Archives

Purchase log, 2022-08-30

[Siouxsie and the Banshees - The Scream]

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
  • Kendrick Lamar, Mr. Morale and the Right Steppers

Catalog

CD
  • Camper Van Beethoven, La Costa Perdida
  • Sinéad O’Connor, I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got (Limited Edition)
  • Siouxsie and the Banshees, Juju
  • Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Scream
  • Smashing Pumpkins, Lull
  • Steven Wright, I Still Have a Pony
  • U2, War (Deluxe Edition)
  • Wire, 154
  • Wire, Chairs Missing
  • Wire, It’s Beginning to and Back Again
Vinyl
  • Alexander O’Neal, Hearsay
  • Amanda Shires, To The Sunset
  • Christine and the Queens, Chaleur Humaine
  • Eugène Ysaÿe, Six Sonatas for Violin, Op. 27
  • Guadalcanal Diary, 2 x 4
  • Patrick Cowley, Muscle Up
  • Prince, Chaos and Disorder
  • Sam Hunt, Southside
  • The Faint, Danse Macabre

Reissues

Vinyl
  • Silk Sonic, An Evening with Silk Sonic

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Purchase log, 2021-02-15

[KMD - Black Bastards]

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
  • Al Green, Let’s Stay Together
  • Alfred Schnittke, Concerto for Three / String Trio / Canon / Minuet (Giden Kremer, Yuri Bashmet, Mstislav Rostropovich; Moscow Soloists)
  • Alexander Scriabin, Piano Sonatas 1, 6 & 8 / Four Pieces, Op. 51 (Vladimir Ashkenazy)
  • Bonnie “Prince” Billie, Ease Down the Road
  • Bonnie “Prince” Billie, Lie Down in the Light
  • Elastica, Elastica
  • Nick Drake, Pink Moon
  • Republica, Republica
  • The Smashing Pumpkins, Siamese Dream
Vinyl
  • Death Cab for Cutie, Codes and Keys
  • KMD, Black Bastards
  • Sergei Rachmaninoff, Complete Rachmaninoff Preludes (Alexis Weissenberg)

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Purchase log, 2021-12-14

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
  • Basement Jaxx, Remedy
  • Blur, The Best of
  • Jack Ingram, Big Dreams and High Hopes
  • Led Zeppelin, The Complete Studio Recordings
  • Lush, Gala
  • Maxim Vengerov, Virtuoso Vengerov
  • Ornette Coleman, Beauty Is a Rare Thing: The Complete Atlantic Recordings
  • The Smashing Pumpkins, Adore
  • Tim McGraw, Set This Circus Down

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Purchase log, 2018-12-18

[James Ehnes - Howard, Kernis: Violin Concertos / Tovey: Stream of Limelight]

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
  • Bruce Springsteen, Springsteen on Broadway
  • James Ehnes, Howard, Kernis: Violin Concertos / Tovey: Stream of Limelight

Catalog

CD
  • A Flock of Seagulls, A Flock of Seagulls
  • Hole, Celebrity Skin
  • Hole, Live Through This
  • Meat Puppets, Too High to Die
  • Morrissey, Viva Hate
  • Mudhoney, Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge
  • Public Enemy, Apocalypse 91 … The Enemy Strikes Back
  • Rabbits, Lower Forms
  • Rolf Lislevand, Diminuito
  • The Doors, The Doors
  • The Smashing Pumpkins, Pisces Iscariot
  • The Who, Tommy
  • Torche, Torche
  • Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Fever to Tell
  • Soundtrack, Good Night, and Good Luck. (Dianne Reeves)

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Favorite Edition Rewind: 1991

[Slint - Spiderland]

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.

I’m not sure other music writers would agree that 1998 is an important year in music for the ’90s. 1991 saw Guns N’ Roses cap the era of hair metal and Nirvana usher the unfortunately-named alternative rock. But it didn’t have Neutral Milk Hotel.

  1. Smashing Pumpkins, Gish
  2. Nirvana, Nevermind
  3. R.E.M., Out of Time
  4. U2, Achtung Baby
  5. Throwing Muses, The Real Ramona
  6. Soundtrack, Bubblegum Crisis Vocal Collection, Vol. 1
  7. Guns N’ Roses, Use Your Illusion II
  8. Enya, Shepherd Moons
  9. Lou Harrison, Music of Lou Harrison
  10. Elliott Carter, Music of Elliott Carter

Other favorites from the year:

  • Pearl Jam, Ten
  • Igor Stravinsky, Le Sacre du Printemps/Symphony in Three Movements (Zubin Mehta, New York Philharmonic Orchestra)
  • Mazzy Star, She Hangs Brightly
  • Soundgarden, Badmotorfinger
  • Bill Frisell, Where in the World?
  • Fishbone, The Reality of My Surroundings
  • Metallica, Metallica
  • Kronos Quartet, Lutoslawski: String Quartet
  • Black Sheep, A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing
  • Hamada Mari, Tomorrow
  • Electronic, Electronic
  • Slint, Spiderland
  • My Bloody Valentine, Loveless
  • Painkiller, Guts of a Virgin
  • Mr. Bungle, Mr. Bungle

Slint and My Bloody Valentine are additions 2004-me would have made. 1991-me would have side-eyed 2004-me.

And he would have scoffed at 2018-me for including Black Sheep, after emitting a gasp at seeing Fishbone on the list at all.

He would have begrudgingly nodded at the additions of Metallica and Hamada Mari, and he would have been curious about Electronic. And he would have gone out and found Painkiller the first chance he got.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Favorite Edition Rewind: 2000

[Tomosaka Rie - Shoujo Robot]

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.

I’m flabbergasted by the idea that, as of this writing, the year 2000 is nearly 20 years ago. As much as I lionize the music I heard in high school, the music of my late 20s has been incredibly influential, perhaps professionally as well as personally. Thus, we don’t see much change from the original list.

  1. Shiina Ringo, Shouso Strip
  2. Cocco, Rapunzel
  3. NUMBER GIRL, SAPPUKEI
  4. SUPERCAR, Futurama
  5. eX-Girl, Big When Far, Small When Close
  6. Sleater-Kinney, All Hands on the Bad One
  7. Idlewild, 100 Broken Windows
  8. FEED, Make Every Stardust Shimmer!
  9. Tomosaka Rie, “Shoujo Robot”
  10. Sade, Lovers Rock

Other favorites from the year:

  • Do As Infinity, Break of Dawn
  • Yaida Hitomi, daiya-monde
  • PJ Harvey, Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea
  • OBLIVION DUST, Butterfly Head
  • At the Drive-In, Relationship of Command
  • L’Arc~en~Ciel, REAL
  • Bonnie Pink, Let Go
  • MISSILE GIRL SCOOT, Fiesta!
  • Smashing Pumpkins, MACHINA/The Machine of God
  • m-flo, Planet Shining
  • Juanes, Fíate Bien
  • Emmylou Harris, Red Dirt Girl
  • U2, All That You Can’t Leave Behind
  • La Ley, Uno
  • Sinéad O’Connor, Faith and Courage
  • Soundtrack, High Fidelity
  • BBMak, Sooner or Later

At the time of its release, I was just glad All That You Can’t Leave Behind was not a continuation of Pop. The recent vinyl reissue of the album, unfortunately, reveals its shortcomings. Thus, it loses its original ranking in the Favorite 10.

Plot twist: I panned 2004’s How to Build an Atomic Bomb, but that album has endured far better than All That You Can’t Leave Behind. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Idlewild’s 1000 Broken Windows takes the spot vacated by U2.

Do As Infinity probably could have held onto its place in the Favorite 10 on the strength of “Raven” alone. At the time, most J-Pop I had encountered relied heavily on keyboards and drum machines, so a karaoke-ready band with crunchy guitars felt novel to me.

I can’t say I love Break of Dawn as much now. It’s rare that singles displace albums for the Favorite 10, but all three tracks on “Shoujo Robot” hint at an awesome album I wish Shiina Ringo and Tomosaka Rie recorded.

The extended list is really just all the titles that could have legitimately competed for that bottom spot on the Favorite 10.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

45 Albums for 45 Years: A Birthday Retrospective (1990s)

[Talitha Mackenzie - Solas]

An analysis of Spotify data in 2015 quantified how listeners stray from popular titles as they age. I don’t know if the music I listened to in my 20s could have ever been called “popular”, but compared to the excitement of discovery in the ’80s, the ’90s were bit of a let-down.

Grunge was conflated to represent all forms of post-punk music, and the major label gold rush to find the next Nirvana eventually dead-ended into Nickelback. In response, I took up Celtic music, downtown New York jazz, modern classical music, Japanese indie rock and country music.

I was at sea.

Shiina Ringo, Shousou Strip

Sure, the loud guitars, infectious melodies and epic production could have won me over, but it was the conclusion of “Gibusu” where the effects go utterly bugfuck that convinced me Shiina Ringo was a keeper.

NUMBER GIRL, SCHOOL GIRL DISTORTIONAL ADDICT

I may have eventually found my way to Sonic Youth and Pixies by some other means, but it was NUMBER GIRL that was my gateway to old school punk.

Madonna, Ray of Light

This album arrived when I was exploring the gay bars in Austin after I moved away from home. I still like this album. I cannot say the same for gay bars or Austin.

Neutral Milk Hotel, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea

Like probably most people who love this album to death, I didn’t discover it till about many, many years after it was released. But it has enough of a late-’90s patina to evoke that period.

Cocco, Bougainvillia

The few articles about Cocco translated into English I found on the Internet at the time seemed to credit her for paving the way for Utada Hikaru and Shiina Ringo, and we should all be thankful for that.

Steve Reich, Music for 18 Musicians (Nonesuch)

I wouldn’t encounter this 1996 Nonesuch recording till it was compiled in a 2005 boxed set. Philip Glass was waning as my favorite minimalist, and this recording pretty much catapulted Reich to the top.

Emmylou Harris, Wrecking Ball

The only people in Hawaii who listened to country music lived on the military bases. But a interview promo disc of Emmylou Harris talking about Wrecking Ball got me interested in the album. It made my move to Austin, Texas two years later slightly more plausible.

Talitha Mackenzie, Solas

As much I loved Clannad and Enya, Talitha Mackenzie drew the connections between Scottish waulking songs and hip-hop, Bulgarian folk music and techno.

Duran Duran, The Wedding Album

It was great seeing people getting back into Duran Duran, but I don’t think my love for this album would have been reinforced without the aid of the Tiger Mailing List, the first Internet community in which I participated.

Smashing Pumpkins, Gish

Nevermind would have been the easy choice, but I would have never picked up the seminal Nirvana album if Butch Vig hadn’t worked with Smashing Pumpkins on Gish beforehand.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,