February in Review: This month in music was hectic because I participated in the Music Writers Exercise, a daily challenge to listen to one album that I've personally overlooked and write a tweet about it. That's 28 new-to-me albums (check out my list here). My favorites from #MWE were classics like Fleetwood Mac's Tusk, Joni Mitchell's Hejira (finally!), Steely Dan's Katy Lied, The Fugees' The Score, and Daft Punk's Discovery. Definitely felt like a lot to take on, but I heard some incredible music that I've missed out on and expanded my knowledge. On the other hand, I listened to ~50 albums this month; wayyyy more than usual and makes it difficult to retain anything. Luckily, some truly indelible records sunk their teeth into me and wouldn't let go. My first possible-AOTY find of the year was Brian Fallon's Sleepwalkers, a stunningly confident set of songs from a man who's written a ton of them already... songs like "Proof of Life" and "Watson" derive so much power from the weight of his personal history and catalog. Some of my highly-anticipated 2018 albums delivered, such as Caroline Rose's LONER (anthems like "Jeannie Becomes A Mom" should go OFF on the summer festival circuit) and Rhye's Blood (their first album in five years feels like they spent the whole time stewing on a stovetop). At the same time, projects like Burna Boy and American Pleasure Club snuck up and hit me over the head with brilliant, inventive sound. Saw my first great show in 2018 at World Cafe Live with Phoebe Bridgers... her stunning voice had me going back to her project from last year and re-evaluating how great the songwriting is. (Technically, I haven't finished my 2017 EOTY list yet lol.) The show opener, Soccer Mommy, came off a bit sleepy on stage, but her new album Clean has been on repeat ever since. That record and the new Camp Cope album both have this great feminist venom that bleeds through on almost every track. I would love to put together an updated Lilith Fair-type festival with all of the incredible female musicians that are out right now. Hopefully I can slow down a little bit next month and just jam some of this February stuff some more. (Spoiler alert: I'm writing this a few days into March and that doesn't seem likely. The journey continues!) Top 2018 albums of the month: Soccer Mommy, Caroline Rose, Brian Fallon, Camp Cope Recommended Songs I discovered this month: Jade Bird - "Lottery" MGMT - "Me and Michael" Soccer Mommy - "Last Girl" Burna Boy - "Sekkle Down" Kim Petras - "I Don't Want It At All" Brian Fallon - "Proof of Life"
Update: 23. Great Wight - The Suburbs Have Ruined My Life (2017) ++ 24. Mannequin Pussy - Romantic (2016) ++ 25. SOB X RBE - GANGIN ++ 26. Prezi - Do Better + 27. Philthy Rich & Peezy - East Side + 28. Mozzy - Spiritual Conversations + 29. Rolo Tomassi - Time Will Die and Love Will Bury It +++ 30. Cold Years - Northern Blue ++ 31. Camp Cope - How to Socialise & Make Friends + 32. Gulfer - Dog Bless + 33. Drawstring - Four(Heaven, Hell and a Small House in Between) + 34. Iron Reagan/Gatecreeper - Split + 35. Turnstile - Time & Space +
86. Amber Mark - 3:33am (2017) 87. SYML - Hurt For Me (2016) 88. SYML - In My Body (2018) 89. of Montreal - White Is Relic/Irrealis Mood (2018) 90. Son Lux - Brighter Wounds (2018) 91. Flogging Molly - Life Is Good (2017)
Making some real progress this year. Recently I've done 30-35 albums a year. I'd like to hit 50 this year.
February 20. Ai Otsuka - aio piano + 21. BAND-MAID - world domination ++ 22. Ling tosite sigure - #5 ++ 23. Caravela - ski + 24. Lucy, Too - lucky (mini album) ++ 25. SCANDAL - honey ++ 26. GIRLFRIEND - chocolate ++ March 27. kankaku piero - iroiro toiro ++ 28. Yasutaka Nakata - digital native + 29. WANIMA - everybody!! + 30. Animal Hack - gift + 31. Tacoyaki Rainbow - double rainbow + 32. rem time rem time - episode ++ 33. SpecialThanks - heart light + 34. Fuyu no Dobutsuen - the zoo in winter + 35. Chihei Hatakeyama - Void XV ++ 36. HAG - Ao Iro Film ++
92. The Naked And Famous - A Still Heart (2018) 93. Brendan Maclean - funbang1 (2016) 94. Janet Jackson - All For You (2001) 95. The Neighbourhood - The Neighbourhood (2018)
Realize I'm late to the party, but here's everything new I listened to in February... (I tend to listen to albums at the gym and usually in chunks of 3 songs at a time. Also tend to go through an artist's catalog chronologically, which explains some recurring names.) 1.) "The Movielife Has a Gambling Problem" by The Movielife 2.) "Hello, Rockview" by Less Than Jake 3.) "Airplane Conversations" by Waterparks 4.) "Blacklight" by Waterparks 5.) "Hombre Lobo" by Eels 6.) "Split" by Summer Wars 7.) "Cluster" by Waterparks 8.) "Forty Hour Train Back to Penn" by The Movielife 9.) "Songs of The Story So Far" by The Story So Far 10.) "Phantom Thread" by Jonny Greenwood 11.) "Anthem" by Less Than Jake 12.) "Cities in Search of a Heart" by The Movielife 13.) "End Times" by Eels 14.) "See the Light" by Less Than Jake 15.) "A G.C. Christmas, Pt. 1" by Good Charlotte 16.) "Sleepwalkers" by Brian Fallon 17.) "Late" by Tone Royal 18.) "Tomorrow Morning" by Eels 19.) "Beautiful Death" by Slaves 20.) "Borrowed Time" by Summer Wars 21.) "As Cruel as School Children" by Gym Class Heroes 22.) "If There is Light It Will Find You" by Senses Fail 23.) "The Open Door" by Evanescence 24.) "Semicircle" by The Go! Team 25.) "Unknown Pleasures" by Joy Division 26.) "Wonderful, Glorious" by Eels 27.) "The Dark, Dark Bright" by There Will Be Fireworks 28.) "Evanescence" by Evanescence 29.) "Time & Space" by Turnstile 30.) "Black Panther: The Album" by Kendrick Lamar 31.) "While the City Sleeps We Rule the Streets" by Cobra Starship
Updated! Now up to 79 albums from 2018. Oddly, I still don't have a clear frontrunner for AOTY though...
Two weeks into March. Been heavily rotating Rolo Tomassi, Turnstile, Slugdge and BTBAM. Looking forward to Casey, Marijannah, Rivers of Nihil, Failure, Of Feather & Bone, Will Haven and Barren Earth
Update: 36. Nervus - Everything Dies +++ 37. 03 Greedo - The Wolf of Grape Street ++ 38. Line of Sight - Dissent ++ 39. Soul Power - The Low End Fury ++ 40. Conjurer - Mire ++ 41. Climate of Fear - Holy Terror +
96. What So Not - Not All The Beautiful Things (2018) 97. Fickle Friends - You Are Someone Else (2018) 98. Matt Costa - Orange Sunshine (Music From The Motion Picture) (2016) 99. MGMT - Little Dark Age (2018) 100. The Decemberists - I'll Be Your Girl (2018) 101. Theresa Andersson - Street Parade (2012) 102. Shlohmo - Dark Red (2015)
Terrible start to my year, including losing my mom in January. So I guess I'm getting a late start... Bold = Love; ++ = Really Like; + = Like; / = Indifferent; - = Dislike; * = Listen more 2018 releases only March 1. Dessa - Chime 2. Lucy Dacus - Historian + 3. Brian Fallon - Sleepwalkers 4. Frankie Cosmos - Vessel + April 5. Goat Girl - Goat Girl + 6. Laura Veirs - The Lookout + 7. David Bazan & Sean Lane - Rare Coins + 8. The Decemberists - I'll Be Your Girl ++ 9. Janelle Monae - Dirty Computer May 10. Frank Turner - Be More Kind + 11. Mastersystem - Dance Music + 12. Courtney Barnett - Tell Me How You Really Feel ++ 13. Now, Now - Saved ++ 14. Wye Oak - The Louder I Call, the Faster It Runs + June 15. The Pauses - Unbuilding August 16. Lydia - Liquor / 17. Dashboard Confessional - Crooked Shadows / 18. Phantastic Ferniture - Phantastic Ferniture 19. Death Cab For Cutie - Thank You For Today + 20. Mitski - Be the Cowboy + September 21. Alkaline Trio - Is This Thing Cursed? + 22. Beach House - 7 23. Metric - Art of Doubt + 24. Christine and the Queens - Chris October 25. Cloud Nothings - Last Building Burning + 26. Saves The Day - 9 ++ 27. Azure Ray - Waves EP 28. boygenius - boygenius ++ ----- Favorite songs of 2018: Saves The Day - Rendezvous boygenius - Me & My Dog Brian Fallon - If Your Prayers Don't Get to Heaven Brian Fallon - Silence (cover) Saves The Day - 29 The Pauses - The Beginnings of Things Dessa - Half of You Metric - Now or Never Now The Decemberists - Sucker's Prayer Frank Turner - Be More Kind
103. Ocean Park Standoff - Ocean Park Standoff (2017) 104. Diplo - California (2018) 105. THE FEVER 333 - Made An America (2018)
I think this is it for March, I've already listened to more albums this year than all of last year which is a good sign maybe
106. Jack White - Boarding House Reach (2018) 107. Kacey Musgraves - Golden Hour (2018) 108. The Weeknd - My Dear Melancholy, (2018)