AlbumLove recommendations thread: July 2022
Choose one album
that you love
that you think deserves more love
Tell us what it is, and why.
Additional Details
What is this?
It's a new post series I'm trying out! Each month people can use the AlbumLove thread to post an album they love and explore those posted by others.
I'm planning to put up a new AlbumLove thread on the first of each month for a few months to see how these go as a trial run. If people like it we can keep it going — if they don’t it’ll fizzle out and I’ll stop.
Why AlbumLove?
In this day and age, algorithmic recommendations for music are easy to come by, and it's trivial to seek out new music that interests you by searching online. AlbumLove offers an opportunity to sift through music loved by others, including those who might have divergent tastes from you. Think of this as an opportunity to listen outside of your comfort zone, with music that you know someone else adores, from a small pool of thoughtful hand-selected options.
What do I post?
Any album that you love and that you feel deserves more appreciation. There are no restrictions on genre, year, or anything else, and nothing is “too popular” or “too niche”. If you think it needs more love — for whatever reason — then it’s welcome in AlbumLove.
Name the artist and the album, and then, most importantly, share what you love about the album. It could be the music itself, but it could also be your associations with it -- maybe the album reminds you of someone you love, or you saw the band live and got a new appreciation for the studio songs.
Also, commenting on others' recommendations is encouraged! If you love something that someone else shared, let them know!
Do I have to listen to what everyone else posts?
Nope. You don't have to listen to anything if you don't want to. This is about creating a menu of options that people can explore as they wish.
Can I post more than one album in a month?
Nope. Limit one! This helps us be more selective about what we choose, as well as preventing the threads from getting flooded with too many contributions to keep track of.
Why albums and not songs/artists?
I like albums. :)
Seriously though, I feel like it's a very different thing to like an album as a whole versus a few songs or just an artist's general vibe. I like the idea of quantizing music for appreciation in the same way we might do with books or movies.
What about EPs?
Fair game!
Devo - Something for Everybody
No album that comes out thirty-something years after a band's debut has a right to be this good and sound so fresh, but yet they pulled it off flawlessly: bangers from start to finish.
That being said, the real reason I'm picking it is because I happened to play this track in the car earlier this week and couldn't stop laughing at how well it was aging. Devolution is in the air these days.
Oh dude, when that album came out I had to have a copy. It's so damn good.
I just thumbed through their discography because I really haven't listened to a lot of their stuff, but it's pretty timeless. It doesn't sound like how you'd expect 70s/80s synthpop to sound, like with lots of gated percussion and gated snares, which gives it that quality. They were basically making music decades ahead of their time.
I'll second this, it's an amazing car album, rarely ever skipped more than a track or two, and that was usually only because the trip was too short for them all.
The Brobecks - Violent Things
This is a great album of great pop rock and alternative rock songs from the late 00s that continually makes its way onto my playlists. Something about Dallon Weekes' vocals makes the album really enjoyable to listen to.
Some highlights, for the song-hoppers like myself: If You Like It Or Not, Love At First Sight, and Visitation Of The Ghost.
Voltaire - To the bottom of the sea
It was big in the circles I ran about a decade ago, lots of Renfaire geeks, Goth nerds, and BDSM freaks. Wicked Faire was quite an amazing event....sadly is no more. The website that remains gives hints to what it was in its heyday.
Even a decade later, the songs pop up in my head periodically. His Youtube channel is quite the thing, and now that I see he's touring again I'm tempted to go down that nostalgia rabbithole.
Edit: Also, is roughly same age as me so kind of relate on that level as well, opposed to some of the geriatric rock which was just classic rock when I was young.
Mapache - Mapache
Wheooo what an album. I first caught wind of this album in 2018 from my good friend and then roommate, Kevin. We're both pretty big record heads and both had a steady stream of new vinyls pouring into the house. However Kevin took it to another level. There are some months where I believe he spent almost as much money on this obsession as rent. We had a really nice turn table set up in the living room in the middle of the house with a set of bookshelf speakers that ran into the kitchen. When someone threw on an album, everyone in the house was subjected to it. Sometimes this would be grating, but every evening, when everyone was home, we would make dinner and take turns picking a record to spin. Often it was a like panel review - what we liked about it, who it reminded us of, what made the sound unique. But some evenings whoever's turn it was wasn't interested in putting on a clinic and would throw on a trusty album we'd all love. 7/10 times, it was this album. Kevin moved abroad right before the pandemic and left me with this truly insane record collection (which he continues to add to with new records showing up via post monthly). Since then, my partner and I have preserved the ritual and Mapache still gets the same amount of love.
Mapache - Mapache in my opinion is one of the most amicable, comforting albums I have ever heard. The tone is effectively distilled contentment. I'm never jumping for joy listening to this album, but I always get warm tingles and a real sense of serenity. I don't have ASMR, but I assume this is what it feels like. The sound is very representative of the western United States, a blend of light American folk music and Mexican mariachi. The whole album has a great flow, no song sticking out of place. It's a long form love letter that I would be feel incredibly lucky to receive. Aquellos Ojos Verdes, In the Morning Light, and Follow You Down are intimately romantic, real celebrations of companionship. Mountain Song, Like a Stone, and Chico River are more playful, feeling like the early stage of a relationship. The back half of the record carries that feeling and runs with it. They are all great, but my B side highlights are Songs to a Seagull and Saltillo.
Also, the band is still active with a very small following which means you can still catch them live at incredibly intimate venues. We were visiting my sister in a small coastal town in Norther California a few weeks ago and ended up randomly running them playing a show at the local saloon. They played 3 hours, probably the majority of their discography, to a crowd of 40-50 people right outside the bar. The whole show was a real pleasure. Also if you have the time, check out their other albums - particularly From Liberty Street and Lonesome LA Cowboy.
Sorry this is late! I forgot to set a calendar notification to post these threads. /noise
아버지 - reflection Repetitive looping droning noises, though each loop is slightly varied enough, creating a weird sense of progression, somehow feeling both sluggish and urgent, as if you're hurrying somewhere but there's nowhere to be. Transitions between tracks can be abrupt so I'm not sure if there's an intended arc but listening in got me to imagine a series of movie scenes with each track being background music for each scene so that counts as the album having an arc (to me).
Someone on Rateyourmusic said the whole thing are just slowed down samples of Pop Ambient, which I can kinda see. That's par for the course with vaporwave I guess so I try not to think too hard to not ruin it for myself. (Also how the heck do people find these connections, do they just listen to all the music?)
Btw how about restart this thread series?