1001 Albums Summary

Started strong, finished a little weaker. Classic rock that I've heard hundreds of times on the radio. Really enjoyable and surprising for a debut album.

Favorite Track: "Open The Light" Before even hearing the soundscape that these guys weave, I was captured by the imaginative names of the songs on this album - they were original and felt fun. I suppose it's harder to name songs with very few lyrics? Anyway, this was a great album to absolutely chill to. "Telephasic Workshop" got me hooked, and the long-song-trifecta of "Aquarius," "Pete Standing Alone," and "Happy Cycling" was just a pure invitation to pull up a chair and vibe. Shoutout to the seagulls. There's a band I really enjoy called Philter that seems to have taken a lot of inspiration from Boards of Canada. From the sampled seemingly out-of-place sounds to what I'll refer to as the "vibing children" effect, it was fun to see how Philter has modernized this sound. I don't normally give much credit to bands that do things first (at least in my ratings for these albums), but I made a small exception here. This was fun.

Favorite Track: "Asabache" This album surprised the hell out of me with how much I enjoyed it. I personally greatly dislike most Tejano music, so the Spanish title made me trepidatious, but this was different in a really good way. From the call-and-response songs of "Billumba-Palo Congo" and "Aggo Elegua" to the random shout/animal noises of "Simba" that made me laugh out loud, all cemented together with the glorious drumming of the titular conguero. The language barrier only really enhanced my enjoyment of the fast congas. I was enraptured by "Asabache" for the entirety of the track, disappointed to move on to the next song. My two biggest complaints are the weak ending track and (what I imagine to be a function of the album's age) the lack of balancing for headphones. The drums were almost exclusively in my left ear, while the strings were in my right. May be best enjoyed with mono sound.