You must listen to the album below you: canon edition

[baystateoftheart]

1.

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Soul Men by Sam & Dave

I actually listened to this on Monday, but it's been a weird week and I haven't been on BEA since. Soul Men is my third Sam & Dave album, fourth if you count their excellent Rhino compilation. The leadoff track is obviously a legendary song, and it comes together brilliantly, as the vocals and Steve Cropper's guitar both shine. It's the only one here that made the cut for the aforementioned greatest hits, which makes sense, because the rest of the material is as close to Stax soul by numbers as anything I've heard. Now I am a big fan of southern soul as a genre and Stax as a label, so that means I like Soul Men quite a bit. But I also can't deny that it's pretty generic, and definitely is not a standout setlist or collection of vocal performances. And unfortunately, Cropper and the rest of The Mar-Keys fade into the backdrop after the hot start. So while I'm glad I heard it, this is not a record I'd recommend to casual soul fans. 3.5/5.

~~~~~

2. Listen to a great country album that was a grower for me:

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My Life by Iris DeMent

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3. Alphabet Game, Cohort 15 (4 picks left)

L: Unseen Worlds - Laurie Spiegel
M: Wap Konn Jòj! - Mach-Hommy
M2: Zoo Is Sad, People Are Cruel - My Little Airport*
M3: WLFGRL - Machine Girl
N: Greatest Hits - N.W.A
O: Trophies - O.C. & Apollo Brown
P: Truckload Of Trouble - The Pastels
R: Only Built 4 Cuban Linx… Pt II - Raekwon
S: Fuchsia Swing Song - Sam Rivers
S2: System Of A Down - System Of A Down

*Last chance!
_________________
Add me on RYM

[Purplepash]

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Manger On McNichols by Boldy James &...ling Toles

Now this is one of the better rap albums I've heard from 2020. I really liked the jazzy background music (almost avant-garde type jazzy at times) and I thought it really suited the atmosphere this album was creating. A solemn, depressing, mournful atmosphere, which in turn fitted the thematical concept of the album. I appreciated that each song fit that theme with a (not too) loose narrative to them. Lyrics were really good. Gritty and realistic but without the glorification that I often take issue with, and I got a sense of a desire for redemption and improvement on both a personal level and for the community. Really glad I got to hear this. I would consider listening to it again, and hopefully now that I have heard it spotify will chuck a song or two on a daily mix every now and then. A solid 7.5/10, and seriously just misses out on my top 100 of the year.




N.W.A. next baystate. I still have this comp on CD from a long time ago.

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Greatest Hits by N.W.A




Top 100 Music Albums of 2020 by baystateoftheart (last pick left)

3. Rocket To Nebula by Killah Priest
11. @@@@@ by Arca
17. Laughing Gas by Wild Nothing
27. Disco by Kylie Minogue
31. Island by Owen Pallett
33. Little Dominiques Nosebleed by The Koreatown Oddity
39. Marlowe 2 by Marlowe
44. Song Of Sage: Post Panic! by Navy Blue
46. The Price Of Tea In China by Boldy James & The Alchemist
51. Last Year Was Weird, Vol. 2 by Tkay Maidza

[baystateoftheart]

1.

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Greatest Hits by N.W.A

Despite having heard Straight Outta Compton, this is my first time hearing most of these songs in this form. In addition to material from their other records, this compilation contains a bunch of alternate mixes and spoken interludes. On one hand, the filler has been trimmed from their output for this single-disc presentation, and on the other hand, more has been added to make the collection flow and include enough unreleased material to entice fans to buy it. In terms of the music itself, my feelings are much the same as for their landmark album. Great beats, great flows, high energy, and disappointingly uneven lyrical content. While you'll find some classic tunes here, there's just way too much misogyny and homophobia, and that restricts this to being a pretty good listen that's far more historically important than it is musically stellar. 3/5.

~~~~~

2. Glad you liked that one. I have to take it from the top with this oddball hip-hop album. I have no idea whether you'll think it's above average or hate it.

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Rocket To Nebula by Killah Priest

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3. Alphabet Game, Cohort 15 (3 picks left)

L: Unseen Worlds - Laurie Spiegel
M: Wap Konn Jòj! - Mach-Hommy
M2: Mutantes - Mutantes
M3: WLFGRL - Machine Girl
N: Dez Anos Depois - Nara Leão*
O: Trophies - O.C. & Apollo Brown
P: Truckload Of Trouble - The Pastels
R: Only Built 4 Cuban Linx… Pt II - Raekwon
S: Fuchsia Swing Song - Sam Rivers
S2: System Of A Down - System Of A Down

*Last chance!
_________________
Add me on RYM

[Tha1ChiefRocka]

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Blue Weekend by Wolf Alice

Have never listened to anything by this group before. Totally fine music that is not anything special, but was pleasant to listen to. That's about it. Had more variety than I was thinking it would.

Gonna have to go with my gal Laurie Spiegel.

G_d's Pee at State's End- GY!BE
Donda- Kanye West
Daddy's Home- St Vincent
Happier Than Ever- Billie Eilish (now y'all just trippin')
A Beginner's Mind- Sufjan Stevens & whocares
By The Time I Get To Phoenix- Injury Reserve
Roadrunner- Brockhampton
Sinner Get Ready- Lingua Ignota
Pressure Machine- The Killers (now we're just getting into meme territory)
New Long Leg- Dry Cleaning
An Overview On Phenomenal Nature- Cassandra Jenkins

[LedZep]

(1)

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The Divine Punishment by Antediluvian
I'm a bit behind on some of the metal releases this year (and actually new music in general), I've been focusing more on older stuff the last 2 months. There's half a dozen black/death releases I'm interested in, this one seemed the most interesting. And right from the title of the first song I was entertained. "Obscene Pornography Manifests in the Divine Universal Consciousness". Like it's a stupid name but nevermind that. What I wanna know is what was the thought process behind this, was someone like "yea that's a fire title drop it"?? The whole album has weird sexual references in song titles (didn't read the lyrics as per usual, maybe I aught to with this kind of titles lol). Extreme metal never fails to amaze me in one way or the other Apart from the title, the opening track was very good, a tasteful combination of slightly psychedelic and very spacey death and black metal, a unique style which is present on the whole album. The vocals also range from classic death metal to extremely deep growls to some whisper-like stuff that Portal's singer might do. At one point on the third track there's reverb-drenched clean vocals which were cool. Another high point is the psychedelic dissonant violins part on the 5th track. Portal is a good comparison overall, there's similarities in Antediluvian's and Portal's dense, claustrophobic and heavy styles. In all of that weirdness the band sometimes forgets to write actual riffs, which is the only negative thing I have to say about the album. Overall a positive experience, if you like dissonant and psychedelic (and heavy) extreme metal this is the real deal. 7.5/10

(2)
It's between Sinner Get Ready and By The Time I Get To Phoenix, but I'm still in awe of the latter even though I don't like it so go with Injury Reserve

(3)
Genre combinations

The Mothers of Invention - Weasels Ripped My Flesh (Avant-prog + Blues)
Estradasphere - Buck Fever (Doo-Wop + Klezmer)
Mother's Finest - Black Radio Won't Play This Record (Soul + Alternative Metal)
Plutonium 74 - Pasilasta Kallioon (Dub + Indietronica)
Jaga Jazzist - A Livingroom Hush (ECM Style Jazz + Drum n' Bass)
Jam City - Dream a Garden (Deconstructed Club + Sophisti-Pop)
Seefeel - Pure, Impure (Dub Techno + Dream Pop)
Archive - Controlling Crowds (Hip Hop + Progressive Rock)
Spectral Lore - III (Space Ambient + Dark Folk)
Archy Marshall - A New Place 2 Drown (Lofi Hip Hop + Downtempo)
_________________
Finally updated the overall chart

2020s
90s

[Purplepash]

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Rocket To Nebula by Killah Priest

This was one of the most poetry over background music albums I've heard in a while. Mostly the experimental minimalistic sometimes ambient like background music didn't appeal to me much (although some did in the very latter stages of the album), and mainly played as background making the vocals and lyrics the major focus. Now I have never been into poetry and was no good at english lit at school so most of this sci-fi space related science mixed with traditional belief systems and religious imagery went over my head. It's just too smart for me. Hearing an Aussie accent in one of the samples though made me smile, and there were other moments here and there I liked, but not enough for a long album like this. I think this may actually be a great album for the right audience, but its not for me. 6/10.




These genre combinations throw up some interesting albums. Buck Fever was cool.

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Buck Fever by Estradasphere




Top 63 Music Albums of 2020 by Tha1ChiefRocka (5 picks left)

2. Roped In by North Americans
3. Rattle by Wailin Storms
4. Burden Of Proof by Benny The Butcher
6. Tellusboutyourself by Yerin Baek
9. Healing Is A Miracle by Julianna Barwick
12. Welcome To Hard Times by Charley Crockett
13. Anime, Trauma And Divorce by Open Mike Eagle
14. Royal Swan by Phoxjaw
15. Motherhood by No Joy
16. My Magic Dreams Have Lost Their Spell by Nick Storring

[Mercury]

1.

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Milestones by Miles Davis

I disappeared for a month. was working and doing a lot of wheel of time reading and a lot of 2021 music listening and commenting and also some older music. I started listening to this the day it was picked, but I was already sort of being tugged away from this very very fun game before i started listening to this album - so it wasn't yet another jazz album that stymied me and made me feel a bit lost and bored that made me disappear. but... I was surprised by how little this album was moving e. I adore miles davis and i thought i adored this one as well. but i included it as i haven't heard in quite awhile really not since 2017 or so when miles was all i listened to.

it seems even my abiding love of miles music and sound can't make me fall for a hard bop album. it is hard to describe why i cannot connect on an emotional level with so much bop. there are exceptions but they are rare. the sounds and arrangements here and with almost every bop album (maybe exclusing post bop stuff where it gets a lot more expansive and unusual) sounds dusty and old-timey, the grooves and the musisc sound decidedly uninteresting. Even though when I focus on the technicalities of the playing and the minute details I usually am very impressed by the skill and beauty of the elements. hard to explain. I Love the title track here and that is the track I have heard by far the most here. Straight No Chaser is indeed awesome as well. Honestly if I listen to each of these songs in isolation and not back to back to back in album form I would probably appreciate the individual parts a lot more. Cuz each song here is pretty incredibly performed and the musicians are incredible. But yeah not sure as an album why I started and could not complete this album about 4 times the last month+. Finally listened to the second half today and feel like I have heard the album and can say despite loving miles, this ain't one of my fave albums or styles. I suppose every transformation of his stylistically from the year following Milestones onward is where I really start vibing with Miles' music. From Modal jazz revolution a=onwards I am just a nerd with miles. His earlier bebop/cool jazz/hard bop phases and albums just haven't done nearly as much for me. Maybe 2.75 out of 5 personally and 3.25 out of 5 based on the quality of the arrangements and how good it clearly is irrespective of my personal genre preferences.
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2.
@Purplepash,

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Welcome To Hard Times by Charley Crockett



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3.

Newly returned, somewhat new system of choices! Until I find another gimmick, I'll just pull from a long list of recent albums I want to hear that have passed me by. For now this is stuff from 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 or 2021):

1. Endless by Frank Ocean/2018 (Yeah, never heard this. Like channel orange and blond a good bit. where can I find this? youtube maybe? I'll figure it out.)

2. Time 'n' Place by Kero Kero Bonito/2018 (I have heard a lot of good things about this. generally twee pop ain't my thing but idk... i have a good feeling about this one.)

3. qp by Ichiko Aoba/2018 (I adore Ichiko Aoba, but never listened to this one in full. need to return to this album and her more generally)

4. History of the Human Race by Blood Incantation/2019 (Super intrigued by this band and this album. some cool death metal stuff I hear and a cool name and album title to boot)

5. 7 by Beach House/2018 (I like Beach House, and at times in my life especially in about 2011 I adored them. I heard this album when it dropped. but forgot about it almost instantly and that is a shame so I will rectify this.)

6. Oxidized by Frontierer/2021 (oooh kind of a new record very tricky. This is a new mathcore album which I have heard and thought was fucking crazy and very very unique. need to revisit and i will for my chart fleshing, but its here as an option to make me do this faster.

7. いてこまヒッツ (Itekoma Hits) by おとぼけビ～バ～ [Otoboke Beaver]/2019 (a japanese hardcore album? looks cool as hell. very interested.)

8. H.A.Q.Q. by Liturgy/2019 (Very intriguing album that I have no clue what it sounds like. the cover and the name and the genre description... all interesting. I present this now as my potential next strange metal listen.)

9. Nonagon Infinity by King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard/2016 (I Heard this is a really good KGLW album and possibly their best...? So yeah I suppose I have a high interest in this here album.)

10. Rodeo by Travis Scott/2015 (I have close to no interest in Trap music. But all I hear about is how great and genius this album is. I suppose if this is such a masterpiece and representative triumph of the genre, I need to listen to it.
_________________
-Ryan

ONLY 4% of people can understand this chart! Come try!

My Fave Metal - you won't believe #5!!!

[EyeKanFly]

1)

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My Life by Iris DeMent
This was pretty good, this was among the few albums on this list that I had never heard anything about the artist, or anyone involved in the creation of this album (there were others that I hadn't heard of the artists but knew of band members' solo work or vice-versa). So I had no expectations going in, but it was pretty good. I'm generally not a huge fan of this style of country folk, but I enjoyed it nevertheless, and may find myself re-listening occasionally. I appreciate how genre-diverse the NPR list has been so far, and I know the remaining albums are all different as well.

2)

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Nonagon Infinity by King Gizzard & ...ard Wizard
For sure. Not my favorite of KG&tLW's, but it's definitely up there.

3)
Gonna roll with NPR until that's done, filling out the remaining 10 albums with Purplepash's chart.
NPR: The 150 Greatest Albums Made By Women:
114. Rumor Has It by Reba McEntire
124. No Secrets by Carly Simon
132. I Am Shelby Lynne by Shelby Lynne
148. The Mosaic Project by Terri Lyne Carrington *this marks the end of this chart!
Purplepash's top albums of the 1990s:
8. Where You Been by Dinosaur Jr.
24. Psalm 69: The Way to Succeed and the Way to Suck Eggs by Ministry
26. Guide to Better Living by Grinspoon
39. Raise by Swervedriver
43. From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah by Nirvana
46. Incesticide & 50. Hormoaning by Nirvana (there's a lot of overlap in the b-sides compilation and the EP)
_________________
51 Washington, D.C. albums!

[Repo]

How does this work again?

Do I just put down my list? Or do I also pick sth for someone else.

(OR do I smarten and up and go read the FIRST post in this thread!!! That might help! BRB!)

[Repo]

Ok. I've educated myself!

EyeKanFly, I'm pretty stoked to give you...

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Raise by Swervedriver

Pretty much the most perfect blend of grunge and shoegaze that you've ever heard! But, I guess YOU are the one who's supposed to talk about this album. Not me. Ok, fellas. Give me a break. I'm new at this!

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I'm going to go with 1982 Metal ( & Hard Rock)!!!

RYM 1982 Metal Chart (taking out the ones I've heard a gazillions times like Judas Priest & Maiden, etc.!)

1. Pagan Altar - s/t
2. Baron Rojo - Volumen brutal
3. Heavy Load - Death Or Glory
4. Winterhawk - Revival
5. Frank Marino - Juggernaut
6. Witchfinder General - Death Penalty
6. Tank - Filth Hounds of Hades
7. Magnum -Chase The Dragon
8. Y&T - Black Tiger
9. Stan Hubbs - Crystal
10. Perfect - Perfect