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Purchase log, 2024-05-28

[ZAZEN BOYS - Land]

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
  • ZAZEN BOYS, Land

Catalog

CD
  • C+C Music Factory, Gonna Make You Sweat
  • Kathy Griffin, For Your Consideration
  • Mr. Bungle, Disco Volante
  • Queens of the Stone Age, Over the Years and Through the Woods
  • Vladimir Horowitz, The Unreleased Live Recordings, 1966-1983
Vinyl
  • Nine Inch Nails, Pretty Hate Machine

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Purchase log, 2022-01-18

[MF DOOM - MM..FOOD]

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
  • Tokyo Jihen, Sougou
Blu Ray
  • NUMBER GIRL / ZAZEN BOYS, THE MATSURI SESSION

Catalog

CD
  • LFO, Life Is Good
  • MF DOOM, Operation: Doomsday
  • MF DOOM, MM..Food
  • Patty Griffin, Children Running Through
  • Patty Griffin, Impossible Dream
  • Silk Sonic, An Evening with Silk Sonic
Vinyl
  • Anderson .Paak, Ventura

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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: 2008

[Santigold - Santigold]

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 Favorite Edition 2008 spurred this exercise to revisit lists from 10 years ago. While the Favorite 10 has only one change, the other favorites include a number of new discoveries.

  1. Santigold, Santigold
  2. MASS OF THE FERMENTING DREGS, MASS OF THE FERMENTING DREGS
  3. The Magnetic Fields, Distortion
  4. Emmylou Harris, All I Intended to Be
  5. ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION, World World World
  6. Girl Talk, Feed the Animals
  7. Sam Amidon, All Is Well
  8. Leo Imai, Fix Neon
  9. Nico Muhly, Mothertongue
  10. Spangle call Lilli line, ISOLATION

Other favorites from the year:

  • Matt Alber, Hide Nothing
  • ZAZEN BOYS, ZAZEN BOYS 4
  • Utada Hikaru, HEART STATION
  • Perfume, GAME
  • Jennifer Koh, String Poetic
  • Janelle Monáe, Metropolis: The Chase Suite
  • Chris Walla, Field Manual

It took me a year and a half to get around to Santigold. I’m not sure why I hadn’t, and I can’t remember what finally spurred me to do so. I’m just glad I did. Chris Walla, unfortunately, must make way.

Perfume, Jennifer Koh and Janelle Monáe are retroactive entries, replacing hey willpower, Bob Mould and VOLA AND THE ORIENTAL MACHINE.

I must have really been tough on Utada Hikaru’s HEART STATION — it didn’t even rank at the time.

Competition for this list was tough. Matt Alber and ZAZEN BOYS could have squeezed into the Favorite 10, and even Janet Jackson and R.E.M. turned out some decent work that year. The cup runneth over.

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Favorite Edition Rewind: 2012

[Cody ChesnuTT - Landing on a Hundred]

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.

What I find most remarkable about the 2012 list is the number of albums listed under honorable mentions. The revised list has culled a lot of those titles. I probably listed so many because I didn’t feel passionate enough about any of them.

  1. Solange, True
  2. Santigold, Master of My Make-Believe
  3. Jeremy Denk, Ligeti/Beethoven
  4. … And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead, Lost Songs
  5. Frank Ocean, channel ORANGE
  6. Cody Chesnutt, Landing on a Hundred
  7. ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION, Landmark
  8. ZAZEN BOYS, Stories
  9. Tokyo Jihen, Shinyawaku
  10. Duran Duran, A Diamond in the Mind

Other favorites from the year:

  • Scissor Sisters, Magic Hour
  • Roomful of Teeth, Roomful of Teeth
  • Gossip, A Joyful Noise
  • Tokyo Jihen, Tokyo Collection
  • TOUMING MAGAZINE, TOUMING MAGAZINE FOREVER
  • OBLIVION DUST, 9 Gates of Bipolar
  • Gaytheist, Stealth Beats

Cody ChesnuTT dislodges Scissor Sisters from the original list, and Frank Ocean jumps up a few spots. Otherwise, there are no remarkable changes.

If anything, 2012 has turned out to be something of a dud year. When I review my purchases in subsequent years, 2012 releases are scant, and most of the albums I bought that year only garner no more than a 3-star rating.

 

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