[Snupes]

tbh not really, though I'm gonna try to start revisiting it soon. It got a bit out of hand and way too large and backed-up to the point where I lost interest, and it's nigh impossible to get myself to listen to things I'm not interested in (it's hard enough to get myself to listen to things I am interested in).

So, we'll see.

[Snupes]

ゆるめるモ! - New Escape Underground: First time I’ve heard J-pop that’s also labeled as krautrock. Sadly, I don’t know enough about krautrock to say how correct that label is, but it’s certainly somewhat different than most J-pop albums I’ve heard (definitely the first one I’ve listened to with a 10+ minute long track). Actually, EP might be more fitting for this release as it’s actually four songs and then their instrumentals. The songs are a more pleasant listen as most of the instrumentals aren’t really interesting enough on their own (from what I understand, they do this in Japan for karaoke purposes). The 10-minute long song, “SWEET ESCAPE”, is easily my favourite. It’s rather simple and repetitive, but it’s trance-like enough (in the literal sense, not the musical genre) that I don’t mind at all. The instrumental is the same way. The first two tracks are pretty fun, but the only other one I really like is “花のドイリー”, which has horns and shit. It’s nice.

Richard Wright - Broken China: While not mindblowing, this is a very nice album. It hits home in some songs in particular when it very well describes the feeling of depression (“Woman of Custom”, “Reaching for the Rail”), and even ones I can’t as well relate to (“Along the Shoreline”, “Breakthrough”) are nice to listen to.  Gilmour’s lyrics are pretty great (much better than most of Floyd’s post-Barrett stuff) and his singing is very pleasant.

So…yeah. It’s a very easy-listening album that I’ll probably put on more often from now on.

[Snupes]

Frank Turner - Sleep Is for the Week: Wow, uh. I decided to check out Frank’s discography on a whim because, over the years, I’ve fallen in love with his song “Recovery”. It was a free single on iTunes once and slowly grew on me over time, to the point that it’s usually stuck in my head nowadays and my nephew and I sing it at each other nonstop every weekend.

That out of the way, I didn’t expect to be so impressed already. Damn.

Frank impressed me from the get-go with his penchant for lyricism, but it shines through even more when you get to experience his full story over the course of an album. His lyrics are vivid and emotions run high as he relives events from song to song.

The album begins with Frank realizing that his lifestyle is troublesome, but concluding that he’d rather live a short, troubled life but have stories to tell. “Romantic Fatigue” talks about how he picked up guitar and songwriting to pick up girls, but while it worked at first it became empty rather quickly. That by the time he’d written dozens of songs for girls, he was just swapping out names to re-use them. “So when I get out my guitar tonight to do what I do / Remember, I probably didn’t write this song for you.” “A Decent Cup of Tea” sees him moving on, pining for a female friend who details to him her string of failed relationships while he’s too scared to tell her he wants to be the one that works.

He starts to realize things about himself with “Father’s Day”; the former half of the song has him deconstructing his father’s actions, and how he’s not the man he claims to be. The latter half has him come to terms with the fact that all those actions and double standards apply just as much to himself.

Next comes one of my favourites on the album, “Worse Things Happen at Sea”. It’s a simple track. A passive-aggressive song about taking a break-up well on the surface but breaking up underneath. The cracks begin to show more from verse to verse, until he’s completely broken down by the end. I love it and the amount of emotion he gets through.

Emotions flow for a bit longer until “Back in the Day”, where he switches to a nostalgic look at the punk scene he grew up in. The lifestyle, the ideals, the anarchy. Leading into “Once We Were Anarchists”, my other favourite here. A sober, mature look at those lifestyles with rose-tinted glasses removed. How his ideals have faded and he’s tired of fighting to save the world, become jaded instead and realizes his desires have moved elsewhere, deciding he actually can’t change society.

The album dips for a couple tracks with the pretty good “Wisdom Teeth” and disappointingly typical “The Ladies of London” (which features fellow folk punk Londonite, Jamie Lenman) because it’s exactly what the title implies. Attractive ladies and partying.

Finally, for the last two songs Frank slows down to see the forest rather than the trees and take a wider look at his life. “Must Try Harder” finds him wondering what he could have been had he accepted his upper-class roots and gone with his expected lifestyle instead. Then closes things off with “The Ballad of Me and My Friends” to summarize the entire album’s theme and embrace what his life has become, for better or for worse.
I know, I’ve hardly said a single thing about the music so far. The sound of the album is fairly consistent, with heavy folk guitar set to punk riffs and drums, Frank Turner freewheeling about between screaming and singing, every chord exactly in line with the theme of each song. There’s no boundaries being pushed or anything unexpected, but the music is impressive and fun as hell regardless.

If this is one of the worst of his works, then I’m excited as hell to hear the rest.

Frank Turner - Love Ire & Song: Unlike Sleep Is for the Week, this isn’t a cohesitive story. However, as a whole, it’s much better. Frank’s songwriting skills are as sharp as ever. Whether he’s detailing the life of a minor musician content with being a minor musician (“I Knew Prufrock Before He Got Famous”, not growing up in a world that demands growing up (“Photosynthesis”) or singing songs about growing tired of protesting in a genre all about protesting (“Love Ire & Song”), he’s better than ever.

Musically it’s much of the same, so there’s not a ton to say about that. My favourites here are the latter two of those, along with “Long Live the Queen”, which is a song about one of his friends dying and telling him that he’s gonna have to live for both of them now. It’s a tearjerker for sure.

If it weren’t for the final three songs being rather boring, this’d be a near-perfect album for me.

[Snupes]

Snupes' list is getting a revamp. Hi! I wish I could stick all the text to the right of the image. Would be a neat format.




Artist: カネコアヤノ (Ayano Kaneko)
Title: 恋する惑星 (Koisuru Wakusei / Chungking Express)
Genre: Folk rock
Release: 2015

I can’t wait until I finally know Japanese, because I wanna be able to understand this music as I listen. It sounds absolutely adorable. It’s like some kind of folk rock, with a bit of a pop edge. Sometimes switching around mid-song (銀河に乗って jumps from folk pop to heavy rock from time to time). The rock tracks are generally just alright, but the folk is where Ayano shines. Her voice is gentle, melodic and fun. She’d make a great J-pop artist, but I’m glad she decided to go this route instead because just her intonations are stuck in my head right now.

My favourite track is “恋文-OUTDOOR Ver.-“, with the oddball clicks and clacks of “ホームシックナイトホームシックブルース” being a close second.




Artist: 西野 カナ (Kana Nishino)
Title: Secret Collection 〜GREEN〜
Genre: J-pop
Release: 2015

This was a pretty standard J-pop album, but at the same time Kana plays around with various genres. “GIRLS GIRLS” (my favourite song) plays around with a sort of hip hop swagger, and “Thinking of You” could hold its own with some of America’s best R&B artists in their own genre.

That being said, if you know the standard sound of J-pop, this is more or less it. It’s good J-pop, don’t get me wrong, but J-pop nonetheless. Most of the stuff is upbeat and catchy, with a few slower tracks between that stay closely to genre conventions.

[Vongeo]

Fuckin weeb

[Snupes]

neat




Artist: Kraftwerk
Title: Trans Europa Express
Genre: Electronic
Release: March 1977

Of all the things I expected Kraftwerk’s music to be, I did not expect it to be gorgeous. Europa Endlos is incredibly beautiful in its own weird way, and Spiegelsaal (my favourite) is long, dark and haunting (a word I overuse to death). Those three tracks and Schaufensterpuppen—in other words, the first side of the album—are an amazing trio that alone make a near perfect body of work.

The second half isn’t quite as good, but is great nonetheless. “Metall auf Metall” is metallic screeching made into ambient music with an ear-piercing crescendo, and “Franz Schubert” + “Endlos Endlos” is a light, pretty combination that wouldn’t be at all out of place on a Port Blue album.

In other words, I like. Going to be checking out a lot more Kraftwerk.




Artist: Kraftwerk
Title: Die Mensch-Maschine
Genre: Electronic
Release: May 19, 1978

This is a whole different beast than Trans Europa Express. If that album made beautiful ambience with minimal noise, this album goes right for the opposite, cramming in little sound effects and dissonance to grab you by the ear and yank your face right next to the music.
“Die Roboter” shows them going for a much heavier, more robotic (wow who could have guessed) sound. Using much more staccato computer noises and processing their vocals through like ten layers of vocoders, it becomes much less of a background listen and a more demanding form of music. It’s great in its own way.

“Spacelab” and “Metropolis” are nice, if not as memorable. “Spacelab” more or less sounds exactly like its name would make you think it does; a semi-psychedelic wandering through wavering synths and empty space.

“Neonlicht” is my second favourite on the album, as it sounds like a much happier, bouncier version of “Franz Schubert”, and carries itself very well because of that. The closing song “Die Mensch-Maschine” is similar in being almost ambient in tone with the prior album, but using vocoder vocals and heavier electronics to differentiate itself.

I don’t think I like this as much as Trans Europa Express, but it’s good nonetheless. Definitely gonna look out for more of these guys’ work.

[Jura-Glenlivet]

So now listen to Holger Czukay, Jah Wobble & Jaki Liebezeit (Full Circle) Like I damn well told you to.

[Snupes]

^ i will maybe get around to it one day in the future




Artist: Deerhoof
Title: Reveille
Genre: Art rock
Release: June 4, 2002

I’ve a feeling this isn’t gonna be my favourite Deerhoof album, but it was certainly good. I didn’t like how cacophonous some of the songs were, less because of the cluster and more because some just sounded like a mess of sounds and instruments sort of being played. However, most of the album was really good. “Punch Buggy Valves” and “The Trumpeter Swan” are probably my two favourites, but the last three songs are the most consistent section of the album IMO. So ye m8 gj Dh gj

[Snupes]

Artist: Stereolab
Title: Peng!
Genre: Post-rock
Release: 1992

Not an amazing album, but some of the songs on here certainly are. Right upfront, I’ll say that “K-Stars” is my favourite song and is absolutely gorgeous. It’s been a long time since I’ve really listened to much dream pop, but now I’m unsure why I ever stopped with how much I love it. It’s just such an ethereal, airy sound I can’t get enough of. For similar reasons, I adore the closer, “Surrealchemist”. It’s more of a droning track, but it drones on so delicately that I could probably very well fall asleep to it despite the fact that it’s not (necessarily) a light song.

The rest of the album was pleasant enough, if not quite gripping. Songs like “Stomach Worm” and “Orgiastic” are the best ones, where they have a good amount of drive and energy, sort of a toned-down version of the post-rock I’ve heard before.

That being said, I am looking forward to checking out some of their stuff following this album. From what I can see, they only get more well-received, and if they evolve from this that can only mean good things.

[lolwut?]

Please don't associate NIN with industrial

Please don't associate NIN with anything that even closely resembles music. Fuck them

[Snupes]

Artist: テンテンコ (Tentenko)
Title: テンテンコの生命大躍進 (Tentenko no Seimei dai Yakushin / Tentenko's Great Leap Forward of Life)
Genre: Electronic
Release: October 31, 2015

Not as poppy as “Good bye, Good girl” and not as experimental as “Piece of Dream”, this album lies somewhere inbetween. “Minimalist” is certainly a good way to describe it; there’s very little instrumentation other than Tentenko’s synth underlying every song with a rather consistent tone and rhythm, only the music on top of it changing a bit from track to track. Every other song is a part of a recurring, building theme called “ハルキゲニア” (Hallucigenia), with each being numbered (ハルキゲニア 1, ハルキゲニア 2, etc.) and tying each song together. Those tracks are almost the same, except for slight variations and the fact that each builds upon the last in small ways, with the first starting out with a very simple synth melody and clicking beats, and by the sixth it’s crackling until it finally distorts, almost explodes and fizzles out.

The even numbered tracks are all more unique, but also not really anything to write home about. “木の下” (Konoshita) is the only one that I really liked, simply because it’s soothing and super purdy, two things that Tentenko does very well.

So yes. I liked it, but there’s no real standouts other than that.




Artist: セプテンバーミー (September Me)
Title: Godspeed you!
Genre: Indie rock? Synth rock?
Release: November 18, 2015

I pretty much grabbed this at random and I’m pretty glad I did. It’s a short, five-track EP, but each track is unique and great enough that it feels like much more than that. I’m not sure whether to call this rock, alternative rock, synth rock or what; it’s a delightful mixture of various sounds and genres.

My favourites are “トケナイヨル、マジラナイヨル “ (Tokenaiyoru, Majiranaiyoru) and “僕らのイノセンス” (Bokura no inosensu). The former is a synth-filled rollercoaster while the latter is full of unconventional guitar rhythms and staccato instrumentation (a guilty pleasure of mine).
8/10 would listen again.

[Snupes]

FLASHBACK/UPDATE

Grimes - Visions: Well, that was a let-down. I'd been all excited and waiting to get around to this because it was supposedly dark ambient/dreampop stuff. It was indeed, but most of it sounded like it was done by an amateur. Which it probably was, but it doesn't excuse the fact that a lot of the music sounded like basic default tools off of MixCraft or something. That said, not the whole album was bad, just 6 out of 13...which was a lot more than I expected. Some of the best, though, were more atmospheric ones like Circumambient, Colour of Moonlight (Antiochus), and Skin.

Artist: Grimes
Title: Visions
Genre: Synthpop / dream pop
Release: January 31, 2012

While this did end up being much, much better than I remembered (my taste was even worse back then, so I’m not shocked), I have to admit it wasn’t as great as I’d come to hope. To be honest, I completely forgot I hated it so much because, over the years, I only listened to “Circumambient”, “Colour of Moonlight (Antiochus)” and “Skin”, so over time it became embellished as a great album as the stuff I didn’t like faded from memory. I do stand by a few of my original assessments—a lot of the album really does sound amateurish and iffy, but for the most part it’s still a solid album. Most of it I’d describe as somewhere between “good” and “okay”, but when it’s really good it’s just that.

My favourite song this time around is actually “Be a Body (侘寂)”, which has a fascinating energy to it that feels far beyond this album’s scope. Another pleasant surprise is “Visiting Statue”, which honestly sounds fairly boring but catches my attention for some reason.

So, all that said, I like it better this time around. Still no masterpiece and several tracks are forgettable—“Symphonia IX (My Wait is U)” was incredibly dull—but it’s overall a good listen.




Artist: Grimes
Title: Art Angels
Genre: Art pop / synthpop
Release: November 6, 2015

Certainly a step up from Visions. This is full of a much more refined sound, one that doesn’t sound like it was made solely using Garage Band, and it’s a great fusion of both Grimes’ experimental and pop tendencies. Most of the album has a very light, fun feel to it, and is actually considerably more upbeat than Visions.

My favourite is either the wonderfully fast-paced-to-floaty-chimes of “Venus Fly (feat. Janelle Monáe”, which features heavy echo-y drumbeats (a weakness of mine), or “Kill V. Maim”, which is delightfully heavy and I love Grimes’ attitude and screaming in it. “REALiTi” would be up there too if it weren’t so long and repetitive. It overstays its welcome.

Those aside, “Pin” is pretty gorgeous, and a good sign of just how much Grimes loves her clapclap beats. The only real pitfalls on the album for me are “California”, which is just typical and meh, and “Flesh without Blood”, which didn’t really stand out in any way to me.

Wrap-up: Much better than Visions, mostly great with a few boring songs, “Venus Fly” and “Kill V. Maim” are gr8, “Pin” is beauty.




Artist: 水曜日のカンパネラ (Suiyoubi no Campanella)
Title: ジパング (Zipangu)
Genre: Hip hop / pop / electronic? / experimental??
Release: November 11, 2015

Wow, uh, this isn’t at all what I expected. I wish I felt more like writing right now, because there's a ton I want to say about this.

The album was described as “electro” with female vocals, and, well, no. It’s an odd mix of pop, hip hop, and, uhh, I’m not sure what the third element is. Suiyoubi incorporates an experimental ethos into her work, infusing a hip hop feel with breakbeat, bizarre dashes of chopped-up piano and windchimes, whatever she feels like at the moment.

It’d be misleading to call the album experimental, since most of it is most accurately interesting hip pop, but it’s a wondrous listen regardless. There’s nary a song on here I didn’t love, and the worst one I could call, at worst, “really good”. The best could be called “exquisite” or “stunning”, but that doesn’t necessarily mean a ton coming from me. Even so, “西玉夫” is the best song I’ve heard in a good while, and at least the only song I’ve heard this month that I’d give a 10/10.

Other favourites are the short and schizophrenic “ツイッギー”, the disorientingly-breakbeat(?) “ウランちゃん”, and the near-perfect closer, “マッチ売りの少女”. I’m gonna be listening to this album a lot, and definitely need to check out more of her work.

[Snupes]

Artist: The Radio Dept.
Title: Clinging to a Scheme
Genre: Dream pop
Release: April 19, 2010

I have to admit upfront that I found this album actively searching for dream pop music, so my enjoyment of it is rather skewed. I’ve a feeling that had I found it on its own, I would like it more, but as a dream pop album it’s not as dream poppy as I would have hoped. That said, I’ll try to judge it on its own merits.

For the most part, the album is rather relaxing and nice. Dull at some points, but never unbearably so. Songs like “Heaven’s on Fire” and “Four Months in Shade” just sort of…exist. There’s not much to them and they’re nothing new or remotely interesting. Then there are songs like “Memory Loss” that make me sad for what the album could have been. It’s a marvelous song, completely fitting the dream pop aesthetic, droning on while meandering slightly here and there but with a consistent layer of clicking and drums to keep it on track.

“A Token of Gratitude” is probably the only other track that really stood out to me, but “Never Follow Suit” and “David” are rather good as well. The rest of the album is passable, but nothing worth getting excited over.

[Snupes]

Artist: カネコアヤノ (Ayano Kaneko)
Title: 来世はアイドル (Raise wa Aidoru / Hereafter Idol)
Genre: J-pop
Release: May 14, 2014

While I certainly preferred 恋する惑星 (Chungking Express), this was still gud. A bit more rock and J-pop, which is what I didn’t like as much, since I love Ayano’s folk voice. My favourites are “カウボーイ” and “イメージのうた”.




Artist: 水曜日のカンパネラ (Suiyoubi no Campanella)
Title: 私を鬼ヶ島に連れてって (Watashi wo Onigashima ni Tsuretette)
Genre: Hip hop / electronic
Release: October 29, 2014

A pretty good album. Not as amazing as ジパング, but good nonetheless. Most of it’s pretty standard J-pop plus rap, but there are a few tracks that exceed that and are great, like “桃太郎”, which masquerades as a regular rap song before suddenly becoming blippy bloopy weirdness. Even better, though, is “チャイコフスキー(Interlude-ラモス-)”, which began normally and decided halfway through it was going to get weird, dissolving into odd beats and an expertly-spoken backwards section, until it suddenly goes whole-hog and Koumai starts rapping backwards. Impressive as hell, to say the least.

Anyway, yeah. Good album.




Artist: 王菲 (Faye Wong)
Title: 迷人小姐 (Mi Ren Xiao Xe / Miss Charming)
Genre: Cantopop
Release: 1986

The beginning (aside from the first track) was pretty boring, but about halfway through the album got decent for a few songs and then went back to boring. So meh. This is from before Faye was famous, so it’s not surprising how standard and underwhelming it is, but still. Most of it is either boring ballads or standard Cantopop. Wahar.

That said, “心墻” and “下次相逢” are both pretty fun, and the highlight for me is “請你別説”, which sounds like the theme to some transformation sequence in a mech anime.

I don’t recommend this at all, unless you really want to sit through fourteen songs for three good tracks.




Artist: 王菲 (Faye Wong)
Title: You're the Only One
Genre: Cantopop
Release: December, 1990

This is much better than the last album, and much, much more refined. While plenty of it is still just eh (see; the entire first half), it’s at least well-done ballads rather than boring ones. At about the halfway point, with “多得他”, the album started to improve. It was a ballad, but a gorgeous one, and the rest of album kept up in that regard. The last two tracks are my favourites, and the final, “不裝飾”, is my favourite favourite. It’s slightly more rock than the rest of them, and it’s fun in general.

I guess I’d recommend this album if you like ballads, but otherwise it’s nothing you need in your library.




Artist: 王菲 (Faye Wong)
Title: 迷 (Mi / Mystery)
Genre: Mandopop
Release: April, 1994

Well, that was leaps and bounds ahead of its predecessors. It’s still mainly focused on balladry, but they’re gorgeous now. From start to finish there were only two songs I wasn’t a fan of (“軟弱” and “我願意 (弦樂版”), but everything else was beautiful. Faye’s not only clearly found her voice here (which is, itself, beautiful), but the style and sounds that suit her best. That’s exemplified most clearly in “沈醉” which, for whatever reason, brought me to tears. Just…beautiful. The entire album (minus two) is just so afjdksl. My second favourite, “執迷不悔”, is basically a traditional pop ballad but I love it regardless.

Actually, if it makes any sense, the cover pretty well displays how the album felt to me. Chilly, ethereal and beautiful.

I’m really excited to see where she goes from here. I’ve got one more album from her on my list, which is supposed to be (one of) her best, so if it’s better than this I’ll be thrilled.




Artist: 王菲 (Faye Wong)
Title: 浮躁 (Fu Zai / Restless)
Genre: Dream pop / C-pop
Release: July, 1996

Wow, damn, when people called this Wong’s most artistic work, they weren’t kidding. I don’t know the full backstory—I think she was released from her label and went off to do her own things—and the result is a very varied dream pop album that just floats around beautifully in a strange state of musical coherence. The songs sort of blend together, and tend to weave together without being completely separate tracks. Some are wordless, some focus on distorted, funky guitars, some are nothing but starry synths and one, “浮躁”, features a lot of vocals but no words at all. I love it. This is a very, very easy album to listen to and I think I’m going to do so a lot. “分裂” is an airy, ethereal wonder; this is the exact kind of dream pop I love. “不安” is centered around a distorted, bouncing guitar; it’s short, but sweet. My other two favourites are “墮落” and “末日”, just to toss that out there.

But, yes, I love this album. I’m gonna be revisiting a lot, I think. I highly recommend this.

[Snupes]

Artist: Boudewijn de Groot
Title: Hoe sterk is de eenzame fietser
Genre: Folk / Nederpop
Release: September 10, 1973

While the whole album was pretty good, side A was by far the best part. “Terug van weggeweest” was really nice, and I especially loved the rock twinge added to it halfway through, as well as the jarring stop because I’m a sucker for dumb things. The highlight of side B is also the opener, “Jimmy”, which kicks into gear also halfway through. The best song on the album though is easily “Onderweg”, which is gorgeous. So simplistic but masterfully done. Not a sound added that doesn’t feel necessary, and the light strums and tings lend themselves to an absolutely stunning ambiance. My state of mind today likely lent itself a good amount to it, but I started crying halfway through because it’s beautiful and I love it.

But yeah, good album.

[Roundy]

Listen to The Flaming Lips' The Soft Bulletin.

[Snupes]

Holy shit. I probably have a couple dozen albums to add since my internet's been out since my last post, but I may as well, uh, start catching up while I have this brief window of internet and time... The details here will probably be fairly sparse, since for many of these I haven't listened to them in 1-2 months. Some will have more than a "first impression" feel since I've had time to come to love them. OH well!!!




Artist: Boudewijn de Groot
Title: Picknick
Genre: Psychedelic rock
Release: January 22, 1968

While there was nothing as good as “Onderweg” on here, as a whole I liked it considerably more than Hoe sterk is de eenzame fietser. It was much more, uhh, late 60s. It sounds like a mishmash of Floyd and The Beatles with a healthy dose of The World/Inferno Friendship Society at points, particularly in the opening track.

The highlight of the album, for me, is “Cinderella”, which starts out as a sing-songy almost children’s song before abruptly veering into weird territory.




Artist: Gin Wigmore
Title: Gravel & Wine
Genre: Pop / alternative rock
Release: November 7, 2011

Leaps and bounds ahead of Holy Smoke. Still not perfect, but basically everything up to “Singin’ My Soul” is absolutely wonderful. The bonus tracks afterward are fairly boring. Anyway, the album opener, “Black Sheep”, is absolutely bitchin’, for lack of a better term. It’s perfectly suited to Gin’s unique voice, and damn if it doesn’t get me (as) pumped (as I can get). “Kill of the Night” is pretty similar in that sense, but “Devil in Me” is the next best track, elevated by Gin’s magnificent vocals. They’re shown off even better on “Saturday Smile”, the first track I’ve heard by her that I would actually consider beautiful, which shows that she can write slow songs, just took a while to learn how. “Sweet Hell” is the only other track I feel is worth mentioning, just ‘cause it’s damn fun, which is what she excels at. Everything else minus “Happy Ever After” is totally great, and even that track is good.

I’d recommend checking out “Black Sheep”, and if that song’s your style then this album is your style.




Artist: Gin Wigmore
Title: Blood to Bone
Genre: Alternative rock
Release: June 26, 2015

As a whole, this is probably better than Gravel & Wine, but it has less stand-out tracks. The few that are there, though, are wonderful. “This Old Heart” is probably the most beautiful use of Gin’s voice I’ve heard yet, I didn’t even know she could do such high vocals. When she tried on Holy Smoke it tended not to end well. Then there’s “Written in the Water”, which sounds like early Florence + the Machine in the style of Gin Wigmore; if you know me, that’s a hell of a compliment. And, finally, the album closes with “I Will Love You” which is simple, but purty. The only other track worth bringing up is “Black Parade”, which is sort of bombastic but mellow in a delightful way.

This catches me up with all of Wigmore’s albums. I’m glad I checked them out. Even if my mind wasn’t quite blown, there’s some damn good music here that I’m happy to be able to add to my library. :]




Artist: Frank Turner
Title: Poetry of the Deed
Genre: Folk rock
Release: September 7, 2009

Once again, Frank Turner sings directly to my heart. It’s devastating how much I can relate to his music, and inspiring how much he can speak to me because of that. Whether it’s about protecting forgotten liberties (“Sons of Liberty”), being scared that your parents just want you to live the lives they wanted (“Faithful Son”), wanting life to end despite knowing others survive with the very same burdens (“Richard Divine”), or singing about how even the shittiest of lives bring knowledge and experience you couldn’t learn elsewhere (“Journey of the Magi”, though that’s selling the song short; there’s a lot more to it than that).

Of the songs, my favourites are “Richard Divine” and “Journey of the Magi”. The former for its brutal honesty, the latter for its inspiring analogies. Not sure where I’d place this so far of all his albums, but it was mostly pretty darn good.




Artist: Owl City
Title: Mobile Orchestra
Genre: Electropop
Release: July 10, 2015

This is honestly better than I expected, but it didn’t blow past my expectations like I’d sort of hoped. Most of it is just “alright”, and only there’s only one track I really, really liked that I hadn’t already heard. That song is “I Found Love”, which has hints of old Owl City, particularly in the dancing synth piano in the background.


Well, that covers the rest of December. I'll maybe do January tomorrow. Otherwise, we'll see

[Snupes]

Aaaand here's January:





Artist: Boudewijn de Groot
Title: Waar ik woon en wie ik ben
Genre: Nederpop
Release: September 1975

That was okay. The first two songs were the highlights, with “Waar ik woon”’s minimal beats and random Beatles, and “Calypso”’s purtiness. The only other two songs that really stood out for me were “Moeder” and “Wegen”, the latter of which is really fun. “Of niet soms” would be great if it were less what it is and more what its near-finish guitar solo is.




Artist: Rachel's
Title: Systems/Layers
Genre: Post-rock
Release: October 7, 2003

This album wins the award for most drastic change from gorgeous to boring as hell I’ve ever heard. Tracks like “Systems/Layers”, “Reflective Surfaces”, “Water from the Same Source” and “Even/Odd” are incredible. Everything else ranges from alright to insanely dull. I almost quit listening just because I really wanted to listen to something else.




Artist: Laleh
Title: Laleh
Genre: Pop
Release: March 30, 2005

This turned out to be delightfully fun and astoundingly beautiful. Especially beautiful in the second half of the album. The first of it is mostly really fun and just great to listen to. “Invisible (My Song)” is fun, “Bostadsansökan” is fun, “Salvation” is fun, blah blah. Then other songs beautiful like “Interlude” and all of the last four tracks blah blah. Really good album.




Artist: Laleh
Title: Sjung
Genre: Pop rock
Release: January 25, 2012

Wow, this was immaculate. I really mean that, weirdly. I mean, it wasn’t perfect. I’ve yet to hear an album I would call perfect, and I still wouldn’t put this amongst the few I consider close, but it’s just so…I don’t know. Spotless? For the most part, that is. While the beginning was weak, much of the album just feels impervious, like, there are no flaws I can find. Not that I was looking for them. But the album just felt right, like any other note or sound or instrument would’ve thrown it all out of whack. Lelah’s voice is gorgeous, her singing is ethereal, and the music ranges from fun as hell to beautiful. My favourite is “Ängeln I rummet”, but it’s hard to choose. This is an album I’ll definitely be listening to as a whole very often.




Artist: Мельнитса (Mel'nitsa)
Title: Master of the Mill
Genre: Folk rock
Release: 2004

Wonderfully folky and heavy at times and also Natalia O’Shea’s voice is really nice and I like it a lot. Good ablubum. My two favourites are easily "Двери Тамерлана" (Dveri Tamerlana / Tamerlane's Doors) and "Богиня Иштар" (Boginya Ishtar / Goddess Ishtar), as they've both grown on me hugely over time and the latter has already become one of my most-listened to tracks because there were many, many days where I'd play it a dozen or so times.




Artist: DVAR
Title: Piirrah
Genre: Experimental / darkwave
Release: 2002

Started to really regret this at the beginning when the second track kicked in along with Norwegian black metal screeching vocals, but they got put to better (and more ridiculous) use in tracks like ”Vo Rah Arrah Iill”. My favourite track, easily, and just retardedly fun. The album’s not really anything special overall, and the vocals do ruin several tracks, but it’s not bad. Favourites are that, “Hissen Raii” and “Iih Rah”. Actually, gotta throw the closer, “Ariil Iaat”, in the mix as well. It’s ambient and increasingly crackly, just the way I like it.




Artist: Boudewijn de Groot
Title: Boudewijn de Groot
Genre: Folk / Nederpop
Release: 1966

Definitely my least favourite of Boudewijn’s work that I’ve heard. The only two tracks I really cared for were “Er komen andere tijden” and “Welterusten, meneer de president”. Oh, and “Nee, meeuw” for bing boing bing boing bing boing bing boing bing boing bing boing bing boing bing boing bing boing bing boing bing boing bing boing bing boing bing boing bing boing bing boing bing boing bing boing bing boing bing boing bing boing bing boing bing boing bing boing bing boing bing boing bing boing bing boing bing boing bing boing bing boing bing boing bing boing bing boing bing boing bing boing bing boing




Artist: Boudewijn de Groot
Title: Voor de overlevenden
Genre: Folk / Nederpop
Release: November 10, 1966

Solid album. Nothing super special.




Artist: ハチスノイト (Hatis Noit)
Title: Illogical Dance
Genre: Electronic / experimental
Release: December 10, 2015

Sounds kind of like a Japanese Björk, in a good way. Nothing mind-blowing, but definitely a beautiful listen. Once I get internet back, I’m gonna look for more of her stuff for sure.




Artist: 신설희 (Shin Seol Hee)
Title: 일상의 잔상 (Ilsang-ui jansang / After Image)
Genre: K-pop / folk
Release: July 23, 2015

I’m not sure if I’d call this folk or not, but it was certainly very pretty. Why are Asian languages so damn pretty? I want to learn all of them. Shin Seol Hee has a gorgeous, light, airy voice that perfectly fits the low-key music she creates. I would certainly like to hear more of her work.




Artist: Мельница (Mel'nitsa)
Title: Ангелофрения (Angelofreniya)
Genre: Rock
Release: February 2012

A much more rock / pop departure from their folk rock sound, and I don’t fully love the change. That said, it’s still pretty good, so I won’t complain too much. My favourite is easily “Неперелетная” (Nepereletnaya), with runners-up being “Дороги” (Dorogi / Roads)and “Баллада о борьбе” (Ballada o Bor'be / Ballad of the Fight).




Artist: Panic! at the Disco
Title: Death of a Bachelor
Genre: Pop / rock
Release: January 15, 2016

This album is, if nothing else, interesting. Brendon clearly wants to be Frank Sinatra, which is part of the album's downfall. Much of it feels more like a Sinatra tribute mixed with electronic rock or hip hop beats, which mars any real creativity. It has its high points ("Emperor's New Clothes" is fantastic, "Golden Days" has a gorgeous chorus), but for the most part it falls flat. This album should have been made under the name "Brendon Urie" rather than Panic!, because it's very much a Urie solo album. For the worse. Of all six of Panic!'s albums, this definitely ranks as my least favourite.




Artist: 佐藤和哉 (Kazuya Satou)
Title: ふうちそう (Fuuchisou)
Genre: Ohayashi (Japanese festival music)
Release: May 25, 2013

Very simple. Very nice. Very beautiful. A light, mellow, 25-minute long album of just classical-sounding Japanese melodies. I can’t say whether or not they’re actually classical Japanese songs or not because lol I wouldn’t know. It’s delightful, though.

[Snupes]

February:




Artist: Boudewijn de Groot
Title: Het eiland in de verte
Genre: Nederpop
Release: 2004

Varied between fun and pretty. I liked it.




Artist: 泉まくら (Izumi Makura)
Title: 愛ならば知っている (Ainaraba shitte iru / Know if love)
Genre: Indie / hip hop
Release: April 22, 2015

Nice, light, hip hop-oriented Japanese music. I like it. Sometimes the lightness can get kinda dull, but it's a very relaxing experience that I can't fault too much. There's just not a ton outstanding about it.




Artist: mmm (ミーマイモー)
Title: Safe Mode
Genre: Folk
Release: October 26, 2015

I actually literally forgot I was listening to this album as I was listening to it. Just once it stopped I suddenly noticed the absence of sound. It’s not bad, just…forgettable. Pleasant enough listen, I suppose. I mean, I've completely forgotten what it sounded like by this point and I remember nothing about it, but I remember thinking "this is really okay".




Artist: Cybotron
Title: Enter
Genre: Electro
Release: 1983

Really not sure why I downloaded this forever ago. Wasn’t really worth it. There were a couple of good tracks (mainly “The Line” and “Cosmic Cars”, and “Alleys of Your Mind” is pretty good), but most are just really generic 80s stuff. Not even in a cheesy, wonderful way. It feels like these guys were just hanging out around synths and flies kept landing them so they kept slapping them, then heard the result afterwards and decided to put it out as an album.




Artist: Kimonos
Title: Kimonos
Genre: Electronic
Release: November 17, 2010

This turned out to be really good. Not incredible, but a fun listen. Wonderfully abrasive at times, constantly repetitive and overbearing, with a few songs stepping back and giving some breathing room. I’ll take it.




Artist: De Dijk
Title: De blauwe schuit
Genre: Nederpop
Release: 1994

Not the worst thing I’ve had, but it wasn’t great. Most of the tracks were just alright, but there were a few standouts like “Slechte gewoontes”, “Gaat deze trein nog terug?”, and, my favourite, the wonderful “Amsterdam”. High praise, I know.




Artist: Psychic TV
Title: Dreams Less Sweet
Genre: Experimental / industrial
Release: 1983

Much less intense than I expected, and rather surprisingly goofy, but not bad at all.




Artist: Xiu Xiu
Title: Fabulous Muscles
Genre: Art rock
Release: February 17, 2004

A wonderful, wonderful album. Arsty enough to sate my pretension and noisy enough to quench my need for abrasiveness in my music. "Crank Heart" and "I Luv the Valley OH!" were easily my favourites.




Artist: Adam Lambert
Title: The Original High
Genre: Synthpop
Release: June 12, 2015

Most of this is pretty generic dance-pop and not particularly thrilling or exciting in almost any way. There are some stand-outs though. First is “Ghost Town”, which I’ve loved for a good while now, but the surprise hit is “Another Lonely Night” which is almost as good. It’ll probably grow on me more. The only other ones I really liked were “After Hours” (which is minimal enough that I had to check if SBTRKT produced it; he didn’t), “The Light” and “Rumors (feat. Tove Lo)”. I wouldn’t really recommend it unless you’re particularly inclined to dance/synthpop.




Artist: Deerhoof
Title: Apple O'
Genre: Indie rock
Release: March 18, 2003

Not as good as Reveille, but certainly an easier listen. I still prefer Reveille, but I enjoyed this one considerably as well, despite Parsifal’s proclamations of negativity towards its quality.




Artist: 三柏スイ (Sui Mitsukashi)
Title: 等身大じゃチビのまんま (Tōshindai ja chibi no manma / Something about mama's life-size chibi I don't know???)
Genre: J-pop / j-rock
Release: August 5, 2015

A surprisingly very, very fun album. I like it a lot. Sui has a style that’s very folky while blending with and sharing the energy of rock music. I’ll be checking out more of her stuff…eventually.




Artist: Honeydew
Title: Time to Tell
Genre: Shoegaze
Release: December 2, 2015

A thoroughly competent but overall disappointing shoegaze album from Japan. When it shines, it shines rather bright (the last 20 or so seconds of “Letter to Home” are amazing and it’s a shame they didn’t extend that level of distortion and unbalance to the rest of the music), but all but two or three songs are dull and forgettable. The two in particular that come to mind are “Sweetest Memory”, which is wonderfully weird, and “Clock is Ticking Slower Today”, which is still pretty plain but has enough mild variety to make it more interesting than the rest of the album. So while it’s all not bad, it’s pretty forgettable.




Artist: North
Title: Legend of Fushichou
Genre: Indie pop
Release: 2015

The best word for this is, I guess, “interesting”. “Legend of Fushichou” and “Towards the Next Day” open and close the album with chill, pulsing indie pop. Nothing mind-blowing, but good music. The two middle tracks, “Ninja in the Cell” and “Into the Silence”, decide to fuse that indie pop sound with bizarre English rap by a heavily-accented Russian singer, which I actually totally enjoyed.

[Snupes]

March (well, a small part of it; I'll keep expanding day-by-day until I catch up):



Artist: Буква О (Bukva O / Letter O)
Title: 1
Genre: Post-punk
Release: 1988

This was…interesting. It’s either punk, post-punk or “experimental rock” depending on where you check. I’d say it tends somewhere more towards the middle of the first two. It definitely has some odd aspects, though, in that parts of it consist of little more than shouting or slamming drums to a vague rhythm. It’s not for a lack of talent, though, since most of the songs are very rhythmic and pretty damn great. The main downside is that this isn’t even lo-fi, it’s lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-fi. It sounds like it was recorded on the charred remnants of cassette tapes, which were then submersed in a toilet for twelve days. Which makes it all the more surprising that it’s so enjoyable, particularly the tracks “Ласточка” (which is incredibly simple, but great anyway) and “Крылатая ракета”.




Artist: Буква О (Bukva O / Letter O)
Title: 2
Genre: Post-punk
Release: 1988

While this is still pretty scattered, it has a much more consistent sense of rhythm while still capitalizing on the nigh-incomprehensible yelling and sometimes goes further with the crazy-man yelling and shouting. That said, it’s also overall much better. The quality is less horrendous and the music is more interesting. The highlight of the album for me is “Мочеиспускательный процесс”, followed by “Пиджак с застёжкой на спине” as well as “Низкопопая старуха” just for how much of a masterclass in unnecessary amounts of r-trilling it is.




Artist: Контора Кука (Kontora Kuka
Title: РИО (RIO)
Genre: Post-punk
Release: 2015

Apparently this is ”post-punk” which is...I don’t know...accurate insofar as it isn’t punk music. It doesn’t sound like any post-punk I’ve heard, rather being a mishmash of a bunch of genres. It was good, though. My two favourites are “ты узнаешь меня” (Ty uznayesh’ myenya / Do you know me) and ”Еще и заново” (Yeshche i zanovo / Again and again). The latter is a downtempo, seemingly trip-hop, and the former almost sounds like some kind of epic tale, not horribly unlike some of the less grating stuff beardo has shown me.




Artist: Herman van Veen
Title: Herman van Veen I
Genre: Nederpop
Release: 1968

That was fucking goofy as shit. Herman is a goofy fuck. That was wonderful.




Artist: Марина Девятова (Marina Devyatova)
Title: Не думала, не гадала (Ne dumala, ne gadala / I do not think, I do not guess)
Genre: Pop
Release: 2009

Why was this labeled folk? This was the poppiest shit I’ve ever heard. It was good, though. There were a few fantastic songs, like “Не думала, не гадала” (Ne dumala, ne gadala / I do not think, I do not guess) and “Я – огонь, ты – вода (с В. Девятовым)” (Ya – ogon’, ty – voda [s V. Devyatovym] / I – fire, you – water [with V. Devyatova]), it’s just weird that this would ever, ever be called folk.