Music Reviews

The definition of playing it safe.

It’s currently 11 PM here and I have to write a review for something that CLEARLY didn’t have much effort put into it in the first place… So this is gonna be just mostly me ranting, but yeah, I’m just waaay too tired to get fired up over a lost potential like this one here, more then mad at this I’m just dissapointed – though that implies I had any expectations for this going into this which let me clarify I didn’t. I knew exactly how this was gonna sound and I got exactly that – so maybe even disapointed isn’t the right expression I’m looking for here. No, maybe what I meant to say is that I just COULDN’T CARE LESS. And that’s coming from someone who really defended his early stuff – his 2020 effort „Ugly Is Beautiful“ is still in my opinion vastly underrated and had some of my favorite musical moments from that year on it. And while a lot of the stuff on there was a bit too generic or un-inspired, the tracks that did pop out REALLY popped the frick out. I mean songs like „Me, Myself and I“, „1993“ and „Jerk“ just to name a few still hold up to this day. And there I was, a 2020 me completely naive thinking that Oliver had a bright future ahead of him – I really wanted him to succeed you know, his meme personality combined with the killer production made for something that not many people were doing at the time – I’m not saying it was anything innovative or ground breaking or anything, but it sure made for a collection of banger songs that didn’t took themselves too seriously and weren’t afraid to go nuts with the production. Unfortunately this new album is like the polar opposite of that – these songs have nothing intresting going for them, they are bland generic pop wanna-be-country garbage that are on top of all that SUPER safe. Like these songs don’t take any risks whatsoever at any point on this album – they always stay the same and it’s so frustrating, because I really tried my best to like this album but I am so immensely bored by this thing, it puts me to sleep everytime. Some „stand-out“ tracks (if I had a gun put to my face and had to pick) would probably be the opening „Cowboys Don’t Care“, like the one passible track on here, „Things We Used To Do“ which has a nice sentiment to do, but just fails in execution and finally maybe the closer aswell as the title track „Cowboy Tears“, maybe like the only instrumentally intresting song – why wait the whole album to actually put something intresting or different on here for a change will probably forever remain a mystery, but the track is for sure one of the highlights, if you can call it that. But I mean that’s like it for the positives – the production isn’t even like offensive or even bad, it’s just so boring and uneventfull I don’t get it. It’s whatever I don’t wanna waste my time and sleeping schedule on this any longer, I am slapping a juicy Strong 3/10 on this and going to bed (probably putting this album on just to fall asleep even faster).

What the hell were you smoking when making this album name and WHERE can I get it.

Well hello there friends and welcome to this special review – this day’s review is about Big Thief’s new album „Dragon New…“ (I’m not writing all that, you read the title) and what an album it is – almost 80 minutes long and 20 whole fricking songs. I mean trust me I like me some Big Thief but for a full hour and a half? Well it’s safe to say I was a bit skeptical at first going into this, but I’ve heard some pretty positive things about, so I gave it a shot and well, I can pretty much safely say that the runtime is, for the most part, justified. Sure there are ways to cut corners here and there and yes, there is a track or two that could have been cut in it’s entirety, but in the greater scope of things, this thing just delivers. For many it may sound a bit underwhelming at first glance but further listens reveal the true beauty in the songwriting and by the end of it you realise that this is Big Thief’s most cohesive complete and fulfilling body of work to date. I’m not gonna go through ALL of the songs, just the ones that stood out to me the most, wether that means good or not so good, because there necessarrily isn’t a bad track here.

So with that out of the way, let’s get into the actual meat and potatoes of this record – the album open’s up with the at first kind of underwhelming „Change“ which is ironically a song that doesn’t really change during it’s 5 minute runtime – but as everything on this album, it’s a grower. Over time I learned to appriciate what it’s going for and learned to love it and I’m sure you will too. Definetly one of the more accesible tracks here, because believe it or not, Big Thief actually get a bit experimental on this record – case in point the next track „Time Escaping“ which sounds like some sort of ritual being performed, especially the drumwork, that’s like something out of a psychological horror movie. Probably the first track that really caught my ear on first listen, but this one kind of shrunk on me over time – it’s still fantastic and I appriciate the band’s efforts to try something new here, but it doesn’t have the same replay value as some of the other tracks I think. „Spud Infinity“ is a really goofy and dare I say wacky track, it’s really country-ish and has this weird bouncy effect at the start of the track and just the way the strings and vocals are eranged sounds just super like something I’d hear some random rednecks play from a Barn in the middle of nowhere and I mean that as a compliment belive it or not. Though innitially I was super put off by this track, just something about it rubbed me the wrong way. „Certainty“ is certainly a sweet track, though there are tracks on this album I belive that do this style much better and honestly with one of my biggest criticisms towards this album being it’s length, this one could have been easily cut I think. Still a nice moment on the album and since it as of writing this review stands as THE most popular track of the album, people seem to really enjoy it, so I digress. Anyways after this we have what I consider to be the best track of the entire album in the shape of the title track (no I’m not writing all that again) – a beautiful guitar-driven ballad with a dusty atmosphere and a deeply layered instrumentation with some beautiful and haunting vocals merge together to create one hell of a track that always leaves me utterly mezmerized by it. From here on out things get a bit all over the place – „Sparrow“ has one of the better choruses on the album but is way too long for it’s own good, „Little Things“ on the other hand is probably the only song on the album justifying it’s longer than 5-minutes runtime, it feels like the title track but with like a more punch to it – the second half of this song always blows my socks off, the guitarist can really shred let me tell you. Then you have the song „Blurred View“ probably the most „different“ song on the album – the vocals sound like they were recorded on a potato or something, yet it works somehow – the heavy bass hits with the super compressed sound of the track create this eerie atmosphere, that just, something about it is… It just feels like I’m drowning, like this track is swallowing me whole, it’s a super neat moment, that also serves as a nice middlepoint for the album – now onto the second half. Now if „Spuf Infinity“ was inspired by country in some aspects, then the song „Red Moon“ makes country it’s only aspect and it does it well. I’m not super big (pun intended) on country but I can appriciate when it’s done well and this song certainly does just that – it’s just not one of MY personal favorites. „No Reason“ has exactly that – no reason to GO SO HARD GODDAMN. The chorus hits harder then my dad’s belt and not only that, it also has a FLUTE OUTRO – I mean this song is the full package. Seriously though, great track all things considered. „Wake Me up to Drive“ is anothe one of those… Weird ones. I like the artificial drums and the burried mix, it sounds pretty solid, but I’m just stuck here wondering like…. What does this track’s existence provide to the expirience of the album? I mean sure, more variety and all that, but it’s so out of left field I still don’t know how I feel about it – it’s an okay track though, one of the tracks that stick out more on first listen for better or worse. Now I DID say that the title track is my favorite, but is it the catchiest? Well no, that award goes to „Simulation Swarm“ an absolute EARWORM that just won’t stop playing in your head – it’s just so bouncy, so full of life, it feels like it has a heartbeat man. Really dig this one, one of my absolute favorites for sure. I really love love love the next song „Love Love Love“ even though it start off like we’re already a minute into the track, I just can’t help but love the guitars on this track and the chorus while yes very repetetive does it’s job well enough – I approve of this track. The closing duo „The Only Place“ and „Blue Lightning“ are both fine, „The Only Place“ is more stripped down and lowkey with some pretty impressive guitar-plucking flexes and „Blue Lightning“ is not really my cup of tea once again, but it fits the album well enough and does it’s job as the closing track too, so I can’t really complain.

So yeah, this is what’s in my opinion the best Big Thief album – then again I only heard like 1 more, but I have a feeling that this is just their most cohesive body of work to date. I like to just put this album on and just escape reality for a hour and a half – it’s beautiful, immersive whatever else you wanna call it and yeah, I think I’m just gonna leave it with that, great record all around.

-favorite tracks: Change, Time Escaping, Spud Infinity, Certainty, Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You, Sparrow, Little Things, Flowers of Blood, Blurred View, Dried Roses, No Reason, Simulation Swarm, Love Love Love, The Only Place, Heavy Bend

-least favorite tracks: 12, 000 Lines

Light 9/10

So apparently saying the same word over and over and making some of it’s parts longer ISN’T considered a review… But everyone who has heard this thing KNOWS that that is the only appropriate way to react to this album: WHAAA- (ok I said I’m actually not gonna do that again this time). So yeah, this thing is great – it’s only February but I’m pretty sure no record this year is gonna top this one right here. It’s everything and more I ever wanted from the band and with the context of Isaac Wood leaving the band to focus on his mental health it hits even harder than I innitially thought. So I’m gonna do my best at breaking down why I think this is an absolute masterpiece, but truly and honestly no words could do this thing justice, you gotta hear it to believe it.

Every track here packs a different emotional punch and every single one of them is unique in their own way (except maybe the intro and „Mark’s Theme“, but even that is such an unbelievably beautiful piece to the puzzle) and yet they mash together seemlessly creating a gorgeous cohesive story that flows from one track to another like a knife through butter (which rhymed, so it must be true). Anyways as I said the intro track (simply called „Intro“) is probably the weakest of the bunch – I do believe it has it’s rightful place on the album as it sets the tone fairly well and serves as a pretty smooth transition into the next tracl (which we’ll get into in a bit), but considering how the last record didn’t waste anytime in letting messing around with it’s opener, then this is kind of a step-down from that. Then again this album is much more different and I believe ultimately better expirience than that album was, so I can turn a blind eye toit and move on to the real first track of the album, which is „Chaos Space Marine“ and oh my god what a name for a song. This is probably the „happiest“ sounding song on the album and I think it’s very well placed here because it showcases many of the album’s main sound palates aswell as getting you hyped for what’s about to come. Also this and many other songs on this album are huge growers – like innitially I didn’t really care for this cut but it won me over as I gave it more listens and thank god I did, because it has become one of my favorites of the whole album and believe me when I say that the bar is set really high. I LOVE how diverse this song is – there is constantly something new being added in and new sounds and melodies being brought up, it’s constantly evolving and you never know what to expect – „Chaos Space Marine“ is honestly how this song feels, it’s chaotic and it just feels like a giant space marine for some reason – really hit the nail on the head with the name on this one. The next song „Concorde“ is where the album truly begins to reveal it’s true colors and you hear the shift in the sound instantly – it’s much more moody, much more dreary and much more soft. This whole song is like a giant build-up to the huge crescendo at the end and honestly I can’t really complain about anything I’m hearing here – unlike the last song, this is much more focused and much more serious and as a result I start taking it more seriously. The instrumental is gentle, slowly building in it’s power and just it’s sheer volume until it hits that peak where it feels like the emotional struggle has just become too much to handle. Isaac Wood’s vocal performance nad lyrics portray this feeling of hopelesness really well, it’s like you can hear the pain through the lyrics – it’s once again one of my favorite moments on the record (you’re probably gonna hear this a lot throughout the review, so get used to it lol). „Bread Song“ is kind of like the calm after the storm if you will and essentially consists of two parts – the first one being just really gentle guitar plucking with Isaac’s broken lyrics over it that colapse together into this beautiful musical blanket that you just never leave – and then when you think it can’t get any better than this the drums kick in and oh my god, what a moment that is. The song becomes much more colorful with it’s instruments and suddenly it feels like you’ve been transported to a different dimension – again, just an insane display of musicianship and musical mastery. Isaac again flexes his lyrical abilities here, talking about a crumbling relationship reffering to it as „bread crumbs“ (hence the name „Bread Song“), just some really smart analogies and once the weight of it all hits you – it hits you. „Good Will Hunting“ is the first non-single song on the album (not counting in the intro) and is also where I was starting to get worried at first – what if they manage to screw it up somehow? Well I should have had more faith in the group, because this song is on the same level as those songs are – I adore the female vocalist supporting Isaac’s broken voice and how it compliments the pounding piano with the kickdrums and everything – again, just the way they blend all of this together sounds like it shouldn’t work on paper but they just manage to pull it of regardless. I also love how really just intense the second part of the song, it has to be one of Wood’s best vocal performances on the whole record – also I don’t know what effect they used on the guitars here but they sound out of this world, it really helps portray this feeling of just completely loosing it. Once again, the lyrics talk about a failing relationship, possibly unrequited love and the struggles that come with that – it’s just so incredibly saddening. „Haldern“ is definetly one of my favorite musical moments on the album – again serving as sort of a calm after the strom, this track has some really breath-taking piano leads, really gives many of the usually more hidden members of the band a moment to shine – and when the saxophones (?) are added in? I mean it takes the song from „great“ to „MAGNIFICENT“. Also the way the saxophone sounds for the majority of the second part of that song reminds me of Clown Core for some reason, just thouht I mention that- never really though I’d be mentioning Clown Core in a review about BC, NR but here we are. „Mark’s Theme“ is a song I don’t have much to say about to be honest, it’s more of a interlude then a song really – it at least gives you some breahting space, before the final three asolute titans of tracks. Speaking of which the next song is „The Place Where He Inserted the Blade“ and I’m gonna be honest here – this is my favorite song not only of the whole album, but of the year so far. For many people it’s the closer „Basketball Shoes“ and I get that, that song is insane – but this one just really felt like a blade inserted into my heart, because it really cut deep. And I know that may sound a little too melo-dramatic, but that’s this record in a nutshell – it embraces it and you can much more easily put yourself in the shoes of the protagonist of this story (basketball shoes if you will). And I mean it, this song is everythin and I mean everything I ever wanted from this group – it’s raw, it packs a punch, it has layers, it’s colorful and insrumentally rich, it’s desperate and yet comforting in a way and it feels like the weight of the world collapsing on top of you and you are powerless to stop it. The choice of chords is absolutely astonishing and fits the song perfectly and everything feels like it’s placed in it’s right place. After this absolute emotional drain you are comoforted with „Snow Globes“, a 9 minute opus to heal your wounds and give you even the slightest glimmer of hope that things are gonna be okay at the end, even though it hurts like hell – you’re gonna be alright. That’s at least how the song feels to me, lyrically it’s much more deeper than that, but after the emotional rollercoaster you expirience with this album this I feel as is the protagonist being at his absolute lowest but still choosing to keep going in hope of things getting better – and that’s how this song feels to me. I would especially like to highlight the drumwork on this song, it is really impressive and fits the chaotic nature of this album super well. Now for the final song „Basketball Shoes“ – yeah I mean duh, it’s good. I think people calling this already the SONG OF THE DECADE is a bit of a stretch, but there is an argument to be made about the significance and the impact this song has and proaly will hae. It feels like the perfect climax to this album and is THE emotional highpoint of the album for many – which I totally get, I just slighly prefer „The Place…“, but that’s just me. Still a fantastic song and a perfect way to wrap this album up – like you know an album is good when the first thing you do after finnishing listening to it is play it again.

Wow, I wish I wrote this good in my school essays… But like in those I’m kinda lost for words right now. This album really blew my already insanely high expectations out of the water – I have really high doubts that any album this year is gonna come even close to the magnificence of this project. An absolute emotional journey from the start to finnish, I honestly can’t give this album anything but that sweet sweet…

Strong 9/10

…

just kidding, here’s how I would actually rate it:

-favorite tracks: Chaos Space Marine, Concorde, Bread Song, Good Will Hunting, Haldern, The Place Where He Inserted the Blade, Snow Globes, Basketball Shoes

-least favorite tracks: Intro (if I had to pick one)

10/10

WHAT.

WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA *inhale* AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT.

WHAT.

10/10

Yard Act – The Overload (post-rock)

This album so far has recieved a pretty polarizing reception – like it seems you either absolutely can’t stand it or think it’s the greatest lyrical achievment of the year. Me? Well I’m kind of in the middle with this – I generally LOVE the sound this album tries to go for, but honestly like half of the time I can’t even make out what is being said with the spoken-word formula it uses and it’s so much easier for me just to focus on the instrumentals, which are honestly kind of hit or miss, but at least with those I know what’s going on. Still a pretty impressive debut album, one that I unfortunately don’t really see myself coming back to all that much – most of my problems with this album boil down to personal preference though, so maybe give it a spin yourself and see if it’s more your cup of tea (get it, they’re british) – I just don’t really care.

Decent 6/10

foxtails – fawn (screamo, post-hardcore w/ jazz elements)

Damn… So this is what the fox says.

Decent 7/10

Billy Talent – Crisis Of Faith (alternative rock, punk rock kinda)

Billy Talent in 2022.

Strong 5/10

Utada Hikaru – BAD Mode (art pop, J-pop, alternative R&B)

I could honestly do without the Skrillex track, but other than that for something called BAD Mode (or as I like to call it „SOO NOT HALAL mode“) this is pretty GOOD Mode. Also Evangelion.

Light 8/10

iann dior – on to better things (pop rap)

This guy couldn’t write an intresting song if his life depended on it, like all of these song sound literally the same – the beat is the same, the generic guitars are the same, his voice is the same, EVERYTHING SOUNDS THE SAME. Also at points (by which I mean the majority of the time) this album tries to copy Machine Gun Kelly’s last album, which boggles me why anyone would even think is a good idea to do (there is even a MGK feature on one of these songs which I didn’t even notice at first, which only emphasizes my point). But unlike that album this one is at least listenable, even though it sounds like if they just took „Mood“, copied and pasted it 15 times and called it a day. I like „let you“ though, so it has that going for it.

Light 4/10

FKA twigs – CAPRISONGS (alternative R&B, glitch pop)

I mean, it has it’s moments – it’s definetly not on the same level of ambition like her LP or even some of her EP stuff, but it doesn’t need to be – it’s just a fun collection of tracks, nothing more nothing less. It’s kind of all over the place, but that gives it that raw mixtape vibe that kinda just clicks – though the interludes could have easily been cut from the album and nothing would change at all, they kinda bring the project down for me. Maybe at the end of the day I’m just mad it’s not called CAPRISUN, then it would have been a 10.

Strong 7/10

Korn – Requiem (nu metal)

So this is the first album in the „4th of February drops“ installment, because everyone wants to drop their album on this day this year it seems. Anyways what can I say about Korn that hasn’t been said before – they have been making the same album for the past decade, except this one is just a tiny bit more listenable. Still even though it’s formulaic to a point of actual numbness, it at least does the formula right. Just be glad they’re not working with Skrillex anymore (damn, that’s already the second time I mentioned Skrillex in this bunch, that’s not a good sign).

Decent 6/10

Animal Collective – Time Skiffs (psychedelic pop, neo-psychedelia)

I don’t know if this is a hot take or not, but I never really understood the hype behind Animal Collective – I like maybe 2 of their songs but I just never really got what’s all the fuss about. I just think they never really clicked with me yet and I was kinda hoping this record would change that – but unfortunately no, I still can’t say I get it. I’m sorry, but these songs just don’t do anything for me – I like some ELEMENTS of them and some IDEAS here and there sound like they might be going somewhere, but that’s all they are for me – not fleshed out elements and ideas. And honestly the songs sound good on a technical level, but they’re not super memorable nor intresting most of the time – I don’t know, maybe it’s just not for me. I still overall enjoyed the record, like the expirience of listening to it was mostly pleasant, but I just wish I left it feeling… Well I guess anything.

Strong 6/10

Saba – Few Good Things (conscious hip-hop, jazz rap)

This album is the musical embodiment of riding around with your friends on a warm summer night – I genuinely couldn’t believe it was still February after listening to it. It’s just so warm and inviting and so lyrically sharp and hard-hitting, it packs quite a punch to be honest. Also for some reason it just sounds so much like the album cover, I can’t explain why, but just go listen to it, you’ll see what I mean.

Light 8/10

Mitski – Laurel Hell (art pop, synthpop)

There obviously is still one album from this 4th of February drop of albums that I haven’t talked about yet, but you’ll have to wait for a full review on that one – and trust me, you don’t want to miss out on that. Anyways this new Mitski is pretty damn solid in my opinion, the instrumentation is lush, Mitski’s vocals are passionate, pretty much the level of quality you’d expect from her – except for „Everyone“ though, that track is like such a dud in the tracklist – it’s not like unlistenable or anything, but compared to the rest of the tracks you immidiately hear that something is off. Other than that probably the second best album to come out of the 4th of February drop, made me for some reason think of My Bloody Valentine’s Loveless on tracks like „Working for the Knife“ – it’s like a more clean Kidz-Bop synthpop version of that and I do mean that as a compliment.

Light 8/10