This is genuinely one of my favorite albums of all time. Before I listened to Daft Punk, I never would have
considered myself the type of person that would suit electronic music, but one listen of this album and I was hooked.
Every time I'm on a flight (which happens fairly regularly), I play "Digital Love" during takeoff. It's now associated with
some of my best memories, and it always calms me down and boosts my mood when I feel anxious (which also happens fairly
regularly). I think it's because somehow Daft Punk managed to capture lightning in a bottle with this album.
It's everything you could want and more from an electronic album, and completely changed the game, even moreso than 1997's
Homework. Nearly every song on Discovery is a stone cold classic: "One More Time," "Harder Better Faster Stronger," "Veridis Quo," etc.
The album runs the gamut of emotional expression (watch Interstella 5555 here on the Internet Archive, the animated movie of the album) and in doing
so it revealed to me that electronic music doesn't have to be dance dance dance all the time. Instead, it can have real heart and soul, and for me,
that's the draw of Daft Punk: their music is so very human, despite them being two robot guys. I can listen to this album at any point
in my life and still find some kind of emotional resonance in its music.
My favorite line from "Digital Love" has been my Instagram bio
for the last four years: There's nothing wrong with just a little, little fun.
Wow, what else is there to say about this album that hasn't already been said? I'll start: it is definitively better than
Blonde. There, I said it. I remember when Blonde came out, and it was -- and remains -- such a huge deal. And for good reason!
It's a fantastic album that is so completely dialled in that one can't help but praise it. But I think that Channel Orange
is more artistically daring and enjoyable to listen to than Blonde. This album tells stories and paints pictures through its use of
wit, and piercing analysis, with careful and deliberate flashes of intense sadness (think "Bad Religion"), that Blonde fails to capture. Channel Orange is more of a statement on the world, whereas Blonde is
a statement regarding the Self. More than that, I think that the music of this album is more my speed than the mournful and melancholic tone of Blonde.
Here, the beats rise and fall, and to me, they cover more breadth of the human experience. The small vignettes captured in songs like "Monks" and "Crack Rock"
are perfectly captured; the music matches the lyrics, and it's all so inventive and creative. You can tell that Frank is a master of his craft, and that
he enjoys pulling from all different sorts of sources to bring his exacting vision to life.
My favorite song on this album,
and my favorite Frank Ocean song in general, is "Pyramids". It's near-10 minutes of sonic perfection. From the imaginative and layered story that draws on
history and contemporary gender norms to the beat switch in the middle, I always know that I can put it on if I want to listen to something
that represents the pinnacle of artistic representation. It never fails to stun me into silence. Honestly, if the whole album had just been "Pyramids", I would
still consider it the best thing that Frank has ever put out.
When this album came out, I listened to it for the entire month of July -- just this album and nothing else. One thing that
I've always loved about The 1975 (and I've been a fan since before I like it when you sleep came out) is that they are wholly intent on doing their own thing.
As Matty Healy has said before, they are making pop music, but they're making their own brand of pop music. It's fresh and original, and every time
they come out with something new, it hits like a truck. I am a firm believer that the trio of "Jesus Christ 2005 God Bless America," "Roadkill," and "Me & You Together Song"
is one of the best three track runs in history. Matty's lyricism is on another level than most modern bands. While many mainstream lyricists can shoot off a song or two
that are deeply insightful, learned, and emotional, nearly every 1975 song hits that threshold and clears it. Nevertheless, I must take off a half-star from this album because I do think
that they included some filler songs that I'm not as fond of (e.g. "Bagsy Not in Net," "Shiny Collarbone"), although I can appreciate the breadth of musical inspiration from which they
drew for this album.
"Me & You Together Song" is easily my favorite 1975 song and my second-favorite love song of all time (the first being "Just Like Heaven" by The Cure).
When I saw them perform it live at the Forum in 2023, I heard the opening notes and literally screamed into the dead silent arena "This is my favorite song!!!!". What draws me to that track
specifically, and The 1975 in general, is that they don't shy away from the mundane but instead see something elevated and universal in it. "I had a dream where we had kids /
You would cook, I'd do the nappies / We went to Winter Wonderland / And it was shit but we were happy." It didn't matter that it was shit; it was real and human and that was what made the dream
so beautiful and lovely. The 1975 capture the minutiae of human existence, the good and the bad, and they transform it into this evocative, lush pop landscape that reveals the beautiful in the banal.
Shoot me, sue me, whatEVER, but I think this is their best album. "15 Step" is such a baller, insane way to open an album (one that, by the way, was self-released at pay-what-you-want prices).
It sets the tone for the album immediately, showing how this is going to be a more introspective, personal album than their previous releases. While I can appreciate electronic Radiohead ("Motion Picture Soundtrack" is one of my favorite songs of all time),
I think that they are at their best when they return to their rock roots. In Rainbows has always felt like a breath of fresh air in their catalogue, and I honestly think that it is executed more flawlessly than
OK Computer because the latter contains a few filler tracks, whereas this is nothing but straight GAS. "Weird Fishes / Arpeggi" is an all-timer -- the lead-in is mouthwateringly delicious, and it feels like sinking into
a warm bath at the end of a long day -- comfortable, familiar, and yet utterly perfect. I have this album downloaded on my iPod and the amount of intense library study sessions it has pulled me through is unimaginable.
I guess you can say that a throughline in my music opinions is that I tend to value an album more highly when it's more tightly controlled with; an album can have a strong narrative or pull off a specific vision really well, but what I'm really
interested in is the success of the album together and individually. Is the whole thing strong from top to bottom and does it flow well without any breaks/pauses in the momentum? AND does every song stand well on its own without the others
there to cushion it? In Rainbows does both of those things without even breaking a sweat. Just look at the sheer sonic masterpiece that is "All I Need" or "House of Cards." Plus, ending the whole thing on
"Videotape" is not only absurdly well done, but also insane because that song is jump-off-a-bridge levels of depressing. This whole album manages to be both a musical powerhouse of sound and atmosphere, but it also takes a really personal look
at mental health and what it means to be a person and be yourself in a world that is clawing at you in all directions.
LIVES WERE CHANGED! My life was changed. I distinctly remember when this came out. When the music videos dropped, when the singles were released, the whole vibe curated by Lana for this release.
I've been a Lana head since I was a wee girl (the first album I ever received on vinyl at 12 years old was Ultraviolence), and this was the first album that she released when I was a full-fledged fan.
You can probably tell that I LOVE this album since the first song you hear when you enter this site is "Love." This track opens the album, and with it, it sets expectations for the dreamy, California-inspired throwback
tracks coming up that still manage to blend pop, indie, R&B, and more together in a way that only Lana can. I will stand ten toes down for her as a generational artist. Love her, hate her, nevertheless you still can't
deny that her production is perfect and that she is more creative and original than 95% of the entire music industry. You can tell that she was HUNGRY on this album. It's nothing but banger after banger, from "Lust for Life (feat. The Weeknd,)" a song
that went triple platinum in my mom's car on the way to middle school, to the slick, summertime sound of "Groupie Love (feat. A$AP Rocky,)" a song that still features heavily in any spring/summer playlist that I make. Lana captures a nostalgic, melancholic view of 60s America
in a way that doesn't flinch from the truth that ultimately nothing important or impactful really came out of the Summer of Love or the hippie movement. In recreating its aesthetic and twisting it to shape her particular Lana-shaped
neuroses, she reveals that that's all it was: an aesthetic.
"Get Free," while not a song I gravitate to normally, deserves a special mention for being such a cinematic and emblematic closer for an album that is full of sly
twists and turns.