Monthly Archives: August 2021

Purchase log, 2021-08-31

[Deafheaven - Infinite Granite]

I catalog my music purchases on Collectorz and Discogs, but they don’t give me a sense of change over time. So I’m noting them here weekly as well.

New releases

CD
  • Deafheaven, Infinite Granite
Vinyl
  • Death Cab for Cutie, The Georgia EP

Catalog

CD
  • Cyndi Lauper, True Colors
  • Danger Doom, The Mouse and the Mask
  • Jeff Mangum, Live at Jittery Joe’s
  • Neko Case, Blacklisted
  • Neko Case, Fox Confessor Brings the Flood
  • Slaid Cleaves, Broke Down
  • The Pursuit of Happiness, Love Junk
Vinyl
  • Edgard Varèse, Arcana / Intégrales / Ionisation (Zubin Mehta, Los Angeles Philharmonic)
  • Elliot Carter, String Quartet No. 2 / String Quartet No. 3 (Juilliard String Quartet)

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Purchase log picks, August 2021

[Ashanti - Ashanti]

Deafheaven, Infinite Granite

I bet the metal fans hate this album. Since I’m more of a post-rock / shoegazer fan, I find it brilliant. Also, gutsy. It takes bravery to risk change that alienates a portion of your fan base.

Ashanti, Ashanti

I sold this album when cash got short, but “Foolish” is one of those songs that just pop into my head for no reason. So on a recent trip to the thrift shop, I welcomed this album back in my collection and discovered how well it’s held up since its release. Yeah, it’s a bit long — as albums of the CD era are wont to do — but the best bits overshadow the filler.

Gang of Four, 77-81

This sprawling boxed set of Gang of Four’s first two albums contains a full live album, an EP of singles and a cassette tape of early demos.

I bought the vinyl version back in March, but I also wanted to pick up the CD boxed set as well. The packaging is stark but beautiful. My only objection is the digital downloads that accompany the CD set. The sides of the digitized cassette are not broken down by track. But I have to admit, that is punk as fuck.

Jam and Lewis, Volume 1

Yeah, it’s about damn time Jam and Lewis took top billing. There are singers of whom I probably would never have heard if they hadn’t worked with Jam and Lewis.

Cyndi Lauper, True Colors

Similar to ZZ Top’s Afterburner, True Colors followed an immensely popular album, and while its predecessor had more hits, this album is the better collection of songs. Despite incredibly corporate covers of the title tracks in subsequent years, the original has some daring arrangement choices, particularly the fake ending with just percussion, an underrated technique in pop production.

Jeff Mangum, Live at Jittery Joe’s

If you are a fan of On Avery Island or In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, there is little you’ll find objectionable on this solo live album.

Camper Van Beethoven / Cracker, The Virgin Years

The compilation was only made available as a promo, but it’s one that ought to get an official release. As the title indicates, it compiles tracks from two Camper Van Beethoven albums and two Cracker albums, all released by Virgin in the late ’80s and early ’90s.

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Purchase log, 2021-08-24

[Sturgill Simpson - The Ballad of Dood and Juanita]

I catalog my music purchases on Collectorz and Discogs, but they don’t give me a sense of change over time. So I’m noting them here weekly as well.

New releases

CD
  • Sturgill Simpson, The Ballad of Dood and Juanita
Vinyl
  • Utada Hikaru, One Last Kiss EP

Catalog

CD
  • Fine Young Cannibals, The Raw and the Cooked
  • Leonard Bernstein, Children’s Classics
  • Stars, Set Yourself on Fire

Reissues

CD
  • Gang of Four, 79-81

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Purchase log, 2021-08-10

[Drive-By Truckers - Plan 9 Records, July 13, 2006]

I catalog my music purchases on Collectorz and Discogs, but they don’t give me a sense of change over time. So I’m noting them here weekly as well.

New releases

CD
  • Art of Noise, Noise in the City: Live in Tokyo, 1986
  • Drive-By Truckers, Plan 9 Records, July 13, 2006

Catalog

CD
  • Alicia Keys, Songs in A Minor
  • Ashanti, Ashanti
  • Carly Simon, The Best of Carly Simon
  • Shannon Wright, Over the Sun
  • Spiritualized, Let It Come Down
Vinyl
  • Kraftwerk, Autobahn

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Looking ahead: August-October 2021

[Tokyo Jihen - Sports]

Craig Armstrong, Nocturnes: Music for Two Pianos, Sept. 3

Armstrong wrote and recorded this album during lockdown, as pretty much every other musician trying to make sense of this awful zeitgeist.

James Blake, Friends That Break Your Heart, Sept. 10

I really liked Assume Form, but man, I hate the cover of this album.

MONO, Pilgrimage of the Soul, Sept. 17

Takaakira Goto hints that this album might have the fastest tempi on a MONO album, which is a direction I didn’t expect but more than welcome.

Andrew Lloyd Webber, Jesus Christ Superstar (50th Anniversary), Sept. 17

Whatever you may think of Andrew Lloyd Webber now, back in the day, he was gutsy enough to make rock bands sound like Prokofiev, and that blur between electric guitars and dissonant harmonies has shaped my musical tastes ever since. So yeah, I’m all about an expanded version of Jesus Christ Superstar.

Perfume, Polygon Wave, Sept. 22

I find it cool that 20+ years into a storied pop career, Perfume releases their first ever EP. They have tons of singles and a lot of albums. But EPs? Nah.

BADBADNOTGOOD, Talk Memory, Oct. 8

My enthusiasm for this new album is based entirely on III, which means I have three other albums with which I can either enhance or temper that enthusiasm.

Vinyl

Garbage, Garbage, Aug. 27

A repressing of a 2015 reissue.

Tokyo Jihen, Education (Kyouiku), Sept. 29
Tokyo Jihen, Adult (Otona), Sept. 29
Tokyo Jihen, Variety (Goraku), Sept. 29
Tokyo Jihen, Sports, Sept. 29
Tokyo Jihen, Discovery (Daihakken), Sept. 29
Tokyo Jihen, Music, (Ongaku), Sept. 29

You’re damn right I’m getting all 6 albums, even if I really only like two of the them.

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Purchase log, 2021-08-03

[Ke$ha - Rainbow]

I catalog my music purchases on Collectorz and Discogs, but they don’t give me a sense of change over time. So I’m noting them here weekly as well.

New Releases

  • Björk x Hamrahlíð Choir, “Cosmogony”

Catalog

CD
  • Billy Joel, 52nd Street
  • John Coltrane, Coltrane (1962)
  • Kesha, Rainbow
  • Kinky, Kinky
  • Los Fabulosos Cadillacs, Fabulosos Calavera
  • Ornette Coleman, Free Jazz: A Collective Improvisation
  • Outkast, Big Boi & Dre Present … Outkast
  • The Rolling Stones, Through the Past, Darkly
Vinyl
  • N.E.R.D., In Search of …

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