Album a Day

Listening to a new album everyday and then posting a review

[albumadayallyear]

Lifestyles of the Laptop Cafe - The Other People Place

☆/☆☆☆☆☆

January 6, 2022

I literally do not have the words to describe this album. All I have is a single question and that question is “what the actual flying fuck is this album?” Every song sounded like a weirdo porny song you would find in any average adult film and I was so scared someone would walk in on me listening to this and think I was watching something dirty. There’s barely any lyrics and all it is, is electronica music with repeated phrases over it. I cannot think of anything else to say. Please for your sanity and time, don’t listen to this. I do not know how it got an 8.8 on Pitchfork. 

[albumadayallyear]

Aquemini - OutKast

January 5, 2020 

☆☆☆☆☆/☆☆☆☆☆

4.75 stars 

"Yᴏᴜ ᴍɪɢʜᴛ ᴄᴀʟʟ ᴜs ᴄᴏᴜɴᴛʀʏ, ʙᴜᴛ ᴡᴇ'ʀᴇ ᴏɴʟʏ sᴏᴜᴛʜᴇʀɴ."

For today, I wanted to take a break from music I would usually seek out and try something new. I’m not a big fan of rap music like Drake or Kanye or Eminem and I’m especially not a fan of their little fanboys and so I, ignorantly, didn’t give rap music in general a try. This is a gross injustice and I realize now I need to be brought to court, because “Aquemini” was a masterpiece start to finish. 

The album starts with a smooth instrumental in the form of “Hold On, Be Strong.” As far as instrumentals go, I really liked the smoothness of the beat. Then, their first song with words is “Return of the ‘G.’” This song serves as the groundwork for the rest of the album. This song tells the listener that they are not what they appear to be in the public and dismantles stereotypes in a rather clever and wordy way. I really admire both Andre’s and Big Boi’s way of fitting so many words and phrases into small two bar phrases. They’re geniuses. 

My favorite song on the album is their “Rosa Parks.” The track details Andre and Big Boi’s mission of dismantling stereotypes of southern rap music and focusing toward their musical revolution. They’re calling on the audience to follow this revolution as they followed Rosa Parks during the Montgomery Bus Boycotts. The hook is really catchy and the production is also great. There’s a break in the middle of the song where old-school blue grass is incorporated with the more modern beat and I love that. In a song where they rap about joining them with modernizing southern rap music, they modernize another form of southern music. 

“Skew It On The Bar-B” carries the note over from “Rosa Parks.” This song calls on people again to join their southern-infusion rap and features Raekwon, member of the famous East-Coast rap group, Wu-Tang Clan. The production on this track sounds darker sonically and more New York. You can definitely hear the East-Coast influences. 

“Aquemini” details Andre and Big Boi’s friendship more in depth and how despite everything good coming to an end, they’re going to keep working together until it isn’t possible for them to do so anymore. Andre also takes this time to detail the black experience while growing up in East Point, Georgia (a suburb of Atlanta). I liked the person touch Andre added to the track. 

“Synthesizer” also has great production on it. Speaking about the effects of modern technology on people and relationships, the song features a machine-like beeping the background and the verses are crowded. While Big Boi or Andre raps, George Clinton sings around their words- adding onto this idea of the turn of the century technology adding too much noise and making actual conversations “synthetic,” since they cannot take their minds off of their tech. 

The only song I really didn’t like was “mamacita.” The hook was downright annoying and I wasn’t a huge fan of the production. 

I think “Y’all Scared” needs a bit more credit. Coming from Texas and Georgia,  I really hate the stereotypes of an uneducated, hillbilly South. I think it’s classist and moving to Iowa from Texas, I was remember I had to lose my Texas drawl because I wasn’t taken seriously. It seems OutKast feels the same. They tell people that the Deep South isn’t to be underestimated and they’ve shown time and time again they should be taken seriously, this track being another example of their musical prowess. 

I thought it was interesting how “Nathaniel,” that’s about a friend in prison, came before the song “Liberation.” The latter song details Andre’s desire to artistically express himself without worrying about the opinions of others and features Cee-Lo’s rich, soulful vocals to create a well-rounded track. 

“Chonkyfire” is another personal favorite of mine. I love the guitar riffs mixed with the electronica sound in the back. I love the ending, “The South got somethin’ to say, That’s all I got to say.” 

[albumadayallyear]

XX - The XX

January 4th, 2022

☆☆☆/☆☆☆☆☆

3.75 stars 

I’m tired so I don’t think I’m going to give a track by track breakdown. I might comeback later and try it. This album opened with a strong “Intro” and stellar bass lines that’s carried throughout the majority of the album. Seriously, whoever the bass player is needs his ass ate because that shit is so good. I like the beginning songs, but the album starts drag around the Side B mark. I felt like every song was about the same subject and nothing new was ever added to the subject. It was like reading a Shakespeare novel in original Shakespearean English and then switching over to the No Fear Shakespeare and then switching over to the Spark Notes. Sure, each of them pretty much says the same thing, but it’s all said differently- just like the songs on this album. The album did have a really nice, funky feel to it and the beats were really cool. I read that they were influenced by modern R&B and you can certainly hear it. I don’t listen to a lot of R&B, but from my understanding, Arctic Monkey’s AM shares a lot of influences with XX and I can certainly hear it- so that’s what I gauged the sound of the album off of. I think I’ll stick with AM but throw in XX’s “VCR” and “Islands” when I get bored of listening to “Arabella” for the 10088676th time in a row. 

[albumadayallyear]

Siamese Dream- Smashing Pumpkins

TW: Talks of childhood abuse, suicide 

☆☆☆/☆☆☆☆☆

January 3, 2022

This album started off on a really strong note. “Cherub Rock,” “Quiet,” and “Today” were all really great. It wasn’t until the song “Hummer” that I started to see cracks in the album. “Cherub Rock” details the lead’s trouble with the emerging alt-rock scene in the 90′s and the guitar work was fucking awesome. I love this garage-band rock that’s made up of sounds from low-end guitars like Fender Strats, that makes this feel like this kind of music is accessible. The guitar-work, however, is not easily done by just any beginner. All of the layering and work put into each line of guitar is superb. The work in “Geek U.S.A.” left me speechless. 

“Today” is a song I thought was funny in a morbid way. It’s laced with famous 90′s grunge and sarcasm- two of my favorite things. Written as a suicidal anthem, Corgan sings over and over, “today is the greatest/Day I’ve ever known.” This could be because he’s finally going to do it and take the jump or this is an ironic dig at his suicidal ideation. Thankfully, Corgan didn’t go through with it- so I’m assuming it’s a dig. 

The song “Hummer” was sort’ve a bummer. See what I did there? The instrumentals, of course, were still great. I just didn’t care for the lyricism and though the whole Hummer lyric section got old really fast. 

I love “Disarm-” a hopefully ballad about Corgan’s childhood abuse. Rather than lashing out in violence like his father once did to him, he chooses to be optimistic with orchestral swells and dreamy vocals. 

Just when the guitars start getting too much, “Silverfuck” is thrown out into the world. Still keeping the great guitar work, there’s a cool drum riff thrown in behind Corgan’s breathy vocals. The verses in this song are very dynamic. The first one starting off soft and then practically yelling to be heard over the drums and messy guitar in the second. I thought the juxtaposition from this track to “Sweet Sweet” was interesting. For lack of a better word, the latter track sounds awfully “sweet” compared to the former. 

My favorites of this album would be “Mayonaise” and “Luna.” I love the breathy vocals and raw emotions displayed. 

Overall, I think the instrumentals in this album were great- I’m just more of a fan of great lyrics, rather than guitar-work. I love when music relies more on lyrics than sound, but that is a personal preference. 

[albumadayallyear]

Little Oblivions- Julien Baker

☆☆☆☆☆ / ☆☆☆☆☆

January 2nd, 2022

“𝕋𝕙𝕖𝕣𝕖 𝕚𝕤 𝕟𝕠 𝕘𝕝𝕠𝕣𝕪 𝕚𝕟 𝕝𝕠𝕧𝕖, 𝕠𝕟𝕝𝕪 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕘𝕠𝕣𝕖 𝕠𝕗 𝕠𝕦𝕣 𝕙𝕖𝕒𝕣𝕥𝕤”

TW: Talk of Suicide, addiction

I’m a very avid fan of Phoebe Bridgers. Who isn’t? I mean, “Motion Sickness” is absolutely sick and the lyricism in great. Through Phoebe, I found Boygenius, an absolute powerhouse of a supergroup comprised of Phoebe Bridgers, Lucy Dacus, and Julien Baker. I went straight from Phoebe’s discography to Lucy’s and for some reason, I put off listening to Julien’s. I’m not sure why I did this, because I realize now I was definitely missing out.

Julien’s lyricism is absolutely fucking insane. All of the Biblical imagery and just the regular imagery is enough to send any of my former English teachers into a coma. This album was pure perfection and my Cancer moon had me crying throughout the entirety of the album. Every track is just gorgeous.

The first track, “Hardline” details Baker’s trouble with addiction and relapsing. Deciding that the relapse is inevitable, Baker realizes this and rather than fighting it decides to start “asking for forgiveness in advance/For all the future things I’ll destroy/That way I can ruin everything/When I do, you don’t get to act surprised.” This line absolutely hit me hard. Also the line about splitting the difference between medicine and poison. Baker realizes this addiction is poison and is affecting her personal relationships, but she needs the numbness that comes with the drug.

The second track, “Heatwave” is a total bop and carries the same strong imagery that’s implemented throughout all of the tracks. Her detailing the “gruesome beauty” she sees in every face. Growing up as a conservative Christian, Baker recognizes the Godliness in everyone’s face but realizes that underneath all of it, humans are ugly. This concept of ugliness and sin comes up a lot. I love the bit about wrapping Orion’s belt around her neck and kicking the chair out from under her. This is such a creative way of talking about suicide.

I loved “Faith Healer” and the equating of heroin as this sort’ve magical cure or “snake oil,” tying it back to “Hardline.” This album feels like a book, each song building off of the other like chapters and adding onto the plot. The line about the smoke alarm going off, but nobody coming to put out the fire (i.e. her) was devastating.

I loved “Relative Fiction” just for the line about if Baker didn’t have a mean bone in her body, she would still find a way to hurt those she loves, so her pretending to be this good person is a moot point in the long run because she still manages to damage those she cares for. I can’t explain this song nearly as well as she can, so here’s this:

A personal favorite of mine is “Bloodshot” because it details two broken people that are so lonely, they’re willing to overlook all of their flaws and romanticize them in order to fill whatever role they need. I really related to this song.

“Song in E” I think takes my personal cake. I was hardcore sobbing when it came on. This idea that it’s easier for the people you love to just shun you and hurt you because it’s easier to see them angry than disappointed. It makes you feel like a shitty person when you hurt them and then you get second chance after second chance and then when you cry in front of them it feels manipulative.

Overall- this album was great and I think it might be my favorite album from the Boygenius members (I can’t decide if I like it more or the same as Punisher, but I definitely related to this album more).

Thank you!!!

[albumadayallyear]

If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power - Halsey

January 1, 2022

☆☆ ☆ ☆ / ☆☆☆☆☆

3.75 stars

This was the first album I listened to this year. My friend, Bailey, had been begging me to give Halsey a try and I decided to take her up on that. Knowing I was a fan of Nine Inch Nails, she highly recommended Halsey’s “If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power” (Trent Reznor, member of Nine Inch Nails, teamed up with Halsey to form an unlikely duo). I did a little research before jumping headfirst into the album, as I knew it was a concept album and wanted to make sure I grasped the general gist of the story. From my understanding, this album details Halsey’s trouble with pregnancies and their joy and fear that accompanies the double lines. I love their description of trying to balance this idea of becoming the Mother Mary but by doing so, stifles their previous identity of Madonna, the Whore. Struggling with choosing, Halsey chooses to do the unexpected. Like Troy in High School Musical, having to choose between basketball and music for EVERY single movie, Halsey chooses both. She’s able to find a blissful balance between whore and mother and realizes it isn’t her that needs to change- but rather society.

I like the production on the album. It feels unsettling, but not so much so that I want to turn it off or sound too jarring. The eeriness adds on to this fear Halsey has whilst pregnant. Will their past misdeeds catch up to her? Will she self-destruct and take those she loves along with her?

The soft song, “Darling,” definitely stands out to me. I’m a slut for fingerpicked guitar and emotions. Going along with the sweet, lullaby that is “Darling” another stand out for me is “Ya’aburnee,” which translates (to my understanding) to “you bury me.” Halsey laments that she loves her future child and their partner so much that they cannot stand the thought of existing without them- to the extent that she has to die before they do. It’s a sweet, sorta morbid sentiment that I think most people can relate to.

I love the production on “Whispers.” I love the soft little whispers Halsey lets out and the desperation they feel trying to fill this endless void. Worrying that she cannot be a good parent because of their recklessness and and hyper-sexuality and need to be loved.

Overall, I really enjoyed this album and it’s honestly a no-skip album. I haven’t seen the film that goes along with it- but I imagine my friend will make me watch it with her when we go back to college after break.

Thank you!