ALL THE HITS FROM THE 90'S TO TODAY! - Music Reviews, 11-1-2021

End Of Year List Season is rapidly approaching!  To get ready, I've been gunning as many new albums as I can get in under the wire (mainly because I felt like it; I don't feel any pressure to be comprehensive; if I get to the Mastodon album as long as the Drake album, cool; if not, whatev).  These are the ones I had an opinion on (that I'm not saving for the Best/Worst albums lists, because damn that's coming up fast...)

So this just dropped on a fucking SUNDAY:

Limp Bizkit "Still Sucks" ** and 1/2

This album doesn't know (or care?) what it wants to be.  It's a piss take, it's kind of a mixtape, there is no cohesion of any kind (the tonal whiplash of "Pill Popper" slamming to a halt to make way for "Snacky Poo" is enough to flatten a building).  "Goodbye", musically, sounds most reminiscent of "Genie In A Bottle" by Christina Aguilera.  There are three ballads out of twelve songs and it's all over the place.

Limp Bizkit were at their best when they leaned into the fusion of their influences, not separating them.  Still, some of it was fun so I can't hate too hard, but it feels like...am I really about to say a Limp Bizkit album feels like a letdown?  I guess I am.  Ten years for something that doesn't feel finished.  Eh, could be worse.  Could be a Staind album.

PinkPantheress "to hell with it" *** and 1/3

Speaking of things that don't feel finished: All ten of these songs!  (Okay, "Reason" feels fully fleshed out.)  I know it's the style, but this music is screaming "I'M A VIIIIIBE!!!", but it has no room to breathe.  And it's not like the songs slam into each other; there's a respectable gap between most of them.  It's just 90 seconds of an idea, then it peaces out and another one takes its place.  That aside, all the ideas are pretty good, hitting the drum & bass nostalgia vein pretty delectably.  The harmonies, chords and note choices put it in that nighttime, aetherly, alternate dimension vibe that I was into hardest from 2002-2005, so Pink Pantheress (in spite of being born in 2001) is able to take me back to that place.  I just wished it was for more than 90 seconds at a time.

Men I Trust "Untourable Album" ***

Somehow generic and a little too slight, yet also intriguing and deliciously vibey at the same time.  Maybe it's some of the synth choices?  My pet theory is it's too good at being soothing to be quite as dour and depressed as it seems.  If I'm either of those things, I'm usually not relaxed.

What I'm trying to say is I just don't think I'm sad enough for this shit.

Good music, better than many records I've heard this year in fact, but the vibe is kinda...clashy.  (But still incredibly listenable.)  

Teeth Agency "You Don't Have To Live In Pain" ** and 7/8

I never really knew what the fuck was happening when I listened to this, but it is far too strange to hate on.  "Anon" and "Fly Porridge" jumped out at me on first listen; the other stuff hasn't revealed itself to me yet...

Taylor Swift "evermore" ** and 2/3

I count this one as 2021 music because anything after December 1st has no real chance of being digested properly for list season.  (This came out on December 11, 2020).  There are some standouts: Gimme "Willow", "Champaign Problems", "No Body, No Crime" (feat. Haim), and the run of "Long Story Short", "Marjorie" and "Closure" at the end of the album.  The title track was leaning on my good side, then Bon Iver came in and Bon Iver'd it up, and unlike "Exile", they're using their high register (which like Todd In The Shadows so eloquently explained "sounds like a broken harmonica").

The rest is passable, but I'm not feeling it (yet).  (It took my several listens to "get" Folklore, so it may be the same for this one, but there's not enough time before end of the year list season to get them in.  Eh, we'll see.)

Esperanza Spalding "Songwrights Apothecary Lab" *** and 7/8

This shit has vibes.

Go Ahead And Die ** and 1/2

Music like this really enhances driving around at night and seeing the really creepy looking Halloween decorations people are putting up this year.  Dark and stormy music for a dark and stormy time.  The production will take some serious getting used to, though (it sounds like Max Cavalera is trying to recapture the audio quality and sound of 1987's Schizophrenia).  Oh, and it overstays its welcome; by the halfway point, you've got the idea.  Other than that?  It's worth at least checking out if you want some grimy, beasty shit to slam to.

Flotsam And Jetsam "Blood In The Water" ** and 1/2

Aggressively okay.  Drums are mixed way too loud, to the point where I could barely hear the guitars.  Flotsam And Jetsam's last three albums have been more concerned with trying to be hard than they are with trying to be good.  This one tries to do both and, though better at being catchy than the last two, it doesn't really stick the landing.  "Brace For Impact" is pretty nice, though.  I wouldn't even say this is bad, just...aggressively okay.

Dream Theater "A Something From The Top Of Whatever"

I can NOT care.  (And DT used to be my favorite band.)

So that's it for now.  I'll try to get up my Winter Hit Mix 2021 for next time, and remember to set your clocks back because we still be on that bullshit, don't we?

Love Over Fear.