S H I E L D H O U S E

         A lot of good songs this month! I have found myself openly exploring more music, and that is a good thing. I find that within a month's time, I will usually stick to one sort of "atmosphere" when it comes to music, by that I mean emotion. If i'm in the mood for "sad" music, as is per the norm, then I will listen to anything ranging from The Killing Joke, The Handsome Family, Opeth's Rock albums (more on those at some point in the future), Empyrium, and Light Jazz. A "happier" playlist might include Rap, Celtic music, Steve Winwood, or Mastodon. While it can be diverse, I feel like with the way that I listen to music a list made up of songs with the same "vibe" or "atmosphere" can get boring, or even worse: listened to for the sake of listening to something.       Because of this, I explored a bit more into other moods this month and I felt very rewarded in doing so. In all honesty, this blog is as much for mysel...

Release Date: June 8th 2018 Label: GOOD Music, Def Jam Album Link      Hot on the heels of fan polarizing album ye , Kanye West returns with Cleveland born hip hop artist Kid Cudi, famous for 2009's Man on the Moon: The End of Day . Together they've debuted under the name KIDS SEE GHOSTS, dropping a self-titled album in the process. The collaboration between the two is nothing new of course; Kanye noticed Cudi back in 2008 at a Def Jam meeting, and has acted as Cudi's mentor ever since. The two worked together on Kanye's 808s & Heartbreak , an album that would shape the future of not only Kid Cudi, but other popular rappers today such as Drake, Frank Ocean, Childish Gambino, and B.o.B. West also served as executive producer on Man on the Moon: The End of Day , and Kid Cudi continued to work with Kanye on all of Kanye's future projects. The creation of this new group was announced back in April 2018, and production on this album started over following Kanye We...

Release Date: June 8th 2018 Label: 20 Buck Spin Album Link:      Becoming the most recognised Death Metal band from Toronto in the short existence of a year and a half might sound like a feat of stature, but unfortunately it isn't the greatest achievement. The only reason for this is that Toronto's presence in the Death Metal community isn't notable at all. But to Tomb Mold's credit, they have simply blown up. They've existed for just over 2 years, and being picked up by a well respected label and distributor, 20 Buck Spin, is the jackpot for an up and coming Metal band. But do Tomb Mold deliver on their second full length album, and their first on 20 Buck Spin? We will find out below ↡      Tomb Mold are not a band I would listen to on a regular basis, their admittedly popular brand of very chaotic and dissonant Finnish style Death Metal does get tiresome to listen to in my opinion and I wouldn't often listen to an album like this more than a co...

     It is true. I have been a pirate, I deserve to be hanged by the British colonies for my plundering and pilfering of delights of the ears and the eyes…      Ok well this is all a bit dramatic, but it is true. Any way I could download music or videos, I did. For the purposes of this post, we'll focus on music. It wasn't until a few months ago, until just after I married Justine that we had a conversation about the various forms of downloading entertainment and as these things go, Justine caused me to look at things differently. And for the better. It was then that I started to try and only listen to music legally. Spotify has been a big aid in this pursuit, and while the amount that artists are paid on Spotify is a drop in the ocean , Spotify is a great place to listen to music and find new music.      If you've clicked on this post, you have probably expected me to talk about Bandcamp, or even just wondered what Bandcam...

Release Date: June 1st 2018 Label: GOOD Music Album Link:      This review will be a bit different, with Josh and I both taking point, providing our opinion on this long-awaited album.      Sometimes, our musical tastes intersect: Kanye West is one of the most long running examples of that intersection. We will be laying out our opinions on the songs, composition, and production on the album and how it holds up in Kanye West's modern discography. By modern I mean his past two albums because I can speak for the both of us when I say it is not going to hold a candle to his older albums. Following that, we will each provide opinions on each of the songs on the album in order, one after the other. We will not be delving into the political aspects of the lead up to this album, and only will comment on Kanye West as a person should it be reflected in the content of the album. Kellan:      I was cautiously optimistic when it came to thi...