This is a sprawling double album, where it seems they threw everything against the wall to see what sticks - and then used everything anyway. I know the lo-fi rough and rawness was fully intentional but there's a few tracks here that sound more like unfinished demos, or undeveloped song ideas. Still there is a lot to like as well, with a god mix of mellow acoustic tunes and noisy indie rock. Unsurprisingly it was the noisier numbers that I appreciated a bit more, especially some of the WTF moments, so songs like Scars, Four Eyes and Freed Pig, and the closing track As The World Dies The Eyes Of God Grow Bigger were the most appealing to me. Some interesting lyrics here and there as well, without demanding attention. So a lot of variety, and I can see the impact this album would have been a part of to indie rock in the early '90s, but overall a bit too scattered for me hearing this now over 30 years later. Technically I have listened to this album once before - when I first got access to streaming Sebadoh was one of the first bands I explored, having wanted to hear them, being a big fan of Dinosaur Jr. and lo-fi, and somehow I hadn't come across them in my musical world (friends, radio etc) even though I knew of them - but I didn't remember it at all, either before or during this re-listen. Whereas Bakesale and a few individual songs I kept coming back to for a while. So I give this a high 7/10, and put it at 42/54 in my yearly chart.
Nursery Cryme feels like an album I should listen to at some stage so I'm going for that one next.
Top 56 Music Albums of 1991 by Mercury (3 picks left)
1. Like An Ever Flowing Stream by Dismember
8. Comedy by Paul Kelly And The Messengers
10. Virtuoso Guitar 1925-1934 by Scrapper Blackwell
11. The Bootleg Series Vols. 1-3 (Rare & Unreleased) 1961–1991 by Bob Dylan
13. East Coast Piedmont Style by Blind Boy Fuller
15 Necroticism: Descanting The Insalubrious by Carcass
16. Decade Of Aggression: Live by Slayer
17. Arise by Sepultura
18. Effigy Of The Forgotten by Suffocation
19. Só by Jorge Palma
baystateoftheartNeil Young as a butternut squashProfile Massachusetts
The first Genesis album with Phil Collins and Steve Hackett, it feels very similar to their next two, and I mean that as a compliment. Nursery Cryme is instrumentally tight, sonically interesting, vocally solid prog rock from start to finish. The main weakness is lyrical - not all of the concepts and turns of phrase work for me, least of all on the centerpiece opening track and the suicide-themed Harold The Barrel. Even so, this is a really good record and a strong kickoff for their classic lineup. 3.5/5.
M: Maya - M.I.A.
M2: Mutantes - Mutantes
M3: WLFGRL - Machine Girl
N: Illmatic: Live From The Kennedy Center - Nas
O: Garden Of Delete - Oneohtrix Point Never
P: Like A Ship… Without A Sail - Pastor T.L. Barrett And The Youth For Christ Choir
P2: The Dream Is Over - PUP
R: Odyshape - The Raincoats
S: Caravanserai - Santana
S2: System Of A Down - System Of A Down*
I am sure this is a great compilation for fans of early blues. I haven't heard a lot so this is the first I've heard about and knowingly listened to Piedmont blues. For that it was a cool listen in terms of furthering my experience and knowledge of music I don't know much about. Not something I like to listen to a lot of - I am more appreciative of songs like this every now and again, rather than an hour of at a time, but it was an okay listen. 7/10, and 48/55 for 1991. Oh and reading a little bit about him, man it seems like he had a difficult life!
Top 56 Music Albums of 1991 by Mercury (2 picks left)
1. Like An Ever Flowing Stream by Dismember
8. Comedy by Paul Kelly And The Messengers
10. Virtuoso Guitar 1925-1934 by Scrapper Blackwell
11. The Bootleg Series Vols. 1-3 (Rare & Unreleased) 1961–1991 by Bob Dylan
15 Necroticism: Descanting The Insalubrious by Carcass
16. Decade Of Aggression: Live by Slayer
17. Arise by Sepultura
18. Effigy Of The Forgotten by Suffocation
19. Só by Jorge Palma
20. Still Feel Gone by Uncle Tupelo
baystateoftheartNeil Young as a butternut squashProfile Massachusetts
Back when I was getting into M.I.A., this album was too abrasive for me, so I just skipped it. Since then, it seems to have been critically re-appraised as influential, and my musical horizons have expanded. So this is a good time for me to finally listen to it in full, even though I've never been the biggest fan of industrial hip-hop. But it turns out the production really isn't a stumbling block, remaining quite interesting and engaging throughout. There are some great tracks here, such as Born Free, which is built on a Suicide sample. Instead of the instrumentals, it's the songwriting that is hit and miss. The weaker tracks on Maya feature lyrics significantly more phoned-in than can be found in her other work to this point. And sometimes, it's the song idea as a whole that doesn't really work for me - Teqkilla, for example. Overall, Maya is a good record, but it's all over the place, not sharp and economical. It's definitely possible that I'm just not getting the genius and there's a classic that will be unlocked with future listens. I don't hear it yet, but this is worth another try, and there's at least a strong EP worth of songs here. 3/5.
M: WLFGRL - Machine Girl*
M2: Mutantes - Mutantes
M3: Piñata Beats - Madlib
N: Illmatic: Live From The Kennedy Center - Nas
O: Garden Of Delete - Oneohtrix Point Never
P: Like A Ship… Without A Sail - Pastor T.L. Barrett And The Youth For Christ Choir
P2: The Dream Is Over - PUP
R: Odyshape - The Raincoats
S: Caravanserai - Santana
S2: A Whisper And A Sigh - Syd Matters
For an alt-country act this album rocks! I got more of a college rock than a country vibe from it. The first song reminded me of later Husker Du, I kept hearing The Replacements throughout, and Fall Down Easy could have been an REM song. Quality songs throughout with no exceptions. Although it is quite different to No Depression, I enjoyed this nearly just as much. A solid 8/10, and comes in at 32/57 in my year chart for 1991.
I don't like it as much as their later albums but The Dream Is over has some good songs and shows their potential that they deliver on.
Top 56 Music Albums of 1991 by Mercury (last pick)
1. Like An Ever Flowing Stream by Dismember
8. Comedy by Paul Kelly And The Messengers
10. Virtuoso Guitar 1925-1934 by Scrapper Blackwell
11. The Bootleg Series Vols. 1-3 (Rare & Unreleased) 1961–1991 by Bob Dylan
15 Necroticism: Descanting The Insalubrious by Carcass
16. Decade Of Aggression: Live by Slayer
17. Arise by Sepultura
18. Effigy Of The Forgotten by Suffocation
19. Só by Jorge Palma
21. Girlfriend by Matthew Sweet
Epidemic Of Violence by Demolition Hammer
This is a fun thrash album, but honestly I expected a bit more. It's hailed as a classic, after all. Nothing out of the ordinary for the majority of this album, from the riffs to drum work to singing, everything sounds like standard US thrash metal. That's (mostly) not a diss, I enjoy the sound and pure energy this band brings to the table. It's all on the slightly more death metal part of the spectrum, which is also a plus for me personally. Overall cool album, low 7.5/10
(2)
The Bootleg Series, I guess you'll enjoy that more than Dismember or Carcass, Pash.
(3)
Mixed + 2022
A Silver Mt. Zion - He Has Left Us Alone But Shafts Of Light Sometimes Grace The Corner Of Our Rooms...
Squadra Bianco - Night of the Illuminati
The Rain Parade - Emergency Third Rail Power Trip
Saafir - Boxcar Session
Doom:VS - Dead Words Speak
The Don Ellis Orchestra - Electric Bath
Real Lies - Lad Ash
Pharmacist - Flourishing Extremities on Unspoiled Mental Ground
Ode and Elegy - Ode and Elegy
Bladee & Ecco2K - Crest _________________ Overall chart Fake overall chart
At just under four hours this took a few listening sessions to get through, but at no stage was it a chore. It was a pleasure every session and my attention never wavered (although volume 3 wasn't quite as enthralling as the first two). The power of a great performer with great songs. There were a lot of interesting outtakes and live versions, some of which where just as enjoyable as the original versions. This is the first of this series I have listened to, and I look forward to hearing more. An easy 8/10, and 25/58 for the year.
The Rain Parade - Emergency Third Rail Power Trip is great. Top 10 album of the year for me.
Sadly after a relatively brief time in one of my favourite years (some more players would be good), I'm jumping forward another ten years to one of my favourite years from the 2000s decade - 2001.
BEA Best Albums of 2001 (5 picks left)
10. The Blueprint by Jay-Z
13. Blackwater Park by Opeth
14. Leaves Turn Inside You by Unwound
17. Bleed American by Jimmy Eat World
18. The Cold Vein by Cannibal Ox
19. Drukqs by Aphex Twin
24. It's A Wonderful Life by Sparklehorse
26. Take Off Your Pants And Jacket by Blink-182
28. Things We Lost In The Fire by Low
29. Endless Summer by Fennesz
MercuryTurn your back on the pay-you-back last callProfile St. Louis
Sorry I was away so long. A series of distractions later, here I am again. So... this is a compilation of Asterisk's lone LP released in 2000 as well as some EPs including their half of a split EP with Nasum in 2000 and their half of a split EP with Jenny Piccolo in 2001. Some other stuff too I think. Anyway, its a nice over view of this band that existed for a few years in 1999 through early 2000s. This is 41 tracks in 42 minutes (classic grindcore pacing).
The sound at first (the first half is their debut album) is insanely aggressive and noisy as hell and harsh grindcore with a similar agitated, complex start-strop dynamic as Discordance Axis. There are some really nifty riffs when they change shit up, and when they get kind of avant garde and move away from the screeching fast-as-humanly-possible-grind. The occasional blasts of harsh noise is sometimes quite fun and refreshing and sometimes a bit annoying. The annoying bits (just like with everything) come and go fast so I can't say I was spending a good portion of my time annoyed with this beast of an album/comp. The debut album overall is pretty stellar eccentric, agitated, wildly mercurial grind/noise/avant garde/artsy weirdness and I liked it.
In the second half, when this album covers the post-LP EP stuff, is when for me this album surprised me even more and I think I may enjoy the last 40-50% a bit more. Its more adventurous and while still laying the grind on thick plenty, there are even more moments when the band seems to just say "fuck it - we aren't a grind band exclusively, lets explore this weird noodly riff or time signature". And in those moments I felt almost in awe of how creative and talented the musicians here were/are.
Overall, very cool. I put this off because I was feeling a bit daunted by 41 minutes of noise and grind along with the aforementioned distarctions. But I am glad I finally just sat down and listened top this a couple times today. Highly recommended to Discordance Axis or Knoll or Full of Hell or even Today Is The Day fans... or anyone who really just wants to listen to music so erratic and unpredictable that you end up listening on the edge of your seat.
CHANGE! I am going to change it again and focus on some extreme stuff I have been meaning to hear.
Top ranked Grindcore, Deathgrind, and maybe some other stuff that I have already heard but just haven't given enough time and attention to. or have never heard.
1. Vengeance by Tragedy/2002 (A LP which is called crust punk and d-beat on RYM. Looks cool.)
2. Kuroi Jukai by Kuroi Jukai/2015 (I think I heard this once awhile back. This is Harsh noise and grindcore and powerviolence of the most grating kind but also if i recall correctly, its pretty cool. Want to revisit.)
3. Human 2.0 by Nasum/2000 (I love me some Nasum. Never heard this LP though. They were one of the great grindcore bands of all time when it came to a sad end in 2003)
4. World Extermination by Insect Warfare/2007 (Very intense and cool grindcore/deathgrind stuff... something of a modern classic of the genre that I have yet to really give a close listen to or enough time to. I am interested in diving in again. Also, silly, but I like how the title of the album is similar to one of the best albums ever also within the same genre - World Downfall by Terrorizer.)
5. Mental Hygiene by Internal Rot/2014 (Excellent grindcore album that I listened to a couple times and never gave or really formulated my thoughts on.)
6. Death by Manipulation by Napalm Death/1991 (This 1991 compilation includes some EPs that ND released after their first 2 Grindcore albums and before their next LP which was quite different. This is some classic classic, bedrock death metal and grindcore and deathgrind. Kind of wanted to listen to the EP Mentally Murdered but saw that it and others are included on this 44 minute compilation.
7. Tanz, Grosny, Tanz... by Yacøpsæ/2007 (German Powerviolence and Grindcore with a a cool album cover and probably something I'll need to add to database but we shall see... it looks fucking awesome.
8. Need to Control by Brutal Truth/1994 (Their 1992 debut is a brilliant deathgrind bar setter. This album also gets a lot of love and I am very very intrigued to hear where they go from their classic debut.)
9. Sweatin' to the Oldies by SPAZZ/1997 (this is a compilation of some crazy grindy powerviolence insanity from SPAZZ. It's 64 songs in 55 minutes! Jiminy cricket!)
10. Lobotomise by Incinerated/2017 (Kind of a new record! verrrryyyy tricky! Anyway this looks intense. A mix a death metal and grindcore and deathgrind and stuff with brutal cover art. Could be cool) _________________ -Ryan
Purplepash, I agree with your take here. This shows potential while not being as good as, for instance, their follow-up Morbid Stuff. The Dream Is Over is less catchy and more noisy than its successor, and lyrically is less appealing and more misanthropic. Of course, being noisier is not necessarily a negative thing, but hooky pop punk is more of a strength for the band. There are a few really good songs, but overall, the songwriting puts this record in the realm of pretty good. 3/5.
M: Piñata Beats - Madlib
M2: Mutantes - Mutantes
M3: Absolutely - Madness
N: Illmatic: Live From The Kennedy Center - Nas
O: Garden Of Delete - Oneohtrix Point Never
P: Like A Ship… Without A Sail - Pastor T.L. Barrett And The Youth For Christ Choir
P2: It’s Almost Dry - Pusha T
R: Odyshape - The Raincoats
S: Caravanserai - Santana
S2: A Whisper And A Sigh - Syd Matters _________________ Join us in the canon game :) / Add me on RYM
Purplepashranker, rater, & music list makerProfile Western Australia
I don't think I had heard of Unwound before joining this site but seeing this album on so many charts often surrounded by great albums I was always intending to listen to this one day. Hadn't looked into them though so I wasn't even sure what genre to expect going in. Starting with a couple of minutes of drone before leading into some solid indie rock was a bold start. The next few songs were okay musically but nothing I hadn't heard before or since and I wasn't too keen on the vocals and vocal stylings. Once we got to Terminus though everything changed. I thought this was great. From here on the songs became more interesting and ambitious, and creating an atmosphere that had me feeling the dark vibe.I can see why this would be a favourite for a lot of music lovers, especially if you were into this sort of stuff at the time, but as a first listen for me now I think there is a lot more to discover and unpack from future listens, and that probably won't happen. So really good second half and a couple of songs I'll listen to again (Terminus, Scarlette) gets a 7.5/10 , and 42/61 for the year.
Yeah Madness, one of my first favourite bands, they are always fun.
10. The Blueprint by Jay-Z
13. Blackwater Park by Opeth
17. Bleed American by Jimmy Eat World
18. The Cold Vein by Cannibal Ox
19. Drukqs by Aphex Twin
24. It's A Wonderful Life by Sparklehorse
26. Take Off Your Pants And Jacket by Blink-182
28. Things We Lost In The Fire by Low
29. Endless Summer by Fennesz
30. Mutter by Rammstein
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Purplepash
baystateoftheart
LedZep
Mercury
