Reviews by mikey_nc

A very confrontational yet resigned album; horny but lazy, insisting on freedom and complaining about boredom, angry but constantly shrugging about it. I didn’t love it but I did like it and can see how it connected with so many people. Kind of a shame that her career never quite became what this album promised.

Best song: Divorce Song

One of the most 3/5 albums ever. Quite decent but I’ll never remember it. And whaddya know the global ratings’s a perfect 3.

I never really wanted to be the kind of guy that was into Steely Dan but yknow what, maybe I am that kind of guy. That was pretty sick.

Best song: Pearl of the Quarter

A lot of fun. Too long. The beats are much more interesting than the rapping. The orgy skit tempted me to drop this to 2 but there is too much value here to do that.

Best song: Me Myself and I

I’m usually into Damon Albarn but that’s a tremendously boring album. Kind of reminds me of Age of the Understatement if you stripped out all the mystery and made it 50% sleepier.

An interesting one. Some good melodies and pretty tight production. Their sound is kind of overwhelming, but I think that’s the whole idea. Not my thing but not bad at all.

I appreciated the idiosyncratic style of this, even if it’s not something I would throw on regularly. Keep wailing about monkeys and sages over your harp Joanna.

Quite a dreary and rainy album. Verges on boring, but it worked for me on this rainy day. Some great production.

Best song: One Day Like This

This what Mr. Krabs was listening into his office going “beep boop boo boo bop”

The sound of this album is fairly dense and interesting. Sadly, the shrieky lead singer and edgelord lyrics turned me off.

Dated, boring, and repetitive. A weird inclusion.

Best song: Strung Out

Quintessential punk. You can see from the start that the Clash have their eyes set a little higher than their contemporaries; a lengthy multi-part track like “Police & Thieves” would not fly with punk purists; but it’s also easy to tell that their talent is way higher than the average garage band. A classic.

Best song: Janie Jones

I saw this described as grunge on Wikipedia, which is confusing since this is very jangly and melodic, more like a heavier take on REM. I was into it.

Best song: Hannah & Gabi

This re-awakened my Woody Guthrie phase like an activated sleeper agent. You can definitely hear his influence on Bob Dylan, especially vocally. I liked it a lot.

At this point you might as well go listen to some local construction. I will give this one thing, though: it’s not really trying to be listenable music. It’s some kind of weird art statement. Does it succeed at that? I dunno, but it’s hard to fail it as music when it’s barely that in the first place.

Bjork’s origin story. Some interesting moments here but it failed to really grab me at any moment. That echo-y, texture-heavy post-punk sound isn’t my thing.

Horns and gospel choirs and bluesy wailing and epic guitar… damn dude, calm down. Stephen Stills is just not my cup of tea.

A strong rock album, though it often feels a little stiff and commercial for reasons I have trouble identifying. Lacking the grungier edge of Live Through This, for better or worse.

Well that was cute(?)

Mild, quiet, and weird. Some nice jazzy stuff here but not my vibe.