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

Trollheart · 01-06-2018, 04:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rubber soul

That doesn't sound too bad actually. They were low-hi heroes in the nineties. Try Bee Thousand or Alien Lanes. They're a little crude and the songs are short, much like this album, but they're pretty good indie pop imo.

I'm sure it doesn't sound bad. None of it does. But try listening to that thirty-two times, is the problem.

Trollheart · 01-06-2018, 04:26 PM

Album title: All-Amerikkkan Bada$$
Artist: Joey Bada$$
Genre: Conscious Hip-Hop
Nationality: American
Release date: April 7
Position in Discography: Second
Estimated Rating:

Familiar with this artist? No
Familiar with the genre or subgenre? No
Average RYM Score: 3.33
Nice soul rhythm and feel to the opener, his rap is very understandable and kind of laid back in a way, though there's some pretty hard-hitting sociopolitical commentary on “Land of the Free”, and obviously the album title shows that from the beginning, with the triple K added into “America”. Really cleverly done. This seems to have gone by rather quickly and I've enjoyed everything on it to this point. “Ring the Alarm” is a real highlight, and I like the slightly gospel stylings of “Babylon” though it mostly runs on a reggae idea. Really good. Great album, really like it.

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

Actual Rating:

Ol’ Qwerty Bastard · 01-06-2018, 04:42 PM

aw, i planned on recommending that one. at least you liked it anyway

Trollheart · 01-07-2018, 10:05 AM

Album title: Everywhere is Some Where
Artist: K. Flay
Genre: Electropop/Hip-Hop
Nationality: American
Release date: April 7
Position in Discography: Second
Estimated Rating:

Familiar with this artist? No
Familiar with the genre or subgenre? No
Average RYM Score: 3.40
Pretty much any genre I've explored here and elsewhere has suffered from the same male bias, which women are slowly doing their very best to dismantle, and usually with varying degrees of success. Metal remains almost exclusively a male preserve, there are hardly any women in prog, and as for hip-hop? Well, I obviously am not qualified to talk in sweeping terms, knowing so little of the genre, but based on what I've listened to over the last three and more months, it;s been almost all male artists. I guess this is easy to understand, given the often boastful, forceful nature of the music and lyrics, generally – though not always – portrayed best by men who are, as we would say here, up themselves. So it's nice to see the odd occasion when a woman steps into the arena.

Unlike CupcaKKe, whom I encountered last month, K. Flay (real name Kristine Flaherty – now there's a hip-hop name!) does not posture and boast, from what I can hear here; she utilises a sort of pastiche of electronic music with her (pretty quiet and restrained) rap to form a fairly irresistible mixture that really makes you want to listen. “Blood in the Cup” is a track that stands out to me, with some powerful percussion, while “Champagne” really showcases her rap style with some pretty barebones backing. Really gets into this one, displaying some powerful emotion. The bassline in “Mean It” sounds very reminiscent of “Walk On the Wild Side” while ”Hollywood Forever” has a very Lana feel to it. “Just a Lot”, on the other hand, is very electropop with some new wavey ideas in there too. Very impressive, very varied; watch this lady.

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

Actual Rating:

Trollheart · 01-07-2018, 10:50 AM

Album title: Double Roses
Artist: Karen Elson
Genre: Indie Rock/Folk/Country
Nationality: English
Release date: April 7
Position in Discography: Second
Estimated Rating:

Familiar with this artist? No
Familiar with the genre or subgenre? No
Average RYM Score: 3.30
A model breaking into the world of music is not unknown, but this woman is a little different. From what I read, she has worked with Robert Plant, Neko Case and is the ex-wife of Jack White. She's gained huge acclaim for her vocal style, and I have to say that from the off I'm convinced and seriously impressed. She has that kind of rare voice which doesn't ever need to be forced to make an impression on you; effortless talent. A great mix of folk, rock and country, some of the better (among mostly really excellent) tracks being “Call Your Name”, the opener “Wonder Blind”, which immediately lets you know that you're listening to something very very special, the aching “The End” - hell, just about all of it really.

There's some fine power in “Hell and High Water”, the organ line on “Raven” kills, and “Why Am I Waiting” robs the keyboard motif from Peter Gabriel's “San Jacinto”. Another standout is the smouldering “Wolf” with its beautiful sax break at the end. Superb album. Top class.

Check out more from this artist? Oh yes
Check out more from this genre or subgenre? Yes

Actual Rating:

Trollheart · 01-07-2018, 11:27 AM

Album title: European Song
Artist: Kreidler
Genre: Electronica/Krautrock/Experimental/Coldwave
Nationality: German
Release date: April 7
Position in Discography: Thirteenth
Estimated Rating:

Familiar with this artist? No
Familiar with the genre or subgenre? No
Average RYM Score: 2.86
You would say more an EP really, as this has only five tracks, although one is over twelve minutes long. Still, that's only a total of thirty-four minutes. I must say, I do like the opener, has a real kind of mystery about it. Kind of all sounds quite similar though. I don't hate it, but I'm pretty sure I don't love it. Bit too repetitive; maybe that's the norm with this genre, but I'd like a little more variety please.

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

Actual Rating:

Trollheart · 01-07-2018, 12:56 PM

Album title: Lovely, Little, Lonely
Artist: The Maine
Genre: Indie Rock/Pop Rock/Alt-Rock
Nationality: American
Release date: April 7
Position in Discography: Fifth
Estimated Rating:

Familiar with this artist? No
Familiar with the genre or subgenre? No
Average RYM Score: 3.25
Sort of gives me a Train/Imagine Dragons feel, which is not really a good thing I think. The first time I get really interested is “Black Butterflies and Déjà Vu”, which is a nice power pop song that I could hear playing on the radio no problem, other than its title (DJs like short, snappy titles, though it probably wouldn't matter, as these days they only announce or introduce about ten percent of the songs they play, if that) and then “Do You Remember (The Other Half of 23)” is very catchy too. Overall though, a decent pop/rock album, but nothing special.

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

Actual Rating:

Trollheart · 01-07-2018, 03:30 PM

Album title: Hopeless Romantic
Artist: Michelle Branch
Genre: Pop/Rock/Country/Indie Pop
Nationality: American
Release date: April 7
Position in Discography: Third
Estimated Rating:

Familiar with this artist? No
Familiar with the genre or subgenre? Some
Average RYM Score: 3.16
This isn't bad. Whether it's anything more than that I'll reserve judgement on for now. She does have a nice voice and the music is pleasant, but you could say that about hundreds of albums, so what's different, if anything, about this? Stay tuned. “Knock Yourself Out” is a nice soulful tune, got a lot of atmosphere to it. I also like “Carry Me Home”, but there's not enough here to make me that interested. It's okay, but just that.

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

Actual Rating:

Trollheart · 01-08-2018, 11:28 AM

Album title: Let Me Fly
Artist: Mike + The Mechanics
Genre: Pop Rock
Nationality: English
Release date: April 7
Position in Discography: Eighth
Estimated Rating:

Familiar with this artist? Yes
Familiar with the genre or subgenre? Yes
Average RYM Score: 3.14
It will come, I'm sure, as a surprise to no-one that I am/was a fan of this band, being as it is the solo project of Genesis guitarist Mike Rutherford, and I loved the first two albums. However I wasn't so gone on the third, and had lost interest by the fourth. So this is my chance to reconnect with them, though I see that since the untimely death of vocalist Paul Young and the departure of vocalist Paul Carrack, this is almost a totally new band. Perhaps that's not a bad thing: I found M+tM started out as almost what I would term a progressive pop group, but by the third album had regressed (rather like Rutherford's parent band) into a simple pop band. Maybe this is their resurrection and redemption? Or maybe not.

With new vocalist Andrew Roachford (remember “Cuddly Toy”? No? **** you then) there's a very gospel approach to the opener, and title track, and I must admit I really like it. It's pretty decent pop rock from there on really, though anything as good as the title track has yet to make an appearance. “Save the World” is a nice little ballad, but “High Life” is an example of the insipid sort of song that led to the likes of “Over My Shoulder” that made me want to forget about this band. Man, it's weak. On the other hand, “The Letter” reminds me of their halcyon days and “Silent Running (On Dangerous Ground)” and then “Not Out Of Love” is another weak, limpwristed soppy half-ballad.

Roachford slots right in here (I know it's not his first outing with the band but it is for me) and I honestly don't know if that's a good or bad thing. For me, this could be Carrack or Young (were he still alive) singing; I don't hear any great difference and I wonder if that's a sign that the music is so bland and uninteresting that anyone could sing it, or is Roachford being encouraged to sing the same as the other two, in an effort not to alienate the fans?

In the end, some decent tracks but some pretty poor ones, and I'd have to say that on the strength of this album, I was probably right to stop listening when I did. This band started off strong, had a lot of promise, but like the parent organism they've just been sucked down into a cesspit of mediocre second-rate pop, with the odd gem popping up to the surface, to lie on top before sinking back down into the depths.

Check out more from this artist? It's probably unlikely; I think I've already heard their best
Check out more from this genre or subgenre? Yes

Actual Rating:

Trollheart · 01-08-2018, 01:08 PM

Going to try to do this at the end of each week, as in, the week the albums are released, not every week. So in other words, there'll be a slot in the first, second, third and final week of each month. So we've reached April 7, making this the first time this month where we look back to the previous month and examine some of the albums you've recommended for March which were

Ped was first out of the traps last month, so it's to her first choice we turn to kick this off.

Album title: Kelly Lee Owens
Artist: Kelly Lee Owens
Suggested By: Paedentic Basterd
Genre: Synthpop/Techno
Nationality: English
Release date: March 24
Position in Discography: Debut
Estimated Rating:

Familiar with this artist? No
Familiar with the genre or subgenre? No
Average RYM Score: 3.42
No problems so far; a very dreampop sound, with some nice electronic “soft” techno mixed in. She has a really nice voice, reminds me of yer wan from School of Seven Bells. Lovely orchestration (probably synthesised but no less lovely for that) on “Lucid” while “Evolution” has a really nice catchy rolling beat to it, with a totally muted vocal from Kelly – just one word? Then it kicks into slightly more uptempo techno (what's the difference between techno and trance anyway, can someone tell me?) which brings in a few more words, though not many. So far, I love this anyway.

“Bird” is a great little instrumental, and some great understated vocal work on “Throwing Lines”. Is it possible to merge shoegaze and techno? Technogaze? There seem to be elements of the former in here, vocally anyway. Well, that would be if I knew what I was talking about, which of course I don't. “Keep Walking” has a great dark atmosphere about it, kind of a trip-hop thing going on there, with what sounds like bees buzzing about too. The last track is nearly ten minutes long, and part of it sounds like there's a sitar being used (though there probably isn't) and it's totally perfect. Excellent album, good start for those not on the list.

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

Actual Rating:

01-06-2018, 04:26 PM	#1492 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,994	Album title: All-Amerikkkan Bada$$ Artist: Joey Bada$$ Genre: Conscious Hip-Hop Nationality: American Release date: April 7 Position in Discography: Second Estimated Rating: Familiar with this artist? No Familiar with the genre or subgenre? No Average RYM Score: 3.33 Nice soul rhythm and feel to the opener, his rap is very understandable and kind of laid back in a way, though there's some pretty hard-hitting sociopolitical commentary on “Land of the Free”, and obviously the album title shows that from the beginning, with the triple K added into “America”. Really cleverly done. This seems to have gone by rather quickly and I've enjoyed everything on it to this point. “Ring the Alarm” is a real highlight, and I like the slightly gospel stylings of “Babylon” though it mostly runs on a reggae idea. Really good. Great album, really like it. Check out more from this artist? Yes Check out more from this genre or subgenre? Yes Actual Rating: __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

01-07-2018, 10:05 AM	#1494 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,994	Album title: Everywhere is Some Where Artist: K. Flay Genre: Electropop/Hip-Hop Nationality: American Release date: April 7 Position in Discography: Second Estimated Rating: Familiar with this artist? No Familiar with the genre or subgenre? No Average RYM Score: 3.40 Pretty much any genre I've explored here and elsewhere has suffered from the same male bias, which women are slowly doing their very best to dismantle, and usually with varying degrees of success. Metal remains almost exclusively a male preserve, there are hardly any women in prog, and as for hip-hop? Well, I obviously am not qualified to talk in sweeping terms, knowing so little of the genre, but based on what I've listened to over the last three and more months, it;s been almost all male artists. I guess this is easy to understand, given the often boastful, forceful nature of the music and lyrics, generally – though not always – portrayed best by men who are, as we would say here, up themselves. So it's nice to see the odd occasion when a woman steps into the arena. Unlike CupcaKKe, whom I encountered last month, K. Flay (real name Kristine Flaherty – now there's a hip-hop name!) does not posture and boast, from what I can hear here; she utilises a sort of pastiche of electronic music with her (pretty quiet and restrained) rap to form a fairly irresistible mixture that really makes you want to listen. “Blood in the Cup” is a track that stands out to me, with some powerful percussion, while “Champagne” really showcases her rap style with some pretty barebones backing. Really gets into this one, displaying some powerful emotion. The bassline in “Mean It” sounds very reminiscent of “Walk On the Wild Side” while ”Hollywood Forever” has a very Lana feel to it. “Just a Lot”, on the other hand, is very electropop with some new wavey ideas in there too. Very impressive, very varied; watch this lady. Check out more from this artist? Yes Check out more from this genre or subgenre? Yes Actual Rating: __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

01-07-2018, 10:50 AM	#1495 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,994	Album title: Double Roses Artist: Karen Elson Genre: Indie Rock/Folk/Country Nationality: English Release date: April 7 Position in Discography: Second Estimated Rating: Familiar with this artist? No Familiar with the genre or subgenre? No Average RYM Score: 3.30 A model breaking into the world of music is not unknown, but this woman is a little different. From what I read, she has worked with Robert Plant, Neko Case and is the ex-wife of Jack White. She's gained huge acclaim for her vocal style, and I have to say that from the off I'm convinced and seriously impressed. She has that kind of rare voice which doesn't ever need to be forced to make an impression on you; effortless talent. A great mix of folk, rock and country, some of the better (among mostly really excellent) tracks being “Call Your Name”, the opener “Wonder Blind”, which immediately lets you know that you're listening to something very very special, the aching “The End” - hell, just about all of it really. There's some fine power in “Hell and High Water”, the organ line on “Raven” kills, and “Why Am I Waiting” robs the keyboard motif from Peter Gabriel's “San Jacinto”. Another standout is the smouldering “Wolf” with its beautiful sax break at the end. Superb album. Top class. Check out more from this artist? Oh yes Check out more from this genre or subgenre? Yes Actual Rating: __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

01-07-2018, 11:27 AM	#1496 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,994	Album title: European Song Artist: Kreidler Genre: Electronica/Krautrock/Experimental/Coldwave Nationality: German Release date: April 7 Position in Discography: Thirteenth Estimated Rating: Familiar with this artist? No Familiar with the genre or subgenre? No Average RYM Score: 2.86 You would say more an EP really, as this has only five tracks, although one is over twelve minutes long. Still, that's only a total of thirty-four minutes. I must say, I do like the opener, has a real kind of mystery about it. Kind of all sounds quite similar though. I don't hate it, but I'm pretty sure I don't love it. Bit too repetitive; maybe that's the norm with this genre, but I'd like a little more variety please. Check out more from this artist? No Check out more from this genre or subgenre? Yes Actual Rating: __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

01-07-2018, 12:56 PM	#1497 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,994	Album title: Lovely, Little, Lonely Artist: The Maine Genre: Indie Rock/Pop Rock/Alt-Rock Nationality: American Release date: April 7 Position in Discography: Fifth Estimated Rating: Familiar with this artist? No Familiar with the genre or subgenre? No Average RYM Score: 3.25 Sort of gives me a Train/Imagine Dragons feel, which is not really a good thing I think. The first time I get really interested is “Black Butterflies and Déjà Vu”, which is a nice power pop song that I could hear playing on the radio no problem, other than its title (DJs like short, snappy titles, though it probably wouldn't matter, as these days they only announce or introduce about ten percent of the songs they play, if that) and then “Do You Remember (The Other Half of 23)” is very catchy too. Overall though, a decent pop/rock album, but nothing special. Check out more from this artist? No Check out more from this genre or subgenre? Yes Actual Rating: __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

01-07-2018, 03:30 PM	#1498 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,994	Album title: Hopeless Romantic Artist: Michelle Branch Genre: Pop/Rock/Country/Indie Pop Nationality: American Release date: April 7 Position in Discography: Third Estimated Rating: Familiar with this artist? No Familiar with the genre or subgenre? Some Average RYM Score: 3.16 This isn't bad. Whether it's anything more than that I'll reserve judgement on for now. She does have a nice voice and the music is pleasant, but you could say that about hundreds of albums, so what's different, if anything, about this? Stay tuned. “Knock Yourself Out” is a nice soulful tune, got a lot of atmosphere to it. I also like “Carry Me Home”, but there's not enough here to make me that interested. It's okay, but just that. Check out more from this artist? Nah Check out more from this genre or subgenre? Yes Actual Rating: __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

01-08-2018, 11:28 AM	#1499 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,994	Album title: Let Me Fly Artist: Mike + The Mechanics Genre: Pop Rock Nationality: English Release date: April 7 Position in Discography: Eighth Estimated Rating: Familiar with this artist? Yes Familiar with the genre or subgenre? Yes Average RYM Score: 3.14 It will come, I'm sure, as a surprise to no-one that I am/was a fan of this band, being as it is the solo project of Genesis guitarist Mike Rutherford, and I loved the first two albums. However I wasn't so gone on the third, and had lost interest by the fourth. So this is my chance to reconnect with them, though I see that since the untimely death of vocalist Paul Young and the departure of vocalist Paul Carrack, this is almost a totally new band. Perhaps that's not a bad thing: I found M+tM started out as almost what I would term a progressive pop group, but by the third album had regressed (rather like Rutherford's parent band) into a simple pop band. Maybe this is their resurrection and redemption? Or maybe not. With new vocalist Andrew Roachford (remember “Cuddly Toy”? No? ** you then) there's a very gospel approach to the opener, and title track, and I must admit I really like it. It's pretty decent pop rock from there on really, though anything as good as the title track has yet to make an appearance. “Save the World” is a nice little ballad, but “High Life” is an example of the insipid sort of song that led to the likes of “Over My Shoulder” that made me want to forget about this band. Man, it's weak. On the other hand, “The Letter” reminds me of their halcyon days and “Silent Running (On Dangerous Ground)” and then “Not Out Of Love” is another weak, limpwristed soppy half-ballad. Roachford slots right in here (I know it's not his first outing with the band but it is for me) and I honestly don't know if that's a good or bad thing. For me, this could be Carrack or Young (were he still alive) singing; I don't hear any great difference and I wonder if that's a sign that the music is so bland and uninteresting that anyone could sing it, or is Roachford being encouraged to sing the same as the other two, in an effort not to alienate the fans? In the end, some decent tracks but some pretty poor ones, and I'd have to say that on the strength of this album, I was probably right to stop listening when I did. This band started off strong, had a lot of promise, but like the parent organism they've just been sucked down into a cesspit of mediocre second-rate pop, with the odd gem popping up to the surface, to lie on top before sinking back down into the depths. Check out more from this artist? It's probably unlikely; I think I've already heard their best Check out more from this genre or subgenre? Yes Actual Rating:** __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

01-08-2018, 01:08 PM	#1500 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,994	Going to try to do this at the end of each week, as in, the week the albums are released, not every week. So in other words, there'll be a slot in the first, second, third and final week of each month. So we've reached April 7, making this the first time this month where we look back to the previous month and examine some of the albums you've recommended for March which were Ped was first out of the traps last month, so it's to her first choice we turn to kick this off. Album title: Kelly Lee Owens Artist: Kelly Lee Owens Suggested By: Paedentic Basterd Genre: Synthpop/Techno Nationality: English Release date: March 24 Position in Discography: Debut Estimated Rating: Familiar with this artist? No Familiar with the genre or subgenre? No Average RYM Score: 3.42 No problems so far; a very dreampop sound, with some nice electronic “soft” techno mixed in. She has a really nice voice, reminds me of yer wan from School of Seven Bells. Lovely orchestration (probably synthesised but no less lovely for that) on “Lucid” while “Evolution” has a really nice catchy rolling beat to it, with a totally muted vocal from Kelly – just one word? Then it kicks into slightly more uptempo techno (what's the difference between techno and trance anyway, can someone tell me?) which brings in a few more words, though not many. So far, I love this anyway. “Bird” is a great little instrumental, and some great understated vocal work on “Throwing Lines”. Is it possible to merge shoegaze and techno? Technogaze? There seem to be elements of the former in here, vocally anyway. Well, that would be if I knew what I was talking about, which of course I don't. “Keep Walking” has a great dark atmosphere about it, kind of a trip-hop thing going on there, with what sounds like bees buzzing about too. The last track is nearly ten minutes long, and part of it sounds like there's a sitar being used (though there probably isn't) and it's totally perfect. Excellent album, good start for those not on the list. Check out more from this artist? Yes Check out more from this genre or subgenre? Yes Actual Rating: __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018