Listed below are the best albums of the 2020s (so far) as calculated from their overall rankings in over 59,000 greatest album charts. (Chart last updated: 1 hour ago).
"(Not sure why I am putting in a paranthetical opening statement for this comment considering how short and insubstantial this comment is, boiling down to "Not MY Hardcore! grrrr...". Maybe its just a habit. Anyway, yeah I am not a fan of this uber clean, big, anthemic version of post hardcore and...""(Not sure why I am putting in a paranthetical opening statement for this comment considering how short and insubstantial this comment is, boiling down to "Not MY Hardcore! grrrr...". Maybe its just a habit. Anyway, yeah I am not a fan of this uber clean, big, anthemic version of post hardcore and hardcore.)
Personally, I'm not feeling this. I sure hope this ultra modern production isn't influential on Hardcore and post-hardcore for years to come because, man, I hate it/ a lot. The anthemic shouts are cool but to say they lean on them would be an understatement. The riff work is alright, but just the way they sound is rubbing me the wrong way. After the first 2 or 3 tracks I was thinking "Yep, this is gonna be top 100 of year for me at least." Even at that point there were some production choices which I was a bit ish about. But the power of the performances were getting me hyped up. But as the album progressed there was a steady and consistent decline in affinity for the album and the band and the sound. Don't like the Alternative Metal sounds, synth sounds, pop sounds, me no like any of it lol. Okay, that's not true, I liked maybe 1 in 5 production choices. whatever I'm rambling.
I respect that they are "pushing forward the form" and so forth. That is cool and should be commended. But in this case, to my ears, they are pushing it somewhere but I'm not sure its forward. Not backward either. Maybe they are just kinda nudging it sideways or something. (that analogy died fast upon my fingertips.)
EDIT: coming back to say that "Hate" is the wrong word. I don't hate this. I think if this album was playing I would have a good time hearing it. There have been a few albums this year that I "Hated" and this ain't it. However, I guess I just don't like it, and on a scale of hate to love, this would be almost dead center and slightly leaning over into dislike. Okay, that's all. "[+]Reply
"It might not be as epic as her debut but it's really close, especially after multiple listens. Love how NDA goes right into Therefore I Am. Was worried at first how much I'd like this since her debut was my favorite album of 2019 and the singles on that first one just slapped harder but dang some...""It might not be as epic as her debut but it's really close, especially after multiple listens. Love how NDA goes right into Therefore I Am. Was worried at first how much I'd like this since her debut was my favorite album of 2019 and the singles on that first one just slapped harder but dang some of Happier Than Evers best moments were the non singles like I Didn't Change My Number, Oxytocin, Halley's Comet and Overheated. "[+]Reply
"For a band that was releasing brilliant music 30 years ago to come out with something as good as this in 2023 is remarkable. Its albums and artists like these that reminds us of why we all love music so much , certainly one of years best albums and possibly the most pleasing return by a band last...""For a band that was releasing brilliant music 30 years ago to come out with something as good as this in 2023 is remarkable. Its albums and artists like these that reminds us of why we all love music so much , certainly one of years best albums and possibly the most pleasing return by a band last year 8/10 for me "[+]Reply
"This is the Gorillaz album I’d been waiting fifteen years for. Demon Days felt like the ultimate pleaser and the best, most distilled record Gorillaz could have released. I loved Plastic Beach and has some real moments of genius, but just seems a little high concept and disjointed in places. Huma...""This is the Gorillaz album I’d been waiting fifteen years for. Demon Days felt like the ultimate pleaser and the best, most distilled record Gorillaz could have released. I loved Plastic Beach and has some real moments of genius, but just seems a little high concept and disjointed in places.
Humanz and The Now Now had decent moments but were not great albums.
With Song Machine, Damon has truly perfect the craft of what Gorillaz should be in 2020. Playful, daring and the bi-monthly “single” format allows them to fully immerse on a single track - carefully curated guest stars, artwork and a video to tie it together.
The only real criticism I have is the artwork and title... if it read less like a compilation and had a great Jamie Hewlett cover then I strongly feel it would’ve charted higher in end of year lists."[+]Reply
"Just to clarify Will Butler departed AF AFTER this album was completed to actually spend more time with his young family and NOT jumping a sinking ship as some have claimed If indeed this is to be Arcade Fires final album its a fine fine farewell album after 2017’s complete misstep ‘Everything No...""Just to clarify Will Butler departed AF AFTER this album was completed to actually spend more time with his young family and NOT jumping a sinking ship as some have claimed
If indeed this is to be Arcade Fires final album its a fine fine farewell album after 2017’s complete misstep ‘Everything Now’
For mine this ones a contender for 2022 AOTY "[+]Reply
"I don't know... I don't find this album as experimental as music critics are hailing it to be. Rosalia as always is an impressive vocalist and an interesting arranger of flamenco, but after the massive conceptual leap from the conventional – and for a while a mostly under the radar release – Los ...""I don't know... I don't find this album as experimental as music critics are hailing it to be. Rosalia as always is an impressive vocalist and an interesting arranger of flamenco, but after the massive conceptual leap from the conventional – and for a while a mostly under the radar release – Los Angeles to the mesmerising El Mal Querer, Motomami kinda lands flat. It doesn't have the same feeling of being a total reconfiguration of Rosalia, despite sounding quite unique. I think this is just one that's not really for me – that's okay, I respect the attempt."[+]Reply
"Circles is everything a posthumous album should be: fulfilling an artist's intended vision and completing the important final touches to a closing chapter when they're spiritually not with us."Reply
"sorry in advance for the following: (Basically, I liked it. Everyone or nearly everyone reading this knows who this band is and what Post rock is and that this band and that genre are linked inextricably. It's a solid album. Leave now unless you want to read my unending comment which starts in 3....""sorry in advance for the following:
(Basically, I liked it. Everyone or nearly everyone reading this knows who this band is and what Post rock is and that this band and that genre are linked inextricably. It's a solid album. Leave now unless you want to read my unending comment which starts in 3... 2... )
1... ---------I don't know how I feel about this album. Not exactly. Same goes for this iconic band. And, as this band's work encompasses all existence and transcends life and is up in the ether hobnobbing with Infinity itself per their most ardent fans, I suppose this means I don't know what to think of life, the universe, or anything. Which, come to think of it, is true.
But, to elaborate, I don't know where my thoughts fall yet after 2 listens to this album about urine of god ending states. As with all GY!BE albums, this is a detailed and many-layered beast, grasping for questions and answers rarely asked or sought in rock music. All this without saying a thing. On first listen I was transfixed and transported and when the album ended I said "well, shit" and wondered if this was going to be my end-of-year number 1 album. On second listen my subjective response was a bit muted. Although, certain crescendos (they sure do love their crescendos and builds... don't worry this won't be yet another annoying nerdy asshat rant about "Crescendocore" and "oh, oh, this has been done, like, a million times, gosh!" or "wtf can't anyone hear that this is not gooood? it's nothing compared to Tortoise." blah blah blah. Don't worry, I can't stand those people as much as you can't stand them. ) and moments are just as mindboggling on second and now third listen as they were in my first. The things that maybe I was less engaged with were the shorter and less "buildy" songs, or, rather, parts or pieces. Although without exception each one of these tracks/parts, short and long, are rich and well-conceived, some of the hors d'oevre tracks left me less than blown away. I suspect this is an opinion that will change or at least develop with repeat listens and perhaps I'll start mentally stitching this newest Godspeed conception together. For now though some of the sounds at the beginning of the 2 main 20 minute pieces didn't engage me a whole lot.
But see, as I write this I am listening a third time, and you know what? I'm already starting to feel my opinions shift mercurially as I type. Damn you, Godspeed! Now I'm wondering again if this is AOTY contender. And this vacillation is making for a REALLY shitty comment. (Future self, 1 hour after typing last sentence, I end up yet again in between Really solid and AOTY, as of now, after 4 listens, its like top 10 album of year, okay lets continue and see what other crazy shit this wild ginger says...)
Let me talk through a couple of these tracks here and see if that helps clarify my opinions... Okay, starting with the end, "OUR SIDE HAS TO WIN (for D.H.)" is a pitch perfect, tear-inducing, muddy, noisy, serene and haunting ambient piece and a perfect closer to the album. The last minute of this thing made me feel like Frodo rolling out of Rivendell with the boys.
Now going back toward the beginning, I thought the opening bit with the word Military in the name, wasn't particularly special even 4 listens in, but finally 20% into "Job's Lament" shit starts getting tense and maybe i'm just too simple for this post rock stuff, but I get most hyped about those HEAVY bass notes and that staticy guitar as it builds up to the muscular close of that track. This leads into the first "Holy Shit...is you angels?" moment of the album for me, when the guitar comes searing in with the faint sound of voices melded in, that is a nice moment. Brilliant, really. Only lasts for a couple minutes, then some cool down from that high and then some gunshot noises annnnndddd close first big suite. The in-between track that follows and is jammed betwixt the 2 MEGA post rock suites "Fire At Static Valley" is quite nice. Its not the same level as the closer, but quite gorgeous.
Okay, and then as for the second big suite, I probably won't go into detail what I thought of each piece within like I did with the first, but I can say that almost everything about "GOVERNMENT CAME pretentious coordinates or something" is dope. Almost all 11 minutes of it was candy to me ears. The first 5 minutes are build up and pretty good build up as it has that dark power that is what I loved about F#A# Infinity, but its all foreplay to the moment when the soaring guitars, well, when the guitars soar. lol. Then they do that post rock thing where it gets intense and then more intense and then more and at some point you notice you're not breathing, you're eyes are squinting unflatteringly, and you're mumbled "Stop, No, I can't take it!" turns into euphoric shouts of "No, don't stop! don't STOOOOPPPP!!!!". Its orgasmic is what I'm saying. And just like orgasms, despite being played out and ever so familiar, they're quite good. From there there is more slow noodling as if they're getting themselves ready for another go-round, followed by another (less impactful, yet still gorgeous) epic crescendo. And then BOOM! We are back to where we started, which was the end, and that final god-tier ambient closing track.
The name is silly, but Idk maybe I am just basic. Seems pretty weird. The cover is, on first glance, underwhelming - BUT, I like it now that i look at it. has a certain circular, symbolic meaning. Said symbolism and cover maybe influenced my hackneyed attempt at such a round-about structure to this comment and track break down.
And as far as how this fits/ranks in their discog, well I'm far from a mega fan of this band. I like/love their 1997 album because it has the word blues in one of its songs and that is an instant winner in my books. I love their 2000 album, but of course I'm contractually obligated to say that on this site and on this internet. But in all seriousness I haven't listened to Lift Yr Skinny Fists in years, but there was a time when I was in love and thought I'd discovered the holy grail of music when i heard that. Never heard Yanqui I don't think, and I really like their legendary 1999 EP although I've only heard it once and can't say what I liked about it. When I first joined this site in 2012, I was caught up along with almost every other BEA member in the recent release of Allelujah... Don't Bend Ascend. As a matter of fact, I believe that was the VERY FIRST album comment I ever made on this site. I loved it and still do tbh. I adore how fucking brutally heavy that album is. Haven't heard their 2015 or 2017 offerings. All that is to say I don't really feel I have any strong context or freshness to any relative quality assessments. I will say that I really really liked this album. It hit me at the right time and I am very glad its in my life. I am still not someone who will get excited about Post Rock when placed as a genre on an album, as a matter of fact I kinda avoid such albums. Not sure why. Maybe I like music that is more immediate and less drawn-out than what that genre tag evokes.
Anyway, this will end up being the most unstructured (aka least structured) of all my 2021 chart/album comments and my longest and my most deserving of ridicule and the one with the most bad English (which is saying something). I will close by saying, "cool album". The highs are heaven, the lows sound like somewhat by-the-numbers GY!BE things analogous to a nice serene Nebraska cornfield.
Oh and one final added comment, regarding the general darkness or vibe of this album, I felt like it was the least dour, apocalyptic of the albums I've heard by them. All their albums have some moments of soaring beauty, but I felt this had several that felt almost religious and not in a end-of-days type of way either. Anyway, I have seen comments saying this has a a deeply dark atmosphere, and maybe that is just a personal reaction thing, but I personally found it refreshing how GY!BE sounded a little less morbid this time around.
cool album"[+]Reply
"This is the first time of have been slightly disappointed by a Tyler album due to a lack of evolution of his sound, which mimics Flower Boy and CMIYGL but with diminishing returns. After the release of Sorry Not Sorry, I was expecting Tyler to really change things up. Despite lyrics inferring tha...""This is the first time of have been slightly disappointed by a Tyler album due to a lack of evolution of his sound, which mimics Flower Boy and CMIYGL but with diminishing returns. After the release of Sorry Not Sorry, I was expecting Tyler to really change things up. Despite lyrics inferring that he is done with hiding behind characters, it still feels like he is hiding behind familiar tricks. Most of the individual tracks are solid enough but I feel they don't quite come together to create something special in the way that FB and Igor did."[+]Reply
"“Wetleg” tries a bit too hard to be clever. Songs attempt to have this wry sense of humor about them, but it rarely hits the mark. This produces groaner lyrics such as “To tell me if I'm thin or fat, to tell me should I shave my rat”. The focus on wordplay also comes at the cost of thematic meani...""“Wetleg” tries a bit too hard to be clever. Songs attempt to have this wry sense of humor about them, but it rarely hits the mark. This produces groaner lyrics such as “To tell me if I'm thin or fat, to tell me should I shave my rat”. The focus on wordplay also comes at the cost of thematic meaning. They will jump from innuendo to innuendo without building a foundation of feeling. This is most apparent on the break-up tracks, which all together only amount to only “Piss off, loser”. Instrumentally, there is competent jangle pop, but with the exception of “Wet Dream” no stand-out guitar lines. If you put your tongue too far into your cheek, no one will know what you are saying."[+]Reply
Mercury | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (4 helpful | 2 unhelpful)
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ExTeaSea | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +4 votes (4 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
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Brad1770 | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +3 votes (5 helpful | 2 unhelpful)
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Arthurknight | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +3 votes (4 helpful | 1 unhelpful)
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grohly | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +3 votes (3 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
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