Beach House - 7 (Full Album Leak MP3 320 It's Not Bloom But It Is Sonic Boom Download)

I’m really finally doing it, for reals. I am, right? I wonder if something else will come up to stop me from listening to the new Beach House album. Better stop wasting time on a lame introduction.

1. Dark Spring

Well it sounds like Beach House so far. I will be good if the whole thing “sounds like Beach House”. Good but not great. The last album(s) (since two came out in the same year they count as one album) were fine but not amazing. Not Bloom. Not much is Bloom. This song isn’t Bloom yet, but maybe it will get there.

2. Pay No Mind

Oh! Nice transition! OK, the first song was pretty standard and maybe this one will be too but I absolutely love the smooth transition into an abrupt change of pace. This is so laid-back that I’m already asleep. This is more what I was hoping for – I want to drift around through gauze-y distortion. The last song was a little too late-90s 4AD for me to outright love it. Not that this wouldn’t also be at home in that category but at least there are open spaces between the fuzzed guitars. Oh hey, Sonic Boom produced this. Neat! This song is great.

3. Lemon Glow

Silence…another drastic change of pace. I wondered if the space sirens would come out to play. They have. I already wish this song wasn’t so poppy. I think it’s the first single though so I guess they had to. So far I don’t love that I can actually understand what they’re saying. One of my favorite parts of the old albums is that it took like 100 listens to figure out even parts of the lyrics. Until then you could sing along by going LA LA HM HMMM WISHES LA LA LA.

4. L’Inconnue

Stupid French title. I hate French titles to songs. Unless they’re in French, then I suppose it’s OK. The mostly a capella intro is nice. Can something be “mostly” a capella? Or does it just become a song as soon as there’s anything more than vocals? Discuss as a group. I’m turning my volume up because I feel like I’m missing something. I really need to disappear into the music more and it’s just not happening so far.

Louder is definitely better.

5. Drunk In LA

Here we go…I have no clue what they’re saying. That’s more like it. WAY GO || I have no clue what I was about to write. It was probably hilarious. Anyway, this is going really well for me. I would like to listen to this song again but for the sake of both art and science I’ll go on to the next one.

6. Dive

Organ, hooray! Except then I missed the rest of the song but what I heard was pretty good.

7. Black Car

This should be called Black SPACE Car because I feel like I’m driving through space. That’s probably the only place I would enjoy driving. No, that’s dumb. I would still hate driving there. Driving is for suckers. This slows things down nicely. Turns out I have a lot more to say about albums that I hate. So far this is pretty much just me saying “I like this” in seven slightly different ways.

8. Lose Your Smile

The last song was driving through space, this one is hanging out on the beach around the smoldering remains of a fire and looking up at space. It sounds like something else I know but I can’t think of it right now so this whole sentence was one big waste of time. I just remembered that the name of the band has to do with the beach. True story, also a waste of time.

||

9. Woo

I was thinking this song was pretty generic and then I remembered to turn my volume up again. There are these charming little whispers and yelps of WOO! In the background of all the fuzz that pop out occasionally. Some of the guitar work feels a little dated (I’m good with it on Spacement 3 albums from 30 years ago though) but it’s not so much that it pulls me out of the song.

10. Girl Of The Year

A little slower, a little more organ. That’s the title of the Beach House sex video. The drums annoy me like crazy in this song. They sound out of place and forced. I’m trying to separate them out from the rest and I think I would really like this song if it had different percussion, or even no percussion at all. Well that ended abruptly.

11. Last Ride

This starts like a good finish. Slightly fuzzy piano, I’m into you. Here come the space bees, home to rest on the beach at the end of a long day of buzzing around nebulas for that sweet, sweet space nectar. Do bees eat nectar? Now I can’t remember. I guess so. What else would they be doing on the flowers? Darn…vocals. I was hoping this was an instrumental lead-out. It’s still nicely sparse. DRUMTAMBORINE YOU RUINED IT FOR ME. Maybe I’m just in the wrong frame of mind for this percussion now compared to my last run at this album. There’s a whole heck of a lot going on in this song. I’m actually really glad it’s seven minutes long. At four minutes I’m not ready for it to end yet and I want to see where it goes. I actually kind of wish it was 15 minutes so it could really take its time getting there.

Final Rating: Seven cosmic flowers out of 10. No wait…nine rainbow nebulae out of 10. Crap…I don’t know. This is one of the first times I’ve finished an album and didn’t have a strong sense of how I felt about it. Overall I liked it a lot. No way is it Bloom, but that’s a perfect 10 album for me. I think I liked this more than their last two but I’m already wondering if it will get a handful of plays and fade into memory the way they did. Only one solution – I’m putting it back on now at top volume even though it annoys me that the album name uses the numeral "7" instead of spelling it out.

Jeff Greinke - Before Sunrise

Sometimes a music odyssey brings you a special treat. One that can really create a framework for the year. This isn't that album, but it was fun to listen to and it did lead me to a few other albums.

1) High Flyers on the Night Sky - Really strong opening with first light horns bringing the underlying basoon maybe? in and out of focus. I really like the layering on this song. It's dirge-y, but the flavors are so different. The strings give an Old West type of feel, but there's a Celtic vibe, and a didgeridoo sound as well. Maybe that's it instead of a basoon, but there's a reed sound that's coming in. Just when it starts to settle, the horns pierce through - slightly muted. A lovely arrangement.The fade out is really pleasant and lingering as well. Outback type of feel. The Austrailian outback not Outback the restraurant chain. Fosters... It's Austrailian for Beer.

2) Slow Train on the Open Plain - strings and piano, what a lovely album to start the morning. Trickling piano like rain on a windowpane. I can see myself sitting and watching the rain drip down the window - the trees and world outside coming alive with the build of some horns. 

3) Night Watch - This is much more atmospheric. Space-soundy with some muted bells ringing through. So far, I've really appreciated the mix of instruments and layers. Not much to say about this one. I liked it, but it's just a soothing layer of sound with small dings.

4) Before Sunrise - Very nice lead in. Oh, interesting start to this. I can absolutely see why this song is title Before Sunrise. It has that sense of promise and beginning. Waking up. A lot of building sounds. Some interesting bumps in this music. They building layers and now the strings coming in really bring this music to life. It's not quite Tan Dun, but it's the first thing that comes to mind. So there's something there, I guess. 

5) Under Falling Stars - At some point, we faded into this song. The transition must have been fairly smooth because I wasn't even aware that we had moved into a new song. That could be because of the transition or the fact that I was a little distracted during the move. That said, a lot of the same elements here. Maybe the ding of a triangle instead of bells? Not sure. Anyway. it's already over. 

6) Mountains and Clouds - Slow build organ sound to start off here. This is another song that is titled appropriately. I can see this from the window of an airplane. Transitioning through the lower layer, into the clouds, and breaking through into the sun above the clouds. It easily holds that space and is nice to listen to. The small peaks pull me along. Not unpleasant. Not the greatest. It doesn't have the layering that I really enjoyed in the previous songs or the diversity, but it's not awful.

7) Rain, then Snow - Nice piano lead in. I already have a lot of hope for this track. The trill of piano notes can really work for me sometimes. This is one of those times. Annnnnd. I was interupted... so, I assume this was good.

8) Before Sunrise (2?) - Yea. A lot more like the first Sunrise track, but longer. A nice upbeat way to close out the album. Whoa.. 11 minutes or something. Maybe a little too long.

Overall, I'd give this album 5 sunrises out of 7.5 Falling Stars.

Son Lux - Brighter Wounds (2018 Full Album Leak Download MP3 320)

Do you know how many times I’ve tried to listen to this album?  A lot. But until now I didn’t actually ever start.

https://sonlux.lnk.to/BrighterWounds

1. Forty Screams

Sounds like Son Lux so far! I love shimmering, and echoes, and falsettos. And YEAH THAT’S SOME SERIOUS BASS. I probably have the volume up too loud but who needs hearing later in life anyway? No one has anything all that different to say so I can probably fake it when I’m 80 and enjoy Son Lux super loud right now. I appreciate that this song isn’t rushing to get anywhere, just like 80-year-old me. I don’t know if I love the “Tommy” vibe halfway through but I’ll give it a chance.

“Young ghost in an old body”. Man…this is really coming together and I didn’t even plan it.

2. Dream State

I was just thinking about the one Radiohead album I actually like the other day (Kid A) and how much I appreciated the blaring horns at the start of one song. This has that too. Not as distinctive as the Radiohead version but it ropes me in with sharp cacophony and then just starts hammering away. Relentless. The AAAAOOOOOHHHH chorus in the background sounds like something that would be in a big summer pop hit, but it works. Because it’s evocative of PARTY TIME EVERYTHING IS GOOD but subverted by the overlaying lyrics of “Awake, awake / This is a dream state/ Though we were wide awake/ This is a dream state”. And pretty much all the other lyrics too. I want to type them all out but I won’t.

OK, one more:

How do we feel?

How do we feel in that photograph

And how do we feel it again?

So good.

3. Labor

I wanted shimmer and I got shimmer. 90 seconds of shimmer is just about my limit though. I’m not loving this song so far. After the endless shimmer there’s a stripped down lounge act thing happening and it doesn’t work. Am I supposed to envision this dude laying across a grand piano while wearing a red sequin gown. I don’t understand the ending of the song either. It’s dumb.

4. The Fool You Need

Not the fool you deserve? POW POW POW this song comes in to kick the crap out of my eardrums. Yeah, I probably have it way too loud. Oh well, this song is great so far. Although I’m still hoping for at least one really catchy number before we get too far into the album. This song is like all production tricks in a giant shiny ball but that’s OK as long as I can sing along with at least one of the songs before the album is over. “I am not letting go no matter what you do” is pretty fun at least. I can gargle water while I sing it and sound just like the album version. A couple minutes in there are giant mosquitoes buzzing in my ear but they buzz to the beat and pulse and pulse and I THINK I AM HYPNOTIZED BY MOSQUITOES.

5. Slowly

Whoa – was that it? Short song. Oh…haha…FOOLED YA IT’S JUST GETTING STARTED. This song is soulful. Through a ton of filters and distortion but still soulful. STOPPED AGAIN! FOOLED YA AGAIN! I really appreciate how “sharp” the sounds are on Son Lux albums. So many of the sounds have clear edges and nothing ever mushes together. I don’t care about this actual song so much yet but the sounds are so darn crisp. I do feel a little worn out at the end of each song, but good exhausted like if I actually exercised or something. I don’t exercise though so I guess I should listen to more Son Lux.

6. All Directions

Uh oh…another soulful ditty. I hate when two songs in a row are too similar. This has robot strings and electronic bouncy balls so I think I like this one better. It’s also not trying to trick me by stopping every so often. KIDDING! WE’RE STOPPING NOW! Dammit. I was excited for it to end with another ball drop but now there’s another song starting inside my song. Oh – it’s not even half over. You know, I’m not so mad after another minute of new song inside song – I think I like the second song better. It has real strings and the bouncy balls are more rubbery. And it has a chorus of voices that builds and builds and WOW

I’m really tired after that one. Great workout, me.

7. Aquatic

There’s lots of clicking and rustling sounds in the background on this album and this song has the most. Hey, he said “rustle in the dark”! Great observation, me. Even better than the workout aspect of Son Lux albums is the fact that they let you congratulate yourself so much. This is starting off great; really “classic Lux” with a little Antlers.

You won't find me where I fall

We may all begin aquatic

But we leave through the fire for our homes

This song is making me cry. It’s beautiful.

8. Surrounded

No rest after Aquatic – drum drum crazy drum time! “You're losing yourself / Slowly disappearing / Caught in your skin, surrounded” I’m going to need such a long nap after finishing this album. Even though the drumming is off the hook crazy yo there’s this glossy wave of sound slowly pulsing behind it that binds it all together. I’m super loving this album. I keep visualizing outer space and if I’m being honest with you live review I’m more than a little bit emotional. I think Son Lux did that to me.

9. Young

OK, this was actually a short song. No robot trickery this time. By the time I started to write down my thoughts it was already over.

10. Resurrection

The filtered vocals sound like “Somewhere Over The Rainbow”. I wonder if that’s intentional. They also sound a little aquatic but that’s kind of a Son Lux thing overall. There’s a dissonant fuzzy organ loop pushing the vocals out of the way and vice versa and here we go – building and building and BOOM.

Can we be this ugly and still have a beautiful life

Be a beautiful wife?

'Cause I'm a believer but I'm not a fool

The blend of religious allusion and personal reflection is totally distracting me from the fact that this is the kind of song I usually hate because it’s so disjointed. But it works. And then at 3:25 it hits a new level and sounds like a musical about the bible where everyone is crying because each and every character just lost a loved one. Including me. Great job, Son Lux. You made me feel human emotion.

Final Rating:

Nine sparkles out of 10. No, maybe 10 sparkles. A lot of sparkles. Can I change my scale to be out of 100 shimmering space rainbows? 97 out of 100 shimmering space rainbows. Three demerits for putting two songs with the same tempo back to back. I’m going to go cry myself to sleep now.

First Aid Kit - Ruins

+

1. Rebel Heart - I like this kind of harmony. The voices soar together, but it's just in snippets instead of extended segments. Oh wait. They are doing both. I think that since I started listening to First Aid Kit and The Staves at the same time that they get lumped together. That's not really fair though, I think First Aid Kit does some more things with instruments and arrangements, but The Staves really let their voices and harmonies take flight. All that to say, I really like this first track. Setting up for a nice album.

2. It's a Shame - Ooo - that first "Lately" immediately reminded me of Emmylou Harris. That offset change in a word is sometimes great - sometimes awful. It's working for me here with the twangy guitar. Oops - I know it's a shame, but I lost a couple minutes of this song due to distraction. Zing.

3. Fireworks - Oh goodie! This song is really working for me. The lyrics are working well with the music and pulling me right along. This does have that extended harmony, but then stripping everything down to just a solo singer with some simple guitar. I love it when songs pull that off when you have a strong lyrical component. Similar to a writing device in a novel or an offbeat line break that draws your attention to something important. Yea, I really liked this song.

4. Postcard - A little more upbeat start than I expected on the heals of the last song. Pretty standard country-ish type of beginning. Back to the twangy guitar and predicatable beat. In order for this to not sound like every run-of-the-mill country song, you have to have some outstanding lyrics. So far, not making the cut. Probably because this song is about all the regular tropes around a postcard. Meh. Oh no... Don't.. Yep. "kick it for me, James" - throwing to a solo piano segment. Yea. Throw this away. Oh no.. a wind up ending. Wow - it's.. that has to be the worst track on here, I hope.

5. To Live a Life - Letter writing. Uh oh - is this like the postcard?! I'm not sure if she's drinking and driving, but it sounds like it. She's definately drinking and writing this song. However, this song is a lot better lyrically. Has to be though - this is just a muted guitar, piano, and voice. I really like that arrangement. Ooo - "Then Suddenly" - yea, I like this song. I want to go back and listen again to get more of the lyrics. I was distracted a bit, but I liked the music quite a bit.

6. My Wild Sweet Love - This is more the style of First Aid Kit that I think of. A lot like the first track. It's more interesting musically, but less focus on the music of their harmonies. It's good, comfortable, and nice to listen to in the morning.

7. Distant Star - This was going on in the background while I was doing something else. Seems good. That's all I can say about that.

8. Ruins - Okay! Title track. DO NOT FUCK THIS UP. Yea, this singer has to have listened to Emmylou Harris a lot. It's not unique to Emmylou, but the sound is so similar. Ah, I like the way they are singing this. This has a lot more of a unique sound than the rest of the album. I think it's sounds like First Aid Kit to me, but it definately stands out. So far, good choice for a title track. The end is so solid when you strip everything down. I dig it.

9. Hem of Her Dress - You say you found yourself/in someone else  -- here eyes are golden hue / and everything you knew / slips away at the hem of her dress. Love that sequence. Though it does have some thing weird trappings of youth thinking that NO ONE COULD UNDERSTAND MY FEELINGS. Oh no... wait... why. Who the hell are all these people singing now. It's like a live album now. The singer gave up and is just letting the crowd destroy something. Welp, this went from interesting to meh to gross pretty damn quick.

10. Nothing Has to be True - Last track? Already? Damn that went fast. 10 tracks is a good number for an album. No reason to crowd an album with additional songs if you've said what you wanted to say. This is a winding song. Winding down the album, I guess. The music just drops floors a few times. Appropriate, but not as powerful or well done as you'd hope to close out a 10 track album.


Overall, I'd say it's what I would expect to hear from First Aid Kit. It's not surprising, but also pleasant to listen to. I'd listen to it again, and later in the year. We'll see if it has the staying power.

I'd give this 4 band-aids out of 7 strips of gauze. That's just the first listen though. Their last album grew on me over time. Maybe this one will too.

Ezra Furman - Transangelic Exodus (2018 Full Album Guest Download MP3)

I have no frame of reference, I don’t even know what genre it is but my husband wants me to live review. I suspect I won’t like it very much because we have different tastes. He was all geeked out about that Moses Sumney album and it wasn’t that great. Every time someone says “you’ll really love this” then you’re let down. If you don’t have any expectations then you don’t have to feel like “this is a piece of crap” and can say “oh, it’s not that crappy”. Like Fight Club.

Also, I’m painting so if it goes against painting I might not like it based on that. If it’s not a good painting album.

What’s the first track called? Oh…god…

1. Suck The Blood From My Wound

That sounds like the baby. Is the baby waking up? Did he say “I woke up bleeding in the crapper”? haha…HAHA…oddly enough, this reminds me of Hedwig. Who’s Tom? Oh; I thought you said “Tom and Hedwig”. I keep thinking “a cross between Trent Reznor and Bonn Jovi”. It has that “we’re traveling on…” and then some weirdo part. It could almost be upbeat if the lyrics weren’t so nutso goth. It’s an uplifting tune about vampirism. 

Do you know how old this dude is? I always wonder where these kids get their influences.

Is that a Romeo and Juliet quote?

2. Driving Down To LA

Is this a guy a girl. Is he gay? Androgynous? I was just caught a little off guard by “driving with my baby” and what they were doing. I just assumed Ezra was a boy. What’s the name of the album? [Transangelic Exodus] OK…It has a very vampire-y vibe so far.

3. God Lifts Up The Lowly

COUGH COUGH COUGHING COUGH

I just think I would like this better if it had different lyrics. The lyrics fill me a lot with “what the hell are you talking about dude? Kind of seems like a little bit of a narcissist too. No one gives a shit about your angel, dude. I guess you have to write about something, but it could be anything else at this point. Is this about heroin? It makes more sense if it’s about heroin. That’s sort of a cop-out though…it’s so Lou Reed. “I get street cred ‘cause I’m writing about heroin.”

You have to decide if we’re talking about this as we go. Because if you talk it’s going to change my perception and that will change the live review.

4. No Place

I’m definitely feeling the androgynous, David Bowie rocker. You can see where the influences are coming in. That’s why I’m getting the Hedwig too because there’s a lot of Bowie there. And there’s the Trent Reznor too.

Doesn’t this sound like the drum line from the pig song? What the heck is the name of that song? You know that Nine Inch Nails album. Mixed with like…a superhero horn section. I know it’s not like Captain America but kinda sounds like it.

5. The Great Unknown

It that like an elephant or something in the background? An ostritch? It kinda sounds like an elephant. We’re driving again. That’s so like, Bon Jovi/Jon Mellencamp throwback.

6. Compulsive Liar

What’s this track called? It definitely sounds like he’s trying to sort out some sexual issues. Is this his first album? Hmm…

7. Maraschino-Red Dress $8.99 At Goodwill

HAHAHA…so he’s Jewish! That makes sense…Ezra.

8. From A Beach House

This has a very…like…musical soundtrack feel to it too. Like Rocky Horror or something. Definitely taking a ton of influence from sexually-androgynous glam rock. It’s almost trying too hard – It’s trying to jam too many things into one. It’s like having a conversation with someone who wants to prove how smart they are, only about music. Which is a bummer, because I kind of like the music. It’s reasonable to paint to.

9. Love You So Bad

A lot of metaphor in this song. Did he just say, “I wanted your penis so bad”? I hope that’s not what he said. I’m glad he got away from the metaphors. It was kind of screwing me up.

10. Come Here Get Away From Me

Oh! It’s Frank Black! I was trying to think of what it was reminding me of. This feels more genuine though than some of the other stuff on the album. HAHA…”come here…”. Give me a kiss…

11. Peel My Orange Every Morning

It’s very specific. It makes me a little bit uncomfortable that when he’s…I think it’s OK to sing about whatever…like personal feelings. But when you get really specific like “the hotel manager is going to pick up the peels” maybe you could make it a little more inclusive. That’s where I’m getting the narcissistic thing. Because it feels a little bit like a therapy session. I can’t think of the name of the album where they’re talking about their cousins or whatever…Carissa…it was just a little bit too self-referential. It pulls me out of the music a lot. Because I’m like…uhhhh… I don’t know that I want to get that intimate before we’ve really met each other. I think you see it a lot with juvenile artists too. They want to get a reaction so they do things that are personally embarrassing to get attention. 

12. Psalm 151

I thought you could type really fast. I don’t want to have an incomplete live review. I’m actually liking this song so far. It’s really the type of song I want to hear in the middle of an album. I’m assuming this is the middle of the album. I guess I shouldn’t assume that but…I’m not looking at a track list. Based on time. Kind of heavy, kind of emotional, a little bit slower than the beginning tracks. A good mid-album song. I’m going to laugh if this is the end of the album.

13. I Lost My Innocence

Does he have split personalities? I feel like half the album Is written from a male perspective and the other is from a female perspective, like alternating every other song.  Maybe it has been and I haven’t noticed? I’ll have to listen to it again. This would be really fun if it had an animation that went with it. You’ll need to get right on that.

That’s the end? Oh. That was jarring. I think this album could use a lot of…well…first I think it needs some edit. And I think the track list should be rearranged. Cause that last song was not an end of album song. Maybe like a “second track” song. I don’t know which one I’d have come first. Definitely not the first one we heard, because that was not a good way to start the album.

Overall I had a pretty good impression because it harkens to a lot of things I really love. But it doesn’t do those thing particularly well. But it doesn’t do them particularly poorly either so I can’t totally hate it. I think I’d be more forgiving if it was his first album, but I get a sense that he surrounds himself with people that don’t ever tell him anything negative about himself. I think he could really benefit from someone being a little…um…mean…maybe not mean but he needs an editor…what’s a music editor called? Someone to cut it down. I think this guy would do an amazing job at making a theme album – like one solid idea to go through the whole thing. I don’t know if the female back and forth was on purpose but he could play that up a bit and that could be kind of fun.

I would definitely listen to it again. Even though it was a little bit heavy I appreciated that it was a little bit pop music-y too. Like heavy lyric-wise. I’m glad we listened to it together because I think it has things that we both really love so it was nice to share that together. I don’t know that I’d want to listen to it with someone that hadn’t heard Hedwig or listen to music that had references to homosexuality or gender-ambiguous stuff. A lot of people get really uptight about that crap.

Final Rating: Six out of nine princess points.

Hot Chris Bun - A Live Review Of Hamilton: Cross Bun (Full Album Leak Download)

I wrote this intro last. Mostly because I forgot to at first but also because someone was scandalized that I would live review something that wasn’t an album. Well guess what – this is an album. Too bad for you the RIAA already removed my download links.

Bite One

That’s not as soft as I thought it would be.

A mess! I don’t like mess!

There is icing on my lip.

I think this was a poem.

Bite Two

I don’t like burned things. The bottom part of this bite was burned. Too bad, because I like the rest of what’s happening here. I don’t know why I was warned about too much cardamom. If anything, I’d say there’s not enough too much cardamom. Not that I know how much cardamom is supposed to be in a hot cross bun. I just took a sip of cold coffee and the burned part isn’t so bad.

Bite Three

Is this even a hot cross bun? I don’t know anything about them except for the song. I’m halfway done – this bite was awesome. No burned part, soft and not too crumbly. Tastes kind of like Pan de Muerto. I’m halfway done with my bun, what fun!

Bite Four

No icing. A real misstep on my part. I’m realizing too late that you have to strategically bite this bun to ensure a little icing in every bite.

Bite Five

I’m conflicted. This bite had extra icing (good) but the rest of the burned edge from bite two (bad). Overall more good than bad though because there was bun in between. And also…raisin? Is there a single raisin in the bun (by Lorraine Hansberry)?

Bite Six

Maybe the raisin is a thing with hot cross buns. This bite was too big but half would have been too small. I planned well though, and it was the best tasting of the bites. OK, so I just learned that hot cross buns are a thing for Good Friday. Which was days ago. Was I fed a stale hot cross bun? Maybe. Did I like it anyway?

Final rating: Seven raisins out of 10. Even though I only actually got one raisin, this was a solid bun and there was just the right amount of icing cross once I learned the appropriate eating strategy. I would have liked six more raisins and the one edge to not be burned but overall I prefer this to a bun that is neither nhot nor cross.

The Skull Eclipses - s/t (Full Album 2018 Download 320 MP3)

Another mystery album.

https://theskulleclipses.bandcamp.com/album/the-skull-eclipses 

Yearn Infinite

Well this is not what I thought it would be. From the name and cover art I was pretty sure it would be standard indie rock. So far it’s way more Flying Lotus than anything else, which isn’t a bad thing to be at all.

All Fall

Oh geez…soulful woman repeating the same six words in an echo chamber. One of my bottom five ways to introduce a song. Except the rapper just said “echo chamber”! I wonder why when I look to see who’s singing I get a list of four different artists. I’ve listed the numbers four through six so far in this song.

Angels Don’t Mind

These songs end kind of abruptly. It’s OK background music at least. There’s a high-pitched church choir in the back of this song that I like. The clicking is kind of fun the way it’s pushed into the foreground. This song is Missy Elliot with less character. Also not a bad thing to be. Just not a great thing.

Pillars

Better be about salt and Sodom. “Body movin”? I guess I appreciate all the blatant references to things that somene is a fan of since they’re handled pretty well so far. I’m not getting any Sodom from this song though…it’s getting awfully political. This is not the most interesting rapping I’ve heard this month. This song is the most atonal of the four I’ve heard so far and the female vocal interludes are a little annoying. Also, did I mention no Sodom?

Take My

What happened to noname? She was awesome. Oh…she hasn’t done anything new. This song is more listenable than the last one but feels like filler. The female vocalist is my favorite so far, but she’s no noname. This album is sure inspiring me to say that’s it not things a lot.

Encyclopedia

Things are getting pretty bland by this point. I’d kill for any variety whatsoever.

//

I don’t remember what was happening in this song. It’s still atonal. Lost in the city, bruh.

Gone

The difference between this song and the last one is called flute. Is that Andre 3000? I know it’s not but it’s a pretty similar style. At least it got the song out of its rut. “Is my dick-bone connected to my heart bone” got me to laugh.

Gun Glitters

I don’t want to hear about anyone’s momma, but I like this so far. Raspy voice and rambling chimes, DJ Shadow drums in the background. I also like glitter and sunshine. Good thing for me they’re going to repeat those words over and over and over. Golden ratio, D. B. Cooper…really dropping some references there. Bottle rocket…gotta catch ‘em all! Sure I like a lot of the nouns he’s rattling off but without context I just feel like I’m reading Ready Player One. NOSTALGIA FLOOD. The song is fine though – not like I’m listening to this for the lyrics at this point.

Pushing Up The Hills

Ooh…this is like the slightly better version of the last song. Sisyphus? Phil Spector? I’m in. The drums are fuzzier and the gloss is glossier. This song eliminates the need for the previous song. He’s not talking about his momma at all either.

Yearn Infinite II

Filler. 90 seconds of ambient filler. I guess I’m glad it wasn’t packed into the last track.

Spacecrafts in Rajasthan

Here we go. Epic space opera. Come on, I’m ready. Um…darn. More random noun assault. Grace Kelly! Looking glass! Things! Stuff! The Big Lebowski! Jodorowsky! It just goes on and on. No melody, only nouns. Two minutes in it really hits its groove. I like the song overall.

Final rating:

Six random nouns out of 10. Despite all my complaining I did actually enjoy this. Just don’t go into it hoping for any kind of meaningful lyrical experience.

Tracey Thorn - Record (2018 Full Album Leak MP3 320 Download)

Another magical musical mystery. No clue what this is. The cover looks really 80s and I hate it.

https://traceythorn.lnk.to/RecPreWE

1. Queen
• Hey man, that’s so 80s. This singer has a deep voice and they synths are crazy out of the gate. Is this a woman? I thought it was from the name and album cover but the vocals are pretty mannish. I kind of like them so far but I’m only like a minute in. Do some people really have an artistic vision that leads them to make this kind of music independent of anything derivative or any nostalgia? “I’d like to make this kind of music. Oh, it’s representative of the absolute worst type of music in all of pop history? Totally unintentional.”
2. Air
• That last song was really dated but OH GOD I CAN’T TAKE A WHOLE ALBUM OF THIS. This song is “slow adult contemporary jam, with extra synth”. Or something. It’s terrible.
3. Guitar
• What have I done to myself? I was trying to live review good or at least interesting albums so all my live reviews weren’t about trash. “Hey boy, you taught me my first song” blah blah blah tell me about your stupid affair with your music teacher or whatever is happening. My guitar teacher would snort when he got really into playing classical guitar. Took away from the overall effect a bit, unless he was really going for “sweet but snorty”. This song is better than the last but still sounds like a gay middle schooler wrote it in 1987.
4. Smoke
• What in the heck made me think I should listen to this album? It’s everything I dislike about pop music. Oh good…this one is sort of old-timey. Which just means the synths are downplayed a little and it sounds like a medieval ballad about…I don’t know.  “London you in my blood and/You've been there for so long/London you in my blood but/I feel you going wrong” Oh. It’s dumb stupid autobiographical crap. OH MY GOD That’s why I knew this name – she’s the singer for Everything But The Girl! That might make me like this less though. It’s not good at all.
5. Sister
• I stopped paying attention. This song has the big dumb synth drum hits going all the way through it and I pretty much tune that out whenever I hear it. Her voice is actually the best so far on the album though when she howls “SIIIIIIIII-IIII-SSSSTER”. OK, I take it back about the drum. I think this is my favorite song on the album. It sounds like a ghost train and at least half of it has no singing.
6. Go
• Something about the sounds in this make me feel like I’m watching someone lick their lips a lot while they talk, especially mid-word. That’s not a good association. The song is fine I guess. I definitely like this album better when it slows down.
7. Babies
• Oh no. Fast song again. This one is like a country line dance (are there other kinds of line dances?) if all the instruments were replaced by Game Boys. And I’m pretty sure she’s singing the most trite observations about babies imaginable but I’m not going to look up the lyrics because what I can hear is bad enough. If my mom wrote a song about babies it would be this. Scratch that…if any mom wrote a song about babies it would be this. Keep in mind that most moms aren’t good songwriters. Nothing against moms, it’s just that most people aren’t good songwriters and most moms are people.
8. Face
• What the…what has happened to this album? It was bad enough but now seems to be an absolute literal walk through middle age insecurities. This has a piano so it must be heartfelt, right? Heartfelt clicking on a Facebook photo and refreshing the browser and OH MY GOD THIS IS JUST THE WORST THING EVER. The rest of the song is more about playing with her Googles using the Window computer on Netscapes.
9. Dancefloor
• Farting frog synthesizers might be obnoxious, but not as much as that last song. Nothing could be that bad. Oh no…except for maybe this song. Was the whole first half of the album this uninspired and I just missed it? There’s no subtlety to the last half at all for sure.

Final Rating:

Four flatulent frogs from fifteen. I barely care about the mundane details of my own life and I sure as heck don’t care about Tracey’s.

Gwenno - Le Kov (2018 Full Album Download Leak 320 MP3 Stream)

I’m bizarrely excited to listen to this album but I can’t even remember why. I also can’t remember if the artist name is “Le Kov” or “Gwenno”. Oh well.

http://heavenlyrecordings.com/artist/gwenno/

1. Hi a Skoellyas Liv a Dhagrow
• Well that sure is a song name. This…is probably not an English-speaking album. Although if it’s all ambient like this first song that won’t be a problem. Now the 1960’s come in and spoil it all with spacey lounge music.  I kind of like the vibe, but I would have liked it a lot more 20 years ago. Yeah, they’re not speaking English. At least I don’t think so. It sounded like she said “the croissant pony”. I’m already bored though. Five-and-a-half minutes is way too long for what’s happening here.

2. Tir Ha Mor
• How the heck did I even find this album? Maybe on Album Of The Year? Oh yeah…I bet that’s it - https://www.albumoftheyear.org/album/95218-gwenno-le-kov.php. More space lounge. Generic space lounge, with heavier drums and a harp. What in the world language is this?...Cornish? (http://www.theargus.co.uk/leisure/arts_and_entertainments/16076106.Welsh_singer_Gwenno_s_new_album_is_written_entirely_in_the_Cornish_language___here_s_why/) This live review is turning into a research project. Don’t actually read that page though because you will hate this dumb person and their dumb person views on art and education and the real world.

3. Herdhya
• Another ambient intro. I wish she’d gone this route the whole album, and also not decided to sing. Her singing is totally generic for the Euro-lounge thing…slightly raspy, a little breathy, way too sweet. More than a minute in with no wacky space sounds though so that’s a plus. I fell asleep, just a little bit.

4. Eus Keus?
• WOKE ME UP! Wacky sounds, up and down! She’s so sultry now, except she’s not because she sounds like she’s faking the tone and also speaking goo goo ga ga made-up language. Aaaand there’s the shouted chorus of multiple voices that are all hers. She’s really hitting all the marks. I’m starting to get annoyed that this got good reviews when all she really did was take a standard retro album and make the lyrics unintelligible. Dear Mr. Google, can you have a hit album in a language no one understands? https://www.villagevoice.com/2013/05/23/different-tongues-10-foreign-language-songs-that-rule-the-world/ or http://www.officialcharts.com/chart-news/foreign-language-songs-that-got-to-number-1__19039/ . So…no?

5. Jynn-amontya
• Ugh…why are all the songs five minutes long? I guess I can tune out a little to get to the next one. Because nothing of interest is happening in this song. Like at all, for reals. In a normal album I could at least focus on the lyrics but these are all “JYNN AMONTYA BLOO BLAH MANANA”. Her stupid website isn’t any help. Genius isn’t any help. You can get her last album in English (https://ydyddolaf.wordpress.com/) but that’s not much help either. This is the best I can do:

Is there cheese?

Is there or isn’t there?

If there’s cheese, bring cheese

And if there isn’t cheese – bring what’s easy!

From https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/mar/02/gwenno-le-kov-review-cornish-identity

Come on…seriously?

6. Den Heb Taves
• Birdies. Shrieking. Six minutes.

7. Daromres y’n Howl
• I got a scam phone call toward the end of the last song. It was the best part. This one does the “start with disjointed random crap and coalesce into something less crappy” trick to distract you from the fact that this is just another lounge rock song with mediocre vocals. Oh whoa! The male vocals that cut in halfway through are ABRUPT but I also like them. They have way more character than her singing for sure.

8. Aremorika
• I’ll pretend this is a cutting commentary on America but I don’t care enough to confirm that. Sounds like the best way to comment on America is to forget what you’re doing halfway through and slow to almost a stop while the remaining instruments drone on atonally. What the hell was with that ending? Fadeoutrightnowquick!

9. Hunros
• Is this the last song? Please be. Almost. It’s so much more of a chore to listen to a dull album like this than it is a bad album. At least with a truly terrible album there are things to talk about. This is a bad concept but the actual music is totally forgettable. And this song is annoying with the lifeless harp strums and her bland singing. Did I already use “bland”? Probably. I’m running out of boring words for boring.

10.  Koweth Ker
• Maybe this song is in Klingon. Shoot…it’s not. http://tradukka.com/translate/en/tlh says the English translation is just “ker koweth”. I forgot that I was supposed to be researching things. This song is also six minutes. It’s more song-like than the last one but at this point I don’t even care. SPACE NOISES! FROM THE 60s! What a waste of time.

Final rating:

Three synonyms for “dull” out of 10. This album could have probably been remarkable in the late 90s but everything on here has been done to death and it doesn’t even have any emotion behind it to move it past generic and derivative.

Marlon Williams - Make Way For Love (2018 Full Album MP3 FLAC Leak)

This is an experiment. There will be several voices in this live review but you can pretend we’re all part of the same hive mind.

https://marlonwilliams.bandcamp.com/album/make-way-for-love

1. Come To Me
• Can you turn it up? It’s still too quiet. YOU DON’T LIKE THIS SONG. Are all the songs going to be like this? ECHO! SKIP! Well, so far I’ve heard basically none of this. Is there more than one person singing? I don’t think so. Maybe it’s an echo. Eh, I like it. I like the strings. I was actually going to say that! Like actually! Are those drums too? Are you just messing with me with the drums. I’m kidding! Oh my god! I like the drums though. I’m not sure how I feel about his voice yet. Yeah, me too. This isn’t pop. This is old people style. This sounds like music you would listen to.
• Read it all when we’re done! Are you going to write that down?
2. What’s Chasing You
• Pause it! Pause it! Iike the beat though. I like it better than the first one already. His voice is better. Yeah, I think he uses auto-tune. What’s this song called? WHAT’s CHASING YOU? A monster. In the dark. Words? Twisting? HEY? YOU WANT TO DANCE TO THIS SONG? Let’s dance! NO NO NO. See? He doesn’t even like this song. It good for dancing to though. Does he have nightmares of things chasing him? Yeah, yeah. DID YOU POOP?
3. Beautiful Dress
• Oh yeah – he pooped. It smells like an old sandwich. Why is it sunny? BOOTY CREAM IS NOT FOR EATING. Why is he writing about dresses. Does he write his songs? I guess. Can’t he sing about somebody else’s dress? That’s weird. So no. I don’t like this song. Too boring. It’s for old people. You can’t even understand him. Yeah, it pretty slow. Maybe it will pick up. It doesn’t have anything about dresses. I can’t understand him, or maybe I don’t want to. Like a panda? Is he in pain? OO-OOOOOOOOOH. This is boring. It’s my least favorite song so far. Does he have a wife? Probably not. No offense. This is a bad song. I really don’t like what he’s doing with his voice. He’s probably really old, right? Like 80? Wow, he’s begging for love. He’ll be forever alone.
4. Party Boyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy
• Is he a party boy? I don’t know. I just hope it’s better than the last song. I don’t like the echo-y voice he does. Me either. At least it’s better than the last song. You can’t understand him because of the weird echo effect. PARTY BOY I think he had too much to drink last night. “I don’t like you”? That’s rude. This sounds like Chris Isaak, but not as good. I don’t know what that is. Probably another old person. There’s a space noise. This sounds like it should be in a movie for second graders. Maybe it’s for second graders from outer space. It’s about this boy, who was like partying, and there was a bully at the party, and the aliens came from outer space and ate them all and it finished but it was only three minutes long and this is the song that was playing the whole time. Yeah, that’s a good movie.
5. Can I Call You
• No. You’re too old for me. Come on get to the song already….eugh. That’s so edgy. Is he crying? He’s like sobbing. I don’t like what he does. Hold on! I want to listen. Once the drums start it’s better. I kinda like the beat and there’s less echo once the drums start. I like the way he sings with himself. That’s because he’s forever alone. SEE That’s why he’s begging for people to call him. “I’m having an old people crisis like for middle age people but I never got over it.” After the bad intro to this song it ended up being my favorite song so far. I kinda like this part – I wouldn’t listen to it but I’d accept YOU listening to it. As long as my friends aren’t in the car. Yeah, that was pretty good.
6. Love Is A Terrible Thing
• He needs to just get into the song. Wait, what’s this song called? Ohhhh…no, I don’t like this song. Old people gone wrong. They should not sing about love. This song is a bra? DUDE. I hate this song. The piano/voice stripped down sound doesn’t work since neither are particularly strong. What is that noise? It sounds like he’s farting, digeridoo-style. Nothing about this song is good. Even the way it ended was bad. This is my new least favorite song. Me too.
7. I Know A Jewel
• Wow. He’s resorting to jewels because he can’t get a girl? Or a boy? What do you think about the title? I think it’s about that he knows the singer named Jewel. I think that he fell in love with a jewel because he couldn’t get a person to fall in love with him because he’s too old and has an echo-y voice. No offense. This sounds the most like Chris Isaak so far. I still don’t know who that is. It’s what I would rather listen to than this. Oh! He’s coming knocking at your door! Actually, I kind of like this song. But not really. This is a totally fine song that I will never remember. YEAH. Whoa – that was short! YEAH
8. I Didn’t Make A Plan
• I don’t think he made a plan for this album. It’s like the same song over and over. I KNOW! This one is more just piano. Siggghhhhhh THIS GOT GOOD REVIEWS? It’s OK…it’s not bad. It should just be way better. REEEE-SOOOOORTSSSS That was just a random thing though – you don’t have to write it down. I’m not going to say anything about the song. It’s bad. Oh, I just did. Who do you think would like this album? I think young women would like this album. WHOOOAAA…NO. Like who? Like lonely women in their early 20s. And you know a lot about what kind of music they would like? Would you like this when you were 20? Yeah, probably. HOW MANY WOMEN IN THEIR EARLY 20s DO YOU KNOW? I don’t know any now! I used to! When I was 20! Well, you’re wrong.
9. The Fire Of Love
• This is the worst song ever. I mean album. Eugh. How do you do this? It’s so bad. It’s not that bad. It’s pretty bad, honey. I thought this was going to be better. I did too. But I also just thought. Of things. Can we listen to someone good, like The Man Who Sings About Poop? I’m about ready to skip to the end of this song. No, that would be cheating.  There needs to be more drums. Hey! You can’t leave! I have to go poop in my room. Why are you talking about poop so much? Why are you asking that? So you can write it down? That’s not a review either, honey.
• //
10. Nobody Gets What They Want Anymore
• Is this a girl? Oh! That’s him! No, that was a girl. Was it? It’s hard to tell without the echo. That’s gotta be a girl. At least he’s not lonely any more. Maybe it’s just his sister. They can both be lonely together. Because of their parents. This song is better than the others because it’s not echo-y. Her voice is pretty nice. She should have sung the whole album. The bum bah bum part is fun! It’s like the Little Drummer Boy! Are they still sad? Maybe if they weren’t so whiny they’d get what they want. Because I’m pretty sure people still get what they want sometimes, especially if they don’t whine. YOU GET WHAT YOU GET AND YOU DON’T THROW A FIT Ewwwww I don’t like that part PBLTTTTT EWWWWW Everyone says “ew” at the last part even though the rest was pretty good. EVERYBODY POOPS.
11. Make Way For Love
• No. I won’t. Is there a girl in this one too? I don’t think so. I think that’s just his friend the echo. That’s not a review. You don’t know me and my reviews. IT’S A BLACKBERRY? YOU DON’T NOT LIKE IT. This is fine I guess…kind of an oldies song. BORING. This is his last song? It’s not very strong. I DON’T LIKE IT. Man there’s a lot of negativity. It’s just boring…you know? Not super terrible, just not my thang. This sounds like one of those Hawaiian songs like where they do the hula hoops. Like if they did the hula hoops but fell asleep. You can’t write down your own jokes. They’re not funny. No offense. Bedtime, or no good? NO GOOD

Final Ratings:

• Three or four. Solid four. Four lonely people out of…your mom.
• Five echoes out of infinity echoes. Because it was exactly in the middle of nowhere so the echoes will never end.
• THREE SOUR CREAM SOUR CREAM SOUR CREAM OUT OF CREAM CHEESE

Average rating: Four lonely echoes of various creams.