music: desert island albums
As a tiny gift to all of you, here are my ten favourite albums. I've uploaded and described them for your listening pleasure. ♥ You might find the selection surprising. A lot of stuff I love didn't make the cut; I'll upload the runners-up soon. Also, if this selection is representative, I'm not big on happy music and excellent lyrics are essential -- but I knew that already.
Described these in terms of what they sound like and evoke, not in terms of other albums & artists, because that doesn't do them justice. If you'd like me to try and describe something further, though, just let me know, and I'll try to do so using what I know about your music taste. :)
NOE VENABLE: the summer storm journals
Many thanks to Ren & Nelle for introducing me, because this has become my favourite album. It's otherworldly, it's shocking, it holds up over hundreds of listens. The dense & layered arrangements of piano, guitar, drums, occasional electronic noise & other odd percussion have amazing clarity, and her ethereal voice and lyrics spin it all together.
CHARLOTTE MARTIN: stromata
There are three things that really pull me into music: beautiful piano, electronic beats, and a stunning voice. Charlotte Martin's music is a synergy of all three, and she's probably my favourite artist. Her stuff is bravely experimental, but she knows her way around a good melody, too. This album shows off her (impressive) range, from piano ballads to breakbeats to opera.
SARAH MCLACHLAN: fumbling towards ecstasy
The first album I ever fell in love with. Disregard whatever connotation the words "Sarah McLachlan" have for you -- her recent stuff is pretty meh -- this album is pure melancholy, contemplative genius. It's honestly indescribable; it's emotionally captivating. I like to listen to it on repeat in the almost-dark.
TORI AMOS: little earthquakes
Tori Amos: the best thing that ever happened to a piano. I listened to nothing but Tori for a year straight, and this is my quintessential piano-pop album: idiosyncratic, but ultimately personal, so goddamn real and emotive. Each of these songs has a beating heart of its own. I'm not an outwardly emotional person, but Little Earthquakes makes me laugh and cry and scream.
VIENNA TENG: dreaming through the noise
This albums wins over Waking Hour by a smidgen, but you can't go wrong with Vienna Teng, really. She's an amazing lyricist, wise and empathetic and imaginative. Vienna once described songs as people: the music is what they look like, what they're dressed up in, but the lyrics are their soul. If that's the case, her songs are stunningly beautiful, fascinating people, each of whom you'd really like to get to know.
PATRICK WOLF: lycanthropy
Patrick Wolf played all of the instruments on this album and then made the thing on his laptop, and it's fucking brilliant. In addition to being musically daring, he's batshit insane, and that's channeled straight into these songs. Organic & electronic at the same time, angry and pensive, wise and imaginative, and really just primal.
BLOC PARTY: silent alarm
It's been said before, but dear Bloc Party: this is a perfect rock album. We don't mind if you keep trying, boys, but you're never going to top it. Bleak anthems for disaffected youth. It's tightly wound from beginning to end. It's kind of unstoppable. It sounds really, really good. You will dance. Or tap a foot, at the very least.
BEAR MCCREARY: terminator: the sarah connor chronicles soundtrack (parts 1 & 2)
Tense, distraught violins and glitchy electronic noise tooled to perfection. Strange choice, I know, but Bear McCreary is a god. He also composed the BSG soundtracks -- which I love too, but nothing can touch this. This is like the soundtrack to an apocalypse. A quiet mind-fuck of an apocalypse, anyway.
PJ HARVEY: is this desire?
This album is like being in a haunted manor in the middle of a misty fen: it's raining lightly; you're surrounded by jagged cliffs, the occasional spindly copse of trees; the air is so thick with lost wailing ghosts you can barely breathe. The songs are made of piano, electronic beats, and PJ Harvey's otherworldly voice, and when you listen to it you can almost lift the veil.
EMILY HAINES: knives don't have your back
I don't like Metric. I love Emily Haines. This album is essentially the thick smoke of her voice drifting over sad piano, accented by strings & horns, singing about self-discovery, loss, isolation, societal pressure, and meaning. On winter nights when I want to think and brood a little, I wrap myself up in these songs and just dissolve.
So, DISCUSS. These are my favourite albums, I could talk about them forever. Oh, also let me know what you take and what you enjoy. And if you can pick just ten, too, I'd love to know your list.
Described these in terms of what they sound like and evoke, not in terms of other albums & artists, because that doesn't do them justice. If you'd like me to try and describe something further, though, just let me know, and I'll try to do so using what I know about your music taste. :)
NOE VENABLE: the summer storm journals
Many thanks to Ren & Nelle for introducing me, because this has become my favourite album. It's otherworldly, it's shocking, it holds up over hundreds of listens. The dense & layered arrangements of piano, guitar, drums, occasional electronic noise & other odd percussion have amazing clarity, and her ethereal voice and lyrics spin it all together.
CHARLOTTE MARTIN: stromata
There are three things that really pull me into music: beautiful piano, electronic beats, and a stunning voice. Charlotte Martin's music is a synergy of all three, and she's probably my favourite artist. Her stuff is bravely experimental, but she knows her way around a good melody, too. This album shows off her (impressive) range, from piano ballads to breakbeats to opera.
SARAH MCLACHLAN: fumbling towards ecstasy
The first album I ever fell in love with. Disregard whatever connotation the words "Sarah McLachlan" have for you -- her recent stuff is pretty meh -- this album is pure melancholy, contemplative genius. It's honestly indescribable; it's emotionally captivating. I like to listen to it on repeat in the almost-dark.
TORI AMOS: little earthquakes
Tori Amos: the best thing that ever happened to a piano. I listened to nothing but Tori for a year straight, and this is my quintessential piano-pop album: idiosyncratic, but ultimately personal, so goddamn real and emotive. Each of these songs has a beating heart of its own. I'm not an outwardly emotional person, but Little Earthquakes makes me laugh and cry and scream.
VIENNA TENG: dreaming through the noise
This albums wins over Waking Hour by a smidgen, but you can't go wrong with Vienna Teng, really. She's an amazing lyricist, wise and empathetic and imaginative. Vienna once described songs as people: the music is what they look like, what they're dressed up in, but the lyrics are their soul. If that's the case, her songs are stunningly beautiful, fascinating people, each of whom you'd really like to get to know.
PATRICK WOLF: lycanthropy
Patrick Wolf played all of the instruments on this album and then made the thing on his laptop, and it's fucking brilliant. In addition to being musically daring, he's batshit insane, and that's channeled straight into these songs. Organic & electronic at the same time, angry and pensive, wise and imaginative, and really just primal.
BLOC PARTY: silent alarm
It's been said before, but dear Bloc Party: this is a perfect rock album. We don't mind if you keep trying, boys, but you're never going to top it. Bleak anthems for disaffected youth. It's tightly wound from beginning to end. It's kind of unstoppable. It sounds really, really good. You will dance. Or tap a foot, at the very least.
BEAR MCCREARY: terminator: the sarah connor chronicles soundtrack (parts 1 & 2)
Tense, distraught violins and glitchy electronic noise tooled to perfection. Strange choice, I know, but Bear McCreary is a god. He also composed the BSG soundtracks -- which I love too, but nothing can touch this. This is like the soundtrack to an apocalypse. A quiet mind-fuck of an apocalypse, anyway.
PJ HARVEY: is this desire?
This album is like being in a haunted manor in the middle of a misty fen: it's raining lightly; you're surrounded by jagged cliffs, the occasional spindly copse of trees; the air is so thick with lost wailing ghosts you can barely breathe. The songs are made of piano, electronic beats, and PJ Harvey's otherworldly voice, and when you listen to it you can almost lift the veil.
EMILY HAINES: knives don't have your back
I don't like Metric. I love Emily Haines. This album is essentially the thick smoke of her voice drifting over sad piano, accented by strings & horns, singing about self-discovery, loss, isolation, societal pressure, and meaning. On winter nights when I want to think and brood a little, I wrap myself up in these songs and just dissolve.
So, DISCUSS. These are my favourite albums, I could talk about them forever. Oh, also let me know what you take and what you enjoy. And if you can pick just ten, too, I'd love to know your list.