Posts categorized “Music”

For some of these great albums, I’m going to have to listen to them a bunch of times before writing to get my thoughts together. Aphex Twin’s Come To Daddy EP is absolutely not one of those. Released at around the height of his popularity (I think “Windowlicker” takes that crown, though), this is not only an amazing sampler of most of Aphex Twin’s styles (only really missing the ambient work of his early career), but also possibly his best release, or, at least, the most consistent. More… »

This “great albums” project is getting back on track. I’m going to try to do one of these per day for a while. First, Aoki Takamasa + Tujiko Noriko’s 28.

I heard this album before I had heard any Tujiko Noriko, and initially I wasn’t all that impressed. Later, I listened to (and enjoyed) Shojo Toshi, and so I returned to this. Aoki Takamasa I’m still not independently familiar with, but here he takes Noriko’s voice and does wonderful glitchy things with it while completely avoiding the cheese she occasionally lapses into in her solo work. More… »

The new one is all about long, quiet, slow songs (with an exception or two). It features Yura Yura Teikoku, Murcof, Coil, Muslimgauze, Slowdive, Global Communication, Burial, and Gescom. A million other artists got cut, I’m sure there will be more muxtapes happening soon. Go listen! (And, I swear, I’ll get back on track with the 50 Albums thing.)

It is sort of unfortunate that the first release on my list is by an artist I am less familiar with than the others. Aki Takase is a jazz musician who has been around, making albums since the late 70s, with some traditional influence and some improvisation. She’s usually a pianist (and is one here). That’s about all I know about her, because I haven’t heard much else of her work (a few other records, all of which were good) because I listen to the first track on this album too much. More… »

It’s the summer and my academic life has calmed down a little—I finished my B.S. in Mathematical Sciences (Discrete Mathematics and Logic), and am starting my M.S. in Logic, Computation, and Methodology (in the fantastic Department of Philosophy). I’ve basically done the program already (since I double majored in Logic and Computation as an undergrad), so this year I will be extending my thesis (currently titled “Postulates for Safe Contraction”) and gaining some more philosophical background in preparation for (hopefully) a Ph.D. program next year.

My point is: I have some more time to think about music again over summer, and so I’ve decided to make a list some fantastic albums which I really enjoy and feel others should know about, then write short entries for each of them. These aren’t my fifty favorite albums, or the fifty most essential albums that I have, or fifty perfect albums, but they’re all quite good. Here’s the list at the moment… More… »