The point of these threads is to encourage people to look for new and interesting music. We do this by listening to and ideally discussing albums we've never heard before. Many of us already listen to new music daily, these people are in it to venture "out of their comfort zone" by listening to albums they otherwise wouldn't have, or just to have a good time.
Been trying to pick up a little more guitar / some basics on piano over the past few days so I haven't had much time for new listening. But I'm maybe a mediocre musician at this point so that's good! Anyway, here's what I've gotten to this past week.
[1/3]
Keith Jarrett - Changeless (1989) >ECM Jazz
I feel like I’ve written the same review for every Jarrett album I’ve heard. SO yeah this is very pretty piano work with fun improv but ECM style jazz starts blending together if you listen to too much too quickly. A bit too much classical for my taste and doesn’t leave more than a brief impression.
3
Ornette Coleman - Ornette! (1962) >Free Jazz
I’ve gone through this album a few times and I’m not quite sure how to write a review. I’m also not 100% sure how to feel about this one. It’s a typically Coleman album which I guess doesn’t mean /much/ but it’s clearly defined by his idea that people have their own “tonal center” or whatever you want to call it. As a result, most of the musicians wander off in their own solos and play in their own key. It’s kind of a bizarre sound as a result and there’s a lot less structure than his earlier albums. The band is awesome as always, Don Cherry and Ed Blackwell do a fantastic job complimenting Coleman’s playing style. At times it gets a bit shrill with Cherry and Coleman trading off too often and I’ll admit it wanders. But it has some very cool moments and is utterly fascinating for someone like me who still doesn’t know too much about music theory. I can see myself coming back to this quite a bit, I can’t quite wrap my head around it.
3.5
Jaxon Bell
[2/3]
Lucinda Williams - Car Wheels On a Gravel Road (1998) >Americana, Alt-Country
Williams is an pretty fantastic songwriter and it’s on full display this entire album. She also has an amazing voice for this style. “Right In Time” is a hell of a way to kick this album off, she’s got some great twangy riffs and great lyrics. To me, this sits right in the perfect vibe as far as country goes, along with Wilco and I guess some of Meat Puppets. A lot of the time, country is way too twangy or sentimental for my tastes. But this leans on stories of love, heartbreak and a struggle to figure out what she likes about rural America. I think a lot of the latter is what Drive By Truckers try to accomplish but this is a lot more concise and in my mind, effective. The songs aren’t all revolving around that singular theme but there’s this curious, conflicted vibe to the album imo. Maybe that’s me projecting though.
Anyway, this is pretty damn good as far as modern country goes. The first three songs are particularly strong and make the rest of the album feel a bit weaker - but it’s actually pretty damn consistent. Worth a shot if you have any interest in this scene.
3.5
MIKE - May God Bless Your Hustle (2017) >Cloud Rap
This feels like another one of those experimental hip-hop projects that came out of cloud rap and doesn’t do anything too crazy. The beats are weird and a bit awkward which adds this experimental atmosphere. Mike himself is an alright rapper. Um, honestly this just isn’t a style I dig all that much, it sounds like a weird continuation of odd Tyler the Creator instrumentals with some vaguely Mick Jenkins-ish flow. I don’t think there’s anything bad about this, I just can’t think of anything that makes it too great either. Didn’t stick with me but I didn’t hate it.
2.5
Gavin Collins
[3/3]
Spice 1 - s/t (1992) >West Coast Hip-Hop
Man Spice 1 really was the shit for a bit wasn’t he? His first three albums are incredibly consistent, retaining similar themes, production styles and overall vibes. I mean, I don’t think there’s really a dud on any of these albums and the dude can rap his ass off. Ant Banks is one of the defining producers of the Bay and this is just proof of why. His beats are consistently some of the funkiest I’ve heard.
“Money Gone” is a prime example of what makes this guy so entertaining. There’s this super groovy, bombastic James Brown sample cycling around in the background, until it breaks down into some organ soloing for a bit. Spice has this stuttered flow (“I c-c-couldn’t g-uh-g-uh-ive a sh-sh-iiiit”) that could easily come off as obnoxious but it keeps his storytelling sound a lot lighter than it is.
Two things I love about him in particular on this album - he’s funny as fuck (on “1-800-SPICE” he parodies the use of voicemails in hip-hop skits) and he uses this reggae flow SO well. The flow he utilizes is surprisingly versatile - he’s able to go on these little comedy tears for stretches but he also uses it to add a heaviness to some of the more intense tracks.
I’d argue this is essential if you want to hear what west coast hip-hop sounded like before The Chronic. A+ from front to back, the funk influence keeps this so fun.
4
Gabriel Myers
Roy Montgomery - And Now the Rain Sounds Like Life Is Falling Down Through It (1998) >psychedelic rock, post-rock
Montgomery's style of music is bone-dry. There's little urgency to it at all, they're meditative guitar pieces that slowly drift about and rarely leave much of an impression. The whole thing has a cool, grizzled, post-Americana vibe to it, which isn't that great if so many of these tracks just do nothing. When Montgomery puts care and effort into his songwriting, he churns out a masterpiece like "Ill at Home", yet he doesn't do this nearly enough.
2.5
William Wilson
backlog chart! hoping to kickstart some new music listening in my self again
going to start the chart on new years eve with I Listen to the Wind That Obliterates My Traces, will be a cool last thing to hear this year i expect
what's good? what's bad?
Gabriel Martin
Steve Reich - Music for 18 Musicians (1978) >minimalism
Yeah, I haven't heard this before, sadly enough. I guess this not being on Spotify strayed me away from it, so as soon as ECM's whole catalogue was available to stream, I hopped on this. And it's really good, but I don't think you need some random college kid on the internet to tell you that. I can't even begin to formulate legitmate criticism about this, so I'll say that while I liked this a lot, it's not really the kind of minimalism I /love/. Reich's technique, while brilliant, rarely allows the pieces to grow into something extraordinary, they just stay in somewhat of a rut that stifles their true potentials. Still, really enjoyable and interesting.
3.0+
Alice Coltrane - Ptah, the El Daoud (1970) >spiritual jazz, avant-garde jazz
More brilliance from Coltrane. Stands as my least favorite of her three that I've heard, just a little bit lesser than the blisteringly underrated Huntington Ashram Monastery and the properly acclaimed Journey Into Satchidananda. Sanders and Henderson put in incredible work, but they dominate too much of the album. When Coltrane's piano and harp comes into the forefront, like on "Blue Nile", my favorite track of the album, it's extraordinary, but Sanders and Henderson somewhat stifle Coltrane's creativity and reel back the album into post-bop territory. I love this woman.
3.0+
Stephan Micus - The Garden of Mirrors (1997) >tribal ambient, avant-folk
I rarely hear tribal ambient that doesn't incorporate the "tribal" influences in a really stilted, tasteless manner, and this is no exception. Micus is great when he stays in his own wheelhouse (see Implosions), and this style doesn't suit him at all. It's all that generic, hokey new agey tribal stuff that you'd hear in a marketplace that reeks of hemp and incense, nothing new to it at all. It's pleasant, just really underwhelming.
2.0+
Oliver Bennett
Man I don’t recognize a single album cover on here lol
Wyatt Mitchell
>Felix Kubin & ensemble Integrales - Echohaus >Free Improv A German pop producer/sound engineer and a chamber ensemble (ensemble Integrales) produce improv from isolated rooms, listening to each other and recording their parts in areas with different acoustics and setups. The cover art communicates this with dozens of apartments lit under an eerie dark blue, separated by walls and containing who knows what.
The distant relations between all performers gives this a comfortably ambient, yet progressive performance. Tracks like Nachtschicht fur Russolo are wistful and anxious, and Fluchtweg or Smiling Buddha perfectly grasp tense moods through individual performances. Very approachable and evocative.
Will be looking more into the Dekorder label in the future.
9
>Kasper van Hoek - A Light Year of Sundays >Drone, Dark Ambient Deeply inviting and filled with deeply layered hums, this album starts like a warmer alternative to works by Kassel Jaeger. It isn't long until the comforting sounds begin to sound glassy-eyed and supressive-- there seems to be a small re-realization by the end, at least. 8
>Hala Strana - Hala Strana >Psych Folk Much like the cover suggests, this is the ACTUAL music and events a Fleet Foxes album should be trying to depict. A stained, rusted kind of beauty in both recording and instruments. Do wish they pulled back on the distorted guitar a bit.
Still, highly recommend for ANY fans of psych folk. 7+
>Heat Wave - I'M FUCKIN YOU TONIGHT >Chopped&Screwed Much more vaporwave sounding than I expected, while dipping into uncomfortable zones in what could be described as "fuck break" interludes. As sleazy and drugged out as it gets, which is a start for one of my first chopped and screwed albums. 7
James Scott
>JESSOP&CO. - ILLICIT REPRESENTATION OF THE LOCAL SELF >Electroacoustic, Sound Collage I was actually enjoying this at first, but it doesn't hold out. Started becoming more dark ambient, and therefore predictable, without really pushing into the pitch black atmospheres I've enjoyed from other recent dark ambient albums. 6-
>Terracid - Pinnacles Upoon Aesthetes In Glorious Bows >Free Folk More musically competent than Kuupuu. Michael Donnelly can actually sing when he wants to, and the acoustic ambient parts are countered by barebone and primitive melodies. 6
>Lauhkeat Lampaat - Taikaa Takataskussa >lofi hobo free improv A duo originally in a free jazz group, a single recording device replays a barrage of electronic manipulations, random objects, and folk instruments.
I believe the low rating is due to the low quality of recording, leaving out subtleties that can empower the performance... and because antiwarhol dropped a fat 1/10 on this. It's quite limited in scope for a ~30 minute album, but not necessarily the worst of improv. I like the rhythms of the metronomes or clocks, but I guess the simple nature of performance (in the same way that one would be easy to dismiss Hampus' onkyo album) is what makes it undesirable for some. 5+
>German Army - Millerite Masai >Minimal Synth Simple minimal synth, with the aftertaste of rotting meat and mud. 5
>Nick Grey & the Random Orchestra - Spin Vows Under Arch >Dark Ambient, Post Rock, Chamber Pop Flawed in the sense of how derivative and typical it is for Post Rock. A gorgeous first two tracks, but Your Greatest Hunger takes a bizarre pop approach instead. Before I knew it, the whole album began to sound like darker chamber pop, more like These New Puritans. Nothing nearly as catchy, however. 5
>Zbigniew Herbert - Pan Cogito >Spoken Word, Ambient The background, gently twirling ambiance, is promising. But I don't see a point to listening to a spoken word record if you can't understand what's being said. 4
Sebastian Smith
so ends my second doru chart
i think ill just do a normal chart of reccs from /daily/ now, up to 25 (or more if it looks good)
Brandon Walker
>:{
Nolan Ortiz
wth
Kayden Ross
Has anyone read Alex Ross's Listen to This or The Rest is Noise? I was skimming through a blog post about the later and what he says about the connections of minimalism and early experimental rock/pop and it looked like a good read.
Samuel Richardson
ive read the rest is noise good read, doesn't touch that much on the topic you mentioned but there are great chapters about music in the US, Germany and USSR before WWII
Jason Miller
...
Gabriel Sullivan
>mfw promoted to general director of the purchasing division for Eastern Europe at 25
Wew lad. Gonna be a fuck ton of work and I'm probably moving, but whatever.
Listening to new Ulver now and I'm digging this Depeche Mode album.
Liam Carter
>serge bulot-les legendes de broceliande start with that user
Charles Robinson
good luck dog!
Gavin Scott
Thank you m8!
Kayden Jenkins
b a t f i n k s some covers look p lamby, i hope you find sth cool in there
