July 2020 Record Challenge (The Raffle Strikes Back)

JULY 27
SHARING IS CARING
Play an album you own thanks to another forum member

Dua Lipa - Future Nostalgia

This is the exact post from @DownIsTheNewUp that made me pay attention to this album. When you put an album in the same category as the new RTJ and new Fiona Apple, I've got to check it out.

DownIsTheNewUp said:
I went back to work (which means I spend half my day in a old, loud VW that inhibits softer music) at the start of June and spent the month mostly listening to podcasts or the RTJ / RATM discographies on repeat. Probably the least amount of new music I've listened to over the course of a several month span since 2018 when there were times where my entire existence was dedicated to editing film.

Point being- a) I had no idea Armand Hammer had a new album and will need to check that out and b) there aren't as many new additions to this as usual c) any of the stuff in bold is liable to move around

Tier 1 (Masterpiece):
1) Fiona Apple: Get the Bolt Cutters [singer / songwriter]
2) Run the Jewels: IV [hip-hop]
3) Dua Lipa: Future Nostalgia [pop]
4) Grimes- Miss Anthroposcene [indie electronica / indie pop]

Tier 2 (Excellent):
5) Porridge Radio- Every Bad [post-punk]
6) Yves Tumor: Heaven to a Tortured Mind [psychedelic rock]
7) HAIM: Women in Music Pt. III [indie rock]
8) Nicolas Jaar- Cenizas [downtempo, ambient]
9) Caribou- Suddenly [electronic]
10) Yaeji: What We Drew [hip-house]
11) Phoebe Bridgers: Punisher [folk]
12) Moses Boyd- Dark Matter [nu-jazz / acid house]
13) Car Seat Headrest- Making a Door Less Open [indie rock / electronica]
14) Perfume Genius: Set My Heart On Fire Immediately: [art pop / indie rock]

Tier 3 (Great):
15) Sorry- 925 [art rock]
16) Moses Sumney- grae: Part 1[experimental r&b]
17) Medhane: Cold Water [hip-hop
18) Royce Da 5’9: The Allegory [rap]
19) Soccer Mommy: Color Theory [indie rock]
20) Katie Pruitt: Expectations [indie rock]
21) R.A.P. Ferreria: Purple Moonlit Pages [hip-hop]
22) Westside Gunn: Pray for Paris [rap]
23) A.A.L: 2017-19 [techno]
24) Shabaka and the Ancestors: We are Sent Here By History [nu-jazz]
25) Jessie Ware: What’s Your Pleasure [art pop, disco]
26) Jay Electronica: A Written Testimony [hip-hop]

Tier 4 (Good):
27) Allie X: Cape God [pop]
28) Conway the Machine: No One Mourns the Wicked EP [rap]
29) Freddie Gibbs, The Alchemist: Alfredo [rap]
30) Haley Williams: Petals for Armor (art pop, new-wave)
31) Armand Hammer: Shrines [hip-hop]
32) Four Tet: Sixteen Oceans [downtempo, ambient techno]
33) I Break Horses: Warnings [dream pop]
34) Laura Marking: Songs for Our Daughter [folk]
35) U.S. Girls: Heavy Light [psychedelic pop, indie rock]
3Somni: Home [downtempo electronic]
37) Ka- Descendants of Kain [hip-hop]
38) NNAMDI: Brat [electro pop, experimental hip-hop]

EDIT: Spent like 10 hours today listening to music while putzing around in RD2. Got repeat listens in on some of the newer stuff (Haim, Ware, Sorry) and had Color Theory fully click for the first time (was a big fan of Clean). Updated the list accordingly.
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To my surprise I already had a few of the songs off the album saved to a Spotify list, I just hadn't put a name to the songs. I'm glad I went and took a look, though, because this album has cracked my Top 10 of the year. Not a single bad song on the album. Shit, there's not an "okay" or "average" song on the album. I would go as far as to say "Every single song on this album is great or better or my name's not Mr. Skeletonframes!"

...and that album art....it's modern, timeless, and slightly outdated at the same time. It's magnificent!


God damn you got me in love again
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JULY 28
I'D RECOGNIZE THAT VOICE ANYWHERE
Play an album by an artist with a unique voice

The Murlocs - Manic Candid Episode

Equal parts Brainy Smurf and Theodore the Chipmunk, singer Ambrose Kenny-Smith (of King Gizzard fame) has a voice that firmly represents the Lollipop Guild. It’s so unique that it’s almost off-putting. You wouldn’t think it’s real until you see him actually open his mouth and the sound come out. But, there it is and once you get used to it the album is pretty damn good. Especially the song Comfort Zone.

Way down deep inside we’ve all done something bad...
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JULY 30
THE END IS NIGH
Play something apocalyptic

Shlohmo - The End

Continuing my trend of picking very on-the-nose choices...

“The album is vaguely about the end of the world, but from the viewpoint of smoking on the couch during the extinction event. Reading a nice book while the meteor hits. The fake peace of insularity during chaos” - Shlohmo

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30 - The End

My collection appears to be severely deficient on apocalyptic material. I decided to go with a slightly different take on the end being nigh. This was one of the most innovative duos in Electronica for their time and this was the last album they put out before the sudden death of Charles Cooper. I still remember going to their website and finding nothing but an epitaph. While the music still sounds relevant today it’s hard to understand just how fresh and groundbreaking their material was at the time. They literally changed how electronic music was being produced and consumed and ushered in a sort of renaissance that’s easy to take for granted today. This album saw them adopt analog synths and recording media making the vinyl a rare AAA release for the period In the genre.

Telefon Tel Aviv - Immolate Yourself

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dhodo said:
July 26 - Cover
Fugees - The Score

Killing Me Softly is a top tier cover.

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I had no idea this was a cover until your post, blew my mind haha. Listened to the Roberta Flack version and researched how the song was originally written while Lori Lieberman was at a Don McLean show while he performed Empty Chairs. Good stuff!

Rip_City said:
July 26: It's Not About who did it First, but who did it Better

Lianne La Havas - Lianne La Havas

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I have never listened to Lianne's music prior to this album, despite having heard her name since 2018. Shining, charismatic, soulful voice. To be honest, sometimes the instrumental backings take away from her wonderful voice (though oftentimes they contribute to the soothing vibe and provide lavish texture). But on her cover of Radiohead's "Weird Fishes/Arpeggi" simply titled as "Weird FIshes," she brings that soulful energy in the form of her voice, albeit without quite the intensity of the original instrumentation. She keeps it faithful without it being a lazy cover. The payoff in the final leg of the track ("Yeah, I'll hit the bottom..."), however, does build that intensity of the original but with even more captivating vocal performance from Lianne. She's toured playing this cover in years past, but at long last studio recorded it as an album track this year.
I know there are several Radiohead fans on N&G including our host @gaporter...if you haven't heard her cover yet, I'd love to hear what you think!

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I've been listening to this album a ton the past few weeks and love it! Also had no idea this was a cover. I love the groovy jam of the second half of the song, I need to check out the original now.
 
RowBearToe said:
I've been listening to this album a ton the past few weeks and love it! Also had no idea this was a cover. I love the groovy jam of the second half of the song, I need to check out the original now.
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So obsessed with this album from the past week! Her voice is medicinal and adorned with passion. I recommended this album to a friend the first day after hearing it and she loved it, probably more than I do at the moment LOL. Lianne's earlier albums are now on my listening list!
 
AndySlash said:
day 30 - the end is extremely fucking nigh

View attachment 59150

pink floyd - the final cut

and suddenly it's day again
the sun is in the east
even though the day is done
two suns in the sunset
could be the human race is run
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Growing up as a teenager in the 90's the media seemed to want us to think that gang violence was the leading cause of death of everybody and everything. My little suburban school would show us videos and have us do projects about how "Gang Violence is Bad mmm'kay". Well, I remember when it came time to make my poster about how all the suburban 13 yr olds should not join gangs, I used this line from that song:

Ashes and diamonds
Foe and friend
We were all equal in the end

Or something like that (I haven't heard the album in a long time). I drew a picture of someone in a casket at a funeral or something to go along with it. No biggie right? Well, I was so fucking nervous that I would get destroyed by my friends and acquaintances because I said something deeper than "Gang Violence is Bad mmm'kay". I did it anyway and, to my surprise, no one said a damn word. I had one teacher tell me they really liked it. That was it. No laughter. No derision. That was the defining moment in my young life that I decided I was going to be myself and not let other people decide how I should act or what I should do. It was a pretty liberating experience. I started writing sappy Tom Petty lyrics all over everything in my room and pretty soon I had blue, green, then purple hair. Funny how one little line in one little song about one little nuclear bomb can change someone, right?
 
Day 31: THIS IS THE END

She has a great cover of The Doors track.

Also...nice job running this month @gaporter

Nico ‎– The End...
Island Records ‎– ILPS 9311, 1974

UK pressing

Cut by George "Porky" Peckham
Pressed at EMI Records

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JULY 29
CUE SYNTHESIZER
Play something with a lot of synths

Shadow Age - Shadow Age

If you were to tell me this album was made in 1983 I would believe you. The sound drips with the feeling of shame, regret, longing, wrapped up in a post-punk package.....and that's just the atmosphere of it, I don't even know what the words are about.

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JULY 30
THE END IS NIGH
Play something apocalyptic

Black Mountain - Destroyer

This album sounds like a desert drive in a dystopian "Mad Max" world where the buildings are burned out, the future is hopeless, and the soup of the day is Nihilism sprinkled with Futility. I think the last song might be about Bowie, but nevermind that. The rest is pure fuzz fatalism that makes you want to get in your car, roll the windows down, and hit the vanishing point.

Forever fire
A swarm of flying embers
Through corridors
We heard the fainting choir

The horns are rising on a lake of fireIMG_0440[1982].JPG
 
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