The Sonic Collective

Send us Fan Mail We dove into Jay-Z's 2003 classic, the Black Album, which was hyped up to be his mic-drop. A magnum opus. His final release before he sailed off into the sunset. As history has shown, Jay-Z did not retire. But was this album worthy of his swan-song? Was this a worthy farewell to the rap game? And how does it sound now, over 20 years later in an era of mumble rap, trap beats,...

Send us Fan Mail We review our pick for October 2023, MC5's debut album Kick Out the Jams. What did we like and not like so much? Have a listen. Influenced our tastes: 2.9Would we recommend: 3.3Overall: 2.4 Support the show

Send us Fan Mail For our November 2023 review, Alain brings to the table Jay-Z's The Black Album. Once infamously claimed to be his final mic-drop before retirement, Jay-Z left us with a critically-acclaimed piece that hit #1 on the US Top 200 and achieved 4x platinum status. Clearly it wasn't just hyped up over false rumors of retirement, then. 20 years later, we're revisiting it t...

Send us Fan Mail Get ready for a thrilling ride through music history! In the last four episodes, we've been grooving to the catchy tunes of one-hit wonders. But now, hold on to your seats because we're shifting gears. Our very own music aficionado and Sonic Collective member, Darren Scott, has taken us on a journey back to the world of influential albums. This time, we're diving he...

Send us Fan Mail This month we’re tackling an album I’ve been aware of for a long time, never listened to, but the time has come. Kick Out the Jams by MC5 was released in February 1969 and has been classified as proto-punk. While the band formed in 1963, it took a few years for their debut album to come into form, and uniquely, it was recorded live over two nights at Detroit's Grande Ballroom...

Send us Fan Mail In last round of our "One Hit Wonder" series, we gave a listen to Bringing Down the Horse by The Wallflowers. Overall the album was generally liked with some differences of opinion on some of the positives and negatives of the album. We also mature and share our reasoning of what qualifies as a one hit wonder and decide if this band qualifies based off the performance of...

Send us Fan Mail The Sonic Collective Podcast is back for their September 2023 pick. Darren Scott dives into why he chose this album for a full review. After completing our past four episodes based on 1-hit wonders, this is a great way to show an artist that was huge after one album but mainstrem success never followed. Do you remember this album from 1988, or are you just hearing Luke Combs versi...

Send us Fan Mail As you know we’ve been doing a series of picks based on the idea of whether the artist is a one hit wonder or not. This month’s pick is One Headlight off The Wallflower’s 1996 Album “Bringing Down the Horse”, and was a smash hit for its time. The song was written by Jakob Dylan, band frontman and son of famous folk singer Bob Dylan. Join us at the end of the month to hear our thou...

Send us Fan Mail In the third installment of our One Hit Wonders round, we listened to Blu Cantrell's debut album, So Blu. The album was released in 2001 and featured the very famous and very awesome song "Hit em' up Style (Oops!)". But what about the rest of the album? Equally awesome? Well, that's what we endeavored to find out this month as we dissected So Blu. Does Blu...

Send us Fan Mail As we continue to explore one-hit wonders, we seek to understand whether the artist truly deserves the title of One-Hit Wonder, and if the rest of their album/discography is worth exploration. This month, Alain has chosen Blu Cantrell’s 2001 album So Blu, which features her best-known hit song, Hit Em Up Style (Oops!). It was her debut single, released in summer of 2001 and domina...

Send us Fan Mail So here, it is, the second review of our One Hit Wonders round, this time listening to New Radicals’ Maybe You’ve Been Brainwashed Too. The album was released October 16, 1998, and is essentially an album by lead singer, Gregg Alexander, who is the only person to play on all the album’s tracks. He enlisted a swath of session musicians (28) to play instruments while recording, real...

Send us Fan Mail Sonic Collective member Darren Scott started off our one hit wonder round by choosing a-ha. a-ha is often considered a one-hit wonder, largely due to the immense success of their debut single "Take on Me." The song reached number one in the United States and several other countries in 1985, and its innovative music video became an iconic part of 80s pop culture. We now g...

Send us Fan Mail Here we are on our second of four picks with our One Hit Wonders series, looking at artists and albums that were One Hit Wonders - loosely meaning that the album had one or so big singles, then we likely never really heard from the band again. I’ve always liked the song You Get What You Give by New Radicals, bought the album when it came out, but don’t remember listening to it bey...

Send us Fan Mail Scott's pick had the team split. We had a range of opinions covering the entire spectrum. We're usually more into music where the guitars are plugged in, so country music has a hard time breaking into the mix. Still, everyone found something to appreciate (or at least not dislike!) about this album, even though the scores hit both ends of the spectrum. Have a listen and...

Send us Fan Mail This month we'll be listening to When Fallen Angels Fly by Country artist Patty Loveless. When Fallen Angels Fly was her seventh studio album and was certified platinum. It also won the Country Music Awards album of the year, with Patty being only the third woman to ever have done so. Will this album still hold up? Tune in at the end of the month and find out! Support the sho...

Send us Fan Mail Alain's pick for March 2023 had us listen to The Velvet Underground’s debut album, The Velvet Underground and Nico, which was released in 1967, but failed to really make a splash on the music scene until nearly a decade after its release for a variety of reasons. We all understood that The Velvet Underground comes with a sort of reverence in the music world for being highly i...

Send us Fan Mail For March 2023 we will listen to and share our thoughts on The Velvet Underground's 1966 debut and almost self-titled album, "The Velvet Underground and Nico". This album is said to have been one of the biggest influences on rock and alternative music ever, but when it was first released, it was a flop, largely in part to its controversial subject matter. How does i...

Send us Fan Mail February 2023 saw us listen to King Crimson’s debut album, In the Court of the Crimson King, which was released on 10 October 1969 and hit #1 on the UK charts. We went into this with pretty high expectations being how many times we had read about this album being a major influence on bands like The Who, and cited by many rock publications as one of the best ever prog rock albums....

Send us Fan Mail This month, The Sonic Collective member Darren Scott chose this classic Pink Floyd album to go back and experience. Most know Dark Side of the Moon or Another Brick in the Wall, but this album followed their success of those albums and found a band in turmoil. Listen as we discover what that result was and if this album is still worth going back to listen to (Spoiler alert! IT IS!...

Send us Fan Mail For February 2023 we will listen to and share thought on King Crimson's 1969 debut album, In the Court of the Crimson King. They have been cited by countless, legendary bands as a major influence and In the Court of the Crimson King, their debut album, noted as their best and also an inspiration to a slew of bands. Enjoy the listen ahead! Support the show

Send us Fan Mail For the next four months we are changing up our format to try something fun. Each of us will pick three albums that share a common thread. We want you to listen to these albums and try to figure out what the common thread between them is. We listened to Genesis - A Trick of the Tail, Three Days Grace - Human, and Faith No More - The Real Thing. The connection is revealed, along wi...

Send us Fan Mail Our podcast album review selection for January 2023 by Darren Scott, is Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here. Listen to Darren explain why he thought this particular album was worth revisiting and why you should probably make some time to listen to this classic. Pink Floyd were at the forefront of exploring concept albums, atmospheric and ambient sounds and experiences. Does this...

Send us Fan Mail For the next four months we are changing up our format to try something fun. Each of us will pick three albums that share a common thread. We want you to listen to these albums and try to figure out what the common thread between them is. We listened to Led Zeppelin 3 by Led Zeppelin, Bookends by Simon and Garfunklel, and Pronounced 'Leh-'Nerd 'Skin-'Nerd- by L...

Send us Fan Mail Hello, friends. This is Alain from the Sonic Collective. Hope you're doing well! It is December 2022, and this is the fourth and final round our game "What's the connection between these albums?" I hope you've been enjoying it as much as we have. Some of these connections have been quite challenging to identify while some have been right under our noses. I...

Send us Fan Mail Hey all you collectivists out there. This is Scott G from the Sonic Collective. How's it going? We're on round three of our game of "What's the connection between these albums?" I hope you've been enjoying it as much as we have. I've really enjoyed teasing out what the common threads are between the albums Darren and Scott C picked. Hearing what...