Music: Last Album You Listened to and Rate It II

[Shareefruck]

Closer by Joy Dvision. God tier album, the best Joy Division album. Colony is...insane. Just insanely perfect.

A-****ing-men.

 

[Gordon Lightfoot]

I've tried getting into them a bunch of times in the past and I always come away thinking it's serviceable enough that it might click at some point, but it never really does. There isn't anything I would outright consider a flaw, it's pretty consistently okay at least, the technical side of it is good, and it all seems tasteful enough that I can respect their sensibilities, but I haven't really been sold on it being outright inspired or great in terms of songwriting/how satisfying it sounds and feels, so I kind of don't have too much use for it. From all of the albums I've tried, I do respect how each one sounds wildly different but competently pulled off, genre-wise, though.

This is pretty much how I feel about XTC. I always expected them to be better but I rarely hear greatness from them.

 

[Shareefruck]

Tried some hip-hop, which is generally very hit or miss for me.

Surfing on Sine Waves by Aphex Twin/Polygon Window - 3.0 or 3.5 (Very Good/Great) (Keeps growing on me more and more)
Ki-Oku by DJ Krush & Toshinori Kondo - 3.0 (Very Good) (Lots of potential)
Mm... Food by MF Doom - 3.0 (Very Good)
Operation Doomsday by MF Doom - 2.5 (Good)
Strictly Turntablized by DJ Krush - 2.5 (Good)
---
The Score by The Fugees - 1.5 (Neutral) (maybe could rise at some point?)
Vaudeville Villain by MF Doom - 1.5 (Neutral)
Venomous Villain by MF Doom - 1.5 (Neutral)
Meiso by DJ Krush - 1.5 (Neutral) (like the minimalistic beats/production-- Don't care for the vocals-- kind of ruins it for me)
Cypress Hill by Cypress Hill - 1.0 (Negative)
Tricks of the Shade by Goats - 1.0 (Negative)
cLOUDDEAD by cLOUDDEAD - 1.0 (Negative)
---
Madvillainy 2: The Madlib Remix - 0.5 (Bad)

Favorite Hip-Hop Albums
1. Illmatic by Nas - 4.0 o 4.5 (Flawless/Brilliant)
2. It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Down by Public Enemy - 4.0 (Flawless)
3. Madvillainy by Madvillain - 4.0 (Flawless)
4. Follow the Leader by Erik B. & Rakim - 3.5 (Great)
5. Fear of All Black Planet by Public Enemy - 3.5 (Great)
6. Ki-Oku by DJ Krush & Toshinori Kondo - 3.0 (Very Good)
7. Mm.. Food by MF Doom - 3.0 (Very Good)
8. Paid in Full by Erik B. & Rakim - 3.0 (Very Good)
9. The Low End Theory by A Tribe Called Quest - 3.0 (Very Good)
10. Endtroducing... by DJ Shadow - 3.0 (Very Good)
11. Operation Doomsday by MFDoom - 2.5 (Good)
12. Critical Beatdown by Ultramagnetic MCs - 2.5 (Good)
13. Strictly Turntablized by DJ Krush - 2.5 (Good)
14. Midnight Marauders by A Tribe Called Quest - 2.5 (Good)
15. Yo Bum Rush the Show by Public Enemy - 2.0 (Positive)

Highlights

 

[YoSoyLalo]

Diving into The Mollusk by Ween. Very weird and very awesome.

 

[BiolaRunner]

Fight the Good Fight by the Interrupters. Love it

 

[Gordon Lightfoot]

Posies - Frosting on the Beater. 7/10

I’m neck deep in power pop world and I don’t want out. I’d never heard these guys before. The first three songs are perfect. Tails off a bit after that but still an album I’ll return to regularly.

 

[Shareefruck]

Super Ape by Lee Scratch Perry - 3.0 (Very Good)
Systemisch by Oval - 3.0 (Very Good)
Tubular Bells by Mike Oldfield - 2.5 (Good)
This Heat by This Heat - 2.5 (Good)
---
Exuma by Exuma - 2.0 (Positive)
Third Ear Band by Third Ear Band - 2.0 (Positive)
Half Machine Lip Moves by Chrome - 2.0 (Positive)
Pick a Dub by Keith Hudson - 2.0 (Positive)
Quique by Seefeel - 2.0 (Positive)
Velocity Design Comfort by Sweet Trip - 2.0 (Positive) (Grew on me a tiny bit, but again, would like it more if the vocals/melodies were less saccharine/twee and more Damo Suzuki like instead-- The track, Dsco, sounds particularly annoying to me, but the other tracks make up for it)
---
Deathconsciousness by Have a Nice Life - 1.5 or 2.0 (Neutral/Positive) (like the sound/production more than I like the vocals-- a bit melodramatic for my tastes)
Red Mecca by Cabaret Voltaire - 1.5 (Neutral)
Souvlaki by Slowdive - 1.5 (Neutral)
Pulse Demon by Merzbow - 1.5 (Neutral)
---
Seven Songs by 23 Skidoo - 1.0 (Negative)
The Ape of Naples by Coil - 1.0 (Negative)
Nowhere by Ride - 1.0 (Negative)
---
Ferment by Catherine Wheel - 0.5 (Bad)
Images and Words by Dream Theatre - 0.5 (Bad)

Highlights

 

[Spring in Fialta]

London Calling by The Clash (1979) - Wanted to see if I was still missing something. Nope. I truly don't understand the appeal of the album - or the band, really. I find it both weirdly smug and elementary, and not sure what makes most of the songs stand out from regular pop fare. The arrangements sounded banal, and not in any way profound. The lyrics also don't appear to have anything original to say/or have them delivered in any radical way but appear to try and get by critically through simplistic presentation of working-class gripes. The album means nothing to me. Probably the most overrated UK band ever, and certainly the most overrated one of its era. The Rolling Stones come close, but they're way better than The Clash. And from their own era, The Cure, Joy Division, New Order, XTC, Talk Talk, Sex Pistols, PIL and the likes all blow The Clash out of the water.

 

[Know Your Enemy]

Images and Words by Dream Theatre - 0.5 (Bad)

I can't believe you even bothered to listen to Dream Theatre haha.

 

[Know Your Enemy]

London Calling by The Clash (1979) - Wanted to see if I was still missing something. Nope. I truly don't understand the appeal of the album - or the band, really. I find it both weirdly smug and elementary, and not sure what makes most of the songs stand out from regular pop fare. The arrangements sounded banal, and not in any way profound. The lyrics also don't appear to have anything original to say/or have them delivered in any radical way but appear to try and get by critically through simplistic presentation of working-class gripes. The album means nothing to me. Probably the most overrated UK band ever, and certainly the most overrated one of its era. The Rolling Stones come close, but they're way better than The Clash. And from their own era, The Cure, Joy Division, New Order, XTC, Talk Talk, Sex Pistols, PIL and the likes all blow The Clash out of the water.

I agree with this. I was so bewildered after listening to London Calling. It has to be one of the most overrated albums of all time.

 

[Shareefruck]

I can't believe you even bothered to listen to Dream Theatre haha.

Because they suck or because there's no way I'd like them? I was just going through stuff on a best 90s album list and listening to the ones I wasn't sure about/know about, and otherwise had no context for what their reputation was.

 

[Know Your Enemy]

Because they suck or because there's no way I'd like them? I was just going through stuff on a best 90s album list and listening to the ones I wasn't sure about/know about, and otherwise had no context for what their reputation was.

Because there's no way you would like them. I get your reasoning though

 

[YamCork]

Freddie Gibbs & Madlib - Bandana 8/10.

Solid follow up to Pinata.

 

[Babe Ruth]

Diving into The Mollusk by Ween. Very weird and very awesome.

Amen..
I saw Ween @ a small
club when they were promoting Pure Guava (which remains my favorite Ween album). I still also ocassionally listen to The Mollusk and White Pepper.
Good times..

 

[Hippasus]

London Calling by The Clash (1979) - Wanted to see if I was still missing something. Nope. I truly don't understand the appeal of the album - or the band, really. I find it both weirdly smug and elementary, and not sure what makes most of the songs stand out from regular pop fare. The arrangements sounded banal, and not in any way profound. The lyrics also don't appear to have anything original to say/or have them delivered in any radical way but appear to try and get by critically through simplistic presentation of working-class gripes. The album means nothing to me. Probably the most overrated UK band ever, and certainly the most overrated one of its era. The Rolling Stones come close, but they're way better than The Clash. And from their own era, The Cure, Joy Division, New Order, XTC, Talk Talk, Sex Pistols, PIL and the likes all blow The Clash out of the water.

The Clash were part of the nascent punk scene, were really influential along with Crass in their philosophy, and musically represented a branching out or an embrace of one's roots (reggae, rockabilly, rock, etc.). Aside from a handful of songs, I agree that said album is not as strong as reputation might indicate. Before this third LP, I think The Clash was a fantastic band.

 

[Mikeaveli]

Freddie Gibbs & Madlib - Bandana 8/10.

Solid follow up to Pinata.

After anticipating this album for years I'm glad to say that I enjoy it as much as the original.

 

[Shareefruck]

London Calling by The Clash (1979) - Wanted to see if I was still missing something. Nope. I truly don't understand the appeal of the album - or the band, really. I find it both weirdly smug and elementary, and not sure what makes most of the songs stand out from regular pop fare. The arrangements sounded banal, and not in any way profound. The lyrics also don't appear to have anything original to say/or have them delivered in any radical way but appear to try and get by critically through simplistic presentation of working-class gripes. The album means nothing to me. Probably the most overrated UK band ever, and certainly the most overrated one of its era. The Rolling Stones come close, but they're way better than The Clash. And from their own era, The Cure, Joy Division, New Order, XTC, Talk Talk, Sex Pistols, PIL and the likes all blow The Clash out of the water.

The Clash UK is a much better album, IMO.

 

[Spring in Fialta]

I don't know where else to say it, but felt the need to share it: Joy Division/New Order's Ceremony might just the the most elegant piece of art I can think of. I can't think of anything more aesthetically dignified. It's the second greatest song of all-time. The percussion and string instruments intertwine with pure grace. The lyrics are the perfect pinch of salt.

My favorite version is Live at Birmingham University but New Order recorded it as a masterpiece too. A properly recorded Ian Curtis version is the most important artistic what if I have in my mind.

 

[Saturated Fats]

Thought I'd finally dive into this thread, as I've been a lurker of it for what's felt like decades. It's given me a baziliajillion recommendations, too - which I've appreciated

Recently, I've been touching base with some old favourites, as I've just picked up a new turntable and am trying to determine which records are absolute musts to add to my modest collection

Pavement - Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain - 8/10
Forgot how much I loved the progression of this record. 'Gold Soundz', 'Range Life', 'Silence Kit' are the heights, while I still appreciate 'Cut Your Hair' for the classic it is

Wolf Parade - Apologies to Queen Mary - 6/10
Want to like this album more than I actually do - some highs, 'Sons and Daughters of Hungry Ghosts' & 'I'll Believe in Anything', but the middle progression is mostly meh. Can feel the influence of this album in so much of modern alt

Destroyer - Kaputt - 9/10
Still a personal favourite, as this album found me back in 2011 at a time when I think I needed its brand of anesthetic. I adore pretty much every song on it, with 'Savage Night at the Opera', 'Chinatown', and - of course - 'Bay of Pigs' absolute classics of modern electropop

Ten Favourite Albums
Radiohead - Kid A
Vampire Weekend - Modern Vampires of the City
Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here
David Bowie - Hunky Dory
White Stripes - White Blood Cells
Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation
Mgla - Exercises in Futility
Radiohead - In Rainbows
Nobuo Uematsu - Complete Final Fantasy VII Soundtrack
The Avalanches - Since I Left You

 

[Shareefruck]

I don't know where else to say it, but felt the need to share it: Joy Division/New Order's Ceremony might just the the most elegant piece of art I can think of. I can't think of anything more aesthetically dignified. It's the second greatest song of all-time. The percussion and string instruments intertwine with pure grace. The lyrics are the perfect pinch of salt.

My favorite version is Live at Birmingham University but New Order recorded it as a masterpiece too. A properly recorded Ian Curtis version is the most important artistic what if I have in my mind.

Coincidentally, I've been listening to it a lot recently (this is a pretty regular occurrence for me, though) and thinking something similar as well. The difference for me is that I'm a little more outright disappointed/frustrated by the versions that are available, and that "what if" is more of a "Goddammit, what a waste!" for me. A properly studio recorded Joy Division version of that track would absolutely be one of my favorite songs of all time (and pretty easily my outright favorite straight melodic rock song). The other versions are great as well, but I can't bring myself to put them in my top ten-- they've each got their respective imperfections/reservations.

What did you think of this version? I feel like it captures the spirit/soul of the original better and channels Joy Division more than the New Order one, even though that one's more perfectly recorded.



I actually think Ceremony might be one of the few songs that legitimately make me kind of well up every time I hear it. There's a sort of hopeless hopefulness to it that feels uplifting and heartbreaking at the same time. It's also one of those rare songs where the first time you hear it, it feels really familiar, almost as if it's always existed in your mind as what a perfect song SHOULD sound like, or something.

 

[Spring in Fialta]

Coincidentally, I've been listening to it a lot recently (this is a pretty regular occurrence for me, though) and thinking something similar as well. The difference for me is that I'm a little more outright disappointed/frustrated by the versions that are available, and that "what if" is more of a "Goddammit, what a waste!" for me. A properly studio recorded Joy Division version of that track would absolutely be one of my favorite songs of all time (and pretty easily my outright favorite straight melodic rock song). The other versions are great as well, but I can't bring myself to put them in my top ten-- they've each got their respective imperfections/reservations.

What did you think of this version? I feel like it captures the spirit/soul of the original better and channels Joy Division more than the New Order one, even though that one's more perfectly recorded.



I actually think Ceremony might be one of the few songs that legitimately make me kind of well up every time I hear it. There's a sort of hopeless hopefulness to it that feels uplifting and heartbreaking at the same time. It's also one of those rare songs where the first time you hear it, it feels really familiar, almost as if it's always existed in your mind as what a perfect song SHOULD sound like, or something.

I have periods where I listen to music more often than others, or to be more specific, where time will be spent sitting down in my living room or laying in bed where my sole purpose will be to listen to music and do nothing else, but Ceremony is a staple for me. I've been listening to it regularly for years. A bit like The Beatles and Tommorow Never Knows, Ceremony is a song that simply towers above the rest of Joy Division/New Order's output, particularly New Order's, although I have Leave Me Alone as the second best thing the two bands have ever done. After that Joy Division utterly dominates (I'm also a lot more impressed by Joy Divison's general output than The Beatles. Joy Division are all-time greats for me.) But Leave Me Alone almost reads like a spiritual companion piece to Ceremony, but perhaps I feel this way because it was released so soon afterwards.

Ceremony is one of the few songs which gives me goosebumps by the opening riff. I adore the way the song is constructed. The lyrics start what, maybe 1:10 in and the song continues for maybe another 1:30 after they end. The lyrics almost feel like a desolate interlude between the sentiment and event presented in the first and third part of the song. And since fine lyricism in music is so rare, particularly in rock, I find the last sentences of the first two verses are impeccably written and hold serious impact. They're sung with a delivery that makes the previous words read as the perfect building blocks before the final utterance, and while I could be wildly off on this - it's hard to guess at someone's writing process without the artist letting you know - read as if they were written first, and then Ian Curtis worked backwards from there:

Verse 1: Word will travel, oh so quickly
Travel first and lean towards this time

Verse 2: The times she cried
Too frail to wake this time

It fits perfectly with the music, which is both tightly executed yet somehow breathes gracefully throughout the entire experience.

And yeah, that Radiohead version is actually the first version of the song I ever heard which subsequently made me seek out the original/Joy Division- I somewhat remember posting it in some thread years ago and you being highly appreciative of that. I think it's fantastic, an honest, intense yet intimate and unpretentious live performance that has a lot of spunk to it, similar to how Ian Curtis performed it before death, but I also think I'm generally a lot more forgiving of Bernard Sumner than you are. I think he also sung it perfectly, and as a studio record, I have no issues with the song being sung with a more solemn delivery. I find it particularly pretty and moving. To me, it already is a perfect song. The only song that perhaps if Curtis had recorded it properly might have usurped Peon for me (Venus in Furs and Golden Hours have maybe gotten close) but I still kind of doubt it

 

[Mikeaveli]

black midi - Schlagenheim [Experimental rock]

This is a great debut album. 'bmbmbm' is probably my favourite song of the decade. The way the beat lumbers along with the same repeating guitar riff as tension slowly builds up and the lead vocals become more and more manic with insanity finally breaking through at the end is just something else. Sadly nothing else really reaches that peak but the rest of the album is still very solid. Reminds me of Slint, CAN, and some other bands with a more extreme edge. It's a very dynamic album, going from Slint-like quiet passages with spoken vocals to noisy freakouts often within the same track. The drummer is also incredible. Hard to believe these guys are just out of high school. I'm looking forward to their next work.

Standout tracks: 'Near DT, MI', "Of Schlagenheim', 'bmbmbm', 'Ducter'

8/10

 

[Spring in Fialta]

black midi - Schlagenheim [Experimental rock]

This is a great debut album. 'bmbmbm' is probably my favourite song of the decade. The way the beat lumbers along with the same repeating guitar riff as tension slowly builds up and the lead vocals become more and more manic with insanity finally breaking through at the end is just something else. Sadly nothing else really reaches that peak but the rest of the album is still very solid. Reminds me of Slint, CAN, and some other bands with a more extreme edge. It's a very dynamic album, going from Slint-like quiet passages with spoken vocals to noisy freakouts often within the same track. The drummer is also incredible. Hard to believe these guys are just out of high school. I'm looking forward to their next work.

Standout tracks: 'Near DT, MI', "Of Schlagenheim', 'bmbmbm', 'Ducter'

8/10

Good to see an appearance man. I checked out a live performance of bmbmbm. There's something there, highly interesting, but at first listen, a little too stop-and-go for me.

 

[Rich Nixon]

London Calling by The Clash (1979) - Wanted to see if I was still missing something. Nope. I truly don't understand the appeal of the album - or the band, really. I find it both weirdly smug and elementary, and not sure what makes most of the songs stand out from regular pop fare. The arrangements sounded banal, and not in any way profound. The lyrics also don't appear to have anything original to say/or have them delivered in any radical way but appear to try and get by critically through simplistic presentation of working-class gripes. The album means nothing to me. Probably the most overrated UK band ever, and certainly the most overrated one of its era. The Rolling Stones come close, but they're way better than The Clash. And from their own era, The Cure, Joy Division, New Order, XTC, Talk Talk, Sex Pistols, PIL and the likes all blow The Clash out of the water.

The Clash don't really benefit from the mediocrity of their production. For the record, they might be my favorite band, but I think they're a great example of having to kind of piece together what they were while looking through the product itself. The performances are basically airtight with very few overdubs. So much snap to it, too.

I think the appeal it has to me is that it's so much, for lack of a better word, bouncier than anything else you'll here. It came in an era when rock was becoming all downhill (and it's only gotten so much worse). There's actual motion in the music, rather than an endless grinding/droning. I better understand today why people don't get the Clash the same way I did when I was like, a teenager...but it's just bottled energy, some of the purest you can hear.

Freddie Gibbs & Madlib - Bandana 8/10.

Solid follow up to Pinata.

I think it's a better album, more cohesive, more diverse, and much denser/deeper. The writing in it is just unbelievable. Not a lot of rappers get better into their late 30's, but Gibbs has this incredible way of mixing cool-sounding surface raps while zooming in and out of some insane, intense, vivid images and life moments and move on.

Did a pretty good sitdown with HNHH (ugh) to run through the lyrics on "Situations" and it's a pretty good run through just how dense most of his verses get, even if they don't seem like it. I don't know how to rate that album, it's an uncommon piece of music. Piñata was a really well-produced, well-rapped rap album that had normal rap album problems (length, features, pacing). Like a collection of pretty-good-to-incredible short stories. Bandana is basically one 45-minute rap novel or something.

 

[Shareefruck]

I do love the Dub influence of The Clash. One of the more underrated genres out there.

They're a strong, accessible, sensible and tasteful "less is more" straight-forward rock band, with Dub/Punk influences. I wouldn't consider them all time greats or musical geniuses or anything, but they get a lot right.

I would take The Clash over The Cure pretty easily, personally.