Random Album Diary
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jnmayles
Profile
Location: chicago by way of west virginia 
- #1
- Posted: 06/01/2026 16:19
- Post subject: Random Album Diary
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Long time user and lurker. Hitting the forums with my first installment of random albums. {TLDR: Listen to Blue State's 2000 album Nothing Changes Under the Sun if you're fever chasing late 90's nostalgia}
Over the last decade + I've gotten good at aggregating and accumulating a semi-curated music library. I've listened to a lot of albums but many more remain untouched. Now that I've caught up to what 2025 had to offer I'm spending some time hitting shuffle and listening to 10 random albums at a time. I've already done this a good bit, but this is the first post. I won't list rank them as much as I'll try to add in some points that can help you find little nuggets among the volume.
- ... And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead - So Divided (2006) >>> I ended up opting for their more well regarded 2002 album Source Tags & Codes. Well worth a listen if you want early 2000s rock.
- Beyoncé - HOMECOMING: THE LIVE ALBUM >>> I promise I don't do this often... but I also opted for a different album of hers, 2022's RENAISSANCE. Could only make it about halfway through. I've never been a B fan... but don't tell the people I've been dating...
- The Bird Calls - Old Faithful (2024) >>> decent american album. just decent.
- Blue States - Nothing Changes Under the Sun (2000) >>> easily my favorite album from this list. captures 90's/early aughts electronic / indie sound that I've noticed a lot of artists are trying to recapture (the Lolla aftershows this year are poluted w/ 90's sound... which I think is a good thing)
- Bob Marley & the Wailers - Natty Dread (1974) >>> i skipped this one bc I've heard all i want to hear from Marley and i much prefer dub to reggae...
- Buddy Miller - Universal United House of Prayer (2004) >>> too religious for me... but putting that aside it was decent but overproduced modern country... too bland.
- Carré - Soft Fascination (2024) >>> Cute Mad made it into my eclectic electronic playlist, all other tracks not worth the time in my opinion and Cute Mad would only make it 60-90 seconds in a DJ set of mine (if I was a DJ...)
- Could Nothings - Cloud Nothings (2011) >>> i've always written off cloud nothings bc i never liked their breakout 2012 album, Attack on Memory. this listen inspired me to give them another chance and worst case scenario come out with the opinion that their self titled LP is the only thing i'll ever like from them... side note if you want a deep cut Toro y Moi song that likely got very overlooked check out the Cloud Nothings / Toro y Moi split single "I Will Talk to You". Toro y Moi is hit or miss for me based on when the album came out (hits in the beginning and is consistently missing in the present day). That said this may be a peak song in that timeline/bell curve of my love for the band / person or whatever.
- Creeper - Sanguivore II: Mistress of Death (2025) >>> i don't like this genre, but if you like hair metal i assume you'll like this. i was headbanging a little, ngl (not gon lie)
- Denzel Curry - King of the Mischievous South (2024) >>> i've heard this one (many times) already, one of my favourite rap albums from the last few years (his follow up Strictly 4 the Scythe is even better imo... or at least more solid through and through). Black Flag Freestyle will play at my funeral, with that leading into an interlude, into G'z Up, into another interlude paying homage to Three 6 Mafia, and finally into Sked. This band of songs goes on my mount rushmore...
Last edited by jnmayles on 06/09/2026 14:49; edited 3 times in total
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Johnnyo
Profile
Location: London Town 
- #2
- Posted: 06/01/2026 16:48
- Post subject:
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I like the premise of this thread and it’s great to see others posting new topics. I’m definitely going to participate in your thread. I’ll take a look at the albums that you’ve posted.
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Cheddar
Profile
Location: Appalachia
- #3
- Posted: 06/01/2026 18:47
- Post subject:
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Excited to see where this takes you and I'll be making notes on stuff I need to check out now that I myself am also finally finishing catching up on all the 2025 albums I've had on my list.
_________________
My overall top 100 is far from fleshed out at this point, so here are some charts I am actually proud of:
Top 100 Albums of 2025
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MadhattanJack
Just to end the list
Profile
- #4
- Posted: 06/01/2026 21:08
- Post subject: Re: Random Album Diary Pt. 1
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| jnmayles wrote: | | Over the last decade + I've gotten good at aggregating and accumulating a semi-curated music library. I've listened to a lot of albums but many more remain untouched. Now that I've caught up to what 2025 had to offer I'm spending some time hitting shuffle and listening to 10 random albums at a time. I've already done this a good bit, but this is the first post. I won't list rank them as much as I'll try to add in some points that can help you find little nuggets among the volume. |
You should make some more charts, man! Your annotations are top-notch, and once you get past this strange fear of yours about later-period Wire albums, the sky's the limit! (Don't forget, 154 is Robert Pollard's second-favorite album of all time. I only have it at #7.) 😄
(Also, the "list" tags don't do anything if you don't put bracketed asterisks [*] at the beginning of each line in the list.)
| Quote: | | Blue States - Nothing Changes Under the Sun (2000) >>> easily my favorite album from this list. captures 90's/early aughts electronic / indie sound that I've noticed a lot of artists are trying to recapture (the Lolla aftershows this year are poluted w/ 90's sound... which I think is a good thing) |
They're still around — in fact, they have a new album coming out on July 24th. Unfortunately that's the same day as the new Robyn Hitchcock album, so of course all the worldwide media attention will be laser-focused on that instead, but that doesn't mean it won't ultimately be successful.
| Quote: | | Creeper - Sanguivore II: Mistress of Death (2025) >>> i don't like this genre, but if you like hair metal i assume you'll like this. i was headbanging a little, ngl (not gon lie) |
Well, really, the band to check out is actually Creepoid, who have the advantage of not being a hair-metal band (though they do have hair, or did, anyway). Also, I just realized I somehow forgot to add their self-titled second LP to my 2014 chart, so thanks for reminding me! I'll just go and take care of that right now.
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jnmayles
Profile
Location: chicago by way of west virginia
- #6
- Posted: 06/09/2026 14:46
- Post subject: Random Album Diary Pt. 2
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Back with a second installment. I don’t know how to respond directly with quoted text, so i’ll just respond directly at the end of this write up… for now here are more words and albums. Boiled down… listen to Devendra Banhart if you haven’t already. Because most of these weren’t amazing, I’ll comment that I caught a Vinyl Williams show who is a criminally overlooked artist.
>Devendra Banhart - Ape in Pink Marble (2016) >>> recommend a listen >>> I knew they were a highly regarded artist and i was happy to see this in the shuffle. Did not disappoint. A relatively unique sound with folk and lo-fi tones - can’t put my finger on influences or influenced by - which is a compliment. I look forward to exploring their discography.
>DJ Fett Burger - Ephemeral Lightspeed (2020) >>> skip >>> a single w 3 remixes. Maybe, just maybe, the break beat of the original track makes it as the third song of the end credits of the inevitable cash grab that will be the 6th installment of the Bourne movies (i hesitate to count the bourne legacy as one… but technically it’s in there…)
>Gleaming Spires - Songs of the Spires (2010) >>> skip >>> i loathe those born in the late sixties who had to grow up with the hot garbage of the 80s… there… I said it… this album with classics like track 2 “Are You Ready for the Sex Girls?” and others that I didn’t even make it to bc I couldn’t take it any more… it makes me wonder
>The Lumineers - Live from Wrigley Field (2024) >>> skip, unless you like this band >>> high quality live recording. Not my type of music. I know people who went to this concert (as I live in Chicago)... who goes to a concert in a baseball stadium… millennials who like the Cubs and mediocre mid-2010s alt-pop I imagine… I did listen to “Ho Hey” which phonetically feels… off… just to capture the nostalgia of high school parties hosted by people who overused the phrase “Wanderlast” (overused = used more than 0 times) in twitter posts.
>Man… or Astro-Man? - What Remains Inside a Black Hole (1995) >>> give the band a try if you like the Pulp Fiction sound track or surf riffs >>> One note, but fun band that just (from what I can tell) has and does surf riffs. They are playing a show at The Empty Bottle this year but tickets were ~$50 a piece… couldn’t do it in addition to the intangible cost of dragging a friend (or what was once a friend) to that show… I thought this was the band that did the X-files theme but apparently i was wrong…
>The Minus 5 - Dear December (2017) >>> skip >>> originally made aware of The Minus 5 through one of those “most obscure albums of top contributors” album of the days on this site. Listened to their self titled LP back then but didn’t log and forget much about it. The curse of this process is the occasional holiday album in June… that said this is one I wouldn’t listen to on the snowiest of days in December….
>Philippe Nicaud - Wizzz! Vol. 2: French Psychorama: 1966 - 1970 (2008) >>> if you like 60s psych listen >>> some fun break beats in here. Nothing super special. The third track, Maintenant je suis un voyou, was a bit special. Otherwise solid listen through and through. Makes you wonder what it would have been like listening to music like this in a French club in the 60s would have been like… instead i’m in my spare room on my computer typing this…
>Prince - Diamonds and Pearls (1991) >>> skip >>> confession. I’ve never consciously listened to a Prince album start to finish. I find his discography intimidating. Of what little i’ve listened to his work, Controversy stands out as my favourite song which i was first exposed to by arcade fire on their tour of reflektor (the one and only stadium show I’ll ever go to). As for this album, if you couldn’t tell I felt the need to say other things before I commented on it… I didn’t like this album.
>Tribalistas - Tribalistas (2017) >>> skip >>> i eat up MPB from the ‘70s and ‘80s but I’ve never really explored it outside of those decades. This wasn’t bad and it wasn’t great. I look forward to exploring post 2000s MPB a bit more. Maybe.
>Tuxedomoon - Buy or Die! Ralph Records 1972-1982, Disc 3 (2024) >>> skip >>> experimental rock music from the seventies… just listen to Night Flanger by Yello and the rest is can get ignored from this disc.
w/ response to Johnnyo - thanks! I gave tao of the dead a listen and it was also a great album. Much different than the one i listened to through this list, but great in it’s own regard. Interesting to see how their sound changed over a nine year gap!
Cheddar - appreciate you!
MadhattanJack - admittedly I listened to the album and wasn’t into it :/ i even tried listening to it at an english style pub. Didn’t help :/ Enjoyed Creepoid’s Horse Heaven!
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MadhattanJack
Just to end the list
Profile
- #7
- Posted: 06/09/2026 20:59
- Post subject: Re: Random Album Diary Pt. 2
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| jnmayles wrote: | | >Man… or Astro-Man? - What Remains Inside a Black Hole (1995) >>> give the band a try if you like the Pulp Fiction sound track or surf riffs >>> One note, but fun band that just (from what I can tell) has and does surf riffs. They are playing a show at The Empty Bottle this year but tickets were ~$50 a piece… couldn’t do it in addition to the intangible cost of dragging a friend (or what was once a friend) to that show… I thought this was the band that did the X-files theme but apparently i was wrong… |
Man...or Astroman? did the theme music for Mystery Science Theatre 3000 ("In the not-too-distant future, next Sunday A.D., there was a guy named Joel, not too different from you or me")... The X-Files theme is called "Materia Primoris" and was recorded by Mark Snow for the The Truth And The Light: Music From The X-Files (1996) soundtrack album — Amazon link there, sorry — which oddly enough hasn't yet been added to the BEA database, maybe because it's all 90's FM and PD synthesizers which started to sound cheesy to some people almost as soon as they were invented.
I guess it's fair to say Man...or Astroman? does mostly surf riffs — personally I'd say that's damning with faint praise, but the guy insists on playing a Stratocaster with heavy use of the whammy bar, so that's just what it sounds like. Maybe now he'll try some different guitars because of the lawsuit.
| Quote: | | >Tuxedomoon - Buy or Die! Ralph Records 1972-1982, Disc 3 (2024) >>> skip >>> experimental rock music from the seventies… just listen to Night Flanger by Yello and the rest is can get ignored from this disc. |
Well now... you're referring to Disc 3 of the 2024 Box Set, which contains the first side of Yello's classic Solid Pleasure album. Everyone should give that a listen (Side 2 is "just okay," but Side 1 is brilliant). TBH though, most people would probably agree with what you're saying. There's a lot of Renaldo & the Loaf stuff on that disc that's practically unlistenable, but there are also two tracks from Tuxedomoon's equally-classic Desire LP, which hasn't dated as well as the Yello album (it's often excessively melodramatic) but is still worth a listen in its entirety, if you ask me. It's their best album, and I would say by a fairly wide margin.
Ralph Records is an acquired taste overall, but there are some tasty bits in there along with the weird-for-the-sake-of-it stuff, at least for people like me who are always desperate for more "hipster cred" in order to make posts like the one you're reading now, assuming you've read this far.
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