Reviews by 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

Hit Me Hard and Soft lives up to its name, you have the soft and slower songs and the dancefloor bangers, and the album switches between both pretty frequently. You can see in the first two songs, which starts as orchestral pop only to transition to nu-disco.

I'm not entirely sure if I like the album or not. I've listened to it twice, the first time it felt so lifeless and sucked all of the energy out of me, but on a repeat listen in the right mood it did hit me right. I find the breathy vocals to be incredibly irritating, especially since Billie Eilish is clearly a very good singer. That style of singing has been adopted in the alt pop scene, so not only is it inescapable now but it wasn't very good to begin with.

Chihiro and Birds of a Feather give the album some stability where Eilish can really get into her groove, until the song quality falls of a cliff near the end. She's clearly better when she has more energy in her songs, her slower songs feels a bit too much like a dirge

Was it a good addition to the list: Yeah probably. Eilish is one of the defining artists of the 2020s so she should probably have something in.

Top 3 songs: Chihiro, Birds of a Feather, The Greatest

Supernova by The Nova Twins is a nu-metal throwback album (yes, we're at that point now), unfortunately in doing so they highlight how dated their sound is, as well as nu-metal as a whole.

There's some pretty good songs to groove through, Antagonist is pretty banging, and Choose Your Fighter comes after a long string of mediocre songs. There's a mild industrial element to some of the songs (like Antagonist) that juices up the songs a bit and gives it more of a punch. The Nova Twins also incorporate a lot of alt rock and hip-hop to their sound, but I think they sound better when they're on the heavier side.

Fortunately the album is only 30 minutes, otherwise I probably would have docked it a star, this is just mid-00s nu-metal/alt metal without any interesting additions, and this style was dated 20 years ago, let alone in 2022.

Was it a good addition to the list: No. It's an album that proves Dimery hasn't really learned anything, we don't need more throwback albums.

Top 3 songs: Antagonist, Choose Your Fighter, Enemy

Between brat and this it seems that Dimery was in something of a summery party mood when he put these additions in the new edition! Much like brat, For That Beautiful Feeling is a swirling and continuous rave inspired by 00s EDM, though this time by a band that were big players in that scene.

For That Beautiful Feeling is closer to Exit Planet Dust than Dig Your Own Hole. The snappier and hookier songs from the latter aren't present here, instead opting for a non stop mix of electronic beats that culminate in a stop flow to make you feel like it's a party that never ends, again similar to brat. This is a huge step away from big beat compared to their other two albums, with a bigger focus on more methodical house beats, which makes it easy to mentally get lost in the rave atmosphere.

There's one big negative, as much as I praised the flow state of the album above, The Chemical Brothers like to inject harsh noises that completely ruin the flow. It shows up a few times, but the most egregious case is the song Goodbye which almost ruins the album for me. I think the sound they're going for in this song is sorrowful and isolated, but it sounds like drilling a hole in your ear which is the antithesis of exactly what makes the album good. Seriously, I almost docked it a star for this song alone.

Was it a good addition to the list: No, I can safely say this isn't a new or unique take on the band. There's many more electronic album you could add instead.

Top 3 songs: Live Again, No Reason, The Darkness That You Fear - Harvest Mix

Mon Rovia is the first Liberian on the list, so imagine my surprise when Bloodline serves me Americana inspired folk music! You don't have to look far to see why, Mr. Rovia was raised in Appalachian Tennessee.

Bloodline has a very dreamy sound for a singer-songwriter album. It immediately reminded me of something on the list already, but I don't remember what, possibly Sometimes I Wish We Were an Eagle by Bill Callahan. Like the Callahan album, Bloodline utilises chamber music strings to achieve the soft, floaty, dreamy sound, and it does elevate the comforting aspect of the folk.

I've been ambivalent about the use of autotune in the new additions, loved it in brat, was unimpressed by it in Empty Hands, and unfortunately in this album I think it takes away from the lush and calming sound that Mon Rovia is going for. This style of folk benefits from acoustic sounds, or at least the appearance of such (I.e. don't make it obvious!), and so this blatent use of it makes the singing feel artificial in an album that sounds anything but.

I don't think this album is in any way spectacular, but Mon Rovia clearly has a knack for songwriting, and the album is gorgeously produced, so I do see what Dimery saw in this album to make it essential, though I disagree with the final conclusion.

Was it a good addition to the list: No. Don't get me wrong, it's a good album and the dude clearly has potential, but singer-songwriter is not an under-represented genre, and as a result I'm expecting artists of this genre to be a cut above the norm.

Top 3 songs: Black Cauldron, Day at the Soccer Fields, Bloodline

Alvvays aren't a band I can listen to objectively anymore. They've been one of my favourite bands since a new friend of mine first showed me their debut in 2020 and they've been omnipresent in my life for the rest of this decade. Blue Rev is probably their worst, I'd opt for their second album Antisocialites (the one before this one) instead. The cynical part of me thinks that Dimery added this one thanks to the good Smiths impression they did on After the Earthquake and Pressed, which could easily be lost songs from their discography if Molly Rankin was even as close to being as miserable as Mozza.

It used to annoy the shit out of me when people would call Alvvays a shoegaze band, they had one and a half shoegaze songs on my count (In Undertow and Archie Marry Me respectively), but wow, this album is one of the most shoegazing things I think I've heard! Part of me wonders if they were waiting to improve their songwriting skills before tackling shoegaze as a common complaint is that bad bands use it to mask poor quality songwriting. Alvvays are a lot more confident however, they frequently dip out of the shoegaze and prove that their songwriting can stand on their own. Belinda Says feels like a statement on this, they could do shoegaze all along

So what does the album have other than shoegaze? Quite a lot actually. Alvvays' typical style of jangly dreamy twee is still all here, and the songwriting isn't even that far away from their usual stuff, the noisier and shoegazing elements serve to turbocharge the impact of the songs, especially the choruses. There is more of an emphasis on psychedelia, and they do play around with hypnagogic pop and synthpop around the middle of the album, which is new for them. They pull it off pretty well.

I've liked the band the most when they go more for the twee aesthetic, and Blue Rev is no exception. Many Mirrors is easily my favorite here. I think the band revels in twee because of Molly's soothing and calming voice, but also the wholesome feel the band have, which I suspect is a result of Kerri and Molly being songwriting partners since they were children.

I have one minor gripe with the album, and that's that Belinda Says should have been the closer. The last three songs are fine (and I quite like the return to hypnagogic pop with Bored in Bristol) but they feel inessential compared to the rest of the album, plus Belinda Says would have been a powerful way to close the album off.

This album is a lot better than I gave it credit for, but Alvvays never really make mistakes, I frequently put them with Nick Drake as the only artists without a bad song. The friend from the start of this review is now my wife, so this band has played a pretty big role in my musical and personal development over the past 6 years. Great stuff, hope they put out a new album soon.

Was it a good addition to the list: Yes, 100%. I would have probably picked Antisocialites, but this being the band's most popular album I can't complain. I'm just happy to see Alvvays here and I hope the community comes to love them as much as I do

Top 3 songs: After the Earthquake, Many Mirrors, Belinda Says

Brat is a slice of mid 00s EDM and rave clubbing culture, and it does a great job of matching that sound with squelchy synths, punchy electronic percussion, and blaring bass. More importantly than just what's contained within the music, is the atmosphere that it cultivates. Charli XCX is a party girl, something you'll be well aware of by the end of the album.

With brat, Charli XCX has come full circle. She started off as a electronic infused dance pop artist, and after playing around with less commercial elements during her time within the PC Music scene, she has come back to electronic dance-pop. Brat is not the same as her early work though, with her experience working with musicians in the PC Music space (such as A.G. Cook who produces some songs on the album) comes an injection of hyperpop sounds such as the heavily autotuned vocals and almost industrial bass, which really kicks the EDM up a notch beyond what it was inspired by. Speaking of inspirations, you can hear the influence of 00s EDM legends like Daft Punk and Justice all over the record, even 360 and the other songs that use its leitmotif (Rewind and 365) sound exactly like Stardust's one hit.

The hyperpop influence here is the big reason why brat has such a big sound. The exaggerated effects of hyperpop give the album a high-octane and drugged up sound, like you're at the rave drinking alcohol and taking uppers. The blaring synths and heavy autotune do give the album a disorienting and wobbly feeling which matches the exhausted yet fun feeling from the club.

Lyrically this album is her usual shtick of sexual party girl with more heartfelt lyrics about relationships, feelings, and insecurities. These personal lyrics had more impact on me during her 2020 COVID era hit album How I'm Feeling Now, but it does provide an interesting contrast to the non-stop partying atmosphere of brat. The penultimate song - I Think About It All The Time - drops a lot of the EDM and Hyperpop influences for a heartfelt song about Charli balancing her music career with her private life and starting a family, and it works as a wonderful introspective come down to the hi-energy clubbing sound from the rest of the album... Only for the closer, 365, to go full-throttle back to partying.

I liked this a lot more now than I did when it originally came out, there's lots and hooks and energy and it's a very fun album. The lyrics push it further into artistic territory, and I'm glad for those who like them and relate, but really I'm just here to groove.

Was it a good addition to the list: Yes 100%. I don't like albums that have been added within the past 5 years, but this was such a cultural phenomenon that it really would have been a huge misstep were it excluded. Probably the best possible inclusion they could have made between 2022 and now

Top 3 songs: 360, Von Dutch, I Think About It All the Time

It's kind of funny that this album is now by far the closest thing to metalcore in the books. I guess I should be happy that Dimery decided to recognize that metal exists outside of cheesy 80s heavy metal bands and nu-metal.

Empty Hands starts off on the wrong foot, the opener Public Domain opts for an unattractive style of glam drum beat. Fortunately the next song, Bruised Sky, completely corrects course and is probably the best song on the album. It's this song that introduces us to what the album will actually sound like, i.e. alt metal with a metalcore backing, though this song goes fully into metalcore territory.

Bruised Sky also highlights the crown jewel of the album immediately, that being our main woman, Poppy. Prior to listening to this I only really knew her for the satire of internet personalities in that uncanny robotic way, while her music was sugary-sweet electropop. I know she made the albums Am I a Girl and I Disagree which combined that style with alternative metal, but I just assumed it was a gimmick, however Empty Hands does fully lean into the sound so it comes across as a serious project and stylistic choice. Her vocals blow everything else here away, she has a wonderful metalcore screaming voice (which I wasn't expecting!), and if anything I think she's better as a screamer. Her singing voice during the poppier segments is also very good when it isn't autotuned to hell.

Going on from that, this album really should have been full metalcore. The metalcore songs (Bruised Sky, Dying to Forget, and the title track) are clearly the highlights here and every other song devolves into the same formula of alt metal meat, electropop bridge or pre-chorus, and a metalcore breakdown. There's a whole chunk of the album from Time Will Tell to Ribs that follows this formula, with the exception of one song (Eat the Hate which sounds straight from Nevermind) and it kills the album. The songwriting also is weak, and the good songs are saved by Poppy's vocals.

Ultimately I just don't like this style of pop metal that's become popular relatively recently. I know there's a large amount of people that it appeals to (see Sleep Token's popularity), but it really just makes me wish that Poppy went full metal instead of combining it with pop. She's very talented within the genre, and as stated before it seems the interest is authentic.

To bookend this review with firsts, the final song, Empty Hands is also the first deathcore song on the 1001!

Was it a good addition to the list: No, even if it was worthy it's too soon to add it. That said, I appreciate it being here just because it's so different to anything else on the list.

Top 3 songs: Bruised Sky, Dying to Forget, Eat the Hate

"Don't get angry with me" pleads Jagger, as we're forced to sit through an album by a band who's peak ended half a century ago. I'm not angry, Mick, just disappointed. Not with you of course, Hackney Diamonds is surprisingly fine, but rather with Dimery for adding another Rolling Stones album that I most definitely did not need to hear before I died.

The Rolling Stones have aged considerably, and you can hear it through the music. They don't have the youthful vigor they did in the 70s, they don't sing about sex, drugs, and rock-'n'-roll, and Jagger now requires autotune to strengthen his vocals. That said, this album isn't without merit, the Stones opted for a more pop rock direction in contrast to their typical style of hard rock, and the hooks on some of these songs are actually quite good. They retain their typical style of blues rock, and I actually kind of agree with Dimery that it's been modified for a more modern audience, though that doesn't make it any more interesting.

There's a number of guest stars on here, there's old legends like Elton John, Paul McCartney, Stevie Wonder, but also new blood (relatively speaking) in the form of Lady Gaga, who does her best attempt at gospel singing as backup vocals for the song Sweet Sounds of Heaven, and she does a damn good job at it. This is one of the best songs on the album, if not the best.

The album does wear it's welcome out towards the end, you could easily shave 10 minutes off of this and get an improved experience, a lot of the songs on here in the final third just feels like filler.

I actually like this more than some of the Stones classic albums, like Aftermath, Exile on Main Street, hell maybe even Let it Bleed, but I think that's the problem with adding an album like this. I'm not a Stones fan, as you can see on my profile the only album I gave above a 3 was Sticky Fingers, and really I only enjoy them as a singles band, so if an album this middle-of-the-road and as easily digestible as this is provoking a mildly positive reaction from me, it probably isn't that good or important as a Rolling Stones album. Exile on Main Street has its fans, I don't like it at all, and that's okay because I don't need to, I can see why some would consider it their masterpiece. Despite my opinions on Hackney Diamonds, I can't see anyone considering it their favourite Stones record.

And on the final song - "Rolling Stone Blues" - the lyrics repeatedly say "rolling stone". Bravo boys.

Was it a good addition to the list: No, absolutely not.

Top 3 Songs: Depending On You, Whole Wide World, Sweet Sounds of Heaven

I'm a little conflicted on Tomb. On one hand I think it develops a uniquely comforting but depressing sound, with a level of intimacy so deep that it feels like Augustine is speaking directly to you. On the other hand, it kind of feels like a one trick pony and the feeling wears off midway through the album. The songwriting is decent, I don't think it's exceptional, though there are some really good songs near the start of the album.

For now I'm giving this a very strong three, but this really feels like an album where I need to be in the right mood and headspace for to really appreciate, I'll update the score and review as necessary.

Should it be in the main list: No

Top 3 songs: "Tomb", "You Needed Love, I Needed You", "All Your Life"

Hello, I am list finisher #803, and this is one of my three submissions to the user list, this specific one being the end of list pick. Instead of doing a review like I usually would, I will explain why I picked it and why I think it's a worthy addition. Personally I prefer The Beautiful South's follow up album, Choke, but I think this album is the only one in their discography I'd consider essential.

I don't think Welcome to the Beautiful South deserves inclusion because it fills a genre hole, it's sophistipop, jangle pop, and pop rock, all of which were well represented on the original list. I think this album deserves a spot for its content, specifically it's lyrics and how the lyrics interact with the music. This album clearly isn't a comedy album, but it does utilise a lot of humour, dark comedy, and satire, all three things which are strangely lacking in Dimery's list. The lyrics put a comedic yet finger-pointing gloss over uncomfortable subject matter such as manipulation, domestic abuse, and suicide. It's obviously not glorifying these behaviors, and everything on the album is done with a heaping of tongue-in-cheek charm.

More interesting than the lyrics and the humour of the album is the way that it's offset by the style of music. The music here is very bright, pretty and relaxed, but the lyrics are gritty, misanthropic, and in some cases disturbing and cruel. This is something that appears occasionally in a few albums on the main list (I immediately think of 69 Love Songs and the two Belle and Sebastian records) but those examples are fleeting and don't represent their respective albums. Rateyourmusic has recently gained a descriptor tag for this type of music, "lyrical dissonance". I know this style of lyrical/musical counterbalance isn't going to be for everyone, but personally I love it.

I think the aforementioned cruelty of the lyrics is a double edged sword however, it's true that it gives Welcome to the Beautiful South a lot of its identity, but even I find some of the songs to be a little uncomfortable, such as Woman in the Wall. The female vocalist (Briana Corrigan) would leave the band after the third album after calling one of their future songs (36D) misogynistic, this was a catalyst for the band softening their sound but also losing a lot of what made them special to begin with. As I said, double edged sword. Sometimes it hits perfectly, sometimes it just comes across as edgy.

Also, I wasn't thinking of this when I submitted it, but now it's on my mind: I don't think there were any albums that extensively featured male/female duets in the main list? Not that I think that this album is the best for this particular feature, in fact The Beautiful South would improve on this in later albums (as you might be able to tell with Blue is the Colour, also on this user list), but it's something of note. A strange absence given its importance to popular music canon.

I don't have a whole lot to say about Z. It's mid-00s indie rock/pop and it's fine, some of the songs towards the end have a bit of country twang to them. I think the album is at its most interesting when it ventures into the psychedelic and proggy side, but these tracks are few and far between.

Should it be on the main list: No

Top 3 songs: It Beats for You, Gideon, Laylow

I see a lot of people comparing these brothers to Dylan, but outside of the vocalist sounding sorta like him I don't hear it. Lyrically they're far closer to traditional country story-telling such as John Prine.

Musically this band is a mix of folk and country, but as prefaced in the opening paragraph, their lyrical style is far closer to country, with a little bit of rock thrown in here and there. It does sometimes feel that they're trying a little too hard to harken back to an older time, I guess back when country had a bit of bite to it like with the outlaw country scene, but the album has enough charm to it to keep my impression of it positive. This album is also over an hour long (which means my last three albums have been a combined total runtime of FOUR hours!) so for it to stay fresh after that is quite impressive.

I'm not completely enamored by the record, the four I'm giving it is very light, but the rustic charm on display is enough to paper over the cracks, and I will most likely be returning to this.

Should it be on the list: I wouldn't add it, but you could make a case for it.

Top 3 Songs: Frankie's Gun!, Wonderful Life, Don't Wake the Scarecrow

Whenever I get a Canadian alt rock album on here, I recoil in fright, because they usually are very long and aren't very good. This album is an hour and five minutes long, but fortunately it's a cut above the other Canuck alt rock albums I've had so far.

Beautiful Midnight is middle of the road alt rock for the most part, with grunge and power pop influences. I think when the album leans into the more energetic elements is when it truly shines, most of these songs are near the start of the album. About midway through it starts to devolve into sounding like The Tragically Hip, which has been my issue with these Canadian alt rock albums (seriously, I know they're good, but please Canada get a second band). This isn't enough to ruin the album for me, it's still all right, but I was happy when it was finished.

The good parts to this album are good and there's enough of them for me to respect this.

Should it be on the main list: No

Top 3 songs: Giant, Hello Time Bomb, Load Me Up

I went into this album with dread, lo-fi neo-soul/R&B with 36 tracks that's AN HOUR AND FORTY MINUTES LONG? Please no. Combine this with me recently generating Voodoo by D'Angelo, which is the gold standard of neo-soul music (sorry Lauryn), an album by this nobody surely can't compare, right? Seriously I was really not looking forward to this, I even put off listening to it all day.

To call this a "neo-soul" and "R&B" album to is to completely miss the point, not because it isn't a part of those genres, it very much is, but rather because there's far more going on than just that. I guess the signs that this wasn't what I was expecting was evident from the second track, With Me In Mind, which really felt more like an experimental song than anything else, very low key and droning while some woman talks over it. It lasts for a while too. When it does finally get into the neo-soul that I expected, it's still a bit different, it has more of a bedroom pop sound that you would expect from the late 2010s and 2020s. Hell, some of these songs even have a hypnagogic pop sound to them, bear in mind that the architect of that genre - Ariel "Pink" Rosenberg - had only been making music for a few years, I think that was still when he was releasing demo tapes too. What I'm saying is, Mr Chestnutt, this "nobody", was actually quite ahead of the time with this music.

The Headphone Masterpiece feels like a compilation of everything that Cody likes, it's very self-indulgent and that gives it a very charming earnestness that you don't typically hear in music. Cody Chestnutt wears his influences on his sleeve, there's lots of rock, funk, singer/songwriter folk, and psychedelia in the album, and even a little bit of hip-hop, Mr. Chestnutt is clearly a guy that just loves music and it definitely bleeds through to the listener. One of the songs is titled Eric Burdon, the frontman for The Animals and early War, another case of Cody putting what he loves into his music.

About halfway through the album I had to look up who this guy was and why I had never heard of him before. As it turns out, he did feature in the 1001, on the album Phrenology by The Roots! On this album he has a song called The Seed, and that album has The Seed 2.0 which heavily samples that song. As for the man himself, he apparently recorded this whole album in his bedroom on a four track recorder, so that explains the lo-fi sound. That said what he lacks in production values he more than makes up for in songwriting talent and his love for music.

Based on everything I've said about this album so far probably gives the impression that it's a sprawling and chaotic mess, and in a way it is, but in the same way that the White Album or 69 Love Songs is. Cody Chestnutt pulls off all the different styles and genres he attempts surprisingly well, to a point where I don't think there was a single song on the album I disliked! Even greats like White Album and 69 Love Songs have their stinkers, so that is an extremely impressive feat. Granted the album doesn't have anything quite as good as Helter Skelter or Papa Was a Rodeo, but the consistent quality more than makes up for it.

This is an extremely ambitious project for a debut, he throws a lot of shit at the wall but all of it manages to stick, and it results in a very rewarding experience. I'm giving this a tentative 5. This is my first five from the user list that is from an album I didn't already like and I hadn't listened to prior (I didn't even know who this guy was until yesterday!) but an album with this much heart and soul in it absolutely deserves it. Thank you to the submitter, this is exactly why I'm doing the user list, and though you may have taken up a significant portion of my time both yesterday and today, this album was well worth it. I'm glad to see other reviewers fall in love with this album like I have.

Should it be on the list: Yes

Top 3 songs: The Seed, The World is Coming to My Party, The Make Up

I know that this is considered a modern classic nowadays, but I just don't find it interesting. Get to Heaven is an 80s inspired math album, which focuses on poppy and dance rhythms. It has its moments but nothing that really holds my interest or separates it from the crowd. The vocalist is slightly annoying too. Sick cover though.

Should it be on the main list: No

Top 3 songs: To the Blade, Regret, Zero Pharaoh