Love or Hate? Redux

[Trollheart]

Before I give myself sleepless nights, should I resurrect my once-somewhat-popular thread would anyone be interested? What kept me going the first time was the amount of people who joined in, commented, provided recs and then had their say on what I thought of them. This isn't something I would do in solitude; I just wouldn't be interested in that. It needs to be a kind of group activity (shut it) where everyone, or at least some people join in and make it fun.

For any who don't know, "Love or Hate?" was a thread I ran on MB years ago, where members would recommend me albums and I would then listen to them and say what I thought of them, marking them either as Love or Hate, with a few in-betweens (Like, Meh etc). It's here if you want to check it out. Anyway, I'm open to doing it again, here, but not if it's just going to be me sitting here talking to myself, as usual.

So, if you're interested let me know. If not, sod off.

Guess you're sodding off then. 

Well, let me do this, for now. It's been ten years since I ran the thread over on MB, and reading back through it I can wince at some of my impressions and opinions, even if they were my first encounters with the artist or album. So I thought it might be fun to revisit the ones I did over there and see if, a decade on and somewhat very slightly more clued-in to at least some of the music I may have dismissed (hip-hop, jazz, punk etc), I feel any differently about them. Obviously, I won't be re-reviewing them, as that would be largely pointless, but I will listen to each again and note any new comments I have, anything I feel different or indeed the same about, and re-rate the album if it needs to be.

I'll leave the original links in this list, mostly because it would be too much of a pain to remove them one by one but also because if you're of a mind to, you can click on them to see what my original opinion was back then. If anyone wants to recommend albums to me, just post here and I'll add them to the list. Well, they'll go to the top as they will be ones I have not done. For those I have done (which may end up being the only ones here) I'll note for your amusement what my original decision was on each album, and we'll see if that changes, for good or bad.

As I don't believe I can link something twice, i.e., I can either leave in the original review link or create the one for my review here, when it's done, I won't be able to link the reviews but will colour each link green when I've, um, redone it. This does not have anything to do with my "Love or Hate?" colour-codings; green is just the best colour that indicates something has been completed. For any review not first posted on MB I'll colour the link blue, so you'll know which is which.

If the member names after each album mean nothing to you, I hate you. I'm also not going through all these and taking the names of who recced what out. Got enough work to do.

Also, I'm almost certain that there were tons of recs I did not get to do originally before I shut the thread down, so, although those who suggested them are unlikely to ever see the reviews, I will attempt to do those here as well. Any that are not done will not be coloured or linked. In those cases, since there will be no MB link, I will link the review when it's done here. I will, however, also colour the link green, to show it has been done.

I'll go through the list alphabetically, but any new recs from yourselves will take precedence. For those who don't know, one album per member from any genre, but it must be an album I have not heard before (I'll tell you if it isn't) and ideally once an artist has been recced and accepted, no more from that artist. As ever, don't take offence if I hate your album; I don't soften my approach for anyone, but I won't go out of my way to hate anything. If I do though, then I do. It's up to you whether you choose something you think I'll like or something you know I'll hate, but if the latter, don't bitch and moan at me and tell me I don't know what I'm talking about. I don't, of course, but that's beside the point. Open yourself - your album(s) - up to criticism, you pays your money and you takes your chances.



The Big List

2 Foot Yard Borrowed Arms (Grindy)
2814 Birth of a New Day (Machine)
30 Seconds to Mars s/t (DwnWthVwls)
Acid Mothers Temple and The Melting Paraiso UFO   In C  (Frownland)
Aesop Waits    Tom Shall Pass  (Goofle)
Africa Express presents    Terry Riley's in C Mali (Frownland)
Alabama Shakes   Sound and Color (Qwertyy)
Joey Alexander My Favourite Things (TechnicLePanther)
Algiers    Algiers (Goofle)
Tori Amos   Abnormally Attracted to Sin  (MicShazam)
Animal Collective    Strawberry Jam (Frownland)
Anacrusis   Screams and Whispers  (The Batlord)
Jon Anderson   Olias of Sunhillow (Chula Vista)
Titus Andronicus    TheMonitor (Justthefacts)
The Angels of Light   Everything is Good Here/Please Come Home (bob)
Anglagard    Hybris (Grindy)
Angra   Holy Land  (The Batlord)
Antlers   Familiars  (YorkeDaddy)
Aphex Twin   Selected Ambient Works 85 - 92  (TechnicLePanther)
Fiona Apple   The Idle Wheel is Wiser Than the Driver of the Screw and Whipping Cords Will Serve You Better Than Ropes Will Ever Do (Justthefacts)
Arkangel    Dead Man Walking (The Batlord)
Asunder   A Clarion Call  (bob)
AtreyuThe Curse (DwnWthVwls)
At the Drive-InRelationship of Command (Justthefacts)
At the Gates   Slaughter of the Soul  (The Batlord)
Aztec Camera   High Land, Hard Rain (TechnicLePanther)
Bandits of the Acoustic Revolution   A Call to Arms (WWWP)
Bran Barr Sidh (Mythsofmetal)
Beastmilk Climax (Qwerty)
The Beatloads s/t (Frownland)
Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band   Clear Spot (Frownland)
Beirut     No No No (YorkeDaddy)
Belle and Sebastian   If You're Feeling Sinister (YorkeDaddy)
Alban Berg   Violin Concerto  (Deadchannel)
Between the Buried and Me    The Great Misdirect  (The Batlord)
Big Star   #1 Record (Pet_Sounds)
The Black Heart Procession   2  (bob)
The Black Ryder    The Door Behind the Door  (bob)
James Blake   James Blake  (Justthefacts)
Karl Blau    Beneath Waves (WWWP)
Blind Guardian   A Night at the Opera  (The Batlord)
The Blue NileA Walk Across the Rooftops (Plainview)
Blur    Parklife  (TechnicLePanther)
  Boards of Canada  Music Has the Right to Children  (TechnicLePanther)
Joe Bonamassa Blues Deluxe (Ilistentoeverything)
Bone Thugz n Harmony   E.1999 Eternal  (The Batlord)
Bonnie "Prince" Billy    I See a Darkness (WWWP)
Boris   Pink (The Batlord)
Brand New The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me (Qwerty)
Bright Eyes   I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning (Qwertyy)
Tim Buckley   Goodbye and Hello (Frownland)
The Bug Angels and Devils (Ol' Qwerty Bastard)
John Cage    String Quartet in Four Parts (Frownland)
John Cale and Terry Riley   Church of Anthrax  (Frownland)
Camera Obscura     Let's Get Out of This COuntry (Justthefacts)
Los Campesinos! No Blues (Yorkedaddy)
Can    Ege Bamyasi (Machine)
Can   Future Days (Plainview)
The Caretaker   An Empty Bliss Beyond This World  (Frownland)
Catuvolcus   Voyageurs de' lAube  (Mythsofmetal)
Ceremony   The L-Shaped Man (Qwertyy)
James Chance and The Contortions Buy (The Batlord)
Chromatics   Kill For Love  (JosefK)
Chvrches    Every Open Eye  (YorkeDaddy)
Merry Clayton    Gimme Shelter  (Goofle)
cloudcover   Enter Humanity  (YorkeDaddy)
cloudcoverMemento (YorkeDaddy)
cLOUDDEAD   cLOUDDEAD  (Machine)
Billy Cobham   Spectrum (Plankton)
Cocoteau Twins   Heaven or Las Vegas  (YorkeDaddy)
John Coltrane   A Love Supreme  (Frownland)
Common Resurrection (Micco)
Complicated Shirt Compromising Compositions (Machine)
Cor Scorpil   Monument  (Mythsofmetal)
Cousin Boneless Danse Macabre (Deadchannel)
The Cure   Disintegration  (Pet_Sounds)
Cynic   Focus  (The Batlord)
D'Angelo and the Vanguard    Black Messiah  (Justthefacts)
The Damned   Machine Gun Etiquette (Urban Hatemonger)
Danzig   Danzig III: How the Gods Kill  (The Batlord)
Bobby Darin   That's All (Micco)
DarkthroneTransilvanian Hunger (The Batlord)
Daughter Not to Disappear (Yorkedaddy)
Daydream Society   For Now (YorkeDaddy)
Deadmau5    Vexillology  (TechnicLePanther)
Deadguy Fixation on a Co-worker (The Batlord)
Dead Voices on Air   New Word Machine (bob)
The Deaf Aids   Rainbow Grey  (Plainview)
The Deaf Aids   The Visions Will Return  (Plainview)
Deafhaven New Bermuda (Frownland)
Death  Symbolic  (The Batlord)
Deerhoof    Milk Man  (Machine)
Deerhunter Halcyon Digest (Yorkedaddy)
Deltron 3030   Deltron 3030 (The Batlord)
Demolition Hammer Epidemic of Violence (The Batlord)
Dirge Venus Claws (Frownland)
Disillusion   Back to Times of Splendour (Neurotripsicks)
Divine Fits   Divine Fits  (Justthefacts)
Eric Dolphy   Out to Lunch! (Frownland)
Nick Drake    Pink Moon  (YorkeDaddy)
Dream Theater   Metropolis Pt 2: Scenes From a Memory  (TechnicLePanther)
Earth The Bees Made Honey in the Lion's Skull (The Batlord)
Einstürzende Neubauten  Halber Mensch (The Batlord)
EI-P   Fantastic Damage (Goofle)
ELPTrilogy (Neapolitan)
Elvenking   Heathenreel  (The Batlord)

[SGR]

Before I give myself sleepless nights, should I resurrect my once-somewhat-popular thread would anyone be interested? What kept me going the first time was the amount of people who joined in, commented, provided recs and then had their say on what I thought of them. This isn't something I would do in solitude; I just wouldn't be interested in that. It needs to be a kind of group activity (shut it) where everyone, or at least some people join in and make it fun.

For any who don't know, "Love or Hate?" was a thread I ran on MB years ago, where members would recommend me albums and I would then listen to them and say what I thought of them, marking them either as Love or Hate, with a few in-betweens (Like, Meh etc). It's here if you want to check it out. Anyway, I'm open to doing it again, here, but not if it's just going to be me sitting here talking to myself, as usual.

So, if you're interested let me know. If not, sod off.

I'd certainly be open to giving you some recs Trolls - I'd certainly engage in discussion of your thoughts on the rec(s) I give you at the least.

[Trollheart]

Falkenbach   Ok Nefna Tysvar Ty (The Batlord)
Faust   Faust IV  (Frownland)
Leonid Federov   Anabaena (Grindy)
Lucem Ferre There is Something Wrong (Lucem Ferre)
James Ferraro   Far Side Virtual  (Machine)
Fire! Orchestra   Enter (Frownland)
The Flaming Lips   The Soft Bulletin  (The Batlord)
Flipper Generic Flipper (The Batlord)
Florence and the Machine    How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful (DwnWthVwls)
Flying Lotus   You're Dead! (Justthefacts)
Gamel    OOIOO  (Frownland)
The Gathering   How to Measure a Planet?  (The Batlord)
GhostMeliora (Frownland)
Girls    Album  (Justthefacts)
Godspeed You! Black EMperor    Lift Yr Skinny Fists  Like Antennas to Heaven  (Deadchannel)
  Goldfrapp  Felt Mountain  (Grindy)
Holly Golightly   God Don't Like It  (Suzy Creamcheese)
Gorillaz    Plastic Beach  (Machine)
Gorky's Zygotic Mynci   Bwyd Time (Urban Hatemonger)
Grey Heaven Fall Black Wisdom (Mythsofmetal)
Grimes   Art Angels  (YorkeDaddy)
The Vince Guaraldi Trio    A Charlie Brown Christmas  (TechnicLePanther)
Woody Guthrie    Dust Bowl Ballads  (JosefK)
Steve Hackett   Bay of Kings (Plankton)
Hail Spirit Noir    Oi Magoi (Mythsofmetal)
HammerFall    Renegade (The Batlord)
Herbie Hancock   Thrust  (Frownland)
Have a Nice Life Deathconsciousness (Machine)
Screamin' Jay Hawkins   Cow Fingers and Mosquito Pie (Frownland)
Isaac Hayes    Hot Buttered Soul  (Micco)
Michael Hedges    Taproot  (Plankton)
Hella   Hold Your Horse Is (Deadchannel)
Highly Suspect   Mister Asylum (DwnWthVwls)
Marian Hill   Sway (Violet)
Mark Hollis s/t (Plainview)
Jon Hopkins   Immunity  (YorkeDaddy)
Hum   You'd Prefer an Astronaut (bob)
Husker Du    Warehouse  (bob)
Iced Earth   Something Wicked This Way Comes  (The Batlord)
Iggy Pop   The Idiot (TechnicLePanther)
Ilya   Poise is the Greater Architect (bob)
In Flames   Clayman (The Batlord)
In the Woods Omnio (Mondo Bungle)
Inquisition Obscure Verses for the Multiverse (Mondo Bungle)
Insane Clown Posse   Riddle Box  (The Batlord)
Ironheart   Revolution Calls  (Plankton)
Gregory Alan Isakov    This Empty Northern Hemisphere  (Ilistentoeverything)
Jason Isbell      Southeastern (Moss)
Andrew Jackson Jihad   People That Can Eat People Are the Luckiest People in the World  (Machine)
Jagernaut      Scissor Fight (Raymaaan)
Janvs   Vega  (Mythsofmetal)
Japan   Tin Drum (Plainview)
Jarboe    Zen J Jazz (bob)
Carly Rae Jepsen    Em-O-Tion  (Goofle)
Jesu    Silver  (Machine)
The Brothers Johnson   Blam!  (Micco)
Jojo  #Lovejojo (Goofle)
Judas Iscariot Heaven in Flames (Machine)
Kuni Kawachi and Flower Travellin Band   Kirikyogen  (Suzy Creamcheese)
Killswitch Engage As Daylight Dies (The Batlord)
Kiss the Anus of a Black Cat    Interlude to the Outermost (bob)
Kitty     Frostbite (Goofle)
Garret Klahn s/t (bob)
The Kooks   Junk of the Heart  (Suzy Creamcheese)
Fela Kuti Expensive Shit (Frownland)
Kyuss Blues for the Red Sun (Blank)
L'Orange    Orchid Days (Frownland)
Ladytron   Light and Magic (Urban Hatemonger)
Kendrick Lamar  To Pimp a Butterfly (Violet)
  Lantlos  Melting Sun (Machine)
John Larkin Listen to the Scatman (Micco)
Laserdisc Visions New Dreams Ltd (Machine)
Last DinosaursIn a Million Years (Yorkedaddy)
LCD Soundscape   This is Happening (Machine)
The Legendary Pink Dots   Brighter Now  (bob)
Lemon Demon Spirit Phone (Goofle)
Jenny Lewis   Acid Tongue  (Justthefacts)
Lifetones   For a Reason (Mondo Bungle)
Lift to Experience The Texas-Jerusalem Crossroads (Machine)
Lite   Phantasia  (Plankton)
Living ColorVivid (Plankton)
Liz   Just Like You (Goofle)
Tove Lo   Queen of the Clouds  (Goofle)
Low    Ones and Sixes  (bob)
Lush Spooky (bob)
Lykke Li    Wounded Rhymes  (DwnWthVwls)
Machine    Mind Over Love and Body (Machine)
Machine Head   The Blackening  (YorkeDaddy)
Mackintosh Plus   Floral Shoppe  (TechnicLePanther)
Magma   Attahk  (Frownland)
The Magnetic Fields    Get Lost (Dreadnaught)
Charles Manson   Lie: The Love and Terror Cult (TechnicLePanther)
  Mac de Marco  Salad Days  (Machine)
Dean Martin    Dino: Italian Love Songs (Micco)
Melanie Martinez Crybaby (DwnWthVwls)
Mastodon   The Hunter  ()
Matmos Ultimate Care II (TechnicLePanther)
Curtis Mayfield   Roots (Micco)
Meshuggah Nothing (The Batlord)
Merzbow   Venereology (The Batlord)
Meta Meta MM3 (Frownland)
The Microphones   The Glow, Pt 2  (Machine)
Midlake   The Trials of Van Occupanther  (DwnWthVwls)
Milo   So the Flies Don't Come  (Deadchannel)
MirthkonVehicle (Frownland)
Misery Signals Controller (The Batlord)
Anais Mitchell - Hadestown (Mord)
Moby    Play (Pet_Sounds)
Mocket    Bionic Parts (bob)
Modest Mouse    The Lonesome Crowded West  (Machine)
  Monster Magnet  Dopes to Infinity  (The Batlord)
Moondog   Moondog  (DwnWthVwls)
Ennio Morricone   The Good, the Bad and the Ugly OST  (Deadchannel)
Mother Love Bone   Apple (Chula Vista)
Mr Bungle   California  (TechnicLePanther)
Roisin Murphy   Overpowered  (The Batlord)
Muse   Drones (Violet)
My Morning Jacket   Z (Justthefacts)
The National    Boxer (YorkeDaddy)
Native Construct   Quiet World (Violet)
Neutral Milk Hotel   On Avery Island (Machine)
Nico   Desertshore  (Frownland)
Carl Nielsen   Symphony No. 5 Op 50 FS 97  (Pet_Sounds)
Nine Inch Nails    The Downward Spiral (TechnicLePanther)
Nocte Obducta  Nektar Teil II: Seen, Flüsse, Tagebücher (Mythsofmetal)
NomensnoWrong (Raymaaan)
Norma Jean Bless the Martyr and Kiss the Child (The Batlord)
Nouns   Still Bummed  (Machine)
Jim O'Rourke The Visitor (Frownland)
Agnes Obel    Avantine  (DwnWthVwls)
Frank Ocean   Channel Orange  (Justthefacts)
  Of Montreal    Coquelicot Asleep in the Poppies: A Variety of Whimsical Verse (Pet_Sounds)
Opeth    Blackwater Park  (TechnicLePanther)
Oysterhead    The Grand Pecking Order  (TechnicLePanther)

[Trollheart]

P-Model In a Model Room (TechnicLePanther)
Kyara Pamyu Pamyu   Pamyu Pamyu Revolution  (Goofle)
Party Cannon Partied in Hell (Tristan Geoff)
Chuck Person Chuck Person's Eccojams Vol 1 (TechnicLePanther)
The Pharcyde   Bizarre Ride II (Micco)
Ariel Pink   Pom Pom  (Machine)
Poison the Well The Opposite of December (The Batlord)
The Pop Group   Citizen Zombie  (Frownland)
Popol Vuh   In Den Garten Pharaos  (Ninetales)
Porcelain Raft Strange Weekend (Yorkedaddy)
Portishead    Dummy  (Deadchannel)
Prayer for Cleansing The Rain in Endless Fall (The Batlord)
PRDMonstrosity (Plankton)
Protest the Hero    Fortress  (The Batlord)
Suzi Quatro      If You Knew Suzi (Suzy Creamcheese)
Queens of the Stone Age   Like Clockwork  (Machine)
Radiohead   In Rainbows (Plainview)
Alec K Redfearn and The Seizuers   Exterminating Angel  (Grindy)
The Replacements   Tim (The Batlord)
The Residents    Meet the Residents  (Frownland)
Lana del Rey   Honeymoon  (Goofle)
Ride   Nowhere  (bob)
Dax Riggs We Sing of Only Blood or Love (The Batlord)
Robbie Robertson    Robbie Robertson (Moss)
The Rolling Stones    Let it Bleed  (Pet_Sounds)
Rome   Masse Mensch Material (bob)
Jeff Rosenstock   We Cool?  (Machine)
DJ Roswell None of This is Real (Machine)
Todd Rundgren   A Wizard, a True Star  (TechnicLePanther)
Sage Francis Human the Death Dance (DwnWthVwls)
Saint Pepsi Hit Vibes (TechnicLePanther)
Saor Aura (TechnicLePanther)
Pat "The Bunny" Schneeweis   Die the Nightmare  (Machine)
Gil Scott-Heron Pieces of a Man (Micco)
Schattenvald III (TechnicLePanther)
Secret Chiefs 3/Ishraqiyun Perichoresis (Frownland)
Shels   Plains of the Purple Buffalo (Machine)
Sigur Ros   ()  (bob)
Silver Apples   Silver Apples  (Frownland)
Skinny Puppy   Remission  (TechnicLePanther)
Sleater-Kinney   No Cities to Love  (Violet)
Slick Rick    The Art of Storytelling  (Micco)
Slint   Spiderland (Deadchannel)
Elliot Smith   Figure 8  (Qwertyy)
Solbakken Klonapet (bob)
The Sonics Here Are The Sonics! (TechnicLePanther)
Songs: Ohia    Didn't it Rain? (JosefK)
Spock's Beard   Brief Nocturnes and Dreamless Sleep  (Chula Vista)
Spoon   Kill the Moonlight (Justthefacts)
Squarepusher Hello Everything (TechnicLePanther)
Sterbhaus    New Level of Malevolence  (The Batlord)
Colin Stetson and Sarah Neufled   Never Were the Way She Was  (Grindy)
Sufjan Stevens    Carrie and Lowell (Qwertyy)
The Streets   Computers and Blues  (ManLikeMonkey)
The Strokes   First Impressions of Earth  (The Identity Matrix)
Sunn )))   Monoliths and Dimensions  (Frownland)
A Sunny Day in Glasgow    Sea When Absent  (YorkeDaddy)
Swans   To Be Kind  (Deadchannel)
Switchblade Symphony    The Three Calamaties (DwnWthVwls)
David Sylvian   There's a Light That Enters Houses With No Other House In Sight  (Frownland)
Talk Talk   Spirit of Eden  (Plainview)
Television    Marquee Moon (Mondo Bungle)
Texas is the Reason   Do You Know Who You Are? (bob)
Thantifaxath   Sacred White Noise (Machine)
Them Crooked Vultures s/t (Blank)
This Heat   Deceit  (Frownland)
Title Fight Hyperview (Ol' Qwerty Bastard)
Tool   Lateralus  (TechnicLePanther)
Tortoise   Millions Now Living Will Never Die (Machine)
Throbbing Gristle   DOA: the Third and Final Report of (The Batlord)
Devin Townsend     Ocean Machine (Chula Vista)
Truckfighters Gravity X (Blank)
Tunnel Canary    Jihad  (Frownland)
Ulcerate Vermis (Frownland)
Underoath Cries of the Past (The Batlord)
Vampire Weekend Modern Vampires of the City (Yorkedaddy)
Townes Van Zandt   Townes Van Zandt  (The Batlord)
Virus Memento Collider (Frownland)
Violent Femmes   Hallowed Ground (The Batlord)
Scott Walker   Tilt (Grindy)
Wand   Golem  (Goofle)
The Weeknd    Beauty Behind the Madness  (Goofle)
Ween    The Mollusc  (YorkeDaddy)
Kanye West    Yeezus  (Violet)
Jack White   Blunderbuss (TechnicLePanther)
Why?    Allopecia  (WWWP)
Brian WilsonThe Smile Sessions (Pet_Sounds)
Amy Winehouse   Back to Black  (Justthefacts)
Witness Modern Life is War (The Batlord)
Wolves in Sheepskin    Knuckle in the Mud  (Frownland)
Woodkid   The Golden Age (DwnWthVwls)
The Wytches    Annabel Dream Reader  (Pet_Sounds)
Yellow Swans Going Places (Yorkedaddy)
Frank Zappa   Apostrophe  (Frownland)
John Zorn    Masada Guitars (Frownland)

[SGR]

Have you listened to a Manic Street Preachers album before?

[Trollheart]

I'm relatively sure I've heard This is My Truth, Tell Me Yours...

[Trollheart]

For those who have seen and perhaps enjoyed my original thread over at MB, I'm doing this one slightly differently. In fact, in some ways I'm going back to my original idea, which was not so much a track-by-track comment thing but more a sorting out of the elements I love or like from the elements I hate or don't like on each album. Seems to me that it might be a good idea to combine the two, so here's how I'll do it.

(Obviously, this only refers to albums I haven't already reviewed in the original thread). I'm going to do the track-by-track (they'll be very short, believe me; a line or two at most on each track and don't expect me to describe them for you. These will just be my impressions) and then I'll do the "I like this, I hate that" bit. This will have little to no effect on the final verdict, and will just be my way of telling you what I thought was good about the album and what I thought was bad. Unlike track ratings, there is no middle ground here. If I only liked something or thought it was meh I won't mention it. These will be, so to speak, the high and low points of the album, as I see them. In contrast to the original thread, then, the eventual verdict will depend on the ratio of, for want of other words, love to hate. I got some stick the last time for giving every track a love on an album and then only rating it as a like, or whatever, so while there may be some merit in that, I hope to avoid such accusations by doing it this way.

True Love: Anything with 70% or more tracks I mark with Green or anything with at least 40% Blue.
Love: Anything with over 50% marked Green but less than 20% Blue
Like: Anything with up to 50% Green
Meh: Anything with less than 30% Green
Hate: Anything with more than 50% Red.

What does that mean in practice? Do you care? Well, I'm going to tell you anyway. It means that technically, I can Hate maybe three or four tracks on an album but (assuming there are more than 6 or 8 tracks on it) that won't automatically get it a Hate rating. The possibility, however unlikely, of me having let's say a ten-track album which gets 2 Hate, 6 Loves and 2 True Loves can still achieve a Love rating, even if I hate some of it. It's all down to percentages. To simplify, did or do I Hate it enough, or do I just Hate it a little bit? The same with Love: 3 Loves on a ten-track album won't make it a Love, more likely a Meh.

Anyway, sure we'll see how it goes. For now, as I'm doing these strictly alphabetically (apart from any news ones you guys may give me) it just so happens that the first is a new one, and was suggested by Grindy way back when.



Title: Borrowed Arms
Artist:   2 Foot Yard
Nationality: American
Genre:   Art Pop/Chamber Music/Art Rock
Year: 2008
Suggested by: Grindy

What do I know of this artist/genre? Artist, nothing. Genre, a little. One of my least favourite sub genres in classical music though is chamber music, and art rock is sort of a subdivision of prog rock really.

Octopus: Nice slow little opener. Love her voice and the song is relatively stripped-down. Violin is cool. Love the bassline. Good start.

Seven Houses: Yeah don't like this one. Very frenetic and kind of tribal. Trying too hard here. Well, at least it was short.

Borrowed Arms: Much better. Back to the slower, laconic style with a kind of Lana Del Rey crooning vocal. Again, nice violin.

Chapter IV: There's something about this that makes it not quite as good. Not sure what it is. I don't Hate it, but I don't Love it. The violin solo (yeah) almost changes my mind. But not quite.

Crisis: Oh but I hate this. Very discordant, very chaotic, just all over the place. Kind of reminds me of the worst parts of District 97. What? Never mind. This one is a great (used advisedly) example of how something that makes me love other tracks can plant a lasting hatred for this in me. In other words, the violin, used almost as an attack weapon. Boo. I guess the track is well named.

Plane Song: And back to the soft acoustics and soulful singing. Honestly, it's almost like listening to two separate albums by two different artists. She sounds a bit like Suzanne Vega here, with the backing vocals reminding me of Judie Tzuke. I said, shut up. Leave me alone.

Drizzle: I think I could just say this one is okay, nothing really special about it. A little confused in the double vocal and do I detect a little free jazz in there? Probably why it ain't going Green. The violin goes a bit hectic too, which don't help me.

Hold My Own: Has a nice dramatic, building feel to it, the violin is used to particularly good effect here. The moaning vocal really suits the music. I guess this is where the chamber music comes in, but I do like it. A lot.

Red-rag and Pink-flag: Guitar reminds me of Marc Ribot's work, the bass is sweet and the vocal is haunting. Has a vague sense of the twenties about it, somehow. The powerful, insistent percussion at the end really makes the track.

Newbury Street: Another nice little laid-back track, with some truly lovely cello and violin, and almost pizzicato guitar perhaps. A sort of ghostly croon in the background adds to the ending of the song.

One Day in May: The harder guitar chords counterpoint the soft vocal well. Sounds like there may be piano in there too. Great bit of bass work. All comes together to form something that is more than just the sum of its parts. Ramps up at the end unexpectedly but it doesn't ruin the track, far from it. Hell, I'm Blueing this one.

Whistle Past the Graveyard: Surely not a cover of the Waits song? Well, that was "Whistling", not "Whistle", and it's a well-known trope, so probably unlikely. And it's not of course. Starting off with actual whistling might be a little on the nose, but again I hear Suzanne as well as touches of Sting and the ghost of The Beatles in here. It's hard to know what to make of this. I'll give it a Like, I think.

The Great Escape: Is this an instrumental? If so, it's the only one on the album. No, here comes the vocal now, very ghostly and almost not there. Mostly driven on sharper acoustic guitar I think, with the violin supporting. Oh now I hear her more clearly.



Love: Her breathy vocal, the sort of slow, doomy feel of the atmosphere, sort of Waitsesque to me. The violin and cello, and the occasional piano.

Hate: The jarring change in tempo and style. Also, nothing to do with the album but some smart fucker slipped two videos about crypto-poxy-currency into the playlist. Took me by surprise I can tell you! One is an hour long! Look, lady, if I want to lose all my money I'll make a donation to Guide Dogs for the Dead, okay? You can stick your crypto where the blockchain don't shine!  Back to the album anyway. I hate the way the violin is often used aggressively. Violins shouldn't be used aggressively. What? Niccolo who?

Overall impression: It was a good album, some good points, some bad. Can't fault the singing, nor the violin or cello (can never tell which is which, and it looks like they use both) but I really don't think it would be something I'd be listening to more of. Actually, it looks like this was their only album, so I can't. But if I could, I don't think I would. Not because it's a bad album, but it just isn't for me. Usually I prefer albums with too many ballads or slow songs to have the odd kick up the arse as it goes along, but here, when they do ramp it up, it makes it far worse. So, yeah, not really the sort of thing I'd be listening to.

So. Love or Hate? Based on the percentages it's just a Like.

[Trollheart]

Title: Birth of a New Day/新しい日の誕生
Artist: 2814
Nationality: Unknown
Genre: Ambient/Dreampunk/Downtempo
Year: 2015
Suggested by: Machine (welcome to the)

What do I know of this artist/genre? Zero on the artist; all but zero on downtempo, a little on ambient and I had no idea such a genre as "dreampunk" existed: surely those two words avoid each other on the street, embarrassed to be seen together?

Okay, first, I'm reliably informed that, though these look like Asian characters, they're not, and are just made up to make the band look cooler and more mysterious. In which case, may I say most heartily fuck them for making my job so much harder. Also, fuck RYM for not allowing me to easily copy out all tracks in a block, putting the whole thing into a table or something, into which I cannot write any text. Finally, fuck Trump, just on general principles.

Right, now that I've got that off my chest, let's see if it's possible to even find this! Okay, yes it is.


恢复 Nice and ambient, kind of reminds me of Yorkedaddy's work with Dream Society. Not sure the sirens work at the end; sort of lifts you out of the moment.


遠くの愛好家  More relaxed this time, very gentle and relaxing.


新宿ゴールデン街 I like the kind of idea of a foghorn in the background or something, the spacey strings. Much slower than either of the other two so far, with a lot of reverb or echo or some damn thing. Bouncy but very slow and measured percussion, bit like someone dropping metal balls into bubble wrap maybe.


ふわっと This seems to be driven mostly on guitar and breathy synth. Slow and relaxing. I see the dream but I sure as hell don't see anything approaching punk. Not yet anyway.


悲哀 Another slow one, with a sort of ticking percussion and what sounds like someone sliding the lids off saucepans across a tiled floor? Sort of Marillion-style guitar coming through now, which is nice.


真実の恋   This one comes across as very Vangelis-lite, with mostly just a keyboard backed by a droning synth, slow again, with some percussion coming in now.


テレパシー Kind of more industrial; sounds of machines, processes, electronics. Synth coming through now as the sounds fade out in the background. Think there's a low vocoder in there now, but basically this is a drone. Some spacey sounds at the end, perhaps to try to liven it up. Doesn't work. Annoying speech at the end is just, well, annoying.


新しい日の誕生 Seems to have a bit more of a kick to it, but it's also the longest track, so hopefully it will go through a few changes along the way. Yeah, it really didn't: pretty much the same all the way through.



Love: The relaxing style of the music
Hate: The stupid arrogance of making up characters for their songs, and the fact that really it's all quite similar.

Overall impression: An album like this is very hard to review, or even give much of an opinion on. I'd say it's good for falling asleep to, relaxing or maybe having on in the background, but there's not much I can dig into or write about. Given the way the tracks and album are presented, and the fact that generally speaking it's quite similar all the way through, I'd have to label this as quite pretentious.

So. Love or Hate? I think I can manage a Like. Doesn't live up to its promise really.

[GD]

Okay, first, I'm reliably informed that, though these look like Asian characters, they're not, and are just made up to make the band look cooler and more mysterious. In which case, may I say most heartily fuck them for making my job so much harder.

Late reply but those are actual Japanese characters, who told you they were "made up" lol? (no idea if the titles are in gramatically correct Japanese though)

[Trollheart]

Think it was whoever recced the album to me originally. Maybe grindy. Not sure. I know I started it off by saying "No alien albums!" and was then told they're not even Asian characters, they just use them to look cool. I could look up the original post except for one thing: I don't wanna. 

[GD]

Well that's understandable My guess is that the artist in question is not Japanese then, but uses the language as more of an affectation. I have seen the same with some vaporwave producers like Macintosh plus too