Hello, everyone! Welcome to another mini album review post, and it’s quite a positive one, too! As always, it’s just based on my own personal taste in music, not ‘objective quality’, whatever that means.

Also, I’m making a change in this mini review post: I’m not including a throwback review this time. I’ve been in a time crunch trying to get my final two 2022 year-end lists out, and I decided I don’t want to make that a rule for myself where I have to include a throwback review. I’m not done with throwback reviews … they’re really fun to make, and I want to keep making them, but I’m not going to include them in every mini review post going forward.

And speaking of throwback reviews, the first album I’m reviewing in this post is by an artist whose 2019 album I did a throwback review of last year!

Desire, I Want To Turn Into You by Caroline Polachek:

I shared my very controversial opinion on Caroline Polachek’s 2019 album, Pang, last year in a throwback review, giving the album a 4/10. And now, again, Caroline Polachek has released a super critically acclaimed album, and the song “Billions” got me intrigued about this album, so I decided to give it a chance. So, what do I think of it?

Well … honestly, I just couldn’t get into this album. And the biggest reason is inconsistency. Some of these songs feature production/mixing that I mostly like but have underwhelming melodies, and some are the other way around. For example, the song, “Pretty In Possible”, has a really nice effect on some of the synths, and the percussion sounds pretty good, but there’s not a lot melodically that I like. But there’s also “Fly To You”, which features a really good melody on the hook, but the bass sounds annoyingly distracting and the percussion sounds slightly distant from the rest of the instrumentation in the production … maybe that didn’t make any sense, but I’m pretty much saying the way the percussion is produced doesn’t fit with the rest of the song, to my ears. Also, I’m not really a fan of the effect on Caroline’s voice in the chorus of this song.

But there’s also “Bunny Is A Rider”, which is probably my least favourite song on the album. I really don’t like this song, as it’s got some of the most boring vocal melodies on the album, some very annoying whistling (whistling is something that usually annoys me in music), and instrumentation that doesn’t interest me at all. And overall, the song is quite annoying in my opinion.

Now, that’s not to say I don’t like anything here. I’ll admit “Sunset” is a song that grew on me quite a bit, with some really good melodies that I can’t deny how much I like. And “Billions”, my favourite track here, is a fantastic closer!

But overall … honestly, I thought I was going to like this more, but I’m going to give this album a 4/10 … you can post an angry comment if you want, but like with all of these reviews, I’m just sharing how I personally feel about the album.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 4/10
Favourite Tracks: “Sunset”, “Hopedrunk Everasking”, “Butterfly Net”, “Billions”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Pretty In Possible”, “Bunny Is A Rider”, “Crude Drawing Of An Angel”, “I Believe”, “Blood And Butter”, “Smoke”

Cuts & Bruises by Inhaler:

In 2021, Inhaler released their debut studio album, It Won’t Always Be Like This, and as someone who isn’t a fan of that album at all, I didn’t have very high expectations for this new album. But I decided to give it a chance anyway.

And I’m really surprised how much I ended up liking this!

Now, let me say right now that I don’t love this album … but I do like it! And the biggest improvement from their last album in my opinion is the production! This album is really well mixed, the guitars sound clear, the drums have some real power to them, and there’s less of a messy sound to it, which is one thing that held their last album back for me.

Like their debut, this album reminds me a lot of The Killers and U2 (and I felt that way before being reminded that lead singer Elijah Hewson is the son of U2 lead singer Paul Hewson AKA Bono), but I find it much more interesting than their debut, like they have their own unique sound … and yeah, I know there are probably tons of similar bands out there whom I just haven’t discovered, but that can be said about pretty much any band … and I might like this album more than any album The Killers have released in the past decade!

A lot of these songs feel like they’re missing something to make them click for me more, and some of the vocal melodies can get a bit boring, but when the production is so good and there’s lots of great melodies in the instrumentation … you know what? I’m going to give this album a 7/10! I like this a lot!

Final Thoughts
Rating: 7/10
Favourite Tracks: “These Are The Days”, “If You’re Gonna Break My Heart”, “Dublin In Ecstasy”, “The Things I Do”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Love Will Get You There”

This Stupid World by Yo La Tengo:

Why had I never heard of this band until this year? They’ve been putting out lots of critically acclaimed music since the 1980s!

Anyway, I saw this album getting lots of critical acclaim, and I’d seen it described as a rock album. And as someone who loves rock music, I decided to check this out. And it’s a good thing I did, because this album is great!

The guitar distortion is really powerful, and the album is super well mixed, too, with the basslines not only adding some great melodies but also being mixed really well. The drums have a variety of different sounds throughout the album, and they’re mixed pretty much just right and they fit pretty much every song here.

I really like the vocals on this album, and it’s very interesting lyrically, and while there are some awkward production choices here and there, I think it’s a really strong album overall. So, for me, it’s an 8/10, and absolutely an album I recommend! Great stuff!

Final Thoughts
Rating: 8/10
Favourite Tracks: “Sinatra Drive Breakdown”, “Aselestine”, “Until It Happens”, “Apology Letter”, “Brain Capers”, “This Stupid World”, “Miles Away”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Tonight’s Episode”

Compositions by Deathprod:

It honestly feels kind of wrong to put this album in this post, because it’s arguable whether or not this is even music. I would argue that it is, but I could totally understand someone arguing otherwise.

Now, I have some advice … you don’t have to take my advice, but here it is: don’t listen to this album. It’s a fascinating listen, but I don’t recommend that you listen to it. And I’m not saying this to get you to listen to it … I actually don’t recommend that you listen to it. It’s an album I rarely see myself going back to, but wow, this is quite something. Honestly, I’m going to give this an 8/10 right now and leave it at that … no, that rating is not a joke. And I’m not going to explain any more right now. Maybe someday this review will make more sense.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 8/10
Favourite Tracks: “Composition 1”, “Composition 7”, “Composition 9”, “Composition 10”, “Composition 11”, “Composition 16”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Composition 8”

Let’s Start Here. by Lil Yachty:

Well … this is interesting.

So, I’ll admit I haven’t listened to much of Lil Yachty’s music, but I’ve heard a lot of people saying he’s a terrible artist, but now suddenly he’s getting a lot of critical acclaim for what I heard is a rock album, and that made me really curious to check it out.

But here’s a question: is the critical acclaim for this album really because of the album itself? Or is it just the idea of Lil Yachty making a rock album? And it’s arguable whether or not this is a rock album, but it’s certainly at least close to being one in my opinion. And honestly, I can’t help but wonder if this album is only getting this much critical acclaim because of the idea of it rather than the album itself … and that being said, I’m going to add to the critical acclaim, because I think this is pretty fantastic!

The production is gorgeous, with a really dreamy feeling that fits well with the lyrics describing a drug trip. I mean, I’ve never done drugs and never plan to (unless you count caffeine/sugar/etc. but I don’t think those count), but I’d imagine this album’s sound is fitting considering the lyrics. Either way, the album sounds fantastic!

And yes, there are some questionable lines here and there, but in the context of the album you can tell most of what’s going on here is hallucinations.

I love the effects used on Lil Yachty’s voice here, and there are lots of great melodies here, too!

I haven’t listened to a ton of Pink Floyd’s music, but I am familiar with The Dark Side of the Moon, and I’ve heard some of their other music, too, and this album reminds me a lot of Pink Floyd musically … but here’s a hot take: I like this album more than The Dark Side of the Moon! No, I’m not joking! 9/10!

Final Thoughts
Rating: 9/10
Favourite Tracks: “the BLACK seminole.”, “pRETTy”, “:(failure(:”, “drive ME crazy!”, “IVE OFFICIALLY LOST ViSiON!!!!”, “paint THE sky”, “The Alchemist.”, “REACH THE SUNSHINE.”
Least Favourite Tracks: “sAy sOMETHINg”

life gets interesting… by Virginia To Vegas:

I am a Canadian who grew up in Canada and still lives in Canada to this day, and as someone who listens to the radio quite often, I’ve heard a lot of Virginia To Vegas singles … actually, let me reword that: I’ve heard a small handful of Virginia To Vegas singles a lot of times. And if I’m being honest, I haven’t liked most of what I’ve heard. So, when I found out he has a new album, I didn’t have very high expectations for it. But I was curious to listen to a full album of his, and it’s pretty short, so I listened to it.

And, well … it’s a pretty easy one for me to review. It’s the kind of pop music that I could see appealing to someone looking for some catchy pop music. But even as someone who likes this style of pop music more than a lot of critics do, this album didn’t do much for me.

Lyrically there doesn’t seem to be much depth here … maybe I’m missing something, but I personally don’t find the lyrics very interesting for the most part, and there are points where the lyrics can get quite bad in my opinion, like “break up with that guy.”, and I think that title pretty much explains what I’m talking about.

The instrumentals here feel mostly boring, too, and I’m not a big fan of a lot of the production, with the percussion not having much punch to it, and there are some synth/guitar effects that feel out of place to me (I can’t tell if it’s synth or guitar a lot of the time on this album).

Overall … well, I don’t hate this album, but I can’t really say I like it. For me, this record is getting a strong 5/10. At least it’s short, it’s got some catchy melodies, and I like a few of the tracks. But overall, it’s not my cup of tea.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 5/10
Favourite Tracks: “intro”, “casamigos”, “you don’t know”
Least Favourite Tracks: “outerspace”, “break up with that guy.”, “over you”