Fin

Three Hundred Sixty-Five

Artist - Nirvana
Album - Unplugged in New York
Released - 1994
Label - Geffen
Genre - Alternative Rock

Tracks:
1
About A Girl
Come As You Are
Jesus Doesn't Want Me For A Sunbeam
The Man Who Sold The World
Pennyroyal Tea
Dumb
2
On A Plain
Something In The Way
Plateau
Oh Me
Lake of Fire
All Apologies
Where Did You Sleep Last Night

Well there you go.  365 days of vinyl COMPLETE!  I guess I would like to thank all the people who have encouraged me and all the interesting and phenomenal artists out there who made music.  I had a great access to records thanks to my roommates and also from store hoping all over the place, from the East Coast to the West Coast.  The thing I enjoyed about this was discovering a lot of new music and also finally being able to discover a whole new world of music -- vinyl records.  I will not give up listening and purchasing vinyl records, but I probably won't post as much.  

365 days - I made it.  So here I bring to you Nirvana's Unplugged in New York, one of my FAVORITE RECORDS OF ALL TIME!  This is a record that I can listen to over and over and over no matter what, when and where.  This is the record that has stripped down and changed the way I felt about live music (I was born in the 80's and my musical knowledge basically started in the late 80's).  Anyway, enjoy this masterpiece as I will always continue to enjoy it, for the rest of my life.  I also want to thank the ones who are near and  dear to me.  This has been such an amazing year.  Now it's time to go hide for about a week until I decide to display my top 12 records  from this past year.

Enjoy!

Babies with Laser Eyes

Three Hundred Thirty-Four

Artist - The Flaming Lips & Stardeath and White Dwarfs, Henry Rollins and Peaches
Album - The Dark Side of the Moon
Released - 2010
Label - Warner Bros.
Genre - Rock/Psychedelic Rock/Alternative Rock

Tracks:
Speak to Me
Breathe
On the Run
Time
Breathe Reprise
The Great Gig in the Sky
Money
Us and Them
Any Colour You Like
Brain Damage
Eclipse

Just a short blurb I wanted to write about before getting into this album, which by the way is magnificent.  Today, as I was roaming around the streets of Austin, I realized I have ONE MORE MONTH left if this year long expedition.  To think that it almost seemed like yesterday that I started this and realized it was going to be such an enjoyable trek.  THREE HUNDRED THIRTY-FOUR albums I've listened to from April 20th, 2012 until today.  I can honestly say that this has been a commitment I've enjoyed and I will be sad when it comes to an end.  But don't cry tears of joy now because we have thirty-one records left to enjoy together.

I can't take all the credit for today's choice since it came from the immaculate collection of my roommates.  He gave me a few records to pick from and when I started flipping through them, this one caught my eye.  One, being The Flaming Lips and two, the cover tripped me out because there is a baby on it holding the guitar with laser eyes in the colors of the rainbow.  For those of you who do not know much of who The Flaming Lips are, they are such a fun, trippy, psychedelic and unpredictable band.  For a band as experimental as The Flaming Lips to cover Pink Floyd's 1973 masterpiece The Dark Side of the Moon, you have to tip your hat to them.  I say that because I believe, Pink Floyd's rendition of The Dark Side of the Moon is so perfect and amazing and for a band like The Flaming Lips to cover it, they did a spectacular job.  Incorporating acts like Henry Rollins and Peaches (who is a favorite of mine) with Stardeath and White Dwarfs, this album is a great cover.  Every song, from the first to the last, puts a perfect pitch on each song.  From the trippy sounds to the clear vinyl it came on.

Enjoy!

The Best

Two Hundred Forty-Two

Artist - Nirvana
Album - In Utero
Released - 1993
Label - David Geffen Records
Genre - Alternative Rock

Tracks:
Serve the Servants
Scentless Apprentice
Heart-Shaped Box
Rape Me
Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge on Seattle
Dumb
Very Ape
Milk It
Pennyroyal Tea
Radio Friendly Unit Shifter
Tourette's
All Apologies

I don't even know where to start with this post, considering it is my favorite record of all time.  I guess I can go back to when I first heard it.  It was a little later after the album was released that I got a hold of In Utero, Nirvana's third and FINAL studio album.  I remember being very fascinated with the artwork on the cover and the back of the CD (yes, I first heard this on a CD) because it displayed a bunch of fetuses and a pregnant transparent anatomical mannequin.  When listening to it for the first time, I immediately had to give it a second go because I was floored at what I was listening to.  I went along with the lyrics the second time and instantly fell in love.  There is something about the way Kurt Cobain's voice flows with each lyric and the way it all goes together.  It's a masterpiece and to be labeled the group that forever changed the face of music was a heavy weight on his shoulders.  With Nevermind being their breakthrough album, you can really tell how much pain and anguish was put into this album and the realness of how he really felt his life was.  This album is perfect.  Absolutely perfect.

Enjoy!

A Long Wait

Two Hundred Thirty-Eight

Artist - Nirvana
Album - Almost Everything - The BBC Sessions
Label - Marble Four
Released - 2012
Genre - Grunge/Alternative

Tracks:
Polly
Spank Through
Turn Around
Here I Am
Mollys Lips
Pretty Scary
Drain You
Love Buzz
About A Girl
Dementia 7
Melt Down
Dumb

The Nirvana junkie that I am, coming across this record put me in a curious mood.  As I was flipping through the N's at the record store, this caught my eye.  I debated on buying it, walking around the record store looking at other records but I just kept thinking about this one, so here we are, at my two hundred thirty-eighth post.  It amazes me that, while listening to these songs, some of the titles don't match the real name of the song, but I guess that's a good thing.  A good find, a special listen and something that I can enjoy.

Enjoy!

From the Beginning

Two Hundred Thirty

Artist - Yo La Tengo
Album - And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out
Released - 2000
Label - Matador
Genre - Alternative Rock

Tracks:
1
Everyday
Our Way to Fall
Saturday
Let's Save Tony Orlando's House
2
Last Days of Disco
The Crying of Lot G
You Can't Have It All
Tear are in Your Eyes
3
Cherry Chapstick
From Black to Blue
Madeline
Tired Hippo
4
Night Falls on Hoboken

Enjoy!

Numbers Up

Two Hundred Third

Artist - Blonde Redhead
Album - Fake Can Be Just As Good
Released - 1997
Label - Touch and Go Records
Genre - Alternative Rock

Tracks:
Kasuality
Symphony of Treble
Water
Ego Maniac Kid
Bipolar
Pier Paolo
Oh James
Futurism vs Passeism

The third album by Blonde Redhead, Fake Can Be Just As Good is not fake, but really good.  I suppose turning the title of their words into a statement to justify this record was a point on my part, but if you don't think so, it's doesn't really matter because this is my blog and I can type what I want, within reason of course. This record is what I have been wanting to listen to for some time, since every time I browse through my records to see what I feel like playing for the day, I always debate on weather or not I wanted to listen to this one.  Since today is one of those relaxing/lazy days, I decided it would be perfect.  I literally laid in my bed listening and I thought to myself, "I miss Blonde Redhead.  I need more Blonde Redhead in my life as of late."  It's been quite sometime since I listened to this record and the vibe I get is more like a experimental sound.  The direction of this band and their music is a rarity and Kazu's voice is like icing on the cake.

Enjoy!

Just Take One

One Hundred Eighty-Ninth

Artist - Public Image Ltd.
Album - Album
Released - 1986
Label - Virgin
Genre - Alternative Rock

Tracks:
This Side
FFF
Rise
Fishing
Round
That Side
Bags
Home
Ease

In honor of Fun Fun Fun Fest that is happening this weekend, I bring you Public Image Ltd. (PIL) who will be gracing us with their presence and musical talents this weekend in Austin, Texas.  If you don't know what Fun Fun Fun Fest is, it is a festival (in my opinion, the 2nd best next to SXSW) that takes place in November and has such a great line up every year.  I've been going every year since I've moved here and even once before I moved here.  It used to be just a Saturday and Sunday festival for more of the local Austinites, but I think as the years have gone by, it's getting bigger and bigger and now it's officially a 3-Day Festival.  Though I would choose FFFFest over ACL ANY FRIGGIN DAY, I believe it's more of a low key type of festival, but still fun.  So yeah, PIL will be there and this record, Album, is their fifth studio album.  Sometimes, I feel like when I write these posts, my mind just decides to take it's own path in what to write, so my apologize for the blurb about FFFFest, but I wanted people to know how great I think that festival is (at least I hope it stays great)!

Enjoy!

Minor Patterns

One Hundred Seventy-Sixth

Artist - Disappears

Album - Pre Language

Released - 2012

Label - Kranky

Genre - Alternative Rock/Shoegaze/Indie Rock

Tracks:

Replicate

Pre Language

Hibernation Sickness

Minor Patterns

All Gone White

Joa

Fear of Darkness

Love Drug

Brother Joliene

The third album by Chicago-based band Disappears, Pre Language is a surprise.  I say surprise in a sense that I wasn't sure what to expect when I first listened to them.  Of course, this is yet another band I recently discovered through a recommendation and I'm so happy I took the time out to listen to it.  I love the bass on Fear of Darkness.  I imagine listening to this album and thinking a lot of Sonic Youth (obviously Steve Shelly is drumming on this album) and My Bloody Valentine.  A good comparison, I think, because you have the shoegazing feeling of My Bloody Valentine with an Alternative Rock feel.  Definitely amazing drumming on this album and the tracks are pretty stellar.  Another favorite of mine on this track is All Gone White.  "I see a light/It's coming straight for me/Could be the end/Or just the truth finally" -- a band after my own thought process, my heart, the reason why I do enjoy lyrics as well as the flow of sound against it.

Enjoy!

One Hundred Seventy-First

Artist - My Bloody Valentine
Album - Isn't Anything
Released - 1988
Label - Creation
Genre - Alternative-Rock/Shoegazing

Tracks:
Side One
Soft As Snow (But Warm Inside)
Lose My Breath
Cupid Come
(When  You Wake) You're Still In A Dream
No More Sorry
All I Need
Side Two
Feed Me With Your Kiss
Sueisfine
Several Girls Galore
You Never Should
Nothing Much To Lose
I Can't See It (But I Can't Feel It)

Listening to this record made me think to myself, "My Bloody Valentine is a band  you either love or hate."  When I expressed those words to my roommate, he said, "Isn't it like that with every band?"  You do have those thoughts when you are first listening to music and within the first few minutes of a song you can determine that, but my point with My Bloody Valentine is that their sound is so unique,  one could come across them as a band being very annoying.  Of course, that is my opinion, but I do believe they are a band that has to grow on you and they definitely grown on me.    After listening to them for a few years, I heard experiencing their live performance can be a bit piercing.  With regards to this record, being My Bloody Valentine's full-length debut album.  Isn't Anything really put things on the map for My Bloody Valentine, especially with Kevin Shields impeccable skills.  I always accepted and love Kevin Shields and I think that is why I've always liked My Bloody Valentine.  The band describes this albums sound as "dry ice-piercingly intense guitar drones and hefty nods to miasmic hardcore soup, oozing a contrary trance-spun drone. Noise becomes beauty as feedback is layered over vocals over feedback ad infinitum" (taken from Wikipedia).

If you don't know much about My Bloody Valentine, this is, indeed, a great album to start with.

Enjoy!

X

One Hundred Sixty-Sixth

Artist - X
Album - See How We Are
Released - 1987
Label - Elektra
Genre - Alternative Rock

Tracks:
I'm Lost
You
4th of July
In the time it takes
Anyone can fill your shoes
See How We Are
Left & Right
When it rains...
Holiday Story
Surprise Surprise
Cyrano de Berger's Back

The sixth album by X, See How We Are is a mixture of fast, punk rock with a flow of mellow alternative rock.  If that mix were to make sense to you, you know what I mean.  X is a band that's been around since 1977 and to this day they still tour.  I find it incredibly entertaining when a band with that track record can tour and still play, though I'm sure Exene has had some healthy issues that has prevented her from touring.  I remember last year, they were supposed to make an appearance at Fun Fun Fun Fest in Austin or was it Austin City Limits Music Festival.  I forget which one, but it would've been pretty awesome to see them live. A great song on this record is Cyrano de Berger's Back and I love Exene's voice along with the more than stellar guitar playing.  A nice record to have playing when you're in a laid back mood.

Enjoy!

Where to Begin

My heart melted in 2002 when I heard his angelic voice, read those wonderful lyrics and set eyes on that beautiful face.  My one hundred sixty-third pick:

Artist - Jeff Buckley
Album - Grace
Released - 1994
Label - Columbia
Genre - Alternative Rock, Folk

Tracks:
Mojo Pin
Grace
Last Goodbye
Lilac Wine
So Real
Hallelujah
Lover, You Should've Come Over
Corpus Christi Carol (For Roy)
Eternal Life
Dream Brother

One of my ALL-TIME favorite records, Jeff Buckley's Grace is the epitome of what I love about music and lyrics, HANDS DOWN.  Another artist gone too soon, this record is the only complete studio album by Jeff Buckley.  Let me start by saying when I first heard this record, I swear I had it on repeat for months.  When I make mix CDs for my car, I always date them and I know between 2002 - 2004, Jeff Buckley's music was definitely on heavy rotation.  For that long until today, I've always been in love with his voice and his music.  Lover, You Should've Come Over, I think is what did me in.  How can a voice so angelic and so peaceful be so mesmerizing?  Not only that, Grace, Last Goodbye and Eternal Life round up more of my favorite songs.  A little quote about Eternal Life that I absolutely love, "This is a song about...this is an angry song. Life's too short and too complicated for people behind desks and people making masks to ruin other people's lives, initiating force against other people's lives, on the basis of their income, their color, their class, their religious  beliefs, their whatever..."  If that isn't the truth for you, than I don't know what to say.  A man who speaks his mind through his heart and his music definitely reflects that.

Enjoy!

'Tis the Season

One Hundred Fifty-Sixth

Artist - Ben Folds Five
Album - Ben Folds Five
Released - 1995
Label - Passenger
Genre - Alternative Rock

Tracks:
Jackson Cannery
Philosophy
Julianne
Where's Summer B?
Alice Childress
Underground
Sports & Wine
Uncle Water
Best Imitation of Myself
Video
The Last Polka
Boxing

Ben Folds Five is from Chapel Hill, North Carolina.  You almost don't hear of many bands coming from North Carolina or maybe you do, I could be wrong.  So Ben Folds Five takes away lead guitar and adds more on piano, which I respect because not a lot of bands do that.  Well at least they didn't do it back then, when all Alternative Rock was based on guitar, guitar, guitar.  Listening to this album and this being their debut album, you can hear a young Ben Folds belt out each song is his semi-high pitched voice.  There is this love I have for him and his voice that I can't explain.  Truly a great debut album by a band who had quite a bit of success.

Enjoy!

And I Sit to Read

When I think about my one hundred twenty-fourth pick, I smile from ear to ear.  Here it is, one of many albums that takes me to a happy place:

Artist - Radiohead

Album - OK Computer

Released - 1997

Label - Parlophone/Capitol

Genre - Alternative Rock

Tracks:

Airbag

Paranoid Android

Subterranean Homesick Alien

Exit Music (For A Film)

Let Down

Karma Police

Fitter Happier

Electioneering

Climbing Up The Walls

No Surprises

Lucky

The Tourist

Radiohead are one of those bands that you either you get or you don't.  You either like or don't like, or even you can like one song.  Regardless of that, this album is such a sensational album.  Why did I use sensational you might ask?  Well it's a bit of experimental, a little bit of rock and a little bit mellow.  So many combinations in one with the sensitive sound of Thom Yorke's voice.  I really miss music from the 90's, a lot. I know we must grow and evolve our musical horizons, but it doesn't get better than this album.  So many memories are tied into this album.  Some good ones, some not so good ones.  I think one song on this album that triggers those memories is Karma Police.  Maybe some people can relate, but to me, that song really gets me all emotional.  Not emotional in a sense that I get sad, just thinking about everything that ties into that song, those lyrics.  Another song I feel like that about is Lucky, but I feel that song is a lot deeper than anyone can know.  But it could just be me.

Enjoy!

Exactly What I Was Thinking

To say it's been a long long long long time since I've listened to my eighty-second pick is an understatement.  But much to my surprise, in the illustrious collection of vinyl records that is at my disposal, here's to you.

Artist - Minutemen
Album - Double Nickels on the Dime
Released - 1984
Label - SST
Genre - Alternative Rock/Hardcore Punk/Post-Punk


Tracks:
Side D
Anxious Mo-Fo
Theatre is the Life of You
Viet Nam
Cohesion
It's Expected I'm Gone
#1 Hit Song
Two Beads at the End
Do You Want New Wave or Do You Want The Truth?
Don't Look Now
Shit From an Old Notebook
Mature Without Man
One Reporter's Opinion
Side Mike
Political Song for Michael Jackson to Sing
Maybe Partying WIll Help
Toadies
Retreat
The Big Foist
God Bows to Math
Corona
The Glory of Man
Take 5, D.
My Heart and the Real World
History Lesson - Part Two
Side George
You Need the Glory
The Roar of the Masses Could Be Farts
Mr. Robot's Holy Orders
West Germany
The Politics of Time
Themselves
Please Don't Be Gentle With Me
Nothing Indeed
No Exchange
There Ain't Shit on T.V. Tonight
This Ain't No Picnic
Spillage
Side Chaff
Untitled Song for Latin America
Jesus and Tequila
June 16th
Storm in my House
Martin's Story
Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love
Doctor Wu
Little Man with a Gun in his Hand
The World According to Nouns
Love Dance

An extensive record from the alternative punk trio Minutemen, Double Nickels on the Dime is their third album.  From San Pedro, California, most might be familiar with their infamous song Corona that was used - and is probably still used - for the show Jackass on MTV.  But regardless, this album came out in 1984, waaaaaay before Jackass was even a show.  I believe popular shows that have pretty amazing intro songs tend to make a bands fan base a little bit more, hyped.  But this is a really great record, so go out, play it on your record player and if you don't have it, go buy it -- NOW!!  You won't be sorry.

Enjoy!

Indescribable

My favorite
Seventy-Seventh pick
Love

Artist - Nirvana
Album - Live at the Palace, Melbourne, Australia 1.2.1992
Presented by Solo, Live Wire, Show #68 Week of October 13


Side One
Aneurysm
Drain You
School
Sliver
Side Two
About a Girl
Come As You Are
Lithium
Breed
Side Three
Polly
Lounge Act
In Bloom
Love Buzz
Side Four
Smells Like Teen Spirit
Druid's Jam
Negative Creep
On a Plain
Blew

A rare find that I stumbled upon at Waterloo Records here in Austin, Texas.  A must by, with my friend's encouragement and here I am, displaying it as my seventy-seventh pick.  I waited a day before listening to this after I bought it, but I couldn't stop thinking about it, so here we are.  A live promo of Nirvana performing in Melbourne, Australia in 1992, which is about the time their career started to take off after releasing Nevermind.  I'm very satisfied with this album and after listening to it, it made me realize why I have so much LOVE for Nirvana.

Enjoy!

All Things Come to an End

Indeed the truth is to be told.  All things come to an end, either good or bad, but eventually nothing lasts forever.  Here's to great music and my fifty-third pick:

Artist - My Bloody Valentine
Album - Loveless
Released - 1991
Label - Creation
Genre - Alternative Rock, Shoegazing, Noise Pop, Dream Pop, Indie Pop


Tracks:
a Side
only shallow
loomer
touched
to here knows when
when you sleep
i only said
b side
come in alone
sometimes
blown a wish
what you want
soon

Loveless is My Bloody Valentine's second album and by the looks of it, Kevin Shields wrote and co-produced this record.  For those of you who do not know Kevin Shields, I suggest you become familiar with him because he is magnificent and therefore this record deserves that much more credit.  Come in Alone is such an epic song, the vocals, the guitar, the sound is just amazing.  It almost puts you in a trance.  Also, another great song is Sometimes, which happens to be on the soundtrack of one of my favorite movies Lost in Translation.  To be quite honest, I think Kevin Shields had a part in the music for the soundtrack.  Just amazing, simply amazing is how I sum up this album.  Such a great band that I never had the pleasure of seeing live but I heard their live sound is quite piercing.  So piercing that a lot of people wear earplugs.

Enjoy!