When I do these "Listening To" posts, I always have a hard time remembering which albums I've recently purchased. So here's a screen shot of the most recent 16 from my iTunes "Recently Purchased" list to help me...
- Joni Mitchell - For The Roses. Haven't heard it yet.
- The Internet - Feel Good. Haven't heard it yet.
- Gastr Del Sol - Upgrade & Afterlife. Haven't heard it yet. (this is going to be a great post, I can tell already)
- Attic Abasement - Dream News A band from Rochester NY. They do a version of the scrappy-but-unhurried, dissonant, ever-so-slightly folk-tinged, alt-rock thing: Silver Jews, Kurt Vile, Three Mile Pilot, etc.. There's some 'post-rock' angular noodly stuff in here. Reminds me of 1995.
- King Crimson - Starless And Bible Black Haven't been able to get into this one much. The very first line of the very first song is "Health-food faggot with a bartered bride". And, even though I get that 1974 was a different time, it just sours me right off the bat.
- Madvillain - Madvillainy. A collaboration between the masked rapper, MF Doom, and producer Madlib. This one zips along with 19 of the 22 songs less than three minutes long, more than half under two minutes. The lyrics and delivery are very clever and the backing tracks include tons of those ironic 90s-style samples of overwrought dialog from movies of the 50s and 60s.
- Taj Mahal - Taj Mahal. A great straight-up blues record from the 60's blues revival.
- Aretha Franklin - I Never Loved A Man The Way I Loved You I got drunk, watched a documentary about the Muscle Shoals studio(s), and decided I had to have this record. Thankfully, it's great!
- Radiohead - A Moon Shaped Pool. I like this a bit better than some of their other recent records. It's a bit chilly, tho.
- Brian Eno - The Ship. My first late-era Eno record. It sounds exactly like what I've imagined all of his 'ambient' records would sound like. I like it well enough, but I prefer weird glam-rock Eno.
- Autolux - Pussy's Dead I think of them as a groovier and more accessible Radiohead. They have that blend of clipped drums, cold electronics and distant, detached vocals, but it's geared a bit more towards toe-tapping.
- Prince - Sign O The Times I remember really liking this in 86. Now, it feels very dated.
- The Underachievers - Cellar Door : Terminus Ut Exordium Sometimes I buy records because the little 30sec iTunes samples hit me in the right mood. And then the record itself makes me wonder what I liked about the samples. Just not my bag.
- Kendrick Lamar - good kid...; Parquet Courts - Human performance; New Order - Power, Corruption & Lies Already did these in a previous Listening To.
- Mos Def - The Ecstatic A couple of really groovy tunes. A lot that misses.
- Andrew Bird - Are You Serious A bit more engaging than his other recent records, but short on the quirky spark of his first releases.
- Ty Segall - Emotional Mugger Loud and raucous guitar rock, like a modern T-Rex: heavy riff-based stomp with playful vocals on top. Excellent stuff.
- Tanya Donnely - Swan Song Series The former leader of Belly and member of Throwing Muses has been releasing uniformly-great solo records since Belly broke up in the mid-90s. This is a series of self-releases that came from collaborations of various kinds with various people. Though the styles vary greatly, they're all unmistakably Donnely. Wish Belly was coming to NC on their upcoming reunion tour.
Whew.
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Thanks to your last post I’ve been listening to that Courtney Barnett album rather a lot. She’s just awesome.
The new Radiohead one obviously. Trying not to wear it out. Ful Stop is my current favourite track.
Lots of early Spoon. Girls Can Tell in particular. It’s probably my current favourite. Me and the Bean (not actually a Spoon song but…) really resonates. I could listen to that one song on repeat for hours.
I got the remastered versions of Dark Side of the Moon and Wish You Were Here and they sound much much better than my CD rips. Especially DSOTM. Note: there are Floyd fans who have every different pressing of that album and have documented the quality differences to the nth degree. Hard core.
The new Strokes EP is OK. Not brilliant but not bad.
And I finally went full Spotify. My daughter is getting into music (yes!) so I let her get the Apple Music 3 month trial but decided that a Spotify family sub for £15 a month means we all get the benefit of streaming (Spotify is on every platform you can shake a stick at, even out TV has it built in.) So now I spend hours looking for stuff to listen to, in much the same way as I spend hours scrolling through bloody Netflix. LOL.
Parquet Courts is also growing nicely after a few listens, so thanks for that.
And listen to Low Life by New Order. It’s great.
Me And The Bean is awesome. the first six songs on GCT is a perfect run, IMO.
remastered Floyd? that sounds like something i should buy.
spend hours scrolling through bloody Netflix
god, how i hate that. so many hours wasted trying to find something (even though probably half of it would be just fine if i’d just stop looking for the perfect show).
I forgot about Kate Bush! Hounds of Love got dusted off after a recent Pitchfork review and it’s another 80s record that still sounds great. Unlike Howard Jones.
For the Roses. Cool! Do you have “Hissing of Summer Lawns?” I recommend. A summertime album for sure.
Listening to and recommend:
Elvis Costello- Live at Hollywood High. Also the reissued My Aim is True and This Years Model contain full concerts as bonus tracks. That guy was a force of nature live.
Bola Johnson – Man No Die. Nigerian musician.
Rolling Stones – Sticky Fingers (Deluxe). This reissue has two concerts from ’71, and the second one is brassy and fast. I’m really into live Stones recordings; this is probably the best one I’ve heard.
Black Milk and Nat Turner – The Rebellion Sessions. I recommend giving this a listen. May not be for you but I think you’ll like the instrumentation.
Oddisee – The Odd Tape. Also worth trying out.
Gene Vincent and His Blue Caps- Blue Jean Bop. Hearing Be Bop-a-Lula played in a chain store or by a middle-aged John Lennon isn’t all that inspiring. The original is so fucking dangerous.
yeah, i have ‘Hissing…’ it’s great.
i have one Bola Johnson song (from that Nigeria Special collection), ‘Buroda Mase’. it’s quite a different sound from the rest of the tunes on that comp: vox, upright bass, minimal drums and only occasional guitar.
always seems to me that the Stones’ live shows are always faster than the records. i find it strange.