The Random Album Thread

[MicShazam]

Originally Posted by Frownland

It'd be cool if all of the mentioned random album generators were added to the OP.

Anyway, came up on this one. Might not listen to the whole thing but the first track is nice vaporwave that seems a little more focused and meticulously produced than most vaporwave albums out there.

PACIFICO CORP/国際 - インタラクティブ百科事典
https://pentium2.bandcamp.com/album/--13

EDIT: Well that went downhill fast.

I'll do it later. Gotta leave for work in when I'm done with my breakfast.

[Aux-In]

The other link I posted is not varied much at all, so I went ahead and signed up for RYM just to use the random feature. Pulled up a few where I couldn't find full albums and some were just singles releases. I also skipped a few just because I wanted to, which I know I shouldn't do. I'm trying to not get in the habit of skipping albums just because I think I won't like it, no matter the genre, which I almost did with this pick. But that defeats the purpose of randomness, so here we go:

Fred Eaglesmith - Drive-In Movie



Genre(s): Rock, Folk, World, & Country
Year: 1996
General Pace: Slow to moderate, downbeat, wonky, twangy.
Lyrics: Some interesting turns of phrase, some traditional heart-pang issues, and a lot of odes to Americana, or maybe it's Canadiana, because Eaglesmith is Canadian.

Listenthrough: If you didn't know Eaglesmith loved trains and automobiles before hitting the play button, you certainly will by the end of Drive-In Movie, with such lyrics as "I was born on a Greyhound bus, momma was a diesel engine," "49 tons of diesel locomotive couldn't drag me back to you," and "I wish I was a freight train." Tracks three to five deal with relationship woes, and those make for his least interesting material on the disc IMO, even with some of the backing vocals provided by Lynn Miles. Outside of that, Drive-In Movie is small town, throwback reflective type of stuff: Station Wagons, hookers, women on parole, soda machines, and winding, deserted roads with old-time gas stations. It's all there.

Best Song: White Rose is the best-produced.

Summation: I have to say, as much as the train and automobile themes felt somewhat semi-forced, this album would've been a lot more fun and creative if he continued down that road through its entirety. Just to see what he would've come up with, lyrically. If you want something that evokes a go West (to British Columbia? I suppose), wide-open, dusty road, good-natured outlaw experience with a little heartbreak on the side, this might be for you.

---

I looked him up on Wikipedia after I wrote this and found this:

As a teenager Eaglesmith hopped a freight train to Western Canada and began writing songs and performing.

That was pretty much my takeaway, so I'd say he got that across in this album like he intended.

[Aux-In]

Scumbo - Scumbo



https://soundcloud.com/scumbomusic

Genre: Many of the songs tagged as #indie on Soundcloud. I'd say it's non-genre specific. Has electronic beats mixed in, although not all songs are exclusively electronic.
Year: 2002
General Pace: Mid-tempo, chill/ambient (beat-oriented), spacey/spooky atmospheric, experimental.

Listenthrough: Had to splice the album together by individual song on Soundcloud. The album starts off with "Apricots," which had a very pleasant beat to it, even if it was lyrically repetitive. Then Scumbo spends some time being spacey and experimental until you get to track 14, "Traveling with Satan." It's here where Scumbo tries to sound like an actual band. Why isn't the rest of the album like this? Initially, I thought this was a solo project.

Best Song: "Apricots."
Worst Song: "Riddle." Awful.
Most Varied/Interesting Song: Many of the tracks try to be varied and experimental. "Apricots" is a more complete track insofar as the electro parts of the album go, but "In The Corner" had the most interesting beat, even if it only showed up in about 15% of the song.

Summation: In general, I found some of the beats to be pleasing, but Scumbo spends too much of its time not exploring them. Additionally, there was a lot of half-singing to make the singer's voice lighter, which is an affect I tend not to like. The mixing needs a lot of work, too, as it often sounded like both the backing vocals and some of the electronic parts were in a different room, or coming almost entirely out of the left speaker. Made for a jarring experience.

[Key]

Jem - Finally Woken (2004)

I'm already loving this album and I'm only 2 tracks in. It's described as trip hop, electronica, and folk-electronica. The vocalist is also fantastic and it uses other voice tracks throughout to make a really neat effect. What a fun way to start the day.

[Key]

Originally Posted by Kiiii

Jem - Finally Woken (2004)

I'm already loving this album and I'm only 2 tracks in. It's described as trip hop, electronica, and folk-electronica. The vocalist is also fantastic and it uses other voice tracks throughout to make a really neat effect. What a fun way to start the day.

Ended up listening to the whole thing. ****ing fantastic. Easily something I will dive more into. This was a fun one to discover.

[Mindy]

[Aux-In]

Böse - Space Jam

Spoiler for Album Cover:

https://bosenoise.bandcamp.com/album/space-jam

Genre: Jam Band, Psychedelic Rock
Year: 2014
Place of Origin: Opole, Poland
General Pace: Sluggish-heavy

Listenthrough: As far as a jam album is concerned, this was not pretentious and wanky. There are only four songs, all of them instrumentals. The first three are roughly 18 to 19 minutes long, so an attention span was required. That was easiest to do with "Blast Off," which starts the album off proper. Some nice riffs, more of a metal sound. Has enough reverb for my liking. Could've gone a little harder in some places, particularly track 2, "The Brightest Star." But it's a jam album, so there are no rules.

[Aux-In]

Asia - Aqua



Genre: AOR, Hard Rock
Year: 1992
Place of Origin: England
General Pace: Soaring, uptempo, progressive sound with some obligatory slow ballads.

Cool album cover. The music focuses on soaring melodies, and while Asia incorporates the use of guitar solos, they don't overpower the songs in which they appear. "Who Will Stop the Rain" and "Someday" had the nicest compositions, but this is just not the kind of music I've ever been able to get into, and this album didn't change my mind.

[Key]

Sophie Ellis Bextor - Read My Lips

holy **** this is fantastic. her vocals are legit amazing and it works really well in this kind of genre. definitely worth a look if you're into some pretty good female vocals and pop. I think Goofle would love this.

[Aux-In]

Deerhoof - Milk Man

Spoiler for Album Cover:

Genre: Noise Rock, Indie Rock, Art Rock, Experimental, etc.
Year: 2004
Place of Origin: San Fransisco, CA
General Pace: Downtempo to mid-tempo indie(ish)/experimental.

Knowing 100% of zero about this band going in, the female lead (Satomi Matsuzaki) was a bit of a surprise based soley off the name of the album and the album cover, which on RYM was only the subject's face. Matsuzaki sings in a minimalist, dreamlike, whisper-like tone, aligning herself squarely with the band's overall art-pop sound. Milk Man is also a little loungey here and there, but not in a predictable way as it remains experimental throughout.

• Production is clean.
• Deerhoof is doing their own thing; they're not trying to sound like anyone else.

While on the weird, indie side of my musical spectrum, I didn't mind it.