[M-Mu] Music Obsessions, June, July 2023

...anyone still out there ? I'll take that silence as a maybe. Things have been pretty busy and emotional on my end, and I had to take something of a break from Spacehey to focus on more critical issues going on. I also just, broadly suck at time management, and got a ton of my time consumed by Minecraft. But, we'll go with a more sympathetic story. No more waiting, no delays, time for some music

| A Light for Attracting Attention | Deezer | Spotify | YouTube |

There's a lot to love about the emotions and atmosphere of this album, still preserving a lot of the essential Radiohead signature sound to it, while still picking up strong, catchy funk tones in tracks like The Opposite and Thin Thing, or the oppressively calm feeling from Speech Bubbles, or just flat out emotional, personal tracks like Open the Floodgates and Free in the Knowledge. There's a lot to chew on tonally throughout the entire album that just makes it really unique sounding and personal feeling. Strong recommendation from me, even if you know nothing about Radiohead.



| 009 Sound System | Deezer | Spotify | YouTube |

An album that I think a lot of people know in some form, but few know in full sound would be 009 Sound System. You remember the old days of Fraps and Unregistered Hypercam watermarks on tutorial videos, with directions typed into a notepad file instead of spoken ? The opening track is quite famous for being a popular pick back then, and it's sadly all people seem to know from the album.

Trance isn't a genre I've personally explored too much, but if I were to ever be asked what one of my favorite examples of the genre would be, it'd be a whole bunch of tracks from this album, and it gets a pretty damn high recommendation from me, along with being one of the albums that gets thrown on every once in a while for being really strong but calm, and invoking some rare feelings.



| Another Light | Deezer | Spotify | YouTube |
| Visions | Deezer | Spotify | YouTube |

Another Light was an album I got into what feels like years ago, and Red Vox has always been a very strong, personal band to me as a shining example to not let what you're known for stop you from creating something you love. Both these albums often reappear in my choice for something to listen to on a good, relaxing day, and are just flatly wonderful, and convey some really strong emotions I feel quite connected to.



| Time 'n' Place | Deezer | Spotify | YouTube |

This was an album I honestly wanted to do a full post on at some point, but it was also the beginning of some severe burnout and a need to fix more pressing issues going on at the time. Kero Kero Bonito has always been an interesting band to me, and listening to Intro Bonito first, then putting this on directly afterwards is an adventure to say the least.

It's likely just the association I have with this album and the timing I had when listening to it, but the ending just ruins me, has me in tears because of how much I don't want it to end, how much it feels like the music fades, as I feel so painfully alone in silence, as if the album's end deliberately uses that to make the silence afterwards feel so powerful. I can't listen to it very often because of those associations, but in terms of albums with extremely powerful associations ? This one, right here, very high recommendation to give it a listen.



| The Migration | Deezer | Spotify | YouTube |

Progressive, lyricless metal that has strong associations with me of listening to it during some highway drive, lights in the distance, an unknown future. It's an album that has a shocking amount of meaning to me, that has very vague origins with where I first heard it.



| Life is But a Dream... | Deezer | Spotify | YouTube |

Christ, what a polarizing album on release...

I'll unapologetically admit to really liking Avenged Sevenfold, and I got quite excited to hear that a new album dropped. My curiosity became outright ravenous though when I learned Fantano gave it a Not Good, and the comments seemed to absolutely disagree with his take more than they usually do. Fantano's comments section is generally a good litmus test to how good an album truly is, because when it's good ? They don't joke, and the comments were all serious at the time of release. My own opinions on it ?

It's wild, all over the place, experimental, and highly unique. Even if I didn't like the album's sound, the previous points alone score it well with me for being memorable above all else. It has cheesy moments that murdered me, it has points of really impressive vocal performance, and was a journey akin to being tied to a chair, and carried through some bizarre city. Loved it purely for that.



| ...Like Clockwork | Deezer | Spotify | YouTube |

I remember an episode of Ross's Game Dungeon where he looked at a review for a game he was playing in some oldschool magazine, and one of the criteria a game was reviewed on was its "hookability".

For an album with no pop elements in it, Like Clockwork has a violently high hookability rating to it. Every time I listen to it, some part of it gets jammed in my head in the best ways possible, from Josh Homme's fantastic vocals in parts like Fairweather Friends, My God Is the Sun, I Sat by the Ocean, the distinctive high pitched feedback noise on Kalopsia, the sludgey, smooth grime sound of Smooth Sailing.

There's so many different things to sink your teeth into with this album, to have it just seep into your soul and consume your mind, only to have it recontextualized even further with the wonderfully animated 15 minute short film. I'll never get over this album, never cease obsessing about it, it's top tier to me and is just an automatic recommendation to nearly everyone.



| The Overload | Deezer | Spotify | YouTube |

God if there was ever an album to be absolutely dripping with personality I've heard recently, it'd be this all over. Political, cynical, catchy as fuck, and aggressively English, and makes me want so much more from Yard Act. They're criminally unknown and deserve a lot more attention than they currently have. If you want a band to jump on as an early adopter, it doesn't get much fresher than this.

I've definitely played this album a couple dozen times, so I can nail down the lyrics in my head, and create a strong association with this album existing in my life at this precise point. It's genuinely that good to me that I don't fear exhaustion of it through replay, purely because of how good it sounds. Tall Poppies is likely my favorite track from the whole thing, but the entire album has wonderful, pub-scented gems throughout.



| Heaven Vol. 1 | Deezer | Spotify | YouTube |
(and also broadly just a bunch of things from Mono (Bandcamp))

Ambient music can kind of be a hard sell to some people, but this EP is a really peaceful, touching suggestion of mine I've grown to love for some very personal, sentimental reasons, and a lot of Mono's work is really explorative and fascinating to me, very easy to listen to and appreciate when you don't necessarily want your entire existence overwhelmed by what you're listening to.

| My Story, The Buraku Story | Deezer | Spotify | YouTube |
and...
| Pilgrimage of the Soul | Deezer | Spotify | YouTube |

are good followups if you like what you're hearing that respect your time, have a lot to say, and some good emotions to convey.



| Black Holes | Deezer | Spotify | YouTube |

Perhaps I'm just a sucker for echoing vocals and chill guitars that would sound wonderful on an open landscape of a road trip in that "empowering freedom" feeling that music can create, but this album's short, sweet, and doesn't try to be anything bigger than what it is. Doesn't overstay its welcome, and is always welcome in my queue, especially if I'm out somewhere exploring the universe.




Life might be busy, but I never stop listening to music, to expanding my tastes in it and exploring the new emotions and memories they can create. Music is wonderful, and I hope you enjoyed reading. Hopefully posts will resume with some frequency now.

Until next time 💛