I’m not sure if it’s that I just don’t get this or it simply doesn’t resonates with me, but I just don’t get it 🤷🏽‍♂️ (yet)

I’ve Seen Footage actually reminded me of The Northern Boys’ viral hit Party Time, for example. As someone slowly trying to make his way into Hip Hop I can’t say whether this will stand the test of time sonically. As for the lyrics they already sound dated. Perhaps this is one of those albums that require a specific “mindset” which I lack at the moment? I feel like there’s nothing I can say about it. I was supposed to choose between this and The Roots’ Phrenology. Perhaps I chose incorrectly.

But you never know, maybe eventually this will click for me, who knows? I remember not finding My Bloody Valentine’s Loveless particularly good the first few listens and now I consider it a perfect album. And there are not many of those around. So, for the time being I couldn’t recommend The Money Store but some day I will?

What can be said about a band that’s consistently released solid records over the last 3 decades that hasn’t been said already?

Yo La Tengo prove once again that the Rock N’ Roll formula just works. No bells nor whistles, keep it simple, bring it the passion, spread some catchy guitar hooks here and there and you’re all set.

Opening their most recent album is “Sinatra Drive Breakdown” that most definitely takes me back to the softer bits of The Velvets’ masterpiece “Sister Ray” while “Apology Letter” feels like a nod to the Loaded years.

I first became aware of Lil Yachty most recent album on r/LetsTalkMusic all I read into it was “rapper goes rock” and I wasn’t very interested, then Fantano’s review showed up in my feeds and I still didn’t bother to watch it really, it was until read J. Hubner’s blog post that I became interested. Here’s a snippet:

So when my 19-year old daughter texted me over the weekend and asked if I’d heard the new Lil Yachty album, my initial reaction was “Huh?” But instead, I replied “Well, I’ve heard of him.” So she proceeded to tell me to give it a listen as she thought I’d like it. Given that I’ve bestowed many musical recommendations to my kids over the last few years(with many even sticking) I figured I’d at least give it a cursory spin just to say I listened. What I found, to my surprise, was that Lil Yachty’s new album Let’s Start Here. is pretty great.

– Complex Distractions.

To get it right out of the way: it uses a bit too much Auto-Tune for my liking, that’s my biggest complaint of the album and the one aspect that makes the second part of the record exhausting to get through.

A comment I’ve seen thrown around a couple of times is that the opening track “the BLACK seminole.” is the sequel to The Great Gig in the Sky and that is a perfect description. I also mentioned it’s the kind of song Waters wishes he’d come up with these days.

Lil Yachty has crafted a tremendous homage to the bands of yore with an amazing blend of Rock and Rap that appeals to music fans across 3 generations. With everything being niche nowadays that’s a win anywhere.

It comes as a (non) surprise that Mac DeMarco and MGMT’s Benjamin Goldwasser are part of a long list of collaborators for this project, particularly in “drive ME crazy!” where the pair brought in their psych pop baggage adding to the many flavours of Let’s Start Here.

Diary of a young man working in a gold mine in the Colombian jungle.

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Art: …And Don’t The Kids Just Love It + The Miner by Noel Counihan.

The call center years: a soundtrack; or, how to survive the night shift as a customer service rep.

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Art: John Falter.

Other than Nico’s studio albums, a couple of Patti Smith and Joni Mitchell records I can’t barely think of any women in my music collection. I think the main reason for this is that since I came from a vocal music background I used to pay too much attention to lyrics and it being a woman perspective, female vocalists didn’t really click for me.

So I guess one could say my music collection is mostly a sausage party, but I really want to remedy it though. So during this  year-long journey one of the albums chosen each month will feature a woman. 

This week I’ve been listening to this Marianne Faithfull album because she’s one of the few women already in my music collection. I think it’s safe to say that Faithfull developed her style with 1979’s Broken English, the quintessential heartbroken woman album.

Dangerous Acquaintances is the follow-up record. It retains the laid-back and easy-going flow, the guitars seem to have gone a bit catchier and even though Marianne’s voice still shows a broken woman in search of new beginnings as heard on “Sweetheart” and “Tenderness”, it’s lacking the gut-punching lyricism of the previous album. So while enjoyed this album I would suggest newcomers start with Broken English.