If you’d like to catch up on the journey so far, you can check out the posts for the previous weeks:

• week 1
• week 2
• week 3
• week 4

29/366: Vegas

Week 5 started with day 29’s selection, Vegas by The Crystal Method, inspired by our upcoming trip to Las Vegas. I’m really conflicted about this one, because it’s got some great tracks, like “High Roller” (I’m a sucker for NASA samples), “Keep Hope Alive” (a very groovy affirmation), and “Trip Like I Do” (I’m a sucker for Dark Crystal stuff), but I don’t feel like it’s a great album. It just doesn’t feel cohesive in the way I want it to, with no moment of catharsis, and a frankly weak ending. Your mileage, as they say, may vary. For more info, check out the Wikipedia entry.

30/366: Random Access Memories (Drumless Edition)

I really enjoyed day 30’s selection, Random Access Memories (Drumless Edition) by Daft Punk. To be totally honest, I never really got into the original version upon release, and neglected it for a long time. I was going to pick the original version, but saw there was a new “drumless” edition and decided to explored that instead. I totally dig this, as it showcases how solid the songwriting is by stripping out an entire category of instrumentation, and it really lets the synths and guitars shine. Speaking of guitars, I got some serious Mike Oldfield vibes from the endings of “Giorgio by Moroder”, and “Beyond” (with almost a touch of Gilmour?), and if you like funky wah pedals, this is the album for you. Another highlight for me was “Motherboard”, which evokes Philip Glass. And while “Contact” makes a great closer (again, I’m a sucker for NASA samples), “Touch” really makes this album for me with its refrain:

Hold on
If love is the answer
You’re home
Hold on

This one has a lengthy Wikipedia entry.

31/366: Tabula Rasa

Day 31’s selection, Tabula Rasa by Einstürzende Neubauten, frustrated me since it’s a long-time favorite but it doesn’t seem readily available on any of the major streaming services. Apple Music doesn’t list it at all, and while Spotify lists it, none of the tracks are playable in the US. It looks like YouTube has us covered this time, but in general this is a great reminder that if you like something weird, you’d better have your own copy (whether digital or physical) lest it disappear when you need it.

Anyway, this is weird stuff but I love it. Tabula Rasa was my introduction to Einstürzende Neubauten way back when, a glorious, alien artifact of strange industrial sounds and entirely German lyrics, which my high school German studies at least let me vibe to even if I couldn’t make out all the lyrics.

The opener, “Die Interimsliebenden”, is a can’t-miss track, easily a “greatest hits” entry for Neubauten. “Zebulon” and “Chrysanthemum” are pure poetry. “12305(te Nacht)” speaks to the toil of days following days. “Sie” moves through a day with furious, haunting momentum. “Wüste” features whispered lyrics over dramatic orchestral sounds. The album concludes with the epic “Headcleaner”, a work of four parts split over two tracks, a noisy industrial storm that eventually breaks, revealing a calming conclusion. (I also enjoy it borrowing lyrics from “All You Need is Love”.)

The Wikipedia entry here is unfortunately sparse; I was really hoping to learn some details about the production of this one since it’s been so foundational to my enjoyment of industrial music.

32/366: Sunday 8PM

For day 32, I listened to Sunday 8PM by Faithless, an album my father purchased for me because the album cover features Denver’s Bluebird Theater, which he’d lived near once upon a time. The album is overall good; the opener “The Garden” and “She’s My Baby” remind me of post-Cross of Changes Enigma, and “Hour of Need” and “Hem of His Garment” wouldn’t be out of place on a Moby album, but as always with Faithless, the most fun tracks are the ones that feature the inimitable voice of Maxi Jazz: “Bring My Family Back”, “Postcards”, “Killer’s Lullaby”, “Take the Long Way Home”, and the absolute highest high point of “God is a DJ” (Is there a more perfect Faithless track? I don’t think so.) The Wikipedia entry is sorely lacking for an album that’s such a touchstone.

33/366: The Oculus Occult

Day 33’s selection, The Oculus Occult by Ghost Data, is brand new to me, suggested listening from a coworker. They recommended starting with “Celestial Bodies”, and I liked it enough to dive into the whole album. I’m not sure what specific sub-genre I’d tag this with – it’s sort of a poppier synthwave? Dreamwave might be a thing? I dunno, I’m old too old for labeling things. Whatever you want to call it, it was great to unwind with on a Friday night.

34/366: The Chronicle of the Black Sword

Day 34’s selection was The Chronicle of the Black Sword, a concept album from the space rock legend Hawkwind about Michael Moorcock’s tragic hero Elric, sorcerer-king, avatar of the eternal champion, wielder of Stormbringer, the black blade that fuels Elric’s life by drinking the souls of its victims.

What can I say? It was D&D night. I kinda had to.

The Wikipedia entry has a little extra context. I was surprised to discover that each release has featured a different set of bonus tracks, so I got to listen to some new-to-me songs on an album that I thought I knew pretty well.

35/366: Into the Storm

To round out my Sunday night, I chose Into the Storm by Inon Zur for day 35. Zur has been highly prolific in scoring video games – I discovered him through Dragon Age: Origins – as well as movie trailers, but Into the Storm is its own thing, unattached to any specific title (though it’s said to be inspired by the Dragon Age world). It’s clearly grounded in the fantasy score world, and a bit “new age”-y, but with a few slightly orchestral-pop tracks like “One More Day”, “Far Far Away”, and “Sun is Shining”, and the album features a number of his Dragon Age collaborators. It’s thoroughly pleasant, a fitting conclusion to the weekend, echoing yesterday’s D&D vibes (with more chill), and I like it a lot.

Weirdly, despite having an otherwise-thorough discography, Inon Zur’s Wikipedia entry makes no mention of this album, nor of his other works that aren’t tied to a specific game or film.

36-42/366: ???

Since you’re an astute reader, you’ve noticed that I’ve switched from alphabetical-by-album-title to alphabetical-by-artist, so the next week will feature J through P. Stay tuned here, or follow along day-by-day on Mastodon, for my next selections.

If you’d like to catch up on the journey so far, you can check out the posts for the previous weeks:

• week 1
• week 2
• week 3

22/366: Violator

Day 22’s selection, Violator by Depeche Mode, is the band’s best, perfect from one end to the other, with timeless production that sounds as fresh today as it did on release. I won’t be taking questions at this time. (The Wikipedia entry has some interesting tidbits – for example, I learned that “Clean”, the closing track, was inspired by one of my favorite Pink Floyd songs, “One of These Days”.)

23/366: Welcome Oblivion

For day 23, I listened to Welcome Oblivion by How to Destroy Angels, one of my favorite Trent Reznor outings. The group features Reznor, two longtime NIN collaborators, and Mariqueen Maandig (Reznor’s wife). I really, really enjoy Maandig’s vocals here; they’re a great complement to the post-industrial sounds on offer, and they mesh beautifully with Reznor’s voice. “Ice Age” and “The Loop Closes” remain my favorite tracks (I still can’t get enough of “Ice Age”, I could do that on repeat for days), but it’s worth taking the whole journey from beginning to end. The Wikipedia entry is sadly lacking in detail.

24/366: X

Day 24’s selection was X by INXS, an album I knew only by reputation, but had never actually listened to. I think I’d gotten X and Kick conflated, and it turns out Kick is the source of most of my favorite INXS songs. That’s not to say that X is bad – far from it! It’s all very well crafted, perfectly serviceable pop-rock from the inflection point where the 80s became the 90s, and “Suicide Blonde” is a really solid opening track, but I struggled to connect with anything else. It is, perhaps, too much an artifact of its time. Your mileage, of course, may vary! Wikipedia offers more context, though not as much detail as I’d like.

25/366: Year Zero

For day 25, I selected Year Zero by Nine Inch Nails, an album that, despite being a NIN fan since the first time I saw the video for “Head Like a Hole”, I had largely overlooked and never connected with. I definitely understand more of the evolution of Reznor’s sound this time, but I didn’t come away from this one with the feeling of connection I’d hoped to find. I blame, in part, the haphazard presence of lyrics in Apple Music, which made it harder to follow the story aspect of the album while listening to it. It could also be that, while artistically valid, the apocalyptic alt history story just isn’t what I’m looking for from NIN. Wikipedia has gobs of extra context, including a bunch of stuff about the ARG used to promote the album’s release.

26/366: Zooropa

Day 26 brought me to Zooropa by U2, which is sort of the point where U2 started going off the rails a bit, with Bono performing as a character that’s more caricature, and steering deeper into electronic and pop music. A lot of the weirdness here is my jam, though, and so Zooropa remains sort of the last U2 album that clicks with me. Putting it on for the first time in forever, I was struck by the opening of the title track, which sounds like it was sent back in time from a future Nine Inch Nails record. Anyway, this album is cooler than you remember, and there’s a heap of information about the inspiration and recording process over on the Wikipedia article.

27/366: Plays Metallica by Four Cellos

For day 27, I went back to an album that I spun regularly back in my radio days, but which I’ve been neglecting for many years – Apocalyptica’s debut, Plays Metallica by Four Cellos. It’s exactly what it says it is – covers of Metallica songs performed by a quartet of cellos – and it feels like the most natural thing ever. The whole thing’s solid, but my favorites are “Enter Sandman” (which immediately sells the concept), “Master of Puppets” (because it just rules), “The Unforgiven” (because of course it sounds great this way!), and the closer, “Welcome Home (Sanitarium)”. Definitely check this one out if you haven’t encountered it yet! (The Wikipedia article has given me a small grumpiness, however – it turns out there’s an updated version with three more tracks!)

28/366: Fur and Gold

Some days I manage to pick exactly the right thing to listen to, and thankfully day 28’s choice was one of those. Fur and Gold is the debut from Bat for Lashes, and I’ve been enthralled by the opening track, “Horse and I”, ever since it was (if I recall correctly) one of the weekly freebie songs from iTunes. Somehow I never managed to get around to listening to the rest of the album – until tonight. I’m glad I did. If I had to give it a quick summary, I might call it “gothier and less monotonous Lana Del Rey”. The Wikipedia entry has a modest amount of extra context.

29-35/366: ???

Since you’re an astute reader, you’ve noticed that I’ve switched from alphabetical-by-album-title to alphabetical-by-artist, so the next week will feature C through I. Stay tuned here, or follow along day-by-day on Mastodon, for my next selections.

If you’d like to catch up on the journey so far, you can check out the posts for week 1 and week 2.

Otherwise, let’s “dive in” (haha) with…

15/366: Oceanic

I was still feeling instrumentally after M83 and Turbo Knight, so day 15’s pick was Oceanic by Vangelis, Vangelis’s 1996 meditation on the sea. This is definitely one I prefer to enjoy later in the evening, as a relaxing prequel to floating away on a voyage of slumber. The “Composition” section of the Wikipedia entry describes the flow of the album well enough, so I’ll spare any recap here, but like many Vangelis albums do, I love how Oceanic engages my imagination, particularly in “Dreams of Surf”, “Spanish Harbour”, “Fields of Coral” (which made an appearance in season one of Stranger Things), and “Song of the Seas”, which is probably one of my favorite Vangelis closing tracks. Close your eyes and enjoy.

16/366: Paranoid

What can I say about day 16’s selection, Paranoid by Black Sabbath, that hasn’t already been said, and better? It’s solid as hell, a true classic, groundbreaking, a seminal work, essential listening. This thing friggin’ rocks! Turn it up.

17/366: QE2

For day 17, I revisted QE2 by Mike Oldfield, which on reflection I should do more often. I think I’d lumped this in with Oldfield’s (IMO, lesser) 80s albums that steered away from epic instrumental compositions into more base pop territory, but QE2 isn’t one of them. It’s entirely instrumental (okay, minus some nonsense lyrics on “Celt” that are just there to add atmosphere), and though there are shorter pieces that presage the coming changes, there are still two longer works (“Taurus 1” at a bit over 10 minutes, and the title track at nearly 8 minutes). If I hadn’t checked the Wikipedia entry I would never have noticed that two tracks – “Arrival” and “Wonderful Land” – are covers. The whole thing flows really nicely, and though it’s not Tubular Bells, Hergest Ridge, or Ommadawn, I think QE2 deserves to be heard more often.

18/366: Rabies

Day 18 was Rabies by Skinny Puppy, my introduction to the band in my high school years. “Worlock” was my gateway song, which I first heard at a friend’s house. Before too long I picked up the CD and discovered that Ministry’s Al Jourgensen had been involved (which I thought was kind of cool – it somehow hadn’t yet dawned on me that musicians might cross-pollinate like this rather than just being in one band forever). Apparently Jourgensen’s involvement has a lot of baggage that I only learned about recently, but to me this will always be the milestone album that sounded like nothing I’d ever heard before and opened me up to a lot of new musical ideas. Also, I’m a total sucker for all the 2001 samples in “Rivers”, a track that remains in regular rotation in my “Angry at Computers” playlist.

19/366: A Saucerful of Secrets

For day 19 I listened to A Saucerful of Secrets by Pink Floyd, the second album by one of my all-time favorite bands. It’s a classic, of course, but one that I haven’t paid as much attention to, and it seemed like a good occasion to revisit it. It marks the exit of founder Syd Barrett and the arrival of David Gilmour, and (as I learned from the Wikipedia entry) “Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun” (one of my favorite early Floyd tracks) is the only song on which all five core band members make an appearance. It’s an album of spacey psychadelia, cascading from the alien encounters of “Let There Be More Light” into fairy tale reminiscence in “Remember a Day”, the haunting tranquility of “Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun”, the anti-war sarcasm of “Corporal Clegg”, the title track’s epic avant-garde instrumental (said to describe a battle and its aftermath), the dreamy (but possibly blood-soaked?) whimsy of “See-Saw”, concluding in the folky madness of “Jugband Blues” that serves as Barrett’s farewell. If you’d like to go deep here, I definitely recommend not only the main Wikipedia article linked above, but also click through on the track list for specifics on each song.

20/366: Transatlanticism

Day 20’s selection was Transatlanticism by Death Cab for Cutie, an album that I like a lot but for whatever reason have only listened to a handful of times, and probably not for 15 years or more. I’d been thinking about a different pick, but the opening lyrics of “The New Year” (“So this is the new year / And I don’t feel any different”) were too on the nose to evade a January listen. The whole thing’s good, but “The Sound of Settling” and “A Lack of Color” in particular hit harder in middle age. The title track remains unmissable, and still gives me goosebumps throughout. The Wikipedia article is thorough, and even explains the origin of crow on the album cover.

21/366: Upstairs at Eric’s

On day 21 I picked Upstairs at Eric’s by Yaz, mainly so that I could hear “Winter Kills” while the world outside is covered in snow. It’s a lovely little album, pairing the analog synths of Vince Clarke (a founder of Depeche Mode and later one half of Erasure) with the rich voice of Alison Moyet. There’s not really any big theme here, just a lot of interesting, beautiful synth-pop experiments. The Wikipedia article is worth checking out for more of the history (especially if you jump through to the entries on Clarke and Moyet). Well worth your listen, zero regrets.

22-28/366: ???

Stay tuned, or follow along day-by-day on Mastodon, for my next selections. I’ll hit the end of the alphabet this week, and haven’t decided yet if I’ll start a fresh cycle at “A”, or just start mixing things up. (The “alphabet game” does give me a little bit of structure which I confess makes the project a little easier for me – constraints yielding inspiration, and all that.)

I would like to figure out how to make the blogging part of this more efficient, though. It just takes more time than I’d like for me to attempt being thoughtful.

Without further ado, here’s what I listened to this week…

8/366: Hail to the Thief

On day 8, I selected Hail to the Thief by Radiohead, an album that I picked up on release and only listened to a couple of times, never really connecting with it. The CD sat on my shelf for a long time, my “am I not smart enough to like Radiohead” shame. Coming back to it now after all this time was interesting – basically it seems that I like Radiohead albums before this one, and after this one, but with a few execeptions this one just doesn’t do it for me. It’s musically solid, but I think the lyrics are kind of weak, and I don’t love how Thom Yorke sings them here. (I suspect my feelings about Thom Yorke’s vocals are like how most normal people feel about Geddy Lee.) That said, “The Gloaming” seems particularly timely:

Genie, let out of the bottle
It is now the witching hour
Genie, let out of the bottle
It is now the witching hour

…

To the shadows blue and red, shadows blue and red
Your alarm bells, your alarm bells
Shadows blue and red, shadows blue and red
Your alarm bells, your alarm bells

They should be ringing
They should be ringing
They should be ringing
They should be ringing

Wikipedia has a heap of additional context in case you want to know more.

9/366: I Robot

For day 9 I picked something I was sure to enjoy, I Robot by The Alan Parsons Project, which I savored with some rye whiskey and salted caramel chocolate. A lovely treat to unwind with at the end of the day! It’s a well-constructed late-70s art rock journey, with no small hint of disco influence (particularly thick on “The Voice”). It also features some cool instrumental tracks – the title track sounds a bit like Vangelis at the disco, the atmospheric “Nucleus” presages Enigma, “Total Eclipse” harks back to the psychadelic journey through the monolith at the end of 2001, and it culminates with closing track “Genesis Ch.1 V.32”, both an ending and an implied beginning.

10/366: Judgement

Day 10 was Judgement by VNV Nation, a strong album from one of my favorite bands. It’s bookended by two lovely instrumentals, “Prelude” and “As it Fades”, the latter of which never fails to provoke goosebumps for me. In between are two halves, the first “outrospective” and the second introspective. “The Farthest Star”, “Testament”, “Descent”, and “Nemesis” explore humanity’s darker impulses in a world unraveling, our collective unwillingness to make meaningful change to avert looming catastrophe, and the disappointment and anger on display resonate with me more than ever. The album’s second thematic half is more personal and uplifting – a calm, relevatory moment of connectedness in “Secluded Spaces”, “Illusion”’s plea against self-destruction, and the “you’re stronger than you think” message of “Carry You”. That just leaves “Momentum” unaccounted for – it’s a groovy mid-album techno tune to bring energy levels back up in between the bleakness of “Descent” and the fury of “Nemesis”. This isn’t my favorite VNV album, but it’s really, really good, and I find that it has increased urgency in 2024. Also, holy crap, this is almost 20 years old?! How did that happen?!?

There’s a little bit of extra info on Wikipedia.

11/366: Koda

For day 11 I listened to Köda by In the Nursery. According to Wikipedia, this can be classified as “neoclassical dark wave” or “martial industrial”. It’s a mostly instrumental album that marks their full-on arrival into producing “cinematic” music with classical instrument sounds assembled using the tools of the industrial scene. The feeling I get from this album is that each track is the closing title of some film that doesn’t exist. (The band would later go on to record new scores for silent films.) It’s a bit rough around the edges, and can be a bit “video gamey”, and I definitely like all of their subsequent work much better, but it’s definitely interesting and worth checking out to understand their evolution. Highlights for me include “Te Deum”, “Burnished Days”, “The Seventeeth Parallel”, and by an easy mile, “Compulsion” (collected from 12" single onto the CD release).

12/366: The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway

Day 12 was The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway by Genesis, an album that’s been sitting in my queue of “you should really listen to this at some point” things for a while. It’s the last album with Peter Gabriel, and I knew going in that it was a concept album with a storyline, so I wanted to give it the focus I felt it deserved. And, uh, holy cow, the story is pretty fucking weird. I may have to give it another shot at some point with lyrics in hand as it’s quite dense (and the Apple Music version seems to be lacking lyrics for several tracks). Musically, it’s brilliant, and it flows quite well. I’d almost be interested to hear it without any vocals at all! Wikipedia has a ton of context in case you want to go down the rabbit hole here.

13/366: M83

Day 13 was M83 by M83, the debut album from the French band of the same name. I’ve enjoyed M83 a lot but never gone super deep on them, and hadn’t listened to this one before at all. I enjoyed this one a lot – it’s primarily instrumental, with dialog from some TV and movie samples, and sits at an interesting intersection of ambient, electronic, and shoegaze. I don’t know that I would revisit individual tracks here, but I’d definitely put on the whole thing for a complete listen again. The Wikipedia article contains some fun trivia (if you consider trivia fun).

14/366: Navigators

On day 14 I listened to Navigators by Turbo Knight, a synthwave album clearly inspired by Frank Herbert’s Dune series. (Oddly, opening track “The Prophecy” samples the “tears in rain” speech from Blade Runner, but while it’s from a different sci-fi property, I can’t fault it.) This album is what Dune would sound like if it was bathed in neon, the ornithopters looked like Lamborghinis, spiced with a melange of cool synths and scorching 80s guitar solos. To be honest, I’m totally here for it. The sleeper has awakened!

15-21: ???

You’ll just have to wait and see! I hope to make it through at least day 26. I’m enjoying this but I do have other hobbies that are calling to me, and getting my thoughts down takes a little longer than I’d anticipated.

I’ve been using Songwhip for album links; it’s sort of a Linktree-for-music so that it doesn’t matter what services people subscribe to, they can quickly navigate to something they can listen to.

I should note also that the banner image photo here is by Eran Menashri on Unsplash, a placeholder until I can create a suitable replacement of my own.

1/366: Abbey Road

I kicked off the first day with the 2019 mix of Abbey Road by The Beatles. I’m familiar with the original version, but hadn’t heard the updated mix (in Atmos no less!), and it’s one of the Beatles albums I don’t listen to all that often. Growing up, I hated “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)” but the Beatles Rock Band game changed my mind on it. My favorite song as a kid was easily “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer”, but since catching the prog rock bug, I’ve become fond of the medley that makes up the second half of the album, which benefits the most from the updated mix — the arpeggiated guitars on “The End” that each sit in distinct spatial locations in the mix were a particular treat for me, and Ringo’s drums just fucking rule. Highly recommended. The Wikipedia article has tons of info if you want to know more.

2/366: Beaucoup Fish

For day 2 I selected Beaucoup Fish by Underworld. I know a few of their albums pretty deeply, but I had missed this one on its initial release and never really went back to it, despite it apparently being (according to Wikipedia) their most successful album. Overall this was a groovy accompaniment while I assembled a Lego set, though I think this is probably the horniest Underworld album. My favorite tracks on this listen were “Skym” (channeling some serious This Mortal Coil vibes) and the trance epic “Kittens”.

3/366: The Chase

Day 3’s choice was The Chase by Wolfstone, the second album by the Celtic rock band that blew my early-90s mind with their fusion of traditional tunes and rock instrumentation, bagpipes and electric guitars. I bought their first two albums together, and quickly gravitated to Unleashed, never really giving The Chase the attention it was due. It’s probably been at least 15 or 20 years since my last listen! And that’s a shame, because there are some great tunes here, and well-produced. “Tinnie Run” makes a great opening statement, “The Prophet” is a solid original rocker, “The Appropriate Dipstick” and “The £10 Float” scratch the trad itches, and the somber “Jake’s Tune” builds into some scorching blues guitar. I think the reason this one never stuck with me was that the closing song, “Cannot Lay Me Down”, is a downtempo ballad, while closing track on Unleashed is a rip-roaring, ass-kicking combination of reels whose charms are irresistible to me even after 30 years. Anyway, this one’s still good and is worth a listen. Alas, the Wikipedia article is unfortunately pretty light on additional info.

4/366: Darker

Day 4 was Darker by C-Tec, a high-energy industrial dance side project involving members of Front 242, Frontline Assembly, and Cubanate. I don’t give this a spin as much as I used to, but I’m happy to report that it still holds up, with honestly over half the album comprising what I’d call the highlights, though “Foetal”, “Stateless”, and the anthemic “Epitaph” are still my can’t-miss tracks after all these years. A fun fact that I learned from looking this up on Wikipedia today is that the lyrics to “Epitaph” come from a Dorothy Parker poem.

5/366: Earthling

On day 5 I paid my first album visit to David Bowie with 1997’s Earthling, where drum-n-bass collides with David Bowie-ism much the same way that chocolate and peanut butter collide on busy streets. It’s a rich combination that I don’t want every day, but when I do, I cannot deny its deliciousness. Wikipedia offers quite a lot of information and context here.

6/366: Filigree and Shadow

On day 6 I reached for an old comfort, Filigree and Shadow by This Mortal Coil, and found it just as dreamy as I remembered, a pleasant way to unwind with a drink on a Saturday night. It’s tempting to call out favorites (hi, “The Strength of Strings”) but there’s something special about listening to the whole thing from one end to the other. Since I’ve done one for all the rest, here’s the obligatory Wikipedia link for some extra context.

7/366: Ghosteen

Day 7 of this little adventure… I’ve been putting off Ghosteen by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds for far too long, knowing that it would demand some focused attention and that it would not be a “fun” listen. I’m glad that I gave it the space it needed. There are no singles here – any radio-friendliness would be in putting the whole thing on and letting it go, uninterrupted, until its conclusion. It’s far more airy and ambient than I ever expected from Nick Cave, and it gives off vibes of Leonard Cohen and Vangelis having a long, slow jam about life and death and grief and hope, orchestra and synthesizers and poetry and just a little piano producing not crescendos but carefully planned peaks of intense frisson. I don’t think I’ll come back to it often, but it’s really quite beautiful. The Wikipedia entry was quite informative here.

8-14/366: Stay Tuned!

I’ve enjoyed putting together this end-of-week recap, so hopefully more of these will follow on roughly the same cadence. Until then, stay safe out there, and take good care of your ears.