[zdwyatt]

ULL? User listening log! Let's do this.

Dates: 5/10, 5/11, 5/12

Contents:
Sun | Mon #1 | Mon #2 | Tue #1 | Tue #2 | Wed | Thu #1 | Thu #2 | Fri #1 | Fri #2 | Sat

Sunday, May 10

Weekends don't afford me much time for listening to albums. Today being Mother's Day, I had even less time. My wife, our three-year-old son, and I went to breakfast. When we got home, we played a little tee-ball in the backyard. Then we drove to Trader Joe's to get supplies for tonight's cookout, and the kid fell asleep en route. As the parent of any small child will you in that situation: you just keep driving. I dropped my wife at the door and then put on:

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Archive Series Volume No. 1 by Iron And Wine
Year: 2015
Rating: 4/5 after four listens
Favorites: Slow Black River, Two Hungry Blackbirds, Beyond the Fence

I got into Iron & Wine on the first record, The Creek Drank the Cradle, which I picked up solely because I liked the cover art. I just knew it'd be something good. I fell for that album hard and it holds slot #3 on my overall chart to this day. But I haven't cared much for the direction Sam Beam has gone after his first couple of albums. I don't begrudge the man a change in style; I guess you can't do sparse acoustic tracks forever. But the fuller instrumentation and more polished sound of his later albums just doesn't do much for me. So I was really excited to learn about this album, which is a collection of tracks recorded around the same time as that first LP. As a cohesive collection, it doesn't rival either of Beam's first two releases, but it's crazy that songs this good were just sitting on a shelf. It excites to me to learn how prolific he was back then (there's still more unreleased tracks!) and that he recognizes the market for that old sound. This is sitting at #5 for the year, a position it probably won't hold. But I will add it to my collection. I just can't get enough of this sound.

The afternoon was more tee-ball and a long session at a playground. Then we came home and I grilled burgers for a small party. While we ate, we listened to:

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Little Neon Limelight by Houndmouth
Year: 2015
Rating: 4/5 after six listens
Favorites: Otis, For No One, Honey Slider

I'm not sure where I first found this, but odds are very high it came from chart-stalking samistake2ice. These guys hail from New Albany, Indiana, right down the road from Corydon, where I spent a lot of time growing up. New Albany was never a place that impressed me much, but this album is a testament to the fact that good bands can form anywhere. It's their second album (haven't checked out the debut yet) and it's a retro-informed sound, landing somewhere between rock and country, but squarely in the 1970s. I currently have this at #3 on my 2015 chart, but it is making a strong push for #1. I have definitely listened to it more than any other album in the last couple of months. This currently has a 4/5, but it's probably earned another half star at this point. This will definitely get added to the collection.

[RepoMan]

[zdwyatt]

Monday, May 11
Morning

I listen to quite a bit of music, with a heavy investment in new music (126 albums so far from 2015). This listening habit pre-dates BEA, back when I kept logs and Best Of lists in notebooks. BEA certainly makes that process more orderly. But where BEA has been a revelation for me is in finding older music to listen to. For the past three years, my process has been to listen to albums from the current year, as well as albums from years going backwards by ten (e.g. 2005, 1995, etc.) I just grab the .csv file for the respective year and I have huge list of "to listen to." This gives me something to fall back on if I just don't have something particular to listen to. This process will likely be evident over the course of this listening log.

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The Crane Wife by The Decemberists
Year: 2006
Rating: 5/5 after 10+ listens
Favorites: Crane Wife 3, When the War Came, Shankhill Butchers

I had been going through my overall chart, where this sits at #13, adding favorite tracks to the description. And I saw that I had not rated the individual songs on this one. So I found myself listening to the whole thing. The Decemberists are one of those bands you either love or hate, owing to any number of factors (Colin Meloy's voice, the old-timey vocabulary, the band's general pretentiousness). For me, it's nothing but love for everything they've recorded. But it wasn't until this album that they showed potential for moving into that exclusive club: Zdwyatt's Favorite Bands. It has twinges of prog-rock mixed in with their usual indie folk thing, which is just a perfect meeting of worlds for me. I go back and forth on whether this or The Hazards of Love is my favorite of their albums, but at the moment, I'm giving it to this one.

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Captain Fantastic And The Brown Dirt Cowboy by Elton John
Year: 1975
Rating: 4/5 after one listen
Favorites: Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy, Someone Saved My Life Last Night, We All Fall in Love Sometimes

My mother's vinyl collection featured Elton John pretty heavily, and Madman Across the Water and Goodbye Yellow Brick Road were on heavy rotation in our house when I was little. Despite decades of output, early to mid 70s is pretty much where I draw the line on Elton John (with the possible exception of 1983's Too Low for Zero), with my personal favorite being Honky Chateau (#32 overall). And yet, I've somehow never listened to this one, from 1975. I like it, though it definitely lacks any real standout tracks. But I'd say it's more consistent than some of his albums that do have huge hits on them. Apparently this is a concept album, so I'd have to revisit it to give it a fair chance.

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Dreamboat Annie by Heart
Year: 1975
Rating: 3.5/5 after one listen
Favorites: Magic Man, Crazy on You, White Lightning and Wine

This one contains a couple of their hits, Magic Man and Crazy on You. I know those songs well from classic radio, but I'd never heard this whole album. It's decent enough, but those two tracks are the definite highlights for me. I was surprised that most of the rest of the album has a softer edge. They're at their best when they're rocking out.

[zdwyatt]

Monday, May 11
Afternoon/Evening

Guero by Beck
Year: 2005
Rating: 3.5/5 after one listen
Favorites: E-Pro, Girl, Broken Drum

I see Beck as having two musical personalities. His radio single stock-in-trade is the slightly funky, somewhat silly track. And while I enjoy those to a degree, I find it tiresome over the span of an album. I much prefer the more somber, largely acoustic Beck, like last year's Morning Phase. For some reason, he doesn't really mix the two, even though that's where he'd find his best album. This one simply doesn't have enough of what I like to hold my interest.

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Robyn by Robyn
Year: 2005
Rating: 4.5/5 after 10+ listens
Favorites: Handle Me, Bum Like You, Be Mine

Man, Robyn takes me back. Back in '97, I was working at a summer camp, and I used an early paycheck to buy some big speakers for my truck. I would drive down the switchbacks of western North Carolina bumping the cassette single of Do You Know (What It Takes). My wife, who I met at that camp, later told me she was perplexed by my love for Robyn. But I am sucker for a good pop song and this is a great collection. Prior to finding it on BEA, I had this filed under 2008, which is when the album was released in the US. It was released in 2005 in Sweden, and by the time we got it, it had new cover art, a shuffled track listing, and a new song. I actually think that track, With Every Heartbeat, is the best of the bunch. But, even without it, my rating of the album stands.

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Reality Show by Jazmine Sullivan
Year: 2015
Rating: 4/5 after 5 listens
Favorites: Mascara, Silver Lining, #Hoodlove

When the weather permits, I drive with the windows down, which is not conducive to the folk-infused music I favor. To rise above the wind noise, you really need something with serious bottom end. This means metal, R&B, or hip hop. This has been my go-to ever since I first came across it. She has a great voice and the production is quality R&B. But it's the lyrics that really make the album. This contains some clever, biting commentary on the modern condition. It loses steam in the second half, but the first half is killer.

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Here Come The ABC's by They Might Be Giants
Year: 2005
Rating: 4/5 after 10+ listens
Favorites: Go for G, D is for Drums, Who Put the Alphabet in Alphabetical Order

I didn't technically listen to this whole album, but it merits mention because I listen to it every day on the drive from daycare to our house. Today, my son asked to listen to "the song with the man that says all the names." I wasn't sure what that meant, so I asked him to tell me some of the lyrics. He replied, "Bagiria Magiria." I understood this to be his interpretation of the opening lines of the second track, which begins, "Algeria, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Dominica." Honestly, these albums are really great, and not just for kids. You could swap out the kiddie lyrics for something more adult and you'd have a really good album. Some of them you wouldn't even have to change, like the song about Flying V guitars.

[creator]

[zdwyatt]

Tuesday, May 12
Morning

It’s Tuesday, which means it’s time to listen to this week’s new releases!

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Bush by Snoop Dogg
Year: 2015
Rating: 4/5 after one listen
Favorites: California Roll, R U A Freak, Edibles

Snoop appears to positioning himself as this era’s George Clinton, that elder everyone loves for their pursuit of a good time. This whole album is one laid back groove, with repeated references to weed and being freaky. Seriously, I lost count of the number of times “freak” and its variations appeared. Nothing blew my mind on here, but it was definitely an easy listen. I suppose we can thank Pharrell for that. I’ll definitely return to this one; I could see this being my summer driving soundtrack.

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Dumb Flesh by Blanck Mass
Year: 2015
Rating: 4/5 after one listen
Favorites: Loam, Atrophies, Lung

I don’t generally go for electronic music, but I do make an exception if it’s dark (e.g. Oneohtrix Point Never or Haxan Cloak). I struggle to describe what it is I like about this kind of music, because the words I might use--heavy, dark, foreboding--don’t really sound like praise. There’s just an atmosphere created here that I really enjoy. It’s like the score to a dystopia that I kind of want to explore.


Dark Bird Is Home by The Tallest Man On Earth
Year: 2015
Rating: 3/5 after one listen
Favorites: None. If pressed, I guess “Timothy” was good.

This is a perfect example of a three-star album for me. It’s competently performed, totally inoffensive, and largely forgettable. In short, it’s the essence of an average album. I can see why people would like it, but it does absolutely nothing for me.

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Love Songs For Robots by Patrick Watson
Year: 2015
Rating: 3.5/5 after one listen
Favorites: Bollywood, In Circles, Turn Into The Noise

And this is a great example of three-star album that has potential for repeated listens. Overall, there wasn’t anything remarkable about the album. However, there were songs that definitely caught my attention, making me think I might enjoy this album more on a different day, or just after repeated listens. So this gets a 3.5 and gets flagged for another listen.

[zdwyatt]

Tuesday, May 12
Afternoon

I’ve had my fill of new music for the day, so it’s time for an old favorite.

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Nothing Is Okay by The Everybodyfields
Year: 2007
Rating: 5/5 after 10+ listens
Favorites: Wasted Time, Don’t Tern Around, Lonely Anywhere

The two singers, Sam Quinn and Jill Andrews, have such different voices that it surprises me that their harmonies work. But somehow their combined sound is irresistible. This is such a good record, and it saddens me that it's the last thing they recorded before breaking up. Both have put out solo records; Andrews made my year-end list for 2011 but Quinn didn't even make it to a second listen. As for this album it’s currently #17 on my overall list. It also rotates between the top three spots for 2007, constantly fighting with Band of Horses’ Cease to Begin and Jason Isbell’s Sirens of the Ditch. I have such a hard time deciding that I think my overall chart and my 2007 chart actually conflict with each other.

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Sirens Of The Ditch by Jason Isbell
Year: 2007
Rating: 4.5/5 after 10+ listens
Favorites: Down in a Hole, In a Razor Town, The Magician

The early 2000s were a good time to be a Drive-By Truckers fan. They'd already put out three solid albums, including an amazing double-disc concept album. Then they add this new guy Isbell to the mix and he immediately contributes two instant classics. He was on three Truckers albums and then abruptly departed. I was bummed to hear he was leaving, but I was also excited to see what he would do solo. What we got was this collection, a lot of different kinds of songs, all circling the basic southern rock/alt-country territory. There are some moments that are more straight-ahead rock, and I personally find those to be the weakest tracks. But there are also some tracks that showcase his skill as a narrative songwriter. A couple of years ago, he topped this one with Southeastern (#11 overall). He has a new album out in July that I'm hoping will be even better. I think he still has his best album in him. And as he gains new fans, I think they'll be surprised to hear how good his first record was.

I was going to listen to Cease to Begin and resolve this 2007 uncertainty. But I listen to it all the time, so I'm feeling pretty good going 1-2-3, Everybodyfields, Band of Horses, Isbell.

Instead, I ended up watching the press conference in which our district attorney announced his decision not to charge an officer involved in a shooting a couple of months ago. Like everyone, I assumed he would decide not to charge, but I was curious how he'd frame that decision. Given what's happened in other cities, everyone is wary about the reaction to what was going to be an divisive decision.

When the decision was announced, we were told our office would be locked down as a precaution, presumably because of our proximity to the DA's office and the capitol. It was hard not get a little paranoid and I started to worry about my son at daycare. So I left work early, picked him up, and went home to watch some Curious George. So far there hasn't been anything beyond peaceful protesting, which I am optimistic will remain true tomorrow.

[RockyRaccoon]

[zdwyatt]

Wednesday, May 13

Meetings with clients took me away from the office for most of the day, so there wasn't much music to be heard, nor opportunity to log it.

Collective Soul by Collective Soul

Year: 1995
Rating: 3.5/5 after one listen
Favorites: December, Where the River Flows, Reunion

This band, along with Bush, stands out in my memory as a prominent example of a band that wanted to be grunge. As I've argued previously, grunge was a scene, not a sound. So even though these guys look the part, and to an extent sound the part, it isn't quite right. I tried to give this a fair listen, and I do like a couple of the songs. But I have a hard time shaking the bias I had about them 20 years ago. The fact that they later went full AOR makes me think I was right.

Wrecking Ball by Emmylou Harris

Year: 1995
Rating: 4.5/5 after one listen
Favorites: All My Tears, Wrecking Ball, Orphan Girl

As I've gotten older, and as streaming services make it easier to explore music, I've been listening to more and more country. I used to be one of those people who said, "I like everything except country and rap." Turns out, I just don't like top 40 country and rap. So I saw Emmylou's name in my spreadsheet and recognize the name as someone I've wanted to check out. When I pulled up the album on BEA, I immediately recognized the cover, and realized my wife owns this album. She's probably tried to get me to listen to it for years and is going to smack me when I tell her how good this is. Although, despite me thinking of her as a country artist, I wouldn't really call this album country. To quote panman36, "In some ways I feel like this is a Daniel Lanois album with Emmylou Harris on vocals."


Here Come The 123's by They Might Be Giants

Year: 2008
Rating: 4.5/5 after 10+ listens
Favorites: Triops Has Three Eyes, High Five, Seven Days of the Week (I Never Go to Work)

Unlike Here Come The ABC's, which I mentioned on Monday, I actually did listen to this whole album today. We had some errands to run after daycare, so we managed to make it through this one. As with the other one, this is really good music. It's so catchy and has so many different styles. I've never listened to their non-kid albums, but I kind of want to now...

To make up for a poor showing on the album front, I wanted to speak to my lone commenters.

[RockyRaccoon]