The 100 Best Albums of the 1990s

Posted on November 16, 2020 by Very Warm

In what might be the vainest of my vanity projects, I decided to plunder the music of the 1990s, the decade of my birth, to “rank” my favorite albums. Why? It’s not like anything I list here is going to be a major breakthrough for a totally slept-on artist from the time period. These are albums you’ve seen time and time again in lists, in life, on the internet, in major music publications, etc. I bet that’s really selling you on scrolling. But I wanted to go through the 90s right now since 2020 is the perfect time for a surplus of escapist nostalgia. I also realized that I’m remarkably deficient when it comes to certain 90s classics. You’ll see the big collection of records I listened to for the first time below the big list. It’s also my damn blog so I can do whatever the hell I want. I also realized while listening to “classics” that I don’t really care about grunge or super rock-heavy records. You’ll also see I especially like certain bands, with lesser-liked records from Cocteau Twins, Beck and The Sundays taking spots over well-beloved potential inclusions.

If you’re reading this list and get mad that a certain record is in a certain position, or that something is not on there at all, consider stepping away from your computer or phone and look out a window, take a breath, and remind yourself that “this is just one person making a list of his favorite albums from the 1990s. This has no impact on my own personal views. There are really SO many records, more than 100 in fact, from that span of 10 years that are considered “classics” of many, many different genres. I can even make my own list if I want to”. It’s just that easy. Rage is not the answer anymore. Just read, delight in these classics, and slip away to not-2020 for maybe just a few minutes.

I even made a freakin’ Spotify playlist for you to listen along: HERE.

100. Oasis – (What’s The Story) Morning Glory?
99. Madonna – Ray Of Light
98. Guided By Voices – Alien Lanes
97. Arto Lindsay – Noon Chill
96. Bowery Electric – Beat
95. Weezer – Blue Album
94. Dirty Three – Ocean Songs
93. The Prodigy – The Fat of the Land
92. Belle & Sebastian – Tigermilk
91. Duster – Stratosphere
90. Teenage Fanclub – Bandwagonesque
89. Spiritualized – Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space
88. Primal Scream – Screamadelica
87. Fiona Apple – Tidal
86. American Football – American Football
85. Bark Psychosis – Hex
84. The Sundays – Blind
83. Beck – Midnite Vultures
82. Angelo Badalamenti & David Lynch – Soundtrack From Twin Peaks
81. Silver Jews – American Water
80. Smog – Knock Knock
79. Prefab Sprout – Jordan: The Comeback
78. Digable Planets – Reachin’ (A New Refutation Of Time & Space)
77. Wilco – Summerteeth
76. Tortoise – Millions Now Living Will Never Die
75. Nine Inch Nails – The Downward Spiral
74. Red House Painters – Red House Painters
73. Emmylou Harris – Wrecking Ball
72. Guided By Voices – Bee Thousand
71. Dismemberment Plant – Emergency & I
70. The Fugees – The Score
69. Insides – Euphoria
68. Built To Spill – Perfect From Now On
67. Sigur Rós – Ágætis Byrjun
66. Pavement – Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain
65. Portishead – Portishead
64. Weezer – Pinkerton
63. Boards of Canada – Music Has The Right To Children
62. Unwound – Repetition
61. Modest Mouse – The Lonesome Crowded West
60. Sleater-Kinney – Dig Me Out
59. Nirvana – Nevermind
58. The Breeders – Last Splash
57. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Murder Ballads
56. Godspeed You! Black Emperor – F#A# Infinity
55. Stereolab – Emperor Tomato Ketchup
54. Liz Phair – Exile In Guyville
53. D’Angelo – Brown Sugar
52. Tortoise – TNT
51. Jim O’Rourke – Eureka
Continue reading →

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Listen: Alan Hawkshaw & Brian Bennett – “Oddball” [1974]

Posted on November 13, 2020 by Very Warm

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: a friend of yours visits Dubai and goes to a record store. He finds an interesting looking piece in the “Highly Recommended” section. He then recommends it to you. What he found on the record has nothing to do with Dubai or the Middle East, but ALL about groovy funk, squelchy synthesizer and sick bass lines. Has this ever happened to you? PLEASE CALL ME RIGHT NOW!

Nah but seriously, this is some funky, chunky stuff. Put it on to instantly improve your day.

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2012 Retrospective

Posted on November 9, 2020 by Very Warm

The self-indulgent Retrospective series continues, this time diving into 2012, maybe THE year that my music taste fully broke and I went from a dedicated listener + hunter of new music to a depraved lunatic. Wild times here, y’all. I also started my first major relationship in early 2012 (and it’s still going! Woo!), got a job at my radio station as Assistant Music Director, went to NYC for CMJ + saw shows there for the first time, traveled to Rhode Island to see Sufjan’s Christmas show, hosted Parquet Courts and Lightning Bolt at UConn for a show, and so many more. Hope you enjoy.

Listen to the 2012 Retrospective via Spotify HERE.

  1. Pylon – “Precaution”
    Not sure exactly how, but I got REALLY into Pylon almost first thing in 2012. Shout out to Georgia.
  2. Zero 7 – “In The Waiting Line”
    Heard this watching Garden State for the first time with some friends on winter break and I thought “woah, this is real life.”
  3. Pictureplane – “Breath Work”
    A dreg from plundering 2011 lists. Haven’t enjoyed a Pictureplane album like this one since but I keep coming back to it!
  4. Koh Ohtani – “Epilogue ~Those Who Remain~”
    Shadow of the Colossus is probably my all-time favorite game and once I relaized I could listen to the soundtrack whenever I capitalized on that. Constant rotation on that.
  5. Cloud Nothings – “Wasted Days”
    I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again. How bold to put a 8:52 song second on your record. Really showed that the band changed their sound.
  6. Memory Tapes – “Plain Material”
    I don’t know why, I just listened to a lot of Memory Tapes around this time.
  7. TR/ST – “Sulk”
    At the time listening to TR/ST made me feel all sticky and dark. It still does to a certain extent but man, it was unlike anything I’d heard before. Still such a great song.
  8. Trailer Trash Tracys – “Candy Girl”
    Maybe one of the more overlooked great dream pop songs of the 2010s. Should be in everyone’s playlists, people!
  9. Schoolboy Q – “Hands On The Wheel (feat. A$AP Rocky)”
    Weed n’ brews, life for me is just weed n’ brews. Two things at the time I had never tried. But man I listened to this in the dining hall A LOT.
  10. Chairlift – “Wrong Opinion”
    Never heard the song in iPod commercial. Just heard this album and they seemed like the coolest band ever. Caroline Polachek is now everywhere and I’m ok with that.
    — — —
  11. Tennis – “Traveling”
    Big early record for my patner and I to enjoy. We got together a few months after this came out, but in the summer it was on constant rotation.
  12. Frankie Rose – “Know Me”
    THE HOOKS.
  13. John Talabot – “Oro Y Sangre”
    Why has John Talabot not made an album like this since 2012?
  14. Grimes – “Genesis”
    When I was making my Best of the Decade list, I was conferring with a friend who’s a bit older than me. Grimes came up and he said he’d never listened to Visions when it came out because it seemed like something weird only kids listen to. I think about that a lot, especially regarding a lot of music coming out right now that I initially pass off.
  15. Perfume Genius – “Hood”
    GREAT music video. Totally striking album I had the pleasure of reviewing.
  16. Sleigh Bells – “Leader of the Pack”
    Endless replay on this one for me. Second Sleigh Bells record got panned critically which probably caused me to drop it a bit, but I remember listening to it nonstop upon its release.
  17. Light Asylum – “End of Days”
    Watched a video of Light Asylum playing this at a Pitchfork/Altered Zones(!) party at the New Museum in NYC. As a MI-born, CT-collegiate kid who likes music, that was the coolest thing.
  18. Korallreven – “Sa Sa Samoa (Elite Gymnastics Remix)”
    The “Losing My Edge” of listing historical, legendary clubs? Perhaps. Does a juice place live where the Paradise Garage was? I probably don’t have the fortitude to last all night at raves like that, but man it’s fun to think about them.
  19. The Men – “Please Don’t Go Away”
    I had just recently got into The Men’s 2011 album, so this came at the perfect time. Huge favorite for me that year.
  20. The Field – “Over The Ice”
    Listening to Here We Go Sublime and “Over The Ice” while getting whipped in the face by a snowstorm? It’s real!
    — — —
  21. Mister Lies – “I Walk”
    A random Best New Track from Pitchfork yielded a lifetime favorite track for me. Just magic. Makes me feel real sad + weightless. The perfect combo of feelings most pop music tries to capture these days.
  22. Andrew Bird – “Orpheo Looks Back”
    Andrew Bird DOES. NOT. MISS. Plus, one of the few times I saw him, almost entirely playing new material, he played this song. Hell yes.
  23. Lemonade – “Neptune”
    Another rogue Best New Track that changed everything. In my top 50 most-played songs according to my iTunes.
  24. Julia Holter – “In The Same Room”
    My first proper introduction to Julia Holter. I actually tried listening to her 2011 album but it was too weird at the time. This one really hit a sweet spot.
  25. Burial – “Ashtray Wasp”
    Burial chained together my hype for 2011’s Street Halo with this perfect follow-up, one of the best EP’s he’s put out. Before my partner and I started dating I tried showing this song to her and even I didn’t know how to describe it to someone, especially one that didn’t like electronic music.
  26. Elite Gymnastics – “Here, In Heaven 4 & 5 (CFCF Remix)”
    Another plea from me to you to listen to all the Elite Gymnastics content on the internet you can find. This one sounds like a Studio Ghibli cut.
  27. Jai Paul – “Jasmine”
    I ripped it off YouTube and played it on my radio show the night it dropped. World premiere!!!
  28. Beach House – “Wild”
    Hearing this for the first time was a big moment. Sitting on my dorm bed, hearing the same drum machine on the kids keyboard I had growing up, then just the majestic sweeping guitar and synth. I knew this album was gonna be special.
  29. Chromatics – “Dust To Dust”
    Love this whole Chromatics album, but this song in particular is so cinematic and cool, makes me feel like I’m in some kind of Blade Runner “tears in the rain” scene.
  30. Kindness – “Swingin’ Party”
    Had no idea this was a Replacements cover until 2016. That’s four years.
    — — —
  31. Lone – “Raindance”
    Played this one LOUD in the air studio at my radio station. Hell yeah.
  32. Death Grips – “The Fever (Aye Aye)”
    Y’all heard of this group?
  33. Major Lazer – “Get Free (feat. Amber Coffman)”
    One of the best songs of the decade! Best thing Major Lazer has done!
  34. Japandroids – “Fire’s Highway”
    If you weren’t kicking holes in walls to Japandroids in 2012, where were you?
  35. Beck – “I Only Have Eyes For You”
    If you haven’t heard Beck’s version of “I Only Have Eyes For You” I feel bad for you son. Done for a very cool art installation at the Hirshhorn in DC called ‘SONG 1″ where they projected video over the museum’s curved outer walls. I always thought that was so cool. One of those things that was covered in Pitchfork and got me hyped. OPN did a version too. Got to visit the museum in 2016 for the first time and had a moment.
  36. Marina And The Diamonds – “Radioactive”
    I think I heard How To Dress Well’s cover first, but the original is so sick. Fuck Imagine Dragons.
  37. Killer Mike – “Big Beast (feat. Bun B, T.I. & Trouble)”
    2012-defining track. The beginning of Killer Mike (and El-P’s) dominance over my life.
  38. Hot Chip – “Ready For The Floor”
    I think this was inspired by me watching Hot Chip’s Pitchfork Fest set + them playing this song. Just an incredible earworm and an instant add to my exercise playlist at the time.
  39. Father John Misty – “Funtimes In Babylon”
    One of the first CDs I grabbed to review over the summer. Didn’t know anything about FJM at the time, but I really loved this album. Defining early summer record that traveled into early fall.
  40. King Tuff – “Bad Thing”
    Was definitely still an edgy teen at this point and was listening to music during a 4th of July fireworks event on the beach – listened to this song maybe 10 times in a row.
    — — —
  41. Laurel Halo – “Thaw”
    Absolutely morphed and shifted my entire music taste. Shout out to Ann Arbor.
  42. Mount Eerie – “Lone Bell”
    I always associate listening to this song and the Spider Houses from Majoras Mask. Anyone else?
  43. Clams Casino – “Swervin’ (Remix)”
    Clams Casino back with the hits! I later saw XV live and I kept yelling for him to play this song, but then I realized this was a remix, not the original instrumental to the song. Woops.
  44. Hot Chip – “Flutes”
    More Hot Chip. Huge 2012-defining song. I’ll always think of 2012 when this comes on. When I covered a show for a friend, I definitely played this one. I think my good friend & old roommate also references 2012 with this song. Big moment for sure.
  45. Fiona Apple – “Werewolf”
    I wasn’t a full-on Fiona fan at that point, only really listening to “Criminal”, but The Idler Wheel shaped my summer fully.
  46. Ty Segall Band – “Slaughterhouse”
    I think I was a casual fan of Ty Segall until 2012, when he really established his dominance with three albums. The Ty Segall Band record is still far and away my favorite, with the title track being a huge powerhouse.
  47. DIIV – “Doused”
    Still slaps! Ultimate slapper! Seeing them perform this and go super hard later in October was a year highlight.
  48. Frank Ocean – “Pyramids”
    If your 2012 didn’t include freaking out to this song, what happened?
  49. Purity Ring – “Amenamy”
    Maybe the first vinyl record I ever pre-ordered. It came with a little polaroid from the band that I still have in the sleeve. I don’t think the whole album still holds up but there are still the hits.
  50. Trash Talk – “Awake”
    I would do planks to the entirety of this song in my room over the summer after doing the elliptical for 30 mins. Aside from that, all I did during the summer of 2012 was play Fire Emblem games, listen to music as the Assistant Music Director and goof around with my partner.
    — — —
  51. Baroness – “March to the Sea”
    Killer guitar solo dude!!
  52. Royal Headache – “Psychotic Episode”
    I miss Royal Headache.
  53. TNGHT – “Higher Ground”
    This absolutely blew my mind when it first came out and accompanied every single run. If this comes on, my mind immediately goes to 2012.
  54. Captain Murphy – “Mighty Morphin’ Foreskin”
    The mystery of Captain Murphy was an exciting one. I wonder if the press outlets knew it was FlyLo from the start. If they did, they did a really good job at making it mysterious. I later saw FlyLo perform some Captain Murphy songs live in 2017 and it was a really big moment. Just an aside, he also mixed the Twin Peaks and Ghost In The Shell themes together and my brain exploded.
  55. Moons – “Waves At Night”
  56. Meadowlands – “Oye”
    These are two sort of hidden gems from Gorilla Vs Bear, two things I’ve continued to put in playlists and feature on the blog since their release in 2012. I didn’t see any other outlets post about these two, so it’s kind of like they’re my special secret. It makes me think about how other people who crawled blogs at the time likely have rogue mp3s of bands that didn’t end up going anywhere and don’t exist anywhere else anymore. An era lost, except for those that carry mp3s in locket-like libraries.
  57. Ryan Hemsworth – “SLOWED SUMMER MIX”
    This doesn’t exist on the internet anymore but Ryan Hemsworth, if you’re reading this, please re-release for the public to hear. Previously a free download from Scion (the car company?) this kind of summarized where things were at in 2012, with free mixtape, album and mix downloads from Soundcloud being posted about on blogs. In terms of subject matter, it engages my nerd self with samples from Legend of Zelda and Donkey Kong Country (most notably features Rick Ross over the main map theme from DKC2) along with lots of great hip hop like Kendrick Lamar and Juicy J.
  58. The Velvet Underground – “The Gift”
    Had never listened to White Light/White Heat until late summer 2012. “The Gift” turned into an obsession. I may have been re-reading J.D. Sallinger at the same time. Good timing.
  59. Black Moth Super Rainbow – “Forever Heavy”
    Do you remember the first time you heard Black Moth Super Rainbow? Do you remember he first time hearing that Tom Fec is straight-edge? Fuck yeah dude.
  60. Dan Deacon – “True Thrush”
    After being weirded out by Mr. Deacon from the friend’s recommendation, his 2012 album redeemed it in a big way. Also loved the music video for this one.
    — — —
  61. Wild Nothing – “Midnight Song”
    This album came out right as school was starting back up – sophomore year of college! Wild times! Felt like the coolest dude in the solar system playing this on the radio.
  62. Swans – “Mother Of The World”
    Never heard Swans before. It made me feel like a malformed giant.
  63. Grizzly Bear – “Sleeping Ute”
    Grizz was basically the first “indie rock” band I got into, so their first album into my continue dig into “indie” music meant a lot. This song in particular has moments that I still think about, particularly the percussion and wild sound effects in the background, like the sound of something sliding down a metal wire and clacking into a wooden wall, or the bubbling, brooding synth, or the bright flashbulbs of guitar. It’s a cinematic, black and white, oversaturated, drama of a song.
  64. Merchandise – “In Nightmare Room”
    A year-alterer for sure. Totally morphed my fall listening. Later I saw them at a local record store play one of the loudest sets I’ve ever seen, even with Carson, the lead singer, sticking toilet paper in his ears. Those sets are on YouTube somewhere and you can see me looking very self-conscious and trying to be cool, desperately failing.
  65. Taken By Trees – “Only You”
    Ok, this is just so good and so overlooked. Dubby, tropical, syrupy pop music. Had the pleasure of reviewing this for my radio station and gushed for a while. It was pretty much all weirdo art punks at the time so they probably thought I was lame for loving this, but hoo-wee, it’s still a big fav of mine.
  66. Melody’s Echo Chamber – “Quand Vas Tu Rentrer?”
    Another constant radio show album.
  67. Death Grips – “Lock Your Doors”
    I’ll admit it, I locked onto the goose chase on /mu prior to this album coming out. The fake links, the fake pictures, the conspiracy theories, the scavenger hunt, the deep web (I didn’t go on the deep web, but hearing about people going on looking for DG things), and remember getting up EARLY and seeing this album dropped, trying to download before class and annoying my sleeping roommate. It was a moment that few people took part in (compared to the fanbase now) and I don’t think anything like it could happen now. That’s probably ignoring artists that 20-year olds are listening to now, but it was thrilling. I haven’t gone on /mu for about 6-7 years now, but NO LOVE DEEP WEB was probably the defining piece of work of that period.
  68. Hundred Waters – “Visitor”
    One of those moments where I chose this CD to review for the radio station and it changed my life. Hundred Waters (“Hundo”) continue to be one of my favorite bands and this album is a highly underrated piece of the 2010s indie pop canon. I also remember being turned away from Pianos at CMJ 2012 because I was underage. Just wanted to see Hundo, god damnit.
  69. Submerse – “Tears”
    Burial but on just a bit of uppers.
  70. Tame Impala – “Apocalypse Dreams”
    What a perfect lead single. I was into Tame on their debut, but this showed a step up in every dimension. Something I played on my radio show every week. I remember standing in line for UConn Union taco salad and sharing an earbud with a friend like “dude you have to hear this right now”.
    — — —
  71. Boris – “ブラックアウト”
    This is one of those songs where it hits you IMMEDIATELY. Like instant attention grabber. Maybe the first “sludge metal” song I’d ever heard. Later saw them perform this album in its entirety in 2016. Maybe the foggiest show I’ve ever been to.
  72. Snowing – “Pump Fake”
    I tried to get into emo for a bit. I don’t listen to emo anymore!
  73. Kendrick Lamar – “Bitch, Don’t Kill My Vibe”
    Dabbled in Section .80 when it came out the year prior, but was obviously in for Good Kid. I remember listening to this album on a train into NYC EARLY in the morning and was really really into it.
  74. Mac DeMarco – “My Kind of Woman”
  75. Mac DeMarco – “Ode To Viceroy”
    Ok, my posting of Mac DeMarco here serves as a landmark for not only 2 coming out but also my first CMJ experience. First off, playing Mac during any get-together in college was an instant win. It was before he saturated through everything. It was sick. Second, CMJ was amazing or me, even though I wasn’t 21 yet. I got to experience going to shows in NYC and Brooklyn for the first time, seeing GZA, Killer Mike, Mac DeMarco, Chairlift, DIIV, The Antlers, Andy Stott, Kilo Kish, Sky Ferreira, so many more. Foundational stuff. Thinking back to it now – NYC was about to get rocked by Hurricane Sandy and change forever. Looking back at old lineups from CMJ 2012 and it’s insane. All the venues that don’t exist anymore. All the hyped bands that have faded. Kind of sad, but warm. I miss that time, but I recognize things will never be that way.
  76. Andy Stott – “Numb”
    Filled in for someone’s show during Hurricane Sandy of all things and played this – felt very eerie as wind shrieked outside. I had just seen him spin live in a dome at CMJ with horror movies playing on a huge projector.
  77. Parquet Courts – “Stoned And Starving”
    I’d like to think myself and UConn folks were “Parquet Courts early adopters” as they played a WHUS show with a local hardcore band, Lemonade and Lightning Bolt. They were the second band up. Bought this LP off A. Savage, a real cool dude. In this same show I got to hang out briefly with the Brians of Lightning Bolt and that was so cool.
  78. Aphex Twin – “Blue Calx”
    Aphex Twin albums that aren’t Selected Ambient Works 85-92? They exist!
  79. Mustafa Ozkent Orchestre – “Uskudar”
    Started toying at the idea of having a world music show at my radio station once I downloaded a worldly things, like this funk album from Turkey. Turkish funk is fantastic and I highly recommend you all take a journey. Either way, the world music show did happen and it was a load of fun.
  80. Liar – “Bruised Knee (feat. Borealis)”
    Just a song I was obsessed with that year. Not many folks I know have listened to this, it’s great electronic, folks!
    — — —
  81. Laraaji – “The Dance #2”
    Realizing there are other Brian Eno ambient albums? Who’s Laraaji? (cut to five years later). Ohhhh
  82. Stardust – “Music Sounds Better With You”
    Ok if you’ve heard this song you know the first time someone hears it, it’s a MOMENT.
  83. Hallelujah Chicken Run Band – “Manheru Changamire”
    More world music! This time a great Zimbabwean band that I’d play a cut from at least once a week.
  84. El Polen – “Mi Cueva”
    GREAT psychedelic folk from the mountains of Peru. Just recently put on streaming! I bought a CD copy of this on Discogs for probably $40 and then realized they reissued the vinyl and then bought that for probably $35. Such a fantastic record I own it on two formats. Would play often on my world music show.
  85. Macintosh Plus – “リサフランク420 / 現代のコンピュー”
    Vaporwave, the internet, fashion, life, the world… was never the same again.
  86. Yo La Tengo – “Autumn Sweater”
    Listened to I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One for the first time. That did some things.
  87. The Microphones – “The Pull”
    Started diving deep into Phil Elverum’s work around this time. It Was Hot is a good album.
  88. Miguel – “Do You…”
    “Do you like drugs? Do you like hugs? Me too.”
  89. Glocca Mora – “Y’all Boots Hats? (Die Angry)”
    More emo I don’t listen to now.
  90. Dean Blunt – “The Narcissist (feat. Inga Copeland)”
    I’m gonna be a basic loser and say this is Dean Blunt’s best song.
    — — —
  91. Jessica Pratt – “Night Faces”
    Fall and Jessica Pratt’s first album? You gotta be kidding me!
  92. TOPS – “Turn Your Love Around”
    A late addition to the 2012 canon, but man it changed my tastes forever. While this wasn’t my all-time favorite of theirs, it put them on the map and primed me for their landmark follow-up in 2014. I’ve seen them live five or six times at this point.
  93. Le Tigre – “Deceptacon”
    I saw this popped into my library around this time. I forget what exactly got me to download this one specific song, but it must have been something good.
  94. Have A Nice Life – “Bloodhail”
    Huge for me, and it helped a lot of other music nerds at the radio station also knew HANL. It helped that they were from CT.
  95. Wu Fei – “Cloud Of Birds”
    One of my favorite finds from my world music mining days. Gorgeous zheng playing.
  96. Burial – “Rough Sleeper”
    Hilariously this came out near the end of 2012 and after one listen it was my “favorite track of 2012”. That was obviously in the heat of the moment (it’s still great, fantastic even) but it’s not my favorite track of the year. Gotta go back and edit. Burial had a great year though with this and Kindred.
  97. Hop Along – “Tibetan Pop Stars”
    Listened to Get Disowned near the end of 2012 and kind of lumped it into the emo stuff I was getting into at the time. No no no, it would grow into something much more.
  98. Solange – “Losing You”
    Played this on multiple new music radio shows at the end of the year. So fun to blast in the air studio and dance around to.
  99. Kidkanevil & Daisuke Tanabe – “MoOoOoOn”
    Super lovely minimal/micro-house album that not too many people know about.
  100. Cocteau Twins – “Cherry-Coloured Funk”
    I remember listening to Heaven Or Las Vegas for the first time right at the end of 2012. I had heard Treasure in high school and thought it was fine. This unlocked, shall we say, an obsession with Cocteau Twins.
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Recommended Albums: October 2020

Posted on November 8, 2020 by Very Warm

October felt like nothing at all. Despite housing my birthday and a big holiday, nothing much seemed to have happened. Even the weather wasn’t super fall-like. 2020 really does have to do it to us like that I guess. What I did find though were a bunch of albums I had no idea I was going to love, along with a few handy standbys coming through with the goodness. I was totally floored by the Better Person and Sea Oleena albums right out of the gate, whereas Eartheater’s kept creeping up on me. Lots of lovely, lush music on this month’s edition of Recommended Albums. I also enjoyed records from Gorillaz (best since Plastic Beach, and that makes me happy), Joel Ross, Actress and Southern Shores. Shout out to all y’all.

Adrianne Lenker – songs [4AD]
Autumn-colored dead leaves spill out from behind framed pictures of family, flood old photo albums and pile out of closets and crawlspaces as you lay in the middle of your living room floor.

Better Person – Something To Lose [Arbutus]
Streetlights streaking across empty city blocks as tears cloud your field of vision as you run back home from an emotional date.

Deep Sea Diver – Impossible Weight [High Beam]
A roaring sea current follows you through city streets and rural pastures, the tide always just lapping at your feet.

Eartheater – Phoenix: Flames Are Dew Upon My Skin [PAN]
A shapeless smoke druid acts as a siren to the River Styx, luring unwitting travelers to their doom once they touch the swirling currents.

Gunn-Truscinski Duo – Soundkeeper [Three Lobed]
Building a monolithic structure in the middle of the desert without instructions or tools, only wild momentum-based techniques.

Mary Lattimore – Silver Ladders [Ghostly International]
Watching a beautiful meteor shower crest over Earth’s surface as you float through space.

North Americans – Roped In [Third Man]
A hidden waterfall cascades currents filled multi-colored flower petals, causing river banks to be peppered with pops of bright color for a good country mile.

Róisín Murphy – Róisín Machine [Skint/BMG]
A time-bending dance party on a futuristic submarine somehow elongates the life of its participants, allowing them to dance until the end of time.

Sea Oleena – Weaving A Basket [Self-Released]
Watching wisps of smoke from a blown-out candle trail and mix into the starry sky.

Wendy Eisenberg – Auto [Ba Da Bing!]
Building a ladder out of a hole in the Earth with assorted objects that have been thrown into it and you fantasize about all the good times you’ll have once you’re out, only to have it toppling down from passing semi-trucks.

GR8 SONGS OF OCTOBER 2020:

  • Actress – “Angel’s Pharmacy (feat. Zsela)”
  • Actress – “Loose (feat. Rebekah Christel)”
  • Actress – “Save”
  • Adrianne Lenker – “anything”
  • Adrianne Lenker – “come”
  • Adrianne Lenker – “heavy focus”
  • Azymuth, Adrian Younge & Ali Shaheed Muhammad – “Apocalíptico”
  • Better Person – “Close To You”
  • Better Person – “Hearts On Fire”
  • Better Person – “Something To Lose”
  • The Budos Band – “Sixth Hammer”
  • Cut Worms – “Sold My Soul”
  • Cut Worms – “Veteran’s Day”
  • Deep Sea Diver – “Impossible Weight (feat. Sharon Van Etten)”
  • Deep Sea Diver – “Lightning Bolts”
  • Eartheater – “How To Fight”
  • Ela Minus – “Close (feat. Helado Negro)”
  • Emma Ruth Rundle & Thou – “Ancestral Recall”
  • Gorillaz – “Désolé (Extended Version) (feat. Fatoumata Diawara)”
  • Gunn-Truscinski Duo – “Gam”
  • Gunn-Truscinski Duo – “Pyramid Merchandise”
  • Helena Deland – “Lylz”
  • Isola – “Any Day (Main Mix)”
  • Joel Ross – “Home”
  • Loma – “Half Silences”
  • Machinedrum – “The Relix (feat. Rochelle Jordan)”
  • Magik Markers – “You Can Find Me”
  • Mary Lattimore – “Silver Ladders”
  • Mary Lattimore – “Til A Mermaid Drags You Under”
  • North Americans – “Furniture In The Valley”
  • Róisín Murphy – “Jealousy”
  • Róisín Murphy – “Murphy’s Law”
  • Salem – “Sears Tower”
  • Sam Amidon – “Maggie”
  • Sea Oleena – “Lost Song”
  • Sea Oleena – “On Possession”
  • Surprise Chef – “The Limp”
  • Tobacco – “Chinese Aquarius”
  • Wendy Eisenberg – “Centreville”
  • Wendy Eisenberg – “The Star”
  • Working Men’s Club – “Valleys”
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Listen: Surprise Chef – “The Limp” [2020]

Posted on November 2, 2020 by Very Warm

I feel like we’ve been blessed with a lot of great jazz/funk this year. Seems like it’s become a VERY cool thing to post about on blogs + listen to in playlists. Not gonna lie, I’m in that group! I’ve been looking for music for my October Recommended Albums post, and while I don’t think this new album from Melbourne’s Surprise Chef will make it in, I wanted to highlight it because it’s really really well done. Super tight rhythm section, awesome percussion, bulletproof mellotron, and a great guitar tone. These guys have it going on. 70s jazzfunk that feels like a score to a movie that you NEED to see.

You can check the whole album out on their Bandcamp HERE. They released another album earlier this year I haven’t checked out yet too, so y’all can beat me to it.

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2011 Retrospective

Posted on October 30, 2020 by Very Warm

Cruising along through the missing pieces of my 2010s musical experience (previously, the 2010 Retrospective) and going into a very pivotal year that was 2011. To make any reader feel baby, old or just right: in 2011 I graduated high school, moved states, started college, and continued to build my blog and music repertoire.

What you’ll find here: a lot of 2011 standout singles, rogue older things I decided to get into, along with narration on where in my life these songs hit me. Whether it was during cleaning my childhood home and watching new families tour through it, graduating high school, picking songs to put on the final mix CD for my friends, spending a summer in limbo and driving around my hometown, navigating the new alien world of “Connecticut” and making new friends at college, the music here kept me company throughout. I hope this brings joy to anyone reading, but especially my friends that were with me through these times – hope I can suck you back in and take you out of 2020 for a bit. Again, a fully self-indulgent experience, but it’s fun for me to recreate these roadmaps. It might inspire you to do the same.

See other Retrospectives here: 2010 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019

  1. Zoo Kid – “Out Getting Ribs”
    Showed this to a friend in high school who would bring it up at lunch at least once a week: “Dude, that song, man!”. I wonder if he still reads my blog. Speaking of this song though, I just added the 7″ to my Discogs wantlist like a dumbass.
  2. Björk – “Army Of Me”
    Buying a used Post CD at FYE? Priceless. Showing all my classic rock friends “Army Of Me” and being like “lol this is the “Levee” drum break”. Essential.
  3. Slint – “Breadcrumb Trail”
    Buying a used Spiderland CD at FYE? Priceless. Getting steamrolled by “Breadcrumb Trail” late at night? Essential. I don’t think I even realized it was just about a roller coaster the whole time until a few months later.
  4. Purity Ring – “Ungirthed”
    Talk about a debut single. This blew my mind the first time I heard it and was a hopeless Purity Ring stan until about 2013 or 2014. Still have never seen them live. Shame.
  5. Lemon Demon – “BRODYQUEST”
    If you think of me from Winter/Spring 2011, you’ll likely think of “BRODYQUEST”, a video made by Neil Cicierega of a jpeg of Adrien Brody “walking” across various static landscapes. The point is this amazing song. I would play this after school on some portable speakers. Looking back, it was cringey but like, this is high school. It was awesome. The thing was most of my friends were into it too so, whatever.
  6. Smith Westerns – All Die Young”
    This record came out at the perfect time: senior year of high school, moving to another state later, trying to cement friendships and letting some wilt away. Driving around a small town after get-togethers thinking “is this the last time I’ll see this person?” So dramatic as a high schooler.
  7. Radiohead – “Morning Mr. Magpie”
    There was a period of time when I tried to defend this Radiohead album. That time has passed.
  8. The Strokes – “Under Cover of Darkness”
    There was a period of time when I tried to defend this Strokes album. That time has passed.
  9. Destroyer – “Kaputt”
    Would become a bigger thing later in the 2010s but back when this dropped I knew it was something sepcial.
  10. PJ Harvey – “Written On The Forehead”
    Until her 2011 album, I had never heard of PJ Harvey. Ain’t life crazy like that?
    — — —
  11. Cut Copy – “Need You Now”
    BIG winter-warming record. One of my most listened-to in early 2011.
  12. James Blake – “The Wilhelm Scream”
    LOVE the build up in this song, gradually getting more intense as it builds. I remember this album had just come out or was about to come out and I went to my local record store and asked if they had James Blake and they said “no because I have no clue who that is, he’s a nobody”. Cool.
  13. Toro Y Moi – “New Beat”
    I think my first ever tweet was about dancing to this song. I even tagged Toro Y Moi. They didn’t fav it.
  14. Jai Paul – “BTSTU”
    Heard this first during my independent study class in the school library. Listened to it maybe 10 times in a row. Showed it to every friend, acquaintance I encountered after. Probably my favorite song from 2011?
  15. Tyler, The Creator – “Yonkers”
    If your 2011 didn’t involve seeing the music video for this song and then the Jimmy Fallon performance – woah. Props to you. Instantly put me in the “GOLF WANG” camp.
  16. Fleet Foxes – “Helplessness Blues”
    Came out at the perfect time – spring 2011. Will always remind me of it with more sun, thawing snow, buds on trees. Also driving to take AP tests. Not great!
  17. Yuck – “Get Away”
    Even in 2011 I was like “there is no way Yuck will ever make a song as good as this”.
  18. Lady Gaga – “Born This Way”
    I was DEEP into Lady Gaga in 2011. Born This Way is good.
  19. Gang Gang Dance – “Mindkilla”
    I could either put this song or “Glass Jar”, but this song really totaled my brain when I first heard it.
  20. Tune-Yards – “Gangsta”
    Was kinda into Bird-Brains when it came out, but this set my brain on fire. Rushed to a friend’s house to show them and they were instantly like “yeah this sucks”. Ah, well, nevertheless!
    — — —
  21. Lykke Li – “I Follow Rivers”
    Is this a sorority thing now? It was a big Hype Machine thing for me.
  22. The Black Keys – “Everlasting Light”
    Got back into The Black Keys around this time. Still a great song!
  23. Kurt Vile – “Baby’s Arms”
    Woah cool guitar sound dude. First time I was really paying attention to Kurt Vile.
  24. Tim Hecker – “In The Air III”
    Ravedeath, 1972 was my introduction to Tim Hecker – a good start! I remember playing this for my AP Psych class in a presentation for some reason, maybe it was about the imagination? About ears and the brain? Not sure, but I told people to close their eyes and imagine where they’d be and then asked people what they felt after. My teacher was so into the whole thing. Just never been immersed in a track like this before.
  25. Hooray For Earth – “True Loves”
    Hooray For Earth – underrated 2010s band. I think their 2014 album is their best, but this was a fav free mp3 download at the time.
  26. Friendly Fires – “Live Those Days Tonight”
    I think I exercised to this song in he spring of 2011. Just a huge song.
  27. The Dodos – “Black Night”
    Main thing I think about with this track is playing the new Pokemon and cleaning my house for realtor tours. Thanks, The Dodos.
  28. The Weeknd – “What You Need”
    One cannot think of 2011 without thinking of The Weeknd and his myserious debut that was a FREE download. Although I prefer “The Morning” off this album, “What You Need” was the first track I heard and I think I was swayed by Pitchfork into liking this. However, I still really do love this project. I was happy I could pick out two Beach House samples.
  29. Jamie Woon – “Lady Luck”
    I remember listening to this song maybe 10 times in a row during a computer class.
  30. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart – “Belong”
    Teenager anthem for the 10s. Come on, obviously!
    — — —
  31. White Denim – “Burnished”
    Shout out to Gorilla Vs. Bear for covering White Denim when no one else did.
  32. Battles – “Africastle”
    I remember parking on someone’s lawn for a grad party and just staying in my car to listen to probably half of this Battles album for the first time. People just walking by and looking at me while the back half of “Africastle” just rips my car apart.
  33. Fucked Up – “The Other Shoe”
    Mowed the lawn to this album once. I put the earbuds underneath shotgun shell earmuffs and really couldn’t hear anything else. Just me and Damian. Finally saw this song live eight years later.
  34. Bon Iver – “Holocene”
    Early summer 2011 and no Bon Iver? I gotta be concerned about your motives, dude. Wasn’t all in on this album but man I listened to it a bunch.
  35. Cold Cave – “The Great Pan Is Dead”
    I think maybe after the second or thid listen I was belting along with this song in my car.
  36. The Joy Formidable – “Whirring”
    If you don’t know this song… please change that.
  37. Panda Bear – “Afterburner”
    The main thing that comes to mind when I listen to this are humid Michigan springs. Like it’s cold and cloudy and HUMID. How weird!
  38. Charli XCX – “Nuclear Seasons”
    Baby’s first Charli XCX song he liked.
  39. Shabazz Palaces – “Free Press And Curl”
    Hilariously, this was the frist song I ever remember listening to on NPR’s First Listen / streaming thing. I attempted in the driveway of my house on my new Verizon “smart phone” and it kept buffering and it sounded BAD (my phone was bad). To this day amazing album. Just thinking about me trying to listen to this on 3G via NPR First Listen though, classic 2011.
  40. Gorillaz – “Bobby In Phoenix”
    Huge Gorillaz fan was disappointed for the first time with The Fall. Revisited it and “Bobby In Phoenix” is unbeatably the best song.
    — — —
  41. Daft Punk – “Da Funk / Daftendirekt (Live)”
    Bought Alive 2007 on a whim after seeing it on sale at Best Buy when I initially went to buy blank CDs to burn final mixes for friends. I had been a big fan of Discovery all summer, so this wasn’t a left field purchase. I didn’t realize that this would turn into being maybe my all-time favorite live album? Such great mixes of songs and the reactions from the crowd push it over the edge. Can’t even imagine being at one of these shows. The 00s were a crazy, irony-free zone compared to now, eh?
  42. The Flaming Lips – “See The Leaves”
    Would drive around my small town of Saline, MI BLASTING this song with my windows down. Seeing Flaming Lips around this time was also truly foundational.
  43. Ty Segall – “You Make The Sun Fry”
  44. Washed Out – “Amor Fati”
  45. Unknown Mortal Orchestra – “How Can U Luv Me”
    This little couplet of songs acts as a representative of “the cobbled libary”. The scene is the following: my house is gutted by the moving crew, aside from the few personal things my sister, my mom and I were taking to the hotel we’d be living at for the month of July. I had just bought my first laptop computer for college. All of my music library exists on my parents desktop computer, in a truck, going to the East Coast. I accidentally “restore” my iPod with all my music on it, effectively deleting everything, leaving me with no music except for the few CDs I held onto in my car. The rest of my library was then cobbled together with free mp3 downloads from Pitchfork, Stereogum, GvsB, and other music blogs. I’d listen to these few Ty Segall, UMO, Washed Out, Peaking Lights, Grimes, Thundercat, etc, over and over driving around. They represent a time when I was forcible separated from classic rock and went right into the new new stuff.
  46. Cut Copy – “Blink And You’ll Miss A Revolution (Toro Y Moi Remix)”
    Forget when I encountered this remix but damn it’s great. Listen if you haven’t. Not on streaming.
  47. Elite Gymnastics – “Here, In Heaven”
    Didn’t become a full obsession until later but I wish Elite Gymnastics put out more music.
  48. Youth Lagoon – “Montana”
    Bonded with Youth Lagoon on Twitter because our name’s are Trevor. That felt cool.
  49. Real Estate – “It’s Real”
    Ok this one is obvious. 2011 and “It’s Real”? Ultimate summer jam.
  50. Clams Casino – “I’m God (Instrumental)”
    Wait ok, THIS one is obvious. I think I downloaded this from YouTube initially. Still an A+ song.
    — — —
  51. Araabmuzik – “Streetz Tonight”
    The fact that Electronic Dream is not on streaming will deprive zoomers Araabmuzik’s impact on early 10s electronic music and that makes me sad.
  52. Lana Del Rey – “Video Games”
    I was ALL IN on Lana for most of 2011. I listened to “Video Games” endlessly. My most-viewed post on my blog, historically, is a Lana Del Rey post (mostly because the Google algorithm brought the image I was hosting up in the first page?). After that SNL performance I was like “ok this has been fun”. But man, in the moment? Nothing was better than this. I tstill think it’s pretty bulletproof.
  53. Little Dragon – “Ritual Union”
    The little reoww-ruuuu” sound is classic. Loved seeing them perform this like eight years later for the first time.
  54. Gauntlet Hair – “Top Bunk”
    Gauntlet hair – underrated band! HUGE summer fav for me. Bold, bodacious sounds just cluttering up the mix. It’s awesome.
  55. Ford & Lopatin – “Too Much MIDI (Please Forgive Me)”
    Bought this CD from a record store in Philly. Huge pickup. Blasted in my car for the whole summer. Hugely overlooked record IMO. Just a great messed up summer drivin’ song.
  56. M83 – “Midnight City”
    If you were “too cool” for this song in 2011, come on man. It’s also fair to not like it. But man, this song. OH – I remember being on Reddit talking about this song being like “i’m about to be a college freshman I can’t wait to walk around on campus to this and think about how great of an adult I’ll be” and someone responded like “wow you just won the internet good sir”. Another time, another age. I think if I didn’t meet my partner in 2012 I would have become a Reddit bro.
  57. St. Vincent – “Surgeon”
    I remember to “unlock” the premiere of this song we had to tweet #strangemercy or #stvincent a bunch of times. I wish I still had my old Twitter account to see what I was doing or that + how many times I did it. Either way, the first taste of new St. V since Actor was a special one. Still a big favorite of mine.
  58. Das Racist – “Michael Jackson”
    Michael Jackson? A million dollars? You feel me? Holler. This was a Facebook status.
  59. The Rapture – “How Deep Is Your Love?”
    Put this song on the final mixCD I gave to some close friends before I moved. Thought I was being real deep and stuff. Still a great song. I think I stood next to the lead singer of The Rapture at a Todd Terje concert at Terminal 5 in 2015. Very odd memory.
  60. Burial – “Stolen Dog”
    Picturing helping my mom navigate driving from Michigan to Connecticut mostly in the rain with a dog and guinea pig in tow. Listened to Burial’s Street Halo EP over and over, a solemn but driving three-track EP that instantly brings back sensations like the feel of the old carpet in the hotel we stayed at, the smells of my friends’ homes and experiencing NYC-area traffic for the first time.
    — — —
  61. Crystal Antlers – “Two-Way Mirror”
  62. Wild Beasts – “Invisible”
  63. Handsome Furs – “Damage”
  64. When Saints Go Machine – “Kelly”
  65. Beat Connection – “In The Water”
    I associate this quintet of songs with the short month I spent living at my parents new house in Connecticut after moving from Michigan, and starting college. I pulled them from maybe Under The Radar’s list of Best Tracks of 2011 So Far, or I Think I’m Floating (RIP). Definitely trawled some blog that definitely doesn’t exist anymore. Anyways, I spent that time playing Portal 2, being sad I’m not in Michigan anymore, and unpacking just to re-pack for college.
  66. CSS – “Hits Me Like A Rock”
    Vividly remember pulling up to my freshman dorm on move-in day listening to this song. Feeling very overwhelmed, intimidated and uncool. Trying to capture some mojo.
  67. The Caretaker – “Libet’s Delay”
    I remember putting this on out loud in my freshman dorm room and thinking I was really cool, although there was no context besides my roommate thinking I was playing like, oldies? Either way, shout out to Altered Zones.
  68. Dan Deacon – “Woof Woof”
    Dan Deacon’s Bromst was the first album a new friend at college recommended me. I think it was because I said I liked Animal Collective? Anyways, at the time I would always go to sleep listening to music. One night I woke up in the middle of the night and “Woof Woof” had come on shuffle and I was so incredibly confused. I think I told my friend the next day like “I just woke up with all these weird cartoon woofs and meows with a wild pitched up voice” and he just laughed at me. I love this album now. Oh and later I met this friend’s hometown/high school friends, who had pictures online at a Dan Deacon concert, so I thought they were the coolest people ever. Still friends. Phew.
  69. Girls – “Alex”
    I wish more people remembered Girls!
  70. Neon Indian – “Polish Girl”
    Era Extraña is incredibly underrated. Also counts for a 2012 song, as it was he first song I ever played on the radio.
    — — —
  71. Young Galaxy – “We Have Everything”
    Classic tune for me. Young Galaxy is an amazing group. Put it on maybe every early college mix.
  72. Cut Copy – “Hearts On Fire”
    I got into Cut Copy’s 2011 album in a big way, but neglected to check out their previous one for no reason. This song still slaps and might be on my current exercise playlist.
  73. The Decemberists – “Mariner’s Revenge Song”
    My freshman year roommate (still a very close friend!) was super into The Decemberists at the time. I was a dabbler. He showed me “Mariner’s Revenge Song” and I was like ok this is a good band.
  74. Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti – “Bright Lit Blue Skies”
    I vividly remember scurrying from class to class in a packed freshman year schedule and listening to Before Today over and over. Again, still a fantastic album!
  75. Burial & Massive Attack – “Paradise Circus”
    I remember sneak-listening to this song during an English class when it dropped. We were in the library watching a movie? Maybe? I thought it was the coolest thing.
  76. Grimes – “Oblivion”
    “Y’all ever heard of this up-and-coming artist Grimes?” – Trevor in 2011. I knew when I heard this that it was gonna be HUGE.
  77. Future Islands – “Balance”
    Lots of nice memories walking around campus to this song. Hell yeah.
  78. Born Gold – “Decimate Everything”
    Oh look, it’s GOBBLE GOBBLE from my 2010 list. Their debut as Born Gold still holds a special place in my heart and this was a HUGE favorite from the year. Still a fantastic song.
  79. Beyoncé – “Countdown”
    I was definitely a “pop is crap” person until about 2010, so a new Beyoncé album was a cool moment to live through. Imagine if social media was at the height it’s at now when this came out.
  80. Tycho – “Hours”
    This song still holds up so hard. HUGE college freshman track for me.
    — — —
  81. Korallreven – “As Young As Yesterday”
  82. Sleep ∞ Over – “Romantic Streams”
    Two very cool albums I reviewed for my radio station’s new music committee. I vaguely knew of these two bands from Gorilla Vs Bear, but the fact I got a Hippos In Tanks CD at the station felt especially cool. Korallreven album is a BIG 2011 for me – I gotta re-rank the albums from that year.
  83. Azealia Banks – “212”
    Even if she’s problematic as hell, we still have this song and its music video.
  84. The Goat Rodeo Sessions – “Attaboy”
    Chris Thile, Yo-Yo Ma, Edgar Meyer and Stuart Duncan on a project together? Ultimate nerd-dom for me. Me and a few friends were obsessed with this track in particular. I remember playing this for my radio station’s new music committee too and being very passionate about it, even though no one there cared about bluegrass/nu-grass.
  85. A$AP Rocky – “Bass”
    Transport yourself to late 2011 and think about how ASAP Mob were EVERYWHERE. Clams Casino was having a huge year and he was about to get bigger too. “Bass” was my first introduction – this mixtape was a free download! I remember showing it to a friend and we were both like “woah, what even is this??” Wild to think about that nine years later.
  86. Mazzy Star – “Common Burn”
    Baby’s first introduction to Mazzy Star. I remember listening to this in a dining hall on a rainy fall day – that was a vibe.
  87. My Bloody Valentine – “When You Sleep”
    Wrote a paper about My Bloody Valentine and Loveless.
  88. Oneohetrix Point Never – “Andro”
    I had tried to listen to OPN on his 2010 album Returnal but it was a bit too experimental for me at the time. Replica on the other hand, comprised entirely of random VHS samples, was a concept I could get down with. It was also incredibly spooky and was unlike anything I’d ever heard before. I drew the album cover on my dorm’s whiteboard most weeks.
  89. Discovery – “Osaka Loop Line”
    Show this song to a naive college freshman and they will think it’s the coolest song of all time. I have the proof. This whole album still holds up. It’s still wonderful. Just think of a college freshman listening to this, though. Specifically one in 2011. There we go.
  90. Holy Ghost! – “I Wanted To Tell Her (feat. Nancy Whang & Juan MacLean)”
    If you’ve never heard this Ministry cover, please change that. Ministry purists might hate it, but I love Holy Ghost! and hearing Nancy Whang’s voice on things, so this scratched an itch. I think I had just watched Drive for the first time, so I felt ULTRA cool.
    — — —
  91. Brian Eno – “1/1”
  92. Boards of Canada – “roygbiv”
    Went on a NYC trip with some college friends. Downloaded a bunch of music beforehand that I thought would fit being “in a museum” since we were going to the MET, which were Brian Eno’s Music For Airports and Boards of Canada’s Music Has The Right To Children, two albums a college freshman should be required to listen to (just kidding). Still associate both with wandering through the sprawling museum. Still haven’t been back. Now is not the time.
  93. Dinosaur Jr. – “Little Fury Things”
    Listening to Dinosaur Jr., or You’re Living All Over Me, rather – pretty great!
  94. Death Grips – “Guillotine”
    “Man this group is crazy. Well, I probably won’t be listening to them again.” – Trevor, 2011
  95. Jacques Greene – “Another Girl”
    Put somewhere on a Best Songs of 2011 list, loved it ever since.
  96. Kanye West – “Lost In The World”
    Had a moment with my college friends listening to this song on repeat on the last day before our freshman year winter break.
  97. Rustie – “Surph”
  98. Julianna Barwick – “Keep Up The Good Work”
  99. Grouper – “Alien Observer”
    This trio of Rustie, Julianna Barwick and Grouper are all artists I saw on various Best Albums of 2011 lists and never saw / cared about earlier in the year. I found various .zip downloads of all of them across the internet and checked them out, the latter two still being foundational, ultra-favorites. Both made my Best Albums of the Decade. The Rustie album is great too, but I’ve faded away from that style of electronic.
  100. The Weeknd – “Montreal”
    The last entry in the “trilogy” of Weeknd albums. Again, didn’t hit the peaks of the debut, but it still had me SO stoked and part of the whole “crashed website” trying to download it for free. That’s another thing – The Weeknd’s first three albums were all free downloads. What a world.

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Playlist: Ochre Overture – An Autumnal Trance

Posted on October 28, 2020 by Very Warm

Last year I made a fall-themed playlist “Mauve Malaise” that leaned heavily into heavy, distorted sounds of shoegaze interspersed with droning, trance-like folk, an attempt to balance the sonic cacophony of deeply-processed guitars and sheets of American Primitive guitar playing, along with throwing in some good old fashioned seasonal hibernation instincts.

I hoped to channel a similar vibe here, but make it a bit more lighthearted. The last one was pretty “sheets of dark gray skies and seasonal depression”. This one is too to a certain extent, it’s still very mellow, but with more of an emphasis on acoustic sounds. I think it works out okay. And again, this playlist is sequenced, so I’d prefer if you listened straight through and not shuffled. Thanks!

LISTEN TO OCHRE OVERTURE HERE

  1. Cocteau Twins & Harold Budd – “Sea, Swallow Me”
  2. Insides – “Yes”
  3. Pale Saints – “Kinky Love”
  4. Stereolab – “Baby Lulu”
  5. Avery Leigh’s Night Palace – “Into The Wake, Mystified”
  6. Widowspeak – “Jeannie”
  7. Adrianne Lenker – “heavy focus”
  8. Scott Walker – “Big Louise”
  9. The Velvet Underground – “Candy Says”
  10. Yo La Tengo – “Nowhere Near”
  11. Jon McKiel – “Management”
  12. Faye Webster – “Better Distractions”
  13. Marisa Anderson – “In Waves”
  14. The Flamingos – “Where Or When”
  15. Broadcast – “O How I Miss You”
  16. Gunn-Truscinski Duo – “Some Lunar Day”
  17. Mary Lattimore – “Chop on the Climbout”
  18. Lovesliescrushing – “crushing”
  19. Nico – “Ari’s Song”
  20. Anna Von Hausswolff – “Outside The Gate (for Bruna)”
  21. Lomelda – “Reach”
  22. Grouper – “Water People”
  23. Beach Fossils – “Sleep Apnea”
  24. North Americans – “Furniture In The Valley”
  25. Jessica Pratt – “Bushel Hyde”
  26. Mojave 3 – “My Life In Art”
  27. Gravenhurst – “Tunnels”
  28. Tenci – “Joy 2”
  29. Gia Margaret – “lakes”
  30. Sandro Perri – “Time (You Got Me) – Edit”
  31. Beach House – “Holy Dances”
  32. Weyes Blood – “Maybe Love”
  33. Robbie Basho – “Cathedrals Et Fleur De Lis”
  34. Brittany Haas – “Bonaparte’s Retreat/Yell In The Shoats”
  35. Karen Dalton – “Same Old Man”
  36. Daniel Bachman – “Seven Pines”
  37. Mountain Man – “Slow Wake Up Sunday Morning”
  38. Sam Amidon – “He’s Taken My Feet”
  39. Midwife – “S.W.I.M.”
  40. Cinder Well – “The Unconscious Echo”
  41. Dirty Three – “Sirena”
  42. Varo – “Sovay”
  43. Circuit Des Yeux – “In The Late Afternoon”
  44. Mount Eerie, Julie Doiron & Fred Squire – “Voice In Headphones”
  45. Shabason, Krgovich & Harris – “Friday Afternoon”
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Listen: Badge Époque Ensemble – “Unity (It’s Up To You) (feat. James Baley)” [2020]

Posted on October 24, 2020 by Very Warm

A little late on sharing this one, but my favs Badge Époque Ensemble are back with a new single from their upcoming album Self Help, alongside a beautiful claymation video. The song, “Unity (It’s Up To You)” features a returning player in BÉE canon, James Baley, responsible for laying down the luscious vocals to one of my favorite songs of last year, “Undressed In Solitude”. If you know what BÉE sounds like, you know what’s in store here: ultra-tight rhythm section, wicked mellotron, punchy flute, and a WICKED guitar solo. At this point if you read this blog and you DON’T listen to this band every time I bring them up, I gotta worry about your literacy skills. Get into it already!

Self Help is out November 20 via Telephone Explosion Records. Pre-order HERE. I already snagged a vinyl pre-order 😉

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Listen: Better Person – “Hearts On Fire” [2020]

Posted on October 23, 2020 by Very Warm

SO much great new music came out today, October 23rd, but I gotta point you to something you might miss: Something To Lose, the fantastic debut album from L.A.-via-Berlin-via Poland musician Better Person (aka Adam Byczkowski), out now via Arbutus. I hadn’t heard any of the singles leading up to the release, but I trust Arbutus with pretty much anything at this point.

To my delight, what I found was soaring, melodramatic, catchy-as-hell sophisti-pop ballads that brings me back to late nights on the town, street lights blurring as the good memories cause tears to run down my cheeks. It’s ultimate late 80s groove music with killer bass lines, inventive drum machine sounds, tasteful touches of sax, and a light croon from Byczkowski. Anything that touches upon this kind of sound has gained an instant soft spot in my heart. If you dig The Blue Nile, Prefab Sprout, or my playlists Essential Oil Dimension or Rose Garden, 2AM, you’ll love this. I listened to the album for the first time today and will likely continue returning to it later this year.

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2010 Retrospective

Posted on October 23, 2020 by Very Warm

If you’re familiar with this blog, you’ll know (or recollect) that starting in 2014, I’ve posted “Retrospectives” at the end of every year wrapping up all the music that made the year memorable or special in chronological order. Knowing me, most of the music is of that year, but occasionally will feature a record I got into heavily or went into for the first time. I thought, why not try and accomplish this for other years where I’ve been a voracious musical omnivore, aka, the whole of the 2010s. I’ve set off to do just that, starting with the beginning of course.

2010 was when I began Warm Visions and really started paying attention to blogs and other music sites for new music, as well as trawling their older lists and finding musicians from the 80s, 90s and 00s to listen to. I was also teaching violin lessons and making income, which immediately went to either iTunes purchases or discount CDs at FYE or Encore Records. This was truly the tipping point where I fell off the deep end in terms of music digestion. It would only accelerate from here.

Now here’s where this 2010 Retrospective gets a bit interesting, or mostly just reveals my madness. Usually when I make these Retrospective posts, I have a playlist that builds throughout the year and fill in the gaps at the end by combing back through my iTunes library. In the case of this post, I had to improvise and research to find what I was listening to and when. This is because my music library until mid-2011 existed on my family’s desktop computer and when I migrated all my tunes over my current laptop I lost the playlists and other metadata that had accumulated.

I pieced together this playlist thanks to a lot of help from my Best Songs of 2010 list, but also by going through old blog posts and even old Facebook statuses and photo albums to see what song lyrics or music videos I shared, along with seeing pictures of where I was physically in the year to see if that jogged my memory any. It was a stupid process that revealed to me that even in 2010 I was being dramatic and dumb online, but it worked. This really does feel like a month-by-month retread through 2010, hitting major points with CDs I got for Christmas the year prior, to what music videos were free downloads at the time (videos play a BIG part in my remembrance of the music here, I must have spent a lot of time on YouTube watching them), to what teaser singles were released and when. It’s a silly, self-indulgent thing, but I feel like in 2020, we need to think about times that may have been better for ourselves when we’re feeling lost. Hopefully some songs here will jog some happy, decade-old memories.

Listen along and read my 2010 journey with this Spotify Playlist

Continue reading →
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