Reviews (page 7 of 8)
Another long 40 minute proggy listen brought to me by 1001albumsgenerator.com
Too long, too boring, too meh.
Meh
Short songs, still too long
How is this special? Not impressed at all. The mix is annoying af. This is just more whiteboy bullshit. 2/5
I'm surprised to read how critically acclaimed this album was. I didn't care for it at all. I agree with Robert Christgau of The Village Voice that it's a dud.
What bothered me most about this album was its lo-fi production. I'm normally pretty open to lo-fi if it's done correctly, but something about Guided by Voices's un-remastered, homemade sound is very off-putting. Another reviewer wrote it best: "I cannot stand the mix. I get what they were going for with the dirty, fuzzy sound but I fucking HATE it. The guitar tones on this album are fantastic but I feel like that gets so muddy and hidden in the mix. This would easily be a 3 or 4 star album for me if it were a little "cleaner" sounding." Another issue is melody. These vocalists cannot carry a tune. Add that to the factor that some of these melodies can hardly be called tunes in the first place - owing to lack of musicality and a generally improvisatory feel - and the list of tracks that could be considered catchy becomes short very quickly. But with 28 tracks, at least a few had to stand out, and indeed I did notice some highlights. The main factor that boosted these to being "good" songs was higher energy and a solid melody. These songs, in particular, I wish could've lasted longer (nearly all 28 tracks are under 2 minutes), but I still appreciate them as they are. Also, for what it's worth, the lyrics are pretty fun. So is the album cover. Key tracks: A Salty Salute, Game of Pricks, A Good Flying Bird, Blimps Go 90, Alright
I had hopes for this one. I had got behind on the list and looked to the 10 albums ahead and thought that this would be the one to choose next. Sadly mistaken. Another questionable inclusion on the list.
Not for me today. Maybe another day.
Yesterday I had a terrible headache and listened to the first track and thought I’d save it for another day - it’s not any better today. This album desperately needed a producer who could help the band turn these demos into actual songs - it’s not even that I mind some of the tracks being short, they just don’t go anywhere and are so half arsed - full arses only please. Twangy and out of tune without a built up release or intention, some weird noises. There could be something here, but its not enough and I don’t have the patience for more listen throughs to find it - if anyone needs me I’ll be laying in a dark corner with a wet flannel on my eyes with my ears gently bleeding.
Sounds like an album of samples, where every song starts, tries to build up something and anticlimactically ends without any release
I wasn't a fan of lots of short tracks, it made listening quite frantic. It was quite beneficial for the weaker tracks, as they ended that bit quicker. For the odd decent track I wasn't at all disappointed it was over after 90 seconds. I guess what I'm saying is, it was tolerable but not great.
Didn't mind the short tracks, but there were a LOT of them. If you like this, you'll LOVE Half Japanese.
I like the way the songs flow into one another. It's a little rambling at 28 tracks. Melodies are rare, attitude is everything. The budget clearly wasn't spent on production values. At times it sounded liked a random bloke shouting shit down a mic. This probably sounds best on a C90, rather than a streaming service.
Maybe it gets better with multiple listens, but I dont think I WANT to listen to it again. 2/5
Some songs are good, but a lot of them sound like unfinished ideas or they gave up halfway through the song.
So I never heard anything of this artist or album at all in my life. Like discovering a planet or walking into the largest library and randomly grab a book and go. Here’s the problem with this scenario though, this piece of art is coming at you randomly. It’s on a list, a list that states is MUST before 💀. I’m a new father and I love listening to music and everything about music and feel like I enjoy a wide variety. I will never mention nor play anything from this album ever. This album isn’t the worst on this list and even had some fun moments and help me realize this list is a grind and has many far from ever being MUST. 1.5 rounding up.
A few decent tracks here but significantly diluted by a bunch of unfinished dross.
I find this album very unsatisfying. It's a tease. Great little pop hooks, but only the hooks. They're over before I get a chance to enjoy what's going on.
Music is nice, sounds like The Pillows, but the actual songs are drawn-out, yet very short and actually "boring" to listen
Sounds like they shouldn't have left the garage. One of the band members even fell asleep while recording
Got a weird one today. Average song length is like 1:30ish, which makes it feel like just like a bunch of unfinished ideas. It's like indie rock, or lo-fi. Props to them though for being mentioned in an episode of The IT Crowd. There's also a scene in the show where Game of Pricks is playing to drown out the sound of people banging. Apparently the creator and director, Graham Linehan was a huge GBV fan. Favourite songs: Game of Pricks, Blimps Go 90 Least favourite song: The Ugly Vision, Cigarette Tricks, Pimple Zoo, Auditorium, Striped White Jets, Ex-Supermodel, Chicken Blows, My Son Cool, Always Crush Me 2/5
I am learning that I really dislike that I think intentionally fuzzy sound. Also, while I am generally a big fan of brevity and often criticize albums and songs for being too long, this swings too far in the other direction. Every song feels like an incomplete thought and even ones I am enjoying (A Salty Salute, Game of Pricks) seem to end abruptly. Not a great experience overall.
Gets annoying after a bit.
-this sounds like a bunch of dudes who wanted to talk the alt music talk but can’t walk the walk -like maybe they just started dressing/were alt music scenesters that no one ever bothered asking if they could make music -I couldn’t find any synergy between the lyrics, melodies, riff ect throughout the entire album
This album feels a lot like a beer flight or scrolling your phone for a while. Nothing lasts long enough to make an impression on you. It’s like 30 tracks of a minute each. The music isn’t all bad but they’re more like incomplete thoughts than songs. It’s more of a scratch pad of chords and high thoughts than a continuous musical idea. I get the feeling this album could have been at least mid if they took the time to flesh some of these out.
Gave it one listen, some ok lyrics, but the songs are short even by punk standards. No real enjoyment of the music. 2/5
The poor singing and lack of intonation made me not enjoy listening to this album. Not my style of music.
Kinda all over the place. Not keen on it.
I get that the bad recording quality and unfinished songs are the artistic concept and they are probably done well in that regard. It just doesn't do much for me.
Meh
Meh
Ein paar Songs sind ok, die meisten aber schlecht.
Didn’t enjoy. Too lo-fi chaotic.
Not the worst thing I’ve heard. 2.5 stars
A poor imitation of The Who
Lots of starts to songs…
I dunno. Never heard a single song by these guys.
The sound quality on this drove me nuts, and I was confused about why this album sounded like it was played on a small town radio station but I guess it was intentional. This is a long one too, I think if this is your genre its a shining example but to me it was just a lot of garbled noise and half-songs that didnt need to be recorded (Always Crush Me is awful for this and made shut it off for awhile).
This album did nothing for me. But it wasn’t unpleasant so 2 stars
I'd like to say I like this, but I don't. I don't especially dislike it - sure, there were a couple of skip tracks, but having listened through this album I can honestly say that my life is no better for having heard it, and that gives me no inspiration whatsoever to listen to it again.
There is so much from the album cover that made me think this was some kind of instrumental type album. Didn’t realize it’d be a hundred thirty second songs that sound like those dollar 45 records. Would love an explanation on why this one is on here.
This album is in desperate need of a remaster. Lo-fi is one thing, but this sounds like garbage with how compressed the audio is. Virtually unlistenable. The music itself was ok - the vignette style keeps things interesting at least, though no songs stuck out. 2/5.
This wasn’t as awful as I thought it was going to be, so I guess that’s something. I didn’t enjoy this in any way, though.
7 songs under a minute, w/ the longest song under 3m. If you distorted the hell out of it & increased the BPM by about 200 this could be a grindcore album. "Lo-fi" definitely covers it, as it sounds like it was recorded with a walkman. 90s/American was also a shock, since many of the songs sound like rough, discarded Beatles demos dug out from Ringo's trash. Overall, I don't really get it -- and I've listened to The Frogs, but maybe it's because they didn't seem to be taking themselves too seriously. Wait, is that SNORING I hear in the background? wtf. At least it was relatively short.
It sounds like the cover of the album looks.
Not something I would choose to listen to. Some songs remind me of the Beatles
niet soort lo-fi rammelgejenkel uit de USA gaf en geeft me altijd flink veel donkerbruin in mijn aura.
Ja sorry. Dit is gewoon muzikale diarree. Matig opgenomen. Kill your darlings! Als er al wat leuks tussen zit, valt het simpelweg niet op temidden van de matigheid van alles.
This felt like an America's Got Talent audition record, nothing was finished or a full song, just parts of songs that left me wanting more. I think I could like this band, but I wouldn't listen to this again because it just left me wanting more.
meh 2 stars
Britisk 90’er, korte intense indierock-numre, lidt punk
This album dragged on for me. I loved the soft shoegaze guitars, but found the vocals quite grating. Not something I would listen to on my own. But there are a couple tracks here and there that rock, like ‘alright’ and ‘game of pricks’. Many of the tracks’ Melodies reminded me of Beatles tunes.
I don't like the guys voice, and it sounds very 90s
This has all the elements of the kind of stuff I like, but for some reason doesn't quite do it for me; I'm not sure why. I wish they'd taken 12 of the most promising of these 28 songs and developed them further. As it stands it's a pretty mixed bag.
Bastante sin mas.
Sounds strange. I gave it a try but it was really not my cup of tea.
Why do the drums sound so shitty? Half the songs don't even have drums. All of the songs are half songs. I do not understand this band's genius.
On paper, I should be rapturously praising this album. I’m all about mid 90’s alt rock, and I consider that time frame to be the ultimate musical renaissance of my young life after coming off of a diet solely comprised of slick 80’s radio pop, which I truthfully still adore. Unfortunately this album falls into Pavement (the band) land for me: Style over substance. Attitude over ambition. (Or maybe I still just can’t forgive Stephen Malkmus, lead singer of Pavement, for dissing my beloved Smashing Pumpkins in the mid 90’s… Whatever. To each their own. They are VERY different bands!) There are a few cool moments which I’d likely come back to: “Closer You Are” sounds like a lost Beatles song, (which makes sense since this entire album feels like it’s aiming to be the lazier slacker version of ‘Abbey Road’s side two). “The Ugly Vision” is a creepy acoustic number even though it is undercooked, and “Move Away”, “Hit” and “My Valuable Hunting Knife” are fun and accessible with a dash of oddness. All in all, this album could grow on me, but I can’t see myself coming back to the whole project with so many other great albums, musicians and genres to taste and fall in love with.
alright, nothing really stuck out to me. would definitely listen again to give it a second chance.
I've never been able to get into these guys.
Sounds more like fragment of ideas rather than fully formed songs.
Not bad but not my fav, probably deserves more listens and time
3/10
When they play loose, the ceiling is higher. Right?
Kinda sounds like Sloan with a dash of Weezer.
Lo-fi.....or lo-quality? Meh
Not great
I don’t know. I’m not really resonating with this. Never had an interest back in the day. There are better bands with this sound. How is this special? Not impressed at all. The mix is annoying af. This is just more whiteboy bullshit.
2.3
Very irritating album that started pretty well, with original sound and interesting concept. Unfortunately, after few songs this concept became unbearable and I was ready to give up. It's pretty amazing that I have listened to 14 songs and ended up just halfway through the album (one of many, as well). Not a music I can enjoy for longer than couple minutes, I'm afraid.
This album was strange. The songs are very short and most of them fade out, which leaves me with the impression that I'm listening to a preview of the album, instead of the album itself. Some songs had a catch hook but some songs were just obnoxious (e.g. the snoring in the background of Ex-Supermodel.
More twangy monotony, why have I got to listen to so much tedious strumming before I die?
28 songs and 41 minutes. Some of them are good and more than some of them are not. Call me crazy, but I would have made the good songs longer and left the bad ones off of the album. I was excited to listen to this, but it was a bit of a disappointment.
Rather than a proper album, this seems more like a collection of alt-rock demos. Someone must have thought "That's enough, release it already". And they did. Tedious 2/5.
It definitely sounds like a bunch of unfinished demos. All sounds very raw. Many tracks fade out after a minute. I liked the bits I heard, but in terms of an album, it's very odd.
One that I’ll forget I ever listened to.
Meh. It's dated and unimaginative.
Usually this is about long songs, but for this album, the songs don’t justify their length. You have no time to become invested in these songs before they end. The songs also, simply, aren’t that great. They’re good and fun, enough to listen to a couple without getting annoyed or bored, but not after almost thirty of them. Swing and a miss. 2/5
At least it was over quick. Average garage. Not The Ramones and nowhere near The Strokes. Lo-fi and lo-quality.
28 songs, some with a little bit of potential, all of them repetitive even with their short runtime yet at the same time unfinished. Bad recording quality doesn't help either.
Interesting, varied, worth a listen....BUT.... The distorted lo-fi production makes it hard to listen to....
Loads of utter nonsense in here that was slapped together as a lame excuse for an album. Unfortunately against my best judgement, I did in fact enjoy some of these songs (My Valuable Hunting Knife, Closer You Are, Game of Pricks, Blimps Go 90, Little Whirl) so I have to give this a two. But you won’t catch me coming back to this album in its entirety anytime ever.
40 two minute punk songs easy to listen to with some great ideas not quite the ramones though
Expected to love this but found it a real slog. Game of Pricks is good though
Sounds like all the other GBV I’ve ever heard. Middle aged man noodling in his shed. Fawned over by other middle aged men.
Didn't really get this for the first few songs, found the lo-fi aesthetic charming for a few, then grew frustrated at the vague sketches that populated most of the record. Fave track: My Son Cool
Not for me, songs are way too short.
2.5
28 tracks in 41 minutes. The most lo-fi professionally released record I think I've ever heard. This sounds like the band took it's advance and did the absolute minimum necessary to record a bunch of partially formed early demos and left it at that. Rating: 2/5 Playlist track: A Good Flying Bird Date listened: 30/09/23
Not very good at all. I lasted about 15 or 20 minutes but I couldn’t continue listen anymore. The vocals conflicted with the backing music and didn’t seem in sync at all. This one was all off.
They tried to do something here. It’s mostly unpleasant.
A mish-mash of half-baked or even half-finished demos, does that count as an album? No. And saying it was deliberate makes it even worse. One additional star for some good Beatles-esque melodies and some of the guitar work, but this is hard to enjoy amidst all the chaotic noise.
Don't get why the songs are so short.
I would have never thought this was Lo-Fi if I wasn't told beforehand. I honestly didn't think this was a great album at all. It wasn't till after the album ended that I got into what was playing on my music, only to find out it was someone else. This album wasn't bad or un-listenable, it just wasn't good.
It was alright and I tolerated listening to it. It doesn’t help that I feel lousy, that might be altering my opinion, so yet again, 2*
Not into it 3/10
Bored. When will something happen?
I used to listen to newer Guided by Voices, but this is bad. Sorry.
this did absolutely nothing for me.
The individual "songs" sounded fine but it was so schizophrenic. Felt like giving the aux cord to that annoying guy who changes tracks after 30 seconds, never letting the full song play.
Felt all over the place
Ehhhh…..
Started out thinking I might like this album. It got weaker as it went along.
I’ve never heard of Alien Lanes before. The album art looks interesting enough, leading me to expect maybe something like Rusted Root. Apple Music describes it as alternative, and it was released in 1995 which does bode well for my tastes. Songs I already knew: none Favourites: They’re Not Witches This is a bit of a strange one to review. While it was playing, I felt it was decent (it’s nothing like Rusted Root by the way, it’s straight up alt rock). However, only half an hour after it finished I found that I didn’t remember any of the hooks from this. I write this album the morning after so I’ve slept since listening, and I’m finding the impact made was minimal despite it being decent during a listen.
I don't feel this aged well.
It's not bad, but by the end I was really glad it was over. Just a super harsh, grating sound that doesn't hold on well.
Not very memorable
It was interesting how every song was like a minute long but I feel like something like that works better with a band like cannibal corpse because that kind of heavy music doesn’t really need multiple transitions or layers. With songs like these that aren’t totally incomprehensible and fast paced in style it makes it seem like they had a bunch of good sounding ideas but no way to connect them, the genre collides with the style
While no song overstays it's welcome, nothing sticks out on this album because it all just mushes together. The mix isn't great either. 2/5.
Low quality garbage
Good scope between the songs. Other than that, nothing too special
Uninspired riffs and a bad voice
Perhaps the only thing I've heard from Guided by Voices is the name of the band. Nothing from Alien Lanes sounded familiar. I get the impression from the lists of reviews from other people, that there are people who like some of the same artists that I like, who like Guided by Voices. I didn't enjoy this album. I was trying to give the music a chance at an "okay" rating, but I did find any tracks that truly earned my attention. I'm grumpy today, so 2 stars.
Ok
Forty minutes of Oasis outtakes.
First off the wiki blurb that says this is a lofi band is definitely bullshit based on this album. This is as 90s indie rock as it gets and while it started off decent, by the song that sampled snoring I was completely over it. It’s especially bad when it’s only 41 minutes and it feels like 60. Usually I like albums almost entirely made up of 1:30 songs but this one didn’t really give me anything to latch onto. I feel like that format is better for crazy hyper shit like 100 gecs more than bland rock like this.
They may be an influential band in the alt rock genre, but they are too meandering and formless in their singing for my tastes.
Seemed quite wannabe Beatles, otherwise generic brit rock
Tellement inconsistant. Des passages avec des compositions super intéressantes, mais la chanson ne dure pas plus de 2 minutes. Des fois des chansons qu'on ne sait pas si c'est supposé être un interlude ou un morceau d'expérimentation. Et ce n'est pas grave d'avoir des courts morceaux, mais qu'au moins ils se suivent bien ; ça coupe constamment d'un style à l'autre. Ça veut faire trop de chose à la fois.
Nothing sticks around long enough to be offensive Nothing sticks around long enough to be memorable Feels like there might have been something great in there if they’d actually let any songs develop
The whole album just sounded like a bunch of demos from a week of renting a recording studio. I think the album would have potential if they chose some of their favourite 'tracks' and fleshed them out. I'll be rooting for Alien Lanes 2, so hopefully I can give it a better rating
The actual music here gets a 2. It doesn't feel that well thought out, but is fine and mostly inoffensive (some dodgy lyrics though) However this sounds like it was recorded on a toaster. Did they decide not to master it just to be edgy? 1.5/5
Best Song: As We Go Up We Go Down. Mildly enjoyable hippy whimsy. Worst Song: Ex-Supermodel. Is someone snoring in the background of this song? Overall: What even if this? I don't think it feels right to call these songs. None of the tracks certainly feel like they can stand on their own, but it also isn't as though the tracks ease consistently into one another to produce a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. It is just a disorganized collection of ideas, jumbled together and picked blindly from a hat. It has the feeling of going to a library, grabbing a book and opening it to a random page, reading a paragraph or two, and then tossing it over your shoulder to grab a new book.
What a train wreck of an album. Why there snoring in ex-supermodel. Some of the train wreck moments were fun but jeez…it was too wild. Also, lol the vocals on chicken blows.
This was alright, all very short songs
It’s a bit too Lo-Fi for me. Felt it had too many different ideas going for it.
Was fine, short tracks that were not particularly memorable.
The sound is too grating. I even skipped some of it.
Pretty good alt/indie rock Noisy at times and catchy at others Got kinda annoying by the end
Not bad but just kinda dull and disjointed.
Yikes… nothing from this album screamed “influential” to me in any way. I just don’t like the singing, the lyrics or my music. I’ve definitely heard worse and this album was TOLERABLE, but not good.
Was not a fan of this album. Short songs were great because I'm not sure how many I could listen to.
Eh.
Forgettable.
I definitely disliked this the first time through. It seemed very random and disjointed and unpolished (which, apparently, is the point of "lo-fi"). A second listening revealed a bit more charm, but not enough for me to be a fan.
At first I thought it was boring, but then it started to irritate me.
This was a strange and unsatisfying listen. Lots of short songs in varying musical styles sent through some sort of 90’s grunge distortion filter. There were some good things I would hear then they would abruptly end, like Cliff’s Notes versions of the songs. What’s with the snoring over Ex-Supermodel? Did I accidentally listen to an ad for a KTEL Record?
Not really my thing. But interesting. Probably won’t listen again though
I didn't know this band.
Ik weet dat sommigen hier helemaal weglopen met deze band, maar voor mij is het onsamenhangend en chaotisch.
28 liedjes in 41 minuten. That says it all.
Meh, taas melkoista tusinakamaa ja ei erotu hyvässä eikä pahassa muusta britti-pop-rockista.
Meh
that was very boring
Meh
I dunno. I wasn't crazy about this.
xaropinho
I think I just listened to someone’s stream of consciousness for 41 minutes. No.
tämä olisi parempi jos bändi olisi Briteistä, kolinasta huolimatta puuttuu rosoa, joka tekisi näistä sinänsä kiinnostavalta vaikuttavista biiseistä oikeasti kiinnostavia. eka biisi antaa toisen tähden
why so whiny
This bit of the Pitchfork review is all ya need to know: "Pollard’s method was to write five duds in order to get one perfect tune, and then release all six songs. In the end, making art was like breathing for Pollard—you can’t inhale oxygen without exhaling carbon dioxide." 3.5/5 to a best of tho?
Sounds like they had fun making this album, certainly more fun than I had listening to it.
The good thing about the songs being so short is you don't have to put up with them for too long. The bad thing about the songs being so short is that they can cram even more of the bastards on there. I'm giving it a generous 2 because halfway through, like an island in the middle of a sea of dirge, I enjoyed Motor Away.
Let's call it what it is: Just a crappy garage band with way too many songs on their album (really? nearly 30 songs?) 4/10.
A really interesting album. It has 28 songs but only is 44 minutes. The variety of alternative styles is shown through the songs but it doesn’t feel very cohesive. This album seems like the band just made as many songs as possible and didn’t think about trying to expand or curate them. Some of the songs were somewhat enjoyable. None were that bad but it’s just an odd collection of okay music. 5.0/10
I like the vibe but couldn't really get into the album as a whole. Kinda feels all over the place.
Seems like a bunch of experimental, partially fleshed out half ideas assembled in a very strange collection. There's only a few that seem like actual songs, but nothing that is really too compelling. Interesting.
Not memorable.
His voice is nothing special. I don’t seem to like this album very much. Pass
Eitt gott við þessa plötu: lögin, þó þau séu fjöldamörg, eru flest mjöööög stutt! Einstaka inn á milli með grípandi laglínu, en almennt er þetta mjög einsleitt og ekki nógu skemmtilega útfært.
Amongst the strain of trying oh-so-hard to give off the impression of just hooking up a mic and recording anything that happens, there's a great power-pop album hiding in here somewhere. There are some gems to be found among the 28 (!) songs. Minus the necessary polish, this gets old in a hurry.
I found the vocals so irritating that I only listened to half the album.
Loads of instantly forgettable 2 minute offerings. Not worth your time really. I’ve heard worse music so gains an extra star for that reason only.
An American band tryna sound like Brit pop
No thanks
Never heard it before. Kinda wierd. Don't totally get it.
Sounded like an album full of half baked song ideas. Not for me.
Ehh, not for me.
It's cool how they got to try out lots of different styles, but I didn't really think any of them clicked.
Pretty enjoyable stuff, but worthy of a place on this list? Hmmm
Here's one of those bands whose name I've heard throughout the years and I couldn't name a song of theirs to save my life. Indie low-fi, with a distinct 60's pop/folk vibe to many of their songs. It's not bad, it's just not very compelling to me.
Znowu indyjska hameryczka, tym razem w wydaniu moco lofikowym, bo wlasnie takim krazkiem sa alien lanes od guided by voices, bandy za ktora stoi pan Robert Pollard, ktory jest glownym wokalista i lirykiem grupy w sklad ktorej podczas nagran tej plyty wchodzilo jeszcze szesc osob, ale traki sa grane raczej standardowym setupem gitara, elektryk lub akustyk, bas i drumy, tylko ze postacie sie zmieniaja, a maja sie na czym zmieniac, bo album ma 41 minut, ale zmiescili tam az 28 utworow, co nie daje zbyt duzego czasu na pojedyncze piosenki, co tworzy sytuacje traczek bedzie hitem lub misem i tak 28 razy, wiec mozna znalezc kawalki ktore slucha sie dobrze, bo lirycznie sa lekkie a instrumentalnie jamuja, ale jednak jest to szukanie, przed odsluchem mialem juz na plejliscie jeden utwor z tej plyty, pewnie w polecanym radiu indyjskim cos zaslyszalalem, a po przesluchaniu calosci dodam jeszcze dwa inne motor away i as we go up, we go down, ktore najlepiej sie bronia z calosci nagrania, ktore na generatorze wypada jako jako najbardziej budzetowe jak do tej pory, bo pewnie przesada jest nagrali plyte za 10 dolarow a sprzedali za 100k, ale jak na rok 95 nadal brzmi to w wiekszosci przypadkow przyzwoicie, chociaz dziwne uczucie sluchac takiego lofika na przyzwoitych sluchawkach, bo czujesz jakby czegos brakowalo, a jednak ten brak stanowi integralna czesc brzmienia, bo jesli nie mozesz zagrac czegos dobrze, to przeciez wystarczy, ze nie nagrasz wystarczajaco dobrze zeby ktokolwiek zauwazyl roznice, wiec z mieszanymi odczuciami i kilkoma wylowionymi utworami moge odchaczyc pozycje na liscie
Aburrido y monótono. Como si fueran las canciones más ruidosas de los Beatles mal hechas y mal grabadas. No me ha gustado casi nada, aunque se puede escuchar.
Quelques moments sympas mais franchement 28 titres c'est tricher.
Meh
very weird
Nice songs but a bit too much garage, too many short songs
booooriiiiing
Korte nummers, niet altijd goed afgewerkt
I normally try to listen to the whole album, after 131 albums, I finally hit an album that I really struggled with. The short song transitions is hectic and disorienting. TMBG did a similar thing in their early years, but with a more eclectic songwriting style that I favor. 2/5.
Rubbish.
Lo-fi, short pieces, but not very interesting. Not awful, just dull.
I get that this is an album celebrated by many people, I just couldn't buy into it. Lo-fi is not an aesthetic choice I usually find pleasant, and this record is not an exception. It sounds dirty and obnoxious. On top of that, having extremely short songs that change up your sound every 30 seconds to 2 minutes is too spontaneous for my taste. It makes the album come off as unfocused and rushed. There may have been a point to the way this album was produced and put together, but it just completely missed me. I don't even have a favorite song, none of them stuck with me
Mediocre 90s indie music thats hard to listen to, avoid.
Didn't get there
Not something I really liked
I don't have a response to this. Its just there. Songs are short and I think because of that it blends together. I am in no way better or worse for listening to this.
19th August 2021 Listened while mowing the lawn before going to watch suicide squad with woody. Like ADHD in an album but I like the 90s slacker vibes
I get that this is an album celebrated by many people, I just couldn't buy into it. Lo-fi is not an aesthetic choice I usually find pleasant, and this record is not an exception. It sounds dirty and obnoxious. On top of that, having extremely short songs that change up your sound every 30 seconds to 2 minutes is too spontaneous for my taste. It makes the album come off as unfocused and rushed. There may have been a point to the way this album was produced and put together, but it just completely missed me. I don't even have a favorite song, none of them stuck with me.
Odd good track, but most are too short to get in to. Extreme lo-fi production is off putting
28 nummers op 41 minuten tijd... soms voelt het aan alsof sommige nummers niet af zijn. Er heerst ook weinig samenhang in het album, het is wat chaotisch. Weinig van kunnen genieten
I love the album prior to this one, Bee Thousand, and have owned and listened to this album several times in the past. Gave it another spin, but no. This is rubbish. The song Game of Pricks is outstanding but the rest of the album is awful. Half-baked song ideas with monotone vocal delivery. Very strange to want to something so incomplete with a listening audience.
Weird one. Not my thing
Feels like a demo tape. Not quite for me, but it at least was interesting.
Meh, it provided nothing memorable or particularly enjoyable. it serves as good background music perhaps. But for active listening I was left wanting more.
...a bit weird. It isn't punk, but it might not be not punk.
Bemerkenswertes Album, aber an meinen Hörgewohnheiten vorbei
Some nice lo-fi indie moments but it's more of a collection of unrelated ideas.
A bunch of ideas that were never developed beyond that which is a shame as there are a few things in here that could've been somewhat decent. Best track: Motor Away
First few minutes ain't doing much for me. Probably only 2/5 unless it gets better. They're like "Beatles Lite" meh. sort of amazing that they're a 90's act; they barely sound it. Doesn't do much for me.
I liked the sound of the album when it started. The first song was good but as soon as I said "I like this" the song ended?? Ditto the second song. These brothers clearly like to avoid certain formulas in music. This is usually positive for me but, as much as I hate to admit it, I guess I like some formulas in music: For example, I like the norm of not abruptly ending a good tune before the 1 minute mark. Call me crazy! I was shocked when I took a look at Spotify and, after what seemed like less than 10 minutes, we were on Song 13 (Closer You Are). I quite liked that song too but it also left the room before we had a chance to properly introduce ourselves. My loss again. It begs the question: Who wins? After listening to Queen recently, it's interesting to compare Queen's over-dub-athon to this Guided by Voices' album that sounds like a high school project in a poorly lit basement. I don't mind their choice not to go over the top with production. It would have been nice if they devoted a bit more time to work on the songs and perhaps even finish writing a few of them. The lack of production time also results in all the songs sounding the same. I know all bands "sound the same" in one way or the other, but the production function can bring out some nuances that reduce the number of times you say "Oh Lord, don't tell me I have to listen to another song with that same sound". By the end of the album I was saying this a lot. At least when I had to say this, I could be happy knowing the next song might not be over 30 seconds long. Yes there were three songs that were 30 sec or less.
28 chansons, 41 minutes. Mince alors! On dirait que quand je trouve une toune bonne, elle finit après 43 secondes. Sinon, la sonorité est bonne mais trop de niaisage.
Couldn’t get into this at all
Hard to get into this one. Felt it was too sporadic and I couldn’t really get into the rhythm of it as an album. Some decent stuff on there, but just felt a bit too much of mishmash of sounds and ideas without ever settling on one.
I like the concept of a load of short tracks but found it a bit crazy in reality. 4/10
Odd album, it grabbed my attention a few times. But not enough to go back. Agree with the comments we song lengths. Relentlessly short!
Not for me!
Many, many, short snippets of lo-fi songs sounds like an interesting idea for an album so I tried really hard to like this, but as soon as I got into a groove with anything it abruptly ended. Many with no fadeouts, just a slammed door. This was a frustrating listen for me.
J'avais vraiment l'impression d'écouter un demo. Je me suis demandé si j'étais pas sur un album payant qui m'offrait juste le début des tounes. Mais non, c'est comme ça. Merci à Guided By voices de nous rappeler que la qualité est plus important que la quantité.
Like the lofi sound. Sounded nostalgic, even though I've never heard of it. Nothing remarkable about the album though.
Cool vibes, but nothing memorable.
Formato muy extraño. Durante este ejercicio he descubierto que el exceso de "cancioncitas" me desagrada entonces el punto de partida al ver el setlist de este disco no fue bueno y tampoco sorpresivo. La música no es mala pero en la mayoría se siente que lo que se va construyendo termina de manera abrupta y no llega a nada. Fui apenas la reproducción 1415 de Hit, de tan sólo 0:22 de duración. Songs: My Valuable Hunting Knife, Motor Away
grateful it was so short. I'm grateful for the nineties but not this voice, sadly
Alot of songs on one album. Very different from song to song. But I didn't really care for much of it.
Couldn't finish the album. I would describe it as amateurish and undeveloped. It is garage band grunge rock that may have inspired others, but I feel like I have heard exactly this from freshmen in high school bands. Both not my cup of tea, and not the pinnacle of achievement.
Uninspiring. I liked how it differs from other albums by having a lot of short songs rather than the usual number of songs with the usual length. But we all lnow that quantity doesn't mean quality.
Hmmm... qué decir de este álbum... ¿wtf? O sea, literalmente es un demo tape convertido en álbum o_O Ignoremos eso un momento. Algunas canciones son interesantes, pero como no les alcanzó para contratar un productor, se quedaron en bruto, lo cuál es una lástima.
como pioneros del LoFi pues chido pero un álbum lleno de demos? Por lo menos unas 10 rolas podrían haber llegado a ser algo muy bueno si las hubieran terminado.
2.5 | Empecé el disco con muy altas expectativas, porque la primera rola tiene muy buen inicio aunque acaba demasiado rápido. Luego vienen los cortes abruptos y los saltos casi al azar entre sonidos, la voz desafinada a propósito, etc. y me cuesta más y más trabajo. Pienso dos cosas, por un lado tienen reconocimiento por ser pioneros en temas como las grabaciones autónomas y el LoFi; pero por otro lado siento que tienen muchos pedacitos con potencial de ser buenas canciones y que nunca terminan de cuajar en la cápsula digerible que conozco y espero, y eso me frustra.
Started of well but then just... No. Quantity of tracks over quality.
2.5. nice to see mitch mitchell getting work
Not something i would normally listen to but it was cool. The songs were way too short
Fairly generic poppy 90s lo-fi sound, lots of short tracks that feel like half-or even quarter-ideas, feels jumbled not a huge fan. Is this looked upon with higher praise because of newer focus on lo-fi esthetic?
Send this to another world. 1.0
Just nope.
Malo
I'm pissed off about a few things. 1- of all the garbage included on this list this is the garbagiest 2- I like low fi and I like short songs....but damn this is something else 3- these aren't songs. These are ideas for song. F U for assembling a bunch of thoughts and passing it off an an album. 4- Most of these ideas are shit 5- On the rare occassion they had a good idea and you start getting into it....gone, like a fart in the wind. 6- I'm super pissed because there is a cool album in here but they were either too lazy or thought too little of their audience to actually try to produce one. As this project has progressed I've become more and more conservative with both my 1 and 5 ratings. You have to be really shit or really piss me off for a 1. Guess which one this is.
Опять какая-то странная дичь. Альбом 40 минут - 24 песни. Слушать невозможно
One minute tracks with only a refrain, perfect background for that coffee shop scene in your indie film project
not what i want
Really liked 2 of these songs but the rest can be recycled
Poorly recorded, poorly produced, poorly mastered lo-fi indie-rock bullshit.
yikes
for an album so short this felt like an eternity
Musically I kinda like it - but it’s SO fucking irritating.
Boy, I did NOT enjoy that.
Nope, it’s not for me. Songs are so short I can’t latch on to any ideas, and only a handful of songs have good ideas out of 28. Twenty. Eight. The mixing is bad, but I could overlook that with better material.
Ugh!
I think I’m too old for this. This is what I imagine the cool kids were listening to in 1995 when I was in my late 20’s. Not my jam. After finishing this album I would like to revise to say that this is objectively bad and if you like it something is wrong with you.
This is the blandest album I've listened to in a while. And, to be honest, of the twenty eight tracks it has, none is memorable or nearly good. Yes, some little nice melodies between all the noise. That's the most you can get out of this record. And, it doesn't feel long at all, but it's pretty uninteresting. I can get why it could have been interesting, but it feels very insipid. The guitars sound tired, the voice broken, the drums are just awful. And, the result is just a bunch of short songs that end up getting nowhere. Just an album that sounds cheap and like a joke. I won't say it's the worst thing I've ever listened to, but I just don't care.
Should've been guided by musicality
Like a cocktail hour where everything is fried, the 20+ songs did not offer much in variety.
7/1/26. Wasn't a fan. Thought it was noisy in a bad way; at least the songs were short. Also couldn't get it out of my head that the vocalist sounds like a mix of Sting and David Gilmour attempting a low budget project.
I have to go Robert Christgau on this one and give it a “dud” rating.
Terrible
More tracks means more good, right? Worked for Minutemen, right? Are those vocals intentionally obnoxious? Sounds like they're trying to be edgy but are only managing to cause me physical pain. And how many times to they have to use the word 'fa**ot'? Once is too many and I think I've heard it at least twice. I understand it was the 90s but that doesn't make it ok. I stand by my intolerance of slurs, even if used "ironically". "Ironically" just being a lazy hipster excuse for being a pos. That's a -1. Eat me. There might be a good album in here somewhere but they seem to have chosen to go with "bad because 'art', amirite *fart noise* lol". -_- wow you're so cool /s
Never heard of them before. This is their EIGHTH out of FORTY-TWO studio albums? I would say they'd fallen into "release everything you record", but I found out later that at one stage Pollard dug out 100 unreleased tracks for a box set – ha ha to the bank. After reading quite a fewe reviews, I gather that some people love the melodies and lyrics, but I'm with Christgau on this one, for me it’s a dud. Yes there are some catchy bits, but you shouldn't get a gold star for everything brought to show and tell? So many tracks to get through: I could pay more attention to the more popular ones? But the apparently-most-streamed song (Game of Pricks) is less-than-half-assed: if I wanted guitar pop with a bit of melancholy, I'd like it played properly (and I'd probably listen to Buzzcocks, not something "influenced by", YMMV). Some songs are awful, even the good songs are more like a demo tape than an album, and an ill-disciplined demo tape at that. But not much point in me making more negative comments about songs that offend me. Good news is that GDV don't have another album on the list, phew. For me, this album is Really Bad, I'll give it a new-for-me rating of 0/10 on my personal spreadsheet.
Not for me 1/5
Terrible. All the songs are just concepts that weren’t fleshed out.
Just kind of a discordant album, the flow between tracks was not there at all. The songs were alright and the singing was a bit rough for my liking. There's potential if it hadn't been such a compilation of short tracks. 1/5 stars.
Enminuterslåtar ska förstås vara punk. Vad är det annars för mening med dem? Nu blir det bara en sörja av allt. Här är det inte bara produktionen som är lofi. Hela materialet med något enstaka undantag, som Motor away är, low på alla möjliga plan. Att som i Ex-supermodell lägga in snarkljud kan nog vara den sämsta idén i pop/rockhistorien.
Grabbarna fick 100 000 dollar i förskott för att göra skivan. "The cost for recording Alien Lanes, if you leave out the beer, was about ten dollars." Jag antar att det är därför albumet är med i boken. En samling embryon till låtar där det kanske, ibland, med mycket god vilja kan anas något som skulle kunna bli en ok låt. Men å andra sidan går det allt för långt över tramsighetens gräns allt för ofta.
I usually don't like this kind of '90s lo-fi bullshit and this was no exception. A couple of ok songs (As We Go Up, We Go Down, Motor Away) but overall annoying to listen to. And the longer I listened, the more it annoyed me. Sorry, GBV. I don't think I'll be listening to your other 156 albums.
Dura 40 minutos y tiene como 30 temas, me parece una exageración. El chiste debe ser escucharlo todo entero de arriba a abajo pero tampoco es algo increíble je. En otras palabras: una pija.
Nope.
Baffles me how this was included in the list.
Never going to be my thing but can appreciate parts of this. Adjusted to one star because of the snoring wtf. RYM: N Saved a song: N
Álbum muy largo, canciones muy cortas. No es disfrutable, la música se escucha más que las voces. Es un caos
Not for me
I definitely did not need to listen to 28 90-second demos of some trashy rock band before I died. The ten dollar recording cost is very evident
Lo fi rock with extremely short and forgettable songs. I didn't really like their sound and after 28 songs in 41 mins I felt like I'd been listening for more than an hour.
Cut the number of tracks in half and then flesh out the songs. Sorry, Gen X, this sucks. Production is good and that's about it.
This simply doesn’t sound good… objectively. There’s the occasional somewhat decent song but overall just a mish mash of sounds.
"The Club is open." De band heeft een propper bij de deur van dit album neergezet. Hoe jaren '90 wil je het hebben? En net als in het echte leven zorgt die propper ervoor dat we liever een deurtje verder kijken. Maar goed, om andere redenen, waren we al van plan naar binnen te gaan, dus vooruit, let's go! Binnen blijkt hoe slecht de propper is. De tent is leeg. Er komt wat ongebalanceerde muziek ons tegemoet. Het publiek dat wel binnen blijft, lijkt knettergek. Het zou mij niet verbazen als ze mijn schoen willen lenen om mee te bellen. De muziek blijft intussen vraagtekens oproepen. Was dit nummer al afgelopen? Heeft dit nummer nog iets met de club te maken? Het geluid is belabberd. Soms krijgen we even (iets) beter geluid om het weer terug te draaien naar schuur-geluid en daarmee de eerdere zin nog eens te zingen (Pimple Zoo). Dat we maar mogen weten, dat dat nare geluid expres is....
The only thing good about this album; Is how brief it is. Jangled, ratchety noise. No coherence or structure. Just a rambling mess of instrument noise over the audible manufactured hiss of vintage sound.
Speed running this, cause so did these freaks
You're joking right ? I was meant to listen to this before I die ? Just let me die in peace next time. Did they forget what rhythm is? Why are the vocals so hard to hear, the production quality is straight ass. low 1
Steamy trash
Not good. Loads of very short songs all sound the same, dull
Best album ever
Lät lite intressant när jag läste om bandet. Men detta var ju vansinnigt trist. Lo-fi på ett dåligt sätt. Skulle kunna vara en demoinspelning. Helt ok röst och säkert några bra melodier stundtals men det drunknar i intetsägande slask. Första 1:an.
13 song in, and the longest is 2:24, and THAT's to long! I have to listen to 15 more songs? No way. I've heard enough.
At least it was quick. Not for me.
Really……..I REALLY needed to hear this album before I die? Whoever suggested this needs to have giving opinions revoked because was was this
Nothing of interest. And grating on the senses. I do not care for this at all and never wanna hear it again.
Guitar chords, vocal melodies, and lyrics all appear to have been selected at random by rolling dice on a table of entries that all hate you. The best thing about this album is that none of the tracks are over 3 minutes long, and a bunch of them are less than a minute. Unfortunately, that's still too long.
Confused, too many songs and too many influences
No well played, nothing new, voice not so good.
Ok
Eh I just had Kendrick and discovered Nick Cave through this the other day as well, so my standards felt pretty high. And then I also happened to read that this band got a $100,000 advance for this album that sounds like it was recorded with a Blue Yeti microphone. So yeah 🖕 u Guided By Voices, Listend By Noone, it should've been me instead, learn to finish your songs.
Nothing special. It may have been a first, but it's generally poor
oh fuck fuck fuck my username wasnt unique fuck FUCK fuck fuck
Normally for an album that gives me a headache I give 2 stars. This is getting one. Why? Because they're clearly musical ability that they're ignoring in favor just creating a schizophrenic cavalcade of noise at times. One song has long snoring dubbed over it for gods sake. Don't try again boys.
out of the twenty eight tracks here, i think "always crush me" might be one of the only songs that made my ears perk up because i *really* like the guitar tone which plays to the distorted strength of lo-fi. the rest of this though? absolutely miserable. some of the most grating whiny singing i've heard in a minute. this is basically a demo album. it's a disjointed scattershot mess of half-baked ideas thrown at the wall then discarded just as quickly. this is the unfinished rough draft of a maybe decent album that for some reason they gave to the famed mastering engineer bob ludwig to make any of this listenable. audio engineering is such an art and a skill. it's unfortunate that it was talent wasted here.
Yet another album I didn't need to hear before I die.
Lousy songs recorded on a toaster. What even is this?
What the??? So bad.
The vocals are unpleasant to listen to. The instrumentals are boring. On a technical level, the audio sounds like shit (and saying that it's on purpose doesn't make it any better). There are so many tracks on this album that sound so unpolished, it's like I'm listening to someone ramble incoherently over random noise. 28 tracks on this album and they're all awful.
what am i supposed to do with this
Songs too short , too many - 1
Meget ringe lyd på albummet.
Why is this on the list? It's extremely basic in my opinion. Nothing really grabbed me. Bit of a dud.
Meh
One incomplete thought after another.
Look you should at least be able to sing before you publish an album.
After 132 albums, I am loath to assign a 1 or 5 to anything, but this one plumbs the depths. I don't know what voices were guiding them, but their own nonsensical snippets are better without voices. The songs still aren't short enough.
I think it says a lot that there are no songs on this album that are longer than 3 minutes long. This album sounds like they just pressed record, played for on average 90 seconds, and then moved on to the next one. I cannot find anything good to say about this album, but I wish the band success at their high school's upcoming Battle of the Bands.
The production quality was terrible, and the different players weren't all on the same page for any single song. I felt like this was music that more closely matched the sounds of the '60's, but it was made in the '90's. They also had an annoying habit of hitting these weird discordant off notes. The vocals were really bad too.
I hated this. It was just repetitive, barely melodic noise most of the time. I kept waiting for a good track but they just kept getting worse and worse as the album went on. This sounds like an album a friend of mine recorded on a laptop microphone in 2003 and he had never had a day of musical training in his life. I did not enjoy this in the slightest. It was mercifully short but I still couldn't wait for it to be over. WHY IS THIS ALBUM IN THIS LIST? Is the author just checking to see if anyone's actually listening to these??? One star.