Ol’ Qwerty Bastard

I've been meaning to start a journal for awhile, but couldn't come up with an idea worth writing or reading about. Finally, I decided to use a journal as my way to explore genres of music that I have little to no familiarity with.

My plan is to chose a handful of important albums of each genre, either by recommendations from members, or randomly through the magic wonders of the internet, and then listen to and review them. Anyone with any rec's of any genres feel free to leave them so I can decide where to start with this. I'm hoping that not only will this give me an opportunity to get into new artists, but also allow for an intro into different types of music for others as well.

* I do need to say a big thanks to TH, as his Love or Hate thread helped me quite a bit with coming up with the idea of this.

UPDATE

Genres I'm looking for:

- Grime
- Death Metal
- Electronic (Ambient, Trance, Electronica, or any other subgenre)
- Grindcore
- Post-Rock
- Anything that's very experimental or avant-garde, because chances are I haven't heard it.

Trollheart

Great idea for a journal, and I'm glad I could provide some inspiration (my cut is usually 10%)

Welcome to Journaltown!

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Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

Ol’ Qwerty Bastard

Out of the genres I mentioned on the OP, grime is the one I'm the most familiar with. In fact, a week or two ago I downloaded a handful of grime albums to help me get into the scene. As far as I've seen through my web surfing, it seems that the essential grime album is Dizzee Rascal's Boy In Da Corner so with that being said, it seems like the perfect place to start.


Prior to my first listen of the album, the only familiarity I had with Dizzee Rascal was hearing his name a few times in the past, and to be quite honest I'm not even sure where it was I heard it. Nonetheless, the album's intro track Sittin' Here quickly familiarized me with the style to expect from the English emcee.

The production of the track is stellar, and immediately gave me high hopes for the album. Not only that, but Rascal's approach is quite intriguing as well as his flow changes speed throughout the track, and by the end of it I feel as if I'm already used to his heavy UK accent.

The next track Stop Dat features a much more aggressive production style, and Dizzee matches that aggressiveness himself with his rap style. While the song is a stellar cut that I enjoyed just as much as the first, I still momentarily forgot about it following the next track I Luv U, which upon further research appears to be the first single released by the grime artist. The track contains hard-hitting synths mixed with an almost haunting organ in the background, and what is easily the best word play I've seen from Rascal thus far.

The sixth track, Fix Up, Look Sharp is the next stand-out for me, as Dizzee Rascal spits over a beat with a Billy Squier sample. I also realized at this point that I've had more exposure to Rascal than I realized, as it was apparently featured in an episode of UK TV show Skins.

While the production of the album has been superb to this point, I was still looking for something more. I got exactly that on the tenth track Jus' A Rascal. On this song, everything from earlier on the LP comes together and it delivers what is easily the best cut on the album for me. Dizzee harnesses his his aggressiveness, and is able to incorporate some great lyricism and a nasty flow over (surprise) some more great production.

The rest of the album remains quite interesting, including the twelfth track Jezebel which is a somewhat comedic take on a woman who is... let's just say not exactly lady like. While nothing lives up to the same level as the other stand out tracks, the project still finishes quite strong and ultimately makes for a very good listen.

My first exposure to grime has certainly been very positive, and I'm pretty excited to see what else the genre has to offer. Whether or not any other album can live up to or surpass one of the first ever mainstream grime releases is yet to be seen, but I look forward to finding out.

Rating: 7.5/10

Sittin' Here

Ol’ Qwerty Bastard

I’m not exactly sure how many new grime albums have been released so far this year, but I do know that without a doubt, I’ve seen Jme’s newest LP talked about more than any other release in the genre.

Integrity> is the English born emcee’s 3rd full-length solo release, and comes five years after his last album Blam! It’s worth noting that Jme is brother’s with Skepta, who is also a very prominent rapper and producer in the grime scene.

The album kicks off with Pulse 8 which features a hard-hitting synth driven beat that showcases Jme’s different lyrical approach to his craft. Things pick up even more with the second track 96 F***eries, a track with production that (much like the rest of the album) reminds me somewhat of a retro videogame. On this cut, there’s plenty of instances where the rapper shows just how gifted with his lyricism he is, and I was utterly impressed with lines like:

“Mike Lowery any YouTube viewer, original dead girlfriend slewer, so I don't care what you do to her, stop chatting s***, poo poo chewer, came from the gutter, came from the sewer. Any man that chats poop I will take out your eyeball with a bamboo skewer!” I didn't expect anything as impressively funny or amusing to appear on the album, but I was pleasantly surprised again and again.

The hard-hitting start to the album continues, as the third track Taking Over is another song which features Jme acting as a braggart and proving that there's more to grime than just a good beat. The production style switches a bit with the fifth track, Game which ironically enough sounds very much like an 8bit video game. It also features a chanted chorus sung by Jme, which is actually somewhat catchy. This track also demonstrates the emcee's versatility as he spends a large portion of the song rapping about video games, which is a bit of surprising topic, although as I mentioned it does mesh very well with the production style.

One of the few, if not the only weak takes on this album is track seven, Amen. I'm not sure if it's the subpar (in comparison to the rest of the album at least) production, the repetitive word play (if I had a dollar for every time I heard a rhyme repeated in this song... I'd have a lot of dollars alright?) or perhaps all the features on the cut which fail to amount to anything special, but nonetheless it's a pretty forgettable song.

While not as weak as the one that before it, the next track Again is a song that I'm not too crazy about, in large part due to the chanting of "They got me on the road again" which kills the song, because frankly at this point in the album, we've had enough chanting. On this song Jme is unable to recover from the repetitiveness with a great flow and lyricism like he does on a few other takes on this project.

The album finishes incredibly strong, as there are no skippable songs in the track listing from number 9 all the way to track 16. Some of the standouts in this set are The Money, No You Ain't and the title track Integrity; which alongside 96 F***eries are easily my two favorite grime tracks I've heard so far, with no disrespect to Dizzee Rascal. Jme simply blew me away with his word play and flow which can match if not surpass many of the American hip-hop artists I'm familiar with.

While my expectations going into this were filled with uncertainty, I was blown away immediately by Jme, as he certainly brings his own twist and take on the grime scene. Part of this is due to his rejecting of many popular grime lyrical topics, or hip-hop topics in general for that matter, including alcohol, women, and drugs.

Rating: 8.5/10

Ol’ Qwerty Bastard

Baths is the solo electronic project of California based singer/producer Will Wiesenfeld. With a sound that dabbles in a plethora of different genres, including future-pop and glitch, I had no idea what to expecting going into this album, aside from the beauty of the album's lead single Miasma Sky which I heard not too long ago.

From the get go, the album's strong suit appears to be Wiesenfeld's light falsetto vocals, which flow angelically over his very infectious production. This is evident in the very first track Worsening where his vocals come though almost whisper-like. The song also includes a little bit of clever song writing especially the line "where is God when you hate him most?"

After the first track passes, it's Miasma Sky up next. I can't say enough about just how beautiful this track is, but it's so infectious and enjoyable you can't help but tap your foot when hearing it. My only concern when hearing this song so high up in the track listing was that the rest of the album would lack in comparison. However with the next track Ironworks, I see that Baths has much more diversity in his sound than I expected. The track is met with a lovely backing (violin?) and a very glitchy drum pattern (or at least it sounds like it to me.) The lyrics of the song seem to be the confessions of a woman who is having an affair with a married man.

One of the more interesting cuts on the album is the ninth track Earth Death, which has a much more hard hitting production style than the rest of the album. It's a good change of pace, and once again shows Wiesenfeld's ability to change his sound throughout the album. Despite the change, his approach vocally remains the same with his high voice floating very nicely over the somewhat harsh beat. The final track, Inter is a great way to close the album out, as it consists of some low-key laid back production that features some nice strings, and is met with very nice, angelic vocals.

Obsidian did not disappoint, and the album is worth a listen for Miasma Sky alone. My big takeaway from this LP is that when Baths' is on his game, he's really on his game, and this leads to a couple wonderful tracks. The downside of this however, is that he isn't always delivering on this specific project. Nonetheless, it still comes together and makes for what is most definitely an enjoyable listen.

Rating: 7.5/10

The Batlord

I'm gonna rec you Asphyx's Last One on Earth for death metal.

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Ol’ Qwerty Bastard

Asphyx (why do I laugh every time I type their name?) is a Dutch death metal band that were formed back in 1987. The band has since went through many line-up changes, and have had five different vocalists since their formation. On Last One on Earth it's Martin van Drunen providing the vocals, who also fronted fellow Dutch death metal group Pestilence in the late 80's.

With only 8 tracks in the listing, the album starts out without any real build-up or lead in, as the first cut M.S. Bismarck is an immediate look into just how brutal the album is going to be. A track that features some doom influence as well as some thrash elements, it's the work done by guitarist Eric Daniels that really draws my attention from the get go. One of my biggest turn offs in Death Metal is typically the vocals, which I find can be a bit too over the top for my taste, and can take away from the rest of the sound. Although through the first song, I have no problem whatsoever with Drunen's vocals.

The second track, The Krusher starts off (somewhat ironicly) with some slow paced crushing guitar playing which much like the first track, shows off the band's usage of Doom metal elements. As far as lyrics go, I can hardly comprehend anything Drunen has said thus far, although I do believe I picked out the word supremacy at one point? Upon further research, it appears as if the song is discussing the destruction of Earth, which is of course, very metal.

Up next is Serenade in Lead, a fast paced track that sounds a lot more like what I expected from the band. The drum work stands out to me on this song, and the last 40 seconds or so feature some very hectic and chaotic playing which I really enjoy.

With the title track Last One On Earth the band is once again going back to a doom-ier sound, one that I can really get behind. To this point, the vocals still have yet to turn me off from the band, and in fact, have actually started to grow on me.

The fifth track The Incarnation Of Lust is much like what we've heard prior, but the following cut Streams Of Ancient Wisdom stands out a bit more partially due to a short but solid guitar solo, and some switching of pace as the song progresses. At this point, there's not much more I can say about the album except that I'm blown away by the work of this band. Food For The Ignorant is a thrashy, head banging track that slows down about half way through before returning to yet another frenzied bit of instrumentation. The album closes with Asphyx (Forgotten War), a track that discusses what I interpret as the narrative of Earth's final war perhaps?

Going into this album, I was not expecting anything that was this enjoyable. It was a brutal experience, while still remaining very listenable. At times melodic, and at times hectic and chaotic, I'm thoroughly pleased with Last One on Earth. I don't have much in comparison, and it's hard for me to issue too much praise because of my lack of knowledge in the genre, but I do know I'd love to hear more albums like this. Thanks for the rec Batlord!

Rating: 8/10

Goofle

Electronic: easyFun - Deep Trouble (2015)
Grime: Novelist x Mumdance - 1 Sec EP (2015)
Grindcore: Wormrot - Dirge (2011)
Jazz: Albert Ayler Trio - Spiritual Unity (1965)
Death Metal: Be'lakor - Of Breath and Bone (2012)

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Thelonious Monkey

Electronic: Lido & Canblaster - Superspeed

Ol’ Qwerty Bastard

Thanks for the recs, look forward to checking them all out!