johnny[Birthday]
hello everyone it is my birthday, i wish it was not my birthday (lol classic gemini) so imma redirect it by making a cool list of albums people have rec'd me/been responsible for me jamming in the past. thank you everyone on the list + everyone who reads :] |
| 1 |  | Macaroom
Homephone TE
Glitch pop / indietronica
Rec'd by coachcake
I think this is my only current 5 that someone else rec'd me, and it's also one of the harder 5s so big points to coach for forcing me to jam this d r e a m b o a t of an album until it grew on me
5.0 |
| 2 |  | Susumu Yokota
Grinning Cat
Ambient / electronic
Scavenged from Observer's electronic list
I noted this on a whim (I liked the title lol) and gave it a jam a few weeks later. Throughly beautiful stuff. There's something deeply relaxing about this, but there's also a subtle air of suspense. Susumu Yokota's piano motifs are bliss.
4.0 |
| 3 |  | Stereolab
Transient Random-Noise Bursts with Announcements
Noise pop / post-rock / krautrock
Rec'd by Ghandhi
I was distantly thinking of Stereolab for a while, but Ghandhi gave me a push in the right direction. This band's discog is super essential and this album in particular is a favourite in the makings. So playful yet deadpan, I love how they chop up the rock template on this one.
4.2 |
| 4 |  | The Knife
Shaking the Habitual
Electronic / dance / ambient
Rec'd by Ars
It terrifies me that I might have slept on this. I dug Deep Cuts and Silent Shout for a while, but not enough to go the extra mile and jam this in its entirety. What a stupid mistake. This album is colossal, I can't imagine my electronic wheelhouse without it. Full of Fire and Raging Lung in particular are ludicrously strong gold standards. Now to finally check Tomorrow In A Year...
4.7 |
| 5 |  | Destroyer
Kaputt
Sophistipop
Rec'd by Papa Universe
Another very essential album I might have missed if it weren't for a push in the right direction; Kaputt is seamless, thought provoking and almost effortlessly smooth. I don't come back to it as often as I should, but this one deserves all the tall statements that have been thrown at it.
4.2 |
| 6 |  | Everything But the Girl
Walking Wounded
Trip-hop / sophistipop
Scavenged from AnimalsAsSummit's list
Very consistent and versatile group, I've enjoyed picking through their discog a lot; cannot wait to round this one off. Any early days Massive Attack/Portishead gang sleeping on this one in particular, get yo shit together!
4.2 |
| 7 |  | Walrus
Hikari no Kakera
Shoegaze
Rec'd by AnimalsAsSummit
This one randomly came to mind - very cool noisey shoegaze album.
4.0 |
| 8 |  | Advantage Lucy
Fanfare
Jangle pop / twee pop
Rec'd by Ghandhi
I've listened to these guys so much I almost forgot my origin story with them - borderline perfect pop rock tracks, just the right balance of whimsical female vocals and robust songwriting. Love it.
4.5 |
| 9 |  | School Food Punishment
school food is good food
Alt rock / post-rock
Rec'd by Ghandhi
Another Ghandhi rec, I think from around the same time as Advantage Lucy. This is a very cool EP, I'm not so on board with the band's other work, but this is always slick, refreshing and a little bittersweet to return to. I kinda see them as Spangle Call Lilli Line's anxious younger cousin, but I guess in a good way?
4.0 |
| 10 |  | Split End
Deep Love
Power pop
Rec'd by coachcake
Forget anxious younger cousins; Split End are the best power pop band in the world right now and I very much doubt I'd have stumbled across them without the right prompting.
4.5 |
| 11 |  | Triangulo de Amor Bizarro
oɹɹɐzıqɹoɯɐǝpolnƃuɐıɹʇ
Shoegaze / noise pop / dream pop
Rec'd by coachcake
Another dope coach rec and definitely one of my favourites from this year. A lovely messy mix of styles with some breathtakingly gorgeous moments.
4.1 |
| 12 |  | Ametsub
Linear Cryptics
IDM / glitch
Rec'd by Pots
If Mr. Potato hadn't interfered, I'd likely have checked out Ametsub's far less interesting second album at some point and explored no further. Linear Cryptics is a treat, very nicely paced with a range of bitesize and expansive ideas; it's as fun as it is atmospheric.
4.0 |
| 13 |  | Yuki Kajiura
Kara no Kyoukai: Fukan Fuukei
OST
Discovered by way of artiswar prodding me towards watching the (amazing) movies.
Oh my shit I love everything about Yuki Kajiura's aesthetic and mood on these scores. That tone, that opening character theme, holy shit. This is some of the only music I've heard in the last few years that I straight-up tried to emulate, and the results made me feel like I outgrew myself a little. Glorious stuff.
4.5 |
| 14 |  | The Weakerthans
Reconstruction Site
Indie rock
Rec'd by coachcake
Final coach rec, but what a winner! The nostalgia on this is so delicately balanced - it's softly articulated, but disarmingly cutting when it comes down to it. So bittersweet and beautiful. This didn't take long to get under my skin, and I can see it holding up beautifully in years to come.
4.5 |
| 15 |  | David Sylvian
Brilliant Trees
Art rock / sophistipop
Rec'd by Fripp
This is half here as tribute to how solid this album is and half as a self-directed guilt trip to hurry up and explore David Sylvian's discog further. Very cool stuff either way.
4.0 |
| 16 |  | Haru Nemuri
Haru to Shura
Hip-hop / noise pop
Scavenged from Minushuman's list
While it still slaps, this has been an incredibly important album for my musical journey in the last couple of years - very strange to think it all started because the colour scheme jumped out at me on a relatively low-key list Minus had put together. Some huge energy here, makes me very grateful to have caught her live show.
4.3 |
| 17 |  | Supercar
Futurama
Alt rock / shoegaze
Rec'd by Fripp
I was always going to check Supercar's masterpiece Highvision, but I'm forever grateful to Fripp for giving me a nudge towards this one. Futurama is huge, full of ideas and (for the most part) extremely well-paced, a monolith of late 90s/early 00s alt rock that practically sits as a Japanese OK Computer. Take out a few duds in the middle section and this would be a borderline 5.
4.3 |
| 18 |  | Amon Tobin
Supermodified
Electronic / IDM / trip-hop
Rec'd by the hivemind, as gatekept by Pots
I'm not sure if anyone user convinced me to try Amon Tobin, but a swirl of bumps and Pots comments in particular pushed me towards doing so. Midway through his discog atm, and suffice to say I regret nothing.
4.2 |
| 19 |  | Yeule
Serotonin II
Dream pop
Rec'd by Abe
Absolutely fantastic outing of premium Abecore, iirc this was the subject of his back-to-sput review. Good shit, need to come back to this sometime.
4.2 |
| 20 |  | Mazzy Star
She Hangs Brightly
Dream pop / psychedelic
Rec'd by budgie
My second favourite Mazzy Star. They aren't a group I would have felt a need to clear up otherwise, but budgie probably definitely made me listen to this (I can't remember when, and Ars may have had a hand in it, but this did happen wow). Some top-level Mazzy moments, defs superior to So Tonight...
3.7 |
| 21 |  | Say Sue Me
Where We Were Together
Dream pop / shoegaze / surf rock
Rec'd by budgie
In a strange turn of events, I saw this band live but lost almost all memory of them until budgie rec'd them to me. Lovely dreamy stuff, a gradual grower with a couple of firm favourites I always enjoy coming back to.
3.5 |
| 22 |  | A Beacon School
Cola
Dream pop / shoegaze
Rec'd by Abe
Very nice Abecore, very cool. Good good.
4.0 |
| 23 |  | Anna von Hausswolff
Dead Magic
Neoclassical darkwave / drone
Rec'd by neek
I *had* heard this before, but neek pushed me to getting further in. I'm grateful I did - the 21st century's answer to vintage 4AD sounds almost on par with the real thing. Love the drone section, love the vocal boldness when it it occurs, love the brittle atmosphere. Need to spend more time with this.
4.0 |
| 24 |  | オオハシ (Ohashi)
波のはじまり (Nami no Hajimari)
Math rock
Rec'd by Dewi
Some tasty tasty jams on this, never would have heard of it if it weren't for Mr. Dewi's expertise with the Kansai scene. Lovely stuff.
4.0 |
| 25 |  | o'summer vacation
Wicked Heart
Noise rock / math rock
Rec'd by Dewi
Lol this album is mental and I love it. A short and sweet firecracker of an album, so many fun ideas, a great dry tone and a shitton of energy. More please!
4.0 |
| 26 |  | Otoboke Beaver
いてこまヒッツ
Punk
Rec'd by Dewi
Fairly sure Dewi originally put me onto these girls *before* they were cool (totally reviewed this before Fantano etcetc). Everyone's heard this by now, but it still rips like hell. What fuckhead put that title back into kana, ugh.
4.0 |
| 27 |  | Koto
Platonic Planet
Synth pop / bitpop
Rec'd by CalculatingInfinity/Arche
I think it was a combination of Calc and Aaron that got me to check this; lol this album is ridiculous, some huge bangers and the most saccharine overload of them all. Cannot resist.
3.7 |
| 28 |  | Hair and Skin Trading Company
Over Valence
Noise rock
Rec'd by Sandwich
Disgustingly overlooked 90s noise gem - very versatile stuff, excellently paced, very atmospheric and highly recommended. Dope.
4.0 |
| 29 |  | Do Make Say Think
Other Truths
Post-rock
Rec'd by widowslaugh
I think I got into DMST from widows' list that posited them as one of the hypothetical Big 4 of post-rock. I remember saying that Mogwai would be a better fit. Lol. Excellent band, this and Goodbye Enemy Airship in particular are great keepers. A bit of overlap with Broken Social Scene always helps, too...
4.0 |
| 30 |  | I Am A Lake Of Burning Orchids
Innocence
Ambient / noise
Rec'd by J()Alex and Ghandhi
I stalked this one of J()Alex's AOTD ballot and Ghandhi prompted me to check. Very, very good stuff - some beautiful ambience, some raw noise, an occasional beat and a very healthy dose of overall tension. Y'all who were swooning over the new NIN albums, this is the song of what comes next...
4.0 |
| 31 |  | Hakushi Hasegawa
Air Ni Ni
Electro jazz breaks pop
Rec'd by Arche
This crazy fucker hit me up out of the blue asking me to review this shit. It took me about 3-4 tracks to decide that this absolutely had to happen. Really fun zany overload of an album, stoked to see where Hasegawa goes next.
3.9 |
| 32 |  | Two People
First Body
Electronic / dream pop
Rev'd by Dewi
2019's token downtempo favourite is a good boi and probably not one that I would have bonded with if Dewi hadn't rev'd it - I'd have eventually heard these songs in their Terrace House cameos, but that shit ain't nearly as impressive as the full album for obvious reasons. Noice.
3.9 |
| 33 |  | Bambara
Stray
Post punk
Rev'd by Ashtiel
...on the other hand, my current AOTY frontrunner is a fresh and fine and would have sounded stupendous not matter how I encountered it. Ashtiel's review was as fine a place as any.
4.2 |
| 34 |  | 7 Angels 7 Plagues
Jhazmyne's Lullaby
Metalcore
Rec'd by some combination of Steak, Jester and calmrose
I absolutely love parts of this and very much need to come back to it. Dope raw tone, with a few stunning melodic flourishes mmmm
3.7 |
| 35 |  | Monolake
Cinemascope
Minimal techno
Rec'd by Trif
Monolake is a slow artist and I'm making my way through his albums very very slowly, but Trif putting this one on my plate certainly made things more exciting. Some very excellent cuts here, even if I end up spinning them twice as much as rest of the album.
3.7 |
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