Reviews by directoryofbunk

A sublime, towering achievement. Can't even begin to figure out what a genius work of art this is.

So much to love about Blur, and a lot to find quite irritating too. Haven't heard this album in ages, think I might have petulantly written it off at the time. Quite a few good songs on this, and Graham Coxon's influence is much more forward than in a lot of their other albums. Song 2 is so overplayed now that it's psychically damaged, but that doesn't ruin the whole. Might come back to see if I like it more on repeat.

Terrible lyrics, boring instrumentation
Pure cliche. Some of the interlude are quite interesting and far superior to the songs.

Perfectly fine stuff and, I guess, indicative of a certain time and place. But nothing that exciting - another one where you question why it's in a list of things you MUST hear. It's not brilliant, it's not unusual, it's innovating. Just a perfectly pleasant listen.

Here we go, first encounter in this project with the most overrated band of my times. Bunch of pretentious private schoolboys who've made some decent music, but no exactly earth-shattering stuff.

I do, though, have fond memories of this record. There are some solid songs (High & Dry, Fake Plastic Trees, Black Star) though quite a few are so-so chuggers (Bones, Just, Bulletproof). A lot of the sounds are very enjoyable but Thom Yorke's voice is often annoying.

Overall, both better and worse than I remember.

This period of Soft Machine, before they went into total prog jazz soulless showboating is highly enjoyable. Third is a nice transition from the very English first 2 albums, seems to me like they are incorporating a lot of ideas from Albert Ayers, Ornette Coleman, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, and Terry Riley into this. Gets a bit too noodly at times, but overall a very satisfying psychedelic excursion.

Went into this with rock bottom expectations - I have the opposite of fond memories of the nu metal fad.

Ultimately this is more of an "alternative " rock album, and has many of the awful sonic motifs of so many successful American bands of the late 90s - Zoom pedal guitars, overly twangy bass, and pointless turntables are in aabundance. On top of this, every song is super-boring and the singer has a totally nothing voice.

Bloody rubbish.

Finally, after nearly 100 albums, one from the "Global South". LBM are an excellent group, and this is a fine collection of songs showcasing their immense skill. Despite this being purely a capella it does feel a little overproduced (quite an artifical timbre?) and is merely a collection of good tunes rather than a considered "album", as such. Would be interesting to check out some older cuts...

A record of 2 excellent halves. Side 1 is pretty great, but side 2 takes the cake.

Felt like this album was totally ubiquitous at the time, but I don't remember much about it other than the title track and Do You Realize? Flaming Lips have gone on to become increasingly zany and annoying, but this album contains a pleasant level of melancholy and self-reflection. Much of the production is very charming, but there is an element of "we're kerazzee guys" in some of the musical choices.

I was definitely intrigued and up for the prospect of checking this out. Unfortunately, it wasn't as exciting (or as abrasive) as I might have hoped. The sampler-as-instrument stuff is interesting, but pales in comparison with how it was being used in hip-hop and dance music at the same time. There's also a weird theatrical, overly-devoted to Brecht kind of vibe to the vocals. a 2.5 really, but I'll kindly round up to 3.

So this is supposed to be one of the greatest live albums ever? I'm just not getting it. Partly I find Keith Moon's drumming very irritating, but the songs just don't seem like great versions. The 15 min long My Generation just loses interest as it goes on.

Any excuse to listen to Murmur is highly welcome. One of the greatest debuts ever. Sheer perfection.

Much as this record brings warm feelings, it's not even the best Lemonheads record. A solid, workable indie rocker, but far from remarkable.

Yes we Can.

When this popped up my initial reaction was "oh no, not another 'classic rock' album". But this is really great fun! Somewhat silly in am enjoyable way with some excellent tunes throughout, plus an pleasingly elastic band feel.

Going into this album with my long-held belief that Queen are nonsense. This album isn't doing much to disavow me of that, though maybe it's more interesting than I had anticipated.

This record felt like a breath of fresh air when it came out, but quickly disappated into semi-semi-irrelevance. Lovely harmonies and maybe ⅓ of the songs are really good, but most of it just kind of floats by. Perfectly nice, but not exactly a record you MUST listen to. Better than The Eagles though, though maybe getting a 1-point boost to reflect that.

I thought I knew this album but clearly not, as it deviates from my expectation of a collection of retro-ish analogue electronic pop with a heavy nod to the 1960s. Lots more interesting sampling, etc going on here. I'd also completely forgotten that Sarah Cracknell isn't the only singer on the album. Some of the beats are highly redolent of Britain in the 90s - shuffly baggy beats as exampled on Nothing Can Stop Us Now - but tying with paisley-ish other instrumentation and so on makes it a bit more timeless. Like The Swallow is a great way to round it out. Not quite a 5, but not far off.

Within 10 seconds I realised that there was a whole side of Tim Buckley I was not previously aware of.

Quite mixed feelings about this, which was clearly made to be a bit obnoxious. Felt a bit crap and weirdly sleazy, but maybe there's more to it that would be revealed by further listened. For now, it's a low mark.