DriveYourCarDownToTheSea

^^ That song was actually pretty good. Not sure I would call it "surf punk" without having seen what the genre was beforehand, but whatever.

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Stop and find a pretty shell for her
Beach Boys vs Beatles comparisons begin here

Trollheart

Album title: Intoxicated Women
Artist: Mick Harvey
Genre: Alt-Rock/Indie Rock
Nationality: Australian
Release date: January 20
Position in Discography: Ninth
Fear Factor: Low
Familiar with this artist? No, but very familiar with Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
Familiar with the genre or subgenre? A little
The man who was ubiquitous on most of Nick Cave's albums? Should be a recipe for success here. Interesting: kicks off with a German version of the Serge Gainsbourgh steamy classic “Je t'Aime”. Intoxicated women indeed! Probably a little overstretched at just over five minutes, but let's plough (sorry) on. “Contact” sounds like some sort of mad cross between Kraftwerk and Cave, while “The Eyes to Cry” comes straight from some Monte Carlo lounge bar filled with smoke and the taste of broken dreams. Harvey uses a lot of different vocalists here, mostly female, though he does sing some of the songs himself, even giving what I assume is his son a tryout on “Baby Teeth, Wolfy Teeth”. Hmm. He does sound like his father.

There's a nice mix of styles on this album, and if you go into it (as I kind of did) expecting a clone of Nick Cave, then prepare to be disappointed. The nearest he comes to this is on “God Smokes Havanas”. But there's a lot to be discovered, so it's worth diving in. Just do so with an open mind and you won't lose.

Check out more from this artist? Maybe
Check out more from this genre or subgenre? Kind of hard as there are a lot of different genres present here...


Expectation Index: 0

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Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

Trollheart

Album title: Return to Ommadawn
Artist: Mike Oldfield
Genre: Progressive Rock/Ambient/Folk Rock/World Music
Nationality: English
Release date: January 20
Position in Discography: Twenty-sixth
Fear Factor: Very Low
Familiar with this artist? Very
Familiar with the genre or subgenre? Very
For the second time I'm breaking my rule about not listening to an album if it's not in the two usual places. I'm quite familiar with Mike Oldfield and, as this is not available through Spotify and YT comes up similarly empty, and as I'd be buying it anyway, I've purchased it to listen to here. Anyone remember when albums could be two songs long, one each side? No? Sod you then; I do, and this is just one such, with the simple titles of Part One and Part Two, and of course it's all instrumental. This is a followup to Oldfield's 1975 third album, Ommadawn, which itself is I think a play on an old Irish word for idiot, amadan.

Well it's classic Oldfield, and you either like that or you don't. I do find there's perhaps a little too much emphasis on the Celtic side of things – lots of flutes, uileann pipes, that sort of thing – and it's very laid back and almost ambient. Probably send a lot of people to sleep. Personally, I prefer it when there's a little life in his music, and while this is great and very enjoyable, it is a little dull in comparison to the likes of Five Miles Out or Crises...

Check out more from this artist? I must do, yes
Check out more from this genre or subgenre? Yes

NO YOUTUBES AVAILABLE OTHER THAN CRAPPY COVER VERSIONS, WHICH CAN SUCK MY COCK.
Expectation Index: 1

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GroovyPanda

TROLLHEART!

This thread is so friggen cool! I love your format and commentary which is fun and helpful THANKS for sharing this and I'll pursue more of the Albums you scrutinized.

Have you found a few favorites yet? (Maybe you said, but I missed it?)

GroovyPanda

LOL! Ya, funny, huh? I speak a little Italian so I stream to a local radio station from Napoli to help me learn more of the language and present terms. When I heard Italian rap I thought.... "What the??
But it helps to learn the language and, like you, TH, I'm surprisingly liking it.
(Side note: I discovered some cheesy Pop Italian music from the 1960s which I am really liking also--it should be in an Austin Powers movie).

Trollheart

Thanks, and welcome aboard. I have found some favourites, but the only ones so far that qualify as possible AOTY are Sean Danielson's Product of Isolation and Dragonfly by Kasey Chambers. I expect a few more to turn up. I'm a huge fan of the progressive metal band Threshold, and they just released their first album in three years. It's a double, and I love everything they do, so I expect that will be a contender. Mind you, by the time I get to the release date for that we'll be well into 2018!

I have found some very good albums here though, including Vietnamese jazz and even a hardcore punk album I loved.
It really was quite decent. I'm listening to Spanish-language Reggaeton at the moment, and surprisingly again, it's really not bad.

This thread is a lot of work, but I don't regret starting it. It's definitely yielding results - even if I do occasionally come across twelve-year-old brats like Jacob bloody Sartorius!

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GroovyPanda

I bet it is a lot of work and I admire your grit!

Thanks for the Welcome, TH, and for the response.

I'll definitely read your reviews from which I've already learned a great deal; your hard work is very much appreciated.



EDIT: I just saw watched a Kasey Chambers video. Quite interesting... she looks a bit like Cameron Dias. Maybe?

Trollheart

Album title: Fénix
Artist: Nicky Jam
Genre: Reggaeton (huh?)/Trap
Nationality: American
Release date: January 20
Position in Discography: Seventh
Fear Factor: Very High
Familiar with this artist? No
Familiar with the genre or subgenre? Don't even know what it is!
Is this guy ****ing serious? Twenty-****ing-six tracks?? Get ready to hit that ejector button, co-pilot! As I say above, I have no idea even what reggaeton is, but I'm going to assume it's some form of reggae, which doesn't exactly send shivers of delight down my spine. Oh, and I see trap mentioned too. Goody. This could be quite a short stay. Oh. I just read what reggaeton is, and it's as bad as I feared. Yeah but ... kind of like the Italian rap a few albums back, it's pretty listenable. Seems all to be sung in Spanish (part of what reggaeton is, apparently) but that doesn't matter. The rhythms and melodies are all very catchy so far anyway. I must revise my original prediction: I don't really see that much of a problem getting through the entire thing at this point. Thought I'd be bailing out, but I think we'll be staying on course to the end of the flight, folks. There is the odd track sung in English, but it really doesn't make that much difference. It's just more or less fun all the way really. Surprised I lasted through the whole thing, and really surprised at how much I enjoyed this.

Check out more from this artist? You know, at some point, I just might
Check out more from this genre or subgenre? Now that I know what it is, it's a possibility


Expectation Index: 10

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The Batlord

It means a ton of reggae.

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Cuthbert

haha