Ok February was real nice, real good. I really liked February. It’s always good when it’s hard narrowing things down to just 20 records for the month. From November 2016 to January 2017, it was a struggle to find even 10. But as usual, the first ten are my top favs of the month and the second ten are still good and worth listening to. Everything is listed alphabetically, but Hand Habits was my favorite from the month. Jens Lekman was probably my second-favorite. I hope you find something you love or achieve gratification for liking the same things I like (if you’re into that).
Hey would you look at that – Recommended Albums is back in the saddle babyyy. I gotta be honest, this wasn’t too easy to put together. 2017 has started off with a wimpy sigh in terms of music that should be rocking my world. Maybe my expectations are too high? Maybe I’m so dang depressed with this crazytown world we live in that nothing feels good anymore? Either way, here are 10 albums that spark some pleasure in my brain zone that I hope you’ll enjoy as well. Truly something for everyone in here: folk, hip hop, electronic, rock, ambient, whatever. I got you.
Putting aside the goofy thumbnail for this Youtube video, this is a fantastic song. I’m not really sure what to call it in terms of specific style, but it’s just really charming electronic music. Very human-sounding bleeps and bloops cascading in a mesmerizing rhythm all their own.
Achingly beautiful in its uniqueness. Surely very few things in 2003 sounded like this. Even now Colleen is making beautiful outsider music. If you like this song, you’ll undoubtedly like the rest of the album. I suggest you check it all out regardless.
Another Grouper post because it’s worth it. Grouper released this Water People 7″ back in 2011 – as far as I know it was vinyl only/no mass digital release. Yesterday, Feb. 3rd 2017, she re-released it to the benefit of the ACLU and NoDAPL. It’s already become one of my all-time favorite Grouper songs and I’m so thankful that it’s in my life.
On the Bandcamp page, someone who bought this reviewed it as: “ten minutes of a friend, sitting quietly beside you. no cheap answers and one liners. thanks for understanding.” What a perfect explanation. Melancholy warmth.
UPDATE: Buying these albums no longer benefits the ACLU, since it was a one day only thing! However, these are still great albums to buy and support the artist. Enjoy!
Quick post so I get it out in time for people to react – these are a few favorite albums of mine that you can buy on Bandcamp to support the ACLU. This is ONLY for Friday, February 3rd, so if you buy them on any other day the money will go to the band. Which is still good obviously, but this is even better! Spend money, get music, support AMERICA. Fun times! Donate, donate, donate. As we’ve already learned through the winning politics, money saves the world. Why can’t art too?
It doesn’t feel right that Hatsune Miku has made possibly my favorite song of the year so far, but stranger things have happened. That’s the attitude I’m going to approach all things with from now on: nothing is weird, because everything from here on out is not normal.
If you’re unfamiliar, Hatsune Miku is a massively popular digital pop star from Japan. An eternal “16-year old idol with turquoise, thigh-length ponytails” with computer-generated vocals, performing as a hologram with a huge backing band behind her in the darkness. I’ve never gotten onto the Miku train. It has always seemed much too culty, too overwhelmingly weeb for my taste. Just look at what the live shows look like. Very, very spirited.
In the past other artists I enjoy, like Anamanaguchi, have collaborated with the Miku team to make music. This time, experimental electronic technician Laurel Halo joins in to add her disorienting touch to the usually saccharine, fired up pop music. Her influence is probably why I like it so much. There are some other party members at play in this song, but I’ll just chalk it up to LH. It’s dark, disorienting and doesn’t sound like anything I’ve heard from her before. More robotic than usual & carries an inhuman warmth, much like Laurel Halo’s music.
I’d go into more detail on why this combination took place, but instead you should check out a great synopsis on what Hatsune Miku exactly is HERE, as well as the project that this song came from. Has a lot to say about all phases of life for a “pop star” or a “hit song.” Really interesting stuff for pop culture researchers.
Wanted to put up a quick post about an album I’ve somehow never talked about on my blog that deserves a ton of attention. This is Kidsuke, a great glitchy electronic project from Kidkanevil & Daisuke Tanabe. I discovered it at the tail end of 2012. Still an album I return to regularly.
Every sound here is micro-sized, so to make up for lost space, the two pack in as many sounds as coherently possible. Lots of chimes, tight drums, high-pitched computer squeaks, etc. Not a lot of reverb on here. Occasionally there’s some powerful bass, but nothing that gets your face. It’s just a heavy presence.
It has a weird nostalgic feeling to it as well, like you’re seeing the world from the eyes of a child exploring a forest. This feeling is helped along by the numerous childish vocal samples littered through the album, acting as a central motif to move the album from point A to B.
I’ll let you listen to it and enjoy – and I really do hope you enjoy it. Not many people I know know of this album, so I need someone to talk with about it!
This song has one of the all-time best choruses. Couldn’t care about the lyrics on this one, to be honest. It’s like this infectious song was made for a commercial or something or short film shown to elementary schoolers.
I can picture it now: a fast-moving game show marathon rips through a grocery store. Frantic participants throttle others and use goofy gadgets to get the upper hand. The prize? An all-expenses paid cruise to the Bahamas. Everyone has their own reasons for wanting the cruise. But only one will win. But who wins in the end? Well, it’s the silly kid that played it safe the whole time, treating others with kindness and having a true heart. All the other self-centered runners look deep inside themselves and find a cruise within their hearts. Everyone has a big laugh at the end and the camera zooms way out the roof into space. An astronaut gives a thumbs up. Credits roll. A fun, family friendly film for everyone, chock full of lessons we can apply in the workplace, academia, & at home.
Yeah let me know if you think that fits with this. An amazing song regardless of conjured wholesome imagery.
A stream of consciousness music blog, active since 2010. Established in Ann Arbor, MI, currently in NYC.
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January 9: Dry Cleaning – Secret Love SAULT – Chapter 1 Winged Wheel – Desert So Green
January 16: A$AP Rocky – Don’t Be Dumb Jana Horn – Jana Horn Julianna Barwick & Mary Lattimore – Tragic Magic SASSY 009 – Dreamer+
February 6: Beverly Glenn-Copeland – Laughter in Summer Daphni – Butterfly Elori Saxl & Henry Solomon – Seeing Is Forgetting Fabiano do Nascimento – Aquáticos Joshua Chuquimia-Crampton – Anata Mandy, Indiana – URGH Puma Blue – Croak Dream Ratboys – Singin’ To An Empty Chair
February 13: Charli XCX – Wuthering Heights Colin Stetson – Nethering Danny L Harle – Cerulean KMRU – Kin The Olympians – In Search of A Revival
February 20: Altin Gün – Garip Apparat – A Hum of Maybe
February 27: Buck Meek – The Mirror Fabiano do Nascimento – Vila GENA – The Pleasure Is Yours Gorillaz – The Mountain Gus Englehorn – The Broken Balladeer Heavenly – Highway to Heavenly LB aka LABAT – Feel So Good Around U Maria BC – Marathon Mitski – Nothings About to Happen to Me Nothing – a short history of decay Shane Parish – Autechre Guitar
March 6: Hater – Mosquito Natalie Jane Hill – Hopeful Woman Scout Gillett – Tough Touch Shabaka – Of The Earth waterbaby – Memory Be a Blade
March 13: Alexis Taylor – Paris In The Spring Colleen – Libres antes del final Crack Cloud – Peace and Purpose Cut Worms – Transmitter ELUCID – I Guess U Had To Be There James Blake – Trying Times Kim Gordon – PLAY ME The Notwist – News From Planet Zombie Ora Cogan – Hard Hearted Woman
March 27: Fcukers – Ö Holy Fuck – Event Beat José González – Against the Dying of the Light Robyn – Sexistential Snail Mail – Ricochet
April 3: Arlo Parks – Ambiguous Desire John Andrews & The Yawns – Streetsweeper Makthaverskan – Glass and Bones Sunn O))) – sunn O))) Wendy Eisenberg – Wendy Eisenberg
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