Archives

Purchase log, 2024-07-23

[Gram Parsons and the Fallen Angels - The Last Roundup]

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
  • Beastie Boys, Paul’s Boutique
  • Fun., Some Nights
  • Josh Ritter, The Beast in Its Tracks
  • Pinback, Autumn of the Seraphs
  • Wire Train, Wire Train
Vinyl
  • Weezer  Weezer (White Album)

Reissues

CD
  • Gram Parsons and the Fallen Angels, The Last Roundup

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Purchase log, 2022-06-14

[Cracker - Cracker]

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
  • Kronos Quartet / Vânnh Vanessa Võ / Rinde Eckert, My Lai
  • Steve Reich, Reich / Richter

Catalog

CD
  • Arnold Schoenberg, Pierre Boulez Conducts Schoenberg
  • James Brown, 5 Classic Albums
  • Weezer, Maladroit
  • Weezer, Weezer (The Green Album)

Reissues

Vinyl
  • Cracker, Cracker

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Purchase log, 2020-12-01

[Jane's Addiction - Ritual de lo Habitual]

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
  • Onitsuka Chihiro, Hysteria
Vinyl
  • Drive-By Truckers, Plan 9 Records, July 13, 2006

Catalog

CD
  • Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Slow Riot for New Zero Kanada EP
  • St. Germain, Tourist
  • Supertramp, Breakfast in America
  • The Avett Brothers, The Gleam
  • The Sugarhill Gang, Rapper’s Delight: The Best of Sugarhill Gang
  • U2, The Unforgettable Fire (Deluxe Edition)
  • TV on the Radio, Dear Science
  • Whitney Houston, Whitney Houston
Vinyl
  • Beyoncé, Beyoncé
  • Kanye West, 808s and Heartbreaks
  • Weezer, Weezer (Blue Album)

Reissues

Vinyl
  • Alice in Chains, SAP
  • Beastie Boys, Some Old Bullshit
  • Fountains of Wayne, Welcome Interstate Managers
  • Jane’s Addiction, Ritual de lo Habitual
  • Milla Jovovitch, The Divine Comedy
  • U2, Boy (40th anniversary white vinyl)

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Favorite Edition 2019 Year Final

[Sturgill Simpson - Sound and Fury]

I’m old enough now that I can no longer be mistaken for someone remotely connected to the zeitgeist. A phrase I would often employ was, “I know of them, but I’ve not heard from them.” These days, the first part of that phrase is a stretch.

That said, I’m surprised by the number of R&B titles that have crept into my playlist rotation. I’m still a rockist at heart, but rock is loosening its grip on my attention.

  1. Sturgill Simpson, Sound & Fury: How was Sturgill Simpson ever going to top A Sailor’s Guide to Earth? He didn’t. He veered so drastically in a different direction that the albums can’t be compared. None of his albums can be compared to each other.
  2. Torche, Admission: Torche can be found under the metal section of most music stores, but when I play their albums, I hear post-rock.
  3. Weezer, Weezer (Teal Album): It’s a karaoke album, but a painstakingly created one.
  4. Jeremy Denk, c.1300-c.2000: It’s a tall order to compile eight centuries of music into a single program.
  5. John Luther Adams, Become Desert: It was also stirring to hear this piece live.
  6. Cocco, Star Shank: We hear hints of clouds covering the sunniness of Cocco’s later work.
  7. BBMAK, Powerstation: I will not lie — I’ve anticipating this album for most of the year, and I do not care who knows.
  8. Shiina Ringo, Sandokushi: This album is a glorious mess.
  9. Solange, When I Get Home: Similar to Sound and Fury, this album is confounding and fascinating at the same time. There’s nothing on here that matches the tunefulness of A Seat at the Table, and it would be too disruptive to the album’s flow if there were.
  10. Jamila Woods, Legacy! Legacy!: “Basquiat” was playing on the in-store system at Sonic Boom, and it pretty much clinched my decision to get this album.

Other favorites of the year:

  • Kim Gordon, No Home Record
  • Michael Kiwanuka, KIWANUKA
  • James Blake, Assume Form
  • Sassyblack, Ancient Mahogany Gold
  • Anderson .Paak, Ventura
  • NUMBER GIRL, Kaiden no Kioku
  • The Drums, Brutalism
  • Ty Herndon, Got It Covered

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Favorite Edition 2019 Year Half

[Jamila Woods - Legacy! Legacy!]

One of these years, I’m not going to have a big enough pool from which to draw a mid-year Favorite Edition list. This year got close.

  • Weezer, Weezer (Teal Album): The big criticism of this cover album is the slavish reproduction of the originals, as if Weezer did nothing to inject its own personality in these songs. The studio geek in me, however, marvels at such a feat. It may be a karaoke exercise, but it’s a painstaking one, not unlike art students reproducing the masters.
  • Jeremy Denk, c.1300-c.2000: It’s a tricky proposition to distill seven centuries of music in a single program, but Denk takes an admirable stab at it. I have no objections to his choices.
  • James Blake, Assume Form: Blake’s previous album was lengthy and not terribly engaging. He rights the ship on this one.
  • John Luther Adams, Become Desert: Where Become Ocean explored the Seattle Symphony’s lower and middle registers, Become Desert hovers almost exclusively in the upper ends.
  • Shiina Ringo, Sandokushi: Shiina’s first three albums looms large over the rest of her work, Tokyo Jihen included. Sandokushi is a fascinating mess — lots of seemingly disparate songs threaded together as a single program. It’s jarring but coherent, and probably the best summation of her style thus far.
  • Jamila Woods, Legacy! Legacy!: Like Parquet Courts’ Wide Awake, Legacy! Legacy! was playing on a record store sound system and made me stop to find out who is Jamila Woods.
  • Solange, When I Get Home: There are no obvious singles on this album, which is fine because it’s not intended to be a singles album.
  • Madonna, Madame X: A quotation of Tchaikovsky’s signature work could have backfired, but when the Nutcracker interrupts “Dark Ballet,” it doesn’t feel forced. The singles preceding the release of Madame X didn’t hint at this kind of creative stretch.
  • The Drums, Brutalism: Jonny Pierce tones down the Joy Division influence and brings forth the beats.

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Purchase log, 2019-04-16

[Duran Duran - As the Lights Go Down]

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.

Another Record Store Day is in the books, and this year, I found everything I wanted and a few things I didn’t know I wanted.

New releases

Vinyl
  • a-ha, Hunting High and Low: The Early Alternate Takes
  • Bingo Hand Job (i.e. R.E.M.), Live at the Borderline 1991
  • Fleetwood Mac, The Alternate Fleetwood Mac
  • Leann Rimes, Live at Gruene Hall
  • Prince, His Majesty’s Pop Life: The Purple Mix Club
  • Sly and the Family Stone, Woodstock Sunday, August 17, 1969
  • Townes Van Zandt, The Best of Townes Van Zandt
  • U2, The Europa EP

Catalog

CD
  • Boris, Smile
  • Boris with Michio Kurihara, Rainbow
  • Hapa, Hapa
  • Hiroshima, Hiroshima
  • Huey Lewis and the News, Time Flies … The Best of Huey Lewis and the News
  • Peter Gabriel, Peter Gabriel (Security)
  • Sly and the Family Stone, There’s a Riot Goin’ On
  • The Dave Brubeck Quartet, Time Out
  • The Dave Brubeck Quartet, Time Further Out
  • The Who, Quadrophenia
Vinyl
  • Lou Reed, Transformer

Reissues

Vinyl
  • Bruce Robison, Wrapped
  • Duran Duran, As the Lights Go Down
  • Santigold, I Don’t Want: The Gold Fire Sessions
  • Weezer, Weezer (Teal Album)
  • Yaz, Reconnected Live
  • Soundtrack, Hidden Figures
  • Soundtrack, Multiplication Rock
  • Soundtrack, Office Space

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Purchase log picks, March 2019

[Branford Marsalis Quartet - Crazy People Music]

Branford Marsalis Quartet, Crazy People Music

I bought this album back in high school, before I had any inkling of how to listen to jazz. I didn’t understand it and sold it for cash. Now that I’ve had rudimentary schooling in jazz, I picked it up again at the library book sale. I get it now.

Johnny Cash, American Recordings

I remember the accolades heaped upon this album at the time of its release, but I hadn’t gotten into country music yet. So I had no interest in Johnny Cash. Now that I know more about his life and music, I see what all the fuss was about.

Justice, Cross

This album was listed in the book 1,000 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. I found a copy of it at the thrift store. I liked it enough.

PJ Harvey, Rid of Me

To Bring You My Love gets the highest praise among PJ Harvey’s albums, but I couldn’t get into it. I much prefer Rid of Me.

Pop Will Eat Itself, This Is the Day … This Is the Hour … This Is This!

This album got good reviews in all the magazines I read as a teenager, but I hesitated on getting it. I would eventually find a ratty vinyl copy selling for cheap decades later. Teenaged self should have been the one to take that plunge.

Sly and the Family Stone, Stand!

Too many tracks on this album have been licensed to sell products, but somehow, that doesn’t seem to diminish them. Or maybe we’re just more chill about music licensing these days.

Tom Tom Club, Tom Tom Club

I totally forgot that “Wordy Rappinghood” was a Tom Tom Club track. I dug that track so much as a kid, I annoyed everyone around me by singing it.

Weezer, Weezer (Teal Album)

The meticulousness this covers album takes in reproducing the originals is ridiculous and admirable.

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Purchase log, 2019-03-12

[Weezer - Weezer (Teal Album)

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
  • Weezer, Weezer (Teal Album)

Vinyl

  • Mikami Chisako, I AM Ready!
  • Utada Hikaru, “Face My Fears”

Catalog

CD
  • Aphex Twin, … I Care Because You Do
  • Arvo Pärt, Piano Music
  • Bruno Mars, Doo-Wops & Hooligans
  • Einstürzende Neubauten, Strategies Against Architecture III
  • Elliott Smith, XO
  • Jack Ingram, Midnight Motel
  • M83, Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts
  • Marc Ribot, Shoe String Symphonettes
  • MGMT, Oracular Spectacular
  • Pink Floyd, Dark Side of the Moon
  • Pink Floyd, Wish You Were Here
  • Robert Palmer, Pressure Drop
  • Stephen Sondheim, Company (Original Cast Recording Remastered)
  • Steve Earle, Guitar Town
  • The Books, Lost and Safe
  • The Pogues, Hell’s Ditch
  • The Wooden Birds, Magnolia
Vinyl
  • Fleetwood Mac, Fleetwood Mac
  • Sly and the Family Stone, Greatest Hits

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Looking ahead, March-April 2019

[... And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead - Madonna]

Onitsuka Chihiro, Syndrome (Premium Edition), March 20

Aside from a poster and a photo book, this premium edition of Syndrome also includes a second disc of the entire album without vocals. Karaoke! It’s also housed in an LP-sized jacket. I say, just stick a vinyl version of the album in that jacket!

Weezer, Weezer (The Teal Album), March 8

I’m usually ambivalent about Weezer, but this album is actually fun. It’s been available on streaming services for a while now.

Gang of Four, Happy Now, March 29

I might check this out when it’s released, but I have to admit I haven’t even listened to Complicit yet. The band’s previous album, What Happens Next, was one of the last I downloaded from eMusic before I canceled my subscription.

Idlewild, Interview Music, April 5 (UK)

Idlewild dropped off my radar right around the middle of the last decade, so I’m not sure if they’ve got successively safer with each album or if they reverted back to the brashness of Hope Is Important.

The Drums, Brutalism, April 5

I think I’m still following the Drums because Jonny Pierce synthesizes post-punk in a way more sophisticated than Interpol, the Killers or the Strokes ever did.

Massive Attack, Mezzanine (Deluxe Edition), April 19 (UK)

I picked this album up from the thrift store in 2018. I like it, but enough to drop money on a deluxe edition?

BBMak, TBD, April 26

Don’t judge. I’ll be in London when this album comes out. HMV will probably be shuttered by that time.

Vinyl

… And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead, Madonna, March 5

I missed out on the 2013 reissue of this album, so I’ve already placed my pre-order.

Mikami Chisako, I AM Ready!, March 6

I won’t lie — I would rather see fra-foa’s Chuu no Fuchi reissued on vinyl, but I AM Ready! was enjoyable. Maybe enjoyable enough to get on vinyl?

Utada Hikaru, “Face My Fears”, March 6

I’m getting this less for the new song and more for the English version of “Chikai”, going by the title “Don’t Think Twice”. “Chikai” is probably the most rhythmically confounding song Utada has written.

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Favorite Edition Rewind: 1996

[Café Tacuba - Avalancha de Exitos]

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.

1996 was my final year in college, a year before I would earn the kind of disposable income that would go into building a music collection. While the Favorite 10 of 1996 remains mostly unchanged, the extended list includes many more discoveries I couldn’t afford to hear at the time.

  1. Soundtrack, William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet
  2. Värttinä, Kokko
  3. Soundtrack, Robotech Perfect Collection
  4. Asylum Street Spankers, Spanks for the Memories
  5. Various Composers, Gay American Composers
  6. Original Cast Recording, Rent
  7. Marilyn Manson, Antichrist Superstar
  8. Everything But the Girl, Walking Wounded
  9. Shawn Colvin, A Few Small Repairs
  10. Robin Holcomb, Little Three

Other favorites from the year:

  • Midnight Oil, Breathe
  • Dead Can Dance, Spiritchaser
  • Emmylou Harris, Portraits
  • Kronos Quartet, Howl USA
  • UA, 11
  • Yen Town Band, Montage
  • Neutral Milk Hotel, On Avery Island
  • Aphex Twin, Richard D. James Album
  • Weezer, Pinkerton
  • Sleater-Kinney, Call the Doctor
  • Clannad, Lore
  • Café Tacuba, Avalancha de Exitos

I could actually add more titles from Wilco, Helmet, Gillian Welch, DJ Shadow and Amuro Namie to the extended list, but I haven’t lived with them as long as the ones I’ve already added.

I owned the Richard D. James album at one point. It was a promo from the student newspaper, but I was such a neophyte with EDM that I couldn’t make heads or tails of it. As it turns out nobody could really make heads or tails of it.

The original extended list didn’t include Lore because it had already fallen victim to a collection purge. I rediscovered the album after the death of Padraig Duggan.

Avalancha de Exitos was the first album by Café Tacuba I would encounter, but I wouldn’t purchase it till many years later. I borrowed it from a friend and liked it. But I stayed away from it because it’s a cover album of music of which I had no reference.

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