John Weeks | Texas A&M University
Some Music I Like
My Five-Star Albums
The Avalanches, Since I Left You
My newest 5-star from 2025 - so new I do not have a review for it yet!
Björk, Homogenic and Vespertine
(Vespertine) When she pauses, the world takes a breath. "Cocoon" strips everything away so that as the song closes and she struggles to compose herself to end it, you can hear her beats with the beat of your heart. "It's Not Up to You" lifts you of your agency - it allows you to just settle for the beauty before you, the most beautiful thing in the world, because why wouldn't you.
The recurring dreams you've had are all about her. You love her, you love her. In her vulnerability she is always a second away from being less than a portal to heaven - but she is her. She cannot deny herself.
The icyness of Homogenic hasn't completely thawed. Chilly violin passages still echo in these aortic corridors. But the realm now has feeling - the organ is pumping, and you are its ventricles.
(Homogenic) On Debut, Bjork makes a very good pop album. On Post, Bjork makes a very wild pop album. On Homogenic, Bjork has transcended pop music. Homogenic is certainly pop music - but only in an otherworldly way.
When I first sat down to write this review I started with a track-by-track review. I am ashamed to only be able to review an album based on its particulars rather than on the fabric it creates. But I must admit that it is too big of a concept to me. I listen to it frequently but I have not been able to grasp it. Yet the more I consume the more I'm convinced there is everything to grasp here. It's cold to the touch, so it's hard to keep around for a while. But every point of contact reaches in and goes deeper until I go numb and can feel nothing but the love this album offers.
This is the most visceral album I know of. It has the most emotion, the most visual landscapes, the most gospel of any album I know. A listen through leaves me with fewer words rather than more, with less coherence and understanding. But I am okay to simply listen and go dumb.
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Leonard Cohen, Songs of Leonard Cohen -
Depeche Mode, Violator.
Although the rhythms are simple and catchy, something foul is at play. The narrator is deeply jaded, like they took Joy Division seriously or something. Each song brings the object of their desire deeper into a strongly banal devotion, a religious experience within someone else. The vibe is haunting rather than jarring (see Pretty Hate Machine). In fact, that's the idea of the entire album: it's a monolithic study of deep infatuation. And it's done beautifully.
An extremely cohesive project. If it doesn't click first let it grow on you. It's a new movement all on its own. -
Kendrick Lamar, To Pimp a Butterfly.
(2025 Update) Quite surprised this one hasn't gotten a review yet. It will happen soon. 
Massive Attack, Mezzanine.
Mezzanine is a haunting album through and through. As beautiful as Angel is, you can never shake the uneasiness. Risingson's consistent switchups and creative sampling sound like it could still push the hip-hop genre forward today. Even deep cuts like Dissolved Girl should not be possible - a hardcore industrial piece that could just as well fit on Persona 5's soundtrack?
The atmosphere is inimitable. Listen to Teardrop and become entranced. Let these be the sounds to launch you through the final act of 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Radiohead, Kid A.
My oldest 5-star album, which I keep at 5 stars without reviewing. If I did review it today I might dock it a half-star, but it holds sentimental value to me, so I keep it here.
It must be a special blessing to make a classic on a debut. To be fully realized at your inception as an artist.
Leonard travelled as a poet for several years before adding his bard's lute. The acoustic guitar is a backing track for his deadpan delivery, word-for-word, of his transcendent poetry. Songs of Leonard Cohen sets the tone for his entire career as a musician: his music is full of subtle shifts that make each lyric come across on all its different levels of meaning. Each song is a story all on its own, of power and influence, of religion and atheism, of commitment and rambling. And each one stands on its own.</li>
Music on My Journey to Flourishing
EDEN, End Credits. 3/5.
This one was there when I felt underwater in a isolated time of my life. It started with End Credits then became a repeat with Nocturne and ended with a creative dream to Wake Up.
Let's run. Make a great escape.
James Blake, James Blake. 3.5/5.
Although this album is more-or-less just a collection of ideas put on a disc, it fits together in its totally unique style. Not every song contributes something, and the listens can be a bit grating at first - but after a while it becomes a wonderful piece to put on in the background of a night alone, just like Burial.
Coldplay, Parachutes. 3.5/5.
Parachutes is a good start. It's a beautiful start. It's a bunch of words that feel simple with that characteristic late 90's early 00's bland guitar backing that portrays less than no nuance. It's loud all the time, just like Matchbox Twenty or Travis or Daniel Powter or The Fray or James Blunt or (the list continues).
The end is where the album hits its stride... when it's not trying to ham itself up as much. Imagine if Trouble were stripped, if Yellow got some Don't Panic treatment. But if you do this you're pretty close to a classic album. If you take off the nostalgia glasses, the album truly sounds better.
Jon Foreman, Fall Winter Spring Summer. 3/5.
There is something to appreciate in every EP. "Learning How to Die"/"I Am Still Running" in Winter, "Love Isn't Made" in Spring... okay maybe Summer isn't all that good ("Resurrect Me" sounds out of place for the project). Even though CCM is wild and sprawling, these 24 songs were my bread and butter while studying for AP exams and in my daily prayers.