Evermind: Blackfield - BlackfieldSo out of all people, I believe it was Sacul who sent me a Blackfield song in the past (Epidemic). The only album I'm familiar with from Steven outside of his Steven Wilson albums and Porc Tree is the latest No-Man album. It's very interesting but extremely different. Meanwhile, I feel like all Blackfield and Steven Wilson songs I've heard are very similar in style and could have been part of the other project. That's not a bad thing. I really enjoy Steven Wilson's vocals, and the album you sent me here is quite diverse. There's some classic dark slow SW material on here, there is some epic and super dramatic stuff, and a little experimental stuff sprinkled on here and there. There's this one breakcore / drum and bass bottom instrumental layer at some point.

All in all, it's a pretty good album, I'm not sure how much staying power it will have as I wasn't over the moon. Some songs are amazing though: Cloudy Now, Blackfield, Pain, Open Mind.
Sacul: The Cardigans - Gran TurismoSo this is a band I'm not familiar with at all, but the similarities with some other acts that I picked out are quite interesting, even though some of those may have been influenced by The Cardigans instead of the other way around. I hear some Massive Attack, Muse, Paramore, Silversun Pickups... all pretty cool bands! The opening track, Paralyzed, is basically the best thing that happens throughout the whole album, which is a bit disappointing. I'm still generally pleased with this album, but some songs blend together quite a bit, and some of the choruses are a bit bland for my taste. There's some obvious standouts, but the other stuff ranges from good to just ok.
This is fairly easy for me, even though neither album has truly blown me away. I believe that this winning album is a very good start to what could become a really good music discovery, the other one is pleasant but apart from a few standouts doesn't really seem like it would enter my rotation at any point.
The winnaaaaaaah if you've read everything up until this point is pretty obvious, but otherwise: it is
everminD congratultions boy 