Reviews by galway_rat

May 25, 2025

HL: "El Fin de la Infancia", "El Baile y el Salón", "Esa Noche", "El Cicion"

Do I love it? I'm not sure yet. There's a lot of moving parts, and I'm still warming to Rubén Albarrán's voice.

Should this have been on the OG list? 100 times yes; there are lots of less interesting cuts from the 90's that made it into the book instead, and it wouldn't be a total outlier among albums like Buena Vista Social Club, Street Signs or Clandestino either.

Maybe a 5-star a year from now

May 23, 2025

Oh yeah, after the main list with two Ali Farka Tourés and one Songhoy Blues, I'm what you call an expert on the country of Mali now...

*also Googles what Bamako means*

I think the make-or-break element is Manu Chao's involvement, as his cosmopolitan approach to mixing genres means Dimanche à Bamako is a little scattershot.
But he & Amadou (R.I.P.) & Mariam make a hell of a team. That genre unpredictability works in their favour; and though it's polished, it's still a very warm, rootsy and joyous-sounding record.

May 22

HL: "Nightbird", "All Girl Band", "What Can I Do For You?", "Lady Marmalade"

May 20, 2025

HL: "Holding On", "Strangest Thing", "Thinking of a Place", "Clean Living"

In the two years since hearing Lost in the Dream, and three years since hearing I Don't Live Here Anymore, I've since made peace with Adam Granduciel writing the same song, every song.
But it's a good song.

Was it a miss on the 1001's part? No, though I don't necessarily like them removing Lost in the Dream for newer readers.
Am I glad I listened to this? Hell yeah. This might be the best example of the 80s throwbacks, yearning lyrics and dreamy wall of sound that goes into making a War of Drugs album.

May 27, 2025

HL: "If All Goes Well", "The Line", "Ouroboros"

'I don't know what the hell is going on in the most wonderful way'

Don't know if it's because my brain finally caught up to my ears, but the 2nd half sounded better to me than the 1st. 10/10 for ambition; has some intriguing musical direction ("The Bitter Suite") but also some songs that were pop-minded to the point of distraction ("Waves")

May 18, 2025

Beguiling

Even though I have recently indulged in the electro-acoustic wash of Tim Hecker, as well as the ambient, repetitive works of Brian Eno & Max Richter, for a 40 y.o. album World of Echo doesn’t really sound like anything else.
Mayyybee Oar by Skip Spence with all the echo & murmuring.

4 for now, even if it is just a masterclass in mucking about

Oh wow, 3 in a row I’ve heard before.
Also the CRASH TEST DUMMIES? From WINNIPEG? Sound the alarm, It’s CanCon 🇨🇦 🇨🇦

How Canadian am I? (“How Canadian?”) When I was in elementary school the drummer of Crash Test Dummies did a motivational talk in my hometown. And the song is just pronounced “Mmmmmm”- I asked him myself. Surely they love being asked that.

Occasionally in December local radio will play their “First Noel”. It’s my favourite version of the song, no word of a lie. Keyboardist Ellen Reid sings lead for half of it, which makes me wonder who to be mad at that she doesn’t sing lead in this album. You can really hear her in “The Psychic” though.

Normally I gripe about music in the 90s, but take me back to when “MMM MMM MMM MMM” could be and was a worldwide hit.

“Pluto” is one of those songs that sounds shit the first time and amazing the 2nd

I very recently listened to this to get the Apple 100 list finished (February 23, yes I keep track of this shit). That's right- the 1001 could not sate me, and I'm chipping away at so many more curated lists now.

Homogenic is on quite a few of those lists, actually, so its absence from the 1001 is curious. I mean the combined editions see 5 different Björk albums, with one axed (Medulla) and one added later (Vulnicura), so she doesn't lack representation.
Now that I’ve listened to it a second and third time, Homogenic is either my second or third favourite Björk album (Vespertine and Post slap). I concede that this should have been in the list, but anyone who heard Debut and Vespertine (all of us), and was at least a little curious about what happened between those records (me), could have likely found Homogenic on their own.

HL: “Hunter”, “Jóga”, “Unravel”, “All Neon Like”, “Alarm Call”, “All is Full of Love”, basically the whole thing

May 16, 2025

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2tUbVBCzOQ

Not much to say about it, but the people have spoken: this is the biggest miss of the original book.
Ric “the Cars” Ocasek, Rivers’s endearing-loser lyrics, the harmonies, the melodies, they all make for a prime slice of 90s power pop.

After 50 submitted albums, I’ve only had 5 (including this one) that I’ve heard before, and 19 from artists completely off my radar, so I’m glad I’ve stuck around! Good job, fellow completionists 🫡

HL: “My Name is Jonas”, “The World Has Turned…”, “Buddy Holly”, “Undone”, “In the Garage”

May 15, 2025

First metalcore album (that I have heard), so take this with a grain of salt

Has an explosive start to the album, but most of the remaining tracks suffer from sameness. CMJ wrote in a positive review that "this 12-track platter never takes its foot off of the throttle", so it's kinda funny that my biggest gripe with the album is precisely that- it doesn't let up. Diff'rent strokes, et al

Lead vocalist Jesse Leach has three modes that are pretty different from each other: sing, shout, and GROWWL, but it's that last one that is both the most frequently used AND my least favourite style. Still, if I didn't watch the music video for My Last Serenade I would've guessed at least two people traded off lead vocals.

HL: "Numbered Days", "Self Revolution", "My Last Serenade", "Rise Inside"

May 14, 2025

Not 1st listen

The worst thing about hearing it that first time was being distracted by its placement on the RateYourMusic. I like it more than a lot of the 1990s section of the 1001, but #40? Of all time? 💿 Nothing could live up to that.
Ah well- there are much more confusing-to-me placements on that chart than Souvlaki, and for what it’s worth, I think it’s a beautiful and well-put together album.

HL: “Machine Gun”, “40 Days”, “Sing”, “When the Sun Hits”, “Dagger”

May 13, 2025

May 15, 2025 again

HL: "Breakfast Epiphany", "Hangover Square", "Waitin'", "Face Behind Her Cigarette", "Jerry"

This is their only album & their website is down, so I feared the worst for this band-- until their Instagram revealed they're still kicking and doing shows around Cardiff, so-- good for them.

The info under the YouTube comment for "Breakfast Epiphany" cites such inspirations as diverse as Caribou (a CANADIAN), Serge Gainsbourg & Broadcast, so it's a perfect intro to the rest of the album and its chill blend of alt-rock.
Hope the 2nd album is even better

oh hey, not 1st listen

In the wake of Kendrick Lamar's album Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers, he went on SNL to perform the song with "Father Time" with Sampha. That was the first time I was really aware of the latter artist, and led to me listening to his vast catalogue of... one studio album: Process (2017). I liked it well enough that I basically listened to Lahai the day of release, a stat this album shares in common with virtually no other (save Mr. Morale, funny enough).

I've mused before how timing plays a big part in how I receive an album, and Lahai dropped not a moment too soon. Besides dealing with the lack of Sampha solo output for a few months before this second album released, it also helped that its jittery, spiritual tunes differed from the more grief-oriented Process just as I happened to be grieving in my own life. Sometimes I look for darker music to match my mood, but most of the time, contrast goes a long way. Sometimes, more optimistic music hits when I'm not feeling so optimistic.

Additionally, I read Jonathan Livingston Seagull as a kid, and while I don't remember it super well, it is cool to see that story as a framing device for Sampha's own outlook on life. It's a small world, etc etc

I get why the rating is a little low; ye seem to underrate other alt-soul artists such as Kelela, FKA Twigs and SZA, fellow 1001 Generator users. The electronic elements here switch from being ambient and serene to borderline overstimulating. Aside from "Only", there isn't even an obvious standout track (Process had the ballad "Like the Piano"). But like many albums I admire, the songs are stronger together than on their own, to the point that Lahai should be seen as a single 40 minute piece. (Watch me contradict myself by listing my own favourite songs below)

In the year or so since I heard this last, a deluxe version came out; while they don't affect my overall rating, I do enjoy the four additional tracks as well.
HL: "Spirit 2.0", "Dancing Circles", "Only", “Jonathan L. Seagull”, "Satellite Business 2.0" (bonus track), "Re-Entry" (bonus track)
May 11, 2025

May 12, 2025

HL: “Skyscraper”, “Displacement”, “Benediction”, “Flowers and You”

I generally don’t go out of my way to listen to this kind of stuff, i.e. melodic hardcore. But as someone who lost their mom to stage four cancer, I say here is an excuse to scream.

Thanks for sharing

May 10, 2025

HL: "Winning", "Fatal Flaw", "Silent Air", "New Dark Age"

3.5 at least

The bright synth keeps it separate from the brooding tones of Joy Division and Seventeen Seconds-era Cure.

Would fit in like a glove to the book's selection of early 80s material. Maybe one could have bumped Echo & the Bunnymen's debut in favour of this; after all, they'd still have two more albums in the list.

May 9, 2025

HL: "Going Away to College", "What's My Age Again", "All the Small Things", "Adam's Song", "Wendy Clear"

blah, skate punk, no thanks.

(35 minutes later) there is something to this skate punk

First Blink-182 album, but doesn't really feel like it with how much I've heard the most famous tracks. The *less* famous tracks don't stray far from the formula, but I'd be shocked if they did.

*throws 4 stars on the counter* Keep the change

Still May 11, 2025

thank u for the jazz fusion album, We Like It Here, by Snarky Puppy

Wouldn't mistake it for the Phish album, but both have a way of letting virtuosity overshadow other elements of the compositions. I even had that feeling from Mahavishnu Orchestra's The Inner Mounting Flame, considered one of the very best in the genre.

Then again, if they tour nearby I would pay money to see Snarky Puppy absolutely shred.
*checks tour dates* Not this year...

May 8, 2025

HL: “Blue”, “Colors”, “Kairo”, “Passion”, "Dareka no Negai ga Kanau Koro", “Keep Tryin”

Utada wrote “Simple and Clean” for Kingdom Hearts, a game I have never played, but it appears in the reveal trailer for Sora as a downloadable character for Super Smash Bros Ultimate. Let me emphasize, that song is not in Super Smash Bros., just in the trailer. Yet I regard it as something of a perfect melody, despite only knowing about it in this second/third hand way.

https://youtu.be/KGidvt4NTPI?si=oUTXgG073SUWhYYa Check it out, it’s fricken beautiful.

Anyway, back to this full hour of J-pop, a genre that’s absent in my own library as well as the 1001 book. It’s not a perfect album in my eyes, with not every track benefiting from the mid 2000s techno, but my attention kept getting drawn back to the main melodies, and when they hit, they HIT. Sometimes offbeat and quirky (“Keep Tryin”), sometimes ethereal (“Blue”, aka the next track), they’re the element that left the strongest impression on me. And the production isn’t only a hindrance: the bleeps and bloops elevate certain tracks, like “This is Love” and the Latin-esque “One Night Magic”.

Overall, a pleasant listen. Maybe I’m overrating it a bit because of the novelty, but I definitely plan to check out more Hikaru Utada down the road.

May 6, 2025

HL: “Bouncing Around the Room”, “Gumbo”, “Simple”, “Harry Hood”

I’ve never listened to this band before today, but I did read about the recent fan poll for the Rock Hall of Fame, where Phish was #1.

Okay, well THAT just happened! This collection of recordings goes from reggae, to jazz, to weird a cappella breakdowns. I understand the appeal, since both discs are great examples of improvisation and crowd engagement. My own jam band bias makes me think it’d be very easy to forget the audience and commence 20 minutes of atonal droning, but Phish seem pretty aware of getting their fans’ attention- partly through the aforementioned genre switchups.

At the end of the day it’s fun but there’s no one track I eagerly want to revisit right now. 3/5

Late on May 4, 2025

HL: “Shut Up”, “She Will”, “Husbands”, “Marshal Dear”

Another first time listen (well, Wiki says they had one song in the credits for Ex Machina, but I don’t recall if I stayed that long)

As cold and brusque as its title suggests, but also darkly alluring. It definitely sheds the pop appeal of post-punk revival bands from the 2000s, but it’s not all brooding and feedback- there are some genuinely catchy grooves here.

That crunchy bass :0

Went to see Sinners hours before listening to this, so way to keep the gothic atmosphere going! 🧛‍♀️