Hello, everybody. I recently made a post where I did mini reviews for ten albums (nine new albums and one throwback) … this time, I’m doing seven albums, with six new albums and one throwback.

A few things to mention:

1 – I have rated all the albums and then randomized the order that I review them in.

2 – Yes, I know this is really late … multiple things delayed this post.

3 – All of this is just based on my personal taste. If you disagree with me, that’s totally fine. No hate meant to any of the artists or anyone else involved in making these albums.

Bronco by Orville Peck:

So, I’ll admit to not being the biggest fan of country music … but that’s not to say I don’t like any of it. I’d seen/heard some positive stuff about Bronco by Orville Peck, so I decided to give it a chance, and … we’re starting this post on a positive note!

First of all, yes, I know this album came out months ago, but this doesn’t count as a throwback for me, because it came out this year.

Anyway, if you’re looking for some fast-paced country, listen to the title track or “Any Turn”, both of which are really fun songs. Overall, I’m not as big a fan of the slower songs on this album, but there are some that I like, such as “Iris Rose”.

This album has lots of great melodies, Orville Peck is a great singer, and there’s a lot of great instrumentation, too! If you’re into country, I highly recommend that you hear this if you haven’t already … and even if you’re not into country, I recommend it. Because as someone who’s not a big fan of country music myself, even I like this!

I’m giving Bronco by Orville Peck a 6.5/10.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 6.5/10
Favourite Tracks: “Outta Time”, “Lafayette”, “Kalahari Down”, “Bronco”, “Any Turn”, “All I Can Say”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Hexie Mountains”, “Let Me Drown”, “City of Gold”

a lighter shade of blue by Christina Perri:

First of all, I want to mention that after seeing a few Christina Perri interviews about this album, I heard her talk about how important this album is to her, and let me just make it clear that, as always, this is just based on my personal music taste.

I’m not super familiar with Christina Perri’s discography, but I’ve listened to her 2011 debut album Lovestrong recently, and I’m pretty sure I like the album? I think? I don’t know, I haven’t listened to it much, but I definitely love some of the songs on that album.

But this new album didn’t really click for me. That being said, there are some elements to this album that I like, including in the lyrics on some of these songs. I like the time machine theme on “back in time”, especially the first verse when she changes her mind about whether or not she would go back in time. I also like the theme of wanting to go back to your hometown (possibly to escape fame) in the song, “home”, the story being told on “roses in the rain”, and the message of celebrating the small things in life (or at least the things that seem small) in “tiny victories”.

But a lot of these songs feel pretty boring musically, and a lot of the vocal melodies really bore me. I mean, the song, “hurt”, for example, which, at least to me, feels like it’s just … there.

And then there’s “fever”, which could have been really good in my opinion … the vocals and melodies are great! But the production is what kind of ruins it for me, with the percussion sounding out of place in my opinion, and the track overall just sounding a bit like a demo.

“fighter” is a song I respect a lot more than I like. I get why this track might click for a lot of people, and I’m not trying to be disrespectful here … it sounds like a song that is probably very personal to Christina … it’s just that the instrumentation mostly bores me, and there’s not much in the melodies that I like, either … and most notably, the percussion sounds awful if you ask me.

There are two songs here that I like, one being “tiny victories”, which has a nice build to it, and I like the lyrics, too. The other is “roses in the rain”, which, like I said earlier, has a well-told story, and it also has some really nice pianos, vocals, and vocal melodies. “roses in the rain” is my favourite song on the album, and a legit great song in my opinion. There are elements of other songs, too, that save this album from getting a lower score, but overall, it’s not really my cup of tea. 4/10.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 4/10
Favourite Tracks: “tiny victories”, “roses in the rain”
Least Favourite Tracks: “surrender”, “hurt”, “blue”, “i do it for you”, “fighter”

The Other Side of Make-Believe by Interpol:

Interpol are a band who I haven’t listened to much … the only album of theirs I had listened to before this was Turn On the Bright Lights, and just like almost everyone, I love that album!

But my expectations weren’t super high going into this album, considering that the common opinion on Interpol seems to be that they’ve never made another album as great as Turn On the Bright Lights, and haven’t even come close in recent years.

And after giving this album multiple listens … how is this the same band who made Turn On the Bright Lights? In my opinion, this is really, really bad.

The production is terrible in my opinion, with the drums sounding so disconnected from the rest of the instrumentation a lot of the time, like on “Fables”, “Something Changed”, and “Renegade Hearts”.

A lot of this album sounds like a bunch of demos, and it’s a slog to get through.

For me, this album is a 3/10. I like “Mr. Credit” and that’s it. Some of the other tracks are okay, but overall, this isn’t for me.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 3/10
Favourite Tracks: “Mr. Credit”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Toni”, “Fables”, “Into the Night”, “Gran Hotel”, “Big Shot City”, “Go Easy (Palermo)”

THROWBACK REVIEW – Habits by Neon Trees (2010):

I used to listen to this album a long time ago, but I was very young back then, and my music taste has changed a lot.

Over the past year or so, I’ve gone back and revisited to a lot of the music I used to like when I was really young, and a lot of it still works for me despite my big shift in music taste as I entered my later teens … but a lot of what I went back and revisited was the music that I remembered better and continued listening to longer. I used to listen to lots of music about a decade ago, and then I eventually ended up just listening to five to ten bands around 2016 or 2017. Of what I’ve recently revisited of those five to ten bands, most of it I still like despite my big shift in music taste … but a decade ago, I liked a lot of music I would consider terrible now. Seriously, when I was maybe five or six, I regularly listened to “My Humps” by Black Eyed Peas.

So, I was curious to go back and listen to this album, and … well, this was a strange listen.

First of all, in my opinion, the second half of this album is waaaaaayy better than the first half … but still, as a whole, the album doesn’t fully click for me, despite a few fantastic songs.

“Sins of My Youth” opens the album, and while I mostly like the production and some of the melodies, overall, I don’t like this song … you see, this is a song where Tyler Glenn sings about habits he’s having a hard time breaking, and maybe this is just me making assumptions, but when I hear people singing about having a hard time breaking habits, I usually think they’re probably bad habits … and this is a good lyrical theme for a song … so, I guess the best and most fitting way to do that is … how about upbeat, happy-sounding instrumentation? Right?!

“Love and Affection” is probably my least favourite song here, as it’s not only very boring musically, but the lyrics are pretty creepy and kind of possessive. Although I also really don’t like “Animal”, which happened to be the big hit off this album. The production on “Animal” really doesn’t work for me, with the drums sounding so underpowered, and there’s not much melodically or lyrically that really stands out to me as particularly good.

That being said, “1983” is incredibly well produced, and would be my favourite on the album by far if it weren’t for the line, ‘And it ain’t so pretty when you’re playing cute, when your body’s up against some fool,’ which just gives me you-should-be-with-me-instead vibes, even though I’ve heard much worse lyrics … but you know what? Pretty much everything else about this song is so exceptional that I still love this song despite that! And I said if it weren’t for that line, it would be my favourite on the album by far … but it’s probably still my favourite track here.

I also think “Our War” is a great track that works even better as the closing track to the album. I especially love the moment at the start when the guitar kicks in. This song is super well mixed, and the lyrics are very emotional, too. This song is fantastic!

And back to talking about Interpol … there’s one more song on Habits I want to talk about, and that is “In the Next Room”. This is a song with creepy lyrics where Tyler Glenn sings about a romantic and/or sexual interest, and he says he won’t take no for an answer … this sums up a lot of my issues with this whole album … and yet, for whatever reason, this song really clicks for me! I think it’s partially because I just recently got into Interpol’s 2002 debut album, Turn On the Bright Lights, an album I love which features a lot of lyrics from the perspective of the villain. Musically (and sometimes vocally), this song sounds like a lot of what’s on that album, so maybe that’s why this song has more of a ‘playing the villain’ feel to it. If you know me and my music taste, there’s a good chance you wouldn’t expect me to like this song, but I actually love it … why? Well, that, I can only partially answer.

But overall, I feel like the lyrical themes of this album hold it back from being better, with at least somewhat creepy lyrics on “Love and Affection”, “Your Surrender”, and (maybe) “Animal” taking away from my enjoyment of the album, as well as that one line I mentioned in “1983”. “In the Next Room” is just the exception that works for some reason that even I don’t fully understand.

Aside from “Animal” (and maybe another track), this album is well produced, and there’s a few great songs … but it doesn’t work for me as a whole. 5/10.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 5/10
Favourite Tracks: “1983”, “In the Next Room”, “Our War”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Sins of My Youth”, “Love and Affection”, “Animal”, “Your Surrender”

Preacher’s Daughter by Ethel Cain:

First of all, this came out almost three months ago … I’m late to this one.

Anyway, I saw a lot of critical acclaim for Ethel Cain’s debut album, Preacher’s Daughter, and I was super excited to hear it!

And after multiple listens, I can confidently say this is an album I respect a lot more than I like.

It turns out this is one of those albums where I see/hear a ton of critical acclaim, and it feels like pretty much every critic agrees that it’s great, and I feel like the one person who’s not really a fan of it.

Now, like I said, I do respect this album, and I can tell there was a lot of effort put into it. It has an interesting story throughout the album, and there’s a lot to like lyrically.

With that being said … a lot of these songs just aren’t really my style for the most part … very mellow songs like “Thoroughfare” that drag on for a while, and I just lose interest. And it’s not helped by the production, as a lot of the time, it feels like some elements are drowning out others.

This album reminds me of Wolf Alice, but even as someone who is a massive fan of Wolf Alice, I don’t even mean it as a compliment … because, to me, it sounds like Wolf Alice if they had much worse production, lyrics that didn’t click for me as much, and dragged out their songs way longer than I would have liked. Or maybe a better way to put it is that this album sounds to me like I’d imagine Wolf Alice sound to people who don’t like Wolf Alice.

Speaking of the production … yeah, it’s a big issue for me on this album, even on two of my favourite tracks here, “American Teenager” and “Hard Times”, especially on the former, in which the percussion sounds awkward, and the synths really don’t fit in the chorus. But it’s also an issue for me on “Western Nights”, “Sun Bleached Flies”, and “Family Tree”, the latter of which is very … muddy? I’m not sure if muddy is the word I’m looking for, but it’s what comes to mind.

“Gibson Girl” is easily my favourite track here, because not only does it fit into the album really well as the moment she realizes her ‘love’ is really the villain, but the production sounds excellent, too. Ethel Cain’s vocals on this song are fantastic, as well as the effect used on her vocals.

But then there’s the song, “Thoroughfare”, which at least to me, really drags on.

Overall … 4/10 for me, but if you have the time, I would highly recommend that you listen to this, because I’m pretty sure most of the people I’ve heard/seen talk about it love it. It’s not for me, but I respect this album a lot, and I get the appeal, so I think it’s absolutely worth giving a chance.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 4/10
Favourite Tracks: “American Teenager”, “Hard Times”, “Gibson Girl”
Least Favourite Tracks: “A House In Nebraska”, “Western Nights”, “Family Tree”, “Thoroughfare”, “Sun Bleached Flies”, “Strangers”

Emails I Can’t Send by Sabrina Carpenter:

So, I wasn’t really sure what to expect going into this new Sabrina Carpenter album, and … there are a few songs here I like, but I’m not really a fan of the album.

Now, even on some of the songs I’m not a big fan of here, there are some elements that I like. “because i liked a boy” addresses assumptions and online hate Sabrina received over a bunch of stuff I don’t want to get into right now. While I like the lyrics, I’m not really a fan of the song due to the way it sounds.

I’m not a fan of the song, “Tornado Warnings”, but I do like the bass on this song.

The pre-chorus of “skinny dipping” reminds me a lot of Olivia Rodrigo … and that’s a compliment, as a huge fan of Olivia Rodrigo myself … although the song as a whole doesn’t really work for me, mostly because of the verses, in which Sabrina’s delivery just sounds awkward over the instrumental (because of the timing). Sabrina herself has said it was supposed to be awkward, and I respect the creativity of it, but it just doesn’t really work for me.

“Fast Times” is the one song here that I truly love, which has that awesome keyboard melody, great vocals from Sabrina, and a great chorus!

“bet u wanna” and “Nonsense” are also highlights for me, but then there’s “Already Over”, which musically feels like it goes nowhere, and the bass doesn’t mix well with the vocals on the pre-chorus, and “Bad for Business” has pretty much nothing about it that really clicks for me, and the album as a whole I’m just pretty bored by. 4/10.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 4/10
Favourite Tracks: “bet u wanna”, “Nonsense”, “Fast Times”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Vicious”, “Read your Mind”, “Already Over”, “Bad for Business”

Entering Heaven Alive by Jack White:

In my last post of a bunch of mini reviews, I reviewed Fear Of The Dawn by Jack White, his first of two 2022 albums. That album is more of a rock album, and I’d heard this was a mellower album. I’m not a big fan of that album, but I also don’t think it’s bad, and I was curious to hear Entering Heaven Alive … so, how is it?

Well, I’m going to end off this post with a … kind of positive review? Also kind of a negative review … just like with Fear Of The Dawn, this album has its positive highlights, but as a whole, it doesn’t fully click for me.

“Love is Selfish” and “Please God, Don’t Tell Anyone” are major highlights for me, with the latter being really well produced and containing an excellent snare!

On “Queen of the Bees”, however, I find the drums to be terribly mixed, and the closing track is a mellower version of “Taking Me Back” from Fear Of The Dawn, and I easily prefer the original … this version just sounds … awkward. And I’m not entirely sure why.

Overall, while this album has its moments, I’m still giving it a 5/10. I find it to be inconsistent, and not something worth returning to as a whole.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 5/10
Favourite Tracks: “Love is Selfish”, “If I Die Tomorrow”, “Please God, Don’t Tell Anyone”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Help Me Along”, “I’ve Got You Surrounded (With My Love)”, “Queen of the Bees”, “A Madman from Manhattan”, “Taking Me Back (Gently)”