MaxIsABigKaiju wrote:

Lol imagine your first review being 0/10

I put in Radiohead-Ok Computer

DM FOR MUTUAL wrote:

6th July 2024

wowaka - Unhappy refrain
J-Rock, Vocaloid, Japanese


(Don't think wowaka ever officially released all these songs on youtube, so this is an unofficial upload)

OMG HATSUNE MIKU OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG MIKU MIKU MIKU MIKU MIKU MIKU MIKU MIKU MIKU MIKU


AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Okay now that I have your attention we can talk about this amazing album.

This is the first album here where it's not my first time listening. I'm pretty sure I was made aware of this album through some random online comment which mentioned this together with Mikgazer, which piqued my interest. Unlike the other albums I've talked about, I've actually had the chance to become familiar with this one. However, the first time I listened to this was pretty recently, so I can still talk about the first impressions that I remember.

I think the thing that struck me most about this album is how it immediately felt like a "classic" of sorts. Like a sort of precursor, or something that is the foundation of everything else. I'm not sure how true this is because I'm not that knowledgeable, but what I can say was that that is the overwhelming impression this album gives.

First thing, it was crazy how many songs I recognised from osu. And I realised that most of the songs I recognised from osu were slightly different versions. Assuming that this album is entirely original, it means that wowaka has actually unknowingly defined a lot of my osu experience, indirectly through different versions of these songs, whether by wowaka themselves or covers from other artists. I don't think any ordinary artist could have this type of subtle, outstretched reach.

Another thing was that this really feels like the raw version of the super high-energy, layered, riff-heavy, chaotic j-rock that we hear a lot today. You can hear the rawness leaking out of the timbre of the sounds. Compared to more modern songs, it's unabashedly tinny (not sure how much this is because of the second-hand uploader) and electronically generated, down to the vocaloid singer, yet it uses these qualities to pack a punch more sharp and intense than lots of actually recorded stuff.

The best modern example of this type of music I can think of is Zutomayo, who is is the exact same subgenre of j-rock wowaka is in. Not sure if wowaka was the first to do this, or popularised this or whatever, but this really feels like a precursor to a lot of modern j-rock.

Yet through everything, the osu music, the j-rock precursor, and even through Hatsune Miku, this album manages to fully stand on it's own. Not as anything I just mentioned, but as Unhappy refrain by wowaka. I don't see these songs as just osu songs or miku songs any more, they've gone beyond that and turned into wowaka songs.

Top to bottom this album doesn't really lull (I'm pretty sure I've said this like 3 times now, maybe I'll just stop mentioning this). Many of the songs are so high energy that you feel dizzy from headbanging, and the lower energy songs feel perfect to just sit back and take a break while soaking in the sounds.

My favourites are probably Nichijou to chikyuu no gakubuchi, Toosenbo and Ura-omote lovers, three headbangers of the highest degree. My least favourite was probably Prism cube, the last track, because it didn't feel that special with the usual chaos of wowaka toned down. However, I still liked it and it's amazing as a closer to the album, like this is the most anime ed sounding song I've ever heard.

All in all, this album is an incredible experience.

9/10



Rest in peace wowaka.

DM FOR MUTUAL wrote:

What do you guys think is the best way to categorise these albums into genres? Should I just give each album 1 or 2 main genres/categories as I've been doing now, or should I copy the genres/styles off of a website? I'm generally not too well versed in genres. I also feel like I could give Unhappy Refrain a more specific genre than J-Rock, but idk what.

Edit: I've thought about it and I think I'm just going to keep going off of what I feel.

Patatitta wrote:

DM FOR MUTUAL wrote:

What do you guys think is the best way to categorise these albums into genres? Should I just give each album 1 or 2 main genres/categories as I've been doing now, or should I copy the genres/styles off of a website? I'm generally not too well versed in genres. I also feel like I could give Unhappy Refrain a more specific genre than J-Rock, but idk what.

Edit: I've thought about it and I think I'm just going to keep going off of what I feel.

just copy whatever appears on wikipedia or whatever IMO

also hyper omega specific subgenres suck ass

DM FOR MUTUAL wrote:

Patatitta wrote:

DM FOR MUTUAL wrote:

What do you guys think is the best way to categorise these albums into genres? Should I just give each album 1 or 2 main genres/categories as I've been doing now, or should I copy the genres/styles off of a website? I'm generally not too well versed in genres. I also feel like I could give Unhappy Refrain a more specific genre than J-Rock, but idk what.

Edit: I've thought about it and I think I'm just going to keep going off of what I feel.

just copy whatever appears on wikipedia or whatever IMO

also hyper omega specific subgenres suck ass

The thing is every site has a different list of genres, and some of them will have a gazillion of them. Allmusic.com says Parannoul - After the Magic is "Alternative/Indie Rock, Indie Rock, Shoegaze, Dream Pop, Emo, Noise Pop, Post-Rock, Indie Electronic" for it's "styles" and "pop/rock" for it's "genre". I have no idea what half of these are, and when I look the genre up and listen to some music the genres sometimes feel very tenuous. I think I'll just say that After the Magic is shoegaze and leave it at that.

Joon Yorigami wrote:

what about my AOTY (for now)

xch00F wrote:

there's a man that live next door
eeeeeee my neighbor
eeeeeee my neighbor

Karmine wrote:

xch00F wrote:

there's a man that live next door
eeeeeee my neighbor
eeeeeee my neighbor

Corne2Plum3 wrote:

bump

Patatitta wrote:

Corne2Plum3 wrote:

bump

it's been 19 hours, also, like my thread, they will bump naturally as they write their next review, no need to bump

Patatitta wrote:

Corne2Plum3 wrote:

bump

it's been 19 hours, also, like my thread, they will bump naturally as they write their next review, no need to bump

DM FOR MUTUAL wrote:

8th July 2024 (actually 9th now oops)

Lamp - ゆめ (Yume)
Shibuya-Kei, Japanese, 2014


(Link to the rest of the album)

10/10

If you read my review of Parannoul - After the Rain, you'd remember that I was hesitant to give it a 9/10 because there was an album that was a 10/10 which was on a different level for me. This is that album.

Just give me one minute of your time. One minute. Turn up the volume as loud as you can without it being uncomfortable (be careful of loud sound jumpscare if you turn it up too high before the music starts), and listen to the first minute of the first song, the one above.

If that isn't the most orgasmic one minute of music ever then idk what is. And yeah that's how this album starts.

If you had asked me at any point in the past few years what my favourite album was, I would've said it was this. And even though I haven't listened to it in a while, after listening to it again today, yeah it's still my favourite album. Like if someone else made this thread looking for album recommendations, this is the album I would've sent first.

I honestly don't have too many words that I want to say to describe this album. One thing I noticed listening to it today was how throughout the album Lamp tries to change things up. First was their song structures. None of them felt like the common song structures we are used to today, most of the songs felt like they were constantly doing new things as the song went on, and even if the song were to go back to something it did previously it would put a fresh new spin on it. In this way, none of the songs got boring midway through. Either the whole song was interesting or the whole song was boring (none of the songs were boring). Another thing that they changed up a lot was the instrumentation. Every song had different instrumentation from the last, and pretty much all of them would blast you with a unique flavour of instruments immediately so your interest is immediately piqued.

Speaking of instrumentation, the ways the instruments played over each other all doing their own thing kinda reminded me of wowaka. There was that same, full feeling in the sound with everything going on at once. A good example of this was the third song ため息の行方. In the middle there's this instrumental section which mostly utilised physical classical instruments (strings, brass, woodwind, percussion instead of electronic sounds). There's like 15 different instruments, no two of them playing the same line, all flitting in and out all over the place. I also really liked how different instruments sounded like they were playing in different places (like how you can get sounds of your left/right headphone to make it sound like it's coming from a specific direction). It was really nice to help distinguish all different things happening, although I'm guessing this was probably just because of how the musicians were seated while recording this.

Ok I want to try and be negative about my favourite album now. Uhh I guess if I listen to too much Lamp everything gets kinda boring and samey? I mean there's 0 artists that I know of that could buck this trend, and the only album to buck this trend for me that I can think of was OK Computer. So yeah actually this isn't that negative when you compare it to how much more pronounced it was with Mezzanine for example. Uhhh I guess the names of all the songs being Japanese is kinda annoying because it makes it harder to distinuguish them? Uhhh my left earbud kept cutting out if I moved too much which was annoying. Oh I know, I guess the tracks maybe did feel a bit more randomly created and placed compared to other albums I've listened to in this thread? But then if you listen to other Lamp albums, you'll each album actually has their own unique carefully curated vibe to it. God I love Lamp.

What was the vibe of this album? It felt like it had a bossa nova influence. It kinda was like the vibe of a really chill cafe, but like really intense lmao.

Uhhh my favourite song, idk probably the first one? And my least favourite? None of them, I liked all of them. With other albums I can pick out favourites and least favourites, but with this I honestly can't.

Whenever I'm feeling down, I know this album is there for me to make me feel like the world is a good place.

Looks like I did have a lot of words to say. Goated album.

10/10

I really hope that I can find more 10/10 albums on this level, but I'm afraid that it might take a while. Right now, I can literally only think of one other album that I've listened to before which is also maybe a 10/10, although I'm not as sure it will be as this one was. Outside of that, the only album I've listened to in this thread that maybe has a chance is OK Computer, I really need to give the songs there another go.

I hope the album cover is ok for OT lol.

DM FOR MUTUAL wrote:

What do you guys think is the best way to categorise these albums into genres? Should I just give each album 1 or 2 main genres/categories as I've been doing now, or should I copy the genres/styles off of a website? I'm generally not too well versed in genres. I also feel like I could give Unhappy Refrain a more specific genre than J-Rock, but idk what.

Edit: I've thought about it and I think I'm just going to keep going off of what I feel.

Patatitta wrote:

btw I may steal your total counter for my thread

DM FOR MUTUAL wrote:

9th July 2024

Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp a Butterfly
Hip-Hop, Rap, American, 2015


(Link to the rest of the album)

Rap has never really been my thing. As a genre of music, it kind of stands opposite to the things I enjoy about music, I feel. I like interesting sounds, I like strong melodies, I like things that make me feel certain ways, and rap doesn't really do any of this.

It's not that I dislike rap, it's just never been my thing. It's never really given me what I want out of music.

And this album was no different. I didn't really find any of the music particularly interesting, yeah it was cool but nothing particularly grabbed me and made me go whoa (outside of Wesley's Theory, that song was actually pretty epic now that I listen to it again).

However, what I was really enjoyed were reading the lyrics. What I've done with every English album so far was to look up the lyrics on Genius, and read along to them with the vocals. Doing that really enhanced the experience of this album, as I'm usually really bad at distinguishing what people are saying when there are other sounds happening.

I think it was around the song Institutionalised when I had an epiphany. What if I changed my perspective. Instead of listening to this as music, how about listening to this as poetry, musical poetry. Instead of listening to the sounds, I would listen in and take in the words, with the sounds adding to the experience. It was then when it felt like something really clicked.

Never thought I would do this for an album but spoiler warning I guess

As a work of literary art, out of all the albums I've listened to in this thread, To Pimp a Butterfly is probably the best. I've never seen a narrative done like this in a regular album. It felt like I wasn't listening to music but experiencing a straight up musical, with Lamar, his 46 different voices, and all the other vocalists as actors up on stage.

With the poem to Tupac as the framing device, each song detailing Lamar's thoughts and experiences, the negativity, the evil, and even the good. All leading up to the final track Mortal Man, where we learn of why Lamar wrote this album. To share his wisdom from his experiences and to send a message. Through tackling the social issues of the African American community, combing through and exploring each one, he ultimately says that everyone should be together to face greater injustices.

But even more, this felt like an extremely introspective, self reflective work about Lamar himself. Not only did this album feel like it was written to say what Lamar wanted to say, but to also deal with his own feelings and doubts, and to explore who he is as a person and what was his purpose. We see that the reason for the messages he tells the black youth listening is because he feels like he has a responsibility to do so as the next one up.

This is not something I come across often, but when someone's own life is expressed as well as this, it is one of the most incredible things.

Compared all of this, me not liking rap really feels like a really insignificant thing.

Yet sadly the music is the thing that holds the album back for me. As incredible as it was, I don't really want to listen to it again, and so it can't be a 9. It does feel a bit wrong to rate this album in this way, when I feel like it was trying to do something else.

8/10

(Also this album is downgrading Mezzanine to a 7 rip)

DM FOR MUTUAL wrote:

9th July 2024

Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp a Butterfly
Hip-Hop, Rap, American, 2015


(Link to the rest of the album)

Rap has never really been my thing. As a genre of music, it kind of stands opposite to the things I enjoy about music, I feel. I like interesting sounds, I like strong melodies, I like things that make me feel certain ways, and rap doesn't really do any of this.

It's not that I dislike rap, it's just never been my thing. It's never really given me what I want out of music.

And this album was no different. I didn't really find any of the music particularly interesting, yeah it was cool but nothing particularly grabbed me and made me go whoa (outside of Wesley's Theory, that song was actually pretty epic now that I listen to it again).

However, what I was really enjoyed were reading the lyrics. What I've done with every English album so far was to look up the lyrics on Genius, and read along to them with the vocals. Doing that really enhanced the experience of this album, as I'm usually really bad at distinguishing what people are saying when there are other sounds happening.

I think it was around the song Institutionalised when I had an epiphany. What if I changed my perspective. Instead of listening to this as music, how about listening to this as poetry, musical poetry. Instead of listening to the sounds, I would listen in and take in the words, with the sounds adding to the experience. It was then when it felt like something really clicked.

Never thought I would do this for an album but spoiler warning I guess

As a work of literary art, out of all the albums I've listened to in this thread, To Pimp a Butterfly is probably the best. I've never seen a narrative done like this in a regular album. It felt like I wasn't listening to music but experiencing a straight up musical, with Lamar, his 46 different voices, and all the other vocalists as actors up on stage.

With the poem to Tupac as the framing device, each song detailing Lamar's thoughts and experiences, the negativity, the evil, and even the good. All leading up to the final track Mortal Man, where we learn of why Lamar wrote this album. To share his wisdom from his experiences and to send a message. Through tackling the social issues of the African American community, combing through and exploring each one, he ultimately says that everyone should be together to face greater injustices.

But even more, this felt like an extremely introspective, self reflective work about Lamar himself. Not only did this album feel like it was written to say what Lamar wanted to say, but to also deal with his own feelings and doubts, and to explore who he is as a person and what was his purpose. We see that the reason for the messages he tells the black youth listening is because he feels like he has a responsibility to do so as the next one up.

This is not something I come across often, but when someone's own life is expressed as well as this, it is one of the most incredible things.

Compared all of this, me not liking rap really feels like a really insignificant thing.

Yet sadly the music is the thing that holds the album back for me. As incredible as it was, I don't really want to listen to it again, and so it can't be a 9. It does feel a bit wrong to rate this album in this way, when I feel like it was trying to do something else.

8/10

(Also this album is downgrading Mezzanine to a 7 rip)

Lapizote wrote:

DM FOR MUTUAL wrote:

9th July 2024

Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp a Butterfly
Hip-Hop, Rap, American, 2015


(Link to the rest of the album)

Rap has never really been my thing. As a genre of music, it kind of stands opposite to the things I enjoy about music, I feel. I like interesting sounds, I like strong melodies, I like things that make me feel certain ways, and rap doesn't really do any of this.

It's not that I dislike rap, it's just never been my thing. It's never really given me what I want out of music.

And this album was no different. I didn't really find any of the music particularly interesting, yeah it was cool but nothing particularly grabbed me and made me go whoa (outside of Wesley's Theory, that song was actually pretty epic now that I listen to it again).

However, what I was really enjoyed were reading the lyrics. What I've done with every English album so far was to look up the lyrics on Genius, and read along to them with the vocals. Doing that really enhanced the experience of this album, as I'm usually really bad at distinguishing what people are saying when there are other sounds happening.

I think it was around the song Institutionalised when I had an epiphany. What if I changed my perspective. Instead of listening to this as music, how about listening to this as poetry, musical poetry. Instead of listening to the sounds, I would listen in and take in the words, with the sounds adding to the experience. It was then when it felt like something really clicked.

Never thought I would do this for an album but spoiler warning I guess

As a work of literary art, out of all the albums I've listened to in this thread, To Pimp a Butterfly is probably the best. I've never seen a narrative done like this in a regular album. It felt like I wasn't listening to music but experiencing a straight up musical, with Lamar, his 46 different voices, and all the other vocalists as actors up on stage.

With the poem to Tupac as the framing device, each song detailing Lamar's thoughts and experiences, the negativity, the evil, and even the good. All leading up to the final track Mortal Man, where we learn of why Lamar wrote this album. To share his wisdom from his experiences and to send a message. Through tackling the social issues of the African American community, combing through and exploring each one, he ultimately says that everyone should be together to face greater injustices.

But even more, this felt like an extremely introspective, self reflective work about Lamar himself. Not only did this album feel like it was written to say what Lamar wanted to say, but to also deal with his own feelings and doubts, and to explore who he is as a person and what was his purpose. We see that the reason for the messages he tells the black youth listening is because he feels like he has a responsibility to do so as the next one up.

This is not something I come across often, but when someone's own life is expressed as well as this, it is one of the most incredible things.

Compared all of this, me not liking rap really feels like a really insignificant thing.

Yet sadly the music is the thing that holds the album back for me. As incredible as it was, I don't really want to listen to it again, and so it can't be a 9. It does feel a bit wrong to rate this album in this way, when I feel like it was trying to do something else.

8/10

(Also this album is downgrading Mezzanine to a 7 rip)

considering your gripes about rap and hip hop, i'd like to suggest a post-Graduation Kanye album

either My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, Life of Pablo, or Yeezus (the latter is cool if you like "aggressive and noisy" music)

ye also works if you want a shorter album

DM FOR MUTUAL wrote:

Lapizote wrote:

DM FOR MUTUAL wrote:

9th July 2024

Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp a Butterfly
Hip-Hop, Rap, American, 2015


(Link to the rest of the album)

Rap has never really been my thing. As a genre of music, it kind of stands opposite to the things I enjoy about music, I feel. I like interesting sounds, I like strong melodies, I like things that make me feel certain ways, and rap doesn't really do any of this.

It's not that I dislike rap, it's just never been my thing. It's never really given me what I want out of music.

And this album was no different. I didn't really find any of the music particularly interesting, yeah it was cool but nothing particularly grabbed me and made me go whoa (outside of Wesley's Theory, that song was actually pretty epic now that I listen to it again).

However, what I was really enjoyed were reading the lyrics. What I've done with every English album so far was to look up the lyrics on Genius, and read along to them with the vocals. Doing that really enhanced the experience of this album, as I'm usually really bad at distinguishing what people are saying when there are other sounds happening.

I think it was around the song Institutionalised when I had an epiphany. What if I changed my perspective. Instead of listening to this as music, how about listening to this as poetry, musical poetry. Instead of listening to the sounds, I would listen in and take in the words, with the sounds adding to the experience. It was then when it felt like something really clicked.

Never thought I would do this for an album but spoiler warning I guess

As a work of literary art, out of all the albums I've listened to in this thread, To Pimp a Butterfly is probably the best. I've never seen a narrative done like this in a regular album. It felt like I wasn't listening to music but experiencing a straight up musical, with Lamar, his 46 different voices, and all the other vocalists as actors up on stage.

With the poem to Tupac as the framing device, each song detailing Lamar's thoughts and experiences, the negativity, the evil, and even the good. All leading up to the final track Mortal Man, where we learn of why Lamar wrote this album. To share his wisdom from his experiences and to send a message. Through tackling the social issues of the African American community, combing through and exploring each one, he ultimately says that everyone should be together to face greater injustices.

But even more, this felt like an extremely introspective, self reflective work about Lamar himself. Not only did this album feel like it was written to say what Lamar wanted to say, but to also deal with his own feelings and doubts, and to explore who he is as a person and what was his purpose. We see that the reason for the messages he tells the black youth listening is because he feels like he has a responsibility to do so as the next one up.

This is not something I come across often, but when someone's own life is expressed as well as this, it is one of the most incredible things.

Compared all of this, me not liking rap really feels like a really insignificant thing.

Yet sadly the music is the thing that holds the album back for me. As incredible as it was, I don't really want to listen to it again, and so it can't be a 9. It does feel a bit wrong to rate this album in this way, when I feel like it was trying to do something else.

8/10

(Also this album is downgrading Mezzanine to a 7 rip)

considering your gripes about rap and hip hop, i'd like to suggest a post-Graduation Kanye album

either My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, Life of Pablo, or Yeezus (the latter is cool if you like "aggressive and noisy" music)

ye also works if you want a shorter album

Ok I'll listen to the first one, unless you want me to listen to all 3