Might as well

[Space-Dementia]

August 29, 2019
Daughters by Daughters
After listening to You Won't Get What You Want and reading about how much different it is from their earlier stuff, I was expecting this one to sound like Pig Destroyer-esque grindcore, but this is way more noise rock than grindcore. It is absolutely brutal though, right from the start. It sounds like the drummer is just about jumping out of his seat at every cymbal crash, and Alexis Marshall paves the way with his sensual and manic southern drawl type thing. The first two songs grab your attention and don't let you go, and then the third song, "The Hit" is almost an alternative rock song, with its catchy and exuberant lead guitar riff. I'm not the biggest fan of "Our Queen", the next song, but "The Dead Singer" after that is really heavy and sorta seems darker than the rest of the songs up to that point. "Sweet Georgia Brown"'s bouncy rhythm really brings out their Texas roots, reminding me of a sort of demented ZZ Top. The final song sounds the most like something that could have been on their next album, with the organ giving it an apocalyptic and horror-like sound, but the "woah, yeah"s sound really interesting against this heavy and terrifying backdrop. The lyrics are hard to make out, but reading them adds so much to the album. It's hard to tell what he means by some of these lines and whether he has a message or if he just likes these quick poetic lines, but there's some really interesting stuff in there. This is a really good album that's meant to be listened to loud and has you dancing and headbanging for its almost half hour runtime. After first listening to this album, it sounded more similar to their next one than I was expecting it to sound, but now listening to YWGWYW again, I do see that Daughters seems a lot more straightforward and energetic, while its successor is more patient and diverse. They're both brilliant albums, though, and I think this one deserves more credit than it has.
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These are my favorite albums right now.

[Space-Dementia]

September 16, 2019
Kelly Lee Owens by Kelly Lee Owens
Kelly Lee Owens meanders its way through your speakers, sometimes captivating you with its catchy beats but mostly just providing a nice blurry background to your thoughts. The album also presents ideas more so than songs, so I don't really know if it's the music that I like or the vibe that it gives off, but either way Owens' debut solo album has crept its way onto my list of recent favorites. It succeeds the most at its simplest, like on "Arthur", and "Bird", which all feature extended sections of a fat, droning bassline played over a four-on-the-floor beat adorned with other percussive sounds. "S.O.", the album opener, is also a simple track, and the album's finest, with a simple 3-chord bassline played throughout most of the song, joined by a bouncy trip hoppy beat and Owens' soft exclamations of "Didn't know it could be so...".
Some of these tracks are instrumental and others feature Owens' breathy voice. One track, "Anxi", is a collaboration with Jenny Hval, whose presence adds to the mystery of the song. Exactly halfway through, it gives up on its Broadcast-by-way-of-The-Knife tune and settles on a more Aphex Twin-like techno outro, complete with wordless vocals crafting a dark but pretty melody. "Lucid" has a similar framework, starting with a Bjork-like ambient pop tune and transitioning into spiraling techno in its second half. "Evolution" is another interesting track, featuring the bounciest beat on the album, coupled with Owens whispering at you to "Be the revolution."
The album starts to lose steam after "Bird", but the last two tracks are at the level of the first half of the album, even if album closer "8"'s 9-minute runtime starts to drag a little. Although the album touches on a few different genres, it manages to keep a consistent sound and mood for its entirety, and it's a sound that drags you into a relaxed state. It doesn't seem very complex or innovative, but sometimes an album succeeds just by sharing some insights and staying collected.

You Fail Me by Converge
It sounds a lot more polished than Jane Doe, but still retains the intense energy and emotion of its predecessor. “First Light / Last Light” is terrific as far as openers go, shifting between calmer points of tension and heavier hard-hitting releases, like the last minute. “Black Cloud” is a more conventional metalcore track that leads immediately to “Drop Out”, whose second half pushes you to the edge of your seat with its filthy aroeggiated guitar riff.
The band plumages you with nonstop energy, whether through frenetic savagefests (“Hope Street”), apocalyptic sludge (“You Fail Me”), or some sort of mixture of the two (“Heartless”), until “In Her Shadow”, whose acoustic guitars finally save you from the relentless beating that you’ve just started to acclimate to. But even so, the drums finally come in 4 minutes into the song, along with the heavy fuzz of the bass and some harsh high-end noises that prepare you for some more soul-wrenching metalcore. I mean, that is what you signed up for when you decided to listen to Converge today.
The next few tracks aren’t as enthralling as those from the first section of the album, but they hit just as hard, if not harder, and some of the riffs are to die for. “Hanging Moon” is one of the better songs on the album though, and as soon as you’re ready for more the album’s over.
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These are my favorite albums right now.

[Space-Dementia]

September 30, 2019
Dog Whistle by Show Me the Body
What makes this band so exciting is how seamlessly they switch between styles, but how they’re able to keep a consistent mood throughout their music. “Metallic Taste,” the most popular track off their 2016 album Body War, is probably the best example of this because it has these jangly guitars that you might hear in an indie pop song and there’s no screaming, but it still gives off this dark and heavy vibe. This album is for the most part heavier than that song, but it still has a lot of variety. The first two minutes of “Camp Orchestra” are a soft folk-like intro that quickly turns into a heavy metalcore-like track, for example. The worst part about this album is the spoken word interludes. They remind me of the interludes in [The Shape of Punk to Come[/i], as they’re both these overly serious segments that do nothing but make me cringe. The highlight of the album is definitely “Drought,” which starts with an eerie chord progression and keeps up the tension as the rest of the band joins in. “Madonna Rocket” is great too, with a catchy chorus and driving verses. “Arcanum” is a slow burner but builds up to a great finale that unfortunately leads into another interlude. But the last song, “USA Lullaby,” has this extremely lo-fi guitar chord progression that is really intriguing and ends with a great heavy breakdown. The album is only 28 minutes long and goes by really quickly, so it does seem a bit like an EP, but Show Me The Body have found an interesting sound that they have the opportunity to take as far as they want.

Taking Tiger Mountain (by Strategy) by Brian Eno
This one’s similar to Here Come the Warm Jets, but weirder, and, without Fripp’s guitar solos, it almost seems to be missing a whole layer. Some tracks are a little too weird, like “Fat Lady of Limburg” with its strange vocal effects, and ”The Great Pretender”. Meanwhile, “Burning Airlines Give You So Much More” could basically have been included on his previous album, “Mother Whale Eyeless” is a great song that reminds me of Blur’s “Coffee & TV”, and “Third Uncle” is an awesome flirtation with punk rock. The album’s highlight is probably “The True Wheel”, whose group backing vocals and driving beat remind me a bit of future groups like LCD Soundsystem and Talking Heads. The album is a success, but it’s weird that it came between Warm Jets and Another Green World. It doesn’t really seem to fit in Eno’s discography, but it does have some great songs.

Schlagenheim by Black Midi
So the dude’s voice was the main thing turning me away from this album, but I’m actually getting used to it. Also, the fact that these guys have gotten as big as they are is absurd when you consider the type of music and the fact that this is their debut album, but when you add the singer’s voice to the mix, it becomes even crazier, and I respect that.
The music is hard to describe. At first you don’t really love what you’re hearing and as soon as you get used to it it becomes something completely different. It sounds like a dream, but not in the pleasant dream pop sense, and not like a nightmare either. It just feels otherworldly, especially in the way they can switch between these soft, clean soundscapes and chaotic, distorted walls of sound, especially on “Speedway” and “Western”. “952” and “bmbmbm” are two standout tracks. The first is the album opener and one of the more straightforward songs on here, although it does change time signatures seemingly every 30 seconds. The second is probably their most well-known song at this point, and it’s the simplest in terms of composition, with most of the song being centered around one repeated note played in 4/4 on both bass and guitar, joined by a distorted sample of some lady screaming played through a guitar pickup, and a drum beat that stutters and stumbles its way through standard time, all while the vocalist talks of a woman who “moves with a purpose.”
What makes this album successful is that they keep it to 9 tracks in 45 minutes, and that each track has its own character. It would have been easy for them to make a debut album of indistinguishable and forgettable complex songs, but they’re able to push the boundaries of indie rock while keeping everything focused and individual. Also, the drumming is next level.
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These are my favorite albums right now.

[Space-Dementia]

October 3, 2019
Stand! by Sly and the Family Stone
Some tracks are actual fleshed out songs and others are just jams, but there’s good content all across the board here and it feels very organized. The title track that opens the album is by far the best song on here, and it feels like a statement of purpose. After that there’s two jam tracks, one forgettable and the other compelling. Then there’s three beautiful soulful and funky pop songs in a row, before we get to a 12-minute jam that rocks pretty hard and feels very of-its-time, and then the last track, another great funk track. The album’s over before you know it and the only thing left to do is play it again.
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These are my favorite albums right now.

[Space-Dementia]

October 5, 2019
Königsforst by Gas
Wolfgang Voigt’s music as Gas exists entirely in its own time. The endless layers of samples and synths form the foundation of an atmosphere somewhere between a dense forest just outside a medieval German village and a chrome mansion amidst a barren post-apocalyptic wasteland. The rest of that atmosphere, and that’s the beauty of ambient music, lies in your own dreams, fears, interpretations, distractions. You can let the music carry you away like a warm river to wherever your mind wants to rest, or you can dip your feet in it while you focus on something else, or you can drown in it, completely immersing yourself in its dense world.
All three albums he released between 1997 and 2000 are phenomenal and, although they all sit in the same genre, the themes and moods they cover, both from album to album and from song to song vary greatly. He’s mastered his craft and is one of the best in his field.
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These are my favorite albums right now.

[Space-Dementia]

October 11, 2019
Holding Hands with Jamie by Girl Band
They definitely know how to create tension, but what makes this album (and this band) interesting is whether or not they choose to release it. The best and most memorable songs on this album are the ones that release the tension, like “Pears for Lunch,” whose suspenseful bridge about two minutes into the song is one of the coolest things I’ve ever heard. Then other songs’ releases are a lot more atypical, especially on “The Last Riddler,” which builds for two minutes to one of the weirdest finales to a song that I’ve ever heard, but still a very satisfying one. But the songs that never release that built up tension are good too because they still rock in this very unique way that this band has seemed to perfect on this album. Their next album (released this year), takes influence from Daughters’ terrific 2018 album and therefore sounds a little less unique, but what makes this album so cool is that I can’t say I’ve heard anything like it. Some songs, like “Baloo,” stretch a little long without much variety, but for the most part this is a very successful debut album with lots of energy and a somewhat claustrophobic production, which only adds to the appeal of the music. The singer’s (can I call him a singer if he’s basically just chanting/yelling/screaming?) unforgettable voice and captivating presence are a huge plus too, even though I can’t tell half of what he’s saying, both because of the way his voice is pushed to the back of the mix, and because of his Irish accent and slurred delivery. Perhaps the best part of the album is how quickly it goes by. It’s almost like they don’t have time for any missteps. By the time you get to “Paul,” the album’s brilliant centerpiece, you’re already almost done and it feels like you’ve just begun.
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These are my favorite albums right now.

[Space-Dementia]

October 12, 2019
uknowhatimsayin¿ by Danny Brown
Honestly, after opening his soul up to the world on the brutally relentless Atrocity Exhibition, I’d be a little worried for his emotional stability if Danny made another soul-wrenching album. Luckily, this is the perfect chill follow-up that shows us Danny is still keeping his cool despite all the shit he’s going through.
The beats on here are definitely the highlight. “Theme Song” is a chilling string-heavy track; “Dirty Laundry” is like the relaxed brother to “When it Rains”, with their bleeps and bloops; “3 Tearz” stumbles down the street held up by Run the Jewels, whose Killer Mike drops one of the best verses of his career; “Best Life” strides down that same street with what sounds like a Marvin Gaye sample pushing it forwards, and “Combat”’s glitchy horns are a great close to the album.
Most importantly, the album is focused and he keeps it to just over half an hour. It may not be the career-defining character study that Atrocity Exhibition was, but this is a phenomenal album that stands on its own.
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These are my favorite albums right now.

[Space-Dementia]

October 13, 2019
The Sophtware Slump by Grandaddy
When I listen to this album I immediately think of all those other late 90s/early 00s adventurous slightly psychedelic indie bands and how weird and exciting of a time that must have been for indie rock. This sounds to me like Weezer replaced Rivers with Wayne Coyne as the singer and Mellon Collie-era Billy Corgan as the bandleader and made an album after exclusively listening to OK Computer, In the Aeroplane, Summerteeth, Emergency & I, Brian Eno, and David Bowie for a month. And holy shit is that what I've been looking for from indie rock.
There's a theme that some songs follow of some sort of futuristic space journey, complete with rocket ships and an alcoholic poem-writing android. It's interesting and they keep it from getting to cheesy, which is great. What's also great is that they feel comfortable enough to step away from the theme for like half the songs and just write regular songs. This makes for an interesting dynamic, like you're in this world with them and there's all this futuristic stuff, but there's also still bands just making rock music.
The best songs on here are the first few. As far as openers go, "He's Simple, He's Dumb, He's the Pilot" is one of the coolest I've ever heard. Although the rest of the album isn't quite as adventurous, it assures you right from the start that Grandaddy doesn't fuck around. Then "Hewlett's Daughter" is like a slap in the face, like "You thought this was just gonna be some rock opera? Fuck off, we can make good ass pop songs too." Then "Jed the Humanoid" brings us back to the theme with a beautiful melody about a robot who just died. It's really pretty. What makes this guy a good lyricist is that his words are very simple. It reminds me of "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots," in that it's very clearly a song about what it is, and there's probably some metaphors, but you can just be satisfied with the straightforward narration he provides you with. Most of the songs on here are like that. In fact, the only song I don't like very much is "Broken Household Appliance Natural Forest," and that's basically only because his voice gets a little too nasal-emo for my liking.
Another thing that's great is that, after the 9-minute opener, you would expect this to be an overlong and overindulgent album that just keeps coming out with new ideas, but in fact, before you know it we're already back to Jed, this time reading back some of the poems he wrote before dying, and after an interlude, there's only two songs left. The album ends with another futuristic character, a man who apparently is a miner on another planet and dreams of going home soon, and then a final message about aiming towards the sky and flying away. It's a little hard to read what they're trying to say with all this, maybe something about the positives and negatives of technology, being that this was released in 2000, when that was probably on a lot of people's minds. But, again, what's important is that they don't slap their message across your face and force you to take it. It's not that it's subtle, it's just very relaxed. And it makes for a terrific album.
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These are my favorite albums right now.

[Space-Dementia]

October 27, 2019
Deep Cuts by The Knife
It’s a lot more synthpop than Silent Shout, which is primarily a techno album. That’s part of the reason why this one just feels more upbeat, happy, and warm. But it’s not all that way. The bells on “One For You” and “She’s Having a Baby” definitely remind me of Silent Shout’s general sound. “Listen Now” sounds exactly like what I imagine when I picture Europop, with its quick tempo and fat synths, but it’s almost like the punk version of that whole sound because of how angry it sounds. The steel drums sound great on some of these songs, especially “Pass This On”, where they form the main melody. The album really drops in quality starting with "Rock Classics", though. It's a very front heavy album and, yes, a lot of the melodies are great, but a lot of it just doesn't hit any notes with me. The Knife is a weird group; it took a while for me to get into Silent Shout and, although now I love it, it's still a very weird album that doesn't really sound like anything else. I think this album is a lot closer to what was happening in European EDM at this point in time, but they still make some weird decisions which sometimes work out and sometimes don't at all.
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These are my favorite albums right now.

[Space-Dementia]

November 1, 2019
Exercises in Futility by Mgła
The riffs on this thing are simple and it’s really repetitive, but these guys just know how to completely enclose you in a dark, emotional atmosphere. Tracks 1, 2, and 4 have the strongest effect on me, especially the second track. The best part about that song is that they know how good the riff is so they just repeat it over and over and over again, and they could keep it going and I’d never get sick of it. I think as a whole the album is too homogeneous, but I like what I’m hearing.

Venice by Fennesz
It’s not as directly emotional as Endless Summer, and it seems a lot more abstract, but there are some really beautiful moments on here. The first two songs have some interesting ideas, but it’s the third track, “Onsra”, that feels complete and totally captures you for a few minutes. It’s a quiet, ambient piece whose subtle movements are captivating and emotional. After that, “Circassian” takes that same emotion and adds some tension and layers, along with a beautiful chord progression. It’s like shoegaze without any guitars. The next two songs just sorta pass by without catching your attention until David Sylvian’s voice wakes you up. It’s not very effective though. There’s two other albums that have a similar sort of thing happen: Random Access Memories has “Touch”, and It’s Album Time has “Johnny and Mary”. They’re these soft ballads with an old man as the guest vocalist that I guess are supposed to be this emotional, pensive point in the album, but all three songs just come off as overly sentimental and a little pretentious. But anyway, the rest of the album sorta meanders it’s way through some soft, melancholy songs before calling it a day. What I really like about Fennesz’s music is how cleanly he mixes guitars into his primarily electronic, glitchy compositions. “Laguna”, for example, fits perfectly on the album, but it’s just an electric guitar noodling around some sad chords. But I think this is his least successful album that I’ve heard. Endless Summer and Agora are both more memorable, more emotional, and more focused, and thematically this one covers similar ground to Endless Summer, so there’s really no reason to return to this, with exception of the two tracks that I mentioned which really stuck out.
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These are my favorite albums right now.