Reviews by gingerninja155

Funk Music is perhaps the best thing you can roll on a Friday. It is the easiest genre to listen to, and the day will be over so fast. The intergalactic brothers from the top of the Chocolate Milkyway are no exception. I believe every Funk album I’ve heard so far has gotten a 4 star rating, and this is no exception. It doesn’t do anything new or amazing, but man does it do Funk exceptionally well. “P-Funk” and “Give Up the Funk” are my favorite songs here. Special shoutout goes to the hilarious names of the songs, as well as the great and hilarious album art. Funky!!!!

I've been stuck listening to (mostly) barely passable English music for the better part of a month now, and it's crazy to me that the moment I finally roll some good old Dad Rock from the United States, I absolutely love it. Realistically, I think this is a High 3, but the change of pace is extremely refreshing here. I kind of want to give it a 4, but the music starts sounding very same-y after the first few songs. As a whole, it's probably a 3, but compared to the other albums I've rated a 3, the more I look at it, it would be a 4 with my metric. Positives: Nothing skippable, 2 absolute bangers in "Twice As Hard" and "Hard To Handle", hell of a good debut album, and a nice, manageable 43 minute runtime. No huge negatives besides what was previously mentioned about being a bit same-y as a whole. Ok, I've convinced myself, 4 stars it is. As I start to slowly but surely add more albums, this is at the top of my list of albums I may move down to 3 stars some day. We'll see, but for now it gets a 3.8/5.

Catchy Hip-Hop. Always a pleasure. Makes the day go by really fast when I’m jamming to the fast pace cadences. “Work It” was the only song of Missy Elliott I was familiar with before this, and I believe it was the right song to get as big as it did. I was pleasantly surprised with the entire thing as a whole though. This was an album made in the wake of multiple tragedies in the USA, including 9/11 and the deaths of a number of prominent rappers in the scene, and Missy mentions all of them, with a somber yet hopeful undertone that we will all heal, slowly but surely. When she’s not rapping about some massive ass or getting laid, there are some surprisingly deep messages here. The features are also tremendous. Would put my thing down, flip it, reverse it, and listen to more of her stuff.

One of the most depressing stories in music the life of Nick Drake was. I’d never heard of this guy until today, and his music is as emotionally gripping and sad as his own personal fight with depression must have been. As someone struggling with anxiety and depression much the same way, I’m not afraid to say that this album made me cry. This man has a beautiful voice, twinged with an unbearable undertone of sheer sadness. This is really something I think I needed to hear right now. Even though it’s depressing, it made me feel a good type of sad, if that makes any amount of sense. My favorite songs on this album are “River Man” and “‘Cello Song”. Thank you, Nick Drake, for blessing my ears with your music today.

2 days ago, I rolled the follow up to this album. Today, I roll this. Honestly, I'm glad I rolled the follow up first, as it is largely a response to this album. Everything that The Marshall Mathers LP is about stemmed from the initial success of this album. A lot of the bars and references of MMLP make more sense when you've heard this front to back. I rated that album an easy 5 stars, and I'm very much going to do the same for this one as well. Eminem is now the first artist I've had more than once, which is pretty cool, as he's one of my faves. Again, all of the skits here are hilarious. Picking a favorite song is also impossible. Everyone knows "My Name Is", that's probably the hit on this album. But, "Guilty Conscience", "'97 Bonnie & Clyde", "Role Model", and "As The World Turns" are all bangers as well. Eminem is truly on the Mount Rushmore of rappers, well deserving. I'm pretty sad that my run of Eminem is over, it's been such a nice change of pace from the copious amounts of passable Rock this book has. Oh well, back to it.

I want to be that guy and say this isn't a 5 star album. Go against the grain. Say "The Beatles are overrated". But maaaaaaaan, I can't do it. This album is just so good. My one complaint is that the middle half of the album doesn't hold quite the same level of quality as the first half and final 2 songs. But at a crazy nearly 35 minute run time, any other problems I'd be able to think of are minor and I'm already half way through the album again. "Taxman", "Eleanor Rigby", "I'm Only Sleeping", "Got to Get You Into My Life" and "Tomorrow Never Knows" are my favorites here. That's 5 entire songs. A huge portion of the album. Ok, so, here is my compromise with The Beatles. I'm going to give this album 5 stars. I'm also going to give Abbey Road 5 stars. Everything else is probably going to get fewer stars than that. But I think with how prominent and influential this band is, it would be actually criminal not giving this album specifically a 5, so I'm going to give it a 5. You've won this round Beatles. Many more to come.

Iconic album. One of the best in its genre of all time. Funny skits, sharp, cutting and dark commentary that’s still relevant today. Maybe a little dated with the gay slurs, intent be damned, but not a deal breaker by any means. The song “Stan” in and of itself is one of the best ways to depict a parasocial relationship in an accurate, concise, and scary way. I can’t think of a better thing to even compare it to. “The Real Slim Shady” and “I’m Back” are absolutely iconic, and the features on this album are all genuine legends of their craft. I mean hell, “Bitch Please II” has 5 artists credited, all of which are insanely popular and talented in their own right. Just, maybe be cautious of your surrounding area when the Ken skit starts up. While funny, it’s not something I’d ever want someone to hear me listening to with or without context.

Another album where I wish we could give half star ratings. If I could, this would be a 2.5. There are a lot of bad, skippable songs on this album. The song "Fantastic Disaster" is in contention for the worst single song I've heard so far. If I had a nickel for every time I've heard a band formed by a bigger band's former bassist over the last 2 weeks, I'd have 2 nickels, which isn't a lot, but it's strange that it happened twice. "Sacred Attention" is my favorite song here and it's not even close. Reminds me of a worse Foo Fighters. I want to give this a 2, but I don't think I disliked it as a whole as much as the other 2 star albums. So for now, Sebadoh (Not really a fan of the band name either, but hey, cool album art), you're getting a begrudging 3 stars from me, and we can all move on with our lives.

What a pleasant, charmingly upbeat album. The duality between the male and female singers is very unique and their voices work tremendously well in tandem with each other. Nothing amazing, but very consistent from song to song. Nothing bad worth skipping, just a solid 3/5 the entire way through with a relaxed, chill vibe. I could see myself listening to this more often honestly. My only experience with this band previously is the song “Crystalised”, which I am already very fond of. This is another album that doesn’t do anything outstanding, but achieves its purpose of being chill very well. And to be honest, I think this one is probably going to stick with me for a little bit. I wish I could give half points, because this is a solid 3.5 stars, but since nothing amazed me, is still very much a 3. Simple album art, but the theme of an identically placed x that they use for all of The xx albums makes them all very cool to look at as a whole. Favorite song? I don’t know. “Lips” and “Replica” are both very pretty.

When I rolled Stevie Wonder this morning, I knew how popular he was. I’d never actively seeked out his music before though besides what I already knew. Quite frankly, I was a tad concerned whether or not I would like him. After all, this is the highest rated album I’ve heard so far. Well, now I can certifiably say that Stevie Wonder FUCKING SLAPS. There is not a single song on this album I would want to ever skip. Listening to this made the day go by so much faster, and it only got better over time. Picking a favorite song here is so tough. The popular one is “Higher Ground”, a song I have heard covered relentlessly before. It’s good, but man do I have to think hard on if I want to take the easy way out and label it as my favorite or not, as I may be a bit biased. The whole album really is that good.

Let’s start with the elephant in the room. Yes, I have seen and actively enjoy watching Stranger Things. That being said, I think listening to this album has actively lessened my enjoyment of that fantastic scene. I just did NOT vibe with this album. Her voice is an enigma to me. I acknowledge that she’s got a beautiful singing voice, but God I really just do not love listening to it. The songs here are mostly passable, some of them are really annoying, some are boring, and only “Mother Stands For Comfort” is truly replayable in my eyes. “Jig Of Life” is actually pretty catchy as well. More songs I want to actively skip than replay as a whole though. I reiterate, I feel like I should like this album more and genuinely understand why people do like it, but man is it hard to listen to. I’m sorry, Kate Bush, I don’t think I’m your biggest fan.

Zulu Nation!! Don’t touch children!! This was a miserable experience. Next.

What a delightfully bizarre album. I don’t even really know how to categorize this. I don’t know the validity of this, but it sounds like a random white guy got inspired by various different cultures one day and decided to blend them all together into one bafflingly strange, yet creative album. It has a little bit of everything, from Indian, to Spanish, even a bit of traditional Anglo Rock vibes. I can see it coming off as a bit pretentious and douchey, which is probably why the rating here is so low, but I actually kind of dig this. My favorite song is “Everyman’s an Island”, because it is very replayable and fits the whole World Music theme very well. There’s a lot of different styles blended into this album, and I really think that for the most part, they do work. What a pleasant little surprise of an album this was. Extremely goofy name aside, the album is pretty good.

This is one of the coolest god damn album covers I think I’ve ever seen. I almost want to buy it on Vinyl just to look at it. Unfortunately, that’s where the compliments largely end. Legitimately yesterday I had an entire spiel on how Rock albums had to impress me a lot to get anything higher than a 3. Unknown Pleasures by Joy Division unfortunately does not do it for me. That really blows, because I wanted to like it and perhaps get one of those cliché band shirts you see people wearing without having actually heard the source material for whatever it is they’re wearing the logo of. I mean, damn, what’s my favorite song here? I don’t even know, it’s all largely the same generic sound. I think “Shadowplay” is my favorite. Nothing really daring, memorable or unique. Again, everything works, but none of it really blows me away either.

Not even a month in and I’m already at the stage where a rock album is going to have to really impress me to get anything higher than a 3. This is pretty good, but only just pretty good. Nothing to really write home about. As usual, it took me a while to start getting down with it, but I think the ladder half of the album is a LOT better than the top half personally, specifically “Made of Stone”, “I Am the Resurrection”, and my personal favorite “Fools Gold”. The singer sounds ok, the melody is fine, the guitarist can be boring at times and it all just sounds alright as a whole. Another album I probably won’t remember in a bit in all honesty, but hey, it’s definitely still great from top to bottom. Besides being a tad boring in places, I don’t really have any other big complaints with it. I don’t quite understand why this one is so highly rated honestly, but to each their own.

First of all, let me talk about the album art. It's so funny, instant 10/10. For the actual review, 2 English Club music legends in a row is crazy. I'm just coming off of Depeche Mode and straight into Fatboy Slim, the "Band of the 90's, if you wanna call it a band, because it's a one man name." I actually have no idea how to rate this album objectively. On vibes alone and how much I personally enjoy it, it's probably a 4/5, like Depeche Mode. Yes, it's very repetitive, but with club music you're kind of going to get that. You either love it or hate it, and I definitely love it. However, is it as good as Depeche Mode? I don't know if it is. The double edged sword of Fatboy Slim is that the entire album is just sound, therefore not very memorable until you replay it, but the sound is all super good. So do I give it, as an album, a 3? Or do I go off of vibes and personal enjoyment and give it a 4? I really don't know. The transition from "Right Here Right Now" into "The Rockafeller Skank" is smooth as butter though, really really cool. Also easily the 2 best songs on the album for sure. The funk soul brother check it out now!! The funk soul brother right about now!!

I gotta tell you something. I think I love Depeche Mode. I got absolutely lost in this album for an entire day, and while it’s not entirely all bangers, it’s a great trip from top to bottom, and the highlights of this album are some of the catchiest, vibiest (not a real word) songs I’ve ever heard. Those tracks are “Never Let Me Down Again”, “Strangelove”, and “Sacred”. One of my biggest complaints with this album is that the listed 3 songs are SO good, the rest of the album just does not compare. If those songs are a 5/5, the rest of the album is a solid 3/5, sans the last 3 mix songs, which are like a 4.5/5. We’re going to average it out to a very, veeeeeeery high 4, approaching 5 status. I may even change it to a 5 later when I’ve ultimately listened to more albums for this project. More Depeche Mode please!!!!

If ever a 3 star album existed, this would be the very middle of the road in my opinion. This is very passable Indie Rock music that stays fairly consistently ok through the course of an hour play time. A bit grungy, which is typically one of my favorite styles of music, but it’s just kind of boring here. There isn’t anything particularly memorable either. I’m going to forget about this by tomorrow most likely. “Chapel Hill”, “Sugar Kane” and “Purr” are my favorites. Don’t love the female singers voice when she starts screaming unfortunately, I think the male singer is much better personally. Generally, the songs sung by him were leagues above hers. There are some absolutely killer guitar riffs at times that are very good, but the entire album is just kind of disjointed and not very memorable as a whole. Very much a 3 for me. Cute album art though. Maybe I should start critiquing the album art occasionally?? I hadn’t thought about that until now.

One of many albums where I'm glad I relistened to it a few times. My initial reaction was to give this a 1 and move on. I really did not like the guys voice at first. In fact, initially, I hated it. However, it gradually grew on me and by the end of the day I was hooked, and now I'm interested in hearing more Belle & Sebastian. Favorite songs on this album are "Me and the Major" and "Like Dylan in the Movies." Is this something I'm likely to come back to? Again, probably not, but it was very soothing and I'm glad I spent the day listening to it. Not a whole lot to talk about here other than that. Just a bunch of chill beats to vibe to. Succeeds in what it sets out to do.

Listen to virtually any The Cure album after this one. Now listen to this album. Now listen to any album before this one. The differences between the 3 are pretty insane right?? Apparently, the guys were on copious amounts of drugs, depressed out of their minds, and almost ended the band as a whole while making this album. Holy shit does it show in the music. There is a lot to like on this album, and man is it depressing at points. Contextually, this album gets 5 stars from me. The backstory behind the album, and comparing it to previous and future albums from The Cure is very interesting. Personal enjoyment, it gets a 3. Like I said, there's a lot to like, but not a lot to love. As far as standouts, I really enjoyed "One Hundred Years", "The Hanging Garden", "Siamese Twins" and "A Strange Day." I know that's 4 entire songs, but the vibe is very similar throughout the entire album, so it was surprisingly hard to pick a favorite.