March 2023
March 23 2023 music albums review and suggestions
I listen to a lot of music, and over time I've figured out how to become an album person. Because streaming is the default way of enjoying music now, it's a lot easier to share music. I'll probably do regular reviews of albums I've been listening to lately. I also suck at proper top 10 lists, so I'm just going to compile whatever I listen to in random order. I'll try to share bandcamp links for the most part unless the albums aren't avaliable there. I'm not at all an expert on music, so it's all my opinions. Here's 4 albums I've been listening to lately, then.
Memorabilia - Human Tetris (2018)
This album was apparently my top listening on Spotify last year, which makes sense because it's almost all great songs. Human Tetris is a Russian band that makes new wave/post-punk music, usually very dark and gloomy sounding with a lot of groove. Because of the war, they can't really tour anywhere other than Latin America at the moment (plus this genre is huge in that part of the world right now). The top songs on this for me are Long Flight and Warm Memory. The whole album flows really well and is amazing for driving at night.
DEBUT - La Texana (2022)
When I said this genre is big in Latin America, I meant it. CDMX is a hotbed for the genre right now and La Texana is gaining well-deserved popularity. My husband and I discovered him when he was starting on youtube in 2020, and he's already getting pretty big. Bèsame and El Ciego are my favorites from this album. I can't really speak spanish but the beats are great. When we finally go to Mexico we're going to try to catch a live show.
Die Die Lulluby - Night Club (2020)
Also a very dark, gothy album, but this one is more of an electronic nightclub/house/rave album. Night Club is a duo(?) from California and most of their songs are pretty great. This album is also very listenable, and I'd recommend their other album Scary World for more of the same. Die in the Disco and Gossip are probably my favorites from this one.
First Harvest 1984-1992 - Alphaville (1998)
Technically this is just an official compilation of their singles and hits (and it's older music). Alphaville is a great band, though, and I do listen to them a lot. Sounds Like a Melody and Dance With Me are my favorites. Very groovy again. I'm sure my love of new wave/synthpop has made itself clear by this point.
So with that, I hope this provides some listening pleasure. I'll be back at it again eventually.
April 2023
April music albums review and suggestions
hello I am back with another pile of albums I enjoy. this one is going to be all 80s albums of a similar flavor to each other.Songs from the Big Chair - Tears for Fears (1995) This album isn't very long, but most of the songs on it are great. My favorites are "Everybody Wants to Rule The World" (which most people are familiar with) and "Head Over Heels" (which people seem less familiar with).
Substance - New Order (1987)
New Order is probably one of my actual favorite bands. Believe it or not, I didn't learn that they were the successor to Joy Division until embarrassingly late into being fans of both bands. This album is a compilation of their singles up to that point, so it's long, well over 2 hours. If you only have time for a few songs, "Blue Monday" is a must listen, and I also recommend "Bizarre Love Triangle", "True Faith", and "Temptation" in that order.
Mirror Moves - The Psychedelic Furs (1984)
The Psychedelic Furs is also a top band of mine. They released a new album in 2020 that was very good, but since this is all 80s I went with Mirror Moves. Forever Now is also a good album from the same time, but I think this one would be my favorite. "My Time" is my favorite. "Heaven" is also great.
Naked Eyes - Naked Eyes (1983)
This is one of those albums you can have on in the background especially while driving when you just want good ambience. "When the Lights Go Out" is probably my top song from it, it's just got a good riff and relaxing beats. It's all very much the early 80s sound, not much more to say than that. I don't think it's a particularly earth-shattering album, but it fills out the empty spaces when you just want the tunes.
Dare / Fascination! - The Human League (1981/1983)
It's an officially released compilation, so I'm not cheating. The Human League is a fun listen. Another 2 hours of music and most of it is remixes of the same few, but if you have to listen to a couple, you probably already know "Don't You Want Me", and "Keep Feeling (Fascination)" is a very groovy and fun song.
This is very much not the genre of music I listen to, even if so far most of my recommendations have been like this. I might compile some of my favorite goth and goth-adjacent albums next. Or maybe my favorites from other decades. There's a lot of music out there.