#1: Everyone Seems To Number These Things, Right?
Back in the distant past of 2016 I had a realisation - I was a music hoarder. See, I’m constantly adding new things to my library and downloading whatever I can get my hands on. I realised there was an awful lot of music I’d added to my collection over the years with the intention of listening to it someday, but I just hadn’t gotten around to. So, I set myself the goal to listen to one album a day that I had never listened to before.
This started out pretty sensibly, but quickly spiralled somewhat out of control - my goal to listen to a new album a day only fed into my habit of constantly searching out new music.
I keep a tally of every album, EP, mixtape, and “playlist” and whatever Drake will call his next project... After finishing uni, I started a job as a software developer - which gives me plenty of time to listen to music while working, evident from the fact last year I totalled 821 projects (which is down from my 2018 total of 1024).
I recently had the idea “what if I started a blog or newsletter so I can put this ridiculous habit of mine to some use?” so here we are I guess. The intention is to write about some of the music I’ve listened to recently - some new, some old but new to me, some albums I love and find myself revisiting. This installment covers the past week, but I haven’t 100% decided the schedule of how often I want to update this - it may be weekly, it may be monthly, who knows?
Recent Releases
The Killers - Imploding the Mirage
I’ve been a Killers fan for many years, but their last couple of albums didn’t really grab me. Clearly channeling Bruce Springsteen (Dying Breed really does sound an awful lot like Born To Run), this feels like a welcome return to form for the band.
You know The Killers, need I say more?
George Clanton & Nick Hexum - George Clanton & Nick Hexum
I stumbled across this one on Bandcamp’s blog, and it was a hell of a surprise. This is just absolute chill summer vibes front to back.
Apple Music // Spotify // Bandcamp
Well, It’s New To Me
Anything that’s not new enough to be a “recent release” that I’m listening to for the first time.
Bobbie Gentry - The Delta Sweete
Orville Peck’s recent Pony EP featured a cover of Bobbie Gentry’s Fancy, a song and a singer I’d never heard of before. I did some research and found out about her run of albums in the late 60’s/early 70’s before being dropped from her label, years later recording a whole new album that was shelved, and then retreating from the public eye in the early 80’s. She’s never released any more music or given an interview since, and no-one’s even 100% sure where she lives.
Her story seemed interesting enough to warrant a listen. I heard (and enjoyed) her first album, Ode to Billie Joe, the other week and to my surprise her second, The Delta Sweete, had in fact recently been reissued with a stereo remaster (including various bonus tracks). I haven’t had the time to compare versions, but I searched online for reviews of the remastered version and found nothing but praise.
Anna Meredith - FIBS
Apparently comedian James Acaster is obsessed with music released in 2016, something I learned from a piece in Loud & Quiet in which they played him snippets of some albums from 2016 to get his opinion. One such album was Varmints by Anna Meredith to which he remarked that he preferred her second album FIBS. I was curious and listened to both, and I think I agree with James here.
Apple Music // Spotify // Bandcamp
Revisits
Music I’ve heard (probably many times) before and I find myself going back to.
Frank Ocean - Endless
Last week marked the fourth anniversary of Frank Ocean’s Endless (and, of course the next day, Blonde), so it seemed fitting to revisit that project.
Endless is possibly Frank’s most under-appreciated project, mainly owing to the fact it’s incredibly hard to find (legally). Initially released as a “visual album”, to this day it hasn’t been made available as a digital download. It has only been released outside of the video in the form of a limited CD and vinyl release in 2017 (which I will forever regret deciding to not stump up the shipping and import costs associated with getting the vinyl, opting instead for the cheaper CD/DVD option). After a long delay in shipping, fans discovered the album had been remastered, with many tracks including additional production not heard in the video version, and the final track receiving an extended outro.
According to an interview with SebastiAn, this project was actually recorded after Blonde, which makes sense given the backstory of this release being the one that got Frank out of his Def Jam contract (so he could independently release Blonde).
As an album it’s somewhat of a musical collage with songs bleeding into one another and many tracks clocking in at under 2 minutes. A few standout tracks are At Your Best, Wither, Rushes, and Higgs.
For legal reasons, I obviously don’t condone “illegal” downloads, but if you happened on your own accord to find a copy of Endless *cough* try the Frank Ocean subreddit *cough* then it really is worth your time (make sure you get the updated release, not audio ripped from the visual album).
LCD Soundsystem - american dream
For someone who watches a lot of TV, I don’t watch a lot of films - so I set a goal for myself at the start of the year to rectify that.
On Saturday, I was scrolling through the films I’ve saved on Prime (yeah, sue me for using Amazon, I’m actually already planning on cancelling my subscription when it comes up for renewal) and settled on Booksmart. As a film, I thought it was ok - good, but not great. It does however contain a rather good soundtrack, including the LCD Soundsystem song oh baby in a climactic scene.
After the film ended, my first thought was “…..I should listen to american dream”.
It is a spectacular album that fully justified LCD Soundsystem’s return. They have always picked perfect intro tracks, and oh baby is a welcome addition to that collection.
The album itself captures LCD’s signature mix of styles, from upbeat dance number tonite to the subdued 12 minute long closer black screen. It’s hard to pick favourites with an album like this, but you can’t go wrong with i used to, tonite, or call the police.
Carly Rae Jepsen - Never Get To Hold You / Love Again
On the fifth anniversary of E•MO•TION, Carly Rae Jepsen released an “expanded” deluxe edition including two songs that were previously only available in Japan and from Target in America.
I’ve had these tracks downloaded for years, and honestly forgot they weren’t on the standard deluxe edition, but I’m very happy they’ve finally received a wider release so they can get the attention they deserve.
If you managed to get this far (and didn’t just scroll down to see how long this was) then thank you, and I’d really appreciate it if you considered sharing this to some friends.