Might as well

[Space-Dementia]

Maggot Brain by Funkadelic
Maggot Brain - 4/5
Can You Get to That - 4/5
Hit it and Quit it - 4/5
You and Your Folks, Me and My Folks - 3/5
Super Stupid - 4/5
Back in Our Minds - 3/5
Wars of Armageddon - 2/5
It’s weird how much variety there is on this album. It’s pretty much all psychedelic funk, but it ranges from a 10 minute-long passionate guitar solo to catchy guitar-driven tracks to dumb throwaways. At their worst the band sounds like a group of animated characters, like on “Back in Our Minds”. But at their best, they’re inspiring and soulful. The guitar solo on the title track gets a little lost near the middle, but for 90% of the song it’s some of the best guitar work I’ve ever heard. Meanwhile, it’s a bonus track, but “I Miss My Baby” is fantastic. If they replaced “Back in Our Minds” with that song and scrapped “Wars of Armageddon” altogether, maybe adding two more short songs, this would be a much better album. As it is, though, it’s not really my cup of tea for the most part but it seems to paint a pretty accurate picture of life as a black hippy in the 60s and 70s, and I respect it for that.

[Space-Dementia]

Singularity by Jon Hopkins
Singularity - 5/5
Emerald Rush - 5/5
Neon Pattern Drum - 4/5
Everything Connected - 4/5
Feel First Life - 3/5
C O S M - 3/5
Echo Dissolve - 2/5
Luminous Beings - 4/5
Recovery - 3/5
It’s pretty much more of the same from Jon Hopkins. Similarly to his last album, it’s pretty top-heavy, the hard-hitting bass-heavy house tracks are stunning and pull you into another world, while the ambient tracks are a little too long and not entirely necessary. Sure, they’re needed to lower your heart rate after the first few songs pull you to the edge of your seat for like twenty minutes, but “Recovery” definitely didn’t need to be that long, and “Echo Dissolve” is just a waste of time. I haven’t listened to any of his music before Immunity but I’m sure I could make a fantastic playlist of intense other-worldly songs by Jon Hopkins, and four of those songs would be off this album, so it’s definitely an accomplishment. I’m expecting more of the same for his next album, and that’s not a bad thing at all.

[Space-Dementia]

Isolation by Kali Uchis
Body Language - Intro - 5/5
Miami - 5/5
Just a Stranger - 4/5
Flight 22 - 4/5
Your Teeth in My Neck - 4/5
Tyrant - 4/5
Dead to Me - 4/5
Nuestro Planeta - 4/5
In My Dreams - 4/5
Gotta Get Up - Interlude - 4/5
Tomorrow - 4/5
Coming Home - Interlude - 3/5
After the Storm - 4/5
Feel Like a Fool - 3/5
Killer - 3/5
I can’t believe how consistent this album is for an hour long pop record. It gets hard to discern the songs from each other sometimes because of how similar they all are (most are two to four chords with a Latin beat), but it’s fine because they’re all good. If you listen to the whole album it might start to all fade together, but you can pretty much throw any one of these songs at any time and you’ll have a good time. While compositionally there may not be much to these songs, her voice is to die for, the hooks are catchy as hell, and the production is spectacular. Of course, she had some help from Thundercat, Damon Albarn, Kevin Parker, and a whole load of other people, but this is a terrific album that only gets better the more you listen.

[Space-Dementia]

June 20, 2018
From Mars to Sirius by Gojira
Ocean Planet - 5/5
Backbone - 5/5
From the Sky - 4/5
Unicorn - 3/5
Where Dragons Dwell - 4/5
The Heaviest Matter of the Universe - 3/5
Flying Whales - 4/5
In the Wilderness - 4/5
World to Come - 4/5
From Mars - 2/5
To Sirius - 4/5
Global Warming - 3/5
The first two listens were tough. I couldn't really figure out what they were trying to do. But after a few more, I figured it out. There's such a good mix here of atmospheric, pretty chords with heavy, chugging riffs. While I couldn't tell most of what he was singing and when I did hear it I didn't like it, the music more than makes up for that. The only song I really don't like at all is "From Mars", because the vocals are clearly distinguishable and what he's singing just sounds really cheesy to me. That also ruins "Global Warming" for me, which has a really pretty ending, but suffers from cheesy lyrics at the beginning. When they get it right, though, they rock hard. The first two songs are beautiful and monstrous, and a perfect way to start the album. Later, the riffs get really heavy on songs like "Where Dragons Dwell" and "Flying Whales". While it might be a bit too long (three songs near the end have long fade outs that sound like they're the end of the album until you're greeted by another loud and heavy riff), From Mars to Sirius is a lot of fun, and a great mix of different styles of metal.

[Space-Dementia]

June 22, 2018
Vol. 4 by Black Sabbath
Wheels of Confusion / The Straightener - 5/5
Tomorrow's Dream - 4/5
Changes - 4/5
FX - N/A
Supernaut - 4/5
Snowblind - 5/5
Cornucopia - 4/5
Laguna Sunrise - 4/5
St. Vitus Dance - 3/5
Under the Sun / Every Day Comes and Goes - 4/5
Damn, I was expecting them to start losing their edge by this point, but they've still got it. Four fantastic, innovative albums in a row (five if you add in Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, which I've already listened to). I've seen a lot of criticism thrown towards "Changes" because it's so different from their usual formula, but I really think it works well, especially after seeing a video of Charles Bradley performing a cover of it live, and how much intensity he's able to bring to it. If a song can inspire that much emotion, I think it's worthy of praise. The chorus is also really catchy though, so there's that. "FX" is a waste of time and completely pointless, but other than that, this is classic Sabbath. It really is crazy to me that after almost 50 years this still continues to be some of the heaveist music out there. And although some will argue that modren sludge metal is heavier, Sabbath wins out in my opinion for the most part, because they keep it so raw in the studio. Some of these modern metal albums are mixed so tightly that there's hardly any room to breathe and it can all just start to sound like one huge slab of noise. The Sabbath boys are always good at giving each instrument its place in the mix, and by extension really making the heavier portions of each song shine through. However, the band would be nothing without Tony Iommi's terrific riffs, so kudos to him too. I wish I was in this band. [/b]

[Space-Dementia]

June 22 - July 4, 2018
Q: Are We Not Men? A: We are Devo by Devo
Uncontrollable Urge - 5/5
(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction - 4/5
Praying Hands - 4/5
Space Junk - 3/5
Mongoloid - 4/5
Jocko Homo - 3/5
Too Much Paranoias - 3/5
Gut Feeling / Slap Your Mammy - 5/5
Come Back Jonee - 4/5
Sloppy (I Saw My Baby Gettin’) - 3/5
Shrivel-Up - 3/5
Wow, I guess they’re more than a one hit wonder. I really wasn’t expecting to like this much, so I kept putting it off until I came across a video of them playing “Gut Feeling” live and that got me really interested. While that’s probably the best song on here, the rest of it isn’t much worse. It ranges from really energetic songs like “Uncontrollable Urge” that give me an adrenaline rush, to weird experimental new wave, like “Satisfaction” which at first had me really confused but now has me convinced that that’s the proper way to cover a song. While sometimes they get too caught up in the weird noises and experimentation, like on “Jocko Homo”, for the most part Devo keeps things interesting and energized on this album. It kinda sounds like a mixture of Talking Heads, The Cure, Car Seat Headrest, and Elvis Costello, and it works great.

Songs of Love and Hate by Leonard Cohen
Avalanche - 5/5
Last Year’s Man - 5/5
Dress Rehearsal Rag - 3/5
Diamonds in the Mine - 3/5
Love Calls You by Your Name - 4/5
Famous Blue Raincoat - 5/5
Sing Another Song, Boys - 4/5
Joan of Arc - 4/5
This pretty much just strikes me as a lesser version of his debut album. The highs are high but nothing comes close to the emotion in a song like “Suzanne” or “So Long, Marianne”. Meanwhile, while there weren’t really any bad songs on Songs of Leonard Cohen, there’s some songs on here I just didn’t enjoy. “Diamonds in the Mine” is a dumb song that there really is no reason for, and on “Dress Rehearsal Rag” it sounds like he’s always about to take the melody somewhere interesting but he doesn’t for whatever reason. Besides those two songs, though, the rest of the album is quality folk music from Cohen. It may be less consistent than his first album, but this is still an emotional and beautiful album.

Puberty 2 by Mitski
Happy - 5/5
Dan the Dancer - 4/5
Once More to See You - 4/5
Fireworks - 5/5
Your Best American Girl - 5/5
I Bet on Losing Dogs - 3/5
My Body’s Made is Crushed Little Stars - 3/5
Thursday Girl - 4/5
A Loving Feeling - 3/5
Crack Baby - 3/5
A Burning Hill - 4/5
For some reason when I first heard this album I didn’t think twice about it besides “Happy”. And while I still think “Happy” is a terrific song, I’ve finally come to appreciate the rest of the album too. Sure, it’s top heavy and some of it starts to sound really similar and melt together, but those first five songs are really good indie rock. It’s kinda like a mix between Angel Olsen and St. Vincent, which is just as great as it sounds. She really has a knack for writing unexpected chord progressions and coming up with really pretty melodies over them. I know that could describe a hundred different artists, and Mitski isn’t the most original artist out right now, but she’s a nice turn of pace from what’s popular.

Nasir by Nas
Not For Radio - 4/5
Cops Shot the Kid - 4/5
White Label - 5/5
Bonjour - 4/5
everything - 5/5
Adam and Eve - 4/5
Simple Things - 3/5
I was honestly so surprised that this got bad reviews. I listened to it not having read anything, and after the first three songs I was convinced I was listening to one of the best albums of the year. By the time I finished the album I was loving it, and so I decided to read se reviews and boy did the critics disagree with me. I guess maybe it’s pretty basic from a lyrical standpoint, but I really don’t know why the critics dislike it so much. The beats are epic and very well produced, his flow is great, and honestly the lyrics I paid attention to were cool too. The one line he has on “everything” about the kid getting vaccinated stuck out to me, and there were others too. I don’t know if I’m not hearing something here or if everyone else is just missing out, but this is honestly pretty close to Daytona level right now.

In Absentia by Porcupine Tree
Blackest Eyes - 5/5
Trains - 5/5
Lips of Ashes - 4/5
The Sound of Muzak - 4/5
Gravity Eyelids - 2/5
Wedding Nails - 3/5
Prodigal - 4/5
.3 - 4/5
The Creator Has a Masterpiece - 3/5
Heartattack in a Layby - 4/5
Strip the Soul - 4/5
Collapse the Light into Earth - 5/5
So I finally got around to checking out Porcupine Tree. I had heard very good things, I just wasn’t sure if I would enjoy it, since I’m not a big progressive rock kinda guy. However, this definitely isn’t your typical prog rock journey. It sounds more like a mix between Pink Floyd, Tool, Opeth, Super Furry Animals, and early Radiohead. If you look past those heavy guitar parts on “Blackest Eyes”, it starts to sound like a classic Britpop song. The best part about this album, though, is the band’s ability to juxtapose metal riffs, soft strumming guitars, and weird jazzy piano chords all together. At its worst though, the album can start to get awkward, and even annoying, especially on “Gravity Eyelids”, which is too weird for its own good, and “Wedding Nails”, which just sounds like classic late 90s cock rock. That being said, I’m really excited to hear the rest of Steven Wilson’s music, because there are some beautiful moments on here.

Bottomless Pit by Death Grips
Giving Bad People Good Ideas - 5/5
Hot Head - 4/5
Spikes - 4/5
Warping - 5/5
Eh - 4/5
Bubbles Buried in This Jungle - 4/5
Trash - 3/5
Houdini - 4/5
BB Poison - 4/5
Three Bedrooms in a Good Neighborhood - 4/5
Ring a Bell - 4/5
80808 - 4/5
Bottomless Pit - 4/5
I don’t know what compelled me to try judging a Death Grips album after just one listen. The first time I heard this I didn’t really enjoy it. But now, after like five more listens, I’m so mad that I let myself miss this. This is brilliant. A lot of it sounds similar to The Money Store, but the first and last songs are pretty much hardcore punk, and other songs like “Eh” sound kinda like new wave or something. There’s definitely less really catchy hooks than there were on The Money Store, but honestly Bottomless Pit might be just as good.

Bon Voyage by Melody’s Echo Chamber
Cross My Heart - 5/5
Breathe In, Breathe Out - 4/5
Desert Horse - 4/5
Var Har Du Vart? - 4/5
Quand Les Larmes D’un Ange Font Danser La Neige - 4/5
Visions of Someone Special, On a Wall of Reflections - 3/5
Shirim - 3/5
I’m kinda mad at this album. After about six listens I’ve decided that it could have been the best album of the year if she had just been more focused. There are some really good parts on this album. The opening to “Cross My Heart”, the main chord progression and whistling on “Breathe In, Breathe Out”, the “So much blood on my hands” part in “Desert Horse”, etc. But for some reason she throws in weird bridges, spoken word bits, sound effects, and other dumb “experimental additions” that do nothing but take away from the energy and beauty of the songs that they’re part of. For example, the part on “Breathe In, Breathe Out” where she just stops everything and introduces a completely different melody is so unnecessary and, while I still like the song a lot, ruins it for me. The part with the Japanese dude shouting in “Desert Horse” is definitely the weirdest part on the album, but I can’t decide whether I like it or not. Other weird additions, like the beatboxing part with the flute on “Cross My Heart” actually works surprisingly well, but she just tried to mess around with the songs too much and made the album worse than it could have been. I know the background story to this album is pretty incredible, with Melody going through a terrible accident and suffering an aneurysm I’m pretty sure, and I think she may have been trying to recreate the weirdness going on in her life at the moment with this album, which definitely explains some of the weirdness. While Bon Voyage doesn’t have the immediate catchiness and beauty of her first album, this seems like the type of album that’ll be more meaningful as time passes. The weird parts have already started to become normalized to my ears, so hopefully it’ll keep getting better as I listen to it.

Symbolic by Death
Symbolic - 5/5
Zero Tolerance - 4/5
Empty Words - 5/5
Sacred Serenity - 4/5
1,000 Eyes - 4/5
Without Judgement - 5/5
Crystal Mountain - 4/5
Misanthrope - 4/5
Perennial Quest - 3/5
I definitely hear remnants of Slayer in this album, but it’s clear that this is something different from thrash metal, although I can’t quite put my finger on what the difference is exactly. One thing’s for sure, the riffs on here are to die for. Each song packs about four or five killer riffs into its six to seven minute runtime, and each one is filthy, heavy, and epic. I don’t think this would qualify as stoner metal, but it does remind me a little of bands like Kyuss. Another thing is, although at first the song structures seem very out of the ordinary, and almost progressive, as you listen more you realize that each song has maybe five or six sections that just repeat a few times, so the songs start to become a little more predictable, which is nice.

K.T.S.E. by Teyana Taylor
No Manners - 4/5
Gonna Leave Me - 5/5
Issues/Hold On - 5/5
Hurry - 4/5
3Way - 3/5
Rose in Harlem - 4/5
Never Would Have Made It - 4/5
WTP - 3/5
This is nice. I don’t know why Kanye hasn’t produced more beats for female R&B singers, cause her sensual voice and his old school laid back beats go so well together. This album really did feel like the only thing missing from the Wyoming sessions up to this point. It’s breezy summer music, but it can also get intense. The one outlier here is WTP. It’s not an awful song, but it sounds like some kind of 80s disco dancehall song, which is completely different than the rest of the album. Besides that though, I’m a fan of this.

[Space-Dementia]

July 8, 2018
The Now Now by Gorillaz
Humility - 4/5
Tranz - 4/5
Hollywood - 3/5
Kansas - 5/5
Sorcererz - 3/5
Idaho - 4/5
Lake Zurich - 4/5
Magic City - 4/5
Fire Flies - 4/5
One Percent - 3/5
Souk Eye - 4/5
I can’t really see Damon Albarn coming out with a hit the size of “Song 2”, “Feel Good, Inc”, or “Clint Eastwood” anymore. It seems like his days of pop relevance are coming to a close. However, I won’t deny that this is not a bad album, and is actually much better than Humanz. Part of it is the much shorter runtime, but it also seems like a more modest album. Whereas Humanz seemed to boast about its ridiculous number of featured artists and show off with maximalist beats and synths, The Now Now is a lot more muted. The only bad song on here is “Hollywood” and that also sounds to me like a song that could have fit on their last album. Most songs on here sound like dance tunes with weird psychedelic chord progressions and... not much besides Damon’s voice. In fact, I think this should have been labeled as a 2-D solo album, rather than a full band project. Either way, some things seem to be missing on this album, like a vocal melody on “Lake Zurich” for example, but it’s got some enjoyable tunes.

[Space-Dementia]

July 13, 2018
The Modern Lovers by The Modern Lovers
Roadrunner - 5/5
Astral Plane - 3/5
Old World - 4/5
Pablo Picasso - 5/5
She Cracked - 3/5
Hospital - 4/5
Someone I Care About - 4/5
Girlfriend - 4/5
Modern World - 4/5
This is cool, it’s like The Velvet Underground mixed with LCD Soundsystem, or Television mixed with Ween, or something. The songs are simple, but either long instrumental breaks, smart lyrics, or passionate performances take most of these songs from good or alright to great. “Pablo Picasso” was one that had an immediate impact. I was listening to the album for the first time without having looked at the track names, so when I heard “Some people try to pick up girls and get called an asshole, this never happened to” I thought he was gonna say “me” but instead he said “Pablo Picasso” and I actually started laughing out loud. It’s such an absurd idea for a song, but it works so well, and it’s memorable. Another one I really like is “I’m Straight”, which is a bonus track and definitely should have replaced either “Astral Plane” or “She Cracked”. It’s such an intense, building song, and although I read an interpretation that he wants to take the place of Hippy Johnny because he wants to be with the girl, I feel like he could also want to take his place because he just wants to be stoned. It’s definitely a cool song though and it’s a shame it didn’t make it onto the album. I’m happy with this, though. They seem very relaxed, and they pull it off well too.

[Space-Dementia]

July 22, 2018
The Agent Intellect by Protomartyr
The Devil in His Youth - 5/5
Cowards Starve - 4/5
I Forgive You - 4/5
Boyce or Boice - 3/5
Pontiac 87 - 3/5
Uncle Mother’s - 4/5
Dope Cloud - 3/5
The Hermit - 3/5
Clandestine Time - 4/5
Why Does it Shake? - 4/5
Ellen - 4/5
Feast of Stephen - 4/5
I didn’t think much of this album when I first heard it a few years ago, but I like it a lot more after revisiting it. It definitely reminds me a lot of Preoccupations back when they were Viet Cong, as well as a touch of Pile. A lot of it is just straight forward post punk, but they’ll throw in a beautiful dissonant chord in there once in a while and it creates such a great change up. There’s a few tracks on here that I’m not too happy with, but for the most part this is a great album. I’ll definitely be checking out their newest album cause I’ve heard that one’s as good if not better.

[Space-Dementia]

July 26, 2018
#1 Record by Big Star
every song is pretty much a 4/5
This is weird because I was expecting a much more indie and protopunk sound but it sounds more like the Rolling Stones mixed with the Kinks. It's a cool album, and it's really consistent, but as of now there's not really a song that stands out as an obvious highlight. Sure, some songs on here are better than others, but they're all about the same level of good. It's kind of weird that this wasn't a huge hit though, because it sounds a lot like what everyone was listening to back then.