Hi, everyone. Welcome to another post of mini reviews! I have more album reviews coming soon, but for now … here are nine mini reviews (eight new albums and one throwback)!

As always, this is just me talking about my taste in music and how much or how little these albums clicked for me personally. I’m not trying to be ‘objective’ or anything like that. None of this is meant as a personal attack on anyone.

Now, let’s start this post on a very positive note!

Blue Rev by Alvvays:

What a way to start off this post!

Alvvays are a band who I knew had gotten a lot of critical acclaim, but I hadn’t ever listened to an album of theirs until now … and I’m so happy I decided to listen to this album, because it’s AMAZING!

If you’re looking for some alternative rock that uses reverb (or at least what sounds like reverb) really well, has great mixing, and great melodies, I would highly recommend this album!

“Pharmacist” opens the album, and I love the synths on this track, as well as the fantastic mixing … and the album gets even better with songs like “Easy On Your Own?”, a song that’s just so magical with the beautiful production, and the small details add so much to this track, like what sounds like a synth in the background in the verses. I also love the guitar distortion.

Molly Rankin is an absolutely incredible vocalist, and I love how the vocals are mixed, too!

This album has a lot of variety. There are the faster-paced songs like “After The Earthquake”, which has that awesome guitar solo at the end, or “Pressed”, which has some absolutely amazing vocal melodies! But there are also some mellower tracks like “Lottery Noises” (which still has an awesome buildup at the end) and “Tile By Tile”. And then there are songs like “Very Online Guy” and “Bored In Bristol”, both of which feel totally different from so much of this album, but they don’t really feel too out of place to me … also, they’re both amazing songs!

For me, Blue Rev by Alvvays gets a 9/10! 

Final Thoughts
Rating: 9/10
Favourite Tracks: “Easy On Your Own?”, “After The Earthquake”, “Very Online Guy”, “Velveteen”, “Tile By Tile”, “Pomeranian Spinster”, “Bored In Bristol”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Fourth Figure”

Crybaby by Tegan and Sara:

Before listening to this album, I hadn’t really listened to much Tegan and Sara … I had listened to their 2013 album, Heartthrob, once, and that’s about it. In preparation for this review, I decided to re-listen to that album, and while I’ve only listened to it twice, it’s still worth noting that both times, I found it mostly boring, and I didn’t like the majority of the production.

Now, I feel like most people have at least one ‘celebrity connection’ … maybe you know a celebrity, or you know someone who knows a celebrity, or you’re related to a celebrity … something like that. One of mine is that I know Tegan and Sara’s uncle, and maybe that’s partially what made me want to listen to this album. I don’t know, it’s hard to explain … but a lot of the time, when I hear the name, Tegan and Sara, I think of the fact that I know their uncle … even though I’ve never even met Tegan or Sara.

Anyway, after giving this album multiple listens … yeah, I like this a lot more than Heartthrob.

Now, that’s not to say this album doesn’t have its weaknesses in my opinion. There are times where it feels like there was so much potential that wasn’t lived up to. Obviously, I’m not the one to make the artistic choices for this album, and all of this is just based on my personal taste, but I want to mention a big example of this, which is during the bridge of “Sometimes I See Stars”. There’s this awkward key change, and I can hear in my head what it could have sounded like to make it really click for me, but it doesn’t go there.

There are also some things that don’t work for me in the production, like the snare being mixed really quietly in “This Ain’t Going Well”, and the instruments sounding kind of disconnected from each other in “I’m Okay.”

There’s also the song, “Fucking Up What Matters”, which is easily my least favourite on the album. I really don’t like the production on this track, with the bass feeling underpowered, and the snare sounding overproduced. I also don’t like how much louder the drums are than the rest of the instrumentation in the verses. I find the chorus of this song pretty boring, and also the bridge.

But that being said … there’s a lot to like here, too! And I’ll start by talking about some of my favourite hooks on this album, like the soaring hook on “Smoking Weed Alone”, with that buzzing synth in the background, and that snare which is mixed super well! I also love how the percussion is mixed on the hook of “Under My Control”, which also has a great melody on the hook. Also, despite what I mentioned about the bridge of “Sometimes I See Stars”, I will admit it’s got a great hook, with that awesome vocal effect!

I mean … overall, while this album has its flaws in my opinion, I still really like it … outside of a few songs, it’s consistently good, and while there are some production choices that don’t work for me, I think it’s a well-produced album for the most part. This is a really good album, it’s getting a 7.5/10 from me, and while it’s definitely a great example of an album that’s ‘not for everybody’ (even though there are pretty much no albums—probably none—that everyone, if they heard it, would like), if you have the time, I recommend you listen to it. It’s got a lot of variety, and you’ll probably at least find a song or two that you like. And for me, it works as a full album!

Final Thoughts
Rating: 7.5/10
Favourite Tracks: “All I Wanted”, “Smoking Weed Alone”, “Pretty Shitty Time”, “Under My Control”, “Whatever That Was”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Fucking Up What Matters”, “I’m Okay”

Being Funny In a Foreign Language by The 1975:

I’m not super familiar with The 1975’s music … I mean, I used to listen to a lot of their singles, many of which I don’t remember that well, but that was back when I would trick myself into thinking I loved pretty much all music I heard, so I’m not sure what I’d think about a lot of those songs now. And I’ve recently started to listen to some of their music … I listened to some of their singles I used to listen to, some of which I really like, some of which I don’t like. I also recently listened to their debut album, and while I need more listens to really know how I feel about it, so far it hasn’t really clicked for me. But despite this, The 1975 are near the top of my list of bands whose discography I want to listen through.

And there’s a good chance you’re thinking, ‘Simon, if you haven’t really been liking what you’ve heard by them, why would they be near the top of that list?’ And part of the reason is because of some singles of theirs that I love, but also … well, even though from what I’ve heard by them, they don’t seem like a band I’d really like that much … I’m fascinated by this band. And you never know, maybe I’ll end up loving some of their albums!

Part of the reason I’m so fascinated by this band is because of the very mixed opinions I’ve seen and heard about them. Of course, like any famous artist, lots of people like their music, and lots of people don’t … but I especially notice this with The 1975, and there aren’t a lot of bands I can think of whom I’ve noticed this with more than The 1975. 

Maybe in a different post when I write about this band, I’ll explain more about why their music fascinates me so much, but for now I want to talk about their newest album, Being Funny In a Foreign Language, which seems to be their most critically acclaimed album to date … and personally, I really don’t like this album. There are some songs here that I barely even understand the appeal of … and if you love these songs, that’s great! I respect your opinion, even though I have a hard time understanding. For example, the song “Wintering”, which, to me, offers pretty much nothing interesting at all, with underpowered percussion and guitars, and the instruments sounding super disconnected … and I don’t find the vocal melodies interesting, either. “Part of the Band” is similar to me … while I respect the effort it takes to even make a song, it’s hard for me not to wonder how “Part of the Band” was even written, because as someone who’s helped write songs, I just wonder what the idea was for this song … I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with it, I’m just saying I don’t understand it. But I’m not trying to judge the artistic choices here, I’m just writing about how I feel about this song, and I don’t like it.

Even some of this album’s most critically acclaimed songs don’t click for me that much. For example, “Oh Caroline”, which I think had a lot of potential, and the melodies in this song make it almost work for me, but the production sounds really messy, and for a song that sounds like it was supposed to be the big, epic moment on the album that makes everybody want to dance (yes, I know, I described this horribly lol), the messy production stops it from fully clicking for me. Also, “Happiness” sounds to me like the song was recorded, and then somebody went into the studio, messed around with the production without hearing how it sounded, and then said, ‘This is the final version.’ (I’m not saying that’s what happened … I’m almost positive it’s not what happened. I’m just saying it sounds that way to me.) But unlike “Oh Caroline”, I don’t really like the vocal melodies on this song.

I do like the lyrics discussing gun violence on “Looking For Somebody (To Love)”, and I like that it tries to understand gun violence without excusing it. Also, “About You” is a great track with a great vocal effect, and I love the synths that are super loud in the mix, but for whatever reason, it really fits the song for me. “About You” is easily my favourite song on the album.

But one more song I want to mention before the review is over is “I’m In Love With You” … I find the hook of this song so annoying … I mean, I’ve heard worse hooks, but still, whether or not you agree with me on this hook, if you listen to it, you’ll probably understand where I’m coming from.

Personally, I really don’t like the production on this album, and there’s not a lot in the vocal melodies that I like, either. While I respect the creativity of this album, it’s just not for me. 3/10.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 3/10
Favourite Tracks: “Looking For Somebody (To Love)”, “About You”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Happiness”, “Part of the Band”, “I’m In Love With You”, “All I Need To Hear”, “Wintering”

Forget Your Own Face by Black Dresses:

So, yes, I know this album came out way earlier in the year … but because it’s from this year, I don’t count it as a throwback. And after seeing how short this album is, I decided to check it out … and …

Well, it’s interesting, to say the least. Now, let me start by saying that if you can’t stand metal, you’re probably not going to like this, even though it’s not really a metal album … or is it?

Well, that’s a tricky question to answer, as I’m not very good at defining genres … but it has a lot of elements of metal in it. The screaming, as well as the noisy, chaotic sounds.

While I find this album interesting, it didn’t fully click for me. I think the first two tracks are really hard-hitting, but after that, it starts to sound a bit too all over the place.

I think I prefer the heavier moments over the mellower moments … but I often feel like the heavy and mellow moments on this album don’t mix together in a way I really like, and I’m not really sure why.

Overall, for me, Forget Your Own Face by Black Dresses gets a 5.5/10. It’s an enjoyable album, but not one I see myself going back to.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 5.5/10
Favourite Tracks: “U_U2”, “Let’s Be”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Earth Worm”, “Money Makes You Stupid”

Nymph by Shygirl:

And speaking of interesting experiments that don’t really click for me … yeah, I feel kind of similarly toward this album to how I feel about Forget Your Own Face. There are some cool ideas, and I like some of the songs here, and it feels like I could try to force myself to feel like I love this album, but that just wouldn’t be true.

“Firefly” was the first song I heard from this album, and it’s pretty enjoyable to listen to. It’s got some good vocal melodies, that’s for sure … but I’m just left feeling like it’s missing something to make it fully click for me.

And that’s kind of how I feel about the album as a whole. That’s not to say there aren’t tracks here that I like, such as “Woe” (I love the production on this one), “Come For Me” (the percussion sounds amazing here), “Coochie (a bedtime story)”, and the closing track, “Wildfire”. It’s just not an album I see myself going out of my way to listen to as a whole.

I’m giving this album a 5/10 … it’s interesting, but not really for me.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 5/10
Favourite Tracks: “Woe”, “Come For Me”, “Coochie (a bedtime story)”, “Wildfire”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Little Bit”, “Nike”, “Poison”, “Missin u”

THROWBACK REVIEW – Pang by Caroline Polachek (2019):

I always say that the scores I give albums are just based on my own personal taste, and that’s it … and while I respect different people’s opinions, and I respect this album a lot … do you ever see a huge amount of critical acclaim for an album, and it seems like pretty much everybody agrees that it’s amazing, and then you listen to the album, and you’re just left wondering, ‘What am I missing?’

Now, that’s not to say I don’t get why some people love this album … it’s just that I don’t get why it’s so agreeably great. And personally, I find the vast majority of this album to be a slog to get through. For example, the song, “Door”, which features a repetitive chorus that I find kind of annoying.

“Hit Me Where It Hurts” just sounds so boring to me … although I do like the production on this song. But aside from that, there’s so little to this song that clicks for me.

And speaking of boring … “I Give Up” … exists. That’s pretty much all it really gives me to say. The thing about this song I find most interesting is how uninteresting I find it.

And I know I don’t have a huge amount of followers, but if I had more followers than I do, I feel like this would cause a ton of controversy for me to say, but “So Hot You’re Hurting My Feelings”, possibly the most critically acclaimed song on this album, is one of those songs that pretty much everybody seems to agree is absolutely amazing, and I just don’t get it … there’s not much in the instrumental that I like, the vocal melodies are boring to me, and the ‘show me the banana’ line is so cheesy.

But I don’t think that’s the most controversial opinion in this review … because there’s also the song, “Ocean of Tears”, which isn’t one of my least favourites on the album, mostly because of a fantastic bassline and some great synths … but aside from that, this song sounds to me like a modern-day Maroon 5 single. Yes, you read that right. And while I’m not super familiar with Maroon 5’s music, based on what I have heard from them in recent years, this isn’t a compliment.

But I want to end off this review talking about the one song here that I like … and honestly, I can’t even put into words how much I love the song, “Insomnia”. It pretty much must be heard to be believed! It’s so interesting to me how I find so much of this album to be so boring, but in the middle of the album is a song I love this much! And I don’t even know where to begin with this song … I mean, Caroline’s vocals on this song are arguably some of the best vocals I’ve heard on any song from the past five years! Also, the lyrics, the vocal melodies, and the instrumental are all beyond fantastic, and it’s even better when you put it all together! Honestly, I don’t even know what else to say about this song, because whatever I say about it will feel like a massive understatement … but I will say this: to me and many others, music is much more than a hobby … and my feelings about this song are a huge example of that. I’m sure I’ll end up writing about this song in the future, but for now, I want to make it clear that this is an incredibly special song to me, and despite me finding the vast majority of this album to be a slog to get through (and also pretty annoying sometimes), this song brings the score up to a 4/10. Even though I don’t like this album, I’m so glad I took the time to listen through it, because otherwise I probably never would have discovered this song.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 4/10
Favourite Tracks: “Insomnia”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Hit Me Where It Hurts”, “I Give Up”, “Hey Big Eyes”, “Go As a Dream”, “Caroline Shut Up”, “So Hot You’re Hurting My Feelings”, “Door”

Threshold by Cloud Rat:

So, I saw quite a bit of critical acclaim for this album, and … well, I don’t think I’m as big a fan of this album as most critics are, but I do like it overall.

For the most part, I love how the snares sound, and while I think the album could have used more variety, it’s still got some great songs, and I love the intensity in the guitar and drumming. The vocals and instrumentation also sound awesome together!

Some of the shorter songs don’t click for me as much, like “Listening Ear” and “Shepherd”, both of which just kind of feel like they come and go without leaving much of an impact on me, and like I said, this album could have used more variety in my opinion, but there’s still a lot to like here.

For me, this is a 6.5/10. If you’re into metal, I recommend it. If you’re not into metal … well, you probably won’t like this. But as a metal fan myself, this clicked for me.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 6.5/10
Favourite Tracks: “Aluminum Branches”, “12-22-09”, “Imaging Order”, “Kaleidoscope”, “Corset”, “Babahaz”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Listening Ear”, “Shepherd”, “Persocom”

Datura by Boston Manor:

So, I care a lot about production and mixing in music … it’s a big part of what forms my opinions … and while it’s often hard for me to describe with words what kinds of production and mixing really click for me, I can say this: if you want an example of the kind of production and mixing that I absolutely love, listen to Boston Manor’s new album, Datura. The snares are hard-hitting but not too loud, and I love how the distorted guitars sound.

There are also a lot of super catchy hooks on this album, especially the hook on “Passenger”. It reminds me a lot of the song, “Flux” by Poppy … and considering how much I love that song, that’s a huge compliment! But I’ll even go further … I think I like “Passenger” even better! The vocal melodies are fantastic, the guitars and drums sound awesome together, and it’s mixed super well! I also love how at times some of the instrumentation is taken out, which helps it hit even harder when all the instrumentation kicks in again! This song is absolutely incredible!

Musically, “Foxglove” starts off pretty simple, but simple doesn’t necessarily mean boring or uninteresting. I personally love this song! The snare is mixed super well, and the guitar sounds awesome, too! I love the hook on this song, too! But while this song starts off mostly simple, once it gets to the bridge, there’s this ascending guitar progression that adds a lot to the track, and if I remember correctly, it kind of surprised me!

“Floodlights on the Square” is one of my favourites on the album, if not my favourite. The melodies in the instrumentation are fantastic, and I love the production and mixing, too!

I could go on and on about this album, but I’ve already done that with multiple albums in this post so far, and these are supposed to be mini reviews. But this is easily one of my favourite albums of 2022, and I’d be shocked if it doesn’t make my top 50 of the year! So, with that being said, I’ll assume I’ll have more to say at the end of the year, and right now, I’m going to give this a strong 9/10! Keep in mind, that doesn’t mean it was almost a 10 … it was almost a 9.5. But still, I think me giving this a strong 9/10 tells you a lot about how I feel about this album … and if you’re a fan of rock, I highly recommend this album … also, it’s not even a half hour long, but it’s still a great full album experience!

Final Thoughts
Rating: 9/10
Favourite Tracks: “Floodlights on the square”, “Foxglove”, “Passenger”, “Shelter from the rain”, “Inertia”
Least Favourite Tracks: I guess the two that aren’t in my favourite tracks, if I had to pick

Enveloping Absurdity by Phobophilic:

So … where do I begin with this one?

It’s very rare that my opinion on an album is changed this much by one song … but it happens, and in this case, one song makes an otherwise fantastic metal album just decent for me.

I want to be careful with how I write this review, because while I’m sure the intentions were good on the closing track (which is also the title track), I absolutely can’t stand the lyrics on this song. This song features the line, ‘This absurd human experience, can it only be corrected by suicide?’ Obviously, the answer to that question is no, and while that’s the message this song trying to send, I don’t like the way it’s done, because it doesn’t clearly send that message … and to me, if that line is going to be included, it would have had to more clearly send the message that the answer is no.

And I actually really like the way the closing track sounds, with the really well-mixed drumming, and the awesome guitars. I still really don’t like the song, but the way it sounds at least saves it from being among my least favourite songs of the year.

I’ll admit there are songs I like even less that end up on albums I love … and when I like the rest of this album so much, you might be wondering why this song ruins it for me.

Well, it’s partially because of the song itself, and partially because it’s the closing track. It works so terribly as a closing track in my opinion, because there’s nothing that comes after it to send the right message.

Of course, some might think it does a better job of sending the right message than I think it does … but for me, it ruins the album.

I mean, there are still some great songs here, specifically “Those Which Stare Back”, which is probably one of my favourite songs of 2022 so far, with its awesome progression musically, and the drums are mixed amazingly well!

Overall, this album was so close to really clicking for me, but I can’t help but be pissed off by the last track, even though I’m sure the intentions were good. And I don’t mean this as a personal attack on anybody. Again, while it pisses me off, it might end up really helping somebody! Art is subjective, and like with every album I review, I’m just sharing my opinion.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 5.5/10
Favourite Tracks: “Enantiodromia”, “Those Which Stare Back”, “Cathedrals of Blood (Twilight of the Idols)”, “The Illusion of Self”, “Survive in Obscurity”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Enveloping Absurdity”