Reviews by mkaddour2001

Pretty good, though a bit too samey and derivative throughout, but at least I can get behind the album's general atmosphere and sound. It felt both cozy and very cold, drawing on the darkest, most melancholic sounds of post-rock and the vast emptiness of ambient music. It's a cool atmosphere; it feels like being lost in some giant snowfield in the middle of the night.

Pretty much most, if not all, of these songs have a similar sonic palette: arpeggiated and distorted lead guitar over these airy pads in the background. Again, pretty standard, but I did enjoy the vocals, more the deeper delivery on later tracks of the album like 'Two Dancers', but the odd and almost operatic falsetto on many of the cuts here also had its charm.

So yeah, pretty neat. Again, not an album I'd deem essential for this list, but I think I'm becoming a broken record saying that over and over again. I think I'm fine with just another decent album.

I think it's no secret that I'm a sucker for Eno's '70s experimental rock ventures. And that very much includes his solo debut, 'Here Come the Warm Jets'. An album that, more than anything, feels like such a twisted take on the pop-rock of the time. Right from the get-go with 'Needles in the Camel's Eye', something just feels subtly off. Like that guitar riff, the very slightly atonal nature of it, shouldn't work, yet it does. And, aside from that, the structure of the track itself is about as traditional as you get, despite the very labyrinthine and pondering lyrics, an Eno staple. Eno himself wasn't really a super talented musician in the traditional sense, and it really shows on this song and the album in general, but the appeal lies in how he's able to build such amazing songs from generally pretty standard fundamentals (and with the help of some incredible contributors, of course).

I'd say the whole record shares that subtly off vibe. 'Baby's On Fire' is another early masterpiece, with an absolutely blistering guitar solo by the legend Robert Fripp himself. It adds to the very alarming and chaotic atmosphere of the song. And the lyrics are super dark and relevant as ever, describing one of the most horrible images of a child on fire (inspired by images from the Vietnam War), with absolutely no relief; the entire song feels so idle, like it's beating around the very horrific situation at hand without providing any sort of resolution or taking any sort of action. It paints such a helpless scene. The melody here can become grating in a lot of ways in just how repetitive it can be (a staple for Eno, especially on his follow-up 'Taking Tiger Mountain', another masterpiece), but it just works. 'Cindy Tells Me' is maybe the most obviously poppy song here, paired with cheery piano chords and a pretty great guitar solo - but the lyrics are very much not that, with them very obviously criticizing traditional gender roles. And 'Dead Finks Don't Talk' is also a great take on more progressive pop-rock, just so many little facets and phases, and some really cool little studio effects centred around a pretty catchy core melody, most notably that noisy feedback solo closing it out...just not something that should exist in 1974.

The song 'On Some Faraway Beach' is one of the more directly pretty songs here. I don't think this album has much that foreshadows Eno's later ambient and electronic-centric rock music, but his knack for very simple, building melodies that manage to still be very beautiful is showcased on this track very well. And I feel the same way about the closing title track, maybe Eno's best song. A very simple melody at its core, but it's drenched in fuzz and builds slowly with the out-of-sync drum loop, before eventually locking with it. The whole track feels like being blasted with warm hot-tub jets as all your troubles wash away. There's a very hopeful and optimistic feel to this song after a pretty dark album, especially when Eno's vocals come in at the end with lyrics that I hold very near and dear to my heart.

I'm gonna give this album 5 stars, of course, but even I'll admit songs like 'Driving Me Backwards' and 'Some Of Them Are Old' do move a bit too slowly and are a bit too repetitive for my liking, especially the former, which, despite having a really neat gothic vibe, has maybe the most demanding of Eno's vocal deliveries; he's really pushing his generally pretty limited range there.

Still, my unpopular opinion is that Eno's early solo works are about as important to the formation of alternative and experimental music and punk rock as groups like the Velvet Underground, the Beatles, and The Stooges. It's really like he picked up where the Beatles left off, pushing pop music to completely new levels and pushing the studio-as-an-instrument idea to places completely unexplored before. Masterpiece.

Just some of the most wild jams ever put to tape. Every song feels like it's one right note from flying completely off the rails, like a band of instrumentally proficient drunkards trying their best to hold onto a groove after hours of playing in a hot room.

I really do think the first disc of this record is some of the absolute greatest when it comes to jam-based rock music - massive, groovy, funky tracks with basslines, syncopated drum rhythms, and psychadelic solos for days, especially on this album's magnum opus 'Halleluhwah', whose main bass motif is like crack to me. I mean, aside from Damo Suzuki's (R.I.P.) very off-kilter delivery, there isn't much here that's too challenging. Sure, the mixes are a bit muddy, but that's par for the course, and it adds to the charm. This disc (and, honestly, the second one in many ways) is one to get lost in.

It's really the second disc that gives this album the reputation of being this inextricable monster. The record plunges headfirst into a dystopian, industrial, krautrock beast with the massive 'Aumgn', which sounds like being paralyzed at the bottom of some massive chasm, surrounded by strange cult-like beings that you can barely make out through the corner of your eye. This track is just so insane, and you can really piece together your own story based on the sound snippets, pacing, and ever-evolving atmosphere alone. It also clearly sets the foundation for many dark ambient acts to follow, maybe the most influential piece from this album. And afterwards, it's like this album tries to find its footing again, but nothing's quite the same. The middle of 'Peking O' would lead the listener to believe that we might be on the right track, but out of nowhere Damo starts jabbering nonsense over this angular piano and stuttering drum machine. It's one of the most striking moments I've heard in any record ever, and I'll never forget when I first heard that specific part of 'Peking O'; my emotions were a mixture of amusement, horror, and bewilderment. Is it stupid? Yes, without a doubt, but I love it so much. 'Bring Me Coffee Or Tea' is such a hazy closer, leaving so many of the album's mysteries unresolved, with a distinctly eastern feel to it. Such a fever-dream of a track, but a completely worthy closer, as it really leaves so much unanswered when it comes to this wildly abstract disc.

No record quite like this one. Again, the second disc is maybe the most difficult part of this, especially when a cut like 'Aumgn' lasts for 17 minutes, but if you can make it through that and look at the album as a whole, I think you'd come to realize just how important a statement CAN was making here. Great shit.

Surprisingly good to me, was the last T.Rex album from this list (Electric Warrior) also this good? Clearly, I didn't think so. This album just did not sound like something released in the early '70s; it sounds like a '2000s indie group paying homage to the '70s through a more modern lens. Some songs, like the psychedelic-acoustic cuts 'Ballroom of Mars' and 'Main Man' reminded me of late-era MGMT, while many of the bluesier moments sound straight out of the Jack White and White Stripes playbook, 'Buck McCane' especially.

But the real highlight was just how good the actual core collection of songs here were. Like, T.Rex can write a domn good chorus and vocal hook. And the record is surprisingly varied; you get the slower psych jams, the harder blues-rocky tracks, and the more traditional glam stuff from the '70s as well.

Overall, just a super fun and consistently enjoyable record, not really a dull moment. Again, makes me want to revisit that other T.Rex album to see what I was missing there because this is totally up my alley. And again, so un-70s in so many ways.

I alluded to it in my 'Everything Must Go' review (not knowing it was also on the list), but this album wrecked me the first time I heard it so many years ago. It's honestly one of those emotionally exhausting records. So ultimately, I really only remember how extreme the lyrical themes and topics were, not so much its actual sound.

While it's less glitzy and polished than their follow-up, it is still pretty catchy and sonically digestible considering what it is. It has this '2000s mainstream indie and emo feel (well before the fact), though obviously far dirtier in production, especially during its many noiser moments. But I was still surprised by how catchy the choruses here were, especially the first two tracks, whose intense lyrics relating to prostitution and twisted American politics hardly fit the more upbeat nature of the songs and their respective choruses. Vocalist James Dean Bradfield and troubled lyricist Richey Edwards were clearly on different wavelengths, but James still manages to squeeze these verbose, vulgar songs into these somewhat catchy melodies. It's funny to hear at times, but equally impressive too, like I can play these songs in my car and people would nod their heads to it, completely oblivious to what's actually being said here.

It's pretty varied as well, which I really dug; the album feels dynamic, like it's constantly evolving, and approaching its really morbid themes from every possible angle: sadness, acceptance, pain, anger, etc.... 'Archives of Pain,' for example, has this industrial metal feel to it, with this very distorted and skeletal groove in the verses. And you can probably guess by the title, but this is one of the many "fuck humanity" anthems on this record (to dumb it down). Songs like 'Revol' and 'She is Suffering' have this post-hardcore edge, which I really liked, especially 'Revol', which is very layered with effects and distortion - maybe the most fast-paced, blood-pumping track here. And '4st 7lb', for as difficult as it is to listen to at times, is the album's undeniable masterpiece, just so well executed, the music perfectly soundtracking the hopeless spiralling of the protagonist. And my God, when the song slows down in its final moments, it truly feels like that dread of accepting something awful; it's such a powerfully tragic moment that I'll never forget. And if you weren't already emotionally drained, the album's penultimate track, 'The Intense Humming of Evil', is a 6-minute grinding industrial track describing the horrors of the holocaust...

I discovered their follow-up from this list, but I was always familiar with this record. And I think I prefer 'The Holy Bible' to that follow-up, but it's close. This is an extreme record and very blunt in the messages it's trying to deliver. But the playing, production, and vocals are still top-notch and definitely should not be overshadowed by how dark it is, which is what I feel the album's reputation has become (maybe idk). What you get at the end of the day is a very well-executed piece of '90s alternative, with lyrics penned by a genius who wasn't afraid to really unveil how fucked up this world can be. Definitely an album that deserves to be on this list.

I mean, it's alright, and I genuinely enjoyed the first two tracks, and the massive love ballad 'The Frog Princess' deeper in, a genuinely great track. But again, I ask what's the point of this being here. I don't know much about this guy, but I can't say I'm the biggest fan; he can be way too much, and his wit doesn't feel natural. I think the word I'm looking for to describe this album is "try hard". So many of these songs, be they the closer or, most egregiously, 'The Long and Sleepless Nights', have these bombastic and explosive endings that just sound so cramped and overly animated while obviously trying to be grandiose and climactic. Lyrically, it's decent and a somewhat redeeming factor here; I do like the satirical edge to 'Change', despite the song structure being far too gimmicky and quite frankly annoying.

I guess when it comes to the not-so-great obscure UK indie entries from this list, this is probably on the better side. But still, too long and exhausting for my liking, despite the few genuinely great songs here.

There was a point in my life when I'd eat this oddball style of nerdy rap up, this album and Kool Keith included. But I wasn't sure how well this would go over now that I'm much older. I mean, when compared to Del and DOOM, I've always resonated with Keith's records less - he felt more edgy just for the sake of it. That said, this album certainly played a significant part in forming the blueprint for that style of hip-hop - super gimmicky, nerdy, off-kilter flows, with really opaque references, strange samples and odd genre fusions. You can trace that all back to here.

It really all comes down to how much you enjoy Dr. Octagon as a character. And honestly, for all its immaturity, crassness, and downright stupidity (just listen to 'A Visit to the Gynecologist', unsettling, gross, and really creepy), I'm okay with it. The character was stupid, and Keith doesn't do a very good job of sticking to one theme, concept, or story, but on the surface level, the aesthetic is there, and the record does well enough to put you into this twisted spoofed sci-fi world. It helps that the production draws as much from the world of contemporary electronic as it does from hip-hop, just really glitchy, synth-heavy beats here with some songs, and more traditional jazz hip-hop on others. It's a fusion that goes over surprisingly well. My favourite beats were 'Earth People' with its deep, acidy bass and synth, and the really ominous strings of 'Blue Flowers' paired against this unsettling, squelchy, filter-sweeping noise.

And Keith has a sort of amateurish delivery here, like I could picture a dude in his basement recording this into a cheap mic, not bothering with second takes even if needed. Especially when he pushes his flow on a lot of these songs, like with the scientific ramblings of 'No Awareness'. But I love it; it grounds this otherwise really otherworldly record and gives the rapping a lot more character. The guy can flow when he really wants to, though.

I don't really remember how I felt about this album years and years ago when I first heard it. But if anything, even though I've sort of grown out of this style of rap, I found a lot more to enjoy this time around, mostly on the production end. Such an interesting-sounding album that set the groundwork for producers like DOOM and El-P to really take hip-hop production to completely new levels. Lyrically, though, I can take it or leave it; it's too long, extreme, and verbose for my liking, and it doesn't give you enough one-liners to chew on when all is said and done. And again, the concept could've been executed better.

I've enjoyed Cypress Hill in moderation before this, the hit song here and there, 'Insane in the Brain' especially. Though I've admittedly always found B Real's delivery to be too gimmicky, despite his generally undeniable flow and wordplay.

They're ultimately a pretty quintessential group in hip-hop, and this record was, for the most part, enjoyable. The beats are generally fat and dynamic, with a heavy emphasis on very punchy drums - the production is more akin to PE than any other traditional East Coast rap act from the early '90s. Though there's certainly that East Coast grit seeping in on these tracks, it's still mostly pretty clean-sounding on the production end. And I'll say it again, flow-wise, you'd be hard-pressed to find rappers like B Real and Sen Dog with their rapid-fire spitting on songs like 'How I Could Just Kill A Man' or 'The Phunky Feel One'.

A cool album that captures a very unique transitional period in '90s East Coast hip-hop, a sound that I generally enjoy. Though I'll admit that, topically and instrumentally, it's pretty samey all throughout; it's maybe my biggest gripe. But regardless, it was an enjoyable and high-velocity listen, and a much-needed one at that.

One of the very best vocalists ever, with a smooth, rounded voice that's instantly recognizable. Ultimately, though, not to deny Ray Charles as a vocalist, this style of music has never been my biggest cup of tea. Soul music in general would go on to become far more interesting in the mid-'60s on the songwriting and instrumental fronts. But still, I found a lot to enjoy here despite this album's more boilerplate nature.

I definitely preferred the second half to the first, with these massive string-backed ballads. It's always been a preference of mine for '50s music. Though I'll admit that Charles' ferocity and bite as a vocalist shine through on the jazzier Big Band orchestrations of the first half, especially 'Deed I Do'. But his more soulful and calming edge comes through on the second half, especially on the very delicate and homely 'Don't Let the Sun Catch You Cryin', I just love the string arrangement on this one - so gorgeous. I feel similarly about the closer, 'Come Rain or Come Shine'; this one has a more ominous tone to it, with this chilling backing choir that offers a much-needed countermelody to the more uplifting strings. These two songs are actually super sonically dense; I just wish more of the album sounded like them. They felt ever-changing and layered, without ever overpowering Charles' voice.

Good stuff, I will admit a bunch of the album went right through me; again, it's just the samey nature of the songwriting and instrumentation that doesn't do all that much for me. But again, I'll never be one to deny Ray Charles as a vocalist.

I had forgotten that Happy Mondays had already appeared on this list once; that's how forgettable that other record was. This one was a bit better, but it still lacks any distinct sound. The songs are too long, and they stretch out ideas and melodies for far longer than needed - especially the pretty tasteless and gross 'Bob's Yer Uncle' on here. Credit where credit is due, the riff on 'God's Cop' was mean, and the song in general had this really punchy and infectious groove, and doesn't feel so floppy or lifeless as everything else here - it does that same new-wavey dance thing but in a far more engaging way. 'Loose Fit' was also pretty memorable; the sort of reverby, The Cure-esque gothic guitar lead was the highlight here, but the overall song was well constructed.

I just can't help but feel like Blue Monday's sound on this record was already growing outdated by 1990. Again, not as outright boring as 'Bummed', but it still felt

I do appreciate the multiple Pere Ubu entries on this list; I really did enjoy the 'The Modern Dance' entry early on. And this record manages to feel even more drunken and disorienting than that one. Dave Thomas is a more "ruthless" vocalist here, squealing his way through these songs. But just like 'The Modern Dance', the best thing is just how grounded the album fundamentals are - yes, this feels like the worst fever dream you could imagine, but at its core, the drumming and bass are holding this thing down like nothing else. It gives the whole thing this dance punk feel that I really enjoyed.

There were some really tight grooves here, like with 'I, Will Wait' or 'Pa Ubu Dance Part' Ultimately, though, it's still a very difficult record to grasp; there are no anchors here like 'Non-Alignment Pact' of their previous record; every song is equally as discordant, with Beefheart-esque guitar leads, weird call-and-response choruses that fade into seemingly nothing, some pretty out-there electronics - be they quirky synth arpeggios like 'On The Surface' or the weird industrial pulsating of a song like 'Blow Daddy-O' or 'Trhiller!'. And of course those wailing sax-esque sounds trying their best to match Dave's cadence and tone. It's a tense record; you're never fully at ease listening to it, even on the more deceptively "poppy" song.

It's a bizarre record, and one I haven't fully grasped yet upon initial listen. But I appreciate it for sure, just such an experimentally dense record that feels like a dance-punk album being shredded to bits and broken down to its ugly fundamentals, before being haphazardly re-constructed.

Fun, jammy, groovy, but sort of directionless ultimately, even for a live album. I do wish the songs here were more developed because the playing itself is really solid, but as it stands, it sounds like the coasting parts of all my favourite prog songs, without the explosive bits. Moreso just a compilation of neat ideas. I do like how cutesy the organ melodies are all over this thing - they border on circus-y, but still pretty earwormy.

Still, highlights were the insanely funky organ-driven 'Blue Variation', whenever they brought in that 'Promenade' melody, and the undeniable album climax with 'The Great Gates of Kiev'.

Another undeniable classic by The Stooges, though notably far tamer when compared to their follow-up 'Fun House' and closer to a lot of the blues-rock and garage-adjacent sounds of its time. But regardless, it's still an incredibly predictive proto-punk record, just like its follow-up. Squealing, distortion-drenched guitar solos, very driving but primal-sounding drum rhythms, bizarre tangential experiments - it's all here. Honestly, I think the only thing lacking is Iggy Pop in the vocal department; he's not as animated here, or if he is, it sounds like he's holding way-the-hell back. Not bad or anything; he just gets much better later on.

'I Wanna Be Your Dog' is the clear album highlight, just such an incredible guitar riff that sounds more akin to early '80s post-punk and gothic, like Bauhaus, more than anything "punk rock" like Ramones or Sex Pistols. '1969' has this sort of psych turn early on which was pretty infectious, just wah-pedals driving this tight groove. 'No Fun' and 'Little Doll' are incredible as well. I will say the 9-minute 'We Will Fall', for as neat as it is, is sort of a momentum-killer in the tracklist here. Ambitious, sure, and I do like when that violin comes in deeper into the track, but the trailblazing nature of this record is sort of segmented by this meandering centrepiece.

And obviously the biggest punk predictor here is how rough-around-the-edges the recording is; the mixing is certainly questionable. But that's part of the fun: a super filthy debut by one of America's rawest bands to date. Great stuff.

This guy again. As much as I love The Queen Is Dead and The Smiths, I'm sure as hell getting tired of hearing this wordy fuck on this list. I mean, It's pretty, and the production is that squeaky-clean '80s jangly stuff, but Morrissey is one of those people who has too much to say. I absolutely hate it when I generate the new album and see his dumb, smug face on the cover. I hate it even more when I'm done listening and find I genuinely enjoyed a decent bit of it.

I will say it's not super fun on this record; I guess 'Margaret on the Guillotine' is pretty funny and 'Bengali in Platforms' just shouldn't exist, but on the lyrics end, it's pretty tame for Mozz standards, especially when compared to his '2000s stuff. Like it or not, at least it made it interesting to listen to: the stupid pettiness and very bold, tangential, and hyper-specific political ramblings. On the other hand, it does make it more listenable, but I do wish Morrissey would just take a break between words here - again, he's one verbose singer.

But the highlights remain. I liked that serene outro of the closer, one of my favourite tracks as I mentioned above. And despite the really muddy production, the composition of 'Everyday Like a Sunday' was gorgeous, and also the best showcase of Mozz's songwriting; no surprise it's one of his biggest songs. 'Suedehead' was also really good; his early solo stuff in general is very derivative of The Smiths, but this sounds like a Smiths deep cut more than anything; the guitar even has a driving, rhythmic, and ever-evolving Marr-style to it.

Oh, how I wish I could hate this thing and one-star it down there with Kid Rock and Limp Bizkit. But, as it stands, it's pretty decent. God, I hate Morrissey!!!!!

It's a bit much for me, and I've certainly heard more easily digestible death metal and hardcore records out there. But this feels like the most difficult-to-follow record you could've possibly picked - with squelchy, belching, incomprehensible vocals, wind-up monkey machine-gun drum fills, and just an overall very samey and repetitive structure, with songs that fuse into one another seamlessly.

And I understand that's pretty much entirely the point; the grindcore folks probably eat this up. For my money though, I need something a bit more varied, and something to latch onto. That'll probably come if I end up doing subsequent listens of this thing or if I listen to the rest of Napalm Death's catalogue (maybe they iterate and develop on the ideas on this album?), but for now, can't say this did too much for me. Another one of those difficult-by-nature records that really doesn't lend itself to a single daily listen, which is how I'm judging these, obviously.

An essential grunge group that I've always really needed to check out, but never got around to. Admittedly, grunge is never my '90s genre of choice, and I can't easily get behind the sound, but both the astounding critical reception and popularity of this band have kept it within striking distance at all times. I will say I didn't fully understand all the praise it gets on first listen. It's painfully consistent and sort of repetitive at its worst moments. But I feel, just like Pearl Jam, this is a record that needs repeated listens for the brilliance of the riffs, vocals, and lyrics to make themselves apparent.

For now, I'll say I did enjoy it. It's certainly heavy, drawing as much from thrash metal as it does from traditional grunge. I mean, you get some pretty gnarly solos, my absolute favourite being the one on the title track. They offer a nice retreat from the very heavy, slow, and sludgey guitars here. And this does feel like a trudge through the depths of a very troubled mind, the lyrics speaking pretty heavily of drugs, death, depression, and betrayal...not the funnest stuff. It's a record I found I got lost in pretty early on; things just started blending in with one another. I felt like I was in this desolate hellscape album cover - again, a vibe I can usually get behind.

Still, this thing was exhausting; there's just so much of one singular sound, and the vocal range is super limited as well. It does make the occasional switch-ups hit so much harder, though. I mentioned those great solos, but I also liked when they bring out the wah pedals on the funkier moments of 'Rain When I Die' or 'Sickman'. I loved the cavernous reverb and chorus on the bass of 'Angry Chair'; it makes the song feel so much larger than anything else here. It's a highlight in the tracklisting here; it even has a pretty memorable chorus. The warmer moments here also stuck with me, like with 'Down In A Hole' or the closer 'Would?'; I love the harmonies, vocals, and liberal use of effects on the guitars on these tracks. And I will 100% admit they wouldn't hit nearly as hard if the rest of the record didn't sound so dry, raw, dirty.

As soon as this started, I knew for a fact that it would take some work for me to enjoy it. That's just the nature of my relationship with this type of music. It was good, and in certain listening contexts, I see myself eating this up. I just haven't fully found my vibe with this thing, but I'll come around to it. But overall, the experience was positive.

I mean, very few acts out there can pull off a triple LP, and I'm not entirely sure whether The Magnetic Fields is one of them yet. I'd be lying if I said that this thing lacked its share of good songs; in fact, looking back at how many songs I liked, they could easily add up to over an hour. But that's still a third of this record...so where does that leave me?

The fact that the songs on this album jump between different vocalists, styles, genres, mixing styles, and fidelities was maybe this thing's saving grace. Except maybe the end of the first disc; it never really got stale, and as the album went on, I grew more enamoured by what I was hearing, like an old rundown jukebox that's been playing for decades hitting its final legs. The song 'Yeah! Oh, Yeah!' really snapped my attention back; it's such a neat and fuzzy-sounding track, like a vague memory of a more complete version of the song. I think it was actually the third disc where everything really clicked for me, but the first half of disc one was also pretty much back-to-back bangers, albeit more straightforward ones. The run from 'I Don't Believe in the Sun' to 'Let's Pretend We're Bunny Rabbits' was entirely composed of great standalone cuts.

And I guess this album's influence should be stated too. Yeah, you get some pretty streamlined country-rock and indie-folk songs pretty early on in the first disc, but the lo-fi moments, be they the very opening track 'Absolutely Cuckoo' or a bunch of the stuff on the second disc, feel very predictive of '2000s indie and '2010s bedroom pop. And I can't ignore the datadump style of this album - there was definitely thought put into the sequencing, but its semi-messy nature is still endearing and predictive in its own right.

Just like the Ella Fitzgerald and Gerwing album from this list, I can't bring myself to rate this poorly given how impressive it is in scale. It's such a massive and dense record, and yeah, I did ultimately zone out here and there, but this is yet another album on this list that just can't be judged based on a day's worth of listening. There is a gold mine here, I'm sure of it.

So yeah, to answer my earlier question, I think 'The Magnetic Fields' did a pretty good job at this triple LP thing.

After all this time, I still struggle to sonically grasp R.E.M.'s importance and role in alternative music. Yes, I can understand what's been documented, and that they're pretty much the most '90s-sounding '80s band out there. But, really, the early '90s was already ushering in grunge as the newest cool thing, so R.E.M.'s cleaner, jangly, and lighthearted sound's influence would already start waning by then. I understand their massive influence probably runs deeper than that, but the trail there I've always found super difficult to follow (again, strictly musically speaking).

But with all that said, this was easily my favourite R.E.M. album up to this point. Maybe it's because I've been hammering these songs into my head for the past few days as I've been driving around for hours on a road trip, but so many of the tunes here just stuck with me, moreso than any other R.E.M. album on this list thus far. 'Welcome to the Occupation' especially is just so great on so many levels. I've never been one to question Stipe's ability to deliver a politically driven message in the most interesting ways, but he really brings it to another level here. And I love the way his vocal melody sort of hovers around being catchy; it took me many listens of this song to get it stuck in my head, but once it was there, I couldn't get it out. That verse guitar arpeggio has etched itself in my brain. Probably my favourite song by them so far.

'Disturbance at the Heron House' and 'The One I Love' were two other undeniable highlights here, just unique tracks that showcase Stipe's vocal ability more than anything else, especially on the latter - a simple but marvellously executed love song. And 'It's The End of the World' is such an all-timer tune that I knew from fucking Chicken Little of all things. I love the subtle harmonies on this one especially; the whole thing seems to parody itself in the catchiest way possible. It's no wonder it's a hit for them.

I think I finally "get" R.E.M. after this record. Yes, they don't really have a unique sound; it feels like they're a fusion of many other bands I've heard, most of which were probably influenced by them. But goddamn, if they can't write some amazing, politically charged, catchy rock tunes, this album was the best showcase of that. So with that, I think I've concluded that R.E.M.'s definitive sound is "Good Music".

I remember really disliking this particular Black Flag album when I first heard it way back; I thought the absurdity and overly angsty frat-bro delivery were completely antithetical to the cooler, rebellious image of hardcore in the early '80s (whether that's true or not is really up to the listener). I also found it to be a huge downgrade from their debut EP 'Nervous Breakdown,' which has one of the greatest hardcore songs out there.

Buuuuuut I've sort of come around to it, especially after this listen. I've come to enjoy Henry Rollins' sort of restrained, yet still very in-your-face delivery and lyrics of songs like 'What I See' or 'Police Story'. And at its absolute worst, you get the self-loathing of a song like 'Depression ', which I maybe don't hate as much as I should; it comes off vulnerable more than anything. Songs like 'Six Pack' and especially 'TV Party' have always been absolute killers; hardcore songs that emphasized grooves and catchy melodies weren't exactly that common around this time.

I mean if you want angry, manly, beat-shit-up hardcore, given that's your image of it, there is no record out there quite like this one. Not particularly as fast or noisy as you might expect out of hardcore, especially when compared to Minor Threat or Bad Brains, but still very much in that lane. Still not my favourite of theirs, and I think their future, more sludge-metal-adjacent stuff is far more compelling and mature, but I did enjoy this a fair bit and the bangers still stand the test of time.

An obvious classic, and probably the best shoegaze album out there. It's funny because the genre started and, in my opinion, sort of hit its artistic peak and exhausted its potential with this one album. Admittedly, the "raw" shoegaze genre has never been my favourite; it's a sort of one-trick pony that gets old really quick, especially as artists within that genre began focusing less on songwriting, and more on effects pedals. Shoegaze elements on other non-shoegaze albums, though, I'll always get behind, and for that I'll always have "Loveless" to thank.

This album is pretty dope and has been praised to no end for good reason. It really feels like you're in this very claustrophobic and warm room being blasted by a 1000 guitar amps, with guitars that are being run through the most egregious feedback, reverb, and delay pedals you can find. It's suffocating in that sense, but the inherent beauty of the riffs and tones here is what differentiates this album from your average noise record. It's a record where you get lost in the blend of all its wailing, trebly, sparkly tones, and despite MBV really creating this genre, they're also the band that mastered it.

Now I've never been one to dislike an album because of what it inspired, like hating Eminem for the shitty white lyrical-miracle rappers that came after him, but so many far less interesting bands tried to be MBV after this, and it never worked for me. I'd say the biggest reason is MBV doesn't prioritize typical songwriting, say for maybe songs like the insanely catchy and iconic 'When You Sleep' or the gorgeous 'Sometimes' with its low droning guitar feedback layered over what sounds like some very tasteful, but drowned out, acoustic strumming (maybe the most proto-Deathconsciousness song here, in the best way). Everything else here feels closer to ambient; it's sort of omnidirectional, and the song's structures aren't exactly conventional, with most other instruments, including the vocals, being drowned out by the guitars here. But MBV can get away with it for the most part because of how talented they are; like, re-listening to this, I was taken aback by just how beautiful it's capable of being, in the most unconventional ways. But EVEN HERE, the focus on dense guitar layers doesn't always work; as a result, I think the vocals are the weakest part of this album. They have their moment, like with the delicateness of 'Sometimes', but with a song like the opening 'Only Shallow' or 'What You Want', they might as well not be there. I honestly like 'To Here Knows When' because at least they go all the way with suffocating the vocals, rather than having them just hover there needlessly. It's another great track that could've inspired every cloud rap beat under the sun with its nostalgic synth-loop and pitch-drifting guitar tones that sound like tuning your radio to the most run-down and decrepit '80s music broadcasting station. It's these songs that are my favourites on this album, just absolute dream-like incoherence that really leaves you in awe.

So I do ultimately have some mixed feelings about the vocals and general direction of this record, but it really is the peak of Shoegaze, and such a singular album. It's rare you find a genre that's really defined by one single album. But also, that can just be my ignorance...who knows.