Reviews

Note to self: I don't like FJM and should stop trying to pretend I do.

didn't think i'd like this but i did, love to know i can still surprise myself 35 years in

All good? grooves deep. It’ll have you bobbing your head and tapping your toes. It can help with focus, spark creativity, or catalyze your next profound walk. It is quiet and chill and intense and beautiful and a joy to behold. All good? is a secret too good not to share.

Gorgeous warm ambient soundscapes. The recording is immaculate in a way that doesn't feel live particularly, almost in tension with the occasional cough / chair scrape from the crowd - the bursts of applause and moments where Frahm talks to the audience feeling like abrupt wake ups.

Oh wow. So many bleeps. So many bloops. Some unts unts. Some ahhhhhhh. At least one womp. This is Aphex Twin.

This album is awesome because the singing feels like Nina Simone but the music feels like Snoopy's band.

When I first heard it as a teen I felt disappointed because I really thought there were actual pet sounds on it.

Billie Eilish’s WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO? may have been released some years ago, but it remains a landmark debut and a brilliant statement of individuality. There’s something captivating about how this album balances eerie minimalism with rich, bass-heavy production—an atmosphere that feels both intimate and vast. It’s clear why Billie Eilish earned so much Attention for her art: unlike many “stars” I struggle to relate to, her music is inventive, raw, and speaks on its own terms.

The moment I revisited the album with my new SONOS subwoofer, I was stunned. Tracks like bury a friend or you should see me in a crown reveal an entirely new depth with proper… More

Ya know, when they bill an album as "Snoop Dogg & Dr. Dre" I feel like they're setting expectations quite high. Nothing on this record meets those expectations, none of it stands up to their past work together, and very little of it stands out as something I'd go out of my way to listen to again.

It's not necessarily that these tracks are awful, but the production is dull and the rhymes don't feel vital in any way. Comes off as a very going through the motions sort of release, both from Snoop on the mic and Dre as a producer. They've both done far better before... in fact, the previous releases from both artists both stand out as… More

Arranca guay, con canciones sencillas y al grano, sin grandes artificios de producción ni nada que vaya más allá de composiciones bonitas.

Y el problema al final es ese, tras terminar la escucha no siento que haya destacado por nada, que ningún momento del disco me haya hecho "click" de ninguna manera.

No se puede decir que sea un mal disco, pero me resulta igual de estimulante que pisar descalzo el suelo de la cocina.

Some of the best black metal this year with some great riffs, as always.

Honestly might be worse than vultures. Just soulless, heartless, and almost talentless if it wasn’t for the features (who may have hurt their careers for jumping on this).

Las primeras veces que lo estuve escuchando, me pareció bastante vulgar. No vulgar prescindible, es Kim y su saber hacer es evidente. Pero si, poco interesante. No obstante, a medida que fueron pasando los días, el disco fue creciendo en mi recuerdo.
No voy a decir que es de lo mejor que he escuchado, pero si que es un ejercicio de clase, saber hacer y ganas de contar cosas.
Una muestra mas de elegancia, por parte de una de las voces más interesantes de las ultimas décadas.

El post rock también puede tener raíces.

if you're into experimental rythmic repetitive melodies slowly building up in a clever and playful way, arriving at an euphoric dancey state in which you'd like to stay forever, here's your place.

discovered through https://thequietus.com/tq-charts/albums-of-the-year/albums-of-the-year-best-albums-2024-norman-records/

Maybe Flying Lotus isn't a hot upstart anymore and his music has kind of lost the disruptive punch or the rougher edge it once had but has gained a lot of balance and polish. He has never sounded more in control to me, this ep shouldn't be overlooked.

Favorite track: Let Me Cook ft Dawn Richard

I truly cannot get some of the melodies and solos out of my mind. Considering the brevity of the record, this had to hit from start to finish, and it truly did. The maturity of Mulatu Astatke, an epic Ethiopian jazz artist comes through strongly with the subtleties in this record, yet it doesn't come off sounding outdated at all. A truly great little jazz fusion record here that serves as a victory lap for Mulatu and the Hoodna Orchestra.

probably the funniest thing that's happened to me this year is when a coworker queued this up at karaoke and I said to him "wow, nice, I like this song" and he said "yeah, everyone does"

close enough, welcome back arthur russell.

Absolutely one of those albums that makes me feel like the Elder Millennial that I am, but one that I can also 100% get behind.

80's music gets so much unfair stick for being cheesy when it's a combination of what was then cutting edge technology and cocaine fueled earnestness. Taking the first half of that and recontextualizing it into this 2020s era that's marked by gauzy, empty, lonely spaces is really interesting and good, IMO.

Wanderlust is an incredibly lovely album-ass-album by Japanese math/emo band perfect piano lesson. It's wonderfully scrappy yet capable. This album is like a cat.

Would you like another album for your rotation when you're working on your village in Minecraft? This fits. Do you gotta go through a bunch of New Folders on your desktop? You could listen to this while you do that.

It's a really nice album.

Look, sure, this is a great Hallelujah. But it's one song I've heard enough times that maybe I could give it a break for a decade or two.

When I put on Grace, it's for Mojo Pin. Last Goodbye. Lover, You Should've Come Over. Eternal Life. One of our greatest singers, one of our greatest songwriters, one of our greatest guitar players.

This has been on my 'highly anticipated' list all year, and now that it's fully arrive, I have it on repeat. Full stop. Leading up to the release, I was obsessed with 'Birth4000'. And I still am. And in 2022 I listened to 'Vocoder' over and over and over again.

This is not your typical Floating Points. It's less jazz, more club. As another reviewer noted, it "goes pretty fucking hard." But I'm welcoming this deviation from the norm, and I happily embrace it alongside 'Crush' and 'Elaenia'.

I deducted half a star because a) so many of the bangers on this were released in 2022 and 2023; b) idk that the 'club mix' added much to Vocoder; and c)… More

I just love her so much. Endlessness feels like a natural evolution of her work on space 1.8, here there's just a bit more to dig into. More lush orchestration, more jazzy drumming, more virtuoso performances, a whole universe of different influences somehow made to fit inside the grooves of a single record.

The synth arpeggios bubbling throughout are a personal standout for me but everything sounds great here. Space 1.8 sounded more hazy and ambient and was the perfect soundtrack for the period of my life when I stumbled into it, I hope this accompanies me through this new season as well.

Jason Molina reincarnated. Also, Stephen Malkmus and Neil Young must be major influences. The new poster boy of indierock. What's not to like?

Almost as good as Boat Songs.

Just listening to One last dance over and over again. Her voice hit me hard on this one.

Released in 1982 when I was a junior in high school, Nebraska was Bruce Springsteen's follow-up to The River, a double album he recorded with the E Street Band. Nebraska on the other hand was recorded in his basement on a four-track recording machine and it features nobody but the Boss himself. I have owned this recording on LP, cassette, CD and audio download over the past 42 years. You can listen to it here.

I used to listen to it on repeat when driving north on Interstate 95 to see my children, several states away, after their Mom and I split up. The songs tell stories and some, like Highway Patrolman, convey an entire movie's worth of details in… More

No estaba nada convencido. En general, la carrera en solitario de Jack White me parece algo irregular y bastante aburrida. No mala, el talento es evidente, pero si poco estimulante.

Siempre los mismos recursos, siempre la misma composición, siempre igual.

Sin embargo, no en No Name. Aquí, está macarra, garagero, algo hard rock, algo blues, y una pizca punk, se le nota cómodo y a gusto en su piel. No es que cuente mucho, pero al menos no pretende convencerte de que es un cantautor.

Nada como resistirse y que te convenzan a golpe de guitarrazos. Me ha gustado bastante.

Felt like floating through a semi-uncomfortable dream.

Here's the thing: track 6, "Obsolete Absolute", is so good, so darn good, that you can kind of consider tracks 1–5 an extended intro to it (even though they're quite good), and tracks 7–12 some bonus tracks (even though they're even better than quite good), and this album is still a banger.

Here for a good time and a long time, I see.

Just rediscovered this metalcore classic. Crazy to see it's from 1999. Truly a groundbreaking album.

Depeche Mode have done it again. With Memento Mori, they deliver an album that is surprisingly strong and proves they’ve lost none of their brilliance over the years. It’s a mature work that feels incredibly cohesive and well-balanced – accessible, yes, but in the best way possible. There’s not a single misstep, nothing jarring or out of place, just music that captivates and resonates deeply.

This album carries a particular weight, as it’s the first release following the passing of founding member Andy Fletcher in 2022. His absence is profoundly felt, but Memento Mori is not a record of mourning; it’s a celebration of resilience and creativity, a tribute to a legacy that continues to thrive.… More

This is definitely a record that becomes more rewarding on multiple listens. It's eerie and uncomfortable, making it a tough listen. However, it's also very beautiful, kind of like life. There's nothing that super "wow" but also nothing that's even remotely mediocre.

Chelsea Hotel No. 2 stands head and shoulders above the rest of the album, but in doing so it does make the other songs feel rather lackluster.

Ambient music that really worked for me, with a more analogue and less structured sound than a lot of instrumental.

I love a lot of this, to be honest. It sounds like Linkin Park, with a new singer, and I'll always have a soft spot for them. She's really great. The live performance of Emptiness Machine, when Emily was introduced, will define this album for me. The lesser tracks aren't so important.

Really great album - so hard to pick highlights because it's all catchy, and it's all quite indistinguishable, but not in a bad way. Bon Iver meets Alex G meets the 80s, or something.

Very enjoyable psychedelia that pays homage to many other genres of rock. While definitely a niche record, there's something for most people, whether it's the post-punk "Dogear" or the Obscured By Clouds-esque "Junk Correado" and "World i" or the more classic psych-rock "Cholla Beat".

I finally got into this through force of will, and I'm so glad I did. Mathy-emo with enough to keep it really fun throughout. Maybe could have been a 2024 favourite if I'd spent even more time with it.

I think maybe one of those albums that I appreciate more than enjoy. Don't love his slightly spoken style. But some of the instrumentation is stunning.