Reviews by galway_rat

Add this to the six Wilco albums, one Wilco & Billy Bragg album, and one Uncle Tupelo album I have already listened to before.

I'm usually pretty positive on Tweedy-related music, but my attention has already started to wane during Disc 1.
Question: Is this really going to be as good a representation of his music as the three already on the 1001 list?

Answer: fuck no, this was more of a struggle to get through considering I like most of the other stuff I've heard from him.

Boring and mumbly. These mostly feel like b-sides, and it's just plain hubris that this was allowed to drag out over two hours.

Sandinista! by the Clash was apparently an inspo for this. Y'know what they did with their triple disc? Switch up the formula every now and then

D1 HL: "Caught Up in the Past", "Sign of Life"
D2 HL: "KC Rain", "New Orleans", "Blank Baby"
D3 HL: "Wedding Cake", "Enough"

September 27-30, 2026

September 18, 2026

HL: "Self Destruct", "World War Blues", "Dudes", "Metal Band", "You Don't Get Me High"

I don't think of Maine that often. But tonight...

HL: "A Private Understanding", "Up the Tower", "Night-Blooming Cereus", "Corpses in Regalia"

well-made, spooky post-punk.
Something didn't click tonight, and that may be because I've had music on so much today on my day off. Or because of the similarities to post-punk bands I didn't rate too kindly from the OG list.

Don't get me wrong, Relatives in Descent kept me engaged; just felt like I didn't understand it too well.

I salute those who add albums that take longer than a day to digest

August 8, 2026

September 9, 2026

HL: "Belly Full of Butterflies", "Song Against Life", title track

Sweet- there are some beige moments which are hard to escape in 2000s rock, but also some great songwriting and instrumental flourishes that should wet your whistle if you like Beirut or the Weakerthans.

A 7 outta 10

When the National's High Violet came up here I wrote: "overall I feel uplifted, like I’ve just endured an inspirational montage where all my life’s hardships pay off in the end."
On Go Further in Lightness, by Gang on Youths:
"I’m wishy-washy on music that is custom fit for a stadium, but... I find this very enjoyable."
What do they have to do with Dry the River's debut? A man named Peter Katis was involved with mixing or producing all three.
It's you Peter! You're why a bunch of my indie rock sounds the same! I'm on to your tricks -_-

Which leads me to my main criticism of Shallow Bed, which is that the loud, washed-out production seems more at odds with the songs they're singing. I actually really like PD Liddle's fragile high tenor voice, but it's a little hard to focus on with everything else blaring at max volume.

I think the lack of dynamics hurt it a little bit as well. Not everything has to be a climax. (Yeah Apple Music has an "Acoustic Version", which I guess would return the intimacy that is lost in the wall-of-sound production, but I'm not reviewing that today.)

If this all seems harsh, know that I have a strong bias towards this hipster folk shit and will probably return to this (sometimes beautiful) album time and again

7/10

HL: "New Ceremony", "The Chambers and the Valves", "Lion's Den"

August 9, 2026

HL: title track, "The Drum Thunder Suite"

August 7, 2026

July 29, 2026

HL: "Battle Lines", "When the Fires Come", "21 / 04 / 20", "Well Rested"

A compilation? Off with their head!

One of my favourite relics of the COVID era is Kero Kero Bonito's shitpost of a performance, 'Live from Appleville'. In fact, I knew very little of the band before watching that video, but I've been fond of them ever since.
Didn't listen to these songs, but maybe they flew off my radar since Civ I and II were originally E.P.s.

Damn, I almost hoped the second E.P. followed the 1990s educational PC game-ass, utopian scholastic ass-template of the first three songs, but even though the remainder sounds like it's from a different project (which it is), it never settles into a predictable rhythm, finishing with the EDM of "Well Rested".

It turns out, if you combine nu-metal, a genre I hate, with Hindustani folk,

you get nu-metal.

It just crushes everything remotely interesting about metal and music into a processed, flavourless cube.

I guess there's money in capitalizing on nostalgia for music's worst era in my opinion (Woodstock '99 baby), but I won't be silent on this issue. No, nu-metal doesn't deserve a critical and cultural re-evaluation. It was shit then and is shit now.

Actually, one of the nice things about the user list is making me realize my original ratings for Slipknot's self-titled and Sepultura's Roots were mistakes, since there's far worse metal out there.

Do you hear me? Roots is a decent album!!

July 29, 2026

Just when I thought I was out... they pulled me back in.

Of all the British electronica from the book to revisit, the very last thing I expected here was Death in Vegas. Then again, I didn’t expect the 2026 edition of the book to have (spoiler alert) another Chemical Brothers album, so I guess anything is possible

I described the Contino Sessions as "a great soundtrack to a nighttime city walk", so naturally I put this on at noon

I think I enjoyed the album more from "Rekkit" onwards, as it started to have less in common with the other downtempo/breakbeat albums I've been exposed to. Neat, atmospheric stuff

July 27, 2026

July 27, 2026

HL: "30", "Welcome to the Internet", "That Funny Feeling"

I watched this on Netflix, about a year after release (count on me to always be on the cutting edge of pop culture)

I think Bo Burnham's musical comedy ("comedy" is generous when it comes to certain parts of Inside) is worth sharing, like the bro-country pastiche and Pringle can rant from Make Happy, his previous special.

However, unlike Weird Al or Neil Cicierega, I find I'm not really inclined to listen to Burnham's songs outside of their context. There's something about him + a dinky Casio keyboard live on stage that's lost when it's just a recording. Idk it just sounds like vanilla musical theatre

"All Eyes On Me" stands out for having some kind of production value; it's also grown off on me a bit because, y'know, trying to work in theatre and spend time with people who are also working in theatre means I heard that song too fucking much. ("Welcome to the Internet" too, but at least that one has some whimsy)
Good on him for getting a TikTok hit out of it, though!

My COVID sad time album was Punisher by Phoebe Bridgers. Bo Burnham's most notable achievement since Inside was breaking up with his partner and dating Phoebe Bridgers. There it is again, that funny feeling

I don't usually pay attention to record labels, but when I see that Warp Records released this it definitely adds to my curiosity

Somewhere along the line I read about Kammerkonzert, his most recent release; I haven't listened to it but the idea of an orchestra and IDM blended together is certainly intriguing.

I'm in the middle of "50 Cycles" and already have heard virtuoso bass solos and abrasive, metallic D&B, which makes the other 10 songs a little daunting. Where could they possibly go from here

I'm done the album. I got to say, it reminded me of Drukqs by Aphex Twin, an album I didn't love due to its length and extended noise passages.
I can't explain why Ultravisitor flows better, considering it has a lot of the same features. The noise got a bit much in certain tracks, but I could buy the contrast between those moments and the live instrumentation parts a little more. Perhaps it's because Drukqs paved the way for more tolerance of the genre.

This may yet grow on me, but I'm still not huge on drum and bass's stressful cousin drill and bass.

July 16, 2026

July 14, 2026

HL: "Monkey Wrench", "My Hero", "Everlong", "Up in Arms", "New Way Home", the title track (a bonus track)

The debut album, except more:
-songs
-band members
-loud
-yelling
-quiet

However, those singles really eke this album out of the 3* zone

I guess post-grunge wasn't ALL bad

I mainly know Bladee* from one song of Oklou's 2025 album Choke Enough (an album that really grew on me, and one I would count in the upper tier of albums released that year)

Trap (or, one could say, all hip-hop past 1999) is more or less ignored on this website. Off the top of my head, no one has submitted Dr*ke, Future, Migos, Metro Boomin, 21 Savage, Playboi Carti, Waka Flocka Flame, or Rico Nasty. I would be shocked if this demographic would any time soon.

On that basis alone, Bladee is an interesting pick for this list, particularly because it goes further into "cloud rap", a microgenre within trap. Tbh I always thought that was synonymous with "SoundCloud rap" / mumble rap, but Wikipedia defines it as drawing "influences from trap, ambient and new age music to create a hazy, dreamlike, atmospheric and relaxed production style through the extensive use of reverb and ethereal chopped samples".

I guess that describes "The Fool" to a T.
On one hand, It's kinda samey throughout the mercifully short runtime. On the other, I tend to like melodies and those aren't super common in trap, yet Bladee has 'em in spades.

Right now I doubt The Fool will grow on me like Choke Enough did, even though they both occupy this ethereal, melodic, terminally online space. As to what kind of trap I would put here instead... idk.
There are very few trap albums in general I loved front to back.

*apparently it's pronounced "blade" not "bladey". Like who tf would understand that

HL: "Hotel Breakfast", "Desiree", "bby", "Wett"

July 13, 2026

July 11, 2026

"Why are you trying to be all things to all people?"- Eric Andre

Yeah the electronic/downtempo sections are somewhat dated, but the selections of disco, big band jazz and salsa don't clash with them as much as I might have feared. On that note: there's no better time to listen to Latin jazz than in a heatwave!

"a symphony to the New York street"- BBC Music. Hear hear.

A possibly less cultured comparison I'd like to make is the jazzy soundtrack to New Donk City, a level in Super Mario Odyssey. Almost like New Donk City is some kind of reference to New YORK City

not first listen

HL: "Never Tear Us Apart", "Devil Inside", "Need You Tonight/Mediate", "New Sensation", "Calling All Nations"

I was never familiar with the whole album until relatively recently, but I've been surrounded by the singles my whole life. I blame you BOB FM! >:{

I found out about the pseudo-trip-hip-hop of "Mediate" the same way I found out about many 80's artists. Weird Al parodied its music video. There's something so jarring about it juxtaposed against the "big music" hits like "New Sensation" and "Never Tear Us Apart"

You can hardly find a more plastic-sounding rock album, with all the excesses (XS's) of 1987, but that's kind of the appeal of Kick. To me, anyway

skamtebord

July 15, 2026

"It's some form of Elvish. I can't understand it!"

I had a similar reaction to the Jellyfish record someone put on here, and that is "this album was designed in a lab to appeal to me specifically"

The Incredible String Band for the next generation

It's not perfect, with the repetitive "Dark Night" maybe being my least favourite of the tracklist, but overall it brought a much needed dose of whimsy to my Wednesday.

July 13, 2026

HL: "Above the Continuum", "Bestiaus"

Hmmm... this is objectively good prog/AOR

putting the 80s drums at the beginning kinda gave away the only genuine surprise on this album, not including the surprise that this only came out a few months ago

otherwise- idk- I enjoyed myself

3.5/5

Not first listen;
A diabolical pick, one that I support 100%

Out of Neil’s 4 mashup albums/shitposts, I believe this is the worst one in terms of replayability (“Melt Everyone” is like sandpaper to the eardrums).

I forgot how “Modest Mouth” is a relatively normal-sounding track, and doesn’t really prepare you for the madness like “Vivid Memories” & “No Credit Card”, which are less mashups and more original songs

I think my favourite moments are the cruel jokes of “Imma Let it Be” and “Full Mouth/Alanis”

My brain says 3 but my head says 4

more nerd shit please

I hate to judge an album by its cover, but...
I expect to enjoy this, based on how it looks

Nearly twenty albums that won the Mercury Prize (winnable by artists in the UK and [allegedly] Ireland) ended up in the original 1001; two more including this one made its way on the user list.

The subgenre of "sprechgesang in a British accent" seems to be doing wonders in music journalism right now (or "sprechgesang in an Irish accent" in Fontaines D.C.'s case). But This Could Be Texas proves to be a lot more than that, with all kinds of genres and moods getting explored.

I have yet to decide when an album's identity crisis is a problem (case in point: the Beatles' The Beatles [1968]. One of my favourite albums ever).
But this has been one of the more enjoyable examples, and especially forgiveable seeing as they're just starting out

HL: "Mastermind Specialism", "Not Everybody Gets to Go to Space", "R&B", "Nearly Daffodils", "Sideboob"

July 5, 2026