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Post by pacinoyes on Aug 7, 2021 14:22:43 GMT
Phoebe Bridgers - Punisher (2020) - hovering near a 7 / 10
The "other one" - Bridgers is the other member of boygenius - along with the Two Ear Abusers Who Shall Not Be Named and are running away with my "Worst of 2021 Lists" so far - although I like to call Bridgers "obviously the pretty good one" ..... at least for now. Like Fiona Apple's "Fetch The Bolt Cutters" I respond to the craft of the record - the record making process that went into this - more than the actual songs themselves. I wouldn't reach for it but I wouldn't throw stuff at someone for playing it either.
...........and here's the thing.............sometimes the songs strike you too and not just the craft........and she has a pacinoyes noticeable and beguiling lyric here too - she's a fine and coherent writer on this record - not just a better one (and a better singer too) than you hear on the 2021 solo albums by her bandmates.
The drugstores are open all night The only real reason I moved to the east side I love a good place to hide in plain sight
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Post by Mattsby on Aug 11, 2021 21:39:04 GMT
"History's easy..." and 1977 still's got the bottle for best year of music in my book (dogeared, sloppy underlines accidentally crossing out the line underneath, etc).
The Jam - In the City 8/10 or so, take that Batman. The Jam - This is the Modern World 8/10, more than you'd get in Zaire. The Ramones - Leave Home 9/10
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Post by pacinoyes on Aug 13, 2021 1:20:01 GMT
Coach Party - Party Food EP (2020) & After Party EP (2021) - ~ 7 & 7+
Yeah I kind of love this UK band even though they haven't done anything that great yet (some great singles though)........but they're dancing around it in a big way .....they somehow evoke a contemporary Lily Allen (in their wit, sorta), The Smiths and plenty of C86 bands - and a lot more too - all under the spellbinding, no BS vocalist Jess Eastwood
First EP has 2 great tunes (4 others with moments), and the 2nd EP is all good or better across all 6 songs.........they need to make an album - immediately - and could use a lot of these songs for it too ......high upside.....
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Post by pacinoyes on Aug 16, 2021 12:48:22 GMT
The Pandoras - Psychedelic Sluts (1995...........(1986-1989)) (studio bootleg) - less than a 6 / 10 Depressing like being in a suburban strip club at 11:30 AM with too ugly for the night shift pole dancers - who used to be really hot just 10 months ago! - and surrounded by unemployed guys who can't afford drinks ......... and that possible narc selling "coke" in the bathroom who has cut it with baby laxative. This studio bootleg has demos and 3 finished tracks from their unreleased 3rd album for Elektra - when they went from very cool (1984-1986), to awful amazingly fast. A couple of impressive earlier demos .......but .........not enough......
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Post by pacinoyes on Aug 17, 2021 7:54:08 GMT
The Soft Boys - Invisible Hits (1983) - ~ 8 / 10
Not a greatest hits record but a compilation of unreleased or non-album tracks - some of which are career best rivaling.
Most of this you can get on the expanded versions of their 2 albums now - although this is one of those compilations that might be better taken as is - it flows and sounds cohesive. I can make a case that it's better or at least as good a listen as their (excellent) first album (A Can of Bees) - they could be very funny in their left of center way of course - this terrific Stones rip off / homage / sarcastic joke for one example.
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Post by pacinoyes on Aug 19, 2021 6:55:31 GMT
The Creation - We Are Paintermen - (1967) - a little above a 7 / 10
One album only band (in their prime anyway) - this one - that got a new lease on life from the use of the song "Making Time" in Rushmore and it sounds exactly like its year - for good and bad.
The covers are no big deal - it's like the first The Who album where the covers just sound odd - but not bad. The originals are trippy, psychedelic but direct and best of all they are short and mostly pretty good too - depending how much weed you have ...........they sound like The Who but not like they are ripping off them off - more like they are kindred spirits - and you could file this (way) behind The Yardbirds and The Who Sell Out and it fits in a cool way........except that you know there's no genius here - no Jeff Beck or Pete Townshend......
Still if you are into this, it's a more than worthy record in that style........
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Post by DaleCooper on Aug 21, 2021 9:16:14 GMT
I think this has gotten a little to harsh critique. It's not as good as her previous efforts, but there are mulitple great songs on here. Loving songs like The Path, Mood Ring and Fallen Fruit. I also think it will be a grower.
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Post by pacinoyes on Aug 21, 2021 10:55:34 GMT
L.A. Exes - Get Some (2021) - 7 / 10
A lesbian (I am pretty sure) band that is pretty lovable, appropriately mean, colorful, and ear pleasing but doesn't cut funny, kitschy, or deep enough to be as good as that all sounds. Sort of in that Natalie Sweet type of ear candy though not as consistent as Sweet's last album's best moments.
Some ace high points anyway - including this clever one set as a 50-60s girl group arrangement but with lyrics about about stealing a girl.......... from a guy........and flipping the era, subject matter and song genre........can't think of another 2021 song quite like it:
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Post by pacinoyes on Aug 27, 2021 9:39:22 GMT
Elmore James - The Sky Is Crying : The History of Elmore James (1993) - 9 or even higher / 10
His best song - one of the best Blues songs ever in his hands - is about a 12 year kid outperforming him in the bedroom (not kidding, not played for laughs) and stealing his wife that has to be heard to be believed. Particularly its knockout ending - the mean spirited joke / but not a joke last line - he recorded this song twice - the later version included here (both are superb).
A masterful guitarist - he was similar to Muddy Waters but different in his quirks from him too - he was less definitive than Muddy but more odd - he would somehow recycle his most famous riff (the "Dust My Broom" one) and somehow turn it into romantic, soulful Pop ballads along with exciting Blues and a hybrid music that pre-dates Rock and Roll .......... of all the "5" Blues greats (Muddy, Howlin Wolf, John Lee Hooker, Sonny Boy Williamson) he's the closest to both odder, wilder later trendsetters like Hendrix and Prince and he predates a lot of 60s Blues specifically too - its last "great era" (?) ......... like Buddy Guy and Magic Sam.
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Post by pacinoyes on Aug 29, 2021 20:52:25 GMT
The MnMs - Melts in Your Ears 1980-1981 - awful ............ but mesmerizing ...........and awful - almost a 7 / 10 not quite .......
Paul Collins of The Nerves wrote this band's single and their lead singer - his girlfriend at the time (very cute, she knows it) - then released it post-break-up (unbeknownst to Collins until later) ........the rest is stuff they cut - but never released.
This is either an absolute piece of garbage or exactly the kind of garbage I like ..........but it's definitely garbage............Marci Marks can't sing at all - which is fine - but she also can't project her voice and sometimes sounds like Betty Boop on helium. On one song - the ska joke "Say Goodbye To Maryanne" she is borderline - okay way over the borderline - offensive in her joking approximation of reggae vocal inflections.
The band seems a beat behind Marks, lost, directionless and kitschy yet possibly fully in on the possible joke..........hotshot Bill Inglot produced these tracks which is funny in itself
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Post by pacinoyes on Sept 1, 2021 11:51:04 GMT
Julien Baker - Little Oblivions Remixes EP - 2021 - ~ 2 / 10In a stupefying act of redundancy, pointlessness, unspeakable evil......... and especially unmitigated gall - somewhat like a person murdering your parents, then dumping the dead bodies in the same spot and saying "NOW they can be together forever!" - Julien Baker offers 5 abysmal remixes (blips, whooshes, echoes, incongruous beats) from my least favorite record of the year ........... and Greta Van Fleet made a record this year ..... In 2021, she has now howled the same PoS album 1 and 1/2 times, appeared THREE times on the year's 2nd worst album (Lucy Dacus), and is in a NEW collaboration just in the past week on a separate, hideous new single (Marionette).......a song that starts without an ounce of humor or wit - with her singing this lyric: "I am a master .........of ignoring the past" ........Oh, don't be so easy on yourself baby.... you're pretty good at ignoring the present too.....
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urbanpatrician
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Post by urbanpatrician on Sept 1, 2021 12:16:24 GMT
Julien Baker - Little Oblivions Remixes EP - 2021 - ~ 2 / 10In a stupefying act of redundancy, pointlessness, unspeakable evil......... and especially unmitigated gall - somewhat like a person murdering your parents, then dumping the dead bodies in the same spot and saying "NOW they can be together forever!" - Julien Baker offers 5 abysmal remixes (blips, whooshes, echoes, incongruous beats) from my least favorite record of the year ........... and Greta Van Fleet made a record this year ..... In 2021, she has now howled the same PoS album 1 and 1/2 times, appeared THREE times on the year's 2nd worst album (Lucy Dacus), and is in a NEW collaboration just in the past week on a separate, hideous new single (Marionette).......a song that starts without an ounce of humor or wit - with her singing this lyric: "I am a master .........of ignoring the past" ........Oh, don't be so easy on yourself baby.... you're pretty good at ignoring the present too..... I'm only just picking up this album from the library today and probably will listen to it sometime later in the day. Not that I have any expectation for it or anything but you seem to really despise it, or this woman - who I know nothing about, just what indie rock guys say.
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Post by pacinoyes on Sept 1, 2021 12:57:43 GMT
Julien Baker - Little Oblivions Remixes EP - 2021 - ~ 2 / 10In a stupefying act of redundancy, pointlessness, unspeakable evil......... and especially unmitigated gall - somewhat like a person murdering your parents, then dumping the dead bodies in the same spot and saying "NOW they can be together forever!" - Julien Baker offers 5 abysmal remixes (blips, whooshes, echoes, incongruous beats) from my least favorite record of the year ........... and Greta Van Fleet made a record this year ..... In 2021, she has now howled the same PoS album 1 and 1/2 times, appeared THREE times on the year's 2nd worst album (Lucy Dacus), and is in a NEW collaboration just in the past week on a separate, hideous new single (Marionette).......a song that starts without an ounce of humor or wit - with her singing this lyric: "I am a master .........of ignoring the past" ........Oh, don't be so easy on yourself baby.... you're pretty good at ignoring the present too..... I'm only just picking up this album from the library today and probably will listen to it sometime later in the day.
Not that I have any expectation for it or anything but you seem to really despise it, or this woman - who I know nothing about, just what indie rock guys say. My condolences. No strong opinions on Baker prior to this year - her earlier work was smaller scaled - but her 2021 reign of terror has exploded in its overbearing pretentiousness by getting bigger in arrangements and scope. I'd have to go back a long way to find a particular album that I hate more than Little Oblivions .......but plenty of people would (and do) disagree.....
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Post by Deleted on Sept 1, 2021 16:20:01 GMT
Nirvana - Bleach (1989) 9/10 Now I found an album that will rule my September lol
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Post by pacinoyes on Sept 7, 2021 9:37:57 GMT
The Muffs - Whoop Dee Doo (2014) - 8 + / 10
One of the best American bands of their era (1993-2019) - none were as good for as long either - this was the first Muffs album in 10 years (!) and it effortlessly rewards your patience and devotion to them.
The title is an offhand remark The Pixies Black Francis made about replacing Kim Shattuck in his band ("Big whoop-de-do, it ain't that big of a deal") - and picking that name is part of her typical (and glorious) smartass routine which sits side by side with ace songwriting, boundless energy and plenty of hooks.
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Post by themoviesinner on Sept 11, 2021 16:21:04 GMT
After several weeks where I wasn't listening to much music at all, I managed to listen to two albums today. Paramore - Paramore (2013) -- 6/10This album was... interesting, unexpectedly so. It feels like Paramore wanted to cram every rock subgenre they could think of into it (from punk, to funk, to Beatles like throwbacks, there are even some shades of prog and post-rock in this) and it results in a very inconsistent album that doesn't work as a whole. There are some very good individual moments and songs, but also some stuff that sounds downright terrible. This is probably their best album for me though, cause I definitely prefer something as audacious as this, even if extremely flawed, to the generic punk-rock of their previous albums. Lake Of Tears - A Crimson Cosmos (1997) -- 10/10This album rules and it's album cover is a keen indication of the music one will experience while listening to this. It's sound is completely unique, as it's a mixture of doom metal and psychedelic rock that I haven't heard any other band utilize. The album features songs that are catchy and fun, but are also imaginative and send you to whimsical fantastical worlds where anything is possible. Lake Of Tears is a really underrapreciated band in general and this is their best work. One of the best rock albums of the 90s. pacinoyes here is another recommendation for you. I think you'll enjoy this.
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Post by pacinoyes on Sept 11, 2021 17:50:23 GMT
After several weeks where I wasn't listening to much music at all, I managed to listen to two albums today.
Lake Of Tears - A Crimson Cosmos (1997) -- 10/10This album rules and it's album cover is a keen indication of the music one will experience while listening to this. It's sound is completely unique, as it's a mixture of doom metal and psychedelic rock that I haven't heard any other band utilize. The album features songs that are catchy and fun, but are also imaginative and send you to whimsical fantastical worlds where anything is possible. Lake Of Tears is a really underrapreciated band in general and this is their best work. One of the best rock albums of the 90s. pacinoyes here is another recommendation for you. I think you'll enjoy this. ^ Ok, that was a straight up terrific song - and it's in my weird-ish comfort zone - so I didn't have to stretch to appreciate it thank you so much!........it kind of sounds like Danzig solo selling out and going for a really big hit single (and I mean that as a compliment! ). Also "When My Sun Comes Down" .........and "Lady Rosenred" stood out for me ...........that last one sounds like Fairport Convention or Blackmore's Night actually - quite a left-turn that song is!
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Post by themoviesinner on Sept 11, 2021 18:29:08 GMT
Ok, that was a straight up terrific song - and it's in my weird-ish comfort zone - so I didn't have to stretch to appreciate it thank you so much!........it kind of sounds like Danzig solo selling out and going for a really big hit single (and I mean that as a compliment! ). Also "When My Sun Comes Down" .........and "Lady Rosenred" stood out for me ...........that last one sounds like Fairport Convention or Blackmore's Night actually - quite a left-turn that song is! Glad you enjoyed it. This has been for a long while one of my favorite rock albums of the 90s, but it's pretty unknown among rock fans. I obviously like everything on it, but my personal favorite would be Raistlin And The Rose, but maybe I'm biased towards it because I'm a Dragonlance fan . And this album is indeed kinda silly, but that's what I love about it.
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Post by pacinoyes on Sept 11, 2021 20:54:38 GMT
Amyl and The Sniffers - Comfort to Me (2021) - ......somewhere around an 8 / 10 .....but if I was younger ....... This is exactly the record California's Neighborhood Brats wanted to make this year (reviewed in this thread) - and this is what that pretended to be. Female vocal album of the year by far atm ..... positively terrifying no BS Punk Rock ..... that makes the parade of indie female "singer-songwriters" in 2021 look like the soon to be basic Soccer Moms - who need a long nap - that they are. I really want to visit Australia because it seems like a nice place but on this new album - which obliterates their debut btw - Amy Taylor suggests Australia is a place of constant threat, anxiety and menace to her .......and her to it too......she comes off as no one so much as a female Iggy Pop. Almost every song is a frantic ripper - and drops profanity right in your face too - and Amy who is less annoying than last time, now also sounds a lot sharper, less screeching, smarter, more pissed off and a better lyricist too. This is an amazing - and exhausting - vocal performance and the band follows her right down the black hole she's all too eager to jump head-first into - the only downside is it's too intense, too ferocious, too much - it just wears you out ..... For a record THIS noisy it's a genuine shock how many of these songs stand out here that basically follow a "play fast and have her scream over the guitars" pattern. Released just yesterday ....and it's a stunner ......will take several listens to settle in......recommended for people who like '77 female fronted Punk.......Bikini Kill .....etc.
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Post by pacinoyes on Sept 12, 2021 8:58:23 GMT
Christopher Peifer - Suicide Mission (2020) and The Social Distance (2021) - both a little less than a 7 / 10
You never forget your first love - but 2021 hasn't had any new loves to help me try to forget either - every album I've really liked in 2021 has been by a band I already knew about ...... Coach Party are the only "new" band to get me a bit excited - and they're just on EPs.
Christopher Peifer should be this "new" act - I never heard of him (though he played guitar in bands I know of) - and he really loves all the right stuff - particularly Elvis Costello and All Shook Down-14 Songs era Paul Westerberg ...10 songs per album, all pleasant ....but none draw blood either ...you've got the formula pal......now.......mess it up a little.
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Post by pacinoyes on Sept 13, 2021 9:43:29 GMT
The Clash - The Clash (1977) UK Version - well it's at least a 9 / 10, right?Here's the thing - the US version is broader (and maybe better?) even though it's not what they intended .........and the UK version is more focused (and maybe better?) but makes them look less ambitious and versatile. Nowadays you don't have to pick between them - so it's all good - and like their rivals The Sex Pistols they had their very own songs specifically about "liars" in either version: Record companies, government, "friends", bureaucracies - which is basically the whole underlying idea of UK Punk ......as opposed to US Punk (which didn't even concern themselves with that topic much at all ..........and mostly just took it as a given ).
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Post by pacinoyes on Sept 14, 2021 8:20:59 GMT
Faye Webster - I Know I'm Funny haha (2021) - ~ 7.5 / 10
Fully coherent, identifiable and compelling worldview which includes how other genres musically fit into her own expression - particularly light sophisticated Jazz - which she makes seem compatible, logical, natural and sweet.
The best example this year of a record that you think would totally suck ........but actually doesn't .......
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Post by pacinoyes on Sept 16, 2021 10:12:51 GMT
The Reflectors - Faster Action (2021) - 6 + / 10
.......definitely not "faster" and "not enough" action either
Regular Cali kids who out of nowhere made my #5 album of 2020 with their lovably underdog debut - First Impression - now follow it up with a bunch of overproduced demoitis sounding songs that only occasionally exude their previous energy and spirit.
5 songs here were done live on their radio promo release in 2020 and every one was better back then ....so it's execution more than songs since they didn't have the great songs before either......
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Post by pacinoyes on Sept 17, 2021 7:37:23 GMT
The Muffs - Kaboodle (2011) - 7.5++ / 10 ...........by comparison
Inferior, import version of their earlier, rollicking compilation "Hamburger" (reviewed in this thread, 8++ / 10) - that is almost identical, but this one replaces a few songs from "Hamburger" - including their cover version of "Kids in America" (wtf) - for 5 "new(er)" songs ........
This is the lowest I'd rate anything they did and that's just because they have a better edition of this record
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Post by pacinoyes on Sept 18, 2021 11:10:28 GMT
Kiss - Kiss (1974) - 7 / 10 ........ I guessThe MCU of 70s Rock!: used their success as its own rationale for existing, made a whole lot of money selling you you stupid sh it (lunchboxes, action figures), cartoon-ish in the worst ways.....and other bands regularly dissed them publicly - out of "jealousy" (?)...... or maybe that they weren't you know.......particularly good? .......but whatever....... great special effects!.... This debut - their origin story! - is their best studio record: 10 songs - 5 are KISShit.........5 are 70s "classics" (relatively) - Cold Gin, Black Diamond, Deuce, 100,000 Years and Strutter
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