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Mercury
Turn your back on the pay-you-back last call
Gender: Male
Location: St. Louis
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- #21
- Posted: 02/27/2020 16:52
- Post subject:
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| NJ wrote: |
On a more serious note, I've been having a hard time writing these "reviews." See, I'm trained in review-writing, and publish reviews monthly, and these are... Well, they're not good. They're different, though - When I review stuff, I like to give it some time to let my thoughts flow, and I try to experience it twice before writing a review, once for an overall impression and once with heavy note-taking. These are just my initial reactions, but as a writing major, the lack of quality writing does hurt me sometimes. I feel like y explanations are lacking, which is why I include the score, but I actually hate scoring systems like this. I'd rather my words spoke for themselves, but I'm not writing well enough to do so.
The other problem is that I write film reviews, not music reviews. They're very different fields. And, I sometimes am just in moods where I don't want to listen to music. I don't think I touched my headphones throughout almost all of December. But I'm working on it, I'm glad I've had the patience to sit through so many albums lately, and I hope that continues. As I amass more music knowledge, maybe I'll eventually start writing more professional reviews and drop the scoring system, but I feel that I have a ways to go before I'm ready for that. |
Hey, NJ. I just wanted to drop in and let you know I just read this entire Diary so far. And I really love it. I love that the posts are succinct and yet do give me a sense of what you like or don't like about an album. I think you are (or were - looks like you've taken a break from this the last month or so) doing an excellent job with it.
I always have this feeling when I write anything that I am just a dunce. Because there are few things in life I can wax poetic and be visibly passionate about more than Music. Yet when I sit my ass down to write about all the thoughts that are in my head about a majestic, awe-inspiring piece of art, it usually comes out as "Wow! such a seminal work of art! So awesome and emotional and bleh!" and I look at the words and think "does this actually, truly, express my love or what I love about this?" I do a couple edits, add a few synonyms, little flourishes, take one last look at the unsatisfying product and push send.
What I'm saying is I feel you when you say that you feel your reviews aren't very good. But I wanted to say that your opinions are interesting and there are people - even if just a few and maybe more than a few - that actually are positively affected by your reviews. I know that just from looking over your write ups I have been inspired to revisit old friends like A Crow Looked At Me and TPAB.
This may seem like a saccharine, mushy and mawkish post, but I mean it. Keep it up with whatever albums you want to review. I'll be reading.
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Now as for 2010s albums which I would think maybe you'll dig (if when you come back you still have a fire in your gut to continue this project instead of doing another diary project), here are a couple recommendations and why I think you'll possibly like 'em:
based off your love of A Crow Looked At Me, here are a couple (one of which was released in 2009 so is a bit of a cheat) which cover similar emotional ground
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Skeleton Tree by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
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Hospice by The Antlers
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Based off your love of MBDTF or at least liking, I am in the minority here but this is the best Kanye album as far as I'm concerned:
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The Life Of Pablo by Kanye West
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Based off your love of TPAB and your general warm feelings toward The Money Store (very very different albums but giving you recommendations based off those 2 next) maybe check out:
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All My Heroes Are Cornballs by JPEGMAFIA
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Run The Jewels by Run The Jewels
RTJ 2 and 3 are also awesome.
and
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There Existed An Addiction To Blood by clipping.
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Finally some of my favorites which are not based really off of anything you've written here but are just my favorites over the last 10 years which I hope you check out:
Anything by the tallest man on earth (you may hate this, but its near and dear to me)
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The Wild Hunt by The Tallest Man On Earth
The wild hunt also is the name of my favorite video game, go figure.
also this is a pop country album to end all pop country:
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Golden Hour by Kacey Musgraves
and finally this 1-2-3 punch of psychedelic country, followed by earnest folk rock, followed by gut punch incredible singer-songwriter country:
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Metamodern Sounds In Country Music by Sturgill Simpson
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Helplessness Blues by Fleet Foxes
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Southeastern by Jason Isbell
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Okay, I'll shut up now. I hope to see this diary or some diary by you going again.
_________________
-Ryan
ONLY 4% of people can understand this chart! Come try!
My Fave Metal - you won't believe #5!!!
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NJ
Gender: Male
Age: 23
Location: WA
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- #22
- Posted: 03/03/2020 00:54
- Post subject:
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| Mercury wrote: |
Hey, NJ. I just wanted to drop in and let you know I just read this entire Diary so far. And I really love it. I love that the posts are succinct and yet do give me a sense of what you like or don't like about an album. I think you are (or were - looks like you've taken a break from this the last month or so) doing an excellent job with it.
I always have this feeling when I write anything that I am just a dunce. Because there are few things in life I can wax poetic and be visibly passionate about more than Music. Yet when I sit my ass down to write about all the thoughts that are in my head about a majestic, awe-inspiring piece of art, it usually comes out as "Wow! such a seminal work of art! So awesome and emotional and bleh!" and I look at the words and think "does this actually, truly, express my love or what I love about this?" I do a couple edits, add a few synonyms, little flourishes, take one last look at the unsatisfying product and push send.
What I'm saying is I feel you when you say that you feel your reviews aren't very good. But I wanted to say that your opinions are interesting and there are people - even if just a few and maybe more than a few - that actually are positively affected by your reviews. I know that just from looking over your write ups I have been inspired to revisit old friends like A Crow Looked At Me and TPAB.
This may seem like a saccharine, mushy and mawkish post, but I mean it. Keep it up with whatever albums you want to review. I'll be reading. |
Thank you, I can't tell you how much this means to me. I was taking a bit of a break, for a couple of reasons, but I'm gonna start back up again. Due to my classes being much more extensive this term I won't be able to post as frequently, but I'll try to post every once in a while. As for why I took a break, I was starting to feel really depressed and lonely back in January, and then I listened to Twin Fantasy, and it just totally dragged me down, and I've just felt shitty constantly since then, only recently getting myself back up. The only song I could listen to for a long time was Bodys, and I did not have the patience or mental state to listen to whole albums, and I wasn't sure anyone was reading this anyways, so I was thinking of just giving up. Plus it's no longer the 2010s. But it makes me happy to do this, so I'm gonna continue. Especially now that I'm feeling a lot better. Twin Fantasy just came at a really bad time, I guess. It's my favorite album now, though, so in some ways it came at just the perfect time? At least in regards to my appreciation of it. Those themes just hit way too hard, and I was unfortunate to listen to it on my birthday, which is already inherently emotional enough.
By the way, what'd you think of my dropping the scoring system?
Teens of Denial by Car Seat Headrest - Since Car Seat Headrest made me take a break from music, it seems appropriate that I get back into it with them. Okay, technically it was by relistening to an LCD Soundsystem album (my favorite band), but still. Luckily, unlike Twin Fantasy, I didn't relate to these lyrics nearly as much! Okay, maybe that's not so lucky for the album, but I can still see how these lyrics could really affect someone. Most of my emotions when I'm feeling down comes from loneliness and relationship stuff rather than from disliking myself, which seems to be more the idea of this album. So Twin Fantasy is my preferred outing of theirs. Plus I enjoyed the tunes on a musical level in Twin Fantasy more. Nonetheless, there were quite a few hard-hitting moments here, and the lyrics, though maybe not as personal to me, still were very well-written. I'm also not a drinker or substance user at all, so I really couldn't relate there. Entirely subjective stuff, but at least it's not gonna make me moody again.
Thanks for the post and reccommendations, I'll try to check some out in the future.
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NJ
Gender: Male
Age: 23
Location: WA
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- #23
- Posted: 03/03/2020 03:44
- Post subject:
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| Mercury wrote: |
based off your love of A Crow Looked At Me, here are a couple (one of which was released in 2009 so is a bit of a cheat) which cover similar emotional ground
Based off your love of MBDTF or at least liking, I am in the minority here but this is the best Kanye album as far as I'm concerned:
Based off your love of TPAB and your general warm feelings toward The Money Store (very very different albums but giving you recommendations based off those 2 next)
maybe check out: |
I'm not sure I'd say I love A Crow Looked At Me, the music simply isn't anything worth revisiting. It pretty much all lies in the lyrics, which are heartbreaking and astounding. I was extremely positive to it at first, but Twin Fantasy depressed me a lot more, and musically I find that one a lot more interesting, so I haven't felt like revisiting A Crow Looked At Me at all. I definitely love MBDTF, and I've wanted to check out TLOP for a while. I'm just too lazy. My feelings toward The Money Store have become increasingly extremely positive, so I'd definitely describe that as more than just general warm feelings. Just an update on my feelings to this albums.
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Mercury
Turn your back on the pay-you-back last call
Gender: Male
Location: St. Louis
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- #24
- Posted: 03/03/2020 20:45
- Post subject:
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I’m glad to see you back at it, bro!
And yeah I know what you mean when an album has some sort of effect on you. Like it stirs latent feelings which you weren’t ready for. So I get it with Twin Fantasy.
Get it with regards A Crow Looked At Me. Those 2 albums are totally different musically (Hospice and Skeleton Tree I mean) but are about grief and death I’m really profound ways.
I think if you want a gorgeous and (potentially) uplifting album which may make you reflect, Helplessness Blues is a good un. Not sure how old you are nor do I know if it makes a difference, but when I heard Helplessness Blues I was 23 and it hit me on such a basic level and range so true it was breathtaking. It was the right album at the right time I guess.
And yeah the experimental and industrial elements of that Jpeg mafia album and Clipping album I think will be at the very least fascinating based off your love of money store.
_________________
-Ryan
ONLY 4% of people can understand this chart! Come try!
My Fave Metal - you won't believe #5!!!
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NJ
Gender: Male
Age: 23
Location: WA
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- #25
- Posted: 03/15/2020 06:09
- Post subject:
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I'm not taking a break - I've actually been relistening to a bunch of stuff. Before I listen to new albums, though, I want to get new headphones, since my old ones broke, so I've had to listen to music from my crappy laptop speakers. I thought it would be fun to rank the albums from this century I've listened to, just to show how my opinions have evolved for each. Previously I'd just put a small note updating their scores, but I don't use a scoring system anymore, and I don't want to write that many reviews. Don't take this too seriously, it's just for fun, and a placeholder so you know I still exist. I'll probably listen to Skeleton Tree next. I haven't put too much thought into my music charts lately, so don't expect consistency. This is off the top of my head, and it's just how much I enjoy them, not any sort of objective musical ranking. I'll still put a small description next to each.
1. Twin Fantasy - My favorite album. Kind of prefer MtM. Makes me depressed.
2. To Pimp a Butterfly - My favorite from a musical standpoint. All the songs are great.
3. Igor - Sad gay album. See: #1.
4. This Is Happening - My favorite album from my favorite band.
5. My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy - Great album. Runaway is Song of the Decade.
6. Blonde - See: Twin Fantasy and Igor.
7. Lemonade - Love Beyonce. I don't care.
8. The Money Store - Hacker and I've Seen Footage are two of my favorite songs. The rest are still solid.
9. Good Kid, m.A.A.d. City - Higher highs than TPAB, not as good overall.
10. Modern Vampires of the City - The style grew on me a lot.
11. Blackstar - RIP my favorite solo artist. Better than Hunky Dory and Ziggy.
12. The Suburbs - Fallen out of favor a bit. Prefer Funeral Now. Sprawl II and the title track are two of my favorite songs, though.
13. Flower Boy - Igor overshadows it, but great.
14. You Won't Get What You Want - Love the lyricism and harder guitar.
15. A Moon Shaped Pool - A better In Rainbows. Sorry not sorry.
16. Carrie & Lowell - Grown on me a lot, still prefer Illinois.
17. Teens of Denial - Doesn't hit me the same way TF does, but still, I do love CSH.
18. A Crow Looked At Me - 
19. American Dream - Probably my least favorite LCD album. Still great, though.
20. Channel Orange - Pyramids is one of my favorite songs. The rest is good too, I guess.
21. Kids See Ghosts - Too short to be substantial, but I like what's there.
22. DAMN. - Not nearly as interesting as TBAP or GKMC. Flower Boy is better.
23. Atrocity Exhibition - Solid album, but I only see myself revisiting Ain't It Funny.
24. Teen Dream - Need to relisten to it.
25. Vulnicura - Bjork kind of disappointed me with this one. Maybe I'll relisten to it sometime, though.
26. Lonerism - Didn't like the Beatles-ey vocals. Was expecting more of Let It Happen, one of my favorite songs. Did not get that. Maybe I'll like Currents more.
27. Cuz I Love You - Boring, but fun. Some good tracks. Don't think I'll ever need to listen to it again.
Once again, don't take this seriously.
Last edited by NJ on 03/18/2020 19:27; edited 2 times in total
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Mercury
Turn your back on the pay-you-back last call
Gender: Male
Location: St. Louis
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NJ
Gender: Male
Age: 23
Location: WA
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- #27
- Posted: 03/18/2020 19:24
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Finally bought some new headphones, so I felt ready to listen to some new music. As I said was likely to be the case, I listened to The Skeleton Tree.
The Skeleton Tree by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Another very sad album about death, like A Crow Looked At Me, but more literary and less direct. I'm very young, and I've never really dealt with death like these artists, so in some ways that makes it a little harder to connect to these albums on a personal level (unfortunately, this won't always be the case, I'm sure), but they still certainly got to me at times. This album, though, could also be strangely really beautiful at times. I've only ever heard The Mercy Seat from Nick Cave before, but it's one of my favorite songs, so it shouldn't be much of a surprise that I loved this album too. Besides Cave's often heartbreakingly emotional spoken delivery and his extremely strong storytelling abilities, the instrumentation was often extremely astounding. Really, The Bad Seeds just have a phenomenal style that I look forward to exploring more in the future. However, though the first and last three songs were fantastic, the middle two perhaps dragged a bit, and I'm not sure if I'd be able to enjoy the album as much if it were any longer, so I'll see how I like some of his longer works when I eventually get around to them. For now, though, I'm thinking I'll listen to either Yeezus or TLOP next, for a change in style. Maybe Helplessness Blues, though. I'll see what I'm in the mood for.
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Luigii
Gender: Male
Age: 28
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- #28
- Posted: 03/18/2020 19:50
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Seeing that Mercury recommended some albums, I feel like I need to add some albums on your docket. And since there aren't that much electronic music, I'll provide some recommendations that I adore.
Boards Of Canada-Tomorrow's Harvest
Autechre-Exai
The Orb-MoonBuilding 2703 A.D.
Disclosure-Caracal
Sophie-Oil's Of Every Pearl's Un-Insides
Gas-Rausch
The Field-Infinite Moment
There are other albums I could give to you, but didn't want to clog it up. Enjoy, hopefully.
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NJ
Gender: Male
Age: 23
Location: WA
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- #29
- Posted: 03/18/2020 21:06
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Yeezus by Kanye West - I don't really have that much to say about this album. I listened to it over TLOP because it was a lot shorter, but I'll get around to TLOP sometime soon. It was really good, but I don't have any insight or depth to my opinions on it. The lyrics were solid - the religious (or sacreligious?  ) imagery was solid, and some of those lines about heartbreak and love really hit close to home. Overall, though, I just liked the more electronic style and all the songs were pretty good. I greatly prefer MBDTF, though - the songs were just a lot better on that album. Nothing on this album came close to Runaway or Dark Fantasy. Yeah, that's about it.
Also, Luigii, thanks for the recommendations! I'll have to check those out sometime.
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NJ
Gender: Male
Age: 23
Location: WA
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- #30
- Posted: 03/19/2020 05:57
- Post subject:
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Listened to a (really good) album, couldn't think of what to write for it, so I listened to two other Car Seat Headrest albums to let my mind rest a bit. Now I have three albums to review, though.
Helplessness Blues by Fleet Foxes - I've listened to the title track before, and I always really liked it, but it really stood out as a fantastic track in the contexts of the album. As for the album as a whole, it was great, but maybe not exactly my style. The lyricism was phenomenal, and I'm really happy to have found so many great modern lyricists this past few months. The music was very nice, and a decently unique-sounding folk-indie combo. A whole album of it maybe dragged just a little, but not enough to prevent me from ever revisiting it. I think this is my favorite album that I listened to today, and I listened to some really solid albums. Skeleton Tree is really close, though - lyrically, slightly better, and it perhaps even drags a bit less (not that either do very much), but I think I like this one a bit more overall.
My Back Is Killing Me Baby by Car Seat Headrest - I really only cared a lot about two songs on the album - The Drum and Something Soon. The latter in particular is a phenomenal track and easily a favorite of mine in their discography. It's interesting just how much Toledo improved with his next album, though. I guess he was in an even darker part of his life at that time, so that must've helped him get into a real creative spot, but overall, I was pretty neutral on this album. I really liked those two songs, but I didn't care for the rest. Maybe I'll like them more when I inevitably revisit this (Teens of Denial has grown a lot on me after listening to it like another four times since I made that list), but I wouldn't recommend this album to someone who wasn't already a fan of CSH. Lyrically, Toledo was already amazing here, but he wasn't the same master of melody-creation that he would be with his next album.
Teens of Style by Car Seat Headrest - I'm not sure if I like this or MBIKMB more. Musically, this album is a lot better, obviously. MBIKMB was very lo-fi and rough, but lyrically it was still solid as a conceptual work, where as this came across more as just a collection of decent songs. Once again, I didn't care too much about all of them, either. My favorite two were still The Drum and Something Soon, though this one also had Maud Gone, so I guess that's one more over MBIKMB. I feel like I'll revisit MBIKMB because of the concept, so I think I slightly prefer that album. I'll have to listen to CSH's more famous Bandcamp albums, I only listened to MBIKMB (and this one) because of its shorter length, even though most people seem to consider these his worst albums, except for perhaps the first four (which aren't on Spotify).
As far as it goes for rankings, first off, since I've listened to it a lot more and it's grown on me a lot, Teens of Denial has moved all the way up to #4, right below Igor. Was not expecting to like it that much, but I have, and I've been listening to it a lot (not as much as Twin Fantasy, which I listened to 5 times yesterday). Anyways, Skeleton Tree and Helplessness Blues go between A Crow Looked At Me and Carrie And Lowell, with HB above ST. MBIKMB and Teens of Style go between Cuz I Love You and Lonerism, with the former above Teens of Style. Yeezus goes between DAMN. and Kids See Ghosts.
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