Aug 15, 2020 @Enez #18: Swans - The Great Annihilator [8.1/10] A friend of mine in college used to tell me "Sonic Youth is just a bunch of guitar noises, they're just a glorified hipster band"! He was a massive fan of any band to come out of NY, dude used to walk around school with a Julian Casablancas haircut and a matching leather jacket. One band he also swore by, was Swans, which I for one had no prior knowledge of existing up to that point. I heard Holy Moly & Young God, to tell you the truth, I scratched my head at wtf did I just listen to? The thing with Swans, the more you venture into their turmoil, the more you truly understand and then learn to appreciate their craft. This album as you mentioned, is by a landslide their most straightforward work. It was their final chapter as a band, with Michael Gira having already seemingly experimented with every chaotic sound under the sun. In some instances you can really see traces of Joy Division with the rapid drums and punk guitar chords, then unexpectedly you get uplifting songs that you never would have imagined earlier from the band's halcyon days as their content was...pretty dark to say the least. It's an album that won't blow you away like what they've done in recent times, but it's still dense with quality and a reminder that Michael Gira really could do anything!
Aug 15, 2020 @joeyp363 I'm gonna do two reviews since you asked me to look at these: Spoiler #19: Tech N9ne - Everready [6.7/10]There's often a bad rep when it came to Tech N9ne much later, at least in certain circles of fandoms depending on how you look at it. Back then, his indie grind was pretty applauded by most people I knew, you gotta give him credit for putting on for an entire region that prior hand had zero aptitude for hip-hop. This was apparently his 5th studio album, most of the singles on here even blew up many years after this dropped (Caribou Lou comes to mind). The only thing I've ever heard in full from him was All 6's & 7's when he looked like a Mortal Combat character in the cover. From the most basic viewpoint, Tech raps really well, you can't find any faults in his technique or angles that he's coming from. There's a similar Slipknot/Korn vibe I get from the record, almost like a dark metal band but in hip-hop form. My biggest complaint comes from the length as this does clock over past an hour, and that's not including the intended double-disc that it comes with. Most of the time I was waiting on something to jump out and impress me, but it kinda slogs it's way through until the end. What made that other album All 6's & 7's all the more interesting to me was that the industry bended to his sound, creating this cool dystopian dynamic of indie-rap resonance that could have possibly worked in the mainstream. #20: Czarface & MF DOOM - [7.3/10]d--- man I wanted this one to work out. The idea of Inspectah Deck, the two dudes from Army of the Pharaohs AND MF DOOM on one project seemed like the best g.d. thing to possibly happen. When the two forces first met on Czarface's 2nd album, there was a legitimate reason to be excited to what this collaboration could bring. On top of that, this was like the g.d. Justice League of underground heroes when you also look at who was going to be featured on the tracklist. This actually aged a lot better than I last recalled, I remember my initial impression was a lot worse. DOOM is another guy who I wish sort of finds that spark again, but considered what's happened to the poor dude in recent years I can't blame him for losing that inspiration. Czarface was the first time I had hope the great Rebel INS finally got an album worth his talent, which did happen in their first two projects, but I feel by this point they had run their course. It's sort of an album you'd expect by veteran presences where you can see the flashes of brilliance that made us fans in the first place, followed by dips in quality and dated references that subsequently grow stale quickly. It's still a worthwhile listen as a hardcore fan, but I did wish it was a lot better.
Aug 15, 2020 Well f--- me sideways. Not bad reviews I appreciate it. Don’t agree with the everready score (10/10) but agree with metal face. well goddamnit now you have to review All 6’s and 7’s and Czarface Every Hero Needs a Villian (10/10) you don’t even have to write a review. Just post your scores if you want. long live and prosper -JoeyP
Aug 15, 2020 @Ordinary Joel #21: Ric Wilson & Terrace Martin - They Call Me Disco [8/10] Whoa where did this come from? For a second I felt like I stumbled onto some unreleased Malibu tracks from Anderson Paak, bearing the same varied influences of G-funk, some 90's dance and post-funk. I have no prior hand knowledge to who Ric Wilson is, nor do I have to describe in detail to what Terrace Martin has contributed to TDE. None of that mattered, what's important was that this had so many unexpected head-boppers that wouldn't have sounded out of place next to Daft Punk's RAM which is what I subsequently was inspired to listen after this. I wish this went on for longer, as it felt like it had unfinished business, but it was a blast while it lasted!
Aug 16, 2020 Glad you liked it brudda One of my favourite discoveries of the year tbh. I only knew about this joint when I saw Terrace Martin plug it on his IG earlier this year. Will be keeping a closer eye on Ric Wilson from here on out!
Aug 16, 2020 @Bourbon Ben #22: Fugazi - Repeater [8.9/10] I should have expected you were gonna give me another unflinching album to listen to haha. With Fugazi, I always felt they were like a pissed off version of Alice In Chains; their sound is more hardcore with a bit of grunge but the vocals are 80's hair band. I'm almost positive Kurt Cobain took notes from how these guys and obviously Pixies used punk guitar riffs to create this suspenseful, but melodic mood in their music. This album doesn't cover much ground as far as content goes from late 80's/early 90's alt-rock, but it's really the instrumentals (these rhythm sections are probably the amongst best I've ever heard) that are still so timelessly mind-blowing even now. What we do get, is an album where the energy never stops from the moment this godly intro takes off, until the end where it all finally crescendos. It's a tough call between this being their best work or the 13 Songs album from before, but what I like is that this was more straightforward compared to the relatively experimental work that 13 Songs had, Repeater feels much more personal. Glad you made me check this out again, it made me ponder even more on how much depth the 90's Rock scene had!
Aug 16, 2020 This is a monumental album from my high school days. The first 3 Onyx albums got constant spins back then when we smoked philly and green Garcia vega blunts all day long. Although shut em down is their most commercial album, I’ve always felt like it was their best album. It doesn't have songs quite as good as throw ya gunz, slam, last dayz etc. but it has the most songs that you don’t wanna skip. It has gutter songs (raze it up, street niggaz, face down), storytelling (Rob and Vic, Veronica), party songs (react, ghetto starz), and NY anthems (shut em down, shut em down remix). Plus this album has a prime DMX verse and a 50 cent verse before anyone ever knew who he was. This was like a year before How To Rob came out. 50 wasn’t even listed as a feature on the official track listing lol. My close friend from high school had 2 12” subwoofers in the trunk of his car. This dusty timbs, 90s grimey NY hip hop just hits differently when you have subwoofers. So many of those classic NY albums are bass heavy and sound way different with a system to exploit that. These onyx albums, DMX’s it’s dark, ODB’s return to 36 chambers, the first 2 GZA albums, m---’s first 2 albums especially Tical, etc were all made for systems with subs. Chronic and doggystyle too. Talking about these albums remind me how much I miss obnoxious car stereo systems .
Aug 17, 2020 @Grimace #23: Alanis Morissette - Jagged Little Pill [9/10] I see someone's been going down that rabbit hole of gifted pop songwriters! Thanks for requesting this, I don't think I've ever listened to it in full before. It doesn't matter where you are from, who you are, or where you are now, you have heard of this iconic song before, don't lie to me folks! It was a mold-breaking hit, one of the most perfect singles in recording history. And that's what makes this whole album all the more relevant, prior to this we didn't have that many Women songwriters blow up to the extent that Alanis did. The amount of topics covered on the album are pretty staggering, it's a genuine feminine perspective on how she tried finding her way in this bohemian world she was thrown in. The amount of women that followed the sonic blueprints of this album (pop-rock, a little bit of alternative) were staggering, an entire paradigm shift happened when Jagged Little Pill dropped. Don't believe me? Just listen to every pop song after 1995 lol. Overall this was such a breeze to get through, every song was an earworm and my never-ending appreciation for 90's pop continues to grow.
Aug 18, 2020 @Michael Myers #24: Dua Lipa - Future Nostalgia [8.4/10] There was legitimate reason to be excited for the release when it dropped this year. The singles leading up to this were promising, plus I'm a sucker for any shenanigans that sound like 80/90's pop. Dua Lipa has a ton of stiff competition in her realm of young pop stars, most of them leaning towards the anti-bubblegum pop route by eschewing the typical formulas of song-writing and overproduced edm-influenced songs. While Dua Lipa did the latter route quite well, the question leading into this was can she make her own niche for herself? Luckily the album itself delivered on that promise. This isn't something that will make you question your spirituality and challenge your existential beliefs, but that's the point. It's the epitome of a feel-good album with head-boppers from start to finish, with very little, if at all, dry spots in every song. Dua Lipa is a very good vocalist as well, she finds the right tempo and cadences for whatever the song demands of her, she wouldn't have sounded out of place in any decade this album paid homage to. Overall this is one of this years stronger releases, please check it out guys!
Aug 20, 2020 @BIGFOOT #25: Wiley - Godfather [8.2/10] As I mentioned previously, I'm relatively unfamiliar with the UK Rap scene barring a few notable singles. Heading into this I was pretty anxious to see if this would be the album that finally converts me into a fan overnight. I gotta admit it, this was the one... This production is absolutely bonkers, the few times I've heard people mention Grime I thought it was just some lowly electro pop fusion of hip-hop. But never had I considered just how awesome the two components go together, that's just one part of the equation, Wiley more than holds his own behind the mic here. This is just b-----r after b-----r, makes me wonder how a US artist could fare over something like this, but as Wiley demonstrates, it would be a very tall task to replicate the ferocious energy this album packs. I gotta hear more of it, but huge thank you for possibly indoctrinating me to Grime rap, this was a brief ray of sunshine in these tough times on a personal note!
Aug 20, 2020 @Koolo @RateThisAlbum #26: Bizarre - Hannicap Circus [Cocaine is a hella of a drug/10] The moment I saw this unholy spawn of an album being mentioned in this thread, I truly rued the day I would finally have to subject myself to revisit it. I remember listening to this filthy b------'s incestuous verse on Amityville and just blankly stare into the distance, never before had I been so perplexed in my life (raise your hand if you know his verse by heart). Just when I thought Eminem's violent, cartoonish imagination couldn't cross any more lines, this MFer complete stampedes over any moral boundary that imaginably exists. I truly wonder what Devil's Night would have sounded like without any of his buffoonery, just when Eminem is approaching the peak of his abilities for f---s sake, but in some twisted ironic way, it wouldn't feel the same without Biz's demented presence, I just can't imagine the album without him. His debut, is something I had hoped to have forever banished from my memory, but unfortunately you can never run away from fate, especially not Bizarre. Jesus, why did I do this? Because of my profession as a therapist, I'm at this point in my life desensitized to outlandish things being said in my face, heck if anything I sometimes chuckle (while heavily cringing) whenever I hear this fat f---'s ridiculous claims. Like Dark Humor sucks enough already lol, not even in music form does it make it redeemable, we get cesspools of s--- like in this case, a lot of the songs are conceptually all over the place. Perhaps if I actually was half-baked maybe I'd find a single iota of joy in here, but Bizarre doesn't want you to have fun, he just wants to f--- his cousin and make you watch it. Somehow I'm legitimately fascinated at how the h--- stic.man, Hi-Tek, Big Boi & Raphael Saadiq ended up on here, almost like the equivalent of being invited to the Eric Andre Show but in music form. Another thing was closer to the end, Bizarre actually tried pulling back the curtains of his psychotic facade and actually tried to rap, thing is he quickly loses whatever appeal (if you even want to call it that) he possesses, most of the time I wished I can shove an ice-pick into my ear canal just to put me out of my misery. Lastly, somehow he actually coerced a decent verse from semi-retired Eminem on here. Overall, I'm compelled to personally order this cd from Amazon, drive around somewhere and then fling this piece of crap out the car window like a frisbee, with the cd clinically landing in a pile of garbage where it belongs. Still, it was a nice trip down memory lane, except I think I took the wrong direction and ended up sending my sanity to some dystopian h--- where Bizarre reigns supreme.
Aug 21, 2020 No problem my man, and a great review yet again. Here’s a couple more albums for you to check out when you’re ready... Wiley godfather 2, Skepta Konnichiwa (spelling could be wrong lol).
