Haven't been around here much lately, save for the occasional lurking, but here are a few recent acquisitions of note. If I were to listen to everything I've gotten since my last post in this thread, well, it might take an entire page of posts. Starting with the most recent:
Ought -
More Than Any Other Day (2014)
When I first put it on I was thinking it going to be mostly post-hardcore and didn't see why the people of RYM had voted it as Art Punk and Post-Punk. The Art Punk definitely came though and the post-hardcore faded but it's still present throughout, at the very least for mood/atmosphere. Not sure about post-punk though. Anyway an interesting record that I'll need to keep in rotation as it's somewhat complex.
New Order -
Movement (1981)
I've been a casual fan of New Order since the 90s, with "Blue Monday" being my favorite dance song ever. Never really explored Joy Division until recently, despite being into a lot of darker and depressing music there was just something uninteresting about the bits I heard. But back to New Order - I liked certain songs from them but often found myself thinking that Bernard Sumner was a really bad singer, like cringe-worthy on far too many tracks. So that was that - I had a Best Of disc from the mid 90s and I didn't even like all of that. Having recently explored some Joy Division (not quite listened to enough to really like), I thought I'd try this too and it's far better than later New Order, and more accessible than Joy Division. Win.
Brian Eno & David Byrne -
My Life in the Bush of Ghosts (1981)
It's odd that I never listened to this until recently. I'm more of an early Eno fan (the vocal albums) and I do like Talking Heads, so you would think this is something that would have been on my radar. It didn't enter my radar until the 2006 reissue, yet it still took me until this year to check it out. I put it on while walking to the train last week, and I was blown away instantly with the music and sample-like vocals - something I love in a lot of first and second-wave industrial. So hell yeah, glad I got this.
The Sods -
Under en sort sol (1980)
I was digging through the best of 1980 list on RYM (I'm doing a weekly top 10 of the year list that started with 1965), and the cover caught my attention. Quite solid post-punk from a band I'd never heard of. I recommend this.
Moonface -
Julia With Blue Jeans On (2013)
I never was much into Wolf Parade, truthfully I hated Spencer Krug's voice for a long time. Then I eventually started checking out his stuff, including Sunset Rubdown and then his Moonface project. His 2012 album Heartbreaking Bravery was pretty good but I didn't spin it that much, probably too mellow. This one though, is more intense, and very beautiful. His vocal style is more up-front, which would probably have annoyed me before, but here I like it and it seems very heart-felt rather than "listen to me I'm so weird and indie" which is the reason I didn't like him in the first place.
Cayucas -
Bigfoot (2013)
A fun but rather brief Indie Pop album that reminds me a bit of Generationals, Peter Bjorn and John, and Vampire Weekend combined. But to me it feels more consistent than any album I've heard from those bands, maybe due partly to it's brevity. Good fun spring/summer album.
Water Liars -
Water Liars (2014)
Indie Folk/Rock record that reminds me a little bit of Blitzen Trapper with a little bit of Built to Spill injected. Only played it a few times over the past month but it made an impression. If I wasn't always trying to listen to so much stuff I'm sure I would be playing this more.
Mac DeMarco -
Salad Days (2014)
I really liked his last album, and based on his very laid back, I don't care kind of vibe, I wasn't sure if his next would end up being too low-fi and dumb or if I would enjoy it. Turns out, I enjoy it just as much. It shows just the right amount of maturity and a bit more intricacies in the music. Been enjoying this one regularly.
Protomartyr - Under Color of Official Right (2014)
I learned of this band last year and downloaded their album
No Passion All Technique from 2012. I didn't take to it right away so it didn't stay in rotation, seemed maybe too dirty/garagey for my tastes. Their new one appeared on my radar, loved the cover art so I thought I'd see if their sound had evolved. I find this one far more accessible, still getting to know it though. But the replay value is higher.
I've also downloaded all kinds of early punk rock and post-punk as I've explored each year in an effort to compile my top 10 lists. There's all the stuff I know already, but I'm always curious about all the other stuff I never got around to hearing or have avoided for one way or another. Many albums from Ramones, Sex Pistols, The Clash, Iggy Pop, Pere Ubu, etc. Some I've listened to several times, some just once so far, and my listening queue is getting longer and longer as each year (week) goes by. I'm going insane.