Trollheart

Time to move on. You know what to do.

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Janszoon

I've owned that album for ages and don't listen too much so I guess that's not exactly a ringing endorsement. However, I did coincidentally happen to give it a re-listen a few weeks ago and thought it was pretty good.

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Zhanteimi

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Zhanteimi

LetsTalkMusic

MicShazam

This isn't really my kind of thing by any means since I'm not that big of a fan of regular rock music of varying descriptions.
I find the music here to be sort of boring. The singer has a really thin and unimpressive singing voice and just about no singing skills.
I get a bit of a Beach Boys vibe from this at times, but more 80's sounding - which is fitting given the age of the album.

Really difficult to say much about this. They're just sort of going for a bunch of lighthearted, somewhat energetic melodic rock tunes, but the songs aren't really that memorable.

The singer is really what sinks this ship for me though. I find him 100% incapable of proving that it needs to be him that's holding the microphone.

There is a sort of sugary, twee vibe to most of this album. Especially the last track. I see why Mord would call it children's music. Basically, this exhibits a bunch of traits that made me hate so much early 2000's indie. I guess this sort of thing is what people mean when they say that something sounds "unbearably white"

This is weak, sexless and a pretty thin cup of tea.

3/10, I guess.

Psy-Fi

1. What were your VERY FIRST impressions on listening to the album, say from the first five minutes in?
They're trying to be a late 60's sounding pop/rock group like The Monkees.

2. What did you think of the opening track?
See above answer.

3. What did you think of the next track?
Same as answer to question 1.

4. Did you like the vocalist? Hate him/her? Any impressions?
No. Too nasally and wimpy sounding for my ears.

5. Did the music (only) generally appeal to you, or not?
Some of it was OK. Nothing really impressed me or stuck with me, though.

6. Did the album get better or worse as you listened to it?
Stayed about the same throughout.

7. What did you think of the lyrical content?
The lyrics didn't do much for me. Mediocre at best.

8. Did you like the instrumental parts?
See answer to question 5.

9. What did you think of the production?
Not bad but I thought it sounded rather tinny.

10. Did you know of this artiste prior to listening to the album, and if so, did that foreknowledge colour your perception of this album?
Yes. I heard them back in the early 80's, didn't do anything for me at the time. Didn't think I'd be much into them now, either, and I was right.

11. Is this, generally, the kind of music you listen to or not?
No. This type of music mostly just sounds too wimpy/poppy/teenyboppy for me.

12. Assuming you listened to the album more than once, on repeated listens, did you find you liked the album more, or less?
Listened twice. A bit of it sounded slightly more interesting with the second listen, but not enough for me to care to give it a third listen.

13. What would you class as your favourite track, if you have one?
The last track "Moving in Your Sleep" was the closest I came to a favorite track.

14. And the one you liked least?
"I'm in Love." It's power pop without any power.

15. If the album in question is a debut, did that fact allow it, in your mind, any leeway, and if so, was that decision justified or vindicated?
I'ts their debut but that fact didn't change my reaction to it.

16. Are you now looking forward to hearing more from this artiste, if you have not heard any of their other material?
No. They just don't do anything for me musically, vocally, or lyrically.

17. Were you surprised by your reaction - positive or negative - to the album?
No. See answer to question 10.

18. Did the album end well?
The last track was the only one I sort of liked, so yes.

19. Do you see any way the album could have been improved?
Different vocalist, less tinny sounding production (put some real power in that "power" pop), different lyrics.

20. Do you think the album hung together well, ie was a fully cohesive unit, or was it a bit hit-and-miss?
I guess it hung together fairly well. Nothing sounded out of place.

4/10

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She's a Brick House

Goofle

1. What were your VERY FIRST impressions on listening to the album, say from the first five minutes in?
Pretty good stuff. I like this style of music quite a bit and it comes across as quite modern.
2. What did you think of the opening track?
See above answer.

3. What did you think of the next track?
Felt a little more psychedelic because of the vocal. I liked.

4. Did you like the vocalist? Hate him/her? Any impressions?
He was fine. Would have worked better with a female vocalist IMO. Then again I would say that about most music.

5. Did the music (only) generally appeal to you, or not?
Yeah it was fine. It did it's job well.

6. Did the album get better or worse as you listened to it?
Rather consistent.

7. What did you think of the lyrical content?
Disn't take any notice.

8. Did you like the instrumental parts?
Was good, nothing amazing.

9. What did you think of the production?
Seemed okay to me.

10. Did you know of this artiste prior to listening to the album, and if so, did that foreknowledge colour your perception of this album?
I do not remember hearing much about them.

11. Is this, generally, the kind of music you listen to or not?
Not generally, but I have never strayed away from it intentionally.

12. Assuming you listened to the album more than once, on repeated listens, did you find you liked the album more, or less?
Liked it about the same both times.

13. What would you class as your favourite track, if you have one?
'The Fight' and 'Black and White'.

14. And the one you liked least?
'I'm in Love' was a bit sap.

15. If the album in question is a debut, did that fact allow it, in your mind, any leeway, and if so, was that decision justified or vindicated?
Nope.

16. Are you now looking forward to hearing more from this artiste, if you have not heard any of their other material?
Probably won't to be honest.

17. Were you surprised by your reaction - positive or negative - to the album?
Nope.

18. Did the album end well?
It was fine.

19. Do you see any way the album could have been improved?
Female vocalist, a bit more raw.

20. Do you think the album hung together well, ie was a fully cohesive unit, or was it a bit hit-and-miss?
It was cohesive.



6.5/10

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Neapolitan

1. What were your VERY FIRST impressions on listening to the album, say from the first five minutes in?
'Ugghh, I'm not use to this band.'

2. What did you think of the opening track?
The very first few seconds they were R.E.M.-ish, but then the vocals happened.

3. What did you think of the next track?
XTC with annoying vocals?

4. Did you like the vocalist? Hate him/her? Any impressions?
When the singer sings "I" in the first song, that split second, it totally reminds me of Fox on the Run by Sweet.

5. Did the music (only) generally appeal to you, or not?
It was so so.

6. Did the album get better or worse as you listened to it?
Both? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

7. What did you think of the lyrical content?
IDK ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

8. Did you like the instrumental parts?
Sometimes yes, sometimes no.

9. What did you think of the production?
Have Brian Wilson or Nick Lowe produce it.

10. Did you know of this artiste prior to listening to the album, and if so, did that foreknowledge colour your perception of this album?
I know I've seen their name before somewhere for sure ... um maybe tape decks? No but seriously. I think I heard of their name before but not their music.

11. Is this, generally, the kind of music you listen to or not?
I don't know where this band is at. I like R.E.M. and a bunch of bands out at the same time.

12. Assuming you listened to the album more than once, on repeated listens, did you find you liked the album more, or less?
Repeated? Right now I am struggling to make it through album just once. My goal is to listen to the album straight through without switching over to another album by another band.

13. What would you class as your favourite track, if you have one?
Black and White. Because it starts off kinda R.E.M.-ish and when the singer sings "I" it totally reminds me of Fox on the Run by Sweet.

14. And the one you liked least?
eww, I didn't not study the album hard enough to make the correct negative value judgement to properly answer that question.

15. If the album in question is a debut, did that fact allow it, in your mind, any leeway, and if so, was that decision justified or vindicated?
The album is a debut. But that shouldn't change or modify opinions.

16. Are you now looking forward to hearing more from this artiste, if you have not heard any of their other material?
Probably not, to be honest. But if I say I won't do something I probably end up doing it, so I might.

17. Were you surprised by your reaction - positive or negative - to the album?
Yes, I am surprised by my reaction. I feel like I am leaning to the not-too-receptive-to-the-album side. I want to be receptive, I really do, cause I am sure the guy who picked it really digs it.

18. Did the album end well?
I wasn't there to find out.

19. Do you see any way the album could have been improved?
Um yeah. Have Brian Wilson or Nick Lowe produce it.

20. Do you think the album hung together well, ie was a fully cohesive unit, or was it a bit hit-and-miss?
Egads, I'm not sure, maybe hit-and-miss.


3/10 ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

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innerspaceboy

1. What were your VERY FIRST impressions on listening to the album, say from the first five minutes in?
Quirky jangle pop. But the quirkiness has yet to grab me in a positive way.

2. What did you think of the opening track?
It's a departure from my daily cup of tea so I'm keen to keep listening.

3. What did you think of the next track?
Disliked it. A bit whiney and it doesn’t stand out as uniquely meritorious. Just off-beat and odd.

4. Did you like the vocalist? Hate him/her? Any impressions?
The eccentric vocals don’t appear to accomplish anything other than being overtly bizarre and it seems contrived.

5. Did the music (only) generally appeal to you, or not?
Nothing particularly remarkable here. Some of the instrumentation and vocal effects are a tip of the hat to superior psychedelic predecessors but nothing has grabbed me yet. Still I appreciate hearing something different from my day to day listening so I’ll keep at it to see what the rest of the record has to offer.

6. Did the album get better or worse as you listened to it?
It’s consistently unremarkable. It’s not trying to be anything exceptional, but it seems to fall short of the mark even within its range.

7. What did you think of the lyrical content?
I don’t believe stellar lyricism was a focus for this group. They seem to be more focused on it being the 80s all over this sh*t.

8. Did you like the instrumental parts?
I didn’t mind some of the frenzied amelodic burps bleeps and grunts. While not particularly original their inclusion at least added some character to the tracks.

9. What did you think of the production?
Tinny is the word of the day. Not that jangle/power pop albums are known for hi-fidelity, but the production really sounds flat here.

10. Did you know of this artiste prior to listening to the album, and if so, did that foreknowledge colour your perception of this album?
New to me, so it was an interesting listen. I’m definitely open to listening to 80s oddities but this isn’t standing out as something I’d revisit.

11. Is this, generally, the kind of music you listen to or not?
I don’t listen to a lot of music with lyrics, but avant-pop is an area of interest and this flirts with that territory a few times over the course of the record.

12. Assuming you listened to the album more than once, on repeated listens, did you find you liked the album more, or less?
The first run through was sufficient for me.

13. What would you class as your favourite track, if you have one?
I’ll agree with "Moving in Your Sleep" as being more my speed. Definitely the most “jangle” of the album’s selections.

14. And the one you liked least?
Most of the rest of the album blended together as uniformly unremarkable.

15. If the album in question is a debut, did that fact allow it, in your mind, any leeway, and if so, was that decision justified or vindicated?
It’s not a bad record, just nothing particularly interesting. The instrumentation isn’t particularly memorable and the lead vocalist doesn’t do much for me either.

16. Are you now looking forward to hearing more from this artiste, if you have not heard any of their other material?
Not particularly. If I am in the mood for zany 80s pop I’ll stick to my favorites.

17. Were you surprised by your reaction - positive or negative - to the album?
I try not to have any expectations going in to The Album Club selections. I was curious, and again I was glad to hear something different from my standard fare. I didn’t rush to turn it off at any point, but it isn’t something I’m going to order on wax.

18. Did the album end well?
Quite well. I only wish there were more tracks like the closer throughout the record.

19. Do you see any way the album could have been improved?
Refocus the quirkiness in the vocals and instrumentation to more of a Fela Kuti-inspired vein of densely layered, ethnofunkadelic polyrhythms and retitle the album, Remain in Light.

20. Do you think the album hung together well, ie was a fully cohesive unit, or was it a bit hit-and-miss?
It was consistent and uniform. Not a bad debut, just less than memorable.

4/10

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TechnicLePanther

I actually really love this album. I heard it for the first time a few years ago and it didn't do much for me. However, upon listening to it again more recently, I began to notice a lot more songwriting-wise that I found really intriguing. In terms of performance, I would definitely agree with those who are saying it's nothing particularly spectacular, but I don't tend to focus much on the quality of performance anyways.

The jangly style of this album, while it can grate after a little while, does provide some opportunity for some excellent songwriting to shine through, and I think it really does on this one. If the entire album was as superbly written as "Black and White", this album would certainly be a masterpiece. As it is, there are some good tracks and some not so good tracks. Among the best I'd list: "Black and White", "Dynamite", "She's Not Worried", "Cycles Per Second", and "Moving In Your Sleep". And of course there are some more generic and less interesting songs such as: "Espionage", "Tearjerkin'", and "Big Brown Eyes". I still consider these songs good however.

And that's really just it for me with this album, while nothing on here except perhaps "Black and White" is anything exceedingly great, each song on the album is at least good. And that's the kind of consistency that I look for in my favorite albums. 8/10

On my list of favorite to least favorite albums:

Naked City - Radio
The dB's - Stands for Decibels
Glenn Branca - The Ascension

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Frownland

I like the album, but only for a few songs. Those few songs are nice though, since I can catch a lot of echoes of Renaldo and the Loaf on some tracks. If they were opening for a better band, I'd still catch their set because I could see them having some energy. These guys are certainly an interesting blend of psychdelic and pop genres. The parts that are more traditionally psychedelic were my least favourite part tbh, as Psy-fi mentioned earlier with the Monkees comparison. I think the percussion and the harmonies are the strongest elements of this album, since they're consistently interesting.

The tracks do tend to drag on a bit and I don't really see myself throwing on again unless I'm with someone who I think might enjoy it. It really falls off at the end with all of the love songs with the exception of Judy.

Favourite songs: Dynamite, The Fight, Cycles Per Second
Songs they should cut: She's Not Worried, Espionage, Bad Reputation, Big Brown Eyes, I'm In Love

6/10

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