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I finally remembered to add the random album pickers to the OP. Searched around for a moment on my own, but couldn't actually find any more than the two suggested so far.
---------------------------------------- Aranis - Roqueforte https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon....11RWPx31mL.jpg This one turned out to be a real gem! Google refers to it as "experimental rock". It's all cellos, flutes and such, but I guess it does have a very kinetic, rhythmic vibe to it. I really liked most of this album. Great use of harmonic shifts and multiple layers of instrumentation playing along with and against each other. Everything on this album sounds great and the compositions are generally interesting. A slight Balkan vibe now and then. Not sure where Aranis is from (edit: ****ing Belgium?! Oh well...). Fortunately, it's easily available on Bandcamp right here: https://aranis.bandcamp.com/album/roqueforte Frownland and Janzsoon should probably make sure to check this out. Maybe also Grindy. |
Not sure if anyone else has been doing it this way tho I assume you have. I don't skip any albums when they come up. I always listen to the first suggested. Even if it's an artist I know, I still listen to it.
Again, I assume everyone is doing it this way. |
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Using the discover section isn't random at all since that's curated based on your listening habits.
I skip them if they look too ****ty in a genre I don't mesh with. Mostly old ****. |
Whatever works tbh. I was just curious if we were all doing it the same way. Doesn't really matter at the end of the day.
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I was curious is we should be skipping EPs? RYM is popping up a lot of them that look interesting, but so far I've been purist about a disc having to be a full-length release.
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EDIT: And I personally wouldn't skip EP's. I have nothing against the EP format. |
Anitta - Bang
https://is4-ssl.mzstatic.com/image/t...jpg/268x0w.jpg Some pretty straight forward mainstream pop music from 2015. Nothing much to say about it. There's some stylistic variety between these songs, but the album really just through every pop cliché of the time that you could possibly think of. Her voice is fine, but nothing special. The production is pretty unimaginative - which is generally not the case with good pop. I don't think there's any reason to listen to this album. |
Random albums my ass. This random album generator that was suggested earlier in the thread and is in the OP (https://www.randomlists.com/random-albums?qty=1) has given me 2 different Lady Gaga albums in not many more tries today at different times.
And then it gave me the above album, which is also mainstream pop. Then I use it again right now and it goes Lady Gaga again. EDIT: Clicked "rerun" button several times in a row and got a long row of mainstream pop superstars with even a few repeats. Bull****. I'm going back to my Spotify method. |
Try RYM.
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I outlined it in post #32: Quote:
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------------------------------------------- Elysian Fields - Seven Wonders of the World https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon....OqL._SS500.jpg Great... so this turned out to be a brand new prog rock album. Not really my genre. There are some cool moments here and there. I largely liked the track "The Walls of Babylon", but there's also plenty of what makes me dislike most typical prog rock material. "The Temple of Diana" is mostly a wretched display of cloying, low-rent Disney-isms and the guy at the microphone has a pretty weak falsetto. I swear I can't help but find his falsetto comedic. Sounds like a muppet or something. Still, some neat moments and the album sounds more energetic and less clinical than prog usually does to me. Recommended for Trollheart and Anteater. Probably exactly no one else. Oh, and Zanthemi. |
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Glad to see you had fun with that one. |
Audio Push - 90951
http://2dopeboyz.com/wp-content/uplo...push-90951.jpg Genre: Hip-Hop Year: 2016 Place of Origin: Inland Empire, CA General Pace: Chilled groove, R&B-like The Skinny: This was the first hip-hop selection that RYM has given me. Wikipedia tells me that Audio Push had a hit "Teach Me How to Jerk" in 2009, and they've put out a few mixtapes since then, but this is their first studio album. That's quite a time gap, so let's see what they were able to do. Summation: Oktane is the reflective one and Price is the partier, which is a combo that could go either way in terms of gel-factor. My honest opinion is that I didn't find the lyrical spins to be that engaging, and I had a hard time digesting what were real-life scenarios and what was mere showmanship, as there are a lot of mixed messages: money matters, but it doesn't; he's in a Cadillac, but also a Ford Focus at the same time; championing of single mothers, but still treating women like sex objects with derogatory names; taking the struggles seriously, but blowing up the scene and getting a fancy Benz. The beats themselves aren't horrible, but they're fairly generic? for the most part, or too nondescript for their own good. The only time I felt this album's balls drop a little was on "Throw It Back II." Interspersed between a few of the songs are short, seemingly random news clips from the zip code. These are studio-produced, not real, and much like the tracks themselves, while they want to tell a story, they seem to be thrown in there and don't connect as they should. Unfortunately, to me, it felt like there was a distance between the artists themselves and what they were throwing down in the lyric sheet, and that was the most disappointing thing about 90951. In a sea of albums, 90951 is just "kind of there." Best Song: "Throw It Back II" is Audio Push's most thumping, and "Spread Love" (ft. Eric Choice) is probably their most accessible. |
https://e.snmc.io/i/fullres/w/34bb62...a079f4/4981673
G'ny - Libèté (2003) The title means "freedom" in French Creole. This is my first brush with the language, which is, of course, full of interesting spice. Each track is titled and sung in the language, as well. Overall the album is a bit too slick R&B in feel for me, but this Random Album Club is fun anyway, so I was pleased with the experience if not the music, per se. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89KI...QzGcT3Fl4xF9H9 |
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...Lovestrong.png
Christina Perri - Lovestrong What a nice surprise this was. I just listened to a bit of it while updating my journal and I absolutely love everything it has going on. It's really well done how she puts together so many great instruments together. Especially the acoustic guitar. Her voice is also breathtakingly good. Been getting a lot of great female vocalists and I'm loving everything about it. Definitely going to listen to this again. I'm also a sucker for great lyrics and she's an amazing songwriter. And then I got to Jar of Hearts and realized exactly who this was. Man, I'm glad I listened to this now. |
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It's a great album too. Gonna listen to it again on my way to work tomorrow
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DJ Qbert - GalaXXXian
https://i1.sndcdn.com/artworks-00008...3-t500x500.jpg https://soundcloud.com/djqbert/sets/galaxxxian Genre: Hip-Hop Year: 2014 Place of Origin: San Francisco, CA General Pace: Regular tempo, beat-box, turntable type of stuff The Skinny: DJ Qbert, not to be confused with Gottlieb's Q*bert, and I'm quoting directly from the suspiciously self-written bio on his Web site, "is widely regarded as the most highly skilled skratching dj that has walked this planet." On to Wiki I went where I learned that Qbert, along with Mixmaster Mike, won the DMC World Championship three times in the '90s, and he was also voted America's Best DJ in 2010. Fair enough. Summation: Well, "Kooty Kat" was somewhat catchy, and that was kind of it. Much of GalaXXXian felt like old-school rap meshed with Limp Bizkit's mixing style. Not saying that's a fair comparison, because I'm sure it isn't when you break below the surface. And it's not throughout the whole album or anything, just a few songs, but it was my most immediate thought on some of the turntable sounds I was hearing. Check out "Back Suspension" and tell me if I'm wayward. Qbert's been around a long time, but he doesn't seem to take himself too seriously, so he's probably a cool cat. That said, I found the album's sound to be dated and frankly kind of boring, although there may be some technical scratch DJ enthusiasts who would want to have a word with me. Best Song: "Kooty Kat" (ft. P.E.A.C.E. of Freestyle Fellowship, Genie Love & Camille Velasco) |
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/fPYdUdp87GQ/maxresdefault.jpg
Here's one I just discovered, Whitchfinder General - Death Penalty. It's very doomy and reminds me a lot of the Ozzy/Sabbath I love (probably sounds like Master of Reality the most). At some points it sounds a little like they are copying the style rather than doing something fresh, but I dig the **** out of this album anyway. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2ZUTN8SgFo |
^Pretty cool. I remember listening to that many years ago because of the name relation to this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKV7WUM-Ots |
Wolf Parade - At Mount Zoomer
https://media.pitchfork.com/photos/5...0/b10fe42f.jpg Genre: Indie Rock, Art Rock Year: 2008 Place of Origin: Montreal, Quebec, Canada General Pace: Traditional 2000s indie sound with some psychedelic undertones Totally meh. Didn't make it through this one. |
The Lillingtons / Nothing Cool - Idiot Word Search [Split LP]
Genre: Punk Rock Year: 1997 Place(s) of Origin: USA: Newcastle, WY / San Fransisco, CA General Pace: Thrashing, furious/fast-paced instruments, some pop vocals Summation: As the title indicates, this is a split album between two punk bands, with The Lillingtons on Side A and Nothing Cool on Side B. Lyrically, the themes deal with teenage rebellion, partying and girl crushes, but the album fails to make any kind of statement. Is it really supposed to make a statement, though? Maybe they just want to make music. And musically, the album was fine. Nothing epic, but fine. I liked The Lillingtons better as they reminded me of this guy in high school who used to give me tape recordings of his garage band, which I still have. Best Song: "Teenage *******" |
Interstellar - Late Night Tea
https://is4-ssl.mzstatic.com/image/t...1200x630bb.jpg Genre: Electronic, Rock Year: 2000 Place of Origin: Canada General Pace: jazzy, lounge Summation: Pleasant, easygoing listening with some abrasive-yet-ambient textures and sci-fi sounds. That's what it wanted to be, and that's what you get. There is too much abrasion for me to call this dream pop, so I am calling it dream rock. Best Song: "Microburst." I liked the transmission signal noise that is in the background of the song for some reason. It starts @ 2:10 and progressively takes prominence by the end of the track. I am ready for my space probe now. |
Autoscan - Город слепых [EP]
Spoiler for Album Cover:
Genre: Heavy Metal Year: 2014 Place of Origin: Russian Federation General Pace: Thrash/fast-paced, furious, screaming EP title translates to City of the Blind. I'm definitely a fan of heavy instruments, but this is the type of metal with with unintelligible lyrics, so I can't tell you if they're good at that type of screaming style or not. Not that I'd understand what they were saying if it was in English. Song 3, "The Script" does have some singing in it. This thread's fun, but it's obviously going to lead to a lot of dead-ends, which is fine. I don't like putting ratings on music (too many grey areas). Instead of that, I am going say whether or not I would return to the album, which is a simple way to say a complex thing. Would I return to this album?: No. |
Creamers - Hurry Up & Wait
https://img.discogs.com/Vaa0J1WzH2PL...-2086.jpeg.jpg Genre: Punk Rock Year: 1993 Place of Origin: Los Angeles, CA General Pace: Fast-paced instruments with clear vocals Summation: Thrash-lite punk that sounds like Hole (but not as good) w/some male backing vocals too. Would work well as a '90s movie soundtrack where the plot is a co-ed group of early 20-something friends getting ****ed up while trying to figure out the rest of their lives. And I'm not saying that based on the cover, that's how it actually sounds. As the movie goes on they let their inner circle collapse as one girl gets pregnant by her boyfriend, one of the couples cheats on each other and parts ways, one transfers to a college in a different state to become a chiropractor and one dies of a drug overdose. Later in the movie they get together in their 40s and reminisce about old times and...ah **** it, I will let Ori write this ****. Creamers also included a cover of The Zombies' "She's Not There," if you like covers of classic pop/rock that they'd otherwise play in the supermarket :D. Would I return to this album?: No. |
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...orld_cover.png
Take That - Beautiful World (2006) This album legit sounds really familiar but I can't place my finger on it. However, it does turn out that I have not heard it before because it stops sounding familiar quite quickly. I really love the vocals and the easy listening guitar work they have going here. It's simple, but it works well together and makes for a fun album. |
Snafu - Snafu
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...20px-SNAFU.jpg Genre: Hard Rock Year: 1973 Place of Origin: United Kingdom General Pace: Moderate-classic: groovy and bluesy w/some country & bluegrass vibes Summation: Dang I really liked this. Great mix of what I define as classic rock and it's also fused with some smooth groves with balanced structures that don't funk over the riffs and de-rockify everything. This was not a struggle to get through as both the band and the recording are well put together. I bet this sounds amazing on vinyl. Snafu only had a three-year stint? Dafuq? Best Song: "Long Gone." Total banger and it's the first song in the video. Would I return to this album?: Yes. |
Shannon Stephens - Pull It Together
https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a1342940579_16.jpg https://shannonstephens.bandcamp.com...ll-it-together Genre: Indie Folk, Singer-Songwriter Year: 2012 Place of Origin: Seattle General Pace: Slow to moderate acoustic w/piano, downtempo Stephens's voice is clear and her sensitivity, humanness and effort doesn't go unnoticed, but this is one of those things where I don't have much of an opinion. Respect the output, but it's not my stuffz. No need to be more wordy than that as there's plentiful info on that Bandcamp link that's better than any nonsense I can spin on what her musical intent was for Pull It Together. Best Song: "Your Fabulous Friends." She gets a little feisty about facades, and it's tongue-in-cheek delicious. Would I return to this album?: No. |
The Beatles - Help! [Motion Picture Soundtrack]
https://img.discogs.com/xJVVAYjoQAuW...-3346.jpeg.jpg Genre: Pop Rock Year: 1965 Place of Origin: Earth General Pace: It's The Beatles. You know what they sound like. Never heard of these guys before... If you don't believe that, this is legit the first time I'm listening to a full Beatles album. Ever. As much as this genre/era and The Beatles were a staple growing up -- nonstop -- in listening to this, it never registered to me that their songs are super short, as most are barely over two minutes long. In total, Help! clocks in at under 30 minutes. I don't know how to describe it, but the Beatles can pack in to two minutes what may take other bands' songs seven minutes to extend, and not be draggy about it. Perhaps it's because the songs are designed to continually loop in your head, which of course they do, whether you like it or not. I have my issues with classic pop/rock, but The Beatles have never been one of them. This was the North American Capitol release that has songs from the film of the same name; 12 songs, five of them instrumentals. The instrumentals aren't memorable, but those aren't necessary unless you're a fan of the film. Would I return to this album?: It's The Beatles. |
Discogs: r:01990379 {using a random number generator}
An England Story (The Culture Of The MC In The UK 1983-2008) http://tinyimg.io/i/qEPm4Wf.jpg This is the 2 disc version of a difficult task of stuffing 25 years of UK dancehall, reggae, ragga and assorted into about 85 minutes. It’s got the first example on disc of UK “fast chat” with Papa Levi’s, “Mi God Mi King” and Jah Screechy's “Walk and Skank” (think: SL2: “On a Ragga Tip”). Ending with the faux-fun Cockney accent of neighbors complaining of next door heavy bass: Tippa Irie - “Complain Neighbour.” Too much hip-swivelin’ goodness for just two discs … so a Volume Two followed. |
The Weathermen - The Black Album According to the Weathermen
https://is5-ssl.mzstatic.com/image/t...tif/268x0w.jpg Genre: Electronic Pop Year: 1988 Place of Origin: Duo: Belgium/USA General Pace: Moderate Summation: Musically, The Black Album According to the Weathermen (BAATTW) is reminiscent of the style of the time, but it holds up surprisingly well audibly as the production sounds crisp. The Weathermen use talk-singing as their delivery device, overlaying the music's semi-industrial compositions, such as with "Tar Pit," but neither technique takes priority over the other. Intended as satire, The Weathermen butter you up on the first two songs with the mention of George H. W. Bush and high-life icon Barbie, so I was preparing myself for a full-on onslaught against and/or treatise on American consumer culture as the album progressed. But that's not what happens. Instead, the rest of the BAATTW is pretty unimaginative throughout as it descends into a loose connection of dilly-dally directionlessness and half-baked ideas. For example, "Twisting Doorknob" & "R U New to the Bayou" have voice samples of a man blabbering on about all of modern society's ills, but the points seem to get lost in the clouds. There is a lot more that could've been expanded upon with this release. Best Song: "Barbie And Ken." This song was catchy and had some of better lines. Not that catchy has to be the end all, be all every time out. Would I return to this album?: No. |
(Max Hawkins' Daily Random for Spotify)
Deodato: Prelude http://tinyimg.io/i/Yjoib0T.jpg There was a time (early 70s) when the jazz purists would sneer at anything coming from Creed Taylor’s label - especially a minor “hit” with a funky large band version of "Also Sprach Zarathustra" like this album had. CTI Records' reputation has actually survived well-intact after all of these decades as it should with the resurgence of MOR in classy leggings. Vermouth in its marrow cushioned by the likes of the creme of the crop session-men of this era: Hubert Laws, Bill Watrous, Marvin Stamm, Billy Cobham, Stanley Clarke, Ron Carter, a.o. Highlights: “Also Sprach…”, Ravel’s "Prelude to the Afternoon of a Fawn" and Cobham’s "September 13." |
(Max Hawkins' Daily Random for Spotify)
R. Stevie Moore – Delicate Tension (1979) http://tinyimg.io/i/dHEhCMT.jpg Celebrating the unpolished, the confidential, the defenseless and the crazed, R. Stevie Moore is a great-grandfather of lo-fi and the wandering troubadour of the American version of outsider music and hypnogogic pop. This album was his first official studio album that was recorded for his uncle’s small record label and he’s done over 400 records since this one. Beautifully sparse, rickety, outlooker songwriting that’s gained the adulation of people like Ariel Pink, The Residents and Chris Cutler. This, and his album “Phonography”, were good enough starts for him, so should it be for us. http://tinyimg.io/i/9MQW3d6.png |
Akalé Wubé - s/t
http://tinyimg.io/i/UfIfYH7.jpg Before the era of the Derg in Ethiopia (during the reign of Haile Selassie), you could count on top-notch ethio-stars coming out of Addis Ababa. Mahmoud Ahmed, Tilahun Gessesse, Alemayehu Eshete, a.o. released some fine LPs back then. I remember treasuring anything I could get by, for example, the Wallias Band on LP or cassette back in those days. But since the recording means were often crude, the sound didn’t always capture their brilliance. After the Derg era, things began to change musically with the introduction of newer performers who could write songs that could criticize the government without worrying about the hammer of censorship coming down on them. New worldwide attention opened up to many of the older musicians as well as younger, non-Ethiopian musicians who put forward their own take on the synthesis of free jazz, psych rock, hard bop, funk and traditional music that Mulatu Astatke and compatriots were exploring four decades ago. This album is from a quintet of musicians from Paris keeping to more traditional late 60s/early 70s style that’s more moody and modal than something that would be closer to a modern fusion of disparate forms. For “authenticity,” this is something that will transport you back a few decades while being able to catch every nuance. Roll out the injera, here are Akalé Wubé. Top tunes: “Jawa Jawa”; “Djemeregne” and “Yèkatit" |
Two quick ones:
Thunderwar - Wolfpack [EP] Spoiler for Album Cover:
Genre: Death Metal Year: 2018 Place of Origin: Warsaw, Poland General Pace: Fast-paced but not speed metal Summation: Dungeons, dragons and runes. Oh my! It was okay I guess. I wasn't much on the vocalist. Best Song: "Wolfpack" had the most brutal guitarwork but "Circle of Runes" was the most melodic. Prefer the former in this case, actually. Would I return to this album?: No. Aschmicrosa - Incubus Black Metal Spoiler for Album Cover:
Genre: Black Metal Year: 2006 Place of Origin: Slovenia General Pace: Heavy but not speedy Pretty much a black metal newb so I will do what I can here. Band was aight, not super horrible, but my metal-listening trend continues on not liking the vocals. The screaming didn't hit its mark either. This does have some symphonic vocal elements (chanting) in about 10% of the songs without feeling cheesy, so they did well there. Incubus Black Metal seems self-recorded but who knows. I did listen to the whole thing. Would I return to this album?: No. |
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