Album of the Week Club.

[Mykesbass]

1 hour ago, Newfoundfreedom said:

These seems to be some odd time signatures happening with the drums in a couple of tracks which I really like. 

 

 

 

Drums and percussion are a highlight of the album. 

[Dad3353]

I listened to each track intro on the Bandcamp site, then downloaded a FLAC album. I'll listen to it all over the next couple of days. First reaction, though : I don't like the almost systematic 'four times through' intro to most of the tracks. Not for its content, musically, but just from a composition point of view. Hearing any one track, it probably works, but skimming through the Bandcamp tracks, it irritated. I would have liked to have the lyrics, too, but these are not on offer, it seems. Never mind; more later when I've given it all a shot. 

[sprocketflup]

As I was playing this the first time, Mrs Flup walked past and said " Its got a Kings Of Leon sound about it"
 

I can see her point tbh

 

[Maude]

6 minutes ago, sprocketflup said:

As I was playing this the first time, Mrs Flup walked past and said " Its got a Kings Of Leon sound about it"
 

I can see her point tbh

 

I got the KOL vibe, early KOL anyway, with a touch of Strokes thrown in. 

I enjoyed it to start with but steadily got more bored towards the end. Pleasant enough and nothing particularly annoying, just not particularly captivating either. I'll maybe give it another go as to start with I was liking it. 

[ead]

Not music that I would naturally go looking for but I felt reasonably engaged and listened to the whole album without feeling the need to click forward to the next track at any point.  On the whole I found it felt a little repetitive towards the end, but some good tunes on there none the less.  Around 6 to 7 out of 10 from me.

Edited October 30, 2023 by ead

[toneknob]

On 27/10/2023 at 17:04, Newfoundfreedom said:

Lunglight by The Shaky Hands. 

 

Listened! For me mostly harmless, not massively memorable, probably won't come back. Some nice bass playing.

 

[Barking Spiders]

Not bad at all but then again the post punky vibe is right up my street. Reminds me of 80s 'Peel'  bands like Josef K, The Room and The Sound. One listen through so far but I give 7/10.

[nekomatic]

I liked this from the off - it's energetic, the sound is complex but well balanced (imho) so you can hear everything that's going on, and there's variety from track to track. The bass is rewarding to listen to and the perc is fun (I do like a bit of conga, me). If I had an alt-rock band I think I'd be pretty happy if it sounded like these guys. If I had an alt-rock band that sounded a bit boring I'd definitely look at this album for a few ideas to change things up.

 

 

I guess about half way through it started to run out of anything new to do for me, but that's not a bad result for a genre I'm not usually all that drawn in to. 

 

This is a brilliant idea - thanks for starting it and I look forward to the next one!

 

[steantval]

One minute twenty seven seconds into the first track, I bailed out.

 

Not for me.

[Dad3353]

4 minutes ago, steantval said:

One minute twenty seven seconds into the first track, I bailed out.

 

Not for me.

 

You wouldn't care to elaborate on that, by any chance..? What didn't strike a chord with you (or struck a raw nerve...). 

[upside downer]

I gave it more than one minute and twenty seven seconds  Listened to it three times, and there's a couple of half-decent tracks but it never really grew on me. I don't mind a bit of jingly-jangly alt-rock but this had a 'much of a muchness' feel about it, it just meandered along and there was a lack of decent 'hooks' to get hold of. The recording sound is good but the whole album didn't leave a lasting impression.

 

Best tracks - Loosen Up, No Say and Wake the Breathing Light.

 

Overall - 5/10

 

 

Edited November 2, 2023 by upside downer

[sprocketflup]

Same here, three listens but didn't find anything that dragged me in I'm afraid. Not a bad album by any means, but I didn't find myself humming any of the tunes once the record had stopped. 

 

[steantval]

19 hours ago, Dad3353 said:

 

You wouldn't care to elaborate on that, by any chance..? What didn't strike a chord with you (or struck a raw nerve...). 

I was thinking how I would describe it, then I read Upside Downers post, exactly Jingly Jangly but not in a good way like the Birds.

The vocals were pretty average, no real stand out features.

IMO, the first track on an album should be one of the strongest and grab your attention from the off, unfortunately this one failed with me.

[Newfoundfreedom]

1 hour ago, steantval said:

I was thinking how I would describe it, then I read Upside Downers post, exactly Jingly Jangly but not in a good way like the Birds.

The vocals were pretty average, no real stand out features.

IMO, the first track on an album should be one of the strongest and grab your attention from the off, unfortunately this one failed with me.

 

Yes. I agree. 

 

As I said earlier in the thread. I think the opening track was a really bad choice. 

 

It sounds off key and really not quite right. After a few listens I'm pretty sure this was an artistic choice rather than a pink torpedo up. But I really think they should have gone with another track as an opener. 

[MartinB]

A pleasant listen! Vocals not strong, but characterful, and some nice backing/harmonies. Nicely recorded but not too slick. I liked the use of percussion. I bet they're fun to watch live. The track that stuck with me is Neighbors - it puts in me mind of a meek Jesus Lizard 😆

[Newfoundfreedom]

Ok folks. I'm posting early this week because I don't know if I'll get the chance later. 

 

So here we go. 

 

🥁

 

Bjork - Medulla.

 

Interesting one this. I've heard a couple of Bjorks pop hits on the radio and music television back in the day. But I've never listened to an album. So I'm assuming everything on here will be new to me. 

 

Bandcamp

https://bjork.bandcamp.com/album/med-lla

 

Apple

https://music.apple.com/bg/artist/björk/295015

 

Spotify

https://open.spotify.com/album/6bjGw9Clp684XTRPBI0h6K

 

Tidal

https://tidal.com/album/90087191

 

YouTube

https://youtu.be/7A3WJ11U3V0?si=2dMKH1fbed60vChM

[LowB_FTW]

I never got around to the first album from last week, but I've been following this thread.

I'm deffo on-board for this album though, so I shall be reporting back in a few days.

 

Mark

[ead]

Bjork will certainly generate some interesting views.  I know this album so will hold off commenting for a bit!

[Newfoundfreedom]

1 hour ago, ead said:

Bjork will certainly generate some interesting views.  I know this album so will hold off commenting for a bit!

 

Yeah the stuff I've previously heard of hers is as mad as a box of frogs, but in a good way. I don't know why I've never really listened to any of her albums before. 

 

Maybe I'll find out after I've listened to this one. 😂

[nekomatic]

Well that's a surprise - I was expecting someone else I'd never heard of!

 

Having said that though, while I know Post and Homogenic like the back of my hand, and love them both, I have listened to most of her later albums multiple times but they haven't stuck with me in the same way (yet) - I can't name or hum any tracks from this one. So this is the ideal cue to listen to it again with fresh ears and think about what I do or don't like about it. Which is the genius of this concept.

[BigRedX]

On 27/10/2023 at 17:04, Newfoundfreedom said:

Ok. Drum roll...............

 

And the winner is......

 

Lunglight by The Shaky Hands. 

 

Bandcamp

https://theshakyhandspdx.bandcamp.com/album/lunglight

 

Spotify

 

Apple Music

https://music.apple.com/bg/album/lunglight/289937827

 

 

YouTube

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_mXabWDHTNlQozeNovb8gqvHuSdroZBI4o&si=m0zrssY_NFCZ1n13

 

Tidal

https://tidal.com/album/19117087

 

Hopefully shouldn't be too challenging a listen for me this one. 

 

Please feel free to post links to any other streams you find on your service of choice. 

 

Enjoy. 😉

 

 

 

Only just been able to find the time to listen to this.

 

Fist off I have to say that this isn't the sort of music I would listen to these days out of choice. However it was IMO nowhere near as horrible as I was expecting from the comments from others in this thread. In fact apart from the more angular/atonal guitar parts it mostly washed over me without leaving any sort of impression.

 

The band seem to be very typical of American "Indie Rock" from the early 2000s like Death Cab For Cutie, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Modest Mouse, and early Arcade Fire who were all harking back the the NYC scene mid to late 70s bands like Television, Talking heads and The Patti Smith Group. Unfortunately unlike their influences they didn't have the advantage of being almost completely new and different compared with what had gone before. There's nothing wrong with "standing on the shoulders of giants" but if you do you need to be looking forward rather than back or straight down. Death Cab For Cutie managed at least one decent song per album. Shakey Hands can't even do that.

 

Sadly all very bland and forgettable.

[Doctor J]

Shaky Hands are not a million miles away from music I would listen to regularly, but I didn't think much of them, to be honest. The songs don't tend to go anywhere and I was losing interest by the end. They're the kind of band I might enjoy more hearing only one song of as, going from one into the next, it all gets very samey very quickly. I didn't hate it but I can't see myself ever listening to it again. There are much better bands ploughing that particular furrow.

[Thump]

The last lot I could not get into at all, did not like what I heard. Not what I would listen to normally but that's kind of the whole point here.

 

Bjork I am familiar with , looking forward to a listen when I get home from work

[BillyBass]

Medulla by Bjork

 

I missed the 90s, I was a monk living in Burma and Sri Lanka for much of the decade and have only heard a few of her more famous songs.

 

I like some avant garde classical stuff, like Sciarrino, Scelsi, Stockhausen, Ligeti, Arvo Part etc and also Throbbing Gristle, but listen to the genre rarely.  When I do it is in a dark room, alone, at night.  If I was in the mood, I would likely go back to something I know and like rather than Medulla.  I didn't like it.

 

Nevertheless, this has aroused interest.  I might listen to some more of Bjork's stuff, possibly her earlier albums.

 

I don't want to give a mark out or ten as I would like to have something similar to compare it too.  The avant garde classical composers I mentioned above would be the nearest for me, but not near enough for a real comparison.

 

 

Edited November 3, 2023 by BillyBass

[Maude]

I'll listen to this today. 

I really like her debut album. It was brought onto my radar by my wife when I met her as she was really into it. It has. IMO, phenomenal production and sounds just fantastic, but I've never listened to any of her other albums so I'll look forward to this one.