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Album review thread [art vs the artist]

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DM FOR MUTUAL
613 posts
Joined March 2021
Topic Starter
DM FOR MUTUAL
10th July 2024

Taylor Swift - 1989 (Deluxe)
Synth-pop, American, 2014


(Link to the rest of the album)

I feel like I've been listening to too much stuff I've actually enjoyed, I need to fill up the lower ratings of my tier list at some point.

I thought about how I should go about accomplishing this, and I thought it would be a good idea to listen to some Taylor Swift. This was for two reasons. 1: She's currently the most popular artist in the world, so I feel like I should probably give her a proper go at some point. 2: A few weeks ago I was listening to some One Direction and they were kinda going hard (I'm pretty sure I made a thread lol). But then I started to listen to a Taylor Swift playlist of her "biggest hits" or something, and I found myself not really enjoying it much and wanting to go back to 1D. So yeah I knew I probably wouldn't enjoy Taylor Swift much, so I decided to listen to her stuff.

For what album I should listen to, I went with 1989 because it was seemed like the most popular/iconic one. Reading up on the lore, apparently this album was kinda a turning point for Taylor where she was leaving her country roots and fully adopting a new synth-pop sound and vibe. This was shown with the first track, Welcome to New York, a song about this change.

I think it's important to note that this is the first album in this thread that I'm listening to coming in with a more negative perspective, while with every other album I came in expecting to enjoy it. However, I tried to keep my mind open to be pleasantly surprised.

And honestly I was. I found myself grooving along to the first few songs. Especially Style, my favourite song of the album, which had a nice synthwave aesthetic. However around halfway through the album I kinda peaced out mentally and couldn't be bothered to lock back in, so it just became pleasant background sounds to exist to while I was rocking my chair back and forth. I honestly can't say much about the latter half of the album because I wasn't really paying attention (although the chorus of New Romantics did get me grooving again).

One thing that stood out for me was the simplicity of the songs of this album. Each song had a fairly simple and straightforward backing track with straightforward chord progressions. Every song also had the same song structure of verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge, chorus with maybe a few other sections thrown in between, but overall sticking to this structure. All the tracks were around the same length as well. I don't think this simplicity was a bad thing, it certainly made everything easy and digestible to listen to, but I felt like it didn't really add anything either because nothing really interesting was going on.

Another thing that felt pretty simple/straightforward were the lyrics which I didn't really care for this time around. Maybe this was because I was listening to this album coming off of To Pimp a Butterfly, but the lyrics felt kinda vapid and whatever. I think this also had to do with the fact I couldn't really relate to anything at all, because I'm not the target audience nor have I ever been in a relationship lmao.

Pretty much every song outside of the first one was about romance, with especially the first half being a lot about breakups. It was kinda funny to see Swift alternating between 😊😡😊😡😊 for her songs about breakups. It felt kinda like these breakup songs were undermining each other with different messages, but maybe this was a poignant example of how tumultuous and fickle feelings and perspectives about relationships can be, idk, I've never been in a relationship lmao.

Another thing was that seemingly a lot of these songs seem to be based off of specific relationships, whether hers or someone else's. I can see how Taylor Swift lore could be a pretty compelling thing to explore, figuring out which relationship each song is talking about, but I personally don't really care about Swift herself or stuff like this. I did pick up on a few songs specifically calling out "green eyes" though.

So yeah it was fun, although not really my thing. I think I might be the type of person who doesn't have any "dislikes" in music outside of stuff which is badly produced or literally made to sound unpleasant. Instead, I just have things I enjoy more and things I enjoy less. I might legitimately never rank anything below a 5 unless I try and actively look for something that makes me want to throw up.

5/10

First album to not be my album of the year rip.
Last edited by DM FOR MUTUAL , edited 6 times in total.
Scyla
71 posts
Joined February 2022
Scyla
omg swiftie here!
DM FOR MUTUAL
613 posts
Joined March 2021
Topic Starter
DM FOR MUTUAL

Scyla wrote:

omg swiftie here!
am I a swiftie now
Scyla
71 posts
Joined February 2022
Scyla

DM FOR MUTUAL wrote:

Scyla wrote:

omg swiftie here!
am I a swiftie now
yes!! You got that James Dean daydream look in your eye
DM FOR MUTUAL
613 posts
Joined March 2021
Topic Starter
DM FOR MUTUAL

Scyla wrote:

DM FOR MUTUAL wrote:

Scyla wrote:

omg swiftie here!
am I a swiftie now
yes!! You got that James Dean daydream look in your eye
idk what that means but yay
Scyla
71 posts
Joined February 2022
Scyla

DM FOR MUTUAL wrote:

Scyla wrote:

DM FOR MUTUAL wrote:

Scyla wrote:

omg swiftie here!
am I a swiftie now
yes!! You got that James Dean daydream look in your eye
idk what that means but yay
And I got that red lip classic thing that you like
sametdze
360 posts
Joined July 2021
sametdze
wasnt it long haired slick back white t shirt or something
Scyla
71 posts
Joined February 2022
Scyla

sametdze wrote:

wasnt it long haired slick back white t shirt or something
on the later part of the song
DM FOR MUTUAL
613 posts
Joined March 2021
Topic Starter
DM FOR MUTUAL

Scyla wrote:

DM FOR MUTUAL wrote:

Scyla wrote:

DM FOR MUTUAL wrote:

Scyla wrote:

omg swiftie here!
am I a swiftie now
yes!! You got that James Dean daydream look in your eye
idk what that means but yay
And I got that red lip classic thing that you like
Omg I get it it's the lyrics to my favourite Taylor Swift song!!!! How tf did I not realise, I am an embarrassment of a Swiftie I am sorry
Last edited by DM FOR MUTUAL , edited 1 time in total.
Scyla
71 posts
Joined February 2022
Scyla

DM FOR MUTUAL wrote:

Scyla wrote:

DM FOR MUTUAL wrote:

Scyla wrote:

DM FOR MUTUAL wrote:

Scyla wrote:

omg swiftie here!
am I a swiftie now
yes!! You got that James Dean daydream look in your eye
idk what that means but yay
And I got that red lip classic thing that you like
Omg i get it it's the lyrics to my favourite Taylor Swift song!!!! How tf did I not realise
there's 3 swifies here now, same you and me
DM FOR MUTUAL
613 posts
Joined March 2021
Topic Starter
DM FOR MUTUAL

Scyla wrote:

DM FOR MUTUAL wrote:

Scyla wrote:

DM FOR MUTUAL wrote:

Scyla wrote:

DM FOR MUTUAL wrote:

Scyla wrote:

omg swiftie here!
am I a swiftie now
yes!! You got that James Dean daydream look in your eye
idk what that means but yay
And I got that red lip classic thing that you like
Omg i get it it's the lyrics to my favourite Taylor Swift song!!!! How tf did I not realise
there's 3 swifies here now, same you and me
we will create an army
sametdze
360 posts
Joined July 2021
sametdze

DM FOR MUTUAL wrote:

Scyla wrote:

DM FOR MUTUAL wrote:

Scyla wrote:

DM FOR MUTUAL wrote:

Scyla wrote:

DM FOR MUTUAL wrote:

Scyla wrote:

omg swiftie here!
am I a swiftie now
yes!! You got that James Dean daydream look in your eye
idk what that means but yay
And I got that red lip classic thing that you like
Omg i get it it's the lyrics to my favourite Taylor Swift song!!!! How tf did I not realise
there's 3 swifies here now, same you and me
we will create an army
oh ok i guess im roped into this now
Dilly_P
156 posts
Joined August 2018
Dilly_P
Come through brat pfp
[ Rynn ]
217 posts
Joined November 2020
[ Rynn ]
honestly her songs are good for a once in a while listening but it gets boring when you play it often


i enjoy enchanted and cruel summer tho
sametdze
360 posts
Joined July 2021
sametdze

Dilly_P wrote:

Come through brat pfp
wasnt expecting someone to make the connection
DM FOR MUTUAL
613 posts
Joined March 2021
Topic Starter
DM FOR MUTUAL
11th July 2024

Green Day - American Idiot
Punk Rock, American, 2004


(Link to the rest of the album. These videos aren't official but for some reason this is the only one that has all of the tracks, in the right order, without the random extra stuff that happens in the music videos, that is also not the deluxe edition, so yeah this is somehow the best playlist for this album on Youtube I could find.)

The music wasn't fully to my taste, but I overall had a good time with the album.

On one hand a lot of the music sounded pretty similar outside of a few moments because the instrumentation/vocals pretty much always sounded the same and was utilised in the same straightforward ways, but on the other I also appreciated how at certain moments the music really captured the vibe behind the lyrics. A good example of this was the song Give Me Novacaine, where the music during the verse felt like a pleasant, drugged state while the music during the chorus felt like it was expressing the undrugged feelings that made the protagonist want to take drugs in the first place.

I say protagonist because this album has a narrative. After an opening which sets the stage for the album with the concept of the "American Idiot", we meet our protagonist "Jesus of Suburbia", a representation of the disillusioned American youth during the time the album was made. Yeah more stuff happens but I don't really feel like going through and summarising the entirety of it. I guess a spoiler warning for the story of this album because I will mention some more stuff, but honestly I don't think knowing spoilers will really change much because the story wasn't that interesting honestly.

I think the most interesting aspect of this album is it's edgy cultural criticism of America. It kinda feels like the "America bad" type of vibe you read on the internet from young people but from 2004 with the punk style of the rebellious youth back then. In this way it feels like a pretty cool time capsule of the culture back then. I also read that this album was also culturally massive, but I don't really get much from that being being too young and also not American.

However, even though this album started off as edgy and that was pretty cool, the later parts of the story mellow out and loses it's punk edge for me. Maybe that was the point of the album, at the end they do say the protagonist became the "American Idiot" they were so against at the start of the album, and maybe that's just the progression of life, but this made album a lot less interesting/entertaining for me. Overall if you look at the narrative in isolation from the music, I don't think it's very compelling or good. Or maybe I just give 0 shits about romance in music.

Funnily there's also this one song in the album Wake Me Up When September Ends which is just a random song they put into the album with 0 relevance to the rest of the album. It does fit in though, and you can interpret it as a breakup song as part of the story. But it's also maybe my favourite song?

I also really liked Boulevard of Broken Dreams, I felt like those were the two standouts musically. This probably also has to do with these two songs being the ones I was familiar with before listening to the album, but them being the two of the most popular songs is probably due to these being the most standout ones.

In the end, I do see the appeal of this album and why so many people like it, but I personally didn't like it that much.

I feel like my review/thoughts on the album this time were pretty negative, but I did still enjoy the album, just not to a massive degree, nor did it leave a strong impression.

6/10
Last edited by DM FOR MUTUAL , edited 5 times in total.
DM FOR MUTUAL
613 posts
Joined March 2021
Topic Starter
DM FOR MUTUAL
69
lostsilver
3,770 posts
Joined November 2022
lostsilver
i fully understand your opinion, and im glad you kind of liked it!
i think the difference between holiday/boulevard of broken dreams is funny (the songs intertwine, which is why holiday ends so abruptly. it's supposed to fade into boulevard of broken dreams), because holiday is just like "YEAAHH LETS OVERTHROW THE GOVERNMENT!!! WOOHOOO" and then boulevard of broken dreams is just "aw frick, we failed. well, time to walk down a lonely street" lol

also, one more request from me!!
hello kitty scrapbook - milk in the microwave!
Aireunaeus
3,105 posts
Joined December 2021
Aireunaeus
Tf why is my song in the list lol 😭😭

Btw im suggesting u to listen to “Music has the Right to Children” by Boards of Canada
Last edited by Aireunaeus , edited 1 time in total.
DM FOR MUTUAL
613 posts
Joined March 2021
Topic Starter
DM FOR MUTUAL

Aireunaeus wrote:

Tf why is my song in the list lol 😭😭
Wait I thought you were the one that recommended it but it wasn't you lmao
sametdze
360 posts
Joined July 2021
sametdze
review this album
DM FOR MUTUAL
613 posts
Joined March 2021
Topic Starter
DM FOR MUTUAL
Before I spend a fuckton of time doing a writeup would you guys consider this an album



I'm pretty interested in listening to orchestral stuff but I feel like it's relevency to this album a day thing is really questionable.

First I feel like it has the spirit of an album because like an album it's a longform musical experience (or at least that's how I'm treating albums on this thread), and I feel like I can look at it the same way.

However, it's clearly not an album right? Spoiler, this is probably a 10/10 maybe a 9/10, but can I really say that Dvorak Symphony No 9 is one of my top 10 favourite albums? And that's something I really want this thread to be, that is to be a collection of albums I've listened to specifically that I can say stuff about, not just music in general.

Maybe I can pick a specific recording of this which is a literal album, but then like there's a bajillion of these and because of that I'd have to just pick one of them arbitrarily and pretend the rest aren't eligible to be rated here because I picked one of them arbitrarily.

But if I do that then yeah I am rating an album?

What do you guys think, should I cover stuff like this in this thread or stick to more conventional albums?

And on that note what do you think of stuff that isn't like a proper album but an EP? And also albums that are like compilation albums like a "greatest hits" album or something? Any other potential edge cases for this thread?

I feel like the easiest/simplest solution is to just say "no" for anything in a grey area but idk if that's the best.

Still kinda ended up writing a lot bruh

Might skip writing about an album today if we decide not to count stuff like this, because I just listened to this so I'm not really in the mood to completely switch over to something else, and it's kinda late, and I'm guessing I'm not gonna get responses in an extremely timely fashion because this is OT. Maybe I'll do 2 tomorrow to catch up.




sametdze wrote:

review this album
This album has an extremely threatening aura
Last edited by DM FOR MUTUAL , edited 3 times in total.
Duck o-o
1,392 posts
Joined November 2021
Duck o-o
Symphonies arent albums as they arent a collection of songs

U should still cover them tho
Better than a lot of music

Anyway i recommend dis
DM FOR MUTUAL
613 posts
Joined March 2021
Topic Starter
DM FOR MUTUAL
Ok I made up my mind

I'll cover edge cases like this the same way I cover albums, but I'll make it clear that the thing I covered isn't an album on the original post, and so it won't go on the tier list or count towards my top 10 favourite albums or whatever
DM FOR MUTUAL
613 posts
Joined March 2021
Topic Starter
DM FOR MUTUAL
12th July 2024

Dvořák - Symphony No. 9 in E minor "From the New World"
Symphony, Romantic, Czech, 1893


I didn't lie, this isn't an album.

I've had a mild interest in exploring classical music, mostly symphonies and concertos, because I like things that are big and complicated and epic.

I haven't listened to many symphonies, but this one has historically been my favourite. This is also like the only one I remember ever listening to, probably because I haven't really listened to others fully from start to back (while I've listened to this multiple times). The fact that this is the only symphony to have ever made an impression on me speaks a lot to how much I enjoy it.

If you've never listened to something like this before, I implore you, give this a try. Max volume, full screen, and bang you're in a concert hall. Except unlike a concert you don't have to sit there like 😐 for an entire hour, you can actually vibe along and make weird faces and stuff.

I feel like a lot of the stuff I'm gonna say is stuff that's more general to this type of music instead of specific to this piece, but whatever here are my thoughts.

What really stood out was how detailed and intentional everything felt. Every single moment of the piece, every instrumental part, the articulation, the volume, the instruments used, the tempo, the tune, every chord resolution, every fucking musical idea, literally everything at every moment felt like it was doing something very intentional and you could get something interesting out of it. And with that, it's incredible just how many different moods are created, how many different ways tension is created and released, how much is happening overall, it's like experiencing a story, but pure music. Outside of someone of the slower parts and some of the more repetitive parts this shit had me enraptured.

Another thing that stood out was how this entire thing is literally one really long song. Like yeah some of the albums I've listened to have continuity, but very rarely is that continuity musically. But here, ideas from earlier movements will pop up in later movements in interesting ways. Not only that, but movements exploring their own ideas in different ways is a massive part of each movement. I'm not sure if I talked about this before but I think a big part of the music listening experience actually comes from when you already know the music and so can really put your all into listening to it, but this symphony utilises this aspect of music to not to just enhance your experience on the second/third listen, but to play with your experience during the piece itself by playing with ideas differently. It's pretty cool.

Finishing this and listening to the applause at the end really made me feel like I'd watched an entire movie at a theatre, that's the kinda experience that listening to this symphony gives.

Because I always talk about my favourite and least favourite songs and stuff, these are the movements ordered from most to least favourite for me: 1, 4, 2, 3.

Also this specific performance of this symphony is my favourite performance, but it's not like I've really gone out of my way to listen to other performances. I think I just listened to this one first, and it's become the familiar, go to performance for me.

I think going forward this is gonna be my point of comparison to how I view longform classical music, at least until I get more used to this type of music.

10/10

Apparently writing this took 45 minutes. And because this is on the shorter side of the stuff I wrote, I feel like it's pretty fair to say it's a commitment of around 2 hours to fully listen to and album and post my thoughts on it here. Important info for when I actually get busy.
Last edited by DM FOR MUTUAL , edited 1 time in total.
DeletedUser_32597938
DeletedUser_32597938
SOMEHOW YOU BECOME MORE AND MORE HUMAN. EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.
DM FOR MUTUAL
613 posts
Joined March 2021
Topic Starter
DM FOR MUTUAL

cr0w wrote:

SOMEHOW YOU BECOME MORE AND MORE HUMAN. EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.
What does this mean

Was I not human before
DeletedUser_32597938
DeletedUser_32597938

DM FOR MUTUAL wrote:

cr0w wrote:

SOMEHOW YOU BECOME MORE AND MORE HUMAN. EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.
What does this mean

Was I not human before
nah, i view you more as an NPC, or chatgpt esque
Last edited by DeletedUser_32597938 , edited 1 time in total.
DM FOR MUTUAL
613 posts
Joined March 2021
Topic Starter
DM FOR MUTUAL
13th July 2024

Three Days Grace - One-X
Alt-Metal, Canadian, 2006


(Link to the rest of the album)

I don't really have much to say about this album, it didn't leave much of an impression on me nor did I find it very interesting.

I find it quite strange that I'm a big fan of the more fast paced styles of metal that are popular on osu, but not stuff like this. Not too sure why, but metal in this style really doesn't do anything for me.

I feel like I can draw quite a few parallels with what I thought about the Taylor Swift album and this album, except it's metal and the lyrics are generic edgy lyrics instead of generic relationship lyrics. Lyrics really didn't do anything for me either, maybe I'm just not depressed enough to really feel this type of music.

I thought the last part of the last song was cool, it was really empowering and uplifting which was an amazing way to end such an edgy album.

I don't really have a favourite song, nor a least favourite song.

I did headbang through some of it though.

5/10
Last edited by DM FOR MUTUAL , edited 4 times in total.
sametdze
360 posts
Joined July 2021
sametdze
listen to the brat album pretty pleaseee (actually the album i get my avatar from)
Last edited by sametdze , edited 1 time in total.
NicNock
49 posts
Joined June 2023
NicNock
you choose

68747470733a2f2f692e6962622e636f2f6e364c597350642f4f736167652d6368616e2d727062702e706e67

you can actually do both i just wanted to put this somewhere
Last edited by NicNock , edited 3 times in total.
sametdze
360 posts
Joined July 2021
sametdze
wait wtf the black pencil song actually counts as one
Cerno
169 posts
Joined November 2019
Cerno
Em's new album is out, it's pretty good

https://open.spotify.com/intl-ja/album/3kjHLu1pL7tdY88GFwEkl6?si=74TCkNTMTxeUN72ykKxKpQ
ClevelandsMyBro
880 posts
Joined April 2018
ClevelandsMyBro

DM FOR MUTUAL wrote:

11th July 2024

Green Day - American Idiot
Punk Rock, American, 2004


(Link to the rest of the album. These videos aren't official but for some reason this is the only one that has all of the tracks, in the right order, without the random extra stuff that happens in the music videos, that is also not the deluxe edition, so yeah this is somehow the best playlist for this album on Youtube I could find.)

The music wasn't fully to my taste, but I overall had a good time with the album.

On one hand a lot of the music sounded pretty similar outside of a few moments because the instrumentation/vocals pretty much always sounded the same and was utilised in the same straightforward ways, but on the other I also appreciated how at certain moments the music really captured the vibe behind the lyrics. A good example of this was the song Give Me Novacaine, where the music during the verse felt like a pleasant, drugged state while the music during the chorus felt like it was expressing the undrugged feelings that made the protagonist want to take drugs in the first place.

I say protagonist because this album has a narrative. After an opening which sets the stage for the album with the concept of the "American Idiot", we meet our protagonist "Jesus of Suburbia", a representation of the disillusioned American youth during the time the album was made. Yeah more stuff happens but I don't really feel like going through and summarising the entirety of it. I guess a spoiler warning for the story of this album because I will mention some more stuff, but honestly I don't think knowing spoilers will really change much because the story wasn't that interesting honestly.

I think the most interesting aspect of this album is it's edgy cultural criticism of America. It kinda feels like the "America bad" type of vibe you read on the internet from young people but from 2004 with the punk style of the rebellious youth back then. In this way it feels like a pretty cool time capsule of the culture back then. I also read that this album was also culturally massive, but I don't really get much from that being being too young and also not American.

However, even though this album started off as edgy and that was pretty cool, the later parts of the story mellow out and loses it's punk edge for me. Maybe that was the point of the album, at the end they do say the protagonist became the "American Idiot" they were so against at the start of the album, and maybe that's just the progression of life, but this made album a lot less interesting/entertaining for me. Overall if you look at the narrative in isolation from the music, I don't think it's very compelling or good. Or maybe I just give 0 shits about romance in music.

Funnily there's also this one song in the album Wake Me Up When September Ends which is just a random song they put into the album with 0 relevance to the rest of the album. It does fit in though, and you can interpret it as a breakup song as part of the story. But it's also maybe my favourite song?

I also really liked Boulevard of Broken Dreams, I felt like those were the two standouts musically. This probably also has to do with these two songs being the ones I was familiar with before listening to the album, but them being the two of the most popular songs is probably due to these being the most standout ones.

In the end, I do see the appeal of this album and why so many people like it, but I personally didn't like it that much.

I feel like my review/thoughts on the album this time were pretty negative, but I did still enjoy the album, just not to a massive degree, nor did it leave a strong impression.

6/10
giving 6/10 to green day is kinda generous lol
DM FOR MUTUAL
613 posts
Joined March 2021
Topic Starter
DM FOR MUTUAL

NicNock wrote:

you choose

68747470733a2f2f63646e2e646973636f72646170702e636f6d2f6174746163686d656e74732f313235393039363431393636333630393930372f313236303935363737383431343437373339322f6f736167652d6368616e5f727062702e706e673f65783d36363931333530332669733d363638666533383326686d3d3537643663303664363262666361333033653361313833666464633234303763346665326166316130623835626635393236373831386531333533616163303726

you can actually do both i just wanted to put this somewhere
I think this is broken but I'll choose the first one I guess




sametdze wrote:

wait wtf the black pencil song actually counts as one
I don't check recommendations beforehand because I want to go in spoiler free lol

3/10

congrats new record
sametdze
360 posts
Joined July 2021
sametdze
fuck yeah new record bitch try beating that
DeletedUser_2024727
DeletedUser_2024727

ClevelandsMyBro wrote:

DM FOR MUTUAL wrote:

11th July 2024

Green Day - American Idiot
Punk Rock, American, 2004


(Link to the rest of the album. These videos aren't official but for some reason this is the only one that has all of the tracks, in the right order, without the random extra stuff that happens in the music videos, that is also not the deluxe edition, so yeah this is somehow the best playlist for this album on Youtube I could find.)

The music wasn't fully to my taste, but I overall had a good time with the album.

On one hand a lot of the music sounded pretty similar outside of a few moments because the instrumentation/vocals pretty much always sounded the same and was utilised in the same straightforward ways, but on the other I also appreciated how at certain moments the music really captured the vibe behind the lyrics. A good example of this was the song Give Me Novacaine, where the music during the verse felt like a pleasant, drugged state while the music during the chorus felt like it was expressing the undrugged feelings that made the protagonist want to take drugs in the first place.

I say protagonist because this album has a narrative. After an opening which sets the stage for the album with the concept of the "American Idiot", we meet our protagonist "Jesus of Suburbia", a representation of the disillusioned American youth during the time the album was made. Yeah more stuff happens but I don't really feel like going through and summarising the entirety of it. I guess a spoiler warning for the story of this album because I will mention some more stuff, but honestly I don't think knowing spoilers will really change much because the story wasn't that interesting honestly.

I think the most interesting aspect of this album is it's edgy cultural criticism of America. It kinda feels like the "America bad" type of vibe you read on the internet from young people but from 2004 with the punk style of the rebellious youth back then. In this way it feels like a pretty cool time capsule of the culture back then. I also read that this album was also culturally massive, but I don't really get much from that being being too young and also not American.

However, even though this album started off as edgy and that was pretty cool, the later parts of the story mellow out and loses it's punk edge for me. Maybe that was the point of the album, at the end they do say the protagonist became the "American Idiot" they were so against at the start of the album, and maybe that's just the progression of life, but this made album a lot less interesting/entertaining for me. Overall if you look at the narrative in isolation from the music, I don't think it's very compelling or good. Or maybe I just give 0 shits about romance in music.

Funnily there's also this one song in the album Wake Me Up When September Ends which is just a random song they put into the album with 0 relevance to the rest of the album. It does fit in though, and you can interpret it as a breakup song as part of the story. But it's also maybe my favourite song?

I also really liked Boulevard of Broken Dreams, I felt like those were the two standouts musically. This probably also has to do with these two songs being the ones I was familiar with before listening to the album, but them being the two of the most popular songs is probably due to these being the most standout ones.

In the end, I do see the appeal of this album and why so many people like it, but I personally didn't like it that much.

I feel like my review/thoughts on the album this time were pretty negative, but I did still enjoy the album, just not to a massive degree, nor did it leave a strong impression.

6/10
giving 6/10 to green day is kinda generous lol
american idiot is also their best, if any album of theirs warrants a mid score it's that one
NicNock
49 posts
Joined June 2023
NicNock

DM FOR MUTUAL wrote:

NicNock wrote:

you choose

68747470733a2f2f63646e2e646973636f72646170702e636f6d2f6174746163686d656e74732f313235393039363431393636333630393930372f313236303935363737383431343437373339322f6f736167652d6368616e5f727062702e706e673f65783d36363931333530332669733d363638666533383326686d3d3537643663303664363262666361333033653361313833666464633234303763346665326166316130623835626635393236373831386531333533616163303726

you can actually do both i just wanted to put this somewhere
I think this is broken but I'll choose the first one I guess
crap fixed now (i'm gonna have to start changing image links)
Last edited by NicNock , edited 3 times in total.
lostsilver
3,770 posts
Joined November 2022
lostsilver

DM FOR MUTUAL wrote:

13th July 2024

Three Days Grace - One-X
Alt-Metal, Canadian, 2006


(Link to the rest of the album)

I don't really have much to say about this album, it didn't leave much of an impression on me nor did I find it very interesting.

I find it quite strange that I'm a big fan of the more fast paced styles of metal that are popular on osu, but not stuff like this. Not too sure why, but metal in this style really doesn't do anything for me.

I feel like I can draw quite a few parallels with what I thought about the Taylor Swift album and this album, except it's metal and the lyrics are generic edgy lyrics instead of generic relationship lyrics. Lyrics really didn't do anything for me either, maybe I'm just not depressed enough to really feel this type of music.

I thought the last part of the last song was cool, it was really empowering and uplifting which was an amazing way to end such an edgy album.

I don't really have a favourite song, nor a least favourite song.

I did headbang through some of it though.

5/10
noice

xch00F wrote:

ClevelandsMyBro wrote:

DM FOR MUTUAL wrote:

11th July 2024

Green Day - American Idiot
Punk Rock, American, 2004


(Link to the rest of the album. These videos aren't official but for some reason this is the only one that has all of the tracks, in the right order, without the random extra stuff that happens in the music videos, that is also not the deluxe edition, so yeah this is somehow the best playlist for this album on Youtube I could find.)

The music wasn't fully to my taste, but I overall had a good time with the album.

On one hand a lot of the music sounded pretty similar outside of a few moments because the instrumentation/vocals pretty much always sounded the same and was utilised in the same straightforward ways, but on the other I also appreciated how at certain moments the music really captured the vibe behind the lyrics. A good example of this was the song Give Me Novacaine, where the music during the verse felt like a pleasant, drugged state while the music during the chorus felt like it was expressing the undrugged feelings that made the protagonist want to take drugs in the first place.

I say protagonist because this album has a narrative. After an opening which sets the stage for the album with the concept of the "American Idiot", we meet our protagonist "Jesus of Suburbia", a representation of the disillusioned American youth during the time the album was made. Yeah more stuff happens but I don't really feel like going through and summarising the entirety of it. I guess a spoiler warning for the story of this album because I will mention some more stuff, but honestly I don't think knowing spoilers will really change much because the story wasn't that interesting honestly.

I think the most interesting aspect of this album is it's edgy cultural criticism of America. It kinda feels like the "America bad" type of vibe you read on the internet from young people but from 2004 with the punk style of the rebellious youth back then. In this way it feels like a pretty cool time capsule of the culture back then. I also read that this album was also culturally massive, but I don't really get much from that being being too young and also not American.

However, even though this album started off as edgy and that was pretty cool, the later parts of the story mellow out and loses it's punk edge for me. Maybe that was the point of the album, at the end they do say the protagonist became the "American Idiot" they were so against at the start of the album, and maybe that's just the progression of life, but this made album a lot less interesting/entertaining for me. Overall if you look at the narrative in isolation from the music, I don't think it's very compelling or good. Or maybe I just give 0 shits about romance in music.

Funnily there's also this one song in the album Wake Me Up When September Ends which is just a random song they put into the album with 0 relevance to the rest of the album. It does fit in though, and you can interpret it as a breakup song as part of the story. But it's also maybe my favourite song?

I also really liked Boulevard of Broken Dreams, I felt like those were the two standouts musically. This probably also has to do with these two songs being the ones I was familiar with before listening to the album, but them being the two of the most popular songs is probably due to these being the most standout ones.

In the end, I do see the appeal of this album and why so many people like it, but I personally didn't like it that much.

I feel like my review/thoughts on the album this time were pretty negative, but I did still enjoy the album, just not to a massive degree, nor did it leave a strong impression.

6/10
giving 6/10 to green day is kinda generous lol
american idiot is also their best, if any album of theirs warrants a mid score it's that one
i love green day, so yeahh
have your opinions though!! i dont mind what you think
because im happy bout liking them <3
Last edited by lostsilver , edited 1 time in total.
DM FOR MUTUAL
613 posts
Joined March 2021
Topic Starter
DM FOR MUTUAL
14th July 2024

Parannoul - To See the Next Part of the Dream
Shoegaze, South Korean, 2021


Funnily enough, this is not only the first time I'm listening to an artist for the second time in this thread, but the first time I'm listening to an album which is the same genre as an album I've previously listened to in this thread.

The take from my very first review in this thread still stands, I think After The Magic is better.

Interestingly, another take which still stands is what I wrote about this album in another thread months back when I first listened to it. Here it is:

DM FOR MUTUAL wrote:

파란노을 (Parannoul) - To See the Next Part of the Dream

8/10

Really cool shoegaze album, brings you to that place where good shoegaze brings you to. A lot of it sounds kinda samey, but it comes together very cohesively. The drum solo in Youth Rebellion is crazy. Does the funny shoegaze vocal thing where he sounds like he's singing karaoke with a bunch of effects layered on top. My favourite songs are probably Beautiful World and Analog Sentimentalism. Overall 8/10 I enjoyed gazing at my shoe
Do I need to say more?

Damn, past me was super brief with these review/thought things, I feel like every time a write something for an album I have to write an entire essay, when I could just do this lol. Do any of you guys read these, or do you just skip to the rating after giving the first song a brief listen? I'd personally just skip to the rating lmao.

I do have a few more things to add though. First, since then I've listened to this album many times, particularly during a period when I was in Korea. Interestingly, I don't think this effected my listening experience much outside of the massive blast of nostalgia that is Beautiful World, by far my favourite track on the album.

I feel another thing that contributed to past listening experiences not really effecting my listening experience much this time around was that outside of Beautiful World with its amazing guitar tone and catchy melodies, none of the songs are really that memorable. They kinda all blend together into a massive wave of loud guitar sounds.

Yet, somehow this album manages to never feel boring. Not really sure how, maybe it's more to do with the fact that I really like this style of music rather than anything the album does, idk.

Another thing I wanted to talk a bit more about were the vocals. They're probably my least favourite part of this album. Sometimes they feel jarring, especially when the instrumentals that feel so well tuned and perfectly mixed clash with the out of tune singing that you can sometimes barely make out. And a big reason I can be so harsh on the vocals here is because they're done so much better in After the Magic. I have 0 complaints about them there, while upping the production value of their albums Parannoul also upped the production value of their vocals which is very cool.

Enough hating, back to glazing. I genuinely really like this album. It's an album where you can just sit back and lose yourself in the sounds as this album takes you through a ride through it's dreamlike atmosphere. Finishing this album even felt like waking up from a dream, the silence after the album being harsh and disorientating, because of the place this album transports you to.

Also yeah the rating hasn't changed either.

8/10
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Winnyace
754 posts
Joined June 2016
Winnyace
yo, listen to Lupe Fiasco's Samurai. It's jazz hip hop.

Here's my favorite track from the album:
DM FOR MUTUAL
613 posts
Joined March 2021
Topic Starter
DM FOR MUTUAL

DM FOR MUTUAL wrote:

Do any of you guys read these, or do you just skip to the rating after giving the first song a brief listen?
lmao 😭

This isn't gonna stop me from writing essays though
DM FOR MUTUAL
613 posts
Joined March 2021
Topic Starter
DM FOR MUTUAL
15th July 2024

Dear and the Headlights - Small Steps, Heavy Hooves
Indie Rock, American, 2007


(Link to the rest of the album)

I don't have much to say about this album, it was delightful to listen to.

One thing that really stands out is how modern this album sounds. I'm no indie rock connoisseur so maybe this style of music and these sounds dates way back, but this sounds like it was made in the last 5-10 years maybe, not 2007, it's kinda crazy. Maybe this is a testament to how Dear and the Headlights were truly onto something back in the day.

Another thing that I noticed was it felt very raw and rough around the edges. There were quite a few moments where I felt things sounded awkward, kinda like an inexperienced songwriter was being experimental, but this lended itself really well to the overall rough, "indie" vibe. And it's not like this was the entire album, they had even more pretty cool moments.

Didn't really have a favourite song nor a least favourite song or anything, maybe if I listen to the songs more I'll end up with some but idk if this is something I'll listen to often.

7/10
Last edited by DM FOR MUTUAL , edited 4 times in total.
Karmine
1,031 posts
Joined November 2015
Karmine

DM FOR MUTUAL wrote:

DM FOR MUTUAL wrote:

Do any of you guys read these, or do you just skip to the rating after giving the first song a brief listen?
lmao 😭

This isn't gonna stop me from writing essays though
I read the ones for the albums/artists I know, which is less than half of them. :D
ClevelandsMyBro
880 posts
Joined April 2018
ClevelandsMyBro

xch00F wrote:

ClevelandsMyBro wrote:

giving 6/10 to green day is kinda generous lol
american idiot is also their best, if any album of theirs warrants a mid score it's that one
really? i like the raw-er sounds on dookie more tho but maybe thats just me
DM FOR MUTUAL
613 posts
Joined March 2021
Topic Starter
DM FOR MUTUAL
Btw what do you guys think about OSTs? Do they count as albums? If they've been released as a disc or something, should I listen to the songs in that order? What if the OST spans multiple disks, do I do them separately or all at once? I'm asking this because OSTs, particularly video game OSTs, have been a huge part of what music I listen to, and I want to acknowledge them here. If they don't count as albums I'll probably still listen to them for this thread but not treat them as an album.

Also how have the views on this thread increased by like 100 over the past 3 hours? Are Dear and the Headlights that popular?
Last edited by DM FOR MUTUAL , edited 4 times in total.
Karmine
1,031 posts
Joined November 2015
Karmine
I assumed OSTs don't count because they aren't really albums. Also most of them are way longer than an album and sometimes include jingles that aren't really meant to be listened to.

There are some games that have albums with game music that isn't the complete OST though, like Ar Tonelico.
DM FOR MUTUAL
613 posts
Joined March 2021
Topic Starter
DM FOR MUTUAL
100th post


Karmine wrote:

I assumed OSTs don't count because they aren't really albums. Also most of them are way longer than an album and sometimes include jingles that aren't really meant to be listened to.

There are some games that have albums with game music that isn't the complete OST though, like Ar Tonelico.
Would you say that an OST with a CD release counts as an album if I listen to the tracks on the CD in the order they are on the CD?

Edit: +200 views now, am I tripping? Hello who are you people?
Last edited by DM FOR MUTUAL , edited 2 times in total.
lostsilver
3,770 posts
Joined November 2022
lostsilver
hmmmm.......
maybe do metallica's self titled album?
and uhhhm.... alsoo.. paranore's riot! album
sorry if i'm bombarding you :<
Last edited by lostsilver , edited 1 time in total.
Karmine
1,031 posts
Joined November 2015
Karmine

DM FOR MUTUAL wrote:

100th post


Karmine wrote:

I assumed OSTs don't count because they aren't really albums. Also most of them are way longer than an album and sometimes include jingles that aren't really meant to be listened to.

There are some games that have albums with game music that isn't the complete OST though, like Ar Tonelico.
Would you say that an OST with a CD release counts as an album if I listen to the tracks on the CD in the order they are on the CD?

Edit: +200 views now, am I tripping? Hello who are you people?
Idk, some OSTs are released on multiple CDs so would you only listen to one or all of them? Only one wouldn't make a lot of sense and 4 is a lot imo.
For example FFXIII series OSTs are on 4 CDs each and total 4-5 hours, FFXV is just as long but released on a single CD (they used blu-ray lol).

In the end it's really up to you whether you want to go through that or not lol, it doesn't really matter if they're albums.
DeletedUser_32597938
DeletedUser_32597938

DM FOR MUTUAL wrote:

15th July 2024

Dear and the Headlights - Small Steps, Heavy Hooves
Indie Rock, American, 2007


(Link to the rest of the album)

I don't have much to say about this album, it was delightful to listen to.

One thing that really stands out is how modern this album sounds. I'm no indie rock connoisseur so maybe this style of music and these sounds dates way back, but this sounds like it was made in the last 5-10 years maybe, not 2007, it's kinda crazy. Maybe this is a testament to how Dear and the Headlights were truly onto something back in the day.

Another thing that I noticed was it felt very raw and rough around the edges. There were quite a few moments where I felt things sounded awkward, kinda like an inexperienced songwriter was being experimental, but this lended itself really well to the overall rough, "indie" vibe. And it's not like this was the entire album, they had even more pretty cool moments.

Didn't really have a favourite song nor a least favourite song or anything, maybe if I listen to the songs more I'll end up with some but idk if this is something I'll listen to often.

7/10
valid, thank you for listening :3
DeletedUser_2024727
DeletedUser_2024727

DM FOR MUTUAL wrote:

Btw what do you guys think about OSTs? Do they count as albums?

it depends entirely on what you're looking for in an album imo. if you're talking about an album as a collection of tracks that may or may not be entirely related, then 100% yes they do. a lot of non-soundtrack music is like this as well, particularly within electronic music. would you consider a hardcore tano*c compilation to be an album? I definitely would.
if you're talking about an album as a collection of songs with an overarching theme, ordered in such a way that tells a kind of sonic story, that gives you an "album experience," then probably not? that's not to say this makes them any less artistic though. some idiots online will try to tell you that video game soundtracks are not "real music" and they are objectively wrong. soundtracks (at least original scores) are written with another artistic medium in mind, and it's difficult to divorce them from that context, if that was when you heard the soundtrack for the first time. sometimes you're listening to the soundtrack because the game was so good.

when it comes to threads like this though where you want to talk at length about the music you listen to, don't make that distinction, they're all albums lol. it's way too limiting and people talking about the art they like/dislike is always a good thing. this is a rly interesting topic to make wall posts about on the internet but it's also a topic for another thread

If they've been released as a disc or something, should I listen to the songs in that order?
in order would be the easiest, they're usually ordered on the album in roughly the same way they show up in the game. I have the skies of arcadia soundtrack on cd and it's like this, with battle music and fanfares kinda interspersed throughout randomly.

What if the OST spans multiple disks, do I do them separately or all at once?
that one's up to you bub lol some soundtracks are massive, especially rpg soundtracks. nier automata's soundtrack is incredible but it's also like 3.5 hours long, not including hacking tracks

Karmine wrote:

Ar Tonelico.
I haven't played any of the ar tonelicos but have listened to bits of the soundtracks (mostly due to playing charts for it lmao) and there's some wild shit on it. highly recommended
Last edited by DeletedUser_2024727 , edited 4 times in total.
DM FOR MUTUAL
613 posts
Joined March 2021
Topic Starter
DM FOR MUTUAL

Karmine wrote:

Idk, some OSTs are released on multiple CDs so would you only listen to one or all of them? Only one wouldn't make a lot of sense and 4 is a lot imo.
For example FFXIII series OSTs are on 4 CDs each and total 4-5 hours, FFXV is just as long but released on a single CD (they used blu-ray lol).

In the end it's really up to you whether you want to go through that or not lol, it doesn't really matter if they're albums.

xch00F wrote:

DM FOR MUTUAL wrote:

Btw what do you guys think about OSTs? Do they count as albums?

it depends entirely on what you're looking for in an album imo. if you're talking about an album as a collection of tracks that may or may not be entirely related, then 100% yes they do. a lot of non-soundtrack music is like this as well, particularly within electronic music. would you consider a hardcore tano*c compilation to be an album? I definitely would.
if you're talking about an album as a collection of songs with an overarching theme, ordered in such a way that tells a kind of sonic story, that gives you an "album experience," then probably not? that's not to say this makes them any less artistic though. some idiots online will try to tell you that video game soundtracks are not "real music" and they are objectively wrong. soundtracks (at least original scores) are written with another artistic medium in mind, and it's difficult to divorce them from that context, if that was when you heard the soundtrack for the first time. sometimes you're listening to the soundtrack because the game was so good.

when it comes to threads like this though where you want to talk at length about the music you listen to, don't make that distinction, they're all albums lol. it's way too limiting and people talking about the art they like/dislike is always a good thing. this is a rly interesting topic to make wall posts about on the internet but it's also a topic for another thread

If they've been released as a disc or something, should I listen to the songs in that order?
in order would be the easiest, they're usually ordered on the album in roughly the same way they show up in the game. I have the skies of arcadia soundtrack on cd and it's like this, with battle music and fanfares kinda interspersed throughout randomly.

What if the OST spans multiple disks, do I do them separately or all at once?
that one's up to you bub lol some soundtracks are massive, especially rpg soundtracks. nier automata's soundtrack is incredible but it's also like 3.5 hours long, not including hacking tracks
I was planning to listen to them on this thread anyway, I was just wondering if I should count them as albums or count them separately. I think what I'll do is if it has some sort of official release, like as a disc or on a streaming service like spotify, I'll count them as albums and listen to the tracks in that order. For the multiple discs thing, if it's all part of the same packaged but split into multiple discs (like the Undertale ost) I'll treat it as one long album, but if the discs are treated as separate releases (like the Minecraft ost) I'll treat them as separate albums. For the thing about length, idk what I'll do. I wanted to give the Xenoblade Chronicles 2 soundtrack a proper listen because I've listened to it so much as background study music, but it's 7 hours long lmao. The Undertale soundtrack at 2 hours long sounds a lot more doable though.


I kinda disagree with this bit though:

xch00F wrote:

if you're talking about an album as a collection of songs with an overarching theme, ordered in such a way that tells a kind of sonic story, that gives you an "album experience," then probably not?
I personally find that with OSTs being tied directly to another piece of media, listening to them can really bring up feelings and experiences tied with that media, which the music itself plays no small part in creating in the first place. Especially with story game OSTs, with them being in chronological order it's almost like experiencing the game again but musically, which is a lot more than what I find some more conventional albums do for me. Maybe it's unfair to compare OSTs to standalone albums in this way because the standalone albums don't have the privilege of a supplemental piece of media attached to them though, but I don't think fairness really matters when talking about music in this way.
Karmine
1,031 posts
Joined November 2015
Karmine
Fair, I guess I'll suggest some OSTs later. :)

If you do them anyway might as well count them as albums like the rest, it would be kinda weird to have them separated.
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nominomu
715 posts
Joined June 2022
nominomu
i'll put my two favourite albums i guess :3
Synthion - Fairy Tale
kessoku band - kessoku band
DM FOR MUTUAL
613 posts
Joined March 2021
Topic Starter
DM FOR MUTUAL
16th July 2024

C418 - Minecraft - Volume Alpha
Ambient, Videogame Soundtrack, German, 2011


(Link to the rest of the album. If you don't want the cuts between each individual track, there are full album videos you can find, but no official ones to my knowledge.)

After the discussions on soundtracks that we've had on this thread, I chose to listen to this one in particular because of how iconic and conventionally album-like it is.

This is probably the first time I've ever listened to an entire soundtrack album while giving it my full attention. This is also probably the first time I've listened to an ambient music album, which is a style far from the albums that I've listened to that contain more conventional songs.

However, even though there were a lot of new things and a lot of unfamiliarity about this experience, what trumped everything was that these sounds might be the most familiar out of all the sounds I've listened to in this thread, not just for me but probably a majority of you reading this.

Maybe it's unfair to talk about an album while taking into account that it's connected to a larger piece of media and so in a way feeds off of it, while other albums have to stand on their own two feet. However, I don't like looking at things in this way. I think it's better to acknowledge that art isn't a standalone thing, it's often intertwined with many other things, like how for me the albums I listen to are primarily for the purpose of continuing this thread. And I think this is something we should celebrate and fully appreciate, not take away to try and level the playing field. So yeah I'm gonna talk a fuckton about Minecraft.

Minecraft for me is a game deeply ingrained in my psyche, for the lack of a better word. It's a game that I grew up around. I used to voraciously consume Minecraft youtube videos and still enjoy them to this day, and I also really enjoyed playing survival. One thing I didn't do a lot of was play multiplayer, but this wasn't just a Minecraft thing, I barely ever played videogames with my friends outside of Smash Bros. And I think this connection I have with Minecraft is not something that's unique to me, but something that many people from my generation and beyond share, many of them to an even greater degree that I do.

And I think this also goes the other way. It's not just that everyone played Minecraft and developed a special connection to it, but also that Minecraft was a game that was capable of forming these special connections. The atmosphere and vibe Minecraft creates, especially with it's single-player experience, feels special and unmatched with other games I've played. The feelings of serenity, freedom, peace, and loneliness that makes up the vast, green, blocky world. And I think this is in no small part due to the brilliant music.

For me and probably a lot of people, what stands out the most about this album is how nostalgic it is. You scroll through the comments of any track, and there are countless comments of people commenting this exact thing. But is it really just because we listened to these tracks a lot in our childhood and had experiences attached to them? I played tonnes of games during my childhood, some more than Minecraft, and yet it's only Minecraft, alongside Pokemon that have this magical, nostalgic feeling. I think there's something about this music, something that elicits these strong feelings of nostalgia.

Maybe I'm speaking out of my ass, but I think this is because of the nature of the music. Ambient music is not something which you groove to, relate to the lyrics, or feel intense emotions. Instead, I feel what ambient music tries to do is to explore softer feelings, without any other musical things and distractions in the way. Especially this album, which has many tracks that elicit a warm, comforting, calm feeling. And I think it is because of this warmness, as well as just the unique iconicness (apparently I just made up this word) of the music, the album is able to feel so nostalgic.

One thing that was kind of a question mark going into to this album was that this wasn't music intended to be listened to by itself, but as background ambience to complement a game. Then, how well would this work as a standalone album? Well, a lot better than I expected. You can tell that this isn't just the Minecraft OST slapped onto a CD, there was great effort in crafting this album.

First, the ordering of the tracks feels really good. Most notably I feel like the first two tracks serve as a great introduction to the album. The first track, Key, is soft and dreamlike with the underwater sounding instrumentals. After that, the second track, Door, sharpens the sounds, and feels like waking up, into the world of Minecraft where the possibilities are endless. The second track also introduces the main Minecraft leitmotif, which sets the table for the rest of the album. I can't really say the same thing about the ending of the album though, the last two tracks felt kinda random and haphazardly thrown in to me.

Second, the tracks are arranged so that often one track will flow straight into another. This effect is lessened by the hard cut between the tracks in the Youtube playlist, but you can still tell that there are many tracks which flow directly into each other. These smooth transitions serve as glue to really up the cohesiveness of the album, into one continuous experience instead of just a collection of tracks from a game.

Third, there is a surprising inclusion of many tracks that aren't present in the base game. Maybe they were rejects for whatever reason, but they don't feel out of place in this album at all, but as integral parts of this album. And then there's tracks like Door and Death, tracks that I'm not too sure were even intended to be in the game, but feel like they were tailer made for this album and perfectly capture the essence of Minecraft despite not even appearing in the game. Were these tracks really made just to be in this album? If so, they really show how much care was put into crafting this album.

And yet you can still hear how these tracks were made to be played in-game. Many of them start off quiet, slowly fading into existence, then become loud and full, before fading off again. In-game this allows the tracks to seamlessly flit in and out of existence without clashing with the silence which comes before and after, while effectively changing up and establishing the atmosphere of the game. And in the context of the album, this leads to a pleasant series of peaks and troughs as you listen to the music.

My favourite example of this was the track Dry Hands. It starts off with the piano kind of sporadic, like it's trying to play the song but isn't quiet able to. And then suddenly, the song comes together. I imagine it kind of like a bunch of waves. At the start, the waves are random and disorganised, in their natural state, no different from the background sounds of nature. And then, suddenly, they all harmonize into a single song for a brief magical moment, before drifting apart once again. It's truly beautiful.

The next track, Wet Hands, is probably my favourite track in the album. I feel like it perfectly encapsulates the feeling of playing single player Minecraft. It's just a single, lonely piano part, like the single, lonely character that you control. It plays a melancholy, yet hopeful and warm tune. Even with how vast the world of Minecraft is, the single piano makes it feel small and warm, which effectively makes it leave the scope of the game, and instead represent the comfy, snug feeling of being in your room, on your computer, playing Minecraft, instead of the in-game world.

And not every track has the same comfy, nostalgic ambient music though. There's actually quite a lot of variety in the tracks, with Thirteen being a personal standout, exploring how Minecraft can also be scary and intimidating when you are lost in a claustrophobic, dark cave with monsters around every corner. Cat and Dog were also standouts in this regard. I thought they would be jarring compared to the rest of the album because I knew they weren't ambient background tracks but music disk tracks meant to be brought to the forefront, but no, they're fucking bangers, and they don't feel out of place at all.

I was honestly worried that a full album of ambient background music would be boring, but this may have been the fastest an hour long album has come and gone for me.

Even though this is just videogame music, I feel like you could show this album to someone who has never played Minecraft but is a music enthusiast, and they'd enjoy the album. Yet, it is the experience of Minecraft that I think makes this album so special. And again, that Minecraft experience has a lot to do with the music on this album.

Truly an album of all time.

9/10

1535 words jesus christ I think this is my longest one yet.
Last edited by DM FOR MUTUAL , edited 3 times in total.
DeletedUser_2024727
DeletedUser_2024727

DM FOR MUTUAL wrote:

I kinda disagree with this bit though:

xch00F wrote:

if you're talking about an album as a collection of songs with an overarching theme, ordered in such a way that tells a kind of sonic story, that gives you an "album experience," then probably not?
I personally find that with OSTs being tied directly to another piece of media, listening to them can really bring up feelings and experiences tied with that media, which the music itself plays no small part in creating in the first place. Especially with story game OSTs, with them being in chronological order it's almost like experiencing the game again but musically, which is a lot more than what I find some more conventional albums do for me. Maybe it's unfair to compare OSTs to standalone albums in this way because the standalone albums don't have the privilege of a supplemental piece of media attached to them though, but I don't think fairness really matters when talking about music in this way.
I agree with you that osts can bring up feelings and experiences tied with that media, but that's kind of my point when making the distinction between osts and music created on its own. if you listen to a soundtrack after enjoying that game, your experience with that soundtrack is pretty much inextricably linked with your experience with the game. I would expect that most people who listen to soundtracks, particularly video game soundtracks, are listening to them after playing the game. the context of the music is informed, in part, by how it's used in the game. the forest temple theme from ocarina of time is fucking incredible and gives me goosebumps every time I hear it, but it will never make me feel anything other than what it felt like stepping into the forest temple for the first time playing it on the n64 as a kid.

I feel most soundtracks are like this, especially when we're talking about rpgs, even if the physical release is ordered in the same way the music shows up in game. the undertale soundtrack is great, but imagine you've never played it. would you get the intended experience of that music just by listening to the soundtrack? almost cerainly not. most of the songs are super short, mostly because they're motifs to be looped in game. if you look at the play counts on spotify, it's pretty clear that people aren't listening to the soundtrack from front to back, they're listening to specific songs, their favorites from the game. and I think that if anyone said they've listened to the undertale soundtrack but didn't play the game, people would call them crazy and tell them they need to play it lol.

there are certainly soundtracks that stand on their own though, don't get me wrong. two of my favorites are the tetrisphere and new tetris soundtracks by neil voss. I've never played either game, probably never will, but the soundtracks unironically have some of the best idm/breakbeat tracks from the late 90s. the minecraft soundtrack is another good example, the game's so open that any context provided to the music from the game is going to be pretty blurry. another really cool quality about it is that it's so heavily influenced by one specific artist. it's hard to recommend music to someone whose favorite song is something like one winged angel without just recommending boss themes from other video games, but if you like the minecraft soundtrack, you really, really, need to listen to music for airports by brian eno.

at the end of the day tho this doesn't really matter since it's all art and your own enjoyment and interpretation of said art is the only thing that does matter. personally if you ask me for my top 10 albums of all time, soundtracks won't be on that list. but if you ask about my top 10 songs of all time, that's a different story.

DM FOR MUTUAL wrote:

Even though this is just videogame music, I feel like you could show this album to someone who has never played Minecraft but is a music enthusiast, and they'd enjoy the album. Yet, it is the experience of Minecraft that I think makes this album so special. And again, that Minecraft experience has a lot to do with the music on this album.
lmao honestly when I talk to people about ambient music I'll usually recommend the minecraft soundtrack if I can
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Farfocele
1,101 posts
Joined April 2020
Farfocele
listen to Celeste's OST
DM FOR MUTUAL
613 posts
Joined March 2021
Topic Starter
DM FOR MUTUAL
17th July 2024

moff-P - High Collar Record
Shoegaze, J-Rock, Vocaloid, Japanese, 2012


(Link to the rest of the album. No clue if this is an official upload or not, it's probably not.)

Not much to say about this album, I was just enjoying myself and vibing along with it.

Interestingly, this is probably the most unknown thing I've listened to on this thread so far. The song with the most views in this album playlist was flashback, 0217, and that's probably mostly it's on Mikgazer.

The variety on the album was pretty cool.

My favourite tracks were probably Water room, Water moon (the 6th track) and それでも僕は歌を唄う (the 7th track).

Vocaloid shoegaze gotta be one of my favourite things fr fr

8/10
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Patatitta
1,380 posts
Joined February 2020
Patatitta
read title, "vocaloid shoegaze gotta be one of my favourite things fr"

I thought to myself, this must be a 10 then

see review

8/10
DM FOR MUTUAL
613 posts
Joined March 2021
Topic Starter
DM FOR MUTUAL

Patatitta wrote:

read title, "vocaloid shoegaze gotta be one of my favourite things fr"

I thought to myself, this must be a 10 then

see review

8/10
👍
Karmine
1,031 posts
Joined November 2015
Karmine

Patatitta wrote:

read title, "vocaloid shoegaze gotta be one of my favourite things fr"

I thought to myself, this must be a 10 then

see review

8/10
Last edited by Karmine , edited 1 time in total.
DM FOR MUTUAL
613 posts
Joined March 2021
Topic Starter
DM FOR MUTUAL
18th July 2024

Radiohead - Pablo Honey
Grunge, Alt-Rock, British, 1993


(Link to the rest of the album)

After OK Computer, I've decided listen to a bunch more Radiohead albums. And I thought that if I were going to end up listening to all of them, why not go in chronological order. So this is Radiohead's first studio album, Pablo Honey.

It was interesting to see how different this was compared to OK Computer. Compared to whatever they were doing in OK Computer, this album feels a lot more straightforward and conventional. I was kinda taken aback at how straightforward and cheery/energetic some of these songs were lol. Like did these guys really go on to make OK Computer? That's some crazy character development.

I honestly didn't enjoy this album as much as OK Computer. While OK Computer feels like a really special album, this one was just enjoyable to listen to, but nothing special. Outside of the first two and last two tracks which I really liked, I honestly didn't feel much for the rest of the tracks.

Uhh I honestly don't have much more to say, expect more Radiohead albums in the future I guess.

7/10

I'm actually so hyped for Camellia tomorrow
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DM FOR MUTUAL
613 posts
Joined March 2021
Topic Starter
DM FOR MUTUAL
Didn't get to finish the camellia album today, I really want to watch Akolibed's stream now

EPic album thoguh
ClevelandsMyBro
880 posts
Joined April 2018
ClevelandsMyBro

DM FOR MUTUAL wrote:

I really want to watch Akolibed's stream now
i've sat here trying to log on to my twitch account for the past hour because the 2fa code wont send to my phone and apparently they use authy or whatever the fuck so now i made a new authy account but apparently twitch already made one for you which i dont even know about and now im sat here hearing hitsounds and occasional russian mumbling in the background not knowing what to do.
MangaGrumpy
373 posts
Joined May 2022
MangaGrumpy
i put in Gorillaz - Gorillaz (2001)
Corne2Plum3
Global Moderator
1,868 posts
Joined November 2019
Corne2Plum3

DM FOR MUTUAL wrote:

Didn't get to finish the camellia album today, I really want to watch Akolibed's stream now

EPic album thoguh
+2 pp
DM FOR MUTUAL
613 posts
Joined March 2021
Topic Starter
DM FOR MUTUAL
19th July 2024 (20th now because of Akolibed)

Camellia - U.U.F.O.
Hardcore, Japanese, 2021



(This was literally me for 2 whole hours split into two sessions, I'm surprised I don't have a headache)

Holy moly

As many of you probably have, I found Camellia through osu, and have enjoyed many of their songs to the point I will occasionally seek them out to listen to them. However, this was the first time I've ever listened to a full Camellia album.

At two hours long, this is by far the longest album I've listened to on this thread, the rest all being around one hours long. I was pretty intimidated and apprehensive about the length at first, but the album was so rich and full that I was never bored. Maybe the fact that I listened to this album over two different sessions helped as well. I think this was also the first time I've ever stopped listening to an album halfway through and picked up where I left off later. In the future, I'd like to avoid doing this though, I think there would probably be albums where doing this could lessen the experience for me, though this album wasn't one of them.

What really stood out about this album was how whimsical and fun it was. Each track played with it's own, unique, fun idea which you could tell from the title, and they all sounded like Camellia was just having fun exploring all these different ideas. To a song incorporating Russian bass, to a song exploring an alien jungle dance party, to a literal osu meme song and a "furrycore" song, the one thematic throughline through all of this madness was that every track was a fun, mad adventure, and I guess like aliens and other mysterious stuff. It was also really cool to see Camellia really able to capture the vibe of whatever unique ideas they were playing around with.

Adding onto that, there was an incredible amount of variety of this album. It was two hours long, but throughout these two hours Camellia somehow manages to explore like every single fast paced EDM genre in existence, and put his unique Camellia spin on it, a big reason why this album felt so full and never boring.

Another thing that really stood out was the amount of detail that you could gleam and things to engage with as a listener. I feel like a lot of the best music has this aspect, where you kind of cognitively engage with the music instead of just vibing along. Well Camellia isn't exactly Kendrick Lamar or Dvorak in this regard, I found myself having a lot of fun finding details in Camellia's music, from what exactly he did to play with certain ideas/genres, to how tracks 22 and 23 felt like spiritual successors or at least took inspiration from Exit this Earth's Atomosphere and GHOST respectively, two of Camellia's previous tracks, to how you could hear the Toby Fox influence in Myths You Forgot as well as the specific contributions of the other artists featured (the lineup was crazy, he got BTMC to do some vocals? And 8bitdrummer on the drums?), to all of the little sounds making references to certain things, especially in WYSI, and even to a little bit of Chopin's Fantaisie-Impromptu in Electromagnetic Stealth Girl Born In Philadelphia (although I may be tripping about this one).

And tying all this together is the fact that Camellia is incredible at composing music. From the highs and lows of the music, to how he plays with different musical ideas, to how he keeps the whole song fresh and changing, to the detail of the instrumentation, to how everything in the song builds up to the patented "Camellia" drop at the end which makes me literally forget that anything else exists, it's all so good.

Yeah uh I liked this album a lot.

9/10

Btw I'm not exactly and EDM expert so I had trouble with what to put as the genre of this album. It also didn't help that Camellia basically listed a different genre for each track. In the end I settled on "J-Core", because looking at other J-Core artists you see artist like T+Pazolite, REDALiCE, LAaur, Kobaryo etc, super rhythm gamey EDM artists that I feel like Camellia would fit into for generalisation purposes. Please enlighten me if this in incorrect or if there's a better way to label this album than just "EDM".

Edit: Changed to "Hardcore".

And I think that this album fully cements the fact that I want to explore more J-Core in the future. I've listened to so much of it just playing osu, and I'm ready to take that next step as an osu gamer.
Last edited by DM FOR MUTUAL , edited 3 times in total.
DM FOR MUTUAL
613 posts
Joined March 2021
Topic Starter
DM FOR MUTUAL

MaxIsABigKaiju wrote:

i put in Gorillaz - Gorillaz (2001)
I already added it to the list
Karmine
1,031 posts
Joined November 2015
Karmine
Instead of J-core I'd just call it hardcore, it's less specific.
Banger btw.
DM FOR MUTUAL
613 posts
Joined March 2021
Topic Starter
DM FOR MUTUAL
I wonder if miku being in one of the tracks is enough to summon marco
Patatitta
1,380 posts
Joined February 2020
Patatitta
honestly i'm mixed on camellia, from time to time they release a song that IS peak but their average song quality is not that good?, I did try to listen to that album before when it came out, but I just didn't really get into it, in terms of hardcore EDM/osu songs, I much prefeer kobaryo
Last edited by Patatitta , edited 1 time in total.
Karmine
1,031 posts
Joined November 2015
Karmine

Patatitta wrote:

honestly i'm mixed on camellia, from time to time they release that IS peak but their average song quality is not that good?, I did try to listen to that album before when it came out, but I just didn't really get into it, in terms of hardcore EDM/osu songs, I much prefeer kobaryo
Yeah he releases a lot of stuff, most is mid and some great.
Kobaryo is amazing.
DM FOR MUTUAL
613 posts
Joined March 2021
Topic Starter
DM FOR MUTUAL
20th July 2024 (2 today because I want to catch up from skipping yesterday)

Lamp - 恋​人​へ (For Lovers)
Shibuya-Kei, Japanese, 2004


(Link to the rest of the album)

This album makes me simultaneously feel like I'm in love we've just started dating and everything is peachy, and depressed because I've never been in a relationship before.

9/10
Last edited by DM FOR MUTUAL , edited 3 times in total.
DM FOR MUTUAL
613 posts
Joined March 2021
Topic Starter
DM FOR MUTUAL

Karmine wrote:

Instead of J-core I'd just call it hardcore, it's less specific.
Banger btw.
Would you also say the other rhythm game edm artists fall into the same genre?
Karmine
1,031 posts
Joined November 2015
Karmine

DM FOR MUTUAL wrote:

Karmine wrote:

Instead of J-core I'd just call it hardcore, it's less specific.
Banger btw.
Would you also say the other rhythm game edm artists fall into the same genre?
Depends which but in general yeah, there's speedcore, jcore, gabber etc. All can be grouped under the hardcore umbrella.
Some don't really do that (like tomosuke) but then there's other genres that would describe whatever they do.

EDM also works but it's so vague it encompasses basically everything so not exactly useful.
Corne2Plum3
Global Moderator
1,868 posts
Joined November 2019
Corne2Plum3
imo I would just label Camellia's U.U.F.O album as EDM, given the large amount of genres covered. For example I don't think the hardbass one could fit in "J-core"
DM FOR MUTUAL
613 posts
Joined March 2021
Topic Starter
DM FOR MUTUAL

Karmine wrote:

EDM also works but it's so vague it encompasses basically everything so not exactly useful.
Yeah that's why I didn't want to label it as EDM, because it feels like labelling every rock album I've listened to as "rock". I feel like I'd want to be more specific than that.

Maybe I could say that it's "various EDM genres" and not include it as a genre for my favourite albums of each genre.
DeletedUser_2024727
DeletedUser_2024727
edm is accurate as like a collective genre label for something like a camellia album where all of the tracks can vary wildly between them and within themselves, you might have one track that's mostly dnb, or hardcore, or some kinda -step. they're basically compilations. I think j-core is useful in the same way, I like to use j-core to describe edm that sounds like it should be in a rhythm game. rhythm gaming has been the primary influence on how j-core has evolved over the years, and this is kinda uniquely japanese, or at least has been for a while. obviously some j-core artists make hardcore tracks but these are very very different forms of hardcore when compared to the more european styles of hardcore like the outside agency or obsidian

Patatitta wrote:

honestly i'm mixed on camellia, from time to time they release a song that IS peak but their average song quality is not that good?, I did try to listen to that album before when it came out, but I just didn't really get into it, in terms of hardcore EDM/osu songs, I much prefeer kobaryo
it's insane to me that his albums audibly clip on spotify/bandcamp, he's pretty awful generally imo. kobaryo rips, big fan of t+paz too. I don't listen to j-core all that often but if/when I do, it's usually to check out a new kobaryo or t+paz album
MangaGrumpy
373 posts
Joined May 2022
MangaGrumpy

DM FOR MUTUAL wrote:

MaxIsABigKaiju wrote:

i put in Gorillaz - Gorillaz (2001)
I already added it to the list
Oh
DM FOR MUTUAL
613 posts
Joined March 2021
Topic Starter
DM FOR MUTUAL
This isn't an album but I'll give my thoughts on it

porejiikt - い自分を 守-


It was pretty cool sounding, especially after 2:55 with the volume turned way up. Outside of that it didn't really feel like the track had that much to offer. It was pretty samey throughout it's entire runtime, and it also didn't really feel like it really went anywhere or did anything interesting. Although I could definitely tell there was some effort in this department, it wasn't enough, and it could've definitely been composed better in that sense maybe idk.

6/10
DM FOR MUTUAL
613 posts
Joined March 2021
Topic Starter
DM FOR MUTUAL
21st July 2024

MALIKLIYA - 誄:Condolence
Prog Metal, Japanese, 2019


(Link to the rest of the album)

Don't have too much to say about this, it was pretty epic.

This album kinda reminded me of Ne Obliviscaris. Not just with the songs like 葬:Burial, but in how the songs seemingly went and did whatever they wanted without adhering to much, and how the melodic parts felt like it was written more as formality to whatever was going on a lot of the time instead of the star.

Also not sure how it never occurred to me how shoegaze guitars would fit really well with this style of metal even though in my head I put them in the same category of "loud sound music".

7/10

I feel like this album is kinda in a weird spot because I don't like it as much as the 8/10s but I like it more than the 7/10s

(Note from the future: It was bothering me enough that it spawned it's own tier.)
Last edited by DM FOR MUTUAL , edited 5 times in total.
DM FOR MUTUAL
613 posts
Joined March 2021
Topic Starter
DM FOR MUTUAL
What do you guys think of me splitting the 9/10s into two separate tiers and shifting everything else down one? Not sure if I'll ever use the 4/10 or 1/10 rating with my current rating system.

Like this:


9/10 is empty until 10/10 fills up and stuff gets shoved down

Edit: Actually you know what I don't care about opinions anymore I like this

New rating scale:
10 - My top 10 favourite albums
9 - I liked it nearly as much as a 10/10 but unfortunately it lands outside my top 10 favourite albums
8 - One of my favourites, I want to listen to it again and again, but not a 10/10 or a 9/10
7 - It was pretty epic and I liked the whole album, but not as much as a 8/10. I'm still very interested in checking out the artist's other works
6 - It was kinda epic, but I didn't like it as much as an 7/10 nor do I feel like checking out the artist other works
5 - It was cool, still enjoyed it
4 - It was forgettable and left no impression but I ultimately still enjoyed it
3 - It left a slightly sour taste in my mouth
2 - I have a straight up negative impression of this
1 - My top 5 least favourite albums
Last edited by DM FOR MUTUAL , edited 4 times in total.
Kaaruumii
860 posts
Joined November 2021
Kaaruumii
aireus latest song is booger banger my ladies go listyen now

Aireunaeus
3,105 posts
Joined December 2021
Aireunaeus

Kaaruumii wrote:

aireus latest song is booger banger my ladies go listyen now

Lmaoooooo
Patatitta
1,380 posts
Joined February 2020
Patatitta
man your rating structure is weird, for me

7/10 is mid, something you would listen to, enjoy it, but maybe not come back to it, it's mediocre

below 5 is you couldn't finish it and if you did it was only because it was that short

top 10 is just peak, no need for it to be a top 10 or whatever, just peak



the rest, you can figure out with those refence points
DM FOR MUTUAL
613 posts
Joined March 2021
Topic Starter
DM FOR MUTUAL

Patatitta wrote:

man your rating structure is weird, for me

7/10 is mid, something you would listen to, enjoy it, but maybe not come back to it, it's mediocre

below 5 is you couldn't finish it and if you did it was only because it was that short

top 10 is just peak, no need for it to be a top 10 or whatever, just peak



the rest, you can figure out with those refence points
yeah the 10/10 and 9/10 thing is weird but I've been rating other media similarly for a while

7/10 has always been decent, mid has always been like 4-6 for me. I think it's definitely shifted down from how I usually rate though, but because I have the entire scale from 1-10, I'm gonna use all of it.
lostsilver
3,770 posts
Joined November 2022
lostsilver
you can deny this one if you want but can you do you get what you give - zac brown band?
sorry if i'm requesting alot
DM FOR MUTUAL
613 posts
Joined March 2021
Topic Starter
DM FOR MUTUAL

lostsilver wrote:

you can deny this one if you want but can you do you get what you give - zac brown band?
sorry if i'm requesting alot
dw if it's an artist that I haven't listened to before and you aren't doing like 10 requests then I'll probably listen to it
z0z
521 posts
Joined February 2018
z0z
wac - ongaku
Dilly_P
156 posts
Joined August 2018
Dilly_P
Preacher’s Daughter - Ethel Cain
DM FOR MUTUAL
613 posts
Joined March 2021
Topic Starter
DM FOR MUTUAL
22st July 2024

9mice - ASPHALT
Russian Hip-Hop, Russian, 2023


(Link to the rest of the album)

In order to honour the new rank 1 osu standard player 9MlCE, I decided to listen to a 9mice album.

I didn't know where to start so I just listened to the one that was the highest rated on rateyourmusic.

And uhhhh yeah this is the first time I'm not gonna finish an album.

I can't get into it at all when I try to give it my full attention, it sounds so goofy.

Maybe 9mice is a lyrical genius but I can't tell because I don't speak Russian.

If someone convinces me whatever is going on in this album is actually epic and worth listening to I will give it another listen, maybe this is just an acquired taste I need to get used to.

3/10

Edit: I finished the album while browsing reddit, it was fine as background noise. Maybe through exposure I can upgrade this to a 4
Last edited by DM FOR MUTUAL , edited 2 times in total.
Kobold84
Global Moderator
1,542 posts
Joined September 2013
Kobold84
IOSYS - ワァオ！ ハイパー電波チャン
DeletedUser_2024727
DeletedUser_2024727
seconding iosys, BANGER album
lostsilver
3,770 posts
Joined November 2022
lostsilver

DM FOR MUTUAL wrote:

lostsilver wrote:

you can deny this one if you want but can you do you get what you give - zac brown band?
sorry if i'm requesting alot
dw if it's an artist that I haven't listened to before and you aren't doing like 10 requests then I'll probably listen to it
ok! thx for the info ^^
Polyspora
475 posts
Joined September 2019
Polyspora
ok so am I supposed to recommend an album or song?
DM FOR MUTUAL
613 posts
Joined March 2021
Topic Starter
DM FOR MUTUAL

Polyspora wrote:

ok so am I supposed to recommend an album or song?
albums




I'm wondering if in terms of audio quality there's something better I can do than just watching random youtube videos using a random pair of earphones that I'm not sure where I got but sound better than the samsung ones that come with your phone

Is it even worth bothering looking into this audiophile stuff?
Last edited by DM FOR MUTUAL , edited 1 time in total.
Karmine
1,031 posts
Joined November 2015
Karmine

DM FOR MUTUAL wrote:

Polyspora wrote:

ok so am I supposed to recommend an album or song?
albums




I'm wondering if in terms of audio quality there's something better I can do than just watching random youtube videos using a random pair of earphones that I'm not sure where I got but sound better than the samsung ones that come with your phone

Is it even worth bothering looking into this audiophile stuff?
It's probably fine as long as the audio isn't trash quality, even cheap earphones from known brands are decent nowadays.
Quality of the audio file is the easiest you can act on and costs nothing, there's no point having good audio equipment if you listen to 96kbps mp3 files.
reffty_gag
407 posts
Joined July 2023
reffty_gag
xi - Parousia
z0z
521 posts
Joined February 2018
z0z

z0z wrote:

wac - ongaku
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