MB Album Exchange!

~~MicShazam~~ · 11-29-2017, 01:31 PM

Violent J - Wizard of the Hood

So this is an album from "Violent J", not The Insane Clown Posse... except he's in that group and it's really the same thing musically and with all the apparent features from his mates, it basically is an ICP record... or am I wrong? I'm going to relate this album somewhat to ICP since that's sort of a connection that's hard to get around given that group's notoriety.

In case you've been living in a monastery for a couple decades; what kind of notoriety are we talking about?

To quote a website: "Insane Clown Posse is so, so, so, so incredibly bad. Some bad bands are nevertheless ‘great’ in their ****tiness, or at least have some interesting, redeemable qualities, but ICP has none. They’re a godawful band, with godawful fans who somehow make wearing facepaint, spraying Faygo, and committing federal crimes less interesting and just so sad." - nationalave.com

"and at the absolute bottom of the already-despicable totem pole of **** bands were the putrid ****stains known as Insane Clown Posse. People in Detroit ****ing LOVE this band unconditionally. People with otherwise perfectly respectable, nay, GOOD taste in music pledge allegiance to the Juggalo nation and wear the hatchet around their neck." - metalsucks.net

"Yes. Its true. A group who has their entire career based on a gimmick. If there was one band I hated overall the most, ICP is unquestionably the worst. I spit on their fans too. Yes. Everywhere in public. Spitting on ICP fans since 2001" - some profile on screwattack.com

That doesn't even completely sum up their reputation, but you get the idea: People don't like them. They might actually be more despised than Chad Kroeger.

An interesting thought is to what degree I can be sure that I'm being unbiased. Arguably, it's impossible to really be so. ICP has all this cultural infamy hanging around them as a group of musicians.

It's the ultimate in uncool, misfit music. The very worst of bad taste: That's how the narrative goes in the pop cultural sphere - and that's probably not making it easy for me to approach this with no preconceptions and unfair negative bias.

Let's get to the album itself. First, let me introduce you to mister Violent J himself.

Text under this image where I found it:
"Here is a rare photo of Violent J without his carcinogenic face-paint"

A kind of, sort of review:

Now that I've been through this album at least 4 whole times, I should be able to sum up the experience somehow. I feel like a key word in any sort of accurate description would have to be 'kitsch', but I'm not sure I've got a clear overview of just what I've been feeling when going through this thing.

The lyrics are terrible - and uniformly so. There's some sort of concept album narrative about going on a drug fuelled trip with your homies. Some analogies to the Wizard of Oz. Mostly, it's just a bunch of groan inducing, juvenile lines delivered in a sort of Vanilla Ice level flow. It's standard 90's infomercial rap rhythms in service of lyrical gems like these:

"I took a **** in the woods and whipped my ass
With a purple mushroom
About an hour ago I assume
Maybe that's why I always feel
Like somebody's watching me"

"Once I heard that, I knew that's all it would take
I started screaming like a cheerleader about to get raped"

"Hell's Pit's gots a cactus waiting on my ass
So expect me to cry when its time to pass"

So the lyrics are not going to be the saving grace of this thing - if it has any.
The music is going to be hard to talk about, but I feel like it's key to trying to understand just what the hell the point is with this ****.

Sound quality on this album is fairly crisp and clear. Samples tend to be of fairly good quality and the sparse-yet-fat beats mirror what I've heard in a lot of early 2000's commercial rap like 50 Cent. can't say there's any aspect of this that sounds great to me, but it's not ineptly handled either. Could have had some more atmosphere, but it's just not that sort of record.

So, as such, we're off to a good start - at least in that this aspect of the album does not suggest this is one of the worst things ever to grace the world of music.

Every song on this album is legitimately different from the one before it. There's a surprising variety of sounds, genre references and moods. Even the rapping occasionally gives way to something approaching a sung vocal hook.

These musical arrangements even get a little weird at times - dare one say even a bit inventive. But then we come back to the word 'kitsch'. I feel like the experience of listening to this - even trying my hardest to be fair and unbiased - is kind of like forcing myself to watch ****ty kids TV programs for the 3-4 age crowd. It's all primary colors, plastic, goofy characters with creepy perpetual grins and a slightly nauseating sense that you're going to end up clawing your eyes out if you watch enough of this.
Subtlety or nuance do not exist on this album. Every musical idea is right up in your face; comes at you like a frisky crack addict in a Barney costume and I don't feel like I'll "click" with this album, even if I heard it a thousand times.

It really isn't the worst thing ever though. The lyrics might just be, but holistically? Nah. I've heard lots of music I'd place lower than this. At least this is somewhat creative. That's not a forced attempt at being nice, by the way.

Just before closing time, I'm starting on a 5th spin - hoping that perhaps I'll have some final observation to make. I'm certainly thinking that I won't be missing any of the vocalists on this album. Also, for a bunch of fat white dudes, aren't those "hood" accents kind of forced? I don't know... I'm not American.

Yeah... That's it. I'm out of things to say. I'd just like to turn this thing off now and listen to something nicer.

Always interesting to test your ability to actually listen instead of immediately turning your nose up at something. That's the most positive thing I got out of this.

Thanks, Batty! I really hate that I didn't get to force you to listen to something on return.

~~[MERIT]~~ · 11-29-2017, 06:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pet_Sounds

Given that your favourite band is the Doors, we probably have fairly similar taste. Why don't we swap albums? (If it clears with Qwertyy.)

I'm game.

TechnicLePanther · 11-29-2017, 06:49 PM

Okay, so my rec was Enslaved - Below the Lights.

Let's go! Track by track:

As Fire Swept Clean the Earth: The main thing I enjoyed about this album was definitely the way the guitars played off of each other. Death growls I could take or leave, but the melodic nature of this album was pretty excellent throughout. Anyway, I like the way the main section of this song drives up the tension with the higher guitar wailing over the lower bass and rhythm guitar stuff. When the middle section comes up, the song takes on an almost Technical feel (ha. ha. ha.). Other than that, not much to say, but so far enjoyed this quite a bit. The texture is pretty incredible honestly.

The Dead Stare: The chords on this album reminded me a lot of the math rock band Slint. The drummer, I suppose I should mention, is solid here, and that's really all that's needed for a great album. The guitar solo on this track is pretty dang good just before the b-section. Should also mention that the produced effects, especially that flange, were pretty cool and added quite a bit to the atmosphere. I like the almost ghastly vocals near the end of the b-section.

The Crossing: An odd intro here, acoustic guitar and this little melody that don't really exactly fit together. It's a good dissonance though. This one's got quite a few interspersed sections, a heavier section comes in, then an acoustic section which I found nice, and then another heavy section with growling, and then another heavy section with singing... It's just too many changes to keep up with. Maybe if I was really dedicated to this album I could keep track, but there are just so many changes in pace. And that's not an issue! It's just something that makes it a bit hard for me to write about. Anyway, this one has been rambly, so I'll cut it off by saying that the performance here was good, but the songwriting was a bit shaky in parts. I think this track could use some trimming.

Queen of Night: Very interesting throwing a flute into the mix. Definitely drawing influences from many different sects of the metal world on this album. Another slightly weaker one here, there just aren't as many of the great melodic sections as there were in the first two tracks. As someone who isn't a fan of death metal, I can only really get into the more melodic sections.

Havenless: Sounds like a soviet chant to start off with here. But quickly the death growls come back. By the way, is this a foreign album? Or can I just not understand what's being said? I think it's the former, but it's hard for me to tell. Anyway, this song's got some more melodic sections, which are a bit more entertaining at least. But I don't know, beyond that this album seems to not have any more tricks up its sleeve. For black/death metal fans, that's great, but for me it just doens't work so well. I should elaborate that I am still enjoying myself, just not as much as those first couple of tracks.

Ridicule Swarm: Another interesting opening bit, with some MIDI instruments temporarily taking over the soundspace. Then a louder section. I like the atmosphere in this song. There is a nice mix of straight death bits, and then the MIDI sections, and then the melodic sections with spoken word vocals. I really enjoyed this one.

A Darker Place: Definitely getting a math rock vibe from this one. It seems to be written in 9/4+9/4 to begin with, a time signature I've never really heard before. Man, this one is pretty good, goes through a variety of segments and all of them I enjoy. Great closer!

So overall this album is quite good. Lots of great performances, no shortage of good songwriting, although a bit bland IMO in some places. Other than that, this is a really well made album. At least an 8/10. So now that I've said that let's see what RYM has to say: 3.77, so pretty close. Also, they call this progressive? I guess having one 9 minute song on your album now makes you prog, but to each their own I suppose.

And I'm gonna guess Qwerty or Aloysius.

Justthefacts · 11-29-2017, 06:54 PM

I had no idea our reviews had to be such elaborate, interning for Pitchfork kinda shit.

Ol’ Qwerty Bastard · 11-29-2017, 07:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TechnicLePanther

And I'm gonna guess Qwerty or Aloysius.

wasn't me, although i do occasionally love myself some emperor.

how dare someone (elph) rec me a goddamn compilation. at least whoever it was (elph) rec'd me a pretty darn good one.

right from the jump it's clear this is the embodiment of hardcore punk, it's actually crazy to think this is from the late 70s. from the sloppy guitar work to indistinguishably slurred and mumbled vocals, this thing screams "we don't give a ****."

i can't say i have a ton more to say about it because at the end of the day it's the straight forward approach that makes it work and overcomplicating that would kinda just ruin the appeal wouldn't it.

strong 3.5/5

if it isn't elph i honestly don't know who it could be. maybe Nea as a darkhorse?

nah nah it's gotta be elph

i almost forget to mention how awesome the crowd interactions are. from telling off the audience, slamming the workers at the venue, and hearing fans scream insults from the crowd, it just adds a lot of fun to the overall experience.

bulbasaur · 11-29-2017, 07:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MicShazam

Violent J - Wizard of the Hood

So this is an album from "Violent J", not The Insane Clown Posse... except he's in that group and it's really the same thing musically and with all the apparent features from his mates, it basically is an ICP record... or am I wrong? I'm going to relate this album somewhat to ICP since that's sort of a connection that's hard to get around given that group's notoriety.

In case you've been living in a monastery for a couple decades; what kind of notoriety are we talking about?

To quote a website: "Insane Clown Posse is so, so, so, so incredibly bad. Some bad bands are nevertheless ‘great’ in their ****tiness, or at least have some interesting, redeemable qualities, but ICP has none. They’re a godawful band, with godawful fans who somehow make wearing facepaint, spraying Faygo, and committing federal crimes less interesting and just so sad." - nationalave.com

"and at the absolute bottom of the already-despicable totem pole of **** bands were the putrid ****stains known as Insane Clown Posse. People in Detroit ****ing LOVE this band unconditionally. People with otherwise perfectly respectable, nay, GOOD taste in music pledge allegiance to the Juggalo nation and wear the hatchet around their neck." - metalsucks.net

"Yes. Its true. A group who has their entire career based on a gimmick. If there was one band I hated overall the most, ICP is unquestionably the worst. I spit on their fans too. Yes. Everywhere in public. Spitting on ICP fans since 2001" - some profile on screwattack.com

That doesn't even completely sum up their reputation, but you get the idea: People don't like them. They might actually be more despised than Chad Kroeger.

An interesting thought is to what degree I can be sure that I'm being unbiased. Arguably, it's impossible to really be so. ICP has all this cultural infamy hanging around them as a group of musicians.

It's the ultimate in uncool, misfit music. The very worst of bad taste: That's how the narrative goes in the pop cultural sphere - and that's probably not making it easy for me to approach this with no preconceptions and unfair negative bias.

Let's get to the album itself. First, let me introduce you to mister Violent J himself.

Text under this image where I found it:
"Here is a rare photo of Violent J without his carcinogenic face-paint"

A kind of, sort of review:

Now that I've been through this album at least 4 whole times, I should be able to sum up the experience somehow. I feel like a key word in any sort of accurate description would have to be 'kitsch', but I'm not sure I've got a clear overview of just what I've been feeling when going through this thing.

The lyrics are terrible - and uniformly so. There's some sort of concept album narrative about going on a drug fuelled trip with your homies. Some analogies to the Wizard of Oz. Mostly, it's just a bunch of groan inducing, juvenile lines delivered in a sort of Vanilla Ice level flow. It's standard 90's infomercial rap rhythms in service of lyrical gems like these:

"I took a **** in the woods and whipped my ass
With a purple mushroom
About an hour ago I assume
Maybe that's why I always feel
Like somebody's watching me"

"Once I heard that, I knew that's all it would take
I started screaming like a cheerleader about to get raped"

"Hell's Pit's gots a cactus waiting on my ass
So expect me to cry when its time to pass"

So the lyrics are not going to be the saving grace of this thing - if it has any.
The music is going to be hard to talk about, but I feel like it's key to trying to understand just what the hell the point is with this ****.

Sound quality on this album is fairly crisp and clear. Samples tend to be of fairly good quality and the sparse-yet-fat beats mirror what I've heard in a lot of early 2000's commercial rap like 50 Cent. can't say there's any aspect of this that sounds great to me, but it's not ineptly handled either. Could have had some more atmosphere, but it's just not that sort of record.

So, as such, we're off to a good start - at least in that this aspect of the album does not suggest this is one of the worst things ever to grace the world of music.

Every song on this album is legitimately different from the one before it. There's a surprising variety of sounds, genre references and moods. Even the rapping occasionally gives way to something approaching a sung vocal hook.

These musical arrangements even get a little weird at times - dare one say even a bit inventive. But then we come back to the word 'kitsch'. I feel like the experience of listening to this - even trying my hardest to be fair and unbiased - is kind of like forcing myself to watch ****ty kids TV programs for the 3-4 age crowd. It's all primary colors, plastic, goofy characters with creepy perpetual grins and a slightly nauseating sense that you're going to end up clawing your eyes out if you watch enough of this.
Subtlety or nuance do not exist on this album. Every musical idea is right up in your face; comes at you like a frisky crack addict in a Barney costume and I don't feel like I'll "click" with this album, even if I heard it a thousand times.

It really isn't the worst thing ever though. The lyrics might just be, but holistically? Nah. I've heard lots of music I'd place lower than this. At least this is somewhat creative. That's not a forced attempt at being nice, by the way.

Just before closing time, I'm starting on a 5th spin - hoping that perhaps I'll have some final observation to make. I'm certainly thinking that I won't be missing any of the vocalists on this album. Also, for a bunch of fat white dudes, aren't those "hood" accents kind of forced? I don't know... I'm not American.

Yeah... That's it. I'm out of things to say. I'd just like to turn this thing off now and listen to something nicer.

Always interesting to test your ability to actually listen instead of immediately turning your nose up at something. That's the most positive thing I got out of this.

Thanks, Batty! I really hate that I didn't get to force you to listen to something on return.

Ol’ Qwerty Bastard · 11-29-2017, 07:39 PM

i really liked it but it was kind of a safe pick cuz you knew i'd like it, i thought maybe it was someone else cause that just seemed too obvious. i otherwise would've expected some weird post-punk **** from you.

~~MicShazam~~ · 11-30-2017, 03:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Justthefacts

I had no idea our reviews had to be such elaborate, interning for Pitchfork kinda shit.

Just having a bit of fun. I very nearly did my usual 7-14 line thing instead.

Quote:

Originally Posted by bulbasaur

Looks like that wrestler named Goldberg or something. No wait. Someone with golden skin, that I remember from an old PS2 game. Ahhh... can't remember and it also doesn't matter.

~~[MERIT]~~ · 11-30-2017, 05:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MicShazam

Just having a bit of fun. I very nearly did my usual 7-14 line thing instead.

Looks like that wrestler named Goldberg or something. No wait. Someone with golden skin, that I remember from an old PS2 game. Ahhh... can't remember and it also doesn't matter.

Goldust

**Exo** · 11-30-2017, 09:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by [MERIT]

Goldust

Nerd.

I'll have my review in today or tomorrow by the way.

11-29-2017, 06:49 PM	#163 (permalink)
TechnicLePanther and the livin' is easy... Join Date: Jun 2015 Location: New York Posts: 1,997	Okay, so my rec was Enslaved - Below the Lights. Let's go! Track by track: As Fire Swept Clean the Earth: The main thing I enjoyed about this album was definitely the way the guitars played off of each other. Death growls I could take or leave, but the melodic nature of this album was pretty excellent throughout. Anyway, I like the way the main section of this song drives up the tension with the higher guitar wailing over the lower bass and rhythm guitar stuff. When the middle section comes up, the song takes on an almost Technical feel (ha. ha. ha.). Other than that, not much to say, but so far enjoyed this quite a bit. The texture is pretty incredible honestly. The Dead Stare: The chords on this album reminded me a lot of the math rock band Slint. The drummer, I suppose I should mention, is solid here, and that's really all that's needed for a great album. The guitar solo on this track is pretty dang good just before the b-section. Should also mention that the produced effects, especially that flange, were pretty cool and added quite a bit to the atmosphere. I like the almost ghastly vocals near the end of the b-section. The Crossing: An odd intro here, acoustic guitar and this little melody that don't really exactly fit together. It's a good dissonance though. This one's got quite a few interspersed sections, a heavier section comes in, then an acoustic section which I found nice, and then another heavy section with growling, and then another heavy section with singing... It's just too many changes to keep up with. Maybe if I was really dedicated to this album I could keep track, but there are just so many changes in pace. And that's not an issue! It's just something that makes it a bit hard for me to write about. Anyway, this one has been rambly, so I'll cut it off by saying that the performance here was good, but the songwriting was a bit shaky in parts. I think this track could use some trimming. Queen of Night: Very interesting throwing a flute into the mix. Definitely drawing influences from many different sects of the metal world on this album. Another slightly weaker one here, there just aren't as many of the great melodic sections as there were in the first two tracks. As someone who isn't a fan of death metal, I can only really get into the more melodic sections. Havenless: Sounds like a soviet chant to start off with here. But quickly the death growls come back. By the way, is this a foreign album? Or can I just not understand what's being said? I think it's the former, but it's hard for me to tell. Anyway, this song's got some more melodic sections, which are a bit more entertaining at least. But I don't know, beyond that this album seems to not have any more tricks up its sleeve. For black/death metal fans, that's great, but for me it just doens't work so well. I should elaborate that I am still enjoying myself, just not as much as those first couple of tracks. Ridicule Swarm: Another interesting opening bit, with some MIDI instruments temporarily taking over the soundspace. Then a louder section. I like the atmosphere in this song. There is a nice mix of straight death bits, and then the MIDI sections, and then the melodic sections with spoken word vocals. I really enjoyed this one. A Darker Place: Definitely getting a math rock vibe from this one. It seems to be written in 9/4+9/4 to begin with, a time signature I've never really heard before. Man, this one is pretty good, goes through a variety of segments and all of them I enjoy. Great closer! So overall this album is quite good. Lots of great performances, no shortage of good songwriting, although a bit bland IMO in some places. Other than that, this is a really well made album. At least an 8/10. So now that I've said that let's see what RYM has to say: 3.77, so pretty close. Also, they call this progressive? I guess having one 9 minute song on your album now makes you prog, but to each their own I suppose. And I'm gonna guess Qwerty or Aloysius. __________________ Many have tried to destroy it... but... true evil never dies. It is only... REBORN *SUGGEST ME AN ALBUM* - I'm probably not going to listen to it but I will if you bother me enough.

11-29-2017, 01:31 PM	#161 (permalink)
~~MicShazam~~ Account Disabled Join Date: Aug 2015 Location: Aalborg Posts: 7,636	Violent J - Wizard of the Hood So this is an album from "Violent J", not The Insane Clown Posse... except he's in that group and it's really the same thing musically and with all the apparent features from his mates, it basically is an ICP record... or am I wrong? I'm going to relate this album somewhat to ICP since that's sort of a connection that's hard to get around given that group's notoriety. In case you've been living in a monastery for a couple decades; what kind of notoriety are we talking about? To quote a website: "Insane Clown Posse is so, so, so, so incredibly bad. Some bad bands are nevertheless ‘great’ in their **tiness, or at least have some interesting, redeemable qualities, but ICP has none. They’re a godawful band, with godawful fans who somehow make wearing facepaint, spraying Faygo, and committing federal crimes less interesting and just so sad." - nationalave.com "and at the absolute bottom of the already-despicable totem pole of bands were the putrid stains known as Insane Clown Posse. People in Detroit ing LOVE this band unconditionally. People with otherwise perfectly respectable, nay, GOOD taste in music pledge allegiance to the Juggalo nation and wear the hatchet around their neck." - metalsucks.net "Yes. Its true. A group who has their entire career based on a gimmick. If there was one band I hated overall the most, ICP is unquestionably the worst. I spit on their fans too. Yes. Everywhere in public. Spitting on ICP fans since 2001" - some profile on screwattack.com That doesn't even completely sum up their reputation, but you get the idea: People don't like them. They might actually be more despised than Chad Kroeger. An interesting thought is to what degree I can be sure that I'm being unbiased. Arguably, it's impossible to really be so. ICP has all this cultural infamy hanging around them as a group of musicians. It's the ultimate in uncool, misfit music. The very worst of bad taste: That's how the narrative goes in the pop cultural sphere - and that's probably not making it easy for me to approach this with no preconceptions and unfair negative bias. Let's get to the album itself. First, let me introduce you to mister Violent J himself. Text under this image where I found it: "Here is a rare photo of Violent J without his carcinogenic face-paint" A kind of, sort of review: Now that I've been through this album at least 4 whole times, I should be able to sum up the experience somehow. I feel like a key word in any sort of accurate description would have to be 'kitsch', but I'm not sure I've got a clear overview of just what I've been feeling when going through this thing. The lyrics are terrible - and uniformly so. There's some sort of concept album narrative about going on a drug fuelled trip with your homies. Some analogies to the Wizard of Oz. Mostly, it's just a bunch of groan inducing, juvenile lines delivered in a sort of Vanilla Ice level flow. It's standard 90's infomercial rap rhythms in service of lyrical gems like these: "I took a in the woods and whipped my ass With a purple mushroom About an hour ago I assume Maybe that's why I always feel Like somebody's watching me" "Once I heard that, I knew that's all it would take I started screaming like a cheerleader about to get raped" "Hell's Pit's gots a cactus waiting on my ass So expect me to cry when its time to pass" So the lyrics are not going to be the saving grace of this thing - if it has any. The music is going to be hard to talk about, but I feel like it's key to trying to understand just what the hell the point is with this . Sound quality on this album is fairly crisp and clear. Samples tend to be of fairly good quality and the sparse-yet-fat beats mirror what I've heard in a lot of early 2000's commercial rap like 50 Cent. can't say there's any aspect of this that sounds great to me, but it's not ineptly handled either. Could have had some more atmosphere, but it's just not that sort of record. So, as such, we're off to a good start - at least in that this aspect of the album does not suggest this is one of the worst things ever to grace the world of music. Every song on this album is legitimately different from the one before it. There's a surprising variety of sounds, genre references and moods. Even the rapping occasionally gives way to something approaching a sung vocal hook. These musical arrangements even get a little weird at times - dare one say even a bit inventive. But then we come back to the word 'kitsch'. I feel like the experience of listening to this - even trying my hardest to be fair and unbiased - is kind of like forcing myself to watch **ty kids TV programs for the 3-4 age crowd. It's all primary colors, plastic, goofy characters with creepy perpetual grins and a slightly nauseating sense that you're going to end up clawing your eyes out if you watch enough of this. Subtlety or nuance do not exist on this album. Every musical idea is right up in your face; comes at you like a frisky crack addict in a Barney costume and I don't feel like I'll "click" with this album, even if I heard it a thousand times. It really isn't the worst thing ever though. The lyrics might just be, but holistically? Nah. I've heard lots of music I'd place lower than this. At least this is somewhat creative. That's not a forced attempt at being nice, by the way. Just before closing time, I'm starting on a 5th spin - hoping that perhaps I'll have some final observation to make. I'm certainly thinking that I won't be missing any of the vocalists on this album. Also, for a bunch of fat white dudes, aren't those "hood" accents kind of forced? I don't know... I'm not American. Yeah... That's it. I'm out of things to say. I'd just like to turn this thing off now and listen to something nicer. Always interesting to test your ability to actually listen instead of immediately turning your nose up at something. That's the most positive thing I got out of this. Thanks, Batty! I really hate that I didn't get to force you to listen to something on return.