Album of the Week Club (ROUND 10: 10/29-11/4) [Open Membership]

cheesygloypist69

cheesygloypist69

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oh ya also you guys can skip funny moods if u want that song is dogshit
 
SowiesoGroyp

SowiesoGroyp

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this is kinda the millennial version of AOR or yacht rock or soft rock and the like. i'm happy to approach this music on its own terms, but that's to say: as pop music -- and worthwhile, standout pop music isn't actually easy to make. if you phone in a pop song, it's just disposable trash. this kind of music really stands or dies on how good the instrumentalists are and how good the songwriting is -- and, to compete for my attention, you can't really get away with just having a good singer, or just a good lead guitarist; you need a good bassist and a good drummer, too. we live in a world where i can switch to listening to The Smiths or Advantage Lucy in about 3 seconds. if you don't even have a band, if you're doing the one man band thing, are you prepared to be johnny marr and morrissey at the same time? no, no, you aren't. so what else do you have to offer? what is the comparative advantage, here? this is the problem with "bedroom pop," "hypnagogic pop," "chillwave," or whatever else. if you're making boring jangle pop, echo and reverb aren't going to make it not boring jangle pop. i think that's why a lot of this sort of music leans (though not really this album in particular) into its aesthetic frills and packaging.

i'm assuming this is all made by one guy, more or less. his singing is alright. his guitarwork is alright. (and by alright, i mean inoffensive and passable). but man, he is not a bassist, and he certainly isn't a drummer. the drums are programmed, but they hardly do anything, ever, and i don't like their muddy/muted sound on most of these tracks. sometimes everything coalesces just right and you do get a solid, "catchy" song -- "I Belong to You" has a good lead melody, the bass guitar is on point, i can overlook the drums, and there's just enough repetition to make it memorable. it's not great and nothing about it particularly excites or impresses me, but it's solid enough. at the end of the day, though, none of these songs are getting stuck in my head any time soon. "all my love & all your love" has an idea that could create a catchy song buried in there, but everything sounds so half-assed and empty that it doesn't impart me with anything.

"funny moods" is just kinda derpy and poorly executed. holger czukay put silly sounds on moonshake in 1973, but it actually worked and sounded good. i can see why you'd skip that song if you were just listening to this album as background music. i didn't appreciate the latinx song, by the way. i don't have much to say about the electronics, like what you hear in the final track. actually, i don't have anything to say at all.

i don't really listen to anything as background music. i listen to music i think is excellent and outstanding (meaning: it stands out), and i listen to music that seems like it could be excellent or outstanding, and i just haven't heard it yet, so i'm listening to find out. if something is "okay" and "chill," to be honest... i'm more fascinated by the hum of my AC and the sounds of distantly passing cars.
 
mochi

mochi

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it's alright
i mean it's tumblr jangle pop it all kinda sounds the same. there's probably at least 20 bands that i've already heard before but you could show me any of these songs and say it's by them and i wouldn't question it
thought it might've been headed towards a cooler, more post-punk kind of jangle pop from the first 2 or 3 songs and slightly reminded me of brother by the organ but it reverted into pretty standard stuff for most of the rest. didn't like the plastic drum sounds much
it gives off that sort of "Yeah... i'm pretty cool... kind of an indie guy..." *pushes sunglasses back onto face* feel that i don't like about a lot of 2010s indie. sonic youth probably invented that horrible personality type in the 90s when they were at their most insufferable
 
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