#arashirecs

[arashikurobara]

Yeah I think I’m done managing to keep up with album recs, it was fun but I hit a mix of busy/a couple kind of lackluster months/falling into more of that one good-ass radio station which means more good discovery but also way less following up on much of it. (Definitely still some! But less.)

Thought about putting up just a real short Jul/Aug/Sep list without blurbs but didn’t even manage to get to that. :V

I absolutely do at least intend to do an end-of-year twitter thread/probably post here too with good Actual 2019 Albums (like actually new not just new to me) since like one end of year thing is a level I can definitely keep up with though and it’ll definitely have a couple things that’ve come out since I fell off monthlies and/or maybe came out before that but I didn’t hear ‘til after. (Relatedly I don’t like the new Pixies album and it makes me sad. :( )

Also still the occasional just random hollering on Twitter about whatever’s good I’m listening to right that moment. :V

[arashikurobara]

I’m gonna beg off on the albums post for this month; there are still a couple I wanna give a second listen to but mostly it’s only one or two as it is and I’ve been busy with con stuff. I’ll roll July and August together. :D

[arashikurobara]

Albums I Loved This Month — June 2019

As always, the ongoing Spotify playlist is here for you all as well.

Control Top, Covert Contracts (2019) [Youtube] - [Spotify] - [Bandcamp]

Heard the title track on KEXP and marked it for later, then before I got around to following up on that Ted Leo announced tour dates and I went to check out the opening act... and it's this same wonderfully rocking post-punk trio and holy shit that is going to be a hell of a show. (Also their drummer is nonbinary. <3)

Thank You Scientist, Terraformer (2019) [Youtube] - [Spotify] - [Bandcamp]

IT'S HEEEERE and it's awesome. More of the big ol' fusion orchestral jazzy metal-y prog rock I already loved 'em for.

Also now that it's out I was finally able to make a playlist of the setlist from when I saw them a couple months ago.

Savlonic, Neon (2016) [Youtube] - [Spotify]

Apparently at some point the Weebl's Stuff dude made a fictional band with some real good synthwave?

Moon Hooch, Red Sky (2016) [Youtube] - [Spotify]

I guess this qualifies as jazz? But, like, with almost sort of techno compositions despite only being drums and a couple saxes? (Okay I take it back there's a little bit of synths in there but not that much.)

Lightning Bolt, Wonderful Rainbow (2003) [Youtube] - [Spotify]

The best descriptor I can come up with is "weird noise shit" and if you'd asked me before last week if I liked weird nosie shit I'd've said no but... y'all I think I like weird noise shit. also c'mon it has a song called "Dracula Mountain".

Otoboke Beaver, Itekoma Hits (2019) [Spotify]

Fantastic loud messy Japanese girls' garage punk.

[arashikurobara]

Albums I Loved This Month — May 2019

Hello friends. Not much to say this month, a pretty routine month of just chilling out with music.

Still have the ongoing Spotify playlist as well!

Bradio, Power of Life (2015) [Spotify]

Gimme that fuuuuuuuuuuuuunk. Remember Death Parade? (If you don't you should go watch it right now. I'll still be here when you get back.) This is the band that did that great but very tonal whiplash OP. I totally plan to go see them at Otakon (which is why I got around to listening to more of their stuff) and it should be a blast.

(Also, somehow I seem to keep being the most into bands' first albums, even when all their stuff is good. It's not like they're getting worse as they go one or something, just a lot of bands seem to start at, for me specifically, a high point or something? All three Bradio albums are honestly real solid, I had trouble picking specifically which to feature.)

John, God Speed in the National Limit (2017) [Youtube] - [Spotify]

Yeah okay I think at this point I just like loud growly punk, especially loud growly English punk.

Fontaines DC, Dogrel (2019) [Youtube] - [Spotify]

Still kinda hanging out in that punk-y zone (they just wrapped up a tour opening for Idles, IIRC), though not so loud and shouty. Really monotone, almost spoken-word vocals but it kinda ends up having a very poetry sort of effect I didn't quite appreciate until they did a live set on KEXP a few days ago that ended up being mostly the quieter numbers? I'm still more into the more energetic selections but the shift in perspective was really nice.

Phoebe Bridgers, Stranger in the Alps (2018) [Youtube] - [Spotify]

It's an ethereal sort of that sort of quiet mellow acoustic-y female singer-songwriter deal. Also "Motion Sickness" makes me cry a bunch.

Bat for Lashes, Fur and Gold (2006) [Youtube] - [Spotify]

My knee-jerk comparison was Tori Amos but the artist bio on Spotify mentions Bjork and Kate Bush as comparisons and I think those are better; Kate Bush seems particularly apt. Again I think "ethereal" comes to mind, though this is a lot more lush.

Tegan and Sara, Sainthood (2009) [Youtube] - [Spotify]

I always kind of meant to listen to some Tegan and Sara since they did vocals on a couple tracks I really like off Morgan Page's In the Air and the discovery list finally gave me the excuse to get around to some. Indie pop-rock with the occasional swing towards some techno-y goodness.

Ladyhawke, Anxiety (2012) [Youtube] - [Spotify]

I don't know if it's an actual genre descriptor but the word I really wanna use for this is "dance rock"? I dunno. Genres are fuckin' hard and I don't know shit but it's useful for trying to talk about things so.

Oingo Boingo, Boingo (1994) [Youtube] - [Spotify]

Is this prog rock? I think this might be prog rock? If it is then I guess sometimes I'm into that (though my other data point there is Thank You Scientist and they have such a mish-mash of stuff going on.)

[arashikurobara]

Albums I Loved This Month — April 2019

As a reminder, I've begun keeping an ongoing Spotify playlist compiling a selection from everything in these posts! I also threw together some more single-artist playlists for particular faves and toggled the existing one I had to public, more for my own "well I'm in this kind of mood today" purposes but please, feel free to enjoy.

Some other music-related highlights this month:

Saw Thank You Scientist live! It was amazing, show was small but the energy was fantastic. I was right up at the stage, too, posted a few photos on twitter and insta but never did get around to it here, I should. Intended to throw together a playlist of the setlist afterwards but it ended up being like half stuff from their upcoming album and thus not available yet; if you don't see Terraformer here in two months though, something has gone horribly wrong.

Openers for TYS were also both decent; even if their actual music doesn't quite click with me like I want it to, In the Presence of Wolves go amazingly hard, and I discovered later, their insta might be worth following entirely for its own sake. (I'm increasingly convinced that every band ever are huge doofuses and I love it.) Kindo have a real jazzy sound that suits me better than I'd expect but their lead singer looks uncannily like an ex so I kind of hate that I like it? I don't think they quite rate the monthly list but I'd say they're worth a check out (both these bands!).

After seeing video of some studio sets from some bands I'm into I started occasionally throwing on the web stream for KEXP, radio station out of Seattle, on every so often when I hit decision fatigue for listening choices. Lots of indie and alternative stuff, if you're into much of anything you've seen in my posts you'll probably enjoy their selection. They even have a morning host I genuinely like a ton.

Blue Man Group, The Complex (2003) [Youtube] - [Spotify]

I feel like it's really easy to go "lol look at the guys covered in blue paint" and forget that Blue Man Group is actually a performance act with, like, legit percussion in particular? The couple covers on here are particular highlights (and where I found it from thanks to Spotify's April Fool's Day joke) but the entire thing's pretty solid, especially the couple "rock concert by numbers" bits

Placebo, Covers (2003) [Youtube] - [Spotify]

Okay I'm not sure how much of the fact that I like this is that I actually like this and how much is that it has covers of the Pixies, Depeche Mode, and one of the couple Kate Bush songs I always kinda liked? On the other hand, doing a cover I don't like of a song I do is a real quick way to turn me off (hell, as much as I love OK Go, I cannot even with their cover of TMBG's "Letterbox"), so I guess I really am into this in and of itself and I should probably check out some of their own stuff.

ALSO WAIT A SECOND I ONLY JUST REALIZED THAT DJ OZMA'S "AGE AGE EVERY KNIGHT" TAKES THE MAIN RIFF FROM "DADDY COOL".

The Ting Tings, We Started Nothing (2008) [Youtube] - [Spotify]

Okay why is "That's Not My Name", decent as it may be, the track that was basically everywhere when "Fruit Machine" exists and kicks ass? (Maybe it was big too at the time, I had no idea this album's from over a decade ago.) But anyway, you've probably already heard one or both of "That's Not My Name" or "Shut Up and Let Me Go"; most of the rest of it's got that same sort of sound, but it's a solid sound

Johnny Foreigner, Waited Up 'Til It Was Light (2008) [Youtube] - [Spotify]

In sort of the same vein, loud sorta punk-y some such. Man I dunno, genres are hard. I just know it's fun.

Juliette & the Licks, Four on the Floor (2006) [Spotify]

Sometimes when actors try to do a music it's nooooooot good.

This is extremely not one of those times. Pretty straightforward high-energy rock. Apparently they're back working on new music after a breakup/long hiatus? I'll have to look forward to it.

Patrick Wolf, The Bachelor (2011) [Youtube] - [Spotify]

Yessssssss gimme that baroque pop full of strings but also with just some techno-y stuff in there too.

FFS, FFS (2015) [Youtube] - [Spotify]

First things first: let's take "So Desu Ne" and excise it from the universe, it makes me cringe. Past that, I'm not familiar with the the other half of this supergroup, but it definitely does have a fair bit of Franz Ferdinand's sound which I've always been consistently into even if nothing since has grabbed me quite as much as their first did. Plus some weird. (Also it turns out apparently Alex Kapranos's voice is one I can just identify immediately?)

Perfume, Level3 (2013) [Youtube] - [Spotify]

I finally took a page from my own friends and started listening to more than the 2.5 songs I'd previously heard from friends of my faves, our queens of synthpop, come from the future to bless us. (Honestly, honestly, I think their voices might be a little too "cute" sometimes for my own specific taste, but the arrangements and such keep the whole thing from turning completely saccharine and really I'm into the end result, which is what matters.)

[arashikurobara]

Albums I Loved This Month — March 2019

I've started a Spotify playlist of stuff from these posts! A song from each. My intention is to keep it updated for as long as I actually bother to keep doing these, and since that's a fairly easy part I figure it'll be kept up.

Actually writing some kind of intro each month, however, is way the hell harder. I probably ramble enough for y'all on the individual albums anyway. =P (And I know March isn't over yet but April starts on Monday, and since I do most of my album listening at work…)

Blossoms, Cool Like You (2018) [Youtube] - [Spotify]

Yessssss just stuff more synthpoppy rock bands straight into my ears. I think I listened to this album like three times the first week of March alone. The deluxe version has a second disc that's acoustic arrangements of everything and apparently the way to get me to like acoustic arrangements of normally not-acoustic songs is to just add some piano? (Actually, the acoustic version of "Giving Up the Ghost" is stunning and that's just piano and vocals as far as I can tell.)

Dirt Poor Robins, The Cage (2007) [Youtube] - [Spotify]

There's a lot of a really bombastic, theatrical feel here that I almost want to call something like "the sound that everyone listening to Evanescence when I was a teenager actually wanted"? I don't know, that feels like a weird (and unfairly snobby) way to put it but whatever it is, it does a lot for me. It does take a hard turn into Jesus-y in the last few tracks that I find off-putting, but until then it's solid (and honestly it might make the Evanescence comparison more apt than I thought).

Public Service Broadcasting, The Race for Space (2014) [Youtube] - [Spotify]

You know how sometimes there'll be some archive footage audio or something in a song? These guys made that their entire sound and it actually works and I love it. In terms of just the sound I might have a slight preference for Inform—Educate—Entertain over this but I feel like this one being on a specific theme (the space race, if the title didn't make it obvious) makes it a tighter overall package. Can't go wrong with any of their stuff, though.

These New Puritans, Beat Pyramid (2008) [Spotify]

A lot of this is just kind of weird in a lot of ways but it's a breed of weird that really meshes with me I suppose? A few tracks (e.g. "Numerology (AKA Numbers)", "Navigate-Colours")) even remind of, of all things, Don't Hug Me I'm Scared—just the particular sound in the first few episodes where the song hasn't quite gone off the rails into unsettling yet, though not all the way full steam into that whole educational show parody deal.

The Long Blondes, Someone to Drive You Home (2006) [Youtube] - [Spotify]

Jangly upbeat rock; if you liked Dream Wife off last month's recs this has a similar feel, I think?

Tricot, T H E (2013) [Youtube] - [Spotify]

I'm told this is math rock? So I may like math rock. There's another Japanese band that the vocals remind me a lot of, too, but I can't for the life of me remember who, unfortunately.

Alanis Morissette, Under Rug Swept (2002) [Youtube] - [Spotify]

So there's an article going around that everyone's been rightfully dunking on where someone went back to Jagged Little Pill and decided it sucked. It made me realize that while I'd heard a lot of the singles I'd never actually listened to an entire Alanis Morissette album, so I went and listened to that one and it was solid! But then I put on this one—the one that was new when I was a teenager and I even had had a couple tracks from kicking around for ages—and this one really resonated with me. Maybe it's just because of my own experiences, but this is the album that spoke to me.

[arashikurobara]

Albums That Influenced Me

Wanted to do an extra music post of some albums that were really formative for me, ages and ages ago. Hopefully some of you guys enjoy!

Billy Joel, Turnstiles (1976) [Youtube] - [Spotify]

I feel like we've probably all got at least one album that's something a parent really liked that rubbed off on us and this is the big one for me. (Definitely some other Billy Joel too, though not much else? Maybe the one Carpenters album we had a tape of.)

I still really love this one a ton too; I'm super not into "All You Wanna Do Is Dance", and the couple tracks that are probably the best known ("Say Goodbye to Hollywood" and "New York State of Mind") I personally find kinda meh, but "Summer, Highland Falls" is still an all-time favorite and everything on side B is damn solid (including a couple tracks I was shocked to see eventually make it into Rock Band).

Tori Amos, To Venus and Back (1999) [Youtube] - [Spotify]

And then there's when you start to really branch out on your own and find something you're truly into. One of the people that ran a site I frequented back when I was something like 12 was into Tori Amos and a couple years later I noticed this when mom was seeing what we wanted from Columbia House or whatever that order. (Ah, the days of getting a few CDs from a catalogue cheap every so often for like. Maybe a subscription fee? I dunno, man, I wasn't the one who actually handled that.) Anyway, this was her most recent at the time and it's a two-disc set, one disc of new studio stuff and one of live selections.

So it came and I slapped it into my discman, because those were the days, and that sort of windy noise into brooding piano at the start of "Bliss" hooked me immediately. I still remember that feeling and I still get that same feeling a lot when I realize I've found something really great. Plus, I tend to not actually be that into live albums, but disc 2 is still one of my very favorites, right up there with now also OK Go's 180/365.

BT, Emotional Technology (2003) [Youtube] - [Spotify]

It's real sad that kids these days don't get to experience the era of AIM away messages, because a girl I knew from another school via the forensics team putting some lyrics from "The Force of Gravity" in hers was absolutely how I discovered this. Looked it up, downloaded the song on KaZaA or Limewire or whatever we were up to by then, was hooked. (Especially since he'd also on a prior album done a collab with Tori Amos.) This album has a couple tracks that skew a little more towards rock even though overall it's still solidly trance, so it might even be a good gateway in general.

Even as influential on me as this was, this and some further BT pick-ups were the only trance I ended up listening to until my Magic: the Gathering days when I watched Kibler stream some, which usually included trance podcasts and by extension discovering some more good stuff. Definitely spent some solid hours on plug.dj back in those days with it all too.

Sluts of Trust, We Are All Sluts of Trust (2004) [Youtube] - [Spotify]

I definitely had a crush on an actor who was close friends with the band and ended up in one of the like two music videos they ever put out and decided I kinda liked it. Ended up special-ordering the CD in to Borders and taking the bus over one afternoon, because I was in college by then but it had ~*~explicit content~*~ (honestly. this is true.) and I was quite worried that my mother, who was a cosigner on my bank account because I was 17 when we opened it, could somehow see what I bought if I used my debit card to buy it online.

And then yeah. Turns out I genuinely do like me some loud scuzzy rock. I still think the fact that they only ever put out the one album is a damn tragedy. I'm also sad that I didn't get to see them live even though I know they played a show all of maybe a half-mile from campus at one point. (I'm pretty sure I was too young; I think it was over-18 but it was in the few months while I was in college and 17 still, but it may just have been over-21.

[arashikurobara]

Albums I Loved This Month — February 2019

I honestly expected to have a lot fewer things to share this month. I spent about half the month coming down with, having, and then getting over the flu, and even though it was a fairly mild case of actual flu it did mean spending a lot of time tired, headachey, or just brain too worn out to tolerate a lot. I spent a lot of time listening to stuff that had quickly become "comfort food" music to me. And a lot of stuff that I liked off my discovery playlists had the full albums just kind of bounce off me.

Somehow even then, I came out of it with a shortlist of ten things, which stayed pretty close to that after giving stuff another listen and culling a couple. Though unlike past months, I haven't taken as much time to go back and try out more from the artists' discographies, so you might not be getting quite as much best of the best (at least to me).

In other musical news, I picked up tickets to see Thank You Scientist play live next month! I did end up waffling on Idles until that show sold out, but unlike that one, this one's actually local and it's on a Friday, so it was going to be a much lower time and effort investment and equally cheap. Should be a lot of fun!

Sons and Daughters, This Gift (2008) [Youtube] - [Spotify]

Is this more post-punk revival? I dunno I think this might be more post-punk revival? Welcome to the "describing things and why I like them is hard but I like this" zone.

She Drew the Gun, Revolution of Mind (2018) [Youtube] - [Spotify]

I want to truly love this album. I like this album, but why don't I love this album? It just doesn't quite click with me personally, somehow. Except for "Resister Reprise" which, if you only listen to one single song off this month's recs, listen to that one.

It's still on this list because I feel like it should be listened to, both because it's still a decent album and because it's laden with the political message of, I guess, radical love and kindness and caring for others in the face of oppression? that I know is going to resonate with most of my friends.

Dream Wife, Dream Wife (2018) [Spotify]

Whereas this works for me in the way I really wish Revolution of Mind did. It's just got the right feel for me, with the sound. And while it's way less political (though absolutely not totally apolitical), more flirty and fun and such, it looks like the band does stuff like having a policy of a ladies-only mosh pit that feels like it's coming from a similar sort of place. Have some fun lady pop punk!

The Apples in Stereo, Travellers in Space and Time (2010) [Spotify]

Did you want some '60s psychedelic pop throwback? Sure you did! This one's just their most recent one and the one Spotify threw a track from onto my discovery list since I haven't had the time to listen to much of their other stuff (they've been around a fairly long while!) but I did get through what was apparently their greatest hits album and that stays true and it seems like they've been a solid band the whole time if you like this and want some more?

Electric Eel Shock, Go USA! (2005) [Youtube] - [Spotify]

Japanese garage rock, little bit metal but really kinda just pure unfiltered rock and roll. Apparently they were one of the first bands (not just Japanese bands, bands period) to do a lot of crowd funding stuff which is kinda neat. (If they consulted for PledgeMusic at one point does that mean I can partially thank them when I finally have that signed CD of Hungry Ghosts I'm waiting on from that OK Go vinyl collection project?)

White Lies, Five (2019) [Youtube] - [Spotify]

This has a really '80s new wave (in the synthpoppy sense) feel to me? While still being a very distinct feel from the very intentionally throwback sound from All Hail the Silence. (I mean it's quite possible that it's equally intentional here, I just only know for sure that it is for AHtS.) In particular "Tokyo" reminds me a lot of "Africa" for some reason.

Heavy Lungs, Straight to CD (2019) [Youtube*] - [Spotify]

(*I've been striving to only link to official or the Youtube-generated playlists for albums; one does exist for this EP but it only has two of the four songs. I figured I'd link it anyway.)

If you listened to the Idles albums on my list last month and want more of that particular strain of punk, might I suggest these guys? They've only got this and one other EP out so far but it's definitely a similar sound, and the bands are friends—"Danny Nedelko" on Joy As an Act of Resistance and "Blood Brother" on here are actually about each other and have even been released as a joint single.

Cake, Comfort Eagle (2001) [Youtube] - [Spotify]

If my college boyfriend who was into Cake had played more off this album I might've actually been into Cake? Though the other few albums I tried after "Commissioning a Symphony in C" from this came up on my discovery list didn't work as well for me for whatever reason. I can absolutely get it if the vocals on their stuff are a dealbreaker but there's a lot of good stuff going on here instrumentally and lyrically, I think.