Album-Listening Club (Listening to Little Earthquakes; Now nominating)

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Maybe it was me never growing up with them (only learned they existed in 2016), but I've never saw the hype with daft punk. Maybe I'm missing something, but for me, the tracks are just kinda mediocre tunes while one or two phrases are repeated. It isn't bad music, but if I said I thought it was good music I'd be lying.

I'll finish the two albums tomorrow, since I got busy. Not my final review, but for now Sawayama started really promising, with STFU and dynasty being really good but it's starting to become somewhat generic as I go on
 
i think von had a pretty solid overview of sawayama. while its production and lyricism is often subversive for pop music, a few songs are a notch below the rest and make it less listenable than it could have been. borders a 7/8, with the standouts being stfu and xs. if you haven't checked out her producer clarence clarity yet, his body of work is a fun escape. he's not so much a singer as a boundary-pusher, and he has fun riffs on pop music where the ease of listening and pattern recognition is present, but it's still hugely experiment and fun. here's a personal favorite:


for the next listen, i'd like to nominate last year was weird vol. 2 by tkay maidza. we haven't had too many black noms thus far, and this was my favorite project of 2020. much like sawayama, tkay's EP runs the gamut of sound and incorporates a lot of different styles yet still sounds cohesive and fresh. there is more crude, bombastic, and harsh rap (grasshopper, awake) with mellow poppy tunes (24k, you sad) all the while immersing the listener in a world away from the world.
 
Homogenic
Bjork was another artist introduced to me in a previous walrus, though I've been well acquainted with her music for a while now. This is the fourth Bjork album I've listened to, with Debut, Vespertine, and Volta previous. It opens with probably the two most well known songs on the album, Hunter and Joga. These are also two of the standout songs. Hunter features a really novel and excellent snare beat with a tone created by surprisingly subtle french accordion. Bjork's music is all about tone. Joga in particular is the kind of overlapping tone bomb that would define Vespertine, but it also has a strange distorted drum beat. If Vespertine is all about consistent tone and Volta took more risks with strange sounds, then Homogenic feels like it lands between the two, with a heavy distortion theme to tie everything together. Not much to say about Unravel but that it continues this trend with some nice church organ tones.

Bachelorette may very well be my favorite song on the album. It sounds like a James Bond song, yet this somehow works for Bjork? Writing this, it kinda reminds me of 90s a-ha. Anyway, I love this stuff. All Neon Like has a very slow crystalline tone matched with a popping digital beat. It kinda works but feels too long at almost six minutes. 5 Years really ratchets up the distortion. It might be too much but Bjork really brings her voice to this track to counterbalance it. Immature is another fine but very standard Bjork song. For someone whose music is so unique, a fair bit of it sounds the same.

Alarm Call feels more like it came out of Debut, like it's almost an early 90s dance beat but something is purposefully off about it. Really takes you out of the album, but the lyrics make that seem like an explicit choice. Pluto hits peak distortion and frankly it's just too much for me. Even on 5 Years at least her singing is clear. There's no balance in this song at all. Finally, All Is Full of Love is a lilting, slow song that works to cap the album as a refresher against all the distortion, but it's not something I'd care to listen to on its own.

Overall, Homogenic is another one of Bjork's consistently quite good albums. It's not my favorite, but it offers something unique that you might want to revisit.

We have until Thursday to nominate songs, so please get those nominations in even if you haven't finished listening to previous albums yet.
 
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Homogenic, like many, was my first introduction to Bjork, specifically Joga, and to me, the album is almost indescribable in regards to how much I find it a masterpiece. The blending of many different music genres was ahead of its time, much different to Bjork's previous two albums, with every song having its own unique sound, all of which can be traced to many popular genres today. Combining the abstract sounds with the Bjork's lyrical and vocal attributes truly makes this album one of the greatest of all time.

Although Hunter is one of my least favorite songs from the album, its probably Bjork's second greatest album opener (first easily goes to Hidden Place) thanks to how its unique orchestral and electronic sounds complemented by the lyricism sets up for the overall theme of the album while retaining its many surprises.

Joga is Joga. I honestly really can't say more. It's one of the greatest songs of all time and really show how much heart and patriotism Bjork has for her home country. It's definitely one of the reasons why I become a big fan of her work in the first place.

Unravel really demonstrates Bjork's talent vocally thanks to the less intense and more atmospheric sounds that still retain the unique combination of orchestra and electronic beats.

Bachelorette I see almost as the younger sister to Joga; the poetic beauty behind the lyrics boosted by the strong string instruments makes the song worth listening in its entirety. It's definitely one of the most emotional songs on here right beside Joga. In all honesty, though, going through the first four songs on this album is an emotional journey.

I like to mark All Neon Like as the turning point of the album in terms of its sounds; while the songs before it focus more on orchestral and traditional aspects, All Neon Like starts the slow yet smooth transition of the greater use of electronic sounds and beats. While it is probably my least favorite song on the album mostly due to how long it is, it's incredibly important when understanding the masterful blending of music genres that was revolutionary of its time. I'm grouping this with 5 Years and Immature because although I don't have much to say about them besides the fact that they too also help slowly building up the use of electronic beat that will eventually lead us to the biggest curve ball on this album.

Alarm Call is definitely one of my favorites thanks to how upbeat the sound is alongside how happy Bjork sounds singing. The many layers of her voice within the song, especially her "beep beeps," really give it a lot of life. The lyricism on this track is also pretty out there compared to the other tracks (I'm pretty sure the line "I'm no fucking Buddhist, but this is enlightenment" is one of the only couple of tracks where she actually curses in her entire music career), which altogether makes Alarm Call such a jam.

I once had my friend listen to Pluto and they were shocked when I said that this was on an album released in 1997, which I don't blame her at all for. Pluto can honestly be categorized as dubstep if you stretch the definition a bit. Although many find it an incredibly odd choice for a song on an album like this, I believe it's important to understand that this is almost like the build up from the first predominantly orchestral half of the album as the more electronic aspects of it begin to slowly ooze into until it floods all into this track. It’s also important to note the meaning behind the song; my interpretation of it, at least, is that the lyrics describing Bjork exploding and renewing herself alongside the chaos that happens sound-like signals rebirth, almost the chaotic nature of star nearing the end of its life. Knowing that, Pluto leading into the last track, which is practically the opposite of Pluto, makes more sense.

I’ve seen the last track of the album, All is Full of Love, described as the unofficial beginning track to her album after this one, Vespertine, and for good reason. The message behind it with a much more traditional sound makes it an incredible closing track. However, I personally believe Bjork’s original rendition of the track, which add more electronic elements to it, is better than the album version. I understand that this version was chosen to act as a formal ending to the album, as well as to complement the “rebirth” implied in Pluto, but I would definitely suggest checking out Bjork’s rendition of All is Full of Love after you finish the album (which you can check out here).

Simply put, the masterful craft in every aspect of Homogenic has proven to be influential since its time all the way to now. Bjork just in general solidifies herself as one of the greatest musicians of all time in part due to this album. With how revolutionary is it, especially the unique blending of sound for its time, there is no doubt that this one of the greatest albums of all time, and I would highly suggest you check out Bjork’s other works if you really enjoyed this one.

I’ll (hopefully) have my thoughts on SAWAYAMA later, but for now, I’ll say that it is also one of my personal favorite albums thanks to its unique take on pop. For now, though, I’d like to make a nomination.

I nominate RTJ4 by Run The Jewels (2020). Although their second album is my personal favorite, I figured that their latest one would be a better nomination given its overall theme relating much to today’s times. Tackling issues such as racism, the power of media, and more, RTJ4 is often claimed to be the album of “modern revolution” of our generation. It doesn’t end there, though; on top of the heavy-hitting themes, the production is honestly one of the best I’ve heard from a hip-hop album. The duo also really kills it in terms of lyricism, tying into the themes through explicit lines and clever wordplay. RTJ4 is honestly such a great album that’s worth listening to due to how amazing the production on it is and how there’s absolutely no filter as they rap about the social issues of today.
 
Last chance to nominate an album! We have 5 noms atm.

If you'd like to just use your old nomination, sad react this post!
 
It's been a busy week for me, but I've finally been able to sit down and have a good listen to Homogenic. I'm going to do my best to listen to SAWAYAMA within the next few days as well.

For background, Bjork is one of the artists I have on my iPod and that I've been interested in listening to for a while. I actually wanted to listen to her albums one by one and add them all to my library as I did so, but I only got around to Debut (1993) and Post (1995). Things happened and I forgot to listen to more. Ironically, Homogenic was next in line. I voted for and was happy to see Homogenic win this week because it would be a nice opportunity to continue where I left off and I wanted to force myself to devote time to really basking in the music. And... wow. I'm really happy I basked in this. This album is a masterpiece.

Homogenic is an album that has a lot of tracks that work well individually, but they all come together beautifully in the album's musical journey and the album itself exceeds the sum of its parts. Bjork gives us a piece of her heart, her mind, and her body in multiple ways. We're able to experience introspection, longing, release, dread, hope, catharsis, peace, and so much more with the album's varied instrumentation and lyrics. The following will be my experience and interpretation of each track. (Note: I recommended listening to this album with headphones in a quiet, non-distracting place if you can! You won't regret it!)

We start with Hunter. Right off the bat, we have an emotional complexity that is present in conflicting, yet complementary, elements of the track. Lyrics filled with desire are sung with vocals that are tinged with melancholy, and at times sound haunting. The electronic instrumentation paired with the violin are longing, but somber. Bjork is reaching for something, but we hear mixed feelings and as we advance into the album we're invited inside to experience these emotions. An incredible opener.

Joga is a poetic look into Bjork's heart. The vocals are stunning, and they take the longing felt in Hunter and make them more delicate and loving. I especially liked late in the track when her vocals echoed with the incorporation of Icelandic. I looked up some of what Bjork has said about each track and this track is about her love for Iceland and a conceptual glue for the album itself. The love in her heart is for the beautiful nature of Iceland, and the longing, almost nostalgic feel comes from remembering Iceland while she was away on tour. I think this track is a lovely tribute to her home country.

Unravel is one of my favorite tracks of the album with its intimate lyrics. We have a simultaneous push and pull. There is both dread and hope and each exists because of the other:

"While you are away​
My heart comes undone​
Slowly unravels​
In a ball of yarn​
​
The devil collects it​
With a grin​
Our love, our love​
In a ball of yarn
​
He'll never return it​
So, when you come back​
We'll have to make new love"​

Like the tide, the singer and her love move to and from each other. Although each time they move away they become more estranged, they also get to recreate their connection and get intimate each time they reunite. The process is both painful and replenishing. The soft instrumentation and vocals make this track feel like a soft whisper, especially compared to the tracks it is placed between.

Bachelorette is a stark contrast to Unravel. We go from intimacy to a powerful and cinematic track. The instrumentation is bolder, and the vocals are loud and passionate. The lyrics themselves are fiery and intense. We are given vivid, striking imagery: a fountain of blood, a whale trapped in a bay, a path of cinders beneath her lover's feet. Once again we have double-sided emotion. There's a push and pull- The singer aims to make passionate love with her lovers, and yet there is so much injury involved. Bjork describes this as a "disarming confrontation." This is very nicely captured in just how grand the cinematic feel of this track is.

The second half of the album sounds a lot different than the first. This begins with All Neon Like. This track shifts into an angelic, almost uncanny sound. The cinematic, orchestral instrumentation that we just experienced is nowhere to be found on this track. The feeling I get from this track is circular, as if the sound in wrapping up around the listener. This matches the lyrics and the imagery we're given with the halo and cocoon.

5 Years continues the use of predominantly electronic instrumentation and dials it up to create a dissonant sound. This is probably my least favorite track because I feel the dissonance was a bit too much for me, but I appreciate how wonderfully it pairs with the lyrics. The anger and frustration that the singer feels towards the subject is harsh and pointed in both the vocals and the instrumentation. The rejoining of the violins in the middle of the track for just a moment is a nice contrast to the overwhelming electronic sounds, perhaps showcasing the love that exists underneath all of the anger.

Immature continues the feelings with experience with 5 Years, but feels more introspective and toned down. The track itself is short, as are the lyrics. The vocals in this track drag on, really showcasing that inner questioning and introspection.

A contrast to the previous tracks, Alarm Call stands out with the optimistic beats and lyrics which have a spring in their step. This track isn't melancholic but rather joyously determined. I found myself moving along with this track, which I hadn't done to any other on the album. It felt like the kind of happiness that comes when someone lets go and indulges. The lyrics really spoke to me on this one.

Pluto continues the electronic instrumentation taking over and introduces dissonant, glitchy sounds. Personally, the dissonance in this track works more for me than 5 Years. This track is an explosion, which the glitchy sound contributes to.

All is Full of Love is a perfect pair to Pluto and a great way to close the album. The glitchy, electronic sounds are still present. However, they are toned down and in the background, almost like a heartbeat. Optimistic, resonant vocals create the rebirth after Pluto's explosion. This track is soft like a newborn. The vocals in this track echo and spread in a way the encapsulates everything. The journey we've embarked on is closed with love.

What an album. The fact that this album contains so much variety yet also delivers such a cohesive, multi-dimensional package is really a testament to Bjork's creativity and skill as an artist. The album feels so raw and so human, yet so transcendent and otherworldly at the same time. I cannot stress enough to listen to this album with headphones, in a quiet place, in one sitting. It really is a journey and a spectacular choice for week one. I will definitely be listening to more of Bjork's works after this.

Favorite Tracks: Unravel, Bachelorette, Alarm Call
 
Got busy with work and illness, sadly didn't have time to sit down and listen to either album in their entirety. I'll still write down some small thoughts I've had:

SAWAYAMA: An album with a really interesting start, and a slow fall into "not bad, but a downgrade". Her voice is very good and STFU still stands out as the most shocking and interesting song of the bunch. It's an interesting take on pop songs, and I hope to see more works from her akin to XS and STFU, but it just didn't gripe me at the end, and when you're short on time, the last songs didn't feel enticing enough to spend my limited time listening.

Homogenic: To be honest, I don't think I have the English expertise to write down how good this album is. Unless you want to translate 5 paragraphs of me gushing in Portuguese lol.
Machoke put it better than I could have. This album just does so many different things while still showing a complete narrative. Every choice is deliberate to invoke a different emotion and concept, followed by the (very fitting) lyrics.
I hope to finish this album soon, but it really is like a small journey that Bjork crafted. God that sounds corny as hell doesn't it lol.
 
guess who remembered they have homogenic on vinyl (me)

Stray thoughts as I listen for the first time in probably years

Side A:

- this album opens so well
- "I'm going hunting... I'm the hunter...."
- it's tired as hell to call Bjork otherworldly but this really does sound like some alien shit.
- the percussion rules. also I love string sections
- so much of the beginning of Joga reminds me of the buildup of EDM that came after it. as weird as this album is, you can still place Bjork's role as an influence on the electronic music of the era
- apparently the string arrangements were added very late in production, which is a surprise to me as these songs would sound so different without them. the strings and electronic production seem inextricable from each other
- this album definitely slows pace after Hunter for a while. it switches vibes from trip hop to nearly ambient by Unravel
- the little doodle oodle oodle sound, which sounds like some kind of warbled reversed tape maybe??? very cool, radiohead vibes
- seriously I can't imagine this album without the strings
- Bachelorette has mad Bond vibes
- Bjork is so much more emotive a vocalist than was typical of the time. her contemporaries often had a very disaffected vibe by contrast
- always forget how big Bachelorette gets, and how well it builds to it
- I don't know much about Bjork's personal life, but I do know she had a stalker who committed suicide during the time of the album's recording. It was recorded in seclusion to escape the ensuing media attention, and I feel like this might be why the album is a bit more melancholic and dramatic than the relatively playful Post.
- All Neon Like is so dope. Seems like Sweet Trip felt similarly when they recorded some of the more ambient tracks on V:D:C
- Bjork's accent and delivery sell her repetitive mantra-like lyrics. When she coos "I'll heal you", I believe her
- Side A is tight. The slower ballads in the center have to compete with some very lushly, enthralling bangers but it's a very nice listen throughout

Side B:

- 5 Years intro sounds like it invented Beach House's whole thing but then the rhythm section gets way cooler
- this isn't the only song on the album that makes me think of chiptune video game music but I don't think that's intentional
- the cheeriness of this song's keyboard chords against Bjork's borderline angry vocals? shit rules
- Bjork really gets animalistic on this track. maybe it just stands out because of the relatively sparse production
- gorgeous strings at the end of 5 Years
- the transition into Immature gets me every time
- this song is so coolly jazzy. borders on loungey but still marches the vibe.
- Bjork's transitions between get charm and strain grit are seamless and cool as hell
- Alarm Call has to be the most digestible track on the album in the best way. This had to be the most successful single right?
- ooooh ooh-ooh OOOH ooh-ooh (beebeebee beep beep)
- Bjork really uses her voice as an instrument, as Thom Yorke describes his own singing
- Pluto is a little acid housey, like some of Daft Punk's more aggressive early material. it's jarring at first but Bjork's vocals work very well with distortion, and they and the driving percussion give it purpose
- scary :( but cool >:)
- this would make very good boss fight music. also wouldn't mind grinding my teeth to this while surrounded by glowsticks
- All Is Full of Love is a beautifully peaceful ending to a very tortured album
- more ambient textures, the flamenco flourishes, the most mantra-like lyrics yet... Bjork gets borderline shamanic here
- while Side A feels very cohesive in musical narrative and mood, Side B stretches the vibe out in a very good way. it's got more weirdness but also more pleasantness.

Standout Tracks: Hunter, Bachelorette, All Neon Like, 5 Years, Immature, Alarm Call, Pluto, All Is Full of Love. Pretty much all of the album except the more ballad-like second and third tracks, which don't represent a dip in quality but are not quite as memorable and inspired as the other 80 percent of the album. hardly much to criticize

Verdict: hella good

I will try to give this SAWAYAMA record a listen but I'm way less familiar with it than I am with this record lol
 
Discovery by Daft Punk has won. Y'all have a week to listen to it and post, as well as until Thursday to nominate an album.

I was going to nominate someone, but I just found out they were involved in some major controversy not too long ago, so I think I'll rethink my nom. I'll post it when I talk about Discovery later.
 
Discovery by Daft Punk
Daft Punk was blowing up as a cult act I think around the time I was in high school, but back then I was very much absorbed into older music and not giving new stuff much of a chance. I thought they were okay, but I didn't generally like electronic music. It was when Random Access Memories came out that Daft Punk blew me away with just one of the best albums ever made, probably. Going backward Discovery, which I first listened to a few months ago, had massive shoes to fill. And unfortunately it's only okay.

The memorable hits from the album, One More Time and Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger deserve to be the hits they are. Neither are my favorite Daft Punk song, but they are both quite good. One More Time is like a window into the disco direction the band would take on their next album, though sometimes the autotuned vocals are a bit much. HBFS is just such an earworm. Even the Kanye version is pretty alright, though definitely overrated.

Those aren't the only tracks that form the album's relatively strong start. Aerodynamic is a purely instrumental song, which this album features a lot more of than Random Access Memories. Personally, I can tolerate instrumentals in pop albums sometimes, but Aerodynamic goes above tolerable with its incredibly strong main melody. That leads into Digital Love, which fills me with the same sort of weird nostalgia that Fragments of Time or Instant Crush would later. I believe this kind of sound is truly one of Daft Punk's strongest assets, but it doesn't seem like they ever relied on it much.

From here, much of the album is just inoffensive noise. Crescendolls has a strong beat but just doesn't feel like it has a point it's trying to make, which I feel that instrumentals can definitely do melodically. This track on the other hand could be slotted into any video game as looping music. Nightvision is about 100 seconds of mellow ambient sound. I quite like it when albums have minor contextual tracks that aren't meant to be songs, but alter how the album itself is supposed to feel. Nightvision is a bit long for that, but certainly falls short of feeling like a song. Superheroes is a bit annoying with it's repetitive lyrics. A lot of Daft Punk, and indeed the disco that inspired them, is highly repetitious and there's a fine line between when that works and when it feels bad. This song feels pretty bad at first, which is a shame because the instrumentation in the second half is quite good. High Life starts with what feels like a really compelling intro, until you realize that it's the whole song. Unfortunately one-trick and it managed to get my hopes up and dash them on my second listen-through as well.

Voyager for the most part has neither the ups or downs of the previously mentioned tracks. It's the kind of mid-grade standard track you get at this point of an album that risks losing your attention, the harp section is absolutely sick and I think I've come around to it in the middle of writing this. This brings us into Viridis Quo, which I think is doing good things with its synth organ, but just doesn't do enough to warrant being a nearly 6 minute repeating instrumental on album that is already running long. Short Circuit is another funk inspired song, although it comes on awfully strong for having just done two mellow songs with medieval sounds. It's a little wonky for me even in isolation. Gets better as it weirds out at the midway mark.

I wouldn't say any of the previous songs are bad at all, and overall Discovery is an alright listen that was at least good enough to dust off a second time for this review. I'd be remiss though if I didn't mention some of the other songs I actually liked. Something About Us is a slow-burn and maybe a bit quaint. I've bounced back and forth on how much I like it, but I do definitely like it and I think it's one where the robot vocals really lend a positive spin. Face to Face feels like the perfect balance between the instrumentations and the opening hits. It's overall very slick and funky, but also has more classically great vocals and lyrics without really being in your face or repetitive. Definitely the hidden gem of the album.

Overall, Discovery is fairly okay. It's not of a genre I care for, but heavily inspired by some genres I do like. I don't mean to bring my album ratings into this thread, but I feel like mentioning over the course of this re-review I've increased Discovery's score from C- to C+. It's definitely too long for what it's doing, so what can I say about the final track Too Long that it isn't saying about itself? Feels like they were just taking the piss there.
 
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I listened to this album for the first time alongside the news of Daft Punk breaking up, like many others I'm sure. DP has always been a name I've known but never been familiar with outside of their most popular songs (I was going to middle school dances around the time RAM came out, so it was very difficult to avoid songs like Get Lucky, and MBDTF was still relatively new in 2013 / 14 so I knew of their involvement with power / HBFS, but not much else). I hadn't really dipped my toes into Daft Punk's discog because by the time I actually started getting into music, I was pretty disconnected from the electronic / house scenes.

Most of the album to me is fairly straightforward, with funky techno and house beats and DP's signature robotic singing voices. The formula doesn't really seem to be shied away from on any tracks, with most songs being just catchy enough for me to not turn them off. Whenever I really start getting into a part of this album, however, something always throws me off, like vocals interrupting the really cool synth funk intro on Something About Us, but a lot of these moments are mirrored by equally high points, like the cool melting distorted outro to Short Circuit. I've come to like a lot of the purely instrumental tracks a lot more than the vocal-heavy tracks (one of my favorite parts on the album is the first minute or so of Face to Face: until the vocals come in of course). Worst song is by far Too Long, just a super bad end to an album that I would have otherwise enjoyed a lot more without it.

Key Track: Aerodynamic

low 7 / 10 - solid, i can definitely see the appeal and enjoy parts of this album, but i can't help but feel like i'm missing something that pushes it to the next level. a good listen that i'll probably be revisiting in the future, but i don't see it becoming one of my real favorites
 
I Nominate Ride on Time by Tatsuro Yamashita (1980)
Tatsuro Yamashita's Big Wave was a respectable third in the first vote, so I was sad not to see it nominated again. But it wasn't, so I'm here to swoop in like a vulture and nominate the Yamashita album I'm more interested in, Ride on Time. If Hololive is an accurate indicator of Japanese culture, then Ride on Time must be the most popular Japanese album of all time. And it's city pop, which is what most kids these days think of in their heads when they imagine what the 80s sounded like if "80s" versions of modern songs on youtube are anything to go off of. He's also the same guy who made this insane banger. Even though I don't have plans any time soon to get heavy into weeb music, I've got to see what the hype is all about.
 
Oop I forgot about this for a bit because smogon quit notifying me, I'll comment anyways since I've binged all of Bjork last year and Sawayama is my aoty of 2020 this is a long one folks lol

Homogenic - Honestly it's my least listened album of Bjork's and I haven't relistened to it in its entirety in the past 3 months but recently I added Bachelorette to my driving playlist (that I listen to more so in the passenger seat commuting to college than I do actually practicing driving lol) and I've been really enjoying it. I'd say after Utopia, Homogenic is her most...nature esque sounding album to me, like the trees of a forest are singing to me type of nature. Though Utopia is more like a quiet tranquil forest singing to the lucky few who find it(bear with me it's just how my mind envisions it...) and Homogenic (especially Joga) is more like a vast landscape of mountains and trees singing in harmony, it's really magical.
Bjork has no album below 7/10 and Homogenic is a solid 8.5/10 I'd probably rank it about ~4th best album of hers though that's not really the most common opinion lol. I do prefer Biophilia, Vespertine, Medulla, and Post(just barely, they're pretty tied) more

Sawayama where do I start, yea I stan this album lol. The Paradisin' sax solo into a keychange is one of the best moments of 2020 imo and was a much needed energy pick-up after Akasaka Sad hit you with some serious shit. I really don't have a lot to say about this album honestly, it's so well put together and explores so many unique sounds without ever sounding out of place or incohesive, I applaud Rina for being able to explore so many genres like she has a NU metal inspired song that is followed by a straight up RuPaul catwalk song. Dynasty is a hell of an opener and Snakeskin is a *hell* of a closer which is what I feel a lot of albums lacked in 2020, Future Nostalgia comes to mind having an amazing intro but falling off hard in its final 2 tracks. Snakeskin also has a final fantasy reference as well as a sample of one of my favorite Beethoven sonatas so it's pretty much saying to me "hey, love me." and I eat that shit up :psycry:
If the acoustic version of Bad Friend was what we got on the album instead of the one with the meh vocoder it would be a 10/10 but 9.5/10

Daft Punk- I've never been into the electronic/house side of music personally. Closest I ever got is What's Your Pleasure which is just inspired by house and disco, and electroswing songs which are honestly a completely genre that's just under "electronic." For the first time listening to this group before, I'm much more into the instrumentation of this album, especially in the song Aerodynamic though I'll have to say I'm not huuugeee on the electric guitar (I never am lol though it sounds a bit better in the next song Digital Love albeit it's distorted and maybe layered with synth?), the vibe is pretty great though and is overly an excellent instrumental song. And this really is my overall sentiment with the entire album, great instrumentals but it kinda loses me when so much of when it departs from that, though a few tracks do kinda overstay their welcome, Superheroes I think could've been a minute or so shorter. And then we get to Veridis Quo which is like a really great song tho??? I'm a sucker for that like gba era final fantasy-esque organ and it just works so well when the beat starts to fade in, then short circuit is just funky as fuck. Too long is too long without much payoff imo, didn't really sell me as a decent closing track personally.

Maybe Daft Punk pioneered Vocaloids :blobthinking: I actually really enjoyed the funky synth instrumentals of this album despite never really hearing of Daft Punk because it's a different realm of music than I look at but I'd give it a strong 7.5/10 the robot vocals is their thing but it's not really my thing but I'm glad I gave it a listen.

I'll also add I nominate To Bring You My Love by PJ Harvey (1995)
This is Polly's first solo album after splitting from her group she was in for her first 2 albums. It's a timeless rock album that's heavily inspired by blues, most notably Captain Beefheart, and what I consider to be the best album of all time. It is a dark album in the sense that it covers the ideas loss sometimes literally sometimes metaphorically. Different to her previous album Rid of Me that was dark because it was very vengeful, the title track Rid of Me screaming "don't you wish you never met her" is not exactly a remorseful song. TBYML however is much more of a mourning darkness, the title track singing about sacrificing everything("lain with the devi l// cursed God above") for her love, multiple songs of abandonment and longing for love are common through the album as a whole as well.

This post is long enough I think I'll stop there before I write a book, imagine if I wrote this much when I was doing actual homework o_o
 
So far we have only two noms this week! Don't be afraid to renominate stuff! We're down from 14 participants in week 1
 
I've listened to Discovery maybe a hundred times but will spin it again, don't have it on vinyl unfortunately tho

I'm renominating Velocity Design Comfort - Sweet Trip, and also encourage everyone to listen to their new single released this year.
 
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Hopefully I'll have time to listen to it soon. For now, though, I'll be re-nominating RTJ4 by Run The Jewels again.
 
nominating Pink Moon by Nick Drake (1972)

in a stark contrast to all of my other highly-rated (9+/10) albums, pink moon is a short, stripped down folk album focusing on topics of depression, loneliness, and failure with poetic but empty vocals pretty much whispered over drake's own guitar playing. this album is impossible to describe with words other than "simple", but but that hardly tells the whole story- it's more atmospheric if anything, with drake seemingly just trying to fill a void before his disappearance and suicide two years later. personal depressioncore favorite for rainy nights

 
I am not normally a music listener, but I have a lot of thoughts to share on Discovery.

First off, I highly recommend rather than just listening to the album on its own, watching the companion film Interstella 5555. I believe this strengthens the impact of the album, as I don't think it's meant to be listened to while sitting still and relaxing, just listening to the music. When accompanying the film, there's a lot more stimulus going on and the repetitive nature of the tracks that bore a lot of people can get smoothed out.

Speaking of repetitiveness in Daft Punk's songs....

Not to be a broken record, but...this is THE POINT. Random Access Memories is a very radical departure from almost everything else in their catalogue, even before the two musicians teamed up and became Daft Punk. House music was never about melodic pieces like Get Lucky, or even "club hits" like One More Time and Harder Better Faster Stronger became. In fact, I think these are the low points of the album. One More Time got all the radio play, but I never found there to be much substance to the track, and unlike the other "repetitive" songs where repetition builds and evolves into something new, One More Time just loops the catchy, sing-alongy chorus. I don't think that's what daft punk intended for people to get out of the album. House music was about sampling, mix sessions, combining bits of music from anywhere you find it, played in low-key basement clubs and created "in the DJ's house" with amateur synth equipment. The electronic scene in 2001 doesn't even evolve into what people would call it today, it's a completely separate animal.

Is Discovery a great album? I dunno
Is it a great house music album? Absolutely. I would call it the DEFINITIVE daft punk album.

I think the strongest songs on the album are superheroes, crescendolls, face to face, and digital love. The first two completely embody the concept of turning a vocal sample into an instrument itself; daft punk experimented with this early on in Homework (e.g. around the world) but only solidified it with Discovery. If you can imagine playing crescendolls with a tight group of clubbing, the "beat drops" where the percussion switches up are absolute keys. Part of my love for crescendolls comes from daft punk's live album mix (also recommended highly to check out), but the original still slaps. Then Digital Love brings in the compressed, vocodered "nostalgia" that Daft Punk always brings; this whole album was founded on a desire to reconnect with feelings of their childhood.

Discovery is what I'd deem a masterpiece. If you like it, check out human after all. Then check out homework. Then check out alive 2007. In fact, if you didn't like it, listen to it again. It takes time for the rythyms of the track to imbue themselves in your brains, and every time you re-listen to a daft punk instrumental track your brain longs for the drops and refocuses the entire song around enjoying the repitition just long enough before the switches happen. If this kind of music speaks to you, then I'm sorry, because you will never get it again : ]] as Daft Punk chose to switch up the style hardcore in 2010 and never went back. C'est la vie.
 
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nominating Dead Magic by Anna von Hausswolf

this 2018 release does things. it's apparently in the neoclassical darkwave?? genre, thanks ry
the vocals are superb and feature some incredible range and versatility. on a track such as Ugly and Vengeful (key track alongside The Mysterious Vanishing of Electra), anna starts off with whispers and faint singing. at the midway point she EXPLODES into a ball of emotion. the instrumentation is incredible too.
listening to this is like listening to swans daughter if the language was slightly more direct and less morbid. the undeniable energy is omnipresent, be it in a more mellow form such as on Källans Återuppståndelse or the first section of The Truth, The Glow, The Fall, or be it in its most vulnerable, action-filled sequences such as on The Mysterious Vanishing of Electra.
also anna's main instrument is the church organ.

this is the release of the year of 2018 for me and easily one of my favorite albums of the decade

obligatory
 
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Tenshi said:
I'll also add I nominate To Bring You My Love by PJ Harvey (1995)
Different to her previous album Rid of Me that was dark because it was very vengeful, the title track Rid of Me screaming "don't you wish you never met her" is not exactly a remorseful song. TBYML however is much more of a mourning darkness, the title track singing about sacrificing everything("lain with the devi l// cursed God above") for her love, multiple songs of abandonment and longing for love are common through the album as a whole as well.
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rid of me is the goat. i wouldn't call it vengeful so much as completely bad ass. if to bring you my love is about sacrificing everything for love, rid of me is about sacrificing your shitty lover.
 
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