What I listen to and how I feel about it - Music Diaries

contra

I often think about the sheer amount of music out there and how I'll probably never listen to everything before I die, but this fact rarely serves as motivation to actually listen to music beyond what I'm obsessed with at the time, so hopefully keeping an actual log of what I listen to inspires me enough to step outside of my listening comfort zone!

Thumbnail. Click to enlarge.

Chemtrails Over The Country Club by Lana Del Rey

Bit of a strange first post because I rarely listen to Lana and have never listened to a full album of hers, but I saw that it came out today so I felt compelled. I'm moving away from my family into my own home right now and the painfully nostalgic tone in her music is making me feel a lot of things right now. I particularly like the songs where she steps outside of her usual style, and her voice is really beautiful. There are no moments that I think are truly weak on this album and I'll definitely go back to listen to more of her music now.

Favourite songs: White Dress, Dark But Just A Game, Dance Till We Die

I definitely welcome discussion in this thread!

Mercury
Turn your back on the pay-you-back last call

Gender: Male
Location: St. Louis

cool album to kick this off with. Really like that LDR album after 1 listen. Will listen a few more times and form a comment. I'm a huge fan of her last album from 2019.

Funny you should mention that thought about knowing you'll never hear all the music out there. I have that same feeling too. It also tends to make me less enthusiastic to listen to new music, not more. Almost like an apathy comes over me. Last night as I searched through albumoftheyear.com and saw the hundred or so albums that had dropped last night, I was struck by this same thought. I just went to bed lol.

Anyway, look forward to reading your diary. always fun having new members type about music.
_________________
-Ryan

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

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

kokkinos

Hello and welcome, I had a quick peek at your chart and it seems you might love Ye even more than me - though it's puzzling why you didn't include MBDTF, I'd like to hear your thoughts on that one - , so I am looking forward to reading your diary, as I expect it to be right up my alley.
To add another - equally depressing - dimension to your thoughts, the one thing that usually bothers me the most is not the music we will never listen, but the music we listened, liked or even loved and then forgot. Think about it, the name of an album/song we used to love comes up and we don't even remember how it goes or why we liked it to begin with, I've always found this so very painful, not to mention the even sadder realisation that comes after re-listening to it and not feeling the same affection.
No idea about the Lana Del Ray album, I 've never listened to any of her albums, maybe it's about time.

contra

@Mercury yeah I can definitely understand that. it's simultaneously motivating and depressing to think about how much music there is that we'll never listen to - especially the albums that will come out after we die, which is something I don't even want to think about tbh. Wow, 100 albums last night?! okay yeah seeing that would probably also make me go to bed lmao. I feel like I want to at least listen to an acclaimed album from every genre (because I'm guilty of staying in like the same four all the time), and that might make me feel like I've listened to enough? I dunno.

I really do like the LDR album and I've gone back to a few songs so far, particularly White Dress and Dark But Just A Game.

@kokkinos Yeah I didn't even realise I hadn't added MBDTF! But thinking back on it I'm pretty sure I left it out because I wasn't sure how I felt about it. to be honest, I don't go back to it nearly as much as I've gone back to the other albums. I would probably put College Dropout and Yeezus above it, and maybe even Graduation? I dunno. Obviously Late Registration is great but again, I barely go back to it. MBDTF is definitely a masterpiece and I would definitely put it in my top 50, I'm just really not sure where. Is it your favourite Ye album?

Yeah, there are definitely albums I haven't gone back to - ones that transport me back to a certain time in my life because I don't want to taint the memory that the music holds for me? And of course there are albums I know I wouldn't like as much as I used to, but music is a medium that I don't really have that issue with too much. video games on the other hand

Anyway, next album is

Thumbnail. Click to enlarge.

Melophobia by Cage The Elephant

I've loved Cage the Elephant since 2015 when I went to Germany and I was obsessed with the song Ain't No Rest For the Wicked, but tbh it's one of those bands that I always put in my top five but I always ... forget to put in my top 5? Maybe I don't love them as much as I used to. Definitely their other albums don't hold up for me as much as they did, but I'm pretty sure Melophobia always will. The level of experimentation for the band, the way that it flows, the way that all the songs are incredibly distinct but all fit together so well, the name, the album art .... everything. The lyrics!!! I listen to Telescope and even though it's such a nice song, it still gives me such .... a sad and uncomfortable feeling. It's basically about the singer looking back on his life and imagining how awful it would be if he hadn't started the band, and what he would have ended up doing. I think that's something everything is inherently scared of - not making the decision that turns their life around for the better. At least for me, that is something constantly on my mind, especially as I'm in my early 20s and feel the pressure to figure out what the hell I'm doing.

In fact I think I have to go back to my best ever albums chart because I don't know Melophobia is at #21. It was their masterpiece and I hate to say it but I don't really think they'll match that again, especially after Social Cues, although I don't think Tell Me I'm Pretty gets the appreciation it deserves.

Favourite songs: Spiderhead, Telescope, Come a Little Closer, Take It or Leave It, Hypocrite, Cigarette Daydreams ...... ugh every song

kokkinos

contra wrote:

@kokkinos Yeah I didn't even realise I hadn't added MBDTF! But thinking back on it I'm pretty sure I left it out because I wasn't sure how I felt about it. to be honest, I don't go back to it nearly as much as I've gone back to the other albums. I would probably put College Dropout and Yeezus above it, and maybe even Graduation? I dunno. Obviously Late Registration is great but again, I barely go back to it. MBDTF is definitely a masterpiece and I would definitely put it in my top 50, I'm just really not sure where. Is it your favourite Ye album?

Hard to tell, really. Through the years I've been in endless debates – and even more times have I reflected on that question by myself - and it's not always the same answer. MBDTF is definitely his grandest achievement, the flawless end product matches his larger than life vision and creates his most complete soundscape.
Still, on most days I would rank it in second place and would have to give the nod to The College Dropout. What sets it apart from the rest of his discography is his irresistibly honest attitude to the point you might consider it naive. This is not a universe where you find yourself being a spectator who simply stands in awe of all the great things that unfold in front of you (that's what happens in MBDTF), you can easily picture yourself being in his shoes. He allows his personality to come through, be it by his attempts at being humorous/sarcastic towards the educational system and modern society and lifestyle in general or by offering us a glimpse of his more sensitive and touching side. You can relate with his agony, he has to make it big and that's his only chance. You can hear a man on a mission to change hip hop forever and that's exactly what he did. Also, I can't deny it's highly nostalgic, it introduced me to a brand new world and changed my perception of music in a way very few -if any- albums did. Sorry for spamming your thread, I tried to keep it as short as possible, I could easily write an essay on this subject.

contra

kokkinos wrote:

Hard to tell, really. Through the years I've been in endless debates – and even more times have I reflected on that question by myself - and it's not always the same answer. MBDTF is definitely his grandest achievement, the flawless end product matches his larger than life vision and creates his most complete soundscape.
Still, on most days I would rank it in second place and would have to give the nod to The College Dropout. What sets it apart from the rest of his discography is his irresistibly honest attitude to the point you might consider it naive. This is not a universe where you find yourself being a spectator who simply stands in awe of all the great things that unfold in front of you (that's what happens in MBDTF), you can easily picture yourself being in his shoes. He allows his personality to come through, be it by his attempts at being humorous/sarcastic towards the educational system and modern society and lifestyle in general or by offering us a glimpse of his more sensitive and touching side. You can relate with his agony, he has to make it big and that's his only chance. You can hear a man on a mission to change hip hop forever and that's exactly what he did. Also, I can't deny it's highly nostalgic, it introduced me to a brand new world and changed my perception of music in a way very few -if any- albums did. Sorry for spamming your thread, I tried to keep it as short as possible, I could easily write an essay on this subject.

I completely agree with you - the reason why I love The College Dropout, and rank it so much higher than Late Registration despite the two albums being very similar (and LR *is* amazing but still) is because his personality when he started out in music shines through like nothing else. There's more complication in it, more elements of his personality and his views and beliefs, and more insecurity than his later albums. This is what my ranking would be:

1. The College Dropout
2. Yeezus
3. MDBTF
4. Graduation
5. Late Registration
6. Ye / 808s
7. Jesus is King

I've still somehow never brought myself to listen to The Life of Pablo. When I started listening to his discography I was trying to immerse myself in each album as much as I could and I'm almost scared to listen to the last album I have left before I've heard everything Kanye's put out. It's weird and I should just listen to it lmao

Thumbnail. Click to enlarge.

Angles by The Strokes

One of the most divisive albums (and their second-last-rated on Best Ever Albums) by my favourite band, the Strokes Cool

To be honest, I don't understand the hate this album gets. Some of the songs are weird, and some of them try to recreate their old sound too much, and sure at this point the band does want to split, but all these things don't mean that they can't make good music. Angles soars highly most of the time, and sometimes it has to coast along in neutral, you know? None of the songs I listen to am I like, "Wow, this is bad." One of my FAVOURITE songs ever is on this album: Gratisfaction. Angless has so many bangers, it was a perfect segue between First Impressions of Earth and Comedown Machine ... and tbh it's probably the most listenable. It's basically Arctic Monkeys' Suck it and See. Yeah, I said it.

Favourite songs: Macchu Picchu, Under Cover of Darkness, Gratisfaction, Taken For a Fool, Life is Simple in the Moonlight

kokkinos

I see what you mean by avoiding to listen to The Life of Pablo. There's this element of surprise, the joy of discovering the unknown that you want to keep alive. On a similar note, I sometimes find myself reluctant to listen to an album I really like due to the fear of its appeal wearing out. Hopefully, he will release a new one soon - I 've been thinking about it lately and I really wonder how a new album would sound right now, considering what's going on both in the world in general and in his personal life.
And what to say about The Strokes, every indie band of the 00's owes something to them. Sporadic greatness, but disappointing incosistency is the title I'd give to Angles. At this point, we already knew that Is This It was their magnum opus, a once in a lifetime achievement that could by no means be surpassed, repeated or anything remotely close to that, so the natural progression of their sound and the fact that they've managed to remain relevant 6 albums and 20 years deep into their journey (taking into account their latest release, The New Abnormal, which was at the very least good, if not more) unlike most of their peers, mean that they have my utmost respect. Of course having highs and lows is much better than being average all the way through, this way you can keep the good parts ( e.g. Taken For A Fool, Under Cover of Darkness, Machu Picchu) and throw the rest.