Since I finished my GCSE exams at the end of June, I have had lots of time to discover various artists and "expand my musical horizons" as it were. At the beginning I became obsessed with Elliott Smith, I couldn't believe I hadn't found his music for so long! The first slightly apprehensive purchase was XO, and after 2 plays I realised I had a second favourite artist at last after Radiohead. After playing that around 30 time and loving every second (my favourite track currently being "tomorrow tomorrow") I bought Either/Or. Although XO has better production, Either/Or is so much more breathtaking, special and personal, with "Say Yes" perfectly capturing the way I was feeling at the time. I was less impressed by Figure 8, although it is a very fine album containing many excellent tracks.
My Elliott Smith obsession lasted around 1.5 months where I listened to very little else, and that brought me to August. Here, I discovered the HMV "1001 albums you must hear before you die", featuring classic albums from 1955-2005 at reduced prices. From this sale I bought Neil Young's "After the Gold rush" which I almost instantly loved. Achingly sad and beautiful his bitter-sweet (also an adjective perfectly capturing Elliott Smith's back-catalogue) songs just long to be heard again and again and again.
In this period I also discovered the joys of My Bloody Valentine's "Loveless", after not getting it for ages (in order to fully appreciate it it must be played LOUD), and I loved the ethereal, dreamy nature of the album created by the dense layers of guitar samples.
More recently I bought Belle and Sebastian's "If you're feeling sinister" from the same HMV sale, and I just love it. Such subtle "twee pop" melodies, heart-felt singing with sinister lyrics, I hadn't been so excited about an album since Radiohead's "OK Computer".
Even more recently (today) I discovered how much I like Sonic Youth's "Daydream Nation". I had brought the album several months ago, but had been put off listening to it due to it's reputed "experimental" nature. I shouldn't have waited so long, this is very exciting music. I can't really write much about the album at present, have only heard it properly once but I know I'm going to love it.
Now to try and get into Can's "Tago Mago"...
Comments
i gotta get that sonic youth album. heard it on sirius satellite yesterday. was better than i expected too.
As a Can obsessive, I do like "Tago Mago", but if you've never heard them before, you may find it easier to get into the albums "Ege Bamyasi", "Flow Motion" and "Future Days" first. Feel free to MOGmail me if you need any more Can advice, 'cause I could go on and on about them for hours!