Reviews by lukazimir_

2.5/5. Saw a prog concept album with a few credits to Brian Eno and got pretty excited for this one. Sadly it never really clicked for me. The narrative is fine but never really hooked me (though it is better than most rock opera narratives, which tend to be awful.) musically it is all very well played but I still didn’t get a ton out of it personally.

5/5. Sometimes you remember Nas was only 20 when he released Illmatic and think “damn what have I been doing with my life?” all jokes aside, this is still one of the best rap albums of all time. And it doesn’t take long to see why with the first main song “NY State of Mind” which is an all-timer song. Absolutely love the piano part in the beat, the flow is great and the lyrics are also really good. And the rest of the album manages to stay at a similar level of quality with songs like “the world is yours” or “one love” featuring Q-tip from a tribe called quest. not much I can really say that hasn’t already been said by thousands of publications, an all time great album and essential hip-hop.

3/5. Good time, this definitely would have been a fun show live. But also on the large spectrum of live albums, this one doesn’t particularly rank for me, which I will admit is definitely in part because I’m not the biggest Cheap Trick fan. However, they still definitely bring a strong energy live which makes this an enjoyable enough listen.

3/5. Elastica seems to get thrown in with Brit-Pop due to the era of British music they came up in, but I’d say they have a lot more in common with the British punks/post-punks of the 70’s. The album itself is a solid time but nothing too special, there are a few highlights though like “Blue.” One of those albums where I had a pleasant enough listening experience but don’t see myself revisiting it in full.

4/5. Very good punk rock album, kinda crazy that between this and fugazi, Ian MacKaye was in two of the essential punk/punk-adjacent bands. Despite most of the songs being very brief (as punk songs tend to be) they actually go through a lot of shifts and interesting structures. Very good album overall, also just was nice to have a short one after having my first 2+ hour album a few days ago.

3/5. I admittedly am just not the biggest fan of this specific Springsteen album, but there’s still enough good songs and strong storytelling here to where it’s an enjoyable experience overall. There is of course the title track “Born in the USA” about the struggles of returning Vietnam veterans, which for decades now has been misused at Republican rallies as a patriotic anthem despite it not being one. But I honestly do not like the song very much at all, I find the production to be a bit much and Springsteens vocals are a bit grating to me on it. In terms of the singles I prefer “glory days” and “dancing in the dark.” the production of the album is probably its biggest setback in general for me, it just suffers a bit from that 80’s over-production that I’m not the biggest fan of.

Speakerboxxx: 4/5. The Love Below: 3/5. Overall: 3.5/5. Originally meant to just be two solo albums from Big Boi and Andre 3000, their label encouraged them to package it as an OutKast album, leading to this over 2 hour long album who’s first disc is a Big Boi album and second disc is an Andre 3000 album. Big Boi’s speakerboxxx is much more rap focused, continuing on the trajectory the duo was following on their previous few albums. And it is mostly great, plenty of bangers like the hit “the way you move” or “the rooster.”

Andre’s The Love Below is where things start to get weird. There is very little rapping, instead it’s a strange fusion of Funk, Soul, Jazz and pop that’s all about different perspectives on love. And it starts out really strong with “Love Hater” and continues on a good streak for the first 10 or so tracks, including the massive hit “Hey Ya!” Which is one of the best pop songs of its era. But then halfway through, the Love Below just really loses steam. The love below is Andre 3000 trying to experiment with new sounds as he was moving further and further away from rap, but not all of the experiments here succeed.

On the whole, Speakerboxxx/the love below is very worth at least one full listen, Big Bois record is a high quality 2000’s hip hop album and Andre 3000’s is an interesting and adventurous, if inconsistent journey. But like most double albums, it doesn’t always stick the landing, leading to an OutKast album that’s quite a bit less consistent than an Aquemini or a Stankonia.

4.5/5. I am something of a Bob Dylan enjoyer. In early 2025 as a personal project I even listened through all 40 of his main studio albums (I have not gone through the bootleg series yet but plan to eventually.) I even own a few of his really awful 80’s albums on vinyl.

Freewheelin’ was his second album and his first that consisted mostly of original songs, and it’s insane that on his first go he already was writing all time greats, whether we’re talking Masters of War, Blowin in the Wind, don’t thing twice it’s alright, or what’s in my opinion the best song here, “a Hard Rains a gonna fall.” An underrated aspect of Bob Dylan in my opinion is how funny he can be, which you can see all over this album. As an example “don’t think twice it’s alright” is a hilariously petty song. Only things keeping it from being a 5 is that the two covers at the end are just kinda alright and there’s quite a few other 60’s and 70’s Dylan albums that I prefer. But this is still an amazing album, and the best of his pre-electric 60’s era.

5/5. Still one of the best debut albums of the 21st century so far and to date the best Strokes record (though I still do really like The New Abnormal and Room on Fire.) There really is not a weak moment on this album, every song is catchy and there are just a ton of fun little guitar/bass parts.
It is worth noting that the U.S. and UK releases of this album have slightly different track listings. I listened to the U.S. version since that’s the track list I’m more accustomed to, but the UK track list is equally as good with songs like “New York City Cops.”

4/5. Though a folk artist, Joni Mitchell always took a lot of influence from jazz music and this record is where that influence shines most, creating a nice and breezy album that blends together folk, jazz and synths along with other elements. And this new sound immediately shows itself on the opening song “in France they kiss on Main Street” with its great bass-lines and slight time signature changes. And it’s a great tone setter for the rest of the album which also showcases Joni playing with new sounds while not sacrificing her musical personality. Great listen and like a lot of Joni Mitchell’s 70’s run, essential folk.

5/5. The best White Stripes album and one of the most untouchable rock records of the 2000’s in my opinion. A lot of the greatness of this album really lies in its simplicity. nothing here is complicated or flashy but it’s performed in a super emotive and hard-hitting way which is perfect for this style of bluesy garage rock. That’s why I’ve always loved Meg Whites drumming as well. Sure she isn’t some technical wizard like Neil Peart, but she is perfect for this type of music and her drumming adds so much texture to Jack Whites guitar playing/vocals. And as for the songs here, there really isn’t a second of filler, every song is fantastic.

4.5/5. During the Kid A sessions, Radiohead recorded enough material for a double album but opted to cut down to a more standard length record, becoming 2000’s Kid A. however in 2001 we’d get to hear a lot of those cut tracks in the form of the sister-record Amnesiac. And honestly, I think Amnesiac is better than Kid A. Takes the electronics from those sessions but makes it feel much more claustrophobic, leading to a record that often feels slightly unsettling.
This unease is felt best on songs like “dollars and cents” or “Like Spinning Plates.” And there’s of course “Pyramid Song” which is a moment of beauty on the album in what feels like an odd time signature but actually isn’t. When the drums finally kick in on that song it’s fantastic. Another highlight for me is the closer “Life in a glasshouse” which sees the band take in some jazz influence leading to a song that sounds like nothing else in their catalogue. Fantastic record overall, only weak spot is maybe the interlude tracks (pulk/pull revolving doors an hunting bears.)

3/5. The Suburbs is the best arcade fire album in my opinion (I generally do not like Arcade Fire particularly much). that being said I’m still not in love with the album as a whole, there are just some high-highs like the one-two opening punch of “the suburbs” and “ready to start” or the hard hitting “empty room.” But as a whole I’ve still just never had that “aha” moment with arcade fire where I truly love one of their albums even though I typically love me some indie rock. There are enough good songs here though to where it was a decent experience.

4/5. Bossanova often gets overshadowed in discussions by the first two Pixies albums, which is a shame because this one is also really good. I’d put it on the same level of quality as Surfer Rosa, though not quite on the level of Doolittle. It manages to strike a good balance of being more accessible while not sacrificing the bands edge and personality, which you can hear on songs like “Velouria” or “Is she weird.” Really enjoyed my time coming back to this one.

3/5 Decent but not great. There were better Judas Priest albums before this one and they’d go on to put out a few records much better than this one after. The record does have a very strong opening stretch though running from “Rapid Fire” to “Grinder.” But then it hits a brick wall with the overly cheesy and sappy “United.” the lyrics in general are a weak point for me. But there’s still enough great riffs on here for it to be an enjoyable experience.

Abattoir Blues: 5/5. Lyre of Orpheus: 4/5. Overall: 4.5/5 (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 1/2.)

This one is a double album in the sense that it is literally two albums. The first disc being “Abattoir Blues” and the second being “The Lyre of Orpheus.” Abattoir Blues sees Nick Cave and his band firing on all cylinders with some of the hardest hitting and loudest music of their career, which starts immediately with the pounding guitars and drums of the opener “get ready for love”. This first disc also contains my favorite Nick Cave song “There she goes my beautiful world”, which is an absolute banger of a song lyrically about Caves struggle to find artistic inspiration. The first disc of the album in general is just front-to-back greatness.

Disc 2, The Lyre of Orpheus, tones things down a bit and is still a pretty great listen. I love the lumbering title track that is a strange and morbid rendition of the Greek myth. And the closer “O children” is a fantastic bow to wrap up the album with. Its only downside is that I personally don’t think it’s as good as the first disc. But overall, a fantastic album and my personal favorite from Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.

3.5/5. 2013’s the Next Day often gets overshadowed by its follow-up (2016’s Blackstar), and being blunt it’s because Blackstar is the better and more adventurous/interesting album (and also partially because Blackstar coincided with his death making the album pretty inseparable from that context.) That is not to say The Next Day is a bad record however, there are a lot of great songs on here that hint back to sounds Bowie was playing with way back in the Berlin era of his career, which is even seen on the “graphic design is my passion” album cover which is a “rework” of the Heroes album cover. Good album, but not really among Bowies best.

4/5. Electronic music is probably my biggest musical blind-spot. I listen to and love some of the biggest acts such as Aphex Twin or Daft Punk, but I’ve never really gone deeper than the surface level into the many artists and sub-genres of electronic. So this Orbital album (often referred to as “The Brown Album”) was completely new to me. And I really liked it, there’s a great sense of flow to the album and a ton of great instrumental passages to get lost in. my favorite songs were probably “Remind” and “Halycon and on and on.”

5/5. My favorite Hendrix album by a pretty healthy margin, and unfortunately his final album since he would go on to pass away around 2 years after. From most accounts, the recording of this album was a mess. Jimi had the band doing 50+ takes of certain songs, friends were being invited into the studio making the space super crowded among a ton of other stuff and he opted to self produce the entire album. But despite all the insanity, him and his band managed to make one of the few double albums that fully justifies its length. Every single song on here is great, however I have always especially loved the two behemoth sized tracks on here “Voodoo Chile” and “1983 (a merman I should turn to be.)” these longer, jammier songs really let the band flex their musical muscles and showcase Hendrix’s insane guitar skills.
Near the end of the album you also get a cover of Bob Dylan’s “All along the watchtower.” And I am a massive Dylan-head so I tend to be very picky about covers of his songs, but Hendrix’s version of watchtower is one of the few cases where I think his cover exceeds the Dylan original.
Fantastic album, my favorite Hendrix record and one of my favorites of the 60’s in general.

Day 86: The Police-Synchronicity. 3.5/5 (⭐️⭐️⭐️ 1/2.) The police have always occupied a strange place in my mind where I like a number of their songs but never actively seek them out. That being said, this was a pretty good album, starts with a bang on “Synchronicity 1” and keep a pretty good momentum going for its full runtime. Favorite song is probably “Mother” with its bizarre lyrics and very anxious/paranoid vocal delivery. Biggest downside is a comparatively weak final leg of the album, but there’s still a lot of good songs here.