I found the February Music Writer Exercise to be incredibly useful so I’ve kept it up, so far every day, into March. I stopped posting them on Twitter since the actual exercise finished with the end of the month, but will post them here as a record for myself and anyone else interested. For the sake of brevity and as a way of simple note taking, I’ve continued to write them as 140 max character “Tweets.”
The button below goes to the original February #MWE post.
4/1/17 Update: Made it through two months of MWE and that feels like a good place to stop. Hope anyone who followed along this far enjoyed it. Until next February!
Day 29:
Talking Heads – Remain in Light
Interesting/driving polyrhythms (some almost motorik). The single is good – rest is better.
Day 30:
Circle Jerks – Golden Shower of Hits
Amazing how satisfying well done brief as the wind hardcore punk songs can be. This is filled with them
Day 3:
Electric Prunes – I Had Too Much to Dream (Last Night)
Perfectly fine psychedelic pop, not as revelatory as some but has strong moments throughout.
Day 32:
Nas – Illmatic
Lives up to the hype. Top tier amalgamation of all ’90s rap styles.
Day 33:
Bark Psychosis – Hex
Brilliantly successful dance through a number of genres with hints or more of shoegaze, postrock, ambient.
Day 34:
Wreckless Eric – st
A weird sound that maybe transcends it’s era or defines it’s own path, at least, mixing styles at will.
Day 35:
Michael Chapman – Fully Qualified Survivor
Great blend of much of what was best about British folk at the time. Top tier.
Day 36:
Faust – st
Coherent incoherence. Breaking and then rebuilding rock from scratch. A difficult listen, but important.
Day 37:
Third Eye Foundation – Semtex
What Dalek is to rap, this is to drum’n’bass. Sprawling guitar noise over sometimes tribal beats.
Day 38:
Public Enemy – It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back
Pushes rap and music way forward + pushes big important ideas while remaining catchy as hell.
Day 39:
Flying Burrito Brothers – The Gilded Palace of Sin
Great vocal harmonies + a nice mix of weepy country with acid rock washes all over.
Day 40:
Thelonious Monk – Monk’s Music
As good as expected based on the players, which is to say great. They make this sound so easy.
Day 41:
DJ Muggs VS GZA – Grandmasters
GZA right at home with Muggs beats, both in top form through out most of the album.
Day 42:
Mothers of Invention – We’re Only in It for the Money
Skewering everyone, strikingly pastoral at times, works as a single long rambling thought.
Day 43:
Catherine Wheel – Ferment
Classic shoegaze album that allows a little more of a hard edge into the songs than contemporaries.
Day 44:
Royal Trux – Cats & Dogs
There is a lot more going on here than the skronk implies. Classic rock and SY in a violent car wreck.
Day 45:
Hiss Golden Messenger – Haw
Well executed set, sometimes veers too close to adult contemp, but careens back in surprising ways.
Day 46:
Art Blakey – The Freedom Rider
Excellent, sometimes surprisingly beautiful hard bop. Pisces in particular with odd timing.
Day 47:
The Creation – We Are Paintermen
Day 48:
Philip Glass – Glassworks
Day 49:
Animal Collective – Spirit They’re Gone, Spirit They’ve Vanished
Day 50:
Van Morrison – Astral Weeks
Day 51:
Lambchop – How I Quit Smoking
Day 52:
Eric’s Trip – Forever Again
Day 53:
Syd Barrett – The Madcap Laughs
Day 54:
David Crosby – If I Could Only Remember My Name
Day 55:
Sun Kil Moon – Benji
Day 56:
Lush – Gala
Day 57:
Grateful Dead – From The Mars Hotel
Day 58:
The Reverend Horton Heat – Smoke ‘Em If You Got ‘Em
Day 59:
Jenny Hval – Blood Bitch
