An Album A Day Keeps The Doctor Away | 365 Album Challenge

[EzExZeRo7497]

(shoutouts to noname, YMIA and rayword)

So I've promised myself to listen to 300 new albums this year in the beginning of the year. Turns out that I already met the 2/3 mark 4 months in. So, I wanted to try listening to 365 more albums - a total of 565 albums in one year. This also means that I'll be listening to 365 more albums in 8 months. I can't say with full confidence that I'll be able to do this, but I'll try anyway.

I have a few problems though - one of them is which I really don't have that many albums to pick from. As much as RYM is a great tool for finding new music, I can only find so much before I burn out. Not to mention I'll tend to venture in only one side of the music spectrum, so I wouldn't be able to find more genres that I enjoy.

That's where you guys come in. Recommend me albums, EPs and soundtracks, and I'll give them a listen. Any genre would do, but I do have certain distastes and preferences. You can recommend as many albums as you want, but I'll give a higher priority to the first 10 albums that you've listed. I'm not looking for specific genres, but an eclectic range of genres would be nice. Just no Bull of Heaven. Although the thread title does say "365 Album Challenge", I won't stop taking recommendations even after I reach 365 album recommendations. I'll give the albums a listen regardless, but I can't say that I'll listen to it this year unless I'm really inclined to.

This is a list of genres that I'm partial to, both negatively and positively:

Positive:
++ Ambient/Dark Ambient
++ Drone
+ Breakcore
+ Instrumental Hip-Hop
+ Dream Pop
+ Post-Rock
+ Melodic Death Metal
+ Modern Classical
+ Shoegaze

Negative:
-- Art Rock
-- Classic Rock
- Progressive Rock
- Synth Pop
- Indie Rock
- Vaporwave
- Psychedelic Pop/Neo-Psychedelia
- Probably a lot more, can't name them off the top of my head though.

The rest of the genres I don't have too strong of a reaction for.

> Albums Recommended

Since it has a challenge that I've been doing since the beginning of the year, I'll start my reviews today (May 2nd, 2014). I can't say that it'll have the same quality/length as a professional critic's, but I'll try to remain generally clear.

Ratings
I don't have an arbitrary list of criteria that should be met in order to get a rating. My ratings are determined by how much I liked the album. My average rating has been around 5.9/10, mainly because I generally find music that I like - so take it as you will. I rarely give 1s, 2s, 9s and 10s and I'll increase/decrease ratings accordingly if I listen to the album more.

10 - Masterpiece
9 - Fantastic
8 - Excellent
7 - Great
6 - Decent
5 - Average
4 - Mediocre
3 - Bad
2 - Awful
1 - Abysmal

Reviews (in chronological order)
I'll try to go for two albums a day, but there are times in which I will burn out and listen to only one or none at all. I'll make up for it by listening to three or more albums.

Format
- Every day, I'll usually pick an album in my backlog (basically albums that I want to listen to but haven't gotten around to yet) and an album in the recommendations list.
- If you recommended an album that was supposedly in my backlog, I won't add it in my recommendations list, but it will have higher priority.
- If you recommend an album that I've already listened to, I'll tell you that I've listened to the album already and I'll give you my thoughts. These don't count as reviews.

97. Fires Were Shot - Awakened by a Lonely Feud - 7.0
98. Techdiff - Coronation of a Cursed King - 6.0
99. Kid606 - The Schoolgirl EP - 4.0
100. Shingo Nakamura - Behind the Sunset / Scroll - 6.0
101. Lullatone - Songs About Little Raindrops - 6.5
102. Masterplan - Aeronautics - 5.5
103. Wangwen - IV - 6.0
104. The Seatbelts - Cowboy Bebop Original Soundtrack - 5.0
105. Eminence Symphony Orchestra - Promise - 8.0
106. Matryoshka - Zatracenie - 6.0
107. Monster Rally - Return to Paradise - 6.0
108. 36 - Dream Tempest - 7.5
109. Alex Chilton - Like Flies on Sherbert - 3.5
110. lovesliescrushing - bloweyelashwish - 5.0
111. Alaska in Winter - Space Eagle (The Motion Picture Soundtrack) - 6.0
112. Amethystium - Autumn Interlude - 6.0
113. Avenged Sevenfold - Waking The Fallen - 5.0
114. Ruby My Dear - Remains of Shapes to Come - 5.0
115. Tim Hecker - Ravedeath, 1972 - 8.0
116. Susumu Hirasawa - Kyuusai no Gihou - 6.0
117. IneartheD - Shining - 6.0
118. Kid606 / Xanopticon - $ Vol. 10 - 5.0
119. Star Slinger - Rogue Cho Pa + Bedroom Joints - 6.0 / 4.0
120. Yousei Teikoku - Metanoia - 6.5
121. DJ Shadow - Endtroducing..... - 7.5
122. Alcest - Shelter - 6.0
123. Eleh - Floating Frequencies / Intuitive Synthesis Volume I - 6.5
124. Eleh - Floating Frequencies / Intuitive Synthesis Volume II - 6.0
125. Decibelle - Two - 6.0
126. Ryuichi Sakamoto - Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence - 6.0

Best albums recommended:
- DJ Shadow - Endtroducing.....
- Eleh - Floating Frequencies / Intuitive Synthesis Volume I
- Eleh - Floating Frequencies / Intuitive Synthesis Volume II

58. YAMANTAKA // SONIC TITAN - YT // ST - 6.0
59. Various Artists - sHimaU / goreshit / Sub-69 Split - 4.0
60. Undead Corporation - 一撃 - 4.0 / 8.0
61. Ryuichi Sakamoto + Alva Noto - Insen - 7.0
62. Ryuichi Sakamoto + Alva Noto - Summvs - 5.0
63. Lights Out Asia - Eyes Like Brontide - 5.5
64. Autechre - Confield - 6.0
65. My Bloody Valentine - You Made Me Realise - 4.0
66. Pantera - Cowboys From Hell - 3.0
67. Hecq - Night Falls - 4.0
68. Various Artists - Husking Bee Tribute Album - 6.0
69. World's End Girlfriend - Dream's End Come True - 7.5
70. Piana - Muse - 8.0
71. Bersarin Quartett - Besarin Quartett - 6.0
72. DJ Okawari - Kaleidoscope - 6.0
73. Various Artists - Ar tonelico III Hymmnos Concert Side.Blue ''SAKIYA=RUMEI" - 6.0
74. Yuko Imada - Ome - 6.5
75. The Crystal Method - London - 5.0
76. Toe - The Book About My Idle Plot on a Vague Anxiety - 7.0
77. Olan Mill - Pine - 6.0
78. Dissociative Children - Doll Fucker - 5.0
79. Ad·ver·sary - A Bright Cut Across Velvet Sky - 7.5
80. µ-Ziq - Lunatic Harness - 5.0
81. xi - Agartha - 5.5
82. Mindthings - Above Everything - 3.0
83. Aliceffekt - Genesis III​.​20 'Ov Idyllic Miners - 6.0
84. C418 - One - 6.0
85. Austin Wintory - Journey: Original Soundtrack - 6.5
86. Galneryus - The Flag of Punishment - 6.0
87. Helios - Moiety - 7.0
88. 000 - Aether Dynamic - 5.0
89. Cher Lloyd - Sorry I'm Late - 5.0
90. Joe Hisaishi - Princess Mononoke Original Soundtrack - 7.5
91. Sigur Ros - Takk... - 6.0
92. The Tuss - Rushup Edge - 6.0
93. Les Discrets - Septembre et ses dernières pensées - 8.0
94. she - Digital Ambient Designs - 5.0
95. James Durbin - Memories of a Beautiful Disaster - 5.5
96. The Berzerker - Broken EP - 5.0

Average rating: 5.56/10

Best albums recommended:
- Ad·ver·sary - A Bright Cut Across Velvet Sky
- Ryuichi Sakamoto + Alva Noto - Insen
- Austin Wintory - Journey: Original Soundtrack

1. My Dead Girlfriend - Underdrawing For Three Forms Of Unhappiness At The State of Existence - 6.0
2. Delain - April Rain - 5.0
3. Alias Conrad Coldwood - OFF Original Soundtrack - 6.0
4. Karkwa - Le volume du vent - 7.0
5. LegitMusicProducer - Legit Christmas - 2.0
6. Ametsub - The Nothings of the North - 6.5
7. Lil B - Rain in England - 2.0
8. Gas - Pop - 8.0
9. Kollegah - Kollegah - 5.0
10. Ryuichi Sakamoto - 1996 - 5.5
11. Clark - Body Riddle - 4.5
12. Utada Hikaru - Deep River - 6.0
13. Venetian Snares - The Chocolate Wheelchair Album - 6.0
14. William Basinski - Variation for Piano and Tape - 7.0
15. Young Galaxy - Ultramarine - 4.0
16. Les Cowboys Fringants - La grand-messe - 7.0
17. Fennesz - Black Sea - 7.5
18. Bohren & der Club of Gore - Black Earth - 6.0
19. Decrepit Birth - Diminishing Between Worlds - 4.0
20. EUS - Tras el horizonte - 5.0
21. Various Artists - Up - 5.0
22. The Flashbulb - Solar One - 7.5
23. The Flashbulb - Nothing Is Real - 7.0
24. Noveller - Red Rainbows - 5.0
25. Sleep - Dopesmoker - 6.0
26. Capsule - More! More! More! - 6.0
27. Eluvium - Copia - 7.0
28. Squarepusher - Hard Normal Daddy - 6.0
29. Shiina Ringo - 加爾基 精液 栗ノ花 - 7.0
30. 65dayofstatic - Wild Light - 5.0
31. Asuna - Flowers - 6.0
32. Harmonium - Si on avait besoin d'une cinquième saison - 7.5
33. Seirom - 1973 - 5.0
34. Burzum - Hvis lyset tar oss - 6.0
35. Venetian Snares - My Love Is A Bulldozer - 4.5
36. Eyeliner - LARP of Luxury - 3.5
37. Serph - Heartstrings - 5.0
38. Med Lin - I am a terrible man. - 5.0
39. Loscil - Plume - 7.0
40. Reizoko Cj - Dark Side - 4.0
41. Celer - Engaged Touches - 7.5
42. Boston - Boston - 3.0
43. Lowercase Noises - Blake - 5.0
44. Seven Lions - Polarize EP - 5.5
45. A Winged Victory For The Sullen - A Winged Victory For The Sullen - 8.0
46. Damu the Fudgemunk - How It Should Sound Volume 1 and 2 - 7.0
47. Hiroyuki Oda - Revive EP - 6.0
48. Tiny Tim - God Bless Tiny Tim - 4.0
49. Utabi - Manchurian Candy - 6.5
50. Speaker Gain Teardrop - Particle Protocol - 6.0
51. Various Artists - Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center: 1961-1973 - 7.0
52. Blood Stain Child - Silence of Northern Hell - 4.0
53. The Unguided - Hell Frost - 5.5
54. Aidan Baker & Tim Hecker - Fantasma Parastasie - 7.5
55. Hiroyuki Sawano - Ao no Exorcist Original Soundtrack 1 - 6.0
56. Mono - Hymn to the Immortal Wind - 7.0
57. Ground Zero - Revolutionary Pekinese Opera Ver.1.28 - 4.0

Average rating: 5.76/10

Best albums recommended:
- Fennesz - Black Sea
- Karkwa - Le volume du vent
- Various Artists - Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center: 1961-1973

I think that covers everything, so shoot.

[rushyrulz]

cuz rock

1. Delain - April Rain
2. Winger - Karma
3. Boston - Boston
4. Firehouse - Firehouse
5. Dream Theater - Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
6. Whitesnake - Greatest Hits
7. Kiss - Sonicboom
8. Halestorm - The Strange Case Of...
If you can find them:
9. James Durbin - Memories of a Beautiful Disaster
10. Saigon Kick - The Lizard

[Trogdor!!!!]

oh

[rushyrulz]

also, google doc is lockd

[EzExZeRo7497]

Fixed

[rayword45]

man now my summer album thingy seems like pussy shit with all these year long dudes

Dopesmoker - Sleep
69 Love Songs - The Magnetic Fields
The Pod - Ween

Okay the obligatory is out of the way.

Hard To Be Up - Bangs
Locust Abortion Technician - Butthole Surfers
Like Flies On Sherbet - Alex Chilton
Smiley Smile and Wild Honey (with bonus tracks) - The Beach Boys (This is a compilation of two very short albums)
Meat Puppets (Deluxe Edition) - Meat Puppets (The one on Spotify is the deluxe)
Lightning Bolt (with Zone) - Lightning Bolt
Rain In England - Lil B

[Crazyjayde]

Mostly diversified but I've got some french goodies in there that I'll keep on top:

Malajube - Trompe-l'oeil
La Dispute - Wildlife
Bâton Rouge - Fragments d'eux-mêmes
Alameda 3 - Późne królestwo
Colour Haze - Colour Haze
Karkwa - Le volume du vent
Built to Spill - Keep it Like a Secret
Clark - Totems Flare (or Clarence Park if you already heard it)
Alva Noto + Ryuichi Sakamoto - Insen
Misteur Valaire - Friterday Night

Caribou - Andorra
Gospel - The Moon is a Dead World
Moving Mountains - Pneuma
Analog Rebellion - Ancient Electrons
Silversun Pickups - Carnavas
Hey Rosetta! - Into Your Lungs (And Around in Your Heart and on Through Your Blood)
Pearl Jam - Vitalogy
Alias Conrad Coldwood - OFF Original Soundtrack

[EzExZeRo7497]

Added all album recommendations to this point. I didn't include the OFF Original Soundtrack because I wanted to listen to the soundtrack for a while now, but I haven't gotten to it. I'll probably review that soundtrack within the next few days.

Just added a couple of notes regarding suggestions and reviews in general:

Format
- Every day, I'll usually pick an album in my backlog (basically albums that I want to listen to but haven't got to it yet) and an album in the recommendations list.
- If you recommended an album that was supposedly in my backlog, I won't add it in my recommendations list, but it will have higher priority.
- If you recommend an album that I've already listened to, I'll tell you that I've listened to the album already and I'll give you my thoughts. These don't count as reviews and won't go into the recommendations list.

You could look at the music I've listened to here: https://rateyourmusic.com/collection...ffect/r0.5-5.0

[L.B.D.D]

Midicronica - #501
Damu The Fudgemunk ‎– Overtime
Damu The Fudgemunk ‎– How It Should Sound Volume 2
Total Science ‎– Street Level E.P.
Akufen - My Way
Propellerheads - Decksandrumsandrockandroll
Masterplan - Aeronautics

[choof]

Originally Posted by Crazyjayde

Alva Noto + Ryuichi Sakamoto - Insen

i'm almost certain eze has listened to this

[choof]

only have one recommendation but it's better than everyone elses

Various Artists - Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center 1961–1973

[GammaBlaster]

Pantera - Cowboys From Hell

[rushyrulz]

Originally Posted by choof

only have one recommendation but it's better than everyone elses

Various Artists - Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center 1961–1973

[L.B.D.D]

um dude its fking princeton

ofc they're The ebest

[EzExZeRo7497]

Added Choof and Gamma's albums.

Originally Posted by choof

i'm almost certain eze has listened to this

Nope, I haven't.

@CBR: added

Anyway:
May 2nd, 2014
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯

Underdrawing For Three Forms Of Unhappiness At The State Of Existence by My Dead Girlfriend

My Dead Girlfriend is a shoegaze band from Japan, and Underdrawing For Three Forms of Unhappiness at the State of Existence is their third EP. The album itself feels more like a j-pop rock album with shoegaze elements, which isn't really a bad thing. I could imagine those two to fit really well, given that there aren't too many general flaws.

Have to admit that the title really misled me, this is incredibly upbeat and the vocals are incredibly twinkly. The instrumentation is pretty good and some of the moments really shine. The latter half of Nasty Mayor Daughter and 桜花 as a whole are incredibly catchy, for example. I can't speak as highly regarding the vocals however. The vocals just feel like they're overlapping the instrumentation rather than complimenting it for the most part - the title track shows this problem the most, but it's rather prominent in most of the tracks in the album.

The tracks are pretty diverse in terms of atmosphere, but inconsistent in quality. Aki no Hachiouji which is incredibly melancholic but at the same time so hopeful - which is a really beautiful juxtaposition. On the other hand, tracks like Scyscraper Kills My Ghost in Your Memories and ヴァンデミエールの頭 are forgettable because of how little they try to stand out and faze me - they just feel like fillers overall.

I think my biggest problem with this is that it just isn't ambitious enough. They just feel rather generic, for lack of a better term. There are a couple of other albums such as Mikgazer Vol. 1 which have done better, both in instrumentation and vocals, so the EP as a whole is generally forgettable.

Decent release. They have potential for sure, but I want them to be more experimental so that they could stand out more. Perhaps a thicker sound? I could imagine the vocals complimenting the instrumentation a lot more than it does now.

Album Highlights: Aki no Hachiouji
Track Average Rating: 3.17/5
Overall Rating: 6/10
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯

April Rain by Delain (recommended by rushyrulz)

Symphonic metal, hmm..

Symphonic metal is a subgenre that I haven't really ventured too much yet. I generally remember listening to Nightwish a lot and thinking that they were fantastic, but they haven't aged well. Albums like Wishmaster and Oceanborn feel bland, but their more ambitious/varied works like Imaginaerum still remain excellent. Because of that, I moved away from the symphonic metal genre, since I don't think there would be many symphonic metal albums that I'd enjoy.

Anyway, back to the album. Instrumentation and song-writing are good - Virtue and Vice and Go Away's instrumentations are excellent. The overall instrumentation does feel too safe and unvaried though, feels like I've already listened to this from another symphonic metal band (it even has the obligatory metal ballad). Seems to be a general problem with metal albums as a whole though, so it doesn't detract too much from my enjoyment.

But... the vocals. They're so unfitting - Charlotte's vocals specifically. You have epic (pardon the word) instrumentals and all, then you have the vocalist - the forefront of the band, not producing the same amount of energy. It doesn't translate well, weakens the overall atmosphere and detracts from my overall enjoyment. There are some moments that her vocals fit well with the general song (Start Swimming), but as a whole I think she's pulling the album down. A classically trained vocalist would be much better for an album like this. The backing vocalist is decent, nothing too special.

I'm not saying that Charlotte is a bad vocalist by any means, her tones are decent and she's generally in tune. She just doesn't fit with something as cinematic as symphonic metal. Someone like Tarja (or male vocalists in general) would make the album fantastic, but as it is I think I would be prefer an instrumental album a lot more.

Nothing spectacular, there's obviously room for improvement. I could imagine anyone who's really into symphonic metal to enjoy this though.

Album Highlights: Virtue and Vice
Track Average Rating: 2.73/5
Overall Rating: 5/10

[Coolboyrulez0]

Kollegah - Bossaura
Kollegah - Kollegah
Seven Lions - Polarize EP
Skrillex - Recess
Nero - Welcome Reality
The Tuss - Rushup Edge
Wisp - HumpelndenBEATS
Last Step - 1961
The Glitch Mob - Drink the Sea
Bogdan Raczynski - Samurai Math beats

Yes I'm serious -- if you heard any of these I'll replace them asap

[NeoMasterPie]

Originally Posted by Crazyjayde

Silversun Pickups - Carnavas

also Silversun Pickups - Swoon (just as good if not better than Carnavas imo)

[noname219]

Bohren & der Club of Gore - Black Earth
The Cinematic Orchestra - Every Day
Clint Mansell - The Fountain
DJ Shadow - Endtroducing…..
Ground Zero - Revolutionary Pekinese Opera Ver.1.28
The Haxan Cloak - Excavation
Jon Hopkins - Immunity
Oceansize - Frames
Portishead - Dummy
Ulver - Perdition City

And more :
Amon Tobin - Permutation
Austin Wintory - Journey™: Original Soundtrack From the Video Game
Beach House - Bloom
DJ Rashad - Double Cup
Flying Lotus - Cosmogramma
Marc Leclair - Musique pour 3 femmes enceintes
Radiohead - OK Computer (know you already rated, I want to know what you think of it)
Sigur Ros - Agaetis Byrjun
Silencer - Death - Pierce Me
Swans - To Be Kind (wait until it's officially released)

Btw, really happy you liked Alcest.

[choof]

Originally Posted by rushyrulz

i will gladly take the title of hipster when it comes to music

[lurker]

Fennesz - Black Sea
Fennesz - Endless Summer
Utabi - Manchurian Candy
Rustie - Glass Swords
Clark - Turning Dragon
Clark - Iradelphic
Freddy Todd - Painting in a Silent Eternity
Migos - Y.R.N.