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All posts for the month August, 2026

Random Album of the Day #107 – Monday, August 31, 2026

Posted by jayne k on August 31, 2026
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Random Album of the Day

Today’s Random Album of the Day is Summer Sun from Yo La Tengo. I have always thought of Yo La Tengo as straight up Indie Rock but Rate Your Music does list all of these genres which all make some sense: Indie Rock, Noise Pop, Indie Pop, Dream Pop, Post-Rock, and Ambient Pop.

This band is so prolific that I have over 20 of their albums. I’ve been a huge fan since May I Sing With Me which I used to play on my radio show in college. Yet I have not listened to Summer Sun a lot. I think it just fell through the cracks. So I’m stoked it came up today!

I’ve always loved Yo La Tengo’s mix of softness with great noisy guitar solos and often times keyboard droning. Their shows are great. Their albums are great. They are fantastic to me and Summer Sun is a good album. It’s a good but not great album I feel. Totally enjoyable which is what matters. It’s perhaps a bit too chill, but also totally chill and that’s good.

Rating: 9.6

Favorite Track(s): “Little Eyes” is classic Yo La Tengo. Love it. “Today is the Day” is great. Love it. “Tiny Birds” is excellent. Overall consistently good music.

Keep or Trash: Keep. It’s Yo La Tengo!

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Random Album of the Day #106 – Sunday, August 30, 2026

Posted by jayne k on August 30, 2026
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Random Album of the Day

Today’s Random Album of the Day is Probably Music from Young Trynas. This is Punk Rock or Hardcore Punk, Young Trynas features The Sneaks’ bassist if you know them. They then reform with everyone but the bassist into Flasher which I’ll have to check out.

Anyhow love the raw energy here. “Fuck your money” is damned right. Gets your energy up! This has good aggressive discordant energy. Love all of it! My wife loved it too!

Rating: 9.7

Favorite Track(s): “$” is just great. “Control” is more haunting but works. “Be Gone” really grinds. I absolutely love the chaos of “I Love You”.

Keep or Trash: Keep. Hell yeah!

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Random Album of the Day #105 – Saturday, August 29, 2026

Posted by jayne k on August 29, 2026
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Random Album of the Day

Today’s Random Album of the Day is Vernon Manner from Philadelphia’s Webb Chapel. Rate Your Music says they are Art Rock which is fine but they feel more like Dream Pop meets Neo Psychedelia to me.

In any case I like them. This album is good though they have a cassette with the same name and totally different tracks which totally confused me at first. Anyhow, excellent album so it’s a keeper.

Rating: 9.6

Favorite Track(s): “Summer Again” is great. Great distorted guitars. great overall sound. “Heavy Metal” really works for me. Very Neo Psychedelia / Art Pop to me. “8 Ball” is hypnotic. My wife particularly liked “Without Love”. “End Trails” adequately rocks. I really liked “Fall All Around”.

Keep or Trash: Keep.

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Random Album of the Day #104 – Friday, August 28, 2026

Posted by jayne k on August 28, 2026
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Random Album of the Day

Today’s Random Album of the Day is from Xiu Xiu and titled Plays the Music of Twin Peaks. And it is exactly what it sounds like – an album of covers of Twin Peaks music. What an interesting concept album!

Xiu Xiu is an Experimental Rock or Art Pop band. I honestly haven’t listened to enough of their music, but I have this album and love the concept behind it. It helps that I’m a Twin Peaks fan.

This album is phenomenal. It takes the music of Twin peaks which is weird and interesting and elevates it as music to me. Most sings hit really well and really makes me like the music from Twin Peaks more than I actually do.

It is a long album for what it’s worth. As much as I love the album, I could see shortening a couple of songs might have worked out well.

Rating: 9.7

Favorite Track(s): “Laura Palmer’s Theme” is so quintessential Twin Peaks. “Into the Night” is even creepier than in the show. So good. “Audrey’s Dance” is so good. I swear this album gets better with every song. “Packard’s Vibration” is just awesome. Really well done. They did a great job with “Blue Frank / Pink Room”. “Falling” is again quintessential Twin Peaks and it’s done well here.

Keep or Trash: Keep.

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Random Album of the Day #103 – Thursday, August 27, 2026

Posted by jayne k on August 27, 2026
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Random Album of the Day

Today’s Random Album of the Day is Self-Taught Magic From a Book from Je Suis Animal. This is Twee Pop from Norway. I love Twee Pop.

I really like this album. Twee Pop bands are typically short lived but I tend to love them so much. So I’m happy to rediscover this band which I had completely forgotten about.

Rating: 9.6

Favorite Track(s): “Secret Place” is a great starter song. Got me into the album immediately. It even gets noisy in a good way. Albeit briefly. “The Mystery of Marie Roget” continues things at a high level. “Beginning of Time”. Basically I like all the songs.

Keep or Trash: Keep.

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Random Album of the Day #102 – Tuesday, August 26, 2026

Posted by jayne k on August 26, 2026
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Random Album of the Day

Today’s Random Album of the Day is I’ve never been in love before baby, pretend I’m sick from Zebu Fur, aka Frankie Cosmos. Frankie Cosmos is great! So this should be good. Frankie Cosmos is basically bedroom recordings of Slacker Rock or Indie Folk.

Like most Frankie Cosmos records this is very stripped down. Short songs with good melodies and emotive lyrics. Not polished at all but raw. Still the recording quality is okay mostly with occasional blips.

I’n not sure what makes this raw lo-fi music work for me but I suppose it’s a combination of the rawness and the melodies that sneak into their songs.

Rating: 9.0

Favorite Track(s): “The Infinity Days”, “fingernails”, “Walking tune 18”, “you used to be cool”, “I’ve never been in love before baby, pretend I’m sick”. Like a hardcore record, no time to do much but write down a list…

Keep or Trash: Keep.

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Random Album of the Day #101 – Tuesday, August 25, 2026

Posted by jayne k on August 25, 2026
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Random Album of the Day

Today’s Random Album of the Day is a Daytrotter Session from Orphan Colours. They are an Americana band from the UK.

I don’t particularly care for this. It’s basically country rock. And that’s not my jam. I just don’t find much motivating or inspiring in modern country. I always listen to the entire album for the Random Album of the Day but I found this experience to be painful today…

Rating: 5.0

Favorite Track(s): I didn’t have any…

Keep or Trash: Trash.

You can listen to this here at this link.

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Random Album of the Day – Monday, August 24, 2026

Posted by jayne k on August 24, 2026
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Random Album of the Day

Today’s Random Album of the Day is a Demo from The Gift. The Gift were a Noise Rock band from DC. They self identify as Punk, Death Rock, Grunge, Goth, Hardcore and Indie.

Of Note, this is the 100th edition of the Random Album of the Day! I’m super psyched to have managed this for roughly 100 days (minus hospital trip and other health pauses). I’m excited to do this for another 100 days. We’ve barely touched on our collection of digital music.

What I mainly remember about The Gift is I believe I ordered vinyl from them and never got it. An obvious indicator that I liked their music. They make good noise. And it’s totally fine. I realize an old split up group may not be organized enough to follow through on a vinyl delivery and not really care that much. I may also be remembering wrong and it was someone else I ordered from at that time. It is what it is.

Rating: 9.4

Favorite Track(s): “Sleep Forever” is just great. “Mostly in Sickness” is excellent. “I Wish You Wouldn’t” also great.

Keep or Trash: Keep.

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Random Album of the Day – Sunday, August 23, 2026

Posted by jayne k on August 23, 2026
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Random Album of the Day

Today’s Random Album of the Day is Nun More Black from Ye Nuns. This. is straight up Garage Punk. Features member of other bands including The Headoatees / The A-Lines.

I believe these are all covers of songs from The Monks. Or seem to be covers of Monks songs. Monks being a short lived band from the mid 1960s. “Nun Time” is a cover of “Monk Time” for example. This is some hilariously meta stuff going on here with this being a one off project of British punksters called Ye Nuns in the 2000s covering a 1960s era band called the Monks. The Monks were out of Germany and made up of American GIs.

And of course some of it is a bit silly. “Drunken Maria Don’t Sleep, Sleeping Maria don’t drink” is some lyrical gold I’m sure. I’m not sure what else to call that. Here is a rather strange bio of The Monks.

Regardless of the Meta stuff, it’s a great album. Garage Punk with a Surf Rock flavor. And who wouldn’t love a sound that originated with a band that described their own evolution with: “We got rid of melody. We substituted dissonance and clashing harmonics.”

Rating: 9.8 for the meta-ness…

Favorite Track(s): “Higgle-Dy – Piggly-Dy” is great. “Complication” is good. I Like all of the songs but some other good ones are “Drunker Maria”, “Pretty Suzanne”, “I Hate You”, etc…

Keep or Trash: Keep.

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Random Album of the Day – Saturday, August 22, 2026

Posted by jayne k on August 22, 2026
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Random Album of the Day

Today’s Random Album of the Day is vand, død & ensomhed from Himmelrum. It’s listed as rock on Rate Your Music but honestly it’s more of a Danish Indie Pop. They self identify as Rock, Ambient, Shoegaze, and synaesthesia. I don’t really see the shoe gaze. I’d still say Indie Pop.

I didn’t really like this album at all. Not to my tastes. One song got weird in a good way. The music is fine, just not my kind of fine.

Rating: 6.0

Favorite Track(s): “Usynlige” got nice and weird. “Nerve” is ok.

Keep or Trash: Trash.

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