The Album Review Club - Christmas Break Until 8th January

[Coatigan]

The voice does deliver the lyrics but I tend to separate the two. As long as the singer has an average voice, it's good enough for me.

Whereas I generally want the voice to be anything But average.

 

[FogBlueInSanFran]

This is pretty simple — I care more about instrumentation than vocals and lyrics.

A great singer accompanied by an indifferent set of sounds is a turn-off.

Does that clear things up?

 

[BimboBob]

It's a record that flatters to deceive.

''Mysterons' is a smooth starter, followed up by 'Sour Times', the only song I remember listening to before. Two songs in and I'm sort of liking it. 'Strangers' continues the slightly upbeat but smooth theme. It's not bad but I'm getting serious deja vu. Every song so far seems to have the same qualities. I felt like my life was on a loop.

'It Could Be Sweet' is just as mellow but different. More voice. Less mucking about with samples and weird musical inserts. It's very lounge music. Very smooth. But a bit dull. Am I missing the weird infills?
The rest of the album, 'It's a Fire' excluded, feels and sounds very samey. Nothing really happens apart from the by now annoying weird samples/ infills. I suppose that's their thing, it was ok for a bit but it's beginning to grind.

There are some elements that I like, her voice has some lovely unusual qualities when she strays away from the odd Kate Bush and Bjork impersonations. It works best on 'It's a Fire'. Fragile. But very easy on the ear.

For all of it's lovely production values and the occasional song that really suits her voice I put down my headphones feeling a little disconnected from the whole album. Nothing really happens and there's a lot of annoying things musically.

It's very "dinner party" music. Background. Where it doesn't matter what goes on as no one is really paying attention. Think Sade with added bits. As such it was never going to score highly as this sort of music doesn't really resonate with me.

Pity, as the review was one of my favourites.

4/10

 

[Mancitydoogle]

DUMMY



I’ve heard of Portishead but don’t remember hearing any of their songs.As it’s not a genre I like plus female vocalists are not my thing with a few exceptions, I was going into this with a somewhat negative attitude.First listen definitely not for me, second listen it’s not that bad there’s a few a songs that piqued my interest.Third listen , I can see why people rate this album in its genre its actually rather good.

Very melancholic which I like, and atmospheric almost like soundtracks to noir movies.I could’ve done without the snap, crackle and pop on a few tracks, but nevertheless an enjoyable listen.Mrs D tells me she had this album back in the day but prefers Massive Attack who I’m more familiar with.

Fortunately I’ve not done much driving this week as this is definitely not driving music but good to have on in the background whilst working.

Good pick 3Spires and great write up.

6.5/10

 

[threespires]

It's a record that flatters to deceive.

''Mysterons' is a smooth starter, followed up by 'Sour Times', the only song I remember listening to before. Two songs in and I'm sort of liking it. 'Strangers' continues the slightly upbeat but smooth theme. It's not bad but I'm getting serious deja vu. Every song so far seems to have the same qualities. I felt like my life was on a loop.

'It Could Be Sweet' is just as mellow but different. More voice. Less mucking about with samples and weird musical inserts. It's very lounge music. Very smooth. But a bit dull. Am I missing the weird infills?
The rest of the album, 'It's a Fire' excluded, feels and sounds very samey. Nothing really happens apart from the by now annoying weird samples/ infills. I suppose that's their thing, it was ok for a bit but it's beginning to grind.

There are some elements that I like, her voice has some lovely unusual qualities when she strays away from the odd Kate Bush and Bjork impersonations. It works best on 'It's a Fire'. Fragile. But very easy on the ear.

For all of it's lovely production values and the occasional song that really suits her voice I put down my headphones feeling a little disconnected from the whole album. Nothing really happens and there's a lot of annoying things musically.

It's very "dinner party" music. Background. Where it doesn't matter what goes on as no one is really paying attention. Think Sade with added bits. As such it was never going to score highly as this sort of music doesn't really resonate with me.

Pity, as the review was one of my favourites.

4/10

You were getting a like until the 'dinner party' bit, but now you can do one! You're not the first person to mention Sade and I have to be honest and say I find the comparison absolutely baffling.

More seriously, it's interesting to hear how many people have found it a bit samey. I think I can understand that, despite not feeling it myself. I do think it's one of those albums you have to be in the mood for and be prepared to 'settle into' it. In that sense it's not a particularly universal pick I guess. But then I quite like minimalist music too, which is far from everyone's cup of tea. At one point I was actually toying with Max Richter's Recomposed Vivaldi for this rounds pick but decided against it as I thought it might do a few people's heads in.

 

[threespires]

Now it’s been mentioned I get the Bjork analogy. On more than one occasion I also got some Skin (Skunk Anansie) vibes. As mentioned above the voice is indeed an amazing multi faceted instrument

This is the most interesting comparison so far, it's not a connection I've ever made, I might listen to the two back to back later.

 

[Saddleworth2]

This is pretty simple — I care more about instrumentation than vocals and lyrics.

A great singer accompanied by an indifferent set of sounds is a turn-off.

Does that clear things up?

Not really. Why decompose music in that way? It’s meant to be enjoyed as a whole.

 

[Coatigan]

Not really. Why decompose music in that way? It’s meant to be enjoyed as a whole.

What fog and rob are telling us, is that they love indie as a genre.

 

[Saddleworth2]

You were getting a like until the 'dinner party' bit, but now you can do one! You're not the first person to mention Sade and I have to be honest and say I find the comparison absolutely baffling.

More seriously, it's interesting to hear how many people have found it a bit samey. I think I can understand that, despite not feeling it myself. I do think it's one of those albums you have to be in the mood for and be prepared to 'settle into' it. In that sense it's not a particularly universal pick I guess. But then I quite like minimalist music too, which is far from everyone's cup of tea. At one point I was actually toying with Max Richter's Recomposed Vivaldi for this rounds pick but decided against it as I thought it might do a few people's heads in.

Listen to track 2 and paste Guy Garvies voice over it. Track 4 ‘it could be sweet’ is very Sade despite the minor chords.

 

[Saddleworth2]

What fog and rob are telling us, is that they love indie as a genre.

Thanks for the translation.
Looking forward to their review of the Beach Boys.