What are you listening to now? : Non-metal Edition

Armand Hammer - We Buy Diabetic Test Strips (2023)

Genres: Experimental Hip Hop, Abstract Hip Hop

This has got to be the most intriguing hip hop album I've ever heard so far, and I'm only six tracks in.  if this keeps up, it'll be a shoe-in for my list of 500 perfect albums.  Having said that, I still wouldn't put it anywhere near as high as Exmilitary, but maybe in the same league as The Money Store.  The weird thing is that despite having the same general song lengths as the Harem, the songs on this album don't feel too short, probably because there's more to this songs in their short runtimes whereas Harem should've been stretched out some more for the atmospheres to live up to their full potential.  I guess the songs here are just generally living up to that potential in such short times.  Not always, but mostly.  Trauma Mic deserves another minute.

Gil Scott-Heron - Relfections

Genres: Soul, Soul Jazz

I need some more soul and jazz in my top 1000.  A fifth of it is metal, so I've been looking for albums that are gonna blow me away.  I already tried a jazz album by Andrew Hil and the fourth DIM release and neither made the cut.  In fact, 8/10 is very underwhelming when I'm looking to improve a top 1000 of 9.6's or higher.  Finally I was getting impatient and started a couple of albums that were dragging on until I came across this.  Storm Music is a pop reggae soul hybrid with a lot of authenticity and spirit, but Grandma's Hands is just owning the intro with its unique and spiritual atmospheres that are unlike anything soul's given me.  Right now I'm on the third track, Is That Jazz.  The evolution of this album's "sound" is challenging and never fully consistent, but Gil's persona brings it together as he's known for being extremely eclectic.  I've already given perfect ratings to Pieces of a Man and his live album with Brian Johnson.  I guess this is Gil's attempt at saying "I can do anything," and for the most part, he's succeeding.  Even if the sons aren't always brilliant, he's making up for it in successful variety.  After this I think I'll head towards more Terry Callier.

I've had quite the busy day for albums.

Joni Mitchell - Hejira: 90

McCoy Tyner - Enlightenment: 96

Tim Buckley - Goodbye and Hello: 99

Revisted Testament - The Legacy: 96

And now to end the musical day with a long-needed replay of Trans Europe Express by Kraftwerk.

I'm gonna spend the day checking out 2024 albums and a few from Adrianne Lenker.  I've already checked out a few albums by her band Big Thief, so I might as well, considering RYM's going nuts over her new solo album.  Problem is, I'm not really fond of the genre tagging of her solos albums:

Contemporary Folk, Singer-Songwriter

Indie Folk

I've heard a million albums with this kind of genre tagging before, and the only two who ever amazed me with such a simple and east concept as a person with his/her guitar are Leonard Cohen and Michael Chapman.  Even Johnny Cash had to go into a little alternative rock territory with American IV to spice it up.  Even the Mountain Goats struggle to amaze me.  So I'm gonna check out a few of her albums first and then head to her 2024 album and EP and see if they live up to the hype.

Autechre - Chiastic Slide (1997)

Genres: IDM

I was taking inventory of my highest-rated artists on my log and found that I had only heard three Autechre albums, and one of them was pretty underhwelming.  It's time I got through some of the others.  Confield was a bit repetitive for my liking, and LP5 needed a little more mutation, so I'm really hoping one of these other albums gives me that creative burst I found with Tri Repetae.  The first song was a very glitchy and proggy piece which built itself on a balance between consistent vibe and mutation.  And this second track is a noisy drone two-minute piece that bears a similar effect to MBV's Touched when going through Loveless.  And this third track keeps the weird glitchy behavior going, but despite its speedy activity its BPM is slow and its backdrop is tame.  I'm heavily reminded of that awe-inspiring handling of electronic in OPN's Replica, but with a slight Kid A touch.

Moody Blues - To Our Children's Children's Children (1969)

Genres: Prog Pop, Prog Rock

This is an oddball for me.  In its foreground of poppy (and maybe even syrupy) simplicity and lushness, it's an unpredictable and astral collection of care and complexity masquerading as another pop rock album.  The atmosphere are obviously the focal point here, which allows the compositions to achieve a careful and slightly teetering balance between conventional and inventive, as if it's that ONE album that can appeal to both the radio and experimental markets.  It's so weird because every TECHNICAL flaw I can think of is justified by its opposer: the conventionality is justified by the experimentation and vice-versa.  Despite its love of poems and ballads, these ballads connect perfectly with faster-paced rockers, but it's so lush that it almost feels about as "rock" as a dream pop album.  The technical apsects of my brain are locked in place, trying to sort out what I just heard.  Every time I want to complain about something that doesn't feel fleshed out, I find a way to justify it.  Moody Blues may have created the perfect example of how to do a "pop" album right, how to keep it simple and complex at the same time with the finest balance between the two I've ever seen.  But before I assign a numerical rating, I'm gonna compare this to In Search of the Lost Chord.  I just need some time to flesh out my opinion and I'll need another example from Moody Blues to help.  The only thing I'm sure about is that it's not as good as Days of Future Passed.

Time to go back to some krautrock.

The Grateful Dead - Live Dead (1969)

Genres: Psych Rock, Jam Band

Years ago I spent three days in a row listening the the 2005 compilation album Fillmore West 1969: The Complete Recordings.  Some of the songs on Live Dead were there with a different mix and different track times, but I figured since I already heard five of the seven songs by technicality on Fillmore West 1969, it would be weird to technically go back to these tracks on a different album.  Nevertheless, as a music buff, it's the first live jam album by the world's foremost jam band, and the truth of the matter is that it's still a very different album for having a different mix and a different tracklist, so I'll get through it.  After this, I'll check out Grateful Dead's Europe 72.

Btw, while listening to that live Can album, I read a good third of a gift that my grandmother got me: Song of Kali by Dan Simmons.  I'm begging any metalheads here to make a psychedelic doom album out of it.

ONE MWOOOR THING!  I made my decision about that Moody Blues album.  98.5.  While I admire the balance between simplicity and complexity with slight teeters into each other, I felt like the more simple songs were still a little too simple, being a couple verses and choruses without a lot of imagination.  Even MJ had imagination.

Chelsea Wolfe - She Reaches Out To She Reaches Out To She

Genres: Darkwave, Post-Industrial

The album is like a combination of Portishead and Lingua Ignota, but the lack of a backing rhythm makes it feel emptier than a great album should, so 8/10.

Couple of punk bands have new albums this year: Alkaline Trio and Strung Out, so I'm gonna check them out before heading to the new Vampire Weekend.  They say this might be their best.

Gonna end my lengthy music binge today by checking out a few of the works of Roc Marciano, starting with his debut.  I'm not really into this one as much as RYM seems to be.  He's got decent beats with a strong urban vibe, but the songs don't really progress and kind of drag on.  On top of that, I don't think much of Roc's rhymes.

Sentries - Snow as a Metaphor for Death (2024)

Genres: Noise Rock, Post-Hardcore

I listened to their previous two EP's and their debut album before getting to this one.  So far, this is their best effort.  2024 has been a good year for new efforts by improving bands.  I also checked out works by Brittany Howard and Mannequin Pussy, and they're joining the collective here.  Even though these guys aren't making a super hardcore album, and it's kind of light in that regard, there's still an excess amount of ferocity here, like these guys overdosed on methylene blue.  There isn't a lot of genre diversity here in comparison to their last two albums, as the switches between punk, post-punk and rock are very tame.  But this is also an improvement over previous albums as the weirdness and inventiveness no longer messes with the flow, allowing the more creative aspect to be focused solely in the layouts.  So the overall effect is pretty solid, if not ever reaching great heights.

For anyone who's not part of the NUWRLD Mix Club, Deaths Dynamic Shroud has American Candy on YT right now.  I don't think it's gonna stay, so grab it before it goes away.

Beautiful stuff.  The whole thing is about slow, catchy atmospheres.  It's great music for relaxing and reading, or in my case writing.  Kinda like a mix between Tim Hecker and Flaming Lips.

Kali Uchis marathon today.  Isolation is blowing me away.  It's like a modern, atmospheric mix of Amy WInehouse and Caroline Polachek.