What's a Listening Log? Well, the idea is quite simple. It's a weekly segment that consolidates all the mini-reviews Dozens Of Donuts has given on RateYourMusic over the past week, split between the Past and Present. A straightforward grading scale has been put in place, ranging from A+ to F-, with C acting as the baseline average. There is no set amount of reviews per week, just however many I get around to reviewing. And don't expect week-of reviews. I wait one month - with at least three listens under my belt - before I rate and review an album. Enjoy!
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2018 | Abstract Hip-Hop | Listen
FICTIONAL STORYTELLING FOR INSPIRATIONAL PURPOSES
What I love most about Serengeti is his total commitment to his art. When an idea emerges, nothing prevents him from making it regardless of the looming end result. The Moon is a textbook example of this, as it unfolds a six-part sage of Steve "The Dolphin" Moon, a former convict turned award-winning swimmer. It's fictional and doesn't serve any other purpose than to inspire and amuse, which is partly where the allure comes in; Serengeti's humble candor.
On The Moon, production and flair that you'd expect with other Serengeti projects take a backseat as the emcee, more often than not revealing the linear story in Spoken Word, focuses entirely on Steve Moon's life. This causes The Moon to be entertaining, but brief in its accessibility as there's not much depth past one, concentrated listen. 'Pt. 5' and 'Pt. 6' are my favorites, for Serengeti's emotional attachment begins to reveal itself over misty production. The piano in 'Pt. 5' in particular is lovely.
C
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Can I just say that "hands up, who wants to die?" is the best project opener I've heard in a while. It's also the moment Nick Cave turned the new leaf, effectively moving beyond The Birthday Party's melodious drudge in favor of The Bad Seeds' pandemonium. So no, it's not a coincidence this EP is where the band took their eventual name from. The slower songs, 'Wild World' and 'Deep In The Woods,' find Cave unleashing cruelties over instrumentation that bridges the gap between No Wave and their incoming Punk Blues. They're likely my favorite because of this, as the melodies The Birthday Party's always struggled at take a backseat for engaging, inflamed, theatrical art. 'Deep In The Woods' is such an adventure in depravity, liking itself to Scandinavian folk lore had it been processed by a foreign lunatic.
C
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1993 | Noise Rock | Listen
CASSETTES TAPES UNRAVELING IN THE SWELTERING HUMIDITY
Th' Faith Healers' final album before evolving to Quickspace, a transition that essentially replaced Rock with Pop as the affix to Noise. It's tough to say how much Imaginary Friend improves off Lido for the majority of the record follows the same, freewheeling, Jam Band-esque stylings. But 'Sparklingly Chime' and 'Heart Fog' have no equal on their debut, finding Th' Faith Healers' interest in Pop structuring grow. A filthy Stereolab, if you will. Or, NEU! with female vocals.
Unfortunately the album, or at least the copy available digitally on Apple Music, is marred incalculably by 'All At Once Forever' and it's 20-minute improvisational Jam Band tacked onto 12 minutes of silence before 'Everything All At Once' pins that idea down to seven minutes. It's a horrendous second half that goes nowhere while aggravating further with minor, almost imperceptible mutations throughout. It's not Flaming Lips' 'Noise Loop' level of unbearable, falling somewhere closer to Liars' 'This Dust Makes That Mud' or Can's 'Bel Air.' In other words, an idea worthy of a two-minute interlude extended far, far beyond reason. Thankfully side A is good.
B-
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1997 | Post-Rock | Listen
A DYING STAR GRADUALLY MEETING ITS DEMISE
Do Make Say Think without Dave Mitchell's iconic, labyrinthine drums that would come to define the band's sound on albums like & Yet & Yet and You, You're A History In Rust. On their self-titled debut, Do Make Say Think play the role of Post-Rock's wallflower. Quiet, self-isolating, and reticent in their quest for recognition. It doesn't reach the scaling highs of their later work, but '1978' is the closest one will get to their defined sound here, as the rest of the overly-long pieces dabble in the wide gap between Space Rock and Slowcore. Tracks like 'If I Only...' and 'Highway 420' move at a glacial pace, a far cry from the quick tempo, multi-faceted Jazz Rock Do Make Say Think would be known for. For what it's worth, despite being one of my least favorite tracks, 'Dr. Hooch' achieves a similar aesthetic to David Lynch's Twin Peaks universe. That eery, despondent, vacated Jazz sound Angelo Badalamenti essentially coined.
The only thing, excluding a certain 20-minute expedition we'll soon get to, that offers a uniquely-pleasing experience is 'Disco & Haze,' with slight nods to Spacemen 3's hypnotic Neo-Psychedelia. The undulating loops never fail to lull the mind into a trance. The same could be said for 'The Fare To Get There,' a song which, after seeing the duration, I was dreading enduring. Yet it's easily Do Make Say Think's best, with extraordinary pacing, a mastery of minimal space, and lenitive qualities that could do wonders for one's nightly dreamscape. It's Space Rock without the genre's tendency to glamorize, relying instead on the facts and meditative aspects that are habitual there. Also the percussion, while mid-tempo and vanilla, elevate 'The Fare To Get There' through each towering segment. A prime example of how to do lengthy songs without resorting to pure, uninspired Drone. It remains interesting even in the stages where you'd presumably be fast asleep.
D+
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