Reviews by suspiciousnumber

Just and overall relaxing and pleasant album that didn't feel dull while I was listening to. The vocal harmonies do a lot to pull this all together

4/5

This album was fine, but really not my thing

3/5

This is another one of those albums that is totally fine, and I can see why someone would like it, but it doesn't work for me. I really have no connection to modern country since so much of modern pop country is essentially AI Slop: The Album. This album isn't that, and I think I would tolerate modern country better if more of it was like this. Alas, we are where we are, and I didn't connect to this album all that well

3/5

Fuck it. I have tried to listen to this album so many times without reviewing it, and I lose interest in it almost immediately every time. I don't think it's horrible or anything, but this album is not for me to the extent that I think I might be developing an allergy to it

2/5

I own this album. I keep listening to it with the intention of rating it, but instead I just listen to it and go about my day. It's fall here now, and this is the perfect fall album. It's sweater weather distilled into a plaintiff voice singing songs of love to someone who seems so far away now

5/5

This album was fun overall. Folk rock has never really been my thing, and this is definitely folk rock, but they put their own spin on it and make it enjoyable to listen to

4/5

The beginning of punk often gets ascribed to a pair of movements in New York and London that created rival forms of the same genre. It's funny, then, to think about how much the American Midwest contributed to early punk. This is one of the earliest punk albums recorded, and it has a very different flavor than the NY or British punk scenes. It feels like much more of a bridge between early punk and the more mainstream rock bands like Boston. The sound is great, which is always a plus for early punk albums. Glad this one was on the list

4/5

I've really never listened to Swans before, but color me intrigued after this one. I'm generally a fan of experimental rock, and this hit the sweet spot for me. Reminds me of Godspeed You Black Emperor in places, but they definitely have their own thing going. I'm going to have to check out their other stuff and see how far the magic spreads

4/5

On the one hand, I'm glad that someone submitted this album, since I loved seeing jam bands when I was younger, but don't really have much knowledge of the modern scene. It's cool to see how the genre remains both very similar to its roots while changing over the years

On the other hand, what jam bands do often doesn't translate well to an album format, and we definitely run into some of that here. I think it's all very pleasant to listen to, but it's the type of thing that is just far more engrossing in person than it is on a record. I enjoyed it fine, but jam music tends to get very samey very fast when you aren't there in person to respond to the energy of the crowd

3/5

I fucking love chaotic, noisy stuff like this. I don't even know how or why, but this level of barely restrained musical insanity really speaks to me

4/5

I've listened to this album before, but for some reason, every time I put on a Yo La Tengo album, I expect it to be something way different than it is. It's like I forget what this band sounds like every time I stop listening to them. Overall, I like the album. The songs are fun, and there's a lot of variation in the music. It's clearly not an album that sticks in my head very much, but I enjoy listening to it for the first time, each time

4/5

I had a pretty strong negative reaction to Arctic Monkeys the first time I got them on this list, and my reaction to this album is similar, if a bit more muted. I think that liking this band must depend to some level on liking the lyrics. I don't find them meaningful, but I think I would enjoy this a lot more if I did. As it is, this album feels self-indulgent to me, and I didn't get very far through it before abandoning the effort. I don't think this album is bad like I did with the previous album, but this was clearly not for me

3/5

I liked this more than I thought I would. I was always really ambivalent about TMBG going back to the 90s, but this is a fun album, and none of my annoying high school friends were forcing me to listen to it, which helped. I don't know that I find this particularly significant as an album, but it certainly gave me a bit more of an appreciation for this band and the incredibly longevity of their musical career

4/5

I had to listen to this one a few times before I could articulate my thoughts on it. I don't enjoy every song on this album, but I enjoy the album as a whole. The diversity in the musical styles they use is really cool, even it if makes it hard to describe this album in any coherent fashion. One thing I really appreciate about it is how it keeps changing, but it always feels familiar

4/5

This album was cool. It's a nice mixture between modern American-style R&B and African elements based around the artists' Sierra Leonean heritage. Sampha has a beautiful voice, and the music puts in a lot of work to keep the album interesting. It's sublime in lots of moments, but it always feels like it's threatening to become a dance album (in a good way)

4/5

On the one hand, this music is pretty cool, despite the fact that I initially thought it was Orchestral Maneouvers in the Dark, and was disappointed that this was not an early synth pop album. On the other hand, sometimes this dude sounds like autotuned James Taylor, which I don't care for. I think it's a good album overall, but it's also not really my thing, so it's hard to be too effusive in my praise either

3/5

One fun thing about the user-submitted version of this list, is that I consistently get albums that I really don't know what to make of. It's a neat challenge to think about how to describe and analyze something that doesn't easily lend itself to comparison to works I'm more familiar with. This is like an 80s synth-based prog rock album. I'm not much of a prog guy, which somewhat limits my ceiling with this album, but it's very competently made, and I have to give them credit for crafting something that does not resemble a lot of other works. It takes itself too seriously at times, which is kinda always my issue with prog rock, but I'm glad I listened to it. It's a really solid album

4/5

This may be the first Scottish album that I haven't given 4 stars to. This is one of those where it comes down more to a matter of opinion than anything, but this brand of rock largely passed me by, and doesn't really grab me when I hear it now. I think the music sounds good overall, and the production is excellent. The vocals are good to, it's just that none of it is my style

3/5 A tragic day for the great nation of Scotland

You know what, I've listened to this album 3 times now, and I still don't know how to describe it, but I really like it. The Wikipedia page mentions both Pavement and Sonic Youth, and this album feels like a mix of both of those bands, but there's something else here too that I'm struggling to define. It kinda has some of the Midwest emo movement that came long after it. Regardless, really cool distorted guitar instrumentals, with 90s art rock style vocals. It fucks, you should check it out, but you probably are in the process of doing that if you're reading this

4/5

This music was all fine, but it didn't really speak to me. Everything was competently done, but it felt generic to my ears

3/5