Reviews by stade

These sweet, menacing bass and guitar lines are like a perfect match to PJ Harvey's singing! Consistently rocked out to this.

Standouts: Oh My Lover • Dress • Victory • Hair

An album that completely overloads your brain in the best way possible. It's hard to hook onto a specific instrument, the lyrics are incomprehensible, hell even distinguishing between songs is difficult as it all sludges together. But it rocks out relentlessly. Good sludge!

Standouts: Kracked • Sludgefeast • In a Jar

First attempt put me to sleep. Second attempt caused me physical pain.

It's not like I went into it looking to hate! I found the opening "skit" to be a genuinely charming way to lead into the album, and the first two songs were breezy and earnest, even if I'm not exactly an enjoyer of the "singer-songwriter with acoustic guitar" genre.

Then Amy was particularly awful, and his whispery singing on it struck a nerve I didn't even know I had. Flashes of Hey There Delilah, maybe.

Everything that followed was some alt-country sludge I simply couldn't care for. He's seemingly trying to sound like a sad and vulnerable indie boy, but it's Ryan fucking Adams so it's impossible to take seriously, especially with "Sweet lil' Gal" looming over the tracklist. I found myself skipping a lot by the end.

If this record did anything, it was making me respect the likes of Nick Drake and Bob Dylan a WHOLE lot more.

Standout: (Argument with David Rawlings Concerning Morrisey)

YES!!! Few things in life are as breezy and joyful as some Brazilian Funk!! Fun album from front to back, and special mention to the cuica player who was using it in ways I've never heard before! Love it!

Standouts: Ponta De Lança Africano • O Filósofo • O Plebeu • Taj Mahal • Cavaleiro Do Cavalo Imaculado • Camida 10 Da Gavea

What an intriguing album! There's only a few parts throughout that I actively liked, but it did have me hooked the whole way through. This is 100% some shit I've never heard before (other than that Human sample on Kanye's Freestyle 4, which fried my brain upon listening (complimentary)). One to revisit.

Standouts: Human • Felt Mountain • Utopia

It sounds like they picked up a bit of inspiration from Linkin Park in the 9 years since their first album. It's cool to branch out into other styles, but their attempts at melodic singing here are a total mismatch with the edgy, Facebook Joker-like image and attitude they present. I'm afraid Slipknot is just too impossible to take seriously for any regular listening, even if they're admittedly pretty damn good on the instrumental side.

Standout: Wherein Lies Continue

Nothing too mindblowing, but it's a solid rap album! The production is consistently great, and Ghostface Killah's flow is especially smooth on top of the more soulful beats.

Also, the skits on this are fun! Bring back actual rap skits!!!

Weirdly enough, the one track that I thought aged the worst (sonically, at least) is the final one with B.I.G.. The rhymes are clean, but the instrumental sounds like some free "grimy type beat" you'd find on YouTube.

Standouts: The Champ • R.A.G.U. • Back Like That • Be Easy • Big Girl • Momma

Wasn't impressed at first, seeming like a run-of-the-mill post-punk album, but that all changed real quick. From Friction onwards it's nothing but gas, with the title track in particular being a journey on its own!! Real close to a 4 on this one.

Standouts: Friction • Marquee Moon • Guiding Light • Prove It • Torn Curtain

You know, the first instrumental track actually caught my attention right away. It had me thinking this was going to be an interesting spin on 80s synthpop.

In a way, I guess that's exactly what it is.... but the captivating instrumentals quickly take a backseat to some bad Bowie-wannabe singing?? Turn down the vocal mixing a bit!! I'm trying to enjoy the synth line on Gloomy Sunday!! I'm trying to enjoy the Cure's bassist's part!!! (wish granted on Club Country)

There are definitely elements I enjoy here; none of them are exactly unique to the album. I don't think I need to revisit.

Standouts: Arrogance Gave Him Up • Club Country

Started off liking this a lot more than You've Come A Long Way! The first four songs are disgustingly good, but unfortunately the rest of the album fails to live up to them. This is a genre that lends itself to individual track listening though, so you best believe I'll be bumping some Santa Cruz in the future.

👹 The Weekend, Starts Here. 👹

Standouts: Song For Lindy • Santa Cruz • Going Out of My Head • The Weekend Starts Here

Interminable album. 3/10, rounded up because it doesn't quite belong with the 1-stars. It was just so painfully hard to care about any of these songs, even if none of them were truly bad.

Standouts: No Reservations • You Can Live at Home

Relentless album. I didn't fuuuully mesh with the music outside of a few songs, but it's very listenable nonetheless.

As a side note, a brief dig into their early discog is a hell of a shock. These guys were doing straight synthpop on their debut album; not a trace of what they would end up doing here.

Standouts: Hero • Scare Crow • Corrosion

Decent album! The psychedelic and funk contributions give it a bit of an interesting edge, but I can't say it left much of an impression on me overall.

Standouts: Country Song • Mad Cyril • Lazyitis

Mesmerizing. In a very backwards sort of way, I’m a sucker for good instrumental loops, and this feels like an acoustic version of that. I love the way Ali Farka Touré lets his guitar licks ride for minutes at a time. You can pretty much picture him sitting exactly as he is on the cover art, entrancing you with guitar licks. Then in the last seconds of the album, right after he plays the final chords of N'jarou, the recording subtly picks up his chair creaking as he gets up from his seat. It's silly, but that tiny detail really struck me with the knowledge that this was the man's last project before his passing.

Just a beautiful project overall!

Standouts: Beto • Savane • Soya • Banga • N'jarou

This album gave me a bit of trouble and I'm not even sure why! On paper it's supposed to be right up my alley. I hear elements of other electronic music I adore, such as some Homework-type harsh beats and even some trippy hoppy rhythms. Despite all of that, I found this listen pretty tedious by the end of it. Not big on the big beat unfortunately!

Standout: One Too Many Mornings

would go hard on the weather channel

Standouts: Wildlife Analysis • An Eagle In Your Mind • Telephastic Workshop • Roygbiv • Rue The Whirl • Aquarius • Pete Standing Alone • Happy Cycling

This woman has an immense amount of swag. The cover of Al Green's Let's Stay Together with Heaven 17 production really shouldn't work as well as it does!!

It's not quite an album I'd return to, but damn if she didn't have me jamming along the ride.

Standouts: I Might Have Been Queen • Show Some Respect • Private Dancer • Let's Stay Together

I'm not too opposed to the length on this one, they do a great job at keeping it fresh and varied in sound. Great pacing, too, as even if it's impossible to tell what they're singing, it does feel like there's a complete narrative within the whole thing. I enjoyed the ballads a lot more than I did the heavier songs though, in fact the latter started grating on me quite a bit by the end. Still a lot to like!

Standouts: Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness • Here Is No Why • To Forgive • An Ode To No One • Galapogos • Porcelina Of The Vast Oceans • 1979 • We Only Come Out At Night • Lily (My One And Only) • Farewell And Goodnight

He definitely has an unique singing voice, for those who are into that. Honestly this didn't do anything for me. Supremely indifferent.

An enjoyable Smiths album?! While Morrissey is getting massively carried by his bandmates as usual, his presence here is more balanced and harmonious than I'm used to. Andy Rourke is phenomenal as always, and I love that he gets to really show off in the penultimate track.

Standouts: What She Said • The Joke Isn't Funny Anymore • Well I Wonder • Barbarism Begins at Home • Meat Is Murder