February is Music Writer Exercise Month #MWE • Page 49

I've got Tristan Prettyman's Twentythree, which ranked prominently on @cshadows2887's "albums made by women" list.

 

Good as day as any to rep German Error Message. They announced a cassette release of After the Warmth, my favorite album from them. If you're looking for an album, there's your sign!

 

Love that record but I’ve always thought if just one of their was going to make all the lists, Ship Ahoy is even better.

When I first heard this one I was like “Oh yeah I know ‘Love Train’. It’s on all the time”. But giving it an actual close listen not just in a commercial or a movie I was SO much more into it

 

i messed up and switched the album out but this was so so so good

 

FUCK yes. Al McKay and Johnny Graham are a top 5 guitar duo for my money. Yes the bass and the horns and all that other stuff were top flite. But what made them the best R&B/Funk/Soul group of their era was the guitars. None of their peers had that weapon

 

Day 4: Along the Shadow by Saosin
This album is full of straight up jams! Everyone in the band was knocking out of the park. Awesome guitar work all over the album and the drums stole my attention frequently as well. It was awesome to hear Anthony in rougher styles than usual and I was surprised at how heavy some sections got. Will definitely be spinning this again soon/on the regular.
Favorite songs: “The Silver String” and “Illusion & Control”

 

yeah, man, they fucking killed it

 

Another data point in how much of the iPod Era is in danger of digital obsolescence:

Craig’s post sent me on a Tristan Prettyman kick and her Love EP (which has my favorite song of hers “When It Rains”) is nowhere to be found on Spotify. Keep you physical media, kids.

 

Today feels like a good day to listen to Fleetwood Mac’s Rumors. Obviously I know the hits from it but considering the anniversary, this seems like a great time to experience it as a whole.

 

Got Frou Frou’s Details today, and it’s fantastic.

 

Full write up when I finish but fuuuuuck was I not prepared for “Man in Me” by Madi Diaz. Good lookin’ our @Craig Manning

 

That song just absolutely leveled me, and I was completely not prepared for it either. A staggering, wrenching song.

 

This record is fucking incredible

 

It was a late breaker for me in 2021. I think I first heard it around December 15, once I'd already written most of my EOTY list, but I couldn't not have it on there. In retrospect, it should definitely be higher than it is on that ranking.

I really, really loved the song "Resentment" when it surfaced as a Kesha song in late 2019. Just felt like a really emotionally complex take on a relationship/breakup song. I was disappointed when the rest of Kesha's last album really had nothing in common with that song, but thrilled when I saw that 1) "Resentment" was on this album, and 2) that this record really carries a lot of what made that song special across the whole tracklist.

 

Yes to literally all of this. She just hit me right in the emotional solar plexus over and over

 

You nailed it.

Here's what I wrote about it on my EOTY list:

 

this is fucking incredible and now im going to listen to this album

 

Thanks! And report back!

 

Y'know, the best thing about that song is that it also works even completely divorced from her own biographical context, too. And THAT's good writing.

 

Absolutely. But it was definitely a song where, after listening to it the first time, I couldn’t help the “What is THAT song about?” reaction.

 

Yeah, it's perhaps the most underrated singer-songwriter record of last year. She got basically no promo opportunities or TV appearances, hopefully opening for Waxahatchee on her spring tour gets her some added buzz.