1 listen. Favorite track: Southern Man
1 listen. Favorite Track: Jealous-Hearted Man
Two all-timers in one tracklist. I’ve loved the title track for years, and I’m glad this gave me reason to listen to the whole thing. I love the combination of the smooth, soulful instrumentals with Al’s restrained but wonderful vocals. With so few weak or wasted moments here for me, this pushed five stars, but I just didn’t fully fall in love with enough of the other tracks.
2 listens
Favorite track: The Title Track
Listened to this a couple years ago in preparation for the biopic but didn’t remember much. Enjoyed it more this time around. 1 listen.
No familiarity coming in beyond Thom Yorke. Loved those tracks and found myself enjoying the energy and style overall. Will continue to listen and give more time in the near future.
2 listens
Still pretty good, but didn’t capture me all that much or leave me feeling overly inspired to return. This might be a style I need some time to warm up to. Definitely some enjoyable moments though and woah that closer will be on repeat for weeks.
1 listen
Favorite Track: Is This Music?
I think Kiss Off might haunt my nightmares… but I kinda rock with it. It’s probably not the only track that would fit that description either. I can’t imagine many situations in which I would say “You know what I want to listen to right now? That Violent Femmes record”. Appreciate the weirdness though, and some moments on the back half nearly won me back. This one always kept me guessing and usually wrong.
1 listen
Favorite Tracks: Promise, Good Feeling
I didn’t get to this one until late last night, but I feel that only added to the magic of Nina. It’s past time I listen to a full project from her and I’m so glad I finally did. The impact and boundary-pushing nature of what she’s doing here is immediately evident, along with it’s immortality. One of the most enjoyable moments for me when listening to music is catching a sample of a modern track I love or vice versa. Here it happened twice, with the iconic The Story of O.J. (Jay-Z), sampling Four Women, demonstrating Nina’s influence pushing all the way into the 2010’s and then, even further, one of my favorite recent The Weeknd tracks, Given Up On Me, beautifully sampling the title track just last year. This shines a lens into the lasting influence of her music, while listening to the album itself makes it clear how strongly it stands on it’s own, even today. Emotional, experimental, and brilliantly executed, this makes Nina sound like a godmother of soul itself.
1 listen
Favorite Tracks: Four Women, Wild is the Wind
This glam rock style hasn’t done a whole lot for me thus far. Maybe one of these projects will change that but this one wasn’t the one.
1 listen
Left a really positive first impression. The noise and punk elements created a dark intensity that I’ll be excited to return to.
1 listen
Favorite Track: Schizophrenia
Similarly to Exodus, enjoyed this more on return than I did a couple of years ago. Great stuff.
1 listen
Favorite Track: Stir It Up
This project was especially welcome after a couple of fantastic international releases and my first real exposure to music beyond our borders this past year. Joyful and expressive, the listening experience here is just simply a good time. So much musicality to go with passionate performances. Some of the string and drum lines are incredibly infectious, especially that melody in Pitche Mi, which was pure bliss to my ears.
1 listen
Favorite Track: Pitche Mi
As well-loved a project as any that I somehow hadn’t gotten around to listening to until now. I can’t speak as much as others to it’s impact but the sound and quality of every instrument and the vocals are clearly top drawer. Incredibly energy on top of it all makes this one I’m excited to spend more time with and I expect it to only grow for me.
2 listens
Favorite Tracks: Breed, Come As You Are, Smells Like Teen Spirit, In Bloom
I’ve enjoyed Blue for awhile, but never explored Joni’s catalog further until now. This style speaks to me with it’s unpredictable production as a backdrop for potent lyricism only enhanced by Joni’s voice and performance. Folk music that is anything but repetitive or ever short of ideas, it feels like the work of a one-of-one creative. The standout feature might be the storytelling though, which demands return to this to grasp those stories fully and piece them together, but with Joni I imagine they come together beautifully. Exploring her emotional state through her music in the way she does, Joni does one of my favorite things in singer-songwriter music, throwing out a hook to explore more.
1 listen
Favorite Tracks: Song for Sharon, Title Track
Woah. I knew little about this band coming in and this was not really what I was expecting. What this was was close to the dream experience for me when doing this, finding something I wasn’t familiar with, nor particularly expecting to like, and falling in love with it. I enjoy everything about this. The energy is incredible, it’s electric and then some. The fusion of styles here sound frankensteinian in the coolest way, sounds that weren’t all put together this well before this but combine to create something epic and monstrous. The vocals are great, reminding me of the Beastie Boys and, more recently, Joey Valence. I’m not quite as into the more metal tracks but even those I enjoyed much more thaj expected. I’ve struggled to enjoy groups like Deafheaven in the past because I can’t endure the sound of the screams but I much prefer how it’s done here personally. All of this would be enough to love it and that’s without a word being spent on the power of the lyrics to go on top of it all. I’m not all that well-versed in the genre yet overall, but this may quickly become my favorite rock record of all time, as long as nothing else on this list has something to say about it.
2 listens
Favorite Tracks: Take the Power Back, Bombtrack, Know Your Enemy
This grew on me after encountering it a few years ago. While being a master of soul, Stevie expands his sound so much here and adds a heavy dose of funk and flare to the sweetness he was known for as a teen musician. 72 was the year he fully came into his own, with two projects where he demonstrated what he was truly capable of. I have a soft spot for artists who do it all, not only the vocals but nearly all the instrumentation themselves, as he does here. It’s fully his artistic vision and a great early release, certainly not the last we’ll be hearing from him here.
2 listens
Favorite Tracks: Superstition, Maybe Your Baby
