I first came across this record in my Youtube suggestions after a long run of listening to ambient records. This record, along with a majority of the Caretaker discography, is derived from heavy sampling and editing of old '30s and '40s ballroom records to create a dreamy, nostalgic, and sometimes disheartening feel. This, according to the artist, is meant to be a commentary on Alzheimer's disease, and the slow warping and degradation of the samples over time into general confusion illustrates this masterfully. Very interesting stuff.
In my internet travels, I was made aware of vaporwave and the scene years ago, but never really deep dived into it until this year. This album, along with the video that turned me on to the album, Pad Chennington's Mall Soft video (like and subscribe to him, he really deserves it) are really responsible for my infatuation with the genre. I just listen to the mall ambience and the soft jingles in an echo chamber, and I can almost smell the coffee from the cafe and the chlorine from the fountains of my childhood mall. This really evokes an incredible nostalgic response for me.
Another vaporwave (ish) record Pad Chennington's channel turned me on to (seriously, subscribe). I really enjoy the chilled out atmosphere to the record, and it has a very syrupy and reverb heavy trap sound that sounds almost like drinking the refreshing beverage seen on the cover. I feel the sound of this album and the overall aesthetic (there's that word) of the presentation complement each other perfectly, and I wish a lot more trap production could be this spacey and chilled out.
And now for something completely different. Around the beginning of the year ( I go through a lot of musical kicks throughout a year where I'll listen to one genre obsessively for a while) I got really into power electronics, and this record is one of the more notable for me in the genre. It's not very notable that a power electronics record focuses on a serial killer, in this case the Green River Killer, but to put the majority of the vocals from his perspective and the overall vibe of the album is a lot more creepy than a lot of these albums get. Most of the time, it's just abrasive noise and bombast, which this album definitely has, but it also knows how to create a bit more of an atmosphere of dread and discomfort. Subtlety is not always a focus of noise music, but it definitely doesn't hurt when it is.
This summer, I had the opportunity to see George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic in concert, which, apart from a bum sound guy, was amazing. In preparation, I listened to a lot of their albums to get psyched, with this record and probably Mothership Connection being my favorites. But this one has to win out, if just for the amazing title track, which was amazing to see Clinton's current guitarist rip through. If only the venue had a better sound guy (seriously, 'Maggot Brain' is pretty much an extended guitar solo. Don't bury the lead guitar in the mix, my guy).
I like to listen to a lot of ambient records when I'm doing music around the house. As such, I'm always scouring Youtube and Bandcamp for different ambient projects to mix it up (you can only listen to lo-fi hip hop beats to relax/study to so many times before patterns begin to appear). That's how I came across this gem, which coincidentally, Sacred Bones just happened to rerelease on vinyl this year. Score. It also got me down the Mort Garson rabbit hole, who has a whole series of records for the 12 zodiac signs, among other Moog and modular synth based projects. This one is meant to be played to your house plants to foster healthy and happy growth, which is pretty weird, but studies actually exist about music and plant growth so who knows. Either way, it's a pretty great record.
Early in the year, I had some problems with my car that messed with the center console. Long story short, my aux in doesn't really work, so I was on the hunt for used CDs, since most of my collection is at my parents house. At a garage sale, I picked this up, having heard of the band and a few of their songs being performed on that Nirvana Unplugged special, but not knowing a whole lot about them. The CD has yet to leave my disc changer. This is a pretty ineteresting mix of alt rock, punk, and country that I can't really compare to a whole lot. I feel like it's pretty unique and out there, but still manages to be catchy as all hell.
At some point during the year, I had an obsession with early '70s California singer songwriter types (Neil Young, CSN, the Eagles to an extent), but I was really taken by the talent and songwriting of Joni Mitchell. I was going between putting this record or Clouds on the list, but this one won out to me because of 'The Circle Game'. It's just such a great song, and it really captures the passage of time, and the magic of being young, and remembering that time fondly. I had listened to this record in the past, but I never really gave it much of a chance outside 'Big Yellow Taxi' until this year, and that was a massive mistake on my part.
This was another CD that I picked up for my car. I liked a decent amount of the scene bands from back in the day, but I never really listened to the Used back in my teens. That was a mistake. This record has so many great songs, and I feel like it's a lot more dynamic of an album than a lot of the "emo" records coming out at the time were. Bert and company knew that not every song had to be three chord chug fests with the amps cranked to 11. Sometimes the emotion could be more than just anger or melodrama. The only part i don't like on the record is the cringey spoke word section at the beginning of 'I'm a Fake'. I get secondhand embarassment just listening to it.
I don't think it's possible to go on a power electronics kick without at least listening to a few of the records by the group that coined the term in the first place. I feel like this record is one of their best, balancing the abrasiveness of their earliest stuff with the super disturbing (too disturbing in spots) subjects they delved into on their albums produced by Steve Albini. I just love the absolute hatred that William Bennett spews on every track. It's very cathartic to hear that much black bile vomited up with that much vitriol and violent anger. Plus, it's honestly pretty accessible as far as noise stuff goes. 'How You Never Became a Dancer' is hardly a hit single or anything, but it's definitely quotable, at least.
Well, that's it for now. Stay tuned for my top 10 albums of 2019 list, coming very soon.
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