Archives

Purchase log, 2023-05-16

[Emmylou Harris - Stumble Into Grace]

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
  • Eluvium, (whirring marvels in) Consensus Reality

Catalog

CD
  • Randy Travis, Storms of Life
  • Tracey Thorn, Love and Its Opposite
Vinyl
  • Painkiller, Execution Ground

Reissues

Vinyl
  • Emmylou Harris, Stumble Into Grace

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Purchase log, 2021-03-09

[Riz Ahmed - The Long Goodbye]

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

Files
  • Wayne Horvitz, Live Forever, Vol. 1: The President – New York in the ’80s

Catalog

CD
  • Björk, Telegram
  • Heiner Goebbels, The Man in the Elevator
  • Ikara Colt, Chat and Business
  • Marilyn Manson, Mechanical Animals
  • Steve Reich, Reich Remixed 2006
  • Talitha Mackenzie, Indian Summer
  • The Darkness, Permission to Land
  • Tone Lōc, Lōc-ed After Dark
Files
  • Adam Neely, “…it ain’t my fault”
  • Adam Neely, “7:11”
  • Adam Neely, “a.i. lo-fi #1”
  • Adam Neely, “Clarity” (with Little Kruta)
  • Adam Neely, “g a r o t a”
  • Adam Neely, Gig Vlog M I X T A P E vol. 1
  • Adam Neely, “no pride (leonard bernstein remix)”
  • Adam Neely, “polytonal lo-fi”
  • Adam Neely, “the ’15 minute’ tune”
  • Adam Neely, time//motion//wine
  • Adam Neely, “two microtonal lo-fi jams”
  • Adam Neely, “we got people playing pianos”
  • Adam Neely, “優待 k m a r t ジャズ”
  • Duran Duran, “Five Years”
  • George Walker, Sinfonia No. 5 (Seattle Symphony, Thomas Dausgaard)
  • Riz Ahmed, The Long Goodbye
  • sungazer, sungazer vol. I
  • sungazer, sungazer, vol. 2
  • sungazer, “want to want me”
  • Test Pattern, “This Is My Street”
File upgrades

These albums were previously purchased as MP3 downloads and upgraded to FLAC.

  • Duran Duran, “Boys Keep Swinging”
  • Eluvium, Shuffle Drones
  • Kronos Quartet, Plays Sigur Rós
  • Shaprece, COALS
  • TV Mania, Bored with Prozac and the Internet?

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Purchase log, 2021-02-16

[Keith Jarrett - The Köln Concert]

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.

Catalog

CD
  • Cabaret Voltaire, The Voice of America
  • Johann Sebastian Bach, Violin Concertos 1 & 2 / Concerto for 2 Violins (Christopher Hogwood, Academy of Ancient Music)
  • Siouxsie and the Banshees, Tinderbox
  • Yo La Tengo, Painful
Vinyl
  • A Taste of Honey, Another Taste
  • Eluvium, Talk Amongst the Trees
  • Keith Jarrett, The Köln Concert
  • MONO, Before the Past
  • Robbie Dupree, Robbie Dupree

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Purchase log, 2020-03-03

[Sam Sparro - Boombox Eternal]

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
  • Sam Sparro, Boombox Eternal
Vinyl
  • Eluvium, Virga I

Catalog

CD
  • Ciccone Youth, The Whitey Album
  • DJ Krush, Kakusei
  • Gabby Pahinui, Gabby
  • Soundtrack, This Is Spinal Tap (Remastered)
Vinyl
  • Kendrick Lamar, untitled unmastered.
  • The Roots, Phrenology

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Purchase log, 2020-02-18

[Freedy Johnston - This Perfect World]

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.

Catalog

CD
  • BABYMETAL, Metal Galaxy
  • Bronski Beat, The Age of Consent
  • Eluvium, Talk Amongst the Trees
  • Gossip, Movement
  • MC Solaar, Prose Combat
  • Philip Glass, Solo Piano
  • Solange, Sol-Angel and the Handley St. Dreams
  • The Alarm, Strength
  • The Album Leaf, In a Safe Place
  • The Faint, Danse Macabre
Vinyl
  • Freedy Johnston, This Perfect World
  • Roberta Flack, First Take
Files
  • Andrew Norman, Sustain (Los Angeles Philharmonic, Gustavo Dudamel)

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Purchase log, 2019-06-11

[Amanda Shires - To the Sunset]

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

Vinyl
  • Eluvium, Pianoworks

Catalog

CD
  • Amanda Shires, To the Sunset
  • Charles Ives, Symphony No. 4 / The Unanswered Question / Central Park After Dark / Symphony No. 3 (Seattle Symphony, Ludovic Morlot)
  • Colin McPhee, Symphony No. 2 / Concerto for Piano with Wind Octet / Nocture / Balinese Ceremonial Music (Brooklyn Philharmonic, Dennis Russell Davies)
  • Cypress Hill, III (Temple of Boom)
  • Florence + the Machine, Lungs
  • Franz Schubert, The Last Four String Quartets (Quartet Italiano)
  • Franz Schubert, Winterreisse (Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau)
  • Funkadelic, One Nation Under a Groove
  • Kansas, The Best of Kansas
  • Ladytron, 604
  • Ladytron, Witching Hour
  • Living Colour, Collideoscope
  • Living Colour, Stain
  • Michael Jackson, Bad
  • Re-Flex, The Politics of Dancing
  • The Temptations, The Ultimate Collection
  • The The, Infected
  • Soundtrack, Battlestar Galactica: Season 4

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Purchase log, 2019-06-04

[Eluvium - Pianoworks]

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
  • Eluvium, Pianoworks
  • Shiina Ringo, Sandokushi

Catalog

CD
  • Arnold Schoenberg, Pierrot lunaire / The Book of Hanging Gardens (Jan DeGaetani)
  • Bill Laswell, Invisible Design II
  • David Del Tredici, I Hear an Army / Night Conjure-Verse / Syzygy / Scherzo
  • David Del Tredici, Steps / Haddock’s Eyes
  • Guided By Voices, Mag Earwhig!
  • Israel Kamakawiwo’ole, Facing Future
  • MONO and World’s End Girlfriend, Palmless Prayer / Mass Murder Refrain
  • Olivier Messiaen, Turangalîla Symphony (Toronto Symphony, Seiji Ozawa)
  • Robert Palmer, Double Fun
  • The Highwaymen, Highwayman
  • Soundtrack, Macross: Ai Oboete Imasu Ka?
Vinyl
  • Anthony Braxton, Anthony Braxton with Robert Schumann String Quartet
  • Charles Mingus, Pithecanthropus Erectus
  • Dolly Parton, Best of Dolly Parton
  • Go-Go’s, Beauty and the Beat
  • Ornette Coleman, Dancing in Your Head
  • Skeleton Key, Obtainium

Reissues

Vinyl
  • Nakamori Akina, Cross My Palm

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Looking ahead, May-June 2019

[Shiina Ringo - Sandokushi]

Sting, My Songs, May 24

I had high but cautious hope for 57th and 9th. That will learn me.

Shiina Ringo, Sandokushi, May 27

This album adds six new tracks to the seven already released in various downloads and singles. Does anyone else get the sense Ringo-chan is phoning it in? I would think a 20-year anniversary would warrant a big reissue campaign in addition to a new album.

Eluvium, Piano Works, May 31

The deluxe edition vinyl release of this new album of piano works includes a sheet music book of Eluvium’s keyboard works.

Madonna, Madame X, June 14

Rebel Heart turned out better than I expected, but that seems to be the exception than the rule in recent years.

Prince, Originals, June 21

This compilation brings together demos of songs Prince wrote for other singers. I wonder if in the distant future we’ll hear The Family with Prince’s vocals.

Sigur Rós, Ágætis byrjun (Deluxe Edition), June 21

I like Sigur Rós, and Ágætis byrjun is a fine album. I’m not sure I love it enough for 4-CDs or 7-LPs.

Vinyl

James Blake, Assume Form, May 31

I hesitated on getting James Blake’s latest album till I found an unopened copy at the thrift store for $3. It’s turned out to be one of the better releases of 2019.

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Favorite Edition Rewind: 2004

[Madvillain - Madvillainy]

A decade ago, I wrote a series of entries ranking my favorite albums from 1985 to 2004. My collection has expanded greatly since then, particularly in the last five years. So I wanted to see what has changed in 10 years.

The first half of the 2004 list has remained unchanged. The last half has undergone extensive revision.

  1. Arcade Fire, Funeral
  2. Eluvium, An Accidental Memory in Case of Death
  3. Kicell, Mado Ni Chikyuu
  4. Dylan Rice, Wandering Eyes
  5. The Killers, Hot Fuss
  6. Madvillain, Madvillainy
  7. Loretta Lynn, Van Lear Rose
  8. The Streets, A Grand Don’t Come for Free
  9. Mindy Smith, One Moment More
  10. STRAIGHTENER, LOST WORLD’S ANTHOLOGY

Other favorites from the year:

  • Pinback, Summer in Abaddon
  • SUPERCAR, ANSWER
  • Kanye West, The College Dropout
  • ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION, Solfa
  • Bonnie Pink, Even So
  • Fuji Fabric, Fuji Fabric
  • Sacha Sacket, Shadowed
  • m-flo, Astromantic
  • The Butchies, Make Yr Life
  • Scissor Sisters, Scissor Sisters
  • ZAZEN BOYS, ZAZEN BOYS II

A lot of these revisions are retrospective. I listened to SUPERCAR’s ANSWER when it was reissued on vinyl, and I didn’t find the album as engaging as I originally thought. I’ve come to like Hot Fuss more as time has passed, and I don’t feel as much attachment to Van Lear Rose.

My growing appreciation for hip-hop means Madvillain and The Streets knock Quruli’s Antenna off the list entirely.

I’m still a bit skeptical about keeping Mindy Smith in the Favorite 10, or bumping STRAIGHTENER into the upper echelon. I picked up Pinback’s Summer in Abaddon from Goodwill out of curiosity, and I have a sense that in short time, it will nudge Smith or STRAIGHTENER down to the extended list.

As we go further back to the start of the Aughts, the extended list grows longer. A lot of great music came out at the start of the century. If the Internet hadn’t splintered the mass market, it might have been a galvanizing golden age of popular music.

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Favorite Edition Rewind: 2016

[Sturgill Simpson - A Sailor's Guide to Earth]

A decade ago, I wrote a series of entries ranking my favorite albums from 1985 to 2004. My collection has expanded greatly since then, particularly in the last five years. So I wanted to see what has changed in 10 years.

The 2016 list has actually undergone a revision, so this list consolidates the two entries, with some slight changes.

  1. Sturgill Simpson, A Sailor’s Guide to Earth
  2. Henryk Górecki, Symphony No. 4
  3. MONO, Requiem for Hell
  4. Solange, A Seat at the Table
  5. A Tribe Called Quest, We Got It From Here … Thank You 4 Your Service
  6. Perfume, COSMIC EXPLORER
  7. Drive By Truckers, American Band
  8. Shaprece, COALS
  9. Cocco, Adan Ballet
  10. Colvin & Earle, Colvin & Earle

Other favorites from the year:

  • Utada Hikaru, Fantôme
  • Ty Herndon, House on Fire
  • Eluvium, False Readings On
  • Santigold, 99 Cents
  • Explosions in the Sky, The Wilderness
  • Blood Orange, Freetown Sound
  • Colin Stetson, Sorrow: A Reimagining of Gorecki’s Third Symphony
  • John Adams, Scheherazade.2

The 10 favorites remain the same, while Utada Hikaru and Ty Herndon get bumped down. ANONHI, Pixies and De La Soul get bumped off completely.

I included Pixies because Head Carrier was an improvement over Indie Cindy, but it wasn’t stellar enough to hold onto its position. Albums by ANONHI and De La Sol were good, but over time, they couldn’t hold onto to their status as favorites.

As I mentioned before, lists from this decade probably won’t see much shifting, as my focus continues to move to exploring catalog. Most of the 2016 releases I bought after the year had passed were vinyl issues.

A Bruce Springsteen compilation accompanying the release of his autobiography did set me on a course to explore his earlier albums.

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