Magazines used to be a good source of music recommendations. Books too.
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Or if you were lucky, you could stumble on an album with hundreds of bands to check out like the Nurse with Wound list.
It would be really cool if there was a video game equivalent of this!
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Maximum rock n roll was essential to me along with Henry Rollins autobiographies
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It was a good busy week. Weather warmed up a bit, though I was unable to really spend time outside like I wanted to. I used the metro way less thank to the generosity of coworkers and friends, but at the significant cost of being able to listen to music while on the metro (one of my favorite ways to listen).
I have to say, I really appreciate that some of you take the time to read me talk about this stuff. Itās been really fun to do this exercise the past few weeks and I like having to put my thoughts in writing, never really engaged with music this way before, its nice.
Anyways enough preamble, lets dive in 
selection:
begin to hope - regina spektor
the lion - youssef n dour
blue - joni mitchell
bewitched - laufey
glassworks disc 4 - phillip glass
relativity - peter erskine/marty ehrlich/michael formanek
Regina Spektor - Begin to Hope
When I saw this at the library the name rung a bell but I couldnāt name or remember a single song. Brought it back to my apartment and immediately recognized the first song āFidelityā. After listening to the album several times, I think Fidelity encapsulates what begins to hope is about. There is a sense of lightheartedness, whimsy and humor in some of the tracks, what I imagine makes it part of the anti-folk movement. The whole anti-folk thing is still vague to me because I havenāt done the homework of learning more about the artist grouped into it, or what they were reacting to.
There are a couple of things about this album that I can appreciate. The folk-influenced instrumentation in some of the tracks conditioned me to expect one thing (maybe because of listening to āFor the Rosesā so much) but went in a different direction. They are often imaginative, diving into fantastical stories and other digressions. Sometimes the cheer instrumentation is contrasted by lyrics about less happy subjects, like in That Time.
I wish I could have vibed with this album a bit more, the arrangements and production throughout felt a bit lukewarm, with only certain moments really sticking out to me, especially this song Field Below ā I really like the piano in this and in general the production has more personality in it than some of the other tracks, which felt relatively bland.
Though I didnāt end up loving this one, Iāve put Soviet Kitsch, her previous album, on my āwishlistā.
The Lion - Youssouf N Dour
This album has some great moments, and from the first track really shows you what itās all about. I deeply appreciate tracks with the full band ā they sound luxurious and dramatic, the percussionās groove adds a lot of energy in each track, and the vocals + choir ties it all together really well. The Lion is the prime example of this.
The album features quite a bit of electronic elements and in general does have the wrappings of a very late 80s sound (especially the reverb and sequenced percussion). after some research, I found out that it was Youssouās first globally distributed album and one of the initial examples of āmodernizedā mbalax music. I wasnāt around at the time so, I donāt know if to older ears the 80s pop āpackagingā in this clean/synthesized format sounds generic or something like that. In my opinion the album has a lot of personality because of it, and a good example is my second favorite track, bamako. The track is a whole vibe and the flute synth lines are chefs kiss paired with the vocal and backing vocals.
Cool album, cool artist, gonna look out for more in my future visits.
Blue - Joni Mitchell
It was interesting to listen to this one and seeing how her sound developed into what would be featured more prominently in For The Roses. At this point I can say with some confidence that I vibe with her jazzier sound a bit more. However the pared-down instrumentation and some genuinely captivating lyrics in A Case of You and Last Time I Saw Richard were a pleasant listen these past few days. She has a very calming tone of voice and I really enjoy the way she plays the piano.
It is kind of tragic that this path into more jazz-influence in her music has the whole Art Nouveau thing as an āendpointā. If she hadnāt taken that treacherous route she would have been one of my all-timers I think. I deeply enjoy For the Roses and like it more and more as I listen, but the whole thing leaves a bad taste in my mouth. What a shame :(
Best track?
Again, Iāve come to prefer her songs when sheās just singing on the piano, and this is a really good one.
Bewitched - Laufey
If you imagine an line, with āpopā in one end and ājazzā in the other, this album would be 3/4 of the way towards jazz. Itās a pretty straightforward jazz album with Laufey at center stage as the vocalist, but there is a subtle pop music arrangement here and there ā thereās no crazy solos, or anything like that. I would describe this album as āstraightforwardā.
This album is a nice listen all the way through, and is relatively short, generally moody/melancholic jazz ballads. She has a phenomenal voice, and this has got to be on of the first jazz vocalist-focused albums I ever listen to all the way, definitely one of my areas of interests in jazz. My favorite track is one of the more energetic ones, it feels like itās too short!
Honestly, the more I listen to this album, the more I like it. Itās a straight arrow!
Glassworks Disc 4 - Phillip Glass
This one was pretty interesting. I think however that it wasnt a good way of getting into Phillip Glass. I wasnāt aware it was a compilation and not an actual unified release. But it seems like most of the tracks in this one are from Glassworks/Analog.
There;'s all kinds of stuff in this one actually. There are certain composition that seem to be just flutes that sound quite nice. I know next to nothing about music theory but the arpeggios, (or whatever you call the fast sequence of looping notes) coming in and out of sync of each other is super cool in this one:
The compositions make me think of a river current or something like that, there is a rushing feeling but if you adjust focus itās really calming.
It does go in different directions, for example, I love the super digital, glassy Fm Synths (?) in Mad Rush for Organ. I for some reason canāt find it this particular version on youtube, so here it is on piano.
Very pleasant listen! @captain I might end up going for the Koyaanisqatsi soundtrack after all, or something else from him.
Relativity - Peter Erskine/Marty Ehrlich/Michael Formanek
Some jazz songs break structure to transition into an improvisational section, when things break and the instrumentation is out of joint. How and when the band ācomes back togetherā feels like a deliberate choice and one that can be used to build tension or surprise the listener. Itās one of my favorite things about this genre of music.
Relativity at first didnāt connect with me. I would listen while working and it would catch my attention precisely when it ābrokeā and the saxophone is suddenly out of tune and the drumming sounds hectic. But then I listened to the same track on a walk (Incident at Harpham Flat) and found myself very interested in the moment to moment changes.
I ended up really appreciating the coming going of tension and release in the arrangement. I might be reading too much into it, but the name Incident at Harpham Flat kind of tells a story of something gone wrong, maybe a party that suddenly had people headed out the door. The turning around of my opinion of this album, and my appreciation of it within these parameters, made this a very memorable listen. However I can acknowledge that I had to really sit with it to get here, and that makes it a bit tough to recommend.
Yes, it took me a few tries to get in there, but now I think Iām going to keep this one on my ākeepā list, itās the kind of album that sounds too out there for me that then becomes one of my favorite.
Good stuff this week, went in unexpected directions but overall Iām pretty happy I got to spend the time with these. Tomorrowās my re-up day and Iām thinking to go to a different library this time to shake things up a bit.
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This is one of Glassās āthingsā and is all over Koyaanisqatsi. Iām not familiar with āAre Years What?ā, but itās curious that heās been able to riff on this sort of sound so often and get so many different moods out of it. I canāt find the version of āMad Rushā youāve got on that CD either, despite my best efforts!
If the library has multiple versions of Koyaanisqatsi get the one with a car in a desert on the cover rather than the version with red text on black background. I could of course post images here to be explicitly clear but whereās the fun in that
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on the album Born to Run the first side has all these huge songs Thunder Road, 10th Avenue freeze out, Backstreets, Born To Run then it goes right into the Monty Python and the Holy Grail soundtrack. Why did they do that?
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Iāve a write up still in process for this weekās library deep dive but wanted to share some thoughts on the whole thing now that Iāve done it for about a month.
The library project has taken an interesting turn. Before I grabbed maybe 7 albums that were interesting based on the cover and whittled them down to 5 after some very minimal googling to find the artist name (its sometimes not clear), country of origin when not apparent, etc.
Now Iām stocking up on like 10, divide them into different piles based on familiarity/interest, and spend about 1-2 hours reading up on the artist, fanās ranking of that record relative to the discography, etc. Iāve become more selective which is not the approach I started this with.
Iāve also become quite familiar with the one rack in my library with music CDs and have noticed my own impact on the collection ā I often grab cds from other libraries and āreturnā them to mine, so the rack has lowly been populated with the music I choose. Thatās a cool way of measuring my āprogress hereā and I wonder if in a couple of months a sizable portion of the collection will be stuff I brought in. I donāt really see many people checking CDs out of there and like I said its a pretty small collection.
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This is what I picked out from the library CD rack last week. Good stuff, overall.
Lykke Li - Eyeye
Leonard Bernstein - Gershwinās Rhapsody in Blue, An American in Paris
The Ultimate Shirley Horn
Four Tet - New Energy
Bob Dylan - Desire
Chet in Chicago
Lykke Li - Eyeye
I was obsessed with I Follow Rivers when it came out when I was a teenager. I donāt listen to much pop music but sheās always been āon my radarā for that reason. I wanted to see what she got up to afterwards and since then.
There were several Lykke Li albums at the library, and the reason I picked this one is because it seemed like most of it was composed during the pandemic, in her bedroom with a cheap mic and some synths. I appreciate when an artist goes back to a limited palette, and her being a pop musician makes that even more interesting because itās always seemed like a genre that benefits from having a wide sound palette and top of the shelf engineering to produce those crystal clear mixes.
Overall this was pretty decent. I appreciate that it works as a concept album, the title, track-list, structure and themes of the album are all centered on the concept of a repeating cycle, meant to be interpreted as a story of heartbreak and reconciliation, but also the cycles of sadness and other emotions. This overarching theme serves each song well because they all seem to float into one another, and the raw production style is common throughout.
Iām inclined to say that the album gains a lot from being listened to front to back, all the way through. I also say that because at the individual level none of the tracks really popped out. Itās a slow album thatās okay with going to a place and staying there, the effect is that if you want the usual contrast and dynamism of pop music, this doesnāt feel like its going for that at all.
Standout song is Carousel because its production and lyrics encapsulates the best aspects of the album for me.
Overall I enjoyed it, but it may lack the punchiness of her other projects. Gonna be on the lookout for other stuff by her.
Chet in Chicago
I think my favorite instrument in any given jazz track is usually the trumpet. So its puzzling that iāve never really listened to Chet Baker in a serious way. I really enjoyed this album because its quite somber and there are moments in there that feel very delicate. His voice is quite understated when he sings and i really like that. The Bradley Young trio he is playing with takes center stage a couple of times and they sound real nice.
Its a live album but the sound is really pristine. Another thing I love about jazz music in general is that the brushing and open hats have a nice sizzle to them every time, when the recording is super clean like its a deep delight to listen to.
Favorite song is most definitely my funny valentine ā moody and slow with a nice dose of trumpet + Chet Baker singing = good stuff
Four Tet - New Energy
I never really got into Four Tet for some reason. The track I like best from him isnāt even from this album but I have also never listened to an album of his all the way through.
In general, the closest metaphor I could think to describe his music is a moving tapestry or mosaic, the way the seemingly disparate elements come together and form a cohesive whole is a great listening experience. A good example of this is my standout track from the album, Lush
The way the track builds is pretty nice.
I think heās said before that he borrows a lot of his sound palette and structure from hip hop, and after listening to the album I can see why: the structure of each song is pretty symmetrical and Four Tet rarely deviates too much from the foundation heās built throughout each track.
While like I said before the ābuilding upā of the track is great, it does mean that it is sometimes predictable, and as a listener I felt like i was waiting for the next element to get thrown in. This way of listening to music isnāt joyful and it might just be a me thing, but it happened several times during this album (see Planet)
It for some reason sounds clunky and the elements donāt really gel well together for me. The sort of shrill sound that comes in with some slight volume modulation was also kind of a perplexing choice.
Four Tetās music also falls within what people sometimes terms āFolktronicaā and itās a sound that I somehow donāt find compelling. Again, I appreciate the tact and sensibility with which Four Tet combines digital and analog elements in his music to create unique compositions ā it speaks to having a good musical ear and creativity to combine disparate elements, but the overall effect falls flat for me. Iām not sure why.
Iāll be on the lookout for more stuff by him, maybe check out his earlier works, but in general I think I feel sort of lukewarm about this one.
The Ultimate Shirley Horn
Continuing my vocal jazz journey with this compilation of Shirley Hornās works. To be honest this album does everything right as a compilation ā more so than providing a chronological overview of Shirleyās work, it seems to focus on providing the listener with a palette of tracks where Shirley playes different roles in the arrangement. There are certain tracks here where itās Shirley and one or two subdued instruments accompanying her, and in others sheās accompanied by a fuller band.
Itās difficult to just pick just one track that standouts, so Iāll allow myself two. Thereās a personal favorite and another one that can be considered āemblematicā of the whole album.
My personal favorite is I Fall in Love Too Easily. Iām a sucker for a slow and meandering jazz love song, and this one is a great example of that: Shirley doesnāt exactly play the role of protagonist here (the main character imo is the trumpet that comes in halfway through) but sheās there enough to really round out the experience. Itās really hard not to enjoy a song like this.
The more emblematic song however is Only the Lonely. It features an orchestra plus the usual accompaniment of drums and piano. Itās a somber, luxurious song where Shirley is front and center, surrounding by wonderful instrumentation. If there is one song to listen to to get a taste of what this album offers, its this one.
Good stuff, no notes!
Leonard Bernstein - Gershwinās Rhapsody in blue, An American in Paris
This is the first straight up classical album Iāve ever listened and thought it was a great start. Getting into classical music has ben sort of difficult because of how enormous the genre is, how dense the lore is of each composer, each with their own phases and reinterpretations of canonized works. Just seemed to be a daunting thing to get into with no reference point. But on the other hand, couldnāt the same thing be said about jazz music?
The library collection closest to me has more classical music than anything else, so I had a lot to choose from. Choosing Gershwin as interpreted by Leonard Bernstein was not a fully conscious choice. I mostly picked it based on the cover: I liked the name āRhapsody in Blueā paired with the kind of deep blue of the cover, and that was that. Iām glad that instead of looking for correct entry points, I just went with my gut so I can finally kick off this journey.
As for the music, I found that I liked it much more than I was expecting to. Thereās still a couple of things about the music that I donāt understand or know how to appreciate, but I like it when stuff sounds good, and thereās a couple of moments in here that are really memorable. The best example I could give is the titular song āRhapsody in Blueā ā specifically this part from minute 11 onwards.
The powerful strings that evoke a feeling of triumph then the sort of drunken cascade of piano chords that indicating uncertainty (at least to my ears) is a deeply cool moment.
Overall the fact that each song seems to want to tell a story just by using instruments in this way is fun to listen to. For this unique reason Iām choosing to keep this album in my back pocket, because although I might not vibe with the rest of the songs (or even the other parts of the same song) as much, Iām still intrigued enough to want to let it grow on me with time.
Bob Dylan - Desire
I think Iāll need to digest Blood on the Tracks properly before I give this one the time it deserves. Overall there are a couple of things going on here that I can appreciate of the bat. First of all, for some reason the recording is kind of rough, which means that the drums particularly have a certain heft to them, perhaps the way they were recorded isnāt the cleanest but it leads to everything having a certain crunch to it that I really enjoy.
Maybe this is why it kind of feels like the drums are much more prominent presence in each track, and that gives the whole album a sense of weight. That said, I still think I like Blood on the Tracks better in general at the moment, though there are a couple of tracks on here that I found myself going back to. Black Diamond Bay is one of them, but currently my favorite is Isis.
The album sometime felt like a collection of short stories the way that Bob Dylanās lyrics try to tell a story from different perspectives or in the case of Sara a story told from the first person. It made me realize how little music with lyrics I listen to that have a singular storytelling focus like Bob Dylan does in this album.
Thanks for reading if you made it this far 
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This weekās entry is a bit shorter. I picked 5 albums but have only listened to two. First I want to shoutout this phenomenal compilation album called Cuba - I Am Time:
I picked #4 of what is a 4-part compilation surveying the different kinds of music played and composed by Cuban musicians. #4 is the Jazz compilation and itās been a deep pleasure to listen to this past week. The compiled music is so great, but the standout track for me at the moment is El Noticiero by Los Terry:
I need to get my hands on this record. Iāve been listening to this one non-stop the last couple of days. Iām mostly familiar with Cuban Jazz ensemble Grupo Irakere, and they are featured in this compilation as well, but Iād never heard of Los Terry before. It turns out they are like the royal family of Cuban jazz musicians.
The cover art here is a picture of Eladio Terry (the one with the big hat, also known as Don Pancho), and his three sons Yosvany, Yoel and Yunior. At the risk of this becoming too Los Terry focused, Iāll limit myself to saying that Iāve discovered what to me is a rich gold vein, because all three sons have released multiple albums of their own, which I will most definitely try out, now that Iāve heard this.
Growing up in the Caribbean I always knew that like the other islands, Cuban music was a unique blend of the cultures clashed together through the process of Colonialism, but it wasnāt until now that I was able to understand what that really meant in terms of the Jazz music coming from the country.
The main thing is the selection of the instruments in the ensemble (based on the traditional Cuban Charanga), which include things like the guiro and the chekere (which Don Pancho is famous for playing), that bring a very unique element to the rhythm sections of the song. You can see Don Pancho using the Chekere here.
Itās no wonder that for some reason, parts of El Noticiero and other tracks in the compilation feel very danceable. The language spoken by the instruments is very similar to the ones of Cuban Salsa, Son Cubano etc. which are primarily meant to be danced to.
The best example of this in El Noticiero is about 5 minutes in when the vocalist sings the chorus, and breaks off into a solo rhythm section. Itās easy to imagine a couple dancing to that section in particular, which contrasts with the piano and flute solo sections that return to a more āout thereā percussive foundation. The rest of the songs in the compilation fall at either end of the spectrum that El Noticiero seems to balance itself on, but itās all incredible music.
As a small side note, the lyrics in the chorus are basically telling people: You should listen to the news report, it could inform you. I like to imagine this section being used in some avant-garde news station as its signature jingle.
Itās hard to describe this music as underrated because these people are legends in their own country, but I still feel inclined to say that they deserve more credit for the mastery and creativity displayed in these songs.
Anyways this compilation deserves my utmost recommendation. Here is the track-list from it (from Discogs) in case you want to sample some of it. Itās good all the way through, but the mastering/mixing in some is suboptimal. I wish there was a better recording of Irakereās Juana 1600 because itās a banger of a track.
A small side note: this website is a great resource to learn more about different aspects of Cuban culture: literature, music, art, politics. Pretty generous collection of documents akin to the stuff posted on our Sacred Texts thread
The other album I want to shout it is called A Week in February by Dub Buffet. First, because itās a pretty decent mix of downtempo + Detroit techno + deep house music. I was surprised that I liked it so much, there is something difficult about making a non-ambient electronic music track that lasts 12 minutes and still holds your attention. It turns out that the sound design is very tasteful, each track takes the listener on a journey that goes interesting places but without feeling like youāre being jerked around - itās all at its own pace so it feels like the 12 minutes is justified. The best example of this I think is Drum Search, Other Names, Grain
Overall Iām quite pleased with this one considering how this is not the kind of electronic music I normally gravitate to.
The other reason I want to shout it out is because it was interesting to find this record in the library. Dub Buffet is a Chicago-based artist with his own label and has seemingly been doing this for a couple of decades now. He owns his own record label that I assume is how he got his CD into the library collection in the first place. My point is that I think itās cool that a guy just doing his thing was able to get their record get circulated in their library system. I discovered it thanks to the library and then bought it on Bandcamp.
I had worried that browsing the library collection will keep me away from listening to stuff currently being released independently, and it seems like I was wrong!
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I thought this would deserve a better place here than in the movie topic:
I mean itās really a new NIN album on 2025-10-10 that I am excited about. When you show a trailer and you donāt actually show the cast, but the band (yes itās not Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, itās actually a NIN release) it shows what youāre selling this film on.
I will see this in the cinema just to listen to the damn thing. Oh and Jeff Bridges, that dude is awesome. And music related too!!!
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iāll skip the movie and just listen to the album because iād rather not see jared leto in a big screen (or any screen for that matter)
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A few days late but RIP Michael Hurley, absolute legend of American folk music and āoutsider artā everywhere. I recommend Armchair Music if you can find it or the album he did with the Holy Rollers.
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I deleted this from my original post because it seemed the issue resolved but I think that was a false clear - @Bonsai when you have a second, can you put some of the YouTube links in your recent posts in drop down spoiler summaries? I think that might fix the data loading issue that happens when opening this page on mobile.
Okay, just did that for all the library posts 
Sorry about that, I can do that for future posts.
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No need to apologize but the thread is working without issue for me now 
Interesting because there are less YouTube links in this thread than any of the āwhat are you listening toā threads but I think by nature of them being contained in a small number of posts back to back it tried to āpre-loadā all the content at once. At least thatās my laymanās hypothesis.
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Best Gaga Album??
- The Fame
- Artpop
- Born This Way
- Joanne
- Chromatica
- Mayhem
0
voters
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All great but no question which one is on top
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This rules, Iām so glad you shared it, thank you.
Iām guessing you mean you want the record on vinyl or something, but I did find this album on Bandcamp
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Usually Iād agree with that statement, but it will have Jeff Bridges in it so I believe it counteracts any performance by Jared Leto. Plus itāll sound incredible in a big room on a huge sound system and that would be worth the admission alone.
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I donāt know why I didnāt think to check there, thank you! I just purchased this one. I wouldnāt mind owning a physical copy though! I went to a record store this weekend and they had a surprising amount of repress of Cuban Jazz classics, but not this one. One day!
Iām listening to El Noticiero as we speak, great song for getting ready in the morning.