Neapolitan

"Doctor Neapolitan.
Musician, Scientist,
searching for a way to tap into the hidden strengths that all humans have.
Then an accidental overdose of gamma radiation alters his body chemistry.
And now when Neapolitan grows angry or outraged,
a startling metamorphosis occurs
The creature is driven by rage,
and is pursued by an investigative reporter & Frisbeeist, Plankton."

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Trollheart

Yeah thanks Plankton but I'm really only stuck on the lemon colour; all the others are grand as they are, and I want to retain the original feel of "Love or Hate", where Love was Green, Hate was Red (understandable) Meh was White and True Love was Blue (True Blue, see?)

One is white, one is lemon. Don't you know anything??
Dammit. Nea got there first. Ah well, GMTA.

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Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

Trollheart

Title: How I Loved You
Artist: The Angels of Light
Genre: Folk Rock/Alt-Rock
Artist Reaction: I’ve heard of them before; don’t think I hated them
Genre Reaction: Not mad about folk but I don’t hate it. Alt-rock as I said before can go either way
Familiarity: I’ve heard one other album
Suggested by: Mondo Bungle
A Little Background: As I note above, I’ve heard these guys before, and indeed it was Mondo’s choice on the original Love or Hate thread that introduced me to them back in 2015. Reading back over that review I see a lot of green, but the end conclusion is that it was all right. We’ll see if this is any better. The Angels of Light are, or were, a spinoff band for Michael Gira after he disbanded Swans (guess he reversed that decision, as I see they have a new album out this year) and were to be a more folk-oriented, softer version than the rather noisy and chaotic output of his other band.
Expectations: I imagine it’ll be close to a Love, but probably a low one.
Overview: This is the Angels’ second album, released in 2001 and directly precedes the one I reviewed previously, Everything Is Good Here/Please Come Home. Apparently it’s an album of love songs but with dark themes. And annoyingly, Spotify don’t have any of their albums so I have to rely on Y to the T. Dammit.

(3) Evangeline: Piano and acoustic-guitar driven with some sort of low moaning howl thing going on in the background. Really nice track, though I think it goes on too long for what it is. I was trying to place Gira’s voice, not being a fan of Swans, and I have it now: he reminds me very much of Matt Johnson of The The. Good start.
(4) Untitled Love Song: Like the slow, kind of waltz rhythm to this, and if that’s accordion (and I think it is) so much the better. Really like this one, love the sort of country style to it.
(4) My True Body: Bit more power and energy in this, you can sense the darkness and menace in it especially after the two opening tracks being so laid-back. Sort of feedback or buzzy guitar breaks down into an uptempo acoustic, very Nick Cave style on the vocal here. The song develops a real galloping, western style about halfway through, reminds me also of Strawfoot. Righteous.
(4) Jennifer’s Sorry: Starts slowburning but ends up quite powerful and intense with some really mad piano and a chorus to die for. Sort of. Like this one too. Hey, he sort of sounds like Lloyd Cole on this one!
(1)Song for Nico: I’d have to say this is just pleasant. Compared to what I’ve heard up to now it’s certainly good, but it doesn’t give me much to write about and it kind of doesn’t stick in my head. Sort of, I don’t know, bubblegum? No that’s not right. But not … serious?
New City in the Future: Oh wow! This is almost twelve minutes long. Will that be twelve gruelling minutes or twelve glorious minutes? Well, based on what I’ve been listening to I would say the latter. Okayl, about eight minutes in and I have to revise my prediction. It’s a little raw, and for such a long song there’s not a whole lot going on. Started well but then sort of deteriorated. Not impressed I’m afraid. Hope this isn’t where the album starts to slide.
(3)My Suicide: Choppy acoustic guitar with a fairly ragged vocal, returning to that sort of country swinging rhythm that again reminds me of Strawfoot, and bringing back the accordion, whose return is welcome. A good recovery after the twelve-minute borefest that preceded it.
(3) New York Girls: Slower, more relaxed with a laconic vocal and a nice line in keyboard, but again I feel it overstays its welcome at over eight minutes. The ending is very jarring I must say, does not fit in at all with the rest of the song and seems to have been done for, I don’t know, shock value?
(4) Public Embarrassment Blues: This at least is a decent length, coming in at just under five minutes, and seems to be fairly relaxed. Nice percussion and again the accordion adds a real layer of calm to the song.
(4) Two Women: ]The final track is another almost-twelve-minuter; let’s hope it has more about it than “New City in the Future”. Nice guitar intro, and it builds nicely. Certainly better than the other song and a good closer to a pretty damn fine album. Not perfect, got its flaws but worth a listen certainly.

Conclusion: Like I say, when I listened to Everything is Good Here/Please Come Home, I noted I wouldn’t be hurrying back to the album or in a rush to explore other Angels of Light material. This, on the other hand, makes me feel that might have been something of a hasty decision, and I would not be averse to hearing more of this. Still not listening to Swans though!

So, Love or Hate? A pretty high Love (4) here for this one.

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Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

Mondo Bungle

I didn't know I recced one before.

I have Swans ideas I'm sure you would enjoy, they have much folk based music like this but they do tend to be grueling regardless of the content. Their new work is on another level though that I still think would have a lot for you to love but I think it would be better to ask if one could suggest a 2.5 hour album before just doing it.

but this is my next choice and much more risky

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Mondo Bungle

the one that's fifth in queue?

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Trollheart

No, haven't got to you yet. Be patient; I'll get to ripping your selection to shreds with my poor taste soon enough.

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Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

Neapolitan

Not to disagree on your color system, but green has been established already in popular culture to mean certain things. You should use green either when a song makes you horny, or when it makes you grow angry or outraged like the Incredible Hulk.

edit: Love is Blue, or should be ... like the song.

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The Batlord

Burst - Lazarus Bird

https://open.spotify.com/album/0QftO0P5cWVnmkPphtnY4u

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YorkeDaddy

I think your color system is fine, TH. Keep doing this how you want to do it. It is blatantly obvious that the forum is more active and alive when you’re doing it. I’ve tried to maintain similar threads and it had me drained and unmotivated very quickly, so I know it can be hard to keep up sometimes. Don’t let irrelevant criticisms get to you, and just know that your contributions are visibly appreciated by many.

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Frownland

They're not major but the criticisms on how it can be improved are valid. Don't encourage other members to be as fragile as you are.

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Studies show that when a given norm is changed in the face of the unchanging, the remaining contradictions will parallel the truth.