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Machine Reviews Every Album He Listens To
Basically the idea for this is every album I have not heard before I will go track by track and give my thoughts on it. Kind like the old Love and Hate threads from back in the day, but instead of waiting around for everyone to rec me **** I'm just gonna listen to whatever I want. Although if people want to rec me **** I'll put aside Friday to review a couple albums that people rec me. I'll also listen to any personal projects and review those as well. Everything is fair game, I just want to listen to a ton of music and have people feed my ego. This journal will probably eventually be used for other **** as well, but I have no ideas at the moment.
Rating System Black = 1/10 Brown = 2/10 Red = 3/10 Pink = 4/10 White = 5/10 LightGreen = 6/10 Green = 7/10 Blue = 8/10 Purple = 9/10 Indigo = 10/10 |
This was my unreviewed rec from your other thread, so...
https://www.discogs.com/%D0%9B%D0%B5...elease/1657980 |
This is ambitious. Good for you.
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ENTRY 1
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - Gumboot Soup Genre: Garage Rock, Neo-Psych, Jazz Rock, Heavy Psych http://i.4cdn.org/mu/1514639632297.jpg So at this point I'll assume that everyone knows this band and has heard at least one album they've put out in the last year.Personally I think all 4 so far have been good to great, with an outstanding amount of quality control for a band putting out an album every 2 to 3 months. I figured what better way to start off this journal when I found out that the 5th and final album of the year was released this morning. All I know about the album so far is that it is a re-recorded collection of tracks that didn't make the other four albums. I've heard a couple singles and thought they were good. Without further ado let's start. Track 1: Beginner's Luck Alright we're starting off with one of their more jazz-pop songs. I always thought they should explore this style more than their usual psych stylings. Strange chords on this song, I'm not entirely sure they all work and the chorus is a little irritating. I can see why this was left off of Sketches, but it's not really bad, just nothing special. The little flute solo was nice with the psych'd out backing vocals. Track 2: Greenhouse Heat Death This is one of the song's I've already heard. So this was pretty obviously left off of Flying Microtonal Banana, but in sound it really comes closer to sounding like a fusion of the FMB sound and the Murder sound. It's a little heavier and less krautrock than anything from Banana. This one is pretty damn catchy the only thing that bothers me are the throat growled vocals that are way too high in the mix. Track 3: Barefoot Desert Strange riff to start off on. Oh **** this is straight up psych pop, haven't heard this style from them on any of their albums this year, so I'm not sure where exactly this would have landed. I always liked Ambrose's vocals over Stu's in all honesty, I'm glad he was given more time to shine here. At around the 2 minute mark there's there's an awesome little breakdown.The song is proggier than you would think for such a short song, goes through a lot of changes for it being so short and poppy. Yeah that one was pretty alright. Track 4: Muddy Water Back into psych rock like THAT all right this one is really cool. Sounds like their usual riff orientated style, but with all acoustic guitars and just proggier instrumentation overall. This one is actually the best on the album so far. Great mix of the Nonagon sound with the Polygondwanaland sound. I don't care what anyone says about them overdoing the whole "garage rock based in riffs" it fits them and I've never heard anyone do it as well as these guys. Oh lord that sax trio was wonderful. Easily one of their best songs this year. Track 5: Superposition Before I even start this one I already know, just on the track title alone, that this was left off of Polygondwanaland, so I'm pretty excited to hear this one. I was right. Woah this is actually quite a lot different for them. It's all based around synths ad a heavily autotuned vocal. I was not expecting this out of a King Gizzard album, ever. Hm, not too much to say in the song itself it has a cool droning chords progression and it relies on mode mixture over actual chord changes, and ah a free jazz breakdown out of nowhere, nice touch. Production is something else on this one. Track 6: Down The Sink This one's a little funky. They need to keep this sax going on their next album, it adds a lot to their music and I don't knowhow they just they of using the instrument. This one I can tell was LEFT OFF an album, it feels a bit unfinished and the song itself is a bit weak. The production is wonderful, but that has gone for every King Gizzard album I've ever listened to, even the more lo-fi ones. I'm a bit sad they wasted such a great groove on a weak song. It's got cool sections, but overall pretty skippable. Track 7: The Great Chain of Being I love the title of this one lmfao. OH THANK THE ****ING LORD HEAVY GIZZ! I want to personally ask Stu when he's giving us the heavy psych/doom metal I've been wanting from them for a year now. This is ridiculous, the guitars are so damn crunchy and bluesy in the most Electric Wizardy way. That's my favorite sound out of a guitar. Damn this song just kicks ass, it's not just a sludge fest either, they brought the catchy songwriting as well. Why did they leave this off an album?!?! I do not understand the logic behind that decision. OH the ending part of this is just too much. Track 8: The Last Oasis Ah the other track I heard before this came out. This is pure jazzy beauty. Easily the best in this style I've heard from them and this is coming from someone who actually liked Sketches quite a bit. Not too much to say beyond that though, the chord progression is pretty great despite not knowing what it actually is. Not too big on the wash over production that happens about half way through the track at all though, the vocals also sound a little weird with all the autotune they have on them. Track 9: All Is Known More Microtonal Banana ****. Just based on these outtakes you could tell these were written a little later in the recording process because they sound like a mix between FMB and Murder like I said earlier. This song is a little bit generically "them". It's cool, but you can only listen to this tune so many times, luckily they're not a one trick pony and you can usually bet on them changing things up quite a lot by the next album. Bit boring. Track 10: I'm Sleepin' In This is almost Radioheady, this is beautiful. There's actually quite a lot going on here, so I'll point out a few points of production I think are interesting. So the recording is clean, except for the drums which are overloaded and in the front of the mix. There is a constant barrage of synths over this lightly strummed acoustic guitar line. So short tho... Alright if there are tracks to list to from this, listen to this one, The Great Chain of Being, and Muddy Water. Track 11: The Wheel Alright final track of this incredibly inconsistent album. Seems to be more jazz rock, wow they really recorded a lot for Sketches that didn't make it on the record. Why do I get the feeling in the future they're going to go down this chilled out jazz rock road a lot more than I'm personally comfortable with. This one is a little sleepy for me, too chill for it's own good. There's just not much to say about it. Yeah whatever, boring. OVERALL Pretty good outing, wildly inconsistent, but it also has some of their best tracks ever put to recording, so I can't really complain. 6/10 |
ENTRY 2
Magrudergrind - Magrudergrind Genre: Grindcore, Powerviolence https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon....aL._SX355_.jpg So my friend showed me a song by these guys and while initially I was amused by their name the intense sludge and groove of the track quickly won my heart over as I was jamming in the back of a diner a bit to hard. beyond that I'm going into this more or less blind. I'm prepared for about 26 minutes of non stop in your face sludge and grind. Track 1: The Protocols of Anti-Sound Right off the bat I'm enthralled in nothing but pure distortion from guitars revving up. Holy **** this sounds great. I KNEW IT, pure ****ing sludge man. Possibly the simplest riff I've ever heard, but it does not matter. All right now we're in full throttle grind. This is absolutely powerful in every sense of the world. The riff is unrelenting and supremely heavy, when it gets too fast it never breaks in clarity. Track 2: Pulverizing Hate Mongers This definitely more on the punk. Heavy as all hell though. The riff is nowhere near as crushing unfortunately, at least the vocals have been completely kicking the entire time, and **** the drummer is kicking it. Track 3: Rejecting The Militant Promise Loving these near chromatic riffing on display here. Ooo and we're getting out of the low tones on the guitar on this one. More of the same kickass **** from the last two tracks as to be expected with a powerviolence record. And just like that the next track has started lmao. Track 4: Assimilated Pollutants Another 40 second track. Oh I'm loving the riff in the intro there. This one is the best so far, easily the guitar sounds like nothing I've ever heard before. And it's over. Track 5: Abuse of Philanthropic Self Gain These tracks are too damn short to review. What in the hell is this, jesus christ that kicked my ass, and the track hadn't even come in fully yet. Damn I see why people love this. Wish that was like 2 minutes longer, although I guess I'll be going back to this a lot. Track 6: Fools of Contradiction This one is about 1 minute long, so obviously that means punk time? Well either way that's what I'm getting. Love the d-beat energy in the first half of the track before it moves back into more familiar powervioence territory. Oh now I'm getting lectured about gentrification? Yeah alright bud. Track 7: Heretics That's just a fun sounding riff. I'm not sure how to describe this one beyond really fun grindcore. It feels very juvenile in a way, not even pure anger like kids who want to act angry, but are secretly having a really good time. That's the feeling I get on this one. GUYS THESE SONGS ARE NOT LONG ENOUGH FOR YOU TO JUSTIFY THESE 20 SECOND SAMPLES AT THE END OF YOUR TRACKS! Track 8: Bridge Burner Oh okay a 3 minute track les go. I believe this is the song that my friend showed me. Yes it is, I recognize that distortion intro anywhere. GOD ****ING DAMN this groove is out of this world man. If there's a track anyone takes away from this album let it be this one. There's some other tracks I think have been just as good, but wow this one gets you right away. I was half hoping the entire record would be like this, instead I got something just as good, but I am a little disappointed by the lack of groove on the rest of this because they are just so good at it. And the hook is god tier. Track 9: Cranial Media Parasite Oh **** is this half of the record gonna be groovier? If so sign me the **** up, oh never mind back into the fire. The discordant riff is absolutely killer though, makes me feel like I'm listening to Converge or something. NO YOU DID NOT JUST TAKE UP HALF OF THE TRACK WITH A SAMPLE! Track 10: Excommunicated More of the same really at least in the intro here. I do like the interplay between the two vocalists in the chorus to this one, that's kinda fun. This riff in the "breakdown" is pretty great despite how damn simple it is. Cool stuff going on in this track, but nothing hasn't been heard on the record already. That's not really a complaint don't worry. Track 11: The Price of Living By Delinquent Ideals Gotta love Spotify ads before your song will start. Stop. With. The. Damn. Samples. Please. Pure cacophony, despite how insane the music gets the production stays clear, big ups to the producer and studio engineer on this one. Oh that sludge riff is ungodly, that's just too ****ing much man. Great track. D U M B A S S S A M P L E S Track 12: Built To Blast Love the almost melodic opening riff. Felt almost like the intro to some sort of dark pop punk record. More spastic drumming and riffing as per usual. The mid section feels pretty uninspired, and the sample is so ****ing dumb jfc. Track 13: Lyrical Ammunition For Scene Warfare Back to the realllly short tracks. Alright more d-beat I see. Riff is pretty meh unfortunately. Just not much doing anything for me in this track, it simplifies what was already a really simple formula. Riffing near the end kind saves this one though. Track 14: Rise and Fall of Empires Past Easily the most grindcore of the tracklist so far. Nothing on this album has really felt true grindcore until now. It's also easily the shortest track on the album. Track 15: Heavier Bombing Huh so this starts with some sort of grindy hip-hop sample. Or... this is the whole track. So first half of the track is a powerviolence inspired piece of boom bap and then it just shoots into regular powerviolence. Okay and we have another boom bap track at the end... Yeah that was a bit confusing, the last little beat at the end was cool, but that was not structured well at all. Track 16: Martyrs of the Shoah Back to the mother****in groove, thank you Magrudergrind. not quite as damn powerful as Bridge Burner, but still damn good. Little fast for this style imo, but overall I love this one. It's also around 3 minutes, so there's a little bit more to chew on as this entire album should be. I still want to hear a band who only does the slow parts of death metal, grindcore, and powerviolence. Those sections are always my favorite parts of the respective genres. Track 17: Untitled So this seems to be a bit of dark ambient with lots of political samples flying by with very vague intention, although with the general politics of the album I can take a wild guess. I actually quite enjoy the ambience this track creates, much better than the sloppy samples places around the beginnings and ends of all the other tracks. OVERALL Despite some lackluster structuring and general idiocy in its political overtones. The music itself kicks so much ass none of those problems really matter. In fact the last track, one of the most blatantly political, was one of my favorites. I don't really care about motives if the music great, and the music IS great. I'll more than definitely check out more by these guys in the future. 7/10 |
Here have even more ****ed up powerviolence.
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Very good reviews, Machine.
Just a tiny bit of advice: I'd explain the colour-coded keys for your track ratings, as not everyone is familiar with my system from "Love or Hate?" and as well as that, you seem to have (though that might be an error) some tracks marked in different shades of green? Then there's purple? Maybe just throw a key into the OP so people know what the colours mean? Other than that, very impressive. Keep it up! :thumb: |
magrudergrind ****ing roooock
try this album tho |
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ENTRY 3
Jeff Rosenstock - POST- Genre: Power Pop, Indie Rock, Singer/Songwriter, Prog Pop https://static.stereogum.com/uploads...99-640x640.jpg So one of my favorite artists of all time has decided to drop a new album out of absolutely nowhere once again. I hear this one is quite a bit more strange than then anything else he's ever recorded and just looking at the tracklisting I see a 7 minute song and an 11 minute song, so I'm not expecting just the usual power punk affair. I don't really have patience to write any more of an intro because I just want to hear this album, so without further ado. Track 1 & 2: Mornin' and USA Mornin' is a 5 second track, so I'm including it with the first actual track USA. Alright this has come in incredibly strong, the chord progression is classic Jeff, but the tempo has been slowed a lot than usual. Some great lead guitar work here as usual. About 1 minute in and we're already going through some sort of interlude/build up. Yeah I can see why this is strange for him. And suddenly this heaven-high crescendo out of absolutely nowhere. The song almost feels like it's ending, but there's at least 4 minutes left. OH finally, Jeff has given into his electronic impulses, this is pure chiptune goodness. Really beautiful atmospheric synth stuff, just looping on these two beautiful major 7th chords. Alright seem to be building back into some more uptempo, oh I see. So the angelic crescendo I was talking about earlier is back, so it seems to almost act as chorus in this song. This is absolutely ridiculous, this outro. Okay stop reading this review now and just go listen to the album this is nuts man. Track 3: Yr Throat Alright back into more familiar territory song length wise. Really liking the galloping drums here in the beginning and raw recording quality of SOME of the instruments. Alright this feels like something off of WORRY, but a bit more interesting chord-wise. Apparently Jeff is now afraid of the verse-chorus-verse-chorus structure because I have yet to hear it on this album yet. He's instead adopting a "I will write and structure songs however I damn please" method. Track 4: All This Useless Energy Wow that is some weird production on that acoustic guitar. Strange production choices on this whole album, but not in way that cheapens the record or makes it worse. Really cool tune on this one, and is this a normal pop structure I'm hearing???? If this kind of quality keeps up this might do the impossible and beat out WORRY. In love with the "so in the background synths you can barely make them out". Man I could talk about the chords Jeff uses all day man, so strange. Track 5: Powerlessness This is the first track that even remotely has a punk feel to it, but the way is mixed it doesn't really feel like a punk track, more like a sped up singer/songwriter thing at least here. Alright here's all the instruments. Another good tune, but easily the worst I've heard on this album. By no means does that mean bad, it just means something I've heard many a time listening to Jeff Rosenstock records. The chorus is pretty damn sticky though, can't get enough of that. Track 6: TV Star Absolutely beautiful start up from this synth and piano. Dream-like feel to this one. I like the transition into more standard singer/songwriter with the "generic" drum fill. Loving the instrumentation on this record quite strange even for a Jeff Rosenstock. This is a wonderful song through and through. I love this little acoustic guitar run through some sort of synth to give it this wash over sound that feels so out of place, but it works somehow. This track is giving me flashbacks to When You're A Ghost, but it definitely has its own identity. Track 7: Melba Alright I believe I heard some sort of version of this song went I went to see Jeff live, I'm not entirely sure, but I feel like I've heard this song at least in demo form... somewhere. I at least recognize the title. YES HE PLAYED THIS LIVE! This is a damn great song, pretty basic power pop ****, but that in no way is an insult. When listening to Jeff you have to remember his most generic ranks up with the absolute best of any other power pop artist. Great bridge here. Loving the subtle organ that pops in and out of the background. Love this one. Track 8: Beating My Head Against The Wall So I have heard this one already, Jeff released it on some compilation last year and while I loved the song I did not think it would be on his next album. From the demo version I heard it seems like a more standard punk/power pop song than I'm used to hearing from him. It's also a very short song, so hopefully this new version kicks my ass. Alright it seems about the same except everything is actually recorded properly. The synth actually adds a lot to this one, gives it some more harmony in general and makes the song a bit more interesting. Great little song. Track 9: 9/10 Second to last song, and last before the 11 minute epic. Another synth start to this one. Kinda feels like a synthpop song right now, that's not something I've ever felt I could say with a Jeff Rosenstock song. The vocal melody in the chorus is so damn nice. Wow this genuine beauty, there's a lot going on in the prod that I can't really properly describe. Really beautiful near-jazzy guitar solo. Jeff I'm glad you've finally indulged yourself in some more experimental production again, it's been a while. Yeah this one is blowing me away. Track 10: Let Them Win Here we go. Loving the double tracked bass here, gives this a really heavy feel to it. This is the kind of production I'm always looking in records, production that feels like a sonic experience as much as the songs themselves. Love the stop start rhythm in the A section here. This is the first album where I'm hearing a lot of jazz influence in the rhythms and some of the guitar playing. This record just feels absolutely massive compared to his other records, for whatever reason this also feels like his first truly proper album if that makes sense? This is the first time everything has felt entirely professional in sound and presentation. Also this guitar solo is absolutely kicking, holy **** man. The entire is just building and going to war with itself while this lone guitar just soars on top of everything. Man this is only halfway through the song too. That acoustic guitar just sounds beautiful... now a lone synth? Uh is this about to become a progressive electronic piece? It seems to be... This is actually really spacey and beautiful. I'd like to hear him really indulge in his more electronic side like this some day. Idk I feel like we could get a power pop Kid A out of this man. So this is really the rest of the track... I'm completely digging this. Amazing song, amazing closer. OVERALL I mean... damn Jeff really good job. Really good job...This is his best yet. 8/10 |
Brilliant, a rating system harder to follow than Trollheart's! Finally. :laughing:
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ENTRY 4
Alva Noto - Xerrox Vol.2 Genre: Ambient, Drone, Glitch, Noise, Microsound https://dailydecibel.files.wordpress...to_xerrox2.jpg I have some experience with Nota's work and I've loved everything I've listened to by the guy. I listened to the first Xerrox album at the beginning of the year last year and after that listened to a couple of his collab albums with Ryuichi Sakamoto which are some of my favorite ambient albums of all time. The guy knows how to make some really damn interesting ambient and glitch music. I hope to someday be able to get through Alva's entire discography at some point. I expect nothing, but greatness out of this sequel to the first volume of Xerrox. I'm thinking an easy 7/10 here. Track 1: Xerrox Phaser Acat 1 Love the tones here that start us off. Very low, but warm... very full. There's some light buzzing in the background that keeps getting more reverbed out as the sound increases. Wow that almost sounded like a bubble bursting in like 0.01% speed. Loving the ambient noise dwelling in the background while the major ambient tones just fluctuate in volume and effect. Got some panning whirrs in the back. Oh I love that little synth melody that starts around the 4 minute mark, if it was by itself and not surrounded by the enveloping noise then it could almost be the basis for some sort of minimal techno song. xThe sound is already quite a bit more complex on this album than it was on Xerrox Vol.1. The track has this slow evolution to it, what was in the background 2 minutes ago has slowly made its way to the forefront of the song. Here comes a bit of that microsound influence now, very loosely rhythmic beeps and noise interjections are popping in and out of the track over the gorgeous synth melody that keeps looping. The loop somehow feels completely natural though. There's a damn good bass tone that has been going throughout this song that can only be heard in the right ear, or at least can only be heard prominently in the right ear, gives the track a lot of depth it wouldn't have without that droning note in the back. The track is quite long, but never feels like it's dragging despite the almost complete lack of progression for minutes at a time, it lets you get comfortable with each new idea before adding in new ones or taking away old ones. Great opener. Track 2: Xerrox Rin Next up is a shorter track only about a minute long. Some microsound here, not too much going on in the mix whatsoever. Just a bass tone and some glitched out noises here or there. And that's it. Interesting experiment, but I don't see why it's here. Track 3: Xerrox Soma Starts off with the most lovely sounding synth I've ever heard this man use. Sounds like something between a string and a piano, not sure else how to describe it. It's hard to even hear the actual tones of the synth due to how absolutely engulfed it is in noise. It manages to maintain its beauty and presence despite the noise and you might say the noise in fact bolsters how pretty the undertones are. This album has a definite penchant for drones that I didn't hear in Xerrox Vol.1 which was based on more on ambient tones and glitch music. Loving the lighthouse siren bass tone that pops in and out of the track. Some very subtle glitches spurring around in the back of the track. Nevermind they just got a whole lot louder. Really digging this track very similar in tone to the first track, but not quite as longwinded. Track 4: Xerrox Meta Phaser So the last track goes straight into this one without a hitch. It's more or less a continuation from what I'm hearing. The tones of the last track are slowly giving way into this new sound, which sound like someone recorded a choral group and just spent weeks manipulating all the humanity out of the sample. Very light and fluffy tones that are both heavy and and inhuman. Now there's some cracking tones with an almost buzzsaw bass wallowing throughout the track. Weird how something so light turned into an absolute hellscape without me even noticing in about 30 seconds. The track has now gone full our assault on the senses, pure aural attack. First true noise track of the album, but it isn't without its hidden beauty beneath the sharp attack of the synthetic noise on top. Wow it genuinely sounds like an ocean of noise crashing through a city and killing everything in it's path. In sound design this is the best track on here so far easy. Track 5: Xerrox Sora Loving the almost Replica-esque microsamples in the beginning, the first bit of rhythm the album has really had. Some nice strings over the top ofeverything else, as usual the mix is absolutely filled with sound even when not too much is going on. I genuinely can't tell if these are strings or some sort of uncanny synth. Like the intense glitching going on here. The original rhythmic microsample is still looping around in the very back of the track just so you can barely hear it, love that production choice. The theme of this album so far seems to be making the most maximal sound possible using the most minimal of sounds. It scores a lot of points on that front, as cohesive songs you should probably look somewhere else, but if you're listening to alva noto then why are you looking for that in the first place. Nice little cutoff of sound here near the end, subtly glitchy little outro here. Nice track. Track 6: Xerrox Monophaser 1 Very high pitched strings to start it off, very Stars Of The Lid. Some rumbling in the background, has a morning storm feel to it. Almost like the sun is rising, but a storm from the other side of the sky is quickly approaching, weird mixture of moods. This is actually a quite lovely bit of ambient music. Some audible piano for the first time on the record, loving the manipulated sine waves as well. It's so weird I can actually feel the shapes of the sounds, that's how well engineered this album is. It's so well done that describing it makes me sound high.I really want to find the stem of that manipulated sine wave loop and sample that for a project I'm working on, it's so perfect in sound. The strings from the very beginning have been looping in and out, like I said before it very much feels like a song from The Tired Songs Of Stars Of the Lid. Almost too much so lmao. A trend of this record is to end on very quiet glitch, I like that. Yeah really damn pretty stuff, much different than Vol.1 so far. Track 7: Xerrox Monophaser 2 As I suspected Monophaser 1 leads right into Monophaser 2. Holy **** that sub bass is immense. Wow I was not prepared for that, that is pants ****tingly low. Yeah more strings that come in and out with more of the almost vibraphone sounding sine waves. A definite sequel to Monophaser 1. Some pretty nice sounds comeing out of the back of mix, loving the stereo effect of this record, very well produced. Where the first part was pure ambient bliss, this is much more in the vein of dark ambient despite using almost the exact same synths, but with added sound treats. The string loop is less prominent this time, it takes its time to get where it needs to be rather than the constant every couple seconds loop of the first track. Another good track, not quite as magical as the first part though. Track 8: Xerrox Teion Another short track here. Pretty noisey bass line going. This one is almost too sub bass ridden for it's own good. Although I like the overall direction of the loop being played. It's this constantly rising instrumental that breaks down to its very core only to start over again more sonically dense than the last time. Cool track. Track 9: Xerrox Teion Acat So this seems to be a sort of continuation of the experiment from the last track, but more in the style of the rest of record as this sort of ambient, but not really thing. The album also seems to be getting increasingly glitch as the album moves forward as well with this one sustaining itself on nothing, but a drone and some heavy glitch layering of that drone. I actually quite like the little sparse groove that the glitch is creating. Pretty straight forward track overall, doesn't really change to much beyond what I already described. Some sonic oddities here or there, but this is a relatively simple track. Track 10: Xerrox Tek Part 1 Love how each track just bleeds into the next on this album, this one is starting with a bit of static and a strange double bass strum that echoes out into oblivion. Lot of microsound influence coming through on this track, lots of alien hiss and spurs in the forefront of the drone. This track is one of the few so far that has been completely based on in noise and glitch with very little in the way of melody or harmony. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but for a 6 minute track it can get a bit monotonous. The album is also very long, clocking in over an hour in just 11 tracks, so it is a bit much sit down and completely digest with full attention. This is probably the most uneventful track on the album so far, there's no real sense of progression just one big drone and some hissing. Probably the worst track so far. It really isn't terrible just way too uneventful for me to care. Track 11: Xerrox Monophaser 3 I'm going to take a guess and say this probably picks up where monophaser 1 and 2 left off? I WAS RIGHT! The low rumbling sub bass tones are back and so are the distant Stars of the Lid strings fading in and out of sight, except this time they don't seem to be on a loop. This part mixes the blissful ambience of part 1 and the midnight spookyness of part 2. This actually might be the best one so far, loving the noise on top of these beautiful chords and strings. Reminds me a lot of Meta Phaser, but instead of some all enveloping tsunami of sound coming down, this feels more like the storm from part 1 really kicking into full gear getting stronger and stronger as the track goes on. A similar effect yes, but completely different outcomes, in fact I've never heard something that so sounds like rain that is not rain at all. Great ending to the album, not quite to the height of Meta Phaser, but great in it's own right. OVERALL Another great project from Alva Noto, while the first half of the album is in every way superior to the second half the album creates a mood unlike anything I've ever heard before and despite the numerous flaws that can be found near the end of the record it still manages to create an amazing mood and is of fairly consistent quality. I know that sounds a bit weird saying the end of the record is flawed but it is consistent, I promise if you listen to the album you'll know exactly what I mean. Yes you can find the flaws easy enough, but taking it as an album it works wonderfully for what it is trying to do. 6.5/10 (rounded down to a 6 for rateyourmusic). |
do all my albums
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I'm just kidding that's unreasonable
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but you should do these ones. First two releases of my Abstractions series
https://troublesalad.bandcamp.com/al...g-the-abstract https://troublesalad.bandcamp.com/al...the-antagonist |
Little side note I'm gonna have to push the albums you all rec'd me until tomorrow because I won't have time to today, but I still want to get a review out. Sorry about the delay.
ENTRY 5 ・・・・・・・・・ -「 」(or untitled by dotstokyo) GENRE: J-Pop, Idol, Shoegaze, Dream Pop, Harsh Noise Release Date: January 12th, 2018 https://e.snmc.io/lk/o/l/f3e02ec6903...d1/6777048.jpg So this album doesn't come out for a week, but I found out their label was doing free downloads for the album leading up to its physical release, of course being technologically illiterate and the site being put through Google Translate I could not figure out how to get the album. Next I tried Soulseek, I eventually found the album after searching through about 15 different look up terms, but the "owner" of the file was being a stingy bitch and wouldn't let me download. Finally my savior on rym comes down from the heavens and gives me a download link to this album. What I'm trying to say is this album better be the best goddamn thing I hear come out this year. The genre's look promising and the fact that this is an Idol group (if you don't know what an Idol group is watch this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMR2CYhtA7s this video will also give lots of context to how this group fits in with that as an "anti-idol" group or "alternative idol") is very intriguing. Track 1: ねぇ Starts off total MBV with the snare hits too enormous guitars. Speaking of which the guitars sound absolutely wonderful. Loving how unabashedly shoegaze this is, it doesn't try and skirt around the fact that this is a shoegaze album that happens to be a J-Pop album.I like the vocals, very innocent female vocals (as expected) it completely works with how fun of a genre shoegaze is. The bass is prominent which I like a lot, it's not doing anything particularly interesting, just following the rote note of each chord, but it works. The third verse feels like something off of a power pop album. Man those guitars in the chorus are just huge, I love it. Damn good way to start off the album. (I also just noticed that the drums are straight up motorik, nice touch) Track 2: きみにおちるよる The guitar work on display here is pretty phenomenal. Oh **** yes now we're full J-Pop, the synths in the hook are just heavenly goddamn. Loving the breakbeat drums mixed with the heavily jazz influenced chords, this is more what I was expecting. Oh this one is just too fun for words, I know in a couple weeks this song will be in full rotation for me. I genuinely can't find one thing that I don't love about this ****ing track, pure unfiltered happiness. The harmonized vocals might be the thing that makes this track in all honesty, but then there's the synth, **** man I don't know, it's all god tier. Track 3: トリニティダイブ Starting off with some nice synths. Woah the guitars are buried in the back here and filtered to the point of being pure white noise just crashing in the background. This is more synth driven than I was expecting, but I'm almost glad it is; the whole let's put a ton of effects on guitars and call it a day is so tired at this point. This album still has that, but it has more interesting elements to it that add to the cacophony. This is both the poppiest and noisiest track so far on the album so far. Loving the hell out of the e-drums that have been on the last two tracks now, adds a whole other layer to the music that it wouldn't have with live drums. As of now the album is everything I had hoped it would be. Track 4: ソーダフロート気分 Even more of the synth driven, let's go. The guitar work mixed with synth on this track reminds me a ton of that Crying album that came out a few years ago. The guitar has this wonderful 80'd Crimson feel as it just bounces from ear to ear. The rhythm section is really in the pocket of this crazy stomping beat. This doesn't quite have the tune that the last two songs had, but it's still pretty damn strong. This track is pure 80's, sax solo, with this bluesy guitar line coming through. Man this is why I love J-Pop so much, it completely embraces the things that have been deemed uncool over here. Yeah this one is damn good. Track 5: 文学少女 Oh **** it's my least favorite chord progression of all time let's see if they can do anything with it. I love the guitar lines and the vocal melody, but that chord progression just gets on my nerves. Yeah this one is just a bit too far on the simple side for my tastes, I'm not listening to J-Pop to hear chord progressions I would hear on the radio over here. The vocals are pretty heavenly throughout this track, but yeah just too simple. Not a ton to say about this one. Track 6: 星屑フィードバック Wow that is one noisy ****ing guitar jesus christ. This one is downright punky, loving the four on the floor beat at like 180 bpm lmfao. This one is almost pure chaos, but somehow the chord progressions are still clear as day and god are they wonderful. The drums might be the most outstanding part of this track though, listen to that and tell me that man isn't going absolutely nuts. I'm not sure what to call this sort of passing chord, but it's when a guitar player is playing a Major chord and he moves the root of the chord up a half step to give the progression some sort of chromatic interest. I don't know what the technique is called, but it's literally my favorite thing in music and it's all over this track, it completely makes it. Track 7: サイダー I'm not gonna comment on the production because I'm pretty sure I got a pretty low quality demo, so it sounds muddy, but just based on how separated the mix is I can tell it's just my copy. This one is really just the girls singing over this intense wall of guitar and bass noise, with a real strong strong groove only really breaking in for the chorus. One thing I really adore about this album is just how damn noisy it is, I was afraid the noise element to the music would be be really really played down, but shockingly it isn't. I know they released a 70 minute single and an EP before this both of which apparently had a strong harsh noise element to them. This is their first real album and there isn't any really harsh noise it is still incredibly noisy all the way through. Loving how the drums actually add the to the guitar sound on this track makes them sound like metal guitars in the chorus. Track 8: サテライト Just one long chord on the guitar going on with some injections from the lead guitar. You know what I just realized it's been awhile since the synthier stuff, that makes me kinda sad, that was really nice. This one is more in line with traditional shoegaze with some obvious pop influence. It's not bad, but I think this band is at it's best when it's mixing synthpop, shoegaze, and j-pop. The guitar work on this entire album is pretty wonderful, it literally sounds like some 80's guitar god decided one day "**** it I'm gonna make a shoegaze album", which I think is pretty cool. I really wanna figure out who's idea it was to manufacture this group, because it's such a damn strange idea. Not strange because its so wacky or off the wall or disturbing, but strange in that IT IS so straight faced and serious. This is a J-Pop band who makes harsh noise and shoegaze, no frills. I love that, I wish we had more of that attitude in our aspiring artists over here. I get that this band is manufactured product, but someone still had the idea to take these niche genres and try to go Japanese mainstream with them. Because here in the states if you want to make challenging music you have to be so "anti-mainstream" that you make you never actually get anywhere and if you do want to get big you are forced to sacrifice absolutely everything that makes your sound unique. It's really unfortunate and I wish we could more people break into the mainstream with off the wall ideas. Track 9: スライド oops I spoke to soon here's the synths. There's even gated reverb on the drums, does it get more 80's sounding than this? Because I really don't think so. This is such a light sounding song, so up in the air and like I don't know fluffy sounding. It's just pure, I like that in a song. There's not a whole lot going on in this song, but it's just a damn solid song. Track 10: 1998- Apparently there are two versions of this song; there's the one I'm listening to which is about 4 minutes and will be on the physical copies, and the other is about an hour longer where after the song there's a 50 minute harsh noise outro which will be on the digital??? I don't know, but anyways here's the last song. Loving the dance-punk drums with this wall of beautiful guitar and bass. Digging this long drawn out verse structure. Oh god that hook is to die for, there's these angelic guitars lines going from ear to ear and the singing is JUST. Yeah this is easily one of the best songs on the album. OVERALL This is honestly way stronger than I thought it would be. The first half of the album is probably the best run of songs I've ever heard and while yeah it does lull a bit, it never really dips into bad quality. At worst I was indifferent to one of the songs, and most of the **** I loved. 7/10 |
ENTRY 6
Ben Christensen - Inouno GENRE: Techno? So I bought a **** ton of EP's and singles the other day and figured I'd listen to something new today. This guy is not on rym whatsoever, so I have to take a wild guess as to what the genre what might be. I know the track is about 7 minutes long and it's supposed to be techno, so this should be a bit of fun. I actually just walked through the door and my dad said I absolutely had to listen to it because apparently it's awesome, so I'm excited to give this one a spin. http://www.technique.co.jp:88/photo/.../S7G-001_1.JPG Track 1: INOUNO Starting out with some really warped vocals and this really subdued synth. That is an absolutely monster kick drum. In fact all the drums are just completely over powering the mix, not in bad way though. Loving the synths so far, very in line with what you would normally consider techno although everything seems to be really slowed down. It's like downtempo if downtempo wasn't garbage. The track is actually pretty "out there" in subtle ways while keeping the standard beat and structure of an electronic song. Loving this square synth lead coming through the back of the mix. The vocals that started off the track are still phasing in and out of mix, but they're always present, gives the track a nice texture to it that it wouldn't have without it. There's a slightly jazzy element to the track that you wouldn't normally hear in a techno track, I'm not too sure it completely works, but it isn't bad. Like I said it's more of a fusion between techno and downtempo. The beat is strange in and of itself, it doesn't feel like it's looped, but being played live; it's more than likely quantized, but it does feel almost ever evolving in a way that a looped drum sample wouldn't have. Definitely a cool track, I did love a good majority of it. 7/10 |
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ENTRY 7
goreshit - ureshii! Genre: Happy Hardcore, Hardcore [EDM], J-Core, J-Pop, Lolicore, Plunderphonics Release Date: June 14, 2010 https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a2554937413_10.jpg So Lolicore is always a genre of electronic music I tried to stray away from due to it's weird cringy fanbase and imagery, but as I was trying to find a bit of Happy Hardcore to get into I noticed most of the top albums were by Lolicore artists. I figured I'd pick the artist that has been recommended to me the most and that is gore****. The album covered seemed shockingly non-cringe so there's my thought process. Track 1: 桜舞い散る坂道で Starts off more less exactly how I expected. High tempo and quick breakbeats. I do like the synths going throughout the track, it all feels quite huge. Ah here's the J-Pop, so I'm going to take a wild a guess and say this is gonna be electronic J-Pop. Yeah I'm loving the synths, the melodies are very pretty, and it doesn't relent on the insane beat either. The music itself is actually pretty poorly mixed, but that's sort of to be expected from an artist who was probably about my age at the time making fake J-Pop. The feel of the track goes between sugary pop goodness and these anime soundtrack inspired synth breakdowns, it is a strange combination, but it works better than I thought it would. Yeah I love this track this is really fun, I'd definitely listen to this again. Track 2: Konacore Original 2010 ****, this one is even faster. Loving the drums that are mixed so high they actually distort unnaturally. This sounds like what I wish generic EDM sounded like, this is so much more fun; the melodies are more original and the beat is way hotter in mix and a lot faster as well. Also none of those lame ass side chained drums. This feels a lot older than it actually is, feels like it came out at some point in the 90's, but it's so damn new. I actually remember when these guys first started. This song is pretty repetitive, but I love the groove on it and it isn't as long as the first track, so it's really no big deal. Track 3: Grace Ma Breaks As can be taken from the name this is all breakbeats so far. I love how comically loud the kick drums are on all these tracks, it's so distorted it actually just sounds like a note being played. Kind of weird stop right therein the beginning I didn't like too much. I love the vocal sample and the synths backing it up though, those are really pretty. This album has a strange sound to it, it's mixed like a digital hardcore album, but has the feeling of an EDM album; I'm quite sure how it works as well as it does, but it does work well. The album feels very futuristic in a 2000's sense, does that make sense? I'm not sure and I don't care, you'll know whatI mean if you hear this. Solid track. Track 4: Fly, Heart! Fly! Love how this is starting already, it has this incredibly sped up sample of a J-Pop vocal and the chords are just going nuts behind it. It's literally just sped up J-Pop except this guy took out everything, but the vocals and replaced all the instrumentation himself at like 4 times the speed. This is easily my favorite track so far, everything works to this song's benefit. The chords are perfectly matched with these beautiful synth melodies and it all sounds so cheap, but in a good way.Too bad it's the shortest track on the album. Track 5: Die!!Die!!Cover!!! This is actually a really short album, it's more of an EP but the artist recognized it as an album so ??? The beat is incredibly busy here almost too much going to distinguish everything. Loving the atonal synth lead over these massive breaks and stomped beats. Oh **** yes one of my favorite chord progressions of all time let's GO! This is so energetic that I feel wrong for reviewing this while laying down in bed. Are those guitars?! This track has so much going on man, and it isn't experimental maximalism it's just pure pop maximalism and I ****ing love it. The beat is just everywhere, the bass is going nuts, the chords are moving at 100 miles an hour, and there are multiple lead synths and a vocal melody. WOAH half time groove right the 3 and a half minute mark. What a great track to end things on, everything really fell into place for this one track. 7/10 |
entry 8
weekly roundup week 1 Hendo - lofi beats from the 2018 debut by Hendo Genre: Experimental Hip-Hop, Instrumental Hip-Hop Release Date: January 17th, 2018 https://e.snmc.io/lk/l/l/dede6ab0acc...e2/6832212.jpg This is some pretty ridiculous experimental hip-hop by the guy on rym I checked out earlier this week. The drums are so heavily reverberated that they don't even register as a beat half the time. The samples are incredibly warped and the entire project just has this eerie feeling to it that I can't really put my finger on. I'm really excited to hear the full release of this EP when it's done this year because from what we have so far I'm impressed. If you're looking for some thing like cLOUDDEAD (he samples them), Ugly Mane's instrumentals, or Coin Locker Kid definitely don't let this slip through the cracks this year. 6/10 natriums - Deja Vu Genre: Minimal Techno, Downtempo, Ambient Techno, Outsider House Release Date: January 7th, 2018 https://img.discogs.com/Vw8bGp3I0Fuj...-2673.jpeg.jpg Alright I'm gonna gush about this one for a moment. This is easily some of the most outrageous techno I've ever heard. Now... is it the best? **** no. But this is so meticulously put together I can't imagine how long this took to make. The tracks range from your standard Minimal Tech affair to more courageous experiments with acoustic instruments and electroacoustic music. There's even tinges of modular synth and analog in a lot of the synth tones here which I think is a welcome touch. Morphogenic will most definitely be my tracks of the year along with a few others. I need to give this thing some listens, but what I have gotten is a damn fine album with some damn fine work put into it. (THIS was also made by someone on rym) 7/10 Cupcakke - Euphorize Genre - Trap Rap, Hip-House, Hardcore Hip-Hop Release Date: January 5th, 2018 https://i2.wp.com/www.towleroad.com/...size=480%2C480 Holy **** this is bad. Not like just kinda bad. I mean HOLY **** this is bad man. The lyrics are being praised as being so forward thinking and sex positive, but it comes off as a stew of S.T.D's on record. Her flow is nothing to write home about and the beats are F-tier levels of EDM synths and generic trap. I couldn't ever imagine listening to a single track from this **** again. And I mean that. There was not a single moment that saved this thing from complete disgust. To put it this way the production was 4/10 and that was the best part of this **** heap. 2/10 Scallops Hotel - Sovereign Nose of (Y)our Arrogant Face Genre: Experimental Hip-Hop, Abstract Hip-Hop Release Date: January 1st, 2018 https://media.pitchfork.com/photos/5...ant%20Face.jpg Alright so I've always put off Milo because of his reaction to NOTM by Death Grips, but seeing as I'm trying to actually keep up in 2018 I figured I'd give his new mixtape a chance. It's really damn good. His flow has this weird wonky mood about it, like he knows how to flows, but just actively disagrees with the beat on a philosophical level or something. The lyrics on this re great even despite the fact I disagree with the politics, I especially loved this line "And when I punch Nazi goys they say oy vey, enjoy hey". That's just absolute genius man. Like say what you will about public violence against your political "enemies" or whatever, but that's just amazing. The beats on this thing are off kilter, but not in some avant-garde CLK way, in his own idiosyncratic style that makes this uniquely his. 7/10 Devil's Elbow - Eagle On The Hill Genre: Glitch Hop, Lofi Hip-Hop Release Date: January 2nd, 2018 https://e.snmc.io/lk/o/l/78b9f7371d3...44/6810414.png This is so boring. I couldn't really tell you anything about it beyond the constant clipping of the beat EVERY SINGLE TIME a kick drum plays. That's a little annoying. 4/10 Venetian Snares -She Began to Cry Tears of Blood Which Became Little Brick Houses When They Hit the Ground Genre: Flashcore Release Date: January 11th, 2018 https://img.discogs.com/APjy00Gu1nq6...-5668.jpeg.jpg I don't know if any of you are familiar with Flashcore, so basically what it is is this extreme conclusion of IDM where you have almost nothing beyond near arhythmic drum patterns and amelodic effects. That's almost entirely what this album is beyond a few synths here and there. The first few tracks had me completely hooked because I love this kind of **** man, but as it went on it got more and more monotonous. By the end I actually didn't realize it wasn't playing anymore, that's how zoned out I was. The modular patterns are pretty extreme and it might reveal itself upon closer listens, but I really have no interest in doing that. Really a shame too because Traditional Synthesizer Music and Thank You For Your Consideration we're both absolutely phenomenal albums. 5/10 Sober Drunks - Omnimusic Genre: Experimental Rock, Avant-Folk, Avant-Prog??? Spoiler for big pic pic:
Alright now for the one y'all have been WAITING for. The new Frown album, the new "Mr. Avant" album guy. And yes I do know this is you and your friend Frown, but for all of our sake this is a Frown album. And well... yeah it's pretty good. This is 40 minutes of mind bending ****. From off the wall free improv to tightly structures and highly melodic Post-Punk and Experimental Rock. From all I can tell having heard most of Frown's music, this is probably his most accessible and I actually think this benefits from that. A lot of his music can be meandering to the point of tedium for me. And while I've always found the merit in his music (unlike some of his more outspoken detractors) I always found it hard to be completely on board either. This album marks a shift there for me, see I think Frown could pull off a truly great experimental/art rock album if he really wanted to and I think he should. Or at least try. Write some cool ****ing avant-prog/art rock songs and get yourself in a studio for a couple days I'm ****ing TELLING you man it'll come out great. My only real problems with this are that it really does meander in some places and a couple sections feel unorganized. 6.5/10 END OF PART 1 |
I thought that the Scallops release was pretty underwhelming tbh, check out Plain Speaking and Milo's most recent solo album.
Thanks for the Sober Drunks shoutout. The creation process was months of just of unrelated jamming (though we only used around 12 cuts for this record) and taking those recordings and trying to put them into a more digestible format. The meandering parts are done somewhat on purpose assuming that you mean the intro and the Rain Dance excerpts. The introduction is to set the tone that you're getting something that's cluttery and weird. Both of those parts also serve to make what they transition into more surprising, but I can also see where you're coming from. I appreciate your thoughts on it. Also there are strong modern classical elements when the piano comes in. Revert that RYM vote foo. |
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entry 9
weekly roundup part 2 Coach Wash - Commercial Electronics Genre: DJ Mix, Gabber, Glitch, Bubblegum Bass, Nightwave??? Release Date: November 9th, 2017 https://img.discogs.com/FALLJXYbCkRU...-4614.jpeg.jpg This is a highly addictive blend of futurist electronics and present pop music. In fact some of the songs are just Gabber and Bubblegum Bass remixes of pop songs. It functions as an album, mixtape, and DJ Mix all at once. This song stood out to me as where I wish pop music would actually go Katy Perry - California Gurls (COACH WASH Scary Version). This one song perfectly encapsulates what is so cool about this project, it's completely warped in the way PC Music is, but without the inherent accessibility of their music. 6/10 Mazut - Atlas Genre: Industrial Techno Release Date: January 5th, 2018 https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon....CLZZZZZZZ_.jpg This barely even classifies as industrial techno I'd personally call this noise techno, but that isn't really a genre I suppose. This is a properly ****ed album, the beats are distorted and the synths are buried beneath layers upon layers of screeching noise. The first track is this opus of crazy sounds that I can't get enough of. The rest of the album completely follows suit and while I don't think it really captures the imagination for the entirety of the release it does have a strong mood and I can give some props for that. 6/10 Duy Gebord - ʤ Genre: Industrial Techno, Noise, Free Improv Release Date: January 17th, 2018 https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a1626047913_2.jpg This is far more interesting of a release to me than that Mazut album I was talking about a second ago. While I do think this release is inconsistent as **** it has a way about it that I've never heard from a techno album. The synths are purposefully aimless and abrasive while the beats are your standard kick-snare-kick-snare. Half the album are these ridiculous experiments in noise and synth music that don't really grab me, but I appreciate on a sonic level. The other half is what really grabs me, straight up headbangers. I'm not kidding you every single full on industrial techno track I wasn't just grooving to, I was thrashing around the room. If I were to see these peeps live I would try to start a mosh pit. This is pure infectious metallic groove. Keep this out of reach of children they might rock out too hard. 6.5/10 Drake - Scary Hours Genre: Trap Rap, Alt R&B Release Date: January 19th, 2018 http://hw-img.datpiff.com/m1e34e88/D...s_Ep-front.jpg I've never liked Drake and that continues with this. This is such a ****ing snoozefest and it's literally 2 songs long. The first track is Hotline Bling part 2, but this one has no hook nearly as good as that song and the second is just Drake "spitting" over a jazz sample and a **** tier trap beat. Good god this is meh. 5/10 Profligate - Somewhere Else Genre: Coldwave, Minimal Synth, Noise Pop Release Date: January 5th, 2018 https://assets.boomkat.com/spree/pro...ofligate-f.jpg Going into this I was expecting something kinda meh based on people's thoughts from rym. Surprisingly I really didn't get that. The first half of this album is REALLY strong, especially the first track. It's a series of long winded post punk flavored pop songs in the same vein as Have A Nice Life with a little less doom and gloom. The first track especially is a standout for me, this 8 minute droning pop song with these cold layers of synths and a simple bass line. It just works so ****ing great. The second half starts to lose me a little bit because the album doesn't really have any variation, once you've heard the first 2 tracks, you've heard the entire album. Despite this the songs are good and I'm left wondering what this guy is gonna do next. 6.5/10 Bienoise - Sharawadji III Genre: Experimental Electronic Release Date: January 8th, 2018 https://img.discogs.com/mf7IMhgJwrrW...-7354.jpeg.jpg This sounds how the album cover looks. It's around 25 minutes of nonstop swirling electronics and simple kick patterns. It's highly experimental and noisy, but there's a certain sense of melody to it that you can't really deny. 6/10 Culture Chester - Outer Baseball Genre: Experimental Rock, Synth Punk, Memes? Release Date: January 4th, 2018 https://img.discogs.com/2mF96ZtH5Squ...-6879.jpeg.jpg This is the worst thing from this year. This is truly directionless noise. Before any of you complain about Frown being "so noisy and experimental it has to be a joke" just listen to this. This is pure ****ing garbage. 0.5/10 |
I detract my previous albums cuz this one is crucial https://noosefiller.bandcamp.com/album/noosefiller-2
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The roundup for album will be coming very shortly, yes I am still doing this.
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