Miscellaneous Musical Meanderings - Music Diaries

Rhyner · 2017-12-19T18:00:11-05:00

This will be my more traditional music diary, as opposed to my other one here, which arguably isn't even a music diary. But this one will be! I have a bunch of ideas for overall diary subjects (or "themes") that I could use, and rather than stick to just one, I'm going to hop between them as I see fit. Below is a list of all the themes I'm using so far: Golden Years And their in-depth explanations: Golden Years: I have a list of all my favorite albums, ranked from #1 all the way to (currently) 721. Some years are very well represented (2006, for example, as well as the rest of the 2000s) and others are... not (including most of the 80s). In the interest of branching out, I'd like to dive deeper into those years that I'm less familiar with. I have a method of determining the years I most need to take a closer look at (explained at the end of this section for those who care), so I'll start by picking the year my favorite albums list is most deficient in, and just listen to a bunch of albums from that year, hoping to find something new to love. The group of albums I listen to for each year will be constructed using the following four categories: 1. The Core • Everything from that year already on my list • The top 20 albums of that year on each of: besteveralbums.com, rateyourmusic.com, and acclaimedmusic.net 2. Extension of the Core • The above websites' top 5 albums of that year that haven't been selected yet 3. My picks • At least 10 additional albums, including at least one of each of the following: o something unfamiliar from an artist I already like o something unfamiliar with appealing album art o something from a person of color or group of people of color o something from a woman or group of women o something in a foreign language o something from a foreign country other than the United Kingdom or Canada (can be in English) 4. Recommendations • Anyone who would like to can recommend at most two albums that haven't been selected yet Once the group of albums has been selected, I'll go through the albums one by one in a random order and listen to them, give them a rating, and post a short write-up of my thoughts. Recommendations for albums of that year can be given at any time, until I finish that year and move on to another one. I haven't yet solidly decided my policy on repeating years. I want to avoid it most of the time but allow it occasionally, as there are sure to be especially deep years that require further exploration. I think I'll allow a repeat year as every fifth year I visit, a third visit to a year every twentieth year, a fourth every sixtieth, a fifth only if there's no other choice that doesn't break the rules, and a sixth only as a complete reset of the entire process as long as every year has been visited. Here's how I calculate the year I most need to explore more. Currently I have 721 albums on my favorites list, so I download BEA's overall chart and look at just the top 721 albums. I tally up the total chart points for each year, then substitute my albums in for BEA's top 721 and do the same thing (pretending my number one has the same number of points as OK Computer, my number two has the same number of points as The Dark Side of the Moon, and so on). Then I calculate the difference between each year, and of the years that have more points on BEA's chart than mine, the year with the greatest point difference between BEA's chart and mine is the one I most need to explore more. Here's what my scores mean, if you're curious: I've worked out my rating system from the starting point of a single principle that I think should be true of any rating system, no matter whose (this assumes ratings from zero to a hundred; adjust accordingly when using other numbers or stars or whatever). Everything that I've built on this principle is disputable, but the principle itself is the rock-solid foundation that I wouldn't dream of changing. Here it is: A score of 0 is the worst I can give, a score of 100 is the best I can give, and a score of 50 is neutral. In the case of music, I like pretty much everything I ever listen to, so almost every music score I give is above 50. How much I like it determines how high above 50 I rate it. Most music falls into the 50s and 60s range, and anything above that is something I have a special connection with. Giving something a 100 means it is my absolute favorite thing ever, something I adore more than anything else. It doesn't mean it's flawless, just that I love it completely. My ratings are totally subjective. I have no interest in trying to rate stuff objectively, whatever that means anyway. Here's a rough idea of what a given score means (scores below 50 are less worked out because they're much rarer, but they're pretty much a negative mirror of the top half): 100 – Favorite Ever 95 – A Favorite 90 – Essential 85 – Really Great 80 – Great 75 – Really Good 70 – Quite Good 65 – Solid 60 – Enjoyable 55 – All Right 50 – Neutral 40 – Kinda Bad 30 – Quite Bad 20 – Terrible 10 – Trash 0 – Worst Ever Here's another way to think about it, clumping my scores into bigger categories: 90-100 – Favorites 78-89 – Love 66-77 – Like a Lot 55-65 – Like 46-54 – So-So 35-45 – Dislike 23-34 – Dislike a Lot 11-22 – Hate 0-10 – Most Hated Here is a series of questions I ask myself to properly determine an album (or whatever)'s score (this is assuming the score is 50 or above; again, negative mirrored versions of these questions apply to negative scores): 1. Do I like it? If this is an easy yes, then whatever I'm rating will get at least a 60, and I move onto question two. If this is a no, I assign a score of at most 50 and ask myself the mirror questions. If the answer is somewhere between yes and no, then I gauge my level of enjoyment and assign an appropriate score between 50 and 60. For instance, if to the question I hesitantly answer, "Sort of...", the score will probably be in the 53-55 range. "For the most part" would get a score in the upper 50s. And so on. This same idea applies to all of the following questions as well. 2. Is it special? If yes, then the score is at least 70—move onto question three. If no, the score is 60. If between, then of course the score is between 60 and 70. What do I mean by special? I don't know, to be perfectly honest. What I'm asking myself here is whether the item in question has a certain... je ne sais quoi... that makes it stand out above the pack. This is entirely subjective, and has a lot to do with the relationship I have with said item. In fact, my scores can largely be interpreted as representations of relationships with what I'm rating—the higher the score, the stronger the relationship. I rarely give a score above 70 within the first several times I listen to an album. That connection has to build up over time. 3. Do I want it in my life regularly? "Yes" gets a score of at least 80 and goes to question four. Anything less than yes gets a lesser score, down to 70 for a no, of course. This question is a bit misleading, because what I'm asking myself here is more complicated, but the way I phrase it above is the best way I can boil it down to a simple one-liner. What I'm really asking is if I think of what I'm rating as part of who I am as a person. Will I think about it on a regular basis? In the case of music, will I sing or hum or whistle it all the time? Will I add it to playlist after playlist and want to keep coming back regardless of how many times I've already listened to it? That's what I'm asking. 4. Do I feel like I can't live without it? Yes: at least 90 and question five. No: 80. In between: in between. Now, I'm not ridiculous enough to think there's any music I truly can't live without. Even if my favorite stuff of all time disappeared completely and I never got to hear it again, I could live a full and complete life, no problem. But that's not what I'm asking here. The key word is "feel". Do I feel like I can't live without it? And there is indeed music for which the answer is yes. Stuff that feels essential to who I am, that I would fight mightily to keep in my life, if it came to that. 5. Is it my favorite ever? If I get this far, then whatever I'm rating is one of my all-time favorite things, and the score I give between 90 and 100 simply shows how it compares to my other all-time favorites. 100 is reserved for the best of the best of the best of the best. 99 is the second best of the best of the best of the best. And so it goes, roughly. If I have too many favorites then some of them will get the same score, but you get the idea. It has taken me a lot of thought and a lot of time to build this system and feel comfortable with it, and while I'm sure it won't work for everyone, it works for me. Please feel free to ask questions if it's unclear, or criticize it if you think it has problems.

Rhyner soft silly music is meaningful magical Profile
Utah

My first album, randomly selected, is:

'77 Live by Les Rallizes Dénudés

Not bad. But very, very noisy. Tracks three and four in particular were sometimes painful to listen to. Some parts sound like they weren't recorded very well, but that kinda added to the atmosphere. I like the strong bass presence as a counterbalance to the wall of noise. This isn't something I would want to listen to very often, but overall it was all right. A bit long, perhaps.

Score: 54/100

At some point I'll add an explanation of my rating system to the original post, but for now all you need to know is that 50 is neutral and anything above 50 means I liked it. So 54 is a (slightly) positive score.

dihansse dihansse Profile

This is going to be interesting Rhyner!!

My recs are (from my personal top 10 of this year which I love very much (the year and the albums 🤣 ):

Ascension by The Aints

The Word And The Flesh by Band Of Susans

The Beast Inside by Inspiral Carpets

Beat Songs by The Blue Aeroplanes

Blind Love by Ratcat

Repo BeA Sunflower Profile
Forest Park

Rhyner wrote:

My first album, randomly selected, is:

'77 Live by Les Rallizes Dénudés

Not bad. But very, very noisy. Tracks three and four in particular were sometimes painful to listen to. Some parts sound like they weren't recorded very well, but that kinda added to the atmosphere. I like the strong bass presence as a counterbalance to the wall of noise. This isn't something I would want to listen to very often, but overall it was all right. A bit long, perhaps.

Score: 54/100

At some point I'll add an explanation of my rating system to the original post, but for now all you need to know is that 50 is neutral and anything above 50 means I liked it. So 54 is a (slightly) positive score.

How many times did you listen to this? If only once, it'd b really, really hard to assimilate sth like LRD especially since you haven't had a lot of exposure to noise rock. For me, I wouldn't even think of having an opinion on sth until I've at least listened to it 3 times. The first couple of listens just help me get familiar with the music. That's just me of course. I'm a bit slow. 🤣

Rhyner soft silly music is meaningful magical Profile
Utah

Tilly wrote:

How many times did you listen to this? If only once, it'd b really, really hard to assimilate sth like LRD especially since you haven't had a lot of exposure to noise rock. For me, I wouldn't even think of having an opinion on sth until I've at least listened to it 3 times. The first couple of listens just help me get familiar with the music. That's just me of course. I'm a bit slow. :lol:

My initial plan was to give each album two or three listens, but I decided to not stick to that with this one. It's an hour and a half long and has only seven lengthy, repetitive tracks. Once was enough to get the idea, I think.

Rhyner soft silly music is meaningful magical Profile
Utah

dihansse wrote:

This is going to be interesting Rhyner!!

My recs are (from my personal top 10 of this year which I love very much (the year and the albums 🤣 ):

Ascension by The Aints

The Word And The Flesh by Band Of Susans

I'm limiting recommendations to only two per person, so these are the two I'm putting down for you. If you'd prefer I replace either or both with something from your other choices, let me know.

Or maybe you could get someone else to submit your other choices as their recommendations...

Rhyner soft silly music is meaningful magical Profile
Utah

Woodface by Crowded House
Pretty good. I like the guitar on Weather with You. That song and Four Seasons in One Day are probably my favorites on the album.

Score: 61/100

dihansse dihansse Profile

Rhyner wrote:

dihansse wrote:

This is going to be interesting Rhyner!!

My recs are (from my personal top 10 of this year which I love very much (the year and the albums 🤣 ):

Ascension by The Aints

The Word And The Flesh by Band Of Susans

I'm limiting recommendations to only two per person, so these are the two I'm putting down for you. If you'd prefer I replace either or both with something from your other choices, let me know.

Or maybe you could get someone else to submit your other choices as their recommendations...

Fair enough Rhyner: I would like to ask to pick beatsongs instead of the word and the flesh because it’s completely different from the rest of my picks.

Rhyner soft silly music is meaningful magical Profile
Utah

dihansse wrote:

Fair enough Rhyner: I would like to ask to pick beatsongs instead of the word and the flesh because it’s completely different from the rest of my picks.

No problem. Sorry to be a stickler about that, but I'm worried I'll never get through even one year if I don't limit recommendations somehow. I'll eventually come back to 1991 and I'll check out some of your other picks then.

Repo BeA Sunflower Profile
Forest Park

Rhyner wrote:

Woodface by Crowded House
Pretty good. I like the guitar on Weather with You. That song and Four Seasons in One Day are probably my favorites on the album.

Score: 61/100

oh cool. I always wanted to check out Crowded House. I always thought they were far too poppy back in '91. What's it like? I suppose a 61 isn't a very good score. 🤔

dihansse dihansse Profile

Tilly wrote:

Rhyner wrote:

Woodface by Crowded House
Pretty good. I like the guitar on Weather with You. That song and Four Seasons in One Day are probably my favorites on the album.

Score: 61/100

oh cool. I always wanted to check out Crowded House. I always thought they were far too poppy back in '91. What's it like? I suppose a 61 isn't a very good score. :-k

Well Tilly you should check them, especially for your mellow project and especially This album: it’s a real classic. Sorry you didn’t like it that much Rhyner.