The Daily Spin
September Rundown
Welcome back to the Daily Spin, the series in which I review 365 albums during 2023. Three-quarters down!
As always, Eli’s with me for the monthly recap, as he’s been with me reviewing these albums the whole way. Additionally, Preston Pack of The Wild Pitch will have a recap up with their opinions, since they’ve been with us too.
And as always, here’s the playlist containing my favorite song from each of the albums I’ve reviewed so far - and this month, it’s even up to date! Each day, going forward, it’ll be updated with my favorite track from that day’s album until we’ve got a full portfolio of 365.
Fear not, your regularly scheduled album review will go live later today. I got you.
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Making The Grade
In the process of listening to music and grading albums, nothing is perfect, and as such, we’ve all elected to make some adjustments to our grading.
D: Really strong start to the month was tempered by a slower close, but all-said, this was definitely one of the better months we had, any sort of inflation aside.
E: I’ve never seen Interstellar. The soundtrack to Interstellar was on this month’s slate. The soundtrack to Interstellar did nothing for me outside of the context of the movie but it’s so widely beloved that it didn’t feel right for me to rate it harshly given I haven’t experienced it as intended. I did not rate it at all. (Preston put “HSTM” on the sheet for “hasn’t seen the movie”.)
I’ll Give You The Best
D: The Interstellar soundtrack remains exactly as fantastic as I remembered it being. That was the clear winner from the month, though I am well pleased at how many really solid albums we came back to over the course of this month.
John Mayer’s Continuum is the only other album I really want to highlight here, because it absolutely blew me away and got me started on another phase where he’s basically all I listen to - and yet I’m not mad about that whatsoever.
E: I’m gonna beam about After Laughter for a few paragraphs if that’s okay with y’all.
If Carly Rae Jepsen’s Emotion didn’t exist to completely quash all debate in my mind, this would be a strong contender for album of the 2010s. The album doesn’t quite hit those heights but is transcendent for largely the same reasons, and I spent just about as long binging it as I did Emotion.
Hayley Williams wears her heart on her sleeve in this record from beginning to end and displays a wide variety of emotions, almost all of which I really benefited from hearing when it was released in 2017. The first three songs are all generally about struggling and thinking things are only ever going to get worse, which…we’ve all been there. Then the album kinda shifts to resentment and contemplation of said resentment before cheering up a bit and finally ending with a song about missing an ex.
Included toward the end of the record, breaking up what is otherwise a pretty clean arc, are the duo of “Idle Worship” and “No Friend”. “Idle Worship” is a great song about how most artists are just regular ol’ people and it’s mutually destructive for fans to idolize them. I would have placed it earlier in the tracklist, but it’s a banger. “No Friend” is an extended outro of “Idle Worship” that is somehow longer than “Idle Worship”, is unnecessarily mean-spirited in comparison, and is the only real black mark on the record as far as I’m concerned.
Even disregarding that, After Laughter remains an inner-circle favorite for me two-thirds of a decade later. If I was rating on the dirty decimal scale like our other two degenerates, it’d be a 9.9, but I’m reasonable, so I gave it a 9.
How To Disappoint Completely
D: I really, truly, don’t think I have an album that fits this. I think the closest we get is the Chicks’ Fly, but even then I wasn’t necessarily thinking it would be AOTY or anything. I’m more left with a sense of confusion as to the plaudits this album received, given that I’m of the opinion that Wide Open Spaces and Home blow it out of the water entirely.
E: I am tired of Jacob Collier. Next.
Shock Value
D: No real strong surprises, I don’t think. For as much as this month was maybe higher than I expected, no album came in and blew me away, for better and for worse. A lot of it was pleasant reminders about people and groups I had forgotten, a chance to revisit a lot of what I had used to love and had simply fallen by the wayside.
E: John Mayer doesn’t usually do anything for me. His vocals come off too smugly and his lyricism often seems disingenuous. Continuum is an exception. The guitar work on this record is just about perfect, and the lyrics strike a good balance between the more artistic, songwriter-y lyrics and those that are more obviously relatable to Mayer’s audience. I do wish there was a little more emotional variety, but I’ve never experienced a romantic breakup (and I’m engaged, so I hope I never do); I’m not really one to tell someone how they should have written their breakup album.
On the downside, I think it’s safe to say Fly by the group now known as The Chicks sounds less impressive today than it did in 2000. This style sounded somewhat more novel back then, but most pop country sounds like this now, and a lot of artists have done it a lot better. Lyrically, Fly is palatable at best and hackneyed at worst. It all seemed so very middle-of-the-road; I can see why it won a Grammy.
In A Word
Quick-hit recaps for each album.
Djesse Vol. 3 (Jacob Collier)
D: His poppiest effort also feels like his sloppiest effort, when you look at it.
E: I made David listen to Alvin and the Chipmunks once and he repaid me by making me listen to this guy three times.
Party Favors (Sir Chloe)
D: I’m no rave boy but I’m having a hard time conceiving of a party where this would fit super well.
E: This is basically Soccer Mommy but less personable, which is saying something.
Little Ghost (Moonchild)
D: Gentle jazz to sweep through your brain, shaking the curtains just enough to displace the dust.
E: The lyrics are clear enough to be easily heard without being prominent enough to distract from the chill nature of the overall production.
everything is alive (Slowdive)
D: Shoegaze’s finest come back with another outstanding reminder of the power of a steady hand.
E: Some blessed mix of Tame Impala and the muzak Jon Bois uses for instrumentals.
Lost with You (Wildermiss)
D: An album that runs through your fingers like sand to an hourglass.
E: Folksy MisterWives.
A Moon Shaped Pool (Radiohead)
D: As cats have nine lives, it seems Radiohead have good albums.
E: Adjacent to classic Radiohead but doesn’t have the hooks and most of the musical ideas blend together.
Sam’s Town (The Killers)
D: A band characterized by Mr. Brightside gets a chance to showcase strength beyond their most popular offering.
E: Relistenable and catchy at worst, iconic at best.
Interstellar OST (Hans Zimmer)
D: The sort of towering score that only befits majesty.
E: I haven’t seen the movie.
no future (EDEN)
D: Sadboi music for sad boys. I like it.
E: I enjoyed the production quirks that made it sound like this album was being played on the radio.
Continuum (John Mayer)
D: It’s not hard to see how Mayer has cemented his legacy as one of the great talents of the early 21st century when you listen to this in total.
E: John Mayer’s best.
Playing Robots Into Heaven (James Blake)
D: Blake’s eye for the unorthodox shapes his production here in a way that bleeds beauty.
E: Sounds like if ODESZA or Jamie xx just deleted a couple audio tracks from each song for no reason.
REMNANT (Lorn)
D: Raw, earth-shaking violence in sonic form.
E: Does nothing for me despite sounding like it should.
Transatlanticism (Death Cab For Cutie)
D: Twenty years on, a beautiful album that spins a story you’d be loathe to forget.
E: The soundscape alone puts them at replacement level but I wouldn’t call this one of my favorites or anything.
AM (Arctic Monkeys)
D: One of the best in the game for the revival of British rock.
E: So ubiquitous as to seem timeless and thoroughly integrated into North American culture, but the mixing is awful.
Heaven’s Vault OST (Laurence Chapman)
D: Sweeping strings ballast you - like flying amongst the stars.
E: It’s a pretty repetitive listening experience out of context.
Dear Wormwood (The Oh Hellos)
D: It’s the group’s best work, but it paints the rest in an unfortunately one-note tone.
E: The Oh Hellos’ best compositions and probably their most iconic track.
Infinity On High (Fall Out Boy)
D: I’m 13 and angry at the world all over again, and it’s beautiful.
E: I’m a leading man and the lies I weave are oh so intricate.
Rustin’ In The Rain (Tyler Childers)
D: Buoyed by storytelling, but it’s not quite enough to overcome my general lack of feeling towards the genre.
E: I can’t remember much of anything about this aside from the title track.
Valtari (Sigur Ros)
D: Icelandic slow-burn jams.
E: At worst, I was mildly interested; at best, I had chills.
Matter (St. Lucia)
D: Outstanding dance pop, a reminder of the best of what people can accomplish with a synth pad and a damn fine voice.
E: If you condense this a little and nix the long outros, this might be a perfect indie pop record.
Kaiho (KAUAN)
D: Finnish slow-burn jams.
E: Weather Channel “Local on the 8’s” backing track meets Russian vocals with the type of frostiness that only comes from living in a place with a true winter.
Blonde (Frank Ocean)
D: A perfect album to let the emotion wash over you to.
E: Endlessly versatile and impossibly cohesive.
Jack In The Box (j-hope)
D: Funky, energetic, and aspirational, but leaves a bit of drive on the floor.
E: There’s a certain throwback charm here but it ends up kinda tasting like empty calories.
Fly (The Chicks)
D: For an album that was so highly praised, why are both of its neighbors better?
E: I didn’t get the hype.
The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We (Mitski)
D: Mitski’s ability to hop across genres is admirable, but she doesn’t always stick the landing.
E: Mitski’s short track lengths usually make more sense to me than they do here.
Hot Fuss (The Killers)
D: An album that is often unfairly reduced to one song gets a chance to breathe and come into its own, if you let it.
E: Top of the album is the 2019 Twins; bottom of the album is the 2014 Twins. (Those mean “excellent” and “bad”, respectively, for non-Minnesotans.)
After Laughter (Paramore)
D: Embodies the come-down of reality brilliantly, a sharp contrast between lyrics and vocals that has pinpoint precision throughout.
E: I would miss this era a lot more if Hayley Williams and Paramore hadn’t also put out almost all hits and no misses since.
KPM 1000 Series: Hot Wax (Brian Bennett)
D: Good music, but the sort that needs something bigger over it to have a lasting impact.
E: We’re lucky to have such talented musicians make their work freely available for license.
Three (Phantogram)
D: The best of electronic psych pop, an album that hits and hurts with equal strength.
E: Phantogram reminds me of a lot of other artists I like more than Phantogram.
Wings (BTS)
D: An ascendant group spreads wide to fly.
E: One of those albums that makes me really wish I understood more languages.
And there you have it!
October 1st’s review will be along later today. Thanks, as always, for tuning in.