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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2019 | Experimental Rock | Listen
DESCENDING INTO MADNESS WITH CROWDED SHOULDERS
The Guest, it's so nonchalant. So inscrutable. So self-effacing. But to those in the know, The Guest's actual identity is none other than Black Country, New Road's show-stopping lead Issac Wood. You know, the one that screamed "leave Kanye out of this!" after eight sprawling Experimental Rock minutes on 2019's SOTY 'Sunglasses?' Here, he teams up with James Martin for a two-track EP that sounds less like cohesive melding, and more like a competition between warring emotional placemats. Good Dog Vs. Bad Dog, like good cop and bad cop, pits polar opposites against one another. On the brief, but demanding 'Bad Dog,' Martin yelps with an anarchist bite as a millennial whine transforms into sample screech as Garage instrumentation slings around him (see: Show Me The Body's Dog Whistle). It's wild and verges on psychotic Rap Rock. Magnificently successful in originality.
The ten-minute 'Good Dog' is a more personal affair, finding lyrical comparisons to Wood's own work with Black Country, New Road. Here he internalizes, contemplates his errant ways over shifting Progressive Electronics. The spiraling consciousness, in connection with the unpredictable production and sudden spurts of melody, sees Jamie Stewart of Xiu Xiu become a point of influence. Even the jarring, last-minute transition into motivational 80's Synthpop ("I'm a big boy now!") is right up Stewart's alley of throwing listeners off their axis. Overall, Good Dog Vs. Bad Dog is an intriguing concept that attempts, rather successfully, to compartmentalize years worth of frustration, angst, and determination into two mere songs.
B
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Consider me whelmed. Laurel Halo's Quarantine promised an interesting aesthetic with a novel sound. It effectively succeeds on both fronts, though incomprehensible vocals and substantial lack of payoffs prevent memorability. If anything, Halo's breakout feels more like a glorified art installation, one you appreciate by surrounding in the essence and not so much in the aftermath. Pacing is bromidic and bitter, moving at a snail's pace despite the celestial groundwork. The Electronic palpitations on tracks like 'Joy' and 'Nerve' stockpile in wonderment, but lack agency, merely existing in the eternal without addressing the strangeness. 'MK Ultra' achieves this feat the best, with Tangerine Dream-esque Progressive Electronic that flows like an agitated river. Perpetual and undulating. Yet slow and predictable.
However, Quarantine's biggest, most unexpected setback for me is Halo's vocals. At times I'm reminded of the Ambient Pop from Deradoorian or Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith, of which Halo predates both. Props there. Usually never a deterrent, here her idiosyncratic insistence rarely compliments the unique production techniques, unlike other comparative artists Bjork and Julia Holter. The variety in tone becomes unforgiving and damn near repugnant on the worst efforts; 'Years' and 'Carcass.' On both, the vocals single-handedly ruin the tracks with over-modulated emphasis and distasteful tarriance. However, elsewhere when Halo appears more natural ('Airsick,' 'Thaw') she imbues a resting, gossamer personality. It isn't great, but fits the awkward mood of Quarantine better. The disparate clashing of styles, behaviors, methods, you name it, struggles to maintain any momentum and lacks any significant fortitude.
D-
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