User Albums Journey
Exploring beyond the book, one album at a time
View 1001 Albums Summary435
Albums Rated
2.53
Average Rating
Rating Distribution
Rating Timeline
Taste Profile
1960
Favorite Decade
Blues
Favorite Genre
US
Top Origin
Perfectionist
Rater Style ?
11
5-Star Albums
38
1-Star Albums
Breakdown
By Genre
Top Styles
By Decade
By Origin
Albums
You Love More Than Most
| Album | You | Global | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Ocean Avenue
Yellowcard
|
5 | 2.93 | +2.07 |
|
Hello Rockview
Less Than Jake
|
5 | 3.16 | +1.84 |
|
Don't Say No
Billy Squier
|
5 | 3.34 | +1.66 |
|
Bleed American
Jimmy Eat World
|
5 | 3.37 | +1.63 |
|
Alexisonfire
Alexisonfire
|
4 | 2.46 | +1.54 |
|
The Rise And Fall Of A Midwest Princess
Chappell Roan
|
5 | 3.51 | +1.49 |
|
The Black Parade
My Chemical Romance
|
5 | 3.52 | +1.48 |
|
Korn
Korn
|
4 | 2.6 | +1.4 |
|
Home Sweet Home
Kano
|
4 | 2.61 | +1.39 |
|
Toxicity
System Of A Down
|
5 | 3.62 | +1.38 |
You Love Less Than Most
| Album | You | Global | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Fashion Nugget
CAKE
|
1 | 3.51 | -2.51 |
|
Wild Planet
The B-52's
|
1 | 3.31 | -2.31 |
|
Tales Of Mystery And Imagination
The Alan Parsons Project
|
1 | 3.21 | -2.21 |
|
Chocolate & Cheese
Ween
|
1 | 3.14 | -2.14 |
|
Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino
Arctic Monkeys
|
1 | 3.05 | -2.05 |
|
California
Mr. Bungle
|
1 | 3.04 | -2.04 |
|
Shack-man
Medeski, Martin & Wood
|
1 | 2.98 | -1.98 |
|
Animals
Pink Floyd
|
2 | 3.94 | -1.94 |
|
Inside
Bo Burnham
|
1 | 2.94 | -1.94 |
|
All Hail West Texas
The Mountain Goats
|
1 | 2.93 | -1.93 |
5-Star Albums (11)
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Popular Reviews
Status Quo · 4 likes
4/5
We've been well overdue some Quo in this exercise because, whatever you think of them, there aren't many bands who've been on the road for 60 years while being at least recognisable to a significant number of their country's population. Sure, they're not exactly original or musically interesting (though they have their moments, listen to Backwater!) and they garned a bit of a reputation for being cheesy and lacking credibility and doing anything for money (all somewhat true) but at their best they're a simple and fun listen who are great to see live and, for me at least, will forever hold an incredibly special place in my heart for being a part of the sound of my childhood and into my adulthood, the shared experiences with my family and particularly my Dad, and so many other things besides. Most of their songs immediately put me at a place or time in my life with a family connection and that's incredibly powerful.
Anyway, it's actually hard to pick an album of theirs to represent them in these lists because they put one out every year for about 20 years and all their hits are scattered across them, so really Piledriver is here as an emeritus recognition as much as anything else. Paper Plane is the big hit most will know (and it bangs), the cover of Roadhouse Blues has always been cool to me, Big Fat Mama is a strong boogie rocker, the rest of it is really them transitioning away properly from their late 60s psychedlia-based sound into the Quo sound as most people know them, and it's not really my favourite stuff though A Year is quite cool. The album that followed this one, Hello!, had Roll Over Lay Down, Caroline, Forty-Five Hundred Times and Softer Ride, which are measurably better by comparison and all became live show staples, and I'd probably pick that as my submission if I were doing it, but really I listen to Quo most days every week because they make up a fair amount of my music library and there's no way I'm giving this less than a 4/5.
ISIS · 3 likes
4/5
Oceanic is the good stuff, loud, crunching, driving metal to sink into and, in my case, work along to today. The Beginning and the End is a strong opening track, I really liked Carry and Weight; the former explodes into life in the final third after a slow build, while the latter does it more gradually, building heightened anticipation and a sense of urgency through the whole thing and you're on edge the whole time. Really good, 4/5, will listen again.
Extremoduro · 3 likes
1/5
I started listing to this and got 7 songs in before I realised it's 3hrs 38mins and 44 tracks long, fuck off.
Future Islands · 3 likes
2/5
Singles starts well, very much emerges as bright and vibrant modern synthpop, then it gets dull pretty quickly. Doesn't come close to retaining the same energy as it starts with and finishes flat and disappointing. 2 on balance.
Anaïs Mitchell · 3 likes
2/5
Hadestown isn't bad, just a bit one-speed folk listening, the guy's vocals are cool because they're so deep and almost instructive, but the production is a little too stripped back and it doesn't work for me. It's interesting enough, just not my thing. 2/5.
1-Star Albums (38)
All Ratings
The Beautiful South
3/5
Blue Is The Colour is very gentle easy listening, couple of nice singles, very unremarkable and whoever nominated it is probably quite bland, though I'll try not to criticise individual contributions when we've had hundreds of really bad albums from the original author. Since I don't do half grades it's a 3, better than a 2.
Oingo Boingo
4/5
Dead Man's Party shows you can have fun and be creative with 80s-heavy new wave sounds, it's an absolute hoot. It sounds extremely 80s throughout but never in a way that makes me hate it, instead it takes a theme and makes a really fun sound and story. No-one Lives Forever is a mock-macabre send-up that wouldn't sound out of place in a Rocky Horror-type production, Same Man I Was Before has Dead or Alive feels mixed in with nursery rhyme stylings, then the closing track Weird Science is quality, the singer sounds like Freddie Mercury at times during it, the whole thing is mega bright, colourful, vibrant and made me smile, which is a very welcome surprise. A well deserved 4/5.
First Aid Kit
3/5
The Lion's Roar is a nice enough sound, very chilled dreamy folksy stuff, vocals are endearing and engaging with emotion and feeling, but the whole thing is a little too one-paced for me. Solid 3/5, don't mind it, just not something I get excited about.
Susanne Sundfør
2/5
Music For People In Trouble. Bit dull. Nice voice, sound is pretty in small doses but quickly becomes dreary and boring. The second half of The Sound of War is more interesting than most songs and Mountaineers is a fine finisher, if more were like it I'd give it a 3 but they weren't, so it's a 2.
The Burning Hell
3/5
People is a bit like that Bill Callahan record we had a few months ago, mostly spoken word-adjacent but with a more folksy, indie musicality to it rather than the softer and gentler approach Callahan's record had. I preferred that to this, though I don't hate this one, it's quirky and funny in places, definitely listenable, just limited mileage. 3/5.
Graham Parker
3/5
Squeezing Out Sparks is nice, mix of decent punk-adjacent stylings and some more considered bluesy-type stuff, with those two approaches well paired in the Saturday Nite Is Dead/Love Gets You Twisted run. It's kind of like if Elvis Costello was more interesting than all the stuff we had from him. 3/5 again, these user-submitted things seem solid if unspectacular rather than 70% shit, 30% good.
Igorrr
4/5
Savage Sinusoid is certainly an interesting way to start an early morning drive north, it's not really like anything I've heard before, it's metal, it's trippy, it's got some dubstep, it has classical music, and it's French but also not French if that makes sense. I really liked it and I'd probably listen to it again, in small doses, but I think it might scrape a 4 because it's put together so well and appeals to most of my preferences. It certainly won't for other people.
Billy Squier
5/5
I know Don't Say No pretty well, having been a regular Planet Rock listener for years and then digging deeper, and I suspect people will know a lot of Billy Squier's stuff without realising. He's excellent, no frills rock, memorable hooks, standout riffs, an all-round good time reminiscent of greats like Led Zep without coming across as a poor imitation. It gets a 5/5 from me because I can do and do listen to his stuff every week, one way or another, and I could happily do that for the rest of my life really. Life is better with this sort of music in it.
Valerie June
2/5
Pushin' Against A Stone doesn't land with me, it's a little haunting, a little atmospheric, but really not anything that appeals to me. Her voice works within the art but is annoying and eventually grating, some of the influences are decent but it just doesn't go anywhere and doesn't stand out. 2/5.
The Hold Steady
4/5
Boys and Girls in America is excellent, I feel like I've missed out by not listening to this lot before. First of all there is clearly a hell of a lot of Springsteen influence in here, which isn't a bad start, and the vocal delivery being almost spoken-word throughout but not in a way that detracts from the storytelling or the music manages to work, but the song compositions are what grab me, they're so well crafted, they accentuate the story, they're full of emotion and hooks and light and shade and all of that. Same Kooks and First Night are both great early on then it closes with a terrific five-song run of Citrus/Chill out Tent/South Town Girls/Girls Like Status/Arms and Hearts that I'm already playing back for a second run. Has a real epic heartland sound to it and I'll have some of that every day of the week, it's a very high 4 that I might end up giving a 5 to when push comes to shove, maybe only missing out because of the standard of 5s from the actual project being GOAT albums.
The Weeknd
2/5
After Hours is either lightweight and superficial, or it's just not my thing, can't decide which. It is terribly terribly overproduced but I guess you expect that from the genre and style, some of it works, lots of it doesn't and it occasionally comes across as a pisstake. Even the big hits feel terribly overplayed now, and the best part of Blinding Lights is actually the transition from Faith leading into it, which creates and atmosphere and intensity of feeling that doesn't really find its way through in the rest of the album. This got a load of praise and play and acclaim and I don't really get it; a lot of the reviews seem to have to invent stuff to say about it (from wiki, "sparkled trauma, kaleidoscopic emotional confusion, urgent and panting physical release paired with failed-state romantic dyspepsia"). A 2/5, it's not really that good, is it?
The Amazing Devil
3/5
There are one or two tracks on Ruin I really, really like; The Calling is the best of those because the girl's voice and stylings get very close to Sharon den Adel from Within Temptation territory, and they're a bit of a guilty pleasure band of mine. The rest of this is okay, it's sort of like if Riverdance was borne of a different sound and mythology, there's a real aura and atmosphere to it all but because it teases me with some soaring highs that aren't there throughout, and it's just a bit too folksy and slow in those slower moments, it's just a 3/5, but colour me intrigued, this was a pretty interesting listen.
Harmonium
2/5
Yep, L'heptade XL is pretty much what you expect. It's gentle and cool in places but it goes on for fucking ages and lacks conviction, emphasis or quality direction, and the language barrier is a struggle even though I'm okay with French. 2/5 is generous.
Haley Heynderickx
2/5
I Need To Start A Garden is dull. The cutesyness of her approach wears thin quickly and there's not a lot else to it. 2.
Frank Zappa
3/5
You get what you expect from Apostrophe(') and Frank Zappa; sure it's weird in a lot of places and defies convention, but he makes it work with a groove and a captivating storytelling style. Title track is top, better than some of the crap we've had for sure, decent 3/5 will do.
The National
2/5
Boxer is a bit dull for me, good voice, some decent bits but never getting to a point where it excites me or lifts me, lots of it sounds the same too. 2.
Transvision Vamp
3/5
Pop Art is decent for a VERY 80s album, it sounds like Cyndi Lauper in places, not as skilled or as fun but it still has some energy to it. Doesn't hold up in the second half of the album at all but Trash City is a quality opener, I Want Your Love is famous and deservedly so, everything up to Tell That Girl To Shut Up is a good listen so it gets a 3/5 on the weight of more being good than not.
LaBelle
4/5
It feels like Nightbirds ought to have been on the list proper, it's really good, it's soul, it's disco, it's pop, it's got such a rich sound to it that makes it quickly timeless, and it has a couple of iconic tracks, most obviously Lady Marmalade, which is the best recording of it. Doesn't finish quite as strong as it starts but an easy 4/5.
Fontaines D.C.
2/5
Dogrel reminds me a bit of what Dropkick Murphys sounded like when Mike McColgan was their lead singer before Al Barr, and if they were a little less aggressive/in your face. To me it's a disappointing sound, too much post-punk than punk or punk rock, some of it's alright, Too Real is the best effort in getting towards a sound I enjoy, but really only a 2/5 overall.
Cluster
2/5
Zuckerzeit isn't for me, lo-fi electronic stuff is boring, not rubbish enough for a 1/5 but close. 2.
Childish Gambino
2/5
Not a fan of Awaken, My Love at all. Often comes across as a really poor effort to be like Prince, without any of the authenticity, has lots of meandering beats and I've always really hated autotuned vocals as a stylistic choice, there's really not much in here for me. It's only really Terrified and Baby Boy I found worth listening to and they probably elevated it to a 2, just.
John Mayer
2/5
John Mayer is pretty bland and annoys me for not making 'better' use of his undeniable talents, and Continuum is a great example of that. With everything he can do he chooses to make boring middle of the road soft rock to appeal to an everyman (or everywoman) demographic, and fair enough, it's made him pretty famous and pretty rich, but this all goes nowhere very slowly. Music for sad/romantic sitcom moments or budget films; when I look back on what I wrote and gave for David Gray's White Ladder back in November, I don't think this is as good as that, and that was properly average stuff of an adjacent styling. 2/5 I guess?
The Upsetters
2/5
I understand Super Ape is supposedly foundational and historic reggae but it's not for me, I don't say it with too many genres but reggae is legitimately one where everything sounds like the same 2 or 3 songs no matter who did it or how far apart they were. I liked Underground but that's like saying I liked Dread Lion or the title track, there's nothing really between any of them that I can discern. 2.
Ian McDonald
2/5
McDonald and Giles is hippie prog, so I really wasn't looking forward to it, but it's not terrible so I'm alright with it. Of course, most of it is just meandering crap but The Workshop is groovy and Birdman - The Reflection is a sweet and subtle closing track that leaves you with a better feeling of the album than ran through most of it. Plus this is one of only two records in existence/that I know of that mentions Turnham Green, which gets the Mick Foley cheap pop from me as a local, so all in all a 2/5 that could've been loads worse.
The Lumineers
3/5
I feel like we've had plenty worse than Cleopatra but, at the same time, I can't really understand why this would be top of someone's list on the user submissions. It's got a decent floor, quality never drops to something unlistenable, but it also doesn't really drive forward into something memorable either; it's a crude parallel because they're not really the same by design, but I got quite a few (later years) Gaslight Anthem vibes from the first half of the album (Cleopatra the title track is an example of that, it's the best track on the album) and it just left me thinking that it was inferior by comparison, but also wanting more of that sound when it veered away into more folksy stuff. It's proper slap bang in the 2.5 range but because a lot of 2s are crap, I think on the whole number scale it gets a 3 because it's absolutely fine, beige, but fine.
Rachel Stevens
1/5
Obviously Come and Get It isn't good at all, it doesn't even strike the right notes for early 2000s pop (although this is 2005 which I can barely believe). There are times where it comes across like she's trying to be the UK's version of J-Lo but it's such a poor effort, doesn't stick the landing even with hits like Some Girls. I did like It's All About Me (has a massive Sugababes sound to it) and Secret Garden (would pass for a decent radio hit these days) but I don't think either of those are strong enough to lift this from 1/5. I reckon whoever submitted this to the list was doing it to take the piss.
Josh Ritter
2/5
The Animal Years starts on quite an impressive note, the first three tracks are good, charming melodies, good songwriting and vocal delivery, but then it slips into bland generic singer-songwriter stuff and struggles to lift itself back to previous heights. Good Man gets there, nothing else does (Thin Blue Flame has its moments but it's needlessly long and confuses itself at times (plus there's some really bad mixing near the end)), so this is a 2/5, and apparently someone's must-listen.
Pigeons Playing Ping Pong
3/5
The Great Outdoors Jam (Live) is certainly a jam, it's really cool in places and a mostly nice listen, nothing revolutionary, hard to tell it's live at times but it has good energy. Goes on for far too long but I liked it, 3/5.
Garmarna
2/5
Nah,Vedergällningen isn't for me, why is there so much poor indie folk on this user submissions list? Like don't get me wrong, there's a haunting eerieness to it that I like at times but that's literally all there is, and the language barrier doesn't help. If I'm going to listen to Swedish bands I'm gonna take Avatar and Millencolin and Sabaton and Arch Enemy thank you very much, this gets a 2/5, I could enjoy in small doses but it doesn't do it for me.
The Avett Brothers
2/5
Enough with the folksy shit, I And Love And You probably deserves more interest from me in isolation rather than the fact we've been inundated with shades of boring shit, but here we are. This is not special, it's not nearly as good or as interesting as predecessors in adjacent sounds from 50 years earlier, it tries to offer up a generous amount of Americana but it doesn't get there for me. Head Full of Doubt/Road Full of Promise is good, the rest is meh, 2/5,
Streetlight Manifesto
4/5
Somewhere in the Between is a very welcome listen because 1001 albums without any proper ska punk representation (that I can remember) is outrageous, and some of the genre's legends deserved recognition. SM aren't really in my favourites wheelhouse but they've always been an occasional pop-up in my listening, this is a fine album with some quality songs, strong use of the horn section, really hooky basslines and a lot of fun. Would You Be Impressed is a banging skankalong tune, this is gonna get a 4/5 from me because I prefer a few other bands as the bar for this stuff and they're a little short of that high bar on my preferences, but great stuff.
Bad Religion
4/5
Back to back albums right up my streets, nice. Recipe For Hate is solid Bad Religion, a good introduction to them if you've not listened to them before, not necessarily their best work but it's a good album that shows what they're about. American Jesus is the track most people will know but Struck a Nerve, Don't Pray On Me and Skyscraper are all really good as well, and I think I get most out of them because my main criticism of BR over the years is that they can be very one-speed/one-sound and a lot of album tracks kind of sound the same. That's probably why they're not high on my favourites rotation but always present as a sprinkling into it, but on balance of so much horseshit we've had over the last three years, this also gets a 4 because I'd rather listen to it than 80% of stuff out there.
Björk
2/5
I don't think we needed more Bjork, Homogenic has its moments (Bachelorette is great) but to me nothing different to her other offerings, 2.
Crash Test Dummies
3/5
God Shuffled His Feet is decent, not really something I want to listen to a lot, but it's got a groove and a little and I dig the baritone vocals, it's well-produced and listenable. Confirmation bias perhaps but it just sounds Canadian too :D 3/5, fair enough.
Arthur Russell
1/5
Well World of Echo is all sorts of crap. 1, burn it.
100 gecs
3/5
I have no idea what to make of 10,000 gecs or whether I'm meant to take it seriously or not but it's certainly interesting :D some of it hits with me, especially Hollywood Baby (best track by a mile), Billy Knows Jamie and I Got My Tooth Removed, some of it is dull and filler-eseque which on a 27-minute album is a bit of a waste, but let's take it at face value, it's a pretty fun ride that has me wanting to hear some more from them. 3/5.
Extrechinato y Tu
3/5
Poesía Básica is a pretty cool musical-theatre-slash-rock-show performance that manages to keep my interest despite the language barrier. It's a great sound, well put-together, and plenty of variety. High 3 or low 4 because the story doesn't get through to me properly, but the music does sell the journey by itself to an extent.
Sufjan Stevens
2/5
Carrie & Lowell is a bit too dull for me, never been my style for a whole album, can recognise the talent but it's just so sleepy and bores me. Can't give it more than a 2.
Jellyfish
3/5
Spilt Milk is mad, it's like 5 albums rolled into one where they can't really figure out who or what they want to be, so they decide to be everything. And it kind of works? It starts by sounding like a Queen tribute act, then goes into adjacent 70s stylings more in tune with Supertramp and the like, then towards the end it goes heavy and grungy of its early 90s time (All is Forgiven is a banger in this regard), then we return to the Queen influence with Too Much, Too Little, Too Late and Brighter Day. I don't think it's something I'd be desperate to listen to again but it's entertaining enough while it's here and it's a decent listen, 3/5.
Cardiacs
2/5
Sing To God is not actually as bad as it could've been given it's an hour and a half of proggish rock, but for the most part it stays away from prog and instead sounds a bit glam, a bit Britpop (especially vocally, he sounds like Brett Anderson from Suede quite a lot of the time, Odd Even could be one of their songs), and Side 2 is pretty listenable in an indie-punk-glam sort of vibe, like a really low-rent Bowie in places. It's way too long and not good enough to get a 3 but it's high 2 sort of territory, weird as it is.
Stromae
3/5
racine careée is pretty stylish in places, it has a swagger about it and it's electronic house that doesn't annoy me too much, so that's a positive. Better than some of that genre on the initial list and tracks like merci near the end are good enough to get this up to a 3/5, not hugely memorable in and of itself but I suspect I'll remember this one for a bit, an earworm sort of listen.
Men I Trust
2/5
Oncle Jazz is a bit dull and one speed for my liking. Soothing in places, mostly boring though, 2.
Scraping Foetus off the Wheel
1/5
I had some hopes reading the notes that Nail might be up my street, some heavy rock with weird influences, but no, it's just crap. Horrible 80s sound particularly on the drums underpinning it, poorly produced, tries to make each song a mini-story which is somewhat effective but it just makes for really bad music. 1.
The Angelic Process
2/5
Weighing Souls With Sand has some real potential at the start of this album, it explodes into your ears with a raw, deafening angst-ridden sound full of emotion, but then it just does all of that for an hour with hardly any notable differences from song to song. It gets tired very quickly, which is disappointing, and only warrants a 2. I could listen to any one of these songs and not be able to tell you what it's called or what the point of it was, but I'd still probably enjoy most of that track for what it is.
Café Tacvba
4/5
Re is a lot of fun, even though it goes on for an hour it doesn't really feel like it because they accomplish so much and keep it really fresh. Some albums get confused when they do that but for all the variety and showcasing different influences there's a clear identify underneath it all, there's energy, vibrancy and character, even if my Spanish doesn't let me properly enjoy the lyrics. La ingrata, El metro, Pez, Las flores, La pinta all excellent tracks, this gets a strong 4/5 and should've been on the original list.
THE SPORTS
2/5
Don't Throw Stones is just super generic radio pop/easy listening stuff, like Elvis Costello but somehow even more bland? 2/5.
Chet Baker
2/5
Chet is pretty sleepy soft jazz; when we've had good and vibrant jazz quite a few times before it exposes stuff like this as being sub-par, or at least not my speed. Maybe nice background listening in a dark and smoky bar but otherwise it's more miss than hit. 2/5.
The Tragically Hip
2/5
The Tragically Hip seem to have deity status in Canada but I've never understood it, and Phantom Power doesn't really help me get there either. They're like a beige version of REM, which is really fucking beige, and while the songs are nice enough on the ears, this album left absolutely no marks and didn't capture my attention once. 2/5.
Status Quo
4/5
We've been well overdue some Quo in this exercise because, whatever you think of them, there aren't many bands who've been on the road for 60 years while being at least recognisable to a significant number of their country's population. Sure, they're not exactly original or musically interesting (though they have their moments, listen to Backwater!) and they garned a bit of a reputation for being cheesy and lacking credibility and doing anything for money (all somewhat true) but at their best they're a simple and fun listen who are great to see live and, for me at least, will forever hold an incredibly special place in my heart for being a part of the sound of my childhood and into my adulthood, the shared experiences with my family and particularly my Dad, and so many other things besides. Most of their songs immediately put me at a place or time in my life with a family connection and that's incredibly powerful.
Anyway, it's actually hard to pick an album of theirs to represent them in these lists because they put one out every year for about 20 years and all their hits are scattered across them, so really Piledriver is here as an emeritus recognition as much as anything else. Paper Plane is the big hit most will know (and it bangs), the cover of Roadhouse Blues has always been cool to me, Big Fat Mama is a strong boogie rocker, the rest of it is really them transitioning away properly from their late 60s psychedlia-based sound into the Quo sound as most people know them, and it's not really my favourite stuff though A Year is quite cool. The album that followed this one, Hello!, had Roll Over Lay Down, Caroline, Forty-Five Hundred Times and Softer Ride, which are measurably better by comparison and all became live show staples, and I'd probably pick that as my submission if I were doing it, but really I listen to Quo most days every week because they make up a fair amount of my music library and there's no way I'm giving this less than a 4/5.
Korn
4/5
I never properly got Korn but I should, this bangs, and I end up liking more of their stuff than not. The first half of this album is so strong, Blind, Clown, Divine all outstanding tracks, the middle drags a bit but Fake through to the end is quality and gets a deserved 4/5.
Weezer
3/5
I like Weezer but without ever listening to them in full length album form, only ever been a singles guy, and I think that'll still be the case after this one. It's a good album but not always my vibe, they're kinda just permanently on the periphery of stuff I really like and occasionally cross over into it (My Name is Jonas, Surf Wax America, Holiday) but not consistently enough to be an always listen. This is a good album with some very good tracks, 3/5 because I enjoyed the albums we had the last two days more than this, not by a lot though.
Killswitch Engage
3/5
Alive or Just Breathing hits the spot in general as metalcore but KE were never really up my street as a real favourite, they're not as good as Slipknot, Avatar, Arch Enemy, Avenged Sevenfold, BFMV or a few others, but they're decent enough. The strength of this album runs through the middle, My Last Serenade to Temple from the Within, and Rise Inside is a strong closing track. A high 3 overall, not enough for a 4, but happy to have it here.
Chromatics
2/5
Night Drive would definitely be a better listen in a dark night drive, not a morning one, it was okay, nicely put together with atmosphere but a bit meh for me. 2/5.
Maldita Vecindad Y Los Hijos Del 5to. Patio
2/5
El Circo is decent enough, a little bit flat for my preferences, nice ska but not enough ska punk to it. Best track is Kumbala, despite its lack of punk stylings, but a 2/5 because I didn't enjoy it like I wanted to. Just gonna listen to Ska-P instead.
Chappell Roan
5/5
Kinda hard to not know about Chappell Roan right now but this was my first chance to listen to anything, and The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess is really really good. A lot of modern pop stuff doesn't really work for me, probably for a load of reasons, but this is done so well, with depth, pathos, humour, and blending a bunch of influences over the last 30 years or more and making it work. HOT TO GO! is cracking, Red Wine Supernova not far behind, I also liked Super Graphic Ultra Modern Girl and My Kink is Karma. When she goes into ballad mode she's got chops there too, Picture You/Kaleidoscope/the first coupla mins of Pink Pony Club tick the boxes. Damn if I wasn't super impressed.
Stars
2/5
Set Yourself On Fire is a bit bland for my liking, easy listening, some nice moments but really nothing memorable or interesting. 2.
Pink Floyd
2/5
Yay, more Pink Floyd. Animals isn't an essential listen, although Pigs (Three Little Ones) is actually pretty good, just not enough to lift it over a 2/5. Maybe the most overrated band ever.
Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass
2/5
Whipped Cream & Other Delights is a jaunty way to start a new week, a happy if relatively superficial listen, nothing to write home about but a fun half an hour, 2/5.
Marillion
3/5
Some of Afraid of Sunlight is good, some of it is the sort of proggish sound I don't like, but it tends to be a fairly okay listen in a largely forgettable genre. Beautiful is the famous track and deservedly so, I also liked Out of This World and Beyond You, then King explodes into a top finale, a fairly decent 3/5, albeit a low 3, because it's better than many many albums we've had.
Jóhann Jóhannsson
3/5
In the right mood and the right setting Englabörn & Variations is a delightful listen, I'm sure. Even working along to it right now is nice and comforting, it's just a bit minimalist and there's not much of substance for me to really value greatly. A solid 3/5 because it's really beautifully composed in places, fine in others, but not really very lasting overall.
Mogwai
3/5
Mogwai never really crossed my radar except for knowing their name from OTF lore down the years, and I've not really been into post-rock, so I didn't really know what to expect from Young Team, and I guess it's a mixed bag. I dig the huge loud sound and the blend of gentler, quieter moments to make those loud explosions really resonate are cool, but the instrumental nature/very very minimalist vocals don't particularly work for me at the end of it all. It's all a bit too long as well, I like large chunks of Herod and Mogwai Fear Satan but there's no reason for both tracks to be 10+ minutes in length, though the latter is the best track overall and is absolutely fucking thunderous at its best moments, and I adore that. I'll give it a 3/5 because, like I say, some of it really delivers what I enjoy, but it leaves a few boxes unticked.
Godspeed You! Black Emperor
2/5
So it turns out post-rock is just prog by a different name, and Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven wasn't as enjoyable for me as Mogwai's effort was yesterday. Purely instrumental music doesn't really do much for me, interspersing it with documentary footage audio (or what sounds like it) loses me, and the length of tracks made it hard for me to really identify with anything casually; I get that I'm meant to stop everything and experience the music but when I can listen to other stuff that doesn't demand that of me and like it all the same or more, then stuff like this won't resonate with me. 2/5, it's nice, it lacks the thunderbastard stylings of Mogwai and maybe it's unfortunate for GY!BE that they came up back-to-back but such is life.
HELLYEAH
1/5
HELLYEAH isn't good, it's mostly bad, and doesn't do the metalcore/hard rock genre any good. It's super super generic, badly produced, almost phoned in by a supposed supergroup? I like a lot of the genre but this is such a disappointing effort that any casual listeners will be turned off for avoidable reasons. For that, it gets a 1/5.
The Jesus Lizard
2/5
GOAT doesn't do it for me, it sounds pretentious, especially the vocals, which are really grating. The music is standard enough noise rock which also isn't for me, a couple of good moments get a 2/5 but I didn't like this much.
The Marcus King Band
3/5
Carolina Confessions is both a really soothing, soulful listen, but also one that seems quite superficial and doesn't find the pathos and depth that legendary acts provided, which is maybe unfair as it's more recent but it effectively sounds like a tribute act to the greats rather than adding anything new. The passion in the vocals is super endearing, can listen to his voice for ages without getting sick of it, and there's some nice guitar accenting to elevate it beyond quite samey melodies otherwise; Homesick and Side Door are my favourite tracks but they only really stand out from the pack because they rise to a more memorable crescendo. It's a high 2 or low 3 because it's not bad at all, it's good in places, just a little bit average in and of itself.
Biffy Clyro
2/5
I didn't enjoy Puzzle all that much, it was a little lo-fi for my liking, wanted something heavier and I'm sure I've heard that from them even though I've never quite been into them enough to listen even semi-regularly. I liked Now I'm Everyone, don't really recall anything jumping out at me, 2/5.
Hombres G
2/5
La cagaste... Burt Lancaster has a catchy name but only really delivers soft Spanish easy listening rock stylings. Visite nuestro bar teases you with some ska sounds opening up but it doesn't carry through, La carretera is a lovely closing track but really sums up the overall theme, it's just fine, it's unremarkable, just a basic 2/5.
Marillion
2/5
Misplaced Childhood is another terribly 80s album, not in the worst way, but I can only tolerate small doses of it, which is to say Kayleigh as it's so well-known, and Heart of Lothian isn't bad either. Blind Curve has some nice if generic guitar parts but really Marillion are a poor Genesis and Genesis were fucking shit, so can't be more than 2/5.
Khruangbin
3/5
The Universe Smiles Upon You is very much my sort of instrumental stuff, smooth easy grooves for a sunny morning drive, easy 3/5. Nice background stuff I might listen to again.
TOOL
3/5
Ænima isn't so much an album of two halves as it is an album full of songs of two halves. The openings to most tracks are tedious but they explode into some pretty good listens, just wastes a lot of time getting there. There are too many interlude type things too, which is of its era, probably just scrapes a 3/5.
My Chemical Romance
5/5
I love The Black Parade, it's an absolute riot of an album, it's camp, it's vaudevillian, it's impassioned, it's angry, it's funny, it tells a decent story, and it rocks pretty hard. I'm not one of those people who say they found themselves in this album or in emo music or anything, I was never really into any of the emo scene properly but I enjoyed Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge and saw them live before they did this, and it blew all of the cliches about them and their associated emo reputation out of the water because it's iconic and positioned them as something unique, whatever they did before or after. The titular track is brilliant but I adore the last four proper tracks; Sleep is thunderous, Teenagers is hilarious, Disenchanted is so raw and heartfelt and furiously punches you in the face, then Famous Last Words is a stage-show finale/final act, a spectacular closer to something I still listen to on the regular and suspect I will for a long time. Production is strong without being overbearing, it's glam rock turned up to 11 for the modern age, easy 5/5.
Savages
3/5
Silence Yourself is decent, there's a haunting, pained atmosphere underpinning it all, the song compositions are good if a little bit a) samey and b) repetitive within each song, though that tends to add an urgency to the pain, She Will especially but also I Am Here and No Face. it's definitely listenble and more up my street than you might think, but there's a lot of filler or stuff that just doesn't register, beige more than bad. A low 3 because we've had tons worse than this.
Bon Iver
1/5
22, A Million is super fucking annoying, pretentious bollocks with awful autotune use and a complete mess of an album lacking structure, with only fleeting moments of any interest when they drop all of that and try to be normal. 1/5, awful.
Great Big Sea
2/5
Up is a collection of lilty sea shanty/easy listening folk rock, dunno why it's on here as it's not even close to the best of its genre, like Dropkick Murphys have dabbled in this over the years and more recently covered a lot of Woody Guthrie's old stuff/brought unreleased stuff to life and it's better than this even though it's not what they're most known for, and there are a bunch of other examples of bands doing exactly this stuff that you'll never remember straight after listening to them. I didn't mind it but it can't get more than a 2/5 because it's just so generic.
Operation Ivy
3/5
I don't mind a bit of Operation Ivy but they've never been a favourite, I think mostly because they're a little bit on the lo-fi production side for my tastes, and this particular album jumps between straight-ahead punk and ska pretentions, which make it feel a bit messier than I guess they'd have desired. There are a bunch of good tracks; Sound System and Unity were already in my rotation, Freeze Up is ace, Artificial Life follows that with furious energy, but there are way way way too many tracks and not enough granularity within for them to be worthwhile in an album that comes in under an hour. High 2/Low 3 territory, preferable to loads we've had, but not great in and of itself.
Teenage Fanclub
2/5
Grand Prix is an easy listen, nothing to hate, not really a lot to like, guess whoever submitted it is a bit beige but each to their own. 2/5.
Bob Mould
3/5
Bob Mould is decent without ever getting close to really good, it's a decent mix of easy singer-songwriter stuff and some okay alternative rock stuff. I'm more partial to the latter so I Hate Alternative Rock and Egøoverride and those sorts of songs, but this was alright, 3/5, better than a lot of stuff we've heard.
Anaïs Mitchell
2/5
Hadestown isn't bad, just a bit one-speed folk listening, the guy's vocals are cool because they're so deep and almost instructive, but the production is a little too stripped back and it doesn't work for me. It's interesting enough, just not my thing. 2/5.
Jai Paul
1/5
Leak 04-13 is really bad, this stuff was unfinished and shit for a reason, leave it on the cutting room floor where it belongs. Almost no redeemable features, it's not much of anything to even project as purposeful in whatever scenario. 1/5.
Amon Düül II
2/5
Krautrock prog stuff, Yeti isn't really for me, it has a decent late 60s rock psychedelia groove at times (Eye Shaking King is the best song on the album) but it's otherwise forgettable meandering jamming that faded into the background. 2/5.
Slowdive
3/5
I really liked Souvlaki, it's got this ethereal quality to it and even though it's sort of defined as shoegaze, which I don't like much of, it doesn't really feel like it. It's chilled, it's atmospheric (some great use of distortion), it's dreamy, it's a little monotonous but it doesn't annoy me as much as it does in other albums, and When The Sun Hits is fucking brilliant. Easy 3/5 that might go up to a 4 if I feel like it, dunno why this one works for me and others of the genre don't, but I'm happy with it.
Shania Twain
3/5
I know Come On Over really well, far too well perhaps, because my Mum played this to absolute DEATH when it was out, and it was fucking EVERYWHERE in like 1998 or thereabouts, so it was doubly hard to avoid. To be fair, the hits are quality country pop, they've stood the test of time and they've become cultural references in a few cases, which at the very least makes this album worthy of a place on the original 1001+ list because it stuck the landing across large swathes of western society. The problem is that outside of those hits it's a bit lightweight, a couple of okay deep cuts maybe, but really everyone's here for Man!.., That Don't Impress Me Much and You're Still The One, which tbf to it (the last track there) is an incredible ballad. The strength of those three songs and the fact none of the other tracks are outright bad or annoying probably gets it to 3/5 territory. Lots better than some of the country stuff we've had over the last three years, like if Kacey Musgraves got a 2/5 from me this is easily superior.
Also just checking back on the original list and I can't believe Taylor Swift's Fearless wasn't on there, she had one album (1989) and nothing else, that feels wrong. Fearless was ace.
Alex Cameron
3/5
Forced Witness isn't bad, it's a little cheesy but it manages to make a bunch of old sounds sound modern and accessible without being overbearing or weird about it. Just a fairly relaxed easy listening sound, I liked Studmuffin96 most of the tracks, think it probably gets a low 3 because there's not a whole lot to dislike, nor does it reach any particular highs.
Angelo De Augustine
2/5
Tomb doesn't work so well for me, it's a bit dreary and while I can appreciate some of the musicality, he sings in such a high register that it grates a lot really early on, just not for me. 2/5.
Richard Dawson
1/5
I really struggled with Peasant because the arrangements are so weird and it gets off to a terrible start with Herald, a song I can only imagine is there to troll you or deliberately piss you off. It's fart noises for a pretentious audience. Anyway, it improves from an impossibly low bar but it's just weird, there are times I can see what it's about like the back half of Weaver, and he has a voice that commands you pay attention to it at least, but most of this is either really bad or just so far from what I like that I don't want to listen to it. 1/5.
2/5
Daisies of the Galaxy is pretty bland to me, Eels are generously described as a 'rock band' in places but they're really not, this is simple pop with indie stylings, a hint of bluesyness, but it's mostly not much of anything and the weary vocal delivery doesn't do much to grab my attention and keep it. None of it is bad but absolutely none of it inspires me to give it more than a 2/5.
The Postal Service
3/5
Give Up is an album of two halves for me; the first half is nice, enjoyable, atmospheric sounds with a retrospective feel to them, the first two tracks are excellent, Recycled Air is good too, feels like quite a bit of this has been an influence across a few other genres since then too. Back half isn't quite as strong, We Will Become Silhouettes has its moment but it sort of feels like it runs out of steam or ideas. Still, a good listen, 3/5.
Charli xcx
3/5
So I'm bound to compare brat to the Chappell Roan album we had a few weeks ago because of their juxtaposition in modern pop, but to my tastes this is nowhere near as good. It's a different approach, it's more grounded in electronica and club music, which isn't to say it doesn't work, but I've really hated any music that uses autotune for vocals as a stylistic choice, so that grates throughout, and otherwise it's just not as interesting or lyrically diverse or hell, just not as fun. Von dutch, Mean girls, Club classics are good, this has its moments and I'd not say it's outright bad so much as not fitting my preferences, it gets a 3/5 because it's authentic and interesting, but yeah, give me Red Wine Supernova and HOTTOGO anytime over this.
Arca
1/5
Well Stretch 2 is awful, only redeeming feature is that it's over inside half an hour, but what there is is crap. 1/5.
Sunny Day Real Estate
3/5
Diary is just an okay listen, it's solid and consistent but lacks variety and enough punch to elevate it, though given when it was recorded and where it came from I think it deserves credit. 47 was my favourite song, Grendel is nice too, 3/5, it's absolutely fine.
Kano
4/5
I think Made In The Manor spoils some of Kano's early work because it's SO good but Home Sweet Home still has hit after hit, it's really good. The title track, Remember Me, Typical Me, 9 to 5, they're all so good, I just prefer the more refined sound and bolder production of MITM as he matured a bit, this still has some juvenile influence and that's fine, he was 18 when much of this was done and that's astounding in itself. MITM would get a 5/5, this gets a high 4.
Bloc Party
2/5
I never liked Bloc Party or Silent Alarm even though everyone was fucking playing it in the mid noughties, it's that style of indie that really just doesn't do it for me. There are some songs I don't mind or like in the moment; Positive Tension, This Modern Love, Price of Gasoline, and So Here We Are is my favourite off the whole album and that's probably because it's unlike most of the other tracks, it doesn't sound like them, and if they did more like that I'd be more inclined to enjoy. As it is, they don't, so 2/5.
Neutral Milk Hotel
2/5
Into The Aeroplane Over The Sea is quirky and okay in places, not so okay in others. It's better when the dude doesn't sing, because he can't really sing, and its often clashes with what they're doing musically. I liked Holland, 1945 and [untitled] (of course, it's instrumental) but the rest of it was mostly meh, I didn't hate it, just minor irritation by work that could've been better. 2/5 but not a low 2, the compositions were decent.
Robyn Hitchcock
2/5
Eye isn't good, he can't sing well enough for the style, the whole thing is slow, stumbly and warbly, which is disappointing because he was lead singer of The Soft Boys and we had one of their albums here two years ago that I enjoyed and gave a 4/5. This doesn't get close to that, 2/5, forgettable.
Porter Robinson
2/5
Nuture is alright background music to work to that occasionally elevates itself into something good; Musician, Mirror, Something Comforting are favourites, the rest of it is a bit bland but inoffensive to just fill the silence. 2/5, not remarkable enough to be on someone's list, though if we're doing electronic music this occasionally gets closer to what I want from it than some of the crap on the main list.
Nuyorican Soul
2/5
Nuyorican Soul starts quite well but drags after a while, it doesn't really have enough to keep it interesting for over an hour, just becomes background music quite quickly. 2/5.
The Cure
4/5
Songs Of A Last World is super interesting and massively atmospheric in a way that doesn't usually fall into my preferences yet I do like it. It's eerie and dark and ridden with angst and pain but produces a beauty in the sound more often than not and I love that; Warsong is excellent, I Can Never Say Goodbye not far behind, Endsong is really epic, and while the vocals still have that haunting 80s-ness about them it manages to work. I've seen this described as shoegaze in the replies but it's really not to me, it's too emphatic in its production and delivery, the wikipedia categorisation of gothic rock is more apt. Think I'd listen again and be impressed, which means a 4/5, I want music that makes me feel while trying to blow my ears off and this does most of that.
Vampire Weekend
2/5
Contra gets annoying pretty quickly, goes for whimsical and quirky and can't pull it off as there's no depth or personality to it all, it's a shallow collection of sounds and stylings that really don't make for a good album. I don't dislike it enough to give it a 1/5 but it's a low 2, I don't understand how music like this is popular.
Thee Oh Sees
2/5
Some of Live In San Francisco is realy good; The Dream, Man in a Suitcase, Withered Hand have a driving melody behind the energy and makes them stand out, then Sticky Hulks is a bit heavier and grungier which I didn't mind at all. The rest is a pretty samey wall of noise that's terribly produced, especially for a live album, and it's far too long for the genre, don't think it warrants more than a 2/5.
Tally Hall
3/5
Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum is something of a whistle-stop tour of genres, like a 7/10 food buffet that tries to give you a taste of everything rather than focusing on a single cuisine really well. It's charming because of it but it has limited mileage as a result. Like there were times I got 80s glam rock notes, then stuff that sounds like ELO because of the vocoder/talk box stuff, then a bunch of it sounds like Weezer in their lighter moments, and we even get some sprinklings of ska/reggae and big band and nu-metal that sounds like Zebrahead :D It's chaotic without ever sensing like it's getting out of their control, it runs too long but I think it gets a low 3/5 because it's more interesting than 90% of what we've had on offer. Mental album.
Polvo
2/5
Cor-Crane Secret is paint by numbers beige indie rock. Indecipherable from hundreds of other no-mark bands. 2/5.
Steven Wilson
3/5
Hand Cannot Erase is very proggy, not all bad, has some dreaminess and some hard guitar jamming, both of those sounds are pretty enjoyable when they turn up, there's a lot of forgettable stuff in between and it runs so unnecessarily long. Hard to really pick out standout tracks because they all have sections of good and bad within, probably gets a low 3, just.
Calibro 35
2/5
Momentum is an interesting enough album to add to the list because of what it tries to do, very little of what we've had really tries to fuse funk and electronica and hip hop and rock into one sound, and it does an okay job of it, just not well enough to consistently grab me. 2/5 but a higher 2.
Nik Kershaw
2/5
Human Racing is awfully 80s, not in good ways, though it has a couple of okay moments in Wouldn't It Be Good and Gone To Pieces. Still, 2/5, not a good listen.
Joe Cocker
4/5
I enjoyed Mad Dogs & Englishmen quite a bit, a sunny morning prepping for a family bbq with some good old soulful blues, can't go wrong. Loses a point because it's a bunch of covers but Cocker does them justice with a quality live experience that doesn't drag despite the length, it oozes charisma, easy 4/5, good addition to the list.
CAKE
1/5
Yeah I can't get on with Fashion Nugget, it's that obnoxious brand of indie rock that seems to hate itself or revel in being ironic, the vocal style is really annoying, show that you care ffs, it's so dull, not even laid back, and the rest of it is so shallow and lacking substance that I struggle to want to listen. There's a fucking terrible cover of I Will Survive in there to top off the 1/5.
Ornette Coleman
2/5
The Shape of Jazz to Come isn't really my preferred style of jazz, it's a bit too experimental and staccato and fragmented, not a smoother refined experience, but there are bits to like. The last two tracks are the best, Congeniality and Chronology, and it's fairly short overall, but a 2/5 because it doesn't hit the mark where I want it to.
John Martyn
2/5
Grace and Danger has its charms in small doses, has some half-decent bluesy bits, but it's very much a dated sound of an era largely best forgotten. 2/5, no reason for this to be on anyone's list.
Courteeners
2/5
The Courteeners sound exactly like about 25 different UK indie bands of the 00s so St Jude is generally unappealing, oversaturated and not really that good. What Took You So Long? has its moments but this was not an album anyone should've said 'why wasn't this on the list?!' and decided to add it because they just love it so much. 2/5.
David Baerwald
2/5
There's nothing special about Triage, some generic pop rock sounds and some basic bluesy notes and then a bit slowly meandering towards the end. Only really got interesting in The Got No Shotgun... track, 2/5, nothing here to excite.
Ani DiFranco
3/5
Dilate is quite good at times, she has a soulfoul, bluesy voice with some punch to it, some of it works better than others, and there are times where it comes off as her trying too hard to be Alanis Morissette, but it's a fair 3/5. The title track was probably my favourite, Adam and Eve not bad either.
Dave Matthews Band
2/5
Before These Crowded Streets hasn't aged too well, it sounds very late 90s, like a mish-mash of genres to try to find a unique groove, and really it mostly ends up sounding amateurish. It's too long, the vocals are maybe the best part but they're hardly standout and sound derivative anyway, modelled on a bunch of early to mid 90s alt rock/grunge frontmen perhaps, I dunno, none of it worked and the back half of the album just faded into obscurity. 2/5, it's not crap, it's just incredibly boring.
INXS
2/5
Every time I think this list has thrown up the worst 80s sounds it comes along with another, today that's INXS and Kick, which is full of terribly dated musical influences and I don't have the reverence for it that anyone with nostalgia based memories do. I Need You Tonight is decent and gets it to a 2/5 but otherwise this is bad.
Olivia Rodrigo
4/5
I quite liked Guts, it explodes out of the gate with three crackers, especially bad idea right? and vampire, then yeah it loses a bit of momentum but I think rescues it quite well with get him back!, love is embarrassing and pretty isn't pretty at the back end of the album. especially that last one, it's a great modern pop song. The ballad to close it out with teenage dream is good too; if I'm comparing this to Charli xcx or Chappell Roan I'm putting it above brat but below The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, so a high 3 or a low 4, I'm fairly impressed here.
System Of A Down
5/5
There's never really been anyone quite like System Of A Down and they were at their absolutely ridiculous, deranged, unique selves on Toxicity, one of the best albums of the nu-metal era and one that holds up 25 years or so later. I think it's unfair for it to really get grouped with nu-metal though, it's mostly metal with their own quirks and Serj's inimitable delivery. It manages to make clear political points, as was the style of the time, while being batshit crazy, I mean look at some of the lyrics across the record:
Pull the tapeworm out of your ass
Wired were the eyes of a horse on a jet pilot, one that smiles when he flew over the bay
Jump! (Pogo, pogo, pogo, pogo, pogo, pogo, pogo)
Looking at life through the eyes of a tyre hub
And it worked so well, and that's before you get into the musicality of it, full of heavy driving riffs that punch you in the face and then pick you up to continue the ride, drumming is spectacular, it's so good. Prison Song, Chop Suey, Toxicity, Aerials are pretty timeless as four absolute belters off this, they're spread across the album so you never feel like it loses its way even with some filler like Jet Pilot, ATWA, Psycho etc, but in another 25 years this'll still be revered and it definitely has a place on this list. Objectively a high 4 because of some filler, I might push it to a 5 because of just how much I've listened to and enjoyed it over the years.
Daft Punk
5/5
Discovery is a genuinely revolutionary album isn't it? Not just the quality of the music but the legacy and influence it holds to this day and will do for a long time to come. It's original, it's fun, it takes you on a journey and manages it with minimal use of actual words or dialogue, and that's an incredible art form to pull off. The first four tracks are as good a first four as any album maybe ever made and sure, some of the non-singles aren't as good, that's an impossibly high bar to try to meet, but Voyager, Superheroes, Veridis Quo etc are brilliant anyway. I've got no idea why the other Daft Punk album made the original list and not this one but it's one of the easiest 5/5s you'll ever give. Outstanding.
Joe Jackson
3/5
Look Sharp! is a quirky little mix of lively ska-influenced pop with some early new wave and some punk, a real meeting of genres and styles. Some of it works and creates a happy rhythm and groove to get along with, some of it sounds like it was made to be the theme tune of a forgettable 80s sitcom or procedural drama (Happy Loving Couples especially). It has character but lacks quality, it's a 3/5 because it's just okay, not bad, not good.
Shudder To Think
2/5
Pony Express Record is more pony than anything else. It's loud, which is fine, but it's mostly a complete mess of structures, annoying vocals and bad lyrics, overly long longs and overall runtime, and a frustrating lack of direction and coherence. It's not outright offensive enough to get a 1 but I didn't enjoy this even though on the face of it I should've at least found something appealing in it. 2/5.
Roky Erickson
3/5
The Evil One isn't half bad at times, nothing special but very listenable simple rock, not really the horror rock or hard rock it's marketed as and what I was expecting but it's just solid middle of the road stuff you'd hear on classic rock radio and that's always fine, just perhaps not worthy of a must-listen list. I Walked With a Zombie, Night of the Vampire, I Think of Demons, Creature With The Atom Brain are all really enjoyable, if you listen to the Spotift linked version it's the full collection of two different versions of the original list and it runs unnecessarily long as a result, there's too much filler, but hey, this is lots better than the crap we've endured and an easy 3/5.
Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band
4/5
Stranger In Town is just so good, heartland rock is always an impassioned, emotive, visceral listen and Bob Seger remains one of the greats. The first three tracks are outstanding, Still The Same is beautifully pained, the rest of it is solid, tight, full of hooks, and really just top class earnest musicianship. He deserved at least one place on the original list for his place in music history, I mean fucking hell how much Elvis Costello was there? but this is a high 4, think it misses on a 5 because it lacks maybe one more hall of fame type track like Old Time Rock and Roll, and when you compare him to a Springsteen from within the same genre he's clearly in the tier below, but those are musical upper echelons anyway and this is a timelessly good listen.
Alexisonfire
4/5
Watch Out! is a 20-year throwback to when a friend introduced me to No Transitory, which I still listen to regularly and enjoy a lot, but Alexisonfire are a band I never really dug deeper into. The whole album is pretty fun, full of youthful raging hardcore energy that creates an absolute racket yet manages to do a solid job of retaining musicality with defined melodies and making it listenable, which a lot of these styles of bands don't do. The run from Hey It's Your Funeral Mama to Get Fighted is top, not such a fan of the last track which is a shame but you can't have it all. A high 3 or a low 4, probably a low 4, more of this genre should've been represented on the initial list.
Jimmy Eat World
4/5
Despite really enjoying pretty much any Jimmy Eat World I've ever listened to, I've never actually listened to Clarity, and that's my fault, because it's really good. It's more like Futures than Bleed American, a little more emo and a little more introspective than pop punk, but it's still really good throughout and bears all the hallmarks of the band they became probably really starting from here, with respect to their previous offerings. Lucky Denver Mint, Your New Aesthetic, Just Watch The Fireworks (so good, balancing the delicate verses and bridges with the explosive choruses), Goodbye Sky Harbor are the outstanding tracks and it gets a high 4, because I think their subsequent work was just that bit better. I'd give Futures 5/5 because it's one of my favourite albums of all time even though that's probably not something that syncs with a lot of JEW fans, but what a three-album run they had. Minor spoiler, we've not had it yet but from the reviews it looks like Bleed American is also on the user submissions list, so that's well deserved too.
2/5
You'd Prefer An Astronaut brings an end to a decent little run we'd been on, it's really average 90s grunge, whiny, heavy, dirty overdriven guitars that make a din but the production is poor and doesn't bring out any subtleties or qualities. Drumming is decent but overly prominent, it's alright in small doses and only runs 45 minutes so is quite tight, just a 2/5 though.
Mull Historical Society
2/5
Loss is a poor effort, it's both generic and derivative, trying to sound a bit too much like 90s Britpop several years after the fact, simple chord structures that bore quickly and lead to most songs sounding the same. It's all really underwhelming and beige; Animal Cannabus is a brief highlight where they get it right and you can sort of see what they were aiming for, and ensures it gets a 2/5, because it's a cracker, just a shame about the rest of the album.
Noname
2/5
I didn't really enjoy Telefone , it's too chilled or laid back for my wants from the rap/hip hop genre like I've said before, it's too moody, her flow is okay but derivative, lots of clichéd lines borrowed or inspired from others, just not for me. Diddy Bop and All I Need had moments of potential but just a 2/5.
Talk Talk
2/5
Some parts of Spirit Of Eden worked for me, the first two tracks created some atmosphere and a decent sound, but it was hard going and didn't last very long before fading into nothingness. 2/5.
Kaizers Orchestra
2/5
Maestro is the answer to the question 'what if 00s British indie alt rock but actually Norwegian?'. It's the exact same sound but with words you can't understand unless you speak Norwegian. That style has never been my favourite, it's just fine, mildly irritating, occasionally good (the energy rolling through Blitzregn Baby is good), a high 2/5 I think.
Gang of Youths
4/5
So Go Farther In Lightness is a welcome surprise because it's really good. A lot of it reminds me of The Gaslight Anthem in style, approach and lyrical storytelling, though they're a little less rustic and gritty by comparison and instead use a string section to great effect. It's that addition that gives them urgency, intensity, momentum, that carries this pretty long album through without it seeming like it drags. The fella singing has a deeper, richer voice that soothes but also demands, and it works well as a layer over the top of some pretty detailed arrangements. It all just works really well; the first few tracks are loud, confident and in your face (tracks 1-3 are my favourites overall), then they pull it back for some closer perspective, then they take you home with emphatic defiance like The Heart Is A Muscle, The Deepest Sighs..., and Say Yes To Life. Maybe some of it is overly earnest but that comes with the territory of doing something like this, I really dig it, easy 4/5 and I'll go back to it a fair bit I think. Great addition to the user submissions.
Gurrumul
4/5
Djarimirri is certainly an emotive piece of music quite unlike anything we've had before, though it does share some of the same accessibility issues we've had with 'world music' where the language barrier limits how much I can truly take from it. But boy does it create a really consuming sound, his voice is so full of sorrow and hurt, the ambience is striking and haunting with pretty solid compositions, it's a really strong soundtrack to a story of what I can only assume to be pain because of how it's presented, but I don't actually know. It goes on for a bit, sure, but it's a cool mix of old and new and very listenable in the right mood. Think it deserves a 4, one of the best examples of something very different we've had at any point.
Debbie Gibson
2/5
Out of the Blue is just basic wholesome 80s pop, which is alright because it stays away from really bad 80s tropes and just seems to have fun. Probably doesn't deserve a 3 because it's really shallow and unambitious but it's an inoffensive 2/5 listen. Someone just had a teenage crush on her and added this to the list for nostalgae.
Fontaines D.C.
2/5
Romance doesn't do much for me, it's too close to the alt/indie rock sound I don't really get on with, and the guy's voice is REALLY whiny and annoying for the most part. The opening title track is pretty interesting because it builds a wall of noise and anticipation and then doesn't really do much like that afterwards, so that was an immediate disappointment. Sundowner is closer to the mark in that regard and probably my favourite track but it's mostly just not for me, 2/5.
Avenged Sevenfold
4/5
The first half of City of Evil is really good, modern metal, not old school metal but certainly melodic updated metal with plenty of shredding, more major key than would be expected, but it definitely works. I think Avenged Sevenfold are really a band who made their name off of outstanding singles rather than consistently strong bodies of work; look through their discography and each record has one or two smashes like Bat County, Hail to the King, Welcome to the Family, Nightmare, Afterlife etc, but quite a bit of filler otherwise, and that's where this album loses a couple of marks. The back half really drags because there are five straight songs at 7 minutes or longer and they don't need to be that long. Seize The Day just before it feels too long because the first ninety seconds or so are a waste of time before it rips into an epic crescendo, but maybe I'm being picky because I'd rather have this on the list than hundreds of alt indie rock bands you couldn't tell apart from one another. High 3 or Low 4, good with moments of excellence, lacking consistency in quality and diversity in sound; it's a bit samey.
Hikaru Utada
3/5
I liked a fair bit of ULTRA BLUE despite the language barrier for much of it, there's nice modern pop sounds, her voice has a desperation about it that works pretty well, it's nothing special and I think it finishes weaker than it starts, but it's definitely an easy and slightly addictive. I really enjoyed (誰かの願いが叶うころ and COLORS back to back in the middle, the latter of the pair has late 90s/early 2000s pop vibes and more than a hint of nostalgia about it. Solid 3/5.
Alexisonfire
4/5
I'm pretty sure we didn't need two Alexisonfire albums on the user list, but I do prefer this one to Watch Out! from a coupla weeks ago. It's angrier, somehow, but the guitar work is better throughout and they do a better job of cutting through the wall of angsty noise and driving some good melodies; A Dagger Through..., Polaroids of Polar Bears, Waterings are all good blocked together through the middle, it's all done in 40 mins or so and blasts home with Pulmonary Archery which is evocative of some of the best screamo from this era. Watch Out! got a low 4 so on the entirely arbitrary scale we work on this is a middling 4.
Sufjan Stevens
2/5
A Beginner's Mind is more evidence I don't get on with Sufjan Stevens. He's too sad, too dreamy and mellow, undeniably pretty music to listen to but it doesn't move me in the slightest. A twee 2/5 is all I can offer, I don't need to listen to any more of his work. I won't ignore Angelo De Augustine either, we had a user submitted album of his in April and I said "it's a bit dreary and while I can appreciate some of the musicality, he sings in such a high register that it grates a lot really early on, just not for me", which totally fits the bill here too.
Les sheriff
3/5
Les deux doigts dans la prise has some qualities to it, pretty good energy for 90s punk, some edginess, strong production and some impressive melodies for the genre. My French isn't good enough to ease the language barrier but I liked this in the same way I like Ska-P or Banda Bassotti or other foreign-language punk/adjacent bands. Pas de doutes is great, 3/5 here, nice stuff.
Damien Rice
4/5
O is really good, even though it's not something that's usually my preference. It's just so well crafted and performed, a beautiful voice over sparse but detailed compositions, it just works so well. Cannonball, Amie, The Blower's Daughter all excellent, a strong 4/5 from me, miles better than some of the pretenders we've had in this genre.
The Breeders
2/5
Last Splash is unremarkable 2/5 middling indie stuff. Couple of decent tracks, most of it forgettable.
Wussy
2/5
Funeral Dress seems to get a lot of acclaim but I don't hear or feel it, it's all a bit twee, the singers aren't very good and regularly off key, it's not so much inspired by some legendary figures as it is a bit of a poor copycat of them. I dunno, it's not offensively bad but it's just another boring indie album that gets a 2/5.
Backstreet Boys
2/5
Backstreet Boys had some absolute BANGERS obviously, but Millennium is crap when you get past the two good tracks it starts with. I always love Larger Than Life, it's great fun and the cackle at the start always gets me imitiating it. I Want It That Way is quality pop ballad stuff obv but then it's really badly downhill from there, a couple of forgettable singles and a whole load of album filler join the dots teenage puppy love generic crap, then if you can be bothered to hold on to the end The Perfect Fan is incredibly cringe :D 2/5 because of the first two tracks saving it from 1/5, if you want some late 90s/early 00s mainstream pop there are many better albums you can put on here.
Phish
2/5
Of course A Live One drags, it's purely indulgent for Phish fans, and that's okay for a user submission, but doesn't mean I have to like it. Most of it is decent background jamming and Slave To The Traffic Light is truly excellent, but I can't go above a 2/5 because it's a LOT of average stuff I don't care about.
Childish Gambino
2/5
Because The Internet is better than the previous Childish Gambino effort, it's better produced, more vibrant, his flow is easier to connect with and hear, there are some cool influences throughout etc. It just runs a bit too long with a bit too much filler, and I don't really feel like I can connect with any tracks by name except for 3005, but a high 2/5 is fair.
The Chats
2/5
Get Fucked is a quick fiery burst of old school punk by guys who are probably wise enough to know better, but Australian enough to try. It's fun but not necessarily that good, and if I want some stupid good time Aussie rock then I'm gonna listen to Airbourne every time. A low 3/5 because it's not below average, it's just okay.
1/5
So The 1975 are apparently pretty big but I've never knowingly heard anything of theirs and A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships makes me think that's a good thing, because it's crap. It's incredibly boring, it's really badly autotuned, it's like AI making music and somehow being successful. 1/5 because it annoyed me and it lasts nearly a whole fucking hour.
Daniel Bélanger
3/5
I enjoyed Rêver mieux, it's stylish and happy and sad in the same measure, language barrier is whatever, this has a real vibe to it. Te quitter is a strong opener, Fous n'importe ou follows it well, misses a few times after that but Air pur is brilliant towards the back end, and the title track is a nice acoustic number. 3/5, good.
Mylène Farmer
3/5
I liked L'Autre more than I expected to. It's not quite the same but there's something a little ethereal and gothic about it in a way that makes me think of Within Temptation, who as a rock band are obviously heavier and louder but there are some stylistic similarities in their foundations and the haunting female vocals. Agnus Dei and Regrets definitely feel like something they'd do in the first verse before breaking into a more theatrical rock sound, and largely the album appeals to me in that way, though the 90s pop stylings that keep getting in the way stop it really impressing me. I think it's a 3/5 for me because it gets close but not close enough to something really good.
Tori Amos
2/5
Not a fan of Under The Pink, it's all over the place. It starts well enough, Pretty Good Year is a decent ballad, God is interesting and quirky (and she sounds a lot like Shakira would later on down the line), but then it gets messy, her voice is great but it leaps all over the place and gets into regularly annoying territory, stuff like The Wrong Band is just really bad. Some of it reminds me of some of Bjork's stuff not long after this and I wasn't into Bjork at all. 2/5, it made my head hurt because she's got all the talent but it's so badly put together.
The Alan Parsons Project
1/5
Unfortunately, despite great Simpsons and Austin Powers memes, Tales of Mystery and Imagination is really bad 70s prog. Really very few redeeming features for me, it's less meandering and self-indulgent than many examples but I didn't enjoy any of it. I didn't actively dislike it so it's a high 1/5 but nah, really not for me. Would've genuinely preferred them to be some sort of hovercraft.
The Decemberists
2/5
God The Hazards of Love is boring as all hell. It's just so twee and folksy, 17 songs and an hour long, I get that it tells a story and it does that quite well, so it's not a 1/5 bad, I just didn't like it at all. 2/5.
Refused
3/5
I enjoyed most of The Shape of Punk To Come, New Noise has been a regular on my rotation list for years and is the best track on here, but I'd never really checked them out beyond that. It has a lot of the same energy, doesn't always have the same quality but Refused are Fucking Dead is top and The Deadly Rhythm not far behind, same with The Refused Party Program. Easy 3/5 that might push a low 4 on re-listens, bundles of punk energy and dynamism with a decent amount of musicality for the genre.
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard
3/5
King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard isn't bad, it has a really cool seamless sort of production and the transitions between songs carry great energy and get me interested. It's maybe a bit one-speed throughout but for a modern take on psychedelic rock it's actually pretty interesting and definitely worth a listen. The band can absolutely play too, full on, fair play, 3/5.
blink-182
3/5
I was never a massive blink-182 fan before they went all moody like they do on this album, I liked the odd hit but wasn't properly invested, and the change of direction on here didn't do much to change it although I get it and I like it in places. I think a lot of the songs sound the same; that introspective darker sound, almost new wave for a modern era, very emo, and Hoppus' voice doesn't have a great deal of diversity to it. When it works it works well; Always is brilliant, the first four tracks are good, the rest is up and down but I liked Go and Easy Target because they try to mix it up with an angrier edge. It's a solid 3/5 and I appreciate the efforts to try something very different and to mostly stick the landing.
The Mountain Goats
1/5
All Hail West Texas isn't good. It's boring and really hard to listen to. Not enjoyable at all and I'm not really here for the stylistic production choices either. 1/5.
Emicida
2/5
AmarElo has its moments, obviously the Portuguese means it's a sizeable language barrier but it's decent modern rnb (far more than it is hip hop) and when it sticks to those smooth grooves it's good; Paisagem is really good, 9nha has some subtle bossa nova running through it that makes it work, but while it comes across earnest and fairly well put together, a lot of it just doesn't really resonate with me through the genre and the language. Slap bang in the middle so just under 3, 2/5.
Jimmy Eat World
5/5
When we had Clarity a month ago I gave it a 4 and said Futures would get a clear 5/5 from me as my favourite Jimmy Eat World album, and that's true, because it's just breathtakingly good, but Bleed American is right up there and holds a pretty iconic space in my listening memory and is a rare album that I can put to a particular place and time and take me back there. I wasn't really into this genre or any of the adjacent scenes until 2003 when I started working, but a couple of colleagues were, and it was A Praise Chorus that really grabbed me and demanded I check it out, and well I was all in from there and went off into a rabbit hole that led to all sorts of other discoveries and 20+ years of shaping what are now my everyday listening habits and everything I really like, even if they're miles away from what JEW produced here. It'll always resonate for that reason if nothing else, but the actual work itself remains everlasting; The Middle leads the way but APC, Sweetness, Authority Song, the title track, these are all classics and to have them all on one album is ridiculous, and when you back it up with change of pace tunes like Hear You Me and Cautioners, you've got a 5/5 effort. There's pretty much no filler on here, it's 45 minutes that feels like 25 minutes because it's so well crafted, and I'd listen to it any day and every day with pleasure.
Adam Green
1/5
Gemstones is musically quite dull and lyrically questionable at best, embarrassing at worst. Like not even quirky or weird for the sake of weird, just crass and stupid in equal measure. Hated it, 1/5.
Wishbone Ash
3/5
As far as 70s prog-style albums go, Argus is pretty decent. It doesn't really come across as prog a lot of the time because it's got a lot of bluesy elements and some hard rock sounds too, especially in Warrior, and it's mostly an hour of noodling, soloing, improving and grooving without going too batshit crazy into whatever genre they've decided it represents thematically (in this case, Greek Mythology!). Some of it reminds me of Rainbow/Deep Purple/Ritchie Blackmore and it turns out Ritchie recommended they be signed by their first record label after jamming with them so there's undoubtedly an influence there. A comparison further is unfair really because most of Blackmore did was legendary, but this stands on its on merits for a decent 3, maybe a low 4 if I listened to it often enough to offer a similar reverence through properly engaging and enjoying it. We've had plenty worse, this is quite good.
Al Stewart
3/5
Year of the Cat is a bit twee but fairly enjoyable in a laid back way. I liked On The Border early on and the title track late on, a middling high 2/5 is fine here, probably 3 because it was never bad or annoying. Just fine.
Frengers is an example of dreamy shoegaze style music that doesn't suck. It's really atmospheric and draws you in, not especially catchy or memorable, but is nice to listen to and occasionally brings a change of tempo to keep you interested; Her Voice Is Beyond Her Years is my favourite track for that reason. Good, 3/5.
GAS
2/5
Pop played away for an hour and I didn't notice it changing between tracks at any point. Maybe that's deliberate, maybe it was easy to work with it on and that's the point of it too, I didn't really care for it. 2/5, it exists.
Roger Waters
2/5
Unsurprisingly, The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking sounds like rejected Pink Floyd material that Waters decided to do anyway. Their stuff was never really for me but I can easily tell this isn't close to them at their best, it's too indulgent and focused around its theme for the good to shine through, and of course it goes on too long even at 42 minutes. It doesn't really scale any great heights either, like it's just happy being average, so it gets an average 2/5.
The 1975
2/5
A fortnight or so ago we had another album from The 1975, and it was fucking woeful. To have two is more questionable and while Being Funny In A Foreign Language is better than A Brief Inquiry, it was the lowest of low bars to clear. Then, I said "It's incredibly boring, it's really badly autotuned, it's like AI making music and somehow being successful", and this is only an improvement because it's not really badly autotuned throughout, only in some places. It's still boring AI slop, it's just modern indie sludge, one speed, one sound almost throughout. It's saved by About You towards the end which does something that's actually interesting and worth listening to and is unlike the rest of the album. A low, low 2/5 on that basis.
Louis Armstrong
3/5
The Best of The Hot 5 & Hot 7 Recordings demonstrate that Louis Armstrong could, indeed, play the trumpet. Everything thereafter is just a matter of preference; yeah he should've been represented in the initial list, and some of this is good and enjoyable, but it's really an hour of trumpeting and if that's not your thing overall then it gets old a bit quickly. I'm not attuned enough to it to really feel the difference between songs; the happier bouncier ones are my favourites but they don't feel different enough to my ear. Still, 3/5 because it's better than the fucking 1975 shit I gave a 2 to yesterday.
The Chameleons
2/5
Holy 80s, Script Of The Bridge ticks all of those sound cliches from that era, which I don't really like, but this is hugely atmospheric for what it is, and conveys a gloomy misery throughout. Second Skin was a good song, only 2/5 because it ain't for me, and sounds too much like loads of other acts, but it's fairly well put together at least.
Touché Amoré
4/5
Stage Four wasn't what I expected at all, but was quite good and fairly interesting. The subject matter is really hard to say the least, and the incredible pain and angst is tangible, though I think some of it gets lost in the vocals because they're a bit generic in approach for the genre. Not that they're bad, but some of the personality trying to convey his sorrow and anger and heartbreak doesn't quite reach you because so many post-punk singers sing like this. You absolutely feel it in the music though, it's musically much more appealing than it is vocally, but I think overall I liked this as much as the two Alexisonfire albums we had, maybe more in places. Those both got 4s so I think this gets up there too.
Mary Chapin Carpenter
2/5
Come On Come On is more of that super bland middle of the road country pop. If this is your bag so much that you submit it as your personal favourite, more power to you, but it's just a 2/5 that I won't remember this afternoon.
Amadou & Mariam
2/5
Dimanche à Bamako starts well, the opening track is really nice, and really the first four or five are more accessible than a lot of foreign-language/African music we've had on this journey. I dunno if that's a good or a bad thing though, because it then goes back into stuff I don't much care for for the rest of the album, and there's an argument that the back half is more 'typical' of the genre and that the opening to the record is 'westernised' for appeal. Taken purely on the merits of whether I liked it or not, it gets a high 2.5, just above average, because there was some good, lots of meh, nothing I truly disliked. M'Bife is really nice though, again.
Protomartyr
3/5
Relatives In Descent is a gloomy affair, though it's better than some of the stuff we've had in this style and genre. The vocals just about work because the music is really well put together and creates a compelling atmosphere, I really liked My Children as well as Half Sister towards the end, think it scrapes a low 3/5 because I didn't really find it impressive, just solid to good without much bad in there.
Sparks
3/5
When we had Sparks in 2023 I said "Today's effort is particularly bland glam rock.". No.1 In Heaven does a better job than that, so maybe it was someone's effort at correcting the original list by saying 'hey this should've been there instead', which may have a point, though not 'you have to listen to this before you die'. It's very synthy but all done in about half an hour and in that time it manages to be quite fun, has a quirky little edge to it, some nice drum work and it carries momentum really well. Really well produced too; I don't like the late 70s/early 80s new wave synth pop sound as a rule but there are exceptions and this is among them, 3/5, you can bounce around to this a bit.
TOOL
3/5
I like Tool to a point, and Fear Innoculum is like everything else where it sounds perfectly fine to the ear on first listen, and I suspect I'd enjoy it quite a lot if I listened repeatedly and 'got it' more, but I never get there. This was a fine and average morning listen of crashing loud noise, 3/5, I'll take it.
TOOL
3/5
10,000 Hours was preferable to Fear Innoculum, especially Wings Pt 1 and 2, and I also liked Intension near the end. Same comment as yesterday really, and unfortunate that they arrive back to back; I like them just about enough but not a lot, and might like them more if I listened deeper and for longer. Some of that might be backed up by the fact I liked the second of their back to back suggestions more, I dunno, higher 3/5 than yesterday.
Lo Fidelity Allstars
2/5
How to Operate With a Blown Mind is okay house really, has some character and fun here and there (I liked Lazer Sheep Dip Funk) but not a lot for me to hold onto and enjoy properly. 2/5.
Sublime
2/5
I was never a Sublime fan, even though they skirt close to some of my favourite genres, they're too far into the ska/reggae/stoner sound and not enough of the punk side for me. This album has its moments though, Pawn Shop is really good, Get Ready is a jammer, but most of it is a little too laid back with some ropey lyrics. High 2/5.
They Might Be Giants
1/5
TMBG are one of those bands that annoy me and Join Us is full of examples as to why. They're sullen, moody, weird oddballs who try to translate it into their music and it's just not fun. It's not even fun in a quirky or bizarre way, it's like they want to beat you into submission with the same sound over 20 songs, and it annoys me more because every so often over their long history they show they've got chops to do something fun, upbeat and more aligned with proper pop punk, yet they persist with this horseshit. I hated it, 1/5.
The Dear Hunter
2/5
There's a lot going on in Rebirth In Reprise, it's modern prog and apparently the fourth instalment in a six-part composition that isn't finished. Go figure, that doesn't matter to me though. The first half of the album is quite prog heavy then it turns into something almost out of musical theatre, but not a particularly good example of it either. It moves far too quickly between genres for me to really feel settled in and able to enjoy it; A Night On The Town is modern pop, Is There Anybody There is like an updated Pink Floyd sound, The Squeaky Wheel is early 2000s indie pop, The Bitter Suite IV and V is West End/Broadway chaos. That's a 25-minute, four-track run into the back half of the album and it doesn't really work for me. Then there's another 25 minutes after it and it's similarly all over the map (Wait, near the end, is my sort of thing and my favourite song). With a positive spin you can say there's something in here for everyone because it makes for a great sound here and there, it's well-produced and well performed, but it's just not coherent. 2/5, others will like it lots more than me.
Courtney Barnett
3/5
On Sometimes I Sit And Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit, it's just fine really isn't it? Easy listening, mixes up the melodies enough to be interesting, stays within her relatively limited vocal range so as to not offend, it works without ever being really impressive. I liked Depreston a lot, but it's all just underneath where I'd like it to be. 3/5, lyrically sound, far from the worst thing we've heard.
Sampha
2/5
Lahai is, quite ironically, pretty soulless for a record with soul ambitions. Beats are fine but unremarkable, the tracks don't sound out from one another, there's some bad autotune on the vocals and it constantly feels like it's being held back from doing something impressive, either by design or (more likely) through his own creative limitations. It's just dull. 2/5.
Neil Cicierega
1/5
Yeah so Mouth Sounds will grab your attention early because it's a bunch of edge-lord mashups from 20 years ago and it's fun in bitesize, but then you have a WHOLE HOUR of it and it's pretty annoying pretty quickly. There's also a load of Smashmouth which again, the novelty wears off super quickly. It's a 1/5 because it's not good and it's only fun for a coupla minutes unless you're 12.
Electric Callboy
2/5
There is something there with Tekkno but it's not quite all there. Metalcore mixed with Europop stylings doesn't seem like it should work, and it often doesn't, but every so often it seems to catch me and make me want more. Mindreader and Parasite are really good songs for example, but they're followed soon after by Hurrikan which might as well have been a collab with Cartoons or Vengaboys or any of those late 90s novelty acts, and there are other examples throughout where it's like they're working with Scooter and HP Baxxter is dropping bars over the top (We Got The Moves, Spaceman). Then the closing track Neon is a really good heavy rock ballad tune, not even metalcore. I dunno, I can see some of the appeal, but the exection isn't great (and the production is way too clean for metal), yet it has some bops and only lasts half an hour. Probably lands on the 2.9 side of a 3 for a 2/5.
Sam Fender
3/5
So I guess People Watching is what Springsteen sounds like without all the quality, pathos and heritage we rightly associate with him, because it's massively influenced by it and it doesn't do a half-bad job of delivering. It's impossible to compare because one of them is the GOAT and has 50 years of appreciation to his work while this is brand new, but it's definitely better than a lot of stuff we've listened to for well over three years. Little Bit Closer is really good, I liked Something Heavy and Crumbling Empire as well. I'd heard his name but never checked out any of his stuff, maybe I should have. It's not great, there's some filler, sure, but this is a high 3 or maybe a 4 to me, it's pretty well done. Give it some more edge, some more grit and real connection (while it sounds good to the ear, it's not evocative and personal enough) and you're onto something.
Titus Andronicus
3/5
The Monitor is alright, it has a good energy but it's very one-speed and one-sound throughout so it quickly blends into just one long samey experience. Not sure whether that means the first few tracks are the best or they just stand out more, but I enjoyed the first two more than the rest, except maybe Theme From Cheers, which sounds a bit like some of the community-heavy Dropkick Murphys songs I enjoy; rowdy, shouty, celebratory with a tinge of wistfulness. Anyway, probably a low 3.
2/5
Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You really challenges what your breaking point for twee indie folk is. Mine was a long way short of the 80 minute, 20 track run time. Give me a small amount, fine. Do this for over an hour and you lose me. Not my scene, 2/5.
Elmer Gantry's Velvet Opera
2/5
Elmer Gantry's Velvet Opera is another user-submitted album that confounds the mind as to why it's on here; I get that people have soft spots for albums for all sorts of reasons but I struggle to see it with this, it sounds like so many other 60s psychedlia-influenced easy rock. I Was Cool is a good song, the others just faded into 2/5 obscurity.
Chris de Burgh
2/5
I didn't expect much from Spanish Train And Other Stories and really, I didn't get much, though there were a couple of good notes. A Spaceman Came Travelling somehow became a Christmas hit so very familiar and has that nostalgic festive sentiment to it for me, then Lonely Sky is cheesily really enjoyable somehow, This Song For You is an alright enough ballad, the rest isn't good, so just about a 2/5.
Rita Ora
2/5
No idea why someone would put You & I on his, it's standard modern pop, not bad, not good, has a few hooks that come from sampling or covering other songs so you get that little hit but otherwise it's very beige. She can sing but her voice is poorly over-produced/tuned on this, as a stylistic choice, and that's annoying. 2.
Os Mundi
1/5
Latin Mass is weird proggy stuff with Latin lyrics and kraut rock influences. If there's going to be a 1/5 from me then this gets it.
Talking Heads
2/5
Nope, Talking Heads still aren't for me, Stop Making Sense has a decent live energy but I gave everything of theirs a 2/5 on the list already and this is the same. Too new wavey, too 80s.
Medeski, Martin & Wood
1/5
Shack-man is porn music. Nothing here worth my time, didn't hate it but it's not really offering me anything to get above a 1/5.
The B-52's
1/5
I disliked Wild Planet, it's more bad 80s shit, how do people enjoy it? Annoying vocals, tinny new wave music, nothing to enjoy here. 1.
Death Cab for Cutie
3/5
Transatlanticism didn't really grab me until halfway through, and then it really did. For the most part I thought a lot of it (bearing in mind I've heard of them but not really listened to them) sounded like a poorer version of Jimmy Eat World to me then from Tiny Vessels (best track easily) through to We Looked Like Giants it's really good and on a par with that sort of stuff, certainly with similar sounds, constructions and themes, building from tender and soft beginnings to emotional crescendos. Yeah they're not really gonna give you the punkier edge on here at least but that's maybe okay. If the start was a 2/5 and the back end was 4/5 this lands with a solid 3.
Pedro The Lion
2/5
Control sounds entirely of its era, a bit late grungey, a bit indie, a bit hard rock with loads of distortion, it all works okay but doesn't really land with me. High 2/Low 3 if I listened a second time, I just don't have reason to, it's really average.
Ween
1/5
I don't know what Chocolate & Cheese is meant to be but it isn't good. When it's merely okay it's highly derivative and when it's bad it's really bad. 1.
Avicii
1/5
Man, Stories is really shallow and poor for such a popular album. It just doesn't land for me, it's paper thin and if you loosely compare it to Daft Punk (popular electronic dance/mainstream crossove) being in the same sort of genre a decade or so apart, they don't remotely deserve to be mentioned in the same breath. Can't Catch Me was a particular low point and I was pretty disappointed to learn Wyclef Jean was on the vocals because it was just so weak and cliched lyrically and musically. Struggling to give this more than a 1/5 because it annoyed me, how is this so popular?
Psyche Origami
2/5
Is Ellipsis is just fine. Early 90s beats but a decade later gives it a retro sound, as does the flow that seems to try to pack as many words and as verbose a vocabulary as possible into each song; that's fine now and then but it gets old pretty quickly, it's done to show off rather than to tell a story or to communicate properly, and it ends up coming off exactly that way. DJ/sampling is the strongest part of this, it's really well done, high 2/5, nothing really good, nothing terrible, just wish it was a more diverse sound across the whole thing, particularly on the mic.
Bon Iver
2/5
Bon Iver, Bon Iver is startlingly dull, maybe I can see why people would find it chill but most of the time this isn't something I'd want to listen to. It's okay background music, it's LOADS better than the other effort of theirs we had on the main list (22, A Million, which was horseshit) and apparently the user submissions list contains more. Fair enough, if bland is your thing, but it's just a low 2/5 to me because it's a whole lot of sleepy nothingness.
Sports Team
2/5
Deep Down Happy is like 00s indie with modern production away from the lo-fi inspiration of 20 years ago. And it's fine but a bit boring. Lander was an interesting opener, Camel Crew was good, the rest was 2/5 stuff from a genre I never enjoyed.
Dead Boys
2/5
Another day, another merely okay album in Young, Loud and Snotty. Seems a bit over-produced for a punk album, loses some edge and it doesn't carry a whole lot of it in the first place. None of it is bad, it's just 2/5 bland.
The Caretaker
2/5
We've had a lot worse and a lot weirder than An empty bliss beyond this world, it's mostly old-timey film score sounds, piano heavy, you expect to see Charlie Chaplin appear any minute etc. Fine, to a point; quirky for sure, but the tell is that everyone who's given it high marks has done so because of the concept and idea rather than what it actually sounds like. Music for and by pretentious people so they can pat themselves on the back. 2/5, inoffensive fluff I won't listen to again.
The Tragically Hip
2/5
I stand by my assertion that The Tragically Hip are REM's blander Canadian cousin and that's not a good thing, though Fully Completely is better than the other Hip album this user submission list offered up. That's only because it finishes strong; Fifty-Mission Cap, Wheat Kings and The Wherewithal are really good, the rest of it is unremarkable. Is it enough to get above 2/5? No.
Ex-Easter Island Head
2/5
Norther is alright background music that only grabbed my attention during the title track and the closing track. Dunno if that says anything about the record or my interest in it, but ambient music doesn't do anything for me other than exist or annoy, this lands in the former category, so that's a win for it I guess. 2/5, but I guess someone adores this?
Godspeed You! Black Emperor
3/5
I enjoyed F♯ A♯ ∞ a lot more than the last GY!BE album we had in April. That one was too far up its own arse, this one is more enjoyable for the most part, though still not really my thing as post-rock is just prog by a different name. It was good music to work to, had enough intensity to overcome some of the weirdness and annoying sounds thrown in for the sake of it, probably earns a 3/5.
The Stooges
2/5
Metallic KO is supposed to be an iconic live album that gave The Stooges something of a breakthrough but it's quite weak as live performances go. The audio quality is appalling and, while there's an energy, it doesn't do their music as much justice as it might. I liked it just about enough for a 2/5 but it was mostly disappointing as good music on record should translate to a live experience that sells that and showcases the personalities in a group or act, and while the latter probably gets there, the former doesn't.
New Model Army
2/5
There isn't much to Thunder and Consolation, it's very average folksy easy listening rock that exists, but definitely isn't worthy of a must-listen moniker. 2.
Bruce Springsteen
4/5
Springsteen live at Hammersmith Odeon '75 is always gonna be up my street, both because the artist is a legend because I grew up literally opposite it and still see it every day, so every time such an iconic venue turns up in things like this I'm biased to trust it was a seminal performance. Whether it was is subjective but this is a really fun live album even if a) it's very long and b) you don't get much of the audience, because the Boss and the E Street Band are just so very good at what they do and this was them at their peak, with enough hits and enough quality in their deep cuts to sustain a two-hour show without it dragging. Born To Run lends itself so well to live outings because it's a full-on assault anyway and it delivers here, then later on we have Jungleland which is, on any given day, my favourite song of all time. I've heard good and bad live versions of it, this is definitely in the good camp. It doesn't get a 5/5 because it's super rare for a live performance to deserve that I think I only gave it to Thin Lizzy on the original list, this is a strong 4 though, how can it not be when you have masters of their craft delivering banger after banger in Hammersmith?
The War On Drugs
3/5
I enjoyed A Deeper Understanding, it's solid and listenable and creates a really immersive atmosphere without ever being really spectacular, it's just steady good music. I particularly liked Pain and Knocked Down, it's a good 3/5 that I suspect might go to 4/5 if I listened often enough, it manages to find a place for those epic bridges/solo sections throughout most tracks that carry the atmosphere through without ever getting too samey or repetitive. Enjoyable.
The Vaccines
2/5
What Did You Expect From The Vaccines? Not a lot, it's an exercise in how to sound entirely like a bunch of acts that came before you and not do much if anything to further the genre or stand out from the many trying it. That means it's generally listenable but super boring and derivative and gets a 2/5. I'll never listen to it again.
Arctic Monkeys
1/5
Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino is really bad, I don't like AM anyway but this isn't even them, it's some self-indulgent shit from Turner wanting to cement his legacy as an iconic performer who transcends genres and instead it's just woefully poor. 1/5.
Ty Segall
2/5
Emotional Mugger didn't do it for me, too weird, too niche in terms of sound, just does very little for me. Candy Sam was good, the rest just 2/5 stuff.
Beyoncé
4/5
Lemonade is certainly interesting because Beyoncé tries a bunch of different things, some of it works really well, some of it less so, and generally I don't like it as much as her stuff that came before this that was just quality mainstream pop. Hold Up is a good early song with a ton of swagger and sets the tone I guess, Sandcastles is a brilliant sensitive ballad that delivers the very best of what her voice can do, Freedom has a massive sound that wouldn't be out of place on some of Jay-Z's finest work and it's impressive that it doesn't need the Kendrick collab to stand out, it's great even before it gets to his part. Formation is good too, the rest of the stuff isn't terrible, it's just a bit too full of filler. The highs are super high, the rest is average, I think it gets a low 4 because of how much I liked the standouts.
TOOL
4/5
I found Lateralus more accessible than the other Tool albums we've had, it caught my attention more and the run from Schism through to the title track in the middle of the record is really good. The drumming is spectacular and those songs create a heightened tension and urgency that eventually pays off in a crescendo of noise but you're then brought back down for the next one. Solid 3/5 as I found the rest a bit bland.
The Posies
2/5
Frosting On The Beater is super beige 90s alt rock, not a lot to really like, not a lot to hate, 2/5, I'll have forgotten about it entirely in two hours.
Turnpike Troubadours
2/5
Diamonds & Gasoline is such a new addition to the submissions list that there are no reviews for it on site :D and I don't mind that it's been added you know, it's modern country, nothing remarkable or that hasn't been done before but has better production and an energy going through it that keep it from falling into the same trap as a load of middling country, where it's just slow and meandering towards nowhere in particular. Reading about it, the band themselves don't seem to like it as a representation of who they wanted to be/became, but this is fine easy listening. High 2/5, doesn't get a 3 because that's when I start to classify something as actually good, this is easy background listening.
The Heads
3/5
No Talking Just Head does a decent job of being weird but listenable, it's horribly 80s despite being from the mid 90s but somehow I don't hate it? I think the collaborative nature works in its favour, it keeps things fresh and interesting, production is good, I liked it enough to give it a 3/5, it's quirky and a little bit cool.
Yellowcard
5/5
I didn't really get into Yellowcard until their farewell tour around 2017; I'd seen them co-headline with Less Than Jake not long before that and then got right into them at a time a) they disappeared and b) when I was much older than their original target audience, yet everyone who listens to them is around my age anyway. They came back and toured Ocean Avenue as a whole album earlier in the year and it was a top show for a top album, albeit one that isn't my favourite Yellowcard record (that honour belongs to Paper Walls). This, however, is top pop-punk early 200s stuff, a load of catchy hooks, just enough emo to get you in the feels, and absolutely spectacular drumming from Longineu Parsons III (Sean absolutely slays on the violin in the big songs too). Way Away opens the album but is one of their best live show closers, full of energy, the title track is an all-timer for singalong shoutiness, Only One similarly, Believe is a nice standalone tribute to 9/11 if that's your lookout but has a broader quality to it that resonates with me (I have a poster of some of the lyrics up in my office in front of me as I type this). Some of the slower/acoustic numbers work well although they're never my favourites (One Year Six Months is a skippable track for me, View from Heaven similarly). Anyway, I listen to tracks off this most weeks and it's as good now as it was then, for everything it's given me and for how much I enjoy it it's an easy 5/5. I'm gonna have a Yellowcard day now.
I did not like People Who Eat People Are The Luckiest People In The World. I can't decide if it's bad or weird or both but it did nothing for me until the zany take-off of Mrs Robinson in People II: The Reckoning, and that was just because it was a familiar tune. I think it's a 1/5 because it's more bad than anything else.
Snarky Puppy
2/5
We Like It Here starts promisingly because Shofukan is all sorts of cool, and What About Me? does an alright job of following it up. Problem is it gets boring quickly after that and never recovers from 2/5ness.
Baroness
2/5
Yellow & Green is really long, or seems really long given it's only 75 minutes, because there are 18 tracks, and while they have an interesting sound, the slow melodic epic nature of their stye makes it a bit of a slog overall. It definitely catches the attention, they do some cool stuff with their compositions and sometimes get to the sound I enjoy most (Eula, Green Theme) but mostly don't, and while it's classified as heavy rock or metal, it's an adjacent version of it to what I really like. It's a close 3 maybe, but not close enough, so 2/5 again.
Floating Points
4/5
I dunno whether it's because I'm listening on a rare chilled Sunday morning or whether it's anything else about the music but I really enjoyed Promises. It's supposed to be a dream-like composition and it certainly takes me on a journey; I tend to think that with ambient music or any sort of wordless composition, if you find yourself checking the track listing to figure out where you are and you're much further through than you expected, that's a good thing, and that happened here. Movement 6 is fantastic, Movement 9 is a startling finish; for something like this you might expect everything to build to a stunning crescendo and awaken from the dream-like state energised and content but it seems to just rip you from it and leave you wondering where you are. Sanders' sax cuts through the orchestral arrangements aggressively but also meshes really well when it needs to, and that give and take makes for a pretty rare experience. I think it's a 4/5, it grabbed me a lot more than I thought it would and I liked it a lot.
2/5
God Things We Lost In The Fire is boring. It's just so drab, doesn't even get bad enough to dislike it. The beigest of 2/5s.
Living Colour
3/5
Time's Up is as cool as you expect Living Colour's stuff to be, it's rocky, it's jazzy, it's funky and it's a good listen. It lacks the punch of some of their best work but stuff like Information Overload is a quality deep cut and there are some cool guest spots too. I gave Vivid a 3/5 on the main list and this is on the same level, just solid good-time music.
Amyl and The Sniffers
3/5
Comfort to Me is a nice and vibrant modern punk album, edgy but fun, flies through at speed, a bit samey throughout but solid enough to get a 3/5. I liked Maggot most, Don't Need a Cunt was good too.
ISIS
4/5
Oceanic is the good stuff, loud, crunching, driving metal to sink into and, in my case, work along to today. The Beginning and the End is a strong opening track, I really liked Carry and Weight; the former explodes into life in the final third after a slow build, while the latter does it more gradually, building heightened anticipation and a sense of urgency through the whole thing and you're on edge the whole time. Really good, 4/5, will listen again.
Times New Viking
1/5
Rip It Off made my head hurt. There's just so much distortion it's hard to make sense of anything else going on. A couple of tracks tried to force their way through to interest me but the production is bad on top of so many bad stylistic choices. It's over mercifully quickly but can't earn more than 1/5 because noise alone isn't good music.
Jason Isbell
2/5
Foxes In The Snow is mostly charming and skilled singer-songwriter stuff from a guy with a wonderful voice and some beautiful guitar work to go along with it. Gravelweed is a great great track, Don't Be Tough follows it with a simple message delivered in a way that's both serious and fun, hard to do that, the rest of the album is a bit average by comparison and means it probably doesn't get a 3/5, but I'll at least check out some more if Gravelweed's quality can be matched elsewhere.
Bran Van 3000
2/5
I've been walking around all morning saying "Hi, my name is Stereo Mike" and that's the best thing about Discosis, a spoken line from a track that isn't even on this album. The album itself is very middling modern disco-funk with some recognisable samples in the opening track but really not that memorable in itself. The title track was decent. 2/5.
Crystal Castles
2/5
Crystal Castles was okay, some interesting and quirky sounds and fairly well put together but nothing that really stood out to me or resonated. 2/5, it's very average for its genre.
Barenaked Ladies
2/5
Gordon is unassumingly charming but almost to a fault; it lacks depth and substance through trying to be all sorts of aw shucks nice. Very easy listening, If I Had $1,000,000 is famous and fun but also really just underlines my thoughts, it's twee and okay but not reaching into the good territory. 2/5.
Duncan Dhu
2/5
Autobiografia is very plain soft Spanish rock, inoffensive but awfully bland, 2/5 because it just doesn't do anything.
Salif Keita
2/5
Moffou is a nice listen, his voice is passionate and soulful, but like a lot of these world music albums the impact is reduced for me by the language barrier and can't earn more than a 2/5.
Faith No More
3/5
I loved The Real Thing by FNM, gave it a 5/5 and listen regularly. Angel Dust isn't as good and is more of a departure from that sound, though it still has its moments, mainly Everything's Ruined, Malpractice and Kindergarten in the middle. The cover of Easy (not on the original release) is a bit corny, not really for me, the rest is a bit average but alright enough for a 3/5 overall.
Yo La Tengo
3/5
I enjoyed I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One on the drive down to football, I think it's one of the better examples of this sort of sound we've had. Goes from mellow to noisy and back again with deft balance, I naturally preferred more of the latter like Little Honda and Sugarcube but Green Arrow was superb from the other perspective. Easy and high 3/5.
Unwound
2/5
I didn't enjoy Repetition too much, it's very samey throughout, doesn't have the quality or nuance of some of the better examples of a genre I don't really care a lot for anyway. Production is weak too, 2/5 just, because I didn't hate it.
Paramore
3/5
I have a weird relationship with Paramore because I like some of their stuff but never really bothered to listen to them properly, even though the whole female-fronted-pop-punk scene makes up quite a bit of my music library. Brand New Eyes doesn't tell me much I didn't already know, it's really good at times (Decode is great and one of their songs I regularly listen to), Ignorance and Brick By Boring Brick similarly, but there's quite a bit of filler where they slow it down and go more ballady and I think that's part of why I never really got into them. 3/5, I've heard better but it's still enjoyable for what it is.
Kashmir
2/5
I had No Balance Palace on while working and didn't notice anything that made me want to check what a track was called at any point. It's solid, it's a decent listen but it's not interesting, it's just fine background 2/5 noise. Fairly well put together though, at no point was I distracted negatively either.
Future Islands
2/5
Singles starts well, very much emerges as bright and vibrant modern synthpop, then it gets dull pretty quickly. Doesn't come close to retaining the same energy as it starts with and finishes flat and disappointing. 2 on balance.
Pink Floyd
3/5
Pulse is a live Pink Floyd album with some of the hits and some stuff I don't care much about. It's a nice live performance but live albums need to be spectacular to be worthy of a place on here and this isn't. Just a 3, even though it lasts fucking ages.
Hamilton Leithauser
3/5
I Had a Dream That You Were Mine is interesting enough for an indie album, gave me vibes of some more mellow Gaslight Anthem stuff at times, Leithauser's voice has some similarities to Brian Fallon's imo. It's quite a calming listen and it does a fair job of bringing together a few styles without it seeming over the top or at the detriment of the music. A characterful 3/5, When The Truth Is... stuck with me, lovely song.
Screeching Weasel
4/5
I really liked My Brain Hurts, absolutely up my street and sounded incredibly like early Less Than Jake without the horns. That makes sense because Screeching Weasel are one of Chris DeMakes' influences and it's incredibly clear that this from 1991 influenced their work not many years later. First half of the album a lot better than the second, which runs out of creativity a bit, but a 4 for sure, gonna listen to this a bit more.
2/5
Some of Oil of Every Pearl's Un-Insides worked for me. Some of it was the worst stuff I've heard in a while; Faceshopping and Not Okay are impossible to listen to. It's Okay To Cry and Is It Cold In The Water are decent. The rest is somewhere in between but mostly sounds like a 7 year old fucking around on the family's ancient Casio keyboard. A very low 2/5, it's so hard to actually process most of it.
Descendents
3/5
Milo Goes To College is a good addition to a historic list because it's a fine example of early and influential hardcore, and it's a fun frenetic listen, but for me it just isn't massively to my tastes and feels dated. Still, 3/5 because it's good and laid the foundations for an awful lot of what came later.
That Handsome Devil
2/5
A City Dressed In Dynamite is weird and at least interesting to listen to at first, but it doesn't last long. It's like Tom Waits, but maybe less annoying because I've not had to sit through like five of his fucking albums. Just about scrapes a 2/5 because I didn't actively hate it, it's just strange.
Powderfinger
2/5
Odyssey Number Five is a bit dull for my tastes, too safe, too soft rock, and the vocals are a bit pitchy and annoying. 2/5, it's just boring. Give me Airbourne if you're giving me some Australian rock.
Built To Spill
3/5
Keep It Like A Secret is good, there are hints of Weezer about them at times I find, and this is well put together and fun to listen to. I liked Sidewalk, Else and Temporarily Blind the most, high 3 or maybe low 4.
The Sound
2/5
From The Lions Mouth is nondescript 80s stuff, vocals could be anyone from about 100 forgettable acts, music is moody and dreary as required by the genre, a forever forgettable 2.
Yoko Ono
1/5
Fly. Absolutely not. It's bad and then there's a 23-minute track that made me think John was probably happy he was murdered and never had to listen to it again. 1 and lucky to have that.
Espers
3/5
II was good, not amazing, but a really interesting listen that was never bad but was pretty atmospheric and it never really came across as if it was intended for something else like a soundtrack like a lot of heavily instrumental stuff can. 3.
Type O Negative
3/5
Bloody Kisses is pretty one-speed chugging metal, not without its charms at times, but a little too plain for my personal tastes. The title track is probably my favourite though there are a couple that have good moments only to be let down by weirdness, like We Hate Everyone - the first half of that is good, the ending is not. Think it gets a 3 because I liked more than I disliked but it's too slow and broody, and not loud enough. Needs to play with the dynamics more and have more edge to properly get me going, this is just okay and generally plodding along.
Earth, Wind & Fire
5/5
Hell yeah, I Am is quality. Funky, soulful, super fun, a few all time hits, can't really ask for more. 5/5 every time, impossible not to have a good time with. We had a different album of theirs on the main list and this is SO much better.
Manchester Orchestra
3/5
A Black Mile To The Surface is decent overall, with one or two really good moments. It's relatively low key for the most part and morose overall, which most of these user submissions have been (EW&F yesterday was a lovely change of pace) but when this lot get it right they really do; The Grocery and The Silence are spectacular listens. It's a 3 overall but I can understand the allure and the potential.
Chuck Berry
4/5
Chuck Berry is always a good listen, St Louis to Liverpool delivers a couple of classics although maybe not his best work and maybe a bit dated by the mid-60s, but I liked it plenty. Low 4, could listen regularly and often have as he's one of my Dad's favourite all-time artists.
Portishead
2/5
Portishead isn't really for me, it's quirky and interesting but ultimately too slow and repetitive to earn more than a 2.
Tosca
2/5
Suzuki is more chilled electronica/house stuff really, it's perfectly fine background material, inoffensive and occasionally good, I just can't understand why it would be anyone's choice above and beyond anything else. 2.
Vampire Weekend
2/5
Only God Was Above Us does absolutely nothing for me. It's very very dull. 2.
Gotcha!
2/5
Gotcha! Gotcha! Gotcha! is very long for what it is, it's occasionally interesting because it has a lot of influences and some of those come through in a good way, but mostly it sounds like a crap Dutch RHCP act. 2.
Bright Eyes
3/5
I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning is on the charming side of twee rather than the boring side. It's a decent listen, engaging for the most part and definitely really well put together, it just doesn't really land for me in style. Doesn't lack substance though, solid 3.
Freestylers
2/5
We Rock Hard doesn't so much rock hard as go on for fucking ages and sound really dated. It's a mix of old school break beats with very dated stylings, some of it is alright but most of it sucks. A low 2.
Brand New
2/5
I didn't get on too well with The Devil And God Are Raging Inside Me because I don't think it knows what it wants to be. It's part emo, part dark and brooding gothic rock, part alt indie, and I don't think it does any of it that well. Archers is a really good song at the end but it doesn't fit with the rest of the record. Welcome to Bangkok is atmospheric and I really liked it but, again, it stands out because it's not like the rest. I didn't dislike any of it but I just found myself struggling to connect with it being all over the place. 2.
Charles Aznavour
3/5
Que c'est triste Venise. Supposedly iconic French crooning. Nothing to dislike, easy to listen to beyond the language barrier, probably deserves a 3 on balance vs so much meh.
Various Artists
4/5
I love musical theatre and The Rocky Horror Picture Show is great, so this was a fun addition to the list. I'd say it's more must watch than must listen but it's definitely worth your time in either regard, it's iconic and wonderfully camp and with some brilliant performers. Were it the entire presentation it'd get a five, but just the music drops to a 4.
Boy Azooga
3/5
1, 2, Kung Fu! is alright by me, not entirely stuff I like but with enough influence from other genres to keep me interested. I don't think it all works, even for such a short album it meanders a bit, but a strong start and finish gets you a fair way. 3.
Depeche Mode
2/5
Depeche Mode just aren't for me and Speak & Spell doesn't change that. My review for Music for the Masses was 'Fuck Depeche Mode. Incredibly monotonous, dull and boring.' and, while I'm not that aggressive in sentiment now, I didn't like it enough to scrape more than a very low 2.
Karnivool
3/5
Sound Awake makes me feel like it's 2000 again, which is funny for a 2009 album. Very nostalgic nu-metal-type sound, some hints of Tool, some hints of Thirty Seconds To Mars and various other bands of that ilk. I liked it enough for a 3/5 and it had decent harmonies but it falls short of very good.
Deafheaven
2/5
I want to like Sunbather because at its best it creates some brilliantly atmospheric sounds, they're not really metal, just metalcore adjacent because of the screamo vocals and basic arrangements, it's chaotic and incredibly noisy but there's just as much stuff in there that doesn't work for me as that which does. At its best it reminds me of a heavier Maybeshewill but it might just be this morning in not quite getting on with it. There's a bit right in the middle of Please Remember that made me want to rip my ears off and that can't be good. It's a 2 but might get a 3 if I listened to it another day because it does grab me here and there.
Boredoms
1/5
I had a headache before listening to Chocolate Synthesizer. Now I want to rip my head off. Fuck off.
Ween
2/5
Quebec is definitely preferable to the other Ween album we had, I hated that. This is weird and bad weird in places but I liked Transdermal Celebration, Hey There Fancypants and Captain as pretty good tracks in isolation, even if I don't get what's going on over the length of the piece. It's definitely more accessible, no more than a 2 but I didn't mind it at all.
Spose
3/5
I think Get Rich Or Die Ryan is pretty interesting without ever being pretty good. It's a double album with the first half being slightly alt-rock with vocals that constantly remind me of Mike Shinoda, and the second half being a bit more rap oriented with some Mac Miller vibes, but in neither instance do those genre names define what's going on. Sometimes it works really well, sometimes it's really quite bad, and there's not too much bland middle ground. World War Blues, Alien and Motherfuckers are decent off the first half, My Own Way, Metal Band, You Don't Get Me High, Better With Time are the standouts on the second half. I don't think I'd listen again, it's very well produced musically but it lasts too long overall, and I think gets a low 3. Definitely worth a listen though because I'm not sure there's very much like it out there.
Madvillain
3/5
I've heard a lot of good things about Madvillainy but it doesn't all really work for me. Like in isolation there are some good and interesting beats, MF DOOM is a gifted lyricist with a captivating voice and good flow, but I feel like the production tries too hard to be different and it doesn't come together as well as it could, or as well as some of the best hip hop albums did. The sampling and styling is distracting, just when I get into a zone of focusing on the story through the music there's umpteen interruptions for skits or excerpts and they just don't work for me, it fragments the experience and it's worse for it all imo. A solid 3, I appreciate some of the skill, but the DJing ruins its potential for me.
Weezer
2/5
So the thing with Weezer is that I don't think they're that good and the weight of a few good things carries most of the rest of their work. I don't think Pinkerton is among their better works or at least it's not to my tastes, I think it's a bit boring and not something I'd have on the list. It's okay, just never exciting or interesting, just a 2.
Stray From The Path
2/5
Only Death Is Real is short and loud, it's alright but really comes across as an unrefined RATM but like three decades later. It sounds good but lyrically lacks nuance and respect, and I can't give the music more than a 2/5 overall really. Reminds me of something that would've got an appearance on Rock Against Bush Vol II or something in 2005 and not been remembered for anything more than that.
Savatage
3/5
Hall Of The Mountain King is mostly an average at best tribute act for Iron Maiden based on style and presentation. I didn't mind it but I just wanted to listen to Maiden instead? A high 2 or a low 3, there are lots better examples of the genre but this was okay.
Nujabes
2/5
Modal Soul started well, Feather, reflection eternal and Luv(sic) are really good, then I found the rest of it just played into the background and I didn't notice or care for it, very bland. Stops it getting a 3.
BABYMETAL
2/5
My God BABYMETAL is an experience. Drop D tuning with JPop girls singing in semi-autotune over the top of it, racing through at incredible bpm, what's not to like? Well, it's a bit of a headfuck because I don't think it works all that well, and once you've got past the novelty laughing at this chaos unfolding in front of you there's not really any substance to it all. You can't even call it a pastiche because it's done seemingly 100% seriously (and I can't be sure this isn't entirely overproduced and micromanaged like so many J&KPop bands, to their personal detriment). Every now and then you get some absolutely brilliant moments; there are parts of Ijime, Dame, Zettai that are really good to listen to, but then you take a step back and realise Dragonforce or whoever did it much better fucking ages ago and this is a bastardisation of it. And it all made my head hurt. 2/5 because it has some superficial value but really just left me confused and with a headache.
Vulfpeck
3/5
Vulfpeck Live at Madison Square Garden is another case of 'hey, cool live album, would've been much better to be there, the experience doesn't quite carry across to album form though'. They're having a whale of a time, it's funky as hell and definitely a nice listen, but if you're putting a live show on record it had better be spectacular to resonate with people who weren't there or who don't know the band. 3/5.
The Sensational Alex Harvey Band
3/5
The first half of Tomorrow Belongs To Me is cool, bluesy, quirky and quite fun, it doesn't last and the back half of the album is weaker without much of the same direction. I think the strength of the first half still gets it a 3 though, it was a good listen.
Alabama 3
2/5
Exile On Coldharbour Lane is boring. Very forgettable 90s mish-mash stuff, doesn't do anything particularly well and never grabbed my interest. 2.
Shihad
3/5
Nice of The General Electric to bring some very late 90s rock stylings to the party this morning. It's certainly not original or groundbreaking, it's straight ahead rock, a few decent riffs and melodies, but it's super generic. Pacifier the best, a low 3 because we've had a ton of crap I didn't want to listen to and this was better than those, even though it was beige as fuck.
Screaming Females
3/5
Rose Mountain is pretty similar to what we had yesterday but a bit more modern; straight down the line hard rock but this time with a punk edge. It's good in places, middling in others, but finishes superbly with Criminal Image where there's some brilliant guitar work. I'll likely listen to this some more, 3/5 for now, good.
Ozzy Osbourne
3/5
Blizzard of Ozz is good but lacks the edge and quality of a proper Sabbath production. Crazy Train shows it could've been more like that stuff, so does Steal Away (The Night), and while we also get Mr Crowley, the rest is a bit watered down for me. Just a 3/5, Ozzy did better work.
Tame Impala
3/5
Currents is pretty good, for a chilled electronica-based album it delivers depth, intrigue and originality, even if it doesn't really land with me all the time. Past Life was a particular favourite, it's an easy 3 and maybe a 4 because it didn't fade into the background like a lot of this stuff does, it commanded and got my interest.
The Who
4/5
I'm not a big fan of The Who but Quadrophenia should've been on the original list as it's better than pretty much everything else of theirs that was. The Real Me and 5:15 are some of their best work ever and, while their overall sound isn't to my ear, the quality of the arrangements, production and styling to produce this musically and thematically is really strong. Pretty much the only album of theirs I'd listen to regularly, 4.
Kenny Wayne Shepherd
3/5
I wouldn't have minded some actual Kenny Wayne Shepherd on the list somewhere as I think his stuff is generally better than lots of the modern country offerings we've been given but 10 Days Out: Blues from the Backroads isn't the best way to bring him to wider attention. The concept is really good, bring a bunch of Blues legends together and do some classics with a bit of modern but stripped back production, and it's certainly nice enough to listen to, but they're not as good as the originals in any instance and it just lacks something that elevates it above a tribute act. 3/5, easy and gentle listen, but KWS is basically a logistics dude here, not the artist, and it's a compilation of merely okay.
Joan As Police Woman
2/5
Real Life is a bit bland for what it is, more female singer-songwriter stuff that doesn't really separate itself from the pack. Occasionally it finds something good, I liked Christobel, evidently that's a popular song based on the listening numbers, but the rest could've been from any generic artist from any time over the last 40 years. 2.
Jack Johnson
3/5
Jack Johnson is basic easy listening and In Between Dreams doesn't do anything special nor does it pretend to, it has a simple 'chill' vibe to it that works but doesn't last after listening. Sitting, Waiting, Wishing is good but it feels hard to pick a single track out of a very samey album that earns a low 3 because it's better than so many 2s.
Modern Life Is War
4/5
Oh Witness is right up my street, it gives me mid 00 vibes of acts like Alexisonfire or Rise Against (maybe vocally more than musically there) or even Anti-Flag with their intensity in places but they're heavier and more screamy, and it really leaps out to my ear in the same ways. Good melodies, heavy gritty riffs, vocals are so-so but they work in the context of the music, I'd happily listen again, 4.
Dream Theater
3/5
I liked Images and Words enough for a solid 3/5, when it's good it's good melodic anthemic prog metal, especially the first two tracks and then Surrounded is excellent, but there's more than a bit of filler and when it gets weird like it does at several points during Metropolis and ballady like Wait For Sleep I'm not so keen. Better than a lot of what we've heard but not enough to say it's as good as some of the other rock/metal stuff we've had.
Ookla The Mok
1/5
Smell No Evil isn't good, it's a bit of a pisstake of an album in several ways and lacks any real musical quality, therefore it gets a 1.
Mustafa
2/5
When Smoke Rises is short but sweet and very sweet if a bit too mellow and one-paced for me. Not my thing but it's not bad. 2/5.
The Notwist
2/5
Neon Golden is low-key chilled mostly electronic stuff masquerading as indie but I don't really get that from it, it's well produced but a bit boring really, not enough to earn more than a 2 as I didn't get much to like from it. Background music at best.
Margot & The Nuclear So And So's
3/5
Not Animal is very Radiohead-styled, for better and worse, because some of it is very listenable while other parts really drag on, but it's more good than bad. Cold, Kind and Lemon Eyes and Hello Vagina were a nice one-two midway through, it's not a remotely origina sound but it's a solid low 3 for decent listening.
Foxing
3/5
Nearer My God is pretty good in places but suffers from a really annoying habit of most of the songs starting really badly, mumbling and meandering going nowhere and then finding an epic crescendo towards the end which really does work well and sound good. I just wish it wasn't a deliberate choice because it makes the album harder to connect with. Slapstick and Heartbeats the best tracks, just gets a 3.
No Doubt
5/5
Tragic Kingdom ought to have been on the original list; firstly it absolutely rocks in all the right ways, plus Gwen Stefani was a pretty massive star of her era and none of that happens without this album. It has huge global hits that still hold up - Don't Speak is played a lot but still doesn't get tiresome, Just A Girl and Sunday Morning similarly, then there's just so many good deeper cuts that are fresh and interesting without feeling like they've been senselessly thrown together. Sixteen is a riot, Happy Now? is a ska fest, and while there's a little bit of filler I think I can forgive it because the whole thing comes together to be a really enjoyable listen. I think it deserves a 5/5 all things being equal; it's really good, it was really influential, and still sounds good 30 years later.
Daft Punk
3/5
TRON: Legacy suffers from the same issue as a lot of soundtracks or scores we've had on the list; it's fine in and of itself but it was made for a more complete experience and we only get part of it here. It turned out to be fine music to work to this morning, it's undeniably atmospheric but also pretty much the same thing for 31 tracks? I wouldn't actively seek it out to listen to nor would I listen again but it's just a solid movie soundtrack that can't get more than a 3/5.
Porcupine Tree
3/5
Fear of a Blank Planet lasted a bit too long but I didn't mind it, a metal type of prog, it's atmospheric and heavy and I like it, but it feels too mechanical and methodical which I know sounds counter-intuitive but it doesn't breathe enough to become unpredicable. Still, 3, I liked listening to it.
Bohren & Der Club Of Gore
2/5
Sunset Mission brings moody, dark jazz to the party. Not really a party though, it's just background music. 2.
Mr. Bungle
1/5
California really does nothing for me, it's largely weird for the sake of weird and the few moments where there's something to it are overwhelmed by several tiers of nonsense. Definitely a 1, Pink Cigarette the highlight, a weird dark crooner that has a melancholy to it that I dig.
Spinvis
2/5
Spinvis is nice and easy listening, Dutch so has a limited impact overall, and some of the production choices weren't my favourite, but it's generally alright. Bagagedrager, Voor Ik Vergeet and Limonadeglazen Vodka all good, probably just misses a 3 because it doesn't do anything for me.
Jon Batiste
2/5
WE ARE didn't move me, it's middling soul/RnB without ever being impactful or memorable, sounds nice because everyone involved can clearly perform to a certain level, it just feels really superficial. Not enough for more than a 2, FREEDOM the best track by a mile.
MF DOOM
3/5
I get I'm supposed to like MFDOOM but MM..FOOD doesn't really do much more for me the second time we've had him on the user list. I preferred it to Madvillainy and the flow is good, but the production isn't really to my preferences, it's a bit too sparse and understated and I don't think really sells his skills properly, but everyone else loves it and him so there we are. Get rid of the skits and this is a tighter effort that's better for the focus, but I just found it 3/5 good at best. If I hold Jay-Z's The Blueprint to be the best hiphop rap album we've had on this whole thing (and it is), this doesn't come close, very little has.
Freddie Gibbs
4/5
Piñata is pretty good and much more my style when it comes to hiphop. Beats are bold and deep without being dominating, Gibbs' flow isn't anything remarkable but he's competent and has a rich tone to his sound that lends to the whole vibe. I didn't really pay attention much to track listings but Deeper, Thuggin' and Lakers were good, a few avoidable skits bring it down but I think a low 4, it's pretty good.
Soul Coughing
1/5
Ruby Vroom isn't a good listen. It was a bit of a mess before Bus to Beezlebub and at that point it went dramatically downhill. 1.
Harry Styles
2/5
Fine Line starts well, Golden and Watermelon Sugar are good tracks, then it loses me a bit. Nothing remotely as good as As it Was from a coupla years later for example means this lacks quality enough to earn more than a 2/5.
Reincidentes
4/5
I really liked Y Ahora Qué?, I dunno if it's because I listen to a lot of Ska-P who are somewhat contemporaries of this lot (and Ya Esta Bien is very similar in structure and sound to at least one song off their Incontrolable album I can't name offhand), but it really hit the spot this morning. They have energy, they have strong musical harmonies but they also have the collective singing harmonies that I enjoy a lot in punk bands (Dropkick Murphys are excellent at it) where everyone singing the big chorus parts or the hooks creates a community and a union that reaches out and includes you; I bet this lot are incredibly fun live. Ay!Dolores! is a top track but my favourite was Hablando Con Mi Cerebro, it has a melancholic feel to it that they sell with strong arrangements and a real emotion behind it. This gets a 4 and a bunch of tracks added to my Liked Songs, happy Sunday.
The Brian Jonestown Massacre
3/5
Take It From The Man isn't half bad, it sounds pretty BritPoppy even though it's an American act. I liked Since I Was Six, Mary Please (really good) and In My Life, which is a swaggering groovy number that just sounds like 1996 everywhere, it's a very solid and respectable 3/5, creates a good strong sound.
Final Fantasy
2/5
Has A Good Home creates a charming enough sound at times, I liked The Chronicles of Sarnia the most, it gets a bit samey but it's pretty interesting if not entirely my thing. Worth a listen, not really worth a second listen, high 2/5.
Various Artists
1/5
I'm not having Katamari Damacy, it's a video game compilation soundtrack and is absolutely only something for a really niche audience. I get that we all want to spread the gospel of our favourite niche music far and wide but this isn't music, it's part of a game or series of games and we're missing the majority of the experience, so otherwise it's a bunch of 8-bit style sounds that aren't as good as some of the best that have ever been done, and some Japanese vocals that are bang average. If you love it you love it but I can't be bothered with this sort of nonsense, 1/5.
Fall Out Boy
2/5
I've never really quite gotten on with Fall Out Boy despite having a lot of interest in very similar genres, I think I just missed being their target audience at their peak. My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark is however my favourite song of theirs by miles, so that being on Save Rock and Roll is a good start, but the rest of it doesn't really hit the mark, I don't really know what the album is meant to be because it's not them, it's not really a fresh sound to hit the pop market in the era they did it, it doesn't really have crossover appeal, it's just a weird vibe throughout and is fairly overproduced. They occasionally get some anthemic choruses or bridges through (less said about the Elton John collab the better though) but it's mostly superficial, I found myself disliking it more than liking it. MSKWYDITD saves it and gets it a 2/5 but not enough to climb to a 3.
Frightened Rabbit
4/5
The Midnight Organ Fight is undeniably really good even if it's not entirely to my taste, the vocals are so impassioned and vulnerable, the compositons are nicely put together and bring a sense of urgency throughout, really pushing that feeling of intensity consuming you, and while it all sounds pretty similar it's in a cohesive way rather than stuff falling into filler territory. I liked The Twist and Poke the most but a good 4 here.
The Tragically Hip
2/5
Once more we get to 'enjoy' Canada's less interesting answer to REM. Up To Here is the Hip's debut effort and it's probably marginally more enjoyable than the other two user-submitted albums of theirs we've had, but not to any discernable level. I enjoyed the first track, and Everytime You Go is decent, but it's another 2/5 and I don't get how they're so big.
Boards of Canada
2/5
Not sure how to feel about Geogaddi, it's inherently not my preferred style of electronica and it doesn't really find a way to interest me, lasts too long and doesn't really mix it up, yet I found myself halfway through it without realising and there was something there that kept me listening and wanting to find that part that did jump up and grab me. It didn't, and weirdly there were parts that reminded me very strongly of some of the sounds on Linkin Park's ReAnimation :D I've not listened to that in what must be at least 15 years so no idea where that popped into my head from, obviously some adjacent approaches but just one of those things. Anyway, just a 2, not so much for me but I and it both tried.
The Groundhogs
3/5
Thank Christ for the Bomb. Middling 70s bluesy jamming that is an easy listen but not particularly remarkable or memorable, it sounds just like dozens of other bands from the era, though it's quite well produced. A low 3.
Michael Hurley
2/5
Ida Con Snock sounds like stock country music from the 70s but it's apparently from 2009? Just pretty dull from my perspective, 2/5, not sure why it'd be someone's favourite album but that's the beauty of choice I guess.
Daft Punk
4/5
Alive 2007 is one of the rare live albums that is really worth listening to, because it's not just a collection of Daft Punk's best songs churned out in a less than satisfying way, but rather a different mix of them for the most part while still staying true to the essence of each track. It's a really good listen, the energy comes across properly even though it's impossible to match the vibes of actually being there, but when it makes you want to be there it's done its job. Easy 4, doesn't get a 5 because it takes something spectacular to get a 5 as a live album (BB King, Thin Lizzy and Motorhead for me off the list so far) but it's pretty close.
Billy Strings
2/5
Highway Prayers is pleasant but unremarkable, it's well put together, a couple of very nice tracks (Stratosphere Blues in particular) but really nothing that hasn't been done before, yet this is 2024 so I'd expect something a bit more interesting? 2/5.
The Church
2/5
The Hypnogogue is a bit too glum and brooding for me, but it's not bad. It is atmospheric and the title track is very good but it's mostly a modern take on a lot of stuff I don't like to listen to, so 2/5 it is.
blink-182
4/5
So like I said before, I never quite got on with blink-182 in the way I probably should've as a pop punk kid, but Enema of the State should've been on the original list because it was one of the biggest albums in a genre that was massive for a fairly long time, and the list completely pretty much shuns everything that defined an era. As an album I like it but don't and never loved it, the singles are loads better than the album tracks, Adam's Song being exceptionally underrated, but it's still a pretty good listen, gets a lot done in 35 minutes and shows plenty of versatility. Gets a 4/5.
Gerry Cinnamon
2/5
Erratic Cinematic sounds like it should be from a few decades ago and that's not really a compliment when it's a 2017 effort. It's just very twee and very dull, and when his accent comes through really strongly on songs like Belter and Diamonds in the Mud it makes things worse for me. The first track, Sometimes, is decent enough but the rest is just meh, 2/5.
Kayo Dot
1/5
I don't know what Choirs Of The Eye is but I know I didn't like it. It just doesn't land with me and is very weird in places, I tend to find experimental albums like this that try to touch several genres end up doing none of them well, and this absolutely fits the bill. 1/5, mostly dislikeable.
The Weakerthans
3/5
Reconstruction Site sounds like a lot of 2000s indie rock, which again wasn't my favourite stuff, but it has its moments. It's rarely bad or annoying, it's lyrically interesting, and there are a couple of very good tracks of which Psalm for the Elks Lodge Last Call was my favourite. Probably scrapes a low 3 because all the 2s we've had were various shades of boring or crap and this was neither.
Queens of the Stone Age
3/5
So I never got into QOTSA because the stuff I heard off Songs For The Deaf weren't really to my tastes even though they ostensibly should've been at face value, and listening back through the whole album now I'm more confident they're not for me. It's weird, because there are elements throughout that are okay but it's a mix of a little bit too grungy, a bit too proggy, a a bit too indie-influenced as a lot of 'rock' from the 00s tended to be, none of it egregious or dominant over the course of the record but the cumulative effect is that I just don't really enjoy it even if I recognise that it's good and occasionally appealing to my ear. Josh Homme's vocals annoy me though, especially in the upper register, and I'm also annoyed by the interludes/skits that I've marked down many a rap album for having as a waste of time and there are a few in here too. I think it gets a 3 because it's never bad and occasionallly good but this is more alt/stoner than heavy rock and that pretty much explains it for me.
of Montreal
3/5
nope, Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer? just isn't for me, much like any indie pop really, it's not anything close to my stylistic preferences and any glam influences from the 70s it clearly has just aren't close enough to work for me. It's quirky and odd and lyrically very different but this is for lots of people who aren't me, low 3 on the same basis as I've done before, it's clearly skilled and I can appreciate pretty much every part of it except how it sounds to my ears.
Vangelis
3/5
Another soundtrack, yay. I'm sure aficionados of Blade Runner absolutely adore this but it's just another decent to good soundtrack to me, doesn't have the same meaning or reverence, it's really nice in places but just a score in others. 3, whatever.
Paul McCartney
3/5
Ram takes a while to get going, it's pretty meh early on but it has something to it later on, even if as a body of work it's more a tribute act to better versions of what they're trying to do than something quality and original. Smile Away is nice and bluesy but won't ever be mistaken for good blues, and Monkberry Moon Delight is similar, quirky and weird and a bit vaudevillian but almost a bit of a pastiche of it than anything else. I think it merits a low 3 because it has an annoyingly catchy quality.
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard
3/5
I didn't like Polygondwanaland as much as the last King Gizzard offering but it was still solid and decent enough for prog as far as I'm concerned. I said last time that this lot can certainly play, and they for sure can, 3/5.
65daysofstatic
2/5
One For All Time doesn't do much for me in the instrumental space, it's largely okay and Await Rescue was pretty good but post rock isn't for me anyway and various takes on it similarly so. 2/5.
Glass Animals
2/5
How To Be A Human Being is music that goes nowhere and does nothing of note. It just blended into the background, I'm sure it interests someone, but it bored me. 2.
Procol Harum
2/5
A Salty Dog brings perfectly fine if perfectly bland 60s easy listening 'rock' to the party, it's a bit aimless but decent enough and the whole thing is over quickly, has some nice harmonies in places like The Devil Came From Kansas, I liked The Milk of Human Kindness. Higher 2/5.
Vince Guaraldi Trio
5/5
A Charlie Brown Christmas gets 5/5 because it's lovely Christmas/festive/seasonal songs in jazz form, a background soundtrack to wonderful times.
Tom Petty
3/5
Wildflowers is a nice album but not close to Tom Petty's best work. It starts and ends well; title track and You Don't Know How It Feels then Crawling Back To You are the best tracks and no surprise that they're the most listened to, they have a feeling and a style that rises above the very middling middle of the record, it's paint by numbers Americana that I'd happily listen to without issue but also without interest, it's just there. 3/5, a relaxed listen, but a long way from his and the Heartbreakers' peaks.
August is Falling
2/5
The Simple Plan EP, 14 minutes of generic emo pop. There's apparently a convoluted backstory as to why this was created in the first place, let alone submitted to this list, but hey, it's bang average and didn't waste my time, 2/5.
BABYMETAL
1/5
One BABYMETAL album was interesting to anyone who hadn't heard it, but METAL FORTH was only released in August ffs :D I don't need this as well, like I said about the other one, it's apparently a serious effort at music that comes across as a pisstake and it all makes my head hurt (and I enjoy metal, this isn't metal though), this time with the added bonus that someone's trolling the list for sure. 1/5.
Porcupine Tree
2/5
I didn't think Stupid Dream was as good as Fear of a Blank Planet, still interesting if not so much my thing but had its moments. The other one got a 3 so this gets a 2.
Switchfoot
2/5
The Beautiful Letdown certainly sounds like 2003, it's that sort of stuff that would come onto the music channels around that time as filler, that I wouldn't care about because it's pretty beige and entirely formulaic. There's nothing to dislike about it, it's probably what AI would produce in this here 2025 era if prompted to make an alt-rock album from 20 years ago. 2/5.
Zamilska
2/5
I liked some of Zamilska, it's dark and heavy but ultimately really repetitive and boring as a result. 2.
Primus
2/5
I know Primus by name and only a little bit by music because Les Claypool is pretty talented, but Sailing The Seas Of Cheese doesn't do much for me, it's that alt 90s stoner rock stuff that was always a bit out of my view and I never really liked when it came in. 2/5, not a lot on here to enjoy properly but Is It Luck? was alright.
Koritni
3/5
Game Of Fools appeals to me as straight down the line hard rock. Not original, not innovative but loud, simple, good time rock. 3/5 with Roll The Dice, Nobody's Home and Tornado Dreaming II the standouts. I prefer Airbourne massively if I'm doing modern era hard Aussie rock but this lot seem good enough.
Lift To Experience
3/5
The Texas-Jerusalem Crossroads lasts far longer than necessary but it's a decent mix of dream-like yet loud, massive sounds with a pained vocal that makes me want to pay attention. It's messy in places and the fact it's so long really underlines that but it's got something to it, scrapes a 3/5.
John Coltrane
4/5
John Coltrane And Johnny Hartman give us a super smooth half hour of Sunday morning jazz, an infinitely relaxing listen, not the most spectacular of efforts technically but it's very accessible, Hartman's beautiful baritone working seamlessly with Coltrane's eternal quality. Dedicated To You was my favourite track, it's a little bit too samey and slow throughout and a little unambitious to earn top marks from me, but a very good 4/5 still.
Beyoncé
3/5
Renaissance is equal parts interesting and disappointing, because it's a really ambitious and different effort for her, but a direction I don't really like that much and don't think comes close to her best work. Think it lands somewhere in the middle at a 3 because there's a high floor of quality, the production is good, it's very listenable but I prefer so much of her other work that little of it really stands out, and quite a bit of it sounds very samey.
Bon Iver
3/5
For Emma, Forever Ago is probably the best of the Bon Iver efforts we've had but the bar was low tbf. It's nice mellow stuff, stripped back melodies that appear simple but actually aren't, decent vocals for the style, 3/5 stuff. Good, just not very good to my preferences.
Extremoduro
1/5
I started listing to this and got 7 songs in before I realised it's 3hrs 38mins and 44 tracks long, fuck off.
ROSALÍA
3/5
Lux has something about it even through the language barriers (14 languages :D ); the full orchestral performance is impressive and creates a compelling sound that is both huge and intimate at the same time, and she has an outstanding voice, it's just not always used properly. It's a bit too weird in places for me overall but it's very dramatic and kept me interested, gets a 3/5 on that basis.
STARSET
2/5
Transmissions sounds like it should be from 2000 rather than 2014 but has its moments, it has the polished melancholic alt-rock stylings of some big 00s acts but it comes across more derivative than furthering that genre, and really feels dated, but I liked it in places because I liked that scene. My Demons was my favourite track and evidently it's their most popular off here. 2/5.
Roy Harper
2/5
Stormcock is a bit twee, too folksy and whimsical for me and doesn't really feel like it's a 50-year old album worth listening to, though I guess it has meaning to some people. If each track was shorter it'd be more imnpressive but it gets boring because there is too much of a good thing, so when it hits the right notes, it really doubles down and drags it out far too much. Last track is nice. 2/5.
"Weird Al" Yankovic
3/5
"Weird Al" Yankovic definitely belonged on the original list somewhere because his work is iconic and probably launched the idea of parody music properly into the zeitgeist, so this debut album is recognition of his place in music history. The thing is, as fun as he can be, the parodies are the only thing worth listening to, so this is very hit and miss as half of it is original music that doesn't really do much than act as filler. The parodies are fun and well-known, it's a very quick and light listen, gets a simple 3/5.
Robyn
4/5
Body Talk is really, really good at its best, maybe a bit long as the result of a merging of two EPs, but more good than not. It leans a bit too far towards the electro-pop style for my tastes and sometimes it's overly so, but when it works well it really goes hard, Dancing on My Own, U Should Know Better, Get Myself Together are great, there's a solid middle ground, and maybe 25% filler that I didn't care much for. A solid 3/5 floor that I think gets up to a 4 on the merits of the best bits. Clean, interesting, fun, and holds up pretty well 15 years later.
Black Devil Disco Club
3/5
Black Devil Disco Club is a decent half-hour of quirky electro-disco, seems a LOT more modern than late 70s, has a bounce and energy and freshness to it, solid 3/5 because it kinda just loops and is the foundation for something else rather than being outstanding in its own right, but good nevertheless.
Matthew Good Band
2/5
Beautiful Midnight is pretty mediocre radio rock, middle of the road late 90s stuff. It's not bad, it's just terribly bland, 2/5.
Imogen Heap
3/5
Speak for Yourself does quite a lot and often quite well for what to the uninformed me seemed like another female solo singer-songwriter effort. It finds a delicate beauty in the first two tracks and then Hide and Seek, but the autotune styling really grates for me so that's a mark down, it gets heavy and rocky on Daylight Robbery which I obv liked a lot, it got a Jeff Beck cameo on that second track, and then ofc it does that dreamy pop stuff you'd expect on songs like Just for Now. I think it's more an interesting album than a very good one but it is solid 3/5 good that had some cool moments.
Jaco Pastorius
2/5
Jaco Pastorius. Weird, whimsical, folksy jazz-adjacent, not my thing, 2/5.
Crass
2/5
The Feeding of the 5000 is raw and not the best punk we've had by a long shot. Average would be pushing it too far, 2/5.
Nightwish
3/5
I like Once, symphonic metal is a genre I dip in and out of a coupla times a year and I know Nightwish well enough to know what this was gonna be, and like I said, Tarja has an incredibly voice. The thing with the genre though is that unless you mix it up a fair bit and get extra-experimental, it can all sound very samey, and while I'm a big fan of Within Temptation within the same genre (who do this stuff much better imo), it affects them too. That said, it's a big epic sound, even if it's prosaic in places it sounds good (Creek Mary's Blood for example), and yeah there's a massive Eurovision-esque styling to it when it gets into its pomp, but I like it. High 3.
Bruce Hornsby
2/5
Harbor Lights is incredibly cheesy 90s jazz-pop that isn't done well at all. A low and generous 2.
Queen
4/5
The list should generally have had a bit more Queen but A Day At The Races is a little hit and miss for me, though like Status Quo it's often hard to find a single album to refer back to when their prolific body of work speaks loudest. Tie Your Mother Down is my favourite Queen song period and Somebody To Love is fantastic, GOFLB not far behind, but some of the Queen ballads don't really speak to me as much. I'll still take this over a lot of other music, low 4.
Enter Shikari
2/5
Take to the Skies is certainly of its time because Enter Shikari were pretty prominent in the late 00s even though I never got into them, which seems weird because I love a bit of angry screaming, but really that's all this is, and I don't think it's aged that well. There are some good moments, I like No Ssweat and Today Won't Go Down In History, and there is a likeable balance of melodies vs thrash and the vocals work well with the music, but it seems terribly unrefined compared to stuff that came before and after it and I'd not choose to listen to it now. Don't think it gets above a high 2/5, it seems...juvenile.
Cat System Corp.
1/5
News at 11 isn't music, it's a weird attempt to make it seem like 9/11 didn't happen and uses news broadcast snippets with 90s soft-core jazz interludes to create an atmosphere that is nostalgic but gets boring after literally about 30 seconds. It's dated by design but just really not a good listen, whatever the merits of the concept. 1/5, go away.
The Housemartins
3/5
London 0 Hull 4 is pretty enjoyable, solid to good lilty and bouncy sounds with clever lyrics and stories. Bass slaps throughout too, it lacks some punch to my tastes but an easy 3 that might get to a 4, it's really well put together.
Pop Will Eat Itself
2/5
This Is the Day...This Is the Hour...This Is This! didn't work for me, felt very dated and very much something from the 'you had to be there' books. Wise Up! Sucker was enjoyable but it was mostly awkward to listen to, 2/5.
Ryan Adams
3/5
Love Is Hell is the best Ryan Adams album we've had, this is the third one and the only one not on the main list, which is interesting. It's just a lot more refined, better songwriting and composition, not quite as bland although it's still pretty much that sort of stock stuff from him, there's a decent cover of Wonderwall, I liked World War 24, this is a solid 3.
Everything Everything
2/5
Get To Heaven doesn't really work for me, it's too indie-pop for my preferences and the singer's voice is way too high way too often and irritates me. It does a good job of taking dark and depressing themes and putting them into upbeat music and I can respect the intention but I just don't like this style, 2/5 because the vocals were really not good.
Aesop Rock
3/5
The Impossible Kid is decent, really strong flow over some solid downbeat beats, has a heavy introspective feel which I like, although his vocabulary seems unnecessarily forced like he's trying too hard at times. Still, a better rap/hiphop album than a lot we've had, I doubt I'll listen again but a respecful high 3.
Johnny Winter
3/5
John Dawson Winter III delivers good old blues rock straight down the line and I am here for it. No frills, not really original, but hella fun and a really enjoyable listen. 3/5, no more, no less, if any of the tracks came on rotation I would be plenty happy.
Quicksand
3/5
Slip is decent 90s heavy grungey alt-rock, a poor immitation of some of the better acts of the era but perfectly listenable nonetheless. 3.
Wilco
3/5
A.M. is fine, just really plain middle of the road radio country rock. When we had one of their efforts on the main list I said "It's nice and well put together but a little sleepy for my tastes", same now, 3 again.
Lady Gaga
3/5
Artpop is Lady Gaga taking all the fun out of her best-known music and trying something else because she can. Fair enough, I just don't like it as much as Born This Way. It's still solid and impressive in places, the EDM works better at times than others, like Swine is an absolute banger, but overall this is a 3/5 because the style and direction is very different and not as good as her best stuff.
Magdalena Bay
3/5
I quite liked Imaginal Disk in places even if it shouldn't be a submission so soon, it's better dream pop than a lot of what we've had and it worked for me today. Watching TV my favourite song, 3/5.
Low
2/5
HEY WHAT isn't for me, it's all a bit dull and weird, which I know is the intent, I don't like the distortion elements, 2/5, just not my tastes.
Self Esteem
3/5
I liked A Complication Woman far more than I expected, and yeah it's too recent to be on here, but I didn't know anything about her and came away pretty interested. It's good pop with enough throwback hooks and stylings to the late 90s/early 00s to grab the nostalgia side of me, it's executed well, there's a little bit too much of her spoken word stuff mixed into songs that takes the edge of the impact it has at first, but largely more good than bad overall. I Do And I Don't Care, Mother and If Not Now It's Soon are really good, high 3/5 and if her other work is better than this I'm gonna check it out.
NOFX
4/5
I first listened to The Decline at least 20 years ago so it's a favourite and solid inclusion to get NOFX in there, who part defined a generation of punk rock otherwise ignored by this list. Easy 4/5, sod the fact it's an EP or a single track, it's a great song and it's a still extremely valid political commentary.
Turnstile
3/5
GLOW ON is a solid 3/5 rock sound, never annoying, rarely reaches more interesting heights and doesn't break out into something that really grabs me, but a high floor half-hour of grinding hardcore.
Carly Rae Jepsen
3/5
Emotion has one absolute bop and the rest is fairly generic pop. Probably gets a 3 but we've had better modern pop efforts for sure.
Chico Science
2/5
Afrociberdelia started with a bit of interest, rap/rock but make it Brasilian, but after about 3 tracks it got very boring and very generic. 2.
Bo Burnham
1/5
Comedy music only really works if you like the comedian and Bo Burnham doesn't do it for me so Inside was always going to struggle. Musically it's obviously nothing worth commenting on, that's not the point, so does the content actually provide value or is it just a self-indulgent pandemic exercise that jumps on easy socialal tropes and tries to capitalise on an opportunity? It's not funny and it's not skilled musically so it gets a 1/5 because it misses both key marks. Sing about white privilege more, go on.
Gorillaz
3/5
Demon Days has some real high highs and a pretty decent floor, much of it doesn't really grab me in the way the best singles do, and it goes on a bit too long, but it's inventive and creative and an easy 3/5 that I might get to 4 on.
The Sundays
2/5
Reading Writing And Arithmetic is fine, couple of good singles, bit plain but Here's Where The Story Ends is nostalgic quality. 2/5, not enough substance for me.
The Ike Reilly Assassination
2/5
I thought Sparkle In The Finish started well but meandered quickly and lacked substance the longer it went on, which was too long. 2/5 but not bad, just a bit boring.
Bruce Cockburn
2/5
Dancing In The Dragon's Jaws sounds a lot more 90s than late 70s and creates a nice chilled vibe but it's realy just a bit bland for an upbeat crooner. 2/5 but an easy listening charm.
Mac Miller
3/5
Circles is a pretty deep listen and I suspect not one that I will immediately appreciate as much as it deserves, both because I lack quite a bit of context on Mac Miller beyond what everyone generally knows, but also because the content is really deftly and delicately put together in ways that don't immediately reveal themselves. I think it's an easy 3 and probably a 4 with reflection, there's a lot of heart and soul on here both because of and in reaction to his premature demise, which is really quite sad. Everybody is a great track.
WHY?
2/5
Someone in the reviews said Alopecia is like a moody They Might Be Giants, which is a good take. It's skilled but just not very enjoyable and really has one sound all the way through, 2.
Nic Jones
3/5
Penguin Eggs is definitely twee but I liked it for what it was, pretty calm, soothing and delicate compositions with skilled guitar work and rich vocals that sell the stories. It does fade as it goes along and it sure isn't spectacular, but The Humpback Whale is beautifully done and it's one of the better folk albums we've had to my ear. 3/5.
Ornatos Violeta
2/5
O Monstro Precisa De Amigos starts with promise, Chaga was right up my street, but it falls off quickly. Some decent emotion behind it, some of the song constructions are like a lo-fi Muse/Radiohead in places but it missed more than hit for me. High 2.
Comus
1/5
It might be because of an interminably long waiting game on the labour ward but First Utterance was crap. 1.
Massive Attack
4/5
Mezzanine is really good, should've been on the original list for sure. A few well known tracks that absolutely set the tone of the album and it carries through the rest of them. Definite 4/5, falls short of 5 for me because of the overall weight of quality we've had on selections that I gave it to by comparison.
The Civil Wars
2/5
Barton Hollow is nice and easy stripped back folk, inoffensive to good, nothing really lasting for me though. 2, it's just fine.
Mansun
2/5
Six just seemed really generic to me. Tries a few things but none of them hit the mark, a disappointing 2.
Deltron 3030
3/5
I liked Deltron 3030 more than some of our hip hop albums, it was pretty interesting in terms of storytelling, really good production, some things that are common from the genre at the time but executed better than most. Would listen again, 3/5 easy.
King Crimson
2/5
I found Discipline to be the dullest King Crimson album we've had; the others had some decent highs sprinkled in all the crap proggy shit, this one was just boring. 2/5 and a low 2 at that.
Mansun
2/5
Attack of the Grey Lantern was better than the other Mansun album and the first half a dozen tracks were pretty good, overall still fairly underwhelming but good enough for a higher 2/5 than the other.
Warren Zevon
4/5
I have Lawyers Guns and Money and Werewolves of London on regular rotation, LGM so much so that I'll probably sing the chorus lines to myself once a day, so Excitable Boy was always going to be a good listen for me. It's a really underrated record with a couple of cult classics but also some solid depth in Accidentally Like a Martyr and Tenderness on the Block. Probably warranted a place on the main list but a 4/5 for a well-considered user contribution.
The Hold Steady
3/5
I liked the other Hold Steady album more than Separation Sunday but I really liked that tbf, this was still pretty good. Spoken word delivery style for the most part didn't work as well for me as it did before but this had a lot of punch and a lot of feeling, great tracks in Banging Camp and Multitude of Casualties, a high 3 this time as BAGIA got 4.
Paco de Lucía
3/5
Almoraima shows off some incredibly skilful guitar work and gives an insight into flamenco that we've just not had anywhere in the list so far. Not entirely my thing but it's a spectacular listen in and of itself and it doesn't outstay its welcome, it's done quickly and with so little waste. Easy 3 on respect.
Dolly Parton
3/5
We've had some quality Dolly albums but The Grass Is Blue is just okay more modern country/bluegrass stuff that she elevates with her professionalism and emotion. Easy 3/5, not especially memorable in her exhaustive catalogue but good enough anyway.
Sea Power
2/5
The Decline of British Sea Power is just really dull isn't it? A fine example of the blandest indie crap some Uni bands turned out in the early 00s. 2/5 because it's so inoffensively beige I can't even say it's crap.
Jawbreaker
3/5
Dear You was pretty good, took a while to get going but by the excellent Accident Prone I was right into the melodic slightly dark punk rock, the overdrive creating this atmospheric feel that gives the whole record that pathos the lyrics are searching for. It's maybe a little bit too post-rock for my overall preferences but it was really good in and of itself, shoutout Oyster and Bad Scene, Everyone's Fault. High 3, maybe a 4 if it grew on me.
Shpongle
1/5
Are You Shpongled? I'm bored by this, it does nothing well, and is somewhat like being on hold on the phone. No thanks, 1.
Digable Planets
3/5
Reachin' is pretty chill and very cool, progressive lyrics in a hip-hop and jazz fusion style that is both very 90s and yet still seems quite fresh. A little one-speed and low key for my own tastes, I struggle with hip hop that isn't grittier and a little more aggressive but it's an easy 3 for what it is.
Clutch
3/5
Psychic Warfare doesn't fuck around, just gets to the point of straight-line hard rock, relatively few frills though some decent efforts to mix it up and pronounce the Southern element to it. Our Lady of Electric Light is a cool bluesy ballad in that vein but otherwise it's pretty loud and in your face, not outstanding but an easy 3 for radio-like listenability.
Slapstick
3/5
I liked Slapstick for what it was and defo good to have more ska punk on the list. It's a little more ska than pop punk which skews slightly off my preferences but lots of it was good and he ska elements, while a little prosaic perhaps, still hit the spot. Solid 3/5, better examples from the genre, but a good time was had nonetheless.
Martha
4/5
Please Don't Take Me Back was good, I couldn't quite tell whether it was pop punk or indie or rock or everything in between but it didn't really matter because it was fun, though I didn't strike an immediate attachment to anything except preferring the songs with the girl on vocals like Irreversible Motion and the closing track, which was my favourite. Beat, Perpetual to open up was pretty good, full-on pop punk vocally yet with a very indie Gaslight Anthem style riff, I think this probably gets a low 4 from me with an interest to follow up on and listen to more of their stuff.
Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine
3/5
30 Something is a wild old ride, like a punk show mixed with musical theatre dramatism at times, and it works generally quite well. I really liked Shopper's Paradise and Bloodsport for All, the rest of it was solid to good and rarely left me disappointed. Overall it's not something I'm massively a fan of but I I liked it enough for a solid and fun high 3.
Charly García
2/5
Piano Bar is a lot of 80s I don't really care for but it's tightly executed and does a decent job of engaging despite the language barrier and my general dislike of so much new wave stylings. High 2.
Lizzy McAlpine
2/5
Older is really too slow and meh for me, the compositions are charming but her matter of fact lyrical style lacks substance very quickly and the whole thing is a bit too sleepy. 2.
2/5
Joy as an Act of Resistance is too indie for me and so while I like dark and angry, it just doesn't find its way into the sort of stuff I want to listen to. It kind of wants to be punk and hints at it here and there, like Love Song which is really good, and punk isn't really defined by one style or era so a more modern take on the sound and the themes is very warranted, I dunno, it just didn't resonate enough with me to get more than a 2/5. Maybe the whole thing comes across a bit insincere?
Mac DeMarco
2/5
I listened to 2 while doing some other stuff and at no point did I notice anything about it until Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now came on, to which I wondered if it was a cover, but no, the album had finished and Spotify took me to a different song. That sums it up really. 2 by name, 2 by score.
Yello
2/5
Stella is very 80s and very novelty, I didn't realise Oh Yeah was theirs so when it came on it was a surprise. It's interesting if nothing else, it gets quite dark in places (Sometimes is quite good), but overall it's merely an okay 2/5 but at least it offers a different take on 80s eletrocsynth.
Amália Rodrigues
2/5
The art of Amalia Rodrigues certainly sounds artful, a lovely voice and some nice compositions, a greatest hits doesn't really sit well with me being on the submissions but a high 2/5, the quality is there but there's no connection.
Gorky's Zygotic Mynci
2/5
Barafundle is harmless, twee easy folsky stuff with a more modern influence, didn't really work for me overall though I liked Patio Song. Probably right around the high 2/low 3 threshold.
Blackalicious
3/5
Nia is decent chilled hip hop, a bit too plain/lacking an edge for my tastes but a solid and respectable 3.
The Hotelier
4/5
Home, Like Noplace Is There surprised me, I guess I expected something indie but I got something closer to emo-punk for the most part, and a sound that reminded me of some of The Menzingers/Real Friends in the pained vocals that sell the mood and themes excellently. It's maybe not as intense as those acts throughout, but when it gets there it gets there really well, Your Deep Rest was my favourite track but the whole thing worked well enough for a 4/5, a nice find.
Gary Clark Jr.
4/5
fuck yeah This Land was cool, electric blues done well for the modern era, leaning on the established blues principles but bringing some soul, some funk, some rock, all comes together into something very enjoyable indeed. I Got My Eyes On You slapped hard, a good 4/5 this, goes hard.
Getatchew Mekurya
3/5
Moa Anbessa is a wild ride, when I read Ethiopian jazz meets Dutch post-punk my eyes certainly widened, but it's pretty fun if you take it for what it is and enjoy the raucous upbeat sax, a strong supporting band of musicians (the bass and the drumming give it serious momentum throughout), and yeah, it's just a very cool meeting of worlds and not something I ever knew existed. High 3/low 4 maybe just because it had energy and verve, not enough for me to really care a lot for, but good in the moment.
Less Than Jake
5/5
Hello Rockview is my submission and, while I'd struggle to define a single album as my favourite of all time, this is up there for a bunch of reasons. It's the main reason I'm a punk rock/ska punk fan, Less Than Jake were my gateway drug into the genre and it's their sound that defines my tastes among other bands. It's also just an extremely fun listen and that it comes onto my list on the sunniest and warmest day of 2026 so far is apt, because it never fails to make me think of good weather, good vibes and good energy. It's that energy that really drove me to submit it (also because ska punk as a genre is underrepresented in the project and LTJ are as good as anyone imo) because I've seen them live 20+ times and my life is always richer for having seen them, they put on a great show, their songs sound just as good live as on record, and I have just the best memories of seeing them on stage for more than 20 years now, and that's what life is about.
All My Best Friends Are Metalheads was the first ever LTJ song I heard and it bangs hard, it's a great track wherever you hear it or wherever they slot it in a live show. Nervous In The Alley always has me bouncing around like a goon and Buddy's trombone intro is iconic, History of a Boring Town is anthemic and a top five LTJ song of all time (also underrated in acoustic versions), Great American Sharpshooter is one that their live shows made me enjoy more than the recorded version, and Al's War is my favourite deep cut of their records. I could happily listen to anything and everything off this every day without growing tired, it's a 5/5 every time, they're great guys making great music and have sustained that for more than three decades, long live Less Than Jake.
Pearl Jam
3/5
Pearl Jam were never really my thing, but I did like Ten and gave it 4/5 when we had it. Vs isn't as good but has its moments, I really liked Rearviewmirror, that song goes fucking hard, but otherwise it's a little bit samey and grungey for my preferences, like the bass work is stellar but too dominant imo, a good albu, but not a very good one, higher 3/5.
Swans
1/5
To Be Kind. Absolutely fucking not. 1.
Songs: Ohia
3/5
Magnolia Electric Co. is a nice listen, fairly stripped back but not without nuance, delivers some calming melodies and vocals and plenty of emotion even if there's not a lot of difference in tone or tempo throughout. 3/5, I liked The Old Black Hen most.
The Mountain Goats
2/5
The Sunset Tree is a bit twee and middly, boring me as it went on. 2.
Lady Gaga
4/5
The Fame really did define a new era of pop and deservedly so, at its best it's so good and has produced a number of timeless songs. I think it runs out of steam a little bit in the second half but the highs are so high to start with that it's an easy 4/5 and deserved to be on the initial list.
Metric
3/5
Fantasies was pretty good, came out of the traps with some interest and style, didn't really hold my attention the longer it went on but a solid 3. Sick Muse probably added to the regular rotation, great track.
Zach Bryan
2/5
I found Zach Bryan pretty dull and not at all the sort of country I enjoy, it was too stripped back, too samey track to track, and largely underwhelming for something apparently so popular. 2.
Prolapse
2/5
I didn't get much from The Italian Flag even though deep down somewhere I think I've listened to Prolapse before. As memorable now as it was then, if I was right, 2/5.
Pescado Rabioso
2/5
Artaud. Plain, unremarkable proggy grooves. Ni fu ni fa. 2.
311
2/5
Music sounds really dated and bland, not a lick on any of the better bands in the genre, scraped a 2 because it's not offensively bad.
MGMT
2/5
Loss Of Life isn't as good as the other MGMT album and early on it sounds like an inferior copy of the Pet Shop Boys, before for some reason they decide to try ballads towards the second half. 2/5, pretty poor effort.
The Beautiful South
2/5
Welcome To The Beautiful South was pretty boring to me, it's an endearing listen but really quite plain and not them at their best at all. Completely harmless and inoffensive radio pop, only Oh Blackpool lifted me from a slumber, 2/5, they've done better.
Danny Brown
2/5
Danny Brown has an annoying voice so Atrocity Exhibition didn't work for me, I don't like rap that sounds comical or farcical and most of this is exactly that. I can recognise the talent and creativity, Ain't It Funny captures the attention, but really just not for me. 2/5 as it's more annoying than respectable.
Rodríguez
3/5
Cold Fact is pretty charming bluesy crooning, little original but it's very well put together in half an hour with good songwriting and easy blues grooves that make for tunes that leave you happily foot-tapping away. The little run from Forget It to I Wonder is particularly addictive, a nice morning 3/5 listen. Sometimes you just want music that makes you feel good.
Malibu
3/5
One Life is very chill ambient music, among the better of the genre's contributions we've had on here. Very dreamy, very soothing, Lost At Sea in particular is really good; ultimately it's a half-hour EP and only a high 3 because it's background music rather than something I properly enjoy time after time but it was a nice start to my day.
Pulp
2/5
I didn't get much our of His 'n' Hers, it was a lot more art pop than Britpop to me and their best work a) came after this and b) has already been represented on the list. Was mostly a boring 2/5.
David Allan Coe
3/5
Once Upon a Rhyme brings us simply good time country. Probably leans better than a lot of country we've had, his voice and the backing singers work terrifically together, there's a nice melancholic energy to it, solid 3.
Mastodon
4/5
Crack The Skye was really good for me, I had Divinations in my liked songs for ages and dipped in and out of Mastodon a little but never in enough depth. It's definitely as much heavy rock as metal but also uses prog principles just well enough to not become annoying and also doesn't veer into sludge territory like a lot of acts in this genre can. Of the two long tracks The Last Baron is a really well-constructed story to close the album, the title track is strong too, it's a hard rocking album that isn't too intense, well produced, easy 4.
Broken Social Scene
2/5
Broken Social Scene starts out alright, the first three tracks do a decent job of bringing a bit of overdrive fuzz to the indie sound and creating a slightly overwhelming noise experience in a good way (Ibi Dreams of Pavement is top), but then it's almost like they become a different band a coupla songs later and decide they're going to fuck around being jacks of all trades and mastering nothing, the album doesn't need to last an hour, it doesn't need to be this incoherent, and it's really not good enough to get more than a low 2.
Helloween
3/5
Walls of Jericho is silly 80s power metal fun with clear Iron Maiden influences, just not as good, but what they do put down on record is decent. Doesn't fuck around, gives us chugging rhythms underneath pretty fast if unoriginal riffs, falsetto-littered vocals and a pretty good time. 3/5, I've heard a lot worse, it's just not a top end representation of the genre.
Current 93
2/5
All the Pretty Little Horses is fucking weird. It's not downright terrible, it's just something very unusual, storytelling mostly in spoken word with weird baroque-like soundscapes underneath it, and it goes on for ages and ages. Not for me, low 2/5, but at least worth a listen to something so absolutely different that they all must've been off their faces on various substances.
The Fall
2/5
The Longer The Unutterable went on the less I liked it and the weirder it became. We had a couple of their albums on the main list I gave a 1 and a 2 respectively and for the 1 I said "It sounds like it was recorded in someone's living room and was half-arsed the entire time. Maybe that's the point, I dunno." Seems it was the point, another 2, it's just not very good.
Chloe x Halle
1/5
Ungodly Hour is ultra bland generic recent RnB that does absolutely nothing for me, leans on autotuned production in various ways, and apparently is the contribution of someone who's only rated 30 of the 1089 albums. Fuck off you charlatan, 1/5.
My Morning Jacket
2/5
Okonokos is pretty good in general, at least in terms of a) musicality and b) putting on what seems like a good performance live. I really liked the early 1-2 of Gideon and One Big Holiday, then Dondante kicks off the second side with a pretty epic sound. It's not up to that standard the whole way through and would ordinarily earn a middling 3/5 for having some soaring highs among a lot of mid, but a 2-hour live album is far too decadent an inclusion for an act that, with all due respect, isn't up there as being must-listen live, so it drops to a 2.