[Nicky91]

Gigaton up next pls

[Shaun]

No, Nicky.

Compared to their previous ("Something to Tell You", which was... just dull) this was fantastic, but in the grand scheme of things I'm not completely blown away. HAIM have always toed the line between satisfying pop and chillwave indie and never really committed fully to either angle, and it can be a bit of an underwhelming experience at times. Sometimes I wish they'd go full "Pray to God" with Calvin Harris again.

BUT... this was a very enjoyable listen and something with plenty of stand-outs beyond the early singles. "Another Try" is a funky, brassy number and should soundtrack summer perfectly, whilst "The Steps" gets better with every listen. "Leaning On You" feels incredibly Vampire Weekend (which makes sense, since two bandmates produced this/are dating one of the sisters), but also quite folksy and something that'd go down very well at Glastonbury. They even channel a little bit of Joni Mitchell on "Man from the Magazine".

I think I'd have to give the album a solid 8 and not a drop more; it might have been a little too long, "I've Been Down" was super repetitive and uninteresting, and it's also slightly silly to release a summer song, called "Summer Girl", and then wait a whole damn year to put the album out the following summer. SILLY. But I liked this a lot.

This makes 5 reviews at the moment but I shall allow any latecoming scores to the result. As things stand, HAIM score 72.

As for the next album? Well... I said I was open to suggestions and - since there's nothing out this week that will interest TiBB (Paul Weller? Willie Nelson? I don't think), I am more than happy to take Samm's suggestion of Jessie Ware. So that's what it shall be!

[LaLaLand]

My vote for HAIM is a solid 9/10. I really, REALLY enjoyed it.

Keep flitting between that and the next album to be reviewed funnily enough so I’ll do a proper “review” of What’s Your Pleasure?” in the coming days!

[Fetch The Bolt Cutters]

I’ll give ha 8/10 but i don’t really have much to say about it other than musically some of the songs give me christian rock vibes and idk why so i’m glad they threw in quite a few F-bombs because this somehow balanced it out for me. Also the random screaming in the background of all that ever mattered... gorgeous, bjork found dead etc. Favs are the steps, i know alone, 3am and all that ever mattered

[Shaun]

Those two scores bump HAIM up to 76

[Smithy]

HAIM

It was enjoyable, but it took a couple of listens before any of the songs particularly clicked, it was nice enough; however it’s unlikely id listen to the album again in full and I’d just add the handful of tracks I enjoyed to my library 6.5/10

Jessie Ware

Wowowow Id heard good things on here and on Twitter about her album but i wasn’t expecting much because the last time I’d listened to one of her albums was in 2012(?)/2013(?) with Devotion and nothing really stood out to me with that. That being said I was completely wrong and I loved this album from the first track. I definitely agree with whoever said it was like a more mature version of Future Nostalgia (in a good way) it’s a great disco album. Great choruses and beautifully produced. I think there’s a couple of songs towards the end of the album that it took me a few more plays to get into than most of it, but overall it’s a great album. 8/10

[LaLaLand]

I genuinely can’t stop listening to WYP? and haven’t stopped since it was released. I’ve always been a big fan of Jessie but she really excels with the more dance/electronic sound so the fact that she’s gone full-on Disco is excellent. Her best album since the incredible “Devotion” without a doubt.

I gave HAIM a 9 and I like this quite a bit more than wimpiii so I’ll have to score Jessie a whopping 9.5/10

A truly excellent album! Disco is back people, can’t wait for Roisin Murphy’s album whenever it drops to fuel the “new Disco” revival.

[Tom4784]

I'll listen to Jessie tomorrow and post my review.

[Samm]

Absolute disco euphoria. Haven’t not listened to any of her other albums I didn’t know what to expect. I heard Save A Kiss earlier this year and have been hooked on that particular single so I was thrilled to listen to the album. It blew me away every track was on point. Particular highlights for me included spotlight, what’s your pleasure, soul control and the kill. Absolute pleasurable production and lyrics throughout. I’m gonna go ahead and give this album a full 10/10 quite comfortably in the top three of my favourite albums of the year thus far.

[MB.]

I'll try and remember to edit in more detail once I gather my thoughts fully, but What's Your Pleasure? is a 9 from me. The standout tracks for me are the title track, Soul Control, Spotlight (possibly one of my favourite songs of the year so far), The Kill and Save a Kiss it's also nice to see Jessie continuing this year's trend of retro bops called In Your Eyes after kickstarting last year's trend of mellow pop bangers called Adore You

[Shaun]

4 reviews before Wednesday? Whew Jessie's impact

[Tom4784]

I was really surprised by this album, Jessie Ware is great but I've always known what to expect from her albums since she has a very particular style and she's stuck to it in the past and I was expecting more of the same and what I got instead was a disco inspired album containing a whole bunch of bops that I really loved. She gave me strong Donna Summer vibes with this album and I love Donna Summer. She did all that while keeping sight of her own style which is admirable and shows a versatility that I didn't think she had in that she can adapt what she does best to genres that ultimately feel detached from her usual sctick.

My only real complaint is that some of the songs feel like they are a minute or so too long (I feel like I'm always complaining about the length of albums in some way) there wasn't a song I wanted to skip but there were some times when I felt like some songs overstayed their welcome but that's more of a nitpick than anything.

9/10

[Fetch The Bolt Cutters]

I’ve listened to WYP about 5 times now and it’s consistently lovely. I don’t really have anything negative to say about it other than although i really enjoy the album as a whole i don’t think there are any AMAZING tracks on the album, like none of the album tracks would feature in my top songs of the year list. I think that’s why it’s a 7/10 for me because it’s just consistently good throughout but there are no standouts/highlights for me. Maybe this will change because i do find myself enjoying it more with each lesson. Favs are ooh la la, save a kiss and read my lips

[Jake.]

What’s Your Pleasure Review

Wow, there was me thinking that it was Sophie Ellis Bexter who invented disco music!

For the most part, WYP was a delight. To put together a 12 track disco-infused album and not have it come off as repetitive at all is a pretty great feat.

Personally, I took preference to the “edgier” songs (i.e. Adore You, What’s Your Pleasure) and there are one or two tracks I probably wouldn’t rush back to listen to again, but that just falls under personal taste rather than being a reflection of the tracks themselves. I do feel that perhaps the quality dips slightly after the halfway mark, but it’s nothing drastic.

Jessie’s put together a really euphoric sound here and the whole thing plays off excellently.

Highlights: Adore You, What’s Your Pleasure, Spotlight, Ooh La La, Soul Control, Save A Kiss, Step Into My Life, Read My Lips, The Kill

Album Rating: 8.5/10

[Fetch The Bolt Cutters]

Girl listing 9 out of 12 tracks as highlights is that necessary

[Jake.]

Didn’t realise! :eggonface:

[Fetch The Bolt Cutters]

We’re doing gazelle twin - pastoral next

[Ammi]

...I know mine doesn’t counts as a review as such but I would have given What’s Your Pleasure an 8/10 probably...I agree with Dezzy, it has so many reflections of Donna Summer.....quite a while ago I listened to some of Jessie’s podcasts with her mum, which were really quite sweet and chilled and easy and another aspect to her...and it feels as though, that was ‘daytime Jessie’...but at night, she becomes the light and voice of disco, she IS Disco...what’s her pleasure, THAT’s HER PLEASURE...she slips into it like she created it, like she rules it, like she summons it as it’s mistress...like it’s her guilty secret...

...anyways, all of the tracks are consistently good...but What’s Your Pleasure obviously is magnificent...Spotlight and Ooh La La..and Adore You...all have the disco ball spinning.....

[Shaun]

All reviews are welcome, Ammi

Alright then, week six is over! I'll submit my review now.

Jessie Ware's past two albums have fallen flat. 'Devotion' - her debut - was slick and meticulously crafted, whilst 'Tough Love' was just a bunch of desperate collaborations hoping for hits (Ed Sheeran one of them ) and 'Glasshouse' just left pretty much no impression on me. It is probably no coincidence that Devotion and this album were produced, by and large, by the same one person - it feels like an album that flows smoothly and doesn't dive down confused experimental paths.

There are a lot of highlights: 'Spotlight' is a contender for song of the year and is just ridiculously and opulently gorgeous. 'Save a Kiss' grows more passionate with every chorus and revels in a synth melody that even Robyn would be jealous of. There's a tinge of Yazoo sophisticated-cool about 'Soul Control', while 'In Your Eyes' is sheer bedroom sleaze to be proud of. And then there's the closer 'Remember Where You Are', which sounds halfway between a Bond Theme and Cafe Del Mar. Disco is a genre that flickers in and out of being on trend and, done wrong, it can feel like the party is dying and everyone's heading home as the lights go up. Done right, and it's timeless; 'What's Your Pleasure?' is probably not going to be album of the year but it's something with a lot of replay value and proof that disco will never die. I give it a 9.

This gives 'What's Your Pleasure?' an incredible TiBB score of... 87 Of course, people can still submit late reviews that'll affect the score later on.

As promised, Scott chose the next album and idk wtf his last post means but he suggested Soccer Mommy and that's an album I've been meaning to get around to for the past few months so we're going with that and I fully anticipate the 2 reviews it'll get! It'll be edited into the OP shortly.

[Smithy]

Noah fence but why do you keep giving into Scott and these random nobodies nobody has heard of when we already had fetch the pots and pans AND everyone has been asking for Rina/Dua/Others

[Shaun]

If you think Fiona Apple is an obscure album you are living under a rock lol

even from the names you mentioned she is like 1000x the "name" that Rina Sawayama is, lol, even if we'll get around to her later

[Ammi]

...I’ve always liked what I’ve heard of Soccer Mommy but I have to say that I hadn’t listened to much, only a few tracks...it’s funny how 2020 is a year that’s bringing so many different things and listening to a complete album is something I’ve rarely done for a long, long time...so this is all a bit lovely...although I also realise how awful I am at reviewing albums/music...especially when I’m not that familiar with the artist to feel a connection...?...while I was listening to it though, I read a bit about her...about her mother’s chronic illness ...which she’s lived with for many years, not knowing when she’ll lose her...and about her depression...it seems though that she seems to express her emotions and self through her music more than in speaking...which is quite often the way with artists...this is a rubbish review I know....but I’m going to say 9/10 because it’s such a ‘bear everything inside’/raw emotion album...the lyrics are just superb...and the album is so melancholy and meaningful, it’s impossible not to feel the heart she put into it...

...special mentions to Bloodstream, Circle the Drain, Royal Screwup, Yellow is the Color of Her Eyes and Gray Light...but each song is like a time and feeling that impacted her..?...


...I wish her mum as good health as possible with her condition and hope they have each other for much time to come...

[Fetch The Bolt Cutters]

I’m giving color theory 10/10 because it’s amazing from start to finish, there isn’t a single track i dislike and a few of them are my favourite songs of the year so far. I have nothing but good things to say about this album and i can see it becoming one of my favourite albums of all time. I love this bitch and i’m already looking forward to her next album because imo each one has been better than the last. Besides FTBC obviously i can’t imagine another album overtaking this for me this year. Perfection also “You are a mirror // Say I'm the fairest of all // I am "fake it 'til you make it" in a can“ is the greatest lyric of all time so there

[Shaun]

Listened to this a couple of days ago and it's definitely an 8 out of 10.

There were some tracks that stunned me - the 7 minute 'yellow is the colour of her eyes' felt, if anything, not long enough, and 'night swimming' was my close second favourite. Is it odd that, given the intensely personal and grieving nature of the record, I found myself feeling serene with the latter? 'Circle the drain' was also a highlight, making the inescapable depressive episodes sound almost fun.

The only track that I didn't really like was 'crawling in my skin'; got a bit too repetitive with the guitar runs and felt like it breezed past me without impacting me in any way.

[Ammi]

...yeah, that’s exactly how I felt, Shaun...a sense of calming coming from what must have been such stormy emotions in making the album.../..a sense of understanding...it’s not an album I could listen to all of the time because of the nature but it’s a huge noteworthy musical impact, I feel...