Best Ever Albums

Re: Kissing The Plinth: A Cosmic Pilgrimage

SquishypuffDave — Wed, 30 Mar 2016 06:32:56 GMT

Author: SquishypuffDave

Posted: 03/30/2016 10:32

Working through Akira Rabelais' discography now after hearing Zauberberg, probably my favourite release so far this year.

This seems to be the most popular

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Spellewauerynsherde by Akira Rabelais

and yeah it's beautiful. Some of the audio manipulations work better than others; not sure if the really digitized-sounding tracks vibe so well with the ones that retain the more organic quality of the original recordings. There's kind of a whiplash effect where one moment you feel like you've been transported to the middle ages and then the next moment you're reminded of the artificial nature of what you're hearing as the waveforms break down. I still definitely recommend this. Strong melancholy haunting vibes here. Definitely going to revisit.

Re: Kissing The Plinth: A Cosmic Pilgrimage

Anonymous — Sun, 3 Jan 2016 04:07:54 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 01/03/2016 09:07

SquishypuffDave wrote:

I felt similarly, Garden's eclectic mix hit the spot for my tastes. Check out Arca's latest as well, if you haven't already. It's Scarlet impaled with a thousand carefully placed needles rather than pre-gasoline-dousing.

Re: Kissing The Plinth: A Cosmic Pilgrimage

SquishypuffDave — Fri, 1 Jan 2016 23:55:58 GMT

Author: SquishypuffDave

Posted: 01/02/2016 04:55

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Garden Of Delete by Oneohtrix Point Never

I was pretty late to get on to this one. Wasn't totally sold on R Plus Seven, but this one is like a combination of all my favourite aspects of his previous work. Loving the weird vocal manipulation. So alien. Every now and then it slithers up to the TV screen to watch some impossibly happy pop diva dancing to a catchy tune, and the creature tries to rearrange its tentacles to imitate her beauty; glimmers of humanity emerge and recede in its undulating dance - for a split second we see a beautiful face, but the jawbones twist and the muscles spasm, the nose sinks back into the swirling mass. The shape cannot be held for long. This album is Scarlett Johansson in Under The Skin just before being doused with gasoline.

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Aftertouches by Kara-Lis Coverdale

A dividesbyzero rec. It's as good as anything I've heard this/last year. It's like finding a giant angelic machine on a mountaintop surrounded by mist, and you pull a lever and it whirs to life. It's very old and bits of it are broken but it's still the most beautiful thing. You walk around adjusting different pieces trying to get it back to how it originally looked, and each time you do, something new and beautiful springs out of it and you just sit and watch this new piece do a jerky little dance, and it's simultaneously joyous and mournful. You take notes and rest your head against it as it hums. You camp there for a few days and slowly your food supply diminishes. You watch the sparrows nesting in mountains. There are prickly bushes growing from the cracks between the rocks. You wonder if you could grow crops here.

Re: Kissing The Plinth: A Cosmic Pilgrimage

Tap — Mon, 21 Dec 2015 21:22:12 GMT

Author: Tap

Posted: 12/22/2015 02:22

Oh I guess the mix is actually this one from 2012 https://m.soundcloud.com/methlab-recordings/vhs-head-methlab-mix but yeah that's the EP

Re: Kissing The Plinth: A Cosmic Pilgrimage

SquishypuffDave — Mon, 21 Dec 2015 21:17:13 GMT

Author: SquishypuffDave

Posted: 12/22/2015 02:17

Tap wrote:

Oh hey also I'm visiting family and my bro was playing me this new VHS Head stuff, have you heard it? There was an EP that just came out but I guess the tracks were all on some sort of mix that came out earlier this year or something that I also missed, have you heard tho? It's really excellent stuff.

Oh nice, I just looked it up, "Sarah Eat Neon", right? I've listened to "Bleep Mix" on soundcloud and yeah it's just brilliant. Will listen to new EP post-haste.

Re: Kissing The Plinth: A Cosmic Pilgrimage

Tap — Mon, 21 Dec 2015 20:29:38 GMT

Author: Tap

Posted: 12/22/2015 01:29

Oh man that sounds rad, I'll have to check that. I think I have a few blind spots on Reich's tape business that I should rectify.

Oh hey also I'm visiting family and my bro was playing me this new VHS Head stuff, have you heard it? There was an EP that just came out but I guess the tracks were all on some sort of mix that came out earlier this year or something that I also missed, have you heard tho? It's really excellent stuff.

Re: Kissing The Plinth: A Cosmic Pilgrimage

SquishypuffDave — Sun, 20 Dec 2015 03:22:56 GMT

Author: SquishypuffDave

Posted: 12/20/2015 08:22

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Different Trains (Kronos Quartet); Electric Counterpoint (Pat Metheny) by Steve Reich

So I just discovered that Steve Reich has dabbled in tape music, and this might be my new favourite Reich album. The tape loops in the first half and electronic components in the second half both add this wonderful dreamlike quality to his formula. The tape loops somehow create a feeling of urgency rather than stability. A vivid sense of urgency. Like zooming in on a looped recording that contains vital evidence regarding a murder realizing the villain is getting on a plane to Istanbul and you only have half an hour to stop him. The second half is much more floaty and serene, and it's always cool to see what qualities are brought out of an instrument when it's used in a Reich composition.

Re: Kissing The Plinth: A Cosmic Pilgrimage

SquishypuffDave — Fri, 11 Dec 2015 05:06:25 GMT

Author: SquishypuffDave

Posted: 12/11/2015 10:06

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Hasta La Raíz by Natalia Lafourcade

I had one of her tracks on a playlist to remind me to listen to this. Don't know why it took me this long. Really lush instrumentation, great voice, happy feelings inside all day long.

Re: Kissing The Plinth: A Cosmic Pilgrimage

meccalecca — Thu, 10 Dec 2015 17:10:33 GMT

Author: meccalecca

Posted: 12/10/2015 22:10

SquishypuffDave wrote:

Went through a bunch of Meccalecca recs the other day and goddam I want to kiss him right on his beautiful mouth.

I'm a married man, Dave.

Re: Kissing The Plinth: A Cosmic Pilgrimage

SquishypuffDave — Wed, 9 Dec 2015 21:06:51 GMT

Author: SquishypuffDave

Posted: 12/10/2015 02:06

Just realized Kelela has a new album out. It's nice. (Cut 4 Me is one of my favourites of the decade.)

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Hallucinogen by Kelela

Not really liking how the Arca sample is used in the title track though. Layering in all those vocals just clutters the whole composition.

Re: Kissing The Plinth: A Cosmic Pilgrimage

SquishypuffDave — Wed, 9 Dec 2015 01:04:46 GMT

Author: SquishypuffDave

Posted: 12/09/2015 06:04

Went through a bunch of Meccalecca recs the other day and goddam I want to kiss him right on his beautiful mouth.

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By The Sea... And Other Solitary Places by Annabel (lee)

Genre: alternate Bioshock soundtrack / dryad-folk

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Nyanza by Owiny Sigoma Band

Genre: afrobleep

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Bleaksploitation by Katie Von Schleicher

Genre: slow-fi

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To Where The Wild Things Are by Death And Vanilla

Loved this, but less than expected since I have a weakness for this kind of thing. Maybe missing a bit of the fuzziness of Broadcast? More clean + more reverb? Maybe I would have liked it better with a drier sound? But those reverby effects are kind of part of its whole shtick. I don't know.

Non-Mecca:

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God's Hand by Hot Sugar

This guy always puts me in a good mood. Instrumental hip-hop made of really sweet-sounding kitchen-sink samples.

Genre: microscope-hop

Re: Kissing The Plinth: A Cosmic Pilgrimage

SquishypuffDave — Fri, 4 Dec 2015 03:51:35 GMT

Author: SquishypuffDave

Posted: 12/04/2015 08:51

Recent listening activity: checking out music from other logs and enjoying but not really having anything else to add.

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Into The Light by Infinity Frequencies

This is great.

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Where All Is Fled by Steve Hauschildt

This is also great. I should probably come back and add more thoughts.

Re: Kissing The Plinth: A Cosmic Pilgrimage

SquishypuffDave — Sun, 29 Nov 2015 07:34:01 GMT

Author: SquishypuffDave

Posted: 11/29/2015 12:34

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Syncope by Port St. Willow

I don't think I've ever been this surprised not to find an album on the BEA database, or to find so little media coverage. I can't think of many people this wouldn't appeal to in some way. This album is achingly beautiful, like a more ambient Grizzly Bear or a slightly more accessible version of late-era Talk Talk. He has a really great voice, and the arrangements are sparse and imaginative and totally captivating. Actually now that I'm reading up, looks like this was released more recently than I thought. Anyway, let me know what you guys think.

Re: Kissing The Plinth: A Cosmic Pilgrimage

SquishypuffDave — Sat, 28 Nov 2015 04:05:54 GMT

Author: SquishypuffDave

Posted: 11/28/2015 09:05

Kool Keith Sweat wrote:

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Skullsplitter by Eric Chenaux

The more I listen to this lately, the more I love it. Been slowly becoming my favorite album of the year

This is lovely. Nothing more to report yet.

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Never Were The Way She Was by Colin Stetson & Sarah Neufeld

...and this is pants-poopingly beautiful.

Re: Kissing The Plinth: A Cosmic Pilgrimage

Anonymous — Fri, 27 Nov 2015 11:56:26 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 11/27/2015 16:56

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Skullsplitter by Eric Chenaux

The more I listen to this lately, the more I love it. Been slowly becoming my favorite album of the year

Re: Kissing The Plinth: A Cosmic Pilgrimage

SquishypuffDave — Fri, 27 Nov 2015 08:03:04 GMT

Author: SquishypuffDave

Posted: 11/27/2015 13:03

I genuinely haven't listened to music since my last post. It's been a weird week. Maybe tomorrow.

Got any recs?

Re: Kissing The Plinth: A Cosmic Pilgrimage

SquishypuffDave — Mon, 16 Nov 2015 23:38:13 GMT

Author: SquishypuffDave

Posted: 11/17/2015 04:38

I guess I wasn't feeling very curious this weekend, mostly just listening to comfort music.

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The Haunted Man by Bat For Lashes

Not sure if I can explain why I connect to this more than so many other albums in a similar vein. There's something intimate and comforting about it, like lying next to someone and staring at the stars. It makes me think about stuff like ancestry and monomyth and helps me de-individualize my problems the way all good art does. It's also just really pretty.

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Also spent an afternoon listening to Peter McConnell soundtracks. As I said, comfort music. Obviously a bit of sentimental value attached here and not everything is as effective out of context, but I really love this guy's style. Grim Fandango single-handedly got me into jazz music as a kid, and McConnel has developed this weird sort of orchestral-Americana-hybrid that I never get sick of hearing, like Ennio Morricone is hiding in a woodwind ensemble making twanging noises. I get this impression like every instrument is a little organism wriggling around in a throbbing musical soup, a bunch of creatures with flutes and violins for mouths. It just feels cute and endearing. Did I mention that I pretty much listened to nothing but movie and videogame soundtracks as a kid?

Re: Kissing The Plinth: A Cosmic Pilgrimage

SquishypuffDave — Sat, 14 Nov 2015 01:33:22 GMT

Author: SquishypuffDave

Posted: 11/14/2015 06:33

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Does It Look Like I'm Here? by Emeralds

I came across this one a while back when I was putting together my 2010 teams for the BYT and it quickly became a favourite. A beautiful hazy melancholy hum of oscillating electronics and understated electric guitar. Feels like I'm gliding over a landscape and watching tiny cars drive around on the surface.

Re: Kissing The Plinth: A Cosmic Pilgrimage

meccalecca — Fri, 13 Nov 2015 21:17:19 GMT

Author: meccalecca

Posted: 11/14/2015 02:17

SquishypuffDave wrote:

Something from Mecca's chart, and good heavens it's fantastic.

Really happy you love it as much as I do!

Re: Kissing The Plinth: A Cosmic Pilgrimage

SquishypuffDave — Fri, 13 Nov 2015 19:55:11 GMT

Author: SquishypuffDave

Posted: 11/14/2015 00:55

dividesbyzero wrote:

based on this I'm thinking

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RoadKillOvercoat by Busdriver
might be worth a spin

Well this is different. A bit less pretty than Thumbs, closer to... I don't know, something rebellious and sardonic along the lines of El-P. I'm bad at hip-hop comparisons. Busdriver is a fun presence though. His voice always puts me in a good mood. He has a pretty acrobatic flow too. The production isn't grabbing me as much here. It's kind of dry and acerbic. I tend to need a bit of melody in my hip hop since I'm still a bit of a pleb when it comes to decoding rap lyrics.

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Perfect Hair by Busdriver

First relisten since last year. It's interesting how tonally different all these releases are. This one is pretty trippy. There's this sense of unease and self-consciousness throughout most of it. I remember it being a bit of a sensory overload, and now I'm realizing it's not so much that it's particularly cluttered or loaded with different sounds, it's more that the different elements tend to exist in some kind of tension with each other. There will often be one little background element running counter to everything else that's going on, and this disorienting quality ties pretty well into the general vibe of the lyrics. Feels like an acid trip that keeps threatening to go bad. The beats make me want to just let go and float around, but then Busdriver's vocals grab me by the collar and force me to stand at attention even though my shoe is turning into a seahorse.