, dubby, reggae. An issue I run into with most of the time when listening to their albums: not bad, just not as memorable as it can be.

I'm torn on this one.

Honestly, not a bad effort. I saw the genre tags, read a bit about her and her music, and expected worse, especially after the first few songs. The tracks that are clearly aimed at a mainstream audience are passable and don't make me grind my teeth in pure cringe, and the rest that explore African rhythms, experimental-ish electro passages, and dreamy melodies are good, even making me somewhat like the textbook R&B delivery underneath. Reminds me of a mixture of Beyonce, Little Simz, JPEGMAFIA, Erykah Badu, and Frank Ocean.

But for me, a big problem here is some of the lyrics. At some points, the lyrics get a bit corny... and horny. Too horny. But sure, I get it. Sometimes you gotta get that energy out, I respect that, but respect me for not really vibing with a song that goes full-blown "I just want the D-I-C-K". Ya get me? Cool.

Definitely not bad. I can see myself listening to some songs on this. The instrumentals are good, and the production is very nice. Also, a big plus for doing this all on her own. Sudan definitely has a future for her if she continues down this road, I just don't see myself fully alongside her.

Shady release not many people know about? Check

Too long? 2 hours and something. Check

Too many songs? 50 to be exact. Check

I chose to spend 2 hours listening to this, instead of spending it on studying for my exams. I hope I fail. You're better off going on a walk, listening to something else, or you know... studying. It's not the worst thing out there, but there's nothing memorable to be taken from here.

Hate to say it, but the album is really uneven. It starts off with one of my favorite summer tracks in Dobre Vibracije, dips on A2 and A3 (which is a Donovan ripoff, even if the sleeve doesn't say it), jumps back up on A4 and A5, dips AGAIN (though not as hard) on B1 through 3, then ends on a high note with B4 and B5. That being said, the dips aren't that deep, and are still really enjoyable, especially in a chill setting, but are not something I'd go out of my way to play. Still, a very competent record, in the underrated discography of one of the more overlooked head honchos of Yugoslavian new-wave.

When I was running within the punk circles locally, Iggy Pop, in general, was the most overlooked artist, which was by far the most baffling thing about those people. Hell, one of the guys even sold me the album citing it just doesn't have a place in his collection anymore? How do you overlook the grandfather of what punk, and how doesn't he have a place in your damn collection!?

A rambunctious, hard-rocking album from start to finish with loads of memorable moments in every single track on here. A flawless album, Iggy Pop was at the peak in whichever category you put him when he worked on this album: Peak rock persona, peak energy, peak catchiness, and most importantly, peak creative output. Funhouse mixes a lot of stuff on here, motorics we would see extensively within the Kosmiche scene in Germany, Doors-esque psychedelic motives, noisy licks only present in very rare moments at the time within some weird crowds with a punk stance that goes so punk, it transcends it and by the end you're left with an avant-garde, coke-fueled jazz scream-fest that was never topped. Funhouse is a rabid animal, on an endless surge of energy, not stopping for anything unless it's sex, drugs, or crime. Or all three at once.

The first song has that evergreen haunting melody that makes it such a powerful song, while the rest is good at best. Folky pop with singer-songwriter moments.

I wish she kept that intimate sound Sto Te Name and Kad Nisi Znao Nista Bolje had and ditched the whole flirtation with rock. Even though she proved she could make them, it doesnt fit the mood here.

Nico never did die in Ibiza in 1988. Instead, after the release of tVU's debut album, Cale introduced her to the luscious English countryside where she relocated and decided to record some little ditties on her acoustic guitar. The woman who recorded the seminal "scary hours" albums of the 70s is a doppelganger made by the music industry, sorta how they did it for Macca. She liked the countryside so much in fact, that she changed her name and said she was born in Surrey, oddly enough. When asked to elaborate further, she would grab her guitar and say "Ask Me No Questions". Hence the title.

Source: The voice coming from my bedroom wall

Orpheus Listening Challenge 2024: #41 A Bandcamp album with the "avant-garde" tag (21st album)

Have you ever listened to an album and in the end you thought to yourself, "I can't remember anything from it."? Well, this is one of those albums, It's just a collection of instruments playing sufficient jazz, move along.

Ugh, this album is one of those "I hate I like them" albums, but what can I do, it's excellent. I think people criticize Rod too much based on his 80s output, and don't give credit for his earlier, more rocky, period. Realistically, every 60s and 70s star was in the gutter in this period, but Rod seems to get more tomatoes thrown at him for taking a pop route and actually succeeding.

This album is great. It reminds me a lot of the late 60s/early 70s Stones, with the rootsy atmosphere and the murky, less polished production. Rod's raspy vocals are an acquired taste, but to me, his smoky delivery is what sells it, alongside great instrumental work. He really gave new life to some of the songs present here, as most of them are renditions.

I also like the subtle Brit folk added to it, something that the Stones were never keen on doing. The mandolin only adds to the lushness of the album, like on the track Mandolin Wind.

Year of the Cat is a well-crafted piece of pop-folk. After the early part of his career, which was marked by baroque folk with historical influences, Al Stewart “sells out” and gives us Year of the Cat. At first, it recalls Cat Stevens, but with a deeper touch, drawing on elements of more progressive pop and rock in general.

The title track, Year of the Cat, is widely regarded as the standout song here, though for me Midas Shadow, Broadway Hotel, and Lord Grenville rank very highly, sometimes even above Year of the Cat. Still, it’s hard to compete with that sophisticated instrumental section and overall pop edge that made it a popular song.

Although the album was a major commercial success, Stewart’s output gradually diminished, and he was never able to replicate what he achieved with this record. For me, it remains a very dear piece of music, even if today it probably has only minimal influence on the broader musical landscape.

This album is a mirror of what the majority of this site's inhabitants are. Lighten up a bit, will ya.

Fourth of July is awesome, obviously. The rest, meh. But I respect it, no doubt about it. It's ok to be sad every once in a while.

This is as good as it can get from such a one dimensional artist like Cat Stevens. A bit of his Greek heritage sprinkled in with the already familiar acoustic driven singer-songwriter shtick, and you can still squeeze out the last of the sweet nectar

Not quite good as Mona Bone Jakon and Tea For The Tillerman, two albums where Cat demonstrated his new approach to the craft. On Teaser, he yet again demonstrates it, but does he need to? Not really. In fact, if he didn't have some evergreens like Peace Train, If I Laugh, Bitterblue and Morning Has Broken sprinkled in, it would've been a hard listen and an even harder pass for me. Still, as is, a very enjoyable album that caps off a very fruitful 2 year period.

God bless Cat Stevens for making this album. It has both great hits like Father and Son and Wild World, while also having some beautiful deep cuts like Sad Lisa and But I Might Die Tonight.

Cat has such a warm voice that cradles you through the instrumentals of this peaceful odyssey. I think this is his peak, as the next album, while having some great songs, shows cracks of fatigue, while the previous one shows of artistic insecurity. This one perfectly walks the line of a calm journey through themes of love and life's questions without getting too philosophical. Maybe it's a bit paradoxical too: it's both intimately fragile, yet confident in its stride.

I'm glad to have this in my library. I have the greatest hits, but this one has a lot more meat than usually stated when talking about Cat's musical portfolio, which is always great in the musical journey aspect.

His first album after his bout with tuberculosis is his most "serious" out of the three that are considered to be his best.

The reason the word serious is in parentheses, is because even if I would characterize as a serious effort, there's still a lot of fun and good-willed nature and camaraderie from Cat here that calling it serious is a hard and bitter word. Though it's also far from happy and carefree, it's far from what you would call serious. Introspective and full of wisdom might be a good expression.

This is a strong shift from Cat. Mona Bone Jakon has some of his evergreens, like Trouble and Lady D'Arbanville, and it also boasts some deep cuts, like Maybe I'm Wrong, Time and Lilywhite, the later two being some really nice chamber folk numbers.

He would for sure expand on this whole idea on the next album, Tea For The Tillerman, but as a standalone album, this stuff is top-notch stuff, coming from a guy who doesn't like the sappy, happy tune.