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Good Albums

“All of my favourite albums have this incredible amount of conceptual glue to them, even if they are not telling a story.” – Gerard Way of My Chemical Romance

Albums are a gift to music.  For a while they were one of the only ways to listen to music on demand.  Now we are free to play whatever songs we want in whatever order we want.  That comes with certain benefits, but when we give up the limits of the album, we limit our experience with music.

Good albums create complex arguments and tell epic stories.  They strengthen themes and grant context to their songs.  Their songs intertwine and weave together a grand image.  When we listen to a single song, we see a few colors.  When we listen to an album, we see an entire painting.  The better the album, the better the picture.

In another way, a good album’s songs are like a group of close friends.  Each friend brings out a different side of the other.  When you lose one friend, you lose the part of yourself that friend brought out.  If you lose a song from an album, you lose the meaning that song brought out in the other songs.

Then there’s the matter of the artist’s intent.  Anybody can arrange various songs into a playlist, but listening to albums is listening to music as the artist arranged it to be heard.  In a way, we do artists justice by listening to their albums.  It’s opening our minds to their whole discussion.

A good album is greater than the sum of its parts.  It’s a collage of songs that make each other better.  It’s the experience an artist has created for her audience.

Good albums make good songs better.  Don’t abandon the album.

Let me know what you think.  What makes an album good?  What are some of your favorite albums?  I’m looking forward to your responses!

Thanks for reading!

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My Suggestions #3 [7/11/17‒7/24/17]

Here are a few songs for your enjoyment as we near the end of the summer:

Here’s an album that you should listen to at least once this month:

Finally, this is an artist you should explore when you get the chance:

  • I See MONSTAS  —  I’ve mentioned these guys before.  They’re a British EDM group with jazz influences and one of the few EDM artists who knows how to vary the energy of their songs.  Many EDM artists just make their music loud and try to add a catchy hook or beat to make up for a lack of creativity and dynamics.  ISM adds energy by taking the dynamics back and then adds more with insane drops and the powerful voice of Skaar (AKA Bryn Christopher).  They haven’t released much since their Evolution EP in 2012, but they’re still one of my favorite EDM artists.  I hope every day for new material from them.

I release a new suggestions list every other Tuesday.  Please leave your suggestions in the comments.  If I pick your song, artist, or album, I’ll give you credit for it up above.

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Explaining Genres

A while back, a friend of mine sent me a message suggesting that I write a clear explanation of the objective characteristics of different genres as well as give my subjective opinion on each and how I derive that opinion.  I have created a new category of posts as a response to that request.

Genres are tricky.  First of all, the characteristics of genres overlap with those of other contemporary genres.  It can be difficult to separate R&B and hip-hop, EDM and dubstep, swing and big band, and so on.  Second, genres don’t suddenly appear.  They develop and morph over time until one day the world realizes that there’s a new species of music.  Look at rock.  Elvis’s rock ‘n’ roll is different from The Who’s rock, The Who is different from Metallica, and Metallica is different from Disturbed.  Third, music can rarely be labeled as just one genre.  For instance, if you look up Gorillaz’s genre on Wikipedia you’ll see pop, Britpop, hip hop, alternative hip hop, trip hop, rap rock, alternative rock, indie, dub, reggae, and electronica.  Finally, genres can be broken down into sub genres that can seem entirely different from other sub genres in the same genre.

As such, I cannot give a description of every genre.  I couldn’t even list all of them.  I plan to cover a few of the main genres: classical, jazz, country, rock, pop, hip-hop, and electronic.  I’ll also explore some of their sub genres.

There are two ways to try and distinguish genres: quantitative and qualitative measures.  Quantitative measures include the kind of instruments used, rhythm, cadences and chords, EQ, dubbing, use of samples, etc.  This is the kind of stuff Pandora looks at when it makes your radio station.  Qualitative measures deal with content and the soul of the genre.  This is mainly what I will be exploring  in future posts when I cover particular genres.

Keep this in mind: I do not hold one genre to be better than another.  I think that some individual songs and artists are better than others, but typically I will compare these within the same genre.  I like some genres better than others, but this is a matter of taste.  I will do my best to make clear what is my taste and what I believe to be objective characteristics.

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