Rated 10/10
HL: "Zebra", "Silver Soul", "Norway", "Walk in the Park", "Better Times", "Take Care"
Listening to this a day after throwing out my back while performing the daring stunt of... getting out of bed, I now consider Beach House to be a form of medicine
Of course, now this + Future Islands have given me a new affliction, a sudden need to visit Baltimore, MD
October 5, 2023
Rated 6/10
HL: "Gravity's Rainbow", "Two Receivers", "As Above, So Below", "Forgotten Works"
neat
Even though "new rave", as the wiki describes it, mostly comes across as "loud & kinda annoying", there's still a lot I enjoyed about this.
There may come a day where I complain about finding a new 2000s indie rock outfit, but we're not there yet
October 4, 2023
Rated 8/10
hasn't been too long since The Idiot- a rare example of something David Bowie was involved with I didn't take to immediately- but it's been about 300 albums since the last Bowie solo record. Where ya been man?
Never listened to Aladdin Sane before, in part because “Jean Genie” isn’t one of my favourite of his hits. It’s still good, just not “I need to hear an hour of this” good.
Luckily the rest of the album is a party. A lot of the pop sensibilities as in Hunky Dory/Ziggy Stardust, but there's further playing around with genre & song structures that sound more like the Berlin trilogy
HL: “Time”, “Drive-in Saturday”, “Panic in Detroit”, the Stones cover
October 3, 2023
Rated 8/10
HL: “Numbers”, “That’s Not Me”, “It Ain’t Safe”, “Lyrics”
Nothing dates something to the mid-2010’s like the airhorns in “Lyrics” (see also: “Hold Up” by Beyoncé), but as a full-length introduction to grime, Konnichiwa impressed me. Approaches something menacing in some tracks, while others are more offbeat & jovial.
I know my biased self would give A Moon Shaped Pool or Blackstar the 2016 Mercury Prize over this, but on the other hand it goes to show how much good music came out at the same time.
October 2, 2023
HL: "The sound of someone you love who's going away and it doesn't matter", “Surface Tension”, “Penguin Cafe Single”, “In a Sydney Motel”, “Giles Farnaby’s Dream”
God I love penguins
Oh the music- well, it can be unwieldy and slapdash, with a mix of very British strings with whatever “Pigtail” is. Kind of frustrating at first listen because of the sudden changes in quality, sometimes mid-song, but after the dust settling I’m already appreciating the absurd whimsy of the project a bit more.
3.5 / 5, at least
October 1, 2023
Rated 6/10
Pleasant enough
This website says samba is one of my least favourite genres. I disagree. I don’t like how most samba albums I’ve heard are by someone named Gilberto tho
Or is samba somehow genetic
September 30, 2023
Rated 6/10
Tom Waits #3, here we go
As someone who got hooked on this artist through the 1-2 punch of Swordfishtrombones & Rain Dogs, I'm interested to see how his earlier stuff compares
Interestingly, while less experimental and often prettier than those albums, I had a harder time engaging with this one. Don’t get me wrong, there’s still much I liked between the bluesy numbers like “Til the Money Runs Out”, & the saccharine arrangements, eg “Ruby’s Arms”. Maybe my ADHD brain needs the kalimbas, pump organs, pots and pans of Rain Dogs, to give Waits’s world my undivided attention.
3.5
Who knows, maybe in 5-10 years this’ll be my favourite album by him
HL: title track, "Jersey Girl", "On the Nickel", "Ruby's Arms"
September 29, 2023
Rated 10/10
Can’t remember if I ever listened to this the whole way through.
Deep cuts like “Combination” and “Nobody’s Fault” ring a bell, so odds are I did, as a wee lad of 17, when I was more interested in the 2003 Rolling Stone greatest album list.
I might agree with that magazine’s assessment, that this is the best Aerosmith album.
It probably doesn’t sound as vicious as it did in 1976, but the poppy harmonies, together with bitchin guitar riffs and Tyler’s vocal stylings, are what I like about the band, in concentrated form.
Even "Get the Lead Out", the weakest track imo, still rollicks along and continues the momentum.
HL: “Back in the Saddle”, “Sick as a Dog”, “Last Child”, “Nobody’s Fault”
September 28, 2023
Rated 8/10
HL: "Cybele's Reverie", “Percolator”, "OLV 26", “Tomorrow Is Already Here”
What to say about this weird, funky, fresh, French album?
Track 1, “Metronomic Underground” tested my patience at first. It takes forever to go nowhere, I thought! Relistening after hearing the rest of the album, I can appreciate its subtle layer building, as well as admit I was listening too closely.
Like the LCD Soundsystem I got a while back (which has grown on me), this is not the place to look for traditional song structures.
By the time I got to the title track, which has the same elements that tested me in “Underground” (2 minutes of the same looped drums before anything happens!), I was ready for it and could more easily enjoy it.
Rating: somewhere between a 1 and a 5
September 27, 2023
Rated 6/10
HL: "Qué Onda Guero", "Earthquake Weather", "Broken Drum", "Rental Car", "Scarecrow"
1st Beck album
Can't deny this album has style, but I've never been super taken with Beck's music. This offering does move the needle a bit, but I might have to revisit it a later time with an open heart. The crunchy overdrive in "E-Pro", "Rental Car" & "Go it Alone" remind me of truck commercial cock rock- but with more personality!
also cheers to that other anonymous reviewer who namedropped Dzama (the album cover artist), now I have a Canadian art Wikipedia rabbit hole to follow 🍁🍁🍁
Listened to Demon Days by Gorillaz afterward, which I wouldn't say was a better or worse experience. They're both respectable 00's alternative to me
3.5
September 26, 2023
Rated 8/10
HL: "Show Girl", "Bailed Out", "Junk Shop Clothes", "Subculture" (hidden track)
The name & album cover put the word "pretentious" in my head before I heard a second of the Auteur's music.
It's pretty enjoyable for the most part. Actually I enjoyed pretty much every song, even though Luke Haines's vocal stylings are typical to a lot of 70s glam & 80s synthpop from England.
Sounds like OMD if they were more interested in T-Rex than Kraftwerk. If I sound like I'm complaining, I'm not
Also several of the songs ("Show Girl", "Starstruck", even "Bailed Out") allude to acting and the stage, which appeals to me
September 25, 2023
Rated 6/10
“What in tarnation” 🤠
Decent album, what sounds like a simple country Americana gradually throws in classical samples, dissonance & distortion.
Something vaguely unsatisfying about the project as a whole, but it shines in individual moments. The amount of outtakes in the 25th anniversary version (it has not been 25 years since 2000!) reveals a band full of ideas & piss & vinegar, though it's possible those ideas were better fleshed out in Giant Sand's offshoot, Calexico.
HL: “(Well) Dusted”, “Satellite”, "Astonished (in Memphis)" "Way to End the Day"
of the bonus tracks I listened to, "Catapult" is pretty cool
September 24, 2023
Rated 8/10
HL: “Frankie”, “Ghost Rider”, “Rocket USA”, “Cheree”
I enjoy this against all odds. Violates some of my basic needs in music- its melodies are near non-existent, it’s repetitive, it displays its disturbing themes with the subtlety of a sledgehammer- and yet it’s kinda awesome as well.
It spreads the cliches and tropes of 50s rock-and-roll over a post-apocalyptic wasteland.
It should come with a headphone warning however
September 23, 2023
Rated 6/10
HL: "The Nigga Ya Love to Hate", "Once Upon a Time in the Projects", "It's a Man's World"
Lyrically, it has much of what I didn't like about N.W.A., but sonically has much of what I like about Public Enemy. Also I would be lying if I said I didn't enjoy Ice Cube's verses in this or Straight Outta Compton.
It's not described as such on the linked Wiki page, but it's a decent example of G-funk, and leaves me looking forward to the last P.E. record on this list, Fear of a Black Planet
September 22, 2023
P.S. Trying something new today, pairing a movie with the daily album. Today it's A̶r̶e̶ ̶W̶e̶ ̶T̶h̶e̶r̶e̶ ̶Y̶e̶t̶?̶ Straight Outta Compton (2015)
Rated 4/10
ehhhhhh
About 3 songs in, I was ready to write something like "This album is actually good and some people are just not ready for that conversation"
Was ready for a good chuckle at the song "Email My Heart", but I have no recollection of hearing it even though I definitely put it on 10 minutes ago.
I started to dissociate after track 5
At least "The Beat Goes On" is a pretty good finish
HL: "...Baby One More Time", "(You Drive Me) Crazy", "Soda Pop"
September 21, 2023
HL: "H20 Gate Blues", "The Bottle", "Rivers of My Fathers"
Misled myself a little, because I was expecting more funky times & it’s actually mostly slow-moving & meditative stuff. My bad.
For that reason, hearing these tracks first thing in the morning was kind of a bummer, but revisiting them this evening is a much better experience. Heron’s voice, while not technically the greatest, is rich & sonorous, and Jackson’s keys/fluting is the perfect backdrop.
“The Bottle”’s addictive groove belies its stark and sad portrayal of addiction
September 20, 2023
Rated 10/10
Well just looking at this creepy face, I remember the title track being one of my favourites in all of prog. Now does the rest of the album hold up
Update: it holds up
One thing I didn’t remember from my last listen (sometime in the last decade) was all the jazz influence (see: the wall of noise at the end of “21st Century Schizoid Man”). The amount of freeform noodling is pretty high but they get a pass considering how strong the compositions can be.
Crimson King takes full advantage of my soft spot for musical indulgence.
5 stars
September 19 2023
Rated 6/10
An album where I'm ready for it to be done... before it's actually done; nonetheless I enjoyed Black Flag more than Germs, the other recent Californian punk band.
HL: "Rise Above", "Six Pack", "TV Party", "Depression"
September 18, 2023
Rated 8/10
HL: "Sunken Waltz", "Black Heart", "Close Behind", "Güero Canelo", "No Doze"
holay, album of the week? (it's Monday today, just mean the last 7 days)
What a trippy blend of genres & influences. Fits in with the notion that my favourite country albums are actually country fusion or country-adjacent.
The cover of "Alone Again Or", which fits in perfectly with Calexico's eclectic sound, is a cherry on top.
September 18, 2023 (later)
Rated 6/10
HL: "Come Next Spring", "The Amorous Humphrey Pugg", "Next"
Not the best aged of albums (lyrically anyway), but the lush arrangements make it a worthwhile listen.
September 16, 2023
