When I think about other artists who use similarly sparse arrangements, they either have complex and beautiful lyrics like Nick Cave or Leonard Cohen or the present instrumentation is so beautiful that it warrants your full attention like Cigarettes After Sex or My Bloody Valentine. This album has neither of those things and so it fails to capture my interest.
I don’t like this. Someone does, but it’s not me.
Solid but unremarkable indie
I find that whenever there’s a huge song that I recognize like “Boogie Wonderland” the rest of the tracks either serve to contextualize and heighten that track or the rest of the tracks lay bare all of the flaws with the track you do know. This album is absolutely the former. Everything about this album is great. The playing and production are awesome. The song structures are great. It’s just a fun listen.
I like some of the instrumentation and harmonies in this album. Honestly the vocal delivery is just a bit too teeny bopper for me to really get behind.
I'm certain if I were a jazz nerd, I would appreciate this album more, but from the outside it feels mostly like expertly executed guitar ramblings.
There were moments of this album that I really enjoyed. It’s not the best thing I’ve ever heard, but it’s clever and funny in places and it’s well packaged into a synthy new wave package.
I’m not sure how fair a comparison this really is, but there’s something about “Paparazzi” that feels like the 2000s version of “Video Killed the Radio Star.” I think it’s the way that both songs seamlessly blend tacit complicity in the fame industrial complex with subtle critique thereof.
Madonna would probably be a more direct comp to Lady Gaga, but there’s something about how both the Buggles and Gaga are interested in the medium of engagement (video and modern paparazzi photography respectively) that drew me to the comparison.
I’m not the target demo for this album, and I definitely came in with that in mind. I can appreciate the emotional content of the album, but the musical content isn’t for me.
I can’t imagine an album less suited to my taste. I feel like it's everything I hate about Eminem without any of the things I like. Detroit in the 90s was weird I guess.
Competent 80s music.
I really enjoyed this album. Sometimes music should make you feel good, and this does. So I like it.
The Stroke is cool. Everything else feels a bit flat.
When you're living through it, it's sometimes hard to recognize the distinct sound of the current era. I feel that way about the 2010s. This album, however, is such a concentrated dose of 2010s styling that it feels almost like pastiche. The music is technically well executed, but a bit theatrical for my tastes.
This sounds like REM if I kinda liked REM. Pretty cool.
This is okay. That one stalker song was a bit odd though.
Normal 80s pop with jazzy piano solos. That’s cool.
