2024 Album-A-Day: Week 46

The Tidal desktop app is down for some reason, which is inconvenient. The web player works, which is nice, but... why just the desktop app? Click here for the playlist, and.... y'know what, don't bother recommending albums. Two people have at this point, and I don't think this series is going to exponentially increase in readership in the last 6 weeks. Even if it did, nothing would change.

November 11th: Breathing Tornados (sic) by Ben Lee

Before listening to this, I knew the opening track "Cigarettes Will Kill You" and his work as part of the all-Ben indie supergroup the Bens with Ben Kweller and Ben Folds. Some thoughts on the album: It's sort of reminiscent of Kweller, with quirky lyrics and song titles, heavy use of piano, and occasional darker songs like "Ship My Body Home." The songwriting is pretty fun, but something about the production is kind of dated, like it's simultaneously over- and underproduced. This could only have been made in 1998, is what I'm saying. Despite that, it's a fun listen, and "I Am A Sunflower" was my favorite track.

November 12th: Diplomatic Immunity by the Diplomats

I put this on the list partially because CJ the X said that they were the only group to recapture the energy of the Wu-Tang Clan in the 2000s, and now that I've listened to this album, I'm not sure I can co-sign that. Now, don't get me wrong, there are good songs on this album, like "Who I Am" and "More Than Music" and "The First." The problem is twofold. First, this album is nearly two hours long. It doesn't just reach that by having a lot of songs on it, but by having several deeply unfunny skits on them. The second problem: they keep mentioning 9/11 in a really casual way, two years after it happened, and comparing themselves to terrorists, and that hits really weird. And it's not like you couldn't mention it in songs, but it's not like they really comment on the circumstances that led to 9/11, or the consequences of it, or the US government's response. It's more that they just.... liked the imagery? Which is... unsettling? Yeah, I didn't love this one. My favorite was "Who I Am."

November 13th: Hurry Up, We're Dreaming by M83

WAH OOH HOO WAH! That's how I transcribe the hook from "Midnight City." I half-expected this album to suffer from the same padding issue that Diplomatic Immunity had one day prior, but thankfully it's 30 minutes shorter and doesn't have any half-assed skits. This album has those deep, pulsating synths, glittering guitars, drums with distinctive gated reverb, and wistful, nostalgic lyrics. It's one of those albums where you just have to bask in the totality of it all, and remember those ephemeral good times before your life spiraled out of your control aaaaaand I'm getting pretentious again. My favorite new-to-me track was "Steve McQueen."

November 14th: Portishead and Third by Portishead

I've known Dummy for long enough to love it, so I listened to Portishead's other two albums. The self-titled feels like a logical extrapolation from the triphop of Dummy, with the combination of samples with live instrumentation, with the added twist that most of the samples are entirely fabricated by the band themselves. Seriously, "Western Eyes" allegedly samples a song called "Hookers and Gin" by the Sean Atkins Experience, which does not exist, and was invented by the band for the song. That's amazing. On Third, they drop the triphop entirely to go for entirely live and entirely weird instrumentation, in a sort of Bjork vein. There's laid back songs like "Hunter" and "The Rip," but there's also abrasive songs like "Machine Gun," and however one describes "Magic Doors." It's one of those albums I'm probably going to have to sit with to appreciate more. My favorite songs were "Over" and "Threads" respectively.

November 15th: Guppy by Charly Bliss

This is what I look for in power pop. It's catchy, it's explosive, it's angsty, and it's so much fun. "Glitter" and "Percolator" and "DQ" are never leaving my head, with Eva Hendricks and company playing at full blast the whole time. There's also the unsung power pop tradition of occasionally odd lyrics, with "Westermarck" telling the story of Eva getting turned down by a guy, in favor of..... his cousin (Somebody call Drive-By Truckers) and when she pees on a trampoline in "DQ." It's these offbeat lyrics that remind you that these are songs written by real people, who have these embarrassing moments just like we all do. "Scare U" is my favorite.

November 16th: Let It Come Down by Spiritualized®

I've listened to Ladies and Gentlemen, We Are Floating In Space before, and surprisingly, I think I might like this one more. Sure, Ladies and Gentlemen is good, and I love the title track and "Cop Shoot Cop" as much as anyone, but to me, Let It Come Down is more consistently powerful. The spacey instrumentation combined with blues riffs and gospel choir are always a great combination, songs like "Do It All Over Again" and "Stop Your Crying" are lush with harmony, and there's also rockers like "The Twelve Steps" which remind you that they can tear it apart when they want to. My favorite was "I Didn't Mean To Hurt You."

November 17th: Burn Your Fire For No Witness by Angel Olsen

This is, and I say this with love, college radio as all hell. The production, the blues and country influenced rock, the vocal style, it gives me fond memories of the local college station that would play where I used to live. Angel Olsen has one hell of a voice on her, and she has the guitar chops to back it up, never going to flashy but still dripping with measured technique. There's also a healthy amount of reverb, giving the songs some room to breathe, so to speak. "Stars" is my favorite song on this one.

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