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03-07-2018, 04:17 PM | #2061 (permalink) |
Born to be mild
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Album title: Is This the Life We Really Want? Artist: Roger Waters Genre: Progressive Rock/Art Rock Nationality: English Release date: June 2 Position in Discography: Fifth Estimated Rating: Have I heard of this artist? Yes Have I heard anything by this artist? Yes Average RYM Score: 3.34 Love him or loathe him (and I know for many of you it's the latter), you can't be unaware of the existence of Roger Waters. The man who co-founded Pink Floyd, who was responsible for the masterpiece or ego-fest, depending on your opinion, known as The Wall, and without whom, to many, Floyd struggled to retain their identity as a band. His solo material has been a mixed bag, as far as I'm concerned: Radio Kaos and Amused to Death were superb, Ca Ira was pure ****e and The Pros and Cons of Hitch-hiking was just, well, there. So this could go either way. Nevertheless, it's his first album in over ten years and I'm looking forward to it with hope and a sense of expectation. The first thing I notice, before even pressing play, is that the cover of the album closely resembles that of 1987's Radio Kaos. Whether that's a good or a bad omen I don't know, but as it begins there are muttered and distant voices, which grow louder as the track begins, and again remind me of that album. “Deja Vu” recalls very distinctly “Pigs on the Wing” from Pink Floyd's classic Animals album. Is this a good sign? I don't know again, but there's some really nice orchestration, which always helps, and as per usual Waters' voice ranges from the murmured to the manic howl, and he uses the old Floyd tricks, such as sound effects – glass breaking, gunshots, taped voices, radio broadcasts, the usual thing. Perhaps it's a little predictable, perhaps a lot, but so far I love it. You get his often annoying socio-political commentary all through the album, and sometimes it gets a little wearing, like being preached to by some old man in a pub who's too tired to do anything about the world but advises you to. But that's Waters, and he'll never change. The music certainly makes up for any annoyance at finding yourself trapped in the Church of Waters for almost an hour, and makes the time fly by. It is though VERY Floyd, with lots of Animals and Dark Side in there – much more so than his previous albums, which makes me wonder either a) is it a deliberate nod back to the past or b) is he running out of ideas? I also hear much that could have been on The Final Cut, and there's a lot of gentle acoustic guitar pieces, though the title track brings out angry Roger, with a snide little dig at Trump, among others, and a very ominous melody. I would venture to say that “Bird in a Gale” relies way too much on the sound effects though. Dogs barking have been overused by the Floyd machine at this point too. We get it: dogs of war, dogs of Wall Street. Stop. Just, you know, stop. Dog-gone it. Sorry. I'm dogged by bad puns. I'll stop now. Heel, boy! Heel. No, I'll really stop now. Bitch. Sorry, sorry. My bark is worse than my – ow! Okay, okay! I get the message! I think I would have to admit that this album is almost a snapshot of Waters' entire career, with influences taken from the albums mentioned as well as his previous Radio KAOS and Amused to Death. Seen that way, perhaps it might be viewed as a rip-off a la Floyd's swansong album, but I don't think so. There's a lot to enjoy here, but let's face it, if you're not a Waters fan, this is not an album that's going to change your mind. If you are, then you'll be glad to see him back in the game. Most likely, you won't care. More likely, I don't care that you don't care. I've been waiting for this album for almost a quarter of a century, and it's been more than worth it. Go listen to your hippity-hop. Check out more from this artist? Always, though by the time he releases another album I may be dead. Check out more from this genre or subgenre? Always and forever Actual Rating:
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03-08-2018, 06:15 PM | #2062 (permalink) |
Born to be mild
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Album title: Home Counties Artist: Saint Etienne Genre: Alt-Dance Nationality: English Release date: June 2 Position in Discography: Ninth Estimated Rating: Have I heard of this artist? Yes Have I heard anything by this artist? No Average RYM Score: 3.28 Interesting start: a radio broadcast from Radio 4 – reminds me of the opening of Sean Filkins' War and Peace and Other Short Stories. I like this when it gets going though I would call it more synthpop than dance music. Really nice; sort of reminds me of Swing Out Sister in a way. Okay, well, “Dive” brings in more dance elements, quite funky too with some great brass and a kind of Mexican/mariachi feel to it. Love this. Despite being less than two minutes long, and basically a choir, “Church Pew Furniture Restorer” is excellent, not that there has been anything here so far that hasn't been. An indication of how good this is is that when I originally saw there were nineteen tracks on the album, I groaned and rolled my eyes. Now, having heard so far eleven tracks, it's not a problem at all. “Heather” is another standout, but then I love “Train Drivers in Eyeliner” too. I was trying to think who she reminds me of, and on “Unopened Fan Mail” I get it: Sharleen Spiteri from Texas. Very similar, at least on this track, and a few others. Not that she's in any way copying or ripping her off, but the style is quite similar. But then, I love Texas, so that's not a bad thing. All right, there's absolutely nothing on this I don't love. “Sweet Arcadia” is one part spoken word, one part proggy organ extravaganza and one part haunting vocal coda. I could do without the little interludes – don't get the point, although given the album title, a look back to gentle English societal norms might cover that – but everything here is gold, and there's much platinum too. Consider me a new fan. Check out more from this artist? Downloading their discography now Check out more from this genre or subgenre? Yes but I still maintain this is more pop/synthpop Actual Rating:
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03-08-2018, 08:07 PM | #2063 (permalink) | ||
Certified H00d Classic
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Is This the Life We Really Want? is an album that has a production approach and quality which I love but songwriting that doesn't really work for me from track to track. Waters really should bury the hatchet with Gilmour...'cause he needs him badly.
Never heard of Saint Etienne before, but this album you featured come across as a better, more English version of Haim's latest. And that's definitely not a bad thing.
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03-09-2018, 04:21 AM | #2064 (permalink) |
Born to be mild
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Album title: The Future in Whose Eyes? Artist: Sikth Genre: Progressive Metal/Mathcore/Avant-Garde Metal Nationality: English Release date: June 2 Position in Discography: Third Estimated Rating: Have I heard of this artist? No Average RYM Score: 3.18 Not sure what to make of this really. The vocal is almost an angry rap, kind of reminds me of some of that post-hardcore I've heard, but the music does seem to stay within the general area of prog metal. Yeah, I don't know: the album has its moments but mostly it's not appealing to me. The vocal is far too hysterical-sounding for what I would consider prog metal, and to be honest most of the songs are not that great anyway. There are some nice interludes, passages and even the odd decent track, - the spooky, mostly spoken-word “The Moon's Been Gone For Hours” is a case in point, and if more of the album was like this then I'd have a different opinion of it - but overall not something I'd be interested in revisiting. The closer is really nice too, but again more an exception than the norm on this album. Pretty much a disappointment, I'd have to say. Check out more from this artist? Probably not Check out more from this genre or subgenre? Yes (prog metal) Actual Rating:
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03-09-2018, 04:38 AM | #2065 (permalink) |
Born to be mild
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Album title: Walkin' Artist: Suran Genre: K-pop Nationality: Korean Release date: June 2 Position in Discography: Debut Estimated Rating: Have I heard of this artist? No Average RYM Score: 3.00 I guess we've done fairly well to have avoided K-pop so far this month, but you can't escape it forever and here's the first one. Luckily as usual it's only an EP/mini-album with a mere five tracks on it. It is, of course, rubbish. Well, it's K-pop: what do you expect? To be fair, it's not terrible, but it is like just about every other K-pop album I've listened to since I began this project, and probably every other K-pop album I will listen to until I come to its end. Oh, I should make special mention of my annoyance for the occasional inclusion of a rap on one track, as tends to happen on a lot of these albums. Just, well, annoying, and becoming very much a gimmick that's already been overused and played out. Like K-pop itself. All right, I'm done now. Check out more from this artist? Nah Check out more from this genre or subgenre? No Actual Rating:
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03-09-2018, 05:26 AM | #2066 (permalink) |
Born to be mild
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Album title: One Foot in the Grave Artist: Tankard Genre: Thrash Metal Nationality: German Release date: June 2 Position in Discography: Seventeenth Estimated Rating: Have I heard of this artist? Yes Have I heard anything by this artist? Yes Average RYM Score: 3.26 Ah, just what I need to blow the sticky, sugary cobwebs of K-pop away! Some thrash metal! I've always considered Tankard to be the non-pirate equivalent of Alestorm, and I can imagine what a gig with both of them on the bill would be like. They've always had a great sense of irreverence, humour and a general ****-you attitude towards, well, everything, and they are always fun to listen to. There aren't as many songs about drinking here as there would usually be on a Tankard album, (actually, there aren't any! What's going on guys?) in fact some of the subjects are quite serious (take “Syrian Nightmare”, which focusses on the war in the Middle East or “Pay to Pray”, which seems to be their “Holy Smoke”, Iron Maiden's rant against organised religion) and I guess with a title like that the album itself possibly indicates a slowly-growing realisation of mortality. But hell, it's still great fun, if nothing original or new. Ah yeah, but is it, really? I mean, it's great thrash metal, but there are a few too many political messages in the songs, and while that's all well and good, I'm used to Tankard being more about the beer. It's kind of like that time Krusty left on vacation and they ran a boring, dry, David Frostesque chat show with him, not an iota of humour in it. To paraphrase Monty Burns, where's the fun? Thank god their next album, released this year (2018) is entitled Hymns for the Drunk. I'll be looking forward to that one. Hopefully they'll have got all this political nonsense out of their systems and not want to leave the pub again. Check out more from this artist? Yes Check out more from this genre or subgenre? Yes Actual Rating:
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03-09-2018, 11:35 AM | #2067 (permalink) | |
Zum Henker Defätist!!
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Beast of Bourbon is still one of the most underrated thrash albums of the new millenium. Or any millenium.
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03-09-2018, 01:03 PM | #2068 (permalink) |
Born to be mild
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Album title: Apex Artist: Unleash the Archers Genre: Power Metal Nationality: Canadian Release date: June 2 Position in Discography: Fourth Estimated Rating: Have I heard of this artist? No Average RYM Score: 3.44 Must have done something right today! Two metal albums in a row! This one is more on the Power Metal side of things, which is fine with me. Don't think I've heard a Canadian PM band yet, though it's always possible I may have done. I like what I hear so far anyway. She's got a strong voice, though I would say opening with a seven-minute-plus track might be pushing it slightly. “Cleanse the Bloodlines” is very impressive, dramatic and sweepingly epic, on the other hand, “Ten Thousand Against One” seems to go on forever and gets real boring real quick. Yeah, pretty run-of-the-mill Power Metal album; nothing to get excited about. Check out more from this artist? Probably not Check out more from this genre or subgenre? Yes Actual Rating:
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03-10-2018, 11:39 AM | #2069 (permalink) |
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Album title: Condolences Artist: Wednesday 13 Genre: Punk/Heavy Metal/Goth Rock Nationality: American Release date: June 2 Position in Discography: Seventh Estimated Rating: Have I heard of this artist? No Average RYM Score: 2.79 I guess this is the kind of thing Batty would call “goofy”, kind of like Alice Cooper doing Diablo Swing Orchestra, with a side order of Theater des Vampires. In other words, goth rock/metal that's hard not to laugh at, even if the music is basically decent. “Blood Sick” is just so catchy you can't help singing along - “And there's no way you're getting out alive..” Class. Not quite, but definitely has something. The shredding on “You Breathe, I Kill” (though it kind of seems to come out of nowhere and vanish as quickly) is pretty cool, but there is no way you can take this music seriously. I don't think you're meant to. I hope you're not. You can't be, can you? Listen to the lyric (as such) to the hilarious (I hope!) “Cruel to You” - “I just want to hurt you/Beat you black and blue/ I just want to be so cruel to you.” Uh, yeah. It's also a damn catchy song. As is “Lonesome Road to Hell”, one of the real standouts to be honest. Really rocks along and it's just infectious. The title track then has a sort of Doom Metal feel to it, very dark and grinding, sombre and ominous, and yeah, pretty good too. Though it's a little (a lot) comical in ways, this is decent enough music and I think I'm more interested than I thought I would be at the start. Check out more from this artist? You know, I just might Check out more from this genre or subgenre? Yes Actual Rating:
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03-10-2018, 02:01 PM | #2070 (permalink) |
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Album title: London 03.06.17 Artist: Aphex Twin/AFX Genre: Techo/Dance/Electronic Nationality: English Release date: June 3 Position in Discography: Twenty-fourth EP; Thirty-third overall Estimated Rating: Have I heard of this artist? Yes Have I heard anything by this artist? Yes Average RYM Score: 3.31 I'm no fan of techno, nor particularly of Aphex Twin, so this may be a hard sell. Apparently this EP was released at the London Field Day Festival directly after he played his set, and not officially released through his own website until July. Well, this may be great to dance to (although some of it, I wonder) but it's not much to listen to, not for me. “Em2500 M253X” is a nice sort of piano piece, nicely laid back, but it's very much the exception. Mostly this is kind of hard electronic/experimental/glitch (?) music that doesn't appeal to me in any way. I do however have to laugh at the ignorance of a comment like this on Discogs: "IMHO His music is better than Mozart and Beethoven combined!!" Check out more from this artist? No Check out more from this genre or subgenre? Maybe Actual Rating:
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