Update (November 2025): Upped from disliked on fourth or fifth listen. I think I was being unfair. #experimental
Thursday, February 28, 2019
Sunday, February 24, 2019
Hamell on Trial - Choochtown: 7 (B+) plus batch review
Giving this the benefit of the doubt as a 7 (B+), although maybe "liked" more accurately reflects my reaction. I find him a little irritating like Jinx Lennon. I'll probably end up with just Tackle Box. Same arguments for Songs for Parents Who Enjoy Drugs and The Happiest Man in the World. #antifolk
Friday, February 22, 2019
Tal National - Zoy Zoy: 4 stars
I actually like this better than the debut. Like many artists, their albums all sound slightly the same, so these are marginal distinctions, and the reviews generally reflect that, with different reviewers given different albums the edge. But we all seem to think they are B plus to A minus range generally.
Tal National - Tantabara [honorable mention]
:-) [Doesn't have the same "authenticity" as the first two - this is probably where I stop] [Four listens]
Ezra Furman - Year of No Returning: 4 stars
See review of Day of the Dog. This one also has the benefit of being on Bar/None
Bruce Springsteen - Magic: liked
A little formulaic-seeming to me on the whole, some very good songs though.
Ezra Furman - Day of the Dog: neutral
People are all over the place on his albums, meaning different people seem to like different ones, and no one is crazy about any of them that I can see. I find this hard to understand, given that they all sound about the same to me. Maybe one or the other of them is a "liked" rather than a neutral but I'm not taking the time to figure that out. Under these circumstances, the first one to enter my consciousness, and the only one I've bought, The Year of No Returning, has always sounded like his best to me by a tiny margin, and so I’m going to leave it at that.
Dessa - Chime [honorable mention]
:-) [There's something about her delivery that I have to confess I find slightly affected and therefore irritating.]
Hamell on Trial - The Night Guy at the Apocalypse: Profiles of a Rushing Midnight: disliked
What does Christgau hear in this? I could possibly understand a 7 (B+), although I still couldn’t agree, but a full A? As usual, he seems to wildly overrate any artist who criticizes the president. Digital/vinyl-only ridiculousness anyway.
Sunday, February 17, 2019
Kassa Overall - Go Get Ice Cream and Listen to Jazz: 7.5 (high B+)
Love the cover image. Might be an 8 (A-), but I won't bother trying to parse that out, given that it's digital-only.
Paul Pena - Paul Pena: 4 stars
Long lost semi-classic, selling for ridiculous prices used. Reissue on CD!
Tricky - False Idols: 7 (B+)
Upped from honorable mention in 2024. Sometimes #import gets overridden if I like the artist enough. Maybe if this were 7.5 (high B+). There is a deluxe edition with a single extra track, which (a) is ridiculous in the first instance, (b) is a merely decent remix of a cut on the regular edition, and (c) unnecessarily lengthens what is already an overlong album. #import
Saturday, February 16, 2019
Mudhoney - Superfuzz Bigmuff plus Early Singles: 8 (A-)
Contains title album (really, an EP), plus entire Boiled Beef & Rotting Teeth EP, plus b-side "Halloween."
Sunday, February 10, 2019
Saturday, February 9, 2019
Kacey Musgraves - Golden Hour: 7 (B+)
# [country] [5 listens] I ultimately bought a copy, given the esteem it is garnering, even in just the last half decade since it was released.
Blake Babies - Sunburn: 3.5 stars
An early '90s indie touchstone, but I've never been that into Juliana Hatfield so I won't add it.
Breeders - All Nerve: neutral
Seemed to get a lot of positive reviews upon release, but its year-end poll performance was much lower than those reviews would have indicated.
Re-TROS - Before the Applause [honorable mention]
:-) [Might have gotten a B plus if the songs weren't so overly long.]
Chuck Berry - Chuck [Dualtone, 2017]: 8 (A-)
Upped from "liked" on fourth and fifth listen. I actually consider this a 7.5 (high B+), but I've upped it a notch because he had the wisdom to make it 10 songs in 35 minutes. It's the opposite, obviously, of docking albums for bloat, which I do all the time. In fairness, I should do the opposite sometimes too, like here, where deserved. I bet people pressured him to to pad it out closer to an hour just because he could. Obviously an artist who knew how to not overstay his welcome, on record, or in his artistic life. I respect that tremendously and thank him for it. Plus, he more or less invented rock and roll.
Various Artists - Colombia [Putumayo]: 3.5 stars
Not searching out used copies of a B plus South America comp -- just not that into the region.
Friday, February 8, 2019
Of Montreal - Lousy with Sylvanbriar: liked
With this band, I'm sticking with what seems to be their acknowledged classic, Hissing Fauna, and also False Priest, a personal favorite.
Tuesday, February 5, 2019
Monday, February 4, 2019
Guo Brothers and Shung Tian – Yuan: 3.5 stars
Not the kind of esoterica I generally collect, but nice.
Sunday, February 3, 2019
Richard Thompson - Henry the Human Fly: 7.5 (high B+)
Perhaps an 8 (A-), but people are asking such ridiculous prices for this that I will not sweat the distinction. #folk/folk-rock
Laurie Anderson - Bright Red: 7 (B+)
Eno production. Upped from "liked" on fourth or fifth listen - it's a subtle album, what can I say?
U-Roy - Jah Son of Africa: 7 (B+)
Sly & Robbie participate. Five plays - can't remember any tracks. #toasting