Archives

Purchase log, 2023-07-18

[SYML - SYML]

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
  • SYML, SYML
  • The Cranberries, No Need to Argue
  • Tim McGraw, Reflected: Greatest Hits, Vol. II
  • UNKLE, Psyence Fiction
Vinyl
  • Bright Light Bright Light, Fun City
  • David Bowie, Toy
  • Eddie Murphy, Comedian
  • Idlewild, Interview Music
  • Inventions, Continuous Portrait
  • Mastodon, Medium Rarities
  • Sufjan Stevens / Timo Andres, The Decalogue
  • Various Artists, The Problem with Leisure: A Tribute to Andy Gill and Gang of Four
Files
  • Dry Cleaning, Sweet Princess EP
  • UNKLE, The Road, Part II (Lost Highway)

Reissues

CD
  • The Dream Syndicate, The Days of Wine and Roses (40th Anniversary Edition)
Vinyl
  • Enya, A Box of Dreams

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Purchase log, 2023-05-30

[Tina Turner - Simply the Best]

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
  • Danish String Quartet, Prism V
  • Kesha, Gag Order
  • Shiina Ringo, Watashi wa Neko no Me
  • Sufjan Stevens / Timo Andres / Conor Hanick, Reflections
Files
  • Eponymous 4, “Kousoku”

Catalog

CD
  • Tina Turner, Simply the Best

Reissues

Vinyl
  • Shiina Ringo, Muzai Moratorium
  • Shiina Ringo, Shouso Strip
  • Shiina Ringo, Karuki Zaamen Kuri no Hana
  • Shiina Ringo, Sanmon Gossip
  • Shiina Ringo, Hi Izuru Tokoro
  • Shiina Ringo, Hyakuyaku no Cho

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Purchase log, 2021-10-19

[Res - How I Do]

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
  • Craig Armstrong, Nocturnes: Music for Two Pianos

Catalog

CD
  • Art of Noise, The Ambient Collection
  • Brothers Johnson, Light Up the Night
  • Fishbone, Fishbone 101: Nuttasaurusmeg Fossil Fuelin’ the Fonkay
  • Hirosue Ryoko, Arigato!
  • John Zorn / Yamataka Eye, John Zorn Birthday Celebration, Vol. 10
  • Muse, Showbiz
  • Muse, The Resistance
  • Spandau Ballet, True
  • Sufjan Stevens, Seven Swans
  • The B-52’s, Time Capsule: Songs for a Future Generation
  • Tyler the Creator, Cherry Bomb
  • Tyler the Creator, Wölf
  • ZARD, BEST ~Request Memorial~
Vinyl
  • Electric Light Orchestra, Time
  • Eurythmics, Touch Dance
  • Marvin Gaye, Here, My Dear
  • Res, How I Do
  • Styx, Kilroy Was Here
  • Soundtrack, Patty Hearst

Reissues

CD
  • Sugababes, One Touch (Deluxe Edition)
Vinyl
  • Sinéad O’Connor, So Far … The Best of Sinéad O’Connor
  • Sugababes, One Touch

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Purchase log, 2021-05-04

[Laurie Anderson - Big Science]

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
  • 54-40, 54-40
  • Arditti Quartet, Arditti
  • Dmitri Shostakovich, The Symphonies (Bernard Haitink, London Philharmonic, Concertgebouw)
  • Francis Poulenc, Chamber Music
  • Györgi Ligeti, The Ligeti Project IV
  • Heart, Dreamboat Annie
  • Heaven 17, Penthouse and Pavement
  • Holy Fuck, Latin
  • John Adams, Music from Nixon in China
  • John Adams, On the Transmigration of Souls
  • John Coltrane, Africa / Brass
  • Laurie Anderson, Big Science
  • Sufjan Stevens, The Age of Adz
  • The Olivia Tremor Control, Black Foliage
LP
  • The Swimming Pool Q’s, World War Two Point Five
  • XTC, Go 2

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Favorite Edition Rewind: 2017

[Sampha - Process]

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.

Do I have new favorites? Which ones have fallen out of favor? This time around, we’ll cover a greater span of time from as recently as last year, all the way to 1978!

We start with last year’s list.

This most recent decade won’t see much in the way of significant revisions, as I explore deeper into catalog releases than following new artists. Wouldn’t it be odd if I discover new artists from 2017 five years from now? Probably not.

  1. Onitsuka Chihiro, Syndrome
  2. Royal Wood, Ghost Light
  3. RADWIMPS, Your name.
  4. Sam Smith, The Thrill of It All
  5. Sam Amidon, The Following Mountain
  6. Kronos Quartet, Folk Songs
  7. Gaytheist, Let’s Jam Again Soon
  8. Eluvium, Shuffle Drone
  9. Sampha, Process
  10. Living Colour, Shade

Other favorites from the year:

  • Anne Dudley, Anne Dudley Plays the Art of Noise
  • David Rawlings, Poor David’s Almanac
  • Jason Isbell and 400 Unit, The Nashville Sound
  • Leo Imai, Film Scum EP
  • Renée Fleming, Distant Light
  • Shiina Ringo, Gyakuyunyuu ~Kuukoukyoku~
  • Brandon Stansell, Slow Down
  • Sufjan Stevens / Nico Muhly / Bryce Dessner / James McAlister, Planetarium

Jason Isbell’s previous two albums ranked high on the Favorite Edition lists of 2013 and 2015, but The Nashville Sound had a tenuous grip on its position in the 2017 list. The late discovery of Sampha and Eluvium gave Isbell the final nudge.

Anne Dudley took up Eluvium’s vacated spot, nearly knocking Living Colour off.

Brandon Stansell makes his first appearance on the list. Stansell performed at the Concert for Love and Acceptance, hosted by Ty Herndon. Like Herndon, Stansell is a country artist, although he’s starting his career out of the closet.

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Purchase log, 2018-04-24

[Duran Duran - Budokan]

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.

It’s the Record Store Day 2018 entry!

New Releases

Vinyl
  • Brian Eno with Kevin Shields, The Weight of History / Only Once Away My Son
  • Cypress Hill, Black Sunday Remixes
  • David Bowie, Let’s Dance Demo
  • Duran Duran, Budokan
  • Jason Isbell and 400 Unit, Live at Twist & Shout 11.16.07
  • John Luther Adams, Canticles of the Sky (Oliver Coates)
  • Living Colour, “Live at CBGB’s” Tuesday 12/19/89
  • Rage Against the Machine, Democratic National Convention 2000
  • Sufjan Stevens, Mystery of Love
  • The Streets, Remixes + B-Sides
  • Wilco, Live at the Troubador L.A. 1996

Catalog

CD
  • Culture Club, Colour By Numbers
  • Elvis Costello, This Year’s Model
  • Frank Zappa, Ship Too Late to Save a Drowning Witch
  • Heart, Heart
  • Lee Morgan, The Sidewinder
  • The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Are You Experienced? (Remastered)
  • The Stone Roses, The Stone Roses

Reissues

 Vinyl
  • Florian Fricke, Florian Fricke Spielt Mozart
  • Prince, 1999 (1983 single disc version)
  • Uncle Tupelo, No Depression — Demos

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Favorite Edition 2017 Year Final

[Living Colour - Shade]

2017 was a rather active year in music, but when it came to new releases, I opted to leave a lot of stuff on the shelf. A decade ago, new albums by Arcade Fire and Grizzly Bear would have been breathlessly awaited. I don’t get the sense either had much staying power beyond their release dates.

As a result, I ended up purchasing a total of 34 new titles, approximately 7 percent of my total buying activity. The remaining purchases? Catalog and reissues. This list, in other words, comes from a small pool of albums.

  1. Onitsuka Chihiro, Syndrome
  2. Royal Wood, Ghost Light
  3. RADWIMPS, Your name.
  4. Sam Smith, The Thrill of It All
  5. Sam Amidon, The Following Mountain
  6. Kronos Quartet, Folk Songs
  7. Gaytheist, Let’s Jam Again Soon
  8. Living Colour, Shade
  9. Jason Isbell and 400 Unit, The Nashville Sound
  10. Renée Fleming, Distant Light

Sam Smith and Living Colour are the big changes from the mid-year listThe Thrill of It All isn’t as weird as I hoped it could be, but it’s a more appealing album than Smith’s debut.

Shade is the perfect soundtrack for the frustration of living under the current administration. Pre-release press mention the blues as a springboard for the album, but really, Living Colour transform the blues in ways that are nigh unrecognizable.

Other favorites from the year:

  • Eluvium, Shuffle Drone: I hate both the repeat and shuffle buttons on my playback mechanisms. That said, Matthew Cooper deserves mad props for creating an album that puts both buttons to excellent use.
  • Sampha, Process: I admit I didn’t listen to this album till a few weeks ago, once it started showing up on year-end favorite lists.
  • David Rawlings, Poor David’s Almanack: My long-simmering discovery of Gillian Welch will have to wait for another entry, but it’s the reason David Rawlings shows up here.
  • Shiina Ringo, Gyakuyunyuu ~Kuukoukyoku~: Part of me misses the rocking Ringo-chan of the early 2000s, but then hearing these songs side-by-side with the artists who recorded them first deepens my appreciation for her.
  • Sufjan Stevens / Nico Muhly / Bryce Dessner / James McAlister, Planetarium: It helps to have heard this album with a laser light show.
  • The Drums, Abysmal Thoughts: Jonny Pierce takes over the show.
  • Cocco, Cocco 20 Shuunen Kinen Special Live at Nippon Budokan ~Ichi no Kan x Ni no Kan~: The live performances don’t stray too far from what’s heard in the studio, but Cocco’s voice doesn’t seem to have aged a bit.
  • Duran Duran, Thanksgiving Live at Pleasure Island: If you’re a fan of the seriously-underrated Medazzaland, this live album is a must-have.

 

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Favorite Edition 2017 Year Half

[Onitsuka Chihiro - Syndrome]

I usually publish this entry at the start of July. Unfortunately, all the releases in which I’m most interested came out in June, and I didn’t want to make hasty judgements. So I held off till I had a few weeks to live with these latecomers.

Labels, why did you all wait till the middle of the year? Couldn’t you have spread some of this joy over the previous  6 months?

  • Onitsuka Chihiro, Syndrome: This album really recaptures the sound and mood of her debut album.
  • Royal Wood, Ghost Light: This album was released in 2016 but limited to Canada. So I’m calling it a 2017 album because of its worldwide release in January. The Burning Bright is so far Wood’s best album, but Ghost Light isn’t a slump for a follow-up.
  • Renée Fleming, Distant Light: I’m not sure Fleming’s sound suits Samuel Barber’s Knoxville 1915, but the orchestral arrangements of Björk songs works really well.
  • RADWIMPS, Kimi no Na wa: I’m pretty much throwing this soundtrack on the list because the movie was amazing, and it’s impossible to hear “Katawaredoki” without tearing up. (You just have to watch the movie to understand.) The English version of the songs came out really well.
  • Sam Amidon, The Following Mountain: Amidon does some strange things with traditional material, but this time around he writes his own songs and lets his jazz side out a bit more.
  • Kronos Quartet, Folk Songs: Kronos takes a back seat to the singers — who include Amidon, Olivia Chaney, Rhiannon Giddens and Natalie Merchant — but these arrangements of mostly traditional songs are far from genteel.
  • Jason Isbell and 400 Unit, The Nashville Sound: Isbell is the kind of songwriter whose music continues to play in your head after it’s finished on the player.
  • Gaytheist, Let’s Jam Again Soon: Oh, it’s loud!
  • Sufjan Stevens / Nico Muhly / Bryce Dessner / James McAlister, Planetarium: I don’t know if this album needs to be 75 minutes long, but it’s a fascinating listen nonetheless.

 

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Looking ahead: May-June 2017

[U2 - The Joshua Tree (30th Anniversary Edition)]

It seems all the bands in which I’m interested all decided to release their albums in May and June. To date, I have a total of four 2017 releases since the start of the year. Putting together the Favorite Edition Half Year is going to be tricky.

At the Drive-In, in*ter al*li*a, May 5

I can’t figure out why I’m looking forward this late-coming follow-up to Relationship of Command, an album I like but can’t listen to very often. And I wasn’t enough of a fan to follow either Mars Volta or Sparta.

Café Tacvba, Jei Beibi, May 5

I find it interesting that Café Tacvba is releasing this album through CD Baby. That means they’ve gone completely independent.

Midnight Oil, Full Tank, May 7
Midnight Oil, Overflow Tank, May 7

Tempting as these complete boxed sets may be, my current Midnight Oil collection occupies quite a bit of shelf space. Also, the import markup makes these sets fiscally untenable. Hey Sony, fans outside of Australia might be interested in some of these releases.

Juanes, Mis Planes Son Amarte, May 12

It’s a visual album about a man going into outer space to find the woman of his dreams. I would be interested to see how Café Tacvba would tackle the same plot.

PWR BTTM, Pageant, May 12

Anyone who has Grindr or Scruff installed on his phone would probably check out a band called PWR BTTM.

Art of Noise, In Visible Silence (Deluxe Edition), May 19

The weirdest album I acquired in 1986. The b-sides are terrific.

Kishida Shigeru, Symphony No. 1, May 24

If the orchestral work Kishida released last year as a digital single is any indication, don’t expect a musical metamorphosis on the level of C. Kip Winger.

Sam Amidon, The Following Mountain, May 26

His first album of original music.

Cody Chesnutt, My Love Divine Degree, June 2

It’s been a while. I had wondered if another 10 years would pass before another Cody Chesnutt album would arrive.

U2, The Joshua Tree (30th Anniversary Deluxe Edition), June 2

I already have the 20th Anniversary edition, so really, I just want the white cover with the color photo.

Kronos Quartet, Folk Songs, June 9

For a while there, I thought Kronos had moved on from Nonesuch, given the number of albums the ensemble has released on other labels. This collaborative album with Sam Amidon, Natalie Merchant, Rhiannon Giddens and Olivia Chaney is the first Kronos has released on Nonesuch since 2012, not counting various anthologies.

Dan Messe, Amelie: A New Musical, June 9

I’m not sure what draws me to this cast recording — the fact it’s based on Amelie or the fact it was written by a member of Hem.

Sufjan Stevens, Bryce Dessner, Nico Muhly, James McAlister, Planetarium, June 9

Well, somebody had to update Gustav Mahler’s The Planets

The Drums, Abysmal Thoughts, June 16

Jonny Pierce goes full Roland Orzabal ca. 1993, becoming the sole member of his band The Drums.

Jason Isbell and 400 Unit, The Nashville Sound, June 16

I would be OK with Jason Isbell and Sturgill Simpson releasing albums on alternating years.

Vinyl

Midnight Oil, The Vinyl Collection, May 7

I would like to get Redneck Wonderland, Breathe and Head Injuries on vinyl. I could do without Capricornia, Earth and Sun and Moon and Place Without a Postcard. Maybe separate releases down the line? Outside Australia, even??

Emmylou Harris and the Nash Ramblers, At the Ryman, May 12

Harris’ shows at the Ryman gave the venue new life, and she returns for the venue’s 125th anniversary. So of course a reissue (on vinyl!) is in order.

En Vogue, Funky Divas, June 9

I’m disappointed rock bands haven’t turned “Free Your Mind” into a crossover classic.

Enya, A Day Without Rain, June 16
Enya, Amaratine, July 14

A Day Without Rain is Enya’s weakest album, and Amaratine went a long way to rectify it. That won’t stop me from getting both of them.

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