Underground Listmaker

A brief recap of my listening habits in May 2024. Notable trends: more singer/songwriter folk albums, as well as a focus on newly released records. Obscurity ranges from very/mildly obscure to popular. Includes a new addition to my top 50 albums of all time (Katie Jane Garside's Lullabies in a Glass Wilderness). Compared to an average of these posts, there is a (slightly shamefully) low breadth of countries of origin on this list.  Previous monthly updates: January   ||  February 1. Katie Jane Garside -   Lullabies in a Glass Wilderness  ||  Singer-Songwriter, Art Pop, Darkwave, Experimental, Avant-Folk  ||  2006  ||  UK 2. Tom Waits - Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards  ||  Singer-Songwriter, Blues Rock, Folk Rock  ||  2006  ||  USA 3. St. Vincent - All Born Screaming  ||  Art Rock, Neo-Psychedelia  ||  2024  ||  USA 4. Beth Gibbons - Lives Outgrown...

This one's for the Aussies.  Music from Australian artists has had a huge impact on my taste. In particular, the punk blues scene which emerged from it was an important gateway into aggressive, catchy, and rebellious music. You will see a lot of albums from this scene on the list. Artists from other genres, of course, are among my favorites of all time. I love you Australia! I'm limiting the list to one album per artist, to keep it readable and not oversaturate it with just a couple of artists (guess which ones). 1. The Drones - I See Seaweed  ||  Punk Blues  ||  2013  ||  angry, poetic     Favorite tracks:  Nine Eyes, I See Seaweed, Why Write a Letter That You'll Never Send 2. The Avalanches - We Will Always Love You  ||  Neo-Psychedelia, Electronic, Trip Hop, House  ||  2020  ||  melancholic, atmospheric     Favorite tracks: We Go On, Song for Barbara Payton, The Divine Chord 3.  Nick Cave ...

 As someone who's been a fan of Ulver for a long time, this album was quite a letdown.                                                            Synthpop  ||  Released August 28, 2020 For a band who started out as black metal and later changed on-a-dime to an experimental electronic band with very few inhibitions, "Flowers of Evil" is completely tame, with no bite to it whatsoever. From the raw and engaging "Bergtatt", to the experimentation of "Blood Inside", the deathly beauty of "Shadows of the Sun", we've...progressed...to this. Maybe I shouldn't have been surprised...after all, the band's previous effort, "The Assassination of Julius Caesar" wasn't exactly what you would have called "innovative", but at the very least it marked a distinct shift in Ulver's everchanging musical style. This album feels like no more than c...

 Sometimes we take music for granted. Even I am guilty; I listen to  a lot , and things tend to blur together when you listen to as much music as I do. Every now and again though, there comes a piece that stops you in your tracks, challenges your perception of what matters in music, and edifies your soul. Though it  just  misses out on my top 100 records list, "Born Into Trouble as the Sparks Fly Upward" is one such album. The Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band - Born Into Trouble as the Sparks Fly Upward  ||  Post-Rock  ||  Released 2001 A band that has undergone many variations on its name, most know them as simply "A Silver Mt. Zion" (the name they started with). ASMZ are an offshoot of the best and most influential post-rock outfit of all time, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, featuring many members of the band. While the stylings of GSY!BE bleed through in this band's work (how could they  not ?), there is something enti...

Jamie McKendrick - Sky Nails That first day, to break me in,  my hardened comrades sent me scampering like a marmoset from the topmost parapet  to the foreman's hut  for a bag of sky nails.  The foreman wondered which precise  shade of blue I had in mind.  It's still sky nails I need today  with their faint threads and unbreakable heads  that will nail anything  to nothing  and make it stay.  There are a few interpretations of Sky Nails  that seem plausible. For me, it's the last three lines that really tell me what it is I find so compelling about it...nailing "anything to nothing and mak[ing] it stay" for me means that the sky nails the protagonist has fetched from the mysterious "foreman" (a deity of some kind?) are the tools needed to keep themselves together; they represent the psychological means for a desperately struggling person (perhaps, particularly, someone who has some sort of mental illness) to hold on.  1. K...

Similar / Related lists: Listening Habits 2022 ,  Top Played Songs of 2023 (so far) ,  Listening Habits 2023 ,  January 2024 Top Played Records Songs that I have played over 100 times from 2017 to present! All data is taken from my last.fm account, which I started in early 2017. This list is intended to provide a snapshot of my listening habits over that span of time. It must be taken with a grain of salt; (fairly) often a track will make a huge impact on me, but due to a myriad of reasons, may not make it into heavy rotation. Some examples of these reasons are for disturbing but compelling art and lengthy songs that I don't always have time for. The obscurity of these tracks seem to range from extraordinarily obscure, to relatively niche but well known in certain music communities, to very popular releases (on critics' lists, RYM, AOTY, etc.) I had fun making this, and by limiting it to one track per artist it is more interesting and less cluttered than a last.fm chart, ...

"Singer/songwriter" is a genre of music that heavily relies on lyrics and songwriting, rather than elaborate accompanying instrumentation. It is closely related to folk music, but they are distinct.  A list about my favorite dark singer/songwriter albums has been on the backburner for a while; it was about time. Dark lyrics and songwriting can be incredibly evocative and visceral, or poetically cathartic. I will first list my favorite dark singer/songwriter albums, followed by a separate list of records of the style which I want to check out. There are many subgenres that can be applied in addition to the style (mostly different kinds of folk); these will be listed when applicable. Dark Singer/Songwriter Favorites 1. Eels - Electro-Shock Blues  ||  Indie Pop, Singer/Songwriter  ||  1998  ||   USA 2. PJ Harvey - To Bring You My Love  ||  Alternative Rock, Singer/Songwriter  ||  1995  ||   UK 3. Nick Cave & The...