Music

Random Album of the Day

Today’s Random Album of the Day is O.Y. in Hi-Fi from Optiganally Yours. They are listed as Indie Pop.

This album is full of Beatles-inspired pop. All of the songs are good but nothing grabbed me. It is a consistent album and if you like overly poppy music you would really like this I’d think.

Rating: 7.0

Favorite Track(s): I thought it was all reasonably good but at the same time nothing stood out for me.

Keep or Trash: Trash. I wasn’t feeling it.

Continue Reading
Random Album of the Day

Today’s Random Album of the Day is El Maestro Interior from Iván & los Terribles. This is a noise rock band from Uruguay! They also self-tag as Post-Punk and that fits.

Noise Rock is one of my favorite genres and Iván & los Terribles does not disappoint. This is good stuff. It’s rather basic rock ‘n roll in a lot of ways – but louder and more distorted. And just better!

This was a find I made when I did a Slow Radio Shower focused on Uruguay. I’m very happy with this find.

Rating: 9.7

Favorite Track(s): “Fiebre en Calbucco” has a haunting feel for it that is perfect for Halloween season. “O día que Neymar quebrou” is good with an almost 1950s rock influence. “Bios” could be a Yo La Tengo song to be honest. I like it! “Baltasar” brings back that haunting sound in a good way! It is louder and more aggressive and I really like it. Probably my favorite track thus far. “Zweig” brings in an 1980s sound. I love this too! So many twists on this album!

Keep or Trash: Keep. I went ahead and bought their one album that I didn’t have…

Continue Reading
Random Album of the Day

Today’s Random Album of the Day is The Glow Part 2 from The Microphones. The Microphones are classified as Indie Folk, Psychedelic Folk, and Slacker Rock. Most notably this is a project of Phil Elverum (Mount Eerie).

I’m not sure what sets apart The Microphones from his other work. I guess I’m not sure why bit’s a side project and not another Mount Eerie album. But I digress.

I love this album. I love most everything Phil Elverum does. It probably is a niche taste but he has a solid following so not super niche. Every time I’ve been to a show it has been sold out I think.

Whatever the case this is spectacular music to me. It’s a great mix of a sort of folk sound with an Indie Rock thing that becomes what it is. The amplification over the acoustics is just great. The percussion on this is really well done. It is timed well.

Rating: 9.8

Favorite Track(s): “I Want Wind To Blow” starts with that heavy bass over soft vocals and acoustic guitar I love. “The Glow Part 2” brings some excellent epicness. “My Roots Are Strong And Deep” is some good music. I’m honestly picking these as I hear them with my attention wandering in and out. The whole album is spectacular.

Keep or Trash: Keep.

Continue Reading
Random Album of the Day

Today’s Random Album of the Day is Mothers, Sisters, Daughters & Wives from Voxtrot. They are an Indie Rock or Indie Pop outfit.

First of all, I love the name Voxtrot. Very clever. Overall I think this is solid music but I didn’t personally love it. It doesn’t grab me the way I want it to. Such is life. This probably works for others but not for me.

Rating: 6.0

Favorite Track(s): “Mothers, Sisters. Daughters & Wives” is a solid indie song.

Keep or Trash: Trash. It just doesn’t work for me.

Continue Reading
Random Album of the Day

Today’s Random Album of the Day is How to Land a Plane from 7ebra. This is an Indie Pop band from Malmo, Sweden.

I love this band! They mess around with harmonies in a very effective way. And are just a delight to listen to. And this is a brand new album having just been released one week ago!

Their albums just flow very well. They are also very nice to sing along to (though I don’t know the words to this new album yet). This album seems to have more guitar emphasis and less keyboard emphasis than their debut album.

As it’s new it’ll take me some time to figure out my favorite parts and they will shift over time. But I am excited for the excuse to give it another listen as the Random Album of the Day!!!

Rating: 9.7

Favorite Track(s): I love the melody and harmonizing to “Dinner and a Movie”. “I Have to Buy Stuff” has a great guitar riff. “Normal Song” is great harmonizing. Very catchy. I like every song on this album. Those are just a few standouts.

Keep or Trash: Keep. I love this so much and its already in my regular mix.

Continue Reading
Random Album of the Day

Today’s Random Album of the Day is a Daytrotter Session from Ida Jo. This is singer-songwriter content.

Ida Jo is clearly talented. She has an excellent voice and can make music. I like the amplified guitar mixed with the violin. It’s a very nice mix of music with some blues and soul influence,

Rating: 9.0

Favorite Track(s): “Guardian of Being” is solid. I really liked “Passing Through”.

Keep or Trash: Trash. It’s good music but I have a higher threshold for keeping stuff when all I have is their Daytrotter Session. I probably won’t work this into the mix much so I’m just going to clear it out. I was somewhat tempted to listen to more of their music but decided I was good,

You can stream this Daytrotter Session here.

Continue Reading
Random Album of the Day

Today’s Random Album of the Day is Spells from The Happy Hollows. They are considered Indie Rock / Noise Rock. I’d say more Indie Rock than Noise Rock but I see how that somewhat fits too.

I like how this album weaves between poppy-ish songs and noisy songs. It has a good amount of catchiness along with a good healthy dose of noise. Guitars tend to be jangly to heavily distorted and back again which I can get along with. At the same time I don’t think it’s a top top pick for me, but it’s solidly good.

Rating: 9.2

Favorite Track(s): “Faces” is good. It’s a bit poppy in a good way. Catchy and very indie sounding too. “Silver” is great. Love the noisy aspect to this song. “Lieutenant” and “Father Time” I liked both of these. “Delorean” is good with the more droning guitars which then get nice and noisy. Something about the tilting vocals in “Tambourine” really works for me.

Keep or Trash: Keep. They have some newer albums which I think I’ll give a listen…

Continue Reading
Random Album of the Day

Today’s Random Album of the Day is Haw from Hiss Golden Messenger. They are listed as Folk Rock, Americana, and Country Soul. Country Soul is a new genre to me. But I guess it sounds like this…

I always confuse this band with another band that is more abstract noise so I get a little shock when I hit play and it’s not that haha. But I do like their music overall.

With that said, some of the songs fall flat for me too. Which makes it tough, How much do I like this album?

Rating: 8.5

Favorite Track(s): “Sufferer” caught my attention. “Hat of Rain” is good. It was my #71 rain song of all time!

Keep or Trash: Trash. It’s a solid album but it won’t break into my rotation much at all. I am TRYING to pare down our collection so it’s a victim of that.

The embedded album below is the “remastered” version. That’s not what I have but it should do…

Continue Reading
Random Album of the Day

Today’s Random Album of the Day is Sampler Number 4 from Yellow Dog Records. Their music tends to include Americana, Soul, Blues, Jazz, Folk, and Roots music. I tend to like most material from them.

And that holds for this sampler. This is a collection of good music from a good label. It may not be your preferred style but it’s worth a listen.

Of course with a compilation part of the point is to interest listeners to musicians they might like. With that said, most of the artists that I liked on this I already have some of their stuff and didn’t feel compelled to get more at least at this time. Though I was most tempted by some of the blues…

Rating: 9.3

Favorite Track(s): “Later than you think” from Eden Brent is excellent. I like most material from them so not surprising that I liked “Never Going’ Back” from the Asylum Street Spankers. “I’m dreaming of your demise” is pretty cool from Mary Flower. “Turpentine” from Woodbrain is good blues rock. “Mean & Strange” from Big Joe Duskin is good blues. As is “Madison Ave. Shuffle” from Terry Robb if you are ok with instrumentals. Very old timey sound on this one. “Come On” from Christ Cotton is good too. “The Streetwalker’s Stroll” is an excellent instrumental. Very jazzy. The whole album is pretty consistently solid honestly.

Keep or Trash: Keep.

I could not find the Sampler streaming so I’m going to paste in the songs below the fold and reconstruct it for your listening pleasure…

Continue Reading
Random Album of the Day

Today we have a second BONUS Random Album of the Day! This is a new thing since we have over 4,500 albums in our digital collection, to get through more albums when I have the time and bandwidth to do it I’ll post a second bonus album of the day.

Today’s BONUS Random Album of the Day is the Culture of the Copy EP from FEATURE. FEATURE is listed as Noise Pop or Indie Rock.

This is good. My favorite music styles are a bit noisy so noise pop usually works for me and this is no exception.

Rating: 9.5

Favorite Track(s): “Psalms” sounds so good. Like a Sebadoh tune with fem vocals. “Reeling” has a good driving riff. It’s excellent. “Twins” and “Fuzz” are both excellent. Great album!

Keep or Trash: Keep.

Continue Reading