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Tue Jan 26 2021
Le Tigre
Le Tigre
Good vocals. Bit of a mix of rather strong songs (Deceptacon, What's Yr Take on Cassavetes, The the Empty, etc) and some boring ones I'd like to cut that remind me of the pop punk melodies I'd rather forget (Hot Topic, Phanta, etc). Sounds weirdly crowdpleasing for something attacking social norms, but I didn't have a bad time.
3
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Thu Jan 28 2021
Something Else By The Kinks
The Kinks
I'd listen to Harry Rag on my own maybe. Tin Soldier Man hurts. Lazy Old Sun is decent but why not just pick Strawberry Fields Forever? Somehow every song is too long and repetitive at like 2:30.
If this band is kinks every one of them is like "sometimes I open my eyes during sex." With halves I'd pick 1.5
2
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Fri Jan 29 2021
Abattoir Blues / The Lyre of Orpheus
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
Listened without the ability to look at song titles so I can't reference individually (except The Lyre of Orpheus, a high point, and I looked up Spell cause I like the sound of that one too), but overall this is good! It's definitely too much, though I don't remember obvious low points. Think I prefer disc 2 over 1. It's very much a 3.5 and I waffled on which way to split that, but I'll give it a 4 cause it's never bad and it's very good often enough.
4
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Mon Feb 01 2021
Zombie
Fela Kuti
Pretty much every Fela Kuti album is a really excellent song the album is named after followed by a good song that can't quite live up to the main attraction. Zombie is one of Kuti's best songs but Mr. Follow Follow is even more forgettable than some of his other secondary tracks. I had, in fact, literally forgotten what came after Zombie. Still, it's not BAD. Solid 4 overall, best album yet.
4
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Tue Feb 02 2021
The Score
Fugees
Deluxe editions are virtually always awful. At least this time I didn't have to research the album since they titled something /Outro.
Anyway, I've tried before, and never really understood the appeal of Fugees. Yeah, Lauryn Hill has a nice voice, but only a couple of the highlight singles (obviously Killing Me Softly With His Song and Ready or Not) stand out at all, and it usually is because of her.
Cowboys strikes me as a thrown away Wu Tang Clan track, but I respect the line about shooting John Wayne. No Woman, No Cry is just as annoying as the original. And what the fuck is the skit at the end of The Beast? The best thing Wyclef Jean ever did was feature in Young Thug's "Kanye West." Damn it, I could have been listening to Young Thug and smokin penises this whole time.
This is a 2.5 I'm going to be generous rounding on because the aforementioned singles are worth it, but once they're over it's a slog.
3
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Wed Feb 03 2021
Ocean Rain
Echo And The Bunnymen
Apathetic to the majority of the tracks. If this album was only The Killing Moon it would be awesome.
2
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Thu Feb 04 2021
Fear Of A Black Planet
Public Enemy
I like it a little less than I used to -- over the course of the runtime it just wears me out a little bit. Feels like there's not quite enough variety in the production to sustain a full hour of this. Without that fatigue it's good though. I actually really like 911 is a Joke, goofy as it is, cause it stands out compared to a lot of the other music. It's a 3.5 that's hard to round off either direction, but I like Chuck D enough to push it to a 4 I guess.
4
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Fri Feb 05 2021
Suzanne Vega
Suzanne Vega
You know how dream pop type music tends to have some of the best vocalists? Cocteau Twins, The Cranberries, etc. I guess it's unique to approach that sound but be horrible to listen to. If I wanted to hear William Shatner's start-stop delivery of words over music, I could just listen to the songs he made. Most is so dull it bounces right off my ears. When it strays away into straight folky pop it's sickeningly cheesy. That last song at least slightly stands out from the rest, but its bass is bordering on unironically being Seinfeld music. And that album art screams "Graphic design is my passion." Struggled to finish, worst thing yet.
1