hello again
okay i'll admit i posted my first message on here with capital letters and....it was too much!! i'm sticking with lower-case for now please and thank you. anyway, i've had plenty of thinking time since my last list of album recommendations to pick out some more gems. so without further ado, here is part two (that rhymes!)
pet sounds - the beach boys
ah, pet sounds. this is such a fantastic collection of songs which is down to the genius that is brian wilson. since watching the biopic love & mercy, i've been listening to this album for the last fortnight and every time it still sounds so fresh, zesty if you will. do you like the beach? yearning? drugs? it ticks every box, baby! but seriously, the construction of each song cannot be overlooked, and that musical intricacy is what puts it above the rest.
my favourites: wouldn't it be nice?, don't talk, let's go away for a while, hold on to your ego
everything you've come to expect - the last shadow puppets
does the name alex turner ring a bell? or perhaps arctic monkeys? their last album (tranquility base hotel etc...) did catch some fans off-gaurd with their smoother approach, partly due to the album being written on piano instead of guitar. but this style didn't come from out of the blue; alex turner's side project the last shadow puppets has long been producing a similar type of liquid-gold, easy listening music. and everything you've come to expect is no exception. it's the musical equivilent of honey and cinammon, but sexy. it's, autumn fancy-dress parties for the rich and famous, a cashmere scarf, dark matte lipstick. and if you enjoy it, don't miss that arctic monkeys album.
my favourites: sweet dreams TN, miracle aligner, aviation
iridescence - brockhampton
i'll admit that this is not the brockhampton album i actually had written on my list. but i can't help but feel like this album is criminally underrated! perhaps it's just the nostalgia i have attatched to it; i remember sitting in a cafe before attending my first class of the day and playing it through for the first time. i remember all the times i played the album on public transport, specifically travelling to and from either southampton or london on the coach. or when i played my friend berlin on our way home from the beach. the sun was low in the sky and we were sat at the back of the bus, the windows were open and the breeze and sun nearly put us to sleep. my point is that somehow the album flew under many people's radar, but ironically it is a very good album for making memories.
my favourites: district, tonya
take this to your grave - fall out boy
speaking of nostalgia, how about teenage angst? this was my album; i've carried it in my heart for about six years now and i have no intention of letting go. it was cathartic and just what i needed at the time, sometimes i still need it. tttyg was also where i really started my journey into fall out boy's music, though i never ended up finding something which sounded as good to me as this album. if you're looking for the essence of fall out boy then here it is, so leave their newest stuff alone! because what you really want is ridiculously long song titles, people singing how much they hate other people, and a profound friendship bond between patrick stump and pete wentz. oh and i based the colour scheme of my bedroom on the album cover.
my favourites: homesick at space camp, sending postcards from a plane crash, chicago is so two years ago
all over the world - electric light orchestra
the sweet, sweet orchestral synths of elo! this does feel like i'm cheating since the album is technically a compilation of some of their best stuff, but once more i prove to be a sentimental bitch by including this album because i grew up on it (trust me this means i know its worth when i recommend it to you). like brian wilson, jeff lynne knew what he was doing when he started putting something together; knowing only mr blue sky simply doesn't do their discography justice when the intro to evil woman goes that hard. there's a lot of hidden gems on this album as although they may be certified best of the best™, not all of them have received the same amount of airplay. good news for you! lots to discover.
my favourites: mr blue sky, evil woman, turn to stone, telephone line (my favourite, along with mr blue sky this was the one i grew up on the most)
songs of her's - her's
this is such a bittersweet album to end on; i'm already tearing up as i type this. her's were a two-man band based in liverpool and made up of stephen fitzpatrick and audun laading. in late march last year, both of them and their tour manager died in a crash while touring the united states. i found out the next morning on my way to college and the news had such an immense impact on me. her's had always been an upcoming band, one to watch, precisely what i was doing so that i could catch them when they next toured the uk. the fact that i will never be able to experience them live in all their glory haunts me, but no more than the fact that traffic collisions can be prevented. and i still feel the same way i did on the way to college; tears are rolling steadily down my cheeks now.
the only reason why this happens to be the album of theirs i have chosen is because i never like to listen to an artist's discography in full, whether they are dead or alive, in fear of running out of music. and so the sophomore album invitation to her's remains more or less untouched, because i know if i were to work my way through it i would not have much more to enjoy after it. but songs of her's means everything to me. the tone of the album rises and falls and moves like the tides through one ear to the other within the space of a mere thirty five minutes. i suppose you could argue there is a theme throughout each song, but i believe their style is so uniquely theirs that their energy is what ties the whole thing together so well. however, that is not to say by any means that it is repetitive. by the end you can say oh i enjoyed this part and also the bit which went like this. there is no song worth skipping on this album which is lovely because suddenly you can't pick a favourite and you're hit with a craving for one or two songs, and so you wear them out and then you want to listen so badly to the track after that which is so strikingly different yet just as worth wearing out.
the tears have stopped for now, but i am still grieving and i expect i will continue to do so for however long songs of her's makes me feel this way.
my favourites: second half of the album
originally posted to patreon, 15th may 2020