Reviews by ultraclear

Black Saint was one of the best things to show up on the original list, and this is one of the best things to show up here. Mingus GOATed.

Characteristic indie of the era. Little bit beholden to Aeroplane, kinda post-rock-ish, pretty fun time.

Extremely, extremely channel-surfing style music, but in a way that I can't tell if whether it's helpful or harmful for focusing. I now understand what people are talking about when they call something a "vocal stim."

I had a pretty fun time with this as a one-off, but I dunno that I'm planning to put this into regular rotation any time soon. Little bit too hyper.

The vocals put me off a bit on my first listen, but I’m glad I gave it a second listen and learned the error of my ways, because there’s a lot of creativity spilling out of the compositions. Rounding up the 4.5

I read the description, but still for some reason expected it to fall more on the hippy side than electric ambient. More the fool’s I! I liked it pretty good

Alt rock’s back. Clean fun, but not breaking the mold for me

Wow geez I haven't thought about Lindsey Stirling in a very long time. One of the most delightful side-effects of the 2010s dubstep craze was that a type of music that was previously mostly associated with DJs on uppers suddenly gained traction with steamers, E-Sports producers and other associated computer nerd subcultures, creating a window for absolutely buckwild fusions like this to thrive & proliferate. It's hard to overstate how big this and her previous album were in certain circles (gamer girls) when they came out.

I don't stand by it enough to call what I'm feeling "nostalgia" exactly, but this really takes me back to an extremely specific part of my college years, which I gotta imagine is how people 10-15 years older than me feel about a lot of emo and pop-punk. The production on this one sounds super dated, but it honestly wouldn't surprise me if 8 years from now the wheel keeps turning and there's renewed interest in something like this

Hourlong instrumental break, extremely hypnotic. I absolutely loved this one. Close enough to something like Tubular Bells that I don't mind this being on the list

Girl punk groups are just way more consistent than the average. Nearly all of them that have come up on here have been a great time. I've made my peace with nobody being able to top X-Ray Spex (that saxophone's just too good), but this is the closest I've heard anyone come.

Silky smooth, though a bit homogeneous

There's actually been quite a few Malian albums that have come across this thing, and I don't think I've had a bad time with any of them. My personal favorite remains "Music in Exile" from Songhoy Blues (and I think it's a crime they cut that one from later book editions), but this was a very nice time start to finish.

"2-hour triple album from the Wilco guy" really scared me, especially because Wilco's already a band that I think is really boring. This one kind of worked for me, though? Not sure what made the difference, but while this album was also kind of boring, It was kind of nice to just sit and let it wash over me. Not sure why, I don't often get to that kind of headspace.

Dark and scarey unhinged weirdo folk music. Completely demented, and an extremely fun ride. I’m very curious how much this was an under-the-radar fav for people vs something that was actually properly influential to e.g. freak folk artists

Lin-Manuel Miranda's second-best performance. His best, of course, being when, pre-mainstream fame, he guest starred as House’s annoying roommate in the psych ward (https://youtu.be/gwk6SPZOMy8?t=77&si=Ypoe1c9mgVRucDbA)

I mean I'm making fun of him with that, but also, god, *nobody* is capable of being normal about Hamilton. The theater kids (not normal) ate extremely good and extremely loud on this for two solid years, then Trump won the 2016 election and it's like everyone else agreed to make this thing the face of the Dems' failure and to hound the theater kids for the rest of eternity about it. Just the most obvious scapegoating from people panicked that the wheels were coming off. Now, some of this association was self-inflicted by LMM trying to be an Inspiring Public Figure during this era, doing things like ineffectually calling out Mike Pence when he attended a performance, the stupid tweets book, etc, but America's problems (including centrist liberalism's shortcomings) predate this & run deeper than Broadway's sinister influence.

Anyway, I came super late to this after trying to ignore the hype for a couple years. I eventually listened to the cast recording during a long road trip, and felt like it was pretty alright. I liked the cast, most of the centerpiece songs were landing, and politically...eh it's more willing to depict these guys as unlikable assholes than 1776 was, we can call that progress. The repeated invocation of how Hamilton was an "immigrant" like that aspect of him has much in common with non-white immigrants' experience in 2010s America was extremely goofy. I could definitely understand why the musical theater likers were having a good time, but I was mystified that this became the smash hit that it did. Still am. Most answers I got from the Broadway people in my life were along the lines that it brought rap to Broadway and had an uncommonly diverse cast, which for 2015 is more an indictment of Broadway than anything else.

I'm gonna rate this on the high side (round up the 3.5, let's say), mainly because it makes sense to me to grade this on the curve of Musicals, rather than Hip Hop. I think a lot of people are too quick to ding the musical soundtracks on here for being what they are, and Hamilton in particular carries a lot of cultural gravity that I think is interesting and worthwhile to revisit 10+ years later

Vintage (and apparently influential?) oi bruv punk. The opener promised maybe a little bit more than it was able to deliver on, but I started to get into it as it went on. Wish i could enjoy the singing more, because I think there's actually some pretty interesting things happening in the music, but it sounds like the guy's counting on his fingers to stay on-rhythm. Like a jump-rope chant or something.

Never really spent much time with Frank Ocean, and this is kinda about what I expected: Floaty, intricate, introspective, and very very slow. There's probably not a world where I reach for his music later down the road, but I'm glad to have the reference point filled in!

Yes, I paid money to put this on here. I'd drawn one too many meme picks and 2020s pop albums in a row, and I decided some counterprogramming was in order. Much love to everyone recommending Vision Creation Newsun or Super æ, which are both great, but the circumstances called for more drastic measures. The same week I sent this in, someone else submitted Yoko Ono's "Fly," so clearly I wasn't the only one feeling this way. Unfortunate that it took another 9 months for my own project to get here, though.

Anyway this album is a blast, and more people should spend some time grappling with it. I don't care if people dislike it, but I do care that they at least try to engage with it.

Very much a genre rerun, but gets a pass because it manages to not get stale at any point.

Very solid hour of piano noodling and folk tunes. Pretty much ideal weekend cooking music

"Hardcore" punk, but old enough that it's keeping up its momentum and not overstaying its welcome. Thankful to not be dealing with an hour of the mic being blown out with top-volume screaming like their descendents tend to do