Weekly Album: Week of 11/26 - 12/02 - PRESSURE

This week I listened to PRESSURE by Julia Wolf. Now this is very much something I do not typically listen to, which made me very excited when it was recommended to me by a friend of mine. I think the music I like that is closest in sound to this might be Black Dresses but even then they don't sound very much alike. PRESSURE is this odd mix of modern electronic/pop music and chugging metal riffs. Wolf sings in this pretty voice, which is very much in the pop realm, especially on some of the songs where they really turn up the autotune on her vocals. It creates a strong constrast to the pounding drums and heavy riffs that fill most of the record. But then there are these calmer moments with these almost math rock-influenced clean guitars or soft synth backing her vocals. It feels like all these contrasting ideas just should not work but they do! I find it very commendable as I think there are a lot of musicians that try to incorporate strongly contrasting musical ideas but just fail miserably and the record sounds disjointed. This album does NOT sound disjointed at all. It feels so natural to hear these pretty vocals with soft keys and Amen Breaks behind them to transition into heavy riffs. These contrasts keep the album sounding fresh the whole way through, as Wolf decides how far into each lane she wants to fit into throughout a song. This whole concept is aided by the overproduction of the album, which I know is shocking for me to say considering my love of underproduction, but let me explain. Heavy guitars and drums tend to want to be underproduced a little bit, while all the pretty vocals and poppier want to have a cleaner production, though not quite overproduced (at least in my opinion). Now the natural instinct here is to just clean up the heavier stuff to match the level of production of the poppier stuff, but then it feels unbalanced as the heavier stuff sits in an uncomfortable zone of production. So what do you do here? You overproduce all of it so it all feels uncomfortable! That uncomfortableness is the key to how an album like this works, as it unifies the sounds and makes the listener (or at least myself) feel like they are on Julia Wolf's wild rollercoaster that feels like it is going to fly off the rails at any moment but it just hangs on by a thread. That best describes how I experienced this album. This isn't something I see myself coming back to too often, but there are certainly times when I'm in the mood for something like this and when I am, I know exactly where to find it. 8.5/10

Weekly Album: Week of 11/19 - 11/24 - A Pazific Puzzle

I would like to apologize for being late with this review

This week I listened to A Pazific Puzzle by Maggat. I was a little bit rushed when choosing an album, so there is no fun story behind why this one was chosen. I wanted something Emo-adjacent but a little more on the hardcore side of things and I stumbled upon this album in my search. This album certainly fits what I was after, as it leans closer to Post-Hardcore than the cleaner side of Emo which is something that I have been searching for. This album blends together a lot for me, I think part of it is that a lot of the songs are in the same slower tempo in a 6/8 time signature, so musically they feel very similar. The songs aren't bad, they are well written and are musically interesting, but because of the similarities between many of the songs I found myself losing interest towards the latter half of the album. In a rare case for me I wish this album had slightly cleaner production. It can be a bit muddy at times, and while it doesn't sound bad I just think having a little bit more separation between all the instruments would've helped and for sure would've made the louder, more aggressive sections of the album pop a little more. I've read that Maggat's other works lean closer to Screamo and I can see this quality of production working better in that genre than the slightly gentler Post-Hardcore sound of this album. Nonetheless this is still a good album, I just can't see myself really coming back to it. 6.5/10 

Weekly Album (and More!): Week of 11/12 - 11/18 - From Time to Time

This week I listened to From Time to Time by Eggy. Eggy are a psychedelic-ish band who's album I am reviewing was put out by one Flightless Records.

For those unaware, Flightless Records is the record label owned and operated by one Eric Moore, who was formerly the second drummer in King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard. The label was formed to put out King Gizzard's first album and was kind of a cornerstone of independent music in Australia in the late 2010s. I've always wanted a chance to talk about the degradation of both King Gizzard and Flightless Records, so I shall use the weekly album review of Eggy's album as the medium to do so. If you wanna see my actual thoughts on the album, skip to the bottom of the review. 

It is my belief that King Gizzard is one of the best bands, and certainly a personal favorite of mine, to have put out music in the 2010s. I don't think there is a single less than 8/10 album in their entire discography from their first album in 2012 up until Infest the Rats' Nest in 2019. Being a fan of theirs in that period was certainly quite the time to be alive. I started listening to them at some point in 2018 and quickly became a fan. While they didn't release any albums that year, they released 2 in 2019 and I was present for the release of both. You never knew what the band was going to do next! The fan base was also quite fun to be around at the time. The band had not quite reached the Grateful Dead-esque following they now have, and were treated as any normal moderately successful band that had a cult following. As I said earlier, the band was firing on all cylinders at the time, having come off of the release of 5 albums in 2017 and then the 2 in 2019. The aforementioned Infest the Rats' Nest was quite something too, since it was the first time the band had delved into metal at all. The band's label was also doing quite well at the time too. They had a few fairly popular bands signed to their label - being acts like Leah Senior, Tropical Fuck Storm, Babe Rainbow, and Amyl & The Sniffers - along with some smaller groups who were certainly appreciated by the King Gizzard fans as they were similar in style to them - these being ORB and Stonefield. Then, as always comes up when talking about this time period, the pandemic hit. 

By the end of 2020 after not hearing much from King Gizzard, we had a new single called "Honey" which was a return to their experiments involving microtonal music. It was... fine. I had never felt so just okay about a King Gizzard song prior to this. On top of that, it was announced that Eric Moore had left the band due to the fact that he was spending more time running the label. Now musically, this is not a huge loss. Sure, the band did some cool double drum stuff every now and again, but Eric was not integral when it came to writing the music. He barely even played on some of their latest albums so losing him in theory shouldn't have been a problem, but it just so happened the band took a nosedive in the quality of their music. The resulting 2 albums of this new microtonal experiments, KG and LW, were very much just fine. It sounded King Gizzard-ish, but it was missing the sparks of the best King Gizzard albums to me. I don't want the band to sound like them, they should be them! It is also worth noting that aside from a live album released in 2021, these were the last King Gizzard albums released by Flightless. By that point, the two had cut ties. It is speculated that the band felt they were outgrowing the label, which could be true, but we'll never know the real answer. Since then, Flightless has only released 15 albums, which may seem like a lot but all but 2 of those, being Eggy's album I am reviewing and an album by Orb, were released prior to from 2021 to 2023. From here, King Gizzard have released 10 more albums, having another 5 of them come out in 2022. I want to highlight that specifically because this is where I feel King Gizzard really start taking a turn for the worst musically. 

The concept of a jam band should be interesting in theory. I love it when a band jams on songs, and King Gizzard have shown they can do it quite well. Songs like "Head On/Pill" or anything off of their album Quarters shows they are very capable musicians and can sustain jams amazing jams. They do it quite well live as well, incorporating all these teases of other songs into their jams which they extended much further than the studio versions. They even, in my opinion, perfected seamless song transitions which is something jam bands are known for. They were set up perfectly to be a jam band. So explain to me how they messed it up so badly. Ever since the release of the first album in their "Gizztober" of 2022, Ice, Death, Planets, Lungs, Mushrooms and Lava, the band has butchered their jams. It feels like they have no idea what to play and they become so extended and meandering. It feels that way on the albums they've produced since they entered this jam heavy state too. Prior to this, they were always coming up with interesting melodies and unique sounding instrumentals, but on every album post the jamening has felt so lost and directionless and... BLAND. Except for Petrodragonic Apocalypse, that was a great metal album and probably the best thing the band has put out since the Infest the Rats' Nest. I remember hearing the first single from their album Flight b741 and being appalled by it. What was once one of the most creative rock groups out there, able to tackle so many genres and styles in their own unique way, had been reduced the most bland, wishy-washy, hear it in a car commercial, Blues Rock band. Their live performances were just getting less and less bearable as well as they leaned further into the jams. They extended most of their normal shows to 2 hours but because most of their songs had become so bloated due to the extended jamming it made no difference.

The fanbase has also gotten a bit out of control. I've noticed this ever since the growth they experienced in 2019 but especially post Gizztober that many of their fans just feel the band can never release bad music. This is not necessarily a bad thing! I would love to be able to love a band's entire discography, but the issue is that the band is worshiped in such a way that if you go against it at all then you are demonized for it. You MUST like all the albums or else you are foolish and your opinion is not worth listening to. Aside the snobbishness there is also just this idea of having to "experience" the band that has come up. You have to buy multiple vinyl variants and you must see them live and buy the posters after waiting for an hour in the merchandise line and then you need to be in the pit and also be at the front of the venue! It is just a culture that does not appeal to me. 

I mourn the loss of what was once my favorite modern band. Endlessly creative and releasing amazing album after amazing album. I knew it was going to drop off at some point, but to drop off this hard makes me feel terrible. I've found other bands to listen to, but none replace that King Gizzard shaped hole in my heart.

I mourn the loss of Flightless Records. While technically not dead they are on life support. I would love to buy music from them again, but almost nothing gets put out on it anymore. King Gizzard leaving them, among a couple other artists such as Amyl, really killed all the momentum the label had going for it. King Gizzard's p(doom) don't seem to be a great replacement either from what I've heard. 

Now onto the review! This is quite the interesting album as it shows a lot of different influences that blend really nicely to create something a little bit unique sounding. There are hints of 60s psychedelia, standard indie/alternative rock, and even some Krautrock/Kosmische Musik in there. It all comes together to create an album that is constantly showing different sides of itself, so it never feels stale. These are also good genres to mix together, as they result in a nice mix of interesting and unique sounding compositions, which is the more 60s psychedelia sound, but also leaves room for experimenting and jamming, which is the more Krautrock side of things. A song like, "Open Field" shows this best, where the first half of it really leans into the Krautrock sound with the driving Motorik drum groove, but in the second half becomes a nice mix of the psychedelia and rock elements with pretty melodies and chord progressions but this driving, distorted bass. The album sounds pretty good too, aside from the drums being too compressed for my liking (which is a gripe I have with a lot of modern rock albums haha), with a nice clear production that lets all the pretty strings and piano parts shine through the more standard rock instruments. This is an album that would be a pain to listen to if it was all muddy, as it is quite layered. This is certainly an album I find worth revisiting for something a little different and it makes me excited to listen to the rest of Eggy's discography. 8/10 

Weekly Album: Week of 11/05 - 11/11 - Predicts the Future

This week I listened to Predicts the Future by Plumtree. As with many such cases, Plumtree has always been one of those bands that I have been tangentially aware of. I was a huge fan of the Scott Pilgrim comics circa 8 or 9 years ago and Plumtree's song "Scott Pilgrim" which was the inspiration behind the name of the character was on the soundtrack for the film adaptation. I always liked that song but like other bands whose music I only knew through soundtracks I wouldn't end up exploring their music until much later. I've been in a period of reflection when it comes to music as of late and Plumtree came back to my mind suddenly, so I decided I should finally give them a proper listen. I have to say the album comes as a bit of a surprise to me. The song "Scott Pilgrim" is this huge rocking track with this massive sounding riff behind it, and I expected a lot more of that. While the album still has its rocking moments, it also has a lot of pop and indie elements to its overall sound. It can even sound quite pretty at times, with songs like "I Love When You're Walking Away" and "Going So Low" being these quiet, ballad-like songs that provide a nice brevity from the rest of the album. This is a fantastic sounding album, featuring some fantastic sounding guitar tones. The distorted guitars sound thick and chunky and the clean guitars are so sparkly. I especially love the lead guitar tones on this album, so smooth and buttery which fits the playing perfectly. The album sits in that sweet spot of production I talk so much about where it doesn't sound overproduced and clean but it isn't super low fidelity. It does lean on the cleaner side of production which I think is a good thing for this style of music, but that grit still there really helps to showcase the energy the band has. The album opener "Go!" is a perfect example of this energy. I imagine Plumtree were an awesome band to see love, but since they no longer exist I can happily settle for this album 8.5/10

Weekly Album: Week of 10/29 - 11/04 - You've Got The Wrong Guys

This week I listened to You've Got The Wrong Guys by Dinosaur 94. I first heard this band in a car ride, and I thought they sounded reasonably cool, and it is always enjoyable to listen to a newer and younger band. I listen to a lot of older artists/bands that don't exist anymore so to hear something more recent is a nice change of pace. This is just a nice and simple indie rock album. It doesn't try to do anything too fancy, and is done in under 30 minutes. The album has a great energy to it, a real potboiler if you will. It has an early punk/garagey feel to it which I really enjoy. Once again it is a nice change of pace in comparison to a lot of the slower stuff I've been listening to. I don't have a lot to really say about the album, it was quite enjoyable and was nice to just listen to some rocking music. 8/10

Weekly Album: Week of 10/22 - 10/28 - One Week

I would like to apologize for putting out this review late. 

This week I listened to One Week by First of October. First of October is a collaboration between Musicians/YouTubers Andrew Huang and Rob Scallon in which on the first of October they give themselves one 12 hour recording session (10 hours for their first album) with no material prepared ahead of time to write and record a whole album, with this latest album marking the 7th time they've done so, hence the title. I've been following this project since the first album, as I was/am a fan of both participants' YouTube videos. Though I must say that for a few years now I've felt that albums have been declining in memorability, originality, and quality. Last year's album I found so forgettable that I forgot that it even existed when I was talking to a friend about how I felt about the latest album in comparison to their other work. This year's album, I feel, brings at least a touch of memorability that the last few albums have missed but, still misses the mark in comparison to their first three. As is to be expected of an album made in a way such as this one, there are a lot of songs that feel underdeveloped or have ideas that just don't work for me. Two perfect examples of ideas that don't work are, "Who Is It For?" and, "Liberation" where Andrew Huang, who was the main writer for these two songs, tries to combine contrasting sections without any real segue between them, causing an extreme disjoint in the song. In the former, it is a heavy metal/hard rock inspired verse with this acoustic, slow chorus and the two feel so unconnected that the contrast doesn't actually provide anything interesting to the music. The latter track does a similar thing, where the verses switch from a heavy keytar focused rap to the same lyrics rapped with less intensity on top of an 808 Drum Machine which creates a similar issue as the former song. The rest of the album mostly suffers from being underdeveloped. This is felt most on the songs that feature heavily improvised lyrics, being, "Michael Squiers," "Murder Geese," and, "Greg Is Coming To Town!". These songs feature Rob and Andrew improvising lyrics for a couple minutes at a time and show their improvisation skills at their worst, especially on the Greg song. The first two have the benefit of Rob having a few lines already written, so there is some kind of structure and overall idea being communicated. Greg just has Rob and Andrew talking about, "Gregging it up" and how he is coming to town for a minute and a half intercut with some crowd vocals clamoring over Greg (I forgot to mention this year they recorded the album in a Guitar Center that was open to the public), which just feels and sounds incredibly lazy. There is a bright spot on the album, and what I think is for sure the best song on the album what is probably the best song they've done in years, being "I Am Enough". While this song certainly does have the feeling that it isn't as fully developed as it could be as the lyrical content is pretty minimal, I think that it really fits the vibe that the song is going for. This fact is also aided in that the hooks of the songs are actually enjoyable, with some fun and catchy synth lines strung throughout the song and a memorable melody which Rob sings extremely well in comparison to some of his other singing efforts. This song is certainly a First of October song that I can see myself coming back to which is something that has not happened in a long time. As for the rest of the album, I cannot see myself coming back these tracks. They are undercooked and easily forgettable. 5/10 album

Weekly Album: Week of 10/15 - 10/21 - The Progressive Blues Experiment

This week I listened to The Progressive Blues Experiment by Johnny Winter. I first came about this album by watching a video Johnny Winter perform the song, "Mean Town Blues", which is on this album, at Woodstock due to his use of a Fender Electric XII guitar which he only strung with 6 strings (Normally there are 12 for those that don't know guitar stuff). I was quite enamored by the song as well as Johnny Winter's guitar playing, so I put it in the calendar for my Album Everyday project that I was doing at the time. I became quite burnt out of that project quite fast and didn't make it to the date I was supposed to listen to The Progressive Blues Experiment, and one day recently the memory of this album came back to me, and I realized then that I had to listen to it for the weekly album. This album is quite the departure for my genre wise, as I cannot say I listen to very much Blues. The Blues has certainly found its way into a lot of music I listen to, but I never really listen to the Blues itself. I came to a conclusion some years ago that most Blues music sounds the same, especially the more and more modern you get. I still agree with that sentiment for the most part, so I was in quite for the surprise when this album sounded quite fresh to me. Johnny Winter is a fantastic guitarist, and the album is somewhat of a vehicle for him to showcase that. His playing is what makes it feel so fresh; It is steeped in the tropes of Blues guitar but Winter puts his own twist on it that makes it not feel cliched like so many others. The aforementioned, "Mean Town Blues" has a killer riff and a fantastic solo that gives the song a bouncy energy. He plays a killer slide guitar on, "Rollin' And Tumblin'", "Bad Luck And Trouble", and, "Broke Down Engine" which is quite fun to listen to, especially in the first as he opens the album with his raucous slide playing. The album is at its best when it either has high energy or makes you sit and appreciate the guitar wizardry going on, which is to say the album is always at its best. 8/10