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Post by Deleted on Feb 5, 2020 23:30:07 GMT
IGOR by Tyler, the Creator is the greatest rap album I've ever heard in my life. Jesus Christ I'm in love with this shit. I wouldn’t call that a rap album. (it’s also really bad) Kidding, and to be fair I don’t think my taste in rap is similar to literally anyone on this board with the exception of liking Young Thug being in common with Catrician/Film Socialism
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Post by Martin Stett on Feb 10, 2020 17:00:41 GMT
Jackson C. Frank Jackson C. Frank 1965One of the most painful collection of songs ever put on vinyl, and one of the greatest. I'm in awe. I've only heard it just now and I'm already confident in calling this a masterpiece.
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Post by Joaquim on Aug 8, 2020 2:17:02 GMT
10/10
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Post by Joaquim on Aug 10, 2020 3:01:41 GMT
Genuinely do not remember the last time thinking “holy fuck this album is so good” throughout the album then listened to it a second time immediately after it was over
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Post by DaleCooper on Aug 13, 2020 23:05:07 GMT
Opeth's most consistent album is also their best. It's one incredible song after another. The absolute highlight being the guitar riffing and vocal melodies in the second half of Face of Melinda. 10/10
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Post by pacinoyes on Aug 20, 2020 23:57:06 GMT
G Stands For Go-Betweens - Volume #2 1985-1989 - The Go-Betweens - ~8.5/10One of the best boxsets - if you love them you'll be astonished how much material they had and if you don't know them you'll wonder why not. Makes the case the nobody in the late-80s made more good songs than them......and probably the finest band from Australia at least going by how many good songs they cranked out.
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Post by pacinoyes on Aug 22, 2020 23:37:03 GMT
Screeching Weasel - Anthem For A New Tomorrow (1993) - ~8.5+/10The 2nd best album they ever made - just a step below My Brain Hurts (a classic, 1991) - this lineup influenced a lot of stuff that was nowhere near as good, dangerous sounding or original as they were. They were a lot of peoples fave band in this early 90s period - they appealed to kids who didn't get Nirvana or Pavement (and Green Day was a year away) - and a lot of that was because they sounded like bratty malcontents without any internal editor. I always argue them as an important American band in this era ...........and this record still holds up.
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Post by pacinoyes on Aug 23, 2020 13:20:58 GMT
Fiona Apple - Fetch The Bolt Cutters (2020) - 8/10I'm making my way through revisiting 2020 records and this one is going to win the majority of "Album of the year" awards (a kiss of death nowadays) but to me it's more like Kid A was in 2000 - a record immediately admired for the craft maybe more than you actually reach out to listen to (that's for me anyway). The record is so densely crafted as presented on first listen it is equal parts stunning and off-putting. For me it (still) doesn't work as much as has been made out ........but it does work .......and at times spectacularly so.
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Post by pacinoyes on Aug 23, 2020 20:38:16 GMT
How clueless is Pitchfork on Rock music or its history in 2020? Well there are 3 Power Pop albums in my top 10 of the year and they've reviewed none of them. As if you needed another reason to love pacinoyes and hate Pitchfork right? The Reflectors "First Impression" (8/10) is the least of those 3 albums - The ExBats and The Speedways releases being the others - but The Reflectors get by almost solely on a joyous, infectious spirit. 11 songs in less than 30 minutes with simplistic (though charming) lyrics and sometimes iffy drumming (less charming). You can feel their excitement from start until the end and also how much they love what they are doing here. You can also play this record at any time ......... driving........in the background......getting ready to go out........and unlike most Power Pop it sounds better all the way through as an album than any single track from it does by itself. It's ridiculously playable.
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Post by pacinoyes on Aug 25, 2020 14:34:16 GMT
The Speedways - Just Another Regular Summer (2018) ~8.5/10 Did you hand in your "Albums of the 2010s Ballot"? Is this on it? If not, your ballot is meaningless to me. Pfffft. A tremendous debut from 2018 - that only lags slightly at the end - and that I never really "got" until I heard their followup this year and now it's all clicked big time. I have now raved this band and mastermind Matt Julian like 6 times in a week on MAR- so thank me now before I'm banned from this board. They're great and they're happening right now too - what else do you have going on? - and like I mentioned in the Current Obsessions thread their videos are an absolute blast for movie lovers. This one: Bridget Bardot
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Post by pacinoyes on Sept 26, 2020 10:22:10 GMT
Radio Sounds (2020) The Speedways - 9/10
If you stopped this 12 song album after the first 9 songs you'd have one of the best albums in this genre - ever - or at least since The Exploding Hearts essential "Guitar Romantic" (2003). Then there are 2 filler songs before the great closer (and maybe their very best song in their 2 album career) "In A World Without Love It's Hard To Stay Young" - so that's 10 special songs which pretty much makes this, a no-shit genius top 5 record of 2020 ....or higher.
..............AND this band is creative too in a genre where that's not usually an asset - this song, loops Marilyn Monroe's interview quote "If I'm generally anything, I guess I'm generally miserable" into a whole song and never once mentions her by name - either first or last - just the quote of her voice which makes it about any girl....... and not about just any girl.
That's an inspired idea......... and it's entirely their own creation.
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Post by pacinoyes on Sept 27, 2020 11:52:00 GMT
Jesus of Cool (1978) 9++/10 - (2008) Deluxe Edition Nick Lowe
Seriously, fnck vinyl.....this edition of the album only exists because of CD (how uncool is that?) which takes the original album, and adds songs from the American version so it's now bursting with 21 songs - 21 for Godsakes - and you don't have to skip any of them.....which makes this not just one of 1978's best but in this 2008 deluxe version......an all timer.
It also serves as "Punk" as a mindset instead of a specific sound - and it's possible to see Nick Lowe as far more "Punk" than the Pistols or The Clash were - certainly he didn't have guys in suits throwing money at him like they did.........and he wasn't so eager to please an already built in audience either. You'd be hard pressed to find a catchier, funnier, more involving and especially idiosyncratic record than this one - and anybody, of any age, can listen to it too.
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Post by DaleCooper on Oct 1, 2020 15:22:46 GMT
8/10 - The most recent album I've heard from The Cure is pretty damn good. The opener is one of my absolute favorite The Cure songs.
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Post by Tommen_Saperstein on Oct 2, 2020 18:07:27 GMT
Ohms - Deftones - Haaaaate it. Critical consensus (88 on metacritic!) and popular opinion seem to be squarely in its corner but Fantano just infamously panned it and having heard the album myself a few days ago I agree with him. Really boring metal music. Loud, aimless and boring. Doesn't have the heaviness of their early period or the shoegazey sublimity of Koi No Yakan, it's caught somewhere in the middle with directionless melodies and toothless synthetic experiments. The lead single "Ohms" with its exultant riffs had me excited that the album might be a return to form but instead "Ohms" is practically the only song worth hearing. Only other highlight for me was " This Link is Dead," which IS a return to that crushing late 90s/early aughts sound, but nothing else (apart from the title track) is as remotely catchy.
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Post by pacinoyes on Oct 3, 2020 8:50:00 GMT
Bob Mould - Blue Hearts (2020) - 5/10Sort of like watching your Mom win the award for best stripper of 2020 - you're happy for her........ but you don't want to see it. This album has a bunch of great reviews (4 stars in Rolling Stone, comparisons to Husker Du) and it's loud and pissed off - so it's everything I should like right?........ by an artist I've loved - even at times solo. Except there are almost no songs here for the 2nd record in a row. This is a guy who has made a lot of great noise and great pop.......and here he makes neither and the lyrics are among the most boring and obvious he's maybe ever done.
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Post by pacinoyes on Oct 3, 2020 18:31:05 GMT
Mike Krol - Power Chords - 9/10
2019's best new record......from a guy who had been around a while and was always fun but minor - just this side of a novelty artist ......but here he put it all together in a coherent and thrilling way that upped the ante on his formula - messy garage-pop, lots of hand claps, self-deprecating lyrics with vocal effects and hiss-drenched production - that make it sound like the best radio station that is almost NOT coming in clear at all.
He's due for a new record.....was this a fluke......if it was......well it's a great one.
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Post by pacinoyes on Oct 4, 2020 14:53:12 GMT
REM - Fables of the Reconstruction (or Reconstruction of the Fables) - ~ 7.5 or more /10
I've spoken a lot about my love for REM's first 3 releases - Chronic Town, Murmur, Reckoning and how they slowly started to lose me afterwards......but the 3 records that followed while uneven to me still kept them on the shortlist of the world's best bands......and when cherry-picked - like on the near perfect compilation of this era "And I Feel Fine - The Best Of REM 1982-1987" - it is, some of the best music of the decade.
This album starts with 3 great songs before somewhat losing its way while at times righting the ship afterwards. On the downside the bands "mystery" starts to leave them here - never before was Michael Stipe so easy to understand which was a drawback .....but on the best songs they were hitting a sweet spot no other band could - songs that were not linked to age or particular music scenes or trends either current or prior......where before they sounded like a revisionist The Byrds.....now, even though they were hit or miss.......they sounded just like REM.
Only half of this record works but if you already loved them ......you loved that half and ignored the rest and the next two albums while not at the consistent level of the first 3 were better than this one so Fables is very much a transitional album.
Green Grow The Rushes - one of this records peaks:
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Post by pacinoyes on Oct 5, 2020 15:03:37 GMT
The Pretenders Extended Play EP 7.5+/10
There's only a few really great EPs and everybody knows them - Buzzcocks Spiral Scratch, REM Chronic Town, Mission of Burma Signals, Calls and Marches a couple others......... this 5 track EP - by the original Pretenders - isn't quite one of them ........but it's pretty fun and has 2 great new highlights - Talk of The Town and Porcelain, 2 so-so ones for radio play Cuban Slide and Message of Love and an absolutely ripping live version of the first album's burner Precious.
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Post by pacinoyes on Oct 8, 2020 10:06:50 GMT
Black Sabbath - Heaven and Hell (1980) - 8/10
I don't listen to too much "metal" and when I do it's usually some offshoot of 70s Hard Rock - Sabbath, Thin Lizzy, early Blue Oyster Cult, Motorthead....
This album is a perennial Halloween favorite and I know a lot of people think "No Ozzy, no Sabbath" which might be true but whatever you call it you can still argue this as an equal in a lot of ways to the first 3 or so Ozzy in Sabbath records and at some points (Neon Knights, the ending of the very horror movie-ish Die Young especially) they are borderline punkish too.
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Post by pacinoyes on Oct 11, 2020 10:11:20 GMT
The Muffs No Holiday (2019) - 8.5+-9/10
I always champion this band or specifically their leader Kim Shattuck who wrote more good songs than Courtney Love, Liz Phair, and Kathleen Hanna did combined over the course of her career in the same era.
Shattuck was diagnosed with ALS before making this and while she scattered a lot of great songs over a bunch of full lengths.......she made her best album here.
Toning down her trademark full-throated roar (no one, ever, screamed like her) a bit and increasing the pop it's her most immediately pleasing release.....and at 18 tracks (and only a couple duds) it's the first she made that doesn't feel disposable but essential.
No one (aside from those making the record) really knew she was sick when this was recorded, and she died right before its release.......it's one of the few records where the story behind it makes it better - several songs are about dying or just being lost or weak - it doesn't "need" the story but with it, it's overwhelming....it is also funny, sweet and likable in the way she always was over her unique, idiosyncratic career.
A marvelous and ballsy record, made against impossible circumstances and one of the 2010s best Rock albums too.....
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Post by pacinoyes on Oct 14, 2020 12:08:24 GMT
X Wild Gift (1981) - 9/10
Several LA punk bands had veterans produce them early on - the relocated to LA The Cramps had Alex Chilton, The Germs had Joan Jett and X had The Doors keyboardist Ray Manzarek.
On Wild Gift - Manzarek keeps the sound of the bands great defining songs - We're Desperate, The Once Over Twice, When Our Love Passed Out On The Couch punchy and direct......but on other tracks he makes the less immediate songs stranger and alluring. Rarely has Punk Rock been this literate and overtly poetic and this forcefully performed.
One of 1981's best records, their best record and also a crucial one in American rock - the difference between great American Rock records after Wild Gift came out noticeably increased rather than what was happening in early '81 when every other important recent cool band (Clash, Jam, Joy Division etc.) seemed to be British.......right around the corner was the US comeback....... Vs., Chronic Town, Roman Gods, Days of Wine and Roses were all to follow and all sounded terrific and unique from each other.
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Post by pacinoyes on Oct 17, 2020 9:51:28 GMT
Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am That's What I'm Not (2006) - 8+/10
The two indisputably great albums this band made (their first 2) both function in a different way from most of the (better) 2000s albums this was lumped in with:
Is This It/Room On Fire, White Blood Cells, Up The Bracket/The Libertines etc. - those records were a return to (a passe by 2006) Rock hedonism ......they sounded like they may spin out into something dangerous.....out of control.....dirty sex, and dirty dope, and dirty deeds basically. That's what made the Strokes/Libertines endearing and made the White Stripes different from Led Zeppelin too.
The Arctic Monkeys never had that much scope, interest or edge or undercurrent in that side of Rock at all - instead they played Punk Rock as something of a new Jock Rock - they were preppy brats on beer (and maybe pills) that they were too smart to get caught/go to jail/die anyway.
What they might do to you (or themselves) or happen TO them was less important than what they/Alex Turner might say to you or reflect back upon what happened....and crucially, how cleverly he might say it. They were like Robert Duvall in Apocalypse Now.......no matter what, they were going to be just fine.
This debut was still probably the best Rock record of 2006 and they'd repeat the trick a year later too....... and when it wasn't busy being (too) impressed with itself, it can still be a real blast......even in 2020 and if Rock music was less exciting in 2006 than it was a few years before......well that's not their fault either.
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Post by DaleCooper on Oct 17, 2020 13:00:23 GMT
Masterpiece. Up until the title track it's absolutely staggering and then it fades a tiny bit towards the end. Overall one of my favorites. 10/10
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Post by pacinoyes on Oct 18, 2020 10:20:01 GMT
Arctic Monkeys - Favourite Worst Nightmare (2007) - ~8.5/ 10
The first album after the breakthrough is always about how the breathrough has totally f'n sucked and things would be different if it didn't happen.......think In Utero and you have this albums template.....
The reason this works even better than the debut is that it's far less concerned with being striking and more concerned with being revealing.......this time Alex Turner uses specificity to describe rather than merely impress you with its mastery of vocabulary (and in the 4 albums since he's sometimes struggled to balance "caring" with "caring too much" except on the 5th album - AM - the best record aside for the first 2).
All these introduce characters that they dissect so deeply it goes into a life choice more than a night at the club choice - jerks (Brianstorm), trendsetters/vipers/scenesters (Teddy Picker), and the artist being complicit in inviting them all in (Do Me A Favour)........the band incorporates this all at the service of a tremendous closer (505) which shows he wants out ......in a way that includes you in his romantic aspiration.......that's a neat trick and the last time he pulled it off in this way.
Using The Wizard of Oz, when you're living right in the middle of it......and Dorothy was right though......
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Post by pacinoyes on Oct 21, 2020 11:04:12 GMT
The Exbats - Kicks, Hits and Fits (2020) - 8.5/10
Easily in my top 5 for 2020 this record kick-started a 2020 power pop album explosion although it is isn't power pop in the sense of The Speedways and The Reflectors which are also going to be top 10 (or top 5).
This is more garage-pop and it is so on target, so precisely approximate of whatever sounds it's copping from (the Monkees, early Stones and um, Nirvana in "Immediate Girl") - it is weirdly thrilling - and the most fun record of the year.
A daughter and dad duo this is an insanely listenable record......I was turned on to this as sort of a joke at first very early in 2020......you know a dad and his daughter, it's kischty, it's goofy! - instead it is just great Rock and Roll and a total blast ..........and it never once sounds forced.
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