#most underrated three days grace album

[mychemicalaromanticism]

transit of venus

[laulo821]

do you have any favorite three days grace albums or songs (ive been listening to them a good bit lately eheheh)

bro is asking me my favourite three days grace album like it wasn't like choosing my favourite child smh /funnie

all the albums are really good to me

i think i'm less into three days grace (album) and transit of venus but even those two got real bangers in them

i have prolly listened the most to one-x and life starts now so nostalgia is really at play here

human is more mature (/melancholic?) and i think growing up i was able to understand it more and more, making it a landmark for me; but outsider feels like rebellious teenage years so they went along great during my highschool/uni experience (human being the will to belong and outsider being the will to be unique)

and well i'ven't got much time to get as familiar with explosions as the others but that's some real shit right there and somehow feels like a comeback to more heavy rock which i appreciate.

anyways regarding songs

i love . all of them . i think. i associate my OC Damon Odrat to a lot of their stuff so i have a lot of favourites just by association with my love for him lmao (and writing my songs review i realised i associate a LOT more of my OCs to their songs ... if you want i can tell the whole list (<- please ask me to tell the whole list)) but regardless,

i love the soft sentiment of "never too late". helped me a lot.

"world so cold" carried my phone songs and my emo era.

in my heart "gone forever" and "last to know" go hand in hand (THE PLOT TWIST OF LAST TO KNOW!!! so good...).

"human race", "i am machine" ... sobs.

"the mountain" and "the abyss" are so so underrated fr (in my heart "the mountain" and "the champion" go hand in hand).

"me against you" THE REALEST SHIT!!

"scar is born" and "chain of abuse" very poetic my heart hurts they did serve dawg

also their cover of "somebody i used to know"!!! AUGH I LOVE THEM!!!

and that's just citing the bare minimum of their best songs imo. i have skipped over such good ones augh ..... i love three days grace they dont miss

what about you!! which album do you prefer and which songs too!!! let me know EVERYTHING!!!

[tenjikubaby]

what western media/music do u think the s62 would like ? (ur post abt izana liking mitski oh god help🥲🥲🥲)

I'll be merging these asks. Music taste anon, I hope you see this 😭 

Western music that I think S62 might like, with artists (warning: self-indulgent, literally just projected my music taste on some characters but hopefully they still match)

*I might make a separate post for Western media hmm

IZANA

➼ Izana’s favorite music normally falls under the indie and rock umbrellas. He’s partial to 80s-90s rock and alternative rock but enjoys some modern indie artists from time to time. I see that he canonically listens to Queen (though I’m not sure if he does love the band or just one song), so there’s that. Other artists he might listen to are The Rolling Stones, Muse, The Strokes, Aerosmith, The Smashing Pumpkins, Arctic Monkeys (insists he likes their pre-AM music, would make a face if you tell him your favorite Arctic Monkeys song is “Do I Wanna Know”) ... and Mitski..... (you know why)

➼ His favorite Mitski album is Bury Me At Makeout Creek by the way. 

Get a feel of his music taste: The View From The Afternoon - Arctic Monkeys, Tonight, Tonight - The Smashing Pumpkins, Angie - The Rolling Stones

RAN

➼ Somewhat your mom/dad’s music taste. Probably one of those people who say older music’s better than new music. He’s a New Wave guy. Likes a lot of 70s-80s pop hits; some funk, soul, and disco music; with some alt indie bands sprinkled in. He’s fond of shoegaze because of its floaty and ethereal sound which makes him feel nostalgic and at peace. He also appreciates mesmerizing vocals and orchestral instrumentals, so I think he’d like Florence and Lana if he heard them. 

➼ Artists he would probably like: ABBA, Prince, The Cure, The Smiths, New Order, Cocteau Twins, Lady Gaga (I think she was big in Japan + her songs probably played a lot in clubs + she was always doing something shocking and Ran liked that)

Get a feel of his music taste: Lullaby - The Cure, Heart of Glass - Blondie, Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! - ABBA

RINDO

➼ He’s into R&B, soul, 90s rap like Notorious B.I.G., Tupac, and Ice Cube. That’s what you’d usually hear playing in his room while he’s chilling. He’d listen to DJs too, of course, but maybe to the more underrated ones. (I don’t know that many DJs so I’m not giving names) He shares Ran’s taste for Prince. As for some newer artists, I think he’d like Joji and Childish Gambino.

➼ Likes EDM but frowns upon the EDM of the early 2010s. He has pretty strong feelings about it. Never play The Chainsmokers in his presence or die. 

➼ His and Ran’s music tastes overlap when it comes to indie/alternative artists. Both brothers act like snobs over it. Rindo actually buys and collects records (as you can see, he has a CD and DVD shelf in his room), searching for rare versions of his favorites and everything. 

Get a feel of his music taste: You Know How We Do It - Ice Cube, Redbone - Childish Gambino, Pony - Ginuwine

SHION

➼ Metal, metalcore, punk rock, emo. Anything that includes loudness and screaming. Because of Rindo’s influence, he also got into some 90s hip hop himself. I think he’d enjoy the way someone like Eminem raps. He could never get into chill R&B though, and most pop songs are either too “happy” or too “sappy” for him and he just wants something that screams in rage most of the time.

➼ He’d enjoy Deftones’ Around The Fur album, as well as My Chemical Romance’s stuff, some Evanescence here and there (he’s had a crush on Amy Lee at some point), Bring Me The Horizon, Three Days Grace, Slipknot, and old Metallica

Get a feel of his music taste: Around The Fur - Deftones, Master of Puppets - Metallica, Na Na Na - My Chemical Romance

MOCCHI

➼ He likes hip hop/rap like Rindo so they often bond over that. Mocchi listens to both male and female rappers and will not hesitate to rap extremely explicit verses if urged. Others’ music tastes easily rub off on him, so Izana’s alternative rock, Mucho’s oldies, Shion’s metal, and Ran’s disco pop have all found a place in his playlists.

➼ The type of guy to have a Taylor Swift (he likes Back to December) or Britney Spears CD hidden somewhere in his room. Also got into One Direction at one point. If anyone asks, he’ll says it’s his girl’s or mom’s. 

➼ Okay, not Western, but he listens to Kpop and Jpop and stans girl groups. 

Get a feel of his music taste: No Diggity - Blackstreet, Family Affair - Mary J. Blige, Dilemma - Nelly ft. Kelly Rowland

MUCHO

➼ If Ran’s got the music taste of your mom, then Mucho’s got the music taste of your grandparents. His taste in oldies is a lot similar to Ran’s but goes further back in time. He enjoys the “classy” feel of most of these songs and the way these singers sing. His favorite genres are funk, soul, R&B, and some oldies pop.

➼ You rarely hear music playing in his house. But if you do, it might be Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, Bee Gees, The Carpenters, or Simon & Garfunkel.

➼ And as for some more modern artists: Coldplay, Hozier, and Silk Sonic. Would enjoy Lana del Rey’s style too, especially her Ultraviolence songs.   

Get a feel of his music taste: How Deep Is Your Love - Bee Gees, Yesterday Once More - The Carpenters, Viva La Vida - Coldplay, 

KAKUCHO

➼ Kakucho listens to music to relax. He usually likes to play music while he’s cooking, cleaning, or just idling around (though that’s rare). His taste is more of chill, easy listening. Izana and Rindo influenced him to like alt-indie, R&B, and rap as well. 

➼ Kaku doesn’t “stan” artists. If you ask him who his favorite artist is, you would not get an answer. He’ll listen to anything that sounds good to him no matter what people think of it. 

➼ That said, he’s the person Izana makes a face at for saying that his favorite Arctic Monkeys song is “Do I Wanna Know?” 

Get a feel of his music taste: Tek It - Cafuné, Clouds -  BØRNS, Do I Wanna Know? - Arctic Monkeys

[rae-reblogs]

i finally decided to do this (😭).

the list is under the cut

— catchiest song. queencard by (g)i-dle.

— a song you didn't expect to see in your top 10. roxanne by the police.

— sexiest song. redbone by childish gambino.

— artist/band you didn't think would be in your top artists (if any). melanie martinez, mitski and artic monkeys.

— oldest song (by release date). can't take my eyes off you by frankie valli.

— newest song (by release date). light shower by melanie martinez.

— the most streamed month of your top artist (explain if you think/know why). april with melanie martinez, her latest album was released.

— longest song. dead man's party by oingo boingo (6:21).

— favorite lyrics of your #1 song. ❝ maybe i'm too // busy being yours to fall for somebody new ❞, do i wanna know? by artic monkeys.

— a song that was also in last year's wrapped. mary on a cross by ghost.

— most famous/popular song (in your opinion). do i wanna know? by artic monkeys or see you again by tyler the creator and kali uchis.

— a song you feel should be higher up. la llorona by alba reche (it's a cover).

— the song with the most peculiar sound (to you). lotta true crime by Penelope scott.

— a song you think is underrated. make u mine by blood orchid.

— the most danceable track. tender lover by babyface.

— a song everyone should know. sin documentos by los rodriguez.

— the saddest song. drunk walk home by mitski.

— a song that describes your year so far. drunk walk home by mitski.

— is the most streamed song by your favorite artist your favorite of them. tag, you're it by melanie martinez.

— happiest song. dreamscape by belphegor (satoshi onishi).

— the song you think will be in next year's top songs again. do i wanna know? by artic monkeys.

— shortest song. romantic lover by eyedress (1:26).

— a track that makes you think of a specific color. purple haze by jimi hendrix.

— a song that could be the soundtrack of a movie. friday I'm in love by the cure.

— favorite lyrics of your #100 song. killer queen by queen.

— favorite bassline. painkiller by three days grace.

Spotify Wrapped ask game!

you know the drill, send a number & reply with songs from your top 100

Catchiest song

A song you didn't expect to see in your top 10

Sexiest song

Artist/band you didn't thought would be in your top artists (if any)

Oldest song (by release date)

Newest song (by release date)

Most streamed month of your top artist (explain if you think/know why)

Longest song

Favourite lyrics of your #1 song

A song that was also in last year's wrapped

Most famous/popular song (in your opinion)

A song you feel should be higher up

The song with the most peculiar sound (to you)

A song you think is underrated

Most danceable track

A song everyone should know

Saddest song

A song that describes your year so far

Is the most streamed song by your favourite artist your favourite of them?

Happiest song

The song you think will be in next years top songs again

Shortest song

A track that makes you think of a specific colour

A song that could be the soundtrack of a movie

Favourite lyrics of your #100 song

Favourite bassline

[justmeinatree]

okay realistically i could just say one direction as a band, and then Harry, Louis, and Niall as solo artists for four of the five because i really do still love the music they made as a band and obviously i adore our boys as solo artists. but for the sake of actually giving an interesting answer, i'm not gonna name any members of one direction 😂 naming my top 5 is sooo hard because it's like being forced to pick my favorite children and my favorites change all the time but at the moment i'd say Three Days Grace (in particular the older stuff when Adam Gontier was still the lead singer, they've been a favorite of mine since my early teenage years), Bastille (Bad Blood is still such an elite album after a decade idc what anyone says), September Stories (they do a lot of spoken word stuff so it's a bit of an acquired taste but Every Word, Everything and Home have been in my top 100 songs on Spotify every year since I made my account), The Smiths (Morissey sucks as a person lol but his ability to turn his misery into absolutely gorgeous lyrics goes unmatched and Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want and There Is a Light That Never Goes Out both have such an otherworldly vibe to them), and Beth Crowley (she does a lot of songs inspired by books that I've never read but I really love the way her lyrics always tell a story and I wish she was more popular!!)

i know you didn't ask for all these details but i can't talk about my favorite artists without adding at least a few comments 😂 i could seriously talk about music all day so i'm loving that you asked this!! 🫶

but now i obviously have to ask you the same question...top 5 artists/bands? 👀

-🤘

okay so i’m loving the variety here ! a lot a lot !! i’m also now curious how one direction / solo 1d would rank ? just out of pure curiosity because i obviously can’t decipher based on your list here 😅

now asking for my top 5 is 😩 lol top 6 is even easier than top 5 for some reason 🤷‍♀️ so is top 3 lmao for some reason 5 is just messing with me but here we go ! and i’ll preface this with 2 points. firstly, i’m not putting one direction or any of their solo careers, but mostly because they honestly probably don’t rank in my top 5 (and cue the absolute massacre i’m gonna receive in my inbox, especially considering i’ve been blogging about 3 of them for the last 10+ years. but listen, top 5 of every artist EVER, cmon 😅) and secondly, you will very much be able to pin down my fav kind of music. i really do like a lot of artists from a lot of different genres, but i do have a fav and it will be blatantly fkn obvious. alright, here goes 😂

first, and always motha fkn first no matter what, green day. they are my everything, their music from 80s through to now has shaped me into who i am today, more than anything else. jesus of suburbia is the best song ever written, nothing will ever top it, like everyone else can stop trying, we have the best song ever, yall can go home 😂 then i’d say afi. fantastic band from the start, but their decemberunderground album is my favourite album of all time, so beautifully written. and fun fact, the only album that i have tattooed twice (or i should say once but getting the second next time i’m getting tatted) ! now we’re gonna flip things a tiny bit, and go with steve miller band, hands downs the BEST stoner music ever. they have the vinyls i reach for most, it’s just such a fkn vibe, i adore it !! (also sliding in an honourable mention for oasis, because that’s another vinyl i’m always reaching for when stoned 😅). fourth, i would say good charlotte, simply because they are fkn fantastic, and their young and the hopeless album is the one album i turn to constantly when life is hard and it just resets me, idk what it is 😂. and then in fifth, i’m going with our lady peace, i feel like they’re super underrated but they have some fkn bangers, they deserve more love ! and then i’m throwing in an honourable mention to counting crows because that 90s vibe is unmatched, and it brings me so much nostalgia for easier times.

sorry for the bible 😅 i hope you enjoy my rant about my 5 (or 7 😬) top fav bands that quite clearly capture the essence that is my punk rock heart 🫶

[kickmag]

Throwback: Usher-Here I Stand

Here I Stand is Usher's fifth album, and it was greatly inspired by his wife, son and the difficult relationship with his father. The title track was one of the ballads that captured his newfound romantic bliss. Dre and Vidal produced the song and shared writing credits with Usher, Polow Da Don, Adam Blackstone, and Gerrell Gaddis. Comparisons to Stevie Wonder were made because of the unadorned lyrics about love, the pacing and dreamy synth chords that recall Wonder's '70s output and his "Ribbon In The Sky" from the '80s. The song was played at his wedding to Tameka Foster, to whom it was dedicated.

"Here I Stand" became Usher's first number-one hit on the Adult R&B Songs chart and received a Grammy nomination for Best Male R&B Performance. Three different charts were graced by the song for most of 2008 and 2009 until it fell off completely. "Here I Stand" is now a recognized wedding song, and most Usher fans agree it is one of his most underrated compositions. Usher's ninth studio album, Coming Home, is scheduled for release on February 11, 2024,  the same day as his Super Bowl LVIII halftime performance. "Good Good" featuring Summer Walker and 21 Savage is the first single from the album. 

[theeverlastingshade]

Favorite Albums of the 10s

25. Shaking the Habitual- The Knife

The Knife made a name for themselves with their third and most celebrated LP, Silent Shout, but it’s their fourth LP, StH, that pushed their idiosyncratic blend of electroacoustic synth-pop to the furthest, most far-flung places that they’ve gone yet. The record deals with a diverse range of topics from the surveillance state, to fracking, pollution, gender discrimination, and unchecked greed with colorful, ketamine-fused candy cotton synth work and ritualistic percussion. There are long passages of ambience like the menacing build of “A Cherry on Top” dispersed between roaring apocalyptic dance numbers like the astonishing industrial eruption “Full of Fire” and the electro-acoustic freak out “Without You My Life Would Be Boring”. With the exception of the mid-album ambient epic “Old Dreams Waiting to Be Realized” every song on StH justifies its length with consistently engrossing arrangements that sustain their momentum without compromising an ounce of their potency. Everything about the record lives up to its title, from its thematic ambitions, to the breadth of the sonics, pacing, and performances themselves. StH if the full manifestation of the darkness that was lurking beneath the surface of their music from as early as their breakout single “Heartbeats”, but thankfully the music never collapses under the weight of their thematic concerns. Their resilience remains inspiring all these years later, and if Karin and Olof never reunite for a fifth LP we couldn’t have asked for a better send off.

Essentials: “Full of Fire”, “A Tooth for an Eye”, “A Cherry on Top”

24. XXX- Danny Brown

Hip-hop grew to remarkable heights throughout the 10s, and yet there were few rappers that displayed the level of growth and consistency from record to record throughout this past decade quite like Danny Brown. The Detroit native spent the aughts hustling the mixtape circuit, finally catching a spark with 2010’s The Hybrid, his strong debut LP. But a year later Brown returned with his sophomore LP and magnum opus XXX, a twisted rap odyssey that ignited the blogs, and signaled that a new era of hip hop was beginning to emerge. XXX found Brown rapping over an assortment of wonky boom-bap instrumentals courtesy of Bruiser Brigade producer Skywalker that fused classic hip-hop, trap, baroque pop, and techno into shapes far more disorienting than the beats that the vast majority of his contemporaries were rapping over. While it was evident beforehand, XXX really cemented the notion that Brown could rap over anything. The beats here are generally extremely impressive, and there are plenty of singular stylistic touches like the slurring violin stabs of “Lie 4”, the menacing synth lurch of “Monopoly”, or the distorted brass loops of closer “30”, that really stand out, but the appeal is first and foremost Brown’s rapping. His voice alone is one of the most versatile and unpredictable instruments in hip-hop, but aside from his masterful vocal alteration, always perfectly synched to the tone of any given moment on any given song of his, he’s a naturally gifted writer, as thoughtful as he is straight up hilarious. Whether bragging about his destructive lifestyle (“Die Like a Rockstar”), describing how much he loves cunnilingus “I Will”, mourning the desolation around him “Party All the Time”, or reveling in his come-up “30”, Brown is a thoroughly engaging presence throughout the entire album. On XXX profanity and profundity march gleefully hand in hand with one another, casting Brown as one of the last decade’s most singular voices.

Essentials: “Die Like a Rockstar”, “Monopoly”, “30”

23. House of Sugar- Alex G

On Alex G’s latest LP, House of Sugar, his concoction of warm guitar pop and warped electronic production reached a new peak. The songs on HoS detail the misdeeds of various characters succumbing to their greed, and the vignettes that he paints are growing increasingly well-realized thanks to a continuously sharpening songwriting voice and a plethora of tasteful pitch-shifted vocals that help imbue his characters with color and personality. HoS opener “Walk Away” provides a reasonably sonic barometer for what’s to come before dropping us into a series of the most immediate pop songs that he’s ever penned. “Hope” and “Southern Sky” are nimble acoustic guitar pop songs that are almost disarming in their immediacy, and framed around references to the real life death of a friend of his due to opioids and a dream he had, respectively. By the time we reach acoustic guitar and sitar-drone of “Taking” the pitch-shifted vocals are at the forefront of the music and HoS shifts gears into its abstract middle section which owes a lot to the new-age beat deconstruction of avant-garde electronic producers, specifically Oneohtrix Point Never. On the instrumental “Sugar”, a sublime concoction of pitch-warped whispers, dissonant strings arpeggios, and creeping acoustic guitar plucks, HoS reaches the depths of its depravity. The next song, “In My Arms”, leads us to the suite of sublime acoustic reveries that close HoS, arguably peaking with the gorgeous acoustic love ballad “Cow”. The dramatic sonic left-turn that HoS takes midway through may leave some new listeners a little cold, but for most Alex G fans nothing about the eclecticism of HoS should come as a surprise. Nor should the overwhelming quality of the songs here. From Alex G’s debut, Race, in 2010 up through HoS, he released a remarkable catalog of some of the most eclectic, and vital indie rock of the century, and I have no reason to believe he won’t top HoS at some point.

Essentials: “Gretel”, “Sugar”, “Walk Away”

22. Sea When Absent- A Sunny Day in Glasgow

A Sunny Day in Glasgow may be one of the 21st century’s most underrated bands, but not even Pitchfork could resist the coveted BNM tag when it came time to review their fourth and strongest LP, Sea When Absent. Building off of their first three idiosyncratic LPs that superbly fused electronic pop with shoegaze and dream pop, A Sunny Day in Glasgow moved into decidedly more psychedelic territory with their fourth LP while still retaining the sharp melodic sensibility of those first three. Much of the shift is easy to credit to vocalist Jen Goma who joined the group on their third LP, Autumn Again, and here her soaring vocals deliver rich melodies that are more fleshed out and focused than anything on their past releases. SWA sidesteps the kaleidoscopic sprawl of their 22 song sophomore LP, Ashes Grammar, and instead delivers 11 tight, stargazing pop songs. Whereas on the prior records it more often than not felt like the band were throwing ideas at the wall to see what stuck (with primarily successful results) on SWA the band commit more thoroughly to their ideas, writing songs that are well within their wheelhouse but have never been so well-realized. “Byebye, Big Ocean (The End)” and “Boys Turn Into Girls (Initiation Rites)” erupt with a wall of dazzling distorted guitars that slowly build into engrossing melodic payoffs while “Never Nothing (It’s Alright (It’s Ok))” and “The Body, It Bends” are sublime, soft spoken breathers that put a premium on texture and melody, and are among A Sunny Day in Glasgow’s most impressive songs yet. Even seemingly inconsequential moments like the “Double Dutch” interlude positively radiant with melodic warmth and joyous energy. Their strain of sun-kissed, jubilant dream pop tonally stands in stark contrast to much of the pop that’s dominated the airwaves this past decade, but their temperament doesn’t sound naïve so much as defiant. They have yet to follow up SWA with another LP, and I can’t blame them if they feel like they’ve said everything that they have to say with SWA.

Essentials: “The Body, It Bends”, “Never Nothing (It’s Alright (It’s Ok))”, “Boys Turn Into Girls (Initiation Rites)”

21. Strange Mercy- St. Vincent

Annie Clark has spent the past decade releasing music under her St. Vincent moniker, collaborating with the likes of David Byrne, producing for Sleater-Kinney, and appearing on the sketch comedy Portlandia. Although she began her solo career in earnest with her strong 2008 debut, Marry Me, in 2011 Clark released Strange Mercy, her third, and strongest record to date. Produced by John Congleton, SM is a compelling fusion of art rock/and chamber pop that often lands with a jarring, visceral impact, but is still imbued with a sense of grace that heightens the sentiments of her bewitching songwriting. Her first two records showcased her singular voice and tastefully, ornate baroque arrangements, but on SM Clark begins to let loose and lean into her virtuosic guitar playing. Songs like “Cruel” and “Northern Light” are propelled by her nimble riffs caked in distortion while strings rise and fall in a satisfying sweep all around her triumphant vocals. “Surgeon” brings the pace down to a crawl and gets a tone of mileage out of sensuous synth arrangements as Clark sings softly of depression and carnal desire “Stay in just to get along/Turn off the TV, wade in bed/A blue and a red/A little something to get along” before the song erupts into a furious storm of guitar distortion. The balance between fury and serenity animate the record from start to finish, and Clark seamlessly toggles these impulses from start to finish. On the title track, over a lumbering tom/kick drum rhythm, the incessant ping of a synth, and bluesy guitar licks Clark brilliantly sums up the record’s theme with a scene of police brutality “If I ever meet that dirty policeman that roughed you up/No, I, I don’t know what” that depicts the contraction inherent in the way justice is carried out by police in the west, and the way those contradictions bleed through to our understanding of morality on the whole. SM is a record full of these sorts of messy contradictions, and the music constantly reflected that perpetual sense of disarray with songs as colorful and chaotic as they were controlled.

Essentials: “Northern Lights”, “Surgeon”, “Strange Mercy”

20. A Moon Shaped Pool- Radiohead

Radiohead’s eighth LP, 2011’s solid but unremarkable King of Limbs seemed to cement the notion that while Radiohead may not have another game changer left in them, they were probably weren’t ever going to make a bad record. And with all of their various solo pursuits it seemed plausible that we may never get another Radiohead record, as underwhelming as capping off a career as thrilling as theirs with KoL would have been. Thankfully things didn’t pan out that way, and in 2016 Radiohead released their ninth LP, A Moon Shaped Pool; the platonic ideal of a master stroke from a legacy act. The album is partially composed of older songs re-worked into new forms, such as the tense string onslaught of opener “Burn the Witch” while a few of the newer songs like the gorgeous, ambient “Daydreaming” are string-laden compositions that are as eerie as they are radiant. For a band that’s been prophesizing the increasingly dismal state of the world that we now find ourselves in for the past several decades, they sound increasingly comfortable with their position in the world, and there’s no question that they’re in full command of their craft here. The production is sublime throughout the entire record, with a sense of encroaching doom bubbling just beneath the surface juxtaposed against rich baroque instrumentation. AMSP is the Radiohead album most informed by Johnny Greenwood’s work scoring films like There Will Be Blood and Phantom Thread, and as a result there’s a remarkable sense of immersion at work even for a Radiohead album.

So while there are some recognizable forms from records past, such as the brass-lead krautrock strut of “Ful Stop”, or the twitchy IDM drum work of “Identikit”, the spectral production heightens the potency of everything here. The compositions on AMSP are the most elegant, and nuanced of Radiohead’s to date, and Yorke’s voice continues to age superbly. Yorke’s lyrics touch on familiar topics, more relevant now than ever, such as climate change on “The Numbers” “The numbers don’t decide/The system is a lie/A river running dry/The wings of butterflies” the dangers of unchecked authority on “Burn the Witch” “Abandon all reason/Avoid all contact/Do not react/Shoot the messengers/This is a low-flying panic attack” and the broader, horrific realities of the world that we live in on “Ful Stop” “Why should I be good if you’re not?/This is a foul tasting medicine/A foul tasting medicine/To be trapped in your ful-stop”. What’s more unexpected are songs like the graceful string-led “Glass Eyes” and the devastating ambient closer “True Love Waits”, two songs that are poignant tributes to Yorke’s ex-wife, Rachel Owen, who passed away from cancer in late 2016. AMSP isn’t just a spectacular late-career gem that would make a superb swan song; it’s also the most human record that Radiohead have made yet.

Essentials: “True Love Waits”, “Daydreaming”, “Ful Stop”

19. Eye Contact- Gang Gang Dance

Few bands set the tone for the kind of cross-culture hybridization that would become the sonic norm for music throughout this decade quite like Gang Gang Dance. Throughout the early aughts they cut their teeth in the Brooklyn noise scene alongside bands like Animal Collective, Black Dice, and Exceptor blending noise, experimental rock, and worldbeat into blistering, unconventional shapes. As the years progressed Gang Gang Dance gradually began to open up their sound, folding elements of hip-hop, dance music, and psychedelic pop into a colorful concoction of rhythmically robust, delightfully manic pop music that was just as forward-thinking as it was infectious. The shift really began on their criminally underrated 2005 LP, God’s Money, but began notably on their terrific 2008 LP, Saint Dymphna. On the follow-up to SD, their remarkable fifth LP, Eye Contact, the sound of Gang Gang Dance crystallized into something more immediate and far-ranging than anything that they had done prior (or since so far). On EC, everything that the band had attempted throughout the course of their career (tribal rhythms, eastern melodies, shards of refracted noise) was gloriously combined into a hyper-saturated tapestry of progressive future pop. EC is the peak of Gang Gang Dance’s prior decade of sonic exploration, and nearly a decade later there’s still nothing that sounds anything like it.

Beginning with the astonishing slow-burn intro of “Glass Jar” that finds the band patiently building up what begins as a pent up ambient composition toward something more volatile that eventually rips open midway through, spilling into a calamitous, euphoric release into the song’s second half, EC is bursting with joyous energy and possibility. The melodies are some of the sharpest, and most direct that vocalist Lizzi Bougatsos has ever penned, providing a warm immediacy that cuts through even the most outre arrangements here, and they continually expand into shapes as the songs continue to progress. “Adult Goth” and “MindKilla” are bolstered considerably by Lizzi’s dynamic vocal performances, and the off-kilter, spellbinding synth arrangements of the band’s keyboardist Brian DeGraw, while “Romance Layers” provides an ideal mid-album psychedelic breather.. And on the album’s closer, “Thru and Thru”, the band deliver a send-off that succinctly sums up a prior decade’s worth of experimentation into a nearly six-minute song overflowing with eastern melodies, mesmerizing chants, and infectious tribal rhythms that congeal into a sound that couldn’t possibly be mistaken for anyone else. Although they’ve only graced us with the somewhat underwhelming 2018 record Kazuashita since, when Gang Gang Dance are firing on all cylinders, as they are on all of EC, there’s simply nothing like it.

Essentials: “Glass Jar”, “Adult Goth”, “Thru and Thru”

18. Shields- Grizzly Bear

Although the zeitgeist was already beginning to dramatically shift by the time that Grizzly Bear released their fourth LP, Shields, guaranteeing that it wouldn’t have the same immediate impact that they enjoyed with its predecessor, their 2009 breakout LP, Veckatimest, they still ended up releasing their magnum opus. Compared to Veckatimest’s approachable folk-pop leanings there are moments on Shields that sound downright prog, but the band never let these intricate baroque pop/psychedelic folk arrangements get away from themselves or compromise the remarkable melodic instincts that were undeniable on their terrific sophomore LP, Yellow House. The ten songs throughout Shields are perfectly paced, and there isn’t a single moment that overstays its welcome, but they each develop just as much as they need to. The band’s primary songwriters, Edward Droste and Daniel Rossen, were each peaking as singular songwriters in their own respective rights on Shields, and they both deliver a handful of the band’s strongest songs to date. Droste’s songs tend to creep in ethereal waltzes with delicate baroque instrumentation (“gun-shy”, “A Simple Answer”) unfolding patiently while sustaining a remarkable sense of tension while Rossen’s are jaunty folk rippers that unfurl in unpredictable, and thrilling cacophonies that still retain the grace that the ornate instrumentation demands (“Yet Again”, “Speak in Rounds”) but unfurl in far more complex structures than those on Veckatimest.

Grizzly Bear’s progression from Droste’s cozy lo-fi folk bedroom project to a knotty baroque folk juggernaut was one of the most quietly satisfying of any band from the past decade, and on Shields they hit a gorgeous peak. While Droste and Rossen had peaked as songwriters here, their contributions never overshadowed those of Chris Taylor or Chris Bear, and the chemistry on Shields is sharper than most bands ever come close to achieving. It’s easy to get lost admiring the sheer craft of their meticulous arrangements, crisp production, provoking but elusive songwriting, and the sharp interplay between Droste and Rossen each on their own individual merit, but on Shields everything that previously stood out about their artistry is amplified, and congealed in a way that’s approachable yet inimitable. On Shields Grizzly Bear umped the ante from Veckatimest on both fronts, and proved that they could grow more immediate and melodic while still dazzling with rich compositional complexity. Grizzly Bear followed it up with Painted Ruins in 2017, that while a perfectly good record in its own right is nowhere as cohesive, and most unfortunately, patient. And to be honest, I haven’t heard a baroque folk record released since Shields that’s as consistently engrossing, or one performed with such remarkable execution. Shields isn’t their most immediate, but it best distills their singular essence, and its generosity knows no bounds.

Essentials: “gun-shy”, “Yet Again”, “The Hunt”

17. The Money Store- Death Grips

Anyone from future generations looking to hear a band that’s most emblematic of the 10s as a full decade probably couldn’t do better than Death Grips. The trio consisting of vocalist MC Ride, keyboardist/producer Flatlander, and drummer Zach Hill released their abrasive Ex-military tape in 2011, and right out of the gates the trio had a fully-formed sound that plucked unapologetically from west coast hip-hop, industrial, hardcore, and noise. Although far from the first band to draw equally upon genres like these, Death Grips stood out immediately thanks in no small part to MC Ride, who has since proved to be one of the last decade’s most compelling frontmen. His lyrics are cryptic, and intelligent yet visceral, with a deceptively wry edge. Although there’s quite a bit of variety to his delivery, it’s always propelled forth with an overwhelming intensity that can take some time to become accustomed to. Ex-military was received rapturously by critics and bloggers, but as exciting as group like them may have seemed at the time it would have been hard to predict any kind of real longevity for them. And their unrelentingly antagonistic streak (leaking No Love Deep Web, putting a picture of Zach Hill’s dick on the cover of said album, skipping performances or just playing recorded music instead of performing, trolling fans, faking a breakup) would have decimated the momentum of almost any other band, but Death Grips feed on this sort of chaos like a troupe of anarchist vampires. Their arc from Ex-military to 2018’s Year of the Snitch is one of the most rewarding streaks of any act throughout the 10s, and while most of these records are great, there isn’t one that better distills their essence than their 2012 debut LP, The Money Store.

While Ex-military presented them as an admittedly idiosyncratic, yet undeniable product of their environment, TMS blew their sound wide open proving that they had range far beyond sounds of their native state. Right from the bass arpeggios that jolt opener “Get Got” to life, it’s clear the fidelity has improved considerably, but they haven’t compromised an ounce of their fury. This still scans as music custom-tailored for little other than violently thrashing your limbs, and little else from the past decade as been anywhere near as effective at distilling that aesthetic so neatly across the run of a single record. But on TMS Death Grips were still writing actual songs, with memorable hooks, sticky melodies, and conventional structures that served to heighten the potency of their tantrums. Songs like “I’ve Seen Footage” and “Hacker” are shocking for how immediate and unthreatening the band sound despite MC Ride’s sour bark, while songs like “The Fever (Aye Aye)” and “The Cage” showcase early peaks for Flatlander’s immaculate, and underrated synth work. MC Ride is at his best here, whether talking shit and espousing authenticity (“Hustle Bones”), calling out doubters (“Bitch Please”), or just railing against general conformity, he delivers 13 career defining performances in neat succession. Death Grips have continued to relentlessly experiment on all their subsequent records, and while some have come close to matching the excellence of TMS, they’ve all fallen short. Thankfully, the immense exhilaration and urgency of TMS sound more potent with each successive year that we inhibit this desolate hellscape.

Essentials: “I’ve Seen Footage”, “The Fever (Aye Aye)”, “Hacker”

16. Twin Fantasy (Face to Face)- Car Seat Headrest

It shouldn’t come as any surprise that a re-recording of a devastatingly personal LP that Will Toledo recorded at 19, with better production, stronger arrangements, and cleaner vocals, would end up being his best record to date. What was surprising was that he decided to return to the record of his that’s most important to him, and give it the sort of justice that it deserves after having developed into a far more adept talent in the years following its release. And although I’m sure some of those songs (if not all of them) were painful to revisit, the discipline and audacity paid off enormously. Twin Fantasy centers entirely around falling in love with another man at 19, and the arc of their relationship from mourning the distance between them on the opening song “My Boy (Twin Fantasy)” to the newfound acceptance of their relationship’s dissolution on closer “Twin Fantasy (Those Boys)”, detailing the highs and lows with unabashed sincerity. While the original still holds up fairly well, there’s no question that the re-arranging, cleaner vocals, and stronger fidelity overall just heightened the potency of what was already there without diminishing any aspect of the original record. Will’s cleverness, sense of humor, and dynamism as a bandleader elevate TF beyond a melancholic teen drama into a searing document of formative growth, demonstrating craft, ingenuity, and wisdom far beyond his years. More so than any other record released throughout the last decade, TF exemplifies just how potent indie rock still is.

This new version of TF is more of a “re-imagining” of the original record than anything else, and as such the thematic scope as it initially existed, along with the exact same track listing, is held perfectly intact. The record’s two epics, those being “Beach Life-In-Death” and “Famous Prophets (Stars)” are both even longer, and benefit more so than anything else here from their new arrangements. The fidelity has been cleaned up notably, but TF is still far from overproduced, and without any fuzz obscuring a lot of the detail you can hear just how crisp, and superbly layered these arrangements are. The new-wave outlier “Nervous Young Human” practically radiates with a newfound sheen, and is handedly the most radio-ready song the band have ever written, but it still folds seamlessly into the record’s mid-section between the anthemic, distortion-fueled peaks of “Sober to Death” and the record’s mid-album power-pop stunner, “Bodys”. Toledo’s drawing from a great deal here of different sub-genres here, and he manages to land on a remarkably uniform sound that belies the myriad of intricacies at work that prevent these compositions from being crushed underneath the weight of their own ambition. The album’s greatest achievement is how deftly Will manages to tell a story about the most profound event of his life coupled with music that’s as multi-faceted as the human experience being conveyed. TF may be proudly out of step with the current cultural zeitgeist from a sonic perspective, but the sentiments conveyed throughout are sublime missives from a distinctly millennial outlook. As far as concept albums about a single relationship are concerned, Toledo has set the bar this century with TF.

Essentials: “Famous Prophets (Stars)”, “Beach Life-In-Death”, “Bodys”

15. Modern Vampires of the City- Vampire Weekend

Vampire Weekend have come a long way from the indie afro-pop roots of their debut to their pastoral, jam band informed fourth LP, Father of the Bride, but on their third LP, Modern Vampires of the City the band refined their sound to a sublime strain of chamber music and art pop filled with Ezra Koenig’s strongest writing to date. Whereas their first two records were entirely produced by the band’s multi-instrumentalist and not-so-secret weapon Rostam Batmanliij, on MVotC Ariel Reitscheid, a producer known for working with acts like Charli XCX, Haim, Solange, etc joined the proceedings, and there’s a lighter feel to a lot of the arrangements, but everything has more dimension overall, and the low-end really pops on a lot of these in a way that it hadn’t really before. There are plenty of welcome production choices throughout, like the sprinkling of auto-tune on “Step”, or the blistering saxophone solo on “Worship You” that do a great deal to expand the parameters of the band’s sound without ever finding them really going out of their depth. Compared to their prior records there’s a fairly vast tonal gap on MVotC, with a heightened sense of existential dread and fixations on mortality, nostalgia, and faith. It’s weighty stuff without question, and the exceptional pacing goes a long towards helping evenly pack in the melancholic, languid compositions like “Everlasting Arms” and “Don’t Lie” with infectious up-tempo numbers like “Diane Young”, “Unbelievers”, and “Finger Back” that, while far from the best of what’s here are still as immediate as anything they’ve ever released and benefit from the same immaculate arrangement, production, and writing as everything else here even if they don’t break as much new ground. But the best of what’s here are without question among the best pop songs released so this far century.

Both opener “Obvious Bycycle” and “Step” are devastating looks at nostalgia that frame Ezra’s thoughtful character sketches in rich compositions that in the case of the former consist of soft wisps of grand piano, percussion that sounds like a stamp being punched, and surprisingly visceral bass, while in the case of the latter the band opt for gorgeous harpsichord arrangements, and a swaggering bassline. But “Hannah Hunt”, which is for the record the best VW song to date, is on another level entirely. It opens like the sun after the storm with field recording of a crowd of people clearing away for delicate grand piano and the gentle rumble of bass. Ezra sings of a relationship slowly starting to break apart as a couple travels the country together “A gardener told me some plants move/But I could not believe it/’Til me and Hannah Hunt/Saw crawling vines and weeping willows”. The song slowly builds into a rousing baroque pop crescendo over roaring keys as Ezra delivers one of his most devastating lines to date “If I can’t trust you then damn it Hannah/There’s no future, there’s no answer/Though we live on the US dollar/You and me we got our own sense of time”. Rostam left VW in 2016, and although their first record without him, the aforementioned 2019 comeback LP, FotB, his absence was sorely felt. On “Hudson” it almost sounds like Rostam is singing to Ezra, under that lens especially, it’s functions as a poignant, but fitting cap to VW’s first era. As great as FotB, Rostam’s 2017 debut Half-Light, and I Had a Dream That You Were Mine, his 2016 collaboration with Hamilton Leithauser of The Walkmen, I hope that MVotC isn’t the last time the two of them work on a full LP together.

Essentials: “Hannah Hunt”, “Step”, “Ya Hey”

14. Channel Orange- Frank Ocean

Few albums released throughout the last decade have brought about the sort of sweeping sea change that Frank Ocean’s sublime debut LP, Channel Orange, did. Ocean’s kaleidoscopic, self-released 2011 mixtape Nostalgia, Ultra established his artistry as something far beyond that of the go-to hook ghostwriter identity he cut his teeth establishing for himself. A year and a half later, amidst signing to Def Jam, collaborating extensively with Tyler, the Creator, Kanye West, and Jay-Z, and writing a now legendary tumblr post stating that his first love was for another man a few days before releasing his immensely anticipated debut LP, Frank Ocean released that album, and decided to call it Channel Orange. Like Ocean’s music itself, the narrative surrounding his ascension feels both timeless (moving to LA after Hurricane Katrina struck his hometown of New Orleans, ghostwriting and joining Tyler, the Creator’s hip-hop collective Odd Future before releasing his own music, which drew primarily from soul, classic r&b, and funk more than anything that was on the radio at the time) and modern (sampling extensively on N,U, having a few key co-signs that seemed to unlock all the right connections, leveraging the power of the internet along with the rest of Odd Future to build and sustain a fanbase) but none of it would matter if the music didn’t live up to the hype. But all of this is particularly interesting to consider when talking about CO, especially considering that it’s the best debut LP of the 10s, and an absolute master class in songwriting.

CO is a remarkably fully-formed debut LP that finds Ocean in complete control of his craft on all fronts. The instrumentation is a lush palette of analog keys, bass, and strings, and with the exception of a few fairly stripped down ballads, shows a keen command for maximalism that never sounds overwrought. Even a song like the colossal, mid-album change-up “Pyramids”, is saved from complete indulgence after the beat seamlessly shifts into a woozy down-tempo trap instrumental with plenty of space for Ocean’s falsetto to linger in. Ocean would shift gears dramatically with the 2016 visual album, Endless, and his second studio LP, Blonde, trading in the rich, dense analog soul and r&b for a minimal psychedelic soul sound. While the production on Blonde and Endless is more impressive than that of CO, neither record was quite able to match the lush immediacy that seemed to come to Ocean so naturally here. Ocean produced the record alongside the musicians Jonathon Ikpeazu, Malay, and Om’Mas Keith who all provided additional keys, drum programming, and/or guitars. Earl Sweatshirt, Tyler, the Creator, and Andre 3000 are the only guests that provide verses, and while each completely delivers, CO is Ocean’s record through and through. Regardless of whether Ocean is singing about the emptiness of privilege (“Super Rich Kids”), or depicting a tale of someone’s life falling apart due to crack addiction (“Crack Rock”) or delivering the closest thing he’ll likely ever come to a straight forward love song (“Thinkin’ Bout You”) his eye for detail, wit, intelligence, and empathy render the characters as rich, and multi-faceted regardless of what angle he’s coming at them from. The warmth and immediacy of the instrumentation and Ocean’s voice draws you in, but it’s the sheer strength of his songwriting that elevates CO from simply being another immensely promising debut to the classic that it is.

Essentials: “Crack Rock”, “Bad Religion”, “End / Golden Girl” ft. Tyler, the Creator

13. Sunbather- Deafheaven

Deafheaven were far from the first band to blend black metal, shoegaze, and post-rock, but on their stellar 2013 record Sunbather they distilled elements of these genres into a punishing, and breathtaking sound that’s unmistakably theirs. Their solid 2010 debut Roads to Judha showed tremendous promise, but their songwriting wasn’t on par with their ambitions yet. But on Sunbather, Deafheaven lived up to that early promise. Sunbather is primarily a blistering fusion of black metal drumming and shrieks engulfed in walls of shoegaze guitar that often give way to instrumental outros that shine with the radiance of Sigur Ros or Explosions in the Sky. George Clarke delivers the lyrics in an indecipherable shriek that either amplifies the intensity of the surrounding arrangements, or is used as a sublime juxtaposition to their fleeting moments of transcendent beauty. Sunbather is seven songs long, and superbly paced so that the band’s lengthier compositions are evenly split between songs that include a dreamy minimalist guitar/piano composition (“Irresistible”), a menacing baroque-noise march that congeals midway through into a jangly guitar conclusion (“Please Remember”), and an eerie collage of vocal samples and droning strings (“Windows”). This odd assortment of songs may seem random, but they do a nice job of breaking up the surrounding onslaught, and demonstrating the band’s range, while still adhering to the record’s searing aesthetic. It’s remarkably accessible music as far as metal is concerned, and if you can make it past the tone of Clarke’s voice there’s a lot to love about this album.

For all of Sunbather’s seemingly impenetrable harshness, there’s a great deal of beauty glistening just beneath the surface. On Sunbather, Deafheaven managed to strike a near perfect balance between beauty and chaos that, while greater heights were achieved later on, they never quite improved upon. The longer numbers here transition into moments of transcendent, cathartic beauty, and back into frenetic fury so subtly, and masterfully, that the juxtapositions quickly begin to seem less like extreme exercises in contrasting dynamics and tones so much as the fluid spectrum of Deafheaven’s multi-faceted artistry. And while the lyrics throughout Sunbather match the brutality of the corresponding arrangements, they also match their life-affirming, triumphant sense of urgency. Whether Clarke is reflecting on habitual patterns and habits that he just can’t shake “Lost in the patterns of youth/And the ghost of your aches comes back to haunt you/And the forging of change makes no difference” on “Vertigo” or ruing the alcoholism that he inherited from his father “In the hallways lit up brightly but couldn’t find myself/I laid drunk on the concrete on the day of your birth in celebration of all you were worth” on closer “The Pecan Tree”, his lyrics throughout Sunbather imbue his tortured yelps with a devastating poignancy rendered all the more morose by the band’s unflinching, formidable poise. It’s not hard to hear why Sunbather was the best reviewed album of 2013, and a game changer for black metal. Few records, metal or otherwise, have managed to convey such overwhelming emotional intensity through such ambitious composition. Its crushing beauty hasn’t lost an ounce of its potency in the years since.

Essentials: “Dream House”, “The Pecan Tree”, “Sunbather”

12. To Pimp a Butterfly- Kendrick Lamar

Kendrick Lamar caught the attention of the zeitgeist with his generation defining sophomore LP, Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City, but that record’s follow-up, To Pimp a Butterfly, cemented his status as one of the definitive musical auteurs of his generation. Whereas the former record was a gripping street epic that seamlessly tucked a coming of age story into the larger fabric of a blockbuster west coast hip-hop record, the latter record blew open the history of black music and wove together a tapestry of disparate styles that congealed to express a more multi-faceted look at the black experience. The beats are composed of live instrumentation courtesy of Terrance Martin, Kamasi Washington, Thundercat, and a plethora of the west coast jazz elite, and they span the likes of jazz, r&b, soul, and funk alongside instrumental hip-hop without showing the seams. The music runs the gamut from uplifting anthems (“Alright”) to bouts of unbridled fury (“The Blacker the Berry”), and everywhere in-between, but thanks to Kendrick’s deft pacing and execution nothing sounds out of place, and there’s no mistaking these songs for the work of anyone else through sheer scope alone. Kendrick’s writing and rapping had increased considerably since GKMC, but throughout TPaB he spends less time trying to prove what a capable rapper he is, and far more time using his ability to explore the nuances of systemic racial issues through the lens of a plethora of different characters. TPaB couldn’t have possibly sounded more out of step with the zeitgeist upon its release, but in venturing beyond what hip-hop in the mid 10s sounded like, and exploring perspectives beyond those of himself, he was able to tap into something far more universally human.

Throughout the course of TPaB Kendrick tackles a wide plethora of topics with music that’s matches the breadth and scope of his thematic ambitions. The g-funk strut “King Kunta” is one of the most immediate songs in his career, and he juxtaposes the song’s infectious backdrop against verses that evoke the resilience of Kunta Kinte in the novel Roots as a through line for the jarring shift he experienced throughout his come-up after growing up in poverty. “u?” brilliantly distills the sort of tragic survivor’s guilt that Kendrick experienced in the wake of his success watching so many of his friends continue to succumb to the perils of systemic racism through harsh free-jazz arrangements, while “i” gains power within the context of the record as an uplifting neo-soul anthem of self-love after the preceding storm has subsided. The uplifting anthem “Alright” has become a canonical protest song in the wake of civil unrest as a result of excessive police brutality while the finale, “Mortal Man”, begins with some of his strongest verses to date before transitioning into a fabricated interview with 2Pac. There’s an absurd amount to unpack within the songs on TPaB, but the album never buckles under the weight of its ambition, and delivers performances that are striking at every turn. Kendrick never shies away from depicting the devastating realities throughout the history of the black American experience, but he finds reasons to persist through these tribulations in the power of community, god, and love.

Essentials: “The Blacker the Berry”, “u”, “Wesley’s Theory” ft. George Clinton

11. Lonerism- Tame Impala

On Tame Impala’s debut, Innerspeaker, the band proved adept at piecing together the finest moments from their record collections into strange, idiosyncratic new shapes, but on their sublime sophomore LP, Lonerism, they began to push their sound into the present moment. The flanged guitars, shuffling drum rhythms, and frontman Kevin Parker’s Lennon-esque falsetto are a hallmarks of classic psychedelic rock, but the spellbinding synth textures, evocative samples, and cavernous production showcase a definitively 21st century sensibility. There was no mistaking them for a pure homage act on Lonerism. With the exception of piano on a few tracks courtesy of Jay Watson, and a spoken word interlude courtesy of Melody Prochet, Lonerism was written, recorded, and produced entirely by Kevin Parker, and it helped signal a major shift from bands being the dominant artistic vehicle in indie music to the solo artist taking up that mantle. Lonerism is a perfectly paced album, and aside from a few breathers, and a few epics, it almost plays like a greatest hits set. There were signs of the disco-prog synth act that Tame Imapa developed into on a few of Lonerism’s more immediate moments, but this is still thoroughly steeped in the lineage of psychedelic rock, acid rock, and blues rock. With Lonerism, Parker began to show signs of the poptimist that he was all along, but he hadn’t yet compromised the instrumental ingenuity that he’s capable of for a strong melody, and so here you get the best of both worlds; the band’s sharpest hooks and most adventurous production. Lonerism is where Tame Impala evolved from a promising project with immense potential into one of the defining musical acts of Parker’s generation.

Lonerism is a record that completely lives up to its title as a concept record about isolation. Every song here finds Parker grappling with some aspect of self-imposed isolation set against hazy, psychedelic pop/rock instrumentation. Some songs like, the disarmingly immediate “Feels Like We Only Go Backwards” spells out his anguish explicitly, with a love interest that he keeps falling for against his best judgement, while “Endors Toi” finds Parker rejecting the hardships of reality for the bliss that’s only possible when you’re literally dreaming. The lyrics rarely go deep, but on a record like this they’re entirely beside the point. Thankfully Parker’s writing works superbly within the context of the concept without detracting from the instrumentation and production. Parker wrote a few strong hooks on IS, but they were the exception, not the norm. On Lonerism, Parker’s melodic intuition had fully blossomed, and the hooks on songs like “Elephant”, “Why Won’t She Talk to Me”, and “Feels Like We Only Go Backwards” were more immediate, and more memorable than anything on the top 40 at the time. The songs on Lonerism are bursting with sonic personality; whether we’re talking about the euphoric streaks of synth that send “Apocalypse Dreams” into the stratosphere, the phaser-smeared guitars and immersive samples that bring “Sun’s Coming Down” to its triumphant finale, or the propulsive drum fllls that propel “Endors Toi”, Lonerism is the most sonically rich record that Parker has ever released. Parker would achieve more audacious and unexpected heights on his superb 2015 follow-up, Currents, but he has yet to top Lonerism’s consistency, and near perfect balance between studio experimentation and pure pop craftsmanship.

Essentials: “Nothing That Has Happened So Far Has Been Anything We Could Control”, “Sun’s Coming Up”, “Apocalypse Dreams”

10. Flower Boy- Tyler, the Creator

Flower Boy may not have come as a surprise to those who closely followed Tyler Okonoma’s progression from the lo-fi hardcore hip-hop days of Bastard and early Odd Future through his chaotic, candy-coated third LP, Cherry Bomb, but for the casual listener it may have seemed like an unthinkable evolution. And no one could have predicted its consistency. The signs of Tyler progressing into melodic, psych-leaning neo-soul were on the wall as early as his terrific 2013 record, Wolf, but on FB his melodic sensibilities, compositional chops, and an increasingly empathetic outward writing perspective all coalesced into an idiosyncratic tapestry of vibrant sound and color unlike any hip hop record ever recorded. It’s the first time that Tyler’s chops had fully caught up with his ambition, allowing him to completely deliver on the promise of a truly genre-adverse opus that Cherry Bomb merely hinted at. The lyrics are somber, and reflective, demonstrating Tyler’s newfound sense of maturity that would have been unthinkable throughout the early OF days. The sincerity and vulnerability of the lyrics go a long way towards heightening the potency of his vibrant, melodically rich compositions. FB capitalizes on all the strange contradictions that have always been inherent in his music, while removing the adolescent excess that have bogged down each prior release. The result is a highwater mark for what hip-hop and neo-soul can sound like unbridled with concern for what music should sound like. That attention to detail and unrelenting creative spirit are what helped propel FB into being the classic record that it ended up being.

Eschewing the lo-fi Neptunes meets MF DOOM beats of his past records, Tyler landed on a perfect blend of neo-soul synths, jazz strings/horns, and drums that split the difference between classic boom-bap and mid-10s trap for FB. The music is bright and vibrant, with a wealth of detail tucked within each mix that rewards multiple listens. There are songs that are completely in Tyler’s wheelhouse, like the frantic, mid-album trap cut “I Ain’t Got Time!”, and a few like the show-stopping psychedelic soul ballad, “Garden Shed”, that dramatically expand the parameters of his sound, but they all cohere together superbly into a fully-realized kaleidoscope of sound. Even the songs like “Pothole” and “November” that seem like more run of the mill Tyler cuts showcase a renewed sense of focus and tight production that belie their simple construction. FB is a record that’s focused on unrequited love, and while themes of abandonment, disillusionment with fame, growing pains, and insecurity emerge as on past records, the bulk of the action is focused on Tyler coming to terms with both his bisexuality and the anguish of a missed connection. Rarely does heartbreak sound so unflinchingly, thrillingly alive. True to form, the music is never mopey or saccharine, but it’s always brimming with the intensity of young love. FB is the record that Tyler has always set out to make, and while I’m sure he’ll top it at some point, it currently stands at the definitive realization of his singular vision.

Essentials: “911 / Mr. Lonely” ft. Frank Ocean & Stevey Lacy, “Garden Shed” ft. Estelle, “See You Again” ft. Kali Uchis

9. Until the Quiet Comes- Flying Lotus

After Steve Ellison, aka Flying Lotus, dropped his masterful third LP, Cosmogramma, it seemed like he could take his sound anywhere, but doubling down and improving on the maximalist excess of Cosmogramma would have proved a near impossible task. Thankfully, on his stellar follow-up LP, Until the Quiet Comes, FlyLo swung all the way in the opposite direction, and despite it being the flavor of the decade minimalism rarely ended up sounding better on any other artist. UtQC is a minimalist electronic jazz/instrumental hip hop record with dreamy meditative arrangements that belie their complexity at every turn. The album is a concept record that finds FlyLo exploring the realms of human consciousness coupled with ambitious arrangements and immersive production that complements his thematic ambitions perfectly. FlyLo is still making beats in a traditional sense, but the compositions on this LP are more rich and varied than the entire discography of most producers, and the music he draws from spans the likes of ambient, psychedelia, r&b, post-rock, progressive rock, and meditative astral jazz as much as his usual instrumental hip hop, IDM, and free jazz touchstones. And so while UtQC is more insular, less immediate, and more likely to necessitate multiple listens than any other record of his, it’s the best showcase of FlyLo’s versatility, melodic intuition, and use of texture.

The compositions are short and sweet, and barely last longer than it takes for FlyLo to introduce an idea, tweak it, thwart expectations, and move on. Like on Cosmogramma, UtQC incorporates live instrumentation weaved throughout various compositions (Thundercat’s bass playing was cemented as a staple element of FlyLo’s sound here) as well as vocal features from the likes of Thundercat, Thom Yorke, Laura Darlington, and Niki Randa. The features are all utilized tastefully, and heighten the potency of the existing arrangements without detracting too much. There are songs like “All In” and “Yesterday/Corded” that just feature FlyLo alone constructing remarkable, lived-in soundscapes from his usual toolkit of drum machines, samplers, sequencers, and keys, while others like the title track and “DMT Song” that commit thoroughly to their minimalism, and coast effortlessly around strong melodies or guest vocal performances. Many of these songs retain the visceral low-end and celestial sweep of his best work, but they don’t serve to overwhelm and disorient as much as they sedate and mesmerize. “Getting There” hits the sweet spot, with and infectious, heavy-hitting low-end juxtaposed against Niki Randa’s sweeping falsetto. UtQC may not go for the jugular as FlyLo’s prior two records, but it’s just as captivating in its own quietly confident way.

And a few of the songs on the back half of the record are some of the most gorgeous that FlyLo has ever composed. The loose and dreamy “Only if You Wanna” provides a simple but sublime bridge from the drum and bass rush of “The Nightcrawler” into the droning r&b mirage with Yorke’s vocals wafting eerily through the crevices in the mix. From there the record moves into “Hunger” and “Phantasm”, two songs that skew the closest that FlyLo has ever veered toward straight up ambience, and they slowly unfurl into gorgeous, unpredictable string progressions as Niki Randa and Laura Darlington deliver understated, ethereal vocals, respectively. From there we’re led into “me Yesterday//Corded”, one of the strongest songs that FlyLo has released to date. It begins in the same somber, minor-key tone of the preceding songs before erupting into a cosmic drum and bass coda with a euphoric melody and pitch-shifted vocals. The final song, “Dream to Me” is a whirring synth and woodwind lullaby that brings everything full circle, leading us right back into the intro, “All In”. UtQC breezes by in nearly 47 minutes, but there’s another singular, self-contained universe of detail packed into this record’s spellbinding grooves.

Essentials: “yesterday//Corded”, “Electric Candyman ft. Thom Yorke”, “All In”

8. Carrie & Lowell- Sufjan Stevens

By the time that Sufjan Stevens released Carrie & Lowell he had already released several classic records and had undergone several stylistic change-ups, but nothing in his discography established the precedent for a masterwork quite like C&L. On C&L Sufjan returned to the sparse chamber folk sound of his superb fourth record, Seven Swans, but he replaced the short vignettes and character studies that peppered that record with an engrossing scope that centers around his tumultuous relationship with his late mother who suffered from substance addiction and schizophrenia. The music is hushed, and minimal, consisting of little more than finger plucked guitar, banjo, ukulele, and an assortment of strings underneath Sufjan’s tender delivery. His music has always radiated a sense of overwhelming empathy, and so when plumbing the depths of his psyche for memories of his mother the tone is often devastating and cathartic in equal measure, but never overly morose or self-pitying. With C&L Sufjan succeeded in honoring his mother’s memory as honestly and as faithfully as he could while his songwriting hit a new peak.

C&L sustains an almost overwhelming poignancy throughout its duration, but it’s never a slog. The heaviness of the sentiments never really subsides, but these songs are each filled with strong hooks, sweeping melodies, and a disarming directness that he’s never quite managed on prior records. Songs like the opening cut “Death with Dignity”, “Should Have Known Better”, and “The Only Thing” soar with warm, infectious hooks and nimble guitar arrangements alongside a few electronic and orchestral embellishments, while songs like “No Shade in the Shadow of the Cross” and “Fourth of July” bring the tempo to a crawl and bask in Sufjan’s falsetto and minor-key acoustic guitar arrangements. It all comes to a head on the devastating centerpiece “No Shade in the Shadow of the Cross”, as Sufjan depicts the self-destructive behavior he engaged in right after his mother’s death “There’s blood on that blade/Fuck me, I’m falling apart/My assassin/Like Casper the ghost/There’s no shade in the shadow of the cross” just so that he could feel closer to her.

Essentials: “No Shade in the Shadow of the Cross”, “Death with Dignity”, “The Only Thing”

7. Some Rap Songs- Earl Sweatshirt

Earl Sweatshirt was arguably the greatest living rapper before dropping his magnum opus, Some Rap Songs, but since its release it’s become much harder to dispute. On SRS Earl runs through 15 songs in 22 minutes, delivering sometimes little more than a hook and a verse per song before transitioning into the next one. The songs operate according to their own logic, and forgo traditional song structure for a loop-based compositional approach. Earl produced the bulk of the record himself, and heavily opted for dusty, de-tuned pianos, shuffling, lo-fi percussion, and a plethora of discordant texture. Earl’s precision is remarkable, and what may initially scan as awkward or clumsy flows slowly reveal themselves to be masterfully sidestepping the rhythms entirely. But for all its challenging aspects, SRS is hardly a precious, posturing sort of record. It demands your full attention, but will reward it several times over.

The songs throughout SRS are bleak missives from a remarkable talent unpacking years of trauma. The record tackles many of the same themes of abandonment, drug abuse, and depression as his past records, but he’s cut out any lingering excess in his prose, distilling only what’s absolutely necessary into each bar. The rapping is lean, and virtuosic, but never showy, and the brevity of the songs themselves is indicative of how succinct and substantial the music there is. Songs like “Red Water” have just a single couplet that he repeats a few times as the ebb and flow of the instrumental sustains the onset momentum, while other songs like “The Mint” are closer to convention, but still unfold along unpredictable loops, and verses that zig zag in and out of the mix at irregular intervals. There are songs like “Cold Summers” and “The Bends” that are the closest that Earl comes to rapping accessibly, and there are those like “Playing Possums” and Peanuts" that owe more to tape loops, ambient, and noise music than anything resembling hip hop. SRS and it’s follow-up EP, Feet of Clay, are easily the most challenging, experimental, and divisive records that Earl has released to date, but they’re also singular masterworks that push hip hop into stranger, and more human realms.

Essentials: “Peanut”, “The Mint” ft. Navy Blue, “December 24”

6. New Bermuda- Deafheaven

After releasing their superb second LP, Sunbather, Deafheaven had become one of the most acclaimed metal bands of the century, and had achieved a level of popularity unprecedented for metal bands. Never mistaken by anyone as purists, Deafheaven began their career flirting with through lines between shoegaze, black metal, and post-rock before tastefully combining them on Sunbather. While they easily could have churned out another LP of post-rock/blackgaze of the same stripe, the band went deeper and darker, and re-emerged with their third LP, New Bermuda, the heaviest, and arguably most melodic, record of their career to date. Across five songs that collectively clock in around 46 minutes Deafheaven continue to expand their parameters of their sound, incorporating heavier tremelo guitars, incendiary blast beats, and sweeping post-rock passages that are more adventurous, expansive, and gorgeous, than what any other bands are doing today. NB may lean the furthest towards the brutality of classic black metal, but the band’s 2015 onslaught still amplifies an immense feeling of transcendence alongside the terror.

Opener “Brought to the Water” rustles to life with the ominous sway of church bells before its lead guitar riff kicks into gear, foreshadowing the premium they place on atmosphere with foreboding timbres. Throughout the next several minutes the band continue to build a scorched earth black metal composition bristling with distortion and rapid fire drumming that eventually slyly segues into a sugary breakdown reminiscent of “Kiss Me” by Sixpence None the Richer. It’s disarming, and unprecedented, but a perfectly logical evolution of their sound that reaffirms their status as the most versatile band at the vanguard of contemporary black metal. “Luna” and “Come Back” are two of the heaviest songs that Deafheaven have ever released, and get a ton of mileage out of their seismic guitar riffs and pummeling percussion, while “Luna” boasts one of the loveliest melodies they’ve ever penned, gliding alone a star-dusted, stratosphere-bound guitar riff. Closer “Gifts for the Earth” is a succinct culmination of the preceding 38 minutes, capped off with their most cathartic coda to date with jangly guitar and minor key piano softly swirling around Clarke’s feral shrieks. The warmth exuded beneath Clarke’s shrapnel-laced delivery posits Deafheaven as a band executing well-beyond the scope and limitations of metal.

Essentials: “Gifts for the Earth”, “Brought to the Water”, “Luna”

5. Halcyon Digest- Deerhunter

By the time that Deerhunter geared up to record their fifth LP, Halycon Digest, they already had a rich body of work behind them, but very little of their music set the kind of precedent for where they would go on HD. Here, Deerhunter tapered down their most avant-garde impulses in favor of cleaner guitar arrangements and big, bright melodies, unearthing the pop band they’ve always been at their core with poise and aplomb. The walls of guitar noise, ambient interludes, and studio effects that had defined their previous releases became relegated to marginal aspects of their song craft, and they began opening up their songs like never before. Thankfully, they didn’t dilute their sound, they just cleaned it up, and the 11 songs that make up HD are the most immediate, and richly produced (thanks to Ben Allen, who produced this record after nailing Animal Collective’s Merriweather Post Pavilion a year prior) of Deerhunter’s career to date. Deerhunter’s shift towards accessibility only seemed to accentuate their inherent strangeness, and HD remains one of the most engaging and endlessly replayable indie pop records of the 21st century.

From the droning low-end thump that ignites opener “Earthquake” it’s clear something substantial has shifted. Allen’s biggest contribution was a heightened low-end that caused Josh Fauver’s bass to really pop without distracting too much from the rest of the arrangements. This extra oomph propels songs like “Don’t Cry” and “Coronado” well into infectious, anthemic territory while it helps ground more ambitious cuts like “Helicopter” and “Desire Lanes”. Frontman Bradford Cox had completely grown into his role as a charismatic, provocative frontman with the pipes and poetic disposition to back up the antics, and propel his band towards a stadium sized sound even if they would never end up touring them. Bradford’s vocal melodies on closer “…He Would Have Laughed” and centerpiece “Helicopter” are the strongest that the band ever penned, while he delivers two of his most impressive vocal performances on the lulling “Sailing” and the pensive “Earthquake”. The closer, a tribute to the late Jay Reatard, is perhaps Deerhunter’s finest moment to date, with Bradford spinning surreal couplets “I live on a farm, yeah/I never lived on a farm” around the band’s steady harpsichord pulse until the composition bursts with euphoria, and then slowly begins to fade out before cutting out abruptly. Deerhunter have never made a bad record, but HD was the last time they showed how simultaneously adventurous and immediate pop music can be.

Essentials: “He Would Have Laughed”, “Helicopter”, “Desire Lanes”

4. Black Messiah- D’Angelo & The Vanguard

In the years following D'Angelo’s spectacular second LP, Voodoo, it seemed increasingly likely that he would never release another record. But then in the twilight days of 2014 D'Angelo surprise dropped his 3rd and best LP to date, Black Messiah, with a new band supporting him called The Vanguard (which consisted of Questlove on drums, Pina Palladino on bass, Isaiah Sharkey on guitar, Roy Hargrove on horns, and a handful of other musicians). BM eschews the warm r&b/neo-soul solo singer-songwriter sound of the first two D'Angelo LPs in favor of a fiery cocktail of avant-garde soul, jazz funk, and psychedelic r&b that’s simultaneously more abrasive and experimental than anything he had done prior. D'Angelo still has a remarkably agile falsetto, but it’s been notably weathered by the years away, and it now has a grainier disposition that happens to be a much better fit for the songs throughout the record. The band’s chemistry is just remarkable, and it’s hard to believe that they weren’t all cutting records with each other for decades prior. Unlike most artists that come back with new work after a notable dry spell, D'Angelo has never sounded more human than he does on this latest LP of his. Thankfully, despite the years apart D’Angelo hasn’t lost an ounce of his remarkable talent, and brings a magnetic charisma, sublime range, and a much sharper point of view to songs that reflect the turmoil of the preceding years of unrelenting police violence, yet respond in a multitude of ways. The Vanguard prove to be an ideal backdrop for D’Angelo’s songwriting, and together they achieve a new standard for neo-soul.

Although it had been 14 years, D'Angelo’s return felt right on time in the immediate wake of the deaths of Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, and plenty of others at the hands of the police. While D'Angelo’s music has never shied away from political statements, BM is by far the most explicitly political record of his career. “1000 Deaths” opens to a sample of a Khalid Abdul Muhammed speech about Jesus being black and quickly gives way to a visceral, funk rock rhythm and red-lining guitars with D'Angelo dissecting the difference between courage and cowardice “Because a coward dies a thousand times/But a soldier just dies once”. On the following track, “The Charade”, D'Angelo opts for searing soul that builds into his most anthemic melody to date while he delivers devastating imagery of the cruelty still inflicted on black people all over the world “All we wanted was a chance to talk/‘Stead we only got outlined in chalk” while “'Til It’s Done” contains D'Angelo’s finest melody to date and finds him questioning the nature of our existence and whether we’re really reckoning with the way that capitalists are destroying our planet “Perilous dissidence evening up the score/Do we even know what we’re fighting for?”. He also delivers some of his best love songs to date, including the funky mid-tempo shuffle of “Sugah Daddy”, the tender soul ballad “Betray My Heart”, and the spellbinding centerpiece “Really Love”. These songs fold neatly within the larger fabric of the record as a whole, and complement the politically charged songs without breaking the greater aesthetic. D'Angelo’s conviction is palpable throughout it all, and the newfound wisdom that he accrued in the years since Voodoo enrich the perspective that he brings to the songs in such a generous, humble way. Even if D’Angelo never releases another record we couldn’t have asked for a better swan song from him.

Essentials: “’Til It’s Done”, “The Charade”, “Really Love”

3. MBV- My Bloody Valentine

Like D'Angelo, it didn’t seem likely that My Bloody Valentine would ever follow-up their masterful second LP, but 22 years after the release of Loveless, in the dead of February 2013, MBV, the third My Bloody Valentine, finally emerged. There are 9 songs here, and they can neatly divided into three sections that find the band progressing from an extension of what they were doing in the 90s to styles never associated with them. MBV picks up right where Loveless left off, beginning with expansive suite of shoegaze songs rendered with the kind of sublime texture and tone as we’ve come to expect from the group, and slowly but surely they branch out into psychedelic pop, ambient, and pure noise, realms they’ve teased in the past but have never quite committed to prior. You can hear the band straining against their limitations, and although seeking out perfection is a fools errand, they nearly achieve it.

There’s no mistaking MBV as the work of any other band, but here they’re painting in darker, bolder hues than they’ve used in the past. Beginning with the opening song, “She Found Now”, their sound is much richer, and more forlorn, than it’s ever sounded, with thick plumes of guitar washing over wispy androgynous vocals and faint, skeletal percussion. Even as the tempos increase and the melodies begin to peak out beneath the fuzz, that wistful, melancholic tone remains. “Only Tomorrow” amps up the tempo with a driving rhythm and scorching guitars perpetually firing into the red

while “In Another Way” is a bludgeoning slice of driving noise pop with a strong melody from guitarist Belinda Butcher. “Nothing Is” coasts off the hypnotic repetition of its bludgeoning guitars for 3.5 minutes, and perfectly segues into the glorious noise piece, “Wonder 2”, which closes the record on a note of whirring guitars that approximate the overwhelming euphoria of first wave shoegaze, but takes the listener to much stranger places.

The nine songs throughout MBV strike a perfect balance between updating the shoegaze style that they perfected on loveless while wading into new territory, but it all hangs together beautifully. Kevin Shields and Belinda Butcher still harmonize on the bulk of these songs, and they’re ethereal delivery is still the perfect counterbalance for the aggression of the guitars. The searing slow-burn of “Who Sees You” is the peak of their vocal interplay, while on the midsection pop numbers like “New You” and “In Another Way” Butcher takes the reins and delivers two of the band’s strongest melodies to date over driving percussion and sleigh bells. The relative immediacy of “New You” is new sound for the band, and they completely deliver on its hypnotic pop premise. “Is This and Yes” and “Nothing Is” are the two instrumentals at the polar ends of the band’s sound that perfectly balance out the more dynamic songs, and the aforementioned noise piece “Wonder 2” complements the opening song “She Found Now” perfectly in that it’s an exploration of what My Bloody Valentine might explore more of if they ever release a fourth LP. It’s a miracle that MBV even exists in the first place, so the fact that it’s this good is just icing.

Essentials: “Only Tomorrow”, “New You”, “In Another Way”

2. Blonde- Frank Ocean

After releasing his generation defining 2012 debut Channel Orange, it was hard to say where he was going to take his music next. A cryptic series of videos in mid-August 2016 featuring Frank building a ladder led to few clues, but at the end of this week we received an audio-visual album titled Endless. Before anyone could really acclimate themselves to sleek, genre-agnostic minimalism of Endless, the proper follow-up to CO, titled Blonde, released a day later. Whereas CO was the sound of a singular talent discovering what he can do, Blonde is the sound of that talent capitalizing on those gifts with unparalleled precision. On Blonde Frank opts for a striking minimalist palette of psychedelic pop, avant-garde soul, ambient, and jazz, that are off-kilter and adventurous without sacrificing the warmth of his past work. Like CO, Blonde primarily explores themes of nostalgia, heartbreak, identify, and the nature of human perception, and here his eye for detail and attention to detail remains unmatched by any songwriter of the last decade.

From the opening song “Nikes”, Blonde presents itself as a drastic stylist departure from what Frank was doing prior. The first half is a distorted r&b dreamscape with Frank crooning in a pitch-shifted higher register, and actually has him rapping a few verses, before returning to his normal register. Blonde is filled with strange, yet tasteful stylistic touches like this, from the distorted shrieks at the end of “Ivy”, to the collapsing, pitch-shifted orchestra that gives way to an eerie children’s choir’s on “Pretty Sweet”, the album rarely shifts into anything that scans as conventional. “Pink and White” is the most straight forward moment on the album, but the verses rarely stay grounded, and soon give way to a soaring chorus that slyly tucks Beyonce’s voice into the fold before the instruments dissolve from the mix entirely. “Skyline To” and “Godspeed” flirt with ambience and put a great deal of emphasis on exploring texture and negative space, while “Close to You” is a brief, glitchy cover of Stevie Wonder’s classic that provides a terrific segue from the “Facebook Story” interlude into the record’s devastating centerpiece, White Ferrari. The record covers a remarkable amount of ground sonically, but it coheres in a way that completely belies this scope.

“Nikes” sets the tone for the record on the whole as Frank watches his friends lose themselves to the spoils of his fame and begins to recognize himself as a placeholder for a partner’s lost love. “Self-Control” depicts the story of one of Frank’s relationship’s imploding “I’ll be the boyfriend in your set dreams tonight/Noses on a rail, little virgin wears the white” set to a mesmerizing neo-soul slow-burn that unfurls a gorgeous, understated melody while “Nights” juxtaposes the highs of the come-up “Oooh nani nani/This feel like a Quaalude” with a guitar pop/boom-bap instrumental and the perils of fame with a woozy, cloud-rap adjacent second half “Shut the fuck up I don’t want to hear your conversation/Rollin” marijuana that’s a cheap vacation". The record hits its peak with the spectacular ballad, “White Ferrari”, the strongest song of his career to date. Over warm acoustic guitar provided by Alex G Frank details the permanence of the love that he’ll have for someone that he’s no longer in a relationship with “I care for you still and I will forever/That was my part of the deal, honest/We got so familiar”. The humility and humanity of the moment is heartbreaking, and speaks volumes about the depths of Frank’s artistry. Blonde set a new benchmark for avant-garde pop, and is arguably the most influential album of the past decade.

Essentials: “White Ferrari”, “Nights”, “Self-Control”

1. Cosmogramma- Flying Lotus

After breaking through with his superb sophomore LP, Los Angeles (a singular blend of IDM, trip-hip, and woozy Dilla & Madlib-esque instrumental hip-hop) it would have been easy for Flying Lotus to continue mining the same sounds for successive records that were just slight variations on that singular template. But for FlyLo’s third LP, Cosmogramma, he blew his sound wide open, eschewing the quantized beat grid for a lusher, more sprawling sound that couldn’t be confined to standard rhythms. Cosmogramma is steeped in the lineage of instrumental hip hop and IDM like its predecessor, but it manages to juggle a wider palette of disparate styles such as four on the floor, drum and bass, jungle, free-jazz, and experimental bass while incorporating a wide variety of guest musicians that do a superb job of fleshing out his expansive compositions. Cosmogramma is a record that can barely contain its ambition, and despite having been released over a decade ago it still shines like a beacon illuminating the boundless possibilities of where music can go.

The sublime fusion of the live instrumentation, supplied by Thundercat on bass, Miguel Atwood-Ferguson contributing string arrangements, and Ravi Coltrane providing tenor saxophone, among many others coupled with FlyLo’s mind-warping production is what gives the album it’s compelling thrust. The first half primarily splits the difference between frantic drum and bass/synth-pop heaters and atmospheric cosmic-jazz interludes, and the pacing is just remarkable, with no moment overstaying it’s welcome and plenty of space to give each idea the space it needs to develop. Thom Yorke drops by for a wispy vocal performance on the agile IDM strut “And the World Laughs With You” while Thundercat delivers a formal career introduction on the tender ballad “MmmHmm” before the record shifts into the infectious four on the floor centerpiece, “Do the Astral Plane”. From here the record deploys the astral jazz and eastern influences in a more pronounced fashion on songs like “German Haircut” and “Dance of the Pseudo Nymph” respectively. The celestial ambience of “Table Tennis” featuring Laura Darlington is a welcome breather for the life-affirming synth surge of closer “Galaxy in Janaki”, ending the album on a somber, but ultimately uplifting note with Flylo sampling the ventilators that his mom was hooked up to on her death bed for a euphoric, synth-streaked send-off.

The enduring appeal lies in its function as ambition existing for the sake of ambition. The songs throughout Cosmogramma all vary in texture, tempo, and tone, and they all around great on their own, but it’s the journey from start to finish that Cosmogramma exemplifies as a spiritual experience. Cosmogamma was intended to function as a loose concept album of sorts about lucid-dreaming and out of body experiences influenced by the study of the universe, heaven, and hell, and it’s remarkable to hear just how much of that vision that he’s able to convey without the prevalence of vocals. Although electronic music has changed dramatically in the decade since Cosmogramma was released, the execution of FlyLo’s masterpiece hasn’t been in matched, in electronic music or anywhere where else. Cosmogramma is both the pinnacle of where music has been, and a glimpse at the possibilities of where it could go moving forward.

Essentials: “Galaxy in Janaki”, “Do the Astral Plane”, “MmmHmm” ft. Thundercat

[tsrookie]

Alright, so today’s the three-year anniversary of Reputation a.k.a the greatest album of all time, my baby, the light of my life, the album that deserved a Grammy (trying desperately not to think about the scene from Miss Americana😭), the album that introduced us to the most beautiful couple ever, the album that shut Kimye up, and I better stop now, or else I’m not gonna shut up.

So in honour of this momentous occasion (and the fact that I reached 200+ followers! Thank you so much you guys!🥺 Love you all 3000💙), here’s a loooooong post on why Reputation is the Ethan and MC album.

1. ...Ready For It?

No one has to know

Throwback to MC saying the exact same words back in Miami.

In the middle of the night, in my dreams

You should see the things we do, baby, mmm

In the middle of the night, in my dreams

I know I'm gonna be with you

So I take my time

Remember back when MC asked for Ethan to get into bed right away during their first time? Ethan told them that he had dreamt about the moment for months, so he wasn’t going to rush it.

2. End Game

Big reputation, big reputation

Ooh you and me would be a big conversation

These two dating would be the talk of the hospital, and they know it.

Even when we'd argue, we don't do it for long

And you understand the good and bad, end up in the song

For all your beautiful traits, and the way you do it with ease

For all my flaws, paranoia, and insecurities

Think these lines are pretty self-explanatory😌

I hit you like bang

We tried to forget it, but we just couldn't

*gets war flashbacks of the ‘reset’ phase*😭 They tried to make it work, but we all know how Ch 8 of book 2 went😌

I swear I don't love the drama, it loves me

Perfect for our chaotic MC😌

3. Don’t Blame Me

Do I... really have to explain this one?

For you, I would cross the line

I would waste my time

I would lose my mind

They say she's gone too far this time

Do we need a recap of our rule-breaking MC?

And baby, for you, I would fall from grace

Just to touch your face

If you walk away

I'd beg you on my knees to stay

He was willing to risk his (mostly) rule-abiding reputation for being with MC. And there’s no way he wouldn’t beg for MC not to leave him if he ever screwed up🤷‍♀️

4. Delicate

This ain't for the best

My reputation's never been worse, so

You must like me for me

Ethan stood by MC’s side throughout the Ethics hearing, when her reputation was completely smeared, and people only saw her as a patient murderer. He didn’t know about the sabotages, but he would’ve definitely supported her if he had known.

We can't make

Any promises now, can we, babe?

Commitment-phobia🙃

Sometimes I wonder when you sleep

Are you ever dreaming of me?

Sometimes when I look into your eyes

I pretend you're mine, all the damn time

They spent so much of time apart, not able to be with each other, so the least they could do was dream of being with each other all the time.

5. So It Goes (an underrated af bop)

What can I say... it’s a sex song, okay? Don’t make me go into the details😂 Just listen to the lyrics, and all will be clear.

6. Gorgeous (Tumblr won’t let me put any more links)

MC’s eternal anthem to Ethan.

Whisky on ice, Sunset and Vine

You've ruined my life, by not being mine

We all know Ethan loves Whiskey, and the second line? C’mon!

You're so gorgeous

I can't say anything to your face

'Cause look at your face

And I'm so furious

At you for making me feel this way

But, what can I say?

You're gorgeous

Ethan Ramsey is famous for two reasons. One: his smart brain, I guess😒 Two: HIS LOOKS!!! HE’S GORGEOUS, AND DON’T DENY IT.

And you should think about the consequence

Of you touching my hand in the darkened room (dark room, dark room)

Ah, the olden days of hand holding in the diagnostics office🥺

Ocean blue eyes looking in mine

I feel like I might sink and drown and die

No explanation required.

You make me so happy, it turns back to sad, yeah

There's nothing I hate more than what I can't have

You are so gorgeous it makes me so mad

The wonderful will-they-won’t-they saga. The frustrating hot-and-cold behaviour. The ‘We can’t’, ‘It’s unethical’ and ‘It’s complicated’. MC deserves an award for her patience😓

7. King Of My Heart

I'm perfectly fine, I live on my own

I made up on my mind, I'm better off bein' alone

Ethan ‘I don’t believe in soulmates and nobody’s waiting at home’ Ramsey.

And all at once, you are the one I have been waiting for

King of my heart, body and soul, ooh whoa

And all at once, you are all I want, I'll never let you go

King of my heart, body and soul, ooh whoa

This could be from both Ethan and MC’s perspectives. The love they share isn’t something that you get easily. It’s something that MC has waited for her whole life, and something Ethan never knew he needed, but now can’t live without🥺

Late in the night, the city's asleep

Your love is a secret I'm hoping, dreaming, dying to keep

Change my priorities

The taste of your lips is my idea of luxury

This was definitely Ethan throughout book 2, after he finally gave in. He let go of his previous rules and regulations, especially during the time of the attack. He was clearly affected, and once MC was alright, his main priority was her, and her alone.

Is the end of all the endings?

My broken bones are mending

With all these nights we're spending

Ethan’s been burnt a lot in the past. But all those wounds are now healing thanks to MC.

Up on the roof with a school girl crush

Drinking beer out of plastic cups

They act like lovesick teenagers around each other, like, that’s literally their description if you choose to kiss Ethan for the first time in Chapter 14 of book 2!😅

Say you fancy me, not fancy stuff

Baby, all at once, this is enough

We all know about his initial fear of his mother reaching out to him for the sake of his money. To him, MC not talking advantage of him is a pretty big deal, even though it’s never mentioned. You just know, you know?🥺

8. Dancing With Our Hands Tied

My, my love had been frozen

Deep blue, but you painted me golden

Again, Ethan doesn’t have the best experience with love. But MC changed that.

I'm a mess, but I'm the mess that you wanted

This could go both ways, cause they’re both piping hot messes😬 (but love each other anyway🥺)

The rest of this song could have made so much more sense for them if we had gotten some sort of a secret relationship storyline. But oh well, I’m definitely not complaining about the gala😌 (and definitely not believing any of the supposed cancelled storylines)

9. Dress

Our secret moments

In a crowded room

They got no idea

About me and you

I mean... pretty obvious😌

Even in my worst times, you could see the best of me

And I woke up just in time

Now I wake up by your side

My one and only, my lifeline

This is practically Ethan’s train of thought, and you can’t convince me otherwise.

As for the rest of the steamier lyrics... I’ll um... let you guys listen to it yourselves😁

10. Call It What You Want

I wrote an entire fic inspired by this song, so excuse me for the shameless self-promo, but go give it a read?🥺👉👈(totally fine if you don’t! I’ve probably made so many posts about this song that y’all know the meaning anyway😅)

11. New Years Day

Don't read the last page

But I stay when you're lost and I'm scared and you're turning away

I want your midnights

But I'll be cleaning up bottles with you on New Year's Day

MC has always stayed by Ethan’s side, even when he’s pushed her away. These lines perfectly explain how she wants his worst times, and his best, the midnights they spend staying up together, and the moments where it’s just the two of them, when everyone else has left, like the aftermath of a New Years party (still mad at the fact that we didn’t get to see the gang celebrate New Year together😭)

I'll be there if you're the toast of the town babe

Or if you strike out and you're crawling home

The above explanation for these lines as well.

Please don't ever become a stranger whose laugh I could recognize anywhere

Becoming strangers to each other would be their worst nightmares. Knowing that the other was out there in the world somewhere, but not being in their lives would kill them.

You and me forevermore

These two are each other’s soulmate, they know it, even if they haven’t said it yet. Forever wouldn’t be enough for them to shower each other with they love they hold for each other. But it’s a good start.

——————————

If you guys made it this far, then I honestly love you more than words can ever express🥺💙 Thanks for putting up with my Swiftie-Directioner-Ethan stan ass, cause I dunno if I’d ever be able to handle someone like myself. And if you read all the above stuff, then I hope you wanna know why this album means so much to me.

Reputation is perceived as a dark album, when in reality it’s truly about finding love amongst all the noise. This album, and Taylor and Joe’s story, taught me what true love actually is, and Ethan and MC cemented that. This album and these two couples (quite literally) saved my life.

The most beautiful part about both these relationships is that even though they never showed it openly, for the sake of their relationships, both Ethan(in the story) and Joe stood by the side of the one’s they loved, despite half of the people who they knew hating on them, or betraying them. And I think that’s what’s truly important. Forming a true relationship like that, be it platonic or romantic, is long lasting, and I hope everyone finds those kind of people to fill their hearts with. Sending much love, and sorry for being a huge sap😅💙

Tagging a couple of my Swiftie homies: @swiftlydarcy @nikki-2406 @dxnicaramsey @kaavyaethanramsey @caseyvalentineramsey @drariellevalentine @justanotherrookie

[dalishious]

not da but I'm getting into Canadian music, I think you've mentioned before you like the tragically hip, what do you think of sloan? any other bands and artists to consider?

There’s a reason The Tragically Hip is so beloved in this country. Their songs aren’t just songs, they’re poetry. If you want to check them out, I recommend starting with the album Yer Favourites, which is a collection of their top songs voted by fans. And also I’d like to give a special shoutout to what I consider to be an extremely underrated album: We Are The Same. Most people will tell you Fully Completely is their best one, but there isn’t a single song in We Are The Same that I don’t love. (Especially Country Days, The Depression Suite, Coffee Girl, and of course, Now The Struggle Has a Name...)

Sloan has some good ones, and I’d be a poor Nova Scotian not to say that lol. If you like any of The Hip’s songs that have a more pop-ish vibe, you’ll probably like them.

Anyway, some more recommendations, only English unless you’re open to some French as well, let me know:

MATTHEW GOOD. MATTHEW GOOD. MATTHEW GOOD. (Before going solo, Matthew Good Band.) One of my all time favourite artists. I recently shared my playlist of my favourites on my main blog if you’re interested. Also just like The Hip, his lyrics are more often than not very poetic, and I love that. Especially given a number of them come from personal places and I’ll just say if you have any mental disorders yourself there’s a good chance you’ll be able to really feel when he sings about his own. Anyway, my two favourite albums in particular are Hospital Music and Avalanche, with Moving Walls and Underdogs (Matthew Good Band) close behind.

Our Lady Peace is fantastic. I recommend starting with the albums Gravity and Clumsy.

The Stanfields are a fun mix of what they call Folk’n’Roll. Check out their albums Vanguard of the Young & Reckless and Death & Taxes for sure. (Oh fuck, also check out the video for Afraid of the World because the end of it gets me every time... white woman walks around scoffing at all the pumpkin heads, then goes home and puts on her pumpkin head.)

If you’re interested in another really great mix of Atlantic Folk and alternative rock, I suggest Joel Plaskett / Joel Plaskett Emergency. Start with either the Joel Plaskett Emergency album Ashtray Rock, or the solo Joel Plaskett album Three. Also the album Solidarity he did with his father, Bill Plaskett, is beautiful. The Next Blue Sky is one of my favourite songs ever.

Matt Mays is one more Atlantic Folksy rock guy. Once Upon a Hell of a Time and Twice Upon a Hell of a Time (acoustic versions of Once) are a perfect starting point in my opinion, though most fans of his would tell you to start with the album Coyote, which is also great!

Arcade Fire is... I’m not really sure how to describe Arcade Fire. I like some of their stuff, but they are something of an acquired taste, I think. Try the album The Suburbs.

If I tell you I adored Avril Lavigne and Billy Talent growing up, would you judge me? Because I did, and I still do. If you’re willing to keep an open mind, try Avril Lavigne’s albums Under My Skin and Let Go, and if you’re in a real angsty mood, try Billy Talent’s albums Dead Silence and Hits. (I would especially recommend trying Billy Talent if you like bands like say, Green Day and MCR.)

Okay, some more classics... Rush, The Guess Who, Bachman-Turner Overdrive (BTO), and April Wine are all great. They all have greatest hits / best of albums, so just start there.

Oh shit, I almost forgot Bryan Adams, AKA the Canadian Bruce Springsteen. Though you’ll have trouble finding one of my favourite songs by him, so here it is.

I also feel like I needn’t even bother mentioning Neil Young since I’m assuming you him before, but... yeah. Neil Young, obviously.

EDIT: AAHHH forgot Great Big Sea! Check out their album Play.

EDIT: Yes I love Nickelback too. Sue me.

EDIT: I forgot, Alanis Morissete is Canadian. Listen to her Jagged Little Pill album if you’ve never done so before.

EDIT: I had no idea Three Days Grace was Canadian??? One-X and Human are my favourite albums by them, but Life Starts Now is also pretty up there. (Similar vibes to Bily Talent, but I’d say even more angsty lol)

I also wanna give a particular shoutout to at least some albums from my fave Canadian Indigenous artists:

Shawnee deserves so many more listeners please check her out. Her only full album as of now is Let It Burn, but she’s also got a bunch of released singles. 

Buffy Sainte-Marie’s Medicine Songs and The Best Of

Jeremy Dutcher’s Wolastoqiyik Lintuwakonawa... I know I said I’d limit reccomendations to English but I can’t help it.

Susan Aglukark’s This Child

Adrian Sutherland is a newbie, but I am begging everyone reading this to check out his song Politician Man. Needless to say, I look forward to hearing more from him.

[jessconrad]

Fine Line by Harry Styles: The Sunshine We Needed Through A Very Dreary Year

Or An Album Review (One Year Later)

On December 13, 2019, Harry Styles graced the world with his second studio album, Fine Line, and I don’t think it has ever left my Recently Played section on my Spotify account since its release.

I honestly don’t know how I would have survived 2020 without this album. As I reflect on everything this year had to offer, I realized this record will always shine through as it is tied to my best memories of the year.

I listened to this album a lot, with three of my five top songs from my Spotify Wrapped coming from Fine Line. (They were “Sunflower, Vol. 6″, “Golden”, and “To Be So Lonely”, respectively, if you were curious!)

I spent dull afternoons in January walking around the freshly snow covered ground on my college campus blasting “Lights Up” in my headphones. This single was released in October 2019, two months prior to the release of Fine Line, and had been a top favorite of mine with its 70s soulful style. Not to mention, the small choir of backup singers and layering synth gave me an almost nostalgic as the Christmas season started to come to an end. This song was all about finding who you are- and I was starting to figure out who I am with it.

The next month I visited Denver for a conference and I began noticing how this record was starting to become the soundtrack to my year. February’s track was “Sunflower, Vol. 6″ where I started to feel my attachment to this song. I am not sure if it was the mesmerizing lyrics, the drums, or even the Indian instrument known as a sitar that made me really hooked to this song... But as I walked through the streets of rainy Denver (which would normally make me feel very gloomy), I couldn’t help grinning from ear-to-ear as I listened to this song. It’s the feel-good musical track you listen to, in whatever mood you’re in.

Sometimes I can’t fathom how apocalyptic March felt. The beginning of March was completely normal, and I was at my peak. Looking back now, I can’t wrap my head around that I attended five live shows within one week during that month. But all good things come to an end, right? And of course suddenly, it all came crashing down. I was sent packing up my college freshman dorm and moved back home with my parents while juggling all my courses remotely. There was a song that I was always replaying though, and that was “Golden.” Arguably one of the most upbeat tracks on Fine Line, next to “Sunflower, Vol. 6,″ but the lyrics say otherwise. As the opening track, it has a very chill pop vibe, but listen closely to the lyrics. The contrast pulls at my heartstrings every. single. time.

“Cherry” and April go hand-in-hand for me. As I continued to navigate my thoughts and feelings with the pandemic, struggling with the course load of online courses, and overall the anxiousness of all the unknowns- “Cherry” was the comfort I needed. With its soft acoustic guitar, it is the perfect song for any in-your-feels playlist. And trust me when I say that the fragility of “Cherry” really helped me when I was in my feels. 

Arguably the biggest summer hit of this year was “Watermelon Sugar,” and my go-to anthem of wanting to feel any normalcy of a summer that I stayed mostly indoors for. I remember when the music video dropped in May, I was grabbing coffee with a friend and begged her to watch the video with me. We sat in her car in the middle of a park, watching the YouTube video count down to the premiere of “Watermelon Sugar”. That “this video is dedicated to touching” opening message made me laugh and realized how truly brilliant Harry’s mind is. The warm, very enjoyable tune made this the perfect summer anthem with its really good electric guitar and slide guitar mixed with the horn. It’s the one song that will stay in your head for weeks.

Another song that feels like summer to me is “Canyon Moon.” In the end of June, I went ‘glamping’ (otherwise known as glamorous camping, we stayed in a very nice tiny house in the middle of the most wooded area that Nebraska could get) with my family. It’s a very upbeat song with a nostalgic feel, and the fun instrument rhythms can’t help but make you beam. The song also experiments with a dulcimer; a musical instrument with a long rounded body and a fretted fingerboard played by bowing, plucking, and strumming. I think this is what makes the song more upbeat and happy, especially the beginning as well as the slide guitar giving it unique sounds throughout. It personally is one of my least favorites on the album, but it does make me think of warm summer days and spending time with family every time I do listen to it.

July was starting to feel a little rough for me again. I was really getting tired of staying indoors and barely seeing any of my friends. I was really longing to go back to school and being around my people again. “To Be So Lonely” was a song that felt like it really understood me. Harry revealed in an interview with Rolling Stone that the song was composed on a guitalele, which resembles the sound of guitar, for that light and upbeat tone that the chords give off, backing the lyrics. It’s the perfect song you listen to when you’re sad, and you’re ready to push past it. And I knew that I was ready to push past my sadness because I had one more month until I was surrounded in community.

“Adore You” was the second single of Fine Line that was released. This song is filled with so much love and passion- and it was the same immense feelings I had in August when I got ready to move back to my college town and see all my friends again. As I packed my bags and moved into my sorority house, I constantly played this song. What can I say? This was a really great song to vibe with, especially with the opening keyboard and the consistent bass that you cannot help but groove to!

Out of all the months of this year, surprisingly September was one of my darkest. With only two weeks living into my sorority house, I made the decision to move out for the safety of mine and my family’s health. I moved back in with my parents again during this month, and I felt completely lost. “Falling” had the same underlying message of being lost. This love ballad displays a theme of brokenness and creates a tone of unhappiness- the perfect song for a post-breakup or an in-your-feels playlist. I had this song on repeat more times than I can count- the soft piano setting a broken and lonely tone. 

The beginning of October began to really turn around for me. I moved into an apartment with one of my best friends and I was back in my college town. I was starting to find community again and “Treat People With Kindness” became this month’s anthem. Coined after Harry’s Treat People With Kindness (TPWK) campaign, this song has a 1970s sound and makes you want to dance along with the catchy choir lyrics such as “Maybe we can/Find a place to feel good/And we can treat people with kindness”. The lyrics were very prevalent in my life, especially with the amping news of the presidential election and the continuation of the pandemic. This song was the best reminder to be kind to myself, and those around me. And let’s not forget the conga sound throughout! I believe Queen would have been very proud of this underrated track.

The timeless mature sound of “She” could have not fit November anymore. I celebrated my twentieth birthday this month (which of course included a Harry Styles themed birthday party with my roommate and some close friends). The guitar kicking in at the chorus giving so much emotion to Harry’s voice, and that’s exactly how I felt around my birthday. Lots of emotions. Not to mention, the guitar solo played by Mitch Rowland sounds like it could have been something that was released years ago, with a little modern touch. It’s growing to be one of my personal favorites on the album.

Lastly, we get to December and I felt as if this year was the longest year of my life (but also flown by way too quick). The song that resonated with me most this month was “Fine Line,” the last track of the album (and the longest at 6 minutes and 16 seconds). My favorite memories in December consist of driving around with my friend, looking at all the Christmas lights as we drink hot cocoa and blast “Fine Line”- singing our hearts out to the repetitive lyrics of “we’ll be fine line” and “we’ll be alright.” Harry discussed in an interview with Capital FM that this song would always be the last on the album, and how fitting that I resonated with this song most in the last month of the year. “Fine Line” represents the ups and downs of life, and the thin line that separates the two. This song that includes an orchestra, drums, horn, acoustic guitar, and melodies building in the background, it could not be the most perfect finale to the album- and to the year 2020.

Today is December 13, 2020- exactly one year after Fine Line has been released. Since then, Harry Styles has made headlines from petty to political. He has shown up for Black Lives Matter, cared for our sleeping habits by releasing an audio bedtime story, made us feel confident in wearing whatever we want as he appeared as the first solo male on American Vogue- all while accomplishing some of his greatest achievements with this album: releasing five music videos, being nominated for three Grammys, and climbing the music charts and catching the hearts of critics. 

But Harry accomplished something even greater- he made an album that made us feel good when it was nearly impossible to. To put it frankly- Fine Line was my comfort album, and I know that it was a lot of other people’s too. And as we step into the new year, with the help of this album, it does in fact feel like... we’ll be alright.

[blurringedges]

Ranking My Fav Taylor Swift Songs Because I Couldn’t Sleep (1-30)

There is no song on this section where I don’t go – oh my god, this is my favorite Taylor Swift song. Enjoy!

1.       Lover

Quite frankly, one of the best love songs of all time. If this doesn’t make you want to fall in love, you sir - are wrong. It’s truly the perfect song.

2.       Call It What You Want

I didn’t get this song - and then I did. And it became a way to articulate life and love for me that I never had a language to before. Just, so good. So so good.

3.       Holy Ground

A grower on me that is ALWAYS stuck in my head. It just feels like movement. And heart. And holding your tongue. And all the things.

4.       Wildest Dreams

This song not only takes me to a religious level like IDSB or Change but it also somehow makes me feel like I'm in La La Land? Make it make sense! It’s the most gorgeous song and it also BOPS.

5.       Exile (feat. Bon Iver)

One of the most perfect duets to have ever existed. The low notes hit you in places that you didn’t know were a thing and it kind of feels like you were just punched in the face listening to this. It’s that good.

6.       I Did Something Bad

One does not listen to IDSB quietly. One is elevated to another level.

7.       Change

Yeehaw Tay - Hi! This honestly takes me to Church, like this is RELIGIOUS. 

8.       The Lakes

I was living in The Lakes when this came out and goddamn, if this didn’t capture a moment in time for me.

9.       Blank Space

My girl Tay literally wrote someone of the most perfect satire in a three minute song and had the nerve to get that pen click in there. A legend. A myth.

10.   Love Story

The one, the only, the magical, the most gracious, the wonderful, the classic.

11.   State Of Grace

Drive me somewhere so I can scream this on an open road please and thank you.

12.   Style

I did this at karaoke yesterday and it didn’t go well. I don’t regret it because this is the perfect pop song.

13.   Don’t Blame Me

Tay. THE CHOIR. WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO ME, GIRL.

14.   You Belong With Me

I’m in a long term committed relationship but DAMN IT IF YOU SEE THAT I’M THE ONE WHO UNDERSTANDS YOU

15.   New Year’s Day

I’m a sucker when I see this kind of love being shared. Picking up bottles with you on new years day? Just think of a better metaphor, go on.

16.   All Too Well

Everyone’s favourite song and you bet I’m holding out for the ten minute version that is coming our way.

17.   Mr. Perfectly Fine

We love the chaos of releasing this in 2021. Taylor, girl - you are the moment. The sarcasm, the wit, the iconery.

18.   This Love

The echoes man. THE ECHOES. This song just makes me want to swim away into something - I don’t know what. Maybe it’s the GODDAMN ECHOES IN THAT GODDAMN BRIDGE.

19.   The Archer

This song actually kills me. This track five articulated a fear that so many people (including myself) have that I’ve never heard mentioned in songwriting before. It’s so vulnerable and reveals such a delicacy in her artistry. 

20.   No Body, No Crime

BOOM MURDER BOOM MORE MURDER BOOM MISS TAYLOR WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO ME.

21.   Daylight

Like this is love. I honestly believe the way that I articulate and view love and life has a lot to do with this song, no lie. What a beautiful way to articulate a beautiful feeling. This song did somethings to me, man.

22.   August

A fan favorite and the best song in the teenage romance arc on Folklore. Why does this song make me want to run away and live in a small town in midwest America? 

23.   Right Where You Left Me

This song just does something to me that I can’t quite articulate. It came at a time where I needed it and the storytelling in this is immaculate. There’s a sense of grief in this heartbreak and it’s pure perfection.

24.   Dear John

The track five of the album of my adolescence, Speak Now. Dear John was always a skip for me growing up but now I can appreciate the lyricism, the music, the heartbreak, everything. God, this is a SONG.

25.   So It Goes…

An underrated bop about getting some. Who doesn’t love?

26.   Cruel Summer

HE LOOKS UP GRINNING LIKE A DEVIL

27.   The Last Great American Dynasty

I want to steal a dog and dye it key lime green. Why can’t that be me? Taylor Swift can write the HELL out of a story and I love that she thinks so deeply about legacy on Folklore especially on this track and on Epiphany.

28.   The Last Time

The Last Time walked so Exile could run. Featuring Gary Lightbody from Snow Patrol, I really love the voices portrayed in this song and how there’s so much anger yet need to stay.

29.   Dancing With Our Hands Tied

For some reason, this song is Kings Cross station in London. It feels like it should have a dramatic music video set on a train in a busy London station. There’s such urgency and desperation and it’s such an articulate away to describe the idea of falling in love with someone and the fear it holds.

30.   Dorothea

Damn, the Oo-oohs hit something in me. This song makes me want to run away and pretend the world doesn’t exist. It also makes me want to have a good old Nashville duet for some reason. 

[ivalice-tifalucis]

Suddenly in some random mood with this song again. This song is a prove I was meant to be a Take That fan and most importantly a Gary Barlow fan. I don’t think I have ever told you how important this song is so bear with me. I’m gonna swim deep into this, also telling how I found out about this song which later lead me to become a Take That fan.

This song is a piece from the “dark” days when Gary solely became a songwriter and producer. If you go back to this era, you might think of Blue or Westlife as these lucky people who got Gary (and Eliot Kennedy obvs) as their songwriters. But for me, Delta Goodrem is what always gonna be in my head. I don’t even like Delta Goodrem and “Not Me, Not I” is the only so that I know from her yet this song is one of my favorite song of all time.

“Not Me, Not I” was written in 2003 by our dear Captain and Eliot Kennedy with Kara DioGuardi, Jarrad Rogers, and ofc Delta Goodrem herself. Based from what I read on wikipedia, Delta Goodrem, who at that time was known for her piano ballad singles in Australia, was making her debut album. The whole concept of the album, “Innocent Eyes” was a piano-based pop and ballad. Therefore, she worked to make a good pop ballad songs with bunch of produsers and songwriters and yes two of them were Gary Barlow and Eliot Kennedy. Actually, after I know more about Gary’s discography, I can feel Gary’s presence in the piano ballad. No, he wouldn’t write that kind of lyric, but the piano sound, especially the intro part, it sounds like the reverse version of Forever Love. It’s reversed because instead of being lovey and poetic, this intro feels like sad, anger, and strife. Since then, everytime I listen to this song, I would imagine what Gary was like when he wrote this song and record the piano section for Delta. Tousled short hair, awful goatee, slightly chubby, looking gloomy, sitting with his keyboard in recording room.

Anyway, Gary and Eliot also wrote and produced couple of other songs on this album but only this one became a single, the third single to be exact. It was number one in Australia, all is good.

Cut to around 4 years later, in 2007 (I guess, because I forgot when exactly, could be 2008), Take That was back as TT4, Gary was no longer writing songs and producing them for other people because after more than 5 years, he can finally grace the public eye without being shamed, humiliated, and compared to Robbie Williams. He can write songs that he and his three other mates will sing and perform. All is good. However, at that time, I didn’t know Take That, yet. “Patience” probably played randomly on local radio but I wouldn’t care because I was in my manga/anime and Disney phase, with Queen and Guns N’ Roses and other hard rock bop as a weird mix in between. I rarely listen to radio even then, opting for mp3 mix that me or my dad made. But this is the time when I know this song. It was from my dad, he bought bootleg mp3 mix on mp3 stores (there were plenty back in the day before music streaming became a thing) and one of many songs inside that mp3 mix is this one. My first impression was that this song is a good pop ballad. I replayed this song during the car rides and then my dad ended up loving this too. I love this song so much that I made the cover out of it (and couple of years later I uploaded it to my soundcloud). One of the best song I’ve ever heard yet I had no idea who Delta Goodrem even was.

Cut to three years later, 2010. At this moment, I knew “Rule the World”. One afternoon during fasting month, I came home from school early and accidentally watch Stardust on HBO then came the credits and I love the credits song. Took me a while to find it but I finally found out it was “Rule the World” from IMDB. A song by a band named Take That. It also became one of my favorite song of all time. My brother and my dad also enjoyed it when I tune the song during car ride. My dad even once played “Rule the World” over and over again until I’m sick of it. If only I knew at that time Take That finally as TT5 with Robbie who completed the puzzle. They went to make the best album they ever made, Progress. Sadly, I was also on the brink of depression. New school, new environment, no friend to share, some bullying, betrayed by best friend. To cope with that, I was in youtube phase where I watched so many youtube videos and eventually also music covers. I couldn’t careless about some boyband consists of 5 middle age men. I also watched the “Rule the World” music video but you know that video. The quality is awful you can’t see anyone’s faces. I was also convinced at that time that Take That is a pop-rock band 😂 but Rule the World mv confused me tho. Why were all they singing? But why only the frontman is heard? 😂

Two years later, 2012, I watched them perform “Rule the World” in Olympic closing ceremony and that was when I realize Take That is actually a group band.

2013, I listened to “Impossible” by James Arthur thanks to the fact that it was played on supermarket many times. Later on, I found out this song is a cover and that he sang this as his winner song for The X Factor. I watched the video when he sang this and won and realized that one of The X Factor judge is that guy from Take That. So I googled that to confirm, yep it’s true. I didn’t remember his name tho. I just remember he’s handsome 😂

And then five years later, I got the news that Robbie Williams was filling in as World Cup 2018 opening ceremony performer. To this day I still think it’s weird why they invite Robbie instead of the World Cup song’s singer (should be Jason Derulo or Will Smith). I have known Robbie at this point because my dad sometimes would sing “Feel” or “Better Man” during karaoke. So I watched the ceremony on tv. It was good. So I decided to found out more about Robbie Williams beyond “Feel” or “Better Man” while ofc following the World Cup. By the end of World Cup, I knew so much more about Robbie Williams than I was for the last 23 years of my life. The big shock was when I found out he was in Take That!! What?? But he’s not in “Rule the World”??!! Oh but he left in the 90s, so Take That is originally a boyband in the 90s?? But wait, his most recent stint with Take That was in 2010??!!! They made a successful album??! Then I watched “The Flood” music video where Robbie Williams sang the main part and Take That frontman who also that handsome judge in The X Factor sang the second. It was epic!!!! Then I start to remember his name, Gary Barlow. That name would never be erased from my head as I read his wikipedia page to found out that he wrote “Not Me, Not I”. One of my most favorite song of all time. The song that I’ve been singing so many times. Turns out, he made that song. He made “Rule the World”. I was mindblown. No wonder I love these songs.

And that’s the beginning of the journey.

Anyway, this is the album version where you can hear (possibly) Gary’s piano playing. I put Delta’s 10th anniversary version from youtube at the top because I love her performance there. Such an underrated singer.

[sagehaleyofficial]

HERE’S WHAT YOU MISSED THIS WEEK (10.9-10.15.19):

NEW MUSIC:

·         The Killers teased their next album by posting what looks like potential song titles for the record on social media. The band took to Instagram to post a whiteboard with various words written on it that look like song titles.

·         Waterparks unveiled a new Instagram face filter in honor of their new album Fandom. The filter is inspired by lead singer Awsten Knight’s green star face paint in the band’s video for “High Definition.”

·         Recently, alternative artist JUMEX released a new song “Spraypaint” with Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker. Now, he’s unveiled a new video for the single that’s inspired by the new film Joker, where he sports Joker-inspired makeup.

·         Hawthorne Heights announced they will be releasing a collection of B-sides and rarities called Lost Frequencies. Along with the announcement, they released a new single titled “Hard to Breathe.”

·         Green Day debuted a brand new song that aired ahead of a National Hockey League (NHL) game. The new song is called “Fire, Ready, Aim” and comes from the band’s upcoming album Father of All…, out on February 7th, 2020.

·         In honor of their upcoming tour, Simple Plan, State Champs and We the Kings collaborated on a new track titled “Where I Belong.” The new track dropped last Friday at midnight local time ahead of their fall run.

·         YUNGBLUD unleashed “Original Me” with Imagine Dragons vocalist Dan Reynolds earlier this week. Taken from the Underrated Youth EP, the video follows the equally as cinematic “Hope for the Underrated Youth” video that dropped last month.

·         Simple Creatures just dropped a crazy new video for their song “Thanks, I Hate It” that the band describes as “nightmare fuel.” The song was the second of three singles the band released from their Everything Opposite EP, which dropped last Friday.

·         Dance Gavin Dance have released a sun-soaked video for their new song “Blood Wolf,” filled with vampire fangs, fake blood and some intense swimming. Recently, they also announced the date and location for next year’s Swanfest.

TOUR ANNOUNCEMENTS:

·         The lineup for next year’s iHeartRadio ALTer EGO concert was revealed that includes Billie Eilish, Blink-182 and more. The third-annual show will take place at the Los Angeles Forum on January 18th, 2020.

·         Asking Alexandria frontman Danny Worsnop announced a North American solo tour that will kick off at the beginning of 2020. Earlier this year, Worsnop dropped his most recent solo album Shades of Blue, which blends country, blues and soul.

·         With Poppy‘s third album I Disagree set to be released on January 10th, 2020, the Los Angeles musician announced today the dates and locations for a headliner European/UK tour. The news comes just a few days after she dropped the title track for the album.

·         YUNGBLUD announced an intimate tour where he will strip down all the songs from his upcoming Underrated Youth EP at a few exclusive shows. The UK shows will take place in October and November at three venues.

·         After posting cryptic teasers over the last week, Hey Monday frontwoman Cassadee Pope has announced a “#HeyItsMonday Pop-Punk Night” in Nashville. The show, scheduled for November 25th, will feature appearances from some special guests.

·         The Neon Museum in Las Vegas held their annual Boneyard Ball on Saturday, allowing guests to party alongside Tim Burton and his creative creations. The man himself introduced the Killers as they took the stage.

OTHER NEWS:

·         The mother of late rapper Lil Peep filed a lawsuit against the artist’s former management and tour company nearly two years after his death. Since the lawsuit has been filed, First Access Entertainment denied any responsibility for the death of Lil Peep and condemned the lawsuit.

·         Panic! at the Disco manager Zack Hall denied fans’ guesses that Brendon Urie is the leopard on The Masked Singer. He also guessed that the character was actually American actor and singer Titus Burgess in disguise.

·         Twenty One Pilots unveiled a new line of Ned merch and revealed when the character’s Funko Pop! doll will drop. The entity first appeared as a strange, white, Furby-looking creature in the “Chlorine” music video.

·         Spirit Halloween and Spencer’s launched The Nightmare Before Christmas' FunkO's cereal just in time for Halloween. Each box comes with a glow-in-the-dark Pocket Pop! of Jack Skellington’s best canine friend Zero.

·         The Wrecks frontman Nick Anderson has released a video apologizing again for “insensitive jokes” he made last year while on stage and explained his “growth process” since. Last November, Anderson made comments on stage regarding Nazis, abortions and miscarriages.

·         I Don’t Know How but They Found Me opened up a discussion with their fans on social media about the concept of paid meet and greets. The duo, comprised of Dallon Weekes and Ryan Seaman, created a Twitter poll asking about meet and greets and if they should be paid.

·         The Addams Family star Chloe Grace Moretz shared how she helped embody Wednesday’s emo attitude, and My Chemical Romance is involved. In a new interview with CinemaBlend, Moretz was asked about how she related to Wednesday’s dark and rebellious character.

·         Concert discovery site Bandsintown are launching a new Live Music Charts function to their repertoire. The new charts will be the first data-driven predictive charts showing current interest in the touring activity of artists.

·         The nominees for the 2020 class of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees were announced, and they include iconic acts like Soundgarden, Nine Inch Nails, Motorhead, Judas Priest and more. The actual inductees will be announced in January and will be inducted on May 2nd, 2020 at Cleveland’s Public Hall.

·         Boys Like Girls guitarist and music producer Paul DiGiovanni and actress Katie Stevens tied the knot on Saturday after getting engaged last year. The couple made things official in Nashville, Tennessee, surrounded by 250 of their closest friends and family.

·         Hot Topic unveiled a spooky new collection in collaboration with Disney’s classic Halloween film Hocus Pocus. The collection includes shirts, hoodies, dresses, pants, accessories and much more.

___

Check in next Tuesday for more “Posi Talk with Sage Haley,” only at @sagehaleyofficial!

[happymetalgirl]

Who did it better? (#1)

In the interest of livening up this blog and shaking up the homogeneously review-oriented content, I’m kicking off a casual little series that I thought of a while ago that I think can spark some interesting comparisons. A lot of song titles are shared by multiple artists, especially one-word titles. As is pretty self-explanatory by the title of this series, I’m simply comparing several pairs of songs from different artists that share a title, and decide who did it better, starting with a face-off between old-school and new-school death metal through two titans of the genres:

Sepultura vs. Behemoth: “Amen”

Both these songs come from acclaimed, fan-favorite albums from the heights of both bands’ careers. And while both tracks are solid features of their respective albums, I think the sheer energy and grandiosity that the Behemoth track has edges it out on top over the more standard old-school death metal Sepultura track for me. A more iconic cut from Chaos A.D. might have won Sepultura the prize, but this matchup kind of just presents, through a couple of random samples, the progression and improvement of the genre. The first win goes to Behemoth, on to the next match-up.

Dream Theater vs. Five Finger Death Punch:  “Never Enough”

Both of these bands have their share of detractors, Five Finger Death Punch obviously with the heftier bunch, myself included in that group, and both songs fittingly deal with the unbreakable dissatisfaction of other people. But “Never Enough” lands on opposite ends of the bands’ respective catalogs; for FFDP, it’s one of the of the bonus tracks that caught on from the 2008 re-issue of their 2007 debut album before they became the unbearable pandering act they are today, while for DT, it’s eight albums in on the front-to-back prog metal success, Octavarium. The Dream Theater song finds the band dipping its toes into the electronic alternative rock of Muse with surprising comfort, and even though it’s eclipsed by most of the album it’s on, it still outdoes the passable, but formulaic FFDP bonus cut.

Sevendust vs. Periphery:  “Alpha”

If you exclude the “Juggernaut” portion of the Periphery album, both of these are title tracks, Sevendust’s closing their sixth album. This one, far and away, belongs to Periphery, Juggernaut: Alpha capturing the band at their most meticulous, passionate, and unabashed, and the bold move of the title track’s poppy, yet emotive melody paid off in spades. Sevendust’s alternative metal version of “Alpha”, unfortunately ends the album they titled after it on a drab, formulaic note that pales in comparison to the bombastic Periphery song.

Swans vs. Metallica: “Better Than You”

Alright, now we’re including a band not really considered to be in the metal sphere, Swans, up against one of the greatest of the greats. And while Swans haven’t ever released anything that’s been classified as metal, their contribution to the 80’s “no wave” movement through their incredibly noisy and abrasive early output, particularly their debut album, Filth, and especially by the day’s standards, has had its influence on the metal world. Around the same time, Metallica were making their massive, legendary contributions to heavy metal’s movement away from glam toward the enthralling ferocity of thrash. But neither of these songs come from the bands’ most aggressive eras, but rather their departures from their earlier sounds during the 90’s. The Swans song opens up Michael Gira and company’s full transition into cerebral post-punk on 1991’s White Light from the Mouth of Infinity, and Metallica’s is one of the more upbeat numbers from their 1997 head-scratcher, Reload. Ultimately, the Metallica song serves as a refresher of just how energetic and not-that-bad Metallica was during their more rockin’ moments on Load and Reload, while the Swans track serves as a reminder and representation of how awkward Swans’ transition into their second phase of their career was. While some of their fans swear by it, I’ll take the more abrasive stuff before it or the more sprawling post-rock experimentation that it grew into any day. While it’s definitely not their best song either, I’d rather listen to Metallica’s “Better Than You” 9 times out of 10.

Breaking Benjamin vs.Three Days Grace:  “Home”

As common as one-word titles are, I feel like these bands are still probably just two of many in the alt-metal world to make songs titled “Home”. The concept of home is just so ripe with potential for angst-y situational reflection or broader societal reflection, impossible for alternative metal bands to avoid. But I went with these two artists because I feel like they are some of the more prominent in the genre, and both songs are under-the-radar debut-album hits among fans. The Wizard of Oz-themed Breaking Benjamin track captures the band at their most creatively creepy and heavy, while the juicily angst-y Three Days Grace track rages at the fractures of a distressed relationship between cohabitants. While the Three Days Grace “Home”, I think, does outshine the album’s other (ironically)-iconic single “I Hate Everything About You” and while Breaking Benjamin’s version doesn’t really eclipse the fan-favorite banger, “Polyamorous”, I still prefer the Breaking Benjamin track for its creativity and emotional dynamic.

Ghost vs. clipping.:  “Body and Blood”

While I am certainly more of a Ghost fan than a clipping. fan, “Body and Blood” pits clipping. at some of their best against Ghost on their sophomore slump. “Body and Blood” is one of the more naturally fun catchy songs on the largely overthought Infestissumam, but the punchy industrial energy of the clipping. dance number is just too much to override. It’s like clipping. putting up their star player against one of Ghost’s reserves, so not much of a surprise with the lopsided contest there.

Avenged Sevenfold vs. Mutoid Man: “Afterlife”

I definitely enjoy both of these artists’ songs, and the albums they appeared on. The more recent Mutoid Man song is the shorter of the two, and unfortunately one of the more hum-drum thrashy stoner metal tracks on the otherwise excellent War Moans, whereas Avenged Sevenfold’s track is a live staple that served as the driving lead single to their polarizingly mainstreamed, but retrospectively heralded self-titled 2007 album ten years before Mutoid Man’s version of the song came out. And as much as its formulaic verses and choruses gave fuel to all the band’s detractors, the single is a fine example of infectious 2000′s alternative metal with lots of extra classic heavy metal melodicism. So I’m going with A7X on this one.

Gojira vs. Red:  “Death of Me”

Two sophomore-album bangers square off over the “Death of Me” title, one of my favorite artists whose unique approach to progressive death metal has earned them the deserved attention they enjoy now versus one of the most underrated bands of 2000′s alternative metal whose version of the song highlights their aptitude with symphonic elements in comparison with their contemporaries as a lead single off their sophomore effort. And this one is tough, because I also find Gojira’s The Link to be an underrated part of their catalog, chocked full of unusual but tasty rhythm that rivals even Meshuggah, and “Death of Me” is one of several highlights from that record. With its energetic string melody and climactic build-up bridge to an emotive vocal melody, I think the Red track takes the cake by just a hair, but both tracks showcase well their respective artists’ quality.

Soulfly vs. Meshuggah:  “Bleed”

I had to end with this one; my bias definitely leaks through on this match-up, but it’s undeniable how iconic and influential Meshuggah’s “Bleed” has been since its release, undoubtedly Meshuggah’s most iconic song whose triplet drumming has been ripped off by an entire genre. For Soulfly, “Bleed” kicked off a new era and commitment to nu metal for Max Cavalera in fiery fashion, and it’s one of Fred Durst’s more tolerable moments, but compared to how much of a movement Meshuggah’s spawned and how instantly recognizable, impressive, and groovy the Meshuggah song is, it’s no contest.

[gizmotom-blog]

Three Days Grace - (Self Titled Debut Album) Review

It’s time to discuss a band that often gets overlooked by fans of rock across the board. Mixing hard rock influences with more personal and emotional themes, Three Days Grace is a band that likely has created at least one song that you have stuck in the back of your mind. Yet oddly most people think that they are too emotional for hard rock yet lack enough growling to find themselves in the “Screamo” category of bands. Their debut album contains a handful of songs that still define the band to this day such as “I Hate Everything About You” and “Home” with even more spectacular songs that “Drown” underneath the countless other classics produced by the band. The opener to the album “Burn” is an example of, in my opinion, Adam Gontier’s ability to yell and growl but at a more inexperienced level. Being the band’s first album, it can be expected that Adam’s classic vocal style was still being refined. Not that it takes away from the song’s quality, the song is relatively simplistic with catchy guitar riffs, growling bass and drums that add an aggressive, yet precise back beat to a song that glides seamlessly between calmer verses and choruses that manage to add the right amount of vocal aggression with perfect timing. Whilst not the best song on the album, “Burn” is a fitting opener to an overall, underrated album. Like I said at the start of this review, songs such as “I Hate Everything About You” and “Home” feature on this album. As these songs are unquestioned classics amongst fans I’ll be focusing on the larger entourage of lesser known songs that feature on the album. Although Adam is known for his more aggressive, growling style of singing songs such as “Now Or Never”, “Drown” and “Wake Up” show that he is still a talented singer when producing calmer, more intimate and mellow songs. He transitions from melodic singing to emphasising key words or points with his signature screams with ease and precision which allows even calmer songs to hit hard with audiences. The few songs that fail to be as effective or high quality as the rest are only a matter of personal taste. Personally, I have always admired Three Days Grace’s attention to detail in their production. Especially in Adam’s lyrics. The two songs that stand out as inferior to their counterparts are “Born Like This” and “Take Me Under”. Both songs are still good songs, “Born Like This” having one of the best guitar riffs on the album; at least in my opinion. However, with most Three Days Grace songs featuring relatively simplistic instrumentals, a lot of time has to be dedicated to fine tuning lyrics to ensure that they craft the identity for the song. These two songs just don’t resonate with me given how they have very general topics that could be applied to many situations. Not always a blessing but far from a curse. Overall, Three Days Grace’s self titled debut album is certainly the band’s most overlooked and underappreciated album. Teething problems can sometimes be picked up on throughout the album, however they are minimal and don’t detract from the overall positive experience. My favourite song from this album is “Wake Up”. What’s your favourite Three Days Grace song? What album did it feature on? If you have any suggestions for other album reviews or if you have your own take on the album I’d love to hear from you.

Thanks for reading, see you again soon.

[missoneminute]

Les Inrockuptibles Interview with Peter Doherty

May 2019-05-15 

Transcribed by  @theoriginalcollectorglitter12 Thank you! 

Rescued by a fortnight of excess, Peter Doherty has just celebrated his 40 years and, health flickering but inspiration intact, reveals a peaceful album. meeting with a lucid rock-star for whom composing is life itself.

The day before our meeting, Peter Doherty celebrated his 40th birthday in Margate, a small seaside resort in the south-east of England where he now lives. Looking at the photos and videos of his evening with Carl barat on Instagram, we must admit that we had some doubts about his ability to tele-transfer to Paris the next morning. He is however at the rendezvous, to charm a whole team photo with his sparkling banter, to seize his acoustic guitar very often for improvised serenades, to tell his incredible journey to get here in full strike customs.

This unpredictable side, which has always been part of his personality, is as much a strength as a weakness. His fans have learned to accept that anything is possible with him: he can decide on a whim, to play in the intimate setting of La Maroquinerie early April, announcing just a week in advance. a month later, he may be forced to cancel a concert in Belfast by invoking the most far-fetched (but truthful) excuse that has ever been heard: he was struck down by a hedgehog sting he was trying to remove from the mouth of his dog. To love the music of Peter Doherty has long been to defend an underrated singer, portrayed as a cartoon character by the tabloids, better known for his legal troubles and his excesses of narcotics than for what he does best: write songs. When he sits by our side, in a baste deserted room, the agitation that accompanies him usually disappears. "I do not understand how a song is born, I do not really have the technique to write, all I know is that it's essential for me to have these songs," he says. Songs in my life, I'm hoping it'll be okay as soon as I make new songs, that's all that matters, if I can still compose, it'll be okay. " We ask him if his creativity had already abandoned him. He whispered, "I do not even dare to whisper it, it would be my death sentence, it's a permanent threat, I do not even want to think about it, it'll break my heart, and I'll be done." All those who did not pay dearly for the skin of Peter Doherty, predicting that he would join the club of 27, were wrong, fortunately. We find his troubadour quickdraw on the cover of his new album, signed Peter Doherty and the puta madres. "It's a picture of the wall of my room, where I drew my figure, on the peeling paint. The final visual was supposed to be seen from the front, with the title along the right side, but the result has been rotated for a reason that escapes me. "

When the Englishman lets things escape, it can also give moments of grace, as evidenced by the opening of the album, All at sea, a jewel of tenderness and regret. This piece is one of the treasures that had been dormant in her drawers for years - this is also the case for two other songs here in the credits, A fool there was and Narcissistic teen makes first XI, sometimes heard in concert or on acoustic sessions. For the record, this sensitive storyteller was used, in the early 2000s, to put online demos he had just recorded, a taste of sharing that reached its peak in 2006 when the entire file "my music "from his computer appears on the internet. We ask him how these three songs came back to him, which we thought were lost forever in the limbo of his memory: "they never left me, just to find the right moment and the right people with whom I could to play them, people who would not hurt me by talking or changing rooms while I'm making them listen to what I believe are some of the most beautiful things I've ever done. A fool there was very important to me, All at sea too, the Puta Madres understand them. "

We are curious to know if it happens to him to listen again all these old sessions which are still available on the net; "For a long time, no, but recently, I've reviewed them all during an emotional night, I've read everything on youtube and read all the comments - I do not understand why these songs had evaporated while I'm so proud of it, not that I'm desperate for commercial success, or even fortune, maybe they're even more valuable if not many people know them on stage, I never prepare a setlist. Song just calls another, like a memory that goes back to the surface. "

After playing with libertines, babyshambles and various ephemeral collaborators (Wolfman, littl'ans, Graham Coxon, the streets, dot allison ...), Peter Doherty surrounds himself today with a mixed and cosmopolitan group named The puta madres, after the favorite expression of their Spanish drummer Rafa Rueda. This troupe also includes a Welsh guitarist, 2 French, and the prodigious American violinist Miki Beavis. By crossing their fingers so that the brexit never materializes, they carry this album towards folk lands and relaxed atmospheres. This reflects the relaxing setting in which they have recorded :  in a family house on the heights of Etretat with a view overlooking the sea and wild cliffs for 4 days last summer. Far from the sloppy draft of Hamburg Demonstration, his last solo album in 2016, the songwriter has regained his superb and his voice on these touching ballads, in turn intense and patraques, imperfect and overwhelming. his season in hell seems behind him.

Change of scenery has obviously made him feel good. For 2 years Peter Doherty lives in Margate, a small town in Kent, by the sea : "lately, I spent a lot of time alone with my 2 dogs, a husky and a malamute, they need freedom, open spaces and attention, so I walk them on the beach or on the beach. It’s a very peaceful place, Margate has a special water, a special light, people like Keats, TS Eliot, Stephen Spender, Coleridge and Dickens lived in the area. Albion Rooms, the Libertines studio-hotel, Carl even has a license to sell liquor, so we have a bar in the basement, The Wasteland, we're going to put a scene for small local concerts, sessions It is still a small town, but it is booming, sometimes there is a strange smell that comes from the sea: the gentrification will never pass by! We have space to breathe calm and think about what you want to do is the last stop of several train lines, if you are in London, lost or broken aye, you jump on a train to get away from it all and find yourself in Margate. Terminus. You wake up with a start because someone shakes you saying, "Hey, you can not stay here, get off the train!" you leave the station that leads directly to the beach, and here you are in Margate. if we can see beyond its dangerous side and its gangs, chances are there will be a way out, loneliness, peace. "

It is there that the Libertines have planned to record their new album, still under construction, just like the hotel they want to open in the coming months. These vast projects, this serenity, have not, however, completely softened the rocker with the airs of a cursed poet, who continues to flirt with danger. We can not help but notice that people are constantly coming and going around and asked if it is a way for him to escape the routine. he takes the time to think before making an implacable and distressing statement : "I would love to have a boring, predictable routine that would make me work all the time with the same people I love and respect, but People are disappearing from my life: I think they need to protect themselves, I have no structure, no discipline, many people with whom I have collaborated, like Carl or Graham, need to relate to landmarks and protect themselves from self-destruction, they do not want to risk falling into the precipice. "

His palpable passion for music obsesses him. on his new album, he pays a vivid tribute to two of his heroes on Someone else to be, taking up passages from Velvet Underground's Ride into the Sun and Oasis's Do not look back in anger. In full interview, he sings us the beginning of a piece that haunts him at the moment, Signed D.C de Love, that he will play at La Maroquinerie three weeks later. When asked how he discovered the power of music, he responds that the click occurred when he heard Smiths' I started something I could not finish, and immediately he played a good half of the music. The song in decorticating why each verse resonated so well in him : "all I want is to write a song that touches people, which makes them exclaim: 'but what is it? ? how dare you?' I try to find a way to express who I am and what I feel, what I look for in music is to find myself there.” A powerful impact but a shaky beauty, this new album reflects wonderfully its author, both fragile and indestructible.