Reviews by mikey_nc

A very simple, short, and sweet album. Really enjoy the fusion of pop, country, and rock-n-roll. A little same-y.

Best song: So How Come

Weird, groovy, dance-friendly. Good ebb and flow to the tracks. A fun and memorable listen.

Best song: How Do You Do?

Rich, meaningful, emotionally heavy. Sound can verge on boring sometimes, but consistently classy and well-executed.

Best song: Four Women

An unfortunately heavy chunk of this is overproduced schlock, though what is good here is quite good. Besides, even the songs I don’t care for are performed pretty professionally and convincingly.

Best song: Shining Star

A pretty light and engaging first half followed by a more repetitive second half. An interesting fusion of electronic music with rock/punk.

Best song: Isi

Some great melodies and guitar lines. Closes pretty strong too. That said, sometimes I am just not in the mood to hear Morrissey sing.

Best song: Barbarism Begins at Home

Heavy, trippy, and fun to listen. Also the rare 60s proto-metal album that actually does sound like metal.

Best song: Summertime Blues

Dark, minimal, muscular, very bluesy. It was interesting to see the direction their sound grew in from their debut, which is similar yet very different. It’s a pretty good but not especially notable album until the final song, which is such a masterpiece it elevates the whole project.

Best song: Riders on the Storm

Grizzled guitar-heavy southern rock. Not quite as into this one as Eliminator; it’s a bit rawer and realer, but it’s just not quite as fun to listen to. Still, far from bad.

Best song: La Grange

A pretty unique singer-songwriter album with a deadpan singer and some pretty odd lyrics. Some good melodies. A couple of the songs are strong, but there’s a lack of variety and kind of an unsettling vibe about the whole thing from the album cover on down. Slurs never help either.

Best song: It’s Easier

90s slacker rock with a lot of bright, quick, punchy songs. Kind of feels like an attempt to mainstream the Pixies’ sound or at least fit it into the grunge/alt paradigm (ironic considering the Pixies laid part of the foundation for that paradigm), and I don’t think it totally succeeds. There’s also not really enough meat on the bone here to justify an hour-plus length. Despite all this, a pretty enjoyable listen.

Best song: Thalassocracy

A very 2010s/Trump-era pop album. A couple heavy hitters in the first half but some parts border on generic. Very well-produced but lacking in personality. Interesting vocal cadence and phrasing (though not always in a good way).

Best song: The Walker

A very thoughtful and well-constructed folk album. Maybe lacking in energy here and there, but largely engaging, reflective, and rewarding with a couple genuine classics.

Best song: Fast Car

Very Monsters Inc, and that is a high compliment. A little more traditional than Getz/Gilberto but a high-quality and highly relaxing album nonetheless.

Best song: Desafinado

The fact that it features a few of the greatest guitar riffs ever played pretty much guarantees this is a good album, but there is also zero filler here, not a single missed beat, and many interesting ideas to boot (Planet Caravan?!). Fantastic.

Best song: War Pigs

Well that sure was two hours of a dude grunting “SPACE… SPACE…” over some C-tier Black Sabbath instrumentals.

Best song: Down Through the Night

Kind of a weird one but not unenjoyable. Has a movie soundtrack vibe, particularly with the title track. Some good melodies, and the failed experiments are at least trying something.

Best song: Theme from Casanova

I of course know the title track, but beyond that this album was surprising, and often not in a good way. It’s a little too icy and weird for me, and Bowie stretches his voice further than he should to mixed effect. The instrumentals also didn’t really land for me. All that said, I get that it’s one of those albums you probably need to invest some time into to really “get,” and I appreciate just how odd and experimental it is.

Best song: Heroes

Opening pair of tracks are fantastic and the rest of the album ranges from OK-to-good. Is the last song supposed to be like an apology for manifest destiny?? Some weirdness aside it’s definitely worth a listen or two.

Best song: Hotel California

Very few artists are capable of making music this bright and easy while infusing it with weight and importance. Tight, focused, varied, and exceptional.

Best song: Living for the City