I've been forgetful with this and I'm 3 albums behind. I'll try to use today to catch up

Doolittle by Pixies
Preview: Monkey Gone to Heaven

I'll be honest, I don't really dig it much. Sorry! I didn't think it was a bad record or anything but nothing in it really caught my attention (outside of THEN GOD IS SEVEN, which is what made me interested in the album in the first place). I know it's blasphemous to not enjoy such a famous album or whatever but it's just not for me ¯\(°_o)/¯

Rating: Okay-bad

Meddle by Pink Floyd



Definitely the best album of the ones I've done this month. Every track was wonderful. Some drew you in, some were just fun to sit back and listen to, but all were varied while maintaining the overall tone of the the album. One of These Days has a great buildup works introducing the album, Pillow of the Winds has an amazing atmosphere and great lyrics, Fearless has great vocals and changes it up with a bit more of a country sound, San Tropez is a bit more fun and happy and throws in a nice little piano arrangement, Seamus is folksy and short but still pretty good, and Echoes is undoubtedly the powerful finish that makes this album a true classic. I'm a sucker for a super long song, but the way Echoes does it so seamlessly is astounding. It transitions from funky, into jazzy, into surreal, then serene, hits a climax then slows down. It's all hypnotizing and never gets boring. Every single song on this album was a stand out track and I think you should definitely give it a listen.

10/10

Iommi by Iommi



Pretty great album. Slightly exceeded my already high expectations. Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath, the man who pretty much invented the heavy metal riff gathered a bunch of people in rock and metal for this album and it's pretty interesting to hear them all. Laughing Man in the Devil Mask is just kind of a standard heavy metal track, but it's catchy enough to get by. Meat is the slowest song and has some female vocals by Skin that pair well with Iommi's playing. Goodbye Lament was interesting and has Dave Grohl's influence all over it, his voice isn't bad either. Time is Mine was an okay track made a bit better with Panteras Phil Anselmo's brutal, awesome vocals. Pattern was awesome just to hear Serj Tankian and Tony Iommi paired together. Black Oblivion was alright and I feel like it went on a bit too long. It was more alternative and I'm not a fan of Billy Corgans voice but they fit the song at least. Flame On was pretty great, and Brian May surprised me with his heavy metal ability. I know he's an incredibly talented guitarist but he really made that song pop. Who's Fooling Who was ironically one of the weakest songs. It sounded very uninspired, even though he's playing with Black Sabbath again. Maybe it's the lack of Geezer Butler, I dunno. Into the Night was just okay, didn't care for Billy Idol much, who can't really pull off metal. The Whole album had a really consistent sound, and if you don't care for the relatively generic lyrics, you're in for a real treat. Stand out tracks, if you weren't paying attention above, were Laughing Man in the Devil Mask, Goodbye Lament, Time is Mine, Flame On, Black Oblivion, and Patterns.

8.5/10

Run With the Hunted by Skyhill
Preview: Run With the Hunted

Skyhill is a project by Danny Sexbang, vocalist from Ninja Sex Party and Star Bomb and the not-Egoraptor guy from Game Grumps. I watched a bit of their stuff and some of his music and I always thought he was a nice vocalist, but I wanted to hear him in something that wasn't stupid "nerd comedy" s***. Skyhill is that, but tbh it's a bit underwhelming. It's not bad, in fact it's a pretty solid listen -- it's kind of a synthpop thing, indie rock, maybe downtempo w/ vocals at some point. Rarely does he really get to bust out some vocals like he does in the s*** bands I mentioned above, instead playing fairly reserved and low in the mix. The songs started to blend together in my ears after a bit. It's enjoyable, but I don't think I'll revisit it. It's a million times better than Star Bomb, at least.

Rating: Okay

Making Movies by Dire Straits
Romeo and Juliet is one of my favorite Dire Straits songs, so I figured I'd listen to the album it came from. Turns out its an entire album of love songs. While that can be ok, it got boring pretty fast after the third track. The only real highlight after Romeo and Juliet was Skateaway.
Rating: OK But Sorta Boring

Dreamboat Annie by Heart
Another one that I've heard before but wanted to relisten to. It was even better than I remember it. A seriously fantastic rock album that I'd probably put in my top 10 albums ever. The vocals and guitar are top notch throughout the whole thing. This album makes a really good case for the Wilson sisters being the best musical duo ever. Highlights are Magic Man, Crazy On You, Dreamboat Annie, and Sing Child.

Rating: I'm Crazy On This Album god that was terrible

August and Everything After by Counting Crows
Mr. Jones and Rain King have been my jams for as long as I can remember. My dad was super into this album when it came out and he played it all the time. I had never given the full thing a listen until now. I thought it was good but not great. A lot of the songs are slow and sad but after a few they sounded too similar. The more upbeat songs were all better than the slower ones. Highlights were Mr. Jones, Rain King, and A Murder Of One.

Rating: I Can't Think Of A Joke To Say This Was Alright

im too tired to type up anything of remote substance or worth but boy lemme tell ya the riffs on Arghoslent's Incorrigible Bigotry are so good i almost forgot they were singing about black people being genetically inferior to whites and colonialism being good


they even say the n word here

Brothers by The Black Keys
This one actually surprised me in how much I liked it. I had only ever heard the singles that have been overplayed on the radio and been in a stupid amount of commercials. I thought they were alright, but my favorite teacher told me they were one of his favorite bands so I always meant to try to give them a listen. Their blues rock sound reminded me a lot of Led Zeppelin's When the Levee Breaks. Highlights were Tighten Up, Howlin' For You, She's Long Gone, and Ten Cent Pistol, the first two you've probably heard before.

I may or may not get around to listening to the Bob Dylan album I'm supposed to do today.

Brothers in Arms by Dire Straits



Pretty good album, pretty much what I expected. So Far Away was pretty simple, just a happy little riff with some layered keyboard. Money for Nothing was great, with a weird little "celestial" intro and some nicely distorted southern guitar. It also had some interesting lyrics and the vocals really fit. Walk of Life is super fun to listen to and yeah it's overplayed and my view on it is a bit blinded by nostalgia but I think it's great. Your Latest Trick took the album in a different turn. It was pretty bluesy and threw in some sax, solemn vocals and jazz drumming. Why Worry Now was way too slow and it definitely overstays it's welcome. Ride Across the River had the same problem, and it's jungle sounds didn't make it any more interesting. The Man's Too Strong was probably the best track. It went from folksy to intense very smoothly, and it's lyrics were pretty cool. One World was funky and a bit more upbeat, nothing really wrong with it. Title track had some great guitar fills over some quiet drums and a pretty sad organ. Vocals were pretty great on this album, guitar was generally pretty good and the bass and drums did their job fine. It drags on a bit but otherwise it's pretty good.

7.5/10

Medulla by Bjork
Preview: Where Is The Line

I love Bjork. This album's concept is that it's done almost entirely with vocal sounds, from singing to beatboxing and throat singing. Even the background electronic noises in one of the tracks turn out to be Bjork's heavily edited vocals, after some reasearch. It has kind of a unique atmosphere for it, and it's a neat direction to take since her voice is f*** powerful. Bjork's a hell of a vocalist, and it gets showcased quite a few times on this album. There are of course some experimental areas -- you are listening to a Bjork record -- and these have never done too much for me personally, but I appreciate the identity & atmosphere they give to the album.

Rating: Good

I'm good at falling behind on these things but that's ok, I can handle it

Carrie & Lowell by Sufjan Stevens
Preview: All of Me Wants All of You

I love Sufjan's singing voice. When we did an album a day in November, I discovered Sufjan through his record Illinois, which stuck with me immediately and is still a brilliant album. Carrie & Lowell's opener, "Death With Dignity", immediately got me interested with its vocals, lyrics & delivery, and the trend continued for the next few songs. Most of the album is quiet folk songs with Sufjan's vocals, a guitar or piano and perhaps some background ambience. There's a sad theme to the album, especially on "Fourth of July", a heartbreaking song. I am a bit disappointed in how similar all the songs are; even though it does share a theme, the variety of styles in previous albums are one of the things that drew me to Sufjan. That's just an initial listen kind of issue though, I'll get used to it now that my expectations are gone lol. Some of the songs at the end felt especially samey though, like the music takes a back seat to the lyrics. I realize it's a folk album, but that doesn't make me enjoy it more. I'm gonna say that my first listen impression is that it's the weakest of the three Sufjan records I've listened to, but I did still enjoy it.

Rating: Good

I'll try to catch up with Pinkerton today

Origin of Symmetry by Muse



Pretty great album. New Born had some good buildup, then throws in some loud distortion, a fast drum beat, bass line, just the right amount of electronic, and an upbeat riff. Bliss had great synth and showed off the strong production, the vocals are slightly hindered by Matthew Bellamy's strong accent, who makes the word "peace" sound like "piss". Still, a really upbeat and happy song. Space Dementia started with some beautiful piano that does a great job of setting it's tone. It's atmospheric, had some nice "spacey" sounds, great vocals and a strong ending, and I'd say it's the highlight of the album. Hyper Music had a heavy bass line, catchy riff, and kind of loud and more metal than most of the other songs. Plug In Baby is pretty well known but I didn't really care much for it. It has a pretty catchy riff and nice electronic rock sound but that's about it. Citizen Erased was a really good track, the drumming stood out, and it changes into solemnity twice. Pretty prog-y song. Micro Cuts was okay, just kind of felt like filler, nothing special. Feeling Good had a good intro, and reminded me of classic rock with it's bass line and guitar riff and chord progression. Screenager was pretty interesting, apparently starting off with animal bones being drummed on. It was unique and weird, but mellow as well. Dark Shines was forgettable. Megalomania was also a very prog-y song, it had an "epic" tone to it, and probably would've made a better ending song. Futurism was okay, all I noticed were bitter lyrics. The whole album has a great atmosphere. The keyboard/piano were probably the best part of the album and it had some nice space elements, synth, and a fun sense of whimsy. Stand out tracks were New Born, Bliss, Space Dementia, Citizen Erased, Feeling Good, and Screenager.

8.5/10

i've fallen by the wayside with this and i've only listened to one of the albums i've had for this week so far. gotta catch up.

Young Fathers - DEAD

This album was pretty unique, I really don't know what to classify it as. Hip-hop, probably? But there are a s*** of other influences here and it doesn't really sound like any other hip-hop records I've ever heard. Some of the tracks were really enjoyable, like "Low" and "I've Arrived" but overall it wasn't an album that I found to be that good. I appreciated how interesting and different it was, but it's not something I particularly found enjoyable. I probably need to listen to it a few more times to really comprehend it fully, and it's probably worth the extra attention. If you click the preview track and dig it, you should probably try the LP out yourself. It's interesting, is all I can really say.

5/10

Fav: Low

I'm looking forward to Algiers s/t.

I'm glad you're all listening to your LPs and mostly enjoying em!

New Morning by Bob Dylan
This is one of the albums I've been most looking forward to this month, if only because I've never really been into Bob Dylan even though he's ridiculously popular with dads. I heard The Man in Me in The Big Lebowski, liked it, but never bothered listening to the whole thing until I started running out of ideas for this month. Turns out I liked it a lot. As I drift towards becoming Dad Incarnate maybe I'll develop a taste for The Beatles. Highlights were The Man in Me, Day of the Locusts, and New Morning.

Persistence of Time by Anthrax
I heard Got the Time when it was announced for the new Guitar Hero and Term recommended it a lot. I really like that song, but really wasn't feeling the rest of this album. I just sorta got bored halfway through it. It wasn't really bad but I guess it might just not be my thing? In particular, I thought Gridlock was super boring. Highlights were Time and Got the Time.

Demon Days by Gorillaz
The only Gorillaz albums I'd listened to in full before this were The Fall and the Singles Collection, so I really didn't know what to expect from this. It was a pretty mixed bag for me. Pretty much ever song is a different style. I'm starting to warm up to more noisy experimental stuff but I still think those songs were the worst on the album. Maybe I'm just a pleb idk. Highlights were Every Planet We Reach Is Dead, Feel Good Inc., El Manana, Don't Get Lost in Heaven, and Demon Days.

Looking forward to Lemon of Pink later today!

Actually listened to this last night and outright forgot to post it #whoops ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

The Burgh Island EP by Ben Howard
Preview: Oats in the Water

If you're wondering why you recognize that preview song, it's because it was used in an episode of the Walking Dead. I don't really remember the context, but it had something to do with Herschel. w/e, I listened to the EP because I thought it was a cool song. It's only four tracks, and I thought the first and third were similar but forgettable. It ends with a big 8 minute song, which I did enjoy a bit, but I can't say I loved it enough to listen to it much.

Rating: Okay