The Random Album Club: Week 1

Trollheart · 09-09-2017, 01:05 PM

To whoever changed the poll (probably Frown) thanks. Appreciate the joke too.

On we go.

Title: American Dream
Artist: LCD Soundsystem
Year: 2017
Genre: Synthpop (correct me if I'm wrong)
Nationality: American
Discography: Four albums
Position in discography: Fourth

How weird is it that this, of all albums, came up on the random link? Weird, right? Well, now that we've established that, and agreed how weird it is (it is weird, isn't it? Just, you know, what's the word I'm looking for? Oh yeah: weird) what's it like? My own experience with LCD Soundsystem is limited to the recommendation of our own JTF in the late and lamented "Love or Hate?" thread, and I don't believe I was too impressed with the one he recced - I think it may have been This is Happening? Not sure. Anyway, right from the off I'm pretty impressed here. I note influences of 80s new wave bands like Human League, Visage and Depeche Mode, while I can also hear Talking Heads, Bowie and Eno in some of the tracks. I love the opener, the second track is a little more meh for me, but I have yet to hear anything I don't like. "Change Yr Mind" sounds a lot like Bowie's "Fashion" (isn't that the guitar riff from it there?) but manages not to sound like a ripoff of it. Like this album so far. Favourite tracks: "Oh Baby", "How Do You Sleep", "Tonite", "Call the Police" "American dream" .. pretty much all of it really. Great album.

Note: Personally, I'm sick of scoring out of ten so I'm reverting to a system I trialed on the now-defunct 1001 Metal Albums You Must Hear Before You Die journal. It's pretty self-explanatory, and nicely visual and immediate: the faster the speedometer hits, the more I like the album, and vy-see ver-see.

Yeah yeah: they're shit graphics. What do you expect from me? Eat glass.

(If anyone wants to use them, I'll link you in.)

This one gets

Justthefacts · 09-09-2017, 01:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by trollheart

to whoever changed the poll (probably frown) thanks. Appreciate the joke too.

On we go.

title: american dream
artist: lcd soundsystem
year: 2017
genre: synthpop (correct me if i'm wrong)
nationality: american
discography: four albums
position in discography: fourth

how weird is it that this, of all albums, came up on the random link? Weird, right? Well, now that we've established that, and agreed how weird it is (it is weird, isn't it? Just, you know, what's the word i'm looking for? Oh yeah: Weird) what's it like? My own experience with lcd soundsystem is limited to the recommendation of our own jtf in the late and lamented "love or hate?" thread, and i don't believe i was too impressed with the one he recced - i think it may have been this is happening? Not sure. Anyway, right from the off i'm pretty impressed here. I note influences of 80s new wave bands like human league, visage and depeche mode, while i can also hear talking heads, bowie and eno in some of the tracks. I love the opener, the second track is a little more meh for me, but i have yet to hear anything i don't like. "change yr mind" sounds a lot like bowie's "fashion" (isn't that the guitar riff from it there?) but manages not to sound like a ripoff of it. Like this album so far. Favourite tracks: "oh baby", "how do you sleep", "tonite", "call the police" "american dream" .. Pretty much all of it really. Great album.

Note: Personally, i'm sick of scoring out of ten so i'm reverting to a system i trialed on the now-defunct 1001 metal albums you must hear before you die journal. It's pretty self-explanatory, and nicely visual and immediate: The faster the speedometer hits, the more i like the album, and vy-see ver-see.

Yeah yeah: They're shit graphics. What do you expect from me? Eat glass. :d (if anyone wants to use them, i'll link you in.)

this one gets

Trollheart · 09-10-2017, 12:25 PM

Next up

https://open.spotify.com/album/4zU90fvRnqX8lBjeP91U2r

Trollheart · 09-10-2017, 01:18 PM

Title: Woman Mother Earth Sky
Artist: Roberta Chevrette
Year: 2003
Genre: Folk
Nationality: American
Discography: Two albums
Position in discography: First (debut)

Female folk acoustic acts are ten-a-penny, so why is everyone (apparently) raving over this one? Not sure to be honest. It's decent music but nothing that, so far (only three or four tracks in) makes me really sit up. She plays the guitar well, but it's a little annoying that there's no information on her either on Wiki or Discogs, and nothing really on RYM either. Searching on Google brought me to the bio of a chemist, Dr. Roberta Chevrette, and it took some filtering before I could find out who the hell this was. Honestly: if you want to be known, get your ****ing information out there, you know? It's very frustrating, digging through pages of irrelevancies to try to find out who the **** this person is? Sort of puts me in a bad mood, which isn't the best frame of mind when reviewing a new album.

Anyway, there appear to be Country/Bluegrass influences on this album, which gives it a nice rustic feel, kind of stripped down as it were. "Restless" is the first track that really stands out to me, bringing in the influences mentioned above. After that I begin to wilt a little; it's getting quite boring now. It's not that it's necessarily bad, it's just all a little too much the same. I don't see why anyone's repping her: nothing new here. So far anyway. Oh Christ! Now she thinks she's Gil Scott-Heron. I'm almost ready to bail at this point.

Okay, "Can you hear this" is quite nice, soft and haunting with some really nice flute. Yeah, next one's good too. Maybe I'll hang around a little longer, see where this goes. "Indulge" is good, getting somewhat of a slightly harder edge as the album goes on. Oh dear, another spoken word piece again. Sigh. These really don't work, not for me anyway. Feels like she's trying to be edgy just to be edgy. Oh, and the delayed echo is really ****ing annoying too. All right, maybe it was clever how the two voices suddenly merged into a double-one, but I still don't see it. "Enlightenment" just annoys me even more. What the **** is this? Really losing interest, and patience, now. "Bending" is better, and we're near the end now, but it's been a bit of a struggle. Not really for me.

View Poll Results: It'd be cool if we could remove this poll huh
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Voters: 0. You may not vote on this poll

09-09-2017, 01:05 PM	#1 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,996	To whoever changed the poll (probably Frown) thanks. Appreciate the joke too. On we go. Title: American Dream Artist: LCD Soundsystem Year: 2017 Genre: Synthpop (correct me if I'm wrong) Nationality: American Discography: Four albums Position in discography: Fourth How weird is it that this, of all albums, came up on the random link? Weird, right? Well, now that we've established that, and agreed how weird it is (it is weird, isn't it? Just, you know, what's the word I'm looking for? Oh yeah: weird) what's it like? My own experience with LCD Soundsystem is limited to the recommendation of our own JTF in the late and lamented "Love or Hate?" thread, and I don't believe I was too impressed with the one he recced - I think it may have been This is Happening? Not sure. Anyway, right from the off I'm pretty impressed here. I note influences of 80s new wave bands like Human League, Visage and Depeche Mode, while I can also hear Talking Heads, Bowie and Eno in some of the tracks. I love the opener, the second track is a little more meh for me, but I have yet to hear anything I don't like. "Change Yr Mind" sounds a lot like Bowie's "Fashion" (isn't that the guitar riff from it there?) but manages not to sound like a ripoff of it. Like this album so far. Favourite tracks: "Oh Baby", "How Do You Sleep", "Tonite", "Call the Police" "American dream" .. pretty much all of it really. Great album. Note: Personally, I'm sick of scoring out of ten so I'm reverting to a system I trialed on the now-defunct 1001 Metal Albums You Must Hear Before You Die journal. It's pretty self-explanatory, and nicely visual and immediate: the faster the speedometer hits, the more I like the album, and vy-see ver-see. Yeah yeah: they're shit graphics. What do you expect from me? Eat glass. (If anyone wants to use them, I'll link you in.) This one gets __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

09-10-2017, 12:25 PM	#3 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,996	Next up https://open.spotify.com/album/4zU90fvRnqX8lBjeP91U2r __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

09-10-2017, 01:18 PM	#4 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,996	Title: Woman Mother Earth Sky Artist: Roberta Chevrette Year: 2003 Genre: Folk Nationality: American Discography: Two albums Position in discography: First (debut) Female folk acoustic acts are ten-a-penny, so why is everyone (apparently) raving over this one? Not sure to be honest. It's decent music but nothing that, so far (only three or four tracks in) makes me really sit up. She plays the guitar well, but it's a little annoying that there's no information on her either on Wiki or Discogs, and nothing really on RYM either. Searching on Google brought me to the bio of a chemist, Dr. Roberta Chevrette, and it took some filtering before I could find out who the hell this was. Honestly: if you want to be known, get your **ing information out there, you know? It's very frustrating, digging through pages of irrelevancies to try to find out who the this person is? Sort of puts me in a bad mood, which isn't the best frame of mind when reviewing a new album. Anyway, there appear to be Country/Bluegrass influences on this album, which gives it a nice rustic feel, kind of stripped down as it were. "Restless" is the first track that really stands out to me, bringing in the influences mentioned above. After that I begin to wilt a little; it's getting quite boring now. It's not that it's necessarily bad, it's just all a little too much the same. I don't see why anyone's repping her: nothing new here. So far anyway. Oh Christ! Now she thinks she's Gil Scott-Heron. I'm almost ready to bail at this point. Okay, "Can you hear this" is quite nice, soft and haunting with some really nice flute. Yeah, next one's good too. Maybe I'll hang around a little longer, see where this goes. "Indulge" is good, getting somewhat of a slightly harder edge as the album goes on. Oh dear, another spoken word piece again. Sigh. These really don't work, not for me anyway. Feels like she's trying to be edgy just to be edgy. Oh, and the delayed echo is really ing annoying too. All right, maybe it was clever how the two voices suddenly merged into a double-one, but I still don't see it. "Enlightenment" just annoys me even more. What the ** is this? Really losing interest, and patience, now. "Bending" is better, and we're near the end now, but it's been a bit of a struggle. Not really for me. __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018