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I Love Music: Music reviews 3/9
11 years ago
(Post-dated 'cuz I shoulda posted this last night!)
Now that I have finally listened to the entire internet, I can get back into actual albums. :B I started doing these textual reviews late last year on my Tumblr but since not everyone necessarily wants to wade through the mixture of pony junk and politics that happens there, I figure the least I could do is crosspost here.
Soul Asylum
These guys are best known for a couple of songs from the mid-90's, most notably "Runaway Train", "Black Gold" and "Misery". I listened to one of their albums way back when (Grave Dancer's Union?) and was not impressed, but here's the rest, I guess, for no particular reason.
Say What You Will, Clarence... Karl Sold the Truck: Like all good alt rock bands, Soul Asylum started off as a shouty, not particularly talented punk band. This is flat-out pretty bad. 3/10
Made to Be Broken: More punk, but improved. Sounds a lot like early Goo Goo Dolls or the Replacements (who were essentially the same group, sound-wise). Still nothing standout-wise, but improvement is good. 5/10
While You Were Out: According to the tags, this came out in 1986, the same year as Broken, and I've got no way of telling how true that is, nor which might have come first. This one definitely feels like it might have been the predecessor, as it's more raw, like Say What You Will. It's still an improvement, and they're obviously toying with more melodic fare, but I prefer Broken. 4/10
Hang Time: Definitely more solid on the songwriting front, but feels like treading water. "Twiddly Dee" is the first of their songs that catches my attention, entirely because it's a goofy, high-spirited acoustic piece. What. 4.5/10
And the Horse They Rode in On: A slow metamorphosis into the sound they're better known for. I kind of like "Easy Street". 5.5/10
The Silver Lining: Skip ahead 16 years... whiplash. Everything's polished and alt-rock. It doesn't really stand out or anything, though, and if there's one thing I can say about Soul Asylum, it's that they've never stood out at anything. I do like "Lately", "Bus Named Desire" and "Slowly Rising", though. 5.5/10
Delayed Reaction: This is from 2012 and likely the reason I got the discography. I must not be a huge Soul Asylum fan; this just sounds like stuff and even the songs I like -- "Gravity", "Pipe Dream" -- I don't like all that much. Like I said, they've never really stood out at anything. 5.5/10
Passion Pit- Gossamer: Passion Pit is a name I've come to associate with good indie dance rock. And while this has all the earmarks of their style, I had to remind myself that I've only ever had singles of theirs, and never a whole album. The outset is pleasant but unremarkable and nothing really stands out until the middle. It definitely gets better toward the end; well, it could certainly serve as an introduction to the group, at least. 6/10
In This Moment- Blood: Ugh, what the hell happened to ITM? The title track is just horrid. The vocals are like screamed rapping, and it sounds like the vocalist is brand new, though that doesn't seem to be the case. This is not the high-energy, soaring goth metal that drew me to Beautiful Tragedy. "Burn" is more like what I'm looking for, but it's still beset by screaming. I am unspeakably disappointed in this album. 4.5/10
Owl City- The Midsummer Station: Wow, finally catching up with Owl City! This is one that has "Good Time". At least I'm prepared for a paradigm shift this time, Owl City having taken up a summer pop feel and why am I telling you this everyone knows this album by now. But yeah, he kind of sounds like everything else on the radio now instead of the twee pop sensation he started out as. I like radio pop, but it is kind of disappointing, though the song he did on the Wreck-It Ralph soundtrack was in this style and totally amazing. Still, he's getting me to add a Carly Rae Jepsen song to my collection, so it's not like I can deny the infectiousness of pop stylings. I'm pleased to see Mark Hoppus on this, too. 6.5/10
Bloc Party- Four: This is a very rough and edgy release from Bloc Party. Granted, I didn't come into this expecting to get it, per se, but it definitely feels like they're trying a new direction. There are a couple good tracks, "Truth" in particular is really great, but, yeah, it's just not my thing. 5.5/10
The Darkness- Hot Cakes: OH GOD YES THE LONG AWAITED RETURN. It starts off slow, then we get a pause and Justin Hawkins screams "Suck my cock!" and I'm going, "Yeah, yeah, baby, they're back." And then the second track brings in the energy and the waily Queen-esque chorus and yeahhhhh... It's good. This combines the mature songwriting of their sophomore album with the cheekiness that made their debut so much fun. It falls in between the two in terms of quality, and that's a swing and a hit for me. "Forbidden Love" is one of their best songs ever. 8.5/10
Now that I have finally listened to the entire internet, I can get back into actual albums. :B I started doing these textual reviews late last year on my Tumblr but since not everyone necessarily wants to wade through the mixture of pony junk and politics that happens there, I figure the least I could do is crosspost here.
Soul Asylum
These guys are best known for a couple of songs from the mid-90's, most notably "Runaway Train", "Black Gold" and "Misery". I listened to one of their albums way back when (Grave Dancer's Union?) and was not impressed, but here's the rest, I guess, for no particular reason.
Say What You Will, Clarence... Karl Sold the Truck: Like all good alt rock bands, Soul Asylum started off as a shouty, not particularly talented punk band. This is flat-out pretty bad. 3/10
Made to Be Broken: More punk, but improved. Sounds a lot like early Goo Goo Dolls or the Replacements (who were essentially the same group, sound-wise). Still nothing standout-wise, but improvement is good. 5/10
While You Were Out: According to the tags, this came out in 1986, the same year as Broken, and I've got no way of telling how true that is, nor which might have come first. This one definitely feels like it might have been the predecessor, as it's more raw, like Say What You Will. It's still an improvement, and they're obviously toying with more melodic fare, but I prefer Broken. 4/10
Hang Time: Definitely more solid on the songwriting front, but feels like treading water. "Twiddly Dee" is the first of their songs that catches my attention, entirely because it's a goofy, high-spirited acoustic piece. What. 4.5/10
And the Horse They Rode in On: A slow metamorphosis into the sound they're better known for. I kind of like "Easy Street". 5.5/10
The Silver Lining: Skip ahead 16 years... whiplash. Everything's polished and alt-rock. It doesn't really stand out or anything, though, and if there's one thing I can say about Soul Asylum, it's that they've never stood out at anything. I do like "Lately", "Bus Named Desire" and "Slowly Rising", though. 5.5/10
Delayed Reaction: This is from 2012 and likely the reason I got the discography. I must not be a huge Soul Asylum fan; this just sounds like stuff and even the songs I like -- "Gravity", "Pipe Dream" -- I don't like all that much. Like I said, they've never really stood out at anything. 5.5/10
Passion Pit- Gossamer: Passion Pit is a name I've come to associate with good indie dance rock. And while this has all the earmarks of their style, I had to remind myself that I've only ever had singles of theirs, and never a whole album. The outset is pleasant but unremarkable and nothing really stands out until the middle. It definitely gets better toward the end; well, it could certainly serve as an introduction to the group, at least. 6/10
In This Moment- Blood: Ugh, what the hell happened to ITM? The title track is just horrid. The vocals are like screamed rapping, and it sounds like the vocalist is brand new, though that doesn't seem to be the case. This is not the high-energy, soaring goth metal that drew me to Beautiful Tragedy. "Burn" is more like what I'm looking for, but it's still beset by screaming. I am unspeakably disappointed in this album. 4.5/10
Owl City- The Midsummer Station: Wow, finally catching up with Owl City! This is one that has "Good Time". At least I'm prepared for a paradigm shift this time, Owl City having taken up a summer pop feel and why am I telling you this everyone knows this album by now. But yeah, he kind of sounds like everything else on the radio now instead of the twee pop sensation he started out as. I like radio pop, but it is kind of disappointing, though the song he did on the Wreck-It Ralph soundtrack was in this style and totally amazing. Still, he's getting me to add a Carly Rae Jepsen song to my collection, so it's not like I can deny the infectiousness of pop stylings. I'm pleased to see Mark Hoppus on this, too. 6.5/10
Bloc Party- Four: This is a very rough and edgy release from Bloc Party. Granted, I didn't come into this expecting to get it, per se, but it definitely feels like they're trying a new direction. There are a couple good tracks, "Truth" in particular is really great, but, yeah, it's just not my thing. 5.5/10
The Darkness- Hot Cakes: OH GOD YES THE LONG AWAITED RETURN. It starts off slow, then we get a pause and Justin Hawkins screams "Suck my cock!" and I'm going, "Yeah, yeah, baby, they're back." And then the second track brings in the energy and the waily Queen-esque chorus and yeahhhhh... It's good. This combines the mature songwriting of their sophomore album with the cheekiness that made their debut so much fun. It falls in between the two in terms of quality, and that's a swing and a hit for me. "Forbidden Love" is one of their best songs ever. 8.5/10
