JJ's 2015 Music Thread

[jiraffejustin]

Long car rides being a near daily experience for me now has increased my musical input and depleted my movie watching into a state of almost non-existence. So, I might as well talk about it. I almost never last a full year of keeping up with this type of stuff, but maybe this year will be different?

I'm trying to listen to more new music this year than ever before and I plan on keeping track of my favorite albums, mixtapes, EPs, and singles in this here thread.

Albums

1. To Pimp a Butterfly - Kendrick Lamar
2. Viet Cong - Viet Cong
3. Fashion Week - Death Grips

Singles

1. The Blacker the Berry - Kendrick Lamar
2. All Day - Kanye West
3. Room 302 - Future Brown ft. Tink
4. Silhouettes - Viet Cong
5. Actin Crazy - Action Bronson

Mixtapes
1. If You're Reading This It's Too Late - Drake

EPs
1. Computer Controlled Acoustic Instruments pt2 - Aphex Twin

[jiraffejustin]

First up:

Room 302 by Future Brown ft. Tink (https://soundcloud.com/future-brown/room-302-feat-tink)

I don't know much about Future Brown, but after hearing this single and another song (Talkin Bandz (https://soundcloud.com/future-brown/talkin-bandz-feat-shawnna-and-dj-victoriouz)) I have a feeling that their self-titled album could compete for a top ten spot for AOTY. As of right now though, this is the single of the year. I know that it's running unopposed, but that shouldn't stop you from giving it a listen. Tink kills the rap part, I don't know who she is, but I want to know.

Anyway, as you probably guessed "Room 302" is about having sex in a hotel. I am in a hotel right now, but I am in room 133, so I am not getting laid in a hotel. :(

[Swan]

The thread is the ****.

[Swan]

You know what I said.

[jiraffejustin]

Bruh, listen to Room 302 and fall in love with Tink.

[Swan]

Definitely a skilled rapper. Not sure I like the more popish parts though. But, that might be a lame criticism.

[jiraffejustin]

Definitely a skilled rapper. Not sure I like the more popish parts though. But, that might be a lame criticism.

You are referring to the parts where she sings? While I don't like them as much as her rapping dirty words, her voice is really pretty to me, so I like it when she sings.

[Swan]

Yeah, those parts. She does have a pretty voice, it just sounds too familiar to me at those times. It's most own fault.

[Swan]

her voice is really pretty to me

Damn, now I have to listen to Feist or Joanna Newsom or something. Thanks a lot bitchass!

No seriously, thanks.

[jiraffejustin]

Damn, now I have to listen to Feist or Joanna Newsom or something. Thanks a lot bitchass!

No seriously, thanks.

Oh man, that reminds me, I think the theater here in town is showing Inherent Vice. I might try to see that tomorrow night.

[Swan]

I still can't believe she's in it.

[jiraffejustin]

Is she planning on dropping any music this year? Or nah?

[Swan]

Not that I know of. She should. She seemed to get weirder with each album, I'd love for her to keep going with that.

[Mr Minio]

I could make a similar thread, or make a list on RYM, but chances I'll keep up with everything and last longer than even jiraffe are pretty low (we have some problems with lasting, man).

I hope for a Throat Singing album this year.

[jiraffejustin]

Watching my brother play a video game and listening to Death Grips' surprise instrumental album Fashion Week. Death Grips are supposedly broken up, but honestly, it wouldn't surprise me if this is another of their (anti-)publicity stunts. The second of part of what is supposed to be their final album is to be titled Jenny Death, originally it was slated to release near the end of 2014, but December came and went without Jenny Death. This lead to impatient internet Death Grips fans CAPSLOCKING "JENNY DEATH WHEN" all over the internet. (and by all over the internet, I just mean in select places on the internet.) The meme is mildly amusing, but Death Grips trolling is even better. The title of this instrumental album could be a hint at when to expect Jenny Death. Maybe during the upcoming New York fashion week? The track list for this album:

01. Runway J
02. Runway E
03. Runway N
04. Runway N
05. Runway Y
06. Runway D
07. Runway E
08. Runway A
09. Runway T
10. Runway H
11. Runway W
12. Runway H
13. Runway E
14. Runway N

As you can see, it spells out "JENNY DEATH WHEN."

I have to admit that I love Death Grips more than I love Death Grips' music. That's not meant to disrespect the music they have given us, but their antics are is the main draw in my opinion.

With it being the first album I've heard from 2015, it's my de facto numero uno, dunno if it lasts very long at that spot, but if the list was only for trolliest or interesting it would have a better shot.

Still tho. This is the probably the catchiest and most upbeat stuff I've ever heard from these guys. It almost sounds like they might not have done it (which also wouldn't surprise me, at this point, nothing would surprise me with these dudes.) However, it does still include their trademark aggressiveness, even if it's presented in a bit of a different way. I don't know what to expect from these guys, and that's why I love them. It's not a perfect album, it's not a great album, but it's out of nowhere and enjoyable enough. I can't wait to see what these guys do next, maybe they will use Bjork as an instrument again.

LISTEN TO FASHION WEEK, SWAN, LISTEN TO FASHION WEEK OR AT LEAST TRACK 4 (https://soundcloud.com/deathgrips/sets/death-grips-fashion-week)

Album art:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B6kl8CyCYAAAUsB.jpg

[Mr Minio]

I like the cover.

By the way, a question: Is sampling in rap music legal? I mean, I know that a lot of underground artists sample these tracks without any rights, but do you actually need to request every artist and/or his music company to sample their track? Some albums sample dozens of them, so it would be weird seeing the musicians calling all music companies around asking for permition.

[jiraffejustin]

Most of the time permission is asked for and often times the original artist is compensated. I think there are a lot of factors that go into it when it comes to the legality of it when either permission is not asked for or granted, such as how much is sampled and if you are selling the music or releasing it for free on the internet.

[Swan]

Godd*mn this sh*t is amazing, son.

[jiraffejustin]

Godd*mn this sh*t is amazing, son.

I thought you would like it more than I did, sounds like I was right.

[jiraffejustin]

Listening to this right now:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ez0daDsx_I

Digging it.

[jiraffejustin]

Definitely going to listen to the Viet Cong album, sooner rather than later. "Silhouettes" will have to hold me over until then though. The guitar riffs remind me of something from Joy Division, which is never a bad thing unless it involves epilepsy or suicide. And apparently, I didn't fact check this, Matt Flagel wrote this song right after a show in which he was electrocuted to the point of his ears bleeding.

[jiraffejustin]

Action Bronson dropped a single a week ago and nobody told me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpZE3bBflpc

While it's not his best work, lyrically or in beat selection, just about any time Bronson decides to spit it's worth listening to. And even though he doesn't hit the same high spots as his stuff in Blue Chips 2, he does still have some clever braggadocio and a couple chuckle-worthy lines. "Uh, I feel so alive I think sh*t myself / I should kiss myself" and later on "I'll turn your chest plate to lunch meat / I'm in the Humvee, looking like a young me / Now these motherf*ckers all wanna be chubby."

Nothing game changing, but you get what you ask for when you ask for Action Bronson.

[Swan]

When are you going to review Justin Bieber?

[jiraffejustin]

When are you going to review Justin Bieber?

has he released anything this year?

[Swan]

I thought he regurgitated the same song every week and released it as a new hit? No?

[jiraffejustin]

I thought he regurgitated the same song every week and released it as a new hit? No?

I thought that was The Beatles

BUUUUUUUUUUUUUURRRRRRRRRRRNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN



:D

[Swan]

Have you even heard The White Album, bitchass?

[jiraffejustin]

Have you even heard The White Album, bitchass?

Yeah.

I do like Sgt. Pepper's though.

[jiraffejustin]

http://cdn.pitchfork.com/news/57085/53944b3f.jpg

Finally listened to the eponymous Viet Cong album. The main thing that I've noticed with this album is the range of sounds, it's as if Viet Cong takes the sounds they love and they twist and smush them into something new. And it's all over the place, in a good way. From the Joy Divisioning going on in "Continental Shelf" and "Silhouettes" to the urgent 11 minute finale, aptly titled "Death," all the way back to the apprehensive kickstarter of a track "Newspaper Spoons," we get a big sampler tray that, despite the album being the size equivalent of finger foods, fills us up without letting us down. All the while vocalist Matt Flegel shows off impressive chops with impressive emoting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-c3tLUmljG4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUHCyhE-s9M

[Iroquois]

Fashion Week gets a 3 from me. I like parts of it, but overall I don't really feel it.

[jiraffejustin]

Fashion Week gets a 3 from me. I like parts of it, but overall I don't really feel it.

I'd probably give it a 3.5 when I'm feeling generous. I don't see myself really listening to it very many times in the future, so I see what you're saying.

[jiraffejustin]

Like most things that I start, this has fallen to the wayside, but sometimes a single will be so good that it brings life back into a dead thread:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AhXSoKa8xw


How about an actually great, honest song about a race relations? Kendrick Lamar opens his eyes to the world and sees a picture that's not pretty. Not just from the inside looking out, but also from the outside looking in.

[Swan]

Yes! Better than "i," which I love!

[jiraffejustin]

"i" and "The Blacker the Berry" are North Pole and South Pole. The positive vibes of the former are nowhere to be seen on the latter.

[Swan]

True, I just feel like "i" is a more laid back from Kendrick, while "Blacker the Berry" is him giving everything he's got. Both are fantastic, though, no doubt.

[jiraffejustin]

Anybody listen to any of the following albums? If so, what did you think of it?

Vulnicura by Bjork
Blackheart by Dawn Richard
On Your Own Love Again by Jessica Pratt
Sauna by Mount Eerie
Future Brown by Future Brown
Sleeping Tapes by Jeff Bridges
Lost Themes by John Carpenter
I Love You, Honeybear by Father John Misty

[Swan]

Whoa, I didn't know Bjork's new album was out! Going to buy ASAP.

[jiraffejustin]

Come back and tell me how it is when you finish it.

[Swan]

Listening now.

[Swan]

This is like, a mix of her best albums. I hear hints of Homogenic, hints of Vespertine, hints of Medulla. In other words, so far so fantastic.

[Swan]

Dammit, I just wrote up a little review for it and then went to post but my f*cking internet connection apparently died while I was typing and so I lost it all!

Anyway, I think it might be her best yet. It's definitely up there. It won't convert anyone who doesn't like Bjork already, as it is by far her strangest album yet, but for fans it's delicious. I give it full marks.

[mark f]

Don't give it full mes.

[Swan]

Huh?

[mark f]

You gave it full marks (mes).

[jiraffejustin]

I give it full marks.

:D

[Slappydavis]

Anybody listen to any of the following albums? If so, what did you think of it?

On a curved scale (2.5 being an average, mediocre album, 3 good, 4 great, 5 mind blowing) the ratings are also based on just a few listens, and will certainly change as the year goes on.

Vulnicura by Bjork 4
Some songs were just a tad too long, others really did well with being lengthy. I like it a lot, I agree with Swan that it feels more like a mix of previous albums than something entirely new, and her best in over a decade for sure.

I think the 2-4 tracks are a tiny bit too vocally similar feeling to me, and she's not using her raspy singing style enough IMO (which I ****ing love, especially in older tracks like Army of Me). GREAT production though, very pristine.

Sauna by Mount Eerie 4
The title track opener is amazing, lovely drone track with a few flourishes and near-whisper vocals. Tiny bit of a rut for me in the middle, but finishes and opens really strong.

Sleeping Tapes by Jeff Bridges 3
Way better than I thought it'd be. Occasionally the narration is annoying in it's care-free and always relaxed message, but actually it doesn't grate on me.

I Love You, Honeybear by Father John Misty 3
Eh. Some good, mostly okay. Not my cup of tea, but I still got a bit out of it.

[Mr Minio]

On Your Own Love Again by Jessica Pratt The best album of 2015 so far and a strong candidate for this year's TOP 5.

Listen to Benjamin Clementine and Carpenter Brut, lads. :P

[jiraffejustin]

Listening to Drake's new tape now. It's definitely an improvement over the uneven Nothing Was the Same.

[jiraffejustin]

Drake's If You're Reading This It's Too Late is the first mixtape I've listened to this year, and it sets a strong precedent for any that follow. Drizzy may have put out his most consistent release, even though it never reaches the highs from of his previous albums. Instantly recognizable is the fantastic production, it's smoky. And maybe for the first time, Drake has almost no corny punchlines. I don't remember anyway. He still does his singing stuff that some of the haters despise, so this isn't going to win him any new fans from those dudes.

My only EP of the year: Aphex Twin's Computer Controlled Acoustic Instruments pt2. Apparently part 1 doesn't exist? Or maybe part 1 is part 2 sped up? I don't know. I don't know much about Aphex Twin yet, but apparently this dude does wacky stuff like this all the time. At some point I'll be going through his discography to experience his apparent genius. What I have experienced is Syro and this excellent EP. I don't how to really discuss electronic music yet, but I can say that this is a beautiful and simplistic, compared to Syro, little release.

[jiraffejustin]

Kanye West - All Day (http://grooveshark.com/#!/s/All+Day+feat+Theophilus+London+Allan+Kingdom+and+Paul+McCartney/7jzh5k?src=5)

featuring Allan Kingdom, Theophilus London, and Paul McCartney of Wings fame.

The performance at the Brit Awards will probably be the more talked about version of the song, and I can't say that I blame anybody for liking that more than the studio version. Kanye spit with some real passion, and the visual of Kanye and a bunch of other dudes decked out in all black with hoodies and a couple of flamethrowers is pretty spectacular. That version wasn't the single though, so the comparisons are pointless for me now. What we get on the single version is a pretty banging beat and some pretty great Kanye flex lyrics. I know a lot of people don't like the braggadocio in rap, but ego has been apart of music since the beginning, bruh. I mean a ton of rock n roll artists would lyrically brag about their sexual prowess, so this is nothing new. Kanye talks about Kanye, and we all know from the memes that Kanye loves Kanye. What better muse than what you love? Kanye loves Kanye, Justin loves Kanye.

and remember, Kanye is still a person. Here's a video of Kanye listening to a song he wrote about his mother with his late mother. The first time I saw this, it brought a tear to my eye. I can't imagine losing someone I love that much, because it hasn't happened to me yet. I think that is my biggest fear.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZlaxHQPu_8

and oh yeah, the ending to "All Day" is pretty odd. The music totally changes, Sir Paul does whistling, T.Lo does some weird stuff, or maybe that is Allan Kingdom. I don't know if I will ever be a fan of that part, but it's short and the rest of the song makes up for it.

[jiraffejustin]

Anybody that knows me knows that To Pimp a Butterfly is my new number one of the year. It's most likely a top five of the decade, and honestly, maybe the best album of this decade. I need to listen to it a few more times, but it's a giant undertaking. Length is something that could turn some people off, eighty-minutes is pretty damn lengthy for an album. That's just part of it though, it feels like an epic film, feels like a huge RPG or something, it's like a 1,000-page novel. It's also the best piece of art related to race relations in the United States maybe ever. It feels like to me that Kendrick does a good job of looking at every side and the allegories of different characters gives the album it's size. Where GKMC was all about Kendrick, in TPaB Kendrick expands everything. And like Kendrick's grandma said "sh*t don't change until you get up and wash yo ass."

I know this isn't much of a review, but I still don't have a full handle on this huge and overwhelming masterpiece of modern art. This goes beyond rap. Hyperbolic or not, I can't shake the thought of this being a moment in musical history. Maybe a revolution? I doubt it, because we don't have enough Kendrick Lamars for that. Something will happen, something has to happen, somebody or somebodies will have to use this album to expand themselves the way Kendrick expanded everything with it.

[Swan]

I agree JJ, I think TPaB will be a staple of rap history, much like The Dark Side of the Moon or Night at the Opera is to classic rock. Kendrick really outdid himself. We have seen sparks of this kind of artistry in rap with acts like Outkast in the past, and obviously with GKMC, but man, this one is really stunning.

Weirdly, my friend said he didn't like it at first (it's growing on him), so I think that's an ode to how unusual and unique it is. I think he was expecting something like GKMC - It's not GKMC, it's its own beast, and I love it for that.

I know it seems we're being hyperbolic, but I stand by what I am saying and I back JJ up completely. Hopefully TPaB will lead to more respect for rap, an artform that can be truly wonderful.

[Swan]

That reminds me, I believe you mentioned you wanted to discuss the different versions of "i".

Here's my take. I think the album version works better for the album, and I wouldn't change it. I like the single version a bit better for one reason though. I think "the world is a ghetto with big guns and picket signs, but it can do what it want whenever it want I don't mind" is one of the best lines Kendrick ever came up with, and it's lacking in the album version.

That said, I love the album version. Wonderfully raw.

[jiraffejustin]

Raw is right. "i" won a grammy, but how would the same people react to the version on the album? And while we lose that pretty great quote, we get Kendrick interrupting a fight to really lay some truth down and silencing a restless crowd. Which to me, was really powerful.

[Swan]

Yeah, they both have things to love about them that the other doesn't have. I think the album version will probably grow on me to where I love it more than the single version - it is the one thing about the album that did surprise me because I was expecting the single version. The more I listen to the album version, however, the more I love it.

They are both equally great, it's really a matter of preference is all, in my opinion.

[Swan]

Favorite track?

For me, it's kind of early I know, but I really love "Institutionalized". I feel like it's the "The Art of Peer Pressure" of TPaB.

[jiraffejustin]

Favorite track?

Tough one, but I keep going back to "u". The transition from the first verse to the second where Kendrick is now sobbing gives me goosebumps.

[Swan]

Great one. :up:

[Swan]

I think "Alright" is one of the best tracks, too. I get goosebumps in the beginning of that, when it kicks off.

[jiraffejustin]

There's no wrong answer.

Another beautiful thing about the album is that each song is diverse in itself which goes hand in hand with the overall complexity and diversity in the album as a whole.

[Slappydavis]

I listened to it over and over when I had free time at work, and wrote out my feelings about each track:

Warning; wall of text.

Wesley’s Theory: I really like the transition from the opening sample into the swerving, funky beat. I love the shimmering little synths that populate the background. I hate the Dre spot, both in tone and execution is just sounds out of place. Overall I liked the track, but it doesn’t top GKMC’s opener (Sherane) which might be the best concept-album intro-track I’ve ever heard (such a perfect tone setter).
For Free?: Interesting to hear KL push himself to the freestyling poetry, and it’s got an interesting jazzy background, but it doesn’t quite transcend what it was meant to be, an interlude.
King Kunta: Big beat, really strange production again (one of the strong points of the album is that it draws from so many scenes: the west coast instrumental hip-hop scene [Flylo/Thundercat] Parliament-era funk, R&B, the new wave of spacey underground hip hop, more). Liked it, easy to listen to, but the lyrical tone is just good not great.
Institutionalized: Pulls back a bit, and relaxes. Leans a bit too heavily on the appeal of the old-school, crass-wisdom line (**** don’t change til you wash your ass) which is one of those lines that doesn’t really say anything unless you add your spin to it, it’s vaguely inspirational, but doesn’t add up. I like the switchup of the rapping styles within the song.
These Walls: Super smooth, enjoyable, honestly the weakest part of the song is KL’s flow. Which is just a little too laid back on some of the verses, sounding a bit more messy than effortless.
u: Perhaps my favorite track, which isn’t that surprising because it’s so focused on inner conflict (rather than the swagger and total certainty that permeates a few too many of the other tracks). I like the breathlessness of the flow in the first half, it gives it a physicality of conflict. The second-half stands out because of the near-weeping delivery (which actually sounds great, despite the risk). I love it. The first half is the breakdown and swirling of confusion of questioning why it’s so hard. The second half is the horrible feeling of confronting the common denominator of all your problems.
Alright: Honestly, this felt a bit like filler. It’s pleasant, the beats fine, the lyrics are okay. But it consistently failed to grab me.
For Sale?: So the first few times I heard this track, I straight up missed the basic, basic premise. I thought Lucy was just a weird, obsessed fan. But, naturally, it’s the devil, Lucifer [it’s especially weird I just missed this naming convention because I mained Luci in bnet dota]. I think I liked my misinterpretation better, but then there were a lot of parts that didn’t make sense (what’s up with this fan trying to get KL to sign a contract?!) but the artificial sense of importance that KL is trying to give himself is weird to me, considering he has a real importance to a ton of people. He doesn’t need to be the figurative messiah struggling between the forces of good and evil, he’s already a central voice of creating better circumstances for his brethren in the real world, but more on that later. The musicality of the track fits really well with tone though, scattered psychedelia with a light touch of horns.
Momma: Good track, but admittedly a bit by-the-numbers. Musically the only thing that really stands out in particular is the super satisfying metallic percussion hits. The rest is a bit typical of soulful, electronic, hip-hop.
Hood Politics: I actually really like the backing music of the little intro skit (that actually reminds me, I miss the actually funny skits in KL’s home on GKMC) but that only lasts about half a minute. The track is lyrically pretty grounded and nuanced. But it’s a bit long and the “boo-boos” get grating real quick.
How Much A Dollar Cost: I’m conflicted on this track. I love the backing music, it’s simple and anxious. KL’s flow on the track is probably my favorite on the whole album. The lyrics as also strong almost the whole way through, it’s just the very ending that kills it a bit for me. It’s a story of KL being confronted by a beggar asking for a single dollar. KL rationalizes that the beggar will just spend it on vice, and that KL’s selfishness is how he he got as far as he did. But KL also recognizes that he still feels torn, and feels resentment towards the beggar for confronting him. He keeps rebuking the bum (even though KL could have left). I love the track up through here, it gets at a very common feeling where people have to put up a separate guard when confronted by dire poverty. You know that you won’t be able to fix the problems of all the poverty around you by giving away money, so you rationalize that you might as well give none. But this is usually just a selfish way to silence the conflict and debate within yourself. There is no good answer, it’s an actual dilemma. And the track reflects this problem, and sees the inner-struggle between ideals and actions. It also captures a slice of another idea, that people find being approached by beggars not to be unpleasant just because they find the beggar annoying, but because it can be a moral confrontation. People don’t like being reminded of bad things they might have some slight moral responsibility to help with. I love thinking about this kind of stuff and I know it still can bring me down. All of these concepts are fascinating, and I think it flows into the song perfectly. The problem is when the beggar turns out to be god, and the dollar “cost” KL a spot in heaven. This turn is absolutely pointless and infuriating. Why would it matter? What does it even mean that the beggar is god? It’s a cheap grab at viability for the moral of the story, and it ruins the dilemma, which should be the point. Would KL have been right if the beggar hadn’t been a physical representation of god? Is that truly the nature of the problem? This is my biggest problem with the album, when it trades away real world applicability for power-trips. I still love the track, but I’ll always roll my eyes a bit at the ending.
Complexion: Smooth song, I like it. Sounds like old KL. The reverb on the clap feels good on the track. The cut from the layered vocals to KL’s verses feels perfect, and has a bit of revelation in it. The feature that comes in halfway through is hit and miss.
Blacker The Berry: Fierce and immediate. Everything about this track is on point honestly. I even like the ragga hook, when I usually don’t like the style. The lyrics hinge on a turn at the end of the song, where KL finds hypocrisy in his reactions to violence against his people.
You Ain’t Gotta Lie: Relaxed call back to 90’s west coast (both in tune and lyrics). It’s pleasant but honesty functions as a palette cleanser between Blacker The Berry and i.
i: I didn’t care for the single version of this track at all, but the album version actually won me over. The first time I heard it I actually thought it was just the context of the album that changed everything about the song, but actually I listened to the single version and it’s radically different. I greatly prefer this version, and still don’t care that much for the single version. The biggest difference aside from the switch up in rapping styles is that the track breaks down about halfway through, as he confronts the crowd. I actually like the concept of how the track is different more than the track itself. “i” was already one of the biggest singles of last year, he didn’t need to put that version on the album. It’s very self aware, which is not how I felt about the single version. I’m glad that KL made the decision to change this up, the single version wouldn’t have flowed well as the penultimate track.
Mortal Man: There’s two main sections of this track, the song and the “interview”. The song is a good wrap-up but doesn’t match the emotional impact of GKMC’s ending. I’m not crazy about the hook, but the verses are solid. After the track, we hear the full poem. And honestly, I wish it stopped exactly the moment that the poem ends. Instead, he stages an interview with Tupac (via recordings). Criticizing the gimmick is one thing, but it’s clunky. I didn’t realize it was a taping the first time, and it didn’t work quite right, I kept thinking that he didn’t really answer KL’s questions, and I wondered why. Now I know it’s a tape, and now I wonder why KL wanted to ask a question to a tape that wouldn’t be directly answered. The content of what KL says, and what Tupac says is interesting, but there’s a lack of interaction of ideas (which makes sense, considering it’s 20 or so years apart). I do also like the poem at the end, and despite the interaction feeling so messy, KL asking “Pac? Pac?” has a bit of impact.

Overall: It’s ambitious and it has a strong POV, and that’s always a good thing. There’s a mix of sounds and there’s a lot of care to the details. There’s a handful of weaker tracks, there’s nothing that quite matches the climax of Sing About Me/Dying of Thirst from GKMC, the narrative of the album slips away from KL when it gets a little distant from the here and now (e.g. too many direct discussions with the devil, god, dead idols, etc.). I love the growing poem that bookends the tracks (as far as storytelling gimmicks, it works way better than I would have imagined). The poem grounds the tracks in an overall perspective, it sets tone for the next track, and I love the idea it presents (that the album is an But if there’s going to be months of discussion around something, it might as well be something this layered and interesting. There’s a lot to it, I’m very curious how my relationship to the album will change over time.

4.5 Great album, I like GKMC just a tiny bit more, but I don't think I'd prefer another GKMC to this.

[jiraffejustin]

Your rating and your comments don't really seem to add up. I was expecting something in the 3s, I guess you are just tough on 4.5 albums. :p

[Slappydavis]

Your rating and your comments don't really seem to add up. I was expecting something in the 3s, I guess you are just tough on 4.5 albums. :p

I can see why that would seem weird. It's mostly that for an album that's gonna get this much love, I don't need to talk as much about what was great but I'll have to defend what I found merely "good". The other thing is that some of the messiness gives the album character. But there is nothing bad anywhere on the album. Nothing mediocre even.

[mark f]

You guys have probably already seen this, and I didn't know where to put it, but...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98lOJGTe1M0

[Mr Minio]

I haven't seen it! I've only seen a picture of Teletubbies in black'n'white that probably comes from this. Not as scary as I thought it would be.