General Music Discussion II

[Bodobol]

Same. Progress in my personal life came at the expense of time for music. I did an especially bad job of branching out and exploring non-rock/metal genres this year. It's the first year-end list I've done that's all rock/metal.

We had the same #1 though! Here's my finished list.

I can relate, it's been about two years since I've regularly kept up with music releases

Same. Stranger Fruit is my favorite metal album of the year, by virtue of it being the only 2018 metal album I've listened to more than once.

I need to go back to the Deafheaven and Behemoth releases at some point.

[Anollasia]

Here's my ranking of albums from 2018, if anyone cares.

[Ameriganastan]

I gotta thank Tales From The Tour Bus for introducing me to Blaze Foley. Real genuine talent that never broke out.

[Corrian]

Mike Patton is going to singthe national anthem at a football game

What

[Dresderstan]

Mike Patton is going to singthe national anthem at a football game

What

I second that, what?

[Lincolnite States]

Here's my ranking of albums from 2018, if anyone cares.

Fascinating. I hadn't even heard R.E.M. had released anything in 2018.

[Ameriganastan]

Mike Patton is going to singthe national anthem at a football game

What

I mean, the Cowboys lost. Maybe his singing was good luck.

[Philjia]

Here's my ranking of albums from 2018, if anyone cares.

Fascinating. I hadn't even heard R.E.M. had released anything in 2018.

It's a compilation of live sessions broadcast on BBC TV and radio.

[Corrian]

So a week ago or so a new Buke & Gase song came out. I've heard them posting lots of samples of songs YEARS ago now and this appears to be one of them. It has turned out better than I could have ever hoped in their weird quirky style, and fully produced and not just a work in progress sample. Can't wait for the album release in 5 days.

[Corrian]

So apparently I have 63 artists in my backlog. Who knows how many albums are included in that...

That doesn't include my backlog of artists I already know by the way. Like more albums from artists I know. That has like 32. And there are probably a lot of albums on there.

And I'll probably never catch up because I always just add more.

[Cadonica]

So apparently I have 63 artists in my backlog. Who knows how many albums are included in that...

That doesn't include my backlog of artists I already know by the way. Like more albums from artists I know. That has like 32. And there are probably a lot of albums on there.

And I'll probably never catch up because I always just add more.

Meanwhile my current backlog only has 4 artists and only one of those has two albums in there

[Anollasia]

Fascinating. I hadn't even heard R.E.M. had released anything in 2018.

It's a compilation of live sessions broadcast on BBC TV and radio.

Hence the name "Live at the BBC". I personally found it too long (not surprising, it's a box set or something) so it eventually became a bit of a chore to go through. There were nice songs in there but there was also a lot of the same songs so it got a bit repetitive. A lot of it was stuff from their mid to late 90s and 2000s albums, which I don't care about as much.

[Corrian]

So my first album of the year is the new Buke & Gase album Scholars, and oh boy. it has surpassed my expectations. With them, I never know exactly what to expect. They're strange. They've always been strange and quirky. And while I've really liked some of the weird sampling's of ideas they've posted on Soundcloud years ago, some of it I was only okay on too. The funny thing is the stranger it was, the more I liked it. I think they actually released one as a single way back in the day, because yes they released a lot of this sampling stuff shortly after their last album but it's now been 5 1/2 years. And one of those super weird ones is also on here.

While a lot of the stuff on here I wouldn't say is super strange, it's still got their defined quirky feel. But it doesn't sound anything like their last album (Like their previous album felt with the one before that). One thing I like is it feels a lot more varied than their first album, which my biggest issue with was that it was kind of samey. The 2nd one wasn't as bad, but even it was more samey than this one. And I absolutely love the soundscapes they've put onto this album. Stumbler starts off with basically a drone section,, Scholars is just bizarre, and Derby has like horns with synths. Pink Boots is the one that feels the most like their old stuff to me, and it's actually my least favorite because of it. Wrong Side and Grips are both quite good as well. Then after that, Flock, Eternity, and No Land, one right after another, are all really good and all have their own unique sound.

I'm just really loving the sound on this album. Good start to the year.

8.5/10

Some favorites:
No Land, Scholars, Flock, and Grips

[Corrian]

I realize I haven't really listened to post-rock in years. I wore myself out of it so much apparently. Like even some stuff that might be "better" I don't really listen to, and I got to the point where I could barely tolerate it because it began sounding so samey to me. Live even Mono that gets more praise I don't really like beyond a couple of songs anymore. I still listened to it so much in the past though I'm pretty sure I have more bands than in any other category in there still...

[Corrian]

This new Health album is beginning to sound a lot like a full album of songs in the realm of the Tears song from Max Payne 3 and I am 100% sold on that idea.

[Corrian]

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention the other album I listened to.

Listened to a hip-hop album that is a collaboration of Tobacco and Aesop Rock, and it's quite interesting. It being hip-hop, I probably can't get into it all the time, but I dig it. Someone described it as "Electro-hip-hop", but it's basically experimental and abstract hip-hop, but it's hip-hop with heavily electronic beats. Not that that is weird, but the sound isn't what I would expect with hip-hop. Like this one makes me think of a video game soundtrack but with a hip-hop beat. This one is just interesting. This one is real good too. It's just a unique sound and I'm digging it.

8/10

[Forlania]

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention the other album I listened to.

Listened to a hip-hop album that is a collaboration of Tobacco and Aesop Rock, and it's quite interesting. It being hip-hop, I probably can't get into it all the time, but I dig it. Someone described it as "Electro-hip-hop", but it's basically experimental and abstract hip-hop, but it's hip-hop with heavily electronic beats. Not that that is weird, but the sound isn't what I would expect with hip-hop. Like this one makes me think of a video game soundtrack but with a hip-hop beat. This one is just interesting. This one is real good too. It's just a unique sound and I'm digging it.

8/10

Just listened to that album the other day. Funny I feel the exact same way about it and gave it the same score.



Most recent album I listened to however is the new Weezer album, which consists solely of covers.
It’s...amusing; but, I wouldn’t give it above a 5.25/10.
The best song is their cover of Black Sabbath’s, Paranoid.
Rivers Cuomo isn’t even the one singing on it. The rest are generally bland covers that don’t do anything interesting or different with the song they are covering.
The cover of TLC’s No scrubs is somewhat Nauseating.

[Corrian]

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention the other album I listened to.

Listened to a hip-hop album that is a collaboration of Tobacco and Aesop Rock, and it's quite interesting. It being hip-hop, I probably can't get into it all the time, but I dig it. Someone described it as "Electro-hip-hop", but it's basically experimental and abstract hip-hop, but it's hip-hop with heavily electronic beats. Not that that is weird, but the sound isn't what I would expect with hip-hop. Like this one makes me think of a video game soundtrack but with a hip-hop beat. This one is just interesting. This one is real good too. It's just a unique sound and I'm digging it.

8/10

Just listened to that album the other day. Funny I feel the exact same way about it and gave it the same score.



Most recent album I listened to however is the new Weezer album, which consists solely of covers.
It’s...amusing; but, I wouldn’t give it above a 5.25/10.
The best song is their cover of Black Sabbath’s, Paranoid.
Rivers Cuomo isn’t even the one singing on it. The rest are generally bland covers that don’t do anything interesting or different with the song they are covering.
The cover of TLC’s No scrubs is somewhat Nauseating.

Covers that do nothing interesting with it are the worst.

[Corrian]

I've noticed for me that Oneohtrix Point Never is consistently just "Decent" for me. Like 7/10 decent. I enjoy what he does with sounds but at the same time it never grabs me enough to really dig repeatedly.

[Corrian]

Okay, I'm pretty meh on the first Run the Jewels album. There's only really one song I like, which is A Christmas Fucking Miracle. I like the 3rd album pretty decently, so I'm a bit surprised that their first highly praised one doesn't really do anything for me at all. I know I've always been kind of okay on them, but I expected more out of it.

The 2nd one so far isn't doing much more for me, but it seems slightly better.

[Corrian]

Gonna admit, for some odd reason, both my sister, my dad and I, have all basically come to accept that we kind of like the new Grimes song for some reason. We all, when we first heard it, were a little unsure what we thought. For my sister she heard it on the radio (KEXP up here), and she liked a part but didn't like another part. But by the end she started to like it. I basically had the same response. Just for some reason we basically all collectively had a similar response to it all that we were unsure about it at first but now like it.

[Forlania]

Gonna admit, for some odd reason, both my sister, my dad and I, have all basically come to accept that we kind of like the new Grimes song for some reason. We all, when we first heard it, were a little unsure what we thought. For my sister she heard it on the radio (KEXP up here), and she liked a part but didn't like another part. But by the end she started to like it. I basically had the same response. Just for some reason we basically all collectively had a similar response to it all that we were unsure about it at first but now like it.

I like it as well but I’m not sure how I feel about it in comparison to her other work.
I still think Visions is her best but there’s a couple cuts on Art Angels that are my favorites of hers. Overall I’d say it’s closest in quality to the average track on AA which kinda leaves me not knowing what to expect from her new album, whenever it comes.


I’m really digging the new King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard track, Acarine. Yes, it’s the b-side to Cyboogie (a pretty good track in its own right), but the way Acarine morphs from synthy psych rock to Chicago-Esque house at the end floored me when I first heard it.
Very interesting tracks that despite the more electronic direction for the band still retain a lot of their overall core sound & identity.

[Corrian]

I'm going to start to periodically go through some of the previous artists I've listened to, and re-establish some ratings maybe while also making lists of "Favorite albums from such and such". Basically just making a top list of albums for artists with over 5 albums I would say, and make lists of them. I'm not entirely sure if I'll list everything they've done, or just the top 5, but I may just go full on with everything that's best by them.

Edit: I'm also going to put more work into "Top such and such for this year" lists.

[Corrian]

...Why the hell did I have Sigur Ros stuff rated so low honestly. Well some of it anyway. Takk... and Ágætis byrjun should at least be a 9/10 and I had it at 8/10 (Or 4/5 on RYM)

[Philjia]

Puppy are to 80s thrash metal what Blink-182 are to hardcore punk. It's kind of adorable.