Reviews by j-bizzle

I'd never even heard of these guys before, but they're pretty good. The melodies are nice, and it was pretty consistent for the whole thing. Maybe it started to feel a bit more generic as it went on? Maybe. I think there's enough variation in here to make it worth a listen. I like the backing vocals and the additional violins for a bit of heightened delivery.

3.5 rounded down.

It's not bad. I don't find it particularly challenging like others have. It's really well put together for what it is. But it's also not THAT exciting. Bjork's output, if nothing else, always remains interesting.

This is actually quite a varied and interesting album. After an unsure start, I got kind of on-board with it. It's quite lo-fi, and even ambient at times. Other times it veers into quite dark, discordant soundscapes. Overall the production is generally interesting and I admire the ambition, even if it's inconsistent at times.

Broadly I think this is a really good album. There's a number of fair-to-middling tracks, but there's also plenty of really big songs on here that really hit. A lot of those ARE the singles, but still. I think the instrumentation is really good. I'm not sure I'd ever credited these guys with that before, but there's some great grooves in here, and other songs are really quite melodic.

3.5 rounded up.

It's very easy going and breezy and I had a perfectly nice enough time with it.

It's not too bad. Old-skool kind of beats and rapping style. It feels long and samey though, so it wears thin.

2.5 rounded up.

It's alright. The songs are pleasant, and it's put together well enough, with nice instrumentation and some nice backing vocals and so on. I guess it just feels a bit inoffensive, and not particularly ambitious. Is that unfair? Their other album 'Odessa' I rated lower. I think this is a step above, but I have the same complaint as on that album. When you have soaring violins and surges of instruments, you'd expect it to be more rousing, but it somehow isn't. Again, knowing that they have some really amazing songs in their ballad-backlog, I was maybe hoping for a little bit more.

It's quite good, but it's not wowing me. You can hear plenty of influence on later bands. It's got a good amount of energy, but the mix is just a bit murky. At time of writing this album sits on a perfect 3/5 and I'm not going to rock that boat.

Man, this is boring as shit. Someone said how they love how her guitar is used to enhance her voice, but I have issue with that because I don't particularly like her voice. It's way too soft and floaty. But mostly, the album is just so earnest and twee, and it rubs me the wrong way.

It's quite nice, this. I like the production and general mood on it. There's some really atmospheric synths and soundscapes going on. This is a typical, 'not really my bag, but I quite enjoyed it' album.

I'm struggling to say much about this one. It's quite good? I kind of took it all in and had a reasonably nice time, without really having many critical thoughts about it. It's perfectly serviceable and well-done 80's pop music.

My dad used to play this all the time, so it's well known. It's solid throughout, with some standout big hits. Overall there's some good melodies, good harmonies, and really nice backing instrumentation.

3.5 rounded up.

This is such a great album, and it deserves the acclaim. Listening now with fresh, critical ears the main thing that's struck me is just how exceptional the production on this album is. All the tracks have something interesting going on, be it interesting drum arrangements, layered atmospheric instruments, or unique sounds cutting in. The soundscapes in this are so fucking good, be it the lush kind of orchestration of Subterranean Homesick Alien, or the more manic moments in 'Climbing Up the Walls' - both songs I'd never really considered as highlights before, but they're both so rich and atmospheric in different ways. You want to play it loud with headphones and just lose yourself in it. I would point to particular song highlights, but this is a great example of something working so well as an album. It's all good and all one experience.

It's not as good as the other album I had by him. This one feels way more earnest and twee, "root-de-doo, I'm Andy Newman" than his other one. That said there's a few nice tracks in here.

2.5 rounded up.

Man, this one was all over the fucking place, what a weird journey. At first I was kind of bemused, not-really into it, but fine. A bit too disjointed and artsy for me, but better than I thought it was going to be. Then some of the tracks I was kind of on-board with. Despite it being over 18 minutes I was down with that first jam track… but then it’s followed by an equally long one that’s shit, and yet ANOTHER really long one that’s mostly mad, raving gibberish. And then we’re back to a track that actually has some kind of musical basis, where even if you’re not into it, it’s still interesting, with layered instruments and great drums. So… up and down? But mostly bad. I’m glad people can enjoy this, but jeeez man.

This is so much better than the Idiot, it has some actual energy to it. Although I gave that album 1 star, and I'm starting to suspect that I may have received that at a time when I was in a severely bad mood or something and was overly-harsh. I might actually give it another listen..

Either way, this is still immensely better. There's some big hits on here like Lust For Life and The Passenger, but I also really dug some of the other tracks I hadn’t heard before, like ‘Some Weird Sin’. It's really solid overall.

It's a great album. An impressive selection of songs in here in terms of variation, with a really unique sound. I really like their style, and his singing voice. It conveys a lot of emotion somehow despite sounding quite strained.

Novocaine for the Soul and My Beloved Monster are my personal highlights, but I like a lot of the others.

4.5 rounded down.

I’m not a fan, it’s just weird, and boring. I don’t understand why a lot of people seem to have such an affinity for these guys. I know they were influential, but it’s still shit.

This actually grew on me the more it went on. I didn’t like all the talking at first, but actually it worked at times. Some of the tracks are pretty pleasant, and I like the musicality of it generally. There’s a bunch of bits in here which sound like they’re ‘creatively borrowing’ from other artists. ‘Knowledge of Beauty’ has that ‘bom bom bom’ bit from Lou Reed’s Satellite of Love, and One of Those Things’ main groove sounds suspiciously like Sweet Home Alabama.

Still, straight down the middle, it’s not too bad.

I like this. Musically, it's really on-point. It has a really cracking opening, with real energy and grooves, and it's just a lot of fun. There's some really funky bass-lines, and I love the squealing guitars. I did find myself getting less interested in the longer tracks that became quite repetitive, otherwise I would have rated this higher. However, when it's good it's really good.

3.5 rounded up.