The two hundred and twenty-first classical recording: #634 Ralph Vaughan Williams - The Lark Ascending
Short, gentle, this is a fifteen minute dream. The solo violin feels like it represents the bird, waking up and flying off through a world of beauty. It's a sweet and lovely movement, something that is exactly what it needs to be.
The two hundred and twentieth classical recording: #110 George Frederic Handel - Messiah
This is one of those classic pieces that you hear a lot of. It's not the most complex - far more choral than operatic - but the build up is quite good and there's a ot of beauty in what it's accomplishing.
The six hundred and sixth album: #606 The Triffids - Calenture
The trappings of pop and glam rock surround this folk album, lyrics being less poppy and more filled with departures, longing and destruction - even if it sometimes feels a bit gleeful about it. It can feel a lot like a breakup album, but the imagery plays it bigger than that. It's surprisingly engaging, more interesting than the initial folk into suggested to me.
The eight hundred twenty-fifth song: Hell Is Round the Corner - Tricky
This electronic hip hop (trip hop?) track prefigures a number of later trends, while also feeling of its time - the beat feels very nineties, while the slow trap supplements the beat for a more relaxed track. It's a style I still hear, but with a different energy, while there's something deeper and relaxing about this, including the lyrics that feel that much more serious. It's a strong vibe that hits really well.
The eight hundred twenty-sixth song: Born Slippy Nuxx - Underworld
Here, too, the electronic music comes to the forefront. It's an iconic track of the era, the electronic beat hitting all those nostalgia centres in my brain, and its shift between the slower and the driving beat works well as it goes through. It's still really good.
The eight hundred twenty-seventh song: You Oughtta Know - Alanis Morissette
There's a lot of power in this alt rock anthem, the lyrics speaking of a really ugly breakup and an anger that keeps going through. It's easy to understand, but in part because it speaks to you on such a basic level.
The eight hundred twenty-eighth song: Back for Good - Take That
We hadn't really hit the boy bands until this point, but Back for Good makes a point for the best of it. Gary Barlow's lead vocals sells it incredibly well, a love song with a lot of emotion. The harmonies that come from the other band members has a feeling of cliche now, but it does the job so well, it's beautiful just to listen to.
The eight hundred twenty-ninth song: Stupid Girl - Garbage
This is a decent, straightforward punky rock track. It's not too hard, but it makes its point, and it sounds decent without much out of the ordinary. It's a fine and pretty fun track, but doesn't feel as special.
The eight hundred thirtieth song: Miss Sarajevo - Passengers
Miss Sarajevo isn't a complicated track. The music is simple and subdued, underlying Bono's strong lyrics about the war that was going on at the time, setting you up for something contemplative. When Pavarotti's solo starts, it's lured you into that atmosphere and it's a goosebumps moment for a bit. The song is sad, but that's what the track sells so well.
The eight hundred thirty-first song: River of Detroit - Mad Season
The blues rock sound of River of Detroit sets its feeling of depression quite well. It's not easy to get into, but there's some beauty in it as well.
The eight hundred thirty-second song: Dear Mama - 2Pac
As his death is part of my cultural consciousness and knowledge of music coming up, 2Pac's death was an early landmark. While there's a lot of bad stuff that happened, this song shows some of the circumstances that would have pushed him to that, while his mother had her own trouble and focus. It's a tough life, and this song of appreciation also builds on that sadness and it stays really quite emotional. It's listed as the peak of the genre, and I can't disagree with that.
The eight hundred thirty-third song: The Bomb! (These Sounds Fall into My Mind) - The Bucketheads
We're ending with just a regular house track. It's a pretty strong one too. The sample that's the song's hook (that I apparently always heard as the correct lyric, rather than the mondegreen that became the song's hook) is incredibly catchy and memorable and it really anchors a good dancing track. It's a good, happy note to end on here.
The six hundred and fifth album: #605 Sonic Youth - Sister
Some albums feel like they come and go. Sonic Youth's Sister is some good alt rock, some screeching and shouting but also the quieter, simpler tracks. It also didn't have much in its sound that actually stuck with me or drew my attention. It's fine, and I could enjoy it on its own, but there's not too much to seek out.
The one hundred and twenty-third book: #93 A Hero of Our Time - Mikhail Lermontov
As the hero implies, this isn't a story about a standard hero, but rather an antihero, who is obsessed with his various romances and lifestyle, despite the trouble going on. There's a lot of life going on, but told in a really pleasant way compared to the other slice of life stories of the time. It's a pretty neat story, enjoyable, and not too long.
The two hundred and nineteenth classical recording: #959 Pierre Boulez - Notations
The original Notations by Boulez are shorter pieces, each an exploration of a sound, while this entry takes a later update of a number of them and improves them, still giving some short impressions. They're all strong hits, with a short build up that works because the pieces don't last for long. It's pretty neat, staying good throughout the work.
The six hundred and fourth album: #604 Napalm Death - Scum
When I started the album, I thought I must have been looking at a later rerelease, as it listed 28 tracks, but it turns out that this album did indeed manage to put 28 tracks in 33 minutes, with only three being longer than two minutes and one, You Suffer, holding the world record for shortest record song at just over a second. Although both sides have almost completely personnel (only the drummer stays the same) the sound is from the same family, with the second half going shorter, harder and louder than the first. It starts to lose a lot of the musicality and I think it's probably too much, but at this point it also feels like the genre is in that place where you'll either hate it or love it.
The eight hundred sixteenth song: Army of Me - Bjork
This is a Bjork track - you know what you're going to get, vocally at least. The big difference is in the music, which is far harder than what I usually associate with her music, even though it draws on the punk influences of her earlier work. The contrast works though, givin the vocals more menace and making it all feel rougher.
The eight hundred seventeenth song: Champagne Supernova - Oasis
The slower sound here is one that matches what I expect from Oasis, although the slow, wistful lyrics feel like more of an extreme of it. It works well in that abstract lyrics, where you can question someone's absence, but not everything entirely connects. It's a lovely song that I'm happy to have me lure into its sound.
The eight hundred eighteenth song: The Fever - Garth Brooks
I'll happily admit country rock isn't my genre and while this is a competent cover, I don't feel like style really elevates the song and as an imitation it doesn't land for me.
The eight hundred nineteenth song: Kung Fu - Ash
This is a nice little pop rock track, nothing overly amazing but doing a job pretty well and making for a fun enough track with a light theme and lyrics.
The eight hundred twentieth song: 1979 - The Smashing Pumpkins
This is a pretty chill rock song, nothing complex but something nice and simple to listen to here. It hits a simple spot, just a lovely little song to listen to.
The eight hundred twenty-first song: Common People - Pulp
There's something addictive about the chorus of this track, a bit of an outburst of energy after the subdued verses. It's nothing that complex musically, but there's enough in the lyrics that the layers work so beautifully.
The eight hundred twenty-second song: Where the Wild Roses Grow - Nick Cave & Kylie Minogue
There's an odd magic to the combination of these two performers. Kylie Minogue's vocals are sultry and deep enough to make it ethereal, while Nick Cave's deep, dark voice betrays the menace even as you can see where the charisma came from. The song is dark, but that seductive feeling doesn't leave it either. It's such a strong song, it feels timeless and powerful.
The eight hundred twenty-third song: Insomnia - Faithless
It's fair to say this is part of the house music I grew up with, the drone of this still sitting deep in my memory, with the sparse vocals setting that image and even then preparing me for staying up late (even if it wasn't, for me, in the club). It's not going to be my focus to listen to, but it does work really well.
The eight hundred twenty-fourth song: Scream - Michael Jackson & Janet Jackson
This song is really representative of the Jacksons' style of pop, with Michael's production skills really standing out, it starts off as a strong dance track, but with a drop that pushes it into stranger theories, really giving the variety a chance to shine. It's another masterpiece like you'd expect from him, even with the anger behind it.
The six hundred and third album: #603 Laibach - Opus Dei
Starting off with a heavy industrial cover of Live is Life, lending a far darker bend to the song, there's a statement made from the start that this isn't the energetic upbeat sound that's common in the eighties. With its rebel origins, you have to link the sound to the oppressive Soviet communist vision that would have been there in Eastern Europe as Yugoslavia was falling apart and everything must have seemed to crumble while there are the feelings of oppression. There's obviously other metal music that follows up on it, and the link to the more well known Rammstein is obvious, but it also makes it hard where their opinions fall. It's certainly deliberately provocative, in a way that becomes oppressive the more the album goes in, and the full CD version moves to being too much of the one thing, especially since it can't help but affect you as you listen.