Yeah, it was mp3 spring cleaning day, in the middle of summer, y’all. Here are the records I got rid of for good.
Modest Mouse, The Moon and Antarctica – I have never been able to get into Modest Mouse, and I’ve tried super hard. I remember when this record came out and everyone lost their shit over it. I listened to it, but didn’t like it. Then I tried listening to an older record of theirs, The Lonesome Crowded West. That didn't work, either. Because The Moon and Antarctica is so well-regarded, I recently tried again, to no avail. Isaac Brock’s charm/talent/whatever is lost on me, I suppose. His singing voice makes me want to rip my skin off, almost as much as when I hear Ben Gibbard's voice.
Washed Out, High Times EP – I’m all for reverb and haze and shit, but this record sounds like you’re listening to someone else listening to a boombox playing mid-80s dance songs. Annoying. And just because you throw around some easy identifiers of a certain period of popular music to hit the nostalgia/irony button for a roomful of dancing hipsters, doesn’t mean you’re making anything worthwhile. I'm looking at you, too, Girl Talk.
Broken Bells, Broken Bells - Danger Mouse and James Mercer combine their forces to... put everyone to sleep. This record cured my insomnia, no lie. Unfortunately, I was driving to work when it did so. If you want the perfect middle-of-the-road modern rock soundtrack for your naps, by all means, get this record. Expect Grammy nominations for this bad boy.
Fever Ray, Fever Ray - I wrote this before in a comments section discussion with Pete, but this record makes me feel like somebody is sneeking up from behind me, poised to stab me in the face with a Rambo knife already stained with the blood of innocent women and children. Paranoia may be the music-derived emotion I least appreciate. I'm about to get rid of The Knife's Deep Cuts, too, if it doesn't start playing nice with my psyche.
I was about to delete Plastic Beach by Gorillaz, but I was stopped by hearing “On Melancholy Hill.” I’ve had this record for a couple of months, and that was the first time I liked any of the songs. It now gets a two-month reprieve to prove its merit.
Bonus List! - Records I've Most Enjoyed So Far This Year
Medications, Completely Removed - The dudes from Faraquet make a beautiful record of, um... complex pop music? Post-pop? I can't describe it, except that it's awesome.
The Radio Dept., Clinging to a Scheme - Goddamn, another terrific pop record from Sweden! What's up with that place?
LCD Soundsystem, This Is Happening - Such a great record, despite the fact that all the energy and urgency gets sucked out on the second half. But, that slow half leads up to "Home," maybe the song of the year.
Built to Spill, There Is No Enemy - When I first got this, I was just happy to have a new Built to Spill record, even if it didn't totally win me over. Over time, though, this record gets better and better, and now I love it. I play "Things Fall Apart" at least once a day.
Bachelorette, The End of Things EP, My Electric Family, Isolation Loops - I saw Annabel Alpers open for Beach House a few months back and instantly loved her. These records are great, though I don't think any of them actually came out this year.
I haven't gotten the new Robyn record yet, but I fully expect it to be near the top of this list soon.
3 comments:
Ahh...excellent subject matter for a blog post. And I like how you called them 'records' in the title.
Sharing your sentiments about Broken Bells, which is kinda weird cuz I liked it a lot when I first heard it.
Ok, you don't want the dark to embrace and subsume you, so you're deleting Fever Ray.... but the Knife?!? Don't do it man! What about "Heartbeats" and that song that uses that end-of-song hook from Pearl Jam's "Black" (I think it's a piano...)?
"Broken", "To Binge" and "Plastic Beach" are the other songs I enjoy off that Gorillaz album--but yeah, overall it undershot my expectations.
BTW, are you an all or nothing album person (i.e. you have to delete the whole album instead of keeping the 1 or 2 songs you may like off of said album)? Just curious.
Well, I'll occasionally keep only one or two songs and delete the rest. But usually it's the opposite: I'll keep a whole record just because I like one or two songs. For example, I still haven't gotten rid of Veckatimest, even though I only like two songs on it. I hoping I come around to the other songs, but I just never do.
P.S. "10 Mile Stereo" by Beach House is my odds-on favorite for song of the year...
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