Frownland

Hypnotic is right. That's a really excellent record, the strings on it are especially great.

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Studies show that when a given norm is changed in the face of the unchanging, the remaining contradictions will parallel the truth.

Trollheart

I could feel that maybe it might be something I could get into, given time. As I say, I certainly didn't hate it, but it took me a little by surprise. Not that I know anything about krautrock of course.

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Frownland

First lesson: that hypnotic drum and bass lock was invented (or popularized, if there was a predecessor I don't know about) by Faust and is pretty common in the genre.

__________________

Studies show that when a given norm is changed in the face of the unchanging, the remaining contradictions will parallel the truth.

Trollheart

I wonder what I said about Faust IV, all those years ago? I bet I hated it and couldn't understand it.

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Frownland

And I probably informed you of that fact at the time.

__________________

Studies show that when a given norm is changed in the face of the unchanging, the remaining contradictions will parallel the truth.

Trollheart

Now this is interesting!

Title: Faust IV
Artiste: Faust
Genre: Krautrock
Familiarity: Zero
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faust_IV#Track_listing

Track 1(Love) Bit harsh to start with, and I see it's over eleven minutes long. No easing into this one, then! Meh, it kind of settles down after about three or four minutes and I can start getting into it. Not as bad as I had feared it would be. And it went by faster than expected. Yeah, pretty good really.
Track 2(Hate) Not mad about this; kind of reggae feel to it I don't care for
Track 3(Love) This is nice; quite relaxed and low-key, piano at the end is pretty cool.
Track 4(Love) Meh, it's okay, nothing that great
Track 5(Love) Very progressive rock here; like the bass. Great sax too. Oh and some wonderful keyboard work. Yeah, really like this one.
Track 6(Love) (Tracks 6 and 7 are merged on the Spotify copy I have) Nice gentle track, though the French singing is a little weird
Track 7(Love) This is nice, a good closer. Lovely piano and fine guitar.

End result: I don't know what it is about this album; I almost feel as if I haven't heard enough to form an opinion. It seems a little disjointed to me. But what I heard I mostly liked. I just kind of feel like I've been short-changed in some way. Odd.

So, Love or Hate? For the record though, it's a Love.

Chances of a full review: 0/10
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Frownland

Here I was about to post The Sad Skinhead in the Songs Everybody Loves thread. Glad you generally liked it though, even if you hated my favourite track on the album.

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Trollheart

Album title: Compassion
Artist: Forest Swords
Genre: Electronic/Experimental
Nationality: English
Release date: May 5
Position in Discography: Second
Estimated Rating:

Familiar with this artist? No
Familiar with the genre or subgenre? No
Average RYM Score: 3.44
Some very nice almost ambient electronic music, with samples, loops and fractured vocals going through it. I would probably have been happier without the latter, but he's trying to make a point about communication here, so I guess it works. The music's pretty nice on its own though. Mind you, the sort of choral thing on “Panic” is good. There's some really nice orchestral work on “Arms Out”, and the vocal works nicely here too. Not a bad album. Decent enough.

Check out more from this artist? Might
Check out more from this genre or subgenre? Yes

Actual Rating:

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Trollheart

Album title: Kreise
Artist: Johannes Oerding
Genre: Pop/Pop Rock
Nationality: German
Release date: May 5
Position in Discography: Fifth
Estimated Rating:

Familiar with this artist? No
Familiar with the genre or subgenre? Yes
Average RYM Score: 2.19
Decent, catchy pop so far anyway; definitely has something. He's got a good voice. I wonder if he was ever in a boyband? No, seems he's always been a solo artist. Good for him. It's funny how personally, I always find the German language very harsh and sharp, but most times, when reviewing albums by German artists, it seems that harshness disappears – or at least is very much ameliorated – by the singing. “So schön” is a very breezy and catchy song, “Freier Fall” is a nice ballad and you have to admire the cleverness in titles such as “Love Me Tinder”, to say nothing of his using English and German pastiches to make song titles.

Generally speaking, a decent pop album. Nothing special, but nothing terrible either. Can't honestly say anything stood out or was memorable, language barrier aside. But for an album with fourteen tracks, and in German, I wasn't wishing for it to end, which has to count for something.

Check out more from this artist? No
Check out more from this genre or subgenre? Yes

Actual Rating:

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Trollheart

Album title: Halo
Artist: Juana Molina
Genre: Folktronica/Art Pop/Experimental
Nationality: Argentinian
Release date: May 5
Position in Discography: Seventh
Estimated Rating:

Familiar with this artist? No
Familiar with the genre or subgenre? No
Average RYM Score: 3.37
Interesting stuff. Very breathy vocal, nice Latin rhythms, much of it is very ethereal. Weird effects on "Cálculos y oráculos", sounds like dogs howling, though I guess it's some sort of slidy synth effect, or something on a guitar; flange, maybe? Odd-sounding anyway. I guess it all has a nice Latin flair and feel, but I'm sort of bored with it and not really taking any of it in. Of course, as I review and listen to albums I'm usually also doing something else, but if an album is good enough it will pull me, even only momentarily, from that task and force me to pay it more attention. This one hasn't done that.

Check out more from this artist? No
Check out more from this genre or subgenre? Yes

Actual Rating:

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Trollheart

Album title: For Crying Out Loud
Artist: Kasabian
Genre: Electronic Rock/Electronica/Neo-psychedelia/Space Rock
Nationality: English
Release date: May 5
Position in Discography: Sixth
Estimated Rating:

Familiar with this artist? I've heard some of their material
Familiar with the genre or subgenre? No
Average RYM Score: 2.75
What is the deal with Kasabian? Why are they a successful band? They seem about as generic, to me, as you can get. Well okay, “You're In Love With a Psycho” is pretty cool, very infectious melody. Was it a single? Yes. Yes, it was. Not surprised. “Wasted” is another good song, as is “Are You Looking For Action?”, which has more than a hint of funk/dance about it. As is often the case, I wonder where Wiki gets the genre tags from. Have not heard anything remotely like space rock here at all, and little if any psych, never mind neo-psych. Oh well. A fairly ordinary rock and pop album. Again, not bad but I don't see why people think these guys are so good. They're really not very different from, say, the Killers or Kaiser Chiefs or any other rock band you want to name. And this is a very average album.

Check out more from this artist? No
Check out more from this genre or subgenre? Yes

Actual Rating:

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Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018