Trollheart Listens to Every Album on Wiki's List for 2017

Trollheart · 01-09-2018, 01:03 PM

Album title: PTX, Vol IV- Classics
Artist: Pentatonix
Genre: Acapella Pop
Nationality: American
Release date: April 7
Position in Discography: Fifth EP; eighth overall
Estimated Rating:

Familiar with this artist? Have heard of them yes
Familiar with the genre or subgenre? No
Average RYM Score: 3.47
Look, it's very clever but the problem is that this has been done so many times it's no longer original. I think The Flying Pickets were the first to do this back in the early eighties, and yes there's skill involved without question, but do I really want to listen to a full album of these guys recreating rock classics without the aid of any music? Oh, just an EP, not an album? Well, the question stands. You sort of know beforehand what you're going to get, and to be honest, hearing them wail “Wah-wah-wah-wah” for the guitar solo on “Bohemian Rhapsody” doesn't come across as being clever or talented (though I'm sure it is) but annoying. It's hard not to pre-review this entire album and say “Yes very nice. Now go learn to play some real musical instruments.” I don't mean to put down whai they do, but how long can you listen to this sort of thing before it gets on your nerves?

Speaking of getting on my nerves: “The Boogie-Woogie ****ing Bugle Boy”? Kill me now. Actually, scratch that: kill yourselves, Pentatonix. You don't deserve to live after that. Me? I'm just hanging out to see what they do with a-ha's “Take On Me”, and I've been reading a lot about their version of Dolly's “Jolene”, and as she guests herself on vox, I think I'd like to hear what all the fuss has been about. I'm not mad about the former, let's say; how are they going to do the long keyboard solo I wonder? Or will they just ignore it? They just ignored it. I don't think the world needs another version of “Can't Help Falling in Love With You”, even an acapella one, and now we're on the last track. Is it worth all the hype and the gushing praise the press have been giving it?

Meh. “Jolene” has always come across to me as a whiny wimpy song that doesn't suit Dolly Parton at all – can you imagine her a) begging her rival not to take her man or b) kicking her rival in the head and warning her off? Anyway I hate this song and this new version neither makes me like it nor this band. Pass.

Check out more from this artist? Nah
Check out more from this genre or subgenre? Probably not

Actual Rating:

**Frownland** · 01-09-2018, 01:11 PM

I hate those smarmy ****s. You're 100% right that people like them offer nothing to music and insult it by taking such an empty approach to it. The worst part is that they're basically the face of a capella music in the modern day when genre can be so excellent and impactful.

Trollheart · 01-09-2018, 01:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Frownland

I hate those smarmy ****s. You're 100% right that people like them offer nothing to music and insult it by taking such an empty approach to it. The worst part is that they're basically the face of a capella music in the modern day when genre can be so excellent and impactful.

Yeah, I can imagine someone listening to a real a capella singer and saying "Yeah but he's not doing the instruments!" He's not MEANT to be doing the instruments, you idiot! That's what a capella is all about. Not how clever you can be but how well your voice can sound (wait for it) without ****ing music! Grrr!

**Frownland** · 01-09-2018, 01:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trollheart

Yeah, I can imagine someone listening to a real a capella singer and saying "Yeah but he's not doing the instruments!" He's not MEANT to be doing the instruments, you idiot! That's what a capella is all about. Not how clever you can be but how well your voice can sound (wait for it) without ****ing music! Grrr!

That's part of it but a bigger part of a capella is being able to carry the piece without assistance.

Pentatonix gets extra hate for being cover-based too. You really have to do something exemplary and new to justify releasing a collection of covers. **** Pentatonix, **** Weird Al, **** your buddy's Beatles cover band.

Trollheart · 01-09-2018, 02:46 PM

Trollheart · 01-09-2018, 04:55 PM

Album title: Shadows
Artist: Rachael Leahcar
Genre: Not sure; Pop? Adult contemporary? Singer/songwriter?
Nationality: Australian
Release date: April 7
Position in Discography: Fourth
Estimated Rating:

Familiar with this artist? No
Familiar with the genre or subgenre?
Average RYM Score: N/A
I like the way this starts off, with a real I-am-woman affirmation melded to a heavy rock/pop beat with a hint of blues in it, then an acoustic folky style song follows with some really nice violin. Speaking of really nice, her voice is great – sort of a country style to it and one of those that doesn't need to be forced on you to make her point. This is excellent stuff so far. Four covers on the album, the first perhaps not that obvious, “Sweet Child o' Mine” is played on piano(!) and does she kill it! **** me, this woman has talent coming out of her, um, she's mega-talented. “Sewn” sounds like Sam Brown meets The Divine Comedy, while her version of The Hollies' “The Air That I Breathe” is less impressive. Good, but not a future classic like the GnR one surely will be.

Her own songs are mostly better though, as the smouldering “Beware the Wolf” and the country-flavoured upbeat “Taste of the Grapevine” show adequately. I don't know “Money Changes Everything” but apparently it's a cover, can't tell you though how she does with it. Good song though. Back to her original material, and that's the last cover. No it isn't, my mistake. Jefferson Airplane's “Somebody to Love” gets a decent showing before the album closes with a truly beautiful ballad with some heart-rending cello work.

Check out more from this artist? Yes
Check out more from this genre or subgenre? Yes

Actual Rating:

Trollheart · 01-10-2018, 09:29 AM

Album title: Belong
Artist: San Fermin
Genre: Indie Rock
Nationality: American
Release date: April 7
Position in Discography: Third
Estimated Rating:

Familiar with this artist? No
Familiar with the genre or subgenre? No
Average RYM Score: 2.91
Been hearing quite a bit of indie rock recently, some good, some bad. Looks like this may fit into the former category. Like the opening track anyway. Kind of atmospheric and dramatic, whereas the second is bright, breezy and cheerful. The singer has a very happy, friendly voice – oh, now we have a male vocalist, with a sort of country twang to his delivery. Some cool brass too on “Oceanica”. There is definitely a really good mix of styles on this; you kind of can't predict which way it's going to go for the next track, within the parameters indie rock is expected to exist, of course. I doubt anyone's going to start rapping or do a long keyboard improvisational track or anything, but it's pleasantly varied.

The interchange between the two vocalists is well handled too; they haven't duetted yet a la Deacon Blue or Prefab Sprout, though of course they might very well do. The title track is a nice little laid back affair, very low-key, which utilises the male vocal, oh, and here comes the female one too. So they do duet, on occasion. Well, they're taking turns singing, but are they – yes, they are singing together. “Cairo” is another one that stands out with some fine brass. A really good album, quite impressed.

Check out more from this artist? Yes
Check out more from this genre or subgenre? Yes

Actual Rating:

Trollheart · 01-10-2018, 12:41 PM

Album title: More Scared of You Than You Are of Me
Artist: The Smith Street Band
Genre: Punk Rock/Indie Rock
Nationality: Australian
Release date: April 7
Position in Discography: Fourth
Estimated Rating:

Familiar with this artist? No
Familiar with the genre or subgenre? No
Average RYM Score: 3.33
Now this is more like my idea of punk: loud, raucous and ****-you: hard hitting guitars and an uncompromising vocal that seems more shouted than sung. This is what I used to hate about punk, thought all punk was like, and probably still won't like very much. Certainly energetic from the word go. “Death to the Lads” has an almost metal anger to it, very powerful with some vague Celtic influence. Pretty good actually. “Song For You” is great too. Really hear the Aussie accent coming through here!

Very surprised by the acoustic tone of “Passiona” and the pub-rock sound it later develops. Interesting to see Jeff Rosenstock is involved in this band, or at least a guest.

After a very uninspiring, frenetic start I have to say this album has settled into a groove I did not expect it to (book, meet cover etc) and I'm quite enjoying it now. Certainly has a lot more to offer than it seemed to me at first. Lucky I didn't stop at the first track, not that I'd have done that. You've got to love a song title like “It Kills Me To Have To Be Alive”, though the title is about the only good thing about it to be honest. Oh, and then the last minute where it kicks up and actually becomes quite good. “Suffer” is hilarious with its atypical refrain “You're the worst thing that ever happened to me” and “Young Once” sounds like them attempting an acoustic folk tune. Ah, for about a minute.

Also turns out not just to be the longest track, at just over five minutes, but one of the better ones too. This album has, once again, challenged my preconceptions about punk, though to be fair, those are changing and kind of melting away through this thread. Albums like this certainly help to hasten that process.

Check out more from this artist? Yes
Check out more from this genre or subgenre? Yes

Actual Rating:

Trollheart · 01-10-2018, 02:30 PM

Album title: Thunder of the Gods
Artist: Sun Ra and his Arkestra
Genre: Jazz
Nationality: American
Release date: April 7
Position in Discography: Ah, I have no idea: the guy released like over a hundred albums
Estimated Rating:

Familiar with this artist? Have heard one track; hated it
Familiar with the genre or subgenre? No
Average RYM Score: N/A
So why the surely unfair low estimated rating? Perhaps this may explain things further:
"He instructed them to start playing, but not how or what to play. As such, it's some of the most challenging music produced by the Arkestra, filled with atonal scraping, clawing, scratching, clattering, and slapping. Fascinating stuff for hardcore fans, but for most other listeners, the first half of the album is more likely to be played more than once"
and this
"This new set of unheard songs is gripping and challenging, as to be expected from the free jazz legend. Using oddball orchestrations, Sun Ra unfurls more complexities of the astral realm"
Not to mention this:
"This is not music for the faint of heart or the impatient of ear, this is bold and strange and difficult, but like secondhand reports of undiscovered countries, it is impossible to comprehend what is being communicated without following to see and experience this strangeness for yourself"

Suffice to say, I'm neither looking forward to this nor expecting any miracle conversion. There are only three tracks, admittedly, but one is over twenty-three minutes long, one is thirteen and the shortest is a mere six, so we're still talking almost forty minutes of music here. Let's get it over with, then.

Well this is certainly fun. Nothing but guys making farting noises and screeching on horns. Maybe a synth or something there now, sounds like a harpsichord though I guess it's not one. And this is supposed to be the accessible part of the album? Worse than the worst Beefheart. No. Just no. So far out of my wheelhouse that I can't even see it. Bye. Hands up anyone who didn't expect this reaction from me? Liar. Expect this to make a high showing on my “Worst of April” list, even on my “Worst of 2017” list. Yeah? **** off: I'm not afraid of you!

Check out more from this artist? Absolutely not
Check out more from this genre or subgenre? Yes

**Frownland** · 01-10-2018, 02:35 PM

You should be ashamed of yourself.

01-09-2018, 01:03 PM	#1511 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,970	Album title: PTX, Vol IV- Classics Artist: Pentatonix Genre: Acapella Pop Nationality: American Release date: April 7 Position in Discography: Fifth EP; eighth overall Estimated Rating: Familiar with this artist? Have heard of them yes Familiar with the genre or subgenre? No Average RYM Score: 3.47 Look, it's very clever but the problem is that this has been done so many times it's no longer original. I think The Flying Pickets were the first to do this back in the early eighties, and yes there's skill involved without question, but do I really want to listen to a full album of these guys recreating rock classics without the aid of any music? Oh, just an EP, not an album? Well, the question stands. You sort of know beforehand what you're going to get, and to be honest, hearing them wail “Wah-wah-wah-wah” for the guitar solo on “Bohemian Rhapsody” doesn't come across as being clever or talented (though I'm sure it is) but annoying. It's hard not to pre-review this entire album and say “Yes very nice. Now go learn to play some real musical instruments.” I don't mean to put down whai they do, but how long can you listen to this sort of thing before it gets on your nerves? Speaking of getting on my nerves: “The Boogie-Woogie **ing Bugle Boy”? Kill me now. Actually, scratch that: kill yourselves, Pentatonix. You don't deserve to live after that. Me? I'm just hanging out to see what they do with a-ha's “Take On Me”, and I've been reading a lot about their version of Dolly's “Jolene”, and as she guests herself on vox, I think I'd like to hear what all the fuss has been about. I'm not mad about the former, let's say; how are they going to do the long keyboard solo I wonder? Or will they just ignore it? They just ignored it. I don't think the world needs another version of “Can't Help Falling in Love With You”, even an acapella one, and now we're on the last track. Is it worth all the hype and the gushing praise the press have been giving it? Meh. “Jolene” has always come across to me as a whiny wimpy song that doesn't suit Dolly Parton at all – can you imagine her a) begging her rival not to take her man or b) kicking her rival in the head and warning her off? Anyway I hate this song and this new version neither makes me like it nor this band. Pass. Check out more from this artist? Nah Check out more from this genre or subgenre? Probably not Actual Rating:** __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

01-09-2018, 01:11 PM	#1512 (permalink)
Frownland SOPHIE FOREVER Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: East of the Southern North American West Posts: 35,548	I hate those smarmy ***s. You're 100% right that people like them offer nothing to music and insult it by taking such an empty approach to it. The worst part is that they're basically the face of a capella music in the modern day when genre can be so excellent and impactful. __________________ Studies show that when a given norm is changed in the face of the unchanging, the remaining contradictions will parallel the truth.* d e a f b o x

01-09-2018, 02:46 PM	#1515 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,970	__________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

01-09-2018, 04:55 PM	#1516 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,970	Album title: Shadows Artist: Rachael Leahcar Genre: Not sure; Pop? Adult contemporary? Singer/songwriter? Nationality: Australian Release date: April 7 Position in Discography: Fourth Estimated Rating: Familiar with this artist? No Familiar with the genre or subgenre? Average RYM Score: N/A I like the way this starts off, with a real I-am-woman affirmation melded to a heavy rock/pop beat with a hint of blues in it, then an acoustic folky style song follows with some really nice violin. Speaking of really nice, her voice is great – sort of a country style to it and one of those that doesn't need to be forced on you to make her point. This is excellent stuff so far. Four covers on the album, the first perhaps not that obvious, “Sweet Child o' Mine” is played on piano(!) and does she kill it! ** me, this woman has talent coming out of her, um, she's mega-talented. “Sewn” sounds like Sam Brown meets The Divine Comedy, while her version of The Hollies' “The Air That I Breathe” is less impressive. Good, but not a future classic like the GnR one surely will be. Her own songs are mostly better though, as the smouldering “Beware the Wolf” and the country-flavoured upbeat “Taste of the Grapevine” show adequately. I don't know “Money Changes Everything” but apparently it's a cover, can't tell you though how she does with it. Good song though. Back to her original material, and that's the last cover. No it isn't, my mistake. Jefferson Airplane's “Somebody to Love” gets a decent showing before the album closes with a truly beautiful ballad with some heart-rending cello work. Check out more from this artist? Yes Check out more from this genre or subgenre? Yes Actual Rating:** __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

01-10-2018, 09:29 AM	#1517 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,970	Album title: Belong Artist: San Fermin Genre: Indie Rock Nationality: American Release date: April 7 Position in Discography: Third Estimated Rating: Familiar with this artist? No Familiar with the genre or subgenre? No Average RYM Score: 2.91 Been hearing quite a bit of indie rock recently, some good, some bad. Looks like this may fit into the former category. Like the opening track anyway. Kind of atmospheric and dramatic, whereas the second is bright, breezy and cheerful. The singer has a very happy, friendly voice – oh, now we have a male vocalist, with a sort of country twang to his delivery. Some cool brass too on “Oceanica”. There is definitely a really good mix of styles on this; you kind of can't predict which way it's going to go for the next track, within the parameters indie rock is expected to exist, of course. I doubt anyone's going to start rapping or do a long keyboard improvisational track or anything, but it's pleasantly varied. The interchange between the two vocalists is well handled too; they haven't duetted yet a la Deacon Blue or Prefab Sprout, though of course they might very well do. The title track is a nice little laid back affair, very low-key, which utilises the male vocal, oh, and here comes the female one too. So they do duet, on occasion. Well, they're taking turns singing, but are they – yes, they are singing together. “Cairo” is another one that stands out with some fine brass. A really good album, quite impressed. Check out more from this artist? Yes Check out more from this genre or subgenre? Yes Actual Rating: __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

01-10-2018, 12:41 PM	#1518 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,970	Album title: More Scared of You Than You Are of Me Artist: The Smith Street Band Genre: Punk Rock/Indie Rock Nationality: Australian Release date: April 7 Position in Discography: Fourth Estimated Rating: Familiar with this artist? No Familiar with the genre or subgenre? No Average RYM Score: 3.33 Now this is more like my idea of punk: loud, raucous and **-you: hard hitting guitars and an uncompromising vocal that seems more shouted than sung. This is what I used to hate about punk, thought all punk was like, and probably still won't like very much. Certainly energetic from the word go. “Death to the Lads” has an almost metal anger to it, very powerful with some vague Celtic influence. Pretty good actually. “Song For You” is great too. Really hear the Aussie accent coming through here! Very surprised by the acoustic tone of “Passiona” and the pub-rock sound it later develops. Interesting to see Jeff Rosenstock is involved in this band, or at least a guest. After a very uninspiring, frenetic start I have to say this album has settled into a groove I did not expect it to (book, meet cover etc) and I'm quite enjoying it now. Certainly has a lot more to offer than it seemed to me at first. Lucky I didn't stop at the first track, not that I'd have done that. You've got to love a song title like “It Kills Me To Have To Be Alive”, though the title is about the only good thing about it to be honest. Oh, and then the last minute where it kicks up and actually becomes quite good. “Suffer” is hilarious with its atypical refrain “You're the worst thing that ever happened to me” and “Young Once” sounds like them attempting an acoustic folk tune. Ah, for about a minute. Also turns out not just to be the longest track, at just over five minutes, but one of the better ones too. This album has, once again, challenged my preconceptions about punk, though to be fair, those are changing and kind of melting away through this thread. Albums like this certainly help to hasten that process. Check out more from this artist? Yes Check out more from this genre or subgenre? Yes Actual Rating:** __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

01-10-2018, 02:30 PM	#1519 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,970	Album title: Thunder of the Gods Artist: Sun Ra and his Arkestra Genre: Jazz Nationality: American Release date: April 7 Position in Discography: Ah, I have no idea: the guy released like over a hundred albums Estimated Rating: Familiar with this artist? Have heard one track; hated it Familiar with the genre or subgenre? No Average RYM Score: N/A So why the surely unfair low estimated rating? Perhaps this may explain things further: "He instructed them to start playing, but not how or what to play. As such, it's some of the most challenging music produced by the Arkestra, filled with atonal scraping, clawing, scratching, clattering, and slapping. Fascinating stuff for hardcore fans, but for most other listeners, the first half of the album is more likely to be played more than once" and this "This new set of unheard songs is gripping and challenging, as to be expected from the free jazz legend. Using oddball orchestrations, Sun Ra unfurls more complexities of the astral realm" Not to mention this: "This is not music for the faint of heart or the impatient of ear, this is bold and strange and difficult, but like secondhand reports of undiscovered countries, it is impossible to comprehend what is being communicated without following to see and experience this strangeness for yourself" Suffice to say, I'm neither looking forward to this nor expecting any miracle conversion. There are only three tracks, admittedly, but one is over twenty-three minutes long, one is thirteen and the shortest is a mere six, so we're still talking almost forty minutes of music here. Let's get it over with, then. Well this is certainly fun. Nothing but guys making farting noises and screeching on horns. Maybe a synth or something there now, sounds like a harpsichord though I guess it's not one. And this is supposed to be the accessible part of the album? Worse than the worst Beefheart. No. Just no. So far out of my wheelhouse that I can't even see it. Bye. Hands up anyone who didn't expect this reaction from me? Liar. Expect this to make a high showing on my “Worst of April” list, even on my “Worst of 2017” list. Yeah? ** off: I'm not afraid of you! Check out more from this artist? Absolutely not Check out more from this genre or subgenre?** Yes __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

01-10-2018, 02:35 PM	#1520 (permalink)
Frownland SOPHIE FOREVER Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: East of the Southern North American West Posts: 35,548	You should be ashamed of yourself. __________________ Studies show that when a given norm is changed in the face of the unchanging, the remaining contradictions will parallel the truth. d e a f b o x