You must listen to the album below you: canon edition

[Purplepash]

Great writeups on MBV, Zep. I too think Loveless is obviously the better album but sometimes I would rather listen to Isn't Anything.

Thumbnail. Click to enlarge.

Adore by The Smashing Pumpkins

I'm a bit on the fence about this album. Having liked The Smashing Pumpkins since Gish it was interesting seeing their development. From the raw youthful exuberance of Gish, to the more polished step forward of Siamese Dream, to the ambitious Mellon Collie, and that's where I stopped (well apart from Pisces Iscariot but that's separate being a B-sides and outtakes compilation. Mellon Collie balanced their heavier rock with more mellow songwriting, and here on this album they seemed to have let go of their heavier side altogether in I guess an attempt to be a more mature rock band. But it was the heavier side I loved about the Pumpkins. However I still love the sound of Billy Corgan's voice, and there is some good songwriting on here. It starts very strong with their singles standing out, but towards the middle of the album the sound of the drum machine started to become too noticeable for my tastes and I was finding that a bit irritating. Then the album picked up again with the run of Shame to For Martha being a lot better. Overall I think the tone of the album was maybe a bit too sad boy for me to really enjoy. So some good elements and some not so good elements leaves me, as I said before, on the fence. 7.5/10, and 23/33 for 1998.


Sorry Seth I seem to be choosing for you a bit lately...must be a time of the day thing. The Yardbirds this time.

Thumbnail. Click to enlarge.

Yardbirds (Roger The Engineer) by The Yardbirds


With some very welcome new/returning players it looks like I am going to be hanging around in the 90s for a bit longer. I suppose I should mention if anyone would prefer me not to explore their charts, feel free to message me or let me know. Next up is babyBlueSedan's 90s chart. Of the at least 43 albums I've rated or listened to from this chart we have 21 in common.

Top 100 Music Albums of the 1990s by babyBlueSedan (5 picks)

4. Bee Thousand by Guided By Voices
5. American Football by American Football
10. Fantastic Planet by Failure
13. Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot by Sparklehorse
14. Down Colorful Hill by Red House Painters
16. Good Morning Spider by Sparklehorse
18. Alien Lanes by Guided By Voices
21. Tigermilk by Belle And Sebastian
25. Dig Me Out by Sleater-Kinney
27. Slow Riot For New Zerø Kanada by Godspeed You! Black Emperor

[babyBlueSedan]

Thumbnail. Click to enlarge.

2 by Mac DeMarco

This is a nice relaxing little indie pop album. Probably would sound better in the summer than it does with six inches of snow on the ground, but even under the circumstances it was nice. He's got nothing on Pavement or even some modern slacker rock heroes like Courtney Barnett, but I I'm glad artists are still playing around with this type of sound.

Thumbnail. Click to enlarge.

Bee Thousand by Guided By Voices

Well Purple I hoped that I wouldn't be the first one to pick from my chart but here you go. Sticking with this since it's still my favorite of those and I thought "Really?" to myself when I saw you hadn't heard it.

BEA's top 1000 albums:

409. 98.12.28 男達の別れ [98.12.28 Otokotachi No Wakare] by Fishmans
429. Twin Fantasy (Face to Face) by Car Seat Headrest (I've heard the original)
479. Out of the Blue by Electric Light Orchestra
531. Tusk by Fleetwood Mac
542. Hysteria by Def Leppard
552. The Kick Inside by Kate Bush
569. Here's Little Richard by Little Richard
572. Lungs by Florence and the Machine
575. A Trick of the Tail by Genesis
577. The Fragile by Nine Inch Nails
_________________
And it's hard to be a human being. And it's harder as anything else.

[Tha1ChiefRocka]

Thumbnail. Click to enlarge.

Owls by Owls

The amount of research I put in before I listen to an album varies considerably. Sometimes I'll know everything beforehand and sometimes I like to go in blind. I knew this was an Emo album, but I didn't realize that it was a KINSELLA Emo band. The Cap N Jazz and American Football alums had another band that I was not aware of, OWLS. And, it follows in essentially the same vein as their other works. It's on the softer, but more musically complex side of the Midwest Emo scene, which, although is not my preferred offshoot, I still enjoy. I don't think there was enough variation track to track, but the overall feeling and purpose of the album were clear, so I can't say too much negative about it.

Little Richard is short and sweet album.

Marble Sky- The Sad Return
Velehentor - Перевал Дятлова
Kenneth Gaburo- Music for Voices, Instruments & Electronic Sounds
Pale Cocoon - Cocoon (繭）
Prince Douglas - Dub roots
Vanilla - Sweet Talk
Cardiacs - The Obvious Identity
Dave Burrell - Echo
Circus - Movin' On
Saka Acquaye & His African Ensemble From Ghana- Gold Coast Saturday Night

[RoundTheBend]

Yeah it seems to be timing I'm always getting Chief, which is dandy all the same, but find it funny there's likely a daily ritual/circadian rhythm with us that align our posts. It's probably the pee breaks actually - .

Anyway, what do you get when you have amazing musicians but mediocre songwriting - this album! (that's a bit harsh, but that's the thought that crossed me mind):

Thumbnail. Click to enlarge.

Yardbirds (Roger The Engineer) by The Yardbirds

But yeah, this has fantastic musicianship minus the songwriting/vocals. Amazing musicianship/tone/arrangements, etc. - kinda shit singing/songwriting. It reminded me actually of a '67 version of Arctic Monkeys... although I might give AM better songwriting credits and these guys better musicianship credits. I can totally see how "this was so influential though" and stuff, but really I don't give a shit about that if the source material isn't that great. Anyway, this review sounds really harsh... I actually did enjoy it quite a bit. Bit catchy and all. But I'll probably only give it a 3.5/80, which basically means I like it enough, but I'm not crazy about it either and if I weren't an American that really should be a 2.5/50 or something, but that's just not pleasant to do to someone.

2. Chief thank you for giving BBS what I've been wanting to give for sometime now... haha. This one seems the most intriguing to me: Saka Acquaye & His African Ensemble From Ghana- Gold Coast Saturday Night

3. Robert Dimery's 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die (537/1001)
At Mister Kelly's Sarah Vaughan 1950s 1957
Night Life Ray Price 1960s 1963
Olympia '64 Jacques Brel 1960s 1964
Blues Breakers John Mayall with Eric Clapton 1960s 1966
Midnight Ride Paul Revere and the Raiders 1960s 1966
Beach Samba Astrud Gilberto 1960s 1967
Francis Albert Sinatra & Antônio Carlos Jobim 1960s 1967
Fred Neil Fred Neil 1960s 1967
Don't Come Home a Drinkin' (With Lovin' on Your Mind) Loretta Lynn 1960s 1967
I'm A Lonesome Fugitive Merle Haggard 1960s 1967
Moby Grape Moby Grape 1960s 1967 Call of the Valley Shivkumar Sharma 1960s 1967 Triangle The Beau Brummels 1960s 1967 The Electric Prunes The Electric Prunes 1960s 1967 Headquarters The Monkees 1960s 1967 Groovin' The Young Rascals 1960s 1967Vincebus Eruptum Blue Cheer 1960s 1968 Caetano Veloso Caetano Veloso 1960s 1968Truth Jeff Beck 1960s 1968Eli and the Thirteenth Confession Laura Nyro 1960s 1968The Sounds of India Ravi Shankar 1960s 1968 Scott 2 Scott Walker 1960s 1968Ogden's Nut Gone Flake Small Face 1960s 1968The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter The Incredible String Band 1960s 1968Traffic Traffic 1960s 1968United States of America United States of America 1960s 1968Oar Alexandar Spence 1960s 1969 Odessa Bee Gees 1960s 1969Unhalfbricking Fairport Convention 1960s 1969Songs from a Room Leonard Cohen 1960s 1969Basket of Light Pentangle 1960s 1969The Gilded Palace of Sin The Flying Burrito Bros 1960s 1969Cloud Nine The Temptations 1960s 1969Elephant Mountain The Youngbloods 1960s 1969Happy Sad Tim Buckley 1960s 1969Mott the Hoople Mott the Hoople 1960s 1969

[Tha1ChiefRocka]

I think you may be on to something there Seth...

Thumbnail. Click to enlarge.

Gold Coast Saturday Night by Saka Acqua...n Ensemble

This is so funny. It's like the anti-Les Baxter. Instead of Western music being made by an American with a slight African influence, it's and African artist making African music with a slight Western influence. Highly enjoyable with some great drumming and infectious rhythms. Not much else to it, just a nice thing to listen to. It's also worth noting that I think 1959 is the earliest I've listened to an album from Africa that was not like a folkways field recording of an actual tribe of people making music or something.

Paul Revere and The Raiders is some cheesy fun.

Marble Sky- The Sad Return
Velehentor - Перевал Дятлова
Kenneth Gaburo- Music for Voices, Instruments & Electronic Sounds
Pale Cocoon - Cocoon (繭）
Prince Douglas - Dub roots
Vanilla - Sweet Talk
Cardiacs - The Obvious Identity
Dave Burrell - Echo
Circus - Movin' On
Computer Music- (Various Artists--It's a Nonesuch records release)

[baystateoftheart]

1.

Thumbnail. Click to enlarge.

The Epic by Kamasi Washington

This one took me a while to get to and get through for mostly obvious reasons. My conclusion is that it's a great album, but also nothing too special in the grand scheme of things. Washington isn't bringing a super fresh sound to the table, but he brings strong execution to a lot of familiar styles. It's ambitious in scope, if not in sound. Styles touched upon include vocal jazz, cool jazz, soul jazz, jazz-funk, avant-garde jazz, and more. The energetic disc one was my definitely favorite, although the other two are no slouch either. 4/5.

~~~~~

2. Time for dub roots.

~~~~~

3. Pitchfork 200 Best Albums of the 2010s

12. Anti - Rihanna
35. Cupid Deluxe - Blood Orange
39. Apocalypse - Bill Callahan
46. Shaking The Habitual - The Knife
49. Replica - Oneohtrix Point Never
62. Ruins - Grouper
65. DS2 - Future
66. Plunge - Fever Ray
69. If You’re Reading This, It’s Too Late - Drake
78. Smoke Ring For My Halo - Kurt Vile

The source in my next post should be:

a) Pitchfork 200 Best Albums of the 2010s
b) Tiny Mix Tapes Favorite 100 Music Releases of the Decade
c) BEA Overall Chart (to take the new algorithm for a spin)
_________________
Add me on RYM

[Purplepash]

Thumbnail. Click to enlarge.

Bee Thousand by Guided By Voices

Strange! I'm meant to like this. It's lo-fi indie - definitely a genre I dig a lot more often than not. GBV are often mentioned in the same sentences as bands I love. Although they didn't seem to have much of a presence down here once I joined BEA I saw this album a lot on the charts of users with similar tastes so was looking forward to checking it out. Somehow though I am disappointed. Maybe my expectations were too high, or maybe, as I read a few times in comments and reviews, it might just take a few listens to click with me. For now, however, after one listen, I am not sure. I did like a lot of the sounds and ideas (not all of them) but when I did I feel that the songs kept ending just as I was starting to get into them. Too many short songs that I would have liked to have seen developed more...but I guess that's the opposite of the point of this album. Maybe I will hear more GBV and I will get it at some stage, or maybe I just missed it at the time and it's too late now. 7/10 and 54/62 in my 1994 chart.


I liked Fever Ray a lot more than I thought I would so give that a shot, and then check out the new and improved BEA all time chart.

Thumbnail. Click to enlarge.

Plunge by Fever Ray


Top 100 Music Albums of the 1990s by babyBlueSedan (4 picks left)

5. American Football by American Football
10. Fantastic Planet by Failure
13. Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot by Sparklehorse
14. Down Colorful Hill by Red House Painters
16. Good Morning Spider by Sparklehorse
18. Alien Lanes by Guided By Voices
21. Tigermilk by Belle And Sebastian
25. Dig Me Out by Sleater-Kinney
27. Slow Riot For New Zerø Kanada by Godspeed You! Black Emperor
32. Summerteeth by Wilco

[LedZep]

(1)

Thumbnail. Click to enlarge.

Have One On Me by Joanna Newsom
Well I've spent an abnormal amount of time with Joanna Newsom in the last 3 days. 4 listens, over 8 hours. And the biggest compliment I can give this one is that I wasn't bored a single minute. She's one of those musicians (like Sufjan) which I don't listen to often, but still love very much. I'd break it down song by song but I just don't feel like it, and there's a lot of songs. It's the most varied, interesting and ambitious Joanna Newsom album, and now that I've heard them all, I can also say it's her best. And it's surprisingly consistent to boot. I've never listened to it before for obvious reasons, but boy am I glad that RoundTheBend picked it. One of the finest I've heard this decade. 9 or 9.5/10

(2)
It's a bit sadboi, which you might not like, but Down Colorful Hill is possibly Mark Kozelek's best. Brilliantly written slowcore.

(3)
VanillaBean 2010s chart

Nothing - Tired of Tomorrow
Run the Jewels - Run the Jewels 2
NieR: Automata - 岡部啓一 [Keiichi Okabe], 帆足圭吾 [Keigo Hoashi], 高橋邦幸 [Kuniyuki Takahashi] & 瀬尾祥太郎 [Syotarou Seo]
Various Artists - Sinogaze Vol. 1
Eldamar - The Force Of The Ancient Land
Drake - If You're Reading This It's Too Late
Jeff Rosenstock - We Cool?
Lower Dens - Escape From Evil
Drake - Nothing Was The Same
Tokyo Shoegazer - Crystallize
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Ghost (SE) - Meliora
Ambersmoke - Lay My Bones Beneath The Valley Oak
Moodymann - DJ-Kicks
Disclosure - Settle
PUP - The Dream Is Over
_________________
Finally updated the overall chart

2020s
90s

[Tha1ChiefRocka]

Thumbnail. Click to enlarge.

Dub Roots by Prince Douglas

Yeah, this is the good shit right here. I knew it would be, because JimmyDread has it highly ranked on his chart, and it did not dissapoint. That first track is about as good as it gets. Things don't die down from there either; it's a consistently good time throughout. Would recommend for anyone who hasn't heard, but wants to listen to more dub like me.

Lower Dens "Escape From Evil" is a chill Alternative Pop kind of thing. Give it a shot.

Marble Sky- The Sad Return
Velehentor - Перевал Дятлова
Kenneth Gaburo- Music for Voices, Instruments & Electronic Sounds
Pale Cocoon - Cocoon (繭）
Vanilla - Sweet Talk
Cardiacs - The Obvious Identity
Dave Burrell - Echo
Circus - Movin' On
Computer Music- (Various Artists--It's a Nonesuch records release)
Nicolas Collins ‎– Devil's Music

[babyBlueSedan]

Thumbnail. Click to enlarge.

Here's Little Richard by Little Richard

This was probably the album on my list I was most looking forward to hearing, since the 50s are a big blind spot for me. For the most part I'd say this still sounds pretty vital; maybe not as much as it did back then, but it's got a ton of energy and charisma. If I have to nitpick I'd point out that (like every other artist who was working back then) this feels a little one note and doesn't work very well as an album. I'll give it a pass for that though, and because Tutti Frutti is more danceable and fun than a bunch of rock that's come out in the past decade.

Listen to the Devil's Music, Chief, as I can only assume it sounds a lot like Little Richard.

BEA's top 1000 albums:

409. 98.12.28 男達の別れ [98.12.28 Otokotachi No Wakare] by Fishmans
429. Twin Fantasy (Face to Face) by Car Seat Headrest (I've heard the original)
479. Out of the Blue by Electric Light Orchestra
531. Tusk by Fleetwood Mac
542. Hysteria by Def Leppard
552. The Kick Inside by Kate Bush
572. Lungs by Florence and the Machine
575. A Trick of the Tail by Genesis
577. The Fragile by Nine Inch Nails
584. Chelsea Girl by Nico
_________________
And it's hard to be a human being. And it's harder as anything else.