2010s Music Diary

[Luigii]

[NJ]

Currents by Tame Impala - I didn't much like Lonerism, for whatever reason. Maybe I'll have to listen to it again. I liked this album quite a lot. I've heard Let It Happen and The Less I Know The Better plenty of times before - the former is one of my favorite songs ever, so I don't know why it took me so long to listen to this - and those two alone put it above Lonerism for me (which I'm aware is a very unpopular opinion). The rest of the album was really solid, too. Not one of my all-time favorites or anything, but I enjoyed it a lot.

[NJ]

I didn't want to let another whole month pass by before I posted anything, but I've been having a rough time listening to music lately, and I've just been super unmotivated. Obviously this pandemic is just making things difficult for everyone, and I just haven't been doing too well lately. Along with isolation (I'm still in my college dorm by myself), I've just been going through some rough stuff. Over the past two months, I basically lived out the Twin Fantasy experience (a good excuse to get closer to my favorite album). Like, it's scary just how much that story describes what I went through. That situation is over now, though, and I've been doing a lot better lately, so I wanted to start picking this diary back up.

That being said, for the past while now I haven't been super happy with this diary, for a few reasons. For one, because I feel obligated to post here as much as I can, I've only been listening to albums from the 2010s. Since my last post, I listened to Since I Left You and Making a Door Less Open, and I couldn't review them because they're not from this decade, but other than that it's been months since I've listened to anything outside of the last decade, and that's partially been making me less motivated. I have so many albums I have to listen to from previous decades that interest that I've just been neglecting because of the obligation I feel to this diary. I've been considering either updating this to just a regular music diary or creating a separate one for other decades. I'm afraid of having two separate diaries and having to split my time between them, and I don't want to abandon this one, but I'd also feel bad changing this one again, so I don't really know what to do, I guess.

Anyways, I really wanna listen to The Glow Pt. 2, so regardless of what I choose to do with my diary, that'll be my next listen. My earphones are being finnicky and might not last much longer, though, and I can't go buy new ones, unfortunately. So I'll see what happens. I just felt like giving a small update, I'll decide soon what I'm going to do.

[NJ]

I have decided just to update this music diary to a listening diary rather than a decade-specific one. That is what I determined would make me happy, so it's what I'm going to do. It is my diary, so I decided there should be no problem with this. Now I'm free to listen to whatever I'm in the mood for. That being said...

The Dreaming by Kate Bush - I was gonna listen to The Glow Pt. 2, but I was relistening to Hounds of Love and decided I was in the mood to check out more of Bush's discography. I was aware of this album's reputation going in, but I was expecting something weirder, I suppose. I did love the record, though. It was super theatrical, and some of the ruminations on loneliness and shutting people out after a bad relationship hit me pretty hard, considering all I've been going through, and I don't think anything from Hounds really affected me emotionally. Overall though, I do think Hounds is the better record. It's more consistent and has more interesting moments. This isn't far behind, though. It really is a great record and contains some amazing songwriting and really interesting production.

Tomorrow I'll listen to The Glow Pt. 2.

[NJ]

I didn't listen to The Glow Pt. 2. I'll get there eventually.

Mezzanine by Massive Attack - I tried listening to this album before, but I shut it off after the first four songs. Those were supposed to be the big singles, and I just didn't like them. I couldn't bring myself to suffer through the rest of the album. I thought I'd give it another chance, since it's been over a year and I've listened to so much music since then, and honestly, it's an amazing record. Absolutely phenomenal. I loved every song on it. I have no clue how I couldn't appreciate it, since it has pretty much everything I enjoy most in an album, besides super interesting lyrics. Easily one of my new top albums, and I'm excited to listen to Blue Lines, when I find the time.

Illmatic by Nas - Very solid and very condense. Absolutely no filler. Less than 40 minutes of hip hop lyricism at its finest. The songs are pleasant to listen to as well. That being said, as far as it goes for it being the pinnacle of hip hop, I still prefer TBAP. Even though this is nearly half the length, I just don't find it quite as interesting a listen. It's phenomenal nonetheless.

[NJ]

Selected Ambient Works 85-92 by Aphex Twin - Another masterpiece. Considering the worst album I listened to today was Spiderland (which was a relisten, hence no post about it), I'd say today was a great day for my musical journey. This album was maybe a bit long, but none of it stuck out as bad or tedious or anything. But I do love electronic and ambient music, so that's probably why I enjoyed it so much all the way through. To be honest, I don't know why it took me so long to listen to this record. I guess albums with 50+ minute running times tend to scare me off. Phenomenal stuff, though. Mezzanine I think is still my favorite from today, though. But barely. Illmatic isn't far behind, though. And Spiderland is solid, though I don't love it.

[NJ]

Rage Against the Machine by Rage Against the Machine - I'm very familiar with Killing in the Name. It's one of my favorite songs, to the point where I bought this album on vinyl a while back on the legacy of that track alone. I finally got around to listening to the whole thing and, while Killing in the Name is still probably my favorite track on it, the rest more than holds up. This is an excellent record. I'm not going to get into politics as much as possible, and I certainly don't fully agree with everything here - it is rather extreme - but there was a lot I appreciated, mostly the stuff regarding race, which I find to be much more important than some of their anti-establishment viewpoints. The guitarwork is what I enjoyed most about this album. Musically, it was just so thoroughly enjoyable. Overall, another great 90s record. I seem to be on a streak.

[NJ]

Dummy by Portishead - This seems to be considered by most to be the greatest in the trip hop genre, which I recently got into thanks to Mezzanine. I prefer that record, but this one is close. It's certainly more consistent, just overall a tad less impressive. I love Beth Gibbons' voice and lyrics. They never got old throughout the whole album. The music, however, kind of did. The electronic aspect of Mezzanine I found thoroughly enjoyable throughout, but it didn't quite always interest me here. Again, Gibbons' vocals more than made up for that though, serving as something to latch onto when maybe the music itself was a little too bland. A solid record, easily one of my new favorites for sure. Just not quite as impactful as the Massive Attack record. Another great entry in my 90s streak.

[NJ]

The College Dropout by Kanye West - I felt like taking a break from the 90s. Luckily, this album did most certainly not end the streak of great albums I've been listening to. Between MBDTF, Yeezus and this (and I guess KSG), this is easily my favorite, and quite possibly contends for being even better than TPAB as my favorite hip hop record. I'll have to listen to it again before I really declare that, though. Yeezus and KSG were good records, the former having some nice emotional moments and the latter some truly excellent songs in the latter half, but I don't think they're great or masterpieces or anything. MBDTF is a masterpiece, one I've listened to quite a few times, though lately I usually get bored after two or three songs. While I'm no longer in the business of giving out scores, I suppose it's a 9 for me. This is possibly a 10 (though, again, I'll have to listen to it again before I can really say that). Every song was so good and emotional, and it really succeeded in all regards, though of course especially with its amazing production and witty lyricism. It's a masterpiece, and though I did really appreciate him before, I truly understand now why Kanye gets the praise he does. For this record alone, he deserves it.

[NJ]

Late Registration by Kanye West - This is probably more consistent and "perfect" than The College Dropout, so I could see preferring it, but I certainly don't. It is a great record, but it just didn't hit quite in the same way its predecessor did (which, after relistening to it, is certainly a 10). This record is probably close to MBDTF, though I'd have to listen to both again to definitively choose which one I prefer. None of the tracks on this record were bad or what I'd describe as filler at all, though I do not think the skits were nearly as charming here as they were on College Dropout. They weren't bad or anything though. Gold Diggers is a classic, and Diamonds from Sierra Leone is similarly beloved, and I liked them, but my favoite tracks were Heard 'Em Say, We Major and Hey Mama. Another solid record in West's discography. Other than relistening to a few of his albums (I especially think I need to revisit Yeezus), I think I'm gonna take a break from his discography instead of exploring it further, at least for now.