Best Ever Albums

Re: Get To Know A Top 10: December 2018 Thread - SquishypuffDave

Antonio-Pedro — Sun, 30 Dec 2018 12:46:10 GMT

Author: Antonio-Pedro

Posted: 12/30/2018 17:46

How to drink charts google search

Absolutely love this one, squishy is such a lovely lad, god bless <3

Re: Get To Know A Top 10: December 2018 Thread - SquishypuffDave

Purplepash — Sun, 30 Dec 2018 02:34:14 GMT

Author: Purplepash

Posted: 12/30/2018 07:34

I enjoyed getting to know this fun variety pack of a top 10. I had only heard In Rainbows and Hounds Of Love (an old favourite I used to own), so I listened to the others, and Hounds Of Love again because it had been years. Sleepytime Gorilla Museum was the new one I liked the most. That was great! A really interesting, varied, fun record.

Here's how I ranked them:-

1. Of Natural History 8.5
2. The Way Out 8.5
3. Hounds Of Love 8.5
4. In Rainbows 8
5. Laughing Stock 8
6. The Runners Four 8
7. Endtroducing... 7
8. Donuts 7
9. Selected Ambient Works Volume II 6.5
10. Music For 18 Musicians not rated (first album I listened to after Christmas celebrations and I accidentally had it left on shuffle - after an hour or so I realised and I can't judge it on that disjointed way of listening to it, and I wasn't enjoying it enough to listen again)

Re: Get To Know A Top 10: December 2018 Thread - SquishypuffDave

Fischman — Fri, 28 Dec 2018 13:17:49 GMT

Author: Fischman

Posted: 12/28/2018 18:17

Based on my tastes, age, etc, I should be pretty enamored with Talk Talk. But for some reason, I never got what people rave about that group. Even with my dislike of hip hop, the Talk Talk came out at the bottom of this ten for me.

Re: Get To Know A Top 10: December 2018 Thread - SquishypuffDave

carpents — Fri, 28 Dec 2018 12:59:46 GMT

Author: carpents

Posted: 12/28/2018 17:59

Listened to those last two. Have to admit I was disappointed by Donuts, as equally as I was impressed by The Way Out. (In fact, I had always imagined Donuts sounding like The Way Out.)

So it's The Way Out at #1 for me, followed by Laughing Stock.

Re: Get To Know A Top 10: December 2018 Thread - SquishypuffDave

baystateoftheart — Thu, 27 Dec 2018 16:59:02 GMT

Author: baystateoftheart

Posted: 12/27/2018 21:59

carpents wrote:

I still have a couple days, right? I still haven't ever listened to Donuts or Of Natural History.

Absent those, right now it's The Way Out in #1 and Laughing Stock as #2, both by a wide margin. I'll vote when I'm done them all.

The poll is open indefinitely. So you can take your time.

Re: Get To Know A Top 10: December 2018 Thread - SquishypuffDave

carpents — Thu, 27 Dec 2018 15:25:04 GMT

Author: carpents

Posted: 12/27/2018 20:25

I still have a couple days, right? I still haven't ever listened to Donuts or Of Natural History.

Absent those, right now it's The Way Out in #1 and Laughing Stock as #2, both by a wide margin. I'll vote when I'm done them all.

Re: Get To Know A Top 10: December 2018 Thread - SquishypuffDave

dihansse — Thu, 27 Dec 2018 14:12:22 GMT

Author: dihansse

Posted: 12/27/2018 19:12

My top 3 ie albums in my own top charts are:
1. Laughing Stock
2. In Rainbows
3. Hounds of Love

So Talk Talk is the winner for me.

Re: Get To Know A Top 10: December 2018 Thread - SquishypuffDave

gloriousgoo — Fri, 14 Dec 2018 23:25:04 GMT

Author: gloriousgoo

Posted: 12/15/2018 04:25

babyBlueSedan wrote:

gloriousgoo wrote:

Quote:

7. Aphex Twin: I have no plans to listen to this, sorry. Not an ambient fan and 2+ hours is too much.

8. Steve Reich: Listened to this for the first time this week, and while I wasn't blown away I enjoyed it very much. I loved the way that it subtly changed as it went, but so slightly that it felt like it hadn't changed at all.

I'm curious as to how you can enjoy Music for 18 Musicians, but not enjoy ambient. To me I've always felt that the two are very similar. Is there something in particular that you enjoyed about the Reich piece that you don't think is in ambient? I'm not planning to defend the genre or anything, don't worry, everyone has their tastes and that's fine, I'm just actually curious!

While I'm not a fan of ambient, there's nothing I actively dislike about it. I find a lot of it pleasant enough, and I sometimes use Music For Airports or Stars of the Lid to help me fall asleep. But being that it's a genre that's meant to be background music to an extent, I never am really able to engage with it and never know how to rate it. Basically I'd never put on an ambient record because I enjoy it, only if I needed some white noise. I almost said something similar about Music for 18 Musicians, since while it's got more going on I did find myself tuning out by the end. I totally get what you mean about them being alike - like I said, while there's a lot of moving parts it changes so little that it almost starts to sound drone-like. But I think it's those moving parts that keep me interested. I was actually pretty surprised when I listened to it, having never heard anything labeled as minimalism before; I was expecting something very spacious with lots of silence and drones. But since those drones are made with instruments that are actually playing more than one note I'd say it invites active listening more than a lot of ambient does because there's more for your ear to latch onto. Also, I would never be able to fall asleep to that album.

Not sure if that made any sense, I always find it difficult to convey my feelings on instrumental music. Also keep in mind I've only listened to it once so my opinion of it could very well go up or down.

That made perfect sense and I completely understand your reasoning! Thanks for the in depth response!

Re: Get To Know A Top 10: December 2018 Thread - SquishypuffDave

SquishypuffDave — Fri, 14 Dec 2018 22:29:53 GMT

Author: SquishypuffDave

Posted: 12/15/2018 03:29

Re: Donuts being a sad album, I don't feel that at all. I just find it really fun. That said, I never found Joy Division's music sad either.

Tap's comment about genre-agnosticism was pretty astute. This tendency could be due to the fact that Porcupine Tree was my first musical love as an adolescent, and they were unabashed genre mongrels. It didn't occur to me that they were breaking any kind of musical tradition until other people mentioned it.

I could say the same about growing up on 90s television. It was a pastiche of tropes with which I wasn't familiar, and a deconstruction of traditions I'd never been exposed to, so my core understanding of art was built on fragmentation and ambiguity, rather than a clearly defined sense of what is normal/abnormal.

Re: Get To Know A Top 10: December 2018 Thread - SquishypuffDave

Tha1ChiefRocka — Fri, 14 Dec 2018 10:46:20 GMT

Author: Tha1ChiefRocka

Posted: 12/14/2018 15:46

Purely ambient music and Minimalist music are two entirely different concepts. Good ambient music is shapeless and formless, gradually changing from one sound to the next.

Minimalism is a more structured approach to the same concept; repetition of sounds, usually simple chords, that gradually change over time, adding and taking out layers as the piece evolves.

You can snap your finger to minimalist music, because it has a reliable tempo, whereas most ambient has no discernible time.

Same concepts, the gradual change of a piece of music over time, but much different results.

Re: Get To Know A Top 10: December 2018 Thread - SquishypuffDave

babyBlueSedan — Fri, 14 Dec 2018 08:15:09 GMT

Author: babyBlueSedan

Posted: 12/14/2018 13:15

gloriousgoo wrote:

Quote:

Re: Get To Know A Top 10: December 2018 Thread - SquishypuffDave

gloriousgoo — Fri, 14 Dec 2018 00:02:46 GMT

Author: gloriousgoo

Posted: 12/14/2018 05:02

Quote:

Re: Get To Know A Top 10: December 2018 Thread - SquishypuffDave

babyBlueSedan — Thu, 13 Dec 2018 22:17:57 GMT

Author: babyBlueSedan

Posted: 12/14/2018 03:17

When I first looked at this list the first word that came to mind was "formless." While some of these albums have well-defined songs, a lot of them feel like they're focused more on building off of a central idea than creating memorable individual songs. Of course that's not a bad thing, just an observation. Here are my thoughts on the albums:

1. Deerhoof: I remember liking this one quite a bit but a revisit left me a little cold. I like the vocals a lot and the random bursts of drums make things unpredictable, but I find a lot of the songs a bit half-baked. I think I'd like this a lot if it was a bit more poppy, but I know that's not really what they were going for. After listening again I realized that Any Other City by Life Without Buildings is really the album I wish this was.

2. Radiohead: I don't have much to say about Radiohead that hasn't been said. This may be my favorite of theirs and Videotape is a top 5 Radiohead song for me.

3. The Books: I remember these guys being mentioned on BEA a lot a few years ago, maybe back during the best year tournament? This has always been my favorite of theirs; the samples make it feel so relaxing even during some of the more freak-folky songs like Cold Winter Night. The Story of Hip Hop gives me chills.

5. Kate Bush: I've never been able to get into Bush unfortunately. I really like Running Up That Hill and Big Sky but I remember there being a lot of songs on this that went nowhere.

6. Sleepytime Gorilla Museum: I haven't heard this but the genres on RYM make it sound interesting.

7. Aphex Twin: I have no plans to listen to this, sorry. Not an ambient fan and 2+ hours is too much.

8. Steve Reich: Listened to this for the first time this week, and while I wasn't blown away I enjoyed it very much. I loved the way that it subtly changed as it went, but so slightly that it felt like it hadn't changed at all.

9. DJ Shadow: Never been able to get into this one. I like it when it's on well enough, but I never take anything away from it. The last sample always makes me smile though.

10. Talk Talk: I like Spirit of Eden, and The Color of Spring. But this one has always left me cold since it's a little more subdued than its predecessor.

11. J Dilla: Whenever I listen to Donuts I'm blown away at the beginning and bored by the end. There are some really good beats here but they're cut so short that the album just feels scattershot. I wish I could hear the sadness in this that other people hear but I just never do.

Re: Get To Know A Top 10: December 2018 Thread - SquishypuffDave

gloriousgoo — Thu, 13 Dec 2018 21:00:19 GMT

Author: gloriousgoo

Posted: 12/14/2018 02:00

I've been slowly working my way through this. Just listened through the Aphex Twin album. I'm a big fan of it. Though I still think I'm going to go for Eno stuff when I want some ambient sounds, it's impossible to deny the quality of that album. I've been thinking about going on a true dive into ambient music at some point in the future and this has only solidified my resolve. I'll get to the rest of the things on here eventually!

Re: Get To Know A Top 10: December 2018 Thread - SquishypuffDave

baystateoftheart — Thu, 13 Dec 2018 18:46:26 GMT

Author: baystateoftheart

Posted: 12/13/2018 23:46

10. Laughing Stock - Talk Talk

Gave this one another listen, and while I think it's quite good, I'm afraid I'm still far from grasping any brilliance present. It sounds nice throughout, but somehow feels a bit drab, and the songs don't have payoffs in the same way as in Spirit Of Eden. Holding out hope that I will get it in a few years. 3.5/5.

11. Donuts - J Dilla

This is currently my #23 album overall, so it was in line for my vote at the start, and after listening again that has not changed. The best instrumental hip-hop album ever, the best use of soul samples ever, and the best goodbye album ever from my perspective. This time it wasn't quite as stellar as I remembered, and not all the tracks are excellent (some being merely good). But then again, there are natural fluctuations in one's enjoyment of the same music due to a variety of factors such as mood and sound system, and nothing gave me the impression that I should consider downgrading my rating at this time. 4.5/5.

~~~~~

Final Ranking:

Amazing

1. Donuts
2. Endtroducing.....
3. Music For 18 Musicians
4. Hounds Of Love

Strong

5. The Runners Four
6. In Rainbows

Solid

7. Selected Ambient Works Volume II
8. Laughing Stock
9. The Way Out

Good, But Flawed

10. Of Natural History

Re: Get To Know A Top 10: December 2018 Thread - SquishypuffDave

Luigii — Thu, 13 Dec 2018 16:30:47 GMT

Author: Luigii

Posted: 12/13/2018 21:30

I finally finished Donuts. Wow that was great. I do have some complaints. Like I'm not a fan of the song Glazed. That one is a song I just don't like. But not only is this pretty soulful. The techniques on this album are quite varied.

The only thing I somewhat disagree is that though Dilla died from Lupus three days after this being released, I never feel like the album as a cohesive whole is sad. Sure there are some sad songs on this. But the album cover and the way these songs are crafted fell like Dilla was gonna conquer and if he didn't pass away would have made way more insane shit if he had the chance. That album cover alone looks like he was gonna kick a lot of producers in the ass.

Plus, I feel like Blackstar by David Bowie fits this mold way better.

So my verdict is between an 80 and 85. Glad I finished this album up.

Re: Get To Know A Top 10: December Thread - SquishypuffDave

Norman Bates — Thu, 13 Dec 2018 15:58:17 GMT

Author: Norman Bates

Posted: 12/13/2018 20:58

1. The Runners Four - Deerhoof haven't heard yet
2. In Rainbows - Radiohead is good
3. The Way Out - The Books haven't heard yet
5. Hounds Of Love - Kate Bush is an all-or-nothing affair
6. Of Natural History - Sleepytime Gorilla Museum haven't heard yet
7. Selected Ambient Works Volume II - Aphex Twin remarkable record
8. Music For 18 Musicians - Steve Reich haven't heard yet
9. Endtroducing... - DJ Shadow is good
10. Laughing Stock - Talk Talk remarkable record
11. Donuts - J Dilla very good, has grown out of me lately

Out of these, the Reich is the only one I have been planning to listen to for a long time, as I know other works of his that I think are superb. I probs need to listen to that Books LP as well, as I loved the only one I've listened to so far.

Re: Get To Know A Top 10: December 2018 Thread - SquishypuffDave

Tha1ChiefRocka — Thu, 13 Dec 2018 12:02:10 GMT

Author: Tha1ChiefRocka

Posted: 12/13/2018 17:02

Quote:

And for The Books, this was a band that started out making a sample heavy type of electronic music, but really started to make an effort towards lyric centered songs. It seemed like the interest in following that was a bit one sided for the duo, and I think of The Way Out as the sound of that all collapsing. But in the process I think they took their songiness as far as it could go as The Books.

Yeah, just compare a Zammuto album with a Paul DeJong album. It was clear that they were both going to opposite directions.

Re: Get To Know A Top 10: December 2018 Thread - SquishypuffDave

Tap — Thu, 13 Dec 2018 01:02:44 GMT

Author: Tap

Posted: 12/13/2018 06:02

These top 3 are interesting together, like they are all over a 5 year period of time and were all active (Deerhoof even opened for Radiohead on the In Rainbows tour following The Runners Four). I see Radiohead as kicking something off with Kid A, not in a "rock bands discover electronics" kind of way, but like in a "bands go relatively genre agnostic and becoming something idiosyncratic, making significant changes between albums while maintaining and refining a core identity". I'm not saying Radiohead invented that or anything, like there's certainly that spirit in Talk Talk. But I think it's present in the top 3 artists specifically, and I think it says something that these specific albums were picked. The artists are all a ways into their careers but at much different points. Deerhoof were riding a huge wave of success with a long future ahead of them, Radiohead were solidly in the middle of a long career coming off of an album that has it's fans but had maybe set some expectations that they were past their peak, and The Books were at the end of their run. And in each case, they ended up making a singular album that is maybe a bit out of step with how they might usually be characterized, but in a way where it makes sense to consider it their best. The Runners Four turns down (but does not eliminate) the noise relative to what came before and gets into a warmer sound, and uses the huge tracklist to throw in some curveballs like having John Dieterich do some of the vocals instead of Satomi Matsuzaki. And then with In Rainbows, Radiohead were on a streak of albums that were diverse in sound and style, but outside of the first two tracks I think this one is their most sonically consistent release. And for The Books, this was a band that started out making a sample heavy type of electronic music, but really started to make an effort towards lyric centered songs. It seemed like the interest in following that was a bit one sided for the duo, and I think of The Way Out as the sound of that all collapsing. But in the process I think they took their songiness as far as it could go as The Books.

So yeah they're pretty different albums but having them all at the top still feels like a celebration of the great possibilities of this idiosyncratic spirit, and I think that is pretty great.

Re: Get To Know A Top 10: December 2018 Thread - SquishypuffDave

baystateoftheart — Wed, 12 Dec 2018 15:17:57 GMT

Author: baystateoftheart

Posted: 12/12/2018 20:17

8. Music For 18 Musicians - Steve Reich

This was already my favorite classical work and the only one within my top 100. But after revisiting, it took another big jump. Immaculately composed and played, this is a landmark record in minimalism, but also has a lot of depth and nuance to its sound. Depending on my mood, this can either feel soothing or anxious and frenetic, and I appreciate how it is a bit of a mirror in that way. 4.5/5.

9. Entroducing..... - DJ Shadow

Ever since I first heard it in 2011, I have loved this album. But it's been a couple years since I revisited, and it's even better than I remember. Probably the best samples-only album ever made (I could be wrong, but I think Donuts has largely original drums). The atmospheres are magical. Midnight In A Perfect World is my favorite track, but Stem / Long Stem is basically perfect too. Promoted to my top 50! 4.5/5.