This is the End

Well, fuck. I  wanted to resume on the 21st, but after seeing how much time I’m going to need to spend outside of class to attend events to write about, working on time consuming projects that will be coming up in all my classes, along with monkeying around with new software to be able to use it in another class of mine, my free time has officially dried up. I didn’t want a fun activity like this to end so quickly, but my hands are tied here. My appearances for listen-alongs would be erratic and I wouldn’t be able to normally resume as I did in the summer until my winter break in December, so it wouldn’t be right to try and keep it going. So yeah, another ambitious guy and his chronicles gone down the drain. No big loss for /mu/, of course, it never would be. I just feel bad because now I feel dishonest.

So yeah, long story short, the /mu/ essentials drawn reaction project thingy is canned.

Regarding the Next Two Weeks…

To make sure I finish this paper, I am playing it safe and will not listen to any /mu/ essentials albums from August 8th-August 21st. If you guys want to keep going as if I don’t exist, do it. This act I’ve taken up lately is mostly for me, and the experience should be yours, even to those who have listened to the albums before and find my opinions to be terrible. To those who may have appreciated my presence just to discuss the album, my off the cuff reactions and so on, sorry, but I have priorities. Like I said a few posts back, I’m on the frying pan so I’m not taking any chances. Thanks to those who understand, and thanks to everyone who followed along and enjoyed sitting back and having our minds flooded over with music.

Pitchfork Core Albums, Row B- Final Wave

Last night I, along with others who chose to participate, listened to three albums to finish off the second row of the /mu/ essentials music chart. The following albums were…

Favorite song had to be “Street Spirit”.

Favorite track was “Come On! Feel the Illinoise!- The World’s Columbian Exposition-Carl San“. What’s up with the really long track names, anyway? You don’t see Axl Rose calling their songs “You know where you are? You’re in the jungle baby! You’re gonna die!”

My favorite of the three was Illinoise.

Since it’s the weekend, I get to relax again, however, I’ll be listening to the two albums I missed Monday night and posting the reviews for them sometime between 2-6pm central, Sunday. That post will also include Interpol- Turn on the Bright Lights as I still have no feelings about that album, even after having listened to it Friday night. And then come Monday, we do it all again, at 6pm and 10pm as planned, unless circumstances come up.

Pitchfork Core Albums- Row B, Third Wave

Favorite song is gonna have to be…I can’t do it. It’s split between “ROYGBIV” and “Aquarius”.

Favorite track was “Lounge”.

Of course I prefer the first album over the second tonight. Tomorrow night we’ll be listening to Radiohead- The Bends and Illinois, which should finish off Row B. Actually no, there’s still “Interpol- Turn on the Bright Lights”. We’ll listen to that, too to finish off row B.

The schedule goes…(all times CST)

The Bends @ 6:05pm

Illinois @ 8:30pm

Interpol- Turn on the Bright Lights @ 10:05pm

EDIT: The schedule has now been pushed back to…

The Bends @ 8:05pm

Illinois @ 10:00pm

Interpol- Turn on the Bright Lights @ 12:05pm

The Magnetic Fields- 69 Love Songs, All Three Volumes

Favorite song in this set was the fourth track.

Favorite song was “Punk Love”.

Favorite song was “Time Enough” in this set.

Favorite song in THIS set was… “Papa was a Rodeo”.

Favorite was “Experimental Love Song”.

Favorite was “Love is Like a Bottle of Gin”.

Boy, was this album a fucking whopper or what? You’ll notice that some songs are still blank! DUN DUN DUNNNNN! What the fuck ever, I’ll go back and edit this post when I have reactions for those drawn, which should be sometime tonight. To tell you now though, everything that is blank was basically me with my chin being propped by my hand, listening to another song that was par for the course. I don’t know what happened to the energy of this album near the end. If each volume was trying to do something different, or what, man. The first volume definitely had songs that you could tell were tongue in cheek, and silly. The second volume had a few of those that stood out, but some songs seemed to have blurred that distinction. And then in the third volume, same as the last one. Very ambitious, no doubt, but maybe the thing was just too damn big in the end in the effort to support the gag that was the album title.

Linking Blog No Longer Allowed

Apparently, when trying to start the listen-along to Volume 3 of “69 Love Songs”, I was banned because the post contained “banned text”. All I said was and I quote…

“We’re on the home stretch now, folks! Hang in there. Also, it seems that the last thread was deleted when I only meant to delete the file. What the fuck. Oh well. Blog link (url posted). We will begin at 10:15pm central time.”

What’d I say, what’d I say?

Now the ban lasts for 24 hours, so I won’t be able to continue, let alone host a listen-along next night. However, I will still begin listening to Volume 3 in three minutes, and you should too, keep going! The review for the whole, gigantic album will still be posted at 2:00pm central time. And I’ll still listen to two albums – one at 6:00pm, the other at 10:00pm and do reviews for those as well. When the weekend comes around, I’ll try to get to the two albums I missed on Monday.

EDIT: Apparently the ban was misdirected. I went to IRC and got it worked out, so the ban has been lifted. All is well with the world again.

ANOTHER EDIT: The reviews will be put up at 5pm central time. Will still be coming tonight at six. Apparently I can’t even link to a goddamn blog (4chan’s rule against referral links), so if anyone asks in the listen along threads, Tell them to google “PerfectPitchalbumreactions” all running together, not spaced apart.

Pitchfork Core Albums, Row B, Second Wave

Here are the reviews for tonight’s albums…

No favorite song for this album, no sir! There were other albums that felt similar in tone that I felt did better. Like Wilco’s “Yankee Foxtrot Hotel” that I listened to Friday, and Arcade Fire’s “Funeral”.

Favorite song is gonna have to be…Goon Gumpus I think. Apparently there was a track missing in my download, “Milkman” or something. I will listen to that and then edit my post with a short review on it later.

Of the two I listened to tonight, Aphex Twin’s RDJ Album definitely won out. Also, I learned the distinction between EDM and IDM. Yippee. Also, I learned that Aphex Twin’s fans are more gracious than Pavement fans, nyuk nyuk!

Now tomorrow night, we will listen to the entire “69 Love Songs” album, an album so big it literally contains sixty-nine love songs split into three volumes! Sounds like a herculean task, but it will be done. We will begin listening to the album at 6:00pm central time and will take hour breaks between each volume, so after everything’s said and done it’ll be midnight, maybe a little after that. Then, come 2pm the next day, I’ll put up the review of the album into six parts, with a review on each volume and a written piece on the album overall. And then after that, two albums a night according to schedule. I will listen to the two albums I wasn’t present to host for and eventually put up reviews for those, too, so don’t worry.

Pitchfork Core Albums, Row A- Second Wave

These were supposed to be put up Saturday, dammit. You can be pissed off. I’m still working to get the other two album reviews up, but to give you something and to prove I didn’t disappear, here’s the first three reviews…

Favorite song was “Child is the Father of Man”.

Favorite song was “Black Milk”. A bit haunting.

Favorite song was “I’m The One Who Loves You”.

Favorite song had to be…uh…”Space Cadet”. It’s difficult choosing it over “N.O.” and “Whitewater”.

No favorite song here, it wouldn’t be fair to the entire experience, I think. Really, it felt like one continuous song, and there’s nothing wrong with that, not with what was trying to be accomplished here. I no longer see GY!BE as adhering to what /mu/ called “post-rock” for some inexplicable reason, here I saw the IDEA drive the whole album, and that’s what sucked me in and made this work.

If I had to rank the albums in order for that night, it would go…

5th- Massive Attack- Mezzanine

4th- Kyuss- Welcome to Sky Valley

3rd- Wilco- Yankee Foxtrot Hotel

2nd- GY!BE- #F#A (Infinity)

1st- Brian Wilson- SMiLE

Let’s get down to something important – the playing schedule. Every night since Tuesday night has left me exhausted from having to listen to many albums in quick succession, keeping people informed, answering questions, making sure everyone’s on the same page of music (literally!), drawing my reactions to each song in a way that’s specific and descriptive of how I felt. I could start as early as 7pm (cst) and by the time I’d finish it’d be nearly three o’ clock in the morning. We’ve got to work out a better schedule or I’m going to get burnt out, and so you guys can listen at times that are more appropriate for you. I’m still trying to maintain the neckbreak pace of five albums a day but also make it so no one goes “Ah shit why didn’t we have a listen along for _____?” So let’s plan out the next two weeks. All times listed are Central Standard Time (cst).

August 1st-5th

1st Album- 6:00pm

2nd Album- 10:00pm

Now it’s more spaced apart to give myself time to finish reviews promptly and time for my hand to rest. I won’t be discussing the album so much as I’ll still be posting what points of the album I’ve reached to ensure we’re all on track, of course. Reviews will be put up at 1:00pm (cst) the day after last night’s listen along is finished. I understand that people have jobs and will miss out on the first two listen alongs half the time, and I’m sorry for that. However, I can’t please everyone. Now for the two weeks after that…

August 8th-12th, 15th-18th

1st Album- 6:00pm

2nd Album- 10:00pm

I’ve cut it back to two albums a night. I’ll be a sophomore returning to college this month and I was given a summer extension to finish an English paper. If I don’t finish it by late August I’m fucked. And then, since I’ll be at school after that, the weekly schedule there, beginning August 22nd (I think) and onward…

Monday-Friday

Album- 6:00pm

Sundays

1st Album- 8:00pm

2nd Album- 10:00pm

The listening is going to slow to a crawl since I need to bust my ass to keep my Fine Arts major since I’m on the frying pan for that, too. I’m not a good student, if you couldn’t tell.

So that’s the deal, folks.

EDIT: It has come to my attention that not only is 69 Love Songs quite long, it is literally sixty-nine love songs split up into three volumes. What the fuck! Let’s do this then. We’ll listen up to Aphex Twin’s album and end there Monday night (see regular schedule), and then Tuesday night we’ll dedicate the entire listen-along to all three volumes of that big-ass album at 6:00pm (cst). To be honest with you folks, I’m not quite sure how I’m going to draw around sixty-nine different reactions. Fuck, fuck, fuck.

SECOND EDIT: I have not DIED or given up. Last night I got caught in some shit that was an all day affair and I couldn’t even notify anyone, so I apologize. If this happens again and I’m not on schedule to begin another listen along, KEEP GOING. Don’t stop over little ol’ me. I will listen to whatever album you guys are on the next day, but I will still listen to every album on the big /mu/ essentials list of course. Wouldn’t want to skip a review for anyone’s favorite album, now would we? As a matter of fact, I’m wondering if my presence is even necessary in those listen-along threads. Think of the pros…

1) You guys can go at the right pace and relax, listening to the album the whole way through without worrying where I’m at and having you stop and go and shit.

2) Those who already dislike me or the idea of tripcoders in general may feel inclined to listen along as well knowing there isn’t Mr. Special on their board.

3) Those who live in different timezones (the UK, some other place far from the US) are also inclined to listen at times that won’t kill them.

The cons? You wouldn’t be able to read my uninformed, “plebeian” (I don’t think that word means what some of you think it means) opinions as the songs are playing. Big whoop. If many of you agree to me to stop appearing in listen-along threads and go back to anonymous, since I only took on a name and trip for people to keep track of my progress BEFORE the blog was created, then I will. I’ll just listen to the same number of albums scheduled that /mu/ would with or without me and, of course, post the reviews at 2:00pm central time. I think this is a great idea, especially since school is coming up and I fucking know I’m going to miss more than a few nights due to studying or engaging in other hobbies.

Pitchfork Core Albums, ROW A- First Wave

What a night last night, that shit was exhausting. I know all you see are barely fleshed out stick figures reacting to each song, but I have to maintain threads, make sure everyone’s on the same song and no one’s too far ahead or behind, make sure I’M not too behind,  answering everyone’s questions, trying to discuss the album, making sure I’m prepared to begin listening to the next album on time. I’m sure it’s all beginner’s stress and that as time goes on, I’ll come up with methods to ease the burden. Anyways, what you came for – the reviews to the five albums we listened to last night…

Favorite song was “Crown of Love”, least favorite was “Laika”.

Favorite song was “The Stars Are Projectors”, least favorite was “I Came As a Rat”, something about it killed the momentum the album was having

Favorite song was Wake, least favorite was Epilogue.

You can imagine the welcome change in pace and mood when this ^ album came up next! We learned that even though Daft Punk gets flak that they’re still quite entertaining to listen to, or at least this album was anyway. My favorite song of the album was “Superheroes”. Something about the way the synths harmonize, the energy it has while still sounding bittersweet. Runner-up is Crescendolls. Least favorite is Veridis Quo, for reasons I’m not quite sure of.

Technically, the next album was Brian Wilson’s “SMILE”, but as /mu/ says I’m a plebian, so I took their word for it and decided to skip that album to listen to “Godspeed You Black Emperor- Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven”. There’s a title that rolls off the tongue. Favorite song was Static, least favorite was “Antennas to Heaven”.

To rank all the albums in order, I’d have to say…

5th- GY!BE- Lift Your Skinny Fists

4th- The Antlers- Hospice

3rd- Arcade Fire- Funeral

2nd- Modest Mouse- The Moon and Antarctica

1st- Daft Punk- Discovery

Now when I was listening to Hospice, I complained that the growing familiarity of each song’s tone as the album progressed dulled the impact of the lyrics and the singer who gently delivered them. When I posted the review, a post responded to it by saying “sometimes that’s what an album is”, to paraphrase. I don’t quite understand that. Why would an album need to have seven songs that sound very similar to each other, especially an album that is already taking a slow, careful pace and contains a narrative as well? I don’t know. It will certainly be listened to again in the future for a re-evaluation, and of course, so will every album I’ve listened to so far.

For those reading, see you tonight at 7:oopm central time. After tonight, I’ll post my reviews on Saturday of course, but also read below the reviews as I’m considering a major change as to how we should listen along to the albums as far as the schedule goes. Thanks to everyone last night for their patience on me being behind on the Modest Mouse album, and for generally being civil when discussing the albums.

/mu/core Albums Complete

First off, hello to anyone from 4chan’s /mu/. Now there’s some organization involved to this mess. I’ll start off by posting my reactions to the /mu/core albums…

If I had to rank the albums…

Kanye West: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy… 7th

Animal Collective: Merriwether Post Pavillion… 6th

Radiohead: OK Computer… 5th

Neutral Milk Hotel: In the Aeroplane Over the Sea… 4th

Radiohead: Kid A… 3rd

My Bloody Valentine: Loveless… 2nd

King Crimson: In the Court of the Crimson King… 1st

So why is MBDTF in last place? I have reasons written in the picture, but let me explain three of them in further detail.

1) Messages seem muddled. Even a guy as ignorant in music as me knew that Kanye West was getting a lot of shit lately, and the reactions I read from several others listening with me assured me that this was his most introspective and experimental album yet. Since Kanye West has displayed his ego problems before, I’m glad that I got to hear his best when he got pushed hard enough. Even then, I have to say that I’m not quite sure what he was trying to say. To repeat what I said early this morning, Kanye acknowledges that he’s getting a lot of unnecessary flak for his problems in the past (first two songs), then he acknowledges he has an ego problem (Power, Runaway), but then songs later in the album seem to contradict those messages (Devil in a Dress, Hell of a Life). So is he saying that he knows he has problems and telling others to back off as he tries to fix them? Or is he just so fed up with the guff he’s getting that he’s saying “fuck it, I’m just doing what I want from now on”? In response to this question, someone told me “I see it as 70 minutes of manic depression. It’s just Kanye being Kanye West” to paraphrase.

Well if this is true, the albums featuring bravado and the like would also be Kanye West being himself, right? So while this album is definitely more reflective, the contradictions found in it don’t seem to make it more personal than his other albums. And IF that’s true, this may be the closest I ever feel to West’s work. I will still try to listen to his other albums in the future, but I’m not left with much hope after this one. Rick Ross rhymed about how he would “never stumble retracing his steps”, while Kanye seemed to have fallen flat on his face.

“Samples are tasteless.” Please, let me reword this as I know I made a  mistake. Let’s change this to…

2) The samples used in the album don’t feel appropriate for the emotions expressed. I haven’t the slightest clue as to why West would sing along and quote Iron Man’s melody in his refrain for “Hell of a Life”. One sample that really got my goat was when “21st-Century Schizoid Man” was sampled in “Power”, since I had a great time listening to that song and album (ItCotCK) merely hours ago, so to have my good experience mixed with a song I ultimately ended up not caring for, it was irksome. However! While that bothered me, I have to admit it was the most appropriate sample he could have used, it fit “Power” quite well.

3) Weak beats. First time listening or not, I still have good recall, and not a single beat has stuck in my head since I finished listening to it. I’m used to hearing beats with a little more variety within the same song, not the entire album. The beats can distinguish each other there, I just wish each beat on its own in its own song was stronger, more to it. I don’t mean crank up the bass, I mean like changing up the timing, maybe an interesting fill here or there.

So yes, you may have thought it would be difficult for me to be impartial when summing up how I felt to MBDTF, but to be honest, I keep the artist out of the equation, even someone as well known and controversial as Kanye West. It was easy for me to get down to the meat and potatoes. And that’s it.

For everyone’s benefit let me say again that I coming back to /mu/ tonight at 7:00pm central time. From there, I will start the pitchfork core albums. Seven albums down…260 to go. Good grief.