Dark and heavy gothic metal. Yes the gothic element made it more palatable metal for me, and reminded me of the late '80s when I had a brief phase of diving deeper into the gothic music scene. Very atmospheric and theatrical, full of doom and gloom (some of those track titles!). No standout songs, more an overall experience. 7.5/10.
Top 97 Music Albums of 2020 by Repo (4 picks left)
1. Strum & Thrum: The American Jangle Underground 1983-1987 by Various Artists
2. Ravening Iron by Eternal Champion
5. Pith by Melkbelly
6. Keeping Up Appearances by Basic Plumbing
9. Blue Hearts by Bob Mould
11. Strange Lights Over Garth Mountain by Gwenifer Raymond
12. Traditional Techniques by Stephen Malkmus
13. Ricky Music by Porches
18. Silver Ladders by Mary Lattimore
19. Out Of My Province by Nadia Reid
Gumbo'! by Pink Siifu
The best and the worst thing about Gumbo is that it's chock-full of ideas. It's entertaining, but it's also not very focused, at times even doesn't make sense and not in a lovable way like JPEGMAFIA for example. It actually sits somewhere in the middle of the "JPEGMAFIA - conventional rap" spectrum. Not weird enough, so the crazy production and interesting ideas can't be the main driving force, yet it's not good enough in the rapping and songwriting departments, which results in the lack of bangers. The lyrics are nearly indecipherable, his flow is extremely off-putting and, again, not to my taste. Now all of that probably sounds too negative, I did kinda like the album. The potential is obviously there, I'm just not sure this type of execution does the job for me. I liked the more neo-soul, jazz rap and trap oriented songs, with The Alchemist produced Living Proof followed by a groovy jam Scurrrrd being the highlights. Also, Call Tha Bro with Maxo was excellent. Generall, the fewer chances Siifu took, the better it was, which is unfortunate. I really hope it clicks with me on the subsequent listens, a lot of people seem to love it. 7/10
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I don't think I've heard a single one of those, which is weird, but The American Jangle Underground compilation sounds fun.
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I'm gonna keep rolling with 2021
JPEGMAFIA - LP!
Grouper - Shade
Lil Ugly Mane - Volcanic Bird Enemy and the Voiced Concern
Turnstile - Glow On
ะ ะพะถั [Rozh] - ะะตัะฝะพะต
Lorde - Solar Power
Worm - Foreverglade
ํ๋๋ ธ์ [Parannoul] / Asian Glow / sonhos tomam conta - Downfall of the Neon Youth
Sven Wunder - Natura Morta
Rx Nephew - Slitherman Activated _________________ Overall chart Fake overall chart
I'd been racking my brains. Trying to figure out what made these guys so special. Unique. But, I just couldn't nail it. THEN, I went backwards. Checked out their recordings from the late 70s on their excellent The Time Lord EP, and it all clicked. The lines were filled in. The singer reminds me of Roky Erickson. These guys are not just Sabbath clones. They also add an ample dose of late 60s Psychedelia. Stuff like the 13th Floor Elevators!
One of those classics that just gets better with every spin, this is easily one of the best Doom records of the 80s, and absolutely essential for fans of that genre.
๐๐๐๐๐ (Essential!)
2. I bet you're going to be super surprised by what I pick for you, Zep! ๐๐
Dark and heavy gothic metal. Yes the gothic element made it more palatable metal for me, and reminded me of the late '80s when I had a brief phase of diving deeper into the gothic music scene. Very atmospheric and theatrical, full of doom and gloom (some of those track titles!). No standout songs, more an overall experience. 7.5/10.
Psyched u dug it!!! (Wasn't sure if u would since I know you are not the biggest metal fan.)
The music fits the album name. This is mostly quite languid; relaxed, slow building and never crescendoing too intensely. Instead it seems to sort of groove in its own separate mental and spiritual place. The music is okay off each other delicately and with a nice familiarity. There are few real freak outs or explosions, there is a lot of groove and soul.
I listened a couple times and I really liked it. Not what I was expecting perhaps because I know Sun Ra is a wild man and makes some truly unrelenting and uncompromising stuff. This is an album which is not commercial and it is uncompromising in its own way. Just quite groovy, peaceful, contemplative. Very cool.
In terms of Fusion, this is more along the lines of In A Silent Way than some of the more over the top rockin fusion of the mid to late 70s. I like that. I prefer the early Return to Forever, In A Silent Way, early pre Jaco Jaco Weather Report sound. I like that cerebral, floaty, exploratory feel that is present here on Lanquidity and on those other albums/works. Despite there being often times a rock solid bass and drum groove or horn sound, there is always an almost detached Electric piano or horn somewhere off in the song smelling the roses and looking about and in its own world.
Okay, I have decided what to do as a "gimmick" for my list, and that is simply no gimmick, no challenge and no forcing myself to listen to anything I'm not already majorly interested in and kind of in the bag for lol - so I simply have this big list of albums I want to hear and I roughly ranked em and then now I will at random grab 10 that seem like either really cool and up my alley or ones that I feel like an idiot for never listening to em. Here we go!
+ = this is the most recently added choice
1. Monuments to Thieves by His Hero is Gone/1996 (This is a classic crust punk album. I have had this ear marked for ages. I add it here now.)
+2. Mecca and the Soul Brother AND The Main Ingredient by Pete Rock and C.L. Smooth/1992 + 1994 (If you pick on of these, I'll listen to both. I got big-ish box sets of these albums back in like 2015 and I listened a couple times and I loved 'em. But then moved on to other genres and styles of interest and forgot about them to some degree and then when I came back to HONESTLY rate only albums I felt I recollected on RYM, I left these unrated because I just feel like they are vague in my memory and they deserves lots and oodles of respect and time.)
+3. Stratosphere by Duster/1997 (I recently did TWO big updates of 90s chart and I saw so many albums I need to revisit. And none more critically and nerd acclaimed than this one.
4. Mark Hollis by Mark Hollis/1998 (This is a shameful admission: I have never sat down - nor even stood up! - and listened to this album in one sitting - nor in one standing! I know I know how is this even admissible for someone that has Spirit of Eden high on his all time faves list? Idk. I have bit-and-pieced this album 1 or 2 times over the decade or so of awareness of it. I intend to rectify this soon. RIP Mark Hollis.)
5. Tindersticks AND Tindersticks II by Tindersticks/1993 AND 1995 respectively (there are several highly acclaimed and talked about Tindersticks albumsโฆ they all have cool album covers. And they have all managed to never be heard by me. Another 90s touchstone for you to maybe choose. If you choose one of these, I will focus on it but also listen to the other.)
6. Substrata by Biosphere/1997 (another on my hit list for the great decade of the 90s. I think Iโll make all these 90s albums. Anyway, electronic and ambient stuff here. Have been interested since my early days in BEA but never jumped in.)
7. I Could Live In Hope by Low/1994 (I love this album or I remember loving it. Its been awhile. I sampled it to see if I still liked it and I actually discovered I may love it now more than back in my early 20s. And after falling head over heels in love with their latest, HEY WHAT, i think going back to their beginnings is a smart and nourishing and emotional and smart move.)
8. Ask the Ages by Sonny Sharrock/1991 (I have a very VERY good feeling about this one. I think I am ready and primed to experience a truly transcendent avant garde modern jazz album. This just feels right, like with a melon, you can just tell. I hope I'm not overhyping this in my mind and setting myself up for a let down. I doubt it, I don't generally let that happen.)
9. Left Hand Path by Entombed/1990 (Bring on this absolutely classic and legendary Swedish death metal classic! I couple months ago I absolutely saw the light on Entombed's peers, Dismember, and their 1991 masterpiece Like an Ever Flowing Stream. At that time I meant to now delve into the works of Entombed... but I never did. I listened to the first few tracks of this album newly and thought it was cool but no Dismember and went back to them. Now I would like to give this one the time and TLC it deserves. I heard it awhile ago but I was not a DM fan at the time and I didn't love it just liked it.)
10. At Action Park by Shellac/1994 (A classic 90s post hardcore release that I have been meaning to play for a decade or close to. When I was updating my 90s chart yesterday I saw this and instantly remembered how much I've wanted to give this a spin. So here it is as an option.) _________________ -Ryan
Through Silver In Blood by Neurosis
This was exactly what I was expecting from Mercury, and I really dug it. I'm not super in tune with the diverse subgenres of metal music, but Wikipedia lists "post-metal", "industrial", and "sludge metal". Industrial...sure I guess. Not too heavy on that IMO. Post-metal is a genre descriptor which I'm definitely not familiar with, and I looked it up and it appears that Neurosis basically invented it haha. So that leaves sludge metal. Based on my limited understanding of sludge metal, I'd say that's spot on. It's definitely not stoner metal but there's some similarities which I really dig. In all honesty though I'm not always a fan of the harsh vocals (which I guess indicates the "industrial" genre?), and I feel like that was sort of a miss here, whereas it fits much more on stoner metal. I can't think of what else would go better though, certainly not melodic vocals and also not thrash-style growling. But something feels a bit off to me for the vocals. The instruments are all incredible though, and it's albums like this which are exactly why I'm looking to expand my metal and 90s palettes. 3-3.5/5
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Ask The Ages by Sonny Sharrock
I'm probably going to keep recommending jazz albums... but in particular I've been on a 90s jazz streak right now since I've been rewatching Cowboy Bebop. This is a good one.
3)
Gonna roll with NPR until that's done, and going to start rotating through other charts to fill out the remaining 10.
NPR: The 150 Greatest Albums Made By Women:
114. Rumor Has It by Reba McEntire
148. The Mosaic Project by Terri Lyne Carrington *this marks the end of this chart!
Mercury's top albums of the 1990s
4. Like an Ever Flowing Stream by Dismember
16. The Complete Blind Willie Johnson [compilation]
18. NOLA by Down
21. ...And Out Come the Wolves by Rancid
23. Rear View Mirror by Townes Van Zandt
24. Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk by Emperor
25. Revival by Gillian Welch
29. Souls at Zero by Neurosis
Another edit Mercury! No worries though, again for my purposes it looks like a minor shuffle with the addition of 2 blues compilations. One of which I used to own on CD (Robert Johnson). Looking forward to Blind Willie Johnson, always mix him up with Little Willie John or Blind Willie McTell... _________________ 51 Washington, D.C. albums!
MercuryTurn your back on the pay-you-back last callProfile St. Louis
@EyeKanFly, first off, hahaha sorry for the next change to chart. THIS one is pretty final. I mean this one I went all out on in the dorkiest way possible. Spent hours updating year charts 90-99 then making spreadsheets and figuring out ratings and then ordering and reAOedering and registering. It was a friggin PROJECT!!! So I think Iโm done.
Really you picking my chart was a massive jolt and my sudden upsurge in 90s interest coincides with that list being picked by you. So THANK YOU. And yeah Blind Willie Johnson is a trip. Amazing. Maybe he will be picked. But if not, highly recommend listening later on. Itโs kinda wild and distinctly different than Robert Johnsonโs Mississippi Delta sound or McTellโs Piedmont sound. Blind Willie Johnson (and Blind Lemon Jefferson and Texas Alexander) is/are the top movers and shakers of early Texas acoustic blues.
As for other compilationsโฆ after a long back and forth in my mind I decided to include them. This also Tommy Johnson and Little Walter and maybe 1 other non 80s or 90s music compilation is included and may seem out of place. I decided to include them because they ARE some of my favorite CDs or albums ever so may as well give em a rankings bump lol.
And awesome review and write up on Through Silver In Blood. That album slowly and over several listens completely wormer itโs way into my head. At first I thought it was good and then slowly began to arrive where I am now; which is THATS itโs a masterpiece. The vocals are very influenced by Hardcore punk screaming rough vocals, especially the higher pitched screaming and shouting. Sludge bands often came out of hardcore and Neurosis is a perfect example of this. They may have created in the 90s the most stacked and miraculous run of albums of the entire decade. Iโve heard 4 of em and they are all monolithic, consistently breathtaking, apocalyptic gems. _________________ -Ryan
Hey I've been watching Cowboy Bebop too! Stopped a week or so ago, still have 4 episodes and the movie haha.
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Foreverglade by Worm
This is some EXCELLENT death doom metal. Murky, sludgy, dark, crushing, fantastic solos, insane vocals, some funeral doom elements thrown in. Swamp metal basically, Shrek would adore this. This is everything I'd want from a death doom album, what a beast. 44 minutes long, exactly enough ideas to fill that runtime, the songs are long but never overstay their welcome. The things that stood out the most to me: solo near the end of Murk Above the Dark Moor, synths and various vocal styles in the 1:30-3:30 part on Cloaked in Nightwinds, guitar solo + verse + synth part + verse + guitar solo in the 1:00-3:00 part on Empire of the Necromancers, the clean guitar sound on Subaqueous Funeral, percussion and breakdown around 3 minute mark on Centuries of Ooze. The solos are honestly some of the best I've ever heard on a metal album, melodic but not overtly so, complex yet easily digestible, in general the guitar engineering is 11/10. In fact, overall production is extraordinary, the only issue I had is with the snares which could've been a little punchier, but that's so insignificant that you might as well disregard this critique. (In fact I'm listening to it again now and the snare "problem" is only present when the guitars are loud, might be a mixing problem after all). Could easily be AOTY with a few more listens, for now I'm placing it in second with 9.5/10
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Take it from the top, let's finish the NPR list.
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2021
JPEGMAFIA - LP!
Grouper - Shade
Lil Ugly Mane - Volcanic Bird Enemy and the Voiced Concern
Turnstile - Glow On
ะ ะพะถั [Rozh] - ะะตัะฝะพะต
Lorde - Solar Power
ํ๋๋ ธ์ [Parannoul] / Asian Glow / sonhos tomam conta - Downfall of the Neon Youth
Sven Wunder - Natura Morta
Rx Nephew - Slitherman Activated
Vijay Iyer / Linda May Han Oh / Tyshawn Sorey - Uneasy _________________ Overall chart Fake overall chart
Definitely one of the albums from Repo's chart I was curious to hear. I don't know much about the US '80s jangle pop scene (UK and Aussie, and to a lesser extent NZ is a different matter) and in fact I haven't heard of any of these bands. The question is why though? I mean I guess for a compilation like this they would pick the bands' best songs , but this is full of good to great songs. Surely good enough that some of these bands found some sort of success? Anyway if you are not a fan of jangle pop an hour and a half of similar sounding music might be a bit too much, but if you are there is actually quite a bit of variety to be found here. It's not all R.E.M. soundalike bands. To me there was only a few where I though that. I listened to most of this while driving so I didn't get to pay attention to who was singing but during the later stages when I was home the songs by Pop Art and Great Plains stood out. Highly recommended for fans of Jangle pop, power pop, and even early indie rock, that are curious to here more from what I am guessing was an under appreciated scene. 8/10, and #68 in my top 100 for the year.
The Turnstile album is not ultra exciting but it is really well done, and I liked it quite a bit.
Top 97 Music Albums of 2020 by Repo (3 picks left)
2. Ravening Iron by Eternal Champion
5. Pith by Melkbelly
6. Keeping Up Appearances by Basic Plumbing
9. Blue Hearts by Bob Mould
11. Strange Lights Over Garth Mountain by Gwenifer Raymond
12. Traditional Techniques by Stephen Malkmus
13. Ricky Music by Porches
18. Silver Ladders by Mary Lattimore
19. Out Of My Province by Nadia Reid
20. Lifers by Local H
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