Trollheart Listens to Every Album on Wiki's List for 2017

Trollheart · 11-05-2017, 10:29 AM

Album title: R U Ready?
Artist: Lovelyz
Genre: K-Pop/Dance/R&B
Nationality: Korean
Release date: February 26
Position in Discography: Second
Fear Factor: Low
Familiar with this artist? No
Familiar with the genre or subgenre? Since I began this, a lot more, yes
Average RYM Score: 2.95
After a long hiatus, back to K-Pop we go. Seems for some reason this album was re-released in May under a new name, but from what I've heard of this genre to date it seems most of it is the same, corporate-produced line of happy pop, and it's getting tougher to say anything distinct about any of the bands, all of whom seem to blend together into one bubbly mass of female hormones and boppy pop tunes that copy American styles and tropes. This could be NCT127, Hello Venus, SES, April or any of the K-Pop bands I've already listened to: there's really very little difference, at least that I can discern. I'm sure their fans would disagree. There are of course the obligatory ballads, and “Morning Star” is a very nice one. Hmm. And it's followed by another, this time “First Snow”. Both very nice.

One song that does grab my attention is the kind of pop/rock tune after “Knock Knock” which seems to translate merely to “The”, but it stands out as something different on a pretty bland and unvaried album. Still, this is K-Pop, so don't expect too much. It's entertaining, it's happy, it's harmless. It's K-Pop: that is its blessing. It is also its curse.

Check out more from this artist? Unlikely
Check out more from this genre or subgenre? Likely

Expectation Index: 0

**Exo** · 11-05-2017, 10:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trollheart

Album title: Drunk
Artist: Thundercat
Genre: Jazz Fusion/Electronic/R&B
Nationality: American
Release date: February 24
Position in Discography: Third
Fear Factor: High
Familiar with this artist? No
Familiar with the genre or subgenre? No
Average RYM Score: 3.26
Another album that fooled me into thinking the vocalist was female, dammit! Twenty-three tracks here, people! Let's hope either that there's a lot of good stuff or that it's so bad I can bail out. So far, it seems to be the former. Lots of engaging music here. Nice mix of soul, thumping electronic tunes and some pretty mad jazz, none of which have annoyed me. It is however hard to listen to this without thinking of this:

I don't feel Kendrick adds much to “Walk On By”, but I'm sure there will be people wetting themselves over his guest appearance here. It's the only one from him. Others who lend a hand include seventies icons Michael McDonald and Kenny Loggins, Pharrell Williams, Mac Miller, Wiz Khalifa and Kamasi Washington. Not sure why ol' Thunderpussy needs these as he has a great singing voice himself, but what do I know? I think “Tokyo” would be one of my favourite tracks here. Lot of short little tracks too, and it all adds up to a very impressive album.

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

Expectation Index: 9

I'm going to have to revisit this because when I first listened to it I found it so damn underwhelming and bland yet people seem to really dig it. He's such an interesting musician and I thought Drunk was just boring as sh*t.

Trollheart · 11-05-2017, 10:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Exo

I'm going to have to revisit this because when I first listened to it I found it so damn underwhelming and bland yet people seem to really dig it. He's such an interesting musician and I thought Drunk was just boring as sh*t.

Well surely the fact that I liked it makes it automatically crap, no?

Trollheart · 11-05-2017, 10:52 AM

Album title: Act 2: Narcissus
Artist: Gugudan
Genre: K-Pop
Nationality: Korean, duh
Release date: February 27
Position in Discography: Second
Fear Factor: Low
Familiar with this artist? No
Familiar with the genre or subgenre? Yes
Average RYM Score: 2.28
Copy and paste previous review? Well yeah, mostly. Don't get the pretentious album title for such an obviously basic pop album, but maybe they have a reason. This is really only an EP (or as they like to call them over there, mini-album) with six tracks on it. Batty will probably be annoyed that the title of the opener is “Rainbow” but, you know, he can suck a dick. So can this album, to be fair. Very bland. Colour me not surprised.

I'd just like to point out (not that anyone cares) that I'm not saying this is a bad album. Far from it. There's nothing wrong with it at all, and some good songs on it. It's just that it's so very interchangeable with the last one (number of tracks notwithstanding) that it's barely worth reviewing. I would question, however, the wisdom of having a six-track EP (okay, okay! Mini-****ing-album!) and using one of those as a remix of one of the other tracks, as they do here with “A Girl Like Me” to close the album. The original wasn't even that great. Oh, and it's an instrumental, too. Sigh. But that's K-Pop for ya!

Check out more from this artist? Nah
Check out more from this genre or subgenre? Probably will have to

Expectation Index: 0

Trollheart · 11-05-2017, 11:25 AM

Album title: My Voice
Artist: Taeyeon
Genre: Pop/Rock/R&B/PR&B
Nationality: Korean
Release date: February 28
Position in Discography: Debut
Fear Factor: Low
Familiar with this artist? No
Familiar with the genre or subgenre? A bit
Average RYM Score: 3.10
And Korea takes us out of February on a trio of albums, two of which certainly deserve to be labelled K-Pop, but the last one here, probably slightly more sophisticated and might deserve more of a chance. Taeyeon is, or was, a member of one of the biggest K-Pop girl bands, Girls Generation, and there's no doubting she can sing, something she does in English, thankfully. Yeah it's okay but nothing to get terribly excited about. Some nice tracks, some basic ones. Good singer, but overall a kind of bleh album. Ending the month on a damp squib then. Oh well.

Check out more from this artist? Nah
Check out more from this genre or subgenre? Yeah

Expectation Index: 0

**Exo** · 11-05-2017, 11:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trollheart

Well surely the fact that I liked it makes it automatically crap, no?

Sometimes.

Trollheart · 11-05-2017, 11:35 AM

Trollheart · 11-05-2017, 11:39 AM

So that's it for February. Two months down, ten to go. If I keep going at this rate, chances are good that I'll be through the whole thing in a year. For now, I'm taking a short break, so don't expect to see any more reviews today. Tomorrow I'll dive into March and life will resume its usual mad hurly-burly, and there'll likely be entries galore, assuming my lower intestine, in a desperate bid to save mankind, doesn't leap up and throttle my brain.

Back with some statistics later (shut up) and my top and bottom twenty (or is it ten? I don't remember. Whichever, anyway) for February.

**Frownland** · 11-05-2017, 11:58 AM

Can we still rec three for February? If so:

Otis Taylor - Fantasizing About Being Black
The Necks - Unfold
Bargou 08 - Targ

Trollheart · 11-05-2017, 12:56 PM

Okay guys, before I move on, if anyone has suggestions for Feb releases that are not on the main list, hit me. Max of three per member, and depending on how many I get I can't guarantee to do all, but worth a few moments of your time putting your favourites together surely?

Note: there are indices now, so please check there, if you haven't been following the thread, before you select any, in case I may already have reviewed them.

Edit: I see Frown is ahead of the curve.

11-05-2017, 10:29 AM	#841 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,994	Album title: R U Ready? Artist: Lovelyz Genre: K-Pop/Dance/R&B Nationality: Korean Release date: February 26 Position in Discography: Second Fear Factor: Low Familiar with this artist? No Familiar with the genre or subgenre? Since I began this, a lot more, yes Average RYM Score: 2.95 After a long hiatus, back to K-Pop we go. Seems for some reason this album was re-released in May under a new name, but from what I've heard of this genre to date it seems most of it is the same, corporate-produced line of happy pop, and it's getting tougher to say anything distinct about any of the bands, all of whom seem to blend together into one bubbly mass of female hormones and boppy pop tunes that copy American styles and tropes. This could be NCT127, Hello Venus, SES, April or any of the K-Pop bands I've already listened to: there's really very little difference, at least that I can discern. I'm sure their fans would disagree. There are of course the obligatory ballads, and “Morning Star” is a very nice one. Hmm. And it's followed by another, this time “First Snow”. Both very nice. One song that does grab my attention is the kind of pop/rock tune after “Knock Knock” which seems to translate merely to “The”, but it stands out as something different on a pretty bland and unvaried album. Still, this is K-Pop, so don't expect too much. It's entertaining, it's happy, it's harmless. It's K-Pop: that is its blessing. It is also its curse. Check out more from this artist? Unlikely Check out more from this genre or subgenre? Likely Expectation Index: 0 __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

11-05-2017, 10:52 AM	#844 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,994	Album title: Act 2: Narcissus Artist: Gugudan Genre: K-Pop Nationality: Korean, duh Release date: February 27 Position in Discography: Second Fear Factor: Low Familiar with this artist? No Familiar with the genre or subgenre? Yes Average RYM Score: 2.28 Copy and paste previous review? Well yeah, mostly. Don't get the pretentious album title for such an obviously basic pop album, but maybe they have a reason. This is really only an EP (or as they like to call them over there, mini-album) with six tracks on it. Batty will probably be annoyed that the title of the opener is “Rainbow” but, you know, he can suck a dick. So can this album, to be fair. Very bland. Colour me not surprised. I'd just like to point out (not that anyone cares) that I'm not saying this is a bad album. Far from it. There's nothing wrong with it at all, and some good songs on it. It's just that it's so very interchangeable with the last one (number of tracks notwithstanding) that it's barely worth reviewing. I would question, however, the wisdom of having a six-track EP (okay, okay! Mini-**ing-album!) and using one of those as a remix of one of the other tracks, as they do here with “A Girl Like Me” to close the album. The original wasn't even that great. Oh, and it's an instrumental, too. Sigh. But that's K-Pop for ya! Check out more from this artist? Nah Check out more from this genre or subgenre? Probably will have to Expectation Index: 0** __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

11-05-2017, 11:25 AM	#845 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,994	Album title: My Voice Artist: Taeyeon Genre: Pop/Rock/R&B/PR&B Nationality: Korean Release date: February 28 Position in Discography: Debut Fear Factor: Low Familiar with this artist? No Familiar with the genre or subgenre? A bit Average RYM Score: 3.10 And Korea takes us out of February on a trio of albums, two of which certainly deserve to be labelled K-Pop, but the last one here, probably slightly more sophisticated and might deserve more of a chance. Taeyeon is, or was, a member of one of the biggest K-Pop girl bands, Girls Generation, and there's no doubting she can sing, something she does in English, thankfully. Yeah it's okay but nothing to get terribly excited about. Some nice tracks, some basic ones. Good singer, but overall a kind of bleh album. Ending the month on a damp squib then. Oh well. Check out more from this artist? Nah Check out more from this genre or subgenre? Yeah Expectation Index: 0 __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

11-05-2017, 11:35 AM	#847 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,994	__________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

11-05-2017, 11:39 AM	#848 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,994	So that's it for February. Two months down, ten to go. If I keep going at this rate, chances are good that I'll be through the whole thing in a year. For now, I'm taking a short break, so don't expect to see any more reviews today. Tomorrow I'll dive into March and life will resume its usual mad hurly-burly, and there'll likely be entries galore, assuming my lower intestine, in a desperate bid to save mankind, doesn't leap up and throttle my brain. Back with some statistics later (shut up) and my top and bottom twenty (or is it ten? I don't remember. Whichever, anyway) for February. __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

11-05-2017, 11:58 AM	#849 (permalink)
Frownland SOPHIE FOREVER Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: East of the Southern North American West Posts: 35,541	Can we still rec three for February? If so: Otis Taylor - Fantasizing About Being Black The Necks - Unfold Bargou 08 - Targ __________________ Studies show that when a given norm is changed in the face of the unchanging, the remaining contradictions will parallel the truth. d e a f b o x

11-05-2017, 12:56 PM	#850 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,994	Okay guys, before I move on, if anyone has suggestions for Feb releases that are not on the main list, hit me. Max of three per member, and depending on how many I get I can't guarantee to do all, but worth a few moments of your time putting your favourites together surely? Note: there are indices now, so please check there, if you haven't been following the thread, before you select any, in case I may already have reviewed them. Edit: I see Frown is ahead of the curve. __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018