Sunday, December 29, 2024

Kokoko! - Butu: 7.5 (high B+)


# ["congotronics"]

Contortions [James Chance] - Buy: 7 (B+)


Ridiculously overpriced. And I will not be putting an alert up, given the price history and the grade.

Aerosmith - Permanent Vacation [liked]

:-) [6 listens]

Sufjan Stevens - Seven Swans: 7 (B+)


# [indie folk]

Young Dolph - [N-words] Get Shot Everyday [EP]: 7.5 (high B+)


Digital-only, as far as can be told.

Bar Italia - Angelica Pilled [EP]: 7 (B+)


# [ltd ed]

Halsey - The Great Impersonator [liked]

:-) [Docked a notch for bloat]

Method Man/Redman - Blackout!: 7.5 (high B+)


Docked a notch for bloat. No need for this to be 1 hr 11 min long.

Eminem - The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grace): 8.5 (high A-)


The rapper we love to hate poses as the rapper we hate to love.

Friday, December 27, 2024

Blind Willie McTell - 1927-1935: X stars


# [blues]

Nils Petter Molvaer - ER: 8 (A-)


I have this in the Original Album Classics box.

MJ Lenderman - Manning Fireworks: 9 (A)

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Clap Your Hands Say Yeah: 8.5 (high A-)

Mana - Donde Jugaran los Ninos [liked]

:-) [Outstanding track: “Como te Deseo”]

Sophie - Sophie [liked]

:-) [Most irritating track of the decade, at least: “Plunging Asymptote.” Standout track: “Reason Why” (feat. Kim Petras and BC Kingdom).]

The Mekons - The Curse of the Mekons: 8.5 (high A-)

Teenage Jesus and the Jerks [Lydia Lunch] - batch review

Not really a batch review, per se. Their catalog is a bit of a mess, even though small. I understand that they never put out a full studio album. I listened to the three comps listed on Discogs, pictured below. The first one, as it's "original issue," was promising, but it sells for a fortune. I'm not spending a fortune on anything by them, but in the end this is the one I would buy if they were all commercially available. The middle one seems like the least desirable - unremastered, relatively early CD-era release that seems sloppily put together. The last one looks promising too, as an alternative to the first, because it apparently contains everything they ever recorded (unlike the release actually titled Everything). But it's also unavailable at reasonable prices. So that's the end of that.

Teenage Jesus and the Jerks [Migraine, 1979]

Everything [Atavistic, 1995]

Shut up and Bleed (w/tracks as "Beirut Slump") [Cherry Red, 2008]

Sunday, December 22, 2024

Future/Metro Boomin - We Don't Trust You [liked]

:-| [Docked a notch for bloat]

Minor Threat – DC Space • Buff Hall • 9:30 Club [live video]


I normally don't post about live videos, but this one is important. For those of us who weren't cool enough to be into Minor Threat at the time, this is the way to see what it was like.

Occidental Brothers Dance Band International - Likambo Te: 8.5 (high A-)


I love these guys and am very happy they are doing what they are doing - keeping Congolese rumba alive, here in the United States of all places. Outstanding track: "La Balance" [avec le grand Samba Mapangala]

Idle - Ego Park [liked]

:-)

Saturday, December 7, 2024

Sonic Youth - SWU Music & Arts Festival, Sao Paulo, Brazil, 11/14/11 [live video]


Their last live show. Several songs from their last album, The Eternal, were on the setlist. Great show, available on YouTube at this time. A little sad knowing what was to follow, but nothing lasts forever.

Friday, December 6, 2024

Les Savy Fav - Rome (Written Upside Down): 7.5 (high B+)


Obviously, I also have The Cat and the Cobra, Root for Ruin, and Inches on the shelves and will give them a grade next time I pull them off the shelf.

Les Savy Fav - Go Forth: 7.5 (high B+)

Les Savy Fav - 3/5: 7 (B+)


First album, obviously still just feeling out their sound. Thanks to the people who had the ears to pick up on their greatness with this first release.

Steinski - Steinski's Burning out of Control (The Sugarhill Mix) [placeholder]

I have never heard this because I can't find the files anywhere. I am in the market for a decent physical copy used at a good price, which I would buy unheard.

Richard Hell & The Voidoids - Funhunt: Live at CBGB's & Max's 1978 and 1979: 7.5 (high B+)


# [live] I would probably get this anyway, because it’s got Quine playing live on all but one track (and Jody Harris instead on that one track!), but it was originally cassette-only and then re-issued on CD only in France and Japan. Docked a notch for poor recording quality.

Sunday, December 1, 2024

Cabaret Voltaire - Extended Play [EP] - 7.5 (high B+)


I would get this, at this grade, especially since it is their first release, arguably the first industrial track (I believe, although I am no expert in this area), and it's an EP, but it goes for a fortune.