2023 Media Roundup: Music
Dec. 29th, 2023 11:51 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sabotabby I still listen to more podcasts than music but I did land on some cool stuff. It's hard for me to pick an album of the year so I'm mainly going in chronological order of things that stand out to me.
BIG|BRAVE: "Vital" and "nature morte." I dunno how to describe this band. iTunes says "unknown genre," which fits. Kind of dreamy, atmospheric, dark alt rock with folk characteristics. I could find very little about them online beyond that they opened for A Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra and Tra-La-La Band, which is one of my all-time favourite bands. They sound nothing like that but have similar vibes.
Depeche Mode: "Memento Mori." You know who Depeche Mode are. I haven't been keeping up with their new releases for years but this latest one is really good—heartfelt and haunting and much like their old stuff except different.
Bridge City Sinners: Yeah I heard one song by them and immediately bought tickets to see them and downloaded all of their albums. Kind of cabaret/klezmer/bluegrass with a deep self-destructive streak and lots of lyrics about Satan. They were even more brilliant live. Honourable mention goes to Yes Ma'am, who opened for them.
VNV Nation: "Electric Sun." VNV Nation only have one song and it's great. I could listen to it forever. I will not be taking questions at this time.
Orville Peck: "Bronco." A worthy followup to "Pony," which blew me away in 2019. I guess this came out in 2022 but iTunes sucks so it only showed up in my library this year. Sadly, Orville Peck is taking a break from music for what sounds like mental health reasons. More croony, extremely gay country from one of the best voices in music.
The Ocean: "Holocene." Moody, dark electronic music about the end of the world. My friend said it reminded her of my writing, which is a huge compliment as I really love this album.
Sabaoth: "Windjourney." This is an old album but new to me. Gloomy, goth-infused black metal.
Jeremy Dutcher: "Motewolonuwok." Beautiful followup to his groundbreaking debut. No one else is doing this. Apparently it contains the first bilingual song in English and Wolastoqey, which is cool enough even without his stunning voice and compositions.
Uh so my most exciting album of the year technically isn't coming out until next year but anyway if you haven't heard, Einstürzende Neubauten have a new double album coming out, which I think is called "Rampen," based on their live improvisations on their 2022 tour. Not to brag or anything but I got to be one of the first hundred or so people who heard it start to finish in a Zoom listening party with the band. So I can't link to it yet but I can tell you that it whips.
Honourable mention goes to "Women Of Noise For Palestine." Tbh I have not listened to this whole thing yet. Someone on the Neubauten Discord had a track on it so she linked to it and I bought it to support Palestinian Children's Relief Fund and because everyone involved in it is pretty obscure, a lot of the tracks aren't in English, and that tends to mean that the music will at least be interesting. I'm enjoying what I've heard so far.
BIG|BRAVE: "Vital" and "nature morte." I dunno how to describe this band. iTunes says "unknown genre," which fits. Kind of dreamy, atmospheric, dark alt rock with folk characteristics. I could find very little about them online beyond that they opened for A Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra and Tra-La-La Band, which is one of my all-time favourite bands. They sound nothing like that but have similar vibes.
Depeche Mode: "Memento Mori." You know who Depeche Mode are. I haven't been keeping up with their new releases for years but this latest one is really good—heartfelt and haunting and much like their old stuff except different.
Bridge City Sinners: Yeah I heard one song by them and immediately bought tickets to see them and downloaded all of their albums. Kind of cabaret/klezmer/bluegrass with a deep self-destructive streak and lots of lyrics about Satan. They were even more brilliant live. Honourable mention goes to Yes Ma'am, who opened for them.
VNV Nation: "Electric Sun." VNV Nation only have one song and it's great. I could listen to it forever. I will not be taking questions at this time.
Orville Peck: "Bronco." A worthy followup to "Pony," which blew me away in 2019. I guess this came out in 2022 but iTunes sucks so it only showed up in my library this year. Sadly, Orville Peck is taking a break from music for what sounds like mental health reasons. More croony, extremely gay country from one of the best voices in music.
The Ocean: "Holocene." Moody, dark electronic music about the end of the world. My friend said it reminded her of my writing, which is a huge compliment as I really love this album.
Sabaoth: "Windjourney." This is an old album but new to me. Gloomy, goth-infused black metal.
Jeremy Dutcher: "Motewolonuwok." Beautiful followup to his groundbreaking debut. No one else is doing this. Apparently it contains the first bilingual song in English and Wolastoqey, which is cool enough even without his stunning voice and compositions.
Uh so my most exciting album of the year technically isn't coming out until next year but anyway if you haven't heard, Einstürzende Neubauten have a new double album coming out, which I think is called "Rampen," based on their live improvisations on their 2022 tour. Not to brag or anything but I got to be one of the first hundred or so people who heard it start to finish in a Zoom listening party with the band. So I can't link to it yet but I can tell you that it whips.
Honourable mention goes to "Women Of Noise For Palestine." Tbh I have not listened to this whole thing yet. Someone on the Neubauten Discord had a track on it so she linked to it and I bought it to support Palestinian Children's Relief Fund and because everyone involved in it is pretty obscure, a lot of the tracks aren't in English, and that tends to mean that the music will at least be interesting. I'm enjoying what I've heard so far.
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Date: 2023-12-29 06:49 pm (UTC)Music!
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Date: 2023-12-29 10:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-12-30 12:00 am (UTC)Or something.
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Date: 2023-12-30 12:07 am (UTC)Anyway, you should join the Discord! It's pretty quiet but it's a really nice group of folks who are constantly posting music recommendations of weird shit that I would have never heard of otherwise.
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Date: 2023-12-30 08:18 am (UTC)(I haven't liked any of their stuff for years .. since Bloom? Ende Neu? Admittedly, I've not sought it out. I prefer the smashing on metal junk era, personally).
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Date: 2023-12-30 12:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-12-30 12:37 pm (UTC)My YouTube outrage video is ready.
I just need to add woke.exe!
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Date: 2023-12-30 08:15 am (UTC)I reckon being a four piece that turned into a duo (through death and attrition) will do that. For my money Playing The Angel is the last 'great album' and aside from Where's the Revolution I doubt I could confidently name a single song on their last 2-3 albums.
VNV Nation only have one song and it's great.
Nonsense.
Songs about swords!
Slow songs!
I am not sure if I knew about this until recently (if I did, I bounced off it). But they usually do what you want. So, that's nice. And there are always diamonds on their albums.
I can't say I know any of the others.
I think my AotY is Coma Alliance: Weapon of Choice. Admittedly, it came out in 2018 and I heard about is a few years back, but I finally got on CD.
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Date: 2023-12-30 12:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-12-30 12:35 pm (UTC)(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fMtR3fhPUg In case)
They have great songs. 'Where is the Future' is a banger,
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Date: 2023-12-30 05:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-12-30 08:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-01-08 11:03 pm (UTC)Im p sure I saw big brave at some point. I think it was before I "got it" because this shit is really good.
I feel like, on paper, Bridge City Sinners should absolutely be up my alley, but I just can't get into it. I'd love to tell ya why but ... no clue.
I love the one song VNV Nation makes over and over again. I had no clue there was a new album (admittedly I probably haven't listened to any new music of theirs in a decade) but I liked this a lot.
the ocean is something I want to give another listen to. I cant figure out if I love it or not.
I also hadnt heard of sabaoth but liked it. trve kvlt metal bae liked it too.
the noise album was a good share. obviously some hit more or less than others, but there was some good shit there.
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Date: 2024-01-08 11:46 pm (UTC)