Aberdeen-Music Jukebox Jury

[Lemonade]

I was going to post all three reviews in one post and say which one I liked best.

[Murrr]

Oops, apologies about that.

 

What do people want to do with the reviews, send them to me or post them all a week on Sunday?

 

It'd probably save a lot of maddening copy/pasting for you if we posted our own.

[Paranoid Android]

Is there any reason why the reviews must be posted on Sunday? It might be easier for all if people just posted their reviews when they could between now and Sunday. 

[colb]

Is there any reason why the reviews must be posted on Sunday? It might be easier for all if people just posted their reviews when they could between now and Sunday.

Also we could start calling each other tone deaf cunts a bit earlier.

[kirsten]

Is there any reason why the reviews must be posted on Sunday? It might be easier for all if people just posted their reviews when they could between now and Sunday. 

 

I guess it gives you more time to change your mind on an album. I think I've picked a favourite of the three but need a few more listens.

[Stroopy121]

Wait, today or next Sunday?

Xx

Edited January 18, 2015 by Stroopy121

[Paranoid Android]

Next.

[Lemonade]

Edited January 18, 2015 by Loopy Racist

[TR!ΔNGL€ T€€TH]

The idea of everyone posting on the same day is so that everyone has the same length of time to listen to the albums. That way, folk can have the chance to have the albums grow on them. Get away from initial reactions, as sometimes people change their opinions and that.

[ca_gere]

I think it'd work better if people just posted their reviews when they want. Otherwise a bunch will get pposted at the sane time and I for one probably won't read them all, whereas if they trickled in over the week I definitely would.

[Soda Jerk]

I think it'd work better if people just posted their reviews when they want. Otherwise a bunch will get pposted at the sane time and I for one probably won't read them all, whereas if they trickled in over the week I definitely would.

 

I agree with this. I'd be more likely to read every review if they trickled in throughout the week.

[colb]

I think there should be a few days between posting the albums and reviews. Time to re-listen and ponder and whatnot....

[Stroopy121]

Fuck tha police.

Water Torture - Pillbox

Stunned by how much I loved this record. Normally when I listen to power violence all I hear is a snare drum and some vocals, but the production of this felt really even and it made the music easy to follow and really get my teeth into. Fucking loved it. Makes me want to play some power violence now! Awesome sauce.

This Will Destroy You - Another Language

I normally don't make it far listening to this kind of ambient stuff because I'm too impatient and I just want the songs to get to the point, but I had this on in the background while reading so I managed to just let it do its thing and it was really really good. Some lovely melodies and dynamics, a really good piece of music. Not something I'd ever listen to under normal circumstances but I'm really glad I let this play out.

Shabazz Palaces - Lese Majesty

A good record that I didn't really enjoy. I don't listen to much hip hop or rap but the stuff I do like is usually heavier and more frantic than this. There's a cool, laid back, easy going vibe to this that is really smooth and flows well, it's well put together and it seems to do what it wants to do well, but it's not the kind of thing I gravitate towards, stylistically.

Xx

[Soda Jerk]

Aye, alright.

 

Water Torture - Pillbox

I dig powerviolence, but I lust don't listen to enough of it. This record is a ripper. The doubled up bass guitars makes it sound enormous, like Man is the Bastard, but with a little slicker production. The slower bits are super sludgy. The fast bits don't get lost in the high frequencies like you often hear with some PV. Super heavy. Super good. 4 outta 5.

 

This Will Destroy You - Another Language

I'm picky about post-rock. I don't really like about 90 per cent of it, for the same reasons Stroopz has mentioned above. My attention span is short, so you've normally got about 1 minute to wow me. If it's building up to something, that something better be an enormous, earth-rumbling riff. As above, this would probably make minimally distracting background music whilst I was to sit and read or something. It's all pieced together well, and it sounds all swooshy and nice, but after two listens from start to finish, it didn't really grab me. 2 outta 5.

 

Shabazz Palaces - Lese Majesty

Very different from the kind of hip hop I normally listen to. I usually want to hear about drug kingpins and guys getting iced, or I want rappers rapping about how good they are rapping. I enjoyed it though. It's got a languid swagger about it. The beats are more interesting than most hip hop records, and the flow is very cool. He's not spitting too vigorously, he's just letting the words fall out of his mouth. It lacks urgency and it never really gets in my face, but in a good way. 3 outta 5.

[ca_gere]

[ca_gere]

as for who chose the albums... I'm going for:

 

Bags

Jan

Noid Roid

Edited January 19, 2015 by ca_gere

[Paranoid Android]

I didn't choose Lese Majesty. I quite liked their debut but hadn't got around to this new one yet.

[Teabags]

Was I that obvious?

[Paranoid Android]

I'd say this post was a bit of a clue

 

I should point out, it's actually Water Torture - Pillbox. Nerve Altar is the record label.

[The Milner]

BOOM! Typed on notepad so any spelling mistakes are fully intentional.

 

Pillbox - Nerve Altar

ill start off by saying this is the kinda of music i generally hate.
I just find it really hard to find any redeeming qualities that i enjoy.
I can appreciate the skill required to play it, especially the drums, but musically i struggle to find anything that makes me not turn it off very quickly.
This album is a mix of 1 minute blast songs and other slower sludgey parts, mixed in with ambient noises. I'm assuming the guy has lyrics but i cant make a word out.
Generally to my ears its just a wall of noise, sorry this review is rubbish but i just cannot listen to that music and get any enjoyment out of it.

This Will Destroy You - Another Language

Within the first few seconds this is more enjoyable to listen to.
Lovely ambient music, very light and airy to start off with going into really heavy bits with lots of noise.
The ambient part of it is the highlight for me, some lovely melodies, and some beautiful guitar sounds, but for me it gets a bit lost in the really loud parts. it loses almost all melody and kinda becomes just a wall of noise, which i find a shame.
Im all for the heavy loud parts as the music needs it, but i still think it should retain some kind of song.
This is quite wonderful in places tho, the song War Prayer is probably my fav track. I love the melody of the ambient bit and the louder parts are still melodic and beautiful whilst being heavy and drive the song on.
My one criticism of these kinda drone shoegaze bands is i get a bit bored after a while, a few tracks here and there are great, but an album i struggle to fully focus on, it becomes a wee bit like back ground music for a while and then the loud parts grab your ears again.
Overall a lovely listen tho, as i dont listen to much shoegaze at all so a fine change.



Shabazz Palaces - Lese Majesty

This opens with a more electronic feel to it, some cool vocals in the first track, not really sure what to make of it from the first few minutes so this could be an interesting listen...
Its also an 18 track album so im gonna be here for a while!
This reminds me slightly of Outkast. Hip hop music but done quite differently, very airy sounding with heaps of cool noises.
This guy obviously loves his delays, the entire thing just echos constantly, but i find it works mostly, it gives it that weird feel and sound. The vocal rythems are pretty cool as well, not just your standard ryhmes and rythems.
I dunno if this is something id listen too off my own back and i probably wont go back for many more listens, but certainly something cool to enjoy for an evening.

 

Overall id say easily that This Will Destroy you was my fav out of the three.

[kirsten]

as for who chose the albums... I'm going for:

 

Bags

Jan

Noid Roid

 

I reckon

 

Teabags

Woods

Murr

[Stroopy121]

as for who chose the albums... I'm going for:

Bags

Jan

Noid Roid

Bags

Jan

Murr

Xx

[Murrr]

Water Torture - "Pillbox"

 

I grew up on punk and thrash and have a strong affinity for fat, sludgy grooves. Unfortunately, these guys combine elements of all three in a way that just doesn't appeal to me.

 

This is straight-up savagery from the first second, but I don't like the music and can't stand the production. That's all I can say, really. I won't pick it apart because this is my first exposure to power violence and I really wouldn't know where to begin. 

 

Not my bag.

 

This Will Destroy You - "Another Language"

 

I always thought that these whappers had a stupid fucking name. If you're going to call yourselves "This Will Destroy You," I want you to crush my earlobes with THUNDER, not hypnotise me with swathes of dreamy post-rock. I want a band called THIS WILL DESTROY YOU to blow my headphones at the first crescendo, you gaggle of gits. Enough of this fuckery.

 

Anyway, I had this band's first two albums for a while but found them pretty dull, and flogged both to Music Magpie for a handful of bottle caps. I, too, am very particularly about my post-rock, because a lot of the genre's most prominent bands don't do enough to differentiate themselves. The genre is crammed with Explosions in the Sky soundalikes, and that's cool for a while, but there's only so much I can take.

 

I was pleasantly surprised by the subtle changes they've made to their sound since I last listened. There's a warmer, fuzzier quality to the music that wasn't there before, and they've incorporated more ambient and drone elements. Unfortunately, that's where my interest ends. Like the majority of their peers, TWDY's build-ups are tiresome slogs, and their crescendos aren't even remotely satisfying to me. Very well-executed, and I can imagine post-rock nuts really digging this, but I can't shake the deja vu.

 

Shabazz Palaces - "Lese Majesty"

 

Often when I don't "get" an album after the first couple of listens I decide that it's "too smart" for me, and I'm not listening closely enough to fully appreciate its "genius." Sometimes this means I waste a good 20-or-so hours of my life persisting with muck that I'm never going to enjoy anyway. 

 

This almost happened with the group's previous release, "Black Up," before it eventually won me over. That album dense enough to reward repeat listens but head-nodding enough to just throw on on my way to work or whatever. This one's a little different. I found "Lese Majesty" a lot easier to get into, but it's definitely not the most immediate album in the world.

 

I think this thing is great. They've dropped a lot of their jazz influence and adopted this vast, stratospheric, programmed sound that envelopes me like a huge cosmic hug. Lyrically, Ishmael's in a completely different solar system to most other rappers, and his flow is effortlessly on-point. I can't lie and pretend I know what he's even trying to tell me half the time, but every now and then I'll be listening to this album and a line I've heard 15-20 times will suddenly click with me, and that's incredibly rewarding. "#CAKE" is just about the most perfectly-executed potshot at generic, entry level hip-hop I've ever heard.

 

These dudes are making gigantic hip-hop soundscapes that sound unlike anything else in the genre. I adore this release, I think that Shabazz Palaces are among hip-hop's most important envelope-pushers, and I think this is one of the best albums of 2014.

Edited January 20, 2015 by Murrr

[ca_gere]

Interesting take on Shabazz Palaces. I think you hit the nail on the head with the word 'soundscapes'... that's just something that doesn't appeal to me in Hip Hop which is all about hooks and lyricism - for want of better words.

it's almost like there are two entirely seperate channels in Hip hop - producer and MC. In a lot of cases the two are interchangeable. You could rap the same verse over multiple different tracks and vice versa. A lot of hip hop gets one right but not the other. I mean, rappers talk about literally trawling YouTube for beats to use on their tracks. SP is at least a complete cohesion of the two in a distinct proprietary style, it just didn't grab me personally.

[colb]

I was gonna wait, but I've listened to these albums 4 or 5 times each and I don't think I'm gonna change my mind.

 

Water Torture - Pillbox

I liked this, I've previously felt that PV was more of a being there seeing it live experience, usually doesn't really work for me on record - the production was good and there was none of the tinny/fizzy-ness that I associate with the genre on record. Maybe cos it's all bass and no guitars? Anyway I enjoyed it and although I won't listen to it all that often I did buy it.

 

This Will Destroy You - Another Language

All of the things that previous reviewers have mentioned are true to a point - but I think there's joy in the repetition. With music like this I'm not looking for resolution or for the music to take twists and turns, I'm happy for the band to fully explore the theme they've set out and to take the music through to a conclusion, which I think this does pretty well. I bought it when it came out, I still like it, and it'll be on my playlist for a while. 

 

Shabazz Palaces - Lese Majesty

When it works it's fucking great - ...down 155th in MCM Snorkel, Forerunner Foray and New Black Wave are belters, but it's 5 or 6 tracks too long and a lot of it seems like it was thrown together in ten mins - #CAKE and Mindglitch Keytar TM Theme are the worst offenders.

 

I've never been keen on Ishmael Butler, Digable Planets were wash and although this is a lot better the overall attitude still seems self-important and contrived. Making tunes like this because you make tunes like this is one thing, making tunes like this because you want people to think you're deep is another - and I think this strays into that territory. That probably sounds harsher than I should be because I do like a third of the record. It'll stay on Spotify though and I can't see me listening to more than the 3 tunes I mentioned in the first paragraph.

 

At least there's no "skits" on it........

Edited January 21, 2015 by colb