Reviews by ultraclear

Brutally dull slow rock. I also give it 80% odds that M.G. wrote this one's wiki entry himself

It’s alright music to cook to, but that’s about all I got out of it. Kind of tepid

Pretty straightforward anglo metal, got a bit TOOL-adjacent at parts

That's sure some late 90s hard rock. Elevated a little bit by successfully doing the "sounds like it's being played in a city under the ocean" thing that Oasis sometimes manages

This one really shows off one of their biggest strengths as a band: being huge music theory nerds. It's something that shows up in most of their music, but this album goes all-in on the polyrhythm theme, making it probably one of the better entry points to pitch someone on them. I think it's the most intellectual out of their albums in that way—feels way more composed and way less jammy than their usual speed

So of course I saw that artist name and immediately thought I'd be getting the ELP-inspired synths. Instead, it's like elevated string quartet-style stuff. Not bad.

Most 90s rock is a chore for me, so I was really impressed with this one. Casting a really wide net of influence, really reminds me of that Fishbone album from the main list

Nighttime city driving music, but, like, trying very hard to deliver some quality nighttime city driving music. Another one of those where they have a very distinctive, well-known song ("Blinding Lights"), while the rest of it's more for occupying the background. The album's track sequencing does a really good job making that song a proper climax of the thing, though. More craft than just jamming it at the beginning like every other pop album does.

Yo La Tengo's always been kind of interesting to me. I've never developed even a little bit of enthusiasm for them, but when I actually put them on, they're pretty solid. Got nothing bad to say about them.

Between the lists, Pink Floyd's had more than their fair share of exposure, and this doesn't cover much ground that's not in the other ones. That said, I mean a two-hour live album from them's actually a pretty good time, so, y'know, twist my arm etc

More like Slowsand

Very relaxed and pleasant piano arrangements. The Sufjan influence shows, and is welcome here. Good rainy morning music

They sound kind of like an R.E.M. that's been polished up a bit. Makes them a little less interesting than R.E.M., but still pretty good

Hour-long blues digression

Video game-inspired music that's agnostic to whether its audience has ever touched a video game

Completing the trio. I think I liked this one a little less than both Dummy and Third, but the three as a body of work are all-timers

Music for punching yourself in the head a lot out of self-hatred. This kind of thing doesn't really speak to me all that much, and I'd probably reach for something like Nine Inch Nails or Modest Mouse before this if I find myself in a depressive spiral. Doesn't really have any weirdo moves like "Freak on a Leash" from the other album, either.

Pretty dang good for being that late into their career, but also doesn't bring much to the table that the original list didn't already showcase

As an album experience this follows the same pattern as every other pop lady from 1995 onward, where it opens with all the songs that were such big radio hits I got completely sick of hearing them, and then the back half that didn't make the radio was never even a little bit worth your time.

As far as the singles go, I hated how inescapable the radio hits off of it were back when this came out, but then after getting a year's break from people playing them at me, I kind of came around on them. Poker face actually is pretty fun.

Most American heavy metal is kind of a chore for me, and this one's no exception.