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.
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.
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.
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.
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've mostly been hearing Radiohead in more thoughtful performances. Numbers isn't a hard rock track, it is a pop rock track that focuses on the lyrics, with a beautifully arranged track supporting thoem. It's lovely in the way it sets up and builds itself.
The one thousand and twenty-fifth song: We the People... - A Tribe Called Quest
As a clear reaction to the rise of right wing politics at this point, it's a clear anthem that hits close enough to send a political message. But while the structure and rapping feels like it refers back to earlier times, the music, like the message, is modern, a fusion of rock and rap that feels more common and a sound that has clearly been rising. Here, the track works.
The one thousand and twenty-sixth song: Man - Skepta
There is an odd side to English rap - while the lyrics clearly reference the same violence as American, the lyrics can feel very British while the sound sets itself apart, a clear rap set over a modern electronic backing track. This feels like a good example of it, but it's also a style that doesn't grab me and leaves me wanting a bit more of something else.
The one thousand and twenty-seventh song: Formation - Beyonce
I remember the impact of the release of Lemonade had. This is not a song I heard referenced a lot from it. For me, it mostly shows Beyonce's talents, whose vocals and sounds are great. The raps are fine, but the bouncy electronic effects that go through the song are distracting and off putting in a way that really stops me wanting to hear more.
The one thousand and twenty-eighth song: Lazarus - David Bowie
A clear headed farewell, from a man who knew what was coming, introduces a rock song that feels melancholic and downbeat. There's something inevitable in the track, a delay that hurts, and the effect of his biography is still powerful.
The one thousand and twenty-ninth song: Ultralight Beam - Kanye West
Kanye West's songs feels tainted by his more recent antics, and a song about his religion and life are hard to separate. There's something really emotional and personal in this song, an insight into a person I otherwise feel quite detached from.
The one thousand and thirtieth song: Tilted - Christine & The Queens
There's something perfectly measured in a lot of French pop songs. The music is precise and strong, the vocals on point and sung with just the right emotion to help the message - emotionally good but not quite balanced. It's a nice bit of art as a song.
The one thousand and thirty-first song: Million Reasons - Lady Gage
We're closing out the list with Lady Gaga at her best - a powerful ballad iwth a simple but deep enogh message, focusing on her magnificent voice without needing to use many other tricks. It sounds really good and feels that personal.
The six hundred forty-third album: #643 Firehose - Fromohio
Fromohio (or as it's styled, fROMOHIO) is a short alt rock album that has fourteen short tracks with quite different impacts. You rush through the sounds quite quickly and for the most part feature quite breezy rock tracks.
The two hundred and thirty-eighth classical recording: #1000 Wolfgang Rihm - Jagden und Formen
As one of the most modern pieces on the list, this feels like it follows a number of those examples - sounding hurried and discordant, not always pleasant to listen to. There's not much here for leaning back and listening, the anxiety for the world feels present in the performance. It's an era in classical music that just doesn't agree with me, I prefer something a bit more traditional.
The two hundred and thirty-third TV show: #36 Maverick
It's worth remembering that movies and serials were being made long before TV series became a thing. That means that, for a number of different series, there are enough examples on how to pace your stories, especially in established genres like the westerns Maverick draws on. While I wouldn't watch all of the episodes - even more when I consider a bunch are rewritten from scripts for other series, so there's some duplication there - the semi anthology format with only one of the leads appearing as repeating characters does a lot to keep it all fresh.
The six hundred and forty-second album: #642 Spacemen 3 - Playing With Fire
The recreational drug-fuelled rock track of Spacemen 3 flirts with different types of rock. A track like Revolution feels as punk as it can get, while Suicide is an extended hard rock riff and Lord Can You Hear Me is a sipmle ballad. It's often more relaxed than other tracks, with a definite stoner vibe, but there are moments where it feels more harrowing too, like in the aforementioned Suicide.
The one thousand and eighth song: Super Bass – Nicki Minaj
It still feels odd to move from Queen Latifah's debut album yesterday to today's modern rap song, where the rap is at a speed no music was in at the time. I don't love Nicki Minaj's style, but musically this sounds good, the skill is there and it's impressive how it all fits together into a really great and memorable track
The one thousand and ninth song: 212 – Azaelia Banks
On the other side, Azaelia Banks' mechanical rap goes the other way. The lyrics are clear, the references come often and the mechanical beat stands out against the more flowing style. It's precise, in a way that works quite well.
The one thousand and tenth song: Written On The Forehead – PJ Harvey
The slow build up of this pop song focuses on PJ Harvey's light vocals, tuned to sound disconcerting as it addresses a world on fire. It embraces a fatalistic view on the world, in a way that's unsettling but also attractive.
The one thousand and eleventh song: Video Games – Lana Del Rey
The dreamy, distant sound of Lana Del Rey's voice sets the atmosphere for the song, a languid sound that sets up a relationship that's unsatisfying but also comfortable, something sweet but not in a way that feels entirely right. Are you happy there? It's just not clear, but the song sounds so seductive still.
The one thousand and twelfth song: Holocene – Bon Iver
Even more ethereal, Holocene doesn't really do much, but its sparse instruments, soft vocals and distant sound create a distant atmosphere that sets a beautiflu, longing sound. It's small but also just lovely.
The one thousand and thirteenth song: Death To My Hometown – Bruce Springsteen
After decades, Bruce Springsteen can still send a message, as this seems to have, one that continues to comment on mid-western American life. It's removed from me - both the setitng and the impact of the music - but the power is still in there, even more with the folk bend this track takes it back down with.
The one thousand and fourteenth song: Happy – Pharrell Williams
Pharrell Williams' feels simpler, but also gives you a song that can have its own impact. It doesn't feel like there are many songs just about being happy - especially in this era - but it is such a simple tracks that gets you clapping along and feeling a bit better - more than doing what the track sets out to do.
The one thousand and fifteenth song: Digital Witness – St. Vincent
St. Vincent's art pop style works to its advantage here to create a new sound. The song combines an electronic pop sound, a lot of brass and lyrics that don't allude to as much to create an elegant and enticing mix of a song.
The one thousand and sixteenth song: Two Weeks – FKA Twigs
The dark backing track for this song creates a counter balance to FKA Twigs' light vocals, supporting the anger of the lyrics that wouldn't otherwise come through. It sounds like it could be sweet, but the amount of swearing in this plays counter to that. It's a large, gorgeous composition that's at work here.
The one thousand and seventeenth song: Lazaretto – Jack White
There's a lot of chaos in this rock song, throwing everything at it to create a noise that doesn't feel like it belongs in this era with a mix of styles that it keeps veering between. In the end, it does feel like it's too much - without anything to hone in on, there's just nothing to grab you and it just becomes a lot of noise aimed at you.
The one thousand and eighteenth song: Eyes To The Wind – The War On Drugs
This is a simple, effective rock song, a bit poppy, some folk rock style lyrics but with music that has a bit more to it, and this feels like just a pleasant sound to listen to.
The one thousand and nineteenth song: Hunger Of The Pine – Alt-J
Starting off with just the vocals and beeps to give a rhythm, Hunger of the Pine slowly builds its elements until it gets its full, impressive instrumentation going - just those bits extras, but not too much. The song features a Miley Cyrus sample, whose bold sound contrasts aggressively with the smooth and subdued regular vocals, in a way that sets up a conversation in its own way. While complex, the track never leans into that, and it just feels like it all makes sense together.
The one thousand and twentieth song: Shake It Off – Taylor Swift
Shake It Off is a hit for a reason, it's a strong positive message that alludes to darker sides, but moves past it - and encourages you to move past it. It's an engaging sound that sticks with you.
The one thousand and twenty-first song: FourFiveSeconds – Rihanna, Kanye West and Paul McCartney
This is a pretty straight forward pop song, made by some big names, but I'm not sure if I felt the power coming through from this track to the point where I'd want it to.