Love or Hate?

Trollheart · 12-21-2015, 02:17 PM

Title: Wounded Rhymes
Artiste: Lykke Li
Genre: Indie Pop/Rock
Familiarity: Zero
Recommended by: DwnWthVwls

Expectations: From the title, again, I thought hip-hop...

1. Youth knows no pain: Kind of a new wave feel to it: Blondie meets Bjork?
2. I follow rivers: Slower, sultry. Meh, not that interested yet.
3. Love out of lust: Very much a Genesis/Phil Collins feel to this. Starting to get better. I guess this would be classed as a ballad.
4. Unrequited love: As would this. Very Country feel to it, swaying, bluesy as well as a fifties love song thing. Good vocal harmonies.
5. Get some: Much more uptempo; great percussion and some jangly guitar.
6. Rich kids blues: Like the new wave synth. Good power in this.
7. Sadness is a blessing: Kind of sounds a little like “Be my baby”. What is it with Scandinavian chicks and sadness, huh? “Sadness is my boyfriend”? Hmm. Good song though.
8. I know places: Acoustic guitar. Lovely. Nice low-key ballad, very sparse. Male vocal here for I think the first time, duetting with her and some other woman, works very well. Instrumental ending is very ambient and ethereal.
9. Jerome: Something about this I'm just not feeling.
10. Silent my song: Harsh, kind of grinding guitar (or maybe synth) somewhat reminiscent of current Peter Gabriel.

End result: Good singer/songwriter album. Not blown away by it, wouldn't be searching out her other material, but wouldn't be averse to hearing more at some point. Decent.

So, Love or Hate? I guess it's worth a Love, despite my not being overly impressed by it.

Trollheart · 12-23-2015, 06:38 AM

Title: Dopes to Infinity
Artiste: Monster Magnet
Genre: Stoner Rock
Familiarity: Zero
Recommended by: The Batlord

Expectations: Again, it all goes from titles, and when I first saw this rec I thought he was hitting me with some megamix of trance music or something, just to get under my skin. Now I don't know what to think. As with Frownland, it's often dangerous to anticipate Batty's motives, much less the music he recommends ya.

1. Dopes to infinity: Good hard rockin' start. Vocal's a bit Ozzy-ish.
2. Negasonic teenage warhead: Touch more spacey guitar here
3. Look to your orbs for the warning: Really punching and grinding it out on this one. Sense of Zep here, particularly on “When the levee breaks”.
4. All friends and kingdom come: Sounds a bit psychedelic (read: hippy) with what sounds like, but is almost certainly not, a sitar in the beginning. Like the melody, has a familiar ring to it.
5. Ego, the living planet: You have to love the title, dont'cha?

Sort of a Sabbathy feel to this in ways
6. Blow 'em off: Upbeat acoustic interestingly offbeat little song, almost out of place with what I've heard so far. Still good though.
7. Third alternative: This is really heavy in again almost a Sabbath vein. Really like the grinding, crunching feel of this.
8. I control, I fly: Good fast rocker in contrast to the previous one.
9. King of Mars: Followed by another fine rocker
10. Dead Christmas: How festive! Great guitar riff driving this. Organ is really cool.
11. Theme from “Masterburner”: Great guitar riff opening it then it just explodes. Ooh! An instrumental. Nice.
12. Vertigo: Back to that kind of psychedelic feel for the closer. Not crazy about this one really.

End result: Pretty damn fine album. Kind of hard to pick out anything specific that stands out about it, but an enjoyable trip, mostly, from beginning to end.

So, Love or Hate? Gotta give it a Love.

Trollheart · 12-24-2015, 10:29 AM

Title: Parklife
Artiste: Blur
Genre: Britpop
Familiarity: Who doesn't know Blur? Mind you, I've never listened to one of their albums all the way through...
Recommended by: TechnicLePanther

Expectations: If it's all like the title track then it should be pretty enjoyable. Not expecting too much in the way of surprises.

1. Girls and boys: I know this one of course, one of their big hit singles. Very new-wave feel to it I feel, though this was ten years too late for that.
2. Tracy Jacks: It's ok, but a bit limited I feel. Good fun, certainly but a little of a comedown after the opener. Is that violin at the end?
3. End of a century: Oh this has a very Oasis feel to it. Which is to say, I guess, Beatles.

Sounds like they filched part of the melody of “Our house”... Much better though.
4. Parklife: Always loved this; the spoken word part, the chorus, the imagery of a sleepy English town on a Sunday. Quintessential.
5. Bank holiday: Almost punk in its speed and energy, another good fun track with a great guitar line. Short though.
6. Deadhead: Nice brass intro, ticks along nicely, sort of relaxed, certainly compared to the last track! Very Robbie Williams though.
7. The debt collector: Hmm. Sounds like we've gone to the carnival!
8. Far out: Indeed. This is a weird little track.
9. To the end: This one is nice. Like the strings keyboard line.
10. London loves: Certain amount of funk in this; synth is very 80s new wave though. Meh, it's all right I suppose.
11. Trouble in the message centre: Again, I hear totally new wave here. It's a good song but nothing terribly special I feel.
12. Clover over Dover: It's a nice upbeat song with a good melody. It's okay.
13. Magic America:Let's go plunder The Beatles' catalogue again, huh?

14. Jubilee: Good to hear them getting back to the guitar rock. Bit late though as we're near the end of the album. Still, this is a far better track than anything I've heard in the last half hour or so.
15. This is a low: Nice laconic acoustic guitar, laidback track, like it.
16. Lot 105: Awful, crappy, silly closer. Good god.

End result: In general I'd have to say I'm disappointed. There were some good tracks, sure, but how this passes as one of the classic albums of the time is beyond me. I just don't get it. Mind you, I'm kind of more an Oasis guy anyway. But even though I tried to like a lot of the stuff here I just couldn't get into much of it. As I said to TLP at the time I was listening to this, give me Deacon Blue over this any day of the week. Or Prefab Sprout. Or Westlife. Okay, not Westlife. But there are a whole lot better British or even Irish acts that can piss all over this so-called classic. Meh.

So, Love or Hate? I won't Meh it but I can only raise a weak Like really.

TechnicLePanther · 12-24-2015, 10:35 AM

I find Parklife is one of those albums where the more you listen to it, the more it grows on you. I can see where you're coming from. London Loves is my favorite track on the album, though. Lot 105 is great IMO as well. Reminds of the Napoleon Dynamite soundtrack. I would really recommend you look a little deeper into their catalog, especially their post-Parklife material. You might enjoy The Great Escape or 13 a bit more, looking at your current dislikes.

Trollheart · 12-27-2015, 06:34 AM

Title: Enter Humanity
Artiste: cloudcover
Genre: Indie rock/folk
Familiarity: I've heard Frownland and some of YorkeDaddy's other material. Impressed by most of it.
Recommended by: um, YorkeDaddy

Expectations: It'll have to go a long way to beat or even equal Frownland, but I'm hoping for a great album.

1. Bellinus bertaldo: Where the hell are all these weird titles coming from?

Anyway, nice folky acoustic with almost wooden drumming and harmonica. Kind of has a medieval minstrel feel to it. Harmonica is great, good backing vocals.
2. Abdi hasan awale qeybdiid: Nice bassline, seems to be about someone on the run. The special effects of weaponsfire is a little twee though. It's a little sparse if I'm honest and does not end well.
3. Effectiveness of Alcoholics Anonymous: There's that piano I like so much. Feel of ELO's “Mr. Blue Sky”. Good vocal harmonies.
4. Indiana Klan: Interesting instrumental. First real use of hard electric guitar. Nice sort of Russian folk melody, very soft, at the end.
5. Battle of Ghaghra: This is total seventies Eagles. Vocal sounds a little strained if I'm honest. Acoustic guitar is nice. Yeah, sorry YD but as it goes on the singer (that's Schuyler, isn't it?) seems to find it harder to reach the notes. Which is odd, as he's a good singer but he really seems to be struggling here. I think it's way too long as well.
6. Psephotous: Nice little song. Not a whole lot more I can say about it; doesn't make a huge impression on me.
7. Adam: Ooh! Love the church organ! Lovely piano then, soft ballad. Like this. Guitar coming in now. Best track so far.
8. Winberg Park: Now this sounds like the album is beginning to pick up at last. Oh but the vocal is so hollow! It's like he's singing at the back of a church or in a tunnel. I'm sure it's intended but it has a negative effect on my listening experience. Which is a pity cos the music is gorgeous. And it's over.

9. Bolodou: More slow church organ, nice. Thinking instrumental here? Some nice vibraphone or mirambas or something. Very stately, almost sepulchral.
10. Mary Fahl: Another acoustic folky tune. Not bad. Very short again.
11. Dario Maestripieri: No, not feeling this at all. Too clever for its own good, and I fear they're showing off their knowledge of this guy's research (on monkeys?), which sort of leaves anyone who doesn't know who he is scratching their head. Like me. Boo.
12. Bautzen Railway Station: Now this sounds beautiful. Big thick synth with a real eighties new-wave feel and techno percussion, lovely Spanish guitar and a sound like a train pulling out of the eponymous station. Excellent. But again, way too short. Could have enjoyed a lot more of that.
13. Luigi Galleani: Good hard rocker with a nice hook. Great solo there.
14. The monsters are on Maple Street: At least I recognise this title: Twilight Zone episode, right? Somewhat disappointingly, it's yet another instrumental. A good one, but still, I had hoped to see a clever lyrical idea in this song. I don't feel the music matches the title at all; thought it would be much more threatening, doomy, oppressive, bleak.
15. Minister of the Interior: Nice melody; not mad about the vocal though. Another acoustic folky half-ballad with more than a little of The Beatles in it.

End result: I see this was released before Frownland and it shows. Too much acoustic folk, too many instrumentals, and Schuyler seems still to be honing his voice. Amazing that only eight months later these guys would release something so much better. Overall, a rather large disappointment and if this had been the first I'd heard of cloudcover I would likely have written them off and not bothered with later releases.

So, Love or Hate? Sorry Yorky but I really have to give this a very weak Like, and it just escape a Meh by the skin of its teeth. Expected so much more.

YorkeDaddy · 12-27-2015, 09:35 AM

I'm just glad you've heard the whole cloudcover discography at this point! Enter Humanity was a strange experiment and took less than a month to write and record and one can DEFINITELY see how it was whipped up in a hurry, but I still think our songwriting skills are on display at points. I'm surprised at your indifference to Psephotus and the closer but other than that your impressions are what I expected. It's the worst of our three for sure. Thanks for giving it a fair shot, and hopefully there's some more cloudcover just beyond the horizon

.................

The Batlord · 12-27-2015, 10:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by YorkeDaddy

I'm just glad you've heard the whole cloudcover discography at this point! Enter Humanity was a strange experiment and took less than a month to write and record and one can DEFINITELY see how it was whipped up in a hurry, but I still think our songwriting skills are on display at points. I'm surprised at your indifference to Psephotus and the closer but other than that your impressions are what I expected. It's the worst of our three for sure. Thanks for giving it a fair shot, and hopefully there's some more cloudcover just beyond the horizon .................

YorkeDaddy · 12-27-2015, 10:24 AM

We all know you'd be the first to get a download of it Batty-Poo

Trollheart · 12-27-2015, 10:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by YorkeDaddy

We all know you'd be the first to get a download of it Batty-Poo

He'd even pay for it.

Machine · 12-27-2015, 05:27 PM

TH are you skipping over the Lantlos album?!

12-21-2015, 02:17 PM	#2421 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,994	Title: Wounded Rhymes Artiste: Lykke Li Genre: Indie Pop/Rock Familiarity: Zero Recommended by: DwnWthVwls Expectations: From the title, again, I thought hip-hop... 1. Youth knows no pain: Kind of a new wave feel to it: Blondie meets Bjork? 2. I follow rivers: Slower, sultry. Meh, not that interested yet. 3. Love out of lust: Very much a Genesis/Phil Collins feel to this. Starting to get better. I guess this would be classed as a ballad. 4. Unrequited love: As would this. Very Country feel to it, swaying, bluesy as well as a fifties love song thing. Good vocal harmonies. 5. Get some: Much more uptempo; great percussion and some jangly guitar. 6. Rich kids blues: Like the new wave synth. Good power in this. 7. Sadness is a blessing: Kind of sounds a little like “Be my baby”. What is it with Scandinavian chicks and sadness, huh? “Sadness is my boyfriend”? Hmm. Good song though. 8. I know places: Acoustic guitar. Lovely. Nice low-key ballad, very sparse. Male vocal here for I think the first time, duetting with her and some other woman, works very well. Instrumental ending is very ambient and ethereal. 9. Jerome: Something about this I'm just not feeling. 10. Silent my song: Harsh, kind of grinding guitar (or maybe synth) somewhat reminiscent of current Peter Gabriel. End result: Good singer/songwriter album. Not blown away by it, wouldn't be searching out her other material, but wouldn't be averse to hearing more at some point. Decent. So, Love or Hate? I guess it's worth a Love, despite my not being overly impressed by it. __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

12-23-2015, 06:38 AM	#2422 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,994	Title: Dopes to Infinity Artiste: Monster Magnet Genre: Stoner Rock Familiarity: Zero Recommended by: The Batlord Expectations: Again, it all goes from titles, and when I first saw this rec I thought he was hitting me with some megamix of trance music or something, just to get under my skin. Now I don't know what to think. As with Frownland, it's often dangerous to anticipate Batty's motives, much less the music he recommends ya. 1. Dopes to infinity: Good hard rockin' start. Vocal's a bit Ozzy-ish. 2. Negasonic teenage warhead: Touch more spacey guitar here 3. Look to your orbs for the warning: Really punching and grinding it out on this one. Sense of Zep here, particularly on “When the levee breaks”. 4. All friends and kingdom come: Sounds a bit psychedelic (read: hippy) with what sounds like, but is almost certainly not, a sitar in the beginning. Like the melody, has a familiar ring to it. 5. Ego, the living planet: You have to love the title, dont'cha? Sort of a Sabbathy feel to this in ways 6. Blow 'em off: Upbeat acoustic interestingly offbeat little song, almost out of place with what I've heard so far. Still good though. 7. Third alternative: This is really heavy in again almost a Sabbath vein. Really like the grinding, crunching feel of this. 8. I control, I fly: Good fast rocker in contrast to the previous one. 9. King of Mars: Followed by another fine rocker 10. Dead Christmas: How festive! Great guitar riff driving this. Organ is really cool. 11. Theme from “Masterburner”: Great guitar riff opening it then it just explodes. Ooh! An instrumental. Nice. 12. Vertigo: Back to that kind of psychedelic feel for the closer. Not crazy about this one really. End result: Pretty damn fine album. Kind of hard to pick out anything specific that stands out about it, but an enjoyable trip, mostly, from beginning to end. So, Love or Hate? Gotta give it a Love. __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

12-24-2015, 10:29 AM	#2423 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,994	Title: Parklife Artiste: Blur Genre: Britpop Familiarity: Who doesn't know Blur? Mind you, I've never listened to one of their albums all the way through... Recommended by: TechnicLePanther Expectations: If it's all like the title track then it should be pretty enjoyable. Not expecting too much in the way of surprises. 1. Girls and boys: I know this one of course, one of their big hit singles. Very new-wave feel to it I feel, though this was ten years too late for that. 2. Tracy Jacks: It's ok, but a bit limited I feel. Good fun, certainly but a little of a comedown after the opener. Is that violin at the end? 3. End of a century: Oh this has a very Oasis feel to it. Which is to say, I guess, Beatles. Sounds like they filched part of the melody of “Our house”... Much better though. 4. Parklife: Always loved this; the spoken word part, the chorus, the imagery of a sleepy English town on a Sunday. Quintessential. 5. Bank holiday: Almost punk in its speed and energy, another good fun track with a great guitar line. Short though. 6. Deadhead: Nice brass intro, ticks along nicely, sort of relaxed, certainly compared to the last track! Very Robbie Williams though. 7. The debt collector: Hmm. Sounds like we've gone to the carnival! 8. Far out: Indeed. This is a weird little track. 9. To the end: This one is nice. Like the strings keyboard line. 10. London loves: Certain amount of funk in this; synth is very 80s new wave though. Meh, it's all right I suppose. 11. Trouble in the message centre: Again, I hear totally new wave here. It's a good song but nothing terribly special I feel. 12. Clover over Dover: It's a nice upbeat song with a good melody. It's okay. 13. Magic America:Let's go plunder The Beatles' catalogue again, huh? 14. Jubilee: Good to hear them getting back to the guitar rock. Bit late though as we're near the end of the album. Still, this is a far better track than anything I've heard in the last half hour or so. 15. This is a low: Nice laconic acoustic guitar, laidback track, like it. 16. Lot 105: Awful, crappy, silly closer. Good god. End result: In general I'd have to say I'm disappointed. There were some good tracks, sure, but how this passes as one of the classic albums of the time is beyond me. I just don't get it. Mind you, I'm kind of more an Oasis guy anyway. But even though I tried to like a lot of the stuff here I just couldn't get into much of it. As I said to TLP at the time I was listening to this, give me Deacon Blue over this any day of the week. Or Prefab Sprout. Or Westlife. Okay, not Westlife. But there are a whole lot better British or even Irish acts that can piss all over this so-called classic. Meh. So, Love or Hate? I won't Meh it but I can only raise a weak Like really. __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

12-24-2015, 10:35 AM	#2424 (permalink)
TechnicLePanther and the livin' is easy... Join Date: Jun 2015 Location: New York Posts: 1,997	I find Parklife is one of those albums where the more you listen to it, the more it grows on you. I can see where you're coming from. London Loves is my favorite track on the album, though. Lot 105 is great IMO as well. Reminds of the Napoleon Dynamite soundtrack. I would really recommend you look a little deeper into their catalog, especially their post-Parklife material. You might enjoy The Great Escape or 13 a bit more, looking at your current dislikes. __________________ Many have tried to destroy it... but... true evil never dies. It is only... REBORN *SUGGEST ME AN ALBUM* - I'm probably not going to listen to it but I will if you bother me enough.

12-27-2015, 06:34 AM	#2425 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,994	Title: Enter Humanity Artiste: cloudcover Genre: Indie rock/folk Familiarity: I've heard Frownland and some of YorkeDaddy's other material. Impressed by most of it. Recommended by: um, YorkeDaddy Expectations: It'll have to go a long way to beat or even equal Frownland, but I'm hoping for a great album. 1. Bellinus bertaldo: Where the hell are all these weird titles coming from? Anyway, nice folky acoustic with almost wooden drumming and harmonica. Kind of has a medieval minstrel feel to it. Harmonica is great, good backing vocals. 2. Abdi hasan awale qeybdiid: Nice bassline, seems to be about someone on the run. The special effects of weaponsfire is a little twee though. It's a little sparse if I'm honest and does not end well. 3. Effectiveness of Alcoholics Anonymous: There's that piano I like so much. Feel of ELO's “Mr. Blue Sky”. Good vocal harmonies. 4. Indiana Klan: Interesting instrumental. First real use of hard electric guitar. Nice sort of Russian folk melody, very soft, at the end. 5. Battle of Ghaghra: This is total seventies Eagles. Vocal sounds a little strained if I'm honest. Acoustic guitar is nice. Yeah, sorry YD but as it goes on the singer (that's Schuyler, isn't it?) seems to find it harder to reach the notes. Which is odd, as he's a good singer but he really seems to be struggling here. I think it's way too long as well. 6. Psephotous: Nice little song. Not a whole lot more I can say about it; doesn't make a huge impression on me. 7. Adam: Ooh! Love the church organ! Lovely piano then, soft ballad. Like this. Guitar coming in now. Best track so far. 8. Winberg Park: Now this sounds like the album is beginning to pick up at last. Oh but the vocal is so hollow! It's like he's singing at the back of a church or in a tunnel. I'm sure it's intended but it has a negative effect on my listening experience. Which is a pity cos the music is gorgeous. And it's over. 9. Bolodou: More slow church organ, nice. Thinking instrumental here? Some nice vibraphone or mirambas or something. Very stately, almost sepulchral. 10. Mary Fahl: Another acoustic folky tune. Not bad. Very short again. 11. Dario Maestripieri: No, not feeling this at all. Too clever for its own good, and I fear they're showing off their knowledge of this guy's research (on monkeys?), which sort of leaves anyone who doesn't know who he is scratching their head. Like me. Boo. 12. Bautzen Railway Station: Now this sounds beautiful. Big thick synth with a real eighties new-wave feel and techno percussion, lovely Spanish guitar and a sound like a train pulling out of the eponymous station. Excellent. But again, way too short. Could have enjoyed a lot more of that. 13. Luigi Galleani: Good hard rocker with a nice hook. Great solo there. 14. The monsters are on Maple Street: At least I recognise this title: Twilight Zone episode, right? Somewhat disappointingly, it's yet another instrumental. A good one, but still, I had hoped to see a clever lyrical idea in this song. I don't feel the music matches the title at all; thought it would be much more threatening, doomy, oppressive, bleak. 15. Minister of the Interior: Nice melody; not mad about the vocal though. Another acoustic folky half-ballad with more than a little of The Beatles in it. End result: I see this was released before Frownland and it shows. Too much acoustic folk, too many instrumentals, and Schuyler seems still to be honing his voice. Amazing that only eight months later these guys would release something so much better. Overall, a rather large disappointment and if this had been the first I'd heard of cloudcover I would likely have written them off and not bothered with later releases. So, Love or Hate? Sorry Yorky but I really have to give this a very weak Like, and it just escape a Meh by the skin of its teeth. Expected so much more. __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

12-27-2015, 05:27 PM	#2430 (permalink)
Machine moon lake inc. Join Date: Oct 2014 Location: Detroit Posts: 2,125	TH are you skipping over the Lantlos album?! __________________ boost my ego listen to me stroke my delay pedal ever wanted to hear death grips songs... but they're acoustic? me neither.