Forum Member Album Reviews

[YorkeDaddy]

Well this thread died quickly. Anyone that wants to swap reviews with me just let me know, I figured there'd be more interest than this tbh

Or hell, I know Plainview has more albums so we could trade again if you want? I'd pick "Deconstruct" personally if anyone were to review a second Daydream Society album.

[Key]

I posted some. I like the idea. No surprise that a thread about music on this forum isn't popular. I'd like to see this thread get more attention however.

[Plankton]

Originally Posted by YorkeDaddy

Well this thread died quickly. Anyone that wants to swap reviews with me just let me know, I figured there'd be more interest than this tbh

Or hell, I know Plainview has more albums so we could trade again if you want? I'd pick "Deconstruct" personally if anyone were to review a second Daydream Society album.

I'll have a go at it.

Here's 3 of mine to pick from:

Albums - Planktons Odyssey

The "Dad's Blues" section is just a few random blues tunes I made for my Dad. He likes the blues.

[Plankton]

The best way for me to review an album is to comment in real-time, and that's exactly how I went about this one. So, with out further ado, here's my review of:

Deconstruct

Any Given Day - At first i thought my speakers were frying, then some relief comes in with the ambient synth. A bit of some layering going on, and then it finally calms down to a peaceful drone. Back with the overdriven synth. I felt it was an unanswered question.

Abstruce - Nice opening with the off key synth hits. This has more of a feeling like it may go somewhere. Cool groove on that.

Overture - Good intro syncopation, and I'm now wondering if this will continue through the entire piece, which it does not. Some trippy hammond-like chords, and then it drops out.

Loner - Tubular bells to start this one off, with a monotized beat track leading the way through some overdriven, and not overdriven synths. The title, and feel do suggest an image of one walking around a city by themsleves. Then the triangle style soundfont comes in and it breaks it up a bit.

Periphrasis - Fun with delay. Some dissonant chords used in a way that conjures up some pretty frightening images.

Glimpse - Opens with a wind sound that remarkably keeps the beat, then fades. Interesting.

Alliterating - More delay fun. This is pretty cool. Kind of ends before it goes any where.

Not All There - Chimey goodness. This feels like a dream sequence with some revelations, then it just drops off.

Shortness Of Breath - A bit churchy, but nice. I feel like I'm on acid and Don Pardo is gonna pop out any second here. The Leslie effect on the hammond is nice though.

Pararhyme - Like sunlight through the trees on a light breezy day. Some really good synth work on this one. Possibly my favorite piece of the whole work. This is really calming. Love it.

Or Any Given Night - Deep synth intro. Some mesmerizing synth work on this, then into some dissonance, that I think will answer itself and conclude at some point. At least that's what my mind wants to happen. The overlaps give in to some sort of beacon that fades off in the distance, giving this some nice closure.

Final thoughts:
As far as drone music, I don't delve into that style very much, and it was a bit of a stretch to convince myself to do so (I had listened to a couple songs from this incarnation of YorkDaddy's musical stylings), and I have to say I was a bit put off at the beginning, and was getting a bit anxious for something to happen in the middle of it, then at Pararhyme, I felt like I understood what York was trying to do here. Pull the listener through the mud, only to clean them off at the end and give them a treat to take with them on the ride home. York is a fine musician, and I hope he finds a groove in this niche of the musical spectrum.

[YorkeDaddy]

Oh damn thanks for the review Plank, I didn't even know that was coming! :P I wish I had seen in time to tell you to review For Now instead but this is still a-okay with me!

I'll get around to reviewing one of your albums in a similar style asap

[Plankton]

Sounds good.

[Plainview]

I'm more than happy to do more swapping and reviewing, I've just been a little busy lately but I'll give some more stuff a listen soon.

[Trollheart]

I've been guilty of delaying uploading my reviews, but I will try to do so today or tomorrow.

Also, I see this thread has been stickied, which can only be good.

[YorkeDaddy]

Posting to let Plank know his review will be up tomorrow

[YorkeDaddy]

I remember checking out Plankton's Krill once, so this time I'm picking Whale.

Plankton's Odyssey - Whale

1. Cetacea - Some really nice atmosphere here with the deep synth and slowly building guitar. Love the delay on the guitar here. Pretty short track but it really sets the tone for the rest of the album, just a great opener all around.

2. Jonah - Slow build up of guitar distortion, always an effective way to start a track. I dig the hard-rocking simplicity of the power chord riff that jumps in. The hammer on/pull off lick is awesome, I've always loved doing and hearing stuff like that. I think everyone knows you're an extremely skilled guitar player but I'm still blown away by these solos at times, just some seriously nasty stuff. This one rocked hard but might've gone on a little too long, but honestly this is just me trying to come up with a criticism no matter how small.

3. Eye of the Storm - I'm expecting some hard rocking with a title like that, and oh whaddya know the opening of this kicks ASS. I love the heavy metal sound that this track brings to the table which veers off a little from the past two tracks.

4. Wiggles - Way different vibe than the last track, I really dig the "wiggles" of the synths or however the hell you're making that sound. Yeah I mean this was obviously intended to be a stranger sounding track and it works on every level.

5. You're Not To Blame - Wow, can't say I expected vocals to be popping up, is this you or someone that was working with you? This one's solid but not quite as good as the previous tracks imo. That solo tho, probably best on the whole album so far

6. Sunshine Express - I'm expecting some nice, soft guitar playing on this one. Oh nice, really like how this opens. Fits the title very well. Cool little track here, nothing incredible but a lot of fun.

7. Gleaning the Tuesday Sun - Kind of another nice rocker that I admittedly zoned out to a bit. Kind of another "like, but not blown away"

8. Skitch - As I get deeper into the album I'm having a hard time differentiating some of the tracks tbh. I'm sure upon multiple listens that would change but I can only go off of my initial listen. The most memorable ones are when you veer off the path like with Wiggles or Sunshine Express. Still a really nice track though, it's pretty clear that you have instrumental hard rock down to a science.

9. Not Quite The End - Love the atmospheric guitar intro. Love everything about this track actually, perhaps my favorite on the album.

10. Hollow City Limits - Very nice closer. Not much else to say.

Final Verdict - Well man, all I have for you is that your guitar playing, production, and songwriting are top notch and by any definition this is a high quality album. It's not my favorite genre but I was definitely entertained from front to back.