ongaku.

Alice in Chains
"Jar of Flies"

What a ride. There aren't that many releases for which I can say something to the tune of "man, there really ain't a moment wasted here," because it's somewhat rare to come across a release of any sort that uses its time properly and in a nice, structured way. Jar of Flies does just that; from Rotten Apple all the way down to Swing on This - odd as it may be - it always has a nice, consistent tone to it all. Rotten Apple is an amazing if dark intro, followed by Nutshell which keeps a more acoustic touch, but with a light amplification to its darkness. I Stay Away is a more rougher stray from the rest, although it's still instrumentally and emotionally on par with them to not be that much of a deviation. No Excuses takes things to a lighter note instrumentally and adds a bit of a punch to the percussion - additions that I thought were pretty nice. Whale & Wasp, however, takes things into this kind of dive of noise and wails; a little sad in its tone at the start, but ultimately somewhat lighter as it goes on. The EP's arguable magnum opus, Don't Follow, comes in as an appetizer prior to the finale, and it's quite a great track. Simple, possibly relatable lyricism, comfortable guitarwork, a well-done deviation in tone near the end, and a mean fuckin' harmonica. It all comes to a close with Swing on This, a very odd instrumental deviation that takes things to a more swing-y grunge tone as the name implies. It's... odd, but definitely not bad. Overall - yes.

5 / 5

A Silver Mt. Zion
"Born Into Trouble..."

Released as ASMZ's second studio album, Born Into Trouble packs a similar emotional punch as He Has Left Us Alone, with the addition of a good couple of parts that include more intensity. Even so, it keeps its calm, with a similarity to GY!BE but more mild and with a teaspoon of sugar. By no means does that make it bad; if anything, its light-hearted instrumental tone that appears on tracks like Could've Moved Mountains and The Triumph of Our Tired Eyes is comforting, and in the case of the latter, moves onto a more vibrant, cheery instrumental with darker undertones. It's an amazing piece of work, really.

4 / 5

American Football
"American Football"

After Cap'n Jazz, Mike and Tim Kinsella went their seperate ways. Past Cap'n, Tim formed Joan of Arc in 1995, borrowing less from Cap'n and moving towards a more indie, experimental style. On the flip side, Mike formed American Football when he came across a few high school musicians-slash-friends - and eventually, their self-titled debut came out in 1999. While Cap'n Jazz had a more rougher, hateful side full of occasional screams or antisocial behavior in aural form, American Football slows things down by having calmer vocals, focusing more on comforting melodies and saddened lyricism, and generally trying to stray away from the harsher tones that Cap'n brought to the table. As such, it comes off as more of a midwest emo album in contrast to Cap'n's post-hardcore style - but even so, it creates a marginally better and more comforting sound than its predecessor. A generally nice album, if a little weak after a few replays.

4 / 5

Avey Tare & Panda Bear
"Spirit They're Gone, Spirit They've Vanished"

While Merriweather Post Pavilion took more of AnCo's credit later on, the true discography Chad of their earlier career - like, early up to the point where they were still Avey Tare & Panda Bear - was Spirit They're Gone. A comforting and creepily-happy record that gives zero shit about hearing safety and goes wild with various lush sound- and noisescapes, combined with Tare's soft, high-pitched vocals. Of course, it does tend to deviate to more odd sections that leave out the 'happy' from 'creepily-happy.' Still, even those moments tend to grow on you after a while - and after it does grow, the whole album becomes one whole oddly enjoyable experience. Godspeed, Tare 'n Bear.

4 / 5

Billy Joel
"An Innocent Man"

A varied mix of pop rock, doo wop and soul, An Innocent Man acts as a reference to the popular tracks that came out in Billy's earlier years with lyricism mainly related to cheesy, but catchy love songs, all while retaining a style similar to songs released in 60s Americana. As such, the album comes off as a hell of a strong nostalgic experience for Joel and a catchy, but occasionally calm and comfy album for the listener. It's still enjoyable more than 30 years later and a boomeresque album worth listening to.

5 / 5

Cap'n Jazz
"Burritos, Inspiration Point, Fork Balloon Sports, Cards in the Spokes, Automatic Biographies, Kites, Kung Fu, Trophies, Banana Peels We've Slipped On and Egg Shells We've Tippy Toed Over"

Yes, you read that correctly. Why? Fuck if I know. Ask the Kinsellas, maybe they know better. Alongside from the fact that its name is overly long, partly unfitting and somewhat horrible, you'll probably be surprised to find out that - surprise - the album is somewhat similar! There's a part where the whole thing starts to slowly decline and turn into somewhat of a filler album. Namely after In The Clear, which is track n° 5. Says a lot. Had it been only those five songs in one debut EP, this would've been a pleasant record—but past In The Clear, Burritos feels dull. Its strongest bullets get fired off at the start, with the weaker ones coming right after. Ain't fair, really. In any case, all those tracks pre-n° 5 are damn good. Little League is a solid post-hardcore introduction to the whole thing, Oh Messy Life is an instrumentally relatable track and one that stands strong among those five, Puddle Splashers has quite the set of percussions, and Flashpoint: Catheter is a surprisingly nice, comforting change of pace with a somewhat minimalist presence. Aside from those five - dodge the record.

3 / 5

Daft Punk
"Discovery"

Just about the catchiest fucking disco album that could've come out after their debut. A deviation from Homework, Discovery takes a more varied approach but with a few consistent themes; innocence, music, and - guess what - love. All 14 tracks are more or less connected to Interstella 5555 and vice versa, save for a few which are simply ambient (Nightvision, Veridis Quo). Despite the occasional switch between these themes and their respective aural style, Discovery still manages to keep everything proper and catchy as hell - only two tracks pretty much stand out as somewhat "bad" (Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger and Nightvision, respectively), but even then, the rest of the album still exists. And by God, it's fucking beautiful - no exaggeration intended. The first three tracks are a knockout on their own, with Aerodynamic only serving as a foreshadow for the more darker undertone that appears later on in tracks like High Life and Short Circuit. Tracks such as Something About Us and Face To Face utilize vocals incredibly well and mix them with the instrumentals almost flawlessly, with Face To Face's vocals being practically inseperable from the rest of the song itself. Voyager gives off a more post-disco vibe, but its sudden appearance and style acts as a nice surprise. In the end, the whole thing comes to a close with Too Long - fitting, considering the exact timespan of ten minutes. The former half of Too Long acts as more of a buildup, gradually getting the listener more and more prepared for the absolute fucking banger of a breakdown at four and a half minutes. Past that, it turns into an amazing display of samplework, utilizing repetitive beats and vocals to create a sound greater than the sum of its parts. Discovery is a definitive, essential disco album - one that packs a punch any time of day, any time of year.

5 / 5

De La Soul
"3 Feet High and Rising"

Sample-based hip-hop at its finest. A remarkably enjoyable, catchy and comedic album on more than a few occasions, utilizing sketches and memorable lyricism to add a bit of that sitcomesque pizzazz. Tracks like Say No Go make great use of samples and the trio's intoxicatingly good vocals. A fair listen and one that falls under the Pretty Sweet Classics category. Only real cons are the partial repetition and overly-minimal sections, but past that, it's a good fuckin' release.

4 / 5

DEVO
"Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are DEVO!"

It's like if Zappa decided to go for shock-value surrealist humor combined with post-punk and art rock, basically. Are We Not Men? is one really fucking weird album the first time around, but with every replay, it continues to grow on me - side A is a great experience and one that I can pick up for the sake of just jamming out at almost any time, while side B acts as more of a weak link, emphasizing the art rock and surrealism part. Even so, it's a pretty sweet album and one that holds up very easily. Any album that has a song dedicated to actual retards while being catchy and memorable as fuck holds up just fine in my book, honestly.

5 / 5

Don Henley
"Building the Perfect Beast"

Remember when George Harrison got the fuck outta dodge, built his solo career album by album and then eventually released Cloud Nine? Yeah, well, Henley's Building the Perfect Beast can essentially be summed up as his Cloud Nine. Don't take that negatively, though - by all means, it's an alright album. The Boys of Summer, Building the Perfect Beast, Land of The Living and Sunset Grill are all great tracks, but the rest falls short due to its overusage or tasteless usage of synths and eh-ish lyricism. It's still quite the listen, though. Just doesn't really feel all that right, I guess.

3 / 5

Elliott Smith
"Elliott Smith"

There was a period of time where all I ever felt like listening to was nothing but this album. A darker, dumber and shittier time, perhaps, but it allowed for a few more moments of relating not to the lyricism - rather, the aural mood and the feeling of dread that comes with it. Elliott Smith succeeds at fulfilling its goal of wanting the listener to experience possibly the same thing Smith himself felt at the time of writing and recording; emptiness. A somewhat catchy, comforting and soothing one, surely, but emptiness nonetheless. Underneath its beautiful acoustics and soft, calming vocals sits a set of tired lyrics, filled with regretted loves, a feeling of self-hate, an occasional finger-point of anger as a result of the hate, and weary adventures or detailed descriptions of various scenes. It's an album that can't really be put in shorter terms or small descriptions - it's an experience in every meaning of the word.

5 / 5

Fishmans
"LONG SEASON"

Fishmans is an odd band. While originally a more dub-oriented underground collective, the release of LONG SEASON gave their sound a boost in the shoegaze and psychedelia department. Technically speaking, LONG SEASON is not an album—rather, it's a single song split into five parts. Each part, however, is usually different than the previous one; only parts 1 and 5 are similar in that they pretty much have the same instrumental structure, the same lyrics albeit in a different tone, and a few instrumental sections from Pt. 1 which are generally left unchanged. To hear those sections again feels oddly refreshing, and Shinji Sato's cathartic, simple ending to it all feels so comfortable. As-is with many shoegaze and neo-psychedelia releases, LONG SEASON is—at its core—an incredibly comfortable experience. It's not an album, not really an EP, but something in the middle. Its ending will only leave you wanting for more of Fishmans' beautiful tones and aural textures; which is easily soothed by '98.12.28 Otokotachi no Wakare and its live rendition of LONG SEASON—one that feels so natural, so euphoric and vastly greater during Pt. 3 in contrast to its studio release.

5 / 5

Fleetwood Mac
"Tango in the Night"

Turning away from their blues rock roots by miles, Tango in the Night adapts to a more catchier pop rock sound; one that combines upbeat, synth-driven vocal jams and calmer, acoustic tracks which give it a soft rock pizzazz of sorts. Songs such as Big Love, Family Man and Isn't It Midnight display the album's catchier, louder aspects, with others such as Mystified and When I See You Again having a much more sombre and soft approach to things. Others have their own kind of style—Caroline, which employs a more percussion-based sound combined with Buckingham's expressive vocals and the album's recognizable synth style, or You and I, Part 2 which has a catchier, city pop-like vibe. It's a fairly diverse and enjoyable album—although don't expect it to be replayable all too much.

4 / 5

The Go! Team
"Thunder, Lightning, Strike"

I'm inclined to believe that this is the logical conclusion to indie pop. This album—fuck, this experience—is just about as good as it can unironically get. With virtually no sign of any kind of pessimism, darker undertones or anything of the sort, Thunder, Lightning, Strike is quite possibly the most optimistic and upbeat as hell indie pop album. Introducing the listener to its core sound, Panther Dash utilizes a lot of distorted noises, instrumentals, and even a goddamn harmonica, which manages to blend fucking perfectly. Shortly thereafter, Ladyflash comes in acting as the album's short palette cleanser, deviating from the louder rock elements seen on Panther Dash and moving to a more disco-like style with great sample and vocal utilization. Similarly, Feelgood by Numbers goes for a jazzier rock 'n roll style which manages not only to be really catchy in a simplistic way, but it does so by deviating even further from the first two tracks. As a back-to-nature, The Power is On reintroduces the louder indietronica elements alongside the album's trademark cheerleader vocals—and it does so quite well, building the song up to an incredibly beautiful repeated guitar riff which simply adds to the loveable chaos of the whole thing. Later on, Bottle Rocket shakes things up by utilizing a combo of 90s dance, the album's staple indietronica sound, and a bit of the whole jazz / rock 'n roll pizzazz—similar to Feelgood by Numbers, albeit more intensive. It's here where the albums shows just how damn good it can be, even when it repeats the same couple of samples and parts a couple of times more than expected. Slowly, the whole thing comes to a close with Huddle Formation—a bit of a lookback at Panther Dash, but with less of the distortion and volume, and more of the danceable enjoyability. The whole thing ends with Everyone's a VIP to Someone, a loveably simple soft rock track which contrasts much with Huddle Formation—but in an obviously nice way. There's a lot to be said in terms of this album's sound; but at the end of the day, it is what it is - happy. And there's no better, simpler way of describing it.

6 / 5

Godspeed You! Black Emperor
"F# A# ∞"

A few years ago, if you told me I'd gradually start appreciating post-rock and the 14+ minute songs thereof, I would've probably told you to go eat shit. But, as it turns out, that happened to be the case. I recall listening to Lift Yr. Skinny Fists for the first time, back in early 2017 or so, and thinking "well, shit, this is a thing." It was a pretty solid thing, too. Unknown territory, granted, since all I was used to at the time was your run-of-the-mill boomer rock, occasional vidya OSTs and a bit of indie pop or something. But it wasn't until I tried F# A# ∞'s "The Dead Flag Blues," track n° 1 on the CD release, that I went 'holy shit'. It felt like the logical fucking conclusion to music at the time, and such an experience was great. Granted, I eventually flocked towards the vinyl release later on and started preaching about how the CD release sucks balls—but in retrospect, it's a great extension to the vinyl. The Dead Flag Blues is a solid introduction to the pacing of F# A# ∞ and its musical structure (in essence, a intro-buildup-peak style), East Hastings displays the great amount of emotion and terror that GY!BE can display through nothing more than distortion, repetitive samples and amazing usage of strings, and Providence simply acts as the logical conclusion to both; a combo of The Dead Flag Blues' style seen in The Cowboy and East Hastings' magical buildups, topped off with a cathartic yet sombre ending. It's pretty fuckin' great—probably one of the better post-rock experiences right next to Laughing Stock.

5 / 5

Ichiko Aoba
"Origami"

The cover—a single shade of albescent white—gives off a good impression of what the album is like. Minimalistic, but with a comfortable touch of warmth in its acoustics. Origami is a great contemporary folk piece; one that isn't necessarily enjoyable so much as beautiful with each passing track. Aoba mixes more faster tracks with slower, simplistic ones, all including nothing more than her absolutely intoxicating vocals and a surprisingly expressive acoustic guitar. The whole thing keeps an extraordinarily comforting vibe and simply shows just how good contemporary folk can get, with much variation in terms of speed and tone, but with a consistent, loveable style.

5 / 5

Kinoko Teikoku
"Long Goodbye"

A surprisingly hard-hitting piece of Japanese dream indie, Long Goodbye is only one of Teikoku's several pieces. The EP keeps things mostly short and to the point - save for FLOWER GIRL - with no more than five tracks, the last one being more of a simple outro track. The EP itself has a focus on loud, rough instrumentals, with soothing, high-pitched female vocals acting as a contrast to the whole thing without moving away from the formula of the whole thing too much. In some ways, it can be considered an indie version of Loveless for the first three tracks. However, it's in FLOWER GIRL where the album takes a surprising turn for the better; moving away incredibly from the fast and upbeat rhythmics and instrumentals, it instead focuses primarily on the vocals, distorted guitar drones and a simple drum section. It keeps this formula going on for a good couple of minutes, occasionally throwing in some more guitar samples plus a whole section dedicated to what sounds like a fairly short piano bit that combines itself with the rest of the instrumentals. Its culminations starts to slowly come into full view, as the lyrics turn into nothing more than a multi-vocal singing of 'flower girl' while the guitar starts slowly dropping into seemingly nothing. In the end, it all comes to an end - only to reach out yet again, with a wave of distortion and exceptionally loud guitar solos contrasting even further with the repeating vocals. It is here where the EP truly reaches its peak; an unbelievable setup that truly awards the listener with what can only be described as an ear-grinding catharsis. Gotta bless the Japs for stuff like this. It's an amazing pleasure to come across such sounds.

5 / 5

New Order
"Low-Life"

Low-Life acts as a catchy deviation from the more darker undertones of Power, Corruption and Lies, despite being fairly low in its tone in terms of its lyrics which mostly talk about unrequited loves and the like. In addition, Elegia takes a complete shift from the whole thing by moving away from the catchiness, the consistent love-related lyrics and drum machine-filled backgrounds to a sinister instrumental filled with synth bits and a few guitar riffs. But, aside from Elegia, the rest of the album is pretty loveable; tracks such as This Time of Night have a great instrumental depth to them while maintaining a danceable style and a structure that feels intelligent, dumb as that may sound. A shame that a couple of tracks got their Substance mixes in a way that didn't entirely fit them, but oh well.

4 / 5

Oneohtrix Point Never
"Memory Vague"

Lopatin's OPN era is a great one. I originally delved into his works by listening to Eccojams, courtesy of his Chuck Person alias, but it wasn't until I found out about Oneohtrix Point Never that I truly felt... cathartic. Replica was a special one, and it sounded like an odd mix between vaporwave and ambient combined with alienating sampleplay. But it wasn't until I came across Memory Vague that things started to click. Essentially, Memory Vague can be described as proto-vaporwave. I say "proto-vaporwave" because it came out a whole year before Eccojams, which technically makes it the basis of vaporwave as a whole rather than Eccojams. The songs themselves vary in sound and tone; for sure, tracks like Angel, Chandelier's Dream and Nobody Here sound like what you'd expect on your average vaporwave release. But it's in the other tracks where Memory Vague's beauty lies; a great example would be Ships Without Meaning, a 7-minute track experimenting with various synth noises and drones, creating a noise that can only be described as peaceful beyond measure. In comparison, though, there are some tracks that tend to be more upbeat - Unmaking the World kicks things up a notch, and sounds like something you'd hear on an MSX2 release. In spite of this, it blends well with the album's synthetic environment. Yet, at the end of it all, Nobody Here shifts the focus from nice little beep-boops to a repetitive, yet calmingly haunting sequence of "there's nobody here" and a few instrumental lines, all sent into a loop taking two minutes. It's a great ending to the album, and Lopatin couldn't do it any better.

5 / 5

Steely Dan
"Aja"

There's always a mixture of thoughts that pass through me when I hear some portion of an artist's discography with some shitty beforehand idea of what to expect; usually something to the tune of "goddamn, I was an idiot" and "this fucks". Or thereabouts. Aja is one such example. Coming to it with the idea that all Becker and Fagen could put out was Do It Again in different tones was vastly, vastly moronic, but honestly? I was more than fine with being proven wrong here. A handful to be said; Black Cow is quite the introductory groove, the title track is outright beautiful, and pieces like Peg and Josie are fantastically engineered jams, but Deacon Blues - holy shit. It's not every day that you come across something that captures the fine essence of sleaziness and suburbian dejection with a tone that's unbeatable, a sound that's so easily engraved into your head after no more than a couple of repeats, a lyricism that invokes some of the smugest smirks I've had in a good while. You're right, Becker and Fagen. I will play just what I feel. And I feel like I could do with more of this sound.

Essential listening. A grower, not a shower.

6 / 5