SF Music Geeks Club Mk. 2

[peener weener]

little late lmao

[spoiler=lianne la havas - blood]

what a fucking voice! it's a pretty neat take on neo-soul. gives me heavy kimbra vibes in her cadence. sounds a bit like estelle too. i enjoyed this album thoroughly, and tho i think her voice and the way she rides the beat was by far the highlight of the album, i think the instrumentals were pretty fun themselves. not much else to say, really

fav tracks: tokyo, unstoppable

[spoiler=pianos become the teeth - keep you]

i enjoyed this album as well! felt like a less post-hardcore, more emo brand new, though maybe that's not the best comparison. basically right up my alley tbh. it got a little monotone towards the end and there were some songs that felt like they borrowed maybe a bit too much from other popular emo acts tbh but overall it was, i think, its own thing, even if "its own thing" is slightly formulaic. these are my sad drum fills, these are my lowkey sad guitar riffs, these are my ever so subtly strained vocals. the album earns the title of emo pretty well, incidentially.

i guess they don't catch a single fucking break, because keep you made me feel like getting a boyfriend and then breaking up with him just so i could feel sad and listen to this album again. and that's not quite a bad thing.

fav tracks: say nothing, april

two things btw. i'm leaving this saturday for a trip so i'm gonna need someone to do next week and the one after. also, we ran out of albums, so here we go again:

[spoiler=The Weeknd - House of Balloons]

playlist

raunchy, numb sex. and the comedown the day after. dark and gritty, but catchy and with pop sensitivity.

alternative r&b

Edited September 9, 2015 by fuccboi

[Dijon Mustard]

guess i'll make my second nomination then. don't worry it's good
[spoiler=Panda Bear - Person Pitch]

1. Comfy in Nautica...... 0:00 - 4:04
2. Take Pills.................. 4:05 - 9:27
3. Bros.......................... 9:28 - 21:58

4. I'm Not...................... 21:59 - 25:58
5. Good Girl/Carrots..... 25:59 - 38:41
6. Search for Delicious 38:42 - 43:33

7. Ponytail.................... 43:34 - 45:40

this is a solo album by Panda Bear, a member of critically-acclaimed rascals Animal Collective. one of my most-played albums. (i actually nominated Person Pitch in the last geeks thread way back when, before we *killed* *it*)

psychedelic pop music with enough samples and loops thrown in to get the "experimental" genre tag

oh if you need someone to thread-sit while you're out of town, i can take care of it

[peener weener]

that would be great yeah

[Dijon Mustard]

punctual af #thoughts for week 3
[spoiler=Justin Townes Earle - Midnight at the Movies]"Midnight at the Movies" isn't the first Justin Townes Earle album, but it presents itself as a proper introduction. It feels like an album that's meant as a statement on how he fits into country music and how he doesn't, and how he plans to position himself going forward. That's just a hunch, though. I grew up around country music and have no aversion to it, but my knowledge of the genre is lacking, so I can't speak to the big-picture stuff; I can only speak to the songs. The ones I like most are stripped-down and put the onus on him to glean insights from the mundane (by his own design). Or, he's reacting to it with any number of deliveries - I think he sounds a little different in every song! The title track is one of my favorites. The music unobtrusively builds momentum, and he paints each character as existing in their own universe, which is very songwriter-y of him. He had me believing each adjective cut to the essence of its object. The country flourishes feel very much his own, like he arrived at country music by choice after playing the field, rather than acts of obligation to what his father liked. The more musically-driven, upbeat songs didn't resonate as much with me. Again, my lack of knowledge leaves me unsure as to what his musical choices on those songs say about him when he "speaks with country music," if you will (they sound pleasant enough! and usually have a clever turn of phrase or something! I just like feeling as if I know what to make of things, that's all). The highlight of the album for me, lyrically and vocally, is "Mama's Eyes." Each stanza left me thinking he'd said all he needed to say, only for him to build on it, and all in the course of about 2 minutes. There are some gems of songwriting to be found on this album. Recommended.
Favorite tracks: Mama's Eyes, Midnight at the Movies, Someday I'll Be Forgiven for This

[spoiler=Hiatus Kaiyote - Choose Your Weapon]Choose Your Weapon is an album made by people who love everything. The purity of Stevie Wonder's brand of soul seems a logical influence, ditto for the holy neo-soul of Erykah Badu. It's an album that welcomes this sort of surface description while resisting analysis. The sudden stylistic shifts work to gently overwhelm the listener until they give in and let go. This is music for the inactive listener. If you're analyzing, you're doing it wrong. Beyond sounding pleasant, the music is meant to reconnect you with everything when you're feeling isolationist, particularly after a breakup; let your guard down and ye shall be healed. Or so I've interpreted. You can follow the lyrics if you like; there's a song about Miyazaki and a song (presumably) about Atari. The Swamp Thing gets a song too. So do a pet bird and the singer's late father. She glides through the subject of her father with the time-heals-all-wounds breeziness that comes with having been through the Hiatus Kaiyote program herself. Like testimonials in the ads for an addiction center, the two lyrically "darkest" songs on the album ("By Fire" and "Molasses") come from an older EP by the band and serve as a before picture surrounded by afters. Past meets present, genres collide, you get the gist by now. After about an hour in this vein, the album closes with a song imploring the listener to let go of the singer's hand and actively seek out love again. Get back on the horse and get you a man, or replay the album. Your call.
Favorite tracks: Borderline with My Atoms, Breathing Underwater, Shaolin Monk Motherfunk

tl;dr i liked the songwriting on "midnight at the movies" and got predictably fake deep with "choose your weapon"

Edited September 13, 2015 by Dijon Mustard

[Disinnocence]

I'm gonna be a day late on my thoughts, so I figured I'd let you all know. I also wanted to nominate another album, but, I'm not sure if it's too early for another one.

[Dijon Mustard]

as a benevolent threadgod i'll allow it

[Knight Falchion]

I'm also gonna be late because of studying for the first week of tests and because I forgot

[DarthMikey]

[spoiler=Album Thoughts]Midnight At The Movies is probably what would happen if you threw Tom Waits' Closing Time and Hank Williams' greatest hits in a blender and fed the aftermath through an eight-track. Justin Townes Earle is an interesting artist because, even though it's easy to tell it's the same guy with more or less the same influences behind each album he's released, there's something about those records that makes them all sound recognizably different; it's like he's shifted to a different mode or gear on every LP. In a way, though, I think Midnight At The Movies is his definitive release, because it encapsulates a lot of the basic musical ideas that Earle's built on as a singer/songwriter since. From the raw (if somewhat sleepy) sorrow of "Someday I'll Be Forgiven For This," to the bizarre, upbeat-yet-bleak character portrait of "Black-Eyed Suzy," to the ragged slice-of-life the title track perfectly lays bare for you to absorb, it's full of great songs with an unmistakably dusty, age-old-wisdom-feeling tying them together. It is probably a little tough to appreciate the more starkly country numbers like "What I Mean To You" and "Poor Fool," which I have a hard time deciphering as either hipster-ish jokes (just listen to that put-on accent on the former) or genuine tributes to the past, but I think Earle displays enough reverence for his roots throughout the whole album's sound and lyrical attitude that we can trust his honesty. Either way, he definitely proves himself here as a musician, and especially as a songwriter. Favorite songs: "Midnight At The Movies," "They Killed John Henry," "Mama's Eyes," "Black-Eyed Suzy"

One of the best words I can come up with to describe Choose Your Weapon is "quirky"; these are clearly musicians with eclectic taste and a willingness to experiment. At their core, most of these songs are simmering soul burners, but many draw in elements from jazz, funk, worldbeat, EDM, chiptunes, and even some thuggish hard rock rhythms. The band was super-tight and locked into a bunch of great grooves (I found the guitarist especially interesting, often focusing more on accentuating rhythms and adding texture instead of the traditional lead guitar antics), and the vocalist took a little getting used to, but I came to find her great, with gritty lows and sweet highs; it was like her voice was coated in pepper and sugar at the same time. A lot of the songs had this weird, ethereal feeling; there seemed to be a million emotions swirling inside each note with how detailed and ambiguous the arrangements were, and it creates a weird kind of dissonance that draws you into the album's thick soundscapes. The lyrics were usually nonsense when I paid close attention, but the music itself carries a unique emotional power; freaky and funky; that makes them almost unimportant. Maybe I'm not making sense, but rest assured I thought it was an excellent record, a display of subtle, well-trained musicianship paired with an unstoppable creativity. Favorite songs: "Shaolin Monk Motherfunk," "Swamp Thing," "By Fire"

Edited September 14, 2015 by TheCosmicDude

[Dijon Mustard]

WEEK 4

Board of Whores - Board of Whores (Ambling Falchion)
The Weeknd - House of Balloons (fuccboi)

keep those week 3 album thoughts coming, and y'all feel free to make y'all's second (or first!) album nominations

[Gaia]

yo i got a rec

king crimson was primarily a band around in the 70s that did prog rock for the most part but this album's kind of a mix of prog and early math rock. it's definitely something different and it's one of my personal favorites.

[spoiler=King Crimson - Discipline] https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLqIXxR1hdjIJR9mL37zLZodeWgM061q5

playlist cause it's impossible to find full king crimson albums on youtube :/

Edited September 15, 2015 by Gaia

[Disinnocence]

Okay, so I realize this is actually Tuesday when I'm posting this, but, well, you know, I'm still awake, so it feels like Monday to me.

[spoiler=My extremely lazy thoughts, because I'm tired right now]EDIT: I added a few things in, just to let you know.

Justin Townes Earle - Midnight at the Movies

So, to start, I'm barely familiar with country music, mostly because I'm not a huge fan of it, so I probably have a very uninformed opinion about this, but this album is pretty decent. Off the bat, I got a somewhat jazzy feel from the title track (I don't know, it just felt like it), but it seems to stay mostly country-oriented throughout the album and I feel Justin's songwriting manages to keep this album a cut above. The toned-down/stripped-down tracks (except "Can't Hardly Wait" (this title makes me hurt), and "Halfway To Jackson") seem to be the highlights of the album, by bringing only the essentials to each song, with "Here We Go Again" best capturing what I mean. The song is mostly composed of just him and his guitar, and I feel it remains musically interesting while still being simple. The one problem I have though is that it still largely sounds like country to me, which I guess is the point, because this is a country album. Regardless, the album is still really good and I thoroughly enjoyed it. (Also, why is "Dirty Rag" a separate track? It just felt out of place...")

Highlights: Here We Go Again, Mama's Eyes, Midnight at the Movies, Can't Hardly Wait

Hiatus Kaiyote - Choose Your Weapon

I could tell this album was going to be fucking weird when the intro track had samples from one of the children's animal wheels (or whatever), but this album is amazingly fantastic. Spacey and very laid-back, probably from the heavy electronic influence throughout, but also containing many other sounds, like neo-soul (which is the albums base), jazz, some progressive elements, and many others. The band has tons of groove, and the random (time signature) shifts in the songs makes this a very unique listen. Everything about this album is beautiful, but I feel the musicianship on here is the real driving force. As others pointed out before me, the guitarist lays his focus more on texture, which is always a nice thing, and the rhythm section is very tight, probably being my favorite thing off the album. The singer also must have taken a class in the "Mar Volta Class of Lyricism", because they feel like the same "use a bunch of random words so it sounds good" tactic (also similar to Thom Yorke cutting up phrases and assembling them at random), but I only think it adds to appeal of the album. Odd, ethereal, and groovy. Definitely don't miss out on this... well... "experience."

Highlights: By Fire, Atari, Shaolin Monk Motherfunk, Borderline With My Atoms (tbh, there's too many to list.)

TL;DR: Justin Townes Earle looked nothing like I imagined he would; Hiatus Kaiyote are weird af (or Multi-Dimensional, Polyrhythmic Gangster Shit, as described by the band).

Also, my next album suggestion. I didn't want to have another "post-rockish" album again, but I realized the list of albums I have is like half post-rock. Whoops.

[spoiler=Sigur Ros - Takk...]

Post-Rock, Classical (somewhat), Ambient (somewhat)

Sigur Ros is the very definition of "ethereal." Also really hard to sing along with.

Edited September 15, 2015 by Disinnocence

[Knight Falchion]

Not quite my record latest, but still pretty late and kinda weak so apologies for that.

[spoiler=late weaksauce]

Justin Townes Earle- Midnight at the Movies

This album's relative simplicity and light feeling was quite refreshing; even the more somber tunes like Someday I'll Be Forgiven For This didn't feel to heavy because of the instrumentation. The slight fluctuations between country inclinations and more standard, er, "singer/songwriter" inclinations helped keep the album a little more dynamic in my eyes, though in a surprising twist for me I preferred the twangier parts of the album. A worthwhile listen, if not my favorite.

Favorites: They Killed John Henry, Black Eyed Suzy, Walk Out

Hiatus Kaiyote- Choose Your Weapon

When the minute and a half introductory track did so many interesting things on its own, I couldn't help but be invested in where the rest of the album was going to take me. The individual experiments within each song kept me hooked the whole time, and no two tracks tread the same ground despite some common influences. If that sentence isn't complete bullshit. The spacious feeling created by the electronic lines encapsulates the strong vocals and other melodic lines and accents them quite well, I think, especially in By Fire. It's really nice when there's an echo in this space; it makes me feel like I'm sinking into the songs. Great album and extra points for my favorite album art thus far.

Favorites: By Fire, Shaolin Monk Motherfunk, Laputa, Breathing Underwater

Second nomination:

[spoiler=Windmills- Broken Record]

Full album on Spotify

Windmills is a hip-hop duo featuring Framework as the DJ and emcee and Rex Rey as the instrumentalist and mixer. Broken Record is their second album and has a darker, more focused tone than their debut album. This particular album also has some ties to the Souls series of games as both Framework and Rex Rey are fans of the series and a prominent Souls-tuber, ENB, promoted their earlier work on his channel. So that's kinda neat.

[Dijon Mustard]

week 4 #thoughts, which i typed in a (knock-off) nyquil-ian haze last night
[spoiler=Board of Whores - Board of Whores]Board of Whores describe themselves as a "collage of post modern culture," and I somewhat agree. Like a lot of collage music, the art is in the regurgitation, so to speak. I couldn't quite put my finger on the band's intentions, though. They sound very similar to "post-cultural" post-punk and new wave bands like B-52s and Devo. Their self-titled album doesn't have the level of kitsch of the B-52s (it seems too genuinely invested in rock music for that), or the mechanical geekery of Devo. As often as the band is referential to itself or "rock & roll," I don't think they have as much distance as they think they have, even with the benefit of a few decades. They sound like a collage of rock concert tees rather than a collage of rock music. Which is to say that they sound like bands from the 70s and 80s who liked older rock music, and that I don't think their artistic pretensions quite map on to what they're doing. Or maybe a more tightly-packed set of songs would move them further away from messier, dirtier rock music. But I'm rambling about genres again. What are my actual opinions of the music... I think I'd like for them to make their love of gothic music more prominent. "Zoloft" sounds nearly like a Joy Division song (it's like a Joy Division song filtered through a song on Interpol's self-titled album, like kids who try to be cool by wearing their influences on their sleeves only to then let down their guard). The idea of trying to achieve distance from something but not quite escaping it seems like a perfect fit for broody gothic music. Rather than tighten up, I'd like for them to shoot for darker atmospheres, looser songs, and moodier lyrics. Indulge a little!
Favorite track: Zoloft

[spoiler=The Weeknd - House of Balloons]Oh I know this mixtape well (does that mean I'm #emotionalboyz enough to go through bae's phone while they're in the bathroom and use their voicemails as "artsy" segues? draw your own conclusions). This is lovemaking music for the vibe-inclined modern listener. It's exciting but kind of numbing at the same time; a dude is being confessional about wanting to sex me up, but I've been seasoned to chill out when I hear electronics like these. The track "House of Balloons / Glass Table Girls" captures this tension most plainly. The first half is upbeat and party-like, and The Weeknd is wailing away with his pretty falsetto. The second half is cool and druggy, and The Weeknd sounds like he's finally making his move. "The Morning" has the sort of guitar John Mayer would play for Frank Ocean, and "Wicked Games" is an obvious, booming hit. This run of three songs is the highlight of the tape for me. It has contradictions within contradictions and runs the gamut from pretty to ugly and back again, all with great melodies; it's obvious why Drake would be interested. When I think of "modern" music, House of Balloons is one of the first things that come to mind. Beta males get honest with their emotions, party animals get honest with how much they think parties suck, and it's produced to all hell. What sets this tape apart from most of the soundalikes is that it makes use of the contradiction between its modern production values and the stripped-down soul at the core. It's resigned to the fact that a pretty voice isn't enough to win someone over, so it compensates by being interesting (like how The Weeknd compensates for himself by having wacky Hawaiian Punch-lookin' hair, but I digress). House of Balloons didn't make me fall in love like Channel Orange did, but I'd sit in the corner with The Weeknd so he'll talk about his problems until we collapse in a druggy haze.
Favorite tracks: House of Balloons / Glass Table Girls, The Morning, Wicked Games

tl;dr board of whores has some good ideas that i'd like to see them take in a more plainly gothic direction, house of balloons is good pbr&b in that it compensates for itself by being interesting

[Disinnocence]

I don't like how I'm missing the deadlines (somewhat), but I think as long as I get the thoughts up within the general time frame, I think we're good.

[spoiler=My thoughts, where the points don't matter and I look like an idiot]Board of Whores - Board of Whores

I'm not really sure what I wanted to say about this record other than it's (modernized?) rock n' roll/post-punk (?) with electronic elements incorporated (as for gothic comparisons, I'm not exactly sure what gothic refers to, tbh). I guess saying that makes it sound like I didn't like this record, because it's quite the opposite, but I don't feel this needs an in-depth review (even though I've never actually done that, despite the fact that it's actually what I want to go for, but I never come prepared). The closest comparisons I can think of are The Cars (which is the vibe I get mostly from the album), and (somewhat) Joy Division, but more so The Cars than anything. The album stays with the tight, structured punkish-rock sound pretty much through the whole record, except for the final track, Zoloft, which takes a darker and more moody (?) sound, which I think was their best effort on the record, and I'd like to see them build off this track in their next album. To me, this is good enjoyable rock n' roll with some experimentation.

Highlights: Zoloft, Fashion 666, Mesopotamia

The Weeknd - House of Balloons

I didn't bother to pay attention to the lyrics of this album despite being a fairly important part of it I believe, but from what I gather from other places, it's about sex, or being honest about it (I'm half-joking)? Anyway, I feel this album is probably one of the better examples of (modern?) R&B (I would use PBR&B, but I think the term is kind of unnecessary). The feel for this album is very dreamy (especially accompanied with the artwork for the album), and mostly laid-back. I think this is good music to well space out to. It would also sound good playing in the background at (what else than?) a party. This album is equal parts listenable and ignorable, because the music is intriguing, but also has the sort of ambient quality to it (hence, intriguing + ignorable). If you need something to chill out with, this is probably the album (there's definitely better ones, but, I don't know of those ones).

Highlights: House of Balloons / Glass Table Girls, Wicked Games, Coming Down, The Knowing, The Party (...)

(I'm not exactly sure on my favorite for this one.)

Now I know I'll probably say this all the time, but I feel it's more relevant this time around.

Sorry these thoughts seem... well... half-assed. I don't know why I didn't go into this prepared, but I'm just typing random things tbh. I hope they make some cohesive point... ._.

I promise next week's thoughts will be better, and I might go back and rewrite these, but all in all, I enjoyed both albums.

That's really all that you need to know anyway. :P

TL;DR: I thought Board of Whores was Bored of Whores; The Weeknd seems to have broken their "e' key after typing "the week."

Edited September 21, 2015 by Disinnocence

[Disinnocence]

EDIT: Sorry about the double post. I didn't mean for it to happen. I accidentally clicked the "add reply" button twice...

Edited September 21, 2015 by Disinnocence

[Knight Falchion]

[spoiler=album thoughts]

Board of Whores- Board of Whores

Like Disinnocence, I don't think this album really needs in-depth analysis even if I had the ability to do that. However, listening to it more closely than I have before helped me to notice some little musical flourishes that I really appreciate, like some of the background percussion in Mesopotamia or the samples of young women in Paint Your Soul and Zoloft(works best in Zoloft though). I think Corley's production experience helped when it came to adding the electronic lines and though it doesn't do anything too complex like creating extra space or messing with right/left balance(except in Zoloft) it certainly helps make the album experience tighter. I also agree that Zoloft is their strongest and best effort on the album even if it isn't my favorite(that catchy riff on Fashion 666 is why), and I would like to see them try more with that style without completing abandoning the punk rock aspects of this first album. I'd also like to see them try something more complex with their percussion moving forward, though I'm not expecting anything new soon.

Favorites: Fashion 666, Zoloft, Necrophilia

The Weeknd- House of Balloons

aka stop autocorrecting me you damn computer- house of balloons

The album came across exactly as described, though as a pathetically lonely person the sexual connotations(and denotations) just kinda went over my head. It definitely achieves the emotional high in the beginning with the strong heavy pace of High For This that pounds its way into your brain while the cool down afterwards simply seeps and sits in your mind, creating a nice experience for the album as a whole. The mostly mellow mood makes it great chill music as aforementioned, and the production is top notch. The space and muffled(distorted?) singing in What You Need especially stood out to me. Really liked the tone too and I'm running out of things to say because I'm bad at this.

Favorites: High For This, House of Balloons/Glass Table Girls, The Morning

Hopefully my new habit of writing my thoughts down on whatever's been at hand recently will help me not be late for this week.

[peener weener]

yo boys and girls! i'm back from my trip! i'm thinking of making the time period two weeks instead of one. we all seem to post up late, plus we're running out of albums pretty fast. i'm gonna run it through you guys though for sure. what's up?

[DarthMikey]

I forgot and never listened to either album, sorry. :I I'll try to listen to both and post up some thoughts by tomorrow night.

About the one-week-to-two-weeks thing, it's kind of a good idea because you get more time to kind of absorb the album (maybe even encourage repeated listens if people have the time for it?), but the big problem I can think of is that less albums less frequently means that people will more easily forget and lose interest. So I would advocate keeping it the way it is and just letting people be a little late in posting up their thoughts. But I'm ultimately fine with whatever the decision is.

I'll nominate another album, although a lot of people may have already heard this one.

[spoiler=Demon Days]

Demon Days ~ Gorillaz

Year of release: 2005

Genre(s): Weird pop, trip-hop, alternative hip-hop

YouTube, Spotify

Gorillaz is Blur frontman Damon Albarn's pet project (though he supplements it with a host of collaborators); basically an outlet for him to explore his less traditionally rock-flavored interests, with a cartoon band animated by Jamie Hewlett as an appealing front. Their music has a pretty weird vibe, combining Albarn's affection for quirky hip-hop and IDM with all the pop-rock sensibilities he's steered Blur with over the years. One could argue Gorillaz is kind of an dual-front audio-visual venture due to the prominence of the "group's" animated music videos in their catalog, but the music stands on its own, and that's all we're looking at here.

Demon Days is Gorillaz's second proper album, and their best effort in my opinion, with more depth and better songcraft than either their debut or this album's follow-up, Plastic Beach. "Feel Good, Inc." is the song everyone knows, and possibly the best here; De La Soul takes that one to another level with an immaculately performed pair of rap interludes; but the rest of the album is full of the same tricks that made that song a hit, with diverse taste, excellent production and atmosphere, and an ear for melody informing the affair from start to finish. It's probably one of my favorite albums, and one I recommend everyone check out.

Edited September 21, 2015 by TheCosmicDude

[Knight Falchion]

I'm definitely up for a longer time period for the reasons already listed.

Edit: would like to add that I would be fine with keeping it the way it is though my preference is still towards the longer period.

Edited September 22, 2015 by Ambling Falchion

[Disinnocence]

For me, the reason why I'm usually late is because I'm just lazy and don't listen to the albums until like one or two days before I post them. I think if we went to every two weeks, that would just encourage even more procrastination on my part. But, honestly, going to every two weeks would also be good because of the reasons summed up in Cosmic's post. I did really want to do multiple listens before composing my thoughts, but I can pretty much do that with the every one week thing. So, to me, it comes down to if the majority thinks it's more convenient/better. I'll be fine with both.

Also, about running out of albums, since not many others have really... well... joined in, the only way I think fixing it without going to a two week system would be that we would post an album every week, but that doesn't really allow for much... variety? So maybe going to every two weeks would be good, in these terms at least.

Edited September 22, 2015 by Disinnocence

[peener weener]

i was thinking that thoughts should be put down on the second week. so first week's for listening, second's for thoughts, so you have a bit of leeway but still a deadline

[DarthMikey]

[spoiler='Late Album Thoughts]

I'll admit that the super-plain album cover did not give me high hopes for Board of Whores, but I gave it a shot and was pleasantly surprised... well, to some level. The main band they remind me of is the Strokes; the album itself kind of feels like an EDM-festival-era take on Is This It, although that comparison obviously breaks down if you try to make too much of it. But anyway, this album is full of up-tempo, full-speed-ahead pop songs with snappy hooks, crunchy guitars, and pounding rhythms. One of the most striking things about the album is its vulgarity; while the Strokes have kind of a seedy-city-life element to a lot of their songs, they also set it off with plenty of introspection, while Board of Whores are pretty unabashed about their sex-and-drugs lifestyle, and I kind of doubt that it's some sort of subtle criticism of such a thing, even if they don't necessarily live quite as wildly as they claim in their songs. Of course, I could be wrong, but it doesn't seem a very deep album no matter how you try to analyze it. It's basically a bunch of quick, catchy, raunchy songs about urban life, and while there's nothing inherently wrong with that, and it's produced and performed convincingly enough, it's also not especially original or captivating; not many risks are taken outside of the basic formula laid out by "Fashion 666," all the way down to the lyrics. It's a fun album, particularly if you like the style, but it's not a very memorable one.

...But, of course, the big exception is Zoloft, the closing track that almost sounds like it belongs on a different record completely. With a downbeat, existential mood and a mournful melody to match it, it's definitely the album's standout, and it interested me in what Board of Whores might be capable of if they tried expanding their emotional palette and taking bigger risks. But as things stand, it's a solid but not particularly exceptional album, I hate to say. I'm probably being a little hard on this album; it's definitely got potential and a breezy, catchy feeling that's hard for a lot of these types of bands to successfully capture. Maybe I'm just not a huge fan of club-punk or dance-punk or whatever you wanna call this style??? Favorite tracks: "Fashion 666," "Bombs Away," "Zoloft"

House of Balloons kind of feels like it's in the same vein as Board of Whores in some ways, what with the focus on partying and sexytime, but aside from the themes it's doing something completely different from the other album, especially in regards to how it handles those themes. The Weeknd approaches the highs of modern youth culture with outright melancholy, let alone the lows, which are evoked with an almost palpable weight and darkness. The real magic of this album, without a doubt, is in its atmosphere; some of these songs could easily be put in a lighter or looser environment and come out almost completely transformed, but the way they're produced is what leaves them with the unique impact they have. The Weeknd himself also has a really effective voice, capable of switching on the fly from a gruff, breathy baritone to a keening falsetto to almost instantly change the mood. It especially helps add variety and extra oomph to the longer tracks like "House Of Balloons / Glass Table Girls" and "The Party & The After Party," which could have easily zeroed in on one sound for too long and just felt like slogs, but the way they morph and move along so fluidly over the course of their runtime instead makes them some of the best songs on the album. I also liked the whole musical backbone that drove the sound, with the spooky keyboards and wry, straightforward beats. I'm probably rambling, and the album did have its flaws (the lethargic pace got me sort of bored by the end), but I thought it was ultimately good stuff, certainly a good display of the The Weeknd's talent and musical dexterity. Favorite songs: "What You Need," "House Of Balloons / Glass Table Girls," "The Party & The After Party"

Edited September 25, 2015 by TheCosmicDude

[Marusu]

[spoiler=To Pimp A Butterfly] https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLIen3IPVo_U30dpwJd2RDrPxYVXTplcq7

best album of 2015

[DarthMikey]

Wait, what are the albums supposed to be this week/next week? Panda Bear and King Crimson? (I'm too lazy to go get the actual album names)

Edited September 26, 2015 by TheCosmicDude

[Disinnocence]

Yeah, it's Panda Bear (Person Pitch) and King Crimson (Discipline).