⨳ New (To Me) Music - 2022 ⨳
2023 Jan 02, Monday
⨳ 8 minute read ⨳ 1838 words ⨳ music ⨳In recent years, my music listening habits have been getting somewhat stale. I am ware of this. At the end of 2021, I thought it’d be a fun thing to listen to a new album for each week of the year. I set out to only listen to old albums that for whatever reason, I had never listened to before. don’t judge.
While I didn’t hit the goal of one album per week, I got to 50, and that’s a win in my book. Also, I cheated a bit and threw in some legitimate new albums as they became available and assuming I remembered to document the listen.
| Album, Artist | Notes |
|---|---|
| Angel Dust (1992), Faith No More | 2022-01-04 - I was familiar with a few tracks via the This Is It album that I already enjoy. |
| For Your Own Special Sweetheart (1994), Jawbox | 2022-01-04 - Nothing really. It was music. Mediocre. |
| Legless Bull (1981), Government Issue | 2022-01-04 - Sounds like an early 80s punk album would sound like. Fast tempo, short songs, repeating choruses. |
| Un-Becoming (2019), J. Robbins | 2022-01-04 - This album sounds like an alt-pop album circa 1996 that I would not have liked in 1996. Fuck the Future, LLC, nice. |
| Apple (1990), Mother Love Bone | 2022-01-11 - Dripping with late 80s glam rock sounds. It’s almost painful to listen to 31 years later. This is how music sounded in the midwest before Nevermind was released about 14 months later (and subsequently broke into the mainstream and changed music). I recently watched the Pearl Jam 20 documentary and I do believe Ed picked the best Mother Love Bone song (at least on this album) to cover. |
| Come On Pilgrim (1987), Pixies | 2022-01-11 - I hear traces of Surfer Rosa in this one, but not enough. |
| Still Screaming (1993), Scream | 2022-01-12 - A bit too thrashy for me? not enough melodies, i guess? |
| Allroy Sez… (2022), All | 2022-01-14 - Quite similar to The Descendants (obviously) but still not quite the same. |
| King for a Day, Fool for a Lifetime (1995), Faith No More | 2022-01-14 - Again, I was already familiar with a couple of these tracks; I vividly recall picking up the April 1995 Concrete Corner cassette from Ernie November’s in Mankato, MN and almost wearing out Digging the Grave after attending their show the following month. |
| Samiam (2022), Samiam | 2022-01-19 - Big fan of Soar & Clumsy. I can certainly hear the seeds of those tunes here. |
| Ghost Notes (2015), Veruca Salt | 2022-01-21 - It sounds like Veruca Salt’s Sea Change album? Lots of break-up lines across many tracks. It’s fine; nothing special. |
| Ooh La La (2022), Faces | 2022-01-26 - Nothing terribly catchy prior to the final, title track. |
| Pet Sounds (1966), The Beach Boys | 2022-01-26 - Not my thing. |
| B-Sides and Extras (2022), CIV | 2022-03-02 - Oof. has a very late 90s feel to the tracks. hits all the As: angst, anger, & aggression. |
| CMFB …Sides (2022), Corey Taylor | 2022-03-02 - Decent metal album. Talented guy, but not really my thing. Enjoyed redo of Shakin’, Lunatic Fringe, & On The Dark Side. |
| Let It Be (1984), The Replacements | 2022-04-11 - I had only heard Androgynous from The Crash Test Dummies but then The Flaming Lips played it at a show I recently attended. I figured I should probably listen to something from them. Some songs that I found quaint: Tommy Gets His Tonsils Out, Gary’s Got a Boner, & Answering Machine. |
| The Rolling Stones Singles Collection: The London Years (1989), The Rolling Stones | 2022-05-09 - A nice collection of the songs you already know. |
| WE (2022), Arcade Fire | 2022-05-10 - It was an Arcade Fire album. Nothing terribly exciting; nothing terribly terrible. |
| Everything Falls Apart (1983), Hüsker Dü | 2022-05-13 - Fresh off listening to Metal Circus, I wanted to hear more, so here we are. |
| Metal Circus (1983), Hüsker Dü | 2022-05-13 - In the early 1990s, I noticed my older sister’s boyfriend wore a Hüsker Dü shirt; Based on the umlauts, I assumed they were German, and not band from St. Paul, MN. While reviewing The Replacements - Let It Be, Hüsker Dü came up in the “Similar Artists” section and it occurred to me that I’d never listened to them before. Not bad, not bad. |
| Repeater & 3 Songs (1990), Fugazi | 2022-05-19 - Not my cup of tea. |
| Twice Shy (Expanded Edition) (1989), Great White | 2022-05-22 - kind of meh 80s glam rock. wasted rock ranger was kind of funny. |
| Green Mind (1991), Dinosaur Jr. | 2022-05-24 - This could be background for a movie that’s based in the early 1990s. Very unmemorable. |
| Telepathic Surgery (1989), The Flaming Lips | 2022-06-01 - I love the flaming lips. but somehow i’d never listened to this album despite having added it to my itunes collection back in 2010. Either that or my scrubbling is/was borked. at any rate, a decent, early version of the flaming lips here. |
| Rather Ripped (2006), Sonic Youth | 2022-06-27 - It was fine. I’ll try digging back a bit further in their catalog. |
| Daydream Nation (Remastered) (1988), Sonic Youth | 2022-06-28 - a little less polished than Rather Ripped. |
| Never Look Back (2020), Goldfinger | 2022-06-29 - It’s a Goldfinger album; nothing overly catchy, nothing overly horrible. |
| Betty (1994), Helmet | 2022-07-07 - Milquetoast was on heavy rotation when this came out and I liked it, but never actually bought the album despite my friends praising it. It’s a fine album. |
| Doolittle (1989), Pixies | 2022-07-08 - I like Here comes your man, so figured i’d try this one as well. And I’m now recognizing the Monkey gone to heaven nod in The Bloodhound Gang’s 1996 breakout song Fire water burn. |
| Fables From a Mayfly: What I Tell You Three Times is True (2007), Fair to Midland | 2022-07-18 - I know and enjoy Dance of the Manatee, however, this entire album is not at all good. Thankfully, the songs are only 3 or 4 minutes long. |
| Welcome to Sky Valley (1994), Kyuss | 2022-07-19 - this is a pretty solid album. Some of the songs felt a bit long, but still enjoyable. |
| Dig for Fire - EP (1990), Pixies | 2022-08-01 - nothing terribly exciting. very pixies. short. |
| Lockjaw (1995), Dance Hall Crashers | 2022-08-01 - i also apparently saw them open up for bad religion back in April 1996. i don’t remember them at all. i hope i won’t remember them after listening to this album. it’s really not good. |
| Oz Factor (1996), Unwritten Law | 2022-08-01 - apparently i saw them at a bad religion show back in April 1996; I don’t remember them at all. i do know Superman from this timeframe. this sounds like mid-to-late 90s poppunk. nothing terribly memorable here. |
| Destruction (1996), Definition by The Suicide Machines | 2022-08-02 - this was an okay/fine album. captures the mid-90s pop/punk/ska music sceene quite well. |
| Enter the Vaselines (Deluxe Edition) [Remastered] (2009), The Vaselines | 2022-08-02 - some catchy tunes, but in general, not really great. |
| Here Comes the Zoo (2002), Local H | 2022-08-04 - not horrible, but no earworms on this one. |
| Wowee Zowee (1995), Pavement | 2022-08-05 - wow. not at all my thing. |
| In the Court of the Crimson King (Expanded Edition) (1969), King Crimson | 2022-08-12 - three drummers couldn’t help make this album tolerable. though i recognize a line or two from Bad Religion’s 21st century digital boy. |
| Hoss (1995), Lagwagon | 2022-09-01 - it was fine. nothing overly catchy. |
| Supergrass (1999), Supergrass | 2022-09-12 - kind of catchy, but not really my style. a little too poppy like oasis? |
| Doggerel (2022), Pixies | 2022-10-03 - It was a Pixies album, but something was different. Frank/Francis sounds older (time does that). But also, no Kim Deal. |
| Out of Step (1983), Minor Threat | 2022-10-03 - Pretty punk here. Not really digging this much. |
| Houdini (1993), Melvins | 2022-11-18 - i vaguely remember seeing them play in the mid 90s. i got the same feeling listening to this one: what the hell is this? heavy but raw and weird. not my jam. |
| Fear Of The Dawn (2022), Jack White | 2022-11-21 - the guy is talented. taking me back was the strongest track, imho. |
| 3 Ring Circus (Live at the Palace) (2013), Sublime | 2022-11-28 - not a bad live album. nothing new, but still a nice collection. |
| Double Album (2022), NOFX | 2022-12-01 - it’s another late-era nofx album. but without any familiar hooks. |
| Single Album (2021), NOFX | 2022-12-01 - it’s a late-era nofx album. interesting retirement of linoleum. |
| Broken Boy Soldiers (2006), The Raconteurs | 2022-12-15 - jack white. talented guy. pretty rocky in the first half; a little bluesy in the last half. |
| Sultans of Swing: The Very Best of Dire Straits (1998), Dire Straits | 2022-12-15 - fucking snoozefest with a couple good ones. guy on guitar is a talent, but leans too much into the blues for my tastes. |