2024 Album-A-Day: Week 24

UPDATE: I have since listened to the Smile Sessions. I can't decide which I like more, but they're both great. I didn't count it as part of my list because it's essentially the same album. This will come up again later. As always, recommend albums you want me to hear, and click here for the playlist.

June 10th: Under the Pink by Tori Amos

As discussed last week, this is was the second in my Tori Amos double feature, and this album kicks just as much ass. The moment I heard "Pretty Good Year," I knew this would be a ride. It's the best kind of follow-up, expanding on everything from Little Earthquakes, resulting in some really good songs. The lyrics and arrangements are powerful, best exemplified on "Cornflake Girl," which I sadly couldn't add to the playlist because I'd heard it before, so I added "Cloud on my Tongue." I also really enjoyed "The Waitress," "God," and "Space Dog."

June 11th: The Airing of Grievances by Titus Andronicus

The moment I knew this would be a fun album was when, the first song, a muffled acoustic passage was interrupted by a communal "FUCK YOU" before exploding into punk rock. The whole album is indie/punk with the kind of high minded references that don't come across as pretentious, and its energy is infectious. My favorite song was "Upon Viewing Brughel's 'Landscape with the Fall of Icarus'."

June 12th: Liquid Swords by GZA

This has appeared on a lot of lists of the greatest hip-hop albums, and, it's not like I don't understand why, GZA's very skilled and RZA's production skills have never failed me. The issue for me is that GZA is more interesting as part of a group than he is on his own, and when he has to carry a whole song on his own, it doesn't have the same weight ("Gold," "Labels"). When he's joined by other rappers, particularly his fellow Wu-Tang Clan members, ("4th Chamber," "Duel of the Iron Mic") He sounds a lot more in his element, because the members play off each other. That might just be more of a me thing, though. My favorite was "Shadowboxing."

June 13th: Pocket Park by Miki Matsubara

I've been listening to Maximum Fun's new podcast Primer, which will cover a different non-English language genre each season, and in this first season they're covering Japanese city pop, and that has encouraged me to check out this album by Miki Matsubara. It's very exemplary of the city pop genre, with the disco and R&B influences being easily audible. The lyrics, even when they're in a language I don't speak, are largely about love and heartbreak, such as on the most known song, "Mayonaka no Door (Stay with Me.)" It's also surprisingly diverse, with some songs being lighter, and others being more distorted and wild. My favortie song was "Cryin'"

June 14th: In Colour by Jamie xx

As a big fan of the xx, I checked out synth-and-drum-machine-ist Jamie's solo album, and I had fun with it. Not only that, but it also made me go back and re-appreciate Untrue from earlier this year, the ambience and the unconventional grooves. It's generally more upbeat than Burial, and features Jamie's fellow xx members Romy and Oliver, but also Young Thug for some reason. He works, but in a confusing way. I don't think I prefer this to the xx, but I still like it quite a bit. My favorite song was "Stranger in a Room."

June 15th: Destroyer's Rubies by Destroyer

I know I've heard another Destroyer song (as a Night Vale fan) but I cannot remember it right now, and for some reason I expected this to be like the National. It is not like the National. It's more like a combination of The Band with The Hold Steady. Songs like "European Oils" and "Looter's Follies" sound like late 60s/early 70s classic rock, but Dan Bejar goes on these disjointed rants about... something, I don't know. It's pretty enjoyable, even if the longer songs tend to wear on a little. My favorite was. "European Oils," though "3000 Flowers" is a close second.

June 16th: Tapetlucidium<3 by Aprxel

Finally, our first album request! This one comes from H∃ΔLER (who also requested another album, which is a little further down the list). This album is... far outside what I usually listen to, which is part of the point of this project, so I'm appreciative of the opportunity. I can't tell whether I like this, but I don't dislike it and I can appreciate what it's doing. At it's core, these are fairly traditionally composed R&B songs, covered with a layer of meme samples and glitchy sound effects. It reminds me of a lot of things, most notably 100 gecs, Vektroid, Bladee, and to some extent Joji. The final song, absurdly, reminded me of the Off-Peak soundtrack (I love Off-Peak). My favorite song was "Benz!"