Reviews by forestfly2009

When I saw that today's album was another from the electronica genre, my heart sank. This is a movie score for The Virgin Suicides, which was an awful movie, so I wasn't super confident that the soundtrack would be any better. I was pleasantly surprised, however.

Before today, I'd never heard of Air before. They are a British duo who came out during the electronica boom of the late 90's. Their atmospheric, ambient sound made them outliers of the genre. I think this may be why I actually like them.

This music, even with being mostly instrumental, was quite captivating, and really had an air (no pun intended) of melancholy, and sadness to it (probably because it is for a movie which is about a string of suicides).

The heavy bass work on this album is awesome. The bass grooves are really well done, and when coupled with the simplistic organ, guitars, and theramins scattered throughout, create an interesting sound that I didn't hate.

Overall, I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this album. I mean, not enough to run out and buy it, or listen to it on repeat, but I wasn't rushing to shut it off like I was with most other albums in this genre. Also, average song length was around 3 minutes, and the album was only 40 minutes long, so bonus points for knowing when enough is enough, and not overstaying their welcome.

Favorite songs: Playground Love (with Gordon Tracks), Dead Bodies, Clouds Up, Bathroom Girl, Word Hurricane, Highschool Lover, Empty House

Least favorite songs: Dark Messages

3/5

Today's album was an early punk record from the late 70's. Before today, I'd never heard of Wire. To me, they sound very similar to Minor Threat, Buzzcocks, and the Clash, but they are a bit heavier in both sound and vocal delivery. Apparently Wire is one of the bands credited with starting the subgenre of hardcore punk. This makes sense, because their songs are high energy, fast, loud, and the vocals are mostly shouted. All of this coalesces into an amazing punk record!

It took me a while to get used to the singer's accent, so the first few songs, I had no idea what he was saying. Once you get an ear for it, however, it becomes easier to grasp. The band members are all masters of their craft. The guitars and drums are fast as hell!

Overall, an excellent intro to hardcore punk. Apparently Wire was a hard band to nail a genre to, because for each album released, they changed their sound. That shows real talent, because not a lot of people can successfully genre shift like that. I liked this so much today, I listened to it twice. Some of the songs I wish were a bit longer (like the 28 seconds song called Field Day for the Sundays), but this is a very punk rock move to have fast, short songs, and get an album over and done with in under a half hour. Actually, by punk standards, this 35 minute album is probably a long one.

Favorite songs: Mr. Suit, Mannequin, 12XU, Strange, Surgeon's Girl, Pink Flag, Fragile, Ex Lion Tamer, Reuters, Three Girl Rhumba, Straight Line, Different to Me

Least favorite songs: if forced to pick, Lowdown

4/5

When I first read Frank Ocean this morning, my old ass associated it with Billy Ocean, the 80's pop singer. Once I realized that's not who it was, I realized I've never heard of Frank Ocean before. From my research, I learned that Pharell Williams helped produce this album, and there is a song on here that features Andre 3000. I'm a big fan of Pharell, and Outkast! Pharell has quite an ear for new music, so I figured this would be a good listen today.

Frank Ocean is an R&B/hip hop/pop singer. The first few songs didn't really captivate me. They were heavier to the R&B side of the spectrum, and I am not a fan of "modern" R&B, so I didn't know what to think. But once the song Sweet Life came on, it was all uphill from there! Frank's sound reminds me of a cross between Childish Gambino, John Legend, and The Weeknd. It is obvious that Frank isn't one of these fly by night artists that are so commonplace these days. Frank has a good ear for what music should be, and is a real talent for sure!!

The only downfall of this album is the fact that hip hop/R&B artists are obsessed with putting skits on their records. They do nothing except distract from the flow of the record. They are annoying as fuck. Overall, however, this was a phenomenal album! I was pleasantly surprised, and will 100% listen again. I actually listened to it twice today!

Favorite songs: Pyramids, Super Rich Kids, Crack Rock, Sweet Life, Pilot Jones, Lost

Least favorite songs: all of the stupid fucking skits (Start, Fertilizer, Not Just Money, End), Thinkin Bout You, Sierra Leone

4/5

Timeless by Goldie..... Should be called Talent-less. This is just a drum machine on loop, with sampling, and other garbage thrown in for good measure. All with Diane Charlemagne's pitchy lyrics laid overtop. This goes on for 2 HOURS!!! The song Sea of Tears includes a looped track of someone crying for 2 minutes!! Why?!? It also features looped whale noises and waves throughout. Do you know what an annoying noise is after about 30 seconds? WHALE NOISES!!

People who like this music have no fucking idea what music is. This is just garbled trash that any person with a modest understanding of computers could recreate in their living room. Electronica has in no way helped shape the future of GOOD music at all, it is shit music for simple minded people who are high as fuck on Molly.

The first song on this record was 21 minutes long for some reason. Nothing happened. I spent the whole time waiting for a bass drop or change of some kind, but nothing. The same looped shit for 21 minutes, with the addition of pitchy moaning from time to time. Whoever put this garbage on this list needs their head examined. Utter trash.

Favourite song: Inner City Life (Baby Boy's Edit) simply because it is the shortest song on the album. Still trash, but only 3:30 worth instead of the average 7 minute helping...

Least favourite songs: The entire dumpster fire of an album

1/5 because I can't give negative stars. To paraphrase Billy Madison:

"This is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point, in this rambling, incoherent noise, were they even close to anything that could be considered music. Everyone in this generator is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul."

This is my second Funkadelic album on this generator. I found this one heavier than the other one in that it was skewed more towards psychadelic rock than it was towards funk and soul like the first album of theirs that I reviewed was.

This album, obviously, featured the 10 minute epic song Maggot Brain, which was a bonus song on the first of their albums I listened to. It is a phenomenal song that features the amazing skill set of Eddie Hazel.

George Clinton was apparently obsessed with shit. Taking shits, talking about shitting... It was all fair game with him. I noticed it in the first album by Funkadelic that I got (One Nation Under a Groove). There is a song on that album called Promentalshitbackwashpsychosis Enema Squad (Doo Doo Chasers) that deals heavily with shit. Frequently throughout this album he refers to drowning in shit, and taking shits. Within the first 30 seconds of the first song on the album he talked about shit. Also, the last minute of the song Wars of Armageddon features farting/shitting noises laid over a funky beat for some reason. A passion of his apparently.

Overall, another great album! This band was super talented, and I can see how they have influenced the face of music as we see it today.

Favourite songs: Super Stupid, Can You Get To That, Hit It And Quit It, "You and Your Folks, Me and My Folks", Maggot Brain, I Miss My Baby

Least favourite songs: Back in Our Minds, Wars of Armageddon

4/5

With a band name like Skunk Anansie and an album title like Post Orgasmic Chill, I had no idea what I was in for. British Alt hard rock was not my first guess, but that's what I got. This sounds like a much shittier version of Evanescence or Halestorm (hard rock with a female lead).

This music has a few things working against it. The music is perfectly average when compared to 90's hard rock, and the band itself is tight, but their weak spot is the singer. I mean, she calls herself Skin, so that should tell you all you need to know. I found her very pitchy, and all over the place. That, and her lyrics were hard to follow most times, and she threw the N word around a lot as if she was in a hip hop group or some shit. That's just something you never hear in hard rock. You can tell, however, that she was passionate about the topics she was singing about (from what I understood, it largely centered around racism and mysogeny). They also have a tendency to end a song, then for a minute they play either a random unrelated beat track or a random audio sample of a fucking tv advertisement or radio blurb that has nothing to do with anything. It's off putting and weird.

Aside from these random eccentricities, this was a fairly average helping of 90's rock today. Not something I would often gravitate to, but not bad in the grand scheme of things.

Favourite songs: The Skank Heads, On My Hotel TV, We Don't Need Who You Think You Are, Tracy's Flaw, And This Is Nothing That I Thought I Had, I'm Not Afraid

Least favourite songs: Good Things Don't Always Come To You, Secretly, You'll Follow Me Down

3/5

Oh no. Post Punk/Goth.... Like Joy Division? Fuck. That is exactly what this noise is, except not so depressing, and with a singer who can actually sing.

This music sounds like the B-52's if they became depressed goths. It is very dark and brooding. Siouxsie Sioux does have a very good voice, it's just the dark, dank mood that this type of music spins (kind of like Morrissey in that they just need to cheer the fuck up). This is probably good music, it just really did nothing in the way of connecting with me today.

This album is definately stacked heavier on the front half. The back half descends into this trashy goth vibe. Voodoo Dolly is literally 7 minutes of fucking noise and nonsense lyrics. Seriously?

Favourite songs: Spellbound, Arabian Knights, Halloween

Least favourite songs: Voodoo Dolly, Night Shift, Monitor

2/5

Oh hell yes!! This is 5 stars before I even spin the record today! What an excellent album to get on a Friday. High energy to bring me into the weekend!!

I am very familiar with this record! I've listened to it many times before, and can't wait to listen again. This is another of those rare "perfection on tape" albums where literally every track is stellar!!

First off, what an amazing band lineup! Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, and Bill Ward!! Ozzy's voice was so unique, and at this time was so strong! The band is one of the few accredited with starting the heavy metal genre.

These bands used an almost shock rock approach to their sets by having religious imagery on stage while they played what was called "heavy satanic music". Sabbath was known to burn crosses on stage as part of their shtick, plus they dressed in dark colors. All this hype thrust them into the forefront of music that rebelling teenagers gravitated to. Sabbath's sound was also heavier, spookier, and commonly featured the "tri-tone" guitar note, commonly referred to as the "Devils note". Of course, all of these allegations of satanic worship etc were completely unfounded, it was all just an act, and man the things that this started is insane.

I absolutely adore this album, and this band! Just a perfect album cover to cover! I was so happy to see this come up today! I will 100% be listening to this album many more times!

Favourite songs: Iron Man, War Pigs, Paranoid, Fairies Wear Boots, Electric Funeral, Hand of Doom

Least favourite song: if forced to pick, Planet Caravan

5/5

Tusk is Fleetwood Mac's 12th studio album, and the one that came directly after the phenomenal record "Rumours". Bearing that in mind, the same kind of thing happened to Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd (it directly followed a stellar album, and paled in comparison, because it was held to the same lofty standards as its predecessor).

Going into the recording of Tusk, the band decided that they wanted this record to sound in no way like its predecessor. They didn't want to get stick in a rut of just regurgitating similar ideas for easy sales. They also decided they wanted Tusk to be a double album. Lindsey Buckingham, the bands lead guitarist and co-singer was in love with the post punk movement that was taking place at the time, especially with bands like Talking Heads. He wanted Fleetwood Mac to stay current in the music world, so pushed the band to experiment more with these types of sounds and styles. What this all led to was a VERY different sounding Fleetwood Mac. I think that caught a lot of people off guard, and led to the album flopping, but if you can listen to this album, and forget all your preconceived notions of what Fleetwood Mac should sound like, you can certainly see a few "diamonds in the rough" so to speak on this record.

I think the song Tusk is the weirdest of the bunch, with the inclusion of a marching band as background music.

Overall, a great record today. Don't get me wrong, Rumours is Fleetwood Mac's golden album, but this is still an excellent record all the same. Will definately listen again.

Favourite songs: Sisters of the Moon, Angel, Think About Me, That's Enough For Me, Storms, What Makes You Think You're the One, Sara, The Ledge, Over & Over, Tusk

Least favourite songs: Brown Eyes, Walk a Thin Line, Not That Funny

4/5

Upon first seeing what I was in store for with today's album, I didn't have high hopes for it. I am typically not a fan of electronica at all. The thing that set this out from the rest of the electronica I've heard on this generator is the fact that it is apparently a blend of tango music and French music with electronica overlaid. I was still unsure, but it sounded more appealing than the robot fucking soundtrack that I've been forced to listen to thus far with this genre.

What I heard was very weird, but interesting. Violin and accordion music that made you feel like you were sitting in a 5 star French restaurant while a rave went on in it at the same time. All this, and Spanish lyrics, tango underpinnings, and a modern twist. It was so different, but not in a bad way.

Overall, for once, not a terrible electronica album. Not something I would gravitate to, but I wouldn't care if it was on either.

Favourite songs: Queremos Paz, Santa Maria (del Buen Ayre), El Capitalismo Foraneo, Una Musica Brutal

Least favourite songs: Last Tango In Paris, La Del Ruso

3/5

I've heard of MC5 before via a music documentary I watched that traced the roots of heavy metal and rock music all the way back to classical music and the blues. The name of the documentary was "Metal: A Headbanger's Journey". Once the narrator moves from the beginnings to the early days of rock, you see that he includes MC5 on a list of bands that he classified as "Early Metal". This list also includes other bands such as Blue Cheer, the Stooges, Mountain, Deep Purple, and others.

I don't know about Early Metal for a genre type, but for a movement, sure. These guys are like psychadelic rock meets the beginnings of punk. At this time, bands were discovering how to distort their guitars, and overdrive their amps, leading to crazy fast thrashing and banging. The faster you played, the better the people liked it. It felt rebellious in a time where discipline and order were pushed hard. The kids who came out to these shows were the Baby Boomer generation: many of them grew up with war veterans as parents, which often led to strict military rules at home, so these bands offered an outlet for all that pent up aggression and anger.

Those feelings can definately be heard through the political stance of the band members, as well as their live performance on this record, and though their lyrics.

Overall, not a lot in the way of talent in the band. They could barely play instruments or sing, but as an idea; as a movement, this album is enormous. For that reason, I can see past the painful barrage of crash cymbals, shouted lyrics and loud distorted guitar. This is the start of something massive. It's like listening to the start of a star beginning to explode. From here, Metal would take hold, as well as punk, and everything in between. A great listen, and a great history lesson.

Favourite songs: Kick Out The Jams, Motor City is Burning

Least favourite songs: Starship, Ramblin' Rose, I Want You Right Now

3/5

Oh no, not some more fucking electronica. Have I not suffered enough listening to this garbage already? With an album title like that, I am not optimistic of the contents of this record.

Apparently everyone sweats Richard D. James (and this record in particular) because, as the name suggests, this is a subset of music he wrote between 1985 and 1992, meaning the earlier songs would have been written when he was 14 years old. Ok, that's cool, but it's not like he wrote a fucking symphony at that age. He pushed some buttons and spliced soundbytes together.

Anyways, on to the record. As I thought, this is the dullest, most bland elevator music imaginable overlaid with a strong drum beat. I will give Aphex Twin props, at least it has a beat, unlike some other electronica I've listened to on this generator. So, one can infer that, at 14 Richard was smarter than some of these "artists" in this genre, so good for him!!

The spacey sounds that most of these strung out bastards seem to enjoy are alive and well on this record. Green Calx sounds like aliens who are involved in a gun fight with all the laser noises and boops and beeps.

This shit lulls you into a trance. As background music it gets a pass, but to sit and focus on this would be almost impossible. 9 minute songs where they establish a beat, then nothing else happens, just repeat the same beat loop 500 times and call that a song. Awful.

I wish I knew why electronica artists as a group decided to make their shitty records over an hour long. I don't want to listen to this shit for 10 minutes, let alone an hour. Listening to gorilla's bang would be audibly better than this album.

Favourite songs: Pulsewidth

Least favourite songs: Hedphelym.... Probably others as well, but it all ran together into a boring mess that I've already forgotten about.

1/5

Today's listen was very interesting! Spanish/French vocals with a bit of English mixed in! The musical accompaniment was highly influenced by Spanish culture though it sounded like. Beautifully intricate Spanish guitar mixed with modern sampling and rapping techniques left you with a very interesting sound.

What I like about these international albums is that it isn't necessarily something I would ever have discovered on my own. I like hearing how other cultures music have different influences. Even though I didn't understand most of what was said, the beauty of the music that was made still came through.

Overall, a great listen today. Nothing spectacular, but it was still very good!

Favorite songs: Luna y Sol, Clandestino, Welcome to Tijuana, Minha Galera, Mama Call

Least favorite songs: La Despedida

3/5

Before today, the only song I really knew by T. Rex was Bang A Gong (Get It On). So starting out, I know that T. Rex are a glam rock/psychedelic rock band, and that is about it. I knew absolutely nothing about this album.

There are a lot of similarities between T. Rex and bands of the era such as New York Dolls, and David Bowie. Some songs on this record featured sludgy guitars and a more rock oriented vibe, others were slower rock ballads.

T. Rex's musical themes were mostly nonsensical, typical of psychedelic rock of that time.

Overall, a fairly good album. I really enjoy Marc Bolan's voice. I will add a few of these songs to my regular rotation for sure.

Favorite songs: Telegram Sam, Baby Boomerang, Buick McCane, The Slider, Rock On, Mystic Lady, Metal Guru, Chariot Choogle

Least favorite songs: Rabbit Fighter, Spaceball Ricochet, Main Man

4/5

Today's album is a concept album by Marvin Gaye surrounding themes of the Vietnam war, and veterans returning home, and the state of the world around that time. The whole album flows together like it is one big 35 minute song.

Marvin is a phenomenal soul singer, and the overall message of this album was deep, and real. As applicable to today's society as it was to 1970's America.

Overall, a great album today. I got this on St. Patrick's Day, which is traditionally known as a partying/drinking day, so it was kind of a hard day to fully digest this album like it deserves because my mind just wasn't in the mood for mournful, Slow music. I can, however, appreciate the talent that is on this album, and will absolutely revisit this one on a better day to give it the appreciation it deserves!

Favourite songs: What's Going On, What's Happening Brother, God is Love, Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology), Right On, Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)

Least favourite songs: Flyin' High (In the Friendly Sky)

4/5

Thank fuck that's over. Sonic Youth are an "experimental rock" group that are said to have been important in the formation of the indie rock genre. There is definately some experimentation going on here with punk sounds, distortion, sampling, and just straight up noise.

Sonic Youth was known to push the envelope. Even the way they tuned their guitars was weird. I don't know, I like my music to have a distinct rhythm and direction. Maybe I'm old fashioned, but this is just chaos on tape. To me it seems like each band member recorded their parts alone, then they just glued them together, and didn't check to see if they meshed or not, they just said "fuck it, good enough".

This is apparently the album where they found their sound..... What sound? Nails on a chalkboard? I'm all for experimentation, because without it, we would never have advanced and achieved all of the great things in music that we have, but this is just from another planet altogether.

Overall, not much as far as redeeming qualities to this dumpster fire. I know there are other Sonic Youth albums on this generator and I am not looking forward to them.

Favourite songs: (I Got A) Catholic Block, Schizophrenia

Least favourite songs: Pipeline/Kill Time, Stereo Sanctity, Tuff Gnarl, Pacific Coast Highway, Kotton Krown.... It's all just noise.....

2/5

Before today I had never heard of Sinead O'Connor. She is apparently an Irish pop rock singer with Celtic influences. I thought that didn't sound so bad, but man was I wrong.

This is the most angst ridden, melancholic heap of trash that I've ever listened to. Why is she so mad? Have a hamburger ffs.

Upon listening to this album, I couldn't help but think that I had heard of this persona of hers somewhere else before. My mind kept going to an episode of Father Ted, which is called "Rock a Hula Ted". In the episode, a hateful, feminist, anti-Christian, vegan pop star (named Niamh Connelly) comes to Craggy Island to confront the priests because she blasted the Catholic Church on TV for turning potato factories into child labor camps during the Great Famine. During the course of the episode, Father Ted is trying to convince her that he isn't mysogenistic while keeping his housekeeper Mrs Doyle busy doing hard labour tasks, and judging the "Lovely Girls Competition" on the island. Niamh sings a few of her "songs" during the episode, which are just noise with moaning and angry lyrics (which is what I heard on Sinead's album). Upon researching this episode, it turns out that Niamh IS loosely based on Sinead O'Connor!! That's amazing!!!

Anyways, back to this "album". The fiddle breakdown was awesome at the end of "I Am Stretched On Your Grave", and the best song on the record was a cover of Prince's song "Nothing Compares 2 U". These two facts should tell you all you need to know about the album.

Overall, not great. I'll give her a point just because she made me remember that hilarious episode of Father Ted. Thank God that album is over.

Favourite songs: Nothing Compares 2 U, Jump In The River, The Emperor's New Clothes, Black Boys on Mopeds

Least favourite songs: Feels So Different, Three Babies, I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got, You Cause As Much Sorrow, Last Day of Our Acquaintance

2/5

Before today, I didn't think I knew Norah Jones, but as soon as I turned on the album and heard Don't Know Why, I immediately recognized it from the radio.

Norah Jones is a coffee house jazz/blues fusion artist with an absolutely beautiful voice. What I immediately liked about her music was how the music took kind of a back seat to her voice, and really allowed it to shine through.

This is an absolutely perfect album for sitting in a big comfy chair with a cup of coffee and a book in front of a window with sunshine coming through on a lazy Sunday afternoon. A lot of people's reviews eluded to this being a Starbucks special, and I would agree with that statement. That isn't, however, always a bad thing. It is perfect mood music for a coffee shop or a small diner.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed today's album. Maybe I needed to have a nice, calming album today, but it really resonated with me. I will definately listen to more of Norah's catalog. The fact that this was a debut album, and was still this amazing is crazy! I listened to this album front to back twice today, and have added it to regular rotation.

Favourite songs: Don't Know Why, Seven Years, Shoot the Moon, Turn Me On, Lonestar, Cold Cold Heart, Nightingale

Least favourite songs: The Nearness of You

5/5

Today I got my third helping of Pink Floyd, this time with the album Wish You Were Here. This is Floyd's ninth studio album, and deals with themes of mental health, depression, and alienation, while also criticising the music industry (notably: Welcome to the Machine).

Shine on You Crazy Diamond is based on former member Syd Barrett, who had to leave the band due to deteriorating mental health issues. Have a Cigar is a rockin' tune sung by Roy Harper which is located smack in the middle of this melancholic masterpiece. It provides the shot in the arm that this record needs at just the right moment! Wish You Were Here is an absolutely beautiful song!

I believe this album gets some flak from critics, and listeners alike because it is compared to the stellar masterpiece that Pink Floyd released directly prior to this album, "Dark Side of the Moon". Anything would pale in comparison to that massive classic!

Overall, because of the melancholic mood of this record, it is not my favourite of Pink Floyd's records, but it still deserves its time on the podium for all that it did for the prog rock genre as well as music as a whole.

Favourite songs: Wish You Were Here, Have a Cigar, Shine on You Crazy Diamond (Pts. 1-9)

Least favourite songs: If forced to pick, Welcome to the Machine

4/5

Before today, I'd never heard of Lucinda Williams before. From what I've read, she is a country/folk musician. This album is regarded as her break out record in which she fused elements of rock, blues, country, and Americana. After listening to the album, I would agree with that assessment. Her musical stylings remind me a lot of Sheryl Crow, but her singing ability, or lack thereof, reminds me of Bob Dylan.

When the first song came on, I was impressed with the music, then she started singing, and I thought "oh God, what am I in for?" Her delivery is nasally, her accent sounds thick, and she sounds drunk. It is hard to describe, but it is just different, and initially jarring. One of two things happened as the album played through, however. Either she found her voice after the first couple of songs, or I got used to it, because the album itself is great, and I find, is stronger on the second half.

Overall, not a bad listen today. Very "middle of the road". Perfectly average. Not a trend setter, but certainly nothing wrong with it.

Favourite songs: Lake Charles, Can't Let Go, I Lost It, Metal Firecracker, Car Wheels on a Gravel Road, 2 Kool 2 Be 4-Gotten, Concrete and Barbed Wire

Least favourite songs: Joy (could she say the word "Joy" any more than she did in this song? It became very annoying after the first 100 or so), Right in Time

3/5