AlbumLove recommendations thread: August 2023
Choose one album
that you love
that you think deserves more love
Tell us what it is, and why.
Additional Details
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!
Nothingface - Skeletons
How to even begin... I don't often write about things that I like, let alone music. I hate sounding preachy or corny, but this one holds a special place in my heart. IMO, it's almost a perfect album, so good that it borders on concept album without necessarily being one. I first picked up the CD back in the early 2000s, where it remained inside my Shockwave Metal on repeat for quite some time. Two decades later, I'll sometimes throw it on end-to-end just to see if it holds up, and yes... yes it does.
Skeletons was Nothingface's last official release, before the problems with their lead singer Matt Holt started to manifest, putting the band's relationship at risk. Matt passed away from a degenerative brain disease in 2017. I can't be certain if they're directly related, but to me, the themes of this album reflect the nature of losing one's mind, and not in the romantic or enlightening way. Topics ranging from religion to suicide to politics to media consumption are all there, but told from the perspective of someone who is slowly fading away, and they know it. It reflects on the state of the post-9-11 world as filtered through the extremes of mental illness.
Production is super clean, track placement is perfect, and every song is unique in its structure across the album as a whole. The melodic sections are beautifully arranged and balance perfectly with the 'throw down and mosh', taking some surprising turns, sometimes mid-track, that can catch you completely off-guard. The whole album is heavy, in whichever way you choose to define the word.
I feel like Nothingface got unfairly lumped in with the rest of the nu-metal crap-fest that was 2000-onwards, but this one... this one's special. It's a fucking good album, and I love it.
Recomposed by Max Richter: Vivaldi – The Four Seasons (2012)
I had been introduced to this composer by a deeply underrated, criminally underappreciated DJ formerly operating out of Classical MPR (Minnesota Public Radio), Garrett McQueen (look him up at least, if this album doesn't appeal to you!)
I've struggled at times to love classical music because of the tendency of some classical broadcasters to stick to the same composers & pieces, acting like the genre is basically stuck playing the chords dead men wrote centuries ago. But, then I listened to Richter's re-writing of Vivaldi's Four Seasons, and it made me feel- vividly. I have to be careful to not listen to this album while doing visual work- the imagery that passes through my mind completely distracts me from any other artistic vision. I can loop it around and around for hours, and feel regretful when I have to stop listening.
I overall would recommend the composer for his work, but most of his other albums contain tracks with talking/human voices, and that takes away a bit of the pure emotion (for me) of listening to an instrumental album.
Really glad you posted this one. My wife and I ended our wedding ceremony with "Spring 1" and I hadn't listened since - now I'm happy-crying in the middle of the workday.
Richter is a master of his craft, and gave me a much deeper appreciation for classical music as well. If you haven't heard it, Sleep is an all-instrumental personal favorite you'd probably like, and for anyone who doesn't mind some poetic spoken-word, The Blue Notebooks is arguably Richter's masterpiece.
American Hearts - A.A. Bondy
This is my all-time favorite album. Ironically, I don't have much to say about it.
It's good, simple Americana. Basic guitar, keyboard, harmonica, drums. Bondy's vocals are distinctive and rich with emotional inflection. Each track has a personality of its own, yet manages to stick to a coherent style. The tracks flow into one another well, and there isn't a single weak point in the pacing. A lot of the guitar tracks are really accessible and fun to play too.
Give it a listen?
Pig Man Lives: Volume 1 by Ty Segall
I'm kind of cheating here because it's a demo compilation album, but it's got jam after jam for 2.5 hours. Ty Segall has put out an album a year for the past 15 years or so, and while I'm a fan of his music, there is plenty of filler across his discography. This cuts most of it out with the added bonus that there's a more complete version of the song waiting for you.
God Made Me an Animal by Better Lovers.
A metalcore supergroup formed from members of Dillinger Escape Plan and Every Time I Die.
Its absolute madness and it's like the best of both bands combined, absolutely incredible album that is just 100mph start to finish.
Dream in Colour -- Franc Moody
A 2020 album from a British soul, funk, disco group with epic, catchy hooks. The dance forward composition is a quick Dopamine hit, but keeps up the intrigue despite the wildly anal production focus. These are quick high-fructose pop hits with artistry and credibility. These are underated musicians worthy of so much more attention then their 10M-ish listens on their top tracks from this album. A prior album Dance Moves goes way, way too hard to be ignored if you like Dream in Colour.
The Necromancers - Servants Of The Salem Girl
A doom metal/rock album from the french group The Necromancers, I was introduced to this album years ago in a similar thread to this one and figured I'd pass it on. A great album to listen to all the way through with all the songs together feel like a story being told.
The first time I actually listened to the album the whole way through was actually in a large church, was there for a graduation ceremony and of course I only cared about one small part of it so I had plenty of time. A nice dose of blasphemy makes any album better imo.