Category: Music

2001, Music

Document #8 (2001) by pageninetynine

Screamo surprised the hell out of me when it happened. I wasn’t as into post hardcore then as I am now, and I didn’t realize how long this type of music had been bubbling under the surface. I found it incredible that music that, in some ways, was so off-putting, could be so commercially viable. …

2001, Music

Take Off Your Pants and Jacket (2001) by Blink-182

Science this band is terrible. It’s a testament to the fact that we love the music we do due to the music we’re exposed to in our teens and early twenties that there are so many positive reviews of this album. There are plenty of totally okay, mediocre albums that get panned on Rate Your …

2001, Music

Poses (2001) by Rufus Wainwright

Someone called Wainwtright’s voice a “rich kid voice” and I laughed when I read it. Even though I’m Canadian and have been exposed to Wainwright more than most Americans or Brits, I still have a hard time dealing with his affect. As I wrote in my review of his first album, it’s hard to imagine …

2001, Music

Room for Squares (2001) by John Mayer

When I first heard “No Such Thing” it made no impression on me. I forgot about it. In fact, I didn’t realize it was John Mayer until this month. When I first heard “Your Body is a Wonderland,” my 20-year-old male self dismissed it as female fan pandering, but I was at least aware of …

2001, Music

Bodily Functions (2001) by Herbert

The 21st century really is the post genre century. The more and more I listen to music from this century, the more I find it hard to categorize, often individual songs but far more often with entire albums, that throw together things which do not make sense. Case in point, this record, which manages to …

1996, Music

Reasonable Doubt (1996) by Jay-Z

I have listened to hip hop for basically only six years, with somewhat increasing frequency. I feel like I am starting to get a grasp on the flow and technique of rap, and I’ve long felt like I know what I like when it comes to the production side. But I still find myself flummoxed …

1996, Music

Morningrise (1996) by Opeth

Yet again, I am moving through a band’s discography backwards. (In this case, starting in the middle and then moving backwards.) I don’t know whether it’s increased familiarity or the records themselves, but I find myself liking Opeth more the earlier I go in their history, which is definitely not the regular take.

1996, Music

Swansong (1996) by Carcass

Apparently the Carcass’ shtick, at least in their first iteration, was to change it up every record. And that’s too their credit, if indeed it’s true. (This is only my second Carcass record I believe.) I want to commend any band that doesn’t want to make the same record twice. I’d much rather listen to …

1996, Music

Load (1996) by Metallica

I must say that I couldn’t have cared less about this album when it came out, I was only vaguely aware of Metallica as the band responsible for those videos from The Black Album. (I did not know it was The Black Album.) I wasn’t aware that they were now playing the kind of music …

1991, Music

Slave to the Grind (1991) by Skid Row

The first album from any genre to go #1 on the US album charts is often not what it “should” be. A genre usually has to percolate for a while before it becomes mainstream enough, especially something like “Heavy Metal,” which is not obviously appealing and perhaps deliberately unappealing to most people. But, supposedly this …

1986, Music

Back in the High Life (1986) by Steve Winwood

Traffic are one of those bands I want to love more than I actually do. They’re one of those bands who might have been All Time great had they just had a great songwriter. There are so many moments in their music that I get really excited about, but then the quality of the songs …

1986, Music

Epicus Doomicus Metallicus (1986) by Candlemass

The search for the “beginning” of a particular genre can be really fraught with difficulties, from the sheer effort of figuring out which albums might be the best candidates, to the inevitable bickering over alternatives or whether or not the artist is close enough to that genre. Given that no genre was ever invented whole …

1981, Music

Fresh Fruit in Foreign Places (1981) by Kid Creole and the Coconuts

Coincidentally, I am listening to the first Dr. Buzzard record. (If you don’t know Dr. Buzzard’s Original Savannah Band was led by Kid and some of the same people.) Listening to this record, it’s clear that a lot has been learned since that previous band. Nearly everything is better here than on the Dr. Buzzard …

1976, Music

Dr. Buzzard’s Original Savannah Band (1976)

I’m really not sure what to do with this strange record. It’s extremely critically acclaimed and had a minor hit. It’s also stuck in the distant past while trying, at least a little bit, to be contemporary. In many ways, it feels like a dress rehearsal for the sequel band, which I just happen to …

1976, Music

A Night on the Town (1976) by Rod Stewart

Atlantic Crossing felt like the beginning of Stewart’s long decline from exciting rock and roll singer to raspy poor man’s Tony Bennett. But A Night on the Town finds him in a bit of a holding pattern. The problems of Atlantic Crossing are still here, as are some of the redeeming qualities of that album’s …