Top 3
With nothing but busy work to do, I spent all day thinking about my 3 favorite albums. I really needed to pass the time.
3: Explosions In The Sky - How Strange, Innocence
This album is perfect for anything from sleeping, to driving, to boiling vegetables for a late-night meal; after forgetting to eat anything during the day. It's such an incredibly well made album, and I still find myself coming back to it. Their later albums are good, but none are nearly as consistently amazing. It provides really good afternoon napping music, and let me explain. Napping is an artform. And choosing the proper music for afternoon naps is equally important. If you choose something too soft, you'll not want to wake up later (why I can't nap to Blue States anymore). Something too loud, well, it's just hard to feel rested after sleeping to Fall Of Troy. Something without lyrics is ideal, too, although I've tried sleeping to Godspeed!, and just ended up with nightmares. This album finds a perfect blend.
2: The Mountain Goats - All Hail West Texas
I just happened upon this album, and the lo-fi-ness(?) off it adds soo much to the tone of the entire disc. As a lover of folk-music, but despiser of country music, this album hits the perfect mix of pure folk. Folk-ish. For the record, I'm not folk expert, but I know what I like, and this album is it. I'm not particularly attentive to lyrics, but more to the overall style and flow of music, although I find myself picking up phrases in songs that astound me. Good driving music, not bad walking music, PERFECT Japanese-countryside-train-riding music.
1: The Violent Femmes - Violent Femmes Reissue
If you have ever ridden in a car with me, in which I was driving, the chances of you hearing this album is extremely high. I bought it 5 years ago, and the only time it has ever left my car was when I was loaning it to someone, or when I drove my car into 3 feet of water, and had to get a new car. Now, this doesn't mean it's ALWAYS in the cd player, but it is often enough. I bought the cd on a whim; it was on sale, it was a double cd, and I may have possibly heard a song of their's previously; I wasn't sure. Easily the greatest piece of recorded media ever created. And the passion behind the songs is so strong, that it's tangible. Three guys are so unhappy and angry, that they just grabbed whatever instruments they had, and played angry rock. Oddly enough, these instruments are a crappy guitar, a mariachi bass, and a homemade drum. But their anger transfers so well through the acoustic instruments, that there is this sense of discontent the vibrates with the strings. A punk band, stuck with acoustic instruments.
Honorable Mentions:
Kings Of Convenience - Quiet Is The New Loud and Riot On An Empty Street
I really don't distinguish between the two albums, and if it wasn't for Versus, I would simply recommend all of the albums. Unfortunately, Versus exists, which completely ruins the entire mood of their discography. "The Build-Up" is proof that Muses exist. Great rainy day, reading a book and staying inside music.
The Willowz - Are Coming and Talk In Circles
Again, I don't distinguish between the two. It's lo-fi garage at some of its best. Perfect walking around downtown and subway music.
Jim O'Rourke - Bad Timing
I found this on vinyl first, and was amazed, but restrained to enjoy it only in my apartment. I later was able to put it in digital format, which increases my enjoyment of the album. There's a bit of a setup behind recreating my perfect listening situation:
1) Ride a night bus from Nagoya to Tokyo, that arrives 2 hours early and drops you off in Shinjuku at 4:30 am.
2) Grab some bad coffee at a gas station, then search for a locker to store you luggage, all the while enjoying the eerie quiet of 5 am Tokyo.
3) When the trains start running, catch a train to Yoyogi, where you search for a really hidden art store, all the while recognizing graffiti artists' work.
4) Grab two more cups of coffee with some toast, then wander Yoyogi Park at 7 am.
5) Listen to Bad Timing while walking along the gravel path of Yoyogi Park; jittery from the cold and not sleeping all night and 3 cups of coffee.
It's a bit of work to recreate, but it's worth it.
3: Explosions In The Sky - How Strange, Innocence
This album is perfect for anything from sleeping, to driving, to boiling vegetables for a late-night meal; after forgetting to eat anything during the day. It's such an incredibly well made album, and I still find myself coming back to it. Their later albums are good, but none are nearly as consistently amazing. It provides really good afternoon napping music, and let me explain. Napping is an artform. And choosing the proper music for afternoon naps is equally important. If you choose something too soft, you'll not want to wake up later (why I can't nap to Blue States anymore). Something too loud, well, it's just hard to feel rested after sleeping to Fall Of Troy. Something without lyrics is ideal, too, although I've tried sleeping to Godspeed!, and just ended up with nightmares. This album finds a perfect blend.
2: The Mountain Goats - All Hail West Texas
I just happened upon this album, and the lo-fi-ness(?) off it adds soo much to the tone of the entire disc. As a lover of folk-music, but despiser of country music, this album hits the perfect mix of pure folk. Folk-ish. For the record, I'm not folk expert, but I know what I like, and this album is it. I'm not particularly attentive to lyrics, but more to the overall style and flow of music, although I find myself picking up phrases in songs that astound me. Good driving music, not bad walking music, PERFECT Japanese-countryside-train-riding music.
1: The Violent Femmes - Violent Femmes Reissue
If you have ever ridden in a car with me, in which I was driving, the chances of you hearing this album is extremely high. I bought it 5 years ago, and the only time it has ever left my car was when I was loaning it to someone, or when I drove my car into 3 feet of water, and had to get a new car. Now, this doesn't mean it's ALWAYS in the cd player, but it is often enough. I bought the cd on a whim; it was on sale, it was a double cd, and I may have possibly heard a song of their's previously; I wasn't sure. Easily the greatest piece of recorded media ever created. And the passion behind the songs is so strong, that it's tangible. Three guys are so unhappy and angry, that they just grabbed whatever instruments they had, and played angry rock. Oddly enough, these instruments are a crappy guitar, a mariachi bass, and a homemade drum. But their anger transfers so well through the acoustic instruments, that there is this sense of discontent the vibrates with the strings. A punk band, stuck with acoustic instruments.
Honorable Mentions:
Kings Of Convenience - Quiet Is The New Loud and Riot On An Empty Street
I really don't distinguish between the two albums, and if it wasn't for Versus, I would simply recommend all of the albums. Unfortunately, Versus exists, which completely ruins the entire mood of their discography. "The Build-Up" is proof that Muses exist. Great rainy day, reading a book and staying inside music.
The Willowz - Are Coming and Talk In Circles
Again, I don't distinguish between the two. It's lo-fi garage at some of its best. Perfect walking around downtown and subway music.
Jim O'Rourke - Bad Timing
I found this on vinyl first, and was amazed, but restrained to enjoy it only in my apartment. I later was able to put it in digital format, which increases my enjoyment of the album. There's a bit of a setup behind recreating my perfect listening situation:
1) Ride a night bus from Nagoya to Tokyo, that arrives 2 hours early and drops you off in Shinjuku at 4:30 am.
2) Grab some bad coffee at a gas station, then search for a locker to store you luggage, all the while enjoying the eerie quiet of 5 am Tokyo.
3) When the trains start running, catch a train to Yoyogi, where you search for a really hidden art store, all the while recognizing graffiti artists' work.
4) Grab two more cups of coffee with some toast, then wander Yoyogi Park at 7 am.
5) Listen to Bad Timing while walking along the gravel path of Yoyogi Park; jittery from the cold and not sleeping all night and 3 cups of coffee.
It's a bit of work to recreate, but it's worth it.
posted by Onwi at
9:27 PM
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