Best Song: Airborne. A great first track that sets expectations the rest of the album doesn't come close to fulfilling.
Worst Song: Bought It Again. This low-fi punk rock doesn't fit with the rest of the album, and sounds (weirdly) like early Neil Young, in an unflattering way.
Overall: Pretty stock-standard melancholy singer-songwriter stuff.
Best Song: 8. This almost bordered on a sort of punk, which I enjoyed.
Worst Song: Round. I didn't like the borderline screamo elements.
Overall: I like some aspects of emo and post hardcore, but for whatever reason I didn't connect with this one. I never saw the heart of it. It certainly had all the trappings of an emo album, yet for me it was never once emotional.
Best Song: Venus. A love this kind of big, brash, high-concept pop music.
Worst Song: Jewels N' Drugs. None of this feels like it fits the rest of the album. This felt like it birthed from an executive thinking that rap features are necessary on a pop album. Hearing Twista was a nice hit of nostalgia though.
Overall: The title "Artpop" definitely feels appropriate, as these songs really feel like artful attempts to do something different within the domain of pop music. That said, it felt like there was often too much done, as many of the songs felt like they had just a few too many components added, or changed their tack too frequently to let any of the good artistic choices really sink in.
Best Song: Comme un fou. This was probably my favourite vocal performance on the album. It was definitely also the highest energy.
Worst Song: Chanson Noire. The high hat is mixed so high it sounds like it's coming from inside my head.
Overall: Sometimes I thought this was going to be really good, with interesting arrangements and grandiose instrumentals, but more often than not it felt really overwrought and melodramatic. It is definitely more structured than a lot of prog rock (which is a point in its favour, for me), but it also feels bloated with a lot of wasted space, especially in the latter half.
Best Song: Goodnight Alt-Right. There's a solid energy to this track, and obviously it's topical, but it lacks the punch of the Dead Kennedys that it tries to invoke.
Worst Song: All Day & Night. The song is like 60% breakdown, and the vocals are so shrill they sound goofy.
Overall: Really easy to feel the influence of bands like RATM and Meshuggah. That said, it never really does anything to separate itself from those influences, so I found myself wondering why I shouldn't just listen to those influences instead. Also, although I appreciate the political bent of their lyrics, the lyrics are often weak and juvenile ("Money makes the world go round / Money makes the world burn down"). That very surface-level attempt at these topics pales in comparison to what you get from some of the better bands in the domain, like Dead Kennedys, RATM, or Propagandhi.
Best Song: Nobody Hurts You. The most palatable of the songs on the album, but even this one was rough.
Worst Song: Saturday Nite is Dead. Really quite remarkable that they could repeat such an inane phrase so many times in such a short song. It made it feel like an eternity.
Overall: Absolutely not for me. This sounded like the bargain version of artists that I already don't like. An Elvis Costello impersonator. Diametrically opposite of my musical preferences. No thank you.
Best Song: Matte Kuadasai. His voice really pairs well with the sorrowful guitar work.
Worst Song: The Sheltering Sky. One of my least favourite forms of prog rock: directionless space stuff.
Overall: Maybe it was just my headspace when listening to this, but I found this album far more annoying than interesting. Something about the tone of the guitars was grating, so that even when the rhythms were interesting, the actual sound of them was too often shrill and piercing.
Best Song: Ciel Ouvert. I kind of dug the "spooky western" theme. Kind of.
Worst Song: Oh Yeah. This is basically just a joke/meme song. Certainly it is by now, but I can't imagine that this song was ever really earnestly enjoyed, but rather laughed at as a quirky oddity.
Overall: Oof, another album that is very much not for me. Further proof to me that the 80s was the absolute worst decade for music.
Best Song: Television Rules the Nation / Crescendolls. That rolling drumbeat that comes in at 3:02 is so goddamn good.
Worst Song: Face to Face / Short Circuit. The beginning of this song is by far my least favourite part of the whole album. It's such an energy kill and feels unnecessarily quiet for this point in the show. The song never goes anywhere, it just fizzles out. It honestly feels like its whole purpose was to provide a lull that amplifies the energy on either side.
Overall: This album is so good that it is the only way I like to listen to Daft punk now. If I hear any of these tracks in their original version, I cannot help but think that there is something missing. It loses a bit of its magic in the middle, but still this is by far the best way to listen to Daft Punk.
Best Song: Be Calm. I wish the album contained more songs like this, where the singer really shows of their vocal chops, especially in the upper register.
Worst Song: Walking The Dog. The "quirkiness" factor of this song is turned up too high.
Overall: A very earnest pop album with vibes of musical theatre. I vaguely remembered this band from a few mega hits that they had (evidently from the album that followed this one), but had heard none of these tracks before. It's alright... very particular in its presentation. Listening to the lead singer, I can't help but imagine he's standing on a stage, impeccable posture, chin held high, singing to the upper rafters. Pop music for concert halls.
Best Song: Dine Alone. Nice bass tone.
Worst Song: Can Opener. Budget "Hells Bells".
Overall: A perfectly serviceable hardcore album. Nothing groundbreaking, nothing annoying. Straight down the middle. I will not remember this.
Best Song: WANDA WANDA. An absolute fucking banger, holy hell. How this track isn't the highest played on the album is a mystery to me.
Worst Song: Red Rose with Gin & Tonic. This is verging on babytalk in a way I do not like.
Overall: Boy am I glad that someone submitted this. I had no expectations coming in (I only played part of a Katamari game ages ago), and damn if it wasn't a refreshing album. Samba, jazz, just random silliness. Tons of variety, super creative. Hella fun to listen to.