Monday, May 12, 2025

Katamari Damacy Series SOUND TEAM - Katamari Damacy (Original Soundtrack)

Katamari Damacy Series SOUND TEAM - Katamari Damacy (Original Soundtrack)

Shared by: Peter

It is very infrequent that a soundtrack will make it into my rotation. I can count them on one hand. Katamari Damacy has been one of those albums, though it’s been a long while since I listened to it.

It still holds up. The songs match the game great, soothing while being actually pretty high energy, and a whole lot of weird. There’s some songs that are more like menu or loading screen songs, and I can do without those ones. But otherwise, I was very happy to return to this album. Not sure if it’s gonna get back on the Zune right now though.

Also, what is it about video game soundtracks that they have that sound about them? It’s like… too much 1k in the mix or something. There’s a crunchiness in it that I’ve noticed and it doesn’t ruin the songs but it’s just, like, why?

Classic

Fave: Katamari On The Rocks,
Least: The Na-Na Song,

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Monday, April 21, 2025

A-1 - After School Special

A-1 - After School Special

Shared by: Peter

It wasn’t too long ago I was clowning on Yuno Miles for sampling the Family Guy theme song, but this is mostly done so much better. This whole album’s beats are crafted from theme songs, and there are some real bangers here. Who knew the price is right could go harder than it already does? Golden Girls??? All That was already a good beat, so that was low hanging fruit, but still a good choice for the tape. Others struggle a little bit, particularly the ones based off more rock themes, like Pokemon and Power Rangers. I wound up liking Goosebumps the least though. Pretty well produced, and a solid flow, but it didn’t do it for me.

Also it being called After School Special when the story in the album is that he stayed home from school. That’s just lazy!

Wow

Fave: LeVar Burton
Least: Goosebumps

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Thursday, April 17, 2025

Gwar - Violence Has Arrived

Gwar - Violence Has Arrived

Shared by: Jessie

I expected nothing and was thankfully surprised. I know Gwar as heavy and... I don't know how to describe it. B Movie horror gorefests where it's funny, not scary. But I was told this was the album that made Jessie take them seriously, so ok, let's do this thing.

I do not like these vocals. On every song, it's what I like the least. There's like three different kinds of vocals that occur: the majority is the classic growling/screaming, then there's some group vocal chant type vocals, and once in a while some talking. Not one of these appeal to me here. I'm also fine with not understanding the vocals, especially with screaming, but must every line I DO hear be completely silly? "You used to be hot", "happy deathday to you", there was another silly one I can't remember now. But again, what was I expecting? Nothing.

The production is definitely early 2000s accurate-but-not-bangin, but when this band goes hard, they go hard. Some real unhinged riffs going on, and that's what I'm here for. Those are the moments where the music really matches the look for me. If we're gonna be wild, we gotta be WILD.

Cool

Fave: The Apes Of Wrath,
Least: Abyss Of Woe,

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Wednesday, April 16, 2025

ok cuddle, One Hour Photo - Divorce Court

ok cuddle, One Hour Photo - Divorce Court

Shared by: Self

Love me a split from two bands I already think are cool. With this one we've got two locals that make music that is the closest to my own music that I'm aware of in NYC. They of course have their own styles, ok cuddle likes to be a noisier, One Hour Photo gets heavier, but they're still the closest I've seen, which is exciting for me. They come together hear to show their similarities and differences with each other, and it makes for a very cohesive release. Extra props for the songs bleeding into eachother just a bit, which shows care was put into the tracklist. I do wish for a couple things on the production side. Though the two bands have definite production differences with their songs, my two biggest notes are consistent: drum mix to be cleaner, and vocals to be more present. Neither make the songs bad by any margin, but I think those two things would really just take all the songs to the next level. The both-bands-together cover of Everytime We Touch, now called every time we YOUCH!!! is silly fun which I don't even think was necessary on the split, but y'know, why not??

Wow

Fave: Kevin Costner's Field of Dreams Is an 80's Writers Room Drug Fueled Fever Dream, Hey, Josh?
Least: ,

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Tuesday, April 15, 2025

Momma - Household Name

Momma - Household Name

Shared by: Debbie

I wasn't sure what to expect when I jumped into the album. Debbie was giving me live updates while she basically listened to Momma's discography and kept changing which album which she wanted to suggest to me. Which I guess got my hopes pretty high. Luckily the album is good, though I wonder, is it the BEST one? There's a few too many mid tempo cool guy songs on here, though they kept it interesting song to song with having something different: different sounds or a solid hook. The producer seems to have gone to the Travis Barker school of drum production. Super dry and dead while also being pretty powerful. It's really not my preference of sound, but it's also, not like, bad, so it mostly gets a pass. No Stage and No Bite sound like they listened to Silversun Pickups' Pikul (The Fuzz and Creation Lake specifically) over and over and then wrote these songs.

Wow

Fave: Spider, Rockstar
Least: ,

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