Music

There are 466 posts filed in Music (this is page 28 of 67).

C.A.T. Revisited: Moby Grape

Moby Grape – Moby Grape (1967)

At the moment, I’m using my 30-year-old record player to listen to a vinyl copy of Moby Grape’s 50-year-old debut, an album I first listened to on mp3s downloaded from the song-sharing app Limewire. There have been many technological advances that have changed the way we listen to music (namely streaming) in the past 10 years, but this snapshot of my current listening habits is not a great example of that. Regardless, as we take a look back at 10 years of Mildly Pleased this week, we’ll take this particular Tuesday to look back at one of our longest-running features – Top Ten Thursdays. And we’ll do it by revisiting the first albums each of us ever christened classics back in 2008. Continue reading →

C.A.T.: White Light/White Heat

The Velvet Underground – White Light/White Heat (1968)

Today marks the fiftieth anniversary of White Light/White Heat. Like to the day. It was released EXACTLY fifty years ago TODAY. Just want that to sink in. Now onto this week’s “Classic Album Tuesday”.

I got into The Velvet Underground when I was in college and have vivid memories of how the Velvet’s consumed my life for the better half of a year. It started during a “Class 3 Killstorm” which is an extreme way of saying it was during winter when it was snowy. Cooped up inside, I paged through my Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums magazine and decided it was time to go underground.

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Post-Everything

Jeff Rosenstock – POST-

Some people seize the moment, while others wait for the moment to seize them. In the Fall of 2016, Jeff Rosenstock seemed to be doing a bit of both when he released his break-out solo effort WORRY. at a precise moment in time when all anyone with half a brain could do was worry. After years of playing in various punk bands with a fiercely DIY-aesthetic, Rosenstock finally seemed to be taking advantage of all his skills at once, by releasing an album that seemed to embody all the anxiety and frustration that would befall America a mere 3 weeks after its release. Which is why despite WORRY. making a respectable #7 on my top ten of 2016 list, it was undoubtedly the album from that year I kept listening to the most while clenching my way through the dregs of 2017. Continue reading →

Sean’s Top 10 Albums of 2017

It’s time to admit my approach to music isn’t that great. I basically look at three websites and my Twitter feed for recommendations and add everything I find to my Apple Music library. In 2017, that was over 130 albums. What that boils down to is maybe five albums I really love and like 30 albums I would like to put on this list. And then the day comes when I have to write this post and it sucks. I artificially limit myself to only five honorable mentions, so, suffice it to say, there were some albums that could have been on this list earlier today that I won’t even talk about. This was the year that I tried to cut back on investing in media that I wouldn’t immediately use, and maybe in 2018 I’ll have to try to extend that approach to music too… On the other hand, maybe this is a good problem to have?

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Colin’s Top 10 Albums of 2017

2017 was a year of highs and lows, but mostly lows. Fortunately, we were given plenty of highs in the form of plenty of great albums, as I never had a shortage of delightful tunes to get me through this year that was for the most part dismal. Granted, I still continue to feel overwhelmed by the amount of music available, as I’m now fairly entrenched in my commitment to streaming, while I still can’t help myself from buying lots of newer music on vinyl, mainly because I’m just a sucker for that limited edition colored vinyl. But hey, it was a year where indulging your vices was slightly more acceptable than usual. And luckily, with albums like these, I never felt a shred of guilt towards this most vital of indulgences. Continue reading →

2017 Music Revisited: Harmony of Difference

Kamasi Washington – Harmony of Difference

Kamasi Washington was one of those artists I’d always wanted check out, but like so many things, time was the thing holding me back. Much like Thundercat, Washington got a little bit of mainstream exposure from appearing on Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp A Butterfly, and adding to that record’s jazz-funk sound. However, it didn’t help that his most acclaimed album to date was 2015’s The Epic, which at a nearly 3-hour running time, might actually have been short-selling itself with that title. Continue reading →