HotterdanArul
Krazier
I like white food but you don't catch me writing a song about salad and cheese
Posts: 226
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Post by HotterdanArul on Jan 11, 2014 11:43:02 GMT -8
"I take criticism, I take advice, I take one on the chin in the name of Minnesota nice" I sing along every single time. Twenty Dirt is an oddly melancholy album and the album paints Homeless as a figure constantly down on his luck who keeps getting back up and trying again. I like not just the guitar but the reverb overkill they use as it further accentuates the empty and melancholic feeling whilst also just sounding really pwetty. Homeless is by no means the most skilled rapper in the world but the thing about Twenty Dirt is that it is a spectacularly easy album to listen to whilst still being a good experience that felt substantial in some way. The guitar and bass both do their job fine and I love the main backing vocalist guy; what a total dude. Yeah, it is gud.
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Post by The N7 Commander on Jan 12, 2014 10:27:22 GMT -8
So a rock and hip-hop mash up huh, well this turned out to be a rather decent album. The instrumentals were absolutely killer here, the guitar work was in the perfect level of in your hearing range but wasn't enough to take up the vocals, the problem I have with this album though are with some notable exceptions, the vocals never really did anything for me. I spent my time focusing on the instrumentals and never the lyrics despite the balance being damn near perfect. It was never anything bad but nothing good, as such I can't really talk about the lyrics as well, I didn't even notice if they were shit or not. But solid instrumentals were solid and that's enough for me to enjoy this album Solid 6/10
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HotterdanArul
Krazier
I like white food but you don't catch me writing a song about salad and cheese
Posts: 226
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Post by HotterdanArul on Jan 17, 2014 11:35:58 GMT -8
View From the Root was fun for what it was worth: genuinely sincere soft rock with a dadrock vocalist. It had me bouncing along and feeling things even though I was never entirely sure why. It held a lot of country music sensibilities which gave it an extra plus in my book and at points the vocalist's (I assume this was Adam Ezra)voice really worked with the situation but the husky growlyness did make it seem as if he is trying to inject every single line with 100% power and emotion which got to be slightly tiring. I liked what they did with the instrumentals though I am sure some would call them generic, if they are good and fun then I have absolutely nothing to complain about and this album ticked the right boxes in that regard. It did not feel like an overly substantial album though and I would struggle to name you any tracks that caught my ear in particular. I liked Vision and Half A Hero a fair amount but I only remembered the names from looking up to see James' original post. Not a bad album but just kinda does a thing without doing much to truly catch me. Strong 5 to light 6
1-View from the Root (Adam Ezra Group)
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Post by The N7 Commander on Jan 17, 2014 12:42:50 GMT -8
I absolutely love this album, and my love of it has only gone higher and higher as the years have gone on. The main selling point of the album is Adam Ezra himself, one of my absolute favorite vocalists ever, he gives his all in every song but it never gets to a point where it becomes obnoxious, the man's also a killer guitarist and lyricist, he's the driving force behind most everything here and he's really the one to point the credit to here (though everyone else involved is killer too). The lyrics in this really deserve praising I feel, you know me and my taste in music, to me good lyrics don't amount to jack if the music in it isn't interesting, with that said, with lyrics like this I would still really enjoy this whole album. Each individual word (particularly in Vision, Naive Little Me and Another Sunshine) fits and sounds so right in every single way that it sounds like they had all been agonized over until they find the right one. Add that with a shit load of variety from the absolutely mental acoustic guitar playing in Basement Song, the light piano work of Home Again Soon and the hard (for this album at least) Kill Like This, and you have an album that gets me the whole way through, in my top 20 albums of all time honestly. Also I have to belt out the opening lines to Vision every time I hear it, if I or anyone else doesn't do it they're doing it wrong. Strong 9/10
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Post by X17Clones on Jan 17, 2014 16:06:43 GMT -8
Just finished listening to View From the Root. For starters, I'll get this out of the way: The vocals were really, really good. The amount of focused placed on them was well deserving. My problem with them though, is how it all sounded the same throughout the album. Still really good though. The hint of country that was injected into the album was a bit... off putting for me. I'm not a country fan by a long shot, but I can appreciate it when it's good and when a country sort of vibe is used well. Here though, it felt shoved in without a second though. The instrumentation didn't help with this either, as it was largely the stem of this vibe. It felt generic, samey throughout the whole thing, and rather boring. Beyond the vocals, this wasn't really my cup of tea. A 6/10 from me. 1. Twenty Dirt - Homeless and the Van Gobots 2. Adam Ezra Group - View From the Root And now for my album! White Lies - Big TV
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HotterdanArul
Krazier
I like white food but you don't catch me writing a song about salad and cheese
Posts: 226
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Post by HotterdanArul on Jan 18, 2014 0:54:24 GMT -8
Holy shit son I loved White Lies' first 2 albums and have been meaning to check this out.
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Post by X17Clones on Jan 18, 2014 10:57:26 GMT -8
Holy shit son I loved White Lies' first 2 albums and have been meaning to check this out. A friend of mine showed me this album. He wanted my opinion of it, course I gave it to him. I haven't heard much of their other stuff, but I'm sure they're good. Fun fact: Big TV won best album cover of 2013.
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Post by magusthesexy on Jan 22, 2014 8:41:30 GMT -8
I'm back in this
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HotterdanArul
Krazier
I like white food but you don't catch me writing a song about salad and cheese
Posts: 226
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Post by HotterdanArul on Jan 22, 2014 8:50:42 GMT -8
The triumphant return, please catch up with Twenty Dirt, View from the Root, and Big TV
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Post by X17Clones on Jan 22, 2014 17:05:52 GMT -8
Oh yeah, forgot to do this for Big TV. Anyway: The song, Big TV was shown to me by my good friend whom often shows different music to me. He basically wanted my opinion of it, which I aptly answered with "Dat vocal." So, I started looking for the rest of the album on Youtube because I was generally curious to see if the rest of the album held up just as well. You could probably tell that it must have because I'm posting it.
While I was listening to the rest of Big TV, I noticed how much it reminded me of The Killers work in Hot Fuzz. It might just be the style of the vocals, or how light everything sounded. Another thing I noticed was how 80s it sounded. The beat and rhythm throughout the entire album sounds like it was created in the 80s and sat around till 2013 where it was used here. Some of the lyrics feel a bit 80s as well. Though that could just be me. The vocals are a particular standout for Big TV, taking the forefront and sounding fantastic. While I don't think they could be good in something else, they work really well here. The guitar and the drums taking a step back feels right in this instance, not often do you see that working well.
Space and Space II are great little breaks in between the songs. Not only are they relaxing, they sound a bit on the spacey side as well. My favourite song was Goldmine.
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HotterdanArul
Krazier
I like white food but you don't catch me writing a song about salad and cheese
Posts: 226
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Post by HotterdanArul on Jan 23, 2014 14:30:28 GMT -8
Expect my thoughts on Big TV tomorrow or Saturday, have listened to it once but shall relisten.
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Post by magusthesexy on Jan 24, 2014 9:25:12 GMT -8
goddamn james I thought you knew better than this
E: By this I am implying that this adam ezra shit is a test of my patience, every cell in my body is protesting against listening to this oh god this is so fucking terrible argh the shit I go through for you guys ffs
E2: yeah no fuck it I don't want to do this. Fuck Adam Ezra Group and their bland-ass tame-as-fuck boring wank, this is such an appalling album that I can't bring myself to even finish it, there are no redeeming factors, it's bland, it's boring, it's some sort of really really soulless dadrock/country mashup thing, I can't throw it in the background and just not care about it for some reason and I'm not in the right mood for this, but I never will be is what I'd say. An obscure band that should stay obscure forever, 1/10.
Luckily, the other two albums were good. I'll revisit the White Lies album before posting thoughts about these two but I liked both, the Big TV a little bit more than Twenty-Dirt.
1: White Lies - Big TV 2: Homeless and the Van Gobots - Twenty-Dirt 9001: Adam Ezra Group - View from the Snooze
E3: As for my thoughts: Twenty-Dirt didn't wow me at all, but it's quite solid regardless. Some really good production with actual instruments, a rare thing in hiphop, and the rapping is pretty ok as well. It does everything it should be doing, but it doesn't go that extra mile with a real #banger or some insanely fast rapping. Gotta give credit for the unusual production though.
Big TV was a really nice 80's throwback album, it had some really great Depeche Mode-like tracks. I generally like 80's throwback albums so it was up my alley. Tunes like the title track, First Time Caller and Goldmine in particular were exceptional tracks. However, it must be noted that the album is a little same-y, which is my main gripe with it. Aside from a ballad or two there was little to no variation in the style of the album, making it kind of repetitive. Still a very enjoyable listen though.
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Post by The N7 Commander on Jan 24, 2014 15:12:18 GMT -8
XD Knew you wouldn't like that one, I should've warned you that it wouldn't be up your alley in the slightest but meh, this was funny. What makes this better is that I was stuck between 2 albums for this rotation, and the other one is one that I know for a fact you'd love me for. So yeah XD
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Post by magusthesexy on Jan 25, 2014 1:28:26 GMT -8
XD Knew you wouldn't like that one, I should've warned you that it wouldn't be up your alley in the slightest but meh, this was funny. What makes this better is that I was stuck between 2 albums for this rotation, and the other one is one that I know for a fact you'd love me for. So yeah XD well go for that other one in the next rotation please, this album was too much dad for me to handle.
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HotterdanArul
Krazier
I like white food but you don't catch me writing a song about salad and cheese
Posts: 226
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Post by HotterdanArul on Jan 25, 2014 1:52:47 GMT -8
Big TV is not White Lies' strongest album. I still dig their sound hardcore and I was gonna rate the album higher until I took a relisten to their debut and remembered the dizzy heights they could reach. The music is as strong as ever but the lyrics are kinda hit and miss on Big TV. It also commits the sin of having one track which is far superior to the rest: the album is never bad but the title track to me feels simply outstanding. I dig their Joy Division and Interpol fellatio and as I said, the album is not bad by any stretch of the imagination and I will definitely be coming back to it but I call upon all y'all to listen to their debut 'To Lose My Life'. Still, better than View from the Root. Strong 6/10
1-Big TV (White Lies) 2-View from the Root (Adam Ezra Group)
Also it is Nik's turn nowadays
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