"I will give it a week or so before giving it a score, because I don't want to jump to any conclusions first listen... that said, this is the first Radiohead release I've been apart of, and I've been blindsided. It's better than OK Computer, Hail to the Thief and In Rainbows. Only album I might li...""I will give it a week or so before giving it a score, because I don't want to jump to any conclusions first listen... that said, this is the first Radiohead release I've been apart of, and I've been blindsided. It's better than OK Computer, Hail to the Thief and In Rainbows. Only album I might like more than it is Kid A, and that's some high praise.
Burn the Witch - The moment I listened to this I felt opening track vibes. It's like an orchestrated 2 + 2 = 5. It's gonna get you hyped for sure.
Daydreaming - When I first heard this track, I thought it was one of the best things they've ever done. The way the synths and orchestration mix is beauty.
Decks Dark - So when this song comes along and is just as good, if not better? Yeah, I was blown away. The build-up of this track, along with the choir and vocals is amazing. It feels like a perfected Drunken Punch Up. Just an unbelievable track.
Desert Island Disk - My favorite of the two Thom played live with the acoustic. I'm happy that they didn't take out the acoustic and replace it with something else. Instead the rest of the track builds a soundscape around it that elevates it to a whole other level. Then the drums kick in and, yes Thom, I know what you mean.
Ful Stop - Radiohead turns it up here. The opening part of the song where the instruments and synths slowly tune in gets me so hyped it's unbelievable. Another soundscape is made by this song, but here it feels like I'm running as fast as I can. Why? Who knows. Yorke's lyrics kick in and the whole piece comes together. Then the instruments take center stage, and it gives me a Jigsaws sense of euphoria. I could spend hours describing this track. Unbelievable.
Glass Eyes - Feels like a Faust Arp, since it's the only track under 3 minutes and divides two epics (Ful Stop and Identikit.) That said, I love Faust Arp and that same love is found here with Glass Eyes. The piano starts it off with the instruments coming in with his lyrics makes me feel as if I'm looking into his head. It's worth saying, this track would be impossible without Jonny Greenwood. Thanks our lucky stars for his orchestration.
Identikit - One if the most anticipated tracks of the album makes an appearance. I spent years avoiding this one just because I wanted to hear the studio release first. This track, more than the rest, is built off rhythm. That said, it is still an excellent methodical piece. When the song makes that sudden change around 2 minutes in, it explodes in the best way possible. Once it comes back to Earth, you just have to appreciate what they've done with it. One of the best tracks on the album to this point.
The Numbers - Silent Spring, I didn't like as much. So maybe Yorke somehow read my mind and changed it from Silent Spring to The Numbers. The acoustic guitar is still there, but hearing it along with the Climbing Up the Walls esque orchestration and chorus changes it from a good acoustic track into one of the greatest tracks this band has ever put out. An epic that blows the rest out of the water.
Present Tense - This is a track I struggled to describe. I love the opening bit, reminiscent of Nude. A lot of build up on this one. The choir is great here, and the instruments back them up so perfectly. Jonny Greenwood does an amazing job with this track. He and Yorke drive this track as a prelude to...
Tinker Tailor Soldier Sailor Rich Man Poor Man Beggar Man Thief - What a mouth full. Broken up synths remind me a bit of The Gloaming. Yorke's vocals seem to fly through the song. The instruments give an Amnesiac vibe. You and Whose Army? more so than others. The orchestration is once again done perfectly. Radiohead always does an amazing job with the penultimate track and this one is no exception.
True Love Waits - We've waited, alright. I'd only heard this track a couple times so I wouldn't dilute it if I heard it on an album. What we get is a Videotape esque edition. I like his vocals so much more here. He sing it like a dream. The piano is just melancholic enough for this song, which has gone from a nice love song into one of the saddest songs this band has ever released. The orchestration is still there, but mostly steps aside to give Thom his song filled with a beauty and emptiness that I haven't felt since Kid A. One of the only songs to ever make me cry and an amazing closer to the album.
Overall - Radiohead is playing like a band in their prime 31 years in. Through this time they've gone from the rock ballad of OK Computer and has released its equivalent here. I don't see them ending here, Thom and Jonny are working together more than ever. If they do, however, then this is a perfect album to leave us with.
Initial Impression - 10/10. This album takes me on an unbelievable journey from its hard pressed opener to its desolate conclusion. Radiohead faithful will love this album to death."Reply
"Putting it mildly, it is extremely difficult to comment an album after his composer has just died so unexpectedly. However I don't personally think that his death will influence our judging over this piece of art, since it IS part of his project itself. 'Blackstar' wouldn't have even existed with...""Putting it mildly, it is extremely difficult to comment an album after his composer has just died so unexpectedly. However I don't personally think that his death will influence our judging over this piece of art, since it IS part of his project itself. 'Blackstar' wouldn't have even existed without the terrible pain Bowie was passing through: he did it exactly because of his illness, just like the truest of artists he felt he needed to tell the world what he was experiencing. Throughout the record, Bowie just seems to be reflecting over his life, his past and the sense of it all. Very few artists, philosophers or whatever in the history confronted themself literally face to face with death,and I have to admit sometimes it is really disquieting (like when he sings "look up here, i'm in heaven [...]. I've got nothing left to lose"), in the positive sense of the term, if there's any. Musically, it's strange and particular, jazz and electronic influenced (demonstrating that he was still getting along with the times, even after nearly 50 years of activity, restless). It's deep and never disappointing, emotional and rich, complex and for sure not money-orientated (how could it have been?), showing that Bowie was and always will be the truest music chamaleon, an artist capable of nearly everything but always looking forward.
This is the lesson i've learned from his music: always innovate, don't waste your time staring at the past but keep on doing what you think is better, without being stopped by anybody.
Thank you David, thank you for everything. May you rest in peace. "Reply
"Never heard an album like it before. Legendary. Historic. Deep. Emotional. New. Genius. Versatile. Future. Progressive Lives up to the hype and then some. I give it a 12/10. It's flawless, his voice, the way the album is put together. I never want the album to end. Working on my fifth listen and ...""Never heard an album like it before. Legendary. Historic. Deep. Emotional. New. Genius. Versatile. Future. Progressive
Lives up to the hype and then some. I give it a 12/10. It's flawless, his voice, the way the album is put together. I never want the album to end. Working on my fifth listen and it gets better and better with time. Remarkable accomplishment in music history. This album changes everything. The new bar has beeb set for compelling one of a kind elite quality art music. Thank u frank for ur miracle of a masterpiece. Pure beauty and perfection "Reply
"Though I could see myself returning to raise the score of this record - perhaps adding it to the top of list at some point - I have to say that I need more time to see how it plays out. In the context of 2016, this record is probably the best thing to come out all year (aside from The Glowing Man...""Though I could see myself returning to raise the score of this record - perhaps adding it to the top of list at some point - I have to say that I need more time to see how it plays out. In the context of 2016, this record is probably the best thing to come out all year (aside from The Glowing Man). As someone who doesn't love emo or indie music in a very strong way, I know own a vinyl record of this album signed by all four members.
Tracks like 'Fill in the Blank' and 'Drugs With Friends' are the highlights of the experience, yet even weaker links like 'Vincent' and 'Not What I Needed' are still great tracks that just a take a bit to get going. This album has perhaps one of the best rock ballads to come out this decade in the form of 'Costa Concordia'. The lyricism in the songs is incredible; I love the juxtaposing statements Will Toledo makes throughout.
The song is intense. It has elements of low-fi, but they aren't prevelant enough to be a discouraging factor in any way. The instrumentals are fun to listen to, and seem to contain a head-bopping beat in their own right. Though I wish the record ended about ten minutes earlier than it does, it really is a great listen the entire way through."Reply
"Beautiful and emotionally devastating. Subsequent listens may push this above "A Moon Shaped Pool" to become my favourite album of 2016, but amazingly on my first listen from a band I've never heard of before today, it's not far off."Reply
"This is the first Bon Iver album I decided to listen to. And I could NOT have been less prepared for it. I had no idea what kind of sound i was walking into, and I feel like I am floating in the asteroid belt and the asteroids keep zooming past me, almost hitting me. Its so thrilling and calming ...""This is the first Bon Iver album I decided to listen to. And I could NOT have been less prepared for it. I had no idea what kind of sound i was walking into, and I feel like I am floating in the asteroid belt and the asteroids keep zooming past me, almost hitting me. Its so thrilling and calming at the same time."Reply
"What a lot of you have to understand about this album is that Ye is describing his current lifestyle in a stream of consciousness fashion, and I understand that it comes off as disconnected and all over the place. You only have to go as far as the title of the album to explain why everything is s...""What a lot of you have to understand about this album is that Ye is describing his current lifestyle in a stream of consciousness fashion, and I understand that it comes off as disconnected and all over the place. You only have to go as far as the title of the album to explain why everything is so jumbled. This album is Kanye's life, a life that is interesting, crude, beautiful, and everchanging. He is somewhat crazy, but also a genious. Each song alone can be considered amazing, but all together is confusing and disjointed. Kanye is balancing a lot of things in his life as well as in his mind, and the changing thoughts of insanity, strange fantasies(such as the Taylor or asshole line that everyone is shaming), family and god are constantly circling in his brain. These ideas can be somewhat arranged properly with the original 3 Act structure of the tracklist, but certain lines within songs are still randomly placed. I think kanye intentionally took that original order, and mixed it up in an order that still connected musically in some sense, but not thematically. Other posts have also talked about how this keeps the listener interested when the songs are not connected or similar against each other, to create a contrast. This contrast can be seen as a strength once you have listened to the album multiple times. Kanye's life and this album are both a beautiful and disgusting mess, deal with it or dont listen.
The title also references Pablo.... multiple pablos. The pablo references in 'No More Parties in LA' include the art of pablo picasso (working on shoes), the fame of pablo escobar (on the news), and the slave role of steriotypical mexican house workers (I do not take credit for figuring this out). This explains that kanye feels many things, including creativity, fame and feeling trapped/ enslaved. It could also be a reference to the bible(I forget specifically who it could refer to but someone mentioned this somewhere). The point is that all of these meanings show that kanye cannot make a fluid concept album at this point in his life. His life is scattered, an extraordinary mess. He cant seem to control all these versions of himself at once, and the album seems to jump back and fourth between muliple personalities that kanye feels inside of himself. If you feel like an amazing song is ruined by a crude lyric, this just explains how kanye has beautiful and amazing things to show off, but also explains that he is compulsive and needs to release certain opinions in spurts of anger.
I dont know if any of what I have said makes much sense, and I could probably keep talking about just this one aspect of the album for a lot longer. My overall idea is that the imperfections of these songs and the links between them are reflections of kanye's imperfect and unstable life. He is trying to love his family, but has extreme hate towards others. He is trying to be faithful, but loves to sin. He is trying to make a beautiful gospel album, but cant help but make it a shocking spectacle of unecessary comments. But thats how his life exists, and that's how life exists in general. Life isnt cohesive; its random and sometimes impossible to deal with. Thoughts can be sensational, and horrible ones can intrude.
Because of all this, this is "the album of the life" as kanye proclaims. And life isn't a perfect piece of art, so this album shouldnt be either. And if all of this is intentional (which I believe it could be based on the ingenious of kanye in the past), then I consider this album a masterpiece on that basis alone."Reply
"One could argue that this is A Tribe's best record. I'd still put The Low End Theory first but this is undoubtedly a powerful, emotional, and worthy final outing from one of the greatest rap groups of all time. Highlights for me are Whateva Will Be, Space Program, We The People..., and Dis Genera...""One could argue that this is A Tribe's best record. I'd still put The Low End Theory first but this is undoubtedly a powerful, emotional, and worthy final outing from one of the greatest rap groups of all time. Highlights for me are Whateva Will Be, Space Program, We The People..., and Dis Generation. There isn't a bad track on this album. The fact that this is ranked at number 9 for 2016 is crazy and really just goes to show what an amazing year 2016 was for music. "Reply
Socipluco | Helpful? (Log in to vote) · 18
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jlancast1996 | Helpful? (Log in to vote) · 7
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Vatsal | Helpful? (Log in to vote) · 6
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