The six hundred forty-third album: #643 Firehose - Fromohio
Fromohio (or as it's styled, fROMOHIO) is a short alt rock album that has fourteen short tracks with quite different impacts. You rush through the sounds quite quickly and for the most part feature quite breezy rock tracks.
The two hundred and thirty-eighth classical recording: #1000 Wolfgang Rihm - Jagden und Formen
As one of the most modern pieces on the list, this feels like it follows a number of those examples - sounding hurried and discordant, not always pleasant to listen to. There's not much here for leaning back and listening, the anxiety for the world feels present in the performance. It's an era in classical music that just doesn't agree with me, I prefer something a bit more traditional.
The two hundred and thirty-third TV show: #36 Maverick
It's worth remembering that movies and serials were being made long before TV series became a thing. That means that, for a number of different series, there are enough examples on how to pace your stories, especially in established genres like the westerns Maverick draws on. While I wouldn't watch all of the episodes - even more when I consider a bunch are rewritten from scripts for other series, so there's some duplication there - the semi anthology format with only one of the leads appearing as repeating characters does a lot to keep it all fresh.
The six hundred and forty-second album: #642 Spacemen 3 - Playing With Fire
The recreational drug-fuelled rock track of Spacemen 3 flirts with different types of rock. A track like Revolution feels as punk as it can get, while Suicide is an extended hard rock riff and Lord Can You Hear Me is a sipmle ballad. It's often more relaxed than other tracks, with a definite stoner vibe, but there are moments where it feels more harrowing too, like in the aforementioned Suicide.
The one thousand and eighth song: Super Bass – Nicki Minaj
It still feels odd to move from Queen Latifah's debut album yesterday to today's modern rap song, where the rap is at a speed no music was in at the time. I don't love Nicki Minaj's style, but musically this sounds good, the skill is there and it's impressive how it all fits together into a really great and memorable track
The one thousand and ninth song: 212 – Azaelia Banks
On the other side, Azaelia Banks' mechanical rap goes the other way. The lyrics are clear, the references come often and the mechanical beat stands out against the more flowing style. It's precise, in a way that works quite well.
The one thousand and tenth song: Written On The Forehead – PJ Harvey
The slow build up of this pop song focuses on PJ Harvey's light vocals, tuned to sound disconcerting as it addresses a world on fire. It embraces a fatalistic view on the world, in a way that's unsettling but also attractive.
The one thousand and eleventh song: Video Games – Lana Del Rey
The dreamy, distant sound of Lana Del Rey's voice sets the atmosphere for the song, a languid sound that sets up a relationship that's unsatisfying but also comfortable, something sweet but not in a way that feels entirely right. Are you happy there? It's just not clear, but the song sounds so seductive still.
The one thousand and twelfth song: Holocene – Bon Iver
Even more ethereal, Holocene doesn't really do much, but its sparse instruments, soft vocals and distant sound create a distant atmosphere that sets a beautiflu, longing sound. It's small but also just lovely.
The one thousand and thirteenth song: Death To My Hometown – Bruce Springsteen
After decades, Bruce Springsteen can still send a message, as this seems to have, one that continues to comment on mid-western American life. It's removed from me - both the setitng and the impact of the music - but the power is still in there, even more with the folk bend this track takes it back down with.
The one thousand and fourteenth song: Happy – Pharrell Williams
Pharrell Williams' feels simpler, but also gives you a song that can have its own impact. It doesn't feel like there are many songs just about being happy - especially in this era - but it is such a simple tracks that gets you clapping along and feeling a bit better - more than doing what the track sets out to do.
The one thousand and fifteenth song: Digital Witness – St. Vincent
St. Vincent's art pop style works to its advantage here to create a new sound. The song combines an electronic pop sound, a lot of brass and lyrics that don't allude to as much to create an elegant and enticing mix of a song.
The one thousand and sixteenth song: Two Weeks – FKA Twigs
The dark backing track for this song creates a counter balance to FKA Twigs' light vocals, supporting the anger of the lyrics that wouldn't otherwise come through. It sounds like it could be sweet, but the amount of swearing in this plays counter to that. It's a large, gorgeous composition that's at work here.
The one thousand and seventeenth song: Lazaretto – Jack White
There's a lot of chaos in this rock song, throwing everything at it to create a noise that doesn't feel like it belongs in this era with a mix of styles that it keeps veering between. In the end, it does feel like it's too much - without anything to hone in on, there's just nothing to grab you and it just becomes a lot of noise aimed at you.
The one thousand and eighteenth song: Eyes To The Wind – The War On Drugs
This is a simple, effective rock song, a bit poppy, some folk rock style lyrics but with music that has a bit more to it, and this feels like just a pleasant sound to listen to.
The one thousand and nineteenth song: Hunger Of The Pine – Alt-J
Starting off with just the vocals and beeps to give a rhythm, Hunger of the Pine slowly builds its elements until it gets its full, impressive instrumentation going - just those bits extras, but not too much. The song features a Miley Cyrus sample, whose bold sound contrasts aggressively with the smooth and subdued regular vocals, in a way that sets up a conversation in its own way. While complex, the track never leans into that, and it just feels like it all makes sense together.
The one thousand and twentieth song: Shake It Off – Taylor Swift
Shake It Off is a hit for a reason, it's a strong positive message that alludes to darker sides, but moves past it - and encourages you to move past it. It's an engaging sound that sticks with you.
The one thousand and twenty-first song: FourFiveSeconds – Rihanna, Kanye West and Paul McCartney
This is a pretty straight forward pop song, made by some big names, but I'm not sure if I felt the power coming through from this track to the point where I'd want it to.
The six hundred and forty-first album: #641 Queen Latifah - All Hail the Queen
After the rise of rap is established, Queen Latifah comes in as one of the main female rappers of the age. She's strongly political and even surrounded by the male members of her crew, she stands out strongly, as the best voice in the mix. She can rap and sing and there's a unity to the feel of the songs even as there are a lot of collaborations included. Building on soul music and including a lot of dance influences, it creates an album that has a definite impact.
The two hundred and thirty-seventh classical recording: #204 Ludwig van Beethoven - Piano Trio in B flat major, op. 97, "Archduke"
These are some fairly soft and sensitive pieces, hitting you quite emotionally on a dreary winter's day. There's a lovely flow to the music, leading you through a dreamy soundscape. It might not be the most ambitious piece, but it's such a joy to listen to.
The two hundred and thirty-second TV show: #197 Welt am Draht
Twin Peaks and The Kingdom have given me a good start at the mystery genre, together with a number of other shows and movies, and for that reason Welt am Draht gave ma a lot of the same feelngs. The similarity to Black Mirror in its point of view is notable (without spoiling this series), which meant we were probably a bit further ahead than most viewers, but then, that might depend on different levels of media savviness.
The first half is the most interesting part, as the suspense builds to a big reveal. It follows it up with a more tepid second half, which goes between long drawn out, too artsy conversations and then action pieces that feel disconnected and at that point unengaging. It tries to be a character study without a character that works, and an action movie with a lack of action. It's a bit predictable, and it feels like it needed more exploration of these themes before they would have had the language to pull this off.
The one thousand and second song: Feels Like We Can Only Go Backwards – Tame Impala
As a deliberate throwback to an earlier psychedelic rock era, this hits a gentle note that just feels like a breezy run through. It's not inconsequential, but there's less going on that makes it feel sweeter and simpler, a nice drift through things.
The one thousand and third song: Angels – The xx
Even for an indie rock band, this is such a sparse ballad - not much pushing it forward, more drifting again as a sweet and simple love song that celebrates its simplicity.
The one thousand and fourth song: Doom and Gloom – The Rolling Stones
This is a classic Stones song that could have fit in the seventies as much as it does here. It's a straight forward rock song, sound effects and all, showing how they can still bring that sound.
The one thousand and fifth song: Where Are We Now? – David Bowie
I don't know whether to read too much into this, but Where Are We Now sounds incredibly frail - from Bowie's nearly broken vocals to the memories of a past visit, it's a track that feels like a final hit, a good bye to a better time that, considering it was one of the last tracks released before his death, fits that pattern.
The one thousand and sixth song: Drunk In Love – Beyoncé feat. Jay-Z
As a power couple collaboration, this feels like it should be reaching certain heights, but this might be the first track where I feel I might say I'm too old for it - the tapping beat doesn't work for me and the sound is just as often too off putting, the house beat not meshing with Beyonce's vocals or anything else.
The one thousand and seventh song: My Silver Lining – First Aid Kit
This folk rock track suits me a lot better, although that might be from familiarity as well. It's memorable, got a good tune, takes in some embellishments but not too many, and musically it's got the right, straight forward build.
The two hundred and thirty-first TV show: #13 Adventures of Superman
Dramas from the fifties tend to be a chore, with action/adventures shows like the Adventures of Superman usually getting to be quite formulaic and simple, with no serialization possible. Here, though, it was more promising. The pilot episode sets up a version of the normal backstory, but takes it time to investigate the politics behind it. It's surprisingly deep and effective. It holds up - the plots generally stay interesting, with a basis in science, and following more, but you can see a decline in later seasons, especially as it switches to colour. It's not something to watch everything off, but it's more than enough to dip your toe into.