Still, I wouldn't go all-out crazy on downloads just yet - no, it wouldn't be until 2006 when I bought my first laptop - and a little while later I bought my very first external HD, which was stupidly expensive. By that time I was downloading comics, movies, shows, music... I'd eventually come to have three or four external HDs completely filled with everything I could lay my hands on. Fast forward about four years, I'm living in London and late in the year I have a visit from a dear friend of mine called Rui - he'll be in a story here sometime soon - and we both have the same common interests, and we're talking about our downloading habits and routines, and he drops this bomb on me - he'd gone beyond simply downloading an artist's full discography, he was now downloading entire labels. He'd listen to the whole thing, keep what he liked, discard what he didn't, but he'd listen to the entire output of whichever label he'd download. And granted - we're not talking about labels that were incredibly massive, with hundreds or thousands of releases, but still.
Anyway, that inspired me to do something similar - I'll be revisiting a few labels that had plenty of stuff I was interested in way back then but that I only listened to like a record from any given band. First one is the long defunct label Anticon.
13 & God - 'Own Your Ghost'
I remember listening to their first record ages and ages ago, it having been described to me as 'alternative hip-hop', and maybe it was boredom rather than curiosity that drove me to listen to it. I ended up really enjoying it, though not so much that I'd listen to anything else by them until now. This one sounds more like The Notwist - a band that comprises half of this project. There's some great glitchy moments, it's more electronic than hip-hop, though that element is still very present. Super good listen, I'll give it a whopping 9/10
Son Lux - 'At War with Walls & Mazes'
A band that I mostly only knew by name, and the odd song here and there - which I liked. I knew that eventually I'd get to them, and I have no idea why I never did before. There are some amazingly beautiful songs here, and though I didn't love the whole record, it's strong enough to deserve an 8/10
Themselves - 'Them'
And this is the other half of the '13 & God' project.
I'll admit that Hip-Hop is not my thing, I'm clearly not the target audience. I find my ability to tolerate more than a few songs in one sitting is very short, but I still found to be this one pretty good, pretty well produced, buy maybe just a bit too long - it's over an hour long. A good 7/10
Odd Nosdam - 'Burner'
There was a time when the name 'Odd Nosdam' was somewhat ubiquitous. You'd see the name in remixes, collaborations, music journos waxing lyrical about him, but I never cared to find out what all the fuss was about. So, not knowing what to expect, here I found myself enjoying this a lot - it's very much on the ambient side of hip-hop, closer to a DJ Shadow than anything else, really. I'll give it a respectable 8/10
Peeping Tom - 'Peeping Tom'
Ah, 'Peeping Tom' - one of my favourite songs. That bit where he sings 'You're still the one who makes me feel much taller than you are / I'm just a peeping Tom on my own for far too long' sends shivers down my spine still. What? This is not about the Placebo song? No, this is about yet another of the infinite Mike Patton side project thingies. My hot take : I only sort of liked Faith No More, and I found most of what he did outside them to be fairly dull and downright annoying. And that description fits the bill perfectly for this record - it's dull and annoying. Just a 6/10
Anyway, that inspired me to do something similar - I'll be revisiting a few labels that had plenty of stuff I was interested in way back then but that I only listened to like a record from any given band. First one is the long defunct label Anticon.
13 & God - 'Own Your Ghost'
I remember listening to their first record ages and ages ago, it having been described to me as 'alternative hip-hop', and maybe it was boredom rather than curiosity that drove me to listen to it. I ended up really enjoying it, though not so much that I'd listen to anything else by them until now. This one sounds more like The Notwist - a band that comprises half of this project. There's some great glitchy moments, it's more electronic than hip-hop, though that element is still very present. Super good listen, I'll give it a whopping 9/10
Son Lux - 'At War with Walls & Mazes'
A band that I mostly only knew by name, and the odd song here and there - which I liked. I knew that eventually I'd get to them, and I have no idea why I never did before. There are some amazingly beautiful songs here, and though I didn't love the whole record, it's strong enough to deserve an 8/10
Themselves - 'Them'
And this is the other half of the '13 & God' project.
I'll admit that Hip-Hop is not my thing, I'm clearly not the target audience. I find my ability to tolerate more than a few songs in one sitting is very short, but I still found to be this one pretty good, pretty well produced, buy maybe just a bit too long - it's over an hour long. A good 7/10
Odd Nosdam - 'Burner'
There was a time when the name 'Odd Nosdam' was somewhat ubiquitous. You'd see the name in remixes, collaborations, music journos waxing lyrical about him, but I never cared to find out what all the fuss was about. So, not knowing what to expect, here I found myself enjoying this a lot - it's very much on the ambient side of hip-hop, closer to a DJ Shadow than anything else, really. I'll give it a respectable 8/10
Peeping Tom - 'Peeping Tom'
Ah, 'Peeping Tom' - one of my favourite songs. That bit where he sings 'You're still the one who makes me feel much taller than you are / I'm just a peeping Tom on my own for far too long' sends shivers down my spine still. What? This is not about the Placebo song? No, this is about yet another of the infinite Mike Patton side project thingies. My hot take : I only sort of liked Faith No More, and I found most of what he did outside them to be fairly dull and downright annoying. And that description fits the bill perfectly for this record - it's dull and annoying. Just a 6/10
Why? - 'Elephant Eyelash'
The record begins with this nice, Matisyahu-like hip-hop song that I thought would set the stage for the rest of the record. And boy, was I was wrong - other than that track, there's very little in that vein. What there is, is oodles of a charming sort of indie folk rock that I really hadn't listened to since the mid 00s, sort of like bands like Oh No! Oh My!, and stuff like that. Granted, maybe because I hadn't listened to such an album in decades, this one felt real good and fresh to my ears. Probably the record I enjoyed the most listening to this week. A staggering 9/10
Baths - 'Cerulean'
The record begins with this nice, Matisyahu-like hip-hop song that I thought would set the stage for the rest of the record. And boy, was I was wrong - other than that track, there's very little in that vein. What there is, is oodles of a charming sort of indie folk rock that I really hadn't listened to since the mid 00s, sort of like bands like Oh No! Oh My!, and stuff like that. Granted, maybe because I hadn't listened to such an album in decades, this one felt real good and fresh to my ears. Probably the record I enjoyed the most listening to this week. A staggering 9/10
Baths - 'Cerulean'
Familiar name. Familiar music. Pretty sure I'd heard some of these songs before, probably when Zee and I were fucking each other's brains out. It doesn't really start too well, this album, I really didn't like the first track, but it picks up soon afterwards and turns out to be pretty decent. I'm guessing good enough for a 7/10
Next week, another label. Maybe Kranky or Constellation.
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