drnanard

"We have Michael Jackson at home", basically. It's very derivative, which might explain why I've never heard either of the names he's used. It's hard to compete for the same spotlight as the King of Pop. He even emulates the "heehees". But it's still pretty good. Great voice, great melodies, great instrumentation. Very enjoyable to listen to, overall. But there are also a couple of songs that annoyed me. For their blandness, or their repetitiveness, or whatever the fuck "As Yet Untitled" was.

Still enjoyable, but you end up wishing you were listening to MJ instead.

Another album where the reviewers are abysmally stupid.

This was so good. Everything here is fantastic, and no two songs sound the same. It's full of creativity. And instruments. "Stephany knows who" opens with a fucking harpsichord and jazzy winds, and a flute is featured prominently on a few song starting with "Orange Sky", and there's an orgue on "¡Que Vida!", then "The Castle" brings back the harpsichord for a folksy song that sounds like some Enio Morricone western tune. Damn bro. It's a lot. In a good way. But the listener needs to breathe a little, and they know it, so they hit you with a more conventional song with "She comes in color".

Because Love is about to smack you in the face with an 18-minutes-long blues-rock-jazz-whatever chaotic masterpiece that goes everywhere, screams at you, transports you, and then ends on a sax solo; no, sorry, a drum solo; wait no, it's a harpsichord solo; fuck it, why not all three? Sure, it "lacks" direction, the same way abstract expressionism lacks structure. Who gives a shit? It's a trip. Probably the closest you can be from an out-of-body experience without LSD.

First, I'll say that, as a native French-speaker, the butchered French annoyed me (the singer is German-Swiss). But I don't want to gatekeep singing in French, especially when so many French artists desecrate English (I'm talking about you The Onirist). Just saying it made my ears cringe at times. The low-pitch singing can also be a bit much, and sometimes it doesn't really fit the music.

Aside from that, this album is amazing. Very imaginative, atmospheric, varied, fun and full of life. No instrument was deemed unfit for the music the band wanted to make. There's a lot of guitar, bass and drum, of course, but also violin, accordion, industrial-sounding percussions and all kinds of orchestral instruments (through sampling I presume). Some songs are a bit repetitive, but never for very long; they keep moving around, transporting you elsewhere.

A very surprising album, full of creativity, and the reviews here are pathetic. Seriously, if you think this sounds like Rammstein or Nine Inch Nails (whom I love btw) you have piss in your brain. Do... Do y'all even listen to the albums, or do you just click randomly on the track listing and listen for 10 seconds? Embarrassing.

"Graveyard Train" is boring, and the last song meanders a lot; as one would say, it keeps on chooglin'. Otherwise, this is a very strong album, albeit a short one, which probably stops it from becoming stale. And that's good : too many albums are stock full with filler songs that are there only to justify an LP.

Anyway, the guitar play is amazing here, which is the highlight of the album.

The presence of this album on the list is weird to me. This is the least "Beck" of Beck albums. He sure is eclectic, and his music is certainly hard to pin down, so that's a bold statement, but I guess my expectations for a Beck album is to be constantly surprised with creativity and experimentation, but this folk album, while pretty good in all the ways that matter for a folk album, is ultimately pretty standard. Very easy to enjoy, but it's too safe for 2002, and I probably won't revisit.