Discuss the Musics Thread

[Philip J. Fry]

Love that album.

[Philip J. Fry]

Hmmm. Best music video of all time? Off the top of my head....

Pearl Jam - Do the Evolution
Green Day - Walking Contradiction
Ok go - this too shall pass
Beastie Boys - Sabotage
Michael Jackson - Thriller

Hurt by Johnny Cash.

[quido8_5]

So this is happening: https://www.stereogum.com/2143437/su...-stream/music/

[Idioteque Stalker]

So this is happening: https://www.stereogum.com/2143437/su...-stream/music/

I support Sufjan grieving the loss of his father however he wants, but my personal excitement level for 2.5 hours of sad ambient music from him (excuse me, "five sonic cycles") is low. I think I'm a little Sufjan-ed out. But I still play the old hits.

[quido8_5]

I support Sufjan grieving the loss of his father however he wants, but my personal excitement level for 2.5 hours of sad ambient music from him (excuse me, "five sonic cycles") is low. I think I'm a little Sufjan-ed out. But I still play the old hits.

I agree with that, although I probably will listen (albeit with low expectations). I always admire that he swings for the fences and he's batting .500 from what I can see. When he does hit, though, it is typically a home run (technically I think Seven Swans gets to third base, but I think we're all tired of this extended metaphor).

[Idioteque Stalker]

Seven Swans gets to third base

As evidenced by "Casimir Pulaski Day" [

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I remember at Michael's house/In the living room when you kissed my neck/And I almost touched your blouse

] when Sufjan is in full Christian mode (like on Seven Swans) he doesn't go to third base. In fact, he only makes it to first, then contemplates stealing second before chickening out.

[quido8_5]

Got caught in a Velvet Underground hole and realized that they really are peerless. Their self-titled (sans Nico) can stand up to any album. Listened to Murder Mystery with headphones for the first time in forever and that song fucking rocks. The dichotic listening is less than a chore than I remembered, since I could tune in to either ear and be entertained, while simultaneously appreciating all the amazing precipitation in the background, music swelling up to meet the few melodic bars. Great shit right there.

[quido8_5]

Just finished Loaded. Could be Lou Reed's best solo album, but thank God he still has his bandmates to anchor him to the fringe. The contributions of the other members are crucial for making this more than a great rock album. Each song over-stays its welcome just enough to make it an odd, uniquely VU party.

Listening to Transformer now, for maybe the third time, and it is good. Really good. If it wasn't Lou Reed, don't know how I'd feel about it. As it is, it just seems like Lou is working too hard. So many of the hooks, lyrics, and production are superfluous and uninteresting. Of course, it has two, maybe three, of the best songs written in the last century. So there's that.

[quido8_5]

Finished Transformer and it definitely resonates with the Almost Famous rendering: he's trying to be Bowie, he should just be himself. At the same time, I don't see us getting that, incredible, version of Satellite of Love without Bowie. Very nearly worth it, but most of the album is a bunch of concessions for the frontman of one the most unonventional bands of all time to portray himself as a pop star. There are also the lines that I'd say are transphobic, which may be a little bit of projection given Reed's biography.

[Philip J. Fry]

Finished Transformer and it definitely resonates with the Almost Famous rendering: he's trying to be Bowie, he should just be himself. At the same time, I don't see us getting that, incredible, version of Satellite of Love without Bowie. Very nearly worth it, but most of the album is a bunch of concessions for the frontman of one the most unonventional bands of all time to portray himself as a pop star. There are also the lines that I'd say are transphobic, which may be a little bit of projection given Reed's biography.

Can't wait for your thoughts on Berlin.

[Yxklyx]

She's My Baby by Mazzy Star is the greatest song that Led Zeppelin did not cover. Whenever I listen to this one I imagine Robert Plant singing it.

[quido8_5]

Just FYI, this happened: https://www.chicagotribune.com/enter...pim-story.html

"Kanye West gives fans a remarkable, bonkers experience at Soldier Field ‘Donda’ listening party with Marilyn Manson, DaBaby and Kim Kardashian"

[DFA1979]

I love The Velvet Underground. I haven't heard any of Lou Reed's solo efforts.

[bac0n]

Good God, this new Yola album is an absolute delight.

[DFA1979]

Love that album.

I listened to that one two months ago. It is great. Nosferatu Man should be used in a horror movie.

[Skitch]

I haven't heard any of Lou Reed's solo efforts.

Varying results, but none boring (that I've heard).

[DFA1979]

Varying results, but none boring (that I've heard).

I'm guessing his 70s and 80s stuff is probably his best solo wise.

[Idioteque Stalker]

Way into Donda.

[quido8_5]

I'm guessing his 70s and 80s stuff is probably his best solo wise.

I legit love Street Hassle, but it can be a hard listen. The title track is a beautiful, deeply disturbing master piece. The Blue Mask is good, but inconsistent.

[Idioteque Stalker]

Way into Donda.

Okay, it's been a week of non-stop Donda for me and I need to get my thoughts down in case Kanye reworks the album entirely.

First of all, I can see why it's had a mixed reception (53 from critics on metacritic, 6.6 from users): the Manson/DaBaby yuckiness, multiple delays, being ~45 minutes too long... and then of course everything else that annoys people about Kanye West these days. Frankly, these things don't harm the experience for me as much as they seem to for others. Don't care about the delays -- after all, Kanye records as of late have been works in progress anyway, so even after release they're not guaranteed to be "finished." The Manson/DaBaby thing is easy to ignore for me because they're both on a bonus track ("Jail pt 2") that I don't really consider part of the album and I never listen to. Speaking of bonus tracks, the last four songs (all the pt 2s) equal 25 of the 40-45 minutes that need to be cut imo -- once you realize the tracklist actually ends with "No Child Left Behind," Donda feels far less overlong than I feared it would the first time I saw the outrageous runtime.

With that out of the way... the music. Oh my good God in heaven, the music! As good on a Sunday morning as it is on a Saturday night. If you don't think Kanye is a genius by now, this won't be the album to change your mind (unless you're particularly intrigued by gospel creeping into the hip-hop space a la Chance the Rapper or "Ultralight Beams"). If you've been lovingly following his career, however, it would be a bleepity-bleep shame to let the length of the album or its mixed reception keep you from this embarrassment of riches. Not every song hits, sure, but who in their right mind would write off The White Album just because "Birthday," "Long, Long, Long," and "Revolution 9" are less than highlights? Donda may not be perfect, but it has some of the most vulnerable, emotionally potent, and just plain beautiful music Kanye has ever released.

Kanye the rapper may not destroy every verse like he did during the 2000s, but he's thankfully excised his 2010s habit of sprinkling incredibly stupid lines to and fro across the album. The ride is smoother than it has been in a long time. And his singing! Apparently living in and around gospel music has sharpened his technique a bit, because "Believe What I Say," "24," "Lord I Need You," and "Come to Life" are all sing-first songs in which Kanye is in total sincerity mode, and his voice has never sounded better. Others bring the vocal heat too: Roddy Ricch has maybe the album's best feature on "Pure Souls" with a full-on singing verse, some guy named Vory is all over the album with fantastic hooks, and even Kid Kudi (whose voice I usually do not like) gives a restrained performance on "Moon" -- possibly the most densely packed moment of pure beauty in Kanye's entire discography, in which vocal loops flutter around like angel wings lifting you toward the heavens.

Kanye the producer does not seem to be in groundbreaking territory here, but fans will enjoy plenty of call-backs to previous sounds, and (considering how the game always seems to shift slightly according to innovations which may or may not be apparent upon release) I'd be a fool to predict Donda doesn't send out ripples of influence for years to come. But, yeah, it's neither the unprecedented and grandiose display of something like Late Registration/MBDTF nor the 180-degree stylistic mindmelt of something like 808s/Yeezus. It's just a very large collection of mostly good-to-great songs, featuring a whole helluva lot of organ, and it's probably more cohesive than you expect. I do wish more of the myriad features were less expected and pulled from sources outside the current hip-hop landscape (remember back when the Justin Vernon/Kanye collabs blew everyone's mind?), but Kanye's knack for unleashing younger artist's true potential is nevertheless on full display.

I'll admit, among Donda's many highs exist a few lows, which is why it's so key that Kanye sticks the landing with an incredible string of closing tracks in "Lord I Need You," "Pure Souls," "Come to Life," and "No Child Left Behind." With the way his life has gone lately, to hear him close the album by repeating the phrase "He's done miracles on me" is nothing short of a revelation -- despite everything, Kanye continues to direct praise and thanks to God... but also manages to remind us that he himself is pretty great too.

Now, some lists!

[

Show Spoiler

Favorite songs:
1. "Lord I Need You"
2. "Come to Life"
3. "Off the Grid"
4. "Moon"
5. "Ok Ok"/"Ok Ok pt 2"


Least favorite songs (take these and the pt 2s out and the album is acceptable length):
1. "Tell the Vision" (R.I.P. Pop Smoke but what is this even doing here)
2. "New Again" (bad Graduation outtake with Chris Brown? No thanks)
3. "God Breathed" (mediocre Yeezus outtake and outro is too long to be so early in tracklist)
4. "Junya" (already tired of Whole Lotta Red, sorry)
5. "Remote Control" (annoying melody but Young Thug almost saves it)


Favorite features:
1. Roddy Ricch/mystery girl at end ("Pure Souls")
2. Jay-Z ("Jail")
3. Shenseea/Lil Yachty/Rooga ("Ok Ok" and "Ok Ok pt 2")
4. Fivio Foreign/Playboi Carti ("Off the Grid")
5. Lil Baby/The Weeknd ("Hurricane")


Kanye ranked:
1. Yeezus
2. Late Registration
3. Donda
4. My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
5. Graduation
6. Life of Pablo
7. Ye
8. The College Dropout
9. 808s & Heartbreak
10. Kids See Ghosts
11. Watch the Throne
12. Jesus is King

]

[Spun Lepton]

My brain all day today: Body-ody-ody-ody-ody-ody-ody-ody-ody-ody-ody-ody-ody-ody-ody. Ah. Body-ody-ody-ody-ody-ody-ody-ody-ody-ody-ody-ody-ody-ody-ody-ody.

Stupid freaking catchy song. Grrr!

[transmogrifier]

I gave Donda one listen and that was it for me. West lost me around Life of Pablo and I have not found a way back. Basically, MBDTF and Yeezus are untouchable and I'll listen to them for ever, Graduation and Late Registration are alright, and I'll leave them on if they come up on album shuffle, Life of Pablo has a couple of tracks in my Best Songs playlist, but I never listen to the full album anymore, and the rest is just.... not for me.

[Philip J. Fry]

So... Rolling Stone claims Gasolina is the 50th best song of all time? Can't say if they're idiots or if they're trolling.

[Idioteque Stalker]

So... Rolling Stone claims Gasolina is the 50th best song of all time? Can't say if they're idiots or if they're trolling.

Just heard it for the first time. Not gonna lie, the song goes hard. I don't put much stock in RS's lists, so not gonna think too hard about its high placement. (Added benefit of leading me back to Bad Bunny through their collab on last year's excellent YHLQMDLG.)

[Idioteque Stalker]

I've hardly listened to any new music in over a year. My friends think there's something wrong because it's very much not like me. There's nothing wrong -- I just haven't been feeling it for whatever reason. But it's nearly October, and if I've learned anything about music over the years it's that sometimes you have to dig deep and listen to a lot in order to find your favorite things. There's a lot of great stuff out there I'm certain I've missed out on over the course of the last year.

I always keep a running list of artists whose current-year LPs/EPs I want to listen to. Since I haven't been checking things off the list, however, it has grown to a preposterous length. Here's what I am currently prioritizing (about 1/10 of the full list): [

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Madlib
Lingua Ignota
Spellling
Boldy James/The Alchemist
Quickly, Quickly
Low
Little Simz
Armand Hammer/The Alchemist
L’Rain
Black Midi

]

I'd appreciate anyone's 2021 recommendations (stuff I should prioritize from the above list, or anything else).

Even though I'm far behind where I would typically be at this point in the year, I've still heard ~25 albums. My current favorites are: [

Show Spoiler

Kanye West - Donda
Dean Blunt - Black Metal 2
Floating Points/Pharoah Sanders/London Symphony Orchestra - Promises
Navy Blue - Song of Sage: Post Panic
Dry Cleaning - New Long Leg
Billie Eilish - Happier Than Ever

As much as I like these records, in a normal year of listening I would expect maybe 3-4 of them to make a personal top 10.

]

EDIT: I'll add that I'm eagerly anticipating albums from Tirzah, Circuit des Yeux, and Grouper.