andconham's Diary

30 Albums Before Electric Avenue 2026 - Reviewing the albums of artists on the line up. (3/30) A short one here, this only being a 5 track EP. Some nice vibey, cruisy house music here. Retro inspired, and even with some hints of acid house in there, I could see this going down well at the early stages of the festival. The dub remix is the only song I wasn't super high on, but it was fine. Favourite Tracks: - Tell Me How - Hold It - Find Your Way - The Deepest

30 Albums Before Electric Avenue 2026 - Reviewing the albums of artists on the line up. (2/30) Great production on this one that has stood the test of time. Parts funky, parts grimy, parts groovy. The tounge-in-cheek vocals elevate the music well (for the most part), and make for a fun listen. Favourite Tracks: - Romeo - Breakaway - Get Me Off - Where's Your Head At

30 Albums Before Electric Avenue 2026 - Reviewing the albums of artists on the line up. (1/30) This album surprised me. A nice, cruisy, comfy shoegaze/dream pop album. The tone is pretty consistent throughout and the brief run time prevents filler. Great start to this series! Favourite Tracks: -Last to Sleep - Lucky Girl - Misread - Jennifer - Shoulders

A bit more scattershot than their previous albums, with The Strokes playing with their sound a bit here. The result is a bit of a mixed bag, though mostly good. Even with the sonic changes, it still sounds undeniably like a Strokes record. Favourite Tracks: - Under The Cover Of Darkness - Two Kinds of Happiness - Taken For A Fool - Games - Metabolism

An excellent follow up to their debut. Strokes continue with their timeless brand of indie rock. Short, snappy catchy tunes carry the album along. A brief, but never outstanding it's welcome. Favourite Tracks: - Reptilia - Automatic Stop - 12:51 - You Talk Way Too Much - Meet Me In The Bathroom - Under Control - The End Has No End - I Can't Win

Excellent debut here from The Strokes. Short and to the point, with a great nostalgic sound. Not much more can be said that a 1000 other reviewers haven't already said, just a classic album. Favorite Tracks: - Is This It - Soma - Someday - Alone, Together - Last Nite - Hard To Explain - New York City Cops - Trying Your Luck

It's heavy, it's aggressive, it's raw, and it kicks ass. KL put together another great set of tracks that pummel you for it's brief runtime. There's also some fun features on here which is a surprise, especially that from Poppy. Favorite Tracks: - Piece By Piece - Suffocate - Don't Reach For Me - The Calm That Keeps You Awake - Blinding Faith

I'm surprised this isn't looked on more fondly, as this album is better than I remembered. A bludgeoning set of tacks that never really let up the pace all that much. The drums, riff, and vocals all sound great and are mixed well. The songwriting is groovy and catchy. Honestly I think this is some of LOGs best works. Favourite Tracks: - In Your Words - Set To Fail - Contractor - Fake Messiah - Grace - Broken Hands - Dead Seeds - Reclamation - Condemn The Hive

All killer no filler (almost). LP picks up where they left off with another set of killer tracks, providing another short sprint of an album featuring clean, heavy nu-metal at its best. The scream/rap combo sounds as good as it did previously over some tasty riffs and sweet breakdowns. Favourite Tracks: - Don't Stay - Somewhere I Belong - Lying From You - Faint - Figure.09 - Breaking The Habit - From The Inside

I remember not being very invested in this album when it came out. I preferred it this time around. A solid but slightly unmemorable effort from Deftones. There's some good peaks here, but a lot of it feels a bit safe and stripped of character. Favourite Tracks: - Acid Hologram - Doomed User - Hearts / Wires - Gore

A brief, dark, sad collection of acoustic alternative rock songs. The first half of this album is stacked. Unfortunately the last few songs don't hit as well for me. Instrumentally it's darkly soothing, and the harmonies are haunting. Favourite Tracks: - Rotten Apple - Nutshell - I Stay Away - No Excuses

Solid contemporary country debut here from Ty Myers. It's bloated, like many other country albums these days, so for every good track there's also a bland track. If the fat was trimmed, this would be a pretty great album imo. Still, I will be keeping an eye Myers going forward. Favourite Tracks: - Ends Of The Earth - Let 'Em Talk - Somewhere Over You - Drunk Love - Drinkin' Alone

Great follow up to their debut. They keep up the energy with another collection of catchy tunes with lots of character. Doesn't quite reach the highs of their debut but it's pretty damn close. Favourite Tracks: - Brianstorm - Teddy Picker - Fluorescent Adolescent - Do Me A Favor - Old Yellow Bricks - 505

I forgot how much I enjoy this album. I must say I much prefer this sound here to their more modern sound. Timeless indie rock with heaps of personality, and super catchy. No skips on this one. Favorite Tracks - All of them tbh but if I had to choose.. - Fake Tales of San Francisco - Still Take You Home - Mardy Bum - When The Sun Goes Down

A great groovy album that evolves on their earlier sound. It's not my favourite album from them, but it's pretty close. Filled with groovy instrumentals, cheeky songwriting, and catchy hooks it's pop-rock done right. Favourite Tracks: - Do I Wanna Know - R U Mine? - One For The Road - Arabella - No. 1 Party Anthem - Why'd You Only Call Me When You're High - Snap Out Of It - Knee Socks - I Wanna Be Yours

Fun catchy bops all over this album. A little front loaded but the back half is still solid. B Reals goofy voice over Muggs' beats just works and makes for an engaging listen throughout. Favourite Tracks: - I Wanna Get High - We Ain't Goin Out Like That - Insane In The Brain - When The Shit Goes Down - Cocktail The Hammer - Hits From the Bong

This album works as a vibe, but nothing really stands out all that much. Glock has his style and he sticks to it, which is fair, but it means there isn't much variety to his albums. It does mean that it satisfies when I'm in a particular mood though, so there's that. Favourite Tracks: - Glockaveli - Sunny Dayz - Don Dada

An album of two halves here, featuring a handful of songs by Bleached Cross to start and True Faith to finish. The BC songs shine here, with an almost industrial goth rock sound that echoes Health at times. The True Faith songs are decent but nothing really stood out, still I will keep an eye out for future releases from both bands. Favourite Tracks: - Griefs Eternal Wound - Rain of Tears - The Weeping

A thrash classic. A brief, pummeling, heavy album with punk influence all over it. May have the strongest end of any metal album I have heard with Postmortem/Raining Blood. Favourite Tracks: - Angel Of Death - Piece By Piece - Necrophobic - Criminally Insane - Epidemic - Postmortem - Raining Blood

How can a metal album be so dreamy? Deftones strip their sound to basics, and stick to what works. What could've ended up sounding phoned in, instead sounds focused and vibrant. Great album here. Favourite Tracks: - Swerve City - Leathers - Poltergeist - Tempest - Gauze - Rosemary

Pusha T might be the most consistent rapper in recent memory. Tight, blunt, no frills rap album here, and its great. Fill with his usual bravado, great beat selection, and decent features. Favourite Tracks: - Brambleton - Let the Smokers Shine the Coupes - Just So You Remember - Call My Bluff - Hear Me Clearly

A breezy peice of spacey alt-pop that never quite connected with me. Never bad, but I felt most of the tracks struggled to stand out. It's vibes for sure though, so others will likely get more out of it than I did. Favourite Tracks: - blade bird

Impossible not to hear this album without feeling the weight of what would happen to these guys not long after. Quite a melancholy listen but for me it's more if a 'celebration of life' feeling rather than full on depressing. Really it's a brief collection of catchy indie-pop tunes that serve as a teaser for great career that we never really got to see. Favourite Tracks: - Dorothy - Cool With You - Marcel - Medievil - What Once Was

Not their strongest output for me. Still, their unique gothic surf rock sound makes for a pretty breezy listen. There just isn't too much that stands out and will draw me back. Favourite Tracks: - Black Ice - Coffin Nails - Nothing To See - Don't Make It For Me

Very on-the-nose, but subtext is for cowards anyway. Idles continue their hot streak with this album, which is somehow more in-your-face and filled with character than their previous albums. It doesn't all land, but most of it does. Favourite Tracks: - War - Kill Them With Kindness - Model Village - Carcinogenic - Reigns - The Lover - A Hymn

While I shouldn't fault bands for experimenting and changing up their sound, this album just hasn't connected with me like their previous albums did. Gone are the raw grooves, making way for more anthemic and dare i day 'poppier' tunes. Not bad by any stretch, just not my flavour. Favourite Tracks; - Sabbath Bloody Sabbath - A National Acrobat - Killing Yourself to Live

Too long with too much filler. The songs you already know are great, they go hard. The rest just isn't very good. Decent instrumentals are brought down by Dursts ramblings and seemingly at times ad ribbed vocals. I will always have time for those hits though. Favourite Tracks: - Nookie - Break Stuff - Re-Arranged - N 2 Gether Now

First time listening to this in full since my teen years. Forgot that literally every song on here is a heater. The hits are great, but I had forgotten about all the in-between songs that also hold their own. The dual vocals, catchy hooks, chunky breakdowns, angst filled lyrics. It's all so good. No skips. Favourite Tracks: - All of them.

Some great groovy metal tracks here, as Sabbath pump out great tunes without the album ever dragging. Great highlights but a couple of skips hold it back. Favorite Tracks: - Sweet Leaf - After Forever - Children Of The Grave - Lord Of This World - Into The Void

Starts and ends quite strong, but the middle section is a bit samey for my taste. It all still goes pretty hard, but some of it is just a bit unmemorable. The highlights are good though. I like Conways cadence and fairly nonchalant flows, paired with his dgaf attitude. Not big on a few of the features though. Favourite Tracks: - 1000 Corpses - Blakk Tape - Air Holez - Salute Me

Consistent, but missing the edge of his earlier records. It's a good listen through but there isn't too much that stands out and demands a relisten. Still, he keeps the bars coming and the beat selection is good. I think the fat could've been trimmed here to make a more succinct album. Favourite Tracks: - Nu Devils - Otis Driftwood - Attached

Better Than I Remember. My first time listening to this, probably since my early 20s. This album rules. The heavy riffs, the ethereal vocals, the screaming, it all goes together so well. This album also hosts one of my favorite songs of all time in Sextape, which I really think should have been the closer. Favourite Tracks: - Diamond Eyes - Royal - CMND/CTRL - You've Seen The Butcher - Beauty School - Rocket Skates - Sextape*

More good stuff from Deftones here. A bit more of a mixed bag here but the continue honing their signature shoegaze/metal sound. But my god, pink cellphone really is as bad as they say! Favourite Tracks: - Hole In The Earth - Rapture - Cherry Waves - Xerces - Riviére

Worth a 10/10 for the Booker T sample alone. Conway maintains his streak of solid albums, with another swagger filled collection of raps over cold beats. Some welcome features on this track list as well. Favourite Tracks: - Slapbox - Piper - Land O' Lakes - Sigel In State Prop

A good follow up to Reject 2, Conway keeps consistent with this release. Keeping it brief and relitively simple, Conway narrates his way through a small solid collection of dark grimey tunes. The only dud being the unnecessary Randy Savage DA skit. Favourite Tracks: - Devils Work - 8 Birds - Pavement

A very frontloaded album here, with all the 'singles' coming one after the other to start. The back half of this album is forgettable and not really worth revisiting. The hits do hit hard though and are worth replaying over and over. Favourite Tracks: - Given Up - Leave Out All The Rest - Bleed It Out - Shadow Of The Day - What I've Done - No More Sorrow

Better than expected. New vocalist is pretty damn good, and I can image her covering the classics quite well. There's a few bangers throughout this brief runtime as well. It's hard to escape the shadow ast over this band, but on its own merits it's not half bad. Favourite Tracks: - Heavy Is The Crown - Two Faced - IGYEIH

Decent thrash / nu metal combination here. Loses steam towards the back end, and doesn't match their earlier output but there's still a lot to like here. Favourite Tracks: - Disciple - God Send Death - New Faith - Bloodline - Here Comes the Pain

Decent but over-long HC album here. The some heaters on here for sure, but not enough variety to warrant a near hour long album for me. Still, the Hardcore/hip hop blend works well and there's some groovy riffs throughout. Favourite Tracks: - Chamber Spins Three - Punishment - Shades of Gray - Tears of Blood

Hard to rate this once, as it's mostly a compilation of instrumentals and ambient tracks. There are some more traditional Idles style bops on here though and they are enjoyable. Still, it's rad to see Idles curating a soundtrack for what ended up being one of my top movies of the year in 'Caught Stealing'. Favourite Tracks: - Doom - Cheerleader - Police & Thieves - Rabbit Run - Rabbit Run (Nick Zinner Remix)

Great album here. Smooth instrumentals, with a subdued Akerfeldt on vocals this time around. Album breezes by, with a shorter run time than usual. The songs are still long but nothing outstays it's welcome, only wish the album ended a bit stronger. Favourite Tracks: - Windowpane - In My Time Of Need - Hope Leaves - To Rid The Disease

Not really my flavour unfortunately. Some of the instrumentals are nice, and everything has a quirky Talking Heads vibe to it. But I just found the vocals quite grating. Not something I see myself coming back to. Favourite Tracks: - Taxes

Slaves 'comeback' album after rebranding themselves as Soft Play. Whatever you think about the name change, you can't deny this album holds up well within their catalogue. Yes some of the lyrics are a bit corny but the track list here plays out largely tongue-in-cheek and full of character as you expect from these guys. Great energy, heavy riffs, great stuff. Favourite Tracks: - Punk's Dead - Isaac Is Typing - John Wick - Mirror Muscles - Everything and Nothing

An okay punk album, that gets a little samey down the stretch. Still, it contains 'Story of my Life' which is an all timer for me so there's that. Favourite Tracks: - Story of my Life - Ball and Chain

Solid Hardcore album. Turnstile again keeps it brief with some rapid-fire tunes, churning out some groovy riffs and energetic vocals. Not as experimental as later releases of theirs, with this one keeping it relatively simple and rockin'. Favourite Tracks: - Gravity - Fazed Out - Bad Wave - Out Of Rage - Stress

Incredible hardcore punk album. Riffs and breakdowns kick ass throughout this album. The RATM inspired vocals sound great over these crushing instrumentals as well. Fairly standard 'call to arms' lyrics, but with great energy and some anthemic, catchy hooks. No skips. Favourite Tracks: - Bite The Hook - Echo Of Nothing - Lie Of Liberty - Rats In The Cellar - Change The Way You Think About Pain

Short and sweet. Turnstile keeps it brief with this album, with most songs clocking under 2 and a half minutes. They pack in some good tunes with the classic fun riffs you expect from turnstile. They would go on to do better, but this is still a fun album with some bangers littered throughout. Favourite Tracks: - Real Thing - Big Smile - Generator - I Don't Wanna Be Blind - Lost Another Peice of My World - Can't Get Away - Come Back For More - Time + Space

Feels a little directionless and toothless when compared to their previous efforts. But even a lesser Deftones album is still a great album, just not one I will return to as often as White Pony, Diamond Eyes or Around The Fur. Favourite Tracks: - Hexagram - Needles and Pins - Minerva - When Girls Telephone Boys - Battle-axe - Bloody Cape

Excellent metalcore album here. Great riffs that force you to bob your head along, great range on the vocals, and generally good straight-forward songwriting. Great stuff. Favourite Tracks: - Daylight Dies - This Is Absolution - My Curse - For You - Still Beats Your Name - Eye Of The Storm

A slight step down from their previous album, with a few songs sounding a bit samey. The riffs still crush, with good solos, sick drum work and some catchy vocals as well. Solid stuff. Favourite Tracks: - Walk With Me In Hell - Again We Rise - Redneck - Pathetic - Blacken the Cursed Sun - Forgotten (Lost Angels)