Hello, everyone!

I know I haven’t posted in a while, and the first thing I’ll say is: yes, I’m still planning to post my list of my top 100 favourite songs of 2022. I’m not sure when, but it’s coming … hopefully before the end of June. I know it keeps getting delayed, but I am actually optimistic it’ll be out before the end of June.

Anyway, I was away for over a week, and during that time I wasn’t working on reviews much. I do have a few reviews of individual albums coming up … I’m not sure when they’ll be out, and they’re going to be out much later than I was hoping, but better late than never.

Also, I have more mini reviews that I’m working on.

Anyway, for now, here are six mini reviews! And as always, it’s all just based on how I personally feel about these albums.

The Weakness by Ruston Kelly:

This is my first time listening to a Ruston Kelly album, and while I respect almost all music, this album in particular is a huge example of an album I respect way more than I like. It’s super emotional and very personal, with a lot of it having to do with his divorce. And I’m not trying to be disrespectful, but if I’m being honest the album isn’t really clicking for me as a whole.

I’m not a big fan of the airy production, and a lot of the vocal melodies bore me. But there are some individual songs here that I love … for example, “Michael Keaton”, which has some of my favourite vocal melodies here, and I love how the guitar sounds in the chorus. And there are some moments here that really resonated with me emotionally, it’s just that I can’t really say the same thing about the album as a whole.

Overall, I highly recommend you listen to this album, even though it’s not really for me. There’s a lot to it, and there’s a good chance you’ll absolutely love it.

That being said, for me personally, this is getting a 5.5/10. But that’s just because the album didn’t really click for me personally. But I don’t dislike the album, and I absolutely love the closing track!

Final Thoughts
Rating: 5.5/10
Favourite Tracks: “Michael Keaton”, “Mending Song”, “Holy Shit”, “Cold Black Mile”
Least Favourite Tracks: “The Weakness”, “Dive”

Just Me and You by Lilac:

This album is mostly instrumental, and in the parts of the album with lyrics I can’t hear what the lyrics are, nor could I find them when I looked them up.

Anyway, this album is quite calming, and I mostly like the production, but it kind of feels too long and too short at the same time, if that makes any sense.

I mean, it’s less than a half hour long, but it feels like it could use more variety in the sound to make it fully click for me more … which would make the album longer but also it wouldn’t feel like it drags on as much. But still, I like the synths here and it’s mixed really well, and it’s not that there isn’t any variety here, it’s just that I think I would like it more with a bit more variety.

For me, this album is a 7/10, and I recommend you give it a chance!

Final Thoughts
Rating: 7/10
Favourite Tracks: “Phone Call”, “M1221451x234”, “My Lifesaver”, “I Thought It Was Over”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Sleep Pattern”, “Outside Your House”

Glorious Game by El Michels Affair & Black Thought:

After Black Thought’s collaboration album with Danger Mouse last year which ended up making my top 50 for the year, I was very excited to hear this new Black Thought collaboration album, this one being a collab with El Michels Affair, a band whom I don’t remember hearing of until recently, even though they’ve been releasing albums since the 2000s.

Anyway, this is a hip-hop album with very interesting lyrics, with clear-sounding instrumentals where none of the instruments feel distractingly loud or quiet, and there’s lots of variety in this album’s sound … I mean, this feels like something I ‘should’ love, right?

And yeah, I do! The percussion sounds great, Black Thought’s flows are great, and I love these instrumentals. I’m not very good at analyzing lyrics, but I do really like this album lyrically. There are a lot of good rhymes, but there are also a lot of socially conscious lyrics. I love the line in “I Would Never”, ‘When polices breakin’ laws, knockin’ hinges off of doors, and the only explanation you’ve received is ‘just because’.’

Even aside from the lyrics about society as a whole, there are a lot of personal lyrics, too, like on the closing track, “Alter Ego”, and I love the line, ‘I sit there in the mirror, starin’ at myself intensely, thinking, ‘I should act my age, shit, I’m approachin’ half a century.’

All that being said, in some parts of the album the production feels a bit messy despite how clear everything sounds, and it does hold the album back for me a bit … and as much as I like a lot of the instrumentals and flows on here, “The Weather” features some really awkward tempo changes that don’t work for me at all.

But overall … I think this is pretty great! Do I love it as much as Cheat Codes with Danger Mouse from last year? No … but I still like it a lot!

So, for me, Glorious Game is getting an 8/10!

Final Thoughts
Rating: 8/10
Favourite Tracks: “Grateful”, “Glorious Game”, “I’m Still Somehow”, “I Would Never”, “Alone”, “Miracle”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Glorious Game (Reprise)”

No Highs by Tim Hecker:

Despite the massive amount of critical acclaim that multiple of Tim Hecker’s albums have gotten, and despite the fact that he’s been putting out albums since the early 2000s, I had never listened to a Tim Hecker album before listening to this one. And I still haven’t listened to any of his other albums, but I saw this one getting a ton of critical acclaim, like a lot of his albums, so I decided to check out this fifty-plus minute instrumental album …

And it’s not really clicking for me. Yes, I know, this has been getting tons and tons of critical acclaim, but it’s just not really my cup of tea. I mostly like the production and mixing, but it just kind of feels like it drags on.

I love the eight-plus minute opening track, which is very eerie. But nothing comes close to that for me on the rest of the album.

Overall, I’m going to give this album a 5/10. I don’t dislike it … I find it mostly enjoyable while it’s on. But I just personally don’t find it very interesting. That’s not to say it’s not interesting, it’s just that I personally don’t find it interesting.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 5/10
Favourite Tracks: “Monotony”, “Glissalia”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Monotony II”, “Pulse Depression”

Light and Space by Nashville Ambient Ensemble:

So, this is a mostly instrumental ambient album which I get the appeal of more than I actually like.

I mean, it’s pretty impressive, but it just doesn’t do much for me personally. The instruments sound kind of disconnected from each other in the production at points, and it feels like it drags on a bit despite only being a little over forty minutes long.

I couldn’t find the lyrics to this album when I looked them up, and it is hard to hear the lyrics in some parts of the album, so the lyrics don’t really change my feelings on this album … but again, the album is mostly instrumental.

I’m going to give this album a 5/10. There are some nice melodies, and it’s got a nice, calm feeling to it … but it’s just not really my cup of tea.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 5/10
Favourite Tracks: “Prism”, “Refraction”, “Horizon”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Crystalline”

The Worm by HMLTD:

So, here’s an album that’s been getting a ton of critical acclaim, and it’s quite something!

It reminds me a lot of Black Midi, but I don’t like this nearly as much as Black Midi’s albums. First of all, despite this album only being a little over forty minutes, it feels like it drags on a lot.

But a lot of these songs just don’t really click for me. Part of it is that I’m not a big fan of the production, with the different instruments often sounding disconnected from each other—I guess a simpler way for me to say that is that there’s kind of a messy sound in the production here.

I really like the piano on this album, but a lot of the group vocals kind of annoy me.

There are some interesting lyrics here, but I do get pretty tired of hearing the word ‘worm’ so many times, as it makes it feel less deep than it really is. And that’s too bad, especially because I’m pretty sure there’s a lot of depth here in the lyrics, but maybe it’s just me not being as much of a lyrics guy as a lot of people are. But even though I think there’s depth here, it sounds like a band running out of ideas and just repeating the same thing over and over again … I said it sounds like that, not that it is that.

And I know you could make the argument that that’s hypocritical of me, when I just end up repeating the same things over and over again in my reviews, and my response to that is:

You’re right.

But hey, I never claimed not to be a hypocrite. For me, this album is getting a 5/10.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 5/10
Favourite Tracks: “Wyrmlands”, “Days”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Saddest Worm Ever”