Reviews by ultraclear

Real 2007-era Cracked dot com ass band name & sense of humor. The folk-"punk" works pretty well, though—it was very frantic and hyperactive, which made it more interesting than most indie folk of the time.

"Rote Riki" irritated me a bit (sounded really wet, somehow? bad headphones listen either way) but beyond that one, this is some nice krautrock

Well, I guess not every French album on here was going to be a winner.

Something might be getting lost in translation, or from some other lack of cultural context, but on first listen, this just strikes me as a lot of crappy club music.

I always feel a little guilty when I dislike an album, and then all the context on it is "oh it's really heartfelt & meaningful to the artist." Didn't care for it, though! This particular era of folky indie grates on me

Starts you off on the chill beats to study & relax to, but then as the thing goes on it starts weaving in weirder samples & more intricate structures. Very fun capital-A Album experience

Unquestionable top of the heap when it comes to the nu-metal era, they're the only one of those acts that I actually enjoy listening to. In addition to demonstrating an actual sense of humor, I think the music itself is way more interesting than what their peers do. There's an actual range on display, instead of them hitting the same chords for the entire runtime.

Man, it's been a minute since I put on Modest Mouse. Things have been going pretty good in my life the last couple years, and I haven't felt the pull as much. Which I'm only half-joking about, a fresh listen to this is really helping make some connections, a big one being that I understand better why other disaffected white guy genres (emo, nu-metal) don't work for me. It's like I've already sworn a Wallowing Oath, and my loyalty's spoken for.

It also helps that there's lots of different things firing off during the runtime—this one's long even by CD standards, but feels like it goes by pretty quick, because there's a lot of variety within the sprawl, and they're generous with giving central grooves to zone out to.

Above-average piano-based country music. Really demands to be played in a car, imo

Not surprised when reading up on it that someone from The Black Keys was involved in producing this.

This slots very cleanly into that wave of folk rock revival that was going on during the 2010s, made more interesting by ditching the rock angle and just going for straight singer-songwriter instead. I liked it.

Bog fucking standard pop punk

Very cool take on ambient music—sounds like it's being recorded and played in a smoky lounge that's in a deep underground cavern for some reason

More Post-Hardcore. I'm softening on the genre with repeated exposure, but would still never ever listen to it outside of this context

"Avant-Garde Metal" but really it's pretty standard post-rock that sometimes screams at you.

I really fucking hated Enema Of The State when that came up earlier, so I was surprised by how much I didn't mind this one. Wikipedia says they all became dads before making this one? That tracks. I guess all along I just wanted those damn kids to grow up.

Jokes aside, though, I do genuinely appreciate that they're trying out a lot of things on this one, getting a little less one-note.

I'm really loving the varied archive of spanish-language albums that's accumulating here, and this one in particular is kind of the mishmash of all of them. It's long and meandering, but manages to do it in a good, cozy way.

This was great, I loved how hard they committed to the bit here. "The album's story casts Del in the role of Deltron Zero, a disillusioned mech soldier and interplanetary computer prodigy rebelling against a 31st-century New World Order. In a world where evil oligarchs suppress both human rights and hip-hop, Del fights rap battles against a series of foes, becoming Galactic Rhyme Federation Champion. Del's lyrics veer from serious social commentary to humor to epic sci-fi battles, while producer Dan the Automator creates an eerie and dense atmosphere," as wikipedia puts it.

The thing *moves* too! It clocks in at around an hour, and didn't have me looking at my watch at any pont. A+ work, fellas.

Spanish punk rock. Fun, but does have a bit of that 90s/00s "album too long" disease

Geez, the people here really like Bon Iver, huh. This is the third one from them that I've drawn. This one's probably the best one so far, but getting tired of them.

Extremely fun time. Tons more personality than R&B usually brings, casting a wide net of influences

I think the wikipedia entry basically gets it right—you'll get more out of listening to their peers & influences