Liveblog: Some records from my friend Vic's favorite records of 2020 so far

CW: Suicide
(this is just becoming a running joke at this point, right?  Every single post I make I somehow find some way to mention self-harm or suicide.  Like, yeah, this isn't just a coincidence, right?  If it's damaging to you to read frank talk about self-harm or suicide probably best that you not read this blog at all, sorry.  I'll continue putting content warnings on of course.)

So my friend posted a list of his favorite 2020 records thus far and I gave 19 of them trial listens, not complete listens but just brief little evaluations.  Here are my live notes on what I heard, lightly edited.

This is what they used to do in like "downbeat" and so on back in the day, I think.  They'd have some jazz musician "blind listen" to a bunch of records and they'd just talk about them.  Well I'm not a musician but I enjoy a good "blind listen", so yeah, here we go.  First:

Here's my shortlist of 2020 records I like, prior to listening to the 19 records from his list:

against all logic - 2017-2019 (house)
algiers - there is no year (???)
black curse - endless wound (black/death metal)
borg  - the triumph of spring (dungeon synth)
doctor nerve - LOUD (brutal prog)
downy - 7th album "untitled" (math rock)
ekmeles - a howl, that was also a prayer (classical)
emme physema - chronic bronchitis (bob drake-engineered weirdness)
eris drew & octo octa - forest throwdown (4 hours of trans-affirming house)
fiona apple - catch the bolt cutters (???)
v/a - psychographs EP (house)
game theory - across the barrier of sound: postscript (power pop; archival)
helena hauff - boiler room: streaming from isolation (dark electronic)
internal rot - grieving birth (grindcore)
melkbelly - pith (noise rock)
nicolas jaar - cenizas (electronic)
pugfugly - destructivator 2 soundtrack (chiptune)
r.a.p. ferriera - purple moonlight pages (intellectual jazz rap)
rustin man - clockdust ("rock")
scatter faster - cocaine in the catholic church (bluegrass)
sepehr- shaytoon (electronic)
shopping - all or nothing (post-punk)
slutavverkning - arbets sorgemusik - del ii (punk)
squarepusher - be up a hello (drill and bass)
suzanne kujala - organ music of the 21st century (classical)
swamp dogg - sorry you couldn't make it (soul)
tricot - pitch back (post-rock)
triple ente - demo ii (jimmy punk)
victory over the sun - a tessitura of transfiguration (black metal)

Notes:

Matthew Shaw 'Into The Unknown'

matthew shaw sounds nice.  is this guy from the pop group or something?
nice klangwelt
never heard of him
apparently this is a pretty obscure record, limited edition of 50 lol

Caspian 'On Circles'

caspian's page for this music has no hype text at all, that's interesting
i'm so used to over the top breathless praise on bandcamp
instead it's, like, here's the record
i'm just going into it blind
i have no idea what sort of music it is

Wild Nothing 'Laughing Gas'

oh, i can see why wild nothing grabbed you, this is very much a vic ep :slight_smile:
i'm getting more into the '80s
but i still have a limited tolerance for gated syndrums
i mean, they're on the sophistipop rather than the synthwave end

Carla Bley / Steve Swallow / Andy Sheppard 'Life Goes On'

this carla bley is super ecm.  which is cool, but i got limited room for ecm in my life

Moses Boyd 'Dark Matter'

oh, moses boyd is part of this shabaka jazz scene, right?
i know shabaka has a new record out this year, i haven't heard it
oh, you need to hear shabaka hutchings
he's the british kamasi washington
he's at the center of the new british jazz scene

Third Mind 'Third Mind (First Edition)'

oh shit we're starting with an alice coltrane cover
oh wait
is this ALL classic covers?
seriously they're doing some paul butterfield blues band here as well as, like, fred neil?
the third mind
who's in these fuckers
this appeals to me as an old
this is like some aquarium drunkard shit
ohhh, camper van beethoven
no fucking wonder
yeah i used to dig monks of doom back in the day
i know all these tunes
like, every single one of them except the original
this is so much better than that bullshit hype australian nazi psychedelic shit
fuck anybody who has time for them

Nicolas Godin 'Concrete And Glass'

ok let's listen to this air side project
if it'll load
my vpn flaking out a little here
i like air ok
i'll be honest i cut the ulrich schnauss and tandream from my list
like, here's my problem with berlin school
there's too fucking much of it
i'm a gearhead but you can make a 40 minute record of it in 20 minutes
and it'll sound fine
this godin is ok but it sounds a slight bit generic
it's nice but i got 86,000 songs in my library
and it'd be way more if i didn't exercise some fairly stringent controls :slight_smile:

Christine & The Queens 'La Vita Nuova'

i got other french-canadian synthpop jams i prefer
but much love to queer women keeping it real

Emil Brandqvist Trio 'Entering The Woods'

ah, emil brandqvist is more ecm
you really getting into the ecm thing in your old age, eh vic? :slight_smile:
it's cool, we old now
this is legit pretty nice
kinda reminds me of uh
guaraldi
you know what
i'll add it

Robert Cray 'That's What I Heard'

ok, robert cray
idk
modern blues i'm hit or miss on
it just sounds like it's made for white people
and like
i'm really fucking white
but when i listen to blues i don't want to be the target audience
i want to feel like, you know, i don't belong there

Ratboys 'Printer's Devil'

this, i don't know, midwestern indie rock, some of it i'm good with, but this stuff... even if she is from louisville i don't connect with this
also i got them confused with ratdog, and the idea that they can be confused with bob weir's band is hilarious to me
which is why i listened

Tycho 'Simulcast'

more wallpaper music
Tags
ambient avant pop post rock instrumental psychedelic San Francisco
ok, i'm not getting "avant pop" at all out of this
tycho has a different understanding of "avant pop" than i do
the rest of it... sure
pleasant.  unexceptional.

Kenny Barron / Dave Holland Trio 'Without Deception'

dave holland and kenny barron!  featuring johnathan blake, who is one supposes tony levin to their anderson, bruford, wakeman, and howe
yep.  these motherfuckers be old.  i like this though because it really puts into perspective how much i like the brandqvist.  as much as holland and barron are "jazz legends" the brandqvist just sounds better.  this is old shoe music.

EOB "Brasil"

ohhhh, eob is ed o'brien
see, that's how corporate i am
i thought it was an edge reference to "explanation of benefits"
nahhh, it's like, his initials, man
i made it 38 seconds
nope!

Circles Around The Sun 'Circles Around The Sun'

wow, an entire band based around the intermission music from the dead's reunion gigs
i mean, that's easy to make fun of
of course
that would be cruel given that the guy who founded the band fucking killed himself
and this is their first record without him
and here they are doing some kind of sci-fi disco jam
pretending like none of it has ever happened
pretending like pig isn't dead, like keith isn't dead, like brent isn't dead
here look at these cute roller-skating girls
i like psychedelic music but there is something terribly, terribly sad about all this
about these old dudes doing cosplay of golan and globus's "the apple"
yeah i can't watch any more of this, it's too sad

Claudio Simonetti's Goblin 'The Devil Is Back'

claudio simonetti's goblin, "the devil is back":
yeah, this sounds like a 'reunion album'
nope, i think i'll just listen to 'roller' again.

Then Comes Silence 'Machine'

yeah i am not into the goth rock, skip

Ultraista 'Sister'

ok, yes, i am down with this
this is one of those "indie supergroups" that hits me in my sweet spot
famed radiohead producer NIGEL GODRICH puts out his own side band and sometimes these little weird side trips are more satisfying to me than the big-name marquee shit
this bettinson lady, i've never heard of her before, she's a fantastic singer, and surprise surprise, this godrich fellow is actually a pretty good producer, and a drummer from the waronker clan... you know, i did always love that dog.
i like danger mouse too
i know i'm not "supposed to"
glad i gave this a listen

Moaning 'Uneasy Laughter'

you know what i am more interested in the video of the stream
which is just a video of somebody in a tracksuit putting together a jigsaw puzzle of the album cover
i love jigsaw puzzles
the music is less interesting


KEEPERS:
Matthew Shaw - Into the Unknown
The Third Mind - s/t
Emil Brandqvist Trio - Entering the Woods
Ultraista - Sister