Micshazam's album and song picks

~~MicShazam~~ · 10-24-2018, 02:39 PM

I've been discovering incredible amounts of good music during 2018 so far, which got me wondering how my top list of artists/songs/albums will look in just another year. It's gonna be a pretty thorough rearrangement, because I really do love some of these new "additions" quite a bit. Neko Case is just one example of an artist that's threatening to mess with my top 10 rankings in several ways.

It might be premature, but I feel like my current standing is very different from just one year ago. Here's what I think might define my current tastes, at least in terms of my top artist/albums/songs:

All time top 10 artists
Neko Case
Dir En Grey
Stam1na
Tori Amos
Arkona
Waltari
Judie Tzuke
Kate Bush
Alela Diane
Barbara Morgenstern

All time top 10 albums
Tori Amos - Night of Hunters
Neko Case - Blacklisted (maybe premature, but oh ma gawd is it good)
Judie Tzuke - The Cat is Out
Waltari - Release Date
Kate Bush - Never Forever
Dir En Grey - Withering to Death
?
?
?
?

All time top 10 songs
Kate Bush - In Search of Peter Pan
Case/Lang/Veirs - Atomic Number (just... beautiful)
Arkona - Serbia
Judie Tzuke - How Sweet it Is
Tori Amos - Cloud Riders
Dir En Grey - Toguro
?
?
?
?

... and they're left incomplete, because this is really hard.
But the lists above reflect where my head is currently at, more or less.
Right now, I'm listening to a lot of metal. When I get back to all that singer songwriter material, that would make another attempt at lists like these lean even more heavily towards that sort of material. I'm pretty confident that Alela Diane, Neko Case, Laura Veirs and Beth Orton all have a shot of getting at least one album in my top 10. And that's actually quite something. Beth Orton's "Sugaring Season", for example, is really something special.

I just realized this is basically a ramble. I'm still gonna hit that button and post it. Living on the wild side!

~~MicShazam~~ · 10-26-2018, 11:57 AM

Haven't been checking out any new releases in a while since I've been getting so many things to listen to in the mail. That's gonna last a while longer, so if I wanna post something in here (and for inexplicable reasons, I do want to. Is anyone even reading? ... *crickets*) then I have to come up with something else.

Here's what I'm listening to this evening:

Tove Styrke - Kiddo

Second album by Swedish electropop artist Tove Styrke. Tove is a nordic girl's name, Styrke means "strength".
Pretty catchy album on the first spin. Lot's of variety between the songs. They all felt very individually distinguishable, with their own little sonic flourishes and ways of handling a solid pop melody and beat. Tove doesn't have the most unique singing voice ever, but she's got enough attitude and skill that it serves her well. I feel like this one is pretty solid. I might end up thinking pretty highly of it with subsequent listens. Definitely need to check out her other album(s).

A random track from the album:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Haff_Bawmpo

Katy B - Little Red

Soooooooo smooth.
I love the vibe of this album. It's this very poppy/dancey R&B pop thing with some quite catchy songs and, not least, just that slightly melancholy slow jam vibe that I love so much in a good dance album. Like Kylie's "Fever" album.

100% certain that this one will grow on me like a fungus.

A random track from the album:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REFzovTWGxU

~~MicShazam~~ · 10-28-2018, 03:44 PM

Just as I was thinking about how much I'm looking forward to it, a new single from an upcoming Jinjer "micro EP" is out. I think they're also working on a full album, but it's some distance away and it probably won't be out until well into next year.

Jinjer - Ape

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FC3djB7-nc0
Definitely more progressive in style, like they said the EP material would be. Pretty complicated song, but it's still got a lot of immediately enjoyable grooves and melodies.

The video weirds me out a bit. Feels like it's both very 2018, and sort of oddly 90's with that Matrix trench coat and that silly haircut that makes me thing of Prodigy.

Questionable fashion aside, it's a cool little track. I also like the video. Performance style videos are always the best.

~~MicShazam~~ · 10-28-2018, 03:54 PM

Oh yeah, and I also just ordered the two newest Amaranthe albums. As far as the current crop of popular metal bands go, you're not gonna find one that pisses off old school metal neckbeards more. So of course I'm attracted to them like a moth to a flame. Well, I'm not sure how much I will like this overall, but these Swedes know how to do a mean pop-metal hook. I want to hear more metal that feels modern and forward looking. It's fairly slim pickings.

Amaranthe - Maximize

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfk7YZJtmeo

Amaranthe - 365

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDVycjDLx4Y

~~MicShazam~~ · 11-02-2018, 01:19 PM

New music. Oh yeah.

Marie Davidson - 'Work It'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23Df3jHYTrs

My god this is cheesy. I like it.

Farao - Lula Loves You

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYVp3AGShfw
Gonna try and be like a true MB resident: *ahem* "If you don't like this, I don't like you."

Doe Paoro - Loose Plans

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PtEYLAqPOk
Pretty basic old school r&b stuff. I would be lynched for this if anyone really noticed, but I feel like contemporary artists working in classic styles have more solid songs on average. Like the albums, even if nothing innovative, are more solid than the albums from the time where these styles were first pioneered. Hindsight gives you a lot of material and inspiration to work with. It's like contemporary genre artists often manage to laser focus and get rid of all the tripe. Just memorable tunes front to back. Most music geeks say the first bands in a style are the best. I say they're the worst*. Haven't actually heard this album in full, but I'm basically saying that I feel like it's probably solid overall.

*: There's a lot more to say there. It's too big a topic for this space and I already think I shouldn't have said it.

Ingrid Michaelson's Song's for the Season - White Christmas

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ta-HuVGtcH8
Oh. My. God. Just the right kind of nostalgic christmas vibe. I can't wait to visit my parents for christmas now

Totally gonna buy this album. Her voice is adorable. I'm fully convinced that this is worth my money.

Hélène Grimaud - Bagatelle I

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vdn1gzvXPvk
Most gorgeous rendition I've ever heard of this piece. Gonna buy this album for sure.

~~MicShazam~~ · 11-03-2018, 03:44 AM

A while ago, I got a large amount of albums that were all by Danish artists. The thing is, that I've never really liked Danish music. Except for D.A.D, I just didn't actually have any Danish music in my huge collection. I've done a lot to explore Danish music now and found a lot that I actually really like. What surprised me was how easy it was to pull off. I took a chance on about 10 CD's and liked all of them right away.

Anyway, I just want to post some Danish music that I've been getting into. From some really solid albums.

Karen Busck - En Kærlighedsaffære

Karen Busck - Det Er Slut Nu

Karen Busck - Listetyv

Both from the album "En Kærlighedsaffære". A very beautiful, melancholy songwriter album. Some really good lyrical imagery on this album, like using a tennis metaphor to paint an image of failure and quiet despair: "(translated) I prepare to smash the ball and it rolls pathetically across the ground". Almost a shame it's in Danish, because the lyricism is one of the things I think is really amazing about this album.

Line Bøgh - Something Else and Something Else and Something Else Again

I just really like her somewhat odd voice. There's a lot of accent there, so it's obvious she's not English or American. I think this album is very strong vocally, but also in terms of songwriting. Very low key, but incredibly well done in terms of arrangements, textures and song structures. It's an album that's got a lot of feeling to it. Fortunately, I know she's got a few other albums too.

Fallulah - The Black Cat Neighbourhood

Just some good, modern indie pop. Had some hits years ago, but probably not across the border. Or maybe she did, I don't know. I really dig this kind of thing these days, so of course this album is right up by alley with ease.

I want to post some more, but for now I'm leaving it at this. Turns out it's actually hard-to-impossible to find songs from many of these various Danish artists on Youtube.

~~MicShazam~~ · 11-17-2018, 06:14 AM

Some new music:

Azusa - Heavy Yoke (Official Music Video)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktjgXsNSSgo
Damn! That's pretty interesting. One of very few metal releases that have really caught my attention in 2018. Kinda worried that the album is gonna be too much one dimensional high speed smashing, but this one track certainly has several things going for it.

Sigh - Homo Homini Lupus

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QF_gBJ1SjF4
New single from Sigh. Pretty Iron Maiden like in that opening riff, but more of what you expect from Sigh right after that. Still not sure what I think of this band.

ANNEKE VAN GIERSBERGEN - Your Glorious Light Will Shine - Helsinki (Album Track)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LzWAkj0uwfs
Anneke Van Giersbergen performing various Vuur and The Gathering track with a symphony and no metal instrumentation. Sounds pretty crisp.

~~MicShazam~~ · 11-25-2018, 11:06 AM

I was thinking if there was some not way-too-work-intensive approach by which I could write about every single band/solo artist in my current list of favourites, but I'll have to conclude that it is simply unrealistic.

Instead, I'll somewhat pointlessly dump a public Google Drive link to a folder with pictures that show my current 105 personal favourites. It's simply a backup of a folder I'm always updating on my computer.

My current 105 favourite musical artists: https://drive.google.com/drive/folde...8YsKIiKNp_4Vny

Similarly, here's my updated folder with pics of all of the 2018 albums that I'm interested in but haven't bought yet:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folde...1y?usp=sharing

~~MicShazam~~ · 11-25-2018, 11:09 AM

^Forgot to mention that all of the weird notation in the 2018 albums folder is there to push more important albums towards the top of the listing, mostly.

+ the list is incomplete. I've got a few album covers saved on another computer that I use sometimes.

~~MicShazam~~ · 12-02-2018, 02:45 AM

I don't know what to do with this journal.

Any serious suggestions?
Like, no trolling, but earnest opinions.

10-24-2018, 02:39 PM	#181 (permalink)
~~MicShazam~~ Account Disabled Join Date: Aug 2015 Location: Aalborg Posts: 7,634	I've been discovering incredible amounts of good music during 2018 so far, which got me wondering how my top list of artists/songs/albums will look in just another year. It's gonna be a pretty thorough rearrangement, because I really do love some of these new "additions" quite a bit. Neko Case is just one example of an artist that's threatening to mess with my top 10 rankings in several ways. It might be premature, but I feel like my current standing is very different from just one year ago. Here's what I think might define my current tastes, at least in terms of my top artist/albums/songs: All time top 10 artists Neko Case Dir En Grey Stam1na Tori Amos Arkona Waltari Judie Tzuke Kate Bush Alela Diane Barbara Morgenstern All time top 10 albums Tori Amos - Night of Hunters Neko Case - Blacklisted (maybe premature, but oh ma gawd is it good) Judie Tzuke - The Cat is Out Waltari - Release Date Kate Bush - Never Forever Dir En Grey - Withering to Death ? ? ? ? All time top 10 songs Kate Bush - In Search of Peter Pan Case/Lang/Veirs - Atomic Number (just... beautiful) Arkona - Serbia Judie Tzuke - How Sweet it Is Tori Amos - Cloud Riders Dir En Grey - Toguro ? ? ? ? ... and they're left incomplete, because this is really hard. But the lists above reflect where my head is currently at, more or less. Right now, I'm listening to a lot of metal. When I get back to all that singer songwriter material, that would make another attempt at lists like these lean even more heavily towards that sort of material. I'm pretty confident that Alela Diane, Neko Case, Laura Veirs and Beth Orton all have a shot of getting at least one album in my top 10. And that's actually quite something. Beth Orton's "Sugaring Season", for example, is really something special. I just realized this is basically a ramble. I'm still gonna hit that button and post it. Living on the wild side! Last edited by MicShazam; 10-24-2018 at 02:47 PM.

10-26-2018, 11:57 AM	#182 (permalink)
~~MicShazam~~ Account Disabled Join Date: Aug 2015 Location: Aalborg Posts: 7,634	Haven't been checking out any new releases in a while since I've been getting so many things to listen to in the mail. That's gonna last a while longer, so if I wanna post something in here (and for inexplicable reasons, I do want to. Is anyone even reading? ... crickets) then I have to come up with something else. Here's what I'm listening to this evening: Tove Styrke - Kiddo Second album by Swedish electropop artist Tove Styrke. Tove is a nordic girl's name, Styrke means "strength". Pretty catchy album on the first spin. Lot's of variety between the songs. They all felt very individually distinguishable, with their own little sonic flourishes and ways of handling a solid pop melody and beat. Tove doesn't have the most unique singing voice ever, but she's got enough attitude and skill that it serves her well. I feel like this one is pretty solid. I might end up thinking pretty highly of it with subsequent listens. Definitely need to check out her other album(s). A random track from the album: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Haff_Bawmpo Katy B - Little Red Soooooooo smooth. I love the vibe of this album. It's this very poppy/dancey R&B pop thing with some quite catchy songs and, not least, just that slightly melancholy slow jam vibe that I love so much in a good dance album. Like Kylie's "Fever" album. 100% certain that this one will grow on me like a fungus. A random track from the album: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REFzovTWGxU

10-28-2018, 03:44 PM	#183 (permalink)
~~MicShazam~~ Account Disabled Join Date: Aug 2015 Location: Aalborg Posts: 7,634	Just as I was thinking about how much I'm looking forward to it, a new single from an upcoming Jinjer "micro EP" is out. I think they're also working on a full album, but it's some distance away and it probably won't be out until well into next year. Jinjer - Ape https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FC3djB7-nc0 Definitely more progressive in style, like they said the EP material would be. Pretty complicated song, but it's still got a lot of immediately enjoyable grooves and melodies. The video weirds me out a bit. Feels like it's both very 2018, and sort of oddly 90's with that Matrix trench coat and that silly haircut that makes me thing of Prodigy. Questionable fashion aside, it's a cool little track. I also like the video. Performance style videos are always the best.

10-28-2018, 03:54 PM	#184 (permalink)
~~MicShazam~~ Account Disabled Join Date: Aug 2015 Location: Aalborg Posts: 7,634	Oh yeah, and I also just ordered the two newest Amaranthe albums. As far as the current crop of popular metal bands go, you're not gonna find one that pisses off old school metal neckbeards more. So of course I'm attracted to them like a moth to a flame. Well, I'm not sure how much I will like this overall, but these Swedes know how to do a mean pop-metal hook. I want to hear more metal that feels modern and forward looking. It's fairly slim pickings. Amaranthe - Maximize https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfk7YZJtmeo Amaranthe - 365 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDVycjDLx4Y

11-02-2018, 01:19 PM	#185 (permalink)
~~MicShazam~~ Account Disabled Join Date: Aug 2015 Location: Aalborg Posts: 7,634	New music. Oh yeah. Marie Davidson - 'Work It' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23Df3jHYTrs My god this is cheesy. I like it. Farao - Lula Loves You https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYVp3AGShfw Gonna try and be like a true MB resident: ahem "If you don't like this, I don't like you." Doe Paoro - Loose Plans https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PtEYLAqPOk Pretty basic old school r&b stuff. I would be lynched for this if anyone really noticed, but I feel like contemporary artists working in classic styles have more solid songs on average. Like the albums, even if nothing innovative, are more solid than the albums from the time where these styles were first pioneered. Hindsight gives you a lot of material and inspiration to work with. It's like contemporary genre artists often manage to laser focus and get rid of all the tripe. Just memorable tunes front to back. Most music geeks say the first bands in a style are the best. I say they're the worst. Haven't actually heard this album in full, but I'm basically saying that I feel like it's probably solid overall. : There's a lot more to say there. It's too big a topic for this space and I already think I shouldn't have said it. Ingrid Michaelson's Song's for the Season - White Christmas https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ta-HuVGtcH8 Oh. My. God. Just the right kind of nostalgic christmas vibe. I can't wait to visit my parents for christmas now Totally gonna buy this album. Her voice is adorable. I'm fully convinced that this is worth my money. Hélène Grimaud - Bagatelle I https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vdn1gzvXPvk Most gorgeous rendition I've ever heard of this piece. Gonna buy this album for sure.

11-03-2018, 03:44 AM	#186 (permalink)
~~MicShazam~~ Account Disabled Join Date: Aug 2015 Location: Aalborg Posts: 7,634	A while ago, I got a large amount of albums that were all by Danish artists. The thing is, that I've never really liked Danish music. Except for D.A.D, I just didn't actually have any Danish music in my huge collection. I've done a lot to explore Danish music now and found a lot that I actually really like. What surprised me was how easy it was to pull off. I took a chance on about 10 CD's and liked all of them right away. Anyway, I just want to post some Danish music that I've been getting into. From some really solid albums. Karen Busck - En Kærlighedsaffære Karen Busck - Det Er Slut Nu Karen Busck - Listetyv Both from the album "En Kærlighedsaffære". A very beautiful, melancholy songwriter album. Some really good lyrical imagery on this album, like using a tennis metaphor to paint an image of failure and quiet despair: "(translated) I prepare to smash the ball and it rolls pathetically across the ground". Almost a shame it's in Danish, because the lyricism is one of the things I think is really amazing about this album. Line Bøgh - Something Else and Something Else and Something Else Again I just really like her somewhat odd voice. There's a lot of accent there, so it's obvious she's not English or American. I think this album is very strong vocally, but also in terms of songwriting. Very low key, but incredibly well done in terms of arrangements, textures and song structures. It's an album that's got a lot of feeling to it. Fortunately, I know she's got a few other albums too. Fallulah - The Black Cat Neighbourhood Just some good, modern indie pop. Had some hits years ago, but probably not across the border. Or maybe she did, I don't know. I really dig this kind of thing these days, so of course this album is right up by alley with ease. I want to post some more, but for now I'm leaving it at this. Turns out it's actually hard-to-impossible to find songs from many of these various Danish artists on Youtube.

11-17-2018, 06:14 AM	#187 (permalink)
~~MicShazam~~ Account Disabled Join Date: Aug 2015 Location: Aalborg Posts: 7,634	Some new music: Azusa - Heavy Yoke (Official Music Video) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktjgXsNSSgo Damn! That's pretty interesting. One of very few metal releases that have really caught my attention in 2018. Kinda worried that the album is gonna be too much one dimensional high speed smashing, but this one track certainly has several things going for it. Sigh - Homo Homini Lupus https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QF_gBJ1SjF4 New single from Sigh. Pretty Iron Maiden like in that opening riff, but more of what you expect from Sigh right after that. Still not sure what I think of this band. ANNEKE VAN GIERSBERGEN - Your Glorious Light Will Shine - Helsinki (Album Track) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LzWAkj0uwfs Anneke Van Giersbergen performing various Vuur and The Gathering track with a symphony and no metal instrumentation. Sounds pretty crisp.

11-25-2018, 11:06 AM	#188 (permalink)
~~MicShazam~~ Account Disabled Join Date: Aug 2015 Location: Aalborg Posts: 7,634	I was thinking if there was some not way-too-work-intensive approach by which I could write about every single band/solo artist in my current list of favourites, but I'll have to conclude that it is simply unrealistic. Instead, I'll somewhat pointlessly dump a public Google Drive link to a folder with pictures that show my current 105 personal favourites. It's simply a backup of a folder I'm always updating on my computer. My current 105 favourite musical artists: https://drive.google.com/drive/folde...8YsKIiKNp_4Vny Similarly, here's my updated folder with pics of all of the 2018 albums that I'm interested in but haven't bought yet: https://drive.google.com/drive/folde...1y?usp=sharing

11-25-2018, 11:09 AM	#189 (permalink)
~~MicShazam~~ Account Disabled Join Date: Aug 2015 Location: Aalborg Posts: 7,634	^Forgot to mention that all of the weird notation in the 2018 albums folder is there to push more important albums towards the top of the listing, mostly. + the list is incomplete. I've got a few album covers saved on another computer that I use sometimes.

12-02-2018, 02:45 AM	#190 (permalink)
~~MicShazam~~ Account Disabled Join Date: Aug 2015 Location: Aalborg Posts: 7,634	I don't know what to do with this journal. Any serious suggestions? Like, no trolling, but earnest opinions.