Might as well

[Space-Dementia]

January 13, 2018
Albums I've returned to in the last week:
Bridge Over Troubled Water by Simon and Garfunkel 8.0 --> 8.5
Cosmo's Factory by Creedence Clearwater Revival 7.5 --> 8.5
Black Sabbath by Black Sabbath 8.0 --> 8.0
Transformer by Lou Reed 6.5 --> 7.0
Psychocandy by The Jesus and Mary Chain 5.5 --> 7
Ocean Rain by Echo & the Bunnymen 6.5 --> 7.0
Power, Corruption, & Lies by New Order 7.0 --> 7.0
Odelay by Beck 6.5 --> 7.0
You're Living All Over Me by Dinosaur, Jr. 6.5 --> 7.5
Fun House by The Stooges 5.5 --> 6.5
Gish by The Smashing Pumpkins 6.5 --> 7.5
Moon Safari by Air 7.5 --> 7.5
Bryter Layter by Nick Drake 6.5 --> 7.0
Loaded by The Velvet Underground 7.0 --> 8.0
Led Zeppelin III by Led Zeppelin 7.5 --> 7.5
Rain Dogs by Tom Waits 6.5 --> 7.5
All Things Must Pass by George Harrison 6.5 --> 8.0
Plastic Ono Band by John Lennon 8.0 --> 8.0
Imagine by John Lennon 8.0 --> 8.0
Selling England by the Pound by Genesis 8.0 --> 7.5
Innervisions by Stevie Wonder 7.5 --> 7.5
Songs in the Key of Life by Stevie Wonder 7.0 --> 7.5
Trans-Europe Express by Kraftwerk 6.0 --> 7.0
The Clash by The Clash 5.5 --> 6.5
This Year's Model by Elvis Costello& the Attractions 6.5 --> 8.0
Parallel Lines by Blondie 7.5 --> 8.0
I've listened to all of these but I haven't listened to most of them in a while, like up to three years, so I figured I'd start my new year off by seeing if I've been missing out and boy, have I been missing out. I guess I listened to a lot of these back when I didn't believe in repeated listens, and it's really unfortunate cause there are some incredible songs on all these albums that I just completely forgot about. So, that being said, I'll probably spend some more time getting back into these, along with some other older albums I've forgotten about, and then I'm planning on redoing my decades charts and eventually my overall chart. So that's what I'm up to lately.

[Space-Dementia]

January 29, 2018
Albums I've returned to in the last two weeks or so:
Moondance by Van Morrison 7.5 --> 8.0
Let It Be by The Beatles 7.5 --> 7.5
Deja Vu by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young 7.5 --> 7.5
Darkness on the Edge of Town by Bruce Springsteen 6.5 --> 8.0
Blood on the Tracks by Bob Dylan 7.0 --> 8.0
Tapestry by Carole King 7.0 --> 7.5
Blue by Joni Mitchell 6.0 --> 8.0
Meddle by Pink Floyd 8.5 --> 8.5
Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd 8.0 --> 8.5
Dogs by Pink Floyd 8.0 --> 8.5
Horses by Patti Smith 7.0 --> 7.0
My Aim is True by Elvis Costello 6.5 --> 7.5
Entertainment! by Gang of Four 7.5 --> 7.5
Adventure by Television 8.0 --> 7.5
Red by King Crimson 8.0 --> 8.5
More Songs About Buildings and Food by Talking Heads 7.0 --> 7.5
The Cars by The Cars 8.0 --> 8.0
Talking Heads: 77 by Talking Heads 7.5 --> 7.5
Aja by Steely Dan 8.0 --> 8.0
Station to Station by David Bowie 7.0 --> 8.0
Low by David Bowie 7.0 --> 8.0[i]
On the Beach[b] by [b]Neil Young [i]6.5 --> 8.0
I still haven't started listening to any 2018 releases yet, and I've been trying to relisten to as many 70s albums as I can, but I think my little journey's gonna end here. The rest of the 70s albums that I've heard I either have listened to recently and still love or I just know that I won't be changing my mind on them. So, that being said, I spent today redoing my 70s chart, and the version that's up now is the most confident I've ever felt about it. I'll probably listen to some more modern records for now but I'll try to spend February revisiting 60s records and finding new ones and I'll redo that chart at the end of the month probably. So I guess for now my overall chart is "on probation" as I rework my decade charts. This has definitely been a helpful and fun experience though, because I've really been sleeping on some albums, and this pretty much just gave me like a dozen new songs that I love that I had just forgotten about.

[Space-Dementia]

February 11, 2018
Little Dark Age by MGMT
She Works Out Too Much - 7/10
Little Dark Age - 9/10
When You Die - 9/10
Me and Michael - 8/10
TSLAMP - 8/10
James - 7/10
Days that Got Away - 7/10
One Thing Left to Try - 7/10
When You're Small - 7/10
Hand it Over - 8/10
While it's not as good as I was hoping, it's not as bad as I was expecting either. This is such a turnaround from the direction they were going in with their last album. I feel like Oracular Spectacular is more of a concept album than Congratulations honestly, because Congratulations is only really a concept album by name while their debut feels like it completely encompasses youth. They're all either about youth, or about ideas you have while you're in your youth, or they're just songs you play in your youth. And for that reason it works really well as a full album, but also the singles are fantastic by themselves. While their second album doesn't really have any songs that work great on their own, and I think there's less of a cohesion throughout the album, I still really respect it for the experimentation they took on it. "Flash Delirium" and "It's Working" sound like much more mature songs than anything on their debut, and "Siberian Breaks" is just a huge triumph of a song. But then, MGMT was a step in the wrong direction. On one hand they went even more experimental, which could have been okay, but they also went back to the setup of their debut, with a bunch of more accessible songs on the front half and then crazier songs on the second half, except this time there was only really one song that was memorable and everything was either nice to listen to but not worth a relisten, or just awful. It was a weird album that just didn't work at all. That's what makes Little Dark Age such a nice comeback. It's their most focused album since Oracular Spectacular, and it has a touch of weirdness, like Congratulations, but not so much that they sacrifice replay value. And while there are a handful of throwaway tracks, I'm honestly pretty happy with this thing. 7/10, Best track: When You Die.

[Space-Dementia]

February 19, 2018
Albums I've returned to in the last three weeks or so:
The Band by The Band 6.0 --> 7.0
Mm Food by MF DOOM 8.0 --> 8.0
Black on Both Sides by Mos Def 6.5 --> 7.5
The College Dropout by Kanye West 7.5 --> 8.0
The Idler Wheel... by Fiona Apple 7.5 --> 8.0
Mingus Ah Um by Charles Mingus 8.0 --> 8.0
Another Green World by Brian Eno 8.5 --> 8.5
Bloom by Beach House 8.0 --> 8.0
White Light / White Heat by The Velvet Underground 8.0 --> 7.5
Songs of Leonard Cohen by Leonard Cohen 8.0 --> 8.5
Bringing it All Back Home by Bob Dylan 8.0 --> 8.0
Blonde on Blonde by Bob Dylan 8.0 --> 8.0
A Love Supreme by John Coltrane 8.0 --> 8.5
Kind of Blue by Miles Davis 8.5 --> 8.5
Sketches of Spain by Miles Davis 8.0 --> 8.0
Face to Face by The Kinks 7.5 --> 7.5
Everybody Knows this is Nowhere by Neil Young and Crazy Horse 6.5 --> 8.0
In a Silent Way by Miles Davis 8.0 --> 8.0
Disraeli Gears by Cream 6.5 --> 7.5
Five Leaves Left by Nick Drake 8.5 --> 8.5
At Folsom Prison by Johnny Cash 7.0 --> 7.0
Trout Mask Replica by Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band 7.5 --> 7.5
Surrealistic Pillow by Jefferson Airplane 8.5 --> 8.5
Getz/Gilberto by Stan Getz & Joao Gilberto 8.5 --> 8.5
Forever Changes by Love 8.5 --> 8.5
My Favorite Things by John Coltrane 7.0 --> 8.0
The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady by Charles Mingus 9.0 --> 9.0
This time I tried focusing primarily on the 60s, so that I could remake that chart as quickly as possible, and, although I didn't change my mind as much and as strongly as I did during my first session, this was still a great exercise for me, especially in the genre of jazz. There was a bunch of albums that I had forgotten about that I really fell in love with. This was great, and I think I'll continue doing it with 80s, 90s, 00s, and 10s albums after this to see if I've changed my mind on anything, and to completely redo my overall chart. But in the meantime, I'm going to redo my 60s chart within the next few days.

[Space-Dementia]

March 7, 2018
Return to Love by LVL UP
Hidden Driver - 9/10
Blur - 7/10
She Sustains Us - 7/10
Spirit Was - 8/10
Pain - 8/10
The Closing Door - 7/10
Five Men on the Ridge - 8/10
Cut From the Vine - 9/10
I - 7/10
Naked in the River with the Creator - 8/10
I was looking at the Spotify list of bands similar to Pile because I’ve been really into them lately, and I was led to this band. I was hooked right away, mostly because they sound a lot like Neutral Milk Hotel, but also just because the first song of theirs that I listened to was really catchy. So I read some articles, listened to the whole album four or five times, and really started to enjoy what I was hearing. Sure, it sounds a lot like stuff that’s come before it, but LVL UP has a really cool lo-fi sound without sacrificing its fullness. They also vary their sound a lot between songs, going from fast, noisy, fun songs to long, slow, droning, psychedelic tracks that really pull you in. I’m honestly surprised this album wasn’t more highly praised when it came out two years ago, but at the same time I like having them as my little secret, at least among my friends. 7.5/10, Best Song: Hidden Driver

[Space-Dementia]

March 8, 2018
Twin Fantasy (Face to Face) by Car Seat Headrest
My Boy (Twin Fantasy) - 8/10
Beach Life-in-Death - 9/10
Stop Smoking (We Love You) - 7/10
Sober to Death - 8/10
Nervous Young Inhumans - 9/10
Bodys - 8/10
Cute Thing - 8/10
High to Death - 8/10
Famous Prophets (Stars) - 8/10
Twin Fantasy (Those Boys) - 7/10
So I’ve been listening pretty much exclusively to this album for the past couple days and, while I don’t think it’s better than Teens Of Denial, I cant stop thinking about how interesting it is. I can’t believe Will wrote all these songs before he wrote his last album, because, at least to me, this seems to be a much more personal and much braver album than the last one. Where Teens Of Denial had witty lyrics like “Drugs are better, drugs are better with friends are better, friends are better with drugs”, “They got a portrait of Van Gogh on the Wikipedia page for clinical depression, well it helps to describe it”, “It’s hard to speak in a foreign language intoxicado”, and a bunch of others, Twin Fantasy has lyrics like “I pretended I was drunk when I came out to my friends. I never came out to my friends; we were all on Skype and I laughed and changed the subject,” and “It should be anti-depression, as a friend of mine suggested, because it’s not the sadness that hurts you, it’s the brain’s reaction against it.” So initially it’s been hard for me to see how he could have written Twin Fantasy first, but now that I think about it, I guess it’s just that his environment has been changing. I mean, back in 2011 he was 19 years old recording everything himself, doing vocals in the back of a car, going through teenage emotions, while five years later his life has probably started to come together better, hence the funny but more general lyrics. Now, musically, this thing is really cool. The main chord progression to “Beach Life-in-Death” confuses me because I can’t tell if it’s I-II-V-vii or IV-V-I-iii and, while it doesn’t really matter, it strains my brain to keep thinking about it throughout the whole 13 minute song. Elsewhere, the choruses on almost all of the songs are so explosive, energetic, and emotional that I can’t help but smile and dance around: the melancholic synth-line on “Nervous Young Inhumans”, the upwards-building chord progression on “Bodys”, and the constant buildup of “My Boy” all come very close to matching the best parts of Teens Of Denial, although I do still prefer that record. However, Teens took a while to grow on me, so I wouldn’t be surprised if Twin Fantasy overtakes it in the coming weeks. 8/10, Best Song: Nervous Young Inhumans.

[Space-Dementia]

March 15, 2018
In a Poem Unlimited by U.S. Girls
Velvet 4 Sale - 7/10
Rage of Plastics - 8/10
M.A.H. - 8/10
Why do I Lose My Voice when I Have Something to Say - N/A
Rosebud - 8/10
Incidental Boogie - 8/10
L-Over - 8/10
Pearly Gates - 7/10
Poem - 8/10
Traviata - N/A
Time - 8/10
Wow, so this was a really weird album. It reminds me of Madonna, but if she decided to smoke a bunch of weed and just tone it down a lot in terms of commercial maximalism. This thing kind of defies genre, and that always excites me about an album, when I can't really place what the sound is. It's pretty disco-influenced, but the chord progressions are kinda psychedelic at times ("Velvet 4 Sale"), and there's also some hints of noise rock ("Incidental Boogie"), there's an absolutely nasty sax solo on "Rage of Plastics", and the phaser on "M.A.H." reminds me of old Italian pop artists like Al Bano & Romina Power. I haven't heard any of her other albums, but from what I'm hearing on this one, it sounds like she's definitely found a sound that works for her. While sometimes the chord progressions get too weird, or there's some other thing that bothers me about a track, for the most part it's just small things that get in the way, so while I'm not in love with it, this is one of the most interesting albums I've heard in a while. Also, I'm usually not a fan of skits/interludes, including "Why Do I Lose My Voice...", but I absolutely love "Traviata", how cute it is, and how perfectly it segues into the closing track. I've saturated myself with this album the past two days or so, but I'll definitely be returning to it later on in the year to see if I like it any more. 7.5/10, Best track: Poem.

[Space-Dementia]

March 19, 2018
2012 - 2017 by A.A.L. (Against All Logic)
The only other Nicolas Jaar album I've listened to was Space is Only Noise and I didn't like it much, so I'm surprised at how much I like his latest release. It kind of reminds me of the Avalanches, with all the samples that make it sound not of this time, but the heavy almost Daft Punk-style house drums and space disco keyboards à la Todd Terje bring it back to this decade. It's an odd style, but it definitely works in his favor. Something Jaar does really well is start each song with a repetitive sample or chord progression, but build it from there. I don't know much about house music, or any electronic music really, but it seems like where a lot of artists go wrong is that they don't build upon the repetition. Jaar shows here that they don't even have to be drastic changes, just enough so that you don't get bored. This makes for a recor that's really nice to throw in the background, but that you can also get a lot from if your focus on it. 7.5/10
Best Songs: I Never Dream, Some Kind of Game
Worst Songs: Hopeless, Know You

[Space-Dementia]

March 20, 2018
Comment te Dire Adieu? by Francoise Hardy
I don't remember exactly how I first discovered Stereolab, but I remember the pure joy I felt when I heard "Cybele's Reverie", and I remember spending the next few weeks trying desperately to find a band with that same dreamy sound and with those same French vocals, but I guess I didn't look hard enough, because Francoise Hardy is exactly what I was looking for. Granted, the accompaniments are very elegant and grandiose, and near the end it starts to get a little over-serious, but I love the variety. I mean they mostly hover around a similar style, but the title track sounds like a fun adventure with a French girl, "Ou va la Chance" sounds like an angelic hymn, "La Mesange" sounds like something out of a fairy tale, and I just find it crazy that they're all on the same album. And I know that she only wrote two of these songs, but they're all such good arrangements. And then there's her voice. I'm sure it's actually just the reverb and her accent that I'm in love with, but I could listen to her sing forever and never get tired of it. Now that I know where to look, I'm gonna try and spend the next few days checking out old French records, cause I feel like I just found a pot of gold. 7.5/10
Best Songs: Comment te Dire Adieu?, Ou Va la Chance
Worst Songs: Il Vaut Mieux un Petit Maison, La Rue de Coeurs Perdus

[Space-Dementia]

March 20, 2018
Hopsice by The Antlers
So this is an album that I listened to once way back when I was just starting to seriously listen to music, probably back in 2014, and I liked it but I loved "Epilogue", so I listened to that song a bunch over the next month or two, and then I completely forgot about the album. And it didn't re-enter my mind until just recently when I told someone to check out "Epilogue", and I immediately started thinking about how long it was since I had heard that song, so I gave the album another few listens. The first two were as I was falling asleep and while driving, and I liked the music, but I didn't really get why there was so much hype surrounding it. I felt the same about as I had felt when I first gave it a listen. But today I listened to it again, and as "Prologue" started playing I read on RYM that you have to read the lyrics as you listen, so I pulled them up on Genius Lyrics and boy was it an experience. There's still some things that bother me about it, mostly the guy's voice (I'm not a Jeff Buckley fan, so that carries over here too) and how quietly it sits in the mix. But, while the music is nice, Hospice is a completely different experience once you know and understand the lyrics. First of all, the story of this hospice worker and the girl with terminal cancer is really moving, especially as you think about where the blame should lie, since she's treating him awfully and closing herself off to everyone while he's just trying to help, but it's partially understandable because she knows she's going to die, but he still shouldn't feel angry at himself, like he does in the story. But then he starts bringing in the narrative of his relationship with his ex-girlfriend/wife (I don't really know) and how emotionally abusive she was towards him and it all starts to make sense on a much deeper level. It's almost as if he's been putting on a play about these two characters in the hospital, and then during "Atrophy" he mentions the ring on his finger and starts to show scenes from the relationship between him and his partner, and then during "Bear" we finally get thrown into their relationship as they try to cope with her pregnancy, and all of a sudden there's two plays going on in parallel. But the climax of the album comes during "Wake", when he says, "Don’t be scared to speak, don’t speak with someone’s tooth, don’t bargain when you’re weak, don’t take that sharp abuse. Some patients can’t be saved, but that burden’s not on you. Don’t ever let anyone tell you you deserve that."
I can only imagine how he must have felt when he wrote those lyrics and recorded them. I'm sure it was like a huge weight being taken off his chest; the pure fact that he feels comfortable enough to tell his listeners that they need to speak up shows how far he's come. But as much of a climax as this song is, "Epilogue" comes in to tear you apart at the end. In a nightmare, he's back at his patient's side, except this time she's in a morgue and she's about to be buried alive. When he wakes up he knows she's been gone for a while, but, he says, "you return to me at night, just when I think I may have fallen asleep. Your face is up against mine, and I’m too terrified to speak." To get that connection you had to read the prologue he wrote out on their website in which he gives the girl a backstory. He says that one of the other kids at the cancer ward died while she was there, and he still shows up in her dreams: "his face would be up against hers, and she’d be too terrified to speak." To end the album like that is heartbreaking. He made it out of the relationship, but she's still there, in his dreams/nightmares, haunting him just like that kid haunted the cancer patient.
I'm not familiar enough with this album to give it a proper review, but all I can say is this is a really interesting album that you need to approach like a movie if you want to get the most out of it. It's not something that I would casually listen to as entertainment, and it's definitely flawed, but this is an album. 8/10
Tracks that stand on their own: Kettering, Epilogue
There are weaker tracks, but there's no songs I would skip because they all add to the story.