WEEKLY ALBUM RECAP #6/7 -- a very late double feature

YOU'VE BEEN INVITED TO THE TOWN PLAY!

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(you should hover ur mouse over these btw. i don't think i've ever clarified that you could do that)

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aw man

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sorry i didn't post one last week, lotta personal stuff happened n i just didn't get around to finishing it. BUT that means you get a double feature this week. how fun. and sorry this one's late it needed some extra time in the oven. better 4 days late than never i suppose

as a refresher - italicized tracks are interludes, bolded tracks are my standouts (a.k.a. a 4.5 (out of 5) or higher),  a ★ indicates my favorite song, and an × indicates my least favorite song

(p.s. clicking on an album cover it'll take you to some more info about the album on rateyourmusic)

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#6 -- they call me mr worldwide. mr 305

(before i was listing these in alphabetical order by artist, this time it's in the order i listened to them)

this was a week of non-english albums! i had a lot of fun with this one. i used google translate so sorry if any of the translations are wrong (TwT)

small edit: i forgot to fill out some of my jokes that's embarassing. woops!!

スーパーモデル [Super Model] - Tomoe Shinohara | 1996

j-pop | dance pop | electronic dance music

★★★★

i'm limiting myself to only 2 japanese albums because i feel like most of the non english albums i listen to are japanese and the whole point of this is to expand and whatever. love this album cover i wish it was the one on spotify. i feel like i've been saying this a lot lately but i could not stop moving while listening to this, this is the definition of danceable. i was so shocked checking her spotify that she only has 9k monthly listeners, this feels like it should be huge. レインボー・ララ・ルー especially feels like it would be huge on tiktok or something (lol, btw). it goes back and forth between the dance-y j-pop i expected to hear and a shockingly futuristic sound on songs like チャタレイ夫人にあこがれて, which does sound cool but i do think drags on a bit too long. the subgenres are what piqued my interest here - pop reggae, dub, drum and bass, trip hop... a lot of things i don't expect to see under an album labeled j-pop.

for people who love FUN!!!!

      tracklist

1. クルクル ミラクル
2. やる気センセーション>
3. レインボー・ララ・ルー ★
4. 忘れちゃうモン
5. チャタレイ夫人にあこがれて ×
6. スーパーモデル
7. 篠原ともえのクレクレタコラ
8. I LOVE YOU ,DE JA VU
9. メルヘン節
10. よのさ
11. チャイム
12. クルクル ミラクル (Reprise)

あらためまして、はじめまして、ミドリです。[Nice to meet you again, I'm Midori.] - Midori | 2008 | suggested by s0n1k_dud3

art punk | post-hardcore | jazz rock

★★★★½

picking only 2 jp records to check out this week was difficult but this one caught my attention. i absolutely love the vocals on this album - idk if this is gonna sound weird (which means it probably is) but japanese women screaming/yelling in music usually means Banger. jazz rock is definitely one of my favorite genres and i honestly might go as far to call this album essential, this is everything i love about the genre all at once and combined with art punk this feels like it's perfectly curated specifically for me.

for hot people

      tracklist

1. スキ
2. ゆきこさん
3. かなしい日々。
4. お猿 ★
5. 根性無しあたし、あほぼけかす
6. ちはるの恋
7. ひみつの2人
8. 5拍子
9. ハウリング地獄
10. 無欲の無力 ×

Sagrada tierra del jaguar [Sacred land of the jaguar] - Yaotl Mictlan | 2020

pagan black metal

★★★½

i am not very experienced with metal, let alone pagan black metal, which is a genre that's always stood out to me because of its name. this looked very interesting, mostly because of its subgenres of indigenous american traditional music and mesoamerican music (also because the cover goes hard). i don't know enough about traditional music to be able to point out exactly where the influences are (for the most part) but i take that as showing how well the band managed to blend it with black metal. there may only be one standout on this by my rules but that doesn't mean i didn't enjoy this, metal just kinda isn't my favorite thing in the world. usually a problem i have with albums like this is that they feel like such a drag to get through but i didn't have that problem here, even with how long these songs are.

for people who got really into paganism during the pandemic

      tracklist

1. Entre lluvias fuertes
2. Coatlicue
3. Ba'alche'o'ob
4. Tezcatlipoca-espejo relumbrante ×
5. K'inich Janaab' Pakal ★
6. Nuevo fuego
7. Buho lanzadardos - entrada teotihuacana
8. Sombra del Mictlan

Иероглиф [Hieroglyph] - Пикник [Piknik]| 1987 | suggested by agent_smith

art rock | new wave

★★

i'm learning that this font is not kind to the cyrillic alphabet

this is very 80s, for better or for worse. i'll never hate this sound, although there's so much out there that does exactly what this album does that it makes it harder for albums like this to stand out. i do think it falls victim to that but i didn't hate it as much as my rating would make it seem, it's moreso a victim of the time i think. 40 years later, it sounds a lot less original than it probably did when it came out. and frankly, this felt a lot longer than 38 minutes.

i don't have a joke for this one sorry

      tracklist

1. Остров
2. Иероглиф
3. Праздник ★
4. Ты вся из огня
5. Ночь
6. Телефон
7. Пикник
8. Великан ×

공중도덕 [Public morals] - 공중도덕 [Gongjoong Doduk] (yes this is Mid-Air Thief) | 2018

psychedelic folk | avant-folk | psychedelic pop

★★★½

this was nice. with how much people gas mid air thief i kinda expected something more mind blowing but this was quite simple (for lack of a better word). this album left me with the same feeling i get from adrianne lenker, a sort of sereneness that washes over me i suppose... idk it made me feel good. this actually showed up on my spotify discover weekly once but it was a reupload in chinese and significantly worse quality. the two longer songs didn't feel like a drag, and by the end this album ended up fading into pleasant background noise. which usually i try to avoid but for an album like this i think it works in its favor.

for husbant who buy too much vinyl. now we are homeless

      tracklist

1. 하얀방
2. 지진파
3. 파라솔
4. 우
5. 늪지대
6. 달들
7. 아마 ×
8. 매듭 ★

Ali Ibn Rachid - Ali Ibn Rachid | 1997

alternative rock | art rock

★★★

explaining the frontman of a band to an american: imagine a burger

the joke is that the guy's name is burgr. thanks for reading guys like and subscribe

i'm unsure if Vlak has a different name on spotify or if it's replaced? i'm pretty sure it's just a different name idk. anyway basically this was good but kinda one note. it sounds amateurish at times but it ends up adding charm. i lowkey only chose this to get the slovakia dot on my map i'm ngl. i'd be willing to revisit though

for people who were born in the wrong generation

      tracklist

1. Výčitky svedomia
2. Vlak
3. Irma mi volá, že chce ísť do kina
4. Ten umelec
5. Bledý mesiac
6. Nepomýľ sa ×
7. Za naším blokom
8. Ešte tak ticho
9. Ahoj, Miro
10. Na zastávke ★
11. Pečivo

A revolta dos dândis [The revolt of the dandies] - Engenheiros do Hawaii | 1987

jangle pop

★★★★

I LOVE BRAZIL!!!!!!!

for people who don't know what jangle pop is because i didn't either apparently

      tracklist

1. A revolta dos dândis I
2. Terra de gigantes
3. Infinita highway
4. Refrão de bolero
5. Filmes de guerra, canções de amor
6. A revolta dos dândis II
7. Além dos out-doors ★
8. Vozes ×
9. Quem tem pressa não se interessa
10. Desde aquele dia
11. Guardas da fronteira

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#7 -- the insurmountable mess that is my backlog

 title.

Adrift - "Awesome" | 2011

art pop | chamber pop

★★★★

i didn't really know what this was gonna be, there's one guy on rym that pushes this album really hard and that's all i had. i don't think i fully understand why he likes it so much, nothing i've never heard before, but it's good! it's fine! very siriusxm coffee house core.

for siriusxm coffee house lovers

      tracklist

1. Adrift
2. Seablue ×
3. Mein Cobra ★
4. Plumeria
5. Adrift

The Sound of Disaster - End | 2004

breakcore | plunderphonics

★★★★

i am not a big fan of breakcore but my affinity for plunderphonics overrides that. the collection of secondaries were the main reason i wanted to check this out - surf rock and crime jazz are two genres i definitely don't see together often.. i liked this a lot more than i thought i would, You Only Live Once pleasantly caught me off guard. as i've said before, i love sampled vocals, and this album is full of them. going back to the genres, the jazz influences are what really sell me on this album. the one thing i love more than vocal samples is horns. there's actually a swans sample in Ruin Anyone Anywhere Anything at around the 2 minute mark and that made me very happy so perhaps i'm giving bonus points for that. i rarely recognize samples so this is a big moment for me

for kim possible/totally spies girlies

      tracklist

1. You Only Live Once
2. To Hell With Everyone
3. Countdown to the End
4. Ruin Anyone Anywhere Anything ★
5. World Went Down
6. Mr Guns (Theme From 11th Street)
7. Apache Indian Job
8. Brooklyn Home Invasion
9. Good Riddance ×
10. The Patricide Song
11. Fit to Die
12. Untitled

Ensemble - Ensemble | 2006

post-rock | art pop | glitch pop | indietronica | ambient pop

★★★½

i was really excited for this one idk why. i think partially to do with the crazy number of genres listed, i don't see albums with 5+ primaries often. the ambient secondary tag is much more prevalent than i expected a secondary to be. there's several long ambient moments here, notably the closer For Good, which is 6 minutes of nothing but ambience. which is fine, but the previous track Loose has a like 2 minute ambient outro. but the "actual song" moments, for lack of a better term, are really solid. i'm a big fan of the female singer, who easily has my favorite moment on this album with Disown, Delete. as far as i can tell though ensemble is just one guy, olivier alary, so i have no idea who she is which is unfortunate.

for hot people who eat croissants

      tracklist

1. Summerstorm
2. Still
3. One Kind Two Minds
4. Unrest
5. Disown, Delete ★
6. All We Leave Behind
7. Loose
8. For Good ×

  

Friendship Forever - R****d-o-Bot | 2011

industrial rock | synth punk

★

this album is the main reason this took a few extra days to go up i genuinely could not form thoughts about this. i saw the band name and immediately i had to know. the 2.76 rating (among,, other things) had me expecting this to be terrible but it's generic and kind of annoying at worst. there's actually a decent amount of catchy moments in the first few songs but it opens a lot stronger than it ends. you'll find yourself saying "hey this isn't THAT bad" for the first few songs and then you get to Swiss Cheese and they start dropping racial slurs and you go Ahhh okay. normally even the stuff i try and end up not liking i can deal with being on my record but i had to clear this out from my airbuds history i was genuinely so embarrassed to have this attached to my name. this is all to say, fans of msi will feel at home here.

i keep making the msi fans joke but come onn can you really blame me this time

      tracklist

1. Acquaintances
2. Beggar's Ride
3. Piggly Wiggly
4. Friends
5. Friendship Forever
6. Pass Go, Collect $200
7. Derelict
8. Can't You See?
9. Swiss Cheese ×
10. Shuffle the Deck
11. Passing Time
12. I Don't Think You Really Mean It ★
13. Something From Nothing
14. How Could I?
15. Gash
16. I Fell Down
17. All Over
18. Where Was I?
19. I Don't Know You

The Healer - SUMAC | 2024

atmospheric sludge metal | avant-garde metal

★★★

sludge is one of my favorite kinds of metal as someone who is very much not a metalhead, and i personally love everything avant-garde. the only thing that prevented me from checking this out earlier was the fact that this 4 track album is over an hour long - i know i'm a swans fan but i do struggle to listen to 20+ minute songs that i don't already like. The Healer does an excellent job at building tension, and the release feels cathartic. my thing with metal, as i've said earlier, is that a lot of it can end up sounding very similar as someone who doesn't know all the intricacies. pretty much every metal album will suffer for me because of that, but there's still a lot to keep this album interesting.

for white noise likers

      tracklist

1. World of Light ×
2. Yellow Dawn ★
3. New Rites
4. The Stone's Turn

Duluth - Trampled by Turtles | 2008

progressive bluegrass

★★★★

i am not very tapped into country, although i am subjected to a lot of it (i❤️rural america). not that i hate country, it's always kinda just bored me, but i am fully aware that that's because i just haven't heard much good country, thank you adrianne lenker for making me like country again. this is not adrianne lenker but this is good country. this album feels strangely nostalgic despite me having never heard trampled by turtles before, it's very reminiscent of some of the stuff my mom plays all time (cough justin townes earl. john fullbright cough cough), especially Shenandoah, which does not sound like old 97s but reminds me of them for some reason.

for people who grew up in rural america hating country music

      tracklist

1. November
2. White Noise
3. The Darkness and the Light
4. Truck
5. Empire
6. Methodism in Middle America
7. Nobody Else
8. Pipe Knot
9. Think It Over
10. Duluth
11. Shenandoah ★
12. Hammock Swinging ×

Detrimentalist - Venetian Snares | 2008

breakcore | drill and bass

★★★½

another breakcore rec from rym. the people of rym seem to think i would love breakcore. i do not.

as i think i've said before, instrumental albums are a gray area for me. you have to do a lot to keep me engaged with 50 minutes of instrumentals. Detrimentalist, however, does this successfully, and it makes for a surprisingly engaging listen. that being said, breakcore just is not my favorite thing in the world. i have the same problem with breakcore as i do with metal (see above). it's one of those times where you know that it's good and you can tell why people like it but you just don't. but even then i didn't hate any song on here, i just like it as much as i think i possibly could like breakcore. which is "Yeah it's pretty alright." i definitely did not like this as much as The Sounds  of Disaster though.

for speed run 4 warriors

      tracklist

1. Gentleman
2. Koonut-Kaliffee
3. Sajtban
4. Kyokushin ★
5. Eurocore MVP
6. Poo Yourself Jason
7. Circle Pit
8. Flashforward
9. Bebikukorica Nigiri ×
10. Miss Balaton

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hopefully this makes up for my absence. there'll actually be a couple posts this friday, both the weekly recap and also the first monthly recap! i'll be going over my favorite albums i listened to in january + my monthly stats

remember that if you have any suggestions for albums i should check out, you can leave them here!

thanks for reading (´ ω `♡)