Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders and the London Symphony Orchestra - Promises

Release Date: March 26th, 2021
Genre: classical

Review: n/a

Summary: There's this piano sequence, then pause, then it repeats. sometimes you'll hear a saxophone, sometimes you'll hear someone make bubbly noises on track 4, and apparently the tension gets louder for track 6 and 7 and 8, but that piano sequence is always there. My first listen, I thought this was extremely boring. 2nd listen, I get it. I can understand why people would love it, but I'm a person who loves melodies and this album isn't for me. But that repetitive piano sequence, how irritating, but I know it'll live in my head rent free for the next few weeks.

Key Tracks: movement 6
Rating: 3/10

Mike Posner - Bow Chicka Wow Wow ft. Lil Wayne

From Album: 31 Minutes to Takeoff

Once I throw on this, once I throw on this, it's over girl. HAHAHA.

Rating: 3/10

Kanye West & Jay-Z - H.A.M.

 [insert clip from youtube]


From Album: Watch The Throne

boring

rating: 3/10

Train - Marry Me

From Album: Save Me San Francisco

I heard this song on the radio and though it was From Where You Are, but it's not. What the fuck Train, you guys are hilarious.

Rating: 3/10

Jonas Brothers - A Little Bit Longer

Release Date: 08/12/08
Genre: Pop Rock

Why do you keep paying attention to Disney music, you know it's gonna suck right? Well I won't know til I listen.

Review: aww man, why didn't I trust my guts.

Summary: Sorry buddy, but your vocals are lame. Reminds me of Hanson except less talented. I don't enjoy it when he strains his voice.

Key Tracks: Burnin' Up, A Little Bit Longer
Rating: 3/10

Monkey - Journey To The West

Release Date: 08/19/08
Genre: Opera, Electronica

This sounds interesting.

Review: No it isn't. Like have you ever downloaded a soundtrack because you liked the dramatic stuff and then you listen to the other stuff and it's all whatever tracks? To me, that's what this is. A bunch of whatever tracks. Some moments stand out, but too many times I'm just, "hurry up." It's not that I don't have patience. I do. But it's hard. This album is painful. I don't want to blame structure because it's not a rock album. It's made for some Chinese show so for sure, I'm not getting the full experience. Anyways, that's my two cents.

Summary: Not worth your time.

Key Tracks: Heavenly Peach Banquet, Confessions Of A Pig
Rating: 3/10

VA - High School Musical 3: Senior Year

Release Date: 10/21/08
Genre: Pop

I never watched the movies. I swear.

Review: So for teen-pop music, I just want it to be fun. I know my teenage years are over so romantic pop lyrics don't hold any weight anymore. Not like they ever did, but the catchiness needs to be over-the-top for me to like. Did I find it here? Nope. Nobody here has a good voice either. And it's a musical so maybe i'm missing the plot, but whatever. A lot of it sounds like lame boy band music. Mixing rnb, dance, pop in a blender and letting people sing karaoke. It's probarly wrong for me to actually expect more, but what else can I say? I though some of the ballads like "Can I Have This Dance" are nice, but nothing special.

Summary: In terms of music, this is nothing.

Key Tracks: I Want It All, Can I Have This Dance, We're All In This Together (Graduation Mix)
Rating: 3/10

Gym Class Heroes - The Quilt

Release Date: 09/09/08
Genre: Alternative Hip hop

Wtf, Katy Perry is dating the dude from Gym Class Heroes!

Review: The vocals are terrible. Even though i prefer my rap to have clean vocals, he sounds really bad and the singing is really horrid too. The music can be decent at times, but for the most part, it's just crappy. The guest performers add a little something, but it can't raise the level of quality of the album. The only song I kinda dig is "No Place to Run," but it doesn't even sound like Gym Class Heroes at all. It's more of a poppunk route.

Summary: Not enjoyable.

Key Tracks: Guilty as Charged, Like Father, Like Son (Papa's Song)
Rating: 3/10

Death Cab for Cutie - Narrow Stairs

Release Date: 05/13/08
Genre: Indie Rock

2 months before this album came out, I finally gave Transatlanticism a listen and really enjoyed it so I was looking forward to this baby, only to be bored to death. A quick 1-time listen received a score of 4/10. Well here's my time to write something proper.

Review: I thought "Bixby Canyon Bridge" is a pretty good song and "I Will Possess Your Heart" had some lame lyrics, but was headed towards something. Afterward, it's a borefest. Everything felt really safe. Some songs might trick you into thinking it's a nice tune, but it becomes repetitive within its own track and it's really frustrating hearing his nerdy voice on uninteresting music. I'm not trying to find a "Soul meets Body," I just want music that sounds like they care. This was pretty much eating vanilla ice cream on rice. So damn plain.

Summary: Boring and irritating.

Key Track: No Sunlight
Rating: 3/10

Dragonforce - Ultra Beatdown

Release Date: 08/26/08
Genre: Power Metal

me in 2004: Holy crap this band is awesome! I won't lie, the internet hate can influence me. It's the place where i get most of my music recommendations. ie:I used to like Linkin Park until the internet caught up with me. I discovered Dragonforce because of the internet and watch the net backlash them for it's repetitiveness. Despite that, this band is epic and unintentionally hilarious. The first two albums were actually fun, but the 3rd felt flat for me.

Review: yep. Dragonforce is still wrecking shit up. More words that get drop, "live" "free" fire" "dreams" ect. It's fast so it's hard to hear everything. I like "Reasons to live" because the melodies are more apparent. It's kinda weird that each song has two distinct parts which annoys me. I rather they do something like "Fury of the Storm" and turn it into crazy guitar battles. I don't feel that the changes flow well within the songs. Even with their attempt to change the flow, my ears feel exhausted towards the end of the album. None of the solos are interesting either.

Summary: Good old Dragonforce, never change guys. I probably won't give this album anymore spins. It's enough for me.

Key Tracks: Reasons to Live, The Warrior Inside
Rating: 4/10

Weezer - Weezer (The Red Album)

Release Date: 06/03/08
Genre: Alternative Rock

I actually liked Make Believe.

Review: "Troublemaker" is alright, but lyrics are silly. "The Greatest Man That Ever Lived" starts out with terrible singing and the addition of the choir-chants felt bland and i think there's some good ideas, but the song came out messy. "Pork & Beans" is good.

"Heart Songs" is a slower stripped down jam. He namedrops a bunch of old songs. "Everybody get Dangerous" is stupid. "Dreamin'" has a pleasant sound, but again, something is interfering it to make it less than good.

Okay, the second half is terrible. I'm speechless.

Summary: Second half is bad

Key Tracks: Troublemaker, Pork and Beans
Rating: 3/10

1997 - On the Run

Release Date: 05/27/08
Genre: Pop Punk

New album already? I knew from researching them last year that their lead female, Kerri Mack left and that bugged me because she was my favorite part. There's something about the majority of pop-punk bands with male vocalist that throw me off. They just sounds gay. So yeah.

Review: So let's get it out of the way. The new female vocalist isn't what I had in mind. I don't know if it's her, or maybe the music here just isn't that interesting anymore. She just feels out of place. I can sense that the band isn't going for the catchy tunes anymore. There's more of a 'standard' sound to them now. I feel bad for saying this because I'm not too familiar with these bands, but the album reminds me of The Starting Line or The Early November.

Summary: Maybe it's not my type, or maybe there's just nothing catchy this time around. O well. I Tried. Album really bored me. I'll still give their next album a listen.

Key Tracks: 4 A.M. Conversation, Winds Of Change
Rating: 3/10

The Wreckers - Way Back Home: Live From New York City

Release Date: 12/04/07
Genre: Country

From Michelle's standpoint, she got to make and play music with her best friend. Lucky her. But it's time for the two girls to go their separate ways, so this album is a good marker to remember The Wreckers goodbye.

Review: But without being bias, I'm not digging this live album. Country music feels phony. I was already familiar with Michelle Branch's voices, so it was odd hearing her add a 'twang' to her vocals. Jessica's voices fits it better. The crowd itself didn't help either, but maybe that's normal for a country audience.

There are two new songs on the album, and they are super country. I hate them. Nearly every track is identical with the album, which isn't to say it's a bad thing, but it makes having a live album seem like a bad purchase.

If there's one song to listen to, it's "Tennessee." The highlight of the album comes from the end where the band just mellows out for a bit.

Summary: Boring. I suppose it's a good timepiece of what The Wreckers were like on tour, before they decided to return solo, but I just don't enjoy it. I don't think I'll find myself listening to this album much either.

Key Track: Tennessee
Rating: 3/10

Britney Spears - Blackout

Release Date: 10/30/07
Genre: Pop

I was only 13 and my fascination with girls haven't kicked in yet, but I remember when Britney first came out, girls and boys were all obsessed with her. I on the other hand though she was a stupid bimbo, but it wasn't until her song "Lucky" that caused me to have a baby crush on her. Thankfully Michelle Branch came along and saved me from the melting pot of crappy music (aka MTV).

Review: Truthfully, I never listen to a Britney album in it's entirely. I do prefer her if she used her singing voice rather then her 'trying to be sexy' sexy voice. The album begins with Britney's worldwide super single "Gimme More." I think her voice is fine during the verses, but the chorus is really dim. After that, my expectations for the album were set really below the bar, but I honestly enjoyed 40% of the rest of the album.

"Radar" is fun to listen to, "Heaven on Earth" is an 80's dance song that I'm sure will get remixed to death. Her best song, "Hot as Ice" has a catchy hook and her voice sounds more natural. But there's a lot of shit too, like "Freakshow" comes off as moronic, as does "Toy Solider," but more repetitive. "Perfect Lover" is painful cloudy and the album closer sounds like shit. So after 12 tracks, the only question I had was, where are the ballads? We could all use a good ballad.

I don't hear any instruments either, mostly just computer beats and synthesizer. None of the songs feel personal either. The only song that sort of has a life of its own would be the upbeat "Ooh Ooh Baby," but for the most part, she stays 'sexy' the entire album. There's a small degree of change of tone of the sexy, but I think she's trying to her too hard and it pushes the songs down down down.

Summary: It's not as bad as you'll expect. The bright side here is that the album isn't boring. The dark side here is that the album is often brainless and foolish and the overall theme that Britney isn't looking for a romantic guy, she just wants to create friction.

Key Track: Hot as Ice
Rating: 3/10

1990s - Cookies

Release Date: 05/14/07
Genre: Indie Rock

I like cookies. This album is not a cookie.

Review: I don't need to pay attention to this band. From the opening, "You Made Me Like It," there's that typical sound in European garage rock bands. I don't really have an attachment to it, but it's not dry. For the most part, the album is joyous and anti-shy matters.

What does that even mean? It's music that won't piss anyone off as long as they don't try to focus on it. The album runs at 35 minutes. The ones that actually have a decent amount of time (3:00+) are more developed and feel complete. The best song, "Risque Pictures" is barely 3 minutes long and I'm trying to explain why, but I don't have a good reason other than I like it. The melody of it is more friendly I suppose and it's not as energetic so it's easier to follow.

There's two slow-paced songs, "Arcade Precinct" and "Weed" that are very okay. But the album works as a whole and maintains the same throughout. The vocals aren't specials. I was never a fan of his type of singing style so maybe it's just me.

Summary: I really liked the first two songs, and then I got bored. I am casually listening, but I don't think that's the problem. I just think it's an album on an angle that stays at the same angle.

Key Tracks: You Made Me Like It, Risque Pictures
Rating: 3/10

KT Tunstall - Drastic Fantastic

Release Date: 09/18/07
Genre: Folk, Pop

I hated "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree," but "Suddenly I See" was a kickass song. I never seek out to listen to more of her and here she is with a new album.

Review: Nothing close to good until track 6, "Hopeless." The tracks before it come off irritating and the music is average at best. Her voice is raspy. "I Don't Want You Now" has potential to be a massive hit. It has that flare and it's catchy. "Saving My Face" has that funky groove within it.

Summary: Not Good. My problem with her is that her voice is gross and unappealing. Even with her simplistic songs like "Beauty of Uncertainty" and "Paper Aeroplane," her vocals display a screeching sound of unpleasingness.

Key Tracks: White Bird, I Don't Want You Now
Rating: 3/10