Reviews by soundowl

You never have to change your socks

Okay. Wow.

So this record came out 14 years after the last one, which was The Earth Pressed Flat back in 1999. That album was quite dull and underwhelming, but this one makes that album feel like a party.

So I have no idea why this was even made? So sadly, Robert Buck would pass away in the year 2000 of liver disease, and so I can understand the band going on hiatus or even calling it quits after that. Well they came back for another with Mary Ramsey at the front. This time though John Lombardo isn't present, and Jeff Erikson has taken over guitar duties for this album cycle as a result.
Really the only thing making this a Maniacs record is drummer Jermoe Augustyniak, keyboardist Dennis Drew and bassist Steve Gustafson. Their contributions are hardly felt though as this music is as far removed from anything recognizable as a Maniacs album as it can be.

The songs are rather drab, and while there are a few upbeat songs that have that familiar jangle, they fall into the background as bookstore music at best. So much of the material here is boring and uninspired. The band doesn't even sound rejuvenated or excited to be making this music.
It truly begs the question: why?

Anyway, easy skip. Don't even really bother. Unless you wanna hear a 50-something year old woman sing about candy mountains and stuff.

Sit down!

While I wouldn't call this essential listening, there are some incredible deep cuts in this collection of early material from the band. "Planned Obsolescence" has the weirdest guitar lead I've ever heard in a song, making a song that's already bizarre with Natalie's less experienced vocals, even more Intriguing.

"Groove Dub" is actually anything but a dub track, and has weird guitar as well, I believe he's using an organ-pedal effect to get his guitar to sound like that. It's by far one of the biggest surprises on this record for me. You've got the frantic guitar and bass leads on "Daktari", the time-tested "My Mother The War", and of course wonderful "Pit Viper" makes an appearance here too.

But between this stellar highlights are half-baked song ideas and some rather boilerplate jangle pop from the band's fledgling era. "Katrina's Fair" and "National Education Week" are just a couple of the many songs on here that don't catch my attention as much. I suppose if you really wanted to round out your collection of songs from 10kM, this one is fine, but I could take or leave it.

So much better than it's predecessor. The songs are tighter and more focused, but when they do sprawl and let loose it feels appropriate and the build ups are rewarding and feel organic. Nic Offer's vocals are also better in this album, as he also trades lead singing duties with fellow bandmate Pugh. There are still some wrinkles to iron out, a few songs just kinda coasted by with little fanfare, such as the opening track and the penultimate "break in case of anything", and the final track is a head scratcher for me. A post-rock ballad that echoes influences from Yo La Tengo and Sufjan Stevens. It's a fine song on it's own, but abruptly ends the album on a really dark somber note that doesn't really fit the themes and moods set up beforehand. Either way, I enjoyed this one a lot overall. Def my fav from them so far.

Not as good as I was hoping. This album circles around two major tracks, those being: "Pardon my Freedom" and "Me and Giuliani". The first of these two is a rebellious dance punk anthem with snotty lyrics and vocal delivery by the insufferable Nic Offer, and a very groovy and infectious instrumental behind him. The latter of the two is a nine minute long ode to NYC and their archaic "anti night life" law that prohibited clubs from operating after hours in NYC to preserve some kind of morality standard. This song goes hard with various changing passages and so many catchy one liners. It's a swirling chaos of dance punk fever that is absolutely amazing to get lost in.
Having already been familiar with these songs, my expectations were kind of high to start, but sadly the rest of this album is just merely OK with flashes of brilliance. "Hello? This Thing On?" And "Shit Sheisse Meirde pt1" are rather solid showings, each with groovy bass parts and a rather psychedelic motif that is felt all throughout the album. The former track also has Nic undergoing a crisis which is rather comical but ramps up the urgency of the lyrics. "SSM1" Is also really groovy, and loses itself in the psychedelic sauce that it starts cooking up, and by Pt2 it's completely washed out in swirling instrumentals and seemingly ad-libbed vocals. Pt. 2 is pretty much my main reservation with this album summed up pretty nicely:

It's not focused enough.

The songs aren't as snappy or immediately memorable aside from the two biggest singles from this record. The more psychedelic influenced tracks tend to really get lost in their own sound. I found myself zoning out more than actually wanting to get up and dance during these parts. Which is a shame because similarly to their debut, I feel like the parts are all here they are just not assembling them correctly.

So yeah I mean, despite all my complaining, it's not really bad at all, it's got some fantastic moments and it definitely takes lots of risks with experimenting and the punk attitude is there for sure. I just don't think to my ears it came together all that well.

(Decent to Strong 8/10)

While not as catchy or instantly memorable as it's predecessor, it's incredibly anthemic, euphoric, and instrospective. The instrumentals rise and fall like raging oceans, and as the record enters the final leg the lyrics get darker and darker. This album is to be experienced.

(Light 7/10)

A pretty solid album overall, Ghostface is definitely one this era's best rappers especially in the Gangsta Rap scene. Not all the songs hit as good as the high points though. "Whip You With a Strap" is pretty bad as someone who was beat as a kid, I really do not like the sentiment that kids have it "easier" and that it's somehow a "bad thing". Outside of this song, there were just some deeper cuts that weren't as hefty as the heavy hitters here like "Shakey Dog" and "The Champ". I did like " Back Like That" with Ne-Yo, a solid pop rap cut with a catchy beat. "Be Easy" also does this very well too. I think by the time "Momma" comes on I am very ready for the album to be over, but that's not a bad track on it's own. So yeah I mean really, it's not bad. Very solid, could use a little bit of trimming the fat but I fuck with it.

(Light to decent 8/10)

Atmospheric and blissful, these French downtempo savants debut with the yin to Portishead's yang. A sublime exploration of spacey pop and ambient.

(Strong 7/10)

Not bad actually! I wasn't expecting to come away from this enjoying it as much as I did. The first song gets things going a bit slowly but by the time track 2 comes on, you've got sharp songwriting and biting punk riffage and guitar leads winding all throughout this thing. The songs are like a more raw Buzzcocks, which they obviously took inspiration from. I dug this quite a bit! Very easy to put on repeat.

(Light 7/10)

I mean it's nice!
I just don't really go out of my way to listen to this kind of easy listening. I'm guessing I may not be much of a bossa nova fan either. Oh well, it's pleasant while it's on.

(Light 7/10)

"Don't You Want Me" is such a bop, I was led astray into expecting the entire album to match it's lush and neon-tinged vibe. No; rather, this entire record borrows more cues from Kraftwerk than other new wave contemporaries. The synths and drum machines are much colder and more robotic than you would expect, and Philip Oakey's vocals are just as emotionless. Take "Darkness" for example, or even the chilling "Seconds" where Oakey muses over the mortality of man and how fast something as taking a life can happen as contrasted by someone's entire lived experience. Indeed, this record is surprisingly dark in tone outside of a few upbeat cuts on side A. The single of this album doesn't appear until the final track, also adding to the alienating nature of the tune. It just feels so out of place and tacked on that it also just doesn't feel like the same band. I was really hoping to hear more of the female vocalists sing lead like on "Don't you want me", but they were mainly relegated to backup vocals on only a handful of songs. Considering where this group was headed prior to the creation of this album, it's a miracle that Oakey was able to persist in the way he did, but in traditional 80's one hit wonder fashion, the majority of this album doesn't hit as hard as the hit single.

(Light to decent 7/10)

Pretty good jazz record, has a bit of something for everyone, even if that works against it sometimes.

(Decent 6/10)

Y'know, sometimes a good rock album doesn't need to be anything fancy to be enjoyable, and that's what I thought for a good handful of these tunes, but the presence of "Great Expectations" and "Beth" really drags this down for me. Outside of those skips, this album really ain't too bad.

(Light 7/10)

This album is a bit of a mixed bag of different styles of alternative rock and pop, with lots of emphasis on Sinéad's poetry and lyricism of socio-political commentary, as well as lamenting personal events in her life. Sonically, this record is a bit all over the place, which kind of makes for a sort of clunky package. For all the great qualities she has as an artist, I think the overall execution for this album needed some refinement. That is not to discredit what is done really well here. Her voice is commanding and draws you in, she knows how to strike at the emotional depth of her words and accentuates the lyrics in a very potent way. The way in which she is not afraid to write about difficult topics both in the social aspect and in her own life is very admirable, especially considering the time and place historically. Sinéad was an artistic badass for sure. Obviously the cover of Prince's "Nothing Compares 2 U" overshadows a lot of the material here, but in terms of my personal favorite song I rather prefer "I am stretched on your grave" for it's unique blend of trip hop and Irish folk. It also doesn't help that Prince allegedly almost beat her during a visit to his mansion. So his connection to her popularity feels rather tainted as a result. So yeah really to sum up my thoughts, this record is rather good but deserves proper time to sit with it and absorb her lyrics. I just wish it was also more stylistically focused. Oh well!

(Decent 7/10)

Right away, this is markedly better than With The Beatles.

It opens up with the title track, which is a good fast paced rock tune with a catchy chorus and easy to sing along to melody. The guitars are good and fun, and it's just a delightful tune.

Another good song is "Can't buy me love" which is also upbeat and infectious. "And I love her" is a fantastic McCartney ballad, with sweet lyrics and a nice relaxing mood.

All of these songs are originals, which makes this the first Beatles record to be entirely original compositions, because of this all of the songs are noticeably better to me, and just overall more enjoyable.

It's still basic pop-rock and that's really all there is to it, but it's short and fun and I would definitely listen again if the mood strikes me.

(Strong 5/10)

I mean, it's nice. Just very unmemorable dad rock. Not to be too reductive, it just doesn't feel like anything I find worthwhile or exciting, or enriching. It's fine.

(Solid 7/10)

A delightful psychedlic romp, with jangly guitars, energeric vocal performances and a unique spin on the sound by utilizing a Jug in the ensemble. It's quite electrifying, the thin and reverby production might be due to limitations of the technology at the time, but in a way it makes it feel tastefully raw and almost like a live performance. The first half of the album is the strongest for me, but really there's no single bad song in the bunch. I heard this a while back, and really liked it back then, and to my pleasure it still holds up even now for me. A good listen!

(Light 9/10)

Weird, quirky, and off-kilter, Odelay is a sleeper record for me. It's brilliance didn't properly shine till much later for me.

It's the equivalent to being on quaaludes while trying to host a party. That's a good thing tho.

(Light 8/10)

Not as iconic as Folsom, but still a good time. Cash's swagger while on stage and while talking to his audience is downright badass. His performances are incredible also. I wish the main version of this album wasn't as cut down as it is, but it's still a great live recording.

(Strong 7/10)

Gonna have to try listening to this again on a different day, and actually pay attention to the lyrics and such, but as of now.... yeah this is a really solid alt rock album.

(Light 8/10)

I grew up listening to James Taylor's greatest hits comp, so his soft voice and sweet melodies are deeply ingrained into my psyche. This album is just a very nice statement from Soft Rock's champion. The title track and "Country Road" and "Fire and Rain" are incredible singles that still hold up, while deep cuts like "Blossom" and "Oh, Susannah" are very nice as well. The album ends on kind of a strange note with a few songs that feel a little too lighthearted, but overall I cannot complain. It's a nice album.