Reviews by galway_rat

October 6, 2026

HL: “God Damn”, “In the Mood/Star”

Surprisingly joyless for an album called “HELLYEAH”!

Some great playing attached to songs I don’t care for- for instance, the ‘twin’ solo in “Thank You” is really nice.

“So what, no fuckin' XO [1998] now?"

October 13, 2026

HL: "Coast to Coast", "Pretty (Ugly Before)", "Twilight", "Little One"

I kinda misunderstood this album. I thought it was it was the last dregs from the gone-too-soon artist that the record label released to milk every last cent they could.
Also I regrettably wasn't a big enough fan of Elliott Smith to listen for myself.
But IMO it doesn't sound unfinished, even if it seems like a mix of his starker output of the 90s with the poppier stuff from XO onward.

There's a little guitar in "Little One" that sounds reversed, which reminds me a lot of "I'm Only Sleeping" from Revolver. I enjoy when Smith indulges in the Beatlesque, these songs tend to come with great melodies and the musical ideas he references aren't always obvious. (To compare: the intro to Oasis's "Look Back in Anger" and the coda to Oasis's "All Around the World"? Very obviously Beatles. Still love both those songs ;3)

I know exactly one song featuring the Sleaford Mods- "Dirty Rat" by Orbital. If you can believe it, two Orbital albums were not enough for this anon

Aside from perhaps out-uglying the lead vocals of the Fall's Mark E. Smith, I think the song is pretty neat. In fact that whole album is decent, if you can stomach Orbital in the year of our lord 2023.

This album is also decent. I admire Williamson's way with words, even if I don't always love how this album sounds. Perhaps it will grow on me with time.

HL: "Bronx In A Six", "In Quiet Streets"

October 8, 2026 (evening)

3.5/5, but the title track is probably one of the best of the 2010s

HL: title track, "I Got My Eyes On You", "Feed the Babies", "Pearl Cadillac", "Highway 71" [bonus track]

HL: “Meteora Blues”, “Heaven Surrounds”, the last 3 songs

October 3, 2026

HL: "Refused Are Fuckin' Dead", "New Noise", "Tannhäuser/Derivè"

I probably think there's more screamy punk on this list then there actually is; nonetheless, when the first track got going and the screaming started my reaction was "not this fucking shit again"

It's a real monkey's paw situation when I find a bonafide radical socialist band, because they seemingly only exist in hardcore punk, which is near the bottom of my favourite genres.

THERE ARE OTHER WAYS TO EXPRESS ANGER!
ᴛʜᴇʀᴇ ᴀʀᴇ ᴏᴛʜᴇʀ ᴡᴀʏs ᴛᴏ ᴇxᴘʀᴇss ᴀɴɢᴇʀ.

The thing is, though, especially in the second half, they go to too many interesting places for me to write off the album as a whole, like when they slow it down and get CrUnChY in "Refused Are Fuckin' Dead", or the folky bits that the album ends on. I can definitely see where this could fit in the original 1001, alongside albums like Follow the Leader by Korn and Roots by Sepultura- evidence of why 2000s rock & metal sounded the way it did, regardless of whether troglodytes like me appreciate it or not.

Closer to a 3 than a 2, if I'm being honest

Not first listen!

One of the most autumn-est albums to exist, but there's still a week left of summer, damn it!

I give it a low four, in my arbitrary rating system that I have yet to properly define since starting this project. A consistent album that, for whatever reason, my interest wanes in the middle before coming back strong at the end.

This isn't really a knock at the music, but Kinsella, the singer, describes their early days as "noodly and meandering". That's kinda my take on American Football's debut, but sometimes it helps to be noodly.

HL: "Never Meant", "The Summer Ends", "For Sure", "Stay Home"

September 16, 2026

Not first listen

Canadian radio played these songs like they were their own; legally, because Heart lived in Canada in ‘75 and recorded it here, that makes it CanCon 🍁 🍁

But hear me out- they also play these songs from this album because they are very good (or more specifically they play “Crazy on You” and “Magic Man”, and maybe “Dreamboat Annie” if the DJ is digging deep)

HL: “Magic Man”, “Crazy on You”, “Soul of the Sea”, “How Deep It Goes”

Not first listen

Sure, they leave behind some interesting sonic textures from Dead Cities and Saturdays + Youth in the pursuit of a more mainstream sound. The double album length is a bit much, yes.

BUT

Have you heard “Outro”?

HL: “Intro”, “Midnight City”, “Claudia Lewis”, “Soon My Friend”, “My Tears”, “New Map”, “Splendor”, “Steve McQueen”, “Outro”

Not sure why but I like the idea of Ummon more than I like listening to this album.

Spacey, proggy madness should be worth a 4 by default, in my books.

It's still worth being here, on account of being spacey, proggy madness

October 8, 2026

Portage la Prairie (/ˈpɔːrdɪdʒ lə ˈprɛəri/) is a small city in the Central Plains Region of Manitoba, Canada, home to approximately 13,000 people.

Portage la Prairie is a farming city. Every year, it has hosted the Potato Festival in celebration of its starchy cash crop, except for this year when it was cancelled due to mismanagement and also last year, for the same reason.

Portage la Prairie also has the Whoop and Hollar Folk Fest every August, championing both new and veteran Manitoban acts. Every year, beet-faced farmers voice their opposition to the festival, worried that it will potentially expose their cattle herds to lightly amplified, guitar based music. Or worse, hippies.

Notably the hardcore punk band Propagandhi was formed in Portage. I can't imagine why they left.

For privacy's sake, let's say I grew up in a southern Manitoban town called, oh I don't know, Carry-the-Canoe. For all I knew, country act Doc Walker was the only local band who made it. I heard things about Propagandhi, but they may as well have been a bar band who played at the Fiddle before flaming out in 1990. The fact that at least one user on this website considers them a must-hear amazes me.

Of course that's not a knock on Propagandhi's music- more a reflection on my naïveté, not realizing for the longest time that their music did, after all, make it outside of the RM's border.

One would think that's a cause for cheer among the town's inhabitants, kinda like Hanna, Alberta with Nickelback, but possibly the silence has to do with at least one of the four mission statements in the border of this album cover. No, it HAS to be the "animal friendly" part.
To quote k.d. lang, Albertan singer who you might remember from the 1001, "It was easier to come out as a lesbian than it was to come out as a vegetarian."

Wikipedia states they included that border to "[separate] the wheat from the chaff", which is funny to me because even the most rad of Portage la Prairians still have fields of wheat on the mind.

My only other exposure to their music is 2001's Today's Empires, Tomorrow's Ashes, which despite being drawn to their overtly political lyrics, the post-hardcore/thrash sound just didn't appeal to me. This earlier offering, however, was more enjoyable than I expected, and not just because I have to say something nice about the hometown heroes. Aside from the skate punk sound being just easier to listen to in general, the balance between messaging and catchy melodies is maintained throughout the 25 minutes.

I give it 4 potatoes out of 5

September 11, 2026

September 13, 2026

HL: title track, "New York's Not My Home", "Operator", "Time in a Bottle", "Box #10"

I never really paid attention to Jim Croce, but two things occurred to me:
1) Turns out I know and like several songs from him, I just didn't identify them as Jim Croce songs
2) He is a lot closer musically to Canadian folkie Gordon Lightfoot than I realized. A quick Google search reveals Croce covered him at least twice in his brief career.
I guess when I think of Jim Croce, the title track to this album comes to mind, and so I miscategorize him as a rock and roll singer

not 1st listen- the last two Halloweens in a row I have listened to a Type O Negative album, only for it to show up later on this website

I wouldn't even say I'm a fan of this band, I just have an insatiable craving for gothic rock around that time

Well, despite not being that different from Bloody Kisses, and despite their cover of "Cinnamon Girl" less enjoyable to me than "Summer Breeze", I enjoy this album more. Why is that?

Maybe it's just more consistent overall; whereas Bloody Kisses was a mix of sludgy goth metal with some punk and thrash, this is just goth metal. And that's alright with me :)

Also the highs, like "Love You to Death", "In Praise of Bacchus", "Red Water" and "Wolf Moon", match if not surpass the highs from their previous album.

Also the goofy self-awareness is more endearing this time. I'm not sure why that is

Looking through the reviews, seeing all the reviews criticizing Sumner’s voice reveals my bias. I didn’t think it was possible to dislike his vocals

I don’t know if I like this *more* than Low-Life, but it’s certainly on par with it. Depending on where you go on the internet, this could be touted as their best album of all time, but I ain’t pickin’ no favourites

HL: “Your Silent Face”, “Age of Consent”, “The Village”, “Leave Me Alone”

This is neat. From what little I gathered on Itoiz, the Basque-language band here today, they pulled a Phil Collins, having been known for progressive rock prior to the 80's before getting *commercial*.

I'm not going to argue that it's essential, but aside from getting to hear a full album in this unique language, I easily take to this kind of 80's pop rock/new wave. It's pretty consistently likeable the whole way through- though the first two songs are probably my faves at the moment.

A song that periodically pops into my head is "Love Natural" by Cave Fighters, a song I only know because iTunes used to give away free songs every week, pre-streaming. Aside from being enjoyable 2010s indie pop, I distinctly remember it being inspired by Basque folk music. That song has a similar light, summery vibe that certain tracks here do, so chalk that up to shared DNA, I guess.

A light 4

HL: "Egun Motela", "Hegel Egiten", title track, "Tximeleta Reggae", "Clash Eta Pistols"

October 5, 2026

Sucks that Wikipedia describes this as Icelandic post-rock, and not American indie folk. I thought I was finally switching gears after 3 hours of Jeff Tweedy :p

It’s nice, there are plenty of examples of the genre I prefer, and not just the ones on this website.

But I LOVE the slow build of “I’ll Make You Feel”, so make of that what you will.

And it’s never not a nice listen, either.

HL: “Slow Down”, “I’ll Make You Feel”, “Feel Like Dying”, “Empty House”

October 3, 2026

In 2023, when Guero by Beck came up on the original list, I finally listened to Demon Days in full, since, idk, both are 2005 alternative rock or something.

In my original ranking, it doesn't look like Demon Days impressed me all that much.

Will I still hold that opinion? Doubtful, because as it turned out, I really got into the Gorillaz more recent albums: Cracker Island, yes, but especially The Mountain, a maximalist pop album about grief that starts with Indian classical music and then adds so many musical layers and special guests- alive or otherwise- it's a wonder it doesn't collapse in on itself. And it's probably my favourite album of 2026.

I think we can all agree that the debut that's actually on the Albums You Must Hear has been eclipsed by much Albarn and company have put out since

Alright, having revisited Demon Days, it's definitely closer to a 4 than a 3. I wonder how differently I'd feel about it if I knew anything about this album besides "Feel Good Inc" before I was in my twenties (I will say that song is one of the greatest of the 2000s).
I'd still prefer Plastic Beach or The Mountain if I wanted to pick an album to listen to in full, though. Ironically this is what I own on CD, and not either of those two.

I think it helps to realize that no one song really captures a Gorillaz album's sound in full;
maybe my initial problem was that it isn't crammed with zany bangers like "Feel Good" and "Dare". The album flows really well, but besides those two there aren't many other songs I actively seek to listen to outside the context of the album.
I liken it to my experience with their debut, which is
-*vibes*
'HEY it's "Clint Eastwood"!
-*vibes*
-'HEY it's funny meme song "19-2000"
-*vibes*
-*end of album*

The ending is stronger than I remember, with the Beatlesque title track and the strange spoken word about the Monkey's Head that precedes it.

The Wikipedia article has an interesting summary of how the worse the world gets, the more nice things critics have to say about Demon Days. Huh

HL: "Take Pills", "I'm Not", "Good Girl/Carrots"

Yeh,
the Animal Collective are too neat to only have one album on this website.

Kind of like Strawberry Jam, I wasn't even sure I liked this on first listen, but it keeps sounding better and better

Then again, among the other echoey, crackly releases from the likes of Burial, Tricky and the Caretaker, maybe it shouldn't surprise me that I enjoy this as well.

September 25, 2026

HL: "Tutti Frutti", "Stray Dog" with Iggy Pop, "Superheated"

As much as I enjoy this band in general, this kind of felt like a best bits compilation- the europop of Technique, the jangly guitar of Brotherhood, the bright major chords at the end that called back to Low-Life or Power Corruption & Lies.
It's kinda like listening to the new Stones or Macca- sure, it doesn't compare to their best work, but I'm glad they're still making music (or at least New Order were; this is 2015).

September 2, 2026

HL: “Shout at the Devil”, “Looks That Kill”, “Too Young to Fall in Love”, “Knock ‘em Dead”

Those are load-bearing singles

I tend to rate these 80’s glam metal picks higher than they need to be, but the Crue have definitely been played too much in my life to not be considered for this list.

The ones I racked up the most plays on my iPod were songs like “Girls Girls Girls” and “Dr. Feelgood”, so aside from the title track I really haven’t heard much else from this album.

Both this and a Cheap Trick album (Heaven Tonight) found me while I was in the mood for big, dum, cheesy rock music. Hence I will round up tonight, even though I might have given this a 3 on a worse day