Best Ever Albums

Re: Get To Know A Top 10: January 2019 Thread - Tap

baystateoftheart — Sat, 2 Feb 2019 20:25:33 GMT

Author: baystateoftheart

Posted: 02/03/2019 01:25

Tha1ChiefRocka wrote:

So, are we going to get February rolling Baystate? (As if you don't have enough threads to juggle 😉 )

As I mentioned a couple times elsewhere, Get To Know A Top 10 will be back in April. For February I'm doing the Black History Month Listening Project, and for March I'm doing the Women's History Month Listening Project.

Re: Get To Know A Top 10: January 2019 Thread - Tap

Tha1ChiefRocka — Sat, 2 Feb 2019 19:40:27 GMT

Author: Tha1ChiefRocka

Posted: 02/03/2019 00:40

So, are we going to get February rolling Baystate? (As if you don't have enough threads to juggle 😉 )

Re: Get To Know A Top 10: January 2019 Thread - Tap

Tap — Sat, 2 Feb 2019 19:27:59 GMT

Author: Tap

Posted: 02/03/2019 00:27

oh whoops I'd missed that edit! sorry yeah it looks like it's not easily available online anymore, must be a relatively recent development.

Re: Get To Know A Top 10: January 2019 Thread - Tap

baystateoftheart — Sat, 2 Feb 2019 14:50:37 GMT

Author: baystateoftheart

Posted: 02/02/2019 19:50

Loved hearing Aviary again. It shot up my 2018 list after revisiting it for this thread, and I can see it growing on me further. Definitely her best work and simply amazing in its composition. 4/5

Tago Mago didn't feel as revelatory as my first listen when I revisited it for this thread, but it's still a pretty damn great krautrock album with lots of cool stuff going on. 4/5.

Super æ made me want to listen to more records by Boredoms. Out there, mind-expanding rock music in the best possible way. 4/5.

Fantasmes Ou L'Histoire De Blanche-Neige was a very cool album, and ahead of its time, but I wasn't feeling some of the sonic avenues it went down. I definitely enjoyed it overall though. 3.5/5.

My ranking is:

Great

1. Aviary
2. Let My Children Hear Music
3. Syro
4. Tago Mago
5. Heave To
6. Super æ

Quite Good

7. Sung Tongs
8. Fantasmes Ou L'Histoire De Blanche-Neige
9. Wild Why

Not Found

Return Of Fenn O'Berg

Re: Get To Know A Top 10: January 2019 Thread - Tap

baystateoftheart — Fri, 1 Feb 2019 22:31:20 GMT

Author: baystateoftheart

Posted: 02/02/2019 03:31

Tha1ChiefRocka wrote:

Nope, Spotify is just fine.

Edit: NVM, it's not fine for some reason. That album doesn't show up for me when I go to their artist page, and I can't click on any of those songs to play. My spotify is broken :(

It's not just you; I don't think your Spotify is broken. I haven't been able to find it anywhere either. 🙁

Re: Get To Know A Top 10: January 2019 Thread - Tap

Tap — Thu, 31 Jan 2019 04:04:40 GMT

Author: Tap

Posted: 01/31/2019 09:04

heres a funny coincidece, oivia block and julia holter collabed and you can see it now https://youtu.be/U9g4i8FW8mo

Re: Get To Know A Top 10: January 2019 Thread - Tap

Tap — Wed, 30 Jan 2019 16:26:56 GMT

Author: Tap

Posted: 01/30/2019 21:26

oh yeah its some very good domestic bliss, but it's keeping me busy. it's a very good busy tho. Thanks for being active here and going through it all! and everyone else who commented or just quietly listened, this was fun!

Re: Get To Know A Top 10: January 2019 Thread - Tap

Fischman — Sat, 26 Jan 2019 20:47:12 GMT

Author: Fischman

Posted: 01/27/2019 01:47

So in the end, I had to vote Mingus, which is no big surprise.

But that doesn't mean there weren't som serious surprises along the way. In addition to the two that were already on my year lists (Mingus and Can), I enthusiastically added two more, Block and quite surprisingly Boredoms. Of the remaining six, none was an intolerable slog and all caught my ear in one way or another, even the ones my history would indicate I shouldn't be able to tolerate.

Of course, Tap's thoughtful passion helped a great deal.

In the end, I ranked them as follows:

1. Charles Mingus - Let My Children Hear Music
2. Olivia Block - Heave To
3. Super æ - Boredoms
4. Tago Mago - Can
5. Fantasmes Ou L'Histoire De Blanche-Neige - Jacques Lejeune
6. Julia Holter - Aviary
7. Animal Collective - Sung Tongs
8. Aphex Twin - Syro
9. Return Of Fenn O'Berg - Fenn O'Berg
10. Wild Why - Wobbly

Tap, hopefully whatever's drawing more of your time now is good stuff. You had a very interesting list here and did a stellar job supporting the discussion. Sincere thanks.

Re: Get To Know A Top 10: January 2019 Thread - Tap

Fischman — Sat, 26 Jan 2019 20:28:07 GMT

Author: Fischman

Posted: 01/27/2019 01:28

Re: Let My Children Hear Music

I hadn't listened to this one in a while and this prompt turned out to be most welcome. What a great disc! Mingus is understandably most lauded for his small ensemble work, but this bigger band rivals his best. There is a tremendous diversity of musical thought here but all so brilliantly brought together in a coherent whole. I don't think I've ever heard anyone else so perfectly combine killer swing and ethereal mood in th he same tune. Incredible music here.

Re: Get To Know A Top 10: January 2019 Thread - Tap

Tap — Sat, 26 Jan 2019 15:07:08 GMT

Author: Tap

Posted: 01/26/2019 20:07

so I was gonna write about Jacques Lejeune in the context of what I call the "transatlantic accent effect", where outdated styles of the time informed by technical limitations can create classic works that will likely leave most people cold, only really something to recommend for people enthusiastic about this lost quality. And also about how this is somewhat present in the album but mitigated by being an expanded version of a soundtrack for a ballet of a narrative, how the connection to body movement and story help keeps the music moving forward and not dwelling in something that feels especially like a niche interest.

and then I was gonna write about how important the concept of hating music is to Return of Fenn O'Berg, how it's built from 2 live shows with the 2nd half being from a show you can actually find the whole recording of. The 2nd one had an engaged and receptive audience and the music is able to stretch out and build on one thing, but how I wouldn't like it anywhere near as much if it didn't have the 1st half, from a show that didn't have a receptive audience, where the performers are trying to win the crowd over and throwing everything at the wall. And also how the sample of Neil Young - Expecting To Fly in A Viennese Tragedy is such an incredible transformation and completelty justifies sampling as an artistic practice.

but life got busy (with amazing stuff, don't worry), I didn't get to finish it all. I hope you enjoyed though! I'll be on a lot less now so I treated this like a bit of a last hurrah. Thanks for all the fun convos and music!

Re: Get To Know A Top 10: January 2019 Thread - Tap

Fischman — Thu, 24 Jan 2019 20:26:23 GMT

Author: Fischman

Posted: 01/25/2019 01:26

RE: Sung Tongs

While not very familiar with Animal Collectives, this entry was one that inspired me to take on the challenge of getting to know this Top 10. I had heard one Animal Collective album and, while I didn't recall which one it was, I did recall thinking it was unique and creative.

So I approached Sung Tongs with high hopes, which I should have known better after my experience with Syro (which to be clear, wasn't bad, just not as enticing based on my previous limited experience with Aphex Twin. Need to remember if I'm to approach these things with an open mind, that means setting aside any expectations, even those based on previous experience with the same group... especially as Tap sometimes chooses groups who change their palette from album to album (which, btw, I generally find to be a good thing).

Upon first listen, I found the vocals to be unappealing right on the first track and got worse on the second track. Based on that, the rest of the album was a bit of a slog.

But I know better than to condemn based on a single listen, especially as other albums on this list have indicated. To some degree, I found the rhythms and the ability of the repetition to build effect and in some cases, the songs were very intriguing. But in other cases, things just came across as sloppy, especially the vocals. On a couple songs, I couldn't shake an image of John and Yoko sitting around on the ground with a bunch of unwashed hippies, singing stoned refrains and producing nothing of note, musically speaking.

In the end, this one seems pretty middle of the road to me. Something I wouldn't have bought on vinyl because of the mandatory (for me) skips, but could have on CD where it's easy to skip and just listen tot he good stuff.

Re: Get To Know A Top 10: January 2019 Thread - Tap

baystateoftheart — Sun, 20 Jan 2019 13:54:17 GMT

Author: baystateoftheart

Posted: 01/20/2019 18:54

Tap wrote:

thanks for the comments guys, I'd be curious what you all think of what I wrote about the Olivia Block album.

Good writeup! The conceptual context helps it make a lot more sense to me than it did before. Very cool.

Re: Get To Know A Top 10: January 2019 Thread - Tap

Fischman — Sun, 20 Jan 2019 09:01:25 GMT

Author: Fischman

Posted: 01/20/2019 14:01

Tap wrote:

thanks for the comments guys, I'd be curious what you all think of what I wrote about the Olivia Block album. .

While I might not be totally on board with some of your underlying general premise about field recording, I'm in complete sync with your allocation with regard to this album and what makes it great, specifically how Block employs the acoustic elements to compliment and enhance the field recording. It is remarkable. For me, this unique and creative synergy is what excites me about this album.

Re: Get To Know A Top 10: January 2019 Thread - Tap

Tap — Sun, 20 Jan 2019 01:55:28 GMT

Author: Tap

Posted: 01/20/2019 06:55

thanks for the comments guys, I'd be curious what you all think of what I wrote about the Olivia Block album. Also Fischman I think it's totally fair to not be into Syro, but I'm not sure what the precanned beats are? Like there's Minipops that uses the korg minipops 7 to set up a base rhythm, and I think it's actually pretty ingenious how it moves between the capabilities of that machine and switches vetween the different styles, but otherwise it's all directly sequenced. minipops 7 is a really cool machine tho, check this out https://youtu.be/I831DwdWfi8 like it can combine different styles, its weird. do you just mean like the drum machine sounds in general? cause yeah that is a style that can totally be a turn off.

I've been a bit busy but I'll get these last two done soon.

Re: Get To Know A Top 10: January 2019 Thread - Tap

Fischman — Sat, 19 Jan 2019 18:06:19 GMT

Author: Fischman

Posted: 01/19/2019 23:06

RE: Syro

SquishypuffDave's "Get to know a top 10" thread was actually my into to Aphex Twin with Selected Ambient Works Volume II appearing on his list. I really took to that one, so seeing another Aphex Twin here is one of the things that excited me about this list.

As much as I wanted, and expected, to get into this one, I just really couldn't. Relentless over reliance on precanned artificial beats is one of my pet peeves in music and it was just a bridge too far for me on this one. There's some creativity here no doubt, but I'm just never gonna' be down with this one as a whole album.

I could see listening to an individual song here and there, but multiple of these songs in sequence without something else to break it up just isn't going to work.

To be fair, not all the songs suffer from this issue, but there are too many in a row for me to get on board, epitomizing what I usually can't stand about electronic music. So far this one goes at or near the bottom of this list for me.

Re: Get To Know A Top 10: January 2019 Thread - Tap

baystateoftheart — Sat, 19 Jan 2019 13:00:49 GMT

Author: baystateoftheart

Posted: 01/19/2019 18:00

Some brief thoughts on what I've checked out / revisited so far:

Wild Why by Wobbly:

This was my first time hearing this. Unlike some others in this thread, there is a decent chunk of the source material that I would prefer to the manipulations. Still, most of these songs got a fresh new twist through Wobbly's fractured presentation. Quite good overall, but the quality is a bit inconsistent. 3.5/5.

Let My Children Hear Music by Charles Mingus:

This was my third time hearing this. Tap, props that you have, but I have not learned how to listen to it yet. I've loved it from first listen, but I feel like there is untold greatness still in the music that I have yet to crack the code to. Easily the best third stream record I've ever heard. It's very much rooted in traditions, and yet it feels avant-garde and mind-bending. 4/5.

Sung Tongs by Animal Collective:

This was my second time hearing this. It flirts with greatness, but it's too front-loaded, the harmonies don't always deliver, and it has some bad lyrics (Kids On Holiday, for instance). The standout tracks are excellent and I love the genre space it's inhabiting. 3.5/5.

Syro by Aphex Twin:

This was my second time hearing this. With the exception of SAW 85-92, I think it's my favorite album of his, and definitely his most underrated. Compositionally and in terms of execution, consistently great. The crispness of the production suits it well. 4/5.

Heave To by Olivia Block:

This was my first time hearing this. Oh wow. It reminds me of many things in nature and nothing in nature at the same time. Both parts of the title composition carry this otherworldly energy, but the third track is not as good and a bit out of place. An intriguing listening experience. 4/5.

Re: Get To Know A Top 10: January 2019 Thread - Tap

Fischman — Fri, 18 Jan 2019 17:02:49 GMT

Author: Fischman

Posted: 01/18/2019 22:02

RE: Heave To by Olivia Block

So I'm now 7/10 into this fascinating list and this may well be the most fascinating album of all.

I'd love to see the making of this album. The program lists various musicians playing various "normal" instruments like cello, clarinet, trumpet, etc...

... but in listening, hearing those things is not readily apparent. There is so much electronically manipulated sound as to make the origin of the natural acoustic elements almost irrelevant.

Now here's the fascinating part; the music takes all these acoustic, or organic, instruments and mixes them with so much electronic sound, making them highly inorganic, electronic (artificial), manipulated, etc. But the final product seems entirely organic. It's a sort of crazy full circle of sound. On paper, it's something that should not be, but then here it is. It seems utterly brilliant to me in a way I've never encountered before, that something deliberately made unnatural ends up sounding, and feeling, so natural. The rhythm of nature seems very much present in her electronic manipulations.

In the interest of full disclosure, there is an underlying anecdote that colors my perception. Last April, I had to spend a few weeks on a very remote Alaskan island. It was dark, cold, windy, almost always either snowing or misting, and just walking from one adjacent building to the next could be a chore if not dangerous at times. Nevertheless, being an outdoor oriented person with an appreciation for the forces of mother nature, after work I would occasionally go down to the "beach" and just watch the unrestrained and unfettered power of the earth. There was the squeals of the seagulls, the occasionally menacing grunts and growls of fearless Russian Blue Foxes, and occasionally other bird shrieks and caws, all barely audible under the howl of the wind and the thunderous crashes of the waves on the rows of jagged rocks that made up the shoreline. i found it refreshing despite the rather hostile, unforgiving environment.

I'm sure it wasn't specifically Ms. Block's goal with this album, but listening to those compositions took me right back to that place and time, to the point I could hear the waves and taste the icy northern salt spray in the air.

Magnificent.

Re: Get To Know A Top 10: January 2019 Thread - Tap

Fischman — Fri, 18 Jan 2019 10:42:17 GMT

Author: Fischman

Posted: 01/18/2019 15:42

RE: Aviary

Well, Ms. Holter sure can take you on a sonic journey, eh?

Very interesting album. This music could suffice as background music and be just fine; but it has a direction and a life that demands setting aside time and distraction whereby concentrated focus will reveal compositional... and emotional elements which will evade the casual listener.

It's a long one and requires real commitment, but she seems to rather deftly include enough variety within a fairly narrow sonic scope to keep it interesting, especially rhythm and mood wise, moving between sometimes dissonant and seemingly chaotic soundscapes to more standard pop-like, easy to digest sounds, and does so at the right times in the right measure.

Another plus for me.

Re: Get To Know A Top 10: January 2019 Thread - Tap

Tap — Thu, 17 Jan 2019 04:44:56 GMT

Author: Tap

Posted: 01/17/2019 09:44

Boredoms - Super æ (1998)
First Heard: I want to say just before college but maybe around the beginning of college? 2003-2004
I cannot remember how I heard this exactly. I think I was probably clued in on this by a friend of mine who told me about a lot of great rock music at college like Laddio Bolocko, Mclusky, Built To Spill and so many others. But I may have heard it before? I remember looking at a record store in Alaska at Boredoms CDs and seeing the obscene import prices and being like "oh fuck that" but maybe that was when I was visiting home after starting college.

Listens since 2016: 7/15/2018

OK so that's crazy, but also I listened to Super Roots 7 in 2016 and 2018 as well and that's operating from the same space (with one incredible 20 minute track that sounds like a hyped up version of Super Going, in between some ok remixes). So I don't feel like I'm as out of touch with this sound as this might suggest. Though it is also burned into my brain from hearing it a lot before.

Boredoms are a weird band, but you can sort of split them into two very uneven halves. You've got the much more populated noisy prankster side. I think it's fair to say it's in the spirit of Can - Peking O, though they find a pretty vast musical universe to explore. And then you have their popular album, Vision Creation Newsun, where they get into a kosmiche sort of sound in the service of worshipping the sun. The transition between these two points is Super æ, where you get the beginnings of the VCN sound, but with the noisy prankster side still coloring things. Though that's an oversimplification, because there's Acid Police that are the seeds for this change. And take a listen to Super 77/Super Sky https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mp1ThgZakG0, this seems like it would've had to have come out earlier because the first one is a long track of manipulated baby crying with lots of empty space, and then when you get tired of that skip to after the 17 minute mark for the 2nd track, it's sort of like the Super æ sound but much more aggressively distorted.

Still though, I would say this album is them fully beginning to become what they will be on Vision Creation Newsun. I feel like transitional albums get sort of a bad wrap, like they get written off as the band not quite figuring it out yet. But I think they can capture a tension between two points and end up being more amazing for it. Like all of the weird fucking with the tape that goes on on Super You, or the first half of Super Are You, or something about the whole spirit of Super Coming. It's like what I was talking about with Sung Tongs, they're carrying the weirdness into a cleaner space.

A while back there was some meme originating from 4chan where someone would post an image of SpongeGar, a caveman version of Spongebob Squarepants, along with the text "band has 2 drummers"

And I always figured they were talking about Super æ because that image does kind of sum up how I feel about some of the more transitional parts of this album. Sure stuff like Super Going is more of a modern, blissed out feeling. But when the drums come in on Super Are? I'm SpongeGar. And then when the drums really get going, I am absolutely losing my shit about how this band has two drummers. I dunno, maybe they were talking about the new iteration of Oh Sees, but in my heart this will always be about Super æ.

I wonder though, is this the best representative for this interest of mine? Maybe this has drifted from me and I shouldn't keep trying to hold on to the past here. But what could replace it? Micachu & The Shapes - Never gets visceral, and the studio constructed rock songs move so quick, maybe that's more where I'm at right now, while still getting at this sort of energy? It's an amazing album, but it really is something different. Or maybe Borbetomagus - Zurich, three guys having an absolute blast putting two saxophone bells together and covering that with shredded guitar, that's pretty Spongegar. But Super æ covers so much ground, the pyramid formed by the title repeating on the cover containing the humanoid figure filled with the energy of the sun is still a giant landmark that I group other things around. I am still living in Super æ's time. But maybe one day I'll be "too mature" to go all SpongeGar, but I sure hope not.

But yeah, I'm so glad that Fischman has connected with this album from this thread, that's what these lists are for. I get to show someone a postcard with a picture of my musical landscape and they can just jump into it like it's a painting in Super Mario 64, and check something out and find something to take back with them and it has a place in their musical landscape, that's the craziest shit, I love it. So maybe one day it won't be in my top 10, but I'm glad it was here now so that that could happen.

Re: Get To Know A Top 10: January 2019 Thread - Tap

Tap — Tue, 15 Jan 2019 04:28:48 GMT

Author: Tap

Posted: 01/15/2019 09:28

Can - Tago Mago (1971)
First Heard: 2000
So in addition to my immediate branching off from Radiohead into IDM, I'd also heard the bootleg of their September 8th, 2000 show in Cophenhagen and thought, "hey, this song The Thief is pretty cool, I should check out this Can band." And so I got a hold of Tago Mago.

Listens since 2016: 8/12/2016, 2/15/2017

lol I really had thought I'd listened to this more recently. But it's been 18 YEARS of this album. I've heard it a lot. And let me tell you, when I first heard it, I absolutely hated the majority of it. How could they give you three of the most amazing songs and then just a bunch of total bullshit? Like what the hell?!

But man, those first three tracks. The way the delay feedback builds up for the introduction to Paperhouse and then it all comes in sounding mournful with the gorgeous electric piano on top, before the drums and guitar kick up the energy and everyone builds up to a screaming intensity, before slowing down and finding some whole other groovy space, making you realize that the drummer is fucking amazing at drums, and then finding a way to spike it at the end so that when Mushroom comes in it just immediately kicks your ass. That's such an amazing opening, and then Mushroom pushes things even further. It feels very linear, but it's a tight four minutes and the path is full of a bunch of macro-structural elements so that it feels like things are happening, and we're getting somewhere. AND THEN OH YEAH BEGINS WITH AN EXPLOSION, and you get really cool backwards sounding vocals and this ringing feedback on the organ so that every step of it resonates in your ears different and tickles some other spot in there, and then somehow it turns all bluesy as the vocals snap into focus and then the song does a bunch of other stuff and it's all amazing!!!!

Then we get to Halleluwah. And I'm not mad, I'm just disappointed. Like the drummer and the bassist, aren't they bored? They're just doing the same thing the whole time basically, and like there's stuff happening on top but it takes 18 goddamn minutes and it just feels like aimless wandering. Like what are we doing here guys? But then I find out what they're doing and it's just a bunch of bullshit!! This Aumgn track gets going and it's 17 and one half minutes. And instead of having the drums and the bass do the same thing, they just change having that foundation and get EVEN MORE AIMLESS and just do whatever, like they're just fucking around going "aaaaaaaaaaaaa" and stuff, and making stupid noises until the drums come in to get everyone to stop. And I'm like oh good, they're done with that BUT THEY'RE NOT. THEY HAVEN'T EVEN STARTED WITH THIS SHIT because fucking Peking O isn't just aimless, it's like THEY'RE TRYING TO BE AS ANNOYING AS THEY CAN (omg is that what the band name means), when that stupid drum machine part comes in and they make the stupidest noises, it actually makes you appreciate how much of the earlier two didn't sound this bad!

And then Bring Me Coffee Or Tea starts and they remember how to write songs, but I'm still kind of pissed off because most of this runtime has been spent unhappy with what I'm hearing. Like this had so much potential but then they ruined it! I'm so mad!

But then I listen to it more and more, getting hooked in by the first three tracks, and I get into Halleluwah a bit more, like Peking O really did make me think how parts I had dismissed before had merit. And that just kept happening and going deeper into the album, and now these qualities that I once hated are a big part of a significant amount of the music that I care for. The whole stuff with consistency and extremely linear music in Halleluwah is there in a whole bunch of stuff, from the repetitive basslines of Joshua Abrams to the extreme reductionism of Jürg Frey's L'âme Est Sans Retenue I. There's something I find incredible now about the experience of long durations and consistency, and what you can do with the accumulation of experience there. And then Aumung, getting to the point where I heard it as a whole piece and not just a bunch of independent stuff that happened, that was big for me. Listening to it with an emphasis on timbre, and thinking of it as sort of an abstract painting of timbre over time, all of the progression it took started to feel like a natural, connected development. And I think I get into that sort of listening with all the electro-acoustic, musique concrete, ambient, and other things like that that I listen to. And then Peking O, the joy of getting disgusting and annoying in exploration, that probably grew the most of all for me and informed my appreciation of Boredoms and Animal Collective and so many others. I love that drum machine part so much now.

I don't listen so much anymore, but when I do I love it all, and it had such a significant impact on how I listen to music. It has to be here. By both connecting strongly with where I was at when I was first starting to explore, and also challenging me to hear more, it was able to get me to return to those challenges and eventually change my mind. This band was full of brilliant musicians all bringing something great to the table, but there's one person in particular who I think I really owe all of this to.

Quote:

Meanwhile, Schmidt and his wife Hildegard took care of the organisational side of things. Mrs Schmidt was a formidable woman. She had already seen off Can’s original manager, Abi Ofarim, formerly of novelty 60s duo Esther And Abi. It was Hildegard who insisted they release Tago Mago as a double album. If the band had had their own way, it would have been a single disc, without Aumgn, Peking O and jokey closing track Bring Me Coffee Or Tea.

https://www.loudersound.com/features/can-the-making-of-landmark-album-tago-mago

Thank you Hildegard Schmidt. You probably changed my life, and I'm so glad this album was perfectly structured to get me to overcome my initial objections, and now I find so much more beauty in music than I could before I heard it.

I hope you all are enjoying reading these, I'm having a lot of fun writing them. I'm really excited for the next three, I've got some plans.