The one hundred and eighty-ninth TV show: #763 Two Days and One Night
Although a preview of Two Days and One Night originally triggered our interest in Korean variety, we ended up watching Infinite Challenge first. We fell in love with it, watch a lot, but took a break to move on to other shows. We missed it, though, so it felt like time to bring Two Days and One Night in.
We weren't sure - it'd be different, so would we like that - but the show quickly won us over. We started from about a year into the first season and it feels like the chemistry is different from the start. The show is looser and Kang Ho-Dong as MC makes for a less constrained feel compared to Jae-Suk's following of roles. Even the interaction with the crew, which feels more (friendly) antagonistic from both sides, works better, especially as it feels like the cast has bonded more over it. There are a lot of fun, unforced moments and having ended on two trips in a row where they clearly changed their plans partway through, it feels more genuine even if a bunch of it is still tightly plotted.
We don't really get the equivalent shows here, but these variety shows really fill a niche that makes it fun viewing, both in its variety and its comfort as you get to know the cast and it did become one of those shows we look forward to watching every week.
The four hundred and sixty-sixth album: #466 Circle Jerks - Group Sex
Group Sex's 15 minute 25 second long album is one of the shortest albums on the list, with a few songs on the song list running longer on their own than this entire album. It's quick, doing its best not to overstay its welcome. The tracks are simply hard and fast punk, with each song feeling reduced to its core. Not that bad an approach really.
The four hundred and sixty-fifth album: #465 Judas Priest - British Steel
I'm surprised with how much the rise of heavy metal has been connecting with me on this run through the ages - I knew I enjoyed the general sound, but British Steel's at times sedated sound works to keep the high energy up without being overwhelming everywhere. It's surprisingly well balanced and I think I want to try to hear more.
The one hundred and sixty-seventh classical recording: #442 Antonin Dvorak - Symphony no. 7
Dvorak's seventh symphony starts big and jubilant, with a larger score that slowly reduces to something more delicate, moving through various movements for a well rounded piece that retains its passion and interest.
The one hundred and fourty-third book: #83 The Hunchback of Notre Dame - Victor Hugo
There's a really good story lurking in this novel... if only it wasn't surrounded by slightly too much period detail and defense of the good old days. Victor Hugo's goal was partially to discuss gothic architecture and make the case for its preservation, but it makes for some long boring chapters where it goes into too much detail about the history of parts of Paris and describing its detail, which means that you get distracted from the story - and I struggled to pick up the thread several times after these diversions. The core story, of various people going through their lives around the Notre Dame as a love story unfolds, is quite interesting. It's a shame that the English title focuses on the hunchback as the French title, Notre-Dame de Paris, it's clearer that he's just a part of the story, and the other characters matter as much. It's what makes it interesting - these separate characters all having their lives intersect and relate to each other, and it creates its deeper plot more effectively that way.
The four hundred and sixty-fourth album: #464 Killing Joke - Killing Joke
There's always going to be a debate about genres, and I would argue that after listening to Motorhead yesterday, Killing Joke reaches similar levels on some of its tracks. There's a loudness to these tracks that, again, doesn't overwhelm, but with such a heavy synthesizer band that the artificial angle really stands out. It's a good sound, different, still being aggressive while having a lot more variety than most.
The four hundred and sixty-third album: #463 Motorhead - Ace of Spades
I found something reassuring in the heavy metal of Ace of Spades - yeah, there's a lot of aggressive energy, but there's a focus to the sound that helps set the tracks a bit more, an increased focus on the vocals in the mix with every member seemingly having a chance to do their bit. It's loud, but it stops before it becomes overwhelming, which really helps each of the tracks come in well. It's a chance from the new wave that dominates the era, and even the post punk sound, and it's a direction that works out well.
The one hundred and sixty-sixth classical recording: #964 Brian Ferneyhough - Funerailles
There's a lack of structure to this piece that makes it disconcerting to listen to, that would feel incredibly weird if we hadn't already covered works from composers like Ravel. It still strains listenability, with the noise sometimes overtaking any semblance of a structure, but it also coalesces into something more coherent from time to time, with the undertones of the chaotic nature of the track still in play. It's a fascinating piece, hard to listen to, but where I feel I'm just about able to comprehend it.
The four hundred and sixty-second album: #462 Echo & the Bunnymen - Crocodiles
It's a fine post punk album. Nothing really hit me, there wasn't anything that seemed that special, but it did the job well enough.
The four hundred and sixty-first album: #461 The Cure - Seventeen Seconds
The Cure brings a dark sound to the table, with a deep, gothic feel to the sound aided by incidental and faint lyrics. They're there, but feels almost superfluous, small contributions to a larger growing piece that focuses on bass sound with minimal drums and few flourishes. It's the soundscapes the music creates that are compelling, far more interesting than any lyrics would bring to it. They become very immersive, more so than I thought I would get to.