Hello, everyone! Welcome back to another mini review post! I’m not sure how many more of these mini review posts I’m going to make before the end of the year … I’m almost positive there will be at least one more after this one, but I’m not sure if there will be any more after that.

But for now, here are 10 more mini reviews! As always, these are just my personal feelings on these albums. And once again some of these reviews are very, very brief, but hopefully I’ll get back to making my reviews at least slightly more in-depth soon.

But for now, enjoy these reviews!

STILL EMO by Emotional Oranges:

This came out all the way back in August, and I finally decided it was time for me to listen to an Emotional Oranges album after hearing such great things about their music for years … so, here I am, finally listening to one of their albums, and …

Well, this album grew on me with more listens. At first I found it to be pretty mediocre and not very interesting, but now I mostly like it!

I don’t think the lyrics are particularly noteworthy (although like I always say, lyrics are not my strong suit as a critic), and I don’t always like the vocal melodies, but there are still some standout vocal melodies at points here, and also the production is incredibly smooth and gorgeous!

I mean, I could nitpick the production in certain points, like how the trap beat does feel a bit too loud at the start of “Justified” (it feels like it fits more later in the song), but there are so many moments where the production sounds fantastic, like that subtle bass sounding awesome in the mix on “Lies You Tell”, the fantastic sound of the percussion in “Be Somebody”, or how the guitar blends in with the rest of the instrumental pretty much perfectly in “Not Worthy”!

There are some strong hooks here, and also, Tkay Maidza absolutely steals the show on “Be Somebody”, which might be my favourite track here!

I do think there’s a lot of room for improvement here, but it’s still super well produced and overall I think it’s consistently good with a few great songs … so, for me it’s a fairly strong 7/10! This was a nice surprise after it didn’t really click for me at first.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 7/10
Favourite Tracks: “Be Somebody”, “Justified”, “Not Worthy”
Least Favourite Track: “Olympics”

Spiritual Cramp by Spiritual Cramp:

Post-punk band Spiritual Cramp formed back in 2017, although this is their debut studio album, and it’s been getting quite a bit of acclaim … and as a post-punk fan, I was excited to hear this!

And honestly, it kind of reminds me of that album by The Hives that I reviewed this year, and at points it felt like some of these songs were about to suddenly turn into those songs, like how “Better Off This Way” keeps feeling like it’s about to turn into “Two Kinds of Trouble” from that album.

But overall, do I like this album? Well, yeah, I do. It’s a mostly fun listen with mostly good production, and there’s also some social commentary in the lyrics. But overall, even aside from that one comparison I made, it kind of feels like I’ve heard this before … and outside of a few specific moments, this just doesn’t really feel all that special to me personally.

The guitar and drums sound good together, and I like the vocals, and overall it is a mostly enjoyable listen … but I don’t think I’m going to go back to it much. Light 7/10 for me.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 7/10
Favourite Tracks: “Herberts On Holiday”, “City On Fire”, “Catch A Hot One”
Least Favourite Track: “Blowback”

I Killed Your Dog by L’Rain:

So, here’s one of those albums where I can acknowledge there’s a ton of creativity, it’s a fascinating listen, and it’s very experimental, and I highly recommend giving it a chance … and yet it’s not really clicking for me.

Yes, there are moments that I like, but often with music this artsy/experimental I’m going to find it clicks for me more in moments than as a whole album … I mean, I guess that’s usually what happens when an album takes this many risks, and that’s what’s happened here for me.

I do mostly like the production as I think it gives this a really nice atmosphere, but the majority of these songs just aren’t really grabbing my attention all that much.

So, overall, it’s a haunting, eerie listen, and I often like the synths and percussion (and other elements as well), but as a whole it’s just not really sticking with me as much as I’d like, so from me it’s getting a 6/10.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 6/10
Favourite Tracks: “I Hate My Best Friends”, “5 to 8 Hours a Day (WWwaG)”, “r(EMOTE)”
Least Favourite Track: “I Killed Your Dog”

Quaranta by Danny Brown:

Danny Brown is one of many artists I want to listen to more but just haven’t yet taken the time to listen to much. Yes, I’ve listened to the excellent Atrocity Exhibition, and I also listened to and reviewed SCARING THE HOES, but that’s it. And considering I’m not nearly as big a fan of SCARING THE HOES as the vast majority of critics, I had no idea what to expect from this …

And of course this is getting a lot of critical acclaim … I mean, it’s a Danny Brown album, and a lot of people are going to praise the hell out of it no matter what simply because it’s a Danny Brown album. But personally, while I do like this album, I don’t love it. But I do really like a lot of the lyrics, a lot of which seem to be about Danny’s career, and there’s a lot of really clever wordplay here, too, such as in the chorus of “Celibate”.

But the instrumentals often feel just okay and not all that interesting to me. I do think it’s mostly well produced, but the album just isn’t fully clicking for me personally, and that’s a me thing.

I do still like it, though, and there are a couple big standout tracks for me, with “Jenn’s Terrific Vacation” probably being my favourite track here—it’s incredibly catchy, and I love the jumpy feeling of the instrumental combined with the great flows, the shuffling percussion sounds great, and there are some fascinating lyrics about gentrification.

So, overall, I’ll still give this a 7/10, as there is a lot to like here … it just didn’t really wow me. 

Final Thoughts
Rating: 7/10
Favourite Tracks: “Tantor”, “Y.B.P.”, “Jenn’s Terrific Vacation”
Least Favourite Track: “Celibate”

Silhouette Machine by Flooding:

This is the second studio album by Flooding, a band I hadn’t heard of until recently. This follows up their 2021 self-titled album which I still haven’t listened to.

Based on the genre descriptions I saw for this (post-hardcore, post-rock, etc.), I was very interested to hear this, especially considering it’s been getting quite a bit of acclaim! So, does it live up to the hype in my opinion?

Well … kind of. It’s got some nice intensity to it at points, and there are seeds of a great album here in my opinion, but a few things hold it back from clicking for me more. The production can often feel messy, there aren’t a lot of really strong melodies in my opinion, and the mellower moments often don’t do much for me at all.

Still, though, there is some nice guitar distortion, and while the lyrics don’t really wow me personally, I do mostly like the sound of this album and the vocals are really good … so, I’ll give it a 7/10, as I do think it’s quite good, but I wouldn’t call it great.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 7/10
Favourite Tracks: “Run”, “Monolith Girl”, “Silver Gilt”
Least Favourite Track: “Interlude (The Dying Swan)”

Feel Good by Jaime Wyatt:

This is my first time listening to a Jaime Wyatt album, and while I do like this album I also get this strange feeling I ‘should’ like it more than I do.

It feels like I’ve been getting more and more into country music the more of it that I listen to, and this album is mostly well produced in my opinion, and there are some catchy moments and some good lyrics … and yet, it’s just not really fully clicking for me.

I think part of it is that the vocal melodies and instrumental compositions just don’t feel all that interesting, but even aside from that there’s also the fact that I mostly just find this album consistently solid but rarely great. There’s not much about this that really wowed me personally.

I do find some of the hooks memorable, though, like in “Jukebox Holiday”. But a lot of this just feels pleasant while it’s on and that’s about it.

But still, if you’re a big fan of country music you very well could love this, so I’d recommend it, but for me it’s a 7/10. I do like it, but I don’t love it.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 7/10
Favourite Tracks: “Feel Good”, “Hold Me One Last Time”, “Where the Damned Only Go”, “Jukebox Holiday”
Least Favourite Track: “Althea”

Mississippi by Jason Eady:

I’ve heard some really good things about Jason Eady’s music, but this is the first album of his that I’ve listened to.

But unfortunately, this didn’t really do much for me. In fact, it kind of sounds like the first thing that comes to mind when you think of a stereotypical country album—I mean, it’s not a fair stereotype, as there’s a lot of variety in country music, but even as someone who’s been getting into country music more and more these past few years, if you’re only listening to country music like this I would understand why you might be struggling to get into the genre … because at least to me, this album is boring.

Both lyrically and musically, this album mostly feels like a big collection of campfire tunes, which isn’t a compliment. There are exceptions to that, but I still don’t want to listen to an album in which most of the songs feel like campfire songs.

I mean, at least the production is decent, but for the most part this just feels like a nothing burger of an album, at least to me. So, I’m going to give this a 5/10, and while I’m still curious to hear some of his other albums based on what I’ve heard about them, I think this is mediocre at best.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 5/10
Favourite Track: “Burn It Down”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Wayside”, “Getting Even”

Vidrio by Titanic:

So, here’s a pretty new debut album by a duo that just formed this year, and this album has been getting a lot of critical acclaim.

And I’m not really sure how to describe this album. I don’t really know what genre to call it. But I will say I mostly enjoyed it!

Now, it’s worth mentioning that I don’t speak Spanish, so even though I translated the lyrics online, I don’t know how accurate the translations are. But I do think the album sounds pretty good, with mostly good production that gives some of these songs a really nice, smooth, calming sound.

I think the album starts really strong, and while there are some low points like the tedious “Cielo Falso”, as an overall album experience I’d definitely recommend it. The melodies are pretty strong, and there’s some really cool, experimental instrumentation.

So, for me, this is a 7/10. I don’t love it, but I at least found it interesting.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 7/10
Favourite Tracks: “Anónima”, “Circulo Perfecto”, “Palacio”
Least Favourite Track: “Cielo Falso”

Models by Lee Gamble:

I was looking for new albums to listen to and I came across this very experimental album by a music producer I hadn’t heard of until this album.

This is a fascinating listen, the kind of album I’d describe as ‘abstract art’, and it’s very well produced with some really gorgeous passages.

Now, with all this being said, I can’t say it’s fully my thing. As far as this sort of ‘abstract art’ in music goes, I’ve heard much better in my opinion, and there are points on this album that do kind of bore me. But still, there are some strong melodies, and it’s absolutely worth giving a chance in my opinion.

So, overall, I do mostly like this, and I’ll give it a light 7/10. But I don’t think I’m going to go back to it much.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 7/10
Favourite Tracks: “Juice”, “XIth c. Spray”, “Blurring”
Least Favourite Track: “She’s Not”

A Wheel Of Burning Eyes by All The Heavens Were A Bell:

I haven’t been reviewing a ton of ambient drone music the past few weeks, and while it’s not really one of my favourite genres it is usually a pretty easy genre to review, and I like some stuff in the genre …

But unfortunately I can’t say I like this all that much … and don’t get me wrong, there are some small details that at least make this more interesting, but overall it just starts to feel boring the longer it goes on.

I don’t dislike this album, but especially once it gets to the second of the two very long tracks here, it starts to feel like I’m listening to a soundtrack from a horror movie, and not a particularly interesting one.

So, for me it’s a light 5.5/10. Again, not bad, but not really my thing.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 5.5/10
Favourite Track: “Usurper, Destroyer”
Least Favourite Track: “Glowing Light Of Ophanim”