Harry Styles - Harry's House

Release Date:  May 20th, 2022

Out of the 5, Harry seems to be the most successful.

Review:  It's hard to not have some sort of preconceived notion of what this guy is. When he came out with "Sign of the Times," I was confused on some of the praised he got because to me, it sounded like a tryhard 70's ripoff. I didn't like "Adore you" and "Watermelon Sugar" was gibberish. This album, I couldn't escape the songs on the radio. Funny enough, I kept hearing about this new artist named steve lacy and when i first heard "music for a sushi restaurant" on the radio, it was funky and it was boppy and I thought it must have been steve's. But nope, it was motherfucken Harry Styles.

I couldn't believe it. But with an open mind and an open heart, I was okay with the album's first half. I know that's where all the singles are from, but the non singles like "Grapejuice" and "Daylight" are enjoyable. "Little Freak" seems to be a sweet ballad. "Matilda" tries to do that, but maybe I'm too old, but i felt like it was a cheap attempt to catch people in their feels.

"Cinema" was when i started to think, this album kinda sucks. That final minute was weird. so many usage of the word "you got" and "pop" and "cinema" and it wasn't catchy at all. On "daydreaming" I felt like they had a good sample and they didn't have anything else.

I actually like "Keep Driving" and parts of "Satellite" are nice, but something about it felt lacking.

Summary: I knew this would be an uphill battle because I generally do not like male singers in the pop space. I don't think Harry has an interesting vocal range. Most of the songs I like are the ones I've been expose to from the radio. As a whole, it didn't sound very catchy, but the mood was so inoffensive, it's like whatever. let's do cocaine.

Favorite Songs: As It Was, Little Freak, Keep Driving
Rating: 5/10

Hyolyn - iCE

Release Date: July 18th, 2022

no, i didnt watch queendom, but i would see comments here and there that she killed it on stage.

Review: i was a fan of a few Sistar songs, but the group had disbanded by the time i had fully become enamored with kpop. Anyways, this ep is good. I like how smooth "over you" and "body talk" sounds, i like how slick "Ah Yeah" sounds, and "Waka Boom (My way)" sounds like it should have been the single. maybe it was because there's a music video. Lee Young Ji sounds amazing as the feature rapper. I like how fire it sounds. good build up. As for the title track, "No Thanks," i mean, it stands out, but it's not a pretty song.

Summary: Easy 6 songs to listen to.

Favorite Songs: Over You, Ah Yeah, Wake Boom
Rating: 8/10

Hammock - Raising Your Voice... Trying to Stop an Echo

Release Date: 11/20/06
Genre: Ambient

Hello review 151. How do you listen to this album? Nothing happens, yet I find myself getting pulled in by the waves of somber and dreams. This is ambient music at its best.

Review: Actually, this is music as its best. No other album can really draw such emotion from people like this album.

Summary:

Key Tracks: Losing You To You, Floating Away In Every Direction, Will You Ever Love Yourself?
Rating: 10/10

Hello Saferide - More Modern Short Stories From Hello Saferide

Release Date: 09/24/08
Genre: Indie Pop

For some weird reason, I thought Hello Saferide was this person's name.

Review: A nice mellow song starts off and the lyrics really describe how I see my friends. Some friends are catchy "Can't Get You Out of my Head" while some are amazing like "God Only Knows." Nice echos. I love the end where she just rambles on and it stops right into "2008." This second song is louder and the chorus is fuller. I enjoy the way she just 'talks' like a stream of consciousness and the harmonies with her own 'voice' is so cool.

She really sounds like Tilly and the Wall on "Overall." 8th notes on the piano for the whole song. it doesn't change much, but she has the power to create really lovely melodies. And there's background vocals from a male (and as a lead role for a few lines) so it gave the song a interesting texture.

"Lund" has a clear piano melody throughout the song and it gets layered with other instruments and becomes grand and grand towards the end of the song. So damn lovely.

"X Telling Me About The Loss Of Something Dear,At Age 16" has a country feel to it. The ending is like "Overall" where it feels like it could go on forever.

"Middleclass" sounds like Missy Higgins.

"Parenting Never Ends" displays a calmer side.

"Anna" is a what if song that really made me sad at the end, even thought the beginning said "we could have..." The way she made anna sound like a normal daughter that only adds delight to a relationship makes me smile.

"25 Days" is epic. It's about waiting 25 days to see someone and it's a cheery upbeat song with full blown choirlike singing and she switches around with many ranges. and as the days go, the countdown to zero happens in the song. And it's really catchy. I love the part where she skips eleven and sings like ad lib, "I slept too long." and the day happens and she gets a text saying he made a mistake and she sings "you stupid fuck" in such a sincere way. I love it.

"Sancho Panza" is a bit punkrocky. Great chorus again. "Travelling With HS" has that great chorus. The album closes at 40 minutes with a song called, "Arjeplog" which is very melancholy.

Overall, she kept me so engage with the music the whole time that I can't really complain. Some songs are weaker than others, but none are skipable. It has good transition so listening to the album together is the best way to go and the tracklisting made the album even in terms of mellow vs noisy tracks.

Summary: I'll keep it simple. There are 12 songs on this album. There are 12 songs I highly like. The singing is great. The melodies are great. The lyrics are great. This album is great. You stupid fuck you need to come back.

Key Tracks: Lund, Middleclass, 25 days
Rating: 8/10

Horse Feathers - House with No Home

Release Date: 09/09/08
Genre: Folk

It's kinda odd how I didn't get into the new Bonnie "Prince" Billy album til a few weeks ago and that overrated Bon Iver album stopped being overrated. If folk music has always sounded like this, then I've been missing out. But maybe my musical taste needed to travel a bit more to appreciate these beauties.

Review: So my first impressions were, "this guy sounds like Ray Lamontagne," and it started to drift in my mind whether if I like the first song because it was good or because it was familiar. Thankfully, it was the bridge in "Rude To Rile" that stopped the comparison. The build is excellent. The strings actually add a whole level of texture and once it erupts from his delicate voice to this group effort, that set the bar for me. I just knew I was in for a ride.

"Working Poor" has a really nice friendly chorus, "A Burden" almost has a rocking chair motion to it. The music just pours out like paint in an organized matter. Things just fall into place. The quiet parts of the album are often rich in detail, but it's really unnoticeable at first because the vocals are crazy good. I really love the banjos and the strings.

Track 9, "Different Gray" is the only one that feels different from the rest of the album. So it breaks up the flow and because of that, I sometimes feel indifferent with the last 3 tracks. Are they good? Yes. Just not stand outs.

Summary: Basically a must have for folk lovers.

Key Tracks: Rude To Rile, Working Poor, Helen
Rating: 9/10

High Places - High Places

Release Date: 09/30/08
Genre: Folktronica

For some reason, I was expecting this to be another chillout album.

Review: The album feels very homemade and the vocals are very butterfly like. Very airy and sensual. It almost doesn't belong together. I can hear a bit of freak folk and tribal music. This is my first album of them that I've listened to so maybe they lost their energy. I just feel that most of the songs on the album are the same and nothing stands out too strong. I do however enjoy the organic and strange sounds they created, but that's just me. I wish the tempo range would be greater because my mind gets bored with the same pacing.

Summary: Strange spaceout album.

Key Tracks: Vision's The First..., From Stardust to Sentience
Rating: 6/10

Have a Nice Life - Deathconsciousness

Release Date: 01/24/08
Genre: Heavy Shoegaze

This album kept getting its name dropped whenever a topic is made of "best album of the year so far?" It's hard cuz genre wise, hard to classify. I'm glad I gave it a listen. Holy shit man, holy shit.

Review: Alrighty, this is gonna sound pretentious, but I have no idea how to 'review' this album. Song based, it's alright, but only within the content of the album. I got lucky and was able to be suckered in within my first listen so i got to experiences the album for the entire 85 minutes without taking a break.

A lot of it is dark. Vocals don't matter, but it fits so well to give the songs more texture. The crazy tunnel sound echos so powerful. I sometimes find myself not caring about the album and the album just naturally becomes my thinking voice. It just creeps on me.

The first half was more soundscape like, the second half of the album is more angry. "The Future" is intense music. Just hear those strings. Scary.

Summary: One listen to this is an experience in itself. Casual fans might not be able to sit through it, but any fan of music should give it a listen.

Key Tracks:Bloodhail, Holy Fucking Shit: 40,000,
Rating: 8/10

Hey Rosetta! - Into Your Lungs

Release Date: 05/2?/08
Genre: Indie Rock

Their first album had a few good songs.

Review: wait, i want to give this album a proper write up as i feel that it deserves one.

Summary: Don't get me wrong, this band is on my 'to watch' list. I'm still waiting for them to blow me away. On top of all of the mediocre albums this year, this one stands out, but it ranks near the bottom of the best of the best.

Key Track: Handshake the Gangster, Black Heart
Rating: 7/10

Halves - Haunt Me When I'm Drowsy

Release Date: 05/16/08
Genre: Vocal Post-Rock

I'm addicted to music. That's not a secret. Why can't I stop? Because even when I have a drought in finding good new music, there's always a time where I'll randomly download something and say "this was worth it."

Review: So is it just me or has there been a spike in vocal post-rock bands? I haven't checked out their first EP yet so I don't know if they lessen or increased the vocals, but I'm glad Halves realized that they are capable of doing them. After a short 90 second intro, we get touched with "May Your Enemies Never Find Happiness." There's a repeating melody through out the song. I guess it works as the chorus and the vocals are the verse. But everything works nicely.

The rest of the album really kept the flow after that track. Although I wanted more of that track, they kept things simple and all the songs are good. After "Amberscene," not a lot of vocals play anymore. Maybe it was a smart move so it wouldn't die out on the listener like the way Kyte's album did on me. I like the details of the strings. The piano is cool.

Summary: This is some mighty fine music.

Key Tracks: May Your Enemies Never Find Happiness, The Lamp Dies....A Sleeping Circuit Wakes
Rating: 7/10

The Hold Steady - Stay Positive

Release Date: 07/15/08
Genre: Indie/Alternative Rock

Review: The first track, Constructive Summer" is one hell of a party rock anthem. It definitely feels like summer. Next song, "Sequestered In Memphis" is probably my favorite track of the new album. The first half of it quickly becomes catchy, but the second half is very memorable with the chanting sing-a-long background chorus as well as their use of the horns.

"Navy Sheets" is a different song, but it's nothing i feel like I'll come back to it. It has more of a jam-band feel to it because of the chaotic noise and the band is just having fun with their instruments.

"Lord, I'm Discouraged" is the longest track of the album and the beginning of it is lovely. Piano parts are strongest here and the guitar solo at the bridge is cool to hear. Thankfully "Yeah Sapphire" pulls the excitement back into the album. The dinging piano will make you tap your feet.

"Both Cross" is forgettable and slow, but if you take the time to fully embrace the song, it's pretty good if you convince yourself that it's good. I've convinced myself it's an alright song, but I still skip it when giving the album a listen.

"Stay positive" is a fun song, but perhaps with the late placement, the shout/chanting chorus feels forced, plus it was already done by track 2 so i can't help, but compare them knowing it's the lesser of the two. "Magazine" is very good. It has extra raspy vocals by that dude from Lucero.

"Joke About Jamaica" has a short reference to johnny cash with cocaines blues. As for the song itself, it's pretty standard and the ending is pleasant.

Summary: It's another Hold Steady Album, which is completely fine with me. I don't think it's better or worse with their past albums, but it's still a great listen if you're a fan. For non-fan, chances are a lot of the songs will feel the same to which I completely agree with.

Key Tracks: Constructive Summer, Sequestered In Memphis, Magazine
Rating: 7/10

Hammock - Maybe They Will Sing For Us Tomorrow

Release Date: 05/05/08
Genre: Ambient

I haven't been following the band because it didn't seem like the band was hard at work. So seeing this new album out was a big suprise knowing full way that in my top 5 albums of all times, Hammock's "Raising Your Voice...Trying to Stop an Echo" is right there. I remember reading a myspace blog that they posted in January that this album was their most personal one that they written and they also wanted to make an album that they could easily recreate when played live.

Review: So the first thing that bothered me, the songs were longer. I like long songs and all, but I have to have something to focus on or else I'll lose interest (ex: stars of the lid). I can clearly hear the hammock sound, but in every song, there's not much of a main character. It's a peaceful backdropping soundscape, but that's really all there to it. One of the many reasons why I loved "Raising your voice" so much was because it had tracks where it felt like a rock song. This album is very air, very space, very glow moody.

"Mono No Aware" is the closest thing that delivers on what I wanted. There's nothing else to say. I don't hate it at all. I also can't find myself loving it either. It doesn't have enough flavor to give itself repeated listens.

Summary: One hour of slow motion thoughts.

Key Tracks: Mono No Aware, Elm
Rating: 6/10

The Hush Sound - Goodbye Blues

Release Date: 03/18/08
Genre: Piano Rock

This band has been under my radar for quite some time, but I just never felt like giving them a proper listen because of who they get grouped with.

Review: They have a great groovy, almost cabaret sound. The male vocalist of the group shouldn't sing alone. The album didn't end to my satisfaction. It just felt like another song.

Summary: Enjoyable album

Key Tracks: Medicine Man, The Boys Are Too Refined, Molasses
Rating: 6/10