Love or Hate?

Trollheart · 01-19-2016, 02:50 PM

Title: Floral Shoppe
Artiste: Macintosh Plus
Genre: Experimental/Vaporwave
Familiarity: Ze-ro!
Recommended by: TechnicLePanther

Expectations: Expect weirdness! I see the track titles are all in some alien language, so I won't be transcribing those. If that doesn't suit, then you can all kiss my perfectly-formed backside.

1. : Nice sax and piano opening, but then there are samples flying in and out at all sorts of angles, something I absolutely hate. This is not a good start. Okay that was awful.
2. : Nice sort of cheerful synth but its really like some sort of seventies soul/pop song, until near the end where it gets all staggered and twisted up and warped. Still, for nearly six minutes it was listenable. Got to be worth an Orange of anyone's money.
3. : This however starts stuttering from the beginning, so we're Caretakering again, are we?

Back to Red we go. Oh wait: might be settling dow ... no, back to the warped stuff. Sigh.
4. : This one on the other hand was alright. Soul/ Funk again but they left it alone.
5. : Big spacey keyboard; pretty good tune all told, and not freaky at all.
6. : Actually this is really gorgeous. Great guitar work. Please leave it alone and don't start chopping it up and messing with it!
7. : Back to the stupid repeating samples. This sounds like something Frownland would do. And there's six minutes of it. I think that earns it a Red. Actually as it goes along it gets better. Like that sax and it's settled down now. Changing to Green.
8. : Short but not bad.
9. : This one's pretty good too, kind of sense of Vangelis about it.
10. : I like the way this is constructed: the kind of almost industrial sounding synth and percussion, the vocoder-heavy vocal. Yeah, I like this.
11. : Yeah, was enjoying that till it just cut off abruptly at the end. Don't know whether that was ineptitude on the part of the uploader or if it's meant to do that. I'll still Green it though.

End result: I'm rally not sure what I just listened to. In the main, it was pretty good music, some of it quite excellent. At times I felt like I was listening to seventies soul, at others nineties electronica, and then the likes of James Blake and The Caretaker. Very odd. On the whole, though, I think I enjoyed it.

So, Love or Hate? I'll give this a Love.

Trollheart · 01-19-2016, 02:53 PM

Title: Disintegration
Artiste: The Cure
Genre: New Wave
Familiarity: I know some of The Cure's music, and have heard Seventeen Seconds, which I enjoyed, though if I remember it's all instrumental.
Recommended by: Pet_Sounds

Expectations: Not sure really. I don't know enough of their music to have an idea what to expect. They did some pretty poppy stuff, like “Friday I'm in love” and “Love cats”, but then there's some much deeper, more introspective stuff too.

1. Plainsong: Love the opening to this; very dramatic, very synth-driven with maybe darkwave overtones? Vocal sort of snakes its way in, like someone joining an ongoing conversation at a party and trying to pretend they were part of the group all along.
2. Pictures of you: This has a certain U2 feel to it. Vocal is much clearer, little more uptempo and more on the pop side of things than the previous track.
3. Closedown: Great synthy power on this one, very darkwave again with a nice kind of rolling drumbeat and some clever little guitar riffs. I think.
4. Lovesong: This is a great upbeat pop song, very catchy. Like the sprinkly peppy keys and the riff running through it. Again some nice guitar.
5. Last dance: Yeah I like this one. Kind of mixed darkwave with pop, and does it quite well.
6. Lullaby: Seems pretty straightforward rock here, with a lovely sweeping synth line. Has a sense of creeping dread about it. Think this was a single? Sounds familiar anyway. Yeah it was; thought I recognised it.
7. Fascination Street: Great buildup in this one; like it too.
8. Prayers for rain: Darker, bit more menacing. Reminds me a little of Gary Numan in places.
9. The same deep waters as you: Is it odd that this begins with the sound of thunder and rain, when the last one was called “Prayers for rain”? Anyway, it's got a really nice dark slow synthy vibe to it. Love the way it sort of shuffles along like a child who doesn't want to go to bed/school etc.
10. Disintegration: Perfect juxtapositioning. After a slow, darkwave piece we get a boppy, uptempo one with some nice upbeat guitar and piano.
11. Homesick: This starts as a lovely acoustic ballad, mostly instrumental but vocals do come in in the last two minutes. It's really nice.
12. Untitled: Lovely soft little laidback closer. Perfect.

End result: I read that Robert Smith hated the popularity that the band courted, but you can see why that happened. This is a great, great album and there isn't one song on it I don't like.

So, Love or Hate? It's a very definite Love.

**Frownland** · 01-19-2016, 03:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trollheart

Title: Floral Shoppe
Artiste: Macintosh Plus
Genre: Experimental/Vaporwave
Familiarity: Ze-ro!
Recommended by: TechnicLePanther

Expectations: Expect weirdness! I see the track titles are all in some alien language, so I won't be transcribing those. If that doesn't suit, then you can all kiss my perfectly-formed backside.

1. : Nice sax and piano opening, but then there are samples flying in and out at all sorts of angles, something I absolutely hate. This is not a good start. Okay that was awful.
2. : Nice sort of cheerful synth but its really like some sort of seventies soul/pop song, until near the end where it gets all staggered and twisted up and warped. Still, for nearly six minutes it was listenable. Got to be worth an Orange of anyone's money.
3. : This however starts stuttering from the beginning, so we're Caretakering again, are we?

Back to Red we go. Oh wait: might be settling dow ... no, back to the warped stuff. Sigh.
4. : This one on the other hand was alright. Soul/ Funk again but they left it alone.
5. : Big spacey keyboard; pretty good tune all told, and not freaky at all.
6. : Actually this is really gorgeous. Great guitar work. Please leave it alone and don't start chopping it up and messing with it!
7. : Back to the stupid repeating samples. This sounds like something Frownland would do. And there's six minutes of it. I think that earns it a Red. Actually as it goes along it gets better. Like that sax and it's settled down now. Changing to Green.
8. : Short but not bad.
9. : This one's pretty good too, kind of sense of Vangelis about it.
10. : I like the way this is constructed: the kind of almost industrial sounding synth and percussion, the vocoder-heavy vocal. Yeah, I like this.
11. : Yeah, was enjoying that till it just cut off abruptly at the end. Don't know whether that was ineptitude on the part of the uploader or if it's meant to do that. I'll still Green it though.

End result: I'm rally not sure what I just listened to. In the main, it was pretty good music, some of it quite excellent. At times I felt like I was listening to seventies soul, at others nineties electronica, and then the likes of James Blake and The Caretaker. Very odd. On the whole, though, I think I enjoyed it.

So, Love or Hate? I'll give this a Love.

I think it's pretty impossible to hate this one.

01-19-2016, 02:50 PM	#1 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,996	Title: Floral Shoppe Artiste: Macintosh Plus Genre: Experimental/Vaporwave Familiarity: Ze-ro! Recommended by: TechnicLePanther Expectations: Expect weirdness! I see the track titles are all in some alien language, so I won't be transcribing those. If that doesn't suit, then you can all kiss my perfectly-formed backside. 1. : Nice sax and piano opening, but then there are samples flying in and out at all sorts of angles, something I absolutely hate. This is not a good start. Okay that was awful. 2. : Nice sort of cheerful synth but its really like some sort of seventies soul/pop song, until near the end where it gets all staggered and twisted up and warped. Still, for nearly six minutes it was listenable. Got to be worth an Orange of anyone's money. 3. : This however starts stuttering from the beginning, so we're Caretakering again, are we? Back to Red we go. Oh wait: might be settling dow ... no, back to the warped stuff. Sigh. 4. : This one on the other hand was alright. Soul/ Funk again but they left it alone. 5. : Big spacey keyboard; pretty good tune all told, and not freaky at all. 6. : Actually this is really gorgeous. Great guitar work. Please leave it alone and don't start chopping it up and messing with it! 7. : Back to the stupid repeating samples. This sounds like something Frownland would do. And there's six minutes of it. I think that earns it a Red. Actually as it goes along it gets better. Like that sax and it's settled down now. Changing to Green. 8. : Short but not bad. 9. : This one's pretty good too, kind of sense of Vangelis about it. 10. : I like the way this is constructed: the kind of almost industrial sounding synth and percussion, the vocoder-heavy vocal. Yeah, I like this. 11. : Yeah, was enjoying that till it just cut off abruptly at the end. Don't know whether that was ineptitude on the part of the uploader or if it's meant to do that. I'll still Green it though. End result: I'm rally not sure what I just listened to. In the main, it was pretty good music, some of it quite excellent. At times I felt like I was listening to seventies soul, at others nineties electronica, and then the likes of James Blake and The Caretaker. Very odd. On the whole, though, I think I enjoyed it. So, Love or Hate? I'll give this a Love. __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

01-19-2016, 02:53 PM	#2 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,996	Title: Disintegration Artiste: The Cure Genre: New Wave Familiarity: I know some of The Cure's music, and have heard Seventeen Seconds, which I enjoyed, though if I remember it's all instrumental. Recommended by: Pet_Sounds Expectations: Not sure really. I don't know enough of their music to have an idea what to expect. They did some pretty poppy stuff, like “Friday I'm in love” and “Love cats”, but then there's some much deeper, more introspective stuff too. 1. Plainsong: Love the opening to this; very dramatic, very synth-driven with maybe darkwave overtones? Vocal sort of snakes its way in, like someone joining an ongoing conversation at a party and trying to pretend they were part of the group all along. 2. Pictures of you: This has a certain U2 feel to it. Vocal is much clearer, little more uptempo and more on the pop side of things than the previous track. 3. Closedown: Great synthy power on this one, very darkwave again with a nice kind of rolling drumbeat and some clever little guitar riffs. I think. 4. Lovesong: This is a great upbeat pop song, very catchy. Like the sprinkly peppy keys and the riff running through it. Again some nice guitar. 5. Last dance: Yeah I like this one. Kind of mixed darkwave with pop, and does it quite well. 6. Lullaby: Seems pretty straightforward rock here, with a lovely sweeping synth line. Has a sense of creeping dread about it. Think this was a single? Sounds familiar anyway. Yeah it was; thought I recognised it. 7. Fascination Street: Great buildup in this one; like it too. 8. Prayers for rain: Darker, bit more menacing. Reminds me a little of Gary Numan in places. 9. The same deep waters as you: Is it odd that this begins with the sound of thunder and rain, when the last one was called “Prayers for rain”? Anyway, it's got a really nice dark slow synthy vibe to it. Love the way it sort of shuffles along like a child who doesn't want to go to bed/school etc. 10. Disintegration: Perfect juxtapositioning. After a slow, darkwave piece we get a boppy, uptempo one with some nice upbeat guitar and piano. 11. Homesick: This starts as a lovely acoustic ballad, mostly instrumental but vocals do come in in the last two minutes. It's really nice. 12. Untitled: Lovely soft little laidback closer. Perfect. End result: I read that Robert Smith hated the popularity that the band courted, but you can see why that happened. This is a great, great album and there isn't one song on it I don't like. So, Love or Hate? It's a very definite Love. __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018