A September album challenge
 

Hey y'all, I'm setting myself a challenge for the month of September, and I was hoping that I could enlist some help to decide on what to listen to.

So, basically: over the 30 months of September, my plan is to listen to a different album each day, so that the number of songs increases each day - i.e. listen to a 1-track album on September 1, a 2-track album on September 2, and so on and so forth.

The issue is trying to plug the gaps, so I'm wondering what you all would recommend (one album per artist, thanks) - as you can see I'm not very sure of it yet. And feel free to take part in this yourself!

Choccy's 30 Album September List - to be edited
1. Brian Eno - Thursday Afternoon
2. Mike Oldfield - Tubular Bells
3. The Dead C - Rare Ravers
4. Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Lift Yr Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven
5. Kraftwerk - Autobahn
6. Velvet Underground - White Light/White Heat
7. Sonic Youth - Murray Street
8. Black Sabbath - Paranoid
9. Dinosaur Jr. - You're Living All Over Me
10. Radiohead - Kid A
11. The Cardigans - First Band on the Moon
12. The Replacements - Hootenanny
13. Blur - 13
14. Dead Kennedys - Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables
15. Pixies - Doolittle
16. Gorillaz - Plastic Beach
17. The Beatles - Abbey Road
18. Green Day - 21st Century Breakdown
19. The Clash - London Calling
20. loveliescrushing - bloweyelashwish
21. Wire - Pink Flag
22. A Sunny Day in Glasgow - Ashes Grammar
23. Nine Inch Nails - The Fragile
24. The Who - Tommy
25. Melt-Banana - Speak Squeak Creak
26. Pink Floyd - The Wall
27. ZAYN - Icarus Falls
28. The Smashing Pumpkins - Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness
29. UGK - Underground Kingz
30. Aphex Twin - Drukqs

Suggestion 2. Godspeed You! Black Emperor Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven
Suggestion 6. The Velvet Underground White Light/White Heat
Suggestion 9. Iggy Pop Lust For Life or X Los Angeles

Ha, thanks - I was thinking GY!BE for either 3 or 4 (I'm pretty sure Skinny Fists has the four songs).

Will definitely relisten to White Light/White Heat.

Alternative for #3: Charlemagne Palestine + Rhys Chatham - Youuu + Mee = Weee (simply because every track is more or less one hour long :-) )
Suggestion for #5: Lubomyr Melnyk - Corollaries
Suggestion for #9: dEUS -Keep You Close
Suggestion for #10: Dirty Three - Ocean Songs
Suggestion for #11: Nina Simone at Town Hall or Nils Frahm - Spaces
Suggestion for #12: Flying Horseman - City Same City
Suggestion for #13: Oiseaux Tempete - AL​-​'AN !
Suggestion for #14: dEUS - Worst Case Scenario or Magnapop - Hot Boxing or Shonen Knife - Happy Hour
Suggestion for #16: Neil Young - Weld
Suggestion for #17: Nick Cave - Abattoir Blues / The Lyre of Orpheus


ok, I'm done for now, I'm getting too many duplications, all the albums I want to suggest have 9 to 14 tracks ;)



on a sidenote: how many months are there in one month?
and Skinny Fists has four sides but more than four songs [edit: oh no, I'm wrong "The album consists of four continuous tracks on the compact disc release split into two CDs"gybe albums are so confusing]

02. Nurse With Wound - Merzbild Schwet

24. The Who - Tommy

ok, I couldn't stop and came up with the following:

18. Frank Zappa - Sheik Yerbouti
19. Frank Zappa - Joe's Garage

To be honest I don't know Sheik Yerbouti yet, but I'm pretty sure it will be a fun listen. Joe's Garage certainly is. And then I thought: you could probably fill the entire list with Frank Zappa albums. Just to prove my point, I was curious how far I could get, from top to bottom in his discography. I've left in some of the duplications, but many were left out more or less randomly (especially the regular albums that have just under 12 tracks or so). Conclusion: only two open spots!:

01. Congress Shall Make No Law... [Ok, I cheated with this one. But the first track has the same name, and it's a good starter]
02. Conceptual Continuity [Ok, I cheated with this one too. This album is part of a boxset named Beat the Boots! II]
03. London Symphony Orchestra Vol. II [Ok, I cheated a bit with this one. The C version has compiled both volumes]
04. Waka/Jawaka / London Symphony Orchestra Vol. I
05. Just Another Band from L.A. / The Grand Wazoo
06. Ship Arriving Too Late to Save a Drowning Witch
07. Over-Nite Sensation
08. Jazz from Hell
09. Lumpy Gravy (1967 version) / Apostrophe (')
10. Chunga's Revenge / Roxy & Elsewhere
11. Mothermania (the CD reissue has 15 tracks) / Cruising with Ruben & the Jets
12. Fillmore East – June 1971
13. Everything Is Healing Nicely / Finer Moments
14. Freak Out! / Them or Us
15. Mothermania (the CD reissue) / Tinsel Town Rebellion
16. Trance-Fusion
17. Francesco Zappa
18. Sheik Yerbouti
19. We're Only in It for the Money / Joe's Garage / The Yellow Shark
20. Shut Up 'n Play Yer Guitar / You Are What You Is / You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 2
21. Greasy Love Songs
22. Lumpy Gravy (1968 version) / Thing-Fish
23. Philly '76
24.
25. You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 3 / Make a Jazz Noise Here
26. Läther / Buffalo
27. FZ:OZ
28. Uncle Meat / You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 1 / The Best Band You Never Heard in Your Life
29.
30. The Lost Episodes / AAAFNRAA: Baby Snakes – The Compleat Soundtrack (iTunes release only)
31. Understanding America
32. Guitar
34. 200 Motels / You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 4 / Carnegie Hall
35. Mystery Disc
37. You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 6
38. You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 5
41. Civilization Phaze III


Perhaps I'll listen to these albums in September :D I've got a big fascination with Frank Zappa, and only know a very small amount of his albums. I've listened to a bunch of live bootlegs though.

After conversing with a friend, I have most of the list done!

cool! And apologies for hijacking the thread with my Zappa list ;)
as an alternative for #1 you could also take Godspeed's Asunder, Sweet and Other Distress album. At least I consider it to be a one track composition, because they've been playing it live as Behemoth for years before recording it. But Eno would be a good choice too

suggestion for #29:
Public Enemy - It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back
in the 2014 Deluxe Edition (it's on YT)

weird suggestion coming out of my mouth, because in general I've got a great dislike for rap, hiphop, etc, etc. But this one is cool, and historically groundbreaking.


update:
oh and straight afterwards, while thinking about other historical albums, I found a suggestion for #21:
Stevie Wonder - Songs in the Key of Life



I understand that this is not really the music you want to listen to though ;)

I tried Nation of Millions earlier (it was on Kurt Cobain's top 50 list) and couldn't get into it, unfortunately :/

Okay, today is day 1. I'm not listening to the Eno record until after work though (checking out some more Boredoms in the meantime).

Have updated the list. Will probably go with Bytor's suggestion for #2, and need to find stuff for #27 and #29.

Day 1: Brian Eno - Thursday Afternoon
If you know what Eno does, then you know what to expect. A nice hour-long lump of piano layers, helped me relax after a sucky day's work.

a few options for #27:
- the FZ:OZ Zappa album. It's not his best, it's only a five piece band here, I prefer the bigger bands with horn section etc. But it was recorded in Australia and Zappa live is always loads of fun.
- dEUS's Worst Case Scenario was released in two versions. The International version has 4 tracks, the Belgian edition has 13 (and a couple of songs are different). So you could listen to them both to get to 27 tracks if you can find the Belgian edition at all (I don't know, perhaps Spotify or so does have it?) :D
- Pawlowski, Trouve & Ward - Volume 2. It does have 27 tracks but it's a bit too much of a mixed bag of hits and misses, so I wouldn't necessarily recommend it
- The Wedding Present ‎– Live 1989. Not my favourite era of theirs, and the first CD is in Ukrainian. They've self-released many live albums perhaps there's another one with 27 tracks
- I've been trying to find reissues with bonus CD's that have 27 tracks altogether but couldn't find any (e.g. REM, Sebadoh)



For #29:
- there's Cat Power's Speaking For Trees. The DVD has got 29 tracks, it does come with a bonus CD with one 20 minute track. But let's forget about that one for now. It can be the start for October
- The Wedding Present ‎– Live 1991. My favourite (Seamonsters) era of Wedding Present

bunch of melt bananas for the high 20s

you do the numbers

i think one compilation takes you into next month

there is a video for this that used to come as vhs tape and the instructions asked you to set your (crt) tv on its side to watch in portrait mode

it was a superboring video wallpaper sort of thing that one couldn’t help to fall asleep to. the closeup of a woman sleeping or something, barely moving in slow motion, highly blurred and distorted, in mostly blue hues. maybe it’s been youtubed since, worth the search if only for the sake of art history or something

eta: this:

https://img.discogs.com/C7EQq5uRafWc...-5601.jpeg.jpg



eta: guess was not a closeup after all.

Day 2: Mike Oldfield - Tubular Bells
Listened to this one last night, didn't make a post about it until today. I was unfamiliar with Oldfield before this, although I did recognise the cover art from somewhere or other.
This one was a lot of fun, it was really playful and diverse, and whatever shifts there were were done well enough that it seemed natural (except for one, which I can't recall at this point). Should definitely investigate more of Oldfield's stuff.

---

I appreciate all your suggestions, I do - however, I've set myself a rule for no deluxe editions, reissues, live albums, etc. so I can't really use many of Tunic's.
And I already have a Melt-Banana album planned for day 25, and I looked for other options of theirs. :/

Oldfield’s Tubular Bells influenced: Book Of Love

Tubular Bells/Pretty Boys And Pretty Girls was in heavy rotation in Houston night clubs and radio back in the day.

The Dead C - Rare Ravers
I think these guys are my favourite band that I've learned about from SYG; I'm just in love with the dark, gritty vibe. It's noisy, yes, but it's actually pretty peaceful, and you're able to really notice the changes - and on the opening track there were actually a few (gasp!) normal guitar bits.

Honestly, Zappa can go suck a nut. Great list there Choc. Look forward to the rest of the reviews. However, personally I'd change Kraftwerks autobahn album to either Man Machine or Trans Europe Express (preferably the latter). Autobahn is a solid track but the rest is filler in my eyes. The other two albums are solid gold all the way through.

Thanks for that suggestion h8kurdt!

I agree that The Man-Machine beats out Autobahn any day of the week (not so sure on Trans-Europe Express, would need to relisten). The issue is I can't think of anything off the top of my head to replace the Day 5 slot, but if you've got any suggestions that'd be good!

EDIT: I could do one of the good Pink Floyd albums (Meddle, probably), but then I'd need to find a replacement for The Wall at #26. Maybe elseq 5 by Autechre for Day 5?)

gate monolake for 5 tracks^^^

(in my opinion) autobahn is too epic and epoch-making to be sidestepped. yes other albums were better but also came later. this is the one that changed music history. from japan to detroit.

and yes, ditch “the wall”. ufff, so depressing. you have enough teen angst already.

i’d throw out greenday too but whatever

for 29... i think the white album adds up

and i’d swap out murray street for coltrane’s giant steps (oh yeah i went there lol)

then play daydream nation instead of the fucking cardigans lol (if you go by the original track listing it’s 12, though maybe it’s 14 if you go by later numberings)

for 16, deerhoof’s “reveille” beats gorillaz

Yeah, part of my intent with this was listening to some stuff I hadn't listened to before, or giving things another go, and Kraftwerk were one of those things. I'm sticking with Autobahn.

It's been a fair while since you were a teenager - honestly, sometimes I want the melodramatic angst to wash in. It's actually pretty funny if you separate yourself from it a bit.

Alas, that's 30 - damn Revolution 9. It was either that or the Aphex album, and I figured Abbey Road would be a good 17 (it's 50 years old in a couple of weeks, so consider this a celebration).

:eek:

DDN has 14, and I will insist on this. (It definitely isn't twelve, there's no way you can say Eliminator Jr. logically follows from the other two parts of the trilogy.)

All of these might happen next time I do this, tho ;)

haha fair enough

but if youkre gonna lissen to “the wall”, i highly—highly—*highly* recommend to watch the movie before you listen to the album. it will put all the tunes and lyrics and noises in their proper otherwise unintelligible context.

plus—in their day, those gerald scarfe animations were awesome! (there’s a documentary or maybe two about him btw)

i used to chase that movie around cine clubs and feel so deep and depressed afterwards lmao

but yeah that is the way to go with that one

then afterwards you can play “goodbye blue sky” in your guitar haaahaaahaaaa


haaaahaaahaaaaaaaaa

ah, memories... hilarious

On September 26, I will be...somewhere in the South Australian outback, so I'm unlikely to have an avenue to watch it.

Day 4: Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven
Compared to the other GY!BE records, this one is less aggressive, but it's no less epic, and the final section is one of the most astonishing things I've heard in a long time.
Might not have been feeling good enough to really take it in at this point in my day (yay angst), and listening to it on speakers was probably not wise (it's definitely a headphone record), but it's awe-inspiring and massive in scope, and one of my favourite recent music discoveries.

Day 5: Kraftwerk - Autobahn
Relistening to this album, it's definitely not as good as the later albums, primarily because they learned to tone stuff down a bit - I mean, the title track was meant to sound monotonous, but it went way too far.
It's still a very impressive album, the influence it has is pretty damn clear, and 'Kometenmelodie 2' is a great song that I don't listen to as much as I should. But give me The Man-Machine any day.

ooooh pleeeeeeeease

it is GLORIOUS

and comparison is the thief of joy :p :D

Alright, gotta double act the last two because you know, I'm a slacker.


Day 6: The Velvet Underground - White Light/White Heat
As influential as the banana album is, that one still seemed oriented around songs. This one pushes that out of the way, throwing itself whole-heartedly into pioneering noise rock that stands on its own and helped give others a standing point. It's sobering to think that almost everything I like would never have existed without this, and even more sobering to think that barely any of it is better.


Day 7: Sonic Youth - Murray Street
As Sonic Youth got older, they seemed to mellow out slightly, turning their distinctive style towards lengthy, quieter pieces. Lots of twinkling guitar interplay, fuzzy breakdowns, and 'Rain on Tin' - their best song of the 2000s and one of the best, full stop.

Day 8: Black Sabbath - Paranoid
We all know how awesome the big songs from this album are. What I tend to forget is how good the rest of them are - especially the great 'Hand of Doom'. Black Sabbath were really good at switching tone mid-song, and I think it's amazing how well they were able to draw your attention during the quieter parts.

Day 9: Dinosaur Jr. - You're Living All Over Me
This one was great fun to relisten to - far-reaching influences on this album; I've been listening to American Football a bit lately and some of the passages here made me think "wait just a second...". Noisy and messy and fun.

I highly recommended giving a listen to the albums they made before Autobahn if you haven't tried them out. A whole different thing and very cool.

I'll be sure to do that! (if I remember to :D)

yyyyyy... es... but... i think they already had gotten there with european son in the first album. that song is way underrated/overlooked.

the existence thing... they were following after ornette coleman, the real pioneer, so maybe check him out in october? oh yeah...

oops i inserted the pic in the fucking wrong place lolololol. i like the result, so it says.

Day 10: Radiohead - Kid A
The last thing we need is another wanky monologue about how great this album is. But it needs to be said: Optimistic is underrated, Motion Picture Soundtrack is overrated, and In Limbo is by far the worst track on this record.

Day 11: The Cardigans - First Band on the Moon
This was a recommendation from a friend. Normally I trust her taste, but this one was...different. Very poppy, not my normal fare. I didn't hate it, but I'm not going to listen to it again - and what the hell was that Black Sabbath cover?

Day 12: The Replacements - Hootenanny
A suggestion from the same friend as yesterday, I would've wanted to pick something else initially but I needed to fill Day 12.
This one was great - diverse, creative, funny, and the sort of thing I'd love to do with my life. I'm absolutely listening to more next time around.

Your opinions are bad and you should feel bad. Not sure in what world optimistic is underrated, and I'm not sure in what world In Limbo is the worst track. That one goes to Idioteque.

JFC is there anything we don't disagree on???

Hahaha! Tbf there's probably a fair few. I just make it more known when your opinions don't impress me much.