three albums

[ttto]

my friend pb, someone who has shown me music for theremin and organ, someone who has introduced me to many a remarkable local public radio station, has had a goal to listen to 100 new (to them) albums this year. so, they asked me for a single album rec.
i had three! for them to choose one of, results at the end

1) rhythm of the saints
track to taste to see if you'd like it: Obvious Child
genre: 1970s music but he's recording in 1990

my friend alyssum has twice said: this would be the highlight of ANY musician's career, except our guy paul made the album graceland also.

PURE WALKIN' AROUND MUSIC. pure enjoyment. both obvious child and born at the right time are an ideal shot/chaser of truly perfect songs. songs to make one's way downtown to

2) horizon
track to taste to see if you'd like it: Soft Openings
genre: doom shoegaze noise

in the winter of early 2024, on valentines day, feeling at the time intensely single and bitter, i impulsively booked a ticket at a bar/concert venue i used to walk by late at night. i showed up, sat drinking through a pointless opener, and then heard this, one of the best shows i have ever seen

imagine these songs playing in a near-empty venue with the tightest band you've ever heard and me and a single twenty-year-old i didn't know losing our entire minds, trying to mosh but there are only two or three of us dancing. the lighting was a single, shockingly bright white floodlight triggered by the drummer's footpedal. it shone out from inside his bass drum. a very seattle vibe

(thanks to writing this i found they're playing a show on friday! you KNOW i will be there)

3) x100pre
track to taste to see if you'd like it: Tenemos Que Hablar
genre: bad bunny reggaeton

i'll keep the original commentary: "tbh you prob already know this one. THEE reggaeton album. much ass has been shaken to to these, but really this whole thing feels like music for when you've been dancing all night and you leave the club and dawn is just breaking"
and then i found out my friend pb, from australia, had no knowledge of the genre of reggaeton. I M SO GLAD TO INTRODUCE THEM. gasolina has played as a soft soundtrack to my west-coast life. i heard it just the other day, walking around.

THE RESULT

pb, a shoegaze enjoyer, an industrial music enjoyer, immediately loved Horizon. their quote:

"I put on Soft Openings to see if it was my vibe this morning and my immediate response was YES; I played 9 seconds before I put on the full album. Listening to the first track I was enjoying the vibes and then I was like, wait, is there gonna be a jump scare? Oh there it is hahaha"