Jeroen's Micro Blog

September 2026

• The seven hundred and twenty-ninth album: #729 Pantera - Vulgar Display of Power The powerful metal sound of Pantera might have reached its peak here, its aggressive riffs and raspy, loud lyrics creating a hostile feeling that permeates an anger at the world and its injustices. It's a set of songs following a similar feeling, barely broken up by anything else. It's a sound that works, but there's places where it feels like it's repeating the same trick over and over.

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• The seven hundred and twenty-eighth album: #728 Ice Cube - The Predator I've been critical of gangsta rap before, and Ice Cube's work in particular hasn't connected with me. I'm not connecting with the worldview, I'm not connecting with the sound, I'm not connecting with the violence, and those are all things this album doubles down on. I get that the genre is important, but it's clearly not for me.

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• The seven hundred and twenty-seventh album: #727 Tori Amos - Little Earthquakes Little Earthquakes is a sensitive album, with Tori Amos' gentle voice and piano skills on full display as she performs these wonderful pop tracks. They are gentle in places, with the occasional rock guitar and ongoing jazz moments. She's up there with the other great female singer-songwriters, matching Kate Bush with her performances but a clearly different approach to production and sound. It's a wonderful production that's been lovely to escape into for most tracks, with some personal, harder to listen to tracks to follow that as well.

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• The two hundred and fifty-ninth classical recording: #232 Ludwig van Beethoven - Diabelli Variations There's a real skill in taking a known waltz and, like this, building it in several variations, recognisably the same base but with something different in each of them. I found it really enjoyable, with a good mix of variations that kept me interested throughout.

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• The seven hundred and twenty-sixth album: #726 Ministry - Psalm 69 After yesterday's comments about albums of your youth, Psalm 69 belongs to a genre I wasn't exposed to for some time after. The metal music is intense, going hard and feeling like it's more for the connoisseurs instead of the general public. Indeed, for me I think it's too much of the same blasting music, something I really need to be in the mood for to enjoy. It feels like it does what it wants to well, but this is far enough away that I wish I could get something a bit more melodic.

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• The seven hundred and twenty-fifth album: #725 Stereo MCs - Connected One of the ways these albums start to make sense to me is by explaining what the youth of the time was into. Now, I'm still a bit too young for this to truly be my growing up music (and I always went in a different direction anyway), but aside from clearly recognising the title track, the mix of genres shows that too. There's the (British) hip hop, the dance track playing in the background and fairly simple lyrics. I enjoy the interpretation at times, but there's also a repetitiveness that mars some of the songs. It's not quite there for me, but there are so many elements to it that I enjoy that it's still really worthwhile.

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• The seven hundred and twenty-fourth album: #724 Sonic Youth - Dirty Sonic Youth's Dirty gives us a welcome hit of rock, a loud and high energy set of tracks that work well for an early morning to wake you up. There's a lot of anger in some of the tracks, but also a more upbeat sound in others and a good variation in general. More than anything, it's a good expression of emotion in a way that feels like it has quite a lot of options. It's still quite classical in its rock sound in places and punky in others, but it's fair to say the blend works really well.

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• The two hundred and fifty-eighth classical recording: #839 Aaron Copland - Appalachian Spring There's something especially tender about this ballet. The music required for a ballet tends to be gentler anyway, for the dance requirements, but here it's especially sweet, the tenderness of spring and budding of flowers coming through in the sound of the work. It's a gorgeous, deep piece that stays worth it.

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• The seven hundred and twenty-third album: #723 Tom Waits - Bone Machine Tom Waits' dark, deep vocals remain as evocative as ever, the blues and folk rock creating a messy composition of sounds that get anchored by his unique voice. It's a strong sound, bizarre and experimental, but one that leads to an enthralling album that will keep your attention throughout.

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• The seven hundred and twenty-second album: #722 Sugar - Copper Blue The pop rock of Sugar is incredibly accessible and adept at giving you what you want. It hits you with a powerful rock riff, has some decent and accessible lyrics with some edge to them, but it doesn't stray too far into metal, it doesn't get too poppy, it's at a nice balance of sounds that feels like it'll easily appeal without compromising on the sound or vision. It's just really good at achieving the sound it wants, without feeling forced to conform.

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• The seven hundred and twenty-first album: #721 Spiritualized - Lazer Guided Melodies Spiritualized's debut album is very chill, like a more relaxed psychedelic rock album that from time to time turns ambient and feels designed to lure you to sleep in a lot of places. It's a dreamy journey to somewhere as non-specific as dreams can be. 

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August 2026

• The two hundred and fifty-first TV show: #55 Laramie Another western, and one that feels even more toothless somehow. There's the same good versus bad guys, trying to do the right thing, some vague misogyny and not a whole lot to care for. What's missing here that only Bonanza really did well were the personalities, characters that weren't just cookie cut, and instead I don't feel much connection with any of the regular. Sure, I don't feel inclined to try much harder, but I'm not sure how much more the show has anyway.

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• The seven hundred and twentieth album: #720 The Pharcycle - Bizarre Ride II The Pharcycle With a focus on lighter, often comedic songs, this is a good alternative to the gangster rap from earlier this week. In this case, though, the crude content doesn't really do it for me - it's just not really feeling that interesting and it gets tiring quite quickly. I don't think I got loads out of the album - the lighter type was done better before, and I think I would have preferred a bit more depth than this brings.

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• The seven hundred and nineteenth album: #719 REM - Automatic for the People There's something maudlin and wistful about this album. It's not dark or explicitly sad, but it moves slowly and doesn't feel like it's happy in most places. It's a very specific, slow feeling that permeates but works for this view at the world and I did enjoy it a fair bit.

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• The seven hundred and eighteenth album: #718 Dr Dre - The Chronic While this is Dr Dre's album, it's already clear at this point that he's more interested in being a producer and DJ than just a public performer. As a rapper, I felt I heard Snoop Dogg more than I heard Dr Dre himself and it's the use of samples and mix that feel like they stand out, I don't think the vocals stand out as much. It's not the direction of rap that I prefer, so while I see some of the skill in the composition, this is not something I'd want to go back to.

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• The two hundred and fifty-seventh classical recording: #845 Benjamin Britten - Peter Grimes Whereas normally the story of an opera fades away in favour of just enjoying the music, the English book of this opera means that it's easier to keep up with everything that's going on. The darky story - with the death of several young people, suicide and (mostly unshown) physical violence, the piece is dark, further enhanced by its dark music. The most telling pieces of this are the storm interludes, both representing the bad weather on the sea and the tumult that's happening in the village. It's imposing, creating a threat from its music that feels authentic to the real weather. The context really helps, but it's harshly evocative and heartrending no matter what you get from it.

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• The seven hundred and seventeenth album: #717 k.d. lang - Ingenue The gentle pop of k.d. lang works to tell its stories of love and the world. She brings in a number of styles - from pure cabaret jazz to folk to longing pop - that blends to create a beautiful canvas for her strong, pure vocals that speak of someone really down to earth - even if it concerns a Women of the Year award. It's relatable, accessible and gorgeous regardless of the direction she goes in.

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• The seven hundred and sixteenth album: #716 Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy - Hypocrisy is the Greatest Luxury We've got another politically targeted hip hop album, indeed one that at one point comments on the fashion of being a thug as another trend. It's very pointed in its commentary and feels like it has a forceful anarchic bent to its beliefs. The underlying music supports this - it's a hard, aggressive beat that interrupts the lyrics with samples that hit - in particular where it samples the immigration helpline to drive the point of its anger home. It's smart, it drives the point home and it demands your attention the right way as you listen to it.

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• The seven hundred and fifteenth album: #715 Rage Against the Machine - Rage Against the Machine As I think I've made clear in previous entries on this blog, musically I'm a kid of the early-mid nineties rock sound, with Rage Against the Machine being one of the bands that stands out as something I've formed my tastes and mind around - the pseudo-anarchic, left wing lyrics hits me as hard as the music does, while both vocally and musically it avoids the heavy sounds that metal albums bring in. The funk elements help, while the lyrics get to stand on their own to put their message out there. It's a striking debut album, fearless in a way, and it's what I keep a soft spot for.

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• The two hundred and fifty-sixth classical recording: #792 Benjamin Britten - Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge There's something really fun about the surprises that come with a work of variations like this, taking the same baseline but exploring all these different variants. Here, especially, it feels wonderfully creative, moving through a lot of different versions that have such different appeals. It's all incredibly playful, deliberate but not too deep and overall really entertaining to listen to.

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• The two hundred and fiftieth TV show: #112 Raumpatrouille Orion Sometimes an idea hits the public imagination and clearly spreads beyond just a single show. Star Trek launched 8 September 1966 and nine days later German television started this, its own show of exploring space, dealing with extraterrestrial threats and the spatial phenomenons. And I think this might be better. The characters are more complex, with the crew feeling less like stereotypes than the American counterpart had. Its take on the look and feel of the era feels stranger, the underwater bases that feature feeling incredibly impressive, and the dancing that occurs are definitely different from what we got. It's a shame the show went beyond the budget and what the show was capable off, because while it drags in some episodes that could have done with being shortened, there's something more approachable and real about it that at the same time embraces what it can do as a sci-fi show.

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• The two hundred and forty-ninth TV show: #655 Reno 911! Since I had already enjoyed the work of a lot of members of The State, I was looking forward to the lauded Reno 911. The show is set up both as a sketch show, with shorter vignettes that build on jokes well, as well as more long form content that let it build further. They're still true to their characters, but they are messed up enough to let it build, and at the same time having no shame, seemingly not saying no to anything. The show also makes fun of everything - the police portrayed are terrible human being, and the jokes go further than most other shows would go. It's also not the copaganda other shows tend to portray, they are the worst and commonly the butt of the joke. It's fearless, low budget, and incredibly funny at the same time.

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• The two hundred and forty-eighth TV show: #54 Rawhide It's probably more telling about me and the time I grew up in that my main knowledge of Rawhide was the scene/song in the Blues Brothers where they perform their version of the theme of the song. And probably to the surprise of nobody, I feel like that's the best part of the show, it's memorable and evocative of its setup. And while there's something interesting about seeing a young Clint Eastwood, he doesn't stand out as much as that might imply. The way it approaches life, the extensive Hayes code focused resolutions and the general conflicts leave it toothless and drifting, the western stories just not having the appeal to me that they ought to have. Even if they aren't my favourite genre, I have watched better western series before.

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• The seven hundred and fourteenth album: #714 The Lemonheads - It's A Shame About Ray This is a simple, uncomplicated rock album - quite basic, not quite grunge, not quite garage, but just some alt rock that keeps it soft and simple and incredibly accessible. Short, good, it all works without doing too much else.

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• The seven hundred and thirteenth album: #713 Baaba Maal - Lam Toro I struggle a bit with the term world music as the catch-all term for everything that's not western, and even something like 'worldbeat' isn't that much clearer to me. What this album has is a fusion of Senegalese music, which has similarities to its surrounding countries, with a heavy Latin American influence that serves to broaden the appeal of several tracks. Although the original local music shines through, I don't struggle to relate to it as I might have with similar tracks in the past, instead its light fusion elements really bring the strengths to the forefront..

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• The seven hundred and twelfth album: #712 Morrissey - Your Arsenal It's tricky to separate the man from the music when the music involves so many personal beliefs and feelings, but here it creates an image of someone just a bit miserable. The music is fine - mostly gentle rock - with a layer of accessible lyrics, opinionated enough but not too strong to have an impact. I think I can see what makes this good in places, but there's something missing to really make me want to engage with it - I'm more inclined to want a bit of distance.

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• The two hundred and fifty-fifth classical recording: #306 Mikhail Glinka - Ruslan & Lyudmilla This time I've experienced the opera purely through audio, without looking at the story or any visuals. Instead, it's been good to hear the proper music - dramatic and imposing - with the vocal performances with a lot of depth. This one feels more choral in places than others, the chorus feeling more focused than I feel I often hear and the flutes and small touches adding the fantasy elements of the folk tales this is influenced by. There are also a number of dances - harder to identify the details from just sound, but there's a real lightness in the sound of all of that.

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• The seven hundred and eleventh album: #711 Koffi Olomide - Haut De Gamme: Koweit, Rive Gauche As the world reaches a stage where it's increasingly more connected, it's becoming less common to hear world music in the list. Koffi Olomide's album feels influenced by Latin American music, with some rumba influences, but also brings some tracks that sound more traditional in, as well as a chanson-feeling sound in some of its tracks. It's a fusion that works well, even without getting all the meaning and context behind the tracks, it's accessible and listenable.

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• The seven hundred and tenth album: #710 Arrested Development - 3 Years, 5 Months and 2 Days in the Live of Arrested Development While we've seen rap lyrics get more aggressive in a lot of the recent albums, Arrested Development takes a different tactic, taking the more upbeat party atmosphere that's been more common with past hip hop. At the same time, it still has depth, with some thoughtful lyrics about religion and a broader context for its lyrics that are otherwise often missing. It's an accessible album that allows for some messages without getting lost in that, something fun to listen to while giving you something to think about.

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• The seven hundred and ninth album: #709 Aphex Twin - Selected Ambient Works 85-92 These ambient tracks fade into the background by design, making it difficult to attribute too much to the sound. There's a variation between the tracks, but a lot of it is a repetitive base track with the occasional changes thrown in. That's not a bad thing here - it makes for something simple and accessible - but while they have their own identity, the tracks are, for the most part, just there. There are very occasional distorted vocals, but even those don't impart any meaning or do more than add some variety to what you hear on the track.

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• The two hundred and fifty-fourth classical recording: #176 Joseph Haydn - String Quartets, op. 76 As the last of his string quartets, there's a maturity in its sound. They are solid works of music, sophisticated and complex without being flashy, giving energy while moderating the output. It's an accessible set of movements that doesn't challenge too much, but also has enough depth to lose yourself in as you want to.

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July 2026

• The two hundred and forty-seventh TV show: #52 The Untouchables It feels like there's still a lot of work going on for television story telling, more than you might expect considering how long movies had been going on but perhaps more closely reflecting radio plays with the scenes linked together with narration, leading to quite a show-don't-tell feeling where you never really get into the flow of a story and can't really get as much of a performance. This includes learning character names or as much of who they are, as they don't get a chance to do their own exposition. First of all, it's tricky enough to learn much about the main characters - there's nothing about them to really define them, leaving them quite blank. Second, in a rotating ensemble cast, they don't get a chance to build up their own personality and it's just playing the roles. It slowly shifts a bit in later seasons, but for the most part the style is one that I don't find that appealing to watch.

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• The seven hundred and eighth album: #708 Pavement - Stanted and Enchanted Stanted and Enchanted is an album that doesn't do much that feels special, but it delivers a dose of indie rock that feels simple and straightforward. There's little doubt about what they're doing and saying and a lot of it feels quite accessible, which is what makes the album work.

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• The seven hundred and seventh album: #707 Metallica - Metallica I've mentioned before how Enter the Sandman is one of those tracks that influenced and stuck with me through time, a real classic track. The rest of the album manages to appeal just as well, whether it's a (relatively) sensitive ballad (Nothing Else Matters might still be my absolute favourite) or an all out loud banger. The riffs stick and you can follow through with them and the emotions of the song come through in their lyrics. The album and its track are set to be spectacles, but they're spectacles with a lot of depth.

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• The seven hundred and sixth album: #706 Teenage Fanclub - Bandwagonesque Reading up on them, Teenage Fanclub appears to be one of those bands that has been around for a while, loved by music lovers, but not breaking through to the point where I heard of them. It's a shame - the rock, alternating between some harder sounds and more pleasant harmonies, is the exact rock that appeals to me as something easier to listen to. 

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• The two hundred and fifty-third classical recording: #761 Richard Strauss - Arabella It's not unexpected to have an opera love story with a love triangle and some identity confusion, but what makes this stand out compared to many others is the setting. While the 1860s would still have been about seventy years in the past, setting it with the landed gentry of the era still makes it feel more contemporary than the courtly settings from before. It's grounding it a bit, probably appealing more to the larger audiences that would have come to these. It feels like the music reflects this - it's less stately, more energetic, with a lot more for performers to play around with. It's a real victory of a piece, worth the time investment and one that makes me want to dive into more operas.

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• The seven hundred and fifth album: #705 Primal Scream - Screamadelica As we're moving along in time, we're seeing electronic music sneaking into other genres, and Screamadelica is an interesting indie rock experiment combining both. There's a mix of underlying rock sounds, that make for good indie rock sounds on their own, and that is already what makes the album worth it. It's good, worth in any incarnation.

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• The seven hundred and fourth album: #704 Massive Attack - Blue Lines There's a chill feel to this album - Unfinished Sympathy is the one I recognise best of those, but there are others in a similar mold. It's electronic music with an R&B vibe, some light rap and relaxing enough that you can have it sit in the background. It's interesting, a bit dreamy, but with enough to catch on to, just some nice and lovely easy listening music with a bit of substance.

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• The seven hundred and third album: #703 The KLF - White Room We're kicking off with more electronic music from the early nineties. The KLF is hitting a nostalgic vibe, where the sample heavy sound would have been new at the time, but now feels old fashioned in its application and mixing of sounds. It works fine, even if it's a type of music that's really dependent on my mood to see whether it connects well enough. It's a good thing to listen to though, even if it doesn't work for every track.

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• The two hundred and fifty-second classic recording: #822 Manuel Ponce - Concierto del Sur There's something that feels more accessible about this piece, the guitar feeling like such an uncommon instrument in one of these pieces that its focus here stands out to add some energy to the piece, something grounded and darker that gets contrasted against some far more ethereal sounding violins and lighter touches from other instruments. There is a good mix of influences here, unconventional for what normally get but it's something that helps develop the song really well.

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• The seven hundred and second album: #701 Slint - Spiderland The darkness that seems to have surrounded the band during the recording of this album comes through in its sound, a dark and haunting sound with vocals overwhelmed by the dark guitars. It goes hard and the intensity feels like it really comes through from the band, in a way that doesn't impact my mood as a listener but gives a deep insight on how the band seems to feel. It's hard to listen to, fascinating but also one where I'm glad it feels a bit distant.

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• The seven hundred and first album: #702 U2 - Achtung Baby As one of the big albums of U2, I feel I've already been exposed to most of these tracks in some way. As you'd expect, it mixes the big crowd pleasers like One with stranger choices like Until the End of the World, with its odd choice of subjects and focus on them that shows they are a band that looks at what's going on in the world. It's maybe not as deep as that sounds, but there's still that feeling of wanting to push the music and lyrics further than what the minimum would be and it works really well to create that much more of a masterpiece album.

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• The seven hundredth album: #700 Sepultura - Arise This album really just gives you what it says it will, a burst of high energy heavy metal taking its energy from the other greats in the genre. There isn't a twist here, it doesn't feel like it's doing anything different, but it's an approach that's working. It's uncompromising in what it does, even if you're unlikely to change your minds on the genre in either direction.

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• The six hundred and ninety-ninth album: #699 Saint Etienne - Foxbase Alpha I think this is where we reach a familiar point in the evolution of dance music - the dominating beat, overlaid with a female pop vocal that's quite gentle and at times an aggressive male rap. The music strays towards the gentler side, not focused on a heavy beat, but it's the vocals that are dropped from a track first, the beat always remains. While it works for the more focused songs with vocals, the tracks do wear on musically after a while, with the nearly eight minutes of Stoned To Say The Least being especially slow. After a while it loses its appeal and becomes a bit too long, but there's also a good set of indie songs in the mix here.

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• The two hundred and forty-sixth TV show: #51 Bonanza While I'm not bonanas for Bonanza, I have to say that it has held up better than the other than other westerns of the era. The stories are more nuanced, whether it's making you feel sorry and understand the bad guys rather than making them simple criminals, or having some conflicts between main characters that don't resolve as easily. It still feels very episodic, but it felt especially in the second season episodes that I watched that the show had developed something quite a bit more nuanced and in depth. The show is long enough that I can't watch all of it and there are plenty of places where the show is of its time, but there's something here to see.

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• The two hundred and fifty-first classical recording: #497 Antonin Dvorak - Symphony no. 9 The opening movement of this symphony is so grand, soaring and energetic that it sets up an attention grabbing sound. It follows this with a smaller, more intimate second movement that plays on nostalgia, coming down with a gentler, more pastoral sound after those bursts of energy. The build up to the finale is slow, notable for its many intricacies of its sounds, leading up to a strong, if less exuberant finale than its opening. The arc works brilliantly though, setting up and slowing it down at the right speeds.

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• The six hundred and ninety-eighth album: #698 Pearl Jam - Ten I'm not sure Pearl Jam's music is in any way groundbreaking for this period, but the grunge sound feels perfected on their debut album, an artistic expression of a sound that can often feel loose and simpler. There's a lot of longing and pain in the album, but it's expressed in such an exquisite way that it's incredibly listenable.

  Permanent link to “The six hundred and ninety-eighth album: #698 Pearl Jam - Ten I'm not sure…”

• The six hundred and ninety-seventh album: #697 A Tribe Called Quest - Low End Theory While coming from a same position as Ice T's album a week ago, this album feels like it works better. The clear lyrics make their points a lot better, the glorification isn't there all the time in favour of a more nuanced approach and critique. The music, focused on enhancing the lyrics, help as well - while not hiding in the background, there's a lot of thought put into when it steps up instead of throwing all sorts of samples at it constantly. The combination is one that works, balanced well enough to bring its message across.

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• The two hundred and forty-fifth TV show: #609 Perfect Strangers It's been some time since I've been to a family reunion, and I wasn't of the age to worry about family relationships at that point. Now, I feel like it's being said and I can keep my distance. On the other hand, the reunion of this extended family has a lot more to go on - even if the secrets are at times bad, at times mundane, the show keeps it all believable. Sure, there's some real characters in there, some feeling a bit exaggerated, but other than differences in class, it feels familiar. The various mysteries are presented in an engaging way, with the timeline jumping around in a way that's easy to follow, feeling like they have satisfactory explanations without going too far. It's three long episodes, but they flew by - absolutely worth it.

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• The six hundred and ninety-sixth album: #696 Public Enemy - Apocalypse 91... The Enemy Strikes Black As another hip hop album hits, this plays with the gangster rap feeling while focusing far more on the social issues rather than just the overdone violence glorification that happened in some others like it that we've covered. It's a decent sound, working at the right level, without feeling unnecessarily over the top.

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• The two hundred and fiftieth classical recording: #651 Ernest Bloch - Schelomo There's a darkness to this piece that I've found quite appealing. Whether it's in the large, slow and building sounds or the smaller, quieter sections that sound sadder, there's an emotional weight to it that works quite well. I enjoyed it quite a bit, hitting those emotions without being overbearing with it at any point.

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• The six hundred and ninety-fifth album: #695 Mudhoney - Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge This is a straight forward grunge album, with a lot of shouted lyrics, a lot of noise and different sounds that it's kept simple. It's fine at what it does, but it's hard to get more out of that, proper hits-the-spot music.

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• The six hundred and ninety-fourth album: #694 Ice T - O.G.: Original Gangster There's something about this album that doesn't feel quite real - cosplaying as being a tough gangster, more than what is real. It's that feeling you get from a fourteen year old claiming he knows karate and can totally kill you with a look. I'm sure that a bunch of this is taken from his experiences and those around it, but there's so much that it feels like bravado more than reality, and the depth that would sell it on me is completely missing. It doesn't sustain the full 24 tracks.

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June 2026

• The six hundred and ninety-third album: #693 Red Hot Chili Peppers - Blood Sugar Sex Magik Red Hot Chili Peppers aren't a band I expect a lot of deep thoughts or heavy themes from. Instead, it's a punky attitude that thrives on its own sound and blunt lyrics, leaning into the sex, drugs and rock and roll vibes. There are some lovely ballads between the harder songs, but it's that high energy performance that works as often. In the end, as much as it is joked about, their style is one that works for me, whether it's the high energy Give It Away or the more raw Under The Bridge.

  Permanent link to “The six hundred and ninety-third album: #693 Red Hot Chili Peppers - Blood…”

• The two hundred and forty-ninth classical recording: #293 Robert Schumann - Dichterliebe I feel like it's been a while since I've had a classical recording focus on its vocals, but Dichterliebe really gains its power from it. The love songs in the piece are delicate, here performed with a tenderness that sells it, and having just a piano for accompaniment sells that further. It's simple, but that simplicity is all it needs.

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• The six hundred and ninety-second album: #692 Jah Wobbie & The Invaders of the Heart I'm not sure I was expecting this much of an influx of world music this morning. There's a massive amount of different influences at play here, with what sounds like a lot of Indian sounds, African influences, parts of a Caribbean feel, and it creates a fusion of sounds that works incredibly well. It' feels like it's more of a directed project from a lot of collaborators rather than following a single vision, but that diversity is the charm of the whole album, something that is accessible, but not something you commonly hear.

  Permanent link to “The six hundred and ninety-second album: #692 Jah Wobbie & The…”

• The six hundred and ninety-first album: #691 MC Solaar - Qui Seme le Vent Recolte le Tempo Listening to MC Solaar's debut album shows me how well French as a language is suited to rap. The tracks flow well, the rhythmic sound of the language fitting the sound of the music. It removes the aggression English brings to it, but the sound holds a lot of power and the contents can still do a lot, with what feels like a lot of focus on political content that can still hold a lot of insight and verbal bite. Most important, though, is that it's just a gorgeous album to listen to.

  Permanent link to “The six hundred and ninety-first album: #691 MC Solaar - Qui Seme le Vent…”

• The six hundred and ninetieth album: #690 Gang Starr - Step in the Arena With rap rising quickly on the list, I've had some mixed experiences so far. Gang Starr falls on the good side, with music that feels focused on the rap and basic sound rather than the mix of samples that dominates other rap albums. It feels focused, both in sound and length, and manages to stand out positively in a genre where my feelings tend to end up mixed at best. The one hundred and sixteenth comic: #351 Alberto the Wolf It's easy to get the gist of this without even reading the comic - a humor strip of a wolf that lives on a farm with other animals, a dog that is in charge of security, a chicken the wolf is close with... it writes itself and, yeah, at this point I got the feeling for a lot of the humour. It works fine, but it feels like it sticks to what it is quite closely, seemingly expanding as it goes on but sticking to what it has.

  Permanent link to “The six hundred and ninetieth album: #690 Gang Starr - Step in the Arena…”

• The two hundred and forty-eighth classical recording: #560 Gustav Mahler - Symphony no. 7 Mostly a darker piece, the energy of Mahler's seventh jumps between movements to create its very different atmospheres. The three night-focused pieces in particular have some varied interpretations of the world at night, which manage to convey a lot of different feelings, leading to a wonderful finale to round off the piece.

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• The six hundred and eighty-ninth album: #689 Julian Cole - Peggy Suicide For a British made album, one that lyrically focuses on that fairly frequently, its sound resembles the country-influenced Americana music more than anything - there's a lot of Springsteen in here, for example, It gets more artistic than that on a bunch of the tracks, but there's such a clear basis it builds on that it stands out as a deliberate style choice. It's a heavily music-focused track - Julian Cole's voice is certainly not the strongest, even if it builds well onto the existing sound. The album holds up well, even considering its length, and it stayed enjoyable. The one hundred and thirty-second book: #1023 La Reine Margot - Alexandre Dumas In the spirit of "Why waste time on something I'm not enjoying", I'm calling this book early. I think there's a few factors that made this one difficult. First, while the Three Musketeers has some good action, banter and flawed characters, the upper class…

  Permanent link to “The six hundred and eighty-ninth album: #689 Julian Cole - Peggy Suicide…”

• The six hundred and eighty-eighth album: #688 Cypress Hill - Cypress Hill In a larger context, the gangsta rap of Cypress Hill, or at least their first album, doesn't do much to entice me. The content feels puerile, the focus on guns and killing too much in this context and the music and flow too loose to really come to grips with.

  Permanent link to “The six hundred and eighty-eighth album: #688 Cypress Hill - Cypress Hill…”

• The six hundred and eighty-seventh album: #687 Crowded House - Woodface I think I'm feeling in safe hands with Australian pop rock from this era. There's a good mix of ballads and upbeat tracks, having some good and interesting lyrics while never feeling obnoxious when listening to it. The album flew by - the 48 minute runtime feeling like half that - which shows how attractive it is to listen to and how much I want to follow with more from Crowded House.

  Permanent link to “The six hundred and eighty-seventh album: #687 Crowded House - Woodface I…”

• The two hundred and forty-seventh classical recording: #364 Johannes Brahms - Cello Sonatas no. 1 & 2 These are two lovely, sensitive sonatas that have a build that works, while keeping everything light rather than overpowering. They're accessible but intricate, a delight of skill and sound to listen to.

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• The six hundred and eighty-sixth album: #686 Nirvana - Nevermind Smells Like Teen Spirit defines this album, defining what feels like a subculture for a generation, including one I mixed with, and the other tracks fit in with that same feeling. They're not always as loud as the first track, and certainly not as catchy, but it gives a lot of thoughts to the lyrics and the feelings the music wants to portray. It's a strong portrayal of disillusionment that feels universal, even if the music is also of its time.

  Permanent link to “The six hundred and eighty-sixth album: #686 Nirvana - Nevermind Smells…”

• The six hundred and eighty-fifth album: #685 My Bloody Valentine - Loveless While listed as shoegaze, like yesterday's album, the noise and distortion My Bloody Valentine brings to this album creates a completely different, chaotic feeling that hits hard, creating a far less comfortable listening experience. It dominates everything else, to the point where it's hard to notice anything other than the screeching. It's far too much for a lot of it, which drowns out the better parts as well.

  Permanent link to “The six hundred and eighty-fifth album: #685 My Bloody Valentine…”

• The six hundred and eighty-fourth album: #684 Ride - Nowhere The at times almost droning sounds of the music fit a more downcast album from the indie rock that follows later, with a large amount of sound here that doesn't vary too much. Instead, there's an almost depressed sound that doesn't always come through in the lyrics - although those can be tricky to follow anyway. It's an overwhelming mix of sounds that manages to bring that while simultaneously not bringing the energy, a focus on volume without bringing that much more. It works well and makes for an accessible album, but the contradictions stay interesting. The one hundred and fifteenth comic: #887 Toys in the Basement As a short album to try to keep back up with this, Toys in the Basement offers an odd insight into a weird dreamlike world that plays as a more gruesome Toy Story - showing the place where abandoned toys go, with some kids who are in Halloween costumes exploring. It's got this strange, horror-comic slightly…

  Permanent link to “The six hundred and eighty-fourth album: #684 Ride - Nowhere The at times…”

• The two hundred and forty-fourth TV show: #50 The Rifleman I doubt this is a revelation from what I've written so far, but westerns don't really land for me. The Rifleman isn't bad, it's got better kid/teen acting than a number of shows I've seen recently, but its stories just washed over me. The rifle is a gimmick that I don't think I ever really noticed, and while in theory I quite like the idea of trying to do the right thing, in more of a moral way than other shows do, but it takes some excitement out of a genre usually built around it. It's not that it's staid, it's not that it's bad, I just never found there was a moment where the show rose above that level.

  Permanent link to “The two hundred and forty-fourth TV show: #50 The Rifleman I doubt this is…”

• The two hundred and forty-third TV show: #644 America's Next Top Model One of the main attractions of a reality TV competition is the display and interrogation of skill. Whether it's Bake off, Project Runway or Drag Race, this is about people trying to do their best work and showing off what they can. And while there's probably some skill involved, none of it is on show in America's Next Top Model. A lot of it revolves around looks, something they can't necessarily do much about - the initial selection and elimination in the first episodes seems to revolve around things they can't do much about it. Even the challenges come down to doing their make up and sometimes wardrobe, but even a lot of that is done with help or done to them just as often. It feels so much more about drama - from people who feel like they have a bit too much of an overinflated ego, without actually giving any real entertainment.

  Permanent link to “The two hundred and forty-third TV show: #644 America's Next Top Model One…”

May 2026

• The six hundred and eighty-third album: #683 Sonic Youth - Goo Although at its core a solid alt rock album, goo shifts between the simple, Nirvana-like alt rock to the more esoteric and experimental sound collages. It feels like the vocals are on the simpler side - interesting lyrics that address things but keeps it simple, with a singing voice that doesn't stretch things too far, but works to make its point. Then the music underlying that stays simple, but goes bigger outside of it, to have a soundscape when it wants to but not keep it up constantly. It's an effective mix, creating some engaging music while keeping to quite a raw core. The one hundred and thirty-first book: #1021 Martin Chuzzlewit - Charles Dickens I am starting to think Dickens isn't for me. I get that there's social commentary and accessible writing in it for its time, but the word count ends up too excessive, tracing a few too many different threads filled with needless detail and verbose conversations I quickly…

  Permanent link to “The six hundred and eighty-third album: #683 Sonic Youth - Goo Although at…”

• The six hundred and eighty-second album: #682 A Tribe Called Quest - People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm The hip hop of A Tribe Called Quest is hitting different somehow, even though it follows from everything before. It has the more upbeat, sample-filled sound of earlier hip hop, including some clear references to other songs, but tones down the 'wackiness' in favour of a more story telling vibe, one that puts a message in place without getting too caught up in one thing, whether it's a tale about a lost wallet or a commentary on safe sex. It's an engaging album that keeps hitting its points.

  Permanent link to “The six hundred and eighty-second album: #682 A Tribe Called Quest…”

• The six hundred and eighty-first album: #681 Sinead O'Connor - I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got This album is a collection of sweet, sensible folk songs, a poppy mix with some political and societal commentary included. The performance is strong and, most important, intense, with the emotions coming through in every line. It's a challenging album at times, but it's also just as often sweet and lovely to listen to, even if it always feels like there's some sadness and rage there

  Permanent link to “The six hundred and eighty-first album: #681 Sinead O'Connor - I Do Not…”

• The two hundred and forty-sixth classical recording: #892 Leonard Bernstein - Serenade While the connection to Plato's Symposium is a bit too abstract for me, the music of this serenade is lovely, delicate and sweet for the most part, never overwhelming the senses and feeling like they could be the accompaniment to something. 

  Permanent link to “The two hundred and forty-sixth classical recording: #892 Leonard…”

• The six hundred and eightieth album: #680 Public Enemy - Fear of a Black Planet Putting aside lyrical content, which is a mix of things I can't comment on and things that I don't agree with, it's the musical accomplishment to focus on here. A lot of the music is heavily condensed samples, in a way that works as a backing track but gets a bit much for more prominent samples. The raps are fairly impressive, the aggression at the right level, but the contrast between the styles of Chuck D and Flavor Flav is quite notable and can clash unnecessarily in some places.

  Permanent link to “The six hundred and eightieth album: #680 Public Enemy - Fear of a Black…”

• The six hundred and seventy-ninth album: #679 LL Cool J - Mama Said Knock You Out I'm getting a better feeling for the development of hip hop and rap through this era. While far from the gangsta rap that is coming up, this feels closer to the modern sound, the fun times of a lot of albums replaced by something deeper without going fully dark. LL Cool J's lyrics are articulate, with a lot of variety and more content when the song asks for it, but also with the more 'fun' rap battle rhymes. It's fun and listenable, accessible while still having personality to it.

  Permanent link to “The six hundred and seventy-ninth album: #679 LL Cool J - Mama Said Knock…”

• The six hundred and seventy-eighth album: #678 Jane's Addiction - Ritual De Lo Habitual Ritual De Lo Habitual is an album of energetic rock tracks, that post punk sound with an upbeat rhythm and shouty lyrics that feel quite positive, with the metal influences more restrained and more of a lighter rock feel throughout the tracks. It's more accessible than it could be, with a lot of variations on the basic sound of the tracks, but overall it hits home pretty well regardless of whether it's more accessible alt rock or goes for more of a metal feel.

  Permanent link to “The six hundred and seventy-eighth album: #678 Jane's Addiction - Ritual…”

• The two hundred and fourty-second TV show: #663 The Mighty Boosh How real can a sophomore slump season get? The Mighty Boosh's first season was a fun surreal comedy, with some good recurring bits that pushed it too far every once in a while, but it generally worked. The third season builds on that - slightly more through lines, more different roles for the actors, but the surreal core that still works well. The middle season, howeve,r, doesn't work as well. The setting has less to go on - the zoo of the first season and shop of the third grounds it, but the second season misses a lot of that. The acting is as much of a problem, though. The performances were never the best, but the second season relies a lot more on Michael Fielding's Naboo. While he probably has a bigger role behind the scenes, his quite flat performance works better as a minor side character than carrying large parts of the storylines like in that season. It requires a lot of confidence to pull off the comedy in the…

  Permanent link to “The two hundred and fourty-second TV show: #663 The Mighty Boosh How real…”

April 2026

• The six hundred and seventy-seventh album: #677 Ice Cube - AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted There isn't necessarily a lot of unexpected music on this gangsta rap album, in that it has the music and sampling you would expect from it. It also feels like a personal album - while it addresses a lot of political issues and the unwillingness to fix problems, it feels based in his own experiences more than anything, which makes for a powerful statement in an aggressive set of music.

  Permanent link to “The six hundred and seventy-seventh album: #677 Ice Cube - AmeriKKKa's…”

• The six hundred and seventy-sixth album: #676 Neil Young with Crazy Horse - Ragged Glory It's amazing in a way how long Neil Young has retained relevance. The country-inspired rock sounds aren't entirely of this time, but even so the tracks don't sound out of place and the album is all pretty enjoyable, there's really nothing to complain about here.

  Permanent link to “The six hundred and seventy-sixth album: #676 Neil Young with Crazy Horse…”

• The six hundred and seventy-fifth album: #675 George Michael - Listen Without Prejudice Vol 1 As much as Listen Without Prejudice has a number of smooth R&B-inspired pop tracks and some tracks that do well on the dance floor, it pays off to listen well to the lyrics of the album. There's something more personal about it, whether it's a deeper love song or struggles with how the expectations of fame evolve.d Knowing his later history, it hits harder, but it's hard to ignore the soulful sound that runs through here in the first place. The tracks really give us a chance to focus on this, for predictably good results.

  Permanent link to “The six hundred and seventy-fifth album: #675 George Michael - Listen…”

• The two hundred and forty-fifth classical recording: #681 Igor Stravinsky - Symphonies of Wind Instruments This short piece moves fairly quickly, exploring the various wind instruments well while offering some different sounds. It stands out for this instrumentation - no strings or percussion, just wind instruments, and it shows how good they can work together to create that base. It creates more of an currency at times, and a darker sound that reverberates more, but it's what enhances its impact.

  Permanent link to “The two hundred and forty-fifth classical recording: #681 Igor Stravinsky…”

• The six hundred and seventy-fourth album: #674 Happy Mondays - Pills 'N' Thrills And Bellyaches This is a competently made rock album. Most of it is fairly standard rock fare, occasionally with some other influences, Bob's Yer Uncle having a particular foreign influence, but mostly straight forward and fine.

  Permanent link to “The six hundred and seventy-fourth album: #674 Happy Mondays - Pills 'N…”

• The six hundred and seventy-third album: #673 Pet Shop Boys - Behaviour While I've obviously enjoyed the Pet Shop Boys' synth pop output, Behaviour feels more melancholic than I usually get from them. While the dance pop feeling is there, it's slower and more thoughtful, lyrically engaging in a way I wouldn't normally expect from them. There's meaning in their lyrics otherwise, but here it takes thaat on far more than when they write more upbeat dance tracks. It works, though, the introspective nature creating that much more introspection.

  Permanent link to “The six hundred and seventy-third album: #673 Pet Shop Boys - Behaviour…”

• The six hundred and seventy-second album: #672 Digital Underground - Sex Packets Sex Packets becomes a standard hip hop album, the happier party beats combined with a lot of songs about girls and partying, but with some more aggressive lyrics mixed into some songs. It's still very rhythmic and colourful. It's a good feeling, if not amazing.

  Permanent link to “The six hundred and seventy-second album: #672 Digital Underground - Sex…”

• The two hundred and forty-fourth classical recording: #441 Johannes Brahms - Symphony no. 4 Brahms creates a magical world in his fourth symphony, one of adventure and impressions of sights that work well. It's the symphony at its finest, full of beauty and interpretation. It feels triumphant and uplifting, and the performance helps provide that spirit.

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• The six hundred and seventy-first album: #671 Megadeth - Rust In Peace Some albums manage to win you over as you listen to them. Rust In Peace didn't have a good start - I really wasn't feeling trash metal today - but there was something in the music's set up that slowly won me over and made me enjoy it more. It's a small triumph for what it does and what it can pull off.

  Permanent link to “The six hundred and seventy-first album: #671 Megadeth - Rust In Peace…”

• The six hundred and seventieth album: #670 Pixies - Bossanova You obviously won't get Brazilian jazz-fusion from the Pixies, instead delivering the breathy punky rock sound that fits them more. It stays chill and loose, quite pleasant overall, and keeping me interested with its variations. It's an art piece in places, but it's one that really works.

  Permanent link to “The six hundred and seventieth album: #670 Pixies - Bossanova You…”

• The six hundred and sixty-ninth album: #669 Depeche Mode - Violator I feel like we're approaching a change here. This album still draws on 80s electronic pop, but there's a depth and emotion here that wasn't always there at the time. Enjoy the Silence, for example, hits me a bit more than a pure electro pop track might. It's well put together, extremely good to listen to, and still effective.

  Permanent link to “The six hundred and sixty-ninth album: #669 Depeche Mode - Violator I feel…”

March 2026

• The two hundred and forty-first TV show: #49 Peter Gunn As I've mentioned before, our standards for action have changed since the start of television. Peter Gunn makes for an interesting crime drama, one that gets the titular private eye involved in the underworld where the police can't always get to, but focuses on the stories that surround it. It feels like there's some more excitement that has to be in there, but it feels like it can't pull off that excitement. At the same time, it doesn't deliver enough for some deeper study or investigation, sticking to some fairly professional characters. There's something interesting in this and I could see how it would appeal on some level, but in this day and age it doesn't deliver quite enough for that to work.

  Permanent link to “The two hundred and forty-first TV show: #49 Peter Gunn As I've mentioned…”

• The six hundred and sixty-eighth album: #668 Black Crowes - Shake Your Money Maker There's not much that's special to point out about this album - it's just a good, standard rock album, nothing too hard but just nicely accessible and energetic. It's emotional enough to work while still having that country and blues-influenced rock feeling and mostly it just feels like it gets the balance between everything right. The one hundred and thirtieth book: #97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas As one of the quintessential adventure books, The Three Musketeers plays its stories of the heroic past fairly straight: The titular three musketeers make their way through life with flaws and issues, but jump into action when required and do well resolving those issues. It has a decent set of betrayals and love stories, as you would expect from the same, and it feels like this would have set the template going forward. It drags on a bit too long to really stay interesting, especially with the…

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• The six hundred and sixty-seventh album: #667 The La's - The La's This album brings a number of influences together before they can go on to define pop for a decade to come. It takes from the Beatles song writing and sounds, has definite punk vibes in its guitars and plays with art pop and blues at times. I can see how this could have been unique at the time, but it's interesting to see how much this is a part of what's the come, rather than what has been so far.

  Permanent link to “The six hundred and sixty-seventh album: #667 The La's - The La's This…”

• The six hundred and sixty-sixth album: #666 Deee-Lite - World Clique While we've been moving towards heavy electronic music for a lot of dance music, Deee-Lite starts from their funk inspiration to stay dance-focused, a happy and positive sound that makes you feel light - whether you're listening to it in the office or are out to celebrate. Groove Is In The Heart is the biggest hit and most notable song, and while the other songs don't always feel as rich, there's always that happy undertone to the music.

  Permanent link to “The six hundred and sixty-sixth album: #666 Deee-Lite - World Clique While…”

• The two hundred and forty-third classical recording: #443 Cesar Franck - Symphonic Variations There's a good amount of small variations in this piece that work to give a nicely rousing performance, an interesting and short piece that really managed to lift my spirits.

  Permanent link to “The two hundred and forty-third classical recording: #443 Cesar Franck…”

• The two hundred and fortieth TV show: #509 Star Trek: Voyager I watched a lot of Star Trek Voyager around the time it was first on. Rewatching the earlier episodes, it's been hitting what I felt it was - a watchable iteration of Star Trek that doesn't get to the heights of Deep Space Nine and feels a bit too standalone to take advantage of its setting, but it does enough to make you think and give you some different things to look at. At this point, I wish it could push itself further forward, not reaching the heights it could, but it's still worth watching.

  Permanent link to “The two hundred and fortieth TV show: #509 Star Trek: Voyager I watched a…”

• The two hundred and thirty-ninth TV show: #445 Drop the Dead Donkey There's something that works in this show even twenty-five years after its broadcast. While some of the mechanics of news have changed, this workplace comedy about a news station recently bought by an investor who is partially affecting the contents of the channel while being nominally independent. Aside from well working satire, the way the show includes recent news events (at the time - helped with an intro explaining them for modern broadcasts) elevates the feeling of timeliness of the show. It's incredibly engaging still, certainly more than I expected for its time.

  Permanent link to “The two hundred and thirty-ninth TV show: #445 Drop the Dead Donkey There…”

• The six hundred and sixty-fifth album: #665 The Shamen - En-Tact Turning the corner from psychedelia to electronic music, En-Tact gives us the music I would associate with the earlier rave scene, even if it's not as repetitive as that - there's a lot of musicality and variation that I guess wouldn't quite fit that trance. There's a lot of interesting elements here that I enjoy, as an experiment that clearly succeeded.

  Permanent link to “The six hundred and sixty-fifth album: #665 The Shamen - En-Tact Turning…”

• The six hundred and sixty-fourth album: #664 Cocteau Twins - Heaven Or Las Vegas The dreamy electronic pop of the Cocteau Twins hits quite gently, a soothing sound that creates a simple flow through the album. There are some really uplifting songs and the flow is quite nice, with the meaning not mattering as much as the feeling the album gives you.

  Permanent link to “The six hundred and sixty-fourth album: #664 Cocteau Twins - Heaven Or Las…”

• The six hundred and sixty-third album: #663 NWA - Straight Outta Compton Our last album of the eighties hits hard. The gangsta rap album hits with Fuck the Police as its second track, an openly hostile challenge that continues to resonate stronger in modern days in the US. The raps are written as a more real sound, focusing on the reality experienced instead of having a party atmosphere.

  Permanent link to “The six hundred and sixty-third album: #663 NWA - Straight Outta Compton…”

• The two hundred and forty-second classical recording: #905 Dmitri Shostakovich - Piano Concerto no. 2 This is an intense piece that's full of life and energy, racing you through the motions at a speed that's really engaging and interesting. There's enough going on to keep you focused at all times and I really loved getting immersed in it.

  Permanent link to “The two hundred and forty-second classical recording: #905 Dmitri…”

• The two hundred and thirty-eighth TV show: #47 Sea Hunt Not every show connects. The premise of Sea Hunt, that of following a trained diver helping with emergencies, leads to some interesting adventures, and there's some excitement in it, but ultimately it feels toothless as it's more about rescues than crime and there's a limit to what you could film at the time. It means that the central conflict never feels as engaging as it could be and the episodes just pass you by. As a concept, it's reached some nice places, but ultimately there's a limit to what excites me these days.

  Permanent link to “The two hundred and thirty-eighth TV show: #47 Sea Hunt Not every show…”

• The two hundred and thirty-seventh TV show: #213 Land of the Lost There's something to be said about judging shows based on their own criteria. A 1974 action adventure with stop motion dinosaurs is always going to look dated to our eyes and with a kids' audience, there are limits to what it can do. But having immersed myself recently in Japanese tokusatsu, flowing out from Ultraman, and Doctor Who, which aims to hit a similar spot, this doesn't hold up. The production values are cheap, sure, with the focus going on the stop motion effects and the early blue screen availability, but there's no great story to go along with it - the stories never feel clever or interesting - and the acting feeling quite bad. None of the actors give that good a performance, which seems only partially age-related, and the whole thing just feels unconvincing.

  Permanent link to “The two hundred and thirty-seventh TV show: #213 Land of the Lost There's…”

• The six hundred and sixty-second album: #662 Jungle Brothers - Done by the Forces of Nature While we just covered some sample-heavy, produced albums, Jungle Brothers uses a lot more original material, with thoughtful lyrics and a more mature sound. It's here to tell a story and give a message, but works as a strong set of songs as well.

  Permanent link to “The six hundred and sixty-second album: #662 Jungle Brothers - Done by the…”

• The six hundred and sixty-first album: #661 Janet Jackson - Rhythm Nation 1814 While her brother was the more known king of pop, Janet Jackson shows on Rhythm Nation 1814 how much she brings as well. Heavily layered, her vocals work really well with a lot of different songs, from heavy rock tracks to ballads and the very danceable funkier tracks. There's a lot of production in this, but I do feel her stamp is on this work. The lyrics feel very personal, which adds to the sensitive feeling of a lot she sings about. 

  Permanent link to “The six hundred and sixty-first album: #661 Janet Jackson - Rhythm Nation…”

• The six hundred and sixtieth album: #660 De La Soul - 3 Feet High and Rising The legal issues surrounding sampling really changed the face of hip hop, where this older album really uses a lot of it - songs made up of samples, with few or no original vocals included, mixed with songs with rap tracks that have the sound and feel of the era, without complex lyrics. It's not a challenging album but it's got a good party vibe to it.

  Permanent link to “The six hundred and sixtieth album: #660 De La Soul - 3 Feet High and…”

February 2026

• The six hundred and fifty-ninth album: #659 Soul II Soul - Club Classics: Vol One In a major step up in the visibility of R&B, Soul II Soul introduces its distinct sound that feels fresh in its era here. The rap and songs work and create a very danceable set of tracks, especially as it flows into heavier dance tracks as the album progresses.

  Permanent link to “The six hundred and fifty-ninth album: #659 Soul II Soul - Club Classics…”

• The six hundred and fifty-eighth album: #658 Fugazi - Repeater By this point, punk has gone, and we're in the post-area of various underlying streams of the genre. This follows the hardcore vibe, calling back to past garage rock, angry and dark, droning but more written than before. It feels almost improvised at times, but then goes into bigger themes where there's clearly more thought put into it. It's not going to hit for everyone, and a full album of it was a bit more than I could stomach, but it's still a decently good sounding album.

  Permanent link to “The six hundred and fifty-eighth album: #658 Fugazi - Repeater By this…”

• The six hundred and fifty-seventh album: #657 Bonnie Raitt - Nick of Time As a heartfelt Americana album, Nick of Time does a lot right. There's a real folk rock root here, often without too much instrumentation but instead focuses on nearly acoustic sounds. It's a stripped down sound that allows you to focus on the emotional songs, something that feels like a real insight into how Bonnie Raitt was feeling. It avoids the gimmicks for something more real.

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• The two hundred and thirty-sixth TV show: #43 Canzonissima After we've already looked at the Eurovision Song Contest before, here's one of the many shows that offered the national selection for the series. For a large part of this show's run, the winner went to represent Italy in the song contest, and the songs here are one of the focuses of the show. What it also brings are the bigger musical numbers, as well as a few too many bits and sketches to fill the time between songs. It's fine to see some of it to get a feel for it, but language aside, the age of the program means that the music is as dated and just not as interesting.

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• The six hundred and fifty-sixth album: #656 Pixies - Doolittle There's a lot of post punk in this album, the short tracks and at times heavy music clearly deriving from that style. It's combined, however, with harmonies and much more authored touches that make it more deliberate. It's a nice album that's a burst of energy in its own right.

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• The six hundred and fifty-fifth album: #655 Aerosmith - Pump I think it's fair to say that Pump does what you'd expect an Aerosmith album to do: a lot of glam rock, adjusted for the late eighties, with a nice mix of ballads and harder tracks. It shows an act that's evolved with its time while not having let go of what they do well and still sounding like themselves.

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• The six hundred and fifty-fourth album: #654 Barry Adamson - Moss Side Story It's weird to listen to the sound track for a non-existent movie, a jazzy rock track with electronic embellishments that sets the mood for a story that doesn't exist, with track titles that match this. Incidental vocals give snippets of a setting, but the impact comes from the images and emotions they invoke regardless. It's different, but it works.

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• The two hundred and forty-first classical recording: #786 Olivier Messiaen - Poemes pour Mi The first word that comes to mind listening to this is 'dramatic'. It's big, it feels challenging and for the vocal performance feels like a particular tour de force. It's delicate at times, but makes a big push more often, in a way that really benefits it.

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• The six hundred and fifty-third album: #653 Coldcut - What's That Noise? The word noise applies to a lot of this album, though not in the derogatory way that's normally used. The tracks mix a lot of sounds together, combining hip hop with a heavy dose of electronic music in various places. It's listenable, but pushes the boundaries of what I can really enjoy, but the experimentation involved in that is really nice.

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• The two hundred and thirty-fifth TV show: #40 Wagon Train Wagon Train is a show that doesn't have any staying power. Each episode has a story, in an anthology-style our main cast walks into a new place kind of way, but I couldn't tell you much about what any of them were. They're competent, but somehow mostly forgettable. The main cast in particular, despite their constant appearance, never stuck in my mind and I'm still not sure who it is. I would have expected the pilot to have some sort of introduction - one of the reasons I always cover these - but it's such a standard episode that I didn't get a strong start there. From then on, so much blended into the background that I didn't manage to get much out of it.

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• The six hundred and fifty-second album: #652 808 State - 808 90 There has been a rise of electronic music and 808 State fully embraces that - it's a lot of electronic noise and not as many conventional music. It's not as hardcore as I remember it in the nineties, but there's something quite attractive about the musicality even if, for me, it does drag it out a tad too long.

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• The six hundred and fifty-first album: #651 The Cure - Disintegration The creepy, gothic sound of The Cure sets a slightly unsettling atmosphere, but in a way that I am happy to continue to listen to. It's dark and depressed, but not stuck in just that mood, creating a darkness that's deep but that I find accessible. Although perhaps my mood is just that low... In the end though, it's a great masterpiece of an album.

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• The two hundred and fortieth classical recording: #384 Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky - String Quartets no. 1 This is a wonderful piece that vibrates, hitting you deep in your soul as the music has so many places where it resonates.

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• The six hundred and fiftieth album: #650 Kate Bush - Sensual World On the first round through, I didn't make any notes for this album. Kate Bush's Sensual World creates such a wonderful atmosphere that I kept wanting to stay immersed in it. The album has a lot of highlights, matching all of her other work, both thoughtful and intriguing.

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• The six hundred and forty-ninth album: #649 Baaba Maal & Mansour Seck - Djam Leelii I obviously haven't heard much Senegalese music before. It's an interesting style to listen to, obviously with a lot of links to other African music, but there's an extra musicality and modern feeling to the lyrics I don't think I've heard as much. It's different, sure, but there's something entertaining to it that feels more universal.

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• The six hundred and forty-eighth album: #648 Neneh Cherry - Raw Like Sushi It's nice to see the rise of funk and hip hop that leads to the rise of R&B. Neneh Cherry's tracks cover quite a range, going between more of a ballad to almost pure rap in a way that feels really natural. It's just a joy to listen to the album, no matter what direction I'm really coming from.

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January 2026

• The two hundred and thirty-fourth TV show: #38 The Army Game I don't mind watching The Army Game. It's a bit dated, sure, but the comedy still works well and stays amusing enough - I'm giving it some extra episodes and while I've got some others to go back to, I'll keep the DVDs so I can drop an episode in every once in a while.

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• The six hundred and forty-seventh album: #647 The Stone Roses - The Stone Roses The indie rock sound of 80s Manchester comes through here, with clear vocals mixed with a rock backing and some psychedilic moments in the music. It's an attractive and convincing sound, friendly and pleasant to listen to.

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• The six hundred and forty-sixth album: #646 John Zorn - Spy Vs. Spy: The Music of Ornette Coleman As music has diversified, jazz has taken on additional elements, to the point where Spy vs Spy creates a chaotic, aggressive atmosphere with little to let you in on it and not giving you much to go on. It's fine for a few tracks, but ends up wearing out its welcome.

  Permanent link to “The six hundred and forty-sixth album: #646 John Zorn - Spy Vs. Spy: The…”

• The six hundred and forty-fifth album: #645 The Young Gods - L'Eau Rouge Whiel the album doesn't start as outwardly hard, it pretty quickly descends into the industrial rock that more famously comes from bands like Rammstein. With the vocals loud and hoarse, the music becomes intrusive only for the few instruments it has been played with. The production is small, made up for with volume a lot of the time. It's absolutely doing its own thing, in a way that works.

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• The two hundred and thirty-ninth classical recording: #243 Franz Schubert - String Quartet in G major, D887 There is a certain intensity to this work, with a full on performance that doesn't need to fill the space, but gives you that feeling of being emotionally a bit off. It's not one that feels like it's letting up, instead pushing its emotions on you regardless of the speed of the work. 

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• The six hundred and forty-fourth album: #644 Beastie Boys - Paul's Boutique While praised as a great album that took a few years to find appreciation, I found Paul's Boutique to be a lesser entry for the Beastie Boys. The style is familiar, but in a way that feels sloppier than I associate with them, while the amount of sampling becomes too much for me, creating a bit of a dissonant sound that I don't think supports the rap lyrics quite as well. 

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• And with these last ten songs - the recent songs that only appeared in the final edition of the book. Let's get this done! The one thousand and twenty-second song: Drone Bomb Me - Anohni While it has an electronic backing, there is the feeling of a pop ballad in Anohni's vocals, a darkness in a love song that's otherwise filled with desire. It leaves an incredibly strong impression that feels visceral even when there are a lot of effects that might lean the other way. The one thousand and twenty-third song: You Want It Darker - Leonard Cohen Looking at the gap between entries, this feels like one of the longest ranges of appearance on the list. Leonard Cohen shows how he stays relevant, the darker tone to his music and back up vocals pushing his songs to a modern height that works incredibly well. It's at times menacing and dark and while it's recognisably his, it's also a track that works as a modern song. The one thousand and twenty-fourth song: The Numbers - Radiohead I feel like I…

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• 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. 

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• 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.

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• 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.

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• 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. 

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• 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…

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• 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.

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• 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.

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• 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…

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• 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…

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