The six hundred and thirty-sixth album: #636 Faith No More - The Real Thing

It feels like Epic represents this album quite well: A metal track that features rap more heavily than other related bands were doing at this time, with a good variation between aggression and more considered ballads. Lyrically, there's a decent amount of depth when it wants to be, but it's willing to be up front and angry as well. The variation is just enough to keep your interest without swinging away from its strengths too much.

The nine hundred and seventy-second song: Please Read The Letter - Robert Plant & Alison Krauss

This is a gentle, accessible folk song that is a lovely, sweet love/break up song - there's a lot of kindness in the sense of break up that plays through this.

The nine hundred and seventy-third song: Crank That (Soulja boy) - Soulja Boy

Having just covered an eighties hip hop track, the contrast with more modern rap stands out. There's that classic party feeling and the steel pan beat stands out as old fashioned, but it runs faster with more slang that you wouldn't have gotten back then, but all feels more accessible and interesting now. It's a modern song that works with what we have now.

The nine hundred and seventy-fourth song: My People - The Presets

The electronic sound of My People is heavy, pushing down in a way that features with the lyrics but also gives more bass than you might otherwise get. It's a good dance track, but as someone who's not into the genre, it gets to be too much.

The nine hundred and seventy-fifth song: Flux - Bloc Party

Though billed as a rock song, Flux is pretty much fully electronic, a rapid beat underlying some auto tuned vocals to complete that feeling. At this point, the artificiality feels a bit much and I think it gets done better, but it's interesting how the genre is getting pushed here.

The nine hundred and seventy-sixth song: My Moon My Man - Feist

This is the pop era my partner listens a lot to, so it was a pleasant surprise to recognise this. It's a lovely happy track, accessible and quite sweet to listen to, and it's one that works for mostly any mood to give you what you need.

The nine hundred and seventy-seventh song: D.A.N.C.E. - Justice

Sometimes guest vocals can steal the show, and here the chorus is infectious, sang so it makes me happy every time, while the upbeat music comes along to that to really give it body. It feels like one of those perfect packages.

The nine hundred and seventy-eighth song: re;Stacks - Bon Iver

There's so much sadness in this song, a heartbreak that plays throughout, and the vocals reflect that to a painful degree, really giving you that feeling of heartbreak. It's incredibly effective, hitting you where it hurts, and it's lovely for it.

The nine hundred and seventy-ninth song: With Every Heartbeat - Robyn with Kleerup

Another one that I've heard a lot, there's a real power in this heartbreak song - the determination to move on from something and not look back is strong throughout this track and the energy of the music and strong vocals reflect that. It references the pain, but does much more than sit in it.

The nine hundred and eightieth song: Someone Great - LCD Soundsystem

As another electronic rock song, there's an interesting mix of sounds at work, light tinkles with a dark beat that feels a bit unsettling. It sticks with you and compels you, but it's not something I can entirely get into.

The nine hundred and eighty-first song: Paper Planes - M.I.A.

There's an interesting contrast in this between the verses and chorus of this song. The lyrics are lovely, with some aggressive lyrics but an ongoing flow. Then as it goes into the chorus, it's a more directed sound, interspersed with gunshots and slot machine sounds. It feels like a statement, though one I'm not sure I can pull out of the track myself, but it's strong even so.

The two hundred and twenty-eighth TV show: #25 The Benny Hill Show

There's a definite issue with comedy not always aging well - falling behind in what we enjoy, with a number of jokes no longer feeling as funny. It's fair to say that Benny Hill's semi-nude chases are an example of this, together with some stereotyping that don't get a delivery that works these days. What is more interesting is that it's not just times moving on, but that watching episodes from later seasons, the comedy seems to regress - more focused on "I can't do", doubling down on the things that work less and overall less funny and interesting - which is something that happened without me watching year on year. Early on, it's an enjoyable insight in comedy at the time, but it changes for the worse after that.

The six hundred and thirty-fifth album: #635 Public Enemy - It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back

At the end of the eighties, it seems like hip hop has settled into its groove of party music with, if it wants, a message included in it. Here it mostly addresses larger issues in the US's political landscape. It does both really well, setting up up a statement in a scratch and sample heavy set up, with a strong rap throughline that binds it all together. The scratching and tricks get a bit much and I wish the album would settle down more often to focus on the message rather than the sound, but it does feel like there is a vision underneath it.

The two hundred and thirty-fourth classical recording: #814 Dmitri Shostakovich - Piano Quintet

This gorgeous piece goes mystical and deep, joyful and fast, and gets a number of different sounds that keep sitting around. It's a lovely piece that's got its motifs but stays abstract enough to just enjoy.

The nine hundred and sixty-second song: Little Bear - Guillemots

The classical-feeling opening of Little Bear gives way to a small and tender song, hitting your feelings from the start and passing along its tender emotions. It's not too simple, but stays focused in a way that keeps to the song's strengths.

The nine hundred and sixty-third song: Consolation Prizes - Phoenix

On the other side we've got a throwback rock song that would have fit as well in the sixties, but has the indie upbeat feel that fits in with the 2000s as well. It's nothing complicated, but upbeat and happy enough to work.

The nine hundred and sixty-fourth song: Not Ready to Make Nice - Dixie Chicks

There's a lot of anger in the refrain of this song, but there's also a lot of resistance and sadness in it, an unwillingness to make nice just because people say you should. Considering the inciting incident, based around their criticism of George W. Bush, it makes a lot of sense, and it's a standout song in how it stands up for their values.

The nine hundred and sixty-fifth song: Crazy - Gnarls Barkley

Modern soul really can hit you in a way that earlier iterations of the music can't - Crazy has a focus on the dance, on the changes of lyrics, and on creating something that feels a lot more contemporary. The vocals lead you through, strong and clear, but the various stylings are supported incredibly well by the shifts in music and sound, including electronic 'choirs' to invoke that older feeling.

The nine hundred and sixty-sixth song: Love Is a Losing Game - Amy Winehouse

This isn't the first Amy Winehouse song I'm covering, and it feels like a lot of it still applies here. The song is more subdued, the lyricsfeeling a bit odd in that setting, but you get that feeling of a lounge singer in a smoky bar singing as the night drags on. It's well performed, but perhaps not at the top for me.

The nine hundred and sixty-seventh song: Ain’t No Other Man - Christina Aguilera

Christina Aguilera's signature opening growls set the tone for this track, an impressively strong vocal performance that breaks through the thirties atmosphere of the music and lifts it to something more impressive and stronger. It's a strong song, doing what you expect it to, but doing it so well. You just can't ignore her voice.

The nine hundred and sixty-eighth song: Supermassive Black Hole - Muse

The uncertain sound of the vocals belies the strength of this song - it creates questions about what's going on, but the song knows it's doing that. It's a heavy rock sound with an intense refrain, while Matt Bellamy's vocals snake their way through them to connect them. There's a lot of layers, but each of them does their own thing well to contribute to something different than what any of them might try to do.

The nine hundred and sixty-ninth song: We Are Your Friends - Justice vs. Simian

When you have a nine minute song, a two minute build up before you get into the real song is forgivable, and even after those two minutes it takes another to really drop, with the lyrics coming in at that point. It is a long electronic dance track still, with Simian's sounds being comparatively rare and mostly just supporting it. That's probably what becomes tricky: while there's a lot of good skill in here, it last too long for anything to really have its impact work as well.

The nine hundred and seventieth song: Pop the Glock - Uffie

Is this the point where autotune starts getting used for artistic moments? Uffie's basic vocals are simple and flat, but the distortion in the background add a lot of deliberate music and tonal differences. It's a bit disconcerting, further moved along because of the gun-focused lyrics and sounds of gunfire that punctuate a song that otherwise seems to try to be sensual. It's quite impressive how it's trying to be a bit off putting, but it also works quite well.

The nine hundred and seventy-first song: Ovunque proteggi - Vinicio Capossela

I wasn't expecting an Italian folk song to appear anymore, but this is a strong entry in a genre that probably is snowed under even in its original country. It's a simple and straightforward love song that doesn't do too much but works well with what it does. 

The six hundred and thirty-fourth album: #634 Jane's Addiction - Nothing's Shocking

There's a lot of angry hard rock in this album, possibly reflecting the band atmosphere, and the hard rock is the type that blends together a bit - even the lyrics feel non-distinct and somewhat unnecessary. The tracks do have a bit of variation, but not too much, and it feels like the band gets lost in not doing too much.

The nine hundred and fifty-second song: Chicago - Sufjan Stevens

Being married to a big fan of Sufjan Stevens, I've heard and loved a lot of his music as well, including a great live show. Chicago is one of those great pieces, going between large, swelling choruses and small vocals with some accompaniment. It's just lovely to listen to and it works so well to just set that mood. It's a little bit of perfection in what it does.

The nine hundred and fifty-third song: Todo cambia - Mercedes Sosa

It would be hard to beat Sufjan Stevens, but taken on its own Mercedes Sosa gies a lovely performance, a Spanish chanson with some traditional instruments and sticking to what we knew. It's sensitive, sweet and simple, and works as one of those works that's not tied to its time as many other songs are, with a sensitivity that comes through strongly.

The nine hundred and fifty-fourth song: I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor - Arctic Monkeys

And here we go with a real shift in sounds. We covered a lot of the rock of this era last year, but there's a specific sound to the Arctic Monkeys' sound that comes through - a clear accent, a real garage feel to the sound, something quite unpretentious and simple in lyrics and sound, in a way that lets the message stand out while having a real dance rock vibe still. It's nothing as complicated as it could be, but that's what makes it work.

The nine hundred and fifty-fifth song: Hard to Beat - Hard-Fi

I do think Hard-Fi's music connects more with me - a more polished, electronic sound that brings its structure in more. While Hard to Beat isn't the track of theirs that I remember the most, it works really well and makes for a rock song that sets its message and moves along.

The nine hundred and fifty-sixth song: Fix You - Coldplay

While Coldplay is now one of the biggest bands of the current era, and we hadn't had a song from their first two albums, you can see why this is the track we're covering. There's something sad in this, something reassuring, a sound of grief and comfort that carries its emotion to you in a way that's rare, an example of how deep music can touch you. It's an absolutely worthwhile track.

The nine hundred and fifty-seventh song: Let’s Make Love and Listen to Death from Above - CSS

This is a surprising synth pop album, with a lot of synthesizer sounds with similarly mechanical-sounding vocals that create a big dance track. It's a bit odd, but it works.

The nine hundred and fifty-eighth song: Best of You - Foo Fighters

The loud aggression of this anthem creates a feeling of encouragement as well - drawing out the best. It's a strong set of vocals and a strong sound and message, where it all blends together to do that well, and the statement it makes still stands strong.

The nine hundred and fifty-ninth song: Hoppipolla - Sigur Ros

Not really dispelling Iceland's musical reputation, there's a fairy tale feeling to this track, an ethereal sound with quiet lyrics and a slow progression. The builds are slow and deliberate, never meaning to unleash but instead to soar. It's a perfect little story that got compiled well.

The nine hundred and sixtieth song: Hope There’s Someone - Anohni & The Johnsons

Hope There's Someone is a simple, sensitive song, a lament of loneliness that pierces you and hits that hard. Anohni's emotional vocals carry the song, the piano welling up occasionally but not doing as much to set the mood, and the whole sound reverberates and hits you deep.

The nine hundred and sixty-first song: Welcome to Jamrock - Damian Marley

We're ending on a fair reggae album. Damian Marley's song doesn't stray into very new territory, but it's produced and set up well enough that it works as a track even if I'm not overly fond of it.

The six hundred and thirty-third album: #633 Dwight Yoakam - Buenos Noches from a Lonely Room

Although there are some other flourishes, this is mostly a pretty straight up country album, with the lyrical content that sometimes entails - the violence discussed feels a bit disturbing, and it's a bit too woe-is-me in other places to feel like it pulls it off - it lacked genuineness in what it's trying to say. 

The two hundred and thirty-third classical recording: #869 John Cage - Sonatas and Interludes

We're going back into the avantgarde - just over an hour of various short works, played on a "prepared piano", creating 45 notes using bolts, piece of rubber and an eraser. You can tell it's different from the start, the sounds aren't quite right and are a bit unsettling. It creates a beauty and coherency from that you wouldn't quite expect from it. For a lot of the work, it remains small and sparse, a very attractive small sound that draws your attention, even if sometimes through confusion.