Reviews by lukazimir_

2/5. Just an exceptionally boring post-hardcore album, offers nothing that you can’t get a far better version of from other artists in the genre. It has the loudness and angst to make you think it is making some big emotional statement, but it’s more-so a cardboard cutout, it might seem like the real thing from a distance but with any closer analysis the illusion is broken.

3/5. The two big singles off this album “Message in a Bottle” and “Walking on the Moon” are both very good as well as a few of the deep cuts like “No Time This Time” but there were also a number of tracks on this one that didn’t do a whole lot for me. Maybe it’s just that I had Synchronicity before this one, but I preferred the weird, adventurousness of that album over this one which plays it mostly straight with its reggae-ish rock.

5/5. Stereolab are one of my favorite bands. They combine a ton of disparate elements from Lounge music to post-rock to kraut-rock to electronica and much more and fuse it all into such a distinct, but wholistic sound. Then add in some left-wing philosophy and political anger and you’ve got the basic idea of Stereolab.

Emperor Tomato Keptchup is one of the albums that shows the band at its full power and that begins immediately with “Metronomic Underground” which has a hypnotic locked-in Krautrock groove to it. You then get “Cybele’s Reverie” which might be the most beautiful sounding song in the Stereolab catalogue. A few tracks later there’s “Les-Yper Sound” which has a bizarre groove to it and lyrics that talk about how humanity loves to create categories of separation and then fight over them. And from there the tracklist continues to be pretty much all hits no misses. Frontwoman Lætitia Sadier is also great all throughout this album, matching the energy of every song whether that be the more punkish energy of “the noise of carpet” or the hectic-ness of “Percolator.”

One of those albums that’s just absolutely bursting at the seams with creativity from one of the most consistent bands to ever do it. I will always heavily recommend checking out their stuff.

2/5. in retrospect, I was too harsh on Fatboy Slims “You’ve Come A Long Way Baby” because that album is far and away better and more fun than this predecessor (maybe when I go back and re-assess my scores in the future I’ll raise it to a 3.) As for this debut album, it has some novel sample-work, especially on songs like “First Down” but when it comes to crate-digging, sample heavy dance music I feel there’s plenty of records much better than this.

4/5. Honestly crazy how much mileage Keith Jarrett gets out of the piano during this performance. It’s over an hour long but I never felt bored by his playing, he manages to strike so many emotions with how intense/quiet he goes with it at different points. The highlight for me is the massive opener, titled “Pt. 1.” Which goes through a ton of different build-ups and phases. I’ll be blunt that I’m nowhere near a piano expert, I’m just a dumb little guitar/bass guy, but this album seems like the good stuff when it comes to piano playing.

5/5. There is a reason why this is the longest charting rap album, and it’s because it is just that great. It perfectly strikes the balance between extremely engaging storytelling and high quality songwriting with hooks that will always remain in your brain after you’ve heard them. In terms of the narrative of the album it follows Kendrick’s teenage years navigating growing up in Compton and his interactions with the areas gang culture and drug trade.

There really isn’t a weak track on this album whether we’re talking the massive hooks of “Swimming Pools” and “Money Trees” or the amazing storytelling of “Sing About me in dying of thirst.” If you put a gun to my head, I’d maybe say the weakest song is “Poetic Justice” just cause it isn’t as interesting as the rest of the album, but even then I love the beat on it and even as a long-time Drake hater he gives a solid verse. But yeah, Good Kid Maad City is an all-timer album, and it’s only Kendrick’s second-best album.

2/5. Bit of a funny coincidence. My 100th album on the generator was my first Springsteen album, and now my 200th album here is my second Springsteen.

When doing a large project like this one of going through the 1001 albums, you’re bound to learn something about yourself, and what I’ve learned so far is that I really don’t care for the music of Bruce Springsteen that much. His style of heartland rock just doesn’t do much for me. This album was very listenable, I never actively wanted to turn it off, but there was also not really a single song that I see myself coming back to or that I particularly loved. And at nearly an hour and fifteen minutes it overstays its welcome.

3/5. Queens of the Stone Age are one my favorite rock bands, which is why I must say it’s completely baffling that this is the only album of theirs in the 1,001 albums book. No Songs for the Deaf, Like Clockwork or Rated R, just the self titled debut. And it is a good album on the whole, but nowhere near the level of most other QOTSA albums in my opinion.

Which is again to not say the self titled debut here is a bad album, there’s a good number of highlights like “You Would Know”, “Mexicola” or the opener “Regular John.” But on the whole it’s a debut where the band is still finding their footing and in retrospect you can see how much more fully formed and confident the band feels on Rated R compared to this.

3/5. This album was unfortunately quite front-loaded. It begins with its two best tracks “Zero” and “Heads Will Roll” which are some electro-pop/dance-punk bangers. But then everything after the track “Skeletons” veers pretty strongly into just being okay, it loses steam pretty quick. makes me feel like I’d rather be listening to early MGMT or LCD Soundsystem instead.

3/5. I really don’t know what to make of this album, spent a while debating between a high 2/5 or a low 3/5, and I think I’ve settled on the latter because this album is very fascinating and weird, to the extent where I left it at least somewhat satisfied. It’s a weird lo-fi, psychedelic R&B/blues album with heavy influences from New Orleans Voodoo-spirituality. When it works like on closer “I walk on guilded splinters” you get some really interesting and atmospheric songs, but at other points it just feels like a caricature.

4/5. A really good singer/songwriter album. I love the way this record is produced, there’s a ton of interesting instrumental flourishes, but they’re subtle and in the background so it encourages active listening. Bill Callahan himself has that Cohen-esque monotone to his singing but still is able to pack an emotional punch when needed, his voice is honestly pretty calming. If I had to pick a favorite here it would probably be either “Eid Ma Clack Shaw” or “Too many birds.” Loved this one overall, great new discovery for me on the generator.

4/5. To get the incredibly obvious out of the way, Aretha Franklin is an all-time great vocalist and she shows her full power on this record whether that be on poppier cuts like “Respect” or the slower ballads like “A Change is gonna come.” The instrumentation keeps it simple but is well done, I especially love the few times on here where some horns come in. But it’s mostly there to be the bedrock for Aretha’s voice. One of those albums where you can immediately tell “oh so this is where a ton of singer/songwriters got their whole thing from.”

2/5. I have never really liked the music of Lenny Kravitz, and upon listening to this debut I have still not been won over, though I’ll at least give it credit that it’s better than any of the other stuff of his I’ve heard so it avoids a 1/5. He produced all of the songs himself and played most of the instruments which is commendable, but the songs themselves range from boring rock to soul-less soul. He tries to tackle political/societal issues on a few of the tracks here like “Does anybody out there even care?” But he’s not a good enough lyricist to really push beyond the surface level of these topics. An album that left me feeling pretty empty by the end.

3/5. This album is probably most significant for how it was released, which is that it dropped on streaming completely unannounced with no roll-out, which sparked a fair bit of discourse at the time. As for the album itself, the standout feature to me is the production, the instrumentals/beats are a lot more varied and interesting than I would have expected. Lyrically Beyoncé’s self titled is a very sexually charged album, which is good and all…though I always start laughing when I remember that the person receiving all of this sex is Jay-Z. Will also say I know it’s likely a result of this being her newest/most acclaimed album when a specific edition of the book came out, but I feel like Lemonade or Renaissance are much more deserving of a slot in the 1001 album book than the self titled, only thing it has going for it compared to those is its release strategy.

2/5. This album actuallly starts off pretty solid with the opener “The Fun Powder Plot” which has a good groove to it and the falsetto vocals work well on top of it. But the rest of the album just feels like a distillation of all the most annoying aspects of 2000’s indie rock. Even in its short run-time the vocals veer pretty quickly from quirky/charming to irritating, and the instrumentals feel very bland/mechanical.

4/5. For a group whose legacy is largely defined by clashing egos, conflict and scandal, you honestly don’t feel that in their music as all three members here play off of each-other very smoothly. That being said, for me the highlight is unsurprisingly Lauryn Hill who gives this record a lot of its most iconic hooks on songs like “ready or not” and “Killing me softly with his song”, the former being my favorite track here. The production is also mostly great. That being said, what the hell was that Chinese restaurant skit lmao.

3/5. Bat Out of Hell is an album I’ve always been aware of but have never listened to until today, and it’s honestly not what I expected. By the cover I had always expected a Judas-Priest-esque metal record, but it’s actually more of an extremely theatrical rock opera that features a lot of piano/orchestral balladry. Though there are still some intense rockers like the opening title track or “Paradise by the Dashboard light” which are for me the highlights on the album. To me the ballads sometimes veer too much into cheesy territory to where I can’t fully enjoy them. But when it all comes together and works, there’s some great stuff to be found on this record.

4/5. Banger of a debut album from MGMT here, some of the best synth-pop of its time. you get some of the most iconic singles of the 2000’s with “Kids, “electric feel” and “time to pretend” but many of the deep cuts here are also great, I especially love “weekend wars” and “4th dimensional transition.” Just a super fun record all around.

Also while on the subject of MGMT, the follow up to this debut “Congratulations” is also fantastic and probably my favorite of theirs (though I also do see why it never took off on the pop charts like this debut did.) they have a very consistent discography in general, only weak point is maybe the self titled.

3/5. I admittedly don’t have a ton to say about this one, it’s a solid collection of covers from Willie Nelson. His voice fits well with these songs, the production is good, but it’s nothing too exciting. Just a dude covering some good songs.

3/5. There are a number of tracks on here that really sound like “Help!” era Beatles songs, such as the opener “Party Line.” But it still manages to be enough of its own thing to where the album doesn’t just feel like a cheap clone. The obvious highlight is the albums biggest hit “Sunny Afternoon” which has a great vocal melody. But I also loved “Rainy Day in June” and “Most Exclusive residence for sale.” But there are some stretches that just feel like pretty typical 60’s pop stuff, though overall I liked my time with this one.