First half of the round 5 artists!
Buddy: Della ZyrI still have pretty mixed feelings on this artist, but I’ve definitely come around on her debut Vitamins and Apprehension (which for some reason is classified as an album whereas the follow-up is classified as an EP despite being a minute longer). The song from it was the one I was most interested in from your submission largely because the production was clearer and frankly more my thing, and that applies to the album. Shoegaze isn’t really a big genre for me but this album works - it’s undeniably pretty and the sound is very immersive. Nebulous You on the other hand is a bit lo-fi for my tastes, though I do still quite like it. Concerto is a really good song, and the title track has some nice bits. It’s a pleasant enough listen, I just find the sound a bit thin and the melodies aren’t as interesting as on the debut.
Crow: Black Country, New RoadAnother one that hits the mark (at least in Ants From Up There), continuing to justify your victory. Much like the two songs I already knew, the album as a whole was a real grower. Some of it is quite dense and a little experimental, which aren’t bad qualities at all but can make music less immediate. And as I said before the vocal style isn’t something I’d normally go for. But a lot of the music is very attractive and emotive - enough to hook me in from the start and even more so to balance out the album now that I’ve got to know it better. Their first album is… quite a bit less good, in my opinion. The instrumental intro is great, and the second half of Sunglasses is pretty compelling, if a bit repetitive. But the rest ranges from a little on the dull side to, at times, actually kind of annoying to listen to.
Elite: Kurt RosenwinkelI went with Reflections as the album to check out as it had the best coverage of the songs you sent, and my feelings towards it were very much the same as for your submission. It’s perhaps not hugely exciting, but it is incredibly attractive and laid back. My interest would typically be quite limited for something this muted, but it has a pleasant elegance to it. It’s jazzy but not overly taxing, and the combination of this with the laid back style makes some very easy listening. Probably not something I’d put on for a dedicated listen, but definitely the kind of thing that would be excellent music for, say, a dinner party.
Evermind: GalahadEmpires Never Last is, for sure, a strong bit of neo-prog. Like much of the genre, it’s not especially complex or intricate, but it has solid hooks and a good emotional edge that make it very engaging. There are also nice surprises, like the intro which is definitely a standout in some ways. I tried a few other albums based partly on RYM ratings, and I can see why that album has by far the most. Battle Scars was also good, and I almost liked it enough to want to get it, but while half of it is pretty great, the other half is a bit meh. Even more so with Beyond the Realms of Euphoria - …And Secret Worlds is fantastic but most of the album lacks something. I gave a good couple of listens to Year Zero and their latest too but nothing really stood out on either. Still, one great album and a few other great songs is not bad!
faizoff: ColdplayI gave a good go at the two latest albums, which were the ones you sent songs from. While I didn’t love either overall, I definitely find their sound more interesting these days which seems to be against much popular consensus. I said in the roulette that I never thought they wrote interesting vocal melodies, but I find their overall sound more interesting and varied now. And there are a few good tunes on each. Coloratura is the obvious standout, but a couple of the weird emoji-titled songs are cool too, the heart one is an interesting choral piece while the infinity one has a great build up. It’s similar with a handful of songs on Everyday Life. So I’ll add those songs to my “best of” playlist for sure, but don’t see myself wanting to get the albums.
Glasser: Mr. RealityJust the one album from these guys and it’s not exactly easy to find (as in, literally impossible), but I managed to find all the songs on Youtube so I made a playlist there. Really nice album, pretty straightforward rock with lots of use of acoustic guitars and vocal harmonies. The latter especially really makes the album what it is - they take what are generally pretty simple songs and give them a rich, vibrant feel. The songs you sent are probably among the best, but really the whole album is just great, with strong hooks and an upbeat feel.
HOF: The ClienteleWhile it doesn’t have my favourite of the songs you sent, I decided to give Strange Geometry a go because, of all the albums you sent something from, it seems to be their most popular. And it’s rather nice, if not really elevated above what I thought of your submission (a little more jangly than I tend to like). I do think Impossible was an odd choice, at least as far as my tastes are concerned. As I said at the time, I’m not keen on the off-key vocal stylings. But thankfully there’s little of that on the album and it’s mostly along the lines of the songs I preferred. Standouts are probably My Own Face Inside the Trees, When I Came Home From the Party, and oddly enough Losing Haringey (having grown up in north London myself).
jingle: Robert PlantRobert Plant (and indeed Led Zep) have never quite captured my interest beyond the first folk album Plant did with Alison Krauss, and perhaps one or two Zeppelin songs. I don’t know that my mind is massively changed, but you sent me songs from two of his 90s albums (Magic Nirvana and Fate of Nations) so I checked them both out and they’re definitely not bad. As albums, I don’t know that enough of the songs hit my tastes, but more than anything else I’ve heard from his solo stuff, there’s a bunch of songs on each album that are really good, including the ones you sent me. I might make my own “best of” playlist at some point.
King: Joe JacksonHmm yeah my feelings on the songs you sent pretty much apply to the two albums of his that I checked out. Oddly enough, while I probably liked Be My Number Two the most from your submission, with its heartfelt warmth, the album it’s from - Body and Soul - really didn’t interest me at all. It’s like, aspects of the style are things I enjoy - the horns, the “funkiness”, but I just found that so little of the album has melodic hooks that really interest me, and I still find his voice pretty bland. His debut, Look Sharp, on the other hand, was a lot better and quite a nice surprise. Not a mindblowing album maybe, but a fun one for sure.
Litho: HaertsYeah, I love this group. Everything I said in my original write-up still applies, except overall I get less of a Susanne Sundfør vibe, especially after the debut. I think you’d leaned into certain aspects of their music that particularly hit my tastes and happened to remind me of her stuff, but there’s more variety of tone and style, which is no bad thing. The debut is definitely my favourite, pretty much every song I just find so lush and immersive, and it has that wonderful balance of poppy energy tinged with melancholy. The hooks are great too, some songs just felt really familiar - Wings, for example, I was convinced on first listen it was one you’d sent me.
The other two albums I’m finding maybe a smidge less consistently rich, but they’re both great still and have some cracking songs.
lonestar: Atarashii Gakko!This is quite a bonkers band. They seem to reinvent themselves with each album or two. The EP you mostly sent songs from (which was their latest at the time of the roulette) is sort of experimental J-rock with some poppy infusions, and terrific fun. The latest EP, Maningen, is more straight up pop still with experimentation and great hooks. The EP before - Snacktime - is… not so good.
Pineapple Kryptonite is great fun but the rest is weirdly unmelodic and hard to get into, and I don’t see it growing on me. And then back to their first two full length albums which are more jazz-rock really, less poppy and less experimental in sound but quite intricate musically and again lots of great stuff. Really enjoying this band - not as special as Gacharic Spin but they definitely have some similar qualities that appeal to me!
Luke: Billy TalentNot entirely sure how these guys passed me by the first time around, but I suspect it’s because they were a little later than, say, Green Day or the other pop punk/indie/alt rock bands I got into in my teens. By the time Billy Talent came around, I was more focused, as far as I can recall, on prog and power metal and a bit of thrash. Anyway, really good band. II is definitely their best, just such dynamic energy, great hooks and the right amount of theatricality to really hit my tastes. I knew a few of the songs already from your submission but loved most of the rest right away. I, III and Dead Silence I was less sure about at first - I is a little raw and the other two moved a little more into straightforward pop punk territory - but they all grew on me loads and have plenty of great songs. The latest two aren’t growing on me in the same way. In theory, they’re a similar style to the two before, but they’re not as catchy and, bar one or two great songs, don’t prompt much of an emotional reaction.
Topic: ariich's DARK TO LIGHT roulette (v8) - Post-roulette updates (ongoing) (Read 92060 times)