Listen. I respect the hell out of Jack White as a talent, but he joins the ranks of John Mayer and Dave Grohl where I just don't like their music. And a lot of it for me is Jack White's vocals, feels like a tin can on my ear. Overall, this album was pretty simplistic. Some intriguing arrangements but overall a snooze cruise for me.
Album starts strong with the hits, gets a little more sadboy R&B toward the end. I've never really dug into Michael Jackson but he brings a good disco-funk vibe with this album. I dig the guitar rhythms and plucky bass on most of these songs, also the multi-part harmonies elevate the vibe. Lots of great horn section, too (but not really my vibe).
Great Bowie Album. Strange, experimental, but also a bit divided. The first half of the album is chock full of great hooky jams. The Eno collab with his dirty synth drums and chunky noise FX are a great complement to Bowe's guitar hooks. Sound and Vision is also one of my favorite Bowie songs ever. The 2nd half starts to take a turn into instrumental jams, and eventually trails off into drawn out soundscapes. While they are interesting, they also seem to go on a little too long, and I'm left wondering where Bowie's vocals went.
This debut album is the epitome of the B52 style: that rockabilly rhythm guitar giving each song a plucky excitement that has me boppin' in my seat the whole time, naked lead riffs that pulled straight from the late 70's punk era, and of course Fred Schneider and Kate Pierson hootin' and hollering throughout each song. I feel like I walked into the cool kids party whenever I listen to this band. They have a "Sarcastic 50's" swagger with their songs, vocalists half-singing half-hollering improv lyrics that just work because they get stuck in my noggin, and just when you think it's gonna be a trite tune they lean heavy into a punky bridge and Fred gets all scream-o. 10/10 would buy again.
Rad. Fuzzy guitar punk I fux with. I dig the flange echo sound (?) on his vocals. Reminds me of old Alice Cooper. Drummer definitely amps the energy in this album with his high-speed surf-rock drum rolls on the toms. I also really like the timing change-ups they throw into their otherwise simple straight ahead punk jams.
Little brother going for the big sound! I enjoyed the big sound songs on this album like the song "Time". Overall, it felt like he couldn't really pin down a specific style, vacillating between honky tonk blues, funk jams, and orchestral ballads. They're all very interesting but felt sort of, desperate? Like this was his one shot to stand out from the Beach Boy brothers so he had to throw everything at the wall and hope sumething sticks.
Beck is a musical chameleon, seamlessly blending surf rock with with old country twang and inventing a new vibe with it. Every track on this album has endless layers of instruments and samples that I can listen to on repeat and always find something else I didn't catch on the first listen. This is my summer jam kinda album.
Ah, yes. The debut drop from the digital-- uhh, what's another alliterative D word? Drab band? I never listened to this album when it came out (but I've heard Clint Eastwood on the radio enough to know every word). Overall it feels more like a concept demo than a finished album. Aside from Eastwood and 5/4, the rest of the songs are just drifting ideas with interesting soundscapes but aren't memorable enough for me to want to listen to again.
Love Sinatra, dig Carlos and his bossanova vibe with the acoustic guitar, buuuut, this whole album feels like one long elevator ride amiright?
I always appreciate the new sound textures that Eno brings to his collaborations. Mea Culpa was pretty rad with the driving percussion and deep droning vocals, reminded me of some of the newer indie-electric bands I've heard (Check out "Wow" by Young Fathers). As you dig deeper into the album it sort of diverges into sonic "experiments" more than songs, often times slamming discordant noises together just because they could.
"Everything is in 4/4 if you don't count like a dumb nerd." All joking asalad, this was a unique of sound with a calming vibe. You can feel that this music originates from the meditation mecca with the trance-y sitar sliding around the notes and the minimal percussion drums filtering in from time to time. Good background music while I'm playing No Man's Sky and warping through systems in my starship, but not really something that "hooks" me to seek out a specific track to listen to again.
Ramones are alright. They defined the "punk" generation when they rolled out this album and some of those songs are earworms you can't stop thrumming in your brain. Buuuut, doesn't it kinda sound like a flat soda? I mean I loves me some fuzz rock guitars but it sounds like the guitarist was in another room when they hit the record button (and I'm listening to the 2016 remaster version). Still, they stand out among the pack by forging a new direction in music at the time, and I appreciates that.
John Lennon proves he's the melody-maker on this album. He definitely had a chip on his shoulder with this one With songs like Gimme Some Truth and How Do You Sleep? Yoko made him woke-o.
My band opened for UB40 once. They brought their own "stage lighting" which was meant for stadiums but this was a small venue. I was blinded by these insanely bright floor lights pointed directly up at me. Every picture of our band from that show looks like we are incandescent. Oh, and they also walled off a third of the venue floor with curtains for their own "green room" because they had at least 40 people in tow with all their crew and family.
Listen. I respect the hell out of Jack White as a talent, but he joins the ranks of John Mayer and Dave Grohl where I just don't like their music. And a lot of it for me is Jack White's vocals, feels like a tin can on my ear. Overall, this album was pretty simplistic. Some intriguing arrangements but overall a snooze cruise for me.
I first got exposed to a lot of African modern music through a series called Éthiopiques. While this band isn't from Ethiopia (they're from Mali), I was happy to hear familiar sounds. I really enjoyed this one, lots of impressive guitar hooks and tones.
Morissey is so sad all the time.
Metal af before metal was a thing. Givin' it a 5 cuz Ozzy Died.
Didn't live up to the hype of the album cover, but I dig Count Basie so he gets a pass.