I can understand wanting more in depth discussion in the album club, but I'm not sure what to really say about this album.
First off, I hope it's clear that my original "review" was not exactly an attempt at taking it seriously. I chose to just make fun of the album, which is why there's several dumb jokes in there, but I didn't actually sit and fume with rage in my chair (nor am I implying any of it actually was funny). I really dislike the album, but not in an ill-natured way.
So, if I'm going to take it a bit more seriously, what would I say? One thing that I've been thinking about is how music can easily come down to something so subjective that it's hard to talk about. For this album, it seems to me that it's primarily an aesthetic thing that gets in the way for me. I like pears better than apples - but why? I don't know, because they taste better. But why? Well, I don't know. Because I experience them as tasting better because that's just how my brain works.
On that level, the Nadia Oh album is like a glass of cold lemonade with a load of mayonaise on top: A completely unwanted combination of elements that is profoundly unappealing to me. So I go "Eww, that's gross! I'd rather eat chewing gum off the sidewalk than have any more of that!".
So how do I say anything more elaborate about how I don't like the album?
I guess it comes down to the fact that I (seem to) primarily look for beauty and emotional resonance in music. Even in extreme metal, in some odd way. The Nadia Oh album just comes off as brash and completely ugly to me. Like a dirty, wet plastic bag on the grass in the park. If I listen to Nile, I find beauty in the guitar patterns and the ways those dark chords ring out against the rumbling bass and pummeling drum patterns. It's like some sort of grimey, gothic building. Beautiful and impressive in it's own way. This Nadia Oh album, on the other hand, just comes off as completely aesthetically unappealing to me. And emotionally, I don't feel anything but vague irritation at those brash, annoying synth melodies that appear here and there and the low-effort vocals drenched in auto-tune.
I don't like how my attempt at explaining my dislike of the album comes off as somewhat pretentious, but that's the only way of trying to put it into words.
Basically, it all comes back around to the fact that I just don't like anything about how it sounds or feels.
I'll have a bit more to say about albums that I like more, or albums that are a bit more in my wheelhouse, but this one is just a complete 180 from who I am as a music listener.
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