No Future

Music excites me. If I hear something I like, I immediately love it and want it and usually purchase it or at least add it to Spotify/iTunes. I also talk about it right away in overblown (re: overwrought) and exaggerated terms. Sometimes the thing I'm talking about actually deserves all of my blustering. Other times, though, it probably doesn't, and even if it does, I - like anybody - will move on from it. Generally, this happens for two reasons: I've moved on to the next dozen things to listen to and the album/band in question gets lost in the consumption tsunami, or it just wasn't that good in the first place.

In a couple weeks, when I write a few posts about my favourite records of the year, these records won't be on there. Some of them were absolutely going to be at some point, while others never were. In fact, almost all of them were featured in a 2015 Albums Power Rankings Facebook post that was simultaneously obnoxious enough and odious enough to convince my friends (and then me) that I needed to keep a music blog/keep all of that shit off Facebook.

Turnstile - Nonstop Feeling

This is the UGA football of 2015 records for me. Actually, that's too harsh, but the trajectory is about the same. Tons of hype around the album. I was in love with it when it first released. I got punched in the nose at a Turnstile show in April. I still do love some of this record. But here we are, and it's December, and Mark Richt is coaching at The U and UGA doesn't have a quarterback for its meaningless bowl game and the most fun hardcore record of the year has been relegated to the bubble.

This album actually inspired this post. About a month or two ago, it dawned on me that I hadn't listened to Nonstop Feeling in forever. Further, the last times I had were only for the first half of the album. So I went back and listened to the whole thing, and what I learned is what I already knew but didn't want to admit: after "Blue By You," I never really cared. I could also do without "Bleach Temple" on the A side of the record. This is a front-loaded record that can't keep up with itself. It's too much fun and then it turns into a whole bunch of work.

Elder - Lore

As of writing this post, I haven't listened to Lore since I saw Elder back in whatever month that was. They were unbelievable live. Quite possibly the best live performance I saw this year. Lore is such a great record. But I haven't listened to it in months. Why? I think this is an album that simply got buried by all of the subsequent releases that I bought and older bands I got into this year. I bet if I listened to this album right now, it would reassert itself pretty quickly in my Top 20. This is the confluence of superficial listening compulsion and personal listening trends. This is what happens when you suffocate your taste with an attempt at universal treatment.

Forndom - Flykt

This is a great example of the imbalance between my initial excitement over a record and the record's own merits. This is a cool record, maybe even a very cool record. It's ambient folky forest-drone, which is a great combination of words and sounds. When I first heard this record, I developed a huge crush on it. I ordered it, along with some other records, from Nordvis, and I overhyped it. I smothered its own qualities with my own valuation of the album, thus pushing the album into this weird, unstable not-being-that-good-but-better-than-what-that-implies territory. I'm too reactionary, and I'm too liable to supplant the music in question with my relationship to it. It becomes less about the album and more about my taste and listening/purchasing habits. My apologies to the dude in Forndom and to everyone who has to listen to me talk about music.

Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp a Butterfly

I'm just listing this hear because I haven't listened to this album in total in months, and that's because I'm a moron. We listened to a bunch of tracks off of it in Jack's car the other day, and it was the simple reminder I needed to put it back in rotation.

But how am I supposed to put it back in rotation when I just bought four used CDs from Book Nook and bought this Unwound 3xLP set and got my order from Deathwish in all in the same week? You see the problem?

Irreversible - Irreversible

Another album I really enjoy. It actually hasn't been too long since I listened to this album, but, really, I was just listening to a particular track or two ("Absent Help" and "Mandatory Death"). I'm including this album to talk about my relationship to local music and the Atlanta underground music scene. Here it is: I have no real relationship to it. My M.O. with local music: hear a couple bands I really like, assume I don't like the rest of what's out there, and then really dig my heels in over the bands I do like. It's just a way to join a pissing contest no one else is participating in. The local bands I like are better than the local bands you like. Why? I mean, The Pinecones/Arbor Labor Union is the best band in Atlanta, but they're the best band in the world, so that makes sense. Too, Irreversible was one of Atlanta's coolest bands. But why am I more invested in staking out that position than staking one out at more shows? Answer as you see fit.

I believe truly that Irreversible was an Atlanta gem. Sure, they were Justin Broadrick copycats, but they made compelling music throughout their lengthy, hiatus-dotted career. To me, they were the best heavy band in Atlanta, but they also clearly reflect my sensibilities the most. They did record a weird nu-metal album, though, for seemingly no reason, at the same exact time they recorded what might be their magnum opus Plucked Up By the Root (with tattooing legend Russ Abbott on banjo). None of that has anything to do with other bands or other people. Why am I like this?

Wiegedood - De Doden Hebben Het Goed

I finally got this record in the mail, and I'm almost certainly over it. It didn't have a vinyl release until November, and I for whatever reason really felt like I needed it on wax. It's good Wolves in the Throne Room black metal from folks in Rise & Fall and other bands. I like it quite a bit. I might've just spent $18 on a record whose sonic timestamp is up, though.

Various Artists - Whatever Nevermind

This compilation from Magic Bullet was better than the In Utero comp, but that makes sense, because Nevermind was the (much) better Nirvana album. Nothing's cover of "Something in the Way" might be in contention for Best Song of the Year, and the Thou tracks (housed on a separate 7") are incredible, but I have no real desire to ever listen to the rest of the album, except maybe the Boris cover. This is an instance where the excitement around the record was both external and intoxicating, rather than internal and noxious.

I just wish Thou would release an entire album of Nirvana covers, old and new.

The Flex - Don't Bother with the Outside World

I've already written about this album in a previous post. It's bad ass. It's just not Top-20 bad ass. I think this is a case of there just being objectively better albums that I've heard since this record came out. It still fuckin' rules, though. LOC 4 Life

Radioactivity - Silent Kill

I'm including Silent Kill for not totally clear reasons. This is another album I really enjoy. It'll probably appear on a lot of Year End lists, or at least it should. I found this album very easy to listen to and also very easy to turn away from. I could listen to this album a dozen times in a row right now, or I could continue not listening to it for months.

I have no idea what that says about me or this record. Shit, do I feel this way about Tremors from Terrible Feelings, too? Noooooooooooo!

Gruesome - Savage Land

I never bought this album. I wonder if I should have? It's super strong classic death metal. Maybe if I had purchased it, it wouldn't be on this list? But then, why didn't I buy it? I definitely listened to it and liked it enough to warrant purchase. Did I actually predict my future-self's feelings about this record correctly? Did I save myself $20? Eh, I'd be okay owning this.


So there's ten albums from this year that all trended in the wrong direction for various reasons, though mostly reasons borne from my egotism and oft-uncritical ear. I often substitute careful analysis for mirthful fandom. That's not a bad thing, but it does create certain issues. I'm as trapped as everyone in knee-jerkery but with different genres. The result is dilution, both of the person I'm attempting to project and of the actual music. Part of me thinks it might be charming to be so ebullient about everything you hear and like. Part of me thinks that's wishful thinking.

At the core, though, is an attempt to start a conversation - even a brief one. I take all of this music in, and I don't know what to do with it other than say, "Hey, listen to this. It's cool." I overdo it because sometimes I'm at a loss for what else to talk about or I just don't want to talk about other stuff. I'd rather trade exhilaration over a band than anything else, because when it happens honestly, it's euphoric and constitutive and foundational. Other times, it's a salutation, a wave or a headnod. I'm just sayin' hey.