I've now seen the last few films that I thought had a good chance of making this list (e.g. Parasite), so here it is! Of course it's difficult to assess the importance of this decade in film since it only ended four months ago, but it feels like it was a decade in transition. Most of my favourite films of the decade came out during it's second half, with 2019 being an espcially great year, so hopefully the 2020s will be even better, with more room for odder films finding distriution - hopefully the early 2020 success of 'The Lighthouse' and 'Parasite' should help this.
The ranking here is fairly accurate to my own opinion, (as of the date of publishing) other than that it should be said that I think all of these films are great.
50. First Reformed (2017) - Directed by Paul Schrader
49. Marriage Story (2019) - Directed by Noah Bumbach
48. Before Midnight (2013) - Directed by Richard Linklater
47. Holiday (2018) - Directed by Isabella Eklof
46. Midsommar (2019) - Directed by Ari Aster
45. Once Upon A Time in Hollywood (2019) - Directed by Quentin Tarintino
44. Happy End (2017) - Directed by Mchael Haneke
43. The Irishman (2019) - Directed by Martin Scorcese
42. Paterson (2016) - Directed by Jim Jarmusch
41. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018) - Directed by Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey and Rodney Rothman
40. La La Land (2017) - Directed by Damien Chazelle
39. Force Majeure (2014) - Directed by Ruben Ostlund
38. Certified Copy (2011) - Directed by Abbas Kiarostami
37. Toni Erdmann (2016) - Directed by Maren Ade
36. Amour (2012) - Directed by Michael Haneke
35. Berberian Sound Studio (2012) - Directed by Peter Strickland
34. Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) - Directed by George Miller
33. Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017) - Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos
32. Blade Runner 2049 (2017) - Directed by Denis Villeneuve
31. 12 Years a Slave (2013) - Directed by Steve McQueen
30. The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) - Directed by Wes Anderson
Wes Anderson's films are perhaps the definition of style over substance, but when a film is as funny, visually incredible and detailed as this it's difficult to find too much issue with it. This feels like the absolute pinnacle of everything Wes Anderson has been building up to, and although I suspect Rushmore might actually be his best film, this is surely the most 'Wes Anderson' film that will ever exist. The cast is clearly having an absolute ball, which gives the film an infectious joy - if I was more prone to waching films for a good time this could maybe be among my top few favourite films. As it is, I prefer films that punch me in the gut or profoundly affect me, as is visible in a lot of the rest of the list, but when it comes to fun this is a masterpiece.
29. Madeline's Madeline (2018) - Directed by Josephine Decker
Perhaps the worst development in film in this decade was that the overwhelming quantity of films and especially television shows has led to most audiences expecting a baseline level of production value to differentiate 'real film' from YouTube fare, leaving a lot of experimental film with amazing ideas but lower production values being lost in the suffocating sludge of sheer content. I bring this up because watching Madeline's Madeline suddenly broke the mold of film in the 2010s that was beginning to depress me. It has so many ideas, and is presented in such an interesting way that it gives me hope for the future of film. Looking at power dynamics between teacher and student has been done hundreds of times before, but bringing the mother into the mix in a more prominent role really explodes the film into a frenzy of paranoia, discomfort and odd nauseusness. Few other films did so much with so little in the decade.
28. Parasite (2019) - Directed by Bong Joon-Ho
Perhaps the most unanimously praised South-Korean film of the decade, it seems like even the harshest critics of Parasite still enjoyed it. For me it's the closest thing I've seen to classic Shadow of a Doubt, Rear Window Hitchcock - that is to say a darkly comic thriller that gets incredibly ludicrous but is clearly having so much fun, with such technical mastery that it's impossible not to be swept away in the conspiracy of it all. So many genius set-pieces immediately come to mind - Hell, the whole film is made up almost exlusively of genius set-pieces. I'm a little skeptical of how nuanced the social commentary is, and I enjoy Memories of Murder slightly more, but this is an obvious landmark film.
27. The Master (2012) - Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson
When the last film you've made is one of the most revered epics of the 21st century, it's difficult to know where to go, but while Paul Thomas Anderson previously paired a larger film with a smaller film with 'Punch-drunk Love' follwing 'Magnolia', he instead chose to go more complex for his follow up to 'There Will be Blood'. As usual with PTA every technical aspect is pretty much perfect, leaving the actual judgement of the film to be based entirely on how much you as a viewer relate to the film. Although I preferred a certain film he made later this decade, this is definitely the headiest film PTA has yet made, tackling ideology - although like a flipped version of 'There Will be Blood', here the theme of ideology is the surface used to smuggle some wonderfully detailed character work into the viewers mind. The perfect send-off role for Philip Seymour-Hoffman, let's pretend the Hunger Games never happened.
26. Like Someone in Love (2012) - Directed by Abbas Kiarostami
This is one of the slower films I've seen this decade, so it had to be masterpiece just to keep me invested. But this man is a genius, so I was in safe hands. By making a film out of the contemplative, more uneventful parts of life Kiarostami manages to make a film that actually captures the feeling of reality, something most popular films make little attempt to do. In his films you anticipate casual conversations that would be filler in the average film - making a film that builds substance the same way most people do in reality, through conversation. While the average film would try and use hyperbolic tragedy to get an emotional response from the viewer, Kiarostami breaks your heart with the small disappointments and misunderstandings of the most average day of his characters lives. This works so well that when events do ramp up at the end it's almost too much to take. Probably the least accesible film on this list to most viewers, but something very special for those that can get into it.
25. Exit Through the Gift Shop (2010) - Directed by Banksy
I'm generally no fan of documentary, and neither I suspect is Banksy. This might be my favourite piece he has yet created - his work is always very on the nose, but here that works brilliantly. A documentary that seems to be fairly unconcerned with the true events, this instead looks at an insane, hilarious con, yet manages to sidestep the con that documentary always ends up as when it has a lack of self-awareness. Few pieces of media have made me laugh as hard as the last act here, with my obsession with bad art and kitsch also playing a part in my adoration.
24. Son of Saul (2014) - Directed by Laszlo Nemes
Nine out of ten times I think a holocaust film is a bad idea. Turning truly horrific true events into fiction is a dangerous practice - for years Schindler's List was my mental reference for the holocaust, which is pretty repulsive when I consider how sanitised that film is. I think Son of Saul recognises this, and chooses to present the holocaust in the most honest way film can allow. The experience is made entirely subjective, meaning that the film never comes off as an omniscient director relaying false events to an audience, but rather an attempt to capture the emotion of being trapped in as close as we may have come to a human-created Hell. The film is an anxiety overload filled with men who know they're dead from the first frame they appear.
23. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017) - Directed by Martin McDonagh
Sometimes I can forgive all the sentimentality in the world if I fall in love with a film, and Three Billboards is the 2010s equivalent of a film like Magnolia. Yes, it has some silly and convoluted moments, but at the end of the day this is a film that argues for empathy, even for the kind of people that traditionally aren't given much of a chance on screen. Giving a racist cop a redemption arc in 2017 was hugely brave considering the context, but it works because it feels real - most people aren't evil, even if they do evil things, just as McDonagh bravely criticises the reductive Hollywood lie of the 'badass female protagnist' in the same way. Nobody is fully right or wrong in McDonagh's films and that's sorely lacking in the bigger blockbusters, which still play on the same good versus evil tropes.
22. Under the Silver Lake (2018) - Directed by David Robert Mitchell
Finally another fun film! Although this film had one of the most botched releases I've yet seen it seems like it's already crawling into cult status. A film dedicated to the very idea of mystery, there is so much happening here and it's all brilliant. Amazing cinematography, set design and music help this stand alongside its obvious influences Vertigo and Mulholland Drive, which are two of my favourite films of all time so perhaps I was going to love this no matter what. It's great to see a film which is so unafraid to descend into surreal oddness, with the songwriter scene in particular being one of my absolute favourite scenes in any film. It did require another viewing to nail down, but it's so easy to watch that it was a joy. A good one to watch with the BOYS.
21. Uncut Gems (2019) - Directed by Benny and Josh Safdie
Adam Sandler finally achieves his full cinematic potential in a film which feels like it could only have been made now. The Safdie Brothers ability to build and release tension is highly refined, and their scumbag characters lead to films which are deeply unpleasant to watch but are impossible to forget. Howard Ratner is by far one of the greatest cinematic creations of the decade, a character who feels completely repulsive and completely real. You don't really root for him as much as you just want one of his gambles to pay off so that things won't get any worse, but of course everything does get worse and worse, and it's all Howard's fault. The score is crazy, the acting is faultless and it damn near gave me a panic attack on my first viewing.
20. Spring Breakers (2012) - Directed by Harmony Korine
Spring break...
Spring break forever...
This film is one of the oddest post-ironic documents concieved of is the 2010s, at once a deconstruction of young adult party-hard comedies and gangster movies and a genuinely distressing, unexpectedly touching look at hedonism and coming-of-age. Taking a cast of A-list ex-Disney channel stars and corrupting them, this is a film which feels both conceptually and physically experimental, and the fact it was seen (and hated) by so many people is marvellous.
19. Call Me By Your Name (2017) - Directed by Luca Guadagnino
Probably the coolest film of the decade, this film oozes class, combining bisexual steaminess with a large helping of Italian history that grounds the film in something much older and more archetypal. This is what puts this film above the average romance film, as it imbues the story with a sense of myth far removed from the kitschy, tacky cliches of most romance films. Timothee Chamalet and Armie Hammer are already iconic as a duo, and like all of the best romance films this is a a lot more likely to make you cry than laugh by the end of it all.
18. OJ: Made in America (2016) - Directed by Ezra Edelman
Arguably a TV documentary series, 'OJ: Made in America' is here because it simply cannot be excluded from any list of great filmmaking of the 2010s. 8 hours in length but completely gripping for the whole runtime, this documentary uses the life of OJ Simpson as a starting point to look at seemingly every aspect of American culture, with a focus on police brutality against black people that meant it hit the zeitgiest in 2016. At its extended runtime it feels like this documentary is still only just about able to fit in all of the most interesting parts of Simpson's life, but no celebrity has had such a startling, nauseating fall from such a huge height. This is like if Dwayne Johnson threw a baby off a building. The architect behind all of this is Ezra Edelman, who manages to assemble seemingly every single living person who ever spoke to OJ for a series of genuinely exciting and enlightening interviews, which do most of the films talking - for a film this close to America's politics Edelman tastefully chooses to let the events and people speak for themselves, leaving this masterpiece as a document to spark debate with it's viewers rather than an ideological mailbomb telling them what to think. And the former is far more powerful, every time.
17. The Lego Movie (2014) - Directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller
This was a hell of a suprise, and immediately cemented my suspicions of Lord and Miller being able to take some of the laziest, most uninteresting film pitches around and turn them into works with real value. Although as a children's film it doesn't go as thematically deep as most of the other pieces here, it has a cutting satirical edge that is pretty on-point and relevant, especially in a film that was probably only commissioned with the intention to sell a product. The animation is also an absolute joy to watch in a world where it seems like most children's films are increasingly looking exactly the same - or in the case of Disney's recent experiments with photo-real CGI, looking like they aren't even animated anymore. Almost every new location entered by the characters of this film is packed with mind-blowing detail, and there is clearly a huge amount of love in every aspect of this film. Not to mention 'Everything is Awesome' has been forcibly inserting itself into my brain since I first watched this.
16. Whiplash (2014) - Directed by Damien Chazelle
There are few original film characters this decade that really stuck around, since most of the blockbusters were based on existing IPs, but perhaps the most iconic was suprisingly a terrifying jazz teacher, in the form of J.K. Simmons' Fletcher. With perhaps the supporting role of the decade, the rest of the film only had to be incidental to still be pretty great, but Damien Chazelle and his team lift the lid on the mousetrap of teacher-student abuse and construct an visceral, stressful film blessed with one of the all-time great third acts. Not to mention this film has finally given a comparison point for any student trying to describe their own psychotic teachers - Ms Blackborow, look at me now.
15. The Tree of Life (2011) - Directed by Terrence Malick
Last year I had one of the singularly boring experiences of my life when I sat down at Leeds International film festival to watch 'A Hidden Life', Malick's three-hour look at an Austrian conscientious objector during World War II (Not a bad film but I was tired and needed the toilet). Immediately I forgave this, because this man made 'The Tree of Life'. This film, already seemingly canonised by critics, is the experience of reminiscing about your childhood, absent-mindedly staring at a cloud while you do it. If that sounds pretentious wait for the sequence where Malick takes you on a trip through the history of the formation of the Earth itself, complete with CGI dinosaurs. Yet for me it's the smaller moments that stick best in my head - a child sneaking into his empty parents room and checking through their drawers, smelling their clothes. It is a genuinely beautiful piece of work, though it is not for the cynically minded.
14. Moonlight (2016) - Directed by Barry Jenkins
It feels strange to put 'Moonlight' on here at all, because it's been about four years since I've seen it and I don't doubt I would love it even more on a rewatch, but as it is every time I think about it I get such an overwhelming feeling of quiet sadness that I usually put something else on. Other films might be more cutting, but few this decade were as tender as this. Post-modern, dream-like and surely one of the greatest achievements in cinematography of recent times, this makes a sorely under-represented story painfully relatable. It runs off pure empathy.
13. It's Such a Beautiful Day (2012) - Directed by Don Herzfeldt
Another film that rides on the very fine line of pretentiousness, 'It's Such a Beautiful Day' is an hour-long stick-figure-animation experience of one man, Bill, completely losing his mind. If it all sounds like a bad student film make no mistake, Herzfeldt imbues this story with more humour, distress and once again, empathy, than any edgy nineteen year old trying to expose the horrors of schizophrenia ever could. The use of aspect ratio - or rather it's complete discarding - makes the film visually unlike anything else, drowning Bill in a black void for so much of the film that the occasional breaks from it are extremely powerful. The film is also incredibly detailed and encourages multiple viewings, something which is easy to do due it's short runtime. Few films made me feel so happy to be alive, while so sad at the same time.
12. Birdman (2014) - Directed by Alejandro G. Inarritu
Films done in one long take are already becoming a gimmick - albeit one that always yields interesting results - but when I saw Birdman I didn't even register that we never cut away from the action. That's because even if there were hundreds of cuts, the core of 'Birdman' is such a brilliant, relevant conciet brought to life so vividly and with such joy that it's impossible not to be captivated. A film about a has-been actor best known for a campy role as a kitsch super-hero starring Michael Keaton is just perfect casting, and almost everyone here delivers career-best performances. Not to mention the soundtrack - paired with 'Whiplash' this was a great year for drum fans in cinema.
11. Shame (2011) - Directed by Steve McQueen
Porn addiction is one of the more unique struggles that has sprung up with the internet, and Steve McQueen's scathing look at lust in a Godless age is about as polished and economic as you can get. This is the kind of filmmaking that impressed so many in the comparable 'Drive' from the same year - fully accomplished. Every shot, every sound, every beat feels exactly accomplished the way it was planned, and Shame works with a lot more substance than Drive (Still love Drive though, it would appear on a longer list). Michael Fassbender's performance here is exceptional, playing a man who seems to have been incredibly succesful in every area except the single one he cares for most. It's a film that stares at what it means to have sex, to be responsible and - thankfully - looks at how someone can start to dig themselves out of those low depths.
10. The Wolf House (2018) - Directed by Cristóbal León, Joaquín Cociña
This is a film i watched on MUBI based off the nightmarish thumbnail image, and something that has not left my brain since. Almost nothing I have seen has left me as awe-inspired as this, the film formed of stop motion sequences where the methods are gloriously transparent. A running technique used throughout the film is the construction and deconstruction of large models made of paper and tape, something which is woven into the fairytale plot later on. Perhaps more of an experimental art film than something with characters and conventional narrative, but one of the most memorable, terrifying and criminally under-seen masterpieces of the decade.
9. The Favourite (2018) - Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos
I saw a lot of lesbian dramas this decade, and a fair few period pieces, but none of them reached the completely unique heights of 'The Favourite'. Yorgos Lanthimos might be my pick for director of the decade, with 'Dogtooth', 'The Lobster' and 'Killing of a Sacred Deer' being some of the strangest films I have ever seen, all contained within the same idiosyncratic universe where the masks we all wear day-to-day are just a little more pronounced. When paired with a cracking script written by Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara, the results are perhaps the best time you can have watching a film about royals - until of course it destroys your heart. Anachronistic as hell, but in all the right ways, this is the future of filmmaking - where all genres swirl into each other, where fish-eyed go-pro lenses are used alongside glowing, candle-lit 35mm, and it all works simply because its all so brilliant.
8. The Hunt (2012) - Directed by Thomas Vinterberg
Paedophillia is one of the few topics that feels just as contriversial to create art about now as it was a hundred years ago, and The Hunt is a nuanced and terrifying look at how even the seemingly most civilised societies react with blind anger at the merest accusation of such crimes. Mads Mikkleson is finally given a role other than evil European bad guy and is completely sympathetic as a good man caught up in an accidental conspiracy. A rare film that makes you question whether there are still gaps in public consciousness where nerves sit exposed, and what you would really do if somebody nudged them.
7. Her (2013) - Directed by Spike Jonze
This has been the decade where science-fiction stuck it's middle-finger up to humanity. Perhaps kicked off by Charlie Brooker's obsessively miserable and occasionally brilliant Black Mirror series, it felt like every original sci-fi film that came out was just about how awful humans can be - from the men-being-horny cult classic Ex Machina to the-military-blow-things-up drabness of Arrival, it felt like all science fiction writers wanted to do this decade is warn us of a horrible future. This is where Her stands up and says maybe we won't mess everything up. Maybe rather than being killed by technology we could fall in love with it - and it could fall in love with us too. Spike Jonze makes all of the potentially silly aspects of Her seem remarkably plausible, from the future hipster protagonist, Joaquin Pheonix at his most likeable, to the central conciet of a man falling in love with his AI system. It's beautifully, beautifully rendered, with it's visuals, sound, score and writing all managing to be genuinely touching, while also maintaining a sense of humour and without going too far. It made me cry, which almost nothing else on this list has done, and it felt completely earned. Amazing.
6. Good Time (2015) - Directed by Benny and Josh Safdie
Every film runs on a different engine, a core emotional track that the filmmakers want to convey. For many this might be romance, beauty, big set pieces, depression, witty dialogue... For Good Time that engine is claustrophobic danger. No other film I've seen this decade puts its protagonist through the ringer as hard as Robert Pattison's career-changing performance as the manically desperate Connie. This film starts off unbearably tense and just keeps going, getting higher and higher. Even when exposition is dumped at one point by side-character-extraordinaire Ray, it's delivered so fast that you cannot breathe in case you miss something. The style behind the madness is something to behold, with the film only occasionally cutting away from over-the-shoulder shots and close-ups, and the psychadelic synth soundtrack adding a level of dream-like transcendece to these staunchly earthly affairs.
5. Under the Skin (2013) - Directed by Johnathan Glazer
British film is something I have never really connected to, despite... being British. A lot of it seems routed in either bleakness or tweeness, and although there are some great british television shows, I felt like I was a missing a sense of strangeness and originality from the UK. Then Johnathan Glazer comes along, puts Scarlett Johansson in rural Scotland and finds some of the most shocking and fresh sounds and images I have seen this decade. Under the Skin is the rare but valuable sci-fi film which would rather tell you less than more. If you want to, sure, you can work out where the aliens in this film have come from and why they're here, but this is so much more than 'what if' fiction. This is a film about what it means to be an outsider, and of course what it means to be human. More than that for me though are the images that remain long after the film has been seen - the black voids, the floating, empty jellyfish of human skin, the terrifying score.
4. Climax (2018) - Directed by Gaspar Noe
Sometimes you need millions and millions of dollars, a hundred scenes and an ensemble cast of the most talented actors you can find to make a great film - As Gaspar Noe learned on Enter the Void. Sometimes you just need twenty horny street-dancers and a 45 minute long take to pummel the viewer into pieces in the most nightmarish, distressing, anxiety inducing and psychadelic film of the decade. This film is morbidly fascinating in its combination of art-house sensibilities and extreme, extreme violence, made all the more horrible with how plausible it is made to seem. The central conciet of the film is already more frightening than the majority of spooky-ghost horror movies - unknowingly being spiked with a copious amount of LSD with a group of twenty people who have a lot of friction as is. The characters are all colourful and memorable, with surely one of the most diverse casts in horror history, and there is not a weak performance here, especially impressive when considering some of the things they have to do. I feel like I remember every second of this experience and morbid curiosity - along with the killer soundtrack - keep me coming back again and again.
3. Phantom Thread - Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson
Paul Thomas Anderson is a director that has yet to ever really misstep as a filmmaker, despite always changing the tone and genre of his work. So after the heady look at ideology in The Master and the seventies stoner comedy Inherent vice it almost makes sense that he would make a classy, tasteful period piece romance. But Phantom Thread has an appropriately spectral, haunting nature to it that has made it grow on me a huge amount from my first viewing. Few films manage to get to the heart of what it is to fall in love, and to be maintain love like this one does, and to reach this conclusion PTA plays familiar scenes with unfamiliar elements that ring absolutely true. This is far from the sanitised, predictable costume drama that you might expect from a blurb, it is something much more important. The technical elements are so beautiful that occasionally you are struck by an image that will stay with you for weeks afterwards. The soundtrack is just perfect. Most of this film is just perfect. If you want something endearing, intelligent and life-affirming, this is the best film of the decade.
2. The Lighthouse (2019) - Directed by Robert Eggers
And this on the other hand is a tiny, horny and angry piece that feels like an all-time classic already. This is flawless no matter which way I try and look at it - it's full of humour which works every single time without detracting from the atmosphere, an atmosphere which not only feels unique but so much deeper and bigger than almost any other film of the decade. You do not want any more or less out of The Lighthouse than you get. Every expertly edited sequence of building surreal horror, every shot that fills out the unique aspect ratio with an equal measure of beauty and grime, every line spoken by Willem Dafoe in the melodramatic performance of the decade and his career, all of these elements are all forgotten or ignored while consuming the Lighthouse because they don't feel like elements of a film any more. You feel trapped on an island with these two crazy characters, doing hard labour through the day and getting drunk at night as you lose track of all sembelance of time. There are over a dozen sequences here which rank among my all-time favourites, and the nature of the plot means that I pick out a different interpretation every time I see this film. A document which looks back, forward and inward at the same time, drowning you in it's salty waters the whole time.
1. Anomalisa (2015) - Directed by Charlie Kaufman and Duke Johnson
Anomalisa is my favourite film of the decade. This is probably the only film this decade that has really made me question some less pleasant aspects of myself that are generally not talked about by people. Michael, the protagonist of Anomalisa is not particularly likeable. You get the feeling his life has come to a point of stagnation that will continue until his death. He does not do good things, but he is never painted as anything less than human, which of course ignores the fact he is a puppet. It became a tagline of sorts, but it's true - this is the most human movie of the decade and it's absence of human beings in front of the camera only helps rather than hinders this. Duke Johnson deserves more credit than he recieves for the awe-inspiring visual quality of this film, not just the vividly imaginative art direction but the hyper-realistic detail of the animation, which often makes you forget you're even watching animation.
This is a slow, minor, arguably uneventful film, but once again I feel as if I can remember every second. It starts gaining a real momentum half an hour or so in that progresively rises and rises, giving the audience moments of genuine beauty, humour and terror all underpinned with a sense of unending existential lonliness which can never quite be resolved. There has never been, and will never be another film like Anomalisa, and there is no more fitting compliment than that.
Friday 10 April 2020
Tuesday 18 December 2018
Ray's Top 20 songs of 2018
IT'S THAT TIME OF YEAR AGAIN, and so I emerge from another period of radio silence to list of my top 20 favourite songs of the year. Thanks to uni i havent listened to as much new music as I would have liked to in the last third of 2018 (Although several songs from it are still represented), so dont go into this thinking its some kind of objective overview of the year in music. Also, my criteria for a song to get on here is that it has to have either been released this year on been on an album released this year (even if it came out at the end of 2017). Lets go:
Honourable Mention: 6ix9ine - BILLY
Bear with me, bear with me, I KNOW 6ix9ine is a terrible human being, but to be fair thats pretty much the appeal of his music to begin with. Listen to 'BILLY' once and it's clear it's a terrible, awful, borderline unlistenable song, but I love it to death. The sheer absurdity of a rainbow-coloured young man with '69' tattooed on his forehead screeching primary-school bully tier lyrics with a voice of burnt gravel is the epitome of so-bad-it's-good. So for what may be the most unintentionally hilarious song of the year, 6ix9ine makes the list.
20. SOPHIE - Faceshopping
On the actually good side of things is 'Faceshopping' by Sophie, a song which, to me at least, feels like its been thrown into 2018 from the future. Complete with it's rather terrifying music video, Sophie tackles consumerism... maybe? And identity... maybe. No matter what the song is about, it sounds like a firework display going off inside a metal bin, which is good enough for me.
19. St Vincent - Fast Slow Disco
One of my favourite albums of last year was 'MASSEDUCTION' by St. Vincent. One of my least favourite songs on the album was 'Slow Disco'. For some reason - possibly just for the sake of having a slightly funny in-joke song title - the originally solemn track was twisted into a synth-pop banger. And now I like it more than nearly every other song on 'MASSEDUCTION'. Huh.
18. The Voidz - QYURRYUS
'QYURRYUS' sounds unlike I've anything I've ever heard. The guitar work sounds more like sirens and malfunctioning machines than 'music', and at least of half of Julian Casablancas' lyrics are incomprehensibly murmured or shouted in a guttaral, almost Asian-inspired way, until the song evolves into a weird Ariel Pink-esque chant, with auto-tuned ad-libs. The complete antithesis to anyone complaining about the Strokes constantly looking backwards into history for inspiration.
17. They Might Be Giants - I Left My Body
On their latest LP They Might Be Giants proclaimed that they 'Like Fun'. 'I Left My Body' follows a character who drifts out of his body and cant get back in, waiting endlessly in an unbearable purgatory. I'm not sure if They Might Be Giants like fun.
16. Jeff Rosenstock -Yr Throat
I had some trouble picking the stand-out track from 'POST-', but ultimately 'Yr Throat' is the song which holds up best almost a year after the January 1st release date of the album. It probably helps that it does sound like a Christmas song in many ways, albeit a Christmas song about crushing dread. Jeff always manages to come up with vocal melodies that stick in your brain after a single listen and refuse to leave, and 'Yr Throat' stands amongst 'Festival Song' and 'Nausea' as his best work.
15. U.S. Girls - M.A.H
Thankfully obnoxious anti-trump music was on the fade this year on the whole, but we still got one political middle-finger worth keeping thanks to U.S. Girls disco-infused, Kylie Minogue-esque jam 'Mad As Hell (M.A.H.)'. Sounding like a lost gem from the seventies yet grounded firmly in 2018, this is a great example on how to make political music that is as listenable as it is thought-provoking.
14.Mitski - Two Slow Dancers
One of two songs on this list about slow dancing, the finale of Mitski's latest LP is the rare ballad that manages to enthrall me. The music is beautiful, as is Mitski's gentle singing, but what really pulls this song together are the lyrics, which manage to escape the tediously over-wraught, melodramatic lyrics that make similar ballads fail. The arresting first line - 'Does it smell like a school gymnasium in here' is maybe my favourite lyric of the year, instantly bringing up nostalgia, sex and longing that ride out on every metaphor and pondering thought Mitski pours into the rest of the wonderfully brief runtime.
13.Beach House - Pay No Mind
The central melody of 'Pay No Mind' sounds remarkably familiar, to the point where I had to look up the chord sequence to see if I could find some earlier version, but I couldnt. Either way, 'Pay No Mind' is the most relaxing, blissful and transcendental dream-pop song of the year. The song sounds like sitting in a tiny wooden hut by a fire, watching the stars in the night sky, or something equally romantic.
12. Daughters - The Reason They Hate Me
And on the opposite end of the musical spectrum is Daughters with 'The Reason They Hate Me'. Pretty much any song from 'You Won't Get You Want' could have been here, but this late track on the album starts with a bang and just keeps getting more and more intense until the first chorus - perhaps climax is a more apprpropriate term - where the broken-machinery guitar-riff turns into a demonic printer edging out soul-stabbing shrieks. Exciting, explosive and terrifying this is the musical equivalent of a really great horror movie.
11. Janelle Monae - Make Me Feel
'Make Me Feel' is exactly the type of song that 80s Prince would have made in 2018, and that kind of 80s worship carries over to the impressive music video, one of many Monae released this year. Don't get caught thinking this is mere throwback music - Greta Van Fleet this aint - Monae updates the 'Kiss' esque elements of 'make Me Feel' with 2000s girl-group harmonies and a slight off-kilter-ness that makes everything sound somehow even more colourful and rich than even Prince could manage.
10. The 1975 - Love it if We Made It
I don't particularly consider myself to be a fan of the 1975 but they manage to consistently release a few incredible singles every album cycle. Last time it was 'Love Me' and 'The Sound' , but I think they've out-done themselves this time with 'Love it if We Made It', which is surely their best song yet. Matt Healy shouts the lyrics so passionately you cant help but pay attention to what he's saying - and what he's saying is pretty amazing, the lyrics taking the form of a 'We didn't Start the Fire' or 'It's The End Of The World As We Know It' stream of consciousness of relevant news topics. This makes the song sound absolutely massive, as if the entire world as it is is encapsulated in a chaotic four minute pop song. Best of all is the ultimately hopeful sentiment that we've been lacking in so much pop music for the past few years, as Healy sings 'Modernity has failed us - but I'd love it if we made it.'
9.Kanye West - Ghost town
Whatever KanyeWest does, says or changes his name to, I don't really care as long as he keeps dropping songs as musically varied, unique and ultimately powerful as 'Ghost Town'. Every one of the many guests that pop up here in just a few short minutes add immensley to the song, from Kid Cudi's heartfelt chorus to 070 SHAKE's euphoric outro of the song whcih builds up, collapses and builds again bigger over and over until only that unforgettable melody is lodged in your head.
8.Death Grips - Black Paint
This is the song that grew on me the most over 2018. On my first few listens I could barely get a grip on any kind of melody or instrument within the super-dense mix of 'Black Paint', but upon further listens (Especially when turned up loud), this is one of the most forceful and exciting as well as by far one of the heaviest songs Death Grips have ever produced. The chorus of 'BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM' is as fun to scream along to as anything you could want from MC Ride and the bass is so thicc it practically sounds like the sonic equivalent of... well, black paint.
7.Kero Kero Bonito - Only Acting
Surely my biggest musical surprise of 2018 was 'Only Acting'. It starts off with a hollow, industrial beat and immediately it's clear something is... off. 'Bonito generation' was a joyful, cute and child-like album, and on 'Only Acting' KKB grew up big time, taking influences from contemporaries like Jeff Rosenstock and of all people, Death Grips to make a catchy but wonderfully dark meditation on social media and identity, complete with a key change that (On the album) is sharply interrupted by distorted interference.
6.MGMT - When You Die
It's almost a year to the day of me writing this that this completely whacked out psychadelic jam was sprung on to the world by musical pranksters MGMT. Complete with proabably my favourite music video of the year, the individual elements of 'When You Die' are so bizarre that when they come together its impossible to know whether you should laugh or be terrified. With only a single extended chorus, the main hook of the song funtions as 'GO FUCK YOURSELF', which pretty much exemplifies this idea. If your gonna do LSD at least do yourself the favour of listening to this while you trip out.
5.Anna Von HaussWolf - The Mysterious Vanishing Of Electra
It's rare for a song to genuinely unnerve me, but 'the Mysterious Vanishing Of Electra', with it's crushing repeating riff and razor-edge vocals manages to be unsettling and thrilling on every repeated listen. After three minutes of tense build-up the real climax of the song bursts unexpectedly just when you think the coast is clear. Inspired by recent Swans albums it may be, but Anna Von Hausswolff manages to channel Michael Gira's cackle into a more theatrical and dramatic as well as arguably more accessible piece of sound.
4.joji - Slow Dancing in the Dark
The other huge musical surprise for me this year was just how much I adored this song by Joji. Every other song the man's made has been mediocre at best, but Jesus Christ this song just hits me. The nocturnal, underwater soundscape constructed in the production manages to sound cutting edge - this is totally what pop music will sound like in several years time - and Joji finally flexes his lyrical and vocal muscles. The climactic shout of the songs title in the chorus is maybe the most cathartic I've heard all year and the hopeless-romantic lyrics manage to sum up Joji's entire appeal in the most mature and original way yet. Hopefully Joji will sound more like this in the future and less like 'Test Drive'.
3.Haru Nemuri - sekaiwotorikaeshiteokure
Sometimes you hear a song from a scene you've never explored that makes you wonder what you've been missing out on all this time. This song (I'm not gonna try to write that name any more times than I have to) by Haru Nemei is a perfect example of this. Sounding just enough like Western rock music to draw me in, the vocoded backing vocals, explosive choruses, key changes and over-lapping melodies combine to make a song that I may not understand but I completely adore - especially when it breaks into a hugely impressive rap verse of all things in it's bridge. It sounds like the world ending, in Japanese.
2.Car Seat Headrest - Nervous Young Inhumans
Yes, there are proabably better songs on 'Twin Fantasy'. 'Beach Life-In-Death', 'Famous Prophets (Stars)' and 'Bodies' and 'Sober To Death' etc, etc. But for some reason this is the song I've been coming back to all year. Maybe it's the Killers-esque synth line, maybe it's just how the now-audible lyrics are some of the best on the album, maybe it's the way Will Toledo sings 'You'll get what you want and you will get what you deserve', or maybe its just that since its basically the shortest proper song on the album it's the one I feel like I can never hear enough times.
1.Kids See ghosts - Reborn
For the third year in a row I've had trouble naming my 'song of the year' - once again there hasn't been one specific song that felt so much better than everything else that I could immediately place it at the top. But there has to be a winner, and 'Reborn' is deserving as you can get. Innovative, unique, relaxing and ultimately transcendental, this track (along with 'Cudi Montage') feels destined to save thousands of lives purely through the catharsis and hope contained within it. That's not even to mention just how beautifully cathartic it is to see two of the music industries most publicly troubled individuals - Kanye West and Kid Cudi - come together to spread a message of hope, and one that sounds damn good at that. Keep movin' forward.
Honourable Mention: 6ix9ine - BILLY
Bear with me, bear with me, I KNOW 6ix9ine is a terrible human being, but to be fair thats pretty much the appeal of his music to begin with. Listen to 'BILLY' once and it's clear it's a terrible, awful, borderline unlistenable song, but I love it to death. The sheer absurdity of a rainbow-coloured young man with '69' tattooed on his forehead screeching primary-school bully tier lyrics with a voice of burnt gravel is the epitome of so-bad-it's-good. So for what may be the most unintentionally hilarious song of the year, 6ix9ine makes the list.
20. SOPHIE - Faceshopping
On the actually good side of things is 'Faceshopping' by Sophie, a song which, to me at least, feels like its been thrown into 2018 from the future. Complete with it's rather terrifying music video, Sophie tackles consumerism... maybe? And identity... maybe. No matter what the song is about, it sounds like a firework display going off inside a metal bin, which is good enough for me.
19. St Vincent - Fast Slow Disco
One of my favourite albums of last year was 'MASSEDUCTION' by St. Vincent. One of my least favourite songs on the album was 'Slow Disco'. For some reason - possibly just for the sake of having a slightly funny in-joke song title - the originally solemn track was twisted into a synth-pop banger. And now I like it more than nearly every other song on 'MASSEDUCTION'. Huh.
18. The Voidz - QYURRYUS
'QYURRYUS' sounds unlike I've anything I've ever heard. The guitar work sounds more like sirens and malfunctioning machines than 'music', and at least of half of Julian Casablancas' lyrics are incomprehensibly murmured or shouted in a guttaral, almost Asian-inspired way, until the song evolves into a weird Ariel Pink-esque chant, with auto-tuned ad-libs. The complete antithesis to anyone complaining about the Strokes constantly looking backwards into history for inspiration.
17. They Might Be Giants - I Left My Body
On their latest LP They Might Be Giants proclaimed that they 'Like Fun'. 'I Left My Body' follows a character who drifts out of his body and cant get back in, waiting endlessly in an unbearable purgatory. I'm not sure if They Might Be Giants like fun.
16. Jeff Rosenstock -Yr Throat
I had some trouble picking the stand-out track from 'POST-', but ultimately 'Yr Throat' is the song which holds up best almost a year after the January 1st release date of the album. It probably helps that it does sound like a Christmas song in many ways, albeit a Christmas song about crushing dread. Jeff always manages to come up with vocal melodies that stick in your brain after a single listen and refuse to leave, and 'Yr Throat' stands amongst 'Festival Song' and 'Nausea' as his best work.
15. U.S. Girls - M.A.H
Thankfully obnoxious anti-trump music was on the fade this year on the whole, but we still got one political middle-finger worth keeping thanks to U.S. Girls disco-infused, Kylie Minogue-esque jam 'Mad As Hell (M.A.H.)'. Sounding like a lost gem from the seventies yet grounded firmly in 2018, this is a great example on how to make political music that is as listenable as it is thought-provoking.
14.Mitski - Two Slow Dancers
One of two songs on this list about slow dancing, the finale of Mitski's latest LP is the rare ballad that manages to enthrall me. The music is beautiful, as is Mitski's gentle singing, but what really pulls this song together are the lyrics, which manage to escape the tediously over-wraught, melodramatic lyrics that make similar ballads fail. The arresting first line - 'Does it smell like a school gymnasium in here' is maybe my favourite lyric of the year, instantly bringing up nostalgia, sex and longing that ride out on every metaphor and pondering thought Mitski pours into the rest of the wonderfully brief runtime.
13.Beach House - Pay No Mind
The central melody of 'Pay No Mind' sounds remarkably familiar, to the point where I had to look up the chord sequence to see if I could find some earlier version, but I couldnt. Either way, 'Pay No Mind' is the most relaxing, blissful and transcendental dream-pop song of the year. The song sounds like sitting in a tiny wooden hut by a fire, watching the stars in the night sky, or something equally romantic.
12. Daughters - The Reason They Hate Me
And on the opposite end of the musical spectrum is Daughters with 'The Reason They Hate Me'. Pretty much any song from 'You Won't Get You Want' could have been here, but this late track on the album starts with a bang and just keeps getting more and more intense until the first chorus - perhaps climax is a more apprpropriate term - where the broken-machinery guitar-riff turns into a demonic printer edging out soul-stabbing shrieks. Exciting, explosive and terrifying this is the musical equivalent of a really great horror movie.
11. Janelle Monae - Make Me Feel
'Make Me Feel' is exactly the type of song that 80s Prince would have made in 2018, and that kind of 80s worship carries over to the impressive music video, one of many Monae released this year. Don't get caught thinking this is mere throwback music - Greta Van Fleet this aint - Monae updates the 'Kiss' esque elements of 'make Me Feel' with 2000s girl-group harmonies and a slight off-kilter-ness that makes everything sound somehow even more colourful and rich than even Prince could manage.
10. The 1975 - Love it if We Made It
I don't particularly consider myself to be a fan of the 1975 but they manage to consistently release a few incredible singles every album cycle. Last time it was 'Love Me' and 'The Sound' , but I think they've out-done themselves this time with 'Love it if We Made It', which is surely their best song yet. Matt Healy shouts the lyrics so passionately you cant help but pay attention to what he's saying - and what he's saying is pretty amazing, the lyrics taking the form of a 'We didn't Start the Fire' or 'It's The End Of The World As We Know It' stream of consciousness of relevant news topics. This makes the song sound absolutely massive, as if the entire world as it is is encapsulated in a chaotic four minute pop song. Best of all is the ultimately hopeful sentiment that we've been lacking in so much pop music for the past few years, as Healy sings 'Modernity has failed us - but I'd love it if we made it.'
9.Kanye West - Ghost town
Whatever KanyeWest does, says or changes his name to, I don't really care as long as he keeps dropping songs as musically varied, unique and ultimately powerful as 'Ghost Town'. Every one of the many guests that pop up here in just a few short minutes add immensley to the song, from Kid Cudi's heartfelt chorus to 070 SHAKE's euphoric outro of the song whcih builds up, collapses and builds again bigger over and over until only that unforgettable melody is lodged in your head.
8.Death Grips - Black Paint
This is the song that grew on me the most over 2018. On my first few listens I could barely get a grip on any kind of melody or instrument within the super-dense mix of 'Black Paint', but upon further listens (Especially when turned up loud), this is one of the most forceful and exciting as well as by far one of the heaviest songs Death Grips have ever produced. The chorus of 'BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM' is as fun to scream along to as anything you could want from MC Ride and the bass is so thicc it practically sounds like the sonic equivalent of... well, black paint.
7.Kero Kero Bonito - Only Acting
Surely my biggest musical surprise of 2018 was 'Only Acting'. It starts off with a hollow, industrial beat and immediately it's clear something is... off. 'Bonito generation' was a joyful, cute and child-like album, and on 'Only Acting' KKB grew up big time, taking influences from contemporaries like Jeff Rosenstock and of all people, Death Grips to make a catchy but wonderfully dark meditation on social media and identity, complete with a key change that (On the album) is sharply interrupted by distorted interference.
6.MGMT - When You Die
It's almost a year to the day of me writing this that this completely whacked out psychadelic jam was sprung on to the world by musical pranksters MGMT. Complete with proabably my favourite music video of the year, the individual elements of 'When You Die' are so bizarre that when they come together its impossible to know whether you should laugh or be terrified. With only a single extended chorus, the main hook of the song funtions as 'GO FUCK YOURSELF', which pretty much exemplifies this idea. If your gonna do LSD at least do yourself the favour of listening to this while you trip out.
5.Anna Von HaussWolf - The Mysterious Vanishing Of Electra
It's rare for a song to genuinely unnerve me, but 'the Mysterious Vanishing Of Electra', with it's crushing repeating riff and razor-edge vocals manages to be unsettling and thrilling on every repeated listen. After three minutes of tense build-up the real climax of the song bursts unexpectedly just when you think the coast is clear. Inspired by recent Swans albums it may be, but Anna Von Hausswolff manages to channel Michael Gira's cackle into a more theatrical and dramatic as well as arguably more accessible piece of sound.
4.joji - Slow Dancing in the Dark
The other huge musical surprise for me this year was just how much I adored this song by Joji. Every other song the man's made has been mediocre at best, but Jesus Christ this song just hits me. The nocturnal, underwater soundscape constructed in the production manages to sound cutting edge - this is totally what pop music will sound like in several years time - and Joji finally flexes his lyrical and vocal muscles. The climactic shout of the songs title in the chorus is maybe the most cathartic I've heard all year and the hopeless-romantic lyrics manage to sum up Joji's entire appeal in the most mature and original way yet. Hopefully Joji will sound more like this in the future and less like 'Test Drive'.
3.Haru Nemuri - sekaiwotorikaeshiteokure
Sometimes you hear a song from a scene you've never explored that makes you wonder what you've been missing out on all this time. This song (I'm not gonna try to write that name any more times than I have to) by Haru Nemei is a perfect example of this. Sounding just enough like Western rock music to draw me in, the vocoded backing vocals, explosive choruses, key changes and over-lapping melodies combine to make a song that I may not understand but I completely adore - especially when it breaks into a hugely impressive rap verse of all things in it's bridge. It sounds like the world ending, in Japanese.
2.Car Seat Headrest - Nervous Young Inhumans
Yes, there are proabably better songs on 'Twin Fantasy'. 'Beach Life-In-Death', 'Famous Prophets (Stars)' and 'Bodies' and 'Sober To Death' etc, etc. But for some reason this is the song I've been coming back to all year. Maybe it's the Killers-esque synth line, maybe it's just how the now-audible lyrics are some of the best on the album, maybe it's the way Will Toledo sings 'You'll get what you want and you will get what you deserve', or maybe its just that since its basically the shortest proper song on the album it's the one I feel like I can never hear enough times.
1.Kids See ghosts - Reborn
For the third year in a row I've had trouble naming my 'song of the year' - once again there hasn't been one specific song that felt so much better than everything else that I could immediately place it at the top. But there has to be a winner, and 'Reborn' is deserving as you can get. Innovative, unique, relaxing and ultimately transcendental, this track (along with 'Cudi Montage') feels destined to save thousands of lives purely through the catharsis and hope contained within it. That's not even to mention just how beautifully cathartic it is to see two of the music industries most publicly troubled individuals - Kanye West and Kid Cudi - come together to spread a message of hope, and one that sounds damn good at that. Keep movin' forward.
Sunday 2 September 2018
Ranking 'OK COMPUTER's tracklist from best to worst
11 months ago I made a blog post where I ranked the tracklist of Radiohead's 1995 classic 'The Bends'.
Frankly it wasn't great, I hadn't really listened to the second half of the album enough to fully justify placing a song like 'Sulk' higher than 'Blackstar', and so on. However, 1997's 'OK Computer' is a different story, it's my second favourite album of all-time and I've listened to it dozens of times. Here, I'm going to rank the songs from my least favourite to my favourite, although keep in mind that there arent really any weak tracks here.
12. Fitter Happier
Perhaps the only easy choice I had to make on this list, 'Fitter Happier' is surely doomed to come in last place on almost every 'OK Computer' ranking simply because it's a two-minute robot-voice interlude rather than a legitimate song. With that said, it works perfectly as an atmospheric interlude, especially when compared with some of the more boring or pointless interludes on 'Kid A' ('Treefingers') and 'Amnesiac' ('Hunting Bears'), as while those serve as ambient mood setters, 'fitter happier' actively chills the listener with it's Orwellian lyrics and gloomy soundscape that arguably predicts the more experimental landscapes created on the band's next album.
11. The Tourist
'The Tourist' is the only song on 'OK Computer' that I hesitate to call great, and while I usually get won over by the end, it's not a doubt I experience with any of the other tracks. While some of my favourite radiohead songs are some of their slowest ('Nude', 'How To Disappear Completely', 'Pyramid Song'), 'The Tourist' often feels like it's playing in slow-motion, giving it the effect of a lullaby. As such it works well as album closer, aided by the lyrics circling back to join up with 'Airbag', but it's inflated runtime and unchanging chord chord sequence are the only parts of the whole album that grate on me.
10. Climbing Up the Walls
This is Radiohead at their creepiest, with a soundscape of of rattling chains, scrathy violins, bird screeches and a rasping bassline all topped with Thom Yorke's murky and unsettling delivery of lyrics like 'Open Up Your Skull'. After the second chorus the creepiness explodes into a brilliantly incomprehensible mess of instrumentation, before ending with a demonic scream. It's puzzling that this sits so well with the tonally opposite 'No Surprises' in the tracklist, but somehow it works. As for why 'Climbing Up the Walls' isn't higher up, it's simply because although I admire Radiohead's attempt at making something creepy, it appeals to me less than most of the other songs which inspire less surface-level emotion.
9. Electioneering
I would hesitate to call any song on one of the most-critically acclaimed albums of all time underrated, but if i had to it would be 'Electioneering'. People seem to frequently name this song as the worst on 'OK Computer', because of it's more energetic and upbeat tone, but as someone who initially couldn't stand most of 'OK Computer', this is the song that single-handedly got me through those hectic first few listens. Aside form being one of Radiohead's better attempts at a grungy sound - I like this more than a fair bit of 'The Bends' - this song injects a much needed boost of momentum into the album right when it's in danger of becoming stale. It doesn't fit in perfectly, and it's not as ambitious as many of the other tracks, but IT HAS A COWBELL.
8. Lucky
I always feel like I should like this a bit more than I do. Several people and publications I know have listed this as one of the very best Radiohead songs. It's certainly an incredible achievement, creating one of the bleakest atmospheres on the record during the verses with the heavy bass and sparse guitar line, before lifting off into a chorus with one of the more memorable Radiohead riffs. My problem is with the transition to the chorus not sounding quite as powerful as I think it could and not really liking the 'We are standing on the edge' post-chorus section. That said, this is the first of the 8 standout tracks of the album in this ranking, so from here on out I believe every song is a 9-10/10.
7. Subterranean Homesick Alien
'Subterranean Homesick Alien' sounds both blissful and bleak at the same time, and is highly accessible compared to the songs surrounding it, with some of the cleanest production and most straightforwardly narrative lyrics on the album. Johnny Greenwood's guitar sounds like a waterfall for most of the runtime, and despite the lyrics about 'Living in a Town, where you can't smell a thing', the impression I get from the song is one of lying in a field at sunset, watching cows drifting up into distant UFOs.
6. Exit Music (For a Film)
'Exit Music' was the last song on the album that I fell in love with, I found the intro too sparse and unsettling to really engage with the rest of the song at first. Over time I've come to appreaciate this intro, a sharp change from the dense soundscapes offered up by the first three tracks, and focusing more on the intro led me to appreciate how great the build-up of this song is. First it's just Thom and his guitar, then a spooky robotic choir comes in, a sound I still haven't heard since, before we get one of the all-time great bass-drops in rock, as the song climaxes in a terrifying frenzy of everything getting louder with Thom Yorke shouting 'NOW WE ARE ONE' over it all.
5. Airbag
Even though it can be enjoyed easily as a standalone track, it's impossible to imagine any other song opening 'OK Computer' other than 'Airbag', with that immediately stark riff instantly putting the listener into the melancholy mood that much of the album carries. The layers of instrumentation are so dense here that it's easy to get lost within the choirs, programmed and acoustic percussion, razor-edge guitars and stuttering bass. The song never feels almost five minutes long, even despite a breakdown that uses record scratching, which is an impressive achievement.
4. Karma Police
I love 'Karma Police'. I've learnt it on guitar (Even though it uses less of the instrument than any other song on the album), I've memorised the lyrics, I've watched the video more than any other Radiohead video. While much of 'OK Computer' is sincere, 'Karma Police' has a layer of irony smeared over it, which makes it the funniest song on the album, especially when combined with the 'You've Got A Friend In Me' piano roll of the chorus. However, this fun transforms into something transcendental during the outro, where the murderous daydreams of the narrator are replaced with reality, helped enormously by the three note motif that starts off on a cello and moves up in pitch, being sang by a choir of Thom Yorkes all singing 'Ah-ah-ahh', until they are drowned out by white noise, in one of Radiohead's best outros.
3. No Surprises
Under the childlike, high pitched guitar melodies and relaxed vocal delivery of 'No Suprises' lies a restless, suffocating anxiety that never really quite comes out. The music video to the song, where a tank of water gradually fills up around Thom Yorke's head conveys this brilliantly, as well as nailing the hynotic nature of the repetitve riffs and vocal melody. Unlike other songs on 'OK Computer', 'No Surprises' doesn't build up to an explosive climax, instead the most passionately sung line being 'Such a pretty house, such a pretty garden', harking back to the depressing suburban materialism of 'Fake Plastic Trees'. For me, this is one of the most deeply affecting Radiohead songs, perfectly summing up feelings of mind-numbing boredom and uselessness with the opening line, 'A heart that's full up like a landfull'.
2. Paranoid Android
Two years ago this would have easily been my number one, and even now it's still a close-call between this and my actual number-one pick. This was the second Radiohead song I ever heard (After 'Street Spirit (Fade Out)'), and as such I have a long personal histroy with the song, from initially disliking all but the central 'bit with the riff' to also enjoying the intro, to enjoying the whole song, to having my mind blown by the details. It seems obvious now, but I remember how amazed I was when on my umpteenth listen I realised that a robotic voice was faintly saying 'I MIGHT BE PARANOID BUT IM NOT AN ANDROID' during the first part of the song, or when I realised that part of what made the outro so disturbing to me were the disorted screams that fit so well into the cacophony of Johnny Greenwood's insane soloing, Colin's propulsive bass and Phil Selway's passionate drumrolls, with Ed O'Brien presumably also doing something great. It's the 'Boheiam Rhapsody' of the 1990s, a song I have sub-consciously ripped off myself and an all-round classic.
1. Let Down
'Let Down' is both an inappropriate and appropriate title for not only my favourite song from 'OK Computer' but my favourite Radiohead song, and as such one of my all-time favourite songs. In one sense, this song is the furthest thing you could get from a let-down, it's a perfect song with dense yet never clumsy production, some of the finest lyrics Yorke's ever written and is perfectly structured. In the other sense, 'Let Down' so perfectly sums up the feeling of being let down that you feel as if no other song ever needs to be written on the topic. Something about the melodies in the song manage to simaltaneously crush you, like the 'bug in the ground' described in the lyrics, yet at the same time the chorus manages to be just upbeat enough to add a glimmer of hope to the song. The reason the song resonates so deeply with me is that it one perhaps the song I depended most upon during my time travelling to and from a school I dreaded along dreary motorways and broken streets on a grimy bus, usually under pale white skies - in short a situation that looked and felt a lot like the album cover of 'OK Computer', and one which is perfectly described by 'Let Down'. 'One day I am gonna grow wings' would be an overly cheesy line in most songs, but I needed it back then, and judging by the universal love for 'OK Computer', thousands, maybe even millions have needed it too.
Frankly it wasn't great, I hadn't really listened to the second half of the album enough to fully justify placing a song like 'Sulk' higher than 'Blackstar', and so on. However, 1997's 'OK Computer' is a different story, it's my second favourite album of all-time and I've listened to it dozens of times. Here, I'm going to rank the songs from my least favourite to my favourite, although keep in mind that there arent really any weak tracks here.
12. Fitter Happier
Perhaps the only easy choice I had to make on this list, 'Fitter Happier' is surely doomed to come in last place on almost every 'OK Computer' ranking simply because it's a two-minute robot-voice interlude rather than a legitimate song. With that said, it works perfectly as an atmospheric interlude, especially when compared with some of the more boring or pointless interludes on 'Kid A' ('Treefingers') and 'Amnesiac' ('Hunting Bears'), as while those serve as ambient mood setters, 'fitter happier' actively chills the listener with it's Orwellian lyrics and gloomy soundscape that arguably predicts the more experimental landscapes created on the band's next album.
11. The Tourist
'The Tourist' is the only song on 'OK Computer' that I hesitate to call great, and while I usually get won over by the end, it's not a doubt I experience with any of the other tracks. While some of my favourite radiohead songs are some of their slowest ('Nude', 'How To Disappear Completely', 'Pyramid Song'), 'The Tourist' often feels like it's playing in slow-motion, giving it the effect of a lullaby. As such it works well as album closer, aided by the lyrics circling back to join up with 'Airbag', but it's inflated runtime and unchanging chord chord sequence are the only parts of the whole album that grate on me.
10. Climbing Up the Walls
This is Radiohead at their creepiest, with a soundscape of of rattling chains, scrathy violins, bird screeches and a rasping bassline all topped with Thom Yorke's murky and unsettling delivery of lyrics like 'Open Up Your Skull'. After the second chorus the creepiness explodes into a brilliantly incomprehensible mess of instrumentation, before ending with a demonic scream. It's puzzling that this sits so well with the tonally opposite 'No Surprises' in the tracklist, but somehow it works. As for why 'Climbing Up the Walls' isn't higher up, it's simply because although I admire Radiohead's attempt at making something creepy, it appeals to me less than most of the other songs which inspire less surface-level emotion.
9. Electioneering
I would hesitate to call any song on one of the most-critically acclaimed albums of all time underrated, but if i had to it would be 'Electioneering'. People seem to frequently name this song as the worst on 'OK Computer', because of it's more energetic and upbeat tone, but as someone who initially couldn't stand most of 'OK Computer', this is the song that single-handedly got me through those hectic first few listens. Aside form being one of Radiohead's better attempts at a grungy sound - I like this more than a fair bit of 'The Bends' - this song injects a much needed boost of momentum into the album right when it's in danger of becoming stale. It doesn't fit in perfectly, and it's not as ambitious as many of the other tracks, but IT HAS A COWBELL.
8. Lucky
I always feel like I should like this a bit more than I do. Several people and publications I know have listed this as one of the very best Radiohead songs. It's certainly an incredible achievement, creating one of the bleakest atmospheres on the record during the verses with the heavy bass and sparse guitar line, before lifting off into a chorus with one of the more memorable Radiohead riffs. My problem is with the transition to the chorus not sounding quite as powerful as I think it could and not really liking the 'We are standing on the edge' post-chorus section. That said, this is the first of the 8 standout tracks of the album in this ranking, so from here on out I believe every song is a 9-10/10.
7. Subterranean Homesick Alien
'Subterranean Homesick Alien' sounds both blissful and bleak at the same time, and is highly accessible compared to the songs surrounding it, with some of the cleanest production and most straightforwardly narrative lyrics on the album. Johnny Greenwood's guitar sounds like a waterfall for most of the runtime, and despite the lyrics about 'Living in a Town, where you can't smell a thing', the impression I get from the song is one of lying in a field at sunset, watching cows drifting up into distant UFOs.
6. Exit Music (For a Film)
'Exit Music' was the last song on the album that I fell in love with, I found the intro too sparse and unsettling to really engage with the rest of the song at first. Over time I've come to appreaciate this intro, a sharp change from the dense soundscapes offered up by the first three tracks, and focusing more on the intro led me to appreciate how great the build-up of this song is. First it's just Thom and his guitar, then a spooky robotic choir comes in, a sound I still haven't heard since, before we get one of the all-time great bass-drops in rock, as the song climaxes in a terrifying frenzy of everything getting louder with Thom Yorke shouting 'NOW WE ARE ONE' over it all.
5. Airbag
Even though it can be enjoyed easily as a standalone track, it's impossible to imagine any other song opening 'OK Computer' other than 'Airbag', with that immediately stark riff instantly putting the listener into the melancholy mood that much of the album carries. The layers of instrumentation are so dense here that it's easy to get lost within the choirs, programmed and acoustic percussion, razor-edge guitars and stuttering bass. The song never feels almost five minutes long, even despite a breakdown that uses record scratching, which is an impressive achievement.
4. Karma Police
I love 'Karma Police'. I've learnt it on guitar (Even though it uses less of the instrument than any other song on the album), I've memorised the lyrics, I've watched the video more than any other Radiohead video. While much of 'OK Computer' is sincere, 'Karma Police' has a layer of irony smeared over it, which makes it the funniest song on the album, especially when combined with the 'You've Got A Friend In Me' piano roll of the chorus. However, this fun transforms into something transcendental during the outro, where the murderous daydreams of the narrator are replaced with reality, helped enormously by the three note motif that starts off on a cello and moves up in pitch, being sang by a choir of Thom Yorkes all singing 'Ah-ah-ahh', until they are drowned out by white noise, in one of Radiohead's best outros.
3. No Surprises
Under the childlike, high pitched guitar melodies and relaxed vocal delivery of 'No Suprises' lies a restless, suffocating anxiety that never really quite comes out. The music video to the song, where a tank of water gradually fills up around Thom Yorke's head conveys this brilliantly, as well as nailing the hynotic nature of the repetitve riffs and vocal melody. Unlike other songs on 'OK Computer', 'No Surprises' doesn't build up to an explosive climax, instead the most passionately sung line being 'Such a pretty house, such a pretty garden', harking back to the depressing suburban materialism of 'Fake Plastic Trees'. For me, this is one of the most deeply affecting Radiohead songs, perfectly summing up feelings of mind-numbing boredom and uselessness with the opening line, 'A heart that's full up like a landfull'.
2. Paranoid Android
Two years ago this would have easily been my number one, and even now it's still a close-call between this and my actual number-one pick. This was the second Radiohead song I ever heard (After 'Street Spirit (Fade Out)'), and as such I have a long personal histroy with the song, from initially disliking all but the central 'bit with the riff' to also enjoying the intro, to enjoying the whole song, to having my mind blown by the details. It seems obvious now, but I remember how amazed I was when on my umpteenth listen I realised that a robotic voice was faintly saying 'I MIGHT BE PARANOID BUT IM NOT AN ANDROID' during the first part of the song, or when I realised that part of what made the outro so disturbing to me were the disorted screams that fit so well into the cacophony of Johnny Greenwood's insane soloing, Colin's propulsive bass and Phil Selway's passionate drumrolls, with Ed O'Brien presumably also doing something great. It's the 'Boheiam Rhapsody' of the 1990s, a song I have sub-consciously ripped off myself and an all-round classic.
1. Let Down
'Let Down' is both an inappropriate and appropriate title for not only my favourite song from 'OK Computer' but my favourite Radiohead song, and as such one of my all-time favourite songs. In one sense, this song is the furthest thing you could get from a let-down, it's a perfect song with dense yet never clumsy production, some of the finest lyrics Yorke's ever written and is perfectly structured. In the other sense, 'Let Down' so perfectly sums up the feeling of being let down that you feel as if no other song ever needs to be written on the topic. Something about the melodies in the song manage to simaltaneously crush you, like the 'bug in the ground' described in the lyrics, yet at the same time the chorus manages to be just upbeat enough to add a glimmer of hope to the song. The reason the song resonates so deeply with me is that it one perhaps the song I depended most upon during my time travelling to and from a school I dreaded along dreary motorways and broken streets on a grimy bus, usually under pale white skies - in short a situation that looked and felt a lot like the album cover of 'OK Computer', and one which is perfectly described by 'Let Down'. 'One day I am gonna grow wings' would be an overly cheesy line in most songs, but I needed it back then, and judging by the universal love for 'OK Computer', thousands, maybe even millions have needed it too.
Saturday 25 August 2018
August 2018 album reviews
Most of these arent even from August tbh but I'm still catching up on music from the past few months.
Sophie - OIL OF EVERY PEARLS UN-INSIDES
Well this is a weird one. Surely one of the strangest and most cutting-edge albums of 2018, the new Sophie album, is an exercise in pushing the boundaries of pop music into a disturbing, abrasive and less accessable direction, which it does brilliantly complete with an impenetrable album title. 'Ponyboy', 'Faceshopping' and the extended closing track are filled with Death Grips styled fuzzy morphed samples sharply cut with bullet-fire percussion. While these are largely the most memorable tracks here, the less abrasive material is also very good, like building opener 'It's Okay to Cry' and the early 2010s EDM stomp of 'Immaterial'. A great companion piece to 'Year Of the Snitch' and a great album in it's own right. 8.3/10
Ariana Grande - sweetness
I quite enjoyed 'No Tears Left To Cry', the lead single from super-star Ariana Grande's fourth album in five year, so I decided to try out the full length 'sweetness', but unfortunately Grande hasn't followed in the footsteps of Rihanna and Beyonce and has instead released an archetypal pop album - a few stand-out singles surrounded by blandness. 5.0/10
Iglooghost - Steel Mogu / Clear Tamei EPs
Electronic music perhaps more than any other genre is something I should listen to more, but one of the producers who I keep on my E-radar is 'Iglooghost', who creates intricately orchestrated, ADHD soundscapes that are always fun to listen to. While I did find the sheer speed and energy of his music a little exhausting on last year's full length 'Neo Wax Bloom' (Which I still liked a fair bit), I think that these EPs showcase both a progression and a more manageable way to listen to his music. The EPs have the same general sound of sped up nintendo music colliding with trap and club influences, but with several differences between the two. 'Clear Tamei' is more upbeat, with standout closing track 'Shrine Hacker' being one of his best creations so far, while 'Steel Mogu' uses slightly harsher and darker sounds, creating a nightscape of siren-like synths and erratic beats. 7.5/10 (combined score)
Death Grips - Year Of The Snitch
This was one of my most anticipated albums of the year, and yet I had no idea what to expect going into it - lead single 'Streaky' had been merely OK and I didn't really get 'Black paint' or 'Dilemma' at first. However, I had loved 'Hahaha', 'Shitshow' and 'Flies' right out of the gate. I needn't have worried. 'Death Grips Is Online' is up there with 'Get Got' and 'You might think he loves you for his money...' as one of the group's best opening tracks and this momentum carries throughout the whole tracklist, helped by the fact that many of the tracks flow seamlessly together. The fantastically ugly album cover is a clue to the sound of the album which has all of the usual appeals of the Death Grips - MC Ride's howled delivery of disturbing lyrics, distorted and experimental beats and a frantic pace. The main differences this time around come in the form of cleaner production and a lower-key feel on tracks like 'Linda's In Custody' and 'Streaky' and in various weird instrumental diversions. This includes record scratching over nearly every song and a spooky piano and horn section on 'The Fear', which sounds like a horror-themed cartoon theme as done by Death Grips. It sounds like nothing else (except other Death Grips albums), and though it may not be the best place to enter their discography (See 'The Money Store' or 'Bottomless Pit') it is another Death Grips classic. 8.8/10
Snail Mail - Lush
Ehhhhh. 'Lush' is the kind of dream pop/ indie rock album that I feel like I've already heard a dozen times. That's not even to say it's a bad album - it's perfectly serviceable and it seems to have it's fair share of fans. As for my personal gripes, I'm generally not a big fan of dreamy music, with only a few of the most unique dreamy albums - 'Loveless' for example - and 'Lush' has my usual problems of monotone vocals, bland lyrics and guitar effects that take away any kind of bite from the instrument. 'Lush' is a decent dream pop album, but not much more. 5.7/10
Mitski - Be The Cowboy
I didn't care much for Mitski's last project, 'Puberty 2', I found it frankly a bit boring. Luckily I much preferred 'Be The Cowboy' - although it's a frustrating listen. There is near 50/50 split between songs I like and songs I don't care much for, and while I really like the beauty and emotional power of opener 'Geyser' and closer 'Two Slow Dancers', along with the more upbeat 'Washing Machine Heart' and 'Me and My Husband', I can't get myself excited for the dreary 'Come into the Water' or 'A Horse Named Cold Air', which sound vaguely like Angel Olsen covering Amnesiac-era Radiohead. Lots of cuts fall between these, but overall I still think this is one of the better indie albums of the year, with a few tracks being some of my favourites of the year. 7.2/10
Denzel Curry - TA13OO
I don't know much about Denzel Curry's rap career up to this point besides the 'ultimate' memes and his appearance on the 2016 XXl Freshamn cover, including his group freestyle which included other current day superstars Lil Yachty, Lil Uzi Vert, 21 Savage and Kodak Black. With my lack of experience 'TA13OO' suprised me - it's one of my favourite hip-hop albums of the year (And there hasn't been as many as i would have hoped so far in 2018). The album may be pure eye cancer to look at on spotify thanks to the song names being written both in regular english and some kind of ALL CAPS Denzel Curry syntax using numbers instead of letters whenever possible, and the album is needlessly split into three 'discs' (although the overall runtime is a pleasingly restrained 43 minutes), but the actual songs themselves are largely great. The opening trio of tracks are soulful and heartfelt, with some thought-provoking lyrics - a vibe that reminded me of Andre 3000 at several points. these three tracks are likely my favourites, but the rest of the tracklist, mainly formed of bangers, is still great. 'CLOUT COBAIN' is the biggest standout with it's sticky hook and suicidal lyrics. 7.8/10
Beach House - 7
As exemplified in my Snail Mail review I'm not the biggest fan of dreamy rock music, but there's usually one or two albums every year that do it so well I can't ignore them, and '7' is one of those. It's darker, more mysterious and less predictable than most dream-pop albums I've heard, the hypnotic strums and beats covered with submerged piano on opener 'Dark Spring' and with a crackling synth bass on 'Pay No Mind', a song which I really like but also feel is derivative of something I can't put my finger on. 'Black Cab' and 'Lemon Glow' both use unusual synths to create a slightly psychadelic sound, while closer 'Last Wave' uses a piano motif and harmonies to see the listener out on a high. Overall it's one of the better dream pop albums I've heard in the past few years, even if my general distate for the genre means that it isn't a personal favourite. 8.1/10
ALBUM OF THE MONTH: haru nemei - harutosyura
Does liking this make me a weeb? If so I have been thoroughly converted. From the incorrect grammar and Scott Pilgrim-esque punk of opener 'MAKE MORE NOISE OF YOU' I was prepared for a kero kero Bonito-esque pop album with some Japanese influences but an ultimately cutesy sound. What the rest of 'harutosyura' ended up being was probably my favourite emo-rock album of the year, if it can be classified as such. The guitars on 'lostplanet' and the title track have the typical dreary quality that could be found on a Brand New or Linkin Park album, but Haru Nemei's apocolyptic rather than self-pitying lyrics and voice are much easier for me to listen to than either of those bands. When God being dead is a lyrical topic that appears on multiple songs you realise that this is not simply a J-pop album. The songs are also incredibly catchy and sonically diverse - centrepiece 'sekaiwotorikashiteokure' has raging guitars, glimmering synths, a robotic choir, pop punk 'Ooh-oohs' and rap verses - because Haru Nemei is also an extremely talented rapper. I admit that I would love this album even more if i could understand what Nemei is singing/rapping/shouting as she does it instead of having to look it up seperately, but even with the language barrier this is one of my favourite albums of the year so far. 8.9/10
Sophie - OIL OF EVERY PEARLS UN-INSIDES
Well this is a weird one. Surely one of the strangest and most cutting-edge albums of 2018, the new Sophie album, is an exercise in pushing the boundaries of pop music into a disturbing, abrasive and less accessable direction, which it does brilliantly complete with an impenetrable album title. 'Ponyboy', 'Faceshopping' and the extended closing track are filled with Death Grips styled fuzzy morphed samples sharply cut with bullet-fire percussion. While these are largely the most memorable tracks here, the less abrasive material is also very good, like building opener 'It's Okay to Cry' and the early 2010s EDM stomp of 'Immaterial'. A great companion piece to 'Year Of the Snitch' and a great album in it's own right. 8.3/10
Ariana Grande - sweetness
I quite enjoyed 'No Tears Left To Cry', the lead single from super-star Ariana Grande's fourth album in five year, so I decided to try out the full length 'sweetness', but unfortunately Grande hasn't followed in the footsteps of Rihanna and Beyonce and has instead released an archetypal pop album - a few stand-out singles surrounded by blandness. 5.0/10
Iglooghost - Steel Mogu / Clear Tamei EPs
Electronic music perhaps more than any other genre is something I should listen to more, but one of the producers who I keep on my E-radar is 'Iglooghost', who creates intricately orchestrated, ADHD soundscapes that are always fun to listen to. While I did find the sheer speed and energy of his music a little exhausting on last year's full length 'Neo Wax Bloom' (Which I still liked a fair bit), I think that these EPs showcase both a progression and a more manageable way to listen to his music. The EPs have the same general sound of sped up nintendo music colliding with trap and club influences, but with several differences between the two. 'Clear Tamei' is more upbeat, with standout closing track 'Shrine Hacker' being one of his best creations so far, while 'Steel Mogu' uses slightly harsher and darker sounds, creating a nightscape of siren-like synths and erratic beats. 7.5/10 (combined score)
Death Grips - Year Of The Snitch
This was one of my most anticipated albums of the year, and yet I had no idea what to expect going into it - lead single 'Streaky' had been merely OK and I didn't really get 'Black paint' or 'Dilemma' at first. However, I had loved 'Hahaha', 'Shitshow' and 'Flies' right out of the gate. I needn't have worried. 'Death Grips Is Online' is up there with 'Get Got' and 'You might think he loves you for his money...' as one of the group's best opening tracks and this momentum carries throughout the whole tracklist, helped by the fact that many of the tracks flow seamlessly together. The fantastically ugly album cover is a clue to the sound of the album which has all of the usual appeals of the Death Grips - MC Ride's howled delivery of disturbing lyrics, distorted and experimental beats and a frantic pace. The main differences this time around come in the form of cleaner production and a lower-key feel on tracks like 'Linda's In Custody' and 'Streaky' and in various weird instrumental diversions. This includes record scratching over nearly every song and a spooky piano and horn section on 'The Fear', which sounds like a horror-themed cartoon theme as done by Death Grips. It sounds like nothing else (except other Death Grips albums), and though it may not be the best place to enter their discography (See 'The Money Store' or 'Bottomless Pit') it is another Death Grips classic. 8.8/10
Snail Mail - Lush
Ehhhhh. 'Lush' is the kind of dream pop/ indie rock album that I feel like I've already heard a dozen times. That's not even to say it's a bad album - it's perfectly serviceable and it seems to have it's fair share of fans. As for my personal gripes, I'm generally not a big fan of dreamy music, with only a few of the most unique dreamy albums - 'Loveless' for example - and 'Lush' has my usual problems of monotone vocals, bland lyrics and guitar effects that take away any kind of bite from the instrument. 'Lush' is a decent dream pop album, but not much more. 5.7/10
Mitski - Be The Cowboy
I didn't care much for Mitski's last project, 'Puberty 2', I found it frankly a bit boring. Luckily I much preferred 'Be The Cowboy' - although it's a frustrating listen. There is near 50/50 split between songs I like and songs I don't care much for, and while I really like the beauty and emotional power of opener 'Geyser' and closer 'Two Slow Dancers', along with the more upbeat 'Washing Machine Heart' and 'Me and My Husband', I can't get myself excited for the dreary 'Come into the Water' or 'A Horse Named Cold Air', which sound vaguely like Angel Olsen covering Amnesiac-era Radiohead. Lots of cuts fall between these, but overall I still think this is one of the better indie albums of the year, with a few tracks being some of my favourites of the year. 7.2/10
Denzel Curry - TA13OO
I don't know much about Denzel Curry's rap career up to this point besides the 'ultimate' memes and his appearance on the 2016 XXl Freshamn cover, including his group freestyle which included other current day superstars Lil Yachty, Lil Uzi Vert, 21 Savage and Kodak Black. With my lack of experience 'TA13OO' suprised me - it's one of my favourite hip-hop albums of the year (And there hasn't been as many as i would have hoped so far in 2018). The album may be pure eye cancer to look at on spotify thanks to the song names being written both in regular english and some kind of ALL CAPS Denzel Curry syntax using numbers instead of letters whenever possible, and the album is needlessly split into three 'discs' (although the overall runtime is a pleasingly restrained 43 minutes), but the actual songs themselves are largely great. The opening trio of tracks are soulful and heartfelt, with some thought-provoking lyrics - a vibe that reminded me of Andre 3000 at several points. these three tracks are likely my favourites, but the rest of the tracklist, mainly formed of bangers, is still great. 'CLOUT COBAIN' is the biggest standout with it's sticky hook and suicidal lyrics. 7.8/10
Beach House - 7
As exemplified in my Snail Mail review I'm not the biggest fan of dreamy rock music, but there's usually one or two albums every year that do it so well I can't ignore them, and '7' is one of those. It's darker, more mysterious and less predictable than most dream-pop albums I've heard, the hypnotic strums and beats covered with submerged piano on opener 'Dark Spring' and with a crackling synth bass on 'Pay No Mind', a song which I really like but also feel is derivative of something I can't put my finger on. 'Black Cab' and 'Lemon Glow' both use unusual synths to create a slightly psychadelic sound, while closer 'Last Wave' uses a piano motif and harmonies to see the listener out on a high. Overall it's one of the better dream pop albums I've heard in the past few years, even if my general distate for the genre means that it isn't a personal favourite. 8.1/10
ALBUM OF THE MONTH: haru nemei - harutosyura
Does liking this make me a weeb? If so I have been thoroughly converted. From the incorrect grammar and Scott Pilgrim-esque punk of opener 'MAKE MORE NOISE OF YOU' I was prepared for a kero kero Bonito-esque pop album with some Japanese influences but an ultimately cutesy sound. What the rest of 'harutosyura' ended up being was probably my favourite emo-rock album of the year, if it can be classified as such. The guitars on 'lostplanet' and the title track have the typical dreary quality that could be found on a Brand New or Linkin Park album, but Haru Nemei's apocolyptic rather than self-pitying lyrics and voice are much easier for me to listen to than either of those bands. When God being dead is a lyrical topic that appears on multiple songs you realise that this is not simply a J-pop album. The songs are also incredibly catchy and sonically diverse - centrepiece 'sekaiwotorikashiteokure' has raging guitars, glimmering synths, a robotic choir, pop punk 'Ooh-oohs' and rap verses - because Haru Nemei is also an extremely talented rapper. I admit that I would love this album even more if i could understand what Nemei is singing/rapping/shouting as she does it instead of having to look it up seperately, but even with the language barrier this is one of my favourite albums of the year so far. 8.9/10Wednesday 4 July 2018
April/May/June album reviews
I havent been listening to much new music for the past three months, I've been focusing on exams and watching a ton of movies, but I've decided to get back on that GRIND, so here are some reviews of albums that I've either loved or hated for the past three months.
Lil Xan - TOTAL XANARCHY
Before I start proper I need to purge the worst musical atrocity released since the newest Fall Out Boy album from my system. TOTAL XANARCHY is one of the most innane, annoying and overly repetitive trap albums yet released, both in the shrill, below-average production of flat 808s and MIDI Hi-hats and in Lil Xan's bored croak of a voice. 'Tick Tock' is my pick as the worst track here, but it is only a few degrees of seperation from what I hesistantly call the 'best' song here, 'Saved By the Bell', with the former consisting of the lyric "Tick... Tock..." repeated dozens of times with bland, dreary production. This is surely one of the worst albums of the year, and even if you disagree, we can at least agree that the album artwork is likely the worst of the year. 2.1/10
Princess Nokia - A Girl Cried Red
Following in the steps of the recently deceased XXXTENTACION, Princess Nokia has gone full on early 2000s emo and I find it unlistenable. to clarify, I think the production on this EP is alright, and there are even some OK songs on here, like 'For the Night'. Unfortunately, Nokia adopts a nasal, shrill singing style that is ear-piercing and droning, as ell as sounding like a cynical parody of emo vocals. Hopefully this project is just a one-off detour, and I certainly don't begrudge this as much as I did XXX's attempts at emo, but at the same time this is decisively unenjoyable. 3.5/10
Father John Misty - God's favourite Customer
'Pure Comedy' was one of my favourite albums of last year, so I was excited to hear what FJM would come out with on 'God's favourite Customer'. While purposely less ambitious and experimental than it's predecessor - it's described as a 'pallete cleanser' in it's online description - this album benefits from being more melodic and less existential tha 'Pure Comedy', making it a more comfortable but less vital listen. 'Date Night' and 'Disappointing Diamonds' are more upbeat and catchy than anything on 'Pure Comedy', and 'Please Don't Die' is more heartfelt. The down side is some of the ballads on this don't stand up as well as the ones on 'Pure Comedy', such as the title track which has little to distinguish it from the more melodic or sensitive ballads that surround it. Even then, this is a very good album that will surely be loved by the vocal sector of FJM fans who hated 'Pure Comedy'. 8.0/10
Janelle Monae - Dirty Computer
This is a damn good pop album that is sure to end up on my end-of-year album list, albeit one which is held back by a few mediocre cuts. the bangers on here are soem of the best songs of the year, and there are a lot of them, especially on the first half of the album - 'Take a byte', 'Screwed', 'I Like That', 'Pink', 'Americans', 'Django Jane', 'Crazy Classic Life' and my personal favourite for now, 'Make Me Feel' - songs which take the best parts of pop music from the 80s and early 2000s and update them with modern-day production quirks and occassionally cringe-worthy but largely interesting topical lyrics based largely around sex and identity. The lull in the tracklist comes courtesy of the 10 minutes of the slow, washed out 'Don't Judge Me' and 'So Afraid', which are both perfectly fine but kill the joyful momentum of the previous poppier tracks. Either way, this is my favourite pop album of the year so far apart from MGMT's 'Little Dark Age'. 8.6/10
Parquet Courts - Wide Awake
Listening to punk albums in 2018 can be a painful expericence, with constant, uncreative references to Trump and ideas that are presented as revolutionary when they're mainstream, largely held beliefs like woman's rights and anti-racism. Luckily Parquet Courts cover a wider variety of topics and with a sense of humour and playful instrumentation. 'Wide Awake', 'Total Football', 'In and Out of Patience' and 'Violence' are all catchy, funky punk songs that sound like they were created at the height of punk, albeit with lyrical refernce to online videos. There's variety here as well, with the comparitively somber 'Mardi Gras Beads' sweeping through with a dreamy essence far apart from the distorted guitar jabs found on the rest of the album. Overall it's an absolute banger and is sure to be among the best punk albums of the year. 8.5/10
Ghost - Prequelle
I rarely review metal because of my lack of experience with the genre, but 'Prequelle' shares a lot in common with other metal-lite acts like Andrew W.K. where I can enjoy the music without feeling like I'm missing the point of it. It good. 7.3/10
Arctic Monkeys - Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino
At one point in time I called 'AM' one of my favourite albums - alas, I now think it's actually pretty awful in it's own plodding, arrogant, way. Despite my hang-ups, 'AM' seems to have been adopted as the premiere rock album of my generation and as such I was suprisingly excited for a new Arctic Monkeys album if nly so I don't have to hear the intro to 'Do I Wanna Know' in commn rooms for the next six months. Unfortunately for me, 'Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino' is far too wierd to gain the lnglasting impact of 'AM', but in a strange twist of fate I actually think that this could be their best album since 'Humbug'. It's a unique experiment, with lounge-music passages covered with metaphor-riddled poetry, often without a clear chorus and largely abandoning the dreary guitars of their past albums. As such, the best and worst parts of this album don't sound too diffrent from each other,the main differences being that the worst parts have overly ridiculous and self-indulgent lyrics like "I wanted to be one of the strokes", while the best songs - 'Four Out of Five' are more melodic and cohesive. With all that said, I'm interested to see how this holds up in years to come. 6.3/10
Courtney Barnett - Tell Me How You Really Feel
I really enjoyed some of the tracks off of Barnett's debut album 'Sometimes I sit and think, sometimes I just sit' but at the same time I thought that on the whole the album was overrated and 'Tell Me How You Really Feel' seems to have been with the level of fair praise that I belived Barnett's previous album should have recieved. This album is certainly a worthy follow-up to it's predecessor, the lows on the previous album being higher on this album, but the highs also being lower. Still, it's a charmingly dopey garage rock album that may not be the most original thing ever but is genreally enjoyable. 6.9/10
Pusha T - Daytona
The first Kanye-produced album of the year, 'Daytona' set a high watermark that foreshadowed what would come next. However, unlike on the next two projects, the shining star here was not Kanye but his progidy Pusha-T, who has become the kind of rapper beloved to hip-hop heads with his clear, punchy delivery of lyrics filled with wordplay and double entendres. All the tracks here are quality, with 'If You Know You Know' being my personal favourite. When it was released it was my favourite hip-hop release of the year - although that would quickly fall to the mentor just a week later. 7.7/10
Kanye West - ye
In 2016 Kanye West innovated the concept of what an album could actually be with 'The Life of Pablo', which he constantly updated throughout the year, remixing songs, adding tracks and re-shuffling the album order. Now with his quadruple release of albums he's produced ('Daytona', 'Ye', 'Kids See Ghosts' and that new Nas album I haven't listened to yet) he's once again getting the music world to consider the nature of the album. There has been debate over whether these 20-minute projects can be considered albums or merely EPs, with my opinion being that if the artist wants the audience to view the work as a cohesive album, as opposed to an EP of more disparate songs, then length doesn't particularly matter. This cohesion is certainly the case with 'ye', where all of the songs stay focused around similar themes of Kanye's struggles with fame and the bi-polar referenced on the cover. The two best songs on the album, 'Yikes' and 'Ghost Town' even both share spooky titles, the latter ending with one of the catchiest hooks of the year. West's rapping is up to the standard we've come to expect from his legendary discography, and despite what pitchfork may say I believe this stands up as another great album from Yeezus himself. 8.1/10
ALBUM OF THE MONTH(S) - Kids See Ghosts - Kids See Ghosts
Oof they don't make 'em like this anymore. 'Kids See Ghosts' is the kind of ground-breaking, borderless experimental album that feels like it's juggling about 10 genres at once yet manages to blend them into spooky, visceral and ultimately transcendental music. From the terrififying backing vocals of opener 'Feel the Love' to the power of 'Reborn' and the beautiful finale 'Cudi montage', this is a project sure to go down in musical history. It's so purely good and unique that I can see it having a long life online and if any album deserves to it's this one. 9.5/10
Lil Xan - TOTAL XANARCHY
Princess Nokia - A Girl Cried Red
Father John Misty - God's favourite Customer
Janelle Monae - Dirty Computer
Parquet Courts - Wide Awake
Ghost - Prequelle
Arctic Monkeys - Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino
Courtney Barnett - Tell Me How You Really Feel
Pusha T - Daytona
Kanye West - ye
ALBUM OF THE MONTH(S) - Kids See Ghosts - Kids See Ghosts
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