fing2112

Another album lurking in the bottom 20, and another album that was actually interesting and quite an enjoyable listen. RYM labels the genre of this as "shitgaze", a term completely alien to me until someone helpfully explained it in the subreddit.

Times New Viking sounds like a disciple of Psychocandy's brand of pop, the album consists of cute sounding indie songs underneath an excruciating amount of noise and feedback, but Rip It Off somehow takes it further to a point where it's hard to determine it stops being a deliberate choice and starts just being a by-product of bad recording equipment.

I say the album sounds cute but this is purely from a musical perspective, lyrically the album deals with grittier topics from what I can tell. Unfortunately I'd love to expand on this point, but the layer of noise that occupies the space between my ears and the songwriting is so.harsh that it's kinda difficult to make out. The songwriting seems decent for the most part, if a little unextraordinary.

And here's where we get back to that "shitgaze" tag from the intro, the album has a similar effect to shoegaze bands of having so much distortion and walled noise that it's hard to determine any aspects of these songs apart from one another, instead feeling like a singular instrument. I felt myself zoning out from the album pretty often, not in a bad way as I was still fully paying attention to the album, but in a way where the album just washes over you. At times the album just feels like a noise album rather than a pop album, but I think this aspect is what helps the album click, at least for me.

Should it be in the list: I'm leaning no because I'm sure there's better albums in this space, but I think you could make a strong case for this being included.

Top 3 songs: (My Head), Faces on Fire, Off the Wall

I usually think the supposed British bias is a bit overblown, but I don't know how else to read this inclusion other than it's the closest thing to adding Boygenius if they were British. Jasmine.4.t is trans and deals heavily with trans topics, which is sort of new to the list (emphasis on sort of, I haven't forgotten about Anohni) but I think this gap could have been filled with a better artist, such as Jane Remover.

The album is indie folk, and feels very inspired by Elliott Smith, probably primarily due to Jasmine's quiet, intimate, breathy vocals. There's some rockier tracks and I think this is where Jasmine's musical talent really blooms, unfortunately there aren't very many of them on the album.

Lyrically the album has a lot of emotion to it, I feel Jasmine's joys and pains of being transgender, but as a cis person it does very much feel like I'm on the outside looking in rather than feeling it in my heart, which stunts my enjoyment with it unfortunately. I actually quite like her lyrical style though.

Was it a good addition to the list: No

Top 3 songs: Skin On Skin, You Are the Morning, Guy Fawkes Tesco Dissociation

Wow, what a first song! I was under the impression that Ela Minus was a straightforward electropop/synthpop artist, yet this album starts with an over five minutes long droning ambient piece with some tricky IDM bits towards the end. I loved it and was blown away, then as it ends it transitions into the next song which IS a straightforward electropop song reusing the same beat, but it's so wonderful!

Unfortunately.... The rest of the album really doesn't live up to the first song, and from song 3 onwards it's all downhill. Well thats a bit harsh, it does move away a little from the more standard electropop elements after a while and the IDM hints are brought a bit more to the forefront, as well as other interesting elements like tech house and even some industrial.

And then... It ends. 33 minutes, was way too short, Ela Minus has some interesting ideas but you gotta flesh them out a bit more. Right I was really starting to get into the album it was over. Still, like Mon Rovia, I'll be interested to see what she does next.

Was it a good addition to the list: No

Top 3 songs: Abrir Monte, Broken, I Want To Be Better

The Cure find consistency for the first time since 1989's Disintegration! A good return to form for the band, their best album since Wish.

To me, Songs From a Lost World had a lot more drama than other records by The Cure, lots of heartfelt strings, crunchy riffs, deep and longing synths, and they all exist to amp up the emotional factor. The second song And Nothing Is Forever has always been a bit off-putting for me because the strings seem a bit too overbearing, although I did enjoy the song this time around.

There's an almost post-rock sound to this album, with a greater focus on creating soundscapes for Smith to wail over rather elongated pop tunes. That's not to say that the album isn't poppy, it is, but The Cure seem to have taken a cinematic approach to the album. There's ups and downs to this, Endsong is a brilliant example of how to do it, the intro that takes up over half of the song let's your mind soar. I guess the band has always had this attribute, but it feels a lot more forceful here.

Musically the foreboding and spacey sound makes me think of ageing, something that seems to be corroborated by the lyrics. The soundscapes give a feeling of eternity (or lack of it), and I'm impressed that the band manage to make me think of my own mortality just from the music alone.

Also Robert's voice still sounds great!

Was it a good addition to the list: Yes and no. It is one of the best albums to come out since the release of the last book (The Cure are my favorite band so I'm a little biased in that regard), but if we're adding a FOURTH Cure album, it either has to be The Head on the Door, Kiss Me, or Wish, one of the albums that show off the poppier side of the band. Ultimately I wouldn't have added it.

Top 3 songs: Alone, All I Ever Am, Endsong

Another Charli album! This time her rave influenced pop climaxes with cinematic orchestral strings instead of a bombastic and cocaine fueled EDM breakdown, which is kind of weird!

I have a complicated relationship with soundtrack albums, they definitely need representation but too often (and Dimery's guilty of this) they don't hold up well as standalone experiences, requiring further context from the source material to get the most out of it. The first song, House - which is a very interesting piece of industrial dark ambient -, filled me with dread because it sounds like the very thing I was complaining about! Fortunately the album corrects course quite quickly and has Charli do her usual thing with cinematic classical strings.

She does actually utilize the strings in interesting way such as Dying For You where they're used essentially as a dance best, but for most of the album they do feel a bit hackneyed in the same way they're always used in movies. Still, Charli has to work with the assignment and she does a good job for the most part.

Was it a good addition to the list: No. If we need more than one Charli album, there's definitely better choices.

Top 3 songs: Dying for You, Chains of Love, Funny Mouth