I'm overgrown with a yellow mould
Continuing my trip up #album-of-the-day...
20.06.15 : Brown Sugar - D'Angelo (1995)
One I've already met before and I really don't understand the appeal, I'm afraid.
Most of the comments on the channel for this were saying how much they enjoyed the last couple of albums, but someone came in at the end saying "I like this, but then again I like D'Angelo" in a very apologetic stylee.
20.06.16 : Zaba - Glass Animals (2014)
Never heard of the artist or the album so was going in blind, but for some strange reason the album title gave me hope I'd like it. And yeah, I did although I'm not entirely sure how I'd describe it - "relaxed indie pop" maybe? (Wikipedia randomly assigns it the genres "psychedelic pop", "indie rock" and "indie pop" - so I'll give myself a pat on the back). No track particularly jumped out at me, but it all slid past me nicely.
The channel liked this a lot - it got the best reception of any album for a long time, which somewhat surprised me because it didn't feel totally like the channel's sort of thing, but I suspect we have a polite silent majority who were brought up to "only say something if you've got something nice to say". You'd never guess my mother tried that with me, would you?
Wikipedia has a surprising amount to say about the album, going into some depth about the obscure percussion and influences. And it's fair to say some of the methods used in recording this album were, errr, I think "bizarre" would be an appropriate word -"in the vocal take of "Gooey", ... Bayley laid down his vocals holding a pineapple named "Sasha Fierce", and recorded the final chorus in eight different impressions, including "an old woman, a drunk crack addict, [and] a terrible impression of James Brown" to replicate the sound of a choir". Oooooh kaaaay. Whatever the methods involved, the results pleased the critics, the public and the channel though, so all is good!
"Customers also listened to" a load of people I'd never heard of and alt-J who I had and can definitely see the link. Overall, I liked this and may well dig it out again for another listen.
20.06.17 : All Our Gods Have Abandoned Us - Architects (2016)
I thought I'd heard some Architects before, but I'd totally forgotten what they might sound like, so I was pretty much going in blind. Ah no - it turns out it was We Architects I'd heard before, because I can assure you that if I'd heard Architects before I've have remembered it. Because it is, how can I put this, a bloody awful racket - as I suspected when I saw the first three tracks were titled "Nihilist", "Deathwish" and "Phantom Fear". I can believe it's a well done bloody awful racket if you like that sort of thing but, for the avoidance of doubt, I can confirm that I very much do not like this sort of thing. I do like the album cover though!
The channel generally enjoyed this and it attracted a couple of new joiners to the channel (although one of them was the nominator, so it's possibly not true to say he was attracted by this album). We did have a particularly fine humble-brag though - "oh yeah, I played at a gig with Architects back in the day" - believe me, this is not going to be something I'm ever going to say about any group ever.
Wikipedia tells me this is "an album that challenges and progresses a genre long thought to have stagnated" - that genre being metalcore, OBVIOUSLY! Additionally, "the album's lyrical themes showcase worldwide anger and disillusion" - and there was me thinking it was all about fluffy bunnies! It also tells me the album was extremely well received critically and did pretty well commercially, getting to #15 in the UK charts.
"Customers also listened to" a load of people it will not surprise you to hear I've never heard of and have no intention of seeking out. I'm happy to mark this down as "fine for other people" though - I can quite believe it ticks all the boxes that some people need. But my boxes stay firmly unticked.
This round is an easy win for Zaba for me, but I can appreciate that both other artists do their thing well - it just doesn't happen to be my kind of thing.
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