I love the question! I rarely listen to songs or playlists, and almost never algorithm based streams. Instead I put on albums I like. Even in my 10m-15m drive to work, and do that until I'm tired on an album. So, love the question.
Aesop Rock's Integrated Tech Solutions.
Being a long time fan I thought The Impossible Kid was fantastic. TIK was as creative and ponderous as anything he'd done, but often felt more accessible and personally inviting. While accessibility is not something you generally look for with Aesop, that feeling of being personal really made it pay off. Spirit World Field Guide was good and was interesting, but didn't work for me as much. Maybe it was a case of enjoying TIK so much, and comparison being the thief of joy? But ITS absolutely feels top notch again. Love it.
Also worth mentioning is Powerman 5000.
A year or so ago (while on a kick to my youth) I found out they were still making music and had released an album (The Noble Rot) in 2020. Shortly after I discovered that, they released one in 2024 (Abandon Ship.) They're not great songs, but they're all great vibes. The songs feel like they 3/4s to being great to me. Like they kept the dial at a 7 or 8 instead of turning it up to 11. And even when they did turn it up, it was only at the very end. Maybe he's going for something different, or maybe I've changed, but the strength feels off. But damn the vibes are still there.
It was! The drum set was incredible. They had a 4 piece choir of really talented singers in the background. It was an incredible show. I was young but it made a real impression. They even flashed back and did the giant pigs falling from the towers. I'll never forget that night.
Addendum: If you ever decide to burn that as a CD, you need to remove the default 2 second delay between tracks for the album to play through as intended.
Pink Floyd was always like that, even though they had multiple tracks, their albums were meant to be experienced as a single solid piece of work.
You're quite welcome! I found that CD in the ditch on a bicycle ride one day in my teens. Two songs were already my favorites, but finding that CD, with no scratches even, was one of my best finds.
Gilmour's guitar work on that album gives me chills just thinking about it. Even after 30 years, Marooned still teleports my mind to some deserted island every time I hear it.
I realize this may be a bit of a stretch for some, but an artist called Lindsheaven Virtual Plaza took the opening track Cluster One and made a sprawling 17-minute piece combining portions of the song with his own ambient additions... It's a track called "Polydreaming Mall" from their album Transversal Worldwide Shopping... I've enjoyed listening to it many times: https://underwater-computing.bandcamp.com/track/polydreaming-mall
Been ages since I've listened to it until just the other day i took it for a spin. Funny how much i still remember, even those ridiculous Raleigh soliloquies. That really is a great album, crazy how young they were making such good music
"Spirit Of Eden" by Talk Talk.
Like a friend said when I showed it to him - "Damn, that sounds like Radiohead ten years before Radiohead!" Yeah, and even more sublime.
Dude she showed some videos and it looked unreal. Full disclosure, we are both not into this type of music. Despite that, she said it was probably one of the best concerts she'd ever seen.
We live in New Zealand, and the group had joined forces with a local group of Maori performers who blended in their own cultural practices. It seems like they went above and beyond to tailor their performance to the local setting and honouring native practices here.
I'm really sad I didn't join, but occasionally you have to give the wife a girls night out.
I've been playing Yeule's softscars over and over for a few weeks now. I've never really been into shoegaze, but they put a really interesting twist on it that I've fallen in love with. The lyrics are very dark and personal, and it's a very heavy album - both musically and emotionally. Their videos all have really beautiful aesthetics, and I really love the late 90s/early 00s feeling in the video for dazies.
I love Demons. Seems like most people are moving on to their more recent melodic power sound, but Demons had such a perfect mix of melodic and thrashy. Plus, Daughters of Winterstone might be my favorite song of theirs.
Great thread idea, I'm going to listen to a batch of these as they sound excellent! :)
For me I'm utterly loving the new Kim Deal* album "Nobody Loves You More" - it came out today, and oh yes it's good!
It's unexpected with style, almost 60s with brass and strings at times, then there's other songs that sound modern... and beyond making my ears happy, it's great songwriting :)
*(Former Pixies bassist and the fronthuman for the Breeders)
So I went and listened to the tracks on her bandcamp page. And in a couple days I'll have the vinyl! What a weird album! I feel like it's bound to get many repeat listens. So much to take in!
Reminds me of listening to the Alvvays albums. Little awkward at first but clearly something unique and special!
Awesome! I'm really glad! :) there's nothing like rocking an album on the day it comes out! I'm dropping lead weighted hints that I need it for christmas, that and being broke are the sole reasons it's not on order already 😂
Definitely a tie between Where Have All The Merrymakers Gone? from Harvey Danger, Never Bet The Devil Your Head from Subrosa, and Example from Four Squirrels. They're currently my favorite CD albums out of the small collection I've gotten over the last year.
It's not my favorite album, but I have been listening to Marcy Playground by Marcy Playground a lot recently. It was one of my first favorite albums and still is.
"Deathconsciousness" by Have a Nice Life. I described it to a friend as "nice music with which to smoke a joint and watch your life spiral into oblivion"
Ne Obliviscaris - Portal of I. A progressive extreme metal. If you want to give it a shot, listen And Plague Flowers The Kaleidoscope, to see if it is for you.
Honorific mention to Nirvana - All of us. This is not Kurt Kobain's Nirvana, but another band called that way back from 1967. Amazing soft psychedelic rock. The band's history is quite interesting as well, including a lawsuit against Kurt Kobain's Nirvana, and then also trying to cash out of KB's Nirvana popularity by launching a new album after several years of breaking up, in order to profit from confused customers. Then, last year they launched a new album, after 50+ years of their original break up (which I really enjoy as well).
Hand of Juno just released their first album, Psychotic Banana, and I've been binging it for a solid two weeks. Good mix of heavy and melodic, and good variation between songs. Got its hooks in me.
I will say, some songs are different enough that they almost sound like different artists, so if you check them out it's worth trying a few tracks. "Polline" and "Destroy the Line" are my favorite heavy songs. "The One", "We've Built the Line", and "Not a Game" are my favorites on the melodic side.
I've been beating Dance Gavin Dance's Jackpot Juicer to death recently, every time I listen to it my favorite song on it changes. Swallowed by Eternity goes HARD.
I don't know if I could ever pick a favorite album, it just depends on the day, but if there is one that I come back to most often it's Incubus's S.C.I.E.N.C.E. It's indulgent in a fun, unserious, sort of manic kind of way. They play like kid's in a musical candy shop, and when I listen to them the feeling is mutual. Honorable mention to Afungus Amongus.
i don't do albums. as a kid, we basically only had recorded-from-radio cassettes. when we got a CD player in like 1999, we mostly bought those "now that's what i call music" collections. i didn't really listen to music myself at all until like 18-19. i didn't see the point. as a result i basically can't sit through an entire album of the same genre.
Probably not, there's plenty of people who mostly just listen to the radio and don't own much music. Sounds much the same. If it doesn't work for you then it doesn't work for you!
That's so interesting! As a kid I remember not liking much music until I found some individual songs that I loved, then I couldn't get enough and albums were my thing!
I'm a bit of both on albums - some I have on end to end no matter what (R.E.M especially), but then there's some bands I'm like you and wander off halfway through! :)
Trying to think of bands that genre-hop and might be fun for you end-to-end on one disc
that would be interesting! the few "albums" i have gone through recently have all been by mashup artists, so the genres have been all over the place but the "touch" of the artist has been there throughout.
You will never hear a recorded song more clearly than vinyl. A good record player patched into a big 1970s cabinet console. The sound is only beat by live music.
Have you considered that maybe you don't like music?
going from "i don't listen to albums" to "maybe you don't like music" is incredibly strange. i listen to tons of music which i love. i just don't do albums. I buy loads of songs on bandcamp and have multiple constantly growing playlists hundreds of tracks long.
You will never hear a recorded song more clearly than vinyl
that's just demonstrably not true. maybe on a perfectly calibrated player in a completely dust-free lab environment with no air movement on a never-played vinyl that was just pressed and has never been moved. as soon as one of those conditions fail to hold the sound is distorted. from an acoustic perspective, live music also tends to have really weird sound and it's usually muddied by the environment.
I'm too mercurial and indecisive to ever have a definitive favourite anything. So here's three that do well on different metrics:
PJ Harvey - Let England Shake
It's one of the strongest first halves of an album ever in my opinion.
Funkadelic - Maggot Brain
Fond memories, and if you've nothing to do for an hour headphones, the two of you and a comfy chair are still a great way to pass it.
Talking Heads - Fear of Music
Probably the album I've listened to most. Lot of big tunes here.
I love the question! I rarely listen to songs or playlists, and almost never algorithm based streams. Instead I put on albums I like. Even in my 10m-15m drive to work, and do that until I'm tired on an album. So, love the question.
Aesop Rock's Integrated Tech Solutions. Being a long time fan I thought The Impossible Kid was fantastic. TIK was as creative and ponderous as anything he'd done, but often felt more accessible and personally inviting. While accessibility is not something you generally look for with Aesop, that feeling of being personal really made it pay off. Spirit World Field Guide was good and was interesting, but didn't work for me as much. Maybe it was a case of enjoying TIK so much, and comparison being the thief of joy? But ITS absolutely feels top notch again. Love it.
Also worth mentioning is Powerman 5000. A year or so ago (while on a kick to my youth) I found out they were still making music and had released an album (The Noble Rot) in 2020. Shortly after I discovered that, they released one in 2024 (Abandon Ship.) They're not great songs, but they're all great vibes. The songs feel like they 3/4s to being great to me. Like they kept the dial at a 7 or 8 instead of turning it up to 11. And even when they did turn it up, it was only at the very end. Maybe he's going for something different, or maybe I've changed, but the strength feels off. But damn the vibes are still there.
While I'm reluctant to call anything a magnum opus... You're bang on about the difference between those two and SWFG.
Radiohead - Kid A
Was, is, and probably always will be..
Pink Floyd - The Division Bell
I took in this concert back then. It was a really great show.
Damn, I imagine it was!
It was! The drum set was incredible. They had a 4 piece choir of really talented singers in the background. It was an incredible show. I was young but it made a real impression. They even flashed back and did the giant pigs falling from the towers. I'll never forget that night.
Archived. If the link gives you crap, use Firefox..
https://tinyurl.com/pinkfloyddivisionbell
I already use Firefox so I had no issue. Thanks!
Addendum: If you ever decide to burn that as a CD, you need to remove the default 2 second delay between tracks for the album to play through as intended.
Pink Floyd was always like that, even though they had multiple tracks, their albums were meant to be experienced as a single solid piece of work.
But I'm sure you already knew that. 👍🎶
You're quite welcome! I found that CD in the ditch on a bicycle ride one day in my teens. Two songs were already my favorites, but finding that CD, with no scratches even, was one of my best finds.
Of course I had to archive it!
Gilmour's guitar work on that album gives me chills just thinking about it. Even after 30 years, Marooned still teleports my mind to some deserted island every time I hear it.
For real, that track is just 😙🤌 Gilmour might be my favorite guitarist.
Division Bell was a big one for me too.
I realize this may be a bit of a stretch for some, but an artist called Lindsheaven Virtual Plaza took the opening track Cluster One and made a sprawling 17-minute piece combining portions of the song with his own ambient additions... It's a track called "Polydreaming Mall" from their album Transversal Worldwide Shopping... I've enjoyed listening to it many times: https://underwater-computing.bandcamp.com/track/polydreaming-mall
David Gilmour's On This Island is a perfect album to play right afterwards ;)
The age of consent by Bronski Beat. You can get some preview here: https://www.qobuz.com/us-en/album/the-age-of-consent-bronski-beat/iiserdbkur9hc
Killer album. Here are a couple other places to find it:
Doing 3 because I'm eclectic. They are different enough that I feel justified.
Tool - Fear Inoculum
Run the Jewels 2 (3 is incredible also)
Chappell Roan - The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess
I can listen (have listened recently and frequently) to all three repeatedly.
I've heard of a couple of these. I'll check them out!
I'm back on "Robbin the hood" from sublime. Old but fantastic.
Sublime is timeless to me. Wish there were more of it. Looking at you too Blind Melon 😞
Dancing with Mr. Brownstone is pretty predictable unfortunately. RIP to those two and so many more.
I actually grew up near where blind melon were from. Got to see them a few times in small clubs. Drugs are fun until they're not...
Been ages since I've listened to it until just the other day i took it for a spin. Funny how much i still remember, even those ridiculous Raleigh soliloquies. That really is a great album, crazy how young they were making such good music
Ha! Just listened to that one this morning. The bassline in greatest hits always gets me
All three Audioslave albums. I just love the fact that they gave Chris Cornell space and didn't all try and overshadow his vocals.
Devin Townsend’s PowerNerd. “I love petting the cat!” 🐱
DEVY HAS A NEW ALBUM?! YEEAAUUURRGH!!!
Edit: I’m a minute in and this fucking rules.
It's an awesome opening to the album, "oooaaaahhh POWERRRNERRD!", classic Devin!
Reminds me of the opening of ZILLLLTOIIIID scream THE OM-NI-SCI-ENT
Love Devy so much.
"Spirit Of Eden" by Talk Talk.
Like a friend said when I showed it to him - "Damn, that sounds like Radiohead ten years before Radiohead!" Yeah, and even more sublime.
"Enn" by Eivør, simply amazing! Was on a concert a few weeks back, totalt 600 people and it was a blast!
Have a listen: https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_mfYUyMRk-zYA1V1Z04a7GGB106N2JT5vU&si=m-R3MtJD1CuUTmVV
My wife saw her last week with a band called Heilung. That looked pretty out the gates
What a night! How were Heilung live if I may ask? I've been thinking of going to their show here in February.
Dude she showed some videos and it looked unreal. Full disclosure, we are both not into this type of music. Despite that, she said it was probably one of the best concerts she'd ever seen.
We live in New Zealand, and the group had joined forces with a local group of Maori performers who blended in their own cultural practices. It seems like they went above and beyond to tailor their performance to the local setting and honouring native practices here.
I'm really sad I didn't join, but occasionally you have to give the wife a girls night out.
What an awesome show that must have been! Maybe I have to really go then!
Low – Long Division (and actually any Low album at the moment)
I still remember when Double Negative was released, knocked me off my feet even as a long time fan of records like that and TWLITF. RIP Mimi 😢
Tom Waits, Mule Variations.
He's big in Japan
Blind Guardian - The God Machine
Best of Module - by Module
Module has always been my soundtrack through hard times, and I was fortunate enough to get a signed copy of this album.
It’s a pretty well-constructed compilation and I think it’s worth a listen, no matter what you typically like.
But uh… I might be biased:
Magdalena Bay - Imaginal Disk
(At this moment, it changes frequently)
Treat yourself to Fontaines DC's new album "Romance"!
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_kZT0QOARqqnSdN_UcUN0qBfANvv4hvaq0&si=E0LfKskRbRr5vdFG
I played this in my house when it came out because I liked Skinty Fia; my kid immediately said "play that again please, the whole album". I love it!
Not Safe For Working Class - by Trashbag Ponchos
Justice - Hyperdrama
Hellmode - Jeff Rosenstock
The only other thing I'm listening to atm. is the Monogatari series openings and endings
I've been playing Yeule's softscars over and over for a few weeks now. I've never really been into shoegaze, but they put a really interesting twist on it that I've fallen in love with. The lyrics are very dark and personal, and it's a very heavy album - both musically and emotionally. Their videos all have really beautiful aesthetics, and I really love the late 90s/early 00s feeling in the video for dazies.
At this moment -
The Boy Bands Have Won by Chumbawumba.
It had been taken off Spotify for a while but it's back and I can't get enough.
The Graveyard and Voodoo by King Diamond
Voodoo by D'Angelo is another top tier album
Of all time, The Cure's Disintegration. Lately, it's been Kangding Ray's Zero. Exactly what you need from a great techno record
The Death Stranding OST
Right now either Persona by half alive or CHROMAKOPIA by Tyler the Creator
Unleash the archers album "Demons of the AstroWaste"
One of the few albums I can groove to cover to cover.
I love Demons. Seems like most people are moving on to their more recent melodic power sound, but Demons had such a perfect mix of melodic and thrashy. Plus, Daughters of Winterstone might be my favorite song of theirs.
The one I'm writing! I don't have anything released yet, but when I do, I hope it becomes your new favorite album!
Great thread idea, I'm going to listen to a batch of these as they sound excellent! :)
For me I'm utterly loving the new Kim Deal* album "Nobody Loves You More" - it came out today, and oh yes it's good!
It's unexpected with style, almost 60s with brass and strings at times, then there's other songs that sound modern... and beyond making my ears happy, it's great songwriting :)
*(Former Pixies bassist and the fronthuman for the Breeders)
Kim Deal rocks! She is one of my all time favorites. I didn't know she was making music under her own name, I will have to check it out! Thanks!
So I went and listened to the tracks on her bandcamp page. And in a couple days I'll have the vinyl! What a weird album! I feel like it's bound to get many repeat listens. So much to take in!
Reminds me of listening to the Alvvays albums. Little awkward at first but clearly something unique and special!
So glad I read your post Go-on-a-steam-train
Awesome! I'm really glad! :) there's nothing like rocking an album on the day it comes out! I'm dropping lead weighted hints that I need it for christmas, that and being broke are the sole reasons it's not on order already 😂
Definitely a tie between Where Have All The Merrymakers Gone? from Harvey Danger, Never Bet The Devil Your Head from Subrosa, and Example from Four Squirrels. They're currently my favorite CD albums out of the small collection I've gotten over the last year.
twisted by design - strung out
gybe - lysf
Sincere by Khalid
It's not my favorite album, but I have been listening to Marcy Playground by Marcy Playground a lot recently. It was one of my first favorite albums and still is.
Currently it is Phantogram's latest album, "Memory of a Day".
EDIT: If your interest is recent releases, then I think that mehro's latest album, "Trauma Lullabies" is also very good though a tad short.
"Deathconsciousness" by Have a Nice Life. I described it to a friend as "nice music with which to smoke a joint and watch your life spiral into oblivion"
Today/the last week, I have been mostly listening to Instant Rewards by Tides from Nebula, along side their previous album From Voodoo to Zen.
Insane Clown Posse - The Mighty Death Pop
Half-Alive Persona Spotify link
youtube link
Same, it's a great album.
Ne Obliviscaris - Portal of I. A progressive extreme metal. If you want to give it a shot, listen And Plague Flowers The Kaleidoscope, to see if it is for you.
Honorific mention to Nirvana - All of us. This is not Kurt Kobain's Nirvana, but another band called that way back from 1967. Amazing soft psychedelic rock. The band's history is quite interesting as well, including a lawsuit against Kurt Kobain's Nirvana, and then also trying to cash out of KB's Nirvana popularity by launching a new album after several years of breaking up, in order to profit from confused customers. Then, last year they launched a new album, after 50+ years of their original break up (which I really enjoy as well).
Destiny Potato - Lun
Who's Who Ulterior Motives baby!
Periphery III
Hand of Juno just released their first album, Psychotic Banana, and I've been binging it for a solid two weeks. Good mix of heavy and melodic, and good variation between songs. Got its hooks in me.
I will say, some songs are different enough that they almost sound like different artists, so if you check them out it's worth trying a few tracks. "Polline" and "Destroy the Line" are my favorite heavy songs. "The One", "We've Built the Line", and "Not a Game" are my favorites on the melodic side.
Why Would I Watch by Hot Mulligan.
$uicideboy$ - G.R.E.Y.G.O.D.S.
Right now I'm listening to Cold World - No Omega a lot again
Sprints - Letter to Self
Upbeat: Kraftwerk - tour de france
Downtempo - a.s.o. - a.s.o.
My album game is super weak at the moment because I'm heavily into experimental.
if Let's Paint Tv had an album it would probably be that.
or OK Housecat
Young Ejecta - Ride Lonesome has been my favorite for this month.
Big Wave by Tatsuro Yamashita
I've been beating Dance Gavin Dance's Jackpot Juicer to death recently, every time I listen to it my favorite song on it changes. Swallowed by Eternity goes HARD.
Cursive - Devourer (sic?)
The Loop by Volkor x (available on Bandcamp)
Also on YouTube: Volkor X - The Loop [FULL ALBUM] (2023)
A Boat On The Sea by Moron Police. Can't wait for their next album!
When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? -Billie Eilish
The Tragically Hip - Live Between Us
High mare - dead pirates
The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, Chappell Roan
I've been listening to Wolfie's Just Fine a lot recently
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_kD59vK8EVf4t07XFU06YMIl5r1T33GkWw
Imaginal Disk by Magdalena Bay and it's not even close.
I don't know if I could ever pick a favorite album, it just depends on the day, but if there is one that I come back to most often it's Incubus's S.C.I.E.N.C.E. It's indulgent in a fun, unserious, sort of manic kind of way. They play like kid's in a musical candy shop, and when I listen to them the feeling is mutual. Honorable mention to Afungus Amongus.
The same as 40 years ago
Dwight Yoakam just released a new album this week!! I love it!!
Brighter Days
i don't do albums. as a kid, we basically only had recorded-from-radio cassettes. when we got a CD player in like 1999, we mostly bought those "now that's what i call music" collections. i didn't really listen to music myself at all until like 18-19. i didn't see the point. as a result i basically can't sit through an entire album of the same genre.
is this weird?
Probably not, there's plenty of people who mostly just listen to the radio and don't own much music. Sounds much the same. If it doesn't work for you then it doesn't work for you!
That's so interesting! As a kid I remember not liking much music until I found some individual songs that I loved, then I couldn't get enough and albums were my thing!
I'm a bit of both on albums - some I have on end to end no matter what (R.E.M especially), but then there's some bands I'm like you and wander off halfway through! :)
Trying to think of bands that genre-hop and might be fun for you end-to-end on one disc
that would be interesting! the few "albums" i have gone through recently have all been by mashup artists, so the genres have been all over the place but the "touch" of the artist has been there throughout.
If you ever get into vinyl, you will appreciate the album format a lot more.
we had a lot of vinyl when i was a child. i listened to that one ELO track a lot. i have no real nostalgia for the sound.
You will never hear a recorded song more clearly than vinyl. A good record player patched into a big 1970s cabinet console. The sound is only beat by live music.
Have you considered that maybe you don't like music?
going from "i don't listen to albums" to "maybe you don't like music" is incredibly strange. i listen to tons of music which i love. i just don't do albums. I buy loads of songs on bandcamp and have multiple constantly growing playlists hundreds of tracks long.
that's just demonstrably not true. maybe on a perfectly calibrated player in a completely dust-free lab environment with no air movement on a never-played vinyl that was just pressed and has never been moved. as soon as one of those conditions fail to hold the sound is distorted. from an acoustic perspective, live music also tends to have really weird sound and it's usually muddied by the environment.
You like songs. You don't like music.
It's what the part in that one song means when he's singing
what a weird thing to say. please explain.
You will just have to discover it yourself.
Sad, maybe
Mercury by Imagine Dragons
I'm too mercurial and indecisive to ever have a definitive favourite anything. So here's three that do well on different metrics:
PJ Harvey - Let England Shake
It's one of the strongest first halves of an album ever in my opinion.
Funkadelic - Maggot Brain
Fond memories, and if you've nothing to do for an hour headphones, the two of you and a comfy chair are still a great way to pass it.
Talking Heads - Fear of Music Probably the album I've listened to most. Lot of big tunes here.