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aspoopalypse · 10 months

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i got tagged to pick a song for each letter in my url by @mithli but i wanna do it for albums, since they are basically songs. to me.

a- awakening:sleeping, mass of the fermenting dregs, a heavier entry into their discography that I only recently took the time to sit down and listen to, and i want to go back to it a couple more times, it feels at first quite different to their other albums with its intensity (and almost clarity compared to how dreamlike a lot of their work is) before returning to form in the final tracks in a way that brings greater cohesion to the dissonance in the beginning and makes me want to relisten to it a lot. also im v excited because mass of the fermenting dregs is doing a NA tour and is at 600% their kickstarter goal, hopefully they stop in my city T-T

s- super champon, otoboke beaver, another delightfully irreverent album from otoboke beaver that continues their amazing energy they have together as well as their unified message: fuck you

p- paramartha, psychic tv, it feels cheapening to characterize the album as such but it feel like a psychedelic parallel to throbbing gristle and i love that

o- omoide in my head b sides, number girl, great album and also foundational to a lot of the other alternative Japanese bands i love.

o- Organism_evolution, porya hatami & arovane, a much gentler noise/ambient album than i usually like but its pleasant, and feels organic as it is intended to

p- petals for armor, hayley williams, this is more lyrical than i usually go in on, but a robust and textured album that i enjoy

a- another fine tune you’ve got me into, gilgamesh, a nice jazz album on the smoother lighter side of things

l- loveless, my bloody valentine, this is the album that made the rest of mbv’s discography click better for me

y- you will never know why, sweet trip, i like how this album contrasts velocity design comfort in being enveloping yet placid where velocity lands more frenetic, while still having both albums feel stylistically quite far apart

p- pulse demon.

s- sirens and satellites, SPC ECO, all around solid experimental shoegaze album that very evidently plays up what i like about the genre

e- exploder falls/two airships, candy claws, a really neat concept album meant to pair with a documentary and it feels appropriately cloudy and rough while still quite upbeat, also i should watch that documentary with this scoring it

im gonna tag @anightlikethis1985 @triifid @marxism-transgenderism @post-brahminism if they wanna do this (tho maybe just with songs not whole albums)

#if you cant tell p was the hardest letter to fill out #also this was a lot of fun but also i listened to a lotta albums that started with p #i put too much time into this

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specialability · 1 year

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2022 listening

I don't usually do this, but I'm going to make a music of 2022 list. It's funny, my spotify top 100 and my actual music app (musicolet for android, highly recommend) are very different so there's no point in posting either of them. There were a lot of individual songs, but I am still the kind of person who listens to albums from back to front. Going roughly from most recent to least...

spotify playlist (I tried to make a bandcamp playlist but it wouldn't work. :( if the album is available on bandcamp there is a link in the text)

Redcar les adorables etoiles by Christine and the Queens

I found Christine through the COLORS music channel on youtube. She is apparently a mega-star in France but I don't know how many people have heard of her over here. She sings in both English and French with a David Bowie / Annie Lennox electropop + funk style that I adore. Her previous album "La vita nuova" was full of quite sad raw lyrics, but the theme of this album is more romance. "My birdman" gets stuck in my head regularly.

Andor Original Soundtrack (Vol.1-3) by Nicholas Britell

I could gush all day about this show, but the soundtrack alone is very very good. Deep orchestral stuff with lots of hidden motifs and themes. Sometimes soundtracks for very good shows, which fit the show perfectly, are meh on their own, but this one really holds up. It's worth saying: none of the usual star wars themes or references appear in this album at all. If you listen to the main title theme in Vol. 1 and like it you will probably like the whole thing.

Awakening:Sleeping by MASS OF THE FERMENTING DREGS

A Japanese band that I believe had one or two anime songs at least a decade ago and has since became more indie. I was super happy to buy all their albums on bandcamp after having pirated them a decade or more ago. They started out with shoegaze / heavy alt rock instrumental, balls to the wall fast guitar and drums, added more vocals and went a bit more pop with their 2018 album No New World and have come back to a happy balance of both. "No need ft. Keita Ebina" is a great sample of the raw feeling that I love from them that feels like they're just on the edge of going out of control.

Profound Mysteries I-III by Royksopp

Royksopp said they were going to retire and I was sad I'd never see them in concert. Then they came back and released a ton of songs and went on tour but it's covid. Infuriating! But seriously it's kind of scary how some of these tracks are so Royksopp they could have been tracks from an album that came out years ago. There's definitely some more pop-y tracks and less of the hard electronica I really like, but there is a range of styles throughout. If I had to pick one it might be "Impossible" with old collaborator Alison Goldfrapp on lyrics.

Palaces by Flume

I discovered Flume only relatively recently despite him being completely in my taste (dance / house). His 2016 album Skin is almost wall to wall bangers and this 2022 album is similarly packed with tracks that can totally stand on their own. I was listening to "Say Nothing (ft. MAY-A)" on repeat for a while.

Be Here Soon by iamamiwhoami

Another artist I'm kinda shocked I haven't run into before. This is a video concept album so it's worth watching the videos on youtube to get the full experience. Her 2014 album Blue, which was also a video album, got indie-famous and Be Here Soon feels very much like a natural maturing from that. In the genre of "female singer-songwriters with idiosyncratic voices and not scared to get weird" an obvious comparison being Kate Bush or Bjork. "Zeven" is catchy while also (seemingly) being about OCD.

Pang by Caroline Polachek

I think she is pretty famous by now, but I first came across her via her cover of Breathless by the Corrs. She has a strong pop voice with a bit of that "weird girl" edge that keeps it interesting. And, of course since this is me, quite a bit of synth/electronica. This came out in 2019 but I only listened to it this year so it counts. She has a new album coming out in 2023 which a bunch of singles have already come out for. She also did a song with Flume up there in Palaces called "Siren". "Hit me where it hurts" is the one I was listening to on repeat.

The Green Knight Original Soundtrack by Daniel Hart

The movie was kinda eh, but back in January I got a lot of mileage out of this album. I feel like I don't know enough about medieval music to say whether it's truly historically accurate, but choral Christmas hymns sound different when sung in middle English with a slightly ominous tone and sparse strings in the background. There are some tracks that seem Jóhann Jóhannsson inspired like "Rest them Bones".

YESTERDAYS PAIN / CUT THE ANCHOR by LORN

Man I love LORN. Every single track he puts out is an instant classic for me. This mini-album is only three tracks but I could listen to it over and over. Music for when out walking on a cold dark night. Atmospheric dark electronica. Random snatches of lyrics. Depression music. "YESTERDAY'S PAIN" is so dense it will suck you in.

Dawn FM by The Weeknd

I don't think listing this is going to get me any hipster points, but I just really like his music. It is very clear where his influences lie and since I love electronic music and synth-pop too it's all good. I also appreciate that the album has a theme of decay and death that runs through all the music videos as well. The "Take My Breath" extended remix on Youtube is my favourite track.

Shin Megami Tensei V Original Soundtrack by Tsukasa Masuko, Shoji Meguro, Ryota Kozuka, Toshiki Konishi

Have I gushed about this game enough? No? Well here's something interesting I didn't notice until after I played Shin Megami Tensei 1, but the first CD in the album is string orchestra remakes of the original game's also amazingly excellent soundtrack. An old school synth sensibility, a mix of electronic and orchestral, atmospheric, dark and the occasional fast rock piece like the Da'at Battle theme, which you listen to a zillion times in the game and yet it still gets me pumped up. If you know me you know I love Etrian Odyssey's soundtracks by Yuzo Koshiro and I think this album is up there with those for me. "Spiral" by Ryota Kozuka is the track for the last area of the game and it is appropriately overwhelming and lofty. When I got into the area I seriously stopped and listened to it for a while because it blew me away.

Some bonus:

Nova/Moth by Burial + Four Tet

Looking at your pager by KH

Cybercism by OGRE

#misc #ruth listens to music

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indigo-mayhem · 1 year

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my no-skip albums

rules and parameters: must be an album (not an EP), and must be a record i enjoy listening to all at once (if i like every song when they come up on shuffle but don't like listening to the album straight through, it doesn't count). with that, let's get into it.

violent things by the brobecks

petals for armor and flowers for vases/descansos by hayley williams

eureka by kinokoteikoku

awakening:sleeping by mass of the fermenting dregs

i brought you my bullets, you brought me your love, three cheers for sweet revenge, and the black parade by my chemical romance

brand new eyes and after laughter by paramore

heartbreak in stereo by pencey prep

i disagree by poppy

ok computer by radiohead

marvin's marvelous mechanical museum by tally hall

third eye blind by third eye blind

regional at best and vessel by twenty one pilots

the ritual of love making by vernon jane

the normal album by will wood

there were many records that just barely missed the cut due to one or two songs, but rules are rules and these are only the best of the best.

#original content #no skip albums #music

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studentofetherium · 2 years

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any music recommendations

just based on what I've been listening to recently,

Spanish Love Songs - Schmaltz

Kishi Bashi - 151a

Värttinä - Seleniko

MASS OF FERMENTING DREGS - Awakening:Sleeping

Sufjan Stevens - Seven Swans

The World Is A Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid To Die - Whenever, If Ever

Jane Remover - frality

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deadcactuswalking · 2 years

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REVIEWING THE CHARTS: 27/08/2022 (Aitch/Ed Sheeran)

It was a decently close race, but LF SYSTEM are at #1 for an eighth week on the UK Singles Chart with “Afraid to Feel”, and welcome back to REVIEWING THE CHARTS!

Rundown

Outside of a couple big debuts, this is a pretty slow week, and I mean really slow, even if some of the traction or momentum within the songs already on the chart is pretty promising. We still have to – as always – start with our notable dropouts, songs exiting the UK Top 75 – which is what I cover – after five weeks in the region or a peak in the top 40. There aren’t many of those either: “Jimmy Cooks” by Drake featuring 21 Savage is out after being eclipsed by “Massive” (which similarly had a large decrease this week), and “Dandelions” by Ruth B. is gone after 30 weeks without even hitting the top 40.

In terms of the songs filling in to replace them, well, we have at least two new big arrivals that might stand a chance, but of course, we have our notable gains and returning entries. “2 Be Loved (Am I Ready)” by Lizzo and “Another Love” by Tom Odell are back at #71 and #70 respectively, and then of course we have the gains: “Atlantis” by Seafret at #68, “Matilda” by Harry Styles at #56, “Victoria’s Secret” by Jax at #53 (kill me), “Yellow” by Coldplay of all songs at #52 off of the return last week, “KU LO SA – A COLORS SHOW” by Oxlade at #50, “Mary on a Cross” by Ghost at #43, “Turn On the Lights again..” by Fred again.. and Swedish House Mafia featuring Future at #40, “Remind Me” by Tom Grennan at #38, “Under the Influence” by Chris Brown at #24, “Late Night Talking” by Harry Styles at #12, “Big City Life” by Luude and Mattafix at #11, out-charting the original and finally, “Super Freaky Girl” hitting the top 10 at #10, becoming Nicki Minaj’s first top 10 hit as a lead artist since 2014 with “Anaconda”.

Our top five consists of “I Ain’t Worried” by OneRepublic at #5, “BREAK MY SOUL” by Beyoncé at #4, “Green Green Grass” by George Ezra at #3, “B.O.T.A. (Baddest of Them All)” by Eliza Rose and Interplanetary Criminal at #2 and finally, of course, “Afraid to Feel” at the top. Now’s the time for me to talk about albums released in the past week or so that didn’t really impact the chart, and this one does get a bit long because, well, most good music doesn’t chart, but regardless...

Off the Charts

HOLY FVCK – Demi Lovato

There is one album I absolutely adore in this short list of four non-charting records, and for the rest? Well, I don’t have much to say about any of them. Lovato’s newest album, charting at #7, seems to sacrifice much of the growth and interesting character that was developed in their last record for a cheap, derivative pop-punk takeover that spends much of its time in generic, overly-compressed mediocrity, even if some of the riffs do rock and some of the hooks are catchy. Demi is perfect for this kind of music, but the writers and producers gave them the short end of the stick. My favourite track is “CITY OF ANGELS”.

Awakening:Sleeping – MASS OF THE FERMENTING DREGS

I liked what I heard from this Japanese alternative rock band a lot, but the newest album falls kind of flat. It’s still a decent, well-produced set of colourful, heavy bangers but the production is less dynamic so despite the squelching guitars and soaring nature, everything is a bit too clear and tangible. This wouldn’t necessarily be a problem if it were more cohesive, but sonically and conceptually from the standpoint of someone definitely blocked by the language barrier, it feel s a bit formless to me. I’d still recommend it, and it definitely picks up by the end, but I’m not a fan overall. My favourite track is “Birds and rhythm”.

PUP PACK EP – Kenny Mason

There’s not much to say about this one, either: Kenny Mason delivers three good rap songs, and whilst he’s a bit less on the rappity-rap side here (which honestly is what I prefer from Kenny), I do think his melodic chops are improving and he still has plenty of conscious lyrical bars on the closer. It was pretty exciting to hear him on the minimal plugg-esque groove on “Dip!” with DavidTheTragic, which is my favourite track here, and I hope that next full-length is coming soon.

Ibiza Dreams – Departure

I had unusually tempered expectations coming into this new Departure album, considering that the one review was lukewarm and the title of Ibiza Dreams seemed far from an aesthetic that the largely darker, cryptic production from Departure could really encapsulate. I was therefore pretty surprised by how much this gorgeous album actually resonated. Whilst the other two records from Departure I’ve heard this year were ambitious to a degree, the first was free-flowing and chaotic and the second felt like pretty intricately crafted beats that worked best in isolation. This album has a level of ambition that I did not expect, considering the constant layering and collation of samples that is insanely dense, even more so than other plunderphonics, the guest features and generally longer runtime of some of these tracks and what feels like a more realised concept behind everything here. It’s so clear that Departure – or whoever the character here is – is not at peace, but what this album elevates most to me in terms of a goal or theme is still stability.

The jangling, Summery and wistful tones are always contrasted with these echoing drones wherein one instrument or really one present voice careens through the mix. The “Ibiza dreams” still seem very far away, but the album feels very laser-focused on at some point gaining that sense of peace and escapism, even if the album is indebted to the chaotic overthinking on “Real Ibiza Summers (Thoughts 6)”, the political frustration on “Freudian Analysis (You’ll Never Stop Suicidal Weakness”, and especially that mantra of self-hatred on said track: “loving you is complicated”. Coming into stability and self-esteem will be a rocky, manic road and the level of back-tracking, repeating yourself and predisposed melancholy throughout this record is a pretty nuanced slice of what that journey can be like. That’s not to say it doesn’t work sonically of course, because I’ll always like chipmunk vocals over breakbeats like on “Jacksonville Beach” with High Life, the cathartic, blood-curling scream on the aforementioned “Freudian Analysis”, the paranoid, meandering loops of “Korinthisch” before the soaring guitars kick in and let the track devour itself in its own emotional distance over the frosty drums, and, I mean, “Strobelight” with MMIII is just groovin’.

Katherine Bogue’s ghostly performance on “Isolation and Responsibility” as she recites “Father and Sons” by Cat Stevens / Yusuf Islam genuinely made me tear up a little bit, even when her intimate performances is drenched in the kind of echo and reverb that makes her seem like she’s singing from the heavens above. The beatwork on the closer “Humanity’s Tale” is immaculate with those trip-hop drums punctuating the densely-packed samples, including one of “My Heart Will Go On” by Celine Dion which probably only works in this context. The advice given by the sample on this track, whilst he acknowledges is completely meaningless because it’s advice that goes by his own specific life experience and ultimately, what he’s saying is that it would be best to not take advice from anyone and instead trust in yourself, still resonates because it’s the last step that it feels needs to be taken before “Ibiza dreams” are in reach. It’s at that point that “Ibiza dreams” are evidently not the Summer party fun, if that wasn’t clear already. It’s more of a gateway to balance, and only with that balance is the protagonist, whether that be Departure or whoever else, is able to admit those closing lines: “I want to feel alive, I don’t even want to die anymore”. This album deserves a lot more analysis than I think I can give it justice in a shorter format, and my thoughts on the record are still not entirely assembled, but this album already within just a few days of release means a hell of a lot to me, and I fully recommend it if you’re willing to take a plunge into some at times heavy but genuinely inspiring sampledelia. Seriously, though, trust me on the sunscreen.

NEW ARRIVALS

#57 – “All These Nights” – Tom Grennan

Produced by The Six and Andrew Wells

There are only three new arrivals this week and honestly, I doubt I’ll have much to say about them, so you may as well call this a Departure album review with added bonus pop music. At least this has a decently unique concept, with the song mostly being about how despite the relationship getting closer and closer, he just wants to hear that extra step in hearing his partner say “I love you”. It’s sold pretty decently as well, or at least competently. My main gripe is the mix given how compressed it all is, cheapening the impact of pretty much any moment, and the drums sound cheap as hell within the same old 1980s synthpop pastiche, but there is a genuine drive to that chorus that feels pretty punchy. Tom Grennan is kind of lacking in presence here, which is surprising given he’s front and centre in this mix: I feel like he has nowhere near the personality to make these inflections work. Like much of the guy’s work, I feel like it could be a great song – and really, this is a brilliant chorus – but the structure’s too jerky, the mix isn’t dynamic and the vocals are just not good enough. This is the closest that Grennan has gotten to greatness to me, but I know it’s possible and that might be the most frustrating thing.

#22 – “Pink Venom” – BLACKPINK

Produced by Teddy Park

...What in the fresh Hell is this? Okay, maybe I should have been expecting something like this: BLACKPINK have a tendency to make the most... out-there and obnoxious elements of K-pop front and centre, but this still feels a bit... much, which is odd because for a lot of the time in this song, the mix feels gapingly open and kind of empty. The constant 90s rap references seem to try and make BLACKPINK’s bilingual raps have something more “tough” to them, but I highly doubt these girls are catching “bodies on bodies”. The wonky, south Asian-influenced trap production isn’t awful in the verses, with the jerky percussion potentially working in a context that isn’t going to scrape it all off for the big finish in the chorus, which has always felt really cheap with BLACKPINK. The chorus is this low-energy looping refrain that whilst hypnotic, completely halts the song’s momentum, before an awkward G-funk rhythm with dusty drums in the second verse which is out of nowhere and has some piercing synths that I definitely don’t like... but at least Jennie’s Big Sean-esque rapid, all-over-the-place flow is kind of fun. This isn’t as manic as “Kill this Love” might have been, but still, by the bridge, I have no Goddamn idea what is going on. Maybe I need to watch the video to understand the BLACKPINK lore and maybe that can make me find out why they’re doing a Big Shaq impersonation on the outro, but for now... I think the girls are at their best solo, when they can play with a certain level of restraint that BLACKPINK does not allow. This isn’t awful by any means, but it’s a sight to behold.

#6 – “My G” – Aitch featuring Ed Sheeran

Produced by Fraser T. Smith, WhYJay and LiTek

Usually with Aitch, and honestly with Ed Sheeran, I pull out the jokes but I don’t think that’s all that inappropriate for this song in particular. Aitch’s new album, Close to Home, debuting at #2 on the albums chart behind Steps, just managed to debut one song on this week’s chart. It’s a pretty sweet one, in all honesty, as Aitch raps about his little sister who has Down syndrome, with some really detailed accounts of the memories that he shares with her, even if some of them aren’t all that positive. Written in an almost letter format, he expresses his motivation to continue being there for her even as times go on – quicker than he expected – and briefly touching on how he wants her to not pay mind to people who may stop and stare because of her condition. It might be a tad heavy-handed, but the narrative being as genuine as it is, especially in that second verse, is more emotion than I think I’ve ever heard from Aitch, and it’s to be commended. Ed Sheeran is also here, and whilst I don’t think his guitar-laden hook blends in with the kind of awkward percussion as well as it could, it’s pretty catchy and for this kind of rap ballad, it’s serviceable. I can see it sticking around.

Conclusion

I probably prefer “All These Nights” sonically but “My G” put a smile on my face so I think I’ll give it Best of the Week, with whatever “Pink Venom” by BLACKPINK is as the Worst of the Week. I do wish I liked any of these three songs more than I do but that’s how the UK Singles Chart works as always. Thank you for reading – I know most of it wasn’t focused on the chart but I frankly don’t care – and I’ll see you next week!

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