Stream of Consciousness & Music Reviews

      I don't have much to say about A Hard Day's Night other than it's good. It's classic Beatles pop-rock, you really can't go wrong with that. Every song is around only 2 minutes long and the total runtime is a half hour; it's short and sweet music that's pleasant to listen to. The guys are really good singers, especially with the vocal harmonies that pop up which can sound really good. Same thing with the guitar; there's occasionally a really good guitar riff that sounds better than I actually expected it to be. Biggest complaint that I have is that the backing can feel empty sometimes. It'll sometimes sound like just the vocals with maybe 1-2 instruments quietly looping off in the distance. Luckily this doesn't diminish the quality of the songs too much and doesn't happen that often, so it's not a big deal. Nice music which is nice to listen to.     Highlights: A Hard Day's Night, I Should Have Known Better, If I Fell, I'm Ha...

      It is now a tradition to review an Aphrodite's Child album every Christmas eve (except they only have one more album after this so it won't last very long). Speaking of let-downs, this album falls very short of its predecessor End of the World. I liked that album so much because of how zany and chaotic the music was while still remaining coherent. This album, however, seems to have done a hard left turn and decided that most of the songs should follow a rigid structure of verses and choruses, which really diminishes the sound because of how it feels like it's forced into being more uniform. The same goes for the general sound too; it's much more generic and bland and just less interesting to listen to. The instruments feel more uniform and "doing what they're supposed to do" which makes the music more boring as a result. Also, the vocals don't sound anything like they did in the first album. You can tell that it's the same guy singing, but hi...

    I think that Daft Punk has mastered their craft. I genuinely don't know what to say, this was just an incredibly great album, at least on par with Discovery. The duo have near-perfected their groove and rhythm here, with every track being infectiously funky. The sound alone is phenomenal, thanks to the unique integration of the synthesizers they're known for. Oddly enough, this album feels more acoustic when compared to Discovery, despite it using the aforementioned synths and sci-fi vibe just as much, if not more due to the heavy emphasis on themes of space and the future. The more relaxed overall tone makes the songs even better just for casual listening or having on in the background while still retaining the detail and complexness that makes it amazing to really analyze as you listen and pay attention. And the addition of having other artists on to record and produce some of the songs helps for the tracks to feel distinct from each ot...

      The debut album from Ace of Hearts (not including two EPs released last year) sure is an album. I've been following this band since they formed in early 2020 so I want to be nice about how I describe this. The music isn't bad, I like it a fairly good amount, but it feels lacking; it really is a first album, in that it just hasn't found its footing yet. I feel like there's some definitive element or style that's missing from the majority of the album. It's perfectly fine indie-rock and it sounds like a few of the songs have taken inspiration from Daft Punk, which I'm always up for, and sometimes reminds me of ELO, with how it incorporates strings and synths throughout. Unfortunately, the uses of these areas of creativity aren't utilized that effectively; there's nothing to really define the sound or feel of the music. I think that the brightest look forward for the band is in the (maybe) title track of the album "A Life Frozen in Time"...

    I'm doing the ELO album first this year. Mostly because I just want to listen to it since it's somehow been a year since I last let myself listen to a new one (I really need to get around to doing these reviews more often); but hey, at least this has a pretty great offering! Just a heads up, I'm going off of the version of the album on Spotify, which I believe is the double album version. Secret Messages continues the band's trend of experimenting with their music a lot, but now in somewhat familiar ways. It carries on from what Time did, having an eclectic mix of sounds and genres throughout the album, but now it almost has a similar feel to the days of Eldorado or Face The Music. It returns to trying to mix together modern rock elements (which at this point would be the 80's) and more classical elements, such as strings, but also some other various older styles, such as a more heavy emphasis on blues and soul throughout the songs. And of course they still reta...

      I don't review movies, but I wanted to write out my thoughts on Scotland, PA in full. Scotland, PA is an adaptation of Macbeth set in the 1970's, with Scottish royalty traded in for fast food. Spoilers for both the movie and the original play (both are good, I suggest watching them, the play probably has productions on youtube and the movie is free on pluto), and I'll be speaking as if you already know the play. I'm looking at the movie in two lights: how good it is as just a movie, and how good it is as an adaptation of the play.      Firstly, how well does it stand on its own? I'd say it fairs pretty well. The fast food setting is intriguing enough, especially after "Mac" kills Duncan and buys the restaurant. The progression of the building along with McBeth's rise is nice, especially since the set design of the place is amazing (although I am a sucker for that retro fast food look, so I'm probably biased here). And along with the sets, the...