![[Explosions in the Sky - End]](https://musicwhore.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/ExplosionsInTheSkyEnd.jpg)
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.
Tags: explosions in the sky, kendrick lamar, purchase log, system of a down, vagabon
![[Soundtrack - TV Anime BLEACH]](https://musicwhore.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/TVAnimationBLEACH.jpg)
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.
Tags: billie holiday, david garza, don caballero, explosions in the sky, fairport convention, john coltrane, kenny chesney, madonna, natalie merchant, purchase log, sigur ros, soundtrack, spice girls, steve reich, the beatles, the human league, utada hikaru
![[Explosions in the Sky - Big Bend]](https://musicwhore.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/ExplosionsInTheSkyBigBe274174CQPN_f.jpg)
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.
Tags: bt, dixie chicks, explosions in the sky, george winston, kelly clarkson, lukas foss, olivia newton-john, paul van dyk, purchase log, sasha, shadowfax, vanessa williams, various artists
![[Tomosaka Rie - Cappuccino / Escalation]](https://musicwhore.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/TomosakaRieCappuccinoEscalation.jpg)
I haven’t really cottoned to Explosion in the Sky’s soundtrack work, but I’m hoping this release feels more like an album than a cue sheet.
At first, I thought this album was just a reissue of Live in Seattle, till I took a closer look at the title.
I wonder if John Green would be interested in reviewing this album.
The Replacements had, at best, a periphery influence on my teenage listening habits, and yet I’ve bought just about every deluxe edition of their albums. Clearly, I’m making up for lost time.
I’m ambivalent about this album. I had sold it for cash a long time ago, but I picked it up again from the thrift shop. I don’t know if it holds up well.
I can’t lie — I’m pretty damn excited about a new ABBA album in 40 years. The singles preceding the album sound like time hadn’t stopped for the quartet, and the world definitely came back around to them.
I guess I still care because there is a part of me that fondly remembers a younger Sting in various forms of undress.
The Ego Has Landed was one of my most played CDs of 1999, and it collected the best bits of Robbie Williams’ first two albums. About 20 years later, I would find I’ve Been Expecting You at the thrift store. So I have to say I’m very much tempted to drop cash on these vinyl reissues, even though I haven’t heard Life Thru a Lens in its entirety.
Japan actually has its own Record Store Day event that focuses on domestic releases, but it’s separate from Record Day, which happens annually in November. While Record Store Day focuses on independent retailers, Record Day in Japan looks similar to National Album Day in the UK, where larger retailers are involved with the festivities.
Past Record Days in Japan have included reissues of NUMBER GIRL, YEN TOWN BAND and a number of Studio Ghibli soundtracks. For me, AJICO is the biggest news coming out of this year’s crop, but I’m also immensely pleased to see Hatakeyama Miyuki’s Diving into your mind getting a reissue. The Tomosaka Rie 7-inch single pairs two of her biggest hits, “Cappuccino” and “Escalation”, the A-side written by Shiina Ringo.
Tags: abba, ajico, explosions in the sky, hatakeyama miyuki, looking ahead, r.e.m., renee fleming, robbie williams, sting, the replacements, tomosaka rie
![[Sleater-Kinney - The Center Won't Hold]](https://musicwhore.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/SleaterKinneyTheCenterWo219433XS48_f-300x300.jpg)
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.
Tags: andrew lloyd webber, bela bartok, bill frisell, branford marsalis, bruce springsteen, chvrches, devo, don byron, explosions in the sky, fugazi, george crumb, grizzly bear, information society, lfo, lisa lisa and cult jam, los amigos invisibles, mr. lif, my bloody valentine, nico muhly, number girl, purchase log, queen, re-flex, run dmc, ryan stout, sleater-kinney, teitur, the beach boys, wye oak
![[NUMBER GIRL - DESTRUCTION BABY]](https://musicwhore.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/NumberGirlDestructionBaby-300x300.jpg)
One new song out of a 52-track career retrospective? I think I’m fine.
Don’t Tell a Soul was the first album I bought from the Replacements, so I’m interested to hear this period of the band’s history expanded on this boxed set.
Three years is pretty much the average gap between Cocco albums these days, now that she’s diversified into fashion, films, stage acting and literature. So she’s right on schedule.
Explosions in the Sky wrote and recorded The Rescue in two weeks, and it’s a surprisingly tight album given its self-imposed constraints. Previously available only at the band’s shows, it gets a vinyl reissue for the band’s 20th anniversary.
During my days as a record store employee, I got the impression Pinback was a fairly mellow band. So when I found this album at the thrift store, I was taken aback by how boisterous it was.
Just as Universal was starting to neglect NUMBER GIRL’s albums, the band reunites and gives the label a reason to dig into the archives. Oh, thank goodness.
I’m unclear about whether this album was actually released on Record Store Day 2019. It showed up on the list, only to disappear as the April date approached. But it’s up on Discogs, so … where was it available? And is this reissue vaporware?
Tags: cocco, explosions in the sky, looking ahead, midnight oil, number girl, perfume, pinback, the replacements
![[The Wrens - The Meadowlands]](https://musicwhore.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/TheWrensTheMeadowlands-300x300.jpg)
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.
Back in February, I argued 2002 was an important year in music of the 2000s. 2003 is no slouch in that regard either. The list from that year sees no major changes.
Other favorites from the year:
The only change is switching out Explosions in the Sky for Outkast, and the extended list adds the Wrens and Longwave.
I was working at Waterloo Records in 2003, and legitimate download services hadn’t gotten off the ground yet to stem the tide of rampant file sharing. So I was discovering a lot of great music through word of mouth and on the job.
While I’ve added a number of 2003 titles to my collection in the following years, few have edged their way into this already crowded field.
So I guess I’m pretty set where 2003 is concerned.
Tags: aco, andrew kenny, art-school, benjamin gibbard, bleach, bloodthirsty butchers, bonnie pink, cafe tacuba, caitlyn cary, death cab for cutie, dj krush, downy, emmylou harris, explosions in the sky, favorite edition, hayashi asuca, longwave, molotov, nirgilis, number girl, onitsuka chihiro, outkast, rewind, rufus wainwright, sasagawa miwa, shiina ringo, soundtrack, the bad plus, the postal service, the wrens
![[The Dead Betties - Nightmare Sequence]](https://musicwhore.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/TheDeadBettiesNightmareSequence-300x300.jpg)
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 further we get from the present day, the more we’ll find retroactive changes to the Favorite Edition lists. The 2007 list sees a lot of shifting in the Favorite 10, and a number of retroactive additions.
Other favorites from the year:
The cast recording for 2006 production of Company gets a retroactive boost, missing the Favorite 10 the first time out. A PBS broadcast of the revival directed by John Doyle went a long way in raising its ranking.
I didn’t discover the Dead Betties till a year and some change after the release of Nightmare Sequence, and it would have shot up to the Favorite 10 had I known about it. The album doesn’t lose its punch more than a decade on.
Rufus Wainwright’s Release the Stars and Smashing Pumpkins’ Zeitgeist fall of the list entirely. I think those albums earned their place on the Favorite 10 because I was not paying attention to what was happening in 2007, if the expanded list is any indication.
I’m not sure I actually like The National, but I remember catching the band’s appearance on Live from the Artists Den and thinking Matt Berninger was a tall drink of water. Boxer is rather fine album, nonetheless.
I would not have picked up Band of Horses without Renée Fleming. I get them mixed up with the Band of Heathens and Band of Skulls.
I didn’t actually like Sirens of the Ditch the first time I listened to it. I was just starting to explore Jason Isbell’s work after hearing Southeastern, and I wanted everything to sound like it. I had no context about his work with Drive-By Truckers. Sirens of the Ditch is closer to his work with the Truckers than his more recent albums, and that understanding goes a long way to building appreciation for his solo debut.
Tags: band of horses, bjork, elliott cole, explosions in the sky, favorite edition, jason isbell, kawai kenji, m.i.a., nico muhly, office, rewind, sasagawa miwa, soundtrack, stephen sondheim, the dead betties, the national, tokyo jihen, tommy heavenly6, ua, unkie
![[Sturgill Simpson - A Sailor's Guide to Earth]](https://musicwhore.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/SturgillSimpsonSailorsGu144472NGPT_f-300x300.jpg)
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.
Other favorites from the year:
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.
Tags: a tribe called quest, blood orange, cocco, colin stetson, drive-by truckers, eluvium, explosions in the sky, favorite edition, henryk gorecki, john adams, mono, perfume, rewind, santigold, shaprece, shawn colvin, solange, steve earle, sturgill simpson, ty herndon, utada hikaru
![[Shiina Ringo - Karuki Zaamen Kuri no Hana]](https://musicwhore.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/ShiinaRingoKarukiZaamenK21432_f-298x300.jpg)
I balked when Barsuk Records released a 10-year anniversary edition of Give Up by the Postal Service. Yes, add 10 to 2003 and you get 2013. But 2003 didn’t seem so distant from 2013, as 2003 did from 1993.
That’s the thing about getting older — there’s more past to remember. In 1987, I had barely any memory of 1977. In 1997, I had only 1987 as a clear reference. Only in 2007 did 1987 start to feel distant. And now I’m shocked to think 1997 — the year I moved away from home — is pretty far chronologically from where I am today.
So yeah, 2007 still feels like yesterday, although 2002 does feel more like history.
Shiina Ringo’s albums from earlier in the decade saw her batting a hundred, but with Tokyo Jihen, it took a few albums before the band came into its own.
Source Tags and Codes was the obvious choice to include on this list, but recent spins of the album revealed a number of dead spots. Lost Songs wouldn’t show up till the next decade, which leaves The Century of Self next in line on my list of favorite … Trail of Dead albums.
At first, I dismissed ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION as a watered-down version of Eastern Youth. Then World World World came out, and I became a convert.
It took a while for me to warm up to The Earth Is Not a Cold Dead Place, but All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone had a clarity that hooked me for good.
Utada Hikaru’s US debut Exodus went too far to rub out the alt-rock influence in her music, so it was refreshing to hear it come roaring back on ULTRA BLUE.
I was unfamiliar with Sigur Rós when this album was released, so I asked a friend of mine to describe their albums to me. He told me to imagine a cold, flat icy land, and that was Ágætis byrjun. Then he told me to picture 1,000 angels appearing in bursts of blinding light. That was Takk …
I’m convinced if this album had been released in the US, indie rock fans would have abandoned their Flaming Lips albums.
US promoters tried and failed to conflate Latin American rap-rock bands as epitomizing Latin alternative rock. Molotov stood head and shoulders above the rest, and they shared more with Café Tacvba and Aterciopelados than with Puya or Control Machete.
The year I started working for Waterloo Records was the year Norah Jones made a splash with her debut album. I wasn’t convinced, mostly because I had spent weeks listening to Hatakeyama Miyuki instead.
UA and Asai Kenichi came together for only one album, but boy is it a keeper. UA had found success on the Oricon charts before this collaboration, but afterward, she embraced a more challenging sound.
Every time I put this album on, I feel the need to fuck shit up. It’s that intense.
Tags: ajico, and you will know us by the trail of dead, asian kung-fu generation, explosions in the sky, fra-foa, hatakeyama miyuki, molotov, music discovery, shiina ringo, sigur ros, tokyo jihen, utada hikaru