When to listen: Want relaxed AND uplifted
When to listen: Want to seem CBGB cool
When to listen: Intense jazz experience
When to listen: Fall, Berkshires, homey-vibes
When to listen: High school nostalgia, need to kick into high gear. Appreciate, then skip songs with excessive moaning.
When to listen: For the hippie trippy ~experience~ A true no skip album that reminds me of high school, and the great Strong Songs ep breaking down the album
When to listen: Pump up or feel like a boss. Surprisingly loved this as a no skip. Made me think about and appreciate metal vocals and musicality.
When to listen: chill and funky vibes. Love the experience of listening to Stereolab but don't have much to say from a music theory standpoint—just that it was engaging and interesting!
When to listen: feel like fighting the m-a-n, get amped. I was really debating between 3 and 4 stars, the songs themselves itself are great but as an album it's a lot of the same without evolution.
When to listen: I wouldn't listen to this album again. It just... wasn't an experience that added anything to my life.
When to listen: feeling like funk. Very enjoyable listen
When to listen: rainy or cold or moody or autumnal. Really enjoyed this album and discovering this artist
When to listen: mellow background banjo. Amped up my yen to learn the banjo. Lovely music, blended into the background though nothing really stood out to me.
When to listen: feeling smooth or easy or sentimental. I really enjoyed this album even if a few songs I feel like were overplayed on TikTok. I think Frank Ocean is a genuinely impressive artist / this album top to bottom is a great listening experience.
When to listen: feeling like the main character getting ready to leave the house. I loved that this album had a distinct sound / through line but added a new element to each song that fit, e.g. a saxophone or East Asian inspired melodies.
When to listen: hanging out and in a folksy mood. I enjoyed this album more and more as it went on, but it didn't move me one way or another.
When to listen: feeling edgy and punky and cooler than I am. I genuinely enjoyed this album—would listen again!
When to listen: Not sure I would again, not because it isn't amazing just because I don't need to. Great album, great music, but it just... is.
Is this experience making me realize I like metal?!
When to listen: A melancholy spring or summer day. Longing. Yearning. Feeling enormous love. I think she's a wonderful singer and I enjoyed this album.
When to listen: On drugs and want to see sounds. As an opera nerd I liked the integration but it wasn't enough to get me into the album.
When to listen: spacey, trippy, chill vibes. Idk why this album got hate on here I think it's unique and a fun listen. Is it... essential? Maybe not. But enjoyable!
When to listen: Want to feel good. Really anytime: cooking, cleaning, road trips, party. This was a fun one because I have this album on vinyl, the Irish man I was seeing found it for me in Dublin. Grew up in an Elton John family, and am a diehard for life. FIVE STARS!
When to listen: Feeling 80s. So quintessentially 80s I love this album so much.
When to listen: Feeling bluesy. I know Muddy Waters can do more emotive blues, the kind that makes you want to get up and dance. That wasn't this album for me. Maybe it wasn't supposed to be?
When to listen: Unoffensive (to the ears) punk mood. I really liked this sound, it felt like melodic but punk-y? At times it felt very Bowie-esque with a little bit of Rocky Horror Picture Show thrown in.
When to listen: Don't! I've seen the album iconography but had never sat down and listened to this album and I... didn't like it?! To me, it sounded like boring, harsh, industrial noise.
When to listen: relaxing, glass of wine, chill vibes. Have always loved this album and Al Green's voice
When to listen: IDK if I would again, but I love I Can See For Miles and I can see how smart it is, how funny the little jingles are, and how dedicated to the concept album The Who is.
When to listen: Need an 80s synth uplift moment. Some of the elements felt so dated, but damn does he have a gorgeous voice. But truly, many of the songs are catchy as hell I just couldn't get over the overly 80s elements. Def loved his cover of Who's Loving You!
When to listen: Guitar licks? IDK honestly I probably don't need to listen again. It all sounded very repetitive and didn't interest me.
When to listen: Want to raise my blood pressure, feel stressed, feel panicked. I tried to listen, I really did. .execute. was a tough listen, and it got slightly better throughout but not enough. I can respect the genre, respect the guitar skills, respect how much Slipknot means to others. But... doesn't mean I like it.
When to listen: In the mood to be screeched at. This is not an easy listen, but I do think the chorus of Pa(Ubu) Dance Party is a bop.
When to listen: after a breakup.
When to listen: Feeling oldies melancholy. Not sure how I'd feel about it paired with a rando guy doing magic tricks.
When to listen: In a bed, with tea, in dreary weather, when feeling a deep pit of despair in your stomach. Look, Leonard Cohen is an impressive artist. This album is lovely, gritty, and complicated. It's just not all the way there (for me)
When to listen: October moody. My college boyfriend had a few songs from this album in a mix he made me and I liked those songs, which made me think I’d like this album. But it was truly meh to moi.
When to listen: bummed out or want to be more bummed out. Look, it's a good album. Heart of Gold and Old Man... always loved 'em. But sometimes having a musical style means having a repetitive album and that's the case here in my humble opinion.
When to listen: to zone out, potentially after smoking a lot. What I liked about this album is that it was short. Techno mumbo jumbo not my vibe.
When to listen: To groove out while working or on a car ride. A few songs I liked more than others, like "Crying." But overall this was a great listen and I enjoyed it
When to listen: Driving down the PCH, palm tree weather, sunshine. Great album, so nostalgic for my teenage years.
When to listen: Don't listen to antisemitic musicians. Separating the art from the artist, this is a good album. Reminds me of college, Mark loved this album.
When to listen: In a old dive bar, on vinyl, major yacht rock vibes. From the reviews I see racism/anti vax vibes (0/5) and acknowledge of how much of the blues is stolen from African American culture (0/5) but damn I love this era of music. Five stars but hate myself for it…
When to listen: Manic pixie melancholy. 'Twas a fun listen but nothing that grabbed me too intensely.
When to listen: Feeling like you're in an indie movie. I know this band isn't indie music, but it's the foundation of all that came after it ya know? I knew I loved Time of the Season and This Will Be Our Year but I ended up liking the whole album.
When to listen: feeling hipster “I know British rock bands better than you.” I bopped. I jammed. It was catchy. It feels like the prototype. Good but by today’s standards fine.
When to listen: feeling dark, spooky, edgy. I loved that this album's music is super diverse but always has the style of Depeche Mode coming through. Such a unique and unmistakable sound.
When to listen: On LSD?! It was trippy, it was cool, it was definitely ahead of it's time and I like the more melodic songs in the beginning but I'm just not smart enough to enjoy the weird ones at the end... I know that's the point. I'm a normie what can I say ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
When to listen: in a dark rage. Started out enjoying this album more than I thought I would but then, as the title suggests, it took a downward spiral and I liked the later songs less.
When to listen: party-time, dance-time, fun-time. The type of music that is just joyful and alive.
When to listen: all the time. Another album spun on my record player! This is an all-time favorite. Brilliant in so many ways. So unique. So wonderful
When to listen: feeling down but energetic, morbid. I really enjoyed this album, felt like a few songs were very Springsteen-esque (but I think a lot of albums are Springsteen-esque so that might be a "me" problem.)
When to listen: at a retro diner with a milkshake (or even an egg cream!) on the jukebox. Fun album, great voices, lots o boppos.
When to listen: Driving upstate in the sun. Yea, it's moody, but it's got a ray of light to it musically that I love. Starts great, lags a bit as it goes through but that doesn't change my rating.
When to listen: Need noise. Feels unfair to rank as this type of punk just isn't really my style and coming in 1980 I just don't quite feel it was on the cutting edge. Just not my vibes so trying to appreciate it for what it is
When to listen: hating men, loving men, feeling like an empowered gal. This album is hit after hit, with lots of new to me songs to enjoy. Love.
When to listen: feeling nostalgic, patriotic, NOT patriotic, like the Jersey girl I am. Know this album very well and knew it would be 5 stars.
When to listen: feeling spacey and futuristic. It’s synth. It’s fun. It’s unique. But it’s also repetitive.
When to listen: feeling like raging against the man, millennial style. Can’t believe how many angsty teen hits were on this one. But was more impressed when I thought about the global influences, the lyrics, and the gestalt of it all. It sounds like a band the weird kids formed in their garage and they’re finally playing the school talent show… and I kinda love that?
When to listen: in someone’s basement, hanging out, teenage years (even if I was a teenager in the 00s.) I knew I loved the song In Your Eyes, but the rest of album is new to me and underwhelming? Or just not my style? 4 stars for the one finale song tho…
When to listen: uhh... Idk it's hard to rate albums that make me physically uncomfortable to listen to.
When to listen: when men suck and I want to just shake it all out. I loved this album when it came out in 2020, gave it one listen through and never touched it again. It holds up!
When to listen: Feel like I'm 16 and performing in the choir of Tommy at a high school in New Jersey over the summer. The concept is weird and brilliant, the music is wonderful and interesting. Damn I just love The Who