I wasn’t expecting a 33 minute, single track Paul Simon album contemplating death, but Seven Psalms is definitely worth a listen.
It almost feels like a Sufjan Stevens album: spare, pretty, plaintive, faithful.
I was curious if his wife, Edie Brickell’s voice would appear at all, and, sure enough, in the final half, it does. I’m actually a fan of hers, and she’s continued to make music in the last decade, although none of it has really captured me. It’s nice to see her singing the writing of an ultimately stronger songwriter.
I’ve always had an appreciation for Paul Simon, who has had several eras of relevance: several Simon and Garfunkel albums with several monolithic hits, his fun solo hits from the 60’s and 70’s, the way Graceland was so widely loved and then kind of disdained in later eras for his use of African music, I still remember thinking “You Can Call Me Al” was hilarious when it came out.
People are of course comparing this to recent “final albums” like Bowie’s Blackstar and Cohen’s You Want it Darker. If he actually kicks the bucket in the next few months, the comparisons will be inevitable. In any case, it’s a mellow, humble thing, not a giant, crushing, ambitious work like Blackstar.
It’s definitely unlike any other Paul Simon album though. he says that its 33 minutes are designed to be listened to in one go (which I am currently doing) hence why he smashes every track together into one, and ends it with a gentle harmony with his wife of decades, “Amen”.
this blog post is now over, thank you for reading.
as a reminder, it was called:
Paul Simon’s perhaps final Seven Psalms?
it's categorized as:
Albums, Reviews
link to it, please: Saturday, May 20th, 2023
I’m finally getting a chance to listen to the new Leslie Feist record, Multitudes.
I’ve long loved Feist, and her first two albums Let It Die and The Reminder are all-time classics in my house. Her songs were always simple, funny, romantic, relatable, and tragic to me.
Her early song “Brandy Alexander”, comparing her FWB to a rich, sweet cocktail made me want to try that cocktail for years, and by the time I had an opportunity I didn’t want to flood my system with all the lactose.
I must admit with each passing Feist album since The Reminder, I have listened less and less thoroughly as they’ve seemed more meditative and their themes less easy to understand.
Feist’s incredible keening voice is like no other, but it was always her funny, relatable songwriting that brought me back. The Fleet Foxes songwriting over the years always kept me coming back, but I always felt like Feist was slipping away from my understanding. The words of her songs never added up to something I’d return to.
Listening to Multitudes I am definitely enjoying it. Its songs are standing out more to me than the songs of Metals and Pleasure, but I’m not quite hearing anything I’d put on the “driving playlist” yet.
It’s definitely worth watching the two great music videos she’s put out in support of the album, especially “Hiding Out in the Open”, where she does some extremely clever green-screen trickery that gets more funny and inventive as the song goes on.
It’s not QUITE as awesome, but the video for “Borrow Trouble” is pretty great as well and has some similar psychedelic trickery and seems recorded in the same studio. The dancing and movements remind a person that she’s steeped in physical performance and once went by “Baby Lap Lap” when she toured with shock electroclash rapper Peaches and performed onstage with hand puppets.
Her “Multitudes Mini-Concert” doesn’t have quite as considered production, but still has a few clever visual ideas and is clearly performed in the same place:
Enjoy!
this blog post is now over, thank you for reading.
as a reminder, it was called:
Leslie Feist is Multitudes
it's categorized as:
Albums, Reviews
link to it, please: Thursday, April 27th, 2023
Revisited Björk’s Volta for the first time since it came out today. I definitely appreciate it more today than when it came out.
By the time it came out I’d been hanging on Björk’s every word for years. I knew every word of every one of her albums. Even though Medulla was a little bit of a rough listen, I really appreciated what she was doing to innovate here.
When Volta came out it seemed like she was a little out of ideas, and just being weird for weirdness’ sake. It was less grounded in traditional music than most of her albums and just felt like a pastiche of some of the weirder and harsher moments in Post and Homogenic. Also, songwriting-wise it just didn’t seem like the ideas were there.
Listening to it now, I can hear the ways it was ahead of its time, and was influential. Now I’ve also listened to MUCH MUCH weirder music than I had in 2007 and it doesn’t sound quite as out there anymore.
I still don’t love it, but I was able to enjoy it this time, instead of completely dismissing it.
this blog post is now over, thank you for reading.
as a reminder, it was called:
A Return to Björk’s “Weird” Volta
it's categorized as:
Albums, Reviews
link to it, please: Thursday, April 27th, 2023
You may not even recognize the artists I picked for my top 25 album covers, since smaller artists sometimes put the most effort into making attention-getting album covers.
Sadly, musicians rarely credit the artist of their covers, but when I’m able to, I call out the artist name. In some rare cases it’s actually the artist themselves who made the cover, like in the case of #10’s Darth Sueder VI by AJ Sueder.
I had to rank the covers in some order but I think every single one of these covers is great. So with that, enjoy my favorite 25 albums. Enjoy, I say!
On the cover for "Wild Type Droid" by Failure, a line of refugees file into a single space-suit, perhaps to animate it, "3 kids in a trench coat" style? Is this actually a composed photo? If so, I'm impressed. pic.twitter.com/6rgeiRzXlj
Retro album covers are surprisingly common. This nutty 1950's style album cover with a photo collaged in for an idyllic impressionist chess game with a chicken is basically genius though. For "Now Where Were We" by The Exbats.https://t.co/J7rav3w3sQpic.twitter.com/oynX5wtGQR
I love this crisp illustration for Castello Branco's new album "Niska: Uma Mensagem para Tempos de Emergência". Dude's rocking some next-level field fashion with his next-level origami kite-drone. pic.twitter.com/aRuIO6uCDO
Forget Crystal Skull vodka, I think Ty Farris needs to exploit this merchandising opportunity, and start selling human skulls made out of cocaine. I frankly would buy one right now. This awesome album cover is for "No Cosign Just Cocaine 2". pic.twitter.com/wJne1wfpyX
This is an iconic album cover released today by Italian stoner metal band Acid Mammoth for their new album "Caravan". Awesome use of color and contrast, a nutzoid illustration, and a super what-the-hell band logo. Nice job @HEAVYPSYCHSOUND.#todaysalbumcoverspic.twitter.com/TqI0S8SqAi
Jam band dudes mill about as if they are at a mellow concert, but instead are in the thrall of a giant evil rabbit with a dimensional gate in its coat? Damn that illustration is TIGHT, for "Swagger And Stroll Down The Rabbit Hole" by Diablo Swing Orchestra. pic.twitter.com/GogVIi6NUh
This album by Architects called "For Those Who Wish To Exist" has a touching and well-executed photo. They get across a complicated feeling without being too maudlin about it. Not bad!#todaysalbumcoverspic.twitter.com/pKsR5IsUww
One of the most unambiguously awesome album covers released today is Urban Village's "Udondolo". Also, a very beautiful tribute to African Soweto music. A bold, beautiful, mysterious, modern cover with a dope type treatment. #todaysalbumcoverspic.twitter.com/0vSQxAEnBW
One of the freakiest and most effective album covers released today is Ritual Divination's "Here Lies Man". Awesome idea and execution even if the fonts don't quite work together. Making album and band titles work well together is clearly a design challenge. #todaysalbumcoverspic.twitter.com/4cd3EFHSyr
Another cool album cover that also turned out to be a pretty good album: Bodies of Water's "Is This What It's Like", with well composed, intimate hand photo printed all lo-fi. Music is funky and Talking Headsish. #todaysalbumcovershttps://t.co/cbACIA2zg8pic.twitter.com/DOv1m5ozyx
I can't tell what is original photograph, what is collage, what is digital manipulation in this album cover, released today, for Press to MECO's "Transmute", but damn is it cool. pic.twitter.com/KG87invsLe
POLYDANS new album released today, "Roosevelt" really gets the throwback 70's feel right, right down to the airbrushed sparkles. This is some great design right here, that gives you a damn good idea what to expect from the music.https://t.co/xyDPC8LLgO#todaysalbumcoverspic.twitter.com/8HRaEYLCmB
One of my favorite album covers released today. Ghetts' "Conflict of Interest" does a lot with a little, showing what is probably the rapper himself at different ages. I already have a good sense of the mix of humor and pain that the raps probably contain. #todaysalbumcoverspic.twitter.com/P4ohREkiTf
Today's first truly awesome album cover is Fotocrime's (@fotocrime) "Heart of Crime" with an incredible mix of modern color and layout, with a creepy half-tone texture on the album cover. That weird side-eye portrait ads to the feeling of 50's movie paranoia. pic.twitter.com/9reKYSMhY6
Did human beings submerge an actual functioning Limo to get this picture? Was a picture altered? I can’t know, but it gets the feeling of the album across. “Icy Violence” is the (very Gorillaz inspired) song that really goes along with this cover.
Took me some work to get a decent graphic of this cover, but it's one of the coolest ones today. I wonder how they got this image. I like album covers that have me making up a story almost against my will.
AJ Suede does his own covers and he does an incredible job. The cover of Darth Sueder VI just gets everything right. The parental advisory sticker in Japanese Kanji is a particularly slick touch.
AJ Suede (@AJSUEDE) knows what he's doing with album covers, it looks like he makes them HIMSELF.
Is the magical giant bear on the cover of Villagers' "Fever Dreams", released today, menacing this guy in the pool in his cow, protecting them, or just taking a nap in the shrubbery? I can't tell but it seems like it could be all three. pic.twitter.com/3jD0nVvB4c
This is easily the best Christian rap album cover I have ever seen. I challenge you to find me a better one. Was it enough to get me to give this album a serious listen? Not yet. But this album cover is working on me.
Definitely one of the best album covers today is K-Drama's "Both Sides of the Blessing". Putting your face on a playing card isn't new, but this is the best execution of the idea I've seen.
When K-Pop album covers don't try to put every band member on the cover, they are consistently great, like this retro 1940's-esque ray-gun design. Can't tell if KEY's "BAD LOVE", released today is CGI or a hand-built model! pic.twitter.com/9jdjvVPsSQ
This is like the uncanny valley of food. Sure, someone really made it, but my brain still isn’t convinced. Luminously lit, but I’m sure that cherry still has a pit.
Logic1000 envisions an incredibly complicated dessert for her "In The Sweetness of You" album cover. Exquisitely composed and photographed, I would admittedly probably try a slice. pic.twitter.com/O75hTSUMaZ
Odette is gorgeous, her music is gorgeous, and this cover is a gorgeous and grotesque painting of her.
This gross-but-awesome painting is one of the greatest album covers released today for pop musician Odette's (@OdettesOdyssey) "Herald". The mix of realistic and surrealist painting of her face by artist Eben Ejdne marries the gorgeous and grotesque. #todaysalbumcoverspic.twitter.com/JZWpNaNmtz
One of the best albums I listened to because of the cover. Fun, funky, Funkadelic-inspired, the music and the cover. The cover does a great job of letting you know the funky Mexican experience you’re about to have. Electric war babies definitely might get spanked. The slop might get cosmic. This cover has the most mystical, Mexican porn pop-up window.
Probably 15% of all album covers are the artist's face. I get why but I generally don't even bother to post them unless they're doing something fresh that reveals something about what the artist wants to say about themselves, like Baker Boy's "Gela". pic.twitter.com/hbG4r0m6gz
I just can’t believe someone did such a good job of making a human heart out of vegetables. That person is a true artist.
Speaking of, I try to find the artists who made these covers, I really do. It’s amazing, however, how uncommon it is to see album covers artists credited.
Make your album cover an anatomically accurate human heart cutaway constructed out of peppers and summer squash, and you've won me over. That's what the band CARCASS (@CarcassBand) did with their "Torn Arteries" cover. pic.twitter.com/2RC1L5MT5L
This cover is good worldbuilding. I immediately can imagine an entire work of fiction where this Architect character exists, where this mask makes sense. Either someone actually fabricated this incredible mask, or very skillfully used CGI to overlay it on an actual photo. Either way, the effect is incredible.
I love this incredible cover for Eidola's album, release today, for "The Architect". Could be CGI but I suspect this is just some incredible prop-making, and suggests the titular architect wears such mad raiments. Are they a villain or hero? pic.twitter.com/dbuaUIdfr1
this blog post is now over, thank you for reading.
as a reminder, it was called:
The 25 Sweetest, Snobbiest Album Covers of 2021
it's categorized as:
Album Covers, Reviews
link to it, please: Sunday, January 9th, 2022
These are the odds-and-ends that deserved their own categories.
BEST / Fashion
Lovely photo, but the outfit and hairstyle are what elevate this. This guy’s slightly oversized, rumpled dinner jacket over matching pants with bright red shirt and tangled gold accents are sublime. If I saw this dude in person, I’d walk right up to him and tell him how fresh his style is. I feel like you could pull this off in several decades of the past 100 years.
BEST / Attempt to Get All of the Members of a K-Pop Group on Cover
There were almost as many K-Pop albums released this year as heavy metal, which is a lot. K-Pop albums tend to go one of two different directions:
Incredible graphic design
Fit all the inevitably large number of band members on the cover
A surprising number of K-Pop bands choose #2 and their attempts can often be hilarious. What Red Velvet did here on their album “Queendom” is pretty darn next level, involving baloons, birds, wind, and earth moving equipment. It’s safe to say they “really nailed the shot”.
Remember how I said K-Pop covers are better when they don't try to fit every band member in the photo? Red Velvet's "Queendom" is the exception that proves the rule. Great use of balloons and heavy machinery. pic.twitter.com/d96GwZQESd
In the runner-up, they managed to get everyone’s heads even, and some pretty incredibly typography to boot. Once you see that R kicked in the stomach and doubled over you can’t unsee it, though.
K-Pop bands are often determined to get every member on the cover, by any means necessary. The cover for "Favorite" by NCT 127, manages this feat, with some style, and a cute visual trick. That "R" looks like it got punched in the stomach, though. pic.twitter.com/0Bq5QXzpED
WORST / Attempt to Get All of the Members of a K-Pop Group on the Cover
Boymen are pretty much the worst offender in this category. There’s a lot of gradations of bad before you get here, however. In full size for your eyeball bleeding pleasure:
This K-Pop album by Boys and Men called "Boymen: The universe" breaks new ground by having a horrible album title, and not one, not two, but THREE terrible album covers for one album!
This album cover of a confused knife wielding clown demanding to know what, exactly, is so fucking funny, had me in stitches all day the day I posted it, and I still haven’t found a funnier album cover this year.
I'm pretty sure this angry clown is my spirit animal. Webbed Wing invites us to consider "What's So Fucking Funny?" on their new album, released today. Love the credits for both makeup AND model for the cover on bandcamp.https://t.co/mpAvPweEJtpic.twitter.com/KBOIchwB81
First runner up for funniest, these two guys holding an info card over themselves with important info like name and “type of voice” (super high tone!) plus drawn on bowties and hairstyles definitely tickled me.
I love this hilarious "info card" for the members of C&K for their album "CK Token". I love that they provide stats like date of birth, "type of voice", and blood type alongside sharpied-in bowties and alternate hairstyles. pic.twitter.com/DC7Ov7lJNy
Funniest runner up to the runner up. This guys cover for drugs depicts him both “together” and fully drugged out. I love that in the “fully together” version his tie is still loosened and he’s still smoking a cigarette. In the drug photo he looks properly deranged. Hope you’re having fun, Tyler Posey, recovery is not far behind.
I like the humor behind Tyler Posey's cover for his "Drugs" EP (natch) released today. I love how the non-drugged-out version of himself is still smoking a cigarette. pic.twitter.com/O2hM5AWEbt
Ringo. You are a goddamn former member of The Beatles and can presumably afford some real heavy-duty PR muscle, but the reality is, your version of cool ended in 1990, which is why when you saw this bargain-bin album cover, you said “YES! CHANGE THE WORLD! THIS IS MY ALBUM COVER!”
The truly hilarious thing here is, that there’s a runner-up in this category…
Imagine if you're one of the Beatles and could afford and attract any design talent you want, and this is the album design you go with. I guess the look of the early 1990's is "modern" for Ringo Star, for his new solo album "Change The World". pic.twitter.com/yufjCRbqki
…yes, another scrubby photo of Ringo Starr, another laughably outdated sentiment and album cover that would have looked dated in 1990. And those… extra jacket zippers? My god.
BONUS SATURDAY ALBUM COVER REVIEWS!
I appreciate that Ringo Starr is still releasing albums, but I didn't want to "Zoom In" on his weird unkempt chin scrub. And that's your sophisticated 1968 message to the world right now? Peace now?#todaysalbumcoverspic.twitter.com/xaaE7rkupg
I saw a lot of comic book cover-type art this year, but nothing nearly as striking as this comic look inside a lonely memory. Incredibly impactful graphic image. Crisp, clean, balanced, perfect depiction.
This incredible, evocative comic-book-style illustration for LogPog's (@logpogtherapper) "Falling Out Of Place" is an incredible depiction of a dimly remembered memory. pic.twitter.com/s5IYQGET5K
There's a Reddit called "ATBGE" or "Atrocious Taste but Great Execution", and I feel like Martia Becerra cover for "Animal" would fit right in there. pic.twitter.com/kOZFHLYudf
There's a subreddit called ATBGE (atrocious taste but great execution) and melodic metal album covers like todays "Psychosomatic" by Immortal Guardian often qualify! #todaysalbumcoverspic.twitter.com/99gUjavHn6
I can’t believe I have to report this had to be a category of its own, and that I actually REJECTED several other gross mouth photos. Stop trying to pass off gross photos of your mouth as an album cover, people.
The busted lip and broken tooth somehow make this, every so slightly grosser than…
This album cover wins the "I'm sorry you had to see that" award for grossest photo on a cover released today. It's EUT's "Party Time" so you know what to avoid. #todaysalbumcoverspic.twitter.com/Jx0D30P2Gy
I thought I'd made this clear in the past, but Hana Vu and other artists still don't want to hear me. Gross photos of the inside of your mouth don't make good album covers. Cover, released today, for "Public Storage". I'm sorry you had to see that. pic.twitter.com/G9Ey4kXwJt
Hello Cosmos released their debut album "Dream Harder" and are showing us that you don't need an illustration of a wolf with a hyperclub to get the point across for your album cover. This design couldn't be simpler or more effective.#todaysalbumcoverspic.twitter.com/Ur8dilAgIE
Everything about the Yung Head$hit title and cover make me feel dumber. Creativiting Us: From Darkness To All… the holy what? I assure you this dude’s raps are just as poorly written and executed. It’s legitimately embarrassing. But to top it off, the weird mix of alignment, type-sizes, and just horrible balance are really a headscratcher.
To preface, I listened to Yung Head$hit's new album, "Creativiting Us From Darkness To All" and it's legit some of the worst music ever, in addition to the bad album name, title, cover, and text layout. This is a meme waiting to happen. #todaysalbumcoverspic.twitter.com/bqH5MeLVDM
Checking all the mixtape boxes is important in a Hip Hop mixtape cover, but this one checked all the boxes and then some. Sure other mixtape covers have a cup of lean, but does even their pitbull have a Rollie and a scale? Probably not. Lil’ Migo has corrected that.
I wanted to hate this album cover for Lil' Migo's "King of the Trap" for having every trap trope known to man but then…
🗹 lean 🗹 chains 🗹 crowns 🗹 cash 🗹 cash-crowns 🗹 rolex 🗹 trimming a bust made out of weed 🗹 pit bull weighing weed
BEST / Album Cover I’d Definitely Play if it was a Mobile Game
Well, you know exactly what kind of glossy math rock this is going to be as an album, but I couldn’t help wishing this was a mobile game! I want to play the old dude with the flamethrower and sword mowing down approaching biplanes with fire! Missed opportunity!
I can't honestly say Dragony's album cover released today for "Viribus Unitis" is good or bad exactly, but I AM saying it's so batshit insane that I would DEFINITELY play it if it were an iPhone game. #todaysalbumcoverspic.twitter.com/AVlOUHEUzv
Some time last year, the experimental and electronic music label Cue Dot Records came up with a simple idea for their album covers: a 5X5 grid of colored circles creating an incredibly low resolution icon. Then, for well over a year, they’ve used this framework to express the concept of the individual artist and album releases they put out.
I couldn’t really pick the best, so I’m just posting most of their release covers for 2021. To see all the rest, just go to the Cue Dot Records bandcamp page.
I particularly love Manfred Hamil’s “Everything Fades” for the clearest illustration of an idea in so very few bits.
STAY TUNED for the best album covers of 2021
this blog post is now over, thank you for reading.
as a reminder, it was called:
2021 Album Cover BEST and WORST Honorable Mentions
it's categorized as:
Album Covers, Reviews
link to it, please: Saturday, January 1st, 2022
If I had to guess, I’d say more heavy metal albums are released than any other single genre. Of course, I’m lumping together Drone Metal, Grindcore, Sludge Metal, Stoner Metal, Black Metal, Industrial Black Metal, Space Metal, Melodic Metal, Thrash Metal, Symphonic Black Metal, Funk Metal, Rap Metal, and a bunch of other metals I can’t even think of right now. If you think I made any of those up, you definitely don’t metal. But now you can get a taste, without even listening to any metal.
That is because heavy metal album covers have their own world. Their own aesthetic. Their own complicated iconography. Get a taste of it here, starting with…
The Worst:
Some metal album covers look like a skilled 7th grader did them, or they’re just so corny you can’t believe an adult thought they were cool.
Attika's "Metal Lands" was released today, only one month after they asked the best artist they knew from middle school to paint this. Still somehow pretty dope. If I have to navigate the Metal Lands, I do want a pec-enhanced winged knight with me.#todaysalbumcoverspic.twitter.com/IcCIAVgar1
This album cover, for Ordan Ogan's "Final Days" is a mess. Unreadable fonts, and I know for a fact this is going to be deeply overproduced pop metal. Your nattily dressed evil space guy looks boring af.#todaysalbumcoverspic.twitter.com/EPZ7xwPYzu
This is the core of the heavy metal aesthetic. Body horror. Apocalypse. Apocalyptic body horror. Gates opening to hell. Horrific monsters. Dystopian future war. Things growing into or out of people’s faces.
I feel like metal bands are always competing for grossest, most overstuffed cover art, and worst band name. Deviloof is definitely competitive on both fronts with the recently released cover for "DYSTOPIA". pic.twitter.com/e7tMu4AkxK
I feel like it's just not Friday if I don't post a new gross body-horror metal album cover that burns a hole in your eyes. Sorry (maybe only slightly sorry). It's Rapture's "Malevolent Demise Incarnation".#todaysalbumcoverspic.twitter.com/bxsJrsNSy0
Wow. Metal albums really like to take it to the next level of body-horror gnarliness, and this Culted album "Nous" released today does. This is an impressive image and the tasteful font treatment makes it more unsettling. Swedes!https://t.co/X7e1owAImo#todaysalbumcoverspic.twitter.com/mf9iklco2E
Ignoring the fact that Vulvodynia is possibly the most deeply wack band name since Wombbath, this cover for "Praenuntius Infiniti", released today, is a shining example in the genre of "super gnarly and detailed metal album cover".https://t.co/83b3hkT8wPpic.twitter.com/8z9jpcFLZf
Starting off the morning with a trio of gnarly painted heavy metal album covers released today. Inferi's "Vile Genesis" takes things in a nightmare Dune direction with some giant bugs dropping off a gross zombie army.https://t.co/scXzrpChgLpic.twitter.com/t2i51MAXoN
There are gross heavy metal covers released every single Friday, and this Friday is no exception. Aborted's "Maniacult" has heads growing out of the ground that spawn tentacle faces to back this dude. Gnarly. pic.twitter.com/GnDfUtHbEF
There are gnarly metal album covers every single Friday. But NOT every Friday has a new album by the king of gnarly metal album covers, Iron Maiden. I can't decide if the "Sunjutsu" cover counts as cultural appropriation it sure is gnarly. pic.twitter.com/6VFDVhWQQh
When I see a gnarly, elaborate, badly painted tableau with too many elements, I literally KNOW it's a black metal album. The cover for portrayal of guilt's "portrayal of guilt / Chat Pile Split" is just batshit insane enough to win me over, however. pic.twitter.com/8UOcUxTyqb
Pillory is going for kind of a Sharknado-like portmanteau of disasters here but overdoes it a HAIR in their album cover for "Scourge upon Humanity". I knew this was going to be blistering math-metal at a glance. Also, big no on the '90's type treatment. #todaysalbumcoverspic.twitter.com/7DV2DnCSQS
These are the best conventional heavy metal album covers. They’re overdone and gnarly, but in a really cool, balanced way!
Just because you make symphonic metal doesn't mean your album cover has to suck! Pick an actually cool, unique art style and don't overdo it on the font, and you could have something like Reborn's "Serenity in Murder"! #todaysalbumcoverspic.twitter.com/Z0hmicCpRJ
It simply wouldn't be Friday without some gnarly hyper-detailed heavy metal paintings with lots of planets. "Impermanence" by STORTREGN is handling the duties today. This is actually a wonderfully balanced cover and painting, implying some giant ancient spine.#todaysalbumcoverspic.twitter.com/LdWAcMzPdp
I like this cover quite a lot more than your standard gnarly French death metal cover. The balance between day-glo glyph and distressed textures actually does something fresh with the format. It's "Fleshborer Soulflayer" by OTARGOS.https://t.co/WcR0thlNBZpic.twitter.com/WKdBCQaPmG
Metal bands LOVE super detailed supernaturally apocalyptic album covers. Generally they're pretty amateurish, but this incredible painting for Evergrey's "Escape of the Phoenix" pulls me into their cinematic universe. The font curlicues imply beguiling flute!#todaysalbumcoverspic.twitter.com/oVXe7ekka6
I like to see black metal album covers step out of the "gnarly overstuffed painting" mold, and this self titled album by Sol Sistere definitely does that. This crisp, iconic illustration lets you know the metal will be black indeed. pic.twitter.com/tJtniM8pQB
I love detailed, original illustrations for album covers, and also love it when melodic metal bands do something a little more original than the realistic-ish paintings of horrific fantasy scenes like Scar of the Sun's "Inertia", released today. @ScarOfTheSun#todaysalbumcoverspic.twitter.com/Gz6DGg5ugr
It's nice to see Heavy Metal albums diversify a bit from gnarly body horror and diseased tree root fonts. This slick sci-fi painting feels ripped right out of a 1950's pulp novel, and the typeface works harmoniously with the theme. It's Chevelle's "NIRATIAS".#todaysalbumcoverspic.twitter.com/cULkhm8lJI
I love when metal album covers expand out past gnarly paintings. This fatally wounded paper crane on the cover of In The Whale's "Vanishing Point" absolutely gets the job done. Great concept, great execution. pic.twitter.com/ApY2cUWOYi
this blog post is now over, thank you for reading.
as a reminder, it was called:
Album Covers of 2021: HEAVY. METAL. EDITION.
it's categorized as:
Album Covers, Reviews
link to it, please: Thursday, December 30th, 2021
I stopped doing Twitter reviews of bad albums at some point earlier this year. Why? Because no matter how funny my reviews are: no one “likes” bad album covers. Thus, no one sees the reviews. So I’m sure I missed many bad album covers, because I only included ones I posted at the time. Also, there are dozens of bad Hip Hop Mix Tapes released every week and I generally don’t cover them because…I feel like it would veer into actually racist territory. There’s a notable exception on the list.
For instance there are a million of these:
That said, I am absolutely certain that my #1 worst album of the year is actually, objectively the worst album released this year. It would take a very bad album cover indeed to beat it for the rest of the decade, in my opinion. It is horrible. Props to Exclaim’s excellent list. They caught many I missed, and although we disagree on a few, I am happy to say we both agree on the #1 worst album of the year.
Not included are bad heavy metal covers because heavy metal covers are their own genre, and I’m giving them their own list.
There are a lot of album covers like this, a cruddy, poorly exposed photo with some lens flare that the artist themselves took. They clearly deluded themselves into thinking was more meaningful than it is. This is just a photo of the sun shining through treetops with lens flare that washes out all the contrast and saturation of the photo. If this was on Instagram you would just scroll right past it, perhaps with a snort. Then he just slapped some white text and a horizontal line on it. Good job, Mark. That really makes me want to listen to more of your depressed warbling.
Setting aside the fact that Mark is really kind of a P.O.S. human being, I would think he's famous enough to avoid the "crappy photo I had in my phone that I think is a lot better than it is" album cover style for Sun Kil Moon's "Welcome to Sparks, NV". #todaysalbumcoverspic.twitter.com/AOkm7hBpSq
Months later, and I still can’t decide how intentionally bad this album cover is. I am all for sex positive gender expression and weirdness, absolutely, but this is an assault on the senses that I can’t let slide. I feel like they promised too many friends a spot on their cover and had like fifteen minutes to put the collage together and run to Kinkos. All the photos mashed together without any kind of border or layout. The font mixing. The white-on-rainbow-in-a-narrow-strip. It all seems designed to harm the eyes. And it’s successful.
This is what multi-millionaire entertainer Lil Wayne chose to front his collab mix tape with Rich the Kid. I get that he’s projecting low expectations but damn is it bad.
If I were an incredibly rich and famous rapper, whose legacy was assured, I'd like to think I would put just a hair more effort into the covers of even throwaway mixtapes like Lil Wayne & Rich The Kid's "Trust Fund Babies". Maybe that's why I am not. pic.twitter.com/aEnaqv3iKd
If I were going to teach a typography and graphic design class, I could use this album cover as a thesis level study on what not to do. It’s like a parody of bad typography. See if you can identify all the horrifying choices they made.
Like every Friday, I cover the best and worst album COVERS released today!
#4: “CHAIN GANG HALO WORLD” by BLACK KRAY AKA SICKBOYRARI is LIVE FROM GOTHGANISTAN
I will admit that this recording and album cover no longer really exists on the internet, but it did on August 20th, 2021. However, Goth Money Records still exists and this definitely matches their album cover profile. Allow yourself to just slowly absorb all the elements in this album cover. It’s magnificent. I almost regret putting it in the “Worst Albums” list and not the “Best Albums” list.
The list of genres for this album on Bandcamp is just as confusing as this combination of every Photoshop layer effect in existence. This album cover released today for "CHAIN GANG HALO WORLD" by BLACK KRAY AKA SICKBOYRARI is LIVE FROM GOTHGANISTAN. pic.twitter.com/LIHuGRr9Fv
There’s so much glow on Polish hip-hop artist Margaret’s album cover, it’s hard to find an element on it that’s not glowing. The logo is glowing. Maggie herself is glowing. The disco balls are glowing. The overlapping boxes haphazardly laid over each other are glowing. There are a few bonus glowing spheres in the background, just to make sure there’s enough glow.
I actually listened to this album, and it’s a relatively well-produced and enjoyable, if cookie-cutter, Polish pop album. I’m genuinely sad for her that she was saddled with this hack job of an album cover.
If you hire someone to make your album cover, watch them do it. If they touch ANY of the photoshop default layer effects, FIRE THEM IMMEDIATELY. This cover for an album released today, Margaret's "Maggie Vision" of #todaysalbumcovers didn't do that. So. Much. Glow. pic.twitter.com/X82GCDTKWv
Every Friday of the year, there are at least five truly awful Hip Hop mixtape covers. I usually don’t bother to cover them, even though some are laughably bad. But still, I have some special hostility for casual misogyny and glorification of sex trafficking in 2021. The stereotypes here are so ugly, so lazy, so poorly executed, so lumpy and stupid, that I just had to highlight how bad this cover is. It’s sort of like a bad political comic, but even worse.
I usually steer clear of rap mixtapes when highlighting the worst album covers released on Fridays, because it's low hanging fruit. But Rigo Tracks' "Pimpin' on the Web" is so wall-to-wall bad, in both conception and execution, and its jokes so sad and tired.#todaysalbumcoverspic.twitter.com/LNmO44B9be
You’ll notice I use the 80’s hip-hop terminology whack here to describe Drake and the fact that he thought this whole thing was a good idea. I use whack instead of some other word to say it sucks for a specific reason. Whack has the connotation in hip-hop terminology to mean not only is an artist is bad, but that they’re embarrassingly bad and they don’t even realize it. They think they’re really good, but their self delusion is part of what makes them and their art suck so badly. That’s why I use the term here liberally, and I’ve never used it more appropriately.
Drake’s incredible achievement of in-poor-taste peak whackness couldn’t have been done alone. Drake actually commissioned the “world famous official fine artist of pure whackness” Damien Hirst. Damien Hirst is the type of guy to:
So, it’s kind of a marriage of whackness made in heaven. I get what he’s going for here but this is multilevel whack on whack on whack. The implication here is that Drake’s “character” in this album, the titular “Certified Lover Boy” is so virile and prolific that he’s an equal opportunity simultaneous impregnator of women of all races and creeds that they can be reduced to an emoji to save time when representing them.
Can this possibly get worse? Yes. Let me provide some context:
A) Had appeared in “blacker-face” for a previous project he did… yes, this is a picture of young Drake:
B) Had a secret love child named Adonis who he was planning on announcing to the world with an Adidas shoe line and press tour.
Pusha T’s rap (which I very highly recommend listening to if you like brutality) basically tanked the Adidas deal (we guess the shoe line must have been called Adidon) and ended Drake’s high batting average of “winning” rap battles in the public eye definitively.
So, to some extent, this album cover can be read as him trying to rebrand himself as someone who’s proud of having fathered a bunch of secret love children. You see where I’m going with how truly whack this is?
We can't do an album cover Friday without addressing the elephant in the room. Drake's ultra-next-level-whack pregnancy emoji cover for "Certified Lover Boy".
It's commissioned by professional art-world-shock-jock Damien Hirst, and it suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuks. pic.twitter.com/YXMm5hkl2V
this blog post is now over, thank you for reading.
as a reminder, it was called:
The 10 WORST Album Covers of 2021
it's categorized as:
Album Covers, Reviews
link to it, please: Wednesday, December 29th, 2021
When I started looking through album covers late last year, there seemed to be an endless supply of Prog Rock and New Age looking album covers. I started joking with twitter user @ChristyW907 that an album cover could win an award for being “The Most Likely to Contain a Passage of Beguiling Flute™” and I picked a winner every week. Out of the whole year, there were some real standouts, that seemed truly likely to contain beguiling flute.
Elements that generally made an album seem likely were a fantastical landscape, preferably with multiple moons or planets in the background, dreamcatchers, or other wispy fantasy elements.
What is beguiling flute, specifically, you ask? It’s one of those things where when you hear it, you know. It’s a passage of flute that whimsically invites the listener to don a filmy skirt and peasant shirt and dance inexorably towards the unseen flautist.
A note: some of these albums I listened to and confirmed there was, in fact, a passage of beguiling flute, but most don’t really, and the ones that do are lost to time and memory. You’ll have to give every album a listen yourself to find out for sure.
10: Sungazer – Perihelion
An unconventional choice, chosen for looking like a New Agey Prog Rock “project” like The Alan Parson’s Project. There are no moons or planets per se, but I can definitely hear the flute.
I can confidently give Sungazer's "Perihelion" cover, released today, the honor of the "🏆Album Cover Most Likely To Contain a Passage of Beguiling Flute™ (sponsored by @ChristyW907) Award🏆" I can almost hear that beguiling passage! pic.twitter.com/jug8at7Y0b
This album has the distinction of being the only album that is both likely to contain beguiling flute, and language that a parent would feel caution about exposing a small child to. While I can’t make out a lot of extra planets in the sky, we’ve got the flute-ception-like fantasy-landscape-within-a-fantasy-landscape, a waterfall, and some sexy beings trapped in crystals. All of these point to beguiling flute.
Congratulations to the first winner of the "🏆Album Cover That Looks Most Likely to Contain a Passage of Beguiling Flute™ sponsored by @ChristyW907 award🏆" that ALSO has a Parental Advisory sticker! It's Strick's "Strick Land", released today! pic.twitter.com/nLcKNCuuMD
It’s incredible how common a theme interlocking clocks are in prog rock albums. There were actually several that didn’t make the list but seemed even likelier to contain beguiling flute, but World I Understand makes it because I like the concept of their weird steampunk head-device.
I'd like to present this week's winner of the awkwardly named "🏆Album Cover Most Likely to Contain a Passage of Beguiling Flute™ (not actually sponsored by @ChristyW907) Award🏆" to The Sherlocks' "World I Understand". There's gotta be some beguiling flute! pic.twitter.com/ATxV8RW4yX
First of all let’s talk about the placement of the apostrophe in the album title, indicating that the titular “Device” actually belongs to lies themselves. Then we have over-adorned font curlicues in the band title, a symbolic wheel of lies, mysterious occult figures, eyes, and…some tentacles of lies? Either way, I am certain there is going to be beguiling flute inside.
I present to you this week's winner of the MOST LIKELY TO CONTAIN BEGUILING FLUTE™ @ChristyW907 award. The more curlicues on the font, the more likely it is! Kalida's carefully placed apostrophe on "Lies' Device" makes me wonder what the device really does!#todaysalbumcoverspic.twitter.com/BYuE1q79qt
#6: JPL – Sapiens chapitre 2 / 3 : Deus ex Machina
First of all we’ve got the off-brand “Yes”-look-alike logo of JPL. Next we’ve got what looks to be a planet and the planet’s own moon. We’ve got a generic spaceship coming in for a landing. We’ve got a lone figure contemplating the passage of time outside a glimmering city. We’ve got an extremely French multi-part title. All of this points to at least one passage of beguiling flute.
🏆Yes, it's time to award the MOST LIKELY TO CONTAIN BEGUILING FLUTE™ @ChristyW907 award. It's French prog metal band JPL's very flutey album title: "Sapiens – chapitre 2 / 3 : Deus ex Machina". 🏆
Here we have a mandala of vague figures from various belief systems across the world, a hazy treatment, and a distressed fine-art frame. Add the not-quite-well-designed band’s typefaces, and you can be almost certain you’re in for some beguiling flute.
Yep. It's a prog album, and I'd say a runner-up for MOST LIKELY TO CONTAIN BEGUILING FLUTE™. Looks like these "fractured" fonts with missing elements are the new prog golden standard. All-in-all a cool cover but there is a serious…contrast issue.#todaysalbumcoverspic.twitter.com/eIwh8PZqMF
The subtle psychedelic embossed rainbow dreamcatcher seems to almost ensure beguiling flute.
Today there is fierce competition for the @ChristyW907 "most likely to contain beguiling flute" award. So, I present the runner up: DREAMCATCHER's "6th mini album" Dystopia: Road to Utopia. #todaysalbumcoverspic.twitter.com/Z0Od7xkNoX
I cheated a little and bumped this album up probably further than the cover itself deserved when I found out that German recorder player Volker Kuinke is the main feature of Syrinx Call. Check out the incredible masthead of his website as he passionately recorders like some kind of recorder god:
Holy wow! I was going to give this an Honorable Mention for the MOST LIKELY TO CONTAIN BEGUILING FLUTE™ award and then I went and looked it up to realize Syrinx Call IS A RECORDER-BASED ALBUM! @ChristyW907 how beguiling do you think this recorder will be?! #todaysalbumcoverspic.twitter.com/bVDhyiPdDD
I decided that each moon or planet hanging peacefully in the sky adds to the likelihood of beguiling flute. I feel like the leader of Emphasis sat there next to the designer, asking for yet another moon, until finally he cried out in a Scottish accent, “There’s nae room for anymore moons!” Add a lonely figure. Pair that with the over-adorned “E” in the band’s name, and you’ve got some extreme likelihood.
From the "that is just too many moons there, bro" bad photoshop department, I bring you Emphasis' "Spiral of Time". Also, love custom typefaces for band names but that "E" just has too much going on. #todaysalbumcoverspic.twitter.com/l5YcS98EEY
An obvious slam dunk, since there is not only hippie imagery, but actual flute playing is depicted. This is the quintessential beguiling flute indicator. Is it a little on-the-nose? Absolutely. Still, however, the year’s winner of the award.
There's never been such an easy slam dunk for the awkwardly named award for "🏆The Album Cover Released Today Most Likely To Contain a Passage of Beguiling Flute™ (sponsored by @ChristyW907) Award🏆". DAMN does that seem likely to contain such a passage! pic.twitter.com/zET6CakQeY
this blog post is now over, thank you for reading.
as a reminder, it was called:
Top 10 Album Covers of 2021 that look “Most Likely to Contain a Passage of Beguiling Flute™”
it's categorized as:
Album Covers, Reviews
link to it, please: Tuesday, December 28th, 2021
I like having a place to send people for music recommendations they might not have heard. This post is the place.
This is a categorized list of 30 albums I really love, that you might not have heard of. If you’ve heard every single one, you can feel free to let me know and I will try and come up with even more obscure suggestions just for you.
I personally recommend every single one of these albums, and have included a mini-review to help you decide if it’s the type of thing you like.
Organized into categories for your listening pleasure:
~ 60’s-70’s ~
1. Stan Getz – Focus: Instead of coasting on the fame of his Bossa Nova megahit album Getz/Gilberto, he did all kinds of other great work. In Focus, Stan commissioned a whole string arrangement, and then improvised saxophone over it the first time he heard it. It’s honestly goddamn thrilling.
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2. The Youngbloods – Elephant Mountain: Youngbloods, the one-hit wonder who did “Come On” (people now, smile on your brother everybody get together try to love one another right now), also did this incredibly beautiful, pastoral rock album with a gorgeous vibe. Very slept on.
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3. Funkadelic – Maggotbrain: Everyone’s heard of this, right? This one’s a “just in case” because it’s so damn good. Starts off with a long “best ever” guitar solo (George Clinton reportedly told Eddie Hazel to play like his momma died), then three ROCK SOLID funk songs that are truly unfuckwithable, then an amazing symphony of noise and destruction. One of the best albums of all time.
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~ hip hop ~
4. P.O.S. – Never Better: Bush-era Minnesota rap, POS was literally never better. Truly dizzying raps and razor sharp wit over beats that slap your mom.
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5. Qwel & Maker – Owl: Totally slept on rock-solid bars on bars on bars 90’s style. Found this on a reddit thread of slept on albums and it’s been a favorite ever since.
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6. Why? – Alopecia: Weird nasally white dude rap but some really classic, quotable unforgettable lyrics and jams
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7. Tierra Whack – Whack World: 15 minutes, 15 incredible 1-minute rap songs. just watch the video:
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~ noise / electronic / ambient ~
8. Four Tet – There is Love in You: Just one of the most beautiful electronic music albums of all time.
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9. Ben Frost – By the Throat: Dark, horror-ambient. Guttural, sinister electronic sounds, but somehow with a sense of humor.
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10. Andy Stott – Luxury Problems: Crunchy ugly-beautiful beats that sound different than anything anyone has ever done.
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11. Untogether – Blue Hawaii: Super etherial beats and fragmented song structure. Gorgeous and haunting.
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12. Weval – Weval: Cool, almost danceable beats, usually with one well-placed vocal sample. I can put it on almost any time.
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~ dream-pop-y ~
13. Youth Lagoon – The Year of Hibernation: Tender yearning personified. One of my favorite bedroom recordings of all time. To me there aren’t even individual songs, just one beautiful mood.
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14. Sunny Day in Glasgow – Sea When Absent: Explosive quiet/loud dynamics and just in general an evolution from Loveless that I think is enjoyable.
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15. The Clientele – Suburban Light: The sunday album you put on when you don’t know what to put on after Blonde? A timeless, hazy gorgeous album that feels like looking out a rain-clouded window.
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16. Real Estate – Real Estate: Also one beautiful mood. I’m honestly misclassifying this as dream pop. It’s more like a kind of dreamy surf rock with singing. Production is a little lo-fi but that only adds to its charm.
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17. Cocteau Twins – Heaven or Las Vegas: Probably part of the early genesis of dream pop. A heedlessly beautiful album that sparkles with actual magic.
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~ country / americana / folky ~
18. Ohio – Over the Rhine: A crushingly beautiful double album. A husband and wife team makes a towering work very few people have heard of.
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19. Neko Case – Furnace Room Lullaby: To me this is the ultimate Neko Case album. An unparalleled vocal powerhouse at the height of her songwriting powers.
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20. M. Ward – Post-War: Songs I’d sing to my kids, if I had any. Timeless.
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~ weird ~
21. kissed her little sister – HIGHandLOW: I think this one is Bandcamp only. A truly weird and hilarious low-fi mix of turntablism and singer-songwriteriness. Truly among the most hidden of gems.
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22. Mr. Bungle – California: A singular album. A bizarre mish-mash of styles roughly based around a kind of demented surf rock. Mike Patton is a genius.
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~ rock / jam ~
23. Plants and Animals – Parc Avenue: A band that never made another masterwork quite like this again. A beautiful journey.
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24. Okkervil River – The Stage Names: Some seriously deep and funny and passionate rock and roll.
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25. The Dodos – Visiter: Gorgeous singing, hilariously touching songs, balls out messy percussion, heart, spirit.
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26. White Denim – Last Days of Summer: White Denim is a crazy experimental Austin rock band that has done a lot of interesting work. For pure pleasure, however, nothing they’ve done is as good as Last Days of Summer. It’s like caramel poured over fresh strawberries and still just enough musically experimental to be amazing.
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~ mellow / soul / chill ~
27. How to Dress Well – Love Remains: Some of the genesis of lo-fi “PBR&B”, but hardly ever done as well. Later this same dude started making very clear recordings, but it’s this early, distorted, hopeless music that made me love him.
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28. Mija – HOW TO MEASURE THE DISTANCE BETWEEN LOVERS: Criminally slept on EP of ethereal electronic / neo-soul.
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~ pop adjacent ~
29. Kelis – Tasty: Everyone knows the song “Milkshake”, but not everyone knows there’s an incredible album built around it, along with an awesome Andre 3000 feature.
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30. Sia – Healing is Difficult: Before Sia even bothered to hide her face, she made this brilliant album. No one has a voice like hers, and no one knows how to make dark, thorny, vulnerable songs like her. This album is a treasure.
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Well, there you go. 30 albums. Surely you haven’t heard every single one?
this blog post is now over, thank you for reading.
as a reminder, it was called:
30 Awesome, Underrated, Sweet, Snobby Albums
it's categorized as:
Albums
link to it, please: Tuesday, January 26th, 2021
If Cobain was alive today, he’d like Girlpool. Somewhere West of the Vaselines. Alternately cooing and shredding. Song: Soup
9. Alex Cameron: Forced Witness:
Alex Cameron plays a character a little like Tom Waits, but less knowing, more confused, more innocent, more loungey, more uses of the word “pussy”. Song: Chihuahua
8. Vince Staples – Big Fish Theory
I love Vince Staples. He took some real chances here and made an actually experimental rap album. Vince Staples is the king of making songs that aren’t what they seem to be about. It’s fantastic. Song: Rain Come Down
7. Lorde – Melodrama
Liability was an anthem for me. A song where if I played it for friends they’d silently listen with me and then look at me and say, “Ow.”
6. Sheer Mag – Need to Feel Your Love
If this was coming out of my transistor radio while I jumped in the lake in cutoffs, I’d feel like life was good. Song: Expect the Bayonet
5. Cigarettes After Sex – Cigarettes After Sex
Yeah, it’s what it sounds like. Sade, Goldfrapp, Everything but the Girl. That kind of stuff, and very well done. Song: Each Time You Fall in Love
4. Sampha – Process
A vocalist like no other. A mix of grief, paranoia, and hope, but with a little grime. Song: Blood on Me [for beats] and Nobody Knows Me Like The Piano (In My Mother’s Home) [for the pure beauty]
3. Sophia Kennedy – Sophia Kennedy
Vivacious, beautiful, honest, original music. Great percussion and production, great singing, unorthodox songwriting. Song: Kimono Hill
2. King Kendrick (Pulitzer Recipient) – DAMN.
Kendrick really knows how to make himself a part of the national conversation, that’s for sure. Three days after this album came out, I walked by a young girl singing, “They won’t take me out my ELEMENT.” and I thought, that’s right, girl. Plus a U2 feature?!?!?! He can write his own rules still. Song: FEAR.
1. Amber Mark – 3:33
I listened to the 7 songs on this album, and their 4 remixes more than any other music this year. I honestly can’t explain why it has the hold on me that it does, but there is not one wasted or imperfect second on this album. I never want to skip anything. It’s hard to think of what to play after it. A hopeful album dealing with her mother’s death, handled with such ebullient and lovely energy. It uplifts me every time. Song: Monsoon