Some impressive riffs on here, especially in the second half, and I respect its sheer volume for a record this radio friendly but I don't care for the songwriting and vocals all that much. I prefer my hair metal less melodic and with just a little more grit, which is a bit counterintuitive to the very concept - can see the appeal nonetheless.
Heard it before, classic 2000s indie rock. Going back to it I am struck by the intelligibility of the lyrics compared to much of the material coming to comparable acts today like Black Country New Road. I also forgot how bone chilling In The Backseat is, easily one of the greatest closers for a rock album ever.
Lush, moody, atmospheric, gentle. I'm not very familiar with downtempo as an electronic music sub genre but this seems like a good place to start, I could really distinguish its sound from the various trip hop/IDM/plunderphonics styles of the 90s whilst hearing some pleasant interactions with them. Had a good time.
No. Look, Frusciante and Flea sure know their stuff but Kiedis' rapping quickly turns this thing into a real slog to get through. It's not even on every song but if I have to sit through even half of it on a 73 minute album, it's too much. I like Breaking the Girl and some of jamming, that's about it.
Just finishing it up now. Very clean recording of some pretty raw and energetic blues performances. Sure, lyrically there's not much to chew on but BB didn't write them: he knows his crowd well and that's more then enough
Fresh off In Utero and the tragedy of Cobain's death, Grohl serves us a substantial helping of the heavy, meaty alt rock sounds he helped develop in a slightly brighter key. There's fun, there's melancholy, and it's refreshingly trim for a 90s record.
Eh. I liked Original Pirate Material when I heard it but Skinner takes a certain mood to enjoy as is and the songs on here just don't really seem as if they'd scratch that itch. And for as simple as the concept is it feels tricky to follow the narrative. You could do far worse though, the production is generally solid and there are a few gems: the title track, Blinded by the Lights and Empty Cans.
Just a great mix of heavy, forward thinking riffs and great vocals off of Ozzy (RIP). I think what most modern doom doesn't nail down that Sabbath did it's just a tremendous sense of fun. That FX track is absolutely ridiculous though.
Of course she's the original Sally Bowles. Tremendous belters and some fantastic instrumentation front to back. A bit to be desired with the duets but that's only a small misgiving.
Formulaic as hell. 80% of this album is a classic sounding R&B/soul/gospel vocal chop looped with some keys and mid ass dance music in the background: the term "whitewashing" comes to mind. Porcelain and the closer are decent, everything else is just average. No thank you.
Very affecting. Harvey's childlike inflections alongside the often lush instrumentation on this record remind me a lot of Joanna Newsom's work but with a more political than introspective edge on the songwriting and some slackery elements sprinkled in: good stuff. Terrible cover art though.
I remember Tical being solid album riding off of the coattails of 36 Chambers' success by showcasing Method Man's eccentric personality. In retrospect, this feels a little more empty than that. There's some really strong beats and features but Method Man feels like he's mostly riffing, like it's a promo tape for something more substantial and he's the weakest part of it... I don't know. It's still fun, just not as promising as you would think.
It's psychy, it's folky, a lil proggy: I dig it (closer to 3.5 than a 3). As is often the case with albums like this one I lean toward the more visceral sounding tracks (When I Touch You, Street Worm, even Space Child to a degree) and there's not quite as many of those as I'd like. I'm not blown away by at it but it's a thoroughly pleasant listen. Impressively clean recording for its time too.
It's dreamy, it's percussive... it's a little too long (see almost any 90s album, including the classics), but it's good. Would probably kill as a DJ set, I almost get a sense of FOMO from trying to be more attentive than it likely is seeking from a listener.
Maybe I've just been listening to too much heavy/loud music recently but it was really refreshing to hear a lush little folk rock record like this one. Sort of a progenitor to Steely Dan, certainly wouldn't rule out more Youngbloods material in the future.
