I've had a ridiculous month in terms of music consumption. I've been into emo for the last 4 months? but I've just been blowing through all the albums I could want ever want to. The monthly playlist of just songs I've picked out of albums since the 1st is already 18 hours. I was surrounded by people for orientation week, so I think I'm trying to get in all the loneliness I can. Also, I really like a girl again, so I have fuel for my melodrama.
Anyway, some musical thoughts!
Tell me if you disagree so we can have discussions and you can tell me why I should like albums more than I do.
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No Burden by Lucy Dacus kinda disappointed me. The songwriting is nice, quaint, tender, everything I wanted it to be, but it's so samey, for lack of a better word. None of the songs are sonically interesting enough for me to return to, even though I really liked the way
Troublemaker Doppelganger developed. Some of the tracks that had more lively instrumentation felt like singles for the purpose of singles, but I guess I'm just being a contrarian.
- I really wanted
Shmilco by Wilco to be great, since YHF was my first big kid album I listened to after my brother asked me if I ever listen to good music. I agree with what other reviewers have said, Shmilco is another well-written rock album that rewards listens but certainly does not demand them. It's not samey, and it's not totally a classic rock album, but some of the songs that are absolutely affected can be a chore to listen to. Other songs have the opposite problem: they had a single covered with a picture of a man hung from a ceiling fan, and even though
Locator was one of my favorite tracks, it's still not much to remember. Track titles stuck with me more easily than what they sound like. The singles were absolutely great, I remember texting a friend that if this album was as good as
If I Ever Was A Child all the way through, it'd be their best album since YHF.
Someone To Lose would be a Summerteeth track if they'd pulled the synths out that they loved in 1999. Anyway, I'm kinda disappointed, but there's still some good content in here.
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The Glow Pt. 2 by The Microphones blew my socks off. It might be the most frontloaded album I know, but I loved the whole twenty tracks. The obvious favorites are the tracks that head the album -
I Want Wind to Blow,
The Glow Pt. 2, and
The Moon - but I'll also be listening to
I Felt My Size,
I Felt Your Shape, and
I Am Bored (all for pisces reasons) for a while to come. I'd describe the sound of the album as Death Cab for Cutie produced by Jim O'Rourke. I can only imagine listening to this in 2001 along with Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and just having the time of my life in my bedroom.
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Trick by Alex G was really nice and feels like freshman year should. Songs like
People,
Clouds, or
Mary are so vague that they got right into my angst. I haven't gotten through any of his other albums but I think it's almost silly how similar they seem to me.
- I actually kinda wanted
Teens of Denial by Car Seat Headrest to be more dynamic, but it was the rock album that I thought it'd be. I listened through Twin Fantasy once after, because it's a much more tender affair, but I didn't get enough out of the songs that I listened to without a lyric sheet. I'll give Willy more time.
- I feel silly talking about
I Had A Dream That You Were Mineby Hamilton Leithauser & Rostam because nobody freaked out about it like I did. The singles, particularly
When The Truth Is... sounded like what I wanted Vampire Weekend to sound like. Rostam is in full stride, and I absolutely adore that his father wrote these songs (lyrics?), it turns some of the cliches into a very wholesome thing. Everyone should check this album out. Listen to it with your family. Spotify is already recommending Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen as similar artists.
- I don't think I gave
My Womanby Angel Olsen enough of a listen to review it, but I didn't get much out of it. Loved
Sister though. These songs are going to slot into movies so easily.
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Supersonic Home by Adventures is the power pop country math rock album that best encompasses the way I feel about swim team in suburban South Carolina. Definitely got a lot of listens out of me, maybe even more than it's technically worth but these songs are so sweet. Favorites: Dream Blue Haze; Absolution, Warmth Requited
- If
Home Like NoPlace Is There by The Hotelier is a pop punk album, it's the best thing to happen to pop punk since Enema of the State. The songwriting is very open, very transparent about the content. It wrapped me up like a blanket. Screaming never sounds this good.
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New Alhambra &
Holo Pleasures / California Dreamin' by Elvis Depressedly may have come too late for me. Great pop songs, perhaps too transparent about their content. Really glorifies being a manic pixie dream boy and crying over the art school girl down the hall. Hypothetically speaking. The band is almost problematically sweet in songs like
Wastes of Time or
Inside You. Great way to feel lonely.
- I loved both
The Beyond / Where The Giants Roam and
Apocalypse by Thundercat. I had listened to some singles prior to these, but I was entertained the whole way. I wish there were more R&B artists like him, the songwriting is not incredible but I feel like anybody who wants to collaborate w Thundercat will make a great product.
I'm giving up on reviewing every, or even most albums I listened to, but if you're wondering it's mostly philadelphia emo (editor's choice: marietta, perspective a.l.h.t.h.), 00's UK dubstep (skream, benga, and friends), and classic lo-fi/indie rock (pavement, guided by voices, built to spill, yo la tengo) from here on.
I put some of my favorite tracks in the spoiler because this is already an obnoxiously long post. Cheers~