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IF YOU SHOW ME YOUR ALBUM OF THE YEAR I WILL LISTEN TO IT


Lamp, broken circa 1988

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  • 2 weeks later...

While I know the name Sleep, I’ve never listened to their stuff. Other than Boris I’m not the biggest fan of stoner metal, or weed culture, or weed. Not that I begrudge that do like it- many of my close friends smoke heavy and often. It’s just that every time I’ve ever been high has been completely miserable, and then every single blood relative elder male in my family died from either cancer or alcoholism, so I’ve kind of cut back my vice intake in general to see if it’s about booze intake/smoke inhalation or if we cash out at 56 Just Cuz. That got dark. Let’s listen to a stoner metal record. As per last time, one paragraph per song.

So I’m doing this on my bus rides, so I’m confronting my notes to start prompting me for these paragraphs. All I have for this one was “sure is a fuzz pedal.” Upon relisten, I do have to issue a correction- it is also a phaser pedal of some kind.

Lol it’s a bong rip because they’re a stoner metal band, get it, yo dude get it? First note I have is “I’m probably gonna like the drummer most.” They’re the most obviously talented member of the band, bringing a verve to what is admittedly a pretty basic chord layout. Next is “Singer sounds like [redacted].” I got a friend who’s in a band, and the lead singer of their band is a similar kind of ham as this dude is, only their band is like full on gothic synth stuff. So turns out the genre is not the thing keeping me from enjoying that style of singing. Last one for this one is “I wonder why more metal bands don’t go crazy with overdubs. Liturgy kinda does but there’s further to go.” Upon reflection I think that’s about some amount of like Witnessing The Recreation when they go on tour. Metal fans are definitely game to come out every time a band like this rolls through town, and there’s not a lot of room in the genre for like totally shirking expectations with live presentation so I can see fans getting pissed that the guitarist isn’t literally playing fourteen solos at the same time. Except Liturgy, who doesn’t give a fuck.

“don’t know why this one reminds me of the Genesis sound chip, but it does.” It’s the part that starts at 2:15 or so, the guitar chord is an interval used in a lot of Genesis games to convey like Shreddin’ Guitar Bro. “Bass effects aren’t working for me.” Wrote that during the solo. I’ve struggled with pedals on bass for like fuckin forever, because I find it’s really easy to ruin the tone of a bass guitar with pedals. I still don’t have it exactly right. I’ll say that my favorite bass sound (the first two Noxagt records) is done with literally only a tube screamer and a tuning, so right now my kit is like a tube screamer and a big muff, but I don’t use the muff that often. “Rolled eyes at lyrics.” This is a note because I remembered physically doing that on the bus. Full roll. “First tempo change clever, second not so much.” First one was the thing at 7:50, where it felt like the thing was about to take off and was building up steam to something cool, which fizzled at 8:37 by being the metal trope vamping braking thing. Ah well.

This is a longer one. “should like this because I’m into big chords, but it feels flat because there’s no high end. Leaves all frequencies for cymbals, which is less than my favorite thing.” Pretty much exactly what I meant. Because of all the fuzz and grit, it means that the band Sleep is like solidly in the mid frequency, and that’s only so interesting. How interesting? “all songs feel extremely the same right now.” So it’s not like 30 minutes straight interesting. However, the “solo being high freq is appreciated,” or at least it was at the time. Here’s a few other off the cuff observations I made during this song that I cannot currently remember the thrulines of- “sounds like it’s always ending”; “drummer is most obvious talent in the band, riff exit was clever”; “actual beat drop/outro is nice change”

“Nice intro; break from fuzz appreciated.” It’s around this point that I stopped having so many things to say about the record, on account of how similar it’s all sounded. It’s the fourth straight long track using the same middle frequencies and pacing. The only other note I made during this song is that I “can’t imagine a world where these lyrics don’t bore me.” I suspect that was in reference to “The rifftree is risen / the bong is to live in” but really you could pick any line in here and be “no this is the one you found annoying” and I’d believe you.

YAY NO ENDING BALLAD! The Botanist is the best song on this entire album. It uses the pedals for accent instead of character, letting the rest of the band stretch out and occupy a more detailed atmosphere and pattern of development. It’s so great that it actually ended up being “a little frustrating that they waited until the last song to show range.” If you want to take me through an adventure of hydroponics and actually use pacing and dynamics to explain the differences in the things you’re talking about, I will be there for that album whether I smoke or not. This song is as adventurous and bold as anything guitar-based I’ve heard in years, and may be worth listening to the album for alone. Best case scenario, you like everything that precedes it, and then The Botanist starts and you cry. Worst case scenario, you have my listening experience where you’re like “this is the same shit over and over huh OH WAIT THIS RULES”

- - -

So, all told, I didn’t like it. It wasn’t offensive to me, but the odds I would listen to it on my own time ever again are pretty much 0. I still intend to listen to Dopesmoker at some point, because of the hushed tones people (including friends of mine) talk about it in. I’m willing to attribute this to “comebacks are really, really hard,” because they did show flashes of technique and development. It just never worked for me.

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Funny thing: I've never smoked weed. Literally not once. The lyrics are generally really bad, no argument. But, well, the bass tone tends to leave me in that weird half there/half tranced state music can sometimes being you to.

Dopesmoker is a masterpiece, but, well, the only way to describe the bass in it is "droning."

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I bought a 6 CD box set of stoner/sludge/doom metal from Cleopatra Records and it’s not all that bad. I could do without the obnoxious pot imagery all over the discs and whatnot, but all in all, it has some interesting stuff on there.

Also I’m glad my pick was disqualified (or whatever) because I already have a new favorite album of the year.

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1. “Vile Luxury” by Imperial Triumphant
2. “The Sciences” by Sleep

I went into this knowing nothing about Imperial Triumphant whatsoever. I didn’t choose to look them up, because I saw that their name was the way it was, that the album was named what it was, that the tracks were named what they were, and that the cover art was what it was. I figured any additional information would further bias me towards disliking it, and so I chose to just press play without reading anything else.

I made a lot of notes about this album, so get ready for a long read.

I need to issue a correction about the first note I have here: “Lol @ Midi Keyboard. Does set mood tho.” The problem is, that’s an actual horn section. So uh, whoever recorded those horns should have used better microphones because they sounded extremely cheap and digital. Unless that was the point. I doubt that was the point. “This might be the first death metal song where I can both hear the bass and where the guitar isn’t overdriven to shit.” Truth. “Bass tone is good too.” It reminds me of a band that’s gonna come up in my notes later, but it’s a favorable comparison. Also, the guitars are “similar to DEP’s approach to dissonance.” Lots of tritones around the middle of the neck. It’s simple but it works to rile up the ears. “Is this an album about the 20s cuz if it is the brass is perfect” You’re going to see a lot of notes like this, I’ll expand on them later. The next note is a good summary of how I feel about it. “I love this break (4:46), it’s silly but it’s working for me. Outro too.”

“Blast beat as military drums?” With the context of the rest of the record, I was unsure that this was the intention here, but the idea considering the name of the band I thought it was a neat idea worth considering, of making some kind of actual militaristic drum line sound. “Oh god these guitar breaks” I’m a fucking fan of this record as of this point, for one reason: I’ve spent a LOT of time harping on bands for sticking tight to genre conventions. Imperial Triumphant is out here making Weird Choices. “This sound is why you should fight genre tropes.” This is immediately more memorable to me and making more of an impression that Sleep did, aside from the part that Sleep’s lyrics were so awful that my brain wilted when I heard them. On an unrelated note, “bass chords!” I’m a dork for that stuff because it’s EXTREMELY hard to make them sound good (and this band doesn’t do that) so every time someone tries to do bass chords I like relate heavily. They should be awesome, they always sound like shit. Except Mission of Burma. “Wish the outro was better.” Kinda just a return to the first theme of the song with not enough elaboration that it stood out to me.

“If the point of the chords is to sound like a demon rich kid playing guitar awfully with no correction, they’re nailing it.” I have another note later that’ll touch on what I meant by this. “Either way, it’s actual dissonance instead of pedal goofs over one melody.” This is a thing that kills me about a lot of rock and metal, where the “heavy” “dark” sound is like all three instruments playing the same melody with a lot of distortion on them. It’s boring. It’s extremely boring. So full credit to Imperial Triumphant for doing something else. “Lazy transition but I’ve done it too.” This refers to the part at like 5:10 when the main track just starts getting quieter while another track starts getting louder. The platonic ideal is to break down the song with actual work and move it to this other place. I feel the reason you do a thing like this is either because in post you realize you needed to break up the pace, or because you’re out of ideas on how to bridge from one part to the other and you need to put this album out on some kind of timeframe so you settle for this. I get it. I’ve done it a few times.

“Chose the exact right time to change the pace.” I was starting to think I was blastbeated out at the end of the last song and then they were like “we know, let’s get sad and environmental.” It’s a good enough soundscape intro, plenty moody. When the actual song starts building it creates this very real sense of dread, so the intro does it’s job well. The actual song is legitimately intimidating, aided by the inherent spookiness of the Russian language. At the same time, it sounds the kind of amateurish you’d get from someone playing guitar alone to try to chase some bad feelings off. That said, “I feel like I can’t critique the playing or structure because it’s obviously deliberate.” When the blastbeats start back up, it actually feels chaotic and forceful, which is a hell of a trick after three straight long tracks of blast beats. “Second vocalist for dramatic effect is perfect touch.” It’s treated as the introduction of a second instrument, but it’s a HUGE change for the song itself and it hits hard to put over the newly raised stakes. She’s also a centerpiece of the outro, which is one of the best and most powerful things I’ve heard on a metal album in Very Actual Years. The note I have for the outro is just “THIS OUTRO.” It sounds like some ghoul is trying to climb out of the speakers and into the world. It’s just amazing.

“Since they’re still trying to space out the blast beats, I’d assume there’s an ending ballad.” lol. Anyways, I don’t have a lot notes for this song, probably because I was still decompressing from Chernobyl Blues. The first part of it is a really drastic departure, emerging into a jazzy sound from all of the Powerhouse Gone Wrong-style brass work. When it gets back into the metal stuff, I was “starting to get a little fatigued, but just as I wrote that it becomes a jazz song.” So this is the main thing I want to say about this record. This album is still solidly death metal, but it’s making a lot of really bold, really weird, capital C Choices. It’s not a thing you get a lot in guitar music anymore, where bands just go “you know what, fuck it, we’re going all in with the weird hybrid sound, whatever our means and equipment actually are, we’re going to make it work.” To be real, sometimes the choices they make on this record don’t always work as well as they think they will. But I cannot for one second criticize them them for leaning fully into it and accepting the consequences.

I knew there was a ballad coming at some point, but it’s relieving that it’s not actually an ending ballad. Although, halfway through this I wrote “wish they’d growl through a Billie Holiday song” and I still mean that. The other thing that occurred to me was that “This is Every Music Theory Major Guy: The Album.” It’s meant endearingly, because even though I don’t fuck with that crowd I at least get their glee at smashing the toy cars together until they have different paint patterns. And, again, at least it’s a Choice.

“This bassist is very extra.” I dont remember why this was the song where I decided to address it, but yeah the bassist is a HUGE dork who plays like a huge dork and I love it, and they obviously do too.  “They’re running out of tricks, but fuck at least they had great tricks.” They teased having a really good idea in the middle there of having a duet of vocalists but it kind of plays out where they’re both just going on top of one another. And then that diffuses into cacophany not dissimilar to the sound at the end of Chernobyl Blues on a theoretical level, but I find that the build before it hasn’t earned this release. Ah well.

NO ENDING BALLAD! Another huge departure at the end here, where it becomes what feels to me like a very obvious homage. “At least one person in this band likes Sleepytime Gorilla Museum.” This is an EXTREMELY SGM kind of beat, and the vocals match it. The vocals being wordless really surprises me, half because I felt they were more upsetting than a lot of the record and thought they’d have something in them for sure, and half because I don’t think I’d ever considered death growl scatting. The outro makes a big misstep I feel. “Should’ve ended on the second vocalist’s screams.” That little lick at the end adds nothing to the song and ends up just feeling like superfluous sound. It’s not ideal.

- - -

I really enjoyed this! It’s brave as fuck for a metal album, eschewing conventions and chasing their own big ideas down. It doesn’t always work, but it works more often than most, and at it’s peaks it exceeds what I tend to think the genre is capable of. I don’t know that I’d ever listen to other records of this band because I’m too afraid to find out that this is their formula and it just worked great this time, but for Album of the Year, I definitely see the argument. I had a great time with it.

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Just a heads up: when it comes out this month, Deceased's Ghostly White is going to be my automatic AOTY. It's pretty much that way with every album they put out, so. One track here: https://the-true-deceased.bandcamp.com/album/ghostly-white

EDIT: I completely spaced on Voivod putting out a new album this year too. If you want to listen to something really fucking good check that out too

 

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1. “Vile Luxury” by Imperial Triumphant
2. "II: Sojourn" by Wytch Hazel
3. “The Sciences” by Sleep

I, probably unsurprisingly, know nothing about Wytch Hazel. I did not think I should google them because of that band name and a similar theory re: Imperial Triumphant, where I was afraid that what I would find would bias me. I know Curt said they’re Thin Lizzy-esque. I don’t know that I’ve ever heard a Thin Lizzy song, or at least known as it was happening that it was a song by Thin Lizzy. So we’ve got our expectations set? Good. I’m at home for this one so no Bus Note Transcription.

Okay I extremely like this intro. I think we’ve discussed this in the past, but I love when records just Start, like “OK I GOT SHIT TO SAY LET’S GO.” This is as close as Instrumentality can get to that, I feel. When the song starts, it’s like very much in it’s own style but it’s a really well constructed version of that style. It’s not total cornball which keeps me from thinking this is a Career Choice of a sound and instead a genuine article desire to recreate it. I can live with that. Lyrics are dull, but not worth trashing because they’re part of the territory. It’s an accurate part of the pastiche.

This is mixed REALLY well. The balance between getting vocals to be articulate while not costing the rest of the instruments any range is something that I still struggle with six albums in. The singer uses a very limited range, but it means that he can slot very comfortably into the mix, since the guitars tend to be playing high and the bass is sticking to low tones. It’s kind of the hip-hop approach to mixing, where the mid range is where the vocals live. The song is well made, although it’s not like doing anything for me emotionally? I’m more just impressed with the craft at the moment.

I was really afraid of this being a ballad for a second there. This one feels a little more rote than the last two, but I’m still with them and interested in seeing where this is going. It’s weird to see a metal album say “You cannot kill with good intention,” which might be the first time I’ve heard a metal album be like “goddamn all this dickswinging stuff sucks.” I’m sure there’s multiple examples. I know that’s a statement that comes from ignorance. Still, appreciated. I wish I had some like interesting take on guitar solos, because then I could say something while they’re happening. My own music kind of relies on a lack of soloing, so that’s probably why- I’ve never had to think about it.

Ballad time. At least the guitar playing during the verse is interesting. Folksy. I’m at the two minute mark of a five minute song, so I’m going to guess we’re about to get a two minute-ish solo followed by the last verse again. Let’s see if I’m right! Well okay there was more build than I thought there was going to be. I was expecting like verse ends and then Squealin Geetar, and almost exactly a minute of solo. This was not the song that broke me of ballads.

The song starting on the resolving chord of the ballad is a good touch. They probably do that live. I’m starting to get a little fatigue with the sound but metal is not exactly a genre known for meaningful stylistic departures mid-record (which is a large part of why I enjoyed that Imperial Triumphant record so much- cuz even when they didn’t pull it off, I appreciated that they Went For It). I’m sure there’s some amazing AMVs using this song by now, about whoever the rival character is.

Okay the southern rock organ counts as an attempted style change. It’s still like trapsing along Ballad territory so it’s not doing anything for me, but at least they have the self-awareness to try something else in the middle of the record. The build at 3:30ish works in it’s elementary nature. I have nothing else to say.

Oh! An instrumental interlude! I was about to say that the people who made this record have a good sense of awareness for knowing that it can’t be all squealing guitars and be memorable, but then they came back and so now nevermind. I find that without the vocalist, this stuff loses a lot of it’s character, but I’m not entirely convinced “a lot of character” is a desirable thing in the genre. Or all metal. Or all rock. Or anything that’s ever had a guitar.

Another good transition built out of the last song. I’ll say that the song title concerns me that this is going to be some kind of PC Principal thing. The lyrics have very abruptly given this a religious turn, and it just now reminded me that Curt said that was true of the record, but like this was somehow the first time it’s really sunk in. I guess it checks out given the rest of the record being like “man all this man shit blows” but what it was really talking about was their own value system. They’ve at least got the decency to wait until way late in the record to try and save me. The Nerve! It’s a good tune tho.

Lol okay all the corny is here. I legitimately laughed at that drum rhythm because it’s like the 80s Mall Pop Intro Drum Line and then it was like “Major keyyyyy!” and then I saw the song is called Victory. I wonder what the lyrics are OH WOW OKAY YEAH WE CHRISTIAN UP IN HERE. Well hey they’re not worse than Sleep’s lyrics. This is the worst song on here that’s not a ballad because it’s so preachy and tonally silly to match.

ENDING BALLAD. ?

- - -

Yeah that got all sunday school all at once. Other than that, it’s well made, but it didn’t move me positively or negatively. It’s… fine. I will probably never listen to it again.

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A polite reminder that you can still suggest records for this! It'll close on New Year's Day so just keep ‘em coming.

1. "You Won't Get What You Want" by Daughters
2. "Vile Luxury" by Imperial Triumphant
3. "II: Sojourn" by Wytch Hazel
4. "The Sciences" by Sleep

I’m really, really biased. I’ve been trying to make these reviews come out one a week, and when Daughters got added to the list it was like an act of supreme will to not just listen to it first, write the review, and then post it later like “OF COURSE I LISTENED TO THEM IN ORDER LOL.” I love Daughters. I loved Hell Songs and the self-titled. Daughters back then is exactly the example of a band being in a genre but not being beholden to all these old traditions and openly questioning what makes heavy guitar music heavy. It’s not just a few pedals and decibels. At the same time, they’ve straight up called their new album “You Won’t Get What You Want” and the only single I’ve heard is a long, arena-rock-ish variant of their particular style of noise rock. So maybe I’m not ready for the Long Daughters Record of 2018. Here we go!

UGH. This is going to be amazing. I was totally ready for a huge burst when the beat dropped, but not this one. This is some good, restrained, unnerving build. Lol it’s gonna be really hard for me to have cogent thoughts during this because I just want it to rip my body in half. I am EXTREMELY INTO THIS.

I AM STILL EXTREMELY INTO THIS. Sadler reconfiguring his guitar to whatever the hell you call this is horrific and awesome. They’ve found a new pathway into the same room they keep trying to get into with their records, of this visceral swirling tidepool of urban desolation. So far, they’ve done it again. Oh my god I love this so much.

Yes okay it’s the single again, this is the only track on here I’ve heard. I know there were like multiple singles, but I decided after hearing this one that I just want to take in the rest of the record whenever it comes out. It is a classic Alexis vocal performance, and so it told me everything I needed to know about that record before I heard it. I have no idea how this is possible live, but that shit don’t really matter.

This is the most oldschool Daughters thing on this album so far. It’s a good change of pace since the last few songs have all been slow and brooding. Just a nice game of “The Floor Is Electrified” for the kids to play. The outro guitar sounds like some kind of Saxophone Golem chasing the band. This is probably the best Guitar-centric album I’ve heard all year.

This rules. I don’t know how else to say it. It’s brain fireworks for me.

I am also here for Urban Noise Blues. This is probably the only song from this record I could show my friends without them pulling the “ugh it’s your noise shit again” face. In an alternate universe this is the song for the next Blade movie.

Did not see “extremely goth rock” as the direction for the Daughters record but bless them for stretching their range this far and nailing it. I continue to have little to say about this record that’s not just excitement.

Alright, this one’s not fantastic. The subject matter is not the best thing in the world, but as someone who is basically writing music criticism as a hobby maybe I’m supposed to be put off by it. That’s totally fine. Although, “Maybe the sun waits for you to be shown what to do” is a great line.

I was about to say the same about this but then the “chorus” hit and okay this song is going to self destruct and I’m good with that. This also is a story I relate WAY more to. Sure enough, it's self-destructing! This outro would be an amazing way to end a concert, which gives me fear of the last track.

Okay! No ending ballad! This is basically an old Swans song, like Holy Money era, but with more stuff on it. It’s an alright outro, kind of like an end credits thing where it’s tying the concepts of the record together into a straightforward path. I did take a second to look up set lists though. The last little bit helps justify it as the last track, of switching from chaotic to harmonic so the record can actually let go of the listener. See! You can make that feeling happening without closing on a fucking ballad! Woo!

- - -

yeah i’m biased this is #1 and I was going to listen to it anyways so see you next week happy thanksgiving

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  • 2 weeks later...

I appreciate your willingness to still participate. I might open it up to that if I come short of ten recommendations, and in honor of your suggestion I'll give you a second crack at it.

I listened to Macy Gray today, but I haven't written it up yet. Probably wont until friday at the earliest.

@Casey You're up next, do you still want to go with Courtney Barnett?

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Im an indecisive asshole so I've got a bunch of picks. This year was thin IMO but I really liked:

Caliban - Elements

Halcyon Way - Bloody But Unloved

Khemmis - Desolation.

Sleep - Sciences, as noted, was killer too. I'm also trying to get into Striker - Play to Win but I'm only into a hand full of songs. Also wanna give a shout to Bleeding Through - Love Will Kill All and Pallbearer - Run Like Hell.

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On 10/19/2018 at 4:32 PM, Curt McGirt said:

Since I listened to it again today and I still like it I will pick something: Wytch Hazel - II: Sojourn. You can find it on Youtube or posted by me in the random music thread a couple pages back. Excellent NWOBHM/Thin Lizzy-esque metal/hard rock, despite the unfortunate Xtian lyrics. Count them in with Trouble, Warlord and Stairway as one of the only "white metal" bands I can stomach -- which means you need to be REALLY FUCKING GOOD, and they are. Plus there are parts you would easily accept as Japanese wrestling themes.

Dude this is right up my alley, good look

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This is a reminder that at the outset of this, I did not guarantee I am going to write positive things about these albums. I still appreciate you all submitting albums anyways.

1. "You Won't Get What You Want" by Daughters
2. "Vile Luxury" by Imperial Triumphant
3. "II: Sojourn" by Wytch Hazel
4. "The Sciences" by Sleep
5. "Ruby" by Macy Gray

I vaguely remember when Macy Gray hit. There was a lot of to-do about her voice and I never thought it was worth carrying on about. It’s like the same kind of grainy as D’Angelo, just with a higher timbre.  As I’m writing this, I’m relistening to “I Try” to refresh myself. I hope this is giving you an idea of how often I’ve thought about Macy Gray since the turn of the century. So how did the album go?

So this’ll be a fun experiment. I wrote this weeks ago, and didn’t date it, and so there’s a bunch of notes in here I don’t remember. For instance, “Glad I listened to this today. Last two days could’ve biased this.” I have a theory of what that could mean? Anyways, it’s “pretty basic but not bad. Swell doesn’t work.” The swell being the attempt to make the chorus seem big. I’m also now reminded to check out the lyrics to answer the question “why is this called buddha.” … No answer! Moving on!

All I wrote for this is “Soundtrack music.” I believe the implication here is that this sounds like something from a cartoon musical or a montage? I’m not going to relisten to it to figure out what this meant, because I know there’s LOTS OF NOTES coming up and that’s where the energy is to be devoted.

“More soundtrack music. This is totally harmless.” I tend to not find “harmless” as a good thing for music to be, but then again I am the same person who has fanatical devotion to destroying good will, and loves artists with the same kind of commitment. So this could just not be for me. It’s happened.

Okay before I get into the notes, I cannot tell if the person who has transcribed the lyrics for genius was not listening or is trying to sabotage this, because there’s several lines in here that flat don’t make sense. However. “Oh, this is why the soundtrack music. This is corny as fuck.” This is specifically in reference to “I’ll whip your woooooo” as the hook. Like, I get frustration at the hegemony. I’m all about it. That doesn’t mean bad lines get a pass. “This sounds like Mark Ronson.” I am saddened to learn that it is not actually Mark Ronson, because that means there’s people attempting to sound like Mark Ronson.

“lol following that with a ballad.” I don’t know how else to say my ballad hangups. However, this song is the debut of the album’s villain. “Someone get this dope off the 808.” Dude is like spamming snare hits in the middle of this slow jazz ballad.  It’s the kind of choice you make when you feel like if you don’t contribute, you wont get another gig.

Oh boy. “Instant screwface.” I hate all that daddy shit. There’s no one that can make that not true for me. Speaking of screwface, I just learned that Meghan Trainor had an unclear amount of contribution to this fucking thing. “What are cavities in this context? Nevermind ‘so many tasty flavors’” Like this song is just… well, I’ll skip to that note. “This might be the worst song I’ve heard all year.” And I’m someone who exposes myself to soundcloud rappers in a very “guy who lets snakes bite him until his blood has all the venom resistance in it” kind of way. This hurt. WAIT THIS IS A COVER OF A RITA ORA SONG?! LOL OK GOOD 2 KNOW

I apparently felt that “this had a better intro than the other songs, and the swell actually worked.” I refreshed and yeah this hook is alright. Spacious.  “Seriously, who keeps using that 808 and did they apologize.” It’s not as upfront in this one than it was on track 5, on second listen, but when it does show up I do cringe a little bit. I bet they thought it was so cool and modern to do that to these songs. “Bassist putting in work on this one.” The bridge and outro specifically stood out for that one. It’s the first time I’ve noticed anything about the musicianship on this record and felt positively about it. Blame 808 guy.

“Jenny?” This was more of a reminder to make me look at they lyrics to see if there were any clues, but nothing’s leaping out at me. Jenny seems neat. She’s got a big bird. That’s cool. “The lounge shit is killing me.” Just more ballad complaints. Nothing major to make out of that.

The notes for this one start with “Return of the screwface.” I’m assuming that is in reference to “Jeala-Jealousy.” Also, what am I to infer from “Every baby wants me.” It’s a dull song up until- and this is an exact transcript- “GOD THIS 808 IS NOT AIDED BY TURNTABLES.” Like seriously, what the fuck is with the 808s on this fucking record. Why would you do this. I get that like these songs should have drum fills, and your acoustic drum modeler makes fills really hard to sound natural, but like, this is DEFINITELY not a solution. “Putting ‘sing-along’ on your record is cynical as fuck.” I’ve always hated this move, where you put it on the record to broadcast to your fans in advance when is the proper time to do the clap-and-sway sing along shit.

There’s not a youtube clip of this so I struggle to remember exactly why I wrote this, but “I’m listening to this in public and it’s starting to make me self-conscious.” Like if the earbuds got unhooked then everyone could hear it or something. Thankfully not the case. I’m betting I wrote that during the “Patty Cake Shenanigans” hook. I described it summilarly: “Schoolhouse Rock-ass hook.”

“You could end this record with ten straight ballads now. I’m totally detached.” It’s true, even now. I find it hard to dunk on this because it just felt so flimsy. I knew it was going to slide off me as soon as it was done. “DON’T THINK I DON’T HEAR THAT 808 IN THERE.” Okay well except for that.

“Ending Reggae is a new one on me.” It is. “So is ending Christian reggae.” It also is. I can’t find an easy copy of it to relisten to so I can’t quite explain why I wrote “random noise guitar.” I assume I wasn’t lying. At this point I was just feeling, frankly, catty. How can I tell? “I too wish you could fix this.” Yeesh. Also, I should have written a prediction because here in my notes it says “I knew this was gonna end with a sudden cut,” and I remember thinking that at the start of the song, but it’s too easy to claim that in post, so that’s an opportunity lost.

- - -

this record is not for me, and prosecute the person with the 808 to the fullest extent of the law

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This is a tricky one for me as most of the albums I listened to this year were either older acts releasing rather middling albums, or guilty pleasure bands that I would not put up for any kind of even marginally critical analysis.  That leaves one album that... well it is niche, but sure why not.

 

Uniform - The Long Walk

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My semester is over so this will be the last one I had to write in a notebook for. Which means the next few listens will be the off-the-cuff style from last year. Yay! I’m excited for you too!

  1. "You Won't Get What You Want" by Daughters
  2. "Vile Luxury" by Imperial Triumphant
  3. "II: Sojourn" by Wytch Hazel
  4. "Tell Me How You Really Feel" by Courtney Barnett
  5. "The Sciences" by Sleep
  6. "Ruby" by Macy Gray

I have a family tradition. I drive up with my older brother to our family's christmas stuff, and I burn a big long playlist to listen to so he can catch up on what’s come out in the last year and see what he wants to check out on his own time. This is how we discovered Courtney Barnett, listening to and laughing with Avant Gardener on that mountain route (“The paramedic thinks I’m clever because I play guitar / I think she’s clever because she stops people dying” is still an amazing lyric). I loved the first two records, but as I stated last year, I don’t fuck with anyone that fucks with Kurt Vile, so I was planning on missing this one. Now to be fair, I was also planning on missing At The Drive-In last year and that turned out great. So maybe this’ll turn out great!

“This might be the second rock record I’ve heard in 2018.” Turns out that’s patently untrue. It’s more like seven. The thing that caused me to realize this is that the album is “extremely elemental.” It’s a Rock Album, with Rock Instrumentation. This one in particular sounded super 90s rooted, just slowly growing with the traditional instrument setup. In this case, it kinda went for a while without changing, causing me to ask “Did Kurt Vile kill her fast stuff?”

“Oh ok.” There is a problem though. The rest of my notes are going to take a tone similar to this: “I have very little to say about this. It’s Work. It does things because the genre demands it.” There is nothing wrong with this approach if you have a fanbase, and she does. For me, there’s two things to reckon with. The first is, one of my favorite bands in the world is Liars. They sound totally different on every record, to the extent that it feels like every now and then they fire a torpedo at their fanbase and sink some ship full of fans of theirs. I love that shit. The last Liars record has a song that’s literally just a bunch of screaming birds and a carnival organ. I pumped my fists to that song like a metalhead. I get that this is not a normal impulse, or an impulse any artist is planning on addressing. Nonetheless, it’s who I am.

The second thing is, “this might be my fault on account of all the post punk I’ve been listening to.” See I spent every day on my hour long bus rides in november and december listening to two 70s post punk records a day that I haven’t heard (HOW LONG WERE Y’ALL PLANNING ON HIDING CHROME FROM ME). So I’ve been listening to a lot of weird genre bending stuff, and that is not the best mindset to come to this record from. Oh hey by the way, “Medication just makes you more upset” is a sign you should talk to/get a new psychiatrist. I’m hoping people aren’t taking that as “go off meds forever lol.” And make sure it’s a psychiatrist prescribing stuff, not a GP or internalist.

This song has what I decided was a “Spoon-ass Intro.” I still hear it when I relisten to it. It’s something in the snap of the bass. Spoon has some good tunes, so there’s worse bands to reference. Especially in this “Spoon-ass rest of the song.” This is probably my favorite song on the record. “At least it’s the best Spoon song in a few years.”

The only note I made about this song is that if you like this song “You should listen to US Girls.” This is in reference to the subject matter, because it’s the kind of topic US Girls is preoccupied with. The difference is that angles it takes talking about gender and power are just unnerving and brutal.

Here is where the note drought begins. “Angry at least, but still basic.” If this song was like ten years older it would have been covered a million times and for good cause. There was a brief moment where it felt like there was a saxophone solo starting, but turns out that’s a really specific guitar tone. Feel like I should know how to do that.

“It’s fine.” I wish I had looked at what the title of this song was, because that’s pretty clever. I haven’t said anything about the lyrics on the album but like if y’all are familiar with last year it’s because I have a hard time with rock lyricism and this album is full with it. It’s at least not at a point where it’s making it hard to enjoy the songs, but I’m not getting anything from any of it. However, there’s a “neat bit in 6/4” playing underneath the guitar solo and I enjoyed that touch.

“I continue to have little to say. Shit’s rote.” I did not gleam anything additionally from relistening to it either, other than “lol overdub solo” I find if you’re a live band that’s like certain doom to do, unless you’re planning on taking an extra guitar with you, and there’s not other songs on this record that call for that. But hey, what do I know.

This is as close as this album gets to a ballad, and I’m grateful. But it gets close to the other thing I was afraid of: “Ah, there’s Kurt.” You could tell me this is a cover of one of his interminable ballads and I’d believe you. “I’m trying to express this in better terms than ‘I’m Bored’. It’s hard.” I have obviously not improved on this front.

Just dense enough that Mr. Ending Ballad isn’t going to take it away. I straight up didn’t write anything for the first minute, but after that, “Well the bridge is nicely done!” It is! Very tender and airy, a really good departure from the sound of the rest of the song. This is, ideally, how a bridge should work. Also, “the swell worked.” I thought that was a three minute build to a chorus and was like pretty impressed with that kind of restraint and construction, and looking forward to hearing how it was going to get back to the verse. “Wait, that was it?” And then it faded out. And then another song didn’t start up afterwards. “That was it.”

- - -
This is one of those albums where I can see the lyrics being super meaningful to someone having this particular kind of year. As such, it’s hard for me to enjoy dunking on it. It’s also hard because it’s just dull, instead of bad enough to inspire anything more vitriolic. It’s fine.

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4 hours ago, Lamp, broken circa 1988 said:

dude from philly with one good song (Jesus Fever), a million terrible ones, and no problem doing business with evil fuckers

Tell me more, because if this is true then it’s going to break my heart because I really do love Kurt Vile just as much as I do Courtney Barnett.

also that entire album is waaaay better in a live setting. But I’m glad you didn’t hate it! Nowhere near as good as her last album, though.

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