Return of the Queen

[SuedeSwede]

ur kween has returned :O with a new diary (old diary: click here)

if u care what i've been listening to since i abandoned my old diary go here for all of my ratings (i keep my rym updated)

TODAY'S LISTENS (01/05):

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We Invented The Bop by Various Artists [relisten]

becoming a huge favourite of mine very quickly, some of the most fun and relentlessly joyous hip hop to bless this planet. very sunny production throughout, u can almost hear each artist just smiling into the mic as they deliver u some of the happiest vibes on this planet \o/

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Strictly For That Nigga by Lady Bee [relisten]

another one that's become a favourite of mine recently. kingpin skinny pimp here with some pitch-shifting to fit his female persona of Lady Bee. i love the whole lo-fi memphis rap tape aesthetic in general, but it's really perfected here. the beats here are insanely woozy with some really crisp vocal loops, it's just really my thing fit into a neat 30 minute tape.

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Test My Nutz by Lo Key [first listen]

this is pretty good stuff, but nothing super impressive. it's pretty monotonous throughout but at least i dig what it does? just a bit too repetitive for my liking.

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4 Jazz Funk Classics by 69 [first listen]

some pretty standard detroit techno w/ breakbeat influences here, idk the last track is really good but none of the other three really have any qualities i would say shook anything up in me, it was just kinda lacklustre overall, some nice moments and a generally pleasant vibe

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Fushigi by Akina Nakamori [first listen]

eek. really shoddy production qualities here, and in the worst way possible. some really really ugly, cheesy synths that would be sorta tolerable if not completely drenched in reverb. the vocals are way, way too far back in the mix here and it sits really uncomfortably. it took quite a lot of strength to get through this. i would actually recommend this to all who want a really cheesy and oddly-mixed ethereal wave sorta influenced j-pop/synthpop album, it could be your thing but it certainly wasn't mine

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Princess Nicotine by Various Artists [first listen]

here we go. some beautiful stuff here. the whole concept of this compilation is to bring together lots of recordings of the "mono" movement in burma whereby artists took western instruments and tuned them to traditional burmese tunings, creating a very interesting and unique sound. a lot of really poignant moments here as frequent as the equal but opposite super joyous moments. a nice little collection of songs here, very impressed

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Lewis Furey by Lewis Furey [first listen]

i want to sorta rave about this but idk why. some really gorgeous cabaret influence here and there that really lifts these songs up, very boisterous and often times moving, some really great piano-led art pop tunes here with a load of bouncy energy

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The Frogs by The Frogs [first listen]

tmbg vibes coming off here. really fun art pop/indie rock sorta stuff, with very tight instrumentation. lots of lush violins thrown in for good measure.
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[Repo]

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Long live the queen!

[Antonio-Pedro]

*insert generic YASSSS QUEEN SLAY Comment here*
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Top 100 Hits you must hear before the u... of beauty

[SuedeSwede]

2nd May, 2017

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1993-99 by Round One To Round Five [first listen]

some rly cool deep/tech house stuff here from ernestus & von oswald aka basic channel, a really great consistent huge beat with cool slick atmospheres all around, deep house at its most elegant really

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...Waiting For Russell by Anthony Shake Shakir [first listen]

funny, the first and last tracks here are impeccable, two of the best in techno and house but the middle two tracks are really quite lifeless and leave a lot to be desired. still overall experience is a good one due to the sheer power of those two. some beautiful atmospheres especially in "Arise" which is a relentless classic
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[SuedeSwede]

haha what a short return that was.... i'll give you a quick update & summary of the stuff i've listened to in the past week

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From Gardens Where We Feel Secure by Virginia Astley [first listen - 4/5]

really peaceful ambient/new age with some little bird tweets and field recordings of nature. makes u feel like ur sat out in the english countryside with the sun out and the wind gently breezing on ur face. very very pleasant stuff

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Watermark by Enya [first listen - 5/5]

more peaceful new age stuff. it's fuckin enya, do i need to say more? really soothing and cured my headache for the night

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Rothko Chapel ; Why Patterns? by Morton Feldman [first listen - 5/5]

rothko chapel is a really nice meditative and calming piece, but why patterns really sorta ruined everything going for this album. too sparse and directionless for me (i'm a classical pleb what do u expect)

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Baby Bazooka by Baby Bazooka [first listen - 6/5]

ok well after a couple nights of needing some slow soothing stuff, i thought FUCK I HAVE ALL THE ENERGY IN THE WORLD so i thought i'd burn thru some eurobeat stuff. for people who don't know, eurobeat is a genre of italo-disco which takes it to its complete limits in terms of pace and energy. much more full-on synths, huge blaring atmospheres and a big thumping beat behind it. you've probably heard of running in the 90s which was one of those really early memes (link here).

OKAY well that's eurobeat.... but what about this album itself? ok well let's start off with understanding the fact that Baby Bazooka.... was 8 years old!!! when she recorded this. 4 songs of pure energetic music, essentially just really pure fun - everything you'd expect from an 8 year old making fast-paced disco but...... you wouldn't expect it to be so technically perfect right? NO but it is. fucking baby bazooka man.... fucking baby bazooka

// that night i also listened to a ton of baby zionov mixes. basically a lot of electronic dance mixes. she's a cool user from RYM who mixes cool music (and also makes some i think) //

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The Dreaming by Kate Bush [first listen - 6/5]

ok despite loving hounds of love and a lot of kate's singles i didn't really connect with this one it's a lot more "avant" and "artsier" than her other stuff, which i mean.... i get what she's going for. and there's a lot of cool use of tonality here. but i really don't connect emotionally with a lot of stuff. even suspended with gaffa, which is surprising considering the lyrical content.... but nope i really wanted to love this one too, but it was just ok.

// over the next few days i listened to a shit ton of disco singles, which you can see my ratings for here. i won't give an opinion for each single because that seems like it'd take far too long, but if you like any of the singles i rated then just throw me a reply and i'll be happy to discuss it //

Reggae Is Here Once Again by Steel An' Skin [first listen - 9/5]

so after burning thru some disco singles i thought i'd give some full-lengths a go. this one was VERY interesting and i loved the mix between reggae and disco present throughout. some really interesting textures and use of percussion with gorgeous basslines and intoxicating instrumentation mhm

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Journey Into Paradise: The Larry Levan ...us Artists [first listen - 10/5]

this one tested my attention span but it was ultimately rewarding. 2 and a half hours of lots and lots of really cool disco 12" mixes. nothing much to say about this beyond "it was cool"

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Children's Disco Musical Stories by Sharda [first listen - 10/5]

ok so this one is just two tracks long but both are 25 minutes ish. the first side tells the story of jack and the beanstalk, the second of little red riding hood. after some spoken word storytelling, u get a BURST of beautiful disco x indian pop, which is just about the most beautiful thing ever. especially when they're singing fucking fairy tales. yeah i mean, i'm me. so. i love this. a lot. thank you all who brought this to my attention (looking at u gabe and jim and even the poe (rip))
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[SuedeSwede]

update time

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Nippon Girls - Japanese Pop, Beat &...us Artists [first listen - 13/5]

i was on the train home from my girlfriend's when i popped this on. soundtracked it very nicely. gorgeous melodies from a range of influences (beat, kayokyoku & bossa nova mostly).

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Grand 12-Inches by Various Artists [first - 15/5]

a 4cd collection of disco, dance-pop, house, electro, freestyle, hi-nrg, electro-disco, synthpop, synth funk, boogie, eurodance singles - it's all here, if you can dance to it then it's here. titanic in its scope. manages to cram so many minutes of beautiful dance tracks from all different eras into four measly discs.

shoutout to the second disc for a) being the best and b) being so good i had to throw it on again the next day. that disc is just the most pure collection of the funkiest happiest disco there is

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No. 1 In Heaven by Sparks [relisten - 16/5]

beyond "number one song in heaven" and "academy award performance", same as last listen, nothing really GRABS me here. its a really good album overall (though anchored completely by aforementioned tracks) but i wish at times it felt like the vocals had a bit more energy behind them. the instrumentation has a lot of power often, but the vocals kinda sag behind. (how to: make it sound like i don't like this album. i actually like it a lot, i just have issues with it that keeps me from loving it)

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The Double Album by Tantra [first listen - 16/5]

a really good album that ranges in its styles of disco. starting with hi-nrg/space disco titan hills of katmandu, sandwiched with some funky disco and bookended with space disco banger wishbone. yeah it's really great overall, each song has its own thing...... (i'm tired don't expect thorough writing here). hills of katmandu however is in a league of its own. absolutely huge beat to it, that swirly synth melody is to die for, then when it goes into the more sweeter melodic part my heart breaks a little. wow what a song.

We Are Family by Sister Sledge [first listen - 16/5]

an amazing album overall, but hell like you couldn't tell from the fact it contains 3 of the best disco singles (he's the greatest dancer, we are family, lost in music) put out there. as often soulful and moving as it is pure party dancey fun, goddamn this album is the fucking bees KNEES

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The World Of Arthur Russell by Arthur Russell [first listen - 16/5]

his genius is really captured here in all its glory. shining on some of his disco-era stuff, some of his garage house and even some of the art pop he's more well acclaimed for. an amazingly dynamic artist, the variety on here is kinda where the beauty of it lies. a very enjoyable comp that sums up everything i love about russell pretty well.

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Cheryl Lynn by Cheryl Lynn [first listen - 16/5]

it's kinda sad because past the first track - (oh boy what a first track) - it really kinda starts to slowly decline in quality, becoming pretty ugly in its soul corniness right in the last couple tracks. but the first half is very enjoyable, definitely, some huge basslines here and there and cheryl really has quite the voice.

I-Robots - Italo Electro Disco Undergro...us Artists [first listen - 16/5]

i was ultimately bored by this overall. my mind is kinda torn on italo-disco because it produces some of the best singles in disco (see: plustwo - melody / stop fantasy, lustt - pillow talk, clio - faces) but then it also has the tendency to go overboard in its kraftwerky "i am a robot" type aesthetic which is where i draw the line. i really don't dig those sorta over-filtered vocals that make ur vocals sound robotic. not because it can't work, because i believe it likely could, but because of how cheap those filters often sound. sadly a lot of the vocal tracks on here are exactly this, and the tracks that would remedy that are actually instrumental mixes of the tracks. some tracks here are nice but overall repetitive and blend into each other a little bit too much, making this album really samey for its length.
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[SuedeSwede]

The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time by Koji Kondo


The Legend Of Zelda: Majora's Mask by Koji Kondo

listened to these two beauties in the last 12 hours or so. amazing soundtracks, i couldn't really pick my favourite between the two. ocarina of time does well creating the sunny and pastoral atmosphere that it's known to complement within the game, just as much as majora's mask does perfectly at creating a dark mystical atmosphere perfect for its storyline. both soundtracks are absolutely magnificent and work just as well within the context of the game as they do sat at home wanting to escape to a distant magical fairy land
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[Antonio-Pedro]

Reminder that suedeswede's chart sucks and you should not IN ANY WAY give it a 100/100, you're being fooled by this evil being.

- Antonio, my chart is still way higher than yours, Pedro
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Top 100 Hits you must hear before the u... of beauty

[SuedeSwede]

upd8

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Gal Costa by Gal Costa [first listen - 18/5]

"baby" is really the only highlight here, a pleasant album overall but nothing else hits me.

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Acabou Chorare by Novos Baianos [first listen - 18/5]

i listened to this 3 times in 2 days, wow, what a fantastic album. so summery i wanna do a little dance to every second of it. wholesome music

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Clube Da Esquina by Milton Nascimento/Lô Borges [first listen - 19/5]

didn't vibe with this as much as i thought i would. ultimately unremarkable to me with some odd good moments. i liked the more psychy sort of songs, but overall i found it sorta boring D:

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Under A Funeral Moon by Darkthrone [first listen - 20/5]

VERY samey my lord.... yeah this got really repetitive very quickly

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4 Club Use Only by Delroy Edwards [first listen - 21/5]

yeah nice enough. lo-fi bedroom deep house vibes, with a lot of techno influence. i liked the second track the most by far, the percussion was ace
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[SuedeSwede]

i need to stop neglecting this so ok go here - https://rateyourmusic.com/collection/Su...0,ss.dd/10 - onwards to see what i've been listening to recently. gonna cover the last few days to show my current discoveries...


July 18, 2017

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Anything You Sow by William Onyeabor

really cool stuff, amazing scalin bleep bloops that sound like funky ass pinball machines. just fuckin amazing synthpop rly

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Yasimika by Djeli Moussa Diawara

with the realisation i hadn't heard near to any african music, i decided to start going through some of the afro canon. some beautifully emotive mande music here, incredible instrumentation, gorgeous vocals, everything here just fits perfectly into place

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Zoundegnon Bernard 'Papillon' Guitarist...De Cotonou

on fire!! three amazing records in a row. this one has some really energetic and uplifting guitar work, u can feel the gorgeous people who gathered in a studio to make this smiling behind their mics ^_^

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Sorrow Tears And Blood by Fela Kuti & Africa 70

ahhh there goes the streak. the first side of this is nice enough, i sympathise with what fela discusses in his songs but don't necessarily vibe with the music itself, it's a shame. the b-side however is pretty unspectacular in my opinion which brings the whole thing down. i really wanna like this sorta fela stuff but honestly i'd rather just throw on expensive shit and have a lil party in my head

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Ravissante Baby (Negro Phasing) by Francis The Great

7 year old kid who's on the cover is singing this one. safe to say it's my kinda music. some wonderfully cute vocals w/ the most danceable guitars aaaaaaa

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King Of Kings by The Pyramids ('70s)

it's the kinda album i want to like more than i do. free & spiritual jazz often have the capacity to just run away in my mind, i know that is almost the point - and sometimes it works - but sometimes, like the middle section of this album, my mind just wanders away wondering where the music has disappeared to and how it got here. the first track and part 3 of the second were excellent, the other bits were just decent.

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Ere Mela Mela by Mahmoud Ahmed

much too repetitive. some soulful singing that really grabs me at some points, i like what's going on for some time and then it just gets samey. aaaaaaa my attention span sucks & requires too much tonal change and not vibing with albums i really want to is the penalty for that

July 19, 2017

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Ilo Abu Chi by Celestine Ukwu

really fun and energetic. not much more to say about this except it was really good :p

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Good Name by William Onyeabor

the title track is wonderful, the other track is nice enough. a good counterpart to anything you sow but falls in its brother's tracks (it's hard to top something that wonderful tho)

July 21, 2017

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Akwaaba by Francis Bebey

shoulda listened to gabe and listened to that african electronic music comp instead. this is pretty inconsistent, some entrancing and haunting music and some really grating music, it's really frail in that it can go for being the former, and in the process become the latter thru, maybe, audio quality being not too up-to-scratch, the vocals just going a bit too haunting for my liking and just becoming almost irritating... but there were some very nice tracks i got stuck right into. shame i can't say that for the whole album

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La Musique Électronique Du Niger by Ma... Son Orgue

bleep bloop bleep bloop. this is,, like proto-video game music and i don't say that lightly. long minimalist pieces of west african electronic where it feels like ur stuck in one of those african tribal scapes on a SNES game. it's really great, and a really important record

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Tarou by Ndiogou Seck

more interesting than it is compelling, but nonetheless enjoyable. acoustic vocal-heavy senegalese music (similar to aby ngana diop's liital for fans of that) backed with a vocal choir and a drum ensemble.
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