Rated 4/10
Generic 2010's pop with a thin veneer of 80s sythpop revival. A few good tracks pulls this up, but found it to be mostly basic and uninteresting. 2/5
Our cat of 10 years passed away today, here's to you MaoMao ♥️
Rated 4/10
This album hasn't aged particularly well. Most of the songs are forgettable and the singers voice is as thin and weak as a sheet of tissue paper. Really the star of the show is Zeke Manyika who provides super unique vocals and drum work that elevates this a tad, but not enough to stand the test of time as essential. 2.4/5 -> 2/5
Rated 6/10
On first listen I was a little underwhelmed, but on second listen I liked it a bit more. Not an all-timer for me but pretty good. 3.4/5 -> 3/5
Rated 6/10
Unfortunately, I found this album much less interesting than the Holy Bible. Some songs approached a 4 (Elvis Impersonator: Blackpool Pier, Design for Life, Everything Must Go) but most others were annoyingly basic and repetitive or just "meh". Not their best work. 2.7/5 -> 3/5
Rated 8/10
I was initially hesitant because this on the surface seemed like the B-sides to Folklore, but it was actually a pretty solid piece of well-composed singer-songwriter music. In the first 1/3, I was even wondering if it'd be a 5 due to some interesting and experimental (for a pop artist) flows, lyrics and time signatures. Unfortunately the album waaaaaaaaay overstayed its welcome, and would have been much better trimmed to 40 minutes. But as it stands I'm pretty impressed and it made me want to check out more of her catalog. 3.7/5 -> 4/5
Rated 4/10
This one perplexed me.
An excruciatingly horny album in many ways, but Alex's over the top theatrical singing actually elevated songs like Gang Bang a bit. Kinda felt like I was listening to an unused alternate soundtrack to The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Many other songs were just ok. "Giddy Up A Ding Dong" can giddyup a go fuck off.
2.6/5 - .2 out of principle and because this album is unessential= 2.4/5 -> 2/5
Rated 6/10
Pretty good, though possibly slightly overrated due to the hits early on in the album? Fine all around. 3/5
Rated 8/10
Super sensual and chill to listen to. Liked it when it came out years ago and even like it a bit more now. 3.5/5 -> 4/5
Rated 6/10
I had heard about this release for years and was pretty excited to listen. Unfortunately it mostly sounds like a Death Row Records promo which interpellates older classic samples 1:1. Some good songs and some bad moments (I never like it when I need to listen to the artist having fake sex, it's just weird). But all together a fine listen. 3/5
Rated 8/10
I typically rate live albums quite low, but this was super interesting. The guitars were quite heavy, and even occasionally reminded me of modern doom metal, like a bit of Domesmoker, Sleep or Boris. With that in mind I felt the instrumentals were quite impressive. The singing was ok, and the spoken word (while cheesy) did make me think about the infinite universe. Pretty cool album. 4/5
Rated 8/10
Thought this was a pretty interesting punk release, and enjoyed it quite a bit. 4/5
Rated 4/10
KEXP happened to play Here Comes the Summer today and I thought "meh this is pretty basic punk." Well here we are. Inoffensive over all but not particularly enjoyable as well. 2.4/5 -> 2/5
Rated 2/10
It's rare that I listen to an album two times, just to immediately forget what the whole album sounded like. It will certainly disappear into the sands of time, and is an absolutely unessential listen during one's lifetime. 1/5
Rated 6/10
I've been pretty tough on live albums this far, but the original version of this live album had enough good moments and an interesting close that made it a fairly good listen. 3/5
Rated 6/10
I wasn't expecting this to be great, but it was actually fairly pleasant and I mostly enjoyed it. Is it pretty basic in the full schema of brit punk music? Sure. But ok more or less. 3/5
Rated 4/10
On this list I've heard every piece of music Neil Young has written and collaborated on. I've seen the Beatles move from a poppy boy band to a psychedelic group of old guys who then went their own ways to do weird solo stuff (much of which I've now listened to). I've also been force-fed numerous shitty pop rock albums by individual bands all across the UK and USA (fuck the 3 kings of leon albums on this list).
You're telling me that the *one* daft punk album I need to hear before I die is *Homework*!? Sure that's where they start, but as with all those other artists there is no celebration of their growth until they are properly represented on the user list.
Homework is not that interesting, and while there are some good songs and ideas, many other tracks just sound uninspired. Give me discovery, RAM or even Alive and we might be talking 4s/5s, but this isn't it. 2.4/5 -> 2/5
Rated 2/10
Listening to "Tellin' Stories" was like listening to a coat of Eggshell paint dry for 46 minutes while quietly and badly humming songs by Oasis and The Stone Roses from memory. The end result is boring and derivative, and not worth listening to. 1/5
Rated 6/10
This album has quite a few strong "4" songs, but even more 3s. I do appreciate the simplicity of the drumming, very unique. But overall, not earth shattering by today's standards. 3.3/5 -> 3/5
Rated 4/10
I get why this is on here I guess, but it's easy to get Byrd fatigue on this list. Some pleasant enough jingles but mostly uninteresting background noise at this point. 2.3/5 -> 2/5
Rated 2/10
Not everything the Beatles family shits out is gold
Anyone can see that this is mostly a record comprised of demos. But what makes it worse are the bad lyrics (eg "talks like a baby, goo goo/loves like a woman") and the repetition when he is singing. One ok boomer rock song ("maybe I'm amazed") does not mean this is a good album. It's quite bad. 1/5
