February is Music Writer Exercise Month #MWE • Page 69

Not sure I think it's better than the debut and Pontiac, but it's certainly their equal. I'd argue Road to Ensenada is, too.

 

I've always liked it best, but it also just got played in the house a lot when I was a kid. "North Dakota" into "She's Already Made Up Her Mind" is one of my all-time favorite track pairings.

 

Lyle's S/T is excellent as well. There's a few tracks I don't like so much on this, too, but overall I enjoy both. Gonna do Ensenada next.

 

Daughters - You Won’t Get What You Want from 2010.

I think I remember listening to Daughters in like 2006, and I remember them as like a mathcore / grind core type band.

This isn’t quite that, but it is still a difficult listen. It reminds me a bit of the Swans album I listened to a couple of days ago - deliberately nasty and unpleasant sounding, makes your skin crawl slightly.

The songs are tuneless, a big racket, loud and aggressive. I’m not sure if this is one I’ll return to, but I can see how this found an audience.

 

Objectively correct. "She's Already Made Up Her Mind" rules.

 

Destiny's Child - Destiny Fulfilled

Ouch. This is my least favorite album I've listened to so far. Not much to say about this one. On an 11 track album, there's maybe 3 songs that I thought, "oh, that's alright," but honestly, not even enough to go back through and pinpoint exactly which ones they were. "T-Shirt" is probably the worst song I've ever heard from them.

 

+1 for picking a random Gizz album and going with it. Microtonal is certainly unique but also i feel like you could’ve guessed whether you’d like that album based on the name. PetroDragonic Apocalypse is great and basically a concept eco-thrash album. The dance one from last has some insane long cuts too

 

I don’t even know what microtonal means, to be very honest! My knowledge of music theory is precisely zero. Maybe like pornography, I’ll know it when I see (hear) it…

 

that is fair, i thought i quoted Chris lol. It’s weird stuff suffice to say

 

Microtones are like....in-between the 12 notes (semitones) in each octave. Like on a piano, they'd be notes between the keys. And they sound real weird to ears raised on western music.

 

Pharoah Sanders - Karma, from 1969.

Mostly one long 30 minute piece, though there is a shorter concluding track.

Despite the description on Wikipedia of this being “avant garde jazz”, this feels very accessible and easy to listen to, though there are moments where it feels like he’s making the saxophone scream, that are maybe a bit more intense. For the most part it’s pleasant and relaxing and none of the adjectives I’d associate with avant garde jazz.

I love the vocals here when they pop up, particularly where he does the “wobbly” vocal effect. There also sounds to be plenty of “world” music influence on this too, particularly in the percussion.

Really enjoyed this one.

 

sometimes "avant jazz" just means its not head-solo-solo-head format. jazz subgenres even sillier than other genres

 

I'm with you on this one. I've only heard a very select few avant garde or free jazz albums I've liked thusfar (I know that's a me problem), but Karma is one of them.

If you ever feel like following it up, I really love his album Thembi where he does a lot of work with African percussion instruments.

 

lol we wrote basically the same thing

 

Legit experimental for her! “Heaven on Earth” and “Toy Soldier” are so good. And “Get Back” should’ve been a single.

 

Minnie Riperton deserved a Bond theme

 

Lol, yeah, we seemed to have similar thoughts on that one. You probably liked it a little better than I did.

I was pretty surprised at how bold and interesting it was. Then again, I never listened to Britney much past those first couple of albums that my sister loved when we were kids.

 

Buddy Holly & The Crickets - The “Chirping” Crickets

I originally had his album Buddy Holly on my list, but Apple Music had that listed as a compilation, which I now think is maybe not true, but I went with this one anyway...

Just a super fun, poppy album with some of the catchiest songs you’ll ever hear. I’ve never used the term "bop" before, but if I were to ever use it, I'd use it to describe these songs.

“Oh Boy” is one of the best; “You’ve Got Love” is catchy like you’ve never heard. And Buddy’s voice is so classic. You can hear the precursors to the Beatles and possibly Elvis, although they were contemporaries and probably fed off of each other. Great album

(Going to post another one later to get ahead of the weekend)

 

Bob Dylan - Blood on the Tracks

Hands down best Dylan record I’ve ever heard. I don't know how I'd classify my relationship with Bob Dylan at this point. Every few years I'll have an urge to listen to something from him, but I never go on an extended kick. His voice does grate on me after awhile, so he's best in small doses for me, but there's something about the poetry in his lyrics that keeps me coming back.

That being said, this is the least Dylan-y I've ever heard him sound and I love it. Just a great album front to back. Even on a song like "Idiot Wind," which is nearly 8 minutes, it's so good that I didn't even realize how long it was until it was near the end of the song on my second run through the album.

Love "Tangled Up In Blue" and some of the humor he throws into the lyrics. "Buckets of Rain" is the best song on the album.

 

great record but listen to blonde on blonde if you haven’t heard it yet

 

Probably my second favorite. I listened to it again after I finished this to see how it compared and still think I like Blood a bit better. I probably like a couple songs on Blonde a bit better, but overall think Blood is stronger.

"You might think he loves you for your money/But I know what he really loves you for/It's your brand new leopard skin pillbox hat" is the funniest lyric on either album and maybe one of the funniest lyrics/deliveries I've ever heard.